id
int64 0
317k
| origin_text
large_stringlengths 48
297k
| summary_text
large_stringlengths 14
9.49k
| lenght_origin_text
int64 48
297k
| lenght_summary_text
int64 14
9.49k
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
150,715 |
The dismembered body of an endangered rhinoceros has been discovered in Kaziranga National Park in India. As these images show, the male one-horned rhino was killed by poachers, who sawed off the animal's horn before escaping. This comes just weeks after a female one-horned rhino was butchered for its horn and left to die in a pool of it's own blood in the same area of the national park. Brutal: Forest officials stand near the carcass of the one-horned rhinoceros that was killed and de-horned by poachers in the Burapahar range of Kaziranga National Park on Sunday . The body of the rhino was discovered by forestry officials in the Burapahar range of Kaziranga in Assam, India, on Sunday. 'The staff did hear the sound of gunshots from the Burhapahar range and before the forest guards could extensively comb the area and spot the carcass, the poachers had sawed off the rhino’s horn and escaped from the scene,' a park official told local website IndiLeak. Earlier this week, two poachers were killed in an encounter with park rangers in Kaziranga. Park officials say five or six poachers had entered the park aiming to kill rhinos, and the rest of the group escaped. Four weeks ago, on December 14, park rangers found another butchered one-horned rhino in the Burapahar range of Kaziranga. Murderers: The male one-horned rhino was shot and dismembered by poachers for its horn . The one-horned rhino is one of the most threatened species in India, and just 3,000 are believed to be living in the wild . Illegal rhinoceros horn poaching is one of the major environmental issues in the park, with animal body parts such as the toenails and skin having a high value on the Asian medicinal market. The Indian rhinoceros, also known as the one-horned rhino, is listed as a vulnerable species. The mammal is mostly found in the Assam state and in protected areas of Nepal. The one-horned rhino once ranged throughout the Indo-Gangetic Plain, but their numbers were greatly reduced by hunting. However, more than 3,000 are still thought to live in the wild, of which more than 2,500 are believed to be in Assam alone. There are five different species of rhinoceros, and all are threatened to some degree. Although poaching drastically reduced their numbers in the 1900s, numbers have steadily increased in recent years. In December, park workers found a rhino left to die in a pool of its own blood in the Kaziranga National Park . Indian forestry officials stand near the lifeless body of the one-horned rhinoceros found in December .
|
Second rhino in one month found dead in Kaziranga National Park, India .
Endangered one-horned rhino had been butchered by poachers .
The one-horned rhino is a vulnerable species and is mostly found in India .
WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES .
| 2,536 | 235 |
34,865 |
Olympic Park, London (CNN) -- The face of the Olympics is well known the world over: athletes winning, losing, straining every sinew of their bodies in the pursuit of podium glory. But behind the scenes there is another story of the athletes' lives and the use of their bodies, one that centers on their time staying at the Olympic Village. "Anyone who wants to be naive and say they don't know what's going on in the Village are lying to themselves," one former gold medalist and veteran of two Olympics told CNN of his previous experiences at the Games. "They know, the officials know, even the media. It's not a secret, everyone knows! "(Sex) is all part of the Olympic spirit. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) wouldn't say that, but it is, you can't shy away from it. Why do you think they give away so many condoms?" The Athletes' Village at the Olympic Games is a unique environment: Nearly 3,000 tightly packed apartments, containing over 10,000 of the world's finest athletes who have traveled from more than 200 countries around the world to stay for a two-week sporting jamboree. A potent mix of fit, body beautiful, young people -- many of whom have abstained from sexual intercourse as part of a disciplined training regime -- being in the same place, at the same time; cocooned from the outside world by tight security and often reveling in the glory of success and attention of devoted crowds and the world's press. Olympics live blog . It is maybe only human nature that people, when placed together, procreate to some extent, but that libidinous cocktail means London 2012 officials were right if the experiences of Sydney and Atlanta were anything to make 150,000 condoms -- a record for the modern Games -- available to the Village's frisky inhabitants, according to CNN's source . "The athletes don't know what to expect the first time they go to the Olympics, but it just happens," added the former gold medalist, who is now approaching his late 30s, looking back at his Olympic experiences. "As soon as you finish competing there's no sleeping until the next day! "Many of the volunteers (in the Village) would say 'Oh, what is your room like?' and I knew they were not really wanting to see the room. It's just fun, they are excited to be with the athletes. "You talk, you go to your room. Let me say this ... there were lots of volunteers and they were happy to help you with whatever your needs were. "My roommate and I would put something on the door so we would know if the other was 'busy'. I feel bad to say it but my coach actually guarded the door the night before me and my roommate were racing (because of our reputations)! But it didn't affect me like that. When I raced after sex I felt light on my feet. "We were young and most of the people I hung out with were single. Hope Solo told it basically like it is," said the runner, referring to the U.S. female soccer team goalkeeper. Solo is one of the few current athletes to have been candid about her experience of the Village environment. "There's a lot of sex going on," said the 30-year-old keeper In an interview with ESPN Magazine, prior to the London Games. "With a once-in-a-lifetime experience, you want to build memories, whether it's sexual, partying or on the field. I've seen people having sex right out in the open. On the grass, between buildings, people are getting down and dirty." The anonymous runner who spoke to CNN, said that he found himself in the exact situation Solo had described, despite the surveillance of airborne security at the Village employed after a bomb exploded at the Atlanta Games in 1996. "It was around one in the morning and security wouldn't let us out of the Village, so me and my roommate went to the cafeteria for something to eat. The girls in there said, 'Oh, we finish in an hour, what are you guys doing?' So we said 'We're heading back to our room'. They asked if they could walk with us, and all I will say is we didn't make it back to the room -- and this with the helicopters flying over with their searchlights! It was OK, we were under trees." Shenanigans that would conceivably come as no surprise to swimmer Ryan Lochte and winner of five medals in the London pool. "Seventy to 75 percent of Olympians hook up behind the scenes," the 27-year-old swimmer told ESPN in July. "Hey, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do." Solo believes the friendly nature of the Games makes it easy to meet people. "Unlike at a bar, it's not awkward to strike up a conversation because you have something in common," Solo told ESPN. "It starts with, 'What sport do you play?' All of a sudden, you're fist-bumping." "Sydney was the best, they were so welcoming, friendly and passionate," said CNN's anonymous athlete, referring to the 2000 Games. "In Sydney it was like going back to your school reunion and seeing people you haven't seen for a few years. Athletes from the Bahamas, Jamaica, friends that you keep with on the circuit all excited about being there. The Olympic spirit somehow touches everyone. "In the Village you have an official masseuse and I was having problems with my leg after my race. So I went to the medical center which ultimately led to me having a rub down and I remember the very pretty lady who was going to treat me. She said: 'Please take off your clothes' and then she said 'Oh my God, look at your body, I've never seen a body like this!' So she helped with the rub down and afterwards I knew something was going to happen, and it did." Olympic athletes' extreme eating habits . However, it is not just the sexually-charged nature of the Athletes' Village that makes it such unique accommodation. According to former 100-meter men's champion Linford Christie, the Village offers a unique opportunity to spend time, and often to make friends, with other athletes and even rivals. "I loved staying in the Village, when I was Team GB captain I encouraged people to stay there because how on earth will the young athletes develop if all the experienced stars stay away? It's a way to take your mind of the pressure of your event," said Christie, who is working with CNN during the Olympics. "In 1992 there was the basketball 'Dream Team' and you see Michael Jordan walking around in the cafeteria -- it was like 'woooh!' You look up to him, firstly, because he was seven foot but also because he was a big star. I collected autographs in there, for other people. "And in track and field the people that you compete against are often your good friends. I met Frankie Fredericks that way. I've got a good friend who was a German handball player and have friends from swimming as well as track and field. I met people through sport that I would never have met otherwise." The Village also creates an environment in which national teams can bond. "I think it's very positive, because it's a shared experience and it's a leveler," said Christie. "Sometimes the food was bad, but if I performed as team captain and I'd eaten the same food then that was a message for the team: it was no excuse. It's fun, you can hang out with superstars and you get a chance to talk to people instead of being cocooned in a hotel on your own somewhere." Kriss Akabusi, a veteran of the Los Angeles and Barcelona Games, also felt staying at the Village was a vital part of the Olympic experience. "You know you've arrived when you get to the Village. The best of the best are there and everything is available for your needs," he said. "I'm quite an insular person, self-centered even, and the Athletes' Village was good for my preparation because everything there is about 'you'. You can decide whether or not you want to speak to the press or not. If you have a niggle then there's a doctor, physio, all there ready to go," the 400-meter runner and hurdler told CNN. "L.A. had the best facilities. We could e-mail and get information straightaway as it was the beginning of Internet facilities. They had 24/7 movies, great food and it was my first time in America, Hollywood! It was phenomenal Games. "For 17 days we were the center of the universe. And if people were getting jiggy that's fine but that wasn't my experience or a lot of other athletes."
|
London 2012 distributed 150, 000 condoms to athletes .
Olympic Village comprises nearly 3000 apartments, housing over 10,000 athletes .
Linford Christie: "I think it's very positive [Village life] because it's a shared experience and it's a leveler"
Former athlete Kriss Akabusi: "For 17 days we were the center of the universe"
| 8,199 | 328 |
249,464 |
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose re-election last month led to massive protests, on Tuesday called the balloting "the most free election anywhere in the world." Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected last month, setting off days of protests. "It was a great event," he said in a nationally televised address. The election, which opponents charge was rigged, was followed by street demonstrations and civil unrest that led to the deaths of at least 20 protesters and the arrest of more than 1,000, according to Iranian state-run media. The numbers of casualties and arrests could not be independently verified by CNN because the Iranian government banned coverage by international journalists. The president, who said voter turnout was 85 percent, said opponents "did not provide even one piece of document regarding irregularities or vote fraud." Without specifically mentioning the post-election violence, Ahmadinejad said criticism of government "is the key to the success of a nation." Everyone has criticisms, he said. "I have my own." But he accused the "arrogant powers" and "enemies" of Iran of interfering in his country's affairs, including the post-election situation. Some Iranians collaborated with enemies, the president said. Ahmadinejad also said Tuesday he believes the government should be "substantially" reorganized. Although he didn't elaborate, he said the areas of employment, housing, development and civil rights were high on the agenda. "[We] need to create newer capacities and prepare ourselves for this new period," he said, apparently referring to his upcoming second term in office. "With this election, we have entered a new era ... in domestic spheres and on an international level," he added. He called it "an era of solidarity." "The government is at the service of the entire people," Ahmadinejad said. "Things will be done in a better way, more effective way, so we can reach higher aspirations." He said experts have been invited to help the government achieve progress.
|
Iranian president calls recent vote "most free election anywhere in the world"
In address, he says criticism of government "is the key to the success of a nation"
He accuses "arrogant powers" and "enemies" of Iran of interfering in country's affairs .
Widespread protests rocked Iran in days after Ahmadinejad's re-election .
| 2,055 | 325 |
314,465 |
By . Press Association Reporter . Sir Bradley Wiggins has been added to Team Sky's line-up for Sunday's Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic, becoming the first former Tour de France winner to take part in the event. Wiggins, who took silver for England in the team pursuit at the Commonwealth Games, will join fellow Britons Ben Swift, Luke Rowe and Ian Stannard in Sky's six-man team for the 200km race, which will also feature the likes of 2012 world champion Philippe Gilbert and leading sprinters Mark Renshaw, Alessandro Petacchi and Elia Viviani. The event will see Wiggins return to the roads where he won Olympic time trial gold in 2012 and mark his first appearance in London since he took victory in last year's Tour of Britain. Sir Bradley Wiggins will be among the attractions in London this weekend . 'We are delighted to welcome Sir Bradley to Prudential RideLondon this weekend,' said race director Mick Bennett. 'He completes an already first-class line-up for the event. 'The Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic enjoys great support from spectators at the roadside across the route and this announcement means fans can now look forward to seeing one of the greatest ever British cyclists racing in the event.' Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.
|
Wiggins will be the first Tour de France winner to compete in the event .
He will join fellow Britons Ian Stannard, Luke Rowe and Ben Swift in the six-man team .
It is Wiggins' first return to London roads since his Tour of Britain win .
| 1,291 | 237 |
233,784 |
By . Will Stewart . PUBLISHED: . 06:38 EST, 10 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 06:50 EST, 10 July 2013 . These are the first pictures of a female Russian aristocrat's bespoke dentures - made for her by Faberge from platinum and gold. The mystery noble woman's remains were found in a church near St Petersburg during an archeological dig ahead of planned renovations - but it was the contents of her glinting jaw that astonished experts. Her identity remains a puzzle and for now she is known only as Lady X. Luxury dental work: These are the first pictures of a female Russian aristocrat's bespoke dentures - made for her by Faberge from platinum and gold . She died aged between 50 and 60 in all probability in the opening years of the 20th century, before the Bolshevik Revolution engulfed her country, but scientists hope to be able to discover her real name with further research. Her expensive tastes are already clear from what has been dubbed 'history's most jaw-dropping jaw'. Professor Yury Molin, deputy head of the Bureau of Medical Forensic Examination for Leningrad region, said: 'We were about to finish our work when one member of our team assistant professor Alexander Gorshkov shouted: 'Yury, come here! Look what I've found!'' His excited voiced echoed through tumbledown Taitsy village church, badly damaged during fighting in the Second World War, and dedicated to Othodox saint Alexander Nevsky. Discovery: The mystery noble woman's remains were found in a church near St Petersburg during an archeological dig ahead of planned renovations - but it was the contents of her glinting jaw that astonished experts . Unknown: Her identity remains a puzzle and for now she is known only as Lady X . 'He was holding a skull. After . removing the mud, we immediately spotted a shiny denture in the upper . jaw, obviously not a simple one but made from precious metals. 'Spectral . and dental expertise proved it was a unique denture, produced around . the beginning of the 20th century from gold and platinum by the Karl . Faberge company.' Dental . experts from St Petersburg State Pavlov Medical University established . that 'this denture is a high quality product made by jewellery dental . prosthetic manufactory of the Karl Faberge Merchant House, which was . based in dental department of Obukhovskaya hospital' in St Petersburg, . then the capital of tsarist Russia. 'Multi-layer . china dentures were produced in Germany and supplied to Russia from the . middle of 19th century until the time of the First World War. 'The . mixture of metals in the denture - a high alloy of platinum with silver . and copper in the dental plate, and a high alloy of gold with platinum . and copper in the denture clasps, points to the fact that it was . produced at the end of 19th or beginning of 20th century'. This is because before 1891 a mixture of gold and iridium was used for clasps in Russia.' 'We . quickly realised the skull belongs to a noble woman,' said Professor . Molin, who was called in by local Orthodox priest Mikhail Vinogradov. Buried: Deformed lead sarcophagus which house Lady X's body inside . 'But we have not found anything about her in the archives yet. This is why we call her Lady X. 'Maybe . she was from the Beloselsky-Belozersky or Lopukhin families, or from . some other noble and well known family in this area. 'We . have very good hopes of identifying Lady X. I believe there could be . just a couple of dozen women at the time who could have afforded such a . denture. 'Unfortunately, . her skull was in a bad condition and almost fell into pieces in our . hands, so we have little chance to reconstruct her face and compare with . existing portraits which is often helpful. Still, we do not lose a hope . and will continue working to identify her from material in the . archives.' Other remains . dug up from the historic church have been identified as members of the . Demidov family - a rich noble family from the Urals who were much . earlier close to Peter the Great. Archive . evidence backed by DNA shows that the skeletons were those of Petr . Demidov, his wife Elizaveta Bezobrazova and their 12-year-old son. Uncovered: The Orthodox church in Taitsy village in St Petersburg region where the denture was found . A surviving button on the boy's clothing shows he was a military cadet in the mid-19th century. The church records were lost perhaps during the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the area were later overrun by the Nazis. 'We found four graves, some of them were partly open and, unfortunately, destroyed,' said the professor. 'There were a lot of German bullets and helmets around. But we can't exclude the possibility that the graves were touched before the second world war. 'There is also the fifth grave there but it is well protected with concrete cover and we have not examined it yet.' The priest hopes that the unusual find in the church will lead to discovery of the identity of Lady X and help to raise funds for a full-scale renovation of the historic building which was badly damaged by German shooting during the Second World War. 'I believe there could be just a couple of dozen women at the time who could have afforded such a denture' Professor Molin . Archeologists also found frescoes, old clothes and utensils. The church was associated with the Demidov family but it is not clear that Lady X was directly linked to this noble line. The 63 year old professor waited before announcing the denture discovery until the bodies had been reburied in keeping with a request from priest Vonogradov. 'This denture was found quite a while ago but the Orthodox priest allowed us to make it public only now, when the process of second burial of the identified bodies was over,' he said. 'The local church wanted to do it the proper way - they found Demidov family descendents in Finland, invited them, and held the second funeral in the church. 'The denture was found in early December 2011. We were invited to come for a full working day to work at the scene. 'It was at the end of this working day that we spotted this amazing denture. 'Let me stress, you must call it a unique discovery. In 40 years of my expert experience, I have never come across anything like this - a full size denture. 'Tooth crowns were found before, this is not a surprise, but a full size precious denture is purely a stroke of luck. 'We are proud to tell about our work now. There is no doubt this denture belongs to Karl Faberge company, we showed it to an elderly expert who studied Faberge dentures - and a few matching dentures can be found in museums.' The dentures from the village church do not carry the Faberge imprint, possibly because the were chipped. But he is entirely confident they are the genuine article. 'Lady X is not identified yet but we are still hopeful. 'She is re-buried now too but in a sort of temporary grave, but her remains may be removed any moment so we can access the body again. '
|
Mystery noble woman's remains were found in a church near St Petersburg .
Her identity remains a puzzle and for now she is known only as Lady X .
Died aged between 50-60 in all probability at the start of the 20th century .
| 6,963 | 223 |
2,003 |
EC calls truce in deficit battle
The European Commission (EC) has called a truce in its battle with France and Germany over breaching deficit limits.
The move came after France and Germany vowed to run their budget deficits below the EU cap in 2005 - for the first time in four years. But, the EC did warn the two were under close scrutiny and it would act if their fiscal situations deteriorated. Under EU rules, member countries must keep their deficits below 3%. France and Germany will breach that this year. It will be the third year in a row that the two countries have broken the European Union's Stability and Growth Pact rules.
The eurozone's two biggest economies left the pact in tatters in November 2003 when they persuaded fellow EU members to put the threat of penalties for deficit breaches on hold.
The commission then took the pair to the European Court of Human Justice - which ruled EU countries could not put the pact "in abeyance", and confirmed the EC's right to launch "excessive debt procedures". After announcing its decision to erase France and Germany from its list of deficit rule breakers, the EU said that the time lag created by the ruling meant that 2005 should be the target year for the pair to bring their budget's below 3%. "The commission concludes that the two countries appear to be on track to correct their excessive deficits by 2005," it said in a statement. The EU expects the German deficit to fall to fall to 2.9% of GDP next year from 3.9% this year, while France's is forecast to drop to 3% from an expected 3.7% this year. The forecasts are based on EC predictions of GDP growth of 1.5% in Germany next year and 2.2% in France.
Berlin welcomed the decision, with finance minister Hans Eichel saying it showed that the EC recognised Germany's fiscal policy was "on the right track even amid very difficult economic conditions". However Paris was more subdued, with finance minister Herve Gaymard telling parliament: "We must continue along this path of saving money." However, the move still had its critics, with the European People's Party (EPP) attacking the EC for backing down from punitive action. "The Commission is buckling under the pressure from Germany and France, " EPP spokesman Alexander Radwan said. "The scary fact is that budget sinners, despite having repeatedly exceeded the 3% deficit limit, do not have to fear any sanctions." Despite the commission delivering its decision on the two biggest eurozone economies, it refused to comment on similar action against Greece which has also broken the 3% deficit ceiling. Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said that it was a matter for next week.
|
The European Commission (EC) has called a truce in its battle with France and Germany over breaching deficit limits.After announcing its decision to erase France and Germany from its list of deficit rule breakers, the EU said that the time lag created by the ruling meant that 2005 should be the target year for the pair to bring their budget's below 3%.The forecasts are based on EC predictions of GDP growth of 1.5% in Germany next year and 2.2% in France.France and Germany will breach that this year."The commission concludes that the two countries appear to be on track to correct their excessive deficits by 2005," it said in a statement.The move came after France and Germany vowed to run their budget deficits below the EU cap in 2005 - for the first time in four years.Under EU rules, member countries must keep their deficits below 3%.The EU expects the German deficit to fall to fall to 2.9% of GDP next year from 3.9% this year, while France's is forecast to drop to 3% from an expected 3.7% this year.
| 2,674 | 1,014 |
282,048 |
(CNN) -- Witches, ghosts, a haunted house and a deadly plane crash: "The Night Strangers" has all the hallmarks of a good ghost story, but bestselling author Chris Bohjalian has put his own 21st-century spin on the supernatural genre in his frightening new novel. In the story, the haunted house is a charming fixer-upper in rural New Hampshire. Don't forget to ask the real estate agent about the mysterious basement door, nailed shut with 39 6-inch-long carriage bolts. The witches are self-proclaimed herbalists who go to great lengths to find the organic ingredients for their feel-good tinctures; just don't call them "potions." The ghosts are the victims of a commuter plane crash on Lake Champlain, but don't look for a "Miracle on the Hudson" finish to this water landing. At the heart of this creepy yarn is a not-quite-typical American family: Chip and Emily Linton and their twin 10-year-old daughters. Chip is an airline pilot with a bad case of survivor's guilt. Emily is suspicious of her new neighbors' intentions and her husband's sanity. While the twins try to fit in at their new school, one of the young girls begins to hear voices. With more than a dozen novels under his belt, "The Night Strangers" marks new territory for Bohjalian, who's tackled domestic violence in "Secrets of Eden," a World War II love story in "Skeletons at the Feast," and mental illness and "The Great Gatsby" in "The Double Bind." CNN recently spoke to Bohjalian (pronounced Bow-jail-yen) and the real-life inspiration behind "The Night Strangers." The following is an edited transcript: . CNN: What was the spark behind "The Night Strangers"? Bohjalian: Along one of the foundation walls of the basement of my house in Vermont is a door. It's about five and a half feet tall and three feet wide and made of rough wooden planks. My guess is that it was added at some point after the 1898 Victorian above it was first constructed. When my wife and I moved into the house, it was nailed shut. That's right: nailed. There was a moldy pile of coal beside it, and so I convinced myself the door was merely a part of an old coal chute. Sure, I never found the exterior entrance to the chute, but that was a detail. Perhaps it was under a porch added at some point in the 1940s. A few years later, in the early 1990s, I finally pulled the door open. The project demanded a crowbar, a wrench and at one point an ax. After hours of toil, behind that door I found ... nothing. There was a slender cubicle the height and width of the door and maybe 18 inches deep. The walls were made of wood, and behind them was nothing but earth. In no way did it resemble a coal chute. It was more like a closet -- or a crypt behind which you might wall up a neighbor alive. So I nailed the door shut and made a mental note to steer clear of that corner of the basement for as long as we lived in the house. Nevertheless, on some level I understood even then that the basement door was going to lead to a novel. Now, it would take an airplane ditching one January afternoon in 2009 in the Hudson River before I would begin to understand what was going to exist behind that door. Like many thousands of other people, I raced to my television set and watched the evacuation of US Airways Flight 1549 as it occurred, staring enrapt as passengers stood on the wings and the plane floated amidst the waves. Perhaps it was the shape of the jet's cabin doors, but at that moment I thought of the door in my basement. The next morning, I wrote the following sentence: "The door was presumed to have been the entry to a coal chute, a perfectly reasonable assumption since a small hillock of damp coal sat moldering before it." And so begins "The Night Strangers." CNN: There's a plane crash in your book, reminiscent of the "Miracle on the Hudson." You went to great lengths to research plane crashes for the novel? Bohjalian: I did. I read a disturbing number of black box transcripts from doomed airliners, watched a lot of terrifying NTSB computer animations of crashes and interviewed pilots. But the most important thing I did to add authenticity to the novel was to visit Survival Systems in Groton, Connecticut. There I climbed into a flight suit, got strapped inside a Modular Egress Training Simulator and lowered into a 100,000-gallon tank of water. I was rolled 180 degrees so I was upside-down. The point of this, other than determining if my flight suit should have a diaper, was to get a taste of what it's like to exit a plane that has just crashed in the water. The METS is a cylinder that resembles an aircraft cabin. It has interchangeable exits, so Survival Systems can replicate egress from most types of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. The device is lowered into the tank, submerged underwater and then rolled upside down or to an off-angle, depending upon the scenario. The ceiling can be set on fire because, let's face it, when your plane or chopper has become a lawn dart, there's a chance that something is ablaze. The day I was dunked, there were three National Guardsmen being trained as well. I had an instructor in the simulator with me, and there were divers in the water around it to make sure that all of us got out with, worst case, a snootful of water. Altogether, I was dunked three times, twice rolled until I was upside-down. Escaping the simulator the two times I was strapped into a seat and had to push out exit windows while upside-down were particularly satisfying. CNN: Without giving away too much, your book features ghosts and witches, a first for you. What prompted you to write about the supernatural? Bohjalian: If you look at my personal library, you will notice that it ranges from Henry James to Steig Larsson, from Margaret Atwood to Max Hastings. There's Jane Austen and Tom Perrotta and volumes of letters from Civil War privates. It's pretty eclectic. And there's Shirley Jackson and Stephen King and Edgar Allan Poe. The Poe is a paperback I bought when I was a boy. It cost 45 cents when it was brand new. It's a little more squat and a little more wide than a traditional mass market edition, and has a red moon and a raven on the cover. I wrote my name atop the first page with a blue Magic Marker, the ink bleeding through the thin sheet onto page three, and the letters are evidence that my mother was on to something when she would insist that our dog had better handwriting than I did. It is one of the only books from my childhood I still own. I loved Poe when I was a boy. I loved all ghost stories. So I guess it was only a matter of time before I wrote one. Moreover, I hope I will never write the same book twice. So, why a ghost story? Well, I love them. They're fun to read -- and, yes, fun to write. And when I imagined the subject matter of a plane crash and a pilot's post-traumatic stress disorder, ghosts seemed as good a way in as any. CNN: What's next for you? Bohjalian: I just finished a love story set amidst the Armenian Genocide in 1915 and the World War I battle of Gallipoli. A young Boston graduate from Mount Holyoke and an Armenian engineer are two of the main characters. It's called "The Sandcastle Girls." I am half-Armenian, and three of my four Armenian great-grandparents died in the Genocide, and so I found the research particularly wrenching. Read more about Bohjalian's writing life in Vermont on the "Idyll Banter" blog on his website.
|
Chris Bohjalian's latest novel is about a fixer-upper haunted house in New Hampshire .
"The Night Strangers" has witches, ghosts, a haunted house and a deadly plane crash .
Bohjalian has put his own 21st-century spin on the supernatural genre .
| 7,400 | 244 |
63,859 |
(CNN)After months of anticipation, a grand jury's decision on whether to indict a Missouri officer for fatally shooting an unarmed black teenager could come at any moment. And when it does, anything could happen in the tinderbox that is Ferguson, Missouri. But how did we get to this point? Here are six things to know to get up to speed on the case: . On August 9, 18-year-old Michael Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson were walking in the middle of a residential street when a white officer, Darren Wilson, pulled up and told them to get out of the road. That's where the stories quickly diverge. According to Johnson, he and Brown told the officer they were almost at their destination and would be out of the street shortly. But Johnson said the officer grabbed Brown by the neck and drew his gun, eventually shooting Brown. "At no point in time did they struggle over the weapon because the weapon was already drawn on us," Johnson said. By contrast, a Wilson family friend identified as "Josie" told local radio station KTFK that Brown started a physical altercation with the officer. "Michael just bum rushes him, and just shoves him back into his car, punches him in the face and then of course Darren grabs for his gun and Michael grabs the gun," Josie said. "At one point he's got the gun totally turned against his hip, and then he shoves it away and the gun goes off." A source told CNN that Josie's account matches what the officer told investigators. Both sides agree that Brown ran and then turned back -- the question is whether he turned to attack or surrender. "He was running for his life and just got shot and turned around and didn't try to reach for anything," witness Piaget Crenshaw said. "He put his hands in the air being compliant, and he still got shot down like a dog." Josie gives a different explanation. "All of a sudden (Brown) just started to bum rush him. He just started coming at him full speed so (Wilson) just started shooting and he just kept coming," Josie said. "The final shot was in the forehead and then he fell about 2, 3 feet in front of the officer." The official autopsy, as published by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, said Brown suffered six gunshot entrance wounds. The wounds included a shot to the hand at close range, according to an autopsy analysis reported by the Post-Dispatch. That detail could support Wilson's claim of a struggle inside his patrol car. But that doesn't explain why Wilson continued shooting, including at least one shot to Brown's head. A private autopsy conducted for the Brown family showed the teen had been shot at least six times, including twice in the head. The grand jury is deciding whether Wilson should be charged with any one of several possible crimes. Those possible charges include first-degree murder, second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter, said Ed Magee, spokesman for the prosecuting attorney's office. The grand jury can issue an indictment on any of those four charges, and it also has the option of adding a charge of armed criminal action, authorities said. At the same time, the grand jury will consider Missouri's statutes for self-defense and police use of deadly force. Different states have different numbers, but there are 12 members on the Missouri grand jury. Nine of the 12 must vote yes to indict someone on a charge. The grand jury proceedings are conducted in secret. The grand jurors' races and ethnicities are also kept under wraps. Though the grand jury has until January to issue its ruling, the prosecutor's office has said a decision could come in mid-November. Complete coverage of the events in Ferguson . Who knows. For more than 70 days and nights, protesters have demanded an indictment for Wilson and have called for Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson to resign. Only on a few nights has the situation turned violent, with some protesters hurling bottles or rocks at officers while police, dressed in riot gear, threw tear gas canisters. Gov. Jay Nixon made clear he's not anticipating violence but wants to be ready for anything. Police from various departments will operate as a unified command. The National Guard will be available as necessary. Law enforcement is prepared to extend shifts and limit leave, and additional resources have been distributed, Nixon said. But one protester predicts violence if Wilson isn't indicted: . "If there is not an indictment, excuse my French, all hell is going to break loose." CNN's Eliott C. McLaughlin, Sara Sidner, Sara Weisfeldt and Michael Martinez contributed to this report.
|
A grand jury could decide at any moment whether to indict Officer Darren Wilson .
Wilson fatally shot Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American teen .
The officer said Brown started a physical confrontation .
Autopsies reveal Brown was shot at least six times .
| 4,585 | 262 |
233,791 |
By . Anthony Bond . PUBLISHED: . 12:15 EST, 18 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:19 EST, 18 April 2013 . Stepped down: The headmaster at Stanbridge Earls School in rural Hampshire, Peter Trythall, pictured, which is at the centre of shocking sex abuse claims has today resigned . The headmaster of a controversial school at the centre of shocking sex abuse claims has today resigned. Peter Trythall stepped down from his role at Stanbridge Earls, in Romsey, Hants, 'in the best interests of the school'. It comes as a major police investigation continues into allegations made by two former students, including a vulnerable young girl. The £39,000-a-year school caters for youngsters with learning disabilities. A tribunal ruled earlier this year that the school had discriminated against the pupil, who suffered 'appalling abuse' at the hands of another student. It found a number of staff members failed to tell the youngster’s parents that she had complained of pain in an intimate part of her body. And it said the school had been 'unsystematic, unprofessional, ad hoc and completely inadequate' when it came to protecting her. Mr Trythall was accused of 'a failure of responsibility'. Furthermore, the Nursing and Midwifery Council confirmed school nurse Melanie Bavington was under investigation. The governors today said: 'The Governors of Stanbridge Earls School have today accepted the resignation of headmaster Peter Trythall. 'We acknowledge the difficulties he has faced during these last few months, and respect his decision which he has taken in the best interests of the school. 'They are indebted to him for the many things that he has achieved during his tenure of office. 'The day to day management of the school will be in the hands of the two deputies, supported by a specialist SEN Consultant in Leadership and Management, and under the guidance of the Chairman of Governors. Controversy: Mr Trythall stepped down from his role at Stanbridge Earls, in Romsey, Hampshire, pictured, 'in the best interests of the school' 'That will be until such time as an interim head can be appointed.' The Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal later ordered the school pay the girl’s family £86,000 for legal costs. She cannot be named for legal reasons. Detectives from Hampshire Constabulary’s public protection department are examining whether 'further criminal offences' have been committed against other youngsters attending the school. Both the chairman of the board of governors Tony Knight and a second governor Claire Marsden have already resigned. The school has vowed to make urgent improvements and to work with outside agencies.
|
Peter Trythall stepped down from his role at Stanbridge Earls in Hampshire .
Police investigation .
continuing into allegations made by former students .
| 2,656 | 153 |
177,059 |
Title: Innovative Solar-Powered Bus Fleet to Debut in Major City Next Month
Subtitle: In an effort to reduce carbon emissions and promote sustainable urban mobility, the city of San Francisco will be introducing a fleet of solar-powered buses starting next month.
Body:
San Francisco is set to revolutionize its public transportation system with the introduction of a state-of-the-art solar-powered bus fleet. This eco-friendly initiative aims to not only decrease carbon emissions but also promote sustainable urban mobility within the city. The new buses will be equipped with advanced solar panels on their rooftops, which are expected to generate enough energy to power the vehicles during the day.
These environmentally friendly buses, designed by leading transportation technology company EcoMotive, have been praised for their efficiency and eco-friendliness. The solar-powered buses can accommodate up to 80 passengers at a time and will operate on popular city routes beginning next month. The project is part of the city's broader commitment to combat climate change and promote green living.
Residents and visitors alike are encouraged to take advantage of this new public transportation option, as it not only contributes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions but also reduces traffic congestion in the city center. In addition, the city plans to gradually expand the fleet over time to accommodate increased demand and further reduce carbon emissions.
San Francisco's solar-powered bus initiative serves as a model for other cities worldwide seeking to adopt sustainable transportation solutions. The rollout of this innovative technology is expected to attract global attention and inspire other urban areas to follow suit in their efforts to combat climate change and promote greener living. Stay tuned for more updates on the progress of this exciting project!
|
San Francisco will introduce a fleet of solar-powered buses next month, as part of an effort to reduce carbon emissions and promote sustainable urban mobility. These new buses, designed by EcoMotive, are equipped with advanced solar panels that generate energy during the day. The buses can accommodate up to 80 passengers and will operate on popular city routes. This project is part of San Francisco's broader commitment to combating climate change and promoting green living. Residents and visitors are encouraged to use this new public transportation option, which aims to reduce traffic congestion in the city center as well. The city plans to gradually expand the fleet over time. This initiative serves as a model for other cities seeking sustainable transportation solutions, attracting global attention and inspiring similar efforts in urban areas worldwide.
| 1,882 | 868 |
38,085 |
Title: "Tennis Star Serena Williams Advances to Wimbledon Semifinals with Stunning Victory"
In a thrilling display of power and precision, tennis legend Serena Williams has advanced to the semifinals of this year's Wimbledon Championships. Facing off against fellow American Alison Riske, Williams showcased her signature formidable game, securing the match with a final score of 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion is now just two wins away from equaling the all-time record held by Margaret Court. Speaking after her victory, Williams remained focused on the task at hand, saying, "I'm just taking it one match at a time and enjoying every moment out here."
Fans and pundits alike are eagerly anticipating who Williams will face in the semifinals. With a potential showdown against Simona Halep or Karolina Pliskova on the horizon, tennis enthusiasts are in for an exciting week of top-tier competition. Stay tuned as we continue to cover Wimbledon 2021!
|
Tennis star Serena Williams has progressed to the semifinals of Wimbledon 2021 by defeating Alison Riske with a score of 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. With this win, she is now two matches away from equaling Margaret Court's all-time record in Grand Slam titles. The next round could pit her against Simona Halep or Karolina Pliskova, promising an exciting week of high-quality tennis.
| 971 | 371 |
189,247 |
You would be forgiven for thinking that the sun looked like a giant yolk after an amateur astronomer captured what looks like a chick sitting on its surface. The strange formation was photographed by amateur astronomer Gordon Ewen, and is a sun spot. The phenomenon is fairly common and the number of spots on the solar surface reflects with how active the sun is. They occur when a concentration of magnetic fields causes the surface temperature to reduce, making a specific section of the sun stand out from its surroundings. The sun's having a yolk! Sun spots range hugely in size, from just 10 miles (16km) to 100,000 miles (160,000km) wide - big enough to be seen from Earth without a telescope. Each one can be more than ten times the size of our planet . Gordon Ewen captured the festive photograph using a telescope at the bottom of his garden. Mr Ewen, 57, set up the observatory shed at the bottom of the garden in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, after he left his job five years ago. 'I've been interested in astronomy since I was a child. I remember I used to love borrowing books about space from the library and I had telescope when I was 10,' he said. 'But It all took a backseat when I went to university to study chemistry though.' The photograph of the chick-like sun spot was taken on March 10 at midday. The large telescope focuses on a specific wavelength of light and allows him to see the details created on the sun's surface as hydrogen gas surfaces and swirls. Sun spots range in size, from just 10 miles (16km) to 100,000 miles (160,000km) wide - big enough to be seen from Earth without a telescope, and more than ten times the size of our planet. Sunspots have a temperature of anywhere from 2,700 to 4,200°C (4,890 to 7,590°F), compared to 5,500°C (9,930°F) for the surrounding solar material, which is why they are so visible. Sunspots are also sometimes the source of eruptions on the sun, namely solar flares . No, the picture on the left is not a sun spot...: The photograph of the chick-like sunspot was taken using Gordon Ewen's telescope that focuses on a specific wavelength of light. This allows him to see the details created on the sun's surface (another example of his work pictured, right) Mr Ewen, 57, set up the observatory (pictured) shed at the bottom of the garden in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, after he left his job five years ago. 'I've been interested in astronomy since I was a child. I remember I used to love borrowing books about space from the library,' he said . They can have a temperature of anywhere from 2,700 to 4,200°C (4,890 to 7,590°F), compared to 5,500°C (9,930°F) for the surrounding solar material, which is why they are so visible. The hot spots are also the source of eruptions on the sun, mainly solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), all of which are linked to magnetic fields. The sun goes through a periodic change in activity known as a solar cycle, which has an average duration of 11 years. This also affects the frequency of sunspots. Sunspots should not be confused with coronal holes, regions of the corona - an aura of plasma around the sun - where the magnetic field reaches out into space rather than looping back down onto the surface. Sun spots are also the source of eruptions on the sun, mainly solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), all of which are linked to magnetic fields (a picture of a coronal mass ejection taken by Mr Ewen, pictured)
|
Strange formation is a sun spot and fairly common.The number on the surface correlates with how active the sun is .
Spots occur when magnetic fields causes surface temperature to reduce, making a section stand out .
Have temperature of up to 4,200°C (7,590°F), compared to 5,500°C (9,930°F) of the surrounding solar material .
Gordon Ewen captured the unique photograph using a large telescope at the bottom of his garden in Hertfordshire .
| 3,442 | 440 |
265,580 |
Washington (CNN) -- The Justice Department on Tuesday defended its decision to subpoena phone records from Associated Press bureaus and reporters, saying the requests were limited and necessary to investigate a leak of classified information. The AP revealed Monday that federal agents had collected two months of telephone records for some of its reporters and editors without notifying it of the subpoena. In a letter to Gary Pruitt, the news service's president, Deputy Attorney General James Cole said the Justice Department had balanced the public's right to know with national security. "Any subpoena that is issued should be drawn as narrowly as possible, be directed at relevant information regarding a limited subject matter and should cover a reasonably limited period of time," Cole wrote. "We are required to negotiate with the media organization in advance of issuing the subpoenas unless doing so would pose a substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation. We take this policy, and the interests that it is intended to protect, very seriously and followed it in this matter." Justice officials haven't specified the leak that triggered the probe, but the AP has said it believes the investigation focuses on its account of a foiled plot to bomb a U.S. airliner in May 2012. AP blasts feds for phone records search . In response to Cole, Pruitt wrote that government officials "assured us that the national security concerns had passed" before it ran the story. "Indeed, the White House was preparing to publicly announce that the bomb plot had been foiled," Pruitt wrote. "The White House had said there was no credible threat to the American people in May of 2012. The AP story suggested otherwise, and we felt that was important information and the public deserved to know it." Speaking Tuesday evening to CNN's Erin Burnett, AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll said the news service is "shocked" by what unfolded. "We've never seen anything along the size and scope of this particular investigation," she said. In all, federal agents collected records from more than 20 lines, including personal phones and AP phone numbers in New York; Hartford, Connecticut; and Washington, he wrote in a letter of protest to Attorney General Eric Holder. Among those staffers whose phone records were subpoenaed was the news service's Washington bureau chief, Sally Buzbee, AP spokeswoman Ellen Hale said Tuesday. Investigators sought call records from five other reporters and an editor, the AP reported Monday. Carroll said the phone lines were used by about 100 journalists, casting a "very broad net" of AP operations "that have, as far as I know, no particular connection to the story that they (authorities) seem to be investigating." Holder said Tuesday that he had stepped aside to avoid any potential conflict of interest in the case and left the decision to subpoena the phone records to Cole. He said his recusal was necessary because he had been questioned by FBI agents as part of the leak probe and wanted to make sure "that the investigation was seen as independent." The story the AP says is at the center of the probe broke the news that the CIA had thwarted an al Qaeda plot to blow up a U.S.-bound jetliner around the anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden by American commandos. Sources later told CNN that the operative who was supposed to have carried the bomb had been inserted into al Qaeda's Yemeni affiliate by Saudi intelligence, and that the device had been handed over to U.S. analysts. Holder said the leak being investigated was one of the most serious he has ever seen. "It put the American people at risk, and that's not hyperbole," he said. "It put the American people at risk, and finding who was responsible for that required very aggressive action." It's not the first time the Justice Department has taken flak for seeking the phone records of an AP reporter. In 2002, Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley criticized the department for its subpoenas of John Solomon, an AP writer who had written about an investigation into then-Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-New Jersey. The subpoena also spurred a protest from the journalism association Investigative Reporters and Editors. The Obama administration has launched several high-profile leak probes, leading to the prosecution of two government employees accused of revealing classified information. Thomas Drake, a former National Security Agency official, was sentenced to one year of probation and 240 hours of community service in 2011, while former CIA officer John Kiriakou was sentenced to 30 months in prison after admitting to identifying a covert intelligence officer. Documentary filmmaker Robert Greenwald, whose previous movies have criticized the war in Iraq, Fox News and Walmart, called the administration's pursuit of leakers "an effort to silence and scare whistleblowers, and to get the press to be quiet and do what it wants them to do." "This is a systemic, continuing problem," said Greenwald, whose latest film, "War on Whistleblowers," focuses on the issue. "It's not a one-off, and it's not an accident, sadly." CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said Monday that the subpoenas were likely legal, but go further than previous administrations in pursuing private information of journalists. "I have never heard of a subpoena this broad," Toobin said. The White House had no knowledge of any attempt by the Justice Department to seek the records, spokesman Jay Carney said Tuesday. "We are not involved with the White House in any decisions made in connection with ongoing criminal investigations as those matters are handled appropriately by the Justice Department independently," Carney told reporters at a news conference. Carney said the administration supports the right of the press to pursue investigative journalism, but said a balance must be struck between that right and national security interests. "The president is a strong defender of the First Amendment and a firm believer in the need for the press to be unfettered in its ability to conduct investigative reporting and to facilitate a free flow of information," Carney said. "He also, of course, recognizes the need for the Justice Department to investigate alleged criminal activity without undue influence." CNN's Jessica Yellin, Carol Cratty, Kevin Bohn, Greg Botelho, Joe Sterling and Josh Levs contributed to this report.
|
NEW: AP exec: "We've never seen anything along the size and scope" of this probe .
AP says its Washington bureau chief was among those whose records were subpoenaed .
Deputy attorney general says leaks were limited and necessary .
Holder says the seriousness of the leak required "very aggressive action"
| 6,409 | 304 |
226,641 |
By . Bianca London for MailOnline . She's the mother-of-four with a stellar pop career and fashion empire under her belt but that's not all - now Victoria Beckham wants to use her fame and fortune to help those less fortunate than her. The fashion designer is giving fans the chance to snap up a piece of her coveted wardrobe as she sells more than 600 items for charity. Victoria has partnered with theoutnet.com to sell hundreds of her items of her clothing in aid of the charity, mothers2mothers. Scroll down for video . Empathy: In February, Victoria Beckham paid a visit to South Africa, where she met with mothers2mothers (m2m) founder Dr. Mitch Besser and his 'mentor mothers' who provide support and education about HIV. She was so moved by the cause that she's selling 600 items from her wardrobe to raise money for the charity . In February this year, following an invitation from Vogue editor Anna Wintour and American Vogue to visit South Africa, Victoria met with mothers2mothers (m2m) founder Dr. Mitch Besser. His charity trains, employs and empowers 'mentor mothers', who are mothers living with HIV, in order to educate them on how to prevent the transmission of HIV from mothers to babies and improve the health of women and their families. Victoria was so moved by the experience that she wanted to do all she could to raise money and awareness. Speaking about the cause, she said: ‘After spending just a few days with these remarkable women and learning more about the charity from Mitch, and his lovely wife Annie Lennox, I wanted to do as much as I could. It really was a life-changing experience; I’ve never experienced anything like it.’ Charity chic: Victoria Beckham will sell 600 items of her wardrobe on The Outnet to raise vital funds for mothers2mothers, a charity that educates on how to prevent the transmission of HIV from mothers to babies . Up for grabs: This Anna Sui glitter tulle dress that Victoria Beckham was photographed in 2006 while exiting the Ritz Hotel in Paris, will form part of the auction . Accompanied by David Beckham and Tom Cruise, Victoria Beckham worn this dress in 2008 to the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in New York City to watch a matinee performance of Katie Holmes in her Broadway play, All My Sons . Victoria felt that a sale of items from her wardrobe could be an incredibly powerful way to raise both money and awareness. Speaking about having Victoria on board, Mitch Besser, the found of mothers2mothers, told MailOnline: 'Victoria is a role model and a global icon, we are so happy to have her on board. 'Victoria came into the hospital wards in South Africa and when she saw what was going on she realised this was totally preventable and asked what she could do to help. 'She met the mentor mothers during her visit and she felt a certain attachment to them. She related to them because, like them, she's a working mother who just wants the best for her family. 'She was a wonderful visitor, so empathetic. She was really interested in what she could do to help the mothers. By selling her clothes and helping a charity, it really does connect her interests.' Bling bling: Victoria wore this Dolce & Gabbana crystal gown to the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles . On sale: The fluorescent yellow Roberto Cavalli gown worn for the pre-World Cup party in 2006 at David and Victoria Beckham's country house will be part of the auction . With help from her mother and sister, Victoria carefully selected iconic pieces from her wardrobe - pieces from her early days with the Spice Girls, that she wore out with David Beckham, and from catwalk appearances, parties, awards shows and other events that have been heavily documented and photographed by the world’s press. The Outnet will be selling the items in a private online sale. The pieces include hats, shoes, bags and jewellery, designer ready-to-wear, costume pieces, coats, skiwear and evening dresses. As a special treat for Victoria Beckham fans and the e-tailer's customers, an auction of 10 of the most iconic pieces from Victoria’s wardrobe will be put up for sale in a ‘Going, Going, Gone’ reverse auction, where the starting price reduces by a fixed amount every five minutes. Animal behaviour: Victoria wore this Michael Hoban zebra dress to the 2007 MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles and it's part of the ten-piece special reverse auction . Under the hammer: This green vintage dress that Victoria wore to the Chanel spring/summer 2008 runway show in Paris is part of the 'Going, Going, Gone' reverse auction, which consists of 10 of the most iconic pieces from her wardrobe and will take place over five days . Clothes galore: This jacket, left, was created specially for Victoria Beckham as a stage costume when she was in the Spice Girls, while this two-piece suit, right, was one she wore in 1998 while out with David Beckham for a Valentine's Day dinner in Manchester . Personal touch: This Prada white belted dress was one Victoria wore in the Spiceworld movie in 1997, left, while these jeans, right, were embellished specially for Victoria . The ‘Going, Going, Gone’ reverse auction will begin at 9.30am on August 20. The reverse auction consists of 10 of the most iconic pieces from Victoria Beckham’s wardrobe and will take place over five days. As a reverse auction, each item being sold will have a starting price and a reserve price. The starting price will reduce by a fixed amount every five minutes before it reaches its end price over a period of six hours - unless the item is sold before the end of the sixth hour. Pieces such as the full length, white Dolce & Gabbana dress worn for the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards and the fluorescent yellow Roberto Cavalli gown worn for the pre-World Cup party in 2006 at David and Victoria Beckham’s country house will be part of the auction. Speaking about working with Victoria, Stephanie Phair, President of TheOutnet, told MailOnline: 'Victoria is a global celebrity with iconic clothes, as well as being a respected designer, so owning one of these is like getting your own slice of pop history. 'Victoria was extremely clear about what she wanted to do and our team worked overtime, donating their own free time to the cause because they were so inspired by her. 'Mitch even came into the office to thank the staff personally. This just goes to show what can be achieved when everyone pitches in.' Meet the team: Stephanie Phair, left, The Outnet president, and Mitch Besser, right, founder of mothers2mothers, had nothing but praise for Victoria whom they say inspired their teams and is a global inspiration . The funds that are raised will help mothers2mothers’ Mentor Mothers reach even more HIV-positive mothers with critical health education and support, to stay healthy and protect their babies from HIV infection. 'HIV infections in children and maternal and infant deaths from AIDS are unnecessary and unacceptable. With the right education and empowerment, no baby should ever be born with HIV and no mother should die of AIDS,' said Mitch. 'If a mother gets a test and medication, the transmission rate is very low and with these funds, we can guarantee that a baby has a normal, healthy life without HIV. 'Mothers2mothers started off working with one hospital back in 2001 and now reaches 20 per cent of the HIV positive women in the world. 'I am very proud of what we've achieved and we now have a global plan to eliminate aids.'
|
Victoria partnered with theoutnet.com to sell hundreds of clothing .
In aid of the charity mothers2mothers .
Travelled to South Africa with Anna Wintour and Mitch Besser .
Charity founder Mitch says Victoria wanted to help in any way she could .
Charity trains, employs and empowers Mentor Mothers .
These are mothers living with HIV who help others .
| 7,439 | 351 |
133,256 |
She’s 33 weeks pregnant with her second baby but that hasn’t stopped this mum from pumping iron. Brittany Hore, 22, is determined to keep fit while pregnant and has been working out at home while her fitness fanatic partner Freddy Arias and their one-year-old son Orlando keep a watchful eye. The qualified personal trainer, from Currans Hill, south west Sydney, does weights three times a week as part of a structured programme which she hasn’t stopped because of her growing bump. Brittany Hore is 33 weeks pregnant and still loves doing weights to keep fight . She does three 30-40 minute workouts every week to keep strong and says it isn't about being skinny . During her 30-40 minute workouts, Brittany does a variety of exercises including barbell curls, tricep dips and squats. At 33 weeks, babies weigh a little over 4 pounds and are about the size of a pineapple. Brittany previously worked out throughout her pregnancy with her first son Orlando and told Daily Mail Australia that people who criticise her need to educate themselves first. 'People definitely have their opinions, they think it's wrong for you to exercise because it looks like it can harm the baby but it's about doing the research,' she said. 'They don’t have the knowledge to know it's good for you. For those people that do judge, you should go and research and look into it,' she added. The 22-year-old does weights three times a week as part of a structured programme . Brittany's partner Freddy Arias and their one-year-old son Orlando like to help her work out . Brittany said if she feels sick one day then she won't train and she makes sure she doesn't push herself too hard . However, Brittany stressed that she has been exercising since the age of 16 and was doing weights before she was pregnant, while it's not advised for someone who has not lifted weights before to start when they are pregnant. The former body sculptor has halved the weights she is using and explained: 'I was doing weight training before... there’s no harm to the baby as long as its not strenuous on the body. 'It’s more about watching your breathing and making sure you are not over exerting your body and are keeping a reasonable heart rate.' Brittany said if she feels sick one day then she won't train. For her it is not about being skinny but about feeling healthy. Brittany stressed that she has been exercising since the age of 16 . It's not advised for someone who has not lifted weights before to start when they are pregnant . At 33 weeks, babies weigh a little over 4 pounds and are about the size of a pineapple . Brittany is pictured here after the birth of her first child, Orlando . 'You shouldn't worry about putting on weight. It's about embracing the changes your body goes through and what you feel is good,' she reasoned. Personal trainer Cassie White told Daily Mail Australia that while exercise in pregnancy can be a controversial issue it always comes down to the individual. 'It really depends on the woman and her previous experience with weights training. It's not recommended that a woman begin lifting heavy weights during pregnancy if she's completely new to it,' Cassie said. However, she explained: 'If she’s been training for a long period of time, is strong and confident, knows good technique, eats well and gets plenty of sleep, lifting weights is generally fine. It’s really about context and the individual.' Brittany has qualifications in fitness and has been working out for years . She is now a stay at home mum with her one-year-old son Orlando . Brittany said she does 30-40 minute workouts each time and that it is very Important to take 1-2 minute breaks between sets. Here is her 3 Day Split Program: . Monday: Lateral pull down (3 sets), Seated row (3 sets), Barbell curls (3 sets), Calf Raises (3 sets) Wednesday: Upright row (3 sets), Lateral raises (3 sets), Tricep dips (3 sets), Tricep kick backs (3sets) Friday: Barbell squats (3sets),Walking lunges (3sets), Leg extension (3sets), Calf raises (3sets) 'Exercise is great during pregnancy – it helps with the birth and makes it easier for mum to get back into shape afterwards. The psychological benefits are really high, too. It just needs to be safe and progressed,' Cassie added. 'When women are pregnant a hormone called relaxin is released, which relaxes off the joints. During the late stage of pregnancy women are more at risk of muscular skeletal injury, especially around the sacroiliac joint, which is in the pelvis. So they need to be careful of dynamic movements that put pressure on it. 'At 33 weeks it’s not about heavy loads, it’s about keeping active and feeling good about herself. 'Women should generally avoid doing exercises on their backs, be aware of blood pressure changes and single-leg work is generally too aggressive on the sacroiliac joint. But everyone is different when it comes to how much exercise they can handle and women just need to monitor themselves.'
|
Pregnant Brittany Hore, 22, does weights three times a week .
Her partner and their one-year-old son Orlando keep a watchful eye .
Her 30-40 minute workouts included tricep dips and squats .
She worked out throughout her first pregnancy too .
Brittany says its about doing what she enjoys and not about being skinny .
| 4,955 | 317 |
36,830 |
Liverpool are hijacking Tottenham's move for England striker Saido Berahino. Sportsmail revealed Brendan Rodgers' intention to move for the West Bromwich Albion striker in November. And the Anfield club's interest is gathering pace ahead of the January transfer window, that re-opens on Thursday. The key stumbling block towards Berahino departing The Hawthorns next month remains the transfer fee. Liverpool want Saido Berahino in January but it is understood they are unwilling to meet the £25m valuation . Berahino has failed to score in his last 11 appearances for West Brom . The striker has only started one of West Brom's last five Premier League games . West Brom value Berahino, who has made the breakthrough into Roy Hodgson's England squad this season, at £25million. It is understood the Anfield club are unwilling to meet the Baggies' valuation, and will try to negotiate a lower fee. However, with West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace known to be one of the toughest negotiators in the business, that'll be easier said than done. Plans with regards to Liverpool's move for Berahino are said to be progressing well after Rodgers pinpointed the capture of a new striker as a January priority. Brendan Rodgers wants to add firepower up front in January and Berahino tops the list . Mario Balotelli has failed to register a goal in 10 Premier League appearances since joining Liverpool . Tottenham turned to Berahino after shelving plans to sign Jay Rodriguez, who is still recovering from injury . And Liverpool hope to storm ahead of Spurs in the race to land Berahino in the coming days. Tottenham have identified Berahino as the man they want to inject life into their forward line in January after shelving plans to sign Southampton's Jay Rodriguez. Spurs have made initial enquiries over a January switch for the forward, who has scored eight goals this season. Southampton forward Rodriguez remains a priority transfer target for Mauricio Pochettino, but the delay in his return from a knee injury has forced Spurs into re-assessing their January plans.
|
Saido Berahino is rated at £25million by West Bromwich Albion .
Liverpool seem unwilling to meet price and will try to negotiate lower fee .
Tottenham want to sign Berahino too but Liverpool hope to steal a march .
| 2,065 | 214 |
228,480 |
A seaside resort’s prized Banksy has been boarded over by hotel owners, who fear vandals will strike and ruin the 8ft high artwork. The picture of a little boy drawing a giant robot was painted on the side of The Grosvenor in Torquay, Devon, three years ago by the famous guerrilla artist. Residents had feared the hotel’s facade had been completely repainted - including the artwork - which is believed to be worth around £500,000. The Banksy piece of a little boy drawing a giant robot has been boarded over by hotel owners, who fear vandals will strike and ruin the 8ft high artwork . But hotel owners had actually placed a board over the work which was then painted - to stop vandals striking again. General manager Rebecca Snowball said: 'The decorating team has preserved the Banksy. 'It has been boarded over and they have painted over the cover. It has been kept safely behind. 'It had already been damaged when somebody threw acid over it a while ago. But we are redecorating the whole building and they were unsure about the best thing to do about the Banksy.' The Grosvenor was made famous by TV’s The Hotel series but its ex-owner Mark Jenkins sold it to Keith Richardson. It was painted the side of The Grosvenor in Torquay, Devon, three years ago by the famous guerrilla artist. Now hotel owners have boarded over the piece amid fears it will be vandalised . Residents had feared the hotel's facade had been completely repainted - including the artwork - which is believed to be worth around £500,000 . The former owner had placed a perspex covering over the Banksy to protect it but vandals were still able to obliterate half the image last year. Vandals broke through perspex protecting the painting and doused the wall with paint stripper, and 'obliterated' the little boy. At the time Mark Jenkins, the hotel owner, said he was appalled that someone had gone out of their way to damage something which made Torquay 'a little bit special'. Two additions of a small CCTV camera and a toy soldier were made to the original image in 2010 but it is not known whether they were the work of the celebrated graffiti artist. Mr Jenkins said the mural had become a tourist attraction in itself with many visitors to the bay stopping to take a picture.
|
Boy drawing a giant robot was painted on side of The Grosvenor in Torquay .
The artwork is worth £500,000 and has become a local tourist attraction .
| 2,261 | 150 |
172,071 |
By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 22:56 EST, 21 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 18:05 EST, 22 May 2013 . The cost of a massive tornado that battered an Oklahoma City suburb could be more than $2 billion, according to a preliminary official estimate announced Wednesday. State authorities meanwhile said two infants were among the 24 people who perished in the twister. Oklahoma Insurance Department spokeswoman Calley Herth told The Associated Press that the early damage tally is based on visual assessments of the extensive disaster zone that stretches more than 17 miles and the fact that Monday's tornado was on the ground for 40 minutes. The financial cost of the tornado in Moore could be greater than the $2 billion in damage from the 2011 tornado that killed 158 people in Joplin, Herth said, adding that the Joplin twister left a smaller trail of destruction. Monday's Oklahoma tornado also left a 17-mile-long path of destruction in its wake, with thousands of flattened and heavily damaged homes. Officials on Wednesday said as many as 13,000 homes had been affected - causing up to $2 billion worth of damage. Scroll down for video . Devastation: The deadly tornado that struck the town of Moore, Oklahoma, left at least 24 people dead and hundreds of homes damaged or destroyed . Uphill battle: Officials says that many renters in Oklahoma impacted by the tornado will get no financial help since they do not have renters' insurance . Lives torn apart: Victor Gonzalez seeks shelter from the rain under a sheet of plastic as he helps a friend salvage items from a tornado-ravaged home . An aerial view of the site shows whole neighborhoods obliterated, with gouged earth littered with splintered wood and pulverized cars. Dan Ramsey, president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Oklahoma, said a damage estimate in the low billions is 'not surprising.' 'Certainly it's in the hundreds of millions,' Ramsey said. 'I suppose seeing projections from similar disasters, it could stretch to a billion' or more. The National Weather Service said the tornado was a top-of-the-scale EF5 twister with winds of at least 200 mph — the first EF5 tornado of 2013. With no reports of anyone still missing, the Oklahoma medical examiner's office announced that it has positively identified 23 of the 24 people who died in the tornado, and that 10 of those killed are children. All of the children have been identified, among them 4-month-old Case Futrell and 7-month-old Sydnee Vargyas. Both babies died from head injuries. The eight other children ranged in age from 4 years to 9 years. Of those, six were suffocated. The other two died from massive injuries. Medical examiner's office spokeswoman Amy Elliott said they are still trying to contact relatives of eight of the victims. Carnage: Oklahoma's Department of Emergency Management estimated that the huge tornado that cut a 17-mile-long path of destruction left about 2,400 homes damaged or destroyed . Ruins: A bathroom is all that remains standing in a tornado-destroyed home in Moore . Assessing the damage: Brian Mullins (left) and his father, Terry, survey tornado damage to the home of Brian's girlfriend, Sara Robinson (right) Authorities and residents of Moore have started to assess the damage and plot a future course for Moore, a town of about 56,000 that was also hit by a massive tornado in 1999. Mayor Glen Lewis said Wednesday he would propose an ordinance in the next couple of days to modify building codes to require that every new home in the town would have a reinforced tornado shelter. Lewis said he was confident he would get the four votes he needs on the six-member council to pass the ordinance. The measure could be in force within months. Underground safe rooms are typically built below garages and can cost around $4,000. Besides rebuilding or repairing, homeowners are likely to suffer other expenses, including a rise in home insurance premiums, Ramsey said. Salvage: A man carries a drawer and a bag filled with clothes from Rachel Hernandez' home as residents of the Heatherwood Addition, on the south side of SE 4 and Bryant in Moore returned to their homes . High cost: Renters in Oklahoma who seek to insure their homes are forced to pay extremely high premiums because the region is prone to tornadoes . Catastrophic loss: A disaster modelling company estimated the replacement value of the properties within a mile of each side of the tornado's track between $2billion and $6billion . 'Three years of hail bombardments of apocalyptic proportions and then this? It has to result in some give someplace,' he said. Residents clearing massive piles of debris were also trying to get hold of essentials like mobile phones and prescription drugs lost in the destruction. Cellular service providers set up mobile retail outlets and charging stations. At least one was offering free phone calls and loaner phones. Insurance companies have also set up emergency operation centers to take calls from people trying to get prescriptions filled and handle other health care needs. The emotional trauma of the destruction compounded the tornado's cost. Flattened: This aerial view shows an entire neighborhood destroyed by Monday's tornado . Survivors: Jon Johnson, left, looks through what is remains of his home at 14716 S. Broadway with his brother Matt Johnson after a tornado struck south Oklahoma City and Moore . With her son holding her elbow, 83-year-old Colleen Arvin walked up her driveway Tuesday to see what was left of her home of 40 years. Part of the roof was sitting in the front yard, and the siding from the front of her home for the past 40 years was gone. As her son and grandsons picked through what was left of her belongings, Arvin found some dark humor in the situation. 'Oh thank God,' she said, laughing, when a grandson brought over her keys. 'We can get in the house.' Rescue workers have been searching tirelessly for survivors and victims, despite the difficulty of navigating devastated neighborhoods because all the street signs were gone. Some rescuers used smartphones or GPS devices to guide them through areas with no recognizable landmarks. Moore Fire Chief Gary Bird said Tuesday he was confident there are no more bodies or survivors in the rubble. Every damaged home had been searched at least once, Bird said, but his goal was to conduct three searches of each building just to be certain there were no more bodies or survivors. 'I'm 98 percent sure we're good,' Bird said.
|
Monday tornado affected as many as 13,000 homes and 33,000 people, causing $2 billion worth of damage to properties alone .
Twister that struck Moore in 1999 resulted in 146,000 claims and $1.4billion in insured losses .
In 2012, severe storms across U.S. cost $14.9billion in insured losses .
Insured losses from Joplin, Missouri, tornado exceeded $2billion .
| 6,502 | 360 |
151,042 |
France's luxury property market has hit a selling 'panic' as millionaires rush to flee the socialist government's looming tax hikes, a leading estate agent has revealed. More than 400 Paris homes worth more than €1million have been put on the market since President Francois Hollande came to power in May - more than double the same period last year. Many of France's super-rich want to escape to 'wealth-friendly' countries like Britain, Switzerland and Luxembourg. Exodus: The super-wealthy appear to be abandoning Paris (pictured) for wealth-friendly countries. A total of 400 homes worth more than 1million euro in the French capital have been put on the market since May . The exodus has been triggered by a new higher tax of 75 per cent on all earnings over €1million - £780,000 - which will come into force later this year. They also fear more tough new taxes on moving money overseas and sales of company shares. Paris estate agent Daniel Feau said: 'It's nearly a general panic. Some 400 to 500 residences worth more than €1million have come onto the Paris market since May. 'And the profile of those who are leaving has changed, from the idle rich to managers of major international corporations and entrepreneurs who are scared of a marginal tax rate of 62.21 percent on sales of stock.' Thibault de Saint Vincent, president of Barnes France estate agents, added: 'With the Internet it is now possible to work in any corner of the world. 'Those who are going abroad fear a future taxes on income and capital movements.' Looming tax rise: France's super-wealthy have been looking to relocate since Francois Hollande (pictured) came to power . In London, recruitment agency Astbury Martin - which specialises in highly-paid banking jobs - said it had seen a 51 per cent in applications from French jobseekers. Managing director Jonathan Nicholson said: 'There is a definite spike in French-speaking candidates. 'We have not seen similar increases in candidates from other countries, so it may well be connected to May's change in government in France.' A separate survey by website Totaljobs.com revealed 42 percent of French workers were willing to move to the UK, compared to only 32 percent of the global workforce which would be happy to work in France. And British estate agent Sotherby's said its French offices sold more than 100 properties over €1.7 million between April and June this year - a marked increase on the same period in 2011. Sotheby's French boss Alexander Kraft said: 'The result of the presidential election has had a real impact on our sales. 'Now a large number of wealthy French families are leaving the country as a direct result of the proposals of the new government. 'These properties are then bought up by foreign investors looking for a stable real estate market like France to invest in. 'It shows the high-end property market is holding up very well, even in these difficult times.' And a report earlier this year by British estate agent Knight Frank said the tax plans had sent French interest in luxury London homes rocketing. Inquiries from wealthy French for London homes worth more than five million pounds soared by 30 per cent in the first three months of this year, the statistics showed. And interest in homes worth between one and five million rose by 11 per cent, it was found. Heading for the UK? London recruitment agencies that specialise in highly-paid banking jobs had seen a 51 per cent rise in applications from French jobseekers . Liam Bailey, Knight Frank's global head of residential research, said: 'Evidence from web search activity backs up a noticeable spike in anecdotal comments from our office network, where French applicants have become much more noticeable in recent months.' Prime minister David Cameron angered the French in June when he said he would 'roll out the red carpet to wealthy French citizens and firms who wanted move out and pay their taxes in Britain. He told the B20 business summit in Mexico: 'If the French go ahead with a 75 per cent top rate of tax we will roll out the red carpet and welcome more French businesses to Britain and they can pay tax in Britain and pay for our health service and schools and everything else.' The comments left one French politician so offended he suggested Mr Cameron must have been 'drunk' when he made them. Gallic MP Claude Bartolone, a staunch ally of President Hollande, said: 'I hope that it was an after-dinner remark and that he didn't have all his wits about him when he said these things.' France's European Affairs Minister Bernard Cazeneuve insisted there was no 'exodus', adding: 'What I can answer to this statement from the British prime minister is that French bosses are patriots. 'There is a range of measures we will take in favour of business, measures that will support investment and encourage business to stay in France.'
|
Selling 'panic' on France's luxury property market as millionaires rush to flee looming tax hikes .
France's super-rich are looking to relocate to 'wealth-friendly' countries like Britain .
Recruitment agency for high-paid banking jobs in London sees increase in French candidates .
| 4,872 | 282 |
124,794 |
Could Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter lead Europe out on the first morning of the Ryder Cup? That would create some noise among the spectators gathered in the wonderful amphitheatre that has been created around the first tee, wouldn’t it? McIlroy and Poulter were the fourballs partnership that changed everything at Medinah, of course, but Europe captain Paul McGinley will be all too aware of the perils associated with such a pairing as well. It might be a decade ago but nobody as steeped in Ryder Cup lore as the Irishman will forget what happened when the Americans paired Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in 2004. When they were beaten comfortably it was such a psychological blow it set the tone for a record-breaking defeat. Could Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter lead Europe out on the first morning of the Ryder Cup on Friday . Imagine what a boost it would give the visitors if a US partnership took down that talismanic pairing? A move that’s not without risk for McGinley, therefore, but one he appears to be leaning towards. One of those where you look like a genius if it works and get pilloried if it doesn’t. Two partnerships seem fairly set for the opening morning. Near neighbours Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose will almost certainly be partners, as will Lee Westwood and Jamie Donaldson. Two more players whose form this season warrants action on the first morning are Sergio Garcia and Martin Kaymer. Why not those two great mates Poulter and Rose? They are at their best in foursomes and will team up in the afternoon. The Americans? Again, two partnerships are cast in stone. Keegan Bradley and Phil Mickelson and Webb Simpson and Bubba Watson will see action. When Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were paired at the 2004 Ryder Cup they were beaten comfortably . Who plays with Rickie Fowler is the big question and Jordan Spieth, at 20 the youngest player on either team, would be an exciting answer. If that goes well you could see the two of them playing all five matches. Veteran Jim Furyk would be a prosaic alternative, with Matt Kuchar and one of the rookies — Jimmy Walker or Patrick Reed — completing the morning line-up. By all means, play the game yourself at home. It’s Ryder Cup week. Everyone can join in. How do you counter all the songs of the European fans who will gather from first light around the first tee? The American players are hoping their supporters will follow the lead of their ‘soccer’ fans at the World Cup and adopt the chant: ‘We believe that we can win.’ American captain Tom Watson said: ‘There will be some noise out there.’ Yes there will. But it’s hard to see the Americans, who don’t really go in for singing, getting much of a look in. How Paul McGinley performs at the Ryder Cup could determine who is chosen as a future European captain . VIDEO Pundits provide insight into potential pairings . When Paul McGinley was made Europe’s captain it marked a shift away from the recent tradition of skippers being either proven major winners or larger-than-life personalities. When Tom Watson was given the American equivalent, it ended the practice of the US captaincy being handed to distinguished former players whose careers had just come to a natural end. The fate of the two incumbents this week, therefore, will go beyond the usual cartoonish portrayal that sees one depicted as Captain Fantastic and the loser as Captain Cock-up. What happens at Gleneagles will go a long way to determining future captains on both sides. If Europe lose the clamour to turn the clock back and go for a Darren Clarke or a Padraig Harrington will be considerable. But if Europe win and McGinley plays a blinder, it will create a template and help considerably the chances of solid members of the tour citizenry like Miguel Angel Jimenez and Thomas Bjorn. American Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson said this they will use this tournament to make up for Medinah . America took a huge gamble with Watson. Knowing the players well, as McGinley does, is supposed to be a key part of the job but Watson will rule with brush strokes and rely on the respect he undoubtedly commands. How that works out could well determine whether his successor is another legend … or a McGinleyesque loyalist. QUOTE OF THE WEEK . ‘I’ve made it very clear to my team that this is a redemption trip. It’s time for us to make amends for what happened at Medinah.’ American captain Tom Watson spells out his theme. At Medinah last time it was the spirit of Seve that infused the European team. Here at Gleneagles Paul McGinley has ensured that popular coach Bob Torrance, his own mentor and someone who lent a guiding hand to so many before he passed away in July, will not be forgotten. Before any of his players left the practice range and went to the first tee at a tournament, Torrance would shake their hands and tell them: ‘Happiest days of your lives.’ Those are the last words any European player will see before he leaves the team room and makes his way to the first tee.
|
Ian Poulter and Rory McIlroy could be paired together in Ryder Cup .
Pairing could be compared to Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods in 2004 .
Paul McGinley's performance could decide fate of future captains .
Tom Watson says Americans are here to make up for Medinah .
| 4,988 | 265 |
22,635 |
A British mother is to pack up and leave her three children behind to make a whole new life with a violent US prisoner she met online. Jennifer Butler, 29, will leave the UK and travel to French Robertson Unit in Texas to marry Christopher Mosier, 23 and leave her three young children all younger than 10 with their father. The besotted woman will move in with Mosier when he is released on parole in September and denied she is making a mistake. 'Some people might think I'm bonkers for falling in love with a prisoner. And not everyone will agree with our relationship,' Butler said to The Sun. 'But Chris is a wonderful man. Sure, he made a few mistakes in the past, but everybody deserves a second chance.' Love: Jennifer Butler, 29, pictured right earlier this year, is flying 5,000 miles from the UK to French Robertson Unit in Texas to marry Christopher Mosier, 23, left, leaving her three young kids who are all younger than 10 . The single mother started writing to Mosier in July after she found his profile on the website, writeaprisoner.com, which unites would be pen-pals to inmates online. His honest profile revealed that he had been sentenced to 15 years in 2009 for burglary with deadly conduct and also had prior drug convictions. Butler's future husband also was a member of an armed gang, but she said that she felt an instant connection with him and was struck by his honesty. 'I felt sorry for him being locked up, nobody to talk to except other prisoners. Of course, I didn't condone his crimes. But he was still a human being, and deserved to have a friend,' Butler said to The Sun. 'I was really intrigued by his profile. It was different to the rest. Most of the guys were posing with their tops off. But his was articulate and he was open about his crime.' Leaving them behind: Butler, seen center in May, plans to move in with her lover when he is released on parole in September. Her children, pictured with her, will stay with their dad, from whom she split in 2010 . The love-struck couple began writing to each other three times a week but suddenly in June 2013, Butler stopped receiving letters. 'I felt really sad that I hadn't heard from him. That's when I realised my feelings for him ran a lot deeper. I no longer saw him as just a friend anymore,' Butler said to The Sun. 'Then a month later I received a letter from him. He told me that the prison had been on lockdown so he had not been able to get stamps to write to me,' the smitten mom said. 'I realized I was in love with him and that letter made me admit it to myself. I couldn't bear to lose him.' As their love-affair blossomed, Butler even got her three children - Tyler, 8, Tristan, 7 and Mia, 4, to write to Mosier too. The prisoner started to receive letters from the children with drawings for his cell that they had made. Butler said that she believes it is really important that her children come to know Mosier because she will spend the rest of her life with him. Eventually, Butler had saved enough money from her job as a part-time sales assistant to travel to Texas to see Mosier. Mothering from abroad: Jennifer Butler from Mildenhall, Suffolk, is leaving behind her kids Tyler, 8, Tristan, 7, and Mia, 4. The single mum started writing to a criminal in a US jail two years ago. She intends to leave them in the UK with family for a year while she goes and sets up a life for them before sending for them . Butler made her first visit to the prison in October, but sadly, Mosier had been involved in a fight with an inmate and had his visiting rights revoked. He had to speak to Butler through a glass screen. 'We weren't allowed to touch because he was a maximum security prisoner at the time,' said Butler to The Sun. 'We had a glass window between us and had to talk through a phone. When I saw him walking down the corridor I knew he was the man for me. We talked for four hours and it felt like I'd known him all my life.' Eventually, Butler's affair with her prison lover caused controversy with her family who began to worry for her children. 'I knew people wouldn't have a good thing to say because he is an inmate. If he was just a guy from America I'd met online it would be different,' Butler said. 'I've had people ask why I'm not worried for the safety of my children. That cut me deep. To think that because he's a criminal my children would be at risk hurt me. Chris is a brilliant man. He's not a dangerous criminal. He's learnt from his mistakes,' she said. Pen pals: The pair were exchanging letters every day and eventually she flew to Texas earlier this year to meet him, which is when this picture was taken. They fell in love and now hey are now engaged . Butler traveled to see Mosier in American twice in the space of four months and on her third visit in April, the two became engaged. Mosier used a piece of grey string to propose - wrapping it around her finger in the visitors room. Butler swears that she will not let her children fall out of her life, even while she lives in America. 'He held my hand and said how much I meant to him and he got emotional. He never usually does,' said Jennifer to The Sun. 'He then said he wanted to make me happy and asked me to marry him. I just broke down. I said of course I would.' Free to marry: The prisoner, Chris, is up for parole next year and Jennifer, pictured, plans to marry him on his release . 'Leaving my children is not an easy thing to decide to do. But I want to get everything ready for them in America before they move, too,' she said. 'I'm doing this for our future because I want us to be a family. I need to set up a life out there for us and I'll do whatever I can to get them over with us as soon as possible.' She added, 'I am devoted to my children but they deserve a happy mum too. This relationship will be for me but the life I build is going to be for all of us.' Butler claims her children are just as happy about her leaving as she is, but because they haven't met their future stepdad yet, she won't be sure until they do. 'My children are excited about eventually moving over there. As kids, they won't realize about me not being around until I'm actually gone. It's going to be hard saying goodbye, but I know I'll see them again soon,” she said. 'It's fine because they know I'm going over there to find us a house and to sort out their schooling. The main thing is that they're excited to get to meet Chris.' 'I know he did a terrible crime but he's a changed man. He's going to make a wonderful husband and a brilliant stepdad to my children.'
|
Jennifer Butler is leaving her three children in UK to marry American prisoner .
Christoper Mosier will be released on parole in September after serving five-years of a 15-year sentence for drug convictions .
Butler met Mosier online in 2011 and they became penpals .
First traveled to see him in October and Mosier proposed using a piece of grey string as a ring .
Is leaving her three children - all younger than 10 - with their father .
| 6,559 | 439 |
273,031 |
By . Janet Tappin Coelho . PUBLISHED: . 06:39 EST, 1 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 08:15 EST, 1 November 2013 . Soccer mad: Kayo da Silva Costa was walking to a football school next to a Rio de Janeiro courthouse when eight heavily-armed mobsters burst out in a hail of bullets . An eight-year-old boy died in his grandmothers arms yesterday in Brazil after he was shot in the head during a botched gangland jailbreak. Kayo da Silva Costa was . walking to a football school . next to a Rio de Janeiro courthouse when eight heavily-armed mobsters burst out of a car and opened fire in a bid to free two gang members on trial for murder and drug trafficking. In scenes described by witnesses as 'like something from a Hollywood movie', leapt out of a car and sprayed the law courts with bullets killing two and injuring two. The 'quiet and studious' youngster, who teachers revealed harboured dreams of becoming a professional footballer, died in grandmother Rosana Silva’s arms as bullets flew overhead. She . was hit by shrapnel. A policeman, named as Sergeant Oliveira, also died at the scene after he was shot in the chest while trying to alert other officers to the assault. It comes on the same day new figures were released revealing a rise in murders, robberies and muggings in Rio. Another officer, Sergeant Gonçalves, was shot in the head and is in a critical condition in the State Hospital Albert Schweitzer while an elderly woman, who has not been named, was hit in the stomach while travelling on a bus. She is said to be in a stable condition in the same hospital. The gun battle erupted in Bangu, West Rio, close to where ex-footballer, Joao Rodrigo Silva Santos, was murdered earlier this week. His severed head was dumped outside his home in Realango, in the same West Rio district, after he was kidnapped from his shop by gunmen. Both officers involved at the courthouse fire-fight yesterday were from the 14th Military Police Brigade that investigated the businessman’s murder. According to witnesses on Globo TV, . eight gunmen pulled up outside the 1st Criminal Court of Bangu in two . cars around 5.30pm. Four ran into the building opening fire on officers . escorting 23 high-security prisoners to the start of a major trial for . murder, drug trafficking, theft and conspiracy. Scroll down for video . Bodies: A policeman, named as Sergeant Oliveira, was shot in the chest and died at the scene while trying to alert other officers to the assault. Here, a body is seen in the road, believed to be Sgt Oliveira . Bodies: According to witnesses on Globo TV, eight gunmen pulled up outside the 1st Criminal Court of Bangu in two cars around 5.30pm . The mobsters planned to break out two of Rio’s notorious gang ring-leaders, Alexandre Bandeira de Melo, 40, nicknamed the ‘Lice’, and Vanderlan Ramos da Silva, 30, known as ‘Chocolate’. Both were former-leading drug lords in Rio’s favelas with links to Comando Vermelho (Red Command), the largest organised crime syndicate in the capital. 'Four men in the first car got out and closed the street down, they had rifles and guns,' said an eye-witness to Globo TV, who declined to be identified. 'They told everyone on the street to . stay calm. A policemen on the door, guarding the courthouse, spotted . them and they shot him. There were between eight to ten men, all in . black and they started shooting at the court. One had his face . uncovered. I bent down with my sister by my car and waited for them to . stop shooting. My car was hit by a lot of bullets,' the terrified . eye-witness said. Carlos . Oliveirva, who witnessed the incident, told Record TV: 'There was . shooting everywhere. About four cars were hit in the cross fire. I could . have been killed as well because it was random and terrible. The area . here is always very busy at this time because there is a government . registry office nearby.' Drug lords: The mobsters planned to break out two of Rio's notorious gang ring-leaders, Alexandre Bandeira de Melo (left), 40, nicknamed the 'Lice', and Vanderlan Ramos da Silva (right), 30, known as 'Chocolate' Botched: The mobsters inside the building were forced to escape from the back of the courthouse as their rescue attempt backfired. None of the gang members managed to escape. All were rounded up and taken back to prison . Another witness described the mayhem to Globo TV as 'something out of a movie'. According to a police report, Sergeant Oliveira tried to run inside the courthouse to warn other officers of the attack. He was shot dead on the court steps. Sergeant Gonçalves, who was also on the stairs, was hit in the head. Four gunmen entered the building and four stayed outside to give cover, spraying, among other things, a passing police car with bullets. The officers from the car leapt from the car and exchanged fire with the four gunmen. Crime ridden: The gun battle erupted in Bangu, West Rio, close to where ex-footballer, Joao Rodrigo Silva Santos, was murdered earlier this week . But the rescue attempt backfired when the mobsters inside the building were overcome by officers and were forced to escape from the back of the courthouse. None of the gang members managed to escape and were rounded up and taken back to prison. According to another witness at the scene, the four gunmen took the keys of cars parked at the court to make their getaway. One of the cars used by the criminals in the attack was found at a petrol station a few miles away in Padre Miguel, shortly after 9pm on Thursday. 'It was an organised action carried out by a large number of people. Four managed to enter the court building armed with rifles,' said homicide detective, Alan Duarte. He added that the officers escorting the criminals had been surprised by the attack. 'We had no information that this was going to happen, so the police force was not strengthened,' he revealed. Rio’s Secretary of State for Security, José Mariano Beltrame, said on Thursday night that he had instructed the transfer of Melo and Silva to different state prisons, 'considering the audacity and the consequences the actions caused.' The schoolboy who died was described by his football coach as a talented and rising star. 'Kayo was one of the team's top scorers in the league. His dream was to become a famous player. He was a very quiet and studious boy and always came here with his grandmother or mother,' Luiz Manoel Gomes Avila, director of the Bangu Atlético Clube futsal team told Globo. As the World Cup approaches crime figures released this week by Brazil’s Institute of Public Security reveal a worrying upward trend in the past year. Murders in Rio are up by 38.1 percent, an increase of 112, from 294 to 406. Overall robberies including street muggings and car thefts have escalated to 82.2 percent, increasing from 345 reported cases to 629. This comes despite security measures introduced by Rio State to improve safety, such as the Police Pacification Units in favelas, before international fans arrive in Brazil.
|
Kayo da Silva Costa was .
walking to a football school in Rio de Janeiro .
As he walked past courthouse eight gunmen burst out in hail of bullets .
A policeman was also killed as he ran back inside to alert colleagues .
The gunmen were trying to free notorious gang ring-leaders, Alexandre Bandeira de Melo, 40, and Vanderlan Ramos da Silva, 30 .
But plan backfired and all gunmen were overcome, arrested and jailed .
| 7,013 | 417 |
231,348 |
By . Martin Robinson . A hero former soldier who lost his legs while serving in Afghanistan has gone on to pass his A-levels and will be the first in his family to go to university. Pa Njie, 24, suffered horrific injuries after stepping on a IED bomb while on patrol in Helmand Province in 2010. After intensive rehabilitation at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham he has now gained an A* grade in business studies as well as C grades in accounting and economics. He will now realise his dream of studying business at Aston University. Success: Former soldier Pa Njie, 24, lost his legs in Afghanistan but after his recovery he has passed his A-levels and taken a place at university . Pa picked up his results online as he is away in America, providing advice and support to other servicemen and women who have lost their legs. He began training with the armed forces in 2008 before joining the Mercian regiment in Catterick. He served all over the world, including the Falkland Islands, Kenya, Cyprus and Afghanistan, before leaving the regiment after his injury to become a student. He said: 'I am delighted with my results this morning, as I was determined to get the grades I needed to go on and read business at university. It's nice to see all my hard work over the past couple of years finally pay off. 'My teachers and Head of Year have given me lots of support and advice throughout my time here, which has helped me fit back into civilian life. 'Since joining the Army, it has been a long-held ambition of mine to go to university, and I would be the first of my family to pursue that dream. Fighting back: Pa Njie, 24, suffered horrific injuries after stepping on a IED bomb while on patrol in Helmand Province in 2010 . 'When I finish my degree, I want to do voluntary work for two years as I would like to give back to the community before focusing on a career in business.' Stephen Robinson, principal at Abbey College Birmingham, said: 'Pa is an outstanding member of the college community and has worked extremely hard this year. 'We are thrilled that he has been rewarded with an excellent set of results, and that these are a testament to his dedication to learning and ongoing commitment to his community.'
|
Pa Njie, 24, suffered horrific injuries after stepping on an IED in 2010 .
After his recovery he took his A-levels and earned an A* and two Cs .
'Since joining the Army, it's been an ambition of mine to go to university, and I would be the first of my family to pursue that dream,' he said .
| 2,231 | 291 |
194,834 |
By . Jack Doyle . PUBLISHED: . 12:23 EST, 18 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:52 EST, 18 October 2013 . Murdered: Drummer Lee Rigby was hacked to death near Woolwich Barracks in south east London on May 22 this year . The father of murdered soldier Lee Rigby has blasted the Ministry of Defence for scrapping his unit under controversial military cuts . Grieving Ian Rigby said ministers were 'hurting a lot of families' by disbanding the 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (2RRF) to save money. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has ignored critics to press ahead with axing some of the Army's most distinguished battalions to reduce personnel from 102,000 to 82,000 - its lowest strength in more than 250 years. Yet campaigners claim the 2RRF is one of the best recruited regiments in the Armed Forces, while some battalions that have been saved are hugely under-strength. Mr Rigby spoke out as hundreds of veterans attended a protest march in Westminster on Tuesday against the scrapping of a historic battalion. His 25-year-old son, a married father of a little boy, survived bombs and bullets in Afghanistan with his regiment only to be hacked to death in a terror attack in broad daylight outside Woolwich Barracks, south-east London, in May. Two men have denied his murder. Urging the Government to rethink the decision, Mr Rigby said: 'They [2RRF] are like a clan of brothers, and that family has closed around us. They've taken us into their family, and that's what the Fusiliers is all about. 'Take away the heart of a regiment, it takes away the history, and it hurts a lot of families. Once a Fusilier, always a Fusilier.' Wearing distinctive red-and-white plumes in their berets, the former Fusiliers marched to the sound of a fife and drum band as they delivered a petition opposing the cuts to Downing Street. The 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers has five companies with 600 personnel. It is an infantry battalion of the regiment which has served in conflicts since 1674. Fusiliers Association chairman Colonel Ian Brazier - who heckled the Defence Secretary as a 'disgrace' during his Conservative Party conference speech last month - led the parade. He said: 'It makes absolutely no sense for 2RRF to be disbanded. Protest: Former members of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers march from Downing Street after handing in a petition to save the battalion earlier this week . Marching on Parliament: The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers will be cut as part of government plans to replace 20,000 regular forces with 30,000 reservists . Brothers: Colleagues acted as pall bearers carrying the coffin of father-of-one Lee Rigby earlier this year, Mr Rigby this week described how his family had been supported by his son's former regiment in the aftermath of his murder . Grieving: Lyn and Ian Rigby pictured at their son's funeral at Bury Parish church in Greater Manchester in July . 'The Government has spoken about efficiencies and cost savings, but there is no explanation for this unfathomable decision. 'This has been a striking demonstration of poor management and leadership on the Government's part, to say nothing of the betrayal of the hundreds of men who have served in the battalion.' Fusilier groups from key recruiting grounds of Northumberland, Lancashire and Warwickshire joined the march. Tory MP John Baron, a former Fusilier, said: 'The axing of 2RRF proves the Government's mishandling of these army reforms. 'It makes no sense to save less well-recruited - and therefore more expensive - battalions. 'It is yet more evidence that Government plans to replace 20,000 regulars with 30,000 reservists are on the rocks. 'Replacing regular troops with reservists will be expensive and lead to unacceptable manpower and capability gaps, but the Government seems determined to plough on blindly.' The MoD said the cuts were planned to make the Army more 'adaptable to future challenges'. A spokesman said: 'We have been clear that the regular Army is becoming smaller and over a year ago we also announced changes to its structure so it is more reflective of the complex global situation. 'To suggest decisions were taken on recruitment performance alone is a fundamental misunderstanding of the Army's process.' * Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, have pleaded not guilty to murdering Drummer Rigby. The pair also deny separate counts of attempting to murder police officers who arrived at the scene in Woolwich.
|
The 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers are being disbanded as part of government money saving measures .
But critics claims axing the regiment, which is one of the best recruited in the Armed Forces, makes no sense and that others should be cut instead .
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has ignored criticism in his bid to reduce army personnel from 102,000 to 82,000 .
| 4,473 | 381 |
118,271 |
After a World Cup to forget, Roy Hodgson now finds himself at the coalface of English football with a squad that is a damning indictment of the lack of depth available to the England manager. We simply lack options. This is not an attack on the players themselves, far from it. Over the past 12 months we have seen a really exciting group of youngsters emerge and no doubt many of them will go on to have fine international careers with England. But they should not have to be the ones fast-tracked into the senior squad when many of them are not even first-team regulars for their club. Calum Chambers, John Stones, and Fabian Delph are all making their way through club football but are now being thrust into the England squad because of the lack of talent out there. Scroll down for videos... No other choice: Roy Hodgson has been forced to select inexperienced youngsters in his latest squad . Rookies: (L-R) Jack Colback, Fabian Delph and Danny Rose have all been given first time call-ups . Early days: Calum Chambers has made an great start to his Arsenal career but has played only five games . Too much too soon? John Stones (L) has been selected despite only starting 15 games for Everton . Email Martin Keown with your questions every Thursday at tacklekeown@dailymail.co.uk . Chambers has made an excellent start to his Arsenal career but he has featured in just five games for a top-four club. If you look at what’s available, and form, then he deserves to be in the England squad. But at 19 and having never played for the Under 21s, it’s worrying we have to call on him already. It’s because of the lack of candidates that he has been given his chance. John Stones is another exciting defensive talent but he started just 15 times in the league for Everton last season and it still feels very soon for him. I was 25 when I first played for England and had already played half a dozen seasons before I got called up. There always seemed to be an abundance of players and before the Premier League arrived it was as if you had to play at least 100 games before you even came into consideration. Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole won 327 caps between them but, if you exclude Wayne Rooney’s 95 appearances, that’s more than the number of caps won by the rest of the latest squad combined. That is a lot of experience gone from the dressing room. There is a lot of excitement around Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge, Luke Shaw, Ross Barkley and Adam Lallana and Hodgson is unlucky that three of those players are unavailable to him now. But it’s almost as if we have skipped a generation. Gerrard and Lampard retired from internationals at the ages of 34 and 36 respectively but most of their potential replacements are more than 10 years their junior. End of an era: Frank Lampard (L) and Steven Gerrard (R) have both retired from international football . Low point: England need to get back to winning ways after a disastrous performance at the 2014 World Cup . See if you can beat the experts by predicting this weekend's results . Whatever happened to the next batch of players, who would be 27 or 28 now? It’s great to give youth a chance, but you need balance in your squad and we don’t have that. Roy says he wants us to develop our young players in the same way Germany has but we are still a long way short of the World Cup winners. Eight of the Germany team that started the final in the Maracana were first-team regulars for the top-three sides in the Bundesliga last season. In Roy’s current squad, only five players were regularly starting for Manchester City, Liverpool or Chelsea. Coaches, fans and the media will have to show patience. In a club environment, fans love seeing youngsters come through the academy and cheer them on, even if they make mistakes. When England fans are thrown together from all over, they expect to see the best players in the country and many in this squad are far from the finished article. I remember England fans groaning at me with each mistake. Arsenal fans were the opposite. Gary Neville was an even more extreme example. But the players will have to learn fast because, with a European qualifier against Switzerland a week on Monday, they may well have to be involved in something far more important than a friendly. Next generation: Much has been made of England's young players like Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling (L) Blueprint: Roy Hodgson wants to develop young players in the same way that has led to Germany's success . Meanwhile, back at home... Premier League fixtures and team news for this weekend . It’s not too late to play MailOnline Fantasy Football… There’s £1,000 to be won EVERY WEEK by the highest scoring manager . CLICK HERE to start picking your Fantasy Football team NOW! There’s £60,000 in prizes including £1,000 up for grabs EVERY WEEK… .
|
Roy Hodgson's latest England squad contains several young players .
England face Switzerland away in their opening Euro 2016 qualifier .
Calum Chambers, Fabian Delph, Jack Colback and Danny Rose have been given first time call ups .
Inexperienced youngsters have been included because of a lack of talent .
Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard have retired from international football .
Luke Shaw, Ross Barkley and Adam Lallana are unavailable through injury .
Three Lions boss wants to develop players like World Cup winners Germany .
| 4,844 | 531 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.