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(CNN)Social Security is often described as "the third rail of American politics" -- touch it and you'll get zapped. So why do Republicans keep sidling up to it and sticking their fingers out? There's a brewing controversy in Congress over a small part of the program, which is just the latest version of an old routine that goes like this: Republicans say Social Security is going broke, and they propose changes that would cut benefits or otherwise undermine the program. Democrats shout "Republicans are trying to cut Social Security!" Then the Republicans, scared of a backlash from older voters, back off. And why do we keep going through this? Republicans will tell you it's because the program is in peril, and if we don't cut it back, it won't be there at all for future generations. Democrats will tell you it's because Republicans never liked the program in the first place, and would love to kill it. That may be an exaggeration, but the fact is that Republicans hate big government, and government doesn't come any bigger than Social Security. It's also the most successful and beloved social program in American history. Most of us are too young to remember when growing old in America almost inevitably meant a miserable descent into poverty, but until the middle of the 20th century, that's what it was. The current controversy revolves around a rule change Republicans made as soon as the new Congress was sworn in this month. Social Security is actually two separate programs, Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI), and the much smaller Disability Insurance program (DI). The disability program will be facing a funding shortfall next year, and to ensure that disabled people continue to get all their benefits, Congress would have to move some money from OASI into DI. This isn't anything new -- it's been done many times in recent years. But House Republicans adopted a parliamentary rule barring the House from allowing that transfer unless it was accompanied by benefit cuts or tax increases. If it can't get worked out, people on DI could see their benefits cut substantially. So why would Republicans insist on this? My guess is that they think forcing a mini-crisis over the Disability Insurance program's finances will allow for a debate on the program that will make it easier to do what they've wanted to do for a long time: cut it back somehow, either by reducing benefits, increasing the retirement age, or even partially privatizing it. The justification is always that the program is "going broke." But that's just not true. When people say that, what they're usually referring to is that, according to the projections in the Social Security Trustees' latest report, in 2033 the program's trust fund will be exhausted. But even if there are no changes between now and then, the program would not be "broke." That's because it would still be taking in billions of dollars in taxes every day and paying them out in benefits. Even under this scenario, the program will still pay 77% of recipient's benefits after 2033, according to the report. Which would be awful. That would be a large reduction in income for millions of seniors. But 77% is not nothing. The people who tell you that the program will be "broke" are hoping that, faced with that (fictional) nightmare, you might be willing to accept steep benefit cuts now. But we don't have to -- the projected shortfall can be fixed with some very modest changes, like raising the payroll tax cap (right now you only pay payroll taxes on the first $117,000 of your wages, which means that the wealthy actually pay less as a proportion of their income than the rest of us) or gradually raising the payroll tax by a point in tiny increments over an extended period. The point is, it wouldn't be hard to come up with some combination of changes that could take care of the shortfall without cutting benefits. But for that to happen, both parties would have to agree on that goal. And there's reason to wonder whether Republicans really want a Social Security that's strong and stable. Programs like Social Security and Medicare -- which provide vital benefits to millions of Americans and are hugely popular -- stand as a living rebuke to conservatives' small-government philosophy. When Republicans tell voters that government can't do anything right, they hope that the voters don't respond, "Well, the government is doing a good job keeping my grandma from having to eat cat food." The idea that the program is perennially in crisis, on the other hand, validates everything else that Republicans say. Congress will probably work out the issue with Disability Insurance funding, just like they have in the past -- once the GOP starts feeling some political heat over it. But Republicans will be back for another attack on Social Security soon enough. | Paul Waldman: Rule change adopted by new Republican Congress could end up cutting Social Security disability benefits . He says it's part of GOP's perennial attack on Social Security as unsustainable, but there are better ways to fix . | e3451c43f13dd0c3583dfc5e7acc3f01f438778d |
A bus carrying paintball players struck and killed a Washington state man inside a zombie attraction at a corn maze in northern Idaho, authorities said Saturday. Jeremy T. McSpadden Jr., 18, of Spokane Valley, Washington, was a role player in the "Zombie Slayer Paintball Bus" attraction at the Incredible Corn Maze in Hauser on Friday night, the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office said. Dressed as a zombie, he emerged from his hiding place and ran toward the modified school bus, but he tripped and fell in front of the rear passenger-side tires, witnesses reported. Jeremy T. McSpadden Jr., 18, of Spokane Valley, Washington, was a role player in the "Zombie Slayer Paintball Bus" attraction at the Incredible Corn Maze in Hauser on Friday night . Dressed as a zombie, he emerged from his hiding place and ran toward the modified school bus, but he tripped and fell in front of the rear passenger-side tires, witnesses reported . He was run over and apparently killed instantly. Because of the uneven terrain of the corn maze, the bus frequently rocks, and the occupants did not immediately notice what had happened, investigators said. 'It was not until the bus had traveled away from the victim's location and the role players began to reset for the next bus to come along that anyone realized something was wrong,' the sheriff's office said in a news release. The attraction is new this season, according to the corn maze's website. For $15, customers ride the bus, which has paintball guns mounted outside the windows, and shoot at the zombies as the vehicle drives through the corn maze. The bus was going forward, and neither speed nor alcohol was a factor, Sgt. Ward Crawford said. McSpadden was run over and apparently killed instantly. Because of the uneven terrain of the corn maze, the bus frequently rocks, and the occupants did not immediately notice what had happened, investigators said . 'The focus of the attraction is the bus creeps forward so the customers have plenty of opportunity to blast away at the zombies,' Crawford said. 'This looks like it was just a horrific confluence of events.' A recording on the corn maze's information line Saturday morning said, 'We are sad to announce that all of the attractions, including the free drive-in movie, will be canceled for the remainder of the weekend.' A message left seeking further comment was not immediately returned. Hauser is near the Washington border east of Spokane. | Jeremy T. McSpadden Jr., 18, of Spokane Valley, Washington, was a role player in the "Zombie Slayer Paintball Bus" attraction at the Incredible Corn Maze in Hauser . He ran out towards the bus dressed as a zombie but tripped and fell . Appears to have been killed almost instantly . | 816f9b6c04914bd6cb402783611532d86b509134 |
(CNN) -- So goodbye. Nobody wanted it to end this way -- the embarrassment and humbling of a side which has brought so much joy to the world. "You cannot consider that this generation is finished," said Spain midfielder Xabi Alonso ahead of its crunch game against Chile. "On the contrary, we are still alive." But Alonso's words rang hollow Wednesday as Spain sank to a 2-0 defeat by Chile at the Maracana -- almost as if this generation has now received the last rites. Dumped out of the World Cup after just two group games on the same day that King Juan Carlos abdicated his throne and signed it over to Prince Felipe, the nation's footballers have now relinquished the crown they once wore with distinction. Those fortunate enough to have a ticket for the potential dethroning came wearing red -- Chilean red. Even before kickoff, there was a sense of something special -- a wind of change, a new era about to be ushered in. This was a moment nobody wanted to miss -- including the 85 Chilean fans who were apprehended by military police after trashing the stadium's media center. While the spine tingling a capella version of the Chilean national anthem galvanized those in white with a call to arms, Spain shrunk away almost apologetically. It was left to Eduardo Vargas and Charles Arranguiz to put the final nails in the coffin-- both men scoring in a high-octane first half. There was no fightback -- no last stand, no heroics from Spain. Those who had once thrilled and mesmerized for so long, slowly and silently slipped away into the Rio night. This was not a mere collapse -- this was an implosion of seismic proportions. "We cannot complain we did not deserve to go out, they were better than us," Spain coach Vicente del Bosque told Spanish TV. "The team showed character, we pressed forward but we had little luck in front of goal. "We were certainly inferior to our rivals here at the finals. It is not the moment to think about the future. Little by little we will make the necessary assessments." Spain had left Salvador last Friday, beaten, thrashed and humiliated after being dismantled with ruthless efficiency by a Dutch side set on revenge following its defeat in final four years ago. It was a defeat which not only brought a shattering halt to the domination it had enjoyed on the international stage -- it was a defeat which signaled the end of an era. For the past six years, this Spanish side has thrilled those who marveled at its tiki-taka passing and ability to make the game look so effortless. For so long a perennial failure, its victory at the 2008 European Championship finals ushered in a period of almost flawless football. Victory at the 2010 World Cup was secured courtesy of a win over the Netherlands, while it retained its European crown comfortably two years later. But the signs of weakness have been growing ever since it was swept aside in last year's Confederations Cup in Brazil. The 3-0 defeat by the host nation in the final shocked not only seasoned observers but also those who had believed Spain's domination would surely continue. A year on, and the weaknesses which were so ruthlessly exposed were laid bare for all to see. After the 5-1 defeat by the Dutch, the Spanish players spoke of how this current generation were not yet finished. Cesc Fabregas, the Chelsea midfielder, philosophized over how this occasion would mean "life or death" for his side. But while coach del Bosque would have hoped to revitalize his team by resuscitating his ailing players, Chile arrived hoping to inflict the mortal wound. Where Chile appeared hungry and sprightly, Spain looked slow, cumbersome and leaden footed. The removal of Xavi, for so long the dominant force of the Spanish midfield, already hinted at the start of something drastic. Gone too was Gerard Pique, the Barcelona defender, who endured a difficult time against the Dutch -- not that he was alone. While 11 men in red Spanish shirts made the short walk onto the Maracana field, their minds appeared to be clouded, fuzzy, full of the doubt. No more so than goalkeeper Iker Casillas -- the captain, the man who despite having not featured regularly for club side Real Madrid kept his place in the team. A dismal showing in the previous game had led to calls for him to be replaced -- but on form or not, there was nothing he could do about Chile's opening goal. Jorge Sampaoli's side, playing with a joyful and often naive innocence, roared into action with a thrust which would not look out of place on the dancefloor of a club in Santiago. With 20 minutes played, Chile's ability to combine pace and intricacy cut through the Spanish defense and Vargas rounded off a wonderful flowing move. The goal came with a sense of inevitability -- Chile, roared on by the majority of the stadium, were rampant. Where Spain faltered, Chile stood strong. Where Spain was wasteful, Chile cradled possession like a mother holds its small child. Where Spain sporadically threatened, Chile moved to strike down each and every attack. For a World Cup champion to exit the tournament at the group stage is not unheard of -- France were embarrassed in 2002 and Italy barely competed four years ago as it exited with a whimper. But neither of those teams managed to dominate like this Spanish side. Perhaps had Spain managed to arrive at the interval just one goal behind it may have been different -- but what transpired was nothing short of disastrous. With three minutes of the half remaining, the much maligned Casillas, the man who lifted the trophy four years ago, all but relinquished his and Spain's grip on the crown. Alexis Sanchez's 20-yard free kick appeared simple enough to save but Casillas contrived to punch the ball straight into the path of Aranguiz, who fired home from close range. That self-inflicted wound proved fatal -- Spain never recovered. It tried to fight back, Sergio Busquets missed a great opportunity from five-yards and striker Diego Costa, one of the biggest disappointments of the tournaments, also went close. But it was more in hope than expectation. Each and every time Chile moved forward, Spain fell away seemingly unable to cope with the pace of its opponents. Mauricio Isla should have rubbed salt in Spanish wounds with 20 minutes remaining only to send his effort wide of the post with the goal gaping. Del Bosque even sent on Koke as substitute -- a man whose surname is Resurrección. Not that it mattered -- the curtain had already been brought down, the mourners had left -- the cortege was already on its way. Cameroon 0-4 Croatia . Cameroon suffered a nightmare evening in Manaus as it exited the World Cup with a whimper. Two goals from Bayern Munich striker Mario Mandzukic ensured Croatia won at a canter after Alex Song was sent off for Cameroon. Ivica Olic gave Croatia the perfect start, turning home from close range after 11 minutes. Cameroon was reduced to 10 men when Song inexplicably elbowed Mandzukic -- and Ivan Perisic added a second eight minutes later. Mandzukic headed home a third just after the hour mark before clinching his second of the evening to seal the rout. The result leaves Croatia needing to defeat Mexico in its final Group A game to qualify for the last 16. Cameroon will finish its campaign against host nation Brazil on Monday. | World champion Spain is out of the tournament . Spain beaten 2-0 by Chile in Rio de Janeiro . Eduardo Vargas and Charles Aranguiz scored the goals . 10-man Cameroon also out after Croatia loss . | 668e688643e6b1b5debf9e0c65b93a04ce8cf1df |
NEW YORK (CNN) -- A 49-year-old woman collapsed and died on the floor of a waiting room at a Brooklyn psychiatric hospital and lay there for more than an hour as employees ignored her, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union, which on Tuesday released surveillance camera video of the incident. Surveillance video shows a woman lying on the hospital floor for almost an hour before anyone helped her. Esmin Green was involuntarily admitted to the psychiatric emergency department of Kings County Hospital Center on June 18 for what the hospital describes as "agitation and psychosis." Upon her admission, Green waited nearly 24 hours for treatment, said the civil liberties union, which was among the groups filing suit against the facility last year seeking improved conditions for patients. The surveillance camera video shows the woman rolling off a waiting room chair, landing face-down on the floor and convulsing. Her collapse came at 5:32 a.m. June 19, the NYCLU said, and she stopped moving at 6:07 a.m. During that time, the organization said, workers at the hospital ignored her. At 6:35 a.m., the tape shows a hospital employee approaching and nudging Green with her foot, the group said. Help was summoned three minutes later. Watch the surveillance video » . In addition, the organization said, hospital staff falsified Green's records to cover up the time she had lain there without assistance. "Contrary to what was recorded from four different angles by the hospital's video cameras, the patient's medical records say that at 6 a.m., she got up and went to the bathroom, and at 6:20 a.m. she was 'sitting quietly in waiting room' -- more than 10 minutes since she last moved and 48 minutes after she fell to the floor." The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, which oversees the hospital, released a statement Tuesday saying it was "shocked and distressed by this situation. It is clear that some of our employees failed to act based on our compassionate standards of care." After a preliminary investigation, the corporation said it suspended or terminated six employees, "including staff involved with the direct care of the patient as well as managers of security and clinical services," the statement said. A Health and Hospitals Corporation spokeswoman said it was aware of the discrepancies in Green's record when it began the preliminary investigation on June 20. That information is now in the hands of various investigatory agencies, she said. The corporation pledged to put "additional and significant" reforms in place in the wake of the incident. The civil liberties group and the Mental Hygiene Legal Service filed suit against Kings County in May 2007 in federal court, alleging that conditions at the facility are filthy. Patients are often forced to sleep in plastic chairs or floors covered in urine, feces and blood while waiting for beds, the groups allege, and often go without basic hygiene such as showers, clean linens and clean clothes. The lawsuit claims that patients who complain face physical abuse and are injected with drugs to keep them docile. The hospital, the suit alleges, lacks "the minimal requirements of basic cleanliness, space, privacy, and personal hygiene that are constitutionally guaranteed even to convicted felons." The video sent the organizations back into court Tuesday, demanding immediate reform. "What's happening in Kings County Hospital is an affront to human dignity," New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman said in a written statement. "In 2008 in New York City, nobody should be subjected to this kind of treatment. It should not take the death of a patient to get the city to make changes that everyone knows are long overdue." The Department of Justice recently initiated an investigation into conditions at the hospital, the organization said, prompting the facility to improve some of its problems. "But the culture of abuse and neglect remains and, as evidenced by the June death, the situation is too dire to wait for the Justice Department to act," the group said. Among the reforms agreed to in court Tuesday by the hospital are additional staffing; checking of patients every 15 minutes; and limiting to 25 the number of patients in the psychiatric emergency ward, officials said. In addition, the hospital said it is expanding crisis-prevention training for staff; expanding space to prevent overcrowding; and reducing patients' wait time for release, treatment or placement in an inpatient bed. On Monday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he was appalled by the surveillance video. "Look, I saw the film like everybody else did and I was -- horrified is much too nice a word. Disgusted I think is a better word. I can't explain what happened there." Green, a native of the island of Jamaica, lived alone in Brooklyn's Brownsville neighborhood. She had no close family in the United States, and her neighbor Beatrice Wallace described her as a quiet woman who had few visitors and spent most of her free time at church. The medical examiner is withholding autopsy results pending further study and investigation into the precise cause of death. | Esmin Green was involuntarily admitted June 18 for "agitation and psychosis" Kings County Hospital Center was target of lawsuit over conditions . Tape shows Green collapse, convulse and lay still; workers ignore her . Group says hospital staff falsified records to cover up incident . | f7c4972400cf3b0d980ff771634263d68d0a6a1e |
(CNN) -- As royalty from different parts of the world converged on the Netherlands to watch the monarchy change hands, some of the guests there may have been thinking ahead to the day when they get the top job back home. In Europe, most monarchs are getting old and have been on their thrones for years. Their offspring are grown up and are now waiting in the wings to take their respective crowns. Britain's Prince Charles was in Amsterdam to watch Queen Beatrix hand over to her 46-year-old son Willem-Alexander. He was also in the Netherlands when Beatrix herself took the throne from her mother 33 years ago on Queen Juliana's abdication. Charles's new Dutch counterpart is Amalia, The Princess of Orange, who is nine. Was Charles wondering when his turn would come? Perhaps, but that of course would involve the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. One thing is for sure -- his 61-year wait as heir to the throne won't end with the abdication of his mother. To the British royals, the word "abdication" brings back painful memories of the 1936 crisis when King Edward VIII was forced to relinquish his throne so he could marry the divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson and relinquished his throne. Queen Elizabeth will never abdicate. The other long-serving European Queen, Margrethe of Denmark also sees it as a job for life. However, both Margrethe and Elizabeth are handing more responsibilities to their heirs. One option might be for them to appoint their sons Princes Regent which would mean they would be in charge of royal duties while their mothers kept the title. Crown princes and princesses across Europe look ready to take on the task of modern-day monarchy with all the burdens that some believe can only be carried by younger royals. Opinion: Dutch monarchs teach world's royalty . In Spain, 75-year-old year old King Juan Carlos's popularity has waned. And that's led to suggestions, even among monarchists, that his heir, Crown Prince Felipe and his wife Letizia take over the throne. In Sweden, King Carl Gustaf is 67. He's been on the throne for 40 years and has recently been scandalized in the press. His heir, Crown Princess Victoria is married to Prince Daniel and has a baby daughter, Princess Estelle, as the next two generations there take shape. And over in Norway, King Harald is in his mid-70s with an heir who will be 40 in July. Crown Prince Haakon is married to Princess Mette-Marit. The couple have had two children. iReport: Happy crowds applaud new king . All of these heirs also have something in common that makes them appealing to a modern, more relaxed generation. They have all married outside the aristocracy, making them more accessible and relevant to younger subjects. But while the precedent of abdication has set in the Netherlands, it hasn't yet taken hold elsewhere. However, in an age when the pope resigns, don't be surprised if other older royals take some sort of cue from Beatrix. | Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands hands over the crown to her son . Older monarchs are on the thrones in Britain, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Belgium . Some analysts say the younger generation is best suited for the demands of modern monarchies . | c3fa6364a80fd6e260598bcb5509ca9821de9705 |
(CNN) -- When art expert Safia Dickersbach cast a dart at a map of Africa, she had no idea it would spark an eight-year love affair with a country she had never seen before. "It landed in Ghana," Dickersbach recalled, "it was just a playful planning method." After taking aim at the world's second-largest continent, the dart randomly struck Ghana's Volta Region, in the east of the country bordering neighboring Togo. The exercise was the beginning of Dickersbach's extensive research into Ghana's contemporary art culture and her mission to push Africa onto the global art scene. Read more: Africa's most exciting new photographers . She launched a project called "The Black Stars of Ghana -- Art District," (named for the black star in the center of the Ghanaian flag, and the nickname of Ghana's national football team) in which she interviews some of the country's eminent visual artists and gauges their views on social issues as well as the inspiration behind their work. "Between 2005 and 2011 I went to Ghana three times," she said, "visiting 45 artists in that period. I went to major cities like Accra, Kumasi and Shama." Dickersbach -- originally from the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam -- is now based in Berlin and works as a public relations director for Artfacts.Net . CNN's African Voices spoke to Dickersbach about her vision of African art and its place on the global stage. CNN: You've visited 45 artists over the course of your research, what is the objective behind it? Safia Dickersbach: Contemporary art is dominated by a Eurocentric attitude today and it is that attitude that decides what is relevant and what isn't. This prevents artists from regions of the world that are not located in Europe or North America from getting the attention they deserve. Read more: Hollywood classics get African photo remake . It is called the "international art scene" but where is Africa on this stage? I hope "The Black Stars of Ghana -- Art District" gives viewers a taste of the depth, vibrancy, beauty, vision and diversity of contemporary art produced on the African continent. CNN: Who did you interview for the "The Black Stars of Ghana - Art District" project and why? SD: The project includes research and film material about many different artists like Professor Ablade Glover, Kwadwo Ani, Kofi Setordji, Wiz Kudowor and Marigold Akufo-Addo, among others. These are prominent artists in Ghana. Hopefully, a resource like this will provide art professionals, scholars and practitioners as well as art lovers from all over the world the chance to get to know the different artists and protagonists of the Ghanaian contemporary art scene through the Internet. CNN: What inspired you to pursue such a project? SD: This project was inspired by a couple of disappointing events and stories which I observed in my professional career regarding how great and talented artists from outside of Europe were treated by the Western art establishment. It is very important that artists who are based and work in Africa determine and define for themselves the narrative about contemporary African art. Read more: Stunning Congo artwork shows conflict in a different light . In my view, even highly educated intellectuals and experts (in the West) let themselves be influenced by prejudices and stereotypes of the continent such as images of hunger and war in Africa. (They) treat African countries with a mixture of patronizing empathy and intellectual loftiness, and definitely not on a par with themselves. CNN: Why do you believe this is so? SD: Too often artists from the African continent have been confronted with ignorance or condescending attitudes in the West and this is definitely some kind of intellectual conflict caused by a lack of multicultural competence and in some cases just plain arrogance. A simple example is the fact that art from African countries is usually shunted to the anthropological department whereas art from Europe and North America will be dealt with in the "Arts and Culture Section." CNN: You're from Tanzania in East Africa and you live in Germany, why was Ghana the best place for your research? SD: I have an African heritage and I specifically chose a country that I didn't know because I wanted to look at that country and its art from an objective perspective. I didn't want to be influenced by friends and relatives who are members of the art scene so I wanted to go somewhere where I didn't know anyone. Read this: Artists' road trip across Africa . CNN: What makes your research different from other art research and documentary projects related to Africa? SD: I think the project explores and reveals the contemporary art scene in Ghana as viewed by local artists and protagonists. This is important because it is independent of what European or American art experts, critics and historians have to say about that scene, while also reiterating the message that Africa is not a country. There are thousands of cultures, sub-cultures and histories in Africa and it is about being sensitive to that. I think the interviews highlight the individual and not the collective. CNN: What is it about Africa that fascinates you? SD: I think the attitude of the people is more dramatic and expressive than we're used to in the developed world. For instance, the market stalls in Lagos, when they barter it looks like they're fighting but that's just how they communicate passionately. There's a fear of Africa, a fascination fear. When western photographers and artists go to Africa, they are mesmerized by the amount of light and shadows in the sky and the atmosphere is very different. But at the same time, I think a colonial attitude exists still, that need to control a fear of the unknowing in Africa. It's very much a love-fear relationship and that's what fascinates us. | 'The Black Stars of Ghana - Art District' interviews some of Ghana's biggest artists . The series is the work of art expert Safia Dickersbach . She says contemporary art is dominated by a Eurocentric attitude . Project includes interviews with artists Wiz Kudowor and Marigold Akufo-Addo . | d377ee3805af1b40522dbf72a951c7c40b3b33cb |
Last year she was hailed as one of the most influential people in the world - a defender of women's rights as Afghanistan's only female head prosecutor. Ms Bashir has been lauded by both . Michelle Obama and Hilary Clinton - and she was one of ten women to receive a 'Women of Courage' Award in Washington last year. But Maria Bashir's reputation is now in doubt after the Times revealed that Ms Bashir is also the most prolific prosecutor of women for Afghanistan's so-called 'moral' crimes, such as adultery. While Ms Bashir campaigns against abuse husbands, more than half of the 172 women jailed in Afghanistan for sex outside of marriage (known as 'zina') have come from her province. Defender or jailer? Maria Bashir, pictured with with First Lady Michelle Obama U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has jailed more than 100 women for adultery in Afghanistan . The Herat province's population stands at an estimated 1.7million, and Afghanistan as a whole has a population of 35million. Last week Ms Bashir, who became lead prosecutor in 2006, and has prosecuted nearly a thord of the 78 women jailed for murder in Afghanistan, was promoted to become Herat's attorney-general. The Times said diplomats are 'shocked' by the extraordinary tally of women imprisoned for adultery. It further says that 101 out of 136 women serving in Herat's women jail are there for adultery, one of the moral crimes which campaigners for women's rights are trying to remove from Afghanistan. Two sides: Maria Bashir, attorney general of Herat comforting Arefa, a victim of domestic violence, in Herat, Afghanistan, last year . When she received her award, the two presidential wives said: 'Ms Bashir has waged a determined campaign against crime and corruption. 'She stands out as a champion of judicial transparency and women's rights, and exemplifies the resilience of Afghan women.' When the Times contacted Ms Bashir, she said she was unaware that her prosecution rate was so much higer than other provinces, but blamed it on her province's closeness to the border with Iran. She said: 'If it is higher it's because we are bordered with Iran, which culturally influences Afghans.' | More than 50% of women jailed for adultery in Afghanistan come from province prosecuted by Ms Bashir - which holds just 20% of the population . | fa567ebc3adfd7855de59f73a3de4c7900c6f633 |
By . Damien Gayle . Yob: Matthew Tisdale, who walked free from court despite admitting assaulting a ticket inspector, pushing her from the train and spitting in her face . A thug has walked free from court despite admitting to attacking a ticket collector and spitting in her face. Matthew Tisdale, 21, shoved Louise Caisley, 37, off the Arriva Trains service at Welshpool Railway Station, Powys, after he tried to board without a ticket. The yob had jumped on the 7.47pm train to Newtown, Shropshire, when he was confronted by Ms Caisley, the conductor, over his fare. A court heard he swore at her and said he was getting on 'no matter what' before shoving her on to the platform and pressing a button to lock the door. Tisdale then approached the train driver and signalled for him that it was OK to leave the station. But the driver realised something was amiss and ejected Tisdale before phoning police. At Welshpool Magistrates Court, Tisdale, of Newtown, admitted charges of endangering the safety of people on a railway, assault by beating and interfering with automatic doors on a railway over the inciden on January 8. He also pleaded guilty to trespassing on the railway at Abbey Foregate, Shropshire, in a separate incident on March 17. But on Tuesday he nevertheless escaped jail when he was handed 250 hours of unpaid work and a 12-month community order. He was also ordered to pay £50 compensation, £85 costs and a £60 victim surcharge. Prosecutor Helen Tench told the court: 'The conductor, Louise Caisley, asked him to present a ticket while boarding and he said he didn't have one and did not have the money to pay. 'He then pushed into her as he tried to get on the train and a grapple broke out with the conductor suffering reddening to her face as a result of force used by the defendant. 'He then spat at her and the amount was so large that it showed up on CCTV later viewed by police. 'The conductor then ended up on the platform and Tisdale jumped on board closing the doors and then pressing another button which locked the doors. 'He tried to signal to the driver to move on but the driver realised what had happened and came to the conductor's aid and Tisdale was ejected and the police were called.' Victim: Louise Caisley, 37, who was shoved form the train when she tried to ask Tisdale for his ticket . The court heard Tisdale refused to co-operate with officers and didn't even attended any arranged police interviews. Ceri Edwards, defending, said in mitigation: 'For a man of his age, my client has an unenviable record building up. 'He was formerly a successful young man who had achieved much in school and was a highly thought of young member of the local Labour Party.' | Matthew Tisdale attacked Louise Caisley she asked to see his ticket . He spat in her face, shoved her off the train then locked the doors . Then he tried to signal to the train driver to leave the station . | bd5cec54e0e12aaf9e6763a3bdda21560df6aa9d |
AC Milan missed the chance to go third in Serie A as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Fiorentina at the San Siro. Nigel de Jong headed the Rossoneri into a 25th-minute lead, but second-half substitute Josip Ilicic fired La Viola level. Two dropped points meant Filippo Inzaghi’s side had to be content with sixth place, a point behind third-spotted Udinese, with the visitors down in 11th. Chelsea loanee Fernando Torres fails to score with an overhead kick as AC Milan draw with Fiorentina . The Spain striker has only managed to score one league goal since his loan move from Stamford Bridge . Former Manchester City enforcer Nigel de Jong heads the Rossoneri into the lead . Dutch midfielder De Jong celebrates his strike with a salute . Fiorentina midfielder Josip Ilicic is high-fived by teammates after rescuing a point . Filippo Inzaghi's side missed the chance to move up to third in the Serie A table . AC Milan vice president Barbara Berlusconi gives a thumbs up from the stands . Former Chelsea striker Fernando Torres' struggles continued following his his year loan move from Stamford Bridge. The misfiring forward failed to score with a dramatic overhead kick that actually saw the ball finish behind him to leave his season tally at just a single goal - scored against Empoli on September 23. Udinese veteran Antonio Di Natale wheels away after scoring the opening goal against Atalanta . Udinese players smother Cyril Thereau after he scored the second goal in their 2-0 victory . Elsewhere, Udinese maintained their unbeaten run at home with a 2-0 triumph over Atalanta. Veteran forward Antonio Di Natale put the hosts on their way in the sixth minute and later set up team-mate Cyril Thereau for Udinese’s second before half-time. | AC Milan were held to a 1-1 home draw by Fiorentina in Serie A . Nigel de Jong scored for the Rossoneri before Josip Ilicic equalised . Fernando Torres failed miserably with an attempted overhead kick . Antonio Di Natale and Cyril Thereau scored as Udinese beat Atalanta 2-0 . | 7172bae462fac57648f291c968fa8bb015a44dcb |
Think the only world-class Caribbean carnival takes place in Trinidad and Tobago? Not even close. Barbados' vibrant Crop Over summer festival, which once marked the end of the sugar crop harvest and a celebration for slaves, has evolved into the greatest representation of the island's saucy spirit. This year's party wrapped on August 4, with the usual smash of color, costumes, music, food and unique history from one of the Carib's easternmost islands. Crop Over events range from historic remembrances such as the Ceremonial Delivery of the Last Canes, where plantation-era traditions are on display, to Foreday Morning, in which participants slather each other in mud, paint and powder, to Grand Kadooment, in which revelers wine the day away in scanty costumes of feathers and beads, grooving to soca music. As the photo gallery above shows, the 21-mile-long island of Barbados may be small in size, but its unique spin on carnival is proof of its fervor. | The Caribbean's hot summertime festival may have just wrapped, but we're still reveling in the color burst . Barbados' vibrant Crop Over festival ended August 4 . The festival has evolved from a harvest celebration to the greatest representation of the island . | 7fb851ed6b824cd713b4cb2e1e41bf518dbb26f7 |
By . Ben Griffiths and Deborah Cicurel . PUBLISHED: . 19:02 EST, 16 September 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 01:56 EST, 17 September 2012 . More than £340million worth of songs were illegally downloaded in the UK in the first half of 2012, research revealed yesterday. Millions of Britons are breaking the law rather than paying for music, evidence from the Digital Music Index by analysts Musicmetric has shown. The data suggests that the blocking of Pirate Bay – a file-sharing website – earlier this year, has had little impact on an industry worth £1.2billion a year in exports alone. Slowing market: Record labels recognise that the illegal download business is damaging to their sales . Albums by Ed Sheeran and Rihanna were among the most popular downloads . People looking to download music for free have instead turned to BitTorrent, a network where tunes can be obtained speedily, but mostly illegally, from other users. The sample also reveals how tastes – and the willingness to break the law – differ by region, providing record labels with useful information about file-sharing patterns among consumers. Manchester topped the list of most illegal downloads per capita, with 1.3m in six months, closely followed by Nottingham and Southampton, while London came 20th. The most popular downloads were albums by pop idols Ed Sheeran, Rizzle Kicks and Rihanna, although in retiree hotspot Bournemouth the most popular record was The Discography of the Eagles. Matt Mason, executive director at . BitTorrent which offers legal downloads but is frequently misused, said: 'Knowing what people are downloading and where is incredibly valuable to labels and artists. ‘It’s short-sighted to think that we can simply tell people to stop and they will,’ he added. Record labels recognise that although the illegal download business is damaging to their sales, there is also the potential to capitalise on the massive online fan base, whether through tours, advertising or sponsorship. Chief executive of Musicmetric, Gregory Mead, said: ‘Knowing exactly where your fans are has long been a holy grail for record labels. ‘Understanding what drives them to engage will be vital to helping the industry prosper again soon. 'The challenge for copyright holders is to find ways to monetise music files torrented online.' | Millions of Britons are breaking the law rather than paying for music . | bf4ed31151f2e48aef9908fb6faeb1b6159e7077 |
Pope Francis has called for abolition of life imprisonment calling it a 'hidden' death sentence. Francis denounced what he called a 'penal populism' that offers revenge for victims instead of pursuing true justice. He told representatives from the International Association of Penal Law: 'It is impossible to imagine that states today cannot make use of another means than capital punishment to defend peoples' lives from an unjust aggressor.' Pope Francis has called for abolition of life imprisonment calling it a 'hidden' death sentence . During talks with the International Association of Penal Law, the pope said even those only under suspicion of crimes were being punished and that pretrial detention was being used unlawfully . Francis said the media and politicians advocated 'violence and revenge, public and private, not only against those responsible for crimes, but also against those under suspicion, justified or not'. Catholic teaching does not proscribe capital punishment, the pope said. According to the Catechism, 'the traditional teaching of the church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor'. But modern advances mean that cases in which execution is an absolute necessity 'are very rare, if not practically non-existent,' he insisted. The pope, who lived for many years under the repressive junta regime in Argentina, which was responsible for the forced disappearance and murder of thousands of civilians, said that there was a misconception in today's world that all social problems can be cured through punishment, 'as if different diseases could all be cured by the same medicine'. He said that Christians must also oppose life long incarceration as a 'a hidden death penalty'. The Vatican recently eliminated life imprisonment from its own penal code. He said that cases in which execution is an absolute necessity 'are very rare, if not practically non-existent' 'All Christians and men of good faith are therefore called upon today to fight, not only for the abolition of the death penalty – whether it is legal or illegal and in all its forms... and this, for me, is linked to life sentences. A sentence of life (without parole) is a hidden death penalty.' It remains to be seen whether the pope's words have any effect in the U.S. where 60 per cent say they are in favour of the death penalty. One third of Americans were raised Catholic but half of foreign born residents of America are of Catholic backgrounds. Francis also condemned the process of extraordinary rendition, used by the CIA since the September 11th attacks. He said some states used 'extra-judicial executions' as an unintended consequence of an action. Francis also warned against the use of pretrial detention. He said it is being used improperly as another form of unlawful punishment that is 'hidden behind legality'. He said: 'In the world today, torture is used not only as a means to achieve a particular purpose, such as a confession or an accusation - practices that are characteristic of a doctrine of national security - but also adds to the evil of detention.' He continued: 'Criminal code itself bears responsibility for having allowed, in certain cases, the legitimacy of torture under certain conditions, opening the way for further abuse.' | Francis said it was 'impossible to imagine' states couldn't find alternatives . And that the media and politicians advocated 'violence and revenge' Even against those only under suspicion of committing a crime . He said pretrial detention was being used as an unlawful punishment . | f6f9496130b55fde155495bf8b349b3e0e4e62a9 |
By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 18:57 EST, 7 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 19:00 EST, 7 March 2014 . A Pittsburgh lawyer's online ad showing smiling robbers, drug dealers and prostitutes flashing thumbs up and thanking him for getting them off the hook has garnered tens of thousands of views and drawn fire from a local bar association. One fictional criminal pauses while climbing out a window, carrying a laptop to say 'Thanks Dan,' to the camera, while a pair of men carrying handguns offer a similar message before pulling ski masks over their faces in the three-minute, 27-second ad posted on YouTube by criminal defense attorney Daniel Muessig. Muessig, 31, was a freestyle rapper before getting a JD at the University of Pittsburgh Law School in 2012. Scroll down to see ad . Freestylin': Daniel Muessig said he decided to make the subversive ad to extent his criminal client base . Youtube commercial features many fake thugs saying 'thanks Dan!' to the camera either before or after committing crimes . 'Thanks Dan!': One of the men impersonating a criminal burglarizing a home talks to the camera . In an interview with Slate website on Friday, Muessig said he created the cheesy commercial because criminal defense law is 'stale' in terms of how clients find their lawyers. At one point during his ad, he turns to the camera and says: 'Trust me, I may have a law degree, but I think like a criminal.' The spot has been viewed more than 80,000 times since Muessig posted it on Thursday, and the attorney believes the tongue-in-cheek approach will extend his client base. 'I wanted to connect with my potential clients in a way that people from my generation could understand,' Muessig told Reuters on Friday. 'I wanted to give people something that would be memorable and entertaining.' Tom Loftus, spokesman for the Allegheny County Bar Association, said he found the ad 'insulting to Pittsburgh lawyers and lawyers across the country, who take great pride in their profession'. Muessig, a former rapper, said in an interview Friday that it is essential for lawyers to have street knowledge and hopes that will work in his favor . He said he worried that the video could be misinterpreted. 'There could be kids watching it, or people who don't even understand what tongue-in-cheek means, and what they'll see is: if you commit a crime this attorney will get you off without any explanation,' Loftus said. Muessig defended the spot but said he would take it down if law enforcement or a legal professional organization asked him to. 'It's a send-up of the cartoonishly amoral Jewish criminal defense attorney,' he said. Muessig said that rapping allowed him to become good at 'improvisational argument' and said he understands that people, particularly lawyers, will be angry over his ad . 'The criminal justice system is broken, it creates a system where we are basically putting people on a conveyor belt to prison. 'If you want to get your ire up, get your ire up about that.' | Daniel Muessig, 31, said he hit a 'quarter life crisis' after working as a rapper and decided to become a lawyer . He said rapping taught him how to be proficient at 'improvisational argument' and writing . Muessig has created a self-promoting YouTube ad so that more criminals will hire him . The tongue-in-cheek commercial features criminal impersonators thanking him for getting them off the hook before committing other crimes . It has angered fellow attorneys, with a local bar association saying the ad undermines both lawyers and the law . | ee4cfca62525a542418c6975025e4a63b3cec904 |
By . Ben Ellery . PUBLISHED: . 18:46 EST, 13 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 20:07 EST, 13 April 2013 . The police commander in charge of Margaret Thatcher’s funeral on Wednesday has provoked outrage by condoning disrespectful demonstrations planned outside the ceremony. Metropolitan Police commander Christine Jones is also facing criticism for encouraging protesters to contact police if they want to stage demonstrations. Last night Baroness Thatcher’s former press secretary Sir Bernard Ingham said the force was ‘conniving at a display of bad taste’. Preparations are underway near St Paul's Cathedral ahead of the funeral of Baroness Margaret Thatcher. The police commander in charge of the funeral on Wednesday has condoned demonstrations planned outside the ceremony . Ms Jones, who masterminded security for the Royal Wedding, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘We are not there to uphold respect, we are there to uphold the law. ‘If people want to come up to London and protest at the funeral then they will be allowed to do so. It’s a balancing act between the right to protest and people’s safety. If the line into criminality is crossed then we will intervene. ‘Ultimately it is a judgment call by the officer. If they feel a Section Five offence is taking place, – that is, there is a distress, harassment or alarm – then they will do something about it. ‘London is an international city and if people want to come and protest lawfully then they have the right to. ‘It will depend on what they want to do. Primarily this is a funeral. If it was a day of protest if would have a different context. We have to balance it on the safety of members of the public. ‘We have been messaging out repeatedly for people to get in touch with us if they wish to protest. Some of them have and some have not. We cannot force people to do what they don’t want to.’ Former Government spokesman Sir Bernard Ingham (pictured in July 2003, at the chapel in the Royal Hospital in Chelsea, west London, for the funeral of Sir Denis Thatcher) said the force was 'conniving at a display of bad taste' Sir Bernard said of Ms Jones’s remarks: ‘The police are conniving at a display of bad taste, the plain fact is that we know exactly what these Left and anarchist groups do – they break convention and they enjoy doing it. ‘I’m absolutely certain there will be people who take great offence and are deeply upset by these protests because they don’t think it is the way to behave.’ A Cabinet Minister who did not wish to be named added: ‘These comments are most unfortunate. It is the job of the police to ensure that people behave in an appropriate way at a funeral such as this.’ Lady Thatcher’s former spokesman Lord Bell said: ‘Surely, the role of the police is to uphold respect for the law.’ Brian Paddick, a former Deputy Assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard, added: ‘It’s an unfortunate choice of words. ‘I think it is unwise to say that. I understand the conciliatory approach and about upholding people’s legal right to protest, but in these circumstances that right to protest should be out of sight and out of hearing of the funeral procession route.’ Anarchist Ian Bone said he had been approached by the police’s ‘protest facilitation unit’ and asked if he wished to hold a protest on Wednesday. Bone, who last night staged a performance in Trafalgar Square in which he cut down an effigy of Margaret Thatcher and played football with its head, said: ‘Scotland Yard got in touch to ask me if I wanted help organising a protest against the funeral. ‘I suppose I must be on a list of people to contact. I don’t plan on organising anything but if I did I certainly wouldn’t have informed them first.’ Several protests are planned for the funeral, including a fancy dress party outside the cathedral and a colliery brass band that intends to perform outside the cathedral. Dominic Francis, a student at Ruskin College, Oxford, has organised a demonstration for protesters to turn their back on the cortege as it passes. The 25-year-old said: ‘I support that her mourners should be allowed to grieve in peace. But when they decided to hold a State-funded, large ceremony like that, they open themselves up to public criticism.’ | Sir Bernard Ingham said force was 'conniving at a display of bad taste' Commander Christine Jones said 'it is not our job to uphold respect' Anarchist Ian Bone said he had been . approached by police about protest . | 3ffe79406ad4c9238e0d7046080273b48c845a58 |
By . Bianca London . A master mixologist has combined two of summer's best food and drink offerings - cocktails and ice lollies - to create an inventive new tipple. The Poptail, a mash-up between a Prosecco cocktail and a popsicle, is the brainchild of David Kay of Late Night London, which is well known for its quirky spin on classic drinks. Other creations include the Creme Egg mojito, a mix of rum, chocolate liqueur, mint and Creme Eggs, the Dangerously Divine, a caramel salted chocolate martini, and Morning Glory - a cocktail topped up with Fruit Loop cereal. Cocktail of the summer: A mixologist has created the Poptail - a Prosecco cocktail sweetened with an ice lolly . David explains that the inspiration behind his £7 poptail was the idea of drinking ‘like a grown-up’. The drink, which is served at central London bars The Gable, The Sterling, The Last and Grace Bar, is available in raspberry and passionfruit flavour. The . popsicles, which are made from all natural ingredients and have a low . sugar content, were created by gourmet lollipop makers, Lickalix, to David’s exact specifications for complementing the dryness of the Prosecco. A childlike drink for adults: David, who is head mixologist at Late Night London, explains that the inspiration behind his latest invention was the idea of drinking 'like a grown-up' Speaking about the 285-calorie cocktail, David, who is head mixologist at Late Night London, . said: ‘We have designed the ultimate summer experience with the . Poptail, a perfect combination of alcoholic delight and cool refreshing . flavours certain to have you hooked. 'I wanted . to complement the nuances of the Prosecco with bespoke lollies that . would collectively produce a unique taste sensation. 'They are extremely . light and fruity and go down phenomenally easily in the summer sun.' Quirky creations: Late Night London's drinks include the Crème Egg Mojito, left, a mix of rum, chocolate liqueur, mint and Creme Eggs, and the Morning Glory - a cocktail topped up with Fruit Loop cereal, right . | £7 cocktail fuses Prosecco with all-natural ice lolly . 285-calorie tipple prides itself as cocktail of the summer . Previous creations include drink topped with Fruit Loop cereal . | c19e5aa3f741c379b2e37b05efe5fd8dcd385c6c |
By . Sarah Griffiths . Marvellous memories are often attributed to elephants, but scientists have discovered that plants can also learn and remember – even though they do not have a brain. Scientists claim fern-like plants that respond to touch have learned that water droplets are not harmful and remember the finding weeks afterwards. Their research suggests that experience teaches plants to learn details to survive and could lead to scientists viewing flora in a new way. Scientists claim fern-like plants Mimosa pundica (pictured) that respond to touch, learned that water droplets are not harmful in an experiment and remember the lesson for weeks afterwards . Mimosa pudica is also called the sensitive plant, sleepy plant and the touch-me-not. Its leaves fold inwards and droop when touched or shaken to protect it from predators and re-open minutes later. The species is native to South America and Central America. It is known for its rapid plant movement as the foliage closes during darkness and reopens in light. The leaves also close when touched, warmed, blown-upon or shaken - known as seismonastic movements. The movement occurs when specific regions of cells lose turgor pressure, which is the force that is applied onto the cell wall by water within cells. When the plant is disturbed, specific regions on the stems are stimulated to release chemicals including potassium ions which force water out of the cells and the water diffuses out of the cells, producing a loss of cell pressure and cell collapse. This differential stiffness between regions of cells, leads to the closing of the leaflets. The researchers studied Mimosa pudica, which folds inwards when touched to protect itself from predators. The University of Western Australia study, which also involved Professor Stefano Mancuso at the University of Florence in Italy, found the action is not simply a reflex. They examined the species’ short and long-term memories under both high and low light environments by repeatedly dropping water on the plants using a custom-designed apparatus to look at their response. The strange fauna stopped curling up once it learned that the water was not a threat to its survival and no damage was done, according to the study, which was published in the journal Oecologia. Mimosa plants were able to acquire the learnt behaviour in a matter of seconds and as in animals, learning was faster in low light. ‘Most remarkably, these plants were able . to remember what had been learned for several weeks, even after . environmental conditions had changed,' the researchers said. The study shows that Mimosa pudica plants can learn and remember just as well as it would be expected of animals, but of course, they do it all without a brain. The study shows that Mimosa pudica plants can learn and remember just as well as it would be expected of animals, but of course, they do it all without a brain. The findings may make some think of J.R.R. Tolkien's 'Ents' in Lord of the Rings (pictured) that are trees that can think and talk . While the scientists are unsure who . the plant learns and remembers, they think it might be down to a . calcium-based signally network in its cells, which are in some ways . similar to animals’ memory process. The . research radically changes the way humans perceive plants and the . boundaries between plants and animals, including our definition of . learning as a property special to organisms with a nervous system, the . scientists said. Dr Monica Gagliano, an Australian Research Council research fellow at the university’s Centre for Evolutionary Biology, who led the study, only recently published a paper that claims plants can ‘talk’ using sounds. The research at the university suggests that plants have abilities widely used by animals and seen in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, where fictional Ents - a race of beings which resemble trees that are ancient shepherds of the forest - are able to think and talk. Chatterboxes: It is claimed sagebrush plants (pictured) send chemical messages through the air . A previous study in 2009 found that members of the vegetable kingdom can communicate with each other. They are 'capable of more sophisticated behaviour than we imagined,' says American bug expert Professor Richard Karban. His work, which he admits is 'controversial', suggested that plants converse by sending chemical messages through the air, warning of hungry predators. When a neighbouring plant 'hears' the message, it boosts its defences against grasshoppers, caterpillars and other invaders, he believes. Professor Karban, of the University of California, claimed to have proved that conversations happen between sagebrush bushes - hardy, yellow-flowered shrubs native to the western U.S. Using scissors, he clipped away at leaves and stems of potted shrubs, damaging them in the same way as a grasshopper would. He then planted some damaged and undamaged plants in a field and measured levels of predation on their neighbours. The leaves of the plants with clipped neighbours suffered the least grasshopper damage, according to the journal Ecology Letters. | Scientists from the University of Western Australia found Mimosa pudica plants can learn and remember as well as some animals . Fern responds to touch and curls up to protect itself from predators . But eventually 'learned' not to curl up when rain drops landed on it . Researchers aren't certain why the plants are able to do so, but think it might be down to a calcium-based signally network in their cells . Study suggests experience teaches plants to learn details to survive . | b948d65cf12c7db5adbc4428e4e635269e77e1d4 |
By . Andrew Pierce . The quotation, painted in bright yellow, is emblazoned in the window of Ashers, an unassuming bakery shop in Newtownabbey, a Protestant enclave on the outskirts of Belfast. ‘Come along inside. We’ll see if teas and buns can make the world a better place.’ For 22 years Ashers, set up by husband and wife Colin and Karen McArthur, has been true to that cheerful sentiment from children’s classic The Wind In The Willows. In the fiercely sectarian district where the bakery operates, the McArthurs are proud to serve Catholics and Protestants. But in the past two weeks, they have been at the centre of an extraordinary row, which has been raised at Prime Minister’s Questions and debated on radio talk-shows as far afield as Australia and the U.S. Row: Daniel McArthur, 24, manager of Ashers Bakery, and wife Amy, insist they never meant to cause offence by refusing to bake the cake . The bakery’s name is derived from Asher who, in the Book Of Genesis, is one of the 12 sons of Jacob and forebear of one of the tribes of Israel. It was predicted that Asher’s ‘food would be rich’ and he ‘would provide delicacies fit for a king’. The Biblical reference is an indication of Mr and Mrs McArthur’s Christian faith: both are devout Presbyterians. And that’s the root of the row. Their difficulties began when they took an order for an iced cake for Andrew Muir, a former mayor of North Down, for a municipal gathering in support of the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia. The specifications were for images of Bert and Ernie (puppets from television show Sesame Street), the logo of Queerspace, a gay rights campaign group, and the slogan: Support Gay Marriage. Ever since the McArthurs rejected the order on the basis that same-sex marriage is against their Christian faith, they have been subjected to a torrent of abuse on social networking forums. The Equalities Commission, Northern Ireland (ECNI), funded by the British taxpayer, is now threatening to prosecute them and is demanding compensation for the would-be customers. In response, a national fighting fund for Ashers has been launched by the Christian Institute, which has received almost 6,000 messages of support. The bakers are far from alone in opposing same-sex marriage in Ulster — legalising gay marriage has been rejected three times by the Northern Ireland assembly. The dispute has echoes of Christian couple Peter and Hazelmary Ball, who refused to give two gay men a double bedroom in their guesthouse in Cornwall. The Supreme Court eventually ruled the rights of the couple outweighed the Christian conscience of the Balls. Baroness Hale, deputy president of the Court, declared: ‘We should be slow to accept’ the rights of Christians to discriminate against gays. But last month, Lady Hale suggested her initial judgment might have been wrong, refused to make an order for costs against the Balls, and floated the idea of inserting a ‘Christian conscience clause’ into the equality legislation passed by the last Labour government. Despite this, the ECNI is pressing ahead with its action against the bakers, alleging they are ‘acting unlawfully . . . under the 2006 Equality Act, which prohibits discrimination in the provision of goods and services on the grounds of sexual orientation’. But is this politically motivated? Last year, the commission threatened a printing company because it declined to have anything to do with the launch of a gay magazine, of which more later. The McArthurs, whose family have been bakers for a century, have received hundreds of messages of support from across the globe. Specifications: The initial request for the 'Support Gay Marriage' cake was to have Sesame Street puppets arm-in-arm . In the family’s only interview, Daniel McArthur, 24, the eldest of three sons — who runs the business because his parents are semi-retired — insists they never set out to cause any offence. ‘My mum took the order when the customer came into one of the shops knowing it would be problematic. As she did not want to embarrass the customer, she said nothing,’ he explains. ‘After the shop closed, we talked about it as a family, weighing up what our conscience told us against the risk our response might get some public attention. ‘As we don’t believe in gay marriage, and did not want to be associated with a politicised campaign, mum phoned the customer to explain politely that we could not accept the order, and would be returning his deposit. ‘She explained how we have turned down orders when they involved swear-words, nudity, or images that go against our faith. ‘We never thought we could be prosecuted for our beliefs. We are not discriminating against gay people. Our church’s definition of marriage is clear: it’s a covenant between a man and a woman, a 6,000-year-old tradition, which is ordained by God. Sexual activity outside marriage is a sin.’ Daniel does not look or sound like a religious fanatic. At university, he was friendly with gay students and says his family have homosexual acquaintances. ‘We have gay customers. We are happy to serve them,’ he says. This week, the family made me very welcome, knowing I’m gay and in a civil partnership. ‘I have no problem in you coming into our home,’ Daniel told me. ‘We are just unwilling to endorse gay marriage.’ Daniel, wife Amy, 25, and one-year-old daughter Robyn, live in Ballyclare, which has Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Plymouth Brethren and Catholic churches. William McCrea, the local Democratic Unionist MP, a noted gospel singer, was one of nine of the province’s 13 Westminster MPs who voted against gay marriage. Daniel has a degree in aeronautical engineering from Queen’s University, Belfast, but joined the business as it was expanding, and runs the commercial side. There are six outlets, including a factory. He met Amy, now pregnant with their second child, on a religious mission with the poor in the Philippines. The family are members of the Trinity Reformed Presbyterian Church and talked over the cake order with its elders and minister. ‘They told us we were making the right decision,’ says Daniel. So do their staff share their views? ‘Out of 62 staff, five are churchgoing Christians,’ he says. ‘Most had no idea about our faith.’ Daniel is bemused by the legal threat. ‘The commission talks about discrimination on the grounds of disability, race and sexuality, but never against people’s Christian beliefs. Why?’ ‘In its letter, they found us guilty without giving us any chance to put our side across. What sort of justice is that? I am sorry for any distress we have caused but we are staying true to our beliefs. We pray that God will give us the strength to fight this.’ Beliefs: The bakery, which was set up 22 years ago, is located in a Protestant enclave of Belfast . While they have been buoyed by messages of support, there have been critical and abusive messages on the company’s Facebook page. One man wrote: ‘Absolutely unjustified and disgusting . . . I know hundreds of people who will deliberately go out of their way to avoid your products.’ Another added: ‘Disgusting attitude of ignorance and bigotry.’ But others rallied to their cause. In a letter to a local paper, the News Letter, Brian Stuckey, from Denver, Colorado, wrote about an identical case in his home city. ‘Ashers bakery deserves the unstinting support of Northern Ireland for its commitment to Christian principles,’ he said. There was a similar divergence of views among shoppers outside the Ashers stores, where queues form daily for their soda bread. Douglas Addis, a pensioner, says: ‘While some will say they are being old-fashioned, it’s not their views which count but those of the Lord.’ Alison Cornelius, whose sister is gay, says: ‘I know many Christians who are gay. It is terrible that the bakery is being discriminatory against gay couples.’ But Maureen Longstaff says: ‘Our church pastor says if you go into a pub the management has a right to refuse to serve you. What’s the difference?’ An hour’s drive away in Armagh, Nick Williamson, 29, had his own run-in with the Equality Commission last year. His printing company Bluefiremedia was approached by the editor of a gay magazine for a quote to publish their first edition. ‘They gave me a link to their website which contained a number of explicit images,’ says Nick. ‘I am a Christian, and did not feel I could provide the quotation.’ There was a complaint to the ECNI but Nick stood firm. ‘I don’t think Christians are given a fair deal from equality laws. Our rights and faith are trampled on. It’s time we stood up to the bullying.’ In the end, the commission dropped its threat of legal action. This week, it refused to discuss the Ashers case, although it said in a statement: ‘The ECNI provides assistance to people who complain they have suffered unlawful discrimination. The commission has granted assistance to the complainant and will consider any response before taking any further action.’ While Ulster’s politicians have voted against same-sex marriage, the ECNI is in favour. Its website states: ‘The commission supports the introduction of legislation permitting same-sex marriage . . . with sufficient safeguards for religious organisations.’ But not, it seems, for small Christian bakeries. | Family bakery Ashers operates in a Protestant enclave of Belfast . Daniel McArthur, 24, refused to bake a cake saying 'Support Gay Marriage' Extraordinary row has been mentioned at Prime Minister's Questions . The Equalities Commission, Northern Ireland, is now threatening to prosecute his family . | 8e421b5055a4ac997792d4f1ccebf7926fd36b0e |
By . Emma Reynolds . PUBLISHED: . 09:39 EST, 25 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 14:54 EST, 25 January 2013 . This is the terrifying moment a masked ram-raider screeched out of a high street bank in a car after smashing through glass doors to get to an open cash machine. The thief, who was white and had his face covered with a balaclava, waited in a Nissan Micra opposite the Halifax in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire until staff opened the ATM inside. He then reversed the grey car through the plate-glass doors of the Howardsgate bank, where he stopped the car, before speeding away down the pavement and rejoining the road. Scroll down for video . Daylight robbery: The car is stationary inside the Halifax bank after reversing through the glass doors . Reckless: A shadowy figure in a balaclava is just visible climbing into the driver's seat . Getaway: The Nissan Micra then screeches away from the scene of the crime in Welwyn Garden City . Gone: The thief speeds away from the high street bank along the pavement, before rejoining the road . A witness said one person in the bank was hit by the car and there were reports that a woman in her 30s had injured her ankle. One quick-thinking bystander managed to film the crime, which took place at around 3.30pm, on his mobile phone. The footage shows the car drive out of the bank at high speed, roaring off down the pavement while shocked passers-by watch helplessly. Detective Sergeant Rob Burns said: 'We are appealing to anyone who saw the car reverse in to the bank or who may have seen the offenders before or after the robbery. 'Fortunately, no-one was seriously . injured and we will do everything we can to apprehend the people who . carried out the robbery.' Halifax confirmed that an incident took place, but said they could not comment further while the police investigation was taking place. In April, a callous gang of thieves . smashed their way into a Cambridge hospital in a similar cash machine . heist - fleeing with £10,000. The four balaclava-clad thugs, . dressed in white suits, crashed their black 4x4 through glass doors at . the front of Addenbrooke’s Hospital, into the reception of a specialist . clinic. The roped the cash point to back of . their car and pulled it from the building before it was stripped of money and dumped on the roadside a mile away. The professional thieves then abandoned their car and climbed into a green BMW estate to make their getaway. | Thief filmed reversing into the Halifax before driving off down pavement . He had been watching the bank workers from across the street . The robber waits until they opened the cash machine to strike . His car hit someone in the bank and a woman was left with an injured ankle . Mobile phone video shows him speeding off down the pavement with loot . | 9cdb9e1bc7e9e4722f5e736b83d57be4df4267ff |
Rio Ferdinand is being considered as the FA’s candidate for British vice-president on FIFA’s executive, which would make him the first playing member of world football’s most important committee. QPR defender Ferdinand is one of four past and present footballers — the others being David James, Graeme Le Saux and Paul Elliott — who are in the FA’s thoughts for the post. This is because UEFA executive member David Gill, the most obvious successor when Northern Ireland’s Jim Boyce steps down next year, does not want to work with a regime led by Sepp Blatter, who is certain to be re-elected for a fifth term as FIFA president in 2015. Rio Ferdinand, in action for Queens Park Rangers, could be the next British vice-president at FIFA . Ferdinand joined Queens Park Rangers in the summer after he was allowed to leave Manchester United . The FA have no plan B in place for another contender from the other Home Nations to face competition for the British vice-presidency in a vote at the UEFA Congress in Vienna in March. So FA general secretary Alex Horne, who rules out himself and FA chairman Greg Dyke from standing due to their current commitments, is sensibly examining other options. And putting forward such a big-name player as Ferdinand would go down well with UEFA president Michel Platini, who wants to see more players on committees. Meanwhile, another problem to be faced is that FA of Wales president Trefor Lloyd Hughes believes there is a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ in place for Wales to fill the next British VP seat at FIFA as they are the only Home Nation never to have done so before. But the FA claim any such contract — and Wales say they have a signed paper — is now null and void following recent reforms in which the four Home Nations preserve their law-making roles on the international FA Board, while all 54 European countries will vote in future on Britain’s FIFA vice-presidency. Northern Ireland’s Jim Boyce (left) is due to step down next year from his position as vice-president . There are six broadcast and newspaper journalists being interviewed this week for the job of BBC sports editor, which the Beeb have yet to get anywhere near right. A strong set of candidates come from BBC, Sky, ITV and national newspapers. The interview panel were split between wanting a talking head or a news-getter, but the make-up of the shortlist suggests the preference will be for finding stories rather than waffling across outlets. Paul's expensive taste . Following FIFA’s fuss over the gifts of ultra-expensive watches at the World Cup, there’s never been any questions asked about each member of the European Ryder Cup team receiving a pricey, specially engraved Rolex watch chosen by the captain. This time Paul McGinley has gone for a steel GMT-2 priced at around £7,500. Football powerbrokers Greg ‘six-watch’ Dyke and Michel Platini both gave the impression at the Euro 2020 venue summit in Geneva that everyone on the sports circuit — including the media — get expensive gifts all the time. It should be noted the press freebies at the Ryder Cup this week consist of a tartan credit card holder, a notebook and a box of chocolates, as opposed to the £16,400 Parmigianis in Dyke and Platini’s goodie bags at the FIFA Congress. European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley opted for a steel watch priced at £7,500 for each of his players . The Ryder Cup schedule details just one hour and 10 minutes from the estimated end of play next Sunday before the winning team appears in the media centre for interviews. This should at least ensure the triumphant players are rather less tired and emotional than they were at Medinah in 2012. It was three hours after the winning putt before they arrived and they were far more concerned about carrying on celebrating than facing the press. Both Ryder Cup captains, Tom Watson and Paul McGinley, whose love-in on Monday hopefully won’t continue all week, are leaving it to their players to decide when it is appropriate to tweet from Gleneagles — a high-risk tactic when such a savvy tweeter as Gary Lineker caused controversy for using the F-word when his club Leicester beat Manchester United. Meanwhile, McGinley says he has measures in place to ensure none of his team arrive on the course 11 minutes before their tee-off time, as Rory McIlroy did at Medinah. But fortunately for Rory, it would take about that time to reach the first tee on the Centenary Course from his Gleneagles Hotel bed. McGinley and his opposite number Tom Watson have been relaxed during the build up to the Ryder Cup . | Rio Ferdinand is one of four past and present footballers being considered . Jim Boyce will step down next year as the British vice-president . Six journalists will be interviewed this week for the job of BBC sports editor . Paul McGinley has chosen a £7,500 watch for each of his Ryder Cup players . | 7685e29d65f6c5cba98a24216cf1613ab04e8483 |
Former head teacher James Stewart has been arrested over £40,000 of expenses claims . The former head of a failing school has been arrested over £40,000 of expenses claims – including a wine club subscription and Virgin Media package for his home. James Stewart, who made £120,000 a year as the academy's principal, was quizzed by police after a Government watchdog said he received £39,026 of 'irregular' payments. It said the sum included £25,544 spent on 'alcohol, hospitality, shopping, gift cards, home appliances/furnishings'. Of this, £3,593.62 was 'directly attributable' to alcohol, including the wine club subscriptions. Investigators said the 'potentially irregular expenditure' also included £2,934.84 in direct debits to mobile phone companies and to Virgin Media for a home package. Mr Stewart, 69, quit as head of Sawtry Community College in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, in the summer after a critical Ofsted report which put the school in special measures. He did not respond last night to a request for comment. Mr Stewart, 69, quit as head of Sawtry Community College (pictured) in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, in the summer after a critical Ofsted report which put the school in special measures . Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. | James Stewart has been arrested over £40,000 of expenses claims . Mr Stewart quit as head of Sawtry Community College in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, in the summer after a critical Ofsted report . | ba27ceffc071a41bdd913425600e2ec4f772fca6 |
By . Ellie Zolfagharifard . PUBLISHED: . 13:47 EST, 18 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 14:13 EST, 18 December 2013 . Neanderthals liked to be close to their families - very close, a genetic study has shown. DNA from a Neanderthal woman's 50,000-year-old toe bone shows she was highly inbred. Scientists discovered that her parents were either half-siblings who shared the same mother, an uncle and niece, an aunt and nephew, or a grandparent and grandchild. The toe bone of a Neanderthal woman, recovered from a cave in Siberia. 50,000 year-old DNA extracted from the bone was used to produce the most complete sequence so far of the genome of this group of early humans . Alternatively, they may have been double first cousins - offspring of two siblings and their siblings. The inbreeding may have been the result of Neanderthal population groups being very small, experts believe. Analysis of the DNA also revealed evidence of interbreeding between Neanderthals, Denisovans - a Neanderthal sister group from Siberia - and early modern humans. Neanderthals were a human sub-species who lived alongside our own ancestors in Eurasia for thousands of years before vanishing about 30,000 years ago. Scientists discovered that the Neanderthal's parents were either half-siblings who shared the same mother, an uncle and niece, an aunt and nephew, or a grandparent and grandchild . The evidence of inbreeding was uncovered by an analysis led by Dr Montgomery Slatkin, a population geneticist at the University of California. His team sequenced the genome from DNA extracted from the toe bone of a Neanderthal woman whose remains were found in a Siberian cave in the Altai Mountains. 'We performed simulations of several inbreeding scenarios and discovered that the parents of this Neanderthal individual were either half siblings who had a mother in common, double first cousins, an uncle and a niece, an aunt and a nephew, a grandfather and a granddaughter, or a grandmother and a grandson,' he said. Neanderthals and Denisovans were found to be closely related, parting company on the evolutionary path 300,000 years ago. More than 100,000 years earlier, they and modern humans had a common ancestor. The scientists estimated that between 1.5 per cent and 2.1 per cent of the genomes of modern non-African people can be traced to Neanderthals. Although like early modern humans they made tools and weapons, their lack of inventiveness and social structure may have led to their demise. For many years scientists argued about whether Neanderthals and modern humans ever interbred. DNA studies have now proved that they did, and many people alive today still carry ancient Neanderthal genes. The new findings, published in the journal Nature, come from the most complete blueprint of a Neanderthal genetic code, or genome, ever constructed. Scientists sequenced the genome from DNA extracted from the toe bone of a Neanderthal woman whose remains were found in a Siberian cave in the Altai Mountains. Comparing it with the genomes of modern humans and Denisovans revealed some surprises. Neanderthals and Denisovans were found to be closely related, parting company on the evolutionary path 300,000 years ago. More than 100,000 years earlier, they and modern humans had a common ancestor. The evidence of inbreeding was uncovered by an analysis led by Dr Montgomery Slatkin, a population geneticist at the University of California. 'We performed simulations of several inbreeding scenarios and discovered that the parents of this Neanderthal individual were either half siblings who had a mother in common, double first cousins, an uncle and a niece, an aunt and a nephew, a grandfather and a granddaughter, or a grandmother and a grandson,' he said. The scientists estimated that between 1.5 per cent and 2.1 per cent of the genomes of modern non-African people can be traced to Neanderthals. Denisovans are also believed to have left their genetic traces, though only in some Oceanic and Asian populations. The study also identified at least 87 specific genes in modern humans that stand out as significantly different from any found in Neanderthals or Denisovans. They may hold clues to why the Neanderthals and Denisovans died out while modern humans survived. The list of genes contains a 'catalogue' of features setting modern humans apart from all other creatures, living or extinct, according to Dr Svante Paabo, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, who led the international team. 'I believe that in it hide some of the things that made the enormous expansion of human populations and human culture and technology in the last 100,000 years possible,' he said. Scientists sequenced the genome from DNA extracted from the toe bone of a Neanderthal woman whose remains were found in a Siberian cave in the Altai Mountains . Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia. At various times over the past 50,000 years, three different groups of early humans - Neanderthals, Denisovans and modern humans - lived in the cave . In addition the genome comparisons showed that Denisovans bred with a fourth group of humans living in Eurasia that had an ancestry dating back more than a million years. The scientists believe this mysterious relation may have been Homo erectus, which fossils show inhabited Europe and Asia at least a million years ago. 'The paper really shows that the history of humans and hominins during this period was very complicated,' said Prof Slatkin. 'There was lot of interbreeding that we know about and probably other interbreeding we haven't yet discovered.' Professor Chris Stringer, a leading expert in human origins at London's Natural History Museum, said the inbreeding disclosed by the Neanderthal woman's DNA must have gone on 'for a number of generations'. He added: 'Despite the fact that her ancestors had ranged widely in Eurasia for tens of millennia, her genomic diversity was less than that found in a small population of hunter-gatherers living in the Amazonian rainforest today. 'This suggests that the historical population sizes of both Denisovans and Neanderthals in Eurasia were much lower than those maintained by ancestral modern humans in Africa.' | Discovery was made after DNA analysis on a Neanderthal woman's toe bone . Her mother and father were closely related and may have been half-siblings . Inbreeding may have been result of Neanderthal population being very small . Scientists say many people alive today still carry ancient Neanderthal genes . | 5beab4b06e3bf9af49f8c62c501529bab2c2deac |
A Vancouver woman who answered an ad for her stolen bike on Craigslist, turned the tables on thieves by asking to take it for a test ride and then pedaling off with it. Kayla Smith reported the theft of the $1,000 bike to police on Wednesday after it went missing, along with its heavy duty lock, at the Olympic Village. But she took justice into her own hands as soon as she saw it being offered for $300 the next day. Bike justice: Kayla Smith saw her stolen bike for sale on Craigslist, so she asked to see it and then stole it right back . ‘THIS GUY IS SELLING MY BIKE RIGHT NOW!!!’ she wrote in a post to Reddit. ‘I am not missing this opportunity waiting for a call. So I jump into action.’ ‘I called the guy up, totally played super sweet,’ the bartender told the Globe and Mail. ‘Was like, “Hi, how are you? You know, I have the day off today, why don’t I come meet you?’” The alleged thief agreed and they set up a time to meet at McDonalds so she could see the bike. As soon as she laid eyes on it, she knew . it was hers. Ms Smith had added distinctive custom features to her . bike, including special brakes. Daring: Kayla Smith asked to try the bike, then pedaled away . Back on the road: Kayla managed to get her $1,000 bike back . Distinctive: The bike had several custom features Kayla had added to it . ‘I noticed that it was my bike right . away because of the RIDE ON stickers on the frame,’ Ms Smith wrote. ‘Here is where I started thinking on my feet.’ She . told CBC News the man claimed to have bought it from his housemate, . which made her think: 'No you didn't. You stole it from me last night, . you liar.' When she . asked the alleged thief if she could take it for a ride around the . McDonald’s parking lot she said he seemed hesitant before finally caving . in and telling her: ‘Yeah but don’t take off…’ ‘My . heart was pounding and I had no idea what to do so I just got on the . bike and was like f**k this guy and started to ride,’ Ms Smith wrote. She said the thief began to look for her, but that she called a friend to drive to meet her as back up. ‘We watched the guy start to look for me and he got super freaked out and he suddenly just took off running,’ she wrote. Ms Smith returned to the thief’s original ad and realized he was selling several other bikes, as well as iPhones. She took down his number and reported it, along with her own amusing tale, to Crime Stoppers. Vancouver police spokesman Constable Brian Montague told Mail Online they have been unable to make an arrest so far in this case, adding that it was easier to prove a theft when someone was still in possession of the stolen goods. 'That is one of the reasons we would like anyone who sees their stolen property for sale on line to call police. We can work with the victim to facilitate a meeting with the seller to get their property back,' he said. 'I can't believe I just stole my bike back': The Vancouver bartender, who has made a hobby of doing splits in cities all over the world, said she was terrified as she met the thief and then started to ride away . 'Not only can we help get the property . back, but also ensure the safety of the victim, immediately identify the . person responsible and request criminal charges if there is evidence to . support those charges,' he said. When CBC News contacted the number for the seller on Craigslist, the person they spoke to denied the allegations. Constable Montague added: 'You don't know who you are meeting when you make these arrangements. You don't know how desperate these people are so there is a bit of a risk.' | Vancouver bartender, says she had no time to call police when she saw her $1000 stolen bike being sold . 'Don't take off' man told her as she asked to try bike in parking lot . | bd0f4fa955258b537a4283bfc6d1c27d2edbde9d |
By . Dan Bloom for MailOnline . Ever had so much chest hair you didn't know what to do with it? Here's the answer - courtesy of a star stylist who is sculpting world monuments on his clients' torsos. Daniel Johnson has turned his talents from cutting the England football team's hair to trimming Stonehenge, Sydney harbour and the Great Pyramid of Giza into men's upper body shag. Scroll down for video . Tuft job: Wiltshire's amonument Stonehenge is now available in chest hair form thanks to the bizarre 'manscaping' antics of top stylist Daniel Johnson, from London . Bushy: Each design by the 32-year-old stylist took two and a half hours to create - but how do the Great Pyramid and Sphynx of Giza match up to the real thing? Coiffed: The New York city skyline was one of the most difficult, requiring four types of grooming device and more than 150 individual incisions into the volunteer's hair . The 32-year-old was inspired to create his bizarre designs by a trend sweeping social media which saw men shaving their chest hair into the shape of bikinis. But he insisted his efforts were considerably more complicated. Each challenge took two and a half hours, required four types of shaving tools and up to 176 individual 'incisions'. He also forged the Manhattan skyline, which he said was one of his most difficult 'manscaping' achievements to date. The challenge left the hair at five different lengths - 0mm, 1mm, 2mm, 5mm and 15mm - but it was a tough task because the hair was so short and curly compared to that found on the men's heads. Furry talented: The designs include Sydney harbour with its world-famous opera house - and there's even a 'reflection' which has remained to signify the water . In action: Stylist Daniel Johnson, 32, has worked with the England football team, boy bands on The X Factor, former N-Dubz singer Dappy and footballer Mario Balotelli . Mr Johnson said: 'It was a challenge due to how the hair is formed and how it reacts to even the most precise shavers'. Whether the trend will spread remains to be seen . 'Creating such intricate designs on men's chests was a challenge, due to how the hair is formed and how it reacts to even the most precise shavers,' he said. 'I set out to achieve something that made people consider the possibilities of grooming and style and challenged my abilities in order to keep up with the high standards expected from my clients'. Mr Johnson, whose 'art' was commissioned by the shaving products firm Braun, has styled footballers including Wayne Rooney and Gareth Bale and has appeared in fashion and men's magazines. He has also done work for the famously mohawked footballer Mario Balotelli alongside N-Dubz singer Dappy and boy bands on The X Factor. His stunt came after men shaving their chest hair to form the shape of a woman's bikini top became the latest bonkers trend to hit social media. Unsettling: The idea sprang from the odd #ChestHairBikini movement on Instagram, which sees men using razors to create exactly what the name suggests . Quite the look: Some #chesthairbikini showcasers appeared, unsurprisingly, to be at bachelor parties and festivals, while others pose solo or take bathroom selfies . Oops: Other participants, however, appeared to be unaware that they were taking part in a social media craze. The odd trend has been around since at least 2012 . The origins of the #chesthairbikini Instagram movement are unknown - with some snaps of the bizarre strain of manscaping as long ago as 2012 - but it received widespread coverage last night. Some #chesthairbikini showcasers appeared, unsurprisingly, to be at bachelor parties and festivals, while others pose solo or take bathroom selfies. A poll by a shaving products firm last year claimed more than 70 per cent of men admitted to trimming their body hair, with almost a third taking more than 20 minutes to get the job done. | London-based Daniel Johnson has cut hair for the England football team, The X Factor and N-Dubz singer Dappy . Now the 32-year-old has taken his clippers and trimmers to clients' chests to forge intricate designs in their tufts . Scenes include Sydney harbour and Egypt's pyramids and were sparked by trend of shaving 'bikini' on men's chests . | 58520549956b3f3f23bd37f7828aff2cd64b9510 |
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (CNN) -- James Brandon is concerned about getting old and looking older. So the 44-year-old events planner from Canada decided on plastic surgery to help bring his boyish looks back. Surgeon Williams Bukret and patient James Brandon. Like many people struggling through the global economic crunch, cost was a concern, and Brandon soon realized that having surgery at home was beyond his budget. So he began investigating options overseas and quickly settled on a city that has become one of the most popular destinations in the world for plastic surgery -- Buenos Aires, Argentina. "I learned that Argentina has a high standard and long history of plastic surgery," Brandon said. In August, Brandon traveled 5500 miles (8,800 kilometers) south from Toronto to Buenos Aires for liposuction, a nose job and eye lift -- all at a fraction of Canadian costs. "For what I'm getting done probably, it would have cost me about $50,000 dollars back home and here [in Argentina] it's about $10,000 or $11,000," he said. Argentina's weak peso and world-renowned surgeons have turned it into a Mecca for cosmetic surgery tourism. Watch how Argentina is attracting cosmetic surgery patients » . Thousands arrive annually for procedures and then stick around to soak up the sexy urban vibe of Buenos Aires, a city where looking your best is paramount. "I've definitely noticed here that people are obsessed with the way they look. I've seen many people with plastic surgery," says Brandon. Ever since Argentina devalued its currency in 2002, dozens of plastic surgery tour operators have opened in Argentina, offering promotions for international clients that include 'tummy tucks and tango' as well as trips to snow-capped Andean peaks, subtropical waterfalls and polo ranches. Would you consider plastic surgery? Sound off below . Estimates say that 1 in 30 Argentines has gone under the knife, making surgeons here some of the most experienced on the globe. Medical tourism has seen a huge jump over the past decade, and is projected to be a $100 billion dollar global industry by 2010, according to the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. "You can get excellent plastic surgery here at two or three times less than the cost in the United States or Europe," said Dr. Williams Bukret, a Buenos Aires-based surgeon who performs around 180 plastic surgery procedures a year, most of them for foreign clients. "In our society we understand that it is important to feel better, to feel good and to look great," he said. But some say that Argentines are too obsessed with their image, leading to high rates of eating disorders, especially amongst young women. Experts partly blame the country's volatile history - especially the ruthless military regime that ruled in the 1970s and 80s -- for these body image issues. "We had a difficult past and we try to forget. And so we try always to be young and always beautiful. It's difficult for us to understand our past," says Dr. Mabel Bello, director of the Argentina Association Against Bulimia & Anorexia. Striving to look beautiful in Argentina can be a burden, especially if you are a foreigner, says Boston-native Tracey Bates, who has lived in Buenos Aires for the past 18 months. Bates recently elected to have rhinoplasty surgery in Buenos Aires, and has also welcomed several American friends who have traveled to the city for their own plastic surgery procedures. "There is a pressure here, you hear it from all the Americans that come: 'Maybe we are a little bit chubbier than them. All the girls here are beautiful with perfect skin' -- so it would be a pressure," says Bates, 35. James Brandon felt the pressure as well. It is what led him to Buenos Aires for cosmetic surgery, as well as his decision to record his experience for a planned documentary film about plastic surgery within the gay community. "I am turning the camera on myself and in the process maybe learning more about myself, learning why I really want to do this, and why I feel the pressure," he says. As long as the pressure persists - and the price is right - people will continue to travel in search of that perfect look. | Thousands visit Argentina for cheap cosmetic surgery . Combination of top doctors, weak currency make country attractive . Patient: It would have cost $50,000 dollars in Canada but only $10,000 in Argentina . Estimates say that 1 in 30 Argentines has gone under the knife . | 6988a4e24523ef8dd27f31a26a631e446cc548d2 |
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The personal records of thousands of soldiers, employees and their families were potentially exposed after a laptop computer containing the information was stolen over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, the military says. But information security experts for the Army say it's unlikely that the information will be compromised because the data are guarded by three layers of security and encryption passwords. The security breach happened when the rental apartment of an employee with the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Academy was burglarized in Clermont, Florida, officials said. The theft was reported to local police November 28, but the military was not notified until the employee returned to work three days later. Military officials say the employee was using the laptop for remote training courses, and it has not been determined whether any protocol was breached. The computer contained "names and personally identifiable information for slightly more than 42,000 Fort Belvoir Morale, Welfare and Recreation patrons," according to a posting on the Web site for the fort, which is in Virginia. CNN obtained the notification letter sent, almost two weeks later, to those affected. It says, in part, that the alleged compromised information "includes your name, Social Security number, home address, date of birth, encrypted credit card information, personal e-mail address, personal telephone numbers, and family member information." The letter recommends steps to guard against the possibility of identity theft. The military says the lag in notification time was because of a policy requiring risk assessment before alerting those affected. The Family and Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Command operates facilities such as child care centers, bowling centers and outdoor recreation facilities. Those facilities are available to anyone with a military ID, which includes active-duty troops, Department of Defense civilians, family members and retirees. This isn't the first time a missing laptop has resulted in a potential security breach for the military. In 2006, a Veterans Affairs Department analyst lost a laptop computer that contained the Social Security numbers and other personal data for more than 26 million veterans and active duty troops. That incident, in addition to other major data breaches, prompted a national call for protection of personal information. A bill currently under consideration in the Senate would put more protections in place. | Employee's laptop containing personal data was stolen over holiday weekend . Army says data guarded by layers of security and encryption . Military sent letter to those affected two weeks after theft . Risk assessment forced lag in announcement, military says . | 64411949f0ab389e55de768b46a3d6a6b942dfc1 |
By . Tara Brady . PUBLISHED: . 11:58 EST, 23 June 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 12:03 EST, 23 June 2012 . Alan Turing, the Second World War codebreaker, may not have committed suicide . Alan Turing, the Second World War codebreaker widely regarded as the father of modern computing, may not have committed suicide but died as a result of an accident, an academic has claimed. Evidence gathered after the death of the scientist from cyanide poisoning at the age of 41 in 1954 was 'overlooked' and he could have died as a result of inhaling the poison he used in amateur experiments rather than deliberately ingesting it, according to Professor Jack Copeland. Professor Copeland, director of the The Turing Archive for the History of Computing and author of a new biography of the academic, spoke as events took place around the country to celebrate the centenary of the under-appreciated scientific genius's birth. 'From the records I have been able to obtain, it seems to me very obvious that the inquest was conducted in a very superficial way,' he said. 'The coroner didn't really investigate the evidence at all, he just jumped to the conclusion that he committed suicide. 'He seems to have been very biased from the statements in newspapers at the time.' The coroner in Turing's death case ruled he committed suicide 'while the balance of his mind was disturbed', adding: 'In a man of his type, one never knows what his mental processes are going to do next.' Turing, who was gay, was found guilty of gross indecency with another man in 1952. To avoid prison, he agreed to receive injections of oestrogen for a year, which were intended to reduce his libido in a process known as 'chemical castration.' Copeland, a Professor at the University of Canterbury Christchurch in New Zealand, will talk about Turing's death at an event in Oxford tonight. He said medical evidence suggested Turing died from inhaling cyanide rather than drinking or ingesting it. Tribute: An animated representation of an Enigma decoding machine appeared as the 'doodle' on Google's homepage, in honour of the computer scientist . He said police reported a strong smell of cyanide coming from Turing's lab, where he used it in amateur experiments. He called for the inquest to be re-opened. 'It would be a terrific thing to do. I think the nation owes it to Turing, in the Second World War he saved the nation.' Perhaps best known today for his part in breaking the German Enigma code, Turing was by that time already established as a mathematician of extraordinary capability. During his time at King's College, Cambridge, he devised the Turing Machine, a mathematical model that went on to become one of the cornerstones of computer science, aged just 22. Google's homepage 'doodle' is today an animated representation of an Enigma decoding machine, in honour of the computer scientist. And he trended worldwide on Twitter, with Sarah Brown, wife of former prime minister Gordon Brown, writing: 'Happy 100th Birthday Alan Turing.' Former chess prodigy and world champion Garry Kasparov will attend a conference on Turing . In 2009, Mr Brown issued an apology for the treatment of Turing after he was found guilty of gross indecency with another man in 1952. Mr Brown said at the time: 'The debt of gratitude he is owed makes it all the more horrifying, therefore, that he was treated so inhumanely.' Today will see scientists and other Turing fans gather in Manchester, Oxford and Cambridge, among other places, to celebrate his work as part of Alan Turing Year. A spokeswoman for Alan Turing Year, a campaign to celebrate his work during the whole of 2012, said: 'Turing was godfather of computer science and (an) artificial intelligence pioneer, as well as someone who saved literally millions of lives through his codebreaking work.' Plaques in his honour will be erected in Cambridge, Manchester and at his childhood home, Baston Lodge in St Leonards-on-Sea in East Sussex. Dr James Grime, from Cambridge University's Millennium Maths Project, who regularly tours schools with an original Enigma machine, said: 'In its purest form, mathematics is the search for truth, and Turing was one of the most important contributors to this search. It's fantastic that his life is being celebrated.' Former chess prodigy and world champion Garry Kasparov is due to attend Manchester's Alan Turing Centenary Conference on Monday. A campaign led by Iain Stewart, Conservative MP for Milton Keynes South, is seeking an official pardon for Turing's conviction and there is also a campaign to have him appear on the next issue of the £10 note. The campaign on the Government e-petition website, which had more than 17,500 signatories this afternoon, says: 'Alan Turing is a national hero. 'His contribution to computer science, and hence to the life of the nation and the world, is incalculable. The ripple-effect of his theories on modern life continues to grow, and may never stop.' | Alan Turing could have died by inhaling poison he used in experiments rather than deliberately ingesting it, professor suggests . Turing played a key role in cracking the German Enigma code during the Second World War . Events take place across the UK to mark the 100th anniversary of the mathematician's birth . Search giant Google pays tribute by turning its homepage 'doodle' into an animated Turing machine . | 3b9adcd789b285481109fdc502f5ec9695aaf802 |
(CNN) -- The United Nations Security Council on Friday lifted sanctions on the Central Bank of Libya and the Libyan Foreign Bank, moves that were warmly received by the United States and Britain. "This will allow the United States and other countries to unfreeze billions of dollars to help Libyans build their new democracy," U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said. The sanctions had been imposed early this year by U.N. Security Council resolutions 1970 and 1973 in an attempt to halt the killing of unarmed demonstrators by forces loyal to longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi. "Now, as Libyans develop their new state, these sanctions can be ended responsibly," Rice said. "The United States will continue to work with the new government of Libya to ensure that it has the resources and support it needs, and we will stand with the Libyan people as they leave behind decades of tyranny and chart a prosperous, democratic and secure future for their country." Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague, in a statement, said the move "means that Libya's government will now have full access to the significant funds needed to help rebuild the country, to underpin stability and to ensure that Libyans can make the transactions that are essential to everyday life." Britain is working to pass the regulation needed to release about $10.1 billion in frozen Libyan assets, he said. Hague called on the country's transitional government to work toward building "a transparent and accountable financial system which will underpin a newly prosperous Libya." | The Security Council action will unfreeze billions of dollars, Rice says . The sanctions were imposed early this year . Money will "help Libyans build their new democracy," Rice says . | 97483d07c5b9042e09d680d28acbc5e298e278e1 |
By . Naomi Greenaway . A new bride was given the surprise of her life when a dazzling Hollywood cast - including Cameron Diaz, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson and Hugh Jackman - made an unexpected appearance at her wedding. Her new husband, Sky reporter Joe Michalczuk, roped in an impressive list of A-listers to appear on a very special wedding video, which was played to the dumbstruck bride at the reception. scroll down for video . Hugh Jackman jokes, 'It's not too late!' on surprise wedding video . Hottie Zac Efron was first to flash up on the screen with a wink and kiss for the new bride, followed by Emma Stone who says, 'Congratulations Jenny!' And it just gets better. The cast of The Other Woman, Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, Kate Upton chime in, 'Hey Jenny, congratulations!'. 'You get to spend the rest of your life with this guy...huh!' adds Cameron giving the camera a cheeky wink. The cast of The Other Woman send bride Jenny congratulations . But it's Miss Piggy who steals the show. When Joe jokes that he wants to ditch bride-to-be Jenny and run off with the prima donna hog, the Muppet star screeches, 'Jenny, run for the hills -- this guy is not good!' Another hilarious moment arises as Arnold Schwarzenegger fluffs his lines. When asked to look into the lens and say 'Jenny, Joe will always have your back!', he comes up with a rather baffling sentiment. 'Jenny always has my bag, see ya!' he announces to the camera. Sky reporter Joe Michalczuk asks Miss Piggy if she'd run off with with him, but the Muppet star refuses his hand . Hugh Jackman also goes off-script and jokes, 'Jenny you left Sydney and all those incredible Australian men for this guy? It's a very kind thing to do, but it's not too late....Oh, is it too late? He then changes his tune and says, 'Hey congratulations, you've picked the best guy! He's awesome You guys will always be happy. Well done you've married up!' Fellow Spiderman stars Jamie Foxx and Andrew Garfield also add their wishes, as do Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans. Ty Burrell offers Joe and Jenny some advice in the guise of his Modern Family character Phil Dumphy . Modern Family star Ty Burrell also makes an appearance in the guise of Phil Dunphy. When asked what Phil's tips for married life would be he suggests: 'Make sure you and your wife watch the sunset at least once a day! 'That's very Phil Dunphy,' says groom-to-be Joe, but is quick to point out, beautiful sunsets are few and far between on English shores. Other sparkling appearances come from Anne Hathaway, who says, 'I dreamed a dream you married Joe', in a nod to her Les Miserables character Fantine, and Kate Winslet. The British actress conjures up an iconic screen moment from Titanic when she says, 'Jenny d'you feel like you're flying?' After watching this fabulous video, no doubt she did. Zac Efron kicks off the video with a kiss and a wink . Anne Hathaway makes an appearance on the surprise video . Kate Winslet asks 'Jenny d'ya feel like you're flying?' in a nod to Titanic . Arbie adds some humour by fluffing his lines . Scarlett Johansson and co-star give the thumbs up for Jenny and Joe . Spiderman stars Jamie Foxx and Andrew Garfield make an appearance . Samuel L. Jackson adds his wishes . | Sky reporter Joe Michalczuk created A-list video for bride-to-be . Miss Piggy steals the show with her warning to 'run for the hills' Arnie is unintentionally hilarious when fluffs his lines . Cameron Diaz, Emma Stone and Jamie Foxx among other stars to appear . | 74790af7c245a79963e34f7abb889c00fae8513d |
Two foreign fishing boats suspected of conducting illegal fishing activities are blown up by the Indonesian navy in Ambon bay, Indonesia, 21 December 2014. The destruction of the Papua New Guinea-flagged vessels follows a government ruling to sink almost all foreign ships which carry out illegal fishing activities in the waters of Indonesia. 'The ships have gone through legal procedures at the court in Ambon and their owners were found guilty of stealing fish from Indonesian waters. We must sink these ships so that other foreign ships will think twice before fishing illegally in our territory,' said navy spokesman Commodore Manahan Simorangkir. Extreme prejudice: A pair of Papa New Guinea-registered ships are destroyed by the Indonesian Navy after they were caught poaching fish in the nation's waters. Indonesia is cracking down hard on illegal fishing and has destroyed a number of ships so far . One of the ships burns. The two vessels carried 63 tonnes of fish and shrimp. 62 crewmen, mostly Thai, were arrested and several were turned over to immigration. They were caught on December 7 near the sea border of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea . The ships, the Century IV and Century VII, were caught on December 7 near the sea border of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, reports the Jakarta Post. 'The ships were flying the Papua New Guinean flag but the crew were all Thai,' Navy Maj. Eko Budimansyah, spokesman for Lantamal IX Naval Base in Ambon, said. The two vessels carried 63 tonnes of fish and shrimp. 62 crewmen were arrested and several were turned over to immigration. The ships were emptied of fuel before being destroyed to prevent pollution. The vessels will be the fourth and fifth ships sunk by Indonesia in the three months since President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo took office. Indonesia loses about £15.3bn annually from illegal fishing and there are currently an estimated 5,400 illegal ships operating in the nation's waters . Six more foreign ships are currently facing destruction, pending legal proceedings. The number of cases of illegal fishing has declined since the hardline stance was taken. Some opponents say the destruction of the boats could cause diplomatic tension with other nations. Officials with Taiwan's Fisheries Agency asked that Jakarta observe international protocol that allows its authorities to seize poaching vessels and arrest their crews, but forbids them from opening fire. Indonesia loses about £15.3bn annually from illegal fishing and there are currently an estimated 5,400 illegal ships operating in the nation's waters. | The Indonesian Navy has taken a hard stance against foreign poachers operating its waters . The crew of the two ships were arrested before the ships were blown up in the country's Ambon Bay . Indonesia loses about £15.3bn annually from illegal fishing and there are currently an estimated 5,400 illegal ships . | a9f58dec28370affd90bb5d8c0299fe582d28503 |
(CNN) -- The slaying of one of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's best friends in September 2011 is now being reviewed by a "wider group of eyes,"a source close to the Boston bombing investigation tells CNN. The killings of Brendan Mess and two others -- all of whom had their throats slit -- in Waltham, Massachusetts, remain unsolved. The Middlesex County district attorney's office said at the time that the three victims were killed by "sharp force injuries of the neck." District Attorney Gerry Leone said days after the crime that the victims and two unknown perpetrators appeared to know each other and that it was not a random crime. No suspects were named or arrests made in the case. Tsarnaev and Mess were sparring partners at a local gym, and the source tells CNN investigators believe he was one of the last people to see Mess alive. Aunt reveals clue to Tamerlan's trip to Russia . Investigators of the crime reported at the time that the heads of the three victims were pulled back and their throats slit ear to ear with great force. Marijuana was spread over the bodies in a "symbolic gesture," and several thousand dollars in cash was found at the scene. On Monday, Middlesex County District Attorney's spokeswoman Mary Beth Long told CNN, "We will review any new information that may come to light in (the triple homicide) as a result of the investigation into alleged marathon bombing suspect Tamarlen Tsarnaev." Long said the case has always been an open investigation and that they continue to follow all leads. A sister of one of the victims told CNN that she has been recently contacted by investigators in the case. "She's meeting with them next week," said CNN's Ashleigh Banfield. "Investigators on that case are meeting with her and have been speaking with her since Saturday. Not only that, she confirms to me that the same detectives are still on that case and that they are detectives that she has spoken with in the past." Uncle: Cambridge friend 'brainwashed him completely' The sister, who requested to remain anonymous, said investigators have been very interested in trying to determine if there is any relationship between her brother and Tsarnaev, Banfield said. "She couldn't really enlighten these detectives at all because she felt her brother wasn't a friend or acquaintance at all of Tamerlan Tsarnaev," Banfield said. But the sister said she hopes the new interest will lead to her brother's case being solved. | Tamerlan Tsarnaev's friend and sparring partner was killed in 2011 . The friend, Brendan Mess, and two others had their throats slit . Source: The crime is being reviewed by "wider group of eyes" | 7f67ba05cc9640b85ae9d96532beba3165cc96a8 |
(CNN) -- Hassan Addahoumi fled Libya in the late 1970s, driven from his homeland by the hard-line tactics of Moammar Gadhafi. More than 30 years later, his son has returned and is watching what could be the longtime leader's collapse. "He's going to be part of the history," Addahoumi said about his son, Sammi, who is in the rebel hub of Benghazi. "This is our dream come true." Addahoumi spoke to CNN from his home in Columbia, South Carolina, where he said he was glued to news about Libya. The nearly 42-year rule of Gadhafi appeared on the verge of collapse early Monday, with rebel supporters making it to the same Tripoli square where regime loyalists had congregated for months. Addahoumi said he left his country after studying law in Benghazi. "The regime was very, very tough," he said. "If you stayed there, you had to be in either the prison or the cemetery." Over the years, Addahoumi said he has returned to Libya from time to time and that he wishes he could be there now. "I wish I could be part of this history," he said. A part of him is. Addahoumi's son, Sammi, sent CNN an iReport from Benghazi that showed video of large, boisterous crowds in the city's Freedom Square as developments played on a large screen. He also spoke to CNN by phone. "The spirits are quite high," said Sammi, 28, a deli manager. "Everyone is expecting Tripoli to fall." He said he has spent time off and on in Libya since 2005. Every summer, he tries to spend at least a month there, he said. Watching the uprising, which he called "42 years in the making," Sammi said he was filled with joy. "It's exhilarating," he said. "And it's also a lot of anticipation ... will Libya stay together?" An ocean away, his father voiced confidence. He said Libyans have the resources they need to build the country and that they will do it, piece by piece. "This is the best thing that could have happened to us," Addahoumi said. "Libya is going to be a new nation." CNN's Greg Botelho and Dana Ford contributed to this report . | Hassan Addahoumi watches news of his native Libya from South Carolina . His son, Sammi, is in the rebel hub of Benghazi . Sammi says the Libyan uprising has been "42 years in the making" | 15b180dfe14a3aeb67f2f687bac8d03e370c3a50 |
(AOL Autos) -- Big Al, the used car dealer with that small lot down on the corner, may be your mother's cousin, but that doesn't mean you'll get the best used car deal in town from him. He sells all brands of cars, has no visible shop or mechanical staff, and he is the only one that stands behind the quality of his cars ... until the rear tires clear his driveway. The numbers of items inspected on the cars range from 100 to 300. A better used car? If shopping for regular used cars, whether it be at a dealer or private party, just isn't cutting it for you, there may be a better solution -- choosing to buy from a new-car dealer who also operates a Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) used car program. These programs are operated jointly by the manufacturer and the dealer, and practically guarantee the quality, condition, and future long life of the car, truck, crossover, or SUV you're interest in. It's in the dealer's and the manufacturer's best interest to find the best used cars available for these programs, so most of the cars sold through them are clean, undamaged cars coming off of two- or three-year leases or out of rental-car fleet service. Restrictions on which vehicles are allowed in the program, such as age and mileage, vary. Some cars in CPO programs could be as young as six months and have only 6000 miles on them, as in BMW's program, and others could be as much as five years old and have a maximum of 80,000 miles on the odometer, in the case of Volvo. Inspection and warranty . Although the content and extent of each brand's certified pre-owned program varies, one of the constants is the complete vehicle inspection offered by every program. Though the number of items -- or points -- inspected on the vehicle varies from 100 to 300, as a consumer you should feel comfortable knowing that everything important on the car was inspected by the dealer, under the guidelines of the manufacturer, and the worn or bad parts were replaced, if necessary, before the vehicle was put into the program. Aside from the inspections, the length and coverage of the certified-vehicle warranty also varies from program to program, and the buyer should make absolutely sure that the original manufacturer is offering the warranty, as opposed to a third-party or extended-warranty company. Depending on a vehicle's age, condition and mileage, it may in fact be cheaper to buy an uncertified used car from a dealer and then purchase a separate extended warranty for the vehicle. The CPO bumper-to-bumper warranties can be a bit complicated, so be sure to do your homework and become familiar with all the ins-and-outs. Some of the warranties start when the car is sold to you, and some warranties start from the date of the original sale or in-service date of the vehicle, but are extended up to six years or 100,000 miles. Certified used car buyers should be sure to read and understand every paragraph of the vehicle and powertrain warranties offered with the vehicle so there are no surprises later. Some warranties also require the buyer to pay a predetermined deductible amount for each repair; some don't (BMW, for instance, charges a flat fee of $50 for any warranty repair). Some CPO warranties are even transferable to the next owner after you, which may be an attraction when it comes time to sell it. In most cases, the original long-term powertrain and corrosion penetration warranty will still apply. You also get perks . Beyond the usual vehicle inspection thoroughness and the length of the certified-vehicle warranty, the various manufacturers and dealers offer a large menu of extras on their certified pre-owned vehicles as enticements to a deal. What if you buy a CPO vehicle, load your kids into it, and it stops running halfway to grandma's house? Most programs offer 24/7 roadside assistance for such situations on a CPO vehicle (Hyundai, for instance, offers this feature for a full ten years and unlimited mileage from the original in-service date). Some offer temporary vehicle loans while your vehicle is being repaired. Others go even further than that, offering trip interruption insurance that will pay you up to $1,500 toward your living expenses while your CPO vehicle is being repaired and/or partial reimbursement for a taxi, shuttle or rental car during the repair period. What if you sign on the bottom line, take the vehicle home, and nobody likes it? Some companies offer a no-strings return policy after three days or 150 miles of home-based test driving (Mercedes-Benz offers seven days and 500 miles). Others offer special financing rates on CPO vehicles to make the deal as attractive as possible. Another potential deal-sealer is a free Carfax report on the car before you buy it, a feature offered by Lexus. A few CPO programs include the Carfax Buyback Guarantee as well. Still other goodies could include free lock-out service, free car washes on each warranty visit, and preferential treatment in the service queue. Infiniti offers free tire changing, lock-out, jump start, an oil filter change, and emergency fuel delivery in addition to other benefits. Others offer free trip routing and maps. Jaguar, for instance, sweetens its deals with British Airways companion tickets, free membership in the Hertz #1 Club, free magazines, and a Jaguar club liaison. It's all there, in the fine print. Is it worth it? Due to the costs involved in the inspection, certification and warranties process, a certified used car will almost always be more expensive than a normal used car or one from a private party out of the classifieds. How much more? From two to eight percent higher, according to Kelley Blue Book research. Premium-brand vehicles will be priced even higher because there are more items to warranty on a luxury car than there are on a basic Chevrolet or Ford. But, look at it this way: You can get a thoroughly inspected and guaranteed, slightly used two-to-five-year-old vehicle for far less money than you'd have to pay for it new. Add to that attractive interest rates, with lots of extra perks in the deal, including the security of a longer warranty. Can Big Al match that? We don't think so. E-mail to a friend . | Certified pre-owned programs may save you money . Manufacturers and dealers may also toss in perks . Buying a CPO vehicle will cost 2 to 8 percent more . | e256aa1224bfd9031e339962742730f8756d4304 |
Rangers confirmed Derek Llambias as their new chief executive on Friday in a move that further cements Mike Ashley’s position at Ibrox. The former Newcastle United managing director was initially appointed to the Rangers board as a non-executive director early last month, a week or so after Ashley made a £2million loan to the strife-torn club. It had been widely expected that he would step forward as Graham Wallace’s replacement. The SFA issued notices of complaint against Rangers and Ashley earlier this week, alleging breaches of an undertaking about his influence on the day-to-day running of the club. A hearing will take place on January 27. Derek (pictured) Llambias has been appointed chief executive of Rangers . However, that pending case has not prevented Ashley’s ally Llambias being selected for a key Ibrox post. And it has also been reported that Ashley could underwrite a share issue in the New Year to aid barren club finances. The Newcastle United owner is currently limited to a 10-per-cent stake by an agreement with the SFA but could push for that to be raised to 29.9 per cent. The appointment of Llambias, ahead of Monday’s potentially stormy annual general meeting, means chairman David Somers will return to his previous role of non-executive chairman. ‘I am delighted that Derek has agreed to step up to the chief executive role,’ said Somers. ‘This is a successful outcome to the process, announced on October 27, 2014, where we interviewed a number of high-calibre candidates. Existing Board member Derek Llambias has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Rangers with immediate effect. Derek joined the Board on 2 November 2014 as a non-executive director. In line with the cost cutting exercise announced on 12 November 2014, Mr Llambias's remuneration will be significantly lower than previously offered for this position. Additionally, David Somers will now revert to his previous role as non-executive Chairman. Commenting on the appointment, David Somers said 'I am delighted that Derek has agreed to step up to the Chief Executive role. This is a successful outcome to the process, announced on 27 October 2014, which involved interviewing a number of high calibre candidates. 'Derek has impressed us with his grasp of the issues since joining the group and brings a wealth of experience, particularly from his time at Newcastle United, which we feel confident will be invaluable to Rangers.' ‘Derek has impressed us with his grasp of the issues since joining the group and brings great experience, particularly from his time at Newcastle United, which we feel confident will be invaluable to Rangers.’ The Stock Exchange release also added that ‘in line with the cost-cutting exercise announced on November 12, 2014, Mr Llambias’ salary will be significantly lower than previously offered for this position.’ No specific figures were offered but predecessor Wallace was on a £315,000 salary with the possibility of a 100-per-cent bonus. Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew yesterday backed Llambias in his Ibrox role. ‘He took this club when it was paying a lot of money that was going to waste, which ended up with a relegation, and then managed to get them promoted again,’ said Pardew. Interim boss David Somers will revert to his previous role as non-executive chairman . ‘He was a big part of that and he will bring that experience to Rangers.’ The St James’ Park boss added that Llambias helped to stabilise the Premier League outfit during his time there. ‘In the position Rangers are in at the moment, he’s probably well-armed to do that,’ said Pardew. ‘Derek is an experienced chief executive. I wish him good luck.’ Llambias has already overseen an analysis of various departments at Rangers which has seen a number of staff, some of them long-serving, made redundant. It is thought that process was one of the factors which took its toll on manager Ally McCoist, who handed in his resignation notice last week. Newcastle manager Alan Pardew praised Llambias for his work at the North East club . McCoist met with Llambias and Sandy Easdale, chairman of the football board, on Wednesday for talks about his position. It had been speculated that the Ibrox boss would be offered a pay-off deal for his 12-month notice period but instead it emerged that he would continue for today’s game against Livingston. ‘I spoke to him (Llambias) before training,’ said McCoist yesterday. ‘Obviously I congratulated him on his new role. We’ll hopefully get a chance to sit down in the not-too-distant future to discuss plans for the team.’ It remains to be seen whether McCoist’s situation will change once the AGM is over, as a clearer financial path forward could open the way for a deal to be struck. The 52-year-old’s presence at the club could also act as a diversionary tactic for a board set to face flak from the floor, but McCoist is unclear about whether he will actually attend the meeting. Llambias joined the club's board as a non-executive member on November 2, having previously been managing director at Newcastle under Mike Ashley . Asked if he had been requested to address shareholders, McCoist said: ‘I haven’t. I addressed them last year but I’m not even sure I’m going on Monday. ‘That’s something we’ve yet to discuss. I’m more than willing to be there but if I’m not there it won’t be for any sinister reasons. ‘If I’m asked to be there and I’m asked to speak then I will. ‘I’m not fussed either way, but if people want me there then absolutely I’ll be there doing my job. ‘I’ve not thought about the AGM, there’s been so much going on. It’s been a heck of a week and I’ve just been trying to concentrate on training, which has been great.’ | Derek Llambias becomes new Rangers chief executive . David Somers reverts to previous role as non-executive chairman . Somers reveals he is 'delighted' with the decision . | d72a96ec836ac9f8fa8ba8e13fc0f3b53f349432 |
By . Ian Ladyman . Follow @@Ian_Ladyman_DM . and Craig Hope . Follow @@CraigHope01 . Mocking: Brazilian paper Lance taunt England . The Brazilian press have revelled in England’s demise. O Globo’s front page showed a picture of Luis Suarez with the headline ‘The Lad from Liverpool’. And sports daily Lance had a mock-up of The Beatles’ Abbey Road album cover with Roy Hodgson, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Daniel Sturridge walking across the zebra crossing with the headline: ‘Bye Bye’. It was as much as they deserved. Light blue invasion . Porto Alegre is just a few hours’ drive from Argentina. And guess who play there on Wednesday? Yes, Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Javier Mascherano and Co will sign off from the group stage against Nigeria and the Brazilian authorities are predicting 200,000 Argentinian fans descending on the port city. Japan's rubbish draw . Japan supporters armed themselves with blue bin bags during their side’s 0-0 draw with Greece . . . to clean the stadium. Fans made sure the Arena das Dunas was left as they found it after the dire Group C clash in Natal. But the bags proved to be dual-purpose and were also used to cheer on their side. Brazilian newspaper Folha had to pulp 30,000 copies after they ran a hoax interview with a Luiz Felipe Scolari lookalike. To add to the confusion over the first . name of Ivory Coast and Newcastle midfielder Cheik/Cheick Tiote, he’s . Ismael on official team sheets. Name game: Tiote's (left) first name can be spelt in many different ways causing confusion for football fans . Best of the bets . Each day, Sportsmail's top tipsters Brian Lee and Chris Cutmore go head to head with their best bets. Best bet Brian . 7-2: Lionel Messi, used to getting what he wants, has called for Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella to go for the kill against Iran. That should mean Gonzalo Higuain starts and he is a value pick to score the first goal. Best bet Chris . 8-1: You have to admire Iran’s stubborn resistance against Nigeria, even if there was nothing else to admire in that game. Lionel Messi is a tad better than Victor Moses and Argentina can still win with a four-goal handicap. | The Brazilian press ridiculed England's hapless players after Luis Suarez scored two goals to effectively knock them out of the World Cup . Sports daily newspaper Lance depicted England's key players and Roy Hodgson as the Beatles on their infamous Abbey Road album cover . | a9c2178e6c1c2e495a4acb8c8f6943474adedc6e |
By . Mia De Graaf . PUBLISHED: . 07:05 EST, 4 February 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 08:24 EST, 4 February 2014 . Loophole: The anonymous woman, a former foster child, had her procedure sanctioned by social services days before she turned 21 . A 21-year-old foster child had a sex change operation funded by New York Children's services, it has emerged. The patient used a loophole that covers procedures for people without health insurance to pay for surgery to become a woman last Wednesday. It is only the second case of publicly-funded gender reassignment since the rule came into effect in 2010. Social services approved the operation, which costs around $10,000, days before she turned 21, when most children leave the foster care system. Transgender rights activists have hailed the anonymous woman's move as 'inspirational'. Mariah Lopez, a member of Strategic Transgender Alliance for Radical Reform (STARR), told New York Daily News: 'What's happening now is a shift by ACS, in the largest city in the world, influencing health care nationally.' ACS would not comment on the surgery. A spokesman said the agency supports 'the health and well-being of all young people in its care'. A statement added: 'ACS reviews all requests for medical treatment on a case-by-case basis, conducting internal reviews as well as consulting medical professionals’ expertise, to ascertain the nature and severity of a medical condition and determine if a procedure will provide a significant benefit to a youth.' Supporters say the woman was entitled to the treatment as it is more than a cosmetic procedure. It is the latest controversy surrounding sex change operations in New York, after a man became the first person to use a crowd-funding website to raise money to pay for surgery in November. Shakina Nayfack, was born Jared Nayfack in Orange County, California, where she faced years of abuse from people for wearing nail polish and dressing in high heels. The woman travelled to Pennsylvania for the surgery on Wednesday, which costs around $10,000 . The performance artist, 32, who now lives in New York, vowed to raise $52,500 to pay for the sexual realignment surgery in a Thai clinic. She has already spent $10,000 on laser hair removal, electrolysis and hormone replacement theory during her transition from 6ft 2ins, tattooed man to a woman. Appealing through the website YouCaring.com, she said: 'I have been out as trans since 2001, but only decided to undergo a full gender transition toward the end of 2012. She added:'There is really no way I can complete this process without the help of friends and online supporters. 'I decided to launch this campaign to raise the the money I need to finish my transition. '"KickStartHer" might be the world's first ever crowd-funded sex change!' A spokesman for YouCaring.com spoke out against the project, claiming it was not appropriate in conjunction with appeals for money to fund cancer treatments. | Surgery sanctioned by foster care system days before her 21st birthday . Anonymous patient became a woman last Wednesday in Pennsylvania . Move hailed by transgender rights groups as 'inspirational' | c50a0bbfcc79af417fc2adaa01afe0bbc3ff2c0b |
By . Ray Massey, Transport Editor . PUBLISHED: . 18:56 EST, 28 June 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 18:58 EST, 28 June 2012 . Deaths on Britain’s roads rose last year for the first time in nearly a decade, official figures reveal. There were a total of 1,901 reported . deaths on Britain's roads last year - a three per cent increase on 2011, . equating to 51 extra lost lives. Of most concern were rises in pedestrian deaths and in serious injuries to cyclists. (File picture) Deaths on Britain's roads rose last year for the first time in nearly a decade, official figures reveal . Transport Secretary Justine Greening blamed last year’s bad weather, while opposition politicians pointed to cuts to road safety budgets. Motoring groups said the figures should be ‘a wake-up call’ for the Government. The RAC Foundation also pointed to increasing use by drivers and pedestrians of distracting iPods and smartphones. Deaths and serious injuries reached 25,023 – up 2 per cent on 2010 and the first rise since 1994. Pedestrian deaths increased by 12 per cent, to 453 fatalities – with by far the biggest increase among children and pensioners. Serious injuries among cyclists were up 16 per cent to 3,085, and have risen by more than a quarter in just two years, the Department for Transport figures showed. Worrying trend: The RAC Foundation pointed to increasing use by drivers and pedestrians of distracting iPods and smartphones . The biggest rise was among adult cyclists, with 2,287 cases – up 21 per cent. However the number of cycling deaths dropped by four per cent to 107. Driver and car passenger deaths also rose – up 6 per cent to 883 deaths. The Department for Transport statistical bulletin said: ‘Adverse weather (heavy snowfalls) experienced in the first and last quarters of 2010 but not in 2011 are likely to be a factor in the increase in serious road casualties and fatalities recorded in 2011.’ Transport Secretary Justine Greening told the House of Commons: ‘We had some exceptional weather in that period and that was one of the reasons why there was such a change.’ Road Safety Minister Mike Penning said Britain’s roads are still among the safest in the world but was ‘disappointed’ at the figures, adding: ’Any road death or injury is a tragedy and I will continue to take urgent action to crack down on the most dangerous drivers while improving the training to make our roads safer for everyone.’ Labour’s shadow transport minister Jim Fitzpatrick believed a decision by the previous Conservative Transport Secretary Philip Hammond to scrap casualty reduction targets was to blame for the rising death toll. Serious injuries among cyclists have risen by more than a quarter in just two years . He said: ‘Since the election the Government has axed road safety grants, removed all funding for speed cameras, approved a trial of longer HGVs and is considering a blanket increase in the motorway speed limit.’ Robert Gifford, executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Committee for Transport Safety (PACTS) said pedestrian and cyclist casualty figures were particularly worrying, pointing to the rise of the ‘born again cyclist’. He said: ‘These are extremely disappointing results after two years of substantial falls in deaths and injuries. Weather: Transport Secretary Justine Greening cited the harsh winter as a factor . They are a demonstration of the concern that all of us have expressed about the lack of leadership, priority and resources given to road safety by the current Government. ‘For deaths to begin to rise at a time of recession should be a matter of concern to ministers who should see these figures as a wake-up call.’ Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said the figures were ‘sobering’ and questioned whether the use by pedestrians and drivers of distracting iPhones, iPods and smart phones to text and surf the internet was to blame. Professor Glaister said: ‘It is notable that car drivers and passengers make up less than half of those killed, with pedestrians in particular also paying a heavy price in terms of lives lost. ‘We need to know why this is. Is it due to more and more people being distracted by using mobile phones and listening to music?’ AA head of road safety Andrew Howard said: ‘It may well be that the weather in 2010 did make that year’s figures look good. But we also have to suspect that the price of fuel throughout 2011 is all that has prevented road casualties for 2011 being much, much higher than in 2010.’ He said ministers ‘must not allow complacency to set in’ adding: ‘The rise in pedestrian deaths and cycle casualties continues to be a major cause for concern’. | 1,901 reported deaths on Britain's roads last year . Pedestrian deaths up by 12 per cent, to 453 fatalities . Motoring groups - figures should be 'wake-up call' | fb16ea90da081ca12e2aa046132e929247b556e4 |
It's not unusual for companies to take advantage of Sydney's New Year's Eve revellers by charging inflated prices - but one Uber customer has been hit with a massive $213 fare for a ride home that should cost just $50. Uber, the app-based car service, has come under fire for charging more than three times the normal fare for a ride home on New Year's Eve, and customer Jade Wilkes was shocked when she woke up on January 1st to discover she had fallen victim to the ridiculous price hike. Ms Wilkes booked a 14 kilometre ride from Sydney's CBD to Coogee, a ride which would normally cost around $50 in Uber's luxury 'Black' vehicle, only a quarter of the $213 she was charged in the early hours of January 1st. Scroll down for video . Jade Wilkes was charged $213 for a 14-kilometre ride home from Sydney's CBD to Coogee on New Years . The app, which connects people with available drivers in their area, warned Ms Wilkes that the fare would be calculated at 3.1 times the normal rate, reportedThe Sydney Morning Herald. She accepted the fare multiple with Uber Black at 2am after entering her starting point, and despite the company's promise of 'no surprises', claims not provided with an estimated price. 'The [surge pricing notice] just came up without my having to enter a destination, so I didn't have a fare estimate,' Ms Wilkes said. She said that the app, which requires a credit card on file for cashless payment, only provided her with a receipt at the end of the trip, totaling a hefty $213. Katie, a spokesperson for Uber, said that a fare estimate was always available in the app, regardless of whether there was a 'surge' in action or not. 'A splash screen comes up when surge is on, and customers have to accept the number and type it back in,' Kate said. 'You can definitely get the fare estimate, there are multiple ways to acknowledge and confirm the fare,' she said. Kate said that surge was a tool to encourage more drivers to the area, and that as soon as demand for vehicles and supply evened out, surge would disappear and pricing would return to normal. Ms Wilkes said that the email she received stated that 'the normal fare was $68.90, but I made the same journey for $35 in a taxi today,' she said. Labeling the fare for the 23-minute journey 'ridiculous', Ms Wilkes contacted the driver of the car only to be told that any issues with the fare had to be taken up with the company. The car service warned people there would be a price surge over New Years Eve . Uber emailed customers to notify them that there would be an expected surge of 3.1 . Ms Wilkes sent an email to the company, but so far has reportedly not achieved a resolution. Uber previously came under fire for offering inflated rates for lifts home from Sydney's CBD during the Martin Place siege, with customers reporting fares of more than $100. With police calls to evacuate the area, demand for Uber outstripped its supply of cars, kicking in an automatic price surge to attract more cars to the area. During the early stages of the siege, Uber's fares reportedly jumped fourfold, and the company later apologised in a statement. 'The events of last week in Sydney were upsetting for the whole community and we are truly sorry for any concern that our process may have added.' The company said it wanted to help get as many people as possible out of the CBD, but it communicated its intentions poorly, leading to misunderstanding about its motives. 'We didn't stop surge pricing immediately,' Uber said in its statement. 'This was the wrong decision.' But the company later reversed course, offering free rides out of the city centre and refunds to those hit by higher prices. 'It's unfortunate that the perception is that Uber did something against the interests of the public,' Uber said. 'We certainly did not intend to.' The company, which launched in Sydney in 2012, warned potential customers of peak periods over New Years Eve, recommending split fares and car shares for revelers to get home safely without breaking the bank. The company's website encourages customers to be aware of their estimated fare before accepting rides, stating that 'Surprises aren’t for everyone. That’s why we’ll always notify you in BIG, BOLD print if surge pricing is in effect and ask you to manually type in the higher multiple before you can request a ride.' 'Enter your drop off location and tap “Fare Quote” to get an estimate of the cost of your ride.' However, Ms Wilkes said she never received the estimate, and would have rethought her travel options had she known how much her trip would cost. Uber previously came under fire for offering inflated rates for lifts home from Sydney's CBD during the Martin Place siege, with customers reporting fares of more than $100 . The company's website encourages customers to be aware of their estimated fare before accepting rides, stating that 'Surprises aren’t for everyone' Ms Wilkes said she never received the estimate, and would have rethought her travel options had she known how much her trip would cost . 'I told them that I wasn't given a cost estimate when I got in, and I never would have gotten into the car if I'd known it would be that much. I would have taken a taxi. I mean, that's basically the cost of a flight,' she said. Ms Wilkes was one of thousands who were expected to participate in ride-sharing over New Years Eve, despite Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian reminding Sydneysiders that the activity is illegal. 'Here in NSW we have been very clear that it is illegal for drivers to participate in what we call 'ride-sharing' activities like UberX,' Ms Berejiklian told The Sydney Morning Herald. The service allows for unaccredited drivers to offers rides, flouting strict laws in NSW against drivers in unlicensed vehicles offering transport. 11% of Sydney's population is thought to have participated in the scheme, sparking thousands of dollars in fines and nearly a dozen court attendance notices to UberX drivers. 'This is a complex issue and cities all around the world are grappling with it as we speak,' said Ms Berejiklian. Uber has been contacted for comment. | Jade Wilkes ordered ride on New Year's Eve using app-based service Uber . She was charged $213 for a 14km ride home from Sydney's CBD to Coogee . Uber warned customers that there would be inflated rates over New Years . The company encouraged fare-sharing and released peak time information . Ms Wilkes claims she has since taken the same route for $35 . She was never given a fare estimate because of the fare surge notification . She was not aware of how much trip had cost until she received a receipt . Ms Wilkes would never have accepted the ride if she had known the price . | bc29d5bc37140a864e87605c93b0feff1bdc6d0b |
By . Daily Mail Reporter . As authorities continue to search for the vanished Malaysian Airlines 777, a cyclone in the Indian Ocean is nearing the designated search area off the coast of Perth, Australia. Although Cyclone Gillian is currently well north of the search area - about 2,500 kilometers from mainland Australia - experts continue to monitor its movement in case it bears south. Crews searching for the missing plane have already had to contend with fog and other weather conditions as they search an area known as the 'Roaring Forties' because of its rough waters. With 10 aircraft now in the air searching, the crews are working off images found by both Chinese and Australian satellites, according to ABC News. Bad weather has hindered the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane. While Cyclone Gillian in the northern Indian Ocean could bear down on the search area, another tropical storm has come in from the west . Tropical Cyclone Gillian was causing strong winds and rough seas in the southern Indian Ocean where ships and vessels are searching for objects spotted by an Australian satellite and possibly related to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 . New data: This satellite image, captured by the Chinese on March 18, is of a floating object measuring about 73 feet long by 43 feet wide. It is the second debris to be found in the area after similar data was first found by Australia . The most recent - the Chinese footage, which released on Tuesday - is of an object that is floating in the ocean measuring 73 feet by 43 feet. It is approximately 75 miles away from the object detected by the Australian satellite. Searchers in the air have yet to find these objects or confirm they are connected to missing Flight MH 370. Ships have also been tasked with searching the area. What was believed to be a wooden pallet that could have come from the jet was seen by one plane Sunday, but another search plane sent to photograph it could not locate the pallet. ABC News aviation expert and former Marine Corps pilot Steve Ganyard said even if the storm doesn't hit the search area head on, it can still affect the search effort since crew members may have difficulty identifying debris in whitecap waves churned up by a faraway storm. Additionally, if there is debris from the plane in the ocean, a large storm could displace it, making it almost impossible for investigators to trace the debris to a crash site as they have done in earlier investigations. Mike Barton, rescue coordination chief (left) looks over the maps of the Indian Ocean with Alan Lloyd, manager of search and rescue operations at the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's rescue coordination center in Canberra, on Sunday March 23. 2014 . Commanding Officer of HMAS Success Captain Allison Norris of the Royal Australia Navy (RAN) scans the ocean from the ship's bridge during the search for the missing Malaysia Airliner flight MH370 in the Indian Ocean on Sunday 23 March 2014 . ABC News aviation expert John Nance said if the cyclone develops closer to the search area it would hinder the search effort for multiple reasons, including decreased visibility and a dispersal of debris. 'If you've got floating debris and the sea scape goes from eight to 10 feet to 40 to 45 feet your chances of sinking that [debris] becomes great,' Nance said. 'The large structures that we have been seeing, if they are indeed from the airplane, are probably very vulnerable to be sunk from the cyclone.' David Mearns, a search and recovery expert and founder of Blue Water Recoveries, said if the plane did crash into the water, weather events such as cyclones would likely not affect the crash site. If the plane crashed where search crews are looking, Mearns said investigators would expect to find wreckage on the ocean floor that likely would be undisturbed by weather patterns thousands of feet above on the ocean surface. A map of the areas in the Indian Ocean that have already been searched for traces of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 . Australian Deputy Prime Minister, Warren Truss (R) chats with John Rice (C), Senior Search and Rescue Officer and Mission Coordinator for the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines aircraft, at the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's Rescue Coordination Centre . 'While it will have been fragmented into many, many pieces, most of that will be on the seabed,' relatively undisturbed, said Mearns. 'A classic pattern, it's probably no more than 1,500 to 2,000 meters in the longest dimension and about half as wide.' Search crews will start the search for the vanished plane on Monday. Flight 370 vanished March 8 with 239 people aboard while en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, setting off a multinational search that has turned up no confirmed pieces and nothing conclusive on what happened to the jet. | Tropical Cyclone Gillian is causing rough seas and strong winds in the southern Indian Ocean . Some 10 aircraft and a fleet of ships are searching the area following near data about a significant floating object . First picked up by an Australian satellite, China and France have also had more recent readings on what is believed to be the same object . According to the Chinese data, the object is 73 feet wide and 43 feet long . It's location is about 2,500 kilometers off the coast of Australia . Officials worry the weather conditions may sink the object before they find it . Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has been missing for over two weeks . | 9ca2d4667dc591aec3436f3a8f238dfa3906caa6 |
London (CNN) -- Four top British police officers will not face further police investigation in connection with an inquiry into phone hacking by journalists, the Independent Police Complaints Commission said Wednesday. They are former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson, former Assistant Commissioners John Yates and Andy Hayman and former Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke. Stephenson resigned as head of London's Metropolitan Police, also known as Scotland Yard, after it was revealed that Scotland Yard had hired a former top News of the World journalist to be a communications consultant. The revelation came the same day police arrested the journalist, Neil Wallis, over the phone-hacking investigation. Stephenson insisted he had done nothing wrong. All four officers were referred to the IPCC by the local police authority after their involvement in the phone-hacking scandal engulfing News of the World and its parent company, News International, came under scrutiny. News of the World was shut down last month amid allegations its staff had hacked the voice mail of people ranging from celebrities to crime victims, and bribed police. Top Metropolitan Police officers were accused of being too cozy with senior News International staff. The IPCC said in a statement that "in relation to their alleged respective roles in the 'phone hacking' investigation, the conduct of none of these officers amounts to recordable conduct." IPCC Deputy Chair Deborah Glass said the Metropolitan Police had "rightly come under huge scrutiny" over its role in responding to allegations of phone hacking by News of the World, Britain's best-selling Sunday paper. "There can be no doubt about the damaging effect of the perceived inadequate response -- in particular, the failure to notify its many apparent victims -- on public confidence. Sir Paul Stephenson and John Yates both acknowledged this in their decisions to resign," she said. But, she added, a "clear line must be drawn between what is a recordable conduct matter -- in effect, conduct that is either criminal or for which an officer should be disciplined -- and public concerns that will be addressed and scrutinized by Lord Justice Leveson's public inquiry." The Leveson inquiry was set up by Prime Minister David Cameron to look into the conduct of the UK media and allegations of phone hacking and police corruption. Stephenson said the outcome of the IPCC probe "is as I would have expected it to be. "I regret resources have had to be expended on this matter," he said in a statement. Yates handed in his resignation the day after Stephenson quit. He was the officer who decided in 2009 that there was no need to open a new police investigation into phone hacking, despite the 11,000 pages of evidence sitting at Scotland Yard -- a decision he later admitted to Parliament was "crap." The IPCC said it "would agree that he made a poor decision in 2009" but said it saw no purpose in questioning him about it again. However, Yates faces further investigation over his alleged role in securing a police job for Wallis' daughter, the IPCC said. Yates said he was pleased he would not be scrutinized further over phone hacking but "disappointed" he still faced questions over what he called his "peripheral involvement" in the employment of Wallis' daughter. "I strongly deny any wrongdoing and I am completely confident that I will be exonerated," he said in a statement. Cameron has faced questions over his judgment in hiring former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as his communications adviser after he resigned from the newspaper. Coulson says he was not aware of wrongdoing while he edited the paper. In a statement released Wednesday by the prime minister's Downing Street office, Cameron said: "Clearly if I had known then all the things I know now, then obviously I would have taken different decisions." The IPCC's decision comes a day after a parliamentary committee examining the phone-hacking allegations at News of the World released dozens of documents related to its inquiry, reigniting questions over whether News International had tried to cover up what happened. Among the documents was a 2007 letter from the paper's former royal correspondent Clive Goodman -- who was sacked and jailed over intercepting royal voice mail -- to News International executives, in which he says that phone hacking was "widely discussed" at the newspaper until explicit reference to it was "banned by the Editor." The editor at the time was Coulson. A number of senior News International figures have been asked to give evidence to Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Committee in September. Coulson and others have also been sent letters asking if they wish to add to or amend their previous testimony before the panel. CNN's Carol Jordan contributed to this report. | NEW: Yates says he will be exonerated over a separate investigation . Paul Stephenson resigned as London's top police officer last month . He says he expected this outcome and regrets police resources were used for the probe . London's police have been accused of being too cozy with News International . | 7d42400c49f9cb313345f7d9ea74c51d0147a4f8 |
By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 10:12 EST, 2 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 10:53 EST, 2 October 2013 . Life sentence: Turkish waiter Recep Çetin who has been found guilty of murdering two Irish women who were stabbed while on holiday in Turkey . A Turkish waiter has been found guilty of murdering two Irish women on holiday two years ago, it was reported today. Recep Cetin was convicted of stabbing Marion Graham, 54, and her 53-year-old friend Cathy Dinsmore in August 2011. The women were found buried in shallow graves in woods 75 miles outside the popular holiday resort of Kusadasi with multiple knife wounds. Cetin's father Eyup, a taxi driver, was acquitted of the double murder. Recep Cetin, a former boyfriend of Ms Graham's teenage daughter Shannon has been sentenced to life imprisonment, according to the BBC. He had admitted admitted stabbing the victims but denied murder. Ms Graham, from Newry and Ms Dinsmore, from Warrenpoint in Co Down, were close friends and had been on an extended holiday in Turkey when they were killed. It is claimed they were murdered after Ms Graham refused to allow Recep Cetin - known to the family as Alex - marry her teenage daughter. Relatives of both women including Shannon, who was aged 15 when her mother was killed, flew out to Turkey for the court hearing which had been adjourned from last month. A verdict and sentence was previously delayed because two of the judges on the panel were temporary and could not make a ruling on the case. Victims: Marion Graham (left), 54, and her 53-year-old friend Cathy Dinsmore (right) were found buried in shallow graves in woods 75 miles outside the popular holiday resort of Kusadasi with multiple knife wounds . Motive? It is claimed they were murdered after Ms Graham refused to allow Recep Cetin - known to the family as Alex - marry her teenage daughter Shannon (pictured) Proceedings were also held up because Recep Cetin falsely claimed to be aged 17 in an apparent attempt to be tried in the juvenile courts where sentences are lighter. But bone marrow tests confirmed that the waiter was aged 22. Cetin had consistently denied his father's alleged involvement in the killings. Justice: Relatives of both women including Shannon, who was aged 15 when her mother was killed, flew out to Turkey for the court hearing which had been adjourned from last month . | Recep Cetin jailed for life for stabbing Marion Graham and Cathy Dinsmore . Killed because 'Ms Graham refused to let him marry her teenage daughter' Cetin, 22, attempted to be tried in youth court by claiming he was only 17 . | 6bc27ebc4fc3ea1459d1a1e0a211a3a7a68a7758 |
By . Elliott Bretland . Follow @@EllBretland . Former Manchester United assistant Mike Phelan believes the Red Devils will be serious Premier League title contenders this season. Under the stewardship of Louis van Gaal, United have enjoyed an unbeaten tour of America following a disastrous campaign with David Moyes at the helm last year. Phelan, who spent five years as Sir Alex Ferguson's No 2, believes Dutchman Van Gaal has restored the belief among the Old Trafford squad and that optimism is high. VIDEO Scroll down for Louis van Gaal: Beating rivals Liverpool is nice for the fans . New system: Wayne Rooney says Louis van Gaal has given players a different way of looking at football . All smiles: Rooney holds aloft the International Champions Cup with Man United team-mate Darren Fletcher . Right-hand man: Mike Phelan, who was Sir Alex Ferguson's No 2, believes United will challenge next term . Following a seventh-placed finish last season, Phelan is confident the Red half of Manchester can spring a few shocks next term. Speaking to the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast on talkSPORT, Phelan said: 'I don't see why not. Some people will probably scoff at that, but everybody is improving year on year. 'United did take a backward step a little bit, but it is well within their capabilities to surprise a lot of people and rise to the occasion. They look now as though they have got belief in themselves. 'Obviously pre-season is pre-season. They have got to come back now and get some consistency in the league but there will be excitement there. 'They have got, in Van Gaal, somebody with terrific experience and great motivation. Add that to the ingredients already at Old Trafford, in the supporters and the expectation. I'm sure they could be right up there.' Tough to take: United endured a disastrous season under the management of David Moyes last season . | Mike Phelan believes Manchester United will be serious Premier League title contenders . Former Old Trafford assistant thinks Louis van Gaal's experience will aid Red Devils next term . Man United won International Champions Cup in Miami on Monday night . Wayne Rooney, Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata scored in win over Liverpool . | 193b347dedb1e9c6faeefface3008edc59813fc1 |
Australia coach Darren Lehmann has no intention of saving Mitchell Johnson for a World Cup assault on England and will recall the paceman as soon as possible. Johnson was the runaway man-of-the-series in last winter's Ashes and there are serious concerns about how England will react should he find his very best form again in the tournament opener in Melbourne on February 14. He has been missing for the last few weeks with fitness niggles and undisclosed personal reasons, and there have been suggestions Lehmann might hold his strike bowler back until that match, denying England closer look should they reach the final of the ongoing Tri-Series. Mitchell Johnson will not be rested ahead of the World Cup and could play for Australia at the Tri-Nations . Johnson celebrates after taking the wicket of Alastair Campbell during the last winter Ashes . Australia players celebrate their victory over England at the Tri-Series ODIs in Hobart . But Lehmann intends to reintegrate the left-armer at the first opportunity, potentially as soon as Monday's match against India. 'He'd be close. He's bowling (in the nets) and will be full training on Sunday, so hopefully he's available for selection,' said Lehmann. 'There's no resting. It's a final so there's a trophy up for grabs and we've got to try and win that so that's important for us as well. 'For us it's a case of worrying what we do well and keep doing that. We can't worry about England, we can only worry about what we're doing.' Captain Steve Smith was on fine form as Australia prepare for the forthcoming World Cup . England's Jos Butler can only watch as he is run out during defeat by Australia . The Australia line-up that beat England in Hobart on Friday was also missing captain George Bailey (banned), David Warner and Shane Watson (both hamstring). Bailey will return having served his over-rate suspension, Warner is inked back in at the top of the order but Watson may take longer. 'Warner will be fine, he'll come back in, with Watson we'll just see how he goes at training,' added Lehmann. 'We want to get everyone 100 per cent fit for the final and then the World Cup so that's what we're looking at.' Captain George Bailey (left) and David Warner (right) are set to return for the match against India . | Australia defeated England in the Tri-Series despite Ian Bell scoring 141 . Pace bowler Mitchell Johnson will not be rested for the World Cup . Captain George Bailey is set to return for the next match against India . | 22a6f4134d6981d14eb6f3d0ac9f353ee4e76ea2 |
KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Making good on a threat of election day violence, the Taliban sliced off the index fingers of at least two people in Kandahar province, according to a vote monitoring group. Electoral workers count votes at a school in Kabul. After they cast their ballots, the fingers of Afghan voters are stained with ink to prevent them from voting multiple times. The fingers of the two women in Kandahar, a stronghold of the Taliban, were cut off because they voted, said Nader Naderi of the Free and Fair Election Foundation. The Taliban had vowed to disrupt Thursday's election and the risk was too great for some Afghans to venture out, especially in the southern provinces that form the heartland of the radical Islamist group. Just days ahead of the election, U.S. Marines and other NATO forces carried out military operations to clear and hold sectors that have long been in the Taliban grip, and free up the population to vote. Sporadic attacks on election day killed 26 people and injured scores more. Still, Afghan officials hailed the voting as a success. On Friday, the European Union echoed those sentiments and congratulated Afghanistan for holding elections under what it called challenging circumstances. Watch how counting is under way in Afghan provinces . "While deploring the loss of life, we believe that the security measures successfully prevented any major disruptions of the elections," the E.U. said in a statement. Preliminary results will be announced on a piecemeal basis from Tuesday to September 5, according to the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan. Zekeria Barakzi, the deputy chief electoral officer for the commission, told CNN that as of Friday, the counting was complete in 30 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. Barakzi said that after September 5 there would be a period -- which could last a month -- of accepting objections and complaints about the elections. A spokeswoman for the American Embassy in Kabul said the United States has "every confidence that they (the commission members) will be able to finish this part of the electoral process in a transparent fashion" Meanwhile, the top two presidential candidates -- President Hamid Karzai and his chief rival Abdullah Abdullah -- positioned themselves as the likely winners in the race. Karzai's campaign team claimed Friday he was on track for victory in the country's presidential election, while Abdullah also said he was leading the vote. Their claims came as election officials said the results of the vote, seen as a judgment on the Karzai government's efforts in tackling Taliban insurgents, poverty and corruption, would be rolled out starting August 25. Meanwhile Abdullah, seen as Karzai's main challenger, told Associated Press Television that he believed he was leading, characterizing the vote count as "promising" despite what he described as sporadic "rigging" across the country. Thursday's election, the country's second since the 2001 fall of the Taliban, was held amid a climate of fear as militants threatened to violently disrupt the process. Violence on voting day killed 26 Afghans and injured scores more. U.S. President Barack Obama offered strong praise Friday for the election, calling it "an important step forward" in Afghanistan's struggle for democracy in the face of ideological extremists. "The future belongs to those who want to build, not ... destroy," Obama said at the White House, adding that he was struck by the "courage in the face of intimidation" demonstrated by the millions of Afghans who went to the polls. | Taliban slice off fingers of two people in Kandahar province, vote monitors say . Taliban had vowed to disrupt Thursday's landmark election . Hamid Karzai's team and rival Abdullah Abdullah claim to be on track for win . Election officials say results will be rolled out starting August 25 . | df210d0fe5ae5eef7394e58c4943fdc8f85219a0 |
(CNN) -- Never have so many been so outraged by so little. We live in a time of instant outrage. The explosion of social media and the demands of the 24-hour news cycle let us immediately express our self-righteous anger about any incident, while the content-desperate media eagerly report -- and repackage -- our rage. Outrage has become conveniently instantaneous. In the years before social media, people who were truly outraged would have to get a piece of paper, type a letter, put it in an envelope, stamp it and drop it in a mailbox. In contrast, today you can use your thumb to type a tweet on your phone and simply click "Tweet." Your rage is communicated to the world. Just this week, we saw instant outrage on full display in response to Seth MacFarlane's jokes at Sunday's Oscars. Amazingly, MacFarlane offended almost every group in America in one show. He was accused of being sexist, anti-Semitic, homophobic and racist. (It has to be an Oscar record.) Did Oscar organizers possibly hire MacFarlane to trigger our instant outrage for their own benefit? After all, they knew he'd say outrageous things. Any chance they wanted the public backlash to make the show, which has seen ratings woes in recent years, more relevant? (And ratings did rise for Sunday's Oscar telecast 11% in the coveted 18-49 age group.) Make no mistake: Our outrage has value. More recently, comedian Joan Rivers found herself the subject of outrage for a joke she made this week invoking the Holocaust. The media are now filled with people debating the "important" question: Did Rivers go too far? (Will the media ever stop asking that tired question about comedians' jokes?!) Instant outrage, however, is not just reserved for comedians; it crops up all over the news cycle. We saw it this week over Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's new policy banning telecommuting in the company she's been hired to revive, meaning people have to work from the office every day or quit. Twitter lit up: It's outrageous! It even happened to me last weekend when I was on CNN with anchor Don Lemon and playfully joked about Canada. Bingo! My Twitter feed was instantly filled with Canadians incensed that I had the audacity to poke fun at their beloved country. Just to be clear, I have nothing against Canada. In fact, it's my third favorite country in North America. There's so much more: Beyonce's halftime Super Bowl outfit; Hulk Hogan tweeting a photo of his daughter's legs; Kim Kardashian tweeting a photo of her diamond-encrusted gun; NBA star LeBron James wearing a T-shirt that some claim was about devil worship and/or a symbol for the illuminati. I get it. We all want to have our opinions heard. When we are mad about something, we want others to know about it. When we are offended, we want to call out the person who has offended us. I'm no different. But here's the thing: Why not also unleash our collective fury over issues more meaningful than just a comedian's joke or a celebrity's tweet? I'm not suggesting we ignore those -- because even if I did, no one would listen. But in addition to those, take a moment to express your powerful outrage over issues that might tangibly benefit your life and the lives of others. Let's get collectively angry that every nine seconds, a woman in the United States is assaulted or beaten. And let's get even angrier that three women a day in the United States are killed by domestic violence attacks. Let's get really pissed that 22% of American children are living in poverty. And please save some (actually a lot) of outrage for Congress, which has become the political equivalent of Lindsay Lohan: We only see it in media coverage doing bad things. Sure, go ahead and be outraged over Joan Rivers' and Seth MacFarlane's jokes if you must, but let's show some anger about the fact that almost 10,000 Americans died in gun violence last year and still Congress hasn't passed a universal background check to ensure that criminals and mentally ill people can't legally buy guns. So let's collectively tweet away about the issues that outrage us, be they stupid comments or Syria, comedians' jokes or the growing income inequality in America. But please don't just reserve all your outrage for celebrities. They simply aren't worthy of it. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Dean Obeidallah. | Dean Obeidallah: We live in a cultural era of instant outrage, fed by social media, news cycle . He says we inflate small things into big deals too easily -- jokes by Joan Rivers, Seth MacFarlane . He says we all get mad but why not about really outrageous things such as poverty, abuse . Obeidallah: Next time you tweet about a celebrity outrage, direct some ire at something real, too . | e128d68f7e34f6590182c28f8318527df630f108 |
By . Mail On Sunday Reporter . Hundreds of Britain’s best-loved Victorian buildings should undergo ‘urgent’ safety inspections to prevent a repeat of the ceiling collapse that hit London’s Apollo Theatre, according to an official report. Investigators found that the collapse in the West End last December, during which nearly 80 people were hurt, was caused because hessian fibres within the plaster holding up the ceiling had worn away. The calls come after an investigation into the collapse of the Apollo Theatre's ceiling last December . Some of Britain’s most famous landmarks, such as the Royal Opera House, are adorned with the same type of plasterwork, raising fears that they are also potentially dangerous. Westminster Council, which compiled the report into the Apollo collapse, urged English Heritage, the National Trust, the Health and Safety Executive and theatre owners to inspect buildings with such ceilings as a ‘matter of urgency’. Architecture expert Jonathan Taylor predicted that hundreds of listed properties would need to be looked at and the cost could become ‘very expensive’. Mr Taylor warned: ‘Every major city will have a theatre or cinema with fibrous plaster ornament.’ 80 theatre goers were injured when the ceiling came down during a performance at the end of last year . | 'Urgent' safety inspections should be carried out on Victorian buildings . Fears sparked by collapse of ceiling at London theatre last December . Investigation found collapse caused by hessian in plaster wearing away . The Royal Opera House has same type of plaster work . | 2858675c103df695a5da9775e3a26bedfac3c9b9 |
(CNN) -- When India's aviation sector began liberalizing in 2003, a regional powerhouse was unleashed. The country's state-owned airline Air India was soon competing for passengers with six private airline groups in a market that has grown steadily in the past decade. In 2009-10 Indian airlines carried 45 million domestic passenger and 11 million international passengers, according to figures from the CAPA Centre for Aviation. Fueled by India's stellar GDP growth and a growing middle class, passenger numbers handled at Indian airports exceeded 120 million, making it one of the ten largest markets globally, according to CAPA. But by 2008, the sector was in trouble. Debts mounted for billionaire Vijay Mallya -- the flamboyant owner of Kingfisher Airlines -- whose fleet of 66 planes, with a further 130 on order - faces losses of $US1.62 billion. Can Kingfisher survive? Last week, Mallya said he was on the cusp of some airline-saving deals, but investors have not been convinced and the stock has continued to slide. Even though Mallya says the airline does not need a government bailout -- and India's civil aviation authority has categorically ruled out any kind of lifeline for the industry -- the markets, and some industry analysts, say the sector will need a magic wand to reverse the descent. How did the tiger of the world's aviation industry go into such a steep decline? According to Tom Ballantyne, the chief correspondent with Oriental Aviation, where once Indian aviation suffered from too little competition, now it suffers from too much. "There were just too many low-cost carriers and this created a situation where there are simply too many seats flying through air," he told CNN. "It's a problem of over-capacity. "Air India has debts of more than $8 billion and Kingfisher has debts of more than $2 billion. All of them are losing money with the possible exception IndiGo," Ballantyne said. India's aviation industry leaders lay much of the blame at the feet of Air India which they accuse of unfairly competing with India's newer airlines, slashing fares while at the same time enjoying the luxury of government subsidies. The airline has been unprofitable since 1997 and has received government bailouts of $625 million and is requesting more before the end of the fiscal year that ends in March 2012, according to company figures. Air India agrees restructuring deal . The national carrier employs between 50,000 and 60,000 people and analysts say the bailouts are likely to continue. "When the main state-owned carrier is in such dire shape then it tends to affect the whole of the industry," says Ballantyne. "The carrier has been one of the main culprits in terms of discounting." M Shivkumar, the head of finance at Jet Airways, India's biggest carrier, recently identified Air India's price war as a key factor for the problems in Indian aviation. "Ideally, fares should go up when oil-import costs go up. That's not happening and that's why airlines are in this situation," he said. Have rising oil prices contributed to steep losses? Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) costs have soared this year as oil import costs everywhere skyrocket. But on average, fuel costs are around 60% higher in India than in other countries. This is because of a mosaic of state taxes, some as high as 35%, making India one of the costliest places in the world to run a fleet of planes. "The states are unwilling to give up a good source of revenue," said Ballantyne. "Combing that with rising fuel costs and this further cuts into the slim margins and yields on which these airlines already operate." He said India's central government may soon be forced to address this problem if the country is to have a functioning aviation industry. "The government has already had to step in to back credit for Air India whose suppliers were demanding that it pay upfront before they would make deliveries of aviation fuel," Ballantyne said. With an Indian rupee last week dropping to its lowest level in history, recently hitting 52.50 against the U.S. dollar, the pain is set to increase of Indian airlines. "When you add to that costs associated with catering, maintenance and landing fees, as well as low yields per seat, then the airlines are really struggling." How competitive is the Indian domestic industry? "With many airlines bringing prices down to below the cost of producing the airline seat, the government is looking at issues of predatory pricing," Ballantyne said. "Yields are very tight anyway and pricing is seriously affecting the airlines. The government is looking at setting up a regulatory body to make sure that Indian airlines are operating on a proper basis." Is opening the sector to investment by foreign airlines a solution? "No foreign airlines are permitted to invest in Indian carriers and three government ministries are now looking into ways to change that," Ballantyne said. "This would be an important change because investment by foreign airlines brings with it all kinds of advantages, not least expertise in airline management and other synergies. "At the moment, however, in this sort of economic climate, the airlines are having trouble attracting any sort of investment at all," he said. "It really is an awful situation." Do Indian airlines suffer from a shortage of qualified manpower? "The growth has been so rapid in the Indian aviation space, that airlines have had difficulties keeping up with the staffing needed in terms of pilots, maintenance workers and engineers," Ballantyne said. "Not only are the Indian airlines pirating staff from each other, but India is very close to the Gulf where airlines have no problem with money and no problem with pirating staff from just about everywhere." What's the solution? "Many of the government's solutions will take a long time to enact," he said. "India is still a very chaotic country and nothing happens quickly. "If Air India, for example, needs action from the government then it that has to go from ministry to ministry, from committee to committee. "It's forced into a situation where it is not very quick or very agile in a market where speed and agility are everything." | Analysts believe too many low-cost carriers are to blame for India's aviation woes . Many blame Air India and accuse them of unfairly competing with India's newer airlines . Airline has been unprofitable since 1997 and has received government bailouts of $625M . | f757a305793a5225fe3bea771b5659c907b9b92b |
(WIRED) -- Sergey Brin has once again hit the town with Project Glass -- but this time he let someone else wear Google's augmented reality headset. California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom wore the specs on "The Gavin Newsom Show," and later told Wired about his brief experience with one of the world's most rarefied pieces of technology. "You can easily forget you have them on, and sense the capacity of use in the future," Newsom told us, adding the headset felt incredibly light, comfortable and inconspicuous on his head. Brin and his wife, Anne Wojcicki, appeared on Newsom's Current TV talk show Wednesday May 23 to discuss Project Glass and Sergey's work in the Google X labs. On the show, Brin also provided our first glimpse into how the Google Glass interface is navigated. In the video, Brin navigates the system via a touchpad on the right side of the headset behind the display. He slides his finger forward and back to locate a photo he took of Gavin Newsom with the contraption. He then places the headset on Newsom's face, and continues to navigate until the photo is located. He also tells Newsom, "Don't touch the pad on the side" while setting up the headset for the talk show host. Unfortunately for inquiring minds, when Newsom asked how the photo was taken, Brin didn't answer. Newsom told Wired that he was impressed by the image quality of the display in the glasses. The politician-slash-talk-show-host noted that the lighting on his set is less than ideal for demoing a display, but nonetheless the "image was remarkably clear." As for interacting with the real world while wearing the glasses, Newsom said he found it easy to quickly focus on Brin and Wojcicki sitting across the desk, and then refocus to the image of himself displayed in the headset's screen. After returning the glasses to his own face, Brin swiped down on the touchpad of the glasses and continued the interview. The down-swipe could possibly be used to exit the photo album he was demoing to Newsom. Whatever the case, Brin's swipes answer questions about how the interface is navigated. Brin told Newsom that he brought a rough prototype. "I have some hopes to maybe get it out sometime next year," he told Newsom, "but that's still a little bit of a hope." With this in mind, it's possible that what Newsom demoed on Wednesday could change radically before the final production model hits the market. Nonetheless, even at this early stage, the glasses are impressive, Newsom says. He told Wired that the headset was "a heck of a lot further along than people have imagined." The Google co-founder told Newsom that Google X is now his primary focus at Google. His team has been working on the glasses for two to three years, and Brin as been involved for the past year. Brin also explains why Google is working on the technology: "The idea is that you want to be free to experience the world without futzing with a phone." One concern with wearable computers is that they're cumbersome wardrobe additions. To this point, Newsom told us that he was surprised by "how unremarkable the glasses are except for the remarkable feature." That said, when asked if he would actually wear the glasses himself -- you know, in public -- the lieutenant governor replied, "I haven't seen the video yet, so I'll withhold judgment until I see myself. I'm hoping this isn't my Dukakis moment." If you want to watch the full interview, the show airs on Current TV at 11 p.m. ET (8 p.m. PT) on Friday and throughout the weekend. Subscribe to WIRED magazine for less than $1 an issue and get a FREE GIFT! Click here! Copyright 2011 Wired.com. | Google Glass is the company's augmented reality project . Prototype glasses display digital info on top of the real world . California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom tried on the glasses . He hosted a Google co-founder on Current TV's "The Gavin Newsom Show" | 0e3aadfcb73a5c6eade726a7a4555ee945ea8344 |
Most women are still in recovery mode three months after the birth of a child. But mother-of-four Natalia Vodianova - who welcomed baby Maxim on May 2nd - is not most women. The Russian supermodel, 32, stripped down to nothing but a fur stole for the September cover of Vanity Fair. And in a candid accompanying interview, she speaks about her divorce from British aristocrat Justin Portman and her new life in Paris with LVMH heir Antoine Arnault. Cover girl: Supermodel mother-of-four Natalia Vodianova fronts the September issue of Vanity Fair . She said of her 2010 marriage breakdown: 'If you try really hard at something and it doesn’t work, then you have to let go because it means it is not the right thing. You . have to try really hard to make it work, but at the same time you have . to know how to let go of something when it is time.' Ms Vodianova and Viscount Portman, 45, had three children in their nine years together: Son Lucas, now nine, daughter Neva, eight and Viktor, six, who now live with their mother in Paris and spend half their holidays with their father. The model confirmed she was dating Mr Arnault, the son of LVMH founder Bernard Arnault, in August 2011 and announced they were expecting a child together in November last year. And it seems parenthood has only strengthened their relationship. Ms Vodianova said of Mr Arnault: 'He . gets up at 8am and goes to work with a big smile on his face. He . loves what he does, loves my children so much, is a great father and . stepfather and boyfriend.' New love: Ms Vodianova with Justin Portman in June 2009 (left) and at six months' pregnant with Antoine Arnault in February 2014 (right) Yummy mummy: Ms Vodianova sitting front row at the Stella McCartney fashion show in Paris in March 2011 with her children Lucas (left), Viktor (middle) and Neva (right) On a potential wedding in the future, she added: 'I guess he is still a boyfriend. I want to . call him my husband because it feels right, whether we have the papers . or not. He feels like a husband already, although it doesn’t make a . difference, does it? I feel blessed. He is everything I love and . respect.' The accompanying photo spread in Vanity Fair sees Ms Vodianova pose in decadent eveningwear for celebrated photographer Mario Testino. And while the rest of us may not be blessed with her supermodel looks, she makes posing for the camera sound easy. 'It’s really a matter of very little details,' she explains. 'Little angles, little tilts of the head. Eyebrows up to make the eyes look bigger. Mouth a little open. Shoulders down for a long neck. It’s a lot like sculpting.' The September issue of Vanity Fair will be available in New York and Los Angeles, as well as on the iPhone, iPad, Kindle, and other devices, on August 7. The magazine will be on national newsstands and available in an audio edition August 15. | The Russian beauty talks about her divorce from British aristocrat Justin Portman and her new life in Paris with LVMH heir Antoine Arnault . | 92cd71bcd792b00ca8e82f9f6d662bada77a3319 |
By . Eddie Wrenn . PUBLISHED: . 09:33 EST, 24 April 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 11:41 EST, 14 May 2012 . Witness: Tom Crowe, 18, told the court how the accused, Elliot Turner, 'practised strangling him' The son of a wealthy jeweller accused of strangling his girlfriend in bed had practised the technique on his friend just days earlier, a court heard today. Elliot Turner, 20, allegedly killed aspiring model Emily Longley, 17, in a jealous rage at his parents’ home before they allegedly helped him cover up the murder. Today his friend Tom Crowe, 18, told the court that days before the blonde teenager’s death, Turner practised strangling him so hard 'he started to panic'. He also said that before Emily was killed, Turner even claimed he had already murdered her by clubbing her round the head with a hammer. The jury has heard Turner became jealous because he suspected she had been having affairs during their four month relationship. Mr Crowe said: 'Elliot and me had gone to a local park and he was saying Emily had really done it this time and was seeing other blokes. 'He said: "How shall I do it Tom? How shall I kill her, mate?" 'He looked lively and was taking short paces. I said: "I wouldn’t know, I’m not a murderer." 'He was coming up with ideas about whether he should set her on fire with petrol in his bedroom or drown her. 'My reaction was to think: "Christ, you’re nuts. That’s insane". 'He also mentioned a drugs overdose or whether she would choke on her own vomit if she got really drunk. 'Then we were joking around and having some horse play when we started wrestling. 'I gave a demonstration of how wrestlers strangle each other on the TV show Smack Down but I couldn’t get my arm around his neck. 'He is very muscular, powerful and strong because he drinks protein shakes and goes to the gym. 'He took hold of me the same way and put a lot of pressure on my throat and I started to panic. 'I was struggling and said: "Can you get off". I held my breath and tapped him on the arm to let go. 'He stopped and we had a joke about it.' Victim: Emily Longley was 17 when she died, allegedly at the hands of boyfriend Elliot Turner . On trial: Elliot Turner is charged with the murder of girlfriend Emily Longley . Accused: Leigh Turner, 53, and his wife Anita are charged with obstructing the course of justice . Emily, a student from Auckland, was found dead in Turner’s bed at the house in Bournemouth, Dorset, on May 7 last year. Winchester Crown Court heard Turner 'flipped out' and killed her during a drunken argument. Jurors were told he had become increasingly suspicious and jealous during their relationship. Emily changed her Facebook profile picture from one of them together during a three-week holiday to New Zealand in April. He . then allegedly left a message on a friend’s voicemail saying: 'She . changed it to her flirting with some other lads and made me look like a . knob.' Mr Crowe referred to Turner and their group of social friends as ‘The Firm'. He added that on April 30 Turner told friends he had battered Emily six or seven times in the head with a hammer and killed her. He . said: 'Elliot said he found out Emily was going to a nightclub on a . date with another boy, Louis Powell, by looking through her Facebook and . phone messages. 'We drove . to Klute mightclub in Bournemouth and on the way he was very angry and . aggressive, banging the steering wheel and speeding. 'He had a hammer and said he was going to batter her and the boy to death with it. 'He put the hammer in his trousers and went in the club while I waited in his car.' On the beach: Emily spent long periods of her life in New Zealand . Pictured together: Elliot Turner and Emily Longley, pictured in the days before her death . Crowe said: 'After three hours he came out and he was in tears and said he had done something awful. 'He said he had hit her six or seven times with the hammer and killed her. 'He was very convincing, I was in shock. He said he was going to hand himself in to police. 'We then picked up our friend and he told him the same story. 'But then he said: "only joking" and he stopped crying and was cheerful, jumping up and down. 'I was really annoyed with him because I thought he had actually killed her and had led me on.' Investigation: Emily was found dead at Elliot Turner's £300,000 family home . The . court heard Turner later threatened to kill the blonde teenager with a . lump hammer and boasted to her 'I will go to prison for it and still be a . millionaire when I come out.' After . the murder Turner is said to have written a letter of confession but it . was ruined with bleach by his father, Leigh Turner, 54 to 'destroy . vital evidence.' Turner was arrested following her death but then released on bail. Jurors . heard a police bug of the £350,000 Turner home in the affluent Queens . Park area recorded the family talking about 'fabricating evidence and . being worried about lying to police.' Family loss: Emily with her mother Caroline Longley . Flowers were left at the scene following the death of Emily Longley, pictured on a night out . Strangled: Emily Longley who was allegedly killed after Elliot Turner, 20, became suspicious that she was having affairs . The . court was told that after the death, Turner’s mother, Anita, 51, . removed from the house a coat her son had worn on the night aspiring . model Emily’s death. Police . scans of computers seized from the home found Google searches for . ‘death by strangulation’ and ‘how to get out of being charged for . murder.’ Officers made a . series of recordings at the Turners’ home between May 18 and June 14 . last year. They then arrested the three family members and charged them . in July. The court heard . pathologists who examined Emily’s body found injuries consistent with . asphyxiation, Turner had scratches on his arm and Emily had his DNA . under her fingertips. Emily was born in Britain but her family emigrated to New Zealand when she was nine and she was raised in Auckland. She . had returned to live with her grandparents in Bournemouth, to study for . a business national diploma at Brockenhurst College, Hants, and worked . part-time at Top Shop in Bournemouth. She was also signed up to a modelling agency and had appeared on the front page of a magazine in New Zealand. Elliot Turner denies murder and perverting the course of justice. His parents both deny perverting the course of justice. The trial continues. | Elliot Turner, 20, 'pretended he had killed girlfriend Emily Longley with a hammer on a night out' a few weeks before her death . He also 'considered setting her on fire, drowning her, or simulating an overdose' Friend 'began to panic when Elliot throttled him while imitating a wrestling move' Turner's parents accused of destroying vital evidence following the death . | 3207c07bc7ace3a01ad233641f1df91ab37a505e |
(CNN) -- Authorities in Germany are investigating whether they can prosecute a former Nazi camp guard who has been living in the United States for 60 years, they said Monday. Prosecutors are probing the case of Johann Breyer, who admits to having been a guard at the notorious Auschwitz camp, where more than 1 million people, most of them Jews, were killed during World War II. Breyer, 87, says he was only a perimeter guard and did not persecute anyone, according to legal papers related to his battle to keep his U.S. citizenship. "He was a trained, paid, uniformed armed Nazi guard who patrolled the perimeters of two such camps with orders to shoot those who tried to escape," a court ruled in 1994. Breyer won his fight to remain in the United States in 2003, when a court ruled that he was not responsible for having joined a Nazi unit because he was only 17 years old at the time. But German authorities are investigating evidence against him, and expect to have preliminary results in October, said Gert Schaefer, a spokesman for the chief public prosecutor in the Bavarian town of Weiden. Breyer emigrated to the United States in 1952 and claimed citizenship as a displaced person. In the 1990s, the government fought to strip him of his citizenship, arguing that Nazis were not eligible. Breyer did not dispute having been an SS Totenkopf (Death's Head) guard, responsible for guarding Nazi concentration camps, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Third Circuit, which heard one stage of his legal battle in 1994. Therefore, "Breyer assisted in persecution," the court ruled. "The Department of Justice proved in federal court that John (Johann) Breyer participated in Nazi-sponsored acts of persecution while serving as an SS guard at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp and the Auschwitz Death Camp during World War II," DOJ spokeswoman Rebekah Carmichael said Monday in a statement. But, she added, findings about his mother's birth and the date of his SS enlistment made it legally impossible to deport him. His case is similar to that of John Demjanjuk, the Ukrainian-born Ohio man who spent more than two decades fighting charges that he was a Nazi war criminal before he died this year. CNN's Fred Pleitgen and Janina Bembenek contributed to this report. | Johann Breyer was a guard at Auschwitz, where more than 1 million people were killed . He denies persecuting anyone, saying he was only a perimeter guard . Breyer, in the U.S. for 60 years, won a legal battle to keep U.S. citizenship in 2003 . His case is similar to that of John Demjanjuk, who died this year . | d84f3812613445a7d15796b586c35e8023a62e52 |
A campaign to plant millions of poppies to mark the centenary of the First World War will go ahead after all – despite being denied Lottery cash. The local scheme proposed by two Kent branches of the Royal British Legion has been rescued by DIY chain B&Q – and now becomes a national project. The Centenary Poppy Campaign will launch next month in a bid to encourage the public, local authorities, schools and businesses to sow millions of seeds across Britain. Organisers said they were ‘over the moon’ at winning backing for the plan, which was endorsed by Prince Charles and David Cameron as a fitting way to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of war in 2014. The award follows the lottery fund's refusal to fund a £92,200 Royal British Legion scheme to help children seed millions of poppies . It was plunged into crisis on Tuesday . when the Heritage Lottery Fund denied the Legion’s Greenhithe and . Swanscombe branches a £92,200 grant because of a ‘high level of demand’ for money. The decision sparked outrage by former military chiefs and MPs and the issue was raised in Parliament. Lord Guthrie, a former chief of the defence staff, said: ‘It is quite a strange decision and a very unfortunate one.’ While . the poppy appeal was rejected, £100,000 was given this week to the . Peace Pledge Union, a pacifist group that wants to raise awareness of . the role of conscientious objectors during the 1914-18 war. Dartford MP Gareth Johnson, left, who had been supporting the project, condemned the decision last night. Prime Minister David Cameron, right, had singled the scheme out for praise . The . RBL’s director of fundraising, Charles Byrne, said: 'The Royal British . Legion is pleased to confirm we are rolling out the Centenary Poppy . Campaign, which originated in the Greenhithe and Swanscombe Branch of . the Legion, UK-wide, and plans for the campaign including a partnership . with a national retailer will be announced imminently. 'The . bid submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund by the Greenhithe and . Swanscombe Branch of The Royal British Legion was for a local project to . provide poppy seeds in the Kent area only. 'The Legion is now working with the branch and the HLF on a renewed bid to enable the local project to go ahead.' Conservative . MP for Dartford Gareth Johnson, whose great-grandfather died in the . war, condemned the HLF’s position, telling the House of Commons: 'This . project has received support from Prince Charles and numerous charities . and respected organisations. 'It was therefore surprising that the . Heritage Lottery Fund failed to support this project when it came before . them last month. Culture . Minister Hugh Robertson, replying to Mr Johnson, said: 'I would . absolutely agree with you that if there is one thing that is synonymous . with memories of the First World War it is the Flanders Poppy. That’s . one of the reasons why I think this was such a clever idea. Mr Robertson said ministers are not allowed to direct lottery distributors over how to spend money. Centenary: The project is planned to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War . Funds earmarked: David Cameron has already said that £50million will be spent marking the anniversary of the start of the war, pictured, next year . Some . of the bloodiest fighting of the First World War took place in the . Flanders and Picardy regions of Belgium and Northern France. The . poppy is considered an important symbol of the conflict because it was . the only thing which grew in the aftermath of the complete devastation. A Heritage . Lottery Fund spokesman said: 'The Heritage Lottery Fund has been unable . to support a grant application from the Greenhithe and Swanscombe Branch . of the Royal British Legion for a Kent-based project to sow poppies . across the county, not to be confused with the Legion’s proposed UK-wide . Centenary Poppy Campaign. 'Demand . for our funds is high and we are unfortunately unable to support every . application. We remain deeply committed to helping people to learn . about and tell the stories of the First World War, and have already . invested more than £28million into projects marking the Centenary. 'We . are in discussion with the Royal British Legion at national level and . will be meeting with representatives from the Greenhithe and Swanscombe . Branch of the RBL next week.' | The 2014 Real Poppy project is run by the Greenhithe Royal British Legion . Heritage Lottery Fund is experiencing 'high level of demand' for grants . | 55e0ccda372be24e0d8f17c12c028d251325ce61 |
(CNN) -- Many Zune owners successfully revived their failed music players Thursday morning, while others were still unable to overcome a leap year-related glitch that caused thousands of the devices to simultaneously stop working on New Year's Eve. Microsoft issued the first Zune portable music player in 2006 to compete with the iPod. "Mine is back up and working as of a minute ago! Thanks Zune Team," a user named "blcknwhte" posted at 9:19 a.m. ET on the Zune Web site's forum. "I'm glad things are back to normal but this was a major inconvenience," posted someone named JaximFlash. "I have 2 Zune 30s and I had made a playlist of songs to play during a New Year's Eve party." Microsoft Corp., maker of the Zune, said a bug in the internal clock driver, related to the way the device handles a leap year, caused the malfunction in older Zune 30GB models. Matt Akers of the Zune Product Team wrote Wednesday on Zune.net that the problem should resolve itself after 7 a.m. ET Thursday. The Zune support page says users should allow the internal battery to fully drain, then recharge by connecting the Zune to a computer or AC power after noon GMT (7 a.m. ET) on New Year's Day. "Once the battery has sufficient power, the player should start normally. No other action is required -- you can go back to using your Zune!" the site says. But some Zune owners still reported problems rebooting their MP3 players Thursday. "It's 9:15 a.m. [ET] and my Zune is looking just like it did yesterday," posted one user. "Went through the proper steps and still no go. Anybody have any ideas?" "Mine doesn't work either, and yes, I can read and follow instructions. I did so three times," posted another Zune owner at 10:17 a.m. ET. "I then called tech support, they told me to charge it for 3 hours, and if that didn't work to call them back." The mysterious problem surfaced late Tuesday and early Wednesday as Internet message boards were flooded with complaints about Zunes freezing, prompting Y2K-like speculation about end-of-year hardware or software problems. "It seems that every Zune on the planet has just frozen up and will not work," posted a Mountain Home, Idaho, user on CNN's iReport.com. "I have 3 and they all in the same night stopped working." Another iReporter said he was working the night shift at a Toys R Us store in Puerto Rico when his Zune player and the Zunes of four co-workers all failed about 1:30 a.m. ET Wednesday. iReport.com: They all froze up . "It froze and there was no way to turn it off so you just have to wait until the batteries went dead. You can't push any buttons or anything," Carlos Colon told CNN. Some Zune users dubbed the crisis "Y2K9" or "Z2K9," a reference to New Year's Eve and concerns over potential widespread computer failures on January 1, 2000 -- fears that proved unfounded. Microsoft says it will keep users posted via the tech-support page on http://www.zune.net/en-us/support/zune30.htm. Microsoft released its first Zune 30GB music player, a competitor to Apple's popular iPod, in 2006. No widespread glitches have been reported this week in its second-generation 80GB or 120GB models. | NEW: Some owners were able to restart their Zune music players Thursday morning . Microsoft on Wednesday said problem should resolve itself after 7 a.m. ET Thursday . Users should allow internal battery to fully drain, then recharge, Web site says . Thousands of older 30GB Zune players froze simultaneously late Tuesday . | 7a05419b42c5a2210640482cacb746ab477236b5 |
Queens Park Rangers have unveiled the release of their new home, away and third kits ahead of the 2014-15 Premier League campaign. Manufactured by Nike, Rangers' trio Joey Barton, Nedum Onuoha and Charlie Austin were the three players selected to model the new strips alongside goalkeeper Rob Green at an event in London. The Loftus Road outfit secured promotion back to England's top flight courtesy of Bobby Zamora's dramatic injury time winner against Derby County in their Championship play-off final on Saturday. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Tony Fernandes parade the Play-off trophy... with a beer in hand . New look: Queens Park Rangers have unveiled their new kits for next season manufactured by Nike . Jumping for joy: The home kit features the classic royal blue and white-hooped design on the jersey . Heyday: QPR's away kit pays homage to the club's sixties and seventies look with it's red and black design . The 1-0 Wembley win means Harry Redknapp's side will showcase their new look against the likes of champions Manchester City, Liverpool and local rivals Chelsea. Modelled by Barton, who Redknapp believes has what it takes to succeed as future manager, the home kit features the classic royal blue and white-hooped design on the jersey, along with all-white shorts and socks. Queens Park's away kit pays homage to the club's sixties and seventies look with a bold red and black striped design accompanied by black shorts and socks. The elegant and modern third kit comes in an all-white design, harping back to the kit worn in by the R's League Cup triumph of 1967. QPR's five-year partnership with the American manufacturers will see Nike provide apparel, training kit and equipment for the R’s until at least May 2019. Speaking exclusively to www.qpr.co.uk, QPR CEO, Philip Beard, commented: 'We’re proud not only to be making our return to the Premier League, but also to be associated with the leading global brand in football.' 'We look forward to enjoying a long and successful partnership with Nike.' Stuff of champions: The third kit's all-white design, harps back to the R's League Cup triumph of 1967 . Matchwinner: Bobby Zamora (right) scored QPR's late winner in their 1-0 play-off victory vs Derby on Saturday . | Queens Park Rangers have unveiled their new kits ahead of the 2014-15 season . Joey Barton, Rob Green, Charlie Austin and Nedum Onouha modelled the strips at an event in London . QPR have announced a five-year partnership with Nike . Bobby Zamora scored the only in their 1-0 Championship play-off win against Derby at Wembley on Saturday . | 1a4db21468d3db8fb871ef64edaab1e763166b17 |
By . Jill Reilly . PUBLISHED: . 11:12 EST, 29 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 05:39 EST, 30 October 2013 . Battling for victory in front of a ferocious crowd Muay Thai child warriors are forced to fight by their parents who wager every penny they have on them. The shocking black and white photos form part of an eye-opening series by German photographer . Sandra Hoyn called Die Kampfkinder, roughly translated as Fighting Kids. Buoyed on by their parents these children who are as young as six, are forced to fight for money in front of an excited audience who have placed bets on who will win. Scroll down for video . Battle: Kicking and punching each other before a ferocious crowd, these Muay Thai child warriors are forced to fight by parents who wager every penny they have on them . Shocking: The black and white photos form part of an eye-opening series by German photographer Sandra Hoyn called Die Kampfkinder, roughly translated as Fighting Kids . Discovered: Ms Hoyn discovered the practice when she visited the Thailand in 2011 and was shocked to find it was on offer as a form of entertainment at a competition near the capital Bangkok . Hoyn discovered the practice when she visited the Thailand in 2011 and was shocked to discover it was on offer as a form of entertainment at a competition near the capital Bangkok. After watching the full-contact sport she decided to research the practice further and spent four weeks with the children at their home, during training, and at competitions. Ms Hoyn said: 'The most shocking thing for me was to see the pressure on these children. Research: After watching the full-contact sport she decided to research the practice further and spent four weeks with the children at their home, during training, and at competitions . Fights: She said that in Thailand it isn¿t really unusual to see organised child fights . 'They are the instrument for the parents to earn money, and they have to win the fight because the parents bet a lot of money on them. A lot of people lose all their money in one night.' Ms Hoyn said that although money bets are illegal in Thailand, they do not seem to be enforced. In Thai culture Muay Thai is a part of life and boys and girls train from an early age and it is not uncommon that children as young as these take part in tournaments in front of hundreds of spectators. Captive audience: Children watch as their siblings and friends take part in a fight in the ring . Real: A young girl is kitted out in fighting gear. These little fighters are upholding a centuries old tradition and despite their young age, the fight is very real . Ambition: Many children are sent by parents from the rural regions in northeastern Thailand to Bangkok and other major cities to training camps in the hopes that their sons will become good fighters and be able to help the family financially . It is the country’s national sport and is to Thailand what football is to England, with leagues and successful fighters being treated like celebrities, which is what many of these youngsters hope to become. Many children are sent by parents from the rural regions in northeastern Thailand to Bangkok and other major cities to training camps in the hopes that their sons will become good fighters and be able to help the family financially. Televised fights are the most popular shows on television and the streets empty when big fights are being held, in villages all over the country people cluster around any available television. The popular sport is deeply entwined with the country’s history and was developed centuries ago as a way for Thai men to a way to defend themselves without using weapons. Never-ending invasions from neighbouring countries in the early days of the Kingdom saw the people of Thailand rely on hand-to-hand combat to defend their land. Muay Thai is also called the 'Art of Eight Limbs' or the 'Science Of Eight Limbs' as it uses eight points of contacts: hands, elbows, knees and feet when punching and kicking. The word Muay derives from mavya, a word meaning ‘to bind together’ in Sanskrit. For more on the works of Sandra Hoyn click here. | Photos form part of an eye-opening series by German photographer Sandra Hoyn . Buoyed on by their parents these children who are as young as six, are forced to fight for money . | 286a14e072b8c7280ed9f894a8876818e21c1965 |
By . Larisa Brown . PUBLISHED: . 06:34 EST, 23 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 08:32 EST, 23 October 2012 . MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace has been fined £1,300 for speeding at 82mph through a 50mph zone in his flashy Jaguar sports car. The millionaire TV star from Whitstable, Kent, was snapped by a police safety camera van driving his £85,000 Jaguar XKR convertible in April this year. Mr Wallace, 47, a former fruit and vegetable seller turned plush restaurant owner, admitted driving 32mph above the speed limit in his high-powered sports car. Gregg Wallace was snapped hitting 82mph in a 50mph zone in his flashy sports car . The millionaire TV star admitted in court to driving over the speeding limit . The Jaguar can accelerate from 0-62mph in a cool 4.6 seconds and the top speed is limited to 155mph. Mr Wallace was driving along a stretch of dual carriageway on the A240 passing the village of Detling near Maidstone, Kent on April 22. Ten people have been killed or seriously injured on the stretch of road where he was caught. The top chef, who did not attend his court appearance, was fined £1330, given six penalty points on his licence and ordered to pay £85 costs. Katherine Barrett, Communications Officer for Kent & Medway Safety Camera Partnership, today said: 'Safety cameras operate at sites where people have been killed or seriously injured. 'On this stretch of road from Maidstone towards the County Showground there were 8 people killed or seriously injured within the signed camera area before the site was installed and 2 people in the last three years.' She insisted: 'We do not want to catch people speeding. 'We would like them to drive within the speed limits to as to reduce the number of crashes and casualties. 'We offer Speed Awareness courses to drivers who are within a certain threshold. 'However, excessive speed cases such as this are referred to court.' The news comes after Mr Wallace revealed in his new autobiography how he was abused by his babysitter's husband when he was eight years old. He said the man, who was in his 60s, kissed him on the mouth after telling him he would 'show you what happens when you get a girlfriend'. He told how he clearly remembers his 'hot, stinking, tobacco breath' before adding: 'I turned to jelly, in a state of total confusion.' Mr Wallace said he fell victim to the man, called George, while he was living in Peckham, south London. Mr Wallace, who has a 15-year-old daughter Libby and a son Tom, 18,also revealed how he was 'scared of marrying again' after splitting from third wife Heidi, 30, in March after just 14 months of wedlock. Soon after the break-up, he had been openly telling diners at his Wallace and Co restaurant in Putney, South West London, how much he stills loved her. Mr Wallace, who had been separated from his second wife Denise for eight years when he met Heidi, told the Daily Mail at the time: ‘I’ve had a terrible week. Glamour model Cara Franco, 26, who is dating the TV host Gregg Wallace, left . 'It’s all over Twitter. I’m in bits, I love my wife. I don’t know what’s gone wrong. She’s an amazing woman. ‘It’s all gone mad. It went wrong about three months ago. We knew there was something wrong. We want different things. 'We both have images of each other, I don’t know if they were right. I had an image of her and she had one of me but whether they were right...' He insisted that the age gap – at 30, Heidi is 17 years his junior – was not a factor in the split. He has now opened his heart on his blossoming romance with his new girlfriend, 27-year-old ex-glamour model Cara Franco. A spokesman for Mr Wallace confirmed he was charged for speeding in April this year. | Millionaire admitted driving 32mph above the speed limit and was fined £1330 . Ten people killed or seriously injured on stretch of road where Wallace was caught . The powerful convertible has top speed of 155mph and can sprint from 0-60mph in under five seconds . | 2ba3694e60bd0b36eb900603493b4c06b8ff6cd1 |
By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 18:31 EST, 19 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:13 EST, 20 November 2013 . A Florida congressman today pleaded guilty to cocaine possession after allegedly buying the drug from an undercover agent in Washington D.C. in a sting operation last month. Congressman Henry 'Trey' Radel, 37, was sentenced to one year of supervised probation and fined $260, which will be paid to a victims' compensation fund. 'Your honor, I apologize for what I've done,' Radel told the judge as he appeared in District of Columbia Superior Court. 'I hit a bottom and I realize I need help.' After the cocaine allegations emerged on Tuesday, Radel admitted in a statement that he is also battling alcoholism that 'led to an extremely irresponsible choice'. Scroll down for video . In court: Rep. Henry 'Trey' Radel, is pictured leaving court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor drug possession charge. He has been sentenced to a year of supervised probation and a $250 fine . The judge sentenced him to the . probation while he undergoes treatment in Florida, but if he violates . the probation he will have to serve 180 days in jail. If he completes . it, he won't have a conviction on his record. 'I am so sorry to be here,' he added. 'I want to come . out of this stronger and I intend to do that, to be a better man, a . better husband and continuing serving this country.' He . was targeted in the sting operation on October 29 after a suspected . drug dealer who had been arrested in a separate drugs investigation told . agents that the politician was one of his customers. Drug Enforcement Administration and . FBI agents then set up the undercover drug sting, and Radel and a friend allegedly . met an undercover agent outside a restaurant at Dupont . Circle. According to an account provided by authorities to the Washington Post, Radel asked the friend and the agent to go with him to his home but the undercover agent declined. Radel bought 3.5 grams of cocaine, worth around $250, from the agent in his car, the account said. Afterwards officers stormed the vehicle and Radel invited the officers back to his apartment to discuss the incident. When they arrived they allegedly found a vial containing cocaine, the Post said. Caught: . Radel apologized to his wife Amy and son Henry, pictured, and his constituents in . Florida after he was charged with cocaine possession following a sting . operation on October 29 . Remorse: Radel (pictured with his son) said he was addicted to alcohol and would be seeking treatment . Agents did not cuff him but he was informed him that he would be facing criminal charges related to the purchase. The charging document states that Radel 'did unlawfully, knowingly, and intentionally possess a quantity of cocaine'. House Speaker John Boehner has not asked Radel to resign and said the issue is a matter for the courts. 'Members . of Congress should be held to the highest standards, and the alleged . crime will be handled by the courts,' Boehner said through a spokesman. 'Beyond that, this is between Rep. Radel, his family and his . constituents.' Radel, a former talk show host and reporter who represents a Florida district including Fort Myers, Naples, and Cape Coral, has not participated in any House votes this week. He is married to Fox4 anchor Amy Wegmann Radel and they have one son, Henry Jude Radel IV, who was born in 2011. Scene: He allegedly bought drugs from an undercover agent at Dupoint Circle in D.C. (pictured) last month . He identifies himself on his Twitter . profile as a 'Hip Hop conservative' and 'lover of #liberty,' and his . Twitter account has remained active in the past few weeks, including on . the day of the bust. The . GOP favorite posted to Facebook on Tuesday evening: 'I'm profoundly . sorry to let down my family, particularly my wife and son, and the . people of Southwest Florida. 'I . struggle with the disease of alcoholism, and this led to an extremely . irresponsible choice. As the father of a young son and a husband to a . loving wife, I need to get help so I can be a better man for both of . them. 'In facing this . charge, I realize the disappointment my family, friends and constituents . must feel. Believe me, I am disappointed in myself, and I stand ready . to face the consequences of my actions. 'However, . this unfortunate event does have a positive side. It offers me an . opportunity to seek treatment and counseling.' Figure: The freshman Republican, pictured in July, was a reporter and radio host before he was elected . Two days after the incident, Radel shared a photograph online showing him with his family as he wore a Buzz Lightyear costume for Halloween. In . an interview earlier this year with Roll Call, Radel said his favorite vacation spot was . Cartegena, Colombia - an expensive coastal city in a country notorious . for cocaine trafficking, ABC reported. He appears to be the first sitting . member of Congress charged with a drug offense since former Rep. Frederick Richmond of New York was convicted in 1982 on charges of tax . evasion and drug possession. Florida Republican Party Chairman Lenny Curry said he was disappointed in Radel but glad that he was seeking help. | Radel, 37, was sentenced to a year of probation as he appeared in D.C. Superior Court this morning . He bought a small amount of cocaine from an undercover agent in Washington D.C. on October 29 . Agents targeted him after his suspected dealer, who was arrested in a separate drugs operation, said Radel was one of his customers . Radel, who was elected in 2012, posted Facebook apology to wife, young son and Florida voters, saying he was receiving treatment . He revealed in the statement that he is struggling with alcoholism which 'led to an extremely irresponsible choice' | b1f6a3118191b5b4fa97b3fd0571ce1e8fe55637 |
A 24-year-old mother has confessed to using plastic bags to kill her two young children at her Maryland home, according to police. Sonya Spoon, 24, is being held without bond on two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Ayden Spoon, one, and Kayla Thompson, three. A police mugshot released today shows her bizarrely smiling for the camera. Sonya Katrina Spoon, 27, confessed to killing her two young children at the weekend at her Maryland home . Paramedics were called to her home in Prince George's County to treat two unconscious children at around 2am on Sunday. The pair were both taken to Children's Hospital in Washington, where they died a few hours later. Police say the mother waved her Miranda rights today and gave a very detailed statement of what occurred when she suffocated them. Deaths: Kayla Thompson and Ayden Spoon were pronounced dead early on Sunday morning and their mother Sonya (all three pictured) charged with first degree murder . Investigation: Sonya was living in her parents Maryland home and police have now launched a full inquiry to examine why the mother allegedly killed her two children . Today there were reports that the mother of two had been taken in for an emergency psychiatric evaluation last week - authorities are still trying to establish a motive. Both fathers of the children have been notified of their deaths. According to WTOP, court records show Spoon was involved in a lengthy custody battle with Lester Thompson, the father of her eldest child. It stated records filed in Calvert County show Spoon demanded a paternity test in February which showed he was the biological father. Court records also show Spoon refused to sign a custody agreement in May and then was then granted primary custody. Court records show Spoon was involved in a lengthy custody battle with Lester Thompson, the father of her eldest child (pictured) Spoon will remain in police custody pending trial following her confession this morning . Spoon posted this photo on Twitter with the caption: 'Tie blanket I worked hard on for my princess' Thompson was ordered to child support and was told he could spend time with his daughter for a handful of days each month. He wrote on Facebook: 'Going to pick up my daughter today and I am so happy to spend some time with her.' According to her Twitter profile, Spoon was adopted from Russia and brought to the United States when she was three-years-old. She posted several photos of her children on the social networking site who she called 'my world.' Her last post on August 20 was a photo of her with Kayla which she titled 'My love.' Neighbors in Chesapeake Beach said that Spoon had moved in with her parents recently and they said they have seen young children around the house. Spoon's parents, Gary and Paivi Spoon were not home at the time. Neighbors told the Washington Post that the Spoon's were looking to renovate their home and were letting Sonya live their while work continued. Spoon posing in photos posted on a social media website a few years ago . According to her Twitter profile, Spoon was adopted from Russia and brought to the United States when she was three-years-old . A bio Spoon put on the internet a few years ago in which she detailed her 'fiance Lester' and says 'I love my kids' One neighbor who didn't wish to be identified said to CBS Baltimore: 'My two oldest woke me up when they noticed all the flashing lights from the police cars and ambulances that were out here,' one neighbor who didn't wish to be identified said to CBS Baltimore. 'They kind of made a big commotion because they saw one of the children being brought out.' A neighbor, Angela Pryor told the Washington Post that the killings had made her feel uncomfortable. 'You feel so safe living right across from the police,' she said. 'This seems very strange for this neighborhood.' Detective Bernard Jones underlined the fact that the murders were an isolated incident and there is 'no need for the community to be afraid.' 'We are all saddened by this tragic event. The loss of two children that were so young tugs at our hearts. As the police investigate this horrible case, our thoughts and prayers are with the family and the people of the Cheverly community as they try to reconcile how and why this happened,' said Prince George's County Executive Rushern L. Baker III, in a statement Sunday. Spoon will remain in police custody pending trial. | Paramedics were called to Sonya Spoon's Maryland home at 2am on Sunday . Kayla Thompson, three and Ayden Spoon, one, were pronounced dead . Spoon has not disclosed a motive and is being held without bond . | 6bacf3111e4133e52c3df46d014dbf7362164458 |
Haunting family photographs and treasured possessions belonging to Jewish victims of the Holocaust have been discovered in an attic more than 70 years after they were sent to concentration camps. Jewellery boxes and pictures believed to belong Samuel Gottschall and his loved ones, who were murdered by Nazis during the Second World War, were hidden away in a dim and damp attic in Slovakia. The stash was discovered between the roof beams of a home in the city of Presov in Slovakia by handyman, Imrich Girasek, who was fixing his neighbour's leaking roof. Scroll down for video . Haunting: This photograph found in the stash of personal belongings is believed to show Samuel Gottschall (right) and his family. They were all sent to concentration camps . Hidden treasures: Cutlery, photographs and documents were found in the house in Presov, Slovakia . Poignant: These family photos were taken before the deportation of the city's Jews began . Letters, newspaper clippings, a Jewish songbook, jewellery and cutlery had also been stowed away in 1942 - the year the deportation of the city's Jews started. Many families had left behind such personal collections in the hope that they would return to collect them. But they never did. Handyman: Imrich Girasek was fixing a neighbour's leaking roof when he came across the haul . Girasek, a 46-year-old former soldier and married father-of-five, said: 'The old roof needed to be checked so I went there because the owners are my friends. 'They have owned the house since the 1960s. 'The owners of the house weren't interested in the things, but I couldn't bring myself to simply throw them away.' The items were found next to suitcases from the period, but the handyman thinks they had been looted. 'I believe the things were initially stored in the suitcases and then hidden in the attic, but that somebody searching for valuables must have taken them out and left them lying about,' Mr Girasek added. 'The jewellery boxes were all empty. Somebody must have stolen the jewellery years ago.' He carefully leafed through the documents and photographs – among them wedding pictures and family portraits – but was not able to identify the people in the pictures. 'Most likely all of them were deported to a transportation camp,' he added. 'All the found documents date back to before 1942, and the first transport of Jews from Presov happened in 1942.' Mr Girasek gave the items to the city's Museum of Jewish Culture with the hope the family could be identified and relatives located. 'It would make me happy to know that the things had been passed on to people close to the family who used to own them,' he added. Mystery: The photographs found in the Presov home are believed to belong to Mr Gottschall's family, but the museum researching their origins cannot be 100 per cent certain . Discovered: This document, believed to feature college graduates, includes a photograph of a man with the surname Gottschall . Family portrait: These smartly dressed subjects are thought to be connected to the Gottschall family . Gita Eckhausová, head of Presov's Jewish Religious Community, said: 'We have gone through the material and compared the photographs with historic photos from our archives. 'It would appear that the items belonged to the family of Jewish Neolog cantor (prayer leader) Samuel Gottschall. 'According to our research, the people pictured in the photographs are Gottschall and his family, but we can't be 100 percent certain.' Mr Gottschall, born in 1878, was deported to a concentration camp in 1942 along with his entire family. Lubica Tatranska, the museum's employee responsible for the restoration of historic items, said: 'Everything is dirty and dusty. The Jews used to hide their personal and valuable things before they were deported. 'Most of them thought they were going to labour camps and would eventually return.' Artifacts: The items are now at the Museum of Jewish Culture, once an Orthodox synagogue . Unassuming: The stash was found in the attic of this house, built next to the Neolog synagogue . Holy place: The items were found in a house next to the Neolog synagogue (pictured), which is now a shop . Unidentified: Staff at the museum believe the photographs belong to Samuel Gottschall, but individuals cannot named . Lubica Tatranska, the museum's employee responsible for the restoration of historic items, said some of the documents and photos are damaged and have no value . Slovakia had been an ally of Nazi Germany and the country supplied it with workers. However, when it fell short of the promised numbers, it agreed to replace the shortfall with 10,000 to 20,000 deported Slovak Jews. Before the war, some 136,000 Jews lived in Slovakia, but now there are only about 4,000. In Presov, the third-largest city in Slovakia, some 6,000 Jews were deported to concentration camps between 1942 and 1945. Only 800 people returned to the city after the war and many of them later emigrated, often to the US, Australia, Israel and the UK. The documents found in the attic are written in German, Hungarian, Yiddish and Hebrew, and several bear the surname Gottschall, including newspaper clippings and a songbook and musical scores signed by Samuel Gottschall. The items were located in the house built next to the Neolog synagogue in Presov's historic city centre. Further research in the Australian Dictionary of Biography has indicated that Mr Gottschall may have had son who survived the horrors of the war - Benjamin Bela Vojtech - who became a rabbi. He married Margareta Glässner in 1938 in the Czech town of Louny. Discovery: This was another of the documents found between the roof beams . Musical: Museum employee Lubica Tatranska carefully inspects this Jewish songbook, which was stowed away in 1942 . The country was an ally of Nazi Germany. Slovakia paid 500 Reichsmark to Germany for accepting each deported Jew, under the condition that none would ever return. Before the deportation had even started, Heinrich Himmler, one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany, proposed that Slovakia be made entirely free of Jews. The Slovak government readily agreed to this. Historical sources estimate that as many as 70,000 Slovak Jews were deported to concentration camps during the war. In Presov, the third-largest city in Slovakia, some 6,000 Jews were deported between 1942 and 1945. During the Second World War, Mr Vojtech secretly carried out religious services before he and his wife were transported to Auschwitz in German-occupied Poland. Mr Vojtech's wife died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, but he survived and was liberated in May 1945. After the war, he served as a communal rabbi to the surviving Jews in Prague. He remarried in 1946 and left Czechoslovakia for Australia three years later with his, then pregnant, wife and one child, to escape the hardship under the communist regime. Mr Vojtech died of cancer in 1978 in Sydney, but this is where the trail ends. The items will be cleaned, counted and become part of the museum's collection in the coming weeks. Any relatives who get in touch with the museum can claim the items discovered by Mr Girasek. Manuscript: This document helped the museum staff identify its owner. It was signed by Samuel Gottschall . Newspapers: Clippings from Hungarian papers were among the items hidden in the home . | Treasured possessions belonging to Jewish Holocaust victims discovered . Family photos, jewellery boxes and documents hidden in Slovakian attic . It is believed the stash belonged to Samuel Gottschall, born in 1878 . The prayer leader was deported to a concentration camp with his family . Heartbreaking find made by handyman fixing neighbour's leaky roof . They had been stashed in the hope the family would one day return . Mr Gottschall may have had a surviving son who moved to Australia . | fe8df0b19bbb53ca7672ba8169fa9966a6d884f4 |
By . David Kent . Manchester City have unveiled the kit that Manuel Pellegrini's side will wear on the road as they pursue back-to-back Premier League titles. The champions have revealed their new dark blue Nike away kit with just 16 days to go until they kick off their season at Wembley in the Community Shield against Arsenal. The shirt gradually gets lighter as it reaches the shorts - but doesn't quite come close to City's sky blue home kit. Yellow details stand out across the shirt - including a 'We are City' message on the inside collar. Passion: City right back Pablo Zabaleta poses in the new dark blue shirt, complete with yellow detail . Fans will be pleased to see the return of the dark blue and yellow colours - intended as a nod towards the 2-2 Second Division Play-Off final draw in 1999 that saw City promoted on penalties. The new kit is available for pre order now and hits the shops on July 29. And as if Sergio Aguero and co needed an edge to beat their rivals, the kit even includes socks with 'Elite Match fit' technology that aims to cushion common injury areas, as well as providing a better touch through less material being used. Pride: The shirt features the message 'We are City' on the inside of the neck in yellow text . Fresh new look: City's players will stand out in the dark Premier League winter with the bright yellow detail . In all its glory: The new shirt will be available from July 29, with pre ordering open now . VIDEO Pellegrini predicts United title challenge . | Sky Blues go for darker shade to defend their title on the road . New Nike kit recognises City's Second Division promotion in 1999 . Inside of the back of the neck reads 'We are City' in yellow text . Kit is available for pre order now and goes on sale July 29 . High-tech socks have less material to improve players' touch . | 3f551031827059a72a505401c7d11fdc61371afd |
An MP is furious after a pole dancing club owned by international porn baron Larry Flynt offered Pippa Middleton £100,000 - to become a stripper. The club, which is owned by the proprietor of Hustler magazine, is trying to tempt Prince William’s sister-in-law with the six-figure sum to become a 'Hustler Honey'. In a letter posted this week to the website of Hustler Club UK, based in Croydon, south London, the clubs states she could be 'exempt' from on-stage performances and could instead 'entertain' her guests in its VIP rooms. Scroll down for video . A South London pole dancing club is offering 'exceptional beauty' Pippa Middleton, pictured at this month's British Heart Foundation's Roll Out The Red Ball, £100,000 to become a stripper . It reads: 'We at Larry Flynt’s world famous Hustler Club cordially invite you to become an honorary member of the Hustler Honeys. 'If this should become a reality, I hope very much that you would accept our offer of £100,000 in addition to the gratuities afforded to our top-tier entertainers.' The club believes her qualities such as 'strength', 'bravery' and 'exceptional beauty' make her the perfect candidate for the role. The letter, penned by club executive Lily Carousel, believes the role is an 'opportunity to have a little fun' and 31-year-old Pippa would be the 'most exceptional Hustler Honey to date'. MPs are furious after a pole dancing club owned by international porn baron Larry Flynt, pictured in 2004, offered Pippa Middleton the role via a letter on its website . The letter, penned by club executive Lily Carousel, believes the role is an 'opportunity to have a little fun' and 31-year-old Pippa would be the 'most exceptional Hustler Honey to date' Hustler Club UK, based in Croydon, south London, states she could be 'exempt' from on-stage performances and could instead 'entertain' her guests in its VIP rooms . It continues: 'Exempt from stage performances you could focus solely on entertaining your guests in our luxurious private VIP rooms. 'Your experience in the event planning industry is an asset that would ensure your comfort in entertaining in your new environment whilst our ever-exciting parties would surely benefit from the flair of a professional party planner. 'Nothing would give us greater pleasure than if you were to accept.' The staunch royalist and Conservative MP for Romford, Andrew Rosindell, blasted the club’s invitation to the sister of Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge. The letter goes on: 'Your experience in the event planning industry is an asset that would ensure your comfort in entertaining in your new environment' He said: 'It’s a free country and she can choose to do what she wants to do but I’m sure she wouldn’t accept such an invitation. That would not look good for the royal family. 'Anyone close to the royal family should be above that kind of thing. 'I think it’s pretty gutter stuff really. It’s disrespectful and is the sort of thing that would turn most people off his clubs.' The letter comes with a caveat in case Pippa doesn’t fancy joining multimillionaire 72-year-old Flynt’s club. Larry Flynt, centre, pictured in 2004 at the Hustler Hollywood adult department store in Birmingham - the first such store to be opened outside the USA . The club believes her qualities such as 'strength', 'bravery' and 'exceptional beauty' make her the perfect candidate for the role . It proposes that if someone proposes to her, she should hold her hen do there. It reads: 'We would include bottle service and entertainment in our private VIP rooms, including time with some of our amazing Hustler Honeys and their tantalizing performances on three stages. 'We’ll guarantee you the most fun you’ve ever had.' MailOnline has contacted Pippa Middleton and Hustler Club UK for comment. The staunch royalist and Conservative MP for Romford, Andrew Rosindell, blasted the club's invitation to the sister of Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge . Pippa was spotted showing off her Mustique tan last week at the British Heart Foundation's Roll Out The Red Ball fundraiser hand-in-hand with Nico Jackson on Tuesday evening. Also in attendance was her brother James Middleton and his partner Donna Air, with whom Pippa seemed extremely close to at the event, held at The Park Lane Hotel in Piccadilly, London. The 31-year-old, who is an ambassador for the charity, wore a striking scarlet lace dress by CH Carolina Herrera to attend the important event with a matching slick of ruby lipstick and heels. Carrying a box clutch and accessorising with a wide diamond bracelet, the sister of the Duchess of Cambridge wore her brunette locks in delicate curls which framed her pretty features. Pippa arrived on the arm of her handsome boyfriend Nico Jackson, with whom she hadn't been pictured since last year. The pair have been pursuing a long-distance relationship after he moved to Switzerland for work. Pippa was spotted showing off her Mustique tan last week at the British Heart Foundation's Roll Out The Red Ball fundraiser hand-in-hand with Nico Jackson on Tuesday evening . Donna Air, James Middleton and Pippa Middleton attend the inaugural Roll Out The Red Ball in aid of the British Heart Foundation at The Park Lane Hotel . | Hustler Club UK, based in Croydon, south London, invited Pippa via its site . Owned by international porn baron Larry Flynt . In an open letter, they say she'd be 'exempt' from on-stage performances . Staunch royalist and Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell blasted offer . | 512a904170e647b6826634cfce8cc466248b7290 |
(CNN) -- "Gigantic, alien-looking buildings" that bring to mind melted guitars, mushroom-like parasols and UFOs. That's how some of the world's finest examples of "blob buildings" have been described, by the company that wants to celebrate them. Building data company Emporis of Hamburg, Germany, usually gives kudos to more traditional architectural triumphs, such as these new skyscrapers completed last year. But this time "we felt that it's time to highlight this interesting and visually appealing topic," says Sarah Krenz, in the Emporis public relations office. What makes a building a blob? "Unconventional, right-angle-free geometric shapes," according to the report. It's also known as "liquid architecture." Emporis cites the Experience Music Project in Seattle, locally known as "The Blob," as a prime example. Others include the Golden Terraces in Warsaw, "whose wavy roof, created from 4,700 separate glass elements, rests like a frozen liquid over the atrium of this multi-story shopping center." As well as standing out from other buildings in their vicinity, blob buildings often conjure imaginative responses from the public, not always complimentary. While the Selfridges Building, a shopping center in Birmingham, England, is known as the Beehive due to its honeycomb-like façade, the London City Hall was once described as a "glass testicle." This list anticipates the opening next year of another "blob" -- the exhibition building Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la Création in Paris, designed by Frank O. Gehry. What do you think? Are blob buildings creative and inspiring or ugly and over the top? Comment below. | "Blobitecture" comprises buildings with few or no right angles and fluid, flowing forms . Experience Music Project in Seattle, locally known as "The Blob," is a prime example . Blob building Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la Création, designed by Frank O. Gehry, to open in Paris in 2014 . | 014d4983a767e15b18555d21e236aa53f7c23410 |
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Oooooooshie the clown knows the instant effect he has on patients. The Lev Leytzan clowns perform for children and patients in hospitals to spread laughter and joy. "When you walk out of a room hearing people laugh and smile, you hear them talking about it," said the clown, whose real name is Asher Mechanic. He entertains children and patients as part of a clown troupe in New York called Compassionate Clown Alley, bringing laughter to those in hospitals. "It's the spreading of giving from one person to another, like a chain reaction," Mechanic said. The clown organization is also known as Lev Leytzan, a name derived from the program's roots working with Jewish youth. In Hebrew, lev means heart, and leytzan is a clown, so the translation is "The Heart of the Clown." Watch the clowns talk about their work. » . "Lev Leytzan allows me to take [something] scary and mundane for the patient and into something exciting beautiful and playful," said the group's founder, Dr. Neal Goldberg, a Woodmere, New York-based clinical psychologist. For the last two and half years, the clowns have been bringing cheer to the patients at the South Nassau Communities Hospital. "The patients get satisfaction from having some sunshine coming to them in the hospital," said Phyllis Citera, director of volunteer services at the hospital. "Sundays at the hospital are typically quiet, especially for those patients who don't have visitors stopping by. The clowns especially cheer them up." A positive approach empowers people who are ill, said Goldberg, who works with children, teenagers and young adults. Six years ago, while working on a bereavement project, he realized he was making a clown of himself and others in an effort to help people cope with pain. He wondered what would distract the patients from their pain and bring joy. Inspired by the work of Dr. Patch Adams, who was portrayed by Robin Williams in the 1998 film "Patch Adams," Goldberg thought of running a similar program in which he and others could bring joy to people in orphanages, hospitals and retirement homes using the same whimsical approach. Goldberg researched the subject before putting on a red nose and trying out therapeutic clowning for himself. "I found it powerful in terms of my own growth and freedom of expression and creativity, and thought it would be something wonderful and powerful to bring back to the community, to teens in particular," he said. Goldberg's clowns range from 13 to 22 years old and say they find it both empowering and humbling. "As a clown, you get more than you give," said Dassy Newman, a former clown. "You can't hold back, you have to give it all. You have to give your heart, your soul, your energy, everything. It's the most exhausting thing you've ever done, but at the same time it's the most exhilarating." Dr. Carolyn Fein-Levy, a pediatric oncologist at Schneider Children's Hospital in New Hyde Park, New York, said Goldberg's clowns provide relief to the patients. "Whenever the clowns are around, the children are happier," Fein-Levy said. "When they are happier, their parents enjoy watching them. They recapture their childhoods lost as a result of being sick. Clowns are a good distraction and it helps them feel normal. Nothing is more important for them than feeling normal, because their lives are not normal while going through therapy." She also teaches an oncology class to the Lev Leytzan clowns. "It adds another dimension to their training and gives them an overview and an understanding to know what it's like to be a kid with cancer," she said. Fein-Levy also draws from her own experience, having survived ovarian cancer as a child after a year of chemotherapy. "I teach in the clown school but I'm not worried about patients being harmed," she said. "I'm more worried about harm for clowns because it's hard to see sick children. Some of the clowns have never really seen illness, and they can be afraid, and that's OK." Clowning might be assumed to be all fun and games, but Goldberg takes the work very seriously. "Some of the kids may have told you there's intense amounts of hours of training and rehearsals with doctors and clowns and debriefings," he said. Ultimately, Goldberg said, the goal of Lev Leytzan is to "change people's worlds, create worlds for people that need it, and to help people play." He does it all under the mantra of "serious clowning, a story behind every smile." | Clown group Lev Leytzan gets name from working with Jewish youth. Founder says he was inspired by Dr. Patch Adams to bring joy to patients . Clowns who perform for patients say experience is humbling . Mantra of group is "serious clowning, a story behind every smile" | 970a47c8dee6e803400f5f688ba984311804b4f8 |
Paris St-Germain were made to pay for their profligacy as a late goal from Samuel Umtiti gave Lyon a 1-1 draw at the Parc des Princes on Sunday. PSG had led through Edinson Cavani's 20th-minute header but, after wasting a whole host of chances to double their lead, Les Parisiens were stunned when Umtiti equalised with a deflected shot in the 84th minute after a rare Lyon foray forward. Boos echoed around the Parc des Princes at the final whistle as Laurent Blanc's side's indifferent start to the season continues. Paris St-Germain manager Laurent Blanc looks perplexed as his side miss a host of chances against Lyon . Samuel Umtiti equalised at the Parc des Princes for Lyon to ramp up the pressure on PSG boss Laurent Blanc . Last season's Ligue 1 winners are currently fifth with just two wins in their opening six matches. Earlier, substitute Nabil Dirar's first-half goal gave Monaco a 1-0 victory over Guingamp at the Stade Louis II. The Morocco winger, on for the injured Anthony Martial, struck seven minutes before half-time to give Leonardo Jardim's side only their second league victory of the new campaign - their first in three league matches. Paris St-Germain took the lead through Edinson Cavani but paid the price for not finishing off Lyon . The slender victory saw Monaco move up four places to 15th in the standings, while Guingamp replaced them in 19th. Fabien Lemoine's 81st-minute goal earned St Etienne a 1-0 win at Lens while Lille and Montpellier shared a goalless draw at the Stade Pierre Mauroy. | The Ligue 1 reigning champions took the lead through Edinson Cavani . Samuel Umtiti equalised for Lyon late on as PSG miss a host of chances . Les Parisiens are currently fifth in Ligue 1 as fans boo at . | e670aaa3fd2ba8c4ef6222426a0284ba4395bba4 |
By . Associated Press Reporter . Can you crowd-fund the hunt for a war criminal on the run deep in Africa's jungles? A Canadian adventurer with experiences in Afghanistan and Somalia wants to do just that: raise funds and take a small band of former soldiers to find Joseph Kony. Robert Young Pelton, whose plan has already drawn criticism from a pair of Africa experts, is the latest to join a line of private individuals and aid groups who are trying to corner the alleged mass murderer and members of his Lord's Resistance Army. Kony remains elusive despite the deployment by President Barack Obama in late 2011 of 100 U.S. special forces to aid the hunt - which is mostly carried out by Ugandan troops - and the efforts by myriad private groups. Robert Young Pelton, left, has launched a crowd-funding page in an attempt raise the funds to hire a small band of former soldiers and track down Ugandan terrorist and warlord Joseph Kony . Members of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) pictured in 2006 as their leader Joseph Kony met with a delegation of Ugandan officials and lawmakers and representatives from non-governmental organizations, in the Democratic Republic of Congo near the Sudanese border . The U.S. State Department said non-governmental groups and foundations ‘have played a critical role in bringing the LRA's atrocities to the world's attention and continue to play an important role... to end those atrocities.’ But while the U.S. military's Africa Command and the State Department both said they ‘appreciate the passion and commitment of Americans and citizens around the world to help the communities terrorized by the LRA,’ neither would comment on Pelton's effort. Pelton, the author of ‘The World's Most Dangerous Places,’ says he has done work for U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan, and that he excels at finding people who don't want to be found. If his plan is funded, he would start looking for Kony, who is likely in the Central African Republic, early next year, he said. ‘I am actually walking through the jungle myself with a stalwart band of like-minded people with all the right skills,’ Pelton said by telephone, adding that his group won't be looking to kill anyone and intends to comply with local laws. U.S. Army special forces Master Sergeant Eric, center, who would only give his first name in accordance with special forces security guidelines, speaks with troops from the Central African Republic and Uganda, in Obo, Central African Republic, where U.S. special forces have paired up with local troops and Ugandan soldiers to seek out Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) ‘I'm not Wyatt Earp,’ he insisted. ‘I'm not gathering a posse to chase down Kony for the money. I'm trying to see if I can create a system that works.’ By ‘works’ Pelton means a system that can finally get Kony, who was indicted by the International Criminal Court in 2005 on crimes against humanity charges including sexual slavery, rape and murder. J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council, a think tank in Washington, said: ‘One really does not know whether this scheme merits ridicule or reproach. 'The notion of asking the public to contribute to sending a self-promoting adventurer and two filmmakers off to find an elusive warlord whom the militaries of several African countries assisted by U.S. Special Operations Forces have not managed to catch is risible, to say the least.’ Pelton's $500,000 crowd-funding bid via indiegogo - a platform like Kickstarter - has raised only about $7,500 in two weeks. The Ugandan military spokesman, Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda, said he had not heard of Pelton's mission, though he sounded incredulous when it was described to him. 'We wish him good luck. That's all I can say,' Ankunda said. Pelton's $500,000 crowd-funding bid via indiegogo has raised only about $7,500 in two weeks . Pelton isn't alone in trying to bring Kony to justice, other efforts include: . The U.S. Africa Command says the LRA has 'murdered, raped and kidnapped tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children' and that more than 380,000 people across three African countries have been displaced while fleeing the violence. The U.S. State Department is offering a $5 million reward - up to $15 million total - for help in the arrest of Kony and two of his lieutenants. Ugandan Brig. Sam Kavuma, who took over earlier this year as the top commander of African Union troops searching for Kony in a wild, sparely inhabited region of dense jungle covering Congo, South Sudan and Central African Republic, spoke well of Bridgeway's contribution, saying it made the mission more agile. Others though, including those who are generally pleased with the group's role, say that disputes arise between U.S. troops, the Ugandan military and Bridgeway's private contractors. Simon Mulongo, a lawmaker who sits on the defense and internal affairs committee of Uganda's parliament, said Bridgeway's private contractors are essentially 'a mercenary force, and mercenaries have limitations.' He said there were concerns about the chain of command and possible infighting. The contractors carry light weapons and tracking devices, Mulongo said. Kavuma disputed this account, saying the contractors are not armed and that only one of them is still active on the ground in central Africa. Besides its other assistance, Bridgeway is also financing a canine unit to find children abducted by Kony's army. 'What was happening was you just could never find the children in that vast of a jungle, in that thick of a jungle, and so these sniffer dogs would come in and they could smell where the children had bed down and help find them,' said Shannon Sedgwick Davis, Bridgeway's chief executive. Robert Young Pelton, pictured in 2003, whose crowd-funding scheme has already drawn criticism from a pair of Africa experts, is the latest to join a line of private individuals and aid groups who are trying to corner Joseph Kony and the members of his Lord's Resistance Army . Davis said she discussed Bridgeway's involvement with the U.S. government and United Nations officials and focused on filling gaps in the official anti-Kony mission. The U.S. State Department said it has no objections to Bridgeway's escalated role and that it seeks to coordinate with all such groups where possible. Maj. Fred Harrel, a spokesman for the U.S. military's Africa Command, said the African-led, U.S.-supported mission has reduced Kony's operating space and influence. 'There has been an overall reduction in attacks, abductions, and civilians killed, along with increased defections from the LRA,' he said. But despite all the efforts, Kony remains on the loose. Video: Expedition Kony . | Robert Young Pelton has launched a crowd-funding page in an attempt raise the funds for his expedition . He wants to hire a band of bounty hunters to track down Ugandan terrorist and warlord Joseph Kony, who is wanted for war crimes . Kony was indicted by the International . Criminal Court in 2005 on crimes against humanity charges including . sexual slavery, rape and murder . The U.S. State Department is offering a . $5 million reward for help in the arrest of . Kony . Pelton's $500,000 crowd-funding bid via indiegogo has raised only about $7,500 in two weeks . | 5c33936b1ecb2b182dd175253991df62fe41b81b |
By . Harriet Arkell . PUBLISHED: . 05:30 EST, 3 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 19:15 EST, 3 May 2013 . It is designed to turn the merely tough into the super-tough. The Royal Marines' much-feared Mud Run is the toughest part of the 32-week training course said to turn 'civilians into commandos', and looking at these astonishing photographs, you can see why even the strongest recruits dread it. Exhausted, demoralised, and covered in foul-smelling sludge from head to toe, these Royal Marine recruits hope one day to wear the coveted Green Beret marking them out as the elite of Britain's fighting forces. Scroll down for video . Crawling through the mire of the Exe estuary in Devon, these recruits are taking part in the notorious Mud Run - the most feared part of the Royal Marines' training course . Drenched in mud from head to toe, the recruits' boiler suits offer little protection from the foul-smelling mud left by the retreating tide in the Exe estuary . The Commandos-in-waiting have to call upon reserves of strength they didn't know they had, both mental and physical, to survive the notorious exercise . As these pictures, taken on Wednesday, show, the men need to call upon reserves - both mental and physical - that they didn't know they had simply to get through the gruelling ordeal. Captain Ben Chappell, who oversees physical training at the Royal Marines Commmando Training Centre in Lympstone, Devon, said: 'The Mud Run is about instilling a Royal Marines state of mind. 'The recruits spend up to 45 minutes in the mud that is so thick they can barely run, doing exercises and games, and it is so difficult that getting through it really builds team spirit. 'We are not just looking for physical strength but mental resilience as well, and the team cohesion that comes from getting through the hardship together - this strength and cohesion forms part of the Royal Marines' DNA.' He said the recruits would not necessarily know when the run was coming up, saying: 'It's all about dislocation of expectation.' Their boilersuits offer little protection from the stinking slime as their superiors bawl at them to do press ups, and crawl on hands and knees through the mire left by the receding tide in the Exe estuary beside their training base in Lympstone, Devon. The agony and determination etched on the recruit's face shows the tenacity needed to earn the Green Beret worn by those who pass the commando training course . Gruelling: The Mud Runs are the most feared part of the 32-week training course at the Lympstone military base on the mouth of the Exe estuary . The beautiful setting of the Exe estuary in Devon belies the horror of what the future Royal Marines have to go through - sometimes more than once . Nowhere else in Britain is there a military base right at the gaping mouth of a river: The Exe estuary offers the perfect ground for obedience training . Bawled at by their superiors, the recruits haul themselves along on their stomach, soaked from head to toe in stinking tidal mud . This exhausted Royal Marine recruit resembles something out of a science fiction film as he lugs a traffic cone through the foul-smelling mud . Nowhere else in Britain is there a . military base right at the gaping mouth of a river, and the officers . take full advantage of the noxious mire left by the River Exe for some . hardcore obedience training. A . dreaded rite of passage, the infamous Mud Runs aren't a regular . fixture, but occur as and when officers deem them necessary. Generally . they are held towards the end of the training course, just before the . young recruits are awarded their coveted Green Berets. Sometimes they take place sooner than that, and sometimes more than once. And . as one of the toughest part of the Marines' training course, they are designed . to weed out those unable to cope, and create a bond amongst those . strong enough to survive. With barely an inch not covered by wet mud, the recruits are forced to crawl on hands and knees through the slime as they are barked at by their superiors . The Mud Runs take place as and when officers deem them necessary - generally towards the end of the training course but sometimes near the start, and sometimes more than once . Officers use the Mud Run to improve recruits' discipline, obedience and teamwork - vital once they are deployed as Royal Marines . 'There are two key aims we're trying . to achieve', explained Corporal Tom Limb, Troop Commander for 164 . Recruit Troop who are in their fourth week of training. 'Firstly, . instilling the ethos of team work and the commando qualities of . courage, determination and cheerfulness. The troop are still early on . in their training and they've not yet started to gel as a single unit . which is important. 'The . second is discipline - they understand what is expected of them but . their discipline levels aren't where they're supposed to be at this . stage. 'Eventually, after training and passing out they will be deployed with a Commando unit elsewhere, ready to go out on operational duties - so any discipline issues, to do with basic things like shaving and cleaning weapons that they are constantly forgetting to do, need to be ironed out early on so they don't manifest later when they're deployed. 'Hopefully the run will have achieved its aim.' Becoming a Royal Marine involves passing what many believe to be the most rigorous and relentless training course there is - as these images show . Not so much running as crawling: Exhausted recruits pull themselves through the mud, some so tired they let their heads sink into it, face-down . Looking more like the Anthony Gormley statues on Crosby beach than elite fighting troops, the men summon all the strength they have to get through the ordeal . | Notorious run is part of gruelling 32-week Royal Marine training course that 'turns civilians into commandos' It's held 'when necessary' in the foul-smelling mud of the Exe estuary near their Lympstone training base in Devon . Run designed to improve recruits' stamina, strength, and team-spirit - and to weed out those who aren't up to it . | 60322841b2b541c441dab7eb07564b0ae5f521d4 |
(CNN) -- A U.N. special investigator called for the resignation of top Kenyan officials and sweeping changes in the country's security forces to end reported widespread killings by police across the African nation. The report urged President Mwai Kibaki to publicly acknowledge his commitment to ending the killings. "The special rapporteur concluded that police in Kenya frequently execute individuals and that a climate of impunity prevails," Philip Alston said in a report a recently submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. "Most troubling is the existence of police death squads operating on the orders of senior police officials and charged with eliminating suspected leaders and members of criminal organizations." The report calls for the resignation of Kenya's attorney general and the immediate replacement of the police commissioner. It also says Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki should publicly acknowledge his commitment to ending unlawful killings by the police. The Kenyan government expressed its "deep displeasure" with the report, questioning the special investigator's "approach, conduct and method of work." "The government expresses grave concern regarding the allegations contained in the report by the special rapporteur," said Alfred Mutua, a spokesman for the Kenyan government. "His questioning of the very basis of the Kenyan state and, in particular, its institutions is totally unacceptable and impinges on Kenya's sovereignty." Alston also accused government security forces of torturing and killing hundreds of men in a March 2008 crackdown on a militia in the Mt. Elgon district, in western Kenya. And he said there was compelling evidence that what he called police death squads were operating in Nairobi and Central Province with a mandate to "exterminate" suspected Mungiki gang members. "These are not "rogue" squads, but police who are acting on the explicit orders of their superiors," he said. The Mungiki militia, which is loyal to Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe, began as a religious sect, but over the years has morphed into a gang that runs protection rackets -- particularly in the slums. The U.N. investigator suggested Kibaki acknowledge the alleged police killings and commit to stop them. He also advocated creating an independent civilian police oversight body, and said the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court should investigate violence after the 2007 election. He urged the government to create a witness protection program as well. Alston, who investigates human-rights problems around the world for the United Nations, traveled to Kenya at the government's invitation. He stayed for 10 days in mid-February while 100 interviews were conducted in the U.N. member nation. There is hope for Kenya despite his criticism, Alston said. "While the existing situation is bad, it is far from intractable," the report says. "If it so chooses, Kenya can significantly reduce the prevalence of unlawful killings." | Report: Police death squads operate on the orders of senior officials . Calls for resignation of attorney general, replacement of police commissioner . Philip Alston accuses security forces of killing hundreds of men in 2008 crackdown . Kenya questions investigator's "approach, conduct and method of work" | 69cf0935e78e4c222092877e745c1e27139d80a9 |
Owen Coyle has been announced as the new head coach of Major League Soccer club Houston Dynamo. The former Burnley and Bolton manager admitted it was 'nice to be wanted' after securing his first coaching job in a year. Coyle left his post as Wigan manager in December 2013 after three defeats in a week left the Latics 14th in the Championship table. Owen Coyle has been announced as the new head coach of Major League Soccer club Houston Dynamo . The 48-year-old is understood to have signed a three-year contract with Texan franchise Houston. 'First and foremost I'm thankful for the opportunity to come to the Houston Dynamo,' Coyle told the club's official website. 'It is nice to be wanted by a fantastic club and I feel we have a great opportunity to put a team on the pitch that is pleasing on the eye and can win games. 'I've been watching Houston Dynamo for many years and I know the atmosphere of the supporters. 'The league is thriving and the opportunity to join a big club like the Dynamo is very exciting for me.' Coyle has become just the second coach in the Houston franchise's history, following Dominic Kinnear. The former Bolton Wanderers manager was sacked of boss at Wigan Athletic this time last year . The American outfit were keen to cite Coyle's achievements in guiding Burnley to the Premier League and a first top-flight stint in 33 years in 2009. 'I am extremely excited to bring Owen Coyle to the Houston Dynamo and am confident he is the right fit,' said club president Chris Canetti. 'He brings a wealth of experience at the highest level and possesses the personal qualities we are looking for in our manager. 'Most importantly, I can feel his will to win and know that he is motivated to successfully lead us into the next phase of our club's future.' | Owen Coyle is the new head coach at Houston Dynamo . The former Bolton boss has been out of work for a year . Scot Coyle was sacked by Wigan Athletic back in 2013 . | b103ab6b857079f91481bde02e3b822c791ebc48 |
By . Lizzie Edmonds . PUBLISHED: . 11:46 EST, 5 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 11:46 EST, 5 January 2014 . These amazing underground pictures are of an elaborate cave system in south Wales. Caver turned photographer Joshua Bratchley, 22, took this stunning collection of images of the Dan yr Ogof cave system - including one that looks like the opening sequence to the James Bond films. Elsewhere giant stalactites hang from the ceiling with one meeting a stalagmite - making a tower. The name's Bond: These stunning images were taken of the Dan yr Ogof cave system - including this which looks like the James Bond opening sequence . Growth: Photographer Joshua Bratchley took these pictures of some enormous stalactites in the south Wales cave system . Close up: The 22-year-old photographer is also a keen caver and have been exploring such systems for many years . Meanwhile, several deep pools can be seen - with one intrepid caver wading in up to their waist. The photographer is a keen caver himself and only recently began to combine this with photography. He said: 'I began to combine the two and I found that I was very passionate about capturing these sensational places in my own images. 'It often takes a lot of thought to get the right lighting since the caves are naturally pitch black so seeing good results from efforts as thoroughly rewarding. Hidden features: A caver looks at one stalactite which has merged with a stalagmite in the cave system . Reach: This photograph shows the very beginnings of some tiny stalagmites, created from water and other minerals . 'My favourite photo is the one in Bakerloo straight, although people have taken other similar images before, I like how in this one the steam from the silhouetted caver rises in the light. 'I'd made many trips in to the cave before but had not taken enough time to admire its beauty so I took a camera with me to capture it in my records. 'It is a stunning system.' Exploring: One intrepid caver wades up to their chest in the freezing waters of the cave system . Expansive: The photographer says he is 'very passionate' about capturing these 'sensational' places on film . | Photographer Joshua Bratchley, 22, took . this stunning collection of images of the Dan yr Ogof cave system . One cave looks just like the opening sequence to James Bond films while another boasts giant stalagmites . | fa6818b5a16cf0bbaebe72301ba3b0f274fc0bff |
(CNN) -- A pregnant British woman jailed in Laos was denied access to a British lawyer who flew out to meet her, a human rights group said Tuesday. Samantha Orobator became pregnant in prison, according to a spokeswoman for rights group Reprieve. Samantha Orobator, 20, had been facing possible execution by firing squad after she was arrested in August for allegedly carrying about half a kilogram of heroin. Those found guilty of carrying that amount normally face the death penalty, said the lawyer, Anna Morris of Reprieve, a London-based human rights group. But Orobator will escape the death sentence because she is pregnant, a spokesman for the Laotian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. The country's criminal law prohibits courts from sentencing pregnant women to death, spokesman Khenthong Nuanthasing told CNN. The woman's trial hasn't been scheduled yet, he said, but is likely to happen next week. Morris went to Laos on Sunday, having been assured she would be able to meet Orobator, Reprieve said. But so far, she has been refused permission, the group said. Watch a report on the case » . "Ms. Morris was refused her first visit yesterday, and I am led to understand that the Laotians are now saying that she will not be permitted to visit. This is totally unacceptable," Reprieve director Clive Stafford Smith said in an open letter to British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. Orobator has not seen a lawyer since she was arrested August 5, allegedly with just over half a kilogram (about a pound) of heroin, according to Reprieve. That amount of heroin would sell for $80,000 to $150,000 on the streets of New York, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said. London's Metropolitan Police declined to estimate a street value. Watch a former Laos prison inmate recount jail conditions » . Reprieve has said that Orobator became pregnant in prison, possibly as a result of rape, and that she is due to give birth in September. That would mean Orobator became pregnant in January. Khenthong agreed that Orobator is five months pregnant. But he indicated that Orobator might have already been pregnant when she was arrested, and that she lost the first baby while in prison. He said Orobator declared on the day of her arrest in August that she was two months pregnant by her boyfriend. After she had already been in jail for some time, he said, Orobator asked for medication to cure a vaginal infection, and he believes it caused her to lose the child. Khenthong said officials are investigating Orobator's pregnancy. Orobator's mother said she found out about her daughter's pregnancy in January. Jane Orobator told CNN she heard the news from the British Foreign Office, which has been monitoring the case. There is no British Embassy in Laos; a British vice consul arrived in the country over the weekend, the British Foreign Office said. Jane Orobator said she cannot believe her daughter was involved in drug trafficking, and she was surprised to learn she was in Laos. "I don't know" what she was doing there, she said from her home in Dublin, Ireland. "The last time she spoke with me, she said she was on holiday in London and she would come to see us in Dublin before returning to the UK in July. "She is not the type of person who would be involved in drugs," she added. Reprieve is worried about her health, especially given her pregnancy, Morris said. "She became pregnant in prison. We are concerned that it may not have been consensual, and we are concerned that someone who finds herself in prison at 20 is subject to exploitation," she said. "I am the first British lawyer who has asked for access to her," Morris said. "She needs to have a local lawyer appointed to her. We are pressing very hard for the local authorities to appoint one." She said it was normal in the Laotian justice system for a defendant to get a lawyer only days before a trial. The last execution in Laos was in 1990, the foreign affairs spokesman said. Samantha Orobator was born in Nigeria and moved to London with her family when she was 8, her mother said. CNN's Kocha Olarn contributed to this report. | Samantha Orobator was facing death by firing squad for alleged drug trafficking . Country's laws prohibit courts from sentencing pregnant women to death . Official: Orobator was arrested on August 5 . She became pregnant while in prison, rights group spokeswoman says . | ec11b44b75b599899671359986357e91de7d11bc |
After scoffing a huge roast dinner, tucking into a box of chocolates and finishing off a bottle of festive tipple, many of us are prone to falling asleep in front of the TV. But that does mean we miss out on all the Christmas specials, films and end of the year quizzes. With this in mind, a pair of teenagers has created a wearable band that knows when its wearer has dozed off. It then pauses and records whatever was being watched so it can be viewed later on. Scroll down for video . The KipstR band uses a pulse oximeter to establish when the wearer has fallen asleep, or wakes up again. The band then mimics a TiVo remote by pausing, recording or resuming the show that is currently being watched. Other people in the family can then change the channel without interfering with the recording . Called KipstR, the 3D-printed band was created by Manchester students Ryan Oliver, 15, and Jonathan Kingsley, 14, in partnership with Virgin Media as part of its Switched on Futures initiative. The wearable tech features a pulse oximeter, and a wireless sensor which means it can ‘talk’ to a Virgin Media TiVo box. Pulse oximetry is used to measure oxygen levels, or saturation in the blood. It is a non-invasive way of determining how much oxygen is being delivered to the part of the body where the sensor is placed. When people fall asleep, this flow of blood changes and a pulse oximeter can use these changes to recognise when someone has dozed off - and equally, when they are awake again. The current KipstR prototype (pictured) features a spark core chip, pulse-oximeter, push button, sleep mode indicator and a small LiPo battery . KipstR measures a user’s heart rate to detect sleep. It then communicates with a Virgin Media TiVo box to pause and record the current programme being viewed. When the user’s heart rate rises to ‘awake’ levels it triggers Virgin Media’s TiVo boxes to resume the programme. The current KipstR prototype features a spark core chip, pulse-oximeter, push button, sleep mode indicator and a small LiPo battery. The spark core chip at the heart of KipstR processes all the data from the pulse-oximeter, dictating when the band triggers TiVo to record, pause or re-play. The outer casing of KipstR is 3D printed using an Objet Connex 3D Printer using a resin called Polyjet. This resin is more robust than the rigid plastics used by most 3D printers. Wearable technologies such as KipstR could also be used to monitor wearer’s emotional reactions to their TV viewing, helping TiVo learn and tag programmes that evoke the strongest responses from the wearer. Virgin Media will be trialling KipstR this Christmas with customers able to register interest in KipstR from this month. It is also exploring how KipstR could sleep-control other connected devices in the home including powering up and down devices and controlling customers central heating, helping save time and money. Once KipstR establishes the wearer has fallen asleep, the band mimics a TiVo remote to pause and record the show that is currently being watched. And if the person wakes up, the show will resume. Additionally, once a show is being recorded, other people in the family can change the channel without interfering with this recording. Mr Oliver, studying at Manchester Creative Studio said: ‘We jumped at the chance to work with the Virgin Media team on this project, it was a brilliant challenge for us but we’ve learnt so much and are really pleased with the end result.’ The band features a pulse oximeter, and a wireless sensor which means it can ‘talk’ to a Virgin Media TiVo box. Pulse oximetry is used to measure oxygen levels, or saturation in the blood. It is a non-invasive way of determining how much oxygen is being delivered to parts of the body where the sensor (pictured) is placed . The 3D-printed KipstR band was created by Manchester Creative Studio students Jonathan Kingsley (pictured left), 14 and Ryan Oliver (pictured right), 15, in partnership with Virgin Media . Pulse oximetry is used to measure oxygen levels, or saturation in the blood. It is a non-invasive way of determining how much oxygen is being delivered to the part of the body where the sensor is placed. Oxygen in the air is breathed into the lungs before passing into the blood, where it attaches to haemoglobin, and circulates to the tissues. When people fall asleep, this flow of blood changes and a pulse oximeter can use these changes to recognise when someone has dozed off. Mr Kingsley added: ‘It’s given us a taster for what we would like to do when we leave school. We’re excited to see what the next project will bring.’ Wearable technologies such as KipstR could also be used to monitor wearer’s emotional reactions to their TV viewing, helping TiVo learn and tag programmes that evoke the strongest responses from the wearer. The firm will be trialling KipstR this Christmas with customers able to register interest in KipstR from December 2014. It is also exploring how KipstR could sleep-control other connected devices in the home including powering up and down devices and controlling customers central heating, helping save time and money. | Two teenagers created a wearable band to be worn while watching TV . It uses a pulse-oximeter to track changes in blood flow that occur when people fall asleep . The 3D-printed band was created in partnership with Virgin Media . Once it establishes the wearer is asleep, the band mimics a TiVo remote . It then pauses, records or resumes the show currently being watched . Other people can change the channel without interfering with the recording . | 3b41aaf6f8b080361adbe7de2f85f26e6aa20051 |
NEW YORK (CNN) -- For actress Jane Alexander, the criticism of a $50 million boost in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts is a sequel. Tony-award winning actress Jane Alexander says giving money to the arts will save and create jobs. She was chairman of the agency from 1993 through 1997 when arts funding was cut sharply by the Republican-led Congress, which questioned whether it was an appropriate way to use government money. Now the issue is whether giving money to the arts should have been part of the economic stimulus program. Among those who have criticized the new spending this year is Lousiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who delivered the Republican response to President Barack Obama's message to Congress Tuesday. On Monday's "Larry King Live," Jindal said, "Fundamentally, I don't think $30 million for the federal government to buy new cars, $1 billion for the Census, $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts is going to get the economy moving again as quickly as allowing the private sector to create jobs." It's no surprise that Alexander disagrees and argues that arts spending can give a vital boost to the economy. The actress, who will appear later this month in a new comedy at the New York theater company Primary Stages called "Chasing Manet," won a Tony Award for her role in the "The Great White Hope." She has been nominated eight times for an Emmy and four times for an Oscar for films including, "All the President's Men" and "Kramer vs. Kramer." Alexander spoke to CNN.com last week. CNN: What do you think of the controversy over the $50 million in increased government spending for the arts? Alexander: I think it's long overdue and I was very, very happy to see it. Since 1995-96 we had an incredibly decreased budget for the NEA. Finally we're getting back to where it was when I came in [as chairman]. It's all vitally needed. In fact, the endowment has not kept pace with inflation as other agencies have. ... This $50 million will certainly help a great deal. What people forget is that there are over 2 million people in the United States of America who are professional artists. Those are jobs like any other jobs. The artists have families, they have people for whom they're responsible and they give to their communities. We all have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The life part would be health and housing. The liberty part would be our civil rights. And the pursuit of happiness, the arts would come under that. And it's as vital a part of well-being in the United States as anything else. CNN: When you say 2 million artists, could you define artist? Alexander: Well they include everything from writers, painters, all the visual arts spectrum and that's pretty large, including graphic arts. Theater and so on, music, ceramicists, costume designers, makeup artists, filmmakers, it's a huge panoply. CNN: How far can $50 million go? Alexander: Well for the endowment which has had a budget of around $144 million currently, it can go quite a way. When I came in it was about $175 million and then it was cut under my aegis by Congress down to $99 million. CNN: Some people will say that while the NEA may consider this a victory, it's really a pittance, a drop in the bucket, so little money given the challenges many arts organizations are facing today. Alexander. It will help, it will help enormously, because every single NEA grant that goes out is a challenge to the community to come up with the same amount of money, or a 3 to 1. ... By the way, the public should know that within this coming year, we're going to see an awful lot of arts organizations closing. I just came from working at a theater in Pittsburgh, [Pennsylvania] and the International Poetry Forum, which has been going for 43 years, will close its doors this year. The Milwaukee Shakespeare Festival has already closed. The LA [Los Angeles] Opera has laid off 17 percent of its staff. CNN: So this isn't going to be enough to reverse those kinds of things? Alexander: No, but it will challenge the community to understand what the imperiled status of their arts organizations are. It will only help. It will help an enormous amount, and for some organizations, it will make all the difference in their staying alive. Now the NEA this fall gave out 884 grants, totaling $20 million and that was 38 percent of the project cost of the applicants. So 38 percent is a nice healthy piece of change for the cost of a project. CNN: How did you personally get involved in this cause? Alexander: As an actress who spent most of my career in nonprofit theaters, They began with the seed of an NEA grant back in the late 60s, most of them. Today we have about 450 nonprofit theaters across the United States. Back in 1965, when the NEA was founded, there were only about 23 of them. CNN: Your forthcoming play -- is that being done for a nonprofit theater? Alexander: Yes. It's another nonprofit called Primary Stages in New York City, a small theater. What people don't quite understand about theaters is that they never increase their size. They're bound by the number of seats within a given theater, and meanwhile there's inflation and the costs rise. So currently most theaters can never make more than 50 percent of their income from ticket sales. The rest has to be raised. CNN: How's the company doing? Alexander: It had a good play last year, "Dividing the Estate," by Horton Foote, which got a lot of attention but I don't think it made back its nut on Broadway. It transferred from the nonprofit to a commercial venue on Broadway. ... In the film business, independent films are considered nonprofit in many instances. It's interesting to see that an independent won the Academy Award. Of course it was distributed by a major studio. "Slumdog Millionaire" started off as an independent. It did extraordinarily well. ... Many of the commercial arts are fed by the nonprofit arts. And that's another thing most people don't fully understand. Where do you think the Tom Hanks, the Cate Blanchetts of the world come from? They come from small venues that are independent and are nonprofit usually and then they move into the mainstream. CNN: What's your attitude about the future, under the Obama administration. Do you think there's reason for hope about the arts, or despair? Alexander: I think there's reason for great hope. President Obama has said repeatedly and he's said it for a couple of years now, that he thinks arts education is vital for children of all ages, starting right away. We have the arts in nursery school anyway, but he believes in institutionalizing the arts so it's part of the curriculum for every child in America. ... Everybody in all walks of life know people who are out of work presently or are about to be out of work. And the same is true for artists. I know so many artists -- for example visual artists, the gallery has closed or it's cut back. Theaters that are no longer going to do productions with more than five actors. And so on. So I know a lot of people out of work: costume designers, makeup people. And let's not forget all the ancillary jobs from having an arts organization in your neighborhood. That includes restaurants, taxicabs, whatever. CNN: Gov. Jindal said he didn't think the arts money should be part of the economic stimulus plan. Alexander: Well what he doesn't understand is that $50 million goes directly ... as a grant to organizations which employ people. It's quick and it's a system that works beautifully and it's done within a year. | Jane Alexander: Increasing funds for the arts is a good way to boost economy . She chaired the NEA when Republican-led Congress sharply cut its budget . She says about 2 million Americans are employed as artists of all kinds . Alexander: Injecting funds into the arts will quickly support jobs . | e6e5b19179a86490b071beb2a239f07086948b99 |
By . Daniel Martin . PUBLISHED: . 17:47 EST, 6 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 17:48 EST, 6 August 2013 . British children are suffering thanks to an epidemic of online bullying - with the number of calls to ChildLine from victims almost doubling in just one year. In 2012/13, a total of 4,507 children - around 12 a day - rang the helpline to complain they were being abused by peers on social networking sites. That is up a startling 87 per cent from the 2,410 calls the year before, with the head of the NSPCC revealing many were ringing in ‘utter panic’ after suffering months of ‘torment’. Despair: Childline was contacted on more than 4,500 occasions by cyber bullying victims last year - around 12 a day (file picture) Girls are three times more likely to call than boys and, worryingly, one in six calls are received from children aged 11 or younger. The revelation follows the death of 14-year-old Hannah Smith, who hanged herself on Friday after months of abuse on the internet. Her father said he had found bullying posts on his daughter’s ask.fm page from people telling her to die. She had been urged to ‘drink bleach’ by her anonymous tormentors and taunted over her weight, the death of an uncle and an apparent propensity to self-harm. The notorious ask.fm website - described as a ‘stalker’s paradise’ - has been linked to at least four teenage deaths over the past year. Now an analysis of calls received by ChildLine show that these victims are far from alone - and that cyberbullying is now one of the fastest growing issues young people contract them about. Bullying: The head of the NSPCC revealing many were ringing in 'utter panic' after suffering months of 'torment' Misery: The controversial Ask.fm website which has been blamed for the deaths of four UK children following cyber bullying . The shocking increase has happened just as the number of calls about traditional playground bullying has started to fall - indicating that attackers are retreating to the virtual word as schools take a tougher approach. NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless said: ‘When I was young you could at least escape the bullying when you got home from school and closed the front door behind you. ‘But now it follows children into their homes, into their bedrooms via mobile phones and laptops.’ He added: ‘Many young people suffer in complete silence not knowing what to do or who to turn to. They internalise the pain blaming themselves going over and over it in their head.’ Victim: Hannah Smith, 14, has killed herself after being bullied by anonymous trolls online . ChildLine, the helpline founded by former That’s Life presenter Esther Rantzen, is now provided by the NSPCC. Their analysis of calls revealed that in 2012/13, more than 1,000 boys rang advisers because they are being intimidated online. And while cyberbulling mostly affects teenagers, the figures reveal that around 16 per cent of calls - more than 700 - are from children aged 11 or younger. One girl told an adviser: ‘I feel really depressed and like I want to fade away. I have no one to talk to and no one understands what I’m going through. ‘This girl has been sending me really horrible messages on the internet, telling me I should kill myself and that I am fat and ugly. 'Everyone tells me to ignore it, but it really upsets me that someone would say such awful things. I don’t know what to do?’ Another said: ‘I’m not feeling good. Someone has set up a fake social network account and is pretending to be me. I don’t know who it is, but I’m really upset because they have been sending horrible messages to people I know and now people are starting to hate me because they think it’s me doing it. ‘I’m really upset and don’t know what to do. I don’t want my parents to find out because I’m too embarrassed. I want to find out who is doing this to me.’ Mr Wanless said that the examples last week of older women suffering abuse from online trolls on twitter shows just how ‘horrible and draining’ bullying can be for the strongest of people. He said: ‘For children and young people, desperate to be liked and to “fit in”, the consequences can be particularly devastating. ‘Can you ever imagine a situation in the office where people came up to you on a daily basis and called you fat, ugly or stupid? Can you imagine receiving emails from your work colleagues telling you they wish you were dead? New trend: The shocking increase has happened just as the number of calls about traditional playground bullying has started to fall - indicating that attackers are retreating to the virtual word as schools take a tougher approach . 'No, and action would be rightly taken immediately. Others would step in just as others stepped in to defend the women facing abuse on twitter.’ He added: ‘Children and young people need to know that there is always somewhere they can turn. 'They can talk to their parents, their teachers and if they really feel they can’t speak face to face with a trusted adult, ChildLine is always here to listen and to support. ‘But these social networking sites will not go away; they must take more responsibility for what happens on their sites just as a school takes responsibility for what happens within its gates. 'We are writing to the regulators of these sites asking for an urgent meeting to discuss how we can tackle this problem. ‘But this is also about education. About being clear with bullies that their actions will not be tolerated and being clear to victims that they have done nothing wrong and it can and will be stopped if they speak out.’ A spokesman for the Department for Education said that no-one ‘should have to suffer the fear and victimisation of bullying’. ‘The law is clear that what is illegal off-line is also illegal on-line,’ he said. ‘Perpetrators of grossly offensive, obscene or menacing behaviour face stiff punishment. ‘Through the UK Council of Child Internet Safety we are working with social networking sites and internet providers to make the internet a safer place for a young people.’ The spokesman added that under the new curriculum, children would be taught from the age of five ‘how to stay safe online, and how to communicate safely and respectfully’. | In 2012/13, a total of 4,507 children rang Childline complaining of cyber bullying . The figure is up 87 per cent from the 2,410 calls received the previous year . The head of the NSPCC said many are ringing in 'utter panic' after months of torment . | b227d1c710c3590089c745e298a933b901d55b2b |
Ahead of this week's Capital One Cup fourth-round action, Sportsmail will be providing you with all you need to know about every fixture involving the Premier League clubs, with team news, provisional squads, betting odds and Opta stats. Here is all the information you need for Manchester City's home clash against Newcastle... Manchester City vs Newcastle (Etihad Stadium) Kick-off: Wednesday 7.45pm - Sky Sports 1 . Odds (subject to change): . Manchester City 1/3 . Draw 4/1 . Newcastle 15/2 . Referee: Stuart Attwell . Managers: Manuel Pellegrini (Manchester City), Alan Pardew (Newcastle) Head-to-head League Cup record: Manchester City wins 3, draws 1, Newcastle wins 0 . Team news . Manchester City . Manchester City playmaker Samir Nasri could return to action in Wednesday's Capital One Cup fourth-round tie against Newcastle at the Etihad Stadium. The Frenchman has missed City's last seven games after undergoing groin surgery but returned to training last week. Nasri's potential return leaves former England midfielder Frank Lampard as the only player unavailable for the holders, but manager Manuel Pellegrini could rest some key players. Provisional squad: Hart, Cabellero, Zabaleta, Sagna, Kompany, Demichelis, Mangala, Boyata, Kolarov, Clichy, Navas, Milner, Silva, Toure, Fernando, Fernandinho, Aguero, Jovetic, Dzeko, Pozo. Manchester City beat Newcastle 2-0 in August and the two sides face each other in the Capital One Cup . Newcastle . Newcastle boss Alan Pardew is likely to be without striker Papiss Cisse once again for the Capital One Cup fourth-round trip to Manchester City. He missed out on the 2-1 win over Tottenham with a knee injury and his return date is not yet clear. Ayoze Perez should continue in his place, while Sammy Ameobi and Remy Cabella made compelling cases from the bench against Spurs, and Ryan Taylor could make his first appearance after enduring more than two years of injury woe. Provisional squad: Krul, Elliot, Janmaat, Dummett, Haidara, R Taylor, Coloccini, Williamson, S Taylor, Tiote, Anita, Sissoko, Colback, Cabella, Gouffran, Obertan, Ameobi, Riviere, Perez, Armstrong. Newcastle prepared for Wednesday's clash at the Etihad Stadium with a 2-1 win away at Tottenham . Key match stats (supplied by Opta) Manchester City have won their last 11 against Newcastle United in all competitions and are unbeaten in 17 (W15 D2). Indeed City’s run of 11 consecutive wins in all competitions over Newcastle is the best run against a single side in their history. Alan Pardew’s side have won their last three League Cup away games, as well as seven of their last nine. Since the start of 2012/13, Edin Dzeko has scored eight goals and assisted two more in seven League Cup games. Newcastle have failed to score in their last five against the Citizens and have conceded at least twice in each of their last 14. James Milner has assisted five goals in his last five League Cup games. | Manchester City face Newcastle at the Etihad Stadium (Wednesday 7.45pm) City have won their last 11 against Newcastle United in all competitions . The Citizens lost 2-1 to West Ham on Saturday . Newcastle beat Tottenham by the same scoreline on Sunday . | d33b461314fca3210a80ac154311f55c17ddc246 |
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Guantanamo Bay's legacy of torture will hurt the United States even if President Obama makes good on a pledge to close the prison camp, a former inmate says. Moazzam Begg says that during intense interrogations at Guantanamo Bay, he would have confessed to anything. Justice will be impossible to mete out to the alleged terrorists and war criminals held there because any confessions must be tainted by the methods used to obtain them, ex-prisoner Moazzam Begg told CNN. Begg says he would have confessed to anything during interrogations while he was held at Guantanamo for nearly three years. "What procedure can you use on people who have been systematically tortured including waterboarding, including being stripped naked and beaten? What sort of evidence can be admitted into a court of law that has been extracted under that process?" asked Begg. Watch what Begg thinks of Guantanamo » . The new administration has said that waterboarding, which causes the feeling of drowning, is torture. Begg, who is British, was captured during the war in Afghanistan and accused of aiding the Taliban regime. His family has always maintained he was a victim of mistaken identity. He was sent back to his home in Britain by the Bush administration in 2005 and never prosecuted. President Obama on Wednesday moved closer to making good on his campaign promise. The administration is drafting executive orders calling for the detention facility's closure, officials said. Earlier in the day, a judge granted Obama's request for a 120-day suspension of prosecutions so a review of all cases of suspected terrorists could take place. During his inaugural speech, he stressed that ideals of justice did not need to be thrown out to ensure the nation's safety. "Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake," Obama said. Watch what could be next for Guantanamo » . Legal issues are already complicating the cases of some of the most important terror suspects, like Mohamed al-Qahtani, the so-called 20th hijacker, who has been accused of helping to plan and possibly participate in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Earlier this month, the retired judge in charge of determining which Guantanamo detainees should be tried by a U.S. military commission told The Washington Post that al-Qahtani was tortured and therefore could not be put forward for prosecution. "Guantanamo Bay is the most notorious prison on earth," Begg said. He said he believes Guantanamo is a radicalizing force for militants around the world. Looking beyond high-profile suspects, human rights campaigners say there is little evidence to prosecute dozens of Guantanamo inmates still being held. They argue that keeping those detainees locked up will not help keep al Qaeda at bay. "I think it's actually one of the most harmful myths about it, that we can't let people go because we've got the tiger by the tail," said Cori Crider of the human rights organization Reprieve. Chris Arendt, a former guard at Guantanamo Bay, says the Obama administration must rethink and reform the way it detains and prosecutes future terror suspects -- and do more than just close Guantanamo. "We're focused on this one camp that has become the star of the whole show. But there are camps everywhere," he said. "There are camps in Iraq, in Afghanistan -- every country that American or the coalition forces have set their feet. None of those detainees are seeing any justice." | NEW: Obama administration drafting executive orders calling for camp's closure . President Obama suspends prosecutions at Guantanamo Bay prison camp . Ex-inmate says torture at the camp has made justice unattainable . Former guard says detainees at Guantanamo, other camps get no justice . | 0ed4e4b98f93de9a758c457f88b829542b4b0bec |
Women are losing their lead over men in life expectancy as they trade homemaking for careers. Work stress – and related drinking and smoking – are taking an increasing toll on their health, according to the Office for National Statistics. In 1963 men were twice as likely to die early as women. Last year however the increased risk fell to one and a half times and the life expectancy gap has fallen from six years to fewer than four. Scroll down for video . Mortality rates among women have fallen among all age groups since 1963, as the nation lives longer . The Office for National Statistics said in improvements in the health of men has lead to a rise in male life expectancy which has increased at a greater rate than for women . The ONS study is the first official recognition that women who have abandoned the domestic lives of their grandmothers now face the same shorter lifespans of men. ‘Ministers want women to work long hours when they have children, but these figures…indicates there may be public health problems as a result,’ said Laura Perrins of the pressure group Mothers at Home Matter. ‘There is clearly now a health interest in providing transferable tax allowances that would make it possible for people to stay at home with young children.’ Higher premature death rates for women were most marked in the 55 to 69 age group, the paper found. ‘Increases in women entering the labour force over the last 50 years are considered to have had an impact on stress, smoking and drinking, leading to changes in the health of females,’ said the ONS. It said male health had improved with lower smoking and drinking rates and fewer dangerous jobs in industrial environments. Two years ago ONS research found for the first time since the Victorian age that mortality rates were not improving among some groups of working women. They cited the ‘intermediate’ group that includes saleswomen, counter clerks, clerical workers in the public sector and medical and dental technicians. Women have always enjoyed greater life expectancy. But in recent years, while overall life expectancy has been rising, the gap between the sexes has been closing. Life expectancy for a child born between 2011 and 2013 went up to 78.9 for a boy and 82.7 for a girl, leaving a gap between the sexes of 3.8 years. Women's health has been adversely affected by growing numbers entering the labour market, and smoking and drinking, the ONS said . The move towards millions of women going out to work 'has had a negative impact on their health' However in the early 1980s life expectancy at birth was 70.8 for a boy and 76.8 for a girl – a gap of six years. In 1963 life expectancy at birth was 67.9 for a boy and 73.9 for a girl. Since then there has been an increase of around 11 years for men and nearly nine years for women. Women have been increasingly likely to adopt risky habits to the same level as men. In the mid-1970s, half of all men smoked but only four in ten women. By 2011 overall numbers of smokers had dropped, but women smoked nearly as much as men – 19 per cent against 21 per cent. State surveys also show that while levels of drinking are falling overall, they are falling at a slower rate for women than men. In 2011, 57 per cent of men were drinking at least once a week, against 54 per cent of women, with the gap halved over a period of just six years. Smoking and drinking levels have risen with the advance of women into working lives, a revolution in the lives of millions which has also resulted in women marrying later in life, if at all. The average age at which a woman has a child is now over 30, and numbers of women having children in their 40s has risen fivefold since the 1970s. Some analysts link higher stress levels in working women with the sharp rise in numbers who go to work while they have young families. Official figures this year showed the number of stay-at-home mothers has dropped to just over two million, down from three million 20 years ago. Researcher and author Patricia Morgan said: ‘Men’s life expectancy has been increasing in the way that could be predicted, because of less going down coal mines or falling off scaffolding. ‘However government policies that have put pressure on women to work, whether they want to or not, may not have been entirely a good thing. We may be looking at the unintended consequences of the economic pressure on women to go out to work throughout their lives.’ | Increasing numbers of women have joined the labour market over 50 years . ONS says this has lead to more stress, smoking and drinking by women . In 1963, mortality rates among men were at twice the rate for women . By 2013, the gap had narrowed markedly to just 1.5 times, study shows . | afd5ac544fb82a2f3a1431cfe41aa526cd4469bc |
London, England (CNN) -- Britain's Prince William and fiancee Kate Middleton made their first official engagement as a couple Thursday, launching a lifeboat in Wales. The pair, who are due to marry in April, officially named the "Hereford Endeavour" lifeboat in a ceremony at the Trearddur Bay Lifeboat Station in Anglesey, North Wales. Middleton, wearing a Vivien Sheriff black-feathered beret, three-quarter length cream coat and suede boots, poured a bottle of champagne over the lifeboat after Prince William made a speech commending the efforts of the volunteers and rescue crew. "We effectively have two launches today," said CNN royal contributor Mark Saunders. "The launch of the lifeboat by William and Catherine and, at the same time, the launch of William and Catherine into this celebrity saturated world they are going to be living in." Despite the modest nature of the event, hundreds of people turned out to watch the royal couple conduct their first official duty together. "In 20 years of royal reporting I've never witnessed quite such excitement for such a single job," said Saunders. One onlooker told CNN: "It's lovely... I would have thought more people would have brought flowers and things for them but it's lovely... It's low key which is what he (Prince William) wanted." It's the first public appearance the couple has made since they announced their engagement last November. "It's a very low-key event, launching a lifeboat on the island where they both live...it's a very good debut event for them," said Saunders. "They have a very good relationship with the locals here, they are often seen at the local supermarket and buying wine from the local off-license. So for a first event, they couldn't have picked a better one." The reason for such a low-key ceremony, says Saunders, is to prepare Middleton for life as a royal. "(The royal family) have learnt many lessons from when Princess Diana first joined the royal family. "Diana was just thrown in the deep end and absolutely given no guidance whatsoever. They're making sure this time round Catherine is well prepared," he said. After naming the new Atlantic 85 lifeboat, Prince William and Middleton met members of the charity's lifeboat crew along with fundraising volunteers and were given a demonstration of the vessel's capabilities. In a statement issued before the ceremony, Lifeboat's Operations Manager, Aubrey Diggle said: "It's an honor to have Prince William and Miss Middleton at our naming ceremony. "Naming a new lifeboat is always a special occasion for the charity where we can thank our supporters and fundraisers. Having the royal couple there will make the day even more memorable for the whole community." The couple currently reside in Anglesey while Prince William serves as an RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot. | Prince William and Kate have conducted their first official engagement together . The couple attended a lifeboat naming ceremony in Anglesey, north Wales . The pair currently live in Anglesey while Prince William serves as an RAF pilot . | 00fc2d66206c7c849601806d0c5c4861a12f354b |
By . James Titcomb . PUBLISHED: . 03:00 EST, 7 May 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 07:14 EST, 7 May 2012 . A drunk driver caused a gruesome car crash that took the life of his passenger who was celebrating his birthday on Friday night. Hugue Lapomarade, 31, was killed when driver Vladimir JeanPierre smashed his white minivan into a parked flatbed truck in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, in the early hours of Saturday morning. JeanPierre, 34, has been arrested and charged with manslaughter, reckless endangerment, vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving. Emergency crews had to cut the roof and doors off the vehicle to remove the people inside. The car, pictured in Brooklyn on Saturday morning, was driven by drunk driver Vladimir JeanPierre . Tragedy: The victim was removed from the car and taken to hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival . The victim had been out celebrating his birthday before the horrific crash, which occurred at around 4.25 am on Saturday at 1304 Utica Avenue, East Flatbush. Barry Radow, who works at a local garage told the New York Daily News that police had told him the driver 'hit the tow truck so hard he pushed the truck forward five or six feet.' Wreckage: According to a witness, the car was driving so fast it moved the truck several feet . Horror: The car's roof had to be taken off to remove the driver and passenger after it hit a flatbed truck . Radow said: 'The car was a mess, they had to cut the roof off. It was really bad.' Emergency workers arrived at the scene and rushed Lapomarade to hospital, but he was pronounced dead on arrival. Police said it was not clear if the truck operator was at fault. The flatbed appeared to be double-parked when the white minivan, a white Nissan Quest, hit it. The truck had been double parked, but police said it was not clear if there was any blame to lay on its owner . Horrific: An onlooker surveys the wreckage as traffic piles up at the scene on Saturday morning . | Hugue Lapomarade, 31, killed while celebrating his 31st birthday . Driver Vladimir JeanPierre charged with drunk-driving and manslaughter . Emergency crews had to remove roof and doors to reach bodies . White minivan smashed into parked truck in Brooklyn on Saturday morning . | cf76f9f24a828f30ec8ea345621403444c3f494c |
To underline the quality of the Bayern Munich side, six of their line-up were World Cup winners. Xabi Alonso, a 2010 champion with Spain, supplemented German club-mates Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm, Jerome Boateng, Mario Gotze and Thomas Muller who triumphed in Brazil last summer. City defender Martin Demichelis will remember them, he was part of the Argentine side that lost in the final, as was sub Sergio Aguero. Xabi Alonso was one of six World Cup winners in Bayewrn Munich's starting XI against Manchester City . He may no longer be in situ but this is the sort of week former City Chief Executive Garry Cook dreamed of when he put up provocative 'Welcome to Manchester posters' and claimed they would be the biggest team in the world. While City went toe-to-toe with mighty Bayern, Wayne Rooney and his United team-mates were on a team-bonding night out in a Manchester restaurant this week, jealously looking out at all the Champions League participants. Thomas Muller felt he should have had a penalty after being tripped when facing an open goal . Manchester City have recently signed up all their big-name stars on long-term contracts - except Joe Hart. But England's No1 can't have done his negotiating position any harm with a performance that suggested he's back to his very best. Two saves in particular from Thomas Muller and Mario Gotze were world-class. Quite a difference from a year ago when he was blamed for City's home defeat against the same opposition and dropped soon after. Joe Hart performed admirably against Bayern Munich, pulling off a string of impressive saves . Manuel Pellegrini, serving his last game of a touchline ban, watched on from the posh seats in the Allianz Arena next to Academy Director Brian Marwood, without the help of an abacus. Last season the Chilean suffered his most embarrassing moment as City manager in Munich when he confessed he hadn't realised a 4-2 City win would have left them as group winners to avoid a knockout tie against Barcelona, At 3-2 up, Pellegrini made a defensive substitution by sending on Jack Rodwell for Edin Dzeko. With Manuel Pellegrini serving a touchline ban, his assistant Ruben Cousillas took his place on the bench . City's executives Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano are unabashed Pep Guardiola fans, keeping a close eye on his tactics and dreaming he may one day be lured to The Etihad. It was interesting to see how Guardiola has developed from his Barcelona days. Robert Lewandowski led the line instead of a false number nine and Louis van Gaal would kill for wing-backs like Rafinha and Juan Bernat. City's executives Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano are unabashed fans of Bayern manager Pep Guardiola . For all the quality on show, there was a fair amount of rough-and-tumble too. Thomas Muller was physically fended off by Bacary Sagna in the first minute, Edin Dzeko hurt his back as things got fierce in the trenches. If it sets a Champions League trend, how much will City regret sending their "Beast" Alvaro Negredo out on loan to comply with FPP regulations and an enforced Champions League squad. Manchester City and Bayern Munich are full of quality, but physicality played a significant role in the match . | Xabi Alonso one of six World Cup winners in Bayern Munich starting XI . Manchester City playing in Champions League, unlike rivals United . Joe Hart's performance will help his contract negotiations . Manuel Pellegrini was serving touchline ban . Manchester City might regret selling Alvaro Negredo . | 5276fff1335c5fcd098e54a6d2ac7172bc321325 |
London (CNN) -- I am pleased and relieved that the court in Paris finally found in my favor this week in my case against Google. With hundreds of pages of court documents, mainly generated by Google lawyers, you would have thought my case against them was complicated. It's not. The point is very simple. It concerns nine illegally acquired pictures which courts in the UK and France have previously ruled should not be shown. If someone posts one of these pictures somewhere in the world, Google's search engine will automatically find and display it. However Google will take the picture and its link down whenever they are asked to do so. As they themselves say, they have done this many times for me and for others. The problem is that having removed a picture following receipt of notice from me, their search simply replaces the picture with another taken from a different webpage. The images, which I fought so hard to establish were illegal, continually reappear courtesy of Google. Given that they are prepared to take a specific illegal picture down manually once it has been identified, why not do so automatically? They have the software to recognize specific pictures. Indeed they make the tool freely available on their homepage. So why not use it? They know exactly which pictures are involved because we have repeatedly identified them. All I was asking was that, automatically rather than manually, they stop displaying these specific and known pictures and providing links to them. This seemed to me an obvious and simple request. It is what the French court has now ordered them to do. It also seemed to me to be in Google's own interest. Surely they would not want the trouble of dealing manually with endless take-down requests when they already had the software to identify specific images and could block them automatically. Was this not exactly the sort of thing computers do and Google are particularly good at? It is very difficult to understand why Google should fight tooth and nail to resist doing automatically something they are fully prepared to do manually. To begin with, Google argued that they didn't have the software. Then they said, OK, they could develop the software but there was some great principle involved in blocking a picture, notwithstanding that they must already do this for indecent images of children and other illegal images and information. Then they said it might inadvertently block something legitimate -- obvious nonsense given that we are dealing with a small number of specific pictures. Then they tried to mix this up with cases where a person wanted something objectionable removed without a court decision. Then they suggested we were asking them to exercise judgment - again obvious nonsense given the court decisions that already existed about these specific pictures. Finally, they claimed they were defending free speech. But it's the courts which said the pictures were illegal and should not be shown, so the issue is the rule of law, not freedom of speech. I think that there is something seriously wrong with the culture at Google. The technical side is brilliant and extremely useful. There are some extraordinarily gifted people working on the technical side and coming up with ideas and then the software to exploit them. Yet the non-technical management, particularly in the legal department, seems to be irrational to the point of becoming adolescent. It's almost as if they refuse to do something entirely sensible, and which would save them and others time and trouble, for no better reason than that someone asked them to. In the end, it's about obeying the law and having respect for the rule of law. There is absolutely nothing wrong with observing the law automatically, quite the reverse. There must be some rational people at the top of Google. You would expect them to respect the rights of the individual once established in a court of law. They should insist their legal department do the same. But you may be wondering why I decided to fight the case when it was obvious the primary result would be to draw attention to precisely those pictures I wanted to get rid of. There are two reasons. First, unless the pictures are blocked automatically, I or my lawyers will have to monitor the web in perpetuity. Second, the principle that an individual is able to rely on the rule of law to enforce his or her rights is, I think, of fundamental importance. This should apply no matter who is the opponent or what their business. I hope that this judgment helps establish that principle in respect of online publications and that it may be of use to others in the future. The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of Max Mosley. | French court orders search engine Google to remove Max Mosley orgy pictures . Courts had previously ruled the images must not be shown . Max Mosley: Images he fought to establish were illegal, continually reappear on Google . I think there is something seriously wrong with the culture at Google - Mosley . | 6139df2481df8b0af9934eba0abec09fbf643948 |
A New York woman who infamously survived a cocaine-fueled three-way sex romp in a swanky Manhattan hotel that lead to the death of another woman has now been found dead of a suspected drug overdose. Nicole Zobkiw, 31, of Wantagh, was involved in the 2009 orgy with Long Island banana mogul Thomas Hoey Jr at $700-a-night suite at The Kitano hotel on Park Avenue, which ended in the death of personal trainer Kimberley Calo, 41. Calo, a mother of two, collapsed and began frothing at the mouth and bleeding from the nose on the April night after snorting too much of the potent cocaine, which was supplied by Hoey. Zobkiw was found dead 'or close to it' by her boyfriend on Wednesday, with police suspecting cocaine as the cause of death, The New York Post reported. Dead: Nicole Zobkiw, 31, of Wantagh, Long Island, was found dead Wednesday of a suspected cocaine overdose, according to reports. She was one third of a drug-fueled threesome that killed a woman in 2009 . Slip up: Banana mogul Thomas Hoey pleaded guilty in August to charges he supplied a sex partner with fatally potent cocaine and delayed calling for help when she overdosed during a three-way sex romp . Zobkiw was convicted of perjury in 2013 after lying to a grand jury about what happened on the night of Calo's death in order to protect Hoey, her ex-boyfriend. She had not yet been sentenced. Hoey finally admitted in federal court in August that he delayed calling for help when Calo starting having a seizure. The millionaire owner of Long Island Banana Corp even confessed he continued to supply friends with cocaine following Calo's gruesome death as he helped hamper authorities' efforts to bring him to justice through 2010. He also admitted to coercing Zobkiw to lie on the stand. Hoey . is charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, aiding in perjury . conspiracy and obstruction of justice, the Post reported, and is expected to get 11 years in prison. He will be sentenced in February. Hoey's guilty pleas were the culmination of years of speculation and . accusations regarding the importer's hard-partying and callous ways. Victim: Personal trainer and mother-of-two Kimberley Calo, 41, died in the Upper East Side's Kitano hotel after Thomas Hoey Jr neglected to call for help in time to save her following a cocaine binge . Hoey allegedly wasn't alarmed by Calo's condition and said 'he’d seen this before' and that she 'was going to be fine.' The . banana mogul had sex with Zobkiw and then set his attention towards . Calo, a personal trainer, retired NYPD detective Edward Boyle, who . investigated Calo's 2009 death, said on the stand in 2013. Calo . had first snorted the coke laying on a coffee table and when she went . back for more, she began overdosing and 'her head dropped to the table . with a thud,' Boyle told jurors at Manhattan federal court, where Zobkiw . was on trial for making false statements and perjury. Zobkiw was later found guilty of lying to a grand jury about the fatal party. The . court was told Zobkiw attempted to get Hoey to call the emergency . services but he refused, allegedly telling her that Calo would be fine. Zobkiw was seen in a security video going to the hotel reception three times to try and get help, Boyle revealed. Boyle told the court that Hoey assured Zobkiw that a 'doctor friend' was on the way. Hoey also admitted to coercing the other woman there that night, Nicole Zobkiw, to lie for him about the night's events while under oath (pictured is the scene of the tragedy, the Kitano Hotel) Zobkiw's lawyer Leonard Lato admitted his client had to tried to hide what happened on the night. But she was intimidated two days before her grand jury testimony in 2011 by a 'corrupt lawyer' allegedly linked to Hoey, Lato said. Under his new plea deal, Hoey faces 11 to 13 years in prison on federal charges. For the state charges he tampered with evidence by trying to clean up Calo's blood, Hoey faces four years. Hoey hit headlines again in August after his current girlfriend, Alison Bretherick, stood up for him in court in a separate case. Hoey was accused of beating Bretherick, 29, to a pulp in 2012. The attack left Bretherick bleeding from the scalp, unable to hear in one ear and with chipped teeth. She also reportedly feared Hoey so much that she had written on the back of a photo of her grandfather: 'If you find me dead, Thomas Hoey did it.' However Bretherick refused to turn on her man and, in court recently, denied ever being assaulted. | Nicole Zobkiw, 31, of Wantagh, Long Island, was found dead Wednesday . She was one of two women involved in a notorious 2009 threeway with millionaire Long Island Banana Corp owner Thomas Hoey Jr. The second woman, Kimberly Calo, 41, died of a cocaine overdose during the threesome . Zobkiw was awaiting sentencing after being convicted of perjury . She lied to a grand jury about what happened to Calo to protect Hoey . Hoey pleaded guilty to several charges in August . He is expected to be sentenced to 11 years in February . | 30401440e28a8160c6bee52108868b2cb0bd92d5 |
(CNN) -- A fumble on the goal line. An interception returned for a touchdown. A missed game-winning field goal in the closing seconds. Most view these as just part of the game of football. But could these things actually be the work of God? Well, according to a new poll, 27% of Americans believe that God "plays a role in determining which team wins" sporting events. That means about 80 million Americans believe that God will help one of the teams in this Sunday's Super Bowl. If God influences which teams win championships, it's clear that God likes certain teams more than others. And God's favorite -- and I know many will hate to hear this -- is clearly the New York Yankees. The Bronx Bombers have won 27 world championships, far and away the most championships of any American professional sports team. Other teams high up there on God's fantasy sports team include the Boston Celtics with 17 NBA championships, the Pittsburgh Steelers with six Super Bowl wins and the Detroit Red Wings with 11 Stanley Cup titles. And if God's affection for your team translates into more championships, then God really hates the Chicago Cubs. OK, maybe "hate" is too harsh, but there must be a reason the Cubs haven't won a championship in more than 100 years. What did the team do to deserve this much pain? Opinion: I hate, hate Super Bowl parties . Even the Cubs crosstown rivals, the Chicago White Sox, won a World Series in 2005. And keep in mind that organization was involved in the infamous "Black Sox" scandal, in which some of its players took bribes in exchange for intentionally losing the 1919 World Series. But despite the Cubs' horrible history, a special place must be reserved in God's doghouse for the NFL's Buffalo Bills. Not only haven't the Bills won a Super Bowl in 46 years, they made it to the Super Bowl four years in a row, from 1991-1994, and lost every time. The most painful loss was in 1991, when the Bills' kicker missed a game-winning field goal in the closing seconds, resulting in a one-point victory for the New York Giants. (Being a Giants fan, I was praying for the kicker to miss, so maybe God was involved on some level.) Of course, if God is helping teams win, how do you explain the success of teams with names like the New Jersey Devils or Duke Blue Devils? The New Jersey Devils have three Stanley Cup Championships and the Duke Blue Devils are consistently a powerhouse in NCAA men's basketball, winning their last national championship in 2010. Perhaps God has some evil competition in the area of sports? In any event, let's turn to Sunday's Super Bowl. Are there any signs that might indicate which team God may support in the match between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers? It's truly a tough call. Both teams feature stars who have publicly declared their strong connection with the big guy in the sky. The Ravens' Ray Lewis excitedly announced after his team's victory propelling them to the Super Bowl: "God is so amazing." While the 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick recently said: "I think God watches over everybody. ... He has a plan for everyone." Amid 'storybook' ending, Ray Lewis is still controversial . But public displays of devotion to God alone have not proven to propel an entire team to victory -- just ask Tim Tebow. He's watching the Super Bowl on TV. Maybe we should look at which team has had more success in the past -- that could be a sign. Well, the Baltimore Ravens have won only one Super Bowl, the one played in 2000. But the team has consistently made it to the playoffs, year after year. And while the 49ers haven't won a Super Bowl since 1995, the organization won five NFL championships between 1982 and 1995. So, which team will God be rooting for come Sunday? As someone who believes strongly in God, I actually hope that God could care less which team wins. I'd hate to think prayers weren't being answered because God was watching the Super Bowl. I'd prefer that God be focused on helping people truly in need of assistance with bigger challenges than covering the point spread. To me, San Francisco's Kaepernick had it right with his recent statement: "I don't think (God's) cheering for one team or another. I think he's helping everybody, just trying to keep everybody safe." God does, indeed, work in mysterious ways, so we will truly never know if certain teams are favored. But if they are, here's praying that the New York Giants will be back in the 2014 Super Bowl. The opinions in this commentary are solely those of Dean Obeidallah. | Study: 27% of Americans believe God plays a role in which team wins in sports . Dean Obeidallah: If God backs teams for championships, God likes the Yankees . He says pick for Super Bowl a tough call: Both teams have God-loving players . Obeidallah: San Fran QB Kaepernick said it right: "I think he's helping everybody" | a23e976e5b03fd9774e7711a6dc26bc9c2931b4b |
By . Amy Oliver . Last updated at 8:14 AM on 15th February 2012 . On trial: Davina Travi, 42, arrives at Bournemouth Crown Court charged with sexually assaulting two underage boys . A mother-of-five had sex with two underage boys as a reward for them vandalising a love-rival’s car, a court has heard. Davina Travi, 42, from Bournemouth, Dorset, ‘struck a deal’ with the schoolboys aged 13 and 14 after she was dumped by her boyfriend for another woman, it is alleged. She is said to have asked them to damage the car of his new girlfriend Stacey Allright in return for sex. In April 2010 the teenagers found Miss Allright’s Peugeot 306 and smashed it up bringing Travi the number plate to prove they had kept their end of the deal, it was said. Travi was 'as good as her word' and allegedly had full sex with the older boy in her bedroom before summoning the second one up. Her children, two of whom are thought to be the same age as the victims, were not at home at the time of the alleged incidents. The court heard that after having sex with the boys Travi threw the pair out. But she continued to keep in contact with the teenagers by sending them sexual text messages while they were at school, it was alleged. Bournemouth Crown Court heard evidence she had been in touch with one of the boys, either by phone call or text, 548 times in the space of several months. It was said she formulated a secret code with both boys and would text them three question marks if she wanted to have sex. She ended up bedding the younger boy at least one more time, it was claimed. It was only when the girlfriend of one of the teenagers discovered what had happened that they were encouraged to tell a school social worker five months later. Travi was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting the teenagers who are now 15 and 16. Stephen Dent, prosecuting, told the court the boys were part of a group of school pupils who used to visit her house and drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes. He said: 'Davina Travi treated children like adults. She was allowing them to drink and smoke in her house. 'That irresponsible attitude came to a peak when she decided to use them to get back at her former boyfriend by bribing them to damage his girlfriend’s car for the reward of having sex with her; a reward that she gave them.' Mr Dent said the school later became aware Travi was hosting parties for pupils and warned other parents not to let their children go there. He added there was no suggestion the boys had been raped and that they had been willing participants, but were not legally capable of giving their consent. He said: 'At the age of 13 a lot of boys have hormones coursing through their veins and are perfectly capable and willing to have sex but they are mentally immature. 'They are not able to properly decide whether they should have sex and they are unable to deal with the potential consequences.' Travi denies three charges of sexual activity with a child. The trial continues. | Boys aged 13 and 14 'smashed up Peugeout 306 and then slept with Davina Travi' Bournemouth Crown Court jury hears she contacted one boy 548 times by phone or text . | 670d4d432acc209ddb1bd3d3d8c755b7e15b0f31 |
(CNN) -- Once again, a big thank you to everyone who took the time to share their links between India and Germany. We had hundreds of responses and are highlighting some of the best here. We started the week by speaking to Craig Glenday , editor-in-chief of the Guinness Book of World Records. He told CNN's Becky Anderson that the two countries have a rivalry of sorts when it comes to world records. It seems that every time a German sets a record, an Indian will smash it. For instance, the largest pen ever made, a record held by a German, was beaten within a year by an Indian. "Himanshu" pointed out a linguistic connection between the two. German and Sanskrit have several similarities, and the grammar of both languages is amazingly similar. "Sudheer" noted that many German tourists travel to India to learn more about practicing the ancient holistic medicine known as Ayurveda. We also heard some personal stories. Two families -- one in Germany, the other in India -- got in touch with us to explain their connection via student exchange. A woman in the United States whose family emigrated from India wrote in to say that she married a man whose family emigrated to the United States from Germany. Now she can't live without sauerkraut and he loves the Indian dish sambhar, she said. Kurt Hammel pointed out another food-related link. Many German foods are flavored with spices that originally came from India. What good would bratwurst be without mace and nutmeg? What would strudel be without sugar and cinnamon? he noted. There were also connections made in entertainment. We weren't too surprised to hear that many Germans are fans of Bollywood. Daniel Santos, a Brazilian living in Germany, said many German students love Indian movies and that there are many Bollywood dance schools there. Sumanth Venkatesh from Bangalore found an automotive connection between the two countries. Volkswagen, which means the "People's Car," was originally made so ordinary Germans could afford cars. Sumanth said that's the same thing India's Tata Motors is trying to do. We also spoke to award-winning author Anita Desai. Born to a Bengali father and German mother, Desai is a connection of sorts herself. She told us that even though she lives in the United States now, she carries India with her wherever she goes. We love your comments so please keep sending them. Remember, you can make links through geography, music, business, food -- the list goes on and on. Whatever the connection, we want to hear it. We also hope you'll take part in our next challenge: Finding the ways that Canada and the Ivory Coast are linked. Share your connections on our blog, and we'll choose the best ones to look at on Connect the World. Happy connecting! | A selection of some of the connections you made between India and Germany . Many German foods are flavored with Indian spices . Both countries have produced a "people's car" Many Germans travel to India to learn more about Ayurveda . | f5667f84893c6ab6598ac52d3bd6463957f60bbe |
By . Marie-louise Olson . PUBLISHED: . 16:14 EST, 26 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 16:45 EST, 26 September 2013 . Killer: Matthew Webster, 30, fatally shot Anna Alger, 31, after getting into an argument because he ran a red light and almost hit her car . A man has been arrested for shooting and killing a woman in a road rage incident in St. Albans, Vermont, on Wednesday. The 31-year-old victim from Highgate, Anna Alger, who leaves behind a young daughter, was found with gunshot wounds in her back and head. The . horrific killing happened at about 6pm after the suspect, Matthew Webster, 30, of . Swanton, ran a red light at North Main and Lower Newton Street and . nearly hit her car as she was coming off Lower Newton Road. Police say Alger followed Webster and . when they got out of their cars to confront each other further up the . road, about 400 yards from the St Albans Messenger building, he shot her . multiple times. Alger was taken to Northwestern Medical Center by Amcare Ambulance where she died. Webster was arrested a short distance away with the gun police say was used in the shooting. Alger, who was a 2000 graduate of Missisquoi Valley Union High School, leaves behind a daughter who currently attends Highgate Elementary School. Alger, who was employed at Peerless Clothing Co. in St. Albans, was engaged to her colleague, Patrick Dalley, according to her Facebook page. Scroll down for video... Victim: Anna Alger, 31, died after being shot multiple times by Webster in a senseless road rage incident in St Albans, Vermont, on Wednesday evening . Road rage: Police have cordoned off the vehicles involved in the roadside shooting on North Main Street in St. Albans, in which Alger was killed. It is unclear which car belongs to whom . In court: Matthew Webster is led into court in St. Albans on Thursday. He pleaded not guilty to the charges of shooting and killing Anna Alger . Police cordoned off the area, which involved three cars - a gray Kia, a dark blue Ford Escort and an orange Subaru hatchback. The front driver’s side tire on the . Kia was flat, and the right turn signal was still blinking several hours . after the shooting. A door of the Escort was open. What appeared to be shell casings and blood were visible near the cars. Lt. Ron Hoague of the St. Albans Police Department said the incident was ‘pretty shocking’. ‘I've . been a police officer for 23 years now and I've seen violence of all . different kinds, but even after all that, it's still shocking to see . something like that happen to two people who seemed not to know each . other until they met.’ Arrested: Police officers caught Webster not long after the incident occurred . Deadly route: Alger followed Webster down Main Street in St Albans after he almost hit her car. When they stopped their cars to confront one another he shot her . Debris: Personal effects are seen scattered on the ground in the wake of Wednesday's shooting . Crime scene: Vermont State Police investigate the location of the shooting in which mother of one, Anna Alger, died . Deadly wounds: The 31-year-old victim was found with bullet holes in her back and head . Personal issues: Police say problems at home may have pushed Webster to the breaking point and a complete stranger - Anna Alger - was caught in the middle . A witness, Nathan Elwood, said he heard the gunshots and found the woman with the deadly wounds. ‘You could see two bullet holes through the back that came out the back and it looked like she had been shot in the head,’ Elwood told WCAX. Another witness, Kyle Gagne, filmed the arrest and posted it on Facebook, according to the Burlington Free Press. A . woman identifying herself as Jill Marie Longley posted a comment . saying: 'I saw the man and the woman standing outside of their cars and . the seemed to be arguing. 'He started toward her and she put her hands up . and said something along the lines of ‘no, don’t'. I had been driving . by at this time, and when I went past, I heard a shot.' Witness: Nathan Elwood heard the gunshots and found Alger with bullet holes in her body. Another witness says she heard Alger plead with Webster to spare her life before he shot her . 'Pretty shocking': Lt. Ron Hoague of the St. Albans Police Department says the incident was shocking because the two did not know each other . Police say Webster's wife was following her husband in another car and witnessed part of the incident. They say problems at home may have pushed Webster to the breaking point and a complete stranger was caught in the middle. Webster was cited in September 2012 for negligent operations after he crashed his car into another vehicle at the intersection of Woods Hill Road and Route 7 in Swanton. According to the Vermont State Police press release, Webster was reported to be driving recklessly prior to the crash, passing two other vehicles before crashing into a third he attempted to overtake. Webster was expected to be in court Thursday morning, where he will face second-degree homicide charges. | Matthew Webster, 30, shot the victim, Anna Alger, 31, multiple times . The incident happened in St Albans on Wednesday after Webster ran a red light almost hitting Alger's car . The two did not know each other . They both stopped further down the road to confront each other . Webster then gunned Alger down in broad daylight . Police say the incident is 'pretty shocking' Webster has been charged with second-degree murder . | 7fe459e2f4046baa369f0f51a8e525a83247d52b |
(CNN) -- When Andrew Bynum walks into a room, people step aside. At 7 feet tall and 285 pounds, Bynum is the starting center for the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers. He hurls his Mack-Truck-like shoulders against some of the biggest and baddest men on the planet every game night. Bynum recently came across a book that was as ruthless as anyone he's encountered in the NBA. "At first, I was shocked," he says. "I thought it was cutthroat." Bynum started reading "The 48 Laws of Power." The best-selling book offers a collection of 48 laws that show people how to gain power, preserve it, and defend themselves against those powerful people who make their lives miserable. Unlike most self-help books, "The 48 Laws" offers advice that the author freely admits is, at times, cunning and amoral. It includes lessons like "Law 1: Never outshine the master" and "Law 14: Pose as a friend, work as a spy." The lessons are distilled from colorful anecdotes lifted from 4,000 years of history. They include insights into the scheming of powerful people such as Al Capone, P.T. Barnum and Henry Kissinger. The book has proved to be so popular that it has spawned several sequels, one recently co-authored by the popular rapper 50 Cent, called "The 50th Law." Meet the man behind the laws of power . Robert Greene, author of "The 48 Laws," says our fascination with power is rooted in our DNA. "We want to believe we're descended from angels when we're descended from primates," Greene says. "This is part of our nature and there's nothing to be ashamed of." Greene says the struggle for power affects even the most benign human relationships. Think of how babies threaten, badger and scheme to get their way, he says. "Children can be incredibly manipulative," Greene says. Greene, whose laid-back, soft-spoken demeanor seems at odds with his books, has long been fascinated with power. At first, his interest was restricted to sports. Then he earned a degree in classical studies and saw how power shaped history. Greene says he received his next lesson in power when he began working as a writer in Hollywood. Every transaction -- business or personal -- revolved around someone grasping for more power, he says. Greene realized that Hollywood's power elite didn't act all that differently from the ancient Athenians and Chinese emperors he encountered in his classical studies. He decided to share his insights in a book. "I wanted to show that what was going on was not new," Greene says. "No one wanted to talk about how these incredible manipulative games had been going on for thousands of years." One of Greene's central claims is that everyone must learn the rules of power. He describes the world as a "giant scheming court," and says we're all courtiers, whether we like it or not. "There is no use in trying to opt out of the game," he writes in the introduction to the book. "... Instead of struggling against the inevitable, instead of arguing and whining and feeling guilty, it is far better to excel at power." Practicing the laws of power . That's the lesson that Bynum, the Los Angeles Lakers' center, says he's learned. Bynum likes Law 18: "Do not build fortresses to protect yourself -- isolation is dangerous." It tells the story of Shih Huang Ti, the first emperor of China. The emperor was so paranoid about his enemies that he slept in a different room each night and never let any of his subjects see him. The result: He lost power because he lost touch. Greene's lesson: Isolation exposes you more than it protects you. Circulate among people, build allies and learn to spot your enemies. "That was cool," says Bynum, who says he has to be leery of people who try to take advantage of his celebrity. "It's good to be out there, to visit and to see your enemies and even be in the same room with them." Adam Ishaeik made Greene's book required reading for a business management class he taught at Michigan State University. His students loved it, he says, because it was more practical than most business or self-help books. Ishaeik's favorite law: Law 10: "Avoid the unhappy and unlucky." That law says that one should avoid people who always attract misfortune. They can "infect" others with their pathology. The law's solution for dealing with a master of misfortune: Don't help or argue with an "infector" or you will become "enmeshed" in their problems. Flee them. Don't return the call. Ishaeik says he once became involved with some "infector" relationships that resulted in his living out of his car for five months while becoming deeply depressed. When he cut those people out of his life, he says, his life took off. He is now the CEO of a company that secures government contracts for small businesses. "If someone is always unlucky and things are always happening to them, deep down inside, there's something that's attracting it," Ishaeik says. "You don't want to be around them." Dov Charney, founder and CEO of American Apparel, is also a fan of Greene's laws of power. He calls them laws of nature. "Every single human interaction involves this power exchange," he says. "But it doesn't mean that power can't be generous or philanthropic." The book, though, has its critics. Jeffrey Pfeffer is a Stanford University professor and management guru. People like lists, he says, but 48 laws are too much. "If you give people a list of 48 things, they're certainly not going to remember them in a situation when they need to use them," says Pfeffer, author of the forthcoming book "Power: Why Some People Have it and Others Don't." Pfeffer says Greene's laws are flawed because they are based on isolated historical examples. Why not build laws around solid research, like a study or experiments? "If you go to a doctor and the doctor says you have a disease, and we know the treatment because we tried it on one person and it worked -- wouldn't you love to have the treatment based on a long-term study?" Pfeffer asks. Criticism doesn't seem to rattle Greene. He says he had some tough times in his early career when he violated the first law of power in his book ("Never outshine the master"). But learning the laws of power has given him tranquility. "It just brings a sense of calmness and detachment because things don't bother me," he says. "I observe everyone else's power games. It's a beautiful position to be in." | Book's ruthless guide to power has won fans . "The 48 Laws of Power" fans include CEOs, rappers and an NBA star . The rapper, 50 Cent, liked the book so much that he co-wrote a sequel . Book's author: "There is no use in trying to opt out" of the game of power . | 9dbd8caa4786607337d22a4f9d1a67dbf6e7c7c3 |
A senior Belgium diplomat specialising in protocol has been arrested for tearing off the full-face veil of a Qatari princess after she asked him for directions. In the latest example of the difficulties involved in imposing a so-called ‘burka ban’, Jean-Marie Pire did not know the identity of the massively wealthy VIP before attacking her. She approached him with two other women in broad daylight in central Brussels last week, asking for directions to the famous Grand Place. Scroll down for video . Jean-Marie Pire, Chief of Protocol for the city of Brussels, allegedly left a woman with cuts and bruises after pulling the full-face veil, which is illegal in Belgium, from her face . The kind of full face veils favoured by some Muslim women are banned in Belgium, just as they are in neighbouring countries including France. ‘I said I don’t talk to anyone if I can’t see their face,’ said Mr Pire. ‘With this reply, I wanted to make it clear that the veil is banned in Belgium. ‘Because the person asking me a question didn’t seem to hear me, I lifted her veil. I know I shouldn’t have done that, but what she did wasn’t legal either!’ The woman, who has not been named, said she suffered cuts and bruises after her earrings were violently dislodged, along with her veil. Stock image: A woman wears a full-face veil like the one Jean-Marie Pire ripped from the Qatari princess' face . She has made an official complaint to Brussels prosecutors, who may now charge Mr Pire with assault. The woman herself faces a fine of around £115 and up to seven days in prison for wearing the veil in public. Some onlookers have claimed that Mr Pire was drunk at the time of the incident, although he denies this, saying it was ‘three o’clock in the afternoon’, adding: ‘Besides, I don’t drink much.’ As the Chief of Protocol for the city of Brussels, one of Mr Pire’s main jobs is to welcome foreign dignitaries, including many from the Middle East. France, which is home to some five million Muslims, was the first European country to ban the full-face Islamic veil in public places in 2011. Belgium followed suit soon afterwards, and in December 2012 Belgium's Constitutional Court rejected appeals for the ban to be annulled, ruling that it did not violate human rights. There is no veil ban in Britain, but Conservative MP Philip Hollobone is among politicians who have called for one. ‘We will never have a fully functioning, fully integrated multi-cultural society if growing numbers of our citizens go around with their faces covered,’ Mr Hollobone said. | Jean-Marie Pire allegedly left the woman with cuts and bruises on her face . She had asked Mr Pire for directions to the famous Grand Place . Full-face veil is banned in Belgium, as well as neighbouring countries . 'I lifted her veil. I know I shouldn’t have done that, but what she did wasn’t legal either!’ | 3ff2a76614da50f1986428f7c891b5b76ee58c3d |
A man from Melbourne was discovered dead face down on a bed in a hotel room in Bali on Australia Day. The man from Brighton, in Melbourne's exclusive southeast suburbs, checked into room 570 at the Fave hotel in the tourist district in Seminyak on January 16 and was supposed to check out on Monday but never surfaced. Hotel staff were calling the room from midday and eventually gained access with a master key later that night when they made the grisly discovery of the man lying face first with dry blood around his mouth. The man was last seen by staff 48 hours earlier in an intoxicated state when he was being helped to his room by a fellow hotel guest. Scroll down for video . The 41 year old man checked into room 570 at the Fave hotel in the tourist district in Seminyak on January 16 and was supposed to check out on Monday but never surfaced . Medicines and vitamins, including anti-acid and stamina enhancer supplements, as well as an empty bottle of vodka, were also found in the room leading police to believe that the 41-year-old man may have been unwell. The man's phone, laptop, wallet and money were also found in the room. Sanglah morgue's head of forensics, Dr Ida Bagus Putu Alit, said although the cause of death would not be determined until an autopsy was conducted - there were signs of suffocation due to a lack of oxygen. 'From an external examination we allege that he died around 12 to 24 hours before the examination,' he told News Corp. Kuta police investigator, Dewa Tagel said there was no sign of violence on the body or the hotel room. 'There is no sign of a fight in the room, as all the stuff was still neatly arranged in the room,' he told News Corp. He said the man's wallet and passport were found in the safety deposit box and the equivalent in local currency of about $160AUD was still on the table. 'We are yet to check the CCTV to confirm no one else entered his room. But judging from the hotel room nothing was disturbed,' Mr Tagel told Fairfax. 'There was no sign of anyone else in the room.' | Melbourne man, 41, was found dead in a hotel room in Bali on Monday . Brighton resident checked in to Fave Hotel on January 16 . Staff discovered body face down on bed that night after using master key . Dry blood was around mouth and an empty vodka bottle was found in room . Police think he may have been sick as there were pills and vitamins as well . His mobile phone, laptop, passport, wallet and money were still in the room . He was last seen by staff 48 hours earlier in an intoxicated state when he was being helped to his room by a fellow hotel guest . | 8c24643ed57102e540e3df7daf18883354feff37 |
By . Luke Augustus . Follow @@Luke_Augustus29 . Wayne Rooney has expressed his desire to lead Manchester United to success next season after he was named Manchester United captain. Rooney was given the permanent honour by new boss Louis van Gaal after United's final pre-season game against Valencia on Tuesday night. The 28-year-old has shared skippering the Red Devils alongside Darren Fletcher and Tom Cleverley during pre-season but led out United in their 2-1 win against their Spanish opponents at Old Trafford. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Rooney selected to lead Red Devils' revival . Stride of pride: Wayne Rooney has been named as Manchester United's latest captain . Delighted: Rooney took to Instagram to express his honour at being Manchester United captain . Leading by example: The 28-year-old has impressed Louis van Gaal in pre-season . VIDEO Rooney selected to lead Red Devils' revival . Front man: He will take on the role from Nemanja Vidic who departed at the end of last season . 'Walking out last night as captain of @manchesterunited was an unbelievably proud moment for me and my family,' he wrote on Instagram. 'It’s a huge honour for me to captain this great club and I will take great pride in doing so. 'I would like to thank all the fans for their support, I am looking forward to the exciting times ahead and leading their club to more success.' The position of captaincy at United had long been debated following the departures of Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra this summer, but Van Gaal chose the England striker due to his impressive approach. 'For me, it's always very important, the choice of captain,' van Gaal told the official club website. 'Wayne has shown a great attitude towards everything he does. I have been very impressed by his professionalism and his attitude to training and to my philosophy. 'He is a great inspiration to the younger members of the team and I believe he will put his heart and soul into his captaincy role.' Second in command: Whilst Darren Fletcher has been named as vice-captain of the club . Decision-maker: Van Gaal is happy with the two men he has chosen in his captaincy roles . 1996–1997 Eric Cantona . 1997–2005 Roy Keane . 2005–2011 Gary Neville . 2011–2014 Nemanja Vidic . 2014—present Wayne Rooney . Rooney will be hoping to lead United to better fortunes this season, after they endured a disappointing last term that saw the deposed Premier League champions finish seventh. Meanwhile, Darren Fletcher has been appointed United vice-captain, with van Gaal acclaiming the Scot as a 'natural leader'. 'I am delighted to have been named as vice-captain,' said the Scot. 'It's a very proud moment for me and my family. Wayne and I have always worked well together and we will continue to work closely together in our new roles. I would like to thank the manager for putting his trust in me.' Van Gaal added: 'Darren is a natural leader and will captain the team when Wayne isn't playing. Darren is a very experienced player and a very popular member of the dressing room, I know he will work well alongside Wayne.' Rooney is following in the footsteps of centre-back Vidic, who was captain of the club for three years before his departure for Inter Milan at the end of last season. | Wayne Rooney took to Instagram to express his delight at being made Manchester United captain . Rooney hopes to lead United to success this season in his new role . England striker was given the honour on Tuesday night by Louis van Gaal . Darren Fletcher has been appointed Old Trafford vice-captain . | d4acc35a8ad637d049b08e8d2152300fa0b05d86 |
Paris (CNN) -- Investigators trying to determine why an Air France plane crashed mysteriously two years ago have recovered the complete contents of the flight data recorder and the last two hours of cockpit conversation, they announced Monday. It will take several weeks to analyze the data, French air accident experts said. All 228 people aboard Air France 447 were killed when the Airbus A330 belly-flopped into the ocean June 1, 2009, in stormy weather. The cause of the crash is still not known. Discovering that there was data on the recorders "is excellent news. It is really going to help us work out what happened on that plane," said Martine Del Bono, spokeswoman for France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA). Q&A: Will the mystery of Flight 447 be solved? The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder were found at the beginning of May after an unprecedented series of submarine searches of a mountain range 3,900 meters (12,700 feet) under the ocean. They were brought to the surface and taken to Paris by ship and plane. The investigators also recovered two bodies from the fuselage -- after finding only about 50 bodies in the days immediately after the crash. They will not bring more bodies up from the ocean if they cannot identify the two they already have, they said Thursday. Those two bodies are being examined to see if there is enough DNA to identify them, investigators said, adding that they hope to have results by Wednesday. If they can identify the remains, they will consider bringing up other bodies from the wreckage. The bulk of the plane was located earlier this year and contains many more human remains, according to investigators. Recovering more bodies will be a difficult task, with miles of cable required to bring each one up over a period of three hours, they said. Investigators also brought an engine and an avionics bay containing computers to the surface, they said. The pilots of Air France 447 lost contact with air traffic controllers on June 1, 2009, while flying across an area of the Atlantic known for severe turbulence, officials said. But exactly what caused the plane to plunge into the ocean remains a mystery. The plane slammed into the water while en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Paris, falling so fast that air masks did not have time to deploy. The fuselage was discovered in April with bodies still inside, investigators said. Some relatives of those who died have expressed reservations about remains being brought to the surface. Last month Robert Soulas, head of a support group for families of flight victims, said: "For me, personally I would like to leave the bodies of my children, my two children, on the seabed." Other relatives have called for the bodies to be recovered. CNN's Ayesha Durgahee, Catherine Clifford and Niki Cook contributed to this report. | NEW: Discovering there is data on the recorders is "excellent news," investigators say . All the information on the flight data recorder is recovered, as are cockpit conversations . The data recorders were pulled up from the bottom of the Atlantic nearly two years after the crash . Air France 447 went down in June 2009, killing all 228 people aboard . | 00f5dfb4cafc85b50b652132f460e16b8ba61642 |
London (CNN) -- An $11.7 million win at a London casino by top American poker player Phil Ivey has been referred to the British Gambling Commission, a source familiar with the casino confirmed Monday after media reports surfaced that the payout was being withheld. Ivey hit a winning streak over two nights in August playing punto banco at Crockfords, Britain's oldest private gaming club, according to The Daily Mail newspaper. The source, who declined to be identified because he has been asked by Crockfords not to speak about the case, confirmed the accuracy of the Daily Mail report. The source did not provide details of why the win was referred to the commission, which regulates commercial gambling, and said the casino has not had contact with legal representatives for Ivey. Both the gambling commission and Crockfords declined to comment. Ivey could not be reached Monday for a response to the reports. Punto banco is a form of the baccarat card game favored among high-rollers. Ivey, 35, has won eight World Series of Poker bracelets and more than $6.2 million during his career. With his sixth-place ranking in the WSOP and his penchant for playing high-stakes, the organization calls him "arguably the best poker player in the world." | Phil Ivey won $11.7 million playing Punto Banco in August . His payout is being withheld while the case is referred to the British Gambling Commission . Ivey could not be reached for comment Monday . | 1dae6afe45ffd76783bf66f052b8410ef3386de8 |
Global warming is a ‘public health emergency’ that will cause thousands of deaths worldwide, a leading medical journal warns. The BMJ claims that the ‘mayhem’ it will inflict on future generations will make deaths from the ebola outbreak ‘pale into insignificance’. In a bizarre move, the journal has set aside 11 pages of this week’s issue to warn doctors of the dire consequences of global warming – without any obvious relevance to medicine. Global warming is a ‘public health emergency’ that will cause thousands of deaths worldwide, leading medical journal BMJ warns; above a chunk of ice breaks away from the Antarctic ice shelf because of global warming . Actor Leonard DiCaprio participates in the People's Climate March earlier this month in New York . Critics described the article as ‘alarmist’ and ‘desperate’. But in a separate commentary, the BMJ’s editor Dr Fiona Godlee defends the piece by saying doctors must understand the problem if they are to help tackle it. It is not the first time the publication – formerly known as the British Medical Journal – and its editor have spoken out on such a highly charged issue. In July, it carried a piece calling for doctors to be allowed to help the terminally ill to die – prompting concern among medics. In her most recent comments, Dr Godlee warns that seven million people die worldwide every year due to pollution and this will only increase if greenhouse gas emissions – which cause global warming – rise further. She points out that reducing these emissions by walking rather than using the car will have added benefits of reducing obesity, heart disease and diabetes. BMJ editor Dr Fiona Godlee says doctors must understand the problem if they are to help tackle it . And she calls on the World Health Organisation to declare the issue a public health emergency – putting it on a par with the current ebola outbreak in West Africa which has claimed 3,000 lives since February. ‘Deaths from ebola infection, tragic and frightening though they are, will pale into insignificance when compared with the mayhem we can expect for our children and grandchildren if the world does nothing to check its carbon emissions. ‘And action is needed now,’ the article concludes. Last year, experts from the . Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that the average global . temperature had risen by 0.5C in 50 years. They predicted that over the . next century temperatures will increase by 3C causing a rise in sea . levels, flooding, disease outbreaks and, as a result, mass migration of . refugees. BMJ wrote that the ‘mayhem’ global warming will inflict on future generations will make deaths from the ebola outbreak ‘pale into insignificance’; above health workers deal with the crisis in Liberia . Politicians are striving to reach an international agreement by December next year on legally-binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It would aim to limit global warming to just 2C, and will replace the Kyoto Protocol which came into effect in 2005. However, the last attempt at a deal, at the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009, ended in disaster, and many politicians are worried about a similar result this time. Dr Benny Peiser, of the Global Warming Policy Forum, a think-tank founded by former Chancellor Lord Lawson, accused the BMJ report of being needlessly alarmist. He said: ‘The World Health Organisation would become a global laughing stock if they were to follow the ridiculously over-the-top demands of a green alarmist editor. There is a real disconnect between what they are saying and the reality.’ He added that the article was ‘just desperate’, saying: ‘The smaller the chance of an international agreement, the more desperate they get.’ | The BMJ says has called global warming a 'public health emergency' And said that it will make the deaths from ebola seem insignificant . Critics have described the articles as 'alarmist' and 'desperate' | d30128979146b8c5a78ee456bc0971634636a35e |
Ciaran Clark insists painful memories from previous cup upsets will spur on Aston Villa against Bournemouth and is confident his team can end their embarrassing scoring record. The Irish defender played in the FA Cup third-round defeat to Sheffield United last January, as well as their exit at the hands of Millwall in 2013, and also the infamous humbling by Bradford in the League Cup semi-final the same year. With Villa scoring just 12 goals in all competitions this season, Championship high-fliers Bournemouth will travel to Birmingham with sights on another shock. Eddie Howe’s side have actually scored the same number of goals in the city in one match as Villa have all season - following their 8-0 league win over Birmingham. Aston Villa defender Ciaran Clark says they are determined to beat Bournemouth to rejuvenate their season . The Villa squad were put through their paces in training on Friday ahead of Sunday's FA Cup tie . Villa’s eighth home goal so far, scored by Christian Benteke, came late on in the third-round win over Blackpool as supporters began to call for Paul Lambert’s head. Clark insisted the mood in Villa’s camp remains healthy. ‘We’ve got too many good attacking players to not be scoring goals,’ he said. ‘We’re confident in ourselves and do it every day in training. ‘We’ll use the disappointment we have had from previous years to spur us on. It’s a horrible feeling walking into the dressing room knowing that you’ve been knocked out of the cup. It’s even worse when it’s a lower-league team, it’s devastating.’ Clark called on his team-mates to relieve the pressure on Lambert by producing a convincing win. ‘The manager does take a lot of the flak when the results aren’t going our way,’ he said. ‘We know as a group of lads that some of the games we have played in we should have got better results. I think it’s time for us to step up and start taking a lot of the responsibility ourselves. ‘The manager can only do so much in the week. The lads are all happy with what we’re doing leading up to the games. It’s about the time we get out on the pitch. Cup runs bring everyone together. We want to go as far as we can in this competition.’ Bournemouth defender Adam Smith will be hoping his side can progress against Villa on Sunday . | Aston Villa host Bournemouth in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday . Villa have had third round exits to lower league teams in the last two years . Bournemouth sit top of the Championship with 51 points after 27 games . | 45af7c3d77d169dca7180c2936412050fdd9c3c2 |
By . Mark Prigg . PUBLISHED: . 07:38 EST, 3 December 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 10:34 EST, 3 December 2012 . The first stealth drone developed in Europe has made its first flight from a test base in France. The 'Neuron' drone has been built by researchers in France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Sweden and Switzerland, and has been in development for five years. Today, the first flight was able to take off from Dassault Aviation company's base in Istres, France. Scroll down for video . The craft, Europe's first unmanned stealth drone, could eventually carry precision weapons . Further tests of the craft will be carried out in Sweden and Italy, where its weapons and stealth capabilities will be tested . The craft is 10 meters long, has a wingspan of about 12.5 meters and weighs five tons without weapons. It is powered by a Rolls-Royce . Turbomeca 'Adour' engine, and will carry precision missiles controlled . remotely by a human operator. The craft will act as a testbed for new technologies, and is unlikely to be produced in its current form, acting instead as a prototype. The large craft is 10 meters long, has a wingspan of about 12.5 meters and weighs five tons without weapons. It is powered by a Rolls-Royce Turbomeca 'Adour' engine, and will carry precision missiles controlled remotely by a human operator. 'Today, the nEUROn, Europe’s unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) stealth technology demonstrator, successfully completed its maiden flight from the Dassault Aviation company’s flight test base in Istres, in collaboration with the flight test personnel of the French defense procurement agency (DGA),' said Dassault Aviation. 'The nEUROn will continue to undergo testing in France until 2014, at which time it will be sent to Vidsel in Sweden for a series of operational trials. 'It will then go to the Perdadesfogu range (Italy) for further tests, in particular firing and stealth measurements.' Engineers working on the plane before its first flight: The craft is far more advanced that current US drones . The futuristic craft being unveiled ahead of its first flight . | 10m long craft could eventually fire precision missiles controlled by a remote operator . Craft is believed to be far more advanced than current US drone technology . | 5b047bc30d99d934da97879fbf1168ebc175c886 |
(CNN) -- A planned strike by Spanish footballers has been averted after a Madrid court ruled against a petition filed by a trade union that represents the country's players. The Spanish Players' Association (AFE) had applied to postpone the next round of Spanish league games, including Barcelona's La Liga match against Levante on Sunday, by 24 hours. The union argued that it had an agreement with the Professional Football League that matches would not be played during Spain's winter break which lasts up to and including January 2. But the Spanish High Court decided it had no jurisdiction over the dispute, declaring that it "it is not competent to decide on the precautionary measure of suspending the League for Sunday January 2," AFP reports. According to Spanish sports newspaper Marca, five first division and ten second division matches would have been affected if the strike was allowed to go ahead. But there will be at least one footballer who will still be taking industrial action: Real Madrid's Royston Drenthe. The Dutch international, who is currently on loan at fellow La Liga club Hercules, has declared he will go on a post-Christmas, one-man strike until he receives what he claims are unpaid wages. "I haven't been fully paid once since I left Madrid for Hercules. I've received 50% of my monthly wages on two occasions and didn't get paid at all in the other four months," he told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. "I have a mortgage and several other bills that need to be paid and I can't accept that Hercules are not paying me." | A strike called by the union that represents Spain's footballers has been called off . Fifteen games due to take place Sunday will now go ahead. The union was angry that matches would take place on Jan 2, during the winter break . Madrid's High Court said it had no jurisdiction in the case . | 1bbafe068419ea76e424d501e94c3172a55b878b |
By . Daily Mail . and Reuters . PUBLISHED: . 09:01 EST, 23 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:37 EST, 23 December 2013 . Americans had been told that they would have to sign up for health insurance through the ever-breaking healthcare.gov site by the end of Monday night but now it has been revealed that the deadline has been covertly pushed back one more day to try to give more people a chance. Two anonymous officials announced that the 11.59pm deadline that had been set for tonight was pushed back to Tuesday- Christmas Eve- over the weekend, according to The Washington Post. The White House has insisted that it is doing all it can to make sure people who miss the deadline can still get coverage under a series of exemptions, and apparently this date bait-and-switch is another way of trying to help. Scroll down for video . Time's up: President Obama, seen here at his brother-in-law's basketball game on Sunday in Hawaii, has been roundly criticized for the roll out of his signature health care legislation . There is a 'hardship' exception for . some that permits them not to sign up any kind of health insurance at . all without facing a penalty - the hardship being problems they've . encountered with Obamacare and its malfunctioning website . HealthCare.gov. There will also be a 'good faith exception' for others, according to a senior Obama administration official. 'We'll have a special enrollment period,' the official said last week, for 'all those who make a good faith effort to get enrolled by the deadline' but fail to do so. The official did not say how the government would determine whether or not the effort was made in good faith. Not working: Many last-minute users noted that the website continued to crash on Monday as they tried to sign up on the final day- not knowing the deadline had been pushed back secretly over the weekend . Still others may simply get a break from insurance companies, which the administration has urged to be flexible with people who miss the deadline. Such is the uncertain state of 'Obamacare' as it approaches what was originally supposed to be a defining moment - a signup deadline that would provide the first real test of the viability of the healthcare program brought into law by the Affordable Care Act. Adding to the confusion is the fact that the original deadline for obtaining medical coverage was December 15. That was extended to December 23 after the federal government's website, HealthCare.gov, proved dysfunctional and sometimes non-functional. Problems: Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is seen here during a photo op when the troubled website didn't work when it was meant to . The administration has reserved the right to change the deadline again 'should exceptional circumstances pose barriers to consumers' enrolling on or before Monday. Obama said on Friday that one million people had enrolled for new insurance plans under the law through HealthCare.gov, which serves 36 states, and 14 state-run marketplaces. Many more enrollments are a major priority for Obama's signature healthcare reform, which officials are still hoping will help millions of uninsured and under-insured Americans finally to obtain medical coverage by the end of March. It is not known how many consumers may have no insurance coverage during periods of 2014 because they failed to sign up on HealthCare.gov by Monday. Some of the 14 states running their own healthcare exchanges have extended their sign-up deadlines past December 23. On Thursday, the administration announced that if people's old insurance plans were canceled because of new standards under the law, they can claim a 'hardship' exemption to the requirement that all Americans must have coverage by March 31 or face penalties that start at $95 so some of these people may not sign up. The Obama administration says it is trying to be flexible, but some Republican critics of the law say the frequent delays and changes have muddied the waters and confused people. Trying everything: President and Mrs Obama met with a group of mothers last week in an effort to persuade them to have their children sign up for the healthcare insurance . 'With no clarity as to when people should sign up and who they should pay and when, it's a virtual certainty that many consumers will find themselves uncovered for a period of time through no fault of their own,' Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, said last week. Administration officials said on Friday there are fewer than 500,000 people who have received cancellation notices from their insurance companies and have not yet found alternatives. Some were 'auto-enrolled' in other plans by their insurance companies, the officials said. The pace of sign-ups has picked up since October and November when technical problems crippled the HealthCare.gov website. Anyone who tried the website in October and November and became stuck has been getting attention from the administration. Officials sent more than two million emails to people who could not advance through the website. They have also made more than 600,000 phone calls to consumers and mailed notices to hundreds of thousands of people, officials said. 'We are confident that we are doing everything we can so that individuals know what their options are to get coverage, whether it is at the marketplace or seeking it through the private insurers,' said the senior official. | Monday December 23 was the original deadline for signing up for health insurance but now that has been pushed back to Tuesday night . Exemptions have been made for people who tried signing up but could not, and those whose existing insurance was taken away . Unclear how many have signed up . Many who tried signing up today were met with a stalled website as Healthcare.gov continued to crash . President Obama is expected to symbolically 'sign up' for insurance on the website today even though he is already covered through the military . | fcae5584c6b9bfdb45b934944411e59938a7870d |
(CNN) -- Truly platonic opposite-sex friendships are the chupacabra of the pop culture narrative. From "When Harry Met Sally" to Ross and Rachel, first comes friendship, then comes relationship. Longtime friends Timothy Goodman, 32, and Jessica Walsh, 26, have taken to exploring the leitmotif once more -- and in a 21st century twist, decided to share it with the world via their blog, 40 Days of Dating. The two friends met more than four years ago through New York City's graphic design community. When they both found themselves single at the same time, they decided to embark on the social-turned-design experiment. Opinion: Why traditional dating is dead . "Tim is afraid of commitment, often dating many girls at once, and he's losing sight of what a healthy relationship means," the couple explains on the blog. "Jessica is a hopeless romantic, jumping into relationships too quickly, always looking to find 'the one.' " First, they set the ground rules for the experiment, which started in mid-March: . 1. They would see each other every day for 40 days. 2. They would go on at least three dates a week. 3. They would see a couples therapist once a week. 4. They would go on one weekend trip together. 5. They would fill out a daily questionnaire and document everything. 6. They would not see, date, hook up or have sex with anyone else. They began adding new posts about the relationship only after the 40 days were up. They've been posting entries Monday through Friday since July 10, and they'll continue until August 22, when readers will learn how their experiment ended. "We didn't want to do this live because if we read each other's questions, we'd be influenced by each other and by the public's perception of it," Goodman said. Their readership has grown so much that both Walsh and Goodman have had to retroactively monitor their social media accounts to prevent spoilers. The couple wouldn't offer any hints about the outcome -- they suggest people stay up-to-date with their romantic escapades via the website. Goodman and Walsh spoke to CNN separately about the online dating project and the age-old question, can men and women really just be friends? The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. CNN: Why'd you choose to do the project with each other? Goodman: We always were kind of dumbfounded with each other's relationship issues and would make fun of each other's relationship issues all the time. Walsh: I had basically, since the time I was 16, jumped from relationship to relationship up until a year and half ago when I ended a relationship with a guy I had lived with. Since then, I had been looking -- and New York City is such a tough place to find a guy. It was just a terrible year of dating. It was just the right time when we started talking about it. CNN: You've been friends for more than four years. Was there always an attraction? Goodman: It's always been platonic, but we wouldn't have been able to do this project if there hadn't been some curiosity. I've always been attracted to Jessie; I know she's beautiful. We're very different though; I'm more outgoing, she's more reserved. Walsh: He's not my usual type, I always thought he was a very attractive guy. I have a lot of respect for the work that he does -- I can't deny that there. CNN: Were you ever worried that the experiment would ruin the friendship? Walsh: I was pretty excited about it at first, then after we told our friends, I did start to get scared that this could totally destroy a great friendship. We didn't want to compromise, so it was a few months after we had the initial idea before we actually started because we kept going back and forth. CNN: You're obviously both creative people, and the site itself is very artistically driven. How did you separate the creative showmanship with the relationship? Goodman: What's important is that it's an experiment. For it to be a success, it doesn't mean that Jessie and I worked out together. We used it as a catalyst to work on our issues together; a safe space to work on our issues and also to help each other. Sure, there were other things going on and there had always been a curiosity about it. This isn't just about dating, that's not the point -- it's taking two mice with two different problems and seeing what happens. Walsh: We tried to keep them very different. We did the experiment first because we did want the experiment to be as true as possible, and not have the creative side get in the way of it. This is the best way we knew how. Each time we read each other's, we're reliving the day in a way. In some of the more emotional days, it brings back everything. It hasn't been easy. CNN: The rules are quite fastidious for something so unpredictable as a relationship. Goodman: We knew that if we didn't have rules in place, it would be very easy for us to skip by. The rules held us accountable. Walsh: It's kind of a theme in the work that I do, I always set constraints. The best outcomes come from restraints. Forty days is also the amount of time in several religions that it takes to break a bad habit. The couples therapy was one stipulation that I really wanted. It was amazing week to week to have that hour to sit down and really be able to reflect and have a third party to help you organize and sort through what happened and give you that objective advice. I honestly don't think we would've made it through the 40 days without it. CNN: In the early days of the blog, your friends criticized you both for not being physical. You left those constraints pretty ambiguous. On day 25, readers learned, that changed. Goodman: We had left that open. It was bit of an issue right in the beginning because her friend was giving her (a hard time) about it. She got weird about it. We can't just click our fingers and be in a relationship. There was a lot of push and pull because of it. I didn't know what my intentions were. Walsh: I had wanted it for a while. I was just like, "Let's try this." We both admitted on day two of the therapy that there was attraction, there was some interest. Tim was the one that was super scared because his issues are quite real. We had a great friendship, so he was very, very hesitant -- but it was confusing for me because he would be flirtatious. CNN: So, do you think men and women can ever be just friends? Goodman: I have girlfriends that I consider just girls who are friends now, but it's only because I've been with them before or they're in a relationship so you don't have to even think about it. If you asked me a couple of months ago, I would've said yes. In one of his stand-ups, Chris Rock said every platonic friend that he had was someone he was trying to sleep with, made a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in the "friend zone." I think there's truth in that. A man always has a motive. Walsh: I do. CNN: Well, what happened? Goodman: I will say that I feel forever linked to her. I have this kinship with her because of it, regardless of what happened or if we're together or we're not. The lost art of offline dating . Love and Marriage: China plays the dating game . What are your predictions? Do you think men and women can have platonic relationships? Share your thoughts in the comments below. | Two friends from New York City decided to try dating -- and blog about it . The blog, 40 Days of Dating, details their relationship, which began in March . Blogger: "We used it as a catalyst to work on our issues together" | 97e5c089602903978e39b1c9c7642134305baaca |
By . Chris Greenwood . and Nick Fagge . and Rebecca English . Stopped: The Duke of York was ordered to 'verify his identity' by armed police officers in Buckingham Palace gardens . Prince Andrew reacted with fury at gun-wielding officers who mistook him for an intruder at Buckingham Palace and asked him to 'verify his identity.' Two heavily-armed policemen confronted him as he walked in broad daylight through the grounds, sources revealed last night. The fifth-in-line to the throne stood his ground asking the officers 'Don't you know who I am?' and was said to have ‘made his thoughts plain’ during the highly-charged confrontation that followed. A royal source said: ‘He was incredibly, incredibly angry. It was very much a case of guns being pointed at him and “halt who goes there”.’ Yesterday police issued a humiliating apology to the Duke of York over the extraordinary error. According to the Daily Mirror, a source said that the Duke was red faced as he shouted at officers like a school teacher. They said: 'It got pretty heated because he just kept repeating himself "Don't you know who I am?". 'He felt the officers had sneaked up on him and believed they had behaved disrespectfully towards him.' They added that when the penny dropped they apologised to Prince Andrew. But this was not enough. The source added: 'He gave them a proper dressing down, shouting at them like a schoolteacher before he walked back to the main house - completely livid.' It was the second police fiasco within three days at what should be one of the most secure estates in Britain. Just 48 hours earlier officers discovered a mentally ill man attempting to smash down a door with a fire extinguisher after he scaled a 12ft wall and broke in. Yesterday Scotland Yard revealed senior officers had personally apologised to Prince Andrew in a bid to draw a line under the latest matter. Scroll down for video . Incident: Prince Andrew had gone for a walk around the gardens in Buckingham Palace when the two officers stopped him . In . an unprecedented statement, a spokesman said: ‘We are grateful to the . Duke for his understanding and have apologised for any inconvenience . caused.’ Scotland Yard . declined to comment on reports that the officers shouted at the . 53-year-old royal, telling him to ‘put your hands up’ and ‘get on the . ground’. A source said it . would not be ‘uncommon’ for police to shout when challenging someone, . but added that they did not know if he was ordered to lie down. In return, Prince Andrew issued a . conciliatory statement, saying: ‘The police have a difficult job to do . balancing security for the royal family and deterring intruders, and . sometimes they get it wrong.’ But . hinting at his anger over the confrontation, he added: ‘I am grateful . for their apology and look forward to a safe walk in the garden in the . future.’ Royal sources . said Andrew had been ‘infuriated’ by the fiasco. They continued to . insist that weapons had been drawn by police, who were in a state of . high tension following the previous security breach. One source said: ‘[Andrew] has calmed down now but it wasn’t a pleasant experience at all, and he was furious at the time.’ The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh attend church today. They were accompanied by Prince Charles . The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were in Aberdeenshire for the Braemar Gathering where they attended a church service this morning . Another . palace aide told the Mail: ‘The police have acknowledged the incident . and apologised and he is happy to move on. He knows they have a . difficult job to do and is supportive of them.’ However, . senior palace sources also made clear that the prince had not been . willing to make a public statement until he had received a full apology . from the Met. Break in: Victor Miller was arrested inside the palace . The prince had just . returned from a two-week holiday in Spain with his former wife Sarah, . the Duchess of York, and their daughters Beatrice, 25, and Eugenie, 23. The . pair of uniformed marksmen challenged him after discovering him near a . perimeter wall in a relatively isolated area of the palace garden. Royal . staff are said to be incredulous that those involved failed to . recognise the prince, although officially police chiefs are saying they . did nothing wrong. One . source said: ‘Once it was clear who Andrew was, he certainly made his . thoughts plain about what had happened. 'It has been the subject of a lot . of conversation, especially as Andrew is not exactly known for . suffering fools gladly.’ His former protection officer Ken Wharfe describes him as rude, bossy and terse. At . the time of the incident, the Met’s Royal protection unit was on high . alert after Victor Miller, 37, was caught inside the ornate State Rooms . on Monday night. The complex can be accessed only through an inner . courtyard at the heart of the palace. The . DJ and sound engineer – who claims to have worked with stars including . Amy Winehouse, N-Dubz and Tinchy Stryder – is being held in a secure . mental health unit after being arrested and questioned on suspicion of . burglary, trespass and criminal damage. A suspected accomplice, a man aged 38, was found outside the palace and arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit burglary. No royals were present when the break-in took place but experts are incredulous that Miller got so far before being stopped. The . two incidents highlight the tension between police and the royal family . over security. The Queen – who is currently staying at Balmoral Castle . with Prince Philip – has made it clear she wants the palace to be . accessible to the public as possible. Former . Scotland Yard Commissioner Lord Blair played down the Prince Andrew . confrontation as he said it was impossible to make any site completely . secure. ‘They will have to look at this,’ he added. ‘The story of the . burglar is a much more difficult story than the Andrew story.’ Last . night, former royal protection chief Dai Davies said of the Prince . Andrew incident: ‘[The officers] were alert and that was good, but . saying that, they should know who His Royal Highness is. ‘It . is a very big garden and we don’t know where he was and who he told, . but you would expect officers to be aware if he had gone out. 'Why wasn’t . anybody aware that he was having a walk about? ‘They . are right to challenge anybody they don’t know, quite obviously if they . don’t and something happens … they are criticised.’ A . Metropolitan Police spokesman declined to comment on whether the . officers would face any disciplinary action or ‘words of advice’. He . said: ‘Uniformed officers approached a man in the gardens of Buckingham . Palace to verify his identity. The man was satisfactorily identified. ‘No . weapons were drawn and no force was used. 'We can confirm that the man . spoken to by officers was the Duke of York. We are making this public . with His Royal Highness’s permission. The Queen, pictured yesterday with Prince Charles watch competitors at the Highland Games in Braemar, Scotland, was told of the incident . | Duke of York was mistaken for an intruder while walking in Palace garden . He reacted with fury when heavily armed police told him to prove his identity . But Metropolitan Police says no weapons were drawn and no force was used . Encounter came after man was found wandering around Buckingham Palace . DJ Victor Miller has now been detained until the Mental Health Act . | 8afc88ec15787d2272b0720240e26d96895fff74 |
By . Mail Online Reporter . A Colorado woman faces first degree murder charges after allegedly running down her husband in a parking lot fight. Nancy Jo Arias, 38, was officially charged with first-degree murder and vehicular homicide in Adams County Monday. Arias allegedly ran down husband Phillip Anthony Lobato, 38, after he hit her in the face repeatedly. Nancy Jo Arias, 38, was officially charged with first-degree murder and vehicular homicide in Adams County Monday . Quoting the arrest affidavit, The Denver Channel reports Arias told the police: 'You might as well . A memorial fund for Lobato's children has been set up at Wells Fargo . take me now. I ran . over him.' She told police the couple had been arguing about infidelity in the car when he hit her, then got out into the parking lot of Hill Top Liquor at 2735 W. 72nd Avenue in Westminster. He hit her again several more times, reaching through the driver's side window. The Denver Channel reports Arias told police she would hit him with the car but he only laughed at the threat. 'I contemplated and then I hit him' she told the responding officers. 'I'm one of those persons who get the last word.' Lobato was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. The couple had been together since they were 14. 'He . loved his kids, he loved his wife, he loved his family. He loved his . family,' father Ronnie Lobato told reporters. 'What's in my heart is he'd . make you laugh. He'd accept you as part of the family.' Ronnie Lobato, father of the deceased, has erected a memorial in the liquor store parking lot where he died . A memorial has been erected in the liquor store parking lot collecting balloons, cards, flowers, and candles. A candlelight vigil was held at 8:30 p.m. Thursday. A memorial fund for the couples children has been established at Wells Fargo Bank. Lobato had allegedly struck Arias several time in the face before getting out of the car in this Hill Top Liquor parking lot . 'He's been there for me, he's been there for his kids. It's just really sad to have this situation happen,' Lobato said. Arias declined interview requests from Adams County Jail. | Nancy Jo Arias allegedly ran husband Phillip Anthony Lobato down in a liquor store parking lot after arguing over infidelity . Phillip allegedly struck her in the face several times before she threatened to run him down . Arias faces first-degree murder and vehicular homicide charges . | c9ce693b4a9ca01e38a982c177041873bcc94604 |
Pennville, Georgia (CNN)A human face appeared in white paint on the end of his finger. It sounds crazy, but the way late folk artist Howard Finster told the story, the mysterious face said, "Paint sacred art; paint sacred art." The vision came to the retired Baptist preacher in 1976 while he was working on a bicycle in his Pennville, Georgia, repair shop. One of a lifelong string of visions, it was just the sign he needed to devote the rest of his days to spreading God's message through art. Finster was 59. "When most people are winding down, he was winding up," said Jordan Poole, executive director of Paradise Garden, a 4-acre property teeming with Finster's creations, about 90 miles northwest of Atlanta. And more than a dozen years after his death, interest in Finster seems to be winding up again, too. He's one of the headliners in a new exhibit in Baltimore at the American Visionary Art Museum, which bills him as "America's most prolific self-tutored and 'on fire' artist." He's also the star of the documentary "Paradise Garden: Howard Finster's Legacy," released this year by Art West Film. But perhaps most significant, there's a revival under way in the garden where he worked frenetically, day and night, to grow towering heaps of bicycle parts and a meditation chapel draped in whimsical bric-a-brac along with hand-painted Bible verses, a covered "Rolling Chair" gallery, the glimmering World's Folk Art Church and a mosaic wonderland embedded with plastic toys, fragments of mirror, shards of colored glass, Madonnas and more. Paradise Garden is located about 90 miles northwest of Atlanta in unincorporated Pennville, Georgia. The garden is open Tuesday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors and $2 for children. The documentary "Paradise Garden: Howard Finster's Legacy" is showing November 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Goat Farm Arts Center in Atlanta. Finster was a musician, a showman and an avid artistic collaborator. In the 1980s, he designed album covers for R.E.M. and the Talking Heads, and charmed audiences with his tales, songs and banjo-playing on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show." R.E.M.'s "Radio Free Europe" music video was filmed in the garden. Yet his overarching purpose was clear, and he defined it simply: "God called me here. I'm interested in every human being in this world," he said during a 1987 event at the garden. "I didn't come here to put nothin' on nobody, push nothin' on nobody. I didn't come here to take nothin' away from nobody. I didn't come here to start some new kind of religion. "I come here for one thing, and that is, I have visions of other worlds. I have visions that's inimaginable. I have visions that I can't even tell people. And I try, the best I can, to draw my visions," he said. He didn't sleep much. Finster produced 46,991 numbered works before he died in 2001 at 84. And that figure doesn't include most of what's on view in the garden. The jumbled property in northern Georgia was in desperate need of attention after Chattooga County purchased the garden in late 2011 and handed management to the Paradise Garden Foundation in 2012. Over the past few years, the foundation has literally been digging the art out. The new documentary film, directed by Ava Leigh Stewart, chronicles the process from the beginning. The swampy ground where the Finster family made their home in the early 1960s had started to reclaim some of the structures that sprouted up in the garden over the years. With the help of more than $700,000 in grant money, the foundation has raised and stabilized many of the garden's key attractions. The restoration has been a delicate balance, though. "We went to great lengths to have it slightly decayed-looking. We don't want it to be pristine," Poole said. Finster and his wife, Pauline, moved down the road to Summerville in the early '90s after Pauline got fed up with fans turning up at all hours for an audience with her husband. Although Finster still spent a lot of time at the garden, it didn't get as much attention after the couple moved, Poole said, and deteriorated after Finster's death in 2001. Now, there's a new visitor center with exhibition space and an audiovisual experience that introduces guests to the "man of visions," plus new plumbing and electricity for that unglorifed but essential museum amenity: restrooms. The site is now welcoming about 7,000 visitors a year, Poole said. It's not a huge number but definitely a huge spike. Visitation jumped by more than 400% between August 2012 and August 2014. The restoration is good for the garden, but it's also good for the unincorporated community of Pennville and neighboring Summerville. "It's not just to save the place for its own sake but ... to help a community and be a part of that community and to reawaken a community that was really and truly almost dead just a couple years ago," said Poole, who grew up in Summerville. New businesses and art galleries have opened. There's more activism around the arts, and local business are embracing cultural tourism, Poole said. There's still a lot of work to be done. The foundation aims to raise $900,000 for the next phase of the garden's revival. One key goal of the next phase's capital campaign is to rehabilitate the rotting interior of the World's Folk Art Church, a church that Finster bought with a grant in 1982 and retopped to look like a towering wedding cake. Despite the work ahead, the transformation is already apparent to repeat visitors. Theresa Dean, 56, an art teacher from Sandy Springs, Georgia, has been to the garden several times since her first visit in 2007. She visited again at the end of October with a group of middle school students. There's been a "huge change" since her last visit about two years ago, she said. "It's beautiful," Dean said. "I can tell they're still working, but it just seems like it's loved, well-loved." | Paradise Garden showcases the work of late folk artist Howard Finster . The garden in northwest Georgia is undergoing a restoration . Finster's work is part of a new exhibit at the American Visionary Art Museum . A film, "Paradise Garden: Howard Finster's Legacy," was released this year . | e4965339065f5ef84606c2572da9266703d39d30 |
(CNN) -- Across Mexico, young girls dream of escaping their small towns for the big cities. They dream of a good job and a better life in the United States. That was the case of "Claudia," a name given to protect her identity. Her dream of a better life quickly evolved into a nightmare. When she was 15, she met a charming man at a party who would later become her boyfriend. "This individual would tell me a lot about the United States and would ask me to join him to go work at a clothes factory," she said. Claudia was eventually smuggled into the United States and taken to New York City. Once there, she soon realized her boyfriend was part of a prostitution ring. He forced her into prostitution. She says he would beat her up, burn her with lit cigarettes and tell her he would have her parents in Mexico killed if she tried to resist or escape. This is the first time Claudia is speaking about her experience. She's nervous, but says she wants to share her secret; a painful secret, she says, that the world needs to know about. Hers is a story of false promises, illegal immigration, verbal and physical abuse, drugs, forced prostitution and a risky escape. After being forced to work as a prostitute, Claudia says she started thinking about ways of escaping. "It was a very traumatic experience," she said. "The first day I started working was very hard because I had to sleep with 20 men in rapid sequence." For several months she saved up tips, just a few dollars at a time, that she would hide in a refrigerator. She discreetly would ask older women, who were also forced into prostitution, about directions to the nearest bus station and streets around the area. When she felt she had enough for a bus trip, she ran away to the bus station and bought a ticket to a city she didn't know. She has been a free woman for several years now, but she says she still suffers from nightmares and says her life has been scarred. Many people associate prostitution with women walking the streets in shady areas and being picked up by johns. But Claudia says the prostitution ring for which she was forced to work had a long list of clients who knew the price they had to pay, who to call and where to go. It's a well-organized and lucrative underground industry. Luis CdeBaca monitors human trafficking at the U.S. State Department. He says there are no reliable figures on the scale of the problem, but forced prostitution from Mexico and Central America is a big part of it. "They know that their victims are not going to go to law enforcement," said CdeBaca. "They know that their victims are afraid. In fact, sometimes one of their threats is to turn people over to the immigration service." Claudia was 15 when she was forced to become a prostitute, but there are younger victims, as CdeBaca found out when he worked as a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Justice Department. "I ended up seeing cases with girls as young as 13 and women in their 40s and everything in between," he said. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), the United Nations agency that monitors employment, standards, and social protection issues, there are about 12.3 million victims of human trafficking around the world. The ILO also estimates that at least 1.39 million of those are victims of commercial sexual servitude in their own countries or abroad. But the current trafficking from Mexico and Central America is of special concern for CdeBaca. "We have situations in the United States, cases that I've worked on, when I was with the Justice Department involving women who had to serve as up to 50 customers a day; just a crushing amount of what in fact is a daily set of rapes," said CdeBaca. Several cases have been successfully prosecuted in states, including Georgia and New York, against prostitution rings that operate in the same way. They lure women in Mexico with promises of a good job only to be forced into sexual slavery once here. In the Atlanta area, Amador Cortes-Meza, a 36-year-old Mexican national, was charged with involvement in a prostitution ring that victimized women and girls smuggled from Mexico. Some were as young as 14. Otto Jaime Larios-Perez, 27, who has admitted one count of providing false information, drove victims to several secret locations in the Atlanta area, forcing them to see multiple clients a day. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Brock Nicholson says that all of the victims fell into the same trap. "They were brought in with romantic promises, with job promises, young girls, from a certain state of Mexico, brought up, smuggled in, immediately forced into prostitution," Nicholson said. Ten years ago, the U.S. Congress passed a law that allows victims of human trafficking to stay in the country if they testify in court against perpetrators of the crime. Danielle Conley, an immigration attorney who helps victims of human trafficking, said this law known as the Trafficking Victims Protection Act helps both victims and prosecutors. Victims get a visa to live in the United States and prosecutors get powerful testimony to build strong cases against suspects of human trafficking. "They actually have quite a few rights, but unfortunately that's not widely known among both the immigrant community and American citizens," said Conley. Claudia has now moved to a different city in the United States, where she tries to live a normal life. She's still afraid of retribution and wants to remain anonymous. Asked why she decided to share her painful experience, she pauses for a moment and then answers without hesitation. "Because I want authorities to realize that this is a problem and a serious one," she said. "Also, I want parents to know that sometimes because of their work they forget about their children, especially girls, and leave them abandoned." | There are over 12 million human trafficking victims, international data shows . Many victims of forced prostitution in the U.S. are from Latin America, an expert says . "Claudia" was promised a factory job, but was forced into prostitution at age 15 . She spoke to CNN in hopes of alerting authorities to what she called a "serious" problem . | 3312f2ab24203f68075d5654e20e11f917f41787 |
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