id
stringlengths 40
40
| article
stringlengths 48
15.9k
| highlights
stringlengths 14
7.39k
|
|---|---|---|
0d7c9c9b2c06b9f6cbbf12a1037d133a0cdfe506 | By . Stewart Maclean . UPDATED: . 07:13 EST, 13 December 2011 . A woman was caught trying to smuggle 1.5 kilograms of cocaine in her dreadlocks on a flight to Bangkok, it was reported today. South African Nobanda Nolubabalo, 23, was arrested and held in Thailand's capital yesterday after customs officers allegedly noticed a suspicious white substance in her hair. Officials later carried out a search and discovered she had allegedly matted the Class A drug into her dreadlocks before boarding a flight from Brazil. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . Arrested: South African Nobanda Nolubabalo held at customs in Bangkok as police check her dreadlocks . Thailand's Bangkok Post reported that the smuggled cocaine had a street value of £93,000 (4.5 million baht). The newspaper reported: 'Authorities found something unusual about her dreadlocks. 'A search found traces of white substance which turned out to be cocaine. 'A total of 1.5kg of cocaine was found hidden in her hair.' Nolubabalo . was today being held in custody after being held at Bangkok's . international Suvarnabhumi Airport as she disembarked a Qatar Airways . flight which had come from Sao Paolo via Doha. Testing: Officials carried out a search and discovered she had allegedly matted the Class A drug into her dreadlocks . The evidence: Officials laid the cocaine matted dreadlocks on a table in Bangkok customs for testing . The Bangkok Post reported that the suspect had allegedly admitted trying to smuggle the drug and claimed she had done so after being hired to work as a drug mule by a Thailand-based businessman for £1,200 (60,000 baht). Thailand has some of the toughest anti-drugs laws on the planet, with judges permitted to impose the death penalty for traffickers. The South African's arrest follows the execution of another South African citizen this week for drug smuggling in China. Janice Linden, 38, was killed by lethal injection on Monday after she was caught in November 2008 trying to smuggle 3kg of crystal meth into the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. South Africa's president Jacob Zuma appealed unsuccessfully to the Chinese government to commute the sentence before she was put to death in prison. Tough law: Thailand has some of the toughest anti-drugs laws on the planet, with judges permitted to impose the death penalty for traffickers . Drug mule: The South African woman was only paid £1,200 to smuggle the cocaine, which had a street value of £93,000 . | The smuggled cocaine had a street value of £93,000 .
Nolubabalo, 23, was hired as a drug mule for £1,200 .
Judges in Thailand can impose the death penalty for drug traffickers . |
0d7cd4ae21ef7bd16ac07cddc00bceb857572e19 | The mother of a three-year-old girl who drowned in a hotel swimming pool has been arrested on suspicion of murder, MailOnline understands. The little girl - named locally as Jane Bell - was on holiday at the seafront Dalmeny Hotel, in St Annes, Lancashire. She was there with her family, who are believed to be from Galashiels, Selkirkshire. The alarm was raised before midday when the girl’s body was spotted at the bottom of the indoor pool in the hotel spa area. Her mother Sarah is understood to have been arrested for murder. Scroll down for video . Brave: Hotel leisure club member Carole Greenwood attempted to save the three-year-old girl from drowning at the Dalmeny Hotel . Death: The little girl was on holiday at the seafront Dalmeny Hotel (pictured), in St Annes, Lancashire . Staff members, as well as a grandmother who was at the hotel for a swim, jumped into the water and hauled the girl to the poolside where they tried to resuscitate her. She was taken by ambulance to Blackpool Victoria Hospital and then transferred to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, where she later died. Last night a 40-year-old woman from Galashiels, believed to be the child's mother, was arrested on suspicion of murder by Lancashire Police. Detective Inspector Nick Connaughton said that investigations were still at an early stage. He added: ‘This is a terribly tragic situation where a young girl has lost her fight for life after an incident in a hotel swimming pool. ‘We are now treating this sad case as murder and need to know just how the child has come into difficulties in the pool.’ Police launched the probe after paramedics failed in their efforts to revive the child at the poolside as shocked guests looked on. Death: The alarm was raised before midday when the girl's body was spotted at the bottom of the indoor pool in the hotel spa area (file picture) The pool is situated on the ground floor and has its own bar. The hotel is family owned and no one from the establishment wished to comment last night. Health and safety officials will also carry out an investigation into the incident. 'This is a terribly tragic situation where a young girl has lost her fight for life after an incident in a hotel swimming pool' Detective Inspector Nick Connaughton, Lancashire Police . Last night, police confirmed that they believe the child who died had been left in the pool, which has no separate children’s section, by an adult. One witness said: ‘If this is not death by neglect I don’t know what is. Kiddies should not be left in a pool like this - there are so many risk factors.’ Witness Carole Greenwood, who has been lifeguarding and doing first aid for the past 36 years, told how she tried to rescue the little girl. She said: 'I was in the changing rooms and a lady came in and said "There's an incident in the pool, is there a life guard?" 'The child was on the bottom of the pool, so I dived in and got her out. I wasn't really aware of what had happened when I got there, my concern was with the little girl and rescuing her and resuscitating her as best I could. 'She was on the bottom, she was unresponsive and I pulled her out as per my training and then I resuscitated her on the side. 'I did manage to resuscitate her and she was breathing when the ambulance arrived. Obviously I'm devastated for the poor little girl, it's very sad. 'At the time you are quite shocked because all your training is coming into action something you think you will never ever do but I'm satisfied I helped out in this case.' She added that no lifeguards had been on duty in the pool, because it is not the policy in a private pool. She said: 'Basically children in swimming pools should be looked after by their own parents. 'It's not necessary to have lifeguards necessarily because life guards are there to prevent accidents and parents have got to be aware that children can't swim, they are not strong swimmers and they need to wear floatation aids especially little children and older children need to be monitored as well.' Simon Barr, on holiday with his wife, Linzi, 42, and children, Sammy, aged three and Jacob, seven months, said: 'I think it’s totally tragic for somebody to come on holiday, we have a three-year-old child as well, to come away on holiday and all of a sudden this to happen.' He added: 'We heard a girl had been taken away by ambulance then from that moment lots of police arrived. It was only later on we heard on the news the girl had died. The hotel didn’t want to divulge anything. 'The pool was closed, it was a crime scene yesterday but re-opened today. The atmosphere is pretty subdued really. The only conversation going on is what’s happened.' Another guest said: 'It’s shocking, especially when it’s a child’s death, it’s just so sad. I don’t know what happened but it was caught on CCTV one member of staff said.' A guest, who did not want to give his name, said he saw the arrested woman being taken away by police, 'in shock'. He said the night before she had been with two young girls enjoying dinner at the hotel with the other guests. He added: 'They just seemed like a normal family on holiday. I was in the room yesterday and I saw the ambulance outside and saw them come out with what looked like a defibrillator. 'Because my wife is six months pregnant I thought...then my wife came up to the room and said a little girl has been pulled from the pool. My daughter saw the little girl being carried out to the ambulance. 'I saw the woman arrested going with the police. She wasn’t cuffed. She looked just in shock. The pool was closed. Police arrived and started taking statements from anyone who was there.' The . family-friendly Dalmeny Hotel has a spa and, according to its website, . offers a range of children’s entertainment and activities. The neighbouring seaside towns of Lytham and St Annes are situated on the Fylde coast, south of Blackpool. Lytham . St Annes is internationally renowned for golf and has four courses and . links, the most notable being the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. | Girl from Selkirkshire was at Dalmeny Hotel, in St Annes, Lancashire .
Her body was spotted at the bottom of indoor pool in hotel spa area .
Staff members jumped into the water and hauled the girl to poolside .
Woman, 40, of Galashiels, believed to be the girl's mother, has been arrested on suspicion of murder . |
0d7d01454cc871b1efd0bb7b2960da0d8a806049 | We reveal how to get the enviable physiques of the stars. This week: Rene Russo's legs. Rene Russo's slender legs stole the show when she turned up with director husband Dan Gilroy at an awards ceremony in New York recently. The 60-year-old actress says: 'I work out every day, but just 20 minutes on that damn bike, do some light weights, and that's it and I've gotta move on.' Rene Russo's slender legs stole the show when she turned up at an awards ceremony . She focuses on 'one body part a day' and walks a lot. To stay flexible, she does Feldenkrais floor work, a type of stretching, and Pilates moves. What to try: . Knee crossover tucks. Lie face down as if doing press-ups. Raise yourself up using your arms, maintaining a stable, straight torso. Slowly lift one foot off the floor and raise the leg, bringing the knee across and into your chest. Stop when you feel your lower back bending and slowly lower to the starting position. Repeat for the other side. Do it 12-15 times on each side. She focuses on 'one body part a day' and walks a lot. Try knee crossover tucks to get her legs . | Rene, 60, stole the show with her slender legs at an awards ceremony .
The actress focuses on 'one body part a day' and walks a lot .
She also does Feldenkrais floor work, a type of stretching, and Pilates . |
0d7d6ee50b07bd0dfbd994202aba70e01d62f628 | By . Emma Innes . PUBLISHED: . 08:08 EST, 26 June 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 08:51 EST, 26 June 2013 . A family has called the police claiming their six-year-old daughter had five of her teeth removed when she went into hospital for surgery on her legs. Sarah Morrison suffers from a rare type of brittle bone disease which has seen her suffer from over 200 broken bones since she was born. She was admitted to Sheffield Children’s Hospital for surgery to have metal rods inserted to make her limbs stronger, but her furious parents say they were ‘horrified’ to learn five of her teeth had also been taken out. Sarah Morrison, six, who has brittle bone disease, was admitted to Sheffield Children's Hospital to have rods inserted into her legs to make them stronger. Her parents claim doctors also removed five of her teeth . Sheffield Children’s Hospital says the teeth were loose baby teeth which needed to be removed as they ‘posed a serious risk to Sarah’s airway’ during surgery, and that her parents spoke to a clinician beforehand about all the care she may need. However, Sarah’s parents, Philip Morrison and Sonia McCrossan, dispute this and the hospital is now carrying out an internal review. Mr Morrison, 37, said: ‘After the surgery I was outside the hospital when my partner rang me in a very erratic state, crying and screaming. ‘At that point I thought Sarah had died. I ran down to the recovery room where I first got a glimpse of Sarah with a mouth full of blood. I was horrified. ‘They didn’t mention at any point that her teeth might be taken out - it wasn’t even on the operation consent form. ‘The hospital is adamant that baby teeth were taken. But two of them were adult teeth, I know because I have the baby teeth at home. Her parents, Philip Morrison and Sonia McCrossan, claim that two of the teeth that were taken out were adult teeth and say that they have contacted the police about the situation . ‘We feel mortified and let down.’ Sarah was born with osteogenesis imperfect – a congenital brittle bone condition - and suffered 30 rib fractures in the womb. Doctors initially gave her just two days to live but she defied expectations to survive. Mr Morrison, and his partner Sonia McCrossan, moved from Ireland to Sheffield to be closer to bone specialists at the children’s hospital but they’re now planning to move her to another hospital. Mr Morrison said the family were told a dentist would examine Sarah’s teeth, but not that any would be removed. He also said the teeth taken were not loose. Sheffield Children's Hospital (pictured) says that the teeth were milk teeth and that they were removed because they were loose and posed a serious risk to Sarah's airway while she was under anaesthetic . He said: ‘She isn’t going back there again. ‘Sarah has been going mad about the missing teeth. She keeps putting her tongue up there saying “they stole my teeth”. ‘It’s not the fact her teeth were removed. She has a gastro tube and it’s been difficult trying to get her to feed, now this will set us back.’ A spokesman for South Yorkshire Police said they had been ‘made aware of an alleged incident’ at the hospital. Police are to be kept informed during the hospital review but are not investigating. The hospital says that it is carrying out an internal review but that no staff members have been disciplined . A spokesman for Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘The care given to this patient was done in her best interests. ‘She has a complex condition and had come in for a surgical orthopaedic procedure, during which five baby teeth needed to be removed while she was under general anaesthetic. ‘They were very loose and were judged to pose a serious risk to her airway. No harm was caused to her by the removal of these baby teeth. ‘Her parents spoke to a clinician before any surgery was carried out and the care their child may have needed while undergoing surgery was discussed. ‘As an issue has now been raised by her parents, we will review this as we do with any concern. ‘No action has been taken against any members of staff. ‘We understand her parents have raised this as an issue with the police and we will keep them updated as we would with any incident.’ | Sarah Morrison, who suffers with brittle bone disease, went to Sheffield Children's Hospital to undergo leg surgery .
Philip Morrison and Sonia McCrossan later discovered that doctors also removed five of Sarah's teeth without their permission during the surgery .
The hospital says the teeth were loose baby teeth which posed a risk to her airway while she was under anaesthetic . |
0d7ded57b5258a8633ac0ed506e031437e67eb57 | The U.S. Navy’s standard-issue blue digitized camouflage fatigues are highly flammable and will burn ‘robustly until complete consumption,’ a report revealed last month. The findings show that the digital-print camo, which is made from 50 percent cotton and 50 percent nylon, will drip as it burns, causing potentially hazardous burn injuries. But the Navy’s top spokesman said that the government organization is aware of the report findings, and added that sailors had asked for a fade-resistant uniform that was also comfortable. Scroll down for videos . Danger zone? The Navy Type I blue and grey fatigues were found to by highly flammable and would drip and melt onto skin if ignited . Test zone: An impromptu test conducted on October 15 revealed that the new nylon-cotton uniform was highly flammable; according to the report, the material melts and drips as it burns . Safety first: Rear Adm. John Kirby, the chief of information at the Pentagon and spokesman for the Navy, said in a video published last month that the uniform was found to 'burn robustly until complete consumption' Rear Adm. John Kirby, the chief of information at the Pentagon and spokesman for the Navy, said in a video published last month that while the uniform was found to ‘burn robustly until complete consumption,’ it’s not shocking. ‘That is not a huge surprise because it’s a 50 percent nylon uniform,’ he said, but added that it wasn’t a requirement for the military-issue uniform to be at all flame resistant. The impromptu test was conducted on October 15 by the Navy Clothing Textile Research Facility, located in Natick, Massachusetts. In the test, a strip of the new nylon-cotton blend uniform was exposed to a flame for 12 seconds. The cloth immediately lit up in flames, and continued to burn after the fire source was removed, the report said. According to the report, the material melts and drips as it burns, contributing to an increased risk of burn injury. Adm. Kirby told the Virginian-Pilot that the camouflage, known as the Navy’s Type I NWU, was designed with sailors in mind. Blend: The digitized print is made from a 50/50 nylon-cotton blend that is wrinkle-resistant . Ashes: Compared to other Navy uniforms, the 12-inch strip of NWU I fabric was totally consumed when exposed to flame . He said that Navy workers wanted a uniform ‘that was comfortable, that didn’t require maintenance, and would stand up under a lot of washing.’ The admiral added that a nylon-cotton blend was a good way of getting the type of garment these sailors wanted that would also meet their needs. According to the Pilot, there is plenty of flame-retardant gear located throughout every Navy ship, meaning that the standard-issue uniforms need not be flame resistant. Fire: While serious fires aboard aircraft carriers and other Navy ships are uncommon, they do happen. In 1967, the U.S.S. Forrestal ignited after a series of explosions; 134 sailors were killed . Additionally, Adm. Kirby said in a statement that ‘the safety of our sailors, both afloat and ashore, remains a paramount concern. Nothing changes about that. And nothing changes about the wear of the NWU Type I aboard ship or installations.’ An editorial in the Navy Times estimated that it could cost as much as $20million to gradually phase-in a fire-retardant uniform, but noted that most sailors would ‘gladly pay an extra $50 per set to know that their uniforms will protect them if their ship ever catches fire.’ While serious fires aboard aircraft carriers and other Navy ships are uncommon, they do happen. In 1967, the U.S.S. Forrestal ignited after a series of explosions. In total, 134 sailors were killed. The NWU Type I was introduced in 2009. | Navy textile research facility performed impromptu test on Navy's Type I blue-and-grey military fatigues .
Results found that nylon-cotton blend uniforms were highly flammable .
However, would be cost-prohibitive to recall uniform .
Top Navy spokesman adds that fire-retardant gear is available for those who come in contact with fires aboard ships and aircrafts . |
0d7e1a2ea0459a2448b9d8f7b4e98c2add908e16 | By . Paul Thompson . PUBLISHED: . 12:33 EST, 13 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:38 EST, 13 October 2013 . A 31-year-old woman has been arrested for posing as a teenager and having sex with a 14-year-old boy. Naomi Dixon pretended she was a 17-year-old girl in order to have sex with the boy, according to police in Florida. Dixon allegedly subtracted 14 years from her age when she met the boy at a party. Deceived: Naomi Dixon pretended to be a teenager to have sex with a young boy . She and the 14-year-old had sex on the night they met and continued to meet up for sex at her home. Police say the woman had sex with the boy about eight times. The boy told investigators he would spend most of his time at Dixon's home in Deltona, Florida and that he tried to leave several times, but that she would get upset. On one occasion he claimed she choked him and another time made cuts to her arms, including trying to carve his first initial. Charged: Dixon is being held on $50,000 bail at Volusia County Branch Jail . The boy told his parents about the relationship because he was tired of Dixon trying to keep him at her home. Dixon was questioned by police and told them she thought the boy was 18 years old. She denied having sex with the teen, but later admitted to sleeping with him. Dixon is being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail on $50,000 bail. She is charged with two counts of lewd/lascivious battery involving a sex act on a person between 12 and 16 years of age, records show. | Naomi Dixon, 31, pretended to be a 17-year-old girl when she met a 14-year-old boy at a party .
She had sex with the boy the night she met him .
She continued to have sex with the boy about eight more times, meeting up with him at her Florida home .
The boy told his parents after she choked him and cut her arm when he tried to leave . |
0d7e71e67acf0ee8c88045a25c91486783669086 | By . Graham Smith . UPDATED: . 10:24 EST, 22 December 2011 . A brutal rapist who terrorised a suburb for two decades, preying on elderly and disabled women living alone, has finally been jailed. Michael Roberts, 45, raped three women and viciously attacked a fourth in a spate of attacks in Bermondsey, south London, in the 1980s and early 1990s. Detectives finally caught up with him 15 years later in a cold case review of his crimes. Advances in DNA evidence helped police pinpoint the serial criminal. Guilty: Michael Roberts, 45, has been found guilty of raping elderly women in Bermondsey, south London, during a campaign of terror in the 1980s and early 1990s . Police had long been baffled as to the . identity of the rapist, known as the 'Bermondsey Beast' and also as 'The . Praying Rapist' after a victim recalled him crossing himself and . uttering part of a Catholic prayer. A jury at Southwark Crown Court this week found . Roberts guilty of three charges of rape, four charges of burglary, two . charges of indecent assaults and two charges of causing grievous bodily . harm with intent. His rape victims were aged 57, 66, and 77 and the assault victim was 83. All lived within a short distance of his home. Roberts, . who had a 'substantial criminal record', attacked the 57-year-old woman . so savagely that she was left with a broken jaw and a fractured eye . socket. Forty-six suspects were interviewed . and eliminated. DNA evidence was also collected, but technology was not . advanced enough to use it in identifying the culprit. Roberts was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of three charges of rape, four charges of burglary, two charges of indecent assaults and two charges of causing grievous bodily harm with intent . Then, in 2005, thanks to new techniques, Roberts was finally identified after a DNA match. At that time, he was serving a life sentence for the brutal robbery and assault of an elderly man in his home in Lee. Detective Inspector Nathan Eason, who led the investigation, today spoke of his relief that Roberts was finally caught. He . said: 'Michael Roberts obviously has no regard for the lives of others, . and picks on those least able to defend themselves in order to steal . their property. 'In the . late 1980s, he went even further by committing vile sexual attacks on . his victims which are beyond most people’s comprehension. 'Thanks to the advances in DNA, Michael Roberts was identified and has been convicted. 'He will have many years in prison to reflect on the suffering he has caused. 'Unfortunately, none of his victims lived to see him finally brought to justice for what he has done.' Dubbed the 'Beast Of Bermondsey', Roberts left elderly women in the south London community (pictured) in fear during the 1980s and 1990s . The . fresh investigation was headed by Detective Chief Inspector Brian . Bowden-Brown, who was brought out of retirement for the case. He knew he had his man when he asked . Roberts to remove his top and found brown marks and moles, which one of . his victims had mentioned to police. Roberts's former neighbours of south London today remembered him as a violent man who they tried to avoid. They said he was frequently abusive towards his girlfriends and the court had heard he had been violent towards two partners. One neighbour said: 'You heard him because they was always fighting. He had the kids screaming - he used to smash the place up. 'He used to count up to ten and, if he got there, he would smash the place up. 'It sounded like wardrobes were coming down the stairs.' Roberts is due to be sentenced on January 12. | Michael Roberts, 45, terrorised Bermondsey, south London, in the 1980s and early 1990s .
He was nicknamed 'The Praying Rapist' after one victim said he crossed himself and .
uttered a Catholic prayer .
Roberts was also known as the 'Beast Of Bermondsey'
Cold case review used advances in DNA evidence to snare rapist, who was in prison serving a life sentence . |
0d7ebd1124fa888fd8b43f0bb8865c9978e3bea1 | An Iraq War veteran who was one of the first to critique the conflict has died some 10 years after he was left paralyzed from the neck down while serving in the Army. Tomas Young, 34, of Seattle, Washington died Monday, the day before Veteran's Day, and the cause of death has still not been revealed. The Army veteran previously vowed to commit suicide in 2013, but later changed his mind to spend more time with family. Iraq War Army veteran Tomas Young (pictured) died Monday after an injury sustained in the conflict left him quadriplegic . Young became a outspoken critic of the Iraq War after getting severely injured just five days after arriving in the Middle Eastern nation in 2004 . On his return from Iraq, Young became the subject of 2008 documentary 'Body of War' Young enlisted in the Army two days after September 11, 2001, wanting to take vengeance against the terrorist cells in Afghanistan that helped organize the attacks. But instead he was deployed to Iraq in 2004, and just five days after arriving in the Middle Eastern country, was shot in the chest during an insurgent attack in Sadr City. That severe injury left Young paralyzed from the neck down, a quadripeligic. After his return home, Young became one of the first critics of the Iraq War and gained notoriety in 2008 as the subject of the documentary film 'Body of War' by Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue. On Monday, Donahue told BillMoyers.com that Young was a 'bright light' and 'talented young man'. 'He was a political animal and he had a political statement that he wanted to make,' Donahue said. 'Tomas wanted people to know that this is the drama being played out in houses across the country occupied by thousands of young men and women who fought in the war.' Last year, to mark the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War, Young sent a letter to former President George W Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, criticizing their motives motives behind the Iraq War. 'I write this letter, my last letter, to you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. I write not because I think you grasp the terrible human moral consequences of your life lies, manipulation and thirst for wealth and power,' the letter read. 'I write this letter because, before my own death, I want to make it clear that I, and hundreds of thousands of my fellow veterans, along with millions of my fellow citizens, along with hundreds of millions more in Iraq and the Middle East, know fully who you are and what you have done. The cause of Young's death was not immediately known. He previously planned to commit suicide by stopping his feeding tube, but later changed his mind to spend more time with his wife Claudia Cuellar (pictured together in March 2013 above) 'You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans – my fellow veterans – who’s future you stole.' That letter was supposed to be Young's last, as he vowed to stop taking his medication or feeding tube in an attempt to commit suicide. But Young later changed his mind, telling Democracy Now that he wanted to spend more time with his family. 'I want to spend as much time as possible with my wife, and no decent son wants his obituary to read that he was survived by his mother,' he said at the time. Young is survived by his wife Claudia Cuellar. Tuesday marks Veteran's Day in the U.S. Above, an American flag flies over war veterans tombstones at Golden Gate National Cemetery on Monday . Visitors view the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC on November 10, the eve of Veteran's Day . | Tomas Young died on Monday. Cause of death has not yet been revealed .
He became paralyzed from the neck down after getting shot in the chest while serving in Iraq .
In 2013, he announced plans to commit suicide by stopping his feeding tube and medications .
However, he later changed his mind saying he wanted to spend more time with his wife . |
0d7f5a1f6ada1f9fa8ac702e69152efd09b1fa0f | By . Daily Mail Reporter . Last updated at 4:25 PM on 20th August 2011 . Egypt says it will recall its ambassador from Israel in protest over the deaths of Egyptian troops reportedly killed by Israeli soldiers. Israel has pledged to investigate the incident and this afternoon its defence minister Ehud Barak said it deeply regretted the deaths. Today crowds have gathered outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo in protest. The deaths occurred on Thursday when militants from Gaza crossed . into southern Israel through the Egyptian desert and launched a deadly . attack that killed eight Israelis. Wounded Israeli soldiers are treated at the site of a shooting attack along the border between Israel and Egypt on Thursday . At least three Egyptian troops were . killed in a subsequent shootout in the Red Sea resort of Eilat between Israeli soldiers pursuing the . militants along the Israeli-Egypt border. Officials in Egypt have demanded an apology saying the country was 'politically and legally responsible' for the deaths. The decision to recall envoy Yasser Reda has escalated tensions between the two neighbouring countries. Their landmark 1979 peace treaty is being tested by the fall of Egypt's longtime autocratic leader, Hosni Mubarak. Egypt's interim government accused . Israel of violating that treaty with its raid that killed the Egyptian . troops in the Sinai Peninsula. Israeli emergency personnel stand near a bus after it was ambushed about 30 km north of the Red Sea resort of Eilat on Thursday . Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the Israeli government was holding consultations on the Egyptian move. While relations between the two countries have been chilly since Egypt became the first Arab nation to make peace with Israel in 1979, Israel valued Mubarak as a source of stability with shared interests in containing Iran and its radical Islamic proxies in the region - including Hamas. Several political parties issued statements condemning the Israeli raid and calling for changes to the peace treaty, which regulates the number of Egyptian troops allowed in the Sinai Peninsula. The Muslim Brotherhood, which is Egypt's best-organized political force, said 'this crime should be dealt with in an appropriate way,' adding that 'what was possible before the revolution, will not be tolerated to continue after the revolution.' Israeli officials insisted the peace treaty was 'stable' despite the rocky developments. The agreement called for Israel to return the captured Sinai to Egypt. In return, Egypt agreed to certain restrictions on the number of troops placed in Sinai. 'No one had any intention to harm Egyptian security personnel,' Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli Defence Ministry official who works closely with Egypt, told Israel Radio. 'The question is what happened in the field and that is what is being investigated.' The cross-border attack has raised concerns about the increasingly lawless northern Sinai Peninsula, whose borders with both Israel and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip make it an attractive staging ground for Palestinian militant attacks on Israel. Egypt last week moved thousands of troops into the Sinai Peninsula as part of a major operation against al-Qaeda inspired militants who have been increasingly active since Mubarak's ouster. A security official said 22 Islamic militants have been arrested. Israel says Gaza militants armed with guns, explosives, mortars and an anti-tank missile, killed eight Israelis in a roadside ambush after infiltrating Israel through Sinai. The Egyptian troops were killed as Israeli soldiers went after suspected militants who fled back into Egypt. Israel has offered conflicting accounts about how the Egyptians were killed. But the Egyptian Cabinet, in a strongly worded statement, held Israel 'politically and legally responsible for this incident,' saying lax security on its side allowed the ambush to take place. 'The Egyptian ambassador to Israel will be withdrawn until we are notified about the results of an investigation by the Israeli authorities,' the Cabinet statement said, demanding an immediate probe. It said Egypt would take all measures and send reinforcements to protect its borders and 'to respond to any Israeli military activity at the Egyptian borders.' It was the first time in nearly 11 years that Egypt decided to withdraw its ambassador from Israel. The last time was in November 2000 when the Egyptians protested what they called excessive use of violence during the second Palestinian uprising. | Israel 'regrets' the deaths and promises an inquiry . |
0d7f9deea09e2954e15969dd0256ec09403e1278 | You cannot judge a book by its cover, the old saying goes. But you might be able to judge someone's personality from the shape of their face, scientists have realised. Men and women with wide faces tend to be more aggressive, dominant and angry, according to British research. Men and women with wide faces tend to be more aggressive, dominant and angry, according to British research. Those with broad features - Sylvester Stallone (left) or Sarah Palin (right) - are more likely to have bad tempers and display bouts of verbal or physical aggression . Those with broad features - like Wayne Rooney, Sylvester Stallone or Sarah Palin - are more likely to have bad tempers and display bouts of verbal or physical aggression. Psychologists think the trait is linked to the evolutionary benefit of having thick cheekbones. Those who had more robust facial bones could be more aggressive, because they could better withstand a punch, the scientists suggest. Lead researcher Dr Carmen Lefevre of Leeds University said: 'Those with a higher facial width-to-height ratio are more likely to be more aggressive than those with lower facial width-to-height ratio. Psychologists think the aggressive trait is linked to the evolutionary benefit of having thick cheekbones found in wider faces such as that of footballer Wayne Rooney (pictured). Those who had more robust facial bones could be more aggressive, because they could better withstand a punch, the scientists suggest . 'We are not saying that every single person with wider faces will be more aggressive, but if you take a sample of the two groups, those with wider faces will be slightly more aggressive.' Men with wide faces have been getting a bad reputation lately. Scientists had previously suggested large faces were prone to being more aggressive, untrustworthy and deceitful. But now there may be good news for the likes of Alan Sugar and Wayne Rooney. Researchers in the U.S. claim people with wide faces are more likely to get a bonus compared with their thin-faced rivals . Fuller faced workers earn £1,300 (£2,090) more than those with narrow faces when asking for a bonus, the study found. However, researchers said this comes with a compromise. Wide faced people fared less well when it came to business negotiations. And men who are more attractive are better collaborators compared to less attractive men, they said. Previous research based on the 'facial width-to-height ratio' found individuals behave more selfishly when interacting with men with wider faces. This research claims that while men with wider faces are more likely to lie and cheat, they tend to lead more financially successful firms. 'We negotiate everyday whether we think about it or not,' said University of California's Professor Michael Haselhuhn. 'It’s not just the big things, like a car or a home. It’s what time your kid is going to go to bed or what you or your spouse are going to have for dinner. 'These studies show that being a man with a wider face can be both a blessing and a curse and awareness of this may be important for future business success.' The psychologist, whose work is published by the Royal Society journal Biology Letters today, said testosterone may be a factor. 'Testosterone tends to make faces wider and testosterone is also linked to aggression,' she said. 'We also speculate that there might be an evolutionary link. One speculation is that if someone with a wider face gets punched they won't be damaged as much. They can afford to be more aggressive.' Dr Lefevre and colleagues at Bristol University, Bath Spa University and Brunel University studied 49 women and 54 men aged 18 to 30. They measured the breadth from cheek to cheek and the vertical gap between their upper lip and highest point of their eyelids. They then asked them a series of questions to assess their dominance, aggression, anger and hostility. The psychologists found that those participants with broader features proportionate to the height of their faces were more likely to be aggressive, have bad tempers and be more dominant. And they found that the tendencies applied to both men and women. Not all scientists agree with the findings however. A separate piece of research published yesterday by American researchers, found that facial features trigger a 'face-ist' response which influence the way personalities are perceived by others. But the US team, whose work was published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, said the perceptions are misleading and do not reflect real personality traits. Christopher Olivola of Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania said: 'Although we would like to think our judgments and choices are rational, impartial, consistent, and solely based on relevant information, the truth is that they are often biased by superficial and irrelevant factors. 'This is a troubling human tendency that needs to be corrected, or at least mitigated, because faces are not valid predictors of a person's traits. A separate study found that on average, fuller faced workers such as Simon Cowell on the left earn £1,300 more than those with narrow faces (such as that of David Tennet on the right) when asking for a bonus . | Those with broad features, like Wayne Rooney, are more likely to get angry .
Trait may be linked to the evolutionary benefit of having thick cheekbones .
Those who had more robust facial bones could better withstand a punch .
Testosterone tends to make faces wider and is also linked to aggression . |
0d80002ae7ac985392cc744af21b04e0ba966049 | (CNN) -- The U.S. Embassy in Beijing said Friday it was "extremely disappointed" by a Chinese court decision to uphold the eight-year prison sentence of American citizen Xue Feng. "I am extremely disappointed in the outcome although it wasn't completely unexpected," said U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman. "We ask the Chinese government to consider an immediate humanitarian parole of Xue Feng thereby allowing him to get back to his family and his way of life." The geologist, a naturalized American citizens, was convicted on charges of violating state secrets and faces a fine of 200,000 yuan (about U.S. $30,400). Xue has spent about three years in prison since his arrest. University of Chicago's Dr. David B. Rowley, Xue's former professor who has rallied for his release, said in July that Xue was languishing in prison on vague charges. "I find this whole thing just unbelievable in no small part because the rationale is just so thoroughly flawed," Rowley said. Xue "has always been a straight shooter," Rowley said. "He was not ... a wheeler-dealer type." He is "an honest, hard worker and this came as a real surprise to him as well." Xue was working in China as a leading geologist for the Colorado-based IHS Consulting firm, a global provider of energy-related information, Rowley said, and the information Xue was privy to did not include state secrets. While Rowley said he was not privy to the specific database mentioned in Xue's indictment, the professor said the pieces of information commonly contained in such databases are not state secrets. "These types of databases usually contain information related to the petroleum potential of a given area, and that might include what wells already have been drilled and information on the geology and geophysical or underlying structure of these areas. That's pretty much it," he said. Xue's job as a leading consultant for IHS involved acquiring and reselling this type of data, Rowley said. He said that as a petroconsultant, Xue thought he was viewed favorably by the Chinese because he was able to sell to Chinese officials similar data from countries in which the Chinese had drilling interests. Rowley said Xue had resigned from IHS at the time of his arrest and believed that the warnings issued by Chinese officials concerning the database were not issued against him, but against his employers, he said. "IHS is extremely disappointed at the news and is very sympathetic to the situation. We are continuing to work with our advisors on the issue," IHS spokesman Ed Mattix at the time of Xue's sentencing in July. CNN's Jaime FlorCruz contributed to this story. | The American citizen was sentenced to eight years for allegedly violating state secret laws .
The U.S. ambassador to China has called for his release on humanitarian parole .
Xue was working in China as a geologist for a Colorado-based consulting firm . |
0d808bcf9360d047d2c3b441be6882e8550fea44 | Her superstar father - and the circumstance of her birth - made her famous before she could even walk. But last night 14-year-old Anna Ermakova stepped out of Boris Becker's shadow and on to the catwalk as she appeared at Berlin Fashion Week. The tennis star's lovechild was conceived during a scandalous, short-lived and much disputed encounter at the London outpost of celebrity haunt Nobu in 1999. Her mother Angela Ermakova initially claimed the liaison took place in a store cupboard but Becker later confessed they had made love on a staircase between two bathrooms. Scroll down for video . Anna, the lovechild of former tennis champion Boris Becker, made her runway debut on Tuesday . Riani AW15 . Click to check out the full collection! Visit site . There's no mistaking Anna Becker as the daughter of tennis champ Boris. They look so alike it's uncanny. Although we guarantee Anna looks better in a sequin mini dress than her dad. This may have been her catwalk debut but the 14-year-old looked at home as she strutted her stuff for German label Riani. And she's giving us style inspiration for our next big night out too. A sequin or two (thousand) is the easiest way to up the glam factor and not only will you look ready to party, you'll catch the light beautifully as your break out your moves on the dance floor. It may be a cold and dark January but that's all the more reason to get out and shake your stuff so why not check out our edit of similar dresses below? There are plenty of options on the virtual high street so whatever your budget you can get get this runway look in the real world. Style with a pair of simple black heels to let your sparkly dress do all the talking. French Connection sequin dress at Asos . Visit site . Motel sequin dress . Visit site . Missguided sequin dress . Visit site . Oasis plunge neck all over sequin dress at Asos . Visit site . Anna wore a pewter mini dress for her runway debut, walking for German designer Riani accompanied by a giant white poodle. Exuding easy confidence, it seemed hard to believe that it was the teenager's modelling debut. She was recently signed to Mega Modelling Agency and as her profile states, her height - she is 5ft 10 - and striking features have got her noticed among talent hawks despite her youth. Now she says she has a 'mind of my own' and is only allowed to pursue her dream of a modelling career 'because I am doing so well at school.' After being allowed to open and close the show for Riani she told German newspaper Bild: 'This is an absolute dream which has come true for me. All my girlfriends dream about such a chance. Everything went incredibly quickly for me.' Of course, she said she knows that it is a fact that her name opens doors, adding; 'Yes, but I cannot make myself unknown.' Boris acknowledged Anna was his child in February 2001 and obtained joint custody of his daughter in November 2007 (pictured together when Anna was younger) Proud father Boris posted this Tweet to his 586,000 followers with a link to a picture of Anna on the catwalk . Boris captioned the picture of his daughter 'What a beautiful young lady #Anna #family #Berlin #mbfw' Boris went on Twitter shortly after her debut to express his pride in her and Anna admitted that her mother, 47, whom she lives with in London, is equally proud of her and accompanied her to Berlin from the home they share in London. Though she has inherited her father's ginger hair and his distinctive features, it seems she has followed in her mother's footsteps when it comes to her career. She starred in German label Riani's autumn/winter 2015 show on Tuesday, modelling a series of dresses for the brand before walking the catwalk with Riani designers Ulrich Schulte and Isi Degel. Anna went on: 'It isn't it about the money. I also do not consider myself as a professional. It's a small beginning of something that I want to try.' Ted Linow, her agent at Mega Models, refused to discuss her earnings saying: 'No models talk about that.' Asked if 14 was a little early to start work, she said: 'My mother is, naturally, always with me and I want it that way. That's what I'm doing here, an excursion into a new world, which I really love. I really never expected to cause such a frenzy.' While 14-year-old Anna looked stunning in a silver dress, the giant poodle was not explained . Anna paused to 'pet' the poodle at the end of the runway before allowing it to walk on ahead of her . In another interview with German glossy magazine Gala, Anna insisted: 'I am not a child any more and I believe modelling is the key to bringing me further along in life, perhaps even as a full-time career. I think people probably have other things to interest them other than my name - I'm seeking to simply be myself.' Boris, a five-time Wimbledon winner and currently the coach of world number one Novak Djokovic, had initially denied that Anna was his daughter. But after a DNA test in DNA test in February 2001 proved he was the father, he agreed to support Anna and obtained joint custody in November 2007 . The 'five second' romp not only produced a daughter, but cost Becker his marriage to Barbara, with whom he has two sons. The divorce settlement came in at £20million. The German star has previously spoken of his 'guilt and shame' over the quickie which happened just after he announced his retirement. Despite the high price he paid for the brief encounter, he claims he now loves the daughter who he initially doubted was his. He said: 'I live and learn. It cost my marriage, it cost for the next couple of years my private life but having Anna is not a mistake any more. I have a beautiful daughter. I love her very much.' Despite the publicity and scandal surrounding her conception, Anna has managed to remain largely out of the spotlight during her childhood. Despite this being her first ever appearance on the catwalk, Anna seemed very confident . After the slightly bizarre walk with the white poodle, Anna hit the runway again for Riani in a more conservative fashion in a navy flapper style dress (right) Anna as a baby with her mother, German model Angela Ermakova (left) is the result of a liaison on a stairwell with the five-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker (right) Boris has two sons, Noah, left, and Elias, right, with his first wife Barbara . According to Anna, she likes playing soccer in her spare time and is a visitor to a private London gym. And the report said that in her life her mother is an 'omnipresent' figure. But Anna insists: 'My mother neither dominates nor manipulates me. I have my own mind. Nevertheless, I want my mother to be more of a girlfriend.' Angela said that as Anna grows she realises she will have to step back from her life, adding: 'Every small ship must sometime sail off alone in the open sea.' Boris pictured with wife Sharlely Lilly Kerssenberg . Born in 1967 in Leimen, West Germany, Boris became a professional tennis playing in 1984 at the age of 17. He caused a storm in the sport when, as an unseeded adolescent he became the youngest player to ever win the Wimbledon men's final. In the course of his career he won a total of 49 singles and 15 doubles titles including three wins at Wimbledon, reaching the iconic final seven times in 10 years. Becker married his first wife Barbara Feltus in Decemeber 1993 and the couple went on to have two sons together; Noah, born on January 18, 1994, and Elias, born on September 4, 1999. However in the summer of 1999, having just retired from tennis, Boris had his now much publicised trist with model Angela Ermakova at Nobu in London. When his wife Barbara found out about the one night stand - which occured while she was pregnant with their second child- she moved to Florida and filed for divorce. She fought their pre-nuptual agreement and managed to win £14,400,000 and the custody of both sons in divorce court. Boris has since said during the argument in which he confessed his infidelity, Barbara struck him. The one night stand also resulted in Angela becoming pregnant. Although Boris disputed paternity for months - even suggesting in a German paper that Angela, working for the Russia government- had stolen his sperm and impregnated herself. His daughter Anna was born on 22 March 2000 . A DNA test in February 2001 proved Boris was the father and he agreed to support Anna and obtained joint custody in November 2007. During this period Boris also had a firey on-again-off-again relationship with German rap singer Sabrina Setlur, as well as breifly becoming engaged to to Alessandra Meyer-Wölden . Moving to Switzerland and enjoying a few years less in the media spotlight, Becker remarried in 12 June 2009 in St Moritz, Switzerland to Dutch model Sharlely Lilly Kerssenberg . The couple have a three-year-old son named Amadeus Benedict Edley Luis Becker. | Anna walked the runway at Berlin Fashion Week for designer Riani .
Is the lovechild of tennis star Boris Becker and model Angela Ermakova .
The pair had a one night stand, after which Becker contested paternity . |
0d809be9eff94ef7986b3b7f997ba5aa5ab394e1 | By . Daily Mail Reporter and Ap . PUBLISHED: . 23:47 EST, 23 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 03:31 EST, 24 October 2013 . A police spokesman says no criminal . charges will be filed against George Zimmerman in a dispute last month . with his estranged wife. Lake Mary Officer Zach Hudson said Wednesday that investigators had decided the dispute didn’t rise to a criminal level. The dispute last month came just days after Shellie Zimmerman filed divorce papers. Scroll down for video . This screen grab from a video recorded by a police dash cam shows an officer taking George Zimmerman (left) into custody Monday . When police arrived on the scene, Zimmerman (right) was in the driver's seat of his car (pictured center) Police ordered Zimmerman (pictured) out of his car and shouted for him to raise his hands, turn around and walk backwards toward them . Officers approach Zimmerman, one with his gun drawn, as they prepare to handcuff him . The dispute took place at a home where . the Zimmermans had lived before they were separated. The Lake Mary home . is owned by Shellie Zimmerman’s parents, who also allege that he stole . thousands of dollars in property before vacating the house. According . to a police report obtained by WFTV, Shellie Zimmerman's mother, . Machelle Dean, told police she returned to the home after George . Zimmerman's lawyer let her he would be moving out of the home. When . she arrived, Dean said she noticed that $2,800 flat-screen TV, $3,000 . leather theater seats and a king-size bed were missing. Detectives investigated the case but opted to not file charges. A video taken at the time of the September 9 incident shows the dramatic moment that police swarmed . Zimmerman's car and ordered him to get down on his knees before taking . him into custody following the September 9 incident. The video, . recorded by a police cruiser's dash cam, surfaced days later, as Zimmerman's . lawyer revealed he would no longer represent him, despite the . possibility that Zimmerman could have faced charges resulting from the dispute . with his wife. When police arrived on the scene of the argument, which had allegedly turned violent, Zimmerman was in the driver's seat of his car. Officers ordered him out of his car and shouted for him to raise his hands, turn around and walk backwards toward them. By the time he appeared to be about 20 feet away, police shouted 'Get on your knees! Lock your feet!' Zimmerman dropped to his knees and two officers approached, one with his gun drawn, while the other handcuffed him. Then several other officers ran toward the house where the dispute allegedly took place. The video was first reported by TMZ. Mark . O'Mara, who represented Zimmerman when he was acquitted of murder in . the death of Trayvon Martin, made his shock announcement that he would . be leaving his client as police continued their investigation into the . warring couple. Split: Defense attorney Mark O'Mara, left, has said he will no longer be representing George Zimmerman. They are pictured together in court in July during Zimmerman's murder trial . During her initial call to police, . Shellie Zimmerman told dispatchers her husband had punched her father in . the nose and was threatening them with a gun. But she later changed her . story and decided against pressing charges. No . gun was ever found and Zimmerman claimed it was his wife who was the . aggressor. The spat came just days after she filed for divorce, claiming . their marriage was irretrievably broken. Friends told MailOnline the argument began over claims Zimmerman had been having an affair with his ex-fiancee. On the 911 call, Shellie also claimed Zimmerman had smashed her iPad. When . asked who could be charged, Hudson said: 'As of right now, it . could be either one or it could be no one. It depends what that iPad has . on it, what that footage shows.' Dispute: George Zimmerman, right, walks to a home in Lake Mary, Florida on Monday after his estranged wife called police claiming he had punched her father and was threatening them with a gun . More work: O'Mara speaks with a police officer at the scene, where he was visibly annoyed at his client . Authorities . are also looking into whether surveillance video from cameras at the . house captured the dispute, and Shellie added on the 911 call . that a city worker witnessed the spat. Zimmerman's attorney, O'Mara, . said that his client did nothing wrong but added that he was no longer going . to represent Zimmerman due to their impending divorce. 'I've come to know them as a family, and it's not a good idea to get in between them,' O'Mara said. O'Mara will continue to be Zimmerman's . lawyer in a defamation suit pending against NBC and in the remaining . motions from the Trayvon Martin trial. ABC . News reported that O'Mara appeared to struggle with his anger at his . client during Monday's incident when he arrived at the home. During a press conference, O'Mara was asked if he had any advice for Zimmerman, and he responded: 'Pay me.' Warring: Shellie Zimmerman, pictured right in court in June, called police just days after she filed for divorce . The September encounter was the latest in a string of events for Zimmerman. He . has twice been pulled over on suspicion of speeding and ticketed once. He also appeared in photos at a gun maker that were published online and . he helped members of a family from their vehicle following a car wreck. Shellie . Zimmerman had collected most of her belongings from the house where she . and her husband had been staying until she moved out. The day of the incident, she . returned unexpectedly to gather the remaining items, and emotions got . out of control, O'Mara said. Neither side pressed charges and no one was arrested. 'I . know the 911 tape suggests that Shellie was saying something but I . think that was heightened emotions,' O'Mara said. 'There may have been . some pushing and touching. That happens a lot in divorce situations. ... Nobody was injured.' Scene: Police were called to a home in Lake Mary owned by Shellie parents. She and Zimmerman lived there throughout the trial and she had been collecting belongings when the argument began . Probe: Zimmerman was questioned but released and police are now looking at iPad video footage . In . an interview with ABC's Good Morning America that aired last Friday, . Shellie Zimmerman said her 29-year-old husband . is reckless and feels invincible. | Authorities said Wednesday that the dispute with Zimmerman's ex-wife, Shellie, did not rise to a criminal level .
Police .
also will not charge Zimmerman with theft after Shellie's mother .
claimed he stole thousands of dollars in property from their rental home .
Zimmerman was acquitted of murder in the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teen . |
0d817317b9c72de244299ca9f82a26c8e89fea2b | PUBLISHED: . 03:00 EST, 3 May 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 12:34 EST, 3 May 2012 . Jailed former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko was beaten so brutally in prison she feared she would be killed - her daughter has claimed. Mrs Tymoshenko released photographs last month, showing bruises to her arms, legs and stomach. Her daughter Eugenia claims guards punched the opposition leader and twisted her arms and legs with such ferocity she thought she was going to die. Brutal: Eugenia Tymoshenko, left, fears for her mother's health. Right, bruises she claims she sustained during a prison beating . Fears: Yulia Tymoshenko thought she was 'in the last moments of her life' during the 'attack', her daughter said . The beating is alleged to have . occurred on the evening of April 20, while prison guards transferred her . to hospital to be treated for back pain. Miss Timoshenko told the Guardian: . 'They started moving towards her and surrounded her bed. They first . moved everyone from the building and removed her neighbour. My mother . felt these were the last minutes of her life. 'They . grabbed a thick woollen blanket from her bed, pulling her off the bed. She managed to stick her hand out and resisted, protecting her life. The . vice-head then punched her in the stomach. 'She . couldn't breath after the punch. She started screaming, when they were . bringing her out of the building. She passed out in the ambulance. She . recovered conscious in hospital. She refused everything. She took only . painkillers.' Video: Eugenia has called on authorities to release surveillance footage of the 'attack' Miss Tymoshenko claims her mother's cell is subject to 24 hour surveillance and that the authorities could release tapes showing what happened. But Ukrainian prosecutors have denied harming the opposition leader, insisting her injuries were self-inflicted. Tymoshenko has been on hunger strike since the incident and her daughter said she is 'very physically weak' as she approaches two weeks without food. The only thing keeping her going is the support of western governments who are threatening to boycott this summer's European Championships in Ukraine in protest at her treatment. Controversial: Yulia Tymoshenko during her trial last year . German president Angela Merkel . announced this weekend she and other members of her cabinet would not . attend any matches unless Mrs Tymoshenko was released. Austria . has also vowed to stay away and Belgium has followed suit, insisting . Mrs Tymoshenko should be allowed medical treatment and visits. Elsewhere, on Tuesday U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton called for the jailed politician to be freed. The show of solidarity is 'keeping her going,' Miss Tymoshenko said. The 51-year-old became a global icon of democratic change during Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution and swept into power the following year. Last year she was jailed for seven years on charges of abusing her powers in a Russian energy deal. Her prosecution and trial were widely criticised by the west. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed concerns over the conviction, the Council of Europe expressed 'serious concern about the trial' and Amnesty International called for Tymoshenko's immediate release. | Tymoshenko on day 13 of hunger strike .
Germany announces boycott of European championships over her treatment . |
0d834dd634c75a420505316347463342c99675a7 | Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- The Pakistani military carried out airstrikes early Wednesday in the country's northwest, targeting alleged militant hideouts in the volatile region. The army claimed it killed 60 militants, including some key commanders, and injured 30 others in North Waziristan, a loosely governed tribal area that borders Afghanistan. A local Taliban commander, Umar Khurrassani, challenged that report, and said 39 tribesmen, including women and children, were killed. If those tribesmen were affiliated with the Taliban commander, the Pakistani army would consider some of them militants. One area resident told CNN that up to 20 civilians had been killed in the airstrikes. Malik Gul Saleh Jan said that it's difficult to assess the exact figure of the dead and injured because it is hard to reach some residents by phone. Many left their homes due to fear of shelling and bombing, he said. Earlier this year, the military carried out a series of strikes in the region, considered to be a stronghold for extremist groups. | Pakistani military claims it killed 60 militants in North Waziristan .
A Taliban commander calls the casualties local tribesmen . |
0d840431b2e9f1f46e2d42d1407e6f2a93dae039 | By . Chris Paine . Zara Phillips told Mike Tindall he was an 'idiot' when he splashed out on a £12,000 race horse at a charity auction. Now the Queen's granddaughter may find herself eating humble pie her at Saturday's Grand National, where her husband's horse Monbeg Dude is tipped to win. Rugby star Tindall was 'well-oiled', according to his Royal wife, at a Cheltenham auction in 2010 when he bid on the nine-year-old gelding. But four years on the Princess and former . Olympic silver medallist is even helping to train Monbeg Dude, a 14-1 . second favourite with bookmakers that a top mathematician believes will . win the Grand National - according a formula he developed. Part owner Mike Tindall bid for £12,000-horse Monbeg Dude at a charity auction four years ago. Now the nine-year-old gelding is a 14-1 second favourite for the Grand National and the top choice of mathematician William Hartston . 'Idiot': Zara Phillips and her husband, pictured here together at Cheltenham, disagreed over the choice to buy into the horse . Monbeg Dude is now worth a reported £200,000, after costing just £12,000 . GoggleBox intellectual William Hartston, 66, spent days carefully studying the statistics from every single Grand National which has taken place since 1886. He then used a complex formula which included the bookies' odds, age of the horse, the letters in the owner's name, and the letters and number of words in the horses' names. And he concluded Monbeg, who is trained by Michael Scudamore and will be ridden by top jockey Paul Carberry, has the best chance of winning the race. Hartston said: 'This year's scoring system is based on a re-analysis of the results of all Aintree Grand Nationals since 1886. The man with the plan: William Hartston spent days carefully studying the statistics from every single Grand National which has taken place since 1886 to develop his formula - and he has Monbeg Dude coming out in front . She's warming to him! Zara Phillips even helps to train Monbeg Dude, who has raked in £122,245 in prize money from four race wins . According to a complicated mathematical model, Monbeg Dude is the hot favourite to win the Grand National . Points are awarded from one to four according to six criteria: . The last two items are added together and the sum then halved to give a single figure from 0 to 4 for the trainer's name. The top-scoring horses using this system are as follows (points are then added depending on the odds offered by William Hill): . 'Unlike last year, I have given a weighting towards recent years and added an item relating to the name of the trainer. 'I would have liked to include the name of the jockey too, but in many cases this is not available until the morning of the race. 'Had I been able to do so last year, Seabass would not have been my top choice: no jockey whose first name begins with K has ever won the Grand National, so Katie Walsh stood very little chance. 'Monbeg came top and looks like the best bet as far as I'm concerned. 'I love applying statistical techniques to everyday events. Hartston is a Cambridge-educated mathematician and industrial psychologist who was a chess champion in the 1970s. He . has since become a TV boffin, applying statistics to the Miss Great . Britain competition and is now a regular 'viewer' on Channel 4 show . Gogglebox. After . calculating the points total for Saturday's runners and riders Hartston . studied the odds and favourites with a team of experts from William . Hill. Get in! Rugby player Tindall, who according to his Royal wife was 'well oiled' when he bought into Monbeg Dude, will be hoping for similar joy at this Saturday's race meeting . Monbeg Dude's trainer Michael Scudamore says his team will need a 'bit more luck than just a mathematical formula to ensure a win' The bookies' spokeswoman Kate Miller said: 'Monbeg Dude is the perfect age, level of talent, and stamina to make-up into a first-class Grand National contender. 'With the bookmakers already running scared, the 'perfect storm' of royal and sporting connections- will also ensure a hefty payout to punters if he wins on Saturday. Monbeg Dude's trainer Michael Scudamore isn't quite buying into Hartston's model, preferring to look at his horse's form as a marker for Saturday's meeting. 'It being the Grand National, we're going to need a bit more luck than just a mathematical formula to ensure a win,' he told the Daily Telegraph. Monbeg Dude has earned his connections £122,245, including four race wins, and is now worth a reported £200,000, according to the Daily Star. A 103-year-old believed to be Britain’s oldest punter is hoping for a winner on this year’s Grand National - after betting on the race for more than seven decades without success. George Atkinson said he is hoping to finally have a successful bet on the world-famous race, so he can 'die a happy man'. Mr Atkinson has placed bets religiously on the Grand National each year since the 1940s. George Atkinson, a 103-year-old who is believed to be Britain's oldest punter, is hoping for a winner on this year's Grand National - after betting on the race for more than seven decades without success . That's a lot of birthdays! George says he would 'die a happy man' if he finally wins this year . But he has never managed to back a winner, and fears the 2014 race is his last chance. And after such a long run of betting, he has decided to pin his hopes on 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Long Run, owned by Robert Waley-Cohen and trained by Nicky Henderson. Mr Atkinson said: 'Any winner is nice - but the national would be a dream come true - I could die a happy man.' The 103-year-old, from Swaffham, Norfolk, placed his first bet on the Grand National in the 1940s after leaving the Army. He had placed his first ever bet when he was just 12, when his bookmaker grandfather took him to the Epsom Derby. He said: 'I can’t remember the name as it lost - in fact they all lose. I’ve never even had a place.'I was once told to back Oxo in 1959 but I didn’t place a bet on it - it won and I’ve regretted it for 55 years.' George has pin his hopes on 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Long Run . The Grand National is not the only competition Mr Atkinson has a flutter on - winning £301 from a £1 stake in 2013 by correctly predicting three of the numbers on the Irish Lottery. 'Horses are my favourite, but I love a dog race too,' he said. 'Number seven is my lucky number, but I’m not the luckiest punter.' The widowed father-of-seven, who is a grandfather and great-grandfather, goes to his local branch of bookmaker William Hill in Swaffham twice a day and even celebrated his 103rd birthday there. Believed to be Britain’s oldest punter, the company has given him a £103 bet - £51.50 each way - as he tries to fulfil his dream of a Grand National win. He has decided to put it on Long Run - whose odds of winning are currently at 14/1 - and said: 'It has been a long run without a winner and it feels like my time.' Happy punter: 'Horses are my favourite, but I love a dog race too' William Hill took more than five million bets on the Grand National last year and is expected to accept over £30 million in wagers in 2014. According to the bookmakers, around 57 per cent of Britain’s adult population is expected to place a bet on the Grand National, with 51 per cent of those who bet making their selection based on personal preferences. Based on a survey of 2,066 people conducted for the firm by Populus, 36 per cent of people will choose a horse by name; 17 per cent make their selection by odds; 9 per cent will leave it purely to chance, and make a random selection; and just 2 per cent will pick because of the colours worn by the jockey. Yvonne Dobinson, manager of William Hill Swaffham, said: 'George is living proof of how hard it is to win the Grand National with over 70 years failing to pick a winner. 'But he has picked a corker this year and even we will be cheering Long Run on for his sake.' | Zara Phillips told Mike Tindall he was an 'idiot' for bidding on £12,000 horse at charity auction in 2010 .
Now Monbeg dude is a 14-1 second favourite to win Saturday's Grand National .
Top mathematician predicts victory for Monbeg Dude, according to a formula he developed .
William Hartston devised complex model after studying statistics from every single race in Grand National's 175-year history .
George Atkinson wants to finally win the National and 'die a happy man'
Though to be Britain's oldest punter, George has placed bets on Grand National since 1940s .
George has pinned his hopes on the 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup champion Long Run . |
0d853d8890a72927b3790e4e84bc566029ed7172 | A family proved to be four of a kind after quitting their day jobs to become card-playing poker champions. Michelle and Matthew Shiels and their sons Richard and Brandon are all aces at the game, honing their skills at their 'house of cards' in Edington, Birmingham. Only last week, 19-year-old Brandon scooped £9,200 in the UK and Ireland Poker Tour tournament, staged in London. Brandon Sheils is pictured left, his brother Richard (right), father Matthew (centre) and mother Michelle have all quit their jobs to become poker champions . But former Birmingham University economics graduate Richard, who did his dissertation on the game, has gone one better. The 23-year-old scooped £27,000 in the Deep Stack contest, staged at Nottingham's Dusk Till Dawn Poker Club. For 24 hours, Richard battled with 328 of the best players in the country, and came out on top. In fact, between them, Brandon and Richard have made a whopping £75,000 since November. As a family, the Sheils take part, on average, in three competitions a week - and they claim there is a reason for their staggering success. Michelle (pictured receiving a poker prize) and husband Matthew have appeared in tournaments on satellite television . Guided by 48-year-old Matthew, a former accountant, and Michelle, who sold her nursery business to concentrate on poker, they say they have replaced the luck, chance and risk with a mathematical formula. Richard, who began playing in earnest after leaving university in 2012, said: 'In our house, there is a fine line between gambling and poker. 'I did my dissertation on poker, the science and maths behind the game. You can see where the gambling is, and where it is not. 'It would be extremely silly to go down the gambling route. If you meet gamblers, you are going to make money from them.' But Richard admitted you can't completely eradicate luck. 'If I played you 100 times, I wouldn't beat you 100 times,' he explained, 'but I would beat you more than 50 times, which would mean I'd make money.' Richard, who spent two months playing the Vegas tables, was introduced to cards at a very early age. He learned to count using a deck. 'Old school poker is very touchy-feely,' he said, 'but nowadays it's all about the maths and theory. Mind you, when we're in a tournament together it becomes very competitive. 'I'm getting better and better. At the moment, I'm a better player than Brandon, but he's improving all the time. I taught him how to play.. I've made the mistakes and made sure he doesn't make them. 'My ambition is to be good enough to play for a living, but rich enough not to have to.' Michelle and Matthew are no slouches and have appeared in tournaments on satellite television. Cards on the table: The family say they have replaced the luck, chance and risk element of the game with a mathematical formula . 'Mum ran a nursery,' Richard explained. 'She sold that, semi-retired and played poker. She's been on Channel 4's Late Night Poker a few times, and her biggest win is £12,000.' Michelle, 41, said: 'Richard and Brandon are better players, to be fair. I'm always asked if I'm better than my husband and he says I am, but I'm not sure. 'I have no fixed plans for the future. Sometimes I get bored with it and go off the boil, then return.' | Michelle and Matthew Shiels and sons Richard and Brandon are all poker experts .
They have developed their skill at their own 'house of cards' in Birmingham .
Family claim secret to their success is a mathematical formula .
Brandon recently won £9,200 in the UK and Ireland Poker Tour Tournament .
Brother Richard, 23, scooped £27,000 in a separate competition .
Michelle and Matthew have appeared in tournaments on satellite television .
On average the Sheils family take part in three competitions a week . |
0d85a71e7d9847ce6cc38179aae2f5580d054e3a | LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- California's director of adult prisons is recommending against "compassionate release" for a terminally ill former Manson family member, a spokeswoman said. Susan Atkins is led from a Los Angeles grand jury room after her indictment in the 1969 "Manson murders." Suzan Hubbard, director of the Division of Adult Institutions, decided that Susan Atkins' request should not be sent to the sentencing court for consideration, said Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Hubbard's recommendation is advisory and will not necessarily prevent Atkins' release. The court -- not the department or the state Board of Parole Hearings -- has the final say on whether Atkins should be released, Thornton said. "They're the only ones legally who can recall the sentence," she added. Atkins, 60, was convicted in the 1969 slayings of actress Sharon Tate and four others. She had been incarcerated at the California Institution for Women in Corona, California, but has been hospitalized since mid-March. Her request is now before the Board of Parole Hearings, which is conducting an independent investigation and will hear the case during its monthly public meeting, Thornton said. The next meeting is scheduled July 15. Atkins had been held for years at the Corona prison, which earlier determined that she met the criteria for compassionate release under the law, and sent her request to the corrections department. The Board of Parole Hearings will receive public comment, discuss the request in closed session and then announce its recommendation. The board also can decide whether to refer the request to the sentencing court. The court, based in Los Angeles, can either grant or deny Atkins' request. It also can recall her life sentence and resentence Atkins to a lesser term, allowing for her to be paroled. In 2007, the department received 60 compassionate release requests, Thornton said. Ten were approved. Citing privacy rules, prison officials would not disclose the nature of Atkins' illness. Her husband and attorney, James Whitehouse, has been quoted as saying she has terminal brain cancer, according to a blog called Manson Family Today. She also has had a leg amputated, the Los Angeles Times has reported. Atkins, known within the Manson family as "Sadie Mae Glutz," has been in prison since 1971 and has been denied parole 11 times. She is California's longest-serving female inmate. Tate and three houseguests were slain in August 1969 by killers who burst into her Benedict Canyon home. A teenager who was visiting the home's caretaker in his cottage on the property also was killed. According to historical accounts of the murders, Atkins stabbed Tate, who was 8½ months pregnant, and wrote the word "pig" in blood on the door of the home the actress shared with her husband, director Roman Polanski. The following night, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were slain in their home in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. The two-day crime spree sent shock waves throughout Los Angeles. All of the killers remain behind bars. Atkins also was convicted in the earlier murder of music teacher Gary Hinman. Atkins, like family leader Charles Manson, received a death sentence. Her punishment was changed to life in prison when the California Supreme Court ruled the state's death penalty unconstitutional in 1972. Atkins is a born-again Christian, according to a Web site maintained by her husband. During her incarceration, the site says, Atkins has worked to help at-risk youth, victims of violent crimes and homeless children. Last month, authorities dug for buried bodies at the Inyo County, California, ranch where Manson and his followers once lived, after police became aware that testing had indicated humans might be buried there. Nothing was found, police said. | Decision puts case in parole board's hands, spokeswoman says .
Susan Atkins is serving life sentence for role in Manson family murders of late 1960s .
Web site quotes Atkins' husband as saying she has terminal brain cancer . |
0d87184a75ed9b3dedfde0b863f8b5b69cfda6fe | By . Mike Dickson In Paris . Follow @@Mike_Dickson_DM . Amelie Mauresmo has pledged that she will try to bring a female touch to Andy Murray’s coaching, while emphasising that her job is simply to help him win more Grand Slams. On the day Rafael Nadal retained his French Open title Murray sent shockwaves through the tennis world yesterday by appointing the 34 year-old former Wimbledon champion and world number one as his coach for the grass court season, and almost certainly beyond. 'I think he's maybe looking for something different, about emotions and sensitive things,' said Mauresmo, although she played down the symbolism of what is an unprecedented move for such a top male player. Bold step: Murray, who began training for the grass season today, has caused a stir by appointing Mauresmo . Proven class: Mauresmo was women's number won and won two grand slams, including Wimbledon . 'It's not really interesting for me, this part of the story, to be honest. All I'm interested in is to be able to help him in his goals. He’s an amazingly talented tennis player and I feel I have plenty to offer him. 'It will change a little bit my life and my retirement, let's say. I'm passionate about this sport. Miracles don’t happen overnight but I love challenges.' Mauresmo added that they had agreed to work for a ‘significant amount of weeks’ per year, assuming that the initial period is satisfactory. Murray explained the background to a move being seen as smashing a glass ceiling for female coaching: 'I spoke to her a few times on the phone and when I was in Paris I met her before the tournament,' he said. 'We chatted a little bit about it, whether she’d be up for doing it. There was a will from both sides to give it a go and see how it works out. Shared experience: Mauresmo won Wimbledon in 2006 while Murray finally took the title last year . Watching on: Mauresmo was at the French Open final on Sunday before starting work with Andy Murray . 'She’s obviously a fantastic player. She won Wimbledon, was World No. 1, won the Australian Open. Just from speaking to her, she’s very calm, she’ s a good person. I think we will communicate well together and I think that’s a very important part of coaching. ' I obviously worked with my Mum for a long time, even periods when I was 16, 17 years old. For me it doesn’t feel like a very different thing. Obviously I wasn’t paying my Mum so it’ll be a little bit different this time around because I’ll be employing Amelie. I think it’s exciting, something a bit new for me, something a bit fresh and hopefully it works well.' Martina Navratilova was among those pleased to see Murray taking such a bold and agenda-setting step:, tweeting: 'An interesting call by Andy Murray. Cool to see a woman coaching a top guy. Hope it works out for them.' Mary Pierce, a French contemporary of Mauresmo who knows her well, told the BBC: 'She is a great person, she's got great values and a sense of hard work but she has a great sense of humour. 'She knows what it takes to win Grand Slams, what it takes to get to number one, she will take it very seriously and give her absolute best to help Andy.' Anguish: Murray had a strong French open before being thrashed by Rafael Nadal in the semi-final . Repeat success: Murray is desperate to replicate his win in SW19 last year after a promising French open . Two of the men who know Murray best from working with him, his ex-coaches Brad Gilbert and Mark Petchey, believe he has made an intelligent choice. 'I think this is good news for Murray, she should be a calming influence,' said Gilbert. ' She was a smart player with an outstanding knowledge of the game who brings a fresh perspective and I think she will add a lot to Andy’s team.' Petchey added: 'I think it’s a sound move. Amelie is clearly someone Andy likes and respects and she will bring something different. There just wasn’t an ideal male coach out there, and so why not go with a woman who has plenty of knowledge.' | World No 8 has appointed two-time Grand Slam champion .
Frenchwoman is also a former World No 1 .
Mauresmo says she will work with Murray 'significan amount of weeks' every year, and her aim is to help him win more Grand Slams .
Murray has been without a coach since splitting with Ivan Lendl .
Mauresmo will take up her new role in time for Queen's this week . |
0d871920c2f6fee10676ea52c8663e1aa38021bb | Behind the super-confident exterior, John Guidetti is a romantic at heart. The things he truly values in life are beyond the reach of money. It is why the Swedish scoring sensation insists he can imagine forsaking greater riches elsewhere to stay at Celtic once his season-long loan is finished. All he wants for now is to concentrate on extending the superb form recognised with receipt of the SPFL Player of the Month award for October. John Guidetti has been in fine form for Celtic since joining the Scottish side on a season-long loan deal . The Swedish international was named the SPFL player of the month for October . When decision time comes, however, Guidetti is adamant that the numbers on his contract will be secondary to the number of goals he could score in the right environment. An adoring audience is already being created at Parkhead, where fans have long been desperate to savour a forward with real star quality. Guidetti, as prolific in press conferences as he is on the pitch, has delivered sackfuls of the stuff since moving north from Manchester City. The 22-year-old’s contract at the Etihad expires at the end of the season. After nine goals in his first nine Celtic appearances, every further strike will heighten demands from supporters to keep him in Glasgow on a more permanent basis. It will be no easy task. Guidetti is thought to earn in the region of £40,000 per week at City. That is significantly more than Celtic’s best-paid player, but well within the reach of a middling English Premier League side impressed by his return to fitness and form. Compromises will inevitably have to be made if Parkhead is to become his longer-term home, but Guidetti has declared himself open to all possibilities. Guidetti's current deal at Manchester City is due to expire at the end of the season . ‘Of course I can see myself here next year,’ he insisted. ‘You can always see yourself at a club like this. It’s an amazing football club. ‘I want to thank the fans for being so kind to me. They put a bit of pressure on me last week by singing my name even before I scored! ‘I thought, “s**t, now I have to score!” Thankfully I did, but I have to be thankful to my team-mates and to the whole club. Everyone has been amazing. ‘If it’s the right thing then it is the right thing. I don’t think money has anything to do with it. As long as you can put food on the table and support your family. ‘Of course this is my job and you want to be financially stable, but you are going to be at a club like this. ‘You have to look at all the options and see what is there. I need to put myself in a good position by playing well. Celtic want me to play well also and just focus on this year. It’s my agent’s job at the end of the season.’ Two years ago, a virus attacked Guidetti’s nervous system and almost cost him the ability to play football. Inevitably, the huge stress of that experience — which left him hosptialised and cost him a place at Euro 2012 — has shaped his outlook. Three seasons after an exceptional loan spell at Feyenoord, the return of regular action with Celtic has been a genuine delight. ‘For me, my dream is to play in the biggest games possible and do well, play for my country, win trophies and have a heck of a good time,’ he added. ‘When you look back you are not going to think that was a nice day when I signed that bonus cheque. It’s about saying, “that goal was a beauty”. ‘When you are talking to your three-year-old grandkids, you want to show them a nice goal on YouTube. ‘I would give any amount of money to score a goal and celebrate. It’s the best feeling in the world. ‘The most important thing for me is just to keep getting games under my belt and to smash it — to do the best that I can, never stop and try to improve by working my ass off. ‘I want to embrace this year because I think it is going to be amazing. We have high hopes and I think we can achieve them. ‘To be told you might never play football again to this point where I’m player of the month with Celtic — that’s a big contrast. ‘I never thought what I would do if I had to stop playing football. I would be finished as a person. I would not exist. Me without football is nothing.’ Guidetti is keen on helping Celtic challenge for trophies before making a decision on his future . The 22-year-old has revealed he dreams of playing in front of a packed Celtic Park . Guidetti has already boldly declared his intention to help Celtic towards a clean sweep of trophies, believing the Europa League should be targeted alongside a domestic Treble. Eleven years have passed since the Parkhead club last reached a continental final but Guidetti —ineligible until the knockout phase — is motivated by dreams of reprising the famous UEFA Cup run forged by Martin O’Neill’s side. ‘The boys told me all about Seville,’ he smiled. ‘They told me it would be nice to go far in the Europa League because, back then, it was unbelievable. ‘They told me how there were 30,000 fans in the stadium and 80,000 in Seville. I just thought “wow”. The airline companies much have done well that week! ‘Who wouldn’t imagine days like Seville? I can even imagine being part of the 80,000 walking up the street singing! I would like that as well. ‘My dream this year is to see a full Celtic Park with 60,000 people. Don’t get me wrong, the atmosphere has been amazing, but I am shocked to hear it can be even better. ‘I want to see a sell-out and have goose bumps and the hair on the back of my neck standing up when I score a goal. That’s one of my goals for this year. ‘I am looking forward to everything. I have heard it will be a great atmosphere against Aberdeen this weekend and a great buzz. ‘Hearts away (in the Scottish Cup) will just be an amazing atmosphere, too, and I don’t even need to talk about the Rangers game. ‘These are the games I love, matches that are a bit tasty with a few yellow cards going around.’ | Manchester City striker John Guidetti has impressed since joining Celtic .
The Sweden international has scored nine goals in nine league games .
The 22-year-old's current contract expires at the end of the season . |
0d875457f8830f36256fecad4fef85afbb87528d | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 19:50 EST, 12 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 20:10 EST, 12 December 2013 . A 50-year-old father who let his son's friends party at their Connecticut property has been charged with reckless endangerment after a teenager died in a car crash as she made her way home. Paige Houston, 17, died after the pick up truck she was a passenger in crashed as a group of teenagers left a party on August 6. Paul Sibiga appeared in court today after police claimed he had let minors gather in woodland at his home and drink alcohol. Court date: Paul Sibiga, right, has been charged with 28 counts of reckless endangerment and 28 counts of letting minors drink . Teenagers regularly gathered in the family's woodland, where they would have a campfire and drink, it has been claimed. According to an arrest warrant, seen by the Hartford Courant, those who attended the parties had to leave their car keys at Mr Sibiga's house and stay over if they planned to drink. 'Anyone who was . drinking at the property was not allowed to drive home and either camped . out at the White House or in the basement of the Sibiga house,' the warrant said. However, on August 6 a 17-year-old, who was over the drink-drive limit, lost control of his pick up truck and hit a tree. Paige, a cheerleader and honors student, was thrown from the backseat and died of her injuries. Two other teenagers in the car fled the scene and were later found by police in the Sibiga woodland. Loss: Paul Sibiga is facing charges after Paige Houston, right, died in a car crash as she left his son's party . Fatal: Paige died after the 17-year-old driver of the pick up truck she was in crashed into a tree . When police questioned the driver, who has not been named, he told them he had been at a party at the Sibiga property, and had consumed one and a half beers. A blood test revealed his blood alcohol content was .11 per cent. The legal limit for under 21s is .02 per cent. He was charged on Thursday with first-degree manslaughter, drink driving, three counts of reckless endangerment and making a false statement to police. When police went to Mr Sibiga's property they found at least 10 cars in the drive, but when they knocked on the door he said no one else was in the house. He admitted his son had been having a party and later led police to the 34-acre woodland, across the road from the house. Police identified and interviewed 28 teenagers who were at the party. One of the teenagers claimed to have been told by Mr Sibiga's son that 'keys had to be left at the house and 'It is a rule at these parties that if you are . drinking, you have to stay over'. Rural: The road outside the Sibiga property. The teenagers were having a party in 34 acres of woodland across the road from the family home . None of the teenagers said they had seen Mr Sibiga at the woodland party area until he arrived with police in the early hours of August 6, after the crash. Mr Sibiga was charged on Thursday with 28 counts of reckless endangerment and 28 counts of permitting minors to possess alcohol. His attorney, Paul Melocowski, . told FoxCT: 'Something happens in your own property, that’s one thing, . but if something’s alleged to have happened deep in the woods somewhere, . it goes to what you were able to see, not see, what you have knowledge . of.' Under the conditions of his release, Mr Sibiga is not allowed to let youngsters on to his property unless they are members of his family. | Paul Sibiga faces 28 counts of reckless endangerment and letting minors drink .
His son and friends had been camping out in family's 34-acre wood .
Paige Houston, 17, died after boy driving her home crashed into a tree .
Teenagers claimed party rules included leaving keys at the house and staying over . |
0d885971f5c31bd0cf8ed9f4a00289fa6cd9897b | By . Jonathan O'Callaghan . The age of the smart home is well and truly upon us, but keeping track of all the different devices in a house can be difficult. That’s where Ninja Sphere comes in - the system is intended to monitor all aspects of a home and sync them with various devices. By tracking location and environment, the designers say Ninja Sphere can give the user intelligent control over a smart home. Scroll down for video . Sydney-based company is preparing to release a unified smart home device. The Ninja Sphere links different appliances in a home and controls them all. The central hub called a 'Spheramid' (shown) can be controlled by smartphones or gestures . - Be alerted if you have left home and left an appliance on, and easily turn it of, such as heaters or lamps. - See who is at home or away by detecting smartphones in the home. - See exactly where lost wallet and keys are located using a tag. - Be alerted if a valuable is being moved and you’re not at home, possibly suggesting an intruder is in the house. - Control of lights, media, and environment devices via natural gestures on top of the Spheramid. - Create ‘if this then that’ (IFTTT) style rules against presence, location or time such as: ‘If I’m on my way home and it’s cold outside turn on the heater.’ Australian company Ninja Blocks, based in Sydney, have now started accepting pre-orders for their Ninja Sphere system following a successful Kickstarter campaign, with delivery due in October this year. Using GPS, Zigbee, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) it is able to detect devices and create a ‘map’ of them in a home. Through an app it can then sync with a phone or other devices to control them all. The brain of the entire system is the Spheramid, £180 ($305), which acts as a central hub for different devices in the home. Around the house the user then needs to place contact, motion and temperature sensors supplied by the company, known as ‘Smart Sockets’. There can be configured with other services such as Nest, Philips Hue and Dropcam. Tiny devices known as a Waypoints also need to be placed around the house, which will allow the Ninja Sphere to locate things. This means, for example, it could show you where pets are in the house if they have a small Bluetooth-enabled collar. Ninja Sphere an open source modified version of Ubuntu Linux to operate. Shown here is one of the potential uses for Ninja Sphere. By syncing with a Smartwatch and lights it can alert a user that their lights are still on and let them turn them off using several devices . One of the touted benefits is also that, using tags on certain items, it can detect when they are being moved and send an alert to the user (shown). This could indicate than an intruder is in the home, for example . Using a phone or smartwatch, the central Ninja Sphere hub can then control other aspects of a home. For example, while watching the TV Ninja Sphere could alert a user on-screen if their phone is ringing in another room, and even tell them where it is. Or while out of the house it could send a message to a phone that items are being moved while the owner is not there - suggesting an intruder might be in the home. The device also has gesture-recognition software so, for instance, by waving a hand over the device the volume of music in a room could be altered. Or simply tapping the device could turn lights on and off. It’s not especially cheap at the moment, however: It costs £180 ($305) for one Spheramid, in addition to the other sensors that are needed. And the company also recommends that at least one Spheramid is need for every floor of a home for it to work properly. Two per floor are needed if the house is especially big. ‘Your Ninja Sphere learns about you, and your environment,' says the company. 'It uses data from sensors and actuators to build a model that can inform you if something is out of place.’ ‘It can monitor temperature, lighting, energy usage, you and your pets' presence, and anything else you connect to your sphere. ‘By using data from your devices, environment, and location your sphere is able to advise you intelligently and give you control only when you need it.' Tiny devices known as a Waypoints also need to be placed around the house, which will allow the Ninja Sphere to locate things. This means, for example, it could show you where pets are in the house (shown) if they have a small Bluetooth-enabled collar. Ninja Sphere uses an open source modified version of Ubuntu Linux to operate . | Sydney-based company is preparing to release a unified smart home device .
The Ninja Sphere links different appliances in a home and controls them all .
Central hub called a 'Spheramid' can be controlled by phone or gesture .
Using a variety of external sensors it can change the environment in a home .
For example it can change the temperature or turn lights on and off .
It can also locate pets, wallets, keys and more around a house using tags . |
0d88db16be3b8c6c9a1c12f6d018f23eee2473c7 | By . Emily Allen . UPDATED: . 09:37 EST, 4 November 2011 . A mother lied about four of her children being disabled to cheat £45,000 in benefits. Marie Barber, 29, received tax credit top-ups in a scam which played two government departments off against each other. The mother of six cried as she was told by judge Robert Atherton: 'Those people who have children who are disabled would be outraged. 'You did it for your own benefit - every . household in the country no doubt would say they would like to have . more than they have got.' In court: Marie Barber received big tax credit top-ups in a scam which played two government departments off against each other . Barber pretended that the children, aged between six months and eight, had 'severe' conditions in calls made to tax credit helplines over a three-year period. In reality, all of her children were able-bodied. At the time, Barber, of Worsley, Greater Manchester, was receiving disability living allowance for depression, and used her knowledge of the system in a series of frauds. Manchester Crown Court was told her husband, who she has since split up with, was earning around £23,000 a year throughout. The tax credit system is run by Revenue and Customs and designed to help working families with low or uncertain incomes. Earning: Manchester Crown Court, pictured, was told her husband, who she has since split up with, was earning around £23,000 a year throughout . Barber, who began cheating the system in 2007, also lied about the amount of disability living allowance she was getting herself to increase her tax credit entitlement. She also falsely claimed that her husband's wages had almost halved two years in a row. By doing this, she boosted the amount of tax credits she was paid by more than £10,000 a year. She was finally exposed by Revenue and Customs checks which revealed no disability living allowance award had been made for any of her children. Barber pleaded guilty to ten offences against the Tax Credits Act. She was given a 52-week sentence, suspended, for two years. Mike O'Grady, assistant director of Revenue and Customs' criminal investigations team, said, 'The vast majority of our customers are honest and claim only what they are entitled to, and we owe it to them to investigate and pursue fraudsters who cheat the system through pure greed.' | Judge: 'Those people who have children who are disabled would be outraged'
Marie Barber, 29, given suspended sentence suspended . |
0d895d0b219a49e9cd818577fcc76a72ea3ae410 | By . Anna Hodgekiss . PUBLISHED: . 11:52 EST, 24 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 01:51 EST, 25 October 2012 . The parents of a little girl who suffered more than 100 fits a day were repeatedly told there was wrong with her, they have claimed. Olivia Meredith, known as Livvy to her family, suffered from Rett Syndrome, a form of autism which leads to epileptic fits. But it took two years to get a diagnosis, with the toddler instead being diagnosed with a learning difficulty - and her fits being blamed on this. Olivia Meredith suffered from Rett Syndrome, a form of autism that leads to epileptic fits . Her mother Sara, 36, claims doctors said the seizures were quite common and accused her of 'being neurotic'. She said: 'Livvy went from being a happy healthy toddler, to one who couldn't speak, walk or talk.' It felt like it all happened overnight. 'She was just 22-months-old at the time and before that she suffered no other symptoms. Eventually she started to have seizures and on one occasion she had 100 fits in 24 hours. It was terrifying.' Mrs Meredith, a foster mother, and her husband Alan, 41, not only had to face caring for their sick daughter, they also had to battle with medics who refused to believe Livvy was seriously ill. Olivia (second left) with her sisters (from left to right) Brodie, Eden and Kennedy, days before she died in 2008 . Olivia's family are now fundraising to try and find a cure for the devastating condition. Her parents Sara and Alan say it took two years for their daughter to be diagnosed . 'She would just scream instead of . speaking,' recalled Mrs Meredith. Doctors at the local Manor Hospital in Walsall diagnosed her . with a learning disability. ‘But I knew this wasn't the case,' she said. She claims the . doctors continued to disregard the seizures of a sign of anything . serious, saying they were common in children with a learning disability. ‘One doctor accused me of being neurotic.’ Finally, at the age of four, Livvy was referred to a neurologist, who immediately diagnosed Rett Syndrome. ‘At the time there wasn't a great deal . of information about the illness, despite it being fairly common in . girls,’ said Mrs Meredith. ‘But we were told it was life-limiting and . Livvy had a severe form of the condition. Olivia's parents were told their daughter's fits - which sometimes totalled 100 a day - were due to her suffering a learning disability. They say they were accused by doctors of being 'neurotic' She continued: ‘It was a big shock. To have a healthy child who you are then told has a life threatening illness is devastating. ‘We complained but we didn't get an apology from The Manor Hospital for not diagnosing it. It was down to knowledge - they hadn't come across it before. If we went there now - they would spot it.' Livvy died in 2008 aged nine after contracting a virus. Mrs Meredith is now crusading to raise awareness of the condition and fundraising to find a cure. 'Now I am determined to raise awareness of the condition and money for the Rett Syndrome Trust UK, which is looking at finding a cure. 'I hope that no one will ever have to suffer the way we did with Livvy. It is soul destroying and the only reason Alan and I have managed to move forward is because we have three beautiful girls and our faith.' For more details on how to donate to the trust visit: www.reverserett.org.uk . Rett syndrome is a genetic disorder . that affects approximately 1 in 12,000 females (it is rarely seen in . boys). It causes severe physical and mental disability that begins in . early childhood. The . syndrome usually goes unnoticed for the first few months of the child's . life, although parents often realise with hindsight that their child did . show some features of the condition quite early on. Parents . tend to first become aware of the condition when their child fails to . develop normally. Symptoms include: slowed growth; loss of normal movement and coordination; loss of communication and thinking abilities; abnormal hand movements; unusual eye movements, breathing problems; irritability; seizures; abnormal curvature of the spine (scoliosis); irregular heartbeat; constipation. | Olivia Meredith's parents were told the fits were due to a learning difficulty .
Accused of being 'neurotic' when questioned doctors .
Finally diagnosed with Rett Syndrome, a form of autism that causes epilepsy .
Little girl died aged nine . |
0d8985b159d16dfc9192318694140d6701d804f6 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 00:43 EST, 15 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 03:48 EST, 15 July 2013 . CBS has responded to the growing controversy over racist and homophobic statements made by several 'Big Brother' contestants that were captured on the reality show's live Internet feed. Every program now comes with a written warning from the network. CBS had already distanced itself by making a statement about the prejudicial views being expressed by certain Big Brother Houseguests in its webcast by issuing a statement, but now on its main highlights program an advisory was shown on last nights episode. Disclaimer: CBS Big Brother 15 placed a warning before the show for the first time in its history . 'Big Brother' is a reality show about group of people who have no privacy 24/7. At times, the Houseguests reveal prejudices and other beliefs that CBS does not condone. We certainly find the statements made by several of the Houseguests on the live Internet feed to be offensive. Views or opinions expressed by a Houseguest either on any live feed from the House or during the broadcast, are those of the individuals speaking and do not represent the views or opinions of CBS or the producers of the program. Viewer discretion is advised.' Over the years, TV viewers have long become used to seeing content disclaimers for violence, profanity and nudity, but Big Brother had never had such a warning for racial prejudice. The 15th season of Big Brother has shown more than one houseguest making racist comments to other contestants on the show. Some have criticized the program for including such content, yet the show’s viewership has climbed in the wake of the controversy. Scroll down for video . 'Watchu gon do gurl?' Aaryn said in an attempt to rile an African American housemate . There was outrage over the racist . comments uttered on Big Brother last week. After Thursday's eviction episode, Aaryn Gries targeted fellow housemate Candice Stewart by flipping over her mattress. After warning her not to flip her mattress again, Gries responded back in a 'black' accent mocking the African-American Stewart. 'Whatchu gon' do gurl...whatchu gon' do? Class girl. Where's yo class?' Aaryn mocked. And not to be outdone by her friend, GinaMarie Zimmerman piped in with more racism. As Candice was getting worked up, GinaMarie confronted her saying: 'You want the black to come out?' Earlier in the month, the 'Big Brother' live feeds captured Season 15 contestants Aaryn Gries and GinaMarie . Zimmerman making racist and homophobic comments about their competitors. 'Dude, shut up, go make some rice,' Aaryn said about Helen, an Asian-American contestant. Later, . GinaMarie added, 'Andy was like, 'I'm gonna punch her in the face,' and . I was like, 'Maybe that'll make her eyes straight.'' Speaking . about Howard and Candice, two African-American contestants, the duo . said: 'Blacks stick together ... They're like tokens ... They're like . black Barbie and Kens.' The duo also said Howard and Candice's 'blackness' was starting to come out. Since . the comments were made, it has been revealed that Aaryn Gries has been . dropped by her Austin, Texas-based modeling agency Zephyr Talent. Shortly . after the incident, the live feeds captured 'Big Brother' producers . making an announcement on the house PA system warning contestants not to . use racial slurs against other housemates. 'You want the black to come out?' GinaMarie, left, threatened Candice, right . Former . 'Big Brother' contestant Ragan Fox has written an open letter to CBS . calling on the network to air the racist statements on the show's CBS . broadcast, to give viewers an accurate representation of their . character. 'Houseguests . GinaMarie, Aaryn, and Kaitlin referred to historically marginalized . players as ‘tokens,’' Fox wrote. 'Sadly, they aren’t too far off in . their assessment. Characters like Andy (Herren), Candice, Howard . (Overby), and Helen are reduced to mere tokens when production fails to . include micro-aggressions that they have to endure on a day-to-day . basis. What’s the point of . casting racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities if production’s going to . edit out the racism, ethnic discrimination, and homophobia that these . people encounter inside the house?' Race war: Candice had to be physically removed from the room by housemate Howard Overby . Housemate . Howard Overby - who is also black - had to physically remove Candice . from the room to stop the fight from escalating. Both . GinaMarie and Aaryn drew criticism earlier this week when CBS aired . some of their racist comments originally seen only by subscribers on the . internet-only live feed. After . contestant Howard Overby told his fellow housemates’ of the ladies . remarks, calling them comments that ‘you can’t apologize for,’ the . network went to the videotape. Awful: A contestant can be heard off-camera mocking an Asian housemate . Gries is shown mocking Asian house . guest Helen, saying ‘shutup, go make some rice,’ while mocking nail . salon workers. Zimmerman then chimed in ‘Andy was like, 'I'm gonna . punch her in the face,' and I was like, ''Maybe that'll make her eyes . straight.’ Soon after, the dynamic duo moved on to deriding African-Americans. Digging . the hole deeper, Zimmerman said fellow contestant Candice Stewart ‘is . on the dark side, but she's already dark,’ with Gries adding ‘be careful . what you say in the dark because you might not be able to see the . b----.’ Hateful: Another housemate can he heard joining in on the racism, the remarks were aired Sunday night by CBS . Fired: Aaryn Gries and GInamarie Zimmerman were fired after their employers became aware of their hateful comments on the show . Not to be outdone, Gries then called gay housemate Andy Herren a ‘queer.’ ‘Dude, that’s rude!’ said a fellow contest seeing the slurs for the first time. 'Even . when these comments are made in fun, they still hurt and are . disrespectful, especially when that person isn't there to hear it and . back themselves up,’ the African-American Overby told the cameras. ‘It . could privvy me to losing my temper, but that's a no-no. I have to keep . my eyes down the field for the bigger prize. Though not aired on Sunday night, Spencer Clawson was also heard slamming gays and praising Adolf Hitler. '[Gries] . makes comments that are completely inappropriate, where she makes fun . of other people for what they look like and their ethnicity, and I think . that's going to hurt her -- a lot -- in the game and outside the game,' contestant Amanda Zuckerman opined. Terrible: Spencer Clawson's praise of Hitler and homophobic slurs may have cost him his job with railroad operator Union Pacific . Fallout from the ranting was swift. Gries, a 22-year-old student and sometimes model, was dropped from her talent agency. 'We . certainly find the statements made by Aaryn on the live Internet feed . to be offensive,’ Zephyr Talent said in a statement on its Facebook . page, adding that ‘upon much consideration, we have decided to release . Aaryn from her contract…’ Zimmerman, a pageant director for East Coast USA Pageant, was also fired. 'We . are actually thankful that this show let us see GinaMarie for who she . truly is,’ a spokesperson said, ‘we would never want her to be a role . model to our future contestants.' Currently on unpaid leave from Union Pacific while participating in the show, Clawson has also found himself in hot water. ‘The . values represented by Spencer Clawson's comments during the 'Big . Brother' show do not at all align with Union Pacific's values,’ said a . statement on the railroad operator's site. ‘Union Pacific does not . condone his comments. Union Pacific is acting in accordance with . Collective Bargaining Agreement terms regarding Mr. Clawson.' | Disclaimer displayed at the start of Big Brother's Sunday night program .
CBS keen to distance itself from comments made by its 'Houseguests'
Housemates have sparked outrage several times over the past week for racist comments .
Contestants originally mocked Asians, blacks and gays, with one even praising Hitler .
Two contestants have lost their jobs as a result of such candor . |
0d8a02341b9dec7fc9bdeb010321ca5c5ff324aa | By . Alex Greig . PUBLISHED: . 13:06 EST, 14 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 16:32 EST, 14 October 2013 . A six-year-old boy has drowned in the pool of a cruise liner at sea. Carnival Cruise Lines said in a statement that the boy, identified as Qwentyn Hunter, a child model from Winter Garden, Florida, drowned in one of its pools on Sunday afternoon. Detective Javier Baez of the . Miami-Dade Police Department said that the boy had been playing with . his 10-year-old brother and other family members in the pool on Sunday afternoon. Tragic loss: Qwentyn Hunter died aboard a Carnival cruise after attempts to resuscitate him failed . Sad end: The Carnival ship Victory arrived in port in Miami, Florida this morning bearing sad news . Too late: A DJ alerted passengers to the boy underwater in this pool, but it was too late to save him . Grieving: Passengers disembarking the cruise were shaken and upset by Qwentyn Hunter's death . At 4:45pm, he was spotted motionless under the water. Other passengers pulled the boy from the pool and attempted to revive him but he died onboard the ship. A . Carnival Cruise Lines spokesperson told the Los Angeles Times that there was no . lifeguard on duty at the time of Qwentyn Hunter's death. 'We do not have lifeguards on duty at our pools,' Carnival spokeswoman Jayme Weber told the Los Angeles Times on Monday morning. 'Parental supervision is required for children under 13.' In this case, she said, 'there was a parent present at the time of the incident." 'Carnival extends its heartfelt sympathy to the family during this very difficult time. The company's CareTeam is providing assistance and support,' Carnival Cruise Line said in a statement. The Carnival Victory ship was on the last leg of a four-day Caribbean cruise when the boy drowned. The ship arrived early Monday morning at Port Miami. Qwentyn Hunter was a child model with Ariza Talent and Modeling Agency in Longwood. The tragic death of six-year-old Qwentyn Hunter is the latest in a string of Carnival Cruise Lines incidents in 2013.February 10: The Carnival Triumph broke down in the Gulf of Mexico with more than 4,000 passengers aboard.Passengers were stranded for five days in horrific conditions.They . described sewage-soaked floors and people defecating in sinks and . showers. Passengers had nothing to eat but bread and onions and the ship . was listing badly to one side.Many passengers camped out on deck to escape the smell of sewage which had soaked into the carpet in many suites. There was no water or light so when the sun went down, the ship descended into total darkness. February 25: 18-year-old high school senior Seth Younes died of alcohol poisoning on the last night of an eight-day Carnival cruise.Carnival Cruise Lines spokesperson Vance Gulliksen said, 'there is no indication he was served any alcohol by shipboard personnel.' 14 March: Weary passengers had to fly home from St Maarten after the cruise liner Dream experienced technical issues and was unable to sail back to Florida. April 20: The Carnival Ecstasy lost power off the coast of Florida. The power failure shut down hotel services and the engines and caused toilets to overflow as the cruise was approaching its home port of Port Canaveral, Florida after a five-day cruise. May 8: Paul Rossington, 30, and Kristen Schroder, 27, were discovered missing when the Carnival Spirit liner docked in Sydney on May 10. Authorities believe Schroder fell off the ship first and her panic-stricken boyfriend then jumped in to try to save her. September 20: 41-year-old Michael Ward died aboard Carnival's Dream. One of the two survivors of the 1985 MOVE bombing, Ward, also known as Birdie Africa, was found dead in a hot tub. The medical examiner said his death appeared to be from accidental drowning. Toxicology reports are still pending. | Qwentyn Hunter, six, drowned Sunday afternoon in a pool aboard a Carnival cruise .
The Florida child model was pulled from the pool by passengers .
Paramedics performed CPR but the boy died at the scene .
The ship docked in Miami early this morning . |
0d8b6119bf934a28ce9e9687f2537f1b9e300595 | On Earth, sex is essential for many lifeforms to survive - but elsewhere in the universe it might not even exist. In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, Richard Dawkins explained how the need for us to have sex is one of the great unanswered questions of evolution. He added the need for two genders to reproduce is 'problematic' and finding alien life could be key to discovering why we have male and females, instead of a range of genders. While Richard Dawkins (pictured) believes aliens and humans share certain traits, there are others that will fall by the wayside - including sex. He told MailOnline that sex is a great unanswered question of evolution, and finding alien life could help solve the mystery of why most animals rely on it to reproduce . Mr Dawkins made the comments to MailOnline at the the Starmus festival in Tenerife, an event that features talks from leading experts in space, science and astronomy. 'Does there have to be sex in an alien world? I think probably not,' Mr Dawkins explained. 'It's not at all clear what sex is doing anyway. It's problematic enough. 'I wouldn't put my shirt on there being sex [in an alien world]. If there is sex, why just two sexes? Why not three or four?' He continued: 'One outstandingly unanswered question [about evolution] is what's sex for?' Sex would be unlikely to be 'common between different life forms,' but discovering alien life could 'teach us about evolutionary principles,' he added. Dawkins told MailOnline he wants biologists to start to consider what other life might be like in the the likely event we discover we are not alone. 'The number of stars in current estimates is 10 to the power of 22, and it looks as though most of them have planets, so it's feasible to say the number of planets is in excess of 10 to the power of 22,' he said. 'It would seem to be rash to predict we're the only life form in the entire universe. 'On the other hand if there was only one planet that has life then it has to be this one, because here we are. 'The alternative is to say yes, we are alone. If you want to believe that then the origin of life on this planet has to be a quite staggeringly improbable event.' 'So we're left with the rather paradoxical result that people who are trying to work out how life originated on this planet are totally wasting their time, because the theory we're seeking is not a plausible theory, it's an exceedingly implausible theory.' Dawkins explained that if there is a plausible theory for the origin of life - one that has yet to be put forward - then there's going to be 'lots and lots' of life in the universe. 'I think there's lots of life in the universe, but that's just a hunch. It may still be very rare; it may be so rare that there are only a billion of them. 'If there are only a billion life forms then they will probably be so spaced out from each other that they'll never know each other and never come in contact. 'If they do come in contact, if we ever come in contact, it will almost certainly be by radio than by actually bodily meeting. And he believes that 'the fact we do see sex so ubiquitously [on Earth] is very telling. 'We do see no sex as well, asexuality does happen, so it's not absolutely essential. 'If you look at the distribution in the taxonomic tree of life, what you see is that asexual reproduction seems to crop up. 'With one exception, there is no major branch of animal - clade - all members of which produce asexually. 'The fact that it's sporadic, that it crops up here, here and here but not in major clades, suggests that when it does crop up it may flourish for a short while of evolution, but then it goes extinct. 'That could be a very telling fact.' In Dawkins' talk at the Starmus festival yesterday he spoke on alien taxonomy, and what we might expect aliens to look like. Dawkins pondered whether the way certain animals have evolved on Earth has been random, or followed a path that would be similar for any alien life forms. In particular, he discussed how organs such as eyes, on a world where light was abundant, would be very likely to evolve in a similar way. And even things such as religion, as society develops, would be shared by humans and an intelligent extraterrestrial race. On whether aliens might have their own religions Dawkins said: 'I think it wouldn't be totally unsurprising. After all, he said, religion has arisen in every single civilisation that anthropologists have ever looked at that. 'I suppose it's plausible that any alien life form which is on the way to developing the sort of technology that's capable of reaching us would be likely to go through a preliminary phase of uncertain groping in the dark,' he added. 'Before they hit upon truths like Newton's laws, which are universal, and Einstein's theory of gravitation, which is also universal, they might well go through a phase of groping in the dark. 'It's something we might recognise as religion.' Dawkins said he wants biologists to start to consider what other life might be like in the event we discover we are not alone - which he claims is increasingly unlikely. Mr Dawkins (pictured) also said he wants biologists to start to consider what other life might be like in the event we discover we are not alone - which he claims is increasingly unlikely. He believes there's lots of life in the universe, and its may be so rare and spaced out, it will never come into contact . The number of stars in current estimates is 10 to the power of 22, and it looks as though most of them have planets, so it's feasible to say the number of planets is in excess of 10 to the power of 22, said Dawkins. He said It would seem to be rash to predict we're the only life form in the entire universe. 'On the other hand if there was only one planet that has life then it has to be this one, because here we are,' he said. 'The alternative is to say yes, we are alone. If you want to believe that then the origin of life on this planet has to be a quite staggeringly improbable event.' The Starmus festival is an event held in Tenerife that features various talks from leading experts in space, science and astronomy. It hosts presentations from astronauts, cosmonauts, Nobel Prize winners and prominent figures from science, culture, the arts and music. Guests include Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins, Brian May, and Alexei Leonov - the first man to perform a spacewalk. 'The most important thing for me is to see people leaving Tenerife satisfied and inspired,' said astrophysicist Garik Israelian, who runs the event. This year's event, hosted at the Ritz-Carlton Abama hotel, runs from 22 to 27 September. 'So we're left with the rather paradoxical result that people who are trying to work out how life originated on this planet are totally wasting their time, because the theory we're seeking is not a plausible theory, it's an exceedingly implausible theory.' Dawkins explained that if there is a plausible theory for the origin of life - one that has yet to be put forward - then there's going to be 'lots and lots' of life in the universe. 'I'm just pointing out a kind of incompatibility between the belief that we're unique, which many want to believe, and hunting for the origin of life on this planet, which is a lost cause if you want to believe that,' he continued. 'I think there's lots of life in the universe, but that's just a hunch. It may still be very rare; it may be so rare that there are only a billion of them. Dawkins said if there are only a billion life forms then they will probably be so spaced out from each other that they'll never know each other and never come in contact. He believes if they do come in contact, it will almost certainly be by radio than by actually bodily meeting. 'That's because radio waves get propagated in all directions, and so we could be being bathed in radio emissions of some extraterrestrial civilisation,' he said. On what he expects to be found first, alien life or the origin of our life, Dawkins said: 'I would think finding a plausible theory of the origin of our life. 'If we can find a plausible theory then that pretty much means there's lots of life.' The comments were made at the Starmus festival in Tenerife. It hosts presentations from astronauts, cosmonauts, nobel prize winners and prominent figures from science, culture, the arts and music. This year's guests include Stephen Hawking (pictured), Brian May and Alexei Leonov - the first man to spacewalk . One opinion he would like to distance himself from, though, is the possibility of life on Earth being seeded by aliens. 'I was interviewed by a creationist film and the man said "can you think of any conceivable way in which life on this planet could have been intelligently designed?" 'So I said the only conceivable way I can think of is not God, which is what [he wanted] me to say, but alien seeding. But I explicitly said I do not believe in alien seeding. 'If you really press me to think of how intelligence could ever have designed life on this planet, the only possibility would be alien seeding. 'That's very different from saying I believe in alien seeding. It's been distorted possibly maliciously by a creationist.' If there is life out there, however, Dawkins thinks it is likely they follow similar evolutionary principles to life on Earth. 'Does life have to be Darwinian? I think it does,' he said. 'I don't think there's another theory that's been suggested that could give rise to the sort of organised complexity that we call life. I'm kind of betting my shirt on Darwinism.' | Richard Dawkins revealed theories on alien life exclusively to MailOnline .
He explained the ways in which it might be different, and similar to our own .
Dawkins said the existence of sex is 'problematic' and he does not expect all aliens to use it to reproduce .
He also believes aliens may 'grope in the dark' with religion like humans .
And that some evolutionary principles, according to Darwinism, may be commonplace in the universe . |
0d8b8fed92fe8c26d2ce198e03d6fb0419affd3b | (CNN) -- Even though she was 4 years old at the time, Deborah Gouin remembers it like it was yesterday. This plaque hangs in Buddy Holly's high school, where iReporter Cliff Giles graduated a few years later. "My mother would listen to this light brown Zenith radio every morning to see if the school was closed," she said of her childhood in snowy Michigan. One morning, Gouin's mother heard the news and notified her brother. "She said, 'Kenny! Buddy Holly died last night!'" Gouin asked her mother, "Who's Buddy Holly?" Her mother explained that he sang "Peggy Sue." Gouin remembers her brother being saddened at the news. "My brother was at the age where he was interested in rock 'n' roll music, and would play the new songs on his trumpet." It was February 3, 1959, a day that would be immortalized more than a decade later in the Don McLean song "American Pie" as "the day the music died." Holly, as well as fellow rock 'n' roll musicians Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, lost their lives in a plane crash early that morning. It is often recognized as the end of an early era for rock 'n' roll music, and iReporters shared their thoughts on on that tragic day and what it meant. In Gouin's case, she discovered Holly's work later in life. She owns a five-volume set of his work. "I'm totally a huge fan of Buddy's music," she said. "It was a huge loss. I think he would have had an even bigger influence on music if he had lived." iReport.com: Gouin shares her memories of that day . Beverly Cummins clearly remembers hearing about the tragedy as well. Her sister and cousin had spent the night at her house. "My cousin had a crush on Ritchie Valens and played his 45 record 'Donna' the night before, among others." That morning, she heard her cousin screaming as a radio station delivered the news. "I heard it for myself about an hour later," she said. "It was stunning, and I started crying because she was crying. Even though I was 7, I knew what death meant." Her cousin continually played records by Valens "while young and old tried to absorb how a series of tragic circumstances could have taken these three so young and full of life and promise." Cummins said her cousin had her friends over for a memorial sleepover. "They even got the Ouija board out to see if they could contact them. It was quickly put away when it scared everybody enough. "I can hardly conceive that 50 years have passed since this defining moment in my own little life." iReport.com: How teens of the time paid tribute to the trio . Cliff Giles attended Lubbock High School in Lubbock, Texas, the same school Holly had attended a few years earlier. He was eating at a nearby restaurant when he heard the news. "I remember thinking that it was a shame his life and career ended so quickly," he said. Giles never met Holly but became a fan of his music from listening to the radio at the time. "Like most teenagers then, I liked his early, up-tempo music best," he said. "I remember kids complaining about how he had turned soft with the orchestra-backed album." iReport.com: Concert re-creates final tour . Giles, a pilot, said, "It's probably easier for me to imagine the panic that gripped the very young pilot as he came to realize that he had lost control of the airplane on that dark and stormy night, and how easily it can happen." During the 40th reunion of his high school class, Giles toured the building where both he and Holly received their education. He says, "I'm proud of the photo that my son -- also a Buddy Holly fan -- made of me standing by a plaque commemorating Buddy's homeroom." iReport.com: Read more about Holly's fellow alumnus . Robert Graham grew up in his parents' record shop in the 1950s and remembers listening to Buddy Holly's music often. He said Holly "wrote about what you were living at the time, what kids were going through," and that's why his death affected so many. He remembers his sisters, who were 11 and 13 at the time, crying upon hearing the news. iReport.com: Watch Graham remember early era of rock . George Spink, a freshman at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1959, was listening to the radio as usual when the news was announced. "We couldn't believe it. It just seemed unreal," he said. "It was really sad to hear that three of them were killed at one time. Plus, these guys were only four or five years older than me." Later that day, Spink saw his girlfriend. "She was crying her eyes out because she was such a big fan of Buddy Holly." iReport.com: College student talks about being named Peggy Sue . Spink enjoyed the Big Bopper's music, in particular. "He had a good sense of humor; he was fun to watch and didn't seem to take himself so seriously." Spink remembers being first drawn to rock 'n' roll music around the time "Blackboard Jungle" was released. The 1955 film included the song "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets. "That was big among my friends in high school," Spink said. "We really liked a lot of rock and roll, rhythm and blues especially." As he was posting his iReport, Spink listened once again to some of the music of Holly, Valens and the Big Bopper and says it still holds up today. "I have a lot of good memories of when rock 'n' roll first began, and they were a part of it." iReport.com: "The day what music died?" Spink also recalls McLean's 1971 song with the famous lyrics about "the day the music died." "I thought that was going too far, music didn't die," he says. "Their music didn't die; it has lived on for 50 years now." | iReporters recall tragic death of three rock 'n' roll stars 50 years ago .
Beverly Cummins calls it a "defining moment" in her life .
Cliff Giles attended the same high school as Buddy Holly .
Do you remember that day? Share your memories in photos and video . |
0d8c168d7a8e72f060592a35956bee75ca7c1393 | (CNN) -- In response to an Air Force colonel's overturned sexual assault conviction, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is asking Congress to limit military commanders' authority to toss out court-martial verdicts. "These changes would increase the confidence of service members and the public that the military justice system will do justice in every case," Hagel said in a statement Monday announcing the initiative. Hagel also wants to require commanders who change court-martial sentences to explain their decisions in writing. The effort comes in response to the case of Air Force Col. James Wilkerson. The F-16 pilot was freed last year from a Navy brig four months after a court-martial convicted him of sexually assaulting a woman at his home outside Aviano Air Base in Italy. Acting under the military justice system's Article 60, the Air Force's top commanding officer in Europe, Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin, exercised his power as "convening authority" of the court-martial to overturn the conviction. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was among those expressing outrage over the decision. "As we are trying to send a signal to women ... I question now whether that unit that that man returns to, whether there's any chance a woman who is sexually assaulted in that unit would ever say a word," McCaskill said during a hearing in March. Lisa Windsor, a former Army Judge Advocate General officer, said any base commander has authority to do what Franklin did, but "I've actually never seen that happen before, that a convening authority would completely overturn the case." Hagel ordered a review of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and Monday's announcement is the result. The Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretaries of the various services support the changes, he said. "Despite the attention and efforts of senior leaders throughout the Department of Defense, it is clear the department still has much more work to do to fully address the problem of sexual assault in the ranks," Hagel said. "This crime is damaging this institution. There are thousands of victims in the department, male and female, whose lives and careers have been upended, and that is unacceptable." About 19,000 men and women suffer sexual assault each year in the military, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last year in announcing a Pentagon effort to stop the crime. Panetta noted that only about 3,200 of those assaults were reported. About 10,700 cases -- 56% -- involved male victims in 2010, based on anonymous reporting collected by the military. CNN's Brian Todd, Josh Levs and Ashley Fantz contributed to this report. | Defense secretary wants to curb commanders' judicial power .
Initiative arises from pilot's overturned sexual assault conviction .
Air Force commander threw out verdict, restored defendant . |
0d8c6be0ae7133772615b0e92672ac0918a81c7f | (CNN) -- Toronto Mayor Rob Ford now has a new fight on his hands: a tumor. The president of Humber River Hospital announced Wednesday that the embattled mayor -- just over two months removed from treatment for substance abuse -- has been admitted to the hospital, where doctors will try to get "a definitive diagnosis." "It is being investigated further and we need to determine exactly what type of tumor it is, and then we can decide on what type of treatment is required," said Dr. Rueben Devlin, the Toronto hospital's president. According to Devlin, Ford has been "complaining of abdominal pains" for over three months that got worse over the last 24 hours. That prompted the mayor to go the hospital, where a CT scan revealed the tumor in his abdomen. It's not known yet if the tumor is malignant, according to Devlin. Doug Ford, the mayor's brother and a Toronto city councilor, asked reporters "just to give our family a day or so" as they learn more about the situation and determine what to do next -- including deciding whether or not Rob Ford will continue his campaign for re-election. "Rob is in good spirits, and I just want to thank the well-wishers for all the calls that are coming in," Doug Ford said. The health ailment adds to the list of struggles facing Ford, whose fall from grace began in May 2013 with the release of a cell phone video that appeared to show him smoking crack cocaine. The Toronto city council largely stripped him of his mayoral powers months later over those and other allegations of bad behavior. Ford didn't back down, though, instead vowing "outright war" on the city council. The mayor apologized for "a lot of stupid things," including having used crack cocaine, but he refused to resign or enter rehab. In fact, despite all the criticism and his becoming a punchline for jokes in Canada as well as the United States, Ford launched a bid for re-election. Yet this past spring, after a local newspaper reported on a new video that allegedly shows him smoking crack cocaine, Ford relented on one front: by going into rehab. He returned to work in late June, after a two-month rehab stint, saying he was "ashamed, embarrassed and humiliated" by some of his past actions. But even then, he refused to resign or refrain from campaigning, saying to the voters of Toronto, "I look forward to serving you for many, many more years." 'Ashamed, embarrassed' Rob Ford returns as Toronto mayor after rehab . | Toronto hospital executive: A CT scan shows Rob Ford has a tumor in his abdomen .
It's not known if the tumor is malignant or how it will be treated, the executive adds .
Rob Ford is "in good spirits," his brother says .
The mayor, who is running for re-election, has been dogged by his substance abuse . |
0d8c8f5372df2df14a511e73d28da74a2e983cd4 | New Delhi (CNN)At least 25 people have died after consuming illicitly brewed liquor in villages in northern India, health authorities said Tuesday. As many as 125 people have been hospitalized in the state of Uttar Pradesh after drinking the toxic liquor Monday, according to officials. Thirteen of the patients are on life support, said S.N.S. Yadav, the chief medical officer for the district of Lucknow. Authorities fear the death toll could rise. At least 17 people lost their lives in Lucknow hospitals, Yadav said, adding that there were unconfirmed reports that others had died in their villages. In neighboring Unnao district, eight people died from drinking toxic liquor, according to its medical chief, Geeta Yadav. It was not immediately clear where the villagers got the poisonous alcohol. Authorities have ordered an investigation into the incident. 69 dead after drinking poisonous home brew in Mozambique . | As many as 125 people have been hospitalized in the state of Uttar Pradesh .
Authorities fear the death toll could rise . |
0d8d599c6b7695870f3ae6aa3f63a08031042ebf | (CNN) -- A detail in the fatal shooting of 14-year-old Shaaliver Douse by a New York Police Department officer earlier this month has been stopping me from grieving his death. The tragedy happened around 3 a.m. Why was a 14-year-old boy out that late without his mother, Shanise Farrar, who called the shooting an assassination? Or his aunt, Quwana Barcene, who said the bloody gun police say was found near his body was part of a coverup? Where was the supervising adult who should have been with a 14-year-old boy walking the streets of New York at 3 o'clock in the morning? "I'm not saying that he's the best one, but he's my angel," his grieving mother said. Her "angel" was a suspected gang member who police say was chasing and shooting at an unidentified man when they encountered him. Her "angel" was arrested last month for attempted murder of a 15-year-old. Her "angel" left their apartment around 8 p.m. and she had no idea where he was until the next morning when detectives informed her that her son was dead. I want to mourn for her loss, I really do. But as callous and as heartless as this sounds, I just can't get past what awful parents she and the boy's father were. Children may be born angels, but with all the temptations out there in the world, it takes work to try to keep them that way. I'm sure the three teenagers suspected in the death of 23-year-old Christopher Lane -- killed because they allegedly were bored -- started off as angels. But who, besides their parents, would call them angels now? "I know my son. He's a good kid," said Jennifer Luna, the mother of the boy prosecutor Jason Hicks said pulled the trigger. As a newspaper reporter, I covered and was around a fair number of crime scenes involving juvenile delinquents and few things bothered me more than listening to their parents. Crying, ranting, proclaiming how great their children were despite being kicked out of school or previous run-ins with the law. That's not to say kids won't be kids. Of course they will be. Which is why it is vitally important that parents be parents. So when kids get bored, they don't think they should go "f**k with some n**gers," as then-18-year-old Deryl Dedmon Jr. suggested before he and his buddies ran over and killed 49-year-old auto worker James Craig Anderson, the first black person he saw, with his pickup truck back in 2011. Or randomly shoot a college student jogging down the street as entertainment -- though it seems the shooting may not have been as random as previously thought considering one of the suspects, who is black, tweeted that he hated white people back in April. Parents are supposed to instill a sense of right and wrong in their children and then keep up the due diligence necessary to make sure they don't veer off that path. When parents don't do that, we end up with three 15-year-olds assaulting and breaking the arm of a 13-year-old on a school bus in Florida. "This is life. I am sorry what happened to the victim," Julian McKnight Sr., whose son Julian was one of the boys accused in the attack, said after a court appearance. A second appearance is scheduled later this month. "It's just the way it is. My son ain't never been no bad person, he just got mixed with bad people, that's all ... he sorry." I am not a perfect parent with all the answers. But I do know that it was the father, and not the son, who was apologizing -- and that, my friends, is our problem in a nutshell. We don't teach accountability, we don't expect accountability and I'm not even sure we even know what accountability looks like anymore. Some of us have become so addicted to pointing fingers at others for all the wrong that happens in our lives that self-assessment has become synonymous with blaming the victim. Yes, there are cultural factors that make parenting difficult. And sometimes a bad seed is just that. But none of this excuses us from taking personal responsibility where we can. I am tired of seeing "sorry" being used to cloak negligent parents. Sorry won't bring back Christopher Lane or James Craig Anderson. And they, too, were each somebody's "angel." If sorry is not good enough to protect a bartender who serves alcohol to a visibly intoxicated person who drives and kills someone, why is sorry good enough for parents who, through negligence, are culpable for the crimes their undisciplined children commit? If my son goes out and breaks the neighbor's window, I have to pay for it. Why is a window more sacred than another human life? We need to hold parents more accountable, both culturally and legally, for the actions of their children. Maybe then more parents will be more engaged in the lives of their children on the front end, rather than the back end, in front of a judge. Society has avenues for juveniles who refuse to obey their parents. But where are the safeguards for society when parents decide not to use those avenues? I'm tired of hearing how good the kids who commit heinous crimes are. Maybe we should start putting parents on the witness stand so they can tell us exactly what they did to raise such perfect children. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of LZ Granderson. | 14-year-old killed by officer at 3 a.m. LZ Granderson asks, where were the parents?
LZ: Police say boy was shooting at others, was arrested before for attempted murder .
Boy's mother insists he was an "angel." LZ says parents often excuse kids' crimes .
LZ: Parents should be held responsible for negligence in these cases . |
0d8edbb42682053855d9d65a1144aaf6b274a66a | By . Daily Mail Reporter . Last updated at 9:19 AM on 28th June 2011 . Homeowners in Corby in the East Midlands are most at risk of having their home repossessed, a study of the country's reposessions hostpots found today. The Northamptonshire town has the highest proportion of homeowners who have been issued with a possession order for their home over the last 12 months, according to the research. It was closely followed by Barking and Dagenham and Newham in London; Knowsley, Merseyside and Thurrock, Essex. Scroll down for the full list of repossession hotspots . Struggling owners: A map showing the repossession hotspots across England . The report warned that the figures . reflected a need for homeowners across the country to prepare for higher . mortgage repayments when interest rates rise as expected later this . year. A possession . order is an advanced stage of the repossession process which means a . homeowner is at serious risk of losing their home. Corby was found to have a rate of possession orders nine times the higher than the lowest rate in West Dorset. The . study by the housing and homelessness charity identified 65 of 324 . local authorities as repossession hotspots - most of them areas of high . unemployment. High . concentrations of repossession hotposts were found in the Tyneside . areas surrounding Yorkshire, Leeds and Liverpool, the Wash, South East . London and the Kent and Essex coastal towns. The . average rate of unemployment in the local authorities with the highest . rates stood at 9.6 per cent, compared to 5.3 per cent in those with the least. At-risk: Homeowners in Corby, above, are nine times more likely to have their home repossessed than thos ein Dorset . And . unemployment has risen, on average, by 3.3 per cent over the last three years . in the most at risk areas, compared to a 1.4 per cent increase in the lowest, . Shelter said. The study also identified clusters of local . authorities - Tyneside, Kent coastal towns (Thurrock, Medway, Swale) and . The Wash (South Holland, Fenland, Peterborough) - among those in the . highest risk group. It also highlighted a red 'ribbon' of . repossessions across northern England from the Mersey in the west to the . Humber estuary in the east. The results were based on analysis of the latest Ministry of Justice figures on the rates of claims leading to possession orders per 1,000 households for each local authority, published in May 2011. Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, said: 'This research paints a frightening picture of repossession hotspots across the country where homeowners are literally on the brink of losing the roof over their head. 'We know only too well that the combined pressures of high inflation, increased living costs and stagnant wages are really taking a toll on people. 'All it takes is one thing like job loss to tip people over the edge and into the spiral of debt and repossession and ultimately homelessness.' Area, number of repossessions last year, rate of possessions per 1,000 homes1.Corby, East Midlands, 155, 7.562 Barking and Dagenham, London, 325 6.623 Thurrock, UA East of England, 325, 6.164 Knowsley, North West, 255, 5.685 Newham ,London, 400, 5.576 Doncaster, Yorkshire and Humber, 560, 5.447 Halton UA, North West, 215, 5.438 Tamworth, West Midlands, 135, 5.399 Kingston upon Hull, City of UA Yorkshire and Humber, 415, 5.2810 Rochdale, North West, 355, 5.2411 Tameside, North West, 390, 5.1112 Luton UA ,East of England 325 5.0713 Fenland, East of England, 185, 5.0414 Salford, North West, 380, 5.0415 Harlow, East of England, 115, 4.8516 Nottingham, UA East Midlands, 440, 4.8417 Stockton-on-Tees UA North East, 320, 4.8218 Sunderland, North East, 425, 4.8119 Oldham, North West, 350, 4.7920 Bradford, Yorkshire and Humber, 800, 4.7921 Blackburn with Darwen UA, North West, 220, 4.7722 Wigan, North West, 520, 4.7123 Sandwell, West Midlands, 415, 4.6824 County Durham, UA North East, 850, 4.6725 Middlesbrough, UA North East, 205, 4.6526 Manchester, North West, 645, 4.6327 Peterborough UA, East of England ,280, 4.5728 Lewisham, London ,355 4.5729 North East Lincolnshire UA, Yorkshire and Humber, 280, 4.5530 Nuneaton and Bedworth, West Midlands, 205, 4.5431 Stoke-on-Trent, UA West Midlands, 390, 4.5232 Pendle, North West, 160, 4.5233 Blackpool, UA North West, 280, 4.4834 Bolton, North West, 420 4.4835 Rotherham, Yorkshire and Humber, 380, 4.4336 Hartlepool, UA North East, 140, 4.3937 Liverpool, North West ,655, 4.3938 Wellingborough, East Midlands, 120, 4.3839 Gateshead, North East, 285, 4.3640 Burnley, North West, 150, 4.3641 Wakefield, Yorkshire and Humber, 485 4.3542 South Holland, East Midlands, 145, 4.3443 Croydon, London, 540, 4.3344 Slough UA, South East, 170, 4.2945 Darlington UA North East 170 4.2746 Leicester UA, East Midlands, 385, 4.2547 North Lincolnshire UA Yorkshire and Humber, 255, 4.2348 South Tyneside North East, 195, 4.1749 Walsall West Midlands, 340, 4.1750 Northampton East Midlands, 315, 4.1551 Greenwich London, 295, 4.1252 Cannock Chase, West Midlands, 140, 4.1253 Rossendale, North West, 105, 4.1254 Medway UA, South East, 415 4.1155 Bury, North West, 280, 4.1156 Milton Keyne,s UA South East, 335, 4.1157 Kirklees, Yorkshire and Humber, 605, 4.0958 Swale, South East, 200, 4.0959 St. Helens, North West, 255, 4.0660 Southwark, London, 250, 4.0061 Hyndburn, North West, 125, 4.0062 Erewash East Midlands 175 4.0063 Ashfield, East Midlands, 175, 3.9964 Birmingham, West Midlands, 1,255, 3.9965 Telford and Wrekin UA, West Midlands, 215, 3.99 . | Midlands town Corby has most residents losing homes .
Hotspots are areas with highest unemployment . |
0d8f2b94141ae884cf6e08ad60979926f0b71cc6 | By . James Rush . PUBLISHED: . 04:23 EST, 12 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 04:23 EST, 12 July 2013 . Organisers of one of the country's largest agricultural shows are investigating claims that cattle have been tampered with to improve their appearance. Bosses at the Great Yorkshire Show have warned tactics such as glueing extra hair onto animals will not be tolerated. Other methods of improving the way cattle look include pumping up udders with liquid or gas and then sealing the teats. Allegations: Bosses at the Great Yorkshire are investigating claims cattle have been tampered with to improve their appearance. These Highland cattle are being prepared for exhibiting at the show . Competition: A steward makes sure the next round of cows are prepared for the Jersey cow section at the Great Yorkshire Show . Two cases of tampering are currently being investigated - the first time in the event's 155-year history that such allegations have come to light. Bill Cowling, honorary show director of the Great Yorkshire Show, described the practice as 'despicable and heinous' and warned a screening system is in operation. On the second day of the event, he confirmed investigations were underway into two suspected cases after checks by the Yorkshire Show's vets when animals were brought out of the ring. He said: 'The owners have been informed, and any substances which may contravene the Society's malpractice rules are being analysed. Cooling off: The cattle classes are a hugely popular part of the show . 'The animals continue to participate in the show.' Results will not be available before the end of the show and could take between two to three weeks. Mr Cowling said: 'If they were confirmed, those animals would be stripped of their awards and the exhibitors would be banned from the show. 'Any prize money would also be forfeited. We have been carrying out random testing for three years and these are the first two animals that need further investigation. Popular: Bill Cowling, honorary show director of the Great Yorkshire Show, described the practice of tampering as 'despicable and heinous' 'We warned before the show that we would take any suspicions of tampering very seriously.' The cattle classes are a hugely popular part of the show with major breeders coming from all over the country to compete. Each year the Great Yorkshire Show, which took place in Harrogate over three days this week, attracts around 1,000 cattle entries. | Two cases of tampering at the Great Yorkshire Show are under investigation .
Bosses at the show have described tampering as 'despicable and heinous'
Underhand tactics include glueing extra hair on to animals . |
0d8f5377048d121c9ac3635bcfd5948fa8ccc84a | TV sitcoms like 'The Office' in which characters make jokes at someone else's expense are no laughing matter for older adults, according to new research. A new study has found that while young and middle-aged people think that ‘aggressive humour’ is funny, senior citizens aren’t amused. Instead, the older generation prefer ‘affiliative humour,’ in which a number of characters share and deal with an awkward situation. Scroll down for video . A new study has found that while young and middle-aged people think that ‘aggressive humour’ is funny, senior citizens aren’t amused . The study was undertaken by University of Akron researchers who showed young, middle-aged and older adults different clips from The Office, Golden Girls, Mr Bean and Curb Your Enthusiasm. The Ohio-based team, led by Jennifer Tehan Stanley, studied the reaction of participants as they watched 14 video clips. They noted how often each volunteer smiled and laughed. They also had electrodes attached to their faces to detect muscle movements made by smiling. Scientists are trying to harness the unintentional humour of autocorrect mistakes by teaching computers to be funny. The researchers in Finland and France took thousands of real text messages and tried to change them slightly like an autocorrect would - before asking people online to rate the humour. University of Helsinki professor Hannu Toivonen and his colleagues found taboo words increase the chance of texts becoming funny - as well as those where they are normal until the very end. Professor Toivonen said he decided to carry out the study following an autocorrect error that had seen him sign off an email with the phrase ‘best retards’, rather than ‘best regards’. He told The Times: ‘It is about understanding what mechanisms lie behind humour. Texts are a particularly good mechanism for that. There is a research field called 'computational creativity'. ‘It is about how to make computers more creative. Telling jokes is one sort of creativity. Some of the applications for this line of work could be in computer dialogue systems, to make them more humanlike.’ The paper also found ‘Meet at the bum stop’ is a funny autocorrected text, although ‘Just off from berk ... sorry I mean work’ is not so humorous. The study involved 30 participants 17-21 years old, 22 who were 35-56 years old and 29 who were 64-84 years old. The 64-to-84-year-olds found clips from The Office around 23 per cent less funny than the middle-aged people did, and about 19 per cent less funny than the 17-to-21-year-olds did. Young adults were also more likely to laugh at the self-deprecating humor, found in clips of episodes such as Curb Your Enthusiasm. Professor Stanley said she finds both types of humour funny, but that the study has made her rethink the jokes she makes in her lectures. ‘The study raises some intriguing questions about our concept of what is funny,’ she said. ‘Is that concept based on factors peculiar to generations, or does it evolve over time as we age and, perhaps, mellow? ‘Those possibilities will need to be explored in a future episode of humour research.’ | The study studied reactions of young, middle-aged and older adults .
They were shown clips from shows such as Golden Girls and Mr Bean .
64-to-84-year-olds found The Office 23% less funny than the middle-aged people did, and about 19% less funny than the 17-to-21-year-olds .
Young adults were also more likely to laugh at the self-deprecating humor, found in clips of episodes such as Curb Your Enthusiasm . |
0d8f8bad4680a1ab57197f60923e8cf71c748d6f | By . Helen Pow . PUBLISHED: . 17:56 EST, 17 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 18:40 EST, 17 October 2013 . Lawsuit: Minneapolis priest Michael Keating, pictured, is being sued for allegedly sexually abusing a girl for three years a decade and a half ago . A Minneapolis priest sent at least 19 'seductive' emails confessing his love to a teenage girl who he was allegedly sexually abusing for a period of three years a decade-and-a-half ago. The victim, who was 13 when the alleged abuse started and is in her late 20s now, filed a lawsuit against Reverend Michael Jerome Keating Monday claiming 'dealing with what he did to me is an hourly battle.' She alleges he fondled her breasts, made her lie on top of him while he was aroused, woke her in the middle of the night to ask for a back rub and french kissed her. In the deeply personal emails, made . public today by the girl's lawyer, Keating expressed love and affection for . the girl, regularly signing off 'love you lots and lots' and warning her . that she will be popular with the boys because she was 'pretty and . charming.' Keating, then-44 and 30 years the girl's senior, was attending St Paul Seminary at the time, studying to be a priest. He is now an associate professor in Catholic studies at the University of St. Thomas. According to her suit, Keating 'engaged in multiple instances of unpermitted, harmful and offensive sexual contact with the girl from 1997 to 2000. She said Keating repeatedly told her he loved her and she believed she loved him. In 2004 she said confronted him about the alleged abuse. 'He twisted things so much that by the end, I was apologizing to him,' she told the TwinCities.com. '(He said) "you're just an angry girl, and everything I've ever done has been out of love,"' she said. She said the abuse drove her to attempt suicide twice. 'The pain of the abuse didn't stop,' she said. 'What he did to me was so internally damaging that I forgot who I was.' Keating was ordained in 2002 and served as a priest at St. John the Baptist church in New Brighton from 2003 to 2005, the lawsuit states. In 2006, the woman, then 21, detailed the alleged abuse, and showed the personal emails, to archdiocese officials but the church found there was insufficient evidence to support a finding of sexual abuse of a minor. The board 'does not believe that the priest's faculties should be suspended, given his effectiveness in many areas of his work,' a summary provided to the family in 2007 stated. A concurrent police investigation was also abandoned. She described the decision as devastating. Thrown out: In 2006, the woman, then 21, detailed the alleged abuse, and showed the personal emails, to archdiocese officials but the church found there was insufficient evidence to support a finding of sexual abuse of a minor . The woman said she decided to file her suit against Keating this week after allegations involving another priest at the Twin Cities archdiocese and claims that the church had failed to report sexual misconduct. She said she felt a tremendous relief since opening up about the abuse. She said: 'I feel free. I'm not scared. I feel proud of myself. I feel excited for what it means not just for me but for other kids.' On the weekend, Keating announced that he was taking a leave from the archdiocese. He is however, still scheduled for classes at St Thomas, according tot he University's website. Neither commented on the case to TwinCities.com and Keating did not return a call made to his home on Monday. In a statement to the Star Tribune, Keating's attorney Fred Bruno on Thursday said the woman's claims 'were thoroughly discredited over six years ago.' He said at the time Father Keating passed a polygraph administered by Minnesota's 'most experienced and highly regarded law enforcement polygrapher.' 'The unfortunate grandstanding and publicity generated by the recent announcement of this lawsuit add nothing to the credibility of the claims,' he said. 'Such self-serving tactics do not promote genuine justice, and are needlessly hurtful to an esteemed member of the Catholic community and to the Church as a whole.' In a statement from the girl on Thursday, she said she had given her attorney Jeff Anderson permission to release a video testimony recorded when she came forward about the abuse in 2006. She said in the statement: 'I want the truth to be known. I want it to be understood that when the abuse started I was barely 13. I want people to know that I came to the Archdiocese with everything I had, with my whole and honest story and I feel like I begged them to hear me. The abuse itself and the way this has all been handled makes me so sad. It breaks my heart.' | The victim, who was 13 when the alleged abuse started and is in her late 20s now, filed a lawsuit against Twin Cities, Minnesota Reverend Michael Jerome Keating Monday .
She claims 'dealing with what he did to (her was) an hourly battle'
Keating, then-44, was attending St Paul Seminary at the time, studying to be a priest .
He is now an associate professor in Catholic studies at the University of St. Thomas .
The woman reported the abuse to the archdiocese in 2006 but they claimed the allegations were unfounded .
He sent scores of deeply personal emails to the young girl . |
0d90e29ba03e1aa1ab537c32e7e31565c0890879 | (CNN) -- When Howard Chiou went to Taiwan for his grandmother's funeral, he had another dead person on his mind -- the cadaver he was dissecting in his anatomy class. The Emory University medical student kept dreaming about who this dead man might have been when he was alive. "It was at the funeral that I learned that one of my uncles had the ability to see ghosts," said Chiou, sharing his story at Carapace, a monthly oral storytelling event in Atlanta. "During the entire funeral, my uncle's there giving a play by play of what my grandmother's doing in spirit form," telling guests that she was happy they were present. After the funeral, the uncle listened to Chiou's dreams and suggested a diagnosis of "spirit attachment" and treatment for the body's restless spirit. As Chiou led up to the last day of his anatomy class three years ago, Carapace's standing room only crowd waited on pins and needles to hear if he applied his uncle's treatment to the body. Atlanta residents Randy Osborne and Joyce Mitchell started Carapace more than a year ago as a local chapter of the Moth, a New York City-based oral storytelling group with a growing number of programs around the country (and a few in other countries). The Atlanta group, which broke away from the Moth and held its first independent event last month, is one of a growing number of oral storytelling groups across the country telling true stories before a live audience. Many people in the audience usually make up the potential list of storytellers for the night. Veteran Carapace storyteller Tim Banks, a retired Delta employee, shared the tale of a hawk that kept vigil with mourners after his brother's funeral. Only after hawks continued to visit him did he mention it to his sister-in-law, who told him that his brother loved hawks and would stop the car to watch them anytime he spotted them. Atlanta advertising executive Ben Yaun, a first-timer at the event but a teller of stories within his family, held the audience captive with a tale of an enormous, attacking snapping turtle that took over a fishing trip from his childhood. "It was prehistoric, I tell you, it was prehistoric!" he shouted to laughter from the audience. "There's no other type of performance really where the audience becomes the performer and becomes the audience again," Osborne said. "There's the intimacy of telling a story without any notes. You're singing your own song and telling your own story. You're getting up there and finding your way in front of the audience's eyes." Carapace rules are simple: Put your name in the hat and you might get picked, tell a personal story, keep it to five minutes, no notes, no political rants, no poetry, no grudges, no propaganda. Have a beginning, middle and end. Know the last line of your story. Pay your tab. Check out Carapace's Facebook page for the complete set of rules. Author George Dawes Green gets a lot of credit for the recent growth in oral storytelling as performance. Green founded the Moth in 1997 in his New York loft, inspired by nights with friends drinking Jack Daniels, playing poker and telling stories at his friend Wanda's home on St. Simons Island in Georgia. The group was named after the moths that would sneak through the rotten porch screens, drawn to the lights. "Storytelling seems to be in our DNA," said Green, author of "The Juror," "Ravens" and "The Caveman's Valentine." "Stories are the ways in which we can impart dense clusters of information glued together by emotion. It's really how we learn about the world in a way we can grasp and remember." The Moth has grown into a nonprofit with professional staff that runs storytelling events and competitions in New York, Los Angeles, Detroit and Chicago (with more cities to come) as well as storytelling training for corporations and high schools and community centers in underserved neighborhoods. There is also a Peabody-award winning Moth Radio Hour on public radio. Oral historian Stephen Sloan says oral storytelling speaks to our identity as human beings, and he isn't surprised at the recent popularity of true stories told live. "Before technology, storytelling was how you knew what was meaningful, how you had any deep understanding of who you were and what your place was in the world," said Sloan, a history professor and director of Baylor University's Institute for Oral History. "It was the way those ideas were communicated to us. That same thread is in these stories, the unscripted nature of it, the reality of it, the rawness of it. Something significant and very deep is conveyed through the relating of experience." Those stories attract large crowds to Moth's flagship Mainstage programs in New York and elsewhere. The Moth staff chooses a theme and invites five people from all walks of life -- some known and some not known to the audience -- to tell 10-minute first person stories on stage, said Moth artistic director Catherine Burns. Although the stories aren't strictly memorized, the artistic staff helps the storyteller to frame stories so they know where they're going with their tales. "It takes an enormous amount of work but that's what we're dedicating to doing," Burns said. As the Moth has grown and partnered with interested storytellers to launch "MothUP" affiliates in various cities around the country, a few local groups have chafed against rules more recently required by the national organization. The Moth intended MothUP affiliates to help create Moth StorySLAMs, which are the Moth's storytelling competitions, in those cities. The local groups in Atlanta and St. Louis have created communities of storytellers who have found a family, where a laugh or nod tells the teller that he has connected with the audience. The members weren't as interested in competition. Founders of both groups found they were violating other Moth rules: They had too many people attending to fit into a living room (a location requirement) and neither wanted to charge admission. Atlanta didn't want to have judging. St. Louis gave preference to first-time storytellers. "We open the stage to anyone who wants to tell a story and we try to fit in as many stories as we can," said Stacey Wehe, a founder of the St. Louis group, now named the Saint Louis Ten. Both sides describe the parting as amicable. "We underestimated what the demand would be, which is a luxury problem to have," Burns said. The Atlanta and St. Louis groups "got to a size that wasn't what the program was supposed to be. We didn't want to hold them back but we weren't ready to launch a slam there. We hope we'll do more in those cities eventually." Back at Manuel's Tavern in Atlanta, where Carapace holds its free monthly get-togethers, any storyteller who didn't get picked to speak was invited to come up on stage at the end of the evening to share their first, last or best line. Carapace's Osborne says it tends to be a popular part of the program, and that June night is no different. Atlanta resident Shannon Turner, who was raised in the oral storytelling tradition in Appalachia, has the crowd wanting more with her single line: "And that, my friends, is how God kept me a virgin." | Carapace is an oral storytelling group that has people tell true stories before an audience .
Rules: Tell a personal story, keep it to five minutes, no notes, no political rants, no poetry .
The Moth runs storytelling competitions in New York, Los Angeles, Detroit and Chicago . |
0d90e5cbbaae9b35f538e1e83dc709b1080da32f | Los Angeles (CNN) -- A day after Conrad Murray's lawyers complained he was suffering a "slow death" in a tiny jail cell, the doctor was moved to a slightly larger one, his lawyer said. Lawyers for the doctor convicted in Michael Jackson's death warned the Los Angeles County sheriff in a letter Wednesday that Murray was suffering possibly life-threatening and permanent injuries from almost a year in a 5-foot-by-7-foot cell. Authorities transferred Murray to a 8-foot-by-10-foot cell of the Los Angeles County jail Thursday, "but it's not a good thing," his lawyer Valerie Wass said. Murray was found guilty of causing Jackson's death on June 25, 2009, by administering a deadly overdose of sedatives and the surgical anesthetic propofol in what he told police was an attempt to cure the singer's insomnia. The new cell has a solid door with only a small window, unlike the old cell that was open with bars that Murray could prop his long legs on when he stretched, Wass said. "It's like being stuck in a closet and he's freaking out," she said. "He is feeling really isolated. When Murray called his lawyer Wednesday, "he basically said 'Valerie, I'm dying, save me,'" Wass said. Wass, who is leading Murray's appeal of his involuntary manslaughter conviction, and Michael Flanagan, one of his trial attorneys, will meet with jail officials soon. The meeting will focus on Murray's health problems they blame on his limited exercise and small cell, Wass said. "He needs exercise," she said. "You've got to get him out of that cell more than once a week." The best solution, she said, would be for the sheriff to release Murray on monitored home confinement for the final year of his sentence. Murray was sentenced to the maximum of four years in prison for causing Jackson's death, but California law requires him to serve just half of that behind bars. Another law intended to relieve overcrowding in state prisons has Murray serving his time in the county jail, which Wass said was never designed for long term confinement. Wass and Flanagan signed a letter for Sheriff Lee Baca Wednesday that they said was "notice of the life-threatening condition in which Dr. Murray currently exists." "Correction of this intolerable situation is of extreme importance," they wrote. Murray is held in a high-security section of the jail and isolated from the general prisoner population to protect him. "Death or injury at the hands of another prisoner, however, is no worse than a slow death caused by a loss of circulation and atrophy resulting from inhumane confinement of a large man in a tiny space," the lawyers' letter said. Murray -- jailed since November 7, 2011, when he was convicted -- is 6 feet 5 inches tall, but until this week he was confined in a 5-foot-by-7-foot cell, the letter said. "If one were to keep a dog in a space just a few inches larger than the dog's length, for any extended period of time, contentions of animal cruelty possibly leading to prosecution would likely result," it said. The sheriff's office did not respond to CNN's calls for comment. His jail conditions "are the equivalent of a large individual flying coach in a middle seat for a period of a year," Wass said. Murray was taken to a hospital Sunday night for treatment of what his lawyer described as "marked venous stasis of his lower extremities" and "right shoulder pain and severe loss of motion." His cell was so small that Murray has "no opportunity for physical movement throughout the day," his lawyers wrote. "The only actual exercise that Dr. Murray received occurs on most Monday evenings when he is transferred in chains to an 8-by-8 cage on the roof of the facility." Murray, in a phone call to a friend Monday that was published Wednesday by the celebrity news website TMZ, complained that he feared his illness would be permanent. "I may never be able to wear a boot again," he said. "The venous stasis gives rise to a high risk for deep vein thrombosis and/or migrating pulmonary embolism," his lawyer wrote to the sheriff. "This condition may have developed to a chronic state which has become permanent and uncorrectable necessitating a lifetime of medication and treatment." Murray's physical appearance has changed dramatically since he was taken into custody, his lawyer wrote. "A review of earlier booking photos and bio-statistics of Dr. Murray, when compared to his current condition and appearance, would be shocking to persons not previously familiar with him," they wrote. "To those who have known him for the last year or longer, the suffering that has obviously taken its toll on his health is unimaginable." Keeping a human in such conditions "would at the very least give rise to civil liability for negligent confinement resulting in a debilitating medical condition," the letter said. | Jailers transfer Murray to a 8-foot-by-10-foot cell, "but it's not a good thing," lawyer says .
"It's like being stuck in a closet and he's freaking out," his lawyer says .
"Valerie, I'm dying, save me,'" Murray tells his lawyer .
Murray is serving a four-year sentence for causing Michael Jackson's death in 2009 . |
0d93633d833843bc96e78bd3968ba380b042c7a1 | By . Katy Winter . PUBLISHED: . 03:40 EST, 11 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 20:47 EST, 11 October 2013 . A woman who lost more than 21 stone through weight loss surgery says saggy skin left by the NHS-funded procedure has turned her life into a nightmare. Natalie White, 48, is demanding NHS bosses fund more surgery to remove the excess skin from her stomach, arms and legs after she shrunk from 35 stone to 13st 11lb following a sleeve gastrectomy. She said: 'In the summer, it’s a nightmare. The skin rubs and leaves rashes all over my stomach. Natalie, pictured before her dramatic weight loss, was told she was dangerously over weight and her organs were at risk of failing . On her wedding day (L) Natalie weighed almost 30 stone, today (r) she weighs an incredible 13 stone 11lb . 'I still get comments in the street about my appearance, which is something I was hoping would stop after I lost weight.' Natalie, who had her operation in July 2011, is being supported by husband Terry, 48, who also had an NHS operation in June 2012 to lose 11 stone. Natalie said: 'The NHS keep moving the goalposts. They say my body mass index number needs to be below 25 to approve the funding, but my BMI is steady at 29. 'Considering that my BMI used to be nearly 80, you would think there would be room for flexibility.' Natalie, of Harwich, Essex, hopes to be classed as an exceptional case and plans to persuade decision-makers at the NHS North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group to sit down with her for a face-to-face meeting. Natalie, pictured this year, now has a BMI of 29, but the NHS say it must be below 25 for her to be considered for skin removal surgery . 'I need several operations, including an apronectomy to remove the skin on my stomach. My GP has told me that to pay for everything myself would cost between £25,000 and £35,000. 'There’s no way we can afford that. It’s absolutely ridiculous. 'If only they could see me, to see the state I’m in, they would feel differently about the situation.' Natalie’s weight steadily rose since childhood when she began comfort-eating to combat loneliness and anxiety. In her teenage years she became a heavy drinker. By the time she was in her mid-30s, her weight had ballooned dangerously to 35 stone. She attempted to shed the weight through dieting and exercise, but when she married Terry in June 2007, she still weighed 28 stone. By 2010, Natalie was effectively housebound and a visiting GP told her she needed to lose weight urgently. Natalie and Terry on their wedding day, (left) when Terry weighed 25 stone and Natalie weighed nearly 30 stone. Between them the couple have now shed over 30 stone (right) Natalie said: 'The doctor told me that unless something changed, my organs would start to fail. 'He referred me to the NHS, but after the application I was told I needed to go to Colchester hospital and make the case personally.' Terry said: 'Me and Natalie had to sit in front of a panel of six managers and basically beg them to approve the surgery. 'Natalie was in a wheelchair, and terrified because she wasn’t used to being out of the house. It was a difficult experience for her - she felt quite humiliated.' Terry now a healthy 13st 7lb, is Natalie's full time carer as years of obesity have left her with a series of health problems . In July 2011, surgeons carried out Natalie’s sleeve gastrectomy surgery. Over the next year, through a baby food diet and an incremental exercise regime, she lost a staggering 15 stone. Natalie said: 'All I could manage at first was pacing in the hallway, but eventually I could start walking outside and riding my bike. 'The weight came off really quickly at first before stabilising at my current weight. I feel like a completely new person. Then, in June 2012, Terry was approved for a gastric bypass after a doctor judged his obesity to be causing chronic back and leg pain. He went from 25 stone to 13st 7lb. Between them, the couple have lost more than 30 stone. Years of obesity have left Natalie with a series of health problems and unable to work. Terry, who is diabetic, acts as her full-time carer. Terry said: 'We’re able to do things together now like day trips which we couldn’t do before. We’ve been brought much closer together. 'We just have one more hurdle to get over, and that’s persuading the NHS to remove Natalie’s saggy skin. 'It’s difficult for me to see how much she’s struggling with it.' Natalie is currently waiting to see whether she will be classed as an exceptional case by the North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group. Natalie, pictured on her wedding day in 2007, weighing nearly 30 stone, is arguing that the huge amount of weight she has lost means she should be considered as a special case for the surgery . A spokesman for NHS North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group said: 'To protect a patient’s privacy, we won’t comment on the circumstances in this case. However, we do always have to make sure that taxpayers’ money we spend is only used for health needs. 'We have to have a way of assessing that, so we have a policy which looks at the BMI of the patient and whether they are severely limited in what they can do because of the condition. 'If a patient is assessed as not having medical needs in this way, then their doctor can still argue on their behalf that they have other “exceptional” care needs. 'This appeal is tested by the Clinical Commissioning Group, which funds any treatment, according to whether the patient is significantly different from others with a similar issue, and whether that patient would benefit significantly more than others.' | Natalie lost over 21st, dropping from 35st to 13st 11lb after surgery .
Her husband Terry lost over 11st after also undergoing a gastric bypass .
Now campaigning for Natalie to have her excess skin removed on the NHS .
Her BMI is currently 29 - above the BMI of 25 required for NHS surgery .
Natalie, of Harwich, Essex, hopes to be classed as an exceptional case . |
0d93f4a8ecefb7d8eef89199b701aca85cf882e7 | (CNN) -- This month on Art of Life we feel the need for speed. From the world's first road-legal grand prix bike to a rock legend with a passion for aviation. Monita Rajpal samples the finest in Italian motorbikes . Monita Rajpal meets the boys behind Ducati's motorbikes, Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson explains why flying is his new source of adrenaline, and trance legend Paul Van Dyk takes us round his favorite haunt in the former East Berlin. Ducati: Riding in Style . Ducati has long-been the ultimate name in luxury motorbikes, but just like its racers, the company has had to compete fiercely to defend its title. As a small Italian manufacturer, up against Japanese mega-plants, employing thousands of workers, Ducati's comparatively small family is driven by pride. CNN's Monita Rajpal visits the Bologna factory floor and talks to some of the men behind the company, meets Ducati's Moto GP champion Casey Stoner and takes a test drive of Ducati's Desmosedici racing replica, the world's first road-legal grand prix bike. Watch Monita's trip to the Ducati factory . Bruce Dickinson: Rock star in the sky . A leather-clad, long-haired pilot, donning a t-shirt with blood-spewing skeletons would be a nightmare for many uneasy flyers. Fortunately for passengers on Bruce Dickinson's plane, the lead singer of Iron Maiden has gotten a new wardrobe and a new day job. Art of Life meets up with the rock legend to find out why he has chosen to take to the skies and become a commercial airline pilot. Watch Dickinson take to the skies . Paul Van Dyk: Guides us through Germany . Paul Van Dyk, the legendary trance musician, DJ and producer has made his name well-known, even though his genre of music is typically associated with young ravers and more urban listeners. Watch as Van Dyk takes Art of Life on a tour of his hometown, the former East Berlin, and shows how he has drawn from the city's war-weathered rhythms to gain inspiration for his songs. Watch Van Dyk tour Berlin E-mail to a friend . | This month Art of Life looks at motorbike, planes, DJs and Rock idols .
Monita visits the Ducati factory in Bologna, meets Moto champ Casey Stoner .
Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson talks about his passion for flying .
DJ Paul Van Dyk takes us on a tour of his favorite parts of Berlin . |
0d9420f6a851c5cbf3f2167e31f977bae7b184bd | Parts of Britain are to be treated to a rare display of the Northern Lights on Friday evening. The colourful bands of shimmering light are usually only seen in the northerly reaches of Scandinavia, Canada and remote parts of Russia. But tonight the display, known as the aurora borealis, is forecast to be on show in northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Scroll down for video . Parts of Britain are to be treated to a rare display of the Northern Lights on Friday evening (file picture) The prospect of celestial fireworks in such southerly locations is down to huge explosions on the surface of the Sun. A solar blast last night hurled vast clouds of magnetically charged particles towards Earth – and another explosion is forecast this evening. Known as coronal mass ejections, they can produce many colours, with green, pink, red, blue and yellow all possible. The combined effect of two explosions increases the chance of a display. As they whip towards the Earth, the particles crash into other particles, accelerating and energising them. And when they enter our atmosphere they collide with oxygen and nitrogen atoms in the air, which when charged, create the shimmering light that we know as the Aurora Borealis. Often the particles are deflected by the earth’s magnetic field, so the best places to witness it are close to the poles where the field is weakest. Normally, the earth’s magnetic field funnels the high-energy particles – and so the display - towards the North Pole. The display, known as the aurora borealis, is forecast to be on show in northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland (file picture) But just occasionally, the sun’s emissions are so violent and so on target, that most of Britain, as far south as East Anglia, gets a ringside seat. Different colours are created depending on the energy of the incoming particles – and the type of atom they hit in the atmosphere. For instance, a red glow, which usually occurs high in the sky, is created by lower energy particles interacting with oxygen. Green lights are caused by slightly more energetic particles, while a purple hue involves nitrogen. A spokesman for the Met Office said: ‘To view the Northern Lights you are best finding a dark place away from street lights. ‘You will need a cloud-free sky and although there will be some cloud and localised fog patches around this Friday night there should also be some clear skies too. ‘So there is a chance of catching a glimpse of the lights. Your best chance of sighting the aurora will be around midnight.’ | Britain to be treated to rare display of the Northern Lights on Friday evening .
Shimmering light forecast to glow over northern parts of the UK .
The natural wonder is usually reserved for countries inside the Arctic Circle . |
0d942cf3e9f3674a3efa8dae2f466702e71c8917 | Tourism chiefs in Ireland are aiming to cash in on reports of one of the world's most famous couples honeymooning in the country - and have confirmed the couple are in the country. Celebrity TV star Kim Kardashian and rapper Kanye West reportedly flew into Cork on Saturday evening for a supposedly secret getaway after their Italian wedding. But when rumours spread of the glamour arrival - still to be confirmed by the newlyweds - scores of teenage fans and inquisitive locals descended on the luxury Castlemartyr Resort. Scroll down for video . Five days on the Emerald Isle? Following their whirlwind Italian wedding, newlyweds Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are now said to be honeymooning in Ireland . Honeymoon destination? Kim and Kanye are rumoured to be staying at the luxurious Castlemartyr Resort . The . rapper, 36, and reality TV star, 33, took off for a rural retreat after . celebrating their weekend wedding with several hundred guests at the . 16th-century Fort Belvedere in Florence. It was the groom's first and the third for his bride. And . Tourism Ireland is now hoping to cash in on the worldwide interest in . the couple's Irish honeymoon by targeting their massive online fan base. Kardashian has 40 million plus followers on Twitter and Facebook. ‘We're . working hard to produce a guide for their fans about where they are, or . rather where they might be,’ marketing director Mark Henry said. Beautiful setting: Part of the five-star hotel in Cork dates back to the 17th century . ‘We'd . love to be able to give their millions of followers the information so . maybe they can follow in their footsteps. It's a global story.’ When . news first emerged of the superstar arrival, Mr Henry posted on his . Twitter account: ‘A big welcome to Ireland @KimKardashian and @kanyewest . from all of us at @TourismIreland - we're working to improve the . weather right now...’ Tourism . Ireland is hoping to run a potentially massive and lucrative marketing . blitz by using a guide of places to visit to connect with just a . fraction of the couple's millions of followers. The . agency is hoping fans eager to get a glimpse into the lives of the rich . and famous will maybe follow suit with a trip to the south-west. High-end honeymoon: The five-night stay could be costing the celebrities upwards of £40,000 . Spacious design: The five-star hotel suite boasts a stunning bathroom with a bath and walk-in shower . The . first sign of the superstar arrival was a private jet landing at Cork . Airport yesterday afternoon and a couple being whisked from the runway . in limousines. The . couple - known as Kimye - are reportedly expected to spend one day in . Dublin but the frequent social media users have remained unusually quiet . about their plans. Kanye West proposed to Kim Kardashian on her 33rd birthday in October last year. Their daughter named North was born in June 2013. Famously . green countryside: The luxury hotel is surrounded by stunning Cork countryside . 'Happy the city where citizens obey': Mr and Mrs West are also rumoured to be visiting Dublin . I do: The brunette socialite donned a demure Givenchy gown with sheer sleeves and back for the ceremony and a shorter beaded Balmain for the reception . | Celebrity couple are rumoured to be honeymooning at five-star Cork hotel .
Tourism Ireland to create guide for newly-weds to follow in footsteps .
Spokesman Mark Henry's tweets Kimye welcoming them to Ireland . |
0d9595ca72d28905fbe9369b86650f1049e72f53 | By . Emma Innes . PUBLISHED: . 04:20 EST, 15 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 04:20 EST, 15 May 2013 . Women live longer than men partly because their immune systems age more slowly . Women live longer than men partly because their immune systems age more slowly, a new study has revealed. As their body defences weaken with the passing years, the increasing susceptibility of men to disease shortens their lives, it is claimed. Life expectancy in the UK is 79 years for men and 82 for women, according to the World Health Organisation. In Japan, where the research took place, the gap is wider. There, the average lifespan of men is the same as in the UK, but women live to 85.5. The study involved examining blood samples from healthy volunteers with a wide range of ages. Scientists tested the blood of 356 men and women aged between 20 and 90 and looked at levels of white blood cells and immune system signalling molecules called cytokines. In both sexes, the number of white blood cells per person decreased with age, but closer study revealed striking differences between men and women. The rate of decline of most T-cell and B-cell lymphocytes, two key elements of the immune system, was faster in men. Similarly, men showed a more rapid age-related decline in the two cytokines, IL-6 and IL-10. Two specific types of immune system cell that actively destroy foreign invaders, CD4 T-cells and natural killer (NK) cells, increased in number with age. In this case, the rate of increase was higher in women than in men. NK cells are believed to be one of the body's first lines of defence against cancer. The research, led by Professor Katsuiku Hirokawa, from Tokyo Medical and Dental University, appears in the online journal Immunity and Ageing. The scientists wrote: ‘Age-related changes in various immunological parameters differ between men and women. Our findings indicate that the slower rate of decline in these immunological parameters in women than in men is consistent with the fact that women live longer than do men.’ Immune system mechanisms not only protect the body from infection and cancer, but can cause disease when not properly regulated. In both sexes, the number of white blood cells per person decreased with age but the rate of decrease was quicker in men . Inflammation is a potentially damaging immune system response that contributes to heart and artery disease and could play a role in dementia. The cytokine IL-10 is an important regulator of inflammation, helping to put the brakes on the immune system to keep it under control. Its faster decline in men suggests that as men age they might more rapidly be affected by inflammatory conditions. Professor Hirokawa said: ‘The process of ageing is different for men and women for many reasons. Women have more oestrogen than men which seems to protect them from cardiovascular disease until menopause. Sex hormones also affect the immune system, especially certain types of lymphocytes. ‘Because people age at different rates, a person's immunological parameters could be used to provide an indication of their true biological age.’ | Men are more susceptible to diseases that shorten their lives because their defences weaken quicker .
Men and women both lose white blood cells as they age but the rate of decline is greater in men .
Both develop more immune system cells as the age but the rate of increase is greater in women .
UK life expectancy for men is 79 and for women it's 82 . |
0d963f4512066b6c7e6c0a50fcb067eb4d02396e | By . Peter Rugg . and Luke Augustus . Follow @@Luke_Augustus29 . American reality TV star Duane Chapman, also known as Dog the Bounty Hunter, has threatened MMA fighter Jon Koppenhaver after he allegedly beat up his ex-girlfriend Christy Mack. Porn star Mack has released a public account of the event that has left her in hospital with brutal injuries - including multiple broken bones around her face. Koppenhaver is currently on the run from the police and Chapman has warned him that he too is on his case. On the hunt: Duane Chapman, aka Dog the Bounty Hunter, is after MMA fighter Jon Koppenhaver . Angry: Chapman (left) tweeted Koppenhaver after he allegedly beat up his ex-girlfriend Christy Mack . The 61-year-old tweeted directly to Koppenhaver issuing an ultimatum to the fugitive that he had 24 hours before he personally would begin his search to track him down. '.@WarMachine170 better 2Give All You Excuses To The Judge ..you got 24 hrs to turn your self in or I am Coming After YOU.!#CMTDogAndBeth,' was Chapman's first message. He later tweeted: '#CMTDogAndBeth War Machine YOU HAVE 6 HOURS LEFT !!SEE YOU SOON !!' as the countdown got closer before he finished with '#CMTDogAndBeth @WarMachine170 Time is up ! BEWARE OF THE DOG...' as the 24 hours elapsed. Mack was allegedly beaten at the hands of her ex-boyfriend at their Las Vegas home. She is in hospital and Koppenhaver, known in the ring as War Machine, is wanted by police. Porn star Christy Mack released these horrific images of her injuries from the hospital, claiming they were sustained when she was assaulted by former boyfriend and MMA fighter Jon Koppenhaver . Mack said that not only did Koppenhaver beat her, but that he also attacked her with a knife stabbing her repeatedly before the blade broke off . 'About 2 a.m. Friday morning, Jon . Koppenhaver arrived unannounced to my home in Las Vegas, NV, after he . broke up with me in May he moved out of my house and back to San Diego,' Mack wrote on Twitter. 'When he arrived, he found myself and one other fully clothed and unarmed . in the house. Without a single word spoken, he began beating my friend; . once he was finished, he sent my friend away and turned his attention . to me. 'He made me undress and shower in front of him, then dragged me . out and beat my face. I have . no recollection of how many times I was hit, I just know my injuries . that resulted from my beating. My injuries include 18 broken bones . around my eyes, my nose is broken in 2 places, I am missing teeth and . several more are broken.' Mack went on to write that she was unable to see from her left eye or chew or speak clearly because of her damaged teeth. She also said she could not walk on her own, and had a fractured rib and ruptured liver from a kick to her side. 'I also attained several lesions from a knife he got from my kitchen,' she wrote. 'He pushed the knife into me in some areas such as my hand, ear, and head. He also sawed much of my hair off with this dull knife. Mack writes that she made her escape when Koppenhaver went into her kitchen where she assumed he was searching for a new knife . Mack said that Koppenhaver had long been abusive in their relationship but that this beating had made her fear for her life . 'After some time, the knife broke off of the handle and continued to threaten me with the blade. I believed I was going to die. He has beaten me many times before, but never this badly. He took my phone and cancelled all of my plans for the following week to make sure no one would worry about my whereabouts. He told me he was going to rape me, but was disappointed in himself when he could not get hard. After another hit or two, he left me on the floor bleeding and shaking, holding my side from the pain of my rib.' Mack writes that she made her escape when Koppenhaver went into her kitchen where she assumed he was searching for a new knife. 'I ran out my back door, shutting it . behind me so the dogs didn't run inside to tip him off. I hoped the . fence to the golf course behind my house and ran to a neighboring house. Naked and afraid he would catch me, I kept running through the . neighborhood knocking on doors. Finally one answered and I was brought . to the hospital and treated for my injuries.' Mack concluded that she had been living in fear of Koppenhaver for months, and that the pair had an abusive relationship in which she tolerated beatings and infidelity in the past. Tainted love: Christy Mack (left) is in hospital and War Machine, aka Jon Koppenhaver, is at large after he allegedly beat her brutally at their Las Vegas home . 'After many months of fear and pressure to keep this man happy, although I fear for my life, I feel that I can no longer put myself in this situation,' she wrote. She added that there was a $10,000 reward for his capture. Police have yet to identify the third party who was in Mack's home and assaulted. confirming only that both Mack and the third party sustained 'severe but non-life-threatening injures.' Koppenhaver has not come forward but he has tweeted about the incident. '@ChristyMack I love you and hope you're okay. I came him (sic) early to surprise you and help you set up for your convention. I can't believe what I found and can't believe what happened. 'I'm so heart broken...in all ways. I will always love you.' TMZ reports that Mack is 'in very bad shape' after the attack and can barely speak from her injuries. A representative for the porn actress told TMZ that Mack's friends and relatives are offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who can provide clues as to Koppenhaver's whereabouts. Koppenhaver has also taken to Twitter about the incident, writing that he wanted to surprise Mack with an engagement ring but couldn't 'believe what I found.' 'I'm not a bad guy, I went to surprise my gf, help her set up her show . and to give her an engagement ring and ended up fighting for my life,' he added. Then: "The cops will never give me fair play, never believe . me. Still deciding what to do but at the end of the day it's all just . heart breaking." 'I only wish that man hadn't been there and that Christy & I would . be happily engaged.I don't know y I'm so cursed.One day truth will come out.' Welterweight Koppenhaver, who appears on the FOX show Ultimate Fighter, has been released from his contract with MMA tournament group Bellator. Big man: Koppenhaver has spent time in jail for assault, and Mack has previously spoken about his physical violence towards her . Porn star: The tattooed brunette works in the porn industry but is currently in hospital with injuries so severe that she has difficulty speaking . Selfie-obsessed: 'War Machine' tweeted about the attack, hinting that he had found Mack en flagrante with another person . Bellator's president told TMZ that Koppenhaver would not be welcome back. 'We have a zero tolerance policy here at Bellator when it relates to any form of domestic violence, and after learning of this latest incident involving (Jon Koppenhaver) War Machine, Bellator is releasing him from his promotional contract with the organization,' Bellator president Scott Coker told TMZ. Koppenhaver served a year in jail in 2012 for an assault in a San Diego nightclub. Fox Sports reports that last November she wrote that Koppenhaver 'threatened to kill' her. She deleted the tweets not long after and Koppenhaver tweeted that she had been joking. Later, she tweeted that she had endured 'several slapping, choking unconscious, smothering, kicking and throwings' at his hands. | GRAPHIC PHOTOS .
Dog the Bounty Hunter Duane Chapman has threatened porn star's Christy Mack's ex-boyfriend Jon Koppenhaver .
Mack is in hospital with serious injuries after allegedly being beaten up by Koppenhaver .
MMA fighter War Machine, aka Koppenhaver, is wanted by police .
Chapman has tweeted Koppenhaver that he is in pursuit of him .
Koppenhaver is alleged to have brutally beaten Mack and another person in the couple's Las Vegas home .
Mack writes that attack left her with 18 broken bones around her eyes, a nose broken in two places, and hair sawed off by a knife .
Claims she escaped when Koppenhaver went to kitchen to get a new knife after the first broke . |
0d96bf78be8572413b57f6a07b8874a9b7ca5ddd | President Nicolas Maduro has been accused of shifting the blame for remarks which suggest the double murder of two Britons was inspired by a soap opera . The murders of a man and his beauty queen wife in Venezuela were the result of soap operas which 'glamorise' violence, the country's president has said. President Nicolas Maduro claimed the deaths of Thomas Berry and Monica Spear Mootz could have been inspired by 'telenovelas' which feature themes of drugs, violence and crime. Critics have slammed the president's remarks, suggesting he is trying to distract from the real cause of crime in Venezuela which has the fifth highest murder rate in the world. President Maduro highlighted one programme in particular which features a psychopathic former beauty queen who poisons her mother. His comments come after pressure on authorities to crackdown on violent crime was heightened following the couple's deaths. Thomas Berry and Monica Spear Mootz were killed in cold blood after being robbed when their car broke down on the Puerto-Cabello to Valencia highway on Monday . Their five-year-old daughter who was also in the car, was shot in the leg. Police have made five arrests in connection with the case, including those of two minors. Anti-violence groups have estimated that the homicide rate is as high at 79 deaths per 100,000 people, but the government – which hides official crime statistics – claims it's 39 per 100,000, reports ninemsn.com.. The president has previously cited video games and superheroes as causes for crime in the South American country. Thomas Berry and Monica Spear Mootz were attacked by armed men who approached their car as they waited for a repair truck. The terrified couple locked themselves in their . Toyota Corolla. But the robbers opened fire through the windows. Scroll down for video . Heartbreaking: Monica Spear Mootz, 29, and Thomas Berry, 39, had an amicable split a year earlier but took vacations together with their daughter- including the one they were on when they were killed . Horrific: Robbers shot through the car windscreen when the terrified family locked themselves in . Nightmare: A friend of Berry said he had spoken to him on Sunday and was told they were having a great time . The bodies of Mr Berry and Ms Spear, who had American citizenship, were found in the car with their daughter, who had been shot in the leg. Their five-year-old, believed to be called Maya, was taken to hospital where family and friends are helping to care for her. According to Telemundo, the car was already on the back of a tow truck at the time of the attack. Two tow truck drivers who had arrived to help the couple are said to be under 'intense interrogation' by police. All the tires on the couple's car had been punctured after it hit 'a sharp object that had been placed on the highway', director of investigative police, Jose Gregorio Sierralta, said. At least six shots are believed to have been fired, hitting Mr Berry in the chest, his ex-wife in several places and their daughter in the leg. The attack appeared to follow a pattern of recent robberies, where cars are disabled by obstacles left in roads, or drain covers removed. A photo believed to be the couple's car was pictured behind police tape by Gilbert Angustia on Twitter. Monica Spear posted a video on Instagram of her horse riding just hours before she died . New horizons: Monica Spear posted this photo of she and her daughter Maya just days before the fatal attack that left her and her ex-husband dead . A still from a short film showing the actress riding before she blew a kiss to the camera on the day she died . Ms Spear was a famous TV actress following her pageant victory and appeared in a number of telenovelas [South American soap operas], with her roll in 'Forbidden Passions' the most notable. Police believe the couple may have been targeted by bandits who put obstacles in the road to force victims to stop. The ploy is commonly used on the country's highways after dark. Venezuela is one the most violent places in Latin America and armed robberies, carjackings and kidnappings are rife. The annual murder rate in Caracas alone is an average of 80 murders per 100,000 people, the third highest in the world. Most . murders occur in the slums where police presence is minimal. Eastern . Caracas is home to South America’s largest slum, named Petare with more . than two million residents, where the police to public ratio is 1 . officer to every 3,000 people. There . were an estimated 24,000 murders in 2013, one of the world’s highest . homicide rates. It has tripled in the previous decade. Gun ownership is also high, with an estimated 15 million unlicensed weapons in circulation. The University of Central Florida graduate had American citizenship and her parents live in Orlando, Florida. Pictures of the model enjoying the vacation with her young daughter were posted on Ms Spear's Instagram account in the days leading up to her death. In a short video posted on the day she was shot dead, the actress blows a kiss to the camera during a horse riding trip. Another photo shows Ms Spear holding hands with a girl, believed to be her daughter, as they gaze across a lagoon. Her ex-husband, who described himself as an . independent travel consultant in an online profile, lived in the capital . Caracas, reports El Universal. He moved to Florida for a short time after he was shot 15 years ago in a robbery that killed his friend. 'He had already been shot once by robbers trying to steal his car,' close friend Luis Dominguez told The Telegraph. 'His friend died in the incident and although doctors saved his life, they couldn't extract the bullet and he still had it in his stomach.' ['Mr Berry] moved to the States to get . away from things here for a while but missed Venezuela and came back,' Mr Dominguez added. It . is understood Mr Berry and his wife had separated last year, but were . still close friends and holidayed together for the sake of their . daughter. Better times: Some friends thought that they were going to announce that they were back together after the January vacation (seen at their wedding in 2008, the same year that their daughter was born) Police tape cordons off the couple's car, which had ground to a halt after the tires were punctured . The former beauty queen's Instagram showed her looking relaxed and happy . Monica Spear was visiting Venezuela so her daughter could learn about the country . His parents are at the hospital with the couple's daughter. It is not known if his sister, Katie, who lives in Scotland, will fly out to be with the family. Ms Spear's parents were flown from Florida to Venezuela by private jet, provided by Venezuela's president, so they could be with their granddaughter. 'It is the deepest pain, the deepest pain. It is unbelievable,' her father, Rafael, told the Orlando Sentinel. 'She was very charismatic, a very good daughter, a very good mother, and she loved Venezuela.' He recalled how his daughter had come to him for advice when she wanted to change from her chemical engineering course to study acting instead. 'I told her she had to decide what she wanted to do to be happy for the rest of her life,' he said. 'When my children were young, I wouldn't let them watch telenovelas, and then she began acting in soap operas, and I began watching all of hers.' Mr Dominguez, who ran an adventure tour company with the actress's ex-husband, told NBC he last spoke to Mr Berry on Sunday. 'They were having the greatest time. He said, I'll see you soon,' Mr Dominguez said. A friend of the family, Carlos Drakkar, 38, a Colombian graphic designer who lives in Caracas, said: 'This is a very difficult moment for all of us to deal with. We are doing all we can to help out friends in this difficult moment. These things happen all too often in this country. Something has to change.' Mr Berry, with his daughter Maya, 5. She was injured in the attack and is now in the care of the authorities . Loving: Former Miss Venezuela Monica Spear Mootz and Thomas Berry had maintained a good relationship following their divorce and family say they were close to getting back together for the sake of Maya . Ms Spear's family had asked her to move to the U.S. with them after she was robbed six times, but the model refused. Her brother, Ricardo Spear Mootz, said: 'She loved her country too much. It was her home.' Family friend Marytza Sanz said Miss Spear loved Venezuela and even though she could have remained in the U.S. she chose to return so her daughter could spend time there. The network Miss Spear worked for released a statement describing her as a 'great actress' who had 'extraordinary drive and determination'. Venezuela's public prosecutor has appointed two separate investigators to the case, while the CICPC, Venezuela's SWAT police force unit, has been deployed to nearby slums for answers. Commissioner Daniel Alvarez , head of the CICPC's homicide division, promised 'fast results in this awful case'. Beauty: Monica Spear Mootz represented Venezuela in the 54th annual Miss Universe competition . Ms Spear with Maya, who was born in October 2008. The little girl was shot in the leg during the attack . During the 2005 Miss Universe contest Spear visited the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok . The Foreign Office says it is aware of the reports and are looking into it with the assistance of its offices in Venezuela. A . spokesman said: 'We are aware of reports of the death of a British . national on 6 January in Venezuela. We stand ready to provide consular . assistance to the family.' | Thomas Berry and Monica Spear Mootz were murdered in Venezuela .
Couple killed in front of five-year-old daughter Maya, who was shot in leg .
Country's president blamed attack on programmes that 'glamorise' violence .
Critics accused leader of trying to distract from 'real cause of crime'
President Nicolas Maduro accused of tightening control of the media .
Venezuela has fifth highest murder rate in the world according to the UN . |
0d98b78b0c15617530cc28bc5eab1dbfd7e9cae6 | By . Jessica Satherley . UPDATED: . 15:59 EST, 1 November 2011 . Alter ego: Tom Adams, 14, as his drag queen alter ego Tamara . A proud mother has told how her schoolboy son has become a drag queen at the tender age of 14. Tom Adams loves dressing in drag and has performed with his dance class dressed in a sparkly dress, blonde wig and full make-up. Tom, from Hartlepool, County Durham, suffers name calling from school bullies because of his hobby, but he is determined to follow his dreams of becoming a performer. He began using his mother Sharon's red lipsticks, nail varnish and high heels at the age of two and has continued to do so ever since – as his alter ego 'Tamara'. Tom started dance classes at the age of 10 and began his drag act for regular shows and competitions last year on the recommendation of his teacher. He said: ‘I love to entertain and this feels natural. I don't want to be a woman but I like the feeling of being in drag, it's glamorous. ‘Girls have so many fun accessories and I love trying them on. It doesn't matter what the bullies say, I'm my own person and this is what I enjoy. ‘I was worried what people might think at first, but as soon as I had my false eyelashes on I loved it. ‘Getting ready felt so exciting. I love everything from the false nails to the lipstick - I feel comfortable dressing up in woman's clothes and I like transforming myself.’ Tom idolises Lady Gaga and Katy Perry and has posters of them plastered across his bedroom walls. He first took to the stage in front of proud Sharon and his father Jason, 42, in August last year, wearing full drag, including a padded bra. Mother-of-two Sharon, 41, a shop assistant, said: ‘I didn't give him the idea, it was all his. ‘He never wanted to play football or rugby. Tom loved to dance ballet, jazz and tap. He's really outgoing so we encouraged him. It was completely his decision. ‘I felt so proud, he was wearing a short blue dress, false boobs, a short blonde wig and high heels. ‘He had false nails, eyelashes and green eye shadow - the works. It didn't freak me out a bit, it was an amazing performance. Proud mother: Tom pictured with his mother Sharon before and after his transformation into a drag queen . ‘Everyone was really supportive and said how brave he was to do it. I'm so chuffed he's strong enough to be his own person.’ Tom's dance teacher helps him apply make-up but he uses YouTube videos to perfect looks himself. Even Tom's father Jason, who is currently unemployed, is proud of his son and promptly told his friends about his dressing up. The schoolboy has performed in drag four times and regularly practices his act in his bedroom at home and is preparing for his latest show next month. Tom added: ‘Of course the bullies get to me sometimes. They call me a 'girl' and 'gay'. I love how outrageous Lady Gaga is and how Katy Perry looks. On stage: Tom performs as Tamara in his dance class, wearing a blonde wig, full make-up and a dress . ‘That's how I'd like to look in drag. Some of the judges in our dance competitions even think I am a girl. I don't mind, it's nice to think I look so glam.’ Sharon, who also has a daughter Sarah, 21, added: 'I take him to Boots and Superdrug for his make-up but his clothes are specially made by the dance group. 'It's fun shopping together. I've spent about £200 on his outfits. 'He's got an interest in woman's clothes. He helps me choose my outfits - he's the first to tell me if something doesn't look right. 'Tom's talented and he's his own person. If this is what he enjoys I support him. He looks great and he's brilliant on stage. He looks just like his sister.' | 'I felt so proud, he was wearing false boobs, a blonde wig and high heels', says mother .
Tom Adams started cross-dressing at the age of two, as his alter ego Tamara . |
0d997235bbba72b39dddfec0f9fc51cb807decc9 | By . Wills Robinson . PUBLISHED: . 04:04 EST, 19 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 07:12 EST, 19 September 2013 . Missing: Kyron Horman holding a teddy bear before he mysteriously vanished in 2010 . The divorced parents of a 10-year-old boy who went missing in 2010 have appeared on television together for the first time in three years. Dr Phil dedicated the hour-long programme to an interview between Desiree Young and Kaine Horman, whose son Kyron Horman mysteriously vanished from his school. They questioned each other over events which led up to disappearance of the boy, who was seven years old when he failed to arrive at Skyline Elementary School in Portland, Oregon. The boy's mother accused Horman, his father, of ignoring signs he was unhappy. But Horman said Kyron was struggling to deal with 'split households' Young said: 'I don't blame Kaine for Kyron's disappearance. I want to make that very clear.' But she added: 'Things were happening in the year prior to Kyron going missing. 'It was just ignored. I feel like in that we failed Kyron. We didn't protect him.' Kyron's mother also said she had concerns Horman was 'ignoring signs', referring to the behavior of his wife, Terri Horman, Kyron Horman's stepmother, who took him to school on the day he disappeared. Desiree Young filed a $10 million suit against Terri Horman last year, alleging the stepmother kidnapped Kyron Horman. But the case was dropped, with Young saying it could not move forward without information from the police, who withheld evidence because of the ongoing investigation. Kyron was reported missing in June 2010 after failing to turn up to Skyline Elementary School in Portland, Oregon. Scroll down for video . Interview: Dr Phil dedicated the hour-long programme to a conversation between Kyron's divorced parents Desiree Young and Kaine Norman . Mother: Desiree Young (left) said Kyron's father ignored signs he was unhappy, but did not blame Kaine Horman (right) for their son's disappearance . He was taken to school by his stepmother, Terri Horman, who then stayed with him while he attended a science fair. Terri Horman states she left the school at around 8:45am but Kyron was not present in his first class of the day and was marked down as absent. Three years on, no arrests have been made in the case, despite an exhaustive search by local police and the FBI. During the interview Young also talked about Horman's infidelity while they were married, saying: 'I was seven months pregnant, Kaine was having an affair.' Horman apologised for cheating on her with Terri Horman, who he married around six months after Kyron's disappearance. Allegations: Desiree Young also talked about Horman's infidelity, accusing him of having an affair when they were married and when she was pregnant with Kyron . Kyron's stepmother Terri Horman (left) took him to . Skyline Elementary School on the day he disappeared and is the last . person to have seen him alive . Horman, did not respond to the allegations, focusing on Kyron throughout the conversation. He said the seven-year-old acted out while he switched between Horman's house in Portland and Young's in Medford which is 273 miles away. Young said Terri Horman would call her, asking if she could come and collect Kyron when the boy's father was away on business trips. She recalled one time when she came to pick him up and said 'He was crying. There was something going on. He wanted to live with me. He didn't want to be there.' Horman reacted and said the reason Kyron was upset was because he was just struggling to 'deal with split households' and said he also cried during journeys to Medford. Play: Dr Phil's audience were shown clips of Kyron before he disappeared, including this one of him playing with his mother . Desiree Young filed a $10million lawsuit against Kyron's stepmother Terri Horman, accusing her of kidnap, but she dropped the case in July this year . 'He didn’t want to come see you. I never told you that before.' Both Horman and Young repeated believe that Terri Horman is implicated in Kyron's disappearance. She took him to Skyline School that Friday morning and she is the last known person who saw him. 'I believe she's involved in this. I think she is the one who has all the answers.' A cloud of suspicion has hung over Terri Horman, who is now living with her parents in Roseburg. But she's not been charged and was only named as a prime suspect in a civil law suit filed against her. Young said Terri Horman had put everything in writing, saying she and Kaine Horman had been up arguing until 3 a.m, just hours before Kyron disappeared. Young said Terri Horman wrote that her marriage to Kaine Horman was over and that she planned to return to Roseburg the day the boy vanished. No stone unturned: Authorities have searched more than 28,000 hours for Kyron since his 2010 disappearance. Here, recovery workers take to the water . Volunteers: Desiree Young organised a new search earlier this month and said she had unearthered new evidence . Kaine Horman denied the allegations saying they did not fight at all. Multiple searches have been done but the authorities have never turned up any solid indications of what happened to the boy. Both Young and Horman said they believe he is alive somewhere. 'I will until the day that I die. I still believe that he's going to come through the door.' Horman said he thinks the fact that no clues have turned up only increases the likelihood that Kyron lives. Earlier this month, Young organised a new search in Multnomah County, Oregon, and said that she had unearthed new evidence. She said that the two-day search, which was carried out by 60 volunteers, and 10 search dogs, was successful but she would not be specific about exactly what they found, citing the ongoing criminal investigation. The items were handed over to the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office and officers were examining whether they hold any significance to the case. Hope: Desiree Young (picture with Kyron) said she still believes her son is going to walk through her door alive . | Kyron Horman was seven when he disappeared in June 2010 .
Interview was first time parents have been face-to-face in three years .
His mother Desiree Young said they both had failed to protect Kyron .
Kaine Horman, his father, apologised for having an affair .
His new wife, Terri Horman, was the last person to see the schoolboy alive . |
0d997395b39f911ccf13aa7fbd6949cb0e601d75 | Click here for Martin Samuel's match report from Old Trafford . Search through the thousands of pages written about Louis van Gaal over the years and you won't find much about the value of running and jumping. Manchester United's manager has always preferred to talk about rather sophisticated facets of the game. As he reflects on perhaps the first significant result of his time at Old Trafford, though, Van Gaal and his sports science team will have noticed the remarkable numbers attached to Marouane Fellaini's stand-out performance against Chelsea on Sunday. Fellaini is never going to be invisible. Not when he looks like he does. Nevertheless anyone who left Old Trafford on Sunday sensing that the big Belgian had been 'everywhere' will be interested to know that he pretty much was. Marouane Fellaini put in one of his best performances for Manchester United against Chelsea . The Belgian midfielder was signed by former manager David Moyes for £27.5million last summer . Fellaini's touch map against Chelsea on Sunday . According to the statistics, Fellaini covered 12.17km during the course of the game, almost a kilometre more than United's Daley Blind, the man next in the list. More significantly, Fellaini also completed 70 sprints, a remarkable number for a holding midfield player and more than two United full backs encouraged by their coach to overlap. Numbers can be over-used and over-analysed in football. Some may say that the only statistic that really matters from Sunday's engrossing clash was the 1-1 scoreline. Nevertheless, Fellaini's efforts say everything for his return to physical fitness after a difficult first year at United and go some way to indicate just why Chelsea's primary playmaker had such a relatively minimal impact on this game. Clearly designated to shadow Cesc Fabregas, Fellaini ensured that the Spain midfielder made only three passes in the first 20 minutes and eleven in the whole of the first half. Prior to the game, Fabregas was the most successful and regular passer of a football in the Barclays Premier League. 'He was fantastic,' said Robin van Persie of Fellaini. 'He did a great job on Fabregas for us. 'It was incredibly helpful when you are trying to stay in a game.' Fellaini endured an awful first season at United. Fellaini (left, pictured on Sunday) compared to a look of despair away at Real Sociedad in 2013 . Fellaini (close to Toni Kroos against Bayern Munich in April) went missing in the big games last season . He failed to produce the sort of performances for United that had made him famous at Everton previously . Alexander Buttner (left), Fellaini and Shinji Kagawa (right) weren't deemed 'United players' in the summer . Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero comfortably skips past Fellaini at the Etihad Stadium . The foreign press gave Fellaini no score when United lost to Bayern Munich in the Champions League . David Moyes' big summer signing of 2013, unfortunately for him he became rather synonymous with the former United manager's difficult time at Old Trafford. In the summer, Van Gaal suggested to the club's executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward that Fellaini be sold. 'He is not a United type of player,' Van Gaal told Woodward. Had injury not intervened, Fellaini would probably be playing his football on loan at Napoli right now. He may never have been seen again in a United shirt. With some belated and overdue fitness, however, has arrived something of the player we used to see at Everton. Fellaini was always technically good enough but it was the energy and physicality of his football that stood out during his time on Merseyside, as well as his habit of scoring important goals. Last season at Old Trafford the Belgian looked desperately short of confidence. It must be said, he rarely looked of the required standard. Moyes perhaps didn't help by talking of the 'best chest trap I have ever seen' - faint praise, that - but with hindsight maybe it was the debilitating effect of a succession of injuries that prevented Fellaini from reaching the levels of fitness required to play his natural game. After the draw at West Brom, Van Gaal conceded that he may have to adapt his own philosophy a little as he continues to learn about English football. 'We have to look also for physical talents and maybe that's our problem,' said Van Gaal in explaining his decision to leave out Ander Herrera. 'I'm a coach who is always thinking about creative players but in England you also need physical bodies in your team and Fellaini is one of these.' Fellaini is perhaps slightly more than that but the fact is he may not have played on Sunday had others been available yet the way that United conceded a goal to Chelsea from a set-piece showed just how valuable the 26-year-old may prove to be. United are not a particularly tall side, especially when players like Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher are not in it. If you look at the physical attributes of Chelsea and Manchester City, for example, that certainly becomes clear. Robin van Persie wheels away after thundering home Fellaini's parried header equaliser against Chelsea . Fellaini scored a super goal breaking from midfield away at West Bromwich Albion on Monday night . Fellaini has Chelsea defender Gary Cahill turning the wrong way during the 1-1 draw at Old Trafford on Sunday . Louis van Gaal has conceded he may need to change his methods as manager of Manchester United . Fellaini brings muscle and aerial threat at both ends of the field. Van Persie may have scored the equaliser but it was Fellaini's header from a set-piece that served as the vital assist. Former United captain Gary Neville said: 'For 25 years, Manchester United as an option, not as a rule, would lump the ball forward. There's no doubt. 'People say it's not the Manchester United way, but I don't get that. 'So Fellaini could come in handy. Carrick is 6ft 1in and there might be an option there. 'You've got to think about those things going into a game and I'm sure Louis van Gaal will this season.' | Marouane Fellaini was superb for Manchester United against Chelsea .
The midfielder cost £27.5m from Roberto Martinez's Everton last year .
Fellaini was poor for David Moyes for much of last season .
Belgium star was linked with a move to Napoli this summer . |
0d997c59f1e5b3244210040ad6ee7c077485f233 | (CNN) -- An 87th minute header from beleaguered striker Andy Carroll handed Liverpool a 2-1 victory over Merseyside rivals Everton in the semifinal of the English FA Cup on Saturday. Carroll's effort compounded a miserable second half for David Moyes' team after a promising opening to the match played at Wembley Stadium. Nikica Jelavic pounced on a mix up between Liverpool defender's Jamie Carragher and Daniel Agger in the 24th minute to side-foot past goalkeeper Brad Jones to hand Everton the lead. It stayed that way until the 62nd minute when Sylvain Distin's sloppy back-pass gifted Liverpool a way back into the game. Luis Suarez raced onto the mistake before comfortably beating Tim Howard with the outside of his right boot to level the scores. Liverpool perhaps should have been ahead earlier in the half when Andy Carroll missed a gilt-edged chance to equalize but somehow directed his header wide. But the $55 million man made amends rising above Everton's Marouane Fellaini to nod home the winner from a Craig Bellamy free-kick. "It's the best feeling ever. We worked hard and getting the goal right there at the end was great," Carroll told ESPN afterwards. "I had a few chances and should have probably scored earlier. But I kept at it and it was a great ball in by Craig (Bellamy), and I just had to score with that one and I did. "It's a great feeling. I've had some criticism but I've just kept on going," Carroll added. His manager Kenny Dalglish, who has also been the subject of criticism after Liverpool's poor league form in recent weeks, was delighted with the effort of his team. "I think it was fantastic and although it's not been too good in the league recently, that's two cup finals -- one we've won and won we're looking forward to," Dalglish told ESPN. FA Cup gives Dalglish opportunity to repay owners' faith . Chelsea take on Tottenham Hotspur in the second semifinal on Sunday. The final will be played on Saturday May 5. Meanwhile in the English Premier League, Carlos Tevez scored a hat-trick for Manchester City on Saturday in the English Premier League as Manchester City thrashed Norwich City 6-1 at Carrow Road. The win closes the gap on leaders Manchester United to just two points who play Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Sunday. The Argentine put City ahead in the 18th minute, before his compatriot Sergio Aguero added a second nine minutes later. Andrew Surman's goal for Norwich six minutes after the break gave home fans hope of a comeback but four goals from City in the final quarter of the match killed off the game. Tevez bagged his second in the 73rd minute as did Aguero two minutes later to make the game safe. Tevez, who was starting only his second league game since last September, claimed his hat-trick ten minutes from the end, with Adam Johnson completing the rout in injury time to boost City's goal difference to plus 58, eight ahead of United. In the other three Premier League fixtures played Saturday, the teams struggling at the foot of the table all had days to forget. Wolverhampton Wanderers played out a goalless draw against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light -- a result that does little to alleviate their plight at the bottom of the league. Second-from-bottom Blackburn Rovers were beaten 3-0 by Swansea City, while 16th-placed Queens Park Rangers went down 1-0 against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns. | Andy Carroll defies critics with match-winning header at Wembley in FA Cup semifinal against Everton .
Liverpool reach second final of English domestic season after winning League Cup in February .
Carlos Tevez scores a hat-trick as Manchester City thrash Norwich City 6-1 .
Title rivals Manchester United at home to Aston Villa on Sunday . |
0d9e42e53a57713ebd4a57dcdca4d8a9a368fbfc | Bobby Zamora admits the big clubs must be crazy if they’re not considering a swoop for his Queens Park Rangers strike partner Charlie Austin. Austin has 12 goals in 16 games in his first Barclays Premier League campaign and, with the transfer window about to open, Rangers are desperately trying to extend his contract - aware that his goals could be the difference between survival and relegation. ‘As a club, we need to tie him down and get him a new deal,’ said Zamora. ‘Without a doubt other clubs will be looking at him and if they’re not they’re crazy because he can get you that goal. Bobby Zamora appeals for time-wasting from Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny . Charlie Austin celebrates scoring a second-half penalty for QPR at Arsenal on Boxing Day Friday . Austin (centre) tries to dribble past Rosicky (left), as Rangers fell to a ninth straight Premier League win . ‘He did well for us last year and even though it’s been a step up we know what he can do. 'He wasn’t scoring wonder-goals, going past four or five people; they’re striker’s goals, finisher’s goals and if you’ve got that ability, you can do it at any level.’ Like Austin, Zamora took the scenic route from non-League to the top flight. ‘It’s a great route and a great story,’ added the 33-year-old. ‘It gives you extra hunger. It’s brilliant and I’m pleased for him.’ Austin scored a hat-trick as QPR beat West Brom 3-2 in their last Premier League home game . Austin pictured playing for former club Poole Town in Dorset during the 2008-09 season . All but two of Austin’s goals this season have come at Loftus Road, where Rangers return to take on Crystal Palace today. Without a point in nine away games, it will be vital for Harry Redknapp’s team to continue winning at home. ‘Maybe it’s a psychological problem for everyone that comes to our place,’ said Zamora, reversing the idea of a mental block. Managerless Crystal Palace will have to be wary of QPR's in-form striker Charlie Austin on Sunday . ‘We’ve got a good record and it’s not a nice place to come really is it, in terms of the changing rooms and how close the crowd are. ‘We know it will change away from home at some stage.’ Sunday's game against Palace is another crucial fixture for both teams and Redknapp’s team selection on Boxing Day for the 2-1 defeat at Arsenal had this game in mind. ‘One or two can’t play two in three days,’ said the QPR boss, citing Zamora, who came on as a substitute at the Emirates Stadium, and his 30-something defenders Richard Dunne and Clint Hill, who should return. Rio Ferdinand, skipper for the game at Arsenal, applauds the travelling support after the 2-1 defeat . Harry Redknapp (right) issues instructions to QPR striker Eduardo Vargas during the game at the Emirates . Leroy Fer did not play at Arsenal because he was on four bookings and could not risk missing the Palace game through suspension, and Redknapp gave Joey Barton ‘half a chance’ of being fit after a slight hamstring problem. ‘Every time I’ve seen Palace this year I’ve been impressed,’ said Redknapp. ‘They’ve got pace, they play with wingers and they’re a dangerous side. ‘It’s going to be a scrap. There’s nothing in it down at the bottom. There are seven or eight teams going to be involved.’ | QPR fell to a ninth straight Premier League away defeat at Arsenal .
Charlie Austin was again on the scoresheet for the R's with a late penalty .
Veteran striker Bobby Zamora says Austin must be given a new contract .
The 33-year-old believes big clubs will be monitoring Austin in January . |
0d9fe6616671d90e1092b0cbcec16db9950dade1 | More than 100,000 people have bought ceramic poppies from the Tower of London's art installation that pays tribute to British and Commonwealth soldiers killed in the First World War. Sales of the poppies, from ceramic artist Paul Cummins' installation Blood Swept Lands And Seas Of Red, have raised more than £2.5million in just two days, the profits of which will go directly to six charities for servicemen and women. Today Mr Cummins, who works from his studio in Derbyshire, described the public reaction to his art, in which one poppy for each dead soldier is being placed in the dry moat at the Tower of London, as 'overwhelming'. Scroll down for video . Blood Swept Lands And Seas Of Red: Poppies from the installation at the Tower of London are selling fast . Each poppy is the size of a man's fist and attached to a two-foot metal stalk so it can be planted into the ground . 'I've been staggered by the response and support from members of the public,' he said. 'When I had the idea, I never imagined the reaction would be so overwhelming. 'I think that it is something everybody can relate to and they feel very personally about.' The artist had the idea for a 'sea of red' after reading the will of a Derbyshire man who joined up and died in Flanders. 'I don't know his name or where he was buried or anything about him,' said Cummins, who found the will among other old records in Chesterfield. 'But this line he wrote, when everyone he knew was dead and everywhere around him was covered in blood, jumped out at me: 'The blood-swept lands and seas of red, where angels fear to tread.' 'I believe he meant the angels to refer to his children.' Ceramic artists Paul Cummins, left, says he is 'staggered' by the public's reaction to his installation, which was visited byt the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on Tuesday, right, the day it opened in London . The poppies, which are hand-sculpted and fixed to two-foot metal stalks, are currently being planted in the ground. By Armistice Day on November 11, there will be 888, 246, each one representing a British or colonial soldier, sailor or airmen who died in the Great War. The poppies are for sale for £25, and after Armistice Day they will be removed from the ground and sent to their buyers with a certificate. Online sales only opened on Tuesday, but staff at the Tower of London say more than 100,000 poppies have sold already, and demand is growing. Stunning: Yeoman Serjeant Bob Loughlin kneels by a mass of ceramic poppies - each is being sold for £25 . General the Lord Dannatt, Constable of the Tower of London: 'We're absolutely delighted with the response from the public.' Ten per cent of the sale price, plus all profits, will go to six service charities: Combat Stress, Coming Home, Help For Heroes, the Royal British Legion, SSAFA and the Confederation of Service Charities (Cobseo). A Tower of London spokesman said: 'The charities will receive ten per cent of every poppy sold. 'However, they will also receive an equal share of the net proceeds once all costs have been recovered. 'These are costs incurred by Historic Royal Palaces and Paul Cummins Ceramics in manufacturing, transporting, installing and selling the poppies as well as VAT. 'The ten per cent donation from each poppy, combined with the net proceeds, will raise millions of pounds for the six charities if all poppies are sold,and Historic Royal Palaces and Paul Cummins Ceramics will not profit from the sale of the poppies.' Volunteers began installing the poppies on Tuesday and will continue until Armistice Day. During this time, every night at twilight the names of 180 serving military are being read out in a roll of honour, followed by the Last Post bugle call played by a single bugler at Tower Hill terrace. | Blood Swept Lands And Seas Of Red is being installed at Tower of London .
Each of the poppies represents Commonwealth soldier killed in Great War .
Installation began this week and final poppy will be planted on Armistice Day .
The 888,246 poppies are for sale with profits going to six service charities .
Ten per cent of the price plus all sales profits will be divided between them .
Derbyshire artist Paul Cummins said public reaction was 'overwhelming' |
0da03c9efd6531a5406fdbf7bfb8dd1e683808c8 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . An eight-year-old boy whose parents launched a successful social media campaign to get him access to experimental new medicine is doing so well he didn't need dialysis Monday, and hopefully won't need it again on Wednesday. Josh Hardy from Fredericksburg, Virginia, who was battling cancer and an accompanying infection, is now part of a new clinical trial for the drug brincidofovir, which is being developed by Chimerix Inc. And since his first dose on March 12, his deadly adenovirus has all but disappeared from his system. He was able to leave St. Jude Children's Hospital in Tennessee on April 10, and continue treatment as an outpatient. Good news: Josh Hardy from Fredericksburg, Virginia, who was battling cancer and an accompanying infection, is ditching the dialysis after a few months on the drug brincidofovir, which is being developed by Chimerix Inc. Now he's ditched the dialysis - a big step that means Josh's kidney function is returning and the organs are clearing and filtering as they should. Since he's been out of the hospital, his health has improved in other ways too, his mom told Fredericksburg.com. Aimee Hardy said he no longer has tubes in his nose and can eat and drink on his own, with his favorite meal being Chick-fil-A. His family said they're now working on building up his strength with physical therapy that will get him walking and running. 'We practice walking,' Mrs Hardy told the news website. 'We trick him into doing leg lifts by kicking a ball.' The gravely ill little boy was given the experimental drug after his parents made their high-profile plea to the boss of Chimerix. Josh was fighting for his life in March after contracting the infection that caused internal bleeding and heart and kidney failure. But his family said the virus was barely detectable after just four doses of Brincidofovir. Feeling better: Josh, pictured before contracting the deadly virus, was discharged from hospital in April . New drug: Josh's family posted this picture of him getting his first dose of the experimental drug . Sick: Earlier this year, the then-7-year-old could barely speak and was vomiting blood, while his family kept a desperate vigil at his bedside . His mother Aimee, who campaigned the drug company, told ABC 11 earlier this year: 'We have gone from dire circumstances to discussing with our doctors what we need to do to get Josh discharged from the hospital. 'We are so grateful that the company was able to find a way for Josh to receive the medicine.' Josh was moved from ICU to a regular room at St Jude Children's Hospital, in Memphis, before he was later discharged. Earlier this year, the then-7-year-old could barely speak and was vomiting blood, while his family kept a desperate vigil at his bedside. Josh's body, weakened by chemotherapy after he had cancer for the fourth time, was struggling to fight of the adenovirus. The only available drugs were not working and Chimerix had refused to give the family access to the experimental medication Brincidofovir. Happier times: Josh was fighting for his life in March after contracting a virus that was causing internal bleeding and heart and kidney failure . But, after his family launched the #savejosh campaign, Chimerix relented. The company, in return, has been allowed to use data from Josh to help its FDA application, which could bring the drug on the market earlier. Chimerix chief Kenneth Moch announced on Tuesday, March 11, that his firm would begin a pilot trial for the drug immediately - with Josh as the programme's first patient. Moch had faced huge criticism for denying Josh Brincidofovir to fight off an infection he developed after a bone marrow transplant. Agreed: Chimerix chief executive Kevin Moch agreed to make the drug available after a campaign . In a statement, Moch said that after much careful consideration Chimerix would offer Josh the medicine. 'This 20-patient open-label study underscores Chimerix's mission to develop innovative antiviral therapies in areas of high unmet need - for everyone,' Moch said according to Fox News. 'Being unable to fulfill requests for compassionate use is excruciating, and not a decision any one of us ever wants to have to make. 'It is essential that each individual in a health crisis be treated with equal gravity and value, a principle we have upheld by pursuing further clinical study of Brincidofovir that will inform its use in adenovirus and other serious DNA viral infections.' Josh's physical condition improved almost immediately, although at the time his mother said he appeared to have lost his motivation after months of ill health. She told CNN his once-positive attitude appeared to have gone and he appeared exhausted. 'I haven't seen him smile lately,' she said back then. Josh suffered severe kidney damage after being given other drugs to try to halt the virus. This saw his require dialysis three times a week and had doctors fearing he'd need it for the rest of his life - something that haunted Mrs Hardy. 'If he could have gotten the Brincidofovir earlier, it could have been avoided. That will always bother me,' she said earlier. Her wishes may have now come true. The drug has not been approved by the FDA, but has previously been administered to hundreds of other patients under a prior 'compassionate use' allowance. Previously Moch said that saying yes to Josh would mean saying yes to many more patients, draining the company's resources and delaying the time it will take for the drug to progress through the formal studies required before it can be given FDA approval and help many more future patients. However, the company received $72 million in federal funding to develop Brincidofovir. Battler: Josh Hardy has survived four bouts of kidney cancer, heart failure and a bone marrow transplant . Before she was able to secure the drug for her son, Mrs Hardy said the situation was devastating, especially for a boy who has fought so hard to live. 'There's no good excuse for us,' she said. 'There's nothing they can say that will really keep us from asking. We're begging them to give it to us.' Josh's doctors also contacted Chimerix requesting their patient be allowed to have the drug. 'We have gone from dire circumstances . to discussing with our doctors what we need to do to get Josh discharged . from the hospital. We are so grateful that the company was able to find a way for Josh to receive the medicine' - Josh Hardy's mother Aimee . Josh was diagnosed with cancer of the kidneys in 2007. Since then, he has battled the disease four times. He had been in remission for two years when a bone scan in November of 2013 revealed he had developed a bone marrow disorder due to earlier cancer treatments. In January of this year he had a bone marrow transplant and endured another round of chemotherapy at St Jude's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Following the successful surgery he developed adenovirus, an infection that can be deadly in people with weakened immune systems. 'Normally, Josh's immune system would be able to handle the adenovirus if his immune system was set free,' Mrs Hardy wrote on her son's CaringBridge page. 'The challenge is his immune system can't be set free yet because his body is still trying to adapt to the new bone marrow cells. So to keep the body from killing the new cells, they have to suppress the immune system, thus creating ideal conditions for adenovirus to advance. Catch 22.' Brincidofovir has been shown to clear up adenovirus in children in two weeks, Fox and Friends has reported. | Josh Hardy from Fredericksburg, Virginia, was battling cancer and an accompanying infection .
But after a viral social media campaign he was allowed to be a part of a new clinical trial for brincidofovir, which is being developed by Chimerix .
Since his first dose on March 12, his deadly adenovirus infection has all but disappeared from his system .
He was able to leave St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee on April 10, and continue treatment as an outpatient .
Now the 8-year-old is doing so well he didn't need dialysis Monday, and hopefully won't need it again on Wednesday, his mother said . |
0da07dd2e79cbdcbb4c61d297caabdecc9853885 | Thousands of people crammed into DMV offices and waited in hours-long lines to apply for a license on Friday as California became one of 10 states to authorize immigrants in the country illegally to drive. The DMV expects to field 1.4 million applications in the first three years of a program aimed at boosting road safety and making immigrants' lives easier. Since the law was passed the number of applicants for licences has doubled. By midday Friday, more than 6,100 immigrants had applied, said Jessica Gonzalez, a DMV spokeswoman. The state hired 900 more DMV workers to meet the demand in addition to opening four more driver license processing centers. Scroll down for video . Ready to drive: Miguel Ayala waits with his son Jesus with other immigrants to register for a drivers license at a California Department of Motor Vehicles office on Friday . New process: California Highway Patrol officer Armando Garcia explains to immigrants the process of getting a drivers license during an information session at the Mexican Consulate, in San Diego . Mexican immigrant Jesus Moreno emerged smiling from a California Department of Motor Vehicles office on Friday with official permission to do something he's been doing here for more than a decade: driving. The 30-year-old vending-machine installer, who has forked over hundreds of dollars in traffic tickets and car-impound fees as an unlicensed driver, became one of the first to get a permit under a new program to give driver's licenses to the nation's largest population of immigrants in the country illegally. 'It's not that I want to drive,' said Moreno, after leaving a packed DMV office in Orange County. 'It's a necessity.' Only four DMV offices were taking walk-in applicants. Hundreds of immigrants donning scarves and gloves and clutching driver handbooks braved near-freezing temperatures in the Orange County city of Stanton to try to get a place in line before dawn. 'This is a big opportunity for me,' said Sammy Moeung, a 24-year-old Cambodian immigrant eager to get a license to avoid having to ride his bike to work at his brother's doughnut shop. 'Having this is moving a step forward in life, in California and the United States.' Education: California Highway Patrol officers Armando Garcia, right, and Ray Patton explain to immigrants the process of getting a drivers license during an information session at the Mexican Consulate . Learning the rules: A crowd of approximately 80 immigrants fill a room as they listen to officials explain the process of getting a drivers license, during an information session at the Mexican Consulate . Immigrant advocates have cheered the licenses as a way to integrate immigrants who must drive to work and shuttle children to school, though the cards will include a distinctive marking and are not considered valid federal identification. Critics have questioned state officials' ability to verify the identity of foreign applicants, citing security concerns. Applicants must submit proof of identity and state residency and pass a written test to get a driving permit. Those who don't possess foreign government-issued identification on a list of approved documents can be interviewed by a DMV investigator to see if they qualify. Long lines: Immigrants line up at a California Department of Motor Vehicles office to register for drivers licenses in California . Sleeping in line: Immigrants line up after spending the night outside a California Department of Motor Vehicles office to register for drivers licenses . Waiting for hours: Immigrants line up after spending the night outside a California Department of Motor Vehicles office to register for drivers licenses . Immigrants must come back at a later date and pass a road test to get the license, which will be marked with the words 'federal limits apply.' Those who have licenses from other states are not required to take the road test again, Gonzalez said. Law enforcement officials have said the program will improve road safety because more drivers will be tested and insured. A DMV study of 23 years of crash data found unlicensed drivers were more likely to cause a fatal collision. Some immigrants who waited in line for hours Friday failed the required written test and vowed to make an appointment to return on another date to try again. About half of new driver's license applicants fail the written exam, Gonzalez said. Celia Rayon, a 49-year-old warehouse worker from Anaheim, left the crowded office in Stanton with her new permit in hand. For nearly two decades, the Mexican immigrant has refrained from driving, relying on rides from co-workers to get to her job. 'You can't go out anywhere,' Rayon said, adding that she'd like to drive to visit relatives in Georgia once she passes her road test. 'Now we're going to feel more secure.' While allowing illegals to gain licenses may improve road safety, some argue it is another burden on taxpayers who already pay out $650 million on welfare and $500 million on healthcare for immigrants, reports Info wars. The state also grants in-state tuition to illegal aliens, costing taxpayers up to $289 million in potential revenue each year. Braving the cold: Immigrants brave the cold weather as they line up outside a California Department of Motor Vehicles office to register for drivers licenses . Presenting identity: Miguel Ayala holds his application with his Mexican passport while waiting in line with other immigrants at a California Department of Motor Vehicles office to register for drivers licenses . | The DMV expects to field 1.4 million applications in the first three years of a program aimed at boosting road safety and making lives easier .
Since a law was passed allowing illegal immigrants to apply for licenses the number of applicants has doubled .
Law enforcement officials have said the program will improve road safety because more drivers will be tested and insured . |
0da0f4c841b3eac42f10134d2a2ec67b514270b9 | By . Elliott Bretland . Follow @@EllBretland . Chelsea frontman Eden Hazard has revealed he will wear the No 10 shirt for the Blues next season. The Belgium international - who is wanted by Paris Saint-Germain - will change from the No 17 shirt which he has worn since signing for the Stamford Bridge club from Lille two years ago. Speaking to the club's official website, Hazard said: 'I am very pleased to be able to wear the number 10 for Chelsea. Blue is the colour: Eden Hazard, pictured modelling Chelsea's new kit, will wear the No 10 shirt next season . Numbers game: Hazard will switch from his existing No 17 and instead take the famous No 10 shirt . 'It is my . favourite number and is one I am used to wearing for the national team, . as well as the one worn by some of my heroes from when I was a kid, like . Zinedine Zidane. 'I hope it brings me a lot of luck in the future and I look forward to the fans seeing me in it next season.' However, . with a number of supporters having already bought the new shirt with . the 23-year-old's name and number 17 on the back, the club has said it . will offer anybody who has proof of purchase from an official club store . a free exchange - subject to availability until July 31. In . a special move by the west London club, the Blues will be donating all . returned shirts to the Chelsea Foundation, the club's charity . organisation. Hazard joins an illustrious list of Chelsea stars who have worn the famous No 10 in the past including Juan Mata and Joe Cole. Italian striker Pierluigi Casiraghi and current Stoke boss Mark Hughes also donned the shirt during the late nineties. Ten out of ten: Hazard will be wearing the No 10 shirt for Belgium at this summer's World Cup in Brazil . Iconic shirt: Hazard is pleased to be wearing the same number as childhood hero Zinedine Zidane . Illustrious list: Hazard will join Juan Mata (right) and Joe Cole among the Chelsea players to have worn No 10 . | Hazard reveals he will wear No 10 shirt for Chelsea next season .
Blues frontman is wanted by Paris Saint-Germain .
Belgium international will switch from existing No 17 .
Club reveal all No 17 shirts purchased can be exchanged for free .
Returned jerseys will be given to the Chelsea foundation . |
0da2f7622ceba0ec10a74b2c299f5cfc0669029b | (CNN) -- When "La Bamba" hit movie screens in 1987, audiences flocked to see the true story of singer Ritchie Valens, who died as a teen in an airplane crash almost three decades earlier. "La Bamba" starred Lou Diamond Phillips as singer Ritchie Valens. It's one of 40 films featured in the festival. But it was memorable for another reason. The film was the first box office hit directed by a Latino filmmaker and starring mostly Latino actors, said Chon Noriega, a professor of cinema and media studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. "La Bamba" is part of the Latino Images in Film festival, which begins Tuesday and runs through May on Turner Classic Movies. The event features 40 films that show how Latinos have been depicted on the big screen and is part of the network's "Race and Hollywood" series. (Turner Classic Movies, like CNN, is owned by Time Warner.) Noriega, who chose the films and also co-hosts the festival, talked with CNN.com about what he hopes viewers will take away from the movie line-up. Watch clips from some of the classic films » . The following is a edited version of that interview. CNN: What was your selection process? Chon Noriega: I decided I was going to focus specifically on Hollywood films that look substantively at either Latino characters or the Latino community. I came up with a master list of films, and it's only about 70. There really haven't been that many that have dealt explicitly with the Latino population. And then, from there, we looked at what was available. CNN: When you talk about Latino images, who do you include in that description? Noriega: It's a kind of pan-ethnic, multiracial category. But basically in terms of the series, what it reflects is Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans and Cuban-Americans. There really haven't been, as far as I can tell, many Hollywood films that go beyond those three major groups. CNN: What do you hope to accomplish with this movie lineup? Noriega: By and large, these are films that really haven't been seen since their original release. We really don't have an idea of what the history has been in terms of how Hollywood has dealt with or represented what is now a pretty sizeable part of our population. We have an idea of what the stereotypes have been in terms of the kind of expendable characters that emerge within Westerns or action films, background characters like maids. CNN: What do you mean by expendable characters? Noriega: If I'm watching a science-fiction film and there happens to be a Latino character, I know that that character is going to be the first one to die. (laughs) It is almost inevitable. Or in a Western. They're really not there as characters; they're there as foils for the largely white characters that are defining the film and the story. To my mind, it's valuable just to go back and just see that these are the films that at different points represent how not just Hollywood but our society was trying to figure out where Latinos fit within the national culture. CNN: As people watch these movies, from very early Hollywood to the 1990s, what is the progression of Latino characters? Noriega: I don't know that we see a single trajectory of going from either one thing to another or from bad to better. You see certain recurring figures or types. You see different versions of the gangster kind of morphing into the gang member. But it's more or less an urban outlaw type, and that persists. I think you see little shifts in terms of when they're being made and who is making them. You have some of the same characters in "My Family/Mi Familia," but it's being made by a Chicano filmmaker as part of an attempt to show a very diverse view of what a family can be. CNN: What's your take on white actors playing Latino characters? Noriega: Actually, [co-host] Robert Osborne and I kind of went back and forth on that throughout the series because I think there are two views. One is: Actors are actors, and they play make-believe, and they pretend to be different types of characters, and in an ideal world, actors should be able to play anything they are able to do effectively. But when you look at it sociologically, you see it's only working one way, and that's where I think there's a problem. In the history of Hollywood, we're maybe able to identify 70 films that really focus on Latino characters, family or community, and a third of those have white actors playing the Latinos. And Latino actors are not really getting the same opportunity to play other types. CNN: How did the industry try to "transform" actors into Latino characters? Noriega: The Latino population -- and it's part of the irony of this -- it's not a racial group. It's a multiracial, multi-ethnic group. We talk about that in terms of "West Side Story," where everybody's identified how Natalie Wood was in brownface playing a Puerto Rican. But in 1980, there was a revival of it on Broadway, and they actually cast a Puerto Rican actress. In the makeup room, they started putting brownface on her, [because] she wasn't dark enough to meet the expectations of what a Latina character would look like on stage. I've done focus groups with Latino actors in the Screen Actors Guild, and they continually talk about that there are these expectations of what a Latino character is going to look like and more often than not, Latino actors don't look like that. (laughs) CNN: What do you think about how Latinos are portrayed in film today? Noriega: We have a somewhat broader cohort of actors who are known, who are included in films, not always starring, but they get secondary roles in films and so there's in some sense more of a presence. When you look at the statistics in terms of the overall presence of Latinos in film and television, the numbers really haven't changed that much. So it's a kind of a subtle shift. | Turner Classic Movies begins month-long Latino Images in Film festival .
Event features 40 films that show how Latinos have been depicted on the big screen .
Discussion tackles controversial practice of white actors playing Latino characters .
Scholar: Films show how Hollywood tried to figure out where Latinos fit in culture . |
0da3f054c52ea0dddd54e315756909c69e322914 | An invisible shield, some 7,200 miles (11,600 km) above Earth, has been found blocking 'killer electrons' from bombarding our planet. These electrons can whip around the planet at near-light speed and have been known to threaten astronauts, fry satellites and damage space systems. If they hit Earth on a large scale, they could knock out power grids, radically change the planet's climate and drive up rates of cancer. The shield was discovered in the Van Allen radiation belts - two doughnut-shaped rings above Earth that are filled with high-energy electrons and protons . But while scientists know this mysterious shield exists, they are baffled as to how it formed and how exactly it works. 'Somewhat like the shields created by force fields on Star Trek that were used to repel alien weapons, we are seeing an invisible shield blocking these electrons,' said Professor Daniel Baker from the University of Colorado Boulder. The shield was discovered in the Van Allen radiation belts - two doughnut-shaped rings above Earth that are filled with high-energy electrons and protons. Held in place by Earth's magnetic field, the Van Allen radiation belts swell and shrink in response to incoming energy disturbances from the sun. They were discovered in 1958 and are comprised of an inner and outer belt extending up to 25,000 miles (40,000km) above Earth's surface. Held in place by Earth's magnetic field, the Van Allen radiation belts swell and shrink in response to incoming energy disturbances from the sun . 'Somewhat like the shields created by force fields on Star Trek (pictured) that were used to repel alien weapons, we are seeing an invisible shield blocking these electrons,' said Professor Daniel Baker . The Van Allen radiation belts are two layers of charged particles orbiting around Earth. They are kept in place by the planet's magnetic field. The belts are comprised of an inner and outer belt extending up to 25,000 miles (40,000km) above Earth's surface. The radiation levels across the belts differ depending on where in the belt they are. The belts were discovered in 1958 by scientist James Van Allen from the University of Iowa while aboard the first U.S space mission. One theory suggested the particles were accelerated as they entered the belt and were trapped inside. The second suggested that particles were created inside the belt and accelerated by a force from within. Nasa sent probes up to track the behaviour of the belts and these satellites have finally proved that electric fields inside the belts tear electrons from atoms and charge them at super speeds. Last year, Professor Baker led a team that used the twin Van Allen Probes launched in 2012 to discover a third, transient 'storage ring'. This ring is located between the inner and outer Van Allen radiation belts and seems to come and go with the intensity of space weather. This ring appears to block the ultrafast electrons from breaching the shield and moving deeper towards Earth's atmosphere. 'It's almost like these electrons are running into a glass wall in space,' said Professor Baker. 'It's an extremely puzzling phenomenon.' The team originally thought the highly charged electrons, which are looping around Earth at more than 100,000 miles per second, would slowly drift downward into the upper atmosphere. But the impenetrable barrier seen by the twin Van Allen belt spacecraft stops the electrons before they get that far, said Professor Baker. The group looked at a number of scenarios that could create and maintain such a barrier. The team wondered if it might have to do with Earth's magnetic field lines. These lines trap and control protons and electrons, bouncing them between Earth's poles like beads on a string. They also looked at whether radio signals from human transmitters on Earth could be scattering the charged electrons at the barrier, preventing their downward motion. Killer electrons whip around the planet at near-light speed and have been known to threaten astronauts, fry satellites and degrade space systems during intense solar storms . But neither explanation held scientific weight, Professor Baker said. 'Nature abhors strong gradients and generally finds ways to smooth them out, so we would expect some of the relativistic electrons to move inward and some outward,' he added. 'It's not obvious how the slow, gradual processes that should be involved in motion of these particles can conspire to create such a sharp, persistent boundary at this location in space.' Another scenario is that the giant cloud of cold, electrically charged gas called the plasmasphere, which begins about 600 miles (960km) above, is scattering the electrons at the boundary. In March, scientists looking at charged particles in space discovered particle hurricanes surrounding Earth. These highly-charged particles are part of the Van Allen belts. Since the belts were first discovered in 1958, astronomers have been trying to trace the source of the super-acceleration. The acceleration is so high that satellites have to protect their sensitive components with shielding if their orbit spends significant time in the belt. Data from Nasa's twin space probes suggests that these the particles may be supercharged by local acceleration, similar to how hurricanes are driven by the evaporation of warm ocean water on Earth. This theory explains why the belts change shape - because the particles numbers swell and drop in different conditions. Space scientists believe these findings are significant because they could also be used to explain the high-energy radiation belts that circle Saturn and Jupiter, as well as around sun-like stars. It could be doing this with low frequency, electromagnetic waves that create a plasmapheric 'hiss'. The hiss sounds like white noise when played over a speaker, Professor Baker said. While the plasmaspheric hiss may play a role in the puzzling space barrier, Professor Baker believes there is more to the story. 'I think the key here is to keep observing the region in exquisite detail, which we can do because of the powerful instruments on the Van Allen probes,' he said. 'If the sun really blasts the Earth's magnetosphere with a coronal mass ejection (CME), I suspect it will breach the shield for a period of time.' | These 'killer electrons' whip around the planet at near-light speed .
If they hit Earth, they could knock out power grids and change its climate .
Shield was found 7,200 miles (11,600 km) above Earth in Van Allen belts .
Scientists are baffled as to how the shield formed, and how it works .
'It's almost like these electrons are running into a glass wall,' said Professor Daniel Baker from the University of Colorado Boulder . |
0da3fd9ab27b2e0b785939f259c7de4b0ca65c3c | By . Sadie Whitelocks . Last updated at 6:14 PM on 24th October 2011 . Labourer Gary Green is outraged with medics who failed to spot he had suffered two broken bones in his neck . An outraged father has told how doctors failed to spot that he had broken his neck in two places. Labourer Gary Green, 51, was taken to Ipswich Hospital in agony after falling off a ladder from the second floor of a building and landing on his head. Medics carried out scans and X-rays but discharged him, unaware that that he had broken two bones in his spine. For two days Mr Green said he experienced 'excruciating pain' before he returned to hospital on a physiotherapist's advice. An MRI . scan then revealed he had suffered a severe neck injury. Mr Green has since had emergency surgery and is now . recovering in hospital. He said: 'I knew I had neck injuries because I spent two days in . excruciating pain.' Gary's daughter, Kerrie Dunnett, 26, has issued a complaint . to Ipswich Hospital demanding answers over the medical error. Mrs Dunnett, said: 'I want to know how they managed to miss the fact that my dad had a broken neck. 'My dad had the X-rays and the CT scan and then was discharged. 'He went back to Ipswich Hospital on Wednesday and he was in such excruciating pain that he had to lie on the floor. 'I am just so disgusted about this and someone needs to do something about it.' Ipswich Hospital where Mr Green was taken after falling off a ladder from the second floor of a building and landing on his head . Ipswich Hospital has told the family that it will investigate the mistake. Spokesperson Jan Rowsell said: 'All patients deserve the very best . standards of care and we are concerned to hear about Mr Green's . experience. 'We are looking at all aspects of his care very carefully . and urgently to understand all the issues involved.' | A later MRI scan revealed Mr Green had a severe neck injury . |
0da4a1e8e392047cad926d06409f60efe6d3ce3e | Workers punching in for the graveyard shift should avoid steak and spinach, as new research shows eating foods high in iron disrupts the body clock. The body's circadian clocks regulate sleeping, waking and digesting food over a 24 hour period. These cycles activate processes in all the cells in the human body, affecting the release of hormones controlling metabolism and other functions. Shift workers should avoid eating foods rich in iron - such as steak - late at night, as it disrupts the body clock and could increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, stroke and cancer . The brain is the body's 'master' circadian clock, ensuring all the other body clocks are in sync. It is set by light, telling us to wake up in the morning and sleep when it's dark. Night shifts disrupt this natural cycle, and it is known that people who work these have a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, obesity and cancer. Researchers have now discovered that eating iron-rich foods disrupts the circadian clock in the liver, which helps maintain constant blood sugar levels to give body cells enough energy. Normally the liver's circadian clock maintains a constant blood sugar level when a person is asleep. The level then spikes just before they wake up. Iron acts like a cog in the liver's circadian clock, prompting the liver to go into overdrive, strictly controlling blood sugar levels, preventing the spike. This would be healthy when it occurs in the liver's natural clock cycle. But if it happens at a time that is out of sync, such as during a night shift, it could result in abnormal blood sugar levels. For night shift workers, the circadian clock of the liver is already out of sync with the brain's circadian clock, and eating iron could exacerbate that lack of synchronisation. This could lead to diseases like obesity, diabetes, and stroke, the researchers said. Iron-rich foods include: . As part of the study researchers fed iron to mice as part of their natural eating cycle. They found that iron in the diet increases the concentration of heme, an oxygen-carrying compound found in haemoglobin, in cells. When heme binds to a circadian protein, the protein's activity increases. This causes the liver to increase its activity of controlling blood sugar levels. Therefore, eating iron-rich foods caused the liver to increase its activity in regulating blood sugar. This interferes with the normal fluctuations associated with a healthy metabolic system and leads to diseases like obesity, cancer, diabetes and stroke. The study's lead author Judith Simcox, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Utah said: 'Iron is like the dial that sets the timing of the clock. 'Discovering a factor, such as iron, that sets the circadian rhythm of the liver may have broad implications for people who do shift work.' Another of the study's authors Professor Donald McClain, also of the University of Utah, added: 'When a shift worker eats foods high in iron at night it could exacerbate the lack of synchronsation between the clock in the liver and the main one in the brain. 'By tending to flatten the circadian variation of metabolism, high iron in tissues may also interfere with the normal day to night fluctuations associated with a healthy metabolic system.' The study appeared online in the journal Diabetes. Previous studies have found that shift workers experience higher incidences of obesity, diabetes and other metabolic disorders due to disruptions to their circadian clocks . | Eating iron-rich foods disrupts the circadian clock in the liver .
Liver's circadian clock normally regulates blood sugar levels .
Iron causes the liver to control blood sugar more strictly .
This would be healthy if it happened in the liver's natural cycle .
But for people who work night shifts, it puts the liver's clock out of sync .
Leads to increased levels of obesity, diabetes, stroke and cancer . |
0da4c3478d01069d7a0bf3074c1e7adeda5f0217 | By . Mike Dawes . Scottish Rugby has announced a 'multi-million pound' sponsorship deal with BT. The four-year partnership with the broadcasting giants will see the national stadium in Edinburgh renamed as BT Murrayfield Stadium. BT will also sponsor the Scotland sevens side, Scotland's domestic league and cup competitions and Scottish Rugby's four new academies. The name game: A BT sponsorship deal will see Murrayfield renamed . 'This is a momentous day for Scottish Rugby,' the union's chief executive Mark Dodson told Scottish Rugby Union's official website. 'We are very proud to bring BT back into our family of sponsors on a size and scale that is unprecedented both for Scottish Rugby and, we believe, Scottish sport. 'While the headlines may be dominated by the naming rights of the stadium, today's announcement underlines BT's alignment to our own values and goals, particularly that rugby clubs are the heart and soul of their communities that offer a welcome to all, young and old, boys and girls, men and women. 'This new funding underlines our desire to deliver more opportunities for young people to take up our game and broaden the reach of rugby across Scotland. 'We will invest the monies that we receive from BT alongside the revenues that come from our other partners to continue our plan to grow the game of rugby throughout Scotland and deliver against our strategic plan and our recent policy paper initiatives, in particular the establishment of a robust academy structure and to enhance the standard of club rugby.' Lucrative: BT will also sponsor the Scotland sevens side and the domestic league and cup competitions . Scottish Rugby's director of commercial operations, communications and public affairs, Dominic McKay, said: 'We are delighted to have secured such a renowned and respected global partner. BT recognises the importance and the rich heritage associated with Murrayfield and Scottish Rugby. 'In branding our home, the BT Murrayfield Stadium it reiterates our joint view that the name of the home of Scottish rugby that has been synonymous with the game in our country since 1925 had to be retained. 'BT is a massive global brand, which we've worked with before as sponsor of our domestic league and cup competitions between 1999 and 2006. We also have the pleasure of working with BT Sport, which began its relationship with us at the start of this season, as it sponsors both Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby. 'To secure a deal of this nature for the first time in our history means a huge amount for Scottish Rugby, as it will deliver very positively for us for years to come to enable us to continue to invest in our game throughout Scotland. 'I wish to place on record our thanks to RBS for their tremendous support of our domestic competitions and the Scotland sevens squad over the last three years and very much look forward to continuing to work with them as national team sponsor. 'We will be working closely with BT and their staff throughout Scotland in the coming months as we bring this new relationship to life.' Donald Macleod, president of the Scottish Rugby Union, said: 'Congratulations to the executive team on securing such a great deal for the whole of Scottish rugby. From Stornoway in the north to Selkirk in the south, this welcome investment comes as a very positive development for the entire game.' Crucial: Scottish rugby chiefs claim the deal will be important to the future of rugby in the country . | BT to sponsor sevens side and domestic league and cup competitions .
Murrayfield to be kept as part of the stadium name for heritage reasons .
Scottish rugby chiefs announce plans to invest in youth rugby academies .
Also claim BT deal will have positive permutations for years to come . |
0da538b00e25e621b514daef6586ae477e68dcca | Sons and daughters grow up but they'll always be a baby to their devoted mothers. It's a touching sentiment but it can also cause friction between families when mothers can't let go of their beloved sons - particularly after they get married. It's a situation that Mel Fallowfield, a journalist who lives in London, knows only too well. She says her relationship with her mother-in-law, Irene Atterbury, is 'strained' because she frowns upon the way Mel 'looks after' her son, Brian. Appearing on today's This Morning, mother-of-two Mel, 41, explained: 'Irene is quite traditional so when she arrives and I'm working, she'll ask "what's for supper" and I'll say "I don't know, there might be some eggs in the fridge" or she'll see a pile of Brian's un-ironed shirts. She feels I don't look after him as well as I might.' Scroll down for video . Conflict: Mel Fallowfield, right, appeared on today's This Morning with her mother-in-law Irene Atterbury . Irene believes Mel should be acting like a perfect housewife, keeping the home clean for her son and having his dinner on the table when he comes home from his job as the head of client strategy for an IT company. But Mel thinks it's better if she also earns money. Mel said: 'I can understand she wants her son to be "properly looked after" but I think me bringing money into the family is more important that cleaning the skirting boards.' Irene admitted her and Mel's differing views stem from them coming from different generations - and possibly because she's from the North while her daughter-in-law is a Southerner. She confessed that she can be 'a bit outspoken' when telling Mel if she doesn't agree with the way she's doing things - from the care of her son and grandchildren to the housework. She can also be tactless at times, for example, asking Mel is she could wear black to her wedding to Brian and once even commenting on her daughter-in-law's figure. Generations apart: The pair have different views on a woman's role as a wife . Mel recalled: 'I put on weight with a thyroid problem and she said "goodness you have put on weight haven't you?" When I asked Brian to tell her not to comment about it, she said to me later, "you're sensitive about your weight".' Irene said she thinks it's better to voice her opinion - even if it causes offence - as she believes 'if you bottle it up, it gets worse.' She admitted wanting to wear black to her son's wedding could have been because 'deep down' she was mourning losing him to his wife. Mel said her husband doesn't get involved to resolve the differences between her and his mother. 'Brian has got fed up, he thinks "you're too grown up women, sort it out",' she said. Commenting on the situation this This Morning, relationship expert Dr Pam Spurr said tension between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law can be a 'serious issue' that needs to be resolved as it can cause the break up of a relationship. Family ties: Married presenters Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford joked about their own family situation during the interview . She said: 'Interfering mother-in-laws need to stand back and realise they sound like that Harry Enfield character who no-one liked who always said "you don't want to do that!"' The tricky relationship between wives and their husband's mother is one writer Katy Rink, from Shrewsbury, also knows well. She has written a book on the subject, 'Managing Your MIL: You and your mother-in-law, for better or for worse?' She previously told MailOnline that it's important for women at war to remember that they both have the same goal in mind - their husband/son's happiness. She told MailOnline of the mother-in-law-daughter-in-law dynamic: 'It's an important relationship and one you might have to put a lot of energy into getting right. 'It's one where both are programmed to be mutually suspicious of the other. She wants you to be up to the job of looking after your son and you feel under pressure and sometimes insecure as you adapt to a new role as a wife and mother.' For daughters-in-law like Mel feeling the strain, she has the following advice: 'Remember you can't change your mother-in-law but you can change the way you react. Don't prickle too readily or look for hidden messages.' Do you have a strained relationship with your mother-in-law or daughter-in-law? Share your story with us by writing to [email protected] . | Mel Fallowfield and her mother-in-law Irene Atterbury don't see eye-to-eye .
Irene believes Mel should make more effort to be a perfect housewife .
But Mel believes she's better off providing for her family by working .
Irene asked if she could wear black to her son's wedding to Mel .
She admits she can be outspoken, and once commented on Mel's figure .
Relationship between mothers and their son's wife is often strained .
Can cause breakdown in a marriage if not resolved . |
0da683ff0b0782f3ceb5e47ec12410b463a652f2 | Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill has named a bumper 26-man squad for his side's first Euro 2016 qualifier against Hungary next month, with the suspended Jonny Evans the only notable absentee. Evans has been struggling with a leg injury and made his first appearance of the season when captaining Manchester United in their embarrassing 4-0 defeat by MK Dons in the Capital One Cup this week. He sits out the international following his red card against Azerbaijan in October. VIDEO Scroll down for Manchester United's Jonny Evans on his favourite books . Squad: Michael O'Neill named a 26-man squad for Northern Ireland's game against Hungary next month . Evans gifted the League One Dons their opening goal of the cup game and the two men who combined to punish the mistake - Ben Reeves and Will Grigg - are both in O'Neill's squad. A handful of senior players who missed the summer tour of South America, including Chris Brunt, Gareth McAuley, Kyle Lafferty and Jamie Ward, all make their comebacks for the Sunday, September 7 match in Budapest. With Evans absent and O'Neill expected to stick with his preferred 3-5-2 formation, the group is packed with defensive options - including seven players capable of operating at centre-half. Up front, Lafferty is back after making an impressive return to English football since signing for Norwich. Strikers James Gray and Liam Boyce, midfielder Jonny Steele and teenage defender Liam Donnelly drop out of the squad that travelled to Uruguay and Chile at the end of last season. Absentee: Jonny Evans was not included in the squad after he was set off against Azerbaijan in their last game . | Michael O'Neill names 26-man Northern Ireland squad .
Manchester United's Jonny Evans left out as he is suspended .
Northern Ireland face Hungary next month in Euro 2016 qualifier . |
0da77c1f367a7874bcf56f43671c15d607c02910 | By . Anna Edwards . PUBLISHED: . 13:49 EST, 4 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 14:28 EST, 4 July 2013 . Sergeant Danny Nightingale in the court martial in Bulford, Wiltshire, where he is on trial charged with possession of a prohibited firearm and possession of 338 rounds of ammunition . An SAS serviceman giving evidence in the trial of sniper Danny Nightingale, claimed soldiers bringing back weapons to the UK as trophies from operations overseas was 'part of the course'. The special forces man, identified only as Soldier N, described the collecting of weapons from operational tours as 'illegal' but 'semi-okay'. Soldier N spoke about the gathering of trophy weapons as he gave evidence in the trial of SAS sniper Danny Nightingale, who is accused of having a Glock 9mm pistol and ammunition stored in his bedroom. He said he had himself brought back a . Glock 9mm pistol from Iraq, which had been given to him by an Iraqi . national as a 'gift' in 2003, but would have 'loved' to have obtained a . sniper’s rifle. He told the court he was 'not shocked' when he alleged Sergeant Nightingale, 38, told him that he also had a Glock pistol in his possession. 'I know it is illegal but it is kind of part of the course,' Soldier N said. 'You go on operations, you want to bring back a trophy, as our grandfathers did in the war. 'To bring back a trophy of some sort is kind of semi-okay.' Asked what types of weapons have been brought back from operations overseas, Soldier N replied: 'You only have to look at most sergeants’ messes... AK47s, Dragunovs. 'I’m a sniper and I would love to bring back a Dragunov as a centrepiece.' The court heard Sergeant Nightingale, 38, (with his wife Sally) had a Glock 9mm pistol stored in his wardrobe and the ammunition stashed under his bed . He described the procedures for checking military equipment coming back into the UK from abroad prior to the Op Plunder directive in 2004 as being 'reasonably relaxed'. Soldier N, who was best friends with Sgt Nightingale, was sharing a rented house with him when police acting on a tip-off about a gun searched the property in September 2011. He is currently serving a two-year period of military detention after admitting last year possessing prohibited firearms. Giving evidence for the Crown, he denied assertions by Sgt Nightingale’s barrister William Clegg QC that the pistol found in his colleague’s bedroom was in fact his. Mr Clegg asked: 'Was that Glock pistol one that you had ever been in possession of?' Soldier N replied: 'No.' Mr Clegg asked Soldier N again: 'Are you quite sure you didn’t bring both pistols back to this country?' He replied: 'I am positive.' Sgt Nightingale's family, including wife Sally and father Humphrey, were in court to support him . Mr Clegg said the witness would have received a longer sentence if he had admitted having two pistols. Soldier N replied: 'I admitted my crime and took it on the chin. One gun, two guns. As far as I was concerned I was in for a long sentence.' Soldier N, whose evidence was relayed to the public gallery in a neighbouring annexe in order to protect his identity, said he was on deployment in Afghanistan when he was informed police were going to search the house after his ex-wife told them a gun may be stored there. He described to the court martial board the moment he told Sgt Nightingale that the police were at the house. 'I said: ‘Look mate, I don’t know what is going on. I’m buggered’.' Soldier N explained that a gun and ammunition had been found among his belongings and claimed Nightingale told him: 'I’ve got the same, mate.' He told the court that he had a second conversation with Sgt Nightingale - after the defendant had spoken to his superior. 'It was a little bit confusing at first,' Soldier N said. 'He mentioned a Glock pistol. I said "no, no that’s mine". He said "no mate, I have a pistol too".' Soldier N said Sgt Nightingale did not go into the details of how the Glock came into his possession. 'It was more about the consequences of having it, with a possibility of a five year (prison) term,' he added. SAS sniper Sergeant Danny Nightingale from Crewe, Cheshire, pictured with wife Sally in March, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of possession of a prohibited firearm, namely a Glock 9mm pistol, between November 26 2007 and September 16 2011 . The court has heard that rounds of ammunition were found under Sgt Nightingale’s bed and the pistol was discovered in his wardrobe. Soldier N said that both he and Sgt Nightingale worked as range instructors and habitually stored ammunition at the rented house rather than checking it back into stores. 'Therefore, I know it’s lazy, however at the end of the day it was easier to drive home ready for the next day rather than going all the way through town etc etc, then vice versa in the morning,' he explained. Soldier N accepted there had been a 'marked change' in Sgt Nightingale after the illness in the jungle in 2009 but said he did not have memory problems over 'big topics'. The witness said he and Sgt Nightingale had been best friends but that ended in the wake of the court proceedings when he had declined to provide a statement saying he had moved the defendant’s kit from quarters at their base to the rented house they shared. Earlier, two former special services colleagues of Sgt Nightingale and Soldier N gave evidence via video link from Afghanistan where they are involved in operations. Members of the public and media were cleared from the courtroom and listened to the men’s evidence from the annexe but could not see the soldiers. The line was crackly and there was a delay of a few seconds. Sgt Nightingale, of Crewe, Cheshire, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of possession of a prohibited firearm, namely a Glock 9mm pistol, between November 26 2007 and September 16 2011. He also denies possession on or about September 16 2011 of ammunition, namely 122 9mm live rounds, 40 7.62mm live rounds, 50 9mm frangible rounds, 50 .338 armour piercing live rounds, two .308 live rounds and 74 5.56mm live rounds. Sgt Nightingale’s family, including wife Sally and father Humphrey, were in court to support him. The court martial was adjourned until tomorrow when Sgt Nightingale is expected to give evidence. Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons. | Soldier N spoke about the gathering of trophy weapons as he gave evidence in the trial of SAS sniper Danny Nightingale .
Sgt Nightingale accused of having a Glock 9mm pistol and ammunition stored in his bedroom .
Soldier N said: 'To bring back a trophy of some sort is kind of semi-okay' |
0da8b72e3b341db922c6ab7532c7315a0619192a | By . Emma Thomas . PUBLISHED: . 13:09 EST, 7 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 18:19 EST, 7 January 2014 . Ever fancy seeing the inside of a police station? The sell-off of hundreds of Metropolitan Police properties could mean househunters could buy their own corner of a former station in a sought-after area. In a move that has angered people across London, hundreds of police stations are being sold off as part of plans to reduce running costs across the capital. Up for sale: Whetstone Police Station in the London Borough of Barnet - complete with sign saying it is available . Winchmore Hill police station in Enfield north London could be flats or offices . Pricey: Hackney police station in east London is said to be worth about £3million . The front counter of East Ham police station closed in June and the building is now up for sale . After deputy mayor Stephen Greenhalgh announced his proposals to get officers out of the offices and onto the streets last March, the for sale signs have gone up on several historic buildings in London. According to homesandproperty.co.uk, hundreds could be sold to make room for 3,000 homes in some of the most prestigious postcodes in the capital. Among the buildings the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime have put up for sale, is St John's Wood police station which is near to Regent's Park in north west London. But the most high-profile closure is New Scotland Yard. Prime location: The four-storey red brick Clapham police station is also up for grabs for developers . Highgate Police Station closed in 1998 and is currently home to the Haringey Child Abuse Investigation Team . Wanstead Police Station has been declared as unfit for purpose for modern policing by the Metropolitan Police's Borough Commander . Sought-after location: Muswell Hill police station is at the junction of Fortis Greena and Fortis Green Avenue . It was announced in May that the . former Whitehall police station on Victoria Embankment - known as the . Curtis Green Building and owned by the Mayor's Office for Policing and . Crime (MOPAC) - will become 'Scotland Yard', the Met's new headquarters . in 2015 and will host the famous revolving sign. MOPAC . says the cost of the MPS remaining in New Scotland Yard would run into . the tens of millions of pounds, with £50million needed to bring the . outdated facilities up to date and annual running costs of £11million. The Curtis Green site has been empty for two years and is in the heart of Westminster. About 300,000 square metres (one third) of MOPAC's estate will be sold over the next three years. Leyton police station has been empty for more than three years and squatters had moved in . Hampstead Police Station and Magistrates Court is Grade II listed and was built in 1913 . St Johns Wood Police Station has seen its blue lamp replaced by a red for sale sign as the sell-off continues . Sell-off: Golders Green police station in Temple Fortune has a car park and outbuildings at the back . This will save £85million a year on . running costs by 2015/16 (compared with 2009) and £60 million will be . reinvested in the estate and infrastructure to support the frontline and . help keep officer numbers high. The . plan announced by the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime Stephen . Greenhalgh and the Deputy Commissioner Craig Mackey will also provide up . to 950 modern cells to help reduce the time it takes to process people . in custody and the sale of up to 200 buildings - the vast majority of . which have no public access. Deputy . Mayor for Policing and Crime, Stephen Greenhalgh said: 'Selling off . underutilised and unoccupied buildings will cut the running costs of the . Met's estate by £60 million, which will pay for 1200 extra police . officers across London's boroughs over the next three years. 'This strategy should generate at least £300 million, which will be ploughed back into the remaining buildings so that a run down, largely Victorian police estate is fit for the 21st century.' New homes: The Former Traffic and TSG base in Whetstone will now be houses and flats . Demolished: The Whetstone base is demolished to make way for the new development of homes . Plans to close Tottenham police station faced strong opposition and protests from residents in north London . Deputy Commissioner of the MPS, Craig . Mackey, said: 'This is the most significant transformation of the police . estate in the history of the MPS. Under the hammer: Golders Green police station . 'The changes proposed will help us to . save on running costs and sell properties that are no longer required, . allowing us to invest in modern facilities that are fit for our . officers, staff and the public.' The estate is vast and expensive, with almost 500 buildings, costing £203 million a year to run. The . strategy covers the entire MOPAC estate including police stations, . forensic labs, firing ranges, training grounds, horse and dog centres, . offices and custody facilities. A spokesman for the Met Police said: 'We want to deliver a more efficient and higher quality estate which meets the operational needs of the MPS and costs less to run. 'The police estate dates back to 1847 . (St John's Wood police station). We won't keep older buildings any . longer than we need to - some buildings are getting old and the cost of . keeping and maintaining them is considerable. 'Reduce the amount of space occupied by 300,000 sq m by 2015/16 and reduce estate running costs to £140 m per year. Estate running costs have already reduced from £225m per year (April 2009) to £205m by March 2013. 'We . will provide up to 950 modern cells - better facilities and will . support a reduction in time it takes for a detainee in custody to be . processed. This also means victims will no longer enter or use the same . door as alleged perpetrators. 'We . know our estate is under used - analysis has shown that over 40 per . cent of desks are unoccupied at any given time. A key aspect of our . approach is making sure our buildings are used more efficiently. 'We will continue to invest in those buildings core to operational policing needs.' The red brick Willesden Green police station went up for sale in July last year but the final price was not revealed . Metropolitan police station in Harrow Road, Queen's Park was also up for sale . | About 300,000 square metres (one third) of MOPAC's estate will be sold .
This will save £85million a year on running costs by 2015/16 .
The estate is vast, with 500 buildings, costing £203 million a year to run . |
0da8f10cfbd23a87568308ce06c382ddb419b4e8 | (CNN) -- Marc Marquez raced to his third straight pole position of the 2014 MotoGP World Championship at the Termas de Rio Honda circuit in Argentina on Saturday. The Repsol Honda rider produced a lap of one minute, 37.683s, trumping Yamaha's two-time MotoGP champion, Jorge Lorenzo, by 0.742 seconds. Marquez will now look to maintain his 100% record in the full race on Sunday after winning the first two meets of the season in Doha and Austin. "Today I really felt good on the bike and I am happy to have taken pole position," a smiling Marquez told the MotoGP website. "In the morning and in FP4, we worked a lot with the used tire and this afternoon we obviously focused on qualifying. I put in a very good lap and I am happy," he added. The Spaniard, who was also the quickest in all of the practice sessions, was the only rider to break the 1.37s barrier all day. Lorenzo improved significantly in the final stages of qualifying but his best lap of one minute, 38.651 seconds was only enough to qualify in second place. Marquez's Honda teammate, Dani Pedrosa, finished 0.226 seconds back on Lorezo to pick up the final place on the front row. The second row will contain Pol Espargaro of Yamaha, Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso and nine-time champion Valentino Rossi, also of Yamaha. The race at the Termas circuit is the first MotoGP event to be held in Argentina in 15 years. See also: Motorcycling invades new frontier . | Marc Marquez claims pole at Termas de Rio Honda Circuit, Argentina .
Spaniard qualifies 0.742 seconds ahead of second-fastest Jorge Lorenzo .
Marquez's Honda teammate, Dani Pedrosa, finishes day third . |
0daa064dad3ec5fa1c4faf854e3587debcc0a17f | (CNN) -- Two months before her death, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto sent an e-mail to her U.S. adviser and longtime friend, saying that if she were killed, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf would bear some of the blame. Bhutto was assassinated after the campaign rally, seen here, Thursday. She cited his government's denial of her request for additional security measures after the October suicide bombing that targeted her upon returning to Pakistan from exile. "Nothing will, God willing happen," she wrote to Mark Siegel, her U.S. spokesman, lobbyist and friend. "Just wanted u to know if it does in addition to the names in my letter to Musharaf of Oct 16nth, I wld hold Musharaf responsible. I have been made to feel insecure by his minions and there is no way what is happening in terms of stopping me from taking private cars or using tinted windows or giving jammers or four police mobiles to cover all sides cld happen without him." Bhutto was seeking to become prime minister for a third time when she was assassinated; her death comes exactly two weeks before Pakistan's January 8 parliamentary elections. Watch Siegel describe her concern and the reaction of Pakistan's U.S. ambassador » . Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S., Mahmud Ali Durrani, on Thursday insisted Musharraf's government provided the former prime minister with unprecedented security. He said that terrorists and extremists, who also have targeted Musharraf, were the only ones responsible for her death. Watch a report on security provided to Bhutto » . Bhutto wrote the e-mail on October 26, eight days after at least 130 people were killed and hundreds more wounded in Karachi by the suicide bombing that occurred as Bhutto's motorcade passed. Siegel forwarded that e-mail to CNN's Wolf Blitzer, with instructions he not report on it unless Bhutto was killed. Just before returning to Pakistan after eight years of self-imposed exile, Bhutto told CNN she was aware of threats against her and said that some had come from people who hold "high positions" in Pakistan's government. She said she had written a letter to Musharraf about her fears, apparently the same letter she refers to in her e-mail to Siegel. In a speech, she listed four groups she believed posed the biggest threat to her and her cause -- the Taliban in Pakistan, the Taliban in Afghanistan, al Qaeda and a suicide team from Karachi that she did not describe. After the October bombing, she accused elements in the government and security services of trying to kill her and asked Musharraf for "basic security," including vehicles with tinted windows and private guards in addition to police guards. Three United States senators repeated the request in a letter to Musharraf. Bhutto was concerned by the lack of security she had upon her arrival in Karachi and called the October 18 bombing "very suspicious," Siegel said. He accused Pakistani authorities of not investigating the assassination attempt and of refusing Bhutto's request for Scotland Yard and the FBI to aid in the investigation. Bhutto and her husband had asked for jammers to impede the detonation of bombs; special vehicles with tinted windows; and four police vehicles to surround her at all times, Siegel said. "She basically asked for all that was required for someone of the standing of a former prime minister," Siegel told CNN's "The Situation Room." "All of that was denied to her. ... She got some police protection, but it was sporadic and erratic." Bhutto was concerned the problem was worsening as the January elections neared, Siegel said. At the time of the October suicide bombing, Bhutto was riding in a truck from Karachi's airport to the tomb of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan. She had moved from the roof to inside the bulletproof, armed vehicle just moments before the blast and was unharmed. CNN's Dan Rivers, in Karachi to cover her return to Pakistan, remarked at the time that her security appeared to be loose, saying his crew was able to walk up to the side of her vehicle without being stopped by authorities. Durrani, Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S., insisted security surrounding Bhutto then was more than adequate. "There were, I think, a sea of security people," he said. "She was surrounded by police vehicles. And had it not been one of the police vehicles which took the blast in Karachi, unfortunately she would have died there. "There was a bubble around her of security. The PPP [People's Party of Pakistan, Bhutto's party] insisted that they have their own private loyalists around. They were there too. And there were about 7,800 to 8,000 security people deployed just for that," Durrani said. "That is more security than anybody deploys anywhere in the world." "She was moving almost in a sea of humanity," Durrani said. "No system in the world can protect you against that." Bhutto "is not a security person," he said. "She's a politician. I think the government of Pakistan provided her all the security that was necessary. You tell me -- the way she was hit, she would have been hit with tinted windows or without, or without the IED ... so it's just a blame game." After the October attack, Bhutto said police offered to let her use a helicopter for the trip from the airport, but she told them she wanted to be near her people. She said she did not regret that decision. "She believed in democracy, and she believed in speaking to the people," Siegel said. "It's not reckless to go out and touch the people. Don't blame the victim for the crime. The person that was supposed to be protecting Benazir Bhutto and the other candidates was the government of Pakistan with the government of Pervez Musharraf." Blitzer noted that Bhutto was shot Thursday while standing out of her vehicle's sunroof -- seen by some as a a reckless action after the October incident. Getty Images senior staff photographer John Moore, who was at the scene of her assassination, told CNN he was surprised at Bhutto's actions, considering the earlier suicide attempt. The rally was smaller than expected, he said, and the people he spoke with said they "were just afraid to come out, for the simple reason that they all remembered what happened in Karachi." Siegel grew emotional as he told Blitzer that Bhutto was "the bravest person I ever knew. ... She knew that there were risks coming back, but those risks were important, she thought, for the fight for democracy." E-mail to a friend . | Bhutto wrote e-mail on October 26, eight days after deadly suicide bombing .
Before returning to Pakistan, Bhutto told CNN she was aware of threats .
Lack of security worried Bhutto upon her arrival in Karachi, adviser Siegel says .
Bhutto was concerned problem was worsening as elections neared, Siegel says . |
0daa383e9ea051859d5103629d8f88f5c8ccc7f6 | By . James Rush . and Associated Press . Oscar Pistorius and his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp had a 'loving and caring' relationship, his manager told the Olympic athlete's murder trial today. Peet Van Zyl said Pistorius and his model girlfriend called each other pet names and the athlete was making plans to take her away on international trips shortly before he fatally shot her. The defence called Mr Van Zyl to the stand in an attempt to bolster Pistorius' account that he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder, providing testimony about a loving relationship and a fear of crime that may have pushed the Paralympian to fire through a closed toilet door. Scroll down for video . Oscar Pistorius (pictured arriving at court today) had a 'loving' relationship with his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, his manager today told the trial . Oscar Pistorius greets a wellwisher during his murder trial in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria today . Peet Van Zyl said Pistorius and his model girlfriend called each other pet names and the athlete was making plans to take her away on international trips shortly before he fatally shot her . The agent faced tough questioning from . the chief prosecutor, however, about Pistorius' alleged egotism and . tantrums, high-speed driving and love of guns. Giving evidence at the trial, Mr Van Zyl told the court the athlete was nervous and 'fidgety' at home and had a 'heightened sense of awareness.' Mr Van Zyl recalled to the court how on one occasion Pistorius drove at high speed to the airport and, when told there was no rush, recalled a traumatic episode in which Mr Van Zyl was accosted at gunpoint while in his car in 2007. 'He wanted to ensure that we are safe and not being followed,' Mr Van Zyl said. He also remembered a time when Pistorius grabbed him by the arm in apparent fear when the pair heard a loud bang while walking in New York City, and described two occasions in which the runner lost his temper but was not aggressive under 'abusive questioning' from journalists. He also said he was assisting Pistorius in plans to take Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, to races in Britain and Brazil, and a concert in Italy. Pistorius has testified that he fired through a closed bathroom door, killing Steenkamp, in the mistaken belief there was a dangerous intruder in his home . Chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel tried to . pick holes in Van Zyl's testimony, pressing the agent for details about a . reported incident in which a South African athlete who was sharing a . room with Pistorius asked for them to be separated because Pistorius was . allegedly arguing frequently on his telephone. He . also referred to a 2012 Paralympics race in which Pistorius accused the . winner of breaking the rules by using prosthetic limbs that were too . long. Van Zyl acknowledged . that it was the 'wrong place and wrong time for him to react in such a . way' but noted there was a 'long lead-up' to the incident in which . Pistorius had expressed concerns that rules were being flouted. Mr Nel also described Pistorius' plans . to take Steenkamp on trips as an example of alleged narcissism after . Van Zyl quoted the athlete as saying he wanted his girlfriend 'to see . what my world is about, the pressure that I'm under' and 'how I need to . perform.' Earlier, the hearing focused on the screams that neighbours say they heard on the night the athlete killed his girlfriend. June Steenkamp, mother of Reeva Steenkamp, arrives at North Gauteng High Court for the trial of Oscar Pistorius . Chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel (pictured) today cross-examined acoustics expert Ivan Lin, who gave evidence yesterday about the challenges of hearing accurately from a distance . Mr Nel questioned an acoustics expert who was called by the defence team as part of its effort to suggest some neighbours who testified they heard the screams of a woman were wrong. They argue the witnesses actually heard the high-pitched screams of the double-amputee runner. The acoustics expert, Ivan Lin, testified that he conducted tests that showed ambient noise and other factors can make it difficult to hear accurately from a distance. Mr . Lin questioned whether neighbours 177 metres away could have . heard screams coming from the toilet, or identified them as a man or . woman. ‘At 177 metres . away, if the scream was from the toilet, it is highly unlikely that the . listener can hear the screams, let alone interpret the sound source . reliably,’ he said. Pistorius faces 25 years to life in prison if found guilty of premeditated murder, and could also face years in prison if convicted of murder without premeditation or negligent killing . Mr Nel said . the screams of a woman have a 'tonal character' and referred to the . testimony of the neighbours who were convinced they had heard a . screaming woman. Mr Lin responded that he could not say whether they were 'correct or incorrect'. Pistorius has testified that he fired . through a closed bathroom door, killing Steenkamp, in the mistaken . belief there was a dangerous intruder in his home. The prosecution has alleged that Pistorius, 27, killed 29-year-old Steenkamp after a Valentine's Day argument. Pistorius . faces 25 years to life in prison if found guilty of premeditated . murder, and could also face years in prison if convicted of murder . without premeditation or negligent killing. He is free on bail. The trial continues. | Peet Van Zyl tells court Pistorius has a 'heightened sense of awareness'
Athlete's manager also says the Olympian was always 'fidgety' at home .
Chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel cross-examined acoustic expert Ivan Lin .
Mr Lin gave evidence about challenges of hearing from a distance .
Neighbours have said in court they heard a woman screaming on night Oscar Pistorius shot girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp .
Defence has suggested witnesses were actually hearing Pistorius scream . |
0daac3ee4f38b5f04476c451684e4a0242fb25a4 | By . Gerri Peev, Political Correspondent . PUBLISHED: . 19:58 EST, 27 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 19:58 EST, 27 October 2013 . David Cameron is to unveil a new generation of apprenticeships to make vocational training more academically challenging for youngsters. The Prime Minister was due to visit the Mini factory in Oxford today to announce the 100,000 vocational training schemes for young people over the next two years. In the future, apprenticeships will last at least a year and will be based on standards designed by employers, to meet the specific needs of their industry. The apprentices will also leave with the knowledge to be fully competent in an occupation. David Cameron, pictured during a previous visit to the Mini plant, will return to the Oxford factory today to unveil a new generation of apprenticeships designed to make vocational training more academically challenging . But apprentices will also be subjected to more thorough academic assessments - including English and maths tests. At least 20 per cent of their training will take place away from their work stations. Downing Street said it was intended that all new apprenticeships will meet the new standards by 2017/18. The new scheme has been developed in response to last November’s report by entrepreneur Doug Richard, which called for higher quality training and more educational rigour to give apprenticeships ‘serious kudos’ with both employers and employees. More than 60 companies - including Mini owners BMW, BAE Systems, Microsoft and Barclays Bank - have signed up to be ‘trailblazers’ for the new-style apprenticeships. More than 60 companies - including Mini owners BMW, BAE Systems, Microsoft and Barclays Bank - have signed up to be 'trailblazers' for the new-style apprenticeships . Mr Cameron is expected to say: ‘I said earlier this month that I want us to deal with the scourge of youth unemployment by giving young people more chances and choices in life. This goes to the heart of my vision for this country: backing hard working people who want to get on in life and making sure Britain competes and thrives in the global race.’ He will add: ‘If you want an apprenticeship, we’re going to make sure you do the best apprenticeship in the world. The reforms we’re announcing today will put employers in the driving seat and ensure that we deliver high quality training that supports you and our economy for years to come. And as the range of companies signed up today shows, these are apprenticeships in different industries and sectors meaning people have a real choice about the career they want and our economy is balanced.’ Mr Cameron will also say: ‘If you need help preparing for an apprenticeship or want to get straight into the world of work, we’ll help you too. We’ve been talking to some of the biggest companies in Britain, massive global brands where young people have a real opportunity to progress up the ladder, and they have said they want to offer 100,000 vocational training schemes for young people.’ In the future, apprenticeships will last at least a year and will be based on standards designed by employers, to meet the specific needs of their industry . The Prime Minister will concede that the new apprenticeships are not a cure-all and will not ‘abolish youth unemployment overnight’. ‘But this is a massive step forward for young people and for our country.’ New vocational training schemes are being pledged by Accenture, BAE Systems, Barclays, BT, Centrica, Diageo, GSK, HSBC, Kingfisher, M&S, National Grid, Tesco, Unilever, and WPP, and will include intensive vocational training, mentoring and on-the-job experience. The scheme is being modelled on those run by the Prince’s Trust. A spokesman from The Prince’s Trust said: ‘Too many young people are facing long-term unemployment, believing their destiny lies in the dole queue. Prince’s Trust programmes are proven to help unemployed young people into jobs. Now, this backing from some of Britain’s biggest businesses will support thousands more disadvantaged young people into work.’ | Prime Minister will visit Mini factory in Oxford to announce scheme .
Apprenticeships designed to meet industry needs will last a year .
Trainees to be subjected to more thorough academic assessments . |
0daac4874ffe15bb4675d3e1ec2a388c0091531a | (CNN) -- NASA said Wednesday that it is collaborating with recording artist Mary J. Blige to encourage girls and young women to pursue careers by studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- collectively known as STEM. A public service announcement featuring shuttle astronaut Leland Melvin and Blige will begin running this week on NASA TV and on the agency's website. The campaign is part of NASA's Summer of Innovation program, which also is working with Blige's Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now, the space agency said. The NASA program, part of the president's Educate to Innovate Campaign, started this summer with the aim of engaging middle school students in science-related activities during the summer break. Working with Blige's foundation provides "a rare opportunity" for it to reach "communities not always readily accessible to us," Melvin said in a news release. "Mary's presence can help NASA make the STEM message more appealing to these communities and increase the pipeline of underrepresented students going into these disciplines," he said. High school participants in Blige's foundation are working with the NASA Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Aerospace Academy project at York College of the City University of New York, the space agency said. In addition to being prepared to deliver NASA content to middle school students this summer, they will have the opportunity to support the NASA academy's fall academic session as student aides for grades one through nine, it said. | NASA collaborating with recording artist Mary J. Blige .
A public service announcement begins running this week on NASA TV .
The collaboration encourages women to reach for the stars . |
0dabfb749507ecfae4d6cdf99f9dbb46374f72fb | About 10.3 million Americans gained health coverage this year, primarily as a result of the Affordable Care Act, according to a study by the federal government and Harvard University, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The estimate of newly insured adults — the largest to date — is the first published in a major medical journal and authored by some federal health researchers. The federal government had previously reported that about 8 million people bought private health plans on the state and federal exchanges and 6.6 million additional people enrolled in Medicaid since last October. But it has not estimated how many of those had been previously uninsured. The Obama administration took pains yesterday to say that the views of the study's authors are not those of the administration -- even as it hailed their findings. FAQ: What the Obamacare court decisions mean for you . "We are committed to providing every American with access to quality, affordable health services and this study reaffirms that the Affordable Care Act has set us on a path toward achieving that goal," Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a statement. "This study also reaffirms that expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act is important for coverage, as well as a good deal for states." The study found that the number of uninsured adults fell by a little over 5% nationally, from 21% in September 2013 to 16.3% in April 2014, with the most significant declines in the 26 states that expanded Medicaid under the health law. While all groups saw reduced uninsurance, the largest changes occurred among Latinos, blacks and adults between the ages of 18 and 34 -- groups that had been targeted for outreach, the study found. The analysis was based on data from a Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, a daily telephone survey of more than 400,000 adults conducted from January 2012 through June 2014, which the researchers purchased from Gallup. It also took into account other surveys and changes in the economy and trends in insurance coverage. Researchers stressed the data's limitations, saying the estimate might range from 7.3 to 17.2 million adults depending on the assumptions. They noted that the Gallup-Healthways data does not include information on children's insurance coverage. It also doesn't take account of the young adults who were able to stay on their parent's policies because it does not go back before 2012. CNN Poll: Is Obamacare working? "The Gallup data, which draws on an enormous sample, paint a compelling picture, finding a substantial drop in uninsurance since the beginning of the first open enrollment period, precisely where we would expect to see it -- in states that expanded Medicaid coverage and in income groups targeted by Medicaid or the new subsidies for coverage," said Genevieve Kenney, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Urban Institute. The analysis found that more adults (approximately 4.4 million) also reported having a personal doctor and fewer (5.3 million) reported experiencing difficulties paying for medical care. "The pattern of coverage gains was consistent with the effects of the ACA, with major gains for persons likely to be eligible for expanded Medicaid on the basis of their income and state of residence, but smaller and nonsignificant changes for low-income adults in states without Medicaid expansion," the study said. About 48 million Americans, or 15.4% of the population, lacked health insurance in 2012, according to the latest Census Bureau report from last year. Why court's blow to Obamacare won't stick . | According to a joint study, 10 million Americans gained health coverage this year .
The gain was due primarily to the Affordable Care Act .
There was a 5% drop in uninsured adults from September 2013 to April 2014 . |
0dae469a260ba74a0adaa88c861e796135af50c3 | The former residence of the late Australian author, Sir Donald Horne, will go under the hammer for the first time in almost 50 years. The two storey terrace at 53 Grosvenor Street at Woollahra in Sydney's east, was last sold to Sir Horne and his wife for £7,700 in 1966. James Dunn from Richardson and Wrench in Double Bay, told Daily Mail Australia that the house was being auctioned off by The Lucky Country writer's family and would likely go for over $1.75 million. A grand Victorian classical terrace at 53 Grosvenor Street at Woollahra Sydney's east is up for auction on November 18 . The two-storey home used to belong to Australian author of The Lucky Country, Sir Donald Horne . His former study, on the second floor, is believed to be where he wrote most of his novels . 'Another house just up the road sold for around $1,902,500 just a month ago,' Mr Dunn said. 'This is a very sought after street and area because the 2B zoning allows for mixed use of commercial and residential property uses and because people want to be this close to Bondi Junction – the shops and park and the train station.' Featuring four bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms, the Victorian home still includes many classic period details. The grand terrace was last sold to Sir Horne and his wife for £7,700 back in 1966 . James Dunn, from Richardson and Wrench in Double Bay, said the house was likely to be sold for over $1.75 million . 'It's all original, it hasn't been touched or changed since they bought it,' Mr Dunn said. 'There are the pressed ceilings in the living and dining rooms, the original marble fireplaces and the beautiful big garden in the back. It's quite special.' Mr Dunn said the study on the second floor, which features a floor to ceiling bookcase and a stunning fireplace, was Sir Horne's study where many of his novels were written. He said the prime location of the terrace, which was close to Bondi Junction, was attracting many buyers . Featuring four bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms, the Victorian home still includes many classic period details . The grand white terrace will go up for auction on November 18 and according to Mr Dunn, has already had strong interest from potential buyers. 'We've got all sorts of people looking at the property – families looking to downsize, young families and people looking to use it for commercial purposes as well,' Mr Dunn said. 'We have met a lot of Donald Horne fans, but we are not yet aware of anyone in particular who is looking to buy it just for that reason.' The home still has the original pressed ceilings in the living and dining rooms and the original marble fireplaces . 'We have met a lot of Donald Horne fans, but we are not yet aware of anyone in particular who is looking to buy it just for that reason,' Mr Dunn said . | The Woollahra terrace was last bought by Sir Horne for £7,700 in 1966 .
It is expected to be auctioned off for at least $1.75 million on November 18 .
Many of the home's Victorian classical features have survived, including the original marble fireplaces and pressed ceilings .
A study with floor-to-ceiling book cases on the second floor, is believed to have been where Sir Horne wrote many of his novels . |
0dae6b8f389865069e2d0bc514f41f651bde6b9b | Critic: Author and educator Camille Paglia wrote a column for Time arguing that college-age women often become victims of rape because they are naive about men's true evil nature . Self-described 'dissident feminist' Camille Paglia has written an op-ed piece for Time Magazine arguing that female college students are naive and careless about the true nature of men as sexual predators. Paglia, 67, a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, penned the column this week in reaction to the recent abduction of University of Virginia sophomore Hannah Graham, 18, who was last seen two weeks ago in the company of a 32-year-old nursing assistant. Jesse Matthew was captured in Texas last week and charged with abduction with intent to defile, but so far there is no sign of Graham. In her provocative opinion piece, Paglia builds her argument on the premise that young, college-age women often become victims of sexual assault because they have a false sense of security and do not keep their guard up in public places. Dismissing claims about an epidemic of sex assaults on campuses as 'wildly overblown,' the well-respected social critic writes that the true danger to female students is 'the ancient sex crime of abduction and murder.' She goes so far as to say that colleges should stick to academics instead of lecturing students about sex assault, which in her mind is an exercise in futility. Paglia essentially says that on a biological level, men are wild beasts driven by atavistic desires, and that our society has done women a great disservice by leading them to believe otherwise. 'Too many young middleclass women, raised far from the urban streets, seem to expect adult life to be an extension of their comfortable, overprotected homes,' Paglia says. 'But the world remains a wilderness. The price of women’s modern freedoms is personal responsibility for vigilance and self-defense.' Paglia also takes a swipe at the American education system, accusing teachers and schoolbook authors of sanitizing history by removing any mention of ‘horrors and atrocities’ stemming from evil that it part and parcel of human nature. Case in point: The op-ed piece was written in reaction to the abduction of 18-year-old college sophomore Hannah Graham, who went missing two weeks ago in Virginia after being last seen with an older man . In her article for the Time titled 'The Modern Campus Cannot Comprehend Evil,' Paglia argues that both the liberal and conservative worldviews are lacking a profound sense of evil because it is much easier to blame an outside force for all our troubles. Paglia's possibly most controversial point is that critics and thinkers debating gender ideology erroneously think that the fundamental nature of man can be changed for the better, and that their violent instincts can somehow be tamed with the help of campus initiative and well-meaning speeches. ‘But extreme sex crimes like rape-murder emanate from a primitive level that even practical psychology no longer has a language for,’ she states. According to the renowned feminist author, an 'alienated loser' motivated by an ancient hunting reflex would prey on an unsuspecting, random woman simply to live out a sexual fantasy, or to punish the female sex for his own failures. Paglia concludes: ‘young women do not see the animal eyes glowing at them in the dark. Controversial: Paglia, 67, argued that America's educators of every stripe are doing womne a disservice by making them believe that man's sexual desires can be tamed . ‘They assume that bared flesh and sexy clothes are just a fashion statement containing no messages that might be misread and twisted by a psychotic.’ Paglia is the author of the much-talked-about 1990 bestseller Sexual Personae, in which she argues that the human nature has an inherently dangerous aspect to it, especially when it comes to sexuality. In 2005, she was named as one of the top 100 public intellectuals by the journals Foreign Policy and Prospect. | Social critic and author Camille Paglia wrote an opinion piece for Time Magazine addressing so-called sex assault epidemic on campuses .
The self-described dissident feminist argued that today's young women are unaware of men's 'animal eyes glowing at them in the dark' |
0daec7f389523f7feda370d3790e9252b5b092bf | By . Louise Eccles for Daily Mail . Millions of employees in a workplace pension scheme are to be freed from punitive curbs on savings imposed by Brussels. Earners were limited to £4,600 a year in contributions as part of the government-backed National Employment Savings Trust (NEST). They were also barred from transferring old company pensions into the scheme or taking it with them if they moved jobs. Pensions Minister Steve Webb (pictured) said: 'By convincing Europe to support us on this, we’ve achieved a victory for consumers' But after a year of negotiation, the European Commission has agreed to lift the restrictions in a ‘victory’ for employees, ministers will announce today. Pensions Minister Steve Webb said: ‘This is a common sense decision which will help people to save and give certainty and confidence to employers choosing to use NEST. ‘By convincing Europe to support us on this, we’ve achieved a victory for consumers.’ However, savers will have to wait until April 1, 2017 for the changes to kick in. The low-cost, not-for-profit pension was designed for small businesses and low to moderate earners who could not afford to pay into more expensive company pensions. More than 1.5million workers have joined since 2012 – and the figure is expected to reach four million in the next three years. The European Commission imposed restrictions because of fears that a state-funded pension scheme could distort or threaten competition from private pension firms. Frances O’Grady, general-secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said it was ‘great news for savers’ Mr Webb said it had put many businesses off because it would have meant running two parallel pensions – one for higher earners and NEST for low-income staff. Relaxing the rules meant workers could avoid having ‘pensions scattered all over the place’, which risked people losing track of their savings, he said. The move comes after pressure from union and employer groups, the National Association of Pension Funds, NEST and criticism from MPs on the Work and Pensions Select Committee. Frances O’Grady, general-secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said it was ‘great news for savers’. ‘It was always ridiculous that people could not save as much as they wanted into NEST,’ she added. Mr Webb defended the 2017 deadline, saying Parliament was ‘littered’ with legislation that had been rushed through and blamed the delay on lengthy consultations with the pension industry and Eurocrats. NEST was introduced alongside automatic enrolment, which forces every boss to pay into a pension for workers who are over 22 and earn at least £10,000 by 2018. | Millions of employees in a workplace pension scheme are to be freed from curbs on savings imposed by the EU .
Earners were limited to £4,600 a year in contributions as part of the government-backed National Employment Savings Trust .
After a year of negotiations, the EU has agreed to lift the restrictions .
But savers will have to wait until April 1, 2017 for the changes to kick in . |
0db0221a9cb37db0e3b61400226fc43b094776c5 | By . Emily Allen . PUBLISHED: . 04:32 EST, 9 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 08:30 EST, 9 October 2012 . A couple had a dinner they will never forget after a car crashed through a wall and straight into their kitchen as they sat eating. Paul and Michelle Hammond, of Brantham, Suffolk, had sat down for dinner when they heard a massive crashing noise. The couple were left stunned as a runaway silver Peugoet 206 smashed straight through the wall and embedded itself in the kitchen. Shock: Paul and Michelle Hammond, of Brantham, Suffolk, had sat down for dinner when they heard a massive crashing noise and a silver Peugeot 206 came crashing through the wall last night . The car remains lodged in the house today following the accident at about 5pm last night. Mr Hammond said: 'We were in the kitchen when it happened. 'The whole wall just exploded in at us. We were very lucky not to be killed.' Shattered: The couple said the car 'exploded' through the wall into the kitchen and three people were injured . Crash: The car remains lodged in the house today following the accident at about 5pm last night . Fire crews using hydraulic equipment cut the couple in the car free, along with another member of their family, and they were taken to Ipswich Hospital to be checked-over. It is not thought their injuries were serious or life-threatening. The Hammonds have not been able to return to their home because there are fears that it is not structurally unsafe. Damage: The Hammonds have not been able to return to their home because there are fears that it isn't safe . | Paul and Michelle Hammond were stunned when a silver Peugeot 206 smashed through a wall and embedded itself in the kitchen .
They can't return home for fears their house is now structurally unsafe . |
0db0398c4448beb6e6bf3dfa14bedf0e88b895a5 | Smartphone usage has skyrocketed at sporting events, as anyone who's attended a recent game can tell you. Look around the stands and you'll see fans checking stats, sharing pictures on social media, or just killing time between plays. While stadiums have boosted cellular and Wi-Fi infrastructure to keep fans connected during games, there's always the possibility that there won't be enough bandwidth for everyone. That's why on Super Bowl Sunday, the NFL is planning to block live streams of the game inside the stadium. Super Bowl XLVIII, between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks, will be streamed by NFL.com and Fox Sports, but both of those sources will be blocked on the Wi-Fi and cellular networks at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, NFL CIO Michelle McKenna-Doyle told Ars in a phone interview. The NFL.com and Fox Sports blocks will be implemented both for mobile apps and within Web browsers. The decision stems from last year's Super Bowl, when streaming was initially allowed but eventually blocked when it took up too much bandwidth. "We [blocked] it last year, but we did it on the fly when we started having some challenges. This year we planned ahead to do it," McKenna-Doyle said. She said the 82,500-seat stadium will be able to handle 25,000 to 30,000 concurrent Internet users across cellular and Wi-Fi. The NFL didn't tell us what the anticipated speeds are because Verizon, which led the Wi-Fi and cellular buildout, preferred to keep that information under wraps. But the plan is to prioritize upload speeds over download because fans generally spend a lot of time posting photos and statuses to social media. The NFL is providing a Super Bowl app to attendees with an event guide and "exclusive content," but it won't include streaming video or replays. "While we do know that people like to look at replays on their phones and there are some people who like to stream certain amounts of video in the game, the vast majority of our fans want to watch the game on the field, watch the replays on the jumbo board, and participate in the event more than they want to be checking their phone," McKenna-Doyle said. "While we could have made some of that available, it might have impacted the ability for the majority of the fans to be able to stay connected to social media, tweet, Facebook, that kind of thing." Big games, big network usage . At last year's Super Bowl, the Wi-Fi network stayed up even during the infamous mid-game power outage. While some attendees told Ars after last year's game that Wi-Fi access was problematic at times, a broadcast engineer we spoke with measured the network at 23Mbps down and 44Mbps up. It's common at high-density events for fans to have trouble sending text messages or uploading photos, McKenna-Doyle noted. Network congestion is especially pronounced at key moments of each game. While attending the final game of last year's World Series at Fenway Park in Boston, I was able to upload, e-mail, and text photos on the cellular network during the game. Immediately after the final out however, fans swarmed the network and uploads became impossible. "When you can't do the basics, it's all of a sudden not that cool that you can show replays or stream the game," McKenna-Doyle said. "It's a fine balance. We're pushing the envelope every year. As technology gets better and better I'm willing to take more and more risks about what we allow." McKenna-Doyle is optimistic that multicast technology, as opposed to the unicast tech used today, will limit the amount of data needed for streaming video at future Super Bowls. "A Unicast transmission/stream sends IP packets to a single recipient on a network. A Multicast transmission sends IP packets to a group of hosts on a network," explains network video Visionary Solutions. But that won't be used at this year's game, because multicast streaming isn't commonly supported on smartphones yet, McKenna-Doyle said. Keeping fans connected . The Super Bowl restriction doesn't mean live streaming is blocked at every NFL game. For example, the New England Patriots' app provides access to NFL Red Zone video when users are connected to Gillette Stadium's Wi-Fi network. "It depends on the stadium," McKenna-Doyle said. "Each team manages every game themselves and they have mobile apps that they run. Some allow it based on their infrastructure, and some block it." The Wi-Fi network, open to all fans, has about 900 access points, using Cisco equipment powered by the new 802.11ac standard, according to the NFL. Verizon is providing the Internet connectivity, with about 4Gbps coming into the stadium. While Verizon is the lead vendor, all four major carriers invested in upgrading their Distributed Antenna Systems at the Super Bowl site, McKenna-Doyle said. One nicety provided to attendees is a radio providing four audio feeds from Fox, Westwood One, ESPN Deportes, and the in-stadium public address. While it would be possible to provide audio feeds to a mobile app, McKenna-Doyle noted that "We've always given this radio for broadcast, and fans have told us they really love it." As usual, the Super Bowl crew will use monitoring tools to identify hacker attacks on the network or technical problems that prevent fans from getting on the Internet. Monitoring user activity helps plan capacity for future events and fix problems as they arise. Network monitoring tools divide the stadium into sectors, and this year "we cut the stadium into more sectors than we had in the past so we can pinpoint more quickly where issues are in a section of the stadium," McKenna-Doyle said. "If we start to hear we're having issues in a certain part, we can work on a smaller segment of the stadium without it impacting as many people." | Fans won't be allowed to stream video on their phones at the Super Bowl .
NFL.com will stream the game, but it will be blocked at MetLife Stadium .
There's a Super Bowl app, but it won't stream video .
League fears video could clog bandwidth . |
0db26bb3f0a88e7564f881c91055d072bb8cdf86 | Stoke City forward Bojan Krkic faces up to six months on the sidelines after suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury. Bojan scored a firecracker of a volley on Monday evening against Rochdale but then pulled up unchallenged while chasing the ball in the penalty area. The 24-year-old exited on crutches and has spent the past 24 hours in hospital. He was informed of the news on Tuesday afternoon. Bojan Krkic receives treatment after falling awkwardly on his knee as he raced through on the Rochdale goal . Stoke forward Bojan is tended to by the club physio after appearing to injure his knee against Rochdale . As revealed by Sportsmail on Tuesday afternoon, it is understood it is an anterior cruciate ligament injury to the left knee and Bojan has been ruled out for the rest of the season. He will undergo surgery, either in Staffordshire or in his native Catalonia. The time-span of his absence is estimated to be between five and six months. Sources close to his family told Sportsmail that Bojan was devastated and taken aback by the news on Tuesday afternoon after he had revitalised his career this season under Mark Hughes. Bojan, pictured celebrating after scoring the opener, is checked on by Marko Arnautovic after going down . Bojan celebrates the opening goal as Stoke took a firm grip on the FA Cup tie right from kick off . The player believes that he has been in the best form of the career and it feels a particularly wicked twist of fate after Bojan had finally discovered consistency in his performances and opportunities at a club. He had scored five goals in his last 10 games and has widely praised as one of the signings of the season. Stoke confirmed that Bojan will miss the remainder of the season on Tuesday evening. Manager Hughes said: 'It's bitterly disappointing for the club but even more so for Bojan himself as he was making such a big impact in the Premier League and clearly enjoying his football. We wish him a speedy recovery.' | Bojan Krkic went off injured in Stoke City's FA Cup win against Rochdale .
The former Barcelona forward suffered a cruciate knee injury .
Bojan is now facing five to six months on the sidelines . |
0db2978bc8a6de7c9d5d816351e4f35366db7e68 | Living near parks and green spaces in town and cities boosts your mental well-being. Not only does moving to a greener area improves mental health, but the effect continues long after you have moved. The research by the University of Exeter Medical School is one of the first studies to consider the effects of green space over time and its result could lead to town planners including green spaces in new developments. Living near parks and green spaces in town and cities boosts your mental well-being . The study traced participants over five years and used data from the British Household Panel Survey, information gathered from questionnaires filled in by households across Great Britain. Using data from more than 1,000 participants, the study focused on two groups of people, those who moved to greener urban areas and those who relocated to less green urban areas. On average movers to greener areas experienced an immediate improvement in mental health that was sustained for at least three years after they moved. The study, published in the journal of Environmental Science & Technology, also showed that people relocating to more built up areas suffered a decline in mental health. Interestingly this fall occurred before they moved and returning to normal once the move was complete. On average movers to greener areas experienced an immediate improvement in mental health . The authors adjusted their data to remove effects from other factors likely to affect mental health over time - such as income, employment and education - as well as factors related to personality. Dr Ian Alcock said: 'We've shown that individuals who move to greener areas have significant and long-lasting improvements in mental health. 'These findings are important for urban planners thinking about introducing new green spaces to our towns and cities, suggesting they could provide long term and sustained benefits for local communities.' In 2012 the World Health Organisation cited depression as the leading cause of disability worldwide, and this study builds on research that has found natural environments could act as vital resources to improve health and wellbeing. Yet up until now, scientists have been unsure how these effects vary over time. Co-author Dr Mathew White added: 'We needed to answer important questions about how the effects of green space vary over time. 'Do people experience a novelty effect, enjoying the new green area after the move, but with the novelty then wearing off? 'Or do they take time to realise the benefits of their new surroundings as they gradually get to know local parks? 'What we've found suggests that the mental health benefits of green space are not only immediate, but sustainable over long periods of time.' | The research was carried out by the University of Exeter Medical School .
On average movers to greener areas experienced an immediate improvement in mental health .
The study also showed that people relocating to more built up areas suffered a decline in mental health . |
0db29e8b14fcf560610bc056590caabc61d1bc92 | By . Richard Shears . PUBLISHED: . 05:52 EST, 16 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:01 EST, 16 February 2013 . They hugged, shed a few tears and he told his mother how happy he was to be back in the land of the living. Sam Woodhead, the 18-year-old British public schoolboy who had been lost in the unforgiving Australian outback for three days, was reunited with his mother, 54-year-old Claire Derry, today in the tiny Queensland hospital where he is recovering from his ordeal . Miss Derry said she told her son: ‘I didn’t think I would ever be holding you in my arms again. He’s an incredibly lucky man and we’re incredibly lucky that people kept looking as long as they did. Safe: Claire Derry arriving in Australia today to see her son Sam Woodhead who went missing after going for a run at a remote ranch in Queensland and surviving for three days in 40C heat . ‘He knows how lucky he is – that searchers did not give up looking for him.' Miss Derry was speaking after listening to . her son’s description of his lost days as they sat together in the . hospital in the outback town of Longreach. Earlier she had revealed her son survived by drinking his own urine and contact lens solution he was carrying in his backpack when he set out for a run from a cattle station near Longreach last Tuesday. While he still needs another 24 hours under hospital care before doctors will consider allowing him to leave, he was able to tell his mother how he kept hoping for rescue as dehydration and exhaustion took their toll on him in the near-40c desert heat. Scroll down for video . Saved: Sam Woodhead is pictured in a helicopter as medical staff prepare to have him airlifted to hospital . Safe: Sam Woodhead is helped to the search helicopter by rescuers . Rescued: Sam Woodhead, 18, from Richmond, south-west London, went for a run on Tuesday and disappeared . The demands on his body were so intense . that he lost 15 kilograms in those three days, but it was his fitness . that kept him alive, his mother said. He was not able to stand when they met in hospital, she revealed, but other than that ‘he looks fantastic.’ She added: 'He’s still very weak but he looks well. He must have the constitution of an ox. ‘I was shocked at his thinner frame, but pleasantly surprised that he doesn’t look too much the worse for wear.’ His arms are sunburned and he is covered in scratches, but there were no other visible physical injuries.’ But Ms Derry said that doctors had told her that there might be internal problems for the teenager because his kidneys are not quite functioning normally and his blood’s not normal. 'But the doctors say that’s completely typical of someone’s who’s been completely dehydrated,’ she said. Fly to safety: Sam is taken to the waiting chopper, ending his three-day ordeal . The British backpacker had kept himself alive by drinking contact lens solution, said his mother . She laughed with him as he repeated the story he had told her over the phone earlier in the morning about his rescuers as she prepared to fly from Brisbane to Longreach. He recalled the moment when two helicopter crew approached him as his strength was ebbing away . ‘They took the p--- out of me Mum,’ he told her. ‘They said they normally find people out here with their eyes pecked out (by eagles and crows). I had to laugh.’ When she first spoke to him over the phone as she prepared to fly to Longreach she said Sam had sounded weak and had not been able to keep any food down. But he managed to say how grateful he was to have been rescued. Happy: Claire Derry with her son's former nanny Katrina Brown who met at Brisbane when Miss Derry flew into Australia . ‘All he could say was “Mum, just thank these wonderful people. I’ve loved Australia from the minute I arrived here…these people are extraordinary.”’ Survival: Sam's mother said he survived his ordeal because he was 'incredibly fit' Ms Derry said she had no doubt that Sam’s survival was due to his fitness and previous training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. ‘Sam is physically incredibly fit – that was something I clung on to,’ she said. ‘He wants to go into the Royal Marines or Army.’ A helicopter crew searching for the teenager had passed over him several times but had been unable to see him, Brisbane’s Sunday Mail reported early today (Sun). ‘We were on our last pass before breaking off for fuel, when we spotted him,’ said Queensland rescue officer John Chate. ‘Sam had moved himself into a semi-clear area which had scattered shrubs, basically rough terrain. He was a bit unstable but on his feet.’ When the helicopter crew spotted him, Sam was wearing a dirty white T-shirt and a backpack with a small amount of clothes he had used as a shelter from the sun. He was unable to stand and had to be winched into the helicopter. Rescuers said they had learned from Mr Woodhead that when he realised he was lost he curled up on the ground for the night. In the first few hours of darkness and tried to find his way back to the cattle station at dawn before the heat of the sun struck him. He sheltered as much as he could as he tried to work out which way to walk – before night came and once again he just lay down and tried to snatch some sleep. Aspirational: Sam had travelled to Australia around four weeks ago to work as a ranch hand which he hoped would help him with his training to be an Army officer . Close family: Sam in the London 2012 Olympic stadium with sister Rebecca and mother Claire, who flew out to Australia to help with the search effort . Ms Derry, who had flown from her home . in Richmond, Surrey, learned that he had been found alive when airline . crew passed a message to her. She was so overjoyed that she hugged one of the stewards – and then the crew brought her champagne to celebrate. Speaking on her arrival in Australia, Miss Derry said the news ended 'the worst three days of my life'. 'Sam . is fearless and wants to go into the Marines or the Army and it was . because he was training to be ready for his interview with them that he . was trying to keep fit all the time,’ she told ITV . 'He’s . watched programmes and videos on the Marines and that’s why he would . have known a lot about survival and why we were fairly hopeful but we . got less hopeful as time went on.' Aboriginal trackers were brought in for . the search which involved some 200 volunteers and rescue workers. The . trackers found the imprint of his running shoe before a helicopter crew . saw him at 5am yesterday almost 13 miles from the ranch. Doing everything they can: Sam with his mother and sister in front of the Empire State Building in New York. The family have paid for an extra helicopter with night vision equipment to be drafted in to join the search . ‘He’s moving – he’s alive,’ the crew . reported back to their command centre. A Queensland police spokesman . said Sam was taken to the 135,000 acre Upshot Station cattle ranch where . he had been staying. According to his mother, Sam managed a smile when he was found by a rescue team which included his cousin Rob. She says she believes that her son . will want to continue his travels which was set to include a trip to . Thailand and trekking in the Himalayas but said 'I don’t know if the . rest of the family will be able to stand that. 'No doubt it’s what Sam will want to carry on doing but it might write the rest of us off.' He then endured crippling heat of around 39C for the next three days. At night he simply curled up on the ground before resuming his efforts to find his way home. Keen sportsman: Sam Woodhead wants to join the Marines . Alex Dorr, a pilot with the North . Queensland Rescue Helicopter, described the area Sam became lost in as . ‘harsh and unforgiving’. He added: ‘Not that long ago we had a guy who . was missing for a much shorter time and he passed away.’ Family support: Sam's father Peter described the family's ordeal as a nightmare when he appeared on ITV . His . father Peter and sister Rebecca told ITV's Daybreak about the family's . 'nightmare' ordeal waiting for news about the lost teen. Rebecca . said the former Brighton College student was on his way to hospital by . helicopter with injuries no worse than ‘minor sunstroke, dehydration and . chapped lips’. Asked about . being reunited with Sam, she joked 'God, I'm going to give a bloody good . whack, I tell you. There's a queue - trust me!' 'The word 'nightmare' these days is much misused,’ he said. ‘This has been a true nightmare.’ He went on to thank all the people who helped find Samuel - who numbered up to 200. After hearing the news, Mr Woodhead's sister Emma Lupton told BBC Radio Five Live today: 'We're just so relieved that he is safe. I just want to give him a hug.' 'It has just been the worst few days really and we've just had to stay positive and keep positive thoughts in our heads.' Helicopters and scores of local people in four wheel drive vehicles had been scouring the area around the cattle station where Mr Woodhead had been staying for the previous 10 days as part of his ‘outback experience' during his gap year. A middle-aged Swiss couple who were lost in Western Australia last month managed to survive three days in the desert because they had access to river water. A man on a quad bike who went missing earlier this week in Western Australia was found in a dehydrated state after two days. Remote: Mr Woodhead was staying at Upshot Station, a cattle ranch near the remote outback town of Longreach, a community which Prince Charles and Camilla visited briefly late last year . | He's still very weak, but must have the constitution of an ox says Claire .
Sam Woodhead, 18, disappeared after going for a run on remote ranch .
Aboriginal trackers found the imprint of his running shoe .
He was spotted by helicopter almost 13 miles from the ranch . |
0db43bc4716cf7fae9cc6efd282cf40ac58e77ba | (CNN) -- Serena Williams shrugged off injury concerns to win her first match of the new WTA season in convincing fashion in Brisbane Sunday. The 15-time grand slam champion pulled out of an exhibition tournament in Thailand last week but showed she had fully recovered from a recent foot surgery with a 6-2 6-1 win over fellow American Varvara Lepchenko 6-2 6-1. "My foot didn't hurt today," a Williams told the official Brisbane International website. "I was a little nervous, but I was completely fine." Williams finished 2012 in ominous form, winning Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the season-ending WTA Championship, as well as taking double Olympic gold in London. It was a return to her very best after an 18-month layoff through injury and illness, but she is only third in the world rankings due to previous inactivity and results. The two women above, top seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Russia's Maria Sharapova, have both received first round byes for the tournament on the Gold Coast, which also hosts an ATP Tour event. In other action Sunday, former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova made an impressive start with a 6-3 6-4 win over Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro. Poland's Urszula Radwanska beat Tamira Paszek of Austria 2-6 6-0 6-2, while home hope Jarmila Gajdosova shocked world number 16 Roberta Vinci of Italy 4-6 6-1 6-3 to set up a clash with second seed Sharapova. Meanwhile, the elder sister of Serena Williams, seven-time grand slam winner Venus Williams, played a key role in a 2-1 win for the United States over South Africa in Perth. Williams, who has battled injuries and illness, came from a set down to beat Chanelle Scheepers 4-6 6-2 6-3 in the opening rubber. Kevin Anderson beat John Isner in straight sets to draw the South Africans level before the concluding mixed doubles. Williams and Isner combined to Anderson and Scheepers 6-3 6-2 to secure victory in the mixed team event. In the other match on the second day of competition, Spain beat France 2-1. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga put France ahead as he beat Fernando Verdasco 7-5 6-3, but Anabel Medina Garrigues leveled it for Spain with a 6-3 6-2 win over Mathilde Johansson. Once again the mixed doubles proved the decider and Medina Garrigues and Verdasco paired to see off Johansson and Tsonga (FRA) 6-3 6-3. | Serena Williams starts new tennis season with straight sets win .
She beats Varvara Lepchenko 6-2 6-1 in first round of Brisbane International.
15-time grand slam champion has had foot surgery .
Sister Venus stars as United States beat South Africa in Hopman Cup . |
0db5b370f1e1d688804635c045b46df29d8e6d58 | By . Paul Revoir . PUBLISHED: . 06:51 EST, 21 December 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 07:40 EST, 28 December 2012 . The BBC has apologised on air after a Mensa member appearing as a guest on one of its shows said anyone with an IQ of around 60 was ‘probably a carrot’. Peter Baimbridge made the comment during a live discussion about IQ testing on BBC Breakfast. A number of viewers contacted the programme to complain that the remark insulted people with learning difficulties. Scroll down for video . Offensive: Mensa tester Peter Bainbridge compared anybody with an IQ 'around 60' to a carrot while appearing on BBC Breakfast . Guest: Mr Bainbridge was being interviewed by presenters Charlie Stayt and Louise Minchin about IQ testing . Mr Baimbridge, an IQ test . administrator, had been asked to explain why the testing was unreliable. After saying that most IQ tests would have ‘Mr and Mrs Average scoring . 100’ he added that if your IQ is ‘somewhere around 60 then you are . probably a carrot’. The remark initially drew a smile from . Louise Minchin, but she and co-host Charlie Stayt then read out some of . the complaints on air. At the end of the programme they . apologised for the remarks and read out a personal apology from Mr . Baimbridge. One viewer, an employee of learning disability charity . Mencap, said she was ‘shocked’ and ‘disgusted’ by the comments. Ciara Evans, who has a learning disability, said: ‘I am shocked that someone has described people like me as carrots. Average: Asked to explain IQ testing Mr Bainbridge said that most IQ testing 'will have MR and Mrs average scoring around 100' Laughing: Co-host Louise Minchin seen laughing after Mr Bainbridge compared anybody with an IQ of around 60 with a carrot . ‘We can achieve a lot in life. I live independently, have a full-time job and I’m getting married next year. ‘I am disgusted that he made this . comment, and on behalf of all the people who have tweeted, rung and . emailed Mencap to say how upset they are, I think Mensa should apologise . and he should engage his brain before his mouth. ‘It seems that having a high IQ . doesn’t make you a sensitive or caring human being.’ One of the . complaints read out on air came from a Dr Sullivan who said: ‘As a . clinical psychologist who has worked with many people who have an IQ . below 60, I find these comments to be offensive and completely . incorrect. ‘Such comments perpetuate the stigma . around an individual with learning difficulties.’ According to Mencap, . 1.5million people in the UK have a learning disability. A BBC spokesman . said: ‘Clearly we do not condone the comments that were made in any way . and sincerely apologise for the offence caused.’ Mensa was founded in England in 1946 by Roland Berrill, a barrister, . and Lance Ware, a scientist and lawyer, who wanted to form a society for . people with a high IQ. It has over 110,000 members worldwide, and to become a member of, . you must score in the top two percent of the population on a properly . administered IQ test. Members include Carol Vorderman, whose IQ is 154, and Jimmy Savile was a member of the society. One its its best known members is Sir Clive Sinclair (right), who was chairman . for 17 years from 1980 to 1997. Computer pioneer Sinclair was even . briefly engaged to 21-year-old accountant and fellow Mensa-member . Bernadette Tynan (IQ 154) in 1989. Mensa has been riddled with infighting and scandal since it was founded. Julie Baxter from Lancashire with an IQ of 154, was appointed chair in . 1997 supposedly to change everything - but after nine months was booted . out, saying the committee was obsessed with 'self-aggrandisement and the . pursuit of power for its own sake', and that some of the men on it are . 'sad people with no social life' who are obsessed with Mensa. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- . What your IQ score means . IQ, meaning intelligence quotient, is a test to assess intelligence. The term was originally coined by German psychologist William Stern. A score of 90-100 is considered an average IQ. IQs between 110-120 are considered to show superior intelligence. IQs greater than 140 are said to signify genius, with scientist Stephen Hawking predicted to have the highest IQ achievable of 161. People with IQs below 70 are said to have learning difficulties . Mensa, founded in 1946 as a society . for people with a high IQ, apologised via its website for the ‘totally . inappropriate’ comment which ‘does not represent the society’s official . position or view’. It emphasised that Mr Baimbridge had apologised and . had not intended any offence. Chief executive John Stevenage added . that Mensa ‘fully recognises that it is not what level of mental ability . someone has but what they do with it that is the real achievement in . life’. Mensa, founded in England in 1946 by barrister Roland Berrill and scientist Dr Lance Ware, represents those whose IQs are in the ‘top two per cent of the population’. The society, which welcomes members of any age, has the aim of providing ‘stimulating intellectual and social environment for its members’ and hoping to encourage ‘human intelligence for the benefit of humanity’. Complaints: The presenters read out complaints about the comments later in the programme. One viewer described the comment as 'insulting' Dreadful: Users on Twitter complained about the comment made on BBC Breakfast . The society also exists globally through umbrella organisation Mensa international. High-profile . members have included television presenter Carol Vorderman, anti-virus . software pioneer John McAfee and Jimmy Savile. Other recognisable members, known as Mensans, include director Quentin Tarantino and actors Goldie Hawn and Steve Martin. Mr Bainbridge’s comment drew derision online, with users taking to Twitter to complain about the comparison between somebody with a low IQ and a carrot. Rich Jobling wrote: ‘Proof that being clever can make you look stupid’, while Amanda Price said: ‘very concerned that the man from Mensa described someone with an IQ of 60 as being a carrot. This is highly offensive .’ Internet users described Mr Bainbridge’s remark as ‘disgraceful’ and ‘dreadful’, while one user, referring to himself as Markwell, wrote: ‘Mensa you have an idiot as an ambassador’. Alison Hume reflected on the comment, saying ‘so much work still to do’. Video: Presenters respond to complaints about 'carrot' comment . VIDEO: Mensa member calls people with an IQ of 60 'carrots' | Peter Bainbridge made 'offensive' remark while discussing IQ testing .
Interviewed by presenters Louise Minchin and Charlie Stayt .
Presenters forced to read complaints and apologise .
Viewers described comment as 'insult' to those with learning difficulties . |
0db6de1bf9efc93d10347c31ed86c722e4716044 | Kenny McDowall has apologised to the Rangers support after commencing his tenure as caretaker manager with a humiliating 4-0 defeat by Hibs at Easter Road. With Ally McCoist placed on gardening leave after tendering his resignation, McDowall prepared the players for Saturday’s Championship match but there was no improvement in performance as the team lost its fourth away fixture in succession. Hibernian's David Gray strikes the ball to put the home side 1-0 up against Rangers early on in the match . Players watch on as Gray's shot flies into the top left-hand corner of the net after just eight minutes . Early goals from David Gray and Jason Cummings saw Hibs sprint into a two-goal lead within 12 minutes, before Scott Robertson and Liam Craig extended the margin of victory in the second half as Rangers were comprehensively outplayed. ‘Going two down after 12 minutes is not an ideal start,’ said McDowall. ‘All the work we had done on the training ground during the week went up in the air. ‘I would like to apologise to the support. I am very disappointed with the performance. I don’t have any excuses for you — Hibs were the better team and deserved to win the game.’ The drubbing leaves Rangers 15 points adrift of league leaders Hearts, who moved further clear in their bid to claim the one automatic promotion spot thanks to a 1-0 win at Livingston. Jason Cummings was in the right place at the right time to slot home Hibs' second of the afternoon . Cummings celebrates with his team-mates after putting Hibs 2-0 up against Rangers at Easter Road . Rangers’ best hope of making it to the Premiership would appear to be via the play-offs, where Hibs are likely opponents. ‘We’ve just got to keep trying to win games and see where it takes us,’ continued McDowall. ‘If it’s a play-off, we’re prepared to go there.’ McDowall admitted he had substituted midfielder Ian Black after just 33 minutes as the former Hearts midfielder was already on a booking and looking liable to be sent off. He admitted his players’ organisation had been poor and also conceded that the performance was the worst produced since Walter Smith took him to Ibrox in 2007. Rangers' Ian Black (centre) looks very disappointed as he is substituted after just 34 minutes of the game . Nicky Law (second left) challenges Hibs' Scott Robertson, scorer of the home side's third goal . Paul Hanlon (right) makes a challenge on Rangers' Nicky Clark during the Scottish Championship match . Rangers' Steven Smith (centre) tries to break past the challenge of Hibs' Robertson (left) ‘I’m not sure I’ve had as heavy a defeat as that in my time so it’s disappointing,’ he said. ‘I don’t know if lack of commitment is the right phrase, they just lacked a wee bit of organisation. They let themselves down in terms of where they should have been on the park. ‘Commitment? You should ask them maybe.’ McDowall, who has been installed until the end of the season, admits the turbulence created by McCoist’s exit, combined with the ongoing off-field uncertainty, was taking its toll on the players. ’I couldn’t deny that the goings-on have not helped the situation,’ he added. ‘Do I want to make that an excuse? No. We are professional people, the lot of us. I will take responsibility — I set the team up. I’m sure he boys will take responsibility for their performances, too. ‘It wasn’t good enough on the day, Hibs were the better team. We’ve got Dumbarton next week and I’ll just need to try and get the players in and ready for that.’ | Before the game, Rangers were second in the Scottish Championship, seven points clear of third-place Hibernian .
Hibs have now closed the gap to three points after thrashing Rangers .
David Gray opened the scoring, before Jason Cummings doubled the lead .
Scott Robertson scored the third, before Liam Craig completed the win .
Kenny McDowall was taking charge of Rangers for the first time . |
0db8c84f3ee9c6c49a3c073d187f27d07a774381 | (CNN) -- In BBC America's new prime time drama, "Copper," Irish-immigrant detective Kevin Corcoran roams from the filthy slums of Five Points to the glimmering sidewalks of Fifth Avenue -- all with a set of brass knuckles snugly resting on his fingers. The year is 1864, and the tattered remnants of an ongoing Civil War remain in New York City. Blood is regularly spilled on the cobblestones and in dirty back alleyways. No one gives a man carrying the body of a young dead girl through the streets a second glance, but they balk at the idea of women wanting to vote. It seems oddly fitting that "Copper," premiering on Sunday at 10 p.m. ET, takes place in America, and is the channel's first original scripted series. The U.S. branch of the well-known British network wanted to explore a part of American history that has only been seen in "Gangs of New York." Historically accurate details, woven into the backbone of "Copper," transform it from period drama to believable reality. For Anastasia Griffith, the world of "Copper" came to life as she was laced tightly into her corset, learning to breathe as her character, socialite Elizabeth Haverford, would breathe. For Ato Essandoh, it was leafing through the worn leather journal of his character, Dr. Matthew Freeman, to discover ornate, accurate sketches of medicinal roots from 1864. And for Tom Weston-Jones, it was opening a keepsake box of letters, only to find actual letters that gave him more insight into his character, detective Kevin Corcoran. Kevin Ryan became so immersed in his character, detective Francis Maguire, that he consistently ate with his prop knife. "It's about honoring the details," Griffith said. "And it's an added bonus if you have something to dig into, and take you away from yourself. Although the series carries certain devices of other crime dramas, they are covered in the grit and deceit of a point in New York's history that is rarely portrayed. The actors sport hand-sewn satin gowns and rugged leather coats against a realistic backdrop of swampy, methane stench-ridden Five Points and the clean-swept cream-colored sidewalks of Fifth Avenue on a 212,500 square-foot studio lot. Treachery, deceit and intrigue are rampant in Five Points, and disguised little better behind the facades of the Fifth Avenue brownstone. "There is something very underdog-ish about all of the characters played by Kyle Schmid, Anastasia, Ato and I," Weston-Jones said. "We've all come up from below for very different reasons." His character, Corcoran, embodies a blend of backstreet tenacity and well-honed honor as he doggedly pursues the truth amidst his own crookedly led Sixth Precinct. The 10-part series, created by Tom Fontana (best known for "Homicide: Life on the Street" and other dramas) and produced by Barry Levinson (the acclaimed director of films like "Diner"), unfurls with Corcoran investigating a girl's death while trying to find his missing wife and solve his daughter's murder. Meanwhile, he reconnects with two men, aristocrat Robert Morehouse, played by Schmid, and physician Matthew Freeman, who Corcoran fought alongside during the Civil War. The series explores the mysterious events that forged their bond during their time served in the Union Army. While the plot may be full of dark twists and turns, there are also unexpected moments of humor. "To find humor in the darkness is a very Barry [Levinson] thing," Griffith said. "Barry always sees the humor in every moment. That's life -- however dark things get, the reality of the moment is actually kind of funny, and that's something Tom [Fontana] and Barry do very well, this balance of light and dark." Moral ambiguity is what connects most of the characters to one another, although societal differences try to keep them apart. For Griffith, playing a woman in 1864 gave the added challenge of balancing an old-fashioned constraint with her own mettle. "It was really about marrying two aspects: being tightly bound physically but at the same time, being very spirited and free inside," she said. Essandoh faced the same challenge as another intelligent "underdog" of the time. "Kind of the way Anastasia is bound by her clothes, station and by being a woman, I am bound by being a black man in 1864, where racism is rampant and pretty much the norm of society," Essandoh said. "He is a fantastically gifted physician and scientist so there is that want, especially as a man, to say 'look at all the stuff I am doing,' but not being able to express his own pride in his work and display it because of the unfortunate nature of racism." The scenes are juxtapositions of brothels to drawing rooms, and ripped rags to tiered silk dresses. "Copper" layers these settings, between Five Points and Fifth Avenue, with Carmansville, a developing African-American community that later becomes part of Harlem, while weaving in societal tensions of immigration and race. Amidst the turbulence, "Copper" hopes to illustrate where America, and New York, came from by showing such a pivotal point in the city's history. "We're really watching the birthplace of Manhattan happen and I think that is a pretty dynamic environment," Griffith said. But you may have to wait until the DVD releases to see an extra when Griffith and Schmid drop it like it's hot to Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back" in period costume during a ballroom scene. "Sex, drugs, violence and Sir Mix-A Lot," Schmid and Weston-Jones joked. "What's not to like?" Watch the trailer for "Copper" | BBC America's new show "Copper" focuses on New York's turbulence in 1864 .
It is the channel's first original scripted series .
"Copper" explores both the slums of Five Points and the glamor of Fifth Avenue . |
0db9584b9650af7405ca25d144c9385364d2848c | A doctor who abducted her six-year-old daughter and vanished in the wake of a marriage break-up has been told by a judge 'the courts will not give up'. Deputy High Court Judge Clive Heaton issued a warning nearly two years after Humma Dar, 39, disappeared with daughter Aamina Khan, who will be eight in July. The judge said it was impossible not to have sympathy for Aamina’s father Safraz Khan, 44, from Croydon, south London, who is also a doctor and had been given custody of the girl. Abduction: Judge Clive Heaton issued a warning nearly two years after Dar disappeared with her daughter Aamina . He said the search for Aamina and Dar - who vanished from Morden, south-west London, in August 2011 and are thought to be in Pakistan - had not reached its end. He was speaking at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London, where he gave permission for Aamina to be identified in media reports. 'The abduction of children is a very serious matter and the courts should and do pursue, locate and return such children to their rightful carers,' said the judge. Father and daughter: The judge added that it was impossible not to feel sympathy for Aamina's father Safraz Khan, who had been given custody of the child . 'The message must go out to those who . abduct children that the courts will not give up after a few months or . years just because no progress seems to have been made.' He added: 'This is not the end of the story so far as attempts to locate Aamina are concerned.' Mother: Humma Dar is thought to have taken her daughter Aamina to Pakistan after she abducted her . The judge said Dr Khan - who broke down during the hearing - was 'distressed and frustrated'. 'It is impossible not to have sympathy with the father,' he said. “I urge the father to continue to pursue all proper steps open to him to locate his daughter. Where the court can properly assist him in the search it will certainly do so.” The judge said Aamina had been visiting her mother when the pair vanished on August 26 2011. He said Dr Dar had 'abducted' Aamina and evidence suggested that they had gone to Pakistan. Dr Khan had begun civil court action in the hope of finding his daughter and police in London and Pakistan had been involved in trying to trace Dr Dar - who had been hoping to be a GP - and Aamina, the court heard. 'It is an extraordinarily serious matter,' said the judge. 'This child has been missing ... for approaching two years.' He added: 'Sadly the whereabouts of both the mother and child remain unknown.' | Aamina Khan was abducted by her mother Humma Dar two years ago .
Her father had been granted custody after the breakdown of their marriage .
Deputy High Court Judge Clive Heaton said search had not reached its end .
The judge added that it was impossible not to have sympathy for Aamina’s father Safraz Khan . |
0db9d027b3548f6a717999134ad5be9c9261a354 | Brendan Rodgers felt the Chelsea game would be the biggest of Liverpool’s week. After an extraordinary night in Madrid on Tuesday, it has now become bigger than even he could have imagined. I was in Madrid as a fan. These occasions sum up what Liverpool are about: the Champions League, a capacity crowd in a magnificent stadium, supporters travelling in vast numbers, dreaming they will be able to say in years to come: ‘I was there the night we beat Real Madrid.’ It turned out to be a game that will live in the memory but not for the reasons anyone hoped would be the case. The team sheet that Rodgers handed in before kick-off — and the relentless debate that followed — has seen to that. Scroll down for video . Martin Skrtel reflects on the first-half, leaving the famous Bernabeu turf with Liverpool a goal down . Matchwinner Karim Benzema celebrates his strike after Liverpool's rearguard were caught flatfooted . Rodgers has received some scathing criticism for making seven changes but I am not going to join the chorus of disapproval. Some of his decisions I didn’t agree with, others I could completely understand. This is how I saw it. When we got into the Bernabeu before kick-off, the full extent of how much Rodgers had altered his team had circulated and it left many high up in the away section, who already viewed the fixture with trepidation, fearing a night even more painful than the one Madrid inflicted at Anfield. So then I began to study the team sheet. Javier Manquillo instead of Glen Johnson? I could understand that. Manquillo has been Liverpool’s best right back this season. Kolo Toure for Dejan Lovren? Again, no problem. Lovren’s erratic form meant he didn’t deserve to be picked. Fabio Borini for Mario Balotelli? No issue there. Borini covered more ground in one game than Balotelli had done in 10. The absence of Philippe Coutinho didn’t bother me, either, as he can’t be trusted to deliver in big away games. Those players who came in all deserve to start against Chelsea. Kolo Toure (left) had one of his best games in a Liverpool shirt, frequently frustrating Madrid's stars . The ever-willing Fabio Borini (centre) put in more effort than the mercurial Mario Balotelli . Rodgers, remember, wasn’t ripping up a team that had won six straight matches. Nobody knows what Liverpool’s best XI is at present, not even the manager. And if we think the best he had were on show when Madrid came to Anfield, being on the end of a 3-0 battering weakens those claims. What’s more, Liverpool were never going to attack Madrid, so the changes didn’t alter tactics. Anyone who believes Liverpool, under Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez, took on top teams away in Europe are living in a dream world. We didn’t. Neither did the all-conquering sides in the 1970s and 1980s. Yet what I couldn’t fathom were the omissions of Steven Gerrard (Rodgers’s captain), Jordan Henderson (his vice-captain) and the best attacker, Raheem Sterling. Those three, along with Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge, were the reason they came so close to winning the title and returned to Europe’s elite. After their efforts last season, they deserved to start in the Bernabeu. The reason players love the Champions League so much is the thought of playing in an arena such as the Bernabeu. What are the chances of Stevie playing there again? Will Jordan and Raheem ever have the opportunity in the future? You believe that you will get plenty of chances but I played for Liverpool for 17 years and a trip to the Bernabeu only came around once. Jamie Carragher (right) stifles Raul with Xabi Alonso's help during Liverpool's 1-0 win in Madrid in 2009 . Steven Gerrard (left) watches from the bench, alongside Glen Johnson and Jordan Henderson . I felt those three deserved to be in the team and it had nothing to do with sentiment. They deserved to play because they are part of Liverpool’s best team. I can imagine how they would have felt when Rodgers told them they were out. They would have been professional but they would have been devastated. When you grow up, you dream about playing against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu. During my career, I won several big trophies but, believe me, nights in the Nou Camp, the San Siro and the Bernabeu, three of football’s cathedrals, are up there in my memories; victories against Barcelona (February 2007), Inter Milan (March 2008) and Real (February 2009) were special. This squad had a similar opportunity. Yes, Liverpool played reasonably well and showed more than they had for a number of weeks but relief that they didn’t suffer a heavy defeat is not what following Liverpool in Europe should be about. What confuses me is the importance the Chelsea game has been given. It is big, of course it is. But there are 28 matches to go. Winning won’t guarantee Liverpool’s place in the top four this season, in the same way a defeat won’t leave them with too much ground to make up. Gerrard (left) and Raheem Sterling were introduced in the 69th minute. Both should have started the game . The travelling fans were in good voice as ever, but left the Bernabeu with a narrow defeat . It baffles me when teams are more interested in qualifying for the competition next season than doing their best in the competition they are already in. Chelsea isn’t make or break. Had Manchester United — a side with no European commitments — been the visitors to Anfield and Liverpool had played abroad on Wednesday night, I could have seen why Rodgers wanted Gerrard, Henderson and Sterling refreshed, but not on this occasion. They are playing a Chelsea side who have been away in Europe and had 24 hours less to recover. Liverpool stayed in Madrid after the game to train on Wednesday, too, so the players haven’t had a disrupted night’s sleep to contend with. The physical demands haven’t been so severe. This, however, is where we are. When you are involved with Liverpool, things can be moving along quietly when an issue explodes and takes over. This is one of those times. Chelsea were held by Maribor in Slovenia and played a day after Liverpool in midweek . When Jose Mourinho makes an appearance at Anfield, it is usually an eventful one . City’s Euro excuses just don’t stack up . Manchester City now need a miracle to reach the Champions League knockout stages. We keep hearing how they are unlucky because they have been drawn in tough groups but that does not wash. Manuel Pellegrini has enough quality at his disposal and should have got out of this group with Bayern Munich. Why are they behind Roma? The Italians have improved in the past two seasons but their squad does not boast the depth of City’s. Why have they failed to beat CSKA Moscow over two games? Last season, City did the double over CSKA, who lost five out of six matches. Vincent Kompany is in disbelief during City's costly Champions League defeat to CSKA Moscow . Pablo Zabaleta sums up the mood after City concede a second early goal to Ajax in 2012. They drew 2-2 . Carlos Tevez leads the troops as they trudge off after City sank to a 1-0 defeat in Dortmund in 2012 . This isn’t like how it was for Manchester United and Arsenal when they were new to the competition. In the 1990s, they had British squads who were not used to playing in Europe, and it took time to adjust. Yes, City have had some tough draws against Dortmund, Real Madrid and Munich but they were knocked out of a group by Napoli and failed to beat Ajax, home or away, in 2012 under Roberto Mancini. City have men who have played in Champions League and World Cup finals. They should be able to negotiate these tests. The excuses don’t stack up. I said last week City’s squad needs to be broken up. Defeat by CSKA provided confirmation. This week I'm looking forward to... seeing James McCarthy continue to dazzle . Everton have a rich history of building teams around influential central midfielders, headed by the ‘Holy Trinity’ of Alan Ball, Howard Kendall and Colin Harvey. In the 1980s, the team I grew up watching was inspired by Peter Reid and Paul Bracewell, and it is looking more and more like James McCarthy, the Republic of Ireland international, is going to keep up past traditions. He has the potential to be one of the best in the Barclays Premier League. McCarthy was outstanding in Thursday’s 3-0 Europa League triumph over Lille and he will have a key role again at the Stadium of Light, as Everton look to apply pressure to the teams near the top. James McCarthy (left) was again impressive in midweek as Everton strolled past Lille in the Europa League . Peter Reid (right) is challenged by Sheffield Wednesday's Gary Shelton during 1985's FA Cup semi-final . Paul Bracewell controls the ball during the 1989 Simod Cup final, which Everton lost to Nottingham Forest . Liverpool wanted to sign him when he was 16 and the better he plays for Everton, the more it is looking like a mistake that we allowed him to slip through our fingers. He didn’t want to leave Scotland at that age but Liverpool’s loss has been Everton’s gain. I am a big fan of McCarthy and I never fail to be impressed when I see him. I do feel he needs to add more goals to his game but, if he can do that, he will be the real deal. Everton have a top player on their hands. | Rodgers has been widely criticised for his team selection in the Bernabeu .
I am not going to join the chorus of disapproval. Some of his decisions I didn't agree with, others I could completely understand .
Nobody knows what Liverpool's best XI is at present, not even the manager .
What I couldn't fathom were the omissions of Gerrard, Henderson and the best attacker, Sterling .
It baffles me when teams are more interested in qualifying for the competition next season than doing their best in the competition they are already in . |
0dba9827e8afb9ff418778a80180576f630d891d | By . Tamara Cohen . and Sophie Jane Evans . 'It frightens me': Baroness Campbell, who was born with severe spinal muscular atrophy, made a moving intervention against assisted dying yesterday . Baroness Campbell, who has battled a degenerative disease for half a century, made a moving intervention against assisted dying yesterday, saying: 'This offers no comfort to me - it frightens me.' The Baroness of Surbiton was addressing a marathon 10-hour debate in . the House of Lords on whether terminally ill patients should be helped . to die if they wish. Breathing through a ventilator, she said Lord Falconer's Bill was aimed at her whether she wanted it or not, saying: 'I did not ask it and I do not want it, but it is about me nevertheless.' Baroness Campbell, who was born with severe spinal muscular atrophy, said that in moments of despair, she might be tempted to ask for assisted dying - and if the law changed, doctors would not stop her. She told peers: 'It frightens me because . in periods of greatest difficulty I know I might be tempted to use it. It only adds to the burdens and challenges life holds for me.' Lord Falconer of Thoroton, a long-term . campaigner for the right to die, has proposed that people with less than . six months to live be allowed to kill themselves with a lethal dose of . drugs prepared – but not administered – by a doctor. He said his proposed law . contained enough safeguards to prevent abuses and would be used in . ‘limited’ circumstances to alleviate terrible suffering. It is completely different from the euthanasia laws in Holland and Belgium which he rejects, he said. A . patient would only be allowed to take their own life if they are judged . to have the mental capacity to make the choice – and after an . examination by two doctors. The law excludes those, like Baroness Campbell, who are not deemed terminally ill, according to the Daily Telegraph. Scroll down for video . Debate: The Baroness, pictured in December 2012, was addressing a marathon 10-hour debate in the House of Lords on whether terminally ill patients should be helped to die if they wish . But . the peer told her fellows that the Bill would also affect people like . her, saying: 'Before anyone disputes this, imagine that it is already . law and that I ask for assistance to die. 'Do your Lordships think that I would be refused? You can be sure that there would be doctors and lawyers willing to support my right to die.' A record 130 peers put their names down to speak at the Bill’s second reading. On both sides of the debate, peers told of the appalling suffering of loved ones. Lord . Tebbit, whose wife was left paralysed by an IRA bomb, made a an . impassioned warning against assisted dying, saying ‘the road to hell is . paved with good intentions’. ‘Many people, caring so much for those they leave behind, are dying earlier and alone because they fear implicating their loved ones in a criminal enterprise. They hoard pills or put a plastic bag over their head when they are alone. It is time for a change in the law.’ Lord Falconer of Thoroton, who proposed the Bill ‘When suffering is so great, when patients know they are at the end of life, make repeated pleas to die, it seems a denial of loving compassion which is the hallmark of Christianity to refuse to fulfil their own clearly stated request.’ Lord Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury ‘I get very angry when those who oppose the Bill misrepresent what it is actually proposing and fail to mention how limited its aims intentionally are. It applies only to those who are already terminally ill yet still in sound mind who want, as we all surely do, some control or say in the manner of their own death. It has nothing to do with coercing vulnerable old people into killing themselves.’ Labour peer Lord Howarth . ‘The Bill would provide a route to great savings in public and private expenditure, and to a great pressure on the elderly, the sick and the disabled to do the decent thing and cease to be a burden on others. Those who care for such people are all too familiar with the moments of black despair that prompt those words, “I would be better dead, so that you could get on with your life”.’Lord Tebbit, former cabinet minister whose wife was left paralysed by the Brighton bomb ‘This Bill has broad categories into which anyone can be shoe-horned and it comes within a whisker of full-blown euthanasia. Are there safeguards? No, there are only broad categories into which you will find some doctor who would state that almost anyone fits.’ Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, former president of the Royal College of Medicine . ‘It frightens me because . in periods of greatest difficulty I know I might be tempted to use it. It only adds to the burdens and challenges life holds for me.’ Baroness Campbell of Surbiton . Since his wife Margaret was seriously injured by the Brighton bomb in 1984, . the Tory former cabinet minister said he had come to know the ‘moments . of black despair which prompt those words: “I would be better dead so . that you could get on with your life”.’ But he implored fellow peers not to . change the law, as he feared it would be a ‘breeding ground for . vultures’ seeking to profit from the deaths of frail elderly relatives. He . described the case of an elderly lady he spoke to who said she wished . to leave her assets to charity, as she had no children, but feared her . family would find a way to claim them. Plea: Lord Tebbit and his wife Margaret who was left paralysed by the Brighton bombing in 1984 . ‘“You . see”, she said, “I have no children but I have several vultures . awaiting my death”. This Bill will be a breeding ground for vultures, . individual and corporate. It creates too much financial incentive for . the taking of life.’ The . model Lord Falconer has followed is that introduced in the US state of . Oregon, which he said was only used 80 times last year. But . opponent Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, the Paralympic gold-medallist, . said that as Oregon has only 3million people, if the same trend was . replicated in the UK some 1,600 people a year could take their own lives . in doctors’ surgeries or Dignitas-style clinics. Many raised concerns about whether the agreement of two doctors would really be sought. Lord Tebbit highlighted the disclosure . last year that doctors were secretly authorising abortions on grounds . of sex selection, by pre-signing forms for women they had never met. Baroness . Finlay of Llandaff, former president of the Royal Society of Medicine, . warned that fellow GPs had counter-signed the 176 cremation forms for . patients murdered by Harold Shipman. Lord . Falconer’s Bill will be scrutinised by a committee later in the year. Although it puts the highly-charged issue back on the political agenda, . it is unlikely to proceed further. The Mail reported last week how a Dutch academic who used to support euthanasia warned the UK not to adopt assisted dying. Theo Boer said: ‘Once the genie is out of the bottle, it is not likely ever to go back in again.’ Campaigner: Lord Falconer of Thoroton (pictured), a long-term campaigner for the right to die, has proposed that terminally-ill people be allowed to kill themselves with a lethal dose of drugs prepared by a doctor . | Baroness Campbell of Surbiton said Lord Falconer's Bill 'frightened' her .
Peer has battled severe spinal muscular atrophy since for half a century .
Claimed that in moments of despair, she might be tempted to ask to die .
'It only adds to the burdens and challenges life holds for me,' she said .
Bill proposes terminally-ill people should be allowed to kill themselves .
They would do so with lethal dose of drugs formerly prepared by doctor .
During 10-hour debate, peers on both sides told of suffering of loved ones . |
0dbad7f139a58ac131e300a06e18f89d14fe01a9 | (CNN) -- Committing such heinous crimes as sex abuse and murder are unthinkable enough to most of us. But it's almost equally mind-boggling that the perpetrators would then confess, or even brag about, such acts on the Internet. Even so, in cases as mundane as vandalism or as horrifying as gang rape, accused criminals are exemplifying a growing truth of the social-media age: To some, nothing is too sacred, private or damning to share online. "Social media exposes the crimes, along with the poster's need to feel important or powerful," said Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology. "However, in most cases, it appears that the need for bravado is much greater than any concerns about getting caught." The latest high-profile instance happened Thursday, when a Florida man allegedly killed his wife and posted a photograph of her body, along with a confession, on his Facebook page. "Im going to prison or death sentence for killing my wife," wrote Derek Medina, 31, of South Miami. "(L)ove you guys miss you guys takecare Facebook people you will see me in the news." The gruesome image was shared thousands of times before Facebook was alerted and deleted it several hours later. It shocked his own Friends list. Among the responses: "WHAT??????" "What happened???? derek." But social-media posts about crimes are surprisingly common. Just a few of the most widely publicized in recent times: . -- An investigation into the rape of an unconscious 16-year-old girl by high school football players in Steubenville, Ohio, began after some of the accused posted pictures and video of the girl on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. -- The alleged 2011 rape of Rehtaeh Parsons, then 15, in Novia Scotia by four teens was discovered after the teens reportedly shared a photo of her online and via text messages. Two of them, now adults, were charged with child pornography this week. Parsons, at age 17, hanged herself and, in April, was taken off life support. -- In 2011, a Pennsylvania teen pleaded guilty to raping an intoxicated 15-year-old girl, then turned to Facebook, looking for a hit man to kill her. " "I got 500 on a girls head who wants that bread?" he wrote. "Hit me up anyway possible." The man who responded was, in fact, an undercover detective. -- A Hawaii man was charged after posting a video titled "Let's Go Driving & Drinking!" in which he appears to open and drink a beer while driving and talking to a camera for more than five minutes. READ: When oversharing online can get you arrested . Michele Nealon-Woods, national president of the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, notes that criminals were publicly confessing or boasting of their crimes long before anyone heard of Mark Zuckerberg and tweeting was something done by birds, not humans. In 1888, the notorious "Jack the Ripper" is believed to have sent at least three letters to London police, taunting them and telling them when he planned to kill again. In northern California, the so-called Zodiac Killer did much the same nearly a century later. He sent dozens of letters to police and the media in the late 1960s and early '70s -- some of them cryptic puzzles that have never been solved. Throw in timeless tales of jailhouse confessions and barroom braggarts and it's clear that the base instinct here is nothing new. "The new part of it now, though, is that when people did very dangerous, aggressive bad things to other people in the past, they didn't have the medium with which they could share the information," Nealon-Woods said. "There is that aspect associated with aggressive crime that we've always seen. "What social media has done is give people with those propensities a whole new platform." But Nealon-Woods thinks there's more to it. Social media, she says, is a tiny blip in the long and evolving history of human communication. And no on one can be really sure what, if any, impact it will ultimately have on the way we behave. "It's one of those things that are evolving," she said. "It has been a major, really disruptive innovation in our lives and, like anything that us human beings do, it's taking us quite a while to adapt and change and respond." While millions, if not billions, of people use social media in healthy, happy ways every day, Nealon-Woods said there are some -- and not just criminals -- who haven't adjusted so well. Their inability to pick up the new social norms result in behaviors ranging from Internet trolling to oversharing to the sort of misguided posts that can embarrass users or land them in jail. The physically isolating aspect of social media is probably part of the equation, she said. When we can communicate with other people without seeing or hearing them, something in the brain makes it harder to remember that there are still consequences for what we say, she said. "We've removed that human interaction, and that is giving people a false sense of the extremes they can go to," Nealon-Woods added. "I really do believe that's one of the main reasons that people are posting things where other people are saying, 'Oh my gosh!' " Social media is a young form of communication that will take time for some people to adjust to, she said. In the meantime, Rutledge, the Massachusetts researcher, notes one upside of when awkward online behavior and crime mix. "The good news is that compulsion to brag about getting away with these activities increases the probability of getting caught," she said. "Without social media, it would have been much harder to find the culprits, much less prosecute (them)." | Crimes, both minor and major, get confessed on social media surprisingly often .
A Miami man allegedly killed his wife and posted a photo of her body on Facebook .
Experts say some criminals have always boasted of their crimes .
Social sites, they say, make it easier to forget consequences . |
0dbaeb107adf17a04bcfa22ce54d7523e746d580 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 18:57 EST, 1 March 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:44 EST, 2 March 2013 . A neatly dressed tourist taking pictures in Times Square was caught off guard when a visibly agitated woman blocked her path and then attacked her. The 34-year-old long-haired blonde woman was walking with a friend and photographing their surroundings with a point-and-shoot camera when the aggravated passer-by confronted her and stood in her way. The confrontation at West 46th Street and Broadway, across the street from a Forever 21, led to a verbal exchange which quickly turned into a scuffle. Attacked: The blonde tourist was knocked down and hit her head which was bleeding profusely . Head wound: The woman hit her head on the ground leaving an open gash . Bad day: The woman looked visibly upset as a police officer came over to help . The alleged aggressor, Deanne Ostbye, 30, was wearing ripped sweat pants and a hooded sweatshirt with the names of New York neighborhoods printed on the front. Ostbye, from Tacoma, Wash., allegedly knocked the blonde woman knocked down to the ground. The victim's personal belongings were scattered along the sidewalk. The assaulted tourist was seen on the sidewalk with a bleeding gash on her head when a nearby police officer came over to break up the fight. The victim looked frightened and shocked, Alberto Reyes, a photographer who captured the incident told MailOnline. She was taken to Roosevelt hospital where she was treated for her head injury. Local aggressor: The attacker was smiling as a photographer snapped her picture . 'Freedom of speech': The attacker was reportedly yelling out 'freedom of speech' as a police officer told her to stay still . Search: The police officer searched the attacker, who was wearing ripped sweat pants and a hooded sweatshirt . Accused: Police were not immediately able to say why Ostbye allegedly assaulted the woman . Ostbye was yelling out ‘freedom of speech’ as the police officer told her to stay still, Reyes said. She was moving around ‘very anxiously,’ he said. The attacker was smiling as Reyes took her photograph. Disoriented: The assaulted woman's personal belongings were scattered along the sidewalk . She was arrested and charged with assault and reckless endangerment, New York Police Detective Brian Sessa told MailOnline. According to Ostbye's Facebook page, she is engaged and a fan of watching The Simpsons and hiking. | Attack occurred at bustling intersection .
Victim, 34, was bleeding profusely after hitting her head on the pavement .
Suspect, 30, was charged with assault and cops had no idea why she allegedly shoved her .
Deanne Ostbye was smiling while being arrested and shouting 'Freedom of Speech' for no apparent reason . |
0dbb290318785b79444ae558fa64b1c6027d7ff1 | (CNN) -- We've all been there: reached for our food in the office refrigerator, only to recoil from the stench from the crammed containers of decomposing food. When a worker at an AT&T building in San Jose, California, took it upon herself to clean out an office refrigerator during her lunch hour Tuesday, the smell from the moldy food was so noxious that it sent seven of her co-workers to the hospital and prompted the evacuation of all 325 people in the building. "It was like a brick wall hit you," employee Robin Leetieh told CNN affiliate KGO-TV. "Stopped you immediately." The refrigerator had been unplugged for some time and moved into a conference room for cleaning. When the woman tried to scrub down the mess, the stench from the cleaning chemicals combined with the rotting food. "It caused some to vomit, some to just get nauseous. And it, for us, activated a hazardous incident," Capt. Barry Stallard of the San Jose fire department told the television station. Another office worker tried to cover up the odor -- and made matters worse. "Someone also took some spray and tried to deodorize the air," Stallard said. "And it turned out that was spot cleaner, not a deodorant. So it made people very sick." Firefighters set up a triage area in the building's parking lot. In all, 28 workers reported feeling sick. Seven were taken to hospitals for evaluation. Not among them: the woman who volunteered to clean the fridge. She suffers from allergies, firefighters said, and had had nasal surgery. She didn't smell a thing. | AT&T worker cleans out refrigerator filled with rotting food, forcing office evacuation .
Spoiled food combined with cleaning chemicals caused noxious fumes .
Worker who cleaned refrigerator had allergies, and didn't smell a thing . |
0dbb32408c53e403e1abae21e1886368ee13a5d9 | By . Mail On Sunday Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 17:01 EST, 23 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 04:49 EST, 24 November 2013 . Strolling through Liverpool, Paul Flowers appears nonchalant as he takes a trip to the cinema with fellow Methodist minister Ian Hu on Thursday night in these exclusive photographs. He might have been able to put his troubles to the back of his mind for a while during a week spent in hiding from the media – but drugs squad officers from West Yorkshire were waiting to arrest him shortly after these pictures were taken. Flowers sought refuge with American-born Rev Hu, 51, an old friend, at his house near Liverpool Football Club’s Anfield stadium after The Mail on Sunday’s revelations last weekend. Scroll down for video . Paul Flowers was seen out at a cinema in Liverpool last Thursday shortly before his arrest (left), while according to friends Flowers' nose-blowing became more frequent after his cocaine habit increased (right) His companion was Reverend Hu, an ex-addict minister who has spoken about his battles with drugs and alcohol and has a house in the city . Rev Hu, who describes himself as a ‘California dude lovin’ life in Liverpool’ is open about his own past struggles with alcoholism and drug addiction and spends much of his time helping addicts in the North West. Despite media pressure Flowers looked relaxed while he was on his night out . In an internet blog called Pastor Buddha, the openly gay minister wrote recently: ‘In March 2011 I acknowledged 18 years of living life clean and sober. 'I am to this very day confronting the demons of alcoholism and drug addiction which have taken such a powerful hold on many people to whom I minister.’ In September, he took over a unique ministry called Something Else in the centre of Liverpool. It is also known as the Bread Church because visitors bake and eat fresh bread on the premises. Rev Hu will no doubt be astonished to learn that Flowers last week invited his dealer to stay at his friend’s Liverpool house, encouraging him to bring cocaine. On Thursday, Flowers and Rev Hu watched the space movie Gravity. Flowers emerged into the foyer and loudly blew his nose on a monogrammed handkerchief. According to friends, his nose-blowing has become more frequent as his cocaine habit has become more prodigious. Apparently neither man had any inkling of what would happen when they returned to Rev Hu’s house shortly before midnight. Within minutes, the police were knocking on the door to arrest Flowers and drive him 70 miles across the Pennines to Leeds. Three hours later police arrived to arrest Flowers, who is thought to be cowering under a coat in the back of this car . | Paul Flowers pictured out in Liverpool on Thursday night .
Accompanied by Rev Hu, an ex-addict minister who lives in the city .
Pair saw Gravity at cinema before going back to Hu's house .
Three hours later police arrived to arrest Flowers . |
0dbc6234a759b9d2ded3ad3d535e468c672e7a42 | LONDON, England (CNN) -- A blossoming of cinematic creativity has swept Argentina in recent years, bringing about a second golden age of film. Pablo Trapero's latest movie "Lion's Den" stars Martina Gusman (left) and was in competition at Cannes. In Argentina, the renaissance marks a return to form for a cinematic tradition that was prolific and highly successful until creativity was stifled by a succession of military regimes that began with the ascendancy of Juan Peron in the 1940s. A revival occurred after the country returned to democracy in 1983 as filmmakers focused on life under the military dictatorship -- Luiz Puenzo's "The Official Story" (1985) won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. But an economic malaise ensued, turning off the taps to film financing. An economic boom in the 1990s quickly turned unstable, resulting in a crippling financial crisis earlier this decade that plunged Argentina into its worst recession ever. Out of the chaos, a new group of Argentina filmmakers emerged. The leaders of the so-called "New Argentine Cinema" have become critical contributors to the wider Latin American film movement that has captivated international critics and audiences alike. What's fueling New Argentine Cinema? Argentina's economy has recovered remarkably since its collapse in 2001, and the national film institute, Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales (INCAA), has been keen to foster the industry's development. The combination of cheap production costs and a flourishing artistic community has made Buenos Aires a hub of creativity. Already one of the most cosmopolitan cities in South America, the city is attracting everyone from local bohemians to big Hollywood names. Francis Ford Coppola, the most recent notable to tap into the vibrant scene, opened an Argentine unit of his Zoetrope production company last year to film his Buenos Aires-set family drama "Tetro," which is anticipated to be released next year. What movies are creating buzz? Pablo Trapero's "Lion's Den" about a woman who gives birth and raises her child in prison was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year. Trapero is best known for his depiction of ordinary people. He gained acclaim with "Crane World" (1999) -- a gritty look at Argentina's working class -- and is widely considered one of Argentina's leading directors. Also in competition at Cannes this year was "The Headless Woman" from the ever subtle Lucrecia Martel. The film focuses on a woman's guilt after a hit-and-run accident and like Martel's other works, offers up a dose of social criticism. Martel burst on the scene with her first movie "The Swamp" (2001), winner of the Alfred Bauer Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. Lucia Puenzo stirred debate with "XXY" (2007), an exploration of adolescent sexuality centered around the life of a teenage hermaphrodite. The daughter of award-winning Luiz Puenzo, Lucia took home the Critic Weeks Grand Prize at Cannes last year. Are you excited about Argentine cinema? What is your favorite movie or director? Enough with the dramas -- who makes Argentines laugh? Daniel Burman has cited Woody Allen as one of the auteurs he most admires, and the influence is quite clear in his work, in which his identity as a Jew in Argentina figures prominently. "Waiting for the Messiah" (2000), "Lost Embrace" (2004) and "Family Law" (2006) make up the trilogy of films about fatherhood for which he has gained praise. The young director's latest film "Empty Nest" (2008) takes a touching and comedic look at married life. What's this I hear about a Hollywood in Argentina? You're referring to Palermo Hollywood. No, it's not a Las Vegas casino but rather a neighborhood in Buenos Aires where many film and TV studios are based. A bohemian spirit distinguishes the neighborhood from its more polished cousin to the south, Palermo Soho. Once occupied by desolate factories and warehouses, the area is now humming with activity. An abundance of hip lounges, cafes and trendy restaurants keep the buzz going all day and through the night. How does Argentina figure in the Latin American film scene? As the Latin American film renaissance has gained stride, filmmakers across the region have become more interested in collaborating on projects. The end of military dictatorships which ruled Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s "created really interesting national cinemas that blossomed a little bit everywhere but also created a correlation between directors from different countries," Brazilian director Walter Salles told CNN earlier this year. Salles works frequently with Argentine directors. He co-produced Trapero's "Lion's Den" and Julia Solomonoff's "Sisters" (2005). Meanwhile, Eduardo Constantini Jr, of the philanthropic Constantini family in Argentina, recently launched a fund with the Weinstein Co. aimed at backing Latin American movies. He is also behind The Auteurs, an "online movie theater" where Web users can watch and discuss film. Is this boom going to run out of steam? The renaissance in Argentina has been building for some time, but it's only just hitting its stride now. Earlier films were mainly art house successes but now with the spotlight shining on Latin America cinema, Argentine films may start to connect more with international audiences. The country continues to attract productions, and there is a vast pool of talent that is being groomed to lead the next generation of auteurs. More than 12,000 undergraduates are currently studying film directing, scriptwriting and technical production, according to the INCAA. Five other must-see Argentine films . 1. "The Night of the Pencils" (Hector Olivera, 1986) 2. "Nine Queens" (Fabian Bielinsky, 2000) 3. "Son of the Bride" (Juan Jose Campanella, 2001) 4. "The Dog" (Carlos Sorin, 2004) 5. "The Holy Girl" (Lucrecia Martel, 2004) | The filmmakers of New Argentine Cinema are winning acclaim worldwide .
Vibrant Buenos Aires has attracted big names like Francis Ford Coppola .
Everything you need to know about the directors and movies creating buzz . |
0dbcf0999351cc2593c832c2817e2ad9b72421ee | (CNN) -- Drew Peterson, who was arrested this week in the death of his third wife, joked with the media about his jail jumpsuit and chewed gum throughout his first court appearance Friday. A judge delayed Drew Peterson's arraignment until May 18 because his lawyers couldn't attend Friday's hearing. The 55-year-old former police officer flashed a broad smile and engaged in banter during the 10-yard walk to the courthouse. Wearing an inmate uniform -- a bright-red short-sleeved shirt and pants, white socks and sandals -- Peterson had his hands and feet shackled as he arrived at the courtroom. Asked how he was, he responded, "three squares a day and a spiffy outfit." He then held up the chains and said, "and I got the bling. Can't complain." Peterson, who authorities call the prime suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, was indicted on murder charges related to the death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, the Illinois state attorney's office said. Watch a shackled Peterson go to jail » . Peterson appeared in court Friday, but a judge delayed his arraignment until May 18. Judge Richard Schoenstedt ordered the delay after Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow told him that Peterson's primary lawyer, Joel Brodsky, had asked for it because neither he nor Peterson's other attorney could attend Friday's hearing. Peterson, chewing gum throughout the proceedings and speaking in a clear voice, told Schoenstedt that he knew both of his lawyers were out of town and that he had no objection to the delay. Glasgow, who has said he will prosecute the case personally, said Brodsky told him that he expects to ask the judge for a reduction in Peterson's $20 million bail during the May 18 arraignment. Illinois State Police said Peterson was taken into custody about 5:30 p.m. Thursday after a traffic stop near his home. Police had staked out his home all day, police Capt. Carl Dobrich said, but waited for Peterson to leave before arresting him out of concern for his three young children, who were in the house. Peterson, through his attorney, denied any wrongdoing in either case. Glasgow said he believes that the case is strong. "This is an extremely grave and serious matter, and it is reflected in the bond," Glasgow said. Brodsky told CNN's Larry King that he thought the bail was excessive and would seek a more "reasonable" amount, noting that it was the most expensive bail he'd seen in 10 years. Watch Peterson's attorney address his client's arrest » . Charles B. Pelkie, a spokesman for Glasgow, said a grand jury indicted Peterson in the murder of Savio, whose death had once been ruled an accidental drowning. But Brodsky said in a statement that prosecutors won't be able to prove their case, because "he didn't do it." "There is no evidence that links Drew Peterson to the death of Kathleen Savio or anyone else for that matter," Brodsky said. "Drew did not harm Kathleen; he has said so from Day One. We're obviously disappointed a grand jury indicted him. But an indictment does not mean guilt." Pelkie said the grand jury continues to meet and is studying the possibility of charges in Stacy Peterson's disappearance. Watch family members react to the arrest » . After Stacy Peterson went missing in October 2007, media and police scrutiny of Peterson revealed that Savio had died mysteriously during a nasty divorce a few years earlier. Savio died just before the division of marital assets was finalized, making Drew Peterson the sole beneficiary. Savio was found in the dry bathtub of her home. At the time, the death was ruled an accidental drowning. But her family continued to insist that Savio died as a result of foul play. The investigation into Stacy Peterson's disappearance brought renewed interest in Savio's death. Authorities exhumed Savio's body, further tests were conducted, and her death was been ruled a "homicide staged to look like an accident." Brodsky told King that he thinks the case has always been about circumstantial evidence and that he will bring a pathologist to trial who will say Savio died in an accidental drowning. "I think the jury's going to see that, in fact, this always has been an accidental death and still is an accidental death," Brodsky told King. Kathleen Savio's brother, Nick, told CNN affiliate WLS that he received a call saying Peterson had been arrested. Watch police arrest Peterson » . "The state police had been telling us the day was coming," he told WLS. "We kept hearing it for about eight months. I'm almost in tears here. It's been so hard for our family. "Hopefully, we'll get the justice we've always been waiting for." Martin Glink, attorney for the Savio family, said they had been hopeful the grand jury felt that there was enough evidence to charge Peterson. "We're very happy that the wheels of justice have continued to move and they are pointing in his direction," Glink told WLS. The news was bittersweet for Stacy Peterson's family, who continue to wait for news about her disappearance. "We have anticipated this coming. We have dreamed about it. We have been patient over it," family spokeswoman Pam Bosco told WLS. "Now that it's here, it's almost a little bit calm. We're waiting for the storm to calm now. The calm before the storm." Bosco said she was hopeful there would be charges in Stacy Peterson's case. "We always said from the very beginning that Kathleen and Stacy had one thing in common, and that was Drew Peterson," she said. "So, hopefully, we'll have news soon about Stacy, too." Ernie Raines is also relieved about the arrest. His daughter, Christina Raines, is dating Peterson and was living with him before his arrest. Raines told CNN's Anderson Cooper that he was with his daughter and Peterson as recently as last week, when they talked about going to Las Vegas, Nevada, and getting married. Thursday night, he spoke with his daughter after the arrest. "My daughter was terrified, very emotional, upset," Raines said. "And I tried to tell her from the beginning that this was going to happen, be prepared." Raines said that when he heard about the arrest, he was more relieved than anything. "I'm glad justice finally came before he hurt my daughter," he said. Police put Peterson's three young children in the custody of the state's children and family service department. His adult son was contacted, at Peterson's request, to take them, according to Dobrich. Dobrich said Peterson cooperated with police during his arrest. CNN's Susan Roesgen contributed to this report. | NEW: Peterson to media on handcuffs, chains: "I got the bling. Can't complain"
Drew Peterson arrested in the death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio .
Renewed interest in Savio's death came after Peterson's fourth wife disappeared .
Peterson, through his attorney, denies any wrongdoing in either case . |
0dbf55a65447d32e3021af0116e06df18e560ff6 | St. Petersburg, Florida (CNN) -- I first met Dan Wheldon in 2003, when he stepped into the cockpit of the Klein Tools/Jim Beam Indy car at Andretti Green Racing, just before the third race of the season at the Twin Ring Motegi racing track in eastern Japan. He was a cocky, fastidious 23-year-old in those days, with a quick step and a winning way that made him seem like a modern-day Dickens character brought to life. "Young Wheldon," I called him back then. He loved that. We began our Honda Racing careers together. I was hired by the company around the same time Dan was hired as test driver for development of the Honda engine that would make its IndyCar debut during that season. In short order, he became one of Honda's favorite sons. In 2004, he became the first Honda-powered driver ever to win an IndyCar event at the magnificent Motegi complex. The Honda-owned course had not seen one of its own cars take the checkered flag at its signature event in six futile attempts. He won Motegi again in 2005 and then went on to win that year's Indianapolis 500 and the IndyCar Series championship, a feat that has not since been matched. There were numerous highlights after that: 16 IndyCar victories in all, culminating in this year's completely implausible win in the Centennial Indianapolis 500. Services held for Wheldon in Florida . That's what the record book says. It documents Dan's legacy in numbers. But it doesn't come close to capturing his legacy in the hearts of those who knew him. The Dan I knew was more than a racer. He was a friend. A husband. A father. A hero. He loved shoes. He loved watches. He loved the food my trackside chef, Tim Olszewski, prepared at virtually every IndyCar Series event. (That hardly made him unique -- Tim is a really good chef.) What set Dan apart was his genuine interest in all the members of the hospitality staff. He treated them all as his equals, and as a consequence, they were all left equally shattered after the tragedy. Around the track, just about everyone had their own "Dan Wheldon moment." He had an uncanny talent to connect quickly and personally with everyone he met -- whether high-dollar sponsor or Turn 3 bleacher-ite -- and to give each of them something far more valuable than an autograph or a photo. He left them with his kindness, his spirit. He never turned down a single request, whether it was for an appearance at a dealer meeting, a ride-and-drive with the media or a quick "Hello" to a group of trackside guests. In each case, he brought a smile that was manufactured only in the most literal sense -- his realigned teeth after his '05 championship were an ongoing source of paddock amusement -- but genuine in every other imaginable way. In a world where part of the competitive ethos is to convey at all costs an impression of invulnerability, Dan was the exception. As a colleague said to me the other day, "He let you in." My Dan Wheldon moment occurred after the Centennial Indianapolis 500 this past May. After winning the prestigious race for the second time, Dan had just concluded an exuberant celebratory victory lap at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He returned to Victory Circle to begin the Hat Dance -- that incessant procession of ballcaps and photo ops, which, for understandable reasons, lasts about five times as long at Indianapolis as at any other track on the IndyCar Series circuit. Dan had just stepped into the cockpit, and had the first hat in hand, when he looked to his left and saw me standing along the railing that divided the race car from the rabble. He placed the hat on the car's nose, got out, walked around to my side of the car and grabbed me. I barely remember what he said to me, but I do remember hearing a loud cheer from the grandstand above us in Victory Circle. And I remember thinking, "That's pretty cool. Some people I know are happy that I'm getting this moment." It wasn't until we separated, and Dan resumed the headwear ritual, that I looked above me to see that I did not recognize a single face among those who had been doing the cheering. Whether or not it is true, I'm going to continue in the belief that those spectators were paying tribute to the emotion of a moment between the Indianapolis 500 winner and some guy none of them had ever met. And that blew me away. Just before he returned to his car, Daniel and I spent time crying in each other's arms. We were crying tears of joy, feeling all the pain and all the hard work it took to get to that moment, and celebrating all the promise the future would hold for him. After last Sunday afternoon, I am not ashamed to admit, I have cried in many other arms, as well. | Thomas "T.E." McHale: Dan Wheldon was more than a superb driver -- he was a hero .
McHale says Wheldon treated all hospitality staff members as his equals; his death was tragic .
He wore a genuine smile and shared his spirit with all who wanted a part of it, McHale says .
McHale calls Wheldon's spirit "something far more valuable than an autograph or a photo" |
0dc00765eb3e6641d61d89694707e129642e6b66 | By . Emma Reynolds . PUBLISHED: . 08:04 EST, 14 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:19 EST, 14 January 2013 . A US embassy official in South Africa was allegedly stabbed to death by a 29-year-old woman in the early hours of yesterday morning. The embassy today confirmed the death of Christopher 'Norm' Bates, information management officer at the Johannesburg consulate. The 41-year-old was found with knife wounds to his upper body at a flat in Johannesburg, after the pair reportedly arrived there by car at 3am. Shock: The US Consulate in Sandton, Johannesburg, close to the flat where the murdered American was found . A guard said he went to investigate after hearing a woman's scream and found the stabbed man and the woman holding a knife. Mr Bates, who had worked for the state for 11 years, died at the suburban flat before police arrived and a South African woman was arrested. She is due to appear at Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court tomorrow, according to Gauteng police's Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini. Mr Bates's cousin Jackie Pinkney, who lives on the East Coast, said: 'This is very devastating for the family. His brother lives with him there and will be bringing his body home this week. 'He was a one-of-a-kind man.' Police seized a knife believed to be the murder weapon. Lt Col Dlamini said he could not elaborate on the type of knife used in the fatal stabbing. Aghast: The IT worker was found by a guard who heard screaming in the early hours of the morning . 'We don’t know the reason for the . murder,' he said. 'When [the guard] went to investigate he saw that [the . woman] had a knife in her hand. 'I do not know how many times he was stabbed. That will be revealed after a post-mortem.' US embassy spokesman Jack Hillmeyer confirmed the death of the American Consulates IT department employee. 'He worked at our US consulate in Johannesburg,' he said. Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons. | Guard rushed into flat after hearing woman scream .
Said he found man with stab wounds to upper body and South African woman with knife in hand .
She is due to appear in court tomorrow .
Death took place after the pair arrived by car at 3am . |
0dc03cdea86b4e9a3c72c6b3b1feeba3b401ee16 | (CNN Student News) -- November 11, 2014 . This Veterans Day, join CNN Student News in paying tribute to the men and women who've served in the U.S. Armed Forces. We're exploring the history surrounding the event, and we're concluding our show with a look at some of the happy homecomings of those who've been deployed. Also featured: the security breach of a U.S. government system and the tension of an American town awaiting a grand jury's decision. On this page you will find today's show Transcript and a place for you to request to be on the CNN Student News Roll Call. TRANSCRIPT . Click here to access the transcript of today's CNN Student News program. Please note that there may be a delay between the time when the video is available and when the transcript is published. CNN Student News is created by a team of journalists who consider the Common Core State Standards, national standards in different subject areas, and state standards when producing the show. ROLL CALL . For a chance to be mentioned on the next CNN Student News, comment on the bottom of this page with your school name, mascot, city and state. We will be selecting schools from the comments of the previous show. You must be a teacher or a student age 13 or older to request a mention on the CNN Student News Roll Call! Thank you for using CNN Student News! | This page includes the show Transcript .
Use the Transcript to help students with reading comprehension and vocabulary .
At the bottom of the page, comment for a chance to be mentioned on CNN Student News. You must be a teacher or a student age 13 or older to request a mention on the CNN Student News Roll Call. |
0dc0d81bd462d01140a8c68af756e51f44b11395 | By . Deni Kirkova . A Spanish designer who has become known for his melancholy style presents his latest collection of feminine and edgy separates on models with what appear to be rather badly bruised knees. Manuel Bolaño, born in Barcelona but raised in Galicia, a sensitive, self-confessed introvert, called his latest offering The Boy With Sad Eyes. His collection of bug-embossed netting, clashing textures and gothic lace-up boots was shown shown on the fourth day of the 080 Barcelona Fashion 2014 yesterday. A model presents a satin drop waist dress with painful-looking knees as a quirky outfit of clashing textures is offset by a bashed-up beauty look . Influences appeared to be romantic, retro, sports and Gothic. While some models sashayed down the catwalk in cute drop-waist frocks others exposed plenty of flesh in micro crop tops and large hole mesh - and many sported those disturbing bruised knees. The . models' bashed-up beauty look, according to Bolaño's sombre description . of the range, may represent a metaphor for a bruised feelings and a . broken heart. The . designer, who's worked in fashion for more than a decade, describes his . latest collection and cryptic though it may be, it does offer some explanation for his seemingly 'wounded' models. 'Let's talk about the first kiss, hidden . from the world, in a corner. Tell me what you think of my life, of my . adolescence. In a corner I treat my wounds, and my tears will be lost in . the rain. I extend my hand, seeking to touch you, leaving the world, . cleansing my body of your scent, like an idiot searching for lost rites. I'm going mad, everything tortures me, but I know how to love. My soul . was pure.' The catwalk showcasing of Manuel Bolano's latest collection called The Boy With Sad Eyes, on the fourth day of the 080 Barcelona Fashion event . Bolaño . moved back to Barcelona in 2002 where he studied Fashion Design . Felicidad Duce, and after a brief working period as part of Mango's . design team he decided to start working on his own collection. The designer, who loves complexities in . fashion, said his work is about little details, Romanticism, and . artisanal aspects - and that he would always choose texture over colour - . in an interview with La Monda magazine late last year. He cites - somewhat unsurprisingly - Alexander McQueen and John Galliano as inspiration. Gothic and feminine voluminous frock and cool chunky boots (l) and more bug-embossed netting, knee high socks and lace-up booties . Models present Krizia Robustella's pretty pastel collection clad in gangster balaclavas at 080 Barcelona Fashion Week . Print screen patterns on a summery maxi offset by aggressive balaclava . Candy coloured pyjama suit accessorised with pointed plastic gun . More candy-coloured print screening on cute, arty separates . | Manuel Bolaño presents his latest collection on the fourth day of the 080 Barcelona Fashion 2014 .
Called The Boy With Sad Eyes, featuring bug-embossed netting, clashing textures and gothic lace-up boots .
Beauty look was plum lips, distressed updo, dewy skin and painful-looking, badly bruised knees . |
0dc178321bf5f99d2f7aa4d60f7bf480d2a80ccd | By . Mark Duell . PUBLISHED: . 04:03 EST, 1 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 07:18 EST, 1 February 2013 . Parents should avoid leaving children under five unsupervised in front of the TV, the creator of Jackanory and Play School warned today. Joy Whitby, 82, who launched the BBC shows in the Sixties before working at ITV, is worried about ‘the glutting amount for children from early morning six till six’. The Oxford history graduate, who gained a job on Play School after writing about how the Watch With Mother slot could be refreshed, said she was saddened by today’s ‘noisy, meretricious cartoons’. Concerns: Joy Whitby (pictured second left at a London Weekend board meeting in 1969), now aged 82, is worried about 'the glutting amount for children from early morning six till six' ‘If I had a child under five at home again, I wouldn’t want to leave him in front of the television set unsupervised if I could possibly help it,’ Ms Whitby told the Daily Telegraph. She said small children should not be ‘endlessly watching’, adding: ‘I have been to houses where that happens and I am horrified, because I think “I’m not sure you’re watching anything worthwhile”.’ Ms Whitby claimed the proliferation of children’s TV content during the day has resulted in a 'total loss of the sense of occasion’ and youngsters can’t look forward to a show they can get all the time. She did praise the Horrible Histories series on CBBC but told the Daily Telegraph that the worst programmes on TV nowadays ‘exploit stereotypical characters’ and have ‘no real story’. Good old days: Youngsters watch Prince Charles read a story on TV programme Jackanory in 1984. The hit show, along with Play School, was created by Joy Whitby . Highly-rated: Ms Whitby did praise the Horrible Histories series (pictured) on CBBC but told the Daily Telegraph that the worst programmes on TV nowadays 'exploit stereotypical characters' and have 'no real story' Modern: The manic antics of Spongebob Squarepants are hugely popular with children . Ms Whitby, who said she gained an interest in telling stories to children while working as a secretary, is concerned that programme makers no longer think about the very young who are watching TV. 'If I had a child under five at home again, I wouldn’t want to leave him in front of the television set unsupervised' Joy Whitby . The producer added that she has always been an ‘elitist’ and never enjoyed ‘audience-pulling shows’ which she only watched ‘out of duty, not pleasure’. She said the industry had witnessed a huge change since the ‘old protective, uncommercial approach to children’s programming’. Ms Whitby’s husband Tony, who was a former controller of BBC Radio Four, died in 1975. She is currently making a Christmas animated special of the Mouse and Mole series for the BBC. | Joy Whitby, 82, created Jackanory and Play School shows in the Sixties .
'Horrified' at houses where small children 'endlessly watch' programmes . |
0dc2fa3de5e1ae1202ffc851ff12ea14d1b690b5 | Whoever beats Brazil wins the World Cup this summer. It’s that simple for me, for reasons I’ll explain in a moment, and Argentina and Portugal — with one massive caveat — are the two biggest challengers to the hosts. The caveat is whether Cristiano Ronaldo, the world’s best footballer, is fully fit and playing at his peak. If he is, and it’s a big if, then I think the Portuguese are capable of being the cat among the pigeons.Can you imagine a final that pits Ronaldo on one side against the world’s second-best player, Lionel Messi, on the other? It would be a fantasy showdown. I for one would absolutely love to see that happen. Influence: Cristiano Ronaldo could lead Portugal to World Cup glory in Brazil this summer . Crucial: With Ronaldo in their team, Portugal could go all the way to the final in Rio De Janeiro . Tough: Portugal have been drawn in group G alongside Germany, Ghana and the USA . If you think Cristiano has an enormous ego already, imagine what it would be like if he reached the World Cup final! As a big fan of his, as well as his friend, I relish the prospect of that spectacle. He’s a showman and this is the biggest show. People see his ego — and don’t get me wrong, Cristiano’s ego is gargantuan! — but that is his fuel. It’s his inspiration. He reads all the articles written comparing him with Messi. ‘How can they say Messi is better than me?’ he’ll ask. ‘I’ll prove that writer wrong.’ That’s his mindset. Driven. Self-obsessed in the most positive way. Always looking to improve. That’s why he has become what he is, through effort and determination. It didn’t all come naturally. He worked hard at technique and hitting the ball. He’s the hardest worker I’ve had the privilege to play alongside. He’s a great team-mate, a companionable man, always involved in the changing room. But when it’s time to work he’s passionate about what he does and his emotion comes out. Support: Hosts Brazil are among the favourites to be crowned world champions this summer . Heavyweights: Lionel Messi's Argentina team have been tipped to win the World Cup . Predictions: Rio Ferdinand is tipping Brazil to be victorious in the World Cup on home soil . People say he stole Gareth Bale’s thunder in the Champions League final. Eh? He took his shirt off. He’s got an unbelievable physique and his girlfriend is a supermodel, and someone’s criticising him for taking his shirt off? The exhibitionist is part of who he is. But away from the field of play he’s one of the nicest kids you could meet. He makes time for fans, he’ll sit around a table late into the night talking. He’s no lone wolf. He first came to our attention at Manchester United when we played Sporting Lisbon in 2003. By half-time he’d razzle-dazzled us and we were all in the dressing room asking: ‘Who the hell is this kid? We MUST sign him!’ And Sir Alex did. He arrived at Old Trafford with his tricks and his stepovers and his attitude. What a young showpony he was, wanting to look good, then be good, in that order. The wrong order. Fergie had a word or three over time, and so did Ronnie’s hugely influential compatriot, Carlos Queiroz, and we as team-mates let him know there needed to be an end product to his skills. Side by side: Rio Ferdinand and Ronaldo together in their Manchester United days . Upstaged? Cristiano Ronaldo took his shirt off after scoring a penalty in the Champions League final . Change: Ronaldo left Sporting Lisbon in 2003 to join Manchester United, where he became a star . To his enormous credit, the penny dropped, and he took it all on board and started on his journey to become the world’s best. There are players who maybe have more natural talent and the penny never drops for them. You will have guessed by now that I’m a fan of CR7’s work! I hope for him that he has a standout World Cup. With him on fire, Portugal can make huge waves. Without him, they’re half a team or less. With my pragmatist’s hat on, and fearing that seven games could be a few too far for Portugal if Ronaldo isn’t 100 per cent physically well, I believe we’ll see a Brazil-Argentina final. And I think that Brazil, inspired by the maverick genius of Neymar, will be triumphant on home soil.I see Brazil overcoming Germany (if not Portugal) in one semi-final, and Argentina beating Spain in the other. I think Holland might struggle to get out of Group B, that Spain should win, because Chile are a fine team, although Robin van Persie is a match-winner. Colombia and Ivory Coast should come through Group C and England’s group are dealt with elsewhere: Italy plus one, basically. France win Group E for me, and Argentina take F, with Germany and Portugal coming out of G and probably Belgium winning H. Pressure: Neymar is the poster boy of the World Cup and is expected to fire Brazil to glory . Tricky: 2010 finalists Spain and Netherlands have been drawn in the same group this time . Shining light: With Messi leading the line, Argentina have an number of attacking options . The Belgians should win their group, but they are a peculiar prospect in some ways. They could be the team everyone believes they are capable of being and reach the last eight or further. Or they could be the biggest burster of expectations because their youth and inexperience may tell at this level. Argentina have a strength in depth that means they could cope without Messi if they had to. It tells you something when a player of Carlos Tevez’s qualities didn’t even make the cut. Aside from Messi, they have Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero — the world’s best natural goalscorer in my book — as well as Angel Di Maria, one of the stars of the Champions League last season, and Ezequiel Lavezzi, and on and on. The one area of caution is defence, but it’s hardly shabby. As big an admirer of Spain as I have been in recent times, I do think this could be a tournament too far as age starts to tell. But they’ll still go far. But not as far as Brazil. The Confederations Cup victory last summer was a fillip that cannot be understated. They know now they can perform and win under that enormous home pressure. Sunning up: Juventus forward Carlos Tevez missed out on Argentina's World Cup squad . Dark horse: Chelsea playmaker Eden Hazard will lead Belgium's quest at the World Cup . In Neymar they have a player who bucks a common trend of great performances for club and indifferent games for country. He pulls on his Brazil shirt and shines. He is Brazil’s go-to guy for inspiration, and backing him up he has a cast awash with talent and no small amount of toughness, exemplified by Fernandinho, who is a top player. Ramires is a great athlete, so too Willian. Oscar will score and Hulk is a danger. Brazil’s Achilles heel for me is a lack of a traditional No 9 but they have enough elsewhere to compensate. As they say in Rio: Vamos! Rio Ferdinand is an interviewer, programme-maker and football expert for BT Sport . | Cristiano Ronaldo could be the only one to stop a Brazil-Argentina final .
Portuguese star is hardest worker I've played alongside .
Seven matches could be too many for Portugal if Ronaldo is not fully fit .
Brazil, inspired by the genius of Neymar, will be triumphant on home soil .
Argentina have enough depth that they could cope without Lionel Messi .
This World Cup could be a tournament too far for Spain as age starts to tell . |
0dc34a6f0be74d83cba73df701f17169c30cb539 | By . Lucy Crossley . PUBLISHED: . 05:50 EST, 16 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 08:44 EST, 16 October 2013 . This is the moment a man told he would never walk again stands from his wheelchair and defies doctors to take his agonising first steps. Sheer determination evident across his face, Nick Carr, 26, appears to be wracked with pain as he stands up for the first time in 23 years. He was left wheelchair-bound after he was struck down with encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain, when he was just three. Scroll down for video . Determined: Nick Carr, who was told he would never walk again, steps from his wheelchair for the first time with the help from his carer John Williams . Defying the odds: Nick was left wheelchair-bound after he was struck down with encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain, when he was just three . Doctors told him that he would never stand or walk again but Mr Carr, of Truro, Cornwall, has now defied the odds. He climbed out of his chair and, still clinging to its arms, walked 65 feet in front of an emotional crowd. Mr . Carr spent a year training in a gym to prepare for his effort, which helped to raise money for a new sports centre for disabled people. 'It was incredibly tough and very painful,' he said. 'I knew there were a lot of people watching me, but I was focused on getting the walk done. 'It felt amazing to do this for such a worthy cause.' Charity challenge: Nick, pictured in the centre, and his pals were taking part in a challenge to raise funds for a new sports centre for disabled people . Mr Carr completed the challenge, aided by carer John Williams, at Lemon Quay in Truro surrounded by crowds of people cheering him on. He joined his friends Keith Cornick and John Williams as they took part in a 1,000-mile charity tour of the UK from John O’Groats in Scotland to Land’s End in Cornwall. Together the trio raised more than £10,000 for the new state-of-the-art Centre of Challenge and Innovation in Truro. The centre is a proposed £20million new unit which, if built, will house a diving pool, rock climbing wall, sky-diving tunnel and wave rider. Denise Boaden, part of the Centre for Challenge’s driving force, said: 'It was inspirational and very moving. 'People were cheering Nick on and a few people were crying. It was very emotional.' To make a donation to the fund click here. | Nick Carr left wheelchair-bound when he was just three years old .
26-year-old defies the odds to walk 20metres in front of cheering crowd .
Brave Nick spent a year in the gym to prepare for charity challenge . |
0dc3744b666045482cd7a70f3edeab091111b496 | Deadly: Alethea Parker, 51, almost died and lost both her legs and one hand after inhaling the deadly bacteria while in Tuscany in Italy . When Alethea Parker arrived at her rented Tuscan farmhouse for a holiday with her husband and friends, it seemed the dream destination. But, unbeknown to the holidaymakers, the house harboured a life-threatening bacteria: legionella. Their planned happy week in Italy was to leave Alethea in intensive care for months – and cause her to lose most of her limbs. For while, to many people, legionnaire’s disease has an almost mythical status, considered little more than scare stories about toxic water in taps, it remains a very real danger. Although she can’t be sure, legionella thrives in water systems and it is most likely Alethea was infected whilst showering. Just . last week, Public Health England issued an urgent alert after a newborn . child was admitted to intensive care with the illness, thought to have . been contracted from a contaminated home birthing pool. Up . to 15 per cent of people who contract the pneumonia-type lung . infection, caused by breathing in droplets of water contaminated with . the aggressive bacteria, will die. And those who survive can be left . with lifelong disabilities, like Alethea. Although . cases of UK infection have dropped, those contracted abroad have . remained steady, accounting for more than half of the 235 instances in . 2011, when the last statistics are available. Yet . most of us, like Alethea, barely register the risks. The 51-year-old . retail manager from Farnborough, Hampshire, arrived in Italy in July . 2010 as the final destination of a two-week driving holiday around . Europe with her husband Barry, now 66, a retired warehouse manager, and . another couple. But Alethea soon started feeling very unwell. ‘I . developed a headache and became constantly thirsty. I felt lethargic . but assumed it was lingering work stress. Then, towards the end of the . holiday, I started being sick. We thought it was food poisoning.’ Back in Britain, her condition worsened and she began slurring her words, then fainted in the shower. ‘Barry rang our doctor. When he relayed my symptoms, they told him to call an ambulance,’ says Alethea. When paramedics arrived, Alethea was struggling to breathe. She was taken to Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey, where she was so unwell that doctors put her into an induced coma while they carried out checks. Barry, along with Alethea’s mother, brother and two sisters, were told that she was very seriously ill with legionnaire’s disease. ‘I’d heard of it but had no idea how serious it was,’ he says. ‘We all burst into tears as the doctor told us she could die.’ The consultant said the only treatment was an ECMO (extra corporeal membrane oxygenation) machine at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester. This complex equipment works like an artificial lung, taking blood from the lungs, removing carbon dioxide and then oxygenating it, before returning it to the body. Alethea was moved to Leicester, but things didn’t improve. ‘The doctors tried different types of antibiotics but nothing helped. Then, in the second week, her hands and feet started dying – they were shrivelling and becoming hard and locked,’ says Barry. The drug given to keep her alive – noradrenaline, injected into her heart to reduce the size of the blood vessels so it is easier for the heart to pump – can cause blood vessels in hands and feet to shut off. Life-threatening: Legionella bacteria thrives in water systems and it is most likely Alethea was infected whilst showering . In the second week, Alethea was taken off ECMO, transferred back to intensive care at Frimley and slowly brought out of the coma. She says: ‘It was like a weird dream – even seeing my hands and legs in such a bad way. I kept telling Barry to explain my absence to work.’ As Alethea slowly recovered, doctors said they would need to amputate her left hand, both legs just below the knee, as they had gangrene, and some fingers on her right hand. ‘My left hand was so painful and useless that I knew I couldn’t keep it, but I was really upset as I didn’t know how I’d work again. I coped because I never dwell on things. I had to go forwards and do the best I could.’ Barry says: ‘Alethea cried for about 20 seconds then said, “Right, I’m not going to cry any more, let’s get on with it.” She had this strength of character that seemed able to deal with it and not crumble – the rest of us took strength from that. ‘Removing the legs required a four-hour operation, yet she was still quite chirpy afterwards. When I arrived in recovery, she was having a cup of tea and said, “You do realise you’re married to someone disabled?” I said I’d always wanted a blue badge for parking.’ Alethea returned home in February 2011 for the first time since her collapse in the shower the summer before. She is now able to drive thanks to a special handle on her car’s steering wheel and has regained her licence from the DVLA. She still visits a rehabilitation unit for maintenance on her prosthetic legs and hand but is now medically well, with no lasting problems with her organs. ‘You get used to it,’ she says. ‘It gets on my nerves needing someone with me all the time. Barry has to come on our girls’ weekends away now but I wanted life back to as normal as possible and that’s what we used to do every year. ‘I still think, “Gosh, this really has happened to me.” It feels surreal. But I’m adapting. People don’t realise how serious legionnaire’s is. When I hear about an outbreak now it sends shivers down my spine.’ | Alethea Parker, 51, was diagnosed with legionnaire's disease .
It is likely she caught bacteria from the shower in Tuscany, Italy .
Alethea lost both legs and one hand to the illness . |
0dc3d338a8d42724ad377dc2653cfc5b20e28159 | (CNN) -- Salt Cay, of the Turks Islands in the Caribbean, is the only place I've been told to keep to the left because livestock has right of way. It's also the only place where I've had to wave down a passing airplane. "Don't worry, man. You don't need a ticket to get back to Provo," I'm told as I stand on the beach. "Just stand on the airstrip, wave your hands in the air and the pilot will come and pick you up. No problem." And he does. I'm going to Providenciales ("Provo" to locals) island in the Turks and Caicos islands in the Caribbean to eat more than my fair share of trumpets. "Titan's Trumpets," to be precise, also known as conch. More: World's 100 best beaches . Conch fest coming up . November 30 is the date of the 10th Annual Turks & Caicos Conch Festival, held at Blue Hills, Providenciales, around the Three Queen's Bar & Restaurant (+1 649 941 5984). This showcase of local culture will feature a conch-fritter eating contest, a conch-knocking contest, a conch-peeling competition and a conch-blowing tournament. Blowing a conch is all about breath control. And trying not to suffer a pulmonary infarction. The winner of the latter must produce a recognizable tune rather than a plumbing anomaly. There's a popular folk myth that if you hold a conch shell to your ear you can hear the Caribbean -- as well as the head of marketing and PR at the local tourist board touting upcoming events. On some islands fishermen announce they have fish for sale by sounding a conch sell. When I attempt to play a conch during my time on Turks, all that comes out is a rather controversial "Wahoo." There's no award for Best Conch Home Security Device. But there could be. In the Bahamas, up-turned, broken conches are used on walls to dissuade intruders. Cookery categories at the festival include Best Conch Salad, Best Conch Chowder and Best Specialty Conch, as well as Best in Show. One of the judges will be local radio personality Amishqua "Big Nish" Selver. "Our islands really test your conch threshold," he says. Cooking up a conch . Just about every local restaurant serves conch. Stuart Gray's Coco Bistro (Grace Bay Road, Providenciales; +1 649 946 5369) offers conch ravioli with sweet pepper and rose sauce. The Bay Bistro's conch crepes won Best in Fest 2009. Chef Eric at Beach House (Lower Bight Road 218, Providenciales; +1 649 946 5800) serves a conch salad with heirloom tomatoes wrapped in rice paper. Hemingway's offers conch fingers. Blue Hills Road off the Leeward Highway has conch shacks where you "eat" rather than "dine." The menu includes conch sautéed in rum-and-butter sauce. Your waiter will even wade out to sea and select a conch for you. Having eaten conch in its cracked (fried), frittered, sweet 'n' sour, smoked and most memorably, at Turtle Cove's Terrace Restaurant, in its pecan-encrusted and wonton form, I eventually developed many attributes of the celebrated Caribbean gastropod. I didn't move very far. Or quickly. Along with the spiny lobster and flamingo, the conch has pride of place on the islands' coat of arms. It must be the world's only heraldic mollusc. Columbus discovered conch on the Turks and Caicos islands in 1492. He described the shells as "the size of a calf head." Provo has the world's only commercial conch farm and you can go on a tour and learn all you ever wanted to know about edible trumpets, like: all parts of a sea shell are edible. Except the shell. More: 50 most delicious foods . A bit about the islands . Provo is 550 miles from Florida. It saw its first car only in 1964. Mopeds can now be hired to tour the 30-square-kilometer island and some of the area's 230 miles of fairly empty beaches. It's becoming increasingly known for its marina townhouses and "new paradigms of home ownership." Accommodations range from five-star, all-inclusive stalags with well-rehearsed super-casual staff and as-much-as-you-can-heap-on-one-plate buffets to tidy B&Bs, such as Columbus Slept Here (+1 649 946 6587). The Sibonne Beach Resort (Grace Bay Beach;+1 649 946 5547) on Grace Bay is surrounded by less intimate, more impersonal developments, such as The Sands, Somerset and The Palms. The locals, or "belongers," are descendants of African slaves brought over by loyalists from Georgia and South Carolina to grow cotton and sisal. Most visitors are divers; live-aboard dive boats are popular. It's a sleepy place where a tailback means two bicyclists stopping to talk to each other on a main street. There's more to see and do on nearby islands. On Grand Turk, Pillory Beach is where Columbus made his landfall. It's also home to the National Museum, which possesses the hull and rigging of the Molasses Reef, the oldest shipwreck in the New World. For real exclusivity, there's Pine Cay, where airplanes are hailed like taxis. The 800-acre privately owned island has its own airstrip and cars are banned. The favored mode of transport is electric golf carts. On Pine Cay, iguanas outnumber humans 100 to one. The Turks and Caicos Islands are great for water sports. Between January and April, whales mate offshore. Divers can check out the wreck of the British warship Endymion, which sank in 1790 and was discovered in 1991. You might also bump into a Civil War-era steamer and blockade runner. Life here is languid and un-hectic. Especially when you factor in all the conch. For more information visit Turks and Caicos Tourism. For more information about the 10th Annual Turks & Caicos Conch Festival visit the official site. | Conch Festival takes place on November 30 on Providenciales island in Turks and Caicos .
Visitors can wave down a passing plane from the beach on neighboring Salt Cay .
Columbus discovered the conch on Turks and Caicos in 1492, describing it as "the size of a calf head" |
0dc3e353da0c8c26198ea21aac615a4cd60c24cd | You might have tried everything for dry eyes. But one Bosnian grandmother claims she has a new miracle cure: her tongue. Hava Cebic says she can cure all manner of eye problems with just one lick, sweeping away anything from a splinter of wood to the sticky sleep caused by a conjunctivitis infection. Grandmother Hava Cebic, 77, from Bosnia, says people from all over the world are flocking to her small village for her unique method to cure eye problems . Mrs Cebic, 77, has been helping her neighbours and friends with their eye problems for 40 years. But she now claims people from nearby towns and villages are flocking to her, hoping her tongue can help with their ailment. She claims a quick dab of her special saliva can cure allergies, dry eyes and conjunctivitis - and can even reduce the symptoms of more serious conditions like cataracts. Recently, a Japanese craze for eyeball licking was said to have resulted in a plague of eye chlamydia, styles and conjunctivitis. But Mrs Cebic reassures the squeamish that she always douses her tongue in alcohol before and after an eye-lick, which may prevent infection. She discovered her tongue's mysterious healing properties when she was a little girl growing up in the small village of Crnjevo in northern Bosnia. As a joke she pinned down her brother and licked his eyeball after he complained of dry eyes. He told her he'd been able to see better after that. We've all heard about people doing strange things for love, but Japanese students are taking love-induced madness to a whole new level - and putting their health at risk in the process. The latest craze sweeping through Japan is ‘oculolinctus’ – eyeball licking as an expression of affection between young lovers. However, it has led to a surge in cases of eye infections and can even cause blindness, doctors have warned. The bizarre fetish, which is also known as ‘worming’, was uncovered by the Japanese website, Naver Matome, which revealed that videos of eyeball licking have been posted on YouTube. So she turned her hand – or rather, her tongue – to more serious ailments. There are times when she is able to provide a cure, when even hospitals have failed, she said. One man had a terrible pain in his eye for which doctors said there was no cure. Mrs Cebic was able to help him with just a single lick, she claims. Her husband is now a convert, after his dutiful wife swept away his splinter – with her tongue. She told Oddity Central: 'At first my husband was very confused and didn't want me to do it.' 'But one day he got a piece of wood in his eye and after I licked it out he agreed that I had a gift, and I should help others.' She added that she has a rare 'gift' and that it is a 'miracle'. 'Now, whenever anyone has something stuck in their eye or whatever, they come to me' she said. The procedure only takes a minute or two, and she has recorded all the names of the people she has helped over the years. She never asks for a fee, but people often give her money to express their gratitude. People plagued by eye problems have come from as far as Sarajevo, Zenica, Tuzla, Kaknja, Croatia and other cities in Bosnia. She worries that her children cannot take over her work after her death, and hopes her tongue will be cut off after she dies so that it can continue its work of healing the eyes of the sick. Mrs Cebic claims she can cure dry eyes, allergies, conjunctivitis and even help reduce the symptoms of cataracts by licking eyeballs (stock image) | Hava Cebic, 77, claims her gifted tongue can cure eye problems .
She can help with dry eyes, allergies, conjunctivitis and high eye pressure .
Can even reduce the symptoms of serious conditions like cataracts .
She always douses her tongue in alcohol before a lick, to prevent infection .
Her husband initially doubted her abilities until she licked a splinter away .
People from other countries are flocking to her village for her treatment . |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.