At first glance it’s your average baby doll, diaper clad and equipped with various bottles of “milk”.
The blonde-haired, blue-eyed youngster looks life-life enough, her mouth upturned in an open-lipped smile, her puffy elbows and knees typical of a newborn.
But on closer inspection she is way more than just a doll, she is the freakish creation of a horror-show design project, developed by UK-based artist Darren Cullen, who goes by the name of “sexyoffender”.
Packaged in a hot pink box, decorated with tiny white hearts, the full extent of “Baby’s First Baby” is more than first meets the eye.
What appears to be a baby belly is in fact a pregnant one. Yes that’s right: Disturbing though it is, baby is herself with child.
Cast your eyes to the top of the box and you’ll see the words: “Real pregnancy action” and the disturbing truth drops.
Baby’s First Baby created by UK artist Darren Cullen
As well as a spare diaper, the mother-to-be toddler doll comes with a fetus in tow, pointed to with a pink arrow, along with the words: “Baby’s baby is pregnant too!”
On the back of the box, included milk bottles and warm towels are advertised, flanked by the assurance: “Batteries not required”. As if you wanted it to move!
Next to a close up of baby’s wide eyes is stamped: “CRAVINGS!” a shot of her belly bearing the words: “STRETCH MARKS!”
Worst of all, the graphic extra features continue to pledge: “WATERS REALLY BREAK!”
Twins are also available, apparently, pictured on the grotesque packaging holding hands and with cute matching hairstyles.
“Twin pregnant babies, each pregnant with their very own set of pregnant twins,” the box reads.
“The fun never stops!”
Darren Cullen’s shocking creation was apparently intended as a commentary on reality shows cashing in on teen pregnancies, gizmodo.com reported.
Frances Bean Cobain stepped out on Friday with a grungy hairstyle reminiscent of her dad.
The daughter of Nirvana legend Kurt Cobain was seen walking through an airport in Los Angeles with pink hair as she channelled the famous rocker.
Frances Bean Cobain, 20, looked quite the rocker as she walked through Los Angeles International Airport with her eye-catching locks, sunglasses, denim jacket, leggings and boots.
Dying her hair the cotton candy hue is certainly an apt tribute to the Smells Like Teen Spirit rocker, who shot himself dead in April 1994.
Frances Bean Cobain looked quite the rocker as she walked through Los Angeles International Airport
Kurt Cobain wore his hair in shades of red and pink for much of 1992 up until she was born, having dyed it for an appearance on Saturday Night Live.
Frances Bean Cobain, whose mother is Hole singer Courtney Love, was flying out of California, and looked in fantastic shape as she made her way through the departure lounge.
The budding artist has previously spoke out to highlight the difference between herself and her famous parents.
Describing her style, she said: “I don’t like to look sloppy. I’m a girlie-girl.
“I prefer when [my mom is a] more classy starlet. I don’t really like her hard-metal stuff, or when she doesn’t brush her hair.”
A single shot was fired through the window of President Barack Obama’s Denver campaign office Friday, according to police.
Police spokeswoman Raquel Lopez says people were inside the office when the shooting happened in the afternoon, but no one was injured.
A large panel of glass was left shattered at the office on West Ninth Avenue near Acoma Street.
Raquel Lopez says investigators are looking at surveillance video but have not yet confirmed a description of a vehicle that might be linked to the shooting. Police didn’t immediately release other details while detectives pursue leads.
She says she isn’t aware of any previous threats against the campaign office.
A large panel of glass was left shattered at Barack Obama’s campaign office on West Ninth Avenue near Acoma Street in Denver
The incident happened at around 3:00 p.m., according to The Denver Post. Sam Levin, a reporter for the alternative newspaper Westword, later posted a photo on Twitter showing one of the office’s large, front windows shattered.
By early evening, the window shards had been removed and a glass company was putting plywood up.
The Secret Service referred questions about the incident to Denver police.
An Obama campaign spokeswoman declined to comment.
Politico reported that the president’s re-election campaign has more than 30 field offices across all of Colorado – a major battleground state in advance of the November 6 election.
Denver was also the site of the first presidential debate between Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama.
Goldie Hawn was stripped of all Hollywood glamour as she braved a make-up free face to check out the building site of her new Los Angeles home on Friday.
Goldie Hawn, who turns 67 next month, was dressed for action in a navy blue tank top with matching capri-length yoga pants and white sneakers.
Despite her workout wear, standing amongst the chain link fences and gravel pavement of the construction area, Goldie Hawn appeared to be far from her neighborhood gym.
Goldie Hawn opted out of wearing a sports bra and still looked fantastic and toned for her age, despite having all her wrinkles on display in the harsh sunlight.
Goldie Hawn steps out make-up free before her 67th birthday
The actress and her partner of three decades, Kurt Russell, have been trying to sell their Malibu mansion for two years – even recently lowering their asking price to $11.2 million.
The busy 61-year-old actor is currently filming a heist comedy called The Black Marks alongside Matt Dillon and Terrence Stamp, which is due out next year.
Although they have never married, the longtime couple – who have a 26-year-old son, Wyatt – are still going strong.
Goldie Hawn recently told Desert Island Discs on Radio 4: “We’ve been together for 29 years now and I think if two people want to make it work, you make it work but if one doesn’t, then you’re sunk.
“I don’t know if it’s been hard work, but that’s all I wanted out of life – a good relationship, a healthy family of mind and body and I feel very honored that this happened. But you do have to put your time in.”
Goldie Hawn also has two children, Kate and Oliver, from her marriage to Bill Hudson.
It was expected to be just another lump of dull basalt, but the first rock examined up close by NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars proved to be a little more interesting.
The pyramidal object, nicknamed “Jake Matijevic” after a recently deceased mission engineer, had a composition not seen on the planet before.
Scientists have likened it to some unusual but well known rocks on Earth.
These form from relatively water-rich magmas that have cooled slowly at raised pressures, said Edward Stolper.
“[The rock is] widespread on Earth, on oceanic islands such as Hawaii, and St Helena, and the Azores; and also in rift zones like the Rio Grande and so forth. So, again, it’s not common, but it’s very well known,” the mission co-investigator from the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, told reporters.
The Curiosity rover examined Jake Matijevic three weeks ago. At the time, the dark rock was not anticipated to have high science value; it was merely an early opportunity to use the robot’s survey instruments in unison.
Jake Matijevic rock found on Mars by Curiosity rover
Jake Matijevic also had an interesting, weathered appearance that drew attention.
The rover first zapped the rock from a distance with its ChemCam laser, and then moved in close to study it with its X-ray spectrometer known as APXS. The latter device is held on the end of the rover’s robotic arm; the laser is mounted on its mast.
Jake Matijevic was found to be high in elements consistent with the mineral feldspar, such as sodium and potassium, and low in elements such as magnesium and iron.
Prof. Edward Stolper compared the signatures with a catalogue containing thousands of Earth rocks, and determined the nearest match to be an igneous type, the formation of which he likened to the production of colonial apple jack liquor.
This saw barrels of cider left outside in winter to partially freeze. As the barrels iced up, they would concentrate the apple-flavored liquor.
A similar process was occurring in the liquid magma several kilometres underground that gave rise to alkalic rocks like Jake Matijevic, said Prof. Edward Stolper.
“In the case of the apple jack, you take out water and concentrate alcohol; in this case you take out particular minerals – olivines, pyroxenes and some feldspars – and you generate a liquid that is very different to what you started with,” he explained.
“So, the composition of Jake Matijevic is a very close match to highly crystallized or fractionated magmas that occur in particular places on Earth.”
Curiosity landed in Mars’ equatorial Gale Crater in August, and has driven eastwards almost 500 m since then.
It is currently stationed just short of a point called Glenelg, where satellite images have revealed a juxtaposition of three different types of terrain.
Scientists expect this location to be a good starting point to begin characterizing the geology of Gale.
The mission is going through something of a lull presently while the rover spends a few days preparing its sample handling system.
It is running dirt through this equipment to scrub surfaces free of any residual contamination from Earth.
This is necessary to avoid skewing the analyses of rock and soil samples delivered to the rover’s onboard laboratories later in the mission.
Curiosity’s goal is to try to determine if Gale ever supported environments that might have allowed microbial life to flourish.
In the short time it has been on the ground, it has already identified rocks that were clearly deposited in fast running water. The theory is that the rover is sitting at the head of an ancient alluvial fan where a network of streams cut across the crater floor billions of years ago.
Fresh clashes have broken out in the Egyptian capital Cairo in the worst violence since President Mohammed Mursi took office at the end of June.
Scores of people were reported injured as supporters and opponents of Mohammed Mursi fought in Tahrir Square.
Tensions are high after Egyptian judges criticized Mohammed Mursi’s attempt to remove the country’s top prosecutor.
It follows the acquittal of 24 people accused of attacks on protesters during last year’s uprising.
Witnesses said a rally critical of the president was taking place in Tahrir Square on Friday when a crowd of his supporters stormed their stage.
Fighting broke out and protesters pelted each other with stones, bottles and petrol bombs.
The Health Ministry put the number of injured at 110, state TV said.
As darkness fell at least two buses, believed to belong to the Muslim Brotherhood which backs Mohammed Mursi, were seen on fire near the square.
An urgent screen caption on Egypt’s state-run Channel 1 TV read: “Muslim Brotherhood group denounces regrettable incidents in Tahrir Square, calls on its members to withdraw from the square.”
In unrest elsewhere, protesters in Egypt’s northern industrial town of Mahalla stormed the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood and tore down pictures of President Mursi, security officials said.
100 days into his term, this is the first time President Mohammed Mursi has experienced big demonstrations against him.
However, it is not clear how much it represents wider discontent with the Muslim Brotherhood and the government.
Egyptians are frustrated that so far the new president appears to have done little to change the country or boost the economy.
Opponents are also angry at Egypt’s proposed new constitution, which they see as too dominated by Islam.
Earlier, a group of Egyptian judges criticized President Mohammed Mursi’s attempt to remove the country’s top prosecutor as a “farce”.
The president said he was reassigning Prosecutor-General Abdel Maguid Mahmoud – regarded as a figure from the era of ousted President Hosni Mubarak – as Vatican envoy.
Abdel Maguid Mahmoud is refusing to go.
The move against Abdel Maguid Mahmoud followed an angry public response to the acquittal of the 24 people who had been accused of sending men on camels and horses to break up a protest in Cairo in 2011, leaving several people dead.
Those accused included Fathi Sorour and Safwat al-Sherif, former speakers of Egypt’s two houses of parliament.
Prosecutors said Safwat al-Sherif, who was also the secretary general of Mubarak’s National Democratic Party (NPD), had “contacted MPs, members of the NDP and financiers of the party, inciting them to disperse the protests in Tahrir Square by force and violence”.
The case is the latest flashpoint between Mohammed Mursi’s government and figures associated with the Mubarak era.
A CNN poll of the U.S. vice-presidential debate watchers released following Thursday’s matchup between Republican Paul Ryan and Vice President Joe Biden showed 48% of respondents named Ryan the winner and 44% said Biden won.
The margin between the two candidates was within the poll’s five point sampling error.
A poll taken immediately after last week’s first presidential debate showed a much more decisive victory for Mitt Romney.
Sixty seven percent of debate watchers questioned said that the Republican nominee won the faceoff, with one in four saying that President Barack Obama was victorious.
Vice-presidential candidates Joe Biden and Paul Ryan have begun their one and only debate, as polling show the US election race tightening.
Vice-President Joe Biden and Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin congressman, clashed for 90 minutes at a college in Kentucky.
Looking much older than her 14-years, Paris Jackson stole the show when she arrived at a red carpet event on Thursday night in Beverly Hills.
Paris Jackson even towered above her aunt, La Toya Jackson, as they dazzled in front of cameras at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
The opinionated daughter of legendary superstar Michael Jackson appeared with her aunt and two brothers – Prince Michael I, 15, and Prince Michael II, 10 – also known as Blanket.
Paris Jackson stole the show when she arrived at a red carpet event on Thursday night in Beverly Hills
Striking Paris Jackson wowed at the Mr. Pink Ginseng Drink launch party in a pretty navy blue floor-length dress, with a dark navy scarf tied loosely around her waist.
Paris Jackson accessorized her look with a diamond-encrusted jewel necklace and wore a small black handbag as she walked the red carpet.
Her brothers both looked perfectly polished in tuxedos as their aunt La Toya Jackson joined them to toast the launch party.
It has been claimed that Elizabeth Taylor not only did have a string of romances with fellow screen stars – but also with Presidents Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy.
The former liaison allegedly occurred when Elizabeth Taylor was a teenager, with the latter encounter reportedly taking place as a threesome with actor Robert Stack, according to an explosive new biography.
Elizabeth Taylor: There is Nothing Like a Dame – penned by authors Danforth Prince and Darwin Potter – is an unauthorized biography that explores the colorful love live of the late National Velvet star.
According to the book, Elizabeth Taylor confessed to a friend after she was seduced at Ronald Reagan’s Hollywood Hills home, saying: “Reagan was treating me like a grown woman, and that thrilled me.
“We sat on his sofa and I could tell he wanted to get it on but he seemed reluctant to make the first move. I became the aggressor.
“After a heavy make-out session on the sofa, we went into the bedroom.”
Danforth Prince and Darwin Potter book is an unauthorized biography that explores the colorful love live of Elizabeth Taylor
The book claims Ronald Regan [born in 1911] was 36 at the time of the alleged encounter, which means it would have been 1947.
That would put Elizabeth Taylor, born in 1932, at just 15-years-old.
The authors claim it was a nude dip in JFK’s pool that would turn into a threesome between the actress, the politician and actor Robert Stack.
Danforth Prince and Darwin Porter allege Elizabeth Taylor also counted Peter Lawford, Errol Flynn, Tony Curtis, Paul Newman and Frank Sinatra as lovers – her romance with Ol’ Blue Eyes becoming one of the more serious.
The Botswana High Court has overturned a customary law which prevented women from inheriting the family home.
The judge ruled that the law contravened the constitution, which guarantees equality for men and women.
Edith Mmusi and her two sisters have fought a five-year legal battle after their nephew said he was the rightful owner of their house.
Correspondents say traditions which stop women from inheriting property exist in many African societies.
Judge Key Dingake said that in the name of fairness and equality women should have the right to inherit property.
“It seems to me that the time has now arisen for the justices of this court to assume the role of the judicial midwife and assist in the birth of a new world struggling to be born,” AFP news agency quotes him as saying.
Edith Mmusi, the only one of the sisters at the High Court in Botswana’s capital Gaborone, was very excited by the ruling.
“It’s a great day for us,” she said.
They first contested their nephew’s claim in a customary court in 2007.
They lost the case and a subsequent appeal before turning to the civil courts.
Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone are returning to the boxing ring in the forthcoming comedy Grudge Match.
Robert De Niro, who won an Oscar for his role as boxer Jack LaMotta in Raging Bull, will play a retired fighter who agrees to one last bout in the ring.
His rival will be played by Sylvester Stallone, best known for the Rocky films – a character last revived in 2006.
The pair will be directed by Get Smart’s Kevin Segal.
Stand up comedian Kevin Hart, who recently starred in Think Like A Man, will play the promoter who persuades the old timers back into the ring, Deadline reported, while Entourage’s Doug Ellin will write the screenplay.
No dates for filming have been announced. Robert De Niro is currently filming Luc Besson’s Malvita, in which he plays a retired gangster living under the witness protection programme in France.
Sylvester Stallone’s forthcoming films include Bullet to the Head and The Tomb, both due to be released next year. A third film in the Expendables franchise is also rumored to be in the pipeline.
He was nominated for the best screenplay Oscar for his 1976 film about punch drunk Philadelphian boxer Rocky Balboa. The film went on to collect three awards including best director and best picture – beating Robert De Niro’s Taxi Driver to the title.
A host of celebrities have paid tribute to Whitney Houston as part of a special Grammy television show in Los Angeles.
Britney Spears, Halle Berry and LL Cool J were among the presenters at the Nokia Theatre honoring Whitney Houston who died in February aged 48.
There were also musical performances from Jennifer Hudson and Usher who sang some of Whitney Houston’s hits.
We Will Always Love You: A Grammy Salute to Whitney Houston will be broadcast in the US on 13 November.
A number of stars shared their memories of the singer at the event.
“She inspired a generation of little girls and women to believe in their own dream and to know that they had within themselves the greatest gift of all,” Halle Berry said on stage.
“I was one of those little girls who then became a woman who never ever, ever, stopped loving Whitney Houston.”
While Britney Spears said her version of Whitney Houston’s I Have Nothing scored her a deal with a record label and started her career.
The event was attended by Whitney Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, and record label executive Clive Davis, who discovered the singer.
Whitney Houston was found dead in a Beverly Hills hotel bathtub the night before this year’s Grammy awards.
Authorities said the cause of death was accidental drowning brought on by cocaine use and heart disease.
Bobbi Kristina Brown swapped her sapphire and diamond sparkler for a pair of stacked rings on Thursday night, as music’s biggest names gathered to pay tribute to Whitney Houston in Los Angeles.
Bobbi Kristina brown, 19, sat stoically through the We Will Always Love You: A Grammy Salute to Whitney Houston at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live, where Jennifer Hudson, Britney Spears and Usher were among those on hand to give tear-jerking music tributes.
The teenager wore a bodycon red dress for the occasion – her hair coiffed in loose curls around her shoulders.
Bobbi Kristina Brown smiled bravely and clasped Nick Gordon’s hand from time to time, undoubtedly glad to have him there as her support.
Eyes, however, were drawn to the huge bauble on her left hand.
Bobbi Kristina Brown and Nick Gordon at Grammy Salute to Whitney Houston
The stacked pair of rings were noticeably different than the jewellery Bobbi Kristina Brown flashed to family members in a newly-released promo for reality show The Houstons: On Our Own, in which she announced their engagement.
It remains unknown if the jewellery is a keepsake from her mother, or a gift from Nick Gordon.
The teenager has in the past been seen wearing her mother’s jewellery in the wake of her passing.
Bobbi Kristina Brown has meanwhile filled her time with minor acting roles and filming her family’s Lifetime reality show, The Houstons: On Our Own.
Viewers can tune in to see how the family drama unfolds when The Houstons premieres on Lifetime on October 24.
Kourtney Kardashian flashed onlookers when she was twirled around by Khloe, blowing up her short skirt and showing off her derriere in the process.
The mother-of-two was playing around with her younger sister on the balcony of Miami’s Eden Roc Hotel on Wednesday when she showed a little more than expected.
Kourtney and Khloe kardashian- who are in town with their sibling Kim filming their new reality show – were doing a 50’s-style dance number.
The sisters were laughing and having a great time when the mishap occurred.
Kourtney Kardashian, who was wearing a white and blue-print blouse and short canary-yellow circle skirt, was being pulled into a twirl by a taller Khloe when the wind picked up and blew up her skirt.
Kourtney Kardashian blowing up her short skirt and showing off her derriere
Underneath she revealed a very skimpy pair of underwear.
In the famous comedy The Seven Year Itch, Marilyn Monroe cools off from the summer heat by letting her skirt fly up over a vent above the subway.
Marilyn Monroe’s subway scene is perhaps her most memorable, even to this day.
Kim Kardashian, 31, and eldest sister Kourtney, 33, are currently living in Miami shooting scenes for their new reality show, Kim and Kourtney Take Miami, of which Khloe, 28, is undoubtedly a part of too.
Police in Norway are investigating the theft of some of the Ghanaian Ashanti crown jewels from Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel in Oslo.
The jewels were travelling with King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the ruler of the Ashanti, who is representing Ghana at a conference in the Norwegian capital.
A suitcase was snatched from the lobby of the Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel.
The jewels, amassed over generations and considered to be priceless, are used by the king when he performs ceremonial duties.
Police are quoted in the Norwegian media as saying that they have “good” surveillance pictures, and are now trying to identify suspects in the footage.
“Anyone carrying something of great personal value will understand what a great loss it is when it is stolen,” said the king’s secretary Kofi Owusu Boateng.
“And for anyone who knows our tradition it will be clear that these crown jewels has tremendous value.”
King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II ascended the throne in 1999 as the 16th ruler, or Asantehene
King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II ascended the throne in 1999 as the 16th ruler, or Asantehene.
The Asantehene is a revered figurehead for Ghana’s largest ethnic group. He adjudicates in disputes and is closely involved in local issues.
However the king – like other traditional leaders – is barred by the constitution from taking part in Ghanaian politics.
The European Union has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for six decades of work in advancing peace in Europe.
The committee said the EU had helped to transform Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace.
The award comes as the EU faces the biggest financial crisis of its 54-year history, with many of its member states mired in recession.
The last organization to be given the award outright was Medecins Sans Frontieres, which won in 1999.
Announcing the award, Nobel committee president Thorbjoern Jagland acknowledged the EU’s current financial problems and social unrest.
But he said the committee wanted to concentrate on the body’s work over six decades of advancing “peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights”.
Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, said he was “deeply touched and honored” with the award.
The US Court of Appeals has overturned a ban on sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus phone, in a blow to Apple in the ongoing battle between the two rivals.
It said the district court in California, which had issued the ban in June, had “abused its discretion in entering an injunction”.
Earlier this month, a sales ban on Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet computer in the US was also lifted.
The two firms are involved in a legal tussle over patent infringement claims.
Samsung welcomed the latest decision saying it “confirms that the role of patent law is to protect innovation and not to unreasonably stifle competition and restrict consumer choice”.
“We will continue to take all appropriate measures to ensure the availability of our innovative products,” the South Korean manufacturer said.
The smartphone segment is one of the fastest growing sectors for phone manufacturers and Apple and Samsung are among the biggest players in the arena.
Apple, which makes the iPhone, was one of the early pioneers in the segment, while Samsung, which manufactures the Galaxy range of smartphones, has made rapid strides in the sector gaining a strong share of key global markets in recent years.
However, its success has coincided with a growing legal battle with Apple, spread across various countries.
Earlier this year, a California court awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages, after ruling several of its software and design technologies had been infringed by Samsung.
Samsung has since challenged that verdict and called for a retrial.
Analysts said that given the tremendous growth potential of the sector, the legal battle between the two firms was likely to continue.
“The intensity of the competition is so high, that it is less about billions of dollars in fines but more about slowing the competition,” said Manoj Menon, managing director of Frost & Sullivan.
He explained that Apple feels that Samsung has infringed its patents, which it believes has played a role in Samsung’s success.
“Apple will try and slow the rapid growth trajectory of Samsung,” he said
Eleven of Lance Armstrong’s former team-mates have told their stories of doping with the US Postal Service cycling team, but none in such detail as Tyler Hamilton.
Tyler Hamilton’s book, The Secret Race, published in September, provides minute detail on how the drugs were obtained, how they were stored, delivered to the riders and injected, and how the syringes were carried away in a Coke can.
Most astonishingly, Tyler Hamilton explains how easy it was to beat the testers.
Lance Armstrong has rejected Tyler Hamilton’s allegations, while his lawyer described the latest condemnation from the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) as a “one-sided hatchet job”.
Tyler Hamilton started off on testosterone, a “red egg” as the cyclists referred to the pill, but soon graduated on to the more powerful EPO – erythropoietin – which he and his US Postal Service team-mates dubbed Edgar, after Edgar Allen Poe.
This stimulates the creation of red blood cells, boosting performance by about 5%, or, as Tyler Hamilton puts it “roughly the difference between first place in the Tour de France and the middle of the pack”.
EPO can be detected in the body for a number of hours after it has been taken – the “glowtime”. During this time, the cyclist needs to avoid a meeting with the dope tester.
So, during the months of training, they kept track of when they had taken the drug, and tipped each other off by phone whenever a tester appeared in Girona, the town in northern Spain where the cyclists were based. In The Secret Race, co-authored by journalist Daniel Coyle, he lists three tips:
“Tip one: Wear a watch. Tip Two: Keep your cellphone handy. Tip three: Know your glowtime, how long you’ll test positive after you take the substance. What you’ll notice is that none of these things is particularly difficult to do.”
They were more like “discipline tests, IQ tests” than drug tests, he says.
“If you were careful and paid attention, you could dope and be 99% certain that you would not get caught.”
Tyler Hamilton’s book, The Secret Race was published in September and provides minute detail on doping
On one occasion Tyler Hamilton heard a knock on the door when he was glowing, and simply hid inside the house in silence until the tester gave up and went away.
They never came during the night, making late evening the best time for doping. One elderly tester even called in advance to let the cyclists know when he was coming.
USADA describes Lance Armstrong as the enforcer of US Postal’s “massive and pervasive” doping programme.
“It was not enough that his team-mates give maximum effort on the bike,” Wednesday’s USADA report on Armstrong says.
“He also required that they adhere to the doping programme outlined for them or be replaced.”
It wasn’t only US Postal that was doping, of course. More than half the Tour de France winners since 1980 have either tested positive, been sanctioned for doping, or admitted it.
Tyler Hamilton said this week that it was “a dark period of cycling that we all went through”.
“None of us when we were 15 or 16 years old were planning on doing that, but we all kind of rode our way up the ranks and came into this world. It was a world that already existed, when we got there. The doctors, the riders had been doing these things for years.”
George Hincapie, US Postal team captain from 1999-2005, admitted doping for the first time on Wednesday, saying that early in his professional career it became clear to him “that given the widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs by cyclists at the top of the profession, it was not possible to compete at the highest level without them”.
Tyler Hamilton writes in The Secret Race that he visited Lance Armstrong at his home in Nice some time before the 1999 Tour de France, and finding himself without EPO, asked if he could use some of Armstrong’s.
“Lance pointed casually to the fridge. I opened it and there, on the door, next to a carton of milk, was a carton of EPO, each stoppered vial standing upright, little soldiers in their cardboard cells.”
In 1998, the team had distributed the EPO in white lunch bags. But this was the year the Festina and TVM teams were caught with large quantities of steroids, EPO and syringes. So in 1999 greater care was needed. According to Tyler Hamilton, Lance Armstrong arranged for his gardener to follow the Tour on a motorbike, carrying a thermos flask full of EPO tubes.
“When we needed <<Edgar>>, Philippe would zip through the Tour’s traffic and make a drop-off,” he writes in The Secret Race.
By the following year, they had begun blood doping, flying to Spain to have their blood drawn by the team doctor, Tyler Hamilton says.
This blood, rich in red blood cells, was then delivered back to the tired riders, to help boost their red blood cell count during the race.
Riders found blood bags, still cold from the refrigerator, taped to the wall next to their beds in their hotel rooms. Hamilton describes the sensation of goosebumps as the chilled blood circulated around his body.
One of the doctors used by US Postal, Michele Ferrari – nicknamed Doctor Death by reporters – found ways of helping to reduce the EPO glowtime by using small “microdoses” injected into the vein.
The cyclists could also drink large amounts of water, or inject themselves with saline solution, in order to accelerate the fading of the glow.
“They’ve got their doctors, and we’ve got ours, and ours are better,” writes Tyler Hamilton.
After Dr. Michele Ferrari was convicted of sporting fraud by an Italian court in 2004, Lance Armstrong issued a statement, in which he said: “I have always said that I have zero tolerance for anyone convicted of using or facilitating the use of performance-enhancing drugs. As a result of today’s developments, the USPS team and I have suspended our professional affiliation with Dr. Ferrari.”
Lance Armstrong contests that he took 500 drug tests worldwide and never failed one. This is disputed. Tyler Hamilton says he failed tests, but managed to explain it away, or hush it up.
Tyler Hamilton himself kept a clear record for several years. He first tested positive just as he reached the peak of his career – a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics – when by mistake he was given another man’s blood.
Blood transfusions are potentially risky. Badly stored blood can poison an athlete when transfused. Tyler Hamilton never had this problem, but he did suffer from one botched transfusion, which left him urinating a fluid “dark, dark red, almost black”.
US vice-presidential candidates Joe Biden and Paul Ryan clashed sharply in their only debate, amid tightening polls ahead of the 6 November election.
Thursday night’s debate saw feisty exchanges on national security, the economy, taxes and healthcare.
Democrat Joe Biden was aggressive, frequently interrupting his rival as he defended President Barack Obama.
Republican Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan was comparatively calm in his first debate on the national stage.
The head-to-head came as Democrats try to rejuvenate their campaign after what was widely seen as a poor debate performance by Barack Obama last week.
The Republican challenger, former Massachusetts governor and businessman Mitt Romney, has gained steadily in the polls as a result.
The president has acknowledged he was “too polite”, and it appeared his campaign unleashed Joe Biden on Thursday night to attack Mitt Romney on taxes, government spending, the economy and other issues.
The vice-president repeatedly cut off Paul Ryan, chuckling, rolling his eyes and raising his hands in apparent exasperation, even as he referred to his rival as “my friend”.
But Paul Ryan seemed not to be rattled. His goal was to defend Mitt Romney’s recent gains against a renewed onslaught from Barack Obama, analysts said.
On stage at Centre College in Kentucky, the vice-presidential candidates jousted as moderator Martha Raddatz of ABC News sought to keep order.
The debate opened with an exchange on Libya, where a US ambassador was killed last month in what the Obama administration now calls a terrorist attack.
Joe Biden defended the Obama administration’s handling of the situation, as well as its initially inaccurate characterization of the incident as a reaction to an anti-Islamic video made in the US.
And he pivoted to attack Mitt Romney, saying the Republican’s decision to hold a political press conference the morning after the attack was “not presidential leadership”.
In one of many barbs, he said Paul Ryan’s criticisms of the administration’s handling of the crisis were “a bunch of malarkey. Not a single thing he said is accurate”.
Paul Ryan, meanwhile, said the administration had disregarded diplomats’ requests for more security in Libya.
And in a charge he repeated later, Paul Ryan said: “What we are watching on our TV screens is the unravelling of the Obama foreign policy.”
The men argued about Iran and the US relationship with Israel, but showed little substantive difference between their tickets’ respective policies.
“When Barack Obama was elected, [Iran] had enough fissile material – nuclear material to make one bomb,” Paul Ryan said.
“Now they have enough for five.”
Joe Biden said international sanctions against Iran had crippled that nation’s economy, and challenged Paul Ryan to clarify where Republican policy on Iran differs from the administration’s.
“So all this bluster I keep hearing, all this loose talk, what are they talking about?” he asked.
On the economy, Joe Biden said the president had inherited a nation teetering on ruin – a result, he said repeatedly, of the Republican policies of George W Bush.
And he defended the president’s remedies, especially a programme – that Mitt Romney opposed – to save US auto manufacturers from bankruptcy.
“We knew we had to act for the middle class,” Joe Biden said.
“We immediately went out and rescued General Motors.”
He added: “What did Romney do? Romney said, <<No, let Detroit go bankrupt>>.”
Joe Biden also unleashed a broadside against Mitt Romney’s recently publicized comments that the 47% of Americans who pay no federal income tax are dependent on government, consider themselves victims, and should take responsibility for themselves.
“I’ve never met two guys who are more down on America across the board,” he said, referring to Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.
Paul Ryan sought to deflect the attack with a story about Mitt Romney’s personal generosity and by referring to Joe Biden’s own record of verbal blunders.
He acknowledged Barack Obama had inherited an economy near collapse, but added: “We’re going in the wrong direction.”
He noted the continuing high unemployment rate and other grim statistics.
“This is not what a real recovery looks like,” the congressman said, promising that Mitt Romney’s tax plans would add jobs and promote economic growth.
Later, the two outlined their competing plans on the Medicare healthcare programme for over-65s.
Joe Biden defended the administration’s 2010 health insurance overhaul, dubbed Obamacare; Paul Ryan derided it as a government takeover of the healthcare industry and repeated a disputed assertion that Barack Obama had pulled money from Medicare in order to fund it.
With the election less than four weeks away, the rivals were tasked with keeping their respective campaigns competitive, as new polls suggest Mitt Romney has narrowed or erased Barack Obama’s lead in several key swing states.
The two candidates are virtually tied in Florida and Virginia while Barack Obama still leads in Ohio, but by a slimmer margin.
An orphaned puppy and an abandoned kitten who were put together at a rescue centre near London, UK, have become so close – they think they are sisters.
Kitty the cat was brought into Battersea Cats and Dogs Home by a kind-hearted member of the public who found her alone in a garden when she was just one day old.
To keep her company she was put together with Buttons the Jack Russell, who was born at the centre but rejected by her mother as the runt of the litter.
They have since become inseparable – and even cry when Kitty is moved to the cattery to spend some time with other cats.
Battersea Veterinary Nurse Sascha Taylor says they eat, sleep and play together.
Kitty and Buttons become inseparable at Battersea Cats and Dogs Home
Sacha Taylor said: “Normally we’d hand rear puppies and kittens separately but we thought we could try putting them together as they are both so young.
“Luckily it’s paid off as they adore being with each other and do everything together – it’s really very sweet.”
Buttons’ mum Poppy was given to the centre in Old Windsor, Berkshire, because her elderly owners could not cope when they discovered she was pregnant with eight puppies.
But she was the runt of the litter and staff has had to hand-rear her after being rejected by her mother and was at risk of being killed by her seven brothers and sisters.
Kitty and Buttons were put together when they were about two weeks old and treat each other like siblings.
Staff at the animal home are hoping someone has enough room to adopt the loveable pair, who are now both around four weeks old.
Nurse Sascha Taylor added: “Hand-rearing them is hard work – I have to feed them every two hours, even throughout the night – but it’s totally worth it.
“We’re not sure if they’ll be re-homed together, though it would be great if they did.”
Katie Holmes has cottoned onto the craze, jumping on the same bandwagon as Jessica Alba and Jay-Z, and even Rihanna who sampled the London Underground.
Katie Holmes was seen riding the New York subway on Wednesday, going incognito with her hair scraped back into a ponytail, opting to go make-up free beneath large sunglasses.
She also seemed to be prepping for winter, wearing a knitted cream sweater and dark blue jeans, carrying an oversized leather bag and the signature pose of a commuter – keeping her head buried
Using public transport is a stark change from her former life as a Cruise, when she relied not only on chauffeur-driven cars, but also on exclusive A-list travel methods of helicopter ferrying.
Katie Holmes rides the subway
It’s almost as if Katie Holmes’ ride on the subway was a metaphorical two fingers up at ex-husband Tom Cruise.
On Tuesday, Katie Holmes was seen with daughter Suri, arriving home from school by foot instead of a lift from a personal driver.
The six-year-old started at the elite Avenues school in New York last month.
Solenne San Jose from south-west France, who received a telephone bill of nearly 12 quadrillion euros, has had the real amount she owed waived – after Bouygues Telecom admitted its mistake.
Solenne San Jose, from Pessac outside Bordeaux, said she received a huge shock when she opened the bill for 11,721,000,000,000,000 euros.
This is nearly 6,000 times France’s annual economic output.
Solenne San Jose had requested her account be closed after losing her job last month.
The former teaching assistant said she “almost had a heart attack. There were so many zeroes I couldn’t even work out how much it was”.
The phone company, Bouygues Telecom, initially told her there was nothing they could do to amend the computer-generated statement and later offered to set up installments to pay off the bill.
In the end, the company admitted the bill should have been for 117.21 euros only, and eventually waived it altogether.
Bouygues Telecom has also apologized for the gaffe, which it says was down to a printing error and a subsequent misunderstanding between the client and staff at their call centre.
US vice-presidential candidates Joe Biden and Paul Ryan are set to meet in their only debate, as polling suggests the election race is tightening.
Vice-President Joe Biden and Republican Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin congressman, will clash for 90 minutes in Danville, Kentucky.
Democrats are hoping to change the campaign narrative after what was widely seen as a poor performance by President Barack Obama last week.
Barack Obama said on Wednesday he had been “too polite” to his rival, Mitt Romney.
The Obama campaign has since accused Mitt Romney, a Republican former business star and Massachusetts governor, of shifting his policy positions and of lying during their meeting in Denver, Colorado last week.
Thursday’s debate will be moderated by Martha Raddatz, senior foreign affairs correspondent for ABC News, and will cover both domestic and foreign policy.
It is set to begin at 21:00 EST at Centre College, a small liberal arts university about 80 miles from the city of Louisville.
The debate will be split into nine 10-minute segments.
Vice-President Joe Biden and Republican Paul Ryan will clash for 90 minutes in Danville
The two vice-presidential candidates are tasked with keeping their respective campaigns competitive, as new polls suggest Barack Obama’s lead in several key swing states has been somewhat erased by Mitt Romney.
An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released on Thursday showed Mitt Romney making gains in three states said to be essential to his presidential hopes.
The two candidates are virtually ties in Florida and Virginia while Barack Obama still leads in Ohio, but by a decreased margin. The Romney campaign has added extra campaign stops in Ohio in the coming weeks, aware that no Republican has ever won the White House without winning Ohio.
Also on Thursday, a New York Times/CBS News poll suggested that likely voters in Colorado, Virginia and Wisconsin – all states “in play” on 6 November – gave Mitt Romney stronger marks for leadership than previously.
However, the new poll showed no sharp movements in support for either candidates.
Joe Biden, 69, is known for his frank but folksy manner and foreign policy experience, while Paul Ryan, 42, is known as the Republicans’ budget hawk, serving in Congress for 14 years.
Both have kept lower profiles in the past week as they prepared for the debate.
“Joe just needs to be Joe,” Barack Obama told ABC News on Wednesday.
“Congressman Ryan is a smart and effective speaker. But his ideas are the wrong ones.”
The president played down the importance of his own first debate performance, saying: “What’s important is the fundamentals of what this race is about haven’t changed.”
Senior Obama adviser David Axelrod told CBS on Thursday that he believes “the big challenge for [Biden] is to pin Congressman Ryan down”.
“Right now the Romney campaign is running away from some of their positions like unwanted stepchildren.”
Mitt Romney expressed confidence in his running mate at a campaign stop in Ohio: “I think Paul Ryan will do great.”
The Wisconsin representative himself said he was not intimidated by Joe Biden.
“Joe Biden’s one of the most experienced debaters we have in modern politics,” Paul Ryan told reporters.
“But the Achilles’ heel he has is President Obama’s record.”
The debate is expected to focus on the federal budget plans Paul Ryan put forward as the chair of the House budget committee.
While the Obama campaign has sought to portray Paul Ryan’s place on the Romney ticket as an endorsement of the Ryan plan, the Romney campaign has worked to play down that impression.
“You have to remember that there is [a] Romney-Ryan ticket and there’s one presidential candidate,” Mitt Romney adviser Kevin Madden said.
“So the focus again will be on what Governor Romney’s plan is for reforming Washington.”
Joe Biden is said to have studied Paul Ryan’s most recent budget plan during his debate preparations.
The event is not expected to draw the approximately 70 million people who watched four years ago when Joe Biden debated Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
That debate did little to change the 2008 campaign but helped Sarah Palin after a series of disastrous interviews.
“Normally vice-presidential debates are good political theatre and sort of interesting from a talent scout standpoint, as you evaluate the up-and-comers on the political stage,” Alan Schroeder, author of a book on presidential debates, told the Associated Press.
“But this year could be different because of the negative reviews of Obama’s performance. That heightens expectations for this second debate.”
Latest official figures show that unemployment in Greece hit a record 25.1% in July, with the level among young people reaching 54.2%.
Greece’s statistical authority said 1.26 million Greeks were jobless in July, with more than 1,000 jobs lost every day over the past year.
With austerity cuts continuing and Greece likely to enter another year of recession, the level may rise further.
The worst-affected 15-24 age group, however, includes those in education.
According to Greece’s statistics agency the total unemployment rate rose from 24.8% in June. In July 2008, a year before Greece’s financial crisis broke, there were about 364,000 registered unemployed.
“This is a very dramatic result of the recession,” said Angelos Tsakanikas, head of research at Greece’s IOBE economic research foundation. He did not expect employment to pick up for at least a year.
The Greek economy is surviving on international bailouts, but Athens has been forced to impose tough austerity measures in return for the money.
Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras will hold talks on Thursday evening with representatives of the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank about signing off the release of more funds.
There was some evidence on Thursday that the government’s strategy is working on one front, at least. Finance Ministry figures showed that the deficit-cutting effort is on track despite lower-than-anticipated revenues.
The ministry figures showed that the January-September deficit was 12.64 billion euros, lower than the 13.5 billion-euro target.
Lindsay Lohan and her mother Dina have been pictured hugging on the steps of their Long Island family home after getting into a violent fight in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Lindsay Lohan, 26, gave her mother an awkward hug despite the fact that only hours earlier, she had made a desperate phone call to her father Michael alleging her mother was “on cocaine”.
According to TMZ, Lindsay and Dina Lohan were in their limousine returning from a night out clubbing when Lindsay told Michael to call the police, fearing her mother was kidnapping her.
TMZ has an audio recording of the call where Lindsay Lohan is heard telling her father that the row erupted “over $40,000”, and claims Dina threatened to “call the cops on me”.
Lindsay Lohan is heard screaming: “Dad, she’s on cocaine. She’s like touching her neck, and s***. She’s saying disgusting things to me… I’m dead to her now.”
The website reports that Dina Lohan had drunk four glasses of wine but eaten nothing before the encounter.
The website also reports that Lindsay gave Dina $40,000 to help save her home from foreclosure. But last night, Lindsay Lohan wanted her money back.
Lindsay Lohan hugging her mother Dina on the steps of their Long Island family home after getting into a violent fight
Lindsay Lohan is overheard telling Dina: “This is what you do. You ruin people,” before telling her father: “She’s like the f***ing devil right now. I have a gash on my leg from what happened.”
She then gets increasingly hysterical, adding: “I asked her to give [the money] back and she’s like <<You’re sick, you don’t give me anything, you don’t do anything for child support>>.”
“You do everything for everyone,” Michael Lohan tries to reassure his daughter. And he adds: “She’s horrible Lindsay.”
Earlier, Lindsay Lohan can be heard trying to get the driver to pull over, while Michael insists Dina is “kidnapping” her.
Lindsay Lohan then tells her father: “She’s throwing your f****** kids out and she’s threatening everyone in the car.”
Meanwhile, the actress is also reported to have told her mother she “needs to go to rehab”, a source told Radar.
“Dina went absolutely ballistic when Lindsay said this to her and insisted that there was no reason for her to get treatment,” the insider added.
“Lindsay is very concerned about her mom though and tried to convey this to Dina, but she was very emotional and tired. Lindsay even told her mom that she shouldn’t be going out to clubs with her and should act more like her mother and less like her friend.”
A bracelet belonging to Lindsay Lohan is also claimed to have been broken in the fallout.
Law enforcement officers arrived at Dina Lohan’s home after receiving a complaint alleging that Lindsay was “being held against her will by Dina and her driver”.
Meanwhile, Michael Lohan told website Hollyscoop: “I called the police at Lindsay’s request. [Lindsay] even asked that I record the conversation because she was being held against her will by the limo driver at Dina’s instruction.”
The altercation happened after mother and daughter went to the Electric Room nightclub in the Dream Hotel in New York City together, leaving at 4:00 a.m.
Police took a Domestic Incident Report but made no arrests.
According to the New York Post, the 911 call drew a “small army” of police to the house around 8:15 a.m.
Witness John Scalesi told the newspaper: “She [Lindsay] was yelling <<I’ve had enough of this!>>”
Nassau police Inspector Kenneth Lack told the newspaper: “It was just a verbal dispute in the vehicle. It was an argument between Lindsay Lohan and her mother Dina. Lindsay called her father and her father called police.”
A photograph was taken earlier in the evening showing Lindsay Lohan in good spirits while posing with a random clubgoer at the club.
Lindsay Lohan, who appeared happy in relaxed in New York at the weekend, has been hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons, despite trying to put her career back on track with Lifetime biopic Liz & Dick.
Most recently, she accused a fellow partygoer at a Manhattan nightclub of assaulting her after a late night out.
