Datasets:

olanasir

/

cnn-daily-mail

like 0

024eefc4ba54116247f329ae2c7c19903e0074a0

By . Jill Reilly . PUBLISHED: . 04:02 EST, 30 November 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 04:44 EST, 30 November 2012 . China's new prime minister is the man behind one of the biggest medical scandals of all time. In the 1990s between 50,000 and 300,000 people were mistakenly infected with HIV in Henan province and Li Keqiang, the man who led the cover-up is now China's new leader. Mr Li was governor of the area in 1998 when people contracted HIV . from state-sponsored blood-buying rings with unhygienic practices. Hypocrisy: Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang presides over a State Council AIDS Working Committee, in Beijing on Monday. Mr Li was governor of Henan province in 1998 when people contracted HIV from state-sponsored blood-buying rings with unhygienic practices . Activists have urged Li to acknowledge the government's responsibility . for the disaster and provide compensation, with little success. There are no official figures because . the Chinese government has never admitted or apologised for what . happened but now Mr Li is desperately trying to rectify his shadowy . past. Earlier this week Li shook hands with Aids victims on Chinese television and promised to . let NGOs play a more active role in battling the disease. The stigma against people with HIV runs especially deep in China, from . being unofficially barred from government jobs to being expelled from . school. Tough talk: During a meeting Monday with a dozen activist groups Li said health facilities that discriminate against people with HIV would be severely punished. An estimated 780,000 people have HIV in China . In China, hospitals routinely reject people with HIV for surgery out of . fear of exposure to the virus or harm to their reputations. But last Friday, following Mr Li's orders, the health ministry banned hospitals from turning away infected patients. During a meeting Monday with a dozen activist groups, he said such . discrimination would be severely punished, according to Li Hu. After years . of denying AIDS was a problem in China, the country has significantly . improved care for patients, but the lingering stigma sets back those . advances. One of those infected was Wang Pinghe who was just 12-yearsold when he had a chest operation and was contracted HIV. He did not realise he  was ill but suffered fevers which last for weeks and some mornings he found he could not even open his eyes. After leaving school, he worked in factories and then dug irrigation systems in western China. Now aged 28, Mr Wang was diagnosed with full-blown Aids in May. 'My parents cried for four days. I am their only son,' he told The Telegraph. Mr Wang wants the tumor in his liver removed before it becomes life-threatening. But the 28-year-old Chinese villager knows it will be hard to find a hospital that will do the operation because of his diease. Lasting legacy: 28-year-old HIV patient Wang Pinghe shows bottles of medicine pills he has been taking. He was infected when he was just 12-years-old . 'In my hometown, not a single hospital is willing to operate on people infected with HIV,' said Wang, who traveled to Beijing from Runan county in the central province of Henan to try to draw the attention of central authorities to the issue by speaking to the foreign media. 'This is not discrimination by one single person but by an entire country.' Now, as more people rail against the myriad inequalities that plague Chinese society, people with HIV are becoming increasingly willing to assert their right to fair treatment. One man recently claimed the spotlight by altering his medical records to hide his HIV-positive condition so he could get surgery for lung cancer. The man, who went by the pseudonym Xiaofeng, told state media he had been turned away by two hospitals. His story sparked a firestorm of criticism directed at both the hospitals for rejecting him and thepatient for exposing medical staff to risks they were not aware of. [caption . 'Xiaofeng was smart. When he felt that his life was in danger, he found a way to save himself,' said Li Hu, a Tianjin-based activist who helped Xiaofeng and later publicized the case online. 'But this way isn't good for anyone, be it the patient or medical workers. Now the question is: Can we find a way that is favorable for everyone?' China has made significant strides in tackling the epidemic, with the AIDS mortality rate falling 64 percent from 2002 to last year. The government last year increased HIV treatment by 50 percent — reaching three-quarters of the adults and children who require it, according UNAIDS. An estimated 780,000 people have HIV in China. There has been an increasing trend of cases transmitted through sex rather than intravenously, with sex workers and gay men considered most at risk, said Guy Taylor, a communications officer for UNAIDS. Treatment: With improved access to lifesaving drugs, people with HIV in China are living longer, which means more are seeking treatment for other ailments . About 70,000 new cases were reported in the first 10 months of this year, largely through sexual transmission, as compared with about 93,000 for all of last year, the Health Ministry announced this week at a news conference ahead of World AIDS Day on Saturday. With improved access to lifesaving drugs, people with HIV in China are living longer, which means more are seeking treatment for other ailments. Chinese law bars medical facilities from refusing to treat people with HIV, but activists say discrimination continues because the law spells out no serious punishments. Many patients cannot afford the time and expense of taking hospitals to court. The China Alliance of People Living with HIV/AIDS, a Beijing-based network, said that a survey last year found dozens of patients being turned away by facilities throughout the country — in some cases even leading to deaths. 'I feel that if a doctor refuses to treat a patient who is HIV positive, it is a crime akin to murder,' said the group's coordinator, Meng Lin, who recounted being denied a CT scan by a Beijing doctor in September, after he told him he had AIDS. Dr. Wu Zunyou, who leads the government's HIV/AIDS center, said he believes attitudes will change. He said Chinese health workers report about 700 cases of accidental contact with the every year and none have resulted in infections. He welcomed the public debate the Tianjin case triggered. 'The debate causes medical workers to think about the issue and health facilities to improve their management, so there should be fewer chances for such things to happen in the future,' Wu said.

Henan Li was governor of Henan province in 1998 when people contracted HIV from state-sponsored blood-buying rings with unhygienic practices . The stigma against people with HIV runs especially deep in China, from being unofficially barred from government jobs to being expelled from school . Hospitals routinely reject people with HIV for surgery out of fear of exposure . An estimated 780,000 people have HIV in China .

024f0a70a894047492e31db944c081ee66258102

Jerusalem (CNN) -- Funeral services were held Friday for a 13-year-old Palestinian boy shot and killed while playing soccer in Gaza a day earlier. A spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry accused the Israel Defense Forces of killing the boy, identified as Ahmed Abu Daqa. Read more: Gaza truce gets off to a shaky start . Initially, the ministry said the boy was shot in the head by an Israeli helicopter. Witnesses disputed that account Friday, saying the boy was shot in the side and the gunfire came from Israeli military vehicles. Israeli Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich told CNN that an initial investigation by the military "did not indicate the Israeli military had any connection to the shooting." She said the military was reviewing video footage of the area and so far had not seen anybody in the area where the shooting is said to have occurred. The incident occurred on a day marked by Israeli military activity inside Gaza and on its border with Israel. Leibovich said that 300 meters inside Gaza, Israeli border soldiers had discovered a cache of explosives in a tunnel adjacent to a security fence. Read more: Israel airstrikes target Gaza, killing at least 16 . After the soldiers returned to their post on the border and set about repairing the fence, an explosion erupted, the military said. A soldier sustained minor injuries and an unoccupied army vehicle was blown up. Palestinian sources said that, before the boy was shot, a number of Israeli military vehicles and tanks had entered Gaza some 500 meters east of Khan Younis, where they came under fire from militants. The tanks responded by firing two rounds towards farmland; no one was injured in that incursion, they said. CNN's Kareem Khadder, Michael Schwartz and Talal Abu Rahman contributed to this report.

13-year-old Ahmed Abu Daqa is buried . He was shot while playing soccer Thursday . The Gaza Health Ministry blames the dead on the IDF . There are no indications the IDF "had any connection to the shooting," spokeswoman says .

024f670d75e7d2f9930d22b75cabed51979095fb

ROME, Italy (CNN) -- The murder trial of American student Amanda Knox in the death of her housemate two years ago resumed Monday in Italy after a summer break. The trial of American college student Amanda Knox, 22, resumes Monday, September 14. Knox, 22, and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito also face charges of sexual assault. They are accused of killing British student Meredith Kercher, Knox's housemate in Perugia, a scenic university town north of Rome. Kercher, 20, died in what prosecutors called a "drug-fueled sex game." She was found half-undressed in bed, with a stab wound to her neck on November 2, 2007. Knox and Sollecito were both present at Monday's court session, Kercher's attorney Francesco Maresca said. Sollecito's defense attorneys requested the annulment of DNA analysis, which investigators say shows Sollecito's genetic material on the clasp of the victim's bra. The judge rejected the request. The next hearing is scheduled on Friday, Maresca said. Knox, from Seattle, Washington, took the stand in June and testified that she was not at the girls' villa the night her roommate died, which authorities think was the evening of November 1. She said she was visiting her then-boyfriend, Sollecito, at his home, where the two watched a movie, smoked marijuana, had sex and went to bed. On her return to their villa the next morning, Knox said, she noticed "strange things," such as the front door left open, dried blood in the bathroom sink and a locked door to Kercher's room. When Knox returned to Sollecito's house, he suggested they call police in case the house had been burgled, she said. Police found Kercher's body in the house. Prosecutors say evidence places the defendants at the scene. They also said the suspects gave investigators confusing and contradictory statements about their whereabouts the night Kercher died. Knox said she gave conflicting answers at the interrogation on November 6 because of police pressure and her confused state. "When I would say that I was with Raffaele, they would say, 'You are a liar,' and they repeated this," she said in June, speaking about the police. "'You will go to prison for 30 years. ... You must remember.'" During the trial, she said police had slapped her on the head during questioning, a charge she had made before. The case has attracted worldwide media attention. During her testimony in June, cameras were barred from the courtroom because the prosecutor said he wanted to avoid sensationalism. A third person, Ivory Coast native Rudy Hermann Guede, was convicted of murder in the case in October and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. He is appealing his conviction.

Knox accused of killing her flatmate, British student Meredith Kercher . Told court in June she was not in the villa the night her roommate died . Prosecutors say evidence places Knox and Raffaele Sollecito at the scene . Knox and ex-boyfriend Sollecito also facing charges of sexual assault .

025003ba15d7463db7d31324151cfbd7fbe6c047

By . Daily Mail Reporter . A central Pennsylvania mother and her live-in boyfriend have been arrested after police found her two children and her sickly grandmother living in a mobile home that was 'consumed with animal feces and filth.' Monica Bohn, 31, and Michael Karns, 28, are both charged with with two counts of endangering the welfare of children and one count of recklessly endangering another person. The grandmother was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where she was placed under immediate medical care. The children were taken into the custody of the county Children and Youth Services department. Monica Bohn, 31, (left) and her boyfriend Michael Karns, 28, (right) were both arrested on charges of endangering the welfare of children after police found their home filled with feces . Officers in Middlesex Township east of Harrisburg were called to the Regency Woods North Trailer Park after neighbors called police to report that three children were playing in the middle of a busy highway. Two of the children were returned home, but the third said his mother and her boyfriend weren't home, but that his grandmother was taking care of him and his sibling. The Harrisburg Patriot-News reports that when the officers arrived at the trailer, they became concerned for the children living there. The child gave them permission to enter the home. Inside, they found horrendous living conditions. 'The entire home was consumed with animal feces and filth,' according to a police report. The children were taken into state custody and the elderly woman was taken by ambulance to the hospital for treatment. Bohn and Karns were arrested later that evening. Their Facebook pages show at least two dogs and cat. Among the family pets is a miniature dachshund named 'Coco Jelly Bean.' Bohn appears to work at GameStop and Karns is employed at Al's Pizza in Mechanicsburg.

Monica Bohn, 31, and Michael Karns, 28, were charged with endangering the welfare of children . The children were taken into custody by the county Children and Youth Services department .

02508146279776c78e6aeab7492b3ae4c7b59ca4

By . Rebecca Camber and Martin Robinson . PUBLISHED: . 20:04 EST, 17 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:52 EST, 18 September 2013 . Binge-drinkers too paralytic to look after themselves should be thrown into ‘drunk tanks’ that would cost them more than a room at The Ritz, police chiefs argued today. To tackle Britain's soaring levels of alcohol-fuelled disorder the intoxicated would be forced to pay a fine and £400 for the security and medical staff needed to care for them overnight. Putting drunks into privately-run cells to sober up would allow police to do other work and stop them 'clogging up' accident and emergency departments, senior officers say. It came as a survey of 2,000 police today found that 95 per cent believed too much of their time was taken up dealing with the inebriated. What people face: This is the inside of an Australian drunk tank, with its metal bed and loo, which could be used in Britain . In need of help: Police say they are sick of drunks causing problems and 'clogging up' A&E so want to take action . Time consuming: A large proportion of police and NHS work on Friday and Saturday nights is taken up by the paralytic . These drunk tanks, already used in the . United States, Australia and parts of Europe, would be privately run, . and those put in one would be handed a bill when they left the next . morning. Chief Constable Adrian Lee is . leading a campaign to highlight the harmful effects of alcohol. ACPO lead: Chief Constable Adrian Lee of Northamptonshire argued: 'Why don't we take them to a cell owned by a commercial company and get the company to look after them until they are sober?' He said the . police and NHS should not be responsible for youths who ‘choose to go . out and get so drunk that they cannot look after themselves’. The Northamptonshire Police chief argued: ‘Why don’t we take them to a cell owned by a commercial company and get the company to look after them until they are sober? ‘When that is over we will issue them with a fixed penalty, and the company will be able to charge them for their care, which would be at quite significant cost – and that might be a significant deterrent.’ Drunk tanks were recently backed by Matthew Grove, the Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner. He said in an interview with the trade journal Police Professional: ‘It is quite difficult to work out where the best place to put a drunk is. Is it a police station, or do they need to be at a hospital? ‘A&E departments are under huge pressure, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights. ‘Why should we have drunks clogging up A&E, causing further problems potentially? ‘Why not put them somewhere safe where you could have private medical staff on hand?’ Problem with alcohol: A man is left in a German drunk tank, which could be used in Britain and users could be charged £400 per night . Already in use: Shoes lie abandoned outside a drunk tank at a police station in Paris . Around 50 per cent of all violent crime is alcohol related. Official figures show that offenders are under the influence of alcohol or drunk in nearly half of all incidents of domestic abuse. Alcohol also plays a part in up to a third of child abuse cases. Crime prevention minister Jeremy Browne said today: 'I welcome this campaign to raise awareness of the impact of alcohol-fuelled crime, which costs around £11 billion a year in England and Wales. 'Frontline police officers are all too aware of the drunken behaviour and alcohol-fuelled disorder that can effectively turn towns and cities into no-go areas for law-abiding people, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights.' Mr Lee also criticised the Government for failing to do enough to tackle binge-drinking, after ministers dropped plans for a minimum price for units of alcohol, and Labour's 24 hour drinking laws. The Government shelved the plans in July amid fears the change would hit responsible drinkers. 'I think the cafe culture was an entirely legitimate experiment but I don't think it has worked. 'The impact on the streets of our towns now at three and six o'clock in the morning is very significant and I don't think that is correct and we need to change that. 'But there are lots of positive things that are happening. I think the minimum unit price hasn't gone, we'll think about it again.' A survey of more than 2,000 police officers conducted by ITV's Daybreak found 95 per cent believe too much time is spent on dealing with drunk individuals. Some 95 per cent also believed fewer crimes would be committed if less alcohol was consumed, while 74 per cenmt of the officers surveyed also said not enough is being done to tackle cheap alcohol. Tony Lloyd, Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Greater Manchester and chairman of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), said some PCCs are looking at 'drunk tanks', which house inebriated people overnight and allow police officers to deal with other crimes. He said: 'Binge drinking blights towns and cities across England and Wales. 'Police and Crime Commissioners are working to change the culture by working with positive role models such as street pastors who engage with drinkers and offer support to change their ways. 'Some Commissioners are looking at . 'drunk tanks' which house inebriated people overnight and allow police . officers to deal with other crimes.' Matthew Grove, the Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner, asked 'why should we have drunks clogging up A&E, causing further problems potentially?' Diana Johnson MP, Labour's shadow crime and security minister, said: 'We will look at the proposals from Acpo closely as we should always be open to effective new ideas. 'There should, however, be caution about the role of the private sector after our recent experience with G4S and others, who would see this as another money-making opportunity. 'Drunk Tanks though could and should only be one small aspect of any proper alcohol strategy, which would need to start with education in schools right through to licensing enforcement powers. 'The Government's alcohol policy is out of touch and in disarray - dropping their minimum alcohol pricing policy, rejecting drugs and alcohol education in schools, and going ahead with an ineffective 'late night levy'.' A week-long campaign has been launched by police forces highlighting the difficulties faced by those dealing with drunkenness and alcohol-related incidents. The Alcohol Harm initiative will see forces out on the streets with mobile custody suites and medical triage facilities to deal with the drunk and disorderly. Neighbourhood policing teams, special constables, police cadets and volunteers such as street pastors will be deployed in drinking hotspots. And police will be addressing new students at freshers' weeks on staying safe and providing awareness training on vulnerability with security and bar staff. Police chiefs says nearly 50 per cent of all violent crime and domestic abuse is alcohol-related.

Paralytic would be thrown in cell overnight and billed the next morning . £400 cost would be for private security and health teams to care for them . Chief Constable Adrian Lee says officers and NHS shouldn't be responsible . ‘Why should we have drunks clogging up A&E, causing further problems?' Lee criticised 24 hour drinking and called it an 'experiment that didn't work' Survey of 2,000 police finds 95% say they waste time dealing with drunks .

02510723978086825e670230d955102239f54547

By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 08:25 EST, 3 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 09:56 EST, 3 May 2013 . Criticism: A Fox News guest criticiised Anthony Foxx (pictured), President Obama's transportation nominee on Thursday, saying that his declaration of a National Day of Reason was an example of the type of thinking that led to the Holocaust . A chief executive of a Christian womens' group in America has accused President Barack Obama's transportation nominee of endorsing a type of thinking which led to the Holocaust. Speaking on Fox news, guest . Penny Nance, said she didn't understand why Anthony Foxx wanted a National Day of Reason as well as a National Day of Prayer. Mr Nance, who is the chief executive of Concerned Women for America, said 'dark periods of history had been caused by leaving God out of the equation.' She said: 'You know, G. K. Chesterton said that . the Doctrine of Original Sin is the only one which we have 3,000 years . of empirical evidence to back up. 'Clearly, we need faith as a component . and it’s just silly for us to say otherwise. 'You know, the Age . of Enlightenment and Reason gave way to moral relativism. And moral . relativism is what led us all the way down the dark path to the . Holocaust.' Mr Foxx, the mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Obama's pick to head the Department of Transportation issued a proclamation for the National Day Of Reason in his city following the National Day of Prayer on Thursday. It is the second year that Foxx has endorsed the National Day of Reason, which advocates the separation of church and state, in Charlotte. The proclaimation read: 'The application of reason, more than any other means, has proven to offer hope for human survival on Earth.' Angry: Fox News guest, Penny Nance, criticised Anthony Foxx on the Fox and Friends show saying that his declaration of a National Day of Reason was an example of the type of thinking that led to the Holocaust . Chosen: Mr Foxx is President Obama's pick to head the Department of Transportation but he has been criticised for calling for a National Day of Reason .

Anthony Foxx wants National Day of Reason in Charlotte, North Carolina . Fox news guest Penny Nance said she 'didn't understand' the need for it . The CEO of women's group said Age of Enlightenment and Reason led to 'dark period of history'

02513f615bdb7eed39e407edda28dc7e88d1c8e3

(CNN) -- Harvard is caught up in a student cheating scandal that its dean of undergraduate education calls "unprecedented in its scope and magnitude." As a Harvard grad, I am embarrassed, but what has me really worried is that Harvard, despite officials acknowledging the seriousness of what has happened, gives signs of trying to finesse the consequences of the scandal where key athletes are concerned. The scandal centers on 125 students, as many as half of them varsity athletes from the men's basketball, baseball and football teams, according to The Boston Globe. They stand accused of copying from one another or plagiarizing on a take-home exam in a spring 2012 government course, "Introduction to Congress," with an enrollment of 279. At Harvard the standard penalty for cheating is that a student can be asked to withdraw from the university for a year. In the case of athletes, withdrawal means the loss of a year of athletic eligibility, according to the NCAA, if they are forced to leave after they have registered for classes. Harvard is seeking to avoid that problem. The secretary of Harvard's Administrative Board, the body that rules on individual cheating cases, sent around an internal e-mail to resident deans saying that fall athletes might "consider taking [a leave of absence] before their first game." The internal e-mail, obtained by The Crimson, Harvard's student paper, and confirmed by a resident dean, sends a clear message. You may be guilty of cheating, but here is a strategy for reducing the damage you suffer to a year's unpaid vacation. This advice may be Harvard's idea of academic integrity, but it certainly falls short of what a university should aim for. Fortunately, there is an example Harvard might learn from -- that of West Point, which in 1951 experienced a massive cheating scandal that involved a disproportionate number of athletes. On August 3 that year, West Point announced that it was expelling 90 cadets, including the son of its legendary football coach, Earl "Red" Blaik, for cheating on their exams by passing along answers. The West Point honor code is clear. It says, "A cadet will not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do it," and West Point authorities upheld their honor code despite the consequences. News: Allegations of widespread cheating in government class probed at Harvard . Academy authorities did not try, as Harvard already has, to figure out a way to follow the letter of the law but make sure there was minimal damage to its athletic program. When fall football practice opened in 1951, Army, a national powerhouse in 1950, was able to muster a squad that included only 31 players; just two of whom were lettermen. "I guess we can take a losing season," Blaik told the media. That is exactly what happened. Army, which in 1950 was ranked No. 2 in the nation, became a losing team in 1951, winning only two games while dropping seven. It became a team nobody feared, losing to Navy by 35 points in its final game of the season. Maj. Gen. Frederick Irving, the superintendent of West Point, did not back away from the academy's decision to expel the 90 cadets caught cheating. "The man who cheats at West Point cheats every man who will graduate with him," Irving told those who complained he was acting too harshly. At West Point the origins of the cheating scandal were traced to a small group of football players, and at Harvard the most noteworthy early withdrawals from the school are those of the senior co-captains on the basketball team, which in recent years has been faced with troubling questions about its players and coach. Last season, after decades of fielding mediocre basketball teams, Harvard was ranked among the nation's top 25 in basketball, and at the heart of the basketball team's success was a program dogged by controversy ever since Harvard hired former University of Michigan coach Tommy Amaker in April 2007. Getting Amaker to come to Harvard was not easy. It required the Friends of Harvard Basketball, an alumni group dominated by ex-players. chipping in money to improve Amaker's salary, with, The Harvard Crimson reported, the full knowledge of Harvard's athletic director. Amaker then got himself into hot water by recruiting players with lower academic profiles than his predecessor had recruited. He was investigated for a possible violation of NCAA rules for allowing a coach, whom he would later hire as his assistant, to work out with a player Harvard was trying to recruit. A five-month Ivy League investigation into Amaker's recruiting practices cleared him of wrongdoing, but the tone was set for a sports program based on cutting corners and winning at all costs. Before the 2008 season began, Amaker called in five players the previous coach had recruited and told them there were no spots for them on the varsity team. Their basketball careers at Harvard were finished. The ball is in the court of Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust to deal with the basketball program and the cheating scandal. The author of the widely praised history, "The Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War," Faust has been a welcome change from her predecessor, Larry Summers, Bill Clinton's secretary of the treasury and for two years director of the National Economic Council in the Obama administration. In contrast to Summers, who constantly alienated faculty with his imperious ways, Faust has carefully built consensus. As a result, everyone connected with Harvard gave her enormous leeway in her decision-making. Now, Faust's period of grace is over, thanks to the national publicity surrounding the cheating scandal. The future of an ethics-skirting basketball program is in the spotlight, and so are the teaching practices that led massive numbers of students to cheat in a course many originally took because it had a reputation for being easy. Whether Faust, who has said the accusations of cheating "go to the core of what is most valuable to us," will show the backbone that Maj. Gen. Frederick Irving did 61 years ago is an open question. But the least she can do is set the bar higher than Harvard's secretary of the administrative board did by advising the university's athletes how to beat the system by minimizing the consequences of their cheating. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Nicolaus Mills.

Harvard is embroiled in a cheating scandal involving 125 students, many varsity athletes . Nicolaus Mills: Memo advised athletes how to work around losing a year of athletic eligibility . Mills: College's successful basketball program has been plagued by controversy . Mills: West Point gutted its football team to be fair to all during its cheating scandal .

02520639b8fb19c960b42643e37061c814834803

By . Richard Spillett . A teenager severely burned in a house fire which killed her father has said she has forgiven her stepmother who deliberately starting the blaze. Josefina Vilela was lost both of her legs below the knee and part of her left arm after the fire at her home in Walsall, West Midlands in 2011. The blaze - which left Josefina with 60 per cent burns and killed her father Carlos - was started by her stepmother, Georgina Vilela, who has since been jailed for murder. Josefina, who was just 14 years old when the fire took place, spent 18 months in hospital and has since learned to walk again using two prosthetic legs. But despite the horrific events which tore the teenager's life apart, she told this week how she has now forgiven her father's killer. Scroll down for video . Josefina Vilela had both legs amputated at the knee and lost part of her left arm following an arson attack by her stepmother on her West Midlands home in 2011 . Josefina's stepmother, Georgina Vilela (left), was jailed for a minimum of 23 years for the arson attack, which killed Josefina's father, Carlos (right) Josefina, now 17, said: 'Although she took a very special person away from me, my dad, I don't want to lose a second's happiness by hating her. 'I feel sorry for her. She destroyed her own life, I've moved on with mine. I hold no grudge against her. She has claimed the life of a man who was dearest to me but I forgive her. Horrific: The blaze left Josefina with 60 per cent burns . 'She has lost everything including her freedom and her family but I have the love of my sisters and that is all that matters. 'I don't really think about the negative side of what has happened to me. I am so glad to be alive and I just channel everything into the positive.' Stepmother Georgina is currently serving a minimum 23-year jail term for murder and arson with intent to endanger life. She poured petrol over Carlos as he lay in bed and the resulting fire quickly engulfed the house where then-14-year-old Josefina and her three sisters were asleep. Josefina told how of her forgiveness on the day she was reunited with the fire crew who saved her from the burning building. The inspirational teenager wept as she was given a bouquet of flowers by firefighters at Walsall Fire Station earlier this week during a visit organised by sisters, Maise, 24, and Carina, 16. She said: 'I've been wanting to meet these men ever since the night of the fire to tell them how amazing they are. They saved my life. They are my heroes.' Firefighter . Rob Hamer, who was one of the team who brought the teenager out of the . house, said: 'It was one of the worst house fires I've been to. 'Josefina . was wrapped in a duvet when we found her, you couldn't tell how bad her . burns were at the time. Our main priority was to get her breathing . again. She's made a fantastic recovery.' His . colleague Carl Warburton added: 'We never get people coming back to . thank us so this has been a bit overwhelming for us too.' Josefina was this week reunited with the Walsall fire crew who saved her life and called them her 'heroes' She wept as firefighters, who said the fire was one of the worst they've attended, told of their joy at seeing her . Josefina says she now hopes to compete in the Paralympic Games in either swimming or track and field. She said: 'I have become an ambassador for sports for young people and want to show people that, no matter what happens to you in life, you can go on and achieve things and live life to the full.' In court two years ago, her HIV-positive stepmother, Georgina Vilela, was described as a wife with a terrible 'temper'. The court heard she had suffered from depression and felt 'like an incomplete woman' as a result of not being able to bear her husband children. Josefina's three sisters escaped the building with less serious injuries. Josefina's stepmother poured petrol on her father in frustration at not being able to bear children . Her three sisters were able to escape the resulting blaze but she was rescued by firemen and suffered burns .

Josefina Vilela needed lower legs amputated and lost part of arm in fire . Blaze started by her stepmother, Georgina Vilela, and killed father Carlos . Josefina says she has now forgiven stepmother, who has since been jailed . She says: 'I have the love of my sisters and that is all that matters' She spoke as she met the fire crew who saved her from the burning building . The now-17-year-old calls crew her 'heroes' in tearful reunion this week .

02525623eb13cc42fea3fb55fb0c4d552c5a85ea

(CNN) -- Local Spanish-language television for Hispanics who also speak English? Yes. As the nation grows, so has the number of Hispanics who speak English and Spanish and who feel comfortable receiving their news in both languages, according to Pew. Since 1997, CNN en Español has reached millions of Spanish-speaking households, but there is still a need to reach another demographic. Enter CNN Latino. "This programming block is aimed at people who speak English and Spanish, families looking for something relevant," said Cynthia Hudson, senior vice president and general manager of CNN en Español, at the CNN Latino launch party in Los Angeles. CNN Latino celebrated its launch in Los Angeles in style at the Sunset Tower Hotel this week. Among CNN's journalists at the launch party were Mexican actresses Kate del Castillo and Angelica Vale, Mexican actor and singer Diego Boneta, Mexican actor Eduardo Verastegui and model and former participant of the show "Mira Quien Baila" Maripily. Luis Miguel's daughter, Michelle Salas, also made an appearance. CNN Latino's eight-hour custom-programming block is set to air on Thursday through a local channel in Los Angeles with special emphasis on the community of more than 4 million Hispanics. It will feature news, lifestyle, documentary, talk and debate, and it seeks to be an alternative to traditional Hispanic networks. "This bloc is for the bicultural, bilingual Latino who goes back and forth between both worlds," said Elizabeth Espinosa, KTLA reporter who will be hosting "Sin Limites" (No Limits), a magazine lifestyle show that will air 8 to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday on KBEH Channel 63. She will keep her day job at KTLA, Channel 5, where she is a reporter for daytime and evening news shows. Espinosa is a native Angelino. Her mother emigrated from El Salvador, and her father is from Mexico. In addition to "Sin Limites," CNN en Español's team will be a part of the programming as well: . -- Mexican journalist Carmen Aristegui, will interview Mexico's newsmakers. -- CNNE's Juan Carlos Lopez will be hosting political debates on "Choque de Opiniones." -- CNN en Español's Fernando Del Rincon will host "Conclusiones", a nightly debate of the day's top story . -- Dr. Marisa Azaret discusses healthy living on "CNN Vida." -- CNN en Español's entertainment correspondent Juan Carlos Arciniegas will host "Showbiz Latino." -- Sports news will be hosted by Marcela Trucios on "Deportes USA." -- "CNN Archivo" will showcase documentaries on crime, adventures and controversy, hosted by Maria Regina Bustamante. -- And CNN's Ismael Cala will host "Cala," a 60-minute audience-engaging show where he interviews provocative newsmakers. Hispanics are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population, with spending power of more than $1 trillion, and they have an increasing influence on social, economic and political trends. CNN Latino joins the likes of News Corp and Colombia's RCN Television, which are behind the Spanish-language network MundoFox, and ABC News/Univision in launching a 24-hour English-language network, all aimed at the U.S. Hispanic audience. The only difference is, CNN Latino will be accessible to those who don't have cable. "For many Hispanics, this is going to be the first time they see CNN," said Hudson. "What's going to represent CNN Latino in Los Angeles has not been seen before, about 50% of the public does not have cable," said Espinosa. CNN Latino will be CNN's first move outside cable television and, according to Hudson, the first step to bringing this syndicated programming block to local broadcast stations in key Hispanic media markets. "We want to produce content for the Latino who was born in Latin America that lives here and the Hispanic who was born in the U.S.," said Hudson. Hudson said CNN en Español will be announcing at least five more new channel affiliates in other major cities within the U.S. that will broadcast CNN Latino. CNN en Español launching CNN Latino .

CNN Latino is aimed at people who speak English and Spanish . CNN Latino celebrated its launch in Los Angeles at the Sunset Tower Hotel this week . CNN Latino will be CNN's first move outside cable television .

025304fdff0e2174b8854f35aca17bc63d8730bb

Builders were temporarily banned from working at Dawn French's cliff-top mansion after a worker was seen precariously dangling from scaffolding - 60ft above rocks. Health and safety chiefs served the order after a passer-by complained about alarming scenes while workers fixed up the comic's 40-room home. The builders were seen clambering over the scaffolding poles at Point Neptune House in Fowey, Cornwall, but did not appear to wear harnesses or helmets for their series of risky manoeuvres. Scroll down for video . Builders were forced to stop work on Dawn French's 40-room mansion in . Fowey, Cornwall, after a passer-by complained to health and safety . chiefs about some of the workers' perilous positions . One builder was seen scrambling over the scaffolding poles as he worked on the comic's seaside abode - but did not appear to be wearing a harness or a helmet . One worker was pictured stretching his entire body out from the scaffolding and brazenly leaning face-first into the cliff. A second worker was also spotted balancing on the scaffolding in front of the mansion's huge-arched windows, as material was lowered to his colleagues below. After complaints, the Health and Safety Executive ordered Heritage Cornwall Ltd to stop work immediately on the Grade II-listed property until they had 'put it right'. According to The People, one parent had marched to the gate of the . mansion and went 'absolutely balistic' when some material allegedly fell close to where his . children were playing on the rocks. The set up, seen here, alarmed some by-passers who complained to the Health and Safety Executive about the seemingly risky manoeuvres . One worker was seen climbing on the rocks below the work station. Some complained that the material had landed near to where children were playing . One of the workers was seen clmbing down the wall, but did not use a ladder. A notice was issued against Heritage Cornwall Ltd for the work to stop immediately . A passer-by told the paper: 'The builders were passing buckets to each other and stuff was falling out of them. 'A guy on the beach was going absolutely balistic because something landed on rocks near his children.' A HSE spokesman confirmed a prohibition notice had been issued against Heritage Cornwall Ltd in connection with 'issues about access to the work area'. The HSE said the notice related to issues about 'access to the work area' but that it had now been put right . It said the firm, which were reportedly carrying out work to strengthen a wall on the cliffs, had to stop work 'immediately' but that the issue had now been resolved. Dramatically set on a windswept bluff overlooking the Cornish coast, Dawn French's home is considered by locals to be the most desirable house for miles around. Dawn French, pictured left, bought the mansion with her ex-husband Lenny Henry, pictured right . It is set just miles away from the real-life manifestation of Manderley - the house featured in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. French bought the house in 2006 with her ex-husband, Lenny Henry, for a reported £2.6m. She now lives there with husband, Mark Bignell. Neither a spokesman for Dawn French nor the building company were available for comment.

Builders riskily scrambled on scaffolding as they worked on comic's home . Did not appear to be wearing helmets or harnesses at cliff-top mansion . One parent complained material landed where children were playing below . Health chiefs stopped Heritage Cornwall Ltd working until issue was fixed . French bought mansion in Fowey, Cornwall, with ex-husband Lenny Henry .

02530b65ff42f773e16a40799085af9e475739bb

By . Damien Gayle . Toronto's controversial mayor Rob Ford last night vowed to have another 'crack' at nixing his city's land transfer tax at his first campaign debate since leaving rehab. The quip provoked raucous laughter from a spirited audience at a church in the Toronto's Scarborough district, which was split between vocal supporters and opponents of the mayor. Seeking re-election after a term marred by scandal, including being forced to admit smoking crack cocaine, Mr Ford faced rival candidates as the race began for October's municipal poll in earnest. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford at a campaign debate in Scarborough, Ontario, last night where he attempted to portray a stellar track record in office as the race begins for the next mayoral election in October . 'I have proven in the last 14 years in government that I’ve watched every single one of your tax dollars,' said the mayor, to a chorus of cheers and jeers, according to Global News. 'I have created jobs, I have worked with youth, nobody’s worked with youth closer than I have ... folks, my record speaks for itself. It’s a record of success, success, success.' Mr Ford, 45, only returned to work a fortnight ago after spending two months at the Greenstone rehab centre in Bala, Ontario. He sought help after another video surfaced that apparently showed him smoking crack; Ford admitted last year that he had smoked crack in a 'drunken stupor' after reports of a similar video, following months of denials. Even since returning to the mayor's office, a largely symbolic role after his powers were stripped by the city council, he has admitted that he can't guarantee that he'll never relapse. But Mr Ford's proclivity for crack, a highly addictive derivative of cocaine, seems to have had little impact on his supporters, who booed each time one of his rivals mentioned their man's drug use. Supporters dressed in 'Ford Nation' T-shirts, pins and flags heckled his political opponents and yelled in support each time he spoke on stage. Mayoral contender Olivia Chow, left, applauds during the debate, where she pointed out that, contrary to Mr Ford's assertions to have created jobs, one in five young people in the area are out of work . Mr Ford's opponents came armed with sharp barbs, directly contradicting his claims to have looked after public spending and increase employment. Olivia Chow, of the New Democratic Party, said: 'Mr. Ford, your record is clear: one out of five young people cannot find a job. How is it that Scarborough is booming?' Progressive Conservative candidate John Tory pointed out that two municipal renovations, of Union Station and Nathan Phillips Square, had run over budget. 'Project after project after project, on your watch, when you’re the mayor,' he was quoted by the Toronto Star as saying. 'We know what you were doing — it wasn’t managing the taxpayers’ money!' Mr Ford's activities while in office have earned him global notoriety, something which Mr Tory commented on as candidates left the hustings last night. 'He’s a laughing stock. People all over the world know who Rob Ford is, but they know it in a bad way,' he was quoted by Global News as saying.

Mr Ford came back to work a fortnight ago after two months in rehab . Mayoral elections are in October, and he is determined to be re-elected . But opponents attack his claims of a stellar track record in office .

02537a02368d6d47173f48ca8fda91575d5532c3

Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein has compared the attack on French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo to the Kristallnacht in Nazi Germany. The 62-year-old said the Charlie Hebdo attack and the hostage taking at a kosher supermarket in Paris last week 'draws a parallel to the horrors of the Nazis'. Weinstein also appeared to be defending the US's sometimes controversial anti-terror measures, writing that we 'must sympathise with the Secret Service' even though there will be 'casualties'. Film exec Harvey Weinstein, pictured at last night's Golden Globes After Party with Taylor Swift, Este Haim, Jaime King, and Lorde, has compared the Paris attacks to the Nazi attacks against Jews during WWII . In a column for entertainment-trade magazine Variety, the film producer and executive, who was raised in a Jewish family in New York, writes: 'The tragedy in France is a stunning blow against freedom of speech and freedom of joy. 'It draws a parallel to the horrors of the Nazis and their mad attempt at Kristallnacht to destroy books. 'These are the works of fanatics - irrational thinking and scapegoating to compensate for misappropriated ideas. This has become a fight, good versus evil. This is a time for nations to unite, to share information and realize we live in a world where technology has evened the score and made the bad guys even more dangerous.' Harvey Weinstein, pictured last night with wife and Georgina Chapman, also defended the war on terror . In defence of the war on terror, he continued: 'Now we have to use our technology and share things to make the good guys better, more capable, more efficient. 'No one's talking about torture or the violation of human rights, but for God's sake we have to sympathize with our Secret Service and the other organizations of men and women protecting our safety daily. 'We have to know there will be mistakes and casualties along the way, but we the people have to support those who protect us, more than ever. 'Let the humor, the wisdom, of Charlie Hebdo live, by us winning the war that they fought on the pages of their beautiful newspaper. 'Laughter and satire will never disappear, and will always be the most effective tools for a free world. Weinstein's column was published the day after one of the surviving Charlie Hebdo cartoonists said the publication 'vomit on all these people who suddenly say they are our friends'. Bernard Holtrop, who uses the pen name Willem, was not in the office during the massacre on Wednesday which killed eight of his colleagues and four other victims. 'It really makes me laugh,' he told the Dutch newspaper Volkskrant. 'A few years ago, thousands of people took to the streets in Pakistan to demonstrate against Charlie Hebdo. They didn't know what it was. Now it's the opposite.' Jihadist brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi shot dead eight members of staff and many of the magazine's top cartoonists, in the attack against Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday. Editor Stephane Charbonnier, known as Charb, a guest editor, a maintenance worker and two police officers were also gunned down. The pair were killed during a stand-off between police on the outskirts of the city on Friday after they took refuge in a printworks.

Harvey Weinstein compares Charlie Hebdo attack to Kristallnacht . Said Paris tragedies 'draws a parallel to the horrors of the Nazis' Weinstein also defended the U.S.'s controversial anti-terror measures .

02539361c1e59708933aba0f3a22e9c5f6bc9b3f

U.S. health officials on Tuesday released a draft of long-awaited federal guidelines on circumcision, saying medical evidence supports having the procedure done and health insurers should pay for it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines stop short of telling parent to get their newborn sons circumcised. That is a personal decision that may involve religious or cultural preferences, said the CDC's Dr. Jonathan Mermin. But 'the scientific evidence is clear that the benefits outweigh the risks,' added Mermin, who oversees the agency's programs on HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. New evidence: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines stop short of telling parent to get their newborn sons circumcised . These are the first federal guidelines on circumcision, a brief medical procedure that involves cutting away the foreskin around the tip of the penis. Germs can grow underneath the foreskin, and CDC officials say the procedure can lower a male's risk of sexually-transmitted diseases, penile cancer and even urinary tract infections. The CDC started working on the guidelines about seven years ago, when a cluster of influential studies in Africa indicated circumcision might help stop spread of the AIDS virus. 'The benefits of male circumcision have become more and more clear over the last ten years,' said Dr. Aaron Tobian, a Johns Hopkins University researcher involved in one of the African studies. But the guidelines are important, because the rates of newborn male circumcision have been dropping, he added. The guidelines are being published in the federal register Tuesday. For the next 45 days, the CDC will receive public comment before finalizing them next year. They are likely to draw intense opposition from anti-circumcision advocacy groups, said Dr. Douglas Diekema, a Seattle physician who worked on a circumcision policy statement issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2012. 'This is a passionate issue for them and they feel strongly that circumcision is wrong,' said Diekema, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington. The CDC guidelines largely mirror the pediatrician group's statement, but the CDC's document incorporates more research and comes from an organization that many may see as more neutral on the topic, Diekema said. The thinking on circumcision has swung wildly over the years. It's been practiced by Jews and Muslims for thousands of years, but didn't become common in this country until the 20th century. By one estimate, only 25per cent of U.S. male newborns were circumcised in 1900. It gradually became the cultural norm, and in the 1950s and 1960s surpassed 80per cent. But then the trend reversed. Part of it had to do with changing demographics, as the U.S. population grew to include larger numbers of Mexican-Americans and other ethnic groups that didn't traditionally circumcise their children. Controversial: The new guidelines, which state how the procedure can cut risk for HIV, STDs and penile cancer, are expected to draw intense opposition from anti-circumcision advocacy groups . Also, opposition to the procedure grew from advocates who decried the pain, bleeding and risk of infections to newborns. Their message was aided by the Internet and by the neutral stance of physicians groups - including, for a time, the American Academy of Pediatrics. A wave of state Medicaid programs stopped paying for newborn circumcisions, which cost roughly $150 to $200. The list eventually rose to 18 states, according to CDC numbers. By 2010 the newborn circumcision rate was down to about 58per cent, according to one CDC estimate. But even as the circumcision rate dropped, more medical evidence came in supporting it - particularly three rigorous and influential studies in Africa that looked at the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases in circumcised and uncircumcised men and their partners. In the new guidelines, the CDC says there is now strong evidence that male circumcision can: . Studies have not shown that circumcision will reduce an HIV-infected man's chances of spreading the AIDS virus to women. And research has not found circumcision to be a help in stopping spread of HIV during gay sex. The guidelines say circumcision is safer for newborns and infants than for older males, noting the complication rate rises from 0.5per cent in newborns to nine per cent in children ages one to nine, according to the CDC. Minor bleeding and pain are the most common problems, experts say. CDC officials are recommending doctors tell parents of baby boys of the benefits and risks of circumcision. Mermin did not say how that information should be presented. Because circumcision can be beneficial to men as well, the CDC says information about the procedure also should be given to sexually active uncircumcised men - especially men considered to be at higher risk of catching HIV, the guidelines say.

These are the first federal guidelines on circumcision . The brief procedure involves cutting away the foreskin around the tip of the penis . CDC officials say it can lower a male's risk of sexually-transmitted diseases, penile cancer and even urinary tract infections . The new guidelines are expected to draw intense opposition from anti-circumcision advocacy groups . Urging health insurers to pay for the $200 procedure . Cut a man's risk of getting HIV from an infected female partner by 50 to 60per cent. Reduce their risk of genital herpes and certain strains of human papillomavirus by 30per cent or more. Lower the odds of urinary tract infections during infancy, and cancer of the penis in adulthood.

0254b59405a4bd611d20137ba4ffa579a3f872d1

By . Leon Watson . PUBLISHED: . 05:56 EST, 7 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 09:18 EST, 7 February 2013 . The former Anglo Irish Bank is to be liquidated after emergency laws were rushed through Ireland's parliament overnight. The deal that followed long-running talks with European chiefs aims to ease the burden of the 28billion euro (£24billion) bailout of the toxic lender. President Michael D Higgins signed it into law finally signed it into law after politicians sat through the night to pass legislation. Failed: Pedestrians are seen walking past what was branch of the Anglo Irish Bank in Dublin. The former bank is now set to be liquidated . Finance Minister Michael Noonan was forced to act when reports of an agreement with the European Central Bank leaked out yesterday afternoon. However, opposition lawmakers were angered at the short time they had to digest the highly . technical 58-page bill and complained that they did not yet know what, if . anything, would be agreed with Frankfurt. 'We cannot vote for this if we don't know the other part of the package,' said opposition lawmaker Shane Ross. But Kenny's large majority prevailed and the lower chamber voted in favour of . the bill by 113-36. People on Twitter dubbed the session #promnight, a play . on words on Anglo's infamous promissory notes, and one user said the late . night meant lawmakers finally had a legitimate reason to be asleep in . parliament. The liquidation will now be carried out under the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) Bill 2013, the rebranded name for Anglo. The IBRC has assets worth 12billion euro (£10.3billion). Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan was forced to act on AIB when reports of an agreement with the European Central Bank leaked out . The Central Bank of Ireland has moved to reassure remaining IBRC deposit holders they will be paid under the liquidation programme . Liquidated: The former headquarters of Anglo Irish Bank in Dublin . Mr Noonan warned that not dealing . with the issue could result in potential liabilities of up to 40billion . euro (£34.5billion) for the country. He . said: 'As soon as the information relating to the proposal to liquidate . IBRC was made public, there was an immediate risk to the bank. 'Given . this position, I as minister for finance, took immediate action to . secure the stability of the bank and the value of its assets, valued at . 12billion euros (£10.4bn), on behalf of the state.' Mr Higgins last night cut short an official visit to Italy to sign the legislation and he will return to Rome later today. Irish President Michael Higgins signed the deal into law after politicians worked through the night . The liquidation will not affect court cases or legal action taken by the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Government said. Anglo's . former chief executive, Sean FitzPatrick, and two former directors, Pat . Whelan and Willie McAteer, are awaiting trial on fraud charges linked . to the collapse of the bank. The contracts of 800-plus employees at . the IBRC have been terminated but most workers are expected to transfer . to the state's bad bank, the National Assets Management Agency (Nama). Nama will take on all of IBRC's assets and debts. Anglo Irish was at the forefront of the property boom in the Irish Republic under its former boss Sean Fitzpatrick, who is due to go on trial next month along with two other senior executives accused of alleged financial irregularities. The bank's near collapse in 2008 pressured the government into guaranteeing the entire financial sector, sucking it into a downward spiral and in late 2010, a €67.5bn EU-IMF bailout. That year, the bank posted a 17.65billion euro loss, the largest by any firm in Irish history. Under Dublin's plan, the 28billion euro in promissory notes will be replaced with . long-term government bonds, meaning that Ireland can make more gradual repayments. In a statement the Central Bank of Ireland moved to reassure remaining IBRC deposit holders they will be paid under the liquidation programme. 'The Central Bank will arrange the repayment of duly verified and eligible deposits, up to a limit of 100,000 euro per person, to eligible depositors at IBRC,' it said. The statement continued: 'Depositors do not need to take any action; the Central Bank will make payments directly by cheque where applicable.' Money is expected to be paid out over the coming weeks. In the wake of the parliamentary vote, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny also moved to reassure people, saying the liquidation of Anglo Irish was a significant milestone in Ireland's 'path back to prosperity and full employment'. 'It closes a sad and tragic chapter in our economic and political history,' he said. But he added: 'Let there be no doubt that this decision is not a silver bullet to end all our economic problems. The damage done by these economic institutions will take many years to rectify.' Pre 2007: Ireland enjoys a decade long property boom during which easy bank credit prompts new buildings to mushroom around the country. May, 2007: Anglo Irish Bank's shares peak at more than 17 euro (£15) each. September, 2008: Amid international banking turmoil, the Government announces a 400billion euro (£353billion) guarantee scheme covering the country's six main banks, including Anglo. December 18: Sean FitzPatrick (pictured right) resigns as chairman and admits he hid more than 80million euro (£70million) in secret loans from shareholders. December 21: Government recapitalises Anglo with 1.5billion euro (£1.32billion). Anglo shares then plummet to just 12 cents (10p). January, 2009: The Government is forced to nationalise Anglo. One-time billionaire Sean Quinn reveals his family has lost 1billion euro (£850million) on risky Anglo stock deals - the figure subsequently rises to 2.8billion euro (£2.4billion). February, 2009: Irish Life & Permanent confirms it deposited 7billion euro (£6.1billion) in Anglo in September 2008 to boost the balance sheet, forcing IL&P's chief executive and two directors to resign. Anglo's annual report shows it lent 451million euro (£398 million) to 10 big customers to buy shares in the bank. A PricewaterhouseCoopers report finds Anglo has 15 customers who owe the bank more than 500million euro (£441million) each. Anglo HQ in central Dublin is raided by the fraud squad and white collar crime investigators to seize documents and computers. March, 2010: Fraud squad detectives arrest FitzPatrick over the fraud investigation and release him without charge. Anglo reports the biggest corporate losses in Irish history - 12.7billion euro (£10.9billion). July, 2010: ''Seanie'' FitzPatrick is declared bankrupt in the High Court. August, 2010: Anglo's record losses soar to new heights - 8.2billion euro (£7billion) for the six months to June 2010. September, 2010: The Central Bank says the Anglo bail-out could ultimately cost citizens 34billion euro (£29.1billion).

Bank was at the forefront of the property boom in the Irish Republic . But in 2010 it posted the largest loss by any firm in Irish history . It was bailed out with massive high-interest loan during financial crisis . Deal has been struck to ease the burden of that loan on Irish state . Former boss Sean FitzPatrick is awaiting trial on fraud charges .

02564607fbd684c9d4e75627302ea1eed5b26bbc

By . Anthony Bond . PUBLISHED: . 06:40 EST, 5 June 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:02 EST, 5 June 2013 . As a newly appointed chief constable, Dave Jones could be forgiven for not wishing to chase suspected criminals around town centre streets in the early hours of the morning. But within hours of working his first shift as the top policeman in north Yorkshire, that is exactly what he did. The new chief constable of North Yorkshire Police was visiting Catterick Garrison Police Station as part of a tour of the county, when the force received reports of a man being assaulted. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . Mucking in: The new chief constable of North Yorkshire Police, Dave Jones, was just hours into his first shift when he ended up joining his officers in chasing a suspected criminal through a town centre streets . On foot: The man, suspected of carrying out an assault, is pictured running through Richmond town centre with Mr Jones and his officers chasing behind . Foolish: The suspect thinks he is being clever by hiding in this alleyway, but he did not realise his every move was being monitored by CCTV operators . Mr Jones decided to 'muck in' and join his officers in Richmond town centre at about 12.50am on Monday. As this CCTV footage shows, one of the suspects ran off, with police officers - including Mr Jones - following swiftly behind. Unfortunately for the suspect, his every move was being monitored by CCTV operators who directed the police to his location. During a search the suspect was spotted down an alleyway climbing over a wall. Found: Mr Jones and his officers are easily directed to the alleyway where they begin the hunt for the man . Held: Just hours into his first shift as the chief constable, Mr Jones helps to detain the man and bring about a successful arrest . Happy: Chief Constable Dave Jones, pictured centre, said it was 'great to get involved' and be with his officers on the front line . Mr Jones went after him with another officer who arrested him on suspicion of affray. Mr Jones said: 'It was important for me to get out and see the officers on the ground and good to be able to muck in with them so soon into my first shift. 'It was great to get involved, and good to be out there with them on the front line. 'Fortunately, the rest of my first shift was a bit quieter and I was able to get around the rest of the county and meet some of the officers and our partners who help to make North Yorkshire one of the safest places in the country.' Three men in their 20s were arrested by officers and have been released on police bail pending enquiries. The victim of the alleged assault suffered minor injuries and did not require hospital treatment.

North Yorkshire Police chief Dave Jones was visiting officers as part of tour . But police station received reports of assault during his visit . He joined his officers chasing suspect around Richmond town centre . Chief constable helped to find and arrest the suspect .

02566c1f6c22c3fa162d89ffeb37c3e64a61fb29

(CNN) -- Connie and Donald McCracken were watching CNN one evening last week when they learned of the tragic death of actress Natasha Richardson from a head injury. Immediately, their minds turned to their 7-year-old daughter, Morgan, who was upstairs getting ready for bed. An injured Morgan McCracken has benefited from awareness after Natasha Richardson's death. Two days earlier, Morgan, her father, and brother had been playing baseball in the yard of their Mentor, Ohio, home when her father hit a line drive that landed just above Morgan's left temple. A lump formed, but the McCrackens iced it down and the swelling subsided within an hour. "For the next two days, she was perfectly fine," Donald McCracken says. "She had no symptoms. She went to school both days and got an A on her spelling test as usual. There were no issues whatsoever." But after hearing about Richardson's death, the McCrackens wondered if Morgan was really as OK as she seemed. After all, Richardson had been talking and lucid immediately after her fatal injury. When they went upstairs to kiss Morgan good night, she complained of a headache. "Because of Natasha, we called the pediatrician immediately. And by the time I got off the phone with him, Morgan was sobbing, her head hurt so much," McCracken says. The McCrackens took Morgan to the emergency room at LakeWest Hospital in neighboring Willoughby, where doctors ordered a CT scan and immediately put Morgan on a helicopter to Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, with her father by her side. "I knew it was bad when she had to get there by helicopter in six minutes, instead of the 30 minutes it would have taken to get to Cleveland in an ambulance," McCracken said. When the helicopter arrived at Rainbow, the McCrackens were greeted by Dr. Alan Cohen, the hospital's chief of pediatric neurosurgery. He whisked Morgan into the operating room, pausing for a moment to tell McCracken that his daughter had the same injury as Richardson: an epidural hematoma. McCracken remembers standing in the emergency room, feeling like the life had just been sucked out of him. "My heart sank," he says. "It just sank." Unlike Richardson's, Morgan's story has a happy ending. After surgery and five days in the hospital, she's at home and doing fine. "Dr. Cohen told us that if we hadn't brought her in Thursday night, she never would have woken up," McCracken says. Now the McCrackens sometimes wonder if they waited too long to get Morgan to a doctor. After hearing about Richardson's death, many people are asking themselves the same question: Do all head injuries need attention, even ones that seem minor? "Sometimes there's a gray zone, and there's no right answer," Cohen says. Watch for tips on when to go to the ER » . In most cases, it's pretty clear when someone needs medical attention after a head injury, says Greg Ayotte, a spokesperson for the Brain Injury Association of America and a cognitive rehabilitation therapist. "They're confused, they're agitated, or they might be dizzy or unresponsive," he says. But then there's what doctors call the "talk and die" scenario, where someone seems fine, only to die hours, or sometimes even days later. "Talk and die" can happen with several different kinds of brain injuries. In the case of epidural hematomas, the injury Richardson and Morgan had, blood pools in the area between the lining of the brain and the skull. "Fluid is building up in a contained space, creating pressure. Something's got to give, and that something is the brain," Ayotte says. If you don't get to the hospital to have surgery to drain the fluid, "the deterioration can happen very quickly." Here, from Ayotte and other experts, is a list of what to do after someone has suffered a head injury. 1. Be vigilant . Keep an eye on someone who has hit his head, even if the person never lost consciousness. "A lot of folks are still under the assumption that as long as you're not knocked out, you're OK, and that's not true," Ayotte says. 2. Look for dizziness, vomiting, headache and confusion . If the injured person has these signs, take him or her to an emergency room, says Dr. Jam Ghajar, clinical professor of neurological surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, and president of the Brain Trauma Foundation. 3. Look for changes in symptoms and behavior . Any sudden change, such as Morgan's headache going from mild to severe in minutes, means the person needs medical attention. For example, Ghajar says, if a person gets suddenly sleepy in the first 12 hours after a hit, it may mean the parts of the brain responsible for staying awake are experiencing pressure from a bleed. 4. Be especially wary if someone a) has been drinking alcohol, b) is on blood thinners, c) is elderly or d) is a young athlete . It's tough to distinguish brain-injured behavior from drunken behavior, so when in doubt, take the person to the hospital, Ghajar says. Also, blood thinners can turn a mild bleed into a major bleed, so be especially vigilant if the injured person is taking blood thinners such as warfarin. He also warns people to be extra vigilant when an elderly person hits his or her head. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has information on traumatic brain injury and senior citizens. The CDC also has information on concussions in young athletes. 5. Go to a certified trauma center if you can . The American College of Surgeons has a list of certified trauma facilities; a hospital that's not a trauma center may not have a neurosurgeon on call. You can also look on this map from the American Trauma Society. Find your state, select trauma centers, update the map, and you can find information about trauma centers in your area. The McCrackens say they look back and still can't believe Morgan suffered such a severe injury and didn't show any signs for 48 hours. "She didn't black out, her speech wasn't slurred, she wasn't dizzy, she wasn't any of the things you'd expect," McCracken says. "And you don't want to be one of those panicky parents who takes their child to the emergency room all the time." Cohen's advice after a head injury: When in doubt, go. "It's always better to err on the side of being conservative," he says. CNN Medical Producer Sabriya Rice contributed to this report.

Richardson's death raises question: When should you go to ER after head injury? Dizziness, vomiting, headache and confusion are all red flags . Take special care if person is on blood thinners or is elderly . Doc: "Sometimes there's a gray zone, and there's no right answer."

0257aa00fa70f33ef7fea2120c749c94ea4a9d44

(CNN) -- Thomas Mueller celebrated signing a new contract with Bayern Munich by helping the Bundesliga champions to win the pre-season German Supercup clash with runners-up Schalke on Saturday. The 20-year-old, a revelation for Germany at the 2010 World Cup after scoring five goals, broke the deadlock in the second half in Augsburg before Miroslav Klose sealed a 2-0 win. Before the match, he agreed a two-year extension to his previous deal, which was due to expire in 2013. "A dream has come true for me, and not just in the course of last season," Mueller, who was joint top scorer in South Africa and also named best young player, told the Bayern website. "I come from Bavaria, and FC Bayern is my club. I'm delighted that I'll continue to wear a Bayern shirt for the next five years." Bayern lost 3-1 to Schalke last week in the Liga Total Cup friendly event, as coach Louis Van Gaal fielded several reserve players. But the Dutchman included six World Cup stars -- minus the injured Arjen Robben -- in a traditional pre-season fixture between league and cup winners which has been reinstated on the calendar after a 14-year absence. Bayern angry as Dutch star Robben is ruled out . Schalke coach Felix Magath fielded his marquee signing, former Real Madrid striker Raul. Bayern, who also won the German Cup last season as well as reaching the final of the UEFA Champions League, took the lead in the 75th minute. Mueller slotted into the empty net when veteran striker Klose put the ball past onrushing goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. Klose, who scored four goals at the World Cup to move second in the all-time scorers list with Gerd Mueller, doubled the lead from close range six minutes later after Ivica Olic beat Schalke's new Spanish defender Sergio Escudero and provided the assist. Bayern begin the new Bundesliga season at home to the 2009 champions Wolfsburg on August 20.

Bayern Munich reward World Cup star Thomas Mueller with new deal until 2015 . The 20-year-old scores opening goal in German Supercup victory over Schalke . He is set up by veteran striker Miroslav Klose, who scores other goal in 2-0 win . Bundesliga runners-up Schalke field former Real Madrid striker Raul .

025821fa75f749d4f9fbee8734e2991829c27942

Alexandria, Virginia (CNN) -- Sen. Rand Paul said this week that he would vote in favor of going to war with ISIS, but his father, former Rep. Ron Paul, made it clear Friday night that he sharply opposes further U.S. involvement in the Mideast region. Speaking at a libertarian-leaning conference, Ron Paul slammed the "bipartisan support" among congressional lawmakers for "rubber-stamping what President Obama wants" in the fight against the militant group. More broadly, he suggested that Senate Republicans aren't that different from their Democratic counterparts. Some people think "if the Republicans take over the Senate this year, that will hamstring the president and everything's going to be OK," he said at the Liberty Political Action Conference in Alexandra, Virginia. "That's a joke." "It wouldn't be OK because they all believe in the same thing, they believe in the federal reserve and they believe in the war. They believe in the spending and the intervention overseas," he said. Obama's proposed plan includes expanded air strikes against ISIS and arming and training Syrian rebels who are also fighting off the threat. Congress has not voted specifically to authorize air strikes against ISIS, but Rand Paul has said he would vote in favor of doing so. The Kentucky Republican has long been more moderate than his father, a former Texas congressman who ran for president three times and has strong support among the libertarian base. Still, Rand Paul has largely opposed foreign interventions in the past, and his decision to support air strikes has been viewed as more hawkish than his previous stances. The Senate on Thursday passed legislation that would also approve the arming and training of Syrian rebels . But Rand Paul was one of 12 Republicans who voted against the legislation, saying he feared the weapons would end up in the wrong hands. He launched into a lengthy Senate floor speech Thursday against the plan, blasting "barnacled enablers" for pushing a policy that he believes would be ineffective. Ron Paul never mentioned his son, who spoke the previous night on the same stage, during his remarks about foreign policy. The former congressman, however, said that the family got together the previous night to have "strategy meeting." "I'm going to reveal some secrets to you," Ron Paul told the audience, cheekily hinting that he was going to talk about Rand Paul's likely presidential bid in 2016. But the former congressman jokingly went on to list a number of mundane family matters, such as when's the next golf game and details about a family wedding. "We did have some very, very serious discussions," he went on to say. "And of course some very important things too about what the family's doing and that is the truth. The issues are very, very important to all of us, and yet the family is pretty important to us too."

Ron Paul slams "bipartisan support" in Washington for war against ISIS . His son, Rand Paul, has said he would vote for air strikes . However, Rand Paul did not vote this week for another part of the plan to fight ISIS .

02585e26d02d16d5e1dabf24751e03212a554854

Wigan's England forward Liam Farrell is facing the threat of suspension after being charged with a lifting offence during the Warriors' 36-28 First Utility Super League defeat at Wakefield on Sunday. Farrell has been charged over a tackle on Wildcats forward Taulima Tautai, who will be a Wigan team-mate from 2015. He is accused of a grade B offence which carries a ban of one or two matches. On the charge: Farrell faces a possible two match ban after being charged with lifting against Wakefield . Farrell's current team-mate Anthony Gelling has been charged with a minor grade A offence of punching during Sunday's match. Bradford captain and caretaker coach Matt Diskin, who is still waiting to discover if he will remain in temporary charge of the Bulls for Sunday's trip to Warrington, is facing a grade A charge of striking, along with Hull KR forward Neville Costigan, during last Friday's home defeat by the Robins. Striking: Diskin (right) has been charged for his role in a brawl during Bradford's match against Hull KR . All four players were charged by the Rugby Football League's match-review panel; who issued cautions to Matt Ryan (Wakefield) and James Greenwood (London Broncos), and have until 11am on Tuesday to submit early-guilty pleas and avoid a disciplinary hearing.

England forward charged after tackle on Taulia Tautai . Could be banned for one or two matches . Bradford's Matt Diskin also charged with 'striking'

02590e027714f18d195f9a10383cc3d1d2b4d888

By . Snejana Farberov and Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 23:20 EST, 11 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 05:12 EST, 12 August 2013 . Looking calm and detached, Derek Medina is seen entering a Miami police station to confess to his wife's murder. Newly released security camera footage from a police station shows the 31-year-old speaking to a person at the desk before quietly sitting in a chair, leaving his anxious father to pace up and down. Medina's manner in the 23-second video appears to match the cold detachment he exhibited when he posted a gruesome picture of his wife's dead body online, saying: 'Facebook people you’ll see me in the news.' Scroll down for video . Confession: Derek Medina and his father, right, arrive at South Miami police station . After shooting Jennifer Alfonso, 26, on Thursday, Medina walked into the South Miami police station at about noon and confessed, according to the Miami Herald. On Facebook he claimed to have been the victim of domestic abuse, saying: 'I’m not going to stand anymore with the abuse so I . did what I did.' He later told police that he shot Ms Alfonso several times after she picked up a kitchen knife, and punched and kicked him. In his affidavit, Medina said he had pointed a gun at his wife as they argued in their bedroom. Later he confronted his wife, who said he was leaving him, in their kitchen, according to CBS News. The affidavit claims Ms Alfonso started to hit him so he went back upstairs for the gun, as his wife reached for a kitchen knife. Calm: Medina speaks to a person at the police desk just a couple of hours after his wife's death . Detached: Medina waits in a chair for officers to arrive while his father anxiously paces . He told police he disarmed his wife but when she started to punch him again he shot her several times. Medina's father, Derek, to whom he confessed to shortly after the shooting, told the Miami Herald: 'They are making my son out to be a . monster and it was the other way around. She pushed him to the point of insanity.' The victim's family however, described Medina as controlling, claiming that he pressured her to leave her job. One man, who would give his name only . as Joe, said Medina was prone to violent outbursts. Arrest: Derek Medina . He claimed he once . saw Medina threaten a woman with a gun after she accidentally spilled . beer, and said Medina used to stalk members of a softball team they both . played on. Medina was denied bail on Friday by a Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge. During . his appearance Medina said he was in the process of 'talking to . someone' about representing him, but eventually agreed to be represented . by a public defender. Judge Maria Elena Verde stated there was probable cause that he murdered Ms Alfonso and denied him bail. Medina's next court appearance will be on August 30. Medina . is facing charges of first-degree murder after he posted a message on . his personal Facebook account Thursday morning, allegedly admitting to . the murder of his wife. 'Im . going to prison or death sentence for killing my wife love you guys . miss you guys takecare Facebook people you will see me in the news,' he . wrote. 'My wife was punching me and I am not going to stand anymore with the abuse so I did what I did I hope u understand me.' Medina supplemented the photo . apparently showing his murdered spouse lying in the kitchen with blood . covering her face and left arm with the comment: 'Rip Jennifer Alfonso.' MailOnline chose to obscure the image due to its extremely graphic and disturbing nature. Denied: A Miami-Dade Circuit court judge denied Medina bail Friday after he allegedly admitted to murdering his wife on Facebook Thursday . Gruesome: Derek Medina was arrested after admitting to killing his wife on Facebook and posting a gristly photo of her body lying on the kitchen floor . Turbulent relationship: According to Medina's father, Derek and his wife got a divorce after three years of marriage, but then tied the knot again . Medina's post and shocking photo of his . murdered wife remained on Facebook for five hours before his profile was . taken down just before 5pm Thursday. Officers who were dispatched to the couple's home at 5555 SW 67th Avenue discovered Ms Alfonso's body. The . woman in the picture was bent over backwards at the knees wearing black . leggings, with her head in the corner of what appears to be a kitchen. The unsettling post left several of Medina's friends puzzled, asking him what happened. Kayla Amando Pabon wrote about the woman in the grisly image: 'That is my friend there.' Medina was a part time actor on the USA . Network show Burn Notice. The . wannabe star boasted online about his tiny bit-part appearances and . dreamed of fame that he never quite attained. He appeared only as a . backgound extra with his head-shaved and pouting in two episodes in . 2010. However, that didn't stop him talking up his achievements. Posting . a video on You Tube, he narrated: 'Put on USA, I’m coming out on the . episode right now. I’m on USA. I’m going to come out soon. This is the . episode that I filmed. hat’s me right there! You saw me?' Concerns: The unsettling post left several of Medina's friends puzzled, asking him for an explanation of what happened . The page also has a clip of a man kicking a punching bag in a gym. In an interview with the local station WSVN, Medina's father, Derek Medina Sr., said that his son came to him at around 11am Thursday and admitted to shooting his wife. ‘He just said that his wife picked up a knife on him, and they had a big fight, and he shot her,’ said the father. The elder Medina drove his son to a South Miami police station, where the 31-year-old turned himself in. Derek . Medina Sr said that girl who was removed from the apartment wrapped in a . blanket is Ms Alfonso’s daughter from a previous relationship. According . to the father, his son had a rocky relationship with Ms Alfonso. He . said that the two got a divorce after being married for three years, but . remarried again last year. This image was taken from the Facebook page identified as Derek Medina's s . Tragic twist: when police arrived at the couple's home, they found Alfonso's 10-year-old daughter and led her out wrapped in a blanket . Ms Alfonso listed her occupation as a server at Denny's. Records show that she married Medina in April 2012. The . woman was last active on Facebook on Wednesday, about 15 hours before . the image of her body appeared on her husband's page. At the time, . Alfonso changed her profile picture to a photo of her kissing Medina. Miami New Times reported . that Medina has published a number of self-help e-books, among them one . titled: 'How I Saved Someone's Life and Marriage and Family Problems . Thru Communication.' His . works, mostly bearing odd and lengthy titles, are available through the . site e-junkie priced between $9.99 and $11.99. At least one is out in . paperback selling for $19.99. Last post: Jennifer Alfonso was last active on Facebook Wednesday, changing her profile picture to a photo of her kissing a man believed to be Medina . His latest offering is 'World Just Ask Yourself Why We Are Living a Life Full of Lies and How I an Emotional Writer Made All of My Professional Dreams Come True Blocking Society's Teachings.' In a summary of one book, Medina claims he can hunt ghosts and at one time saved his wife from a poltergeist attack while they were in New York. Elsewhere in his writings, Medina talked about his experiences with aliens and lamented that humans are not working on a time travel machine needed for an 'evacuation plan.'

Derek Medina, 31, turned himself in to police after confessing to murder on Facebook and to his father . Body of Jennifer Alfonso, 26, was found in the kitchen of couple's Miami home . Medina was denied bail Friday by a Miami-Dade Circuit court judge . Slain woman's 10-year-old daughter was at home during murder, but was not harmed .

025a6bb299c1c6e1c8632e2b601e5a937ed2cba2

Rome (CNN)A crewless, powerless ship that drifted in the Mediterranean with hundreds of migrants aboard has been towed to an Italian port. Francesco Perrotti, the harbormaster in Corigliano Calabro, said 360 migrants were found on the cargo ship Ezadeen -- 74 under 18 years of age and four pregnant. The Red Cross arrived to greet the migrants leaving the ship. All of them appeared to be in good health and nobody was hospitalized or quarantined, he said. The migrants were being sent to reception facilities. Authorities responded late Thursday to a distress call from the Ezadeen, Italy's coast guard said. It's the second rescue of a crewless vessel off Italy's coast, in what appears to be a worrying new tactic by people traffickers who either abandon the ship or mix with the passengers. Overnight, the Ezadeen was at a standstill 58 miles (93 kilometers) off the city of Crotone in the Ionian Sea, the coast guard said, where rescuers were trying to restart the boat's engines. The Icelandic coast guard said its vessel Tyr towed the stranded ship to shore. The Tyr was unable to dock at a nearer port because of the ship's limited maneuverability, the coast guard said. The Tyr was doing surveillance for Frontex, the European Union border management agency, when it was called in to help. Six Italian and four Icelandic coast guard crew members boarded the Ezadee, the Italian coast guard said. As well as taking control of the ship, they brought food and water for its passengers . UN: 3,000 died in 2014 trying to get to Europe . The Italian air force and coast guard said that weather conditions had made the rescue operation very challenging, with coast guard crew members having to be taken by helicopter to the ship, which is flying the flag of Sierra Leone. The alarm was raised when migrants launched an SOS, said Floriana Segreto, a spokeswoman for the Italian coast guard. Since last September, she told CNN, there have been 15 similar cargo ships carrying mainly migrants from Syria who are wealthier and can pay more than others who are forced to travel on smaller, rickety boats. She cited the International Organization for Migration as saying the price for each passenger was about 6,000 euros ($7,260), with a reduction if there are more than 250 passengers on board. Such cargo ships leave from a Greek or Turkish port with the migrants already on board, she said. They are old merchant ships that "should not be navigating in the Mediterranean Sea," she said, and still have a flag, as in the case of the Ezadeen, or carry a fake flag. They sail in Turkish or Greek waters without rousing suspicion and appear to be normal merchant ships, Segreto said. However, once in Italian "save and rescue" operational waters, they launch a mayday via satellite phone to a humanitarian association or directly to the Italian coast guard, she said. The smugglers then either abandon ship or mix in with the migrants. Only when all passengers are questioned on shore do investigators have a chance to identify the smugglers, Segreto said. 'Multimillion-dollar business' Frontex spokeswoman Ewa Moncure drew a parallel between what happened on the Ezadeen and on the Blue Sky M, a freighter that was also apparently abandoned this week by its crew with almost 800 people aboard, most believed to be migrants from war-torn Syria. It docked safely in the southern port of Gallipoli on Wednesday after the Italian coast guard seized control. In each case, human traffickers appear to have employed the same method of using large, decommissioned cargo ships that have been "brought back from the dead," Moncure said. It's a "multimillion-dollar business" for those operating such ships, she said. Moncure estimates that each passenger paid $3,000 to travel on the Ezadeen. While their work is focused on border control, Frontex vessels -- provided by EU member states -- are obliged to help in search-and-rescue situations, Moncure said. With ever-increasing numbers of migrants from such countries as Syria and Eritrea putting their lives in the hands of unscrupulous traffickers, their efforts are sorely needed. Faced with a crisis off its shores, Italy launched Operation Mare Nostrum ("Our Sea") to try to find and rescue stranded migrants. It has now scaled back the project, which cost Italians 9 million euros ($10.9 million) a month from November 2013 to the end of 2014. In October, the European Union announced that Frontex would launch its own operation, dubbed Triton, in the central Mediterranean to help fill the gap. EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, said the new Frontex operation would "show concrete solidarity to Italy, by reinforcing its border surveillance and supporting its humanitarian efforts." But, she said, "It is clear that the Triton operation cannot and will not replace Mare Nostrum." Ships equipped with cells, quarantine areas . While Operation Mare Nostrum is over in name, Italian naval assets are still carrying out rescues in cooperation with Frontex vessels, which call them in to help. The San Giorgio, a navy ship that was converted to rescue migrants under Mare Nostrum and which was the primary rescue vehicle, is still active in such missions and was used last week to rescue those on board the burning Greek ferry, Norman Atlantic. It is equipped with an infirmary, jail cells for smugglers, quarantine sections for potential Ebola patients, and sleeping quarters for the migrants. CNN went out last month on a Frontex patrol on the San Mino, a Japanese fishing vessel converted into a Spanish coast guard ship. Jose Maria Duenas, commander of the San Mino, said that the crew do see themselves as search and rescue. "We are not turning migrants back, we are rescuing them," he said. Report: 40,000 migrant deaths since 2000 . Dangerous sea routes . Amid continued migrant deaths at sea, rights group Amnesty International warned last month that Triton was "vastly reduced in scale and area covered" compared with Mare Nostrum and called on EU nations to step up their efforts. "People are still taking these dangerous sea routes to get to Europe. If the EU is serious about preventing the Mediterranean from becoming a cemetery, it must be prepared to deploy search-and-rescue operations all along the routes that desperate refugees and migrants are taking," said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International's director for Europe and Central Asia. A spokeswoman for the EU Commission said Friday that it was closely following the Ezadeen situation. "The rescues of the Blue Sky M two days ago and of the Ezadeen show that smugglers are finding new ways to enter EU territory," she said. "To prevent such events and to protect the lives of migrants, fighting smuggling will continue to be a priority under the Commission's agenda for comprehensive migration in 2015." More than 207,000 people crossed the Mediterranean for Europe illegally in 2014, the High Commissioner for Refugees, the U.N. refugee agency, said last month -- almost three times the previous high of about 70,000 in 2011. That's 60% of roughly 348,000 boat migrants worldwide last year. "Europe, facing conflicts to its south (Libya), east (Ukraine) and south-east (Syria/Iraq) is seeing the largest number of sea arrivals," the UNHCR said. More than 3,400 of those seeking to reach Europe last year died, many of them drowning after being trafficked in unseaworthy vessels from the shores of the Middle East and North Africa across the Mediterranean. Journalists Barbie Latza Nadeau and Livia Borghese reported from Rome and Laura Smith-Spark wrote and reported from London. CNN's Sweelin Ong and Sara Delgrossi contributed to this report.

About 360 migrants were found on the crewless ship, the harbormaster says . Ships are being "brought back from the dead" to carry migrants, official says . An Icelandic coast guard vessel is towed the crewless, stranded Ezadeen to shore .

025bee3924aab5c2349229ba62116bcc8d9761a7

(CNN) -- An Afghan soldier shot and killed a NATO soldier Monday in southern Afghanistan, high-ranking officials from the country's National Directorate for Security said. NATO's International Security Assistance Force said an "individual wearing an Afghan National Army uniform turned his weapon against" an ISAF service member, "killing the service member." Afghan officials confirmed that the man who did the firing was an Afghan soldier. In another incident, two ISAF service members died after an improvised explosive device attack in eastern Afghanistan, NATO said. The nationalities of the service members were not immediately released. Separately, Afghan and coalition forces repelled an attack on the provincial reconstruction team headquarters in the Herat district of Herat province on Monday, ISAF Joint Command said in a statement. Insurgents trying to get inside the compound attacked the headquarters with a vehicle-borne IED and small-arms fire, but Afghan and coalition forces returned fire, killing several insurgents, it said. Several ISAF service members were wounded. The incidents took place a day after NATO apologized for an airstrike that killed nine civilians in southern Afghanistan. Maj. Gen. John Toolan, head of the ISAF command in southwest Afghanistan, apologized "on behalf of the coalition" and its top leaders, including U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus. He also pleaded with Afghans to work with coalition forces to bolster security. Earlier, Afghan and NATO officials said the attack -- an airstrike Saturday in Helmand province --had killed a dozen children and two women. There was no immediate explanation for the disparity between these figure and the toll of nine civilians offered Sunday by Toolan, who also noted that a U.S. Marine was killed immediately before the strike. Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the airstrike and said he was warning the U.S military and government "for the last time" on behalf of the Afghan people about civilian deaths. He called the operation a mistake. Journalist Reshad Fazel contributed to this report.

NEW: An attack on Afghan and coalition forces in the Herat district is repelled . A shooter who kills an ISAF service member is part of the Afghan army, officials say . The incident is under investigation . Two ISAF service members die after an IED attack .

025c44cb4f88863ea8859d8f6fafc876b2a4f6c4

Gary Neville believes the jury is still out on Louis van Gaal's Manchester United as they have yet to play any of the Premier League's leading lights. United sit fourth in the table after an inconsistent start of three wins, two draws and two losses, but will be heartened by their last result - a 2-1 win over Everton at Old Trafford. And while Neville, who spent 19 years as a player at United, believes the future is bright for his old side, he feels the coming month will prove how good Van Gaal's fledgling side is compared with their rivals. The next month will show the true measure of Louis van Gaal's new-look United side, says Gary Neville . 'I think it's an exciting time,' Neville told United's official website. 'It's going to be an important few weeks but exciting as well. We'll find out in the next few weeks as the West Brom, Chelsea and City games are all massive ones that I'm going to be at and my thought is we'll find out exactly [the level] where the team is at this season.' United face a trip to West Brom in their first match after the international break before hosting runaway league leaders Chelsea. United have had some inconsistent results so far this season including a 5-3 hammering at Leicester City . Juan Mata (left) vies for possession with Leighton Baines during United's encouraging 2-1 win over Everton . West Brom AWAY - Monday October 20 . Chelsea HOME - Sunday October 26 . Man City AWAY - Sunday November 2 . Crystal Palace HOME - Saturday November 8 . And former Old Trafford stalwart Neville believes Van Gaal will find out the mettle of his side against teams of that calibre rather than the outfits they have faced so far. He continued: 'It's going to be tough for United to get into the Champions League and that would be a big achievement. At this moment in time, we're in the places in fourth spot but we'll find out where we're at in the next few weeks. 'We've not really played anybody really strong yet. I know Everton at home could be classed as being a tough game but, in terms of really tough matches, Chelsea and City will provide a real measure of where this team is at.'

Manchester United currently sit fourth in the Premier League table . Jury is still out on United manager's new-look side, says Neville . Van Gaal's side face West Brom, Chelsea and Man City in coming weeks . Neville told Man Utd's official website: 'I think it's an exciting time'

025c8069f148d69490998d48ed65c2db49d06f1e

(CNN) -- World champion race driver Jenson Button has joined the McLaren Formula One team, McLaren announced Wednesday. The jump to powerhouse McLaren -- already the home of previous world champion Lewis Hamilton -- creates the first team to start a season with the two previous world champions racing together, McLaren said. British media reports said the deal was worth $30 million over three years. Both Button, 29, and Hamilton, 24, are British. Button visited McLaren headquarters earlier this month as he was being lured to the team, he said in a statement Wednesday. "It wasn't simply the technical resources and the incredible standards of excellence that impressed me," Button said. "I was equally struck by the ambition, the motivation and the winning spirit that flow through everybody there. And then there's the team's epic history: put it this way, the trophy cabinets seem to stretch for miles." The Guardian newspaper reported that Button's former team, Brawn GP, offered to double Button's salary to keep the driver for 2010, but the terms were rejected. News of the decision coincides with an official announcement from German carmaker Mercedes-Benz that their allegiance has moved from McLaren to Brawn; the current champion constructors will compete under the Mercedes banner next season. Button's switch comes after news that former world champion Kimi Raikkonen will not race in Formula One in 2010, after failing to secure a team. The Finn's manager, David Robertson, told the BBC he had been trying to secure a deal with McLaren for the former Ferrari driver but the offer had not been enough for the 30-year-old to sign. It seems Raikkonen will now turn his attention to the World Rally Championship instead: "It wasn't in his interests to race for what [McLaren] were offering so he's going to go rallying," Robertson said. What do you think of Button's move? Have your say in our Sound Off below.

Jenson Button signs a three-year deal with McLaren according to British media reports . Button visited McLaren headquarters earlier this month as he was being lured to the team . Former world champion Kimi Raikkonen will not race in Formula One in 2010 .

025eefd2069953534a02800c4a8a02aac730a0fe

Retired doctor Peter Williamson thought he was going to be mugged . A retired doctor who assaulted a taxi driver with a walking stick because he thought that he would be late for a performance of a Puccini opera has walked free from court. Peter Williamson, 70 next month, sat stony-faced at the hearing, wearing a dark suit coupled with a cream pocket square as he pleaded guilty to assault with occasioning actual bodily harm. Hammersmith Magistrates Court heard Willamson flagged down Kevin Johnson's cab at 4.45pm on June 17 at Raynes Park to take him to an open air performance of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West) in Holland Park, west London that commenced at 7.30pm. En route, Willamson announced that he had no money and needed to stop at a cashpoint. As they were driving up Warwick Road near Earls Court Williamson became rude and aggressive shouting at the cab driver: . Tom Gill, prosecuting, told the court that Williamson 'shouted at the victim 'where are we you f*****g c***' and demanded 'Where are you f*****g taking me. 'The victim could not understand why Dr Williamson was getting so irate and wanted to get him out of the taxi as soon as possible. He needed to get to the opera for 7pm and it was only 5.20pm.' Mr Johnson pulled up at a cashpoint near Sainsbury's on Kensington High Street, west London. As Williamson got out, a man was already at the cashpoint and he wandered off up the street. Mr Johnson got out the car to show him the way but as he approached Williamson the retired doctor raised his walking stick and struck the taxi driver. When Mr Johnson touched his head, he found blood. A member of the public called the police and the victim was taken to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital where he was given two stitches. Taken into custody, Williamson said that he thought Mr Johnson was going to rob him and steal his pin number. The open air Holland Park Theatre, home of the Opera Holland Park in London . Defence lawyer Edgar Fernando said Williamson, who is a fellow of the Royal Institute, was suffering from mouth and lung cancer. He added: 'It was a single blow. He admits assault and said he feared his bank card and pin would be taken away from him. He acted in self-defence although it was excessive. 'In his 71 years he has committed no offence. He has shown remorse, he did not want to cause injury and admits he acted in an antisocial way. Williamson received an 18 week sentence, suspended for a year. He must also observe a three-month curfew, from the hours of 8pm through to 6am, and pay his victim £200 compensation . Peter Williamson was on his way to to an open air performance of Puccini's La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West) (above) in Holland Park, west London when he attacked Kevin Johnson . 'He has said whether he is given a 12 month prison sentence or not he will not commit an offence again. He is stressed to be here and feels his standing in the community has suffered by the reports, he has been punished enough.' He added his bank balance was minus £700 and he was living off a pension of £170. Williamson was jailed for 18 weeks suspended for a year at Hammersmith Magistrates Court (above) Chairman of the bench Joanne Varley told Williamson: 'The starting point for this particular category is 26 weeks imprisonment. 'However for 71 years you have been of extremely good character, [and] of good conduct, you have shown remorse, it was single blow and you pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity. 'However, as I have mentioned before, on the other side of things you used your walking stick as a weapon towards a man doing his public duty, namely being a taxi-driver.' Williamson received an 18 week sentence, suspended for a year. He must also observe a three-month curfew, from the hours of 8pm through to 6am, and pay his victim £200 compensation plus a victim surcharge of £80 and costs of £85.

Peter Williamson was verbally and physically abusive to the cab driver . Cabbie Kevin Johnson needed stitches in his head after Williamson struck him . Mr Johnson did not understand Williamson's attitude as they had plenty of time to complete the journey .

025fbeb4e1ee6f3d9ce78ac14bfb1a5c2d51fa11

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama is planning to nominate at least three key members of his national security team at an event in Chicago, Illinois, on Monday, including Sen. Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, according to two Democratic officials. Sen. Hillary Clinton will be nominated to be Barack Obama's secretary of state, sources say. The officials said Obama is also expected to confirm that he is keeping Defense Secretary Robert Gates in his current post and naming retired Marine Gen. Jim Jones as his national security adviser at the White House. The officials said that after much contemplation, Jones officially agreed to take the job in the past few days. All of the selections are hardly a surprise after weeks of fevered speculation. In fact, they're such an open secret that retiring Republican Sen. John Warner, a veteran member of the Armed Services Committee, released a statement Saturday night praising all three nominees before they have been officially named at Monday's rollout. "The triumvirate of Gates, Clinton and Jones to lead Obama's 'national security team' instills great confidence at home and abroad and further strengthens the growing respect for the president-elect's courage and ability to exercise sound judgment in selecting the 'best and the brightest' to implement our nation's security policies," Warner said.

President-elect to name key members of security team, Democratic officials say . Obama to keep Robert Gates as defense secretary, sources say . Retired Gen. Jim Jones to be named national security adviser .

025fe377cba5cddc3a7e97f4c03dabd957c4eef4

By . Daily Mail Reporter . Google has committed to removing a satellite image from its maps that shows the body of a 14-year-old who was murdered in Richmond, California in 2009. The boy's father Jose Barrera learned of the image earlier this week and asked that the web giant remove the shot. In a statement to MailOnline a Google spokesperson said the company has decided to make an exception to its usual procedure and replace the image as soon as possible. Grisly reminder: The body of 14-year-old Kevin Barrera can be seen on this Google Earth image. His body, which has been blurred by MailOnline, is at the bottom of the image as officers gather above . 'Our hearts go out to the family of this young boy. Since the media first contacted us about the image, we’ve been looking at different technical solutions,' read the statement. 'Google has never accelerated the replacement of updated satellite imagery from our maps before, but given the circumstances we wanted to make an exception in this case.' Technology analyst Rob Enderle told KTVU he believed it was unlikely Google would pull the image. 'When they remove it for one person for one thing, then how do they not do it for others?' he asked. 'And so they've found it easier just to say no.' Jose Barrera said the picture on Google Earth shows his son Kevin, who was found battered and shot to death beside train tracks in Richmond, California four years ago. Distraught: Jose Barrera is pleading with Google to remove the image, saying it brings back terrible memories . Victim: His son Kevin was beaten and shot to death. No one has been arrested for the killing . 'When I see this image, that's still like . that happened yesterday,' the distraught father told KTVU. 'And that brings me back to a . lot of memories.' Google technicians estimate they can have the image updated in eight days. 'We’ve spoken to the family to let them know we’re working hard on the update,' concluded the statement. Kevin Barrera was found shot dead just off the railroad tracks in August 2009 - in the area which was known for trouble. Six people were killed there between February and October of that year. The teenager, who was known to police, had spent the evening of August 14 with his family but left alone on foot after getting some phone calls. His body was found at 7am the next morning by a passerby. No arrests have been made in his death. 'I don't know the right words to say how I feel," his father told the Contra Costa Times after the murder. 'My heart is really broke.' Scene: His body was found on August 15, 2009 in a notoriously troubled area of Richmond, California . His stepmother, Leticia Marquez, told a crowd after the death: 'All you kids who are Kevin's age, please help us. Please help your brothers and sisters, because they are looking for kids your age. They are taking our kids. This age is the right time for bad people to take our sons from us.' His death was the 33rd homicide victim in Richmond in 2009. By the end of the year, 47 people had been killed there, placing it as the second deadliest city after New Orleans. See below for video .

Dead body of Kevin Barrera, 14, can be seen on Google Earth image . Father Jose Barrera pleaded with the company to replace it after seeing it this week . Google has agreed to replace it within eight days . Teenager was found battered and shot to death beside train tracks in 2009 and the murder has never been solved .

026032740b6ebcd2d7e9c72cb9e7006852cd89df

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on Tuesday criticized President Barack Obama's initial handling of the Ebola crisis as 'incompetent,' saying it gave rise to unneeded fears among the American public about the virus. Bush, who is the latest potential Republican presidential candidate to attack the president over Ebola, also said in a wide-ranging discussion at Vanderbilt University that he supports travel restrictions for people who have been to the most severely affected countries in Africa. Bush said Obama should have been more 'clear and concise' about his plans, and lent more credibility to health officials leading the response. Jeb Bush spoke at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Monday. He slammed Barack Obama's handling of Ebola a day later, in what sounded like a campaign message trial balloon . GUV TO GUV: Bush seemed to support fellow Republican Chris Christie (left), the New Jersey governor who instituted an Ebola quarantine policy beyond what Obama's CDC said was prudent . 'It looked very incompetent to begin with, and that fueled fears that may not be justified,' Bush said. 'And now you have states that are legitimately acting on their concerns, creating a lot more confusion than is necessary.' Obama has tried to place his own imprint on the government's response, making sure photographers captured images of him meeting with the Ebola team and embracing Nina Pham, one of the Dallas nurses who recovered after contracting the disease. On Tuesday he called U.S. workers in West Africa and delivered a statement from the South Lawn before leaving on a campaign trip to Wisconsin. Bush contrasted what he characterized as the president's indecisive approach on Ebola to his own actions as governor when anthrax was mailed to a supermarket tabloid in Florida after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. 'We gave people a sense of calm, what the plan was,' Bush said. 'We talked in plainspoken English. We were totally engaged.' Bush also criticized Obama's foreign policy as lacking clear 'guiding principles,' which he said has created a power vacuum that has been filled by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Time for choosing? Fifty years after an history Ronald Reagan speech kicked off the modern conservative movement, Jeb Bush inched closer to a presidential run . 'It's been an unmitigated disaster in that regard,' Bush said. 'And he now is paying the price.' Bush concluded the talk by saying that he would wait until the end of the year before consulting with his family about whether to make a run for president. 'If it's a yes, I guess you go in the Batcave,' he said. 'You try to acquire some superhuman skills, which I definitely will need, because I'm imperfect in every way.' But Bush said he wasn't overly consumed by the heavy speculation about whether he would seek to follow his father and brother to the White House. 'I'm totally blessed,' he said. 'So I'm not like really freaking out about this decision.'

Former Florida governor is rumored to be a 2016 presidential contender and the THIRD Bush to take the presidential plunge . He said Obama's Ebola response 'looked very incompetent to begin with, and that fueled fears that may not be justified' Seemed to side with Gov. Chris Christie in the battle over mandatory quarantines, saying some states 'are legitimately acting on their concerns' Bush says he's 'not like really freaking out about this decision' of whether to run for the White House .

02604253bc8b83628381c7e6ba803f4bed2dd2ac

Early discoverers: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York may have known as early as August 2007 that the setting of global benchmark interest rates was flawed . The Federal Reserve Bank of New York may have known as early as August 2007 that the setting of global benchmark interest rates was flawed. Following an inquiry with British banking group Barclays Plc in the spring of 2008, it shared proposals for reform of the system with British authorities. The role of the Fed is likely to raise questions about whether it and other authorities took enough action to address concerns they had about the way Libor rates were set, or whether their struggle to keep the banking system afloat through the financial crisis meant the issue took a backseat. A New York Fed spokesperson said in a . statement that 'in the context of our market monitoring following the . onset of the financial crisis in late 2007, involving thousands of calls . and emails with market participants over a period of many months, we . received occasional anecdotal reports from Barclays of problems with . Libor.' 'In the spring of . 2008, following the failure of Bear Stearns and shortly before the first . media report on the subject, we made further inquiry of Barclays as to . how Libor submissions were being conducted. We subsequently shared our . analysis and suggestions for reform of Libor with the relevant . authorities in the UK.' The . Fed statement did not provide the precise timing of the communication . with the British authorities. Bear Stearns collapsed in early March 2008 . and was then acquired by JPMorgan. Meanwhile, . legislators on Capitol Hill have signaled they are interested in . learning more about what Fed officials knew with regards to allegations . of Libor manipulation. On July 9, Represenative Randy Neugebauer, chairman of a subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee, sent a letter to the New York Fed asking for transcripts of any 'communications with Barclays regarding the setting of interbank offered rates from August 2007 to November 2008.' In the letter, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, the Texas Republican asked New York Fed President William Dudley to provide the transcripts by Friday. Tim Johnson, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, said on Tuesday he was concerned by the allegations of the potential 'widespread manipulation' of Libor and had directed his staff to schedule briefings on the issue. Dependent: The rates set by Libor are an integral part of the world financial system, including the New York Stock Exchange (pictured), and are used to price some $550trillion in loans, securities and derivatives . Johnson also said the committee planned to ask Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about the allegations at hearings later this month. Barclays last month agreed to pay $453million to British and U.S. authorities to settle allegations that it manipulated Libor, a series of rates set daily by a group of international banks in London across various currencies. The rates are an integral part of the world financial system and have an impact on borrowing costs for many people and companies as they are used to price some $550trillion in loans, securities and derivatives. By manipulating Libor, banks could have made profits or avoided losses by wagering on the direction of interest rates. During the enormous liquidity problems in the financial crisis they could, by reporting lower than actual borrowing costs, have signaled that they were in better financial health than they really were. Powerful player: Timothy Geithner served as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve before he was promoted to his current position as the Secretary of the Treasury . So far, the scandal has been more of a British affair, prompting the resignation of Barclays top three executives, condemnation from the British government amid a public outcry, and questions about the lack of oversight from British regulators. The Bank of England's Deputy Governor Paul Tucker on Monday even had to deny suggestions that government ministers had pressured him to encourage banks to manipulate Libor. But the deepening investigation by . regulators in Britain, the United States, and other countries is . expected to uncover problems well beyond Barclays and British banks. More . than a dozen banks are being investigated for their roles in setting . Libor, including Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Deutsche Bank, HSBC . Holdings Plc, UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland.. Regulators, . including the New York Fed, had a responsibility 'to force greater . integrity and cooperation,' and it had clearly reviewed the situation . and had the resources to investigate, said Andrew Verstein, an associate . research scholar at Yale University, who has written about Libor. 'Obviously they considered this to be within their orbit.' Many of the requests for improper Libor submissions came from traders in New York. As . one of the world's most powerful regulators, the New York Fed has the . power to 'jawbone' banks to force them to make tough decisions, said . Oliver Ireland, former associate general counsel at the Federal Reserve . in Washington and now a lawyer at Washington law firm Morrison & . Foerster. Still, he said by the autumn of 2008, the New York Fed's focus was locked on the impact of the meltdown of Lehman Brothers and AIG as it sought to prevent a global economic disaster. Barclays said in documents released last Tuesday that it first contacted Fed officials to discuss Libor on August 28, 2007, at a time when credit problems arising from the U.S. housing bust were beginning to mount. It communicated with the Fed twice that day. Between then and October 2008, it communicated another 10 times with the U.S. central bank about Libor submissions, including Libor-related problems during the financial crisis, according to the documents. In its document listing those meetings as well as ones with British authorities, Barclays said: 'We believe that this chronology shows clearly that our people repeatedly raised with regulators concerns arising from the impact of the credit crisis on LIBOR setting over an extended period.' As a bank doing business in the United States, Barclays U.S. operations would have come under the Fed's purview. This would have been even more the case after it acquired the investment banking and trading operations of the bankrupt Lehman Brothers in September 2008. Under fire: Barclays has had billions wiped off its shares since it was rocked by the Libor-fixing allegations . Officials with the New York Fed talked to authorities in Britain about problems with the calculation of Libor and also heard from market participants about whether an alternative could be found for Libor, people familiar with the situation said. In early 2008, questions about whether Libor reflected banks' true borrowing costs became more public. The Bank for International Settlements published a paper raising the issue in March of that year, and an April 16 story in the Wall Street Journal cast doubts on whether banks were reporting accurate rates. Barclays said it met with Fed officials twice in March-April 2008 to discuss Libor. According to the calendar of then New York Fed President, Timothy Geithner, who is now U.S. Treasury Secretary, it even held a 'Fixing LIBOR' meeting between 2.30-3.00pm on April 28, 2008. At least eight senior Fed staffers were invited. It is unclear precisely what was discussed at this meeting or who attended. Among those invited, along with Geithner, was William Dudley, who was then head of the Markets Group at the New York Fed and who succeeded Geithner as its president in January 2009. Also invited was James McAndrews, a Fed economist who published a report three months later that questioned whether Libor was manipulated. Investigation: Now the inquiry is coming stateside as authorities are looking to see what the timeline of warnings was regarding the Federal Reserve's suspicions about Libor problems . 'A problem of focusing on the Libor is . that the banks in the Libor panel are suspected to under-report the . borrowing costs during the period of recent credit crunch,' said that . report in July 2008 that examined whether a government liquidity . facility was helping ease pressure in the interbank lending market. When . asked for comment, McAndrews directed questions to a New York Fed . spokeswoman. Dudley could not be immediately reached for comment. To . be sure, the Fed's reports have sometimes been inconclusive. One from . last month - only shortly before the Barclays settlement was announced - . found that 'while misreporting by Libor-panel banks would cause Libor . to deviate from other funding measures, our results do not indicate . whether or not such misreporting may have occurred.' Questioning: The former head of Barclays Bob Diamond has been summoned to Parliament over his knowledge of his bank's role in fixing the rates . However, a 2010 draft of a related paper had said that banks appeared to be paying higher rates to borrow from other banks during the financial crisis compared with the levels they reported. One step the New York Fed could have taken in 2008 when questions initially were raised was to find a way to get its staff embedded in the Libor calculation process, Yale's Verstein said. There, they could use the Fedwire Funds Service - an electronic system through which banks settle interbank loans between one another - as a backstop to measure whether banks were accurately reporting borrowing costs. Then after the financial crisis had passed, regulators could have helped 'urge on a newer and better system,' he said. The New York Fed was not part of the Barclays settlement, which was the first major resolution in the Libor probe. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Financial Services Authority in Britain, settled with Barclays. The scandal has thrown into sharp relief a potential regulatory gap: No single regulator appears to have had ultimate responsibility for making sure rates banks submitted were honest. On Monday, the Bank of England's Tucker called the issue of banks improperly submitting rates a 'cesspit.' In documents released with the Barclays settlement, the CFTC said Barclays traders on a New York derivatives desk asked another Barclays desk in London to manipulate Libor to benefit trading positions. 'For Monday we are very long 3m (three-month) cash here in NY and would like the setting to be set as low as possible,' a New York trader emailed in 2006 to a person responsible for setting Barclays rates. Darrell Duffie, a Stanford University finance professor who has followed the Libor issue for several years, said that he believed regulators were 'on the case reasonably quickly' after questions were raised in 2008. 'It appears that some regulators, at least at the New York Fed, indeed knew there was a problem at that time. New York Fed staff have subsequently presented some very good research on the likely level of distortions in Libor reporting,' Duffie said. 'I am surprised, however, that the various regulators in the U.S. and UK took this long to identify and act on the misbehavior.'

Questions over whether Fed did enough over Libor concerns . Then-New York Federal Reserve chairman Tim Geithner calendar included 'Fixing LIBOR' meeting in 2008 . Fed says got anecdotal Barclays reports of Libor problems and shared suggestions for reform with UK authorities .

026128913c8d8f0e982a36e9752577cc85c11813

A young girl who is planning her upcoming wedding may have some trouble getting her mother to attend the ceremony - as she is marrying her father. The unnamed 18-year-old is revealing all the details of her two year relationship with her father in an interview with Science of Us, from how they fell in love and the first time they had sex to what their plans are for the future. And one of those plans she is very certain of - the two will have children. Scroll down for video . An unnamed 18-year-old is sharing her story about how she plans to marry and have children with her father (not pictured above) The woman, who hails from the Great Lakes region, reconnected with her father when she was 16, this after 12 years of estrangement. Her parents got pregnant on Prom night, and she grew up with her mother, who the young girl claims is bipolar. Her father reached out to her on Facebook when she was in high school, and after the two met up she went to go stay with him for a week. They had sex that week, her first time, and were soon dating. 'There’s a reason I lost my virginity to him  because I’d never felt comfortable with any other man. It was insanely sensual,' she says. 'It lasted for about an hour and there was a lot of foreplay. We both had orgasms. We are so similar, so it’s so easy to sexually please each other. For example, we both love neck-biting. I’ve never been in a more passionate, loving, fulfilling situation.' The two are not even hiding their situation, with many around them aware of what is going on between them. 'Everyone on my mom’s side of the family sees us as father and daughter,' she explains. 'Those who know that he’s my dad, and that we are engaged, include my father’s parents (they can see we are happy together and they can’t wait for us to have babies  they treat us just like any other couple), the woman we live with, and my best friend.' The wedding has already been planned, and she will be telling her mother - after the two make the moved to New Jersey. 'We plan to move to New Jersey where we can be safe under the law, since adult incest isn’t illegal there, and once I’m there I’ll tell everyone,' she says. 'I’ll call my mom and let her know that we are in love and we are having children. If she wants to see her grandkids we’ll send her money and she can drive to see us.' And while many people, and science, may argue that having a child with a family member can lead to genetic problems, she scoffs at this notion. 'Everybody thinks that kids born in incestuous relationships will definitely have genetic problems, but that’s not true,' she explains. 'That happens when there’s years of inbreeding, like with the royal family. Incest has been around as long as humans have.' That being said, she says her chidlren will never learn how mommy and daddy first met. 'I don’t want to give them any problems,' she says.

An 18-year-old girl is revealing in a new interview that she has been dating her father for two years . The pair were estranged for 12 years, but met up again when she was 16, having sex the week they were reunited . They were soon dating and are now planning their wedding . After their wedding they plan on moving to New Jersey and having children, were adult incest is legal .

02625c8d96d090527fec268f59e75cefa0a6f11a

By . Alex Gore . PUBLISHED: . 11:13 EST, 30 September 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 04:33 EST, 1 October 2012 . The Harvard-educated son of disgraced Chinese political leader Bo Xilai has defended his father against charges of taking bribes and having improper sexual relationships. In a statement posted on the micro-blogging website, Tumblr, Bo Guagua said he believes in his father’s good character. He wrote: 'Personally, it is hard for me to believe the allegations that were announced against my father, because they contradict everything I have come to know about him throughout my life . Playboy: Reports that Guagua leads a wild lifestyle created a firestorm in China . 'Although the policies my father enacted are open to debate, the father I know is upright in his beliefs and devoted to duty.' Since graduating from Harvard University in May with a master’s degree in public policy, Guagua, 24, has kept a low profile, in contrast to reports earlier this year of a playboy lifestyle in the United States that created a firestorm on the Internet back in China. The younger Bo’s statement came a day after China’s ruling Communist Party accused his father of abusing his power, taking huge bribes and other crimes. Bo will be handed over for criminal investigation, state media reported on the latest phase in a scandal of murder and cover-ups that has shaken China’s leadership. Ousted: Bo Xilai and wife Gu Kailai, who was jailed after Neil Heywood's death . Bo had been seen as a strong contender to become a member of the powerful Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Political Bureau later this year. Bo’s wife Gu Kailai and his former police chief Wang Lijun have both been jailed over the scandal stemming from the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood in the southwestern city of Chongqing, where Bo was Communist Party chief. A government statement carried by the official Xinhua news agency said that in the murder scandal, Bo 'abused his powers of office, committed serious errors and bears a major responsibility'. Bo has been expelled from the party as well as the elite decision-making Politburo and Central Committee 'in view of his errors and culpability in the Wang Lijun incident and the intentional homicide case involving Bogu Kailai'. Murdered: Neil Heywood's body was found in a secluded Chongqing hotel . Though his friends say he would like to challenge the negative perception of his parents more forcefully, Guagua - the only child of  Bo and Gu - has said very little publicly because he fears it could only make matters worse. 'He has always taught me to be my own person and to have concern for causes greater than ourselves,' Guagua said in his most recent statement. 'I have tried to follow his advice. At this point, I expect the legal process to follow its normal course, and I will await the result.' This past summer Guagua traveled along the Maine coast and visited Westchester County in New York, according to friends and acquaintances.

Harvard-educated Bo Guagua posts statement online . He says allegations 'contradict everything' he knows about his father .

0262c45007e116626eafbecfe3d9adff0adae961

(CNN) -- Like what you've seen so far? Well, the World Cup will dish up even more soccer superlatives as the "Round of 16" kicks off on Saturday. After surviving the "Group of Death," the U.S. soccer team will have to duck a knockout punch this week. Or throw one themselves. With the complicated math of group play gone, the elimination principal will take to the pitch with the squads. That means it's win or go home. Team USA has to knock Belgium out cold to advance to the quarterfinals. That's not until Tuesday. But wait! Leave that TV on! Nascent U.S. footy fans shouldn't get tempted to take a break along with the home team they've newly fallen in love with, or they'll miss big games like Mexico vs. Netherlands on Sunday -- and the ultimate futbol acrobats on Saturday: . They're the beauty in the "beautiful game," the big kahuna, the unmatched five-time World Cup champions, the team sportscasters call "The Scratch" -- that has proven that soccer can be better than you-know-what: Brazil. Here are this weekend's four knockout matches with viewing times and channels -- and at bottom, a fun way to find a love match and score yourself at the cup. 1. "The Scratch" Brazil vs. Chile, noon ET Saturday on ABC, Univision . Despite the home field advantage, the Brazilian team is getting the jitters as rival Chile approaches, Brazil's coach told the BBC. But that's "normal," he said. It doesn't seem to calm their nerves that FIFA ranks Chile's team 14th and Brazil's 3rd in the world. -- Or that Brazil has won 48 of the two teams' 68 previous face-offs. -- Or that it scored 159 goals vs. 58 for Chile in those matches. -- Or that Brazil has shot seven goals in this tournament so far to Chile's five. -- Or that Brazil has fired 23 shots on target at the goal at this World Cup compared to 10 for Chile. Forget all of it. It doesn't matter. FIFA ranked Spain No. 1, and they've already gone home. If Chile gets just one more point than Brazil -- just the right ankle-breaking dance to the goal by maestro forward Alexis Sanchez -- or if their impenetrable goalie Claudio Bravo holds off one last goal attempt by Brazil. Then Brazil goes home, too. Er, uh, wait. They're home already. But they'd have to sit in the stands in front of the whole country without that sixth championship star on their jerseys. 2. The bite . Colombia vs. Uruguay, 4 p.m. ET Saturday on ABC, Univision . It's almost like Colombia never lost star striker Radamel Falcao to injury even before the cup started. They ate up their competitors in Group C play and go to the knockout round euphoric. And at the same time, Uruguay literally lost a lot of its bite this week when FIFA suspended forward Luis Suarez for four months for ... well ... biting another player. He's a massive scorer -- saved his team after it lost to Costa Rica 3-1 in Group D play. He shot both goals, when Uruguay downed England 2-1. Uruguay's team is raving mad at FIFA for sending Suarez home. Maybe it will give the team the fire in the belly it needs to keep from joining him at Colombia's hands. In their previous matchups, Uruguay has come out on top much more often. And they've still got forward Edinson Cavini, whom FIFA calls "a born goalscorer." And he has a reputation for being much more laid back than Suarez. Sports clothier Adidas has had some fun with the infamous chomp. 3. Big cheese or whole enchilada . Netherlands vs. Mexico, noon ET Sunday, ESPN, Univision . Call it Offense vs. Defense. The Netherlands are to Europe what Wisconsin is to the United States in its clichéd role as a cheese maker -- although in reality, the European Union says Germany and France make more of it. But Holland has the stuff to be the big cheese of global soccer this year. The guys in screaming orange jerseys have shot the most goals in this year's World Cup -- 10, compared to the top two seeds -- Germany's and Brazil -- which have seven each. They dominated their group, roundly stomping reigning world champ Spain 5-1 in their first game. Mexico has played more defense than offense, scoring only four goals so far but also allowing only one. They held Brazil to a 0-0 tie. But Mexico may have just turned up the heat. It looks like their scoring hope Javier Hernandez just got cranked in their 3-1 win against Croatia. If they beat the Dutch, they would reach the level of their best ever performance at the World Cup. They've only previously made it to the group of eight twice before. 4. Pleased to meet you. Now, please, go home! Costa Rica vs. Greece, 4 p.m. ET Sunday, ESPN, Univision . They've never met on a World Cup pitch before. And it's no wonder. This is only Costa Rica's third appearance at a World Cup, and only Greece's second. Greece has shot only two goals so far this tournament but also allowed only one. Costa Rica has shot twice as many, while allowing only one and putting away major contenders Italy and Uruguay. Sound like Greece is the underdog? Consider that FIFA ranks the team 12th in the world and Costa Rica 28th. Remember many good things come from Greece, even if they are from Brazil: . 5. Scoring apps . No, no, not apps to keep score of the game. Apps to find the right match -- as in people to date. Tinder and Blendr are dating apps for smart phones, and they're booming in Brazil at the World Cup. With more than 600,000 fans pouring into Brazil for the tournament, Tinder says usage and downloads here have jumped 50%. Many locals are using it to meet visitors from around the world. At bars and open-air fan game viewing sites, people are checking their smart phones to see how many new matches they have -- and the apps turn up plenty of people to meet. Time for a chat. Maybe with a particular goal in mind? --------------------------------------- . CNN's Rick Martin and Shasta Darlington contributed to this report. Fan zone photo by Rick Martin.

The U.S. gets a break, but there are some magical matches coming this weekend . First up, team Brazil, the beauty in the "beautiful game" Mexico plays dogged defense against this year's highest scorers from the Netherlands . Looking to score with the right match? Dating apps go ape at Brazil World Cup .

02634f407edd41bcb484fa0024e2cbecf72ac330

Justin Rose won’t get carried away watching England’s World Cup opener against Italy on Saturday after what happened to him four years ago. The Englishman, who is defending his US Open title this week, was leading the Travellers Championship on the PGA Tour by three shots when he tuned into England’s gut-wrenching 4-2 defeat to Germany. ‘It was a big game, an emotional football match and then I never really calmed down,' Rose recalled in his pre-tournament press conference at Pinehurst on Tuesday. Keeping concentration: Justin Rose insists he won't let England's World Cup campaign derail his US Open bid . ‘I think I watched it about 10 in the morning, we were playing at 2 o’clock in the afternoon and I ended up going out and losing the golf tournament.’ Rose has a tough task on his hands to defend the title he won at Merion 12 months ago, with former Ryder Cup captain Curtis Strange the last man to win back-to-back titles in 1988 and 1989. But there could also be a good omen in the fact that prior to Strange, the legendary Ben Hogan was the last man to do so in 1950 and 1951, with the first of those wins coming at Merion. 'I’ve allowed myself that thought for sure,' said Rose when asked about retaining the title. Prize guy: Rose will be hoping to retain his US Open trophy . 'Obviously that’s the plan this week. I felt like I had a good opportunity in 2012 at Olympic Club, too. I played really well there. I finished six shots back but as a player sometimes it’s a lot closer than that. 'I feel like the US Open test suits me. For me being defending champion, I don’t even like that word, defending, because it puts you already behind the eight ball. You don’t want to be out there being defensive at all. 'I’m just really excited about the opportunity this week presents. Obviously it is only one guy who has the opportunity to repeat, but I’m seeing that as a pressure-free situation. 'These tournaments are so hard to win, I’m just going to enjoy the challenge of trying to do that. 'I was the first English guy for 40-odd years (since Tony Jacklin in 1970) to win. That’s something sweet. But also it was my first major championship. That outweighed everything. Any time you win a major championship there’s probably history that’s made in some way or another. 'To win it again, the most important thing is my second major championship, but obviously to go back-to-back when it’s been a while since someone has been able to do that, that would just be the icing on the cake.' Upward curve: Rose has gone from strength to strength in recent years . Rose famously turned professional the day after finishing fourth as a 17-year-old amateur in the Open Championship in 1998, but missed his first 21 halfway cuts in succession. A first European Tour title arrived in 2002 and the 33-year-old has made steady progress ever since, culminating in his emotional victory on Father’s Day last year when he held off Phil Mickelson and Jason Day to win by two shots. 'The last few years of my career have been definitely on an upward trend and winning bigger and bigger tournaments, culminating in winning a major,' added Rose, who pointed to the heavens after holing out on the 72nd hole in memory of his late father Ken. Pressure free: Rose reckons he can enjoy his golf after getting the monkey off his back last year . 'I haven’t been one of the guys who have said ‘Well I’m going to win X amount of majors in my career’. So I really want to treat this major that I’ve won now as a gift and that gives me the ability to now sort of freewheel for the rest of my career, play free, play loose, just go after it. I’ve got really no pressure on me from that perspective any more. 'I think a lot of us put a lot of pressure on ourselves to get over the hump in a major championship. Just from an odds standpoint, they’re hard to win. 'So the fact I have won now, I think that really gives me the ability to have fun doing it again. Hopefully that will give me an advantage down the stretch on future occasions.'

Rose won't let Three Lions' World Cup bid derail his own goals . Thirty three year old blew lead after watching defeat to Germany in 2012 . Englishman insists he won't make the same mistake again at Pinehurst .

02635d9c8d7d280bd484cbe14375e2275af396da

A University of Washington student who publicly praised Virgin Killer Elliot Rodger was arrested Monday on charges he threatened to murder women in the style of the Santa Barbara shooter. Keshav Bhide allegedly used YouTube and Google+ to post messages and videos in which he supported the mentally ill man who killed six near the UC Santa Barbara campus last month. 'I am the next elliot rodger, and gues what ill do the right thing this time, ill make sure ill only kill women [sic],' he allegedly said during an online discussion in a comments forum. Scroll down for video . A University of Washington student in Seattle has been arrested for allegedly making threats in which he showed his admiration for Virgin Killer Elliot Rodger and threatened to kill women . Using the pseudonym Foss Dark, Bhide explained why he believed he needed to kill women. 'Nothing can compromise for an ugly face and short stature, I will execute the same thing. I have no option [sic],' he said. On June 9, he wrote a post that allowed agents to track him down to the Seattle. 'I live in seattle and go to the UW, that's all I'll give you. I'll make sure I kill only women, and many more than what Elliot accomplished [sic],' he said. Bhide was arrested at this Seattle apartment building after authorities discovered the threats he'd made toward women on YouTube and other sites . Authorities were able to track Bhide's location using his IP address. When they arrived at his home, Bhide told them he knew why they were there. Bhide was arrested on suspicion of felony harassment. He was ordered held on $150,000 bail on Monday pending an investigation. 'I am the next elliot rodger': Bhide told fellow commenters on YouTube that he planned to mass murder women in the tradition of Virgin Killer Elliot Rodger .

Keshav Bhide, 23, praised Elliot Rodger on YouTube and Google+ . The University of Washington student wrote that he is 'the next Elliot Rodger' and that he'll 'make sure I'll kill only women' Federal agents tracked Bhide down Monday and were holding him for felony harassment .

0263d2540bdff860c998243fba2f12dc1caafa6a

By . Leon Watson . Bosnia said today that more than a quarter of its four million people had been affected by the worst floods to hit the Balkans in living memory. Comparing the 'terrifying' destruction to that of the country's 1992-95 war, authorities said the extent of the devastation became apparent in neighbouring Serbia too. As waters receded in some of the worst-hit areas it was revealed that homes had been toppled or submerged in mud, trees felled and villages strewn with the rotting corpses of livestock. Scroll down for videos . A man reacts near a house tilted by floods in the village of Krupanj, west from Belgrade . Houses and agricultural lands are affected negatively due to the heavy rainfall in Obrenovac, Serbia . At least 35 people drowned after heavy rainfall since Thursday triggered floods in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia, officials said . The regional death toll reached at least 39, after the heaviest rainfall since records began 120 years ago caused rivers to burst their banks and triggered hundreds of landslides. 'The consequences ... are terrifying,' Bosnian Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija told a news conference. 'The physical destruction is not less than the destruction caused by the war.' Lagumdzija said more than 100,000 houses and other buildings in Bosnia were no longer fit to use and that over a million people had been cut off from clean water supplies. 'During the war, many people lost everything,' he said. 'Today, again they have nothing.' His remarks threw into sharp relief the extent of the challenge now facing the cash-strapped governments of both Bosnia and Serbia. Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said the cost in Serbia would run to hundreds of millions of euros, and that the death toll would certainly rise. Macedonian Red Cross workers and volunteers unload a truck containing humanitarian aid in food, hygienic products and clothing . Macedonia sends aid to flood-hit Bosnia and Herzegovina as the countries struggle to cope in the aftermath of floods which have left at least 35 people dead . Tens of thousands have been forced to evacuate their homes across the Balkan Peninsula in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina . Even as the crisis eased in some areas, a new flood wave from the swollen River Sava threatened others, notably Serbia's largest power plant, the Nikola Tesla complex, 30 km (18 miles) southwest of the capital Belgrade. In Bosnia, one official said as many as 500,000 people had been evacuated or left their homes, the kind of human displacement not seen since more than a million were driven out by ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian war two decades ago. At least 25,000 people have been evacuated in Serbia, but many more are believed to have left of their own accord. People are transported from their homes with the help of Bosnian soldiers after flooding in the town of Bosanski Samac . A state of emergency has been declared in Bosnia and Herzegovina due to severe floods caused by rain falling for several days . Macedonia sends a special team for aid to flood-hit Bosnia and Herzegovina as the countries struggle to cope in the aftermath of floods . Many houses and agricultural lands are affected negatively due to the heavy rainfall in Obrenovac, Serbia . 'We have some indications that a half a million Bosnians have either been evacuated or have left their homes because of flooding or landslides,' said Fahrudin Solak, the acting head of the civil defence service in Bosnia's autonomous Federation. Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic said the floods were of an 'epic, Biblical' scale. 'It has not been remembered in the last 150 years that we have had such a natural disaster,' he told Sky News. 'Our . country depends on agriculture. There are many people who lost all . their natural goods, an everything that was the mainstay of their . income.' Hundreds of volunteers in the Serbian capital filled sandbags and stacked them along the banks of the Sava. Police issued an appeal for more bags. Macedonian Red Cross workers collect boxes with food products before sending a humanitarian aid contingent to the flooded regions in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina . Macedonian Red Cross workers pack bottled water at a Red Cross warehouse in Skopje, Macedonia . Serbia's Novak Djokovic celebrates at the end of his final match against Spain's Rafael Nadal, at the Italian Open. He later dedicated his win to the victims of the floods . Soldiers and energy workers toiled through the night to build barriers of sandbags to keep the water back from the Nikola Tesla energy complex and from the coal-fired Kostolac power plant, east of Belgrade. Djina Trisovic, a union spokeswoman at Serbia's EPS power utility, said some workers at the Nikola Tesla plant had worked three days with barely a break because relief teams could not reach the plant. 'The plant should be safe now,' she told Reuters. 'We've done all we could. Now it's in the hands of God.' The plant provides roughly half of Serbia's electricity. Parts of it had already been shut down as a precaution, but it would have to be powered down completely if the waters breached the defences. Flooding had already caused considerable damage, estimated by the government at over 100 million euros ($140 million), to the Kolubara coal mine that supplies the plant. Authorities in Bosnia issued a fresh warning about the danger of landmines left over from the war and now dislodged by the flooding. In the north Bosnian region of Maglaj, barely a single house was left untouched by the waters, which receded to leave a tide of mud and debris. In the village of Donja Polja, where Muslim Bosniaks returned in 1995 to homes burned or shelled during the war, Hatidza Muhic swept the mud from the hallway of her house. Dark lines on the walls indicated the water had reached some three metres high. 'I thought the war was as bad as it can get, but it can get worse,' Muhic said. 'I just pray to God that we can save our minds, because first we were hit by the war, and now this.'

A state of emergency has been declared in Bosnia and Herzegovina . Authorities compared destruction to that wreaked by 1992-95 war . Homes have been toppled or submerged in mud and trees felled . Villages were left strewn with the rotting corpses of livestock . The regional death toll has now reached at least 39 . Novak Djokovic said the floods were of an 'epic, Biblical' scale .

02641cb725e7f2f1d3a843c4738c01436ed95d8f

Two young movie fans have put their own spin on this year's nominees for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, recreating the most iconic scenes from each big screen hit in their own unique way. With direction from their movie-loving mother Maggie Storino, four-year-old Sophia and her three-year-old sister Sadie re-enacted scenes from all eight Best Picture nominees, including Birdman, Boyhood and The Imitation Game, for their photo-based blog, which is aptly-named Don't Call Me Oscar. It is the fourth year in a row that the girls have paid tribute to the iconic Oscars ceremony in this way, with Sophia having first starred on the blog when she was just four months old. Scroll down for video . She can fly! Sadie (L) and Sophia (R) Storino recreated stills from all eight movies that are nominated for Best Picture at this year's Oscars, including Birdman . Original: Black comedy Birdman stars Michael Keaton, Edward Norton and Emma Stone . Growing up so fast: Sophia, four, has been recreating scenes from the Best Picture nominees, including Boyhood (pictured), since she was just four months old . The passing of time: Boyhood, which stars Ellar Coltrane (pictured), Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette, is a coming-of-age drama . 'We are still surprised at how much people like the photos,' Chicago-based Maggie told Today.com. 'Now, my favorite part is looking back at the archive. 'The blog is a snapshot of our family from the same week every year. 'Sadie was born the week after our first [picture] was posted and now she’s flapping her wings in Birdman. It's an amazing way to watch our family grow and to document some of our fondest memories.' While the girls are far too young to have seen any of the nominated movies themselves, both have formed strong opinions about which ones they favor - based purely on their experiences of acting out one pivotal scene from each. Sadie opted for Birdman, which stars Michael Keaton and Edward Norton, with her mother admitting that the youngster even spent time rehearsing her part in the picture, while Sophia picked emotional drama Whiplash, which stars JK Simmons and Miles Teller in the lead roles. Need a clue? In order to recreate this image from The Imitation Game, the Storino family had to put their crafting skills to work to recreate the numerous dials found on Alan Turing's code-breaking machine . Firm favorite: Benedict Cumberbatch (pictured) is also nominated in the Best Actor category . Boxed up: As part of their preparation for this scene from The Grand Budapest Hotel, Sophia (R) and Sadie (L) had to put their crafting skills to the test in order to make all of the boxes featured in the background . Fiction v fantasy: The original movie (pictured) is set in a famous hotel from the fictional Republic of Zubrowka . True love: Sophia (L) and Sadie (R) had a chance to play with some fun costumes in order to recreate this scene from the Theory of Everything . Wedding day: Eddie Redmayne (L) and Felicity Jones (R) both received individual nods for their performances in the biopic, which is based on the life of scientist Stephen Hawking . Despite not being able to watch any of the films that they were acting out, Maggie gave her children a brief synopsis of each one after Sophia asked to understand more about the scenes that they would be starring in. And in addition to the background research, the family spent weeks preparing the scenery for each image, with Maggie admitting that the background for The Grand Budapest Hotel, which features dozens of pink packages, took the longest to perfect. 'After a week of glue sticks, scissors and construction paper, they were so looking forward to taking the picture, it felt like Christmas,' she added. Both girls have clearly come a long way since their efforts last year; following the completion of their photos for 2014's nominees, Maggie revealed that working with such young stars had its difficulties, particularly when the girls were left to their own devices. 'We set [the scenery] up when the girls are asleep and then put Sophia in the middle of the picture when she wakes up in the morning,' she explained at the time. Play things: In place of men, Sophia is facing some of her favorite toys on this recreation of the poster for historical drama Selma . Paying her respects: Despite her young age, Sophia still manages to capture the incredible emotion within this poignant image from American Sniper . Impressive performance: Bradley Cooper is also nominated for Best Actor at this year's ceremony . Feel the rhythm: The youngster shows off her most dramatic pose in this re-enactment of a scene from Whiplash - which was Sophia's favorite poster to recreate . Top notch: JK Simmons (pictured) has been commended for his impressive performance in the drama, which also stars Miles Teller . 'With toddlers, if you don't get the photo on the first take it won't work - they eat the props, they play with the dolls, they run amok in a spacesuit.' The Storino family's photo project first began as a light-hearted attempt to make Maggie's sister - a journalist who was covering the Oscars in 2011 - laugh. But after posting them online, Maggie says she was taken aback by the positive reaction the fun images received. 'My sister is a journalist, working on Oscars coverage and we took the photos to make her laugh. And it worked. 'Our friends and family liked the photos so much they suggested we post it online. 'I was nervous about putting my kids on the internet. We are absolutely shocked to see how many people really seem to enjoy the photos.'

It is the fourth year in a row that four-year-old Sophia and her three-year-old sister Sadie have starred in the photo series . The girls' mother Maggie Storino posts the pictures to the family's blog Don't Call Me Oscar .

0264c489ba126938bc91c07211df95804e41ff67

By . Nazia Parveen . PUBLISHED: . 18:09 EST, 19 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 02:38 EST, 20 February 2013 . Julie Lindley and her prize winning bull mastiff Theo, one of the dogs that attacked the three little girls. A top breeder whose show dogs savaged three young girls was given a suspended jail sentence today. The girls, aged five to seven, were attacked by two bull mastiffs as they walked home from school with their mothers. They were ‘shaken like dolls’ and bitten all over their bodies, a court heard. All needed hospital treatment for their wounds and two required surgery. Owner Julie Lindley, 53, admitted the dogs, which had escaped from her garden, were dangerously out of control. She destroyed both dogs after the attack, Manchester Minshull Street Court heard. One, a two-year-old called Theo, had just been named a top UK bull mastiff and had come third at Crufts. Theo attacked the girls in Bolton after escaping from his pen with another dog on March 22 last year. Caroline Hamer told the court how the dogs bounded towards them as she walked home with her daughter, Nicola, seven, and her five-year-old friends Matilda Dawning and Charlotte Riggs. Alison Hayworth, prosecuting said: ‘The dogs pushed them all to the ground and Mrs Hamer quickly got up, however Nicola was still on the pavement with both dogs attacking her, biting her and shaking her like a doll. ‘Mrs Hamer got the dog off and tried to wedge herself between it and her daughter. A passer-by put the girl, who was covered in blood, in a car.’ The dogs then lunged at Matilda. Her . mother tried to lift her out of the way but one bit the girl’s leg and . it became ‘a tug of war’ as both mother and child were pulled into the . road. Julie with Theo who was named a top UK bull mastiff . Lucy Riggs, the mother of Charlotte, watched in horror as the dogs grabbed her daughter’s arm and pierced her forearm. Motorist Darren Westhead desperately tried to stop the attack by driving into one dog. But it got up again and began snapping once more. When police found the dogs, Theo had blood in his mouth. The three mothers told the court their daughters had been ‘terrified’ and would bear the physical and psychological scars for years, if not for life. Lindley, from Bolton, who runs breeding company Hyerdunscar Bullmastiffs, admitted being the owner of two dogs dangerously out of control. Since the incident, two cages have been put into the garden and the fence has been strengthened, the court heard. Judge Martin Allweis said he accepted that Lindley was full of remorse but the attack had been ‘serious and sustained’ against three children. He sentenced her to three months in jail, suspended for 12 months, and ordered her to pay £1,000 costs. She now faces a civil claim for compensation.

The three girls were 'shaken like dolls' by two bull mastiffs . All needed hospital treatment and two needed surgery . Breeder, Julie Lindley admitted that the dogs were out of control . The Crufts trainer has received a suspended jail sentence .

0264d85da73237f1967bcab20b2f99313a00250e

Frolicking in his new home, England’s only polar bear is a picture of contentment. But moving the 75-stone animal from a Dutch zoo to this purpose-built enclosure was a tricky proposition – not least for Victor himself. With his breeding days behind him, the 15-year-old was picked to be the first occupant of an £850,000 facility at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, near Doncaster, complete with an eight-metre-deep lake and swathes of grassland, designed to resemble the Arctic tundra in the summer. Scroll down for video . Roar or yawn? A sleepy looking Victor the polar bear takes his first steps on English soil at Yorkshire Wildlife Park - his new home after moving from Holland . Victor, who is 15 years old, was transported in a specially-adapted cage for his trip to the park in Doncaster, South Yorkshire . To reach it, however, he had to endure a 12-hour journey locked inside a cramped metal box. After being trained to walk into the cage, he was loaded on to a lorry and then ferried to Hull from the port of Zeebrugge, receiving fish and water through the bars along the way. His new keepers were relieved that upon his arrival on Thursday they were met by a ‘very confident’ and ‘laid back’ character – rather than a polar bear with a sore head. After spending the weekend in a holding area to give him time to adjust, Victor was finally let loose in his new home yesterday. He quickly settled in with a refreshing dip in the man-made lake, before a rest in one of the caves dug into a bank at the side of the water. His enclosure is one of the biggest in the world, and could hold up to ten more animals. Victor is expected to be joined by two others by the end of the year – but for now he has all ten acres to himself. Cheryl Williams, the wildlife park’s director, said: ‘He is quite greedy and loves meat and fish, with his favourite being mackerel, but he is not very impressed by vegetables. I have been told he likes the occasional peanut butter sandwich but we haven’t tried that yet. 'He weighs about 480kg (1058lbs) so he is pretty chunky, but that is his summer weight. When it comes up to winter he will become a real hungry Horace and eat lots more, when it gets colder he will probably be about 500kg (1102lbs). Victor has been retired to the UK because he is no longer needed on a European polar bear breeding programme, as he is the father of most of the continent's bears . Smile! Victor looks up as a photographer takes a picture of him in the hours before he leaves holland . Victor travelled with his keeper at the Rhenen Zoo, Holland, who will stay with him for his first few days in Yorkshire to help him get used to his new climate . The 15-year-old polar bear shows off his teeth as he walks through the cage he was transported in on his journey to Britain . Victor looked confused as to what the digger was before it was used to pick up his cage and place it in a waiting lorry . Icy: Ice cubes are left in buckets near Victor's cage to help him stay cool during the journey to England . Dorine van Appledoorm (pictured), Victor's Dutch keeper, travelled with him to keep him company on the journey . Victor, who retired from a breeding programme after fathering ten cubs, is the first polar bear to live in England for about a decade. He was born in captivity in Rostock, Germany, before moving to Rhenen in the Netherlands. His new keepers hope to use their enclosure to re-home bears living in unsuitable homes in Eastern Europe or tropical countries. The animal, who is such a prolific breeder that he had to be retired because he is father to most of Europe's polar bears, now lives in a 10-acre enclosure which has the environment of an Arctic summer. Park director John Minion said: 'We are delighted to welcome Victor to the park and be able to make a contribution to polar bear conservation. 'Victor has made a great contribution to the European breeding programme and his genes are very well represented now so the decision was made to retire him to the park. Victor was driven to a ferry port in Holland so he could begin his journey to England. He is now the only captive polar bear in the country . Arriving: The giant polar bear is taken off the lorry after getting to Doncaster. Now the keepers have to transport into his enclosure . Can I get out now? The bear appeared eager to be freed from his cage as he arrived at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park after a length journey by ferry from the Netherlands . Let me out: Victor was eager to get out and explore his new home, which includes 8m deep lakes and a realistic Arctic summer climate . Feeling trapped: After a 12-hour journey locked inside the cramped metal cage, the polar bear was let out to meet his new friends who described him as 'very confident' A JCB was used to haul the 1,058lb bear to his new 10-acre enclosure, which has been dubbed Project Polar because of its Arctic conditions . 'He's actually the most prolific breeder across Europe, so most polar bears in Europe are probably his children. 'So because of that he's now been retired from the breeding programme and we offered him a home as we've just built this specialist enclosure which is the biggest in Europe at the moment.' 'But that doesn't stop Victor from being an ambassador for the Arctic. Polar bears are an iconic species that are increasingly threatened in their native habitat and we need to fight their cause. The park expect Victor to live for anotjer 15 years at least, but he will not be lonely for long as more bears are expected to join him soon. 'We will have more bears arriving in the autumn and will announce those as soon as details are finalised,' Mr Minion added. Because I'm worth it: Victor had no problem with playing up to the cameras at his unveiling in Yorkshire in Thursday . Drying off: The retired polar bear looks more like a large dog as he shakes the water off his fur . Victor takes a dip in the lake before heading to one of his rocky caves, which provides shelter for the bear as well as his main house . Yum: Fish were on the menu shortly after Victor arrived. Park officials say it only took him 10 minutes to settle into his new home . Hungry: England's only polar bear uses a paw to hold down a chunk of meat as he gnaws at his lunch . Enjoying retirement? Victor wanders around his 8m deep lake where he will spend his retirement. He had to leave his role as Europe's top breeder because too many of the continent's bears are his children . Going for an explore: The polar bear enclosure features landscaped hills, valleys, and large lakes, and will be big enough for any more bears the park takes on . And if Victor is anything to go by, the other polar bears will settle in fine at the large enclosure, dubbed Project Polar, which features landscaped hills, valleys, and lakes with water up to 8m deep. Within 10 minutes of arriving he was seen in his house, eating food and having a drink 'like he had been here all his life', Mr Minion said. He will be kept of out of the public gaze while he acclimatises to British temperatures, but will be able to explore his new home. Mr Minion explained what Project Polar includes: 'The landscaping of the reserves mirror the Arctic Tundra with grass, herbs, shrubs and heathers. There are rocky areas and caves, which provide shelter for the bears as well as their main house. 'The large lake is 8m deep so Victor will be able to swim and dive. We are sure that Victor will enjoy his new surroundings.' Taking a dip: Park officials say Victor has enjoyed taking long swims in the lakes in Project Polar and is often seen in the water . Hello there: Victor wanders towards photographers taking snaps of him. He will not get to meet the public properly until he has aclimmatised to the park . Home, sweet home: Yorkshire Wildlife Park will be moving in more bears in the autumn but have not released any further details yet . Close enough: A cameraman records Victor as he tucks into some lunch, but stays at a safe distance from the large carnivore . Tucking in: Within 10 minutes of arriving, Victor was seen in his house, eating food and having a drink 'like he had been here all his life', park director John Minion said . Fluffy but fierce: Despite their cute and cuddly appearance, polar bears are some of the strongest animals on the planet . Last year Yorkshire Wildlife Park offered a home to Yupi, a polar bear trapped in soaring temperatures and a concrete enclosure in a Mexican zoo. Yupi has been at Morelia Zoo since 1992, after being captured in the wild as a cub. Her current concrete enclosure has virtually no shade, and offers little stimulation, causing campaigners to encourage the zoo to move her to a more appropriate home. The Doncaster park made an offer to rehouse Yupi, but it is yet to be accepted. Ms Williams said: 'We would still be delighted to re-home Yupi, who is over twenty years old. It would be wonderful if she could enjoy the rest of her life in the reserve here, so we wait for further news from Morelia.' There are two other polar bears in Britain, who both live at Highland Wildlife Park in Scotland. One of them, called Walker, is one of Victor's many sons.

Victor, a 1,058lb polar bear, has become England's only polar bear after moving to Doncaster from Holland . The 15-year-old was retired from a breeding programme because he is father to nearly all of Europe's polar bears . He has moved into a 10-acre park in Yorkshire Wildlife Park, which includes 8m deep lakes and an Arctic climate . More polar bears will be arriving to give him some company over the next few months, park officials say .

0267e4a4d09ba6da2220ebfaa5550c5531fdbc94

Three of Britain's biggest aquariums have come under fire for serving fish and chips in their restaurants - despite promoting conservation of marine life. The National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth, The Deep in Hull and Blue Planet Aquarium, Cheshire, all received letters from animal rights charity, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). The letters condemn the popular attractions for serving seafood, comparing it to 'serving monkey nuggets at a zoo'. On the menu: One of the fish dishes advertised at the National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth, Devon - one of the popular attractions that received critical letters from animal rights charity PETA . Under fire: The letter to the National Marine Aquarium, pictured, written by PETA's specialist project manager Dawn Carr, urges the aquariums to switch to fish-free options . But the aquariums have hit back at PETA, claiming the food they serve is all responsibly sourced. The letter, written by PETA's specialist project manager Dawn Carr, urges the aquariums to switch to fish-free options. Writing to the National Marine Aquarium, she said: 'The National Marine Aquarium advertises itself as a place where people can cultivate an understanding of and admiration for sea animals. 'Yet after inviting people to look on these glorious, fascinating animals in awe, it's odd that your cafe then invites people to stick a fork in them. 'Serving fish in an aquarium is like serving monkey nuggets at a zoo.' Peta is calling for the aquarium to take fish off the menu - and suggests the attraction instead serves vegetarian options such as fish-free fish fingers, faux-fish cakes and vegetarian prawns. 'The fact remains that the seafood in your cafes is made from living sea animals who treasured life and were needlessly subjected to pain and fear,' it added. On the menu: The restaurant at The Deep in Hull, East Yorkshire, offers a number of seafood dishes including the 'catch of the day', 'chorizo and smoked cod croquettes' and 'crayfish, tomato, chilli and fetel cocktail' But the aquarium hit back claiming it is pro-sustainable fishing. Dr Gibson, managing director of the National Marine Aquarium, said serving fish doesn't compromise its position as a marine conservation charity. He said: 'We work to educate consumers and our visitors on the importance of eating fish and seafood that has been sourced in a sustainable way, to help nurture a sympathetic understanding of our oceans. 'All fish and seafood served in the aquarium cafe is ethically sourced and MSC compliant. 'We have a robust purchasing policy in place that is proactive in sustainable and seasonal fish, ensuring we maintain the highest levels of sustainable fish sourcing practices possible.' The animal rights charity also wrote to The Deep in Hull, East Yorkshire, who responded by saying it will not be changing its policy. Colin Brown, chief executive of The Deep, said: 'We will be replying to Peta respectfully. 'We don't believe eating fish is wrong but the fish must be from a sustainable source and we are very careful about that. 'Morally, how can you differentiate between selling fish or selling a burger or sausage? To be honest, it is a matter of opinion.' Bosses at Blue Planet Aquarium, in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, also received a letter from PETA. Mimi Bekhechi group director of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, wrote: 'Blue Planet Aquarium advertises itself as a place where people can cultivate an understanding of and admiration for sea animals. 'Yet after inviting people to look on these glorious, fascinating animals in awe, it's odd that your restaurant then invites people to stick a fork in them.' Conservation: The shark tank at the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth, one of the country's biggest . She also drew attention to recent Cambridge University research suggesting fish have emotions, feel pain and live in complex social structures. 'Biologists have found that fish develop relationships with each other and grieve when their companions die,' she said. 'Some fish are capable of using tools, while others gather information by eavesdropping. 'These intelligent, sensitive animals are so good-natured that Dr Sylvia Earle, the world's leading marine biologist, has said 'I wouldn't deliberately eat a grouper any more than I'd eat a cocker spaniel'.' Blue Planet has hit back, saying that providing fish to eat is perfectly ethical, as long as they are sustainably sourced. A spokesman said: 'All our fish products are sustainably sourced and caught under the Marine Stewardship Council Licence. 'We have never advocated people not to eat fish. However, we do believe supplying only sustainably sourced fish products in our restaurants and cafés is an ethical approach.'

Aquariums in Plymouth, Hull and Cheshire all received letters from PETA . Condemned popular attractions for serving seafood dishes to visitors . Compared the decision to offer fish to 'serving monkey nuggets at a zoo' Aquariums have hit back, claiming food they serve is responsibly sourced .

02682f94649028300f028e904f885d2663faffa8

It may be one of the most stylish uniforms in the skies, but Virgin Atlantic’s cabin crew have been getting a bit hot under the collar about their new look. The striking red outfits were designed by Vivienne Westwood and launched to much fanfare on September 1. But the airline's crew members have since complained that the uniforms are too tight and that the shoes give them blisters. Red alert: The new uniforms were handed out to over 7,500 Virgin Atlantic staff in September . The uniform features a double-breasted ‘drape coat’, which can be worn fastened or open . Staff also complained that the skirts are too high-waisted and don't fit properly, while the collars are so tight they make them bleed, according to union Unite. A Unite spokesperson told The Sun: ‘We’ve had members complaining of poor comfort and injury caused by the new uniform and mainly as a result of blistering from shoes and garment fit.’ But Virgin Atlantic said the initial feedback from staff had been 'fantastic' and that the uniform could be tailored to fit all shapes and sizes. A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Virgin Atlantic is extremely excited to launch its new uniform collection and initial feedback from staff has been fantastic . 'To ensure the uniform was fit for purpose across our network, we conducted wearer trials globally for six months with over 150 staff volunteers who provided daily feedback on the fabric, fit, practicality and wearability of the uniform. 'Adjustments were then made accordingly before the designs and fabrics were finalised. 'We recognise that the fit is different to the previous uniform and to ensure correct sizing, all staff tried on the uniform and were fitted by our expert team upon collection. We have uniforms available in sizes from 6 to 30 and garments can be tailored to fit all shapes and sizes.' Fanfare: Virgin Atlantic's boss Sir Richard Branson hosted a launch party for the new uniforms in July . VIP guests: Singer Debbie Harry and Vivienne Westwood joined Sir Richard Branson at the launch party . Sir Richard Branson’s airline launched the new uniforms at a star-studded party in July. Among the guests at the event in London were former Doctor Who star Matt Smith, Bond girl Naomi Harris, singer Debbie Harry and Vivienne Westwood herself. The uniforms were made using recycled polyester clothing and took inspiration from some of Westwood’s most iconic pieces. Female cabin crew wear a red pencil skirt, with a double pleat at the back, and a dramatic asymmetric frill-front blouse. The look is completed by a red jacket with a nipped in waist and high collar that was inspired by Westwood’s early 90s 'Bettina' jacket. There is also a double-breasted ‘drape coat’ with an oversized collar, which can be worn fastened or open. The red shoe worn by female crew is available in three heights. A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said: 'We understand the importance of comfortable footwear therefore the shoes were trialled extensively on the ground and in the air. 'We offer a choice of low, medium and high heels for the women and based on feedback, looking to bring in a wider-fitting shoe. However, with all leather footwear, it will take time for them to wear in and be comfortable.' The hand-drawn wing designs are a recurring theme across all members of the team and male crew members wear a Savile Row-inspired three piece suit in a deep burgundy Oxford weave wool. Going green: The stylish new uniforms were made using recycled polyester clothing . Male crew members wear a Savile Row-inspired three piece suit in a deep burgundy Oxford weave wool . Over 7,500 staff including cabin crew, pilots, Clubhouse staff and Virgin Holidays employees received the new uniform consisting of 22 pieces in total. On a blog on its website, Virgin Atlantic said the uniforms were 'comfortable and practical' and had undergone a trial before their introduction on September 1. It also stated that staff provided feedback after each flight or shift so that adjustments could be made ahead of the full launch. The uniform was assessed on 'fit, comfort, breathability, ease of movement, creasing before and after the shift, look and feel of the uniform after laundering and how the uniform handles marks and stains'. Virgin Atlantic said: 'We take all feedback very seriously and are working really hard with our uniform wearers to offer a uniform they feel proud to wear and to ensure they are happy and comfortable in their working environment.'

Striking Vivienne Westwood uniforms were launched on September 1 . Cabin crew say outfits are too tight and shoes give them blisters . Skirts are 'high-waisted' and collars so tight they make them bleed . Virgin Atlantic said the new outfits were 'comfortable and practical' Claimed uniforms had undergone a trial and staff had provided feedback .

0268cd2a2b8eef64cdc1c6d0bea4e7d18fcfee8f

Freelance journalist James Foley was brutally killed yesterday after being held for 21 months by Islamic militants in Syria. Despite the increasing dangers of working in the region, despite the many journalists who have been kidnapped or are still missing, and despite dreading this news, it has taken us all by surprise and we are deeply, deeply shocked. Freelance journalists, photographers and video journalists have always played a vital role in newsgathering, and their contribution today is more important than ever. They make a crucial contribution to the free flow of information that is an essential part of a democratic society and fully deserve our support and protection. Our Trust works with freelancers on a daily basis -- helping them, helping their families, and sometimes working with them to help other freelancers. And James was one of these. We worked with him, helping him financially as he and his colleagues searched for missing colleagues in Syria. We stayed in touch. James' kidnap and death is yet another tragic reminder of the very real dangers facing journalists today. Over the past two years, around 70 journalists have been killed covering the conflict in Syria, and a further 20 journalists currently remain missing, including freelancer Austin Tice. The Committee to Protect Journalists say that the last two years have been the most dangerous for journalists on record, with 174 confirmed deaths since 2012. Not only this, but threats, intimidation, assaults and kidnappings are becoming every day challenges for journalists working around the world. Reuters columnist David Rohde writes: "Syria today is the scene of the single largest wave of kidnappings in modern journalism, more than in Iraq during the 2000s or Lebanon during the 1980s." These are terrible facts. So, what of the freelancers? Who negotiates for them? Who sends in security consultants to try and get them out? Who helps their families? Freelance journalists like James often work alone without the resources and support of large news organizations behind them -- they are always the most vulnerable to these dangers. The Rory Peck Trust has been supporting and assisting freelancers for almost two decades, and we've never seen a demand for our assistance like this before. It's not just freelancers travelling to conflict zones who are at risk. The majority of newsgatherers killed each year are journalists working in their own countries. Freelance photographers, fixers and camera operators covering and reporting on conflicts that are affecting their own communities are often the most vulnerable. They're unable to leave areas when it becomes too dangerous, or when their reporting is exposed, and are frequently threatened, attacked and accused of being traitors for working with international news organizations. Beheading of American journalist James Foley recalls past horrors . So, how to protect freelancers? How to help them work securely? Our organization gives financial and other practical support to freelancers in trouble. We offer online resources on safety & security for those reporting from dangerous environments, and run a Training Fund that provides bursaries for freelancers to enable them to undergo hostile environments training before travelling to a conflict zone. This training can teach freelancers how to assess risk and spot danger, handle a crisis, support others and give vital first aid. The right training can save lives. Although our focus is specifically on freelancers, we are only one of the many organizations that exist to support journalists worldwide. Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders and IFJ all have security guides that can help freelancers be more prepared in situations of crisis. The International News Safety Institute offers up-to-date information about the security situation on the ground for journalists, and RISC offers vital first-aid training. There's no question that conflict journalism has always been a dangerous occupation -- and how very wrong that is! So when we talk about protection, when we talk about security, we are talking about every sector of the news industry, whether news employers, staff or freelancers. In this brutal new world, everyone must be prepared to take responsibility -- for themselves and for others. James Foley was a freelancer in the truest and most honorable sense -- a talented journalist and an exceptional human being. Our thoughts are with his family at this tragic time, and with the families of all other journalists currently being held in Syria.

The Rory Peck Trust works with freelance journalists on a daily basis, including James Foley . Tina Carr: Foleys' death is yet another tragic reminder of the dangers facing journalists today . Freelancers often work alone without the support of large news organizations, she writes . Carr: Majority of newsgatherers killed each year are journalists working in their own countries .

02695a50b6ac9587f3a806cb05dd297223deed12

By . David Mccormack . A shocking new video illustrates how race and color continue to play a major role in how someone is perceived in American society. The video, shot in Los Angeles, compares the general public’s reaction to first a white male, then a black male, attempting to break into a car. The social experiment was the idea of Jason Roberts, who hosts the YouTube channel Simple Misfits. Scroll down for video . Jason Roberts, left, who hosts the YouTube channel Simple Misfits and his friend Quentin Brunson, right, carried out a social experience to film the different reactions to them breaking into a car . First Roberts attempts to break into the car, but after 30 minutes no one has approached him . He recently took to the streets of L.A. along with his friend Quentin Brunson and filmed the predictable - yet depressing - results. First Roberts, who is white, attempts to break into the car with a wire hanger. Despite the car’s alarm blaring, no one pays him any attention and at one point the police even drive past without stopping to confront him. After 30 minutes, Roberts gives up and then we see the radically different reaction when Brunson, who is black, takes up the challenge. Instantly passers-by are suspicious and a group of men standing nearby start to take pictures on a phone. At one point a cop car drives past, as Roberts brazenly tries to break into a car and its alarm is sounding loudly . Within two minutes, the LAPD arrive – possibly alerted by the passers-by – and Brunson is instantly greeted with a harsh attitude and an order to put his hands up. ‘Let me see your f**king hands,’ orders one cop. ‘Get up against the wall.’ Brunson is quickly surrounded by at least five officers and placed in handcuffs. That’s where the shocking video ends, although in reality Roberts quickly stepped in and explained to the police what was happening. Critics might complain that the video is staged, but Roberts says it was inspired by being involved in  similar double standards situation in real-life. When Brunson attempts to break into the car he receives a different reaction and immediately passers-by are suspicious of him . As Brunson attempts to break into the car, some men standing nearby shoot him dirty looks and one starts to take photos on their phone . He had locked himself out of his car and called the AAA to help him get back into it. The mechanic who arrived was black and Roberts was immediately aware that when he started working the car door, strangers started staring while they had simply ignored his own attempts. According to Roberts, the goal of the video is to raise awareness of how people are treated differently depending on their color. In fact, FBI statistics show that 64 percent of motor vehicle theft was carried out by whites in 2011, while black perpetrators were responsible for 33.9 percent. The video was posted online just days after Michael Dunn, a white man who fired on a group of black teenagers in Florida, killing one, was convicted on three attempted murder counts but escaped his most serious charge of first-degree murder. Dunn's verdict has revived conversations about how white and black Americans face markedly different levels of suspicion and hostility in many situations. Within two minutes of Brunson approached the car, the LAPD has arrived and he is ordered to step away from the vehicle . Brunson is quickly surrounded by police officers and placed in handcuffs . Critics might complain that the video is staged, but Roberts says it was inspired by being involved in similar double standards situation in real-life .

Jason Roberts, who is white, spent 30 minutes trying to break into a car and no-one approached him . Quentin Brunson, who is black, tried the same stunt and got arrested inside two minutes . Video was part of a social experiment carried out for Roberts' YouTube channel Simple Misfits . In reality, FBI figures show the majority of car crime is carried out by white perpetrators .

026976b0f7591f1c9f6dd1ad067d2aeae19bbe51

(CNN) -- Brazil's Catholic Church is the latest to publicly oppose a controversial revamping of the country's "Forest Code," which activists say would cause an environmental disaster. The bill, which was approved by the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies and is now before the Senate, would rewrite some of the rules regarding protected areas, grant amnesty to illegal deforestation that occurred before July 2008, and give states greater control over preservation management. Supporters say that the bill will help landowners, especially small ones -- a large number of whom currently violate existing conservation laws. By changing the way that land set aside for preservation is calculated, it would help many get back within the law. But opponents say easing deforestation laws will give a greenlight to developers and loggers to fell more of the Amazon Rainforest. On Friday, Brazil's Catholic Church announced that it would count on its 12,000 parishes to circulate a petition against the reforms, the state-run Agencia Brasil news agency reported. "Our main concern is the impact and consequences of a law of this size on people's lives and the environment," the church said in a statement. "We urge our communities to participate in the process of reform of the Forest Code, mobilizing social forces and promoting a petition against the devastation," the statement said. Last year, the church was able to collect more than 1 million signatures on a petition regarding another piece of legislation, Agencia Brasil reported. Once again, the church said it's goal with the Forest Code petition is to foment public discussion on the proposed bill.

The Senate is considering changes to the country's Forest Code . The church will start a petition among its 12,000 parishes . Environmentalists fear that the changes will lead to rainforest devastation .

0269d39abbea3edadd225fa97d818f5a789b4c72

By . Pa Reporter . Former Liverpool manager Graeme Souness has warned the club against signing Mario Balotelli, describing the move as an 'enormous gamble'. AC Milan striker Balotelli is reportedly closing in on a transfer to Liverpool as Reds boss Brendan Rodgers looks to replace the goals of Luis Suarez, who joined Barcelona earlier this summer. The £16million move for the controversial 24-year-old former Manchester City player is seen as something of a coup by many, but Souness believes it is a risk not worth taking. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Mario's maddest, baddest and best moments . Close call: Liverpool look set to take a gamble on signing Mario Balotelli from AC Milan . Writing in the Sunday Times, he said: 'It's an enormous gamble by Rodgers, a gamble I don't think he needs to take because he has a very strong group of players. 'The harmony looks good but he may find, like every previous manager of the Italian, that he will spend more time talking about Balotelli, spending time with him and defending him, than he will the rest of the group put together.' Souness, who managed Liverpool to FA Cup glory in 1992 and has also been in charge of Newcastle, Blackburn, Rangers and Southampton, went on to say that he would not sign Balotelli if he was still in the Anfield hotseat. Proven prowess: Balotelli was a strong performer for Man City and caused Liverpool several headaches . Winners: Souness, Hansen and Dalglish celebrating a Liverpool Charity Shield win in 1979 . He added: 'At times Balotelli doesn't seem to enjoy football. Big teams can do without people who pick and choose when they will have a go. It's a high-risk signing. I wouldn't want him.' Balotelli is a proven performer, but the baggage that comes with him is considerable. His spell with Manchester City from summer 2010 to January 2013 was a whirlwind one, with occasional sparkling performances interspersed with volatility on the field and erratic behaviour off it. He scored 30 goals in 80 appearances for the club and set up Sergio Aguero's stoppage-time goal against QPR which saw them crowned 2012 Barclays Premier League champions - their first league title since 1968.

Mario Balotelli looks set to sign for Liverpool this week . Souness insists the group at Liverpool is already strong without Balotelli . The Italian scored 30 goals in 80 appearances for Manchester City .

0269d98d9bc840782c54a05ad196af1bcd32945f

By . Lee Moran . PUBLISHED: . 10:12 EST, 4 April 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 19:48 EST, 4 April 2012 . Four U.S. soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber today as they took pictures and went sightseeing in an Afghanistan park. Witnesses said the bomber walked up to the troops, who had been warned by locals 'not to roam around the city', screamed 'Allahu Akbar' and then detonated a suicide vest. Four civilians and two Afghan policemen were also killed in the midday explosion in the northern city of Maymana. It is the latest in a string of attacks, as militants continue trying to undermine U.S. efforts to to build up the Afghan military and leave combat duties to local forces by the end of 2014. Blast: Four Afghan police officers and one other NATO force soldier were also killed, and dozens wounded, in the midday explosion in the northern city of Maimanah . Graphic video footage of the scene of the attack, available on YouTube, showed what appeared to be dead Afghan civilians, police and foreign troops at the explosion site. Body parts were strewn around the gate and on the ground, and blood was spattered everywhere. Faryab is relatively calm, but considered to be a stronghold of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, or IMU, an Al Qaeda affiliated group most active in the northern provinces of Afghanistan. On March 26, a joint Afghan and coalition force killed the group's leader in Afghanistan Makhdum Nusrat and detained two other insurgents. The coalition said Nusrat had been leading attacks against Afghan and coalition troops in the north for the past eight months and was plotting the assassination of a member of parliament in Kabul. The IMU was formed in 1991, originally aiming to set up an Islamic state in Uzbekistan, which borders Afghanistan. Ongoing: It is the latest in a string of attacks, as militants continue trying to undermine U.S. efforts to to build up the Afghan military and leave combat duties to local forces by the end of 2014 . Later it expanded its goal to seeking an Islamic state across Central Asia. Militants have also stepped up their attacks against international and Afghan troops nationwide in recent weeks. Nine Afghan policemen were killed and 11 abducted across the nation in the past three days. Fighting in Afghanistan usually wanes during the winter months as Taliban fighters take a break because of winter weather, only to surge in the spring. Heavy snow covers many of the mountain passes used by the Taliban and other insurgent fighters to cross mainly into eastern Afghanistan from safe havens in neighbouring Pakistan. Explosion: A motorbike-riding suicide bomber killed at least 10 people, including two U.S. soldiers, when he detonated a bomb outside a park in Afghanistan today . Anger against foreign forces has also risen following a series of missteps, including the inadvertent burning of copies of the Muslim holy book and other religious materials in February and the massacre of 17 Afghan civilians allegedly by a rogue U.S. soldier. Foreign troops also have found themselves increasingly targeted. So far this year, 97 NATO service members have been killed in Afghanistan, including at least 52 Americans. Germany and Norway, who have troops in the region, said that none of their soldiers were involved. Germany commands alliance operations in the region. Carnage: Video footage of the scene of the attack showed what appeared to be dead Afghan civilians, police and foreign troops at the explosion site .

Four civilians and two Afghan policemen also killed in midday explosion .

026c282ca35d66d8d253b6793a37bbe71f260c63

By . David Kent . Brazil's starting striker Hulk has left the team's training session with an apparent muscle injury in his left leg. Hulk, who started alongside Neymar and Fred in the tournament opener against Croatia, practiced for less than 15 minutes on Sunday when he felt something in his leg and left the field. He was walking without a limp, but then sat down on a bench and lowered his head in apparent dismay. A few moments later, he went to the locker room accompanied by one of the team's doctors. Doubt: Hulk (right) lasted just 15 minutes in Brazil training before leaving the pitch looking dismayed . Taking on: Hulk worried the Croatian defence on Thursday with his direct running and powerful play . Support: The Porto forward has been playing alongside centre-forward Fred and Brazil's super-star Neymar . Blow: Losing Hulk would be a significant problem for Brazil, who face Mexico in a tough clash on Tuesday . The Brazilian federation is yet to comment on the injury, which apparently happened after he scored a goal during the session. The injury came in one of the team's final practices before Tuesday's potentially tricky match against Mexico in Group A. Brazil will travel to the northeastern city of Fortaleza on Sunday afternoon.

Forward sat down during training complaining of muscle problem . Managed just 15 minutes before leaving in dismay . Hulk started in Brazil's opening game against Croatia . Brazil take on Mexico in Fortaleza on Tuesday .

026c68ffba02df516ca37f97cf067e77a8af5df3

(EW.com) -- In "About Last Night," two couples who are polar opposites — one sweet, restrained, and devoted; the other raunchy, angry, and uncommitted — form together out of two sets of best friends in Los Angeles. Danny (Michael Ealy) and Debbie (Joy Bryant) are the nice ones. Back in the day when this movie (or at least a version of it) starred Rob Lowe and Demi Moore, they would have been called ''yuppies,'' and by that I mean less their status than their style: the intimate meals consumed with wine under mood lighting at the kitchen island, the way the two hold their feelings in. Anna Kendrick dives into 'The Last Five Years' with Jeremy Jordan . Of course, yuppie style in the movies is often code for People Who Live Too Much On the Surface to Have a Good Relationship, but it's clear early on that Danny and Debbie really are meant for each other. Their lovey-dovey moments are genuine and, on occasion, touching — like when he takes her to a Dodgers game with lousy bleachers season tickets that have been in his family for decades, and she loves him for holding on to them. The plot of most romantic comedies consists of the things that get in the way of two people getting together. That's what happens in "About Last Night," too, except that the only thing getting in the way of Danny and Debbie getting together is their own relationship. They hold everything up to a microscope and become convinced that their foibles are fatal. They also fall apart with a little help from their friends. As soon as Bernie (Kevin Hart) and Joan (Regina Hall) meet, they know how to do exactly three things: drink, fight, and go to bed in lusty, nasty ways. But it's not just that they like ragging on each other and then making up by doing things like having sex with one of them wearing a chicken mask. Bernie, a devoted bachelor, isn't so much scared of commitment as he is blithely, belligerently contemptuous of it, and Joan, a dental hygienist, treats love as if it were plaque — as something to be removed. The two spread their toxic belief that love is a second-rate emotion into the hearts of their two (wiser) pals, who start, almost in spite of themselves, to listen to them. Casting Net: Zach Galifianakis may team up with Julianne Moore . When "About Last Night" is funny, which is every so often, it's because of Kevin Hart. He now owns the fastest mouth in movie comedy, and he knows how to employ his whole high-pitched Chris Tucker street-fury style so that it expresses something more humane than it did when Tucker was ruling the screen with it. In "About Last Night," Hart blows up, to hilariously oversize proportions, the eternal male desire for freedom. He's raunch on wheels. On paper, "About Last Night" is a third-generation copy of David Mamet's 1974 stage play "Sexual Perversity" in Chicago — but if anything, the way the material has now been rewritten again, it comes closer to Mamet's rancorous vision of dueling hormones than the '80s screen version did. That said, the play itself was just a trifle (though it once seemed novel, much more than it does 40 years later, for the vital vulgarity of Mamet's voice). The 1986 "About Last Night" was watchable but mediocre, and the new version is watchable ... and a bit less mediocre. You always know, in essence, where it's going, and I wish that Ealy and Bryant seemed less like a truly nice couple and more like movie stars. By the end, however, the movie has captured something undeniably genuine about contemporary relationships: all the ways that they can, and will, get in their own way. Grade: B . 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.

"About Last Night" tells the story of two couples who are polar opposites . The movie is a third-generation copy of a David Mamet stage play . It stars Michael Ealy, Kevin Hart, Joy Bryant and Regina Hall . The movie is watchable and a bit less mediocre than a 1986 version .

026cea5048ae7df05c561022a9e8c57f6f16fc58

By . Jessica Jerreat . A Florida teenager who spent years living in homeless shelters after his mom died is due to graduate next week as his high school valedictorian. Despite all the upheaval in his life Griffin Furlong remained determined to succeed, and says he stayed strong thanks to his motto of 'never give up' which is written on the rim of his baseball caps. The 18-year-old has managed to achieve a 4.65 grade average at school and is set to study engineering at Florida State University. Determined: Griffin Furlong, pictured second left with his brother Sean, has been named class valedictorian after scoring an impressive 4.65 average despite being homeless . Motivated: Griffin writes his motto, 'Never give up', inside the rim of his baseball caps each season to remind him of what he is trying to achieve . Before he was selected as valedictorian at First Coast High School, few of Griffin's teachers and classmates knew about his hard life. From the age of seven, he and his brother, Sean have been moved to various homeless shelters with their father, and often went hungry. 'I had to grow up really fast. I've seen things that kids wouldn't ever see in their lives,' he told Today, as he explained how the family became homeless after his mother's death when Griffin was six. Living in shelters was difficult for Griffin, who recalled seeing his father being physically abused, and said he often went to bed hungry. 'I don't take anything for granted anymore,' the teenager, who enjoys playing baseball, said. His most recent upheaval came just before his final exams, when Griffin found himself back in a shelter. Loss: When he was just six years old, Griffin's mother died from leukemia . Focused: From a young age Griffin realized the only way he could change his life was to work hard at school . Fortunately, the family of his girlfriend were able to take him in for a few weeks until relatives could find space for him, and the teenager still managed to score highly in his tests. 'I know that I have everything to lose, so I just push myself,' he said, adding that school and family are all that he has. His unconventional upbringing sometimes left Griffin feeling cut off from his peers. Because he was living in homeless shelters he couldn't have friends over, and had to take a different bus to school. 'A lot of kids made fun of me, but I didn't let . that interfere with what I did in school. I had a plan - just make good . grades, and don't worry about anyone else but my family,' he said. The youngster quickly realized that the only chance he had to improve his life was to study hard, and despite his difficult home life, Griffin has never missed a day of school. 'I knew I was going to be poor for the . rest of my life, so I thought if I could continue to do well in school, . eventually scholarships would be coming my way and I would be getting a . free education,' he said. Support: When Griffin became homeless again just before his final exams the family of his girlfriend, Avery, let him stay at their house . He added that he and his brother, who is due to graduate from Florida State University this summer, were also motivated to succeed in honor of their mother. Ambitious: Griffin has never missed a day of school and is getting ready to start university . The brothers formed a close bond, often having only each other to confide in. 'I couldn't tell my friends what I was going through,' Sean, 21, said. 'It was mainly just me . and Griffin, and we did everything together, baseball especially.. 'He's just a really tough individual. He's younger than me, but I still . look up to him,' he added. After achieving a high grade average, Griffin has received scholarships to help pay for his university housing, and is now trying to get an academic scholarship to help with tuition. A Go Fund Me page set up to help pay for his college education has raised more than $27,000 in just six days. When he applied to university, one of his teachers wrote a letter of recommendation, praising not only his academic abilities but also his determination to succeed. 'I said he was the hardest working, most-motivated student I have ever had,' teacher Jennifer Stover, told WPTV. 'He . never missed a day of school, was always at baseball practice and . managed to get his homework done every night and always do well,' another said, . Next step: After graduating high school Griffin, pictured with Avery, plans to study engineering at Florida State University . Griffin said that as details of his upbringing became more widely known it helped ease the burden he has been carrying. He is due to give a speech at his high school graduation on June 4, and will share his message of determination. 'Just never give up. Never let anyone tell you that you can't do something, because I've been told that all my life ... now I'm here at the top of my class.'

Griffin Furlong graduates from high school with 4.65 average . 18-year-old realized at young age that a good education was his only chance to have a better life . Teenager is now trying to raise funds to study engineering at university .

026cf4facf827f583865ffc3c602d4adec50225c

By . Harriet Arkell . Effective officer on patrol or laughing stock? Chief Supt Nick Adderley of Greater Manchester Police, pictured, is considering using Segways to patrol the city centre . Police force bosses considering patrolling the streets of Manchester on two-wheeled Segways have been warned it will turn their officers into a 'laughing stock'. Greater Manchester Police bosses are considering buying two of the self-balancing electric vehicles, complete with GMP livery, sirens and blue flashing lights, to help them police the city centre. The vehicles, which have a maximum speed of 12mph, cost around £5,000 each, but the force, which has tested two vehicles loaned from a company in Leeds at the GMP headquarters, is said to be considering a sponsorship deal. Divisional commander Chief Supt Nick Adderley tweeted a picture of himself . riding one of the Segways and said: 'To increase visibility and . accessibility to officers in the city of Manchester, I want to introduce . Segways. Good idea?' He said 'We are looking at the feasibility of how successful they would be. We might rent first and give them a try. 'I . think it is something we can do to increase visibility and . approachability. We are increasing our suite of bicycles anyway but some . areas are not suitable for bikes - like Market Street or the Arndale . Centre . 'A . police officer can cover a greater distance quicker, and officers would . be on a raised platform to improve visibility. 'They are pretty easy to . use once you get used to them and they proved very popular with other . officers when we tested them.' However Twitter users were quick to pour scorn on the idea, with one suggesting bicycles might be 'healthier and more accessible' and another saying: 'Couldn't they just walk?' One Manchester city centre shopkeeper was more forthright, however, calling the plan 'a daft idea'. The man, who asked not to be named, said: 'It will turn the police into a laughing stock. Can you imagine them chasing down the criminals in Manchester on one of those?' He added: 'They will look like that guy in the Hollywood film Paul Blart Mall Cop - the only way they will catch someone is because the offender will fall about laughing. 'Sorry, it might work in America, but it won't work here.' GMP said the plan was under consideration while they considered the practical and legal implications, and no decision had yet been taken. Segways were trialled by police in the south London borough of Sutton in 2007, but Met officials decided not to use them after the trial showed they were rarely used and were also illegal to use on the road. One wag suggested the GMP officers on Segways would resemble Paul Blart in the Mall Cop comedy, pictured . First unveiled in New York in 2001, Segways were invented by Dean Kamen after he designed an all-terrain electric wheelchair called an iBot. Segways operate purely by balance, and riders stand upright and control the vehicle through tall handlebars. Immortalised . in the 2009 hit movie Paul Blart: Mall Cop, they are used across the world at theme parks, tourist attractions, shopping centres and by security . guards on housing estates. Invented in 2001, Segways work using the rider's balance to control speed and direction . In Britain, Segways are illegal to use on pavements . and do not meet regulations designed for electric bikes, so they cannot . be used on roads as motor vehicles either. However adventure companies in the UK advertise Segway 'experience' days for thrill-seekers, usually in forest settings. In 2010 Jimi Heselden, the British multi-millionaire who owned Segway Inc, which makes Segways, died in a freak accident while riding one of his vehicles. Mr Heselden, who was 62, apparently lost control of his Segway while riding it on his estate near Boston Spa, West Yorkshire.  He and his all-terrain Segway were found in the River Wharfe which ran 80ft below a cliff on his estate, leading police to suspect he had been riding the vehicle when he fell off the cliff and into the river below. Jimi Heselden died in a freak accident while riding a Segway on his estate near Boston Spa, West Yorkshire .

Greater Manchester Police officers considering trialling the electric vehicles . GMP's Chief Supt Nick Adderley tweeted a picture of himself on a Segway . He wrote: 'To increase visibility and accessibility of officers... good idea?' Reaction was largely negative, with one shopkeeper saying 'It's a daft idea' Others questioned the legality of using Segways on roads or pavements . The £5,000 vehicles would have blue flashing lights and top speed of 12mph . Illegal on pavements and not classed as electric bikes, they're only legal on private roads in Britain .

026de5f7212d678958df405f51ee916d455a88dd

A Chinese firm claims it is getting closer to allowing parents to pick the embryo most likely to succeed. Researcher believe that 50-80% of what determines IQ could be inherited. Now a Chinese firm is mapping the genes of people who are gifted in maths in a bid to isolate the genes that make them smarter that the average person. Babies in a Chinese nursery: Researcher believe that 50-80% of what determines IQ could be inherited, and are developing tests to screen for those who are good at maths . Shenzhen-based BGI is mapping the genes of math geniuses, and appealing via its web site for more to take part in the controversial study. B.G.I., formerly called Beijing Genomics Institute, is the world’s largest genetic-research center, and already has an initial batch of 2,000 DNA samples from high-IQ subjects. Researchers then plan to compare these against a sample from the general population - and hopefully isolate what makes them special. In theory, this knowledge could then be used to allow parents to pick 'smart embryos'. Other divisions of the Chinese giant already offer genetic testing, leading some to speculate it could eventually launch a screening programme for prospective parents. Researchers believe most children are within 13 IQ points of their parents’ combined average. However, two or three out of every hundred children turns out to be significantly more intelligent, Stephen Hsu, a researcher on the project, told Wired magazine. A graphic from the controversial firm showing how IQ can affect life outcomes. The slide was shown at a recent talk at Google, where the project was explained. ”People believe it’s a controversial topic, especially in the West,'  Bowen Zhao, head of CG, told the Wall Street Journal. 'That’s not the case in China.' In fact, China Development Bank, a state bank that lends to government pet projects, has given BGI $1.5 billion, although the firm says it will not turn over its data. 'Imagine what a couple might pay to ensure that they get the best out of 10 or 50 possible offspring, optimizing over their choice of heritable attributes,” he wrote on his blog, comparing the cost of a Harvard degree or private school with the few thousand dollars it takes to fertilize and implant embryos. 'There are going to be countries that say this is part of our national health-care service and everyone is doing it,” he told the New Yorker. “And eventually it would become unstoppable, because the countries that initially outlawed it would have to come around. How could they not?”

Shenzhen firm appealing for maths genius to get in touch to be genetically mapped . Firm hopes to isolate what makes them gifted . Could lead to parents being able to choose the smartest embryo .

026f68e35fc34eaa033bf2957dc9f0653556650f

(EW.com) -- We're counting on Gaston Wahlberg to lead the way! In a weekend that saw both the Mark Wahlberg thriller "Contraband" and Disney's 3-D re-release of "Beauty and the Beast" perform better than expected, it was the former that crossed the finish line in first place. The R-rated "Contraband," which stars Wahlberg as a former smuggler trying to protect his brother-in-law from a drug lord, earned an estimated $24.1 million over the standard three-day weekend, and looks to finish the four-day holiday weekend with about $28 million. That's a solid start for the $25 million movie, a remake of the 2008 Icelandic thriller "Reykjavík-Rotterdam." It also represents Wahlberg's strongest solo debut since 2008′s "The Happening." (What? No!) "Contraband" confirmed Wahlberg's ability to open a movie, as 69 percent of CinemaScore's participants listed the actor as their reason for buying a ticket. It received an overall "A-" from the tracking service's graders, indicating positive word of mouth. But the movie will have to contend with a number of action films in the coming weeks, including "Haywire," "Underworld: Awakening," and "The Grey." In second was "Beauty and the Beast 3D" with $18.5 million for the three-day frame -- the largest January opening for an animated film (topping 2006′s "Hoodwinked"). Disney spent less than $10 million converting the 1991 classic to 3-D, so this kind of opening more than justifies the studio's decision to re-release the musical. It also bodes well for Disney's future 3-D re-releases: "Finding Nemo" in September, and "Monsters, Inc." and "The Little Mermaid" in 2013. "Beast" should finish the four-day weekend with around $25 million. However, despite "Beast's" commendable performance, it's worth pointing out that it fell short of last September's "The Lion King 3D," which debuted to $30.2 million. That could be the result of several factors. For one, "King" was a much bigger hit in its original release, earning $312.9 million versus "Beast's" $145.9 million. Second, "Beast" has been out on 3-D Blu-ray since October, whereas "King" didn't come out on Blu-ray until after it returned to theaters. And "Beast" had a harder time attracting the interest of boys. According to Disney, just 31 percent of "Beast 3D's" audience was male -- compared to 44 percent for "Lion King 3D." The weekend's third new release, the gospel-singing dramedy "Joyful Noise," drew a smaller congregation with $11.3 million over the three-day frame. The $25 million movie, starring Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton, is on pace for $14 million by Monday night. Those who saw the film loved it, though, as CinemaScore moviegoers handed the picture an "A-" rating. According to the tracking service, 73 percent of the audience was female, and 78 percent was at least 25 years old. A rep for Warner Bros. said the film performed particularly well throughout the South and Midwest. Among holdovers, "Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol" dropped a mild 42 percent for $11.5 million. On Saturday it surpassed the original "Mission: Impossible's" $181 million gross to become the action franchise's second-highest grossing film, behind "Mission: Impossible II" with $215.4 million. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" continued to hold up well, too, slipping just 39 percent for $8.4 million, and pushing its cumulative total to $170 million. One film that did not hang on well was last week's winner, "The Devil Inside." The R-rated horror flick plummeted 77 percent for $7.9 million. That's the largest second-weekend drop for a wide release since 2009′s "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience" -- now there's a double feature for you! It's also the third-worst decline on record for a film playing in at least 2,000 theaters, behind 2003′s "Gigli" and 2009′s "Friday the 13th." But don't feel too bad for "The Devil Inside," as it has already consumed $46.2 million on a $1 million budget. "The Iron Lady," starring Meryl Streep as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, expanded from five to 802 theaters and earned a respectable $5.4 million, which was just enough for 10th place. 1. Contraband -- $24.1 mil . 2. Beauty and the Beast 3D -- $18.5 mil . 3. Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol -- $11.5 mil . 4. Joyful Noise -- $11.3 mil . 5. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows -- $8.4 mil . See the full article at EW.com. CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved.

"Contraband" earned an estimated $24.1 million over the standard three-day weekend . In second was "Beauty and the Beast 3D" with $18.5 million for the three-day frame . "Joyful Noise," drew a smaller congregation with $11.3 million .

026fcea25bc5f9cebb9c3d744362d20127c413cf

By . Damien Gayle . Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the former army chief, won last week's Egyptian elections with a landslide 96.9 per cent of the vote, officials announced today. Firework celebrations broke out among his supporters as figures released by Egypt's Election Commission confirmed Sisi would become Egypt's next president, despite a disappointingly low turnout of just 47.5 per cent. Anwar el-Assi, the Election Commission's president, said the former field marshal received 23.78million votes. His sole rival, leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, got 3 per cent of the vote. Firework celebrations broke out in Tahrir Square after it was announced former army chief Abdel Fatah al-Sisi won last week's Egyptian elections with a landslide 96.9 per cent of the vote . Egyptians celebrate in Cairo's Tahrir Square on June 3, 2014 after figures released by Egypt's Election Commission confirmed Sisi would become the country's next president . Anwar el-Assi, the Election Commission's president, said the former field marshal received 23.78million votes . After the announcement, several thousand people who were gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square set off fireworks, cheered and sang pro-military songs. Sisi's victory was never in doubt, but the career infantry officer had pushed for a massive turnout to give legitimacy to the coup he led last July to overthrow former president Mohammed Morsi. The ensuing crackdown on Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood effectively outlawed Egypt's main opposition party. Some of Sisi's critics have argued that the turnout figure had been inflated after many polling stations appeared to remain largely empty throughout last week's election. The lack of participation was despite authorities threats that non-voters could face large fines, the introduction of a last-minute public holiday and the extension of polling to a third day. Morsi was elected in 2012 in an internationally supervised election that drew 52 per cent of Egypt's voters to the polls, but lasted less than a year in office until demonstrations prompted the military to remove him from power. Following the announcement, several thousand people who were gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square set off fireworks, cheered and sang pro-military songs . Sisi's victory was never in doubt, but the career infantry officer had pushed for a massive turnout to give legitimacy to the coup he led last July to overthrow former president Mohammed Morsi . Some of Sisi's critics have argued that the turnout figure had been inflated after many polling stations appeared to remain largely empty throughout last week's election . The Muslim Brotherhood, which now . operates in exile, denounced Sisi's election as a 'sham' and claimed 90 . per cent of Egyptians boycotted the poll. 'The . Egyptian people have dealt a serious and humiliating blow to the . illegitimate coup and its so-called roadmap,' the group said in a . statement. 'This is the beginning of the end of the military coup. We . hail the Egyptian People's resilience and steadfastness. 'The . Egyptian people have turned their back to the sham presidential . elections. All the military coup's begging, pleas and threats have . failed. The Egyptian people have thus told the whole world that they . will not abandon democratic legitimacy, freedom or dignity.' Army man Sisi now faces a challenge . taking control of a country where street demonstrations have helped to . topple two leaders on only three years. The . lower-than-expected turnout raises questions about Sisi's legitimacy as . he attempts to fix a battered economy, ease poverty and head off . further political crises. Joyful: An Egyptian man waves his national flag in front of a picture of new president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as he celebrates in Tahrir Square after it was announced that the former army chief won 96.9 per cent of votes . A woman holds a framed portrait of Sisi as she and others celebrate the election result in Tahrir Square . For . now, Sisi's supporters seemed content to celebrate the moment, . gathering by the thousands in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart . of the uprising that ousted army-backed autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Fireworks . could be heard downtown and in other parts of the capital, which has . witnessed frequent street violence since security forces began a . relentless crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood after Morsi's fall. Hundreds . of Morsi supporters have been killed and thousands arrested. The . movement's top leader has been sentenced to death and other prominent . figures could face a similar fate. Although . Egyptians had high hopes of genuine democracy when Mubarak was toppled . after 30 years in power, what some seem to crave now more than anything . is calm. Shopkeeper Refat . Ahmed, 30, told Reuters: 'For now, I think it is OK to compromise on . freedoms for the sake of stability and security. What good will freedom . without security bring us?' Egyptians wave national flags as they celebrate in Cairo's Tahrir Square after the election result was announced . Several thousand people gathered in Tahrir Square set off fireworks, cheered and sang pro-military songs . Critics view Sisi as another dictator who, like Mubarak, will protect the interests of the military and crush dissent. Human . rights groups say abuses have spread since Morsi's downfall, with . opponents of Sisi's military regime thrown in jail and tortured. Authorities deny that abuses occur. Last week, Amnesty International said . Egypt was likely to continue to face a 'downward spiral of human rights . abuses' after the presidential poll. 'This . election will not wipe the slate clean after 10 months of gross human . rights violations,' said Hassiba Hadj- Sahraoui, Deputy Director for the . Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International. Members of the Egyptian community in Gaza City celebrate after the official announcement that Sisi had won . 'The country’s partners, such as the USA and the European Union, should not use the elections as a cover to return to ‘business as usual’ with Egypt. 'Instead, there must be an acknowledgement of the scale and seriousness of the human rights violations committed in the last 10 months.' Shortly after the election result was announced, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah announced a donor conference for a country that the world's top oil exporter sees as a frontline ally. Saudi has been a main supporter of Sisi and the military government. King Abdullah said any country that did not contribute to Egypt's future despite having the ability to do so would 'have no future place among us'.

New president to be sworn in despite disappointingly low turn out . Just 47.5 per cent voted, and critics claim even that figure is inflated . Sisi now faces challenge of stabilising country rocked by protests .

026fd6276bb556edf984499ad8a345b3d6547e9a

By . Daily Mail Reporter and Associated Press . PUBLISHED: . 16:36 EST, 6 August 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 05:16 EST, 7 August 2012 . The U.S. women's soccer team has advanced to the gold medal match of the Olympic tournament with a wild 4-3 win in extra time over Canada. Alex Morgan scored on a header in the final minute of injury time in extra time Monday night for the two-time defending Olympic champions, who will play Japan on Thursday for the title. Christine Sinclair scored a hat trick for the Canadians. Megan Rapinoe scored twice, and Abby Wambach had one goal for the U.S. Victory: The U.S. is guaranteed a medal after beating Canada, thanks to a last-minute goal by Alex Morgan . Winning: The U.S. women's soccer team defeated Canada 4-3, thanks to an overtime goal by Alex Morgan . 'Even when they scored their third goal, there was something in me that knew that we had more, that we could give more,' Wambach said. 'I don't know what that means, quite honestly. I don't know if it's just confidence until the end, but this team has a belief in itself, even when the going gets rough.' The final at Wembley Stadium will be a rematch of last year's World Cup final, which was won by Japan on penalty kicks. The Americans have played in the gold medal match in every Summer Games since women's soccer was introduced in Atlanta in 1996. Canada will play France for the bronze medal. Earlier, the coach of the Canadian women’s soccer team stoked tensions with the U.S. squad just before their semifinal match today, taking a jab at the Americans for what he calls 'highly illegal' tactics. Next up, Japan: The U.S. will compete for a gold medal against Japan after defeating Canada 4-3 during injury time on Monday . John Herdman accused Team USA of breaking the rules with their physical play on set pieces. Herdman . said yesterday: 'One of the big threats we've got to take care of, and . what we've paid attention to, is the illegal marking in the box on their . corners and free kicks.' 'Some of the blocking tactics, which are highly illegal, we'll keep an eye on them in the game. We've starting working on that in training without trying to injure our players.' 'Obviously they're trying to free up a key player, but in a very illegal way... The U.S., it's what they do well,' he said. Herdman cited an example from the Americans' victory over France in the Olympic opener, when forward Abby Wambach headed in a corner kick in the first half. Battle: Canadian coach John Herdsman, left, launched accusations against Team USA, led by coach Pia Sundhage, right, over alleged violent tactics . Few successes: Canada is winless in its last 27 matches against its rivals to the south, going 0-23-4 since a win at the Algarve Cup in 2001 . He said U.S. defender Amy LePeilbet 'took a good battering' while making a move that freed up Wambach. Canada is winless in its last 27 matches against its rivals to the south, going 0-23-4 since a win at the Algarve Cup in 2001. The all-time series tilts 44-3-5 in favour of the Americans. Nonetheless, the U.S. did not be taking its previous successes for granted. Overconfident? Though Team USA has dominated Canada in the past, coach Pia Sundhage says she would not take their previous successes for granted . Wambach added: 'Canada has always been a dogfight for some reason. 'We've had historically close matches . and because of the physical nature of the play, the result has often . been a lot closer than we would have liked.' It's wasn't the first time the U.S. has been accused of playing dirty during the London games. Colombian soccer player Lady Andrade, who was suspended last month after 'sucker punching' Wambach, said that it was the Americans who struck first. 'The whistle always goes in their favour,' she insisted. 'They were hitting us and hitting us, but there was never a whistle.' Aggressive play: Abby Wambach of Team USA climbs over the back of Canada's Robyn Gayle in a fight for the ball during an exhibition match last month .

Americans win match after last-minute goal by Alex Morgan in final minute of injury time . Team USA will now face off against Japan on Thursday . Coach John Herdman had accused U.S. team of 'highly illegal' blocking tactics before semi-final match . Canada is winless in its last 26 matches against the U.S. U.S. forward Abby Wambach says matches against Canada are always 'a dogfight' Americans are now guaranteed a London Olympics medal .

02705ce5de465586c1a007f76643edbcc87fb048

(CNN) -- Three times, Adrian Pracon prepared to die on Utoya island, a Norwegian paradise turned to hell Friday. Friends he laughed with earlier in the day fell one by one in a gunman's hail of fire. He survived to tell a horrifying tale Saturday. When the shooting started Friday afternoon, many of the 600 people at the ruling Labour Party's youth camp ran down a hill and to the water. The shooter came after them, screaming. "You are all going to die!" Pracon was one of the last ones remaining between the shooter and the water and didn't have time to take his heavy clothes or boots off. About 100 meters into the chilly water, he realized he would not make it. He would drown with all that weight. "I felt I couldn't breathe. I already swallowed too much water," he said. "I felt the clothes pulling me down." He managed to swim back to shore and crouched behind a boulder with others. But the gunman found him. He was so close that Pracon could see down the barrel of his weapon. He was sure to get a direct hit. Pracon thought he was going to die. Another survivor, Otzar Fagerheim, described the gunman as having blond hair and pale skin. He carried three guns, he said. At times, he shot those guns with disarming calm, like he was shooting photographs. He even smiled, Fagerheim said. Pracon was surprised to hear the shooter speaking Norwegian. He was certain a compatriot could never commit such a heinous act. Pracon spoke back. "Do you want to hurt a fellow Norwegian? Please, no. Don't shoot." Miraculously, the gunman pointed his weapon away. Instead, he aimed for those who were desperately trying to swim to safety. As though Pracon was too easy a target. As though it was more satisfying to shoot at a group of fleeing people, Pracon thought. He heard his friends begging for help. Some fell limp on Pracon. The gunman went away but returned to find Pracon again, hiding with about 10 others. The madness started again. More rounds of gunfire. He could hear so many of them say: "Please don't shoot me." One by one, their voices were silenced. A woman next to him was shot in the leg. Pracon could see her wound was gaping. Pracon clung to the dead. Tried to play dead. It was the only way he knew to survive. He heard footsteps getting closer. He could hear the heavy breathing of the man. Then, "boom!" Pracon's world fell silent. His hearing was gone. But he could feel intense pain on the back of his left shoulder. He bore it, lay face down, and kept perfectly still. "I am sure he intended to hit me in the head," Pracon said. The gunman missed by inches. 'I had to get out of there' That afternoon, before the carnage, Stine Renate Haheim spoke to her party's youth about violence against women and children. It's a big issue for the young member of parliament, who began her political career a decade ago in the youth movement. She came to idyllic Utoya island often for such gatherings -- 11 times, to be exact. It was "the most beautiful adventure of the summer," she said. She drew inspiration from Utoya. It was an important place for people from all over Norway to gather to discuss the future of their own nation as well as the problems plaguing other parts of the world. It was a place to get away from the daily grind, the day-to-day debates in parliament, and think big. And most of all, Haheim said, Utoya was a place of fraternity, of peace. "We love it there," she said. Everything changed Friday. It will be remembered from now on as a place where 85 people died, seemingly for no reason. Eskil Pedersen, a youth movement leader, assured everyone that they would be able to speak with counselors about the carnage they witnessed. "We will not be threatened to silence," he said. "We will continue fighting for what we believe in. This is the best way to honor the memory of those we have now lost. We will go back to Utoya." But it will be difficult. Haheim will hear the gunfire play over and over again in her head, just like she did Friday. After her speech Friday afternoon, she was informed about the explosion in downtown Oslo. Many of the youth camp attendees huddled for an informational meeting on what was happening to their colleagues in the government buildings. But when the shots rang out, the 600 people at the main building and surrounding camp scattered. Haheim quickly realized she should not be alone and followed others tumbling down the hill. Like Pracon, she hid behind boulders on the beach. When there was a lull in the shooting, she thought it was over. But then it started again. Terrifying minutes that seemed never-ending. She repositioned herself in another spot, away from the gunman's sight. She found herself with a girl, shivering in her underwear, who had shed her clothes in a desperate but failed bid to swim away. Haheim took off her jacket to warm her companion. "What is your name? Where are you from? Nice to meet you," they said to each other. "It was a conversation about nothing," Haheim said. That's how they found calm in that moment of fear. Haheim called her father, a police officer, on her mobile phone. "The police are on their way," he reassured her. She imagined that all the police and ambulances in the area had rushed to Oslo after the bombings. So her father's words gave her relief. Maybe the madness would end soon. Shortly thereafter, she could hear helicopters overhead, and vehicles with sirens in the distance. She was one of the older people at the gathering. She felt a sense of obligation to calm the younger people around her. Some were still in their teens. "You find some kind of way to get freakishly calm in that situation," she said. Finally, she heard someone say: "The police are here. We are safe." She hugged the man next to her. But within moments, the shooting began again. They had all been deceived -- the gunman was wearing a police uniform. "Run, run, run!" Haheim shouted. The rocks were slippery. She stumbled, fell, picked herself up. She had to keep running. "The only thing on my mind was that I had to get out of there," she said. 'Bloody, bloody mess' When real police officers finally showed up, the survivors were suspect. Were these more gunmen in uniform? "Everyone started screaming, crying, begging the police to throw away their weapons," Pracon said. After about a two-hour ordeal, Pracon and Haheim were rescued -- Haheim without injury and Pracon with a gunshot wound that was closed up at the hospital. Police arrested a man the Norwegian media identified as Anders Behring Breivik, 32, a Norwegian who apparently had taken issue with his homeland's growing multi-culturalism. It was only many hours later, in his hospital bed, that Pracon began realizing the magnitude of the "bloody, bloody mess." Recuperating after stitches Saturday, Pracon said fear was setting in anew. Now he would begin to discover the names of the dead. They were friends who would never again share a laugh with him. Police and rescue teams were still combing Utoya island -- 13 boats on the water and a meter-by-meter land search, said Sven Mollekleiv, president of Norwegian Red Cross. "We have now also mothers and fathers who don't know if their sons or daughters are alive," Mollekleiv said. "They are just waiting." Doctors cleared Pracon for solid food Saturday afternoon and he sought comfort in a plate of lasagna. "It was a perfect dinner for me right now," he said. A moment of joy, perhaps. But for Pracon, Haheim and other survivors of the slaughter, a long journey of healing lies ahead.

Adrian Pracon survived to tell a grim tale . He was shot in the shoulder but stayed still so the gunman would think him dead . Many others on Utoya island were not so lucky . A member of parliament recalls how victims were fooled by the shooter's police uniform .

02706a14901ca6c20512228f1a4fca370ba28b75

Deen turned a cooking demo in Miami this weekend into a public apology for the racist comments that . decimated her career last year . Without ever explicitly discussing the allegations, she said she was glad to be back and that, 'I am not a . quitter' By . Associated Press . PUBLISHED: . 17:03 EST, 25 February 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 18:00 EST, 25 February 2014 . Paula Deen staged a comeback on Sunday which appeared to involve swigging from a tequila bottle and riding piggy-back style on the back of fellow TV chef Robert Irvine. The disgraced . Food Network star turned a cooking demo at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival in Miami this weekend into a public apology for the racist comments that . decimated her career last year. Before cooking chicken and dumplings, Deen mopped her brow and asked the . crowd if they minded if she talked about something serious for a moment. Without ever explicitly discussing the allegations or comments she has . admitted making, she said she was glad to be back and that, 'I am not a . quitter.' Scroll down for video . Celebrity chef Paula Deen was pictured swigging from a tequila bottle during a live cooking presentation for the South Beach Wine & Food Festival in Miami Beach on Sunday . Deen mops her brow as she performs a cooking demonstration of chicken and dumplings on Miami Beach on Sunday . The controversial chef, who was dropped by the Food Network and many sponsors after she made racist remarks, also hitched a ride on the back of fellow chef Robert Irvine . It was her first major public speech . since private equity firm Najafi Companies invested a reported $75 to . $100 million into new company Paula Deen Ventures earlier this month to . help the celebrity chef revitalize her career. 'We have come off of a very hard . summer my family and I, my team, my partners,' she said to a cheering . crowd of several hundred fans. 'But you know, I have heard on more than . one occasion ... that I've never apologized. So if anybody did not hear . me apologize, I would like to apologize to those who did not hear me.' The chef, known for her calorie-laden, Southern cooking, then launched into a bizarre, on-stage performance. At one point, she mentioned the rows of . empty seats in the audience, something she has never seen before at the festival she has taken part in since 2005. She also yelled out to some people . who walked out during the show: 'Hey wait were not done! Where ya'll . goin?' Paula Deen, pictured with her husband Michael Groover, made one of her first public appearances since she was disgraced in June 2013 when it was found she had used the 'N' word . Feeling the heat: The celebrity chef was dropped by her major sponsors following her use of racist language . During the cooking demo, Deen yelled out to some people who walked out during the show, 'Hey wait were not done! Where ya'll goin?' Deen's . career has been in shambles following a one-two punch of public . relations disasters. In 2012, she was criticized for announcing she had . both diabetes and a lucrative endorsement deal for a drug to treat the . condition she'd until then hidden. Then last . summer, during a legal dispute with a former employee who accused her of . racial discrimination and sexual harassment, she acknowledged having . used racial slurs, including the N-word, in the past. Most of her endorsement, book and TV . deals fell apart within days. Deen has mostly . stayed out of the spotlight since then, even avoiding the Food Network's . 20th anniversary party last October. But lately, she has made it clear . she wants back. Giddy up: Deen mounted Food Network star Robert Irvine at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival to announce her career resurgence . Earlier this month, she announced that private . investment firm Najafi Companies is investing $75 million to $100 . million to help her make a comeback. As part . of the deal, she's launching an umbrella company, Paula Deen Ventures, . that will oversee her restaurants, cookbooks and product endorsements. And Sunday's crowd seemed primed for it all, shouting out to her: 'You . don't need to apologize!' and 'We want you back, Paula!' 'Ya'll's cards and letters that I got, helped me get out of bed every day' she replied. Midway . through the demo, Food Network star Robert Irvine joined Deen onstage. Paula Deen used the cooking event to make a public apology for her racist remarks last year . Finger lickin' good: Deen announced earlier this month that she would be making a comeback thanks to a $75 -$100 million investment . Deen is launching an umbrella company that will oversee her restaurants, cookbooks and product endorsements . Irvine survived his own scandal in in 2008 when the Food Network let him . go over discrepancies in claims he'd made over his work experience. He . eventually returned to the Network, seemingly unblemished. 'This . is a warning to you,' Irvine told Deen. 'You've apologized. You've . eaten crow. You're done. Don't do it anymore. I've been there.' Before . a roaring crowd, Irvine then got down on his hands and knees while Deen . straddled his back and rode him across the stage, a reenactment of a . gimmick they'd done during a previous festival. 'I'm back in the saddle!' she yelled to the crowd.

Deen turned a cooking demo in Miami this weekend into a public apology for the racist comments that . decimated her career last year . Without ever explicitly discussing the allegations, she said she was glad to be back and that, 'I am not a . quitter' The Southern chef yelled 'where ya'll going?' when people walked out during her chicken and dumplings cooking lesson .

02726119c3d21e2b0f7b3d9c2c7c391a0ecb5566

A British soldier was snatched and executed by the Taliban yesterday after he wandered off alone from a remote checkpoint in southern Afghanistan. It was the first kidnap of a British soldier in the conflict. His disappearance in an area riddled with insurgents and Improvised Explosive Devices sparked a 12-hour search with hundreds of troops and vehicles and all available helicopters. David Cameron was forced to abandon part of an unannounced visit to the country so personnel and equipment which would have been with him could be diverted to help. Talks: David Cameron and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai arrive for a joint press conference in Kabul this morning . Diplomacy: Mr Karzai gestures towards his British counterpart during the press conference. Mr Cameron is promising a surge in aid money to Afghanistan . Training: The PM meets Afghan National Army troops during a visit to their training camp at Camp Bastion, outside Lashkar Gah . The murder cast a shadow over what was supposed to be a victory tour for Mr Cameron to highlight progress in transforming Afghanistan and preparing for a withdrawal of British troops. The death of the British soldier showed the 'high price' being paid to stabilise the country, Mr Cameron said today. But he insisted the campaign against the Taliban in Helmand province was having 'success' and transition to Afghan security control was 'on track'. Speaking at a press conference alongside President Hamid Karzai in Kabul this morning, Mr Cameron said: 'This was very sad news and I want the thoughts and condolences of everyone on my team here to be with the family of that soldier who received this very sad news.' He added the incident was 'a reminder . of the high price that we have paid for the vital work we do in . Afghanistan and in Helmand province'. Last night the Ministry of Defence . confirmed that the soldier’s body was found inside a four-mile cordon . set up around the area he was last seen alive. It is understood he was shot in the . back of his head – which would indicate a cold-blooded execution – as . well as suffering other gunshot wounds.  Some of his equipment had been . stolen. An investigation is under way. The unnamed soldier was from the  4th Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland and his family have been informed. He was last seen alive early yesterday after finishing duty at a vehicle checkpoint named  Salaang near a remote joint British and Afghan base in central Helmand province. Instead of returning to join  fellow members of 4 Scots he is said to have walked – armed and in full combat uniform – in the opposite direction. He was seen passing a checkpoint manned by the Afghan Army and said nothing as he walked into hostile territory. Taliban positions are often only a few hundred yards from those of Nato forces. Colleagues raised the alarm when he failed to return and a massive manhunt was launched involving British, U.S. and Afghan forces. Within hours, a Taliban spokesman claimed they had captured and killed the soldier after a fire fight but gave no further details. Security: David Cameron shakes hands with President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai at the presidential palace in Kabul this morning. He is expected to announce a 'modest' troop withdrawal later today . Conflict: Mr Cameron talks to Gulab Mangal, governor of Helmand province, at Camp Bastion. The PM was forced to cancel part of his visit after a British soldier was captured an executed by the Taliban . Under guard: Flanked by soldiers and security staff, Mr Cameron undertook a walkabout at Camp Bastion . Military insiders scotched reports . from Afghanistan that the soldier had been ambushed or that there had . been a fire fight between insurgents and British troops. A . Whitehall source said: ‘He finished his shift on duty at a vehicle . checkpoint and then, for whatever reason, he has gone and walked off on . his own. ‘Rather than heading back to the base . with the other soldiers, he has gone off in the other direction. That . was the last time he was seen.’ Checkpoint Salaang is close to the . Nahr-e-Bughra canal. It is also near the much fought over village of . Kopak, in the south of the Nahr-e-Saraj district, which stands on the . Shamalan canal. Brigadier Ed Davis, the commander of Task Force Helmand – Britain’s mission in Afghanistan – recently described the area as ‘one of the most dangerous in Central Helmand’. Mr Cameron quickly decided to abandon the centrepiece of his visit – a trip to see British soldiers in the regional capital of Lashkar Gah – so personnel and vital helicopters could concentrate on the search for the soldier. Embarrassingly for the Prime Minister, the security alert came in an area which he was claiming as the leading success story in Helmand. Lashkar Gah is part of the first phase of the transition from international control to Afghan security control, and is supposed to be fully passed over next month. Under fire: A Taliban source said that they captured the soldier after a firefight, but this was quickly scotched by military insiders (file picture) In captivity: The only known Nato soldier held by the Taliban is U.S. Private Bowe Bergdahl, pictured a month after his capture in 2009 . The three other servicemen  who have . previously been kidnapped in Afghanistan were American. They were all . captured or killed by the Taliban. In June 2009, insurgents captured Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl in the south-east of the country. They have released videos showing him in captivity dressed in Afghan clothing and military uniform. Sgt Bergdahl is seen denouncing the war in Afghanistan and calling for the U.S. to withdraw its troops from the country, in what the U.S. Military has called illegal propaganda. And in July 2010, two sailors from the U.S. Navy went missing in Logar province, south of the Afghan capital Kabul. Their dead bodies were found in the area days later. Only last week a British servicewoman described how Checkpoint Salaang had become embroiled in a firefight with insurgents. Able Seaman Heidi Telford  was with soldiers from the 1st Battalion The Rifles at the small checkpoint when they were ordered to provide cover for a patrol that came under attack. In total, 374 British servicemen and women have been killed since operations in Afghanistan began in 2001, including 26 this year. Defence chiefs have won a crunch battle over troop numbers in Afghanistan after David Cameron agreed to make only a ‘modest’ cut before the end of next year. On his visit to Afghanistan yesterday, the Prime Minister made clear that British frontline troops will be gone by the end of 2014. But he bowed to demands from generals not to reduce dramatically the 9,500 ground forces battling the Taliban before the end of next year’s summer fighting season. Battle: Mr Cameron, pictured alongside General Sir David Richards, second right, has chosen to make only a 'modest' cut to the numbers of troops in Afghanistan . Guard of honour: Mr Cameron walks past gathered American troops after his arrival at the base . When Mr Cameron makes a formal announcement to Parliament tomorrow he is expected to announce that no more than 500 troops will be pulled out before  autumn 2012. Yesterday he claimed Afghanistan was ‘entering a new phase’ where Afghan troops could shoulder more of the security burden. Mr Cameron said: ‘As that happens there will be opportunities to bring some British soldiers home. We’re talking relatively small numbers over a period of time.’ Britain’s most senior officer in Afghanistan, Lt-Gen James Bucknall, said recently that Nato troops need two more fighting seasons to suppress the Taliban. Most insurgents retreat during the cold winters. The Prime Minister confirmed he had bowed to the Army’s wishes. ‘You’ve got an enduring number of 9,500 this year and you’re not going to see a radical change for the fighting season of next year. ‘That’s not what this is about.’ Sharing a joke: The Prime Minister laughs with a group of soldiers who had gathered to meet him . Mr Cameron made clear that his deadline . of bringing combat troops home before 2015 is set in stone, regardless . of the situation on the ground. ‘I’ve always been clear. The end of 2014 . is a deadline. We won’t be here in large numbers or in a combat role,’ he said. ‘It is my judgment that it’s right for the British public to know, for the Afghan public to know and the Afghan and British military to know that there is an endpoint.’ Asked if the generals had won, a senior officer said last night: ‘We have. We have ended up in the right place.’ General Sir David Richards, the Chief of the Defence Staff, who was travelling with Mr Cameron, said British and Afghan troops were on course to allow a withdrawal of all combat forces by the end of 2014. ‘I think we are on track,’ he said. ‘The trick isn’t that we have completely finished off the insurgents but by the time we transition out finally, the Afghan National Security Force can handle it.’

Dead soldier was member of The Highlanders, 4th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland . Solider was reportedly shot in the back of the head and had other wounds . Soldier was seen at checkpoint but continued into hostile territory . David Cameron says soldier's death revealed 'high price' of security in Afghanistan . Centrepeice of PM's trip abandoned to aid the search of the area .

0273000e573b45b48dea43be96aca5de17852211

An AFL player has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident after hitting a parked car and failing to stop. Geelong forward Brad Hartman, 20, was driving home on Sunday afternoon when he clipped the vehicle in St Peter's in South Australia but kept driving, according to a statement from the club. On Monday, he reported the incident to police after discussing the matter with his father. Brad Hartman played his first game for the Cats on June 15 this year . Getting amongst it: Hartman handballs during a Round 13 game against the St Kilda Saints last year . He has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident and failing to stop at a stop sign. Geelong CEO Brian Cook said the club was disappointed and frustrated Hartman had been involved in the incident. 'There have been too many motoring related issues with our players in recent years,' Mr Cook said. 'Brad should have handled this differently by stopping and then providing his details at the time.' The club was 'frustrated and disappointed' by the incident . Welcome: Brad Hartman, right, and team mate Darcy Lang are welcomed to the club in the middle of last year . Mr Cook said the club needed to reassess the way it works with its players when it comes to their responsibilities as representatives of the club. 'We will convene in the new year when the key people return to the club to develop a way forward in regard to this,' Mr Cook said. Hartman will appear in court on a date to be set. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.

Geelong forward Brad Hartman was driving home when he clipped another vehicle . He did not stop and kept driving, according to a statement from the club, which said it was frustrated and disappointed . Hartman reported the incident to police after talking to his father .

027581b68255b96c0d430f668467fa145aeca3b7

(CNN) -- The state senator who wrote Arizona's controversial immigration law conceded defeat Tuesday night in a recall election widely seen as a referendum on tough measures against illegal immigrants. "I want to thank those people who have stood by me," said Russell Pearce, who represented a suburban Phoenix district. "It doesn't look like the numbers are going my direction ... and I'm OK with that." The recall petition pitted him against fellow Republican Jerry Lewis, who led with 53.4% of the vote with all precincts reporting. Pearce got 45.3%, election officials said. "If being recalled is the price for keeping my promises, then so be it," Pearce said surrounded by supporters. The heated campaign has included accusations of dirty tricks, with Lewis supporters saying a third candidate who later dropped out but remains on the ballot -- Olivia Cortes -- was intended to siphon votes from him. Pearce, a former Phoenix-area sheriff's deputy known for his tough stance against illegal immigration, sponsored the state immigration law that became the focus of national media and legal attention. "With Sen. Russell Pearce's defeat in this recall election, everyone who practices the politics of fear and division was put on notice," said Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona. "It's not a substantive platform, and his own constituents clearly said they demand more from their elected officials. It's a game-changer for the state of Arizona that's going to have serious, and I think very positive, ripple effects all across this country." Passed in 2010, the Arizona law aimed to "discourage and deter the unlawful entry and presence of aliens and economic activity by persons unlawfully present in the United States." Among other provisions, it would require that local police, during the enforcement of other laws, check the immigration status of anyone they suspected of being undocumented. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit said the measure overstepped Arizona's authority, and the state is seeking a U.S. Supreme Court ruling to settle the issue. Pearce contends dozens of other states are trying to pass similar legislation, showing the popular support and need for such measures. Lewis, who says the controversial law has made Arizona a national pariah, said he ran out of dissatisfaction with how Pearce has represented the 18th District. Lewis has called for what he characterizes as a more cooperative stance against illegal immigration, one that seeks solutions in concert with the federal government and other players. The recall petition drive against Pearce collected more than 10,000 signatures. CNN's Tom Cohen and Thelma Gutierrez contributed to this report.

A petition drive forced the recall election for Russell Pearce . Jerry Lewis led with 53.4% of the vote with all precincts reporting . Pearce got 45.3% of the vote, election officials say . Pearce wrote Arizona's controversial immigration law .

027685bc7ffb98a19bf76d67adc5b2bb111f43bc

By . Daily Mail Reporter . David Cameron has introduced new Asbo style orders to silence hate preachers . Government officials have identified 25 hate preachers who face being silenced with new 'Asbo' style anti-terror orders, it has today been revealed. Downing Street is to introduce the new civil . powers, based on a dramatically revised definition of extremism, to target preachers who radicalise others. The orders will bar people from preaching messages of terror and hate, associating with . named individuals thought vulnerable to radicalisation, and from . entering specific venues, such as mosques or community halls - in a similar manner to the orders used to ban yobs from certain areas. The measures are part of an anti-extremism task force set up by . David Cameron after the death of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich. Muslim converts Michael Adebolajo, 29, and Michael Adebowale, 22,  have been convicted of the brutal murder of the young soldier. The pair were told they face life behind bars and will be sentenced in the new year. The Sunday Times reports that . Haitham al-Haddad, an Islamic scholar, is one preacher under scrutiny according to Whitehall officials. The Palestinian, who is now based in London, heaped praise on Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, after his death. In May 2011, he wrote: 'He . died as a Muslim and it is an established part of our Islamic creed . that every Muslim, unlike the disbelievers, will eventually enter . paradise.' Whitehall officials told the paper they knew of 25 preachers that operate as 'an informal network' which collects and coordinates around study centres, institutions and universities. They added that Anjem Choudary, a notorious hate preacher, is not one of the 25. The 45-year-old former leader of Islam4UK, a banned Islamist group, refused to condemn the actions of Adebolajo and Adebowale following their conviction, instead blaming the barbaric murder on British foreign policy. Muslim converts Michael Adebowale, left and . Michael Adebolajo, right, have been convicted of the murder of soldier . Lee Rigby. It comes as Government officials have identified 25 hate . preachers who face being silenced with new 'Asbo' style anti-terror . orders . Whitehall officials say they know of 25 preachers that operate as 'an informal network' which collects and coordinates around study centres, institutions and universities. Anjem Choudary, a notorious hate preacher, is not one of the 25 under scrutiny . But the former solicitor, who provoked outrage with his comments on BBC's Radio 4 show following the trial of the two men, has always been careful not to break the law. As part of the new package of power to tackle extremism, the Government is also working with . internet firms to remove hate-filled websites including material that . would be illegal if published in the UK. Family-friendly filters . being made standard for web users to block porn will also be expanded to . block extremist material, allowing concerned families and institutions . to filter out such websites. Speaking as he unveiled the plans Mr Cameron said: ‘This summer we saw . events that shocked the nation with the horrific killing of Drummer Lee . Rigby in Woolwich and murder of Mohammed Saleem in Birmingham. ‘These . tragedies were a wake-up call for government and wider society to take . action to confront extremism in all its forms, whether in our . communities, schools, jails, Islamic centres or universities. 'I have been absolutely clear that this is not something we should be afraid to address for fear of cultural sensitivities. Fusilier Lee Rigby was 'mutilated, almost decapitated and murdered' by Adebowale and Adebolajo, who ambushed him outside his barracks in Woolwich, South East London on May 22 . 'We . have already put in place some of the toughest terrorism prevention . controls in the democratic world, but we must work harder to defeat the . radical views which lead some people to embrace violence. ‘The . task force I set up has proposed a broad range of measures to counter . the extremist narrative. When you look at this report, you can see a . very clear analysis, a very clear definition of the extremism we’re . talking about ... now everyone can see what it is that we need to . tackle.’ He added: ‘There are just too many people who have been . radicalised at Islamic centres, who have been in contact with extremist . preachers, who have come across material on the internet who haven’t . been sufficiently challenged.’ ‘Some institutions have wanted to get rid of radicalisers but haven’t had the means to do so,’ he added. The . task force includes Home Secretary Theresa May, Deputy Premier Nick . Clegg, Minister for Faith Baroness Warsi, and has taken advice from . police and intelligence chiefs. Other proposals include legally requiring intervention by local authorities in 30 areas identified as radicalism hotspots. The MailOnline has contacted Haitham al-Haddad for comment.

Orders will bar people from preaching messages of terror and hate . Also banned from . entering venues, such as mosques or community halls . Part of anti-extremism task force set up after death of Drummer Lee Rigby .

02769885a005b2a4c26edaab9e7a0dad5036a5c4

Ryan Giggs made his first television appearance since becoming Louis van Gaal's No 2 at Manchester United, but it wasn't quite the unveiling you might have have imagined. The 40-year-old has certainly been busy since ending the season as United's interim boss and even interrupted his holiday in Dubai to link up with Diego Maradona for a new football show. Giggs even hit the stage in full kit and boots as he joined Maradona and Michel Salgado on The Victorious, which aims to find the next football star in the UAE. VIDEO Scroll down for Giggs to appear on Maradona's football talent show The Victorious . All smiles: Giggs (right) poses with Michel Salgado (second left) and Diego Maradona (centre) V for Victorious: The show's presenter Nathalie Mamo . Speaking in a rather awkward interview after the show, Giggs said: 'I'm here in Dubai on holiday but also to work on The Victorious programme. 'It's great to see the young players doing so well and being given a chance. 'I've really enjoyed it, it's been a really successful night.' He tweeted a snap of the famous faces along with the message: 'With Diego, Ryan Giggs, Jehad and my friend Bakoor in The Victorious' The United veteran recently revealed his decision to retire from football after 963 games for the club, during which time he won 13 Premier league titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups and the Champions League twice. Giggs will now be assistant to new United boss Van Gaal next season. Full kit: The United legend took to the stage in a special kit and boots for the show . Backstage: Giggs poses with The Victorious presenter Nathalie Mamo (right) Striker pose: The United veteran poses with Salgado backstage in Dubai . Veteran: Giggs retired from football after 963 games for Manchester United . Team: Giggs will join new United boss Louis van Gaal at Old Trafford next season .

Ryan Giggs makes first television appearance since becoming Manchester United assistant manager . Giggs appeared alongside Diego Maradona for Dubai football talent show . Programme aims to find next star in the United Arab Emirates . United veteran made awkward speech to camera after 'successful night'

0276ac7a8bc00bdc47e1e99774ee7d5017f0f0a8

Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta was visibly disappointed after the Gunners suffered a 2-0 defeat in their Champions League Group D opener at Borussia Dortmund. Ciro Immobile and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struck either side of half-time and the German club would have been more emphatic victors than 2-0 but for the reflexes of Wojciech Szczesny and their own wastefulness. Arteta told Sky Sports 5: 'We faced a tough side in one of the most difficult stadiums in Europe, we knew that from the start. Arsenal captain Mikel Arteta and vice-captain Per Mertesacker look on after conceding in Dortmund . Ciro Immobile scores Borussia Dortmund's first goal on the stroke of half time which Arteta called sloppy . 'They put us under pressure, it was very sloppy from us to concede the goal with 20 seconds to go in the first half from a long throw from the other side of the pitch and after you are 1-0 down, it's very difficult. They are very quick on the break and we didn't perform well enough tonight.' The 32-year-old Spaniard was aware of the pace Dortmund had up front which Arsenal failed to cope with. He added: 'They put a lot of pace and a lot of pressure up front. When they play here and when you (are familiar) - we've been playing here every year in the Champions League - but we couldn't cope with that and we gave the ball away too many times in our own half in difficult positions.' For the second time in two matches Danny Welbeck illustrated why his finishing is considered below par for a top forward by failing to convert a one-on-one with a goalkeeper. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made it 2-0 early in the second period as Borussia Dortmund dominated . Arsene Wenger looks on as his side are completely dismantled by a high-energy Borussia Dortmund . With the match goalless and Arsenal under relentless attack, Welbeck managed to drag Aaron Ramsey's clever pass wide with just Roman Weidenfeller to beat. It was a key moment and the £16million signing from Manchester United, who had other chances to open his Gunners account, only enhanced concerns over his record in front of goal. On the Gunners' chances during the match Arteta added: 'They took the game from where they wanted to take it and that's the disappointing thing for us. 'I think we had three or four very clear chances and I think they had three as well very clear, when it came to chances it was probably equal but I think they were the better side tonight.' Mikel Arteta is put under pressure as the Arsenal midfielders were throughout in the Westfalenstadion . Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp was delighted with the result and said matches like this make his job one of the best in the world. He said: 'We had three players ruled out of the team to muscle problems so it was not the best night we had but in the morning we made some decisions and I have to say it was a great performance from my team. It was really strong. 'We were brave and fast and really worked, it was everything we needed for this game. 'If you give them one metre of space they are so strong and they make everything with you. You need to brave against these strong players. Arsenal's new striker Danny Welbeck had the Gunners' best chance at 0-0 but slid the ball wide . 'You need go out in space and look for one-to-one situations and be brave enough to lose it because the next one is next to you. 'I enjoyed this game from the first second to the last.' Looking ahead to his side's next tough encounter - Saturday's return to the Bundesliga, Klopp added: 'We did what we have to win this game and for us it was near perfection so the important thing for me is three days and against Mainz, my former club. 'It's hard work all the time but if you see games like this, it's the best job in the world.'

Borussia Dortmund score either side of half time to win 2-0 . Arsenal fail to cope with 'pace and pressure' from Dortmund forwards . Arteta bemoans failure to take 'three or four very clear chances' Jurgen Klopp praises his 'brave and fast' Borussia Dortmund team .

0276ba238b029b225b43e657dc69b2847d1479a2

By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 05:59 EST, 4 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 10:49 EST, 4 October 2013 . First they were accused of stealing jewellery and mobile phones, now soldiers sent in to clear attackers from Nairobi’s Westgate Mall appear to have been filmed rifling cash registers. With terrorists were cornered in one part of the building, CCTV footage shows soldiers filling shopping bags with money, returning to collect more after dropping their loot out of sight. During the siege, Jewellery, watch and mobile shops were emptied, while ATMs, banks and a casino also lost funds. The FoneXpress computer shop on the ground floor of the Westgate Mall from which soldiers are reported to have stolen phones . The shattered window of the Millionaires Casino in Westgate Mall. Soldiers are reported to have partly looted the building while terrorists were holed out on the second floor . One witness told The Associated Press he saw a Kenyan soldier take cigarettes out of a dead man's pocket. Kenya's Star newspaper - which has seen the footage - said it indicates the looting started after the army took over the Westgate operation from the police. Carts full of goods were left standing in the mall as shoppers fled for their lives when jihadi terrorists rushed the building and started gunning down customers. Shopping trolleys were abandoned and bags dropped on the floor as people ran screaming from the massacre which left 67 people dead and dozens more missing. Shopping trolleys were abandoned and bags dropped as people ran screaming from Westgate Mall . Kenya Defence Forces soldiers take their position at the Westgate shopping centre . Kenyan Presidential Spokesman Manoah Esipisu said that the video footage 'would definitely be investigated' as part of an inquiry announced by President Uhuru Kenyatta. 'I have not seen that particular footage, but I can say that it and all other CCTV will form part of the commission of inquiry.' In the video, a soldier who has removed his army regulation beret tips the contents of a supermarket cash register into a bag while another holds it open, reported the Star. He then collects another register which he also empties into the bag. A soldier is later seen walking out of the supermarket with two big bags in the direction of the basement. He returns and is then seen strolling around the supermarket looking at the shelves. The paper reported that the video was timestamped September 21, the first day of the assault. The damaged Westgate Mall after the four-day siege, which ended in bloodshed . More CCTV footage from the siege shows four of the armed attackers in an office on the mall's second floor. One man's right foot is injured, they are all sweating, and appear panicked. Several minutes later one attacker attends to the injured man and another holds his weapon facing the door while a fourth man is seeking peering out the window. Police are presently splicing together all of the CCTV footage to help them reconstruct what happened. The terrorists entered Westgate Mall shortly after noon on a busy Saturday, firing guns and throwing grenades. The attackers held off Kenya's military and controlled at least parts of the mall for four days. Somali extremist group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility . The mall now has a gaping three-story hole in it from the siege. Almost a week after the attack ended, more than three dozen people remain unaccounted for, the head of the Kenyan Red Cross said Monday. The government contends there are no remaining missing people. 'The only way to verify this is when the government declares the Westgate Mall 100 per cent cleared. Then we can resolve it,' Red Cross head Abbas Gullet said.

CCTV footage shows soldiers filling shopping bags with money . Soldier filmed walking out of supermarket with two bags . CCTV footage shows four armed attackers in office on mall's second floor . Police splicing together all footage to help reconstruct what happened .

0277703c0c2d15575a512cfef78a99396bf5ed7c

Three explosive letters that highlight Mahatma Gandhi's deep concerns over the behaviour of his eldest son, Harilal, will go under the hammer next week. Mullock's Auctioneers, based in Shropshire, are hoping to fetch up to £60,000 for a set of three letters written by the man regarded as the father of India in June 1935. In the letters between the father and son, Ghandi accuses Harilal of raping his granddaughter and asks if he is still interested in alcohol and debauchery. The three letters Mahatma Gandhi (left) sent to his eldest son Harilal (right) in 1935 accuse him of rape, and are expected to fetch up to £60,000 when they are sold next week by auction house Mullock's in Shropshire . Historic: The letters are written in Gujarati and one says: 'Please let me have pure truth. Please tell me if still you are interested in alcohol and debauchery. I wish that you better die rather than resort to alcohol' In one of the letters, Gandhi writes: . 'You should know that your problem has become much more difficult for me . even then our national freedom. 'Manu is telling me number of dangerous things about you. She says that you had raped her before eight years and she was so much hurt that medical treatment had to be taken.' In another he writes: 'Please let me have pure truth. Please . tell me if still you are interested in alcohol and debauchery. I wish . that you better die rather than resort to alcohol in any manner. And one dated November 11, 1930 reads: 'Women have done more work than us. Even . so much remains to be done. The modern world has as yet seen the like of . India's woman power. I am convinced they will go much further ahead and . I will be very surprised if you do not play a very big part in this.' The earliest letters date back to 1920, . but others are from 1930s and the majority date from the crucial period . of 1938-1944 in the Indian national movement. Family rift: One of the letters which will be sold next week together with its translation into English . Granddaughter: Another of the letters says: 'I can never believe that Manu [would tell] a lie' Rape allegation: The third of the letters says his granddaughter was saying 'a number of dangerous things' The series of letters is part of Mullock's Historical Documents Sale at Ludlow Racecourse on May 22. It also includes another set of 27 autographed letters to Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, the sister of Jawaharlal Nehru, some written by Gandhi from prison. A spokesperson for Mullocks said: 'The letters are written in Gujarati and . are in good condition. These have come via descent from a branch of . Gandhi's family to the present vendor. 'As far as we are aware they have . never before been seen in public and as such they provide remarkable new . information on the troubled relationship Gandhi had with his son. It is thought Harilal . had wanted to go to England to study to become a barrister like his . father but Ghandi had firmly opposed this, believing a Western . education would not be helpful in the struggle against British Raj. Father of India: The letters were written at the height of Mahatma Gandhi's prominence in the 1920s and 30s . This . led to Harilal renouncing all family ties in 1911, and his troubled . relationship with his father continued throughout his life. Richard . Westwood-Brookes, the auction house's historical documents specialist, . told MailOnline: 'One of the things I obviously did check out was that . the letters were genuine. 'They . have been shown to Harilal's biographer and to someone from Gandhi's . Ashram and he's confirmed that they are 100 per cent genuine. 'His relationship with his son was quite well-known to be pretty fraught, to say the least.'

Letters to son Harilal ask if he is still interested in alcohol and debauchery . They also accuse him of raping his own granddaughter Manu as a child . Letters date to the 1920s and 30s, crucial time of Indian national movement . Expected to fetch £60,000 when they go to auction in Shropshire next week .

027843e6477990c2ecd82deb46d45061b6ce72cb

By . Andy Dolan . Fiona Leonard, who was drunk at the time of the attack, has now been jailed for two years, three months . Dressed in her finery, Fiona Leonard . had been looking forward to the highlight of her social calendar – . Ladies’ Day at Royal Ascot. The . 31-year-old insurance clerk joined a party of women for a chance to . mingle with the fashionable and famous at an event attended by the . Queen. But instead of fond . memories, Leonard was yesterday left shamed and beginning a prison . sentence in the aftermath of a drunken assault in which she bit another . woman’s face. The savage unprovoked attack has left her victim, Carol . McAndrew, 49, scarred for life. A . court heard how Leonard punched Mrs McAndrew to the floor and bit her . on the cheek, removing a chunk of flesh and leaving her needing 15 . stitches. This week a judge jailed Leonard for 27 months for the attack, which took place last June. The . thug, who is now 20 weeks pregnant, and her victim had been among a . group of women from Birmingham who hired a coach to take them to the . meeting at the Berkshire racecourse. But Leonard failed to return to the coach promptly at the end of the day, causing the 130-mile journey home to be delayed. Birmingham . Crown Court heard that when Leonard did eventually appear, the coach . set off but she became ‘aggressive and foul-mouthed’ and a row broke . out. Prosecutor Alexander Davies said that Leonard approached Mrs McAndrew and asked: ‘Have you got a problem with me?’ Mrs McAndrew decided to get off the bus early and phoned her husband to come and pick her up. Leonard launched the attack after being 'aggressive and foul-mouthed' on the bus back to Birmingham from a day at the races, the court heard . However, . Leonard followed her off the vehicle and attacked her on the pavement. ‘The defendant grabbed her by her hair and punched her several times in . the face,’ Mr Davies said. ‘She . was knocked to the floor and the defendant was on top of her and bit . her hard to the left side of her face.’ The bus driver had to drag . Leonard off Mrs McAndrew and hold her until police arrived to arrest . her. Joseph Keating, . defending Leonard, said: ‘She understands that her actions were . completely out of all proportion in the circumstances.’ Leonard approached Mrs McAndrew and asked 'Have you got a problem with me?' after Mrs McAndrew tried to act as a peacemaker in a row . Leonard . and her partner had planned to move to Ireland before their child was . born, but this incident had ‘completely turned her life around’, he . said. She is now unemployed and living off financial support from family and friends. Leonard, . from Yardley, Birmingham, admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm. Passing sentence, Judge Peter Carr told her it was ‘plain from what . happened that you had far too much to drink’. He . added: ‘You were late back to the coach. Once you were on it there is . plain evidence that  you were aggressive towards Mrs McAndrew and . foul-mouthed. The attack happened after the women had been on a coach trip to Ladies Day at Ascot racecourse (file picture) ‘You were told . to behave yourself but you did not heed the warning. The really vile . aspect of this case is the fact that you bit her.’ Mrs . McAndrew, from Solihull, West Midlands, said after the case: ‘I am . absolutely devastated at what has happened. I had never met the girl . before and things just got out of hand.’ Her husband Thomas, 53, added: ‘Carol is very upset about all this and had no intention of the woman going to prison.’

Fiona Leonard attacked Carol McAndrew after boozy day at the races . They clashed after Leonard arrived 10 minutes late for a coach home . Mrs McAndrew had tried to act as a peacemaker in a row over the delays . Leonard, 31, bit Mrs McAndrew's cheek, leaving her needing stitches . She was jailed for two years, three months after admitting inflicting GBH .

0278785267f8ba10cde592473cf46497223b75bd

Look here for news updates on the situation in Iran on the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution. (The first timestamp is Iranian time, three and 1/2 hours ahead of GMT) 3:05 a.m., Friday (6:35 p.m. ET, Thursday) CNN reporter Ivan Watson reports on "The Situation Room" that "ordinary activists" have described feeling "demoralized and disappointed" that there weren't as many protesters in the streets as they had hoped. Watson also reported that there was confusion among protesters about where to march and when to hold signs aloft. 1:30 a.m., Friday (5 p.m. ET, Thursday) About 30 protesters in Sweden threw rocks, snow and ice at police outside the Iranian Embassy on Stockholm's Lidingo island. At least one officer was hit in the head, said police spokesman Ulf Lindgren. In New York, protesters covered their mouths with black tape and held signs: "United Nations take action on Iran." Solidarity protests also occurred in Paris, France, and in Berlin, Germany. 12:55 a.m., Friday (4:25 p.m. ET, Thursday) Reports still coming in of what happened earlier in Iran: A university student told a prominent writer that many protestors were afraid to show their support for fear of backlash. "A sense of confusion and, even anger, prevailed among the supporters of the Green Movement," the student said. "It was hard to distinguish the supporters of the government for the protesters. Most protesters did not take out their green signs. We were mixed with everyone else. I felt very frustrated. Did we go to the protest to increase the number of the pro-government people?" The student added that many people seemed more interested in taking things from the government booths that were set up for free milk, juice, food and bags. 11:56 p.m. (3:26 p.m. ET) -- CNN's Reza Sayah spoke to Mohammad-Taghi Karrubi, the son of opposition leader Mehdi Karrubi, earlier Thursday. He says tear gas was used on them during protests. Watch video . 11:55 p.m. (3:25 p.m. ET) -- New video surfaces: Watch YouTube video of apparent protests in Isfahan, Iran, located 340 km south of Tehran. The city is the second most populated metro area in Iran. 11:55 p.m. (3:25 p.m. ET) -- New video surfaces: Watch YouTube video apparently showing hundreds of riot police on the streets of Tehran. 10:12 p.m. (1:42 p.m. ET) -- New video surfaces: Watch YouTube video apparently showing opposition leader Mehdi Karrubi with protesters in Tehran. 8:37 p.m. (12:07 p.m. ET) -- Witness tells CNN the government was "really successful in keeping things separated. They got what they wanted, a disruption free rally." He added: "There's kind of a lot of disheartened people who were expecting more." 8:11 p.m. (11:41 a.m. ET) -- New video surfaces: Watch YouTube video allegedly showing tear gas fired in Tehran. 6:48 p.m. (10:18 a.m. ET) -- New video surfaces: Watch YouTube video showing what appears to be an Iranian regime motorbike burning . 6:48 p.m. (10:18 a.m. ET) -- New video surfaces: Watch iReport video of opposition supporters in Azadi Square, central Tehran. 11:55 p.m. (3:25 p.m. ET) -- New video surfaces: Watch YouTube video apparently showing hundreds of riot police on the streets of Tehran. 6:23 p.m. (9:53 a.m. ET) -- Opposition Web sites report the wife of opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi was punched and hit with batons. Her Facebook page reports a similar incident. 6:18 p.m. (9:48 a.m. ET) -- New video surfaces: Watch YouTube video that apparently shows a uniformed man punching a shirtless man. 4:38 p.m. (8:08 a.m. ET) -- New video surfaces: Watch YouTube video of protesters apparently stamping on posters of Iranian leaders. 3:30 p.m. (7:00 a.m. ET) -- Mohammad-Taghi Karrubi, the son of opposition leader Mehdi Karrubi tells CNN: "We are completely disappointed at the behavior of the state today. At the same time we are hoping the situation will be changed and the people who are in power will change their behavior." He adds that his brother, Mehdi Karrubi's other son, Ali Karrubi was arrested at the scene of Karrubi's attack. 3:18 p.m. (6:48 a.m. ET) -- New video surfaces: Watch YouTube video of purported protests in Iran. 3:06 p.m. (6:36 a.m. ET) -- Source says most major squares quiet with the exception of large number of security forces. 3:00 p.m. (6:30 a.m. ET) -- An Iranian state-run Press TV anchor reports: "A few hundred supporters of Iran's defeated presidential candidates have rallied in the capital Tehran. Supporters of Mir Houssain Mousavi and Mehdi Karrubi gathered in a Western Tehran district. Police had stepped up security in the area to prevent possible disturbances. Defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karrubi was seen among the protesters." 1:45 p.m. (5:15 a.m. ET) --Opposition groups claim they're being prevented from reaching the square by security forces. 1:01 p.m. (4:13 a.m. ET) -- Some protesters are chanting "Down with Dictator." 12:11 p.m. (3:41 a.m. ET) -- Ahmadinejad ends speech with cheers from crowd. 11:59 a.m. (3:29 a.m. ET) -- Ahmadinejad says Iran has succeeded in producing its first batch of uranium enriched to 20 percent and can enrich it up to 80 percent, but it won't. Iran says it needs the enriched uranium to treat the country's cancer patients. 11:54 a.m. (3:24 a.m. ET) -- There are reports that opposition leader Mehdi Karrubi was supposed to meet with supporters, but his car was attacked. The Basij militia broke a window in the car that Karrubi was riding, the Web site Raheh Sabz said. Plainclothed security forces also attacked former president and reformist leader Mohammad Khatami's vehicle as he headed to Azadi Square. The forces used tear gas and batons to attack Khatami's supporters, forcing him to abort a plan to walk to the square with followers, the Raheh Sabz Web site said. Two reformist figures, Mohammad Reza Khatami -- the brother of the former president with a similar name -- and his wife, Zahra Eshraghi, were arrested. CNN was not able to independently confirm the opposition reports. 11:33 a.m. (3:03 a.m. ET) -- Ahmadinejihad defends country's nuclear program, maintains it is being used for peaceful purposes. Follow CNN's coverage of Iran . 11:29 a.m. (2:59 a.m. ET) -- Protests from opposition have been sparse during Ahmadinejad's address. 11:25 a.m. (2:55 a.m. ET) --Ahmadinejihad praises Iran's progress, citing technological achievements in particular, its space program. 11:13 a.m. (2:43 a.m. ET) -- Ahmadinejihad says the West wants to control the Middle East. "There are those who stand against us because what they want is to -- control the Middle East and to control the world," he said. "And an independent Iran, a free Iran, a developed Iran, a powerful Iran will naturally be a challenge for their goal." 11:00 a.m. (2:30 a.m. ET) -- Ahmadinejad addresses the crowd, discusses the country's importance in the region. He also lauds Islamic Revolution. 10:56 a.m. (2:26 a.m. ET) -- International journalists have been told by the Iranian government that they can report only on Ahmadinejad's speech. They are not allowed to report on developments on the streets, according to opposition Web site, Jaras. 10:33 a.m. (2:03 a.m. ET) -- Loudspeakers have been set up throughout the area to carry Ahmadinejad's speech in hopes of drowning out any potential disruptive protests. 10:32 a.m. (2:02 a.m. ET) -- A witness tells CNN that he has never seen so many Basij militia in the area. 10:11 a.m. (1:41 a.m. ET) -- Iranian TV says Ahmadinejad has arrived at Azadi Square for speech. 9:41 a.m (1:11 a.m. ET) -- Crowds of flag-waving pro-government supporters arrive at Azadi, or Freedom, Square in central Tehran for a planned speech by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. 8:31 a.m. (12:01 ET) -- Iranians are today marking the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution that overthrew the shah.

This week, Iran is celebrating the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution . Read Twitter feeds to stay updated on the latest news in Iran . Read CNN's special coverage of the latest developments in Iran .

0278989ccfa6090a5db59e5a4036942e0ce2ffb7

From package holidays to second homes, Britons are now returning to Benidorm in droves. In the 1970s it was the holiday destination of choice for sun-seeking Britons. The region is the most popular on Spain’s mainland for foreign buyers, according to land registry figures which show the proportion of villas and apartments bought by overseas buyers has almost tripled in the past four years to 11.15 per cent. Holidaymakers enjoy the sun and the beach life of Benidorm during its 1970s heyday. The region went from a must-go holiday resort to a place to be avoided to now a place for people to buy a second home . A view of the Europe's tallest residential building at 650 ft high, in the eastern coastal village of Benidorm . British buyers have taken advantage of the pound’s strength against the euro. Typically, a three-bedroom, two-bathroom villa with a pool is £158,000. The area is also popular because budget airlines fly to nearby Alicante from regional UK airports and not just London ones. But there is also a sense of nostalgia for Britons returning to a region of Spain that became famous for being among the first destinations for mass market package tours. Even the name Costa Blanca for the 125-mile coastline was invented by British airline BEA when it opened a route to Valencia, the capital of the region, in 1957. Sunny ladies: Anne Bolger and Linda Limmer sunbathe on a beach in Benidorm in 1975 before it became known as a haven for drunken louts . In the following decade, newly launched cheap package holidays took off with Benidorm, Altea and Alicante being among the first places to attract hordes of British sunseekers. Unfortunately the region suffered from an image of ugly high rise hotels, parades of British pubs and legions of lager louts from Britain getting drunk in nightclubs. Kieran Byrne, the managing director of HomeEspana said: ‘The sustained weakness of the euro this year is helping to attract more British and Scandinavian buyers. ‘We don't expect a rapid turnaround in market conditions in Spain, but at least in the Costa Blanca we have seen increased buyer interest in the first quarter of 2014. ‘More second homebuyers from abroad are discovering how far their money goes here.’ Benidorm has tried to shed its image as a haven for British lager louts, although it is still portrayed as downmarket in ITV comedy Benidorm. Benidorm 2013 - Youngsters enjoy a drink at a pub in Levante beach, Benidorm . An aerial view of Benidorm showing the sprawling mass of the region .

Benidorm is the most popular on Spain’s mainland for foreign buyers . A three-bedroom, two-bathroom villa with a pool costs £158,000 . Name Costa Blanca invented by BEA when it began to fly to . Valencia in 1957 .

027a0e39550b8fb4fd7e84252cebd8675526a14f

By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 07:09 EST, 15 November 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 19:43 EST, 15 November 2012 . They say revenge is a dish best served cold. And, for one jilted wife, if a few bugs and grubs are thrown in, all the better. For Rachael Butler – whose  husband had an affair with Nadine Dorries – has revealed how she has voted ‘hundreds of times’ for the Tory MP to take part in I’m A Celebrity’s gruesome bushtucker trials. Hard to stomach: Nadine Dorries, 55, who was suspended from the Conservative Party when she went on ITV show I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, has been repeatedly voted to undergo sickening Bushtucker Trials . Yuck: Coronation Street actress Helen Flanagan (left) takes on Nadine Dorries (right) in a Bushtucker trial as Ant and Dec (back right) watch on during an episode of ITV's I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here . The 56-year-old mother of two has even put Miss Dorries’s hotline number into her speed dial to save crucial seconds when she is voting against her on the ITV reality. The 55-year-old politician has already had to face two gruelling ordeals, in which she was forced to eat a camel’s toe and a lamb’s testicle, and locked inside a wooden coffin filled with maggots, crickets and cockroaches. And there could be bigger trials to come – she has been suspended from the Conservative Party and faces questions upon her return about her reasons for abandoning her post for up to four weeks on full pay. Mrs Butler, who was married to husband John for 30 years before their split last year, said: ‘I voted for her to do the trial thing. Dislike: Rachael Butler (right) revealed she is helping Nadine Dorries MP (left) munch on the likes of baked spider, camel toe and other animal parts - by having the phone number to nominate her for trials on speed dial . Old friendship: Nadine Dorries MP (right) and Rachael Butler (left) are seen on a Caribbean holiday in 2000 . ‘I wanted to see her suffer – I don’t want her to be voted off.  They go into a five star hotel if they leave. B***** that – I don’t want to see that. Keep her suffering. 'I wanted to see her suffer – I don’t . want her to be voted off.  They go into a five star hotel if they leave. B***** that – I don’t want to see that. Keep her suffering' Rachael Butler, 56 . ‘I wanted to see her suffer – I don’t want her to be voted off.  They go into a five star hotel if they leave. B***** that – I don’t want to see that. Keep her suffering. ‘I’m loving it. I’ve got her number on speed dial and I won’t stop voting on her to do trials. I must have voted  for her hundreds of times. It’s worth the money. ‘The public seem to be picking on her and I’m like, “Carry on, keep on picking on Dorries, she deserves everything she gets”.’ Mrs Butler first met Miss Dorries, then married to her ex-husband Paul, from whom she split in 2006, in the late 1990s when they became neighbours in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire. Their daughters attended the same school, and the couples used to meet regularly for dinner, even going on holiday together to St Lucia in 2000. Together: Rachael Butler (left), 56, of Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, hit the headlines in January 2011 when Nadine Dorries (right) - her friend of 13 years - admitted having a fling with her husband John . Scary: Nadine Dorris (in a 'bug burial' Bushtucker Trial) has drawn criticism for swapping her parliamentary duties for the Australian jungle, but pledged to donate her MP's salary during her time on the show to charity . But last year the friendship ended after it emerged the MP had started a relationship with Mr Butler. Mrs Butler said at the time she became suspicious of her husband ‘when he started to go to the pub a lot’. She added: ‘Before Christmas he was going out every night and he said he had to meet friends. ‘Some nights he just never came home. I kept saying to him, “Is there another woman?”. He would say, “No, no, no, there isn’t”. Foolishly I believed him. ‘My marriage hasn’t been in good shape for some years. It died a death some time ago. But this doesn’t excuse Nadine for what she did. ‘I just want everyone to know  that Nadine Dorries is not the saintly person she appears to be. Because she’s an MP, people think of her as a pillar of society but in fact she’s a marriage-wrecker.’ Miss Dorries and Mr Butler split in October last year after around nine months together. But Mrs Butler has refused to forget the hurt their relationship has caused. She said yesterday: ‘It did all die down and now she is in the public eye again. It’s a bit annoying. ‘She’s never been into that sort of thing, camping and roughing it. She likes creature comforts and luxury hotels. She is definitely doing it for the publicity and for the money. ‘She will probably need the money when she gets out because she might not have a job. I want her to stay in there, I don’t want her being voted off. Let’s keep her in the jungle.’

Nadine Dorries MP admitted fling with Rachael Butler's husband in 2011 . Had been friends for 13 years and daughters even attended same school . Now she's voted hundreds of times for Dorries to suffer on I'm A Celebrity .

027a99a889b38fdb935cd14c204a5fca8a329bc1

By . Mark Prigg . PUBLISHED: . 10:57 EST, 10 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 03:28 EST, 11 October 2012 . A German firm is hoping to radically change the electronic book market with an ebook that costs just £10 to buy. 'The txtr beagle is designed to do best what eReaders are intended for: reading digital books,' the firm says on its website. To save costs, the gadget has no connectors, and books are sent to it from a mobile phone app using bluetooth. Scroll down for video . The txtrbeagle ebook will cost £10 when it goes on sale later this month - although owners will also need a bluetooth phone to send . The new reader will go head to head with Amazon's £69 Kindle. Earlier this year the firm also launched a $129 'paperwhite Kindle in the US (below) which is expected to be available elsewhere in the world later this year. The firm also claims the gadget is the world's smallest e-reader. 'The txtr beagle is the . smallest eReader in the world. It is mostly just 5mm thick, and t weighs . just 128 grams, making it the world's lightest 5" or 6" E Ink eReader . available. 'Unlike . other eReaders, there is no need for chargers or cables. 'The location of . the batteries not only creates an elegant silhouette but also becomes . an ergonomic feature as it rests easily in the palm of a hand.' The gadget does away with many of the capabilities of Amazon's Kindle, which sells for £69 in the UK. It boasts its own wifi capabilities, and extras like web browsing and the ability to buy books directly. Owners of the txtr beagle will need to send books to the device via bluetooth from their mobile phones. The front of the device is dominated by a 5in E-Ink display with an 800x600 resolution, along with buttons to control the page turning and the selected book. According to txtr, the combination of low-power display type and lack of extra networking capabilities mean a long battery life - around 12 to 15 full books per battery change. The budget ebook will be available in four colours . The move will pit the firm against Amazon. Earlier this month Amazon boss Jeff Bezos showed off a 'paperwhite' e-reader with a much sharper screen and longer battery life. Already . available in the US, it is expected to come to the UK later this year, . along with the firm's Kindle Fire tablets that will compete with Apple's . iPad. Apple is also expect to soon announce the iPad mini, a smaller iPad which could also double as an ebook reader. Amazon's . Kindle software is already available for mobile phones, allowing books . bought from Amazon to be read, and Apple also operates its own books . store.

German firm set to launch the cheap design within weeks . Books are sent via bluetooth from a mobile phone, and device is powered by AAA batteries that can last for a year .

027b5e1c2573b44e61521e094e4ae2008dfe2dff

By . Nick Harris for MailOnline . Stevan Jovetic lit up the Etihad Stadium on Monday evening, giving an eye-catching all-round performance for Manchester City that merited his two goals in the 3-1 win over Liverpool and easily deserved his man of the match award. But if you think the 24-year-old Montenegro striker is now destined to be a leading scorer as City romp to the Premier League title, his career to date suggests you better think again. Any strike force is only as strong as its weakest link, and there is no doubt Jovetic remains City’s weakest link among the first-team squad’s four strikers: Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Alvaro Negredo being the others. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Pellegrini hail Jovetic . Weakest link: Stevan Jovetic is a decent player but won't fire Manchester City to the title . Superstar: Sergio Aguero slots the ball home seconds after coming on against Liverpool . The real deal: Aguero is the main man at City and theit title hopes will hinge on his form and fitness . Jovetic is evidently a decent ‘weak link.’ He pounced in predatory fashion upon Alberto Moreno’s 41st-minute error to open the scoring last night. Then at the end of a superb second-half move involving 19 passes and an exquisite final exchange with Samir Nasri, he drilled home for 2-0. But one delicious double, or even a few, spaced out, does not a superstar make. Jovetic scored a Champions League brace against Liverpool for Fiorentina in 2009 and is arguably still yet to have a sustained run of top-level consistency, five years later. So while City’s manager Manuel Pellegrini was right to describe Jovetic, signed in summer 2013 for £22m, as a ‘very important player’, and to stress ‘we never had any doubt about his quality’, he was also right to qualify his statements, saying: ‘If he’s fit all the year, he will be a very important player for us.’ In two of the past four seasons Jovetic has spent much or all of the season injured. He missed the whole of the 2010-11 campaign for Fiorentina with an injury to the cruciate ligament in his right knee. In his debut year with City last season, he made just three league starts (among 13 appearances) as he was variously sidelined with knocks, illness, calf and shin problems and two separate hamstring lay-offs. Strike one: Jovetic hammers in City's opening goal against Liverpool on Monday night . Doubling up: The Montenegro forward (left) makes it two with a good finish in the second half . Stevan's stunner: How Jovetic scored his superb second goal against Liverpool . As a prodigious youngster, Jovetic first played league football for Partizan aged 16 in 2006 and scored his first hat-trick at 17. But starting young means Jovetic’s career already has longevity; this is his 10th season as professional footballer and he has never scored more than 14 league goals in any season. He’s scored league goals in double figures in just three seasons, one of those as a teenager with Partizan. The 14-goal season was with Fiorentina in 2011-12 in a campaign where Jovetic was the leading striker, and main man, but it was a disrupted year of multiple managerial changes and ended with a 15th-place finish in Serie A. Monday night’s goals were significant, and in a major game. As Pellegrini said: ‘Liverpool are an important team and one that will be fighting for the title.’ But Jovetic’s three Premier League goals last season, his only three before Monday, were less cases of shooting down major rivals as shooting fish in barrels. Put your shirt on him: Jovetic celebrates a rare Premier League goal last season, against Aston Villa . Bench boy: Jovetic (right) was familiar in his role as a substitute last season . His first goal came in a 5-1 win at 10-man Tottenham, and was the fourth goal of the five. His second goal was in a 4-1 win against Southampton, the fourth goal. His third goal was in a 4-0 win against Aston Villa, the third goal. All were scored with Jovetic in the substitute role, and of course it is not his fault that he was not on the pitch earlier in those games. Having said that, in the pecking order of scorers, Jovetic is very much City’s fourth striker in hard numbers. In all competitions last season, Aguero scored 28 goals in 34 games at a rate of 0.82 per game to make him City’s hottest striker. By the same goals-per-game reckoning (see table below), Dzeko and Negredo were both ahead of Jovetic, as was midfielder Yaya Toure. Taking only league games into consideration, and using the goals-per-game method so as not to penalise players used infrequently, Jovetic was not only behind Aguero, Toure, Dzeko and Negredo but also David Silva. Down the list: Jovetic was the bottom of City's strikers in terms of goals per game last season . International class: The forward captaining Montenegro against England in a World Cup qualifier last year . Announcing himself: A young Jovetic slots the ball past Liverpool's Pepe Reina in 2009 and (below) celebrates . And if you think it is unfair to compare Jovetic to others over one injury-hit season, how does he fare when you compare him over several years against Aguero, Dzeko and Negredo? The answer, in pure goal terms, is he comes fourth of four, whether in terms of goals per game or minutes per goal, in the three full seasons (plus this season) since Jovetic’s full missed season in 2010-11. (See table below). So his relative lack of goals cannot be put down to the fact that he only gets on the pitch for short times. Aguero’s record of one league goal every 113 minutes for three years is stunning; Jovetic’s tally of one every 168 minutes, including last nights two in 80, is fine but not sensational. Having said all that, Jovetic is not a main striker, he is a support striker, as much creator and provider as converter of chances. His problem will be how often he gets into the team when the others are all fit, because while he’s a decent player, he’s not a title-sealer, yet. Propping them up: Jovetic does not come out well when record over the last three seasons are compared .

Stevan Jovetic will never score enough goals to fire City to the title . Striker scored just three goals for City last season . They all came against inferior opposition and not title rivals . Montenegro star moved to the Etihad Stadium for £22m in 2013 . Jovetic has never scored more than 14 league goals in any season .

027bd1ebe1f9e9ede757f42ab955e4075565eaad

(CNN) -- "Where do you live?" Facebook highlights territorial disputes, such as one between Israel and Syria over Golan Heights. Seems like a simple question, doesn't it? But the answer is not clear-cut for everyone. Take people who live in Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir, which is wedged between India, Pakistan and China. India and Pakistan have gone to war repeatedly over the disputed territory. Technically, it's "Indian-administered." But on Facebook, it's simply in India. Shujaat Bukhari, a journalist in Srinagar, was slightly uncomfortable about the classification. "As far as the traditions of the people are concerned, the political issues, it might not match with the people's mindset," he said, even while conceding it could be seen as accurate. "It is administratively part of India, so as far as that is concerned, it is correct," he said. "But it doesn't gel with the mood of the people." The Indian government is very sensitive about how international media organizations characterize Kashmir, he said by phone from Srinagar. "If the Economist (magazine) publishes a map which is related to India or Kashmir, if that map is not acceptable to the Indian government, they put a stamp when (the magazine) reaches India saying these maps should not be treated as as authentic," he said. Srinagar is just one of many examples of the diplomatic minefields social-networking sites can stray into when seeking basic information about their users. Facebook recently changed its listing for the Golan Heights -- which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 -- so users there could choose to say whether they live in Israel or Syria. It was responding to pressure from a pro-Israel group called HonestReporting -- and from Facebook users who set up a group on the site itself called "Facebook, Golan Residents Live in Israel, not Syria." "It is not for Facebook to decide the national origin of Golan residents," the group says on its page. Facebook may have pleased pro-Israel users there by giving them the choice to say where they live, but not all Syrians were happy about the change. "I think Facebook sort of shot itself in the foot to make it optional for the Golan to say this is part of Israel," said Ammar Abdulhamid, a Syrian scholar based in the United States. "This is against international law," he said. And the Golan is only the tip of the iceberg. Jerusalem, which remains hotly disputed between Israel and the Palestinians, is simply in Israel as far as Facebook is concerned. Tibet's capital Lhasa is in China on Facebook, although many Tibetans and their supporters reject China's rule of Tibet. The "Free Tibet" group on Facebook has nearly 188,000 members. Russia and the former Soviet republic of Georgia briefly went to war last summer over the breakaway Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but the Abkhaz capital Sukhumi is listed as being in Georgia on Facebook. Two pro-independence Abkhaz Facebook groups have about 1,200 members between them. The social-networking site "deals with the listings for disputed territories on a case-by-case basis," Facebook representative Debbie Frost told CNN by e-mail. She said the site -- which recently announced it has 300 million users -- consults the International Organization for Standardization, the United Nations and other global organizations. "We also may consider other factors when trying to determine if dual listings would make sense for a given city or region. For example, Srinagar -- the example you gave -- is in the Indian-administered region, and has been since 1947," she said. "We will continue to look at the listings we provide and may offer more dual listings in (the) future. We will also listen to requests from our users and in the cases of disputed territories we may try to come up with options that enable them to choose one of two countries," she added. Bukhari, the journalist in disputed Srinagar, suggests that Facebook "should have a separate section for disputed areas." That's a solution that Yahoo appears to have embraced -- up to a point. It offers "disputed territory" as an option for users creating a new account, but won't actually register a new account if users choose that option. It does allow users to say they are from Taiwan -- which China considers a renegade province and is not represented at the United Nations -- and the "Occupied Palestinian Territories." But it does not appear to allow users to create an account if they choose "Occupied Palestinian Territories." It does not offer Tibet, Kashmir or Abkhazia. Google, for its part, offers Taiwan and "Palestinian Territories," as well as Western Sahara, a breakaway region of Morocco that is not recognized internationally. It does not offer Tibet, Kashmir or Abkhazia. Neither Yahoo nor Google responded to repeated CNN requests for comment. But if Facebook's experience with the Golan Heights is any indication, they may all be getting comments from users soon enough. CNN's Tricia Escobedo and Paula Hancocks contributed to this report.

Facebook's "Where do you live" question causes problems for some . Those who live in disputed territories are unsure how to answer . The social network says it deals with the issue on a "case-by-case" basis . Facebook allows Golan Heights residents to choose "Syria" or "Israel" as home .

027c332f910bdb08fcef15cffd385e44f054ce84

Taxi company Uber's low-cost carpooling service, UberPOP, is set to be banned in France from January next year, the government said. The ruling comes after hundreds of taxi drivers blocked roads around Paris to protest what they claim are its unfair business practices. Drivers blocked the roads heading from the Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport, then inched toward the French capital in their latest protest of the ride-sharing company. Un appy: Uber's low-cost carpooling service, UberPOP, will be banned in France from January 1 . The new law tightening regulations for chauffeured rides will effectively ban the UberPOP service as of January 1st, Pierre-Henry Brandet, spokesman for France's Interior Ministry, said. 'Currently, people who use UberPop are not protected if there is an accident. So not only is it illegal to offer this service but for the consumer there is a real danger,' Brandet told the BFM television network. France is the latest of several places where Uber has faced challenges to its service, which matches people seeking rides with drivers through a cellphone app. Traditional taxis say Uber has an unfair advantage because its drivers don't face the same requirements, insurance and taxes. On Friday, a French court stopped short of banning the company but ordered Uber to make changes, including omitting 'all mention suggesting it is legal' for its drivers to act like taxis — that is, driving around and waiting for clients. French motorcycle police escort striking Paris taxis which take part in a demonstration over the Paris ring road heading into the capital from the Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport . Parisian taxi drivers are fed up with what they see as unfair competition from Uber's UberPOP, which uses non-professional drivers using their own cars to take on passengers at budget rate . New rules: A French court stopped short of banning the company but ordered Uber to make changes . This comes after Uber services were banned in Spain, Holland and the Indian capital New Delhi just last week. UberPOP is a peer-to-peer carpooling service offered through the Uber app. Unlike the normal UberX, which is a taxi with a professional licensed driver, anyone can register their car to UberPOP. The service cuts the normal taxi fare with around 50 per cent. A Madrid judge ordered Spanish phone companies to block the Uber app while the court examines a case brought by the Madrid Taxi Association last Tuesday. The court ruled that Uber drivers in Madrid carry out activities that 'constitutes unfair competition', the services said in a statement. They also accused drivers hired through the app of  'lacking the administrative authorisation to carry out the job.' The ruling was a 'cautionary measure' adopted while the court examines a case brought by the Madrid Taxi Association, the service said in a statement. Last Monday, Dutch judges banned UberPOP, from taking bookings via its smartphone app and threatened the company with fines of up to 100,000 euros ($123,000), saying unlicensed drivers were breaking the law. Bad times:  Uber's services have been banned from Spain, Holland, France and New Delhi in just one week . A defiant Uber reacted in a statement by saying it 'will continue to offer UberPOP.' Also on Monday, the city government in New Delhi banned Uber from operating in the Indian capital after a passenger accused one of its drivers of rape. Shiv Kumar Yadav, 32, is expected to be charged with raping the finance company employee on Friday night. He was hired to ferry her home from a dinner engagement. New Delhi Police said they were considering legal action against Uber for failing to run background checks after it emerged the suspect was arrested for raping a woman three years ago but was later acquitted. Authorities in Denmark and Norway have also filed complaints against Uber. In Germany, a court in Frankfurt threw out an injunction against Uber in September. Uber was able to resume operating legally in Germany pending a final ruling on a complaint by the taxi federation.

Uber's UberPOP service is banned in France from next year . New law tightens regulations on unlicensed taxi drivers in France . UberPOP is a peer-to-peer carpooling service offered on Uber's app . Uber services now banned in several European countries and in India .

027dacf0ab091e39ccebe8b809b8d285a93bdcfe

By . Ashley Collman . PUBLISHED: . 15:39 EST, 29 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 17:42 EST, 29 January 2014 . A college professor today calmly live tweeted the moment he was told his plane would make an emergency landing and oxygen masks dropped from the cabin roof. Shashi Bellamkonda, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, was on the flight from Washington DC to Boston this morning when smoke started coming out of the cabin's vents. But he and the total 58 passengers remained calm and the Embraer 170 aircraft eventually landed at a small regional airport without incident. He told MailOnline that it was midway through the flight when the oxygen masks dropped, but most of the passengers didn't even put them on until instructed by the crew. One last snap: Georgetown professor Sashi Bellamkonda (left) took this picture as his flight from Washington DC to Boston had to make an emergency landing this morning . Calm: Mr Bellamkonda and his seat mate were calm enough to take selfies during the emergency landing . Soon after, the pilot came over the intercom to announce that they would not make it to Boston, and would need to make an emergency landing because air pressure had dropped. Mr Bellamkonda said the atmosphere in the cabin remained calm, with passengers joking and taking pictures which she says is a testament to 'the period we live in'. There was a little bit of stress amongst the passengers over whether there would be a water landing, but luckily the pilot was able to set down at a small airport in Wilmington, Delaware. Once safely out of the plane, the passengers had to suffer for a while in the bitter cold on the tarmac until the airport could dispatch buses to bring them inside to the terminal. Safe but cold! The flight made a safe landing at a small airport in Wilmington, Delaware but the passengers had to wait for a while in the bitter cold for a bus to take them to the terminal . Out in the cold: Mr Bellamkonda sends a picture of the runway to United, asking for answers . And it wasn't until mid-afternoon that another plane was brought in to take them on to their destination in Boston. United Airline spokesman Luke Punzenberger issued a statement following the emergency landing. 'The Mesa Air flight, operating as United Express, landed safely in Delaware and we are working to get our customers to their final destinations as quickly as possible. The flight crew diverted the plane after a report of smoke in the cabin,' Mr Punzenberger said. There were 58 people on board in addition to 4 crew members. But Mr Bellamkonda said he was happy with the way the situation played out, and is especially thankful to the pilot for a safe landing and to the small airport's hospitality. He says the airport even bought pizzas for the passengers to eat since they didn't have any food vendors. Limbo: United Airlines brought in another plane to take the flight to Boston around 2pm on Wednesday. In the hours between, the airport provided free pizza to the stranded passengers . Free pizza! The airport was kind enough to provide food for the stranded passengers .

United Flight 3759 from Washington DC to Boston was diverted this morning after smoke started to fill the cabin . Passenger Shashi Bellamkonda posted pictures on Twitter from inside the cabin and after the safe landing in Delaware . There were 58 people on board in addition to 4 crew members .

027ddddbad5a45720cd5f01241acd3ab02f606da

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Nine people were killed in an explosion Wednesday in northwestern Pakistan, authorities said. Police suspect the blast on the outskirts of Peshawar targeted a vehicle carrying Pakistani air force officials, they said. Pedestrians and shoppers died, and three officers were among more than two dozen people injured, said government official Javid Marwat and Peshawar Police Chief Tahir Ayub. The explosion destroyed a van and nearby shops. Police are working to find out where the bomb was planted. Pakistani TV showed the wreckage of the van and emergency crews carrying away bloodied victims. Peshawar is the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the gateway to Pakistan's tribal region, which is largely ungoverned and has a strong militant presence. For more than a decade, Peshawar has been the front line for the Pakistani government's fight with militant groups.

NEW: Pakistani air force officials in a targeted vehicle were injured, officials say . Explosion also injures more than two dozen people . The blast occurs on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan .

027e97472bc19a12819ca666d290b6eedde73a04

(CNN) -- As the violence in the Central African Republic reaches unprecedented levels, aid organizations say the number of internally displaced people edges toward a million, further hampering humanitarian relief efforts. The nearly 935,000 displaced people are hiding in bushes and seeking refuge with host families, and churches and schools have been turned in to makeshift shelters. More than half the population of the capital city of Bangui has been displaced, and nearly 60% of them are displaced children, according to the latest report from UNHCR, the United Nations' refugee agency. Since March, violence has gripped the Central African Republic, or CAR. Aboubakar Daoud, 33, has spent the last 15 years of his life as a shopkeeper in the country. He says life was very good, his business was thriving and everyone was living in peace. But all of that is now just a memory. "The situation is very precarious for Muslims and particularly for Chadians, even for those who got married with the Chadians," he said. After the predominantly Muslim-backed Seleka militia and other rebel groups from the marginalized northeast seized Bangui, one of the Seleka leaders, Michel Djotodia, overthrew President Francois Bozize, who fled to Cameroon, creating a political power struggle. Under Djotodia's interim presidency and transitional governance, Human Rights Watch has reported details of the Seleka's deliberate killing of civilians, including women, children and the elderly. The rights group also reported in recent weeks that violence and insecurity in the Central African Republic have taken on an alarming sectarian dimension. Backlash set in when Djotodia officially disbanded the Seleka and, according to rights groups, thousands of Seleka rebels kept their arms and formed their own vigilante group known as the "ex-Seleka." That group has since been integrated into a new "national army." Human Rights Watch says command and control of the ex-Seleka remain questionable as the group continues to commit abuses in the Central African Republic. All the while, the anti-balaka -- a predominantly Christian armed group created by then-President Bozize to fight banditry -- continues to attack Muslim civilians in response to ex-Seleka abuses. Residents say the violence between the Muslim Seleka militias and the retaliating Christian groups has wreaked havoc in cities across the Central African Republic. "For days and nights on end, the men in my town did not sleep so we could secure the area from anti-balaka. They would come anytime to attack Chadians in the area," Daoud said. In December, 1,000 men were killed over a two-day period, according to Amnesty International. As a protective response, France has sent 1,600 troops under a United Nations mandate into the Central African Republic to assist African troops, but the violence continues. Children beheaded as violence grows in Central African Republic . 'Unprecedented levels of violence against children' "I was born in CAR and started to do commerce with my parents at an early age. The good moments were in the past and have ended. We were living in peace as brothers and sisters," said businesswoman Djemila Abdoulaye, 39. "The worst moment was when my 21-year-old son went out to look for some provisions, and he got shot on Christmas Eve," she said, holding back her tears. "At the same time, his uncle got shot trying to protect him. I have never seen them or their bodies again." UNICEF, the United Nations children's aid agency, has verified the killings of at least 16 children, and injuries among 60, since the outbreak of communal violence in Bangui on December 5. The agency says at least two children were beheaded at the end of December, and one of them mutilated, further stating that attacks in the CAR against children have sunk to a "vicious new low." "We are witnessing unprecedented levels of violence against children. More and more children are being recruited into armed groups, and they are also being directly targeted in atrocious revenge attacks," said Souleymane Diabate, a country representative for UNICEF. "Targeted attacks against children are a violation of international humanitarian and human rights law and must stop immediately. Concrete action is needed now to prevent violence against children," Diabate said. The Central African Republic, which is north of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is one of the six African countries that border Chad. The International Organization for Migrants, or IOM, estimates there could be tens of thousands of migrants in the CAR, with most originating from the neighboring region, including Cameroon, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan. Also, Chadians are among the migrants in the CAR who are at the highest risk, the IOM says. Group: Nearly 1,000 killed over 2 days . 'Largest evacuation effort' since 2011 . "This is the largest evacuation effort we have seen since the war in Libya in 2011," said Dr. Qasim Sufi, the IOM chief of mission who's in charge of receiving Chadians arriving from the CAR. Air evacuations from the CAR to Chad are now entering the third week, and the IOM says the number of Chadian migrants evacuated is increasing by the day. Since late December, the IOM estimates, more than 17,000 Chadian migrants have been returned from the CAR by air and land. "We have a very big caseload of evacuated migrants in a short period of time, which can overstretch our capacity to assist, and we need additional financial support," Sufi said. The UNHCR estimates that this mission could cost $152.2 million. "There are also hundreds of Nigerians waiting at the Nigeria Embassy in CAR to be rescued. Citizens are being taken from Bangui to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, where they can unite with their family," said Mohammed Sani Sidi, director general of the National Emergency Agency. For weeks now, the Bangui International Airport has become a safe house for many people looking to flee the violence. The government of Chad also has sent road convoys to help evacuate migrants who were not able to make it to the airport. "The evacuations are nice, but the situation at the airport is not well-organized because there are too many Chadians who all want to get back to Chad," said Abdoulaye, the businesswoman. The air evacuations alone, to date, have topped 8,500 people aboard 51 flights. The first road convoy organized by the Chadian government to evacuate stranded Chadian migrants arrived at the Chadian border village of Sido this week to help evacuate about 1,800 women and children who were living in very desperate conditions. The IOM also estimates that 4,000 additional migrants have returned to Chad on their own through the Gore and Sido border crossing points. "Many of the evacuees are in urgent need of basic humanitarian assistance, including food, water, medical attention," Sufi said. "Once returning to Chad, these migrants are really traumatized psychologically and need further help, time and assistance reacclimating to their new surroundings." At least five migrants have died since the evacuations began Friday, according to Sufi. As for Daoud, he looks across the border to find a new way of life. "I think, it will be better to go to the village and be a farmer," he said. Others, such as Abdoulaye, are leaving everything behind. "I will only take my life back to Chad. I'm happy to still be alive," she said. Fears of genocide: 10 things to know about the CAF . CNN's Nana Karikari-apau contributed to this report.

Violence has gripped the Central African Republic since March . There are nearly 935,000 internally displaced people, U.N. refugee agency says . Violence between Muslim militias and Christian groups has wreaked havoc, residents say . "I have never seen them or their bodies again," woman says of relatives who were shot .

027eb44752671b224e7236209eadfbddbd51749d

A new plane seat design looks set to revolutionise long haul flights. Designed for use in premium economy and business class, at the flick of a switch, the seat can be transformed from single upright seat, to four-foot 'couch' and even into a full length double bed. It will allow young passengers in premium economy to lie flat, and will stagger seating to avoid the dreaded elbow clash - a very common complaint on long-haul flights. Hong Kong designer James SH Lee of Paperclip Design, came up with the concept, named Butterfly seating, which recently one first prize at IATA's 2014 Passenger Innovation Awards. A business class seat in upright mode. Passengers get a spacious private suite with a seat plus a side couch and direct aisle access . The idea of Butterfly seating is to allow for individual demand of the cabin on each individual flight - despite the limited space on an aircraft. While only the business class passengers will be able to transform their seats into a full length bed, this is the first time that premium economy travellers will have access to a 'couch' allowing younger passengers the chance to sleep more comfortably. Lee told MailOnline Travel: 'This flexibility allows airlines to make use of resource more efficiently so that the cost is lowered. The layout maximises bed space, with the sleeping surface utilizing nearly every inch of available floor area . 'They can also react to fluctuations much quicker than before, making them much more resilient to the risks of changing market conditions.' 'For passengers this equates to more stable fares long term, and the flexibility means more options for them. 'In the past if the business class cabin is full, then it's sold out. But with butterfly they can turn some premium economy seats into business class, and vice versa, if there's a need. At 53cm, the seating will be as wide as many current business class seats in a 777 sized cabin. Fliers in business class can transform the seat into a large bed, accommodating various sleeping positions . In premium economy, young passengers will be able to lie flat as their seat can be transformed into a 'couch' The seats will also feature large cocktail trays, seat pockets on the side and an adjustable ottoman. Meanwhile, passengers in business class will be able to transform the seat into one of the largest bed surfaces currently available. At 195.6cm long from top-to-toe, the seat becomes a private suite including a side couch. A graphic shows the conversion from premium economy to business class.  A mechanism that allows flight attendants to flip the window seat over, turning it into a couch. Passengers in Business Class will be able be offered one of the largest surfaces currently available . The designer added: 'Academic research on convertible seating used in European short haul flights shows a 3.3 per cent increase in revenue, which is hugely significant for the airline industry which makes a net profit between zero to four per cent globally.' 'Butterfly helps to extend this benefit to long haul markets,' he said.

The new seat design is for premium economy and business class suites . Created by award-winning Hong Kong based designer, James SH Lee . Young fliers in premium economy can flip seat into a couch to sleep on . Seats will be staggered to offset passengers' elbows from each other . Includes cocktail trays, seat pockets on the side and an adjustable ottoman . In business, the seat will be one of the largest bed surfaces in the industry .

0280767a62d5b0f2cedf4378636261744b663892

(EW.com) -- First thing's first: TLC's new ratings release for "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" is now calling the Thompson clan "America's favorite family." Did we all agree to this? Was there a vote I missed? The reality show is getting more popular, however. The Georgia pageant brood's third week premiere on Wednesday night delivered 2.3 million viewers, a season high. The plot: Six-year-old Alana was forced to part ways with her beloved pet pig, Glitzy. Yes, that was the story! Meanwhile,Thursday night's broadcast ratings were dull. Do you want to know that CBS' "Big Brother" had 6.4 million viewers and a 2.2 in the adult demo, the same as last week? Is fall here yet? See the full story at EW.com.

TLC's "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" is gaining in popularity . The third week premiere on Wednesday had 2.3 million viewers . That episode's ratings were the highest of the season .

0281ccf2727093663d87773173a1a636cdd4f630

Texas groceries had likely removed by Sunday morning all of the nearly 91,000 pounds of ground beef from store shelves that were subject to a recall due to possible contamination from tiny pieces of metal, an executive at Sam Kane Beef Processors said. Sam Kane Beef Processors, based in Corpus Christi, Texas, recalled the beef shipped between Sept. 9 and Sept. 18 to Texas retail outlets, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a news release on Saturday. Consumers in four separate incidents reported finding pieces of metal about 3 mm in size in beef products, and one of them reported getting a chipped tooth, the USDA said. Sam Kane Beef Processors nearly 91,000 pounds of ground beef from store shelves . The USDA classified the health risk from the metals as low. The stores began removing the meat from shelves immediately and it is likely none remained on Sunday, said Herb Meischen, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Sam Kane. 'It was not a food safety issue,' general manager Alfred Bausch told CNN. 'It was a foreign object and the foreign object was very small.' 'The products [...] bear the establishment number '337' inside the USDA Mark of Inspection,' the agency said in the release. The products subject to recall were 3-pound packages of HEB ground chuck, 5 and 10-pound packages of HEB ground beef and 10-pound formed patties made from Sam Kane Beef Processors ground chuck, according to the USDA. In a statement to Local 2, HEB said 'HEB works hard to ensure the integrity and safety of all products we offer in our stores, and hold our suppliers to the highest standards in the industry. The recall has been issued by Sam Kane Beef Processors, LLC in an abundance of caution. 'Customers who purchased the affected product can return the product to the store for a full refund. The statement said customers are able to call the company's customer relations department. The USDA classified the health risk from the metals in the beef as low (file photo)

Sam Kane Beef Processors, recalled the beef shipped between Sept. 9 and Sept. 18 to Texas retail outlets, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said . Consumers in four separate incidents reported finding pieces of metal about 3 mm in size in beef products, and one of them reported getting a chipped tooth . The USDA classified the health risk from the metals as low .

02828c1ac3ee5e31b25e8c050904fab23ed0ed56

By . Mail On Sunday Reporter . The entire South Devon hamlet of Bantham is going on the market on Friday, complete with beach, boathouses, golf course and pub. All 728 acres have been owned by the same family for generations, and will have an asking price of £10million. The sleepy settlement - which has one pub and and a village shop - was bought up by a military commander in 1922, and most residents rent their properties. Scenic: The view over Bantham, a sleepy hamlet which is on sale for £10million . And now - thanks to a dispute over a food van - its 21 homes and other properties will go on the market to the highest bidder. When Gillian Goddard - one of the estate's five directors - allowed a 'gastrobus' to sell food and drink to visitors, she was deluged by complaints from locals attacking her act of 'commercialisation'. This, according to The Times, caused her to change her mind about bequeathing the estate to the visitors, and she amended her will to demand the village be put on the market. Picturesque: The view over the bay from Bantham in South Devon . Unspoilt: The Bantham cliffs, which could soon be sold off to developers . She died in November, triggering the sale, which is being run by estate agents Strutt and Parker. If no single buyer emerges, they intend to split the village into six separate lots. The prospect of a new landlord has alarmed residents - many of whom rent their homes. Rod Seymour, the landlord of the Sloop Inn pub in the hamlet, said: 'The same families have lived here for generations. We came here five years ago and since then only one property has been sold.' Another said: 'People are nervous, of course they are. We’re worried that someone from London will see an ‘opportunity’. They’ll kick the tenants out and turn the cottages into a "boutique hotel".'

Bantham, South Devon, has been owned by one family since 1922 . The sleepy hamlet has just 21 homes, a pub and a village shop . But after a dispute over commercialisation the whole settlement is for sale . Some residents fear property developer could buy the village and change it .

028310a745cf62edade6d651479c75a46a1ab073

(CNN) -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday the Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into the massive oil spill spreading through the Gulf of Mexico. Holder said the investigation, which began "some weeks ago," would be comprehensive and aggressive. He promised that the federal officials will prosecute anyone who broke the law. "We have begun both a criminal as well as a civil investigation as is our obligation under the law," Holder said. "We have what we think is a sufficient case to have begun a criminal investigation." Holder emphasized that the investigation will cover all aspects of the oil spill, including the deaths of 11 workers in the April 20 explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon rig that started the leak. He refused to name any potential targets of the investigation, saying, "I don't want to unnecessarily cast aspersions." However, Holder said "nothing is off the table" in the probe, and he cited false statements as one of several potential targets of criminal charges. "This disaster is nothing less than a tragedy," Holder said. "As our review expands in the days ahead, we will be meticulous, we will be comprehensive, and we will be aggressive. We will not rest until justice is done." Holder stressed that "anyone found responsible for this spill (must be) held accountable. That means enforcing the appropriate civil -- and if warranted, criminal -- authorities to the full extent of the law." Among other things, Holder said Justice Department lawyers are examining possible violations of the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. He also said prosecutors are looking into potential violations of the Migratory Bird Treaty and Endangered Species Acts, which provide penalties for injury and death to wildlife. BP responded in a statement that it "will cooperate with any inquiry the Department of Justice will undertake, just as we are doing in response to the other inquires that are already ongoing." Holder made the announcement during a visit to the Gulf to survey the BP oil spill and meet with state attorneys general and federal prosecutors from Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, according to the Justice Department. Last month, a group of senators -- including Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California -- sent Holder a letter expressing concerns "about the truthfulness and accuracy of statements submitted by BP to the government in its initial exploration plan for the site." They asked the attorney general to investigate possible criminal and civil wrongdoing. In a reply to that letter last week, a Justice Department official refused to say whether a criminal investigation had begun. "The Department of Justice will take all necessary and appropriate steps to ensure that those responsible for this tragic series of events are held fully accountable," Assistant Attorney General Ronald Welch wrote. Holder said last month the Justice Department would "ensure that BP is held liable." Boxer issued a statement Monday praising the criminal probe. "In preparation for the Environment Committee's hearings on the oil spill, it became clear that BP's assurances that they could respond effectively to a serious spill at this site were totally at odds with reality," Boxer said in the statement. "What is happening in the Gulf -- eleven people dead, and an entire ecosystem and the jobs that depend on it at risk -- justifies a thorough criminal investigation." CNN's Scott Bronstein and Aaron Cooper contributed to this report .

NEW: Attorney General Eric Holder says enough evidence existed to start a criminal investigation . NEW: Senator lauds criminal investigation launched by Department of Justice . DOJ looking into potential violations of Clean Water Act, Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and other laws . Holder visits Gulf Coast on Tuesday to survey BP oil spill .

0284735ba9a7ee2da8b13793b53df63fce94c484

Gabi Rose wore maternity clothes for more than 12 years. Her weight, which bounced up and down around her four pregnancies, wasn't just an aesthetic concern. She had frequent asthma attacks, broke an ankle several times, developed rosacea and noticed that her hair had stopped growing. "I didn't realize it was affecting my entire family," Rose said. Once Rose got serious about losing weight for good, she, her husband, David, and daughter Rachel lost a combined 300 pounds together. A big factor in the trio's transformation was changing how they ate: choosing healthier foods and cooking at home. "The weight loss in my opinion is the easy part," Rose said. "It's the maintenance that's hard, and that's difficult and takes time and education and understanding." A family health crisis . Rose had many complications with her pregnancies. She was hospitalized for four weeks because of preeclampsia with her first son, Josh. Her third child, Noah, almost died as an infant. Rose suffered badly with asthma and weighed close to 300 pounds when she was pregnant with her youngest child, Sarah. Her older daughter Rachel, now 14, suffered weight problems, too. Rachel remembers going to Target with her mother and wanting to try on clothes in the kids' section. But because of her large size as a third-grader, she had to shop in the adult section. It was hard for Rachel, knowing children were in the other part of the store; she was surrounded by "all these old women." "Rachel looks at old pictures of herself and she says, 'Why did you let me get so big?' " Rose said. "It probably is my fault. I was kind of lost myself." Rose tried commercial weight-loss programs, but nothing worked. She became serious about getting healthy after an asthma attack in 2005, a year after Sarah's birth. Rose was driving her children home from a friend's house when she felt a heaviness in her chest. She reached for her inhaler, but it wasn't in her purse. She panicked and pulled over. "The only thing I could think of is: 'I'm going to die here on the street,' " she said. "I called my husband and I told him where I was, because I didn't think I'd be alive when he got there." Her brush with death made her decide once and for all: The weight had to go. Changing bad habits . In those days, Rose didn't cook much at all. Frozen pizza, chicken nuggets in a bag, mac and cheese in a box, a pre-made "family-size portion" of chicken lasagna for herself and her husband -- these were typical meals. When the children were little, Rose kept a hefty supply of bags of chips, she said. "All the neighborhood kids used to come over all the time because I had so much junk food," she said. But in 2006, Rose dedicated herself to understanding healthy food choices. Now Rose avoids anything that comes in a bag or box. The family cooks together, making main courses such as chicken wings from scratch and sides such as mashed potatoes mixed with cauliflower. Every meal has a salad. Rose's husband has become "a wizard with stir fry," she said. And Rachel, who used to buy two ice cream snacks at school at lunch, now brings her lunch from home and makes strawberry-banana protein smoothies. Getting up and moving . The family has also been spending less time sitting on the couch. Rachel and Noah have been playing tennis for years. They've motivated the rest of the family to play tennis, too, Rose said. The family also rides bikes around the neighborhood and has gone on outdoor adventures such as white-water rafting and an obstacle course. They have joined a family gym, so that everyone is working out at the same time, and have run 5K races together over the past two years. David Rose credits his wife as leading by example in the diet and fitness changes that have transformed the household. He lost 80 pounds, which he has kept off for four years, and now weighs about 188 pounds. "I remember the first day that she took me over to the gym and put me on an elliptical machine," he said. "That was the beginning of a process." Ups and downs . It hasn't always been easy. On Valentine's Day 2008, David went to buy his wife a fondue maker and gourmet chocolate from a local chocolatier. She had loved the Melting Pot fondue restaurant; he thought with this present, "I was hitting a grand slam home run." He was wrong. "I just looked at him and said, 'You've got to be kidding me,' " Gabi Rose said. "I was just beside myself. He's just not understanding the efforts that I'm putting into my weight loss." Her fury didn't abate when her husband tossed the chocolate in the garbage. She didn't speak to him for a month. ("I knew she was going to bring up [the fondue]," he said later). In retrospect, Rose sees that until that point her weight-loss efforts had been inconsistent. But her husband apologized, telling his wife that he hadn't understood where she was coming from -- that she was serious about getting healthy, long term, and about making everyone in the family feel better about themselves. "He was afraid that I was going to become a different person I guess, or not as fun as I used to be," she said. "But we found fun in other ways, without eating." Inspiring others . Today, Rose weighs 145 pounds, and has become an expert on losing weight. She has traveled extensively, speaking about how to make healthy changes, and was the host and co-producer of a reality show in South Florida called "The Get Fit Club." In 2009, she teamed up with Dr. Elisabeth Cohn-Gelwasser -- whose medical practice Rose has been coordinating since 1994 -- to offer a medical weight-loss program that targets nutrition and fitness and also incorporates counseling in behavior modification, and medication when necessary. From a size 26, Rose has slimmed down to a size 2. Rachel has also made significant progress; she lost 50 pounds between 2009 and 2011, and her father said she has been "an inspiration to other children." Now in high school, Rachel knows a lot of girls who complain about their appearances. "I honestly can't relate to them, because I love the way that I am right now," she said. As for the embattled fondue maker, it's still in the family's kitchen, David said. It's a reminder of an era of overeating that's melted away. Learn more about Gabi Rose at gabirose.com.

Gabi Rose became serious about getting healthy after a near-fatal asthma attack . She dramatically changed her family's eating habits . The family now runs 5K races together . Rose has become an inspirational weight-loss expert .

028552a935f12bdb0d650a40ecff15e053034c76

(CNN) -- The argument between government leaders over how to handle and where to house the influx of migrant children from Central America is playing out across a couple of blocks in downtown Atlanta. At the gold-domed state Capitol, Gov. Nathan Deal is complaining that the Obama administration didn't tell officials it was sending more than 1,000 children to Georgia. At Atlanta City Hall, Mayor Kasim Reed says his city would provide a "safe haven" for the children. More than 50,000 unaccompanied children have been detained so far this year as they've tried to cross the U.S. southern border. Federal authorities say the rate of apprehension has slowed in recent weeks. The Department of Health and Human Services is charged with finding suitable facilities to house the children while they wait for an immigration hearing or to be reunited with family. Some state and local governments, community organizations and churches across the country have taken children in but some governments are asking not to be considered as a landing place for the kids. Or in Deal's case, complaining about not being told about it. Republican Deal wrote to President Barack Obama last week asking for the federal government to stem the flow of the children to the state saying it was "unconscionable that your administration" failed to inform state officials that 1,154 of the kids had been sent there. "Your administration continues to send refugees to Georgia, while at the same time many mayors and legislators from across the political spectrum have expressed their (and my) desire to reign in the influx of refugees to the state of Georgia. It is my hope that you and your administration will respect this request," Deal said in his letter. Reed's position was the opposite, saying Tuesday the minors would be welcomed in his city. "I'm going to send a message in no uncertain terms to the extent that these children need a safe place, and a safe haven, (and) the city of Atlanta is going to be that," the mayor told reporters, according to CNN affiliate WSB. Deal softened his tone on Wednesday after meeting with a group of local Hispanic leaders. He said in a statement that he asked them for guidance and advice about how the state should respond and added the activists told him they thought most of the children in Georgia were placed with relatives. "For the state to safeguard these children who are here now, we still need more information about their federal status and where they're staying. It goes without saying, these situations involve our public education, public health and public safety resources, and I'm concerned about additional burdens being placed on local taxpayers in Georgia," Deal said. "But I made this pledge to the group: As a state we will let the federal process work. And during the time it takes to accomplish that, I'm sure Georgians will show their compassion toward these children who have undergone harrowing circumstances." Deal's complaint was similar to one by Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, who said his state discovered the presence of migrant minors there through an online posting by HHS. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration said over the weekend it's willing to house up to 1,000 children in city facilities. "The influx of unaccompanied child migrants is a growing humanitarian crisis that we can no longer ignore," Emanuel said Sunday in a statement. "While we have our own challenges at home, we cannot turn our backs on children that are fleeing dangerous conditions. We will do our part to ensure that these children are given access to services and treated fairly and humanely." Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, D-Illinois, a major proponent of immigration reform and someone who has strongly opposed calls for deporting the children after they are arrested, said he is proud to see Chicago "lead by example" in trying to find housing for some of the minors. "Sometimes the greatness of our nation and our city are tested and how we treat children in danger is one of those tests," Gutiérrez said in a statement. Earlier this month Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, another major Democratic supporter of the President, proposed two locations in the Bay State to temporarily house undocumented immigrant children, including a federal base on Cape Cod. That proposal has generated a controversy among some Massachusetts residents. These offers follow a dust-up between another Democratic ally, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, and the White House over the issue. O'Malley, who had criticized plans to deport many of the undocumented children, clashed with a senior White House official in a phone call after he asked some of the kids not be sent to a site in his state. "What I said was that would not be the most inviting site in Maryland," O'Malley told CNN Senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta. "There are already hundreds of kids already located throughout Maryland." O'Malley was referring to his phone conversation with White House Domestic Policy Director Cecilia Munoz. O'Malley also told CNN he was open to housing them in other sites in the state. White House mulls steps on immigration it can take on its own . Central American leaders to Obama: We're working on it . CNN's Ashley Killough contributed to this story.

State and city officials debate handling of unaccompanied minors crossing U.S. border . In Georgia, governor and Atlanta mayor send conflicting messages . Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel expressed willingness to house kids .

028585356fbab01684fd1e2aa5a745c4e5e034fa

Mary Cheney finds it hypocritical that drag queens can impersonate women but white people cannot 'put on blackface and act out offensive stereotypes of African-Americans'. The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney took to Facebook to ask: 'Shouldn't both be ok or neither? Why does society treat these activities so differently?' She wrote in a private post seen by CNN: 'Why is it socially acceptable -- as a form of entertainment -- for men to put on dresses, make up and high heels and act out every offensive stereotype of women (bitchy, catty, dumb, slutty, etc.) -- but it is not socially acceptable -- as a form of entertainment -- for a white person to put on blackface and act out offensive stereotypes of African Americans?' Scroll down for video . Sparked outrage: Mary Cheney is under fire after posting this comment on Facebook . Cheney, pictured with her father the former Vice President Dick Cheney (right), said 'shouldn't both be ok?' According to CNN, Cheney made clear that her words referred to men in drag, not transgender people. The comment was said to be prompted by a trailer for the upcoming season 7 of RuPaul's Drag Race, which debuts on March 2. Lashing out at the 45-year-old's comments, the show's official Twitter account tweeted: 'Oh no she better don't', and shared a video titled 'a Message for Mary Cheney'. The video takes Cheney through a history of drag, and explains that 'the most important thing of all, drag never ever takes itself too seriously'. Response video: RuPaul, host of talent show RuPaul's Drag Race, made a video for Mary Cheney . A lesson: The video takes Cheney through a short history of drag saying 'it doesn't take itself too seriously!' On the show's website, a statement response to Cheney read: 'Y’know we don’t have a clear-cut answer—and maybe there isn’t one. All we know is what a queen told us once: “Drag queens don’t make fun of women, they make fun of society’s expectations of women. If you’re just insulting women that’s not drag—that’s misogyny.”' However, they did hail Cheney, who is openly gay and married to Heather Poe, with whom she has two children, for another Facebook post recently that championed gay rights. In it, Cheney slammed her sister Liz for opposing gay marriage, and wrote: 'Liz - this isn't just an issue on which we disagree - you're just wrong - and on the wrong side of history.' Champion of gay rights: Cheney, who is openly gay and married, posted this pro-gay marriage message too .

Mary Cheney said blacking up is the same as men dressing as women . Daughter of former VP Dick Cheney made the comments on Facebook . Her private post was an apparent reaction to RuPaul's Drag Race trailer . RuPaul posted a response video, giving Cheney a history of drag .

028590f21458862ee63ca97973ebe1a039ae8346

Aston Villa winger Joe Cole believes football has become a sport for 'robots' with clubs forgetting it all comes down to the 'round ball' in the end. The former Chelsea and Liverpool star says clubs in the Barclays Premier League and beyond are turning to theories that only help 'one or two per cent'. 'You get a lot of people coming into the game - sport psychologists, etc - but, at the end of the day, it's a round ball,' says Cole. Aston Villa's Joe Cole believes football has become a sport for 'robots' with clubs forgetting what it's about . The former Chelsea and Liverpool forward says the theories of clubs tend to only help 'one or two per cent' 'That won't change. You get all this other stuff which can help one or two per cent, but don't forget what it is to play football. 'A manager once said to me, "If you want to be good at playing the piano, you don't run round it or pick it up, you play it." That's stuck with me.' Former England man Cole has three Premier League titles and three FA Cups to his name, and turned 33 on Saturday. Former England international Cole has three Premier League titles and three FA Cups to his name . When asked about how Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho helped him at Stamford Bridge, he told the BBC: 'I'm well aware he got the best out of me. 'Looking back, you admire what he did for me as a player. All of his players love playing for him. I loved playing for him. And I've not met a player who doesn't.' He continues: 'Chelsea could go and become one of the great sides. They are building something special.' Jose Mourinho's Chelsea take on Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday as their side sit top of the Premier League .

Former Chelsea and Liverpool player Joe Cole says clubs are losing focus . 'You get a lot of people coming into the game - sport psychologists, etc - but, at the end of the day, it's a round ball,' says Aston Villa winger . He adds Jose Mourinho's Chelsea can go down as one of the best in history .

0286103f04a2400b86319251ae13b4f73515cdc0

By . Chris Pleasance . Planning permission has been granted for a 100-seat dining room and facilities for business meetings at HMP Brixton . With its famous market and vibrant street-food, Brixton is a well established haunt for foodies from across London. From simple pizzas to meatballs in monkey gland sauce, food and flavours from around the world are available to tempt the taste buds. But one charity is about to open a eatery that will be unfamiliar to even the most seasoned gourmet: a restaurant in a prison. The Clink Charity has been given planning permission to convert the former Regency Roadhouse, which was the old Governor's house at Brixton Prison, into a 100-seat high quality diner. Prisoners will then be trained to serve customers, providing them with invaluable skills to help them become employable once they are released. Chris Moore, chief executive of The Clink Charity believes Brixton will cement the future for further Clink restaurants. He said: 'Brixton was the perfect site for our next restaurant. 'HMP . Brixton is undergoing a regeneration project and was looking for an . organisation to work with to develop the building into an opportunity . for rehabilitation. 'The central location lends itself to . securing support from local businesses and members of the public, . providing they are committed to The Clink's vision and once the . necessary security checks have been processed, providing real-life . experience for those prisoners who make it through the selection process . to join the programme.' The Clink Charity already runs two other prison restaurants, one in HMP Cardiff, and the other in HMP High Down, in Surrey. In . 2012 the charity agreed a partnership with Her Majesty's Prison Service . (HMPS) who are supporting them in a bid to open a . further seven Clink Restaurants over the next four years. At HMP Cardiff 30 offenders from an open part of the jail are already serving customers . Edmond . Tullett, Governor of HMP Brixton said: 'Brixton is more than delighted . to host the third Clink training restaurant in the Regency Roundhouse . which dates back to 1819. 'The restaurant will provide an . unforgettable experience for customers and an unrivalled opportunity for . prisoners to acquire marketable skills that will lead to local jobs and . provide a pathway to a better life.' In addition to the 100 seat . restaurant, the building will also include rooms for business meetings . and working lunches. Five rooms for companies to organise . 'phone free' meetings will provide vital income . for the charity to continue to operate.

Planning permission has been granted for a 100-seat dining room . Prisoners will be trained in service providing them with employable skills . It will be the third UK prison restaurant to be opened by The Clink Charity .

028672ffcd36907dbb0b75b87e188c71c6bc7429

Brighton’s home win against Birmingham City was overshadowed when two fans were arrested for racist chanting and throwing a smoke bomb. Chief Inspector Simon Nelson revealed on Twitter that two arrests had been made during the game – one suspected Brighton fan and one suspected Birmingham fan. The racist chanting was suspected to be a Seagulls fan and the person in question was arrested during the game at the Amex Stadium. Chief Inspector Simon Nelson revealed on Twitter that two arrests had been made during the game . Brighton and Hove Albion's David Stockdale grabs the ball under pressure from Andrew Shinnie . While the smoke bomb was allegedly thrown by an away fan, who was also arrested, during Birmingham’s defeat to Chris Hughton’s side. The news comes just days after a minority of Chelsea fans came under fire for racist chanting in Paris. A group of men appeared to stop a black man from entering the train ahead of their Champions League clash with PSG on Tuesday. Birmingham City's Clayton Donaldson in action against Brighton and Hove Albion's Rohan Ince . Brighton Inigo Calderon scores his first against Birmingham City's keeper Darren Randolph . Shinnie is brought down by Brighton defender Bruno Saltor  leading to a penalty during Saturday's game .

Chief Inspector Simon Nelson revealed that two arrests had been made . Fan in home end was arrested during the match for racist chanting . Police said an away fan was also arrested for throwing a smoke bomb . The Seagulls won the game 4-3, their first win in six matches .

028754ab608b84d914ec1857a4824490738adf4f

By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 11:26 EST, 10 November 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 12:06 EST, 10 November 2012 . A New York Times blogger and celebrity numbers wiz is set to make millions for his spot-on election prediction. Nate Silver, the 34-year-old statistician who developed his own formula for predicting presidential outcomes, bet MSNB morning host Joe Scarborough $2,000 that Obama would win the election on November 6. Both men agreed to donate their winnings to charity. Scroll down for video . Blogger celebrity: Nate Silver sits on the stairs at a hotel in Chicago on November 9, 2012 . Numbers man: The creator of the much-read FiveThirtyEight blog sits with computer in hand . Silver won and is now poised to take in far more than his initial bet, Business Insider reports. Silver, who started his career analyzing baseball players’ performances, earned $700,000 for a two book deal with Penguin after calling the 2008 presidential election, according to the New York Observer. On Election Day Business Insider proposed that Silver could potentially double those earnings in 2012 with more book deals and high-paid speaking gigs if he were to successfully call the election again. In addition to blogging for the Times, Silver is the founder of his own much-read blog FiveThirtyEight.com. Wrong call: MSNBC host Joe Scarborough bet Silver $2,000 that his 2102 election prediction would not come true . Silver was the topic of a 'Today' show segment on Friday after successfully predicting Obama’s win. 'He's becoming a bit of a celebrity,' 'Today' show host Andrea Canning told viewers. 'President Obama may have been the big winner this week, but coming in a close second: New York Times blogger, statistician and self-described geek, Nate Silver.' Hometown support: Obama addresses supporters at his election night victory rally in Chicago. Watch video here: .

New York Times blogger Nate Silver bet MSNB morning host Joe . Scarborough $2,000 that Obama would win the election on November 6 . Both men agreed to donate their winnings to charity. Silver won the bet and is now poised to earn millions in high-paid book deals and speaking gigs .

02878cf098084bc701898dd86ec37c7c5ccb3b01

Customers were furious yesterday after their bank left them stranded without cash for the second time in less than a year. They bombarded Royal Bank of Scotland message boards and social networks after an IT glitch meant they could not use cash machines. Telephone and online banking services were also disrupted by the problem, which began around 9pm on Wednesday. Furious customers were left stranded without access to their money as Natwest computer systems went into meltdown. RBS boss Stephen Hester was forced to say sorry only less than a year ago after a similar IT failure . State-backed RBS, which includes NatWest and Ulster Bank, said a hardware fault was to blame and claimed the problem was rectified within two hours. It apologised for an ‘unacceptable failure’ and promised to compensate customers for any losses they suffered. But RBS insisted there was no link to last summer’s chaos, when a botched software upgrade left 16million RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank customers unable to make or receive payments – in some cases for several weeks. RBS, which received a £45.5billion bail-out from taxpayers in 2008, has already set aside £175million to compensate customers for June’s chaos. It could not say how many were affected by Wednesday night’s problems but a message board on NatWest’s website was swamped with complaints, some of which referred to the company’s ‘helpful banking’ slogan. One customer wrote: ‘I can’t get to work as card declined on train, so lost a day’s wage and [you] expect me to pay to call for info!’ Another said: ‘Really upset that NatWest comms have failed again. We understand that things sometimes go wrong – but ‘helpful banking’ is all about helping people and communication with them. After last year’s fiasco I stuck with you, but now I’m not going to.’ A Twitter user from Aylesbury said: ‘All that money made, all that money paid out in bonuses, all those software migration issues ignored.’ Helpful banking? This was the error screen on the NatWest online banking website last night as millions were unable to use services for several hours . @SteveJayUK : #natwest A very disappointed customer, once again your system fails and all we get is a sorry. Time to get a grip.‏ . @Konichikagawa: @NatWest_Help so will you be paying for our telephone bill for 0845? no… I’m switching this weekend. s*** customer service. s*** banking‏ . @ClareMiller1: Tried to book our holiday last night, unfortunately #natwest were having problems again. Hope the price hasn't gone up today/tomorrow :( . @isofarro: Some good news, my bank NatWest allowed me to buy a train ticket with my NatWest card this morning. that was terribly nice of them . The latest shambles came as RBS boss Stephen Hester scooped a shares bonus worth nearly £700,000. He received almost 23,000 shares yesterday from a bonus awarded in 2010. Mr Hester forfeited his bonus for 2012, worth up to £2.4million, following last summer’s chaos. Marc Gander of the Consumer Action Group, said: ‘It would be far more appropriate for RBS to spend this money on improving its disastrous IT systems rather than shovelling more into Hester’s personal trough’. RBS said it spends between £1billion and £2billion a year on its IT systems, which have privately been described as ‘chronic’ by regulators and are thought to be the reason why rival bank Santander pulled out of a £1.65billion deal to buy 315 of its branches last year. An RBS spokesman said: ‘We apologise for the disruption our customers experienced last night. ‘All systems are up and running as normal, though any customers with any individual problems should get in touch with us. ‘Any customer who was left out of pocket due to this outage should get in touch so we can put things right for them.’

Customers bombard message boards and social networks following fault . RBS insist there was no link to last summer's chaos . News comes as boss scooped a shares bonus worth nearly £700,000 .

0287e6e3fdfea50a2ae3fb88fc36a729552cc8f1

London (CNN) -- The Olympic torch is set to make a dramatic entry to London Friday, descending via a 180-foot line from a helicopter to the historic Tower of London. The torch's arrival in the capital begins the final week before the Games open and the final stage in its long journey. More than 10 million people have already lined the streets of more than 1,000 communities around Britain to see the torch, which has been carried by more than 7,000 torchbearers, Olympic organizers said. Nearly 1,000 more will carry the torch along nearly 200 miles of London streets over the coming week, before it takes a starring role at the opening ceremony at the Olympic Park on July 27. Read about Greece passing the Olympic flame to Britain . Eighteen torchbearers will carry the flame on the final day of the relay, with seven of them traveling with it down the River Thames on the royal barge Gloriana, which played a central role in the Diamond Jubilee river pageant for Queen Elizabeth II. The torch's arrival at the Tower of London on Friday evening promises to be eye-catching. A Royal Marine commando, carrying the flame in a lantern, will abseil -- the technique known as "rappel" in the United States -- 180 feet from a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter into the grounds, where London Mayor Boris Johnson will be waiting to greet it. The torch will be carried around the Tower, which dates back to the 11th century, before spending the night in the safekeeping of the Jewel House, home of the Crown Jewels. The buildup to the Olympics has been overshadowed by a security fiasco caused by the failure of contractor G4S to supply enough guards for the Games. 2012 Olympic flame lit in ancient stadium . But Johnson told CNN's Becky Anderson that while London 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," the mayor 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." Look at photos of the journey of the Olympic flame . Authorities said Thursday that an additional 1,200 British troops were being placed on standby for the Olympic Games. The company's recruitment shortfall had already forced the government to call in 3,500 extra military personnel to help. Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, the minister in charge of overseeing the Games, said that there was no need to deploy extra troops but that putting 1,200 on standby means they can be moved within 48 hours rather than seven days if required. G4S has a £284 million ($444 million) government contract to provide 10,400 security staff for the Olympic Games, but only about 4,000 guards are trained and ready. It expects to provide at least 7,000 by the time the Games start, chief executive Nick Buckles told lawmakers earlier this week. Home Secretary Theresa May gave more details on how the fiasco unfolded in a letter sent to the head of Parliament's Home Affairs Committee on Thursday. Although the Home Office did not become aware of the full extent of the shortfall until July 11, G4S had alerted the government to "scheduling problems" affecting staff numbers on June 28, she said. Once it became clear how large the shortfall would be, the government put its contingency plans into operation, she wrote. "G4S will still be making a substantial contribution to venue security," she wrote. "All G4S personnel working on venue security duties will have had training for the role they are undertaking," May added. The G4S recruits are supposed to perform tasks including venue perimeter security, such as manning X-ray machines, searching people, searching vehicles and operating closed-circuit television systems, the company said.

A Royal Marine commando will bring the flame from a helicopter into the Tower of London . Torchbearers will carry the flame along 200 miles of London streets this week . The Olympic Games open in the city on July 27 . The buildup to the Games has been overshadowed by a fiasco over security guards .

0288282329f6cc0b9bb490ffb4fc2d60c76f86af

By . Kieran Corcoran . PUBLISHED: . 05:11 EST, 4 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 05:57 EST, 4 March 2014 . Spy: John Bingham was an MI5 agent who tricked British fascists into revealing their allegiances in the Second World War . A Second World War intelligence agent who inspired fictional spy George Smiley 'hated everything' about how author John le Carré portrayed the secret services, it has been claimed. John Bingham, an MI5 agent, exposed Nazi sympathisers in Britain by convincing them he was a German double agent. After gaining the trust of undercover fascists, he convinced them to reveal secrets which were fed back to the intelligence services. Mr le Carré, whose works include The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, revealed in 1999 that Smiley was inspired by Bingham, who had been his boss at MI5. George Smiley features in eight of le Carré's novels and was played by Gary Oldman in the 2011 film adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The true extent of Mr Bingham's espionage was revealed just days ago when the National Archives declassified a cache of documents 25 years after his death. The files show how he was able to root out traitors among the aristocracy and intellectual elite, including worrying links between Nazi sympathisers and a Cabinet Minister. Mr Bingham was also passed plans for a jet aircraft and even an amphibious tank by people who believed they were helping the Germans. But the spy, who went on to become a celebrated author himself, turned on his former colleague and friend Mr le Carré and grew to detest what he wrote about the British intelligence services, it was claimed today. Portrayal: Mr Bingham inspired fictional spy George Smiley, pictured right played by Gary Oldman in the 2011 adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy . Acclaimed: George Smiley is a central character in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy . Old colleagues: Mr le Carré, pictured above in 2008, worked under Mr Bingham in MI5 . Lord Lexden, a Conservative peer and historian, said that 'modest hero' Mr Bingham 'was not treated as respectfully as he deserved by his protégé John le Carré... he was hurt by the portrayal of his secret world in the novels'. In a letter published today by the Daily Telegraph, Lord Lexden wrote that Mr Bingham once said that Mr le Carré 'was my friend, but I deplore and hate everything he has done and said against the intelligence services'. The declassified files do not refer to Mr . Bingham directly, but reveal the activities of 'Jack King', which was . the spy's pseudonym. The declassified files do not name John Bingham directly, but refer to 'Jack King'. Although the intelligence services would never confirm the true identity of its agents, the moniker would fit with an old tradition for MI5 operatives to chose pseudonyms which sound similar to their real names. This was done to protect the agents in case somebody accidentally used their real name - which they could pretend had simply been misheard. Reports on the files published earlier in the week tell how, from 1942, Mr Bingham had direct contact with six men and women who believed he was working for the Gestapo. They in turn passed on information on 'probably hundreds' of Nazi sympathisers int he country. He was also able to gather information on British Union of Fascists founder Sir Oswald Mosley. Diaries of Mr Bingham's MI5 superiors speaking of plans to take key British fascist figures to court on the basis of the evidence gathered, but the agency appears to have changed its mind when it became obvious that the trial could not proceed without calling on Mr Bingham as a witness, blowing his cover. Mr Bingham, an impoverished Irish aristocrat also known as the 7th Baron Clanmorris, also worked as a reporter and an author, penning 17 novels himself. He died in 1988.

John Bingham convinced British fascists he was part of the Gestapo . Persuaded them to give up secrets and hand over names of allies . Recently declassified documents reveal extent of his secret operation . Later worked alongside author John le Carré in MI5 and inspired him . Character George Smiley, once portrayed by Gary Oldman, based on him . But historian reveals that Mr Bingham 'deplored and hated everything' his former friend 'had done and said against the intelligence services'

02886c4d6106f3db522c98882706505005cb5963

By . Steve Doughty . PUBLISHED: . 18:34 EST, 31 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 18:41 EST, 31 July 2013 . The plight of a middle-aged stroke victim who wants a nurse to help him die threw the controversial laws on suicide into fresh turmoil yesterday. Appeal judges decided that the 48-year-old victim, known only as Martin, should be given new guidelines on whether a nurse who helps him end his life will be prosecuted for assisted suicide. The decision means that for the second time in four years the Director of Public Prosecutions has been instructed by judges to draw up rules on who will and who will not be charged with helping a suicide, a crime that can bring a jail sentence of 14 years. Ruling: The case of the 48-year-old, known only as Martin, was one of three right-to-die hearings at the Court of Appeal in central London (pictured) The Court of Appeal ruling was immediately challenged by the DPP, Keir Starmer. Mr Starmer, who is to step down as head of the Crown Prosecution Service in the autumn, called for a final ruling from the higher Supreme Court before he produces new guidelines. And it was also condemned in a ringing dissenting opinion by the most senior of the three judges who heard Martin's case. Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, the head of the judiciary in England and Wales, broke with his two colleagues and said the DPP should not be given powers to reform the law on his own. The Martin ruling was one of three cases of desperately disabled individuals who hope to die decided by the Court of Appeal yesterday. In a second case, 57-year-old road accident victim Paul Lamb was told that no doctor will be allowed to help him take his own life at home. Decision: Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, the head of the judiciary in England and Wales, broke with his two colleagues and said the DPP should not be given powers to reform the law on his own . Lord Judge, sitting with Master of the Rolls Lord Dyson and Lord Justice Elias, also denied the pleas of the family of locked-in syndrome sufferer Tony Nicklinson that human rights law means he should have been entitled to help to die. 'I think it would be sensible for the CPS, if possible, to have the benefit of the views of the Supreme Court before any amendments are made to the DPP's guidelines in this important and sensitive area of the law' Keir Starmer, Director of Public Prosecutions . Mr Nicklinson died last summer at the age of 58 before his request came to the Appeal Court. His death came after he refused to take food and drink shortly after losing a first High Court case last summer, and his wife Jane has been allowed to pursue his claim. The judges said that it is for Parliament to make the law on assisted suicide. But in the Martin case two of the . judges overruled Lord Judge and said he was right to ask for 'clearer . guidance' from the DPP on whether a nurse or doctor brought in to help . him will face prosecution. Martin . suffered a brainstem stroke five years ago which left him almost . entirely unable to move and without the ability to speak. Died last summer: Lord Judge also denied the pleas of the family of locked-in syndrome sufferer Tony Nicklinson (pictured) that human rights law means he should have been entitled to help to die . He communicates by moving his head and . eyes, and by staring at a computer which can detect when he looks at a . letter or number, a process described by the judges as 'painfully slow'. Instructed to draw up rules: The Court of Appeal ruling was immediately challenged by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer . Lord Dyson and Lord Justice Elias said: 'He finds his life and his condition to be undignified, distressing and intolerable.' They said Martin had tried to dehydrate and starve himself to death, but 'his attempt failed in the most distressing circumstances.' His alternative, the judges said, was to travel to the Dignitas suicide clinic in Zurich. But, they said, Martin's wife, who is a nurse, does not want to help him die and will not help him travel to Switzerland. He therefore needs to find someone else to help him, and the DPP should give clearer guidance on whether that person will be prosecuted. Mr Starmer drew up guidelines in 2010 on the instructions of the courts. These say that an assisted suicide prosecution is more likely if a medical professional helps in the death. The DPP said yesterday: 'While I respect the carefully considered judgment of the Court of Appeal, I think it would be sensible for the CPS, if possible, to have the benefit of the views of the Supreme Court before any amendments are made to the DPP's guidelines in this important and sensitive area of the law.' Lord Judge said in his dissenting opinion: 'Prosecutorial guidance is in danger of expanding into a method of law reform which is outside the proper ambit of the DPP's responsibilities.' He said that prosecution guidelines could be applied so that people who should in law be prosecuted escape without criminal charges.

Case of 'Martin' was one of three right-to-die hearings at Court of Appeal . Judges instructed DPP to draw up rules on charges for assisting suicide . Challenged by DPP who calls for final ruling from higher Supreme Court . Martin left unable to move and without speech after stroke five years ago .

02887117a166b724f3e086138f91715c505c724d

(CNN)Hollywood's leading women want to be treated with a little more respect as they parade the red carpet on Oscar night this Sunday. And it's not hard to sympathize with them. Female nominees, it seems, are tired of simply engaging in the same old small talk about the make of their gowns, the jewels they are wearing, or the footwear they're flaunting (not to mention the intimate secrets of their personal beautification process). So they have been pushing back in the form of #AskHerMore, a campaign launched last year that's being waged by women in Hollywood wanting to broaden the scope of their pre-telecast conversations beyond fashion. Whether it be Cate Blanchett's pointed question to a cameraman at last year's SAG Awards, or contenders refusing to raise their hands for E! Entertainment's "Mani-Cam," actresses are starting to speak out about some of the more sexist treatment they face. So, can we expect a red carpet rebellion at this year's Academy Awards? Far from it. Posing like a supermodel and discussing couture delivers a big payoff -- a lucrative contract representing a luxury brand of cosmetics, watches, automobiles or even bottled water and automobiles. Such contracts give stars an extra income, allowing them to refrain, if they choose, from making B-list movies or popcorn blockbusters. Plus, fronting a glossy campaign can also create a sophisticated aura around the star in question. And this award season has felt even longer than usual. Instead of kicking off with January's Golden Globes, it started two months early, in November 2014, with the Hollywood Film Awards. Purists lampooned the telecast, which despite proclaiming itself the "Official Launch of the Awards Season" has seemed barely known to much of the public beyond Hollywood. Yet that didn't stop the talent considered a shoo-in for the big prizes from being out in force at the ceremony, gamely fielding pre-telecast questions from film and fashion reporters. And this week, the Oscar front-runners are still talking fashion, despite the word on the ground here in Los Angeles being that some nominees are nursing colds, while others already have blisters from walking miles of red carpet in their borrowed designer stilettos. For some, it seems, the thinking is #AskHerMore be damned! It didn't used to be like this. Serious actors -- especially those intent on winning an Oscar -- once refrained from the "grubby" work of advertising. Cher's decision to promote health clubs in a series of TV commercials, for example, was seen by many as scuttling her shot as best actress for the 1985 film "Mask." If an actor did decide to promote a brand, he or she would generally do so on the sly, in Japan, and pocket big money out of sight of Western audiences (much easier in the pre-YouTube era). Today there is no such stigma. Last year's red carpet star Lupita Nyong'o, who secured a statuette for "12 Years A Slave," got an early jump on the Oscar buzz-generating action at the Telluride Film Festival in August before embarking on a six-month stretch of appearances in which she seemed to divide her time between film industry functions (which allow for networking opportunities with Academy voters) and fashion goings-on. On the day her Golden Globe nomination was announced, for example, Nyong'o was attending the Paris couture shows. A month after Nyong'o claimed the best supporting actress Oscar, Lancôme Paris announced she would be one of its brand ambassadors. This is all a far cry from the days when the shoe was on the other foot, and it was old Hollywood's leading women who felt honored to be associated with their stylists. Golden age stars like Marlene Dietrich and Audrey Hepburn were proud of their associations with style gurus like Christian Dior and Hubert de Givenchy -- and they also paid for their clothes -- while Grace Kelly, Sophia Loren, Janet Leigh and Elizabeth Taylor relied on Edith Head, the head of the costume department at Paramount Pictures, to prep them for awards-season premieres and the Oscars. Similarly, on her way to winning the best actress prize for "Caberet" in 1973, Liza Minnelli sought out the services of design legend Halston, reportedly to ensure that she would have an image that would keep her out of the shadow of her legendary mother, Judy Garland. Halston's reported advice? Minnelli should purchase a set of Louis Vuitton luggage, which he then filled with clothes, footwear and jewels all made to measure for her. Still, for a time, the demise of the studio system and feminist ideals started to put paid to women prettifying themselves (too much) for awards season. Indeed, a slew of late 1970s and '80s winners sported pantsuits and cocktail attire at the Golden Globes and the Oscars. But Sharon Stone's reasoning that "If you are going to the Oscars, you might as well go to the Oscars" may have marked a resurgence of glamor. Onetime model Stone liked fashion and understood how to wear fine jewelry. And today, her successors on the nominations list, actresses like Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore -- respected both for their style and talent -- carry her torch. And increasingly, male leads seem interested in getting in on the act. Eddie Redmayne, up for best actor for "The Theory of Everything," has been a regular presence at events on TV. And although he hasn't been nominated for an Academy Award, Ellar Coltrane of "Boyhood" has been working the style angle, becoming a red carpet star and the face of Richard Linklater's coming-of-age epic. And like Nyong'o, whose claim to fame prior to "12 Years a Slave" was an MTV Base show, Coltrane has shot to overnight stardom . Clad in sharp Armani tuxedos and plush velvet Isaia suits, he has gamely chatted his way through E! pre-telecasts. So if you tune in on Sunday, don't expect the stars to be camera-shy, even if they are cringing inside at the questions they are being asked. After all, while some of them will be collecting awards for work already completed, the Oscar pre-show is also a chance for many of them to be auditioning for some more work -- whether it's on the silver screen or a magazine cover. And for that reason alone, the red carpet circus isn't going anywhere.

Academy Awards ceremony takes place this Sunday . Bronwyn Cosgrave: Posing like a supermodel delivers a big payoff .

0288d3bd3bd65bae7f8e9b29b63b14d045f3c4d5

British Interpol officials had warned that a professor’s son arrested over a frenzied murder in Costa Rica was a dangerous individual linked to a string of sex crimes and likely to commit acts of barbarism. Alfred Saunders – the son of wealthy London academics – was captured last Wednesday as he emerged covered in blood from a tent in which Alexandra Drbohlavova had been stabbed to death. The 20-year-old is in a high-security . jail awaiting investigation for the gruesome murder at an idyllic . rainforest ‘eco farm’ owned by a Briton. Victim: Alexandra Drbohlavova died following 15 stab wounds . The 20-year-old is in a high-security jail awaiting investigation for the gruesome murder at an idyllic rainforest ‘eco farm’ owned by a Briton. A senior Costa Rican police official last night told the Mail that a ‘green Interpol alert’ had been sent out from Britain in November saying Saunders was at large in Central America. It linked him to sex crimes, possession of explosives and a fatal assault. The alert said he was liable to commit offences against minors. Marisel Rodriguez, of Costa Rica’s judicial police force, said officials picked up on Saunders’s alleged past when he crossed the border from Nicaragua the day after Boxing Day. Inexplicably, he was still allowed to enter the country. The next day he turned up without warning, and with almost no possessions, at the farm owned by Nic Donati. Mr Donati took pity on him and gave . him a tent for the night – yet hours later reportedly had to overpower . him after hearing the screams of Czech student Miss Drbohlavova. Arrested: Suspect Alfred Saunders is led away by Costa Rica police . The 22-year-old, who had been a . volunteer at the farm for just over a fortnight, was stabbed 15 times in . the face, neck and chest. Miss Rodriguez said: ‘The man being held over the murder of the Czech woman is the subject of a green Interpol notice. ‘It’s a warning mechanism Interpol . uses and makes available to other countries’ law enforcement agencies . and border control organisations. ‘In Mr Saunders’s case it was for sex . crimes, assault resulting in death, torture or acts of barbarism, and . the possession of firearms, ammunition or explosives. ‘The notice described him as a violent individual who as well as being a suicide risk, was liable to commit sexual crimes against minors and could be armed. ‘It also described him as suffering from mental illness.’ This image of murdered student Alexandra Drbohlavova (circled) with friends emerged today. It was taken in Domino Park, Miami, five days before she flew to Costa Rica . Suspect Alfred Saunders with a towel over his head is led away by Costa Rican police officers . Alexandra - a keen volleyball player - had gone on to study at Florida's Miami University in the U.S. She said Costa Rican Interpol had recommended he be refused entry to the country but immigration officials took a different view. ‘Our understanding is that Mr Saunders has a police record and may have been tried but not necessarily convicted on all if any of the crimes,’ she added. ‘We haven’t been given any detailed information on where these other offences are said to have taken place but my understanding is that it was in Britain.’ Saunders is the son of Max Saunders, professor of English at Kings College London and of his former wife, Catia Galatariotou, a psychoanalyst. He lived with his mother at her £1million mews house in Notting Hill. The prison holding Saunders was in lockdown yesterday following a gang fight which left two dead and ten other injured. Gun-toting wardens patrolled barbed wire-swathed watch towers to prevent further violence. Last night, friends in Miss Drbohlavova’s native Prague talked of their shock at her death – and of her selfless life. The philosophy graduate, Christian and volleyball player had been undertaking further studies at Miami University and had travelled to Costa . Rica to further her research during her Christmas break. Lenka Janalova, a university friend from Prague, said: ‘I can’t believe this has happened. It is an absolute shock to all of us who knew her. ‘Sasa (her nickname) was such a kind, sweet person. She was always smiling and willing to help others. ‘I . can only imagine the horror she must have felt when she found a man . inside her tent. She was always so calm and peaceful – the horror of this . is beyond words.’ Tourist destination: Costa Rica has many national parks with volcanoes and rainforests. As a result of the country's reputation for relative safety in Central America, it has proved popular with British 'gap-year' youngsters seeking adventure. Tomas Johanovsky, another friend, said she had helped to run a scout group in Prague since she was 15, and became a volunteer leader for the troop when she turned 18. He said: ‘She was a very good friend and very dedicated to helping people. She was always open and friendly, and never said anything bad about anyone. ‘She saw the best in people and was one of our most popular leaders.’ He said the Drbohlavova family had previously lived in the U.S. and Miss Drbohlavova had been looking forward to returning to study there. Mr Johanovsky added: ‘She was interested in nature and the environment. I knew she was hoping to travel to help her studies.’ Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.

Suspect Alfred Saunders linked to string of sex crimes and likely to commit acts of barbarism . The 20-year-old is in a high-security . jail awaiting investigation for the gruesome murder at an idyllic . rainforest ‘eco farm’

02891fb68db2d07b44fc75330d2da453bc979d37

(CNN) -- South Africa's Caster Semenya has been given the all-clear to compete again as a woman after undergoing a series of gender tests, the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) announced Tuesday. "The process initiated in 2009 in the case of Caster Semenya has now been completed," the IAAF said in a statement on its website. "The IAAF accepts the conclusion of a panel of medical experts that she can compete with immediate effect." The IAAF added: "The medical details of the case remain confidential and the IAAF will make no further comment on the matter." The 19-year-old Semenya was delighted to be able to return, after nearly a year of controversy and uncertainty. "I am thrilled to enter the global athletics arena once again and look forward to competing with all the disputes behind me," she said in a statement released by her legal team. Semenya emerged from obscurity at the beginning of last year to run world class times over 800 meters, culminating in victory over the distance in the world championships in Berlin in August. Her runaway gold medal performance in one minute 55.45 seconds raised eyebrows and the IAAF announced at the championships that they would be conducting tests to determine her gender. On return to South Africa, Semenya became a cause celebre among the public and was feted by leading politicians, who were angered by her treatment. But it later emerged that Athletics South Africa (ASA) had carried out a gender test on her even before she departed for Berlin. The ASA president at the time, Leonard Chuene, initially denied that such a test had taken place, but was forced to admit he lied and has been suspended along with the rest of the ASA board. Semenya's lawyer Greg Nott said that the decision to allow her to compete again had come after protracted negotiations between the IAAF and her own medical team. "Our direct negotiations with the IAAF representatives, through the mediator, have been ongoing for 10 months," he said. "Meetings have been held in Monaco, Istanbul and Paris, but due to the nature of the matter the parties resolved to keep the negotiations confidential," Nott added. Semenya now has the opportunity to compete in the world junior championships in Canada later this month, but October's Commonwealth Games in Delhi is a more realistic target.

Caster Semenya gets the all-clear to compete again as a woman . Semenya has had to undergo a series of gender tests after doubts over her sexuality . Semenya has not raced internationally since winning the world 800 meters title last year .

028b9f8f3c329bfed5a581baf35479b158723fe2

(CNN) -- A fake editorial about WikiLeaks, supposedly by the former executive editor of The New York Times, was making the rounds this weekend. It was mocked up so well that it even fooled at least one Times staffer. The fake piece, written under the name of the Times' Bill Keller, defended the controversial group known for acquiring, and publishing, secret documents from governments throughout the world. On Sunday, the group said its supporters were behind the hoax, which was published on a Web page that looks convincingly like a page on the Times' site. "Yes. We admit it. WikiLeaks (Assange & co) and our great supporters where (sic) behind the successful NYTimes banking blockade hoax on @nytkeller," WikiLeaks posted on its official Twitter feed Sunday. Keller, meanwhile, also said the thoughts weren't his. "There is a fake op-ed going around under my name, about WikiLeaks," he wrote, in all-caps, on his Twitter feed. "Emphasis on 'fake.' As in, not mine." The page was published with an opinion-nytimes.com URL instead of nytimes.com. It linked back to the Times site and resembled a real Times opinion piece in almost every way. Someone also created a fake Twitter account for Keller, replacing one of the lowercase L's in his name with a capital letter I, and tweeted out the editorial. The ruse fooled Nick Bilton, editor of the Times' Bits technology blog, among others. Bilton tweeted the faux post, then quickly deleted it. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has taken refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since last month. He is wanted for questioning on Sweden on sex abuse charges, which his supporters say are politically motivated. Assange, who denies the allegations, has said he fears that if he turns himself in, he'll be sent to the United States. He has angered U.S. officials by, among other things, publishing information allegedly documenting U.S. cyberattacks on Iran and a White House "kill list" of terror suspects. He has not been charged with any crime in either the United States or Sweden. In the fake editorial, it appeared that Keller, who has been critical of WikiLeaks, had decided to support the controversial organization. "As those of you who have followed my turbulent relationship with WikiLeaks and its Guru-In-Chief Julian Assange know, I am first in line when it comes to distancing myself from his brand of transparency without government checks and balances," the fake post reads. "(But) you don't have to embrace Assange as a kindred spirit to believe that what he did in publishing those cables falls under the protection of the First Amendment." The post links to a February column by Keller when he remarked on being repeatedly asked to speak about WikiLeaks because he was the editor who approved the use of some of its releases in Times stories. "It's amazing they keep inviting me to these things, since I'm a bit of a spoilsport," the real Keller wrote in that February column. "My consistent answer to the ponderous question of how WikiLeaks transformed our world has been: really, not all that much. It was a hell of a story and a wild collaboration, but it did not herald, as the documentarians yearn to believe, some new digital age of transparency. In fact, if there is a larger point, it is quite the contrary."

Fake editorial purportedly by ex-New York Times editor fools some on Web . In it, the Times' Bill Keller, a WikiLeaks critic, appears to support the group . Times' blog editor Nick Bilton shared it on Twitter, before deleting post . On Twitter, WikiLeaks takes credit for the ruse .

028bc1d9578aa056042245dda153fe326754ff92

(CNN) -- The show "Archer" has decided to use some levity to deal with a name that is far from funny these days. The adult animated FX series focuses on operative Sterling Malory Archer (voiced by actor H. Jon Benjamin), who works for the New York-based International Secret Intelligence Service, or ISIS. Given the negative connotation now attached to the name, the Daily Beast reports that it will be phased out when the show returns in January. Creator Adam Reed said he and the executive producers Casey Willis and Matt Thompson decided that the name will go away in the first show of season 6. Reed said he suspected it might become an issue as the terrorist group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria began to make headlines. "Back in season 5, FX said, 'This might be a thing,' and I thought, 'Maybe it won't be? Maybe it'll be the mole that I'm gonna ignore and nothing will happen,' " he told the Daily Beast. "We got sort of lucky and could organically make a merger with the CIA, so we went back and retroactively painted out the ISIS logos in parts of the show, and we just don't talk about it in dialogue." Fans will see two movers pushing out the large circular blue ISIS sign while spy Malory Archer (voiced by veteran actress Jessica Walter) explains to her son that they now work for the CIA. "It's just the most awful thing, and we didn't want to have anything to do with it," Thompson said. "There were people online saying that we should address it and say, 'Oh, I can't believe these guys have co-opted our name.' That's the way 'South Park' would do it, coming after them and saying, 'These a**holes stole our name,' but that's not the way the Archer universe works, where it's all our own creations. In our universe, they don't exist." See more comedy content at CNN Comedy.

ISIS is the name of Archer's employer on the show . It will be changed for season 6 . Producer called it "the most awful thing"

028c5205b899cd26e0226b679e34f7a4baaa7c43

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- The driver of a truck that collided with a bus in northeast Mexico, killing 12 people including 11 passengers from the United States and Canada, was intoxicated, a Mexican official said Tuesday. Emergency workers wheel a crash victim on a gurney after Monday's bus crash in Mexico. The tractor-trailer's 21-year-old driver was among those hospitalized after Monday's crash near Monterrey, Mexico, said Segismundo Doguin Martinez, a police official in the Mexican state of Coahuila. The driver of the bus was among those killed, and 15 bus passengers were injured. The Senda Express bus, operated by Grupo Senda, had been traveling from McAllen, Texas, carrying tourists to Zacatecas in central Mexico. Eight of those who died were from the United States, three were from Canada and one, the bus driver, was from Mexico, Doguin said. Watch rescuers work at scene of deadly crash » . The survivors, most of them in grave condition, were taken to the Christus Muguerza Hospital and the Clinica La Concepcion, the Mexican official said. "They are in a delicate state but out of danger," Doguin said. El Milenio newspaper reported on its Web site that eight of the injured are from the United States, four are from Canada and three from Mexico. Seven of the injured Americans are from Texas and one is from Iowa, the newspaper said. El Norte newspaper's Web site and El Porvenir said the dead and injured included tourists. Among those killed in the crash was 73-year-old Ronald Christy, said his daughter, Pam Fordyce. Christy's wife, Margaret Christy, was in critical condition in a Mexican hospital, Fordyce said. "He was doing exactly what he loved -- traveling," Fordyce, of Altoona, Iowa, told CNN by telephone Tuesday. "He was right where he would want to be, on a bus." She said the couple wintered in Texas and lived in West Liberty, Iowa, in the summer. The U.S. consulate called her at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday to tell her that her father had been killed, Fordyce said, and then followed up with an e-mail with photographs of the crash. "I didn't even know he was on a bus," she said. "I guess I could believe [the consulate] when I talked to my brother" who knew the couple was traveling, she said. "Until then you don't want to believe anything." Doguin, the Mexican official, said the accident occurred when a truck driver went off the road and then overcorrected and swerved into oncoming traffic, hitting the bus. Video of the scene from CNN affiliate TV Azteca 13 showed the left side of the bus sheared off and the semi's cab completely flattened. Rescue efforts took five hours, TV Azteca 13 reported. The U.S. consulate in Monterrey will not release the names of the dead or injured until all family members have been notified, said consulate spokesman Todd Huizinga. "On Monday evening, staff from the consulate in Monterrey went to the Christus Muguerza Hospital to offer assistance to some of the injured who were brought there after the crash," Huizinga said. "The consulate expects to have more detail in the coming hours." The truck driver was injured and is being held by authorities at a hospital, Doguin said. The Web site for Grupo Senda says the company started in Linares, Mexico, more than 75 years ago. It provides bus service to 15 Mexican states and the Texas Valley, the site says. Elizabeth Suarez, director of the McAllen Central Bus Station, where the bus trip originated, issued a statement saying, "We are very saddened by the news this morning. We offer our condolences to the families. The city of McAllen is the landlord of the bus terminal facility in McAllen. Grupo Senda is our tenant." CNN's Melanie Whitley, Taylor Gandossy, Tess Eastment and Monica Trevino contributed to this report from Atlanta, Georgia.

NEW: Tractor-trailer driver, 21, was intoxicated, official says . 18-wheeler swerved into oncoming traffic, official says; side of bus sheared off . Death toll at 12: Eight from U.S., three from Canada, and bus driver, from Mexico . Victim's daughter in Iowa says consulate called at 1:30 a.m. with word of crash .

028c5f418e08ed4e96d7139ba902f2eb9987d9c5

By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 12:23 EST, 25 March 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:23 EST, 25 March 2013 . Economic advisers to the German government more than halved their forecast for 2013 growth today, blaming a sharp fourth-quarter contraction and weak prospects for foreign trade and investment. The advisers, known in Germany as the 'wise men', predicted the economy would almost grind to a halt this year, growing just 0.3 per cent compared to 0.7 per cent in 2012. In October they had forecast Europe's largest economy to expand 0.8 per cent in 2013, but data has since shown that it shrank by 0.6 per cent in the last three months of 2012. Economic advisers to the German government, housed in the Reichstag, more than halved their forecast for 2013 growth . Foreign trade, traditionally the main driver of German growth, would subtract 0.3 percentage points from German gross domestic product (GDP) this year, the advisers said. Demand for Germany's goods has weakened as austerity measures and recession take their toll on demand in other members of the euro zone, where Germany sends 40 per cent of its shipments. The advisers said investment was unlikely to make any significant contribution to growth in the first half of 2013. They see capital investment dropping by 3 per cent over the year, a slight improvement compared with 2012, when firms invested 4.8 per cent less in machinery and equipment. Some German companies are making cuts, with Air Berlin, the country's second biggest carrier, saying it would focus on savings this year. Retailer Metro has said it would reduce overall investment in the shortened 2013 year to below the 954 million euros it put into its business in the first nine months of 2012. The advisers said growth would primarily come from domestic demand, with private consumption increasing by 0.7 per cent and government spending rising by an upwardly revised 1.7 per cent. 'Especially household final consumption expenditure should continue to display a robust development, given that the labour market is still remarkably stable,' the advisers said in a statement. Germany's jobless rate is close to its lowest since the country reunited more than two decades ago and the number of Germans out of work fell in February. Air Berlin, the country's second biggest carrier, saying it would focus on savings this year . In addition, inflation is moderate, wages are rising and paltry interest rates are giving consumers little incentive to save. Data due out later this week is expected to bolster the advisers' expectations by showing that the number of unemployed Germans fell by 4,000 in March and consumer sentiment held steady heading into April. The influential Ifo survey last week showed German business morale fell in March, breaking a four-month run of gains and highlighting concerns the reignited debt crisis in the euro zone will test Germany's resilience. Consumer price inflation will ease to 1.7 per cent this year from 2.0 per cent last year and the unemployment rate will edge up to 6.9 per cent from 6.8 per cent, the advisers said, which is still near post-reunification lows.

Germany economy shrank by 0.6 per cent in the last three months of 2012 .

028c96949c7d2bdf46e1ab89cd0c6ef4ded963ff

By . Associated Press . PUBLISHED: . 20:39 EST, 8 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 08:12 EST, 9 January 2013 . Anheuser-Busch InBev said Tuesday that is introducing a new specialty beer - an amber lager with a higher alcohol content - and will promote its new brew with a Super Bowl ad. The maker of Budweiser, Bud Light and other brews will launch Budweiser Black Crown with a 30-second ad on February 3 during Super Bowl 47, though the beer will be available in stores nationwide starting January 21. It will be sold in 12-ounce glass bottles in six- and 12-packs, and in 22-ounce single bottles. New contender? Budweiser Black Crown is brewer Anheuser-Busch's attempt to break into the specialty beer market . The launch comes a year after Anheuser-Busch InBev introduced Bud Light Platinum, another specialty beer, during the 2012 Super Bowl. Like Budweiser Black Crown, Bud Light Platinum has an alcohol content of 6 percent - Budweiser's is 5 percent. Benj Steinman, editor of Beer Marketer's Insights, said Anheuser-Busch InBev is seeking to compete with the large variety of specialty products now on the market. Though Budweiser outsells its four nearest competitors combined in what is known as the 'premium regular beer' market, that market isn't what it used to be. 'Budweiser peaked at 50 million barrels in 1988 - it's only about one-third of that at this point,' Steinman said. 'There's a constant desire among beer . consumers these days for innovation, flavor, variety. That's why . cocktails and spirits have gained strength.' Thanks to Budweiser (left), Anheuser-Bush outsells its four nearest competitors combined in the 'premium regular market' but demand for specialty beer is growing. Black Crown (right) is the brewer's reaction to this . Budweiser Black Crown's recipe resulted from a challenge to Anheuser-Busch InBev's 12 brewmasters, an effort dubbed Project 12, the company said. The brewmasters developed six beers, which customers sampled last year during a testing phase. The company received 25,000 opinions on the samples. The winning recipe came from Bryan Sullivan, a brewmaster in Los Angeles. 'As brewmasters we spend most of our time in the brewhouse,' Sullivan said. 'Project 12 gave us a chance to hear firsthand from the people we brew our beers for.' Company officials said Budweiser Black Crown blends two-row caramel malt with four types of domestic hops, finished on a bed of Beechwood chips. 'It stays true to the original Budweiser recipe but has its own unique take,' said Budweiser Black Crown's senior brand manager, Nate Scudieri. In addition to the 30-second Super Bowl spot, national advertising will include billboards, digital, radio and print, along with social media.

Budweiser Black Crown will be promoted during Superbowl show on February 3 . New amber lager aims to compete with specialty beer market and is 6 percent in alcohol content, stronger than 5-percent Budweiser .

028d564ebdabad1214f079ae6c669a760e8e385b

(CNN) -- It is the scariest diagnosis imaginable. So terrifying, it seems, that many people with early signs of Alzheimer's disease dwell for years in a state of denial. Sandy Halperin, who was diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer's at age 60, is trying to change that. He's allowing CNN to follow him and his family as he faces his diagnosis bravely. See the first chapter of his story here: http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2014/09/health/sandys-story/ . Then join Sandy, Ruth Drew, director of family and information services for the Alzheimer's Association, and CNN producer Stephanie Smith in the comments section on this page for a discussion on Tuesday, September 23 from 3 to 4 p.m. ET. The comments section will open a few minutes before 3 p.m. and will remain open for an hour.

Join Sandy Halperin from 3 to 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday for a discussion about Alzheimer's . Log-in to your CNN Disqus account to post your comments .

028df16d5652f1bcb1bdb4e39d4eae8fcf8666b9

(CNN) -- In its ruling in Windsor v. United States, the Supreme Court paved the way for states and the federal government to legally recognize the marriages of same-sex couples. As we near the one-year anniversary of that historic decision, here's a look back at the history of marriage equality, how we got here, and where the fight for equality still has to go. In the beginning, there was Adam and Steve... OK, that's not exactly true. I don't know; I wasn't there personally. But we do know that gay coupling has been around for a long time. Around 350 B.C., in "The Symposium," Plato said there should be an army composed of same-sex lovers. In fact, there was such an army: the Sacred Band of Thebes. They were renowned for their valor and frequent victories. Fast forward a bit: In 1972, just five years after the United States Supreme Court overturned anti-miscegenation laws that barred interracial marriages, the Supreme Court dismissed a case brought by two men who were denied a marriage license in Minnesota. A year later, Maryland became the first state to pass a law explicitly banning marriage between same-sex couples. And so we enter the dark era of explicit attacks and prohibitions on same-sex marriage equality. It went downhill for a while. In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act, banning federal recognition of same-sex marriages and authorizing one state to not recognize a same-sex marriage performed in another state, even though the Constitution requires states to honor each other's laws. Anyway, 35 states adopted laws defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman, with 26 of those states putting that discrimination in their constitutions. You with me so far? Meanwhile, in the midst of all these anti-gay marriage laws still being adopted, in 2004 a judge in Massachusetts ruled that it was unconstitutional under the state constitution to allow only opposite-sex couples to marry. Four years later, the California and Connecticut Supreme Courts made similar rulings. A year later, in 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court did the same. That same year, Vermont and Maine become the first states to legislatively enact marriage equality. Voters, legislatures and courts kept wrestling with the issue. But in 2012, a majority of voters in Maine, Maryland and the state of Washington passed marriage equality ballot measures, and voters in Minnesota struck down a constitutional amendment that would restrict the state's definition of marriage. It's as if the new century brought a new day for gay couples. And there was no turning back. Same-sex parent families: Share your story . Today, 19 states and the District of Columbia allow same-sex couples the freedom to marry. In an additional 11 states, judges have ruled in favor of marriage equality but the cases are tied up in appeals. Fully 3/5 of our country is now firmly on the side of equality and fairness, as are the American people. In 1996 when Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, only 27% of Americans supported same-sex marriage. Today, 55% of Americans think same-sex marriages should be fully recognized, valid and equal. Among 18- to 29-year-olds, 78% support marriage equality. And those numbers are steadily growing, even among conservatives. Does marriage equality fix every problem facing the gay community? Heck, no. In 29 states, lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans can still be fired from their jobs based solely on their sexual orientation. In 33 states, transgender Americans can be fired based solely on their gender identity. We still don't even have a federal law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Gay men in America earn 10% to 32% less than similarly qualified straight men working in the same occupations. Transgender men and women are both more likely to be the victims of violent crime and more likely to be incarcerated. In some states, same-sex couples are discriminated against in the ability to adopt children. Being able to get married and be as happy — or miserable — as married straight couples in America doesn't make other issues of anti-gay discrimination go away. But marriage equality is a big and important movement toward fairness and justice for all — a movement that is, at this point, unstoppable.

Sally Kohn: It's almost a year since the Supreme Court struck down DOMA . Kohn: Marriage equality is an important movement toward fairness and justice for all . She says despite progress, there is still discrimination against gays and lesbians . Kohn: There is no turning back, with most Americans supporting same-sex marriage .