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fdf136531c99b7429ab09023a7145a4ae4436cd9 | Former Tottenham star David Ginola is planning to challenge Sepp Blatter for the presidency of football's world governing body FIFA with a campaign launch planned for Friday in London. But whether the 47-year-old Frenchman has any realistic chance of getting the support he needs even to enter the race - let alone becoming the most powerful man in football - is in doubt. The seriousness of his bid is also sure to be called into question because his launch is being co-ordinated by bookmakers Paddy Power - famous for brilliant PR stunts to advertise their business but not associated with significant campaigns in sports politics. David Ginola is entering the race to become president of world football's governing body FIFA . Ginola is a regular contributor across a range of TV channels like BT Sport and the BBC . The M&C Saatchi PR company, acting on behalf of Paddy Power, has confirmed to The Associated Press that Ginola will launch his campaign in London on Friday. The hurdles Ginola would need to clear to get to the start line are formidable. By January 29 he needs to prove to FIFA that he has played an 'active role' in football for at least two of the last five years - a condition for candidates. Arguably more onerous is that he needs to show he has the support of five national associations from around the world. Ginola told The Sun: 'It is time that football was refreshed. 'I know it will not be easy for me to be elected but I have to try. Ginola played in the Premier League for Newcastle, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Everton before retiring in 2002 . The Frenchman has until January 29 to prove he has played an 'active role' in football in two of last five years . Swiss incumbent Sepp Blatter is odds-on favourite to secure a fifth election victory . 'I'm not interested in dwelling on the sins of the past, this is about taking football forward and putting supporters at the centre of the game. 'Football belongs to the people and they deserve to have a voice. We want transparency so that everyone knows where every penny goes. People need to be able to trust the decisions being made by those in charge. 'I'm doing this because I believe I can make a difference. 'I'm always being asked questions about what is needed to change Fifa. Well now I'm going to do something about it.' Ginola is famous in England for his good looks and shampoo adverts as well as his sumptuous skills . Fellow Frenchman Jerome Champagne is also in the running for football's top job . FIFA vice-president Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan has also declared an interest in the job . Incumbent Blatter, 78, has confirmed he will run and is the huge odds-on favourite to win. The election will take place in May at the FIFA Congress and three others have also declared an interest in the job — FIFA vice-president Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan, former FIFA official Jerome Champagne and the former head of Chilean football, Harold Mayne-Nicholls. The first two have formally declared they will stand. Ginola, as famous in England for his good looks and shampoo adverts as for his sumptuous skills on the pitch, moved from Paris Saint-Germain to Newcastle in 1995. He later played for Tottenham, Aston Villa and Everton. He did the 'double' in the Player of the Year awards in 1999, winning both the PFA title awarded by his peers and the Football Writers' award from journalists - despite that being the season of Manchester United's Treble. Ginola is sure to receive wide support from many fans desperate for reform at FIFA - dogged by chronic corruption and serial controversie for years. But whether his attempt to become a serious power-broker will succeed is much less certain. | David Ginola set to announce at press conference on Friday that he is entering the race to become FIFA president .
The Frenchman will become the third candidate to announce he is standing after Jerome Champagne and Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein .
Ginloa must now prove to FIFA he has the support of five national associations before January 29 .
Sepp Blatter is odds-on favourite to secure a fifth election victory . |
fdf1db2ecdde70bb19773cf9cc0f1c3eb1481212 | By . Helen Pow, Helen Collis and Lydia Warren . PUBLISHED: . 23:51 EST, 19 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 14:19 EST, 20 September 2013 . A three-year-old boy is among 13 people who were shot after gunmen opened fire on a Chicago park on Thursday night. Shots rang out around 10.15pm and appeared to target a basketball court on the 51st Street side of Cornell Square Park in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, The Chicago Tribune reported. The boy, identified as Deonte Howard and known to his family as 'Tay-man', was shot in the jaw as he sat with his mother and was rushed to hospital, where he remains in critical condition. Twelve others - three females and nine males between the ages of 15 and 41 - were shot and emergency crews rushed them to hospitals. One of the victims was able to drive himself to hospital. Their injuries include gunshot wounds to the foot, buttocks, abdomen and back. Scroll down for video . Hurt: Three-year-old Deonta Howard, pictured, was shot in the face during a drive-by shooting on Thursday . Panic: Officials and emergency responders tend to a victim at the scene where 13 people were shot . Help: A man is wheeled away on a stretcher. The victims were shot in the arms, legs, abdomens and backs . Police said they believed the shooting was gang related. Julian Harris, 22, told the Chicago . Sun-Times that dreadlocked gunmen driving in a gray sedan fired at . him at the corner of Wood St and 51st before turning north and shooting . up the park. Harris said the three-year-old victim was his nephew, Deonte 'Tay-man' Howard. Deonte was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital. 'They . hit the light pole next to me but I ducked down and ran into the . house,' Harris said. 'They've been coming round here looking for people . to shoot every night -- just gang-banging stuff. It's what they do.' Distressed: A women becomes emotional near the scene of the shooting at Cornell Square Park . Fears: Bystanders gather near the scene of a shooting, which police believe was gang related . Scene: Cornell Square Park in Chicago's Back of the Yard neighborhood where 13 were shot . Corey Brooks, pastor of New . Beginnings Church on the South Side, told the Sun-Times that the bullet . passed through Deonta's face, but did not cause brain damage. 'The family's all here,' he said. 'They're pretty distraught.' Chicago Fire Department officials said . the child was in critical condition. Two other victims were also in . critical condition. The others were reported in serious to fair . condition. The boy was with his mother at the time of the shooting but she was not injured. 'It needs to stop,' the little boy's grandmother, Semehca Nunn, told NBC as she broke down in tears. Investigation: Chicago Police detectives investigate the scene where 13 people including a three-year-old were shot in a city park on the south side of Chicago, Thursday night . Shooters at large: Authorities said no one has been taken into custody in connection with the shooting . Chicago Fire Department officials said the child was in critical condition. Two other victims were also in critical condition. The others were reported in serious to fair condition . 'Y'all are out here killing these . innocent people: kids, parents, grandparents, mothers, fathers. It's got . to stop. Y'all need to stop.' Nunn also lost her son, rapper Jerome 'J Money' Wood, to gun violence just last year. Officer . Amina Greer told the Press Association early this morning that no . arrests have been made and she had no further information to give out at . the time. 'It's an ongoing investigation,' Greer added. A witness told the Tribune at the scene that three police officers carried the child to an ambulance. 'I didn't hear no sounds (from the child),' he said. Rampage: A witness said that dreadlocked men fired at him from a gray sedan before . turning toward Cornell Square Park in Chicago's Back of the Yards . neighborhood and firing at people . The Chicago Fire Department hoses down the scene where at least 13 people were shot. 'It's an ongoing investigation,' police officer Amina Greer said . Violence in the city: The shooting comes nearly three weeks after Chicago saw an outburst of violence over the Labor Day weekend that ended with eight dead and 20 others injured . Kevin Green, 50, said he saw the aftermath of the shooting as paramedics worked to get victims to hospital. 'The women were crying and screaming,' he told the Chicago Sun-Times. 'It was wild.' According . to Greer, at least 10 ambulances responded to the scene and . eye-witnesses estimated that some 60 police officers were on the scene. Police . spokesman Ron Gaines said victims were being interviewed to determine . the circumstances of the shooting. He said no one had been taken into . custody. Francis John, 70, . said she was in her apartment when the shooting occurred. She said she . went down to see what was going on and 'a lot of youngsters were running . scared.' The attackers opened fire at around 10.15pm on Cornell Square Park on the south side of the city hitting at least 13 people . Probe: A police spokesman said victims were being interviewed to determine the circumstances . A 30-year resident, she said she was surprised by what had happened. She . told the Sun-Times there hasn't been much gun violence in the . neighborhood in recent years, adding the neighborhood went from good to . bad 10 years ago, to better recently. The shooting comes nearly three weeks . after Chicago saw an outburst of violence over the Labor Day weekend . that ended with eight dead and 20 others injured. The . city's Police Department has responded to shootings that have grabbed . national headlines by stepping up its crime-fighting efforts, paying . overtime to add patrols to some neighborhoods, including the Back of the . Yards, where Thursday's shooting took place. Protection: At least 10 ambulances responded to the scene, transporting victims to several area hospitals . Concerned: Neighbors said there hasn't been much gun violence . in the neighborhood so they were shocked . Park: The gunfire broke out around 10:15 p.m. and appeared to target a basketball court, pictured top, on the 51st Street side of Cornell Square Park in the Back of the Yards neighborhood . | Gunfire broke out around 10.15pm Thursday and apparently targeted a basketball court in the Back of the Yards neighborhood .
13 people between the ages of three and 41 suffered gunshot wounds .
No suspects were in custody on Thursday night but police said they believed the shooting was gang related . |
fdf32638ef6f6839d02790cc81285a031dc12198 | As rage letters go, they don't come much more furious than the epistle sent to an Australian airline by a passenger seated next to a man as big as 'an infant hippopotamus' and who smelled like 'blue cheese' and a 'Mumbai slum'. Traveller Rich Wisken wrote on a blog that he paid an extra $A25 (£13.50) for an exit row seat, expecting to travel from Perth to Sydney with more room than a normal economy seat. But he found himself seated beside an obese man, leaving him to feel that he was pinned to his seat 'by a fleshy boulder.' Viral: As rage letters go, they don't come much more furious than the epistle sent to an Australian airline by a passenger seated next to a man as big as 'an infant hippopotamus' (file photo) When he tried to change seats, he found those that were empty were taken by passengers who had stretched themselves out to lie in comfort. Mr Wisken returned to his exit row seat and 'it was then I realised that my fate was sealed. 'I made my way back to Jabba the Hutt (the blob creature in Star Wars) and spent the remainder of the flight smothered in side-boob and cellulite, taking shallow breaths to avoid noxious gas poisoning.' It might be gathered by now that Mr Wisken was not at all happy with the four-and-a-half-hour flight and has penned a furious letter to the airline, Jetstar, a subsidiary of Qantas. Mr Wisken was not at all happy with the four-and-a-half-hour flight and has penned a furious letter to the airline, Jetstar, a subsidiary of Qantas . What made his ordeal worse was to find that two days later a flight to Melbourne he'd book with the airline was cancelled, as was a rescheduled flight. On his third attempt, the flight was delayed for two hours. On receiving his angry, but humorous, letter of complaint, Jetstar emailed him with an offer of a $A100 (£54) voucher in compensation, Sydney's Daily Telegraph reports today. 'Awesome work, Jetstar!' he wrote. 'Two of my flights in the past two days have been cancelled. You're so lucky that my favourite pastime is wasting both time and money getting to and from airports. 'Imagine how annoyed someone who doesn't LOVE wasting time and money would feel about this situation. Man, I'd hate to be that guy...' Dear Jetstar... Do you like riddles? I do, that's why I'm starting this letter with . one. What weighs more than a Suzuki Swift, less than a Hummer and smells . like the decaying anus of a deceased homeless man? No idea? How about, . what measures food portions in kilograms and has the personal hygiene of . a French prostitute? Still nothing? Right, one more try. What's fat as . f***, stinks like shit and should be forced to purchase two seats on a . Jetstar flight? That's right, it's the man I sat next to under on my . flight from Perth to Sydney yesterday. As . I boarded the plane, I mentally high-fived myself for paying the . additional $25 for an emergency seat. I was imagining all that extra . room, when I was suddenly distracted by what appeared to be an infant . hippopotamus located halfway down the aisle. As I got closer, I was . relieved to see that it wasn't a dangerous semi-aquatic African mammal, . but a morbidly obese human being. However, this relief was short-lived . when I realised that my seat was located somewhere underneath him. Soon . after I managed to burrow into my seat, I caught what was to be the . first of numerous fetid whiffs of body odour. His scent possessed hints . of blue cheese and Mumbai slum, with nuances of sweaty flesh and human . faeces sprayed with cologne - Eau No. Considering I was visibly under . duress, I found it strange that none of the cabin crew offered me . another seat. To be fair, it's entirely possible that none of them . actually saw me. Perhaps this photo will jog their memories. Pinned . to my seat by a fleshy boulder, I started preparing for a 127 . Hours-like escape. Thankfully though, the beast moved slightly to his . left, which allowed me to stand up, walk to the back of the plane and . politely ask the cabin crew to be seated elsewhere. I didn't catch the . names of the three flight attendants, but for the purpose of this . letter, I'll call them: Chatty 1, Chatty 2 and Giggly (I've given them . all the same surname - Couldnotgiveash***). After my request, Chatty 1 . and Chatty 2 continued their conversation, presumably about how s*** . they are at their jobs, and Giggly, well, she just giggled. I then asked . if I could sit in one of the six vacant seats at the back of the . aircraft, to which Giggly responded, "hehehe, they're for crew only, . hehehe". I think Giggly may be suffering from some form of mental . impairment. I tried to . relocate myself without the assistance of the Couldnotgiveas*** . triplets, but unfortunately everyone with a row to themselves was now . lying down. It was then I realised that my fate was sealed. I made my . way back to Jabba the Hutt and spent the remainder of the flight . smothered in side-boob and cellulite, taking shallow breaths to avoid . noxious gas poisoning. Just before landing, . I revisited the back of the . plane to use the toilet. You could imagine my surprise when I saw both . "crew only" rows occupied by non-crew members. I can only assume Giggly . let them sit there after she forgot who she was and why she's flying on a . big, shiny metal thing in the sky. Imagine . going out for dinner and a movie, only to have your night ruined by a . fat mess who eats half your meal then blocks 50% of the screen. Isn't . that exactly the same as having someone who can't control their calorie . intake occupying half your seat on a flight? Of course it is, so that's . why I'm demanding a full refund of my ticket, including the $25 for an . emergency row seat. I'm . also looking to be compensated for the physical pain and mental . suffering caused by being enveloped in human blubber for four hours. My . lower back is in agony and I had to type this letter one-handed as I'm . yet to regain full use of my left side. If I don't recover completely, . I'll have to say goodbye to my lifelong dream of becoming Air Guitar . World Champion. If that occurs, you will pay.To discuss my generous compensation package, email me at: [email protected], or tweet me at: @RichWiskenNo regards,Rich Wisken. | Traveller Rich Wisken said he paid an extra $A25 (£13.50) for exit row seat .
He was flying from Perth to Sydney and wanted more room .
But he found himself seated beside an obese man . |
fdf32daade10381b684ed0bfa8833708b4819a53 | A mother-of-two lost nine stone after being told she was too fat to have surgery on her varicose veins. Tracy Cairns, 43, had the bulging veins all over her legs and was desperate to get them removed as they were so painful and unsightly. At over 19 stone, she also suffered several other health problems including diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Scroll down for video . Tracy Cairns, 43, lost nine stone after doctors warned she was too fat to have surgery on her varicose veins. She is pictured three months after finally having the operation . Before the diet, she was over 19st and suffered from diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol . Her love of burgers, curry and huge pizzas loaded with cheese had left her with a BMI of 47 and a size 22. However it wasn't until she was told by doctors that varicose vein surgery would be too risky that she decided to lose the weight. Mrs Cairns, a full-time mother, said: 'At the time, I was probably oblivious to how big I was. 'I hid behind baggy clothes and didn't make much of an effort with myself. 'The doctor said I needed an operation as the valves in my veins didn't work properly. 'But he said I would have to lose at least two stone before they could perform the operation. 'I was shocked. How could I let myself get so big that it was too risky for me to have an operation? 'I felt a deep sense of shame.' Surgery is more risky for overweight and obese people. Research has shown that obese patients have a significantly higher risk of complications after surgery, such as heart attack, wound infection, nerve injury, and urinary tract infections. Being overweight also makes varicose veins worse as the extra weight puts more pressure on them. This means they have to work harder to send the blood back to the heart. Mrs Cairns was also suffering from severe varicose veins all over her legs and was desperate to get them removed as they were so painful and unsightly . She says it was being told she was too overweight to have surgery that finally gave her a reason to lose weight . This can put increased pressure on the valves, making them more prone to leaking. After being told the embarrassing news in July 2011, Mrs Cairns joined her local Slimming World group in Killingworth, North Tyneside. In two years she lost 9st, dropping from a size 22 to a size 10. She said: 'I realised I needed to do something to improve my health, so I joined Slimming World and started to going swimming and Zumba. 'Having the operation and getting my legs sorted was my goal. 'Instead of snacking on crisps and chocolates, I switched to fruit and yoghurts.' She also learned to cook all her favourite meals by replacing some of the ingredients with low-fat alternatives. By the time she had reached the top of the NHS waiting list, she had lost an impressive 6st. Looking back, Mrs Cairns said she felt a 'deep sense of shame' over her size. She said: 'How could I let myself get so big that it was too risky for me to have an operation?' Three months after her operation, she beared her legs for the first time while on the beach in Lanzarote on holiday. And three years on, she is now a size 10. Mrs Cairns, who is married to Ali, 41, an IT consultant, said: 'Before I would have been hiding under my tent sized clothes, but now I feel slimmer and much happier. 'I am full of energy and play with my children all the time. I cycle with the kids and even jump on their scooter and walk to the park with them. 'It's also nice being able to go shopping and being able to pick anything off the rail. 'Looking back I am appalled that I allowed myself to get that big - and I'm glad the doctor told me I had to lose the weight. 'I never thought I'd be grateful for varicose veins, but without them, I doubt I would have stuck to healthy eating. 'They have changed my life for the better.' | Tracy Cairns, 43, was desperate to get the painful, unsightly veins removed .
But at 19 stone, doctors said she was too overweight to undergo surgery .
Comment spurred her on to lose weight and she shed 9st over three years .
Says: 'I was oblivious to how big I was - I can't believe I got so fat'
Now a size 10 and has the confidence to bear her legs after having surgery . |
fdf394107758fb111a62b7a2925120f4dcb88e01 | By . Sean O'hare . PUBLISHED: . 13:12 EST, 23 November 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 13:45 EST, 23 November 2012 . These are the amazing models of animals that are so intricate they can sell for up to £2,200 - despite being made of just paper. Bernard Peyton, 62, has been making origami creatures for the last 53 years after being inspired by a visit to the zoo. The talented artist uses just a square or rectangle of paper and folds it multiple times to create the three-dimensional shapes. He has made a huge selection of animals including snakes, bears, fish, birds, insects and lizards out of single sheets of paper. Scroll down for video . Pricey: This elephant and calf could fetch as much as £2,000 - despite being made of just paper . Impressive: Bernard Peyton makes no incisions at all and creates the artwork, like this ox head by carefully making creases and folds in the card . Intricate: To make this mystical fox, Mr Peyton glues hand made paper with long fibres together using methyl-cellulose, a kind of wallpaper paste . Expert: Bernard Peyton's two bats . He makes no incisions at all and creates the artwork by carefully making creases and folds in the card. Each figure varies in size with some of the bigger pieces measuring more than 3ft, which often require wire supports inside. The origami has sold for prices between £9.50 and £2,200 and some of the designs are due to be published in a book named Eco-Origami by Nicolas Terry. Bernard, a wildlife biologist from California, US, said: 'I started origami at the age of nine when my step-father came home with an origami book. 'I started making animals after my mother took me to the Bronx Zoo in New York and from that moment I was baptised with awe for animals. 'My first original designs were made from something called paper-foil which is made by gluing tissue paper onto tin foil. Towering: Bernard Peyton's Cactus . Technique: Mr Peyton made this leaf cutter ants using just a square or rectangle of paper and folds it multiple times to create the three-dimensional shapes. Experience: Peyton has been making origami creatures, like these bed bugs, for the last 53-years after being inspired by a visit to the zoo. Size: Each figure varies in size with . some of the bigger pieces measuring more than 3ft, which often require . wire supports inside. Here we have a swimming polar bear. 'Now I glue hand made paper with long fibres together using methyl-cellulose, a kind of wallpaper paste. 'The long fibres prevent tearing, and allow me to fold the paper slightly damp. 'The later technique makes it easier to fold creases that are not so sharp, and use the paper more like clay to sculpt forms. 'Once I am happy with a design, I twist and crunch as much natural behavior out of it as possible, adding or taking out details. VIDEO: Bernard Peyton describes how . he makes his amazing Origami . 'I have sold work from £9.50 to £2,200, the latter taking a month to design and more than a week to make. 'I start by providing a client concept drawings of the finished piece and choices of colour, and scale. 'I also put armatures inside bigger pieces made of wire, wood, cloth, or plastic resin, the latter can take a third of the time to finish the piece.' Clever: Two bear cubs fighting. Both bears are made from one single sheet of paper . Exquisite: Bernard Peyton's . two quarrelling birds of prey . Masterpiece: This lying bear is on sale for more than $500 . Detail: One of Bernard Peyton's leaf cutting ants carrying a scrap piece of paper torn from a street map . | Bernard Peyton, 62, has been making origami creatures for last 53 years .
His most expensive work sold for £2,200 . |
fdf3c7361ecad1a0e6e2ba06198ce28b6de8fcdb | By . Stuart Woledge . PUBLISHED: . 12:31 EST, 11 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:25 EST, 11 September 2013 . Tragedy: Rhiannon Priestley was hit by 10 vehicles while trying to get help after a crash . A young woman survived a horror car crash only to be tragically killed when she was hit by up to 10 vehicles while trying to get help. Rhiannon Priestley lost control of her car on the M4 near Bristol and veered across two lanes of traffic, before crashing down the verge and into a tree with 'considerable force', an inquest heard. The 20-year-old's black Volkswagon Polo then flipped on to its roof, leaving her with head injuries, on the westbound carriageway near junction 19 on October 13 last year. Records show she may have been on her . mobile phone at the time of the accident and a toxicology report found . evidence of cocaine in her system. About half an hour after coming off the road, the fashion retail assistant pulled herself from the wreckage and walked up the verge, Avon Coroner's Court heard. But it is believed she became disorientated while trying to get help from other drivers on the motorway and ran on to the road. She was struck by two oncoming cars and knocked to the ground. Up to eight other vehicles then ran over Miss Priestley as she lay on the slip road. It is not known which collision caused her death. Miss Priestley had spent the evening with friends in Bath, Somerset. She left at about 8.30pm, with friends believing she was returning to the home she shared with her parents in Batheaston. But CCTV images captured Miss Priestley . driving along the M4 towards Bristol at around midnight. It is not known how fast she was driving. Phone . records show Miss Priestley had a conversation with her boyfriend at 12.08am. The court heard she had argued with him earlier that evening. Police attempts to take a statement from her boyfriend had not been successful, the inquest was told. Pc . David Watson, a collision investigator at Avon and Somerset Police, . said: 'The conversation terminated less than five minutes later. 'Despite repeated calls and text messages, Miss Priestley did not respond. 'CCTV footage shows . Rhiannon at 12.12am travelling in lane three, who then swerved for an . unknown reason and left the carriageway and went on to the grass verge. 'The location of the car and the extent of its damage suggests that it had struck a tree with considerable force.' Blood . was found on the airbag suggesting she suffered head or facial injuries, but managed to escape the wreckage at about 12.44am. Pc Watson added: 'There . was evidence of some injury to her head or face. She exited her car, . probably via the driver door and climbed up the grass verge. 'It . is likely she was going to ask for assistance from other motorists, she . may have been disorientated as she approached the edge of the . motorway.' Miss Priestley was first 'brushed' by . driver Andrew Maybee in his Vauxhall car, before being hit by Miguel Andrews . in his Daihatsu van at around 12.48am. Fatal: Miss Priestley was travelling along the M4 near junction 19 when she veered off the road . Mr Andrews told the court: 'All of a sudden I saw somebody ran towards the car. It was so fast I didn’t have time to react. 'It just looked as if they were running in panic. It was so quick I couldn’t process what was happening before the impact.' Mr Andrews added he pulled over and saw the front of his vehicle was damaged. Miss Priestley was pushed onto the slip road of the motorway by the force of the collision. Up to eight other vehicles then drove over Miss Priestley, as she lay on the slip road, unable to see her in the darkness. Avon Coroner Maria Voisin said a postmortem examination showed Miss Priestley died from multiple injuries. Toxicology tests found she had 'recent exposure' to cocaine, though it was not possible to establish how much she had taken. There were no traces of alcohol in her system. The coroner recorded a verdict of death by road traffic collision. Speaking outside the court, Miss Priestley’s father Will said the family were devastated by her death. 'The loss of Rhiannon is unbearable We will never understand why Rhi and many other alike are taken,' he said. 'Fortunately for us Rhiannon has three older sisters and our family remains strong. 'But all of us, together with her many friends who sincerely loved her, are still feeling immense pain. 'There were a number of factors which conspired on the night to cause the accident and for whatever reason Rhiannon was not fortunate to get a second chance.' | Rhiannon Priestley, 20, lost control of her car on the M4 last October .
She veered off the road and down the verge before crashing into a tree .
Half an hour later she appeared back on the road looking disorientated .
She was struck by two passing cars and run over by at least eight others .
Records show she may have been on her mobile just before her crash .
Evidence of cocaine use was found in the fashion retail assistant's body . |
fdf4d64a309e93c606ea718fff9306b2e39c2f55 | (CNN) -- Mourners flooded social media with messages of grief following the death of Brittany Maynard, who took her own life Saturday in the face of a debilitating brain cancer. "Happy to see that Brittany Maynard ended her journey in the dignified way she'd hoped to. RIP," tweeted Austin Wintory, typical of the majority of the sentiments. "I truly believe Brittany had a major purpose in this life," Cathy Reidy of New York wrote in the guest book on Maynard's obituary on Legacy.com. "She shed light on an issue that leaves America thinking." Criticism after Maynard's death was muted, but people who oppose assisted suicide had made their feelings known earlier. Maggie Karner, a woman with the same brain cancer, posted an October 29 open letter to Maynard on YouTube. "All of us are feeling your loss, your pain," Karner said. "Nobody is judging, but people are watching." Karner compared Maynard to someone standing on a ledge, threatening to jump. Normally, people on the ground urge the person not to jump and remind them of reasons to live, she said. "What would happen if our society decided to yell to that ledge jumper, 'Yeah, you're right, there isn't a better way. Go ahead,'" Karner asked. In an article published October 10 on the Federalist website, Karner wrote that Maynard may have wanted to control when she died but "As for my cancer journey, circumstances out of my control are not the worst thing that can happen to me. The worst thing would be losing faith, refusing to trust in God's purpose in my life and trying to grab that control myself." Karner is scheduled to appear Monday night on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront." Maynard wrote CNN opinion piece . Maynard addressed the issue of choice last month in an opinion piece written for CNN. "I would not tell anyone else that he or she should choose death with dignity," she said. "My question is: Who has the right to tell me that I don't deserve this choice? That I deserve to suffer for weeks or months in tremendous amounts of physical and emotional pain? Why should anyone have the right to make that choice for me?" Maynard died Saturday in Oregon, according to an obituary posted on her website. The pretty, just-married 29-year-old had turned herself into the newest face identified with the assisted suicide movement by talking openly about her plans to die. She left with an upbeat message at the end of the obit. "It is people who pause to appreciate life and give thanks who are happiest," she wrote in her final message. "If we change our thoughts, we change our world! Love and peace to you all." Opponents cite religious reasons . People who voiced opposition to assisted suicide often gave religious reasons. For instance, Pamela Couvrette, who has a painful disease, posted an open letter to Maynard on October 12 on her blog, Guarding the Deposit. "When I die it will be on His timetable and by His method despite my weak moments when I am hoping that day will come sooner rather than later," wrote Couvrette, who identifies herself as a former atheist. Couvrette wrote that she has hyperacusis, which "makes normal everyday noises very painful." "Suicide has been an answer to some in my situation," Couvrette wrote. "I want to tell you why it's not an answer for me." In a discussion thread on Reddit, a poster going by Forestpixie blasted "religious families that insist on us keeping their dead body family member alive." "I think this really speaks to their ignorance of science and medicine," Forestpixie wrote. "They refuse to accept what's really going on, and want to believe their loved one is still in there (they're not), and that perhaps by some miracle they will return to perfect health." 'Her comments bothered me' Another Reddit poster questioned the use of the word "brave" to describe Maynard. "I saw someone say something like: 'if she is brave for killing herself, then what are the thousands of cancer patients that fight to the death?' I kind of understand the sentiment, but at the end of the day, when you think about it, why can't both decisions be brave? And who ... are we to decide what is brave and what isn't?" One Reddit poster questioned Maynard's decision to go public. Wrote SitYoureLegosTheir: "Her comments bothered me as they seemed to try and justify HER need but dismiss that of other sufferers she deemed to not have a valid reason to end their life." In the Twitterverse, two posters were less ambivalent: "Any way you look at it, suicide is wrong because it does not end suffering, it ends hope," tweeted ZEFFeREEN . "Brittany Maynard...W/ THE HELP OF FAMILY & FRIENDS, SUICIDE IS MURDERING YOURSELF & A ACT AGAINST GOD'S LAW MAKING YOU WRONG!!!!!" tweeted Jesse Joseph Realmo. Lisa Moreno of Fayetteville, North Carolina, posted a goodbye to Maynard on her obit guest book page. "Farewell Brittany I know u are with the angels in heaven I know u are at peace now u will be missed." | Brittany Maynard, a death-with-dignity advocate, took her own life Saturday .
People mourning Maynard filled social media with expressions of grief .
A woman with a similar brain cancer writes that she'd never consider suicide .
Reddit poster says assisted suicide critics display "ignorance of science and medicine" |
fdf5128ffc1e7cb80887c0224f95e0958312b7bd | By . Charles Sale . West Ham striker Andy Carroll received a bigger shock than his harsh sending off against Swansea when he returned to the Upton Park dressing room...Sky Sports News’ glamorous presenter Charlie Webster was in the ice bath! An exhausted Webster had been given full use of the Hammers physio and treatment facilities after finishing a 250-mile charity run via 40 football grounds in aid of Women’s Aid. She had taken a bow in the centre circle during half-time. Webster was in the middle of a much-needed recovery session when Carroll came back prematurely after being given his marching orders on the hour. Sportingly, the striker allowed Webster to stay in the bath while he used an ice bucket for his post-match routine instead. VIDEO Scroll down for Charlie Webster's sexy FHM shoot . Seeing red: Andy Carroll was sent off during West Ham's 2-0 win against Swansea . Achievement: Charlie Webster (above) finished a 250-mile run for Women's Aid . Recovery: Carroll was shocked to find Webster (above) in an ice bath at Upton Park . Controversial: Webster angered Sky Sports News colleagues when she posed for an FHM photshoot . All smiles: Charlie Webster at the launch of a Bear Grylls TV series . Expert care: Webster gets some treatment at Bolton Wanderers during her charity challenge . Webster, before the start of her marathon to highlight the battle against domestic violence, had revealed she had been sexually assaulted by her athletics coach when she was 15. She infuriated some of her SSN colleagues last March when she posed scantily clad for lads mag FHM when Sky were promoting women in sport. How long can the RFU justify their annual seven-figure spend on their 50-odd councillor blazers whose travel and accommodation to all Six Nations games are met by Twickenham? The Paris trip included dinner on the Friday, lunch and dinner on the Saturday ands a lavish spread — foie gras and all — straight after the game. No wonder the other unions have refused to feed the English blazers’ partners. Tradition: Stuart Lancaster has no qualms with the post-match Six Nations banquets . In these days of elite athlete management of all nutritional needs, it seems outdated that England’s rugby team still have to attend post-match Six Nations banquets. Head coach Stuart Lancaster, has no complaints. However, England have brought in a strict 50-minute recovery time for players after games this season to ensure they’re not rushed off to dine with the blazers. .......................................................... Premiership rugby were making great play that January 31 was the deadline for sorting out the European club impasse or they would go their own way. However, such is the dysfunction, the RFU high command in Paris felt under no such time pressure to find a solution with the Six Nations kicking off. .......................................................... Members of the Lords and Commons all-party rugby team could be seen downing the San Miguels soon after leaving St Pancras on the 7am Eurostar last Friday and were still going strong well past midnight in the bars of St Germain in Paris. In the circumstances, the side, led by scrum-half Labour MP Paul Farrelly, did well to draw 10-10 with the French Parliamentarians the following day. .......................................................... England have got it clicked . England cricket’s over-reliance on . sports science analysis is seen as one area where the Andy Flower-led . regime might have got it wrong during the Ashes debacle. The . array of desktop screens, laptops and tablets operated by two . performance analysts in front of Stuart Lancaster, Andy Farrell and . Graeme Rowntree at the Stade de France shows the appliance of science is . of even higher importance to England rugby. Busy man: Gary Neville has given up his Mail on Sunday newspaper column . Gary Neville giving up his Sunday . newspaper column is the first sign - not before time - of him realising . that his media commitments, mainly as the lead Sky football pundit plus . his Manchester United ambassador position, do not sit comfortably with . his role as an England coach in a World Cup year. The Football League have prevaricated all season about taking action over manager Billy Davies’s agent Jim Price effectively running Nottingham Forest having not passed the owners’ and directors’ test. So how long will it take them to rule on Cagliari owner Massimo Cellino’s controversial 75 per cent takeover at Leeds? This is especially when his advisors in England, Italy and the United States are strongly contesting that Cellino’s suspended sentences for fraud in 1996 and 2001 were politically motivated, as was his arrest a year ago on suspicion of attempted embezzlement concerning the building of Cagliari’s new football stadium. Rule: The Football League are yet to act on Massimo Cellino's controversial 75 per cent takeover at Leeds . | Andy Carroll walks in on Charlie Webster in an ice bath after getting sent off for West Ham .
Webster had completed a 250-mile charity run for Women's Aid .
Gary Neville writes his final column for Mail on Sunday .
Stuart Lancaster happy to continue with post Six Nations banquets . |
fdf5345feaf7bf6ca7b6f9adb8a7e8c7be62def8 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 19:41 EST, 12 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 20:33 EST, 12 March 2014 . A federal judge Wednesday dismissed charges against a diplomat whose New York arrest and strip search spurred an international flap. A ruling filed today said Devyani Khobragade, India's former deputy consul-general, had diplomatic immunity when she was indicted on charges of fraudulently obtaining a work visa for her housekeeper and lying about the maid's pay January 9. But the ruling leaves open the possibility prosecutors could bring a new indictment against her. The U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan hasn't commented on its plans. Cleared: A federal judge dismissed charges against Devyani Khobragade, 39, saying she had diplomatic immunity when she was indicted on charges of fraudulently obtaining a work visa for her housekeeper . Khobragade's attorney, Daniel Arshack, said she feels the rule of law prevailed. ‘The law requires that any prosecution brought against an individual with diplomatic immunity must be dismissed, Arshack said. After . being indicted, she complied with a Department of State order to leave . the U.S. in January. The Indian government then asked Washington to . withdraw a diplomat from the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. The U.S. complied. Prosecutors accused Khobragade of making Sangeeta Richard, her housekeeper and nanny, work 100-hour weeks at a salary of just over $1 an hour, far below the legal minimum U.S. wage of $7.25 an hour. They argued that the indictment should stand because Khobragade did not have diplomatic immunity either when she was arrested, or now given that she has left the country. New life: Khobragade's attorney said the mother of two is now working for India's foreign affairs ministry in Delhi . U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin said, however, Khobragade had that immunity on January 9 when the indictment was issued, having the day before been named a counselor to India's mission to the United Nations. ‘Even if Khobragade had no immunity at the time of her arrest and has none now, her acquisition of immunity during the pendency of proceedings mandates dismissal.’ she wrote. ‘The government may not proceed on an indictment obtained when Khobragade was immune from the jurisdiction of the court.’ She also lifted Khobragade's bail and said open arrest warrants based on the indictment must be thrown out. Khobragade is now working for India's foreign affairs ministry in Delhi, said her U.S. lawyer.Federal prosecutors have not said whether they will seek a new indictment. Back home: Devyani Khobragade is pictured with her father, left, as she arrives back in Delhi in January . ‘As the court indicated in its . decision, and as Devyani Khobragade has conceded, there is currently no . bar to a new indictment against her for her alleged criminal conduct, . and we intend to proceed accordingly,’ said James Margolin, a spokesman . for U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan. In . January, Khobragade, 39, told an Indian newspaper about her ‘immense . stress’ at leaving behind her daughters - aged seven and four - in New . York along with her husband, who is a U.S. citizen and works as an . academic. ‘I wonder if I will be able to ever reunite with my family, my husband, my little kids. I miss them,’ she told The Sunday Express at the time. Khobragade was charged by a federal grand jury in Manhattan earlier this year with visa fraud and making false statements in a case that has triggered an outcry in India. She was accused of fraudulently obtaining a work visa for her New York City housekeeper. The indictment said Khobragade had made multiple false representations to U.S. authorities, or caused them to be made, to obtain a visa for a personal domestic worker. Khobragade, 39, was accused of exploiting her . Indian-born housekeeper and nanny by paying her well under the U.S. minimum wage . Philip Richard, the husband of housekeeper . Sangeeta Richard (pictured), filed a court petition in New Delhi saying . that his wife was being worked from 6am to 11pm every day by diplomat . Devyani Khobragade . She planned to bring the worker to the . United States in September 2012 when she worked at the Consulate General . of India in New York, according to the indictment. Khobragade, . 39, India's deputy consul general in New York, has maintained her . innocence to accusations that she claimed to pay her Indian maid $4,500 . per month but actually gave her far less than the U.S. minimum wage. Her . arrest sparked outrage in India after revelations that she . was strip-searched and thrown in a cell with other criminal defendants . before being released on $250,000 bail. In . a letter to the judge, prosecutors said there was no need for an . arraignment because Khobragade had 'very recently' been given diplomatic . immunity status to leave the United States. Devyani Khobragade was arrested December 2013 after being accused of lying on a visa application for her . housekeeper and paying her only $3 per hour . | Devyani Khobragade left the US in January after being charged with visa fraud in trying to obtain a work visa for her NYC housekeeper .
Her husband, a US citizen, and two daughters - aged seven and four - remain in New York .
Federal judge ruled Wednesday that the 39-year-old embassy official had diplomatic immunity at the time of her indictment .
Khobragade's attorney said his client feels that rule of law prevailed . |
fdf5df8dc84ccb8e34c4e30ab71d4a7259ff748b | A former girlfriend of George Soros had her civil case against the billionaire businessman thrown out after a sudden outburst in court on Thursday. Adriana Ferreyr, 31, had filed a $50million lawsuit against the 84-year-old after the two split in 2011, saying he had given away a $1.9million apartment promised to her to girlfriend Tamiko Bolton, who is now his wife, and alleging that he also inflicted emotional damage by slapping her during a fight and having his security guards 'stalk' her. The entire suit was dismissed though by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Debra James after an incident in which Ferreyr 'lunged at her ex-boyfriend’s lawyer during a Manhattan court hearing and angrily snatched away legal papers while yelling.' Adriana Ferreyr (above) had her $50million lawsuit against ex George Soros thrown out in a Manhattan court on Thursday . This all comes almost one year to the day that Ferreyr allegedly called Soros a 'f***ing a**hole' and then lunged at him, knocking his glasses of his head during a deposition. The New York Post reports that on Thursday, Ferryr, who is currently representing herself having gone through three sets of lawyers, had been convinced by Judge James to sign 'medical release forms related to injuries she allegedly sustained from Soros.' Almost as soon as she signed them though, she had a sudden change of heart. According to a witness, she lunged at Soros' lawyer, Andrew Brettler, and 'aggressively' snatched the folder from him. 'She got angry' said a source. 'At one point she blurted out, "They’re going to get the information and reveal it to the press to embarrass me."' Ferreyr, now 31, and Soros, now 84, dated for five years, ending their relationship in 2001 . Ferreyr (above with former lawyer William Beslow) has vowed to hire a new lawyer and keep fighting the case . That is when Judge James announced; 'That’s it. Case dismissed. Your behavior is contemptuous.' Ferreyr disputes these claims though, admitting that while she was 'upset,' she had just reached across the table to get a piece of paper she signed which was unrelated to her case. She also vowed that she would hire a new lawyer and continue to fight her case. In June of last year, Soros offered Ferryr a settlement of $6.9million, which she reportedly declined. | Adriana Ferreyr, the ex-girlfriend of billionaire George Soros, had her $50million lawsuit against him throw out in court on Thursday .
This after she 'lunged at his attorney and ripped a file full of court papers out of his hands'
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Debra James called her behavior 'contemptuous' as she dismissed the case .
This all came just one year after Ferreyr allegedly called Soros a 'f***ing a**hole' at a deposition and knocked his glasses off his head .
Ferryr was suing Soros over a $1.9million apartment she claims he promised her along with alleging he inflicted emotional damage on her .
She claims she was simply 'upset' and trying to take back a paper she did not mean to sign, and would hire a new lawyer to fight her case . |
fdf611ccb8f05232148ba9b5b430578eee56c746 | Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia's guitar may help solve a 24-year-old homicide case of an unidentified woman dubbed the 'Tiger Lady' for the signature tattoo on her left leg. New Jersey State Police recently released sketches of the crude tiger tattoo in November, and immediately started receiving a flurry of tips from Deadheads who said it based a striking resemblance to a similar design on the guitar Garcia used from 1979 until 1995. 'It's indubitable a take on Jerry's guitar,' Dennis McNally, a longtime publicist for the band, told NJ.com. Scroll down for video . A break in the case? The picture on the left shows the tattoo found on a homicide victim's body in October 1991. Police released the sketch this past November, and received tips pointing to the connection to a detail on Grateful dead frontman Jerry Garcia's guitar (right) The connection to the Grateful Dead provides a crucial bit of evidence in a case where investigators were left stumped by a lack of clues. And it makes sense too - the Grateful Dead played a series of concerts in the area in the weeks leading up to the mystery woman's death. Similar design: Jerry Garcia used the guitar with the tiger detail from 1979 until 1995 . The naked body of the Tiger Lady was found decomposing on the side of the Route 94 turnoff in New Jersey on October 26, 1991. Police suspected foul play in her death, but didn't know where to turn since they could neither identify her or figure out the cause of death. No drugs or alcohol were found in her system after a toxicology report and there was no sign of traumatic injuries such as blunt force or bullet wounds. At the time, it was estimated that she died about 10 days before. But experts say the decomposition of the body could have happened over a longer period of time. If so, she could have died sometime between September 8 - 18, when the Grateful Dead were playing nine back to back shows at nearby Madison Square Garden. 'The potential connection to the Grateful Dead touring in the area is something the detectives will look at,' said Sgt. Jeff Flynn, a spokesman for the New Jersey State Police. 'With social media, we can get new eyes on this case. With cold cases, you have to look at any new leads that pop up.' At the time, the only piece of evidence on the Tiger Lady's body for police to investigate was the tattoo, and they were successful in finding the ink supplier - Spaulding and Rogers of Vooheesville, New York. Who is she? Above, a sketch of the victim simply known as the Tiger Lady. Police are hoping the new connection to the Grateful Dead will help solve the case . Spaulding and Rogers helped out with the investigation, sending more than 20,000 fliers to tattoo artists they supplied in hopes that someone would recognize the design and be able to identify the woman. Now that police believe the victim was a potential Deadhead, they may have better luck since the community is close knit and have groups dedicated to aiding in these investigations. Those within the community say Deadheads were targeted when the band was still touring, since they were generally considered to be trusting people. 'It was assumed you were a good person, because you were a Deadhead,' McNally said. 'It was certainly an ideal environment if some twisted individual wanted to prey on people. This was an audience almost uniquely susceptible.We had some horrible things happen.' One Deadhead also pointed out a detail of the homicide that could further prove the woman was a fan of the band. 'It would make sense that she was found as naked as she was,' added Cunha. 'The people that she would have been with would have known she would be identified from the tie-dye, the jewelry.' | A woman was found dead on the side of a New Jersey road in October 1991, with a tiger tattoo on her left leg .
Police released a sketch of the tattoo last month, and received tips showing the similarity to a design on Jerry Garcia's guitar .
The Grateful Dead were playing a series of nine shows around the time that the woman is thought to have died . |
fdf65d1a0596d79a938879990a79f04dc831b865 | (CNN) -- Martin Luther King Jr. fought and died so blacks would no longer be viewed as inferior but rather enjoy the same inherent rights given to whites in America. Yet in 2014, 50 years since the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the West View News thinks it's appropriate to publish a story about our first black president, Barack Obama, with the headline, "The Nigger in the White House." Oh, the times we are living in. All I could do was feel sick to my stomach when I read the headline that the monthly newspaper serving Manhattan's Lower West Side published. And it brought up the pain my family went through nearly four decades ago. Not only is the word reprehensible but also why would an editor of a newspaper use the n-word in a headline about America's first black president? As a black woman who is a dogged critic of Obama's policies and his presidency and also happens to be the daughter of parents who grew up in the segregated South and were called that word, I find the headline disgusting and reprehensible to say about the nation's first black President, even if the author claimed he was actually writing in support of the President. The article, written by an 86-year-old white man, James Lincoln Collier, supports Obama, noting, "far right voters hate Obama because he is black." "That was the whole point in this, that a great many people in the United States continue to think of President Obama as the n****r, and I wanted to make that point, that there's a substantial amount of racism still existing in the United States," Collier told CNN's Don Lemon on Monday. I guess Collier could be a liberal but in his heart still feels it is OK to use that word to describe Obama. Clearly, no political party owns racism and that's just the problem. For the record, I don't think it's OK for blacks to call each other the word either or for so-called black hip-hop artists to lace their music with the word like they're saying the "hello." Still, despite all the major achievements of blacks before and since the Civil Rights movement, most notably the attaining the highest office in the land, many whites in this country have a deep-seated hatred toward blacks and will never view us as equal. They even think they are complimenting us when they call us that word. And at the end of the day, that's all we're considered, no matter what we do or accomplish. In a pathetic attempt to defend using the headline, the West View News' editor, George Capsis, told the New York Post: . "In this article, however, Jim reminded me that The New York Times avoids using the word which convinced me that West View should." Capsis defends his decision as wanting to be provocative and "out do" the Times. I think it's more plain that. It seems the only way Capsis thought to praise a black President was to use a racist word to disparage him. The entire incident shows how far America has to yet to go in race relations. Remember, this is 2014. Not 1977. That's when I was just a child and my parents had to sue the Salisbury Country Club in Chesterfield, Virginia, suburb of Richmond, Virginia, for denying them membership a private club in our neighborhood only because we were black. It was then I learned about racism, specifically, that no matter what, some white people just hate black people for no other reason than the color of their skin. My father (Dr. Thomas Wright Jr., an accomplished dentist) and mother (Barbara B. Wright) had moved into their dream home they had spent a year building and applied for membership to the club their kids could ride their bikes to and learn how to swim and play tennis. But in the summer of 1977, the club's all-white board of directors voted to reject my parents' membership application. The all-white board also rejected the family of NFL all-pro star Willie Lanier. The club had no black members and no white applicant had ever been denied membership to the club. Part of the reason my parents built a home in Salisbury was because the real estate developers of the subdivision advertised homeowners could enjoy club membership. They just failed to mention it was a perk available to "white-only homeowners." After my parents got rejected, one of the co-developers, J. Kenneth Timmons, sent a letter to the Salisbury Country Club board of directors congratulating them on a job well-done and told them to "continue to act in the same responsible way," according to June 5, 1980, Richmond Times-Dispatch article "Club Fight Tires Black Dentist." Like the author in the West View News, Timmons didn't use the n-word to refer to my parents in the body of his letter. But he may as well have because that's how he viewed them. After a lower court ruled against my parents, they appealed to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which unanimously ruled on September 30, 1980, my parents had been discriminated against. My parents never joined the club. It wasn't about the membership. It was about respect and teaching their three children about doing what was right and "responsible." Just before the ruling was handed down, my father was quoted saying: . "You can't believe it's 1980, and they're still doing this thing." Sadly, it's 2014 and Dad, they're still doing the same thing, only this time to the President of the United States. Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion. | Crystal Wright says the use of the n-word to describe the President was reprehensible .
An 86 year-old writer used the term in a recent headline in a New York newspaper .
In 1977, Wright's family was refused admission into an all-white country club . |
fdf6972d17f11f053238a5454e2baf028f8950e4 | A prankster has registered a x-rated website domain in the name of a married Texas Republican congressman. Father-of-two Blake Farenthold is supposedly signed up for the address 'Blow-me.org', according to the internet database Whoisology. The email address and telephone number on the listing links back to the Tea Party member's Elect Blake Farenthold Committee. Prank victim? Father-of-two Blake Farenthold is supposedly signed up for the address 'Blow-me.org', according to the internet database Whoisology . The contact details are also related to the congressman's computing business, Farenthold Consulting Group, that he set up in 1996. Farenthold, who has represented Texas's 27th congressional district since 2011, has yet to comment on the issue. During his campaign, a photo of him posing in his 'duckie' pyjamas next to a lingerie model at a fundraiser was released. He had innocently attended the event at a local bar, but Democrat incumbent Solomon Ortiz wasted no time running an advert with the image, and others of Mr Farenthold drinking alcohol and attending other celebrations. The opponent said that Mr Farenthold plans to give the rich bankers on Wall Street a 'trillion-dollar tax cut'. In April of this year, Farenthold told Attorney General Eric Holder that he should be in jail rather than answering questions during a Capitol Hill Hearing. I'm committed to maintaining the constitutional balance of power and the authority that this legislative branch has,' Farenthold said, 'and I just don’t think it’s appropriate that Mr. Holder be here.' 'If an American citizen had not complied with one of the Justice Department’s subpoenas, they would be in jail and not sitting here in front of me testifying.' Franenthold is yet to comment on the revelations. The website for his computing firm reads: 'Farenthold Consulting is a computer consulting firm specializing in helping professionals use technology to become more productive. We'll help you design, purchase, maintain, and use your computers. 'We'll also help your business connect to and design a presence on the Internet. We don't sell anything but our professional service.' Past picture: During his congressional campaign in 2011, a photo of Farenthold posing next to a lingerie-clad model during a fundraiser was released . | Blake Farenthold is supposedly signed up for 'Blow-me.org'
Phone number and email address linked to his election campaign .
Has represented Texas' 27th congressional district since 2011 .
In 2010 he was photographed wearing pyjamas next to a lingerie model . |
fdf6f4b1c479bc5a762e17609823d8d27d1e6c03 | By . Emma Glanfield . These incredible pictures reveal the stunning yet stark contrast between the bright lights of London and the peaceful tranquility of the English countryside. Italian-born photographer Alessio Andreani, who now lives in London, has spent weeks capturing iconic images of some of the most famous landmarks in the capital including the Houses of Parliament, the Shard and Battersea Power Station. In contrast, the 26-year-old has also spent time in Cornwall shooting some of the country’s most beautiful and rugged landscape including the coastline at Land’s End and St Ives. Italian-born photographer Alessio Andreani, who now lives in London, has shown the stark yet contrast of the capital with the English countryside and recently visited Cornwall to capture these stunning images of the British coastline. Pictured: Carnewas and Bedruthan Steps on the north Cornish coast between Padstow and Newquay . The 26-year-old has spent time in Cornwall recently shooting some of the UK's most beautiful and rugged landscape including the coastline at St Ives (pictured) Mr Andreani, who now lives in London after moving from Italy, has spent weeks capturing iconic images of some of the most famous landmarks in the capital including the Houses of Parliament, the Shard and Battersea Power Station (above) Mr Andreani, who spends hours in each location to familiarise himself before photographing the landscape, said that despite the contrasting differences, he found some similarities between the differing locations. He said: ‘I've really challenged myself to take pictures in a different environment. ‘I visited Cornwall to find the beautiful natural landscapes that I'm used to seeing in my home country. ‘As a result I found a nice contrast, but I noticed some similarities too - between nature and man-made landscapes. ‘I like the symmetry you see in the cityscapes, like in the shot with the Millennium Bridge and St Paul's dome or the shiny beauty of the Shard. The photographer, who took up his passion in 2008, has taken images all over the world. Pictured: Battersea Power Station overlooking the River Thames . Mr Andreani said: 'I like the symmetry you see in the cityscapes, like in the shot with the Millennium Bridge and St Paul's dome or the shiny beauty of the Shard' The landscape photographer said he spends several hours at each location before taking the stunning images and likes to watch the sunrise or sunset . ‘The hard shapes and shiny surfaces are so different from the nature but they works great in the same way.’ The landscape photographer, who has taken images all over the world, said he particularly shooting along the English coastline. During his recent trip to Cornwall, he spent time at Land's End, as well as in the quaint seaside town of St Ives and captured stunning images at Carnewas and Bedruthan Steps on the north Cornish coast between Padstow and Newquay. Mr Andreani said that despite the contrasting differences between the bustling atmosphere of London and the tranquility of Cornwall, he actually found some similarities between the differing locations, especially the symmetry. Pictured: The Shard overlooking the River Thames . Mr Andreani said: 'I love the beauty found in the natural setting and the powerful forces that have created cliffs and natural arches. It's really amazing and peaceful to admire during a sunset or sunrise.' Pictured: The sun breaks over Land's End in Cornwall . During a recent trip to Cornwall, Mr Andreani, 26, spent time photographing the coastline of the quaint seaside town of St Ives (pictured) He said: ‘I arrive at the location hours before I start shooting. I like to have time to enjoy the place and find the best spot.’ ‘I love the beauty found in the natural setting and the powerful forces that have created cliffs and natural arches. ‘It's really amazing and peaceful to admire during a sunset or sunrise.’ | Italian-born photographer Alessio Andreani, 26, has photographed some of London's most famous landmarks .
Images include the Houses of Parliament, Shard, St Paul's Cathedral, Millennium Bridge and Battersea Power Station .
The landscape photographer, who now lives in London, has also spent time shooting the rugged coastline in Cornwall .
He visited Land's End, the quaint seaside town of St Ives and the north Cornish coast between Padstow and Newquay . |
fdf6f6e3496e469a80527b918e3fe10d954a0017 | By . Helen Pow . Charged: Qawmane Wilson, 24, pictured, has been charged with murder and home invasion in the September 2012 death of his mother, Yolanda Holmes, 45, who was a well-known owner of a beauty salon . A Chicago man is accused of plotting his mother's murder to get access to $90,000 of savings and her two life insurance policies. Qawmane Wilson, 24, of North Austin, has been charged with murder and home invasion in the September 2012 death of his mother, Yolanda Holmes, 45, a well-known owner of a beauty salon, whose name is tattooed on his shoulder. Wilson's friends Eugene Spencer, 22, and Loriana Johnson, 23, are also charged in the slaying. Prosecutors say Spencer killed Holmes, and Johnson served as Spencer's driver. On Tuesday, Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois, Jr. called the murder a 'heinous act' and ordered all three suspects held without bail. Immediately following the hearing, a relative of both Wilson and Holmes collapsed in the hall outside bond court, sobbing, the Chicago Tribune reported. Holmes was the owner of the Nappy Headz salon in Uptown Chicago. She was killed at around 4:15 a.m. September 2 at her home in the 1000 block of West Montrose Avenue, authorities said. She died of multiple stab wounds and a gunshot wound to her head. Wilson was arrested Sunday after detectives determined he had arranged to 'have his mother murdered,' police told the Tribune. Assistant State's Attorney Maura White said Wilson was the 'sole beneficiary' of his mother's assets, including two life insurance policies, White said. One week after Holmes' death, Wilson liquidated $90,000 from of his mother’s bank accounts, White said. Ayonna Anderson, one of Holmes’ friends, told the Chicago Sun-Times Tuesday that she was stunned to learn that Wilson might be involved in his mother's death. Accomplices: Wilson's friends Eugene Spencer, 22, right, and Loriana Johnson, 23, left, are also charged in the slaying. Prosecutors say Spencer killed Holmes, and Johnson served as Spencer's driver . 'She gave him everything he wanted,' said Anderson, a hair stylist who worked in Holmes' salon. 'He wasn't hurting for nothing. Why would you have your mother killed?' Anderson said Holmes was a single mother and that Wilson, as a boy, would often spend time at the salon. 'He was a salon baby,' Anderson said. 'Everybody know him. We would never think he was capable of doing that. She was a great mom.' Cell phone records revealed that Wilson called Spencer and Johnson 'before, during and after the murder,' White said. Both Wilson and Spencer admitted their respective roles in the scheme, she said. Spencer was arrested Monday and is charged with first degree murder, home invasion, and aggravated discharge of a firearm. Salon: Holmes was the owner of the Nappy Headz salon, pictured, in the 4100 block of North Broadway . Police say Johnson drove Spencer to and from Holmes' house. She was also arrested Monday and charged with murder and home invasion. According to the Tribune, Holmes was a fixture in the community and often used her salon in the 4100 block of North Broadway as a venue to publicize or host community events like back-to-school parties for young students. Family and friends said she was always willing to lend a helping hand to those in need. 'She had a real nice personality, always trying to help people,' her uncle James Newman told the Chicago Tribune. Joseph Adibu, who owns the nearby Broadway Super Coin Laundry, said at the time: 'She is a very good person. For that to happen to her is a blow to a lot of us. It's very painful.' Wilson, Spencer and Johnson will spend Christmas in jail and are next scheduled to appear in court on January 13. | Qawmane Wilson, 24, has been charged with murder and home invasion in the September 2012 death of his mother, Yolanda Holmes .
Holmes was a well-known owner of a beauty salon in Uptown Chicago .
Wilson's friends Eugene Spencer, 22, and Loriana Johnson, 23, are also charged in the slaying .
Prosecutors say Spencer killed Holmes, and Johnson served as Spencer's driver .
On Tuesday, Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois, Jr. called the murder a 'heinous act' and ordered all three suspects held without bail . |
fdf72382055fb0aa43d23c3b66833948c3d45054 | By . Leon Watson . PUBLISHED: . 04:53 EST, 11 June 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 09:56 EST, 11 June 2013 . A teenage girl has been arrested for baring all at a Catholic school to take revenge on the bullies who were 'mean' to her there. Valerie Dodds, 19, decided she wanted to pursue a career in adult entertainment but was mocked by former classmates at St Pius X High School in Nebraska. 'It looked like something that I just kind of wanted to try, I guess,' she said. Valerie Dodds, who graduated from Lincoln East High School in Nebraska after transferring from St Pius X High School during her senior year, returned to her old alma mater to pose nude . Miss Dodds started a website with nude photos of herself for fun but claims her classmates didn't like it . The student, who graduated from Lincoln East . High School, only received a ticket for trespassing and public nudity . when she returned to pose in her underwear last week . Valerie was photographed nude on the football field in front of the Catholic school's motto 'Restore all things in Christ' in May . Miss Dodds, who uses the name Val Midwest, started a website with nude photos of herself for fun but claims her classmates didn't like it, KETV Omaha reported. 'That's when all the Pius kids were saying mean things and that's when I decided to go there and show them that I'm here to stay,' she said. Miss Dodds was photographed nude on the football field in front of the Catholic school’s motto – 'Restore all things in Christ' – in May. But the student, who graduated from Lincoln East High School, only received a ticket for trespassing and public nudity when she returned to pose in her underwear last week. Miss Dodds said she's considering another photo shoot in pasties and panties - this time in front of the Lancaster County Courthouse . Miss Dodds, who turned up to her old school naked, pictured with an unknown man in a bar . The school released a statement saying it would continue to notify authorities if Miss Dodds did something illegal. 'More important to us, however, is that we constantly follow our school's motto,' the statement read. 'To that end, we are praying for the young lady and her family, and we stand ready to offer forgiveness and support should she seek it.' Miss Dodds has told KETV Omaha that she's considering another photo shoot in pasties and panties - this time in front of the Lancaster County Courthouse. Valerie Dodds, 19, decided she wanted to pursue a career in adult entertainment but was mocked by former classmates . | Valerie Dodds, 19, wanted to pursue a career in adult entertainment .
But classmates at her Catholic school in Nebraska made fun of her .
So, Miss Dodds returned to video herself naked wearing just a crucifix . |
fdf73217bbbb427c36cc49016acec377dba82b49 | After Vic Huo graduated from fashion design school in 2007, she landed four jobs as an apparel designer for Chinese brands. The first three jobs, she quit. At her last job, she was fired. Huo's career problems stem largely from the fact that she says her bosses encouraged her to more or less copy international designs rather than to create her own. Management perceived anything too unique to be too much of a business risk: As Chinese consumer tastes still tilt overwhelmingly towards the mainstream, anything off-kilter simply may not sell. "They just want to copy from the other brands," the 26-year-old said. "They are scared of the creative." Now Huo says she does not know what to do. Chances of working for an international brand seem slim. She would like to launch her own label, yet funding for independent fashion lines is hard to come by and there's no guarantee the country's brand conscious consumers will buy anything without a famous international label printed ostentatiously on a shirt, bag or other piece of clothing. "Designers always want to follow their own hearts," Huo said. "But they have to consider the market needs." No doubt China's once almost non-existent fashion industry is on the verge of exploding. New domestic brands pop up seemingly everyday. Chinese models, like Liu Wen, who has shot campaigns with Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabbana and Estee Lauder, are increasingly becoming a hot commodity on foreign runways while domestic designers, such as Richard Wu, who debuted mainstream VLOV menswear brand at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week this week in New York, are piquing the interest of the international fashion elite. But for grassroots designers, the fashion landscape is still largely difficult. Aside from money, independent designers say they struggle with coming up with original concepts that represent modern Chinese style. "In order to establish a foundation, it is important to slow down and look back," Qiao Qiao, who founded her womenswear brand One by One with only 40,000 yuan (about $6,000) in Shanghai in 2003, said. "The problem is every time they [designers] stop and look back, they resort to the period of the Cultural Revolution's style." The style during the Cultural Revolution, a period between 1966 and 1976 when millions lost their lives in the midst of political violence, was overtly drab. Men and women wore dark colored clothing. Anything remotely stylish was banished as art, music and intellectual endeavors were perceived as bourgeois and thus a threat to the State. A Cultural Revolution aesthetic, so to speak, has had a resurgence in China in the form of kitschy t-shirts, bags and caps, which can be found in a number of artsy boutiques in Shanghai, Beijing and elsewhere. However Qiao Qiao points out that over the past half-century, after China reopened its doors to the rest of the world in 1978, all other influences have been predominantly from the West. The archives of ancient China must be opened to find new inspiration, the designer said. She points to American designer Rick Owens, whose avante-garde clothes draw influence from dynastic times, as an inspiration: "He is very successful," she said. "But that should be the work Chinese designers do, and yet we cannot surpass him." Chen Ping, founder of the Pari Chen womenswear brand, is one domestic designer who is trying to slow down and look way back to the country's deeply rich history for inspiration. It has not been easy. Before starting her own fashion label in 2008, Chen said she sat at home "totally depressed." "There was a huge gap between my ideal and the practice and the work. I lost my orientation in the business," she said, adding that the market, especially younger segments, cared only about fast fashion rather than fashion as an art form that reinvigorated cultural beauty from the past. Now with no store, no employees, little money and a studio located in an apartment building amidst farmland outside of Shanghai, Chen is struggling to survive. During a good month, she sells maybe around half a dozen of her pieces, which feature flowing swaths of silk and chiffon meant to mimic calligraphy or attire worn by scholars during the Song Dynasty. "There are many designers who want to do things quickly," she said. "From my perspective, it is important to have a certain amount of time to accumulate your style." The situation is not so bleak for everyone, especially those who have turned to the internet, specifically Taobao, the country's largest e-commerce platform which is home to countless grassroots stores selling everything from wrenches to iPhones. Around three years ago, Wei Fu Ying launched her Wing Free brand on the shopping site. Akin to H&M or Topshop, Wei's vintage-inspired designs are hip and chic, targeting teenagers and twenty-somethings. She sells up to 300 pieces of her clothing per day. She is optimistic about her future but tempered on the overall future of homegrown design. "For those who are really talented, they should just go abroad and they will be recognized," Wei said. "Here, the industry is more based on contacts, relationships and publicity. It is a bit like an illusion." There are some who are trying to support the local industry, especially those whose designs are more haute couture than high street hip. In Beijing, for example, Hung Huang, a TV host known as the "Oprah of China," has opened a boutique called Brand New China, or BNC. The store features work from select Chinese labels. It's neighbors include famous foreign brands such as Commes de Garcon, Versace and Balenciaga. Chinese celebrities are also helping to drum up demand for homegrown style, according to Annie Wang, an advisor to the Beijing Media Group, which publishes a number of newspapers and magazines. Actress Fan Bingbing wowed global audiences at this year's Cannes Film Festival when she wore a stunning red gown embroidered with white cranes from up-and-coming domestic designer Bo Kewen. The celebrities "want to represent China," Wang said. "The whole black tie and Western style is not the Chinese tradition at all, that is why I see there is a market for China to have local designers who know the flavor of the Chinese. But whether this will become a big market in China or not, I don't know. I can only say it is possible." | China's fashion industry is expanding at a rapid pace .
But for grassroots designers the landscape remains largely difficult .
Many say they struggle to create original concepts that embody modern Chinese style . |
fdf7427541d5cff549f8733a1f21ac152731fb62 | Vicente del Bosque claimed Spain were entering a 'new era' after their first competitive game since a hugely disappointing World Cup. Goals from Sergio Ramos, Pedro, David Silva, Sergio Busquets and debutant Paco Alcacer gave Spain a comfortable 5-1 victory over Macedonia in their opening European Championships qualifier. Spanish paper Sport went with the headline: 'The future is yours,' accompanied by a picture Barcelona youngster Munir. New era: Valencia youngster Paco Alcacer scored on his debut while Munir also featured for the first time . Marca and As were also full of praise for the revitalised national side. Marca claimed that Spain had 'rediscovered' themselves while also praising Iker Casillas's performance. As also commended Spain on their style and quoted Del Bosque as saying: 'In the World Cup we lost our reputation. We have started a new era.' Praise: Both Marca and As were full of praise for the national side after they beat Macedonia . Meanwhile, the Italian press focused on new Italy manager Antonio Conte's competitive debut after the Azzurri beat the Netherlands. Tuttosport says Ciro Immobile and Simone Zaza will again start up front for Italy after they impressed against Gus Hiddink's side . La Gazzetta dello Sport claimed that Paul Pogba could be in line for a new contract, and point out that the former Manchester United midfielder has already won more than Zinedine Zidane and Michel Platini had at his age. Debut: Antonio Conte is about to make his competitive debut in charge of the national side . Front line: Ciro Immobile and Simone Zaza could start up front for Italy against Norway . | Spain beat Macedonia 5-1 in European Championships qualifier .
Vicente del Bosque claims it is the beginning of a new era .
Former Juventus boss Antonio Conte set for competitive debut for Italy . |
fdf79c691e81983ff5624f0135ddfabf26c7c6c2 | (CNN) -- A silver cup presented to the Greek winner of the marathon at the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896 has sold for a record £541,000 ($860,000) at auction in London. It is the highest price paid for a piece of Olympic memorabilia, with the sale at Christie's over in a matter of minutes with the bids leaping £50,000 ($80,000) at a time. The previous record was for an Olympic torch from the 1952 Helsinki Games in Finland which fetched $400,000 last year. Spyros Louis became a national hero when he won the only gold medal for Greece in the track and field events 116 years ago so it became a matter of national pride that the cup should return to the birthplace of the Olympics. CNN understands that the Mayor of the Marousi District in Athens, where Louis was born, raised 350,000 euros ($458,000 ) to bid. It wasn't enough. The new owner is the Greek philanthropic organization, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, named after the late Greek shipping tycoon. The cup will go on display in Athens and will eventually be given a permanent home in the Foundation's new cultural center due to open in 2015. Symbolic value . The cup which fetched such a vast sum is just 15 centimeters high but beautifully decorated in the art nouveau style. Its intrinsic value -- as silver -- isn't very high. But this cup is all about symbolism, an object from the beginning of the modern Olympics. The story of the cup involved three men. Spyros Louis, his grandson and a Frenchman, Michel Breal. Louis had helped salvage Greek pride in the most emblematic of races for the host country. The odds were certainly stacked in their favor. Of the 17 runners, 13 were Greek. But going into the last few miles of the race, an Australian and a French athlete were leading and an expectant crowd waiting in the stadium were subdued. Then suddenly word reached the stadium that the foreigners had both dropped out and a Greek was leading. Spyros Louis wasn't considered a favorite and had only finished fifth in a special trial race before the Games, but he proved to have stamina. By trade, he moved water by mule into the center of Athens and it stood him in good stead. Greek hero . By winning the marathon (then 25 miles) he instantly became a Greek sporting immortal. Even now in Greece, over 70 years after his death, his name remains a synonym for moving at speed. The 2004 Olympic Stadium is named after him. The King of Greece presided over the award ceremony on the last day of the Games. Spyros Louis received a silver medal, a crown of olive leaves, a diploma and, of course, the special silver cup. And this is where Michel Breal enters the story. He was a distinguished linguist (usually credited as the founder of modern semantics) and passionate about all things Greek. He was crucial in persuading his fellow Frenchman, Baron de Coubertin to include the marathon in the first Games. As an incentive, Breal provided the special cup for the winner, Breal's Silver Cup as it became known. It is unclear who designed it, but the relief decoration shows bird and plant life from the ancient battleground of Marathon. So the legend has it, in 490 B.C., the messenger, Phidippides ran from Marathon to Athens to bring news of the Greek victory over the Persians, then collapsed and died. Until now, the cup has always been in the Louis family. During the Second World War, it was apparently hidden in a tomato patch in a garden, but more recently it has had pride of place on the mantelpiece in the house of the great athlete's grandson, also called Spyros Louis, a retired civil servant in his early 70s. Reluctant sale . He agonized for some time, but in these tough economic times in Greece, he reluctantly decided to sell it, to provide for his two children. Two years ago, he did the rounds of various government ministries, offering to sell the cup for a mere 100,000 euros ($130,000) but without response. The Greek Culture Ministry didn't seem to have any reservations about granting it an export license and this has ultimately proved to the financial benefit of the Louis family. Michel Breal's great grand daughter, Katharine Brunt, aged 88, attended the Christie's sale. And just before it started, wearing white gloves, she was able to briefly hold the legendary Silver Cup her great grandfather commissioned. It was a touching moment; she had never even seen the cup before. Katharine Brunt has a mission; The Silver Cup may be going back to Greece for museum display, but Michel Breal's tombstone in Montparnasse cemetery in Paris badly needs restoration. Apparently the authorities are threatening to demolish it. On grounds of neglect. There's evidently a big crack down the middle and $6000 is needed. Mrs Brunt is hoping that the newly-enriched Spyros Louis may able to help. | A silver cup presented at the first modern Olympic Games has sold for £541,000 .
Sale at Christie's in London sets new record price for a piece of Olympic memorabilia .
Cup was presented to Greek athlete Spyros Louis, who won marathon at 1896 Games .
A Greek foundation wins the auction and cup will go on show in Athens . |
fdf7a6171f1c9b8ffa98842c96e8235f2da19c1f | (CNN) -- A 32-year-old man from Twin Falls, Idaho, has been charged with solicitation of rape and burglary after posting an advertisement on Craigslist seeking a man to enter his home and rape his wife, according to a Twin Falls County Court affidavit. The husband admitted to having sent e-mails to Michael Combs asking that he rape his wife, according to the arrest warrant. The ad was posted in the "Casual Encounters" section of the website and was headlined simply, "Want to help me," Twin Falls Police Officer Justin Dimond said in the warrant. Combs told police that he responded to the person who posted the ad, who said his wife "wanted to be forcibly raped as that was a fantasy of hers" and urged him "not to stop no matter how much she resisted," according to the arrest warrant. Police responded Saturday to a distress call from the house; when they arrived, they found the woman holding Combs at gunpoint and arrested him, according to the warrant. She had been in the house alone while her husband was returning from Mountain Home, about 85 miles away, where he works for the National Guard, she told police. Saturday's incident marked the second time in two days that police were called to the house. On Friday, the woman had struggled with another man who, she told police, told her that he was "there for her," according to the arrest warrant. That man fled after pulling the gun out of the woman's hand, the warrant says. After the second incident, police examined the husband's cell phone and discovered e-mails, nude photos of the body of a woman and photographs of a man's penis that matched photographs in Combs' e-mail, the warrant says. The man who fled has not been identified and remains at large, police said. The husband was being held on $100,000 bond, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for this month; he had not yet been assigned a public defender, police said. CNN was unable to reach Combs or either the husband and wife. CNN is not identifying the couple out of concern for the wife's safety. More from CNN Justice: . Iowa mom thinks missing girls may have been 'taken' Hospital spokesman: Victims of Alabama bar shooting improving . NCAA not ruling out tough sanctions on Penn State football . New York authorities charge 48 in massive Medicaid fraud . | Ad was posted in the "Casual Encounters" section of Craigslist .
Wife holds alleged would-be rapist at gunpoint .
The husband is being held on $100,000 bond . |
fdf7b3c5f918c7b25e091d8e15bfd9bbe06037e5 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 21:14 EST, 3 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 21:15 EST, 3 April 2013 . A Montana federal judge who sent a racist email about President Obama and his deceased mother from his work email last year says he will now retire only days after an investigation was ordered. U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull had previously announced he would step down as chief circuit judge and take a reduced caseload after the shocking email was produced but now says he intends to fully retire on May 3. In February of 2012 Cebull forwarded an email from his chambers that contained a joke comparing interracial relationships to bestiality. Cebull argued at the time that he not racist, only anti-Obama. Resigning: U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull who sent a racist email about President Obama and his deceased mother has announced he will retire as an investigation into the incident continues . The appellate court posted a statement by Chief Judge Alex Kozinski on its website on Tuesday announcing Cebull had submitted the retirement letter on March 29 but refrained from providing a reason. The letter comes after the appellate court's Judicial Council issued a March 15 order on the investigation into his email, but appellate court spokesman David Madden could not say whether Cebull resigned because of it. 'The misconduct process is confidential. I am not privy to what the order said nor do I know what Judge Cebull's motivations were,' Madden said in an email on Wednesday. The council's order will remain confidential during an appeal period, which concludes May 17, Madden said. The council will make an announcement after Cebull's retirement takes effect, he said, but added that he was unable to answer when the order or the letter will be released to the public. A Cebull aide directed calls for comment . to Clerk of Court Tyler Gilman, who said on Wednesday that Cebull would . not have any comment other than the court's statement. Apology: Cebull wrote a letter of apology to Obama and filed a complaint against himself after The Great Falls Tribune published the contents of the email . He declined to release the resignation letter or describe what it said. Cebull wrote a letter of apology to Obama . and filed a complaint against himself after The Great Falls Tribune . published the contents of the email, which included a joke about . bestiality and the president's mother. The judge said the e-mail, which he . admits is racist, doesn't reflect how he treats black people in his . courtroom. However, calls for his resignation immediately began pouring . in. Judge Richard Cebull said the joke, which plays on the fact that President Obama's mother was white and his father was African, was never meant to become public. It reads:Subject: A MOM'S MEMORY . Normally I don't send or forward a lot of these, but even by my standards, it was a bit touching. I want all of my friends to feel what I felt when I read this. Hope it touches your heart like it did mine. A little boy said to his mother; 'Mommy, how come I'm black and you're white?' His mother replied, 'Don't even go there Barack! From what I can remember about that party, you're lucky you don't bark!' The Billings judge forwarded the email from his chambers to six other people on Feb. 20, 2012, the newspaper reported. The text of the e-mail, with the subject line 'A MOM'S MEMORY' reads: 'Normally I don't send or forward a lot of these, but even by my standards, it was a bit touching. I want all of my friends to feel what I felt when I read this. Hope it touches your heart like it did mine. 'A little boy said to his mother; "Mommy, how come I'm black and you're white? His mother replied, "Don't even go there Barack! From what I can remember about that party, you're lucky you don't bark!"' Two other groups also demanded an investigation, with one, the Montana Human Rights Network, starting an online petition calling for Cebull's resignation. Kim Abbott, the network's co-director, said on Wednesday she was pleased with the announcement but hopes to see the results of the investigation. 'The email really called into question his ability to treat women and people of color fairly, so we're happy Montanans will get to appear before a different judge,' Abbott said. The complaints were referred to a special committee appointed by the appellate court to investigate whether Cebull's email constituted misconduct. Kozinski's statement said the committee submitted a report to the Judicial Council in December after 'a thorough and extensive investigation' that included interviews with witnesses and Cebull and going over related documents. The council issued its order based on that report. The statement says the Judicial Council will not comment further until Cebull's retirement is effective. Cebull stepped down as Montana's chief federal judge and took senior status March 18, which allowed another judge to be appointed while he continued working with a reduced caseload. U.S. Sen. Max Baucus then formed a committee to replace Cebull and another judge taking senior status, with Baucus recently recommending that Obama appoint state District Judge Susan Watters of Billings to take Cebull's spot on the bench. The new chief federal judge, U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen, plans to meet with other judges to discuss how to handle the Cebull's cases, Gilman said. Cebull was a Billings attorney for nearly 30 years before becoming a U.S. magistrate in Great Falls in 1998. He became a district judge in 2001 and has served as chief judge of the District of Montana since 2008. Cebull's notable cases include his block of reopening of the U.S. border to cattle in 2005, two years after the U.S. banned Canadian cattle and beef products over fears of mad-cow disease. The 9th Circuit overturned that decision. Cebull also presided over a lawsuit filed by landowners against Exxon Mobil Corp. over the cleanup following last year's pipeline spill of 1,500 gallons into the Yellowstone River. | District Judge Richard Cebull forwarded an .
email in 2012 that contained a joke comparing interracial .
relationships to bestiality .
Cebull had announced he would step down as chief circuit judge and take a .
reduced caseload but now says he will retire days after an investigation was ordered . |
fdf7da24bbfb6800415ad1d2f79133947e2ff762 | By . Sara Malm . PUBLISHED: . 12:42 EST, 2 August 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 14:11 EST, 2 August 2012 . Sliced and diced: Study say takeaway pizzas are not value for money . Britons feel they get the least value for money when purchasing birthday cards, takeaway pizzas and stamps whilst one in four cannot stand having to fork out for a colleague’s birthday celebrations. However, good news for those in our tea-loving nation who like to sit down in front of the telly with a cuppa, the 'best value for money' list include semi-skimmed milk, kettles and flat screen televisions. These are the results of a survey carried out amongst 2,000 Britons into which products and services gave them the most - and the least - for their wages. It also emerged that on average, Brits feels they only get enough for their hard-earned pounds on about four in every ten purchases. Many popular outings such as going to a football game, taking the family to a theme park or watching the latest 3D-flick in the cinema were slated by those surveyed. Paying nearly £12 for a 3D cinema ticket was considered a rip-off as well as £43 theme park tickets and £45 to watch a premiership football match. Pub-goers are among those displeased with what they get for their cash. A medium glass of white wine purchased in . a pub was considered the seventh biggest rip-off and a pint of beer . came in at number 20. Un-happy birthday spendings: Birthday cards are Britain's biggest rip off, and adding a few quid to the birthday shindigs of a colleague was the only non-household cost which made the top-ten most hated payments . For those looking to cure their disappointment the following morning it is not looking good. Britons consider paying £16.99 for a takeaway pizza the fourth worst rip-off. Fortunately another Sunday morning essential – paracetamol – won the top spot as most value for money. To weigh up the second worst - train tickets - Brits consider both travel insurance and £4 all-day bus passes good buys. Those questioned also thought 69p for iPhone apps and broadband contracts for £18 a month were good deals. The study also concluded that Brits hate spending their money on everyday bills and car maintenance. 1. Birthday card - £32. Standard anytime return Bristol Temple Meads - London Paddington train ticket - £1793. 30p toilet fee at a train station4. Large takeaway pizza - £16.995. Printer cartridges x 2 - £446. Theme Park ticket - £43.507. Medium white wine purchased in pub - £58. Pair of men’s jeans - £409. Videogame for console - £4510. Monthly cable television subscription - £4811. Premiership football ticket - £4512. Second class stamp - 50p13. 3D Cinema ticket - £11.85 (inc. glasses)14. Prescription charge - £7.6515. First class stamp - 60p16. 1 litre of petrol - £1.3017. 4 x razor blades - £818. 4 x toilet rolls - £2.3819. Ladies haircut - £3520. Pint of beer purchased in pub - £3.50 . Fuel, parking, car repairs and car . insurance all made the top ten things we hate paying out for. It also . included council tax, electricity, water and gas, suggesting that we see . these bills as a necessary evil that we would rather avoid. Dave Broadway, managing director of . print and post specialists Docmail, which commissioned the study, said: . 'It’s hard times for many people at the moment and the results of the . research show that the majority of Brits feel they aren’t getting value . for money in many areas. Tea-time: Two of the essentials to make a perfect brew - a kettle and milk - were considered good value for money . 'People are having to be more and . more aware of their spending day to day and squeeze the pennies further. 'That makes them reassess every purchasing decision and clearly the . value of an item is not always in line with the cost. He added that it is in interesting to . see the range of areas where the worst value items can be found, saying . it proves that Britons feel their lives are becoming increasingly . expensive. Mr Broadway added: “The study shows . it’s not about how much something costs but the level of value . represented in the price - whether that’s buying a stamp or a TV . subscription, people are always very aware of what they are getting in . return for their money. 'Of course, there are a number of essentials which Brits clearly feel they get a poor deal with. 'There are usually cheaper options for . everything, but it’s hard finding a balance between what you’re . prepared to pay and the quality you expect.' 1. Paracetamol x 16 tablets - 19p2. 4 pints semi-skimmed milk - £1.183. Kettle - £224. All day bus travel - £45. iPhone app - 69p6. Flat screen TV - £349.997. Broadband monthly contract - £188. Sony CamCorder - £139.999. Travel insurance . 1. Fuel2. Parking costs3. Car repair and maintenance4. Council tax5. Printer cartridges6. Electricity7. Gas8. Car insurance9. Colleague’s birthday whip rounds10. Water . | Best value for money included milk, kettles and 69p iPhone apps .
Britons feel ripped off by takeaway pizzas, birthday cards and wine and beer in pubs .
Everyday bills such as gas, water and electricity are the most hated 'ways of spending money' |
fdf86156cfe409e4fed4c8c93d6881da2ae526a3 | (CNN) -- Real Madrid head coach Jose Mourinho claims it was in referee Paradas Romero's "nature" to send him to the stands during Wednesday's 5-1 Copa del Rey win over Real Murcia. Mourinho was protesting a 37th-minute yellow card given to Mali midfielder Mahamadou Diarra when Romero adjudged him to have overstepped the mark and banished him from the touchline. The Portuguese boss -- whose team advanced beyond the last-32 stage of Spain's premier cup competition for the first time in three years -- highlighted Romero's past record of handing out yellow cards as the reason behind his dismissal. The former Inter Milan coach stopped short of openly criticizing the match officials, and admitted he would not able to do a better job than Romero. The worst referee decisions in football? "I cannot say he was a bad referee," Mourinho told Los Blancos' official website. "I would make a terrible referee. "[But] just look at this referee's statistics. It is in his nature. I'm not saying he is good or bad. I am not one to judge him, but I do usually analyze referee statistics. "This one has officiated about 50 matches in the Spanish league and has shown more than 250 yellow cards, an average of more than six per match. He booked 10 players in his last match." However, Spanish press reported that Romero claimed Mourinho abused him after being booked for protesting, forcing him to send the coach to the stands. Should referees be relegated too? "In the 37th minute, the manager Jose Mario dos Santos Mourinho Felix was given a yellow card for the following reason: raising his arms in the air, complaining about a decision I made," Romero reportedly wrote in his after-match summary. "Once he was given the yellow card, he faced me and said, 'Go to hell.' " Real's win was emphatic, as goals from Esteban Granero, Gonzalo Higuain, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso ensured they avoided the humiliation of last year when they suffered a 4-1 aggregate loss to third-tier team Alcoron. Mourinho's men are currently sitting top of the Spanish first division, a point clear of arch-rivals Barcelona after 10 matches. Meanwhile, the first "Clasico" clash between the two Spanish heavyweights this season will be played on a Monday due to the Catalan elections taking place the day before on November 28. Barca will host Real with kickoff scheduled for 9 p.m. local time (2000 GMT, 1500 ET). "This is due to the 13th round coinciding with the elections for the parliament of Catalonia and the security problems that would create," read a statement on Real's website on Thursday. | Jose Mourinho hits back at referee after being sent off during Madrid's win over Murcia .
Coach was dismissed by Paradas Romero after protesting official's decision .
Mourinho says Romero has a history of handing out yellow cards .
First "Clasico" of season between Real and Barcelona moved due to Catalan elections . |
fdf86392d175b068f31fe3cfba312a110e27e597 | She may be taller than the average woman at 5ft 8in but the Duchess of York looked minuscule as she posed for a selfie with two of her biggest fans in New York yesterday. Prince Andrew's former wife was stopped by identical twins Mike and Ray, who rap under the name the Filthy Brothers and The Twin Towers, outside the studios of radio station SiriusXM in uptown Manhattan and smiled as one of her admirers took an opportunistic photo. The rappers later posted a picture of them and the Duchess on their own Twitter account. Wearing a black trench coat, sunglasses, black tights, and black flat shoes, the duchess seemed content to be out and about in a city which has become a second home to her in recent months. Scroll down for video . Her biggest fans: Prince Andrew's former wife, the Duchess of York, was stopped by the two towering men outside the studio of radio station SiriusXM in uptown Manhattan . The Filthy brothers were quick to publish a picture of them and the Duchess of York on their Twitter account . Known in the US by her maiden name Sarah Ferguson, she has been a regular face in the city since her daughter Princess Eugenie landed a job at New York-based online art auction house, Paddle8, in September. This week, she appeared on American television promoting her soup diet while also speaking up in defence of former husband Prince Andrew following lurid claims he slept with an underage sex slave. Yesterday the duchess was facing criticism after linking a top university to her controversial diet plan while she was endorsing it on American television. Ms Ferguson claims to have lost 4st thanks to a £65 blender which turns fruit and vegetables into smoothies and soup. In an interview promoting the product on morning TV, she said that she had been motivated to help beat obesity by her work with Imperial College London, one of the world's most prestigious scientific institutions. Second home: Sarah Ferguson has become a regular in the city since her daughter Princess Eugenie landed a job at New York-based online art auction house, Paddle8, in September . But the university has been quick to distance itself from the duchess' claims - saying that her commercial projects 'are not connected in any way' to its research, The Times reported. Experts said they were sceptical about the benefits of her diet plan, casting doubt on the nutritional benefits claimed to come from using the 'emulsifier' which she has promoted in a half-hour 'infomercial' as well as in multiple TV interviews. The duchess has been outspoken about her battle with her weight since divorcing her husband in 1996 and is said to have been paid £1.4million a year as the face of Weight Watchers. Ms Ferguson also spoke up in defence of ex-husband Prince Andrew, describing him as a 'humongously good man' and 'my best friend and my best ex-husband ever'. Controversy: The Duchess of York is endorsing the Fusion Xcelerator, a blender and diet plan . The Prince has come under fire over his friendship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who has been accused in court documents of supplying the royal with an underage girl. Buckingham Palace has issued a statement strongly denying the allegations, which Ms Ferguson, 55, repeated during an interview with NBC News. 'I won't stand by - because I know what it feels like to have salacious lies made up about you - and not support him so publicly,' she told Matt Lauer. Adamant: Sarah Ferguson passionately defended her ex-husband, Prince Andrew, as she appeared on the Today show on Tuesday morning . She said the claims against her former husband were 'shockingly accusatory allegations which I don't think are right'. 'I won't stand by and have his character defamed,' she said. 'I will not have one word said about him on any level. Any level.' The pair, who divorced in 1996 after 10 years of marriage, remain good friends, she said. They have two daughters together, Beatrice, 26, and Eugenie, 24. | Duchess stopped by giant fans outside SiriusXM studios in Manhattan .
Despite being 5ft 8in, she looked minuscule beside her two admirers .
She's a regular in New York since daughter Eugenie moved to city last year .
Yesterday, she faced criticism for linking top university to diet plan . |
fdf87aeced555dbaaa70da5adb0633f9c1002f78 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 12:12 EST, 18 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:20 EST, 18 May 2013 . Newly published research suggests that one of the main reasons people enjoy smoking marijuana is because it helps them combat intense feelings of social exclusion. Rather than simply getting high for the heck of it, a research team led by University of Kentucky psychologist Timothy Deckman has found that cannabis relieves not only physical pain but also emotional pain. As their starting point, Deckman and his team used two recent pieces of research. One that found the pain of social exclusion is more intense than previously thought, and another that revealed physical and emotional pain travel similar pathways in the brain. New research has found that cannabis relieves not only physical pain but also emotional pain . This second piece of research was uncovered after tests found the pain killer Tylenol had helped reduce the pain of social rejection and existential angst in test studies. Since marijuana works through similar brain receptors, Deckman's researchers wondered whether pot could similarly soften the pain of exclusion, reports Pacific Standard. One experiment that helped prove their theory involved surveying more than 5,000 Americans about their level of loneliness, their marijuana usage (if any), and assessed their mental health and feelings of self-worth. Unsurprisingly the researchers found a relationship between loneliness and feelings of self-worth, but that it was significantly weaker for those people that regularly smoked pot. Tests found that people who regularly smoked pot didn't suffer as much from feelings of social exclusion as those who didn't smoke or did so only very rarely . ‘Marijuana use buffered the lonely from both negative self-worth and poor mental health,’ the researchers wrote in the Social Psychological and Personality Science journal. Another experiment found people who were experiencing social pain were less likely to have suffered a major depression in the past year if they were regular pot smokers. A third experiment was based around the Cyberball computer game, half the participants in the three-person game received the ball twice early on, and then never again during for the remainder. Afterwards they were asked to react to a series of statements designed to assess whether their need for self-esteem and belonging felt threatened using statements such as, 'I had the feeling that the other players did not like me.' Smoking pot can help temporarily alleviate feelings of insecurity, low self-esteem and social awkwardness, but the real cure is learning and dealing with the underlying issues that make someone feel like that . The results found that those who frequently smoked marijuana felt less threatened than the others. Deckman and his colleagues have concluded that these studies show 'marijuana use consistently buffered people from the negative consequences associated with loneliness and social exclusion'. They also warned that while marijuana isn't an adequate cure to solving these problems. 'Humans have a fundamental need to belong,' the researchers noted. 'Hurt feelings motivate us to fix our relationships and re-establish social connection.' So while smoking pot can help temporarily alleviate feelings of insecurity, low self-esteem and social awkwardness, the real cure is learning and dealing with the underlying issues that make someone feel like that. | Tests by researchers at the University of Kentucky found cannabis can act as a buffer against feelings of negative self-worth and poor mental health . |
fdf8b373b69ddf0856e76414bb7adc65cd87e92f | (LifeWire) -- At Sara Champion's previous job as a project engineer for one of the country's top construction firms, visible tattoos for professional staff were against company policy. Sarah Champion's former employer told her that she had to conceal her tattoos while at work. She found this ironic -- not to mention frustrating -- given that her position entailed inspecting job sites filled with tattooed construction workers. "I was out on site all day, and I wasn't allowed to show any of my tattoos," says the 28-year-old Florida native, whose six large tattoos on her arms and back include a brightly colored sunflower, a marigold and a rendition of a Dia de los Muertos bride and groom on her upper left arm. "Ninety-eight degrees and long sleeves is not so cool when you're in Miami." After six years with the construction firm, Champion decided to move north and find an employer that wouldn't needle her about her body art. She found her "perfect job" in Danbury, Connecticut, as a project manager at a design and branding agency. Now, "I have no problem showing up to meet a big client in a T-shirt and jeans," tattoos in plain view, she says. "I wish more companies were like this." iReport.com: Share your tattoo stories . The times, they are not a-changing? According to a 2006 report in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 24 percent of Americans ages 18 to 50 have at least one tattoo, and 14 percent have at least one body piercing. Researchers questioned 253 women and 247 men via random telephone survey. So, does the fact that body art is as prevalent today as mullets were in the 1980s mean that the tattoo-friendly tide is turning in the workplace? "That question is best answered by [corporate] culture and by industry," says Jackie Valent, director of human resources in the Milwaukee office of accounting giant Deloitte. "If you look at a company like Google, a very entrepreneurial, Silicon Valley organization, tattoos are more acceptable." "But if you look at the other end of the spectrum, which is where I happen to [work]," says the 20-year human resources veteran, "the answer is absolutely not. If you have six piercings and a big tattoo, we're going to tell you to cover the tattoos and take out the piercings." (For the record, a Google spokesperson said that the company does not have a policy on tattoos.) Amy Derick, a dermatologist from Barrington, Illinois and a co-author of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology study, isn't surprised that a few companies or industries are still opposed to body art. "Eight percent of people with tattoos report trouble at work," from being forced to hide them to being restricted from performing certain tasks, Derick says. For example, a grocery store employee with a tattoo on their hand might be asked to perform tasks less likely to bring them into contact with the public, like stocking shelves instead of working a register. Better safe than cited . What's the solution for body art aficionados who work in one of the more conservative business sectors? Hide your body art or starve? Pretty much, says Dave Kimelberg, who photographed 15 professionals with large-scale tattoos they conceal at work for the book "INKED Inc." and runs InkedInc.com, a related Web site. "I think in some ways, it's a 'don't ask, don't tell' understanding," says the 37-year-old Boston lawyer, who works as general counsel for a venture capital firm. "There's kind of this Superman element to it, like this crazy blue and red skin-tight suit underneath my Clark Kent exterior." Like many of the secretly inked doctors, lawyers, and architects he's met over the years, Kimelberg sticks to tattoos he can easily conceal under clothing at work -- in his case, three-quarter "ink sleeves" that extend from each shoulder to the middle of his forearms but allow him to roll up his shirt sleeves on warm days. And while the ink's out of the bag now that Kimelberg's published his book, he still keeps his tats under wraps for fear of them being "a distraction in the workplace." The same goes for Kasey Broach, a public relations specialist at a Phoenix law firm. To commemorate turning 25 and getting her MBA this year, she got a small omega symbol tattooed at the base of her neck in ultraviolet ink, which can only be seen with a black light. "No one knows about it unless I show them," she says. "I have to bring the black light out from my high school years." Where the body art roams . But what if you're not a doctor, lawyer, or accountant, but a creative type determined to find a job where you can bare your body ink? That's when it's time to play detective, says career coach Janet Scarborough Civitelli. "Visit the employee parking lot to see how they are dressed and whether many of the employees have visible tattoos," says the psychologist and founder of Bridgeway Career Development, a career counseling firm in Seattle. "Also ask colleagues and friends if they know anyone who works there who can give you some insider info." "The Web is also a gold mine of information," she says, adding that the Web site ModifiedMind.com, which is dedicated to body art and other modifications, features a database of companies reportedly open to tattoos. Then again, if a no-tattoo policy is your deal breaker, you could take a gamble like Sara Champion did during the interview for her current position: . "I said, 'Are you tattoo friendly?'" Fortunately, the answer was yes. LifeWire provides original and syndicated lifestyle content to Web publishers. Michelle Goodman is a freelance writer and author of "The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube." | Report: 24 percent of Americans ages 18 to 50 have at least one tattoo .
Some companies have policies that require employees to conceal body art .
Curious about a company's policy? Visit the parking lot -- see how they dress . |
fdf8bb35daade34fd8cadabb5b207d57803507d7 | By . Claire Bates . A young mother-to-be who developed agonising blisters all over her body was shocked to discover she had a rare allergy to her own baby. Zuleika Closs, 26, developed a burning, itchy rash all over her body when she was 20 weeks pregnant with her son Emmanuel. The mother, from Falmouth, Cornwall, said: 'At first, it felt like something was crawling on my skin but then it became unbearable. The blisters looked like nettle rash at first but spread really fast and became dark and red. 'My feet were the worst. I scratched so hard that large chunks of skin kept falling off. It was peeling off like orange peel.' On the mend: Zuleika Cross with son Emmanuel. She said the red blisters were unbearably itchy during her pregnancy (right) Doctors thought that Ms Closs was suffering from scabies and told her to boil all her clothes . After antibiotics and calamine lotion didn't help to ease the itch, doctors wrongly diagnosed her with a severe case of scabies and gave her insecticide to use. She was also told to boil wash all her clothes and put her shoes in the freezer, but to no avail. 'I was so itchy, I was scratching myself in my sleep. I was exhausted and couldn't cope. 'I remember standing in the doctors waiting room in floods of tears wishing someone would help me. I felt like I was banging my head against a brick wall because nothing was working. 'I think they thought I was a hormonal pregnant woman but it really was that bad.' Her partner Nathan Darbyshire, 23, a . care worker, lost shifts at work because he didn't want to pass the . scabies on to colleagues and patients. At 38 weeks, Ms Closs went into labour . but says she was scared to hold her baby because she thought she might . pass the rash onto him. She said: 'Skin to skin contact is really important with newborns but I didn't want him to catch it. I blamed myself and thought it was something I'd done.' After Emmanuel was born, the rash died down but then days later it flared up again. Zuleika said: 'I sometimes have flash backs to the pregnancy but I only have to look at Emmanuel (pictured at two-days-old) to know all the pain is worth it' Happy family: Zuleika with partner Nathan Darbyshire and son Emmanuel. Nathan turned down work during her pregnancy through fear he could catch and pass on on scabies after Zuleika was wrongly diagnosed . Ms Closs's blister marks are now fading (right) but she will still be scarred for life. She wants to find a wedding dress that will cover her reaction . This time, she saw a locum doctor who . said he believed an auto-immune pregnancy disorder was to blame and put . her on a strong dose of anti-histamines. She said: 'I couldn't believe what he was telling. I was allergic to my pregnancy. It just sounded bizarre. Zuleika said she was considering having more children as she would like to have a sibling for Emmanuel . 'It was a relief because sometimes I felt the doctors thought I must be doing something to my skin.' Four months on, the rash is now fading but she will be scarred for life. Ms Closs is thought to have Pemphigoid gestationis, which is caused by placenta tissue entering the mother's blood stream and reacting with her immune system. The condition is in remission but she has been left with dark scars because of the extensive blistering. Pemphigoid gestationis is believed to affect one in two million pregnancies worldwide and is likely to be more severe in future pregnancies. Zuleika said: 'We're getting married in May but I'll have to find a dress that will cover my scars.Thinking about having another baby in the future terrifies me. 'My body is already in a mess but I'd love Emmanuel to have brothers and sisters to grow up with. 'I sometimes have flash backs to the pregnancy but I only have to look at Emmanuel to know all the pain is worth it. 'I also couldn't have done it without Nathan and my mum. They were fantastic.' According to Nina Goad, of the British Association . of Dermatologists: . 'Pemphigoid gestationis is a rare disorder . that occurs in pregnant women after 13 weeks gestation. It appears with an itchy rash that . develops into blisters. This means that the mother's immune system . starts reacting against her own skin causing it to split and form . blisters. We think that some of the placenta . tissue enters the mother's blood stream and causes her immune system to . become activated and cross react with her skin, causing the blisters. Female hormones, particularly oestrogen, are thought to aggravate the . reaction. This may be why it often occurs during pregnancy, when oestrogen levels rise. It usually recurs in subsequent pregnancies. Unfortunately PG can't be cured, but it can be suppressed with treatment. Symptoms often improve towards the end of pregnancy but 80% of women . will experience a flare of the rash around the time of delivery. In most cases symptoms resolve days or weeks after giving birth, but in . some women the disease can remain active for months or years and may . require continued treatment.' | Zuleika developed a burning, itchy rash when she was 20 weeks pregnant .
She was wrongly diagnosed with scabies and prescribed an insecticide .
It wasn't until she gave birth that a locum doctor realised she had an auto-immune pregnancy disorder . |
fdf90399e785e433c1f78798ce8c10c6ac960a05 | By . Chris Hastings . PUBLISHED: . 16:21 EST, 13 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 16:21 EST, 13 October 2012 . As a Hollywood legend, Shirley MacLaine could have been forgiven for expecting a wardrobe of new tailor-made costumes when she joined Downton Abbey. But the Oscar-winning star made her debut in the hit ITV show in a second-hand coat that had already appeared in three other television dramas in 20 years. More than ten million viewers saw the 78-year-old star of movies including The Apartment and Terms Of Endearment make her flamboyant entrance as Martha Levinson in the first episode of the new series. Second-hand: Shirley MacLaine makes her Downton Abbey debut in a coat first seen on television in 1994 . Welcome back: The familiar coat has made an appearance in at least five television dramas . Her character, a wealthy American socialite, stepped out of a car in an elegant evening coat embroidered with a silk and metal thread and topped off with a fur collar and cuffs. It was a show-stopping arrival – but the dress had already been seen on screen several times. Firstly, in 1994, the actress Gaye Brown wore it in an episode of the BBC drama The House Of Eliott, which was set in the Twenties. Three years later it was worn in an ITV adaptation of Catherine Cookson's The Wingless Bird – a story of love and intrigue in the North East at the outbreak of the First World War. In April, French actress and model Josephine de la Baume wore the coat in ITV's four-part drama Titanic – which was also scripted by Downton Abbey writer Julian Fellowes. Miss de la Baume's character, the flirtatious Madame Aubert, can clearly be seen wearing it on the deck of the doomed liner. A week after Miss MacLaine donned the coat, it was on screen again – in the BBC's highly acclaimed five-part First World War drama Parade's End. Debut: Gaye Brown, right, gives the coat its first TV outing in 1994 as Anne Beaumont in The House of Eliott . In that show, Rebecca Hall, 30, who played the beautiful but scheming Sylvia Tietjens, wore it when she visited the front line to confront her husband Christopher, played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Nigel Stafford Clark, the producer of Titanic, said he had no problem with the fact that Madame Aubert's coat had resurfaced in Downton. He added: 'I'm delighted it's keeping such exalted company – costumes do get recycled.' The fashion for reusing clothes is due partly to the fact that drama budgets have become increasingly tight. In addition, there has been a spate of recent productions set in the years leading up to and immediately following the First World War, and a consequent need for clothing to define that era. Male stars are also having to make do with hand-me-downs. In tonight's episode of Downton Abbey, Kevin McNally, who plays the gruff Horace Bryant, will be seen wearing a scarf previously sported by Rupert Everett in Parade's End. A spokesman for Downton Abbey said: 'As with all television costume drama, theatre productions and films, a proportion of the costumes will be originally designed and others will be hired.' Back again: The coat was back on television screens earlier this year with Josephine de la Baume, left, in ITV's Titanic before returning just months later with Rebecca Hall, right, in First World War drama Parade's End . | The Oscar-winning actress made her debut on ITV's hit show wearing a coat that had already appeared in three other television shows in 20 years . |
fdf9606a6f7b9315ce939d2012d4ddaa240c8040 | Nevada Democrat Harry Reid's party took a beating in the November elections, and now he has the bruises to show it. Reid, who will switch from majority leader to minority leader this weekend, broke some ribs and facial bones on Thursday while he was exercising at his home in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson. His Senate office told reporters on Friday that he would be at work in Washington, D.C. in the coming days, following treatment at University Medical Center in Las Vegas. 'A piece of equipment Senator Reid was using to exercise broke, causing him to fall and break a number of ribs and bones in his face,' read a statement from his office. BANGED UP: Democrat Harry Reid, shown in 2011 after a rain-soaked jogging mishap, will return to the Senate on Tuesday with broken ribs and facial bones . Reid's doctors 'expect a full recovery.' 'Senator Reid will return to Washington this weekend and be in the office Tuesday as the Senate prepares to reconvene,' the statement continued. 'Senator Reid was first brought to St. Rose Dominican Hospital in Henderson by his security detail. He was then transferred to UMC for further testing, where he was admitted overnight as a precaution.' 'Senator Reid will return to Washington this weekend and be in the office Tuesday as the Senate prepares to reconvene. His doctors expect a full recovery,' the statement added. Reid is no stranger to bumps and bruises. He and some staffers sustained minor injuries during a chain-reaction car accident in October 2012. Reid walked in an out of the hospital under his own power. And Thursday marked Reid's second exercise-related mishap in three years. WALKING WOUNDED: Reid dislocated his shoulder and bruised his face in 2011 after he leaned on a wet car in the rain and slipped . He dislocated his shoulder and bumped his forehead in May 2011 when he slipped and fell during a morning jog in the rain. Reid leaned on a wet car near his home in Washington, D.C.'s Ritz-Carlton hotel and tumbled to the ground. That fall left him with a contusion just below his left eye, but he was back in action later that night at a fundraiser for California Sen. Barbara Boxer. White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz told reporters on Friday in Hawaii that President Barack Obama phoned Reid earlier in the day 'to wish him a full and speedy recovery.' 'The president was glad to hear the Leader is doing well, and will be back in Washington this weekend,' Schultz's statement read. | Reid was treated and kept overnight at a Nevada hospital .
'A piece of equipment Senator Reid was using to exercise broke, causing him to fall,' his office said .
Reid dislocated shoulder and bumped his head in a 2011 jogging slip-and-fall when he leaned on a wet car and tumbled to the ground .
Also sustained minor injuries in a 2012 car accident .
Elderly senator will become minority leader after Republicans take control this weekend . |
fdf995f920f60f4d55f41d917479708b7c8b5e02 | (CNN) -- Unsteady cables and stronger-than-expected winds added drama, but Nik Wallenda's high-wire walk above a Florida highway looked like a walk in the park Tuesday. The 600-foot stroll was on a cable strung 180 feet above U.S. Highway 41 along the Sarasota, Florida, bay front. The 34-year-old, who hails from multiple generations of high-flying daredevils, was not wearing a safety tether, and there was no net below to catch him if he fell. "Props to my great-grandfather Karl Wallenda, because I can almost guarantee you he would have stopped in the middle of this cable and have done a headstand," he said near the halfway point. Daredevil completes walk across Niagara Falls . His great-grandfather Karl Wallenda died at 73, attempting to walk between two buildings in Puerto Rico in 1978. Last June, Wallenda captured the nation's attention during his 25-minute agonizing amble above the roaring rapids of Niagara Falls. He carried his passport in his pocket for that historic walk from the United States to Canada, but this one was in his hometown. "I'm risking my life on every single one of them, so there's no difference" the younger aerialist said as he walked. "My great-grandfather did many amazing walks around the world. The one that took his life was minuscule in comparison." Thousands watched from 180 feet below and television cameras broadcast it live to the world, a stunt intended to promote Wallenda's performance with his wife and other family members at Circus Sarasota. Since the permit allowed the highway to be closed for just an hour, Wallenda's crew had just 15 minutes to adjust the stabilizing cables. Wallenda complained at times that it was "really sloppy." "Holy crap," he said. "Come on guys, it's horrible." Despite the danger, he kept calm and joked with his father: "Who do I need to spank when I get down?" Wallenda took the last step onto the roof of a condo building nine minutes after he took the first one. CNN's Lateef Mungin contributed to this report. | NEW: Nik Wallenda was not wearing a safety tether, and no net was below him .
NEW: Thousands watched the 600-foot-long high-wire walk in Sarasota, Florida .
He garnered headlines last year by walking across Niagara Falls .
Wallenda is the first person in recent history to cross over the actual falls . |
fdf9a6e64b9d041a3a0640a28b430e23c11249f6 | Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers needs to explain his team selection against Real Madrid to the fans, UEFA president Michel Platini said on Wednesday. Rodgers incurred the wrath of some Reds supporters on social media sites when he left Steven Gerrard, Raheem Sterling, Jordan Henderson, Mario Balotelli and Philippe Coutinho out of the starting line-up, with an eye on the weekend's Premier League encounter with Chelsea. Champions League rules state clubs must field their strongest sides but UEFA is not considering any action. Platini pointed out Liverpool only lost 1-0 in Spain last night compared to an apparently stronger line-up losing 3-0 at Anfield. Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema celebrates after scoring the winning goal against Liverpool on Tuesday . Reds boss Brenda Rodgers opted to rest seven first-team players for the trip to the Bernabeu . Alberto Moreno (right) attempts to chase down Gareth Bale (left) during Liverpool's Champions League defeat . Platini, speaking on his first visit to St George's Park, England's national football centre in Burton-on-Trent, said: 'First of all he has to explain to his fans why he put this team - not to me, not to you. 'Are you sure it was not the best team? How can I say that? The coach of Liverpool, if I say something, he'll say, "Oh, Michel Platini, I put my best team of the moment." And I would be stupid. 'If I am the coach of Liverpool I say, "It's my best team. How you can prove it's not your best team?" I can't interfere with that. 'I think we give a lot of money to the national associations, to the clubs to have their best teams. But they want to win, everybody, because there is the prize money, there is many things. The best team is what the coach put.' Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson and Jordan Henderson (from left to right) started on the bench against Real . UEFA president Michel Platini (right) believes Rodgers should have to explain his team selection to the fans . Platini also joked Liverpool may have played a weakened team in the match at Anfield a fortnight ago. He added when asked about the selection for the starting XI at the Bernabeu: 'That is a good thing, because they put a better team now! Why they don't change 15 days before when they lost 3-0? 'You accuse the coach not to have put his best team 15 days ago? I cannot say to that. It's the problem of the coach, it's not my problem.' | Brenda Rodgers rested seven first-team players at the Bernabeu .
Real Madrid beat Liverpool 1-0, a fortnight after winning 3-0 at Anfield .
UEFA rules state that clubs must field their strongest side .
Michel Platini has called on Rodgers to explain his team to the fans . |
fdf9e07b050d4bb1e096f9a902d84bd9a82cb492 | A Coast Guard who shot dead a female fellow officer and severely wounded her wife had become obsessed with his lesbian colleague, friends claim. Adrian Loya, 31, traveled from Virgina before shooting dead Lisa Trubnikova and hospitalizing Anna Trubnikova when he opened fire at their Cape Cod condo on Thursday morning, police said. He then lit a car on fire, planted fake bombs and shot and wounded a police officer, according to law enforcement. When police told relatives of the incident, their immediate reaction was that Loya had been 'fixated' on Lisa since working with the couple in Alaska. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . Tragic: Lisa Trubnikova, 31, (left) has died and her wife Anna, 30, (right) is severely wounded after their former colleague Adrian Loya allegedly shot them in their Cape Cod home. He was 'obsessed' with Lisa, family say . In love: The Trubnikovas both worked in Bourne, Massachusetts, after marrying in 2013 in New York . Ambush: Massachusetts police say Adrian Loya, 31 (center), traveled from Virigina to shoot his two former colleagues at their condo in Bourne, before opening fire during a police ambush, hitting one officer . 'He became obsessed,' a family member told the Boston Globe. 'He was fixated on her.' Lisa and Anna, who married two years ago in New York, were stationed at different bases in Bourne, Massachusetts, and worked together with Loya in Alaska several years ago, family told the Globe. Lisa was a Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class of Coast Guard Base Cape Cod, and Anna is a Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class of Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England. Anna and the third victim, Bourne Police Officer Jared MacDonald, who was wounded responding to the attack, remain in hospital. According to Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe, the attack appeared to be calculated. Loya checked into a hotel near the couple's residence two days before the shooting. 'I think there was a significant amount of planning involved,' O'Keefe said. 'He wasn't crazy,' said Lisa older brother Luis Berlanga. 'He knew what he was doing.' Apprehended: Coast Guardsman Adrian Loya ,of Chesapeake, Va, (right) stands in the glass enclosed defendant's area in District Court on Thursday, February 5, 2015, in Falmouth, Massachusetts, during an arraignment on charges he killed one woman, injured another and shot a police officer in Bourne before dawn . The incident began about 2.15am amid reports of a vehicle on fire, but it quickly escalated into a 'crazy and hectic' scene, Bourne police Chief Dennis Woodside said. Police say Loya set fire to the vehicle to block the only road into the condo complex, and that he also set up devices resembling bombs, authorities said. Officers made their way around the burning vehicle on foot but were pinned down by gunfire, O'Keefe said. One officer was shot in the back below his bulletproof vest during the ambush. He took cover between two vehicles, but his fellow officers were unable to reach him. Woodside described the officer as a veteran with at least 10 years of service. After a half-hour standoff, Loya finally gave himself in to police and was arrested about 2.45am. Even then, police remained wary, because they were not aware if there were other gunmen. Inside the complex, the surviving female victim had called 911. Police entered the condo and found the other victim dead. The state police bomb squad examined the devices and determined they were all fakes that contained no explosives, Massachusetts State Police spokesman David Procopio said. Scene: A burned car that Loya allegedly used as a distraction is towed from the scene on Thursday morning . 'Crazy and hectic': Police vehicles line a road leading to a Cape Cod condo community about 2.15am Thursday . According to CBS Boston, Loya drove from his base in Chesapeake, Virginia, to Bourne on Tuesday and checked into a local hotel. He then left the hotel about 2am Thursday and drove to the Cape Cod complex, where he burst into the victims' condo and started shooting. He was armed with two rifles and a handgun, CBS reported. Loya reportedly had a previous relationship with one of the victims. Loya pleaded not guilty to charges including murder, armed assault, home invasion and assault and battery of a police officer on Thursday afternoon during an arraignment in Falmouth District Court. A judge ordered Loya to be held without bail and to undergo a mental health examination, and also ordered the file sealed. Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe and Loya's attorney, J. Drew Segadelli, didn't discuss details of the case during the court hearing. Afterward, Segadelli said Loya and the two women had some type of relationship but said he couldn't comment further because the file was sealed. Behind bars: Adrian Loya pleaded not guilty to charges including murder, armed assault, home invasion and assault and battery of a police officer on Thursday afternoon during an arraignment in Falmouth District Court . Investigation: Police said the bomb squad responded to examine items suspected of being hoax devices found there, allegedly placed by the shooting suspect, who was taken into custody . The wounded officer was carried through the woods and snow by colleagues so he could be taken to the hospital, where he was stabilized and improving, the chief said. Residents were at first told to stay inside their units, but Woodside later said the area was safe. He did not disclose any other details or a motive, and it was unclear when the suspect would be arraigned. The Coast Guard was helping in the investigation. 'Today the Coast Guard family suffered a tragic loss,' Coast Guard Rear Adm. Linda Fagan said in a statement. 'We have chaplains and counselors on site to support friends and families affected by this crime. 'My thoughts and prayers are with everyone who has been touched by today's sad event.' | Lisa Trubnikova, 31, and wife Anna, 30, were shot at Cape Cod home .
Adrian Loya, 31, traveled from base in Virginia for the attack, police say .
Family say he became fixated on Lisa when all three served in Alaska .
Loya set fire to a car to block the only road to the complex, police say .
He also set up homemade devices resembling bombs .
During a police ambush he opened fire, hitting one officer .
Loya finally gave in after a half-hour standoff and was arrested . |
fdfa525be5c7669cf9b253b35b3c6a7c59306e1d | Editor's note: Below is an excerpt from Nancy Grace's new novel "The Eleventh Victim." published by Hyperion. Nancy anchors "Nancy Grace" on HLN nightly at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET. HLN's Nancy Grace makes her fiction debut with "The Eleventh Victim." A little something. What was it? Something...some detail was wrong. . He couldn't just leave the body lying there like that. There was something missing. It was biting at him. He'd tried to go, walking back to his car in the dark twice now, but the nagging in his brain wouldn't let him leave until she was absolutely perfect. He looked at her lying there in the moonlight. Her dead body was absolutely stunning. Before, when she had been alive, sitting in the passenger seat of his car, talking and talking about her life and herself and her journey from Anniston, Alabama, to Atlanta to break into acting, he thought his head would blow up like a bomb. She just wouldn't shut up. What did she think it was...a date? She was a hooker. He spotted her climbing the steep steps out of the MARTA subway station downtown. She got straight into his car with a big smile when he offered her a ride. Once inside, driving, he kept looking away from the road, stealing glances at her neck. Something about it drew him. Maybe the shape, the curve -- or maybe it was the soft hollow spot at the bottom. It was the only thing about her he could stomach. Watch Nancy talk about her new novel » . He lowered the automatic windows so her conversation would fly out into the night and he wouldn't have to hear it. Her teeth and lips revolted him. The shiny pink lip gloss she was wearing had thickened in spots across her lips and some had smeared onto her front teeth. Looking over at her as she talked, Cruise thought it was the most disgusting thing he had ever seen. Back to the task at hand. What was it? It was maddening...he couldn't bring himself to leave until everything was just right...perfect, in fact. Every detail mattered. Like a delicate soufflé or performing his specialty, decorating with boiling-hot spun sugar, perfection was achieved only by acute attention to detail. There, in the dark of the clearing, it hit him. Turning, he walked to his car and reached through the open window into the glove compartment and got it. The baker's twine. It was his favorite brand --it was actually the only twine he would ever consider using -- just shipped in from France. He had posed her on her back. The four bright-red puncture marks torn into her mid-back didn't bother him at all. In fact, the dark red against the white skin created a vivid contrast that was somehow pleasing to him. Walking back to her body, which he had spread carefully on a bed of soft grass to more suitably frame her pale limbs in a night lit only by the moon, he paused again. He needed the perfect spot. He couldn't rush this or he wouldn't sleep all night. The wrist? Like a bracelet? No. She was wearing a tacky, gold-tone watch. That would ruin the whole thing for him. And he couldn't bring himself to actually touch the timepiece she wore there on her right wrist. It looked cheap; he was sure the gold-tone finish was turning dark at the edges of the band. The neck? No. It was much too close to the lip gloss. The gloss had a faint, fruity odor, foul as gasoline fumes to Cruise, and that alone made him want to retch. It would totally destroy the twine's effect. Sometime during their "date," fresh, damp dirt and a little grass had smeared horizontally across her mouth and worked its way up into her nose. He left it there. That was a beautiful and poetic touch of nature, but the lip gloss...disgusting. As he stood there at the foot of her body, staring into her face, her own eyes stared away from him and straight up into the sky, her lips still slightly parted just as they had been in life...just as they had been at the zenith, that incredibly beautiful and intimate moment when she exhaled her last breath into the night. And as he relived that moment, it came to him in an epiphany. He decided...the left ring finger. Perfect. He squatted down and gently picked up her left hand. The wrist was still limp. He tied a single, perfect bow around her ring finger just before rigor set in...before the body went stiff and cold and hard. He placed the hand back gently across her stomach. Backing away a few feet to take in the whole picture, finally, he could relax. Every detail was exquisite. Finally, he could get some sleep. The bow was perfectly symmetrical, and there, in the moonlight, it was just gorgeous. Almost like a wedding band. From THE ELEVENTH VICTIM by Nancy Grace. Copyright © 2009 Toto Holdings, LLC. To be published in August 2009 by Hyperion. Available wherever books are sold. All Rights Reserved. | "The Eleventh Victim" is about an Atlanta assistant DA whose fiance is murdered .
The novel's heroine, Hailey Dean, relocates to New York for a fresh start .
She becomes a therapist whose patients begin dying -- they are murdered .
The murders are similar to 11 Atlanta killings and Hailey must solve the case . |
fdfb8c0c9c0973403ca141d692e839cf9ff961bc | Sheffield United have bowed to the wishes of their fans and severed their relationship with convicted rapist Ched Evans. Club officials sparked a public outcry when they accepted a request from the Professional Footballers' Association to let their former striker train with the club following his release after serving half of a five-year prison sentence. Evans maintains he is innocent of raping a woman in a hotel room in April 2012 and has made an application to the criminal cases review commission for an appeal. Ched Evans, pictured in Wilmslow, Cheshire on Wednesday, will not be allowed to train at his old club . Evans, pictured at his home on Monday, was originally given the opportunity to train at Sheffield United . But the announcement last week to let Evans train with the club led to several high profile supporters standing down as patrons of the club, while Olympic champions Jessica Ennis-Hill said she would want the stand named after her at Bramall Lane to be renamed if Evans was re-signed. Television presenter Charlie Webster, musicians Paul Heaton and Dave Berry and Sheffield businesswoman Lindsay Graham have all resigned from their roles with the club, while a petition against Evans rejoining the club attracted more than 150,000 signatures. The club board came under further pressure when Ennis-Hill's statement led to her being subjected to sickening abuse on Twitter. Evans was released from prison in October after serving two-and-a-half years of a five-year rape sentence . Charlie Webster, left , and Jessica Ennis-Hill both voiced opposition to Evans returning to the club . In a statement, Sheffield United said: 'Following the statement dated 11th November and after ongoing and extensive deliberation, Sheffield United Football Club has decided to retract the opportunity for its former player, Ched Evans, to use the club's facilities for training purposes, as was previously intended. 'Members of the Board have consulted dispassionately with the club's supporters, vice presidents, Community Foundation members, executives, staff, sponsors and other relevant stakeholders in order to help it reach this decision. 'Also, the club has been diligent in communicating with The Football Association, The Football League, The Professional Footballers' Association (The PFA), The Football Association of Wales and The National Probation Service to take further soundings. Ennis-Hill said she wanted her name removed from the stand at Bramall Lane if Evans was re-signed . Paul Heaton (left), pictured with Norman Cook, also resigned as patron for the Blade's Community Foundation . 'We recognise that a number of our supporters will be disappointed with this decision, but would ask that they remember the responsibilities we have not only to a fine and proud club, whose history stretches back over 125 years, but also to the communities in which Sheffield United is active and to the city we represent. 'The club initially accepted a request from The PFA for Ched Evans to be able to train. The reaction to this has been at an intensity that could not have been anticipated when first announced. 'As noted in previous statements from the club, the legal system of this country provides for both the punishment and the rehabilitation of every person who has been found guilty of a crime. 'Sheffield United will not be used to promote the view that professional footballers should be treated differently, as has been the want of certain sections of the media and various commentators. In addition, we remain disappointed at some of the inaccurate reporting, misinformed views and commentary, as well as the actions of a minority of individuals on social media. Professional footballers must be treated as equals before the law. A small section of Welsh fans held a banner in Evans' favour at a recent international match . VIDEO Ched Evans training with Sheffield United . 'The club condemns rape and violence of any kind against women in the strongest possible terms. The club is aware that Ched Evans is pursuing legal recourse via the Criminal Cases Review Commission in the determination he has to clear his name. We trust that he will be afforded a fair hearing. 'During this whole period, we have been served a timely reminder of what we have been throughout our history: Sheffield United is a family and community club that, even in times of adversity, will remain strong and grow from its experiences. 'The club will not be making any further comment on this issue.' 2011 - May 30: Ched Evans arrested on suspicion of sexual assault at a Premier Inn near Rhyl, North Wales. July 26: Evans and fellow footballer Clayton McDonald are charged with rape. 2012 - April 20: Evans is jailed for five years for rape and McDonald is acquitted. Evans maintains his innocence with his lawyer saying: 'Mr Evans firmly maintains his innocence in this matter and is being advised regarding an appeal of the decision.' April 23: The Professional Footballers Association is forced to defend itself after Evans is named in the League One team of the year with chief executive Gordon Taylor stating: 'That was a football judgement by his fellow professionals, it was not a moral judgement and in no way does the PFA condone the offence for which he was convicted.' Evans is released by Sheffield United at the end of the season. April 24: Evans' lawyers announce he is to appeal against his conviction. August 21: The first stage of Evans' appeal is rejected after a judge had refuses his application for leave to appeal against his conviction. November 5: Nine people plead guilty to revealing the identity of Evans' victim online with some of the comments calling her names like 'money grabbing whore' and 'poor little victim'. November 6: Evans loses his appeal after his case is rejected by three judges at the Court of Appeal in London. 2014 - April 18: An online petition is launched urging United not to re-sign Evans and gains over 165,000 signatures. October 17: Evans is released from prison after serving half his sentence and a statement is released on his website stating he will continue to fight to clear his name. October 18: United release a statement saying that they are 'continuing to deliberate on any long-term decision' after media reports emerge that they have offered Evans a contract. October 19: The Criminal Cases Review Commission confirm they are to fast-track Evans' case to investigate whether his conviction will be referred to the Court of Appeal. October 22: Evans releases a statement stating his desire to return to football and says: 'Even though I have been released from prison, I am determined to continue the fight to clear my name and it is public knowledge that an application to refer my case back to the Court of Appeal has recently been submitted to the Criminal Case Review Commission by my lawyers.' November 11: Sheffield United confirm Evans will return to train with the club with immediate effect following a request from the Professional Footballers' Association but state they are 'not prepared at this time' to make a decision on whether to re-sign the striker. Television presenter Charlie Webster announces that she has stood down as a patron of Sheffield United. November 12: Sheffield Central MP Paul Blomfield urges United to change their decision, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg says the club must 'think really long and hard' before deciding whether to allow Evans to play for them again, while singer Dave Berry and businesswoman Lindsay Graham join Webster in resigning as club patrons. November 13: Olympic heptathlon champion and Blades fan Jessica Ennis-Hill issues a statement announcing that she has told United she would want her name removed from the Bramall Lane stand should Evans be offered a contract to play for the club. November 14: Police begin an investigation into rape threat tweets directed at Ennis-Hill after her statement over Evans. November 15: Sheffield United release a statement saying they are 'appalled' at the abuse levelled at those who spoke out about the club's decision and promising to work with South Yorkshire police to help identify those responsible. November 17: Former Beautiful South frontman Paul Heaton resigns as a patron of United's Community Foundation over the Evans affair. The Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland's solicitor Stuart Gilhooly causes controversy after defending Evans on the organisation's website. November 20: United announce they have retracted the offer for Evans to train with the club. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. | Ched Evans served half of a five-year sentence after rape conviction .
Sheffield United had offered to let him train at the club .
Charlie Webster quit as patron of the club in protest .
Paul Heaton also resigned as patron for the club's Community Foundation .
Jessica Ennis-Hill said she wanted her name removed from Bramall Lane stand if Evans was offered a contract .
A statement on Thursday night confirmed the club's U-turn . |
fdfba1bf7609095dece1fcaa79d05b0bc838114e | A foster father who confessed to multiple instances of abuse against his disabled foster child is set to spend years behind bars. Dr. Dennis Sullivan faces a prison sentence of 43 months which was handed down on Friday, Forum News Service reported. The 51-year-old Benedict, Minnesota resident earlier entered a guilty plea on August 25 for attempted first-degree assault, according to the media outlet. Foster father: Dr. Dennis Sullivan faces a prison sentence of 43 months after he entering a guilty plea for attempted first-degree assault toward his 10-year-old foster child . On that day, Sullivan reportedly confessed to covering his 10-year-old foster son's mouth with his hand on June 17 after jamming a latex glove in his mouth, Forum News Service reported. The boy 'was blind, wheelchair-bound and severely mentally disabled,' the media outlet reported. The Associated Press reported that a criminal complaint said Sullivan's wife claimed to discover Sullivan together with the child, who was having trouble breathing. The complaint reportedly said that after the foster father tucked the glove into a pocket Sullivan's wife 'asked him what he was doing. Sullivan responded that he did not know.' Admissions: Sullivan reportedly confessed to the abuse during an August 25 session at Hubbard County District Courthouse, pictured . The complaint also said Sullivan's wife pressed her husband 'if this had happened before and he said "three more times" in the immediate past and he only "put his hand over (the child’s) mouth for one minute."' Authorities later apprehended Sullivan at a North Dakota mental health center, The Associated Press reported. Forum News Serivce said that 'During the investigation, Sullivan admitted to torturing the boy in the genital area a month before the June incident.' In June, The Park Rapids Enterprise reported 'an amended complaint states the man tied a shoestring around the boy’s scrotum May 17.' | Dr. Dennis Sullivan confessed to multiple instances of abuse against his disabled foster child .
He faces a prison sentence of 43 months and entered a guilty plea on August 25 for attempted first-degree assault .
Sullivan reportedly confessed to covering his 10-year-old foster son's mouth with his hand on June 17 after putting a latex glove in his mouth .
The boy is blind and uses a wheelchair .
When his wife found him, Sullivan allegedly said he tried covering the boy's mouth on three other occasions . |
fdfbf991938ad16e552291303a7549edcd7e3028 | Vulnerable Martin Ryan starved to death in an NHS hospital after 26 days without proper nourishment . As many as 1,165 people starved to death in NHS hospitals over the past four years fuelling claims nurses are too busy to feed their patients. The Department of Health branded the figures 'unacceptable' and said the number of unannounced inspections by the care watchdog will increase. According to figures released by the . Office for National Statistics following a Freedom of Information . request, for every patient who dies from malnutrition, four more have dehydration mentioned on their death certificate. Critics say nurses are too busy to feed patients and often food and drink are placed out of reach of vulnerable people. In 2011, 43 patients starved to death and 291 died in a state of severe malnutrition, while the number of patients discharged from hospital suffering from malnutrition doubled to 5,558. Dianne Jeffrey, chairwoman of Malnutrition Task Force, condemned the statistics. She told The Sunday Express: 'Too many are paying the price with their lives while being deprived of the basic right to good nutrition, hydration and support.' The revelations come after two non-executive directors resigned from Mid Staffordshire health trust after the announcement it was going into administration. Board members Eleanor Chumley-Roberts and Dr Lyn Hulme are to step down from the trust that was at the centre of the Stafford Hospital scandal. It has also been announced that Mid-Staffordshire may be the first foundation trust to be put into administration. Eleanor Chumley-Roberts (left) and Dr Lyn Hulme (right) are unhappy that . they had no input into the decision to put the trust in administration . Monitor, the watchdog that regulates trusts, said it was considering the move in order to 'safeguard services' for local patients. A public inquiry into the trust said that patients had experienced 'appalling' care between 2005 and 2009. It said that the trust had cared more about cost control than the quality and safety of the care it gave. Mid Staffordshire health trust is in control of Stafford Hospital, where an investigation showed substandard care resulted in hundreds of deaths. The families of patients involved in the Stafford Hospital scandal protested outside a meeting of NHS bosses this week and renewed their calls for the resignation of chief executive Sir David Nicholson. Mid Staffordshire health trust is in control of Stafford Hospital, where an investigation showed substandard care resulted in hundreds of deaths . A dozen people held placards with Sir David’s photograph accompanied by the words 'Resign', 'The man with no shame' and 'Too many deaths, no accountability'. A major investigation is under way at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and acting chief executive Dr Jackie Bene has stepped down . Sir David, who has faced calls to quit since the Francis report revealed issues a Stafford Hospital, was instead given a vote of confidence. The trust has been the subject of three inquiries in four years. NHS hospitals have also stood accused of fiddling figures to mask the numbers of patients dying needlessly. A major investigation is now taking place at the Royal Bolton Hospital in Greater Manchester, where acting chief executive Dr Jackie Bene, stepped down. The trust had had one of the highest mortality rates in the country. But in 2011, the figures suddenly dropped by 10 per cent and the trust was named as one of only about 50 in the country with 'lower than expected' death rates. But it is feared that since 2001, an estimated 2,000-plus patients may have died unnecessarily at the trust. Vulnerable Martin Ryan starved to death in an NHS hospital 26 days without proper nourishment in 2005. The 43-year-old, who had Down's . syndrome, was admitted to Kingston Hospital after he suffered a stroke . which left him unable to swallow. But a 'total breakdown in communication' meant he was never fitted with a feeding tube. The case was highlighted by Mencap in . 2009. An internal inquiry by the hospital found that doctors had thought . nurses were feeding Mr Ryan, from Richmond, south-west London, through a . tube. By the time they found out this was not the case, he was too weak for an operation. He died in agony five days later. Worcestershire Acute NHS Hospital Trust was forced to pay out more than £400,000 last year in compensation after a patient starved to death and another was left unwashed for 11 weeks. In one of the worst ever cases of multiple NHS failings, patients were left begging for water or left hungry after trays of food were dumped too far from their reach. The 84-year-old starved to death in 2009 after being admitted following a fall. The man, who has not been identified at the request of his relatives, could only manage certain foods, but he was not fed properly and died two months later. On his death certificate, inanition, a clinical term for starvation, was recorded as the cause of death. A Department of Health spokeswoman said: 'Every NHS patient should expect to be looked after properly in hospital. 'It is completely unacceptable if patients go hungry or are malnourished. 'To help make sure patients get the right care - and to root out bad practice - the Care Quality Commission has increased the number of unannounced inspections that it undertakes, and soon it will publish its findings from a series of inspections looking specifically at dignity and nutrition. 'We are also investing £100 million on IT so nurses can spend more time with patients, not paperwork. 'That means nursing rounds where senior nurses will have more time to check that patients are comfortable, are helped to eat and drink, and are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.' | For every patient who dies from malnutrition, four more have dehydration mentioned on their death certificate .
In 2011, 43 patients starved to death and 291 died in a state of severe malnutrition .
Department of Health branded the figures 'unacceptable' and said the number of unannounced inspections will increase . |
fdfc1cb734be7a60801c432139987df54dfb15d9 | A man has been caught trying to smuggle a Blackberry mobile phone, a recharger, a pair of earphones and a sim car into a Brazilian prison hidden in his bottom. Jean Ferreira Roque, 19, has said he had been hired by the wife of an inmate to smuggle the Blackberry Curve bundle into the Puraquequara jail in Manaus, northern Brazil. Roque was caught passing through an X-ray scan during visiting hours at the prison on Boxing Day. Jean Ferreira Roque was caught trying to smuggle a phone and its accessories into the Puraquequara jail in Manaus, northern Brazil . He claimed he was to receive £45 for delivering the phone, which is 2.36 inches wide. The student told Brazil's Globo G1 website it wasn't the first time he had used the unconventional method to bring in phones for prisoners at the high-security jail. He said: 'I've delivered lots of phones, I delivered a Blackberry to another inmate last week. This is just the first time I've been caught. 'I went to sit down and they must have noticed something wasn't quite right because they asked for me to go through the metal detector. 'That's when they saw the mobile phone.' He added: 'I get paid once the phone is safely delivered. There's a price list, the bigger the phone, the higher the price.' Manaus police chief Debora Mafra today said she has ordered an investigation into the smuggling claims. She said: 'This needs to stop. We will probe as deep as we have to in order to find out who is behind all this.' Roque has claimed he has smuggled phones into the prison in the past and gets paid depending on the size of the handset . | Student Jean Ferreir Roque hid the phone and its bundle in his bottom .
Was caught after passing through an X-ray scan at the Brazilian prison .
Has said it is not the first time he has used the method to smuggle phones . |
fdfc1ef43040b581849849addd92208812290d4b | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 17:32 EST, 27 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 00:27 EST, 28 September 2013 . Murder suspect: Yongfei Ci, 29, a University of Illinois PhD student, has been identified as the man who allegedly killed his ex-girlfriend . A 29-year-old doctoral student from University of Illinois has been arrested for allegedly killing his ex-girlfriend and locking away her roommate. The victim, identified by police only as a 25-year-old student at UI Champaign-Urbana, was discovered murdered in her off-campus apartment this morning. According to a press release made available to MailOnline Friday evening, an autopsy is pending to determine the woman's cause of death. The victim's estranged boyfriend, 29-year-old PhD student Yongfei Ci, was tracked down by police and arrested a few blocks north of the crime scene just hours after the slaying. Lt. Bryant Seraphin told The Champaign News-Gazette that officers were called shortly after 11am to 1343 North Lincoln Avenue at the One South apartment complex in Urbana. According to the news release, the victim's roommate was in the apartment during the killing and had been locked in the bathroom by the attacker. The woman eventually was able to free herself and ran into the courtyard, where she told a passerby about what happened. The roommate was not injured. The university police issued alerts to students and faculty, but the campus was not locked down. Booked: Urbana police released this mugshot of Ci following his arrest . Crime scene: The body of the 25-year-old victim was discovered in her home at 1343 North Lincoln Avenue at the One South apartment complex in Urbana . Investigators used cell phone . technology to locate Mr Ci at a motel in the 1200 block of West Anthony . Drive in Champaign just before 1.30pm today. Ci is a sixth-year PhD candidate studying math at UI. According to his profile on the university website, his research focuses on the topology and geometry of 3-manifolds. Busted: Police tracked down Ci to this motel at 1212 West Anthony Drive in Champaign just hours after the murder . The 29-year-old murder suspect is a Chinese citizen who had graduated from Oregon State University before being accepted into UI's PhD program in 2008. Ci’s Facebook account has been dormant since 2010. In September 2008, the student indicated on his page that he was in a relationship, although most recently his status has been listed as ‘single.’ | Suspect identified as Yongfei Ci, 29, a sixth-year student at University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana .
Ci's ex-girlfriend, a 25-year-old fellow UI student, was found in her off-campus apartment in Urbana, Illinois .
Mr Ci is a Chinese citizen who graduated from Oregon State University . |
fdfc7407699777e8baaf2dfeb79ed3d071ddd87f | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 19:37 EST, 9 July 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 02:30 EST, 10 July 2012 . Prosecutors have described how South Florida teen Wayne Treacy kicked 15-year-old Josie Ratley's head 'as if it were a soccer ball and stomped on it as if he was putting out a fire' in a shocking 2010 attack that left her almost dead. Treacy, now 17, cried during prosecutor Maria Schneider's opening statements at day one of his first-degree attempted murder trial today, which was attended by his parents and Ms Ratley's mother, Hilda Gotay. 'He grabbed her head by the hair and started smashing it to the surface...kicked her head as if it were a soccer ball and stomped on it as if he was putting out a fire,' Ms Schneider told the court, according to NBC Miami. On trial: Wayne Treacy, 17, pictured right, cried as he listens to prosecutor Maria Schneider describe his attack . Defense attorneys said they would use the insanity defense, claiming Treacy was suffering post traumatic stress disorder when he beat Ms Ratley to within an inch of her life at a bus stop outside Deerfield Beach Middle School on March 17, 2010. 'He was generally a nice kid, but after his brother died, things changed,' attorney Russell Williams told the court. Police said Treacy, who is being tried as an adult, sought out Ms Ratley, then 15, after she sent him text messages about his older brother Michael, who had recently killed himself. Ms Ratley suffered severe brain damage . in the attack and spent over 40 days at the pediatric intensive care . unit at Broward General Medical Center. Devastated: Victim Josie Ratley's mother Hilda Gotay, pictured left, broke down at Monday's trial opening . Cuffed: Treacy, pictured, was led into the court handcuffed before opening statements in his first-degree attempted murder trial . Prosecution: Assistant State Attorney Maria Schneider, pictured, described how Treacy 'stomped' on Ms Ratley's head during the attack in 2010 . He has been held without bond since the attack and faces up to five decades behind bars if convicted. Mr Williams added that PTSD meant the teenager struggled to control his emotions and actions. Some . of Treacy's friends testified that they had received text messages . about his intent to hurt Ms Ratley, but they thought he wouldn't go . through with the crime. Classmate, William Luft, told the court that Treacy texted him saying he would snap Ms Ratley's neck and 'stomp her head'. The teenager's then girlfriend testified about a text message she said she received from him just after the assault. 'He said, 'I just tried to kill someone,'' she testified on Monday. If convicted, Treacy could get 50 . years in prison. If not, he likely would still spend years in a state . mental institution, possibly even as long as he would spend in prison, . attorneys and legal experts say. 'They often have a difficult time . getting out,' said attorney Richard Rosenbaum, who has represented . defendants claiming the insanity defense and is not involved in the . Treacy case. He . said few insanity defenses succeed because defendants not only must . show a mental illness or defect but also must prove they didn't know . right from wrong. Parents: Wayne Treacy's attorney Russell Williams, right, speaks to Wayne's mother Donna Powers and step father Cary Smith, left, in court . Horror: Wayne Treacy (left), now 17, was 15-years-old when police say he brutally kicked and stomped the head of then 15-year-old Josie Lou Ratley (right) so badly that she suffered permanent brain injuries . 'That's . usually the prong that trips up most of the people who raise insanity . as a defense,' Rosenbaum said. 'It's fairly easy for the state to show . someone knew right from wrong. They knew 'Thou shalt not kill.'' Treacy's defense claims he was suffering . from post-traumatic stress disorder, rooted in his older brother's . recent suicide, when he became enraged outside the bus stop, by an . exchange of text messages with Ms Ratley, whom he did not know. In one of the texts, Ms Ratley tells Treacy 'now go visit your dead brother,' leading Treacy to respond, 'You're (expletive) dead! I swear to God, I'm going to kill you. Your (expletive) is cold, dead meat.' Yet Treacy threatened Ms Ratley several times during their 45-minute text exchange before she mentioned the brother. The whole thing started because Treacy was trying to get in touch with another girl, Kayla Manson, whom he had been dating. Ms Ratley sometimes let Ms Manson use her phone to contact Treacy. Tragedy: After Treacy assaulted Ms Ratley, she was left lying unconscious in a pool of blood and still has mental problems after she gradually recovered . Strategy: Treacy's attorneys said the teen, pictured, was insane when he assaulted the girl and should be acquitted of attempted first-degree murder . Ms Ratley repeatedly referred to . then-15-year-old Treacy as a 'rapist' for dating Manson, who was then . 13. Eventually Treacy texts back, 'Why are you trying to get yourself . killed? I will find you. I will mess you up, you will regret crossing . me.' And, prosecutors say, Treacy calmly laid plans to do just that over the next few hours. Evidence shows that Treacy - a gifted student who did not attend his high school that day - did computer searches on ways to efficiently kill people barehanded, wrote up a short will and hinted to several friends about his violent plans. 'I'm going to jail for murder,' Treacy said in one text to a friend, according to investigative records. Most of the friends said they didn't take the threats seriously. 'He's never hurt anyone before and I . wouldn't think he would ever hurt someone,' said Monica Montero, who . received several texts from Treacy that day. 'Mission': Prosecutors say Treacy dressed in black, including martial arts fighting gloves and his brother's steel-toed boots to ensure maximum damage, before he beat Ms Ratley at a bus stop . Prosecutors say Treacy dressed in black, including martial arts fighting gloves and his brother's steel-toed boots to ensure maximum damage. He then rode his bicycle to the middle school and found Manson, asking her to take him to Ms Ratley. Surveillance video shows Ms Manson leading the much taller Treacy through a crowd of students at the school bus stop, a few moments after Ms Ratley also passed by. The beating itself is not captured on camera. Numerous witnesses say Treacy grabbed Ms Ratley by the neck, knocked her to the ground and began stomping and kicking her. A teacher managed to knock Treacy away from the girl, who was by then lying unconscious in a pool of blood. The teacher, Walter Welsh, then hustled Treacy into the school office and waited for police and paramedics to respond. Mr Welsh said it was clear immediately the attack was planned. 'He was on a mission,' he said. 'I'm going to kill you': The boy's defence claims Treacy (bottom right) was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder following his older brother's recent suicide when he attacked Ms Ratley . Later in a videotaped police interview, Treacy claimed he blacked out during the attack and that he never intended to hit Ms Ratley. Just before the investigator came into the interview room, however, Treacy quietly says, 'I'm a monster. I'm a monster.' Ms Ratley gradually recovered but still has mental problems that prosecutors say may prevent her from testifying. Manson, the girl who pointed Ms Ratley out, faces an August trial on charges of being Treacy's accomplice. For Treacy's insanity defense to succeed, experts say it's crucial that jurors are convinced he had been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder for some time after his brother's suicide. In pretrial hearings, a defense . expert has testified Treacy likely was in period of detachment during . which he didn't know what he was doing. Those periods can last for hours . or days, the expert said. 'Would never have happened': Although Treacy told police he blacked out during the attack and that he never intended to hit Ms Ratley, he earlier said quietly to himself, 'I'm a monster' In a taped jailhouse phone call with his mother, Treacy says he is angry at his brother because the suicide messed up his head. 'If it wasn't for (unclear), I'd be just as normal as I ever was and this would never have happened,' Treacy says, according to a transcript. The prosecution's job is easier, said Nova Southeastern University law professor Robert Jarvis. 'The state has to keep reminding the jury that the defendant is (an attempted) killer,' he said. 'In the end, I think the defense fails in this case because lots of people lose a loved one and still function without engaging in a crime and jurors know that.' Coincidentally, the attack on Ms . Ratley happened several months after a group of students at the same . school, Deerfield Beach Middle School, set a classmate on fire, nearly . killing him. Three boys have been convicted of felonies in that case. | Wayne Treacy cried as prosecutors described the horrific 2010 attack in day one of his attempted murder trial .
Defense told the court the teen couldn't control his actions because he suffered PTSD after his brother committed suicide .
Victim Josie Ratley was left severely brain damaged after the beating . |
fdfce3cc2699058cea3c353dffe51a6cebb71435 | SeaWorld reported a wider loss in its fourth quarter of $25.4 million as attendance to its theme parks continued to fall - due in part to the documentary 'Blackfish,' which criticizes the company's treatment of killer whales. Its shares fell in premarket trading Thursday. SeaWorld has been battling negative publicity after a 2013 documentary, 'Blackfish,' suggested that its treatment of animals may have led to the deaths of trainers. The documentary 2013 Blackfish highlighted the treatment of killer whales in captivity at SeaWorld and instigated a drop in park attendance . The marine parks are known for shows featuring killer whales and other animals. SeaWorld has taken out newspaper ads to defend its practices. And last year, the company said it would build larger environments for animals and fund additional research and programs to protect ocean health and whales in the wild. SeaWorld's chief executive resigned following low visitor numbers in the wake of the 2013 documentary Blackfish, which criticized the firm's treatment of killer whales. Jim Atchison, who had served as CEO and president since 2009, stepped down in January amid accusations that the company's treatment of killer whales may have led to the deaths of trainers. Attendance to the company’s 11 parks between October and December fell 2.2 percent to 4.4 million from 4.5 million in the same period a year ago. Attendance fell 4.3 percent during the entire year to 22.4 million from 23.4 million in 2013. Jim Atchison, former president and CEO SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, stepped down from his position following the release of the controversial film Blackfish . The Orlando, Florida-based company also said on Thursday that it expects to select a new CEO within the next six to nine months. Chairman David D’Alessandro took over as interim CEO in January after Jim Atchison stepped down. During the fourth quarter, the company reported a loss of $25.4 million, or 29 cents per share. That compares with a loss of $13 million, or 14 cents per share, in the same period a year before. Adjusted to remove one-time items, it had a loss of 21 cents per share, a larger loss than the 15 cent cents per share analysts expected, according to FactSet. Revenue fell 2.8 percent to $264.5 million, beating the $253.2 million that analysts expected. For 2014, the company reported net income of $49.9 million, or 57 cents per share, compared with $51.9 million, or 59 cents per share, in 2013. Adjusted earnings were 68 cents per share, below the 73 cents per share analysts expected. Revenue fell 5.6 percent to $1.38 billion in 2014, above the $1.37 billion analysts expected. Shares of SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. fell more than 7 percent in premarket trading Thursday. They are down about 41 percent in the last 12 months. SeaWorld lost more than finances this month. A beluga whale who was on loan to under-fire SeaWorld has died after fracturing his jaw during an 'interaction' with two other whales and later contracting an infection. Nanuq, who was around 31 or 32 years old, entertained millions of visitors at the firm's Orlando, Florida, theme park while on a long-term breeding loan from Canada's Vancouver Aquarium. Nanuq no more: In this handout photo provided by SeaWorld San Diego, actor Will Ferrell shakes flippers with Nanuq, a 2,000-pound beluga whale that died this month . No more attendees: Less and less are going to see whales perform at Sea World following the documentary . But during a recent encounter with two of the three beluga whales he lived with, the 2200lbs marine creature suffered a fractured jaw. He later developed an infection and passed away on Thursday. Although Nanuq had been undergoing treatment for the infection at the time of his death, a post-mortem examination has been arranged to confirm the cause. The results are expected in weeks. Scott Smith, a University of South Carolina assistant hospitality professor, said Nanuq's death could be potentially damaging to SeaWorld following the release of Blackfish. 'It really is one of the worst times this kind of news could come out,' he said. 'Any other time, it probably wouldn’t even make a blip on the radar, but now everyone is watching SeaWorld.' Longtime SeaWorld critic and Animal Welfare Institute marine mammal scientist Naomi Rose added that in the wild, suffering a broken jaw from an 'interaction' with another animal seems unlikely. Speaking to the Orlando Sentinel, Ms Rose said: 'If he died because of something related to that infection he got related to the broken jaw, then he died of being in captivity.' Blackfish, which implied that the stress of life in captivity may have been responsible of an orca's killing of Orlando trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010, sparked widespread criticism of SeaWorld, . Since its release, attendance has declined at the company's parks in Orlando, San Diego, California and San Antonio, Texas. SeaWorld's stock value has also plummeted. To counter the backlash, the firm, which has participated in animal rescue programs for more than 50 years, has announced plans to nearly double the size of its orca enclosures in upcoming years. SeaWorld has not yet named a replacement for Mr Atchison. | SeaWorld reported a wider loss in its fourth quarter of $25.4 million as attendance to its theme parks continued to fall .
SeaWorld has been battling negative publicity after a 2013 documentary, 'Blackfish,' said treatment of animals led to the deaths of trainers .
Attendance to the company’s 11 parks between October and December fell 2.2 percent to 4.4 million from 4.5 million in the same period a year ago .
Jim Atchison, who had served as CEO and president since 2009, stepped down in January following the documentary .
A beluga whale named Nanuq who was on loan to under-fire SeaWorld has died after fracturing his jaw during an 'interaction' with two other whales .
Nanuq later died of an infection . |
fdfd1206a083c60480c9ec318dc64cb15fd0eb54 | Prince Charles clearly knows how to tell a joke as at a Prince's Trust Event tonight, he had Jerry Hall, and former Spice Girl Mel C in stitches. The royal joshed with celebrities at the annual Prince's Trust Invest In Futures reception at the Savoy Hotel in London, and he was even privy to a few of magician Dynamo's card tricks. At his second black tie event of the week, Charles sipped a glass of water as he chatted to rock stars and actors including Gillian Anderson, who's one of the charity's ambassadors. Prince Charles shares a joke with Jerry Hall, who looked radiant at the Prince's Trust Invest In Futures event . As always, the Prince (third right) was able to attract a plethora of celebrities to aid his cause (L-R) Sir Ben Kingsley, Samantha Bond, Jools Holland, Ronnie Wood, Melanie Chisholm and Dynamo . The Prince clearly amused former Spice Girl Melanie C, who performed later in the evening . Jerry Hall looked elegant in black and the former model, who recently chopped her famous long blonde locks, seems to be growing them out again, as her hair fell well below her shoulders. The prince seemed relaxed and at ease as he talked to The Fall star Gillian, who sparkled in a black beaded dress with black lace sleeves and simple drop earrings. Meanwhile, Melanie Chisholm roared with laughter at one of Charles's jokes. The singer, who wore a knee-length dress with white, silver and pleated panels, stood out as one of the only attendees not wearing all-black. Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood made a statement in a shiny blue dinner jacket, his black hair brushed into their signature spikes. While his wife Sally Humphreys glowed in a berry-coloured high-necked dress. Comedian and actor Rob Brydon - and onscreen sparring partner of Steve Coogan - regaled His Royal Highness with a story on the red carpet, while the royal listened politely. The royal meets The Fall star Gillian Anderson (centre), who is a Prince’s Trust Ambassador, at the Savoy . The lucky royal was even privy to a few of magician Dynamo's card tricks . Among the guests at the star-studded event were actress Emilia Fox with her brother Freddie, presenter Edith Bowman and actor Tom Hiddleston . The dinner was hosted by Gandhi actor Sir Ben Kingsley and Samantha Bond and the lucky guests were treated to performances by pianist Jools Holland, Ronnie Wood, Melanie C and Dynamo. Magician Dynamo, whose real name is Steven Frame, credits the Prince's Trust with his success today. Bullied at school and suffering from debilitating Crohn's disease, he launched his career with a cash grant from the Prince's charity and now he's an ambassador for the charity. It's not the first time Dynamo has performed for the royal, in 2013 an illusion that made it look as though he was breaking his own fingers, prompted Charles to clutch his face with his hands. Charles looked highly impressed at Dynamo's skills, though the magician seemed to be feeling the pressure . Dynamo, who launched his career with a Prince's Trust grant, may have used Charles as a warm-up to his act . On Tuesday, Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, joined 300 guests at the Banqueting Hall at a gala dinner for the British Asian Trust. The royal laughed and joked with Bollywood star Rani Mukerji and Tasmin Lucia-Khan, while Camilla was resplendent in purple velvet, a diamond serpent necklace and amethyst earrings. Today the couple explored central London, starting the day at the Art Workers' Guild in Bloomsbury before exploring St Bride's Church in Fleet Street. While Camilla seemed to have thrown in the towel and headed home, her indefatigable husband was back on the red carpet. (Left to right) Sir Ben Kingsley, Samantha Bond, Jools Holland and Ronnie Wood wait to meet the Prince . Welsh comedian Rob Brydon attended the annual dinner, as Ronnie Wood's wife Sally Humphreys looks on . Pianist Jools Holland gives the Prince of Wales a respectful bow as they're introduced on the red carpet . It is hoped the annual Invest In Futures dinner will inspire the financial community to help underprivileged young people into work or training. The programme was launched in 2005 by Michael Marks CBE and has raised more than £16m for The Prince's Trust, royalcentral.co.uk reports. Prince Charles began The Princes Trust in 1976 and he has said: 'You can see how it is possible to turn young people’s lives around and give them self-confidence, self-worth and self-esteem.' The Prince’s Trust has funded well over an estimated 500,000 projects and programmes involving young people in the past 39 years. The 2014 event, held in February 2014 at the Savoy hotel, raised £1.5 million. Samantha Bond (back left) and Ronnie Wood (front right) were delighted to line up and greet the Prince . Charles sported one of his jazzy pocket squares for the event, which he attended solo . | Charles attended Prince's Trust Invest In Futures gala at the Savoy Hotel .
Guests included Gillian Anderson, Jerry Hall, Mel C, and Ronnie Wood .
Prince and Camilla visited Art Workers' Guild and St Bride's church today . |
fdfd178d77d78efc2ef16cd7cf09bfe8e3dc5ea1 | They are just tiny specks in a vast landscape of deep ridges which ripple spectacularly, making North America's lowest, driest, and hottest place look like the surface of the moon or an alien planet. The handful of intrepid walkers are the only signs of life in the baron desert and give a breathtaking sense of scale to Death Valley in these pictures from British travel photographer Chris Upton. Mr Upton was on a driving holiday through Death Valley, in Eastern California's Mojave Desert, when he spotted the walkers on one of the ridges. The 57-year-old from Nottinghamshire was there to photograph the sunrise but could not resist taking the set of snaps at Zabriskie Point in Badwater Basin. British travel photographer Chris Upton caught an incredible sense of scale with these pictures taken while on a driving holiday through Death Valley, in Eastern California's Mojave Desert . Visiting the Zabriskie Point at sunrise, Mr Upton caught spectacular images of walkers set against giant ridges rippling through the valley . Death Valley stretches across about 3,000 square miles and its highest point is Telescope Peak in the Panamint Range which is 11,043 ft (3,366 metres) tall. The average annual rainfall in the vast and baron Death Valley desert is just 60mm . Zabriskie Point is made up of sediments from Furnace Creek Lake which dried up five million years ago - way before Death Valley was formed . Zabriskie Point is in the Badwater Basin - the lowest lowest point in North America, at 282ft (86 metres) below sea level . Zabriskie Point sits on the edge of Death Valley's Furnace Creek, which holds the air temperature record at 56.7, recorded in July 10, 1913. But temperatures can drop below freezing at night during the winter . Death Valley got its name during the gold rush from prospectors who sought to cross the valley. Although, the name may be misleading, with only one death recorded during the period. The oldest rocks in Death Valley National Park in California are thought to be at least 1,700 million years old . When Mr Upton came across the walkers they were too bunched up. But he said: 'Fortunately three disappeared over the ridge leaving the two walkers perfectly positioned to give some scale and context to the image...I had my shot' Glacial lakes once filled Death Valley but about 10,500 years ago these lakes began to dry up, producing the desert environment seen today . | British photographer snaps breathtaking pictures of walkers in Death Valley, California .
Walkers spotted just five miles from Furnace Creek which holds air temperature record at 56.7C .
Pictures taken in Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America, at 282ft below sea level .
The average annual rainfall in the vast and baron Death Valley desert is just 60mm . |
fdfd2e7a30220aeaf6021095225616819251bbaf | Actress Skye McCole Bartusiak, who played Mel Gibson's youngest daughter in "The Patriot," died Saturday at her home in Houston, her mother said Sunday. She was 21. "We lost our girl," Helen McCole Bartusiak told CNN. While investigators have not determined a cause of death, Bartusiak had been suffering from epileptic seizures in recent days, according to her mother. "She was a kind and really beautiful girl," her mother said. Bartusiak's most visible role was as the young daughter of Mel Gibson's Revolutionary War "Patriot" character in the 2000 movie. Her movie acting career began when she was just 6 in 1999 with a role in "The Cider House Rules." She played the daughter of Michael Douglas' character in "Don't Say a Word" in 2001. Her last film role was the lead in "Sick Boy," a low-budget thriller released in 2012. Bartusiak had been preparing to produce and direct her first feature film in recent months, her mother said. Her boyfriend found Bartusiak sitting up in her bed in the garage apartment adjacent to her parents' Houston home, her mother said. "We think she had a seizure and choked and nobody was there." Her mother said she started cardiopulmonary resuscitation on her daughter before paramedics arrived. "They were working on her for 45 minutes and could not get a heartbeat," she said. "I've done CPR on that kid more than one time and it just didn't work this time," Bartusiak said. She's suffered epileptic seizures since she was a baby, although they disappeared for a few years until returning last week, her mother said. 7 things to know about epilepsy . Bartusiak's mother spent Sunday morning looking through photos of her actress daughter for the funeral. The images include pictures with Presidents George W. and George H.W. Bush, Mel Gibson, Dennis Hopper and Michael Douglas, she said. "The girl has lived such an amazing life," she said. People we've lost in 2014 . | Bartusiak, 21, suffered from epileptic seizures in recent days, her mother says .
"We think she had a seizure and choked and nobody was there," her mother says .
Bartusiak played the young daughter of Mel Gibson's "Patriot" character .
Her movie acting career began when she was just 6 . |
fdfd472f9de0f3d07a0758369fbd1f470fc00f54 | The Democratic Party is licking its wounds after losing a special election in Florida that turned into a referendum on Barack Obama, suggesting that the president has become an albatross around the necks of congressional candidates – and spelling election doom for November. Election prognosticator Stuart Rothenberg wrote in January that the 13th Congressional District race was one that Democrats 'can't afford to lose.' Alex Sink, the losing Democrat, also lost a statewide race for governor in 2016 by a razor-thin margin, but carried the 13th district by 2 percentage points. Obama, too, prevailed there in both of his elections. But the special election, created by the October death of longtime Rep. Bill Young, was a different story. Jolly won by nearly 2 points in a race that cost the candidates a whopping $12.7 million. And Republicans of all stripes are crowing about it. Congressman-elect: Republican David Jolly was all smiles after defeating Democrat Alex Sink in an election that is seen as a referendum on Democrats' policies . The agony of defeat: Losing congressional candidate Alex Sink (C) was consoled by her son Bert McBride and her daughter Lexi Crawford (R) after she delivered a concession speech Tuesday night . Sink was 'ultimately brought down because of her unwavering support for Obamacare, and that should be a loud warning for other Democrats running coast to coast,' said National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Greg Walden Tuesday night. David Jolly, the former Young aide who won the contest, told Fox News Channel viewers on Wednesday morning that Sink lost because her party embraced Obamacare. 'I think it gives Democrats reason to worry going into November,' he said. Chris Cox, who runs the National Rifle Association's Political Victory Fund, blasted Sink for 'align[ing] herself with Michael Bloomberg and his anti-gun agenda,' and said Jolly prevailed because of his 'commitment to protecting our fundamental Right to Keep and Bear Arms.' The Florida Faith & Freedom Coalition took credit for mobilizing evangelical Christians. Jim Kallinger, the group's chairman, said in a statement that Jolly's victory showed the November elections 'will be a referendum on the failure of Obamacare.' The Susan B. Anthony List, a conservative group that promotes candidates who favor restrictions on abortion, claimed that the outcome was 'an early win for the pro-life movement.' Sink’s 'extreme pro-abortion views,' said the group's president, Marjorie Dannenfelser, 'put her far outside the mainstream.' When Rothenberg handicapped the race in a January Roll Call column, he wrote that 'a Republican victory in March would likely say something about the national political environment and the inclination of district voters to send a message of dissatisfaction about the president.' 'And that possibility should worry the White House.' High-fives, for now: Jolly celebrated Tuesday night but will have to defend his seat in November . Jolly's victory was cheered by the late former congressman Bill Young's sons Patrick (C) and Billy (R), whose father succumbed to cancer in October . Jolly's win came despite Sink outspending him 3-to-1 on television ads. But the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee insists special elections are usually a 'poor predictor of November success.' Renowned political prognosticator Stuart Rothenberg set the bar high for Democrats two months ago, saying they couldn't afford to lose in Florida's 13th District. That theory will be tested this year, since Jolly must stand for re-election along with the other 424 members of the House of Representatives . The Tampa Bay Times reported that as Sink conceded . the race, some of her supporters . shouted, 'November! November!' according to The . Democrat did not, however, say whether she would run again for the seat . in this year’s general election, the newspaper reported. Outside political groups, whose attention was focused on the only congressional race this month, spent heavily on attack ads slamming both candidates. That money will be spread thin in November, especially in U.S. Senate races that have drawn the most attention as indicators of Obama's potential lame-duck status. 'I have very good news tonight,' Jolly told supporters are his victory party: 'No more commercials.' Famed game show host Bob Barker introduced him in a video message, shouting his well-known line from The Price Is right: 'Congressman David Jolly, come on down!' Jolly's win could indicate broad disenchantment with the White House's handling of Obamacare, the IRS tea-party targeting scandal, the Benghazi terror attack in 2012, the National Security Agency's broad digital surveillance programs, or any of several other negatives that the president will carry into November. The president didn't campaign with Sink despite flying to Florida for a golf trip less than a week before Election Day. | David Jolly's win over Alex Sink in Florida's 13th Congressional District may be a bellwether for Democrats' November woes .
The Florida 13th District race was the first real test of how well – or how poorly – Democrats are handling the White House's scandals .
The contest could be seen as a referendum on Obamacare, although Republican special interests are spinning it as a victory for gun rights, anti-abortion policies and a host of other narrow positions .
The campaigns spent $12.7 million on the only national election fought this month, but the victor will have to stand for re-election in November . |
fdfd7e210f71dd315876b792014f4f163fe0a44e | PERUGIA, Italy (CNN) -- A judge was considering Monday whether to grant a request for a fresh autopsy on the body of the British student Meredith Kercher, killed in the Italian city of Perugia. Meredith Kercher was found dead in her villa November 2 with a knife wound to her neck. Kercher's corpse is still being held in a morgue in Britain as her family awaits permission to bury the 21-year-old who bled to death after she was stabbed in her bed. The request was received from the lawyers of Patrick Lumumba, one of the four suspects identified by Italian police. Carlo Pacelli, a lawyer for Lumumba - who was released by Italian police last week but still remains a suspect in the killing - said they wanted to establish more closely the time of death of the victim. The decision on a second autopsy is expected some time Tuesday, Francesco Marasco, the Kercher family's lawyer, told reporters in Perugia Monday. Marasco told CNN that Italian investigators would travel to London to carry out a second autopsy if it was granted. Kercher, an exchange student at Perugia's university, was killed late on November 1 in the villa where she lived, according to police. Investigators found her the next day, half-naked, with a stab wound to her neck. A report issued more than a week ago by an Italian judge suggested she may have been sexually assaulted at knifepoint before she was killed in her bed. The original post-mortem put the time of death at between 10 p.m. and midnight, according to a report from Perugia's prosecutor general Claudia Matteini. However, Matteini said that Kercher probably suffered a "very slow agony" as she bled to death and that the wound could have been inflicted as early as 8:30 p.m. and that she could have died at any time up to 11:30 p.m. Lumumba, a Congolese bar owner, says he has a solid alibi for the time of the killing, according to his lawyers. The autopsy request came a day after the latest suspect in the case, Rudy Hermann Guede, 20, claimed that an unidentified assailant attacked the British student, his lawyer told CNN Sunday. Guede has already admitted being in Kercher's home the night she was killed, but denies any involvement in her death, his lawyer, Walter Biscotti, told CNN. Last week, investigators said DNA on a vaginal swab taken from Kercher matched Guede's DNA, indicating the two had sex. Italian police say that they have connected Guede to a bloody fingerprint on a pillow at the crime scene, and that DNA tests on skin cells found on toilet paper there have linked him to the villa. The suspect, arrested last week after fleeing to Germany, claimed he was in the bathroom when he heard Kercher screaming from the bedroom, Biscotti said. He claimed he saw a person, whom he describes as "the killer," outside the bedroom door, and that when he went to help the victim she whispered "A.F" into his ear, his lawyer said. Guede tried to confront the person, but the assailant ran away, according to Biscotti. His lawyer said Guede denies that he and Kercher slept together. Media reports in Italy and Britain say police are looking at the possibility of a fifth suspect involved in the killing following Guede's claims. But a source in the prosecutor's office in Perugia told CNN that no fifth suspect was being sought in connection with the killing. Guede is the only suspect to have acknowledged having been in Kercher's villa the night she died. He is expected to be extradited in the next 10 to 15 days on suspicion of murder and sexual assault. In addition to Guede, two other suspects remain in custody in connection with the killing: Amanda Knox, 20, Kercher's roommate, and Knox's boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 23. A source in the prosecutor's office said forensic police will return to the villa before Friday's court hearing to determine whether Solliceto and Knox should continue to be held by police. The source said forensics investigators had discovered impressions on the victim's bra, which was found near her body, and were trying to determine if the impressions are fingerprints. According to a report in the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera Saturday, Sollecito said in a statement to police that Knox lived in a dream world but said she was not a murderer. "She lives life as if it is a dream, she's out of touch with reality. But from here to even just imagining that she is a murderer, it becomes impossible," the newspaper reported Sollecito as saying. Knox, from Seattle, has told police that she is unclear about what took place on the night of Kercher's death. Even the American's lawyer has admitted he was confused by his client's testimony. Both Knox and Sollecito deny any involvement in the killing. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Hada Messia in Perugia contributed to this report. | UK exchange student Meredith Kercher killed in Perugia, Italy November 1 .
Lawyers for released suspect Patrick Lumumba demand second autopsy .
Request after another suspect says an unidentified assailant attacked Kercher .
Other suspects include Kercher's U.S. flatmate and flatmate's Italian boyfriend . |
fdfd923a0bb3fdfd2da4ec752a565a331143f8bd | (CNN Student News) -- May 30, 2014 . This Friday on CNN Student News: government, business, technology and altruism. A scandal widens concerning the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and a concussion summit discusses better treatment of head injuries in school sports. We'll also show you how "swarm robots" could help with complicated tasks by keeping things simple. On this page you will find today's show Transcript, the Daily Curriculum, and a place for you to leave feedback. 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. DAILY CURRICULUM . Click here for a printable version of the Daily Curriculum (PDF). Media Literacy Question of the Day: . Should news producers give greater priority to "good news"? Why or why not? Weekly Newsquiz: The following questions relate to events that were covered this week on CNN Student News. Write your answers in the space provided. 1. What poet, activist and author of "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" died this week at the age of 86? 2. According to AAA, the 100 deadliest days for teenage drivers start on what holiday? 3. What kind of policy was the focus of the speech delivered by President Obama to graduates of the U.S. Military Academy? 4. What organization currently consisting of 28 European countries was established in 1993? 5. What U.S. warship that was once the target of a terrorist attack sailed into New York as part of Fleet Week 2014? 6. Narendra Modi was elected prime minister of what Asian nation? 7. What computer company announced that it is buying Beats? 8. What kind of injury was the focus of a White House summit on safe sports? 9. What country will soon see a reduction in U.S. troops who are currently serving in America's longest-running war? 10. What U.S. government department is assigned with giving medical care and benefits to people who have served in the armed forces? CNN Student News is created by a team of journalists and educators who consider the Common Core State Standards, national standards in different subject areas, and state standards when producing the show and curriculum. We hope you use our free daily materials along with the program, and we welcome your feedback on them. FEEDBACK . We're looking for your feedback about CNN Student News. Please use this page to leave us comments about today's program, including what you think about our stories and our resources. Also, feel free to tell us how you use them in your classroom. The educators on our staff will monitor this page and may respond to your comments as well. Thank you for using CNN Student News! Click here to submit your Roll Call request. | This page includes the show Transcript and the Daily Curriculum .
Use the Transcript to help students with reading comprehension and vocabulary .
The Daily Curriculum's Newsquiz tests students' knowledge of events in the news .
At the bottom of the page, please share your feedback about our show and curriculum . |
fdfd95e1827302d86c216160739eb6253d5eb88e | The 14-year-old special needs student was allegedly raped after a teacher convinced her to act as bait in a bid to catch a school's sexual predator while have her case heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The girl said of the plan; 'I just felt like I was set up by the teachers. They gave me a word that they couldn't keep.' She has also revealed she after first refused to even partake in plan, but eventually gave in. A vice principal at Sparkman Middle School in Toney, Alabama, asked a girl to act as bait so they could catch a sexual predator in the act . The girl was said to have become involved in the plan after faculty members at Sparkman Middle School in Toney, Alabama, received complaints that a boy had been luring classmates into bathrooms and asking them for sex. Despite the constant allegations of sexual misconduct, he could not be punished because he had not been 'caught in the act'. Therefore a teacher asked the young girl to meet him in the bathroom but would rush in before anything could happen, according to court documents. The plan took a horrifying turn when the suspect asked the girl to meet him in a different bathroom - meaning no one came in to save her. The girl had allegedly told the school's vice principal Jeanne Dunaway of the plan, but according to court documents, she didn't respond. 'We look forward to discussing this case with the Judges who will be deciding it and ultimately letting a jury decide this matter,' said Eric Artrip, the attorney representing the girl and her father, to CNN. 'It has essentially devastated her life.' In the aftermath of the alleged rape in January 2010, when a lawsuit was filed against the school, one vice principal claimed that the girl was responsible for herself when she went into the bathroom. Another, according to the documents, said that they 'weren't sure whether she consented' to the alleged assault. About a week before the suspected attack vice principals Dunaway and Teresa Terrell received a complaint that the boy had touched a female student inappropriately and was assigned in-school suspension, according to federal attorneys. About a week before the alleged rape vice principals Jeanne Dunaway (left) and Teresa Terrell (right) received a complaint that the boy had touched a female student inappropriately. They both still work at the school . A few days later, June Simpson, a teacher's aide at the Huntsville-area school, told the principal, Ronnie Blair, that the boy had 'repeatedly tried to convince girls to have sex with him in the boys' bathroom on the special needs students' corridor'. She alleged that he even had sex with one student, according to the brief. On January 22, the suspected predator approached the victim and asked her for sex, an offer which she had repeatedly refused. When the girl told Simpson, she encouraged the girl to 'meet (the boy) in the bathroom where teachers could be positioned to 'catch him in the act' before anything happened,' according to the brief. The girl's attorney Eric Artrip said they had found 'substantial evidence' that his client had been forcibly raped . The girl initially refused, but then agreed, according to her attorney Eric Artrip. Simpson and the girl went to Dunaway's office to explain the plan, but Dunaway allegedly 'did not respond with any advice or directive'. The girl left Dunaway's office, found the boy in the hallway, and 'agreed to meet for sex,', the documents state. But instead of meeting in the boys' bathroom on the special needs students' corridor, the boy told the girl to meet him in the sixth-grade boys' bathroom, in another part of the school. This meant none of the staff could intervene and stop her from the alleged attack. The girl's attorney Eric Artrip told CNN: 'We found substantial evidence of a forceful rape, and that's what happened here. 'The idea she consented to this and somehow allowed it to happen is incredible.' In December a Federal Court threw out claims that the school district violated Title IX of federal law which dictates how schools must respond to allegations of sexual harassment. The Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education filed an amicus brief Wednesday supporting her family's federal lawsuit against the Madison County School Board in Alabama. It states that using a child as 'rape bait' clearly violates Title IX'. It adds: 'School administrators knew the student's extensive history of sexual and violent misconduct and were alerted to the substantial risk he posed.' The school's faculty are appealing the state civil suits. One of the vice principals has now been promoted to a principal at a nearby elementary school. The teacher involved in setting up the plan has resigned. | A special needs student who was raped in Alabama after teachers used her as bait will have her case heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals .
The horrifying plan allegedly took place at Sparkman Middle School in Toney as the boy was suspected of luring girls into bathroom for sex .
However he could not be punished because he had not been caught in act .
Teachers told girl to meet the boy in the bathroom when they would rush in but they went to a different bathroom which meant no one could intervene .
'I just felt like I was set up by the teachers. They gave me a word that they couldn't keep,' said the girl .
U.S. Education and Justice Departments are supporting the family's federal lawsuit against the Madison County School Board . |
fdfe459084ba07f2144ac823fa2952a285a439e2 | Earlier this week astronomers made the groundbreaking announcement that they had found eight new habitable planets using the Kepler space telescope - bringing its total up to 1,000. But will we ever have a chance to glimpse these planets in greater detail, either by telescope or perhaps by visiting them in the future? According to one of Nasa's top planet hunters, we will find a planet with oceans like Earth in the next 15 years - but visiting one would require us to overcome Einstein's law of special relativity. Dr Mather from Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland explained how the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope could find planets with oceans on them (illustrated). The giant tennis court-sized telescope will be used to scour the universe. His full interview appears in issue 34 of All About Space magazine . Dr John Mather is an astrophysicist at the Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, and the senior project scientist on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The giant telescope will be used to find the first bright objects that formed in the universe, figure out how galaxies evolved and find out how stars formed. But perhaps most excitingly, it will study Earth-like worlds beyond our solar system. ‘We hope to find a planet that’s Earth-like and measure its atmosphere to work out if it has enough water on it to make an ocean,’ he said in an interview with All About Space Magazine. Dr Mather's interview appears in the latest edition of All About Space magazine, issue 34 (shown), which is on sale now . ‘I think that will be in around ten to 15 years from now. ‘In that time we might be able to say: “I can see that star over there. [Its planet] has a climate that’s like Earth and it might have life on it.”’ While observing distant worlds is all well and good, actually visiting one at some point in the future poses somewhat of a challenge. And it’s something that Dr Mather thinks might be too much for us even with the help of artificial intelligence. To have any hope, one thing that will be important will be ‘defeating Einstein’ - namely, finding a way to overcome the limitations of light speed and space-time - or enlisting the help of robots. According to Einstein's theory of special relativity, nothing can travel faster than light - making interstellar travel all but impossible for humans. ‘We’re very fragile,’ said Dr Mather. ‘We’re not going to be able to travel in person very far without a lot of help. ‘I think robots are coming along very quickly. I believe robotic intelligence will come and we’ll have to decide whether we like them or not. ‘If they’re smart enough, then they can tell us what to do and where to go just as they did in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. ‘However, I think it’s also possible that we’re going to defeat Einstein and that it will still be too far for us to go to another solar system. ‘It’s not impossible but it’s pretty hard. That’s what I think.’ The giant JWST will be used to find the first bright objects that formed in the universe, figure out how galaxies evolved and find out how stars formed (left). Dr Mather (right) also said that in ten to 15 years 'we hope to find a planet that’s Earth-like and measure its atmosphere' to see if it has oceans on it . The JWST is the successor to Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope and will launch in 2018. It is the size of a tennis court and will be launched in a compact form before unfolding in space. Shown here is a full-scale mock-up of what it will look like when it unfolds . The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be a large infrared telescope with a 6.5-meter (21ft) primary mirror. It is named after astronomer James Webb, who was the effective administrator for Nasa from 1961 through to 1968. He is widely heralded with persuading President Kennedy to fund the Apollo missions to the moon. The project is working to a 2018 launch date. It is a collaboration between Nasa, Esa and the Canadian space agency. The JWST will be the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It will study every phase in the history of our universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own solar system. But while travel to one of these distant worlds might be somewhat of an impossibility for now, Dr Mather is optimistic when it comes to the chances of finding life elsewhere. ‘How life came to evolve on our planet is strong evidence that life can evolve elsewhere in the universe,’ he said. ‘Intelligent life - that’s us - has only really turned up quite recently. We ourselves are made out of star material. ‘Stars that explode send chemical material into space. Some of it is recycled and some of it travels outside of our galaxy to make the next generation of stars that could have planets - worlds that could be like Earth. ‘So that’s the idea: stars explode and make future generations of stars and planets.’ Finding out if we are not alone in the universe - or at least detecting tantalising hints that we are not - will be one of the primary goals of the JWST. It will also be used to scour the universe, just like the Hubble Space Telescope, and with the ability to take images in visible light it will no doubt return fascinating vistas back to Earth. Each of the 18 hexagonal-shaped mirror segments on the JWST (shown) is 4.3ft (1.32m) in diameter. The giant telescope will be the powerful space telescope ever launched. It will be in an orbit about 930,000 miles (1.5 million kilometres) from Earth to get the best views of the universe . Earlier this week astronomers revealed eight new planets had been discovered in the 'Goldilocks' zone of their stars, orbiting at a distance where oceans and life could exist. The discovery doubles the number of small planets less than twice the diameter of Earth which are believed to be in the habitable zone of their parent stars. Among these eight, astronomers say there are two that are the most similar to Earth of any known exoplanets to date. The two most Earth-like planets, known as Kepler-438b and Kepler-442b, both orbit red dwarf stars that are smaller and cooler than the sun. They have a 70 per cent and 60 per cent chance of being rocky, respectively. Its design, though, is radically different from that of Hubble. The JWST ‘doesn’t look like a standard telescope in a tube,’ Dr Mather explained. Instead, it will be a vast array of 18 hexagonal gold mirrors stitched together, which unfold after launch, to afford it our best ever view of the universe. Together with its vast sunshield, which prevents light from the sun ruining its optics, it is about the size of a tennis court. Thousands of astronomers will use data from the telescope after it launches in 2018 atop an Ariane V rocket. 'We’re doing this for the whole of humanity and 10,000 future users of the telescope,' explained Dr Mather. And many of those will be waiting with bated breath to find out if it can reveal fascinating new insights about potentially Earth-like worlds in other planetary systems. | Dr Mather from Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland said the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope could find habitable planets .
The giant tennis court-sized telescope will be used to scour the universe .
One of its key goals will be to observe worlds in other systems .
In ten to 15 years Dr Mather says we could find a planet with oceans .
But he says the only way to visit one would be to 'defeat Einstein'
This would mean finding a way to travel faster than the speed of light .
Earlier this week astronomers announced they had found eight new potentially habitable planets - and two are the most Earth-like ever . |
fdfe74b5d04118751a2ec9d22c2b437be08ace3d | By . Kerry Mcdermott . PUBLISHED: . 02:53 EST, 12 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 20:04 EST, 12 August 2013 . The mother of a British businessman murdered in China has urged the Chinese government to make his killer pay £5million in compensation. Gu Kailai, the wife of former top Communist Party politician Bo Xilai, was jailed for life last year for poisoning Neil Heywood, 41, whose death in 2011 sparked a massive political scandal in China. Ann Heywood said her son’s two children, aged eight and 12, who live in Beijing with their mother, Lulu, faced the insecurity of having no financial provision for their future. 'Compassion': The mother of murdered British businessman Neil Heywood, left, has called on China to end his family's nightmare - Gu Kailai, right, was jailed last year for poisoning Mr Heywood . Mrs Heywood, of south London, blamed . prominent officials including a member of the Communist Party’s . politburo and police bosses of orchestrating a cover-up. She added: ‘While struggling to come . to terms with my own grief, my overriding concern has been for the . security and wellbeing of Neil’s children. ‘Given the circumstances of Neil’s . murder, I have been surprised and disappointed that, despite repeated . discreet approaches to Chinese authorities, there has been no . substantive or practical response.’ Chinese law allows for a murder victim’s family to be compensated by convicted killers. Li Xiaolin, a lawyer who has . represented Gu’s family, said: ‘Talks started last year, but have not . reached agreement. Gu Kailai has no money.’ Human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang said: . ‘Compensation should have been decided at the time of Gu Kailai’s . trial, but it appears it was not. This is very strange. ‘The government can compel the sale of assets to pay compensation.’ However, in such a sensitive case, the upper echelons of Communist Party would have to agree to any deal. ‘Decisions about this case have to be . made single-handedly by the Communist Party’s top leaders,’ said He . Weifang, a law professor at Beijing University. Mrs Heywood urged China to show . ‘decisiveness and compassion’ to ‘enable my family to achieve some kind . of closure to our ongoing nightmare’. She explained that, in the months after Mr Heywood's death, it became clear that he had not died from natural causes but was the victim of murder. 'It also became clear that prominent Chinese officials, including a member of the Communist Party's politburo and a number of senior policemen, were connected with the murder and involved in a systematic coverup,' she said. After initially refusing to speak to the media to spare Chinese authorities unnecessary embarrassment, their lack of any 'substantive or practical response' had compelled her to break her silence, Mrs Heywood added. Compensation: Mr Heywood's family is seeking compensation from his convicted killer Gu Kailai, seen with her husband Bo Xilai in 2007 . A source close to Mr Heywood's Chinese widow, Lulu, said she had been pushing for compensation for herself and their two young children. Li Xiaolin said Heywood's family was seeking between 30 million and 50 million yuan in compensation. Bo was sacked as Communist Party chief of the southwestern city of Chongqing last year when his wife was named as an official suspect in the November 2011 murder of Heywood, a long-time friend of the couple who also helped their son, Bo Guagua, settle into study in Britain. Bo is now awaiting trial on charges of corruption, taking bribes and of bending the law. The government originally implicated Bo in helping to cover up Heywood's murder, but the legal indictment issued last month made no mention of that and it is unclear if the case will be included in his trial, likely to start this month. The British Embassy in Beijing said it had passed on the family's concerns about a lack of progress on the compensation request to the Chinese government. 'We've made the Chinese authorities, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, aware of the family's concerns on several occasions since the trial, most recently twice during July,' said an embassy spokesman, who did not elaborate. Mrs Heywood said: 'Given the circumstances of Neil's murder, I have been surprised and disappointed that, despite repeated discreet approaches to the Chinese authorities, there has been no substantive or practical response.' China's Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Chinese law stipulates that victims of crime can seek compensation from those convicted of crimes, but does not lay out monetary benchmarks, which are generally decided by the courts depending on ability to pay and the nature of the crime. While assets ordered confiscated by courts can be used for compensation, Gu's verdict - as relayed by official state media - made no mention of asset confiscation. 'Compensation should have been decided upon at the time of Gu Kailai's trial, but it appears it was not. This is very strange,' said Pu Zhiqiang, a prominent human rights lawyer. 'The government can compel the sale of assets to pay compensation,"'which for murder cases was generally several hundred thousand yuan, he added. However, for such a sensitive case as this, the upper echelons of ruling Communist Party would have to sign off on a compensation deal, making any court involvement moot. 'Decisions about this case have to be made single-handedly by the Communist Party's top leaders. It's not for a court or the government to decide,' said He Weifang, a law professor at Peking University who has closely followed Bo's downfall. Bo, 64, was widely seen as pursuing a powerful spot in the party's top decision-making body before his career unravelled after his former police chief, Wang Lijun, fled to a U.S. consulate for more than 24 hours in February last year and alleged that Bo's wife Gu had killed Heywood. At her trial in August of last year, Gu admitted to poisoning Heywood, alleging that she had acted after he had threatened her son, Bo Guagua, when a business deal turned sour, according to official accounts published by state media. | Businessman, 41, poisoned by wife of top Communist Party figure in 2011 .
His mother says widow and young children left without financial provision .
Family seeking compensation from convicted killer Gu Kailai .
Ann Heywood urged Chinese authorities to show 'compassion'
Said his children, eight and 12, had suffered 'hurt and horror' |
fdfeb694ebb641149683b6546357f2d3cb45ff9f | They were billed as Westminster's unlikeliest couple when they were pictured travelling around London together last summer. And now William Hague and Angelina Jolie are back together again as they opened a research centre at the London School of Economics today. The 36-year-old actress founded a campaign to end violence against women in conflict zones with the then-Foreign Secretary in 2012, and was back in London to help promote it. Scroll down for video . Back together: Angelina Jolie and William Hague were reunited today at the London School of Economics after being dubbed Westminster's unlikliest couple last year . All smiles: The pair shared a laugh together before opening the centre, which will focus on violence against women in war zones and forms part of Ms Jolie's campaign to end the abuse . Snappy: Ms Jolie was dressed to impress wearing a grey suit-jacket, matching skirt, and beige heels . The new research centre will study the participation of women in conflict and on ending impunity for rape and sexual violence in war. The Hollywood A-lister, who is best known for her roles in Salt and Mr and Mrs Smith, said: 'There is no stable future for a world in which crimes committed against women go unpunished.' Ms Jolie, who is married to fellow actor Brad Pitt, was last in London in June last year to host a global summit on violence against women in war. Fight: Ms Jolie and Mr Hague founded the campaign to end violence against women in conflict zones together in 2012, and have visited several war zones since . Pals: The former Tory Foreign Secretary and A-list actress were pictured together for four days straight in June last year when Ms Jolie visited the capital as part of her campaign . Dubbed End Sexual Violence in Conflict, Ms Jolie spent days touring the capital with the ever-attentive Mr Hague in pursuit, before the summit began on June 10. UN Secretary Ban Ki Moon and US Secretary of State John Kerry both attended, along with delegates and youth delegates from more than 100 countries. Mr Hague and David Cameron were ribbed during her last visit for behaving like schoolboys as they met her outside Downing Street. How to make an entrance: Mr Hague walks into London's ExCel Centre alongside Ms Jolie and her husband Brad Pitt during their visit to the capital last year . While Mr Hague did appear rather starstruck on that occasion he has actually visited warzones with her on several occasions prior to that. As well as acting and directing, including recent blockbuster Unbroken, Ms Jolie is also a UN Special Envoy for Refugees. The mother-of-six began visiting refugee camps in 2000 after travelling to Cambodia to film Tomb Raider, becoming a Goodwill Ambassador and taking on 40 such trips. | William Hague was pictured hobnobbing with actress in London last year .
Now pair are back together in the capital at London School of Economics .
Centre is part of Ms Jolie's campaign to end female abuse in war zones . |
fdfed3f8497048889b93e1212d38045d34448800 | Louis van Gaal says that he is looking for the ‘perfect game’ from Manchester United – and does not agree with Sir Alex Ferguson that results are all that matter. United are on a run of six straight wins as they prepare to face Aston Villa on Saturday, but the Dutchman is still demanding a better level of performance from his players. ‘I’m not only focused on results though of course that’s the main thing,’ said Van Gaal. ‘When I speak to Sir Alex he says “what’s the problem, you’ve won”. But when you perform well you shall win more and that’s what I want to show to the fans, and the players want it also. The guarantee of wins is better when you perform better.’ VIDEO Scroll down to watch Louis van Gaal: I disagree with Sir Alex, performance matters . Robin van Persie (right) looks to control the ball as Manchester United train at Carrington on Friday . Radamel Falcao (centre) is pushing for a start after regaining his fitness following injury . Louis van Gaal has steered his Manchester United side to six Premier League wins on the spin . ‘For example, the game against Hull was a good game. We dominated for 90 minutes and I want to see more games like that. There are too few games we are dominating 90 minutes. That’s the process. We have to wait and see but, of course, when you win six times a row then the confidence is rising. ‘I’m still looking for a game that is closer to the perfect game that we’ve given until now.’ Asked if last weekend’s 3-0 win at home to Liverpool had given his players a big confidence boost, Van Gaal claimed that it was no ‘great surprise’ that they beat their old rivals. Van Gaal revealed that he has spoken to Sir Alex Ferguson about United's performances . Wayne Rooney is mobbed after scoring Manchester United's opener against Liverpool on Sunday . United have had to rely heavily on the form of goalkeeper David de Gea during their six-game winning streak . He added: ‘I don't think that one game had a big influence until now because, okay, the results are very good but we can improve the performances as a team. ‘I am always speaking about the team. I think that the team can improve itself still more and I don't think that it was a great surprise that we won against Liverpool, neither did the players.’ The trip to Villa Park is the first of five games in 15 days for United. Van Gaal has already complained about having to play so much over Christmas but was reluctant to look ahead to the rest of his team’s festive fixture list. Record signing Angel di Maria could return to United's squad, Van Gaal also revealed . ‘It’s game 17, it’s not a game inbetween, the first of five,’ he said. ‘So you can make another division. It’s game 17 in a process. ‘I think we don't have to talk about the games after that. We have to talk about Aston Villa. When you see the last matches, Aston Villa haven’t lost so much, they draw, they win, and when they lose it’s always with one goal difference. So it shall be very difficult. That’s the Premier League.’ Van Gaal chats to young defender Luke Shaw as he oversees training on Friday . | Manchester United face Aston Villa away on Saturday .
United are looking to extend their winning run to seven matches .
Manager Louis van Gaal says he wants to start winning in style .
He admits his approach is very different from Sir Alex Ferguson . |
fdff4072abad2b752689bb601523501c00da1706 | A man accidentally shot a woman while hunting deer in the woods of LaFayette, Georgia. Now the pair are officially in love. Friends Aubrey Mayo, 24, and Matthew Tyler Webb, 23, were spending time together on the roof of Webb's mothers home at 910 Hillsdale road on November 21 when Webb saw a pack of deer across the street and decided to hunt them down. He left at around 5:30 pm. The Times Free Press reports that Mayo stayed behind but later went to find Webb after she thought she heard him calling her name. Mayo made her way down the ladder and across the street to where Webb was hunting. Audrey (left) fell for Matthew(right) after he accidentally shot her in leg during an impromptu hunting trip . 'I was doing like a half yell,' Mayo said because she didn't want to scare away the deer. Webb didn't hear Mayo calling his name. He simply heard rustling and saw a bit of movement behind the trees. He shot. She fell down. Mayo doesn't remember much other than hearing a gun shot wound and feeling herself fall to the ground. Webb heard his friend screaming so he rushed after her and wrapped up her wound with his jacket. 'There were massive amounts of blood,' said LaFayette Police Department Capt. Stacey Meeks to reporters. Mayo remebers a sharp pain and lying on the ground. She remembers hearing medics talking but couldn't understand anything they were saying. Webb hunted his dear girlfriend with an SKS hunting rifle similar to the one pictured here . When Mayo woke up days later at Erlanger hospital, Webb was in the room holding onto a note he had written so that he could properly communicate what he wanted to say to the woman he loved, but almost fatally injured. The pair knew each other for two months prior to the incident but the relationship was casual--of course until he shot her in the leg. 'Cupid doesn't use a bow and arrow anymore,' said 30-year-old Jesse Greer, Mayo's brother-in-law. 'He uses an SKS' rifle. Mayo couldn't have been too mad because the couple officially started dating on November 21. after she was shot. Even though there was no bad blood between Mayo and Webb, Webb got in some legal trouble following the incident. Webb was arrested for firing a gun within 150 feet of road. Webb will also face hunting violations as the Georgia Department of Natural Resources is conducting an investigation. Hunting regulations would have required Mayo and Webb to be wearing bright orange to avoid being mistaken for an animal such as in this case. He could be charged with failing to wear orange, a hunting license violation, and misuse of a firearm. Webb also confessed to taking several drugs on the day of the incident. Despite the fact that Mayo's leg suffered significant nerve damage and she may have to have it amputated if it becomes infected, her family is not mad at Webb because he didn't mean to shoot her. Audrey may have to have her leg amputated if it becomes infected . Audrey has a sense of humor about the event even though she is in great pain . Her pain is so unbearable that Mayo is on nine different medications. She sometimes feels pain when she blinks. 'It hurts on top of my knee,' she said. 'And behind my knee. And on my shin, my calf, my ankle, my hip. The whole thing hurts.' Although, Mayo and her family are happy that she is alive. Audrey's mother Mary Mayo, 59, a Memorial Hospital nurse, thought that her daughter would be dead or brain damaged for the rest of her life. Audrey seems to have a sense of humor about the incident. She told reporters that she wants to make a necklace with the bullet that shot her. Audrey's brother suggested that his sister get a tattoo of a deer with her hospital name 'Jane Doe' across it. 'Once we realized she was alive -- and that she was going to be alive -- we started to lighten up a little bit,' her sister Rachel Greer told the Times Free Press. 'It's like a modern version of how a caveman used to bash a woman over the head with a club,' Greer said. 'These days, they just shoot her in the leg,' said Rachel. Audrey is maintaining a positive outlook and said, 'no need to put negativity on the whole thing.' The couple are happily in love and are both avid Grateful Dead fans. They are also grateful that Audrey is alive. | Aubrey Mayo and Matthew Webb were friends before the accident but it wasn't till after he shot her that they started dating .
Her leg might have to be amputated if it becomes infected .
They both love the Grateful Dead, and Audrey's family is grateful she's alive . |
fdff6677af6596ec05a1d1fd61f4c5c472debc19 | By . Suzannah Hills . PUBLISHED: . 06:04 EST, 28 November 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 07:41 EST, 28 November 2012 . An obsessed admirer who was jailed for stalking a beauty queen is behind bars again for breaching his restraining order. Anthony Mantova, 34, was handed an 18-week custodial sentence in July after pleading guilty to harassing Chloe Hopkins. He had tattooed Ms Hopkins' name across his chest and wore a T-shirt with her photograph on it. 'Nightmare': Former Miss Prestatyn, Chloe Hopkins, pictured left, has been stalked by obsessed Anthony Mantova, 34, pictured right, for two years after they met on a night out . But upon his release from prison he broke an indefinite restraining order, preventing him from contacting former Miss Prestatyn 2010 Chloe Hopkins, creating communication about her, and entering the street where she lives. He was jailed again for 28 days at Prestatyn Magistrates Court on November 14th for harassment of Ms Hopkins and breaching his restraining order. Ms Hopkins, 20, known as Prestatyn’s Pop Princess, said: 'He had breached his bail conditions. 'It is awful this has started again. I just want it to stop. I don’t know what I have done wrong. 'He’s been upsetting a lot of my friends.' Miss Hopkins has welcomed new laws to help the victims of stalkers but called for longer sentences . Mantova was also ordered to serve 14 days in prison for breaching the restraining order while on licence from prison for his last offence. His total sentence amounted to 42 days and he will be released from prison in December. While Ms Hopkins has welcome new laws to help victims of stalkers she believes tougher sentences are needed. Two specific criminal offences of stalking have come into force in England and Wales for the first time designed to provide extra protection for victims, highlight the serious impact stalking can have on their lives and help bring more perpetrators to justice. She said: 'It has been a long time coming. But the sentences should be longer, I think they could have gone further.' The beauty queen suffered a two-year nightmare when she was being stalked by Mantova and she tried to take her own life as the abuse sent her into a spiral of depression and isolation. The former Prestatyn High School pupil first met Mantova while on a night out in Prestatyn with friends in August 2010 when they approached him after feeling sorry for him. He then added Chloe on social networking site Facebook and started attending her appearances after she was crowned Miss Prestatyn taking pictures during events. He also had a T-shirt printed with her picture, set up online petitions against her and left suggestive comments on Facebook, which Ms Hopkins became upset might be seen by some of her young fans and had her name and the name of three friends tattooed on his chest. Ms Hopkins said she could not have got through the last two years without the support of her family, friends, fans and supporters in the local community. She said: 'A lot of people have been coming up to me and telling me things that Anthony Mantova has done to them. If anyone has any information about what he has done to them they need to come forward and tell the police.' | Anthony Mantova, 34, was jailed for 18 weeks in July for harassing 'Prestatyn’s Pop Princess' Chloe Hopkins .
But Mantova breached his indefinite restraining order not to contact Ms Hopkins upon his release from prison earlier this month .
Mantova jailed again for 28 days at Prestatyn Magistrates Court . |
fe0048ce7b6ef78b02749492557145bc8bba6bb5 | SEX AND FILM . by Barry Forshaw . (Palgrave Macmillan £19.99) There was breathless excitement when an immensely raunchy, bestselling novel was adapted for the screen, with overwrought cinema-goers queuing in their droves to see it. But this was not Fifty Shades Of Grey. This was The Sheik, in 1921. And it starred Rudolph Valentino, whose sex appeal was such that when he died only five years later, aged just 31, some of his more committed female fans responded to the news by killing themselves. The history of sex on the big screen is about as old as the cinema itself. Barry Forshaw brings it wham, bam up to date, with analyses both of Fifty Shades and a much franker, darker exploration of sexual deviancy, Lars von Trier’s alarming 2013 film Nymphomaniac. But for me, the real gems in this formidably well-researched and erudite book concern the earlier manifestations of sex on-screen. Or off-screen, in the case of The Sheik, in which a wryly unambiguous caption, ‘After a week of sullen obedience . . . ’, told audiences that Valentino’s desert predator had finally had his wicked way with the headstrong Lady Diana. Like Fifty Shades, the book itself was rather less coy. The depiction of sex in the cinema has changed hugely over the years, the American film industry was notoriously cautious about what was shown - Jane Russell pictured in a poster for The Outlaw . By the Thirties, coyness was being forced onto Hollywood by increasingly vigilant censors, the so-called Hays Office. The African jungle was deemed far enough from ‘civilisation’ to be permitted some erotic freedom in Tarzan The Ape Man (1932), in which Maureen O’Sullivan and Johnny Weissmuller wore skimpy outfits, which, from some angles, made them appear naked. But then, the censors pounced. And by the next film in the series, they had ‘modestly covered Tarzan and Jane in almost comically baggy costumes’. Unsurprisingly, it was randy Europeans who introduced sex to Hollywood. In Ekstase, a Czech film of 1933, a young Hedy Lamarr is shown in obvious post-orgasmic bliss. The film was duly seized by U.S. Customs and prosecuted for obscenity. But America couldn’t keep out Marlene Dietrich, and they had their own sex goddess in the hourglass form of naughty Mae West, who had her own way of outfoxing the morality police. In I’m No Angel (1933), she saucily adjusts her gown and then purrs, ‘Am I making myself clear, boys?’ There was nothing censorable about the line, but nothing wholesome, either. Not much did get past the Hays Office — including Margaret Lockwood’s cleavage in The Wicked Lady (1945), the first British film to be cut before U.S. audiences were allowed to see it. Forshaw suggests the censors were so distracted by Jane Russell’s gravity-defying embonpoint in The Outlaw (1943) that they missed distinct hints of homoeroticism elsewhere in the film. Today, the restrictions — no horizontal embraces, no ‘excessive’ kissing, no suggestion of intercourse outside marriage — seem comical. In Casablanca (1942), there could be no hint of a ‘sex affair’ between Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, so audiences had to decide for themselves what he meant when he said: ‘We’ll always have Paris.’ Memories of an outing up the Eiffel Tower? Probably not. In the Fifties and Sixties, such strictures began to crumble — not that the ‘sex comedies’ starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson were anything other than irreproachably conservative, prompting comedian Oscar Levant to say that he’d known Doris Day ‘before she was a virgin’. Even in Britain, old censorship habits died hard, with county councils allowed to overrule certificates dished out by the British Board of Film Classification, as several did with Saturday Night And Sunday Morning (1960), on the grounds that Albert Finney’s priapic, working-class hero was an affront to the reputation of decent factory workers. Throughout cinematic history, of course, the greater the puritanical outrage generated by a film, the more people have wanted to see it. That was notably so of Bernardo Bertolucci’s film Last Tango In Paris (1972), starring Marlon Brando — and it also ‘possibly helped the sales of a certain kitchen commodity utilised as a sexual lubricant’. Butter, in short. But Last Tango only pushed at certain boundaries, and obeyed the unwritten law that female nudity is more acceptable than male. The tumescent penis to this day is not often seen in mainstream cinema (indeed, in Fifty Shades Of Grey, Jamie Dornan’s Christian seems to have no genitalia at all). Forshaw offers one good explanation: limp apparatus in a sex scene would give the game away — the game being the many cameramen, boom operators and make-up artists who, by all accounts, make genuine arousal on a film set a near-impossibility. Forshaw’s book is a work of scholarship, not gossip, but that doesn’t stop him dropping mischievous references to the rampant ironies yielded by more than a century of sex on the screen. The thoroughly chaste Brief Encounter (1945) is often cited by moralists as a perfect example of how romance can be depicted without sex, but Forshaw notes gleefully that the film’s director, David Lean, was well-known for his energetic promiscuity, and its writer, Noel Coward, for his homosexuality. An acquaintance of mine told me years ago that he’d once checked in at the Palace Hotel in St Moritz behind Noel Coward and his long-time companion, Graham Payn, and that Coward startled the stiff, Swiss receptionist by fruitily announcing himself and Payn as ‘Mr and Mrs Noel Coward’. His was a very different world to that of Brief Encounter. But then, sex on screen — or the lack of it — has always unfolded in a parallel universe. That’s the magic of the movies. | The depiction of sex on the big screen has changed hugely over the years .
Censorship in American cinema was notoriously restrictive .
In his new book Barry Forshaw explores Fifty Shades and others . |
fe005ed2c582140a8e5532b6415c3b37c748806d | (CNN) -- Answers to the quiz are in bold. 1. What is the 5-digit number in which the first, third and last digits are the same, the first digit is four less than the second, the last is four less than the fourth and the second and fourth are the same? (Hint: The sum of all the digits is 33.) 59,595 . 2. Boris Smetana and Karl Smith were world-class chess champions. In one series of matches, each won every game. How? They were not playing each other . 3. Nicole was sure she got the right answer when her botany teacher asked her to pick out the plant that was not a tree from the list below. Which one would you choose? Peach, plum, walnut, linden, banana Banana . 4. Six bricklayers can lay 24 bricks in half an hour. How many bricks can 12 bricklayers lay in two hours? 192 (Each bricklayer lays four bricks in half an hour, or eight bricks in an hour. That is 16 bricks in two hours times 12 bricklayers who can lay 16 bricks each.) 5. What is the number that is one more than one-tenth of one-fifth of one-half of 4,000? 41. (4,000/2 = 2,000, /5=400,/10=40,+1=41) 6. In a pie-eating contest, Alice was neither first nor last, but she beat Evan. Ben beat Alice. Carol beat Dan who beat Ben. Who was last? Evan . 7. What letter would logically complete the series below? A Z B Y C X D W E? V (There are two series: A to E forward and Z, Y, X, W backward) 8. Jim had a small baseball card collection. All but five were signed, all but five were rookie cards, and all but five were less than 10 years old. What is the minimum number of cards he could have had? 6 . 9. Start with the number of lives a cat reputedly has, multiply by the number of stitches saved by a stitch in time and add 10. What is the answer? 91. (9x9=81+10) 10. What is the 11-letter word that all smart people spell incorrectly? Incorrectly . Scoring: 9-10: Mensa material! Try to join 7-8: Good chance you'll qualify for Mensa 5-6: Not bad, you might make Mensa Below 5: You must have had a bad day. | See the answers to an informal quiz designed by Mensa .
If you get 9 of the 10 questions right, you may be Mensa material .
Click here for the questions . |
fe00eef328fe8d3d1b1c6282ed2d8b902e7499d2 | Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama said Wednesday his administration will respond to new Ebola cases "in a much more aggressive way," taking charge of the issue after a second Texas health care worker was diagnosed with the disease. Obama scrapped plans to attend Democratic fund-raisers in New Jersey and Connecticut on Wednesday afternoon so that he could huddle with Cabinet members and officials who are leading the administration's Ebola response. The meeting came amid questions about how two health care workers could have contracted Ebola in a country said to have strict protocols in place -- and with one of those Ebola victims having flown on a commercial jet Monday. Afterward, the President sought to tamp down fears of of an outbreak of the disease within the United States -- saying that he shook hands with, hugged and kissed nurses who'd treated an American doctor who contracted Ebola in Africa, and felt safe. Obama acknowledged that even foolproof plans don't work when local health care providers don't know how to carry them out -- and said his administration will make sure "certain local hospitals that may not have that experience are walked through that process as carefully as possible." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will have "SWAT teams" ready to send to hospitals where future cases are discovered, he said. Obama has spoken with the heads of Japan, Germany, Italy, France and England to prod them to pump more resources into combating the Ebola outbreak in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Doing so, he said, "is an investment in our own public health. It's not simply charity." The heightened attention came as Republicans pummeled the president. Rep. Tom Marino of Pennsylvania said the situation "is beginning to spiral out of control," and said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden should resign. "The reports my colleagues and I have received are utterly unacceptable and the information provided to the public has been cryptic and in some cases misleading," Marino said. "This has provided a false sense of security to many of our citizens." Sen. John Thune of South Dakota and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania said the United States should ban people who live in or have visited West Africa from entering the country. House Speaker John Boehner said the United States should consider a travel ban "along with any other appropriate actions as doubts about the security of our air travel systems grow." "The administration must be able to assure Americans that we will stop the spread here at home," Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said in a statement. "We will continue to press the administration for better information about what steps will be taken to protect the American people, including our troops, from this deadly virus," he said. "And we will work with the administration on appropriate policy options that will help stop the spread of this horrific disease both here in the United States and around the globe." State-level officials who'd insisted they had the situation under control changed their plans, as well. Texas Gov. Rick Perry -- lambasted by Democrats in his state for leaving on a trade mission to Europe this week -- decided to scrap the last three days of his trip and return to his state Thursday to lead the state's Ebola response in person. Perry said Wednesday that he speaks daily with Dr. Brett Giroir, who heads an infectious disease task force that Perry formed earlier this month, and Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services. Those two are helming the state's efforts. "This is the first time that our nation has had to deal with a threat such as this. Everyone working on this challenge -- from the medical professionals at the bedside to the public health officials addressing containment of the infection -- is working to end the threat posed by this disease," Perry said in a statement. "These individuals are keeping the health and safety of Texans and the needs of the patients as their most critical tasks," he said. "Every relevant agency at the local, state and national levels is working to support these individuals." | President Obama meets with Cabinet members and health officials .
He seeks to reassure Americans that an Ebola outbreak in the United States is unlikely .
Republicans criticize the White House's response and call for travel bans . |
fe013b013f465b21de9a437cdb0047a5bfae7a9e | Christians remain the largest religious group in the world despite their population migrating from Europe to Africa, Asia and the Americas according to a new study. Around one-quarter of the world's Christian's live in Europe today compared to two-thirds a century ago according to a study compiled by the Pew Research Forum on Religion & Public Life based in Washington DC. The research showed that Sub-Saharan Africa has seen the biggest increase in its Christian population over the past century, going from about nine million Christians in 1910 to about 516 million today. Christianity remains the world's most dominant religion despite only one-quarter living in Europe. Picture: The Vatican in Rome . Countries with the largest number of Christians are the U.S., Brazil, Mexico and Russia. The study's author's said Brazil has twice as many Roman Catholics as Italy, while Nigeria has double the number of Protestants as Germany, where the Protestant Reformation began, author's of the study said. However, even despite the movement of the Christian population to different parts of the globe it is still the world's dominant religion with nearly 2.2billion followers. Islam is the world's second-largest religion with about 1.6 billion people or slightly less than a quarter of the global population following the faith. Christians attend a service in Terreiros Square, Brazil which is home to one of the world's largest populations of the faith . The Global Christianity report was . compiled using national censuses, population surveys and estimates from . church groups of numbers attending services. The . data was compared to surveys taken in 1910 including data from the . Centre for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell . Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. Europe may have been the mainland for . Christians a century ago but researchers said that the population is now . so widely spread across the world that no specific region can be described as the centre of the faith. This has been a concern for Church . leaders for many years who have been tasked with trying to build stronger ties with . fellow believers across the geographical boundaries and reconcile . differing interpretations of the Bible. Young boys take part in a Christmas Eve service at a Catholic church in Beijing . Conrad Hackett, Demographer at the Pew Forum and lead researcher for the Global Christianity report, told The Christian Post: 'We set out to provide data on the number of Christians around the world as part of a series of reports focusing on the global populations of major religious groups. 'As we note in the report, there is no single region or continent that is indisputably the centre of global Christianity anymore'. The smallest concentration of Christians can be found in North Africa - where the faith began - and where they make up only about four per cent of the population today. Egypt has the largest Christian population in the region, with about 4.3 million Christians who have been victims of violence specifically since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak. About five per cent of China's population or 67 million people are Christian, according to the study's authors. It is difficult to be accurate, however when estimating China's Christian population due to the mixture of government-sanctioned churches and grassroots operating illegally across the country. | Only one-quarter of world's population remain in Europe as followers spread across Asia, Africa and Americas .
Two-thirds of the flock were in Europe 100 years ago . |
fe014387d7dd4efba18e7ca3f7eded82de1a6d13 | The show will go on. Alan Jackson and Kid Rock will kick off SeaWorld's "Bands, Brew & BBQ" this weekend, bucking a trend of artists dropping the show to avoid controversy over how the Orlando, Florida, theme park treats its orcas. The concert event runs Saturdays and Sundays February 1 to March 9. The exodus from SeaWorld's calendar began soon after CNN broadcast the documentary "Blackfish" in October. The film tells the story of the killing of a SeaWorld trainer by an orca in 2010. It raises questions about the safety and humaneness of keeping killer whales in captivity. Country star Trace Adkins pulled out this month. Other acts that have canceled include: Trisha Yearwood, Willie Nelson, Cheap Trick, Heart, Barenaked Ladies, Martina McBride and 38 Special. Pat Benatar, Beach Boys cancel . Only Justin Moore and Scotty McCreery remain on the event calendar from the original list. Their representatives have not responded to CNN's repeated requests for comment. Online petitions and social media postings targeted the acts who had signed on to play at the park. "We're disappointed a small group of misinformed individuals was able to deny fans what would have been great concerts at SeaWorld," SeaWorld spokesman Nick Gollattscheck has said. "The bands and artists have a standing invitation to visit any of our parks to see firsthand or to speak to any of our animal experts to learn for themselves how we care for animals and how little truth there is to the allegations made by animal extremist groups opposed to the zoological display of marine mammals." SeaWorld says the documentary ignores the park's conservation efforts and research. "More than 11 million people a year visit SeaWorld parks, and most will see a killer whale presentation during their visit," said Gollattscheck. "Over the course of our 50-year history hundreds of millions of people have experienced killer whales in our parks. There is tremendous appeal in that kind of inspirational and educational experience, and we anticipate that killer whale display will continue for generations to come." 'Blackfish' prompts school to cancel long-standing SeaWorld trip . | Artists have fled from the calendar after CNN broadcast the documentary "Blackfish"
It raises questions about the safety and humaneness of keeping killer whales in captivity .
SeaWorld says the documentary ignores the park's conservation efforts and research . |
fe01dbc24de20830848422e247a3ea5e0d7eb66f | Meet the man who has given up a dead-end job as a computer engineer to earn a living playing corpses in films and TV shows. Chuck Lamb, 56, is 'Dead Body Guy' and regularly spends hours creating gruesome scenarios along with his wife who photographs him playing dead. Mr Lamb, from Ohio, rakes in up to . $1,500 a day from his ability to be the perfect dead body – and thinks . he’d be dead good on Britain’s Celebrity Big Brother show. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . Gunning for corpse work: Mr Lamb pretends to have died from a shooting at a card game . Dead convincing: It's a death-at-Christmas scenario . Dead talented: Mr Lamb has a special aptitude for appearing to have passed away . Lamb to the slaughter: Chuck used to be a computer engineer but decided in 2005 to pursue a career in the film and TV industry, playing corpses . Mr Lamb told MailOnline that anyone can play dead. Here's how: . Mr Lamb's . adventures started when he was watching an episode of police detective . drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit with his wife Tonya, 46. He . realised that despite not having leading-man looks, he might be able . realise his life-long dream of being an actor by playing dead thanks to . his corpse-like appearance. Within a week he had set up a website and his wife was thinking up ways to 'kill him' - all for the benefit of the camera. Never . thinking that his new hobby would go viral, Tonya went about making . fake blood and posing him up being run over by 4x4s, crushed under a garage . door and electrocuted by a toaster. His website - deadbodyguy.com - became an unexpected runaway success after its launch in 2005 and has now had more than 50million views. He's even been featured on Have I Got News For You and The Late Show with David Letterman. And his dreams have finally become reality, as he's been approached by casting agents to play soon-to-be murdered characters. Chuck's film and TV credits now number 25 and his acting talent even won him a role in the Kate Beckinsale horror film Vacancy. But . his biggest break so far has been in a budget slasher flick that spent . months at the top of the Netflix most-watched horror list and has become . a cult hit in the States. In . 2009’s Thankskilling - the story of a demonic turkey that kills . students - Chuck got a speaking part for the first time and an . adaptation has just been released as a musical on New York's Broadway. Mr Lamb told MailOnline that he's enjoyed the fame playing dead people has brought him. He . said: 'One of my favorite moments as a dead guy was being asked to . attend an autograph show and realizing people actually would want my . autograph. 'At the same . place I also got to meet some of favorite actors - Mickey Rooney, Debbie . Reynolds and so on. On set one of my favorite moments was in . Thankskilling. I had to wear a turkey costume and the crew put a rubber . snake in it then filmed me when I found it. Needless to say, it scared . the heck out of me.' Cult hit: Chuck Lamb finally got a speaking part in 2009's Thankskilling . Despite his Hollywood star turn and brushes with fame on the set of American TV series, Mr Lamb's greatest aspiration lies in the UK - he's desperate to go on Celebrity Big Brother . Honest: Mr Lamb says that he's 'the big hunk of meat that lies around ¿getting slaughtered¿ . Mr Lamb lists several reasons as to why he makes a good corpse, with one of them being that he's bald, which means that any wig fits him, he explains . 1. I have fair skin. Ever see a corpse with a good tan? 2. I am bald. Any wig will fit me. 3. I have no tattoos. So people can't say: 'I know that guy.' 4. I am not a star. No need for salary negotiations. 5. It will be great publicity. You're helping a guy live his dream. 6. I have many friends. More people will see the movie. 7. I can play many different dead people - cowboy, mafia, gang, business man. 8. I am average size: 6ft 0in and 220lbs. 9. I have no freckles, warts or ugly things on my body. 10. No hair on my back. No one wants to see that! Even on a dead body. Mr Lamb . has also appeared on TV show The Jury and movies Horrorween, Kentucky . Fried Horror and funeral home comedy Stiffs – credited simply as ‘Dead . Body Guy’. Despite his . Hollywood star turn and brushes with fame on the set of American TV . series, Chuck's greatest aspiration lies in the UK: he's desperate to go . on Celebrity Big Brother! Mr Lamb said: ‘It started as a joke, we live in the mid-west and there aren't many film opportunities . ‘I just thought: wouldn't it be cool to be on TV? How could we do that being nobodies? ‘I had a dream that I was the dead body on Law & Order. I woke up and realised: you don't need any talent to play dead! ‘So Tonya made up fake blood and started photographing the poses. ‘She's the brains behind it, I'm just the big hunk of meat that lies around “getting slaughtered”. ‘What other wife gets to think of ways to kill her husband more than once a week?! ‘But it's all hug and make-up once we've finished the shoot. It's so much fun it brings us closer together. ‘I'm still waiting to get the call from Law & Order SVU though! ‘I adore Celebrity Big Brother - it's amazing. I'd love to be in that house. Or the Waking Dead - man I'd love to be a zombie. ‘After this started rolling I realised it was hard work being an actor in a movie - it takes so long. ‘To do a seven second scene took eight hours and I've been left waiting for in all sorts of places. ‘Once I was laid him in a pile of fire ants by an accident but I didn't want to be a pain in the butt so I just stuck it out. Mr Lamb's talents have led to appearances on Have I Got News For You and The Late Show with David Letterman . Star turn: Chuck Lamb on camera as a corpse . ‘Like any great actor, I've really suffered for my art! ‘I . look like a dead body. If you're going to get somebody to play dead you . might as well get the palest most normal looking guy you can find. ‘No-one's ever going to call me and ask me to be the leading man heart throb so I thought I'd put what God gave me to good use. ‘I thought outside the box by putting myself in the box.’ One Hollywood casting agent said that the hardest working people in film and TV are the dead . Lamb to the slaughter: Chuck's poster for Dead Body Guy . Insider knowledge: Mr Lamb says you need patience and determination about laying still and quiet to make a living from playing a corpse . | Chuck Lamb used to be an IT engineer but decided in 2005 to play corpses .
Mr Lamb, from Ohio, has appeared on numerous films and TV shows .
He said: 'I really do look like a dead guy - and everybody needs one'
He got his first speaking part in Thankskilling, which has become a cult hit . |
fe027b5ddbb09b104f803727282013182bad3845 | Sean Abbott took two wickets in as many overs for New South Wales on his return to cricket for the first time since the death of Phillip Hughes. The 22-year-old was made to wait until his 10th over before picking up a scalp, but then sent Nathan Reardon and Ben Cutting on their way in back-to-back overs. Abbott also delivered a bouncer in his first over during the opening session of New South Wales' Sheffield Shield clash against Queensland at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Sean Abbott took two wickets on his return to cricket following the death of Phillip Hughes . Abbott is congratulated after his double blow during the afternoon session at the Sydney Cricket Ground . Abbott had to wait until after lunch to strike, but then picked up two wickets in two overs . Abbott is congratulated by his New South Wales team-mates after his double strike against Queensland . Abbott received a warm round of applause from the crowd when he was introduced into the attack in the 13th over in his first outing since Hughes' death. Hughes was killed after being struck by an Abbott bouncer at the same ground two weeks ago. After four dot balls in his first over, the 22-year-old delivered a short ball with his fifth delivery that sailed well over Queensland batsman Joe Burns' head. Abbott returned to action as he bowled for New South Wales against Queensland . Abbott was playing his first Sheffield Shield game since the tragic death of Hughes . Abbott runs into bowl during the Sheffield Shield game against Queensland at the Sydney Cricket Ground . Abbott bowled a bouncer with the fifth delivery of his first over at the Sydney Cricket Ground . New South Wales paid tribute to their former team-mates by wearing black armbands and 'PJH 707' on their shirts, a reference to Hughes being the state's 707th representative. Queensland made a strong start at the Sydney Cricket Ground as they moves to 105 for one, but the hosts fought back to bowl them out for 268. New South Wales closed the day on 17 for one in their reply. The 22-year-old's first spell lasted four overs and he conceded nine runs . Abbott received a warm applause from the Sydney Cricket Ground crowd as he came on to bowl . Abbott makes his way onto the Sydney Cricket Ground outfield to play for New South Wales . Abbott warming up before play in Sydney (left) before taking to the field (right) for the Sheffield Shield game . Captain Moises Henriques leads New South Wales onto the field for their game against Queensland . Abbott was playing his first game for New South Wales since bowling the fatal bouncer to Hughes . The New South Wales team warm up for their game against Queensland in the Sheffield Shield . | Sean Abbott returns to the field for New South Wales .
22-year-old bowler played against Queensland in Sheffield Shield .
Abbott bowled fatal bouncer to Phillip Hughes a fortnight ago .
Australia and India paid tribute to Hughes before play in Adelaide .
Abbott bowled a bouncer in the fifth ball of his first over .
He had to wait until afternoon session before a double strike . |
fe02dd0f09c12c050d38748b6c77d29d6dfdf25b | (CNN) -- A U.S. Marine Corps reservist held in a Mexican prison for more than three months on a weapons charge could have been released within days of his detention if not for "missed opportunities" by his original legal counsel, his attorney told CNN. In an exclusive phone interview, Fernando Benitez -- the latest attorney for jailed Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi -- said his client's case was allowed to "simmer" by his original attorneys. They have since been fired. "For anybody being involved in a criminal case in Mexico, the first 96 hours ... those first 96 hours are crucial," Benitez said. "A lot can be done, and releases can and are obtained regularly, but you have to aggressively address a defensive strategy." Now, Benitez says, his client is at the mercy of the Mexican judicial system, and there is no timetable for his release. Tahmooressi has maintained that he took a wrong turn on the California side of the border into Tijuana, Mexico, the night of March 31. His mother told CNN in May that Tahmooressi, who served in Afghanistan, had moved to the San Ysidro, California, area to get treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. He was detained by Mexican border officials for possessing a .45-caliber pistol, a 12-gauge pump shotgun and an AR-15 rifle. For weeks, Tahmooressi sat in a Tijuana prison while his defense attorneys failed to submit evidence to the court in the initial stages of his defense. Tahmooressi and his attorneys alleged that he was beaten and tortured by guards and prisoners at the prison. Mexican officials have denied that claim. He has since been transferred to El Hongo Penitentiary in Tecate, where he told CNN earlier this month that he is being treated well. Benitez has submitted evidence and will continue to do so between now and August 4, Tahmooressi's next court date. His combined legal bills have already surpassed more than $20,000, according to the family. "In Andrew's case, several windows of opportunity were missed," Benitez said. "It's frustrating to us. I would have loved to have taken advantage of those opportunities. But now we need to work with what we have and that's exactly what we're going to do." Germane to Tahmooressi's defense is that Tahmooressi's rights were violated under the Mexican constitution, Benitez said. "I believe he was denied several basic human rights, which, it's my contention, should result in reparation from the court" in the form of declaring a mistrial or tossing out the testimony "of those officers who are singling him out as the responsible party in this case." A 20-year criminal defense veteran, Benitez said he has a strong track record of acquittals or cases being thrown out in federal court. In 2011, he defended former Tijuana Mayor Hank Rhon, whose house was raided by Mexican soldiers who discovered an arsenal of illegal guns and ammunition. Benitez successfully argued that the raid was performed without a warrant. All charges were dropped. The same should be expected for Tahmooressi's case, Benitez told CNN. "Andrew's case, believe it or not, is technically not that complex," Benitez said. "It's a mistake many people have made. I've driven my car up to San Diego and back to Tijuana and I can tell you I've made the same mistake he made. And I'm a resident. The evidence we've been uncovering all supports his story." Opinion: A mother's worst nightmare: My son is detained in Mexico . U.S. Marine 'optimistic' he'll soon be released from Mexican prison . U.S. Marine says he'd walked into Mexico before his arrest . | Attorney says Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi's first defenders allowed his case to "simmer"
Fernando Benitez: "Those first 96 hours" in a Mexican criminal case are crucial .
Tahmooressi was detained in March by border officials for firearms in his possession .
"I believe he was denied several basic human rights," Benitez says . |
fe02f22a69612acfda649af09e9ae1f26675a5df | (CNN) -- Luci Baines Johnson was just 16 years old when she approached her father, President Johnson, with what she considered a reasonable request. Luci Baines Johnson, left, and her older sister, Lynda Bird, pose inside the White House in 1963. "I asked my father if we could have the Beatles come to play at the White House," she recalled. "I was very excited about it." His response? A decisive no, "without even any moment of trying to soften the blow," Johnson said in a recent phone interview. The president thought the move would be viewed as self-serving. His daughter, however, saw it as a chance to honor "a great talent" and strengthen ties between the United States and Great Britain -- not to mention a golden opportunity for her and her friends. "I could see how different sets of folks could have either perspective. And I suspect my father could see that too," she said. Luci Baines Johnson learned quickly of the scrutiny that came from being a first daughter. Her family moved into the White House in 1963, following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Johnson was catapulted into the exclusive fraternity of White House families and embraced what she describes as a role she landed simply by chance. That fraternity has most recently expanded to include President Obama's daughters, Sasha and Malia. "I was an eyewitness to history, over and over, during my father's five years in the White House. And I wasn't elected to that option. I had no qualifications that provided me that privilege except an accident of birth," she said. See famous first kids who grew up in the White House » . Johnson speaks fondly of the opportunity she was afforded to dine with kings and queens, meet the movers and shakers of her time, engage with the body of America and hold a front-row seat to history. While most of her memories fall into two categories -- "the fond personal memories" and "the fond memories of public privilege" -- there's one in particular that was a combination of both. "My 17th birthday, I received a handwritten note from my father, the only handwritten note I have, telling me how much he loves me and how much he has delighted in having me as his daughter for all those 17 years," she said. The note was dated noon, July 2, 1964. Six hours later, in the East Room of the White House, Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination based on race or gender in public places, schools and places of employment. "Can you imagine ever receiving a more momentous, glorious, exciting, thrilling birthday present that lasted forever and ever than something like that, that would change the world for all time and make it a much more decent place? That took place on my birthday," she said. Life in the White House, however, came at a cost. Johnson and the first children before and after her will always have to "pay a big price in terms of personal time," she said. More than 45 years after she moved into the White House, she still receives requests for interviews about the time she spent there. But the public's interest in first daughters is nothing new. Fanny Hayes, for example, who was about the same age as Malia when she moved into the White House in 1877, was followed by the media until the day she died. "She was an American celebrity," said presidential historian Doug Wead. While the interest in first daughters has stayed steady, the pressure on the children has intensified, said Wead, author of "All the Presidents' Children: Triumph and Tragedy in the Lives of America's First Families." "It's like the Miss America contest -- it's a real dilemma for the daughter of a president. She's supposed to be gracious. She's mocked and ridiculed if she isn't pretty," he said. When Chelsea Clinton was just 13 years old, for example, she was ridiculed in a 1993 "Saturday Night Live" sketch that declared her "not a babe." Actor Mike Myers later apologized, and the skit was cut from replays of the show. Amy Carter, who was 9 when she moved into the White House, was also mocked for her appearance and for her poor manners, after she pulled out a book during a state dinner. Her parents enrolled her in public school, illuminating the already bright spotlight on her. An infamous photograph of her first day at school shows the young girl with her head hanging low, carrying a Snoopy book bag and surrounded by a swarm of paparazzi. To this date, no other presidential children have attended public school. But other presidential children have taken on power roles in their fathers' administrations. Anna Roosevelt, for example, was a "super aide" to Franklin D. Roosevelt during his last year in office, Wead said, describing her as a combination of a personal secretary and chief of staff, not to mention popular in the public eye. And Alice Roosevelt, a fashion icon who was known to have quite the rebellious streak, also played a pivotal role for her father, Theodore Roosevelt. She went on an around-the-world junket for the purposes of American foreign policy -- a move that diverted attention from her father's efforts to bring about a peace treaty in the Russo-Japanese War, Wead said. The president later won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work on various peace treaties. Under the administration that followed, William Taft's daughter became one of the unsung heroes of women's rights, Wead said. Taft credited his daughter, Helen, for helping to change his mind about women's suffrage. But for all presidential children, Wead said, there remains a lifelong battle of seeking approval from their fathers while struggling to carve their own identities. Many presidential daughters have gone on to author books about their time in White House, in what Wead describes as an attempt to restore their fathers' reputations. "It's like sitting in front of a big window ... and seeing a billboard with misspelled words on it. It's just irritating," he said. "And the writing of a book, if it doesn't change history, it is a purifying experience for the child." Susan Ford Bales once told the San Francisco Chronicle that while in the White House, "I kept thinking, I want to be normal. But I can't be normal. .... Everyone was watching. It was like living out loud." But Ford also cashed in on some of the perks of her high-profile position and took Alice Roosevelt's advice to "have one hell of a good time." Ford roller-skated through the White House, held her prom in the East Room and scored VIP treatment at concerts -- including a backstage pass to see Rod Stewart. (That move ignited the public's interest in her, sparking rumors that she and Stewart were engaged.) Johnson said that some of the best advice she received while in the White House was to just recognize that she couldn't change things or make the attention go away. "There are inevitably going to be moments when you feel like the pressures of the goldfish bowl seem unfair or more than you can bear, but so are the opportunities to learn, to understand, to grow, to love, to make friends, to witness," she said. "I describe it as the best of times and sometimes the worst of times, but whatever the times, it was a time of extraordinary privilege." | Luci Johnson describes being a first daughter as an "extraordinary privilege"
It was "the best of times and sometimes the worst of times," she says .
First daughters often followed by media for remainder of their lives .
The pressure on first daughters has intensified over the years, historian says . |
fe0337090a68b632a69817b871994a3543c5e025 | By . Daily Mail Reporter and Associated Press Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 18:21 EST, 16 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 18:35 EST, 16 September 2013 . Tim Lambesis, pictured in court in May, faces nine years in jail if found guilty of hiring a hitman . The frontman of the Grammy-nominated . Christian metal band As I Lay Dying will stand trial on a charge of trying to hire . someone to kill his estranged wife, a judge in San Diego ruled on Monday. The . decision came after a preliminary hearing for Timothy Lambesis, 32, that . featured several hours of testimony by prosecution witnesses, including . an undercover officer who said he posed as a hitman named 'Red' and met with the singer. San . Diego County sheriff's Officer Howard Bradley testified that Lambesis . met him at a book store in May and told him he wanted his . wife 'gone.' Bradley told the court he asked Lambesis directly if he wanted his wife killed, and the singer replied, "'Yes, I do.'" Lambesis . said his wife, Meggan Lambesis, had restricted his visits with their . three adopted children after they were separated in September, Bradley . recalled, adding he was also angry because she was going to get a chunk . of his income in a divorce settlement. Bradley said Lambesis told him at the end of their meeting, "'just to clarify, just so you know, I do want her dead.'" The . officer said the singer then gave him a manila envelope containing his . wife's name, photo, security code to her condo complex, description of . her vehicle and $1,000. In action: As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis pictured performing at the second annual Revolver Golden Gods Awards in Los Angeles in 2010 . Family man: Lambesis and his wife, Meggan, adopted three children from Ethiopia (pictured) before their split . Lambesis . also wrote down three dates that would be best for carrying out the hit . because he would be with his children and have an alibi, Bradley . testified. He said they agreed to set the total price at $20,000. Officers then arrested Lambesis. Lambesis . has pleaded not guilty to solicitation for murder. If convicted, he . could face up to nine years in prison. San Diego Superior Court Judge . Robert Kearney set his arraignment for Oct. 22 at the courthouse in . Vista. Last August while on tour, Lambesis had emailed his wife to say he didn't love her, he wanted to . end their relationship, and he no longer believed in God. Sting operation: San Diego North County court in Vista heard how Lambesis handed over $1,000 in cash along with a photograph of his wife Meggan and her address to an undercover police officer . Motive: The court heard singer Tim Lambesis, pictured performing live during a concert at the Huxleys in Berlin, Germany, last year, had affairs with a 'string of women' and was 'substantially motivated' to kill his wife . Meggan Lambesis . later learned her husband was having an affair and had been involved . with 'a string of women.' Sheriff's . Officer John Buckley also testified during the hearing, telling the . court that he initiated the investigation after receiving a report that . Lambesis had asked a personal trainer at his gym to help him get rid of . his wife. After talking to the gym acquaintance, authorities arranged for the man to set up a meeting between Lambesis and Bradley. Defense . attorney Thomas Warwick did not present any arguments during the . hearing. He previously said his client had been using steroids for body . building and the drugs had a devastating effect on his mind. Tim Lambesis, 32, began lifting weights, taking diet supplements last year in an effort to bulk up at the gym, his lawyer says. Defence case: Tim Lambesis pleaded not guilty to solicitation to murder his wife Meggan and his lawyer has told reporters he was set up . Rock star: As I Lay Dying has released six albums and was nominated for a Grammy in 2007 . 'His . thought processes were devastatingly affected by his steroid use,' defense lawyer Thomas Warwick had claimed in May. Lambesis . has been free on $2 million bail since May and wearing a GPS monitor. The conditions will continue until he is arraigned, Kearney ruled. The . singer also has been ordered to stay home and not contact Meggan . Lambesis and their three children, who were adopted from Ethiopia. As . I Lay Dying formed in San Diego in 2000 and has released six albums, . including 2007's 'An Ocean Between Us,' which reached No. 8 on . Billboard's charts. A single from the album, 'Nothing Left,' was nominated for a Grammy for top metal performance. The . band plays in an aggressive style that features lightning-speed metal . guitar riffs. The group's philosophical lyrics have attracted a . following of Christian rock fans. Lambesis, pictured with bandmate Josh Gilbert, has been free on $2 million bail since May and wears a GPS monitor . Breakup: In 2012, Meggan Lambesis filed papers seeking to dissolve her marriage with the singer (pictured) | Tim Lambesis, 32, is the frontman of Christian metalcore group As I Lay Dying .
He was arrested in May and charged with attempting to hire a hitman to kill his estranged wife Meggan .
On Monday a judge ruled that Lambesis will stand trial next month and if convicted he faces up to nine years in prison .
The singer has pleaded not guilty and his lawyer have claimed his judgement was impacted because he was using steroids at the time . |
fe039ad5f8d34e97a5150d2adaeff166d1edb895 | By . Gerri Peev . PUBLISHED: . 19:58 EST, 14 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 19:58 EST, 14 October 2013 . Eric Pickles said the UK should emulate Austria, Belgium and Sweden in rewarding those who dared to build their own homes . Britain should be turned into a 'nation of self-builders' by offering people subsidies for creating their own homes, the Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has said. Helping tens of thousands of people build their dream properties would stop them from putting up 'homogeneous, pasteurised housing', he claimed. The senior Tory said the UK should emulate Austria, Belgium and Sweden in rewarding those who dared to build their own homes. He revealed that self-builders would have access to a £47 billion loan scheme. Mr Pickles suggested too many people watch Grand Designs and believe building a home was the 'preserve of the elite'. He said he wanted to double the number of self-build projects in the coming years, up from 7,000 today. Ministers want 20 per cent of homes to be self-build projects, up from ten per cent last year. Councils would be encouraged to release land they were holding to residents hoping to self-build. Those already living in the countryside would be less likely to oppose innovative, small-scale developments than large-scale estates, he said. Local authorities would also be urged to reduce red tape so that self-builders did not have to 'bang their heads against walls' to get planning permission. Anyone building their own home would not have to pay a community infrastructure levy, or planning tariffs, slashing the cost of self-building by thousands of pounds. 'We’re taking practical steps which will unlock the potential and will turn our country, which is famously a nation of shopkeepers, to a nation of self-builders too,' Mr Pickles said. 'In some countries - Austria, Belgium, Sweden - as much as half of the new housing is custom built. But they have a system which supports and encourages and rewards self building. We must do likewise.' Mr Pickles said he wanted to double the number of self-build projects in the coming years, up from 7,000 today . He added that the government was working to get self-builders access to finance. 'Because we believe that custom building should not be the preserve of the elite and the wealthy, we’re offering £47billion worth of loans to aspiring self builders,' he said. 'This Government believes in supporting ambition. The more people who build their own homes the better.' Mr Pickles added that the 'level of resistance to self-build small development is much less than some of the larger developments'. Families across Britain should in future be able to design and create a property regardless of how much money they have to spend, he said. Mr Pickles also ruled out 'imposing' new garden cities on parts of the country to solve the housing crisis. Planning Minister Nick Boles has previously called for increasing the amount of developed land in England by a third. He said that this would address the housing shortage. The gap would be filled by building 'beautiful' housing that was sensitive to the local area. | Eric Pickles wants Britain to be turned into a 'nation of self-builders'
Communities Secretary says UK should emulate Austria, Belgium and Sweden in rewarding those who dare to build their own homes .
Suggests too many people see home building as the 'preserve of the elite' |
fe03ad510cf27277a39472c77940850713a2c08c | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 14:15 EST, 9 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 15:29 EST, 9 December 2013 . A married mother allegedly posted sexually explicit photos and videos of her doctor after they ended their affair, it has emerged. Dolly Beattie, from Amelia, Ohio, claims that before she shared the intimate images on Facebook and YouTube, Terrence McCoy had told her colleagues information about her that got her fired. Now the spat is playing out in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court as Beattie, 48, sues McCoy, 51, - accusing him of taking advantage of his doctor status during their affair - while McCoy has filed his own protective order against her. In court documents, McCoy, who is also married, admits he was Beattie's doctor when they started an affair in September 2011 and he sent her suggestive videos and texts, Cincinnati.com reported. Court battle: Dolly Beattie allegedly posted explicit images of her doctor online following their affair . Beattie ended the affair and reported him to the State Medical Board of Ohio for having sex with a patient. She later dismissed it but the medical board continued to investigate before McCoy agreed to have his medical license permanently revoked in 2012. Beattie had similar troubles at work after the affair; she was fired shortly after from her job at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. She claimed that the jilted McCoy had called doctors and other hospital employees and gave them information that led to her losing her job. McCoy has admited in court documents that he called employees but said he did not tell them about their affair or have a part in her being fired. After she was fired, Beattie admits . that, on June 2, 2013, she posted graphic videos and photos the doctor . had sent her to Facebook and YouTube. Fired: She claims she lost her job at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (pictured) after the doctor, Terrence McCoy called staff there and spoke about her. Both parties have now sued the other . 'She snapped,' Beattie's attorney Mary Jill Donovan explained. 'She was so overwrought about what a dope she'd been and how he'd treated her.' Beattie quickly removed the posts but the doctor learned about them anyway. McCoy sued her, claiming that even though he had sent her the videos and photos, she violated his privacy by sharing them online. Lawyer Jon Garon, director of the Northern Kentucky University Law + Informatics Institute, told Cincinnati.com that he expects to see more and more cases of this type. 'The reason for its increase is convenience,' he said. 'The camera has become part of the bedroom.' The case returns to court December 17. | Dolly Beattie and Terrence McCoy started affair in September 2011 .
But after breaking it off, she reported him to the State Medical Board of Ohio and he ultimately lost his license to practice medicine .
He 'called her colleagues and told them information that got her fired'
She then posted explicit images he had sent her to Facebook and YouTube - before quickly taking them down .
Now Beattie and McCoy are both suing each other . |
fe04346a6c71458fdc9cc6e84b6cd171b8bf9a24 | By . Simon Tomlinson . Last updated at 8:02 PM on 10th December 2011 . Britain's high streets and shopping malls finally saw a Christmas retail boom today as shoppers turned out in force to take advantage of early sales. Queues formed outside stores as retailers slashed their prices in the hope of kick-starting the big festive spend. Traders in Oxford Street and Regent Street in central London said they believed they would make £180million in sales just from today after both streets were pedestrianised to attract an estimated one million shoppers. En masse: Crowds fill Oxford Street this evening after the famous shopping road and Regent Street were closed to traffic in a bid to attract an estimated one million people . Flooded: Customers spent the day hunting out bargains along Oxford Street. Traders there and in Regent Street are hopeful of turning over £180million from today alone . Bagging a bargain: These gleeful girls trot down Oxford Street arm-in-arm with a sackful of gifts today as retailers offered mega discounts to drive revenue . Car parks filled up, and cafes and restaurants were packed at shopping centres in cities all over the country on what is traditionally one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Store chains including Marks & Spencer, fashion retailer French Connection and shoe chain Barratts were offering discounts of up to 50per cent aimed at getting bargain hunters to part with their cash. Queues had formed outside shops such as John Lewis and Selfridges when they opened for business. Capital Shopping Centres (CSC), which operates 14 malls including the Trafford Centre in Manchester, Lakeside in Thurrock, and St David's in Cardiff, reported that record numbers of shoppers had taken advantage of offers such as a three-for-two on everything at accessories shop Accessorize and discounts of up to 50% at Past Times gift stores. Festive feel: After a poor November, retailers hope to generate better cash flow in the run-up to Christmas by offering big discounts . All four one: A family gets into the spirit of Christmas this afternoon. Retailers say retro games, electronics and products for the cold are doing well . Trevor Pereira, commercial director at CSC, said: 'It has been really busy across all the centres today and we have seen record numbers of shoppers out in force with cars parks and restaurants being full. 'Our retailers are telling us that retro games such as mini-pinball and Jenga are selling well and that shoppers are being discerning in their purchases.' Richard Dickinson, chief executive of New West End Company, which represents 600 traders in Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street, said it has been a 'good sunny shopping day' in the West End. 'November was not great for retailers but today a lot of people have driven in to get good winter products for the cold. Electronics are doing well too,' he said. A spokesman for Meadowhall, in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, said sales at the centre had started earlier than they would traditionally. Sea of shoppers: Queues had formed outside shops such as John Lewis and Selfridges before they had even opened for business . Two-gether: These girls show off their spoils after a day on the high street taking advantage of early sales . He said: 'I think that's a UK-wide phenomenon. But certainly that's what we're seeing in the centre.' Christmas shoppers at Braehead, one of Scotland's biggest shopping centres, also queued up before the shops opened. Peter Beagley, the general manager of Braehead, said the car park was full and buses were 'choc-a-bloc'. He said: 'I reckon it's a case of the early bird gets the gifts they really want. People were out waiting for the shops to open to make sure they can buy the presents they've chosen to give to friends and family.' In Edinburgh hundreds of people queued from 6am in the cold to be the first through the doors of a new branch of Primark in Princes Street. The first person in line was Laura Hamilton, 25, from Newtongrange, Midlothian, who said it was snowing heavily when she turned up at 6am. She said: 'We've been waiting for Primark for so long and the store will bring so much to Edinburgh. I can't wait to snap up a few bargains.' The most popular present on children's lists to Father Christmas this year is Apple's iPad tablet followed by the Xbox and Nintendo Wii video game consoles, according to department store Selfridges. | Record numbers seek out cut-price deals at UK's biggest shopping centres .
M&S, French Connection and Barratts entice customers with 50% discounts .
Oxford Street and Regent Street traders to rake in £180m from today alone .
Both streets pedestrianised in bid to attract an estimated 1million shoppers . |
fe05156391946d2202976e88c82aab6fc434356f | A widow whose husband was killed courageously fighting a wildfire in Yarnell, Arizona five weeks ago is being denied the lifetime benefits she was counting on to raise the couple's four young children alone. Juliann Ashcraft's husband, Andrew, was one of 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots firefighters who lost their lives when a fire they were battling suddenly changed direction and engulfed them. Mr Ashcraft, like his colleagues, was protecting the people of Yarnell when he died, tragically leaving his young family without a husband, father or income. But the city of Prescott, where the Hotshots were based, is now claiming he was a seasonal worker, despite him working a 40 hour week year round, and denying Mrs Ashcraft full benefits. Scroll down for video . Confused: Juliann Ashcraft, pictured, is fighting with the city of Prescott for the benefits she is being denied . Children: Mrs Ashcraft, pictured, was left to raise her four children alone . 'As shocked as I was that my husband . went to work and never came home, I'm equally shocked in how the city . has treated our family since then,' Mrs Ashcraft, whose youngest child . is just 18 months old, told CBS News. All 19 Hotshot families will receive worker's compensation and a one-off federal payment of $328,000. But . the city is refusing to pay Mrs Ashcraft her husband's lifetime salary . and health benefits, which together are worth millions, because it . insists he was among 13 of the squad who were seasonal employees rather . than full-timers. Only six of the 19 firefighters are entitled to full-time benefits, the city claims. 'I . said to them, "My husband was a full-time employee, he went to work . full-time for you,"' she said, 'and their response to me was, "Perhaps . there was a communication issue in your marriage."' CBS . News has seen paperwork showing Mr Ashcraft did infact earn a full-time . salary as a firefighter for the city of Prescott. He was the only one . of the 13 Hotshots denied full benefits who worked a 40 hour week . through out the year. In love: Juliann, right, is pictured with Andrew Ashcraft, left, in happier times . Heartbreaking: Not only was Juliann Ashcraft, pictured, devastated to lose her husband, she is now facing raising their four children without the benefits she is entitled to . In a statement to CBS News, Prescott . officials said the city had 'fully complied with all of the laws and . employment polices that direct survivor benefits.' But . Mrs Ashcraft, still mourning the loss of her 29-year-old hero, is . desperate for help, as the costs associated with bringing up four . children mount. 'Quite . literally, my bills are being paid by the good people of the world who . are giving donations, because the city of Prescott isn't doing anything . for us,' she told the TV station. 'Now I have four kids and myself, and I . don't know what I'm going to do. 'I want to be able to just be mourning my husband, be supporting my children, be figuring out what our new normal is.' The . shocking treatment comes five weeks after the mother-of-four learned by . watching the news that her firefighter husband had perished in the . intense blaze that burned scores of homes to the ground. Just days after the men's deaths, Mrs . Ashcraft revealed the last conversation she had with her husband - and . her fears when he never responded to her text messages. Heartbroken: Juliann Ashcraft, cries alongside her father Tom Ashcraft outside of the Granite Mountain Hotshot fire station in Prescott on Monday July 1 . Struggle: Juliann Ashcraft, left, will only get a one-off payment of $328,000 and workers' compensation . Mrs . Ashcraft sobbed as she recounted the bravery of her beloved husband and . his close unit of highly-trained 'hotshot' colleagues, who were overcome . by the ferocious flames in Yarnell. She . said she had been texting her husband throughout the day - with him . telling her how much he loved and missed her, and how proud he was of . their young children - until he abruptly stopped. 'I . asked, "Will you be sleeping out there tonight?"' she told the Today . show early last month as she struggled to hold back the tears. 'And of . course there was no reply and they all laid out there that night.' She . added that she had been sending him pictures of their children swimming . that day, and how his daughter had commented that she wished he was . there to see the thunder storm with them. He responded that he wished for that too. 'We could sure use some rain over here,' he said. Mr . Ashcraft also sent his wife a picture of their view of the smoke and . flames from his team's lunch spot on Sunday, and Juliann said that she . was not particularly concerned when she saw it. Final moments: Mrs Ashcraft shared the final image Andrew Ashcraft texted her before the 19 firefighters were killed by the flames . An honorary flagpole is shown at the site where the 19 firefighters died . The devastation has been described as a 'moonscape' after an inferno so intense that only the metal part of one chain saw was found . 'It still did not look as catastrophic as it turned out to be,' she said. 'But he let us know that he loved us and missed us. Because of the dangers of the job, he would always tell us that he loved us.' Family photographs reveal a picture . perfect family as Juliann and Andrew are seen grinning and kissing, as . well as laughing along with their four young children. She told the Today show how, apart from his family, fighting fires with the Granite Mountain Hotshots was his life. 'He . was the most amazing man,' she said. 'The best person I know. A . contagious smile, a heart of gold. That's why he did what he did, . because he want to protect the community where he lived.' Of . his team, she added: 'They loved what they did. These men lived . together. They fought fires together. They died together - doing what . they loved.' On July 1, the day after the men were killed, Mrs Ashcraft was pictured distraught at a makeshift . memorial in Prescott for the fallen firefighters. She said she . learned of her husband's death while watching the news with their four children. 'They died heroes,' she told azcentral.com as she wept. 'And we'll miss them. We love them.' Prescott . High School physical education teacher and coach Lou Beneitone taught . many of the Hotshots, and remembered Ashcraft as a fitness-oriented . student. 'He had some . athletic ability in him and he was a go-getter, too. You could pretty . much see, from young freshman all the way, he was going to be physically . active.' Engulfed: 19 firefighters died as the wildfire spread near the Arizona town of Yarnell . Beneitone said . athletic prowess was a must for the Hotshots. 'That's what it takes. You . gotta be very physically fit, and you gotta like it, gotta like the . hard work.' Ashcraft, a . member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was honored . to be a member of the Hotshot crew, and 'he just had a really sweet . spirit about him,' Elise Smith, a Prescott, Arizona, resident, told The . Deseret News of Salt Lake City. As the bodies of the . Granite Mountain Hotshots were recovered, it emerged that the team's . 20th member survived as he was moving the crew's truck when the flames . overcame his comrades. Helicopters had been unable to reach the highly-trained men as they fought the flames in Yarnell and they could not be saved by their emergency shelters - tent-like structures meant to shield them from flames . and heat. When they were found on Sunday, all 19 . shelters were deployed but some of the men's bodies were inside their . individual shelters, while others were outside - indicating just how . suddenly they were overcome by the flames. 'It had to be a perfect storm in order . for this to happen,' Prescott Fire Department spokesman Wade Ward told the Today show last month. President Obama . called the firefighters heroes and highly skilled professionals who 'put . themselves in harm's way to protect the lives and property of fellow . citizens they would never meet.' The highly-skilled team was overtaken by a . fast-moving blaze stoked by hot winds on Sunday. The fire was sparked by a lightning strike on Friday and spread to at least 8,400 acres amid triple-digit temperatures, low humidity and . windy conditions. Death toll: The Yarnell wildfire is the deadliest wildfire involving firefighters in the U.S. for at least 30 years . The fire has also destroyed an estimated 200 homes. Dry grass . near the communities of Yarnell and Glen Isla fed the fast-moving . blaze. It . was unclear exactly how the crew became trapped. Southwest incident . team leader Clay Templin said the team and its commanders were following . safety protocols, but it appears the fire's erratic nature simply . overwhelmed them. At the . time, Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo said the 19 firefighters were a . part of the city's fire department. With their deaths, the department . lost 20 per cent of its members. 'We . grieve for the family. We grieve for the department. We grieve for the . city,' he said at a news conference on June 30. 'We're devastated. We just lost 19 of the finest people you'll ever meet.' Hot shot crews are elite firefighters . who often hike for miles into the wilderness with chain saws and . backpacks filled with heavy gear to build lines of protection between . people and fires. They remove brush, trees and anything that might burn . in the direction of homes and cities. The crew killed in the blaze had been working on other wildfires in recent weeks in New Mexico and Arizona, Fraijo said. | Andrew Ashcraft, 29, died beside 18 of his 'Hotshot' comrades on June 30 .
He left behind his young wife, Juliann, and their four children, the youngest of whom is 18 months .
Five weeks after the tragedy, Mrs Ashcraft has been denied the full lifetime benefits she was relying on to raise the couple's children .
City of Prescott claims the Hotshot was one of 13 firefighters who were 'seasonal' workers .
They say she is therefore only entitled to worker's compensation and a one off payment of $328,000 .
But Mr Ashcraft actually worked 40 hours a week all year round . |
fe056e22238d2ffd99fce0b69de6a113cb367f07 | Renewing a push for paid leave for workers, President Barack Obama on Thursday will call on Congress, states and cities to pass measures to allow millions of workers to earn up to a week of paid sick time a year. He'll also ask Congress for more than $2 billion in new spending to encourage states to create paid family and medical leave programs, the White House says. In addition, Obama will use executive discretion to give federal employees – men and women alike – up to six weeks of paid sick leave to care for a new child. Scroll down for video . President Barack Obama speaks at Cedar Falls Utilities on Wednesday in Cedar Falls, Iowa. President Obama will call on Congress, states and cities today to pass measures to allow millions of workers to earn up to a week of paid sick time a year . 'The fact is this is not a partisan issue. It’s a family issue, and it’s an economic issue, senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, said. 'Adopting policies that are good for working families is both good for business and good for workers.' More than 40 million U.S. private sector workers don't have any type of paid sick leave, Jarrett said, 'Not a single day.' That means they lose pay if they stay home when sick or to care for someone who is. The White House confirmed Thursday night that Obama's policy proposal dealing with paid time off for new parents will apply to men as well as women. A White House fact sheet on the policy proposal argues that 'many workers will go to work sick, putting their coworkers and customers at risk of illness. And even if workers have access to paid sick leave for themselves, they may not be able to use it to care for sick children. 'This forces many parents to choose between taking an unpaid day off work—losing much needed income and potentially threatening his or her job—and sending a child who should be home in bed to school,' the White House said. The president's spokesman said today that the policy is both family-friendly and business-friendly because going to work sick with an illness like the flu will 'only serve to spread the flu to your fellow coworkers. That is bad for businesses because they have a whole slew of employees out sick, he said. Details on how Obama would raise the $2 billion to help states will be released in the president's budget proposal next month, Jarrett said Wednesday. Obama wants Congress to pass legislation that has been sponsored since 2005 by Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro to allow workers to earn up to seven days, or 56 hours, of paid sick leave to care for themselves or a sick family member, obtain preventive care or deal with domestic violence. Under the Healthy Families Act, workers would earn an hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours they work. Employers that already provide paid sick time would not have to change their policies as long as the time earned can be used for the same purposes. Obama will call on states and cities to adopt similar legislation. Some already have, as the White House noted in a fact sheet. The president will also outline ways to broaden access to paid family and medical leave. Under the 1993 federal Family and Medical Leave Act, workers may take up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off without losing their job to care for a new child, recover from an illness or care for an ill family member. The White House says most families cannot afford such long stretches of time off without pay. 'We can't say we stand for family values when so many women in this country have to jeopardize their financial security just to take a few weeks off of work after giving birth,' Jarrett said in a Linkedin post previewing the initiative on Wednesday. Three states — California, New Jersey and Rhode Island – offer paid family and medical leave. To encourage others to follow, Obama will propose $2.2 billion in new spending to reimburse up to five states for three years for the actual and administrative costs associated with implementing similar programs. The White House says Obama's budget will also include a request for $35 million to be put toward competitive grants for states working toward implementing paid leave programs. Additionally, the Department of Labor will spend $1 million in funds it already has to help states and localities conduct studies to determine the ramifications of paid family leave policies. President Obama returns by night to the White House after a day trip to Iowa. Obama has been travelling across the country, giving near-daily previews of initiatives geared toward the middle class and working families that he plans to highlight in next Tuesday's nationally televised State of the Union address . With regard to the federal workforce, Obama will propose legislation providing six weeks of paid administrative leave for the birth, adoption or foster placement of a child. Federal workers receive paid sick leave and vacation time, but no paid time off specifically for family or parental leave. Under the proposal, federal workers could use sick time to care for a healthy child after birth or adoption. Obama also planned to direct federal agencies to advance six weeks of paid sick leave that federal workers could use as paid family leave, something agencies can do if they decide to, said Obama economic adviser Betsey Stevenson. Workers would be required to pay back the sick leave over time. Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate's labor committee, said Obama's proposed measures would set back workers and make it more difficult for entrepreneurs to start their own businesses . 'Americans have great freedom when it comes to work—they can choose the career they like and negotiate with their employer for the things they need, and they can one day become employers, opening businesses with few restrictions compared to the rest of the world,' the Republican senator said. 'One more government mandate, however well-intentioned, will only reduce those freedoms—making it harder for employees to find jobs, negotiate for the things they need, and open and run businesses. Alexander said the federal government 'should do what it can to encourage employers to offer paid sick leave' but should 'not impose a big new mandate' that he claims will 'cost employers $11.4 billion over five years and make it harder for them to hire new employees.' Sen. Deb Fischer, a Republican from Nebraska, said employers should provide paid sick leave on a 'voluntary' basis. She and Maine Sen. Angus King, an Independent senator, have introduced legislation that would 'encourage' businesses to do just that by giving organizations that offer their employees at least four weeks of paid leave a tax credit. Meanwhile, DeLauro and women's groups applauded the president's announcement. 'Workplaces need to respond to the reality of family life in the 21st century, and allowing employees to have seven sick days a year is a bare minimum,' DeLauro said. 'The fact that the United States is one of just a handful of countries that does not require paid family or sick leave is nothing short of shameful.' The chances that lawmakers will send DeLauro's bill to Obama in the next two years appear slim to none, given that the congresswoman first introduced the bill a decade ago. But Debra L. Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, said the announcement amounts to the 'boldest action' in support of family-friendly workplace polices in a generation. 'This is fantastic news for workers, families and our economy,' she said. Obama's actions follow up on a White House Summit on Working Families the president held last June in Washington, Jarrett said. It is also the latest in a series of near-daily previews by Obama of initiatives geared toward the middle class and working families that he plans to highlight in next Tuesday's nationally televised State of the Union address. The White House said Thursday it would use the State of the Union to try to drum up support for the measure. | President will propose that Congress pass legislation to give an additional six weeks of paid parental leave to federal workers who are new parents .
That policy plan will extend to men as well as women .
He'll also ask Congress for more than $2 billion in new spending to encourage states to create paid family and medical leave programs .
Details of how Obama would raise the $2 billion will be released in his budget proposal next month, the White House says .
GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander said the proposals would set back workers and make it more difficult for entrepreneurs to start their own businesses . |
fe05fd6107d1d47ef27a04db2b4bbe2f4d1b0eab | A ballet dancer is on target to waltz his way to fame with a series of gravity-defying photographs which could well be the ultimate self portraits. Tourists wandering through the cobbled streets of Paris would stand in awe as they saw Mickael Jou performing his dance routines ranging from ballet to more modern moves. Snapping away with their cameras as Mickael performed pirouettes through the air, old and young alike would then share their magical pictures with the dancer. Mickael Jou seemingly floats through the air as he chats to a woman while people enjoy a picnic in the background, . Mickael, who now lives in Berlin, said seeing the snaps inspired him to start his own project, enabling him to marry his love of dance with photography using a variety of locations as a backdrop. 'Tourists would quite often photograph and film me dancing in Paris, and after seeing the pictures they'd taken of me, I figured that I should try it out for myself,' said Mickael. After wandering around the Louvre art gallery in Paris for inspiration, Mickael bought a camera of his own and pored over the manual until he knew exactly how to use all the features and time his dance moves to coincide with the shutter speed. Poised as if to pick a flower, Mickael strikes a pose mid-air . Over the past three years,he has collected an assortment of snaps which show him dancing through the air for his 365 photo project. I’ve spent three years working on this 365 photo project and it will probably take another three years to finish it,' he added. Uploading the photographs onto his website, viewers will be able to see Mickael almost floating through the air on a beach, beside a hotel and in woodland. The 30-year-old said he puts a lot of thought into the location of his photographs with some of the snaps taking minutes to shoot and others much longer. 'I pick out a location, and then I set-up my tripod and I have a remote control that I press,' he said. 'Of course, I also adjust photographic settings such as the aperture, but the tripod and the remote control is how I manage to photograph myself. 'Taking a picture can take anywhere from five minutes to an hour. Sometimes I get lucky and have lots of time to take a picture, but sometimes I have constraints and no time at all, for instance if the sunlight changes or the other people in the picture can't stay.' Mickael said that while it looks like there is just him at a particular spot, there is usually a throng of people behind the camera. 'Passers-by often stop and ask what I'm doing or even take pictures of me taking pictures of myself,' said Mickael. 'I've had groups of 50 people cheer me on as I take a picture, which kind of feels like a sports match, but with dancing!' In a scene which could have come straight from a science fiction film, Mickael floats through a woodland . Mickael said that while the self-portraits are a hobby, he does occasionally sell them as well. 'Eleven of my pictures are currently hanging up at a bar in Berlin, the Mokkabar, Gneisenaustraße 93,' he said. 'This project is very personal to me, but I'm always glad if people enjoy my pictures. I used to work in marketing in Paris, but now I'm based in Berlin and working as a photographer's assistant to get some more experience. 'I began dancing when I was 18 and I actually like anything to do with exercise and will do stretching most days.' Mickael, who said his dream job would be to work as a fashion or commercial photographer, said children watching him dancing and taking photographs often tried to copy him. 'When I'm doing the splits, I often see little children trying to do them as well - it's really cute,' he added. Anyone who would like to see more of Mickael Jou's work can do so at www.facebook.com/mickaeljouphotographydance or www.mickaeljou.com . Using a piece of material, Mickael demonstrates his athletic prowess and near weightlessness on a bridge . A mirror helps create the illusion of air travel as Mickael strikes a pose . A move which is familiar to ballet fans everywhere, Mickael gives it a special twist by performing it near the sea . Going outside to stretch your legs takes on a whole new meaning when you're Mickael Jou . Mickael stands out from the crowds above as he poses among some wood . Tripping the light fantastic under the watchful eye of a woman on the balcony above . | Mickael Jou was inspired after tourists stopped to snap pictures as he waltzed through the streets of Paris .
The 30-year-old has been dancing since he was 18 and says he can now combine his love of photos with dance .
Taught himself to take the images after buying a camera and poring over the instruction manual . |
fe0613d1fe531c7c8dfc391da91f95f73cd4bb01 | With domestic labor costs rising, many Asian manufacturing producers are now looking to relocate their factories in other regions of the world. Could Africa replace Asia and/or China as the world's next manufacturing hub? To be sure, Africa has a number of manufacturing advantages that it has yet to realize. Besides low labor costs and abundant resources, these include duty-free and quota-free access to U.S. and EU markets for light manufactures under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act and the Cotonou Agreement. Is this enough to offset Sub-Saharan Africa's generally low labor productivity relative to that of its Asian competitors? Yes, if Africa can implement appropriate supportive policies to leverage its opportunities soon. This is the finding from a recent book by a team of World Bank economists. China dominates the global export market in light manufacturing, and its competitive edge far exceeds that of low income exporters that recently entered the global market. But steeply rising costs of land, regulatory compliance, and especially labor in China's coastal export manufacturing centers have begun to erode the latter's cost advantage, a trend likely to accelerate in the coming years. The ongoing redistribution of cost advantages in labor-intensive manufacturing presents an opportunity for Sub-Saharan Africa to start producing many light manufactures, enhance private investment and create millions of jobs. Read more: Brazil competes with China, India to invest in Africa . According to new evidence, feasible, low-cost, sharply focused policy initiatives aimed at enhancing private investment could launch the region on a path to becoming competitive in light manufacturing. These initiatives would complement progress on broader investment reforms and could foster industrialization and raise the market share of domestically produced goods in rapidly growing local markets for light manufacturers. And as local producers scale up, product will improve, and experience with technology, management and marketing will accumulate, allowing them to seize emerging export opportunities. In Sub-Saharan Africa, as in China and Vietnam, policies that encourage foreign direct investment can speed up industrial development and export expansion. Isolated successes can be multiplied, as with Ethiopia's recent foray into selling cut flowers in EU markets: a single pioneering firm opened the door to an industry that now employs 50,000 workers. Previous studies identified long lists of constraints, including corruption, red tape, inadequate utilities, poor transport and skills, inadequate access to finance, and so on. In contrast, the book proposes smaller, more specific, and sometimes newly identified constraints. Narrowing the analysis can make the reform agenda more manageable within the financial and human resource constraints of most African countries. Take the leather industry in Ethiopia. This sector employs about 8,000 workers and exported about $8 million in 2010, a fraction of similar countries in Asia such as Vietnam. Ethiopia's labor costs are lower than Asia's and the country has Africa's second largest cattle population, next to Sudan. Read more: Why Asian giants scent opportunity in Africa . Furthermore, climatic conditions mean Ethiopian animal skin is among the best in the world. Yet the most binding constraint is the shortage of quality processed leather due to poor disease control, lack of quality processing of raw hides and restrictive trade policies on processed leather. Once the problems are identified, the proposed solutions are straightforward. Treat ectoparasites (the skin disease that causes blemishes) at modest cost; allow imports and exports of raw hides and processed leather to help alleviate this constraint; and provide technical assistance. Some of these measures require changing existing policies. Others require provision of public goods such as industrial parks that could be inexpensive. Ethiopia's comparative advantage in wages, productivity, and natural resources has led the Huajian Group, a Chinese shoe maker, to build a factory in Ethiopia in three months, with two production lines starting in January 2012, exporting 20,000 pairs of shoes a month and creating some 550 jobs. So the opportunities and the preconditions are certainly there, provided African policy makers speedily seize them, as the book notes. But will Africa be the world's next manufacturing hub? Not likely. Manufacturing can be an unprecedented opportunity for Africa to industrialize and provide productive jobs to millions of Africans, especially young people who make up as much as 36% of the total working-age population; three in five of Africa's unemployed are under the age of 25. Read more: Is the West losing out to China in Africa? But the emergence of China as a powerhouse producing a variety of manufacturing goods at very cheap prices thanks to the large scale and skilful exploitation of the supply chain means that not all manufacturing jobs will be transferred from China to Africa. Due to widely varying country conditions, some African economies can take advantage of favorable wages and natural resources and benefit from taking timely measures to develop and export manufacturing goods. But large-scale production requirements also mean that some jobs will be transferred to countries such as India, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vietnam while others will move to China's interior. In short, the invisible hand of globalization will work to ensure a redistribution of cost advantages to the benefit of the ultimate consumers around the world. | Low labor costs and abundant resources are some of Africa's manufacturing advantages .
Rising costs of land and labor in China have begun to erode Beijing's cost advantage .
African countries can benefit from taking timely measures to develop manufacturing goods .
Manufacturing can help Africa industrialize and create jobs for millions . |
fe062fd294d4fc06d056c3f6416f0b2168335755 | By . Joe Callaghan . Mats Hummels sounded a warning to the rest of the World Cup as Germany became the first team in history to reach four straight semi-finals. The central defender soared to down feeble France in Rio de Janeiro and grab his second goal of the tournament. And Hummels insisted afterwards that Germany are ready to go two steps further than they have in their recent history and claim the trophy back here in eight days' time. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Germany fans celebrate their side's victory over France . Perfect placement: Mats Hummels' header loops into the back of France's net to seal victory for Germany . Man of the moment: Hummels runs off after scoring the goal that won Germany the game . Tight unit: Germany's players wander back for kick-off after congratulating Hummels on his impressive header . 'This is the next dream to have become a reality here in Brazil. I hope it's not the last either,' said Hummels, whose early header was the difference between the sides as the quarter-final failed to live up to expectations. 'We’re playing the kind of football that will give us a chance to win this trophy. We’re defending well, with passion and determination, so that needs to be stepped up with each game.' The Germans had suffered a virus in . their camp going into the game which laid seven players, but although . they managed only three attempts on goal they were still well organised . enough to make France look the more sluggish side. Philipp Lahm said: ‘We are in the semi-finals so who cares about anything else? It wasn’t easy, but we worked as a team and the team always comes first.' Hummels was one of a number of changes to the Germans' starting line-up that paid off handsomely for manager Joachim Low. On the back of an extra-time marathon against Algeria in the last 16 and battling a flu outbreak in the panel, Löw was elated with how his reconfigured team coped in the intense afternoon heat. All smiles: Germany stars Lukas Podolski, Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Jerome Boateng and Thomas Muller pose for a selfie . Dealy duo: Muller (left) and Miroslav Klose (right) take a snap in the Maracana changing room . Fighting fit: Ozil says he is hoping to be back at the Maracana for the World Cup final after seeing off France . 'What we saw today was players who were injured who had to go all the way to their limits. Remember the Algeria match where we went to extra time,' said Löw, who now faces a dilemma over whether to stick with his new-look side for Tuesday's semi-final. 'Now it's a matter of bringing all our forces together to see if they can recover and regenerate well. It's about seeing how the players cope with this match. Then we will make a decision.' Defeated France manager Didier Deschamps lamented his side's failure to truly get to grips with the Germans. In spite of creating a host of openings, at no stage in the second-half did they mount a concerted onslaught on a German defence that still shows signs of weakness. Deflated: France boss Didier Deschamps looks glum after his side's 1-0 defeat to Germany in Rio . 'It's difficult to console my team and my players. They have taken a great experience, but we just weren't effective today,' said Deschamps afterwards. 'We confronted a superior side that plays at a very high level. I believe that there is not that big a difference between us and Germany. But this German side has more experience than us and they are more accustomed to playing these occasions. 'There is still a lot of work to do with this team but I’m very pleased. Let’s not forget what we’ve done so far which is good, but, I wanted to reach the semi-finals.' | Germany beat France 1-0 to reach the World Cup semi-finals .
Mats Hummels scored the only goal of the game in the 13th minute .
The defender says his side are playing the right way to win the tournament .
France boss Didier Deschamps believes his side controlled the game . |
fe067e16e639bf10d60e678603855d529e9780bb | By . Kerry Mcqueeney . Last updated at 3:27 PM on 20th December 2011 . Twenty leading businessmen today warned that if Britain does not stay at the heart of Europe, three million jobs could be lost. Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson and . British Telecom chairman Sir Mike Rake were among the leading business . figures who urged the Government to seize opportunities to 're-engage in . the decision-making process' in the European Union. They argued that Europe's future was . vital to Britain's economic interests and said it was imperative the . country was not outside the euro when important decisions are taken. Intervention: Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson (left) and British Telecom chairman Sir Mike Rake were among the leading business figures who signed the letter . Re-engagement: The businessmen argued that the EU's single market is 'of great importance' to the UK . It is feared that 3 million British jobs which rely on exports to European partners could be at risk . The businessmen are all signatories of a . letter sent to the Telegraph newspaper, published today. Their . intervention comes 10 days after David Cameron vetoed EU treaty reforms. The businessmen wrote: 'The Government estimates that three million British jobs rely on exports to our European partners. 'The EU's institutions, from the . commission to the European Court of Justice, exist mainly to safeguard . the single market's level playing field. 'Protecting the single market has to be the bedrock of our re-engagement with Europe.' Wealth creators: Sir Martin Sorrel, chief executive of advertising group WPP, also signed the letter . Global effort: European countries agreed to provide 150 billion euros - £125 billion - to the International Monetary Fund . The wealth creators also argue that it is in Britain's interest for the Euro to survive, and that the EU's single market is 'of great importance' to the UK. They added: 'We therefore . should do everything we can to ensure the necessary steps are taken to . guarantee its viability. 'The EU’s single market, while not complete, is of great importance to . Britain. It accounts for over half our trade, but we must deepen and . widen it, and push for reform in services, telecoms, the digital arena . and energy. 'It accounts for over half our trade, but we must deepen and widen it, and push for reform in services, telecoms, the digital arena and energy. 'It . is imperative that we are not outside when important decisions are . taken, and as opportunities arise over the coming months for Britain to . re-engage in the decision-making process in Europe, we must seize them.' Among the other signatories are Sir . Martin Sorrel, chief executive of advertising group WPP, Roland Rudd, . the chairman of Business for New Europe, former EU trade commissioner . Lord Brittan, and Sir Stephen Wall, Tony Blair's former adviser on . Europe. European countries yesterday agreed to provide 150 billion euros (£125 billion) to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). But . Britain's decision not to take part in a scheme to support the . struggling eurozone meant EU finance ministers failed to reach their . target of 200 billion euros. Britain . has made clear that it will not be part of any effort intended . specifically for the eurozone, but is ready to consider participating in . a global effort to boost IMF resources at a meeting of the G20 group of . major economies in Mexico in January. A . Treasury spokesman said: 'The UK has always been willing to consider . further resources for the IMF, but for its global role and as part of a . global agreement.' | Virgin boss Richard Branson and BT chairman Sir Mike among business figures warning the Government .
Europe's future is 'vital' to Britain's economic interests, they argue . |
fe06a96df782c302eb24f3f0a3a83d0176674702 | Los Angeles (CNN) -- San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, facing a growing tide of sexual harassment allegations, has completed his two-week intensive behavior therapy a week early and will begin outpatient treatment, his lawyer said. But he might not be back at work in his office any time soon. His chief of staff changed the locks, according to numerous reports, including one by CNN affiliate KFMB. Attorney James Payne said in a statement that Filner began treatment on July 29, a week before the mayor previously told reporters he would start. Filner was to complete that phase of treatment Saturday, Payne said. Did mayor target victims of military sexual assault? In the same statement, Payne said Filner would take some personal time this week and would not be available for comment. It is unclear when Filner will return to work, but he is believed to be back in the city he governs after his rehab stint. Victims start talking . An increasing number of women are saying that Filner inappropriately touched them, prompting his chief of staff to resign and fellow Democrats to call for him to step down. In a personal letter to the mayor Friday, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, who addresses Filner as "Bob," wrote: "We've known each other for a long time. ... So I am speaking to you now on a personal and professional level, and asking you to step down as mayor and get the help you need as a private citizen." California's other senator, Democrat Dianne Feinstein, has also asked Filner to resign. Eleven women have now accused Filner, 70, of sexual harassment while he was mayor or a congressman. The latest is nurse Michelle Tyler, who said Tuesday that Filner rubbed her arm in his office and asked for dinner dates in June in exchange for his helping a brain-injured Iraq war veteran. She said Filner told her he wanted to kiss her. While Filner acknowledged last month that "I need help" and said "I'm clearly doing something wrong," he has also said he believes he will be vindicated when all the facts come out. The mayor has vowed not to resign. The idea that Filner has now completed rehab and could come back to lead San Diego did not sit well with many of his constituents. "It's ridiculous," said Gary Sehnert, a San Diego resident. "Why is this continuing?" "Really mayor? You did what you did and now you want to stay as mayor," said William Sawaya, another San Diego resident. "(Expletive), you're not staying as mayor." Filner served 10 terms, or 20 years, in Congress before being elected mayor of San Diego last year. CNN's Kyung Lah reported from Los Angeles. Melissa Gray reported and wrote in Atlanta. Dan Merica contributed to this report. | Bob Filner is believed to be back in the city he governs after a stint in rehab .
The mayor said he would start a two-week program on August 5 but started earlier .
A growing tide of women are making sexual harassment allegations against him .
Reports: Mayor's chief of staff changed his office locks to preserve potential evidence . |
fe0710d54dd1560480de00fa77a49c2f0e0c67ba | Crumpled, grubby bank notes could soon be on their way out in the UK, according to the Bank of England. By 2016, the UK will be switching its £5 and £10 bills to polymer bank notes as they're more durable, harder to forge, and cheaper in the long run. For over 300 years the Bank of England has been printing bank notes, and despite the growth of credit and debit cards and online transactions, there's more cash in circulation than ever before. The challenge is how to keep ahead of the counterfeiters, and this has prompted the Bank of England to follow recent technology in converting some of its notes. "The key part of a bank note is 'I promise to pay' and people need to believe the bank will always promise to pay, but they also need to believe the notes they hold are genuine notes and not counterfeited notes," explained Victoria Cleland, chief cashier of the Bank of England, to CNN's Nina Dos Santos in an interview. The UK will be one of just a handful of currencies produced this way. Already, Australia and Canada have been moving away from paper to polymer in order to crack the counterfeiters and ensure the notes last longer. A key security feature of the polymer note is a window you can look through. Another feature of the plastic note is that it's quite thin and flexible, and still includes the raised print which people seem to prefer, said Cleland. "One of the advantages of polymer notes is that they will hold their shape a lot more and they're more durable," Cleland explained to Dos Santos, showing CNN the slick new, washing-machine proof notes being printed. While the process of converting traditional notes to a plastic form will be an expensive endeavor, the Bank believes a polymer note will last at least two and a half times longer than paper. The £5 note will get the first facelift in 2016, followed by the £10 note. Winston Churchill will become the face on the £5 note, while Jane Austen will grace the £10 note. A polymer note is more expensive to produce initially and there will be some transitional costs, but Cleland said that over a 10 year period of switching the £5 and £10 notes, the Bank will save at least £100 million, a lot of it because of the increased longevity of the notes. And it's not just British notes which are getting a makeover. The Royal Mint has proposed a new design for the one pound coin, with state of the art anti-counterfeiting technology embedded into the metal which they claim will make it the most secure coin in the world. The Royal Mint has been casting coins for over eleven hundred years, producing coins and medals for up to 60 countries and supplying about 15% of global demand. The £1 pound coin has been used for 30 years but has become increasingly vulnerable to counterfeiters, with 45 million coins -- or 3% of the coins in circulation -- now being forgeries. "The current electromagnetic signature in a coin can wear over time making forgeries harder to detect," said Andrew Mills, director of circulating coin sales at the Royal Mint. The new £1 coin, which is set to be introduced in 2017, will have the ISIS Technology -- Integrated Secure Identification Systems -- which has been used in bank notes for 20 years. This will enable enhanced security throughout the cash cycle, said Mills, protecting the public, vending machine operators, retailers and the banking system. With all the talk of a cashless society, it seems that cash is here to stay, albeit in its new plastic format. | By 2016, the Bank of England will be printing polymer £5 and £10 notes .
The plastic notes will help fight counterfeiters and will be more durable .
While the switch to polymer will be expensive, in the long-term it will save millions . |
fe071f6c1f50b000c9519f325d32b0c5dd1a6f5f | (CNN) -- It will cover 2.8 million square feet and have its own power plant inside its massive, gleaming circular design. It will be covered in solar panels and house up to 13,000 people on a daily basis -- not to mention 6,000 trees. It's been compared to a spaceship. And now, as Apple looks to make its innovative new headquarters a reality, it's checking with the neighbors. Due to be completed in 2015, Apple's new headquarters may be one of co-founder Steve Jobs' final, longest-lasting legacies. This week, Apple reached out to residents of Cupertino, California, where its current headquarters resides (and will continue to after the new campus is built). In a letter obtained by blog 9to5 Mac, the company seeks to allay some concerns that its neighbors have expressed since the plan was submitted to the city last summer. Former Apple employee explains 'upside-down' logo . According to the letter, the four-story building will be a research facility that will not replace the existing campus on 1 Infinite Loop. And it will not be open to the public, so there will be no museum or corporate store. The building will contain an auditorium that seats 1,000 and will be used for special events like product unveilings, though. The letter, from Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer, says the company plans to break ground on the site as soon as Cupertino gives its approval, which is expected this year. Neighbors are invited to send Apple a letter or go to the city's website to express any concerns. In the suburban city of roughly 58,000 people, the primary concerns have focused on additional traffic and environmental impact, both of which Apple says it is addressing in the design of the campus, which is expected to get LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification as an environmentally friendly project. The new campus was one of the last major initiatives for Jobs, who died last year. In 2010, when HP abandoned its Cupertino campus, Jobs quietly arranged to buy the site, according to Walter Isaacson's biography, "Steve Jobs." "I want to leave a signature campus that expresses the values of the company for generations," Jobs told Isaacson. A team of 50 architects was hired, and Jobs, as was his habit, was intimately involved in the details, according to the book. Much of the campus sits on the former site of an apricot orchard, and Jobs required that 80% of the campus be natural, with more than 6,000 trees. Apple hopes to raze 26 buildings on the site to make room for the "spaceship," which will be surrounded by grass and trees. A June 7 City Council meeting was one of Jobs' last public appearances. At the meeting, he spent about 20 minutes introducing the project and answering questions. "It's a little like a spaceship landed," he said as council members got their first look at the design. "I think the overall feel of the place is going to be a zillion times better than it is now. "I think we do have a shot of building the best office building in the world. I really do think architecture students will come here to see this. I think it could be that good." | Apple is moving forward with "spaceship" campus in Cupertino .
Circular building would house 13,000 employees, be surrounded by greenspace .
The campus was one of last major projects for late CEO Steve Jobs .
Apple plans to begin moving into the campus in 2015 . |
fe074e51be313976fd575026a2d2b58ff28a7c0c | William Gibson's popular science fiction tale "Johnny Mnemonic" foresaw sensitive information being carried by microchips in the brain by 2021. A team of American neuroscientists could be making this fantasy world a reality. Their motivation is different but the outcome would be somewhat similar. Hailed as one of 2013's top ten technological breakthroughs by MIT, the work by the University of Southern California, North Carolina's Wake Forest University and other partners has actually spanned a decade. But the U.S.-wide team now thinks that it will see a memory device being implanted in a small number of human volunteers within two years and available to patients in five to 10 years. They can't quite contain their excitement. "I never thought I'd see this in my lifetime," said Ted Berger, professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. "I might not benefit from it myself but my kids will." Rob Hampson, associate professor of physiology and pharmacology at Wake Forest University, agrees. "We keep pushing forward, every time I put an estimate on it, it gets shorter and shorter." The scientists -- who bring varied skills to the table, including mathematical modeling and psychiatry -- believe they have cracked how long-term memories are made, stored and retrieved and how to replicate this process in brains that are damaged, particularly by stroke or localized injury. Berger said they record a memory being made, in an undamaged area of the brain, then use that data to predict what a damaged area "downstream" should be doing. Electrodes are then used to stimulate the damaged area to replicate the action of the undamaged cells. They concentrate on the hippocampus -- part of the cerebral cortex which sits deep in the brain -- where short-term memories become long-term ones. Berger has looked at how electrical signals travel through neurons there to form those long-term memories and has used his expertise in mathematical modeling to mimic these movements using electronics. Hampson, whose university has done much of the animal studies, adds: "We support and reinforce the signal in the hippocampus but we are moving forward with the idea that if you can study enough of the inputs and outputs to replace the function of the hippocampus, you can bypass the hippocampus." The team's experiments on rats and monkeys have shown that certain brain functions can be replaced with signals via electrodes. You would think that the work of then creating an implant for people and getting such a thing approved would be a Herculean task, but think again. For 15 years, people have been having brain implants to provide deep brain stimulation to treat epilepsy and Parkinson's disease -- a reported 80,000 people have now had such devices placed in their brains. So many of the hurdles have already been overcome -- particularly the "yuck factor" and the fear factor. "It's now commonly accepted that humans will have electrodes put in them -- it's done for epilepsy, deep brain stimulation, (that has made it) easier for investigative research, it's much more acceptable now than five to 10 years ago," Hampson says. Much of the work that remains now is in shrinking down the electronics. "Right now it's not a device, it's a fair amount of equipment,"Hampson says. "We're probably looking at devices in the five to 10 year range for human patients." The ultimate goal in memory research would be to treat Alzheimer's Disease but unlike in stroke or localized brain injury, Alzheimer's tends to affect many parts of the brain, especially in its later stages, making these implants a less likely option any time soon. Berger foresees a future, however, where drugs and implants could be used together to treat early dementia. Drugs could be used to enhance the action of cells that surround the most damaged areas, and the team's memory implant could be used to replace a lot of the lost cells in the center of the damaged area. "I think the best strategy is going to involve both drugs and devices," he says. Unfortunately, the team found that its method can't help patients with advanced dementia. "When looking at a patient with mild memory loss, there's probably enough residual signal to work with, but not when there's significant memory loss," Hampson said. Constantine Lyketsos, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at John Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore which is trialing a deep brain stimulator implant for Alzheimer's patients was a little skeptical of the other team's claims. "The brain has a lot of redundancy, it can function pretty well if loses one or two parts. But memory involves circuits diffusely dispersed throughout the brain so it's hard to envision." However, he added that it was more likely to be successful in helping victims of stroke or localized brain injury as indeed its makers are aiming to do. The UK's Alzheimer's Society is cautiously optimistic. "Finding ways to combat symptoms caused by changes in the brain is an ongoing battle for researchers. An implant like this one is an interesting avenue to explore," said Doug Brown, director of research and development. Hampson says the team's breakthrough is "like the difference between a cane, to help you walk, and a prosthetic limb -- it's two different approaches." It will still take time for many people to accept their findings and their claims, he says, but they don't expect to have a shortage of volunteers stepping forward to try their implant -- the project is partly funded by the U.S. military which is looking for help with battlefield injuries. There are U.S. soldiers coming back from operations with brain trauma and a neurologist at DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is asking "what can you do for my boys?" Hampson says. "That's what it's all about." | U.S. researchers hoping to start human trials of memory implants in next two years .
Studies focusing on the hippocampus, where short-term memories become long term .
Successful trials already carried out on rats and monkeys .
Implants could help stroke victims and patients with localized brain injuries . |
fe07beead6b11e2f55b9b1fc29819b319e1224ad | A teenage girl who jumped from a road bridge was saved by a man who managed to grab her arm and a probationer police constable who dangled alongside her until help came. PC Dewayne Hamilton was hailed a hero after he vaulted the railings on the bridge over the A40 in Hillingdon, west London, and put his arm around the girl to stop her falling. 'There was then a terrifying ordeal, lasting several minutes, with the officer and the girl dangling over the road while they waited for further help,' a police spokesman said. Saved: PC Dewayne Hamilton is brought down from the railway bridge on a cherry picker . They were only saved when London Fire Brigade crews brought in a cherry picker to reach them and bring first the girl, then PC Hamilton to safety. The drama happened at about 11am today. A Scotland Yard spokesman said officers had only just arrived when the girl, in her mid-teens, jumped from the bridge. A member of the public managed to grab her arm through the safety rail of the bridge and held on until PC Hamilton was able to climb over and grab her. As police halted traffic on the busy A40, the London Fire Brigade and London Ambulance Service attended and were able to get a harness around the girl to help secure her until the cherry picker arrived. Both paramedics and firefighters went up on the cherry picker to rescue the girl. When she had been lowered to the ground they went back up to bring down the officer. The girl was taken for treatment by ambulance. 'She did not suffer any serious physical injury during the rescue. Both she and her family are receiving support,' the spokesman said. Inspector Lindsey Hannigan, of Hillingdon Police, said: 'This was an incredibly courageous act. 'What makes this even more impressive is that this officer only arrived at Hillingdon Borough one week ago as a probationer constable. 'His action, which placed his own life in danger, was an extraordinary act of bravery.' PC Hamilton said: 'I am just so glad I was there and able to make a difference. I have a child about this girl's age and all I could think about was saving her. I am so very happy we were all able to rescue her from danger.' | PC Dewayne Hamilton dangled from bridge over the A40 to save teenager .
The pair hung over the highway for several minutes until they were rescued .
'I am just so glad I was there and able to make a difference,' says hero PC . |
fe087baa92a0051497c8d8636a277a52b1248255 | (Mashable) -- After the rumor that Apple won't announce the next-generation of iPhone in June or July (which was the case with all previous iPhone announcements), comes a report that the new iPhone is actually coming in the fall. While Apple's suppliers will begin production in July this year, the finished product is likely to begin shipping in September, Reuters reports citing sources familiar with the matter. As for what the actual features of the next-gen iPhone, the details are scarce as always; one of Reuters' sources claims the device will look similar to the iPhone 4, but it will feature a faster processor. To quickly piece together all the iPhone rumors and reports we've seen, this is what we have: the white version of the iPhone 4 should become available within 2-3 weeks; the iPhone 5 (if that's what Apple will call it) will be an evolutionary upgrade, visually similar to the iPhone 4 but with a better camera, processor and a bigger screen. Take all of these with a grain of salt as Apple has been monolithically silent about the matter, as always. © 2010 MASHABLE.com. All rights reserved. | Reuters reports that Apple's suppliers will begin production in July .
Details are scarce on the features of the next generation device .
Apple has been monolithically silent about the matter, as always . |
fe0912bacc64bdf23ee198db3c388c49d7a62e0e | By . Ted Thornhill . PUBLISHED: . 03:50 EST, 26 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:17 EST, 26 December 2013 . The victims of a deadly San Diego parking lot shooting have been identified as Ilona Flint, 22, and 22-year-old Salvatore Belvedere. The pair were both hit in the head and torso as they sat in a black sedan outside a Macy's store in the early hours of Christmas Eve. Ms Flint died at the scene, but was able to dial 911 before she succumbed to her injuries. Victim: Salvatore Belvedere has been left with life-threatening injuries . She told an emergency dispatcher that . she didn't know precisely where she was, but that she was near the . Westfield Mission Valley Mall. Mr Belvedere survived and was rushed to Scripps Mercy Hospital. Police said that he is in a very critical condition. The Macy's store was open at the time for Christmas shopping, and police are . appealing for witnesses. CBS News 8 reported that, according to family members, Ms Flint is the fiancée of Mr Belvedere's brother. Tragic: The shooting took place in the car park of a Macy's store early on Christmas Eve morning . Salvatore’s brother, Gianni Belvedere, was with the pair on Monday night and hasn’t been seen since. A suspect hasn’t been named by investigating officers, but Lt Mike Hastings from the San Diego police department's homicide unit said that they are looking for a 5ft 9 to 5ft 11 male of unknown race, last seen dressed in a shirt and tan pants. He added that he may have driven away from the scene in a dark-gray 2008 to 2011 Honda sedan. One local told NBC San Diego: 'This is the center of San Diego. The last thing you would expect is a shooting down here.' Anyone with information is asked to call the San Diego Police Department's Homicide Unit on (619) 531-2293 or San Diego County Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477. | The fatal shooting took place in the early hours of Christmas Eve .
The victims were sitting in a car and were both shot in the head and torso .
Ilona Flint dialled 911 before she succumbed to her injuries .
The male victim, Salvatore Belvedere, is critically injured in hospital . |
fe091b3b1a1f43dcef1c62e8f6c7893272e3c02a | Call me chairman! the BBC Trust's first female boss Rona Fairhead starts work today . The first female boss of the BBC Trust insisted on being called chairman not chairwoman as she started work today. Rona Fairhead, who will be paid £110,000 a year for a three day week, has taken over from former cabinet minister Lord Patten who stood down in May. But in an email to all BBC staff this morning she confirmed there would be no change of title. She wrote: 'Dear Everyone, Today is my first day as Chairman and I wanted to write to say 'hello' and to say how excited I am to be joining this great organization. I feel privileged to be here and can't wait to get started'. The chairman has taken over after torrid few years that have seen the corporation lambasted for its handling of the Jimmy Savile scandal, and a Newsnight investigation that led to the late Lord McAlpine being wrongly accused of child abuse. The BBC was also heavily criticised over excessive payouts given to senior staff including £470,000 to former director-general George Entwistle after only 54 days in the job and £680,000 to former chief operating officer Caroline Thomson. Deputy director general Mark Byford departed the BBC with a total payout of £949,000. In her email she said she had spent time with director-general Tony Hall and other senior executives in recent weeks. She said: 'They are under no illusions about the challenging environment; the changing viewing patterns, the explosion of choice and the rapid changes in technologies and markets. They understand that they need to operate efficiently and to rectify some of the high profile issues of the past, while building this compelling future.' The former chief executive of the Financial Times group also said in her email she would 'defend vigorously the BBC's independence while holding it accountable to its audience'. She will have to deal with pressure to scrap its traditional funding method - the licence fee - which has been much criticised by politicians, performers and former corporation staff in the run-up to the renewal of its charter, which expires in 2016. Mrs Fairhead, whose husband Tom is a private equity boss and former Conservative councillor, was also asked about a £1.1million severance payment she received last year from Pearson, the parent company of the Financial Times. Asked whether it would compromise her ability to crack down on excessive payoffs at the BBC, she said: 'I would hope not. It is clearly a lot of money. But I have to say those were relatively standard within my industry for the level of the role that I had and for what I had done. It was done entirely within contractual terms. 'I'm not going to apologise that I came from the private sector.' Scandal: The resignation of George Entwistle is one of a number of crises the BBC has faced in recent years . Statement: In an email to staff Mrs Fairhead said bosses 'understand that they need to operate efficiently and to rectify some of the high profile issues of the past' In August Mastermind was accused of gender bias after it emerged most of its questions last week were about men. During the first episode of the latest series, screened in August, host John Humphrys asked 81 general knowledge questions to the four contestants. Of those, only five were about real or fictional women, 38 were about men and the rest were about things. The imbalance quickly attracted the ire of some viewers on the BBC's own Points of View Messageboard, an online forum on which diehard fans air their views. One posted: 'Was it just tonight or do Mastermind questions always overwhelmingly refer to men or things but rarely women?' John Inverdale has been axed from his role covering Wimbledon for BBC Radio 5 Live after he sparked a sexism storm. In the summer of 2013 the BBC was bombarded with complaints when Inverdale suggested French player Marion Bartoli - who went on to become women's champion - was 'not much of a looker'. Just days after Inverdale claimed the gaffe was due to hayfever, the corporation announced Clare Balding would be replacing him on the radio station for this year's tournament. Mrs Fairhead has been criticised for owning almost £5million worth of shares in Pearson because the company has a deal to publish BBC branded educational books. She said she would sell them if she was advised it would be a 'clear conflict of interest' not to do so. Defending her £110,000 BBC salary for a three-day week, she said: 'It's the salary that I was told had been decided by the Government, so it's a given. I know that if I stayed in the private sector a chairman role would attract a much, much larger salary.' Becoming the BBC Trust's first female chairman is a landmark moment. In the past the corporation has been accused of 'absurd political correctness' linked to gender equality, including recently cutting the word 'girl' from a documentary about the Commonwealth Games, fearing it might cause 'offence'. Last year veteran journalist Selina Scott described the BBC as having a 'sexist culture' for decades where 'when a woman's age exceeded her bra size she was finished'. 'Those of us who have worked at the Corporation over the past three decades know this once-great institution has been open to many forms of corruption – including sexual,' she told the Mail on Sunday. 'Over the years I have often returned to the BBC to work on programmes and my observations of the sexist culture have always been the same. That some of the often Oxbridge- educated powerful male elite behave in a predatory way towards attractive and ambitious women seeking to move up the Corporation's greasy pole'. | Rona Fairhead, who will be paid £110,000 a year, started work today .
Email to all BBC staff confirms that she will be chairman not chairwoman . |
fe098b1d0870c8f3d667d7ed13b902042046f47f | By . Sami Mokbel . Follow @@SamiMokbel81_DM . Roberto Mancini has parted company with Turkish club Galatasaray. The Italian had only been in charge for nine months - penning a three-year deal in October - but will leave with a £3.2million payoff. Galatasaray confirmed on Wednesday that Mancini had left the club by mutual consent. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Mancini at his arrival as Gala boss only one year ago . Mutual consent: Roberto Mancini has left Galatasaray after just nine months in charge . Axed: Mancini was sacked by Manchester City in 2013 despite winning the Premier League 12 months earlier . 'Our relationship with coach Roberto Mancini and his contract of employment, which was signed on October 1, 2013, has been terminated by mutual agreement,' read a statement on Galatasaray's official website. 'We wholeheartedly thank (Mancini) for his success and achievements and wish him happiness in his next mission.' Galatasaray finished runners-up in the Turkish top flight and won the Turkish Cup under Mancini's care, while they also reached the last 16 of the Champions League before exiting at the hands of Chelsea. But a dispute regarding the club's future aims appears to be the reason behind the sudden divorce. 'As a coach I understand the demands of the club,' Mancini told Gazzetta dello Sport. 'However, when I accepted the coaching post, Gala's aims were different. 'In the past eight months, despite enduring a challenging start, I have done my job pushed by passion and by hunger which has resulted in the team qualifying for the Champions League, lifting the Turkish Cup and finishing second in the league. 'It's with sadness that I leave Istanbul and the club's fantastic supporters.' Mancini, who won the Premier League title with Manchester City in 2012, has been linked with a return to Serie A. | Former Manchester City boss had only been in charge since October .
Won the Turkish Cup and finished second in the league .
Reached last 16 of Champions League where they were beaten by Chelsea .
Mancini linked with return to Serie A . |
fe099a80d35b10ba140bce29e6ed753af37fe9fa | Editor's note: Brian Levin is a professor of criminal justice at California State University, San Bernardino and director of the university's Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism. Michael Stoops is executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington. Brian Levin says the homeless are excluded from lessons on tolerance and aren't protected by hate crime laws. CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Over the last two calendar years, more Americans in the United States were killed in a little-noticed spate of unprovoked attacks than were killed by terrorists, in large commercial jet crashes or in racial hate crimes. Since 1999, more than 240 vulnerable homeless Americans have been stabbed, beaten, drowned, shot or burned to death in a revolting display of one of the last socially tolerated prejudices, this one based on class. Despite being prime targets of prejudice and violence, particularly in today's youth subculture, the homeless are routinely excluded from lessons related to tolerance, as well as from official data collection and hate-crime penalty enhancement laws. A newly released report from the National Coalition for the Homeless documented 27 unprovoked, apparently bias-related homicides by attackers in the United States last year, down one from the previous year and the second-highest number of killings since 2001. After bottoming mid-decade, the number killed has not dipped below 20 a year since 2005. In contrast, the FBI documented only 12 hate-crime homicides nationally for the two most recently available calendar years combined. According to the NCH and the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism, nearly 2 1/2 times more homeless people in America have been killed over the past 10 years in apparent unprovoked bias homicides than the total for all the other hate- crime homicides -- on the basis of race, religion, national origin, disability and sexual orientation -- combined. Like other hate crime perpetrators, these attackers are typically young male "thrill offenders" seeking excitement, with 58 percent of assailants over the past 10 years falling in the 13-19 age range. In 2006, three teenagers out for fun attacked homeless people in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with baseball bats, killing one of their victims, 45-year-old Norris Gaynor. One pleaded guilty and the two others were convicted of murder last September after the jury saw graphic surveillance tape of one of their nonlethal beatings from earlier in the evening. These attacks exclude the large number of other types of crimes involving the homeless, such as personal disputes, homeless-on-homeless violence, robbery, drugs or murder for life insurance proceeds. The August issue of Maxim, a youth-oriented magazine targeted at college-aged males, joked about last weekend's National Hobo Convention in Britt, Iowa, in a blurb titled "Hunt the Homeless." The journal quipped "Kill one for fun. We're 87 percent sure it's legal." In previous violent attacks, some assailants have referenced degrading and violent depictions in popular culture such as "Bumfights" either during their crimes or in subsequent interviews with authorities, with some even filming the events. "Bumfights" is a popular violent video series that sold hundreds of thousands of tapes and DVDs before going viral on the Internet. The film series sets a new low in American popular culture, featuring fights between homeless men plied by the producers with alcohol, as well as sadistic parodies of the late Australian conservationist "crocodile hunter" Steve Irwin. These "skits" feature terrified sleeping homeless people who are startled awake and forcibly restrained with duct tape by "hunters" narrating their attacks with feigned Australian accents. Samuel Bowhay of Grinnell College found almost 86,000 videos on YouTube last month with "bum" in the title, thousands more than videos with other derogatory prejudiced epithets. While homeless advocates lack the political and financial infrastructure often needed to institute policy reform, the frequency and brutality of the bias attacks have renewed focus on the nature of this violent form of prejudice and ways to address it. Last week, District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty signed legislation adding homeless status to the district's hate-crime law. Maryland, an early adopter of such measures in the 1980s, will join Maine in adding homeless status to its hate-crime law on October 1. Other jurisdictions such as Alaska; Puerto Rico; Los Angeles County, California; and Seattle, Washington, also have taken various steps to recognize homeless status in their laws, data collection, educational efforts or procedures. In almost a dozen other states, including California, Texas, South Carolina and Florida, legislation has been introduced over the past three years to add homeless status to their hate-crime laws as well. Nationally, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas has introduced legislation to add homelessness to federal hate-crime laws and data-collection efforts. These efforts are long overdue. A primary purpose of hate-crime laws is the targeted deterrent message to would-be offenders that they face real punishment and social disapproval. Moreover, the key criminological criteria for coverage in hate-crime law apply seamlessly to homeless status as well: . 1. a significant additional risk of violent victimization; . 2. discriminatory selection; . 3. established prejudice against a socially identifiable class; . 4. identical offenders such as bigoted skinheads or young male thrill offenders who share identifiable characteristics and motivations. Arguments against including provisions in hate-crime laws for the homeless are recycled ones that were initially used unsuccessfully against other groups, like gays and lesbians. Too many additional groups dilute the laws, or homelessness is a changeable condition that most people wouldn't want, they argue. The fact is, millions of Americans have changed their religious affiliation and yet, just about all hate crime laws cover faith. Disability is a characteristic that, like homelessness, most people would not seek out, yet it too is covered. Adding the homeless to hate-crime laws, tolerance education and data-collection efforts must not be obstructed. When hate makes a fist, the laws of a civilized society must decisively block the blow in the most forceful and unambiguous way possible. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Brian Levin and Michael Stoops. Reuters contributed to this report. | Levin, Stoops: Homeless aren't protected by hate-crime laws or tolerance lessons .
They say new report documents disturbing level of violence vs. homeless .
They say popular culture leads some to think of hunting homeless as a sport .
Levin, Stoops: Laws must forcefully block violence against homeless . |
fe09bfcfc5b1a9e7a2b8ed9204a1160a6ec5506f | Former Obama administration Pentagon chief Leon Panetta said Sunday that the president overruled nearly his entire national security team and decided not to arm moderate Syrian rebel groups early on, a decision that helped the ISIS terror army gain power. Panetta also said he favored leaving a residual force of U.S. troops behind in Iraq instead of withdrawing them, another opinion Obama ignored. Panetta, who was Obama's CIA director for two years before leading the Pentagon for two more, told CBS News that entering the Syria conflict earlier, and ensuring that moderate groups gained power instead of the most extreme jihadi elements, could have prevented ISIS from growing and prospering. 'I think that would've helped,' Panetta said. 'And I think, in part, we pay the price for not doing that in what we see happening with ISIS.' And a less complete troop pullout in Iraq 'would've given us greater leverage over Iraq's government,' he emphasized. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was also previously the CIA director under Obama, and served as Bill Clinton's White House chief of staff . Nearly Obama's entire national security team recommended arming moderate Syrian rebel groups who opposed dictator Bashar al-Assad . Obama now stands widely accused of standing by while ISIS, the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, established a base of operations in eastern Syria and threatened to overthrow Assad, while simultaneously marching across more than half of Iraq. His $500 million 'train and equip' mission there, critics say, is too late to do more than temporarily contain the group. Panetta writes in his forthcoming memoir 'Worthy Fights' that he urged Obama in a 2012 meeting to arm Assad's less-rabid foes – and that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then-CIA director David Petraeus and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey all agreed. Clinton, now a presumptive Democratic presidential front-runner, said in an August interview that it was an Obama 'failure' to leave Syria's rebels to fend for themselves, a decision that 'left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled.' Speaking to CNN, former President Bill Clinton said Sunday that he also agreed with his wife at the time. Obama Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said in a statement last month that in 2012 the president 'wanted to make sure that we were providing assistance to people who we knew, so that it wouldn't fall into the wrong hands given how many extremists were operating in that area,' Bill Clinton disagreed. The revelations come from Panetta's memoir which is due out on October 7 . Discord: Panetta (left) and Gen. Dempsey (right) both counseled Obama to strengthen Syria's rebels two years ago but he refused . 'Since ISIS has plenty of money – it's one of the great bank robbers in human history, among other things – they were going to get their weapons one way or the other,' he said, 'so I would have risked it.' 'And besides, when we were talking about doing it, there was no ISIS. However, it was an argument she lost within the administration.' Panetta said Sunday that 'it's going to take a long time' to defeat a defiant and strengthened ISIS, 'and I think the American people need to know it's going to take a long time.' The group is 'as dangerous, as fanatical as terrorists as al-Qaeda was,' he said. 'And they have a large number of foreign fighters with foreign passports that make them particularly dangerous to the safety of this country.' | Panetta said 'we pay the price' because Obama decided to overrule his secretary of state, CIA director and chairman of the Joint Chiefs .
Asked if Obama made a mistake by refusing to arm moderate Syrian rebels early on, Panetta said 'that would've helped'
He also clashed with Obama's Iraq policy, saying that leaving some troops behind 'would've given us greater leverage over Iraq's government .
In August Hillary Clinton said it was a 'failure' to leave Syria's rebels to fend for themselves, and 'left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled'
Bill Clinton now says 'it was an argument she lost within the administration' |
fe0a52f3799d1c99706ab24d6812761b974bd18e | By . Martin Robinson . PUBLISHED: . 08:59 EST, 12 March 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 15:49 EST, 12 March 2013 . A schoolgirl is lucky to be alive after being hit by a car then dragged along the road under a bus in a horrifying incident captured on CCTV. The 12-year-old, who cannot be named, was left with a fractured skull and broken collarbone as she rushed to cross Rochester Road in Gravesend, Kent. But incredibly police say she is awake and talking, but must spend a few more weeks recovering in Kings College Hospital in London. Safety campaigners say the video should . serve as a warning to others, as the girl ran across traffic through a . gap between parked cars. Frightening: In the top left of the screen the schoolgirl is seen sprinting across the road in front of a car . Strike: The student's blurred body is shown as it is hit by the vehicle and thrown up into the air . Tossed: A split-second later she is then thrown sideways into the road towards oncoming traffic . Horror: Moments later a bus drives into the picture and the schoolgirl goes under its wheels . The video was from a local business and released to the press, capturing her crossing Rochester Road in Gravesend towards a parade of shops when she was knocked into the path of the Arriva 480 bus during the busy school run. A schoolboy is seen dashing out of K's Convenience Store, where the footage is shot, and desperately trying to find the girl who became wedged under the bus and dragged along for about five metres. Emergency services were called to Rochester Road - between Empress Road and Old Road East - at 8.15am last Wednesday. Firefighters used air bags to release . the young girl before she was rushed to casualty. Journey: Before the bus driver can stop he drives on and the girl's frame can be seen clearly under its front wheels . Scene: A boy runs out of a shop and peers under the bus looking for the girl who remains under its wheels and her school bag lies on the road now behind the vehicle . Remarkable: Motorists stopped their cars and got out to help and luckily the child survived - but safety campaigners have warned people to cross safely . Kevin Clinton, head of road safety for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: 'In very busy areas like this, it is really important for everyone to be concentrating and to be patient. Pedestrians should take their time and find a safe place to cross the road. 'It is even more important for drivers to be aware that pedestrians, especially children, may well make mistakes and drivers need to anticipate that and in particular, watch their speed.' The Green Cross Code says: 'Try to avoid crossing between parked cars. Move to a space where drivers and riders can see you clearly.' Kent Police officers shut Rochester Road Milton Road and East Milton Road at the junction with Rochester Road. Anyone with information is asked to call the serious collision investigation unit on 01622 798538 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons. | CCTV captures the whole terrible incident on the schoolrun in Gravesend .
Remarkably the girl is going to survive despite horrendous accident .
Left with fractured skull and broken collarbone after incident last week .
Safety campaigner warn pedestrians not to cross between parked cars . |
fe0a9fc5fe518b0fbb1b2db396445b81b0ac0b7f | When one forklift won't quite do the job, the answer really is simple... use two forklifts. While it doesn't look like the safest work practice ever, a video of two removal workers has been posted online using a forklift truck to lift another forklift on to the back of a trailer. The dangerous-looking manoeuvre appears to be used as a solution of lifting a large shipping box to the front of a trailer without a proper ramp or loading bay. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . The video shows the first forklift lining up the container as it edges closer to the trailer . The second forklift then lifts up the first and helps it on to the back of the trailer, allowing it to move the container further into place . It is not clear where the video was taken, but according to Yahoo News, the footage was posted to Facebook on July 2 and has now been shared across social media and blogging sites. The video shows the first forklift lining up the container as it edges closer to the trailer. Once the box is safely in the trailer the second, larger forklift enters the scene, the driver carefully placing the forks underneath the first vehicle. The second forklift then lifts up the first and helps it on to the back of the trailer, allowing it to move the container further into place. The manoeuvre allows the workers to move the shipping container further down into the trailer . The larger forklift then helps the first back down to the ground after it has dropped off the container. While the manoeuvre may not look like the safest ever, it is nowhere near as stomach-churning as the remarkable three-point turn Austrian driver Joachim Held is forced to complete on a narrow road halfway up a mountain. In January, MailOnline reported how the driver carried out the manoeuvre twice a day, every day - and had never made a mistake so far. Joachim, who began driving trucks aged just 19, has to do the perilous turn in the mountains of Eisenerz, near Styria. He said: 'I have done this so many years that it's second nature now.' However, he added: 'I can understand why people find it scary.' | Video posted online showing a forklift lifting another forklift on to trailer .
Manoeuvre appears to be used as solution to lift shipping box on to trailer .
Video has been shared online after it was posted to Facebook on July 2 . |
fe0ab84f9019d5dbef9e16c695ff54d01638a0f7 | The first human trial of an experimental Ebola vaccine has produced promising results, U.S. scientists said, raising hopes that protection from the deadly disease may be on the horizon. All 20 healthy adults who received the vaccine in a trial run by researchers from the National Institutes of Health in Maryland produced an immune response and developed anti-Ebola antibodies, the NIH said Wednesday. None suffered serious side effects, although two people developed a brief fever within a day of vaccination. The vaccine is being developed by the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline. The process has been fast-tracked in light of the current catastrophic Ebola outbreak in West Africa, which has claimed more than 5,000 lives. "Based on these positive results from the first human trial of this candidate vaccine, we are continuing our accelerated plan for larger trials to determine if the vaccine is efficacious in preventing Ebola infection," said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In this trial, genetic material from two strains of the Ebola virus, Sudan and Zaire, was delivered using a chimpanzee cold virus that does not harm humans. The vaccine does not contain the Ebola virus and cannot cause a person to be infected with Ebola, the NIH said. The current outbreak involves the Zaire strain. Blood tested . The adults, volunteers ages 18 to 50, were split into two groups. Half received an intramuscular injection of vaccine at a lower dose and 10 received the same vaccine at a higher dose, the NIH said. Researchers tested the volunteers' blood at two weeks and four weeks after vaccination to determine if anti-Ebola antibodies had been produced. All 20 volunteers developed such antibodies within four weeks of receiving the vaccine, with levels higher in those who were given the higher-dose vaccine. The researchers also looked to see if the vaccine prompted production of immune system cells called T cells, after a previous study on primates using the same vaccine suggested they may also help to protect from the disease. They found that many of the volunteers did produce T cells, including CD8 T cells, which may play a crucial role in protecting against infection by Ebola viruses. Four weeks after vaccination, the CD8 T cells were found in two volunteers who received the lower-dose vaccine and in seven who had the higher dose, the NIH said. The two volunteers who briefly developed a fever had received the higher-dose vaccine. Unanswered questions . Professor Andrew Easton, a leading virologist at Britain's Warwick University, told CNN that the trial was an "essential first step" toward a vaccine to prevent Ebola and justifies some optimism. However, there are still some unanswered questions, he said. "We know from some of the preliminary work that went on in animal studies previously that the antibodies that are generated in response to the vaccine don't last as long as we would like -- there was a clear reduction over a fairly long period of time, about 10 months," he said. "So it's possible that that might be a problem in humans, but the reality is we won't know until it's actually been tested in humans. "We can hope that it will provide a longer-term protection. If it doesn't, at least it gives us some level of protection over a window, which could be enormously valuable in protecting people from outbreaks at the time the outbreaks occur." Other approaches are being looked at too, he said, and will also benefit from the World Health Organization's decision this summer to allow some processes to be fast-tracked. WHO: Sierra Leone cases may be increasing . If further clinical trials result in an effective vaccine, health care workers on the front line of the fight against Ebola are likely to be the first to receive it. The virus has already taken a heavy toll on those caring for Ebola patients, with 592 health care workers known to have been infected, including 340 who have died, according to WHO. In total, 5,689 people have died from the Ebola virus, as of November 23, the WHO said in an update Wednesday. There have been 15,935 cases in eight countries since the outbreak began, but Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone remain by far the worst affected countries. They reported 600 new cases in the week ending Sunday, with 385 of those in Sierra Leone. "Case incidence is stable in Guinea, stable or declining in Liberia, but may still be increasing in Sierra Leone," the WHO said. The WHO update also warned that cases and deaths continue to be under-reported in this outbreak. Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have between them recorded 15,901 cases and 5,674 deaths attributed to the virus since the beginning of the outbreak. | A virologist says the trial is an essential first step and justifies some optimism .
All 20 volunteers in the first clinical trial of the vaccine produced anti-Ebola antibodies .
None of the volunteers suffered serious side effects, the National Institutes of Health says .
The vaccine carries genetic material from the virus, but there's no risk of Ebola infection . |
fe0c8449f579b079c6638a9d95efddd37c606a69 | Debi Marshall has written a book on the The Family Court Murders in Sydney in the 1980s . Investigative journalist Debi Marshall was warned to steer clear of the The Family Court Murders by everyone involved in the unsolved case. However, her gut instinct told her to keep digging regardless of the potential dangers she would inevitably be confronted with on her search for the truth that is unveiled in her latest book. The Tasmanian true crime writer refused to let fear stop her from embarking on a terrifying journey in an attempt to help solve the case involving four murders, five bombings and two shootings in Sydney between 1980 - 1985. 'For the sake of justice, it had to be written,' she said. Marshall gained the trust of all of the victim's frightened families who finally agreed to break their wall of silence. But it was the chilling moment when Marshall came face-to-face with the man named as a suspect, Leonard Warwick, that she really felt she was placing her life on the line for the sake of justice. Strike Force Reddan was established in July 2013 to look into the case with investigations ongoing. Detective Superintendent Michael Willing said the horrific crimes are embedded in the psyche of not only NSW but the entire country. 'The review process is very much "behind the scenes" and involves looking at all existing materials, considering changes to technology, forensics and even the law,' he said. 'Throughout the years, these crimes have been investigated by some of the best detectives this state has ever seen.' Here Marshall tells the gripping story of her dogged determination to unveil the truth of a 30-year-old case: . Don't prod that snake. That was the message given to me by people involved in the so-called Family Court Murders in Sydney between 1980 and 1985, an audacious series of bombings and shootings in which four people were killed and dozens more seriously wounded. But despite a suspect, Leonard Warwick – who is still alive and living in Sydney - being publicly named by the coroner in two inquests, incredibly, after more than three decades, the cases remain unsolved. Leonard Warwick – who is still alive and living in Sydney - was named by the coroner in two inquests into the Family Court Murders ranging from 1980 - 1985 . Warwick's wife at the time Andrea (left) and their daughter Trudi (right) Trudi (left) on a shooting trip with her father Leonard Warwick (right) circa mid - 1990s . These were hits at the very heart of our judicial system and that they remain unsolved is staggering. Two shooting murders in 1980: the suspect's brother-in-law, Stephen Blanchard and four months later, Justice David Opas, one week before he was due to hand down judgement in the suspect's legal battle with his then wife, Andrea. There were no further murders for three years – and then all hell broke loose again. In 1984, Justice Gee's home was bombed, an explosion that miraculously, the family survived. Gee had taken over Opas' court list. The following month, the Parramatta Family Court was bombed. The wife of Justice Watson was killed instantly when a bomb exploded as she opened the front door of their home unit. Watson had taken over Gee's court list. The following year, there was an attempted murder of Andrea's former solicitor, with a bomb placed in the wrong car, and five months later, a suburban Jehovah's Witness hall was bombed, in which one man was killed and scores more seriously wounded. Warwick's brother-in-law Stephen Blanchard (pictured right as a teenager with his father Leslie) was shot and killed in 1980 . Four months later, Justice David Opas (pictured with his two children Josh and Persia) was shot and killed, one week before he was due to hand down judgement in Warwick's legal battle with wife Andrea . Justice Watson's wife was killed when a bomb exploded as she opened their front door in 1984 . While police scrambled in a deadly game of cat and mouse to catch the killer, who remained an elusive one step ahead, an emotionally beaten Andrea relinquished custody of her precious daughter to her ex-husband. And the bombings stopped. When I was researching the book, everyone involved in the case all gave me the same advice: Don't prod that snake. But as an investigative crime journalist and author of five true-crime books, (including Killing for Pleasure on which the feature film, Snowtown, was based and Justice in Jeopardy, which helped overturn Australia's double jeopardy laws) how could I turn away from this story through fear? For the sake of justice, it had to be written. The research was tough and heartbreaking. To my amazement, I found that not one person involved in these cases had been contacted by NSW police in more than three decades. Victim's families and the suspect's former wife and daughter cowered behind a wall of silence. They had long ago given up hope that the murders and injuries of their loved ones would be solved and had vowed never to speak to journalists. It took time to gain their trust, but eventually they all agreed to tell their stories – including Andrea and their daughter. Justice Richard Gee pictured with his late wife Helen and their children Stephen and Alison. It was a miracle they survived the bombing of their home in 1984 . There is an incredible poignancy in holding the hands of victim's families as they articulate their grief. More than three decades on, the heartache of these people – wives, children, husbands – remains palpable, as does their anger that no arrest has been made. Why hasn't it? It is true enough that in the 1980s - despite circumstantial evidence against Warwick - that police did not have that smoking gun. But I found further circumstantial evidence which, coupled with today's new evidentiary regime, warrants - according to a senior criminal barrister - his immediate arrest. What we need to ask is: what are police doing? Alone, I attempted to interview the suspect at the house he shares on Sydney's outskirts with his second wife. My mouth was parched as I walked up his long driveway – and as he walked silently, threateningly towards me, his hands plunged deep in his pockets. I panicked, for a moment. Was he hiding a weapon? His ice-cube eyes bored into mine as he told me, in no uncertain terms, to get off his property. I've had some extremely frightening moments in my extensive true-crime career, writing about serial killers, paedophiles and psychopaths; up close and personal more times than I can remember to the dark heart of the human soul. Graham Wykes (pictured with his wife Joy) was murdered when a Jehovah's Witness hall was bombed in 1984 . But nothing has been as frightening as turning my back on this man and taking the long walk back down that driveway, alone. Nothing as frightening as being warned by today's investigating unsolved homicide team to 'watch my back' when the book was released and being told that Warwick is not under surveillance. Nothing as frightening as being warned, repeatedly not to 'prod that snake' and looking over my shoulder every time I left the house. Was it worth the danger? Will the New South Wales Unsolved Homicide Team and the Department of Public Prosecutions finally decide to test the evidence against Leonard Warwick? Will the Family Court murders finally be solved? Was it worth prodding that snake? Read the book. You be the judge. Debi Marshall’s book The Family Court Murders is out now through Ebury Australia, for $34.99 . Marshall refused to let fear stop her from embarking on a terrifying journey in an attempt to help solve the case involving four murders, five bombings and two shootings in Sydney between 1980 - 1985 . | Debi Marshall investigates The Family Court Murders between 1980 - 1985 .
Involving four murders, five bombings and two shootings in Sydney .
Coroner names Leonard Warwick in 2 inquests but case remains unsolved .
Warwick's brother-in-law Stephen Blanchard was murdered in 1980 .
Four months later, Justice David Opas was killed, a week before he was due to hand down judgement in Warwick's legal battle with wife Andrea .
The wife of Justice Watson's was killed when a bomb exploded as she opened the front door of unit in 1984 .
Man killed when bomb goes off at Jehovah's Witness hall the next year . |
fe0cdfe151711023ab2c53ea38f362056bb89873 | By . Leon Watson . PUBLISHED: . 08:31 EST, 28 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:35 EST, 28 February 2013 . Japan's prime minister today quoted former British leader Margaret Thatcher over the importance of sea power as tensions with China mounted over a set of tiny islands. Shinzo Abe used the former Prime Minister's defiant words on the 1982 Falklands war with Argentina . to stress the importance of the rule of law at sea. Mr Abe, whose country is embroiled in a row with China over the disputed territory, said: 'Our national interests have been immutable. Defiant: Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (left) used the words of Margaret Thatcher (right) to tell parliament the importance of sea power . The hawkish Mr Abe reiterated in his speech that the islands are Japanese territory . 'They lie in making the seas, which are the foundation of our nation's existence, completely open, free and peaceful.' In a wide-ranging policy speech to parliament he also urged Japan to seek to become 'No.1' as an economic power. Mr Abe went on to quote a remark from Thatcher's memoirs, reflecting on the Falklands war, in which she said Britain was defending the fundamental principle that international law should prevail over the use of force. The war over the remote South Atlantic archipelago began when Argentine troops landed on the Falkland islands on April 2, 1982. It ended 74 days later with their surrender. The conflict killed about 650 Argentine and 255 British troops. Continuing in his own words, Mr Abe said: 'The rule of law at sea. I want to appeal to international society that in modern times changes to the status quo by the use of force will justify nothing.' Former British PM Margaret Thatcher in a Harrier under construction in 1982 . The Union flag flies over Port Howard, West Falkland, after the island was liberated . Tokyo's ties with Beijing chilled sharply after the Japanese government last September bought the rocky islands in the East China Sea, which are controlled by Japan but also claimed by China, from a private owner, sparking violent protests in China. A flare-up in tensions in the territorial row has raised fears of an unintended military incident near the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. The United States says the islets fall under a U.S.-Japan security pact, but Washington is keen to avoid a clash in the economically vital region. Japanese fighter jets scrambled again on Thursday after a Chinese twin-engine turboprop Y-12 aircraft came within about 62 miles of what Tokyo considers its airspace over the islands, the defence ministry said. Three Chinese patrol ships briefly entered the disputed waters, the Japan Coast Guard said. The hawkish Mr Abe, who took office in December after his conservative party's big election win, reiterated in his speech that the islands are Japanese territory, and urged Beijing not to escalate tensions. He added, however, that Sino-Japanese relations were vital for Japan and said his door was always open to dialogue. China hit back, saying Beijing did not want to see a maritime incident but accused Japanese leaders of making provocative remarks 'from time to time' and playing up the China threat to provoke a military confrontation. 'At the moment, Japan should regulate its own words and deeds, stop issuing erroneous statements, properly handle the Diaoyu islands and other issues, and take practical measures to create conditions for the improvement of bilateral relations,' Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng told a news conference. Abe stressed the importance of the U.S.-Japan security alliance days after his summit with President Barack Obama. Calling the U.S. alliance the axis of Japan's diplomacy and security policies, Mr Abe said: 'It is only logical that, in the open oceans, the United States, which is the world's largest marine state, and Japan, Asia's largest maritime democracy, form a partnership, and to fortify this constantly is necessary.' | Shinzo Abe used former PM's defiant words on 1982 war with Argentina .
His country is embroiled in a row over rocky islands in East China Sea .
Mr Abe urged urged Japan to seek to become 'No.1' economic power . |
fe0ce3736493a51785dfcb8560cf4c406b82ceeb | By . John Stevens . and Ryan Kisiel . Found: Ella Hysom was missing for three days, but was found yesterday in east London . The parents of a deputy head girl who went missing during treatment for depression told last night of their joy at her being found alive and well. Ella Hysom, 15, was reunited with her family following a sighting by a member of the public three days after she vanished. A shopper, who had seen the teenager’s face on the front page of yesterday’s Daily Mail, recognised her as she walked around Ilford in east London yesterday. The story was also prominently displayed on the MailOnline website. Ella’s parents had made an emotional appeal for help in finding her after she disappeared on Monday close to the Ilford clinic where she was being treated. Last night her mother Alison, 43, wrote online: ‘Thank you so, so much to everyone who has helped us search for Ella. She has been found in London and we are on our way to see her. 'We will never forget the support and kindness that we have received. ‘The advertising and awareness campaign worked.’ Speaking from the family home in Colchester, she added: ‘We are so thankful for the coverage and thank the Daily Mail. You have been brilliant.’ Her father, Tim, 43, added: ‘We really appreciate it.’ Ella was spotted ‘wandering aimlessly’ around Ilford during the late morning yesterday and the member of the public called police. She was quickly picked up by an officer who took her to the police station on the high street before her parents collected her. A market trader said: ‘She looked sheepish and a bit disorientated while walking with the police. I didn’t know who she was at the time and I thought she had been caught shoplifting because she was very pale.’ One policeman involved in the case said: ‘It’s great news that she’s been found as sometimes you don’t get a happy ending with these type of cases. Scroll down for video . Ella was found after she was spotted by a member of the public in Ilford town centre . 'I heard a member of the public saw her in town after looking at the front page of a paper and immediately rang it in. She was a bit fragile but nothing was wrong with her. God knows where she’s been.' Ella had been receiving treatment at the clinic for six weeks. A keen rower and ballroom dancer, the teenager, who attends Gilberd Secondary School in Colchester, was described as gregarious, lively and confident. But her parents said she had become depressed, which had made her anxious and nervous. Ella’s Facebook page suggested she had split from a boyfriend who had found a new love. Ella's mother Alison (left) urged anyone who had . seen her daughter to 'please get in touch'. The teenager's father Tim . (right) described her as 'confident and outgoing' Around the time she was admitted to the residential care unit at the start of October, Ella left a series of emotional messages on Twitter. ‘The higher I get, the lower I sink. I can’t drown my demons, they know how to swim,’ she wrote. She also said: ‘I long for that feeling to not feel at all.’ Hours before she vanished on Monday she wrote online: ‘I just want to die and hopefully that will happen so I don’t have to wake up tomorrow morning.’ Last night a Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘Police were appealing for assistance to trace Ella Hysom, who went missing from an address in Ilford on Monday, 11 November. 'The 15-year-old has since been found safe and well. We would like to thank the media and members of the public for their assistance.’ | Teenager was reunited with her relieved mother and father yesterday .
Ella Hysom had last been seen on Monday in Ilford, East London .
The 15-year-old had been treated for depression at a residential clinic .
Police had said they were 'extremely concerned' for the teenager's welfare . |
fe0d1841c4ef6f0a882e9965b0fd09c1387820c1 | WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Three Chinese nationals accused of importing thousands of counterfeit luxury handbags in the United States have been arrested in the past two days, federal authorities announced Thursday. Shoppers sort through counterfeit brand name luxury bags and wallets on a Hong Kong street. "This was a sophisticated criminal conspiracy that trafficked millions of dollars of counterfeit goods from China, profiting off the backs of legitimate companies and their hard-working employees," said Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher. Authorities call it one of the largest counterfeit operations ever discovered, involving about 300,000 bags and wallets with names like Burberry, Gucci and Coach. For customers who bought the knockoffs, it seemed like a deal. They paid a total of about $16 million for what would have been more than $100 million in handbags, purses and wallets in legitimate retail sales. The alleged leaders of the counterfeit operations are three Chinese citizens living in New York. Chong Lam, 49, and Joyce Chan, 39, were arrested there Wednesday. Eric Yuen, 39, was arrested Thursday in Las Vegas, Nevada. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who made the arrests began investigating the alleged scheme five years ago, after raids turned up counterfeit goods. The indictment was secretly returned in Richmond, Virginia, in October. The charges were unsealed when the alleged conspirators were taken into custody. Authorities seized and froze 29 bank accounts and three New York properties. The Chinese defendants will be taken to Richmond, where they will be arraigned at a later date, officials said. E-mail to a friend . | Authorities call it one of the largest counterfeit operations ever discovered .
Official: Scheme profited "off the backs of legitimate companies"
Counterfeit operation allegedly involved 300,000 high-end bags and wallets .
The alleged leaders are three Chinese citizens living in New York . |
fe0d68acd0409d8f613bb920981011379f5b81c6 | By . Associated Press Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 10:26 EST, 25 August 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 05:20 EST, 26 August 2012 . A huge explosion rocked Venezuela's biggest oil refinery early on Saturday, killing at least 24 people and injuring more than 50 others in the deadliest disaster in memory for the country's key oil industry. Balls of fire rose over the Amuay refinery, one of the largest in the world, in video posted on the Internet by people who were nearby at the time. Those killed included a 10-year-old boy, and at least 53 people were injured, Falcon state Gov. Stella Lugo said on state television. She said firefighters had controlled the flames at the refinery on the Paraguana Peninsula in western Venezuela, where large clouds of smoke were rising. Blast: A fire is seen after an explosion at Amuay oil refinery in Punto Fijo, in the Peninsula of Paraguana on Saturday . Raging: A fire burns after the explosion. Officials said 'the blast wave was of a significant magnitude' At least 24 people were killed, many of them National Guard troops stationed at the refinery, Vice President Elias Jaua said on television after traveling to the area. He said the authorities were 'trying to save the greatest number of lives.' Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said that Venezuela has enough fuel supplies to guarantee continued exports and domestic supply. As far as fuel shipments, he said, 'we won't have major effects.' The blast occurred after 1 a.m. when a gas leak created a cloud that ignited, Ramirez said. Some nearby houses were damaged by the blast, he said on television. 'That gas generated a cloud that later exploded and has caused fires in at least two tanks of the refinery and surrounding areas,' Ramirez said. 'The blast wave was of a significant magnitude.' Under control: A column of smoke rises after an explosion at Amuay oil refinery in Punto Fijo, in the Peninsula of Paraguana on Saturday. Officials say the fire is now contained . Wounded: Emergency personnel stand by to ferry the injured to nearby hospitals . Images in state media showed the flames casting an orange glow against the night sky. One photograph showed an injured man being wheeled away on a stretcher. 'The areas that had to be evacuated were evacuated, Lugo said, according to the state-run Venezuelan News Agency. 'The situation is controlled. Of course they're still a fire rising very high, but ... the specialists tell me there is no risk of another explosion.' Ramirez said oil workers will determine what caused the gas leak and were inspecting the damage along with troops. Ramirez said that nine storage tanks were damaged. He said supplies of fuel had been cut off to part of the refinery, and that the fire had been brought under control. Troops were securing the area at the refinery, Lugo said. 'At this time, the situation is controlled,' Jaua said on television, while smoke continued to rise from the refinery. Jaua said earlier on his Twitter account that the military was deployed to the area and that air ambulances were dispatched to ferry the wounded. Amuay is part of the Paraguana Refinery Complex, which also includes the adjacent Cardon refinery. Together, the two refineries process about 900,000 barrels of crude per day and 200,000 barrels of gasoline. Venezuela is a major supplier of oil to the U.S. and a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. | 10-year-old boy and National Guard troops among the dead .
Explosion occurred when a gas leak created a cloud that ignited .
State officials say the fire is under control . |
fe0da9810f9bf250ba1f45c13b149f812c4ed682 | Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- Korean is considered one of the hardest languages in the world to master, but an elephant in a South Korean zoo is making a good start. Koshik, a 22-year-old Asian elephant has stunned experts and his keepers at Everland Zoo near Seoul by imitating human speech. Koshik can say the Korean words for "hello," "sit down," "no," "lie down" and "good." His trainer, Kim Jong Gap, first started to realize Koshik was mimicking him several years ago. ""In 2004 and 2005, Kim didn't even know that the human voice he heard at the zoo was actually from Koshik," zoo spokesman In Kim In Cherl said. "But in 2006, he started to realize that Koshik had been imitating his voice and mentioned it to his boss." Why do elephants have hair on their heads? His boss initially called him "crazy." Koshik's remarkable antics grabbed the interest of an elephant vocalization expert thousands of kilometers away at the University of Vienna in Austria. ""There was a YouTube video about Koshik vocalizing, and I was not sure if it was a fake, or if it was real," Dr. Angela Stoeger-Horwath said. She traveled with fellow expert Dr. Daniel Mietchen to South Korea in 2010 to test the elephant's ability. They recorded Koshik repeating certain words his keeper said and then played them for native Korean speakers to see, if they were recognizable. "It is, for some of the sounds he makes, quite astonishing for how similar they are," said Mietchen of the University of Jena in Germany. "For instance the word 'choa' (meaning good) -- if you hear it right after what the keeper says -- it's quite similar." The findings have been published in the journal Current Biology this week and describe how Koshik places the tip of his trunk into his mouth to produce his convincing impression of a human voice. Koshik was born in captivity in 1990 and was transferred to Everland Zoo a few years later. From the age of 5 to 12 there were no other elephants with Koshik at the zoo, and his only interaction was with humans. The researchers believe Koshik may have learned certain words out of necessity "to cement social bonds." Koshik is expected to draw quite a crowd when the public sees him in the spring after construction at the zoo is completed. Will elephants still roam earth in 20 years? Journalist Soo Bin Park contributed to this report. | Koshik grabbed interest of elephant vocalization expert in Vienna, Austria .
He was born in captivity in 1990, transferred to Everland zoo a few years later .
The elephant can say Korean words for "hello," "no," "good" |
fe0e29639e37bedf60794518e2eab6f4ffbedfad | By . James Rush for MailOnline . This spectacular photo captured from the International Space Station shows the full extent of the size of Hurricane Marie as it bears down on the West Coast, causing dangerous swells near the beaches of Southern California. While the hurricane was weakening over colder water today, with its sustained winds decreasing compared to Sunday, a low-lying street in Seal Beach was still inundated by a surge of rising seawater. Police Sgt. John Scott says several homes and garages were flooded early Wednesday. Flooding is also reported to the north in Long Beach. The image, which has been released by NASA, shows the hurricane as it spun off the Pacific coast of Mexico yesterday. Scroll down for video . Mesmerising: Hurricane Marie, as seen from the International Space Station on Tuesday - the storm is pictured while spinning off the Pacific coast of Mexico . Watching from a safe distance: Beachgoers take in the waves crashing onto the shore at The Wedge in Newport Beach, California, on Tuesday . A body surfer swims through a wave at Seal Beach, California, on Tuesday. While the hurricane was weakening over colder water today, a low-lying street in Seal Beach was inundated by a surge of rising seawater . The National Weather Service has said beaches stretching 100 miles up the Southern California coast would see large waves. The hurricane's winds however had decreased to near 85mph early today from a peak of 160mph on Sunday. Marie, centred about 810 miles west of the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula and moving west-northwest near 13 mph, was expected to slump to tropical storm force later today. Seal Beach resident Blanca Dubonbrown told City News Service how she woke up late yesterday to find her bedroom under three inches of water. Several of her neighbors in ground floor apartments also experienced flooding. Marine Safety Chief Joe Bailey says crews are trying to dig a channel to allow water that had breached a beach wall to drain back into the ocean. A NASA GOES satellite image shows Hurricane Marie on Tuesday. The National Weather Service has said beaches stretching 100 miles up the Southern California coast would see large waves . Residents shelter from heavy rain brought by Hurricane Marie, in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco state, Mexico, over the weekend . Coastal areas in Southern California were yesterday filling sandbags and building sand berms to ward against possible flooding from the potentially damaging surf spawned by Marie. A large southerly swell was expected to produce large waves, rip currents and strong longshore currents in Los Angeles and Ventura counties through Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. 'These areas will potentially see the largest surf seen in recent years, with breakers of 10 to 15 feet possible,' a Weather Service advisory had said. Swimmers and surfers were urged to be aware of dangerous conditions, and minor coastal flooding and beach erosion is possible, forecasters said. In the city of Long Beach's Peninsula neighborhood, residents watched as bulldozers built huge sand berms between the ocean and their homes. Several took the warning to heart and shovelled sand into bags to place around their garage doors and entryways. | Image taken from International Space Station shows Hurricane Marie as it spins off the coast of Mexico .
Hurricane was weakening, but still caused beach in Southern California to be inundated by surge of rising seawater .
Hurricane's winds had decreased to near 85mph early today from a peak of 160mph on Sunday . |
fe0e3582649d516f71a9c0122461c004b36260d2 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 07:54 EST, 15 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 09:15 EST, 15 October 2013 . A taxi driver has said he has been left unable to work after his car was badly damaged following a collision with Newcastle United footballer Loic Remy's £100,000 sportscar. Andrew Watson, 36, said he and the three passengers in his Fiat were left with minor injuries following the collision less than half a mile from St James' Park. The incident took place when the France international's Audi R8 pulled out from a junction. Taxi driver Andrew Watson said he collided with Remy's £100,000 Audi R8 (pictured) after it pulled out of a busy junction in Newcastle . Mr Watson said he has been left unable to work after his cab was written off in the collision . Mr Watson has said he was involved in a car crash with Newcastle United footballer Loic Remy . The father-of-three, from South Shields, told The Sun he was later told by police that the driver of the Audi was Premier League footballer Remy. According to the paper, the 26-year-old was seen hobbling away from the car following the incident. Mr Watson said: 'The car turned right in front of me and all I could do was slam my brakes on but we hit it.' He said: 'Friends hope I haven’t damaged Remy for the derby with Sunderland. But I’m not into football.' Remy is on loan at Newcastle United from Championship team Queens Park Rangers. He has scored five goals in his last three Premier League outings. Loic Remy (right) was said to have been seen hobbling away from the collision on Saturday . Mr Watson's friends told him they hoped he had not injured France international Remy ahead of Newcastle's derby with Sunderland . Newcastle United would not comment on the incident when approached by MailOnline. A Northumbria Police spokesman said officers received reports of a collision between an Audi R8 and a Fiat Scudo in Newcastle at about 9.40pm on Saturday, October 5. The spokesman said: 'Officers attended and the road was closed for a short time to allow for vehicles to be recovered. Passengers of the taxi were taken to hospital to be checked over.' | Andrew Watson said he was left with minor injuries following collision .
He said he was later told by police the other driver was Loic Remy .
Collision took place when footballer's Audi R8 pulled out from a junction . |
fe0e392228dbcb7fcafb80d55d6c932cf4407aa5 | (CNN) -- Just hours after word began to spread about Ed Koch's death Friday morning it was already clear: The brash former New York mayor leaves behind a legacy that crosses generations and geography. It's obvious across the Web, as tweeters and bloggers remember Koch as much more than a politician. A "master showman of City Hall," tweeted one. Other words included "cultural icon," "great boss," and even "model of New York-iness." The three-term mayor who served from 1978 to 1989 died Friday of congestive heart failure at age 88. During his prime, Koch wore his quotable comeback lines like badges of honor. @JenniferPrestion posted this one: "I can explain it to you, but I cannot comprehend it for you." Opinion: Koch a friend and force to the end . Koch used quips as weapons against political foes on issues like racial tensions, labor unions, crime, the city's dwindling population and AIDS. In the end, he was "almost impossible to dislike," wrote John Avlon. "In this, he reflected the city." The @mayoredkoch Twitter account remained active, featuring touching retweets. "So many memories of @mayoredkoch," wrote Evelyne Wade @ChezEvy. "Sang NY NY for him at City Hall. New York City will surely miss this feisty mayor and mensch!" Koch's personality fed his widespread popularity. "Like his policies or not," Tweeted @EarlFando, "the man knew how to entertain." "He was the first mayor to open for 'Saturday Night Live,'" wrote blogger Howard Barbanel. "He was Mr. New York long before the advent of Rudy Giuliani." In 1978, Koch delivered a nice line about ulcers, as Salon.com recalled. "I'm the sort of person who will never get ulcers," the quote went. "Why? Because I say exactly what I think. I'm the sort of person who might give other people ulcers." A younger generation may best remember Koch from his stint on TV's "People's Court," where during the late 90s, Koch sat in judgment over the show's endless parade of small-claims plaintiffs and defendants. "Ed Koch has left this world to preside over the Big People's Court in the sky," posted @RossParsons. The mayor flexed his dramatic chops with minor roles on TV's "Spin City," and the 1996 film "City Hall." In fact tweeter Betsie Huban @BetsietheBroker called Koch, "the most fun mayor NYC ever had." High praise in these days of frowning, stone-faced lawmakers who just can't get along. "My first job in politics was working for Mayor Koch on transit & environmental issues," wrote Wendy Thurm @hangingsliders. "Great job. Great boss." Often credited with reviving New York's ailing economy in the 1970s, one Tweeter said Koch was "the (right) man at the (right) time." But a lot of folks aren't talking about the man's policies or his political agenda. They're talking about the man himself. Like they knew him personally. Like he was the friendly neighbor down the block. Decades before the spread of the Internet and its instant feedback, Koch got his feedback in the streets, sometimes standing at subway stations and asking voters, "How'm I doing?" "In the '80s I got the pleasure of meeting Ed Koch a few times." wrote Laurie Lombardi @LL712. "Once I asked him, 'How's it going mayor?' He replied, 'I'm trying, kid.'" Symbol. That's a powerful word. And it's popping up a lot about Koch. The Alec Baldwin Foundation @ABFalecbaldwin wrote that Koch was "as much a part of New York as Central Park, hot dog carts, the subway. A mayor of the people like few others." Many Facebook and Twitter posters are talking about Koch's desire to have his tombstone inscribed with the final words of terrorism victim Daniel Pearl: "My father is Jewish. My mother is Jewish. I am Jewish," which prompted Michelle Boorstein @mboorstein to tweet about "crying in the car during morning commute over Ed Koch's gravestone, modeled after Danny Pearl's." So how'd he do? The answer to his signature question seems overwhelming: Not too shabby, Mr. Mayor. | Ex-New York City Mayor Ed Koch, 88, died Friday, sparking waves of online tributes .
@mayoredkoch Twitter account features touching retweets .
NEW: John Avlon: In the end he was "almost impossible to dislike" which "reflected the city."
Younger Americans may remember Koch best from TV's "People's Court" |
fe0e4a6d9ed7933ea321b27f213eb986c1e5114f | A childhood friend of a Utah doctor charged with killing his ex-wife testified on Wednesday that John Brickman Wall blamed the woman for ruining his life. Klaus Fiebig said he spoke to his old friend several months before her death, and the pediatrician seemed centered around his hate for ex-wife Uta von Schwedler. 'At the end he said something peculiar: 'Would it be bad if Uta wasn't here anymore?' ' Fiebig said. 'She didn't plan to move away.' John Brickman Wall (center) listens to his defense attorney Jeremy Delicino during the his trial in Salt Lake City on Monday . Von Schwedler, a 49-year-old cancer researcher, was found dead in a bathtub full of cold water in September 2011. A medical examiner found that she drowned, but she also had a fatal dose of anti-anxiety medication in her system. He stopped short of ruling her death a homicide or a suicide. After her death, Fiebig spoke with Wall again following a memorial service. Wall had shaved his head in mourning, but he was still fixated on how much he hated her, Fiebig said. The day she was found, Wall came into work with a bloodied eyeball and scratches on his face, his former office manager testified Wednesday. Wall said he'd slept outside on his porch, and his dog got spooked and stepped on him, Kathi Newman said. 'I remember looking and thinking that just seemed strange to me,' she said. Von Schwedler's death was initially treated as a suicide, but her family and friends pushed for more investigation. Wall was arrested more than a year after her death. Prosecutors allege the 51-year-old Wall killed his ex-wife during a bitter custody battle. Defense attorneys counter that she could have killed herself. His trial began last week and is expected to last a month. Defense lawyer Fred Metos (left) questions medical examiner Dr. Erik Christensen. Christensen said that an autopsy initially indicated a suicide, but suspicious wounds pointed to a homicide . Fiebig said Wednesday that he introduced the couple, who wed in Malibu in 1990 and moved to Salt Lake City a few years later. The relationship went downhill after the move, with fights that grew increasingly ugly on both sides. 'They didn't stop where it hurt,' he said. Von Schwedler eventually started another relationship before their divorce, he said. After the 2006 split, Wall became increasingly difficult at work, his former medical assistant testified Wednesday. 'He just slowly became disconnected,' Christina Gardner-Smith said. Judge James Blanch speaks to the jury during the trial of John Brickman Wall. On Wednesday testimony was given by a childhood friend of the accused and a former employee . Wall was very well liked when she first started working for him, she said. She went through a divorce around the same time, and the two used to joke about hiring a hit man to take care of their respective ex-spouses. But later, he started lashing out at her if something went wrong. Gardner-Smith stopped working for him about three years later. 'I just couldn't do it anymore,' she said. | A childhood of friend of John Brickman Wall, who is accused of murdering his ex-wife, testified that Wall blamed her for ruining his life .
Klaus Feibig said his old friend seemed centered around his hate for ex-wife Uta von Schwedler .
Von Schwedler, 49, a cancer researcher, was found dead in a bathtub of cold water with a fatal dose of anti-anxiety medication in her system .
The day she was found, Wall came into work with a bloodied eyeball and scratches on his face, his former office manager testified .
The relationship went downhill after their move to Salt Lake City, with fights that grew increasingly ugly on both sides .
'They didn't stop where it hurt' says friend that introduced them .
Von Schwedler began another relationship before the couple eventually split in 2006 .
Prosecutors allege the 51-year-old Wall killed his ex-wife during a bitter custody battle . |
fe0e5c7332f38f72208f78ba69ae0888500d8e5f | By . Louise Boyle . PUBLISHED: . 08:37 EST, 27 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 08:37 EST, 27 September 2013 . High school security guard Richard Cowser, 54, collapsed and died which trying to break up a fight between two girls at a Chicago school . A security guard has died after trying to break up a fight between two girls at a high school on Thursday. Richard Cowser, 54, who was affectionately known as 'the Hulk' to students, was restraining one of the teenagers when he slumped to the ground and 'turned blue', according to witnesses. He collapsed against a locker in a hallway at Thornwood High School in South Holland, Chicago and seemed to be struggling to breathe. Another school employee performed CPR but Mr Cowser was pronounced dead at Ingalls Memorial Hospital 30 minutes later. An autopsy is expected to be performed today. The two teenage girls, aged 18 and 19, are being interviewed by police following the fight. Police are awaiting the autopsy results to decide on whether to bring criminal charges. Authorities are also examining surveillance footage from inside the school as part of the investigation. Students, who nicknamed the security guard 'the Hulk' because he looked like the wrestler, expressed their shock at his sudden death. Grief counselors have been brought to the high school for students. One teenager told CBS: 'Everyone loved him, he was the coolest.' Mr Cowser had worked at the high school for a year. He was in good health and into body building, his sister told ABC7. She said that her brother had recently moved to Chicago from Florida to help their elderly parents . Scroll down for video . The security guard died while at work at Thornwood High School in South Holland, Chicago on Thursday . | Richard Cowser, 54, 'turned blue' and fell against lockers at the Chicago high school, witnesses said .
Police are awaiting the results of an autopsy being performed today .
Mr Cowser had moved to Chicago from Florida to take care of his elderly parents . |
fe0e7f5029c4a931a1e1ec2f8a709a8521c5513c | By . Martin Robinson . A socialite's predominately pink mansion bought after she split from her tycoon husband following her 11-year affair with a plastic surgeon is on the market for £8.2million. Amanda Eliasch purchased the Cheyne Walk property from the 8th Earl of Cadogan in 2010 after she received a substantial chunk of her husband Johan's £400million fortune in her divorce settlement. Her Grade . II-listed mansion was built in . the 1760s in Chelsea, but its history goes back to the Tudor-era where . Henry VIII constructed a grand manor house for his sixth wife Catherine . Parr in 1536. Design: The dining room at Cheyne Walk, Chelsea,which Amanda Eliash . has refurbished and modernised the interiors - with pink a theme in many of the rooms . Bold: The Grade-II listed home, which has views of the Thames, boasts five bedrooms and a large garden in the centre of London . Split: Amanda Eliasch, pictured at her home in Cheyne Walk, which she bought after her divorce from husband Johan Eliasch. She has now put it on the market for £8.2million . Grand: The exterior of the house, which was bought by Amanda Eliasch from the Earl of Cadogan in 2010, and originally built in the 1760s . Particulars: The agent says the house has 'an immaculate interior design scheme that skillfully mixes contemporary pieces with the classic period features of the house' Reflective: The grand property has a large a long dressing room lined with wall to ceiling mirrors . Inside the mansion, with views over the . River Thames and Albert Bridge, she has created 'an immaculate interior . design scheme that skillfully mixes contemporary pieces with the classic . period features of the house', according to the estate agent now . selling it. Spread over five floors, the luxury home that for many years served as the London home of the Viscounts of Chelsea, has five bedrooms, three reception rooms, study and front entrance hall. It also has a 58ft private rear garden and front garden. A grand-daughter of the St Trinian’s film director Sidney Gilliat, Amanda Eliasch trained as an actress at Rada and has forged a recent career as a photographer. She caused controversy in 2001 when she staged an exhibition of her art called Peep, which featured explicit photographs of naked women. Residents close to the London gallery complained that children were viewing the images on the way to school. Her marriage ended after her ex-husband Johan, CEO and chairman of sports firm Head, revealed that he had received an anonymous letter detailing her intimate relationship with Dr Jean-Louis Sebagh, the French plastic surgeon and Botox specialist, who numbers Madonna and Elle Macpherson among his famous clients. Reception room: This sitting room is an example of the style of the house, modern furniture and design with original features . Spare room: This bedroom features a shell inspired bed, with a mirrored wall and more pink . The bathrooms: The buyer of the Cheyne Walk mansion will be able to enjoy life in these grand bathrooms . Cheyne Walk is a historic street in Chelsea. It was named after politician William Lord Cheyne - who owned the royal residence the manor of Chelsea - until 1712. Most of the houses were built in the 18th century. It has had numerous famous residents - including: . Keith Richards who lived at number 3.Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull lived at number 48.American born artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler, famous for his painting Whistler's Mother lived at numerous locations along the street. Suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst lived at number 120 after leaving university.American writer Henry James spent his last years at number 21.Actor and director Laurence Olivier and his then wife Jill Esmond lived there in the 1930s.George Best also lived along the exclusive street. Mr Eliasch, a close friend of Prince . Andrew and once an environmental adviser to Gordon Brown, said they were . being blackmailed and suggested Amanda do nothing about ending their . marriage. But the love triangle soon made headlines, after a business . associate of Dr Sebagh allegedly sold the story to a national newspaper. They divorced in 2007. Eliasch . has now asked Gary Hersham, the star of new BBC series 'Under Offer', . to sell the house for £8.2 million through his agency, Beauchamp . Estates. The house will . feature in the next episode, with Hersham describing the property as . 'glamorous, spacious and in a triple A location'. He said: 'This is one of the finest houses on the Chelsea embankment. 'With its outstanding Chelsea address and superb location overlooking the River Thames, the site has an illustrious history. 'It . has been a home to nobility dating back to King Henry VIII and has now . been modernised to provide a super-luxurious residence ideal for 21st . century living. 'It is one . of the finest Thameside homes in Chelsea and is perfect for someone . wanting to buy a trophy house of immense quality, provenance and luxury. 'In the show you see the triple AAA location, the glamorous interiors and the spacious rooms. 'What . you don't get to learn about is the history dating back to King Henry . VIII, its role as a home for nobility, and the Tudor vaults in the . basement. 'All these things combine to make it an exceptional luxury residence and one of the finest homes in Chelsea.' The original manor on the site had 17 principal bedroom suites, 20 reception rooms, a vast entrance hall and a large garden and orchard. Sleek: It features a modern, white long kitchen leading on to a sitting room and garden . Magical: The garden's plants and greenery can be traced back to Henry VIII's original gardens and Royal orchard on the site . It later served as the home of the Dukes of Hamilton until in 1742 it became the home of Sir Hans Sloane and housed his magnificent art collection, which afterwards formed the nucleus of the British Museum. However, it was demolished in 1748 and, between 1758 and 1765, the Cheyne Walk property was built along with its neighbours. The rear gardens of these houses are all that remains of the lush greenery which can be traced back to Henry VIII's original gardens and Royal orchard. Incredibly, the brick vaults on the lower ground floor are the remains of the original Tudor wine and ale vaults of King Henry VIII's Manor House. Exclusive: The house sits overlooking the River Thames in West London, and the magnificent Albert Bridge . Royal: This is the manor built by Henry VIII for his sixth wife Catherine Parr, which was later demolished in the 18th century . | Amanda Eliasch bought Cheyne Walk home from the 8th Earl of Cadogan in 2010 after divorce from Johan Eliasch .
The Grade-II listed property sits on the Thames in Chelsea, and its rooms are nearly all filled with pink .
It sits on the site of a palace Henry VIII built for his sixth wife Catherine Parr in 1536 .
Under Offer: Estate Agents on the Job airs on Wednesday 16th April 2014 at 8pm on BBC Two . |
fe0fac75d2fb7de03187126a8b885f1b7ff9c292 | With the annual post-Thanksgiving multiplex malaise setting in and just one big new movie (Punisher: War Zone, which I'll get to later ... uh, much later) in theaters, the box office results remarkably resembled those of a week ago. Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn star in "Four Christmases," which stayed at No. 1. So, yep, you guessed it: Four Christmases was No. 1 with $18.2 million, according to Sunday's estimates. That brings the holiday comedy's two-week sum to a sweet $70.8 million -- and it restores my confidence in Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon as box office draws. For now, at least. The rest of the top five is comprised of the same movies we've been seeing for a while now. Twilight moved back up to the No. 2 spot with a tidy $13.2 million haul; its three-week sum is $138.6 million. Bolt (No. 3) followed with $9.7 million, a huge and surprising 64 percent decline from its impressive Thanksgiving weekend sum. Australia declined 53 percent to bank $7 million at No. 4. And Quantum of Solace (No. 5) grossed $6.6 million and crossed the $500 million mark worldwide. Among major new releases, the biggest was hardly the baddest: Punisher: War Zone (No. 8) grossed a mere $4 million in 2,508 theaters, a tally that's way off from the $13.8 million that The Punisher premiered with in 2004. More punishment: The Marvel franchise reboot failed to defeat even last week's action disappointment, Transporter 3 which was No. 7 with $4.5 million. Ouch! Meanwhile, the other sorta-substantial new movie, Cadillac Records (No. 9), fared a bit better, bringing in a decent $3.5 million in 686 locations. But the indie drama Nobel Son failed to take any prize (except, perhaps, that of Box Office Flop of the Week), grossing just $370,575 in 893 venues -- a redonkulously low average of $415 per theater. Nay, the only real news of note came in the ultra-limited-release sphere, where the buzzy drama Frost/Nixon debuted with a tremendous $60,049 average in three theaters in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto. The Oscar contender will roll out wider in the coming weeks. Overall, the slow box office was actually up more than 6 percent from the same, even slower frame a year ago, when The Golden Compass produced disappointing returns. That makes this the fifth straight "up" weekend of the fall season, and all things considered, it should be enough to spread some holiday cheer in Hollywood. CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . Copyright 2009 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved. | Four Christmases maintained its No. 1 spot with an estimated $18.2 million .
Twilight moved back up to the No. 2 spot with a tidy $13.2 million haul .
Australia declined 53 percent to bank $7 million at the No. 4 slot . |
fe0fec897c2f63f71614f9ef467644cd1421f56c | By . Daily Mail Reporter . UPDATED: . 16:59 EST, 13 February 2012 . Tragic: Dartmouth student Crispin Scott, 20, was found dead in a Barcelona apartment on January 7 while studying abroad in Barcelona . A 41-year-old Spanish landlord was arrested Wednesday in conjunction with the death of Dartmouth student Crispin Scott, a 20-year-old math major who was studying abroad. Though early autopsy results suggested that the Seattle native died from an accidental drug overdose, new evidence shows a massive amount of a powerful barbiturate in his system. The landlord oversaw the same apartment complex in Barcelona where Scott’s body was discovered in January. According to Spanish newspaper El Periodico, police searched the apartment where Scott was found, as well as another apartment in Barcelona during the arrest. The officers found shocking photographs of young people – in the two dozen pictures recovered, many of them were naked or scantily clad. According to reports, police believe the suspect in custody drugged the subjects with tranquilisers and sleeping pills. El Periodico notes that in 2009, the landlord in question had a complaint filed against him by a young man who accused him of violating him after feeding him sleeping pills against his will. Sources told the paper that police are investigating the possibility that this man is a ‘serial rapist.’ Scott’s parents, Pat and Norm, told student paper The Dartmouth that they have faith in the Spanish court system to ‘handle this case carefully.’ He was participating in the Academy of Liberal and Beaux-Arts program through Portland State University. At Dartmouth, the 20-year-old math major also played on the rugby team, the student paper reported in January. In Spain: Crispin Scott was studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain; the landlord was arrested in a suburb outside of the city, in Esplugues de Llobregat . University: Crispin Scott was part of Dartmouth's Class of 2013, was majoring in mathematics, and played rugby for the school . According to The Dartmouth, the program had not officially started by the time of Scott’s death, a point to which the program’s coordinator Charles Inman is aggravated. ‘It seems like (the police) don’t feel a need to let us into the loop just because he hadn’t started our program yet,’ Mr Inman told the paper. 'As devastated as we are by the loss of . our beloved Crispin, the circumstances surrounding his senseless death . add to the immense pain for us and others who cared so much for him.' -Crispin Scott's parents Pat and Norm Scott . Reports say that Scott was out with several friends on the night of his death before the official start of his study-abroad program. He failed to return to his apartment the night of January 6, and remained missing at noon on January 7 for the program’s orientation luncheon, Mr Inman told CNN. Mr Inman told The Dartmouth that the remaining 60 Dartmouth students studying in the city under the ALBA program have not been formally notified of the arrest. ‘We don’t want to do things by email – that seems shallow,’ he said, noting that many students have likely seen the story on the Internet. Scott’s parents said in a statement: ‘As devastated as we are by the loss of our beloved Crispin, the circumstances surrounding his senseless death add to the immense pain for us and others who cared so much for him.’ The Ecuadorian man was arrested in the Esplugues de Llobregat suburb of Barcelona, a police statement released Saturday said. | Crispin Scott, 20, found dead on January 7 in Spain .
Authorities originally thought he died of accidental drug overdose .
Now unnamed 41-year-old Ecuadorian landlord in custody, charged with murder and is under investigation for being 'serial rapist' |
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