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(CNN)A war with Ukraine would be "apocalyptic" but will probably never happen, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. "I believe such (an) apocalyptic scenario is unlikely, and hope that it will never get to that point," he told Russian media Monday. Putin said he's confident the crisis will stabilize if the Minsk Agreement is implemented. The accord, between Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany, includes a ceasefire between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists and an agreement for both sides to pull back heavy weapons. Despite frequent violations of the ceasefire, Putin said there's no need for immediate action beyond the Minsk Agreement, such as more international peace talks or the formal recognition of rebel separatist groups like the People's Republic of Donetsk and the People's Republic of Lugansk. "I really hope (the Minsk Agreement) is implemented, and if it is -- it is the right way to normalization of situation in that Ukrainian region," Putin said. But the chaos on the ground in eastern Ukraine suggests the truce is crumbling. In the past week, shelling has intensified in the city of Donetsk. And on Friday, Ukraine's National Defense and Security Council reported 300 violations of the ceasefire, which was less than a week old. Ukraine has said its forces won't back down until attacks from the rebels stop. Pro-Russian separatists have also accused Ukraine of instigating violence. In his interview, Putin also said there's no chance Crimea -- which was annexed by Russia last year -- will go back in Ukraine. "Regarding the return of any territories, such things are of revengeful nature, and it is not about return of some territories somewhere," Putin said . "Crimea will remain Russian, Ukrainian, Tatar, Greek, and German -- it will be a home to all these nations. With regard to its nationality, Crimean people made their choice, which we must respect." On the streets of Moscow, many Russian point their fingers at the United States for the Ukraine crisis. The latest polls show 81% of Russians have a negative view of the U.S. -- the highest number since the collapse of the Soviet Union. State-run media reports the United States wants to encroach on Russia. And the Kremlin's propaganda campaign seems to be paying off. "My attitude to America is bad," one woman said. "The way I watch the news, I realize the Americans want to get a hold of half of Russia." Russia has denied widespread claims that it is supporting the pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine and has sent its own troops to the border. The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed since mid-April amid the fighting between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian troops. Many of those killed were civilians. CNN's Erin McLaughlin and Elena Sandyrev contributed to this report.
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Vladimir Putin says he hopes Russia and Ukraine won't go to war .
Polls show 81% of Russians have a negative view toward the U.S.
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After a summer of discontent that saw hundreds of rioters roam the streets of the capital, the Metropolitan Police needed to take action. And it appears that this imposing 10foot high steel structure is their answer to the problem. The police cordon was erected at the north end of Whitehall near Trafalgar Square yesterday afternoon in an attempt to stop anti-cuts protesters heading towards Parliament. Officers were also called in to help out paramedics after thousands of NHS workers went on strike. Imposing: The steel cordon stretches across the road in central London today as police unveil their latest tactic in the bid to stop disorder on the streets . Sealed off: The barrier was erected at the north end of Whitehall. It is used by police when they think a public order situation is developing to block people and cars . On the lookout: Police officers look through the windows of the cordon that has been erected just yards from Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column to stop protesters heading towards Parliament . Officials said 42 per cent of London . Ambulance Service workers walked out on strike - and the service . received 30 per cent more calls than normal. The reason for the surge is . unclear. Police did not deal with 'critical incidents' where lives were at risk - but provided medical support where they could help out. The Metropolitan Police said the barrier of steel . structure is put in place when a potential public order situation is . likely to develop and they need a physical barrier to block cars and . people. Yesterday officers stood behind the cordon . using windows to lookout for troublemakers who had used today's public . sector strikes as an excuse to protest. The barrier was used after a group of protestors stormed Panton House in Leicester Square, with some making it on to the roof and setting off flares. The group from Occupy London - the anti-capitalist protesters camped out . in the churchyard of St Paul's Cathedral - said they were 'targeting' Mick Davis, the CEO of mining company Xstrata. They began to unfurl a banner saying 'Power to the . . .' but were stopped before the building could be occupied. An Occupy London spokesman said they . were aiming the demonstration at Mr Davis because he was the highest . paid CEO of all the FTSE 100 companies in the last year. Some protesters close to Panton House lit flares during the protest, such as this man who walks down the centre of Haymarket in central London . Heavy presence: A large number of police officers formed a cordon outside the offices of mining company Xstrata . He said that around 20 protesters were being held inside by riot police . and that a 'few hundred' were being kettled in the street outside - a . number of them were holding UK Uncut placards. Karen Lincoln, supporter of Occupy London, said: 'Mick Davis is a prime . example of the greedy 1 per cent lining their own pockets while denying workers' pensions.' An Xstrata spokeswoman said: 'Xstrata confirms that a number of protesters have attempted to enter the company's offices in central London today. 'All executive pay is approved by the company's shareholders and is linked to company and individual performance. Earlier in . Hackney officers and a dog unit kettled campaigners, who were gathered . outside a library in Dalston Lane, Dalston. Police made 37 arrests. Witnesses . said the protest, which began around 9am, started out peacefully but . erupted into violence after police surrounded the group when they . started playing music on a sound system. One bystander said police started arresting people after two protesters attacked a PCSO. A small number of protesters from UK Uncut targeted an office block in London's Haymarket, gaining access to the roof . Police made several arrests after the building was stormed by around 20 protesters . Protest sign: The demonstrators displayed this banner from the roof the building but it was quickly removed by police officers who had stormed the building . 'It . was carnage,' he added. 'It all kicked off when two people attacked a . PCSO. 'Then the police detained people. I think they were just worried . about it escalating because they were very pleasant with the way they . dealt with people. 'There . had been rumours that there was going to be a couple of thousand . protesters coming down here which I think is why there were so many . police stationed here. 'Eventually they packed the protesters on a coach and took them away.' Witnesses said the police had maintained a distance from the protest . until they began blocking the road, when officers intervened. Tony . Aydan, who runs a dry cleaners across the road, said: 'The protest . started out peacefully and there were women and children there. 'At one point they were blocking the road so the police moved them back. Going in: Police rush the building used by mining company Xstrata, after protestors from Occupy London entered the building . Apprehended: A group of police officers search a . man near Trafalgar Square while another close to the famous landmark . makes his feelings known . 'Then there were people turning up who looked like they didn't belong there. They were covering up their faces and looked like they wanted trouble. 'Something must have happened because the police contained them at the side of the road and just started arresting people. 'If they had moved along it wouldn't have happened but I saw one woman pushing police officers. Any excuse to have a go.' Kollin Bagura, who runs To the Jungle cafe, in Dalston Lane, said the police jumped on a group of protesters who had begun pushing and shoving. 'It seemed quite heavy handed but it contained them well,' he added. 'People were upset because they didn't think they had done anything wrong, but it did stop things escalating.' Meanwhile another witness questioned the need to arrest protesters, labelling the move 'heavy-handed.' 'The only considerable breach of the peace was playing music on a sound system. Is that is a criminal activity?' he said.
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Police called in to help ambulance service in London as thousands of NHS workers go on strike .
999 calls 30% higher than normal on day of action .
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The family of a Russian heavyweight boxer who was beaten into a coma last year has filed a $100 million negligence lawsuit against the state of New York. Magomed Abdusalamov, 32, suffered a stroke and languished in a coma for several weeks after his vicious November 2 fight against Cuba's Mike Perez at Madison Square Garden. He is now bedridden with fears he may never walk or talk again. Now the fighter’s devastated wife Bakanay Abdusalamova plans to sue the state of New York and its athletic commission, alleging negligence and medical malpractice. She claimed in court papers filed yesterday that officials allowed her husband to be 'violently beaten, bludgeoned, punched and pummeled by his opponent without proper, timely or adequate recognition, termination and or/rescue.' Court action: The family of Russian heavyweight boxer Magomed Abdusalamov, 32 (pictured) who was beaten into a coma in a November 2 bout has filed a $100¿million lawsuit . Brutal: Magomed Abdusalamov (right) lost a bloody bout to Cuba's Mike Perez on November 2 and also broke his hand and nose . Abdusalamova is seeking $1 million is damages for loss of parental guidance and economic loss as a result of her husband's condition. The couple's three daughters, Patimat, Shakhrizat and Saygibat, are listed as claimants along with their mother. The Dagestan native suffered a broken . nose and hand in the first round and was visibly disfigured by the fifth . round. In the seventh round, two ringside doctors inspected Abdusalamov but . cleared him to continue. Although Perez nearly knocked then 'Russian Tyson' down in the final round, the referee and his own trainer let . him finish the 10-round fight. The court papers say Abdusalamov, who absorbed 312 punches, was advised by state officials to go to a hospital when he urinated blood after the fight, but an ambulance was not provided. The severely injured boxer and his frightened family were forced to find a cab outside the entertainment venue during rush hour, the court papers say. 'They should have stopped the fight,' the fighter's cousin, Amin Suleymanov, told The New York Post. 'Everybody could see that.' Family man: Abdusalamov (left), pictured before the crippling November 2 bout with his wife, Bakanay, and daughters, now aged seven, four and one . Devastated: Abdusalamov's wife Bakanay (left) and brother Abdusalam (right) said the 32-year-old dad was a devoted family man . The Wall Street Journal reported Abdusalamov sustained a blood clot on his brain during the fight. The clot was discovered after he went to Roosevelt Hospital to be treated for nose and hand injuries. Doctors operated on his brain to remove the clot, then placed him in a medically induced coma to help ease the swelling in his brain. Abdusalamov suffered a stroke shortly after. He remained in a coma for several weeks, only awakening once briefly. Now, according to ESPN, he is in a rehabilitation facility and can move only slightly. Doctors say he may never walk or talk again. Abdusalamov’s case is currently under investigation by the State Athletic Commission. Fierce: Perez (left) beat the 'Russian Tyson' (right) after 10 rounds in the ring on November 2 .
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Magomed Abdusalamov, 32, was brutally beaten by Mike Perez in November 2 bout .
Despite Abdusalamov's obvious injuries, the referee and his own trainer made him finish the 10-round fight .
He suffered a stroke and put into a medically-induced coma when doctors surgically removed a blood clot on his brain .
The father-of-three is now bedridden and may never again walk or talk .
His family claim officials should have stopped the slugfest and that the boxer got bad medical care following the bout .
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Max Broderick remembers exactly what he did a year ago Tuesday. He ran down fences, drove through fields and over curbs to get his family out of the way of the historic tornado that tattered Moore, Oklahoma. The dark gray monster that killed 24, including 9 children, was in his rear-view mirror, lathing a 17-mile wound into the landscape that was more than a mile wide in places. Once it was gone, the Brodericks returned to their hometown just south of Oklahoma City. The whirlwind -- an EF5 tornado, the most destructive on the Fujita scale -- had sheared houses, schools, businesses into sticks, bricks and shards that lay jumbled and jagged in the straight-line rows of their subdivision streets. The Brodericks' home and everything in it was gone, but something else was on Max's mind -- his neighbors who were missing. He and other survivors ran up and down the street. "If you can hear me, call out," he cried to anyone who might have been stuck under rubble and still alive. The damage was so complete that when rescuers moved in, city officials raced to print new street signs to help guide them through the apocalyptic landscape. A key home improvement . A year later, it's tornado season again, and Broderick's wife Sheridan seems happy about the new addition to their new home, which is still under construction. "We're gonna build our storm shelter right here kind of between the second and third cars so we can still get in even if there's cars here," she said, as a contractor worked inside the incomplete house. Storm cellars are all the rage in the neighborhood now. Other homes-in-progress dot the subdivision, where new houses stand surrounded by threadbare lots. One bald slab sports a rusty storm cellar door -- apparently the only thing the tornado left standing there. Nothing else has been added to that empty foundation. The terror was too much for some residents, and they aren't rebuilding, because they're not coming back. Last year's cyclone injured 353 of them, and Moore is as prime target for twisters, right in the middle of "tornado alley.' Tornado cat and mouse . Some of them may have recalled the May 1999 tornado that killed dozens in Moore. Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb has said it had the strongest wind speeds of any twister in history. It was part of a spate of dozens of twisters in tornado alley in just a few days that year. Or they may remember the 2003 tornado that was less deadly but ripped up buildings. Or fright may still be in their bones from the tornado that ripped apart another Oklahoma City outlier last year one day before death visited Moore from above. And trauma might still be fresh on their minds from the perhaps even bigger monster that missed Moore by a hair 11 days after its ravishing -- the so-called El Reno tornado on May 31, 2013, that razed mostly sparsely populated countryside. El Reno was "one of the most powerful tornadoes sampled by mobile radar and also the widest known tornado on record," the National Weather Service said. It seems that to live in Moore is to play cat and mouse with deadly storms with heart-rending consequences. Seven of the nine children killed in last year's tornado died when it flattened one single school building. More than 70 students and teachers hunkered down at Plaza Towers Elementary, when the torquing winds pushed walls and ceilings down on top of them. Plaza Towers had no storm shelter a year ago. That will change when the school is rebuilt. Commemorations and a new start . Remaining Moore residents will celebrate their resilience on Tuesday with commemorations that start at 10 a.m. local time (9 a.m. Eastern). Gov. Mary Fallin and Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis will commemorate the dead, as the local fire department tolls a bell in their honor. A chaplain will hold a prayer. Then a shovel will plunge into the dirt for the groundbreaking of the new Moore Medical Center. A year ago, the tornado tore the old one to pieces and tousled automobiles onto its ruins. Rescuers were forced to take Moore's injured to other hospitals in the region. In its place stands a barren empty lot of red earth. Something new will start to take form there on Tuesday. Honest advice from Joplin to Moore . One year later: 'Something good's gotta come out of this'
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Tornado killed 9 children and lathed a 17-mile path into the landscape .
The damage was 1.3 miles wide at its largest point .
The EF5 whirlwind sheared houses, schools, businesses into sticks, bricks and shards .
Deadly, powerful tornadoes come often to that region of the United States .
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1351515ca5915b8c08bb67441728d6ec24da97a4
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They spent months together inside their mother's womb. But twins Axel and Alfie Perkins do not share a birthday - because they were born five days apart. The boys, who will soon celebrate their second birthday, were born at just 24 weeks after their mother Emma Day went into premature labour. But after giving birth to Axel - and expecting Alfie any minute - Miss Day's cervix inexplicably closed. Alfie (left) and Axel (right) Perkins are twins but they were born five days apart. Axel was born on July 19, 2012 and Alfie followed on July 24. Axel was born when their mother was just 24 weeks pregnant . She said: ‘A doctor gave me an inspection and was amazed. Axel’s placenta and Alfie were still stuck inside. ‘I . had to wait five more days before I went into labour again. I went down . to be by Axel’s incubator while I was still pregnant with Alfie. ‘It was so strange to be there with my newborn son, while I was still pregnant.’ Axel arrived on July 19, 2012 weighing just 1lb 12oz and required emergency treatment to keep him alive. He was wrapped in plastic to keep him warm and rushed to a specialist care unit. Alfie was delivered on July 24, weighing just under 2lb. The boys had almost arrived even earlier, after Miss Day’s waters broke when she was just 21 weeks pregnant. She said: ‘I felt two huge gushes and rushed to hospital immediately. Once I was there, I was told that my waters had broken. ‘A . team of neonatal specialists attended to me and told me that if the . boys started to arrive there and then, they were almost certain not to . survive. Axel (pictured) weighed just 1lb 12oz when he was born and required emergency treatment to keep him alive . After Axel's birth, Miss Day's cervix inexplicably closed again. As a result, Alfie (pictured) was not born immediately as expected. He was delivered after she went into labour again five days later . ‘They would have tried to save them, but the chances weren’t good. ‘I prayed for them to hang on to 24 weeks, to allow them to benefit from steroids to help their lungs develop.’ Amazingly, doctors managed to prevent the birth until Axel was born at 24 weeks – the legal abortion limit. In . the weeks following the birth Miss Day, a former nurse, and her . partner, Tom Perkins, 27, a telecoms project manager, were warned Axel . might not survive. Miss . Day, of Barwell in Leicestershire, said: ‘When I tell people our twins . were born five days apart, they’re always amazed. It’s not something you . hear about every day. ‘It . was touch and go after they were born. They were in intensive care for . four months. Doctors warned us at one point that Axel might not survive . 24 hours. ‘They came home on my 30th birthday - which was an enormous treat – and three weeks ago we were able to take Axel’s oxygen away. Miss Day says it was a surreal experience to see Axel in an incubator while she was still pregnant . Axel and Alfie (pictured together in an incubator) have not both learned to walk and talk but their development is expected to catch up with other children. They are pictured with their parents, Emma Day and Tom Perkins . ‘They’re doing fine now, considering what they’ve been through. They’re very loving towards one another.’ Axel required further steroid treatment as well as laser eye surgery and two operations to fix hernias. Alfie was born stronger than his brother but still required incubation and a course of antibiotics. Alfie was able to leave hospital after three months, and Alfie was to follow a month later, so that on Miss Day’s 30th birthday she had both her boys at home with her for the first time. Until three weeks ago, Axel required oxygen through a tube to aid his development. He is not walking yet and Alfie has yet to say his first words, but doctors are confident they are hitting the correct developmental milestones considering their rocky start in life. Miss Day said: ‘Last year we had one birthday for the two of them but this year we’re celebrating their birthdays on different days - they have different birthdays, whichever way you look at it. ‘Alfie is definitely the one in charge, but he’s very caring towards Axel. He’s always giving him hugs and even helps to put food into his mouth. He’s quite protective over him.’ Miss Day said: 'Alfie is definitely the one in charge, but he's very caring towards Axel. He's always giving him hugs and even helps to put food into his mouth. He's quite protective over him'
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Emma Day, 31, went to hospital when her waters broke at just 21 weeks .
Doctors managed to prevent the birth until she was 24 weeks pregnant .
The first baby, Axel, was born on July 19, 2012 weighing just 1lb 12oz .
Amazingly, Miss Day's cervix then closed again preventing Alfie's birth .
Alfie was born on July 24 after she went into labour for a second time .
Both babies spent months in intensive care but are now catching up with their development .
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Seven U.S. Marines were killed in the midair collision of two U.S. military helicopters along the Arizona-California border, officials said Thursday. Six killed in the crash were based at Camp Pendleton, California, and one was from Yuma, Arizona, the Marine Corps said. The crash occurred during routine training operations Wednesday night around 10:30 p.m. ET, according to Marine Corps Air Station Yuma Base Commander Col. Robert Kuckuk. The collision occurred in the Chocolate Mountains on the California side of the range, near Yuma. The aircraft, an AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopter and a UH-1Y Huey utility chopper, were part of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and based at Camp Pendleton. According to Gunnery Sgt. Dustin Dunk, a spokesperson for Air Station Yuma, two other helicopters were in the immediate area of the collision. Authorities were investigating. "We won't know exactly what happened until the investigation is complete, and we can't make any assumptions right now," said 1st Lt. Maureen Dooley, a Marine Corps spokeswoman. While weather did not appear to play a factor, visibility may have been severely limited by nightfall and a significant amount of dust, referred to as a "brown out," created by the helicopters landing and taking off, according to Dunk. The Marines on board were preparing for deployment to Afghanistan, Dooley said. "We have aircraft going out to Yuma training ranges on a weekly basis, and they go out there primarily because the aircraft mimics what they will see in Afghanistan," Dooley said. Authorities did not plan to release the names of the Marines involved until their families were notified. "This tragedy serves as another stark and sad reminder of the peril our men and women in uniform encounter on a daily basis -- not only abroad, but on our own soil. It also reminds us that, whether in combat or training, no military mission is ever routine," Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said in a statement. "We must never take for granted nor forget these soldiers' sacrifice and service to the United States of America." Marine Corps Air Station Yuma is home to about 4,000 active duty Marines and sailors. It supports 80% of the Marine Corps air-to-ground aviation training and covers five square miles in southeastern Yuma. The military has long used the AH-1W and UH-1 Huey for a variety of tasks. The military describes the AH-1W as "the backbone of the United States Marine Corps' attack helicopter fleet." The UH-1Y is a twin-engine, medium-size helicopter.
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Crash is a "stark and sad reminder" of the peril troops face, Arizona governor says .
The Marine Corps says the collision occurred during routine training .
A UH-1Y helicopter and an AH-1W helicopter crash midair .
Spokeswoman: Marines onboard were preparing to deploy to Afghanistan .
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13519607ff1cdc070b02ec214dae3122cb106ee3
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A man suspected of shooting two Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers on Saturday has been found dead. The officers were gravely wounded in the attack at a casino in the central Alberta city of St Albert at 3am. Following a city-wide manhunt spanning seven hours, police found the suspect, a white man aged 25-35, dead. RCMP Assistant Commissioner Marlin Degrand said one officer is in 'very grave condition' and the other is in 'serious but stable condition' at a local hospital. Officials have not yet released their names as the RCMP is still in the process of contacting family members. Police search for a suspect in the shooting of two RCMP officers in St. Albert, Alberta, Canada . Police search for a suspect in the shooting of two RCMP officers in St. Albert, Alberta, Canada . Degrand said a routine investigation into a suspicious vehicle led the two officers to the Apex Casino in an industrial area around 3 a.m. Saturday. The officers determined the vehicle had been stolen, and went inside the casino to look for suspects, quickly coming under fire. The officers were hit before they had a chance to fire back at the suspect, who fled the scene, Degrand said. Police tracked the suspect — described as a white male, aged 25 to 35 — to an area southeast of the Sturgeon Valley Golf, not far from the casino, several hours later, not far from the casino. Mounties blocked off several roads to a large wooded area near the golf course, while a helicopter flew overhead. 'This incident serves to remind us all of the dangers that our front-line responders everywhere face in the performance of their duties,' Degrand said. St. Albert is an affluent community of about 60,000 bordering Edmonton's city limits to the northwest where the national RCMP force handles policing. RCMP said they cannot release information on the number of witnesses at the scene or the number of shots fired, as the shootings remain part of an active investigation. Prime Minister Stephen Harper released a statement on Twitter expressing his concern over the shooting. 'Canada's thoughts & prayers are with RCMP Alberta officers today as they deal with an ongoing shooting investigation in the St. Albert area,' Harper's tweet read. In June, a man used a semi-automatic rifle to fatally shoot three RCMP officers and wound two others in Moncton, New Brunswick. Justin Bourque, 24, was sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole for 75 years. In a videotaped statement to police, Bourque said he wanted to encourage people to rise up against the "soldiers" that defend federal institutions and protect the rich from the poor. He was found mentally fit to stand trial. Bourque's sentence was the harshest in Canada since its last executions in 1962. The deadly attack on the national police force, a vaunted Canadian institution, shook the country. It was the deadliest attack on the RCMP since four officers were killed by a gunman in Alberta in 2005. That attack remains the deadliest on Canadian police officers in 120 years.
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Two Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers were seriously wounded after they were shot at a casino in the central Alberta city of St. Albert .
The suspect has been found dead, his identity has not yet been disclosed .
One office is in 'very grave condition', the other is 'serious but stable'
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1351aa71be56eb64a8daced246f3b482cd7946f8
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(CNN) -- In times of crisis, when there are great challenges and sorrow, a nation naturally turns to its leader. We see it in the aftermath of the Connecticut school killings, as we have often in the past. That is as it should be, because the president has more power than anyone to shape the course of events. No president embodied that responsibility more fully than Abraham Lincoln, the decision-maker, consoler-in-chief, and single-minded political pursuer of a just cause. As the movie "Lincoln" tops the nomination lists for this year's film awards, millions more will rush to see it, probably looking for "Honest Abe," or some such fictional character, from a sketch designed to shape school children into patriotic citizens. Do not expect to find that Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's sometimes brooding, always passionate, extraordinary film. Do not expect to see the giant of the granite monument. This Lincoln is much more interesting, much more complicated, and much more relevant. When history speaks: Lincoln's three lessons for a second term . "Lincoln" is brilliant because it shows us that the path of virtue is paved with morally ambiguous choices. The Lincoln of Tony Kushner's remarkable screenplay is not a man whose every decision radiates righteousness. The movie focuses on a few weeks during the last throes of the Civil War as Lincoln sought to pressure Congress to approve the 13th amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery forever. In one scene, familiar from the original trailer, Daniel Day-Lewis' Lincoln asks about the war eviscerating the nation, "Shall we stop this bleeding?" You might think the answer is "Yes, of course, the sooner the better." The film, however, makes an astonishing argument: that Lincoln deliberately allowed the Civil War to go on, even as the South sought to make peace. He did it for political reasons, in order to win passage of the amendment. That theory is not universally embraced by historians, but Kushner makes a credible case. If true, it means Lincoln knowingly allowed thousands to die because he believed that only with the killings unstaunched would he manage to create enough political pressure through the false argument that the amendment was needed to stop the war. "Think of all the boys who will die if you don't make peace," admonishes Preston Blair, the elder Republican operator (whose "Blair House" home is now the official state guest house) played by Hal Holbrook, exuding wisdom and aplomb. Lincoln does, and we can only imagine what demons haunt him as he tours battlefields carpeted with the bodies of young soldiers. The movie shows not-always-Honest Abe driven by the morally impeccable goal of ending slavery but repeatedly taking questionable steps in the process. In this realistic view of a romantic figure, there is no disputing the inspiring words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a favorite phrase of President Obama's, that "the arc of the moral universe ... bends toward justice." But we learn that it can take a muscular push by determined individuals to produce a visible curvature during our lifetime. Lincoln and his allies behave in ways that today would send investigative journalists on frantic pursuits. They prod members of Congress to vote with the president, but often not on the power of the ideal. It is striking just how much America's values and beliefs have changed. A mere 150 years ago they called "radicals" the ones who held the fringe belief that all men, including slaves, really are created equal. The radicals, by the way, were primarily Republicans. To obtain the votes of Democrats, Lincoln didn't rely on his verbal gifts. Glowing with determination, he declares, "I am the president of the United States clothed in immense power. You will procure me these votes!" From historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, whose biography is one of the main sources of the screenplay, we know Lincoln built a Cabinet from former opponents. From that "Team of Rivals," the man who ran against him for the nomination is now Secretary of State William Seward, played by David Strathairn, as Lincoln's right-hand man in the project. (That may have inspired Obama to bring Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to his Cabinet.) He hires a gang of political operatives to obtain the votes. "The president is never to be mentioned," Seward warns. "Nothing strictly illegal." Led by James Spader's shifty character, they offer thinly veiled bribes, lucrative patronage jobs, in exchange for the vote. Lincoln allows the radical Republican Thaddeus Stevens, played by Tommy Lee Jones, to engage in his own dishonorable means in pursuit of the most honorable of goals. The lessons are countless, because the story is told with a heavy dose of realism. Spielberg knows how to make an audience cry. But this is no Capra fairytale; this is not "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." This is raw politics. We look at the world through the lens of our time. We see today's problems transposed like one of those school art books with the transparent sheet where we can trace an outline over a picture. We will see today's political battles over gun control or the fiscal cliff in the high-pressure machinations. We will see the fight for same-sex marriage in the changing attitudes and the recalcitrant ones. And we will see the challenge, successfully met by Lincoln, of bringing together people of different political parties and different ideologies to achieve major goals, along with the indispensable requirement of a clear vision and an unbreakable determination in pursuit of an ideal. The story carries a sobering message for idealists, who would like to hear the violins play as their hero bravely does everything that is right and noble. And cynics will take the message too far, justifying every kind of deviousness and inflexibility. Everything Lincoln did, at every step, was not free of ethical stain. And yet, his long-term perspective provided a strong moral framework, a context to judge how dark a stain was compared to the one he sought to erase. The Lincoln of "Lincoln" is brilliant because it shows a political figure navigating the perilous ambiguities of life, making the decisions that history, 150 years later, has judged heroic and correct. Now, that deserves a giant granite monument, a flurry of awards and the greatest honor of all: a real-life president who emulates Lincoln's courage in times of crisis. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Frida Ghitis.
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Frida Ghitis: "Lincoln" is brilliant because it shows that virtue is complicated .
Ghitis: Everything Lincoln did, at every step, was not free of ethical stain .
She says politics is full of morally ambiguous choices, but end goal matters .
Ghitis: President Obama can emulate Lincoln's courage in times of crisis .
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Isis militants are locked in a fierce battle with Kurdish fighters for the northern Syrian town of Kobane just a day after the Turkish Prime Minister vowed to do everything possible to keep it from falling into the hands of the Islamists. This morning, Isis were reportedly just a few kilometres away from the strategically important town with witnesses reporting smoke rising from buildings as the town came under shell and mortar fire. Turkey now appears poised to be drawn into the ground conflict with armoured personnel carriers, tanks and armoured vehicles deployed near the Syrian-Turkish border. Scroll down for video . Key town: Smoke rises from the strategically-important Syrian town of Kobane, which has come under shell and mortar fire from Isis militants . Under fire: Smoke rises from buildings in Syria's Kobane city on the Turkish-Syrian border, where fierce fighting has been reported between Isis militants and Kurdish fighters . Proximity: A photograph taken from the inside Turkey shows smoke shows an Isis shell hitting a building in Kobane where militants were reported just a few kilometres from the city . Yesterday the Turkish parliament authorised military operations against militants in Iraq and Syria who threaten domestic security. Prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu said: 'We wouldn't want Kobane to fall. We'll do whatever we can to prevent this from happening. 'No other country has the capacity to affect the developments in Syria and Iraq. No other country will be affected like us either.' Isis launched an offensive to capture Kobane On September 15 and have advanced steadily despite U.S.-led air strikes. Face off: Turkish soldiers stand on a hill, opposite Isis fighters new positions 10 kilometres west of the Syrian city of Kobane . Turkey now appears poised to be drawn into the ground conflict with armoured personnel carriers, tanks and armoured vehicles deployed near the Syrian-Turkish border. Blasts: Smoke billows from buildings in the strategically-important border town of Kobane which has come under shell and mortar fire from Isis terrorists . Kurdish positions on a hill overlooking the town were hit by Isis shells on Friday morning. Heavy fighting was reported to the east and south-east of the town. Kurdish fighters had destroyed two Isis vehicles, according to The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group. Over 160,000 mainly Kurdish Syrians have fled Kobane as Isis began its advance. Nawaf Khalil, a spokesman for Syria's leading Kurdish Democratic Union Party, criticised the Turkish Prime Minister for not supporting the fight against Isis. He said: 'How does he want to prevent the fall of Kobani and until now Turkey has done nothing.' Turkish tanks stationed close to the border line with Syria. Yesterday Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu said they would do whatever they could to stop the town falling into rebel hands . Kurdish positions on a hill overlooking the town were hit by Isis shells on Friday morning. Heavy fighting was reported to the east and south-east of the town. Isis launched an offensive to capture Kobane On September 15 and have advanced steadily despite U.S.-led air strikes . Mr Khalil added that Kobani is now almost empty of civilians and that the situation around the town is 'very dangerous'. He said Kurdish fighters in the town 'will fight until the last gunman and last gunwoman'. The Observatory reported intense shelling of Kobani, saying that a volunteer fighting with the Kurdish force known as the People's Protection Unit, or YPK, was killed. It said at least 60 shells had struck the town today. A journalist at the Turkish border town of Suruc reported intense shelling of Kobani from the south and west. Ismet Sheikh Hassan, the Kurdish defence minister for the Kobani region, said IS fighters were trying to advance from the east, west and south east of Kobani. He said jihadis fired rockets on the town, and called on the US-led coalition 'to hit the tanks instead of bases'. Over 160,000 mainly Kurdish Syrians have been forced to flee Kobane after Isis began its advance on September 16 . Syrian Kurdish refugees arriving by truck at a Turkish refugee camp after fleeing the city of Kobane . Today one of the Royal Navy's most advanced warships took up position to support US forces as they carry out air strikes against Islamic State militants. HMS Defender is using its hi-tech air defence weapons to protect US navy aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush and her aircraft as they launch air strikes as part of the international coalition. The Portsmouth-based Type-45 destroyer is using its air defence radar and Sea Viper missile system as part of an 'umbrella' of support for the Nimitz class aircraft carrier and its escort ships while they patrol the Gulf and launch air strikes against the terrorist group IS. Deployed to the Gulf in June 2014, HMS Defender's primary role has been to conduct maritime security operations. It is now operating with the US navy's Arleigh-Burke class destroyers USS Truxton and USS Roosevelt and the Ticonderoga class destroyer USS Philippine Sea to provide support for the aircraft carrier. Engaged in round-the-clock operations, HMS Defender's task is to build an accurate air surveillance picture over the whole of the Gulf in order to guard the US aircraft carrier against possible air attack. HMS Defender, one of the Royal Navy's most advanced warships took up position to support US forces as they carry out air strikes against Islamic State militants . HMS Defender, right, will provide vital support to a US Navy carrier task group in the Gulf, using her air defence weapon systems to protect the US Navy aircraft carrier, USS George H W Bush and her aircraft . HMS Defender is seen in the background as a American jet takes off from the US Navy aircraft carrier, USS George H W Bush . Royal Navy Commander Phil Nash, Defender's commanding officer, said: 'As an air defence destroyer, HMS Defender was built for exactly the sort of tasking that we are conducting in support of the USS George HW Bush. 'Since we arrived in the Gulf in June, we have been engaged in exercises with navies from around the world to test our air defence capabilities and I am delighted that my ship's company now have an opportunity to put into practice the training they have received over the past few months. 'This will be our primary role in the future, so to be able to provide the same defensive shield to a US navy aircraft carrier that we will deliver as part of a British carrier strike group is an excellent chance to prove the value we can add in a national and international environment.' Commodore Keith Blount, the United Kingdom Maritime Component Commander based in Bahrain, said: 'HMS Defender is just one of several Royal Navy ships deployed to the Gulf, which demonstrates the importance of the region to the United Kingdom and how much we value the relationships we have with our regional partners and allies. 'The decision by the Government to task a Royal Navy destroyer to support operations against Isil (IS) also shows the United Kingdom's commitment to combat terrorism. 'The ship's company of HMS Defender can be proud that, in whatever they are doing on board, they are actively contributing to the security of the region and the interests of the United Kingdom.' The UK has also committed Royal Air Force fighter bombers to carry out reconnaissance missions and air strikes in Iraq. , .
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Kurdish fighters locked in fierce battle with Isis militants .
Militants reported a few kilometres from strategically important town .
Explosions and smoke seen as buildings are hit by mortar and shell fire .
Some 160,000 have fled town since Isis began its advance on September 16 .
Turkey massing troops, tanks and armoured vehicles on the border .
Britain sends one of its most advanced warships to Gulf .
HMS Defender will U.S. aircraft carrier in fight against militants .
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Shocking footage has surfaced of a Sudanese man being publicly beheaded in Saudi Arabia for being a 'sorcerer'. Crouched on his knees and blindfolded, Abdul Hamid Bin Hussain Bin Moustafa al-Fakki was executed in a car park Medina, in the west of the country, as dozens looked on last month. The grainy footage - which MailOnline believes is too graphic to publish - shows the executioner lining his sword up on the back of Abdul Hamid's neck, before one swift stroke decapitates him. Condemned: An executioner lines up his sword as he prepares to behead Abdul Hamid Bin Hussain Bin Moustafa al-Fakki for being a 'sorcerer' last year . The killer draws his sword back as dozens of people watch in the car park . The Sudanese man, who was killed on September 20, is believed to have been the 44th person executed in Saudi Arabia this year - and the 11th foreign national. The total for 2011 is 17 more than for the whole of 2010. Lebanese TV host Ali Hussain Sibat, who was sentenced to death over making predictions of the future on his show, had been scheduled to be beheaded on Friday. His attorney May El Khansa said the execution did not take place on that day - but that did not mean Sibat has been given a reprieve. The alarming rise in the number of executions in the country has led to criticism from a number of human rights charities. Saudis are understood to prefer beheading by a sharp sword, as they think it more humane and quicker than electrocution and lethal injection. Amnesty International pleaded with King Abdullah but the Saudi monarch still allowed the killing of Abdul Hamid Bin Hussain Bin Moustafa al-Fakki for sorcery . And while the crime of 'sorcery' is undefined in . Saudi Arabian law, it has been used to punish people for the . legitimate exercise of their human rights. Abdul Hamid is understood to have been arrested in 2005 after he was entrapped by a man working . for the Mutawa'een (religious police). He was asked to concoct a spell . that would cause the officer's father to leave his second wife. According . to the officer's account Abdul Hamid agreed to carry out the curse in . exchange for 6,000 Saudi Arabian riyals (approximately £1,000). He was beaten after his arrest and thought to have been forced to admit to acts of sorcery. In a secret trial, where he was not allowed legal representation, he was sentenced to death by the General . Court in Medina in March 2007. Few details are available about his . trial but he is reported to have been tried behind closed doors and . without legal representation. At the time of his arrest, English language Saudi daily The Saudi Gazette ran an article entitled Magic Maids which said that 'we must face up to the threats from some maids and servants and their satanic games of witchcraft and sorcery, their robbery, murder, entrapment of husbands, corruption of children and other countless stories of crime that have been highlighted by both experts and victims of these crimes'. Sentenced to death: Lebanese TV host Ali Hussain Sibat still faces execution for 'predicting the future' Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International's Director for the Middle East and North Africa, heavily criticised the killing. He said: 'Abdul Hamid's execution is appalling as is Saudi Arabia's continuing use of this most cruel and extreme penalty. 'That he should have been executed without having committed anything that would appear to constitute a crime is yet another deeply upsetting example of why the Saudi Arabian government should immediately cease executions and take steps to abolish the death penalty.' The charity had campaigned on Abdul Hamid's behalf following his arrest and had urged Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah to prevent his execution. But it has been to no avail, and since the end of the holy month of Ramadan a few weeks ago, the Saudi Arabian authorities have resumed executions at an alarming pace. According to Amnesty International seven people have been executed since the killings resumed on September 5. Some 140 prisoners are believed to be facing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia. And last December, Saudi Arabia was one of a minority of states that voted against a UN general assembly resolution calling for the worldwide moratorium on executions.
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44 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia this year .
Alarming rise in killings since end of Ramadan .
Seven killed since Sept 5, when executions restarted .
140 prisoners facing the death penalty .
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A professional cage fighter has been jailed for 19 years for repeatedly stabbing his pregnant ex-girlfriend - in an attempt to kill her unborn child. Nicholas Leaning, 28, stabbed Lauren Oliver five times in the stomach when she was seven months pregnant in a bid to conceal that he was the father. A jury took just 90 minutes to find Leaning guilty of attempted child destruction and wounding with intent, and was today jailed at Hull Crown Court with a judge describing him as a 'ticking time bomb'. Cage fighter Nicholas Leaning (left) has been jailed for 19 years for repeatedly stabbing his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Lauren Oliver (right) Leaning, from Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, was cleared by the same jury of attempted murder. Members of his family shouted 'I love you', 'I will sort this son,' and 'no matter what happens we love you baby', as he was taken from the dock to begin his prison term. During a week-long trial, the court heard how the cage fighter carried out the brutal attack on his ex-girlfriend of two-years after she discovered he had resumed a relationship with a former partner. Simon Waley, prosecuting, said: 'He had been seeing both of these women for some time and they discovered this among themselves. 'Lauren had become pregnant. When the defendant learned of the pregnancy he had tried to persuade her to have an abortion and when she said she didn't want to, he became angry and said he didn't want to have anything to do with the child. 'He began to indicate to others that the child wasn't his and he hadn't been sleeping with Lauren for some time. 'Lauren and Lindsay had been in touch with each other and had been on friendly terms and arranged a DNA test to determine who was the father. 'He said he would not participate in such a test so Lindsay said she would allow DNA from their child to be used.' The jury heard how Leaning attacked Miss Oliver at her home in Belton, Lincolnshire, as she returned from dropping her daughter at school on the morning of June 11. As she opened her front door, he plunged a knife into her stomach and pushed her on to the floor where he made four further stab wounds - threatening the life of her unborn baby. The jury was played evidence from Miss Oliver, who described what happened and said she knew 'what he was going for'. A jury found Leaning (pictured) guilty of attempted child destruction and wounding with intent . She said: 'I knew it was him and I knew what he was going for. He was trying to kill the baby. 'It was like he was enjoying it because he was smiling. I pleaded with him not to kill me and my baby. 'He stabbed me five times. I felt a massive gush of blood between my legs and I thought my baby was dead.' Miss Oliver said Leaning wore a cage fighting mask during the attack, which he wore for training, as well as a dark hoodie, blue jeans and a black and red baseball cap. She said: 'All I could see was his eyes staring at me. 'The first stab took me down. I bent forward and then he pushed me and he was standing over the top of me. 'He was trying to get the knife in as many times as he could. I was shouting "someone help me please", and "Nick please stop it". 'Eventually he got up and ran away. It's just sick.' Following the stabbing, Leaning fled from the scene and Miss Oliver was taken to hospital where her baby girl was born by emergency caesarean, just hours later. The court heard that the baby, now seven months old, is healthy despite the attack. In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Waley said the attack had 'changed everything about her life'. He said: 'She's scared when she's at home. It's affected her ability to eat and sleep, she's attended counselling on a regular basis and suffers from anxiety.' Mr Waley also said Miss Oliver is now too afraid to go out alone and cannot feel able to allow her older daughter to play outside for fear of having the doors unlocked. The court was told that Miss Oliver still has visible scars from the stab wounds, which can be 'uncomfortable and unpleasant'. During the trial, the jury heard how Leaning and Miss Oliver had been in a 'great' relationship for around two years before she discovered he had rekindled a relationship with his ex-partner Lindsay Coombs. The pair split in November last year - but Miss Oliver then discovered she was pregnant with his child. She claims he made repeated instructions to her to abort the baby, but she refused. She said: 'I went to see Lindsay and she showed me pictures and messages and everything to prove they were together. 'We found out he had been with us both all along. 'I found out I was pregnant, and when I told him he told me to I had to go and get an abortion, but I didn't want to. 'He was nice at first saying "it's not right", but when I said I couldn't go through with it, he got mad. 'He said he would kick it out of me if he had to. He said I had to get rid of it but when I wouldn't, he said he didn't want anything to do with it.' It was then that Leaning's former partner Lindsay demanded a DNA test to confirm the paternity of the baby - something he refused to co-operate with. Leaning (pictured) wore a cage fighting mask during the attack, knifing Miss Oliver five times in the stomach while she was pregnant . 'She wanted a DNA test and I said they could have one,' said Miss Oliver. 'He was trying to tell everyone it wasn't his and he wasn't happy that the DNA test was going to be done because he knew it would prove it was his baby. 'Lindsay was messaging me and said I could use their daughter to do the test. She wanted to know if the baby was his.' The court heard that Leaning was arrested around an hour after the incident at his home address in Scunthorpe. Mr Waley said that he gave a number of conflicting accounts as to his whereabouts on the morning. During police questioning, Leaning finally admitted being at Lauren's property where he said she had shouted at him and 'came at him with a knife'. Mr Waley added: 'It's absurd that a 34-week pregnant Lauren launched an attack on her cage fighter ex-boyfriend and then went on to stab herself and her unborn baby five times in an act of spite against the defendant.' Judge Jeremy Richardson QC described Leaning as a 'ticking timebomb' and said: 'Something had to be done and it was.' Jailing him, Judge Richardson added: 'This is an exceptionally serious case of its kind. It calls for an exceptional sentence to reflect the malignancy of your violent behaviour where you brutally stabbed a pregnant woman five times in order to kill her unborn child. 'I repeat - you intended to kill that child and it is only good fortune that prevented the execution of that truly wicked objective. 'It is good fortune alone that has resulted in the child suffering no long term effects of that trauma. The same cannot be said for the mother. She is scared both physically and mentally by what you did. 'You have been found guilty by a jury upon clear evidence. That jury has seen through the entirely bogus account you presented in your trial. 'You intended really serious injury upon Lauren Oliver and you concurrently intended, by seriously wounding her, that the life of the baby, which was at seven months gestation in her womb, would be extinguished. 'You have not shown a shred of remorse for what you did. Indeed, you have made outrageous assertions that Lauren Oliver stabbed herself and attempted to kill her own baby as an act of revenge for you choosing your former partner over her. 'Let there be no mistake that this is a very serious example of a crime of this kind. This is not simply a case of a brutal and sustained attack upon a vulnerable woman who happened to be pregnant, but a vicious attack with a knife upon a pregnant woman intending to kill the unborn baby. 'You wanted to kill that unborn infant and you set about that task with calculated determination. It was a vile act.' Following the sentencing, Detective Inspector Alan Curtis from Humberside Police, said: 'Nineteen years is a long time for Nicholas Leaning to think about what he's done in prison and it reflects the grotesque nature of the attack and the fact that Lauren Oliver really was vital to his ultimate aim which was to kill the unborn baby. 'You don't come across pregnant ladies that are stabbed in broad daylight, on their doorsteps. It was pre-meditated, it was calculated, it was planned and it was a despicable act. It was only a pure miracle that they survived. 'They will still carry mental and physical scars for the rest of their lives but it could have been far worse.'
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Nicholas Leaning knifed Lauren Oliver five times in the stomach, court told .
28-year-old carried out attack while Miss Oliver was seven months pregnant .
Stabbing happened after she discovered he had resumed a relationship with a former partner .
Leaning attacked Miss Oliver while he was wearing his cage fighting mask .
Convicted of attempted child destruction and wounding with intent but cleared of attempted murder .
Judge jails Leaning for 19 years and describes him as a 'ticking time bomb'
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Angry and violent protests against austerity measures continue to flare across Europe, with thousands of students across Italy fighting cutbacks. Thousands of university and high school students clashed with Italian police during a number of marches in major cities, including Rome, Milan and Naples, where the crowds chanted slogans and carried banners such as ‘save schools not banks’. Up to six policemen were wounded in Rome, police said, after students wearing motorcycle helmets and carrying home-made shields pelted them with stones and tried to rush a police van before being driven back in a baton charge. Students wearing motorcycle helmets clash with police in Rome where six officers were injured . A demonstrator lights a flare during one of the protest in Turin, where a number of students were arrested for scuffles . The protests were the latest in a string of strikes and large-scale street protests against prime minister Mario Monti's spending cuts and economic reforms. ‘The protest is to renew the political class, to get rid of those who are corrupt,’ said Giulio Bianco, 18. ‘The politicians make the ordinary people pay. These are heavy sacrifices, and it is a risky policy to keep imposing them,’ the high school student from Rome said. TV pictures from Bologna showed students throwing eggs at a branch of UniCredit bank and trampling on a BNP Paribas flag, while in Palermo protesters burnt copies of political manifestos. Young people have borne the brunt of rising joblessness in Italy, where the youth unemployment rate is 35 per cent, more than three times the overall level. ‘We are worried about our prospects and about the future of our country,’ Madalina Ursu, 19, told Reuters. Police trying to stop a demonstration of students angry with their government's economic reforms . In Turin demonstrators march through the streets behind a banner urging the prime minister to stop his cut backs . Italian riot police hit with red paint detain a protestor in the clashes . Another students carrying a banner is held back by a group of police after they regain control of the street . Yesterday in Greece police clashed with shipyard workers protesting pay arrears, after they broke into the Defence Ministry grounds, which led to more than 100 arrests. Meanwhile hundreds of farmers on tractors tried to invade the country's second-busiest airport in Crete during an anti-austerity protest. Greece has been gripped by a severe financial crisis since late 2009, and waves of spending cuts and tax hikes have led to frequent strikes and demonstrations. The nation's three-month-old coalition government is currently preparing a major new austerity package demanded by rescue creditors. Unions have promised new protests and a general strike next week when the government's new 13.5 billion Euro program is debated in parliament - where the conservative-led coalition controls enough seats to pass the measures. A protestor is dragged to the floor in Turin, while another covers herself on the ground, surrounded by police . A coloured smoke bomb is released by a student during the marches . Yesterday in Athens more than 100 . protesters forced open the shuttered entrance to the defence ministry . complex, crossing the courtyard and blocking the entrance to the general . staff building. Riot police were called in to force back the demonstrators, who were demanding to meet with ministry officials. Greece's . top military officer, General Michalis Kostarakos, was heckled by the . shipyard workers when he came out to speak to them by using their . portable loudspeaker. ‘First . get off my base,’ Kostarakos told the protesters, arguing that the . military had no part in the workers' dispute with the government. Police said 106 people were detained for questioning, prompting another protest gathering outside police headquarters and court building today. Misdemeanor charges were filed against the protesting shipyards workers, 94 of which were detained at the scene and subsequently released, while another 12 individuals were sent before an Athens first instance prosecutor. Riot police used pepper spray to prevent a group of protesters from barging into the building. Shipyard workers support their arrested colleagues when they are taken with handcuffs before a prosecutor at a court in Athens, Greece . Policemen escort two arrested shipyard workers to the court today following their protest yesterday . A shipyard worker raises his fist after being released from court. Charges were filed against 106 protesting shipyards workers after they broke down a barricade and entered the government's defence ministry . Workers from the Skaramangas Shipyards, which deals mainly with military contacts, say they have not been paid in months. Scuffles broke out as protesters tried to push through the police cordon protecting the entrance to the main building. On the southern island of Crete, hundreds of farmers taking part in an anti-austerity protest yesterday tried to invade the terminal and the runway of Iraklio airport. Police kept them off with tear gas, and one man was detained for trying to drive his tractor onto the runway. Airport authorities said flights were not affected by the protest. Crete is a major tourist destination, attracting more than 44,000 flights last year. Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said earlier this week that there were still considerable differences between the government and Greece's debt inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, European Commission and European Central Bank over the new austerity package. But he said he hopes to clinch a deal by next week. The country has been in recession since 2008, and the total contraction is projected to reach a cumulative 25 per cent at the end of next year. A key member of the shipyard workers union raises his handcuffs from the window at the court. he is one of 12 sent before a court facing misdemeanor charges . Angry and emotional workers defend the actions of their colleagues outside the court to the press and public .
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Students stage protests in major cities across Italy against prime minister Mario Monti's reforms today .
Six police officers injured in Rome .
More than 100 shipyard workers, who say they have not been paid for months, were arrested for storming a government building in Athens .
Their arrests were met with more protests outside an Athens court today .
Meanwhile in Crete farmers tried to invade the island's second largest airport .
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By . Martin Robinson . PUBLISHED: . 02:53 EST, 29 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 07:07 EST, 29 October 2013 . At least 61,000 households are still without power today as Britain began to recover after the deadly ten-hour St Jude's storm tore through leaving a trail of destruction. Engineers have worked through the night to reconnect 100,000 homes in southern counties after the hurricane-force winds wrecked cables and pylons. The gusts of up to 99mph left 600,000 properties without electricity, but around 10 per cent are still without, with some residents complaining there has been a lack of information about when they will be reconnected. Waiting to be reconnected: 61,000 homes in communities all over southern Britain are still waiting to get their power after trees like this one in Brentwood, Essex took out cables . Recovery: Engineers have worked through the night to reconnect 100,000 homes in southern counties after the hurricane-force winds destroyed cables and pylons . Hundreds of villagers in Great Bardfield, Essex, have been without power since 7am yesterday, forcing them to use candlelight and gas stoves overnight. 'I would have liked an update from the power companies so we could tell people when they will be getting it back, but sadly I've been unable to do that,' chair of the parish council Janet Dyson said. Power companies have said they are not sure when the affected homes will . have access to power again as they deal with each case on an individual . basis. Victim: Bethany Freeman, 17, died being comforted by her mother after a tree crashed through her caravan and crushed her while she slept in her bed in Kent . Technicians from the north have been brought in to help . repair damage power lines and engineers are working in the extreme . conditions to reconnect people's homes. Five times the number of . engineers are on duty and people have been told to keep their fridges . closed and listen to portable radios to keep updated. Now the . weather has cleared, helicopters have been sent to some parts of the . country to assess the damage to the power grids and determine which . areas need the most attention. Surrey, Sussex, Kent and Essex are . the worst areas affected. Britain faces further disruption today following the most powerful storm to hit Britain in years. The authorities continue to clear away debris and fallen trees. A 17-year-old girl was among four people killed as hurricane-force winds battered England and Wales, leaving a trail of destruction. Dubbed St Jude after the patron of lost causes, the storm caused transport disruption on road, rail, air and sea, and power cuts for hundreds of thousands of homes. National Rail said it was not yet able to say how services will be affected today but urged travellers to check with their train operator, while ferry services from Dover are still delayed because of rough seas. The storm, which is now over Scandinavia, will today be replaced with far lighter winds and rain, but dozens of areas in southern England still remain on flood alert, The Environment Agency said. Insurers are counting the cost of the storm but say it is too early to tell whether it will compare with the multibillion-pound hits caused by previous severe weather events. Initial estimates of the level of financial damage wrought are not expected until later this week, the Association of British Insurers said. Terrible accident: Bethany Freeman, 17, was crushed when this tree fell on her while she lay in bed (pictured). She was comforted by her mother but could not be saved . Wreckage: Police at the scene where a tree has fallen onto a car, that killed the father of three driver, on Lower High Street in Watford, Hertfordshire . Devastation: This home in Hounslow, west London, was destroyed by a gas explosion yesterday after a tree fell on the property killing two . Torn apart: An explosion involving three houses in Hounslow, west London. The wreckage of the front of the houses that were hit is pictured . Tragedies: Dylan Alkins, 14, is understood to . have been swept out to sea and 51-year-old Donal Drohan from Harrow, . right, who died today when his car was crushed . During yesterday morning, winds of up to 100mph swept through the South West, South, South East, the Midlands and the East of England after first hitting land in the early hours. STRONGEST WINDS1) Needles Old Battery, Isle of Wight – 99mph2) Langdon Bay, Kent – 82mph3) Isle of Portland, Dorset – 81mph4) Andrewsfield, Essex – 79mph5) Odiham, Hampshire – 78mph . MOST RAINFALL1) Otterbourne, Hampshire – 50mm2) Wychcroft, East Sussex – 45.4mm3) Cardiff – 44.8mm4) Hurn, Dorset – 42mm5) Wiggonholt, West Sussex – 37.2mm . Up to 2.4 inches of rain - half the monthly average - fell in a just few hours during the storm in areas including Hampshire and Devon causing flash floods. The devastating storm left Bethany Freeman crushed as a 30ft tree fell on the caravans she and her family were living in while renovation work was taking place at their home at Edenbridge in Kent shortly after 7am. 'Loving husband' and father-of-three Donal Drohan, 51, originally from Waterford in Ireland, died after his car was hit by a tree at the bridge over the River Colne in Watford. Mr Drohan, from Harrow, west London, was 'in the wrong place at the wrong time' when his car was struck by a falling tree at Lower High Street. In Hounslow, west London, three houses were completely destroyed and two more were damaged by an explosion, thought to have been caused by a ruptured gas main. Officers were called to Bath Road at around 7.30am and at noon they found a man's body at number 47 amid 'scenes of devastation'. An hour and a half later, a woman - whom investigators were trying to identify - was found dead at the same property. Met Office spokeswoman Laura Young warned that the impacts from the storm are still around and urged the public to remain alert. Properties within a 50m radius were damaged as debris was scattered over the street after the blast and people at the scene can still smell gas . Police officers frantically run down the street at the scene of the devastating gas explosion, which was caused by a tree falling down in heavy wind . John Lee, a forecaster for the MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said it was the most powerful storm in years. 'There will no doubt be some disruption still following the damage caused by strong winds and heavy rain, but the weather will be quite different,' he said. 'It will be blustery with some showers, especially in the west, but a lot lighter. 'On Friday there is an indication that stormy weather could return, but it's likely to bring heavy rain rather than strong winds.' Aftermath of October storm affects Windsor and Eton central line as trains were cancelled because of fallen trees . Totalled: Council Workers use a chainsaw to clear a fallen tree that collapsed onto a Jaguar in Clapham, south-west London . In Leyton, east London, Francis Road was blocked when 100 metres of two-storey scaffolding was ripped from the row of shop fronts in the early hours . The port of Dover in Kent had to be shut, train and Tube services were disrupted, more than 130 flights at Heathrow Airport were cancelled and many roads were impassable due to fallen trees. Debris falling on to power lines caused a nuclear power station in Kent automatically to close down both its reactors, leaving its own diesel generators to provide power for essential safety systems. Experts said that, while the gales were relatively weak compared with the Great Storm of 1987, it had shown how much weather predictions have improved compared with 26 years ago.
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In total 600,000 lost electricity because of hurricane-force gusts but ten per cent are waiting to be reconnected .
Majority of southern England had problems but Surrey, Sussex, Kent and Essex are .
the worst areas affected .
17-year-old Bethany Freeman died after a tree fell onto the static home she was sleeping in at Hever, Kent .
Donal Drohan, 51, also killed in Watford, Hertfordshire, after his car was crushed during morning rush hour .
Gas explosion triggered after tree fell on a main kills man and woman at home in Hounslow, west London .
Transport chaos believed to be over with majority of rail firms resuming normal service this morning .
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By . Kieran Corcoran for MailOnline . An interactive history project has breathed new life into an old treasure-trove of maps by matching them up to modern-day street layouts. The initiative, orchestrated by the British Library, unearthed and uploaded a huge trove of maps, which were made available to the public. Anybody who matches up a number of landmarks on one of the old documents - such as a road, river or church - to points on today's world map can add to the project, which now boasts more than 8,000 entries. While some of the maps show the pace of change - streets filling out, roads advancing and railways being built. However, many of the cities featured have still keep their distinctive character on a map. Others . To view the full project click here. Old and new: The above map shows the City of London and the boroughs of Westminster and Southwark as they were in 1733. The street layouts are in many cases the same - though there is more open space and no evidence of railways . From the archive: The London map, taken from a 1733 survey by Robert Seymour, shows the still-familiar layout of central London's streets. The city was radically reshaped after the Great Fire of London in 1666 . Victoriana: Modern-day Coventry is overlain above with a map image from 1898 - where the location of prominent railway lines through the city can still be seen . Difference: The settlement is noticeably less developed in years gone by. The map extract is taken from a 1898 Cassell & Co. book called 'Our own country. Description, historical, pictorial’ Invaders: This maps shows the south coast of England overlain with a map showing the invasion route taken by the Romans around 55BC . Geological: The lie of the land is still substantially the same, as it would have been in 1862 when the map was published and also centuries earlier when Ceasar and his legions landed on British shores . Four score and lots more years ago: This map shows the modern layout of Gettysburg in the state of Pennsylvania, where one of the bloodiest battles of the American Civil war was fought, which has been overlain with a military map showing troop layouts on the day. Some roads can be seen on both, while the large Freeway, marked in orange, would not have featured . Famous fight: The map shows the ground where Abraham Lincoln led to Unionist troops against their Confederate foes in one of the civil war's decisive clashes . Going through changes: This map of central Sheffield, taken from an 1874 edition, is again significantly less built-up than today - and major roads are narrower and less prominent . Relic: The map of the Yorkshire city was taken from the 1874 book ‘The Imperial Gazetteer; a general dictionary of geography, physical, political, statistical and descriptive’ edited by W. G. Blackie .
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British Library project asked members of the public to match old maps to real-world locations, with 8,000 done so far .
Inevitable march of progress from maps - mostly Victorian - can clearly be seen as urban areas grew .
But even in rapidly-developing cities such as London, some significant landmarks and layouts are the same .
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(EW.com) -- The thing I find most surprising about Pompeii is that there aren't two rival Pompeii movies. The Paul W.S. Anderson movie has the look and feel of Deep Impact/Armageddon and Volcano/Dante's Peak (though, believe it or not, Roman Polanski was once attached to direct). Alas, Pompeii has the field to itself, a big-budget 3-D disaster epic that lands smack in the box-office dead zone of February. It's just crazy enough to work! Game of Thrones' Kit Harington plays Milo, a Roman slave-turned-gladiator who catches the eye of an upper-class beauty (Emily Browning) who in turn is promised to the corrupt Roman politician (Kiefer Sutherland) who butchered his family. Conflict! Harrington sculpted his body to look the part of a gladiator, but EW's Owen Gleiberman thinks Russell Crowe's Maximus from Gladiator isn't in danger of being surpassed anytime soon, writing, "Harington knows how to handle a broadsword, but mostly he comes off as the British Taylor Kitsch, a glorified fashion model striking Blue Steel poses that smolder, boringly." There also happens to be the looming destruction bubbling up from Mount Vesuvius, the Italian volcano that annihilated Pompeii in 79 A.D. The critics are mixed on whether the volcano is the film's villain or hero. Read below to see what they're saying about Pompeii before heading to the theaters this weekend. Owen Gleiberman (Entertainment Weekly) ▼ . "The volcano spews an endless shower of fiery asteroids trailed by smoky plumes — an apocalyptic fireworks show that takes down the city. ... Bodies get frozen into sculptures of ash that will last forever. It's supposed to make this love story timeless, but by the end of Pompeii, you'll be grateful that the movie only lasts 104 minutes." Peter Debruge (Variety) "Taking a page from Titanic, the film invents a rich-girl/poor-boy romance, puts a powerful suitor in their way and then besets their star-crossed love story with CG lava showers, rendered all the more spectacular in stereoscopic 3-D. In short, Pompeii is a blast, at least by guilty-pleasure standards..." Mick LaSalle (San Francisco Chronicle) ▼ . "As for the fact that there's no reason to care whom the fireballs hit, or who gets covered in lava, or whose house caves, or whose ship blows up -- well, that's unfortunate. Although, if you think of Pompeii as a ride, a conveyance for special effects, and not anything resembling an emotional experience, indifference can almost be a good thing." Jordan Mintzer (Hollywood Reporter) ▼ . "The lava flows by the ton, as does the cheese, in Pompeii, a kitschy apocalyptic peplum whose visual epiphanies — of which there are definitely a few — cannot outdo a B- (or C- or D-) grade scenario that will have lots of eyes rolling by the time the big stack finally blows." Claudia Puig (USA Today) "Besides Gladiator and Titanic, the film borrows from 300, Troy, Spartacus, Clash of the Titans, and even The Princess Bride. The result is a generic saga with a cast of forgettable one-dimensional characters." Gary Goldstein (Los Angeles Times) "Sure, it's not the brainiest of outings, but director Paul W.S. Anderson (the man behind four of the Resident Evil films) keeps the action apace and the lava a-flowing with workmanlike energy and sufficient visual dazzle." Miriam Bale (New York Times) "Anderson displays his mastery as a director in the sword-fighting scenes. The camera glides and tilts in exact counterpoint to the thrusts of the knives, as if a bloody ballet. These scenes recall the elegance and deftness of great car chases from films like Bullitt." Liam Lacey (Toronto Globe and Mail) "No doubt the audiences in the Coliseum would offer a thumbs-up to the scale of the destruction, though even they might have had some quibbles about the special effects, which, too often, resemble a very large pile of melting crayons." Rene Rodriguez (Miami Herald) "The dialogue is often pleasantly leaden ("I've never seen you look at any man the way you looked at that slave!" one of Cassia's friends says as she ogles the buff Milo), but the sound effects are way cool, and the 3-D is spectacular, with glowing ashes that seem to float off the screen and onto your lap." Stephanie Merry (Washington Post) ▼ . "Harington's star is on the rise. ... Yet his first starring role doesn't showcase what he can do from an acting standpoint. Harington transformed his body for the role, but here's the real disaster: His startlingly defined six-pack abs are the most memorable part of his character." Wesley Morris (Grantland) ▼ . "Browning often looks like a woman on the brink of an orgasm. It's as if she's trying to out-act the volcano. The eruption starts early and lasts most of the movie. (It's tantric that way.)" Pompeii . Overall Metacritic rating (1-100): 41 . Rotten Tomatoes: 31 percent . Rated: PG-13 . Length: 104 minutes . Director: Paul W.S. Anderson . Starring Kit Harington, Emily Browning, Jared Harris, Carrie-Anne Moss, Adewale Akkinnuoye-Agbaje, Jessica Lucas, Kiefer Sutherland . Distributor: TriStar . See the original story at EW.com. CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved.
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"Game of Thrones" actor Kit Harrington stars in the film .
"Pompeii" is a 3-D disaster film .
The film is getting mixed reviews .
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By . Allan Hall . Last updated at 5:30 PM on 26th February 2012 . Berlin wants to send German inspectors to Greece to ensure all taxes that are due are collected. The controversial move will see a 'foreign legion' of 160 or so taxmen head south to try and root out corruption and make sure national coffers are filled in a country where revenue evasion is an art form. Finance department secretary of state Hans Bernhard Beus announced his plan to the WirtschaftsWoche business magazine. Troubles: A fire burns in Athens during protests as the new £108bn Greek bailout is negotiated . It comes just weeks after Europe rejected a German move for a financial 'gauleiter' to oversee all of Greece's books in a bid to avert financial meltdown. But in order to receive billions in bailout funds, Greece has had to agree to fire dozens of underperforming tax inspectors in the coming months. Germany believes its beancounters will be able to drive out in excess of £50billion, either hidden under mattresses or in secret accounts, into the clear light of day and then into state coffers. Last week, European leaders finally agreed a fresh bailout for Greece, worth £108billion. Protest: A demonstrator is detained by riot police as the Greeks negotiated their eurozone bailout. Now Berlin want to send German tax inspectors . Call: George Osborne says IMF should not fund another eurozone bailout . But concern remains throughout Europe that Athens will not be able to meet strict conditions attached. Greece views such an offer as 'humiliating' and believes it to be one more attempt by Germany to take control of the nation piece by piece. Beus' description of his tax squad as 'volunteers' is meant to reduce the tensions between the two countries. Another finance official, Thomas Schaefer of the state of Hesse, said he was looking at calling up a 'dad's army' of retired tax officials to move into Greece to help find the estimated £15 to 20bn in annual undeclared income. 'It would be possible to mobilise such people with large practical experience quite easily,' he said. The German demand comes as Britain and the world's other leading economies in the IMF said they should not be forced to fund another eurozone bailout. Speaking . as finance ministers gather in Mexico for the G20 summit, the . Chancellor said extra funds would not be handed over until countries who . use the struggling single currency commit resources themselves. In . an interview with Sky News, Mr Osborne said: 'We are prepared to . consider IMF resources but only once we see colour of eurozone money and . we have not seen this. 'While at this G20 conference there . are a lot of things to discuss, I don’t think you’re going to see any . extra resources committed here because eurozone countries have not . committed additional resources themselves, and I think that quid pro quo . will be clearly established here in Mexico City.'
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160 could be sent to Greece to root out tax corruption .
Athens resisting 'humiliating' German demands .
George Osborne says IMF should not fund another eurozone bailout .
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HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Zimbabwe's central bank is introducing a $500 million note -- the highest current denomination -- as the once-prosperous southern African nation battles against spiraling hyperinflation. Zimbabwe's new $500 million note . Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi made the announcement about the new note in a government gazette set for release Friday. On the back, the purple cotton bill will feature pictures of dairy cows being milked mechanically and a miner drilling underground, he said. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) last week introduced a new set of denominations, including a $100 million note, but that has not helped to clear long lines for cash at banks. Some people sleep outside banks after failing to get cash. The RBZ said a $200 million note would be in circulation Friday, together with the $500 million note. The $500 million note is worth about 8 U.S. dollars and enough to buy just eight loaves of bread. Thursday, the greenback was trading around ZW$60 million and is expected to shoot up in light of the new note's introduction. Prices change on an almost daily basis as businesses now peg their prices against the U.S. dollar. Zimbabwe has had higher denominations than the $500 million note in the past. But over the past two years, the country has slashed zeros from the amount of its worthless currency -- the latest being 10 zeros in August. Once one of Africa's most promising economies, Zimbabwe is reeling under its worst humanitarian and economic crisis. A cholera outbreak has killed nearly 800 Zimbabweans, forcing hundreds to cross the border into South Africa and Botswana to seek treatment. The situation has been exacerbated by the closure of government hospitals for more than a month as health personnel demand the government review their salaries and equip the hospitals with medicines and modern machinery. In addition, 5 million people are in need of food aid, the United Nations says, in a nation that once exported food to its neighbors. There has been a spate of protests -- including two by soldiers -- over the past four weeks as people voice their displeasure over President Robert Mugabe's policies. Shortages of most essentials such as electricity, fuel, medical drugs and food have become a common feature in Zimbabwe. That has forced many people to flee the country.
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Zimbabwe's central bank introduces $500 million note .
High denomination notes introduced this month failed to clear bank queues .
$500 million note worth about 8 U.S. dollars, enough to buy 8 loaves of bread .
Once-prosperous Zimbabwe is reeling under humanitarian and economic crisis .
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(CNN) -- Can beauty be defined by age, gender, color, body shape or size? Who gets to decide? Multibillion-dollar beauty and fashion industries both shape and depend on the cult-like worship of what physical attributes the public sees as beautiful. And most women feel the effects of those decisions. The photo exhibition "Beauty Culture" at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles, with 175 pictures by iconic photographers, is aimed at starting people thinking and talking about female beauty. It also peeks into the underbelly of the beauty industry, including its relation to celebrity, plastic surgery, the faux-perfection of airbrushing of advertising and even child beauty pageants. There are a lot of hot-button issues as to how the media and the beauty and fashion worlds depict whole groups of people, why they show them in a particular way or barely notice them at all. However, there's been a major shift when it comes to diversity in beauty advertising and magazine beauty editorial spreads. Supermodel Veronica Webb, L'Oreal's corporate diversity director Jean-Claude Le Grand, fashion insider Bethann Hardison, Marie Claire's beauty editor Erin Flaherty and others share their thoughts on the evolving and increasingly inclusive take on gorgeousness. America's changing definition of beautiful . Several studies suggest that many equate beauty with symmetry, but even within that equation, "Each time has its own standard (of beauty)," said photographer Melvin Sokolsky during his lecture at the Annenberg. View more than 30 former Miss USA Pageant queens . A photographer, an editor or a casting director may be subject to his or her personal predilections of what beauty is and foist them upon the public, leading entire societal likes and dislikes to shift, too. And that standard in America is changing rapidly. Today, the number of marriages between people of different ethnicities is surging. Back in 1993, Time magazine's cover story "The New Face of America," featuring a computer generated face consisting of a mix of several ethnicities, is indeed more in line with what most of us now consider beautiful, according to Allure's 20th Anniversary Beauty Survey. "Sixty-four percent of all our respondents think women of mixed race represent the epitome of beauty," the survey says. And of those respondents who said they wished to change their skin color, "70% reported that they wanted it to be darker." Full lips and curvy bodies are also coveted. That's a far cry from 1991 when most Allure respondents chose blonde haired, blue-eyed Christie Brinkley as the ideal beauty. The all-American look today is much more of a hybrid. One model's story . Model, writer and television personality Veronica Webb (former co-host of "Tim Gunn's Guide to Style" on Bravo) experienced this transition from the front lines of the beauty industry. Although Beverly Johnson was the first African-American on the cover of Vogue in 1974, Webb was the first African-American to win a major cosmetics campaign when she signed on with Revlon in 1992. "For me personally it was like almost the impossible dream of the fashion industry," says Webb of her Revlon campaign. "The biggest reward, the most money you could make, the highest level of commercial validation. And you know a barrier -- a real barrier, a glass ceiling that existed forever -- got broken. "And the ideal of beauty, and who represents beauty, and what beautiful is changed so quickly and so radically right after that, that by the time I had my children they can't even recognize the world of fashion and beauty that I came up in." Webb says that in any business when you qualify and can perform on every level, "but you're rejected out of hand because of your skin color ... not even your skin color, but the perception of your 'race,' there's nothing more frustrating than that," says Webb. But today there's a whole spectrum of women who've helmed beauty campaigns from blonde to brunette, from fair skinned to deep, including celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé, Freida Pinto, Eva Mendes, Taylor Swift, Kerry Washington, Aishwarya Rai, Drew Barrymore, Gwen Stefani and models such as Liu Wen, Liya Kebede, Christy Turlington and Adriana Lima. A global perspective = good business . Time has shown the beauty industry that embracing a world of beauty isn't just good karma, it's also good for the bottom line. "For us, the more you are diverse, the more you are successful," says Le Grand. L'Oreal Group is the world's largest beauty company and includes 23 international brands, including L'Oreal Paris, Lancôme, Maybelline and Garnier. If you are to be a leader, Le Grand says that you have to understand "there is a link between beauty and diversity." And that includes understanding the vision of beauty in places such as China, India, Africa and Europe as well the United States. "If it's only one vision of beauty and not a diverse one, you are out. ... We have to reflect everyone from the model to the employee." Flaherty, Marie Claire's beauty editor who also once worked at Jane, says that she's been lucky to work at magazines that are all about a global perspective, diversity and unusual beauty. Diversity, of course, can be expresses a myriad of ways, be it featuring women with freckles, who are curvier or who are 45 and older. An element in the beauty world that changed things, "was the Dove campaign," says Flaherty. "Using many different types of models and reflecting what women really look like." The campaign's stated goal is to "free ourselves and the next generation from beauty stereotypes" and contribute to building self-esteem for young women and others through marketing campaigns featuring women of different shapes, sizes, ages and hues as well as partnering with groups such as the National Eating Disorders Information Center and the Girl Scouts. Bethann Hardison has been a model, modeling agent and recently Vogue Italia editor-at-large. "I'm an advocate of the fashion model," says Hardison, who laments models losing jobs to actors and singers. But she does see big changes in advertising in that it better reflects American demographics. Hardison points out that the beauty industry has a large consumer base, speaks to a broader group of people, and so is more democratic and shifts faster than the fashion world. But as the global economy shifts, so too will fashion with the help of newspaper editors who call out inequities and magazine editors, casting directors, advertising agencies and designers committed to inclusiveness, as well as the public. "The word beauty is such a controversial word," says Hardison. "I think that the more that there's exposure (of different kinds of looks), and as long as you expose them consistently, you give people a chance to see what could also be beautiful besides what came before." The "Beauty Culture" exhibition opened May 21 and runs through November 27.
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The Beauty Culture exhibit opened in May at the Annenberg Space for Photography .
The exhibit looks at cultural ideals as well as American standards of beauty .
Looking at the global perspective for beauty is enlightening for everyone .
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By . Fiona Macrae . PUBLISHED: . 06:47 EST, 31 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 20:16 EST, 31 October 2012 . The Alzheimer's Society, which funded the research, said the use of drugs already available could be a cheaper and quicker way of tackling dementia . Everyday medicines could be used in the battle against dementia as developing new drugs is too costly and slow. Experts believe antibiotics, acne pills and other routine treatments already in bathroom cabinets could double as dementia drugs. They said it is time to re-examine medicines already in circulation as cheaper, quicker alternatives to new treatments. Many have multiple effects on the body, so some could be able to ease the effects of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia which affect 800,000 people in Britain. There are only four Alzheimer’s drugs in use which can help relieve symptoms but do nothing to stop damage to the brain. Professor Clive Ballard said: ‘Defeating dementia is one of the biggest challenges facing both medicine and society as a whole. ‘Developing new drugs is incredibly important but it comes with a huge price tag and, for those affected by dementia, an unimaginable wait.’ Everyday drugs will have passed multiple tiers of expensive safety tests and so could be prescribed for dementia in five to ten years. It can take up to 20 years and £600million to create a drug from scratch. Hopes of quickly adding to available treatments were recently dashed when several promising new ones failed the final stage of testing. So Mr Ballard, professor of age-related diseases at King’s College London, and other experts turned to the possibility of using everyday drugs. Experts believe antibiotics, acne pills and other routine treatments already in bathroom cabinets could double as dementia drugs . They drew up a short-list published in the journal Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. One of the most promising is liraglutide, a diabetes treatment that also acts on the brain. Others include minocycline, an antibiotic for acne, and acitretin, which treats the skin condition psoriasis. There is also a family of blood pressure drugs called calcium channel blockers. Some of these medicines cost less than 50p a tablet. Rebecca Wood, chief executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: ‘The idea that drugs for other conditions could fight Alzheimer’s is appealing. ‘But it’s not yet clear that such a drug exists. Alzheimer’s is a complex disease with many risk factors.’ The drugs or classes of drugs identified as potential treatments are: . High blood pressure medications including Nilvadipine, from the calcium channel blockers family. Diabetes medications exenatide and liraglutide, which have been shown to stimulate the brain. Minocycline, an antibiotic used to treat acne. Acitretin, a drug used to treat psoriasis which researchers found modifies the way proteins linked to dementia form.
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Alzheimer’s Society said using drugs already available could be cheaper .
and quicker way of tackling dementia .
Other possible treatments include acne and psoriasis drugs .
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It would take a brave soul to strip off and bare all for new reality show Naked and Afraid. Deposited in the jungle without food and water, their breath jagged and shallow, and their nerves on edge,the contestants come face to face with hyenas and poisonous snakes, with one muttering: 'God, we're so screwed'. Six strangers were put together for the Discovery show, debuting on Sunday, and stranded in the wilderness. And despite all being experienced survivalists, they're still scared senseless as another admits: 'This is one nasty place...I'm naked in the land of venomous snakes!' Scroll down for video . Grimy: The contestants on Naked and Afraid had never met before being teamed up to survive in the jungle. Kim Shelton and Shane Lewis can't hide their exhaustion . Survival of the fittest: Nude castaways star on Discovery's Naked and Afraid. Naked and Afraid is billed as taking 'survival of the fittest' to the next level - and dubbed 'the Everest of survival challenges'. Each week, a new pair of complete and total strangers - one man and one woman - will find themselves stranded in and, quite literally, exposed to some of the world's most extreme weather environments. Each duo will be left high and dry with no food, no water and and no clothes. They must survive on their own for a full 21 days, with nothing but one personal item each. The dramatic trailer says that humans can only go three days without water - with the human body beginning to shut down after three weeks without food. And contestants are seen desperately scrambling for something to eat, with one woman seen killing a fish as her partner yells 'chop its head off', as tells it 'you're my dinner.' While another kills a snake, telling the camera: 'It will still bite you even though I cut its damn head off.' Brave: A contestant goes diving for dinner on Naked and Afraid, which starts on Sunday night.ht. Scared: Kim Shelton, 22, a student from Minnesota, stripped off for the Discovery show. The contestants are:Shane Lewis, 40, an electrician from Connecticut who has backpacked around the world. He grew up in foster care and had to adapt to constantly-changing living circumstances. He took off midway through his college education to backpack across the . world and has now been to over seventy countries. Shane's teamed up with student Kim Shelton, 22, from Minnesota, who grew up in England but spent every summer in remote Minnesota and has been to wilderness awareness school for two years . EJ Snyder, 46, from North Carolina, is a military and survival expert who joined the military aged 19 and is now retired. He's paired up with Kellie Nightlinger, 38, an adventure guide from Alaska, who worked in law enforcement and as a rock minor. She is now a guide for glacier and whale watching adventures - and once survived in the Everglades for a week by herself, even being harpooned by an alligator. Jonathan Klay, 36, a former Marine and bodyguard from LA joined Alison Teal, a 27-year-old surfer and filmmaker from Hawaii who currently lives in a Robinson style grass hut that she built with her parents over the last 20 years. Survival instructor and country and western singer-songwriter Clint Jivoin, 24, from Indiana, says that ninety percent of his diet comes from his own hunting and wild edible plants; however, he is adamant in his disdain for sport hunting: “Disgusting and despicable; if you kill it, then you’d better eat it.” 'Naked and afraid': Survivalists Kellie Nightlinger and Erroll James Snyder on the upcoming reality show 'Naked and Afraid' on the Discovery Channel . Survivors: 'Naked and Afraid' participants Alison Teal-Blehert Koehn and Jonathan Klay found clothing and built a fire on the Discovery Channel . And Clint was teamed up with Laura . Zerra, 27, from New Hampshire, a taxidermist and survival instructor, . who has a love of danger and has hitchhiked her way around Mexico. Billy Berger, 39, a writer from Georgia who loves deer hunting joins Ky Furneaux, a . 39-year-old award-winning stuntwoman from LA, who grew up in the . Australian Outback - and who vowed to spend most of her time outside . after breaking her back in a car accident. Tattoo artist Puma Cabra, 38, from Nevada, was a professional snowboarder and could . then disappear for multiple days with nothing but his knife and his . knowledge. He has encountered mountain lions and pulled himself out of . six avalanches. He joins Julie Wright, 30, a wilderness instructor from Washington, who has happily lived off the land. ‘I’m an ultimate survivalist,’ Kellie Nightlinger, 38, told the Daily News. Tired: One of the contestants looks close to collapse on the Discovery show. Write caption here . Nightlinger . said she had been starving after spending two weeks in the wild when . she devised an innovative way to catch fish using her private parts as . bait and then trapping her meal between her legs. ‘We needed something with protein and . because the water was so muddy, traditional fishing methods wouldn’t . work, so I had to improvise, adapt and overcome,’ said Nightlinger. During . the night time, the female survivalist and her partner on the show, . E.J. Snyder, a retired Army veteran, used a fire that they lit by . rubbing sticks together to keep hyenas away. ‘They were frightening, but at least they seemed to be afraid of fire,’ she told the Daily News, as EJ is seen to see hyena paw prints, adding: 'This is a hyena print, if there's one, there's more. Other episodes of ‘Naked and Afraid’, featuring different nude paired up strangers, have been filmed in Panama, Costa Rica, the Maldives and Borneo. Nude: Kim Shelton was forced to strip off for TV show Naked and Afraid. Makeshift bikini: Laura Zenna treks through the jungle. Desperate to eat: Kim Shelton and Kellie Nightlinger struggle in the jungle . ‘I think the challenge brings out the . very best and very worst,’ the show’s executive producer Steve Rankin . told the Daily News from a hospital bed in Costa Rica where he was . recovering after being bitten hours earlier by a venomous snake while . working on the show. ‘The . idea here is to push the ball down the field,’ Discovery channel . executive, Craig Coffman has said: Survival shows are so common now that . it’s gotten more and more difficult to convince the audience that what . they’re watching is something extreme. ‘Having no clothes just takes it to the next level. It’s the ultimate test and makes survival exponentially more difficult.’ Tune in Sunday, June 23rd at 10:20|9:20c . The contestants: . Shane Lewis and Kim Shelton . EJ Snyder and Kellie Nightlinger . Jonathan Klay and Alison Teal . Clint Jivoin and Laura Zerra . Billy Berger and Ky Furneaux . Puma Cabra and Julie Wright .
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Reality show features naked men and women stranded together in remote locations who must also use their wits and bodies to survive .
The ratings-grabbing programme is billed as the 'Everest of survival challenges'
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It once formed an imposing, 90-mile-long concrete barrier that ran through the heart of Berlin. But 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, little remains in Germany of the historic structure. The Wall, which divided West Berlin from the communist East after it was built in 1961, was the most potent symbol of the Cold War. Scroll down for video . A piece of the Berlin Wall is seen at a garden inside San Martin palace, headquarters of Argentina's Foreign Ministry in Buenos Aires . It was constructed soon after Germany was divided up between the occupying powers of the US, the UK, France and the Soviet Union following the end of the Second World War. At least 136 people were killed along the heavily guarded wall during the 28 years that it was in existence, many of them attempting to flee the East. Since demolition of the Wall began on November 9, 1989, many sections have been auctioned off or sold as souvenirs, while large segments have been lost forever having been crushed and used to build highways across the Germany. However, large parts were sold as art objects and donated to museums around the world, such as the Imperial War Museum in London and Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. Over the last 25 years, other sections ended up in even more surprising locations, such as the Main Street Station Casino, Brewery and Hotel in Las Vegas. A segment of the Berlin Wall is seen at the Foreign Ministry in San Jose, California . Ten segments of the Berlin Wall, which constitute the longest stretch outside of Berlin, are seen on display in Los Angeles, California . A section of the Berlin Wall painted with a mural of Olympic champion Usain Bolt, at the Jamaica Military Museum in Kingston. The 12-foot section of the wall was given to Bolt in 2009 by the city of Berlin after the runner broke world records in the 100 and 200 metre finals of the World Athletics Championship in the city . People walk past a segment of the former Berlin Wall at Potsdamer Platz square in Berlin . The venue has installed the relic in the men's bathroom, with three urinals mounted onto the graffiti-covered concrete slab, which stands approximately three meters wide and 1.8 meters tall. The wall itself is protected by glass, and female visitors can request to observe the monument with the aid of a security guard. According to a book published by a German government agency earlier this year, a total of 240 segments of the wall are scattered across the globe, with more than a third of them ending up in the United States. A row of Berlin Wall segments can be found in the lobby of the Argentinian news company Perfil Group in Buenos Aires. The Perfil Group bought a total of 20 Berlin Wall segments in 1991, revealing that it bought the artefacts as a symbol of freedom. A section of the Berlin Wall at the Main Street Station Casino, Brewery and Hotel in Las Vegas. The venue has installed the relic in the men's bathroom, with three urinals mounted onto the graffiti-covered concrete slab . A staff member walks past a section of the Berlin Wall outside the German School in Richmond, London . A woman walks by a piece of the Berlin Wall near the European Parliament in Brussels . A piece of the Berlin Wall, which has been on display at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum since 1990, is seen in Simi Valley, California . Segments of the Berlin Wall, which are for sale, are seen at a storage yard in Teltow, south of Berlin . The firm’s website stated that it is ‘true to the spirit of a news company who exercises the right of freedom.’ The small village of Schengen in southeast Luxembourg installed a segment of the Wall in 2010 order to celebrate its place in European history. The Schengen Agreement, which heralded the start of a ‘borderless Europe’ was signed here in 1985 by five of the then ten member states of the European Economic Community to grant citizens free travel without border checks. The Wall segment was erected to mark the 20th anniversary of the agreement. Meanwhile Los Angeles is home to the longest section of Berlin Wall in the United States. Ten segments of the historic structure currently stand in front of the Variety Building on Wilshire Boulevard. Murals on four segments of the Wall are original works from the Berlin Wall-era, including a green bear painted by a street artist known as Bimer. A woman takes a photograph of her husband in front of part of the Berlin Wall at Berlin Square in Seoul . A segment of the Berlin Wall, which was painted by French-born, Berlin-based artist Thierry Noir, is pictured at The Wende Museum and Archive of the Cold War in Culver City, California . A woman walks past a piece of the Berlin Wall, which was from Potsdamer Platz, in a park outside the European Parliament in Brussels . The Wende Museum in Los Angeles, a research and education institute that preserves Cold War artefacts and history, brought these segments to Wilshire Boulevard in 2009 to ‘commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and continue the legacy of the Berlin Wall as a concrete canvas for art and political expression.’ The Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas has installed two segments of the Wall as part of their renowned art collection. The 3.6m-high sections were given to the hotel by a German partner in 1990 and initially placed in the hotel's garden before being moved into the hotel's Trinity Corridor in 2011. The Berlin Wall pictured in 1962, shortly after its construction the previous year. The Wall, which divided West Berlin from the communist East, was the most potent symbol of the Cold War . Many sections of the Berlin Wall have been sold as souvenirs, while large segments have been lost forever having been crushed and been used to build highways across the country after the Wall’s demolition began on 9th November 1989 . The longest surviving stretch of the wall is situated at the East Side Gallery in Berlin. It runs for around 1.3km . A chunk of the Berlin Wall was also placed in Vatican City in August 1994. The Wall has been decorated with a painting of St. Michael's Church. It is understood to have been given as a gift to the Vatican in 1994 by former Ferrari motor sport director and team manager of its Formula 1 team, Marco Piccinini, who won the portion at an auction in Monte Carlo in 1990. It was after the reunification of the East and West Germany that 65 cranes, 175 trucks and 13 bulldozers were ordered to remove the barrier in the inner city by the end of 1990. The longest surviving stretch of the wall is situated at the East Side Gallery in Berlin. It runs for around 1.3km.
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Many sections sold off as souvenirs when the Wall was torn down in 1989 .
LA is home to the longest section of Berlin Wall in the United States .
Largest surviving stretch is 1.3km, located at the East Side Gallery in Berlin .
The Wall, which divided West Berlin from Communist East, was built in 1961 .
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By . Kate Lyons for Daily Mail Australia . A Porsche worth $250,000 was destroyed last night after it spun out of control through a wall from a freeway and fell three metres into a casino car park. The incident occurred when the driver of the 2010 Porsche Panamera lost control of the vehicle while driving on Bolton Avenue Burwood, in Western Australia at 9.55pm Thursday. The car smashed through a retaining wall, fell three metres from the road before crashing onto the carpark. Scroll down for video . The car was damaged when it ploughed through a dividing fence of a road and fell three metres to a car park below . The driver fled the scene before police arrived. A passenger had been in the car at the time of the incident and was not injured. Debris from the crash flew metres from the crash site, parts of it damaged the side of a silver Mazda 2B hatchback that was in the car park. The driver and passenger of the Mazda were unharmed. Fire rescue services also attended the scene and reported that the car was written off and towed. The Porsche is estimated to be worth $250,000. Police are continuing investigations into the cause of the crash yesterday. The driver of the Porsche fled the scene and police investigations into the incident are continuing today . Fire rescue officers who attended the scene said the car, estimated to be worth $250,000, was written off and had to be towed . Police are investigating the cause of the crash, which occurred just before 10pm last night .
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The driver of a 2010 Porsche Panamera is believed to have lost control of the vehicle .
The car was written off after it crashed through a wall and fell three metres .
The driver fled the scene and the passenger was unharmed .
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San Diego, Calif. (CNN) -- Twenty years ago, an editor at the Los Angeles Times told me the newspaper had changed the way it reported on Mexico. "Now we cover it as a local story," he said. Why not? There are more Mexicans living in Los Angeles than in any other city in the world except for Mexico City. From one end of the Golden State to another, Hispanics are a natural part of the cultural landscape. Mexican restaurants that are anything but exceptional don't stay open long because the competition is too stiff. Cities, counties, streets and subdivisions are named after Catholic saints. You hear Spanish in the air, and no longer question why that is. Most weekends, in many cities, there is a Mexican-style festival with food and music. Mariachis and margaritas are always on the menu. Supermarket clerks, bank tellers and restaurant cashiers greet me by rolling the "r's" in my last name: Navarrrrrette. Welcome to California, which will soon achieve a milestone of sorts. If state demographers are correct, in the nation's most populous state, which is home to more than 1 in 10 Americans, Hispanics will soon overtake whites to become the state's largest racial/ethnic group. Demographers predict that sometime this spring in California, Hispanics will make up 39% of the population while non-Hispanic whites will account for 38.8%. It's a nativist nightmare. For those Californians who worry about the phenomenon that sociologists call "cultural displacement," those feelings of being marginalized and left behind will only intensify. So will the sense of irony. A state that was once controlled by Mexico, before Manifest Destiny came along and ordained that God wanted white folks from Kansas and Missouri to have it, is now heavily populated by the runaway children of Mexico and their offspring. An enormous swath of oceanfront property has been reclaimed without a formal declaration of war. Forget what you've heard about a reconquista: the fabled reconquering of the Southwest by Mexican-Americans on behalf of Mexico. That's loco. Most Mexican-Americans are barely on speaking terms with Mexico. We (I am among them) understand that our neighbor had no room in its economy for our dark-skinned, uneducated parents and grandparents, who were forced to go north. Now, most of us reciprocate and have little room in our hearts for Mexico. Our loyalty is to the United States. Even if we were speaking to our Mexican brethren, we'd be conversing in different languages. Most Mexicans speak Spanish, and about 80% of U.S. Latinos speak English. Americans need to study up on this group. The Census Bureau estimates that Hispanics, whose heritage can be traced to more than a dozen countries and who make up 17% of the U.S. population, will account for as much as 29% by 2050. And while some Americans might like to believe that these figures are artificially high due to undocumented immigrants, these are U.S. citizens and legal residents we're talking about. These are just, as comedian George Lopez likes to say, the people who answer the door when the bell rings. About 70% of this population will be Mexican or Mexican-American. And when we arrive at the point where nearly 3 in 10 Americans are Hispanic, Hispanics will see our imprint just about everywhere -- food, language, sports, fashion, entertainment, business, pop culture and beyond. So what does it mean that California has gone back to its roots and become what it was before 1850: a Hispanic state? On the one hand, there is always the chance that, in a state such as California, this could be a kind of psychological tipping point where even the densest folks in commerce, media, academia and other fields finally get the message that Hispanics are an essential and productive part of the state's economic engine. In the Golden State, whatever business you're in, and whatever goal you're pursuing, if you're not incorporating Hispanics into your vision and onto your team, then you're leaving money on the table for your competition. On the other hand, those folks who worry about change might become even more fearful and hostile--for it is fear that drives the immigration debate. Americans didn't just wake up one morning and discover the concept of "rule of law" and that the United States shared a border with Mexico. Those things have been around for quite a while. What's new is the demographics. As soon as many non-Hispanics began to see this writing on the wall, they started building more walls. So, if enough Americans deny and resist the new reality and try to -- as they say south of the border, cover the sun with their thumb -- things might get worse before they get better. There could be more conflict and hostility, as Hispanics become frustrated with efforts to thwart their ascendancy. Of course, Hispanics themselves have the greatest power to determine their destiny. We have to make better choices and stop being a cheap date for the political parties. We have to put the United States, and our community, before our allegiance to any political party. Most Hispanics are registered Democrats, but this goes for Hispanic Republicans, too. We have to elect better leaders and hold them accountable. We have to be as hard on our friends as we are on our enemies. We have to reflect now and then on what road we're on, and change course if necessary. And we have to stop squabbling with one another, and make our community safe for diverse opinions that stray from the established narrative. There is reason for optimism. There are better days ahead, and nothing to fear. Hispanics didn't just come to America. In California, and the rest of the Southwest, it was the other way around. America came to Hispanics. Now we are one and the same.
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Ruben Navarrette: Hispanics part of California cultural landscape .
He says last month Hispanics overtook whites as state's largest racial/ethnic group .
He says nativists balk, but Mexicans not new; they are long woven into fabric, loyal to U.S.
Navarrette: Americans need to study up on this group, and Hispanics need to harness clout .
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By . Graham Smith . PUBLISHED: . 11:11 EST, 1 August 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 11:19 EST, 1 August 2012 . A comedian well-known for poking fun at Al-Qaeda linked Shebab insurgents has been shot dead in Somalia. Abdi Jeylani Malaq Marshale, thought to have been 43, was killed in Mogadishu late last night. He was targeted minutes after leaving Kulmiye radio station, where he worked as drama producer and performer. Funnyman: Abdi Jeylani Malaq Marshale, thought to have been 43, was killed in Mogadishu, Somalia, late last night . 'Two men shot and seriously injured . Marshale... the comedian was later pronounced dead,' said police . lieutenant Mohamed Gaal, adding that 'unfortunately the assailants . escaped'. The shooting of . Marshale, who also worked for the London-based Universal TV station and . who reported having received death threats on several occasions, is the . latest in a string of apparently targeted killings against media . workers. Colleagues mourned . the loss of a man they called a leader of the war-torn nation's comedy . scene. His shows have aired on Universal TV and are also available on . YouTube. Yusuf Keynan, a presenter at Kulmiye radio, said: 'He had not done anything wrong to anybody, as far as we are concerned, but they shot him in the head and shoulders. 'This . is a black day for the entire entertainment industry, he was a leader . in Somali comedy and everybody liked his performances.' Marshale . was known for airing dramas making fun of the extremist Shebab and for . participating in youth advocacy programmes aimed at preventing young . Somalis from joining the insurgents. So far this year, at least one Somali journalist has been targeted and killed each month.
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Abdi Jeylani Malaq Marshale was killed by gunmen after leaving a radio station in Mogadishu, Somalia .
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(CNN) -- It is widely agreed that Wednesday night's presidential debate is crucial for Mitt Romney: This is almost assuredly his last chance to turn around the election. What is less obvious is that the stakes are sky-high for Barack Obama, too: This debate could have a powerful impact upon his ability to govern in a second term. Romney is dangerously close to blowing a campaign that many election models said he should easily win. Yes, three national polls published Monday -- including CNN -- showed the two candidates within three points of each other. But for Romney, the problem is that as the polls go up and down each week, there is one constant: As Real Clear Politics demonstrates in its averaging process, Obama stays ahead and has been for nearly a year. The news for the GOP from battleground states is even worse, especially in the Midwest. Unless he wants to depend on a wing and a prayer, Romney is thus in the unenviable position that he has to shake up the dynamics of the race on Wednesday night. Translated, that means he has to score a convincing victory in the eyes of voters. Simply being as good as Obama won't cut it -- a tie goes to the leader. How to watch, clip and share the debate . Can Romney pull off a debate victory? Of course -- umm, theoretically. As he proved in the GOP debates, he is quick on his feet, can throw a punch as well as counterpunch, and he looks presidential -- all assets on television. But his campaign has left him with so much ground to make up that it will be very hard: In the space of 90 minutes, he has to convince voters for the first time that he has a better plan for the economy, make the case that Obama doesn't and prove much more likable than ever before. And all the while, he will have to fend off jabs from Obama, who can draw from a rich trove of Romney mistakes in the past. So, yes, Romney can still win, but it will be darn hard. No wonder he has been practicing so much. It would appear, then, that Obama can simply go for caution, choosing a clinch in the center of the ring over hard punches, and walking away with a tie. But on closer examination, Obama ought to be pressing for a victory, too. Opinion: Debate coach -- Obama, Romney are top performers . In some polls over recent weeks, especially from key states, the president has now opened up a second possible path to re-election. For a long time, his campaign advisers have assumed that he would win but that his margin of victory would be narrow -- less than three points. Even now, his advisers -- even as they are quietly confident about the ultimate outcome -- are running scared, assuming the race will likely close significantly in the final weeks. But it is becoming apparent there is another possibility: Contrary to much conventional wisdom, Obama may actually be able to bust open this race, sweeping almost every state he won four years ago and rolling up a victory margin of perhaps five points or more. Opinion: Ten questions for Obama to answer . The difference between a big win and a small win for Obama is, to draw upon a famous Mark Twain phrase, almost the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. Looking beyond November, what really matters to Obama is whether he can effectively govern in a second term. If he wins big, he can persuasively argue that the American people have spoken loudly and clearly, choosing his path into the future over Romney's. At minimum, he will claim a mandate in favor of higher taxes on the affluent, a strong safety net for those in trouble and a cautious approach toward reducing Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security costs. Republicans will have a much harder time challenging his mandate if he wins big. Moreover, a big Obama victory would keep the Senate safely in Democratic hands and -- less likely -- might put a few House seats in play. Obama campaign advisers have been building a powerful ground game for months; they have far more offices in battleground states than Romney. Their hope is that if they turn out enough voters, a rising tide will lift lots of boats downstream. Especially in the Senate, they entertain hopes that a Democratic candidate can come within three points of Obama. If he were to break beyond 53% in key states, that could elect a lot of Democrats. Add together the possibility of a convincing mandate with congressional results that may be far better than expected a few months ago and what do you have: bingo, a resurgent Obama heading toward a second term. To some of his advisers, that would make it far more likely he could achieve a "grand bargain" on deficits, breaking open the deadlock now paralyzing Washington and holding back corporate investment. Opinion: The mistakes candidates make in debates . In short, Obama has a great deal riding on Wednesday's debate, too. Members of his team may talk as if they have less at stake than their opponent, but in their hearts, they know that if Obama can put Romney away in their first debate, he could well have some lightning at his command in a second term. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Gergen.
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David Gergen: Debate may represent Romney's last big chance to turn around the race .
He says the stakes are also sky-high for Obama, even if he wins election .
Obama needs a big victory to claim broad support for his plans for second term, Gergen says .
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London (CNN) -- As tens of thousands of athletes, team officials and visitors gather in London ahead of the Olympic opening ceremony on Friday, security is paramount for the Games organizers and British authorities. And perhaps the biggest headache of all is the challenge of safeguarding the more than 100 heads of state and foreign dignitaries who will attend the opening ceremony at the Olympic Park -- Queen Elizabeth II, first lady Michelle Obama and U.S. presidential hopeful Mitt Romney among them. But should visitors and competitors be worried? Security concerns hit the headlines this month when it emerged that private security contractor G4S, which was supposed to have provided 10,400 guards for the Olympics and Paralympics, would not be able to deliver. As a result, the government is deploying 18,200 troops -- many more than planned and almost twice as many as are in Afghanistan -- in order to remedy the shortfall. About 1,200 of those were called up just this week after being placed on standby. Nonetheless, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, the minister responsible for the Games, said Tuesday that the government "continues to have every confidence that we will deliver a safe and secure Games." The decision to call up the extra troops was down to ministers' determination to "leave nothing to chance," as they prepare for the largest peacetime event ever staged in Britain, he said. "G4S numbers continue to rise significantly and we have every expectation that will continue to be the case," Hunt added. With three days to go before the opening ceremony, G4S said it had around 5,800 security personnel deployed at Olympic venues, with more being trained and accredited "each day." Last week, it said it hoped to have 7,000 fully accredited by the start of the Games, still thousands fewer than it was contracted to provide. While the recruitment failure by G4S is highly embarrassing for the company, the Games' organizers insist that their contingency planning will keep everyone safe. Visitors can certainly expect to see far more visible security measures in place than usual at Games venues and transport hubs. The Ministry of Defence is also guarding the games with two warships, Typhoon jet fighters, Puma helicopters and, perhaps most controversially, surface-to-air missiles on apartment buildings near the stadium, despite objections from residents. Sebastian Coe, the chairman of the London organizing group, LOCOG, has said the only real difference resulting from the G4S debacle will be in the "mix of security" checking on those at Olympic venues. Home Secretary Theresa May gave a similar message when she was grilled by lawmakers on the matter, saying, "There is no question of Olympic security being compromised." Critics have been less positive, with some Labour Party lawmakers concerned that security will be inadequate or that the prominent military presence will make visitors uncomfortable. Security officials in the United States say they are supporting the host nation's efforts during the Games. The U.S. intelligence community has set up a 24/7 center to analyze all threat information coming in during the Olympics in London, a senior American counterterrorism official said Wednesday. Matthew Olsen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, told the House Homeland Security Committee that the upcoming Games "present a potential target for terrorists and other disruptive groups." He said the United States is working closely with its British counterparts to collect, analyze and share potential threat information with the goal of making sure they can "respond quickly to prevent any possible plotting tied to the Games." Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last week that Washington has offered "whatever assistance" the UK needs "in order to ensure that proper security is provided." The chief executive of G4S, Nick Buckles, was forced to agree under questioning from lawmakers that the security staffing fiasco is "a humiliating shambles for the country." The firm has also agreed to meet the cost of the extra troop deployment, which could run to $77 million. The Home Office said that G4S was suffering from a software problem, which means the contractor cannot guarantee who will turn up where and whether guards have the right training. The guards employed by G4S will be responsible chiefly for such tasks as providing venue perimeter security, a spokesman for the contractor said. This includes manning X-ray machines, searching people, searching vehicles and operating closed-circuit television systems, he said. People with tickets for Olympic events have been sent e-mails giving details of the security requirements for each venue. These include airport-style limits on the size of bags that can be carried and the quantity of liquids that can be taken in. One such e-mail reads, "Be prepared for security checks when you arrive: this will be like taking an international flight at an airport. It will be busy and you will have to queue, so get there early." The 18,200 British military personnel deployed for the Games are to help out with the security checks and stewarding at venues, as well as specialist tasks such as bomb disposal and sniffer dog searches. The Royal Navy's largest ship, the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean, is moored in the Thames off Greenwich, where it will be a base for helicopter operations and house troops providing security at the Greenwich Park Olympic venue. Additional airspace restrictions are also in force around London and the southeast. Police in London and elsewhere also will play a big role in ensuring security. Well before the G4S debacle hit the headlines, London's Metropolitan Police Service, known as the Met, was planning what it says is its biggest-ever peacetime operation. The operation will "run for 66 days and cover over 1,000 venues, including those hosting Olympic and Paralympic sports, cultural events and 2012-themed celebrations taking place across the capital," the Met website says. On the busiest days, up to 9,500 police officers will be used, including some from forces outside London, for Games-related operations, it says. Officers at Olympic venues will focus on preventing crime and keeping people and their property safe, while G4S is responsible for the security operation, it says. Away from the venues, the Met will also have to provide the usual policing for the city and its visitors. The Games come just over a year after parts of London were rocked by rioting that led to police being brought in from elsewhere in England to help restore control. The threat of a potential terrorist strike has also been in the news in recent days after a number of arrests, although police said the operations were not linked to the Olympic Games. The terror threat level on the UK Home Office website remains unchanged at "substantial," which is the third highest of five levels. The next level up is "severe," which means an attack is "highly likely," and the highest is "critical," meaning an attack is "expected imminently." Government officials from Washington to London insist that there are no known specific or credible terror threats tied to the Olympics. Travel to and around the United Kingdom will nevertheless be a focus of security efforts. Visitors arriving at London's Heathrow Airport can expect to see every desk at passport control manned during the Olympic Games, the home secretary has said. Immigration desks have extra staffers, Heathrow said Monday, amid fears of long lines to get into the country as security checks are carried out. Retired border officials and retired police officers are among those being brought in to supplement immigration staff, the Home Office said. A planned strike by some border staff has been called off, easing fears of long lines at passport control. U.S. officials may also be lending a hand at Heathrow. The UK Department for Transport said a small number of staff from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration would be based at certain British airports "to act as an on-site liaison for the TSA." The TSA staffers will not, however, be conducting security screening or inspections, the Department for Transport said. Meanwhile, London's public transport authorities have been warning commuters for weeks to avoid travel hotspots around the time of the Games -- but have not stressed any additional security risk. The city's transport network is not immune to terror threats, as the attacks of July 2005 showed. But visitors can seek reassurance in the fact that Britain's police and intelligence officials have been successful since then in foiling attacks on the capital. In the 2005 incident, three bombs were detonated on underground trains and one on a bus in the city. The blasts killed 52 people and wounded more than 770. London Mayor Boris Johnson told CNN's Becky Anderson that while the city's authorities are not complacent, he is confident in their ability to keep visitors safe. "We do everything in our power to maximize security at the venues, and that's working well now -- the army, the military as well as G4S are providing very safe conditions on the site, plus there is a huge amount of work that nobody has seen involving the intelligence service," he said . "That's something about an event like this -- you listen out for what may or may not be happening on the Internet, you try as hard as you possibly can to monitor the potential suspects." Johnson said it is impossible to guard against all "unknown unknowns," and that's why strong security is needed at venues. "At no stage can you guarantee that someone won't do something moronic, stupid, violent and tragic; not just in London, but the whole of the UK is a potential target in this period," he said. But at the same time, he said, "the intelligence is as reassuring as it could be under the circumstances. The threat level, as far as we are aware, has slightly come down in the last 12 months, but you can never be certain." CNN's Richard Allen Greene contributed to this report.
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The government is deploying 18,200 troops to make up for a shortfall in security guards .
One headache is safeguarding more than 100 visiting heads of state and foreign dignitaries .
Private security contractor G4S has failed to recruit and accredit enough security staff .
Fighter jets are on standby, and a helicopter carrier is moored in the Thames .
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(CNN) -- Two American tourists and their guide were kidnapped Friday in the Sinai region of Egypt, authorities said. Bedouin kidnappers want authorities to release a relative who is in detention in Alexandria on drug charges, said Gen. Ahmed Bakr, head of security in the North Sinai. Kidnappings and armed robberies have increased since a popular uprising ousted Egypt's long-ruling dictator, Hosni Mubarak, last year. In February, two American tourists were kidnapped and soon released in the Sinai region. The same thing happened in June, when two American tourists were released about a day after being abducted. In the most recent incident, Bedouins stopped a tour bus en route to Taba and kidnapped the two tourists -- a man and a woman -- and their guide, Bakr said. Authorities were trying to negotiate with the kidnappers, he said.
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Guide is among three people taken hostage from a tour bus in the Sinai region .
Security official says Bedouin kidnappers want release of a relative held on drug charges .
Kidnappings, robberies are up since longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year .
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The personal records of thousands of soldiers, employees and their families were potentially exposed after a laptop computer containing the information was stolen over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, the military says. But information security experts for the Army say it's unlikely that the information will be compromised because the data are guarded by three layers of security and encryption passwords. The security breach happened when the rental apartment of an employee with the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Academy was burglarized in Clermont, Florida, officials said. The theft was reported to local police November 28, but the military was not notified until the employee returned to work three days later. Military officials say the employee was using the laptop for remote training courses, and it has not been determined whether any protocol was breached. The computer contained "names and personally identifiable information for slightly more than 42,000 Fort Belvoir Morale, Welfare and Recreation patrons," according to a posting on the Web site for the fort, which is in Virginia. CNN obtained the notification letter sent, almost two weeks later, to those affected. It says, in part, that the alleged compromised information "includes your name, Social Security number, home address, date of birth, encrypted credit card information, personal e-mail address, personal telephone numbers, and family member information." The letter recommends steps to guard against the possibility of identity theft. The military says the lag in notification time was because of a policy requiring risk assessment before alerting those affected. The Family and Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Command operates facilities such as child care centers, bowling centers and outdoor recreation facilities. Those facilities are available to anyone with a military ID, which includes active-duty troops, Department of Defense civilians, family members and retirees. This isn't the first time a missing laptop has resulted in a potential security breach for the military. In 2006, a Veterans Affairs Department analyst lost a laptop computer that contained the Social Security numbers and other personal data for more than 26 million veterans and active duty troops. That incident, in addition to other major data breaches, prompted a national call for protection of personal information. A bill currently under consideration in the Senate would put more protections in place.
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Employee's laptop containing personal data was stolen over holiday weekend .
Army says data guarded by layers of security and encryption .
Military sent letter to those affected two weeks after theft .
Risk assessment forced lag in announcement, military says .
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(CNN) -- United States leaders have rightly said that defeating the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and resolving Iraq's deepening civil war will require urgent political change in Baghdad. But the military assistance that Iran and Russia are speeding to Shiite groups in Iraq imperils that change. It now appears that a majority of Iraq's political parties and Shiite religious authorities blame Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's authoritarian tendencies and exclusion of mainstream Sunni groups for the crisis, and they seek his replacement as the starting point for resolving it. But just as this political majority has begun to form against him, Iran and Russia have extended al-Maliki material and political support that insulates him from domestic political pressure and may even embolden him to try to stay on. Iran now is in a position to direct Shiite militia mobilization and integration into Iraqi security operations and to shape Iraq's military and intelligence operations through Iran's Quds Force advisers. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin's decisive action to provide attack aircraft, trainers and advisers further bolsters the Prime Minister's position. Now, al-Maliki can argue that he has international backing to rid his country of this "terrorist" threat by any means necessary. In fact, al-Maliki still enjoys more domestic and international legitimacy than Syria's President, Bashar al-Assad, had when the Syrian civil war began three years ago. Al-Maliki will surely amplify the significance of this weekend's purported public appearance of the notorious leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in Mosul to argue that the "Islamic caliphate" is a clear and present danger that supersedes the need to form a unity government. He will probably argue that only he can attack the caliphate threat as commander in chief and that it has to be done now, not after a protracted government formation process. He will also probably urge Iran to quiet Shiite opposition to his premiership so that he can perform the urgent work of commander in chief. Already, the security and political situation is bleak, and unfortunately, the Prime Minister is in denial about his role in creating the Sunni Revolt and fostering the rise of the Caliphate, previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham. After eight years in power, al-Maliki has not shown that he can distinguish between actual threats and imagined ones. His often-irrational fear of a Baathist return to power led him to employ an authoritarian sectarian agenda and to marginalize constructive but squabbling Sunni Arab political elites, all of which alienated the broader Sunni community and set the stage for ISIS gains. An unconstrained al-Maliki seeks to crush Sunni Arab communities, which is what he wanted to do in 2007-2008. During the "surge" period of 2007-08, al-Maliki repeatedly asked for U.S. air power and artillery capabilities to pound Sunni neighborhoods (both of which he was denied) while vehemently protesting the use of precision munitions in Shiite militia-controlled areas. When the International Zone received mortar fire from Sunni neighborhoods, the Baghdad Operations commander, Gen. Abud Qanbar, told coalition advisers that the Prime Minister wanted to teach the Sunni neighborhoods not to let terrorists launch mortars and rockets from their streets. These brutal tendencies are sure to come into the open again now that al-Maliki has the backing of Iran, Syria and Russia, all known for harsh tactics against civilian populations. If al-Maliki can survive the next few weeks in power, he will probably feel free to take harsh measures against the Sunni Arab community, as he believes that he is free of U.S. constraints for the first time. Given his inclinations and fears, al-Maliki may think that he has great latitude to see most problems as nails to be dealt with by Shiite hammers and that he only has to stop short of al-Assad's atrocities and abuses -- the use of chemical weapons or 200,000 casualties -- if the Syrian experience is an indicator of what will be tolerated by the U.S. and the international community. A defiant al-Maliki -- with the support of Iran, Syria and Russia and absent U.S. constraints -- will aggressively target Sunni Arabs, who in his view are active supporters of ISIS. Unfortunately, al-Maliki's removal would not diminish the influence of Iran and Tehran's Shiite militias. Iran will continue to be the key determinant of Iraqi policy and politics for Iraq's Shiite parties and Shiite militias regardless of the prime minister. Iran is skilled in power politics and in asserting Iranian prerogatives. Iranian strategic goals depend on an acquiescent and accommodating Iraqi government. If Iran were to pressure al-Maliki to step down, he would surely be replaced by someone Iran could influence. One name that is on any short list to replace al-Maliki is Tariq Najim Abdullah, an al-Maliki loyalist who as a member of his State of Law party could be expected to continue the sectarian approach to security issues and the marginalization of his political rivals, Sunni, Kurd and Shiite alike. Regardless of who the next Shiite prime minister will be, the sectarian actors responsible for executing al-Maliki's heavy-handed tactics against the Sunni population in 2006-09 are now back in key positions. We have seen a return of the "worst of the worst," the very same actors the U.S. urged al-Maliki to remove and charge criminally before 2010. Although many maligned sectarian actors were reassigned or promoted out of key positions in Baghdad to safe positions in southern Iraq, it seems these sectarian enforcers have returned to the fight, with the al-Maliki government's blessing. Meanwhile, U.S influence and leverage with al-Maliki and other Shiite leaders is waning, if not altogether gone. It began to wane in 2010 when the U.S. ceded our leverage in favor of "smart power," believing that reasonable Iraqi minds would prevail. The U.S. treated Iraq as a sovereign government and did not interfere with al-Maliki's decisions to use the Accountability and Justice Law (PDF) to marginalize and remove political rivals, to politicize the Iraqi Security Forces by replacing effective commanders with al-Maliki loyalists, and to renege on his promises to integrate the Sunni Awakening movement -- the so-called Sons of Iraq -- into the ministries and security forces. While the U.S. watched, the Iranians pressured al-Maliki not to sign the 2011 Status of Forces Agreement and backed his sectarian agenda of sidelining and arresting political rivals. Iran's strategic goals and dominant position, orchestrated by Quds commander Qassem Soleimani, will ensure that any Iraqi prime minister responds to Tehran's core interests. Tehran's steadfast support for Syria's al-Assad shows al-Maliki the reliability and commitment of Iran to its clients. We should view Iranian statements about an inclusive government with Sunni and Kurdish politicians as mere window dressing. The reality is that Tehran will not permit the steps necessary for fundamental constitutional reforms, power-sharing and checks on the Prime Minister's control over the security forces and intelligence apparatus. Tehran will see any such reforms as limits on Iranian influence, something the Iranians will not let happen.
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Writers: Iran, Russia aid to Iraq imperils U.S. call for al-Maliki to make Iraq government inclusive .
Thus Al-Maliki is less likely to leave or to stop shunning Sunnis, they say .
They say Iran helps al-Maliki return "worst of the worst" to key positions to oppress Sunnis .
Writers: Tehran will see reforms U.S. wants as limits on Iranian influence .
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It would appear that Spring has finally sprung with thousands of people across the UK enjoying the sunshine as the Met Office has announced this winter has been the sunniest in records dating back nearly 90 years. While Britain has experienced fairly average temperatures and rainfall - unlike last winter which was the wettest on record - 2015 is on track to be the sunniest since 1929. By February 25, with three days left to go of the meteorological winter, the UK had already seen 189 hours of sunshine, equalling the previous record year in 2001. Mica Constantino, aged two, enjoys the crocuses blooming in Duthie Park, Aberdeen this morning. The Met Office has announced this winter has been the sunniest on record for 90 years - but in Scotland it has also been one of the wettest since records began . The crocuses blooming in Duthie Park, Aberdeen - the UK has already seen more than 189 hours of sunshine so far this year . The Met Office predicts that with sunshine in the last three days of winter, the UK is likely to beat the record by seven hours. Unlike last year's wet and stormy winter, the season this year has recorded just 8 per cent more rainfall than the long term average, with 375 mm (14.8in) of rain across the UK, with the southern, eastern and north eastern areas of England drier than usual. But in Scotland the winter has been one of the top 10 wettest in records dating back to 1910, the Met Office said. Despite being so wet and stormy, many areas in winter 2014 also had above average sunshine, the weather experts said, because the storms brought rain in short, sharp bursts, often overnight, leaving plenty of time for sunshine in between. A very excited dog is pictured frolicking in the spring flowers at Roundly park in Leeds, West Yorkshire, this morning . A dog is pictured wrapped up warmly among the flowers at Roundly park in Leeds, West Yorkshire this morning . Three day forecast: The fine weather is not expected to last as cloud is forecast to move in from the West bringing wetter conditions . This year, winter temperatures are expected to be slightly above average, at 3.8C, compared to the long term average of 3.7C. But it was much less warm than last winter when temperatures averaged 5.2C, beginning what became the UK's hottest year on record. Early figures for February from the Met Office suggest the month was drier than average and likely to be slightly cooler than average. But it was notably mild on February 18, with 15.6C, recorded at Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire. In a statement the Met Office said: 'The month showed the variety of winter weather we can get in the UK - the first half of the month being dominated by high pressure, bringing mostly dry and settled and cold weather, while the second half of the month was more unsettled with westerly winds bringing Atlantic frontal systems.' The sun rises over Friars Cliff, Dorset this morning. Winter temperatures are expected to be slightly above average this year at 3.8C . Early figures for February from the Met Office suggest the month was drier than average and likely to be slightly cooler than average . Crocuses, a traditional harbinger of spring, are blooming on the famous Backs in Cambridge as the UK enjoys a bright and sunny end to February. Tourists stopped to admire the purple and lilac buds as they made the most of the sunshine to walk along the banks of the River Cam and go punting. But the fine weather is not expected to last as cloud is forecast to move in from the West later this afternoon and tomorrow will see a damp and drizzly morning, with patchy rain across the UK. Saturday will also see more persistent rain move into the West as the day goes on and strong winds. The Met Office has issued a weather warning for wind in Northern Ireland and central and southern Scotland from 5pm on Saturday to 4am on Sunday, with gusts of up to 70mph expected in exposed areas. Temperatures will be slightly milder than they have been recently, with highs of 8C in the North and 9C in the South. The first day of March on Sunday is set to be another windy day across the country, with outbreaks of rain, particularly in the North West. The afternoon is set to be brighter, with slightly cooler temperatures of 6 to 8C. 'Next week will see cold and showery weather on Monday and Tuesday, but should become more settled from Wednesday,' said Helen Roberts, of the Met Office. 'Temperatures may be slightly cooler than average.'
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This winter has been the sunniest in records dating back almost 90 years, the Met Office has announced .
While Britain has experienced fairly average temperatures and rainfall, 2015 is on track to be the sunniest .
With just one day left to go of the meteorological winter the UK has already seen more than 189 hours of sunshine .
But in Scotland the winter has also been one of the top 10 wettest in records dating back to 1910 .
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By . Daily Mail Reporter . Last updated at 9:08 PM on 31st January 2012 . A 25-year-old man held by police after the body of his pregnant prostitute wife was found on a dirt bike track has been placed on suicide watch. Justin Adams, who was arrested for the murder of his wife Jaymie and their unborn child on Friday, told jailors at Oklahoma County prison he had thought about killing himself after she went missing on December 10. The mother-of-three, who advertised sexual services on Craigslist, had gone to meet a client the night she disappeared, her husband told police. Scroll down for video . Arrested: Justin Adams, 25, has been arrested for double-murder after his wife, carrying their unborn child, was murdered. He has been placed on suicide watch . A motorcyclist found her body along a dirt track on January 7, although authorities believe it was just there for a day before it was discovered. The cars of Adams and his mother, Tina Clark, were later seized by police, who said they were looking for evidence in the vehicles. Adams had originally told investigators his wife had gone to meet a friend, but two weeks later revealed she had gone to meet a client in a motel. He admitted he and his wife, who had been married since February, were 'swingers' and that she advertised on Craigslist as a 'massage therapist'. Killed: Jaymie Adams had advertised . as a 'massage therapist' on Craigslist . Adams was arrested on a double murder . complaint on Friday. It came after authorities evidence from interviews, phone records, the internet and email accounts that were inconsistent with Adams's story. Oklahoma law states a suspect can be charged with two murders . if the victim is pregnant. He told his attorney he was stripped of his clothes and was forced to sleep naked on a steel bunk bed without a mattress in prison, NewsOK reported. But a sheriff's spokesman told the paper Adams was given a smock to wear and was on suicide watch for his first 48 hours in jail. Court: Adams, who has not been charged, appears on video at his arraignment . He added Adams now is wearing regular . jail clothes and is on mental health observation status, which means he . is checked every 15 minutes. Police believe he fatally stabbed his wife before dumping her body at a dirt bike track in southeast Oklahoma City, according to NewsOK. He has not yet been charged. Judge Russell Hall told him at a video . arraignment on Monday: 'The district attorney will take a look at the . police report and type up the charges.' The judge denied bail. Adams . was the last person to see his wife alive after she left their trailer . park home in Blanchard, Oklahoma to meet a 'friend' at a McDonald's. Investigation: The body of Jaymie Adams was found on a dirt . bike track weeks after she went missing, and police believe it may have been there for a day . Suspicious: Jaymie Adams, 25, told her husband of 11 months she was going to meet a 'friend' at this McDonalds, where police later found her van . He initially told police she had called from the restaurant saying the friend had not shown up but that was the last he heard from her. He denied knowing who she was meeting. Police seized her truck after Adams called to say he had found it in the McDonald's parking lot. Justin and Jaymie Adams had been married since February and have a four-month-old child together. Following her disappearance, Adams made an emotional TV appeal, urging the public to help bring his wife home safely. Secretive: Adams later revealed his wife had gone to meet a client at a motel . He said: 'She deserves to be at home with her family, our children need their mother. 'My wife is a loving a strong woman. She's an amazing mom, and amazing wife. We have three sons and she's two-months pregnant this week. 'I'm begging that if anyone has any information about my wife or her whereabouts, call police.' See below for video .
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Justin Adams, 25, told jailors he had thought about killing himself after wife went missing in December .
Body of Jaymie Adams, who was pregnant with her fourth child, found on dirt bike track in January .
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(CNN) -- A 22-year-old American woman has become an unlikely cricketing celebrity in England and Australia because her Twitter name happens to be "@The Ashes." Ashley Kerekes, a babysitter from Massachusetts, has been inundated with thousands of messages from cricket fans thinking her account relates to the Test series played between Australia and England known as The Ashes. A bemused Kerekes responded by tweeting: "I AM NOT A FREAKING CRICKET MATCH!!!." In another post she asked: "What the hell is cricket?" Far from deterring people, her outbursts have made her a celebrity on Twitter, with Australian carrier Qantas even offering to fly her to Australia to watch the famous cricket contest after a campaign by other users called "#gettheashestotheashes." Cricket: Moral victory for England . The airline tweeted Monday: "Qantas wants to see @theashes in Australia. We'll fly her from New York to Oz for the Ashes!" As for the origins of her Twitter name, Kerekes told brisbanetimes.com.au: "My boyfriend gave me the nickname years ago, maybe because of the cricket tournament. We don't remember. He's been calling me The Ashes forever." Kerekes had fewer than 300 followers at the start of the first Test match at the Gabba cricket ground in Brisbane, Queensland on November 25. By Monday this had risen to almost 6,000. "I was out Christmas shopping with my aunt and I got a Twitter [direct message] from a friend of mine telling me that some guy was trying to get information about me," she told brisbanetimes.com.au. "I'd turned off notifications on my phone right after my first outburst so I had no idea. After that I went looking around and found that I had hundreds, maybe thousands, of messages about The Ashes." Kerekes, who usually tweets about young babies in her care or her favorite movies, now seems to have embraced her new-found fame, selling t-shirts bearing the logo "I am not a freaking cricket match." She has yet to confirm whether she'll take up the offer from Qantas. England face the Australians in the second test in Adelaide on December 3. The first match at The Gabba was drawn.
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Cricket fans message @theashes thinking it relates to Australia-England series .
Ashley Kerekes from Massachusetts reveals it is a nickname given by her boyfriend .
Qantas offer to fly her to Australia to watch The Ashes after a Twitter campaign .
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Several Marines who were involved in the November 2004 offensive in Falluja, Iraq, are now the focus of an investigation into allegations that civilians were intentionally killed during the operation, several Pentagon officials have confirmed. Members of the 1st U.S. Marines Expeditionary Force operate in Falluja, Iraq, in November of 2006. No one has been charged in the probe, which is based on what one official told CNN were "credible allegations" from a former Marine. That Marine volunteered the information during an employment polygraph test administered by the U.S. Secret Service. Several sources familiar with the probe say the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is conducting the investigation. The allegations first surfaced on a Web site, defendourmarines.com, posted by Nathaniel Helms, a military journalist who wrote a book about the Marines in Falluja. The Web posting includes an account from a Marine who alleges eight captured Iraqis were gunned down following a firefight. The weeklong anti-insurgent offensive in Falluja began on November 7, 2004. It was called Operation New Dawn, and it sparked intense fighting involving airstrikes and house-to-house searches. There were reports of civilians being killed in the crossfire at that time. The allegations are the latest involving Marines and civilian deaths in Iraq. Seven Marines and a Navy medic were charged with killing an Iraqi civilian in Hamdaniya in April 2006. One Marine will serve eight years in a plea deal; another Marine withdrew his guilty plea, saying he acted under orders. Four Marines were charged with murder in the 2005 killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha. Four officers are accused of failing to investigate and report the deaths properly. Haditha was a target of Marine operations to root out insurgents. Both U.S. military law and international law of armed conflict prohibit the killing of unarmed captured prisoners, whether or not they are combatants. E-mail to a friend .
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Several Marines are the focus of 2004 Falluja civilian death investigation .
Allegations from former Marine called "credible"
Sources: Naval Criminal Investigative Services conducting the probe .
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1367c2f1b1500690f2688f305420a0323287e9d1
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(CNN) -- A 16-year-old North Carolina girl who disappeared while visiting family in Baltimore continues to be the object of an intense search by authorities, who now say they fear she was abducted or harmed. "We are enormously concerned," Baltimore police spokesman Anthony J. Guglielmi said Friday. "Every day that passes we get more and more freaked out." Phylicia Barnes, a Charlotte, North Carolina, resident who was in Baltimore to visit her college-age half-sister, was last seen December 28, after saying she was going out to get something to eat and maybe a haircut, Guglielmi said. As recently as Tuesday, police said they had no evidence that foul play was involved in her disappearance. But now they say she has not made contact with friends or family, and hasn't turned on her cell phone, used an ATM or updated her social media sites since she disappeared. The FBI did a profile on the girl and found no reason she would run away, Guglielmi said. She is a good student with no emotional disturbances in her life, he said. "The fact set of this case is different than anything else we've seen," he said. More than 100 Baltimore police, Maryland State Police troopers and FBI agents have been working around the clock to find out what happened to Barnes, Guglielmi said. Police have questioned a dozen people believed to have had contact with her in the hours before she disappeared, and have searched the homes and cars of some of those people, he said. They also have collected 40 hours of video from surveillance cameras at nearby businesses and apartment buildings, but neither those videos nor searches conducted in two locations have helped give investigators any leads, Guglielmi said. On Thursday, they turned to posting billboards along I-95 in hope of gathering information about the girl's fate. "What's going to break this thing wide open is that somebody, whether it's (in) Kansas or Canada, is going to say, wait a minute, I just saw her in a diner," Guglielmi said Friday. "That's in the best case." Although Guglielmi said there was no evidence of illegal drug use at the apartment, the girl's mother, Janice Sallis, said she has been told the girl may have been allowed to drink alcohol and smoke marijuana at her half-sister's apartment, according to CNN and CNN affiliate WSOC. Sallis said she had been told up to 20 men had come and gone while her daughter was there. "I pray to God that my daughter is fine and she'll be found safe," Barnes' father, Russell Barnes, told CNN affiliate WBAL. "I hope people keep praying as high as they can and understand that this shouldn't happen to any child anywhere in this country." Anyone with information on Barnes' disappearance can call 855-223-0033.
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NEW: Baltimore police "more and more freaked out "about girl's disappearance .
NEW: Dozens of interviews and 40 hours of video have yielded no clues .
Barnes disappeared December 28; police fear she may have been harmed or abducted .
Authorities are posting billboards along I-95 in search of leads .
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13683e9d99c32d00bb5dedf02b2207892164fb6a
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By . Alex Hawkes and Nick Craven . PUBLISHED: . 18:11 EST, 20 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 18:11 EST, 20 October 2012 . Earning power: Bradley after winning the Tour de France . Olympic gold medallist and Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins is slashing his tax bill by using an offshore scheme branded ‘abusive’ and ‘artificial’ by the Treasury. The Mail on Sunday has learned that the seven-time Olympic medallist, hot favourite for 2012 BBC Sports Personality of the Year, has joined a partnership that will save him thousands in income tax. The 32-year-old cycling hero who climbed to the top of his sport partly thanks to Lottery funding, earned an estimated £5 million this year. He has joined a complex tax-avoidance partnership, Twofold First Services, which takes advantage of farming tax reliefs. But the Treasury has taken action to close the loophole and the taxman last night pledged to ‘investigate and challenge’ any arrangements put in place before the change in the law. Twofold is controlled by another company, Twofold Partnership Management, based in the Cayman Islands tax haven. But the firm believed to have set it up, York-based Tax Trade Advisors, is also linked to NT (‘No Tax’) Advisors, the firm criticised for similar schemes involving comedian Jimmy Carr and Coronation Street star Bill Roache. Roache is also a member of Twofold, along with Wiggins and 230 other rich investors. How much Wiggins invested is not clear, but his spokesman insisted it involved only a ‘small percentage’ of his income and the ‘vast majority’ of his earnings were taxed at the higher rate of 50 per cent. Sources say the cyclist paid more than £1 million in tax last year. Companies House records show Wiggins joined Twofold on March 13 this year. On the same day, the Treasury issued a strongly-worded press release referring to an ‘abusive’ tax avoidance scheme’ without naming it. Revenue & Customs (HMRC) said it had shut down a ‘contrived’ scheme being marketed at the time, and that it would challenge any others put together before March 13. ‘The scheme . . . used artificial transactions to generate tax relief from a property business that owns agricultural land,’ said the Treasury at the time. Involved: Actor Bill Roache, posing for a snap with his partner Emma Jesson . Taken for a ride? The seven-time Olympic medallist has joined a partnership that will save him thousands in income tax . ‘Although the land itself and the . business owning it will exist, the transactions are not part of any . genuine agricultural business. They are generated only to create an . artificial loss that can be set off by users . . . to reduce their . tax bill.’ In a . Twofold-type scheme, an individual could end up paying no tax at all, by . investing around £100,000 yet claiming tax relief on £1 million. This is achieved as each £100,000 is supplemented by a £900,000 loan taken out by the partnership. That money, after being paid to the farmer, is swiftly repaid to the bank. The accountants find a way to artificially ‘write down’ the investment to become a loss on paper, even though there was no cash loss. The original £100,000 goes to the advisers and banks in fees, but the partnership members claim they have made a loss of £1 million, which they set against their income. Tax haven: Twofold is controlled by another company, Twofold Partnership Management, based in the Cayman Islands (pictured) Last night an HMRC spokesman, referring to the unnamed March 13 scheme, said: ‘HMRC reacted very quickly when this scheme was disclosed and Ministers announced a change to the legislation within days. 'This protected the Exchequer by shutting down a scheme that was being marketed at that time. HMRC will challenge any schemes of this type which were implemented before the announcement.’ A spokesman for Wiggins said: ‘The vast majority of Bradley’s income is taxed at the standard and higher rate. The investment in Twofold Services involves only a small percentage of Bradley’s income. Bradley has paid, and will continue to pay, his fair share of tax.’ Roache and NT Advisors declined to comment. Tax Trade Advisors could not be reached for comment.
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Seven-time Olympic medallist has joined a partnership that will save him thousands in income tax .
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By . James Rush . PUBLISHED: . 04:06 EST, 24 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 07:28 EST, 24 September 2013 . The father of a four-year-old boy allegedly starved to death by his mother has told a court he contacted social services about his son but was told it was a 'private matter'. Aftab Khan told Bradford Crown Court he confronted Amanda Hutton about how she was looking after Hamzah Khan. But he said she told him to mind his own business and banned him from the house less than a year before the little boy died in December 2009. Aftab Khan (left) told Bradford Crown Court how he confronted Amanda Hutton (right) about how she was looking after Hamzah Khan . Mr Khan was giving evidence at the trial of Hutton, who is accused of the manslaughter of her son. The jury has been told Hamzah's mummified body was discovered in a cot in Hutton's Bradford home in September 2011. Mr Khan told the court how he had separated from Hutton after he was charged with assaulting her. He said he was initially stopped from visiting Hutton due to a court order but did start to go and see his son when they moved to a new home in Bradford in March 2009. Mr Khan told the jury his former partner was not looking after Hamzah properly. 'I said "look at the state of him - you're not looking after him" and she told me to get out,' he told the jury. The court has heard Hamzah Khan's mummified body was discovered in a cot in Hutton's Bradford home in September 2011 . The mechanic and taxi driver told the court that it was his concerns about his son that had led to the arguments resulting in his arrest in 2008 and eventual conviction for battery. He said: 'She wasn't bathing him. She wasn't changing him.' Mr Khan said he would only see Hutton feeding Hamzah milk. He said his former partner drank cider and vodka heavily, especially after the death of her mother. 'She'd be absolutely out of it,' he said. Hutton, who denies manslaughter, sat in the dock dressed in black, watching Mr Khan give his evidence. Mr Khan told the jury he contacted social services once about the condition of Hamzah but said he was ignored. Mr Khan was giving evidence at Bradford Crown Court (pictured) at the trial of Hutton, who is accused of the manslaughter of her son . The jury has heard how, when Mr Khan was arrested for attacking Hutton in 2008, he told police he was going to contact social services about his son. A senior police officer told the court there was no record he ever made the call. Yesterday, Paul Greaney QC, prosecuting, asked Khan whether he did contact social services. He said: 'I remember ringing social services up. They said it was a private matter. 'Social services are never bothered about cases like this.' 'They weren't bothered. Social services are never bothered in cases like these. I'd given up at that time' - Aftab Khan . Pressed by Mr Greaney, he said: 'I clearly remember. There's no record of it. They weren't bothered, they weren't interested. I'd given up at that time.' Mr Greaney QC also asked Mr Khan about urging police to 'go and check' on Hamzah. 'Yes, so they could see the neglect for themselves,' he answered. Mr Greaney asked Mr Khan about a text message he sent to Hutton which read: . 'Don't worry it's not me who's going to land you in the s***, you're . going to do that yourself. You've turned into the biggest liar, stop . drinking.' The text also asked what Hamzah had 'had' and added: 'Think about what you're doing to everybody.' Mr Greaney asked him: 'What do you mean by "had"?' Mr Khan answered: 'I meant what food, had he been fed properly?' Mr Khan rejected claims in court that he was a 'wife batterer'. Mr Khan said he was initially stopped from visiting Hutton (pictured) due to a court order but did start to go and see his son when they moved to a new home in Bradford in March 2009 . Stephen Meadowcroft QC, defending, asked him: 'You were a wife batterer and she was a battered wife, cowed by your violence.' Mr Khan said: 'If I was a wife batterer why am I not standing next to her (Hutton)?' Mr Meadowcroft replied: 'Perhaps you ought to be.' The defence barrister put it to Mr Khan that he had been violent towards his client throughout their 20-year relationship, but he denied this. 'I've come here to answer questions about my child,' he said. 'Everyone knows what happened. You've got damning evidence against Miss Hutton but you're still trying to point the finger at me. I'm not having it.' Mr Khan repeatedly insisted that he tried to alert police and social services to his son's plight but was not listened to. He said: 'A year down the line, what happened? A child died.' Mr Khan was asked again about the call he said he made to social services. He said: 'This country is run for women. A man's got no rights in this country.' Mr Meadowcroft told him: 'You were the father of the family. You were there. Had you actually thought that (Hamzah's neglect)? What did you do about it?' Mr Khan told the court: 'The police wouldn't believe me. No one would believe me. 'I know I made one phone call. If the police weren't going to believe me, who else is going to believe me? I gave up. 'The system failed my son. Did the school check up? Did social services check up? I lost my total confidence in the system.' Mr Khan said he even helped Hutton before the court case, giving her money to buy clothes for the trial. 'I've helped her a lot. If I was a violent man, I wouldn't have helped.' Mr Khan (pictured) rejected claims in court that he was a 'wife batterer' He told the court: 'She's done it all. Put me on one side. You've got so much evidence against her it's unbelievable.' Deepinder Kaur told the court Hamzah was small and did not eat very much in the months before his death. Miss Kaur, 24, a former girlfriend of Hutton's son Qaiser, 22, said the boy would eat half a cheese and onion pasty in the evening and half a banana in the morning. She said that during the day he would eat 'biscuits or whatever's lying around'. Miss Kaur said that despite being nearly four at the time, in February 2009, 'he looked like a baby' and would often wear a baby-gro. 'He was very light,' she said. 'He didn't weigh much.' Asked where Hamzah spent his days, Miss Kaur said he was either in front of the TV in the living room or locked in a bedroom with the light turned off. Asked whether Hutton explained why he was locked upstairs, she said: 'She said it was because he'd been naughty. But she didn't say exactly what he'd done.' Pc Maria Furness, of West Yorkshire Police, told the jury she attended Hutton's house to perform a welfare check but found Hamzah to be 'fed well, clean, healthy looking and there was an appropriate adult in the address'. The officer said that appropriate adult was Tariq, Hamzah's brother, who told her he was his uncle. Pc Furness said she was at the house for about 30 to 45 minutes when she made the visit about eight months before Hamzah's death. Hutton denies manslaughter. The case continues. Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons.
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Aftab Khan said he confronted Amanda Hutton over Hamzah Khan .
He said he contacted social services once about Hamzah but was ignored .
Mr Khan denied claims in court he was a 'wife batterer'
Court hears the four-year-old 'looked like a baby' and was 'very light'
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(CNN) -- Country music stars and fans alike honored George Jones on Thursday at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville. It was a fitting site for the late country music legend, who had been a member of the show since 1956. Stars such as Randy Travis, Brad Paisley and Tanya Tucker paid homage to Jones, who died Friday at 81, with music and heartfelt speeches. WSMonline.com, the website for the Nashville radio station that carries the Opry, and Opry.com were both down toward the beginning of the more than two-hour service, probably because of the large number of fans hoping to watch the event online. Grand Old Opry announcer Eddie Stubbs kicked off the memorial, introducing Tucker with the Imperials, who sang "The Old Rugged Cross." Barbara Mandrell, who sang alongside Jones on her 1981 hit "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool," took the stage to say a few words about "the greatest singer of all time in country music." Nobody will ever be able to fill Jones' shoes, she added. Mandrell spoke about the time she met Jones as a 13-year-old on tour, saying, "What a joy that memory is to me." She was followed by Kid Rock, who shared the chorus of an unfinished song he was writing for Jones: "I may be a little slower, but I'm still 12 steps ahead of you." "Unfortunately, I didn't get to play that for him. So, Plan B," he said before launching into his song "The Best of Me." As former first lady Laura Bush took the stage, she thanked Jones' widow, Nancy, for giving her the opportunity to speak. "When I was still in school, my friends and I must've put 1,000 quarters in the jukebox to listen to 'The Race Is On,' " she said. She also recalled hearing Jones' "White Lightning" blaring from the White House gym as "George W. worked out on the treadmill listening to George J." "In American music, George was truly a legend beyond compare," she said. "We see that in the wonderful musical talent that's gathered here to honor George and celebrate his life. ... Today, we're left with the gift of his songs on Earth, and we can only imagine how beautiful the heavens now sound." Paisley, who sang "Me and Jesus," encouraged those who might be less familiar with Jones' work to buy his albums so they could see "what all this ruckus is about." Jones' close friend and protege Alan Jackson was the last to perform, singing Jones' 1980 classic "He Stopped Loving Her Today."
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Stars and fans honored George Jones on Thursday at the Grand Ole Opry House .
Randy Travis, Brad Paisley and Tanya Tucker paid homage to Jones .
Laura Bush thanked Jones' widow, Nancy, for giving her the opportunity to speak .
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By . Fiona Macrae . PUBLISHED: . 13:13 EST, 14 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 17:47 EST, 14 October 2012 . When you smile at your boss and he beams back, you might assume it means he is happy with your work. But don’t be fooled – he may just be taking pity on you. A study has found that those who feel powerful tend not to smile back at important people, saving their smiles instead for those below them in the pecking order. Sleazy grin: A study has found that those who feel powerful save their smiles for those below them in the pecking order . Researcher Evan Carr said: ‘Our . interpretation of this is that when you are feeling powerful and see a . low-status person, you are almost throwing them a bone, thinking “Oh, I . should smile at this person because I’m better than them”.’ It is well known that we tend to . mimic other people’s body language, but Mr Carr wanted to see how we . copy facial expressions and whether power and status are important. He asked 55 young men and women to . write about a time when they felt powerful – such as leaving home to go . to university – or powerless. They were then hooked up to equipment . that measures the activity of key facial muscles, and were asked to . watch short video clips of people with jobs with different levels of . prestige, who were smiling or frowning at them. As they watched, the equipment . measured the activity of the zygomaticus major – the ‘smiling muscle’ that raises the corner of the mouth. It also gave readouts for the corrugator supercilii, the ‘frowning muscle’ that furrows the brow and is frozen by Botox. The results showed that the . volunteers were more likely to scowl in response to a frown from a . doctor or someone in a position of power. These frowns were also more intense, the Society for Neuroscience’s annual conference in New Orleans heard. But it was the volunteers’ responses to smiling faces that were really telling. The ugly truth: Evan Carr's research suggests the less appealing reasons why your boss might be smiling at you . The men and women who felt powerful tended not to smile back at high-fliers. But they did return the smiles of those who were lower down the pecking order – and their smiles were bigger. Meanwhile, those who felt powerless smiled at everyone, regardless of their rank. The researchers think that people who . feel powerful try to exert their dominance by not appearing too friendly . to those who might be a threat. They have no such qualms about . appearing approachable to those who lack authority. Changes in the volunteers’ expressions were too small to be seen by the eye but Mr Carr, from the . University of California, says clearly visible smiles may follow the . same pattern. He said it is likely that the decision to suppress or return a smile occurs subconsciously.
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Researcher Evan Carr found those who feel powerful tend not to smile back at important people .
Findings suggest this is to avoid appearing over-friendly to those who could be a threat .
University of California study also found those who felt powerless smiled at everyone regardless of rank .
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Despite endless rounds of studies and tests, it seems no one has quite figured out if red wine is good or bad for our health. But one cardiologist made up his mind a long time ago – and has been doling out glasses of red to his patients for the past ten years. Dr William McCrea is convinced that the drink helps prevent heart attacks and strokes and is often found wheeling a trolley of wine on his rounds. Cardiologist Dr William McCrea prescribes red wine to his patients to prevent heart attacks and strokes . Dr McCrea says drinking two small glasses a day can reduce the risk of a heart attack by half . According to Dr McCrea, pictured, the antioxidants found in the seeds and skins used to make red wine can dramatically improve your health. And the most beneficial wines won’t break the bank – as they can all be found on your supermarket shelves. He recommends drinking cheap, new varieties made from grapes grown at higher altitudes.These are exposed to higher levels of UV radiation, giving them a greater concentration of antioxidants. Among the cardiologist’s preferred varieties are a Pinot Noir or a Shiraz from South Africa, an Argentinian Malbec or his particular favourite, a Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile. The consultant prescribes the drink to . patients in the cardiology ward like he would any other medicine, with . precise measures to be taken at regular intervals. He says their good . results support the theory that drinking a small amount every day can be . beneficial. Dr McCrea began . to hand out wine after discovering that the French suffer from far . fewer heart attacks, despite their fatty diets and higher smoking rates. He believes the . antioxidant properties of red wine reduce the risk of second heart . attacks by half – and the risk of stroke by 20 per cent. The . cardiologist has now recommended two 125ml glasses a day to around . 10,000 patients at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon, Wiltshire. And . he insists that young wines in screw-top bottles – which are usually . the cheapest – are the healthiest varieties. Fortunately . his local supermarkets usually stock enough of his recommended tipple, a . Montes Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon which costs around £7 a bottle. Dr . McCrea, 58, explained: ‘The French consume twice the amount of fat we . do, smoke more, and they don’t do any more exercise than us, but their . rate of deaths from heart attacks is half of ours. What’s the . difference? They drink red wine like we drink tea. ‘It’s . their drinking behaviour that’s important. The British don’t drink . alcohol regularly, but when we do, we drink to excess. They don’t, as a . rule. Dr McCrea, who works at Great Western Hospital, in Swindon (pictured), has given red wine to 10,000 patients over the last 10 years and says the results among his patients are notable . ‘Also the wine cheers . patients up and focuses them on their recovery by relaxing them during a . very tense period. Hardly any of my patients who have a heart attack . who go on to have red wine ever come back into the hospital again, which . is unusual. ‘I’ve given it to 10,000 patients and the chances of a second heart attack have been reduced by around 50 per cent.’ The skins of certain red wine grapes, which are used in the fermenting process, are particularly rich in antioxidants. One . antioxidant called resveratrol is particularly good at mopping up . chemicals responsible for causing blood clots, the primary cause of . heart disease. This prevents clots from developing inside the arteries, raising levels of good cholesterol and causing the arteries to dilate. Dr . McCrea recommends young red wines with the highest antioxidant . concentrations, which tend to come from high altitudes. However white . wine does not have the same benefit as the healthy chemicals found in . the grape skins are discarded during its manufacture. Speaking . from his home in Swindon, he said: ‘Initially people tend to be a bit . surprised by my approach. But I find that quite apart from the medicinal . effects, the wine is a good distraction. ‘When . somebody has a heart attack it’s a shock, people are alarmed and . anxious so the red wine also helps to relax them and reduce stress.’
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Dr William McCrea, 58, even hands out glasses of wine on his ward rounds .
He says he has prescribed wine to 10,000 patients over the last 10 years .
He came up with the idea after discovering the French have fewer heart attacks than the British despite eating a fattier diet and smoking more .
He claims drinking red wine can also reduce the risk of a stroke by 20% .
Dr McCrea says screw top bottles of younger wines are most effective .
It works because red wine dilates the arteries and raises good cholesterol .
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A plus size model who once lost seven stone to be industry thin now makes it big as a swimwear model after deciding to put the pounds back on embrace her curves. Eva Believer, 34, who lives in London but is originally from Lithuania, once embarked on a health kick that saw her lose seven stone in eight months. But her resulting health problems made her confidence plummet until she put more than half of the weight back on and moved to the UK. Scroll down for video . Eva Believer, 34, after losing seven stone (left) and after putting half of it back on (right) Now she loves her curves and has entered a beauty pageant exclusively for larger ladies . Once here she signed to a modelling agency and she is now happy to show off her curves. She has even entered a beauty pageant exclusively for larger ladies. The professional pianist, actress and singing teacher - who's a celebrity in Lithuania - said: 'When I was smaller I looked in the mirror and what I saw looked gorgeous but inside I felt dead. 'I had health problems and if I could turn back time I would never lose weight in such an extreme way again. I would try to live healthier and stay more positive about my looks, even it was hard to do. 'Now I feel more confident about myself every day.' Having starred in Lithuania's most popular daily TV sketch comedy show, Eva was a huge celebrity in her home country and was recognised everywhere she went. But Eva hated her size 24, 18-stone frame, which wasn't accepted in her country. Eva, who starred in a popular daily TV sketch comedy show and wass a huge celebrity in her home country, lost seven stone with free treatments in exchange for promoting an alternative health centre . Eva said: 'In Lithuania it is not acceptable to be that size. They don't even do clothes in sizes like 18 or 20, let alone anything bigger. 'I had to have my clothes made by a seamstress, which isn't always the best option. Not every seamstress knew the specifics of plus-size clothing making, sewing large size bags instead of dresses. 'My friends in Lithuania used to say people shouted abuse at them in the streets. I stopped getting it because I was famous, but I got a lot of abuse before my TV career. 'Most men wouldn't date me because of my weight. Even if he liked me a lot he'd still be ashamed to introduce me to his friends.' While on a TV talk show Eva was approached by a health consultant who offered her free treatments in exchange for promoting an alternative health centre on talk shows and in the press. Eva agreed and went on a strict healthy diet according to her blood group, and had a number of body cleanses and lipomassages. She started losing the weight in September 2004 and in less than a year she had slimmed down to 10st 13lb and a size 8. Eva put almost half of the weight back on, especially when she went on tour with her band . She said: 'In eight months I lost seven stone, but I had treatment on my skin to make sure it stayed taut. 'I looked wonderful and I went on all the shows to talk about my weight loss and I was published on many well-known magazine covers, but it affected my health badly, especially my gall bladder and bile ducts which literally stopped working. 'I had cramps down the right side of my body for 10 years, which made my singing career almost impossible. 'I was studying opera, but the muscle in my vocal cords was very low in tone and I couldn't hit the high notes. 'I was so embarrassed. I could see the reaction in everyone's eyes during my performance, thinking I couldn't sing but I just didn't have any power left and there was nothing I could do. 'Something went wrong, even walking took it out of me and I would have to stop for rests.' And the slim results were not to last. Eva started putting some weight back on in 2006, and finally stopped yo-yo-ing to plateau at her current weight of 15 stone, and she wears a size 18 to 20. When she started going to castings and signed her first contract she couldn't believe it . 'I'm very lucky to do modelling and I always want to work hard to achieve the best results,' she says . She put just over three stone back on - almost half of the weight she originally lost - thanks to her convenience food habits especially when she went on tour with her band. Shortly after, she moved to the UK, where she was shocked by people's positive attitudes. She said: 'In England people I didn't even know would come up to me and say I was gorgeous and pay me compliments, but my confidence was so low I didn't believe them. 'I even went to an audition and the producer took one look at me, twirled me around joking and told me I was beautiful. I told him to get lost because I thought he was laughing at me because my confidence was so low. Now I'm not surprised I didn't get the job. 'When some colleagues suggested I look into modelling I was very sceptical. When I started going to castings and signed my first contract I couldn't believe it. 'It took such a long time to start loving myself, but even now I am very demanding on myself and the people I work with, especially on photo-shoots. I'm very lucky to do modelling and I always want to work hard to achieve the best results I am able to.' Eva has now reached the final of Miss Plus Size International, a competition exclusively for larger ladies. She said: 'I already knew Linda, who runs the competition, from the previous shoots we have done, and I started following her page on Facebook. 'I didn't think I was going to enter and then I had a change of heart and sent off some head shots just before the closing date. 'I am very happy to be where I am now, but I will never stop working on myself as it's so far to go, achieving more and chasing my dreams. 'I can't wait for the Miss Plus Size International finals. It's every woman's dream to at least once wear an amazing evening gown and to get attention on the stage.' Eva discovered her calling as a plus size model in the UK and is in the final of Miss Plus Size International .
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Eva Believer, 34, now 15st, is in the final of Miss Plus Size International .
She hated her size 24, 18st frame and slimmed to 10st 13lb and a size 8 .
But health complications due to weight loss impacted her career .
Put weight back on and moved to UK where people love her curvy figure .
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Just looking at a McDonalds sign, or any other symbols of our ‘culture of convenience’, makes us sad, according to new research. Canadian researchers claim being exposed to symbols of fast food and other signs of disposable society could make the smaller, everyday things in life harder to enjoy. The study found that people regularly exposed to fast food signs are less likely to savour enjoyable experiences, such as finding pleasure in art and music. Canadian researchers claim being exposed to symbols of fast food and other signs of disposable society could make the smaller, everyday things in life harder to enjoy. They singled out McDonalds as the 'ultimate symbol of time efficiency' Researchers from the University of Toronto picked the McDonalds symbol to examine, as they claim it has become the ‘ultimate symbol of time efficiency’ in the modern world. Student Julian House and professors Sanford E. DeVoe and Chen-Bo Zhong, from the university, told Psypost: ‘It is ironic that technologies designed to improve well-being by minimising time spent on mundane chores may ultimately undermine the surplus leisure time they permit. ‘By instigating a sense of impatience, these technologies may prevent people from savouring the enjoyable moments life offers serendipitously.' The research, published in journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, discovered that people who regularly see fast-food symbols, are not as likely to savour enjoyment in art and music. An examination of 280 participants in the U.S. found people while living in neighbourhoods packed with fast food outlets were less likely to savour enjoyable experiences. The study found that people living near fast food outlets had lesser emotional responses to enjoyable experiences, such as finding pleasure in art (pictured) and music . In another experiment, 250 people rated the suitability of five advertising images, three of which were ‘neutral’ and two showed McDonalds meals. Half of the survey participants saw food displayed in the McDonalds packaging, while the other half saw the same food on ceramic plates. Half of the participants were also shown scenes of natural beauty and all those who took part were asked to rate their happiness. The scientists found that people who looked at the pictures of natural beauty were happier than those who had not, but the effect was lost on those who had also looked at the McDonalds symbol as they reported being less happy than those people who had only looked at the scenery. Another 122 participants rated the same five images of food but some listened to 86 seconds of ‘The Flower Duet’ from opera Lakmé. Unhappy meal? Canadian researchers claim being exposed to symbols of fast food and other signs of disposable society could make the smaller, everyday things in life harder to enjoy . Those who had only listened to the music and seen the neutral food images thought the music had lasted longer than it did,, while those who had also seen the McDonalds food in its official packaging reported a less positive emotional response to the piece of music and were less patient. The researchers believe it is important to understand the influence of advertising symbols as they are so prevalent in our everyday environment. ‘As a ubiquitous symbol of an impatient culture, fast food not only impacts people’s physical health but may also shape their experience of happiness in unexpected ways,’ they said. However, they stressed the findings only examined a small sample of ‘early pleasures’ and that happiness does not simply rely on the savouring of experiences.
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Canadian researchers said people who regularly see fast-food symbols, are not as likely to savour enjoyment of art and music .
University of Toronto researchers claim concentration of fast food restaurants in neighbourhoods predicted their tendencies to savour .
They think fast food symbols instill a sense of impatience that stop people from enjoying the little things in life .
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By . Eliza Scarborough . Last season, to many women’s despair, pink seemed to be the only colour for coats. Don’t all groan at once, then, when we tell you this spring’s must-have shade is even trickier: yellow. Thanks to early outbreaks of sunshine, High Street shops are struggling to keep up with demand for cover-ups in shades from mustard to lemon, despite the fact that the wrong shade can make any skin tone look wan. But pick the right pigment for you and there can be nothing more flattering. Fashion editor ELIZA SCARBOROUGH shows you how to choose the right hue . . . Highlight your golden undertones with a rich, sunny yellow, which will lift your complexion without jarring. Teamed with orange and terracotta, it will pack quite a punch. If you’re not feeling so bold, match your coat with understated khaki and caramel. Coat, £85, asos.com, LK Bennett dress, £225, johnlewis.com, Sandals, £139, reiss.com . This complexion should stick to powder yellow, teamed with cream or . pastel shades. Vibrant, lemon yellow will only bring out sallow . undertones, while golden skin and hair will glow when set against more . muted tones. Pastel coat, £110, marks andspencer.com, Top, £49, johnlewis.co, Leather skirt, £399, hobbs.co.uk Heels, £20, dorothyperkins.com . Choose . gentle vanilla or golden hues, which won’t overpower or wash out skin . like stronger yellows and work well against dark hair. A block colour . coat could look too severe, so try a jacquard print like this with . contrasting edging. A pop of intense lemon accessories is all the . boldness you need. Linea coat, £180, houseoffraser.co.uk Goat cream dress, £450, Fenwick, 020 7629 9161, Shoes, £350, jimmychoo.com . A rich canary yellow will contrast with darker skin tones perfectly, while anything too muted or pastel will look insipid. Try . mixing a vibrant yellow with bold cobalt blue or another strong primary . colour for added impact. Keep the rest of your outfit simple and let . the colours do the talking. Yellow coat with zips, £99.99, zara.co.uk, Trousers, £95, and shoes, £139, reiss.com . Redheads and those with pale complexions are rightly wary of bright yellow. Instead, try mustard teamed with jewel colours to make a statement. Shades of primrose and daffodil will also work well for a more subtle look. Steer clear of canary yellow, taupe, tan and cream, which will wash you out or clash horribly with red hair. Piazza Sempione coat, £319, Fenwick, 020 7629 9161.Top, £19.99, hm.com. Trousers, £89, reiss.com, Shoes, £149, jigsaw-online.com .
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Fashion editor ELIZA SCARBOROUGH gives tips on how to make yellow flattering .
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By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 12:31 EST, 31 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:31 EST, 31 October 2013 . Hallmark has provoked outrage and ridicule from its customers after changing the words of a traditional Christmal carol on a festive ornament. The gaudy, red sweater ornament has dropped the word 'gay' for the word 'fun' in the lyric from the 19th-century carol Deck The Halls. The original line - 'Don we now our gay apparel' - has been altered by the Kansas-City based company for its new line of holiday merchandise. It now reads: 'Don we now our FUN apparel.' Break from tradition: Hallmark released this sweater ornament as part of its holiday line, changing the words of carol Deck The Halls to: 'Don we now our FUN apparel!' The ornament of the holiday sweater, decorated with bells, bow and priced at $12.95, is described as: 'When it comes to Christmas sweaters, gaudy can be good! Hang up this flashy sweater to make your tree's outfit complete. 'With its catchy phrase, Don we now our FUN apparel! everyone will be in on the joke.' Deck the Halls is a traditional Christmas carol with the tune dating back to 16th century Wales when it was called Nos Galan. The English lyrics were composed by the Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant in the late 19th century (although the 'fa la la' comes from the original Welsh). Carols were originally intended to be dances and not songs - and initially frowned upon by the church. Deck The Halls first appeared in the Pennsylvania School Journal in 1877 and was described as a 'Welsh air'. It has remained popular during the holidays ever since. In 1999, country music group SHeDAISY released a version of the song for Disney film Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas. Deck The Halls is also the title of a 2006 comedy starring Danny DeVito, Matthew Broderick and Kristin Davis. However the break with the traditional carol sparked anger among Hallmark customers who took to the company's Facebook page to complain. Val Buoni posted on Thursday: 'Hallmark has just made my boycott list for the idiotic change of lyrics in Deck the Halls. I will NEVER purchase anything from Hallmark again. 'Furthermore your ridiculous attempt at political correctness assumes that homosexuals dress differently. So you've alienated Christians as well as homosexuals.....good job Hallmark.' Paul J Kettle Jr added: 'I . am disturbed to hear that you have removed the long-standing word "gay" from your ornament. Had you not taken the politically-motivated . stance, nobody would have noticed or complained. 'Now, you have brought . this to the fore you are attracting attention, mostly negative. I have . used Hallmark exclusively for cards over many years, but I am thinking . now of migrating to another brand.' Customer Thomas F Reynolds blasted the company: 'We just cut up our gold crown card we have had forever. Keep rewriting Christmas carols and you will end up filing for bankruptcy. Disgraceful!' In a statement today, the company said: . 'Hallmark created this year's Holiday Sweater ornament in the spirit of . fun. When the lyrics to "Deck the Halls" were translated from Gaelic and . published in English back in the 1800s, the word "gay" meant festive or . merry. Hallmark customers were quick to post their outrage on the company's Facebook page on Thursday . Another Hallmark customer with a gold crown rewards card slammed the retailer for their decision to change a Christmas carol . Today it has multiple meanings, which we thought could leave our intent open to misinterpretation. The trend of wearing festively decorated Christmas sweaters to parties is all about fun, and this ornament is intended to play into that, so the planning team decided to say what we meant: "fun." 'That's the spirit we intended and the spirit in which we hope ornament buyers will take it.'
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Lyric from the 19th century carol has been changed to: 'Don we now our FUN apparel'
Hallmark said today: 'When the lyrics to Deck the Halls .
were translated from Gaelic and published in English back in the 1800s, .
the word gay meant festive or merry...Today it has multiple meanings, which we thought could leave our intent open to misinterpretation.'
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(CNN) -- Don't ask Jerry Seinfeld about race. In a recent interview with Buzzfeed on "CBS This Morning" the comedian was asked about the fact that most of the guests on his Web series "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" have been white males. Seinfeld's initial response was "It really pisses me off." "People think [comedy] is the census or something, it's gotta represent the actual pie chart of America," he said. "Who cares?" With his Super Bowl commercial, Seinfeld is back on the radar, but his comments come at the same time as debate about diversity in comedy. "Saturday Night Live" hired its first black female cast member in years after an outcry over the show's lack of diversity. Gawker writer Kyle Chayka writes that by Seinfeld saying, "I have no interest in gender or race or anything like that," the comic "seems to suggest that any comedian who is not a white male is also not funny, though he's also likely fed up with the amount of bad comedy he's been forced to sit through in his (waning) career." "Which is too bad, because Seinfeld is downplaying the work of everyone from Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby to Aziz Ansari, Mindy Kaling, and Eddie Huang, who are all in various stages of their own sitcoms that just might turn out to be the next 'Seinfeld,' " Chayka writes. It's not the first time Seinfeld has faced criticism regarding racial issues. When his hit NBC series "Seinfeld" ended in 1998, the Los Angeles Times had a feature about how it was a "nonevent" for many in the black community because it had never seemed to capture the black audience because of a perceived lack of diversity. "Observers said that the lack of 'Seinfeld' fever among blacks is mainly attributable to the almost total absence of minority characters on the New York-based sitcom," reported Los Angeles Times writer Greg Braxton. "Some supporting characters -- including an attorney modeled after defense lawyer Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. -- have been featured in the last few seasons, but many said the show is still seen as a program that excludes minorities."
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Seinfeld questioned about lack of diversity on his Web series .
The comic said he has no interest in gender or race .
It's not the first time he's been criticized regarding diversity .
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By . Sally Lee . A video allegedly unveiling Subway's deceptive marketing tactics has been mysteriously leaked by an unknown source. It was uploaded on Tuesday by an anonymous user but was allegedly created by former Melbourne franchisee Arun Singhal as part of a suspected $35 million blackmail plot against the sandwich giant. Mr Singhal's initial concerns of Subway's business practices allegedly prompted him to create a number of videos and a website to reveal the franchise's trade secrets, called 'The System', reported The Age. A restrained video allegedly unveiling Subway's deceptive marketing tactics has been mysteriously leaked by an unknown source . The released video may have violated the injunction order obtained by the company in May after Subway made claims about Mr Singhal's intentions, prohibiting certain information from being released. It is unclear whether the leaked video is subject to the court order. It isn't suggested that the 30-year-old breached the court order. Mr Singhal has said his laptop was stolen some time ago. Mr Singhal also denies any plot to blackmail Subway and claims he is the victim of the 'Sandwich Mafia', as he was forced to declare bankruptcy after the company allegedly promised him that if he closed his store he would be able to open a new one elsewhere. No new store became available. 'After they took my authorisation to close the store and I closed the store, then they completely changed their words,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'I was told that they don't have any new location right now and I might have to wait for two to three years for a new location.' He said he lost his lifetime's savings due to Subway's 'as usual' deceptive behaviour'. 'Here a family man lost $350,000 in Subway's investment. They left me with no option then to declare bankruptcy. I told the "Sandwich Mafia" that if you don't compensate me for the loss of business, I am going to media to tell everyone about my story.' He said '$35 million' was Subway's estimate of its losses if its trade secrets were revealed. The company claims Mr Singhal wanted to destroy Subway's reputation or cause it loss, reported The Age. 'They lodged a lawsuit against me that I am blackmailing them in the lieu of secret recipe,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'Subway systems are the mastermind of the whole plan but they put that accusation on me.' A Subway spokesman told The Age they were disappointed Mr Singhal had 'taken this route' and they would not be commenting any further.
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A video was released to reveal the sandwich giant's allegedly deceptive marketing strategy .
The footage emerged on Tuesday which may go against restraining orders issued by the court in May .
Former Melbourne franchisee Arun Singhal allegedly created the video but claims he did not release it as his laptop was previously stolen .
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By . Phil Gradwell . Follow @@GraddersOnline . Boyd Rankin has revealed he thought about quitting cricket following England's horrendous Ashes tour and says there was not a good atmosphere in the camp Down Under. The Irish fast bowler made his debut during the final Test in Sydney but went into the match with a shoulder injury and was forced off the pitch twice by bouts of cramp brought on by nerves. Rankin, 29, said: 'I felt I had to play. I had to take my chance, but I don't suppose I did that, really,' he told espncricinfo.com. 'I tried to fight hard through that. It was still a special occasion for me, but I did feel I let myself and the rest of the team down. It's been tough coming back from that. Doubts: Boyd Rankin admits he considered quitting cricket after England's Ashes tour . Cramping up: Rankin had to leave the field twice during his ill-fated Test debut . 'It was a tough period for me when I got back. There were a few days when I was thinking, "Should I still be playing cricket?" There were quite a few questions asked. But I learned a lot from the experience and I believe it has made me a stronger person. ' 'All I can do now is put in some strong performances and see what happens. I know, deep down, what I can do.' Rankin, in action for Warwickshire in their LV= County Championship match against Somerset, also added that he did not enjoy his Ashes tour, aside from making his debut. He said: 'It wasn't a great environment to be in. It was a really tough tour to be on. A lot of the lads were struggling.' Back in action: Rankin appeals during Warwickshire's Championship match against Somerset .
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Rankin made Test debut during the final Ashes clash in Sydney .
Irish fast bowler reveals he was injured going into the match .
'I felt I had to play', said Rankin after coming off with cramp .
The 29-year-old thought, 'should I still be playing cricket' after the tour .
England squad 'wasn't a great environment to be in' during the Ashes .
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(CNN) -- The family of a woman who faces charges of killing an 8-year-old playmate of her daughter's said Sunday the accusations are "completely out of character." The Tracy, California, family offered their prayers to the victim's family. Melissa Huckaby was charged with kidnapping and murder in the death of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu. "We are deeply saddened by the loss of this beautiful girl," said a man who would not give his name, identifying himself only as a relative of suspect Melissa Huckaby, 28. He was referring to Sandra Cantu, who was last seen alive March 27 in the mobile home park where she lived with her family -- the same mobile home park where Huckaby lives with her own 5-year-old daughter. The two children were close friends and played together frequently, Tracy police Sgt. Tony Sheneman said. Sandra's body was found Monday, stuffed into a suitcase and submerged in a pond at a dairy farm. Huckaby was arrested late Friday after she was questioned by police. She faces kidnapping and murder charges in Sandra's death. Watch police discuss the arrest » . Sheneman told reporters Saturday he "couldn't begin to theorize" a motive. Family members went to visit Huckaby in jail Sunday, but were told they could not see her, the relative told reporters. "We do know that the information we've been given regarding the charges against Melissa Huckaby are completely out of character for her," he said. Relatives are in "absolute shock" at Huckaby's arrest, he said. Huckaby is the granddaughter of Clifford Lane Lawless, pastor of Clover Road Baptist Church near the mobile home park, and she taught Sunday school at the church, police have said. The church was searched as part of the investigation into Sandra's disappearance and death. Lawless was at the press conference, but declined to speak. "We are distressed at the possibility that such a tragedy might have happened in a place of worship," the relative said Sunday, adding that the family asks the press and the community to "understand the church's desire to continue their worship and ministry outreach." Watch neighbors remember slain girl » . The church "is a community of loving people," he said. "They love God. They love their community and they have ministered to the people of this community for many, many years." Huckaby's family expressed appreciation for the support and prayers received from other churches. Although it has been difficult, the church has "done everything that we can to be cooperative" with the investigation, the man said. The family thanked law enforcement for what the man said was "gracious treatment." "Our prayers are with Sandra's family and the community for God's comfort and mercy as we work through the process of healing for such a tragic event," the man said. "We trust in God's peace." The church was planning to hold Easter services at noon Sunday, he said. "We're very shocked," said a woman, who also identified herself only as a family member. "It's very out of character for Melissa. We love her dearly." She described Huckaby as "a fantastic mother, very loving. ... This is a very difficult time for us and it's very difficult to express to you right now how we're feeling." Huckaby's relatives know no more on the investigation than what has been reported by the media, the relatives said, and were not told why police were searching the church. "The only reason why our family is making it through this at all is because of our faith in God and because of his mercy," the woman said. Asked whether she believes Huckaby is innocent, she declined comment. In a Friday interview with the Tracy Press newspaper, Huckaby acknowledged owning the black rolling suitcase in which Sandra's body was found, but said she reported it missing the day before the child's body was found. She said the suitcase disappeared at about the same time Sandra did. Sheneman told reporters Saturday that "inconsistencies" between that interview and statements Huckaby had made to police were one reason police asked to re-interview her Friday night. He would not say whether police believe Sandra's death was planned. Police said earlier Saturday that they believe Sandra was already dead by the time she was reported missing. The day Sandra was last seen, she came home from school, kissed her mother and left to play with a friend who lives nearby. A short time later, she left to go to another friend's home, a family spokeswoman has said. Huckaby told the Tracy Press that Sandra came by her home to see if she could play with Huckaby's daughter, but Huckaby would not let her daughter play because she wanted her daughter to pick up her toys. Sandra left for another friend's house, Huckaby told the newspaper. The girl was last seen wearing a pink Hello Kitty T-shirt and black leggings. Police later used that clothing description to identify her body.
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Relatives are in "absolute shock" at arrest of Melissa Huckaby, they say .
Huckaby faces murder charges in death of Sandra Cantu, 8, her daughter's friend .
Police sergeant says he "couldn't begin to theorize" about a motive .
Sandra disappeared March 27 after going out to play; body found Monday .
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By . Victoria Woollaston . PUBLISHED: . 10:32 EST, 3 June 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:47 EST, 3 June 2013 . The controversy surrounding why Neil Armstrong's famous moon quote was misheard by millions of people worldwide may have been less to do with dodgy recording equipment and more to do with his unique Ohio accent. When Armstrong walked on the moon the . astronaut claimed to have said: 'That's one small step for a man, . one giant leap for mankind', but most listeners claim they can't hear the first 'a' and the statement has become best known without it. Poor recording equipment was previously blamed for the mishearing, yet linguistic experts now claim a unique feature of Armstrong's Ohio accent could be to blame. During the moon landing of 1969, Neil Armstrong was recorded by Nasa as saying: 'That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.' However, many people claim they can't hear Armstrong's 'a' in the recording and the quote has become famous with it missing. This mishearing was initially blamed on poor recording equipment, yet speech scientists from Michigan and Ohio claim it could have been caused by the way Armstrong's accent made him blend his words . US astronaut Neil Armstrong always stood by the fact he said 'for a' and not 'for' in his famous moon landing quote from the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 . Speech scientists from Michigan State University and Ohio State University analysed the clip and studied how speakers from his native central Ohio pronounce 'for' and 'for a'. The team suggest that in the midwestern American state Ohio there is typically a lot of blending between words such as 'for' and 'a.' And these results suggest it's entirely possible that Armstrong said what he claimed, even though people are statistically more likely to hear 'for man' instead of 'for a man' on the recording. Dr Laura Dilley of Michigan State, said: 'Prior acoustic analyses of Neil Armstrong's recording have established well that if the word 'a' was spoken, it was very short and was fully blended acoustically with the preceding word.' 'If Armstrong actually did say 'a', it sounded something like "frrr(uh).' 'His blending of the two words, compounded with the poor sound quality of the transmission, has made it difficult for people to corroborate his claim that the 'a' is there.' Dilley and her colleagues carried out a statistical analysis of the duration of the 'r' sound as spoken by native central Ohioans saying 'for' and 'for a' in natural conversation. When Neil Armstrong listened back to the recordings of his famous moon quote, he admitted that he hadn't heard himself say the 'a' either but insists he did actually say the often misheard words . In 2006, a computer analysis found evidence that Armstrong said what he said he said. Peter Shann Ford, an Australian computer programmer, ran a software analysis looking at sound waves and found a wave that would have been the missing 'a'. It lasted 35 milliseconds, much too quick to be heard. The Smithsonian's space curator, Roger Launius, looked at the evidence and found it convincing. NASA has also stood by its moon man. 'If Neil Armstrong says there was an 'a,' then as far as we're concerned, there was 'a,'' NASA spokesman Michael Cabbage said shortly before the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. Armstrong died in August last year, aged 82, and maintained until the end that there was a lost word in his famous words from the moon. They used a collection of recordings of conversational speech from 40 people raised in Columbus, Ohio, near Armstrong's native town of Wapakoneta. Within these recordings they found 191 cases of 'for a.' They then matched each of these to an instance of 'for' as said by the same speaker and compared the relative duration. They also examined the duration of Armstrong's 'for (a') from Nasa's lunar transmission. They discovered a large overlap between the relative duration of the 'r' sound in 'for' and 'for a' using the Ohio speech data. The duration of the 'frrr(uh)' in Armstrong's recording was 0.127 seconds, which falls into the middle of this overlap, though it is a slightly better match for when the 'a' is missing. This means that the quotation is . compatible with either possible interpretation but the researchers . accept it is slightly more likely to be perceived as 'for', . regardless of what Armstrong actually said. In 2006, computer analysis found evidence that Armstrong said what he said he said and this may have been backed up by a linguistics study by speech scientists at Michigan State and Ohio State University. They analysed his famous quote and the accents of 40 other people who grew up in the same state as Armstrong . Dr Dilley says there may have been a 'perfect storm of conditions' for the word 'a' to have been spoken but not heard. She said: 'We've bolstered Neil Armstrong's side of the story. 'We feel we've partially vindicated him. 'But we'll most likely never know for sure exactly what he said based on the acoustic information.' She said that the work has implications beyond Armstrong's timeless quotation. Dilley added: 'Every time we listen to speech and think we understand a . sentence, we are performing a miraculous task, which is to take what is . actually a continuous acoustic signal, break up that signal into . somewhat arbitrary parts, and map those parts to our memories of all the . words that we know in the language. 'We . need only look at computer speech recognition and how it succeeds and . how it largely often fails to see how very difficult that problem is.' Astronaut Neil Armstrong died last August aged 82. He maintained until the end that there was a lost word in his famous words from the moon . Dilley and her team's findings will be presented at the 21st International Congress on Acoustics in Montreal. In 2006, computer analysis similarly found evidence that Armstrong . said what he said he said. Peter Shann Ford, an Australian computer programmer, ran a . software analysis looking at sound waves and found a wave that would have been . the missing 'a'. It lasted 35 milliseconds, much too quick to be heard. Neil Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta in the midwestern American state of Ohio. Speech scientists found that people from this region blend their words and this could be the reason why the 'a' is so often misheard in Armstrong's famous moon quote . The . Smithsonian's space curator, Roger Launius, looked at the evidence and found it . convincing and Nasa also stood by its moon man. 'If Neil Armstrong says there was an 'a,' then as far as . we're concerned, there was 'a,'' NASA spokesman Michael Cabbage said shortly . before the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. Armstrong, who died last August aged 82, maintained until the . end that there was a lost word in his famous words from the moon. VIDEO: Neil Armstrong's historic first steps on the moon .
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Speech scientists studied Armstrong's accent during recordings of his famous 'one small step for a man, .
one giant leap for mankind' quote .
They also analysed the accents of 40 other people from in and around his hometown of Wapakoneta, Ohio .
Researchers found that participants typically blended their words and this may be the cause for millions mishearing Armstrong's words .
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A pensioner was bludgeoned to death with a slow cooker after a heated argument about presidential politics with her friend, a court has heard. On Thursday a suburban Detroit judge ordered that Tewana Sullivan be tried for first-degree murder following the death of Cheryl Livy, 66, at her home in a Livonia senior housing complex in October. Police Officer Michael Lewallen says when called to the apartment he found Sullivan, 50, sobbing near her mortally injured friend and saying she was 'sorry' she 'did it', and blood all over the walls. Sobbing: Attorney John McWilliams comforts defendant Tewana Sullivan, who has been charged with first degree murder following the death of Cheryl Livy. A court heard how the pair had been arguing about politics . Sullivan broke down in court as the judge hear how Livy had died because of injuries to her head, face and mid back, caused by a 'blunt instrument'. The Detroit News also reported that Livy also suffered injuries on the back of hands, which appeared to have been caused as she tried to protect herself. The cord of the slow cooker was wrapped around the victim's next when police arrived. Defense lawyer John McWilliams said the women were arguing over 'presidential politics' and 'whatever the controversy is between Democrats and Republicans.' Accused: Sullivan, right, reacts while looking at photographs in the aftermath of the incident with her attorney, John McWilliams (left). She stands accused of bludgeoning her friend to death with a slow cooker . He did not reveal which woman took which side. Livy was 'barely breathing' when she was discovered, the court heard, but died two days later in hospital from her injuries. When police arrested Sullivan she appeared disorientated and 'under the influence', they testified, with blood on her hands and clothing nearby. She was initially charged with assault with intent to murder, but following Livy's death the charges were upgraded to first-degree murder which carries a mandatory penalty of life without parole. Sullivan is currently being held in the Wayne County Jail and will next appear in court on February 12.
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Detroit woman Tewana Sullivan is accused of murdering Cheryl Livy, 66 .
Court heard the pair were arguing about politics before the fatal incident .
Arguing about 'the controversy between Democrats and Republicans.'
Cord of a slow cooker was discovered wrapped around the victim's neck .
Livy died two days after the attack in hospital from her injuries .
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A long-running losing streak dating back to 2006 in Washington has finally come to an end. Theodore Roosevelt has won the presidents' race at Nationals Park after more than 500 consecutive losses. For years, baseball fans have repeatedly watched the foam-headed version of the 26th president lose the traditional mascot footrace held during a break in the fourth inning of Nationals' home games. Fans, and even some politicians, began a public campaign to "Let Teddy Win." The caricatures of Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and even George Washington have conspired to prevent Teddy from crossing the finish line first. But not Wednesday, the last game of the regular season against the Philadelphia Phillies. As the presidents rounded the warning track along the right-field wall, the older three American leaders were tripped by a version of the Phillie Phanatic mascot and fell to the ground. Teddy broke free from the pack and turned the corner along the first baseline. The crowd erupted in cheers and chanted "Ted-dy, Ted-dy." No. 26 sprinted the final stretch, winning by a wide margin. Victory belonged to the foam Rough Rider. The president with the most victories is Lincoln, with a stunning 214 wins. Teddy and his Washington Nationals are now both in uncharted winning territory, as playoff baseball will return to the nation's capital for the first time since 1933. The Nats clinched the National League's East Division over the weekend.
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The mascot race involves four foam-headed caricatures of presidents .
Teddy Roosevelt had never beat Honest Abe and crew .
The rival Philadelphia Phillies' mascot gave him the help he needed .
The Nationals head into the playoffs, like Teddy, on a winning streak .
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By . Amanda Williams . PUBLISHED: . 09:13 EST, 15 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 09:21 EST, 15 January 2013 . Social worker Julie Ridsdale has been off sick for ten years after losing a string of legal battles against employers Birmingham City Council . A social worker has been off sick for ten years during a £45,000 legal wrangle with Birmingham city council over her bullying claims. Julie Ridsdale last went to work for the council in December 2003, before being signed off long term sick. Despite losing a string of battles with the authority - including claims of bullying and disability discrimination - the 54-year-old, from Bromsgrove, technically remains a council employee. The saga began in 2003 when she fell . foul of bosses after leaving work to collect her son from school, . despite her claims it had been agreed. Mother-of-three Ms Ridsdale , who felt she was being bullied, responded by submitting a grievance after being accused of abandoning a case. In . December of that year, she was signed off with depression and by 2004 . was receiving incapacity benefit. She remained off work until January, . 2005, when social services dismissed her through sustained ill-health. The . last day she worked was December 16 2003. While on sick leave she was . given six months full pay and 3 months half pay - ending in September . 2004. Although she lost her job over her record of ill health, she won it back on appeal . over wrongful dismissal in September 2005, but she said her career stalled and . she her depression hit 'new depths'. She . later made a failed compensation claim for disability discrimination, . spawned by her accusations the local authority failed to make . adjustments to help her overcome ill-health. The saga began in 2003. Ms Ridsdale won her job back on appeal eight years ago after being dismissed over her record of ill health, but she was then signed of with depression once again after her 'career stalled' And . a civil personal injury claim also fell without being heard. Now she . has been hit with a bill for almost £7,000 in legal costs . She said: 'My career and life have . been ruined by it. The effect on my family has been massive and my . children have been very affected. 'The toll this has taken on my health has been catastrophic and continues. 'In the nine years I've been off I felt really ill all the way through. I've still got ongoing depression. 'I've been incredibly sad - it's felt like a continuation of the bullying. They've been so heartless. 'I had been a well respected social worker and the council know they did wrong. 'I will not let this go because I have been wronged and want an apology, but I don’t know where I go from here.' The council insisted it had done all it could to resolve the dispute and stressed that Ms Ridsdale, who earned £1,200-a-month, was no longer on the payroll. A council spokesman said: 'Ms Ridsdale took the council to an employment tribunal and the civil courts and both hearings found in the council’s favour, with the tribunal finding that we had acted in good faith in seeking to resolve matters with her internally. 'While she remains an employee of the council she has not been well enough to return to work for some time and has therefore not been in receipt of any salary. 'Now legal proceedings have concluded we will seek to work with Ms Ridsdale to progress matters. 'We have maintained regular contact with Ms Ridsdale with the ultimate aim of trying to resolve her on-going employment dispute. 'All those involved in the matter have been acutely aware of her ill-health and have sought to ensure that matters are progressed in a sensitive manner and as speedily as possible in complex and difficult circumstances.'
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Julie Ridsdale last went to work in December 2003, before leaving with depression .
Since then she has spent £45,000 on legal disputes with Birmingham City Council .
She has launched several unsuccessful claims of bullying and disability discrimination .
But she has now vowed 'not to give up' because she has 'been wronged'
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137118a23735644175267a6f329dd0d400771a70
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By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 16:47 EST, 10 September 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 06:35 EST, 11 September 2012 . The jailed Pakistani doctor who helped led the U.S. to Osama Bin Laden's hideout has revealed that Pakistan’s spy agency considers America its worst enemy. Dr Shakil Afridi was sentenced to 33 years in prison in June after a Pakistani court found him guilty of treason for conspiring against Pakistan. The physician said he has been subjected to torture and harsh questioning since his arrest days after Bin Laden’s death in May 2011 as he tried to flee Pakistan. And he also claimed that he did not know that the information he provided to the CIA had led to the assassination of the reclusive Al Qaeda leader. The good doctor: Dr Shakil Afridi was convicted of treason in June, and sentenced to 33 years in prison despite leading the U.S. to Osama bin Laden's hideout in Abottabad, Pakistan . In an interview with Fox News from his Pakistan jail cell, Dr Afridi says he has been told: ‘You helped our enemies. 'They said "The Americans are our worst enemies, worse than the Indians."' Dr Afridi said he tried to defend the U.S. as allies and supporters of Pakistan. He told Fox news: 'I tried to argue that America was Pakistan's biggest supporter - billions and billions of dollars in aid, social and military assistance - but all they said was, "These are our worst enemies. You helped our enemies."' Speaking out: Dr Shakil Afridi helped the CIA track down bin Laden and turned down an opportunity to leave Pakistan and . resettle overseas with his family . Dr Afridi also warned that any cooperation by Pakistan is just a front for the country to collect billions of dollars in aid from the U.S. “It is now indisputable that militancy in Pakistan is supported by the ISI… Pakistan’s fight against militancy is bogus. It’s just to extract money from America.' Dr Afridi helped the CIA by running a fake vaccination programme that allowed him to collect the DNA of Bin Laden’s children from the family compound in Abbottabad. Sample analysis confirmed the terror leader was probably there and triggered the deadly mission by US Navy SEALS last May. The successful mission sparked a rift between the US and Pakistani leaders who were embarrassed that Bin Laden had been living in a major military hub close to the capital. Dead: The killing of notorious terror leader Osama Bin Laden led to a decline in the relationship between Pakistan and the U.S. Imprisoned: Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi talks with people . outside a building at an unknown location, prior to his arrest . Shortly after the raid which killed Bin Laden, Dr Afridi was arrested for conspiring against the state of Pakistan and last month jailed for 33 years. In May, outraged at Dr Afridi's conviction, U.S. Senate panels voted overwhelmingly to cut aid to Islamabad by $33million - one million for every year of the physician's 33-year sentence for high treason. And perhaps Pakistan is feeling the pinch, as the doctor also claims that his life savings has been depleted after the ISI drained his bank accounts. Dr Afridi told Fox News: 'My bank account was looted, making me bankrupt. I need financial, legal and diplomatic help.' Mission: The Al Qaeda leader was killed at this compound in Abbottabad by U.S. Special Forces . He added: 'My situation is very grim. I earned millions of rupees (tens of thousands of dollars) a year and supported my family and that of my brother. All of that is lost.' While Dr. Afridi is appealing his conviction, his chances are slim because of the arbitrary nature of the tribal court system where he is facing justice in Pakistan. Officials from the United States have revealed in the past that they attempted to extricate Dr Afridi from Pakistan in the weeks after the bin Laden raid. Unnamed U.S. officials said the resettlement offer for Afridi came around the time of the May 1, 2011, raid in which U.S. Navy SEAL commandos killed the al-Qaeda chief at his complex in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Tense: The moment President Barack Obama and his . team watched the mission to find bin Laden in the Situation Room of the . White House on May 1, 2011 .
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Dr Shakil Afridi says Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency calls the U.s. it's worst enemy .
He was sentenced to 33 years in prison in June .
Dr Afridi helped the U.S. by setting up a fake vaccination programme that allowed him to collect DNA from bin Laden's children .
Pakistan suffered a black eye when it was revealed that bin Laden had been in their midst for years .
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13713b35bc1d58a5d13d9306c9ef2b31ebf851f8
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Manchester United came from behind to beat Chelsea 2-1 in their Barclays Under 21 Premier League encounter at Leigh Sports Village stadium on Monday evening. Dominic Solanke gave the visitors the lead from close range after 55 minutes, before Andreas Pereira's deflected free-kick got the hosts back on level terms. And defender Tom Thorpe completed the turnaround United, heading home emphatically from close range with just six minutes left on the clock. United centre-back Tom Thorpe (far right) celebrates after netting a late winner against Chelsea . Dominic Solanke fired home from close range to give Chelsea the lead against Manchester United . The 17-year-old (right) is congratulated by his team-mates after netting the opener against United . Andreas Pereira jumps for joy after drawing the hosts back on level terms shortly after Solanke's opener . MANCHESTER UNITED (4-3-3): Valdes; Rafael, Thorpe, Blackett, James; Harrop, Grimshaw, Young (Weir, 59); A. Pereira, Powell, Fletcher (Love, 65) Subs not used: J. Pereira, Kellett, Willock . Booked: Harrop, Powell, Pereira . Scorers: Pereira 69, Thorpe 84 . CHELSEA (4-3-3): Beeney; Dabo, Christensen (Conroy, 88), Clarke-Salter, Dasilva; Colkett, Houghton, Palmer (Abraham, 77); Brown, Solanke, Musonda (Aina, 90) Subs not used: Collins, Wright . Booked: Houghton . Scorer: Solanke 55 . The Blues fielded a starting XI of complete juniors whereas United had six players who had represented the first team under Louis van Gaal. The experienced line-up included the likes of former Barcelona keeper Victor Valdes, Ashley Young, Rafael and Tyler Blackett. Chelsea began the evening top of the table and started like leaders. Blackett failed to deal with an early delivery from the Blues and the ball fell to Andreas Christensen, but he shot wide from eight yards at a tight angle. The half descended into a scrappy affair with Young the main receiver of some tough challenges from the away side, as neither team managed to conjure up any promising chances. Deadline day loan signing Andy Kellett (centre, back row) was an unused substitute on Monday night . Manchester United had former Barcelona keeper Victor Valdes between the sticks on Monday . The contest sprung into life after the break. Young was guilty of a misplaced back pass which left Blackett under unnecessary pressure and the lively Izzy Brown stole the ball to seek out Dominic Solanke at the back post to tap in from a few yards on 55 minutes. Soon after Young was replaced having played an hour of football on his return to action, having missed five games with a hamstring injury. Chelsea fully deserved their lead and Brown once again impressed. After the hour mark the England Under 19 international jinked past three challenges before whipping in a fierce drive from the edge of the United box. Fortunately for the home side Valdes was ready to react and tip the shot around the post with a smart save. Ashley Young (left) was on the receiving end of several tough challenges during the feisty match . Chelsea captain Jordan Houghton (centre) attempts to win possession from the Manchester United defence . The pivotal moment in the match came when Rafael went on another marauding run forward, to be eventually hauled down on the edge of the Chelsea penalty area. Andreas Pereira took the honour and his effort deflected cruelly off Jay Dasilva in the Chelsea wall and wrong footed Mitchell Beeney to level the match. That was the catalyst for United as minutes later Pereira flashed in another long range free-kick, only for Beeney to pull off a fine reaction save. Chelsea's Dominic Solanke celebrates scoring the opener against Manchester United on 55 minutes . Andreas Pereira fires in Manchester United's first goal, his free-kick delfecting in past Mitchell Beeney . Finally, United were in the ascendancy and made the pressure count in a tense final ten minutes. Pereira was once again involved, whipping in a teasing cross when United captain Tom Thorpe rose unmarked to head the hosts into the lead. Despite the best efforts of Chelsea to find an equaliser, United held on to go joint top of the table alongside Chelsea and Southampton, who lost to Everton. Rafael hands out his shirt to a lucky fan after the hosts beat Chelsea 2-1 in the Under 21 Premier League .
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Manchester United beat Chelsea 2-1 on Monday evening in the U21 fixture .
Dominic Solanke gave the visitors the lead on 55 minutes from close range .
Andreas Pereira's deflected free-kick got United back on level terms .
And defender Tom Thorpe's 84th minute header completed the turnaround .
United, like Chelsea, are now joint top of the Barclays U21 Premier League .
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13713c852efacf8be7f2cf1d369294617bdd1e30
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By . Lizzie Parry . Claire Hessan has been given the all clear after being diagnosed with the rare nasopharyngeal cancer . A mother-of-two who had a rare cancerous tumour growing behind her face was misdiagnosed by doctors who prescribed ear drops. Claire Hessan went to her GP after developing hearing loss, a strange itch in her ear and lumps in her neck after the birth of her second child in 2008. The 39-year-old was fitted with a grommet - a device fitted into the eardrum to allow air to pass into the middle ear and release pressure - and given ear drops. A string of experts concluded her problems were caused by pregnancy hormones. A year later Ms Hessan was sent for an MRI because her condition was showing no signs of improving. Returning to the doctor, further investigations revealed the true cause of Ms Hessan's symptoms - a huge tumour growing behind her nasal passage. The cancer, which had spread to her neck and cheeks, is so rare doctors at the Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, Devon said they see just one or two cases a year. Head and neck consultant Tass Malik, who treated Ms Hessan, said the cancer can be hard to spot because it lies hidden behind the nose, 'frequently presenting quite late'. It is rarely diagnosed in the West, but is more common in smog-plagued cities in China and other parts of Asia. Doctors treating the mother-of-two, from Callington in Cornwall, started her on an intensive course of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. For six months she was fed through a tube in her stomach, unable to to eat properly. But after losing five stone, Ms Hessan's body slowly recovered and she was given the all clear. Office manager Ms Hessan, who is mother to Owen, six, and daughter Teagan, eight, said: 'When I was six months pregnant I started to get a really itchy ear and they kept giving me ear drops and saying it was fine. 'They put a grommet in my ear and it was great it, I could hear again. 'But then I started getting lumps in my neck and went to the doctor who said it was pregnancy hormone related, as did the ear, nose and throat specialist. 'A third specialist sent me for an ultrasound on my neck, which came back clear. 'The children gave me the strength to fight through it. I said from the . start I didn't bring them into this world to leave them at such an . early age' - Claire Hessan . 'But when Owen had just turned one I went for an MRI scan and biopsy and they found that it was cancer. 'The doctors said it was a very rare tumour which is more prevalent in Asia. The closest I have got to going to China is having a Chinese. 'At first I just thought "I’m going to die." You think "how long have I got to live, how am I going to pay the mortgage?" 'My daughter Teagan was three at the time. It was the last thing I was expecting to hear. I was working full time as a PA having just gone back after maternity leave.' Ms Hessan’s treatment involved a series of exhausting five-day bouts of chemotherapy. She had a special surgical mask made for her so doctors at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, Devon, would know the precise spots to target with their equipment. The mother-of-two first noticed the symptoms - a loss of hearing, a strange itch in her ear and a lump in her neck, after the birth of her son in 2008. Doctors prescribed her ear drops, before further investigations revealed a huge tumour growing behind her face, at the point which the nose meets the throat . Tass Malik, the consultant head and . neck surgeon who treated Claire Hessan at Derriford Hospital, said: 'The cancer . that Claire had is one of the rarer types. We see one or two cases per . year in this trust. 'The symptoms can be of slow onset because the cancer is hidden in the back of the nose, so it frequently presents quite late. 'Some patients have no symptoms until the cancer has spread to the neck lymph glands. 'Others . experience one-sided hearing loss due to fluid building up behind their . ear and others may experience nose bleeds and nasal blockages. 'Claire’s . case required a large dedicated team. 'Treatment included biopsies, to . determine the type of cancer, scans to allow us to pinpoint the location . and extent of the cancer, followed by treatment of chemotherapy and . radiotherapy. 'Claire . has been inspirational and has lots of inner strength, which helped her . to complete her challenging treatment. We would like to wish her all . the best in this year’s Race for Life.' By then, the cancer had spread to the back of Ms Hessan’s head and her collarbone but the fear of losing her children spurred her on. She said: 'My cheeks and face were burning. I had a wisdom tooth removed because they didn’t know what the problem was. 'The first few times at radiotherapy seemed quite easy but being on the table for such a long time for six weeks, I had to find something to focus on while lying there. 'My daughter Teagan had the cutest little bum wiggle ever and I used to lie there and think of that in my mind. 'I was suffering from dry mouth - it zapped my saliva glands. I was fed through my stomach for around six months. 'I had crates and crates of these milkshakes and it often went in my stomach and came back out my mouth - it’s meant to be the other way round. 'The children gave me the strength to fight through it. I said from the start I didn’t bring them into this world to leave them at such an early age.' Since being given the all-clear Ms Hessan has decided to raise funds for the battle against rare forms of cancer and is taking part in this year’s Race For Life event. Claire Hessan was diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer, which starts to grow behind the nose, where it meets the throat. Cases of nasopharyngeal cancer are very rare in the UK - with around 240 cases being diagnosed nationwide each year. It accounts for one in every 1,400 cancer cases diagnosed. It is more common in some ethnic groups living in the UK, for example people of Chinese origin. Experts do not know exactly what causes nasopharyngeal cancer, but a poor diet is thought to put people at risk. People who eat more fresh vegetables, . fresh fruit and other sources of vitamin C may have a lower risk of . developing nasopharyngeal cancer. It is more common in parts of Asia, Northern Africa and the Arctic that it is in Europe. Nasopharyngeal cancer is very rare in the West, affecting 240 people each year in the UK. It accounts for one in every 1,400 cancer cases diagnosed in the country each year. File picture shows cancer cells . Diets very high in salt cured meats and fish or pickled foods are more common in some of these places. These foods can be very high in nitrates and nitrities, which react with protein to form nitrosamines. These chemicals can damage DNA. Studies in China and Hong Kong have shown that babies and young people who eat Chinese cured and salted fish are at an especially high risk of nasopharyngeal cancer later in life. Other studies have looked at the link between certain viruses and developing nasopharyngeal cancer. Specific viruses cause genetic changes in cells that make them more likely to become cancerous in the future. It does not mean that cancers can be caught like an infection. There are links between the Epstein Barr virus and human papilloma virus are certain nasopharyngeal cancers. Those who have relatives who have suffered nasopharyngeal cancer, people who have had chronic ear, nose and throat diseases and smokers all have an increased risk of getting the disease. Symptoms of nasopharyngeal cancer include:- A lump or growth in the neck area that does not disappear after three weeks- Hearing loss- Tinnitus- Fluid collection in the ear- Blocked nose, especially on one side- Blood stained discharge from the nose- Headache- Double vision- Numbness in the lower part of the face- Difficulty in swallowing- Changes in voice - such as hoarseness . Source: Cancer Research UK .
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Claire Hessan complained of hearing loss, a strange itch in her ear and lumps in her neck to her GP in 2008 .
Experts carried out tests and prescribed ear drops as well as a grommet .
But further investigation revealed 39-year-old had a huge cancerous tumour .
Mother-of-two diagnosed with rare nasopharyngeal cancer .
Expert treating her said the cancer is hard to detect because it remains hidden behind the nose and 'presents quite late'
Disease accounts for one in every 1,400 cancer cases in the UK each year .
Ms Hessan has been given the all-clear and is raising money to fight disease .
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Beautiful and brutal in equal parts is the Perito Moreno Glacier in Patagonia's Unesco World Heritage-listed Los Glaciares National Park. The stunning expanse of ice on Lake Argentina covers about 97 square miles, the equivalent of 35,000 football pitches, but is constantly growing and ruptures every year. The 19 mile-long glacier is just 48 miles from the lakeside city of El Calafate and is becoming an increasingly popular tourist attraction, with day trips offered by a number of tour companies. The Perito Moreno Glacier in Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina covers the equivalent of 35,000 football pitches . The sharp edge of the 97 square mile glacier on Lake Argentina, which is constantly growing . The reason behind the glacier's growth is not known but as it advances into the lake it dams a section and causes the water level to rise. Water builds up pressure and eventually ruptures causing large chunks of ice to break from the glacier and water to pour from the dammed section to the main body of the lake. This natural phenomenon occurs as often as once a year. But in between the spectacular ruptures large chunks of ice breaks off from the vast growing mass. These incredible photographs were taken by Polish photographer Jakub Polomski. As well as capturing its sheer magnitude, he also saw a large chunk of ice falling from the glacier and splashing into Lake Argentina. A large chunk of ice from the edge of the Perito Moreno Glacier falls into the water and makes a wave . The Perito Moreno Glacier can be found in Patagonia's UNESCO World Heritage-listed Los Glaciares National Park . Jakub said: 'I was there for the second time in my life, and I was lucky with the weather. It was changing rapidly. The sun was coming out and it was getting warmer quickly. 'I had a feeling that some big part would fall into the water - and it happened. I was there only for about an hour and a really huge piece fell.' Guided treks can be taken on the ice itself ranging from one to five hours - or if going on the glacier is too ominous, visitors can negotiate a walking circuit from the visitor centre to see the spectacular southern and eastern edges. The sheer scale of the natural marvel is imposing with the ice rising almost 250 feet above the surface of the water. The glacier is currently in the midst of a relatively stable period with the most recent of its ruptures taking place in January last year - it busts open, on average, every four or five years but sometimes the gap can be as little as two years. While its terrain appears brutal, hiking tours between one and five hours-long are available on the ice . The dense mass of ice in Patagonia rises more than 70m from the surface of the water . The glacier ruptures on average every four to five years, with its last major event happening in January 2013 .
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Perito Moreno Glacier can be found in Los Glaciares National Park, which is Unesco World Heritage-listed .
Visitors can trek on the surface of the epic glacier which ruptures every four to five years .
The glacier, which covers 97 square miles and is 19 miles long, is 48 miles from the city of El Calafate .
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A World War II assault rifle that belonged to an SS officer was handed in to a gun buy-back organised by police in Connecticut. The rare find, which is worth up to $40,000, would have been sent home by an American soldier who had taken it from a prisoner of war or a German he had killed. Officer Lewis Crabtree, of the Hartford Police Dept, said: 'The chance to see a piece of history - this - is absolutely unbelievable.' Piece of history: The storm rifle is thought to be a Sturmgewehr 44, made in 1944 and issued to SS troops . Remarkable discovery: The gun was brought to the U.S. by an American soldier, who would have taken it from a German he had killed or taken prisoner . The gun was developed in 1944, holds a 30-round magazine and can shoot 500 rounds per minute. It was handed in to the police by a woman on the first weekend of December, when they also collected 55 pistols, 91 revolvers, 13 rifles and two derringers. The buy-back scheme is designed to reduce the number of guns in circulation, and entails police officers purchasing any gun, no questions asked. As soon as they saw this weapon, officers realised it was something out of the ordinary, and agreed to allow the woman to sell it. 'Usually, this rifle would be issued to SS troops,' Officer Crabtree told NBCnews. 'This is a gun that should actually be in a museum rather than in a shredder. 'I give her credit for bringing it to us.' His colleague John Cavanna, a gun historian, added: 'In excellent condition, this gun is rated at $30,000 to $40,000. 'You could kill a soldier back then, and . if the captain of your fighting unit signed off on it, you could send . that gun home to your family or kid brother or cousin. '[The seller's] father, who was a World War II army man, had brought this gun home from the European theater.' Every modern assault rifle produced today is based on this design, Officer Cavanna added. Interesting detail: Officer John Cavanna, a gun historian, was thrilled to see the weapon, which he said was the basis for every modern-day assault rifle . In battle: A photo of a German infantryman with a Sturmgewehr 44 in 1944, taken from the Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv) in Berlin . The gun found at this month's buy-back is believed to be a StG 44 or Sturmgewehr 44 - literally 'storm [or assault] rifle [model of 19]44'). It was developed in Nazi Germany during World War II and was the first of its kind to see major deployment. It is now considered the first modern assault rifle by many historians. Among the attachments available for the StG44 was the Krummlauf, a bent barrel that permitted firing around corners. A trained soldier with a StG44 had an improved tactical repertoire, in that he could engage targets at longer ranges but still be effective in close combat, as well as providing covering fire like a light machine gun. The rifle was also found to be exceptionally reliable in the extreme cold of the Russian winter. Its rate of fire varied between 500 and 600 rpm. A total of 425,977 StG 44s were produced by the end of the war, by which time a newer version was being made. Semi-automatic reproductions are still being made in Germany today. It is unclear how many original StG 44s are left, although a cache of 5,000 were captured by Syrian rebels in the city of Aleppo in August of this year.
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Gun brought to the U.S. by American soldier and passed to his daughter .
It was developed in 1944, holds a 30-round magazine and can shoot 500 rounds per minute .
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Much as exit polls in the U.S. show after the election this week, the economy is a top concern for Chinese leaders as the ruling Communist Party (CCP) gathers Thursday for the 18th Party Congress. The party is expected to select Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang to become the president and premier, respectively, of China for the next decade. The new leaders will take over an economy at a crossroads. On one hand, many analysts predict that when they hand over the reins to the next leaders in 2023, China will be nearing the U.S. as the world's number one economy. On the other hand, the pair will be the first leaders in three decades since China opened to economic reform that haven't presided over double-digit growth. Xi Jinping: From 'sent-down youth' to China's top . "We're going to have to see a new normal," said Wang Feng, director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center, at a recent conference. "The hyper-fast growth rate over the last 10 years is unlikely to be replicated in the future." The challenge is moving China from an export and investment led economy to one based on domestic consumer-based growth. The flood of investment and exports in the past decade helped the nation's economy grow an astounding five times -- from $1.5 trillion in 2002 to an estimated $8.3 trillion this year -- and leap-frogging from the world's sixth largest economy to its second. The stability of modern Communist Party rule has been built on the promise that it will create a better future for China's 1.3 billion citizens, one that has largely been delivered by leaders since Deng Xiaoping opened the country to economic reform in 1979. In that time, more than 600 million people have been lifted out of abject poverty. A government think tank predicted this week that in seven years 600 million Chinese will be part of its swelling middle class. More than half of the country's workers now reside in urban areas, as rural migrants move to cities for better employment opportunities. China's next leaders: Who's who . Now the economy has entered an adolescent phase, analysts say, with a burgeoning middle class that's spending more domestically -- making China the world's number market in everything from beer sales to car purchases. Yet the economy is still strongly tied to exports, as seen by its slowdown in the wake of the European debt crisis and anemic growth in the U.S. Beijing set a target of 7.5% this year, the first time the government has forecast growth below 8% in the past decade. "The average migrant worker's wages increased 15% this year, and inflation is only 1.9%, so that means lower-wage workers can spend," said Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group in Shanghai. "It's the middle class consumer that is getting squeezed, especially at multinational corporations, because their wages are being squeezed." The expectations of China's emerging consumer class are also changing. "When I came to China 20 years ago, the average age of a Chinese worker was 24 -- now the average age is 37," said Chris Devonshire-Ellis, the founding partner of Dezan Shira & Associates in Beijing, which advises firms on foreign direct investments. Shadow of Mao still lingers over China . "When a worker is 24, he's interested in earning a bit of wages, chasing girls, buying cigarettes and beer," Devonshire-Ellis said. "Now that guys is 37, married, has a kid, car, mortgage, wants to send kid to a good school, and travel abroad with the family on trips." But as China's fortune's rise, more of that wealth is going into fewer hands. A study earlier this year by Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in China four that China's top 10% of households surveyed have 57% of the country's total income and 85% of total assets. "Inequality is no longer just a social issue," Feng said. "Very importantly, for the migrant (workers) -- there are about 200 million of them in the cities -- and their income has gone up fast but below those who are older city residents. What do you do with this? They require reform." Addressing income disparity is a thornier proposition than simply building the new roads, airports and other infrastructure projects that have helped propel the Chinese economy. 'One party, two coalitions' -- China's factional politics . "An effective approach to reduce the inequality and to boost consumption is to shift government spending priorities away from massive infrastructure development -- roads, railroads and airports -- and toward social welfare investment," said Professor Gan Li, director of the China Household Finance Survey. "If the government creates a stronger social safety net for its citizens, Chinese workers will feel less pressure to save for health emergencies, unemployment and retirement, and more likely to buy goods and services." The pressure on health and pension services will soon skyrocket. China's one child policy started in the 1980s curbed population growth, but Beijing now faces a rising tide of retiring workers. By 2030 the number of people over the age of 60 will "increase from about 185 million to over 350 million and that's going to be larger than the size of the United States (population)," Wang noted. In his speech at the opening of the Party Congress, outgoing leader Hu Jintao made an ambitious target for 2020 to double per capita income in China from 2010 levels for both rural and urban dwellers -- the first time a resident's per capita income has been included in economic targets, state-run media Xinhua notes. China's 18th Party Congress: Why so secretive? "The development gap between urban and rural areas and between regions is still large, and so are income disparities," Hu said. "Unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable development remains a big problem." It's a clear sign Beijing is worried about income disparity, and the setting of hard targets could put fire to reforms. Time will tell if China's new leadership will be able to deliver.
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Economy is a top concern for Chinese leaders as the ruling Communist Party (CCP) gathers .
Outgoing leader Hu Jintao sets ambitious targets while noting the problem of "income disparity"
Study: China's wealthiest 10% control 57% of total income and 85% of total assets .
New leaders confront a slowing economy, aging workforce and social safety net concerns .
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Port-Au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Haiti's economy is getting a boost thanks to a venture with one of Korea's largest companies that promises to bring 20,000 garment industry jobs to a new industrial park in the north of the country. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive were joined by members of the Interim Haitian Recovery Commission, the Inter-American Development Bank, Haitian business leaders and the chairman of Sae-A Trading Co. Ltd. at the Haiti Apparel Center in Port-au-Prince as they signed an agreement to build the North Industrial Park. It's part of an effort to rebuild the Haitian economy that began even before the earthquake struck one year ago. "This will inspire people all over Latin America, the Caribbean, the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia who have thought seriously about investing in Haiti and not come through," said Clinton. "What we need is a commitment to be competitive in getting investment and putting people to work, and then we need to build the institutions that will allow the people to flower. That is our commitment." Smiling, Bellerive said that looking back over the past year, "This is the best day of my life today." The project is expected to generate $500 million in wages and benefits over 10 years and result in Haiti's first textile mill, according to its backers. Investment in the industrial park will also include the construction of at least 5,000 homes. The United States will oversee the construction of a power grid that will provide electricity to the park and the surrounding area. The garment industry had been the prime source of Haitian exports before the earthquake and it remains so today. About 28,000 people currently work in Haiti's garment sector, manufacturing products for Gap, JCPenney, Wal-Mart, New Balance and other well-known brands. Georges Sassine owns a garment plant in Port-au-Prince that employs 530 people. He believes the garment industry holds the key to growing Haiti's economy and making the country self-sufficient. "Today, this industry represents over 50% of our earned foreign currency earnings. It also represents over 50% of the total commercial exports of Haiti," he said. Sassine didn't have a problem retaining buyers after the earthquake. "We shipped our first container 10 days after the quake. We were ready to do business." At the time, he had to ship his goods over land to the Dominican Republic before delivering them to buyers. Today, he is able to ship goods from a reopened port in the capital, Port-au-Prince.
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The project began even before the January 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti .
Clinton says it will inspire more investment in Haiti .
The plans include a textile mill and 5,000 homes .
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13741cb129fe26d78203814c9254a70a45e15013
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Sao Paulo (CNN)How's this for a miraculous outcome? A Brazilian man who was stabbed in the head during an argument survived despite the knife being lodged in his skull for over three hours. Motorcycle taxi driver Juacelo Nunes de Oliveira was at a party in a bar in the city of Agua Branca, in northeastern Piaui state, last Sunday when he got into an altercation. The 39-year-old was stabbed four times, three times in the torso, with one wound perforating a lung, and once in the head. He was first taken for treatment at a nearby hospital before being transferred to the Emergency Hospital of Teresina, a city 100 kilometers (62 miles) away -- with the knife handle protruding from his head all the while. "It took him nearly three hours to arrive here at the hospital," Dr. Gilberto Albuquerque, general surgeon and hospital director, told CNN on Friday. "He had the knife lodged in his head for this whole period but he was not aware of it," he said. "We believe the shock and a bit of the drinking may have helped him not to understand the knife was still in his head." Pictures released by the military show Oliveira lying on a hospital trolley with what looks like a kitchen knife embedded in his skull up to the handle, just to the side of his left eyebrow. According to Albuquerque, the knife stopped only when it got stuck in the man's lower jaw. Oliveira was very lucky, he said -- and not just to be alive. "The knife crossed his head just behind the optical nerve, got very close to the olfactory nerve and (was) just a fraction from the gustatory nerve. He could have been blinded and could have lost his senses of smell and taste, but none of that happened and he is alive and healthy." The surgery to remove the knife was very delicate, since any slip could have breached arteries and led the patient to bleed to death, Albuquerque said. It took the hospital surgery team two and half hours to complete, and was considered to be a success. "He left the hospital yesterday, five days after coming in with a knife in his head," Albuquerque said. "He is healthy and perfect and he had no ill after-effects."
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Juacelo Nunes de Oliveira was stabbed three times in the torso and once in the head .
He didn't realize he had a knife stuck in his head for over three hours, doctor says .
The man has left hospital alive and well, with all his senses intact .
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Tony Abbott never explained what he meant when he threatened to 'shirtfront' Vladimir Putin but that hasn't stopped it from being named 2014's Word Of The Year. The Australian National Dictionary Centre chose the term following Prime Minister Tony Abbott's somewhat undiplomatic threat to the Russian president over the Australian victims of MH17 ahead of the G20 summit in Brisbane. 'I'm going to shirtfront Mr Putin,' Mr Abbott infamously said in October. 'I am going to be saying to Mr Putin Australians were murdered.' Scroll down for video . Shirtfront has been named the 2014 Word Of The Year after Tony Abbott's threat to Vladimir Putin . Australian National Dictionary Centre president Amanda Laugesen said the word was selected after it became prominent following Mr Abbott's statement – largely because there was confusion over what he meant . The comment made global headlines and was described as 'unfortunate' by the Kremlin. Australian National Dictionary Centre president Amanda Laugesen said the word was selected after it became prominent following Mr Abbott's threat – largely because there was confusion over what he actually meant. Shirt-front is mostly used in AFL to describe an aggressive front-on bump to an opponent and in rugby it refers to grabbing an opponent's jersey. But Dr Laugesen said it has a lesser-known figurative meaning - to challenge or confront a person – which dates back to the 1980s. Prime Minister Abbott made the somewhat undiplomatic threat to the Russian president over the Australian victims of MH17 ahead of the G20 summit in Brisbane . 'We don't know for sure what Abbott meant when he said it because he never really returned to it,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'But he certainly could have been aware of that more figurative use.' Foreign Minister Julie Bishop reports the term has now entered the diplomatic lexicon of many countries. British Prime Minister David Cameron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi both used the word in jest when addressing federal parliament. Also on the centre's short list were man-bun (as worn by Chris Hemsworth, left), Ned Kelly beard (right) Shirt-front was triumphant over another prime ministerial catchphrase - 'Team Australia'. Also on the centre's short list were man-bun, Ned Kelly beard and coward punch. 'Man-bun and Ned Kelly beard are both associated with hipsters,' Dr Laugesen said. 'We often pick up on popular culture type words, so those are the two we saw really take off this year both in people adopting them and their use mainstream media.'
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The Australian National Dictionary Centre has named 'shirtfront' as its word of the year .
'Shirtfront' came to prominence after Prime Minister Tony Abbott used the term to threaten Russian president Vladimir Putin .
The term made global news and was labelled 'unfortunate' by the Kremlin .
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1374e965cf091ce058b3db6fe0a2239355684086
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(CNN Student News) -- March 15, 2010 . Download PDF maps related to today's show: . • New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut • British Columbia, Canada • Washington, D.C. Transcript . THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: You can beware the Ides of March, but there's nothing to fear about today's broadcast of CNN Student News. Reporting from the CNN Center, I'm Carl Azuz. First Up: Health Care Push . AZUZ: First up, President Obama postpones a trip overseas so that he can stay in Washington and work on health care. He's called it the top priority for the U.S., and the president, along with Democratic leaders in Congress, all think it's important for him to stay in the U.S. to help rally support for the health care reform bill being considered by lawmakers. A House committee is scheduled to hold a vote on it today. Republicans are against President Obama's health care plan. Some want to scrap it and start over. Yesterday, on CNN's "State of the Union" with Candy Crowley, a top Republican in Congress talked about why a health care bill hasn't passed yet, and President Obama's top political adviser discussed why it might pass now. REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R) MINORITY LEADER: They tried to do this in June and July last year. If they had the votes, then it would be law. They tried to pass it in September, October, November, December, January, February. Guess what? They don't have the votes. The American people don't want to take the step toward government-run health insurance. It's a dangerous step, because we do have the best health care system in the world. DAVID AXELROD, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: We're very optimistic about the outcome of this process. I think people have come to the realization that this is the moment, and if we don't act now, there'll be dire consequences for people all over this country. Severe Weather . AZUZ: Heading up the coast to the northeastern U.S. now, where some areas are recovering from severe storms over the weekend. And we mean huge storms. New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania: all of them hit with heavy rains and hurricane force winds gusting over 70 miles per hour. The storms knocked down trees, affected air travel, left more than half a million people without power. One official said part of the reason the trees and utility poles fell over is because the ground was so wet from all the snow that the region's been hit with this winter. The force of nature also being felt on the other side of North America. An avalanche struck a snowmobile competition in British Columbia, Canada on Saturday. As of yesterday afternoon, authorities said two people had been killed and 30 others were injured. USNS Comfort . AZUZ: The USNS Comfort is on its way back home after spending nearly two months helping out earthquake victims in Haiti. The Navy hospital ship is expected to arrive at its home pier in Baltimore, Maryland by the end of this week. Saturday, the Comfort pulled in to Norfolk, Virginia. It had been in the harbor of Port-au-Prince since January, a base for medical care for victims of the catastrophic quake that hit Haiti. Staff on the Comfort performed more than 800 surgeries during the mission. There were times when 10 different operating rooms on the ship were all running simultaneously. Female Football Coach . AZUZ: Natalie Randolph, whom you see right here, is a science teacher at Calvin Coolidge Senior High in Washington, D.C. Science teacher, though, is not her only title. Randolph is the school's new, head varsity football coach. She's been an assistant coach at other schools and she's played women's professional football. It is extremely rare for a high school football team to have a female coach, and some women's groups are calling this announcement historic. Randolph says history is not her focus. NATALIE RANDOLPH, COOLIDGE HIGH SCHOOL HEAD FOOTBALL COACH: Some people will undoubtedly want to focus on my gender, and they'll focus on the historical meaning of this day. But I would much rather focus on something that all dedicated coaches already know: I'm here to give these young men, these student athletes, these wonderful students, the best opportunity and guidance to succeed in the classroom, make good decisions at home, and perform well on the football field. And while I'm proud to be part of what this all means, being female has nothing to do with it. I love football. I love football. I love teaching. I love these kids. Promo . AZUZ: CNNStudentNews.com. It is your favorite Web site; you know it! This week we're going to be highlighting some different parts of our site, like the Spotlight section. You see it right here. If you want to learn more about the stories covered in our show, head to the Spotlight section; that's where you will find more info. It includes links to our free curriculum materials, and that includes our Women's History Month Learning Activities. That's what you're looking at right now. They're totally free, like everything at CNNStudentNews.com. We also have links to special programming like the CNN Challenge and our weekly Extra Credit segment. So log on, see what's in the Spotlight today! Shoutout . TOMEKA JONES, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Today's Shoutout goes out to Mr. Struna's U.S. history classes at Stone Middle School in Melbourne, Florida! You may know that the first 3 digits of pi are 3.14. What is the fourth digit? Is it: A) 1, B) 3, C) 5 or D) 7? You've got three seconds -- GO! 3.1415926... and so on, is the more expanded number. That's your answer and that's your Shoutout! Education the World . AZUZ: Pi is irrational. Celebrating pi? Maybe a little odd. Celebrating pi by eating pie? Now you're talking! That is just one way that people participate in Pi Day. March 14th. 3.14. That's why. The holiday has been gaining steam recently as people around the world pay homage to pi on Pi Day. We don't know whether Sal Kahn did anything special yesterday. What we do know is that Mr. Kahn has a gift for numbers, and he's sharing that gift with the world. Dan Simon explains how. (BEGIN VIDEO) DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT, SAN FRANCISCO: Sal Khan lives in California outside of San Francisco. Sara Shadid, halfway around the globe in Dubai. Their lives are interconnected, but Khan doesn't know it. This is a story about how one man is helping to educate the world, but has never seen any of his students face-to-face. Where does this passion come from? SALMAN KHAN, YOUTUBE CALCULUS TEACHER: You know, I think I have always enjoyed teaching. SIMON: It is about a man who gave up a lucrative career in Silicon Valley for what might look like a boring desk job. KHAN: Right now, I'm cash-flow negative. SIMON: But it was never about money. And with his drive and education, Khan could have made millions. He was valedictorian of his high school with a perfect math score on the SAT. Then came MIT; Bill Clinton handing him his diploma. Next, Harvard Business School. He was lured into hedge funds and did well. But Khan, who has a wife and son to support, gave it up. KHAN: A lot of people thought I was kind of crazy. Obviously, you know, when every waking hour you have, you would sneak into a room and make math videos and put them on YouTube, people kind of questioned what's up. SIMON: Here is what is up: Khan's YouTube videos. KHAN: Let's do a couple more examples and I think you might get it. KHAN: They have been clicked on more than nine million times from users around the world. The topics range from math to chemistry to economics. SARA SHADID, CALCULUS STUDENT: From every curriculum, we can use the videos. He's really helpful. SIMON: One of his users: 19-year-old college sophomore Sara Shadid in Dubai. She says that the videos made all of the difference in helping her conquer calculus. This gigantic virtual school originates from the smallest of places, from a tiny converted closet inside Sal's master bedroom. This is where he is able to reach an estimated 80,000 knowledge-seeking users a month. It all started a few years ago when a cousin wanted some online math tutoring. Pretty soon, other relatives started asking for similar help. Suddenly, people he didn't know started watching. It is now called the Khan Academy. The videos are short and simply produced; only his voice with a simple black background and graphics. KHAN: There are a lot of people who need help with their math, science, whatever. And I think they find these YouTube videos as kind of the ideal nuggets to fill in their gaps. SIMON: Whatever you call him or his teachings, the success of his site has validated that decision to walk away from hedge funds. Dan Simon, CNN, San Francisco. (END VIDEO) River Going Green . AZUZ: The Chicago River is going green! It has nothing to do with envy or the environment. This switch in shade is all about St. Patrick's Day! Every year since 1962, Chicago residents have come out to watch the city's river get a dye job. Organizers say the bright green color only lasts about five hours nowadays. When the event started back in '62, the river stayed green for five days. Before We Go . AZUZ: Before we go, we have another story about waiting for nature to run its course. ROBERT ROSIN, JEWELRY STORE OWNER: And you saw Soli go for the diamond. Gobbled it up. Tried to pull it out of his mouth. Couldn't get it. Gone. AZUZ: This is Soli. And that diamond he gobbled up is worth $20,000! The vet said the only thing to do was wait for the diamond to reappear. After three days of hand wringing and probably a lot of hand washing... Goodbye . AZUZ: ...Everything came out all right in the end. That story is just flush with pun-tential. But we will keep it clean. For CNN Student News, I'm Carl Azuz.
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Discover the reason why President Obama postponed a trip overseas .
Meet a high school, varsity football coach who stands out in the field .
Hear how one tutor helps out thousands of students around the world .
Use the Daily Discussion to help students understand today's featured news stories .
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(CNN) -- An elderly woman who was known as Colombia's "Queen of Cocaine" was gunned down in the northwestern city of Medellin, police said Tuesday. Griselda Blanco, 69, was killed by two bullets at close range -- a violent end not unlike the ones that authorities say she ordered during her prime in the 1970s and 1980s. Witnesses heard the roar of a motorcycle and two gunshots Monday afternoon, Medellin police spokesman Diego Chavarria said. By the time authorities arrived at the scene in Belen, a residential neighborhood in Medellin, they found Blanco lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Blanco, also known as "the godmother" and "mafia's mother," gained notoriety in the 1970s and '80s when, authorities say, she was responsible for shipping multi-ton shipments of cocaine from Colombia to Miami. She was also the mastermind, investigators say, of countless murders. She was also linked to drug lord Pablo Escobar. Previously on CNN.com: Alleged leader of Colombia's Rastrojos drug gang arrested . In 1975, Blanco was charged in Miami with conspiring to manufacture, smuggle and distribute cocaine in the United States. For the next decade, she lived in Colombia, using false names and documents to hide from authorities. The Drug Enforcement Administration arrested Blanco in Irvine, California, in 1985. She was convicted and sentenced to six years in prison. But prosecutors were not done with her. Blanco was charged in 1994 with ordering three murders in the Miami area. The killings -- including that of 3-year-old Johnny Castro, who was shot while riding in a car with his targeted father -- happened in 1982. Talking about her case at the time she was charged, Al Singleton, a sergeant with the Metro Dade Police Department, said police believed Blanco was responsible for dozens of murders in the Miami area. "If she was not one of the most prolific traffickers in the Miami area, she clearly was one of the most violent. We've got her, conservatively, estimating her to be involved in at least 40 homicides between Miami, Queens and Broward County," he said at the time. After serving her sentence, Blanco was deported to her native Colombia in 2004, where she apparently lived a quiet life. Local media reported that she was gunned down as she was leaving a butcher shop with a pregnant daughter-in-law, who was not injured. According to a report by CNN affiliate Caracol TV, Blanco was the mother of four children. One of them is still serving a sentence for drug trafficking in the United States, and two were murdered. The fourth lives in Colombia. Colombia peace talks set for October .
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Griselda Blanco was a high-profile trafficker in Colombia and the United States .
She was released from a U.S. prison in 2004 .
She is believed to have been living a quiet life in Medellin .
She was gunned down Monday .
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By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 15:14 EST, 19 March 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 15:14 EST, 19 March 2013 . A Canadian porn actor accused of dismembering his Chinese lover and mailing the body parts to political parties and schools has collapsed in court today, during the second week of his preliminary hearing. Luka Magnotta, 30, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the gruesome slaying and dismemberment of Jun Lin last May. He is accused of killing the university student and posting a video online that shows him stabbing and having sex with the dismembered corpse. Scroll down for video . Tumble: Wearing a black sweater with colored stripes, Magnotta, shown in a court sketch from today, appeared distressed during a video evidence session, before collapsing . Wearing a black sweater with colored . stripes, Magnotta appeared distressed during a video evidence session . this morning. The evidence is subject to a publication ban, until it is . determined that there is enough evidence to go to trial. He held his hand over his mouth and asked the guard in his glass-enclosed defendant's box for a five-minute break. He stood up and collapsed on the floor just after the judge agreed to an extended lunch break. According to Canadian Press, he was all of a sudden lying on his right side, crumpled into a fetal position, in the courtroom, still handcuffed and shackled. Overcome: The suspect, pictured in court sketch, held his hand over his mouth and asked the guard in his glass-enclosed defendant's box for a five-minute break . 'You might want to make room for an ambulance,' the Crown prosecutor, Louis Bouthillier, told the guards outside the courtroom. 'Somebody's collapsed.' Canadian Press said Magnotta's eyes were fixed on the ground not on the screen where the, presumably gruesome, video evidence was being shown. When he began covering his mouth, his lawyers came to check on him and 10 minutes into that segment of the hearing he asked the baliff to his side to request the break. As well as first-degree murder, Magnotta is also facing four other charges relating to the case. He is accused of dismembering Lin and mailing parts of his body across Canada, before leading police on an international manhunt before he was finally arrested in Germany. Grisly: Porn actor Luka Rocco Magnotta (left) is . accused of chopping up his boyfriend Jun Lin (right) and eating a part . of his body . Grim death: Lin, pictured, was a Chinese student studying in Montreal . Sick: Magnotta, pictured left and right, was looking at the ground not on the screen where the, presumably gruesome, video evidence was being shown . Lin's parents were not in the . courtroom on Tuesday morning. His father has attended the preliminary . hearing, which began March 11, sporadically but has not stayed in the courtroom when the most . graphic evidence has been heard. The . porn actor first appeared in court last Monday as his lawyers . unsuccessfully sought to close pre-trial proceedings to the press and . public. Magnotta has observed all hearings from a glass enclosure in the packed Montreal court room. During the proceedings, which are expected to last another one to two weeks, prosecutors are outlining the case against 30-year-old Magnotta and seek to persuade a judge they have enough evidence for the case to go to trial. On March 11, appearing for the first time since soon . after his June arrest, Magnotta wore a white T-shirt and khaki trousers, . leaning back in his chair as he listened to legal arguments. Also . in the courtroom was Diran Lin, father of victim Jun Lin, whose . dismembered body parts were mailed to schools and political parties in . the Canadian capital Ottawa and Vancouver in a crime that shocked Canada . and gained international notoriety. All eyes on me: A court sketch of Luka Rocco Magnotta as he appears for a preliminary hearing on March 11 in Montreal, Canada. He accused of murdering and dismembering his Chinese boyfriend . Ordeal: Daran Lin, father of murder victim Jun Lin heads to court with a translator in Montreal on Monday. His son was allegedly dismembered by Magnotta and his body parts mailed to political parties and schools . Magnotta is accused of first-degree murder, interfering with a dead body and other charges. He has pleaded not guilty. 'This . is the worst thing a family can endure. We are empty,' the Journal de . Montreal quoted Diran Lin as saying in an interview ahead of the . hearing. 'We had so much hope for Jun Lin.' Police say the video, which they believe is genuine, showed a man stabbing his victim to death before dismembering the corpse and then eating part of the body. Lin's hands and feet were mailed in May to the offices of political parties in Ottawa and to schools in Vancouver. His torso was found in a pile of garbage behind Magnotta's Montreal apartment, and his head was discovered in a Montreal park in July. Lin was a student at Concordia University in Montreal. Initial arguments revolved around an unusual defense request to exclude the public and the media, which was denied. The court imposed a publication ban on the evidence presented. Hazardous material: A police officer carries a yellow bag with the bloody package that contains the festering foot mailed to Conservative Party headquarters last May . Lock down: Luka Rocco Magnotta is returned under arrest to Canada after going on the run through France and Germany .
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Luka Rocco Magnotta, 30, fell to the ground and curled into the fetal position in a packed Montreal courtroom today .
It is the second week of a pre-trial hearing to determine whether Magnotta will go to trial for the alleged murder of Chinese exchange student Jun Lin .
Lin's father earlier said: 'This is the worst thing a family can endure. We are empty'
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A man who dedicated all his free time to giving back was tragically killed on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Dionel Ramirez, of North Amityville, New York, pulled up to a local 7-11 and left his car running while he ran in to get a coffee and food to bring to a local soup kitchen. As he was inside, a man jumped in his car and began to drive away, so Ramirez ran out in front of the car. The thief ran over Ramirez, a 69-year-old U.S. Army veteran, and kept driving. Scroll down for video . Tragedy: Dionel Ramirez (above) was killed when a carjacker ran him over with his own car . Do-gooder: It all happened at a 7-11 (above) as Ramirez ran in to grab food to hand out to the homeless . Ramirez was pronounced dead later in the day at Southside Hospital. 'It’s just crazy what happened,' Ramirez’s daughter Michelle told 1010 WINS’ Darius Radzius. 'I thought it was just going to be another normal day, especially after Thanksgiving.' The car was later found abandoned nearby and the police investigation is ongoing. Michelle just wants to thief brought to justice, especially after losing such a special man. 'He came from a county that was poor, he wants to give back to the people that are less fortunate,' she said. Shattered: His daughter Michelle (above) said that her father dedicated his life to giving back . Det. Lt. Kevin Beyrer believes there were eyewitnesses and he has encouraged anyone who may have seen this tragedy to contact authorities immediately. Anyone with information is asked to call Homicide Squad detectives at 631-852-6392 or call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.
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Dionel Ramirez of North Amityville, New York, stopped at a 7-11 early Friday morning to grab food to feed the homeless .
As he was in the store, a man jumped in his car and tried to drive off .
Ramirez jumped in front of the car and the thief ran him over, killing him .
Their is an ongoing investigation, but no suspects at this time .
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By . John Stevens for the Daily Mail . Britain could face a eurozone-style currency crisis if Scotland votes for independence, leading bankers have warned. Goldman Sachs said a Yes vote 'could have severe consequences' for both Scotland and the rest of the UK. It cited the rush to withdraw money from Greece and Spain, which led to economic turmoil and mass unemployment. Goldman Sachs has warned of the 'severe consequences' for both Scotland and the rest of the UK if voters back independence on September 18 . Kevin Daly, a senior economist at the firm, said the Bank of England could be forced to use taxpayers' money to prop up the pound within hours of a Yes vote. Even this would not prevent 'negative consequences', he added. The prospect of Scottish independence saw sterling approach a five-month low this week, after polls showed the No campaign's lead had dropped significantly. Ed Miliband will today become the latest high-profile Westminster politician aiming to shore up the pro-union vote. He will tell Scottish voters not to use their referendum to rid themselves of the Tory-led government because he says he'll win the general election. The Labour leader will claim the Conservatives are 'on their way out' in an attempt to persuade his party's traditional voters to reject independence. SNP leader Alex Salmond, who visited Brownings Bakers bakery in Kilmarnock yesterday, has seen a surge in support for independence . The latest opinion polls show up to 30 per cent of Labour's natural supporters may be ready to switch allegiance and back Alex Salmond's plan to break up Britain. Many are thought to have been wooed by the SNP's message that a vote for independence would mean Scotland would no longer be ruled by English Tory ministers sitting in Westminster. Now, in a speech at Blantyre in South Lanarkshire, Mr Miliband will make a series of pledges in a bid to shore up the No vote. The tone of the speech is in marked contrast to the pro-union campaign so far, which has seen the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats working closely together. It is understood the new tactic was signed off by Tory strategists within the Better Together campaign. Winning over undecided Scots in Labour heartlands such as Glasgow is seen as crucial to reviving the No campaign, which has seen its lead slip from 22 percentage points to just six in one month. Mr Miliband will say that 'as Prime Minister' in eight months' time he will tax bankers' bonuses, raise the minimum wage, introduce a new higher rate of tax and abolish the so-called bedroom tax. 'The SNP want to tell you we can't defeat the Tories. They are wrong,' he will say. 'Change is coming in the UK - the Tories are on their way out. They are losing their MPs, they are defecting, divided and downhearted. 'A Labour government is within our grasp. With that election in just eight months' time the change Scotland needs is on its way. Electing a Labour government is the way to change Scotland.' He will claim: 'We will abolish the bedroom tax. Abolish it in Dundee, in Glasgow, but also in Carlisle, Newcastle and Nottingham.' Mr Miliband, David Cameron and Nick Clegg were accused of complacency at Prime Minister's Questions yesterday, as the main parties were urged to 'drop everything' and fight for a No vote. The latest YouGov poll shows a sharp narrowing in the lead for the No campaign ahead of the independence referendum on September 18 . Tory MP Sir Edward Leigh said: 'If we were to lose the Union, it would be not only a disaster for Scotland, but a national humiliation of catastrophic proportions.' Mr Cameron replied: 'The leaders of the parties in this House have all put aside their differences and said that, in spite of the political differences we have, we all agree about one thing: not only is Scotland better off inside the United Kingdom, but the United Kingdom is better off with Scotland inside it.' Of the 650 MPs in Westminster, 59 represent Scottish seats; Labour, which accounts for 41 of these, would be the hardest-hit by a Yes vote. Without Scotland, the Tories would have had a 21-seat majority at the 2010 election. The Scottish Nationalists' campaign has been boosted by two polls in the last week, which suggested 47 per cent of decided voters will back independence, compared with 53 per cent who will vote No. Mr Daly warned: 'Even if the sterling monetary union does not break up in the event of a Yes vote, the threat of a break-up would provide investors with a strong incentive to sell Scottish-based assets, and households with a strong incentive to withdraw deposits from Scottishbased banks. 'The most important specific risk, in our view, is that the uncertainty over whether an independent Scotland would be able to retain sterling as its currency could result in a [Europe-style] currency crisis occurring within the UK.'
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Bank firm likens risk to withdraw money from Greece and Spain .
Pound slumped to five-month low this week after polls showed Yes surge .
Latest polls show the Yes campaign is now just six points behind .
Labour voters backing independence up from 18%-30% in a month .
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137727608b0123d8024d5fa7480da4da8f69203f
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Painted by the greatest ever artist, it is the world’s most famous picture, with the most famous smile. The painting has been imitated a thousand times, satirised, stolen and vandalised with acid, red paint, stones and even a teacup. And now, it seems, there might be a second Mona Lisa — a bigger Mona, with a less enigmatic, slightly jollier smile, and a pair of new classical columns on either side of her mysterious, beguiling face. On Friday in Geneva, the Isleworth Mona Lisa is to be revealed by its owners — a Swiss consortium, who argue that their version is Leonardo’s first stab at the painting; and that the famous version, held in the Louvre in Paris, was his second bite of the cherry. Anatoly Karpov, the chess grandmaster and member of the Mona Lisa Foundation, will unveil the painting. In comparison: The real Mona Lisa, Leonardo's enigmatic masterpiece, is seen (left); while the Isleworth Mona Lisa, a younger likeness between two pillars, is also shown (right) Opinion within the art world is split over whether it is a real Leonardo or a later copy, painted in the late 16th century, long after the original was executed, between 1503 and 1519. Among those backing the theory that it is genuine are Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the Museo Ideale Leonardo da Vinci in Vinci, the artist’s birthplace on the edge of Florence. On Friday, he will present the reasons for his conclusion, alongside Carlo Pedretti, of the University of California. A spokesman for the Mona Lisa Foundation has promised that, on Friday, the foundation will produce ‘historical, comparative and scientific evidence’ that the painting ‘was indeed executed by Leonardo’. Not everyone is so convinced. ‘I would have to be deeply sceptical,’ says Philip Mould, the portrait expert, Antiques Roadshow presenter and host of Fake Or Fortune? ‘It would be an extraordinary find, the ultimate prize. Leonardo did do variants [different versions of the same picture], like his Madonna Of The Rocks in last year’s National Gallery show. So it wouldn’t be unheard of for him to do another Mona Lisa. ‘Still, you must remember that about one new supposed Mona Lisa turns up on the market every year. You’d have to look at the provenance and history of this one very, very carefully.’ The known history of this second Mona goes back to 1914, when it was bought by a critic and artist called Hugh Blaker, from Isleworth, West London — hence the name. World famous: The painting by Leonardo da Vinci, pictured, has been imitated a thousand times, satirised, stolen and vandalised with acid, red paint, stones and even a teacup . Blaker bought the picture from a grand collection in Somerset, where it had apparently hung on the walls for a century. In 1962, an American art collector, Henry F. Pulitzer, bought the painting and devoted much of his life to proving it was an original. He even wrote a book backing his claim, Where Is The Mona Lisa?, published by the Pulitzer Press, his own company. 'I would have to be deeply sceptical. It would be an extraordinary find, the ultimate prize' Philip Mould, portrait expert . Pulitzer — and other defenders of the Isleworth Mona Lisa — depend for their attribution on Leonardo’s 16th-century biographer, Giorgio Vasari, himself a painter. Vasari said that Leonardo started the Mona Lisa in 1503 and ‘left it unfinished’. But then, in 1517, said Vasari, a completed picture of a ‘certain Florentine lady’ popped up in Leonardo’s collection. This picture is the Louvre version, while the unfinished earlier version was the Isleworth Leonardo, or so the theory goes. That order of events would explain why the Isleworth Mona Lisa looks younger than the famous version — because it was, theoretically, painted years before the famous version. Pulitzer also depended for his theory on Raphael, the painter and contemporary of Da Vinci, who sketched a version of the Mona Lisa in 1504. His sketch included the columns that are found in the Isleworth version. The final big piece in the jigsaw, said Pulitzer, was a 1584 art history book, Trattato dell’arte della Pittura Scultura ed Architettura, by Giovanni Lomazzo, which refers to ‘della Gioconda, e di Mona Lisa’ — ‘the Gioconda, and the Mona Lisa’ — suggesting there were two pictures. Admiration: Art fans look at the Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo da Vinci, left, in the Louvre museum in Paris . The Gioconda is an alternative title for the Mona Lisa; Mona is an abbreviation of ‘Ma donna’, or My Lady, while Gioconda is Italian for the jocund, or happy, one. The sitter’s real name is in fact thought to be Lisa Gherardini, wife of a rich Florence silk merchant, Francesco del Giocondo. On Leonardo’s death in 1519, the picture — the Louvre’s version, that is! — was left to his assistant, Salai, who in turn sold it to King Francis I of France. The painting remained in the royal collection until the French Revolution in 1789, when it was moved to the Louvre. There it has remained ever since, with a few notable absences. Napoleon kept it in his bedroom in the Tuileries Palace and, during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1, it was transferred for safekeeping to the Arsenal in Brest. During World War II, it migrated all over France to avoid damage. It has also been on tour to New York and Washington, Tokyo and Moscow. But the picture’s biggest excursion was in 1911, when it was stolen by an Italian Louvre worker, called Vincenzo Peruggia, who wanted it returned to Italy. He pulled off the biggest art theft in history in the simplest way: hiding in a broom cupboard during the day, then slipping out after closing time, the Mona Lisa stuffed under his coat. He kept it in his flat for two years and was only discovered when he brazenly tried to flog the picture to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Extraordinary skill: Leonardo's exceptional Lady With An Ermine was painted in around 1490, nearly 15 years before the Louvre's Mona Lisa; and already it displays Leonardo's supreme talent . That wasn’t the end of Mona Lisa’s troubles. In 1956, the poor old girl was first scarred with acid, and then attacked with a rock. Bulletproof glass protected it when, in 1974, a disabled woman, protesting against the Louvre’s policy on handicapped visitors, threw red paint at the picture. The glass again saved the picture only three years ago, when an angry Russian woman, denied French citizenship, threw a teacup at the painting. Meanwhile, the other supposed Mona Lisa gathered dust in a Swiss bank vault, where it has rested for 40 years. After Pulitzer’s death, he left the picture to his girlfriend and, on her death, the Swiss consortium bought it. 'She might look younger, but this is probably because the copyist — and I believe it is a copy done a few years after the Mona Lisa — just painted it that way' Martin Kemp, Oxford University . This Friday, the art world will examine it in the flesh for the first time since Pulitzer briefly exhibited it in an American show half-a-century ago. Many art historians remain doubtful. ‘So much is wrong,’ says the Leonardo expert and emeritus professor of art at Oxford University, Martin Kemp. ‘The dress, the hair and background landscape. This one is also painted on canvas, which Leonardo rarely did.’ The famous Mona Lisa is painted on wood, as are practically all of his paintings. ‘She might look younger,’ says Professor Kemp, ‘but this is probably because the copyist — and I believe it is a copy done a few years after the Mona Lisa — just painted it that way.’ The theory used to go that, because the Isleworth picture was done earlier in Leonardo’s career, he had not matured in style when he painted it. That theory was blown out of the water last year at the National Gallery exhibition, when his exceptional Lady With An Ermine was shown. That picture was painted in around 1490, nearly 15 years before the Louvre’s Mona Lisa; and already it displays Leonardo’s supreme talent. ‘That show confirmed his extraordinary skill in the way he expressed skin and modelling,’ says Philip Mould. ‘You’d have to have a dispassionate look at the technique in the Isleworth picture, and do lots of forensics. But still, nothing is impossible.’ And so the art world will wait with bated breath until Thursday, when the door of that Swiss bank vault creaks open, to see if lightning really did strike twice for the world’s greatest artist.
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Isleworth Mona Lisa to be revealed by its owners on Friday in Geneva .
Swiss consortium argue their version is his first stab at the painting .
Opinion split over whether painting is a real Leonardo or later copy .
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137797fd34ea672ca506d1c8848d0da355baf7d9
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(CNN) -- Former South African rugby World Cup winner Ruben Kruger has passed away following a long battle with brain cancer. The ex-Cheetahs and Bulls flanker was first diagnosed with the illness during the early 2000s at the end of a successful career that saw him earn 36 Springboks caps. Kruger, who was just two months short of his 40th birthday, made his debut against Argentina in Buenos Aires during 1993 and was named South African Rugby Player of the Year in 1995 -- the year the country lifted the World Cup. "Ruben Kruger was the epitome of the Springbok flanker, tough, indomitable and with an outstanding work ethic," Oregan Hoskins, president of the South African Rugby Union (SARU), told reporters. "When Ruben was on the field you always knew that the Springboks would not be beaten without a tremendous battle. "Our prayers have been with him through his battles against illness and it is very sad to hear of his early passing. Our thoughts are with his young family and we extend to them our sincerest condolences." Kruger made his final appearance in the green and gold against New Zealand in 1999.
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Former South African rugby World Cup winner Ruben Kruger passes away .
The flanker dies aged 39 following a long battle with brain cancer .
Kruger was named Player of the Year in 1995, the year the Springboks won the World Cup .
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1377afc65ce4d8219cf66b5c38445cb9827dd20f
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Usually airline passengers side with flight attendants when it comes to safety, but in the case of a US Airways flight Wednesday night, passengers rallied around a blind man and his guide dog and disembarked en masse. All 35 passengers on US Airways Flight 4384 walked off the plane after Albert Rizzi, a blind man from Long Island, and his dog, Doxy, were escorted off the flight after a heated exchange between Rizzi and a flight attendant about where his dog was placed, according to Rizzi. Although he was first to arrive on the tarmac for the flight from Philadelphia International Airport to MacArthur Airport on Long Island, Rizzi said he and his dog were the last to be seated on the small plane. He was seated in the middle of the back row looking onto the aisle with no seat in front of him for Doxy to lie under. Shortly after boarding, Rizzi said a flight attendant told him the dog would need to go under a seat for safety reasons. Several passengers in Rizzi's row offered to have the dog lay under their seats, and he was placed under the seat of the woman to his left, according to Rizzi. The plane was then delayed nearly two hours. While the plane was sitting on the runway, Doxy got up to reposition himself a few times, ending up under Rizzi's seat against the back of the plane, Rizzi said. The flight attendant asked Rizzi to control his dog and keep him underneath his neighbor's seat, according to Rizzi. After a heated exchange between Rizzi and the flight attendant, the pilot announced the plane would be returning to the gate, Rizzi said. Rizzi and his dog were then escorted off the plane by airport security, according to Rizzi. School opens 'investigation' after airline kicks students off plane . After Rizzi and Doxy were removed from the plane, passengers demanded that the flight attendant be removed from the plane and Rizzi let back on, said passenger Kurt Budke. He said that all 35 passengers banded together in support of Rizzi, and after realizing the passengers would not budge, the pilot announced the flight was canceled. If the flight attendant had tried to make alternate accommodations for Rizzi, Budke believes that the situation could have been avoided completely. "US Airways is sorry for the inconvenience, and we are looking into the situation to see if it was handled properly," US Airways spokeswoman Liz Landau said Thursday. She added that the pilot and the flight crew elected to return to the gate due to the safety concerns caused by the actions of the dog and said Rizzi was verbally abusive to the flight attendant. Landau said that the pilot and flight crew didn't feel that it was safe to operate the flight after seeing how upset the customers were at the incident and said that the pilot asked everyone to disembark once it reached the gate. US Airways then provided free buses from the Philadelphia airport to the Long Island airport, Landau said. "This became the most wonderful experience, out of the most horrible experience. I found that humanity does exist, and people can do the right thing," Rizzi said, referring to the actions of his fellow passengers. Rizzi said he has not been contacted by US Airways since the incident and is considering legal action. "They picked the wrong guy to mess with," Rizzi said. He is active in the blind community and sits on the disability advisory board for Suffolk County, where he resides. Rizzi became blind eight years ago after surviving meningitis and has had Doxy for seven years. Rizzi said Doxy is short for Doxology, meaning "praise to God" and "a new beginning." When they were matched seven years ago, Doxy was just beginning his service as a guide dog and Rizzi was just beginning his life as a blind man.
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Albert Rizzi, who is blind, boarded a US Airways flight with guide dog, Doxy .
Rizzi says he got into a heated exchange with a flight attendant over Doxy's placement .
Rizzi and Doxy escorted off the plane; other passengers followed in support .
US Airways says it is investigating and that the pilot canceled flight for safety .
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The only known suspect in the disappearance of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham was in custody Wednesday night. Jesse Matthew, who had been sought on suspicion of abduction with the intent to defile, was arrested in Galveston County, Texas. He was found on the beach in Gilchrist on the Bolivar Peninsula, according to that county's sheriff's office. "We have a person in custody, but there's a long road ahead of us, and that long road includes finding Hannah Graham," Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo told reporters. He declined to go into the circumstances of Matthew being taken into custody. An extradition process is under way for the 32-year-old Matthew, who is also wanted on suspicion of two counts of reckless driving, Longo said. According to CNN affiliate KPRC, deputies got a call about a suspicious person camping on the beach. One responded, and ran the license plate of that person's vehicle. It came back as wanted, the affiliate reported. Matthew did not resist arrest, KPRC said. Earlier, Matthew's lawyer was mum about most everything. "I am Mr. Matthew's attorney," said James Camblos, who spoke outside his office in Charlottesville, Virginia. "I was hired on Saturday. That's the only thing that I'm going to confirm at this point. The family and I -- nobody is making any statements at this point in time. We might later on, but right now we are not," he said. His comments came one day after authorities obtained an arrest warrant for his client, who police believe was the last person with Graham. She was last seen September 13 in an area of Charlottesville known as the Downtown Mall. Investigators have been looking for her since, and in an increasingly large area. "We're asking for a broader community search with property owners," Longo told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" Wednesday night. Specifically, he said he wants property owners of large parcels in surrounding counties to search their land and report back. Authorities have previously searched Matthew's apartment and car. Although they have declined to discuss the specifics of what might have been found, potential evidence was sent to a lab for analysis. According to Longo, Matthew willingly went to a police station over the weekend, when there was no warrant for his arrest. He asked for a lawyer. They spoke and then left, Longo said. Camblos confirmed that he was the attorney who met with Matthew at the police station. "I'm not telling you anything else at this point," he said. Authorities are now offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of Graham, 18, a second-year student at the University of Virginia. They have received 1,500 tips so far in the case, and are urging anyone with information to call the police tip line at 434-295-3851. "We're asking every person within the sound of my voice to help us find Hannah Graham," Longo, the police chief, said. Hannah Graham disappearance: What we know .
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Jesse Matthew was reportedly camping on a beach in Texas .
Police have received some 1,500 tips in the case so far .
Matthew is wanted on suspicion of abduction with the intent to defile .
University of Virginia student Hannah Graham was last seen September 13 .
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A student opening fire with a handgun he took from his parents. Screaming students running for cover. A teacher, trying to help, shot dead. Two students wounded. The terror lasted just a few brutal minutes. As authorities investigated, details were still trickling out hours after a deadly shooting Monday at a Nevada middle school. One official described the scene at Sparks Middle School with one word: chaos. Students described to CNN how they ran into the school screaming and crying when they realized the pops they heard were gunshots just before the morning bell welcomed them back from fall break. The shooter took a handgun from his parents, a federal law enforcement source who was briefed on the situation told CNN's Evan Perez. The gunman eventually shot and killed himself with the semiautomatic gun, Sparks Deputy Chief Tom Miller said Monday evening at a news conference. Teachers train to face school shooter . Authorities said the shooter's motive was unclear. "It's too early to say whether he was targeting specific people or just going on an indiscriminate shooting spree," said Tom Robinson, deputy chief of the Reno Police Department. Teacher loved his kids, brother says . Mike Landsberry, a popular math teacher at the school, was killed in the shooting, Sparks Mayor Geno Martini told CNN. In addition to his work as a teacher, Landsberry also had served in the Marines and served several tours in Afghanistan as a member of the Nevada Air National Guard, his brother, Reggie, told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360." "He was the kind of person that if someone needed help he would be there," Reggie Landsberry said. "He loved teaching. He loved the kids. He loved coaching them. ... He was just a good all-around individual." Reggie Landsberry said his brother was probably trying to "talk the kid down and protect whoever he could. That sounds like Mike." One student told "Pier Morgan Live" that she knew the student who shot Landsberry and wounded two 12-year-old schoolmates. "He was really a nice kid," Amaya Newton told CNN. "He would make you smile when you were having bad day." He even offered to buy other students something to cheer them up, Newton said. Newton said she thought the two students who were wounded were friends of the shooter. She and her mother, Tabatha, said they thought the shooter had been bullied in the past. Student Faith Robinson said she was standing to the side of one of the school buildings where she heard shots and saw Landsberry killed. She told CNN that she ran into the school and was separated from her friends. "I start getting really worried and then I was trying to get a hold of my Mom," she said. Terra Robinson was just a few minutes away when she got her daughter's distressing call. By the time she got to the school there was a sea of flashing lights and panicked parents, she said. The superintendent of Washoe County Schools said there were many heroes. "Including our children who, even though school hadn't started, when the teachers came out, they listened to them and they went into their classrooms immediately," Pedro Martinez said. Witness: Teacher tried to get student to put gun down . Student Thomas Wing said he was walking out of the cafeteria after eating breakfast when he saw a gun. He told CNN affiliate KOLO that Landsberry was trying to get the student to put the weapon down. After a gunshot, Thomas started running back toward the cafeteria. He heard another shot. "I was thinking, oh my gosh, am I going to get out of this? Am I going to die?" he told KOLO. "My heart was pounding faster than I could run." An emergency dispatch calls released by the Sparks police department indicate Landsberry was shot on the school playground. One wounded student was shot in the stomach, and the other injured student was shot in the shoulder, Washoe County School District Police Chief Mike Mieras said. The two 12-year-old boys were both in stable condition Monday night, Miller said. Does your child's school have a security plan? Authorities said that first responders were at the school just three minutes after the initial 911 calls. "I think we were well-prepared. Everybody responded appropriately. I think our first responders did a heckuva job, but it's a sad day for the city of Sparks," Mayor Martini told CNN. Shooting began early Monday morning . City officials said authorities received emergency calls from students and staff at the school about 7:15 a.m. about an active shooter on campus. Guns, guards and posses: Schools try new security strategies . Authorities said students were taken to a nearby high school to meet their parents. School was canceled for the week at Sparks Middle School and for the day at nearby Agnes Risley Elementary, officials said. "I was deeply saddened to learn of the horrific shooting at Sparks Middle School this morning," Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said in a statement. "My administration is receiving regular updates and the Nevada Highway Patrol is assisting at the scene. Kathleen and I extend our thoughts and prayers to the victims and those affected by these tragic events." The shooting is one of several this year at a U.S. middle or high school. Last week a student at a high school in Austin, Texas, killed himself in front of other students. In August, a student at a high school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, shot and wounded another student in the neck. Another shooting occurred at an Atlanta middle school in January, the same month a California high school student wounded two people, one seriously. The Nevada shooting also comes almost a year after a gunman killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, igniting nationwide debate over gun violence and school safety. The mother of a student killed in December's shooting in Newtown said Monday's shooting was reminder of the need to find solutions to keep students safe. "The unthinkable has happened yet again, this time in Sparks, Nevada," Nicole Hockley said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and the children of Sparks Middle School, who today came face to face with violence that no child should ever experience. It's moments like this that demand that we unite as parents to find common sense solutions that keep our children -- all children -- safe, and prevent these tragedies from happening again and again." More from CNN affiliate KOLO . In August: Woman hailed as true hero for handling Georgia school gunman . Fast facts on school violence .
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Student says gunman shot teacher as he was asked to put weapon down .
There have been at least three other shootings at U.S. secondary schools and one suicide .
Brother says teacher who was killed was kind of man who tried to help those in need .
Two wounded students are in stable condition .
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By . David Mccormack . A South Carolina man who was arrested after strolling through a Walmart in the middle of the night wearing only black sneakers has blamed the awkward incident on some methamphetamine he had mistakenly ingested. The incident occured just . before midnight last Thursday, after employees at the Tega Cay Walmart spotted Kevin Hughes, 36, walking naked . in the Health and Beauty section, reports WBTV. When the cops arrived they found Hughes shopping in the Electronic department. He was arrested for disorderly conduct and spent the night in jail. Kevin Hughes, 36, was arrested strolling around his local Walmart in Tega Cay, South Carolina, in the middle of the night on Thursday wearing only black sneakers . When the cops arrived they found Hughes shopping in the Electronic department. He was arrested for disorderly conduct and spent the night in jail . When he was escorted out of the store by . police for questioning he told them the last he remembered was being as . his sister's house in bed asleep. The next thing he knew he woke up naked in his truck in the Walmart parking lot, according to the police report. Hughes told police he went inside the store to buy some clothes. Officers allowed Hughes to put on a pair of shorts before he was arrested. When Hughes was approached by a local TV news reporter days later, he admitted that had had a ‘problem with . drugs in the past.’ Hughes told WSOC's Trish Wilford that he had purchased the Meth believing it was Ecstasy and that 'it really made me crazy' Hughes . told WSOC's Trish Wilford that he had purchased the Meth . believing it was Ecstasy and that ‘it really made me crazy.’ ‘I still like to do some Ecstasy once in . a while; the only drug I ever thought I’d do again. And I accidentally . got methamphetamine instead, and it really made me crazy,’ he explained. This isn't Hughes first time being caught naked in public by the cops, reports WBTV. In December 2012, Hughes was running in only his shoes by two female joggers. He reportedly knocked on the window of a home and asked for a pair of shorts. The only thing that Hughes was wearing on his trip to Walmart was his black sneakers . By the time police caught up with him he was wearing a red sweat top and plaid pants and deputies noted that he ‘appeared to be high on some form of narcotics.’ Hughes' sister told deputies that ‘she was not surprised of his behavior’ and admitted that he has a severe drug problem. Speaking . to Wilford, Hughes said he would think twice about doing drugs in . future, saying ‘You can’t trust anything,’ before apologizing and saying . ‘It was an accident.’
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Kevin Hughes, 36, was spotted wandering the aisles of Walmart in Tega Cay, South Carolina, late last Thursday .
He was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct .
Hughes has admitted to 'drug problems' and said he had taken Meth which he thought was Ecstasy and 'it really made me crazy'
The incident isn't Hughes' first arrest for being caught naked while under the influence of banned substances according to police reports .
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By . Chris Murphy . and Sara Malm . A pair of conjoined gray whales has been found off the shore of Mexico, in what could be the first documented case of Siamese twin grey whales. Scientists in Mexico's Laguna Ojo de Liebre, or Scammon’s Lagoon, discovered the dead calves, believed to have been miscarried as a result of their disability. Conjoined twins have occurred in other species, notably fin, sei and minke whales, however, research has not found any published cases of conjoined gray whale twins. Scroll down for video . Scientists in Mexico's Laguna Ojo de Liebre, discovered the dead gray whale calves, believed to have been miscarried as a result of their disability. The carcass is only about seven feet long, versus the normal 12 to 16 feet for new-born gray whales. Alisa Schulman-Janiger, an American Cetacean Society researcher, pointed out that the twins were severely underdeveloped and wondered whether the birth or stillbirth might also have killed the mother. The twins’ carcass has been collected for study. Images were posted by the Guerrero Negro Verde Facebook page, with the translated statement: ‘Unfortunately, the specimen died. [Its] survival was very difficult.’ New discovery: The conjoined calves could be the first documented case of Siamese twin gray whales . Unfortunate tale: The twins were so underdeveloped it is believed they were miscarried by their mother who may also have died giving birth to them . Step forward for science: The seven feet long carcass has been collected by scientists for study . Migration: Pacific gray whales travel south from the Arctic to Mexico for the winter months, during which time it is believed the twins were born . Gray whales are arriving in the lagoons along the Baja California peninsula, after a nearly 6,000-mile journey from Arctic home waters. They give birth during the southbound journey, or in the lagoons, and nurse their calves for several weeks before embarking on their northbound journey back to the Bering and Chukchi seas. According to NOAA, the Pacific gray whale population numbers about 21,000. Most calves are born during the last week of December and the first two weeks of January.
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Conjoined gray whale calves found dead in Mexican lagoon .
Twins are believed to have been miscarried due to their disability .
Siamese calves could be world's first case of conjoined gray whales .
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(Mental Floss) -- In his victory speech on Tuesday night, Barack Obama promised his daughters Sasha and Malia that they'd get to bring a new puppy with them to the White House in January. President Bush's dog Barney, left, plays in 2001 with Spot, the offspring of George H.W. Bush's dog Millie. It's a good thing Obama said "Yes, we can" to the girls' request to getting a dog; for all of his charm, ability, and oratorical flair, he could never be our nation's chief executive without a White House pet. Counting Obama, the country has had 44 Presidents, and only two of them -- Chester A. Arthur and Franklin Pierce -- left no record of having pets. Like Obama himself, the family pooch will have some big shoes to fill. Previous White House pets have set the bar pretty high. iReport.com: What pet would you want if you lived in the White House? Here are a few of our favorites: Watch Obama on "mutts like me" » . 1. Billy: Calvin Coolidge's pygmy hippopotamus . Calvin Coolidge may have been known for his reticence, but he showed little of his trademark reserve when it came to acquiring pets. After taking over the presidency upon the death of Warren G. Harding, Coolidge assembled a menagerie that would rival most zoos' collections. He had six dogs, a bobcat, a goose, a donkey, a cat, two lion cubs, an antelope, and a wallaby. The main attraction in his personal zoo, though, was Billy, a pygmy hippopotamus. Watch new baby pygmy hippo » . Billy was born in Liberia, but was captured at a young age. He came into the possession of tire mogul Harvey Firestone, who gave Billy to President Coolidge as a gift, possibly because Firestone didn't want to feed the critter. (Even a pygmy hippo is still quite rotund; Billy was six feet long and weighed upwards of 600 pounds.) Coolidge donated Billy to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park. Because there were only a handful of pygmy hippos in the U.S. at the time, Billy quickly went to work as a stud, an endeavor at which he found some success. He sired 23 little hippos, and many of the pygmy hippos you see in American zoos today are his offspring. Mental Floss: 7 crafty zoo escapes . 2. The White House gators . Herbert Hoover wanted to put a chicken in every pot, a car in every garage, and ... a gator in the Oval Office? It's true. Hoover owned a slew of dogs, but those weren't his only pets. His second son, Allan Henry Hoover, owned a pair of gators that were occasionally allowed to wander around the White House grounds. Sound crazy? Blame John Quincy Adams for setting the precedent. The sixth president also had a pet gator. His was a gift from the Marquis de Lafayette; it lived in a bathroom in the East Room of the White House. According to some reports, he enjoyed using the gator to scare his guests. 3. Fala: FDR's traveling companion . What do you get the Depression-conquering president who has everything? A lapdog. In 1940 Franklin Roosevelt received a Scottish Terrier puppy named Big Boy as an early Christmas gift from a family friend. FDR immediately realized that Big Boy was no name for a presidential companion and rechristened the pooch Murray the Outlaw of Falahill, after a Scottish ancestor. For the sake of simplicity, though, he called his new pal Fala. After that, Fala became FDR's inseparable companion and traveled everywhere the President went. The dog "gave" $1 a day to the war effort, generosity that earned him the rank of honorary private in the Army. Each morning when FDR's breakfast tray came in, it included a bone for Fala. Fala also made a famous appearance in one of his master's speeches. When FDR was decrying personal attacks from his political opponents, he jokingly said that it was okay to mock him, but leave Fala alone. "You know, Fala is Scotch, and being a Scottie, as soon as he learned that the Republican fiction writers in Congress and out had concocted a story that I had left him behind on the Aleutian Islands and had sent a destroyer back to find him -- at a cost to the taxpayers of two or three, or eight or 20 million dollars -- his Scotch soul was furious. "He has not been the same dog since!" Fala stayed with FDR until the President's death in 1945 and lived in the care of Eleanor Roosevelt until his death in 1952. Mental Floss: 6 utterly loyal dogs . 4. Millie: Literary sensation . When George H.W. Bush took office in 1989, he brought his pet springer spaniel Millie to the White House. The bubbly canine won over the nation's heart so completely that she even collaborated with the First Lady on Millie's Book: As Dictated to Barbara Bush. Millie brought further joy to the Bush family when she gave birth to a litter of six presidential puppies in 1989. Just as her master helped slip one of his boys into the White House, so did Millie: when George W. Bush moved into the Oval Office, so did his dog, Millie's son Spot Fetcher. 5. Barney, Miss Beazley & India: The current residents . Sadly, Spot Fetcher had to be put down in 2004, but the Bushes aren't pet-deprived now. They have a pair of Scottish Terriers named Barney and Miss Beazley, both of whom have websites and appear in White House-produced web videos. (Your tax dollars adorably at work!) The Bushes also have a black cat named India, who also goes by "Willie." Watch Barney bite a reporter » . The name India rankled some citizens of the country of the same name to the point that many Indians supposedly named their dogs "Bush." The name wasn't meant to be controversial, though; the Bushes merely named their cat after Ruben "El Indio" Sierra, who played for the Texas Rangers while George W. owned the team. Spot Fetcher was similarly named after former Rangers middle infielder Scott Fletcher. Other first pets of note: . Mr. Reciprocity and Mr. Protection -- Benjamin Harrison's two opossums. Harrison's son Russell also had a pet goat named Old Whiskers. Pauline -- The last cow to live at the White House. She made milk for President Taft's consumption. Old Ike -- To save cash during World War I, Woodrow Wilson brought in a flock of sheep to take care of the White House's groundskeeping duties. Old Ike, a ram, supposedly chewed tobacco. Laddie Boy -- Warren G. Harding's beloved Airedale who had his own seat at Cabinet meetings and gave a 1921 "interview" with The Washington Post in which he talked about Prohibition and shortening the workday for guard dogs. Liberty -- Gerald Ford's golden retriever hung out in the Oval Office and could supposedly read a sign from Ford that she should go be affectionate to guests -- a cute and cuddly way to gracefully end the President's conversations. Socks and Buddy -- President Clinton's faithful cat and the chocolate lab he acquired while in office. Socks didn't like Buddy's youthful friendliness, so the two pets had to be kept separated at all times. The tensions were so bad that the family couldn't keep both pets at the end of Bill's second term, so Socks went to live with Clinton's secretary, Betty Currie. Gamecocks -- Ulysses S. Grant supposedly kept some gamecocks at the White House. Two tiger cubs -- Martin Van Buren received the cats as a gift from the Sultan of Oman. Congress supposedly made him give the gift to a zoo. Satan -- One of Abigail Adams' unfortunately named dogs. She called the other one Juno. Jonathan Edwards -- Theodore Roosevelt received this black bear cub as a gift from supporters in West Virginia who gave the bear the name, he wrote to a friend, "partly because they thought they detected Calvinistic traits in the bear's character." Dr. Johnson, Bishop Doane, Fighting Bob Evans, and Father O'Grady -- Teddy Roosevelt's kids also had these tremendously named guinea pigs. Josiah -- Roosevelt also had a pet badger, of course. Bonus trivia: Checkers . Nixon's dog was immortalized in the "Checkers speech," which Nixon gave while facing allegations of illegal campaign contributions. He said the only gift he'd accepted was a cocker spaniel named Checkers for his daughters. Mental Floss: Why was the 'Checkers speech' so important? Checkers, however, was never the White House dog. This scandal bubbled up while Nixon was Eisenhower's running mate in the 1952 election, and Nixon gave the Checkers speech to convince Republicans to keep him on the ticket. Although the speech was a success and Nixon later made it to the White House, Checkers never got to be First Dog; he passed away in 1964. For more mental_floss articles, visit mentalfloss.com . Entire contents of this article copyright, Mental Floss LLC. All rights reserved.
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Barack Obama promised puppy for girls; past presidential pets have been strange .
What the heck? First lady Abigail Adams had a dog named Satan .
President Harding's dog gave "interviews" and had a seat at Cabinet meetings .
Original name of FDR's dog: Big Boy; President Grant had fighting gamecocks .
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By . Jill Reilly . PUBLISHED: . 07:45 EST, 21 September 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 08:23 EST, 21 September 2012 . Smiling at the scene of a fatal bus crash in which 36 people died has led to a safety official losing his job. After photos emerged on the internet of Yang Dacai grinning on a highway in Yan'an, northern Shaanxi, province officials said in a statement they had stripped him of all his official duties for 'serious wrongdoing.' His jovial expression on August 26 was seen as unsympathetic and caused mass public outrage. Fired: After photos emerged on the internet of Yang Dacai grinning on a highway in Yan'an, northern Shaanxi, province officials said in a statement they had stripped him of all his official duties for 'serious wrongdoing' 'My heart was heavy when I reached the scene... Junior officials appeared nervous when they were updating me on the situation,' he said to defend himself, reported the BBC. 'I was trying to get them to relax a little, so maybe, in an unguarded moment, I got a little too relaxed myself.' Yang then found himself targeted by netizens when photos emerged of him wearing 11 luxury wristwatches. Fatal collision: The site after an accident between a bus and a methanol-loaded tanker where Mr Yang was photographed smiling . Horrific: Police and rescuers remove the bodies from a burnt out double-decker sleeper bus . Defence: 'My heart was heavy when I reached the scene... Junior officials appeared nervous when they were updating me on the situation,' said Mr Yang . Although Yang claimed he purchased the watches with his own salary, internet users argued that a public servant could not possibly afford the expensive watches. The BBC reported that he explained that he 'used legal income' to buy a number of watches. He claimed the most expensive one he owned was worth 35,000 yuan ($5,550, £3,420).
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Photos of Yang Dacai smiling on 26 August were posted online .
Shaanxi province officials: Yang Dacai stripped of all his official duties for 'serious wrongdoing'
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'I'm sorry': Millicent Waddell had wanted to stay in London, an inquest heard . A boarding school pupil hanged herself in her bathroom at home after leaving a note that simply said: 'I'm sorry', an inquest heard today . Tragic Millicent Waddell, 16, locked herself in the bathroom of her mother's £400,000 home before taking her own life. Her horrified mum, Louisa-Kate Foster, discovered her body after breaking into the room when her daughter failed to respond to her knocking on the door. The inquest at Shepton Mallet, Somerset, heard Millie had become unhappy after moving from her father Robert Waddell's home in London to her mother's house in Somerset. But Tony Williams, coroner for East Somerset, said there was 'no prior indication' that the teenager would harm herself. Reading a statement from Millie's mother, who did not attend the inquest, Mr Williams said: 'Millicent had wanted to stay in London but things had not worked out and so Millicent came, in early April, to live with her mother. 'Millicent was in the process of deciding whether she wanted to go to college or find a job. 'She was angry with her situation. She wanted to stay in London but there was no indication that she might self harm in any way.' Millie attended Sexey's School in Bruton, Somerset, a Church of England state boarding school which charges up to £8,400 a year. Mrs Foster's statement told how she returned to their home in Norton-sub-Hamdon, Somerset, at 5.40pm on the day of Millie's death, May 29 last year, but did not see her daughter. She later heard the shower running in the bathroom and knocked on the door at 7.20pm but did not receive a reply. The mother left home for a meeting and returned at 9.15pm - when she found the door still locked.Mr Williams added: 'She decided she would need to force the door.' Ms Foster forced her way into the room and found her daughter hanged, he told the court. 'A note was found at the property in Millicent's handwriting that simply read: "I'm sorry",' he added. Robert Waddell, Millie's father, provided a statement confirming there had been no concerns that she would harm herself before her death. Police attended the £400,000 detached home but could not save Millie. 'Unhappy': Millicent, known as Millie, attended Sexey's School, a Church of England boarding school in Bruton, Somerset . A toxicology report later showed she had 79mg of alcohol per 100ml - the maximum for driving is 80mg. No prescription or illegal drugs were found in her system, the inquest heard. Pathologist Dr Robert Blahut, at Yeovil District Hospital, confirmed the cause of Millie's death as hanging. Mr Williams told the inquest at East Somerset Coroner's Court: 'There is no evidence to suggest third party involvement. 'I take into account the note that was left by Millicent with two words explaining her actions. 'Millicent knew while she was in the family home she would not be disturbed while she was in the bathroom. My formal finding is that Millicent took her own life.' The coroner recorded a verdict of suicide.
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Millicent Waddell, 16, had left London to live in Somerset with her mother .
Boarding school pupil was 'angry with her situation', inquest heard .
'No prior indication' teen would harm herself, coroner said .
For confidential support call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch, or click here for details .
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Would you still watch your favorite television program if you had to cycle for an hour before you could view it? A computer-generated image of Club Watt, Rotterdam's human-powered club. Couch potatoes will be horrified, but fresh advances in human-powered technology -- where users power appliances through their own motion -- could one day see a 'workout-to-watch' scenario become reality. Human power is rapidly gaining in popularity worldwide as businesses seek 'greener' methods of operating. The profile of the technology is set to receive a further boost this month when a human-powered gym opens in Portland, Oregon, and again in September when the human-powered 'sustainable dance club', Club Watt, opens its doors in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Human power is already being used to run the 'California Fitness' gym in Hong Kong, and to power the recently opened 'Club Surya' in London. iReport.com: Can you predict what the future will be like? Beyond all of this, further concepts have been developed for human-powered 'river gyms' for the waterways of New York. But, how does your sweat and strain turn into power for lights, music and machines? The general concept is known as energy harvesting, which simply refers to the gathering of energy from one source and applying it to power an object. Italian inventor Lucien Gambarota, who designed California Fitness's method of storing energy and using it to power lights and music in the gym, told CNN the concept is straightforward. "One of the oldest types of energy used by people is muscular energy -- so this is nothing new." Gambarota said machines such as exercycles created a load, used as a counter-force by means of a resistor. "I disconnected the resistor and started storing the energy into a battery... that is then used as power. It was a way to show there can be very simple solutions. It doesn't always have to be high-tech," he said. Portland's 'green' gym will have spinning bikes connected to wind-generator motors. The users should generate enough electricity to power the gym's music system or run personal DVD players on the machines, the gym's manager Adam Boesel predicts. While harnessing the energy from people working out at a gym seems logical, utilising the movement of clubbers at dance clubs is a little more complex. Two methods have developed -- the first of which is piezoelectricity, used by Club Surya, where crystals in blocks under the dance-floor rub together with the assistance of dancers on the floor. This generates an electrical charge which is then fed into batteries. A second method using wheels to generate energy under a slightly moving floor will be used at the soon-to-be-opened Club Watt. This model involves coils and magnets which move under the dance-floor to create a charge. Vera Verkooijen, spokeswoman for Sustainable Dance Club, the company which is behind the floor for Club Watt and produces smaller, portable floors, said the human power would be enough to power about 30 percent of the club's requirements. Verkooijen admitted the first floors were not very efficient, and said the designers were already working on new models to improve the amount of energy captured. "This is just the first version. We are willing to take it further," she said. At Club Surya the power shortfall is made up by solar panels and a wind turbine. Putting the current buzz aside, how far could this human-powered technology develop? And how widely can it be applied? Verkooijen told CNN she already had some indications of where the technology was heading. "We receive a lot of requests from other companies for people who want to use the floors. We get many of these for bus and train stations -- places where there are lots of people." Lights and display boards at those spaces could be powered applying the same concept as that being used in Club Watt, she said. Evert Raaijen, technical director of energy conversion company Exendis, felt the technology could have a number of different applications. From pedal-powered computers on bicycles, to self-powered soldiers in militaries, Raaijen predicted human power would be developed widely in coming years. "I think it's a science field which will be one of the future," he said. Gambarota believed there were ways human power could be brought into practical use in the home. He had generated an idea of using human-powered batteries for television or portable video game consoles. "With so many kids not exercising enough, a battery could be created for these devices so they had to create the energy to use them. The same could be done for television sets. "We could get the situation where people have to cycle so they can use it," Gambarota said. Despite these potential developments, human-power is attracting its share of criticism. Although he shows enthusiasm for the battery project, Gambarota, who now spends much of his time developing micro wind turbines, is sceptical about the future of human-power on a mass-scale. He raises doubts about the efficiency of human power and questioned its economic viability. The average amount of power one person could produce going about normal activities on any given day was about one kilowatt-hour (kWh), which only amounted to about € 0.10 worth of electricity, Gambarota said. "It's a very good marketing tool for businesses, but in terms of economics it does not make sense at all." The main reason it was being used was because companies wanted to "look green, taste green and smell green", he said. Raaijen, who was consulted on the Sustainable Dance Floor project, agreed that opting for human-powered technology at present was not a financially-based decision. "The project (dance floor) in itself doesn't save a lot of energy. It's more of a statement than anything." Observing recent trends, the sustained drive for 'green energy' should continue to push human-powered technology forward, and despite the limitations to development, human-powered gyms, dance clubs, and maybe even video game consoles are likely to feature strongly in our immediate future.
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A Hong Kong gym and London dance club are part powered by human power .
Italian inventor Lucien Gambarota says human power is simple to use .
The concept could be taken to busy places like train stations or into homes .
There are some questions about the economic sense of human power .
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Choosing to get up on stage to tell jokes for a living while battling anxiety would be the job from hell for most people but not for Felicity Ward - she sees it as a gift. ‘I really love being on stage - it’s a lot of fun making people laugh it’s a really good job,’ she said. ‘Sometimes I was just performing for my life thinking “I’ve just got to get through this” but now I’ve got a dream job – sometimes they don’t laugh at me but that’s alright.’ Working as a comedian hasn’t always been enjoyable for the 34-year-old, who spends half her time in Europe and the other half at home in Australia, she had to hit rock bottom before climbing her way back to the top again. Scroll down for video . Felicity Ward takes up the challenge of breaking down the stigmas around mental health . Ward's life began to spiral completely out of control three years ago almost ending her award-winning career . A self-confessed binger drinker, Ward made the tough decision to give up alcohol more than seven years ago because she was simply sick of feeling sad. Then slowly but surely anxiety began to creep into her life until three years ago when she turned 30 and her life began to spiral completely out of control almost ending her award-winning career. ‘I had this other heckler in my head talking incessantly telling me that I’m a piece of sh** and that I should get off stage, and that I’m going to wet myself, and that these people hate me, and I should just leave,’ she said. ‘I would always be drawn to the green exit light in every venue, so I had to not look at that or the little voice in my head would say "get off stage - run through that door" so that was happening for 15 minutes of an hour-long show for months.’ In Ward’s ‘craziest’ period she began having angry conversations with herself before going on stage. ‘I was telling my anxiety that it needed to p*** off for an hour and if it wanted to come back double strength that’s fine,’ she said. ‘You find yourself cutting deals with your mental illness, so that just got unbearable and I was going to stop doing stand-up so I had to go and get help.’ Singer/songwriter Missy Higgins speaks of having depression as a teenager and experiencing a breakdown while she was at school . Hip hop artist, 360, stopped drinking alcohol and began exercising regularly after suffering from anxiety attacks when he first rose to fame . Ward sought help and used her anxiety as part of her stand-up act in her comedy show, Honestly, a few years ago. She has also learnt that regular sleep and exercise is vital for her frame of mind. ‘Seeing a therapist was nothing short of a miracle from how bad it was to how good it got so quickly with her,’ she said. ‘I think the biggest fear is that if you go to see one it is validating that you are insane but the thing is it’s fine to have a mental illness.’ ‘One in five Australians had a mental illness in the last 12 months – that’s 20 per cent of our country – that’s a national emergency.’ She has learnt to embrace her mental health and to manage it through regular sleep and exercise. She also feels privileged that she had chosen a job that gives her the platform to speak candidly about her condition. Her candidness about the topic led to the ABC approaching Ward to do a documentary on anxiety and she jumped at the chance. Hence Felicity’s Mental Mission was born, where she takes up the challenge of breaking down the stigmas around mental health. Teaming up with Mental Health Australia, Ward bravely takes on a mission to get 3,000 promises on their online ‘promise wall’. If her campaign is successful, she promises to face her fears and fly upside down in a stunt plane. Ward was frustrated to discover that when she started telling her comedy pals about her anxiety that many of them also suffered from the condition but had never discussed it with her . Teaming up with Mental Health Australia, Ward bravely takes on a mission to get 3,000 promises on their online ‘promise wall’ A study in the U.K of 500 comedians showed that the people who worked on the stage had high levels of psychotic personality traits. ‘We are often highly neurotic and sensitive – we just need a hug,’ Ward said. Ward was frustrated to discover that when she started telling her comedy pals about her anxiety that many of them also suffered from the condition but had never discussed it with her. ‘When I started to get well I told them about it and I was so angry that they didn’t tell me,’ she said. ‘I just wanted them to tell me so I didn’t feel like a freak - that’s when I realised how little we talk about this.’ It’s not just fellow comedians who share their stories in the two-part documentary but also Australian musicians Missy Higgins and rapper 360. ‘I’m very grateful and felt very privileged that I got to speak to them and they felt comfortable enough to speak to me about it,’ she said. ‘Missy experienced pretty full on depression as a teenager and she had a breakdown while she was at school and she spoke plainly about how she has been on and off medication at different points in her life.’ Hip hop artist, 360, spoke about starting to get anxiety attacks when he first rose to fame. ‘Exercise has become imperative to him – he’ a really big advocate of that and he stopped drinking as well because he was using it to medicate for his anxiety,’ she said. The most confronting moment while filming the documentary was when Ward had a panic attack on camera after she was asked to sing a song with two other comedians. The most confronting moment while filming the documentary was when Ward had a panic attack on camera after she was asked to sing a song with two other comedians . ‘I walked up to the director and said I was having a panic attack and that I couldn’t do it and she said “I know this sounds insensitive but would you mind going with you diary cam”.’ Surprisingly, Ward did not find it daunting to talking through such a personal moment on camera. ‘I just talked about my anxiety attack and just tried to explain the physical and mental effect that it was taking ,how it was caused and what the repercussions are so that people understand what it is like to have an anxiety attack,’ she said. Although Ward has learnt to manage with her anxiety – she still goes for the occasional ‘top–up’ with her counsellor every now and then when she starts to see the cracks showing. ‘Things as simple as I found myself stuttering a lot when I was on and off stage and that was a little indication that I was getting mentally loose or I wasn’t getting enough sleep – I learnt a couple of little red flags,’ she said. Felicity's Mental Mission airs on Monday, October 6 at 8.30pm on ABC2 and also an encore screening Thursday, October 16 at 9.30pm on ABC. The 34-year-old talked through her panic attack on her diary cam for viewers .
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Felicity Ward talks about living with anxiety in an ABC documentary .
Australian comedian's career almost ended until she sought help .
The 34-year-old also speaks to her colleagues about their anxiety .
Musicians Missy Higgins and rapper 360 also share their experiences .
Ward loves talking about anxiety as part of her stand-up gig .
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By . Mark Duell . PUBLISHED: . 08:39 EST, 11 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 09:56 EST, 11 March 2014 . CCTV footage: The man told staff at the depot that he needed to borrow five huge metal road plates, weighing three quarters of a tonne each . A thief conned railway workers into using a forklift truck to load almost four tonnes of metal worth £3,000 into his van - because he was wearing a high-visibility jacket. British Transport Police have launched an appeal after the man persuaded staff at the Bounds Green transport terminal in North London that he was a fellow worker. The man, wearing a hard hat and bright yellow safety jacket, said he needed to borrow five huge metal road plates, weighing three quarters of a tonne each. The £600 hardened metal plates, used as a heavy duty covering during temporary road and rail repairs, were loaded into the back of a white flatbed truck with a forklift at the railway depot. Detective Constable Nick Thompson said: ‘The man entered the depot office in Bounds Green and spoke to staff, claiming to work at a neighbouring depot. ‘He asked to borrow a number of metal road plates, hardened steel plates designed to protect troughing routes where cables are laid. ‘The staff member eventually agreed to lend some plates to the man, who was wearing a high-visibility jacket. ‘The man then entered the neighbouring depot and asked for their assistance loading the plates onto a van with the use of their forklift truck. Appeal for information: Police have released CCTV images of the man they believe responsible for the theft, which took place between 1pm and 1.45pm on January 23 . Valuable: An example of a medal road plate, similar to those that were stolen by the man in a high-vis jacket . ‘In total, the suspect stole five road plates, each worth £600, within the space of a few minutes, loading them onto the back a white Mercedes flatbed truck.’ Police have released CCTV images of the man they believe responsible for the theft, which took place between 1pm and 1.45pm on January 23. Det Con Thompson added: ‘This was a brazen theft by a man pretending to be a member of maintenance staff in order to steal a significant amount of metal. ‘The truck was heavily loaded when it left the yard and I am confident that someone would have seen something which can help us. Scene: The man persuaded staff at the Bounds Green transport terminal (pictured) in North London that he was a fellow worker . ‘If you recognise the man pictured or have any information, please get in touch with us immediately.’ 'This was a brazen theft by a man pretending to be a member of maintenance staff in order to steal a significant amount of metal' Detective Constable Nick Thompson . Safe Site Facilities, a company who offer road plates for sale or hire, say they are a common target for metal thieves. A spokesman said: ‘It's fairly common for them to be stolen because they are so heavy - they're worth a lot. ‘However, decent scrap yards are now really clamping down on what they take - so we hope to not see thefts of this type in the future.’
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It happened at Bounds Green transport terminal in North London .
Man wearing hard hat and jacket convinced staff he was co-worker .
Told them he needed to borrow five metal road plates worth £600 each .
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Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Outraged Pakistani Christians took to the streets of Lahore on Sunday, protesting a rash of violence against their community over the weekend. Demonstrators denounced the burning of more than 100 homes of Christians on Saturday -- a spree spurred by allegations that a Christian man made remarks against the Muslim prophet Mohammed. Some of the hundreds of protesters Sunday threw stones at police, saying the government failed to adequately protect Christians, Lahore senior police official Rai Tahir said. Tahir said video footage of the fires helped lead to the arrests of more than 150 attackers. He said charges of terrorism have been filed against the suspects. The violence that tore through Lahore's Badami Bagh community Saturday followed the arrest of Sawan Masih, a Christian in his 20s accused of blasphemy. But Masih's arrest wasn't enough to appease an angry mob of Muslims irate over the alleged crime. "(The) mob wanted police to hand them over the alleged blasphemer," said Hafiz Majid, a senior police official in Badami Bagh. The mob also looted some shops run by Christians, he said. Majid said Christians have fled the area for fear of being killed. If convicted, Masih faces the death penalty. He denies the allegations made by the two men who filed the blasphemy complaint against him with police on Friday, Majid said. Masih said the three got into an argument while drinking and that the other two men threatened to publicly accuse him of blasphemy, according to Majid. "The attack is yet another shameful incident against a vulnerable community and further confirmation of the slide toward extremism in society on the one hand and, on the other hand, the apathy and inaction that has become the norm among the police," the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said in a statement. The group accused police of arresting Christians in the incident "while those who went on a rampage and can easily be identified from television footage have gone scot-free." Pakistan's blasphemy laws were first instituted to keep peace between religions. But they have been criticized by human rights advocates who say the laws enable legal discrimination against religious minorities. At time, the laws have been misused to settle personal differences between Muslims and Christians. There have been about 1,400 blasphemy cases since the laws were first enacted in 1986, according to U.S.-based Human Rights Watch. There are more than 15 cases of people on death row for blasphemy in Pakistan, and more than 50 people have been killed while facing trial for the charge, according to the organization. Last year, a Pakistani court dismissed blasphemy charges against a Christian teenager whose case prompted international outrage. Her detention stirred up religious tensions in the predominantly Muslim country. It also generated fierce criticism of Pakistani authorities and renewed debate over Pakistan's blasphemy laws. President Asif Ali Zardari issued a statement Saturday on the most recent "unfortunate incident." He noted that the country's constitution protects the rights of all Pakistanis, and that "such acts of vandalism against minorities tarnish the image of the country."
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Some throw stones at police, saying the government isn't adequately protecting Christians .
More than 100 Christian homes were set afire by a Muslim mob .
The mob was outraged over a Christian's alleged anti-Muslim remarks .
Police: More than 150 suspects have been arrested in Saturday's arson spree .
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One of the most fascinating aspects of Kevin Pietersen’s autobiography for the public must be the revealing of all the frailties and insecurities professional sportsmen feel in the dressing room. It’s certainly not as harmonious or lovey-dovey as people might presume. Players are always getting on each other’s nerves or having issues to resolve. You hear professional footballers whingeing if they are away for longer than a couple of weeks at a World Cup but international cricketers are away from home for months on end and see more of their team-mates than their families. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Pietersen say a good coach would have managed the situation . Kevin Pietersen has lifted the lid on all the frailties and insecurities in the dressing room . There will always be tensions, particularly when you consider the highly-pressurised environment they work in and that every move they make is scrutinised and analysed. The Manchester United footballers Teddy Sheringham and Andy Cole famously didn’t get on and in my England team Darren Gough and Andy Caddick had their moments, but that doesn’t really matter. As I said in these pages the other day, Michael Holding will tell you that some members of the great West Indies side didn’t get on. Shane Warne will say the same about his Australian team. But once they stepped on that field they respected each other and did everything in their power to win the game for their team. I liken it to sitting an examination every day of the week, and we all know how nervous and tetchy our kids can be the day before an exam. It is why there will always be niggles between team-mates and why they won’t always get on. Team-mates Teddy Sheringham and Andy Cole famously didn't get on at Manchester United . I’ve heard about the accusation of cliques in the England dressing room but that has always been the case and always will be. There will always be groups of three or four players who prefer to spend time with each other. When you are away for three months, you can’t expect everyone to go out together every night. You have to treat players like adults and in return they must have respect for one another even if they are not mates. There was plenty of banter and mickey-taking in the England dressing room when I played but someone like Marcus Trescothick, perhaps because he was teased about his weight when he was young, was always good at reminding anyone to be careful about not crossing the line. Rarely would we have a go at each other about cricketing mistakes because it was all so important but Mike Atherton, for one, would always remind me if I got out to a bad shot. It was just that he would wait a few days before doing so. Darren Gough (left) and Andy Caddick had their moments when Nasser Hussain was England captain . That is not bullying to me and I can honestly say I have never considered any cross words or mickey-taking in any England team I have played in — or watched — to be bullying. Yes, the England team is a tough school but if you can’t cope with a few tough words from your team-mates how are you going to cope with Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin? But I do agree with some of what Pietersen has said. I have long disagreed with how often the England bowlers would have a go at anyone who misfielded or dropped a catch and I was amazed at how long that was allowed to continue. Apart from anything else it plays into the hands of the opposition. They will look at that and say: ‘We’ve got this lot on the run. They are at each other.’ It just wasn’t a good look and I’m glad that there seems less of that sort of thing now. Nasser Hussain tried to embrace ‘difficult characters' like Phil Tufnell when he was England captain . And if it is true that people had to stand up in front of the group and apologise when they made a mistake then England should be careful. That really is school yard stuff. The flip side is that you want your team to be challenged and pushed to make sure they perform to the best of their ability, and it is not always the captain or the coach who does the challenging. For me, it would hit a lot harder if one of my team-mates, rather than the coach or captain, had a word with me after something and said: ‘Come on Nas, you can do better than that.’ Clearly, this England team pushed each other hard and it seems Pietersen didn’t like to be treated in that way. It does seem that England may have had a tendency to overdo the methods that took them to three Ashes triumphs and No 1 in the world Test rankings. The admonishing of players in the field is one example. Another is their reliance on statistics when, at times, they should have trusted their cricketing instinct more. When I was captain I would try to embrace the so-called ‘difficult characters’ and do everything to concentrate on what they could do rather than what they couldn’t. If people like Phil Tufnell, Caddick and Graham Thorpe could take wickets and score runs for us then they were fine by me. Andy Flower (right) tried to keep KP onside so England would benefit from his considerable talent . You have to treat everyone differently. Pietersen and Alastair Cook have almost identical career records and are two of the best batsmen England have ever had, but as human beings they could not be more different and have to be treated as such. The key with KP, clearly, was trying to keep him happy and make him feel loved. But coach Andy Flower will tell you he did that for five years, he treated Pietersen differently and did everything to manage him and get him onside so England would benefit from the match-winning innings of which he was capable. It’s all very well people saying Kevin was easy to manage when he first came into the side but he would have been wouldn’t he? He was a young player finding his way and there’s no way he would have challenged anyone senior. Pietersen's lucrative contract with Indian Premier League had repercussions for England team . Where everything clearly changed is with the advent of the Indian Premier League. It seemed to make Pietersen believe he was bigger than the team, and perhaps other players became jealous of the money he was making. The dynamic of one of the most successful of all England teams clearly changed. Flower had tired of repeatedly trying to manage Pietersen. When results started going against England and their star batsman was not quite looking like the player he once was, England decided enough was enough. As I have said, there are some valid points here but nearly everyone who has tried to manage him has found him incredibly hard work. Everybody can’t be wrong. So maybe one day Kevin Pietersen might take a look at himself rather than blaming everyone else for the way he has been treated by England. He might have to look back and say: ‘Was it me?’
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Kevin Pietersen’s autobiography has lifted the lid of all the frailties and insecurities professional sportsmen feel in the dressing room .
International cricketers are away from home for months on end and see more of their team-mates than their families .
There have always been cliques in the England dressing room and always will be .
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(CNN) -- Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz has set off a political firestorm in Pakistan with his claims that he was brokering an offer from Pakistan's civilian leaders to the Pentagon to unseat the leadership of the Pakistani military. Those accusations forced the resignation on Tuesday of Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, who Ijaz says orchestrated this proposal, which was delivered in a unsigned memo in May to Adm. Mike Mullen, then-U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Pakistan is a nuclear-armed state that is home to a number of Taliban groups that attack U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan and also is home to what remains of al Qaeda's "core" organization. Haqqani helped smooth over many tense moments in the important U.S.-Pakistan relationship, including the shooting in January of two Pakistanis by CIA contractor Raymond Davis and the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in northern Pakistan in May. Ijaz has said that the offer to get rid of the leadership of the Pakistani Army was sanctioned by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. The story is an explosive one in Pakistan, where relations between the civilian government and the military leadership are often tense and the United States is deeply unpopular. Writing in the Financial Times on October 10, Ijaz explained that, "The embarrassment of bin Laden being found on Pakistani soil had humiliated Mr. Zardari's weak civilian government to such an extent that the president feared a military takeover was imminent. He needed an American fist on his army chief's desk to end any misguided notions of a coup -- and fast." Haqqani denies being involved in any such scheme, and Mullen says that while he did receive a memo that made this kind of offer-- delivered to him by Obama's former National Security Adviser James L. Jones -- he ignored it because it just didn't seem credible. According to Ijaz, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, Pakistan's powerful military intelligence chief, recently traveled to London to meet with him, where he "forensically tested" Ijaz's evidence, which consists of Blackberry messages between Ijaz and Haqqani. While the affair has already brought down Haqqani, a longtime critic of Pakistan's military establishment and a well-known figure in diplomatic and national security circles in Washington, it could also damage the country's civilian government. Haqqani's wife, Farah Ispahani, is President Zardari's spokeswoman and a prominent member of the governing Pakistan People's Party. The man at the center of it all . Who is Mansoor Ijaz, the Pakistani-American businessman at the center of this twisted tale? Born to a family of Pakistani immigrants in Tallahassee, Florida, Ijaz grew up in rural Virginia, the son of two college teachers. After getting an undergraduate degree in nuclear physics from the University of Virginia and an MA in engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the early 1990s Ijaz founded Crescent Investment Management, a New York investment firm. Crescent was politically well-connected. Ijaz's partner in the firm was retired Air Force Lt. General James Alan Abrahamson, who played an instrumental role in President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative ("Star Wars"). Another Washington heavyweight, the former CIA director R. James Woolsey, was chairman of the board of Ijaz's publicly listed company, Crescent Technology Ventures PLC, based in London. In the mid-'90s, Ijaz gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Democratic Party, and hobnobbed with the Clintons at fund raising events. In 2003, journalist Richard Miniter, in a book titled "Losing Bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror", relied on Ijaz as the principal source for the key part of his thesis, which concerned the five years Osama bin Laden spent in Sudan in the early and mid- 1990s. Miniter described multiple attempts Ijaz made between August 1996 and 1998 to interest the Clinton administration in improving relations with Sudan, as well as Sudanese offers to hand over intelligence on al Qaeda. In his account to Miniter and in later writings, Ijaz claimed to have helped draft a proposal for Sudan to provide intelligence on al Qaeda to the Clinton administration, and that Sudan had offered to arrest bin Laden. Clinton administration officials did not take Ijaz up on any of his offers to help because they viewed him as "a Walter Mitty living out a personal fantasy," according to Miniter. And the 9/11 Commission, which interviewed Ijaz, concluded that were was no "credible evidence" that the Sudanese had made any offer to hand over bin Laden. In a 2004 interview with Fox News about Iraq, Ijaz, in his then-capacity as a foreign affairs analyst for the network, made another sensational claim: Chemical warheads were being smuggled into Iraq for a potentially catastrophic attack against American troops. And to top it off, Ijaz strongly suggested that the whole plan was given the green light by hardline Iranian mullahs. The story had everything to attract attention -- Mad mullahs! WMD on the loose in Iraq! (At last!) And the threat of thousands of potential American casualties. Ijaz now concedes, "This was an erroneous report based on information I had received from a former intelligence official on the ground in Iraq. I did not second source this story." Ijaz also told CNN, "I have written over 170 op-ed columns, appeared over 200 times on television and have not once had a word of what I said retracted due to factual errors." (Ijaz has written one op-ed for CNN.com). Ijaz told Fox in 2003 that "eyewitness sources" placed Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in Iran. Asked by host Brit Hume about the sourcing of the story, Ijaz responded, "I can just tell you that the source is unimpeachable. It is from inside Iran. These are eyewitness accounts." There was, of course, nothing to this story. Ijaz now says, "At the time I made it, I believed the source who had given the data to me." Described as a "U.S. nuclear proliferation and terrorism expert," Ijaz told the Gulf News newspaper in 2006 that Iran not only had a nuclear bomb, it was seeking to "duplicate them in large numbers before revealing their existence to the world." Five years later, Iran still does not have a nuclear weapon, but Ijaz asserted to CNN, "They had in my view then, and it remains my view now, at least one nuclear weapon stored in component parts." In August 2003 Ijaz told the British newspaper The Guardian that he had learned that the Bush administration had brokered a deal with Pakistan's dictator, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, not to capture or kill bin Laden so as not to cause unrest in the Muslim world. Ijaz told The Guardian "There was a judgment made that it would be more destabilizing in the longer term (if bin Laden were captured or killed). There would still be the ability to get (bin Laden) at a later date when it was more appropriate." Ijaz provided no evidence for this claim, and the idea that the Bush administration would do a deal to let bin Laden go free is ludicrous on its face. Ijaz told CNN "I stand by my comments, taken in full context, throughout that article." Peeling back the layers of the story . Pakistan's government and Pakistani and American journalists continue to look into story behind "Memogate." What is puzzling about all of this -- if the allegations are true that Ambassador Haqqani used Ijaz to propose a deal to remove Pakistan's military leaders to Mullen -- is: Why would Haqqani use Ijaz to do this? After all, Haqqani has many formal and informal contacts at the Pentagon, and Ijaz has a history of making sometimes exaggerated or erroneous claims, and his record as an unsuccessful freelance diplomat with Sudan in the 1990s is a matter of public record. Finally, if Haqqani was looking for a discreet back channel to the Pentagon, Ijaz turned out not to be the ideal messenger as he was the person who outed the whole affair in the pages of the Financial Times last month. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Peter Bergen and Andrew Lebovich.
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Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S. resigns over memo to Adm. Mike Mullen .
Peter Bergen, Andrew Lebovich: Memo spoke of ousting Pakistan national security team .
A Pakistani-American businessman disclosed the events in an opinion article .
Authors: It's unclear why ambassador would use go-between to make the "offer"
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138032806bf880767430434b7ca170abc5aae63e
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Motoring enthusiasts can now buy a $2 million (£1.2 million) sports car that can be driven underwater. The ‘Submarine Sports Car’, inspired by James Bond's famous sub-Lotus, is powered by an electric motor that allows it to reach a maximum speed of 75mph (121kph) below the waves. It claims to be the only vehicle that drives as well underwater as it does across land. Underwater love? The ‘Submarine Sports Car’ (pictured) is powered by an electric motor which allows it to reach a maximum speed of 75mph (121kph) underwater. It claims to be the only vehicle that drives below the waves as easily as it does across land . The design is inspired by the submarine Lotus Elan in 1977 film, The Spy Who Loved Me, which was more angular in shape. The new version of the submarine car is a convertible that floats when first driven into water. The two-seated vehicle then submerges with the pull of a lever, which sends it deeper underwater. 00-heaven? The design is inspired by the submarine Lotus in The Spy Who Loved Me and it floats when first driven into water . Joy ride: The car is fitted with propellers at the rear and two water jets mounted behind rotating louvers at the front of the vehicle which provide steering and lift. It has two built-in scuba tanks and diving regulators to allow two people to remain underwater for up to an hour . Last year, a submarine car driven by Roger Moore as James Bond in the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me sold at auction for £880,800 (£550,000). While it sold under estimate, it can't be driven on the road, but can be used as a submarine. The Lotus was nicknamed 'Wet Nellie' during filming and was built by a former Navy SEAL at a cost of around $100,000 (£62,439) - the equivalent to $500,000 (£312,196) today. Although Roger Moore starred as Bond in the film, the submarine car was driven by retired Navy Seal Don Griffin during underwater filming. Another version of the famous sub-aquatic car is currently listed on Ebay for $1million (£624,393). The car, listed by classic car dealer Hot Rod City, has fins and retractable wheels but no engine. The car is fitted with propellers at the rear and two water jets mounted behind rotating vent-like louvers at the front of the vehicle, which provide steering and lift. It has two built-in scuba tanks and diving regulators to allow two people to remain underwater for up to an hour. The zero-emission vehicle has the same steel chassis used in the Lotus Elise. It has a 54kW 160NM electric motor inside, which is powered by six 48-volt Lithium-ion batteries. They last for 18 miles (29km) on land and provide power for three hours underwater after a four hour charge. The interior in the car is impervious to fresh or salt water and an on-board laser-guided sensor enables it to cruise along autonomously. Measuring 12ft 6inches (3.8metres) long and 6ft 4inches (1.9metres) wide, the car weighs 145 stone (921kg). It can be bought from online retailer Hammacher Schlemmer. The zero-emission vehicle has the same steel chassis used in the Lotus Elise. The famous model starred in the 1977 film, The Spy Who Loved Me. One of the six used in filming is up for sale on eBay . On dry land: The zero-emission vehicle (pictured) has the same steel chassis used in the Lotus Elise.It has a 54kW 160NM electric motor inside, which is powered by six 48-volt Lithium-ion batteries . Iconic: James Bond's car was designed to convert into a submarine when underwater. This diagram shows its special features, including retracting wheels, a periscope, harpoon gun, oil release mechanism, missile launching system and more weapons, which the new imitation lacks . Roger Moore (pictured) made the car famous, which was designed especially for the James Bond film. While there is one currently listed on eBay for $100, it lacks an engine .
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The zero emission ‘Submarine Sports Car’ is powered by an electric motor .
It can reach a maximum speed of 75mph (121kph) below the waves .
Vehicle is fitted with propellers and two water jets to provide lift .
Design is inspired by the submarine Lotus in The Spy Who Loved Me .
An on-board laser-guided sensor enables it to cruise along autonomously .
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Pet owners looking to launch the next online sensation or just longing for a new view of their dog's dashing and digging won't have to shop for long to find the perfect holiday gift. Wrap up a dog harness that holds any durable, wearable camera and watch Frisbee fetch, lazy lap naps and every memory in between come alive. GoPro Inc.'s Fetch dog harness fits over Fido's chest or back and holds the small, waterproof camera known for attaching to helmets, surfboards, cars and wrists to film rugged adventures. Sony, Garmin and Kurgo also make camera mounts for dogs. The device is among a legion of gifts that retailers have rounded up for pet wish lists this year. Narrowing it down is tough, but the harness tops the more unique options and creates footage that lasts. Doggone awesome: A dog wearing two GoPro cameras, one on his back and one on his chest is held on by what is known as a Fetch dog harness . Bark up someone's else's tree: Thor, a French bulldog, wears what is marketed as an 'ugly' sweater, created by Bret Michaels for his Pets Rock Line . The most pet-friendly camera in the GoPro Inc. line is the Hero4, which allows people to decide what the dog records and control all the functions with a touch screen, company spokeswoman Kelly Baker said. The camera sells for $399, and the mount costs $59. The chest harness captures bone-chewing and digging, while the back mount films running and jumping, Baker said. They adjust to fit dogs weighing 15 to 120 pounds. The canine camera view has proved popular. A video went viral of an eager Labrador strapped with a camera sprinting through trees and across rocks to an Italian beach, where it leaps into the ocean. John Duffield of Santa Monica, California, loves the footage he got from the GoPro he mounted on his two dogs. He got enough shots to make a short video shortly before his chow-Labrador-Akita mix, Lupa, died. But Duffield didn't strap the camera to his Chihuahua, Pup, three months ago when he and his wife brought their newborn daughter home from the hospital. 'Pup is like a member of the family, too,' Duffield said. 'He belonged in this picture because he was welcoming home part of his family.' Those looking for pet gifts besides the traditional treats, new bowls and beds can give something unexpected such as: . UGLY SWEATERS . They are the rage this year, so PetSmart Inc. will hawk ugly sweaters for cats and dogs from Bret Michaels' Pets Rock line ($15.99), said Shelly Albrecht, spokeswoman for the national retailer. Swath pets in sweaters stitched with gingerbread men and Christmas trees and they could win worst-dressed at those seasonal ugly sweater parties popular with people. Icy paws no more: PetSmart is selling leg warmers for dogs, saying it's a throwback to the 1980s . PetSmart also is selling leg warmers online and in stores from Top Paw and Luv-A-Pet. 'STAR WARS' GEAR . Dogs will 'use the force' with Petco's line of 'Star Wars' toys and clothing. Dress up dogs like Princess Leia with a headband sporting her signature bun hairstyle. The Death Star won't menace when it comes as a treat dispenser ($7.49) or tug-of-war toy ($5.99). Plush squeaker toys feature favorite characters — R2-D2, Chewbacca and Darth Vader — for less than $10. And don't forget the cats — the Millennium Falcon flies at the end of a teaser toy string for less than $5. DEVICES FOR OLDER DOGS . Make it easier for your senior dog to get around safely with equipment from Solvit Pet Products (www.solvitproducts.com ). Help them avoid injury in the car with a Department of Transportation-tested safety harness ($30) and ease their way out of the vehicle with a ramp for those who can no longer jump ($159). Keep them close on a bike ride with a bicycle trailer or stroller ($399) or with a wicker basket ($89). GOURMET FARE . After romping in the snow, pets can warm up with San Diego-based Honest Kitchen's Winter Warmers Broths. Just add hot water to the dehydrated mixes in chicken consomme, beef and bone, and turkey stock flavors. The company, which focuses on natural food good enough for people's palates, offers the $19.99 three-box sets for a limited time. Puppy love: In this undated photo provided by Solvit Pet Products, people push their dog in a bicycle trailer with strolling kit and their dog seems to be enjoying sticking his head out of the wondow . Buckle-pup!: A canine is used to demonstrate the Department of Transportation tested pet safety harness .
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GoPro Inc.'s Fetch dog harness fits over Fido's chest or back and holds the small, waterproof camera for attaching to the dog to film its activities .
Dogs will 'use the force' with Petco's line of 'Star Wars' toys and clothing like Princess Leia with a headband sporting her signature bun hairstyle .
After romping in the snow, pets can warm up with gourmet fare like San Diego-based Honest Kitchen's Winter Warmers Broths .
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While reporting on a top high school football recruiting event in Oregon, a FOX Sports newscaster got a little bit too close to the action. Amy Campbell, a reporter for FOX Sports Next, was in the midst of interviewing recruiting analyist Chad Simmons when rising star footballer Ermon Lane came crashing into her on the sidelines. Though Campbell later told the sports broadcasting network that she was unharmed, the entire incident was caught on video and as with many sports and news bloopers, has become an Internet sensation. FOX Sports newscaster Amy Campbell (center) was knocked over by high school football star Ermon Lane (right) while interviewing recruiting analyst Chad Simmons (left) at an elite summer football camp . In the video, picked up by local television station ABC WPBF, Campbell is listening intently to Simmons speak when Ermon comes running up behind her at full speed to catch a pass. Screams are heard as Campbell, Simmons, and Lane all take a tumble and drop off camera. Though Simmons, who saw Lane coming at . the last minute, tried to block Campbell, he was unable to stop the . four-star wide receiver prospect. At 6''2 Lane is a powerhouse, and though currently a rising senior at Homestead High School in Florida, weights 193 lbs. He is a highly sought after prospect for Universities such as Miami, Florida State or Florida, according to FOX Sports. The collision happened at The Opening, a summer recruiting camp for the nation's top high school football players, which was held the the Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, according to the television report. In the aftermath of the crash, which went viral on YouTube, Campbell told FOX Sports she was not injured. Unsuspecting: Moments before the collision Campbell smiles as she interviews Simmons about the summer's recruiting prospects . Ball in play: While Campbell's attention is focused on her interview, behind her Lane (in white on the right hand side of the picture) begins to run in her direction to catch the football in midair . Closer: Lane (in white on the right), still with his eyes on the ball (the black spot in the top right corner) speeds towards an unsuspecting Campbell still engrossed in her interview . Watch Out: Lane (right), having just caught the ball, is seconds away from colliding with Campbell (center). Meanwhile Simmons (left) sees the accident about to happen and reaches out to help Campbell . 'My knee got a little bit bruised,' she said to the sport network. 'It's sore today, but nothing serious. It could've been a lot worse. At least I can take a hit, right?' Campbell told her network that the crash may have been captured on film, but was not the first incident that day. '[Lane] has almost collided with me several times since I've been out here,' said, explaining that earlier in the day the high school football star narrowly missed her when he came out of the end zone. Too Late: Campbell (center), feeling Lane (right) behind her senses something is wrong and braces for impact . The moment of truth: Amy Campbell is knocked over as Ermon Lane collides in to her side after catching a football . Campbell and Simmons both fall out of frame as Lane (left corner) comes crashing down on top of them, unable to slow his momentum coming off the field to the sidelines in time . Goal: In the video's final image the referee declares the pass completed, completely oblivious to the accident that occurred on the sidelines, as concerned onlookers (left) gape . Taking it in her stride, Campbell joked around about the incident on Twitter, tweeting 'I can take a hit #grind.' She kept her good humor when one . follower commented, 'I've watched this no fewer than 10 times in the . past few minutes! LOL! Sorry,' to which she responded, 'It gets funnier . every time.' Campbell even posted a picture on the social media website of her and Lane after the collision with the caption 'Still friends!' After Lane accidentally collided with Campbell on the gridiron she posted a photo with the footballer on Twitter, declaring 'Still Friends!' Campbell was luckily unharmed by the crash . Campbell . told FOX Sports that her favorite part of the video was when the . referee declares the pass completed, ignorant of the accident on the . sidelines. 'That to me is just the icing on the cake right there,' she said.
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High school footballer Ermon Lane crashed into FOX Sports reporter Amy Campbell while she was mid-interview .
The incident, which was caught on video, took place at The Opening, an elite recruiting camp in Oregon .
Campbell was unharmed and later joked about the incident on Twitter .
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Moore, Oklahoma (CNN) -- Five days ago, Miranda Mann huddled in a science classroom at Southmoore High School. She should have been filed with pride, relief and excitement about her upcoming graduation. Instead, she was filled with fear as a devastating tornado powered through her central Oklahoma city. The 18-year-old has been literally picking up the pieces of her life since. Her house was unrecognizable, except for her and her mother's cars, after the twister destroyed it Monday. Her family sifted through rubble and salvaged some things, only to see many of them -- such as her prized book collection -- ruined by torrential rains. Mann doesn't want to live in Moore, wary of a place that's been hit by two EF5 tornadoes -- the strongest possible -- over the past 14 years. There's been plenty of time, and way too many reasons, for tears. But finally ... finally, Saturday was a time to smile. "My family is all here, we get to be together," Mann said about her graduation at Oklahoma City's Cox Convention Center. "(You can) relax and let your hair down, because you know that we're not going back to the house today. We're not going to see that." Southmoore High's seniors were one of three classes celebrating their commencement ceremonies at the facility. The date had been set for months, and it wasn't moved after the storm killed 24 people, injured more than 375 others and damaged 12,000 residences in and around the metropolitan area. A tornado bearing down; a mom in labor . Jake Spradling is glad the show went on. Like Mann, he's a Southmoore High senior; like her, he no longer has a place to call home. The hours since Monday have been "overwhelming," Spradling admitted, though he said the outpouring of support -- offers to bunk early at Northwestern Oklahoma State University where he'll head this fall, dozens of text messages and "calls out of the wazoo" with offers of help -- have made a big difference. He knows people who lost family members, and many more who lost homes. He knows that they need time to plan and attend funerals, to clean up debris, to figure out what happens next. Even with all that, "I'm glad it's today," Spradling said. "It means to me that we're not going on different routes. "We're staying on the same path that we were meant to be on." One block, two tornadoes: Life in the crosshairs . Graduation festivities were infused by the tragedy, including speakers' remarks and other poignant reminders. One happened when Southmoore's Alyson Costilla walked across the stage to get her diploma and about a dozen people in the crowd stood up and held up pictures of her mother Terri Long, who died in a 7-Eleven ravaged by the powerful winds. Outside the convention center, the seniors from Southmoore, Westmoore and Moore high schools won't have to go far to be reminded of the devastation. Funeral homes and churches are busy with services for those killed. A balm after the storm . Ten of those killed were children, including seven second- and third-graders at Plaza Towers Elementary School. After three funerals earlier in the week, two more of those students were to be buried Saturday. Transforming Moore back into the city it had been won't be easy. Its public schools alone suffered $45 million in damage, including the two elementary schools that were leveled. Insurance claims related to Monday's storm will likely top $2 billion, according to Kelly Collins from the Oklahoma Insurance Department. But residents aren't doing it all alone. Honest advice from Joplin to Moore . Besides the presence of FEMA representatives and other public officials on the ground, they've had friends, relatives, even strangers come out to help. Sharon Liston has spent the last 25 years teaching math at Westmoore High, from which she's retiring after 40 years total in the profession. On Friday, a day before her school's graduation, a caravan of students arrived at her home to clean up her 3-acre property. "It looked like a wall of students with trash cans and trash sacks, and they literally picked up every stick within that three acres there," Liston said. Principals recall day tornado hit . That kind of help makes it easier for Moore's residents to move on from this horrific week. Saturday's graduation ceremonies are similar, in that way. It means the end of one thing, and the beginning of another. A fresh start. "It's just the closing of one chapter and the opening of another," Spradling said. "...It's one of those flipping of the pages that means a lot to everybody here." Tornado heading your way? Here's what to do . CNN's Eric Fiegel reported from Oklahoma, while Greg Botelho reported and wrote this story from Atlanta. CNN's Mariano Castillo contributed to this report.
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NEW: People hold up picture of a graduate's mom who died in the tornado .
Three high school classes in Moore, Oklahoma, have their graduation ceremonies .
"It's ... the closing of one chapter and the opening of another," a student says .
Funerals continue to be held for some of the 24 killed .
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Exeter Chiefs qualified for the quarter-finals of the European Rugby Challenge Cup after they defeated Connacht 33-24 on Sunday. Connacht led 17-10 at half-time following tries from Matt Healy, Willie Faloon and Danie Poolman, with Exeter staying in touch through a penalty try after a succession of scrums and a penalty and conversion by Harry Slade. The Chiefs moved ahead after the break when Dean Mumm scored from an interception, which Slade converted, with Don Armand's try from close to the line putting the visitors 30-17 up after fly-half Slade added the extras. Exeter Chiefs' Ian Whitten (left) and Matt Jess celebrate qualifying for the European Rugby Challenge Cup quarter-finals following a 33-24 victory over Connacht at The Sportsground on Sunday . Healy scored again for Connacht to give the hosts a try-scoring bonus point, with Jack Carty kicking his second conversion of the match, but Exeter held on for victory. The result means Exeter qualify with 20 points in Pool Two, with Connacht five points behind in second place. It was a welcome return to form for Rob Baxter's men as they brought to a halt a four-game losing streak having been defeated in their last four matches in the Aviva Premiership. Exeter will wrap up their European pool campaign at home to Bayonne on January 24 while Connacht, who would have gone top of the group with victory, travel to La Rochelle next weekend in search of one of the runners-up spots. Exeter's Moray Low (left) and Jack Yeandle tackle during a Gloucester match (this is a stock image) Henry Slade of Exeter looks to pass the ball during a match against London Welsh (this is a stock image)
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Exeter Chiefs beat Connacht 24-33 in Ireland on Sunday evening .
Chiefs qualify for quarter-finals of European Rugby Challenge Cup .
Penalty try and scores from Dean Mumm and Don Armand gave them win .
Matt Healy (2) Willie Faloon and Danie Poolman got home side bonus point .
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(CNN) -- Tennis hero, inspiring role model for African Americans, social activist and high-profile campaigner for the HIV and AIDS communities, Arthur Ashe died in 1993, but it is a measure of his influence that 20 years on his legacy burns as brightly as ever. The main stadium court at Flushing Meadows, where the U.S. Open is staged, is named in his honor, a striking statue of Ashe adorns the grounds, while the Arthur Ashe Kids' Day is a glittering annual bash that kick starts the fortnight for the final grand slam of the season. Michelle Obama was the guest of honor this year. His widow Jeanne Moutoussamy Ashe has made it her life's work to ensure her late husband's memory is preserved for generations and the presidential endorsement is the icing on the cake. "It makes me very proud that Arthur has his name raised up for kids who didn't have a clue who he is," she told CNN's Open Court program. "It was such a great honor. I'm born and raised on the south side of Chicago, as is Mrs Obama, so to be sitting here next to her with her daughters was just great fun. "And that she's so supportive of the Arthur Ashe Learning Center and so supportive of Arthur's legacy. "I don't think we could have asked for a better situation that day, it was just wonderful." Moutoussamy Ashe was sharing her experiences with former American Davis Cup star James Blake, who has recently retired from the ATP Tour. Blake told her that Ashe has been his idol and inspiration growing up. "Being an African American playing tennis, his impact on me was great and I wanted to follow in his footsteps, being someone that went to college and was educated and had such a great influence on the world," he said. The impact that Blake talks about went far beyond the narrow confines of professional sport. Ashe once famously said "I don't want to be remembered for my tennis accomplishments" and Moutoussamy Ashe has done her level best to promote his wish. "The game of tennis really just gave him a platform to speak about the issues that he cared so much about," she said. "I think he was a role model for a whole lot of kids which is why his legacy is so important to promote today. "We don't want a whole generation of kids today and generations to come to not know that he was more than a tennis player." Born in 1943, Ashe was brought up in the segregated South in Richmond, Virginia and first tested his tennis skills on a blacks only playground in the city. He developed his talent in high school and earned a tennis scholarship to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1963, that year becoming the first African American to represent the United States in the Davis Cup. A member of the Reserve Officers Training Corp (ROTC), Ashe was eventually required to do military service and spent three years in the United States Military Academy at West Point, rising to the rank of second lieutenant. Ashe was still a serving officer when he won his first grand slam title at the 1968 U.S. Open, the first of the Open Era when professionals were also allowed to compete. "He wasn't just the first African American male to win the U.S. Open but he actually was the first American period to win the U.S. Open because the U.S. Open didn't begin until 1968," Moutoussamy Ashe emphasizes. Ashe was discharged from the Army in 1969 and after winning his second grand slam crown at the 1970 Australian Open turned professional. A prominent supporter of the American civil rights movement, Ashe's political principles were tested when he was denied a visa by the apartheid government of South Africa to compete in their national open later that year. Ashe campaigned for South Africa to be excluded from the International Tennis Federation but although his demands were not met, he was eventually allowed a visa to compete in the 1973 South African Open, the first black male to do so. Ashe continued to speak out against the apartheid regime and after Nelson Mandela was released having served 27 years in prison, the tennis star returned to South Africa in 1991 as a member of a 31-strong delegation to observe the profound political changes in the country. He met Mandela several times and modestly observed: "Compared to Mandela's sacrifice, my own life has been one almost of self-indulgence. When I think of him, my own political efforts seem puny." But others would disagree. Andrew Young, the former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, once famously said of Ashe: "He took the burden of race and wore it as a cloak of dignity." Young, a pastor turned leading politician, presided over Ashe's wedding to Jeanne in 1977 after they had met at a charity event just six months previously where Moutoussamy Ashe was attending as a working photographer. Ashe was by then a three-time grand slam singles champion having shocked top seed Jimmy Connors in a epic 1975 Wimbledon final, but it was to prove his last as injury and eventual illness took their toll. The world was shocked in 1979 when the super-fit Ashe suffered a heart attack and underwent a bypass operation. He was set to return to the tennis tour when further complications arose and he was forced to announce his retirement, doing it in typically fastidious fashion. "He had about 30 letters that he had written individually to people, contracts that he had, promises and commitments he had to people, he just wrote them personally and said 'I'm retiring and I want you to be the first to know,'" recalled Moutoussamy Ashe. In retirement, he took over as captain of the United States Davis Cup team, but in 1983 he had to undergo a second round of heart surgery in New York. It was during his operation that Ashe is believed to have contracted the HIV virus from infected blood transfusions. He learned of the diagnosis in 1988 after another health scare, but for the sake of their adopted two-year old daughter Camera, Ashe and his wife kept the illness private. Only in 1992 was he forced to go public and true to his ideals began campaigning to debunk myths about AIDS and the way it is contracted. He founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of Aids to build on the work of an institute he had set up to promote public health. Ashe completed his memoir Days of Grace, finished shortly before his death on February 6, 1993 from AIDS-related pneumonia. For Blake the book was an inspiration. "As soon as I read Days of Grace it has always been my answer to what's your favorite book of all time," he told Moutoussamy Ashe. Young officiated at Ashe's funeral in Richmond, which was attended by thousands of mourners. He was buried alongside his mother, Mattie, who died in 1950 when he was just six years of age. Later in the year that he died, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton. It was the first of a string of high profile honors in recognition of a truly remarkable man, but for his widow, who has carried his torch now for so many years, it is his impact on communities and the younger generation which is so important. "I think if Arthur were here today, he would promote tennis on a grass roots level, drawing that metaphor that tennis not just a sport but more importantly a profession that might be able to get you a college scholarship to get you through school," she said. Others like Blake and Mal Washington followed in Ashe's footsteps on the male side of the men's game, but Moutoussamy Ashe is equally delighted by the impact the Williams' sisters have had on African American sport. "Venus and Serena, I'm so proud of what they are both doing. Venus has her challenges yet she's moving her life forward and still stays very involved in the game of tennis whenever she can. "Serena has been I think on top form, not just in tennis but as a person during this particular U.S. Open," she added, reflecting on the World No.1's 17th grand slam crown. Moutoussamy Ashe is hoping the Arthur Ashe Learning Center, which contains a wealth of her own photographs and memorabilia collected over his life, can find a permanent home. "It's really important that not just today's generation but generations to come understand him as more than just an athlete, as more than just a patient, as more than just a student and a coach. "That they'll understand the importance of being a well-rounded human being, that you might not be a great champion but if you're a well-rounded human being then you can do just about anything to succeed in life." Ashe himself is the perfect example of that, battling his modest background and an undercurrent of prejudice to achieve the highest honor that can be bestowed on an individual in the United States. "Racism is not an excuse to not do the best you can," Ashe said and he stands eloquent testimony to the truth of his words.
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Arthur Ashe won three grand slam titles .
First African American to achieve feat of winning a slam .
Died aged 49 in 1993 of AIDS related illness from an infected blood transfusion .
Stadium court at Flushing Meadows named in his honor .
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1383265cb51d293f8804ad251c04df341e026a30
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By . Sarah Griffiths . Whales are capable of swimming vast distances across oceans, but they are also expert divers. And now a study has revealed that the shy Cuvier’s beaked whale performs the deepest dives made by any mammal on the planet. Scientists were surprised to record one of the mammal's dives, which was 9,816ft (2,992 metres) below the waves. A study has revealed that the shy Cuvier's beaked whale performs the deepest dives made by any mammal on the planet at 9,816ft (2,992metres) below the waves - the equivalent of just under seven Empire State Buildings - and stays below for 138 minutes . And the whale stayed up to two miles below - around the depth of just under seven Empire State Buildings on top of one another - for 138 minutes. The New York landmark measures 1,250ft (381 metres) in height, excluding its tip. It is the first time that the diving behaviour of the species has been carefully examined and scientists are particularly interested in them because of the suspected effects of sonar - a system using transmitted and reflected underwater sound waves to detect and locate submerged objects. Marine mammal biologists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, tagged eight of the whales off San Nicholas Island in southern California and followed them for several months as they dived for food. Individual Cuvier’s beaked whales have beached in the Mediterranean and around the Canary Islands and the Bahamas, National Geographic reported. It is thought they did this because of sonar activity from ships, but none of the species have beached in southern California – the site of a Navy sonar testing area – close to where the study took place, according to Greg Schorr, a research biologist with the Cascadia Research Collective in Olympia, Washington. Studying Cuvier’s beaked whales is incredibly difficult as they spend a lot of their time in deep waters far away from the shore. It is the first time that the diving behaviour of the Cuvier's beaked whale (pictured) has been carefully examined and scientists are particularly interested in them because of the suspected effects of sonar . Beaked whales also rarely approach boats, according to Randall Davis, a marine mammal biologist at Texas A&M University in Galveston who was not involved in the study. Some species are only known from specimens that have died and washed up on shore, Dr Schorr said in the study, which is published in the journal Plos One. Recent research is only just giving scientists a good idea of how the whales spend their time and the experts admitted they did not expect to see any of the creatures dive almost 10,000ft (3,000 metres). Dr Schorr was so shocked that he initially checked that the tag had not malfunctioned, by placing an identical one in a pressure chamber to check it could withstand comparable depths. Dr Davis described the deepest dive as ‘spectacular’ and hypothesised that such efforts must be worth it for the animals to keep on diving. Individual Cuvier's beaked whales have beached in the Mediterranean and around the Canary Islands and the Bahamas. It is thought they did this because of sonar activity from ships (pictured), but none of the species have beached in southern California - the site of a Navy sonar testing area - close to where the study took place . He presumes they are rewarded by finding food such as deep-sea squid, but diving so deep can cause lungs to collapse and can even trigger convulsions. It is thought that Cuvier’s beaked whales get around these problems because they have rib cages that can fold down so there is less air in the lungs. But scientists are unsure how they manage to avoid high-pressure nervous syndrome, which causes convulsions. The team of experts hope that their research might help solve this mystery in years to come but are currently focused on whether the whales display unusual behaviour when they hear sonar. Studying Cuvier's beaked whales (illustrated) is incredibly difficult as they spend a lot of their time in deep waters far away from the shore .
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One Cuvier's beaked whale dived 9,816ft (2,992 metres) below the waves and stayed below for 38 minutes .
The equivalent of 6.75 Empire State Buildings placed on top of one another .
Biologists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California tagged eight of the whales off San Nicholas Island in southern California .
They are interested in whether the whales display unusual behaviour when they hear sonar emitted from ships .
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138349ad5a071ef5ba31d39cc61915985abe9c8e
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Washington (CNN) -- A same-sex couple has asked the Supreme Court to intervene in a cross-state dispute over their efforts to have both of them officially listed as the parents of an adopted 5-year-old boy. The California couple filed an appeal this week with the high court, saying Louisiana, where the child was born, has an unconstitutional policy against adoption by unmarried couples. The state used that policy to justify naming only one of them on an amended birth certificate. The men, Oren Adar and Mickey Ray Smith, argue that gay couples have a due process right to be listed on such certificates as joint custodial parents. A federal appeals court has ruled against the couple. The case could have broader implications in the current legal fight in state and federal courts over same-sex marriage and whether states -- and Washington -- must honor legal rights that gays and lesbians enjoy in other states. The men, who live in San Diego, had legally adopted a year-old boy from Shreveport, Louisiana, in 2006. The adoption was finalized in New York state, where the couple was then residing. In their appeal, spearheaded by the gay rights advocacy group Lambda Legal, the couple said it is important both practically and symbolically that they both be listed as the legal parents. "Obtaining an amended birth certificate that accurately identifies both parents of an adopted child is vitally important for multiple purposes, including determining the parents' and child's right to make medical decisions for other family members at the necessary moments; determining custody, care, and support of the child in the event of a separation or divorce between the parents," the legal brief said. Lawyers for the men also said it is vitally necessary for Social Security and tax purposes, inheritance, insurance, school registration, and obtaining a passport. Adar and Smith tried to have the birth certificate changed in Louisiana. All states have laws creating a right to accurate, amended official birth and identity documents that would be recognized in other states and by the federal government. Darlene Smith, Louisiana's registrar of vital records and statistics, refused their request. She took the position that the term "adoptive parents" in the applicable section of state law applies only to married parents, because in Louisiana, only married couples may jointly adopt a child. Louisiana state officials argue they have not refused to recognize the New York adoption decree, and had offered to list one of the parents on the official amended birth certificate. But Adar and Smith insisted both of them should be named. The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in April that Adar and Smith cannot file a federal civil rights claim under the Constitution's "full faith and credit" clause. That refers to Article IV, Section 1, which says states must respect the "public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state." The full 16-member court, in an 11-5 ruling, concluded the clause applies only to court actions, not those of state legislators or executive officials, and added that "there is no legal basis on which to conclude that failure to issue a revised birth certificate denies 'recognition' to the New York adoption decree." More importantly, the court said states have the power to make their own decisions about issuing birth certificates. "Adoption is not a fundamental right," said the appeals court, citing studies that found marriage provides a more stable environment in which to raise children. "Louisiana has a legitimate interest in encouraging a stable and nurturing environment for the education and socialization of its adopted children. ... Louisiana may rationally conclude that having parenthood focused on a married couple or single individual -- not on the freely severable relationship of unmarried partners -- furthers the interests of adopted children." The Supreme Court is likely to decide in late September whether to accept the case for review. If it does, oral arguments would likely be held early next year, and a ruling would come some weeks afterward. A decision by the justices not to intervene would be a final legal defeat for Adar and Smith on the certificate question, but would not affect their continuing custody of the boy. The case is Adar v. Smith, State Registrar (11-46).
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Louisiana refuses to list two men as adoptive parents on an amended birth certificate .
The men argue they have a due process right to have both officially recognized .
The adoption was finalized in New York, but the child was born in Louisiana .
An appeals court has ruled against the same-sex couple .
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A Texas news reporter effortlessly rapped Blackalicious' lyrically complicated song 'Alphabet Aerobics' to warm up for a live broadcast. In a common ritual for live news reporters, Kim Powell of NewsWest9 warmed up her vocal chords for a live shot. But Powell didn't settle for the standard sally-sells-seashells-by-the-sea-shore. Instead, she went all out, tackling the tongue-twisting 'Alphabet Aerobics.' Blackalicious: Kim Powell, of NewsWest9, effortlessly rapped Blackalicious' lyrically complicated song 'Alphabet Aerobics' to warm up for a live broadcast . Mic Drop! After she effortlessly executes the lyrics, Powell pretends to toss her microphone in the air as she says 'Mic drop!' Though the Midland, Texas reporter stumbled a little, she delivered the lyrics perfectly in a YouTube video, letting everyone know that 'artificial amateurs aren't at all amazing.' In the less than two-minute video, Powell sways to the beat as she delivers the lyrics. At the end, Powell, proud of herself, pretends to toss her microphone in the air as she says 'Mic drop!' Since its post on Sunday, the video has amassed more than 30,000 views on YouTube and has shown up on many news sites with commenters praising the reporter's flawless execution of the tough lyrics. Views: Since its post on Sunday, the video has amassed more than 30,000 views on YouTube and has shown up on many news sites with commenters praising the reporter's flawless execution of the tough lyrics . Facebook: Powell shared the video in a post on Facebook saying she usually warms up with the tongue-twisting song . Powell isn't the first person to tackle the popular song though. Earlier this year, Daniel Radcliffe wowed the Tonight Show audience with his rendition of 'Alphabet Aerobics.' Accompanied by a band, Radcliffe delivered the song with Jimmy Fallon behind him holding signs of each letter of the alphabet to coincide with Radcliffe's words. Radcliffe received a standing ovation for his performance, but, lacking a full band and a famous stage, Powell's cover may have been the most impressive one yet. (Now it's time for our wrap up. Let's give it everything we've got. Ready? Begin.) Artificial amateurs, aren't at all amazing. Analytically, I assault, animate things. Broken barriers bounded by the bomb beat. Buildings are broken, basically I'm bombarding. Casually create catastrophes, casualties, . cancelling cats got their canopies collapsing. Detonate a dime of dank daily doin' dough . Demonstrations, Don Dada on the down low. Eatin' other editors with each and every energetic, . epileptic episode, elevated etiquette. Furious, fat, fabulous, fantastic. Flurries of funk felt feeding the fanatics. Gift got great global goods gone glorious. Gettin' godly in his game with the goriest. Hit 'em high, hella height, historical. Hey, holocaust hints hear 'em holler at your homeboy. Imitators idolize, I intimidate. In a instant, I'll rise in a irate state . Juiced on my jams like jheri curls jockin' joints. Justly, it's just me, writin' my journals . Kindly, I'm kindling all kinds of ink on. Karate-kick type Brits in my kingdom. Let me live a long life, lyrically lesson's is . learned. Lame louses just lose to my livery. My mind makes marvelous moves, masses . marvel and move, many mock what I've mastered. N*ggas nap knowin' I'm nice naturally. Knack, never lack, make noise nationally. Operation, opposition, off, not optional. Out of sight, out of mind, wide beaming opticals. Perfected poem, powerful punchlines. Pummeling petty powder puffs in my prime. Quite quaint quotes keep quiet it's Quannum. Quarrelers ain't got a quarter of what we got, uh. Really raw raps, rising up rapidly. Riding the rushing radioactivity. Super scientifical sound search sought. Silencing super fire saps that are soft. Tales ten-times talented, too tough. Take that, challengers, get a tune up. Universal, unique untouched. Unadulterated, the raw uncut. Verb vice lord victorious valid. Violate vibes that are vain make 'em vanish. Wow I'm all well, what a wise wordsmith. Just . weaving up words weeded up, I'm a workshift. Xerox, my X-ray-diation holes extra large. X-height (excite) letters, and xylophone tones. Yellow back, yak mouth, young ones yaws. Yesterday's lawn yards sell our yawn. Zig-zag zombies, zoomin' to the zenith. Zero in zen thoughts, overzealous rhyme ZEALOTS! (Good, can you say it faster?)
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In a YouTube video, TV reporter Kim Powell raps the lyrics to Blackalicious' 'Alphabet Aerobics'
The Texas reporter effortlessly executes the lyrics of the complicated song .
The video has more than 30,000 views and nearly 100 shares on Facebook .
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(CNN) -- A car bomb targeting the headquarters of Syria's ruling party killed 53 people in central Damascus on Thursday, opposition activists and state-run media said. The explosion was close to a Russian Embassy building complex. No one there was injured or killed, but there was damage to a building, Russia's Foreign Ministry said. Most of the victims were civilians. It's unclear who is behind the blast. The explosion wounded more than 230 more people and burned 17 cars, Syrian state TV said. Ambulances raced to the scene as body bags were brought for the charred remains of passengers in a taxi, according to state television. The bomb detonated at a checkpoint manned by government soldiers in front of the Baath Socialist Party's main office, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The neighborhood is also home to Iraqi refugees as well as Druze and Christian groups. Syrian rebels issue warning to Hezbollah . It was unclear whether the driver blew up the car while sitting inside it or parked the vehicle and left before setting it off. The main Syrian opposition, the National Coalition for the Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, posted a statement on Facebook saying President Bashar al-Assad's government was guilty of shelling residential neighborhoods and other crimes. The "terrorist Assad regime" wishes to push Syrians "to the brink of despair," it said. The car bomb exploded just 65 feet away from the Baath Party building and damaged it, a resident named Mohammed said. Two schools are close by, and teachers phoned parents, asking them to pick up their children, he said. He did not want to give his last name because he was concerned for his own safety. There was damage as far away as 1,000 feet (305 meters), the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. In a separate incident, two car bombs exploded at government checkpoints in the Damascus suburb of Barzeh. Clashes ensued after the explosions, the Observatory said. In addition, two mortar rounds struck the Damascus offices of the Syrian army's leadership, the opposition reported. In early January, a car bomb demolished a gas station close to a hospital in Barzeh, killing civilians. The government and opposition groups blamed each other for the attack. Activists detail abuse inside al-Assad's prisons . Over the past year, rebels fighting to topple al-Assad's government have made inroads in the Damascus suburbs and have conducted potent strikes against government targets in the capital. Syrian government forces continued heavy aerial bombardments over rebel strongholds Thursday. Multiple attacks targeted towns in Idlib province in the north and in Daraa province bordering Israel, Jordan and Lebanon. The United Nations says that about 70,000 people have been killed in Syria's civil war, which began nearly two years ago. Just Thursday, 210 people were killed across the nation, opposition activists said. CNN's Ivan Watson contributed to this report.
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NEW: 210 people killed across Syria on Thursday, opposition activists say .
Car bomb detonated at a checkpoint in front of the ruling party's office .
The blast also damages the Russian Embassy in Damascus .
Syrian air force continues heavy bombing campaigns .
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Lakota warrior Crazy Horse has long been a controversial figure, so perhaps it's only appropriate that his memorial follow suit. Though he's best known for fighting against George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Crazy Horse led his tribe numerous times against settlers and miners in the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming and elsewhere before his 1877 death at Nebraska's Fort Robinson. But forget his disputed role in that battle or the claims that he's never been photographed or the conflicting tales of how he met his end -- the real mystery is more contemporary: When is the sculpture in his honor going to be complete? In the mountains of Black Hills, South Dakota, rests the Crazy Horse Memorial. It pays tribute to the Native American war hero with a sculpture that, at many times the size of nearby Mount Rushmore, will one day constitute the world's largest mountain carving. That is, if it ever gets completed. Though the project has been ongoing since 1948, it's far from finished, and there isn't a rush because ... well, there isn't a deadline. "The organization is not trying to be difficult or using delaying tactics," said Patrick Dobbs, spokesman for the Crazy Horse Memorial. "There are project unknowns and circumstances beyond control that influence the work." He lists harsh weather -- including lightning storms and blizzards -- and the mountain's high iron content, which makes the rock tougher to carve, as factors that have put a halt on the sculpting progress. That's not to mention that the sculpture will stand 563 feet tall, a few feet higher than the Washington Monument. Creator shuns assistance . Another factor is funding. According to Dobbs, the Crazy Horse sculpture is a nonprofit project and is funded entirely by admission fees and donations. "There were offers by elected government officials and high-ranking department appointees to seek funding as amendments to bills for other federal legislation," said Dobbs. "However, (Polish sculptor) Korczak Ziolkowski turned them down. He did not believe the government would complete the carving." Ziolkowski saw the American government as flaky when it came to making agreements, Dobbs said, adding Ziolkowski was dismayed by the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, which handed the Black Hills over to the Lakota but required their children have an "English education" and failed to address gold rights, resulting in years of conflict. The government seized the Black Hills nine years later, and the ensuing court battles continued for more than a century. Dobbs said Ziolkowski was also troubled by Mount Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum's struggle with federal officials over funding and control of the American landmark. Despite these factors that prompted Ziolkowski to spurn government assistance, it should be noted that Rushmore was completed after only 14 years. The New York Times reported in May that admission fees totaled $3.8 million in 2010, and the memorial received more than $19 million in donations over the last five years. Some Native Americans, including descendants of Crazy Horse, think with numbers like that the monument should already be finished. Seth Big Crow, whose great-grandmother was Crazy Horse's aunt, has mixed feelings about the memorial. In an interview with Voice of America, he said the monument could serve future generations and may be the American equivalent to the Easter Island monoliths. "Maybe 300 or 400 years from now, everything will be gone, we'll all be gone, and they'll be the four faces in the Black Hills and the statue there symbolizing the Native Americans who were here at one time," Big Crow said. The Eastern Island monoliths have long been considered one of the world's great mysteries. Ancient Polynesian settlers to the island built the giant volcanic-stone figures, and while they are thought to pay homage to deities or ancestors, no one knows exactly what they represent. The sculpture of a lifetime . Ziolkowski began carving the Crazy Horse monument seven years after the completion of Rushmore. Chief Henry Standing Bear, then-leader of the Lakota tribe, didn't like the four huge American faces peering over his people's land, so he asked Ziolkowski if he could carve a monument in honor of a Native American legend. "My fellow chiefs and I would like the white man to know the red man has great heroes also," Standing Bear wrote in a 1939 letter to Ziolkowski. Ziolkowski worked on the carving until his death in 1982 at age 74. His dying wish was for his wife Ruth, now 86, and their 10 children to finish the sculpture. Ruth is president and CEO of the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, and seven of the children are working on it to this day. Not everyone considers the sculpture an honor. In an interview with Voice of America, Elaine Quiver, another descendant of Crazy Horse, said Standing Bear had no right to order the monument. "They don't respect our culture because we didn't give permission for someone to carve the sacred Black Hills where our burial grounds are," Quiver said. "They were there for us to enjoy and they were there for us to pray. But it wasn't meant to be carved into images, which is very wrong for all of us. The more I think about it, the more it's a desecration of our Indian culture. Not just Crazy Horse, but all of us." Tim Giago, founder of the Native Sun News, which is based in nearby Rapid City, told The New York Times he has never heard "a single Native American say, 'I'm proud of that mountain.' " There's also disagreement over the depiction of Crazy Horse's face. Though it's a source of some dispute, many experts say there are no known photographs of Crazy Horse, and thus, creating a statue in his likeness is foolish. However, according to a biography provided by the Crazy Horse Memorial, the statue is not meant to be a rendition of Crazy Horse. Instead, it's supposed to honor the spirit of Crazy Horse. Growing popularity? Dobbs acknowledges that the "significance of the Crazy Horse Memorial and reaction to the mountain carving varies" among Native Americans. However, he feels as though the perception of the mountain is getting better. "The growth of the memorial's tribal flag collection to more than 120 banners from American and Canadian tribes and groups indicates spreading popularity for Crazy Horse," said Dobbs. "The extent of applications for the limited openings in the summer university program is another indicator of support." The tribal flags are given to the memorial as a sign of respect from the nation represented by the flag. It's also a sign of "continuing support of the ongoing project," Dobbs said. Wanda McFaggen of the St. Croix Chippewa Indians, which sent their flag to the Crazy Horse monument, praised the memorial for its historical significance. "We believe that education is a vital tool in helping the non-native communities understand who we are," said McFaggen, director of the tribe's historic preservation department. "It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge the efforts being made by the Korczak Ziolkowski family, and we are grateful for their passion for all of us as Native American people." The mountain also features other attractions besides the carving that "preserve" the Native American tradition, Dobbs said. There is the Indian Museum of North America, which contains more than 11,000 historic and contemporary objects and artworks from tribal groups; the Native American Educational and Cultural Center, which houses a collection of historic prints, numerous regional artifacts and some hands-on activity displays; and the recently opened Indian University of North America, which partners with the University of South Dakota and offers courses in Native American studies. The Crazy Horse Memorial "anticipates continued expansion of the Indian University of North America to include a medical training center, further development of the Indian Museum of North America and growth in its educational programs to enhance understanding of the varied Native American cultures," Dobbs said. However, Big Crow feels like the money being spent on these buildings should be used solely on the statue. "When you start making money rather than to try to complete the project, that's when, to me, it's going off in the wrong direction," Big Crow said in the Voice of America interview. 'A project that will never end ...' But the Ziolkowskis have always insisted that this be a painstaking process -- "so you do it right" -- and the memorial website flatly states the memorial "is a project that will never end, even after the mountain carving is complete." After 50 years of work, Crazy Horse's 87-foot head was completed in 1998, and work is presently being done to finish 219-foot-tall head of the Native American warrior's steed, according to the Ziolkowskis. When and if it's complete, the entire monument will be 641 feet wide. In terms of size, Mount Rushmore, just 17 miles away, has four 60-foot heads, all of which can fit inside the lone head of Crazy Horse. Crazy Horse died after being captured by enemy soldiers. As with most Crazy Horse-related lore, the exact time and manner of death are disputed, and even a highway sign near Wounded Knee, South Dakota, lists four possible resting places.
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Work on Crazy Horse Memorial began in 1948; it's unclear when sculpture will be complete .
Monument is planned for 563 feet, a few feet taller than Washington Monument .
Despite early controversies over statue and location, memorial officials say image is improving .
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A video warning Poles of the dangers of coming to Britain has been issued with the backing of the Government. Migrants who are unprepared could be ripped off, made homeless and even set on fire by thugs, it says. The three-minute film funded by Whitehall warns of the consequences of illegal working, sleeping rough and street violence. Warning: The stark video advises people in Poland that without a job and home in Britain they risk being attacked by thugs . Homeless: It tells the story of Jacek who ends up sleeping rough after losing his cash in hand job . Fire: In the most dramatic moment flames appear to engulf him in his sleeping bag . It advises Poles to ‘be well prepared’ if they are coming to Britain – with a guaranteed job and back-up money. But it also shows dramatic and . alarming images of a Polish immigrant, played by an actor, who loses . his job and is then beaten up and burned while he is sleeping on the . street. The advice – not to assume the streets . of London or other British cities are paved with gold – comes at a time . of increasing concern about the plight of unemployed eastern European . migrants. Official counts say that around four . in ten of the rough sleepers in London come from eastern Europe and more . than a fifth are Poles. Romanian migrants are also living in desperate . poverty in Britain. Westminster Council is anxious to stop begging by . organised Romanian groups in the capital and this week there have been . concerns over the appearance of an eastern European shantytown in . Hendon, North London. Whitehall has already backed efforts . to warn Romanians and Bulgarians over the potential difficulties of life . in Britain to try to prevent the arrival of unprepared migrants when . the labour market is opened to citizens of the two countries at the end . of the year. Immigrant: The video talks about how Jacek moved to England in search of work and a better life, but was not well-prepared . Streets: Up to one in 10 rough sleepers in London are Polish, according to latest figures . The Department for Communities and . Local Government and the Foreign Office have both backed the . three-minute Polish language video, as has the Polish embassy in London. Narrated by an actor playing a successful Polish immigrant, it tells . Poles that his success was achieved only by hard work and that many . pitfalls await those who move to Britain. Before You Go tells the story of what . can happen if foreigners do not have a job or accommodation when they . arrive from overseas. Advice: Another character in the three-minute film, Andzrej, boasts of being well prepared when he moved to Britain . London: The video is entitled Before You Go - Zanim wyjedziesz in Polish . Mick Clarke, of charity The Passage, . which made the film, said: ‘In recent years we have seen firsthand the . devastating impact of people failing to prepare before they travel to . the UK … Before You Go enables us to get a clear prevention message out . there before people travel, to help ensure that for those who do come to . the UK their move is a success.’ Housing Minister Mark Prisk said: . ‘Sadly too many rough sleepers are foreign nationals who arrived in the . UK without realistic prospects and as a result ended up with a life on . the streets.’ He said the film aimed to ensure migrants ‘understand the risks’.
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Three-minute Polish-language film warns of dangers of moving to UK .
Urges immigrants to secure a legal job, home and £600 back up plan .
Shows story of out-of-work builder set on fire while sleeping rough .
Video funded by UK and Polish governments .
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1384fe5477b558acf63910dbc9c58961a132198f
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(CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama's victory speech Tuesday night compares favorably with a number of historic orations, a linguist said Thursday. Barack Obama speaks at a rally in Chicago, Illinois, after winning the presidency Tuesday night. "His goal was to be understood by the widest possible audience during his victory speech, and he seems to have done a great job doing it," said Paul J.J. Payack, president of the Austin, Texas-based Global Language Monitor, which analyzed the speech for content, tone and length. "He's at his best communicating directly and forthrightly with this audience and using different types of rhetorical devices," Payack said, noting that the speech was written to a seventh- or eighth-grade level. That's lower than the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech (grade 8.8), President Reagan's 1987 "Tear Down This Wall" speech (grade 9.8) and even Obama's own 2004 Democratic Convention speech (grade 8.3), Payack said. In the four years since then, "he has learned to speak more directly and more succinctly when he's giving a major address," the word aficionado said. He spoke admiringly of Obama's repeated use of the phrase "Yes, we can," calling it "very effective." "That's a very short, direct sentence," Payack said. "Almost like a drumbeat hammering into people's minds and hearts." He added, "something like that comes across as a very effective rhetorical device." That phrase compares with Reagan's "Tear Down This Wall" and President Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country," delivered in his inaugural speech. At about 2,000 words, the speech was short enough not to lose the audience's attention but long enough to cite specifics and cover the subject matter, Payack said. Watch Obama's victory speech » . Twelve of those words were "hope" or variations of the word, which indicates optimism about the change (used nine times) he has promised to effect. Another 23 of the words were "will," another way of making the speech forward-looking. Though most of Obama's verbs were in the active voice, 11 percent of the sentences were in the passive voice, a dependable method of deflecting responsibility, Payack said. He cited Obama's "There will be setbacks and false starts" as an example. "He's spreading the responsibility around," Payack said. "He didn't say, 'I will have setbacks. I will be wrong. I will make mistakes.' He used the passive voice for those types of constructions." But the vast majority of the hopeful references were in the active voice, he said. "It's very personal and very active. 'I promise we, as a people, will get there.' " The speech was notable for what it omitted, too, Payack said. In this case, the absence of a reference to the September 11 terrorist attacks indicates a change in tone, he said. In his closing phrase, Obama repeats the mantra, "Yes, we can," which serves as a call to action, an acknowledgment that the country faces hard work, Payack said. Obama is saying, "I'm asking you to do something big, but we can do it together," Payack said. "We are the change; we are the hope."
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Linguist says Obama's speech was on seventh- or eighth-grade level .
That's lower than King, Reagan speeches .
Speech was optimistic and forward-looking, expert says .
Lack of 9/11 reference was significant change in tone, linguist says .
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He was a beefy 5-foot-10 but won an Oscar for playing the slight, 5-foot-3 Truman Capote. He had the booming voice of a deity but often played schlubs and conflicted characters. He could be heartfelt and giving, as with his male nurse in "Magnolia" or rock critic in "Almost Famous," or creepily Machiavellian, such as the gamemaster in the latest "Hunger Games" movie. Philip Seymour Hoffman was an actor who could be anybody. "I don't know how he does it," director Mike Nichols told The New York Times Magazine in 2008. Nichols directed Hoffman on both stage ("The Seagull," "Death of a Salesman") and screen ("Charlie Wilson's War"). "Again and again, he can truly become someone I've not seen before but can still instantly recognize. ... He may look like Phil, but there's something different in his eyes. And that means he's reconstituted himself from within, willfully rearranging his molecules to become another human being." "Philip Seymour Hoffman's precise, uncanny performance as Capote doesn't imitate the author so much as channel him, as a man whose peculiarities mask great intelligence and deep wounds," wrote Roger Ebert about 2005's "Capote." Hoffman was found dead Sunday. Reports attribute his death to a drug overdose. For years, Hoffman was the kind of anonymous character actor who earned critical raves but was often unnoticed by the general public. He had an Everyman face -- burly enough to be an athlete, soft enough to be an artist, with an eye twinkle that could be either vicious (as in his "Mission: Impossible III" villain) or humorous (the frat-boyish Sandy in "Along Came Polly"). Consider the roles that earned him Academy Award nominations: a conniving writer ("Capote"), a cranky CIA desk jockey ("Charlie Wilson's War"), an upbeat, dissembling priest ("Doubt") and a charming, enigmatic cult leader ("The Master"). Or consider the ones that didn't: baseball manager Art Howe ("Moneyball"), suspicious Freddie Miles ("The Talented Mr. Ripley"), clever Plutarch Heavensbee ("The Hunger Games: Catching Fire"). The New York Times' Ben Brantley, who saw him on stage, was unequivocal. "One of the finest actors of his generation," he wrote in his review of the 2012 staging of "Death of a Salesman" -- even while finding Hoffman miscast in that production. One of a kind everyman: . He's of a type harder to find in Hollywood these days, where movie-star looks and charisma often take precedence over the ability to disappear into a role. Indeed, even when movie stars do try to disappear, we're all too aware of the tricks, whether it's weight gain, a putty nose or an unfamiliar accent. Movie stars sell tickets. Character actors -- and Hoffman, for all his intensity, was a character actor -- support movie stars. That seemed OK with him. You could more often find him in challenging roles or secondary parts than leads. He liked to take chances. He worked with director Paul Thomas Anderson ("Boogie Nights," "Magnolia," "The Master") before either was a big name, and Anderson provided him with a steady stream of interesting roles. He took small parts in such films as the dark comedy "Strangers with Candy," based on the unpleasant characters dreamed up by Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello and Stephen Colbert, and "The Invention of Lying," Ricky Gervais' comedy about religion and atheism. In some respects he followed the path of one of his heroes, Paul Newman, who had looks and magnetism to burn but wasn't shy about taking "character" parts, such as a broken-down lawyer in "The Verdict" or a ne'er-do-well in "Nobody's Fool." The latter featured Newman acting opposite Hoffman, as did the HBO miniseries "Empire Falls." He also kept his talent sharp with frequent stage work and the kind of "one for me, one for them" movie philosophy that made sure he was both busy and successful. The price of fame: . In recent years, he'd become a more recognizable face -- and persona. In a video that quickly made the rounds, his voice was dubbed into a trailer for the Joaquin Phoenix movie "Her," taking the place of Scarlett Johansson's operating system, Samantha. Where Johansson is relaxed, Hoffman is intense; where Johansson is helpful, Hoffman is wily. It neatly summed up his capabilities. But with fame comes intrusion, and Hoffman seemed uncomfortable with the attention. He was a New York-based actor, not a movie star. It was a job, not an excuse to turn him into an open book. "Somebody wanted me to talk about my personal life," he told the UK newspaper The Independent in 2012. "I'd rather not because my family doesn't have any choice. If I talk about them in the press, I'm giving them no choice. So I choose not to." His death has left his colleagues in shock. "We have lost a true artist," said Robin Wright in a statement. Wright worked with Hoffman in "Moneyball" and the forthcoming "A Most Wanted Man." "He was a giant talent," said Tom Hanks, who co-starred with Hoffman in "Charlie Wilson's War." But perhaps director Nichols was most succinct -- and heartfelt -- in describing the void left by Hoffman's death. "No words for this," he said in a statement. "He was too great and we're too shattered." "Great" is an all-too-appropriate word, as Hoffman himself used it when expressing his goals. Given his work and the circumstances of his death, a line from the 2008 New York Times Magazine profile seems more haunting today. "For me, acting is torturous, and it's torturous because you know it's a beautiful thing," he said. "I was young once, and I said, 'That's beautiful and I want that.' Wanting it is easy, but trying to be great -- well, that's absolutely torturous."
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Philip Seymour Hoffman was a rare breed in Hollywood .
The actor could disappear into -- and transcend -- any role .
He seemed to care more for his craft than celebrity .
Hoffman died of an apparent drug overdose at the age of 46 .
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1385beda3ff9f190b8a58890e452a33de847b38f
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An open jail has been condemned as a laughing stock after a second prisoner went missing in a week – bringing the total on the run to 82. Burglar Greg Disbrey, 27, simply walked out of Ford Open Prison on Monday and has not been seen since. Three days before, thug Lucas Lamb absconded from the Category D facility in Arundel, West Sussex. On the run: Greg Disbrey (left) and Lucas Lamb (right) have both absconded from Ford Open Prison in West Sussex in the last week - bringing the total number of prisoners who have gone missing to 82 . Sussex Police said Disbrey has links to Edgware in north London and Devon, and was sentenced to three-and-a-half years for burglary and handling stolen goods in 2012. The jail holds 521 inmates - meaning the total who have absconded are equal to almost a sixth of its capacity. Andy Silvester, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Taxpayers will be shocked their money is being used to run a laughing stock of a prison. ‘They rightly expect that prisoners are not able to wander off at their leisure.’ Yesterday figures obtained via a Freedom of Information request revealed that the two men bring the total missing from Ford to 82. This includes two murderers, a kidnapper and five other violent criminals. About half have been missing for at least four years, and 18 escaped in the 1990s. Slammed: Some 82 prisoners are missing from Ford Open Prison in West Sussex, many for several years . Justice campaigner Peter Cuthbertson slammed the lax security at the prison. The director of the campaign group Centre for Crime Prevention said: 'Open prisons in general and HMP Ford in particular have a terrible record for prisoner escapes. 'Eighty-two separate cases is an appalling figure. 'It is dangerous to rely on prisons that have such a bad record of escapes, and it’s high time to stop the overuse of open prisons.' Police described Disbrey as white, 5ft 7ins tall and with a pierced eyebrow, two large moles behind his right ear and a tattoo of a cross on his right forearm. The Ministry of Justice declined to comment.
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Latest to vanish from Ford Open Prison, West Sussex, is Greg Disbrey .
27-year-old burglar walked out of Category D jail during three-year sentence .
Now figures reveal the whereabouts of 82 inmates are currently unknown .
Centre for Crime Prevention campaign group called the number 'appalling'
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1386658aa5f82645931f30b3882fbec1ee4462cc
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By . Mia De Graaf . Crammed full of dusty syringes, bottled antidotes, and rattling equipment - with a half-smoked pipe on the table - the owner of this doctor's surgery could have just popped out. But in fact it has lain derelict for more than a decade - and gathered a thick layer of dust over the years. Abandoned in mysterious circumstances, the mansion in Virton, Belgium, still has semi-full glasses of wine on the tables, and meticulously ordered equipment in antique glass cabinets smothered in cobwebs. Bygone era: The equipment in this old doctor's surgery in Virton, Belgium, was left in perfect order when it was abandoned in 1980 - despite slight decay . Ghost-like: The doctor's unfinished cigar, glasses and newspaper were left on the table as if he were half-way through his morning reading . French photographer Matti Decaux, 27, who found the home, said: 'This one is a strange for me, as it seems to be part home, part office and part surgery. 'It really felt odd wandering around, as it was as if the owner had just left for a paper and would return at any moment - the only way to tell otherwise was the layer of dust covering the contents of the property. 'The surgery area was very interesting as there was old equipment left behind, and it was all neatly laid out. Historic: The medicines cluttered around the house look ancient compared to our plastic packets today. Syringes and scalpels lie sprawled over glass-topped desks . Not quite the NHS: Patients would recline in a king size bed with plush blue satin sheets and a gold wooden frame facing the open windows . Mysteriously, open bottles and half-filled glasses remain on the tables, with coats slung on the back of the beautiful, velvet chairs . 'But, to be honest, with it being a . multi-use building there was much to see, all of which seemed as though . it was very well cared for when the owner was still there.' Seemingly abandoned at some point in the 1980s, the house in the south of Belgium has been dubbed 'Dr Pepito's mansion' and is made up of three stories - part residential and part surgery. Mr Decaux, 27, says: 'I receive a very mixed reaction from people who see these photographs. 'Some love to see them and hear the tales of what once may have gone on in there. Although, some will just never understand why I find these places interesting. 'I really enjoy capturing places that once were loved but now have been left for Mother Nature to reclaim.' The house has become local legend, with many stories circulated about what could have happened to the family that left without notice or trace . French photographer Matti Decaux discovered a home 'reclaimed by Mother Nature' as he was investigating the myth of 'Dr Pepito's Mansion' Classic: A typical doctor's briefcase gathers dust on a chair in the corner of an office . Memories: Boxes of photographs all over the house span generations, including the family's landmarks events like weddings, births and birthdays .
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House in Virton, Belgium, was once a doctor's surgery, filled with vials, syringes, bottled antidotes and crosses .
Has lain derelict for 30 years, walls crumbling, wallpaper peeled off, covered in cobwebs .
Photographer Matti Decaux discovered it smothered in dust but all equipment ordered perfectly .
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13899572286722dd8f6d90ca698eee43744c6e74
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A lunar light show circled the globe Saturday, rewarding many moongazers with bright, crisp detail of the full moon's craters and basins. Called a "perigee" moon by scientists, the phenomenon occurs once a year. NASA said the moon appears about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full moons. See views of the moon from around the world . That's because it will be as close to Earth as it will get for a while -- just over 221,000 miles away. CNN iReporter Halldor Sigurdsson snapped the yellowish-ochre orb perched on the shoulder of a mountain overlooking Reykjavik, Iceland. "The colors were spectacular," wrote Sigurdsson, 47. "The weather here for viewing the moon rise could not have been better." Residents of the mainland United States received similar conditions at 11:34 p.m., ET, the peak of this year's "super moon." The best time to see the event is just as the moon crosses Earth's horizon. The moon always looks biggest then, although the reason why is a bit of a mystery. Viewing the moon behind buildings and trees creates an optical illusion so it appears even larger, making it a perfect time to try to grab some beautiful pictures. So why is this full moon so super? As the moon makes its elliptical orbit around Earth, there are specific times when it is closest to and farthest away from our planet. Apogee occurs when the moon is farthest away from us, and perigee occurs when it is closest. Experts say viewers may not notice a noticeable size difference, given there are no reference points when the moon is high overhead. "'Super moon' is a situation when the moon is slightly closer to Earth in its orbit than on average, and this effect is most noticeable when it occurs at the same time as a full moon," James Garvin, chief scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said in 2011. "So, the moon may seem bigger although the difference in its distance from Earth is only a few percent at such times." Share your big moon photos . Among those staying up late Saturday was Beth Wade of Lake Wylie, South Carolina. She took "test" photos of the moon Friday and early Saturday. "I love nature," said Wade, 31, who has a corporate day job and an online vintage clothing shop."We live on the lake and I love taking photos of the sunset, so anything that is that beautiful, that natural and prominent is great to see. The super moon is a natural phenomenon, and that is what is so awesome about it." Shari Neluka Atukorala, an iReporter in Kandy, Sri Lanka, said the moon "was so bright that I could really see the markings on it quite close ... and yet so far." Not everyone was wowed. Ben Jason Tesiorna, 41, of Davao City, Philippines, took a photo of the moon peeking through clouds. 'I was actually expecting a much larger moon, considering scientists are calling it a super moon," he said.
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"The colors were spectacular," writes CNN iReporter in Iceland .
Mainland U.S. experienced perigee at 11:34 p.m. ET .
Full moon appears about 14% bigger and 30% brighter .
The moon was at perigee, about 221,802 miles away, late Saturday .
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138a44a53740d7db265789fdfa2bea97a5076da6
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Elderly residents at a sheltered housing block have been banned from drinking alcohol in communal areas following complaints by tenants about rowdy and 'intimidating' behaviour. Residents in their 80s and 90s were said to be so frightened by the actions of two tenants that staff called in 24-hour security to keep the peace over Christmas. Now the guards have gone but residents can no longer drink in shared areas following a row that began in the communal room as some of the pensioners put up their Christmas tree in early December. Alchohol is banned from communal areas at Birch Grove sheltered housing in Jarrow, South Tyneside . A spokesman for South Tyneside Homes, which runs the housing complex, said the complaints centered on two residents at the Birch Grove sheltered housing complex in Jarrow, South Tyneside. He said: 'The consumption of alcohol is still banned in communal areas at Birch Grove.' But he said that the security guard who was brought in last December to deter anyone at the accommodation from misbehaving had been stood down earlier this month. One carer who helps a pensioner at the block said residents blamed a couple of 'problem tenants' whose antisocial behaviour was upsetting the peaceful majority of retirees. An insider at the accommodation block, who did not want to be named, said: 'It is appalling to need a security guard for people in their 80s and 90s, just to protect them from other residents. 'And the cost must have been enormous. To have someone there 24 hours a day, it must be thousands of pounds. 'It was the only sheltered housing block in the borough with this measure in place.' South Tyneside Homes, which runs Birch Grove, above, says they are looking into the residents' complaints . The 33-flat block caters for over-60s in independent flats, with a communal sitting room and kitchen. Another source said: 'They brought in the security guard 24 hours a day at first. Then he was scaled down to be there between 4pm and midnight in case anything happened, and now he has gone. 'But people are still fearful. No one wants to use the communal areas because they are scared they will be subjected to abuse and intimidation. 'There are no group activities. With these dark winter nights, everyone is in by 5pm, but then it's lockdown. Everyone just goes to their own rooms all night. 'Some people are in their 80s and 90s and are not strong enough to stand up for themselves. 'And there were no New Year's Eve parties for Birch Grove because booze has been banned in communal areas. 'Residents couldn't have a drink to celebrate the festive season. 'People in other sheltered blocks were up until 1am celebrating, but at Birch Grove they were all in bed by 9.30pm.' A number of Birch Grove residents complained to South Tyneside Homes, which manages the block. John Musson, director of housing for South Tyneside Homes, said: 'We do not tolerate antisocial behaviour in any form and always encourage our tenants to report any cases of abusive, threatening or intimidating behaviour to us so that we can take appropriate action. 'We are investigating allegations of antisocial behaviour at Birch Grove Housing Plus Scheme in Jarrow following a number of complaints from tenants. 'We are working closely with tenants and their families and have agreed to put a number of temporary measures in place to provide reassurance while we resolve this matter.'
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Trouble began at Birch Grove, South Tyneside with row over Christmas tree .
Elderly residents intimidated by rowdy behaviour of two tenants .
Managers called in 24-hour security guard at first to calm atmosphere .
Now the guard's gone but residents are still said to be fearful .
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138aa98b1d19e2c685271347de51fd6d59d64ee7
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The entry for Indigenous Australian on Wikipedia was one of the most viewed pages during 2014 gaining 4.7million hits on May 24 alone . Popular pages on Wikipedia during 2014 have been revealed with one of the most read entries being 'Indigenous Australian'. For eight days running starting on May 18, the entry was the most viewed page reaching a peak of 4.7million hits on May 24. But despite being one of the most read pages on the encyclopedia site last year, it is unclear why so many people worldwide were searching for the term. The list of last year's most viewed Wikipedia pages has been compiled by website Quartz, who analysed the top viewed page every day of last year. During the study, they found that most of the top results followed big news events, with the profile of actor Robin Williams being viewed more than 5.1million times on August 12, the day after his death. The profile for fellow actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was also the top viewed page with 1.7million hits on February 2, the day of his death. During early March, the entry for Crimea was the most-well read, which coincided with the region's annexation by Russia. Meanwhile during most of June, while the FIFA World Cup was taking place in Brazil, its entry on Wikipedia was the most viewed on almost half of the days in the month. But for other pages, such as 'Indigenous Australian', researchers are unable to say why they were so popular, although one explanation is that during this time Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot announced cuts to programmes that help his country's aboriginal population. Another possible explanation is it came in the lead up to National Sorry Day, which is in honour of the Stolen Generations in Australia. Other pages which also received high page views for no apparent explanation is the entry for the dinosaur species triceratops, which received 1.1million hits on March 28. There were also two consecutive days of more than a million views of the Malware page and the entry explaining the meaning of alliteration was the most viewed entry for seven consecutive days. The Wikipedia page on Indigenous Australians, which was the most viewed entry on the encyclopedia site between May 18 and May 24 last year . However, the site explained: 'Because the data measure page views and not unique visitors, they are subject to distortion from bots, or software that requests pages programatically. 'A software developer could accidentally write a bot that views a page tens of thousands of times instead of once. This helps explain the very large numbers of views for random pages like Malware.' The results almost mirror the most searched for terms on Google last year, which also saw the World Cup being one of the most popular searches. The Wikipedia entries for the late actors Robin Williams, left, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, right, were the most viewed in the days following their deaths . During June, the entry for FIFA World Cup was the most read page on Wikipedia while the tournament was underway in Brazil . Globally, searches for the Robin Williams proved popular as did the terms Apple's iPhone 6, and the Ebola crisis. The results were based on the most popular search terms within various categories over the past 12 months. The top female celebrity worldwide was Jennifer Lawrence, followed by Kim Kardashian.
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Most read entries on Wikipedia daily during 2014 have been revealed .
For 8 days in May, the page for 'Indigenous Australian' was most read .
On May 24 alone, it received a peak of 4.7million hits on the site .
Other well-read entries last year included World Cup and Robin Williams .
More unusual popular pages included Malware, triceratops and alliteration .
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