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0cf7de8e37a2ad7d66bab7c345b579cf106c3ef8 | Banda Aceh, Indonesia (CNN) -- Fitrie Ani was three months pregnant when she heard neighbors in her corner of Banda Aceh screaming: "The sea is rising! The sea is rising!" A wall of water twice as high as a house engulfed communities like Ani's around the Indian Ocean, from Indonesia to East Africa, the day after Christmas 2004, leaving some 200,000 people dead or missing in 12 countries in a tsunami that the U.S. Geological Survey says caused more casualties than any other in recorded history. I first met Ani in the chaotic aftermath in Banda Aceh and watched as she returned to the ruins of her home for the first time since the catastrophe. It was a pitiful scene. Her home, and every building around it, had been ravaged down to their foundations by the roaring waves. Ani sifted through the rubble, lifting a torn garment that belonged to her grandmother. The dress had been snagged on a piece of masonry, but the elderly lady it belonged to wasn't able to hold on. Ani's grandmother, husband and eight other relatives were sucked out to sea. None of their bodies were ever identified. Ani was also unable to fight the swirling vortex of water. She was carried on the currents far out to sea, where she drifted semi-conscious for more than ten hours. Did you survive the tsunami? Did you lose a loved one? Share your thoughts on the 5th anniversary on CNN iReport . Fishermen in a passing boat saved her life when they plucked her out of water filled with debris. Five years on, her neighborhood has been rebuilt, with homes made of wood and concrete, but little inside. The roads, bridges and mosques are better than you would find in an average Indonesian town. The baby she was carrying in her womb the last time we met is now a healthy four-and-a-half-year-old boy named Zahri. He is a child of the tsunami -- carried on the killer waves that spared him and his mother but took so many others. "People were surprised seeing me pregnant without any wound," said Ani, who was convinced her baby would be affected. "I swallowed a lot of that black, warm and stinky seawater. I thought the baby might get hurt from the water. When I checked, the baby was fine. I don't know how; it's God's will." She said after his birth, others asked her: "How come this tsunami baby is perfectly fine?" Ani's new house is not perfect: It is little more than a wooden shack built with aid money. She has remarried and has another boy with her second husband, who is a soldier. Like thousands of people here and others in countries where the tsunami struck, they have tried to rebuild their shattered lives as best they can. "I feel sad when I remember what happened to me, it's painful," she said. "My kid was born without a father, other kids have both their parents. I was all alone. I didn't have a house, I went back to the refugee camp instead. I didn't get any help, no milk, no diaper." But Ani said she also felt blessed. "I was lucky to survive, people said that this baby had brought me luck." | CNN's Dan Rivers revisits Banda Aceh, Indonesia, to visit a survivor of the 2004 Asian tsunami .
Fitrie Ani, who was three months pregnant, lost her husband and nine other relatives .
Five years on the neighborhood has been rebuilt along with roads, bridges and mosques .
On CNN International: "Tsunami 5" (all times GMT) December 26: 1430, 2030 December 27: 0930 December 28: 1330, 1730 . |
0cf87ecb537d1b29bf4974d7d63127d430ecb372 | Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- Pyongyang has agreed to South Korea's offer for working-level talks on reopening the suspended joint industrial complex at Kaesong, the South Korean Unification Ministry said. The talks are scheduled to be held at 10 a.m. Saturday (9 p.m. Friday ET) at Tongilgak, an administrative building on the North Korean side of the neutral border village of Panmunjom. Kaesong, which is a bellwether of North-South ties, was closed this spring -- a casualty of increasing tensions between the two Koreas after the North warned that war could erupt. Each side will have three-member delegations, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said, citing the Seoul government. "The agreement came after North Korea, revising its earlier stance, did not insist that South Korean businessmen should be allowed to visit their plants in Kaesong at the same time or ahead of the government contact," Yonhap reported. "South Korea maintained that government contact should precede any visit to Kaesong by South Korean businessmen." The North wanted the talks to be held at Kaesong and with South Korean businessmen permitted to accompany the delegation, proposals the South rejected. Seoul's proposal for talks came a day after North Korea invited businessmen from South Korean companies to return to the zone to check on their facilities and equipment. The talks "were in consideration of the damages to the companies operating in Kaesong after three months of suspension and the beginning of monsoon season," Kim Hyung-suk, South Korea's Unification Ministry spokesman, said in a briefing. "The Kaesong issue can only be resolved through dialogue by government authorities." The operation was completely shut down in May when the last remaining South Korean workers left the facilities, but work had been winding down for about a month amid heightened tensions. In April, North Korea restricted South Korean workers' access to the zone. Workers had to leave when supplies such as food, water and raw materials were cut off. The North-South tensions seemed to be easing somewhat after Pyongyang agreed to high-level talks with the South in June. Those talks were called off at the eleventh hour after disagreements over the level of the delegates who would represent each side. On Wednesday, North Korea also restored the Panmunjom communication hotline with the South, which had been cut off repeatedly over the past four months. "North Korea is probably feeling an unprecedented level of diplomatic isolation with pressures coming from the international community. It is also fully aware of the value of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, which provides a considerable amount of hard foreign currency," said Kim Tae-woo, former president of the Korea Institute for National Unification. "But stirring tensions, then going back to dialogue, is part of North Korea's usual tactics. We don't need to attach too much weight to this easing of tension," he added. North Korea already had barred South Korean workers from entering the complex before May. In 2008, access was restricted after a human rights group distributed propaganda leaflets via balloon into North Korea. South Korean workers were blocked again in 2009 during an annual U.S.-South Korean military drill. Some $2 billion worth of goods have been produced in Kaesong between initial operations in 2005 and the end of 2012, according to the South Korean Unification Ministry. The average wage for North Korean workers in Kaesong Industrial Complex is $134 per month, according to the South Korean ministry. North Korean authorities take about 45% of their wages for various taxes. CNN's Diana Magnay and Joe Sterling contributed to this report. | Talks set to be held at building on North Korean side of neutral border village .
Joint industrial complex at Kaesong closed in May amid increasing tensions .
Some $2 billion worth of goods have been produced in Kaesong since operations began in 2005 . |
0cf87f3660fed7d72fbc46e825a57bb1d60bd2e9 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 16:25 EST, 23 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 16:46 EST, 23 January 2014 . A Florida jury in the mail and immigration fraud trial of a Brazilian-born former professional race car driver could end up seeing much more of the defendant than they probably bargained for. If 43-year-old Rogerio Scotton - who is acting as his own attorney - gets his way, jurors will be forced to watch sex tapes he made with his wife. Scotton has introduced the X-rated evidence as proof that his relationship with his Cuban-born wife - who is now an American citizen - isn't a sham marriage for immigration purposes. 'Porn star': Rogerio Scotton wants jurors to watch sex tapes he filmed with his wife to prove it wasn't a sham marriage . Scotton, who lived in Boca Raton before his March 2012 arrest, has been charged with 27 counts of mail fraud and two counts of lying to immigration authorities. Authorities say Scotton was behind a multimillion-dollar mail-fraud ring that scammed shipping companies like FedEx, UPS and DHL by creating fake accounts that fraudulently billed retail giants like Target, WalMart and Apple for millions of dollars. According to his indictment, Scotton's online business sold electronics to customers in Brazil. Authorities say he used the phony accounts to ship purchases overseas. Scam: Scotton is accused of stealing millions of dollars from companies like Target and WalMart . Scotton is only now representing himself after having falling outs with six defense attorneys who previously represented him. He maintains that he is innocent of all the charges filed against him and feels that showing photographs and videos of he and his wife engaged in what U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenbaum described as 'some very intimate acts' will prove that the relationship is legit. After Scotton asked to play the videos for the jury, Rosenbaum scheduled a hearing to determine whether it would be legally appropriate to show the videos to a jury. Rosenbaum told Scotton that she isn't going to just 'play that stuff in front of the jury and see what's on there' without first viewing it herself, according to Sunsentinal.com. 'I don't think that it would be fair to your wife,' Rosenbaum told Scotton, emphasizing that she needs to make sure that he gets a fair trial without violating his wife's privacy unnecessarily. Fool as a client: Scotton is representing himself at trial after falling outs with six defense attorneys . 'Why is the privacy of my wife important at this point?' Scotton asked the judge. 'I'm facing jail time.''[Let's] see if we can figure out a less intrusive way to prove the same thing," Rosenbaum responded. Rosenbaum ordered Scotton - who has been in police custody for more than 22 months - to turn the videos and photographs over to prosecutors to see if they could come to a diplomatic understanding in regards to his relationship with his wife without playing sex tapes featuring her. Scotton, who once competed in the Miami Grand Prix and other NASCAR events, maintains that he has not committed any crimes. | Rogerio Scotton is accused of stealing millions of dollars from companies like Target and WalMart .
Scotton is a former race car driver who competed in NASCAR events .
The judge in the case is yet to decide whether she'll allow the sex tapes to be presented as evidence .
Scotton is representing himself after falling outs with six defense attorneys . |
0cf8c9de6963783f19bd19b4dc446f92d1a32a52 | By . Ashley Clements . Follow @@Ashley_Clements . When Didier Drogba swept his penalty kick past Manuel Neuer to win the Champions League for Chelsea in 2012, Blues fans were sure it would be his last kick of a ball for the west London club. Now, just two years later, the Ivorian striker looks set for a return to Stamford Bridge and the place he called home for eight years. As a free agent, club legend and inspiring figure, signing Drogba for a final fling seems to tick all the right boxes for Jose Mourinho, but will the veteran actually get a look in this season? And has he still got what it takes to rip through Premier League defences? VIDEO Scroll down for Drogba weighs up Chelsea return . Back for good? Didier Drogba looks set for a return to Stamford Bridge . History: The Chelsea legend won the Champions League with the club in 2012 . The 36-year-old is far from a spent force, but there's no doubt that he won't be able to bully defenders and grab headlines in quite the same way as during Mourinho's previous spell in charge. Drogba may have looked like his younger self during games against weaker opposition while playing for Galatasaray last season, but his poor performances against Chelsea in the Champions League prove that he may no longer be able to affect the big games. By coming back to west London, Drogba does run the risk of tarnishing one of football's greatest fairy-tales in almost single-handedly inspiring a team to their first ever Champions League, but even at 36, surely Chelsea fans would look to Drogba rather than their forlorn striker Fernando Torres should the pair warm the bench together. Last season's star of La Liga, Diego Costa, will be the man trying to fill the void left by Drogba in 2012 and the former Atletico Madrid man will be Chelsea's main striker with a £32million price-tag and string of failed Chelsea strikers looming in his subconscious. Hero: Chelsea fans displayed this banner upon Drogba's first return to Stamford Bridge . Blue: The Ivorian seemed to be overwhelmed with emotion as Galatasaray lost to Chelsea . If there's one team that will be hoping Didier Drogba doesn't return to Chelsea, it will be Arsenal. The Ivorian powerhouse scored 13 goals in 14 games against the Gunners during his eight year spell in the Premier League. Drogba's role for the new Premier League season, should he finalise the move to Chelsea, would be one of support, personality and power. You can see it now, Costa bullies opponent's into submission for 70 minutes before being replaced by the man mountian that is Drogba just when they thought it was safe. And that kind of impact, putting that fear into rivals may be all Mourinho wants from his trusted lieutenant. The likes of Frank Lampard and John Terry speak glowlingly about the Chelsea legend and recall his influence in the dressing room as one of the driving forces behind their team's success since 2004. Friends: Chelsea captain John Terry will be pleased with the idea of a Drogba reunion . Silverware: Drogba won 10 trophies during his time with the west London club . VIDEO Drogba weighs up Chelsea return . In eight years at Chelsea, Drogba helped the Blues to 10 trophies, including three Premier League titles and his experience in a young Chelsea squad will be huge. Chelsea have lost Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard in recent weeks, two Chelsea stalwarts that will leave a hole in the club's dressing room. Mourinho is clearly keen to regain some of the winning mentality and experience that the club have lost this summer. Leader: Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho (right) could benefit from Drogba's experience . Legend: The 36-year-old has a brilliant relationship with the Blues fans . In his pomp, Drogba was the epitome of a 'big game' player, scoring a total of nine goals in nine cup final appearances for the Blues. There's no doubt that the forward will add to his 157 goal tally for Chelsea, but just how much chance he will get to relive his glory days is yet to be seen. He may not be the star of Stamford Bridge next season, but Drogba still has a part to play. Support: Chelsea fans may witness the 'Return of the King' this summer . | Didier Drogba looks set for a return to Chelsea .
Jose Mourinho has a strong relationship with Drogba after signing him in 2004 .
Ivorian striker scored 157 goals and won 10 trophies in eight years at the club .
Drogba's last kick of a ball for Chelsea won his team the Champions League in 2012 . |
0cf8eac2b44c9872e0117352e45eb6a5a8cb17a1 | The traitorous Afghani soldier who gunned down three Australian army personnel in a 'green-on-blue' attack at a patrol base in 2012 is unrepentant, 'remarkably cheerful' and hopes to be released despite being sentenced to death. That's according to a new Four Corners documentary which has revisited the tragic events of the evening of August 29, 2012. That night, Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier Sergeant Hekmatullah, 19, killed Private Robert Poate, Sapper James Martin and Lance Corporal Stjepan 'Rick' Milosevic with his M-16 rifle as they relaxed at Patrol Base Wahab, in the Baluchi Valley region of Oruzgan Province. Two other soldiers were wounded. In the interview, Hekmatullah also asks the families of those he killed to forgive him, but reportedly said he would kill again. Scroll down for video . Killed three Australian soldiers: Sergeant Hekmatullah 'seems remarkably cheerful for someone who's at least technically on death row' The Australian soldiers were playing cards at Patrol Base Wahab (seen in this ABC re-enactment) when they came under attack by Afghan National Army soldier Sergeant Hekmatullah . The rogue soldier opened fire on the Australian soldiers with his M-16 rifle and successfully escaped the base for Pakistan (re-enactment) While the rogue trooper is on death row at a prison in Kabul, the nation's capital, the country's government has not given the execution order. 'He is living in good conditions in this jail, he's put on weight and he seems remarkably cheerful for someone who's at least technically on death row,' ABC reporter Quentin McDermott said. 'When Four Corners interviewed him he was happy to talk about the incident and happy to talk about his hopes for the future.' After the attack, Hekmatullah fled Patrol Base Wahab for Pakistan. He was 'hailed as hero' by Taliban militants and spent around five months on the run until he was apprehended by security services in January 2013. Hekmatullah was sentenced to death by an Afghan court in December. Shot dead: Private Robert Hugh Frederick Poate . Killed: Sapper James Thomas Martin (centre) Murdered: Lance Corporal Stjepan 'Rick' Milosevic . The temperature was stifling - over 40 degrees Celsius - on August 29, the day the Australian soldiers were attacked . Australian troops at Patrol Base Wahab were tasked with mentoring Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers . The rogue soldier told News Corp Australia in January he became enraged after he was shown a report about U.S. soldiers burning the Koran. 'There were some real nasty thoughts that I had in my head,' he was quoted saying. 'I saw that video and went crazy'. The ABC program comes as a Queensland coronial inquest last week examined the circumstances which led to the soldiers' death. Troops from both countries were present at Patrol Base Wahab at the time of the incident. The 24-strong Australian team had been tasked with mentoring ANA soldiers and ANA personnel had open access to the Australians. Parents of fallen soldier Robert Poate arrive at the Brisbane Magistrates Court for the inquest into the death of their son on October 15, 2014 . Suzanne Thomas, mother of soldier James Martin, is pictured attending the inquest on October 14 . Kelly Walton, the wife of fallen soldier Stjepan 'Rick' Milosevic, also attended the inquest into her husband's death . Hekmatullah's attack came amid a spate of so-called 'green-on-blue' strikes by allied Afghani soldiers on Coalition forces. According to The Long War Journal, insider attacks were responsible for 15 per cent of Coalition deaths in 2012. Last year, the Australian Defence Force made public an internal investigation into the Patrol Base Wahab incident. Relatives of the killed soldiers disagreed with its finding that intelligence failures had not played a role in the incident. The ABC report will reveal that secret orders circulated by U.S. military command warning of an increased threat of attack from rogue soldiers was not passed on to Australian soldiers. The full interview with Sergeant Hekmatullah airs tonight on Four Corners: The Enemy Within, ABC1, 8:30pm AEDT. | Sergeant Hekmatullah gunned down three Australian soldiers in August 2012 .
He had been serving in the Afghan National Army, which was being mentored by an Australian team .
The rogue soldier killed Private Robert Poate, Sapper James Martin and Lance Corporal 'Rick' Milosevic . |
0cfa8ed458272a68a476bac5fd6b481af15d3c88 | New Delhi (CNN) -- Narendra Modi took the oath of office Monday to become the 15th prime minister of India. The swearing-in took place in a tightly guarded ceremony at the Colonial-era presidential mansion in New Delhi. For the first time, leaders of an entire South Asian region attended, including Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister of India's traditional archrival, Pakistan. But it's not just the guest list that makes this inauguration historic. Never in the past three decades has a political party taken up the reins of the world's largest democracy with an absolute majority. And never before has a provincial chief with no federal experience become head of a national government. Unprecedented invitation . In attendance on the sprawling forecourt of the sandstone palace were the premiers of Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal and Mauritius; the presidents of Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives; and the speaker of Bangladesh, officials say. "A promising gesture," read the headline of an editorial in the Indian Express on Friday about India's unprecedented invitation to the leaders of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation bloc. Until his election to Parliament this month, Modi, a chief minister of the prosperous northwestern state of Gujarat, has been seen as hawkish by some political watchers, especially over relations with nuclear archrival Pakistan. His Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has often accused the administration of outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of being soft on its western neighbor, which New Delhi blames for a number of terror attacks in India, including the deadly 2008 assault in Mumbai. Both countries have fought three wars, two of them over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, which both claim as their own in its entirety. An editorial in the Indian Express said Modi's "terrific" move to invite regional leaders "should help generate a more realistic appreciation of India's foreign-policy trajectory in the coming years." "What matters in the end, however, is the prospect of a more self-assured government in Delhi that is ready to engage the neighbors without standing on protocol and precedent," it added. Economic hope . Credited for his pro-business approach as the chief of Gujarat, India's new leader has also raised expectations that his government will succeed in turning around India's slowing economy, generate more jobs and rein in soaring prices and deeply entrenched corruption, issues that are widely believed to have brought about the fall of Singh's government. Modi's party won 282 seats of the 543-seat lower house of Parliament on its own, the first independent win by any single political party in three decades. India has since been ruled by coalitions of national and regional groupings with varied political and economic philosophies. "The BJP's single-handed majority in the new parliament ensures at least one thing: no more excuses of fractured coalition politics compromising policies and reforms," said Jahangir Aziz, J.P. Morgan's chief Asia economist, in a column in the Indian Express. "More growth, more employment, more infrastructure, lower inflation is just motherhood and apple pie. Identifying and articulating the binding constraints holding these back is the heart of the problem," he wrote. Political analysts also describe the debacle of Singh's Congress Party government as a vote against crushing prices. "Moderation in prices of essential commodities is a potential challenge for Modi's government in a market-driven economy," political commentator K.G. Suresh said. "The honeymoon period will not last longer if measures are not taken in the next 100 days to bring costs down," he added. Modi's Cabinet, observers say, will signify his government's model and course. "It has to be a dream team that balances demands and side effects of growth with promises of low prices to millions of poverty-stricken Indians. It has to be a smart mix of youth and experience with a cohesive approach. With pressures of coalition politics no longer there, the last thing India would expect the new prime minister's core team to be is a chariot pulled by horses running in different directions," Suresh said. Friend or foe? India's Narendra Modi an unknown quantity abroad . Securing India's energy a major challenge for new PM Modi . Memo to Modi: How to reboot India . | NEW: Narendra Modi is sworn in as prime minister .
The unprecedented event brings together regional leaders including Pakistan's PM .
Invitation to leaders described as a "terrific" move .
Modi is seen as hawkish by some political watchers . |
0cfb7c46fe04d36119b5c3bed575f6c9751b57e6 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 10:58 EST, 5 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 11:17 EST, 5 January 2014 . On the field Saturday night, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck showed the world his power and leadership. In the locker room after the game, she showed the world his naked hind end. The NFL star, who led his team to a stunning comeback victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, inadvertently appeared in the buff in a locker room picture tweeted by his teammate Pat McAfee. Luck was, well, lucky, that a well-placed cell phone shielded his modesty from full view. Oops: Andrew Luck, top left corner, was caught unawares - and unclothed - in this locker room picture tweeted y a teammate . Rally: Luck, 24, led his team to overcome a 28-point deficit and win . McAfee didn't even realize that Luck was in the frame - he was attempting to show a humorous picture of veteran kicker Adam Vinatieri wearing a collared shirt and sweater - with a towel wrapped around his waist - while he gave an interview. An NBC Sports photographer caught the error. He retweeted the picture with the words, 'Umm oops?' McAfee, the Colts' 26-year-old punter, soon spotted the mistake. 'Oh boy.. Half naked Andrew in the back of that last one.. He looked damn good though,' he tweeted. Later, adding: 'I feel awful for that Luck photobomb.. Really thankful all his parts were covered.. And now I'm hoping the future HOFer (Hall of Famer) forgives the mistake.' Luck's naked shot was likely one of the last things on his mind Saturday night. The second-year NFL quarterback, 24, led the Colts to a 45-44 victory over the Chiefs - after rallying from a 38-10 deficit after halftime. Luck's heroics - including throwing for 443 yards and four touchdowns - will no doubt go down as one of the best performances in NFL playoffs history. Only twice before have teams rebounded from such a deficit in league history. In 1980, the San Francisco 49ers rallied from 28 points behind to beat the New Orleans Saints. In 1992, the Buffalo Bills came back 32 points in the playoffs to beat the Houston Oilers. Luck, a Texas native who graduated from Stanford University with a degree in architectural design after playing football there for four years, was drafted in the first round by the Indianapolis Colts. He will face either Tom Brady and the New England Patriots or his Colts predecessor Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos next week in the first round of the divisional playoffs. | Luck led the Colts to a 45-44 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs Saturday night in the AFC wild-card game .
The rally after being down 38-10 is one of the three greatest comebacks in NFL history . |
0cfbe834eb7c47638a45a8fc82616262d375c936 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 00:19 EST, 18 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 02:59 EST, 18 July 2013 . Missing: Brenna Kathleen Machus who has not been seen since her co-worker was shot dead in an apparent robbery at a Michigan store on Monday night . The mother of 20-year-old Brenna Machus, who vanished during an apparent robbery Monday night in Dearborn, addressed a bank of TV cameras to appealed to her daughter’s abductor. 'If there’s someone out there who has her, we don’t care if you drop her off at a hospital. Let us know,' Lisa Machus said. 'We will come get her, no questions asked. We want her home.' Detectives have appealed to the public for 'even the slightest clue' in trying to trace the missing shop assistant who they believe may have been abducted after her co-worker was shot dead. Brenna Kathleen Machus hasn't been seen since her colleague, Joseph Orlando, was killed at the Family Dollar store in Dearborn, Michigan, on Monday evening. Police have have released CCTV footage of a man suspected of killing Mr Orlando and fear that 20-year-old Ms Machus may be in danger after they found her car parked outside the store, but no trace of her. Family members of Orlando and Machus, who had been working together at the store Monday night, stood behind Dearborn police and Broad at the news conference. Some held each other, weeping. Orlando had worked at the store for less than a week. His grandfather, Alan Konkel, was overcome with emotion behind the microphone at police headquarters Wednesday. Scroll down for video . Worries: Police believe that Ms Machus, pictured, may be in danger after they found her car at the store but no trace of her . 'He was a typical kid and now he was a . young man. He was just ecstatic and happy about the job, and he was . smiling all the time,” he said. His death “was just senseless.' Machus had worked at several Family Dollar locations, said Rick Smith, regional vice president at Family Dollar. Dearborn . Police Chief Ronald Haddad said: 'Our investigation in ongoing and all . of our resources are currently being utilized to locate Ms Machus and . identify and apprehend the perpetrator of this vicious crime.' Mr . Orlando's body was found on Tuesday morning after staff arrived at the . store to open for the day and found the shop in disarray. Wanted: A suspect wanted by police in connection with the abduction of Ms Machus and the killing of her co-worker is caught on CCTV arriving at the store on Monday . The suspects targeted the store's safe and cash drawer. Surveilance . cameras caught the suspect dressed in a dark hooded jacket, blue jeans . and white shoes, as he entered the store at around 7.30pm on Monday. Despite . summer temperatures, he is wearing a jacket with a hooded sweatshirt . over his head and drawn to cover the majority of his face. The suspect, who appears to be a man, waves his hand at someone as he enters the store and is seen grabbing a shopping trolley. 'Our . investigation is ongoing and all of our resources are currently being . utilized to locate Ms. Machus and identify and apprehend the perpetrator . of this vicious crime,' Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad said in a . statement. Investigators, . who released video of the suspect, are also seeking two women who were . customers in the store before the incident. Police said the women were . in the store between about 7:25 p.m. and 7:35 p.m. Police . Chief Ronald Haddad stressed that the women are not believed to be . involved, but may help investigators better establish a time line. Ms Machus's picture has been circulated on social networking websites and a Find Brenna Machus page set up on Facebook. A message from Ms Machus's family posted on the page said: 'It haunts our minds to think of what she is going through. Suspect: The person, who appears to be a man, seemed to wave at someone as he arrived at the Dearborn Family Dollar store . 'We want her home safely. She is a daughter,sister, aunt, cousin, niece and friend. She does not deserve to miss out on being any of these.' Floral tributes were left on Tuesday to Ms Macchus's co-worker Mr Orlando, also aged 20, outside the store where he was killed. According to the Detroit Free Press, Mr Orlando was due to start college later this year and had only been working at the store for a week. His grandmother Bonnie Orlando said: 'I'm dumbfounded, this is what greed does to people. He was fun loving, he had the customers laughing.' Footage: After waving, the suspect was seen going to get a shopping trolley . Ashley Sulla, 18, said she has been in a relationship with Brenna Machus since April and that they lived together at a home in Romulus. Sulla said she last spoke to Machus, whom she said she has known since childhood, before 7 p.m. Monday. When Sulla came home about 1 a.m. and saw Machus wasn’t there, she said she assumed Machus had gone to her mother’s house. 'I hope she’s fine,' Sulla said. 'I wonder what’s going through her mind.' Ryan Machus described his sister as a smart, social butterfly with aspirations of becoming a crime-scene investigator. 'Brenna is one of the sweetest, most caring people that you would meet,' he said. 'She makes friends with anyone.' He said his family is still hopeful she will be found safe, but his biggest fear is that she won’t be. 'You know, we’re not naïve,' Ryan Machus said. 'That’s why, you know, we’re trying to get as much out as we can as soon as possible.' | Brenna Kathleen Marcus, 20, has been missing since Monday night .
Her co-worker was shot dead at the Family Dollar store in Michigan .
$11,000 reward has been issued for information leading to an arrest .
Detectives found her car outside the store but no trace of her .
They have released CCTV footage of a man suspected of abducting her .
A man, named in reports as Joseph Orlando, was shot dead at the store . |
0cfc1157523b9b729492f12300794754c4c27ccb | An astonishing collection of letters written by future kings Edward and George reveal the princes' 'heartbreak' at not being allowed to fight in WWI. In the candid correspondence, the future King Edward VIII bemoans having to 'stay with the women' while others fought in the trenches after being banned from entering conflict as he was heir to the throne. His younger brother, the future George VI, who was held back from active service by doctors after suffering gastric problems, meanwhile feared peers would blame his renowned stammer for his staying out of the line of fire. In the astonishing collection of letters princes Edward and George bemoan having to stay at home while others fought in the trenches in WWI . In one letter written by George to Admiral Tait on October 19 1914, the royal says he agrees with his advice not to return to H.M.S. Collingwood after being injured . The letters, written between 1912 and 1932 on Bucking Palace letter-headed paper, were sent to Admiral Sir William Campbell Tait who served as the royals' mentor during the First World War. In one, written by Edward on August 5, 1914, the prince tells of his envy of servicemen on the front line. 'Oh god!! How I envy you all on active service, ready to deliver to those bloody Germans what I hope and am confident will be their death blow!! 'While you are all out, undergoing hardships and risking your lives, here am I left at home with the women, totally devoid of any job. He continues: 'It is breaking my heart, almost, this feeling of being left out of it is becoming intolerable!!!' 'However I have no right to bother you with my small troubles in such critical times as these; but we have known each other so well that I can't refrain from speaking out and giving vent to my feelings which are absolutely genuine!!'. Another letter from George describes an abscess removed from his navel 'much to his relief' In another, the prince, who was known to his family as Albert, describes keeping himself entertained while recovering from illness. He writes: 'I have plenty to do here, what with books, papers and letter writing' A letter on September 17th George writes: 'I am very glad that my operation is now over and it went off most satisfactory' A 1914 letter accompanied with a photograph of the future King Edward VIII in his grenadiers uniform is part of the collection . The collection has been lovingly restored by Admiral Tait's family who had all the letters bound in books . King Edward VIII (left) and Admiral Sir William Campbell Tait (right) at sea off the west coast of Scotland . When he was banned from undertaking active service by Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchner, Edward VIII had already joined the Grenadier Guards. But, eager to be a part of the historic war and boost soldiers' morale, he visited the front line on several occasion, taking a camera with him to document his outings. Aged 21 at the time, he visited France several times and became popular in the trenches. George, meanwhile, had intended to fight the war out. After passing out at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, he served as a midshipman on H.M.S Collingwood. To the envy of his brother, he saw the Battle of Jutland in 1916, but was withdrawn shortly afterwards with an ulcer. In 1919, he joined the RAF and was a certified pilot. On September 13, he wrote: 'I am very depressed again. It is astounding to think that I have a commission in both services (Army and Navy) and I am denied seeing active service in either. 'I can assure you I am a broken man.' Edward joined the Grenadier Guards during the war but was not allowed to seek active service as the direct heir to the throne. Throughout the Twenties he undertook foreign tours of the empire and, in the early 1930s, visited deprived areas in Britain. His shock abdication in 1936 to marry divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson inducted his younger brother George to the throne. Writing before either of the brothers had become king, George's letter revealed a softer, more concerned personality than his boisterous older brother. After suffering severe gastric problems, doctors ordered the royal could not undertake active service. His own letters to Admiral Tait reveal his fear of being criticised by the public for not fighting on the front line. After taking part in the Battle of Jutland in 1916, he was withdrawn from active service with an ulcer. A Christmas card sent by the future King George VI - who was known as Albert to the family - is part of the collection . King George VI (far left) pictured on board H.M.S Collingwood before he was withdrawn from active service over health problems . In one letter, he writes: 'I quite agree with what you say about my returning to the ship. 'It is no good running the risk of opening the wound as then I should have to leave the one and only service there is. 'There has been quite a fuss about my injury . 'Treves is writing a report for the papers which will stop any unpleasant remarks passed by people about what I am doing at home for so long.' A self-portrait by King Edward VIII during his time at Oxford drawn on October 29 1912 . After the war, he writes again to Admiral Tait to gush about his new bride, the Queen Mother, who he describes as 'the most wonderful little person'. He also describes his shyness and fear of public speaking - made famous in the film The King's Speech - and talks of 'breathing properly and having confidence' in oneself'. The letters have been made available by the family of Admiral Tait, and are being sold at auctioneers Martel Maides in Guernsey for an estimated £45,000. Within the correspondence also lies reference to the notorious Bullingdon Club, the exclusive drinking club for Oxford University students which David Cameron and Boris Johnson were both members of during their time studying. In one letter, Edward, who attended Magdalene College after being withdrawn from naval college, wrote: 'Everyone drank everybody else's health at least 10 times and so you can imagine how persistent it was, there being 100 of us present. 'Shouting and yelling never ceased and the amount of port consumed was astounding.' James Bridges, of Martel Maides, said: “The art of letter writing is drying up. Such a collection of letters would not exist today. 'I would be surprised if the two prices wrote letters of the length and style in the way that they used to be now. 'It was hugely exciting to have the collection in their upcoming sale. 'Letters like these are totally alien to a modern generation. Nothing like this has ever come to the market before. 'It is quite extraordinary for such a personal collection of letters to be outside the Royal Collection. They give a real flavour of the characters of the two princes. 'It is an extremely important archive two of the most significant members of the Royal Family in the 20th century.' The letters will go on sale at Martel Maides in Guernsey on October 2. As the documents reveal, both princes Edward and George vied to fight for Britain during WWI. Similarly, Princes William and Harry have both expressed their desire to serve on the front line. Much like his ancestor Edward, Prince William was kept back from the front line while serving in the RAF. In 2009 the Duke of Cambridge revealed his disappointment at not being allowed to fight, saying: 'I didn't join the forces to be mollycoddled or treated any differently. As far as I am concerned, in my eyes, if Harry can do it, then I can do it. 'As a future head of the Armed Forces it's really important you at least get the opportunity to be credible and to do the job I signed up for the best I can. 'That's all I have ever wanted.' Prince Harry however completed a four-month tour of Afghanistan in 2013. The fourth-in-line to the throne last year revealed he had killed in combat, saying: 'If there's people trying to do bad stuff to our guys, then we'll take them out of the game, I suppose'. A previous tour to the war-torn country was cancelled amid 'serious threats' to the young royal. Prince William expressed disappointment at not being able to undertake active service while Prince Harry has completed a tour of Afghanistan . | Princes wrote to their military mentor to complain at being 'left out'
Edward VIII said he was 'totally devoid of any job' and envied soldiers .
He was banned from active service as the direct heir to the throne .
Young brother, who would become George VI, was too poorly to fight .
Had suffered gastric problems and was banned by royal doctors .
He worried the public would criticise him for not being on front line .
Collection of letters is being sold at auction in Guernsey for £45,000 . |
0cfc4e559acb1f9bb7a6095d2095020755997e93 | PUBLISHED: . 10:45 EST, 7 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 10:46 EST, 7 May 2013 . Nurse Trevor Madziwa, 34, has been struck off after the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard he was violent to a former patient and held her captive for three hours . A male nurse who had an affair with a former patient before turning violent and holding her captive when she tried to break it off has been struck off. Trevor Madziwa, 34, who met the young woman when he was working at the Priory Clinic in north London, jabbed his thumbs into her eyes and grabbed her around the neck when she tried to leave his flat, a tribunal heard. He pinned the 18-year-old down, took her shoes, handbag and phone, and pulled her tights off during the attack, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) heard. The victim feared he was going to strangle her or throw her over the balcony of his flat, and only managed to escape when she kicked Madziwa and grabbed a knife from the kitchen. The NMC tribunal heard that Zimbabwean-born Madziwa had admitted having sex with the woman after sending her Facebook messages when she was transferred from the Priory to another hospital. The young woman, who had a medical history of depression, bulimia and diabetes, had been admitted to the clinic in Southgate where singer Amy Winehouse was once treated, in 2008, the NMC heard. Eight months later she was transferred to another hospital and some time after that, Madziwa began bombarding her with texts, emails and Facebook messages. The panel heard that the pair met in hotels for sex sessions before the relationship began to deteriorate over several months. It culminated in the incident at Madziwa's flat on November 20, 2011. The NMC hearing was told that the teenager reported the incident to the police but ultimately decided she did not want to press charges. Maurice Cohen, chairman of the panel, said: 'The fact the police took the allegation against Mr Madziwa seriously is noted.' Madziwa, who had already admitted having a sexual relationship with his former patient and preventing her from leaving his flat, later claimed that the woman hacked into his email account to fire off a series of aggressive messages to herself. But Mr Cohen dubbed Madziwa's evidence 'implausible' and 'contradictory' as the NMC misconduct panel found him guilty of verbally and physically abusing the woman while holding her captive. The Priory clinic in Southgate, north London, where nurse Trevor Madziwa met the young woman . Mr Cohen said: 'Mr Madziwa displayed verbally and physically abusive behaviour towards [the alleged victim] and a sanction is needed to meet the public interest. 'It was a serious departure from the relevant standards as set out in the code. 'There is no evidence he has considered the consequences of his actions on [the young woman] or on the profession. 'The panel finds Mr Madziwa has a harmful and deep seated attitudinal problem. His actions amounted to abuse of his position and power - this was not an isolated incident but occurred over a protracted period of time. 'The panel finds Mr Madziwa's behaviour breaks fundamental tenets of the profession. A striking-off order is the only sanction that would satisfy the public interest.' | Trevor Madziwa, 34, met the young woman at Priory clinic in north London .
After she left he pursued her and they began an affair, having sex in hotels .
When relationship ended he kept her in flat for three hours, tribunal heard .
Madziwa cast out of nursing profession by Nursing and Midwifery Council . |
0cfc886d9cd02315d7cb3154c13b28498db72bb9 | London, England (CNN) -- British Prime Minister David Cameron will discuss BP, whose leaking well has caused the worst oil spill in U.S. history, when he speaks by phone with U.S. President Barack Obama this weekend, Cameron's office at Downing Street said Friday. It will be a "routine call" and BP will be one of several issues they discuss, Downing Street said, without providing more information. The phone call follows concern about anti-British rhetoric from Obama and others in America about BP's role in the disaster. London Mayor Boris Johnson said the remarks are "slightly worrying" and Piers Morgan, a British TV host and former newspaper editor, said Obama seems to be on "an absolute witch hunt" against the BP boss. "You know, accidents do happen," Morgan told CNN's "Connect the World" on Thursday night. "There are major issues in terms of safety here, in terms of environmental tragedy that's going on where this spillage is occurring, but I think simply to demand the guy's head on a plate when he's trying to fix it is not sensible politics, and it's slightly self-serving. "And I, if I was Barack Obama, would cool the rhetoric. I wouldn't make it a British thing, because BP is not a British company anymore, they are an international company. And it's looking to me a little like Brit-bashing." Johnson told BBC Radio 4 on Thursday he wants to see "cool heads and a bit of calm reflection" about the problem, "rather than endlessly buck-passing and name-calling." He said many British pension funds are exposed to BP and could be at risk if the company's share price plummets. "I do think that it starts to become a matter of national concern if a great British company is being continually beaten up on the international airwaves," he said, adding that the disaster is the result of an accident that BP is trying to remedy. "Ultimately (BP) cannot be faulted because, I'm sorry, it was an accident that took place, and BP, I think, is paying a very, very heavy price indeed." Obama said earlier this week that he was talking with experts about the oil disaster so "I know whose ass to kick." U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., who sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said BP was probably lying in its comments about the spill. "Here's a viewer's guide to BP media briefings: Whenever you hear someone with a British accent talking about this on behalf of British Petroleum, they are not telling you the truth," Weiner told MSNBC this week. "I think we as a government have been giving them too much credence for the things they've been saying," Weiner said. "Just about everything they've said at some point has turned out to be wrong. So every time they say they're doing something, your first instinct should be, it just ain't true." U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley denied Thursday that Obama or the United States is "Britain-bashing" and said it would probably be a topic the president discusses with Cameron on the phone. He said there are certain to be "ripple effects" as America demands that BP live up to its responsibilities to clean up the spill. "The British people understand the frustration and anger that the American people are seeing in this," Crowley said. "It is not going to affect our relationship between the United States and Britain." Crowley said the United States understands "the importance that BP has within British society and the British economy ... but this is ultimately about a private company and its responsibility in light of what's happened in the Gulf." | Cameron, Obama to discuss BP in phone call this weekend .
Call follows British concerns about "Brit-bashing" over oil disaster .
Piers Morgan says Obama on "witch hunt" against BP boss .
London mayor urges end to "buck-passing and name-calling"
State Department spokesman denies 'Britain-bashing' |
0cfc902933055e89200145701b47debbeb88e863 | It’s been awarded the coveted title of best airport in the world for the past seven years running. And judging from Singapore’s Changi Airport’s plans for expansion, it’s not prepared to give up the top spot. Boasting a lush indoor garden area and a cascading waterfall, renderings for the futuristic bio-dome have been revealed by architect Moshe Safdie. Bio dome: The glass doughnut-shaped structure will be made out of glass and steel . Shaped like a doughnut, the five-storey glass and steel structure – codenamed Project Jewel – will connect the airports existing three terminals via all-glass walkways. Safdie, who is renowned for his eco-topic buildings, was behind Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands Resort. Project Jewel’s gardens will also include green walls to offset the emissions from the planes overhead, and it is expected to serve nearly 85 million passengers by the time it is completed. Lush interior: The new design for the airport in Singapore features a vast garden area . Although a completion date for the £800m ($1.5bn) project has not been released. The dome will also offer travellers luxury shops and leisure attractions. Mr Lee Seow Hiang, CAG’s Chief Executive Officer, said: ‘We are very excited about this opportunity to create at Changi Airport an iconic global attraction that will capture the hearts of both tourists and Singaporeans. Airport of the future: The £800m designs have been unveiled, although no completion date has been announced . ‘For tourists, we envisage Project Jewel to be a must-visit Singapore attraction, located strategically at the doorstep of one of the world’s busiest air hubs, and an extension of the Changi brand promise that many travellers worldwide have come to know us for. ‘For Singaporeans, it will be an exciting world-class destination right here at home, where they can relax and enjoy with their loved ones, again and again.’ New look: How Changi Airport in Singapore will look according to architects . | Architect behind Marina Bay Sands is spearheading the designs .
Will see glass and steel dome linking Changi Airport's three terminals .
New look - codenamed Project Jewel - will be designed like a doughnut . |
0cfcbfd1dbe407f1bc0eaafbf562305e15471a83 | Laid to rest: Julia Pastrana, billed as the 'world's ugliest woman' in the 19th century, will finally be buried in Mexico, 153 years after her death . A woman branded the 'ugliest woman in the world' after a rare disease left her body covered in hair has finally returned to her birthplace in Mexico for a proper burial - 153 years after her death. Julia Pastrana was exploited as part of a traveling exhibition through Europe until she died from complications of childbirth in 1860. Even after her death, her body was exhibited across the world. It eventually ended up in a storage room at an Oslo research institute, and after learning of the body's whereabouts, visual artist Laura Anderson Barbata campaigned to have it returned to Mexico. 'I felt she deserved the right to regain . her dignity and her place in history, and in the world's memory,' Barbata, who learned Pastrana's story while working on a play about her life, told the New York Times. 'I hoped to help change . her position as a victim to one where she can be seen in her entirety . and complexity.' Barbata, . who lives in New York but hails from Mexico City, eventually won her . decade-long battle and on Tuesday, Pastrana's body will finally be . buried in Sinaloa de Leyva. Pastrana was born in Mexico in 1834 and suffered from congenital terminal hypertrichosis, . which left her face and body covered in thick hair. She also suffered from gingival hyperplasia, . which made her lips and gums thick. She was not diagnosed with either condition in her lifetime. In . 1854, she was bought by a Mexican customs administrator and he began . exhibiting her through the U.S. and Canada. While in New York, she . married Theodore Lent, who became her manager. Historians . believe that while she was in love with Lent, he only married her to . control her earnings, the New York Times reported. Heading home: A coffin containing Pastrana's remains upon arrival at Culiacan airport on Monday . Lent . toured his wife, whom he called a 'bear woman', through Europe. Critics . called her 'revolting in the extreme' and doctors said she was the . result a human mating with an 'Orang Outang'. But she is also documented in 19th century history books as having an affinity for singing, music, dancing and languages, as well as great generosity to local charities. In 1859, she fell pregnant and her son inherited her hypertrichosis and died 35 hours after his birth. Pastrana died from complications of the birth five days later - aged just 26. But the death did not stop Lent, and he began exhibiting his wife and son's embalmed bodies propped up a in glass cabinet. Exploited: Pastrana, who was born with a rare disease that left her body covered with hair, was advertised as a 'bear woman' as she toured Europe with her husband and manager Theodore Lent . Ridicule: She also suffered from gingival hyperplasia, which made her lips and gums thick . Julia Pastrana suffered from congenital terminal hypertrichosis, . which left her face and body covered in an abnormal amount of thick hair. This form of extreme hair growth is most responsible for the term 'werewolf syndrome'. There is no cure for any congenital forms of hypertrichosis, and an affected female has a 50 per cent change of passing it to her offspring - as Julia did to her son. This type of hypertrichosis is usually accompanied by gingival hyperplasia, which makes the person's lips and gums thicker due to an overgrowth of gum tissue. Julia also suffered from this. She was not diagnosed with either condition in her lifetime. He later married a bearded woman in Mexico and billed her as Pastrana's sister 'Zenora Pastrana'. After his death in a Russian mental institution in 1884, the bodies continued to be featured at exhibitions until thieves broke into a warehouse owned by a fairground in Norway in 1976 and stole them. The remains were later found by police in a trash bin; Pastrana's arm had been dismembered and her son's body could not be salvaged. In 1996, her body was taken to the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the University of Oslo, where she was placed in storage. 'By ending up as part of a collection in a . basement, she lost any trace of dignity,' Barbata said. 'My . ultimate dream goal was that she should go back to Mexico and be . buried.' Barbata learned of . Padtrana's sad resting place while designing costumes for a play her . sister, Kathleen Anderson Culebro, produced in Texas: The True History of the Tragic Life and Triumphant Death of Julia Pastrana, the Ugliest Woman in the World. In 2005, she began petitioning the University of Oslo to return the body to Mexico, and in 2008, she made her case to Norway’s National Committee for the Evaluation of Research on Human Remains. On show: Even after her death from childbirth, Pastrana was embalmed and exhibited next to her dead son . Help: Her body has now returned to Mexico after a decade-long campaign by New York-based artist Laura Anderson Barbata (pictured second left) In June last year, they agreed 'it seems quite unlikely that Julia Pastrana would have wanted her body to remain a specimen in an anatomical collection'. The current governor of Sinaloa, Mario López Valdez, then joined the cause last year, and the Mexican ambassador to Norway, Martha Bárcena Coqui, offered to work with the university. The institute agreed to start the process transferring the body to Mexican custody last August, and last week, Barbata confirmed Pastrana's identity before her coffin was sealed. During the check, she saw that bolts remained in Pastrana's feet, and they were removed. Pastrana will be buried on Tuesday in a cemetery in Sinaloa de Leyva, near to her birthplace. | Julia Pastrana had a condition that left her entire body covered in hair .
She was exploited in traveling exhibitions throughout Europe, the U.S. and Canada before and after her death .
Her body ended up in a storage room at the University of Oslo and now a New York-based artist has fought to have it returned to Mexico . |
0cfd1b5ba3a21aa7b7f4208cea12d5d60c6aeaca | Public sector workers will not get an above-inflation pay rise for another four years, it emerged today as unions prepare a huge strike over pay and pensions. Conservative minister Matthew Hancock suggested pay restraint would have to continue until the government has ‘the books balanced’ in 2018. Up to 1million teachers, council workers, health workers, firefighters and civil servants will walkout across England and Wales on Thursday. Conservative minister Matt Hancock suggested pay restraint would have to continue until the nation's books are balanced in 2018 . This week’s industrial action is expected to be the biggest over pay since the coalition came to power, with plans for further action later in the year. Unions argue that frontline staff have paid the price for austerity, and salaries have been frozen or risen slower than inflation. Despite years of pay restraint, staff in the public sector still April earned between 2.2 per cent and 3.1 per cent more than the private sector in the year to April 2013, the ONS says. The average pay difference in favour of the public sector has narrowed since the year 2010, which in part reflects the restraints on public sector pay over this period, the ONS says. CPI inflation dipped to 1.5 per cent in the year to May, having peaked at 5.2 per cent in September 2011. TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: 'People can’t keep going on having cuts in their living standards' Up to 1million public sector workers are expected to take part in strike action on Thursday . Chancellor George Osborne has frozen pay for many public sector workers, or offered 1 per cent rises, while inflation has been at . Mr Hancock, a skills minister, told BBC On'es Sunday politics inflation would continue to outstrip wages for taxpayer-funded jobs for another four years. Asked if public sector workers would ever get a real increase in their pay under a Conservative government, Mr Hancock replied: ‘Well, we certainly hope to have the books balanced by 2018. He added: ‘I don’t think it is the right time to let go of the public finances at all. ‘We were always clear that this is what’s called a structural deficit; it doesn’t go away just because growth is returning and the economy’s coming back. ‘We have protected and are protecting the lowest-paid public sector workers who weren’t part of the pay freeze, now pay going up by 1 per cent. At almost every age, public sector workers earn more per hour than someone of the same age in the private sector, according to the Office for National Statistics . Unions have been branded 'irresponsible' for staging walkouts based on ballots in which few members took part, or were staged up to two years ago. Prime Minister David Cameron pledged earlier this year that he would back tougher laws, including a higher threshold of those voting to take industrial action before a strike could go ahead. Business leaders have been pressing for a new law setting a target of at least 50 per cent of those balloted having to vote in favour, an idea supported by the PM and other leading Conservatives. London Mayor Boris Johnson has spoken of changes in balloting laws during previous strikes by Tube workers in the capital. Today Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said: 'We are not relaxed about them [the strikes], but the point to make first is most public sector workers regard their duty to serve the public as being paramount, so most public service workers won't be going on strike on Thursday. It will be a minority and we don't know how many it will be. 'These strikes are based on ballots which are either with extremely low turnouts or, in some cases, with no recent ballot at all,' he told Sky News. 'The only teachers' union calling a strike, the NUT, is relying on a mandate in a ballot that was called nearly two years ago. 'Taking action, which if it is effective is going to damage the interests of children and a load of hard-working parents who just want to be able to go to work that day... it is really very irresponsible.' ‘Of course these are difficult decisions – we’ve had that discussion many times – but they’re absolutely necessary to in order to keep that plan on track and, as we can see with the wider economy, it’s working.’ Mr Hancock insisted this was not just about the Conservatives and the Lib Dems and challenged Labour to condemn this week’s strike. ‘The Labour Party leadership has said it’s a test to their credibility that they support a squeeze on public sector pay. ‘In fact I look forward to them – they ought to come out and say very clearly that these strikes are wrong and that they’re against the strikes and stop taking union money.’ But earlier Labour’s shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt refused to condemn the walkouts three times. He told BBC One’s Andrew Marr show: ‘It’s not up to me to tell trade unionists what to do – what I want is teachers in classrooms in a conversation with the Secretary of State so we get over these kind of hurdles. ‘We didn’t have these kind of strikes under a Labour government. I want all teachers in the schools teaching the young people, but we have independent trade unions in this country and that is an important part of civil society.’ TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady also criticised the Government for refusing to increase pay for the public sector. She said: ‘What firefighters, local government workers and health worker who are protesting too alongside teachers are saying is that this Government is not listening, it’s out of touch, people can’t keep going on having cuts in their living standards, depending on benefits. ‘What really sticks in the throat is the idea that money can be found to give tax cuts to billionaires, to millionaires and to big corporations, but it can’t be found to help, for example, the 500,000 workers in local government – dinner ladies, school meals workers, lollipop men and women – who are earning less than the minimum wage.’ Mick Cash, acting general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, said: 'Reports that the Tories are planning to ban public sector strikes and ratchet up their anti-union laws are nothing new and will meet the fiercest possible resistance. 'The front line of defence against cuts and austerity is the organised working class and that is why the Tories and big business want to tighten the legal noose around our necks. They will have a fight on their hands.' | Tory minister Matt Hancock warns of four more years of pay restraint .
Public sector has faced pay freezes or rises of 1% since coalition formed .
Huge walkout planned for Thursday in rows over pay and pensions .
Teachers, firefighters, council staff, civil servants and NHS staff to take part .
Tories consider tougher rules on minimum turnout in strike ballots . |
0cfd712c23304bbeb66a17e8944cafa68a7de06e | Carved into the side of mountains, these footpaths offer mesmerising views of a spectacular landscape. Some of the footpaths on Jianmenguan Mountain in Jiange County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, date from nearly 1,000 years ago from China's Three Kingdoms Period. Over the years, these footpaths have been extended and a more modern addition is a protruding skywalk. Tourists can enjoy spectacular views from the Jianmenguan mountain in Jiange County, southwest China's Sichuan Province . A maze of different footpaths traverse the mountain, winding in and out of the cliff faces and offering amazing views of the surroundings . Some of the routes are more 'safe' than others, with ledges to hold on to and steps for comfort, others, as right, are more perilous . The routes are favoured with tourists, and offer the perfect opportunity to snap some photographs of nature at it's most beautiful. And the location is steeped in history. There are 72 peaks in the mountain range, and only one through road. The Battle of Jianmen Pass was fought between the communists and the nationalists during the Chinese Civil War in the post World War II era and resulted in communist victory in 1949. This is one of the more futuristic walkways on Jianmenguan mountain in Jiange County, where visitors get unrivalled views . The paths are favoured with tourists, and offer the perfect opportunity to snap some photographs of nature at it's most beautiful . Whoever controlled this 1.5mile long stretch of the road controlled the gateway of Sichuan, and the nationalists had built an elaborate system of bunkers in the area to strengthen its defense against the expected communist invasion. The communists managed to capture over 300 prisoners-of-wars and had all the remaining people killed in the fierce battle, and more importantly, the taking of Jianmen Pass secured the passage for the communists to invade deeper into the heart of Sichuan. Much history is contained within the mountain, where steps can be traced from the great battle between the communists and nationalists . Wooden railings give some comfort to visitors to the range, but they will still have to be wary of hitting their heads . | The footpaths date from nearly 1,000 years ago from China's Three Kingdoms Period .
The site is also famous for the historic 1949 battle between the communists and the nationalists .
Footpaths have been developed and not include a protruding skywalk for the ultimate view . |
0cff2c9379467a7d81195b1f5123b4bc428dda2c | (CNN) -- A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck Saturday near the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, the state-run Philippines News Agency (PNA) reported. The temblor hit at 12:37 p.m. local time, 149 kilometers (93 miles) south of Davao, the USGS said. It struck at a depth of about 98 kilometers. No tsunami warning or watch has been issued. In August: Strong offshore quake in the Philippines . Rescuers struggle to aid Philippines storm victims . CNN's Salma Abdelaziz contributed to this report. | No tsunami warning or watch has been issued .
The earthquake occurred in the ocean, south of the city of Davao . |
0cff6bf75f61a7550054ef2e78f28c85dca1d71f | Italy coach Cesare Prandelli unsure of his tactics or his best attacking options . Uruguay manager Oscar Washington Tabarez is under pressure after recent results . Third time . lucky for Costa Rica boss Jorge Luis Pinto after failing to qualify in 2006 and in 2010 . England boss Roy Hodgson names his 23 squad for this summer's World Cup finals in Brazil on Monday but how are his group rivals faring? Italy . Manager . Cesare Prandelli took Italy to the Euro 2012 final with an attack-minded plan. Praised for the sense of pride and honour he has restored to the Azzurri, guiding Italy to third at the Confederations Cup was a further sign they are going in the right direction and last month Prandelli extended his contract until 2016. Dilemma: Mario Balotelli's unpredictability has forced a change of plan for Italy . Key player . Andrea Pirlo, the Juventus midfielder, with 108 appearances to his name so far, dominated England at Euro 2012, but will bow out of international football after the World Cup. Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verratti has been anointed his successor. Injury worries . Giuseppe Rossi, out for four months with a serious knee injury sustained in January, made a goalscoring return to form last week for Fiorentina. Form . Italy were unbeaten in qualifying when Prandelli was planning to build . his side around Mario Balotelli, but the striker's unpredictability has . forced a change of plan. Prandelli is still unsure whether to play one . or two up front and, with Rossi not certain to start, he may opt for a . front three in which Alessio Cerci and Antonio Candreva can track back . to boost the numbers in midfield. Boost: Giuseppe Rossi made a goalscoring return to form for Fiorentina . Team . Current starting XI (4-3-3): Buffon; Romulo, Barzagli, Chiellini, De Sciglio; Rossi, Pirlo, Montolivo; Cerci, Balotelli, Candreva. Uruguay . Manager . Oscar Washington Tabarez is eight years into his second spell as Uruguay manager, but he has had to deal with criticism as results since finishing third in 2010 and winning the 2011 Copa America have dropped off. He has kept faith with the same group of players as in 2010 despite calls for more new faces. Hype: Uruguay have tried to play down expectation surrounding Luis Suarez . Key player . Luis Suarez. Tabarez has spoken of his fear that Suarez gets injured right at the end of the Premier League season, but he has tried to play down expectations on the team's star man as the increase in pressure could leave Suarez frustrated in Brazil. Injury worries . Liverpool's Sebastian Coates has just returned after eight months out with a knee ligament injury and could yet get into the squad. Fernando Muslera, Diego Perez, Arevalo Rios and Nicolas Lodeiro all have knocks but should recover. Concern: Uruguay captain Diego Lugano has only played four games for West Brom this year . Form . Diego Lugano, the team's leader and captain, has played only four league matches for West Bromwich Albion in 2014 and his lack of game time will be a problem as he is considered undroppable. Gaston Ramirez, currently out of the Southampton side, is fully fit and should come in for Diego Forlan. Team . Current starting XI (4-3-1-2): Muslera; Maxi Pereira, Lugano, Godin, Caceres; Arevalo Rios, Diego Perez, Alvaro Gonzalez; Ramirez; Suarez, Cavani. Costa Rica . Manager . Jorge Luis Pinto. This is third time lucky for Colombian boss Pinto, who failed to qualify in 2006 (with Costa Rica) and in 2010 (as Colombia coach). Has added defensive rigour to what used to be a free-wheeling team, with Costa Rica's three-man defence coming into its own away from home. Danger man: Arsenal striker Joel Campbell had a successful campaign on loan at Olympiacos . Key player . Joel Campbell. The Arsenal striker had a successful campaign on loan at Olympiacos and gives Costa Rica an unpredictable element up front. 'He's a great talent who can make the difference in any game,' said former forward Paulo Wanchope. Injury worries . There was a blow on Saturday night when Everton’s Bryan Oviedo revealed that he would notrecover in time from the leg he broke in January. Mainz’s Junior Diaz should replace him. Rosenborg defender Cristian Gamboa is set to recover from his knee injury. Form . Pinto is convinced that Costa Rica can pull off a shock in Brazil, although squad depth is an issue. Team . Current starting XI (5-3-2) Navas; Gamboa, Umana, Gonzalez, Acosta, Oviedo; Tejeda, Borges, Bolanos; Ruiz, Campbell. | Italy coach Cesare Prandelli unsure of his tactics or his best attacking options .
Uruguay manager Oscar Washington Tabarez is under pressure after recent results .
Third time .
lucky for Costa Rica boss Jorge Luis Pinto after failing to qualify in 2006 and in 2010 . |
0d0047deacd74ef50d81464ad73518ae0049a3a0 | Burnley are staying tight-lipped over the future of Liverpool target Danny Ings. Reports on Monday suggested that the 22-year-old has signed a pre-contract with Real Sociedad and will join David Moyes’ side at the end of the season. The England Under 21 striker, who has been widely linked with the Spanish club, will be out of contract in the summer and is free to talk to foreign teams. Liverpool are keen to sign Burnley striker Danny Ings during this January transfer window . But Burnley are staying tight-lipped on reports Ings has signed a pre-contract with Real Sociedad . David Moyes (left), pictured with Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti before Sociedad's 4-1 defeat at the weekend, could have Burnley striker and Liverpool target Ings in his ranks for the start of next season . Burnley have always maintained that he will not leave Turf Moor in this transfer window. Liverpool were prepared to pay £4million for Ings and loan him back to the Clarets for the rest of the season before discovering that would be against Premier League rules. Meanwhile, Burnley have moved to strengthen their central midfield by tabling a £3m offer for West Brom’s Graham Dorrans. Sean Dyche is also in the market for a winger. Burnley have also tabled a £3million offer for West Bromwich Albion midfielder Graham Dorrans . | Burnley forward Danny Ings has been interesting Liverpool .
England Under 21 striker is reported to have agreed to join Real Sociedad .
Reports suggest Ings has signed a pre-contract with David Moyes' side .
Burnley tabled £3m offer for West Bromwich Albion's Graham Dorrans .
READ: Danny Ings still a transfer target for Liverpool .
CLICK HERE to see how transfer deadline day unfolded . |
0d00516f0c3eb1d43cfab31890c6fd75c7420187 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 00:51 EST, 4 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:52 EST, 5 October 2013 . President Barack Obama has canceled a long-planned trip to Asia next week because of the government shutdown. The President had already shortened the trip from four countries to two but then on Thursday the called the trip off all together. The White House announced earlier in the week that Obama would be unable to visit Malaysia and the Philippines because the partial shutdown of the federal government was impacting personnel needed to set up the stops. Calling it off: President Obama and his advisers decided that they had to cancel his planned trip to Asia due to the ongoing government shutdown . The White House had held out hope that the president could attend to economic summits in Indonesia and Brunei. But he decided to skip the entire trip to stay in Washington to continue pressing for a budget bill that would reopen the government. He reportedly told the leaders of Malaysia and the Philippines that he will be making visits to their countries later in his term but there has been no such public declaration for Indonesia- where he lived as a young boy- or Brunei. 'The cancellation of this trip is another consequence of the House Republicans forcing a shutdown of the government,' White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement. Disappointment: Dancers in Bali, Indonesia were performing at the welcome reception for the APEC conference on Friday when it became clear that President Obama would not be attending. He was due to arrive Sunday . Celebrating far away: Secretary of State John Kerry will visit the four countries in the place of the President. He was already in Asia, seen here on Thursday with Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel in Japan (it was Hagel's birthday) 'This completely avoidable shutdown is setting back our ability to create jobs through promotion of U.S. exports and advance U.S. leadership and interests in the largest emerging region in the world.' Obama had been due to depart Washington late Saturday night, and it is still unclear whether or not the shutdown will carry on until that point. Even if Congress and the Senate are able to agree on a budget by that point, the President's advance teams will not have enough time to prepare. A New York Times article about the effects of the shutdown on the White House revealed that all but one of the members of the President’s advance team have been furloughed. After the first stops on the trip were canceled, deputy press secretary Josh Earnest was tasked with cancelling the private planes that had been booked for the flight, and now he will surely be making some more calls. Continued confusion: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid defended the Democrats stance against Republican attempts to gut the Affordable Care Act as part of the budget approval process . Secretary of State John Kerry, already on a trip to Asia, is visiting all four countries in place of the president. The White House said Obama called the Sultan of Brunei and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday night to express his regret. Prior to their announcement, some thought that there would be some benefits for the President to be seen as global leader. 'Timing is everything, and if the moment is right to contrast leading on the world scene to being stuck in Washington gridlock, going on the road makes some sense,' said Mike McCurry, who served as former President Clinton's press secretary during the last federal shutdown. | President was originally scheduled to visit Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei .
Malaysia and the Philippines were canceled earlier this week but then on Thursday night the White House announced all four were off .
Furloughs from the government shutdown meant that the President's advance team was reduced to just one person . |
0d018d44aa914ee70ec61a9aa4e11c44fa1501b9 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . A giant coffee shop billboard featuring a naked woman is brewing controversy in Washington, with locals demanding the racy sign be pulled down. A picture of a blonde woman bearing her rear in a tiny g-string adorns the 10-foot-tall mobile billboard, parked on the side of various busy highways to promote two lingerie coffee bars. While the unidentified business owner insists she has a right to advertise her coffee stands as she chooses, some locals are disgusted at the graphic nudity. 'It's completely unacceptable and I am offended,' mother-of-four Susan Evans told KXLY.com, noting she once ate with her family across the street from the sign. 'This must be taken down.' Scroll down for video . Controversy brewing: Some locals are outraged at this billboard for 2nd Base Lingerie Espresso which features a nude woman with wings on a Washington state highway . It moves: The traveling billboard is shuttled between two Washington coffee stands - 2nd Base Lingerie Espresso in Spokane Valley and Big Shots Espresso in Spokane . The saucy sign is moved between 2nd Base Lingerie Espresso on East Sprague in Spokane Valley and Big Shots Espresso in Spokane city. The owner of both outlets, who refused to be identified, told KHQ.com that she is not concerned with the community's frustration, and is focused on running her business. The woman who appears on the billboard, identified by My Fox Orlando as Amanda Bennett, agrees. Bennett, a mother who works as a bikini barista at Big Shots Espresso, told Fox the sign shows nothing more than you'd see at the beach. 'At least I have a job,' she said. 'I could be a mom out on the side of a road begging for money like all the people downtown or living in a homeless shelter, but this takes care of my family.' Bikini barista: Amanda Bennett (pictured left and right), the woman who reportedly appears on the controversial billboard, works at Big Shots Espresso in Washington . Mother: Amanda Bennett, pictured with her partner and child, says that she believes the sign shows nothing more than people would see at the beach and she is trying to support her family . However, many locals don't share the bikini babe's point of view. 'It's not something I'd want my daughter to see if I brought her with me,' Kandace Holquist, an employee of a nearby restaurant, told NWCN.com. 'I thought it was funny for a minute, but the second after that it was kind of like - kids [will be] driving by and looking at stuff,' Miguel Hernandez, also a restaurant employee in the area, said. Resident Kevina Howe told Fox: 'I think women should have more self respect than that and they don’t and that just baffles me.' Joey Johnston, who works at a nearby burger shop, said he can see why families are angry. 'This is a family restaurant and this area, people drive by all the time,' Johnston told KXLY.com. 'Like I said, I don't have a problem with it, maybe if it was just a little less revealing.' Fox reported that code enforcers said the sign was not allowed in the city of Spokane, but did not give a reason, while authorities for the Valley have not commented. Scene: The controversial billboard outside 2nd Base Lingerie Espresso on East Sprague in Spokane Valley, Washington . Other option: This billboard for a second coffee shop, Big Shots Lingerie Espresso, features scantily-clad - but not nude - women . Spokane, North Idaho News . | The billboard promotes two coffee stands, 2nd Base Lingerie Espresso and Big Shots Espresso, in Washington .
It reportedly features Amanda Bennett who works at Big Shots Espresso .
She is half-nude with angel wings and bearing her backside .
Some locals say the ad is offensive, while others argue businesses can advertise how they want .
Bennett says the ad shows nothing more than you'd see at the beach .
City of Spokane code enforcers say the sign is not allowed . |
0d029b3147a3875e0b7ddae8e65eb22377a7268f | By . Chris Foy for the Daily Mail . Follow @@FoyChris . A dozen of England’s World Cup-winning women’s team are to be paid for the first time following their triumph in France this month. Twenty players in total will receive central contracts, the RFU said on Monday, and will play full-time in preparation for the Rio Olympics. The contracts are being given to members of the England women’s sevens squad, with 12 of those having been involved in the World Cup victory, which was hailed as a watershed moment. Champions of the world: England captain Katy Mclean lifts the World Cup trophy on their return to Twickenham . The decision by the national governing body will give England the best chance to maintain their success by following New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Russia Spain and the USA in placing women on professional deals. Gary Street’s side beat Canada 21-9 in the World Cup final on August 17, despite the fact that the players were not paid. Many of them had to quit their day jobs or take unpaid leave. The squad contained teachers, personal trainers, a plumber, a vet, a lifeguard and students. Now they will train five days a week at Twickenham and Surrey Sports Park in Guildford and compete in the world sevens series, in an attempt to qualify for the Olympics on behalf of Great Britain, and also play 15-a-side rugby at club and Test level. Captain Katy Mclean said: ‘This is fantastic news for the sport and exactly what we need as an England squad to continue to be at the top of our sport.’ Daunting prospect: England defeated Canada in the final on August 17 in front of a packed Stade Jean-Bouin . Celebrate good times: Mclean and many of her team-mates will be paid for playing rugby for the first time . | England beat Canada 21-9 in the World Cup final in Paris on August 17 .
Many of the World Cup winners had to quit their day jobs to compete .
The team included teachers, personal trainers, a plumber and a lifeguard .
A dozen from that squad will receive central contracts, the RFU confirmed .
Eight others, involved in the women's sevens squad, will also play full-time .
The decision comes as the full squad prepare for the 2016 Rio Olympics .
England captain Katy Mclean described it as 'fantastic news for the sport' |
0d02fb8f0d406db956b128a5c1cc7bf3f13860a6 | By . Steve Nolan . PUBLISHED: . 14:56 EST, 3 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 15:07 EST, 3 October 2013 . Jailed: Former Scout leader Ian Pain, who raped a child and shared indecent images of children with other paedophiles has been jailed for 16 years . A Scout leader who raped a 10-year-old and had thousands of child porn images stored on his computer has been jailed for 16 years. Ian Pain, 48, had initially thanked police for arresting him in June last year after they found more than 3,800 photographs of children aged between seven and 16 being sexually abused on his computer. He claimed that he 'hadn't hurt anybody' and that police action would prevent his urge to look at images of underage porn. But six months later, a 10-year-old boy told one of his friends that he had been abused by Pain, who also refereed youth football matches, over a two year period. He was jailed at Wolverhampton Crown Court this week after admitting his crimes which included inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, distributing indecent images of children and possessing indecent images of children. Pain will also have to sign the sex offenders' register for life and is banned from ever working with, living with or communicating with children again. The court heard that computers, mobile phones and other items were seized during a police raid on Pain's home in Wolverhampton - where he still lived with his parents. Detectives found Pain had 68 level five images, the most extreme in an international evidential scale used by police. Officers also found that 1,305 photographs and films had also been distributed via chat rooms and file sharing websites regularly used by paedophiles. Pain was suspended from his leader's role at the Scouts, refereeing junior football matches and serving as an outwards bounds instructor as the investigation continued. Following Pain's sentencing, Detective Constable Allan Sharp, from West Midlands Police, said: 'When questioned Pain described the dark and sickening online world in which he operated. 'He said that people like him who were viewing indecent images of children were encouraged to share photographs and films depicting abuse. Police raid: Detectives pictured searching through Ian Pain's belongings after raiding his Wolverhampton home in June last year . 'If not, they would be removed from "friend lists" and eventually kicked out of the virtual group. 'Many of the sites he used were originally set up to allow people to share music and film. Over the years many of these have been hijacked by people like Pain. Evidence: Detectives found several thousand indecent images on Pain's computer, pictured . 'The crimes his victim described were truly horrendous. One can only imagine the immense burden the child had to bear alone and how that has negatively affected him. 'Up until the last minute, Ian Pain had denied abusing any child. It was only when he realised the consequences of maintaining his web of lies that he finally entered a guilty plea. 'I am satisfied with the lengthy sentence handed down by the courts. 'It reflects the seriousness of his offending and flies in the face of those people like Pain who believe that they are not harming children who feature in these images. 'To capture these acts real children have been subject to sickening abuse and emotionally damaged.' Andy Barker, from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), added: 'The sentence of Ian Pain to 16 years imprisonment for this horrendous crime also highlights the risk posed to children by those who view indecent images of children. 'We know there are links between viewing such images and the contact abuse of children, which is why we continue to work alongside our police and industry colleagues to provide an increasingly hostile online environment for those who seek out child abuse images.' | Ian Pain, 48, from Wolverhampton initially thanked police for arresting him .
He said their actions would stop the urge to look at child pornography .
Pain, who lived with his parents' claimed he 'hadn't hurt anybody'
But six months later a 10-year-old told how Pain had abused him . |
0d03c47d1c61ee585da8cbdf7d7e6f384007d530 | (CNN) -- Shirley Chisholm, elected in 1968 as the first black woman in the U.S. Congress, once said: "I've always met more discrimination being a woman than being black." The U.S. Senate gained one more woman this election in New Hampshire Senator-elect Jeanne Shaheen. Slightly more than three years after Chisholm's death, Barack Obama will be sworn in as president, a huge step forward for African-Americans. But for women, progress this election year was defined by "creeping and leaping," said CNN contributor Hilary Rosen, the Washington editor-at-large for Huffingtonpost.com. Rosen favored Hillary Clinton, but she and other influential women pundits and activists note that Clinton and Gov. Sarah Palin's loss at the polls does not diminish the strides they made for their gender. "Women are about 54 percent of the vote," Rosen said. "Do we have equal representation? No. Are we closer to it? Yes." In the House, 10 new congresswomen will join the 64 incumbents who were re-elected, according to Rutgers University's Center for American Women and Politics, bringing the number of women in the 435-seat body to a record 74. The 100-member U.S. Senate gained one woman, Democrat Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, who became the 17th female senator. And several women could be appointed to prominent roles in Obama's administration. Shaheen will be New Hampshire's first female senator. She won in a bitter battle against Republican incumbent John E. Sununu, tying him to the unpopular President Bush. "It was an extraordinarily hard year for Republicans," said Leslie Sanchez, a CNN contributor, Republican strategist and former adviser to President Bush. "You didn't have to go much further than relying on how unhappy people are with the administration." North Carolina elected Beverly Perdue, who becomes the state's first woman governor. Perdue is the first pro-choice female governor of a Southern state since the late Ann Richards of Texas, according to Emily's List, which raised $43 million in 2007-2008 to help develop the candidacies of Democratic women. "This is the state of Jesse Helms!" said New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat, referring to one of the most polarizing figures in American political history. Helms opposed civil rights and a holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. "It's always a big deal when a woman is elected to high office, but this was a significant shift," Maloney said. Perdue and North Carolina Democrat Kay Hagan, who beat Republican U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, are strongly pro-Obama and pro-public education. North Carolina Association of Educators mobilized a massive get-out-the-vote campaign for them. Perdue was the subject of a GOP ad that pictured Obama with his arms around her as his former pastor Jeremiah Wright's incendiary sermons play in the background. In the closing days of the campaign, Dole ran an ad that insinuated Hagan was "godless." "Women generally don't react favorably to campaign smears and mudslinging," said Kim Gandy, the president of the National Organization for Women. "We elected the women who talked about issues that we care about -- child care, minimum wage, health care, equal pay." Both Hagan and Perdue were overwhelmingly favored by women voters, according to exit polls. Perdue headed up a commission that spent money from a settlement with tobacco companies on health care. In the days before the election, Lilly Ledbetter appeared at a Hagan event. A jury awarded Ledbetter $3 million in damages when it found that Goodyear had discriminated against her by giving her smaller raises than male managers. By a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court threw out that award and said the complaint had been filed too late. Obama supported the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act; McCain said it wasn't necessary. Democrats passed it in the House but Republicans blocked it in the Senate. "Lilly Ledbetter has come to symbolize so much to women," NOW's Gandy said. "That issue alone will change votes." Among the women expected to play a key role in the Obama administration is Karen Kornbluh, who served as a policy adviser and was the principal author of the Democrats' party platform. Kornbluh used to direct The Work and Family Program at the New America Foundation, served in the Clinton administration and was an adviser to Sen. John Kerry on the Senate Commerce Committee. She's well-known in D.C. for her essays "The Mommy Tax" and "The Joy of Flex," which addressed the needs of the "juggler family," or the household where two parents are working and no one is at home full-time. She argues for federal support for child care and after-school care, and control over flex-time for employees whose long hours usually come at the expense, emotionally and financially, of their families. "In Washington, she is really considered Obama's brain on so many policies," said Steven Clemons, director of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation and writer of the Washington Note blog. Read exclusive interview with Kornbluh . "Her ideas are fresh and applicable to real life, real Americans." Clemons said. "She's been quoted all over Washington from Joseph Lieberman to John Edwards since the [presidential] race in '04." Also, Susan Rice is believed to be under consideration for national security adviser. She is Obama's chief foreign policy adviser, a former assistant secretary of state for African Affairs and protégé of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Valerie Jarrett has also been mentioned for White House postings and as a possible appointee to fill the Senate seat that Obama will vacate. She is the Obamas' closest friend and has served as a political adviser. "The consultants will drag you through the mud so Obama was brilliant in putting Valerie in that role," Sanchez said. "Her counsel was very grounding for him and she protected him as a candidate." | Women's progress in this election "creeping and leaping," analyst says .
74 women will be in 435-member House; 17 female senators out of 100 .
"Do we have equal representation? No. Are we closer to it? Yes."
Obama may appoint women; Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin made strides . |
0d05816c8a742a18966555c438949ed22b64351c | Luis Suarez has been included in Uruguay’s 22-man squad for two international friendlies this month in Saudi Arabia and Oman. It will be his first selection for Uruguay since biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup. Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez announced the team Thursday for matches at Saudi Arabia on October 10 and at Oman three days later. Suarez could play for Uruguay for the first time since the World Cup in the friendlies this week . Suarez was banned for eight international games and given a long club ban after biting Giorgio Chiellini . Although being allowed to play the friendlies, Suarez is still banned from Uruguay’s next eight competitive matches. This means he will miss next year’s Copa America and some World Cup qualifiers. The ban also covers competitive matches until later this month for Barcelona. Suarez has played in a youth game and friendly for Barcelona this season, but won’t return to the proper side until later this month, possibly for the El Clasico clash with Real Madrid. The Uruguayan striker has been able to train with his new club Barcelona but cannot play competitively . Suarez has been given a run-out in youth and reserve games for Barcelona and could return soon . The bite on Chiellini didn't prevent the former Liverpool striker making his big-money move to Spain . | Suarez is banned for next eight competitive international matches .
Barcelona striker cannot play any competitive game until late October .
Uruguay star bit Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup .
Suarez has returned in youth and reserve games and can play friendlies . |
0d065aab6e60b59c0a32124cb645dc17b9ed0246 | Cancer patients who receive several weeks of radiation treatment could soon be a thing of the past, with doctors developing an Australian-first single session therapy in a handful of minutes. The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne has trialled a powerful new technique that could enable patients to safely receive their radiation treatment in a single, ten-minute session. Radiation Oncologist Dr Shankar Siva said since 2010, patients at the centre have been treated with high-dose Stereotactic Ablative Body Radiation Therapy (SABR) over a six to eight week period. But a team of experts have used a combination of the complex modelling calculations to allow doctors to deliver higher dosages and reduce treatment time even further. Scroll down for video . Cancer patients who receive several weeks of radiation treatment could soon be a thing of the past . By removing the laser's filter, the new flattening filter-free SABR treatment will enable doctors to control the peak power of the radiation beam. 'Our medical physicists have now introduced an innovative method to predict the stereotactic beam to deliver to a tumour a 'knock-out punch' of up to 28 Gray of radiation in a single session over only a handful of minutes,' Dr Siva said. 'This shift is particularly important for our older patients who cannot lie still for prolonged periods and for others who are in discomfort due to their disease.' Cancer patient Harold Sciberras ,80, was the first in Victoria to undergo the treatment on Friday . Dr Shankar Siva (right) with Clinical Research Physicist Associate Professor Annette Haworth in Victoria . The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne has trialled a powerful new technique that could enable patients to safely receive their radiation treatment in a single, ten-minute session . SABR is used to treat small secondary tumours that have spread short distances from the primary tumour, or inoperable primary cancers in highly sensitive locations such as the lung, and is typically delivered over three to five treatment sessions of 40–60 minutes each. Cancer patient Harold Sciberras was the first in Victoria to undergo the treatment on Friday with a small primary lung cancer in his right lung irradiated. The 80-year-old was wrapped in a vacuum-sealed plastic slip while a 4D CT scanner tracked the tumour's position, enabling treatment to be delivered with greater accuracy and fewer side-effects. 'The location of the tumour makes it very difficult to operate or target with conventional radiation without affecting my healthy lung tissue, so this new technique has certainly come at the right time for me, and many others in my situation,' Sciberras said. Dr Siva said SABR has been a game changer for people with difficult to treat tumours . Patient Harold Sciberras said the new technique has certainly come at the right time for him and many others . 'The best news is I will be back at home in Diggers Rest tonight, and I will only need to return to Peter Mac for follow-up appointments.' Dr Siva added that SABR has been a game changer for people with difficult to treat tumours. 'The sharp delineation of the stereotactic beam greatly reduces damage to healthy tissue and allows for a higher dose through faster, more targeted delivery of radiation therapy and now, thanks to the work of our team, we can deliver this in one controlled blow for some of our patients,' Dr Siva said. | The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne trialled the innovative method for the first time on Friday .
Experts have developed a new technique that could enable cancer patients to receive their treatment in a single, ten-minute session .
Patient Harold Sciberras was the first in Victoria to undergo the treatment . |
0d06f9952dec72e497bcd2038cd76e7b032afba0 | (CNN) -- A woman accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter and dumping her body in Texas' Galveston Bay went on trial Tuesday on capital murder charges in the child's death, court officials said. Kimberly Dawn Trenor has pleaded guilty to an evidence-tampering charge, her attorney says. Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 20, pleaded guilty last week to tampering with evidence in the case, but she pleaded not guilty to the capital murder charge, said her attorney, Tom Stickler. Trenor's husband, Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 25, also faces capital murder and evidence-tampering charges, but is being tried separately and has not been arraigned. The body of Trenor's daughter, Riley Ann Sawyers, was found in October 2007 in a large plastic blue container on an uninhabited island in Galveston Bay. Jurors in Trenor's trial also will determine her sentence on the evidence-tampering charge, which carries a penalty of two to 20 years in prison, according to The Houston Chronicle. Riley Ann's case drew national attention after a fisherman found her body. Authorities were unsure of her identity, and police dubbed her "Baby Grace." After authorities distributed composite sketches of the girl nationwide, Sheryl Sawyers, the girl's paternal grandmother, contacted police from her Ohio home to say the drawing resembled her granddaughter. DNA testing confirmed the child's identity. According to an affidavit, Trenor told police Riley had been beaten and thrown across a room and that her head was held under water before she died on July 24, 2007. She said the couple hid the girl's body in a storage shed for one to two months before they put it in the plastic container and dumped it into the bay. The disposal of the girl's body led to the evidence-tampering charge. A medical examiner said Riley's skull was fractured in three places, injuries that would have been fatal. A capital murder charge carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison, the Chronicle reported. A cross has since been erected on the island where the toddler was found, which was named Riley's Island in her honor, according to the Houston newspaper. Trenor and the girl moved to Texas from Ohio in May 2007 to be with Zeigler, whom Trenor had met on the Internet. While in custody, Trenor gave birth this summer to another child, who is now in the care of relatives, her attorney, Tom Stickler, said. | Kimberly Dawn Trenor accused of killing her 2-year-old known as "Baby Grace"
Child's body was found in plastic container on island in Texas' Galveston Bay .
Trenor could receive sentence of life in prison if convicted . |
0d0706e0addbadda3dd94015b01bb47542be70ef | By . Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor . PUBLISHED: . 12:06 EST, 14 November 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 12:11 EST, 14 November 2012 . More than 300,000 tickets to the London 2012 Games were never sold, despite millions of people jamming official websites in the hope of witnessing sporting history. A total of 263,824 tickets to Olympic competitions were never sold along with 55,455 tickets to the Paralympic Games, including thousands of tickets to the main Olympic Park in East London. Olympics chiefs were today challenged to come clean about which events were not sold out and why sports fans were told to stay away when tens of thousands of seats remained empty. TV viewers were furious when they saw empty seats in the early stages of the London Olympics. Here former PM Sir John Major and wife Norma are seen surrounded by spare chairs . The revelation is likely to provoke a furious response from those people who tried in vain to get tickets to what was billed as the greatest show on earth. Around 1.2 million people - or two-thirds of applicants – were left empty-handed after the first round of ticket sales. In the early stages of the Games there was a backlash when TV cameras showed banks of empty seats. Eventually it was agreed that armed forces personnel drafted in to bolster security would be able to fill empty seats. Appearing at the London Assembly today, 2012 chairman Lord Coe and chief executive Lord Deighton were accused of being ‘selective’ about the data about which events were not sold out. It was suggested only people with ‘deep pockets’ were able to get tickets to the most coveted events because so few low-price seats were made available. Lord Deighton insisted trying to draw up a ticketing strategy was of ‘mind-numbing complexity'. He told the London Assembly: ‘We have so much data. You can come in and see it. You can go right through the database and see every ticket for every venue and at every price.’ Despite being hugely oversubscribed, some 284 tickets to the Olympic opening ceremony were not sold . In total, 263,824 tickets to the London Olympics went unsold to the UK public. It included 1,729 passes to visit the Olympic Park and 2,491 to climb the Orbit tower. For the Paralympics, 55,455 tickets were never sold, including big sporting events, day passes and Orbit tickets. Lord Deighton said: ‘The tickets that were not sold were tickets kept in contingency in the early days.’ Some 284 tickets were not sold for the Opening Ceremony out of a total of 104,149 that were available. Lord Deighton said some passes were held back while the positioning of the cauldron was tested. ‘We wanted to make sure that nobody got burnt, so we needed to test those before we released them.’ Lord Deighton, who ran the Olympic organising committee, said the ticketing system was of 'mind-numbing complexity' He added that ‘at very late notice, it may have been possible’ for someone to have bought those tickets. London 2012 raised £659 million from ticket sales, exceeding its £500 million target, towards the £2billion it needed to raise from the private sector to stage the Games. It sold 10.99 million tickets out of a total of 11.3 million available across the Olympics and Paralympics. This included 8.21 million tickets for the Olympics and 2.78 million for the Paralympics. Liberal Democrat Assembly member Stephen Knight said: ‘Obtaining detailed information from Locog about the sale of tickets for the Games has been like pulling teeth. Having refused to publish ticket information before the Games started, it is only now trickling out selective information.’ | More than 263,000 tickets for the Olympics and 55,000 tickets for the Paralympics went unsold .
284 passes to the Opening Ceremony were held back .
Around 1.2million were left empty-handed after the first ticket ballot .
TV viewers were furious at the sight of empty seats . |
0d0801f691c202388496a21e37742d6bd3cfb291 | Jihadist Aqsa Mahmood broke her silence yesterday to warn Western Muslims that it's 'us against them' and to 'pick a side' in the war . Jihadist Aqsa Mahmood broke her silence yesterday to warn Western Muslims that it’s ‘us against them’ and to ‘pick a side’ in the war. On the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Mahmood posted her diatribe in a third instalment of her online ‘Diary of a Muhajirah (immigrant)’ – in which she also said she would only come home to raise the black flag of IS over Britain. She suspended her Twitter account after the Scottish Daily Mail revealed her identity as a Glaswegian private schoolgirl who abandoned her university studies to flee to Syria. Yesterday, using a Tumblr blogging and social networking account under her adopted name ‘Umm Layth’, she shunned her Scottish identity and rejected her family’s pleas to return home. The 20-year-old – who married an IS fighter in February – added: ‘The only time we will ever, ever return to those lands beithnillah (if God wills) is to raise our flag.’ She pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and promised the West would be invaded and ‘blood will be spilled’. She also described Prime Minister David Cameron’s call for new powers to stop British-born extremists from returning to the UK as ‘the biggest joke of this week’. She wrote: ‘This is a war against Islam and it is know (sic) that either “you’re with them or with us”. So pick a side. ‘My dear brothers and sisters who are stuck in the west and restrained due to the kufr (infidel) governments know that indeed the help of Allah swt (may he be glorified and exalted) is always near, have Sabr (patience) and know that you will never be tested beyond your ability. ‘And to those who are able and can still make your way, please ittaqillah (fear Allah) and don’t delay anymore, hasten hasten hasten to our lands and live in Izzah (honour) before it is made difficult for you. Know that these trialing times and do not miss out on any of the ajr (rewards).’ Mahmood’s parents, Glasgow businessman Muzaffar and his wife Khalida, last week branded their daughter a ‘bedroom radical’ who betrayed and shamed her family when she joined IS. They condemned her actions and added she was ‘brainwashed and deluded’, but insisted that they still loved her and begged her to come home. In a heartbreaking press conference, they said: ‘You have betrayed us, our community and the people of Scotland when you took this step. ‘Aqsa, you have torn the heart out of our family and changed our lives forever, please come home.’ The family added that they have not seen their daughter since November last year and had contacted Police Scotland to report her missing after she disappeared. Threats: Aqsa Mahmood. Left: Parents Khalida and Muzaffar say she has 'betrayed' them . But in her latest posting Mahmood claimed that she has now ‘disassociated’ herself from her family and friends in Scotland. She said: ‘The family you get in exchange for leaving the ones behind are like the pearl in comparison to the Shell you threw away into the foam of the sea.’ Now her allegiance ‘is and will only be to our beloved Ameer, destroyer of the enemies, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and to the Islamic State’. She added: ‘All of us disassociated ourselves from our families, friends and societies. ‘We make it known to the world that never has our allegiance been to the Scottish, British, Swedish, American, Canadian etc…. government.’ In a message to Mr Cameron and US President Barack Obama, she suggests that Islamic State will bring the battle to the West and adds they will ‘be known and feared’ across the world. She wrote: ‘Know this Cameron/Obama, you and your countries will be beneath our feet and your Kufr (infidel) will be destroyed, this is a promise from Allah swt that we have no doubt over. ‘If not you then your grandchildren or their grandchildren. But worry not, somewhere along the line your blood will be spilled by our cubs in Dawlah (state). ‘We have conquered these lands once Beithnillah (if God wills) we will do it again.’ | Aqsa Mahmood warned it’s ‘us against them’
and to ‘pick a side’
She .
suspended Twitter account after Scottish Daily Mail revealed identity .
Mahmood was private schoolgirl who abandoned university to flee to Syria .
Has broken silence to say she'd only come home to raise black flag of IS . |
0d08e6d9b7fefccafe4b86b349023ba3f02a51bc | Death row: Kelly Renee Gissendaner (above), 47, is scheduled to be executed at 7pm on Wednesday . A woman who is will become Georgia's first female inmate to be executed in 70 years when she is given the lethal injection tomorrow is making a final plea for her life this morning. Kelly Renee Gissendaner, the only woman on death row in the state, is scheduled to die at 7pm on Wednesday at a Jackson prison for the 1997 death of her husband in suburban Atlanta. The 47-year-old has exhausted all appeals to higher courts but on Tuesday morning, she will ask the parole board - the sole authority who can commute a death sentence - for clemency. 'The Board will either grant clemency, commuting to life with or without parole possibility, deny clemency, or issue a stay not to exceed 90 days,' board spokesman Steven Hayes told the Athens-Banner Herald on Monday. The board will meet in private at 9am. They could reach a decision on Tuesday but the only guideline is that they must decide the outcome before her scheduled execution time. Gissendaner was convicted of killing her husband, Douglas, in February 1997 along with her then-boyfriend Gregory Owen. Authorities said she had wanted to kill her husband - whom she had previously divorced and then re-married - because she wanted to split from him again but thought he would not leave her alone. Together, the duo plotted the murder for months and Owen followed her orders to kill Douglas while she was out at a nightclub with friends on February 7, 1997, CNN reported. Owen waited at the couple's home until Douglas arrived before kidnapping him and driving him to a remote area. He stole his watch and wallet to make the murder look like a robbery. Arrest: Gissendaner, who is Georgia's only female death row inmate, was arrested in 1997 for plotting to kill her husband with her then-boyfriend, Gregory Owen (right), who ultimately testified against her . Victim: Douglas Gissendaner was stabbed multiple times in the neck by Owen in February 1997 after his wife wanted to divorce him but thought he would not leave her alone. His body was found two weeks later . He then beat Douglas across the head with a nightstick and stabbed him in the neck and back between eight and 10 times. Kelly Gissendaner arrived as the murder took place but remained in her car. She later got out to make sure that her husband was dead before the pair took Douglas' vehicle and burned it using kerosene. The duo then left the scene. Douglas' burned-out car was found the following morning, and more than a week later the body was found a mile away. Animals had eaten away at the skin on Douglas' neck, making it hard for authorities to deduce which stab wound had killed him, CNN reported. In the days before he was found, Kelly Gissendaner had appeared on local TV to appeal for help finding her husband - but on February 24, Owen confessed to the murder and implicated her. While in jail, she plotted to pay someone $10,000 to falsely claim that they had driven her to the murder scene at gunpoint, but her cellmate alerted authorities to the plan. Owen is serving life in prison in Washington state for his role in the murder. He avoided the death penalty after testifying against his former lover. In court: Gissendaner was found guilty of plotting the murder in 1998 (pictured) and sentenced to death . Locked up: Gissendaner, who will be the first woman to be executed in Georgia in 70 years, is seen eating a meal in her cell at Metro State Prison in Atlanta in 2004. She has requested a 2,400-calorie final meal . She was sentenced to death in November 1998 after she was found guilty of her part in the death. Gissendaner, who is incarcerated at Arrendale State Prison, is the only woman among 84 inmates facing the death penalty in Georgia, according to a report by the state's Department of Corrections. She is set to be only the 14th woman executed in Georgia since 1735, according to the AJC. The last time a woman was executed was in 1945. Lena Baker was electrocuted in March of that year after she was convicted of murder for shooting her boss. In 2005, the state pardoned her after agreeing with her family that she acted in self defense. Gissendaner has requested a last meal of cornbread with a side of buttermilk; two Burger King Whoppers with cheese; two large orders of fries; cherry vanilla ice cream; popcorn; a salad with boiled eggs, tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, carrots, cheese and Newman's Own buttermilk dressing; and lemonade, according to CBS46. A rough estimate shows that the food contains more than 4,200 calories. Under Georgia law, only three offenses are punishable by death - murder, rape and kidnapping. | Kelly Gissendaner will be put to death by lethal injection in Jackson, Georgia at 7pm Wednesday for the 1997 murder of her husband .
On Tuesday, she will make a last ditch effort to commute the death penalty .
She has requested a massive last meal including two Burger King Whoppers with cheese, cornbread, fries and cherry vanilla ice cream .
She was sentenced to death for persuading her then-lover to kidnap and stab her husband before she helped him burn the man's car .
The boyfriend, Gregory Owen, is serving life behind bars . |
0d09938e97aea02c850532055b224bf34d3c800f | What do Americans really think about Britons? If a recent survey is to be believed, Yanks have the impression that British people are proper, friendly, uptight and obsessed with the Royal Family. The poll of 1,000 Americans suggests Britons are also reserved and witty – when visitors can understand what they’re saying. An American tourist poses for a photo outside Buckingham Palace in London . The study commissioned by British Airways found that as many as a third of US residents ‘love Britain and everything about it’ – except for the ‘terrible’ weather – and they can’t understand the Geordie or Scottish accents. According to Americans, Britons spend their spare time enjoying afternoon tea, watching or playing ‘soccer’, and gardening. Yanks also have the impression that Britons love a good bit of gossip with the neighbours, boozing and creating family trees when they’re not moaning, playing board games or tennis or baking cakes. In the eyes of people from the other side of the pond, UK residents ‘speak properly’, sound really clever and are also extremely polite, the study found. Obsessed? A recent survey found that Americans think Britons are Royal Family fanatics . English ladies and gentlemen . Obsessed with the royals . Afternoon tea . Very prim and proper . Brits speak properly . Extremely polite . Brits sound clever . Rain . Constantly drinking tea . Football . Have afternoon tea . Watch or play ‘soccer’ Gardening . Gossip with neighbours . Go out boozing . Look up their family tree . Play board games . Play tennis . Bake cakes . Moan about things . When they’re spending time in the UK, Americans said they love the English accents, the countryside and London, and they’re big fans of the politeness, Royal Family and fish and chips. But there are a few things they don’t like about Britain, including the impression that its people are ‘a bit stand-offish’ and ‘uptight’. Three in ten Americans said the UK is their favourite country and one in seven said they would move to Britain if they had the chance. Tea time: According to Americans, Britons spend much of their spare time enjoying afternoon tea . And it appears Britons have a lot of positives to say about Americans as they consider them to be extremely patriotic and really friendly, according to the study. One in six Britons thinks Americans are friendlier than adults from the UK, and Britons admitted to being big fans of US giants such as Apple, Microsoft, McDonald’s and KFC, and television shows such as Friends, The Simpsons and The Big Bang Theory. Caroline Smith, British Airways Holidays’ USA destination manager, said: ‘It’s perhaps not surprising that our friends in America think of tea when they think about Great Britain.' Cheers: Yanks have the impression that Britons love a good bit of gossip with the neighbours and boozing . She added: ‘And the Royal Family are a big part of our country, so again it may not come as a shock to see that they are one of the first things they think about when discussing our country. ‘It’s true that many of us can be overly polite – we form orderly queues and many say sorry when they haven’t done anything wrong which is quite funny. ‘In more ways than one, the US has hit the nail on the head as we do tend to play up to common stereotypes.’ | British Airways asked 1,000 Americans what they love about the UK .
Americans believe Britons spend much of their spare time enjoying tea .
One in six Britons thinks Americans are friendlier than UK adults . |
0d0b5b062f93b1ef497e660082ae980f87de3ee7 | Las Vegas (CNN) -- Sony says it's not quite game over for the PlayStation 3. Contrary to reports, Sony does not plan to announce a new home video-game console at a trade show in June, said Kazuo Hirai, the company's deputy president. "We're not making announcements at E3," Hirai told a roomful of reporters at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show here Tuesday when asked about plans to announce the PlayStation 4. E3 is the annual convention in Los Angeles where game companies typically make their biggest announcements. The five-year-old PlayStation 3 will have a 10-year life cycle, Hirai said. Sony could still release a new system sometime in the next five years, of course. Sony continued to sell the PlayStation 2 system and games years after the PlayStation 3 debuted in stores. For Sony's next console, the company will not deploy a streaming delivery system like OnLive, or fully cut out disc retailers like Best Buy and GameStop, Hirai said. While Sony has increased the number of games and other media available for download or streaming through its networks, most people cannot be expected to frequently download several gigabytes worth of data, which can be a time-consuming process, he said. Sony Computer Entertainment president Andrew House said earlier that Sony is not planning to discuss a new console, the website ComputerAndVideogames.com reported on Monday. He also said that physical media, like Blu-ray discs, are currently the optimal way to deliver full games. Sony released a new hand-held game system, the PlayStation Vita, in Japan last month. It plans to start selling the Wi-Fi and AT&T 3G versions of that system in the United States on February 22. Like Microsoft has done with the Xbox 360 through Kinect, Sony is trying to extend the life of the PlayStation 3 through new accessories, like the Move controller wand, and initiatives like 3-D games. There are dozens of 3-D games now available, Hirai noted. "We are definitely, from a Sony perspective, very committed to 3-D," Hirai said. "It's going to take a little while." Sony CEO Howard Stringer, who also attended the gathering on Tuesday, compared the uptake of 3-D gaming and video to that of color television. "3-D is waiting to happen," he said. "It's an inevitability. So be patient." | Sony's deputy president says the PlayStation 4 will not be announced at E3 .
E3 is a giant trade show for the video game industry .
Sony is focused on deploying and supporting its PlayStation Vita hand-held . |
0d0c8b4b3f1b89800f65024c2274cf9dad3360ec | The Formula One teams are currently embroiled in a bitter internal dispute as to the way forward regarding engines. Following the introduction for this season of the 1.6-litre turbo-charged power units, Mercedes have thoroughly dominated, claiming 15 of 16 poles, 13 race wins and nine one-twos. In the constructors' championship, four of the top-six teams boast Mercedes' power, whilst in the drivers' campaign, eight of the top 11 have the German manufacturing giant behind them. Mercedes race to another one-two at the Russian Grand Prix after dominating the sport this campaign . Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg (L) and Lewis Hamilton have won 13 of 16 races between them . It is why Mercedes are determined to block a requested unfreezing of the current regulations that would allow Ferrari and Renault to make gains and potentially close the gap. A vote is to be taken at a forthcoming F1 Commission meeting, in which all 11 teams will be present, along with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, the FIA and race promoters, with unanimity required for any changes to come into force. Mercedes and their customers - Williams, Force India, and from next year, Lotus - are unwilling to co-operate. Determined Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff said: 'F1 needs stability. 'It's very easy coming from a position of force where we say our power unit is clearly the most competitive at the moment and then just block everything. But this is not the approach we have. Mercedes chief Toto Wolff (R) is understandably against changing the rules to allow rivals to close the gap . 'We have rules and we have governance, and the governance is in place in order to avoid quick, knee-jerk decisions being made that upset stability, upset the commercial set-up. 'I strongly believe you cannot change rules in October for the following year just because you think they don't suit you.' Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, whose team enjoyed four years of title-winning success with Renault up until this season, feels Mercedes should 'not be afraid of competition'. Horner appreciates an unfreeze could even prove beneficial to Mercedes as there is the possibility of them developing a more powerful engine. However, Horner feels Renault and Ferrari should at least be given an opportunity to level the playing field, otherwise Mercedes will be virtually unbeatable again in 2015. 'Mercedes are doing a super job,' said Horner. Red Bull boss Christian Horner (R) wants to level the playing field or face 'stagnation' in the sport . 'But it is healthy for F1 that Ferrari, Honda (who return in 2015 as supplier to McLaren) and Renault should have the ability to close the gap otherwise we are going to end up in a very stagnant position. 'It is a bigger issue than just about the teams. It is about what is right for the sport, what is right for the fans. 'It is easy to take a self-interest position, but when you look at what is the right thing for F1, it is to have competition. 'We need to be big enough to say let's open it a little bit and let's be responsible on costs - so there is no cost impact for customer teams - but have that competition. 'So we'll see what the outcome of the Formula One Commission vote is. 'FIA are in support, FOM are in support. Obviously the non-Mercedes teams are in support, so we'll see what that holds in approximately a month's time.' F1 supremo, pictured with Sebastian Vettel (L), will attend the F1 Commission to decide on changes . From Ferrari's perspective, team principal Marco Mattiacci said: 'Thinking of frozen engines, this is not Formula One. 'So I agree with Christian. Now we have the majority of the votes to move ahead on the idea to unfreeze the engine. 'Let's see what's going to happen during the F1 Commission meeting.' | Mercedes have dominated after switch to 1.6L turbo-charged engines .
Rival teams have requested unfreezing of regulations to allow the likes of Ferrari, Honda and Renault to close the gap .
Mercedes chief Toto Wolff is unsurprisingly against changing the rules .
Red Bull chief Christian Horner wants to prevent sport becoming 'stagnated' |
0d0dd7cff9f1b4c97d78fe1a377bb17b2021b378 | London (CNN) -- Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson used cocaine during two periods of her life, she admitted Wednesday as she testified in the fraud trial of two former personal assistants in a London court. She told the court she had used the drug about six times with her late husband, John Diamond, when he learned that his cancer was terminal, in order to give him "some escape from his treatment." She also used cocaine once in July 2010 when she felt subject to "terrorism" by her then-husband Charles Saatchi, she said. At that point she felt trapped, isolated and unhappy, she said, and a friend offered her the drug. But, Lawson said, "I've never been a drug addict, I've never been an habitual user. ... I did not have a drug problem, I had a life problem." Saatchi had claimed in an e-mail that Lawson had used drugs regularly, but in testimony Friday he backed off that claim. Lawson's admission of cocaine use came after she earlier testified that Saatchi had threatened to "destroy" her if she did not "clear his name." She had been asked about her reluctance to attend court as a witness in the assistants' trial -- a case that has gripped the media as claims emerge about the couple's troubled personal life. "I have been put on trial here where I am called to answer, and glad to answer the allegations, and the world's press, and it comes after a long summer of bullying and abuse," Lawson said. "I find it's another chapter in that." Referring to Saatchi's request for her to attend the trial, made in a letter sent by his lawyers, Lawson said: "He had said to me if I didn't get back to him and clear his name he would destroy me." Lawson said she felt she had to do her civic duty. "It's difficult for me, it's very difficult for my children, but I want to do the right thing," she added. The former aides, Italian sisters Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo, deny embezzling hundreds of thousands of pounds on company credit cards while employed by Lawson and Saatchi. 'No hard evidence' In his testimony last Friday, Saatchi addressed the claim made in an e-mail he sent to Lawson in October that alleged she had used drugs. He told the court he never saw his wife taking drugs during their 10-year marriage and he had no hard evidence she had done so. He also said he was "utterly heartbroken" by the end of their relationship. In the e-mail, which was shared with the court by the defense in a pretrial hearing, Saatchi wrote that the assistants would likely "get off" because Lawson was using cocaine and marijuana on a daily basis and "allowed the sisters to spend whatever they liked." The allegations emerged in June, around the time the couple were photographed in a restaurant having an argument. In the photos, which were splashed across the front pages of national newspapers, Saatchi is seen with his hand around Lawson's throat. Saatchi accepted a police caution for assault, and the couple announced they would divorce soon afterward. 'She was a rock' The two defendants, who worked for Lawson and Saatchi for a number of years, were supposed to use the cards for household expenses, but allegedly spent large amounts on themselves. Lawson acknowledged Wednesday she wasn't familiar with every detail of the purchases made by the Grillo sisters. She told the court she had employed Elisabetta, also known as Lisa, while her ex-husband had hired Francesca. "I loved Lisa. She came to me in a difficult time in my life. She was a rock," Lawson said. She said Elisabetta Grillo had left her job for a while, and when she came back she'd been increasingly bitter and unhappy. "I do not think her bitterness was towards me personally. I think it was towards her life," the chef said. Lawson ignored the crowd of reporters and photographers waiting outside Isleworth Crown Court as she entered earlier, wearing black and looking somber. Transactions top $1 million . Saatchi's accountant gave details of the sisters' alleged spending on luxury goods in court last week, including purchases from Prada, Miu Miu and Louis Vuitton. The prosecution also showed Saatchi a list of the top 50 transactions made by the sisters, totaling more than $1 million, which he said he did not recognize and had not authorized. He did not know whether Lawson had approved them, he said. Lawson, whose culinary skills and flirtatious manner have long entranced UK audiences, has also appeared as a judge on ABC show "The Taste" in the United States. A second season of the show is due to air in January. | "I did not have a drug problem, I had a life problem," says Nigella Lawson .
Lawson admits using cocaine during two periods of her life .
Ex-husband said he'd "destroy" her if she didn't "clear his name," Lawson tells court .
Italian sisters Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo deny embezzling large sums . |
0d106b2c798fb3e08de0f4db72f788d562b75d38 | It's considered to be the world's most sophisticated superfighter jet, but Britain's new £150million combat aircraft has been banned from flying in bad weather for fears it could explode. Engineers working on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter have found the jet's fuel tank could explode if hit by lightning. According to reports, the aircraft, which is hoped to enter service for both the RAF and the Royal Navy in five years' time, has also been made more vulnerable to enemy attack than the aircraft it is set to replace, after its weight was reduced in an attempt to increase fuel efficiency. The F-35 Lightning II, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), has been banned from flying in bad weather, for fear its fuel tank could explode if hit by lightning . The Telegraph has reported the revelations were disclosed in a leaked report from the Pentagon's operational test and evaluation office, which states that, until a device in the fuel tank is redesigned, test-flying within 25 miles of thunderstorms is 'not permitted'. Several other problems have been identified with the plane, including a fault in the design of the fuel tank which means it is unable to rapidly descend to low altitude. A handful of cracks were also discovered in the tested aircraft during examinations by the United States Air Force and the aircraft's manufacturer Lockheed Martin. The report states: 'All of these discoveries will require mitigation plans and may include redesigning parts and additional weight.' A Lockheed Martin spokesman has said the manufacturer does not consider the latest problem a 'major issue'. The spokesman said: 'We have . demonstrated very good vulnerability performance and we continue to work . with the Joint Programme Office.' The new fighter jet has been designed to be practically invisible to radar and has a top speed of 1,300mph . The short take-off and vertical-landing version of the F-35B is due to become Britain's replacement for the Harrier. The new fighter jet has been designed to be practically invisible to radar and has a top speed of 1,300mph and a range of 1,450 miles, compared to the Harrier's 700mph and range of 350 mile range. The latest revelation is the second blow to the programme in recent weeks, after Canada pulled out of a deal to buy 65 of the aircraft last month. And while the US is buying 2,500 F-35s for £254bn, Britain is committed to buying only 48, although the final decision will depend on the role of the Royal Navy's two new carriers in the future and whether the price of the aircraft falls, as is expected. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: 'All variants of F-35 are currently within the Development Test phase and minor issues like this are common during this early stage of the overall programme.' It has been reported that until a device in the fuel tank is redesigned, test-flying within 25 miles of thunderstorms is 'not permitted' | F-35 Joint Strike Fighter not allowed to fly within 25 miles of thunderstorms .
Engineers found its fuel tank could explode if hit by lightning .
Britain committed to buying 48 of the aircraft, while U.S. is buying 2,500 . |
0d11a31cc416c92796e0d16fa16efce9fab9e775 | By . Amy Oliver . PUBLISHED: . 05:14 EST, 22 May 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 07:37 EST, 22 May 2012 . Unassuming: Dorothy O'Grady's neighbours knew her as a guest house landlady whose greatest pleasure was walking her Labrador, Rob . To her neighbours Dorothy O'Grady was a pleasant middle-aged woman who liked walking her Labrador around their sleepy seaside town. So when the unassuming landlady of Osborne Villa in the Isle of Wight was suddenly arrested in 1940 on suspicion of being a Nazi spy, few believed it possible. O'Grady's husband had been sent to London to aid the fire service, the couple's guest house in Sandown had been closed and O'Grady was left to her own devices. The Channel island was flooded with soldiers, military bases and equipment. The neighbours thought O'Grady wandered with dog Rob to stave off the loneliness but the police had their suspicions. They believed O'Grady's dog walks were just a ruse, that in fact she was gathering intelligence into restricted military areas. She was accused of making detailed maps, cutting military telephone wires and wearing a small swastika badge on the underside of her coat lapel. She was tried and convicted in Winchester of betraying her country and became the first British woman to be sentenced to death for treason. She escaped the gallows after her lawyer successfully won an appeal for misdirection of the jury. Instead, she was jailed for 14 years. But tantalizingly, O'Grady's story does not end there. On her release in 1950 she went straight to Fleet Street insisting her 'spying' activities were a bit of fun or a 'lark', as she put it, which got rather out of hand. Shock: But in 1940 O'Grady was charged with being a Nazi spy and sentenced to death. This mugshot is from 1918 after she was arrested for forging bank notes . Why? An extract from O'Grady's detailed map of the Isle of Wight's eastern coastline in 1940 shows she concentrated on the defences in and around Sandown Bay, an area initially earmarked for invasion by Germany . She told the Daily Express that 'the whole thing was a joke', and that she 'looked forward to the trial as an immense thrill'. She said: 'The excitement of being tried for my life was intense... It made me feel somebody instead of being an ordinary seaside landlady.' O'Grady died aged 83 in 1985 and her version of events was generally accepted until 1995. Then her prosecution papers were released and it became plain just how serious a threat she constituted to national security in 1940. Landlady: Pictured last year, this is Osborne Villa, in Sandown, O'Grady's . guest house home at the time of her arrest in 1940. She escaped the gallows and was sentenced to 14 years in prison but returned to the villa on her release in 1950 . Familiar: O'Grady was twice jailed at HMP Aylesbury, once for Borstal training and then in 1941 to serve her wartime crimes sentence. On her second visit the prison psychologist found her to be highly disturbed . The papers said the maps she drew were 'terrifyingly accurate', and 'would be of very great importance to the enemy'. Isle of Wight MP Barry Field had championed her cause, but was shocked when the papers were released. He said: 'I set out to clear her name, but I am staggered by the treachery she sunk to. She could have altered the direction of the war.' But the notion of 'Dotty' Dorothy being just another unhinged fantasist persisted. Now book, The Spy Beside the Sea, based on hitherto unseen reports unearthed by author Adrian Searle has shed new light on the mystery. Keeping watch: O'Grady had made notes on troop movements on the island, including the use of bicycles by the 6th Black Watch . Key area: After war broke out, the Isle of Wight became a key defensive position and thousands of troops were stationed there . Using research by the BBC journalist Peter Hill, Mr Searle began digging into O'Grady's past and uncovered documents that, more than any other, offer the most likely explanation of who Mrs Dorothy O'Grady really was. She had enjoyed a comfortable childhood with her adoptive parents, a British Museum official and his wife, in Clapham, south London. That all ended before her eleventh birthday when her mother died and father married his vindictive housekeeper, who bullied the young Dorothy. In 1918 after a spell in a home for young girls training for a life of domestic service, she was in trouble and well known as a 'thoroughly bad lot'. That year she was sent to borstal after forging banks notes and in 1920 served two years' hard labour for stealing clothes from her employer in Brighton. Timings: This official photograph was taken at Culver Down Battery on 24 August 1940 as O'Grady was compiling maps and drawing sketches of the Isle of Wight's coastal defences . Important: Culver Down Battery's 9.2in guns were an important component in the defence of the island. O'Grady noted their presence on her maps . Spying: In post-war interviews it was clear O'Grady had also been keeping an eye on the nearest of four Solent sea forts at St Helens . Was she working for Hitler? When she was arrested by troops on the island, O'Grady had a swastika badge on the underside of her coat lapel . On her return to London some years later, O'Grady gathered a collection of convictions for prostitution. The fourth saw her locked up in Holloway for three weeks. On her release she married Vincent O'Grady, a London fireman 19 years her senior. And on his retirement the couple moved to the Isle of Wight, but when war broke out in 1939 he was put back into service and she was left alone. The soldiers stationed on the island had at first thought the then 42-year-old O'Grady, who was always hanging around with her dog, was just a nuisance. This map of the Isle of Wight in 1940, shows O’Grady’s close proximity to military installations . East . 1. St Helens (Sea) Fort – searchlights . 2. Nodes Fort & Battery – heavy gun battery / artillery barracks . 3. Culver Fort & Culver Down Battery – heavy gun battery . 4. Fort Bembridge – artillery barracks / battery observation post / Army radar . 5. (Former) Redcliff Battery – anti-aircraft gun . 6. Yaverland Fort & Battery – searchlights . 7. Sandown (Granite) Fort – pill box; one of many in Sandown Bay area . 8. (Former) Sandown Barracks Battery – disused; guarded . 9. Sandown Barracks – infantry barracks . 10. RAF Ventnor – major radar station. House icon – O’Grady’s home at Osborne Villa, Sandown . West . 11. (Former) Freshwater Redoubt – disused; guarded . 12. Needles (Old) Battery – anti-aircraft gun . 13. Needles (New) Battery – heavy gun battery . 14. (Former) Hatherwood Point Battery – Navy indicator loop . 15. (Former) Warden Point Battery – searchlights / anti-aircraft guns . 16. Golden Hill Fort – infantry depot . 17. Hurst Castle – medium gun battery / searchlights . 18. Fort Albert – medium gun battery . 19. Cliff End Battery – medium gun battery . 20. Fort Victoria – ancillary marine uses . 21. Bouldnor Battery – heavy gun battery / anti-submarine boom / minefield . 22. House icon – Latton House, Totland (O’Grady arrest site) But their suspicions were aroused when she offered a squaddie, tired of her interference, the tidy sum of 10 shillings as a bribe and was found to be wearing the swastika. She was booked, and ordered to appear before Ryde Magistrates' Court, a hearing which she didn't turn up for. Then, when police arrived at her villa they found it locked. O'Grady had gone on the run. It took three weeks to track her down. In that time she had made more maps, cut phone wires, and, unusually for an undercover agent, offered schoolboys small bribes to tell her about army gun emplacements. Her previous convictions for prostitution and fraud came out in the subsequent trial and this, it was later suggested, was the reason she had gone on the run, fearing her husband would find out. O'Grady was subject to psychological testing at Aylesbury Prison, where she served the majority of her sentence. And the reports into her mental health by the prison governor and psychologist, unearthed by Mr Searle using the Freedom of Information Act, give the most likely explanation of her so-called spying activities. Difficult childhood: The young Dorothy O'Grady almost certainly received her . truncated convent schooling at Convent of Notre Dame in London but by 1918 she was well known as a 'thoroughly bad lot' Criminal career: As well as the conviction for forgery, O'Grady also racked up convictions for stealing clothes and prostitution before being sentenced to death for treason . Death: O'Grady died aged 83 in 1985. This photograph was taken four years before her death while she was living in sheltered housing at Lake, on the Isle of Wight . The Spy Beside the Sea by by Adrian Searle is published on Thursday . According to the governor, O'Grady appeared to be a highly disturbed, and highly intelligent woman with a deep grudge against authority. The reports made clear she regularly self-harmed, and had 'attacks... in which she has to "obey people" inside her who encourage her to do harmful acts to herself'. She had enacted a pretend hanging by placing a chair on her cell bed, and sometimes slept naked under the bed. They also noted a sexual dimension to her behaviour, which included tying herself in awkward positions for hours at a time. The prison medical officer Dr Violet Minster reported that O'Grady inserted an alarming collection of objects into her vagina. These included a light bulb, more than 50 pieces of broken glass, a small pot, and 100 pins. In the fascinating book of the story that has remained a mystery for more than 70 years, Mr Searle believes this evidence shows O'Grady was not a spy but a woman who sought the limelight. But, while there is no evidence she ever attempted to communicate her information to anyone in any way, it is not impossible that she was hedging her bets, calculating, perhaps, that if the Nazis invaded, she would be able to prove her loyalty to the new cause. The Spy Beside the Sea by Adrian Searle is published by The History Press on Thursday 24 May at £12.99. The eBook is now on offer in the Amazon Kindle store for £3.42 (usual price around £10). | Neighbours thought Dorothy O'Grady was pleasant guest house landlady who liked walking her dog .
Shocked when she was charged with being Nazi spy and sentenced to death .
O'Grady escaped gallows and spent 14 years in prison .
She said her 'spying' antics had been a 'lark' which got out of hand .
But O'Grady drew detailed maps and recorded troops' activities on the Isle of Wight .
New book reveals prison physiological reports that say she was 'disturbed'
The Spy Beside the Sea by Adrian Searle is published by The History Press on Thursday 24 May at £12.99. The eBook is now on offer in the Amazon Kindle store for £3.42 (usual price around £10). |
0d122fe187251d9ad24d28387caad5521f5aa45f | By . Sadie Whitelocks . New parents to a sick baby staged their wedding in hospital so they could be together for the event as a family. Amber Brunell, 23, and Joshua Fox, 24, from Bangor, Pennsylvania, tied the knot last Thursday in the intensive care unit at St. Christopher's Hospital where their son, Lucas, is being monitored. The infant was born weighing a healthy 9lbs 11oz on February 21 but shortly after birth an ultrasound revealed he had an obstruction in his intestines which was causing discomfort and required surgery. Scroll down for video . Together as a family: Amber Brunell, 23, and Joshua Fox, 24, staged their wedding in hospital so their sick baby could be part of the big event . Although the operation went well, he then developed an air leak in his left lung. A tube was placed his chest to remedy the situation but when his oxygen levels did not improve further intervention was needed. Doctors used an artificial heart-lung machine to take over the work of the newborn's lungs. Within a few days his condition improved and he is now on the road to recovery. Dressed to impress: Ms Brunell wore a rented white bridal dress, while her fiance wore a tuxedo and even baby Lucas had a pinstripe suit for the ceremony . Perfect timing: Ms Brunell and Mr Fox had been gearing up for their wedding for more than two years and the arrival of their son inspired them to finally say 'I do' Ms Brunell and Mr Fox had been gearing up for their wedding for more than two years and the arrival of their son inspired them to finally say 'I do'. Pastor . Francis Pultro, the chaplain at St. Christopher's Hospital, officiated their wedding. Ms Brunell wore a rented white bridal dress, while her fiance wore a tuxedo and even baby . Lucas had a pinstripe suit for the ceremony. Recalling her big day, Ms Brunell told Fox News: 'We were finalizing details until the last minute. 'I had some wedding jitters, but overall, was excited.' The charity, Ronald . McDonald House, which has been providing accommodation to the newlyweds since February 25, . also donated a wedding cake, car transportation and dinner. | Amber Brunell and Joshua Fox from Pennsylvania welcomed their son, Lucas, on February 21 .
Shortly after birth an ultrasound revealed he had an obstruction in his intestines which required surgery . |
0d1233073fa6f37d5312949716629d31d192d6e9 | Passengers headed home after Thanksgiving were met with a line for airport security reportedly more than a mile long. People hoping to fly out of Chicago Midway Sunday morning were left facing a chain which stretched the entire way through the airport terminal then doubled back on itself, on a day where 1,800 flights were delayed nationwide. Those stuck vented their anger at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and many missed their flights, while slogging through the line which reportedly peaked at 1.2miles. Scroll down for video . Mile-long line: Passengers were stuck in enormous lines snaking through Chicago Midway airport Sunday . Long road to victory: One flier documented her journey during the line's peak, from 6.50am until getting through the gate at 7.30am . Keep on keepin' on: After 20 minutes, this passenger had reached the start of the regular line, and after 31 the gate itself was in sight . Finally: Just over 40 minutes after the first picture, @NessieCakes makes it through to her flight . Frustrated passengers found themselves queuing outside the airport itself, as the thick crowd of people snaked to the train station in front of the terminal. According to the Chicago Aviation Department, the line started early and had subsided by 9.15am. A spokesman said: 'This happens sometimes. There was a period of time earlier this morning, between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m., that lines were long because that is when most people are traveling for the holiday period.' 'This place is absolutely insane. Never seen an airport this busy', tweeted flier Amanda Dahl from the terminal. Another, posting a picture seemingly from inside the train station, said: 'Ever seen this part of Chicago Midway airport? Me neither.' Two long lines could be seen either at either side of a raised tunnel. Midway was not the only airport to be hit by thronging travel demands at the end of the holiday weekend. Nationwide around 3,000 flights were delayed and 190 canceled, according to CNN. Lengthy: The monster line, which left the terminal and snaked back, hit the airport from 6am to 8am . Heaving: Passengers say the intimidatingly long line managed to move quickly, though some did miss flights . Lines: Unimpressed travelers posted pictures of the enormous line this morning, which led some to miss their flight . Out and back again: The chain reportedly reached the train station outside of the terminal, where passengers doubled back to get a space . Fog and wind caused delays at Denver International Airport on Sunday, and 46 incoming flights were diverted to other cities on one of the busiest travel days of the year after bad weather knocked out three of its six runways. Most of the diverted flights landed in Colorado Springs, about 90 miles south. By the afternoon two-hour delays and shrunk to one hour, through departures were also slowing down. A spokesman for Denver Airport said: 'It's not turning out to be the best travel day.' Hold-up: The snaking line had reportedly dispersed by late morning . Clogged up: Travelers reported that the chain went the entire way through the terminal. Pictured is an aerial view of Midway . A cold front that moved through Denver and other cities on Colorado's Front Range helped create the fog, according to the National Weather Service. The temperature dropped 16 degrees in less than 30 minutes at the Denver airport because of the front, while 60 miles north in the city of Greeley, the temperature fell 21 degrees in 20 minutes. The Denver airport expected 166,000 passengers on Sunday and 157,000 on Monday as the Thanksgiving weekend wrapped up. Normally, about 144,000 passengers a day use the airport. Denver was the fifth-busiest airport in the U.S. last year with 53 million passengers. | Chicago Midway was hit with reported 1.2-mile line, exiting the terminal .
Monster line from 6am to 8am Sunday as holiday travelers flocked home .
Came as 3,000 flights were delayed and 190 canceled across the country .
Denver International airport in Colorado was victim to to poor weather . |
0d12ca4a1119200dcea6c86c625413aa25404f32 | By . Shyam Dodge . PUBLISHED: . 14:38 EST, 13 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 05:20 EST, 14 May 2013 . Brooke Mueller is reported to have been babbling about ‘mafia connections’ when she was forced into psychiatric care earlier this month under suspicion of heavy drug abuse. When police arrived at her Los Angeles home on May 1 the 35-year-old was ranting about an imaginary FBI investigation of her ex Charlie Sheen. The mother-of-two claimed she was an informant for the Federal Bureau and was going to bring her former husband down with her secret information. Incoherent ramblings: Brooke Mueller babbled about 'mafia connections' when police took her into custody on May 1, pictured in Hollywood, in February . According to TMZ, law enforcement arrived at her home after receiving a 911 call from a man who claimed Brooke had assaulted him. Sources told the gossip website that officers on the scene believed that she was inebriated and appeared to not have slept for days. Her children, four-year-old twin boys Bob and Max who she shares with Sheen, were present in the house during the incident. Police called the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, who were reported have had an open case on the troubled mother. Upon making the call to Family Services officers took Brooke into custody under a section 5150 – a California Welfare and Institutions Code that deems an individual to have a mental disorder making them a danger to themselves and others. Brooke was placed under a three-day psychiatric hold and was later sent to rehab. A happier time: Charlie Sheen pictured with Brooke in Los Angeles, in September 2009 . Meanwhile, Brooke is said to be . concerned that her child support - a whopping $55,000 a month - will be . cut off by Sheen as their children are in the temporary custody of . Denise Richards. A source told RadarOnline.com: ‘One . of the reasons she had her lawyer go to court on Friday to ask the judge . to strip Denise Richards of temporary guardianship of Bob and Max - and . have them placed with her brother - is because she is afraid that . Charlie is going to cut off child support.’ The rehab veteran’s sole source of . income are the child support checks, as the source explained: ‘Brooke . hasn’t worked in years and is unable to keep a job because of her . addiction to drugs. ‘Brooke doesn’t have any money saved and lives month-to-month on the child support.’ Despite being denied spouse support . in her divorce from the movie star she did receive a $757,000 settlement . as well as $1 million from the sale of their home. But Sheen has no plans to cut her off . just yet as the source said: ‘Charlie will reassess the child support . issue with Brooke in the next few months and see where things stand. He . wants her to get the help she needs.’ 'Unsafe': Social workers removed Mueller's four-year-old twins Bob and Max, pictured in LA in 2011, after her drug use was said to be jeopardising their safety . Although, his other ex wife Denise is an entirely different story. Sheen is reported have offered to give Richards more money for taking care of his two children while their mother Brooke is in rehab. But the actress politely declined. The show of gratitude comes after Sheen flew Denise home to Los Angeles from New York in a private jet so she could see her children on Mother’s Day. The Anger Management star also pays Denise $55,000 a month in child support, but wanted to give her more as she tended to his four-year-old twins from his marriage to Brooke. A source told RadarOnline.com: ‘Charlie is extremely generous, and wanted to make sure having the twins in Denise’s care didn’t place a financial strain on her. ‘Denise was thankful for the offer, but declined because she has the financial means to take care of them herself. She isn’t doing this for the money.’ Taking its toll? Denise looked very slender as she clutched the hand of one of Charlie's sons while picking up her daughters from their gymnastics class in Los Angeles . Heading in: Denise appeared stressed as she was photographed on the outing . And Sheen is aware of just how fortunate he is to have the gorgeous actress in his life. The same insider explained: ‘There have been many times over the last year that Charlie has said the best thing he ever did was marrying and having children with Denise, but the worst thing was ever letting her go. ‘Denise is the one person in his life that he truly trusts.’ The 42-year-old is intent upon providing the best possible environment for the boys but it isn’t easy, as the source explained: ‘Five kids under the age of nine in one house is chaos at times, but Denise manages.’ Adding, ‘All of the kids are thriving and love each other.’ While Richards won’t take more money for her act of kindness she did gleefully accept his offer to fly her home for Mother’s Day. The Wild Things actress was ‘bummed to miss her special holiday on Sunday as she was in New York City to film her TV show Twisted. But her former husband - with whom she shares two daughters, Sam, nine, and seven-year-old Lola - had his exclusive plane whisk her back to Los Angeles the same day so she could be with her kids. Doting mother: Denise Richards pictured with daughter's Sam and Lola in Los Angeles, on Wednesday . Denise wrote on Twitter: ‘Greatest ex @charliesheen my mom's day gift flying me home on his plane so I can take the kids to school.’ The 42-year-old beauty married the Hot Shots star in 2002, but their union ended acrimoniously in 2006 and Denise later filed a restraining order against her ex-spouse. However, the former lovers repaired their relationship for the sake of their kids and in recent years have grown very close. The Starship Troopers actress - who also has a two-year-old adopted daughter, Eloise - was recently granted temporary custody of Charlie's two children with his third wife, who was placed under an involuntary psychiatric hold amid allegations of drug use. | Brooke babbled about 'mafia connections' as police arrived at her house .
Brooke fears she'll lose $55,000 a month in child support from Sheen .
Denise refused extra money from Sheen for taking care of his twin boys while Brooke is in rehab .
The Anger Management star flew Richards home from NYC for Mother's Day in his private jet . |
0d1354a000fd820646a56112f97d37a53f1a0736 | At gun stores from coast to coast, and on the Internet, they are known as "exploding targets." But the man who oversees Maryland's bomb squad has another name for them: Explosive Kits for Dummies. Amazingly simple to assemble -- just pour two powders into one container and shake -- the targets are a safe and fun way to enhance target shooting, manufacturers say. Shoot it with a bullet from a safe distance, and you'll be rewarded with a concussive blast and a cloud of smoke, indicating you've hit your target. But if you search YouTube for "Tannerite" -- the most popular brand -- and you'll find more than 100,000 videos depicting the use -- and more frequently, the misuse -- of the product. On-line videos show people in a veritable contest to see who can detonate the most explosives in the most innovative way, demolishing pumpkins and watermelons, dead cows and pigs, washing machines and refrigerators, old cars and trucks, Elmo dolls and even a trailer home. To heighten the impact, diehards mixed it with gasoline, diesel fuel or propane tanks, creating explosions that crater the land, trigger car alarms, and shaking nearby communities. In one video that is now an Internet staple, a Minnesota man in 2008 detonated 100 pounds of Tannerite in the dump box of an old dump truck, sending the truck aloft -- while rattling a nearby nuclear power plant and, inconveniently, the police department. The nuclear plant went into a short lockdown and the man later pleaded guilty to two felonies involving explosives. Last year, Maryland became the first state to regulate exploding targets, requiring users to be trained and licensed to handle explosives. Some California jurisdictions have also interpreted state law to restrict use of the targets. And last month, exploding targets got even more notoriety when the U.S. Forest Service banned the targets on its property in five western states (Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas) saying the targets ignited 16 fires on Forest Service lands coast-to-coast since January 2012. The cost of extinguishing those fires: more than $33 million. Forest Service officials say they hope to extend the year-long ban, and extend it nationwide. And in March, the FBI distributed a bulletin to law enforcement agencies nationwide warning that exploding targets could be used "as an explosive for illicit purposes by criminals and extremists" and its components could be used to make IEDs. One state's decision . Maryland Chief Deputy State Fire Marshal Joseph Flanagan said he fought to regulate exploding targets after the product appeared on local gun store shelves. Gun stores were giving Maryland residents a "false sense that it was OK to use," he said, even though customers unknowingly broke Maryland law preventing them from "manufacturing" explosives whenever they combined the targets' two ingredients. So Flangan pushed a bill to expand the definition of explosive to include "two or more components" when packaged together that create a bomb. The bill failed on its first two attempts, but passed in 2012 after a representative from the National Rifle Association signed a letter saying the NRA was taking "no position" on the bill. Gun rights advocates did not oppose the measure "because there are so many other things that are more important to us, and it doesn't really involve guns," said John H. Josselyn, legislative vice president of Associated Gun Clubs of Baltimore. "We looked at it, considered the impact on our members and wrote it off as another feel-good issue by the left wing that has nothing better to do." Josselyn said he remains "philosophically" opposed to the restrictions since "we banned one more thing that wasn't causing a problem." Flanagan acknowledges that exploding targets had not caused many problems in Maryland. But, he said, as the products began appearing on local store shelves, Maryland wanted to be in front of the problem. "This is a high explosive and it belongs in the category with other high explosives," Flanagan said. "We're not going to wait for an incident to occur where this product is used, where it's just purchased off the shelf. We are not sorry for the action we took." Fire marshals from several other states have sought Maryland's guidance as they contemplate similar regulations, he said. In Indiana this year, self-described "very pro-gun" Republican state Sen. Jim Merritt introduced a bill to require retailers to place Tannerite in locked displays, and to require that purchasers to be at least 18. There are currently no age limits on its purchase. The bill died under the weight of legislative business, Merritt told CNN, although he may introduce it again. "I considered this a homeland security issue, and I can envision this being a real problem for law enforcement someday," Merritt said. Few federal restrictions . Exploding targets consist of ammonium nitrate (an oxidizer) and aluminum powder (a fuel). But because neither component individually is explosive, they not regulated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). Once the components are mixed, the results is an explosive material and subject to ATF regulations. However, under federal law, individuals can manufacture explosives for their own personal, non-business use. There is no federal limit on the amount of explosives an individual can make. Federal law, in short, does not prohibit exploding targets. But, federal officials say, federal law does regulate the manufacture of explosive devices, and federal laws could be used to prosecute individuals who use the targets in the construction of explosive devices. The intent of the individual is a factor in determining legality, officials said. Some state and local governments have taken action against sports shooters, especially in cases in which they've mixed large volumes of the target ingredients. In the case of Brian Childs, the Minnesota man who shot at the 100 pounds of Tannerite in the dump truck, prosecutors viewed the truck not as a target, but as a bomb. "It looks like they legally bought (the components). It was shipped to them by the Tannerite people," said Chris Schrader, assistant county attorney for Goodhue County. But when the components were mixed and placed in the dump truck, "we looked at our definition of an explosive device and it definitely qualified," Schrader said. "It was how they used it, which was enormously dangerous and ill-conceived," Childs said. "It was enormously reckless how they were using it. They had no idea what they were doing and you can tell by their reaction (in a videotape of the incident)." According to a police report, a large piece of metal flew over Childs head, even though he was 300 yards from the blast. Fire problem . Tannerite Sports, the Oregon-based manufacturer of the most popular brand of explosive targets, said it is being harmed by the widespread misuse of the product. And by people wrongly claiming that other products are "Tannerite." "You can Google all day long and the first thing that will be popping up, people will be misusing our product and other products, other brands of binary exploding targets. It's a misuse," said Dena Woerner, a publicist for Tannerite Sports. "Our produce was created to be used as a shot indicator. With Tannerite, you can see if you actually hit your target without having to walk down the range. And when you misuse a product, you could potentially be breaking the law." The rampant misuse of exploding targets is a "threat to our business," Woerner concedes, so much so that the company is now soliciting videos of people using the product as intended. "If people get hurt they're going to be more regulations and restrictions. We want people to be able to have fun with the product ... if they keep misusing it, people may not have that liberty anymore." But federal officials take issue with Tannerite's claims that their product cannot result in fires. At a press conference announcing the ban on exploding targets in certain national forests, it released a video showing a bale of hay catching fire after an exploding target was shot. The target was Tannerite, said Forest Service spokesman Lawrence Lujan. Lujan said other brands also cause fires, and the Forest Service is likely to extend its ban to other regions. A big bang . At a farm on Maryland's Eastern Shore, bomb squad member Matt Wrenn takes aims a Winchester rifle at targets at a range bounded by soybean fields, woods and an earthen berm. He flawlessly shoots at a series of targets set up to demonstrate the fire marshal's concerns about exploding targets. First, a one-pound binary target sitting on a stump, as intended by the manufacturer. Then he flawlessly shoots at targets in front of a human silhouette, a watermelon, and finally, an old bomb squad protective suit. It shreds part of the suit, dislodging one of the protective plates. Looking at the damaged bomb suit, Flanagan says he has no reservations about restricting access to the targets. He believes the targets are dangerous, even when used as intended. "It (the explosive ingredients) are all in a kit. It's already made for me. I have instructions on how to do it. It's an explosive kit for dummies, and it's pretty easy to make." Says his bomb squad commander, Jack Waldner, "The fact of the matter is, this is recreational use of explosives by people who have not been trained." | Videos proliferate of "exploding targets"
Many YouTube videos show the product being misused .
U.S. Forest Service blames targets for 16 wildfires .
Maryland regulates the targets; predicts other states will follow . |
0d14c3089ce880529415a58d242c647c54b3fb7d | Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- Just after the United States completed its drawdown of combat brigades in Iraq, militants Wednesday launched a wave of bombings across the country, mostly targeting security forces. At least 48 people died and at least 286 others were wounded in 13 cities. The locations included Baghdad, the capital, and large towns in the northern, western, and southern quadrants of the nation. The only region that appeared to be spared the onslaught was the three-province Kurdish autonomous region in the north. Investigators don't yet know whether these strikes were coordinated, but a similar series of strikes that occurred in May bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda in Iraq. On that day, 85 people died and more than 300 others were wounded in coordinated shootings and bombings across six provinces. "The fact that these events coincide with Ramadan only adds to extremists' desires to make a violent statement by murdering others and capturing the day's news," said Maj. Gen. Steve Lanza, the U.S. military spokesman in Iraq.. The latest attacks come as the number of U.S. troops in Iraq has now fallen below 50,000 -- the lowest level since the U.S-led invasion in 2003. The U.S.-led combat mission formally ends August 31, and the remainder of American troops will train, assist and advise the Iraqis. But the American residual force -- comprising what is to be called Operation New Dawn on September 1 -- is combat-ready. While it has a different mission, it has the same capabilities as combat troops. If requested by the Iraqis, these soldiers can go into combat and can deploy these skills for self-defense. All American troops are scheduled to pull out at the end of 2011, but the Iraqi government could request that some of them remain. The departure of the U.S.-led combat mission is a seminal moment in a country that wants to see whether Iraqi police and soldiers can effectively handle the kind of insurgent activity that periodically erupts in this turbulent environment. Overall violence in Iraq has declined considerably over the past two years compared with the height of the sectarian war between 2005 and 2007. But there has been a recent campaign of bombings and shootings in Baghdad targeting traffic police, Iraqi soldiers and local leaders, and tensions across the country have been exacerbated by a political crisis -- the failure of Iraqi lawmakers to form a government nearly six months after national elections. "Today's attacks clearly involved planning by extremists, criminals and terrorists to take advantage of the ongoing frustrations of Iraqi people with the government impasse, as well as exploit the changing U.S. mission toward stability operations that takes effect Sept. 1," Lanza said. Lanza also stressed that the Iraqi government needs to "form now." Wednesday's attacks reflect the challenges the indigenous police and soldiers face. The deadliest strike occurred in the Wasit provincial capital of Kut, a city southeast of Baghdad. At least 20 people were killed and 90 others wounded when a car bomb targeted a police station. A suicide car bomber hit a police station in northeast Baghdad, killing at least 15 people and wounding 57 others, the Interior Ministry said. The strike damaged the Qahira police station building and several buildings and houses nearby. According to eyewitnesses at the scene of the Baghdad suicide attack at the police station, U.S. troops were there. Lt. Col. Eric Bloom, U.S. military spokesman for Baghdad, said American advisers and trainers and forensic support are available to Iraqi forces at their request. In this instance, an American adviser accompanied Iraqi forces, a practice that has been routine. In Anbar province's capital of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, five people died and 13 were wounded when two car bombs exploded near a passport office. In Muqdadiya, in northern Diyala province, at least three people died and 18 others were wounded when a car bomb targeted an Iraqi police checkpoint. A parked car bomb exploded in a busy street in the Allawi commercial area in central Baghdad, killing two civilians and wounding seven others. In the holy Shiite city of Karbala, south of Baghdad, a car bomb targeting a police station killed one person and wounded 30 others. A roadside bomb explosion in central Falluja, west of Baghdad, targeted an Iraqi army patrol, killing one Iraqi soldier and wounding eight people, including three soldiers. In Kirkuk, the tense ethnically diverse city in the north, a car bomb targeted a police patrol, killing one person and injuring eight others. Other attacks left people seriously injured. A car bomb exploded outside Dujail police station just north of Baghdad and wounded 20 people, including five police officers. At least 13 people were wounded in Tikrit in a double roadside bomb attack that targeted an Iraqi Army patrol. They were five soldiers, six civilians and two policemen. A bomb explosion outside a police station in central Basra in the country's south wounded 10 people. The chief of Facility Protection Services in Samarra was seriously hurt when two bombs went off in quick succession as his convoy passed by in the northern city. The service is in charge of providing security protection to government institutions. In Baghdad, three roadside bombs exploded, and eight people were wounded, including three soldiers. In Mosul, in the north, a suicide bomber driving a car tried to attack an Iraqi army security checkpoint but security forces shot and detonated the car. In the Diyala province town of Buhriz, in the north, bombs left outside five homes wounded at least four people, police said. Four policemen and an electoral commission official lived in the dwellings. The violence underscores the anxiety in Iraq over the tenacity of the insurgents and the progress of the Iraqi security forces. Lanza said that Iraqi security forces have shown "an enormous will and ability to take on extremists, criminals and terrorists" and are "fully committed and determined" to protect Iraqis. "The ISF took a blow, but they are not on the ropes and will meet these challenges head on. They are not being pushed out of neighborhoods and are not giving up an inch of ground. When attacked, they take control of the situation and regain immediate security of the area." Lanza said the military has reiterated "that attacks were likely to occur during this period" and that's "why our top priority in our ongoing role of advising, training and assisting the Iraqi security forces through 2011 is improving their overall operational capabilities." "Rooting out these extremist, criminal and terrorist cells will remain a top priority for both our ongoing assistance mission and our support for partnered counter-terrorism operations in the months ahead," Lanza said. "There is still difficult work to be done here. This is why we are staying committed in Iraq with a significant military capability to advise, train and assist Iraqi security forces until our mission ends in December of 2011." Analysts warn that the Iraqi conflict will be persistent for years. Anthony Cordesman, a national security analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote last week that the conflict "is not over" and "is at as critical a stage as at any time since 2003." Iraq, he says, continues to grapple with a "serious insurgency," ethnic tension and great economic challenges. "Regardless of the reasons for going to war, everything now depends on a successful transition to an effective and unified Iraqi government, and Iraqi security forces that can bring both security and stability to the average Iraqi. The creation of such an 'end state' will take a minimum of another five years, and probably ten," he wrote. CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq, Jomana Karadsheh and Arwa Damon in Baghdad and Joe Sterling in Atlanta contributed to this report . | NEW: The violence occurs during Ramadan .
NEW: U.S. says the government needs to form now .
Dozens are dead and wounded . |
0d15cb068fda9377c38ba948706905b363785c71 | Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Doctors prescribed 2,360 pills to Anna Nicole Smith in the month before her death, a number that prosecutors told jurors Tuesday was evidence of a conspiracy to feed her drug addiction. "You've all heard she was a strong gal," said Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Renee Rose during her closing argument Tuesday. "But when she's medicated, she's way more compliant." Rose argued that her boyfriend-lawyer Howard K. Stern conspired with two doctors to keep the reality TV star drugged much of the last three years of her life. On the judge's advice, Rose kept her closing arguments to four hours, less than the full day she had predicted she would use Tuesday. Defense lawyers began their closing arguments Tuesday afternoon, making it likely the jury would begin deliberations in the two-month trial by Thursday. In their closing arguments Monday, prosecutors portrayed the actress as a lying, drug-seeking, out-of-control addict who manipulated two doctors to write excessive prescriptions for dangerous drugs over the last three years of her life. Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney David Barkhurst used two Norman Rockwell portraits to show jurors "what doctors should do," while painting Drs. Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor as physicians who fed Smith's addiction instead of treating her illnesses. Doctors have a responsibility to protect patients "even from themselves," Barkhurst said. Stern and the doctors are accused of conspiring to feed the reality TV star and Playboy model's drug addiction and using false names to obtain the drugs. The defendants are not charged in Smith's February 2007 death, which a Florida medical examiner ruled was from an accidental overdose of a sleep aid, a lethal mix of prescription drugs and a viral flu. Judge Robert Perry has been highly critical of the prosecution's case, suggesting it was built from "a dead celebrity and a bunch of low-level misdemeanors." The judge said he decided to allow the case to go forward after another respected judge advised him to trust the jury system. Perry has questioned whether the prosecution has proved that Smith was an addict, as defined by California law, and not just dependent on drugs to relieve chronic pain. "If she's being treated for pain, it's not illegal," Perry said last week. Barkhurst, the first of two prosecutors to deliver closing arguments, said that at some point during the last three years of Smith's life, Eroshevich and Kapoor were no longer treating Smith's pain, "but were prescribing to treat her addiction." "There is not a single physical test done on Anna Nicole Smith during the time Dr. Kapoor is treating her," Barkhurst said. He also said that Eroshevich kept no medical records of her care for Smith, but simply used her "prescription pad power" to provide controlled drugs to her. Both doctors crossed ethical lines by developing personal friendships with Smith, Barkhurst told jurors. "A doctor can't be both a physician and a friend," Barkhurst said. He reminded jurors of photos shown earlier of Eroshevich naked with Smith in a hot tub at her Bahamas home months before her death. "She is writing prescriptions to keep Anna Nicole euphoric, not to treat a medical condition," the prosecutor said. He also read entries from Kapoor's personal diary, written after he and Smith attended a gay pride event. "I was making out with Anna, my patient, blurring the lines," Kapoor's diary said. Another diary entry was evidence Kapoor knew his prescriptions for Smith were illegal, Barkhurst said. "I give her methadone, Valium. Can she ruin me?" Evidence that Smith was an addict dates back to 1996, when she voluntarily entered the Betty Ford Clinic, he argued. Kapoor should have recognized that Smith was an addict when she first came to his office in April 2004 and asked for one of the most powerful painkillers available, Barkhurst said. "Anna Nicole Smith liked Dilaudid," he said. "She asked for what she liked." Kapoor gave her another prescription for Dilaudid six weeks later, when Smith complained of pain from two ribs broken in a May 27, 2004, Jet Ski accident. "If she was on Dilaudid at the time she cracked her ribs, certainly she shouldn't be on a Jet Ski," Barkhurst said. Kapoor ordered no X-rays or tests and did not take the time to call another doctor who treated her the day of the accident, he said. Smith got Dilaudid from four different doctors that month, he said. A doctor who treated Smith at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in June 2006 testified that she concluded Smith was addicted to drugs, Barkhurst told jurors. When Dr. Natalie Maullin asked Kapoor then if Smith had any addiction issues, Kapoor laughed and said there have been some issues, Barkhurst said. Two charges against Stern were thrown out by Perry, who questioned the evidence that Stern, a lawyer, knew it was illegal to get drugs in multiple names. "It has all the hallmarks of a kitchen sink prosecution," Perry said last week. "It looks like the prosecution is throwing everything in with the hope that something will survive." Perry hinted that if the defendants are found guilty, he would consider "possible selective prosecution issues" when sentencing them. During the trial, prosecutors showed a 13-minute video of Smith bathing with her infant daughter months before her death to support their argument that Smith's speech was slurred and her mind was groggy from drugs. Jurors were not allowed to see the video, which also shows Smith talking in a childlike manner during a birthday party for a 9-year-old girl. The defense does not deny that Smith took a lot of drugs, but it says the doctors were treating her for chronic pain that other doctors had also diagnosed. The prosecution's case was hampered by several key witnesses' recanting details of earlier statements, including a former nanny who said she never saw Stern injecting Smith with a needle. "In Session" Correspondent Jean Casarez contributed to this report. | NEW: Prosecution concludes closing argument Tuesday afternoon .
Prosecution argues Smith's doctors fed her drug addiction .
The judge has been critical of the prosecution's case .
Two counts against Smith's lawyer-boyfriend were tossed out . |
0d172c8f839e92aa433937bf01b80d6d81c758eb | By . Chris Slack . UPDATED: . 04:02 EST, 6 February 2012 . A ten-year-old girl who was born with no kidneys and has endured 27 major operations is celebrating after having her final operation. Alice Skinner, from Hartlepool, was born with stumps for kidneys after they failed to develop in the womb. But after years of treatment, tests and surgery, she is now looking forward to her 11th birthday next month. Celebrating: Alice Skinner has finally had her last operation after enduring 27 in the past ten years after she was born without kidneys . Her final operation took place two weeks ago after three years of dialysis affected her legs and caused them to become bowed. Her father George, 41, said: 'There were times when we thought she wouldn’t make it. 'We see each birthday as a milestone. We never thought we would see this far. She’s a proper grown-up little lady now too.' Alice's condition affects just one baby in a . million born in the UK and she came close to death many times. When she was six months old she became the youngest person in the UK to receive dialysis . Her family then made trips three times a week to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle for dialysis as she waited for a transplant . Alice just after she was diagnosed with malformed kidneys when she was only six-months-old . Both parents were unsuitable as donors and doctors were running out of veins to place her on dialysis. In April 2008, she finally had a transplant with an imperfect match as no perfect match could be found. That operation allowed her to make up for lost time by drinking Coca Cola, eating chocolate and crisps and all the other food that had previously been banned. However a year later she suffered a setback which saw her needing brain surgery after fluid build-up in her head. Her father added: 'The surgeons were really quite surprised she got through it and said, "We don’t know how she’s still here".' He continued: 'Being on dialysis for . seven years took its toll on her. It affected her calcium levels because . there was no absorption through kidneys, so her knees bowed out. 'That has just been corrected in an operation. She’s had two hinges put into both her knee caps to stretch them out. “It’s a big operation, but she was looking forward to getting it done. 'After the operation she had an . epidural for two days to make sure she had no pain and after that she . was put on morphine, but she was out of hospital within days, tottering . around the house on crutches. 'She’s had 27 operations in 10 years and that’s quite enough for anyone. Proud: Alice's father George has spoken of her battle and said there were time when he was worried she wouldn't make it through . 'We hope that’s the last big one . though - she’ll need to have the hinges out at some point, but we would . like the operations to stop now, thank you.' Despite her problems Alice has taken up table-tennis, representing Newcastle as a member of the hospital's Children’s Transplant Games Team. Last year, she travelled to Belfast for the British Transplant Games and won a silver medal. She had previously been awarded a ‘Child of Courage’ award for her health problems when she was aged three. | There were times when we thought Alice wouldn't make it, admits father . |
0d179abcb695e64c96856bed43fb85117f7b70e6 | (CNN) -- South Africa sent condolences to Nelson Mandela on Monday following the death of his youngest sister and last surviving sibling out of 31 others. Nokuthamba Mandela, 81, died Saturday, South African President Jacob Zuma said. The cause of death was unclear. "On behalf of myself, the people and government of South Africa, I would like to convey our heartfelt condolences to Madiba and the entire Mandela family at this difficult time," Zuma said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to you in this time of sorrow." The former president -- affectionately known by his clan name Madiba -- last appeared in public in the closing ceremonies of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. His sister's death came the same weekend he returned to Johannesburg while his home in Qunu undergoes repairs. Mandela, 93, has been living at the house in the Eastern Cape province since last year. Despite his rare appearances following a respiratory infection, Mandela retains his popularity and is considered the founding father and hero of South Africa's democracy. Under South Africa's apartheid regime, Mandela spent 27 years in prison after being convicted of sabotage and attempts to overthrow the government. He was released in 1990 and became president in 1994. | Mandela's sister, 81, dies over the weekend .
Her death comes the same weekend Mandela returns to Johannesburg .
Despite his rare appearances, Mandela retains his popularity . |
0d17ad65eb98d7348b32926ba786f2397b3ee57f | It's often one of the most expensive - and important - purchases for any bride, so going snowboarding in a £2,000 wedding dress would sound like the stuff of nightmares for most women. However, for newlywed Rodica Havrestiuc, 25, and her husband Adrian, 24, it was the perfect way to top off their big day. The couple, who live in Belleville, Michigan, donned their wedding attire as well as their snowboarding gear for a novel photoshoot at Mount Holly ski resort. Scroll down for video . Not your traditional photoshoot! Rodica and Adrian strike a mid-air pose on a snow-covered mountain . Both avid snowboarders, the couple decided they wanted to incorporate their passion into their special day . Rodica is pictured in her wedding dress while her husband leaps on a snowboard . Adrian says: 'I've been into snowboarding since I was 12 years old. It's something I picked at school and after I met Rodica through friends on a trip to New York, I taught her how to snowboard. 'I even bought Rodica all of her snowboarding equipment for her 22nd birthday. 'On the day we got married there was no snowboarding theme, but I had the idea to go to the local ski hill and take some pictures snowboarding for a "trash the dress" style photoshoot since it was something we both enjoyed doing. 'Trash the dress' is a style of wedding photography where newlyweds ruin their elegant clothing in an unusual and often messy environment. The pair, originally of Suceava, Romania, met when Adrian visited New York and he taught Rodica the sport . As well as showing off their snowboarding skills the pair also incorporated tender moments into the shoot . The couple arranged a 'trash the dress' photoshoot involving going snowboarding in their wedding clothes . Rodica wore her £2,000 wedding dress and Adrian wore his tux during the adventurous shoot . Adrian says: 'The shoot wasn't very hard to plan, we just had to make sure the ski hill would stay open. 'We took our snowboarding wedding pictures on 25th March and the slopes had closed two days earlier, but they were nice enough to provide an all-terrain vehicle and drivers to take us up.' A day after getting married at a Romanian Pentecostal Church, Adrian and Rodica, originally from Suceava, Romania, drove to the town of Holly in Michigan to create their adventurous photoshoot, which lasted two hours. The couple say many people ask how they were able to get so much fake snow into a photo studio . Forgoing the traditional horse and carriage or limousine, the pair arrived for their shoot on a snow plough . The pair are clearly delighted with their unconventional wedding photographs . And forgoing the traditional horse and carriage or limousine, the couple arrived for their shoot on a snow plough. Adrian says: 'All the equipment that I regularly snowboard with is what was used in the photoshoot, and we were lucky that the dress wasn't completely ruined and still hangs in our wardrobe. 'The first question that everyone asks when they look through our wedding album is how were we able to get so much fake snow in a studio. 'They are shocked when we tell them this is all real snow and we were actually on a hillside.' | Both avid snowboarders, Adrian and Rodica decided they wanted to incorporate snowboarding into their special day .
Did shoot day after wedding in March at Romanian Pentecostal Church even though slopes were closed .
After being driven to summit, couple said shoot was easy - with the bride donning her £2,000 wedding dress . |
0d18507e51bace39c64d9613b4f8b4ce924dc2ac | Reform: Critically ill patients will be able to benefit from new drugs years before they are approved for general use under new fast-track rules . Patients with life-threatening and serious diseases will be able to get new drugs years before they would normally be available under a Government-backed scheme. The fast-track plan would help patients with cancers or dementia where there is no effective treatment left from existing medicines. It will mean drugs can be prescribed on the NHS – paid for by the manufacturer – before they are licensed. This could mean new medicines become widely available to desperate patients ‘several years’ earlier than under the existing system. The prostate cancer drug abiraterone, for example, could have been available around two years before it was licensed. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will examine data from ongoing trials in order to approve a drug as a ‘promising innovative medicine’. It will also need to gain a positive scientific opinion, saying the benefits outweigh the risks, which it is hoped would be granted within two to three months. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the early access scheme due to start next month would boost industry by attracting investment and help patients. He said ‘This ground-breaking scheme will provide cutting edge medicines earlier, give hope to patients and their families and save lives. And as part of our strategy for life sciences it will create more jobs and opportunities for people, helping secure a better future for our country.’ The plan means medicines will be given to patients before the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has decided whether to approve NHS funding. Once a drug has been fully licensed for use, it will come out of the early access scheme and be assessed by Nice. Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said ‘Time is of the essence for many cancer patients, particularly those with more advanced disease. It can mean the difference between life and death. ‘Therefore this scheme, which has at its heart the potential to bring promising new medicines to patients faster, is to be warmly welcomed. ‘The scheme should also make it more attractive for life sciences companies to conduct their development activities in the UK, which will bring a multitude of benefits to the population.’ It is thought anything from one to 12 drugs a year could qualify for early access. Although doctors are currently allowed to prescribe unlicensed drugs by taking personal responsibility for a ‘named patient’, the new system will provide confidence to them and patients that the safety risks and benefits have been professionally assessed prior to licensing. However, the individual doctor would still be liable if anything goes wrong, according to the Department of Health. Under the plan, pharmaceutical firms will be able to gain experience of how their medicines are being used in the NHS, it said. Firms would also ‘work closely with regulators to look at the value of the drugs, gaining guidance and advice much earlier in the regulatory process.’ Drug companies would still be able to offer new medicines via trials and on compassionate grounds. Medication: It is thought anything from one to 12 drugs a year could qualify for early access . Robert Meadowcroft, chief executive of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, said ‘This is a welcome step by the Department of Health towards addressing the lengthy and at times convoluted process of bringing a drug to market. ‘For people with some forms of muscular dystrophy, every day counts and a year could be the difference between walking unaided and using a powered wheelchair, between breathing independently and needing a ventilator to support lungs through the night. ‘The long wait for potential treatments to make their way through three stages of clinical trials can be agonising - particularly when followed by a drawn-out licensing process. We need urgency in the supply of safe and effective treatments to these families.’ Paul Catchpole, director of value and access at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), said ‘The early access to medicines scheme will benefit patients, the NHS and the UK clinical research community, of which our industry is a part. ‘Most importantly, it means that patients with some life-threatening or seriously debilitating conditions - without adequate treatment options - will be able to get faster access to important innovative medicines as these will be made available before launch, following an assessment by the MHRA.’ Dr Ian Hudson, Chief Executive of the MHRA, said ‘We are delighted that the Early Access to Medicines Scheme will be launched in April 2014. 'The scheme is intended to enable patient access to medicines for treatment of life threatening or seriously debilitating conditions where there is an unmet need. This is a major new development in medicines policy in the UK.’ | New plan means drugs can be prescribed on NHS before they are licensed .
Anything from one to 12 drugs a year could qualify for early access .
But individual doctors would still be liable if anything goes wrong . |
0d1882bbd621b173e82dafa6bfff09f2c2696099 | By . Ted Thornhill . Smog and air pollution are lingering environmental problems in China. But a city in the northwestern region is determined to fight against dirty air using nothing more complicated than plain old tap water. Recently, local residents in Lanzhou, capital of northwest Chinas Gansu province, found that two giant sprayers had been set up at the Dongfanghong Square where a subway station of the city's Metro Line 1 is under construction. Will they see clearly now? The water sprayers will throw pulverized water 2,000 feet into the air to dispel pollution . Grand cannon: The sprayers have been placed next to construction works for a new subway station . Size matters: The cannons are enormous and have been getting a lot of attention from passers-by . The two long-range sprayers are able to pulverize and spurt out tap water to wipe out dust and smog within a radius of 600 meters to reduce air pollution caused by the metro construction. Martyn Chipperfield, Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at the University of Leeds, said the water will cling on to the pollutants and bring them back down to earth. He told MailOnline: 'Lanzhou has a big problem with smog, like lots of Chinese cities. This is a small-scale effort to damp down the dust. The water will go up as a fine mist, and stick to the dust and form larger particles - and fall back down to the surface under gravity. It's basically replicating rain on a local level.' This does of course mean that anyone in the vicinity is likely to get quite mucky. However, Professor Chipperfield said that 'it will stop dust spreading over a wider area'. It won't stop pollution elsewhere, though, he added. Earlier this year Chinese scientists said that pollution 900 miles away in Beijing was so dense that its effects were comparable to that of a nuclear winter. It has been predicted that if enough nuclear bombs were detonated, so many particles would be thrown into the air that the sun could be blocked out enough to alter the weather and damage the food supply. Issue: Pollution is a major problem in many Chinese cities . Calamity: Earlier this year the pollution in Beijing was said by one expert to be having a similar effect to that of a nuclear winter . This process was under way in China’s capital city and six northern provinces, according to He Dongxian from China Agricultural University’s College of Water Resources and Civil Engineering.She warned that the toxic smog was hindering photosynthesis of plants and that if it lingers much longer, it could affect food production, according to The Guardian. Pollution had been so severe that aircraft were grounded, roads closed and tourists numbers hit, while the direct danger posed to human health was underlined by the World Health Organisation, whose readings in Beijing in February had alarming results. It was reported that the level of PM 2.5 particles, a key measure of pollution because they are small enough to be assimilated into the blood stream, reached 505 micrograms per cubic metre, far higher than the maximum level it considers to be safe, which is 25. Authorities have introduced anti-pollution policies and often pledged to clean up the environment but the problem has not eased. It remains to be seen whether the water sprayers can form part of a long-term solution. | Two giant sprayers have been set up in Lanzhou, in China's Gansu province .
They will squirt water 2,000 feet into the air to dispel lingering pollution .
The water will stick to the pollutants and bring them back to earth .
Earlier this year pollution in China was compared to a nuclear winter . |
0d18d408448a97a0d53f93302ba948221897c6f9 | London (CNN) -- The artwork for "The Next Day," David Bowie's first album in 10 years and a record that nobody outside his inner circle suspected was coming, is a witty vandalization of the sleeve of 1977's "Heroes." As its designer, Jonathan Barnbrook, explains: The "Heroes" cover obscured by the white square is about the spirit of great pop or rock music which is "of the moment," forgetting or obliterating the past. However, we all know that this is never quite the case, no matter how much we try, we cannot break free from the past." Read more: David Bowie returns with new single, album . In that sense it's an unbeatable image. Bowie's glittering reputation rests on his determination, during his extraordinary run of albums in the 1970s, to escape the past and embrace the future, but he was also clever enough to realize that there's no such thing as an entirely blank slate, and that tension was the motor of his genius. The excitement surrounding his surprise comeback, after a decade of supposed retirement, reminds us that he is rock's unrivalled innovator-in-chief. His early reinventions could perhaps be explained by sheer ambition. That's why David Jones from suburban Bromley, on the southern outskirts of London, became David Bowie (rhymes with Zoe, not Maui) and then Bowie, fearing that 1969's "Space Oddity" would render him a one-hit wonder, became Ziggy Stardust, the first post-modern rock star. If fame was all he was looking for, he would have been happy with that, but his hunger for change exceeded his appetite for success. He killed off Ziggy after just 18 months and unveiled a series of new identities, each with its own sound. Photos: David Bowie's ever-changing look . To listen to all of Bowie's 70s albums in sequence is still a dizzying experience, because each one attempts to eclipse its predecessor. On "Aladdin Sane" he explored the relationship between showbusiness and mental illness. "Diamond Dogs" was an apocalyptic vision which spun the mid-70s' darkest fears into a kind of glam-rock opera. The "plastic soul" of "Young Americans" was his strange response to the sound of black America and "Station to Station," recorded in cocaine-maddened seclusion in Los Angeles in the guise of the "Thin White Duke," presaged his return to Europe. Remarkably, these page-turning albums emerged at the rate of around one a year. The only possible comparison in terms of creative momentum is the Beatles, and there were four of them. Beyond the records themselves, Bowie's restless eye for new stimuli, drawn from the worlds of cinema, theatre, fashion and visual art, made him pop's most imaginative stylist. London's V&A museum is mounting a major retrospective of his visual work this spring -- rare honor for a pop star. Read more: Bowie back after the bonds . As the artwork of "he Next Day" and the lyrics of comeback single "Where Are We Now?" suggest, Bowie's mystique resides most powerfully in the three albums he recorded in Berlin in the late 70s: "Low," "Heroes" and "Lodger." Of all his rebirths this was the most radical, influential and multi-faceted. The Berlin albums are perfectly poised between art and pop, containing both avant-garde enigmas like "Warszawa" and glorious, gripping songs like the title track of "Heroes," which sounded not at all out of place, 35 years later, as Team GB's Olympic anthem. Brian Eno, who worked on Bowie's Berlin trilogy, once compared rock music to a blank sheet of paper that was rapidly filled in and Bowie did more than anyone in the 70s to colonize that white space. Each record was, to quote one song title, a fantastic voyage, alerting other musicians to new possibilities and charting a path for entire scenes. It's impossible to imagine the landscape of early 80s pop, for example, without Bowie's influence, and you can detect his DNA in countless artists, from Pet Shop Boys to Lady Gaga, U2 to Blur, Joy Division to Nine Inch Nails, Franz Ferdinand to LCD Soundsystem. To any musician who worries about reconciling artistic integrity with commercial success, or sonic innovation with emotional truth, Bowie's 70s work is proof that, with enough talent and judgement, you can have it all. Of course records this good cast a long shadow and, to paraphrase Barnbrook, no matter how much he tried, Bowie couldn't break free from the past. While his bad albums in subsequent decades were justly criticized, his good ones were unfairly underrated. Although he remained curious, enthusiastic and eager to take risks right up to 2003's "Reality," he was punished for no longer reinventing the wheel with each release. As long as Bowie was still recording regularly, all but his most devoted fans took him for granted. They won't be making that mistake again. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Dorian Lynskey. | David Bowie stuns rock world by releasing first new music in 10 years .
Bowie released string of dazzling albums in 1970s, says Dorian Lynskey .
Lynskey: This fine music cast long shadow; Bowie prisoner of past?
Critics will never take him for granted again, says Lynskey . |
0d19464c65554c43c7bd75fc9acf6c2ca5f4118a | (CNN) -- At the time when girls should be deciding on where to go to university, most girls in my country are deciding on a wedding dress. I am 16-years-old and where I come from in Bangladesh, many girls my age grow quickly from children to adults because they are forced into marriage. I could have been one of those girls, but I'm one of the few girls in my country who is blessed to have support from my parents and community to live the life of a joyful teenage girl. Every girl should have the right to that life, but there are millions of girls in my country who are not so fortunate and are subjected to child marriage. It makes me sad to think about the fate of these girls, and that is why I am here at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, to share my experience with global leaders and give other girls a chance to change the world with me. According to the UN, any person under the age of 18 is a child. I am still a child, and children like me need love, care and protection. Every child dreams of a brighter future and a better world, but the question is, why does this dream become a nightmare in the lives of so many girls? As a girl, I must ask these questions to the world's leaders. The law in Bangladesh says no girl should get married before 18 years of age and no boy before 21 years of age. But yet, Bangladesh has the highest rate of child marriage among the south Asian countries. It is estimated that two-thirds of Bangladeshi girls are married before the age of 18. In my village, I witnessed lots of wedding parties for underage brides. For the past three years I have lost at least two friends to early marriages at an age where I didn't even know what marriage was. Now those girls have their own children. I don't want to lose any more friends. In my childhood I used to play with dolls. Sometimes I arranged marriages for the dolls. That is how parents treat their daughters — like dolls who have no voice. There are many reasons why early marriage is so prevalent in Bangladesh, but one of the biggest reasons is lack of quality education. There are 64,000 villages in our country, and most of the people living in villages have no access to education. They have no idea about the likely consequences of child marriage, and so it's a cycle that continues. Education helps create opportunities for girls to contribute to family income. If a girl can feed her family, it will help parents rethink the idea that their daughters are a burden. Girls who become brides stay uneducated because they must become mothers, caretakers and homemakers, further driving the cycle of poverty and powerlessness. Early marriage has contributed to every problem prevailing in my country, directly or indirectly. It increases child death and maternal death, increases divorce and broken families, increases population and decreases female education and empowerment. If we stop this problem, other problems in our country will be reduced automatically. How can we put a stop to this injustice? Building awareness through films like "Girl Rising" that pressure governments to implement laws against child marriage and educating communities like World Vision does in Bangladesh. I am a part of World Vision's child forum and just this year we have used our voices to stop three child marriages in our community. Those girls are still in school. I myself was saved because my own community was made aware of the negative consequences of early marriage and the importance to giving me an education. Both my mother and grandmother were considered burdens in their families. My grandmother got married when she was 9 and my mother got married when she was 16. But at 16 I will not be getting married any time soon, because that cycle has stopped with me. I am not a burden to get rid of. I am a blessing, and I have dreams that I will and can achieve. My hope is that my friends in Bangladesh and girls around the world will get to chase their dreams, too. | Humaiya Akhter is a 16-year-old advocate for girl's education and child rights in Bangladesh .
Humaiya campaigns against child marriage and is active with World Vision .
She says one of the biggest reasons for early marriage is lack of education .
CNN Films will release "Girl Rising," focusing on improving the lives of girls around the world . |
0d197c33dacc8cd08aba416d283ceb1a6b6d8e9a | (CNN) -- SeaWorld says its "Dine with Shamu" killer whale show is reopening, nearly a year after it closed following the death of a trainer. The show opens February 26 at SeaWorld's San Antonio, Texas, park, followed by its parks in San Diego, California, and Orlando, Florida, in the spring, the company said. In February 2010, Tilikum, a 12,000-pound killer whale, pulled senior trainer Dawn Brancheau, 40, underwater and killed her as horrified visitors watched at SeaWorld of Orlando's Shamu Stadium. After Brancheau's death, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined SeaWorld $75,000 for three safety violations, including one classified as willful. In a statement, SeaWorld said that its internal review reached a different conclusion. Without providing details, the statement said the conclusions were "drawn from decades of experience caring for marine mammals." In the past, SeaWorld's parks in Orlando, San Antonio and San Diego gave customers the opportunity to eat a meal next to the killer whale tank while interacting with the trainers. SeaWorld's Nick Gollattscheck with said the reopened show in Orlando would receive "a new look and surface around the pool and new glass in the guest viewing area." | Action comes almost a year after whale killed trainer at Orlando park .
San Antonio park's show to open first, followed by those in Orlando and San Diego .
Spokesman: Orlando park show will get "a new look" |
0d19c1379de5e4ee8f77fdf7c9917368071bbfa3 | CNN -- When Maria Rubeo closed her arm, she felt something "very big -- like a lemon." Although Hispanic women have a lower incidence rate for breast cancer, they often get the diagnosis at later stages. Her doctor said the lump in her breast was nothing, so Rubeo, who didn't have health insurance, didn't seek a second opinion. With two jobs and two kids, she was busy and didn't go to the doctor's office for another year. During her next visit, with a different doctor, Rubeo learned she had breast cancer -- and the tumor had been there for a while. Her story may not be particularly rare. Research suggests that breast cancer may be harder to treat in Hispanic women because they wait longer to receive care. Women in the fastest-growing minority group in the United States face issues such as language and cultural barriers, lifestyle choices and lack of insurance that could affect their health and medical care, according to research released Wednesday at the Science of Cancer Health Disparities Conference. Like Rubeo, about half of women in a study of 230 Mexican-American breast cancer patients in Arizona and Texas noticed changes in their breasts, but waited more than a month to seek medical attention, according to research presented at the conference hosted by the American Association for Cancer Research. "We asked what the reasons were," said Rachel Zenuk, a graduate student at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, who spoke about the study. "A third cited they didn't have insurance or were unable to afford medical care. Or they thought it was not important to report the medical finding to a professional." Other factors included fear of the results and difficulty scheduling an appointment, she said. More than a decade after her mastectomy, Rubeo urges Hispanic women in the San Francisco, California, Bay area not to wait after seeing changes in their breasts. "I explain: Take time for you to see the doctor," she said. "[Some women] don't have insurance, don't speak English, it's very difficult." Hispanics are the largest U.S. minority group, constituting 14 percent of the nation's total population. While Hispanic women have a lower incidence rate for breast cancer than whites, blacks and Asians, they have a less favorable prognosis because of delayed treatment. "They're not getting more breast cancer than other women, but they're less likely to survive as long," said Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, a member of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation's National Health Advisory Council and chairwoman of the Komen Foundation National Hispanic/Latino Advisory Council. "The reason is they're diagnosed at a later stage of the cancer." "We're seeing them at later stages, so the cancer is more advanced. Their five-year survival rates are lower than non-Hispanic whites," Ramirez said. Data also showed that about two-thirds of breast cancer cases in the 230 Mexican-American women were found through self-detection, which suggests that the women were not receiving routine mammogram or exams. Rubeo said that when she first noticed the lump, she "had no time for me to take care of myself. Only work, work, running, no time to eat. Sometimes you forget yourself, so there's time for everybody and not enough for yourself." At the Latina Breast Cancer Agency in San Francisco, she tells other women how she didn't take care of herself while working two jobs, 16 hours a day. "I explain to the ladies my experience. Sometimes they cry and say it's true," Rubeo said. She now runs support groups for breast cancer patients, talking about health screenings, accompanying women to the hospital and helping them with paperwork. Aside from the pressures of being a busy, working mother, there are language and cultural barriers for Latina women. "For women we work with, our focus is breast health," said Olivia Fé, founder and executive director of the Latina Breast Cancer Agency. "Within Latino culture, within family, the husband doesn't want the wife to see a male doctor. ... That is a big deal." The group partnered with public hospitals in San Francisco and San Mateo counties and made sure the medical staff who work with Hispanic breast cancer patients are female and speak Spanish. Hispanic women don't take advantage of the free breast health screenings, because there's a lack of awareness, Fé said. Many women speak only Spanish, so prevention messages in English don't get through. Research showed that the women with more education and exposure to English-language media, such as television and radio, were more likely to have had a mammogram. Ramirez said there are now public service announcements in Spanish that target Hispanic women of all ages, so the younger ones will know the importance of family history and the older ones will become informed about the importance of mammograms. The Komen Foundation funds local efforts to increase enrollment of Hispanic women in clinical trials, provide medical interpretive and transportation services, and have Spanish peer support for 24-hour breast cancer hotlines. Lifestyle choices have an important role in breast cancer development, said Esther John, a research scientist and epidemiologist at the Northern California Cancer Center. One study that examined 2,533 Hispanic women found that the women born in foreign countries had 50 percent less risk of developing breast cancer than women born in the United States. This San Francisco Bay Area Breast Cancer Study compared the known breast cancer risks such as obesity, use of hormones, alcohol consumption, fat intake and lack of physical activity between the two groups and found women born in the United States had greater risk. "The pattern suggests that when Hispanic women move to the U.S., there are important changes from the traditional lifestyle to the Americanized lifestyle," John said. "There are lifestyle factors that increase risks of breast cancer." | Hispanic women learn of breast cancer at later stages, research shows .
Language, cultural barriers and lack of insurance may impede medical care .
Other factors include fear of results and difficulty scheduling an appointment . |
0d1a2ab65660a39de9dc577d5f6a7cb302e8a10b | (RollingStone.com) -- Louis C.K. will host "Saturday Night Live" on November 3 along with musical guest Fun., NBC announced during the show's Saturday broadcast. While the episode will mark C.K.'s debut as an "SNL" host, he's no stranger to the show, having worked as a writer for Robert Smigel's animated "Saturday TV Funhouse." Louis C.K. selling Tig Notaro's instantly legendary comedy set . The comedian, who is currently in the midst of a national standup tour, recently announced that he will be taking an extended hiatus from "Louie," the award-winning show that he writes, directs, produces, edits and stars in. 'Louie' going on hiatus until 2014 . He expects to resume shooting in October 2013 with a return to the air in May 2014. His "SNL" appearance will come just after the end of his standup tour's seven-night run in New York City. See the full story at RollingStone.com. Copyright © 2011 Rolling Stone. | Louis C.K. will host "Saturday Night Live" on November 3 .
The group Fun. will join Louis C.K. as the musical guest .
NBC announced the news during this weekend's broadcast .
The comedian is currently in the midst of a national standup tour . |
0d1ba9b0ced0c88b33f42d30f6637eae99a99a3b | By . Daily Mail Reporter . and Associated Press Reporter . Sentenced: Devon Jenkins, 16, has been sentenced to probation and community service after acting as a lookout while his friend's grandmother was killed last year . A 16-year-old boy who acted as a lookout while his friend's grandmother was ambushed, strangled and stabbed in her Minnesota home was today sentenced to probation and community service. Devon James Jenkins must complete a . youth correctional program, perform 100 hours of community service and . serve probation until age 21 over the murder of 79-year-old Lila Warwick. 'I go to bed every night thinking about the awful things I did,' Jenkins told Kandiyohi County Court about the July 2013 incident. Jenkins, who had smoked marijuana on the night of the murder, told the court he's been in chemical dependency treatment since October and wants to get his high school diploma, work with his dad in the drywall business and go to Ridgewater College to get his general classes, according to The Global Dispatch. As Jenkins apologized in court for his actions, Warwick's daughter Cheri Ekbom said she did not hate her mother's attackers. She did not comment on the sentence. 'Maybe it seemed like such an innocent thing to get in that car that night,' she said, according to Star Tribune. 'As a result of that choice, the life of a human being - my mother - was violently taken from us. It will also cost you five years of your life. 'To hate you would bring dishonor to my mom and only allow the darkness...to continue.' Jenkins was the youngest of three defendants charged over Warwick's tragic death. Prosecutors said the church volunteer's own grandson, 18-year-old Robert Warwick, masterminded the deadly plan that led 19-year-old Brok Junkermeier to choke and stab the woman. Junkermeier was charged with intentional second-degree murder, without premeditation, and his trial is in March. Warwick's trial has not been scheduled. Victim: Lila Warwick, 79, was found strangled and stabbed to death in her Minnesota home last year . Crime scene: Lila Warwick was found dead in the basement of her Willmar, Minnesota, home last year . According to the charging documents, Warwick believed that his grandmother had more than $40,000 in a safe. The trio had reportedly been planning to kill Warwick and steal her money for some time. Warwick's body was found after she . failed to show up at a meeting at Redeemer Lutheran Church, where she . was a volunteer. ‘Upon . entering into the garage and home, deputies found evidence of homicidal . violence and found the body of Ms. Warwick who was deceased,’ one of the . juvenile petitions said. Preliminary autopsy results showed she died from complex homicidal violence involving multiple stab wounds and strangulation. After the murder, witnesses told authorities they heard Junkermeier talk previously about killing Warwick and stealing her money, but both thought he was joking. One of the witnesses said that the day after the killing, Junkermeier came to him and talked about the burglary and attack. Charged: Prosecutors say Warwick's own grandson Robert Warwick, 18 (right) masterminded the attack while Brok Junkermeier, 19 (left) choked and stabbed the woman . According to the charges, Junkermeier told his friend that he and another teen drove to Warwick's house in the 3000 block of U.S. Highway 12 East at around 4am on July 29 and lay in ambush. The 19-year-old had previously obtained a key to get into Warwick's garage, and went inside wearing a mask and gloves while Jenkins stayed in the car as a lookout. Junkermeier waited two hours for Warwick to enter the garage, then ambushed her and slashed her hand with a 20-inch knife. The suspect told his friend that while the elderly woman was bleeding heavily, he forced her to access her bank account online and write him a check for $1,500. Prosecutors say Junkermeier later deposited that money into his account. Callous: Charges state that after the murder, Junkermeier and Jenkins (pictured) went to a McDonald's for a snack before heading home . Junkermeier told his confidant he then began to strangle Warwick, and when he saw she was not dead, he stabbed her multiple times before dumping her in the basement, the charges said. The charges state that soon after Warwick’s gristly murder, Junkermeier and Jenkins went to a nearby McDonald’s for a snack and then headed home, The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. At around 2pm that day, Junkermeier and Robert Warwick returned to Lila Warwick's house and took a safe. The duo stopped by the house again at around 5pm and saw police officers on the scene. The charges said Junkermeier confessed to the killing when he was arrested and told police where to find the bloody knife. Pillar of community: Lila Warwick, right, pictured with her daughter, Cheri Ekbom, was a grandmother to eight children, great-grandmother to two others and volunteered at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Willmar . Bloody gym shoes, a safe and 30 $1,000 savings bonds in Warwick's name were found at Junkermeier's house, the complaint said. At the time of the incident, Cheri Ekbom said her nephew was a drug addict who hated his grandmother and wanted her dead. Junkermeier, a 2012 graduate of Willmar High School, has had some previous run-ins with the law involving theft-related charges and was on probation at the time of Warwick's death. Former classmates described Junkermeier to Echo Press as a big sports enthusiast who did not have many friends in school and was often picked on. Graham Dahl, 19, called Junkermeier a stone-faced 'weird kid' who had little respect for his teachers and would sometimes get ejected from class for acting out. Warwick had eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She and her husband, who died in 1976, had lived in Willmar since 1969. | Three teenagers were charged over murder of Lila Warwick, 79, in her Minnesota home last year .
One of the teens was Warwick's grandson .
The youngest defendant, 16-year-old Devon James Jenkins, was today sentenced to complete a youth correctional program .
He acted as a lookout during the July 29, 2013 attack . |
0d1bbe98f957bbd403a6d2acc63c2a9a6b72ddab | By . Daily Mail Reporter . Thieves have broken into the monument of President James A. Garfield and stolen a set of commemorative spoons. Vandals shattered a window to get inside the 180-foot-tall monument at Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland Heights. The thieves took the 13 silver spoons which have Garfield's face engraved on them, but left behind the cash donation box. Thieves have broken into the monument of President James A. Garfield and stolen a set of commemorative spoons (file photo) The thieves took the 13 silver spoons which have Garfield's face engraved on them, but left behind the cash donation box . A cemetery worker discovered the theft Wednesday. Police reports say cigarette butts, a T-shirt and a whiskey bottle were recovered. The cemetery's website says Garfield is the only president to have his casket on full display. His wife Lucretia Rudolph Garfield, has a casket next to his. Vandals went to the trouble of shattering a window to get inside the 180-foot-tall monument at Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland Heights . The cemetery's website says Garfield is the only president to have his casket on full display . James A. Garfield was the 20th President of the United States . Katherine Goss, president and chief executive of Lake View Cemetery, which houses the Garfield tomb told The Washington Post the spoons, 'would be hard to sell in a historical auction because everyone would wonder where they came from.' She said the fact that only the silver spoons were stolen lead her to guess that 'someone had to prove that they had been inside the monument — so they had to take something.' Garfield, the nation's 20th president, was born in the Cleveland suburb of Moreland Hills. On July 2, 1881, Garfield was shot in a Washington railroad station by a man who had been turned down for a job with the President. In a critical condition from the bullet, Garfield lay in the White House for weeks. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, tried to find the bullet with an induction-balance electrical device which he had designed - he was unsuccessful. Garfield was taken to the New Jersey seaside and seemed to be recuperating, but three months after he was shot, he died from an infection - he had served just 200 days in office. His widow went home to their farm in Ohio and died on March 14, 1918. President Garfield was born in the Cleveland suburb of Moreland Hills in 1931. His father died when he was two and he saved up enough money for his education by driving canal boat teams. He graduated from Williams College in . Massachusetts in 1856, and he returned to the Western Reserve Eclectic . Institute (later Hiram College) in Ohio as a classics professor. He married Lucretia Rudolph Garfield in 1858 and they had seven children, although two of them died in childhood. In 1880 he became the nation's 20th president, but it was a short-lived office. On July 2, 1881, in a Washington railroad station, an embittered attorney who had sought a consular post shot the President. Mortally wounded, Garfield lay in the White House for weeks. Alexander . Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, tried to find the bullet with . an induction-balance electrical device which he had designed - he was . unsuccessful. Garfield . was taken to the New Jersey seaside and seemed to be recuperating, but . three months after he was shot he died from an infection - he had served . just 200 days in office. His wife went home to their farm in Ohio and died on March 14, 1918. Garfield did not have the shortest presidential term - William Henry Harrison served for about a month before his death. Source: Whitehouse.gov . Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. | Vandals shattered a window to get inside the 180-foot-tall monument .
Worked discovered the theft at Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland Heights .
Garfield is the only president to have his casket on full display . |
0d1bfca2482d442f3791f0a39128af6f6c405b28 | (CNN) -- A strengthening El Nino is expected to bring torrential rain Thursday to parts of Southern California, including Los Angeles, and authorities warned of possibly severe mudslides in areas denuded by forest fires. The storm could dump 8 inches to 10 inches of rain on the Los Angeles area and higher amounts in the foothills, the National Weather Service said. Late Tuesday, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa -- expecting a dangerous storm Wednesday -- urged hundreds of Californians to leave their homes. A torrential rainfall Tuesday unleashed flooding and spawned a rare tornado warning. Are you being affected by the storms? Send your images, video . There has been some resistance to the advice, a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department said. The detective, who wouldn't give her entire name, said she didn't know how many people decided to leave. Flash flooding on California golf course . There was heavy rain Wednesday in San Francisco and Sacramento, California, but Los Angeles had little precipitation as of about noon. Driving by homes, businesses under water . A warm ocean current from the South Pacific is responsible for this week's storms, said CNN meteorologist Chad Myers. With little vegetation to help contain the water, the vast expanses in southern California that were hit by wildfires late last summer are causing concern for officials. The largest of the fires -- known as the Station Fire -- charred 250 square miles of land last summer north and east of Los Angeles. "If you are lower in elevation than where a fire happened earlier this year, you need to be very, very cautious," Myers said. Forecasters said several feet of snow would fall in the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada through the rest of this week, as low pressure systems continue moving into the area. | El Nino expected to bring torrential rain Thursday to parts of Southern California .
Authorities warned of possibly severe mudslides in areas denuded by forest fires .
Warm ocean current from the South Pacific responsible for storm . |
0d1cea1c70d366ca2878b3068e398b2a8a8a4328 | By . Steve Robson and Hannah Roberts In Rome . PUBLISHED: . 13:26 EST, 3 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:51 EST, 3 April 2013 . Lord of the Wind: Italian anti-Mafia police have seized a huge number of assets from energy developer Vito Nicastri, 57, . Italian police have seized more than £1billion in assets from a Sicilian wind farm magnate because of his alleged links to the Mafia. The carabinieri confiscated 1.3 billion Euros from Vito Nicastri, 57, through 43 of his energy companies, 98 properties and several bank accounts. The anti-mafia agency said it was the biggest-ever seizure of mafia-linked assets. As well as warehouses, and villas, Nicastri’s vast portfolio includes luxury cars and a catamaran. Attracted by generous EU and state subsidies and lax controls, the Mafia have increasingly used clean energy as a way to launder dirty money. In the south, where most of the development has taken place, clans have been able to wield its influence to strong arm landowners into accepting the farms, destroying swathes of countryside. Other windfarms, built with public money, have never functioned. Nicastri, dubbed ‘Lord of the Wind’ in Sicily, because of his massive renewables investments, is known to have links to Italy’s most-wanted godfather, Matteo Messina Denaro, who has been on the run since 1993. The Italian anti mafia agency DIA said it was the largest seizure of mafia-linked assets in the country’s history. Agency head Arturo de Felice said: ‘This is a sector in which money can easily be laundered. ‘Operating in a grey area helped Nicastri to build up his business over the years.’ Since 2010 Nicastri has effectively been under house arrest, forbidden from leaving his home town of Alcamo in western Sicily. Italy has the third-largest number of wind turbines in Europe after Germany and Spain . Vito Nicastri has been under virtual house arrest at his home in Alcamo Sicily since the Mafia investigation first began in 2010 . Investigators said the businessman had 'maintained constant relations with . members of Cosa Nostra' in Sicily, as well as having contacts with the . 'Ndrangheta mafia in Calabria, on the Italian mainland. This relationship allegedly 'facilitated his transformation from an . electrician into a businessman specialising in the production of . electricity from renewable sources, giving him a prominent position in . the south', Italy's Ansa news agency reports. The seizure 'impacts in a significant way on the economic power of . Matteo Messina Denaro, who is considered the lord of that land . [Sicily]', the anti-mafia agency said. Ivan Lo Bello, vice-chairman of business lobby Confindustria, wrote on . Twitter: 'Matteo Messina Denaro is behind many businessmen considered . above suspicion who manage and take care of the assets of the real boss . of Cosa Nostra. 'To defeat the Mafia, the fight against money-laundering is fundamental.' Italy banned nuclear power after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986 and has to buy in much of its energy from Switzerland and France. The country has invested heavily in renewables and has the third most wind farms in Europe, after Germany and Spain. Crackdown: Head of the anti-Mafia agency Arturo de Felice said the energy sector has been targeted by the Sicilian Mafia . | Vito Nicastri, known as 'Lord of the Wind', has been under virtual house arrest since 2010 .
Accused of ties to Italy's most-wanted godfather Matteo Messina Denaro .
Anti-mafia unit seized 43 companies, 98 properties, bank accounts, luxury cars and a catamaran . |
0d1e26cae1172ac23ec86daf994a6616ca20d43d | Arsenal face Besiktas at the formidable Ataturk Stadium on Tuesday night bidding to reach the Champions League group stages for the 17th consecutive year. Sportsmail provides the lowdown on the Gunners' opponents ahead of the first leg of the qualifying tie in Istanbul. VIDEO Scroll down for Besiktas Manager Slaven Bilic: We're not here for a jolly up . Fighting spirit: Arsenal get into the mood to face Besiktas with a playful scrap in training on Monday . First look: Arsene Wenger (centre) and Mathieu Flamini (left) takes a stroll on the pitch at the Ataturk Stadium . So what do Arsenal have to worry about? 76,000 raging Turks is never a hospitable sight. It will be raucous, visceral and unpleasant. When Manchester United visited in 2009, Sir Alex Ferguson said afterwards: 'The fans made the loudest noise I have ever heard.' Arsenal will have to show that they are made of the right stuff and silence the Ataturk Stadium. Flying the flag: Besiktas supporters are passionate, noisy and generate a fearsome atmosphere . Firestarter: Besiktas supporters revel in the heat of a Champions League clash against Chelsea in 2003 . Anything to concern Arsenal on the pitch? Pre-season can often be a deception - just ask Manchester United - but Besiktas did beat Chelsea 1-0 in Istanbul just a few weeks ago. It was, however, only a 45-minute game. The Turks also lost 2-1 against Wigan Athletic in a friendly game this summer. Danger sign? Oguzhan Ozyakup (right) and Willian (left) during Besiktas's pre-season defeat of Chelsea . Who do Arsenal need to watch out for? Demba Ba is the main man, having moved to Besiktas this summer after scoring 50 goals in English football over the course of three seasons at West Ham, Newcastle and Chelsea. Another former Premier League player - Kerim Frei - who spent a couple of seasons at Fulham, is highly-rated by Arsenal's Turkish opposition. Familiar face: Demba Ba (centre) now leads the line for the Turks after his summer move from Chelsea . And who's the leader on the sidelines? Slaven Bilic, the former West Ham defender that rather enjoys knocking English teams out of competitions. He was the man in charge of Croatia when they defeated Steve McClaren's England home and away to deny the Three Lions' progress into Euro 2008. Bogey man: Former West Ham, Everton and Croatia defender Slaven Bilic is boss at Besiktas . Reason to be cheerful? Arsenal have a potent record against Turkish opposition. Over 90 minutes, they have played seven games, winning four of those and drawing three. Arsenal also defeated Turkish side Fenerbahce to qualify for the Champions League group stages last season. Reason to be fearful? Arsenal fans still rue that UEFA Cup final in Copenhagen in 2000, when the Gunners were defeated by Galatasaray in a penalty shootout. Davor Suker and Patrick Vieira both missed from the spot to hand the victory to the Turkish side. In clashes before the game, four men were stabbed. Paid the penalty: Nwankwo Kanu (left), Davor Suker (centre) and Marc Overmars (right) after Arsenal's UEFA Cup final defeat against Galatasaray in Copenhagen in 2000. The Gunners lost after a spot-kick shootout . VIDEO Wenger lauds late Ramsey goal . | Arsenal face Besiktas in Champions Lesague qualifier on Tuesday .
Gunners play first leg of final qualifying tie in Istanbul's Ataturk Stadium .
Arsene Wenger's side bidding to reach group stages for 17th straight year .
Turkish side will provide stern test for Arsenal . |
0d1ffd23f723f7bc801e1a1603d4f1125353dacf | Nanny Yoselyn Ortega, 52, pictured in court in 2013, accused of killing two young children in their New York apartment, has apologized for what she did . A nanny accused of killing two children in the bathtub of their New York home said she was sorry for what she had done but maintains she is angry at how the parents treated her. Yoselyn Ortega has pleaded not guilty to butchering six-year-old Lucia Krim and two-year-old Leo Krim at their Upper West Side apartment in October 2012. Their mother Marina, 38, was out picking up her third child, Nessie, from a swimming lesson when she returned to find her children's bodies. Ortega, 52, then cut her throat while sitting next to them in a failed suicide bid. The court papers say the Dominican immigrant told authorities the little girl tried to fight back before she stabbed her and then killed the boy. She used at least two knives. 'Oh, my God, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I've done,' she said, according to the court papers. 'Relieve me of my misery.' The documents were included as exhibits in lengthy motions filed by defense attorney Valerie Van Leer-Greenberg. She asked that the prosecutor be dropped from the case and that the judge bar news media from an upcoming court hearing. Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro denied both requests. Van Leer-Greenberg has said Ortega cannot understand the case because of her injuries and because she suffers from delusions. But a judge found her fit for trial. Ortega's statements had not previously been made public. They included details from interviews with authorities after she regained consciousness. She told authorities she hurt the children because she was having money problems and was angry at the parents. She said her schedule constantly shifted, she had to act as a cleaning lady though she didn't want to and she missed an appointment with 'the psych,' according to the papers. Victims: Six-year-old Lucia Krim (left) and two-year-old Leo Krim (right) were found dead by their mother Marina in the bathtub in their Upper West Side home. Ortega was next to them trying to cut open her throat . Frustration: Ortega claims she was angry at the parents because her schedule constantly shifted, she had to act as a cleaning lady and she missed an appointment with 'the psych,' according to the papers . 'I had to do everything and take care of the kids,' she said. 'God forgive me, so many things they made me do. Pray for me.' In the moments before the killings, the children were out getting ice cream and going to a park because Lulu, as Lucia was called, didn't want to go to dance class, according to the court papers. The parents, Kevin and Marina Krim, have not spoken publicly about the killings. Last year, at a fundraiser for their nonprofit, they said they missed their children every day and will forever. 'We are just heartbroken,' Kevin Krim said. 'But they inspire us every day as well. Their lives give us a purpose.' Last year it was reported that when Ortega was shown the horrifying photos of the dead children, she asked: 'Oh, my God, who did that to them?' In interviews she has previously denied having anything to do with the case. | Yoselyn Ortega is accused of butchering Lucia Krim, six, Leo Krim, two .
The siblings were found by their mother Marina, 38, in the bathtub .
Ortega, 52, then cut her throat in a failed suicide attempt .
She told authorities she hurt the pair because she had money problems .
The nanny also said she also had to act as a cleaner in the New York home .
Her lawyer claims she can't understand the case because of her injuries . |
0d218f7b208eb8390453671b5be9d207ec5ab9e3 | Launch: Clive Maxwell, head of the Office of Fair Trading says payday lenders must be probed because of 'deep-rooted' problems with the industry . Payday lenders have been referred for a full-blown investigation by the Competition Commission after the trading watchdog uncovered 'deep-rooted' problems with the industry. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said it decided to make the referral because it suspects that features of the market 'prevent, restrict or distort competition'. The 'fundamental' problems it has found, such as loans becoming far more expensive than struggling borrowers had expected, cannot be tackled by existing laws and guidance, it said. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) decision is the culmination of a large-scale investigation into the £2 billion payday sector, including spot checks on household names such as Wonga. The OFT said it is concerned that lenders are mainly competing on the availability and speed of loan approval, rather than how much it will cost the borrower. It said: 'The competitive pressure to approve loans quickly may give firms an incentive to skimp on the affordability assessment which is designed to prevent irresponsible lending and protect consumers. 'The OFT is also concerned about business models that appear predicated on making loans which are unaffordable, leading to borrowers paying far more than expected through rollovers, additional interest and other charges'. Clive Maxwell, OFT chief executive, said: 'Competition appears not to be working properly in the payday lending market, allowing firms to profit from making loans that cannot be paid back on time. 'We have seen evidence of financial loss and personal distress to many people. 'The Competition Commission can now conduct a detailed investigation to get to the root causes and, if necessary, use its far reaching powers to fix the payday lending market.' Investigation: Companies like Wonga will be probed, who offer loans at 5,853% APR . The commission has strong powers to ban or limit products and shake up whole markets. Tough new regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will oversee the market from next April. The FCA's powers will include the ability to place a 'possible cap' on interest rates and ban or limit the number of rollovers lenders are allowed to offer, the OFT said. During its investigation, the OFT found that lenders get up to half of their revenue from loans which had been rolled over or refinanced. 240 - The number of payday lenders in the market. £2billion - The estimated worth of the sector. 50 - The number of payday lenders that were warned by the trading watchdog to prove they are up to scratch or risk being put out of business. 12 - The number of weeks the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) gave lenders to show that they have addressed the problems it has found. 30 - The number of payday lenders’ websites that emphasised speed and quick access to cash over cost out of the 50 looked at by the OFT. 270 - The typical size of a payday loan in pounds. 12 or more - The number of consecutive rollovers that some payday customers had in the most severe cases found by OFT inspectors. 17 - The number of lenders out of the 50 inspected by the OFT that were found to actively promote rollovers in marketing material or at the point of sale as a “feature” of the loan. 50 - The percentage of payday lenders’ revenues that the OFT found came from 28% of loans which are rolled over or refinanced at least once. 19 - The percentage of payday lenders’ revenue that came from 5% of loans which were rolled over or refinanced four or more times, according to the OFT’s findings. 38 - The number of lenders out of the 50 inspected by the OFT that failed to comply with at least one of the complaint-handling rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service. 7,221 - The number of people who sought help from debt charity StepChange last year who had five or more payday loans. 5,853 - The APR (annual percentage rate) advertised on loans from Wonga, one of Britain’s best-known payday lenders. Wonga, which has more than one million active customers, argues that its APR figure is not a good reflection of the true cost of its loans, which are intended to be for a short-term period. A 'significant' number of borrowers have poor credit histories and a pressing need to get access to cash, meaning that the cost of the loan may be a less significant factor for borrowers and weaken competition on price, the watchdog said. The OFT said it is concerned that consumers find it hard to compare the full cost of payday loans. The practice of rolling loans over also means that other lenders cannot compete for this business and the borrower is trapped with their existing lender. It said the extent to which payday lenders stuck to the rules was 'variable', meaning lenders which invest time and effort complying are at a competitive disadvantage to those who do not. Mr Maxwell told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'We think there are fundamental problems in this market. In short, competition isn't working. It's allowing firms to profit from making unaffordable loans that can't be repaid on time, which is causing financial loss and distress to some people. 'The sorts of difficulties we've found include difficulties for borrowers to compare the full costs of loans in some circumstances and the difficulties for borrowers to switch lender at the point of rolling over a loan. 'We don't think changes can be made under existing laws and guidance. Rather, we think that the Competition Commission in looking at this can bring forward solutions if it finds problems. 'It could, as it has in other markets, ban a particular product or a feature of a product to make that market work more effectively.' Charities and consumer groups, many of whom have seen rocketing numbers of people struggling with payday loan debt, welcomed the OFT's decision, although some questioned why action has not come sooner. Martin Lewis, creator of consumer help website MoneySavingExpert.com, called for a cap to be placed on the total cost of loans and said lenders should be forced to take more notice of poor credit histories. He said: 'Finally, politicians and regulators are picking up the ball. Yet it's shamefully late. Millions of people have already spent billions of pounds on these often disgustingly expensive debts that lead many people into financial hell. 'The lax regulation and enforcement in the UK means we've been easy pickings for these lenders. Couple that with the gradual diminishing of the Social Fund, which was the one route for people on benefits or with little cash to get short-term, interest-free loans, and it's no surprise so many people fall foul.' Complaints: Experts say the people taking these loans are left in an often endless spiral of debt because they cannot pay off the loan . Citizens Advice chief executive Gillian Guy said its evidence has found that in two-thirds (64%) of cases loans come without any checks to make sure the borrower can afford to repay. She said: 'The industry is in desperate need of a transformation from predatory firms to a responsible short-term credit market.' Richard Lloyd, executive director of consumer group Which? said the market is 'rife with poor practice'. He said: 'This is a market where lenders are not competing fairly with each other on price but instead use speed and ease of access to entice customers into deals they cannot afford, so it is right to get the Competition Commission to investigate. 'People under financial pressure being given high cost loans in minutes without proper affordability checks is a recipe for disaster.' | OFT believe payday market does 'prevent, restrict or distort competition'
Payday model based on offering unaffordable loans that punish borrowers .
System is more about speed of borrowing rather than how much it will cost . |
0d223d6431160cb09b4a943c8cca64360b7a6a20 | (CNN) -- An Australian radio DJ whose prank targeting Prince William's pregnant wife led to the suicide of a nurse has been voted the best DJ in the land by his employer. Michael Christian, along with Mel Greig, were suspended after the December 2012 prank in which they called a nurse at King Edward VII's Hospital pretending to be Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles to gain information about the condition of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. After the pair played the prank on air, the nurse who transferred the call through to the ward, Jacintha Saldanha, committed suicide. Aussie DJ scandal: Does radio share the blame? On Tuesday, Christian was crowned "Top Jock" in a contest conducted by his radio network, Southern Cross Austereo. The internal contest pitted DJs who submitted their best bits every week. Christian was the joint winner. A trip to Los Angeles awaits. "From the start I felt like I had something to prove to myself," he said in a statement. "That regardless of all that's happened in the past few months I'm still at the top of my game." Australia's Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said it was too soon for Christian to be honored this way. "I think there's a bit of bad taste involved there," Conroy told news radio station, 3AW. "There was some very serious consequences of what was a prank and to be seen to be rewarding people so soon after such an event, I think is just in bad taste," he said. 'Truly appalling' After the prank caused an international uproar, the two DJs were taken off the air. Southern Cross Austereo suspended all prank calls, pulled advertising and ordered a comprehensive review of relevant policies and process. Greig and Christian apologized in interviews with the Australian TV shows "A Current Affair" and "Today Tonight." "There is nothing that can make me feel worse than what I feel right now," Greig said on "Today Tonight." Nurse death sparks outrage, casts glare on 'shock jocks' Christian told "A Current Affair" the prank had become "a tragic turn of events that I don't think anyone could have predicted or expected." The chairman of the hospital where the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge was a patient slammed the Australian radio station's decision to broadcast the recorded prank call as "truly appalling." "The immediate consequence of these premeditated and ill-considered actions was the humiliation of two dedicated and caring nurses who were simply doing their job tending to their patients," wrote the chairman, Simon Glenarthur. "The longer term consequence has been reported around the world and is, frankly, tragic beyond words." 'World's worst accents ever' Audio of the call posted online suggests a woman spoke briefly to the DJs before she put the call through to the ward where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for acute morning sickness. "They were the world's worst accents ever," Greig told listeners then. "We were sure 100 people at least before us would've tried the same thing. ... We were expecting to be hung up on. We didn't even know what to say when we got through." Off the air, Greig and Christian tweeted about the practical joke, promising "more on the #royalprank." The pair's Twitter accounts were later taken down. A St. James's Palace spokesman said the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were saddened to learn of Saldanha's death. Another palace spokesman told CNN that "at no point did the palace complain to the hospital about the incident. On the contrary, we offered our full and heartfelt support to the nurses involved and hospital staff at all times." Greig remains off the air. Christian resumed DJ duties in February. | He is the co-winner of a contest conducted by his radio network .
"I'm still at the top of my game," Christian says .
Communications minister calls the honor "in bad taste" |
0d23179e752f3b2be36be4d3da11c6e20f77c4fd | By . Daily Mail Reporter . Last updated at 7:28 AM on 27th January 2012 . Argentina's president wasted little time in launching a new attack in Britain over the Falkland Islands after returning to work following a cancer scare. Cristina Fernandez showed off the deep scar from an operation to remove her thyroid after what proved to be a false cancer diagnosis, during a broadcast to the nation. She then turned on British Prime Minister David Cameron, who angered Argentines while she was away by accusing them of having ‘colonialist’ attitudes toward the Falklands. During the speech, she said: ‘I heard they're calling us colonialist. ... One is always tempted to respond, but I think it's better to avoid it. When they say these things it's exactly because they don't have reasons or arguments.’ Joke: President Cristina Fernandez makes light of her recent health scare as she shows off a deep wound on her neck . Scarred: The deep wound from surgery on her thyroid is clearly visible . Argentina has called on Britain to negotiate the sovereignty of the remote South Atlantic archipelago it calls the Malvinas. Britain has maintained a military presence there since liberating the islands in 1982 from an ill-fated Argentine attempt to take them back. Some British analysts have accused Argentines of saber-rattling as the 30th anniversary of that war nears, but Fernandez has insisted on a peaceful resolution. She took another step, announcing that she's making public the ‘Rattenbach Report,’ a long-secret analysis of Argentine leadership failures that called the war a ‘military adventure’ and recommended criminal penalties for those responsible. The report was prepared in 1982, just before the end of Argentina's dictatorship, but was kept classified to keep anyone from being punished. Fernandez sought to draw a clear line between what she called the militarism of other governments and the democracy she leads. Pro-government protesters mount a forceful display outside the British Embassy as tensions rise over the Falkland Islands . ‘Next year will mark 180 years since the usurpation by the government of United Kingdom, which threw out the Argentines who were there (on the islands). They want to make us out to be the bad and violent little ones, something we're not,’ she said. Twice in recent days, pro-government . protesters have been pushed back by riot police from the British Embassy . in Buenos Aires, chanting and carrying signs demanding that Britain . turn over the islands. Falklanders have responded that they have nothing . in common with the Argentines. Protection: Police guard the British Embassy because of growing desire to claim the Falkland Islands . She noted that there are more British . people living in Buenos Aires than on the disputed islands, and praised . the many British businesses located in Argentina. ‘I would advise . Cameron to have a little talk with the executives of these businesses, . so that they can tell him how we Argentines are.’ Writing on the wall: A woman daubs 'Malvinas we will get back with power of the people'. Fernandez's last public appearance had . been December 28, the day after her office announced the cancer diagnosis. Doctors removed the entire gland January 4 after discovering several more . lumps during surgery. Tests then showed the growths were benign. She said: ‘I was going to come with a . handkerchief because it doesn't look very aesthetic,’ she said, . referring to a deep horizontal crease just above her collarbone that . appears to have healed nicely during her 20-day medical leave. But I thought, if I cover it up with a handkerchief, tomorrow Clarin will say, 'This woman wasn't operated on,’ she joked. ‘You all know that aesthetics are very important to me, but I told myself, 'Sweetie, politics before style.’' Questions raised by the newspaper Clarin and other opposition media about her diagnosis and operation had prompted Fernandez to release her medical records, reinforcing what her doctors. | 'It doesn't look very aesthetic' president jokes about scar .
Attacks British 'nonsense' and says Argentina are not the bad guys . |
0d2337226ba25a8d758a07682b6eea1ff5ef9848 | By . Dan Bloom . Heroic firefighters are usually pictured saving children or kittens, so this Chinese rescuer may have got the wrong end of the stick. The man cradled a flaming propane tank in his arms to save it from destroying a restaurant. In a surreal video, a second firefighter trailed behind with a limp hose but missed completely and doused his already distracted colleague with water. Scroll down for video . Flaming mad: A Chinese firefighter carried this burning propane tank to save it from gutting a restaurant . Oops: A colleague trails behind with a hose - but misses completely at first and douses the man with water . The footage was reportedly shot in China and emerged on a Chinese TV station. It was uploaded to YouTube and LiveLeak and has been viewed more than 25,000 times. It shows the firefighter carrying the propane tank out of a restaurant, most likely to save it from setting the rest of the building on fire. Crews linger inside among the tables as the flames light up the room before one firefighter - brave, stupid or both - takes the drastic action to bring it outside. That is despite the fact the restaurant already appears to be severely damaged by fire. Destroyed: From the video, the building already appeared to be damaged as the tank burned inside . All safe: The firefighters quickly regained control of the situation and two of them gripped the hose . The video provoked a storm of debate about firefighting tactics among online commenters. One said: 'Bravery would be charging into a burning building to save orphans. Stupidity would be hand-carrying a flaming propane tank to save what appears to be a fire-gutted restaurant.' But another pointed out the valves fitted to propane canisters would mean the firefighter was relatively safe. The viewer wrote: 'The tank can't blow, as the gas keeps being pushed out by the pressure, meaning the fire can't get in the tank through the valve.' | Video shows firefighter carrying the tank out of building in his arms .
Flames shoot out of the top as a colleague follows him with a hose .
Footage believed to have been shot during an emergency callout in China . |
0d233dc1b4a8fd8e2dc0f8b4b205fcb46afac1ec | By . Martin Robinson . PUBLISHED: . 03:20 EST, 25 July 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 04:36 EST, 25 July 2012 . Peers seem to have forgotten Britain is suffering a deep double dip recession after splurging £175,000 on new artworks last year. Official House of Lords figures show that tens of thousands has been spent on sculptures, paintings and silverware during the spending spree. The £175,000 is almost ten times more than spent a year earlier because it includes a £108,000 blow out on fresh artwork for the peers' new offices in Millbank next to Parliament. Additions to the giant House of Lords art collection include a £7,500 portrait of suffragette Viscountess Rhondda, who fought for the rights of women to vote, by Alice Mary Burton. Splurge: A bust of Prince Philip, left, and a portrait of Lady Rhondda, right, have taken their places in the House of Lords giant art collection as part of a £175,000 spending spree . There was also £25,200 splashed out on a silver piece by British maker Brett Payne. Another £8,500 was laid out on a bust of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, and a £5,000 painting of Queen Victoria's Jubilee procession by Robert Weir Allan. Peers get around £50,000 a year in grants from Government departments to add to the 8,000 pieces of Parliament art on display and in storage. But they can opt to save up the money over several years and go on a huge spending spree. The Lords has been able to build up artworks since the 17th century, and has bought up major pieces throughout the centuries to the present, with some art around 1,000 years old. 'The House of Lords works of art budget for purchases has been halved from £50,000 in 2010/11 to £25,000 in 2011/12. There will be no grant in 2012/13,' a House of Lords spokesman told MailOnline. 'In September 2011 the House of Lords opened a large new office block in Milbank House. A separate grant of £135,000 was provided to purchase works of art for the new building. 'This was a one-off expenditure which will not be repeated. Peers: The House of Lords and Parliament has a collection of at least 8,000 artworks worth millions . 'The House of Lords art collection is a public collection and much of it is on view to the public on tours of the Palace of Westminster. It can also be viewed online on the Parliament website.' But the spending pales in comparison to the Coalition's plans to reform the House of Lords, which will cost taxpayers nearly half a billion pounds, it has been claimed. Labour peer and economist Lord Lipsey put the estimated cost of running a fully-elected chamber over five years at £484million, enough to fund 15,000 nurses' salaries. It is £7million more than the previous estimates and more than five times the £91million cost of the existing House of Lords in the last five years, according to the peer. | £108,000 of taxpayers' money was spent on new artworks for offices close to Parliament .
Pictures of Queen Victoria's Jubilee and a bust of Prince Philip bought in the last year . |
0d24cccdda2af9570ad3524ee9d00cf6558f6211 | Washington (CNN) -- If you're on your way to some of the nation's airports this holiday season and have a feeling there are fewer people schlepping their suitcases and looking for long-term parking spaces, it's not your imagination. The estimate for the upcoming winter holiday travel period predicts there will be fewer fliers than a year ago. A projected 43.3 million air travelers will fly on U.S. carriers for both domestic and international routes during a 21-day period, according to Airlines for America (A4A), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines. That's a 1% drop from the same period last year which translates to about 20,000 fewer travelers on average per day. However, travelers will not find that translates into more leg room once they board planes. On the busiest days, flights will be filled to at least 85% capacity, according to the forecast. "Passengers still should expect to see full flights as many airlines have reduced capacity to match the decline in travel and increased cost of operations. Capacity reduction is one of the steps the industry is taking to preserve profitability," said A4A Chief Economist John Heimlich. Lingering economic concerns, higher energy prices and less disposable income have all contributed to the slight decrease this winter, officials said. The large weather system currently blasting parts of the West and Midwest is making driving through the southern Rockies dangerous but forecasters say to this point, it has not had a major impact on large airline hubs. However, forecasters are watching it closely. "All hands are on deck and ready to go," said Tom Hendricks, A4A senior vice president for Safety, Security and Operations. In the event winter weather causes problems, the FAA may open up Defense Department airspace not regularly available to commercial flights on an as-needed basis to help ease congestion. Daily passenger volumes are expected to range from 1.6 million to 2.3 million during the holiday. The busiest days are expected to be between December 21 through December 23, December 26 through December 30 and then January 2 and 3 as travelers fly home. The airline organization recommends passengers check airline websites before they leave for the airport, pack gifts unwrapped to lessen security delays and review carry-on rules for liquids, gels and aerosols. | A projected 43.3 million air travelers will fly on U.S. carriers .
That's a 1% drop from the same period last year .
On the busiest days, flights will be filled to at least 85% capacity . |
0d2597bdac4bc4a615e77ceb6bdf4d5c8524f4e0 | (CNN) -- Argentina's star-studded line-up began their World Cup campaign with a 1-0 victory over Nigeria in their Group B opener in Johannesburg on Saturday. A goal from defender Gabriel Heinze after six minutes was all that separated the two teams after an inspired display from Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama. But South Korea ended the day on top of the group following a 2-0 victory over Greece in Port Elizabeth earlier on Saturday. Goals from Lee Jung-Soo and Park Ji-Sung gave the 2002 semifinalists a comfortable win over the 2008 European cvhampions. Argentina 1-0 Nigeria . Enyeama could do little to stop Heinze's powerful early header from a Juan Sebastian Veron corner, but he kept his team alive with a string of acrobatic saves to deny World Player of the Year Lionel Messi. Diego Maradona was delighted to secure his first victory as a World Cup coach, but critical of his strikers for failing to make the game safe. "When you don't kill things off in front of goal you can pay a heavy price. They almost got a draw -- we missed loads of chances," Maradona told AFP. "Players such as Leo Messi and Higuain knocked in around 60 goals last season between them, yet today it was almost as if they couldn't set their sights on goal. "But the win means we can be calm -- we are in the right track." Enyeama's tip over from a Messi shot led to the early corner from which the unmarked Heinze scored to spark scenes of wild celebration on the Argentina bench, led by Maradona. Messi and Gonzalo Higuain might both have had hat-tricks as Argentina's attacking flair was evident, but at the other end Nigeria also had opportunities to salvage a point. Midway through the second half, Taye Taiwo found space to toe-poke a shot from the edge of the area which went just wide of Sergio Romero's left-hand post. CNN's World Cup twitter.buzz . As the clock ticked down, Enyeama blocked Messi as he looked certain to score but in a swift counter attack Nigeria then had their best chance of the match as Aiyegbeni Yakubu crossed from the right and Kala Uche made a hash of his volleyed attempt from 10 meters out. At the final whistle it was a deserved victory for Argentina, but they will face a sterner test in their next match in five days' time against South Korea. Nigeria, who have lost five and drawn once since their last World Cup finals victory in 1998, will be looking to break that winless run against the Greeks, who also have a poor record in football's global showpiece. South Korea 2-0 Greece . Goals from Lee Jung-Soo and Park Ji-Sung earned South Korea a comfortable 2-0 win against a poor Greek side, who never looked like getting on the score sheet. Central defender Lee opened the scoring in the seventh minute, volleying home from close range from a well directed free-kick delivered by Ki Sung-Yong. South Korea should have gone 2-0 up after 23 minutes when Monaco striker Park Chu-Young was sent through on goal by a defense-splitting pass from the boot of Park Ji-Sung, but goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas saved to send the ball onto the roof of the net. The second half carried on where the first finished off, and it was no surprise when Park Ji-Sung added a second goal after 52 minutes. Latching on to a mistake made by Loukas Vyntra, the Manchester United midfielder swept forward into the penalty area before coolly slotting past a helpless Tzorvas. The goal did seem to finally wake Greece from their slumber, and striker Theofanis Gekas forced a fine save from Jung Sung Ryon in the 80th minute, but it was a rare moment of skill in a woeful display. Moments later, Lee Chung-Young nearly added a third for South Korea at the other end. The result means Greece continue their winless World Cup finals record. Their only other appearance in 1994 yielded no goals and no points. | Argentina beat Nigeria 1-0 in their World Cup Group B opener at Ellis Park .
A sixth-minute goal by Gabriel Heinze gives Diego Maradona's men three points .
Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama denies Lionel Messi with a string of saves .
South Korea top the group following an earlier 2-0 victory over Greece in Port Elizabeth . |
0d25d8499abd37ea23ade4ae9014e5782deda45c | A former Wickes cashier who became governor of an oil-rich Nigerian state has been jailed jailed for his part in a scam which plundered £157million from some of the poorest people in the world. James Ibori was sentenced to 13 years in prison after he pocketed £50million which he splashed on a life of luxury including his own private jet. But the £50million figure may prove to be 'ludicrously low', said Judge Anthony Pitts as he sentenced Ibori for a series of offences including fraud and money-laundering. 'In the light of other matters, perhaps that is a ludicrously low figure and the figure may be in excess of £200 million, it is difficult to tell,' he told Southwark Crown Court in London. Playboy lifestyle: Former Wickes cashier James Ibori, 49, has admitted a fraud totalling more than £50million which he committed while a former Nigerian state governor . 'The confiscation proceedings may shed some further light on the enormity of the sums involved.' Ibori, 49, an ex-governor of Delta . State with presidential aspirations, stole public funds for a 'lavish . and expensive lifestyle'. His spending included a portfolio of . luxury houses, a £12.6million private jet, a fleet of top-of-the-range . cars, top UK boarding school places for his children, first-class travel . and posh hotels. As his people struggled in poverty, Ibori’s monthly credit card bills alone topped £125,000. It is estimated that the embezzlement . from the Delta state is yet unquantified, but could exceed £157million . which was laundered in London through a number of off-shore companies. The case at Southwark Crown Court was . delayed this morning after a ruckus broke out in the corridor and police . had to be called in to control crowds of his supporters. Luxury: Exclusive home that Ibori bought in Hampstead, north London, with £2.2million in cash in 2001 . Fleet of cars: The former Nigerian state governor owned a number of cars including this Bentley Continental worth in the region of £150,000 . Extraordinary extravagance: Ibori owned a fleet of armoured Range Rovers - including this one - bought with the proceeds of his £50million fraud . Prosecutor Sasha Wass was thrown to the floor as supporters tried to rush into the tiny courtroom. She told the hearing: 'The defendant . was governor of the Delta State, one of the richest oil producing states . in Nigeria, between November 1999 and May 2007. 'It is the prosecution case that . during his two terms in office he deliberately and systematically . defrauded the people whose interests he had been elected to represent he . went on to launder the money he stole in this country.' He inflated state contracts, took . kickbacks, and through bent employees stole cash straight from the State . accounts and secreted the cash into off-shore accounts across the . globe. Instead of using the money to help his . people, he bought a £2.2 mansion in Hampstead with cash, a house in . Regents Park, a flat in St John's Wood, a £311,000 home in Dorset and a . £3.2million mansion in Johannesburg, as well as a house in Houston. Fraudsters: Solicitor Bhadresh Gohil (left) and Ibori's wife Theresa (right) who have already been convicted of money laundering in the scam . Convicted: Ibori's sister Christine Ibori-Idie (left) and his mistress Udoamaka Oniugbo (right) have also been found guilty of money laundering . His 'greed and acquisitiveness' was . also represented by his fleet of armoured Range Rovers worth £600,000, a . £120,000 Bentley, a Jaguar for his Hampstead home and a Mercedes . Maybach bought for 407,000 Euros that was shipped direct to his mansion . in South Africa, Ms Wass said. At an earlier hearing, Ibori pleaded . guilty to ten offences - eight of money laundering, one of conspiracy to . defraud Delta State and one of conspiracy to forge. Nigerian-born Ibori moved to the UK in . the 1980s where he married his wife, Theresa, and worked as a cashier . at Wickes in Ruislip, Middlesex, earning around £15,000 a year before . the couple were arrested for theft from the store in 1990 and fined . £300. A year later, he had another brush . with the law when he was convicted of handling a stolen credit card and . fined £100 before he moved back to his homeland and started as a ‘policy . consultant’ for President Sani Abacha’s regime before climbing the . ladder of the ruling People’s Democratic Party. After lying to the independent . Nigerian Election Commission by using a fake date of birth gained . through a false passport to hide his previous convictions and financial . status, Ibori was elected as state governor for Delta State from 1999 - . giving him immunity from prosecution for his two terms until 2007. Multiple residences: Homes Ibori owned in Lagos, Nigeria (left) and Kenton, north-west London (right) Homes: An apartment owned by Ibori's sister Christine Ibori-Ibie in Brent, north-west London (left) and a London property (right) owned by his mistress Udoamaka Onuigbo . Ms Wass described it as 'planned . fraud'. She said: 'He didn’t accidentally become involved in a . pre-existing corruption, he changed his date of birth in 1996. 'From the moment he was elected, he set out enriching himself at the expense of some of the poorest people in the world. 'His greed increased exponentially during the course of his governorship as did his arrogance.' It was heard that he tried to pay a $15m bribe to a government official to make the corruption investigation 'go away'. Even after he began to be investigated . in 2005, Ibori involved himself in another 'massive fraud' and tried to . bribe Nigerian officials, interfere with the trial and impugn the . integrity of the officers. Upmarket address: Another of the Nigerian's London properties lies on the capital's famous Abbey Road . Fraud: Another central London flat owned by Ibori's mistress (left) and a property he bought in Shaftesbury, Dorset, for £311,000 in 2005 (right) Lap of luxury: Ibori's mansion in the Nigerian capital of Abuja . He was helped by family members, . including his wife, sister Christine Ibori-Ibie, his mistress Udoamaka . Oniugbo, and a series of corrupt professionals - a London-based lawyer, . Bhadresh Gohil, who acted as his banker and set up a myriad of off-shore . companies, a fiduciary agent, Daniel Benedict McCann, a corporate . financier, Lambertus De Boer - who have all been jailed for a total of . 30 years. His fraud unravelled when the Met . raided the office of 'trusted servant' Gohil, 47, who has since been . jailed for 10 years, and found hard drives containing detailed records . hidden in the wall behind a fire place. A series of trials have taken place . leading to six convictions and sentences totalling 30 years but Ibori . has made a number of attempts to disrupt the course of justice, Ms Wass . said. When he was arrested in Nigeria in . 2007, the High Court froze assets worth £35million despite him only . earning around £4,000 a year. A court later dismissed the charges and he . fled to Dubai where he was arrested by the Met. He was trying to purchase a $20million jet when he was arrested. Ibori, wearing a dark suit and . glasses, is represented by two QCs during his sentencing hearing which . is expected to last two days. The case continues. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. | James Ibori pocketed £50m which he used to fund life of luxury .
Bought private jet, mansions and top boarding school places for his kids .
Went from £15k DIY store job to leader with presidential aspirations .
Tried to pay $15m bribe to government official to make corruption investigation 'go away' |
0d2642d096f3f405fdef18bab79a3d7831521352 | (CNN)Southwest Airlines missed required inspections on 128 of its Boeing 737 aircraft, leading to the cancellation of dozens of flights this week. The Federal Aviation Administration has said the airline can keep flying the planes for up to five days while the maintenance checks are completed, Southwest said. The airline was overdue for a required maintenance check on the standby hydraulic system for the planes, both the FAA and Southwest said. Southwest notified the FAA of the lapsed inspections on Tuesday, then voluntarily grounded the 128 aircraft while regulators evaluated the airline's plan to complete the overdue checks, the FAA said. Southwest had to cancel approximately 80 flights on Tuesday because of the groundings. On Wednesday, the airline said it was anticipating "very minimal impact" to its operation "as remaining checks are completed." CNN's Aaron Cooper and Tina Burnside contributed to this report . | The FAA gives Southwest five days to complete the missed checks .
The planes were overdue for required inspections .
Approximately 80 flights were canceled . |
0d26d1cfc723e91a81dec6be4f5fc6aaa2b6552b | (CNN) -- Fire officials in Orange County, California, ordered the evacuation of hundreds of homes while personnel work to control a wildfire that has charred roughly 1,500 acres in the Silverado Canyon area. The Silverado Fire began Friday in the mountains of Cleveland National Forest and is currently 10% contained, officials said. But with record-high, triple-digit temperatures expected to continue through the weekend, the chances of controlling the blaze in an area with heavy, tinder-dry brush and rugged terrain are worrisome. "Because of the drought and high temperatures, it makes (fuel components) very receptive to ignition. We get any embers and we got a 95 percent chance of the thing igniting," said Chon Bribiescas, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service, told CNN affiliate KABC. A heat advisory was issued for all of Orange County until Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. The official cause for the fire is still unknown. But the Forest Service told KABC that the fire began in someone's backyard. More than 800 fire personnel are on site working to control the blaze, along with the aid of 15 aircraft vehicles. Three firefighters were hospitalized and released after suffering heat-related injuries, according to CNN affiliate KTLA. Approximately 217 homes were ordered to evacuate the area as a precaution. What to know about wildfires . | Silverado Fire has charred roughly 1,600 acres in Southern California .
Record-high temperatures threaten firefighters' efforts .
Approximately 217 residences were ordered to evacuate the area . |
0d27b868a471a3b55746216199e9c43d754b11e5 | By . Tara Brady . PUBLISHED: . 13:46 EST, 11 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:46 EST, 11 January 2013 . A paedophile described as 'predatory' who used two children to act out a 'real life pornographic film' has been jailed for 15 years today. Ian Hodkinson groomed the parents of an 11-year-old girl so they trusted him to look after her before raping her with an accomplice, who was just 13. Judge Norman Wright told Liverpool Crown Court that the girl, who had been using the computer in Hodkinson's bedroom, left to go to the toilet before Hodkinson started having sex with the boy so she would see them when she returned. Jailed: Paedophile Ian Hodkinson used two children to act out a 'real life pornographic film' 'She didn't complain or flee as an adult might have done. 'She looked on you as a friend. You had groomed her well,' said Judge Wright. The 41-year-old then sexually assaulted and raped her before ordering the young boy to do the same. Hodkinson, from Wigan, denied the charges along with his co-accused, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, but both were found guilty at a trial at Liverpool Crown Court. Hodkinson was also found guilty of six charges of sexual assault including one on a ten-year-old boy in a separate incident, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, rape of a child and attempted rape. The judge ordered that he is on extended licence for six years for public protection. Judge Norman Wright, sitting at Liverpool Crown Court (pictured) jailed Hodkinson for 15 years . He banned him from working with children and ordered him to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life. The court heard that he has a previous sexual assault conviction. The juvenile defendant was placed under supervision for two years and was made the subject of a youth rehabilitation order for two sexual assaults and an attempted rape. The judge said: 'You looked up to him and did what he said. 'You probably still do not appreciate the effect he has had upon you. He made you do this not for your gratification, but for his.' | Ian Hodkinson, 41, groomed the parents of 11-year-old girl before inviting her to his home and raping her .
His accomplice was a 13-year-old boy . |
0d2a786630e2ef9254c9a3f74440427297c8c8f5 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 09:54 EST, 24 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 10:21 EST, 24 December 2013 . Israel has launched a series of airstrikes on targets in the Gaza Strip killing at least two people including a three-year-old girl and wounding nine, Hamas officials have said. The airstrikes are in retaliation for the deadly shooting of an Israeli civilian. It is the heaviest flare-up of violence along the volatile border in months and threatened to destabilise a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers that largely has held for more than a year. A series of explosions could be heard in Gaza City this afternoon. Israeli military medics stand near a military ambulance at the scene of shooting incident near the border with the northern Gaza Strip . Health Ministry official Ashraf . al-Kidra said one airstrike killed a three-year-old girl and wounded . three relatives, including two young siblings. He said a man was killed in an Israeli attack in northern Gaza. In all, nine people were wounded, one critically, he said. Israel . launched the airstrikes shortly after a Gaza sniper shot an Israeli . civilian laborer as he performed maintenance work on the border fence. The man was airlifted to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The . incident occurred as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was . visiting the nearby town of Sderot, a frequent target of Palestinian . attacks, to inaugurate a new rail line. Israeli military jeeps are seen at the scene of a shooting near the border with the northern Gaza Strip, near kibbutz Nahal Oz . 'This is a very severe incident and we will not let it go unanswered,' Netanyahu said. 'Our . policy until now has been to act beforehand and to respond in force, . and this is how we will act regarding this incident as well.' Israel . and Hamas are bitter enemies, but both sides largely have observed a . cease-fire that ended eight days of heavy fighting in November 2012. The cease-fire has been tested by periodic rocket and mortar attacks out of Gaza. Extremists have been behind most of the violence but Israel holds Hamas responsible for any attacks out of the territory. The man was the first Israeli killed on the Gaza frontier in more than a year . Israel . recently discovered a pair of smuggling tunnels leading from Gaza into . Israel that it said were built by militant groups planning to stage . attacks. Today's attack was the latest in a series of violent incidents. An . Israeli policeman was stabbed on Monday outside a West Bank settlement, . hours after a rocket fired from Gaza landed in southern Israel. On . Sunday, a pipe bomb authorities believe was planted by Palestinian . militants exploded on a bus in central Israel, moments after the vehicle . was evacuated. It was the most serious attack inside Israel in more . than a year. Despite the uptick in violence, Israeli officials don't believe the incidents are connected. | The man was the first Israeli killed on the Gaza frontier in more than a year .
Death comes amid heightened tensions after two other attacks .
Shooting could prompt possible military action from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu . |
0d2aa59fcdd08ff6c2d0f412359a8451a75ca8e7 | San Jose, California (CNN) -- A California jury Thursday acquitted a man charged with assaulting a retired Catholic priest, in a case that prosecutors had described as a vigilante attack. William Lynch, 44, was accused of confronting the Rev. Jerold Lindner, 68, during a visit at Sacred Heart Retirement home for Jesuit priests in Los Gatos, California, where Lindner had been living since retirement in 2001. Prosecutors claimed that Lynch walked into the retirement center on May 10, 2010, under the pretense of delivering news about a relative, and attacked his former pastor. Lynch and his younger brother had claimed more than a decade earlier that Lindner sexually molested them during church-led camping trips in northern California when they were 7 and 5 years old. Pennsylvania: Catholic cleric behind bars in landmark sex abuse case . During Lynch's assault trial, Lindner denied abusing the boys and maintained his innocence from the witness stand. But two days into Lindner's testimony, his attorney notified the court that his client was invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and would not testify further for fear of a perjury prosecution. Lynch also took the witness stand and testified that he only had wanted the priest to sign a confession, and he said he had punched him after experiencing an irrational fear triggered by memories of the alleged abuse. Lynch's defense attorney, Pat Harris, claimed Lindner was responsible for his client's actions. "Society is the victim in all this ... because there's a man sitting up there at Los Gatos who is a rapist, who molests children, and he's allowed to go free," Harris said. The statute of limitations on criminal molestation allegations had expired when Lynch and his brother went public with their allegations in 1997. But in a civil lawsuit that was settled in 1998, Lynch and his brother asserted that Lindner sodomized them and forced them to have sex with each other while Lindner watched. In that suit, Lynch and his brother received a $625,000 settlement with the Jesuits of the California Province. In the assault case against Lynch, he faced four counts stemming from the 2010 incident. The jury Thursday acquitted him on three counts and was unable to reach a decision on the fourth charge. The judge declared a mistrial on that count, and dismissed the charge. Connecticut priest charged with possession of child porn . Dozens of Lynch supporters, including his parents, gathered with demonstration signs outside the Santa Clara County Courthouse proclaiming the defendant's innocence. Before the trial, prosecutors offered Lynch a plea deal offer that would have required a year in jail. In closing arguments, prosecutors urged the jury to refrain from being swayed by Lynch's emotional testimony describing the alleged childhood trauma he claimed to have endured at the hands of Lindner. After the verdict, Jim Muyo, a spokesman for the California Province of the Society of Jesus, released a statement saying they respect "the legal process and the findings of the judge and jury in the case of William Lynch." Church report: Children are safer from abuse . Opinion: Teach children to protect their bodies . | William Lynch was accused of confronting retired priest Jerold Lindner in 2010 .
Lynch and his younger brother had claimed they were abused by Lindner decades earlier .
A civil suit by the brothers against Lindner led to a $625,000 settlement in 1998 .
A jury Thursday acquitted Lynch on three counts, with a fourth dismissed after a deadlock . |
0d2ab19993e41047a97a74ac368f4e233c73b718 | Abigail Gibbs has secured a six-figure book contract after writing The Dark Heroine, a Twilight-inspired novel which she started aged just 14 . A teenager has secured a six-figure sum for a vampire novel she wrote after being inspired by the Twilight saga. Abigail Gibbs, 18, who started writing the book aged 14, released chapters of her novel online, where the book eventually received 17 million hits. HarperCollins in Britain and America have now signed the talented author following her phenomenal internet success. Miss Gibbs, from Brixham, Devon, who is about to start studying English at Oxford University, is the first author to be discovered on Wattpad. Wattpad is an online writing platform which allows subscribers to upload or read other people's stories. Miss Gibbs said Stephenie Meyer's famous Twilight books had influenced her novel, The Dark Heroine. She said: 'I read the Twilight saga and did really enjoy it. I loved the romantic element between the human and the vampire. 'I wanted to do something like that . but it wasn't bloody and edgy enough for me so I thought I would sit . down and do my own thing and that's what I did. 'At first, my parents were a bit . opposed to me writing the book because I was staying up till 3am on . school nights and they were worried about me falling behind.' Miss Gibbs finished her book at the age of 16, just two years after she started writing it and it will now hit the high street. She posted each chapter after she had written it on the internet site, until she got to five chapters before the end when she stopped. She said: 'I stopped because I had signed with an agent and he basically said don't post anymore or the ending to keep readers in suspense. 'That was tough because I disappeared off the site for a year and there were a lot of fans asking where I was. 'There was a lot of temptation to tell them but I kept it all up in wraps. 'I have had so many requests from fans to upload the last five chapters, some people even said they were going to write their own ending.' Her fans can buy the ebook for £2.99, or wait for the paperback book priced at £6.99, in shops next month. Famous novel Twilight, left, inspired Miss Gibbs to write her vampire novel, right . The novel tells of 18-year-old Violet Lee witnessing a horrific mass murder in Trafalgar Square before being kidnapped into a dark world of vampires. The teenager puts her success down to the feedback she has had from her readers. She said: 'A lot of the readers were demanding more, they wanted a lot more uploads. 'Some of them were saying I should get it published so that was very encouraging and it helped when it came to my agent discovering me and going to agents having fans like that. 'I am completely shocked at where I am now. I started on Wattpad and that taking off was enough of a surprise. 'I took notice and realised that people really did like my work. After launching the book on Saturday night, in 24 hours it went from number 22,000 in the kindle chart to number 22. The ambitious writer has already started writing the sequel and hopes to see the book made into a film. She said: 'It is all very exciting at the moment and there will definitely be a sequel which I hope will come out next summer. 'I am halfway through it at the moment so that is great. 'To see my book in a cinema would be great, some fans are asking if I am going to get a movie deal but that is a long way off, although it would be great.' Kate Elton, publisher of HarperFiction said: 'The fact that she's writing something that feels British, with a genre that's traditionally been American, gives it an individual feel.' | Abigail Gibbs starting writing The Dark Heroine aged just 14 .
She stayed up until 3am on school nights to finish it . |
0d2bfd5df7634b70e1f08a02689e4c0f54cbdf94 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . American fast food consumers are most satisfied with pizza chains Papa John's and Pizza Hut - and least satisfied with McDonald's, according to a new report. The findings were published in the American Customer Satisfaction Index's (ACSI) 2014 restaurant report. Top marks: Papa John's - along with Pizza Hut - scored highest in the report . Here they are! The ACSI's list of fast food chains and their satisfaction scores is pictured . Both Papa John's and Pizza Hut had a ACSI score of 82 out of a possible 100 this year. Papa John's score was the exact same score as last year's, while Pizza Hut went up from its 2013 score of 80. Little Caesar and Domino's Pizza followed closely behind - each received a ACSI score of 80. Little Caesar dropped from 82 in 2013 to 80, and Domino's Pizza dropped down from 81. McDonald's was at the bottom of this year's totem pole. This year, the chain's score was 71 - which was three percent lower than last year's 73. McDonald's had the lowest satisfaction score in 2013, as well. Taco Bell performed the second-worst, as its satisfaction score also dropped three percent and dipped from 74 to 72. Bottom of the barrel: McDonald's had the lowest score for fast food restaurants, with just 71 out of 100 . Of the fast food chains included in the report, KFC's ACSI score had the largest percentage drop. This year the chain scored 74, which is nine percent lower than last year's 81. 'While KFC is by far the largest of the chicken chains, it has struggled with increased competition from smaller chains like Chick-fil-A and Popeye’s,' the report says. 'Over the past five years, KFC has closed 600 stores.' Fast food chains' on average scored 80 - the same figure reported in 2013 and 2012. That number is slightly lower than the average for 'full-service' sit-down restaurants, the report found. The average score for full-service restaurants this year was 82, up slightly from last year's 81. 'This year’s small gain is driven by improvement in smaller chains and restaurants, which make up the bulk of the sit-down industry,' the report explained. | Papa John's and Pizza Hut had scored 82 out of a possible 100 this year in a American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) report .
McDonald's was at the bottom of this .
year's totem pole and scored 71 - three .
percent lower than last year's 73 . |
0d2e186cf14998fba459e27d230d7d6d02576612 | By . Kieran Corcoran . One in three drivers is so clueless when it comes to road signs that they cannot even recognise the symbol for the national speed limit, a survey claims. A quarter of us are also unaware that blue motorway signs also explain the speed limit, while one in seven motorists mistakenly thought that 'slippery road' warning sign meant that the road had been freshly painted. Eight per cent of drivers admitted they were baffled by the common 'road narrowing' sign, while almost a fifth said they did not know that when driving in a built-up area the speed limit is 30mph unless signs say otherwise. The scale of ignorance was revealed in a survey of 2,000 drivers by car insurers More Than. The results also found that a 'worrying' proportion of drivers regularly ignore speed limits and drive as fast as they want to. More than a third (36 per cent) said they disregard 30mph limits, travelling at an avergae of 38mph, while 32 per cent said they break 47mph limits, going 47mph on average instead. On motorways, even more people admitted to ignoring the law, with 43 per cent breaking the 70mph in favour of an average speed of 81mph. More Than . spokesman Janet Connor said: 'This research shows there’s a worrying . number of drivers for whom speeding is an acceptable everyday behaviour. 'Couple this with a shocking ignorance when it comes to the most common road signs, and you’ve got a recipe for road disaster.' The . large-scale confusion over road signs comes weeks after Transport . Secretary Patrick McLoughlin called for hundreds of thousands of . 'pointless' signs to be torn down. Whatever could it be? A large proportion of drivers couldn't recognise this sign . ‘Over . the past two decades we’ve seen a huge rise in the number of . unnecessary signs blotting the landscapes of our towns and cities’, he . said. ‘Many . of the signs that go up are simply not needed and it has got to stop. As well as spoiling otherwise beautiful areas of the country, pointless . signs just confuse drivers and make the roads less safe.' A spokesman for road safety charity Brake said: 'The research suggests a significant proportion of drivers seem to think it is okay to break the laws of the road. 'It . can never be acceptable and we urge all drivers to respect road safety . laws and recognise that such laws exist to help save lives.' James Barter, from Southampton, Hants, admits struggling to identify some of the road signs - despite passing his test ten years ago. The 28-year-old said: 'I passed my driving test when I was 18 and I still struggle to tell what certain signs mean. 'There are so many and some of the signs are not very clear or obvious.' ANSWERS: . 1) Cycle route ahead 2) Road narrowing 3) Slippery road 4) Dual carriageway ends5) Uneven road 6) T-junction with priority over vehicles from the left 7) Tram crossing ahead8) National speed limit 9) Start of motorway 10) Diversion route for motorway traffic . | Survey by car insurers More Than found widespread ignorance of signs .
Of 2,000 drivers quizzed, many did not understand safety warnings .
Many also didn't know speed limits - and ignored them when they did .
Test yourself with our road sign quiz below . |
0d2e478318180170a36ebd81a6df7aab7b0c223b | (CNN Student News) -- September 14, 2012 . Download PDF maps related to today's show: . Egypt; Libya; Democratic Republic of Congo . Yemen . New York City; Chicago, Illinois . 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. | The daily transcript is a written version of each day's CNN Student News program .
Use this transcript to help students with reading comprehension and vocabulary .
Use the weekly Newsquiz to test your knowledge of stories you saw on CNN Student News . |
0d2eebc8d722b3d34fbe46fdc0768ede5b1713b1 | By . Simon Jones . Blackpool coach Jose Riga is wanted by Genk. The Belgian club sacked manager Emilio Ferrera on Monday after just one game a 3-1 defeat to KV Mechelen. The 56-year-old Riga has endured a frustrating spell at Blackpool after joining from Charlton and has a fractious relationship with chairman Karl Oyston. Already off: Riga could leave Blackpool before the season even begins after a disruptive first month at the helm . Familiar face: Delfouneso is no stranger to Bloomfield Road after two previous loan spells . Blackpool added Nathan Delfouneso to their ranks on Tuesday after agreeing terms with Peter Clarke, Jacob Mellis and Tomas Cywka on Monday. But Delfouneso's official arrival brings the total number of players on the club's books to just 12. The former Aston Villa striker is no stranger to Bloomfield Road having had two loan spells there in the past, most recently last season. | The managerless Belgian club are interested in bringing Riga to the club .
The 56-year-old has endured a rocky relationship with Blackpool chairman Karl Oyston so far .
Blackpool have 12 players on their books after signing Nathan Delfouneso . |
0d2f8d9281b8e7cc7d46d74cd526a99183dab2c4 | Lethal United States drones are launched from a top secret base in Saudi Arabia, it has emerged. The CIA uses the base to target Al Qaeda operatives in neighbouring Yemen, according to the New York Times. It was from this base that the American-born operative Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in 2011. It has also emerged that up to 54 countries may have helped the CIA to hold terrorism suspects in secret prisons, or turn them over to foreign governments, a human rights organisation has claimed. The drone that killed American-born operative Anwar al-Awlaki in 2011 was launched from a secret base in Saudi Arabia, it has emerged . The revelation comes amid a growing outcry against the Obama administration's use of deadly drones and their use to watch American citizens. It is the first time the location of the secret drone base has been revealed. It's whereabouts had remained secret at the request of high-ranking officials, although it was known that one had been built. Congress is now trying to limit the power the US has to kill suspected terrorists, including American citizens, with drones. The drone programme is expected to be the major talking point when the Senate Intelligence Committee interviews John Brennan, the White Houses's choice for CIA chief on Thursday. Yesterday the government defended its lethal drone programme by citing the laws that were introduced following the September 11 attacks. Many in Congress now believe the scope of the laws may be too broad. Democratic Senator Chris Coons said in a recent: 'It has to be in the agenda of this Congress to reconsider the scope of action of drones and use of deadly force by the United States around the world because the original authorisation of use of force, I think, is being strained to its limits,' Congressman Steny Hoyer, the number two Democrat in the House of Representatives, said yesterday, that 'it deserves a serious look at how we make the decisions in government to take out, kill, eliminate, whatever word you want to use, not just American citizens but other citizens as well.' Hoyer added: 'We ought to carefully review our policies as a country.' Democratic Chairman Robert Menendez and . the panel's top Republican, Senator Bob Corker, both have both quietly . expressed concerns about the deadly operation and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is likely to hold hearings on US drone policy, an aide said on Tuesday. The U.S. government can legally order the killing of American citizens if they have senior-level ties to al-Qaida . The memo outlines for the first time the . Obama administration's decision to kill al-Qaida terror suspects . without any evidence that specific and imminent plots are being planned . against the United States. Earlier this week, a group of 11 Democratic and Republican senators urged President Barack Obama to release a classified Justice Department legal opinion justifying when US counter-terror missions, including drone strikes, can be used to kill American citizens abroad. Without those documents, it's impossible for Congress and the public to decide 'whether this authority has been properly defined, and whether the president's power to deliberately kill Americans is subject to appropriate limitations and safeguards,' the senators wrote. 'The threat posed by al-Qaida and its associated forces demands a broader concept of imminence in judging when a person continually planning terror attacks presents an imminent threat,' concluded the document. US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico, was killed by a drone in Yemen in 2011. It was launched from a secret base in Saudi Arabia . The memo was immediately decried by civil liberties groups as 'flawed' and 'profoundly disturbing' - especially in light of 2011 US drone strikes in Yemen that killed three American citizens: Anwar al-Awlaki, his 16-year-old-son and Samir Khan. Al-Awlaki was linked to the planning and execution of several attacks targeting US and Western interests, including the attempt to down a Detroit-bound airliner in 2009 and the plot to bomb cargo planes in 2010. His son was killed in a separate strike on a suspected al-Qaida den. Khan was an al-Qaida propagandist. White House spokesman Jay Carney called the strikes 'legal, ethical and wise' and said they are covered by a law that Congress approved allowing the use of military force against al-Qaida. He added: 'It is a matter of fact . that al-Qaida is in a state of war against us and that senior leaders, . operational leaders of al-Qaida are continually plotting to attack the . United States, plotting to kill American citizens as they did most . horrifically on September 11th of 2001.' Three . days after September 11, Congress approved a law authorising the . military to use 'all necessary and appropriate force' against al-Qaida . and other groups believed to be helping or harbouring the global terror . network, including the use of drone strikes. Because militants have since splintered into a number of affiliates and sympathisers the current laws could allow military force against thousands of people across the Middle East and North Africa who have limited or no ability to strike the US. Both the CIA and the US military are authorised to remotely pilot unmanned, missile-carrying drones against terror suspects. It's unknown exactly how many strikes have been carried out, but experts say that drone attacks in Pakistan are conducted by the CIA, while those in Yemen and Somalia, for example, are by military forces. The drones have strained diplomacy between the US and the nations where the strikes are carried out, as civilians have been killed alongside the targeted terrorists, even though most nations have given Washington at least tacit agreement to carry out the attacks. The use of drones has caused tensions in some countries where civilians have died . A Middle Eastern diplomat said that in Yemen, for example, an increase of US drone strikes last month have killed dozens of people and upset the local public, leading some leaders in Sanaa to reconsider how often they should be used. The Pentagon is also considering basing . surveillance drones in Niger to monitor on burgeoning extremist violence . in North Africa, but it's not clear if they will be armed, it has emerged. The campaign against the use of drones to spy on US citizens has also been growing in momentum. On Monday, Charlottesville, in . Virginia, became the first city in the United States to pass a . resolution against the use of drones for surveillance against American . citizens. It calls on Congress and the General . Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia to bring in laws 'prohibiting . information obtained from the domestic use of drones from being . introduced into a Federal or State court.' The resolution also 'pledges to abstain from similar uses with city-owned, leased or borrowed drones.' Dede Smith, a council member who voted in favour of the bill, told US News that drones are 'pretty clearly a threat to our constitutional right to privacy.' She added: 'If we don't get out ahead . of it to establish some guidelines for how drones are used, they will be . used in a very invasive way and we'll be left to try and pick up the . pieces.' The campaign has been helped by a . Justice Department memo that has recently surfaced, which show drones . can strike against a wider range of threats than previously believed. | American-born operative Anwar al-Awlaki was killed by a drone in Yemen .
It was launched by secret CIA airbase in Saudi Arabia, it has emerged .
Human rights organisation claims up to 54 countries helped CIA to imprison suspects in secret or hand them over to foreign governments .
A city in Virginia becomes first to pass legislation against surveillance drones . |
0d2f959366968650e7c195dcef5f7834b8fd0618 | Those Manchester United fans who have chanted 'four-four-two' at Louis van Gaal during some laboured performances this season should readjust their red-tinted spectacles. Sir Alex Ferguson might have been the greatest manager of the Barclays Premier League era but the notion he sent out every United team to win 7-6 in an orgy of reckless abandon is nonsense. In 2008/09, Ferguson's United drew 0-0 on nine occasions when they had a forward line of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Dimitar Berbatov. There weren't many complaints when they won the Premier League and reached the Champions League final. Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney has been deployed in a range of different playing roles this season . Although Rooney is traditionally considered a striker, he has recently been dropped deep into central midfield . United chief Louis van Gaal has experimented with tactics and formations since taking over at Old Trafford . Van Gaal has been given little credit for steadying the United ship after they failed to qualify for Europe last season. They travel to West Ham today well set to finish in the top four having conceded one goal in their last six games and nine in their last 18. However, their last two away games, a 2-0 win at QPR and goalless FA Cup draw with Cambridge United, have been met with disgruntlement from supporters who somehow feel the team should never look laboured in any circumstances. Van Gaal doesn't play with two out-and-out wingers like Sir Matt Busby and Ferguson, in his earlier years, did. But very few do anymore in the Premier League. The Dutchman tries to be adventurous in a different way, getting his defenders to push up with the ball so that the team have controlled possession nearer the opposition goal. 'Yes, he wants the responsibility to be on the centre-backs, he doesn't want us to play the easy option,' says defender Chris Smalling. 'It gives us more responsibility to really drive out and find those passes as a lot of teams drop off, and if we can get the ball to the midfielders when they are higher up, rather than dropping in, we are more of a threat.' Wayne Rooney has scored eight goals this season and has made 5 assists for Manchester United . United defender Chris Smalling says that van Gaal places more responsibility on the centre-backs . United are hardly playing an ultra-defensive, Catenaccio style. Their Premier League goal tally of 39 in 23 games is higher than at this stage last season and fourth-best in the division going into today's fixtures. Pivotal to Van Gaal's philosophy of wearing teams down rather than instantly going for the throat is the deployment of England centre-forward Wayne Rooney in midfield. Rooney has bristled when he has played there under previous managers and while Van Gaal admits he needed to persuade his captain, he claims 29-year-old Rooney now enjoys it in the engine room. As a striker, you are reliant on getting service from other players, in midfield you can control a game through your own efforts. 'It's about communication and me giving my arguments why he has to do that,' says Van Gaal. 'And, yes, sometimes convincing him he has to do something for the team. But I don't think he ever complains about where he has to play. And he is also liking to play in midfield because he is more on the ball.' Rooney's stats show that he is adapting to his new life in midfield away from acting as a striker . Rooney's statistics show that he performs better for Manchester United when played in midfield . Louis van Gaal was convinced from the day he took over at Old Trafford that Wayne Rooney could star as a midfielder for Manchester United - and how right he was. Rooney began the season leading the line as United struggled but, as the statistics show, he has been far more influential since dropping into midfield. Rooney averages 31 touches and 24 successful passes more as a midfielder and has also created more chances. Rooney's versatility has been an occasional curse during his career and Van Gaal admits he has to tread sensitively. But he loves the fact his captain can play well anywhere; central midfield, No 10, inside-left, striker or even wide-right, as he appeared on Tuesday night in a 3-0 FA Cup win against Cambridge. 'Not many players can play in as many positions as Rooney because he is multi-functional. But that is also not always a benefit for him. A player normally doesn't like that so I have to take care of that,' admits Van Gaal. 'I like multi-functional players because you can be more varied and more unpredictable for opponents when you change positions. 'When I had that team at Ajax [1995 Champions League winners], I changed Edgar Davids from a winger to midfield, Michael Reiziger was a No 10 and I made him a right-back. Frank Rijkaard came as a No 6 right midfielder and I made him a centre-half. With Rooney that is possible.' Rooney has scored eight goals and has five assists this season. But as he closes in on Sir Bobby Charlton's Manchester United goalscoring record, his manager can't make any promises about how often he will play up front in the future. It was noticeable against Cambridge that Marouane Fellaini was pushed forward while Rooney's role seemed to be delivering crosses. Van Gaal also has Robin van Persie, Falcao and James Wilson to choose from up front. The United manager says: 'Rooney's position depends on the shape of the team and the form of the strikers. Manchester United ran out convincing 3-0 winners against Cambridge in the FA Cup last time out . Louis van Gaal recalls how he converted Edgar Davids from a winger to a central midfielder while at Ajax . Considering Robin van Persie, Radamel Falcao and James Wilson, playing Rooney up front is not a given . 'I know I can always use him but I also know I cannot change him so easily from midfielder to striker during a game because I did it once and he was not so good. He can be better moving from striker to midfielder, rather than the other way around. When we play with three defenders and four midfield players, maybe inside-left is better for him. But when we have a different system and need someone right-footed on the wing, he is on the right. 'That is what I am saying to Wayne — your contribution for the team is bigger when you play at right-half. Why? You can cross and can pass better as you are on the right side. Then you can prepare overlaps of Antonio Valencia.' And, of course, while Michael Carrick is injured, Rooney can dictate play from a central area. Whatever the system, Van Gaal is aware the responsibility of being United manager is to entertain, and win. He spoke about the 'United Way' on Friday as the club marked the 57th anniversary of the Munich air crash and said afterwards: 'It doesn't matter, wingers or not wingers, three or four at the back, it is about being effective.' United fans put a curse on the previous manager whenever they sang: 'Come on David Moyes, play like Fergie's boys.' As Van Gaal prepares for a difficult afternoon in the trenches at Upton Park, a little understanding from his own following wouldn't go amiss. Rooney's versatility will be used by van Gaal and the United captain will play where they 'need him most' | Louis van Gaal has experimented with his tactics at Manchester United .
He has also tried out a number of different formations .
Captain Wayne Rooney has been dropped deeper into midfield .
Van Gaal says Rooney will continue to play a variety of roles .
Statistically, the 29-year-old performs better in midfield .
Manchester United are third in the Premier League table . |
0d310f98f017c1cc12d620f4f8e23733ba3201b8 | By . Tara Brady . A Chinese Communist Party official has been fired after he was filmed groping a woman on the subway. The footage was taken on June 29 by a passenger which shows Wang Qikang, 38, from Shanghai, China, looking at the woman's shorts before touching her upper thigh. When the women turned around, Qikang quickly pretended to look at his phone. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . Caught: A Chinese Communist Party official has been fired after he was filmed groping a girl on the subway . Wang claimed the incident was simply an accident and that he touched the girl's leg while he was falling asleep. He also said he had been drinking alcohol. Wang is an executive at Shanghai Jinjiang one of the biggest state-run travel related enterprises. According to the South China Morning Post, the company released a statement saying Wang 'has been expelled from the communist party' and they have 'decided to terminate his contract.' After seeing the video, the victim who is a 21-year-old Taiwanese woman reported the incident to the police. Police have said it will be treating the case very seriously. | Wang Qikang, 38, from Shanghai, China, caught looking at woman's shorts .
Footage then captures him stroking her upper thigh .
When the women turned around, Qikang pretended to look at his phone .
Wang is an executive at Shanghai Jinjiang - a state-run travel agency .
Company statement said Wang has been expelled from the communist party . |
0d32aa0feee7f1ade275806a0d33191c2723d051 | Meadow Lea margarine and other signature Australian-owned brands, such as Helgas and Wonder White breads, could become the latest home-grown food products to be sold in to foreign hands after Asian investors bid $1.37 billion. The companies, owned by Goodman Fielder, could be moved offshore in as little as four months as the company board paves the way for Singapore oils trader Wilmar International and Hong Kong investment house First Pacific to enter into a takeover. Goodman Fielder owns and operates sugar refineries in North Queensland and Victoria, and the company employs about 6000 people in Australia, NZ and Asia. A company spokesman said it wasn't clear how many Australian-based jobs would be affected by the move. Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith says the looming take-over is a blow to the Australian home-grown food industry and customers who prefer to buy locally manufactured products. No longer: After 75 years in Australian hands the margarine spread on every Australian fridge shelf will soon be owned by Asian investors . A statement from Goodman Fielder released on Thursday said a recommendation had been put to its board to accept a takeover bid from the two Asian investors at 71 cents a share. Goodman Fielder has a portfolio of well-known consumer brands in some of Australia's largest grocery categories, including Meadow Lea, Praise, White Wings, Pampas, Mighty Soft, Helga's, Wonder White, Meadow Fresh and Irvines. If the buy-out proceeds, the once proudly-owned Australian food brands will join the long list of former iconic products Cottees Cordials, milk brands Dairy Farmers and Dare Iced Coffee, Bushells and Nerada Teas and big biscuit manufacturer Arnott's to fall into foreign hands. More... FTSE CLOSE: Hangover from failed Astra bid and poor M&S and Vodafone results send market tumbling . Legal blow in Pfizer’s attempt to take over AstraZeneca . Smith said moves such are contributing to the demise of Australian-owned products. 'With more than 80 per cent of product in a typical supermarket trolley already either imported or coming from a foreign-owned company, how long will it take for this figure to reach 90 per cent or even 95 per cent?' he said. Write caption here . Kraft Vegemite is now owned by American company Mondel¿z International. In 1984, it was the first product in Australia to be electronically scanned at a checkout. Company Chairman Steve Gregg said the move would be a positive for the company's expansion into the Asian market. “We believe this revised proposal also demonstrates the strength of our underlying business andbrands but also the opportunity to leverage these assets to grow the business across the Asianregion.” Mr Smith said the growing sell-off of Australian-owned products into foreign hands leaves shoppers with almost next to no choice but to buy foreign-owned at the checkout. He said: 'Even the most patriotic consumers who want to buy Australian-made-and-Australian-owned find they increasingly don’t have a choice and the problem is becoming exponentially worse.' The buy-out will be subject to rigorous approvals, including a majority shareholder agreement and a Federal Court decision. XXXX beer is now a joint Australian Japanese-owned product . According to Goodman Fielder 'Australia has enjoyed the great Praise taste since 1964 when the first mayonnaise was launched' but it could soon be shipped into foreign hands within months . | Asian investors look poised to takeover Australian-owned food brands .
Goodman Fielder, who own Praise, Wonder White, in sell-off process .
Dick Smith slams looming $1.37 billion move saying Australians left with little choice at checkout .
It follows an exodus of proudly-owned Aussie foods now in overseas hands . |
0d33001c9f49451447c473ef26f05279f4001674 | Fairly dismissed: A tribunal ruled Bemrose School was right to sack Robert Cox, pictured, after he grabbed a pupil who threw a milkshake at him . A teacher who manhandled a student after the teenager hurled a banana milkshake at him along with a torrent of abuse has lost his claim for unfair dismissal. Robert Cox, 59, was sacked by governors at Bemrose School in Derby after he was caught on CCTV aggressively pinning the 16-year-old's arms to his sides in March 2011. Mr Cox claimed he'd been unfairly dismissed, but a Nottingham employment tribunal upheld the school's decision, claiming the teacher's reaction to the milkshake-throwing was over-the-top. 'The witness statements from Mr Cox's colleagues indicated that his behaviour had been inappropriate and excessive,' the tribunal chairman said. He added that it was 'reasonable' for governors to believe he had 'escalated the situation'. Headteacher Jo Ward said the school was thrilled the tribunal agreed Mr Cox's actions amounted to gross misconduct. 'We had no option but to dismiss him,' she said. 'Two different ruling panels of governors at Bemrose School, whose members included parents and trade union members, were unanimous in their belief that Mr Cox's actions went far beyond restraining the pupil. 'Mr Cox was observed on CCTV pushing the pupil down into the chair repeatedly with excessive force - enough force to move a large dining room table and chairs several feet.' But the IT teacher, who claimed he tried to commit suicide after losing his job, said he wanted the decision reviewed and was considering a further appeal. He said: 'It was impossible to walk away . from a situation where someone was threatening to throw a chair and it . would have been negligent to ignore it. School: Governors at Bemrose School, pictured, are thrilled the tribunal upheld their decision . 'There were plenty of witnesses to what happened and for some reason they weren’t called but I want to speak to them. 'I . think this judgment sends out a message to pupils that they can do what . they want to get a teacher sacked and this leaves staff in a very . vulnerable position. 'The school has completely ignored . the Government's guidelines, which start with the premise that a teacher . should be supported in these circumstances.' Milkshake mayhem: The incident began when a 16-year-old student threw a banana milkshake at Mr Cox (stock photo) During the unfair dismissal case, the teacher told the tribunal that he had feared the boy was going to throw a chair at him. After he let the teenager go, the pupil did pick up a chair and threw it, although not at Mr Cox. Neither the boy or his parents complained to the school, but the governors decided the man had to go. At a tribunal hearing in Nottingham last month, Mr Cox said he had now been left 'unemployable' and has twice attempted suicide. He also said he feared youngsters' behaviour was getting 'out of control'. Married Mr Cox's 13-year teaching career has been ended by the episode. He said during the hearing: 'It has had a huge impact on me. I can't get another job now and our financial situation is dire, to say the least. 'In all other public buildings you see posters saying abusive language and behaviour will not be tolerated. That is not the case at Bemrose. Senior management at Bemrose don't support staff in general at all.' Today, Mrs Ward said every teacher employed at her school was trained in techniques aimed at defusing situations of conflict. She said: 'Mr Cox had every right to feel aggrieved by having milkshake thrown at him but, instead of putting this training into action, defusing the situation and reporting the incident, CCTV footage shows he adopted a confrontational approach prior to the incident and allowed his anger to govern his actions. 'We are determined to uphold the highest standards of behaviour and in no way condone the pupil's behaviour towards teaching staff. 'The pupil involved was excluded for four days and a clear message was sent to other children at the school that this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated.' The commotion occurred last March in the school canteen when some boys were 'acting up' in front of another teacher. Mr Cox told one of them, a year 11 pupil, to sit down, at which point the teenager launched into a tirade of verbal abuse and then threw his banana milkshake over him. | Robert Cox, 59, was fired after being caught on CCTV pinning the boy's arms to his sides in March 2011 .
A Nottingham employment tribunal today claimed the 59-year-old's reaction was 'inappropriate and excessive' and he deserved to lose his job .
Mr Cox said the judgement sends the wrong message to troublesome pupils and leaves staff in a 'vulnerable position' |
0d33139b2f331771b7eb729383f3bfc160ac3188 | Donetsk, Ukraine (CNN)A dispute over natural gas supply flared Friday between Russia and Ukraine, even as a ceasefire between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine appeared to be taking hold. Both sides in the conflict have begun withdrawing their heavy weaponry from the front line of the conflict, in line with a peace deal agreed to in Minsk, Belarus, two weeks ago. There has also been a reduction in the fighting between the two sides, although some artillery fire can still be heard. But the ceasefire remains fragile. A spokesman for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko cited him as saying on Twitter: "We starting withdrawing only some of the heavy weaponry. Ukrainian military are ready to return the equipment to the front line any time." The leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Zacharchenko, said separatist forces there had withdrawn 90% of their heavy weapons. But he also warned that they reserved the right to return the weapons to the front line if authorities in Kiev did not keep their end of the bargain. A CNN team on the ground saw a small convoy of artillery, flying the yellow-and-blue flag of Ukraine, heading south out of the conflict zone Thursday. The separatists began the withdrawal of heavy weapons a couple of days earlier. Under the terms of the Minsk agreement, the two sides have until Monday to complete the withdrawal and create a buffer zone of at least 50 kilometers (31 miles) for heavy weapons. The Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe is tasked with monitoring the ceasefire and the withdrawal. Ukraine's National Defense and Security Council said Friday that three Ukrainian troops had been killed and seven injured in the past 24 hours in continued clashes. Meanwhile, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak warned that Russian energy giant Gazprom could cut the supply of natural gas to its neighbor in the coming days if payment is not received. Russia's Tass state news agency said that Gazprom confirmed receiving $15 million Friday in prepayment from Ukraine. But that is enough to pay for only a day's supply of natural gas, the news agency said. A meeting between the European Union, Russia and Ukraine is due to take place in Brussels, Belgium, on Monday to discuss gas supply to Ukraine. Russia has used gas as a weapon before, cutting off supplies to Ukraine three times in the past decade. A new dispute could affect the rest of Europe. About a third of the European Union's natural gas comes from Russia, and 15% flows through Ukraine. However, now that the worst of winter is over, the threat of a halt in the supply of gas is less alarming than it was for Ukraine and for the rest of Europe. In any case, Kiev has reserve gas supplies that could be used if the supply from Russia were stopped. Europe also has the option of reverse supply -- sending gas back through pipelines into Ukraine. The latest disagreement comes against the backdrop of an EU investigation into Gazprom, which is due to report soon. Europe has accused Gazprom of using its dominant position to manipulate prices and hinder the free flow of gas across the continent. The developing situation in eastern Ukraine was the focus of an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting in New York on Friday. The chief monitor for the OSCE mission to Ukraine, Ertugrul Apakan, reported some progress in implementing the Minsk agreement as he briefed the council, but said much remained to be done. "For the past days, combat operations have been significantly reduced across the conflict zone, although some violence has still occurred around Donetsk airport, as well as close to the town of Mariupol," he said. "As to the withdrawal of heavy weapons, yesterday our monitors began observing the movement of heavy weapons away from the line of contact on several instances." However, the OSCE needs more information in order to monitor their withdrawal effectively, he said, including what heavy weapons each side has, where they are now and where they will be taken. There are currently 451 civilian monitors in Ukraine, he said, of whom more than 300 are in the contested Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The mission will need more technological resources, such as drones, in order to cover a huge area of operations extending about 50,000 square kilometers (19,300 square miles), including large stretches of the Russia-Ukraine border, he said. More hubs may also have to be set up for OSCE patrols. Ertugrul also highlighted the plight of more than 1 million people forced from their homes within Ukraine, "some of them living in desperate circumstances." Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking Friday at his ministry's Diplomatic Academy, said: "Impartial observers, including the Organization for Co-operation and Security in Europe, have registered a significant reduction in the exchange of fire, so the ceasefire is nonetheless yielding a result." But he stressed that although some progress has been seen in the withdrawal of heavy weapons, "it is important to consolidate it." He also warned that Ukraine must keep its nonaligned status "in order to keep the stability in Europe." Russia is unhappy about what it sees as NATO's expansion toward its western border. Ukraine is not a NATO member, but Baltic nations bordering Russia belong to the alliance and Georgia also hopes to join. Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of arming and training the separatists, as well as sending Russian troops over the border to fight with them. Russia denies the claims. CNN's Diana Magnay reported from Donetsk, and Laura Smith-Spark wrote and reported from London. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen and journalist Victoria Butenko contributed from Kiev. CNN's Radina Gigova, Nana Karikari-apau and Ivana Kottasova also contributed. | OSCE mission chief in Ukraine cites reduction in combat, signs of heavy weapons withdrawal .
Under a peace deal, both sides must draw back heavy weapons to create a buffer zone .
A dispute over natural gas supply has flared between Russia and Ukraine . |
0d33a39f89ed93832ba396402364b68991081b66 | Bridgeport, California (CNN) -- The snipers, dug deep into their hidden positions in the snow, peer down at the valley below, searching for movement in the makeshift buildings set up. "The open doorway ... a guy standing in the open distance five to 30 meters," one sniper comments as he stares through binoculars at the objective more than 1,000 feet below. There won't be a shot taken though. Perched approximately 10,000 feet up on a mountain top in the Sierra Nevada, the Marine Corps snipers are receiving elite training, learning how to shoot and kill in freezing, rugged terrain. The experience and skills will be helpful in the unforgiving mountains of Afghanistan. The men are already qualified snipers, but in this advanced training at the Marine Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, California, they learn to shoot at steep angles in an extreme environment. Senior snipers are always nearby to mentor. "How are you guys doing?" Gunnery Sgt. David Williams asks the group, crouching down at the top of their snow fort. "Good," the snipers reply. "How come no one's got a stove going?" Williams asks. "No one's got any empty canteens? There you go, you should be working," he pushes the men. Getting to the encampment is a slog through deep snow. It takes 4 1/2 hours of climbing to get to the seven snipers, trekking through snow as deep as 3 feet. The only sign of the snipers is bark-colored head caps. They moved in the night before, climbing six miles in the darkness, with only moonlight to guide their movement. It took the group less than three hours, much faster than a civilian pace, to complete the journey. Upon reaching the summit, the group set up a security perimeter and spent four hours digging out a snow fortification. One sniper, who only wanted to be identified as Chris, explained, "Off to my right we have our observation post where we have eyes on with a sniper and spotter down on the objective at the bottom of the valley. We have a trench set up here on my left." Chris, who says he is living out his childhood dream of being a sniper, says operations in the frigid mountains are especially tough. "You move in under the cover of darkness ... the temperature last night dropped down a whole lot. Probably into the high teens," he said. "You try to keep it small. You try to stay tactical. You've got the objective about 500 meters (a third of a mile) down the slope so you have to keep in mind the sound level you're making and staying low and out of sight." Learning how to survive in the harsh mountainous terrain is an essential part of the training. "It gives them initially the ability to move over this type of terrain. It's not as easy as one would think. It's not Sunday playing in the yard," Williams said. "The mountains are a pretty formidable foe," he said. "In addition to the enemy, the mountains themselves are a threat and it takes certain skills and training to move over them efficiently and be able to still perform those complicated tasks that the battalion commander assigns them with." The snipers often supplement the gear they're issued with supplies from sporting good stores that they feel may work better in the environment. One essential gadget the group had in the dug-out trench was a ministove. "You have to heat up the snow to make water. It lightens up your pack. You only have to carry about 2 quarts at one time 'cause you can just refill as you go," Chris said. Hydrating and warmth seem to be the basics for this group. Warming layers are vital. "We bring what we want as far as comfort items go. So pack light, freeze at night," one sniper, who wished not to be identified, said. For these Marines, the training is very real. Many are preparing to deploy to Afghanistan in the coming weeks and months. "The mountain sniper course focuses a lot on high angle shooting and that has a lot to do with the way the current war is shaping. We are moving out of urbanized areas and moving into more mountainous terrain," Chris said. Another sniper, who wished not to be identified, agreed with Chris on the importance of the skills learned. "It's definitely an asset in the military, especially in an anti-terrorism role: You need more precision, you need to be like a scalpel in a way instead of just going around guns ablazing," he said. Precision is everything for this group, whose goal is one shot, one kill. Williams said these snipers must be able to shoot and kill from 1,000 yards away, or a distance of about 10 football fields. "The Marine snipers' job is to basically engage targets at long range. Essentially they are the guardian angel for the battalion. They survey the battlefield, find potential threats and with approval eliminate the threats, as well as provide reconnaissance and surveillance on objectives to give accurate information back to the battalion and let them know what's out there," he said. About 25% of the Marines who take part in the mountain sniper training fail, but those enduring the course say they draw strength from their fellow snipers and the accomplishment that comes with completion. "It's definitely miserable but you have to roll with the punches and you enjoy it once it's done. Once you get it under your belt there's a lot of satisfaction in it," Chris said. CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr contributed to this report . | Snipers prep for Afghanistan in California mountains .
They learn to shoot at steep angles in extreme environment .
Water, warmth are two main priorities . |
0d34651e4ef2daee0792160086ce3c181298e072 | By . Simon Jones . Antonio Luna has left Aston Villa for Hellas Verona on season-long loan, with the Serie A side having an option to buy the Spanish full-back. The left-back signed from Sevilla last summer, but failed to make much of an impression in his one year at the club. He follows fellow Villains Nicklas Helenius and Yacouba Sylla out of the club on 12-month loan deals. On the move: Aston Villa's Antonio Luna has joined Serie A side Hellas Verona on a season-long loan . Option: New signing Kieran Richardson can play in a number of positions including at left-back . Luna's Villa career started well enough, starting and scoring on his debut in the 3-1 win over Arsenal on the first day of last season. But his form quickly tailed off and he made just 16 more Premier League appearances throughout the rest of the campaign. Paul Lambert does have cover at left-back, however, with Kieran Richardson signed from Fulham earlier in the summer. | Antonio Luna joins Serie A side Hellas Verona on loan for next season .
Signed for Aston Villa last summer, making 17 Premier League appearances . |
0d34ca0b3a7d9ba25d9f4e0189cf116597f94a02 | Barcelona forward Cristian Tello has joined Porto on a two-year-loan deal, the La Liga club said on Wednesday. The 22-year-old made only a handful of first team appearances last season and following the arrival of Luis Suarez from Liverpool, those chances were expected to dry up further and hence prompted the move. 'Barcelona and Porto have reached an agreement for the loan of Cristian Tello for the next two seasons with the option to buy for the Portuguese club,' the Catalan club said in a statement. Done deal: Tello poses in his Porto training gear after completing his loan move to Portugal . Jumping out: Cristian Tello has left Barcelona to join Porto on a two-year loan deal . Happier times: Tello celebrates scoring for Barcelona with team-mate Lionel Messi . Game changer: Tello's first team chances had been reduced following the arrival of Luis Suarez from Liverpool . FC Barcelona can cancel the buy option in the agreement after the first season.' The move comes as a blow to Everton and boss Roberto Martinez who were weighing up a move for the Barca star. Barca missed out on the major trophies last season and the side are undergoing extensive restructuring under Luis Enrique. So far Ivan Rakitic and keepers Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Claudio Bravo have signed, along with Suarez. While Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sanchez are two of those leaving in big money moves to Chelsea and Arsenal respectively. | Cristian Tello has signed for Porto on a two-year loan deal from Barcelona .
Portuguese side have option to make transfer permanent .
Barca can cancel the buy option in the agreement after the first season .
Deal ends Everton's hopes of signing 22-year-old .
Liverpool, Valencia, Porto, Arsenal and Tottenham were also interested . |
0d367f2c7ce7d8aaadea9049e80d4807a3f9b906 | By . Daily Mail Reporters . PUBLISHED: . 22:00 EST, 24 February 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 14:59 EST, 27 February 2014 . So-called Jeopardy 'evil genius' Arthur Chu used his controversial . gamesmanship Monday to claim yet another victory on the quiz show. The . 30-year-old Ohio insurance professional took home $20,800 that he'll . add to the $102,800 he's already won since he first began his winning . streak January 28. Despite the criticism being near constant since . his winning began, it doesn't look like Chu will start conforming to . more accepted tactics any time soon. Scroll down for video... Jeopardy anti-hero: Though unpopular, Arthur Chu's (left) tactics again won him the game on Monday despite getting the Final Jeopardy question wrong . According to Jeopardy College champ Keith Williams, however, Chu's streak could come to an end quickly and with no warning. 'He . could easily reel off five wins this week, or get tripped up by a . tricky Daily Double or Final Jeopardy! clue,' Williams told ABC News. 'That's the beauty of Jeopardy! -- it's so unpredictable.' But Williams admits that Chu's risk averse style eliminates as much of the luck factor as possible. In . Monday's game, Chu's hardest-questions-first strategy left him with . more than four times the winnings of the second place opponent by the . game's final question. Chu lost $10,000 when he incorrectly . answered a question about a famous abolitionist of the 19th century . admired by Frederick Douglass. However, after both his opponents also failed to correctly answer John Brown, Chu and his tactics won the day. He'll be back on Tuesday's pre-taped episode to battle to maintain his status as the game's most loathed returning champion. Arthur calls the strategy, which aims . to disarm his opponents, Forrest Bounce, after successful 1980s player . Chuck Forrest who also 'bounced' around the board. The strategy sparked outrage across social media last week as viewers accused Chu of 'unsportsmanship'. No sweat: Chu missed the question about abolitionist John Brown but he'd already entered the final round with four times the winning of his nearest opponent and easily won the day . A little bit different: Arthur Chu, 30, (right) Jeopardy's latest and greatest star, has used Jeopardy game theory to become nightly must-see TV. But his unorthodox methods have made him a polarizing figure . But Chu has consistently dismissed the furor, telling Fox News: 'Like any game, strategy plays a big role.' He . added: 'I can't change your impression of me but, again, we're playing . for money. Between $10,000 and getting haters on Twitter, $10,000 is . more important to me.' The . so-called 'evil genius', as dubbed by angry Twitter users, has also . received support from the show's host Megyn Kelly, who said Arthur . 'seems to get' the concept of winning. Arthur is quick and confident with his answers, darting from a $1,000 question to $200 for seemingly no reason. But he has received a mixed reception from viewers with some sites such as Philly.com are calling him a 'hero', whilst others blogs like BarStool describe him as a 'mad genius'. Arrgh: Arthur's game-play tactics appear to delight and frustrate viewers in equal measure . Before appearing on the show, Arthur claims he studied the mechanics of the gameshow that has been running for 30 years. 'I . decided pretty early on, you know, I'm not going to be able to learn . all the things I don't know in terms of actual knowledge,' he says. 'You . only get a month between when they call you and when you have to go out . for the show. So I said, 'What's the strategy that'll serve me best on . the show?' It seems that people don't actually think about the strategy . of the game itself as much as they do about the knowledge.' Typically, . contestants choose a single category and progressively move from the . lowest amount up to the highest, giving viewers an easy-to-understand . escalation of difficulty. However, . because Arthur is finding the hidden Daily Doubles, which are normally . located within the three highest-paying rungs in the categories, it . means rather than building up in difficulty, he ends up starting with . the most difficult questions. After a couple of the most difficult high-stakes questions have been answered, he moves over to another category. It can be a frustrating watch because it doesn't allow the viewer to get into each subject matter and viewers aren't given enough to time to get in a rhythm or fully comprehend the new subject area but Arthur defends accusations that he is being 'unsportmanlike.' Contestants often avoid topics they . unsure on, Arthur was playing tactically: if he lost, the most it would . cost him was $5, and either way, it would take the Daily Double out of . play for everyone else in the game. Host Alex Trebek and the audience giggled when the question came, Arthur immediately blurted out 'I don't know.' It . wasn't a waste of a Daily Double, as he kept that question out of the . hands of the other contestants. Winning in Jeopardy just means beating . the other two, and his strategy made that possible. Other haters online dislike Arthur for his incessant buzzer-clicking but Arthur defends his gameplay. 'There's . no logical reason for most people to play the game the way they do it - . start at the top of one category and then go all the way down until you . finish it,' Arthur says. 'The only control you have in the game is . the ability to pick where the next question is gonna be. If you have . that advantage and you jump around the board, you can put the other . players off their game. That's your advantage, and you don't just want . to give that up for nothing.' Playing to win: Chu went out of his way and jumped around the board to find as many Daily Doubles as possible . | Arthur Chu's methods have won him criticism from many Jeopardy fans who say watching him play is no fun .
He .
opts to choose the high-stakes questions first instead of starting with .
easier ones and searches for coveted Daily Double questions .
Though unpopular, his tactics again won him the game on Monday despite getting the Final Jeopardy question wrong .
On one occasion he forced a tiebreak, generously allowing his fellow contestant to go home with a huge payday .
He returns Tuesday to battle to retain his status as the game's most loathed returning champion . |
0d36a171b35efbe5caa2473a3ab8736bdc7bdbe1 | Ipswich Town defender Tyrone Mings is one of the most sought-after talents in English football, but that wasn't always the case. Mings came through the academy at Southampton but in 2009 the south coast club released the then-5ft 8in Mings because they thought he was too small. But on Wednesday night Mings, now 6ft 5in, came face-to-face with his former club as Ipswich lost 1-0 to Southampton in the FA Cup. Tyrone Mings in action for Ipswich Town in their FA Cup third-round clash with Southampton . Mings as a child in Southampton's academy (right) and towering over Nathaniel Clyne on Wednesday (left) Saints were forced to make difficult decisions back in 2009 when their academy budget was slashed, and Mings was considered surplus to requirements. But just five years later and the 21-year-old has been one of the stand-out performers in the Championship with Premier League giants Arsenal among the clubs hot on his trail. Mings joined Bristol Rovers for in 2009 before moving to Yate Town, Chippenham Town, and finally Ipswich - where he has excelled under Mick McCarthy. Although McCarthy insisted Mings would not be sold in January, it seems only a matter of time before he's plying his trade at one of the country's biggest clubs. Mings, who is wanted by Arsenal, is only two inches shorter than Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster . Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger confirmed his interest in signing Ipswich's Mings in early December . | Tyrone Mings began his career at Southampton's academy .
But Mings was released because of a lack of physical development .
He was 5ft 8in tall when he was released at 16, he is now 6ft 5in .
Mings has been one of the Championship's best players this season .
A host of Premier League clubs, including Arsenal, want to sign him . |
0d36f09af08f153aeffb74c5df2a4ce638b2045c | A massive increase in antibiotic prescriptions is being fuelled by out-of-hours GPs – with potentially fatal consequences, experts claim. The number handed out by doctors covering nights and weekends has increased by up to a third since 2010. Health experts say locums filling these shifts – as well as dentists and walk-in centres – do not know patients and are more inclined to hand out antibiotics as a quick fix. Number of antibiotics prescribed by doctors on nights and weekends has increased by up to a third since 2010 . Overall, the number of antibiotics prescribed by GPs, hospitals, dentists and out of hours clinics has risen by 6 per cent in four years. This is despite repeated attempts by the NHS to bring the figure down over fears that over-prescribing is creating strains of drug-resistant bacteria, making many illnesses effectively untreatable – including potentially deadly ones. Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies has warned that the threat is 'as big as terrorism' and could lead to minor scratches becoming fatal. It has been caused by over-prescribing antibiotics – meant for bacterial illnesses, even for coughs and colds, which are caused by viruses and are unaffected by the drugs. Scientists have warned that E. coli, a frequent cause of infection, is becoming resistant to antibiotics . Bacteria have gradually become more resistant and a growing number cannot be eradicated by common treatments. In the first study of its kind, Public Health England looked at prescriptions for antibiotics in hospitals, GP surgeries, out-of-hours clinics and dentists. Since 2010, the numbers have risen by 6 per cent, from 25.9 doses per day for every 1,000 people to 27.4 doses. This is 28 per cent higher than the European average of 21.3 doses per 1,000 people. Previously, GPs have been blamed for handing out drugs too freely under pressure from demanding patients who expect to be given some sort of medication. But this report shows the number given by family doctors fell last year by 3.5 per cent to 21.5 doses per day. Those from out-of-hours doctors, walk-in centres and dentists has risen by 32 per cent since 2010. Dr Susan Hopkins, the epidemiologist behind the report, said: 'GPs know patients and they're able to give a back-up prescription so they don't immediately go and fill it – they only take it if they get worse over the next few days. 'It's a really good measure of reducing prescribing. Urgent-care centres don't know that patient.' Her study is the first to look at the issue across the NHS. It also found that the number of prescriptions handed out in hospitals had increased by 12 per cent. Professor John Watson, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, said: 'Anti-microbial resistance is one of the biggest threats to health security facing the world today.' | Prescriptions for antibiotics have risen by 6 per cent in four years .
Number given on nights and weekends has increased by a third since 2010 .
Health experts say locums are more likely to give antibiotics as a quick fix .
Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies says threat is 'as big as terrorism' |
0d37991539a42114a3ebc31d0852a2ab0843979c | Two children died in an early Tuesday morning apartment fire in Lawrence, Massachusetts. State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan says the two young boys were found in a bedroom of a third-floor apartment in the six-unit building. The four-year-old and the ten-year-old were half-siblings,The Boston Herald reported. Scroll down for video . Victims: Two half-siblings aged 4 and 10 died in the Lawrence, Massachusetts, fire Tuesday morning . Trapped: State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan says the two young boys were found in a bedroom of a third-floor apartment in the six-unit building . Referring to the 10-year-old, great-aunt Solanlly Garcia told the newspaper 'We had hope they were going to pull him out the fire with his brother. He was always happy, full of life. He was always smiling.' The ten-year-old's aunt Jokarina Medina told the newspaper '[His mother] was in shock.' The four-alarm blaze was reported at about 3am Tuesday. The Lawrence Police Department tweeted photos of the early morning fire, which it said took place on Kingston Street. Video from the scene showed flames shooting out of the roof. Danger: Three other residents and one firefighter were hurt by the fire . Heartbreaking: Coan said of the incident 'At this point it's just an extremely tragic morning here in Lawrence' 'Upon arrival there was heavy fire, especially in the rear of the home,' Coan said, according to WCVB. 'After a preliminary view of the building, is seems there were smoke alarms. We will do more of a forensic review of the entire fire alarm system.' Three other residents and one firefighter were hurt. The extent of the injuries wasn't immediately released. 'At this point it's just an extremely tragic morning here in Lawrence,' Coan said, according to WHDH. 'Fire continues to take such an awful toll in our state. 'It pains me as state fire marshal to have to be here this morning, but we will do everything we can to come to a successful conclusion of this investigation to bring some closure to the parent of these young boys.' Mayor Daniel Rivera says the city will do all it can to help the displaced families and firefighters. | Two children died in an early Tuesday morning apartment fire in Lawrence, Massachusetts .
State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan says the two young boys were found in a bedroom of a third-floor apartment in the six-unit building .
The victims were half-siblings aged 4 and 10 . |
0d388d29ee365f1ab40a20016602a1c4db8f1a16 | St. Louis' Gateway Arch was allegedly a bombing target of two men, who are also accused of having an alleged murder plot meant for two officials, it was reported Wednesday. The alleged schemes and targets, namely Ferguson's Chief of Police Tom Jackson and St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch, were revealed by The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Brandon Orlando Baldwin and Olajuwon Ali Davis allegedly purchased a fake pipe bomb during a sting operation - and had hoped they could purchase another two bombs though the pair lacked sufficient funds, sources told the newspaper. Indicted: Olajuwon Davis, pictured, is one of the men who allegedly had a plot to bomb the Gateway Arch. Sources have said that Davis was in charge of the plan . The newspaper reported that its sources expressed skepticism that the alleged plots could have been achieved by Baldwin and Davis. Davis was allegedly in charge and more charges stemming from the scheme may come soon, the sources told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Baldwin and Davis were indicted on gun charges last week, and the alleged murder and bomb plots are not included in their indictment, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted. The newspaper obtained and published a copy of the indictment, which has been unsealed. Sometime from November 1 to November 13 Baldwin had said he was purchasing two guns for himself at a Hazelwood gun store, though they were being purchased for someone else, the document said. The Gateway Arch was supposed to have a bomb placed in its observation deck, sources told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Baldwin and Davis have been charged with 'aiding and abetting the making of a false written statement in connection with a firearms purchase,' the newspaper reported. The media outlet also reported that search warrants for two buildings were served. Davis and Baldwin appeared in court on Tuesday and entered not guilty pleas - and 'waived their right to make a case for bail, so the hearing did not proceed,' according to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The newspaper noted that the New Black Panthers dismissed the allegations against Davis and Baldwin in a statement. The two men were the subjects of a months-long investigation, sources told television station KDSK. Brandon Orlando Baldwin, seen here, was also allegedly involved in the plot . | St. Louis' Gateway Arch was allegedly a bombing target of Brandon Orlando Baldwin and Olajuwon Ali Davis, who were arrested on Friday .
The men are also accused of having a murder plot for Robert McCulloch, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney, as well as Tom Jackson, the Chief of Police in Ferguson .
They have been indicted on separate gun charges and pleaded not guilty . |
0d3a4cca8f4b2c86645af5f989d3e3ba2011a19a | By . Mail Foreign Service . PUBLISHED: . 04:08 EST, 22 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 04:08 EST, 22 February 2013 . Scandal-plagued former French presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been branded the ‘king of the pigs’ in an explosive book written by an embittered ex-lover. Argentine lawyer Marcela Iacub claimed the disgraced ex-International Monetary Fund chief would have turned the Elysee Palace into a ‘swingers’ club’ if he’d been elected president. The 48-year-old legal expert said she had a steamy seven-month affair with Strauss-Kahn, 64, after he was cleared of raping a maid at a New York hotel. Kiss and tell: Argentine lawyer Marcela Iacub (left) has branded her former lover Dominique Strauss-Kahn (right) the 'king of the pigs' in an explosive new book . Scathing: In her lurid memoir Beauty and the Beast (above), she claims the disgraced ex-International Monetary Fund chief would have turned the Elysee Palace into a 'swingers' club' if he'd been elected president . In excerpts of her lurid memoir ‘Beauty and the Beast’ published in France yesterday, she claimed that had he become the French president, he would have ‘used your assistants, henchmen, advisers and staff as touts, orgy organisers, experts in the art of satisfying your darkest urges.' ‘You claimed that you were ready to give your blood for your country when in fact you would have used this country to spill your inexhaustible sperm,’ she added in an open letter to her former lover. After meeting Mr Strauss-Kahn in January last year, Miss Iacub said she fell completely in love with the man she described as the ‘king of the pigs’ and ‘half man, half pig.’ ‘Pigs have a relationship with the present that humans hardly have. They never cease relishing the incredible luck of being alive, eating, running, sullying, wounding, feeling.’ Withering: Miss Iacub also turns on Strauss-Kahn's estranged wife, Anne Sinclair (left), whom she claims dreamt of being First Lady and treated her husband like a 'poodle' ‘You have had a long list of sexual conquests ... of mostly vulgar and unattractive women,’ she wrote. ‘It is one of the authentic and wonderful traits of the true pig, a form of generosity that you show to all women prepared to receive you.’ The pair met in January 2012 after Miss Iacub wrote an essay defending Strauss-Kahn. He subsequently texted her: ‘You who like writing, tell me what you want to do with me later.’ In love: The 48-year-old legal expert said she had an affair with DSK after he was cleared of raping Nafissatou Diallo (pictured) at a New York hotel . There followed a seven-month affair in which Miss Iacub said she fell totally in love. Miss Iacub saves her fiercest words for Strauss Kahn’s estranged wife, Anne Sinclair, whom she claims dreamt of being First Lady and thought she and her husband ‘belonged to the caste of the masters of the world’. She says she treated her husband like ‘a poodle’. The claims drew a furious response from both Mr Strauss-Kahn and Miss Sinclair. Strauss-Kahn said he felt ‘doubly disgusted’ by the ‘inaccurate’ account of their relationship. ‘Disgusted . that a woman would seduce a man with the sole intention of writing a . book about it, of feigning love for financial gain, for selling her . story through a press she has always been critical of,’ he wrote to Le . Nouvel Observateur, the left-wing French magazine that printed the . excerpts. In a separate . response, Miss Sinclair told Le Nouvel Observateur: ‘You give credit to . the manoeuvres of a perverse and dishonest woman, driven by a . fascination for the sensational and the lure of money.’ Strauss-Kahn . was accused of rape by New York hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo in May . 2011. The Frenchman was cleared of criminal charges because of doubts . over the maid’s account. But Strauss-Kahn still faces up to 20 years in prison over his alleged role in a French sex vice racket. | Argentine lawyer Marcela Iacub had seven-month affair with ex-IMF chief .
Says he 'would have used [presidency] to spill his inexhaustible sperm'
She tells him: ‘You have list of sexual conquests of mostly vulgar women'
Blasts estranged wife Ann Sinclair for treating him like a 'poodle'
Pair met in January 2012 after DSK was cleared of raping hotel maid . |
0d3a6d4c1ce8574f6a9df736950f3201f8329419 | A man has been arrested over the attempted murder of a policeman after the officer was run over as he tried to make an arrest. The driver of a Volkswagen Golf ploughed into the officer, dragging him along the ground, before speeding off, as he sought to apprehend him as part of an on-going inquiry. The unnamed policeman suffered a cracked vertebrae and severe grazing from the incident outside the Wealden Hall pub in Larksfield, Kent, early Saturday evening. He was rushed to hospital where his condition is serious but stable. The Wealden Hall pub and restaurant, Larkfield. The policeman was run over here . Kent Police launched a huge man hunt, scrambling helicopters and all available officers, to catch the driver. He initially evaded captured but yesterday a 27-year-old man from Rochester, Kent, handed himself in at Maidstone Police station. Witnesses have described how the officer lay in the road as members of the public rushed to help. Builder Evo Ivanov told the Daily Mail: ‘The road was all closed off and there was a man lying in the road. ‘People were giving him first aid. ‘There were lots of plain clothed policemen around.’ Police refused to let patrons who had been eating and drinking at the Wealden Hall pub leave the pub car park, according to one witness. The unnamed policeman was hit by a gold Volkswagen Golf similar to this one (File photo) She said: ‘My son was in the pub at the time and the police weren’t letting anyone leave the car park.’ One pub worker, who asked not to be named, claimed police had been following the suspect ‘all day’ as part of a wider investigation. He said: ‘Police had been following him the driver all day. He pulled into the pub carpark to try to shake them off and when they tried to arrest him he drove off and hit one of them [police officers]. Kent Police launched a huge man hunt, scrambling helicopters and all available officers, to catch the driver.He initially evaded captured but yesterday a 27-year-old man from Rochester, Kent, handed himself in at Maidstone Police station . Kent Police have declined to discuss the operation but appealed for witnesses of the hit-and-run to come forward. A Kent Police spokesman said: ‘A 27 year old man from Rochester has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder following an incident between a gold Volkswagen Golf and a police officer who was carrying out an enquiry with the driver of the vehicle at the time. ‘The male officer, who was out of his car at the time, was taken to a London hospital where he is in a serious but stable condition. ‘Kent Police would like to thank members of the public for all their help, best wishes and responses so far.’ | Driver of a Volkswagen Golf ploughed into policeman, dragging him along the ground, before speeding off .
The unnamed policeman suffered a cracked vertebrae and severe grazing .
Incident occurred outside Wealden Hall pub in Larksfield, Kent, early Saturday evening . |
0d3a887099b13a56bc924f36a5ca305cef051ed8 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . Last updated at 7:43 PM on 5th August 2011 . A mother regained consciousness in hospital today to be told the tragic news that her husband and two children had been killed in an arson attack at their home. Angela Sharkey's husband Thomas, 55, eight-year-old daughter Bridget and 21-year-old son, also called Thomas, died after the attack on their flat in Helensburgh, near Glasgow on July 24. Mrs Sharkey, 46, who had been sedated after suffering serious burns, was given the grim news by her sister Margaret McKenchie after she came round in a ward at Glasgow's Royal Infirmary. Sole survivor: Angela Sharkey awoke in hospital to be told her husband and two children had been killed in an Arson attack . Ms McKenchie said: 'There was such sadness in her eyes and I can't begin to explain how shattered she is by this terrible, terrible news. 'We're absolutely heartbroken at the deaths of young Thomas, Bridget and of course their dad Tommy as well. 'She was totally and utterly devastated to hear from me that her two lovely young children had been taken from her. 'Her family was her life and she has been robbed of any future with them. It's so, so sad that she will never see young Thomas and Bridget grow up.' Close family: A holiday photo of Angela Sharkey with her eight-year old daughter Bridget and 21-year-old son Thomas . Police have launched a triple murder investigation with a 55-strong team of officers working on the case. The fire broke out in the living room of the flat at around 5.10am on July 24 and quickly spread. Strathclyde Police said the building had just one door and the family became trapped by the flames. The heat of the blaze caused a downstairs window to explode and left an area of severe scorching around the front door of the property in Scott Court. Mr Sharkey Senior was seen hanging out of the window and shouting for help. His son was found dead at the scene. The rest of the family were taken by ambulance to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley where Bridget died a short time later. Mr Sharkey and his wife both suffered serious burns and were moved to Glasgow Royal Infirmary, where he died on July 30. Ms McKechnie added: 'On behalf of my sister Angela I would like to ask anyone please, please if you have any information, don't be afraid to come forward to the police to help us solve this horrible crime.' Thomas junior, an extremely talented golfer, was in the country after returning home from the U.S. where he had a Golfing Scholarship at Georgia Southern University. In his biography on the Georgia Southern Eagles website, he described himself as 'ambitious and competitive', adding that his grandfather and father were the biggest influence on his athletics career for teaching him golf. His sister Bridget is believed to have died after coming home from a planned sleepover because she missed her parents. Police said they are keen to speak to people who were at two parties which took place near Scott Court on the night of the blaze. The parties went on into the early hours of the morning. They are also keen to speak to two men seen in the vicinity at around 5am. A man in a grey hooded top was seen crossing West Princes Street near James Street at about 5am and another man was seen going on to John Street between 4am and 5am. Police are examining CCTV collected from around the Argyll and Bute town and are visiting more than 500 houses and business premises. Detective Superintendent Peter McPike . said: "There are no suspects at the moment. Clearly we are really . desperate to find out why this has taken place. 'Perhaps once we can establish that we will be closer to finding a suspect.' Family members (left to right) Margaret McKechnie, Gemma McFadyen and Val McFayden appeal to to the public for information during a police press conference . He added: 'I don't think people in Helensburgh are holding back. I do think that perhaps there might be a small number of people who might well be in receipt of information that could be crucial to the investigation and I would appeal to the consciences of those people to come forward and to contact us.' He said that police will wait until medical staff give approval before they speak to Mrs Sharkey, whose condition is still critical. Valerie McFadyen, 51, Thomas Sharkey Senior's sister, said: 'These murders have torn our family apart and it is something that no family should ever have to go through. It is very hard to come to terms with this. 'Someone knows who carried out this appalling act, and we do not understand how anyone could protect this killer who has murdered three members of our family. We would urge people to please look at your conscience and make that vital call to police to help us. 'We would like to thank people for their messages of condolence and help. But please keep doing all that you can to help police and help find those responsible.' Crimestoppers has put up a £10,000 reward for information which leads to the arrest and conviction of whoever committed the crime. The email address for the investigation is [email protected]. Officers have also set up an additional phone number for the incident room. People can now call 01389 822 059 or 01389 822 162 to get through to the investigation team. | Police launch triple murder investigation with 55-strong team of officers working on the case .
Father died in hospital just days after learning of his children's deaths .
21-year-old son was talented golfer who had just returned from America where he had won a sports scholarship .
Eight-year-old daughter had come home early from friend's sleepover because she missed her parents . |
0d3a95bfedf226973388d2acfd3c89b7a0fdd677 | Washington is all about the fiscal cliff these days. In Doha, Qatar, world leaders are negotiating over climate change. Federal debt and carbon emissions are indeed two big problems on the nation's front burner. But they are just the beginning. As the fog of the election season lifts, America has a lot to worry about -- everything from competing economically with China to housing rapidly retiring baby boomers. But there is another way to look at it. Decisively addressing the nation's primary global challenges -- backed by the market potential of powerful demographic shifts at home and abroad -- could yield opportunity unlike any other in America's history. First, our four major challenges: . • In the last 20 years, households, businesses and the federal government accumulated exceptional levels of debt, which they are now trying, painfully, to pay down. The 2008 financial crisis triggered a spiral of unemployment and reduced demand that is nowhere near complete. As household income contracts, families consume less and try to erase debt, reducing demand for goods and services, forcing companies to reduce expenses, meaning more layoffs, deepening unemployment, and so on. Monetary policy and fiscal stimulus may have contained the worst of the pain, but they cannot cure the disease. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is right when he says the economy needs a broad-based and durable source of demand. • Over the last 20 years, roughly 1 billion people entered the global middle class. In the next 20 years, there will be 3 billion more. Good news? Yes, except that these new consumers use huge amounts of resources and emit more carbon, a roughly 300% increase. Expect price increases for basic commodities like energy, food, and minerals, and deepening conflicts among the great powers over resources in familiar places: the Persian Gulf, the South China Sea, and Central Asia. • Climate change is already with us. Superstorm Sandy, the Derecho, Arctic melting, and droughts in the Midwest, India, China, and Russia this past year confirm the scientifically proven trend. Beyond this, humanity consumes about 150% of the "goods" provided by the earth's natural systems -- including fresh water, soils, and fisheries. We are consuming our limited endowment of natural capital, reducing future returns while our global population expands to 9 billion. This is massively destabilizing, whether you're in New York City or Pakistan. • Our infrastructure, systems, and supply chains are not designed for the scale or the risks of the 21st century. Transportation, financial, food, and industrial systems have choke points, are inefficient, and lack oversight and sufficient investment. They are magnifying threat and risk when they should be compartmentalizing them. Quiet disruptions in such things as rare-earth minerals (critical to high-tech manufacturing), auto parts, and computer hard drives have all hit industry in the last two years, for example. Opinion: We're living the dream, we just don't realize it . America's economy must do some heavy lifting. Just as the country transitioned from war production to civilian production 60 years ago, it must now transition to sustainable production, while building a new American dream. If it can, the United States will be ideally positioned to rebuild our middle class, compete globally and pre-empt growing confrontation over resources. We must adapt and once again define the future. First, America has a homegrown demographic opportunity unlike any other. Driven by baby boomers and millennials, 56% percent of homebuyers say that they want the trappings of their American dream to be walkable and convenient, not car-dependent and isolated, and home prices already reflect this. From 2014 to 2029, these two largest American demographics, each 25% of the total population, will meet in the housing market as boomers empty their nests and as more millennials marry and have children -- creating the largest concentration of demand for housing since the period after World War II. To seize this opportunity, however, Washington needs to let cities and towns decide how to grow, and discourage the car-based population dispersal known as sprawl. Not only will this put Americans back to work in construction, it could reduce the environmental footprint by roughly a third. Second, global demand for food and resources is skyrocketing. By 2050 global food production must increase by 60%, while soil and fresh water must be regenerated, not depleted. American farmers are held back by expensive, distorting, and antiquated Cold War era subsidies that essentially pay farmers to overwork the land and waste scarce water resources. We've already lost up to 50% of Iowa's topsoil, drained the Ogallala Aquifer, and created a fertilizer-based "death bloom" at the mouth of the Mississippi. While conventional agribusiness is enjoying high global prices, climate-related drought and floods have reduced the harvest to the lowest since the early 1970s. Shifting the worst of these subsidies from big commodity crops (like corn, wheat, and soybeans) to pay farmers to convert their operations to modern regenerative systems will help our farming families earn a more secure living and be better stewards of the land. Finally, the world needs innovation. To accommodate 3 billion new middle-class aspirants in 20 years, we will need to make our resources more productive while reducing the amount of carbon emitted. By focusing on advanced materials, energy and manufacturing, we can rebuild our middle class, supplying the jobs, wages, and returns Americans deserve. To lead this revolution in resource productivity, we must stop taxing work and start taxing waste. Washington universalized the income tax to pay for World War II, when we had full employment and needed to subsidize resource extraction to get materiel to the Allies. Now we get 80% of federal revenues from taxing individuals, are suffering from long-term unemployment, and consume far more resources than Europe for an inferior standard of living. We're conserving labor and expending resources when we need to do the opposite. We have the demand. Do we have the capital? Plenty. There are trillions of dollars in pent-up investment capital looking for reasonable, reliable returns, as the chairman of Goldman Sachs recently wrote. Instead of Washington footing the bill, the federal government must reorient the Cold War subsidies for housing, agriculture, and resource waste and create a new generation of regional financing mechanisms. These new regional tools must connect Wall Street's capital to the infrastructure and innovation opportunities that will arise as regions plan for and build the future. If it's done right, we'll channel excess liquidity back into the productive economy and stop it from sloshing around as underperforming corporate cash, money market funds, and high-risk derivatives. Yes, Washington must address the issue of the fiscal cliff and make progress on climate change. But isolated solutions will only waste precious time. Tapping into the new demand pools of the 21st century, unleashing pent-up capital, and shifting American markets to lead a revolution in resource productivity will position the United States to lead the world once again. Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter. | Patrick Doherty: Fiscal cliff, Doha climate talks a reminder of challenges that U.S. faces .
He says there's big opportunity too, if U.S. harnesses strengths to demographic shifts .
Smart responses to ongoing economic recovery, climate and infrastructure stresses crucial .
Doherty: If U.S. views these challenges coherently, it can once again lead in 21st century . |
0d3a96c6f4696c698d13e2c1e2f230736f970228 | By . William Turvill . Warrant: Andrew Rutter, who has been sentenced to six and a half years in jail for shaking his baby, is on the run . A father who violently shook his baby because he wouldn’t stop crying went on the run part-way through his trial, which saw him sentenced to six and a half years in prison. Andrew Rutter, 28, from Walkden, Greater Manchester, disappeared as evidence mounted against him over his cruelty to his son, Jacob. His trial, at Bolton Crown Court, continued in his absence after he went missing on Tuesday, and, after sentencing him, the judge issued a warrant for his arrest. While babysitting for the seven-month-old, Rutter sent a series of desperate text messages to the infant’s mother, Samantha Harper, 22, who was at work. ‘He is doing my head in, he won’t stop screaming,’ he wrote. ‘I can’t handle him,’ he said in a second message. And a third read: ‘If you keep being soft with him I’ll never have him again.’ The alarm was raised after Rutter sent a fourth text saying: ‘He can’t open his eyes, he’s gone all floppy.’ This was followed up with the message: ‘He won’t wake up - I’m getting worried now.’ Ms Harper called the out-of-hours doctors service for advice but the baby’s health deteriorated and he was taken to a walk-in centre. Staff examined him and called an ambulance to take him to hospital where was found to have been shaken so violently he suffered a bleed to his brain. Scans showed the youngster had suffered a subdural hematoma and he had to spend more than a month in hospital. Now two years old, Jacob is currently living with his grandparents and, despite his injuries, is not thought to have suffered any long-term problems. Rutter, who had been on bail, turned up for the start of his trial on January 20. But he failed to appear on Tuesday after the prosecution finished its case against him - and he has not been seen since. On Thursday a jury - who heard the incident was a ‘moment of madness’ - convicted Rutter in his absence of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and cruelty to a child by wilful neglect. Texts: Rutter, from Walkden, Greater Manchester, went missing part-way through his trial at Bolton Crown. He sent a series of desperate text messages to the infant's mother, Samantha Harper, while babysitting . Today, Rutter was the subject of a . police man-hunt after Judge Timothy Clayson issued a warrant for his . arrest and said he would face six years and six months jail when he is . captured. Judge Clayson said: ‘The defendant had become increasingly frustrated with Jacob. ‘Medical . evidence in the case indicates that Jacob was significantly subjected . to a violent shaking that resulted in a serious injury to his brain.’ He added: ‘There is a trail of evidence via text messages that demonstrates what happened. ‘The . defendant didn’t take any steps to summon any medical help. He didn’t . reveal what he had done to his girlfriend. Samantha did contact the . walk-in centre but was not in a position to say what had happened. ‘The next day the baby was taken to a medical centre and then the hospital and received treatment some weeks thereafter. Judge Timothy Clayson sentenced Rutter to prison after the trial continued in his absence this week . ‘There is no up-to-date progress but his grandparents seem to be positive and it’s to be hoped that there are no serious long term problems.’ The incident occurred on May 13 2012 while Rutter, who has 22 previous convictions, but none relating to violence, was alone with Jacob. He became ‘frustrated’ with his son’s crying. Prosecutor Rob Hall said of the text messages: ‘It indicates that Rutter shook him in a manner that is beyond anything appropriate and then knowing what he had done, failed to do anything to assist the child in getting any sort of care. ‘These are the type of messages you might get from a parent who was losing their self-control and displaying increasing anger.’ Defence counsel Wayne Jackson, said: ‘While I concede there was a shaking injury at some point, I say the evidence does not support any shaking on the day in question.’ Ms Harper was cleared of child neglect at an earlier hearing after the prosecution discontinued proceedings against her. | Andrew Rutter, 28, from Walkden, Greater Manchester, went on the run part-way through his trial at Bolton Crown Court .
The trial continued in his absence and the judge has now sentenced Rutter to six and a half years in prison .
He violently shook his son, Jacob, while babysitting for him in 2012 and there's a warrant out for his arrest . |
0d3b2da27143c513aa4f155787d97b509adb7fac | By . James Rush . A stray cat which survived being kicked 20ft through the air by a man in Brooklyn has been tracked down by a team of animal shelter rescuers and taken to a vet. A man police claim is Andre Robinson, 21, was filmed kicking the gray cat into bushes after initially luring it towards him. Robinson was arrested following an online campaign. He was released on no bond on Tuesday after he was charged with aggravated animal cruelty. Scroll down for video... A video posted to Facebook showed a man brutally kicking a stray cat 20 feet through the air at a Brooklyn housing complex . The man, who police have identified as 21-year-old Andre Robinson, uses his right foot to kick the cat into the air . 'King' the cat was taken in by volunteers from Sean Casey Animal Rescue . Attempts to find the feline initially came up short and police were unsure on Monday if the animal had survived. On . Tuesday however a team from the North Shore Animal League managed to . track him down after arriving at the Brooklyn housing complex, the New York Daily News reported. The . cat reportedly led the team, which included NYPD officers and members . of Sean Casey Animal Rescue, on a chase which lasted two-and-a-half . hours. The stray, which has . been dubbed 'King' by some residents, initially hid in the engine . compartment of a parked minivan before running off to a Ford Explorer. He was eventually cornered under a dumpster but it still took another 45 minutes before he was coaxed into a cage. Robinson was arrested on Monday and appeared at Brooklyn Criminal Court the following day. The cat was kicked into a bush during the incident, but a team from the North Shore Animal League managed to track him down after arriving at the Brooklyn housing complex on Tuesday . In the video a man can be seen to kick a cat before laughing and celebrating with a dance. An NYPD source told the New York Post: 'We were able to identify him as part of an investigation behind the video. 'People who saw were really disturbed by it.' One of the first steps was identifying the area of New York where the attack occurred. One . Facebook user used video enhancing software to blow up the scene and . see details that later led police to identify the scene of the crime as a complex in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. Residents of the housing complex told police the stray cat was a fixture in the area. | Police claim Andre Robinson was filmed kicking the gray cat into bushes .
He was charged with aggravated animal cruelty following arrest on Monday .
Police were initially unable to find the cat to make sure he had survived .
But rescuers tracked him down and took him to the vet on Tuesday . |
0d3b539c7d3d4f4640ffb21adf67a9bd918c33f7 | By . James Black . PUBLISHED: . 09:21 EST, 12 November 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 11:07 EST, 12 November 2012 . More than one million motorists from around the world have exchanged their foreign licences for a British one in the last 15 years, it emerged today. According the figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the number of licences exchanged per year . peaked at 96,935 in 2007, before falling to 79,187 in 2009. Over the . past three years, the number has risen steadily once again, reaching . 83,553 in 2011. Currently, the UK recognises the driving licences awarded to drivers by 50 . other countries, meaning they . can be exchanged after 12 months of residency for a UK licence without . the holder needing to pass any UK test. Drivers from 50 countries can exchange their licence for a British one after 12 months without taking a test . Almost half of the licences swapped . since 1997 have been gained in a country where the driving test doesn't . include driving on the left. Robin Reames, chief claims officer at . swiftcover.com which uncovered the figures, said: 'These figures reflect Britain's . multi-cultural society demonstrating that we are welcoming an increasing . number of motorists to our shores who are choosing to live and drive . here. 'However, UK roads are very different to those overseas so it's . vital that new motorists learn as much as they can, which could include . taking a few lessons from an instructor if necessary.' Since 1997, drivers from South Africa and Australia accounted for the highest number of licences exchanged with 149,897 and . 103,053 respectively. However, as more countries entered the EU in 2004, . allowing licences to be exchanged from eastern European countries, . Polish (135,079 – average of 8,442 per year), Bulgarian (18,719) and . Hungarian (21,714) motorists are actively exchanging their licences. About 88,000 Polish drivers exchanged their licence for a UK version in the . five years between 2004 and 2008. The data goes on to show that on . average each year since 1997, 2,334 drivers exchanged Japanese licences for UK one. Figures also show . 2,895 drivers exchanged Hong Kong licences and 836 drivers exchanged . South Korean licences for full British permits. Research carried out by the BBC earlier this year highlighted a scam where drivers obtained a UK driving . licence by exploiting the arrangement that the UK has with Hong Kong – . which saw more than 6,000 exchanged every year for the past five years, . even though the average is much lower. Agreements also exist with some African . countries. Around 950 Zimbabwean licences were exchanged in 2011, down from . 1,282 in 2010 and a peak of 6,168 in 2002. Nearly half of the licences exchanged since 1997 are from countries where the test does not require driving on the left hand lane . The UK's agreement with Kenya . was suspended in 2002 then later reinstated, resulting in 242 Kenyan . licences being exchanged in the early part of 2012. Robin Reames added: 'While the fact . that the UK recognises licences issued in certain countries shows that . driving tests in those countries are likely to be of a high standard, . it's important to recognise that driving in the UK is unique in many . ways. 'As such, it's important for everyone planning to drive in the UK . to take the time to become familiar with UK road signs and speed limits, . as well as driver etiquette – exactly as British motorists should when . driving abroad.' Nick Perry, driving instructor at . Bristol-based Oasis Driving School, commented: 'People who learned to . drive abroad will often face difficulties driving in the UK. 'The obvious . differences include driving on a different side of the road and new . signs and speed limits, but there are also more subtle differences such . as etiquette on the road that seem obvious to us, but are extremely . important. 'I've taught a range of drivers who have originally learned . to drive outside the UK, some of whom have settled in with no problems . and others who've needed a little help. 'It's a good idea for anyone new . to UK roads to take a short lesson or two with an approved driving . instructor in order to be on the safe side.' | Around 80,000 licences exchanged in 2011 alone, three times the amount exchanged 15 years ago .
South African, Polish and Australian drivers account for highest number of licence exchanges since 1997 .
UK licence exchanging has almost doubled in past ten years – up 37,057 since 2001 . |
0d3b73096463a5e6d3feaa9e5a6df8b5d462419f | It is a glimpse of the future of racing cars - where lasers are used instead of combustion engines, and the only cockpit displays are beamed onto the driver's helmet. Chevrolet says the Chaparral 2X Vision Gran Tursimo (VGT) concept was developed for the PlayStation 3 racing game, Gran Turismo 6 - but the firm has now built a real model of it, unveiled today at the LA Auto Show. It says the technology in the car could eventually make it onto roads. Scroll down for video . The game version of the car will be capable of a 240-mph top speed in the video game with 0-60 acceleration capability of 1.5 seconds . The driver lies face down with the driver's arms and legs splayed toward the wheels to drive the car . The game version of the car will be capable of a 240-mph top speed in the video game with 0-60 acceleration capability of 1.5 seconds. 'This concept is an audacious and ambitious vision – and one that demonstrates to a new audience how Chevy's engineering and design teams challenge norms and explore the technologies of tomorrow,' said Clay Dean, executive director of advanced design. 'It also an ode to a unique partnership that pioneered ground-breaking technologies that are used today on the track and the street.' The Chevrolet Chaparral 2X VGThas a unique shape and an advanced, laser-based propulsion system. 'It was created in a no-rules atmosphere to challenge designers and test engineers to deliver the most exhilarating sensations. 'This is a fantasy car by design,' said Frank Saucedo, who oversaw the team that worked on the concept. 'Like the original Chaparral race cars decades ago, the Chaparral 2X VGT weaves advanced aerospace technologies into the design to help achieve its performance goals.' The Chaparral 2X VGT's concept propulsion system is inspired by technology derived from advanced work targeted at space travel and future aircraft design. It features a mid-mounted laser beamed-energy propulsion system, which pulses beams of light that focus in a shroud, creating shock waves that generate tremendous thrust in the lightweight race car. The Chaparral 2X VGT's concept propulsion system is inspired by technology derived from advanced work targeted at space travel and future aircraft design. It features a mid-mounted laser beamed-energy propulsion system, which pulses beams of light that focus in a shroud, creating shock waves that generate thrust. The front of the Chevorlet Chaparral 2X Vision Gran Turismo concept car is shown during its world debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show . With a 671-kW laser, powered by a pack of lithium-ion batteries, and an air-powered generator to provide 900 horsepower worth of thrust, the Chaparral 2X VGT will be capable of a 240-mph top speed in the video game with 0-60 acceleration capability of 1.5 seconds. The propulsion system's position in the composite chassis complements an unconventional yet highly active prone driver configuration – face down with the driver's arms and legs splayed toward the wheels. In fact, the race car's propulsion and suspension systems are built around the driver, enabling progressive strategies of active and driver-adjustable aerodynamics. 'Think of it as adapting a wing suit to a racing car, where the driver's movements control certain aspects of the aero package,' said Saucedo. 'In many ways, the Chaparral 2X VGT is like racing wing suit, with a protective fuselage for 'flying' very low to the ground.' 'In many ways, the Chaparral 2X VGT is like racing wing suit, with a protective fuselage for 'flying' very low to the ground,' the firm says . The propulsion system's position in the composite chassis complements an unconventional yet highly active prone driver configuration – face down with the driver's arms and legs splayed toward the wheels. The driver-enabled aerodynamics eliminate the need for large, conventional wings and other aero devices used to generate grip-enhancing downforce – an attribute that helps reduce the overall mass of the Chaparral 2X VGT's minimalist structure. Only essential elements are on board, with instrumentation, for example, projected on the driver's helmet visor. Additionally, lightweight chassis components reduce the sprung weight of the race car, enabling the car to provide tremendous cornering grip with a relatively small footprint. The Chaparral 2X VGT's concept propulsion system is inspired by technology derived from advanced work targeted at space travel and future aircraft design. It features a mid-mounted laser beamed-energy propulsion system, which pulses beams of light that focus in a shroud, creating shock waves that generate tremendous thrust in the lightweight race car. With a 671-kW laser, powered by a pack of lithium-ion batteries, and an air-powered generator to provide 900 horsepower worth of thrust, the Chaparral 2X VGT will be capable of a 240-mph top speed in the video game with 0-60 acceleration capability of 1.5 seconds. The propulsion system's position in the composite chassis complements an unconventional yet highly active prone driver configuration – face down with the driver's arms and legs splayed toward the wheels. In fact, the race car's propulsion and suspension systems are built around the driver, enabling progressive strategies of active and driver-adjustable aerodynamics. It rolls on 17-inch front wheels wrapped with racing tires. 'The Chaparral 2X VGT is a vision of how advanced technology may shape the look and driving experience of racing,' said Saucedo. 'Chaparral's race cars and methods were seen as outlandish four decades ago, and with the innovative spirit still burning at Chevrolet, the Chaparral 2X Vision Gran Turismo concept might just be a harbinger of motorsports in the next four decades.' Other manufacturers have developed concept race cars for the Vision Gran Turismo project, but Chevrolet is one of the few to transfer it from the digital world to a physical concept vehicle. Gamers can race the Chaparral 2X VGT this holiday season by downloading an online update for Gran Turismo 6, the latest iteration of the best-selling PlayStation franchise that has sold more than 72 million copies worldwide since its 1998 debut. Gamers can race the Chaparral 2X VGT this holiday season by downloading an online update for Gran Turismo 6, the latest iteration of the best-selling PlayStation franchise that has sold more than 72 million copies worldwide since its 1998 debut. Only essential elements are on board, with instrumentation, for example, projected on the driver's helmet visor. | Originally designed just to be played in the computer game - but Chevrolet has now built a real model .
Firm says many of the technologies - including its laser propulsion system - could be seen in future racing cars .
Capable of a 240-mph top speed in the video game with 0-60 acceleration capability of 1.5 seconds .
Driver lies face down with arms and legs splayed toward the wheels. |
0d3c0bbf7f72beaa110ee7482450d5afbd74687f | CLICK HERE to read Martin Samuel's match report of Ludogorets 2-2 Liverpool. CLICK HERE to read Michael Gadd's match report of Basle 0-1 Real Madrid. Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti expects Basle to progress in the Champions League at Liverpool's expense - because they are a fitter side. The defending champions, who had already qualified for the last 16, earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Basle at St Jakob-Park on Wednesday to cement their place at the top of Group B on 15 points. Liverpool, meanwhile, were pegged back by Ludogorets in Bulgaria, succumbing to a 2-2 after the home side grabbed an 88th-minute equaliser through Georgi Terziev. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Sportsmail's Big Match Stats: Basle 0-1 Real Madrid . Liverpool's Steven Gerrard and Rickie Lambert look dejected after George Terziev equalised for Ludogorets . Carlo Ancelotti (left), embracing Basle manager Paulo Sousa, expects the Swiss champions to progress to the last 16 of the Champions League at the expense of Liverpool in a fortnight's time . Jordan Henderson, Lucas and other Liverpool players look dejected as they contemplate a long flight back . That leaves the Reds in third-place, level on four points with Ludogorets, and two behind Basle - who they must beat in their final group match at Anfield in order to progress. But Real boss Ancelotti does not believe Brendan Rodgers' side are fit enough to beat the Swiss champions and expects to see Basle in the last-16 draw. Speaking after the win, he said: 'They're (Basle are) in better shape than Liverpool at the moment, they are in very good physical condition. 'At this moment Basle have a slight advantage.' 'They caused us some problems in the second part. We fought hard and that's why we won.' Basle's Breel Embolo, whose shot is saved by Keylor Navas, epitomised the fitness of the home side . Cristiano Ronaldo wheels away after bundling home from close range to give Real the lead at St Jakob Park . Ancelotti (right) talks to Ronaldo during Real Madrid's 1-0 victory over Swiss champions Basle . Goals from Rickie Lambert and Jordan Henderson had appeared to give Liverpool - who fell behind early to a Dani Abalo strike - victory at the Ludogorets Arena, only for Terziev to pop up with the goal which ensures they must now secure three points from their final league goal. However, in Basle Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 71st Champions League goal to move joint-second in the all-time scoring list alongside Real legend Raul, and three behind Barcelona's Lionel Messi. Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates the opening goal for Real Madrid - his 71st in the Champions League . Georgi Terziev (third left) scores a late header to make it 2-2 to leave Liverpool having to beat Basle in their final game to progress to the last 16 of the Champions League this season . Terziev runs off in celebration after scoring the equaliser for Ludogorets in the final minutes . | Real Madrid beat Basle 1-0 at St Jakob-Park in Switzerland on Wednesday .
Liverpool drew 2-2 against Ludogorets in Bulgaria in Champions League .
Reds must beat Basle at Anfield in two weeks in order to reach last 16 .
But Real boss Carlo Ancelotti expects Basle to progress instead .
He believes Basle are 'in better shape physically' than Liverpool are . |
0d3c81672b050844fc87ee4ed40db4662d88bac9 | By . Emily Allen . PUBLISHED: . 12:56 EST, 23 March 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 15:04 EST, 23 March 2012 . An OAP 'nightmare neighbour' has been evicted after she threw her china plates at her 83-year-old neighbour. Violet Skinner, 77, waged an eight-year campaign of harassment against Joseph Doyle and his wife Ragnfrid, 78, and tried to use a garden hose to soak their beloved hardwood floors. In a fit of anger the pensioner even hurled her best Royal Worcester dinner plates at the couple. Violet Skinner, 77, (pictured) threatened to turn a hose on Joseph Doyle and his wife Ragnfrid, 78, and even hurled her best Royal Worcester dinner plates at him . In the past Mrs Skinner has been hauled before the courts for trashing her neighbours fence and screaming abuse at them when she was 'paralytic’ on home-brewed 'hooch'. The same year the neighbours almost came to blows when Mrs Skinner threw stones at Mr Doyle’s car when he complained about her noisy cockerel. The pensioner, who lives alone with four cats, has also been accused of assaulting police officers and council staff. Yesterday the retired horticulturalist who denies any wrong doing, was told she has just 28 days to pack her things and move out of her bungalow, in Whittlesford, Cambridgeshire. Father-of-five Mr Doyle described his relief at learning his nuisance neighbour was finally being forced to leave - as Mrs Skinner threatened to move into a camper van on their street. He said: 'It’s been an absolute nightmare - I feel sorry for her and have some sympathy for a woman of her age being evicted but she brought it on herself. Violet Skinner (pictured) was told she has just 28 days to pack her things and move out of her bungalow, in Whittlesford, Cambridgeshire . 'I don’t know anybody in the world who could live next door to her.' Mrs Doyle said: 'I’m so happy - I’ve got no pity for her, no sympathy, I just can’t wait until the day when she is gone.' The feud started when Mrs Skinner moved next door to Mr and Mrs Doyle in 2004, after the trio had started out as friends. But rows over snide comments, damage to their partition fence and Mrs Skinner’s noisy cockerel soured their relationship. In 2009 Cambridge Magistrates’ Court heard Skinner threatened to kill Mr Doyle and threw stones at his car after a dispute. Mr Doyle told the court Skinner aimed a hose at him and his wife as they left their house in a bid to soak their hardwood floors. Skinner denied it, but was found guilty of criminal damage by magistrates. South Cambridgeshire District Council say Skinner has even assaulted police and local authority workers. Leafy: Whittlesford, Cambridgeshire, where Skinner has been given 28 days to leave her bungalow . A council spokesman said: 'Mrs Skinner has a substantial and serious history of anti-social behaviour, including damage and physical attacks on her neighbours, our staff and the police'. Skinner still denies any wrongdoing and says the decision to evict her willforce her to have to live in a camper van. She said: 'It’s wicked and evil because none of what is said is true and none of it is my fault but I’m the one with the blame and who has to get out.' At Skinner’s court appearance for criminal damage inflicted on her neighbours’ fence, in 2009, magistrates heard she had made false accusations to police about the Doyles more than 50 times in five years. The court heard angry Mrs Skinner had chopped branches off a tree in her garden and shoved them through his garden trellis - ruining it. That evening, Mrs Skinner then hurled Royal Worcester dinner plates over the garden fence and smashed them against the Doyles’ house, Mr Doyle claimed. He described life next door to Mrs Skinner as 'terrible, absolutely dreadful'and said his wife, Ragnfrid, had become a 'nervous wreck' because she was frightened of Skinner. Mrs Skinner denied any aggression against Mr Doyle and also denied criminal damage. She told the court: 'For some reason he hates me. All he ever does all daylong is to see how he can rile me.' She claimed Mr Doyle had once said to her: 'I see you haven’t paid your bills recently. 'I see you’re still taking the ugly pills.' Magistrates found Mrs Skinner guilty of criminal damage, handing her a 12-month conditional discharge and £100 costs. Bizarrely the relationship had started as a friendship, with Mr Doyle’s wife,Ragnfrid, helping Mrs Skinner after a hospital stay. Mrs Skinner has previously said: 'I do like him. I just wish he could be afriend again.' | Violet Skinner tried to use a garden hose to soak her neighbours' wooden floors .
She also hurled her best dinner plates at the couple . |
0d3cfc9fcfe3a78d14ea3696b0a8d5e189fad731 | Scroll down for dramatic video . Police in Odessa have released pro-Russian activists arrested during clashes two days ago after their headquarters came under attack from protesters. Thousands of pro-Russian activists this afternoon stormed the police station in the Black Sea port, where dozes of people were killed in riots two days ago. Protesters forced open the gate to the complex and smashed windows, fighting police in riot gear who seemed reluctant to strike back against their countrymen. 'Freedom fighter': A man cries after being released from a local police station which was stormed by pro-Russian protesters in Odessa, Ukraine . Two sides: The protesters can be seen surrounding a Ukrainian policeman outside the Odessa police department . In the firing line: A young journalist is being cared for my volunteers after being shot in the leg outside the Odessa Police's headquarters . Protesters welcome a man who just released from Odessa's police headquarters who had been arrested in street battles between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian supporters in the Black Sea port on Friday . Emotional: The men were released after thousands of people descended on the heaquarters and laid siege to it . Pro-Russian protesers storm the police headquarters in Odessa to free fellow activists arrested on Friday . The prisoners released this afternoon . were those held during fierce clashes between pro-Russian and pro-Kiev . groups which led to 47 deaths on Friday night. The . trouble in hitherto peaceful Odessa, where many citizens speak Russian, . comes as forces loyal to the new government in Kiev carry out a major . offensive against separatists who have seized control of towns and . cities in the east of the country. Last night the Kremlin said that Russian . President Vladimir Putin is ‘outraged’ by the violence in Ukraine and . is under huge pressure to send in tanks as the country lurches towards . civil war, the Kremlin warned last night. Amid . the deepening violence and bloodshed, Moscow flexed its muscles by . demanding that presidential elections scheduled for May 25 be postponed. The . government in Kiev declared two days of mourning for Ukrainian troops . killed in the eastern city of Slaviansk and for victims of protests in . Odessa – including pro-Russian activists killed in attacks by Ukrainian . extremist groups. Police try to contain the surging mob with a line of riot shields after protesters gain access to the compound . Mob rule: Protesters forced open the gate to the complex and smashed windows, fighting police in riot gear who seemed reluctant to strike back against their countrymen . Waiting game: Relatives of detainees wait impatiently as Pro-Russian protesters storm the police station where their comrades were detained during the clashes with Kiev supporters . Reunion: The crowd cheer as released detainees reunite with friend and family outside the police station in Odessa . Brotherhood: A protester gets a kiss from a supporter after being released by police . Violent clashes: Pro-Russian protestors attack police in Odessa yesterday . Three men drag a riot policeman to the ground while a fourth tries to pull his baton away as tempers flare in Odessa outside the trade union building where dozens of pro-Russian protesters died in a fire on Friday . A pro-Russian activist argues with policemen guarding the burned-out building after thousands descended on the scene of Friday's violence to lay flowers and light candles of remembrance . Flower power: A policeman raises his arm to defend himself from a woman battering him with blooms . Western countries blame Moscow for inciting the mayhem now raging across Ukraine, and US President Barack Obama has threatened a new round of sanctions against Russia. But a senior Russian diplomat, UN envoy Vitaly Churkin, said yesterday that the carnage in Odessa – a Ukrainian city far from the eastern areas held by rebels – was ‘reminiscent of the crimes of the Nazis from whom the Ukrainian ultra-nationalists derive their ideological inspiration’. Ukrainian security officials accused close aides of ex-president Viktor Yanukovych, now exiled in Russia, of financing the violence in Odessa on Friday, which led to the deaths of 46 people in a burning building. Another 200 were injured in the blaze, which is believed to have been started by petrol bombs thrown by demonstrators. Former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is standing in the presidential election, blamed Russian intelligence agencies for the unrest, and said Mr Putin was trying to destabilise her country. In Moscow, government spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr Putin had received ‘thousands’ of demands to intervene in Ukraine. Destruction: A police bus outside the station has been destroyed by protesters in Odessa . Putin fans: Pro-Russian protesters attend a rally near a barricade in front of the occupied regional administration building in Donetsk . A large crowd gathered for a memorial service in honour of the victims of the burned trade union building in Odessa on Sunday, the day after brutal clashes claimed 42 lives . In mourning: Relatives hang a Russian flag on the facade of the charred trade union building which saw lives lost on both sides of the conflict . Tragedy: A woman cries in front of the trade union building in Odessa as police troops guard what remains of it . Street soldiers: Victim of the Trade Union building fire recover in one of the burn unit wards at Yevreyskaya hospital in Odessa . ‘People are calling in despair, asking for help,’ he said. ‘The overwhelming majority demand Russian help. All these calls are reported to Vladimir Putin.’ Demanding the presidential election be . shelved, Mr Peskov said that after Kiev’s ‘criminal confrontation with . its own people’, Russians ‘do not understand what kind of elections . Kiev, European countries and Washington are talking about’. More than 60,000 Russian troops have been moved to the border with Ukraine and the newly annexed Crimea. After . street clashes in Odessa on Friday, a Ukrainian mob overran and set . fire to a camp where pro-Moscow supporters had pitched tents, forcing . them to take refuge in a trade union building which was then set ablaze. Many of those trapped inside the burning offices were killed by smoke . and fumes, according to harrowing accounts yesterday. Local . journalist Oleg Konstantinov, who suffered gunshot wounds in the melee, . said: ‘I was hit in the arm, then I started crawling, and then got hit . in the back and leg.’ Probe: German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen and the freed OSCE observer, Axel Schneider (second from right), talk after his arrival following his release from captivity . Colonel Schneider, left, is embraced by Vacheslav Ponomarev, the pro-Russian self-proclaimed mayor of Slaviansk, after he and 11 other military observers were freed in the city after being held for a week . Forces: Ukrainian soldiers, supported by armoured personnel carriers, man a checkpoint near the town of Slaviansk . A young lookout holds binoculars at a checkpoint near Slaviansk, where Ukrainian soldiers fought fierce battles with rebels yesterday, punctuated only by a short ceasefire to allow OSCE observers to leave the town . A man shows bullet casings that he says were shot by Ukrainian troops near the town of Slaviansk . A man walks past the charred skeleton of a van outside the hotel Kramatorsk in downtown of Kramatorsk. Local residents say Ukrainian government troops opened fire on a crowd of unarmed protesters . Separatist militias armed with assault rifles, a machine gun and a grenade launcher rest in Kramatorsk . Fire: A pro-Russian activist burns a Ukrainian national flag as security documents are seized from the Ukrainian regional office of the Security Service in Donetsk . Demonstration: Pro-Russian protesters break up the words 'Ukrainian the Security Service' next to the Ukrainian regional office of the Security Service in Donetsk . Mob: A pro Russian woman burns books taken from the Ukrainian regional office in Donetsk . A female doctor who escaped the . burning building said: ‘I nearly suffocated. There was no place to . escape, people were cornered. People close to me were moaning, crying . and calling their relatives, begging them to call the fire brigade.’ Eventually . she and others escaped down a rope from a window, but others fell and . their bodies were later found in the street. ‘For the first time in my . life I want to leave Odessa and Ukraine forever,’ the doctor added. One . positive sign yesterday was the release of seven international military . observers working for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in . Europe. The group had been held for a week and were accused of being . Nato spies. In a statement, Russia’s foreign ministry said their release showed the ‘bravery and humanism’ of the defenders of Slaviansk. The . ministry said people there had shown concern for the security of . foreign citizens, despite their town coming under ‘direct and . unmotivated’ attack. | Russian President said he is 'outraged' by the violence .
Moscow also demanded presidential elections set for May 25 be postponed .
Government in Kiev has declared two days of mourning for troops .
Western countries blame Kremlin for inciting the mayhem . |
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