Sarah Yarborough murder in 1991 on her high-school campus may now finally be solved – thanks to the DNA of a 17th century family.
Seattle police investigating the death of 16-year-old Sarah Yarborough from Washington say they are one step closer to catching her killer.
Investigators have matched crime-scene DNA samples to the historic family of Robert Fuller, from Massachusetts, whose ancestors settled in Salem in 1630 after coming over on the Mayflower.
Sarah Yarborough was murdered in 1991 on her high-school campus
It means one of Robert Fuller’s descendants could be responsible for Sarah Yarborough’s death in 1991. But as almost 400 years have passed, the number of suspects could now run “into the thousands”.
Forensic consultant Colleen Fitzpatrick said: “The most important thing is having a last name.
“People get excited about having a Mayflower connection, but the most important thing is having a probable last name for this guy.”
Following the murder, the King County Sheriff’s Department circulated two composite sketches of a possible suspect.
Suspect was a man in his 20s at the time of the attack, with shoulder-length blonde or light brown hair. But a name was never put to the sketch.
Last month, Colleen Fitzpatrick was sent the DNA profile. She compared it to others in genealogy databases and found the closest match was to the family of Robert Fuller.
Colleen Fitzpatrick revealed that, since the DNA trace follows male descendants, there was “a high degree of probability” that the man police are looking is named Fuller.
King County investigators disclosed the test results yesterday.
A video has emerged of Russell Brand taking off his wedding ring, just two weeks after his first wedding anniversary with Katy Perry back in November.
Russell Brand posted the video on porn website Nudevista as he began a week-long tour of various universities in America.
In the footage, Russell Brand is seen saying: “I am going to meet people from sororities and fraternities. I don’t know what a sorority is except for what I have seen on Nudevista – that they are sort of sex clubs for women.
“A week of revolution and, more importantly, I am going to learn first-hand about sororities.”
Russell Brand is then seen taking his ring off in full view of the camera, before adding: “I’m just going to place this somewhere very, very safe for the next week.”
A video has emerged of Russell Brand taking off his wedding ring, just two weeks after his first wedding anniversary with Katy Perry back in November
Since filing for divorce from Katy Perry on December 30, Russell Brand has remained resolutely silent on his Twitter page.
However, his estranged wife Katy Perry came forward over the weekend to thank her fans for their support in the difficult times.
Katy Perry wrote: “I am so grateful for all the love and support I’ve had from people around the world. You guys have made my heart happy again.”
She also pulled out of what was scheduled to be her first public appearance since the split at the People’s Choice Awards, writing her apologies on Twitter.
But new claims have suggested Katy Perry is considering flying into the UK in a bid to resolve things with her former spouse.
A source told Grazia magazine: “Katy was absolutely crushed by Russell’s decision. She’s furious after everything he’s done, but still insists there must be a way to reconcile and try to work things out.
“She told Russell that if he’d agreed to marriage counseling, they wouldn’t be in this mess and tried to persuade him to fly back to the States and meet her.
“She’s now considering jetting to the UK as she’s desperate to see him and talk to him.
“She said she can’t stand that everything has been done over the phone and says she needs to see him before she can truly accept it’s over.”
On December 21, 2012, the apocalypse foretold 5,125 years ago by the ancient Mayans will come to pass and the world will end.
Meanwhile, Harold Camping, an American radio preacher, got thousands of followers worked up when he predicted the Second Coming of Jesus Christ on May 21 last year.
When that didn’t happen, Harold Camping said the world would end on October 21. And then he quietly retired from his radio show.
But the “2012 phenomenon”, as it is commonly known to its legions of internet followers, is different.
For the Mayans, a famously wise and advanced civilization which was at its height between 250 and 900AD in the present-day Mexican state of Yucatan and Guatemala, have grabbed everyone’s attention.
The evidence boils down to one simple fact: their 5,125-year calendar – the one used across Central America before the arrival of Europeans – runs out on December 21 this year.
The point is that the Mayans were noted for their extraordinary astronomical observations and mathematical powers.
And if they didn’t think it worth taking their calendar beyond December 2012, they must have had a reason.
Public concern is so high that NASA, the U.S. space agency, even has a section debunking the theories of impending doom on its website.
NASA says it has taken more than 5,000 questions from people, some asking if they should kill themselves, their families or their pets.
Archaeologists who have studied the Mayans have been downplaying the apocalypse theories, insisting that the only surviving Mayan reference to any dreadful significance attached to December 21, 2012, was contained on a single ancient stone tablet found at ruins in Tortuguero, southern Mexico, in the 1960s.
Mexico’s tourism agency hopes the 2012 phenomenon will draw 52 million visitors to the region - more than twice the number the whole country normally receives
According to an inscription on the tablet, a fearsome Mayan god of war and creation may “descend” from the sky on the appointed day.
But then, a few weeks ago, archaeologists had to admit they had found a second piece of evidence – a 1,300-year-old carved brick fragment at a temple ruin in nearby Comalcalco.
The brick, now kept in a vault at Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, has an inscription on its face which also refers to the date.
The fact that the face of the brick was probably laid facing inward or covered with stucco – suggesting it was not meant to be seen by the Mayan population who visited the temple – has only added to the hysteria of modern doom-mongers.
Scientists insist there is no dire threat on the horizon, while Mayan experts stress that the ancient civilization’s legacy has simply been misinterpreted.
“Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012,” says NASA on its website in the reassuring tones of a parent dealing with a frightened toddler.
“Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than four billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.”
Of course in these conspiracy-obsessed times, there are thousands of cynics who are not convinced.
David Morrison, senior scientist at the NASA Astrobiology Institute, said he had been receiving about ten emails a day from worried members of the public who are “seriously, seriously upset”.
A young woman from Denmark wrote to him saying: “Mother of one daughter and another coming.
“Yesterday I was considering killing myself, the baby in my stomach and my beloved two-year-old daughter before December 2012 for fear of having to experience the Earth’s destruction.”
A 13-year-old American, wrote: “I am considering suicide. I am scared to tears . . . I don’t want to live any more, I deserve an explanation.”
Another wrote: “I am so scared. My only friend is my little dog. When should I put her to sleep so she won’t suffer when the Earth is destroyed?”
Worried Americans are rushing to buy everything from $27 survival guides to $50,000-per-person places in bunkers that are marketed as being both nuclear bomb and asteroid-proof.
Robert Vicino, a Californian businessman who is building the luxury bunkers in secret locations asked on his website: “What if the prophecies are true? Which side of the door do you want to be on?”
The businessman says that he has more than 5,000 Americans booking places, and is now building bunkers in Europe.
Steve Cramer, one man who has reserved his place, insists: “We’re not crazy people: these are fearful times. My family wants to survive. You have to be prepared.”
Jason Hodge, a father-of-four who also counts himself a “future survivor”, to use the jargon of the apocalypse industry, adds: “It’s an investment in life.
“I want to make sure I have a place I can take me and my family if that worst-case scenario were to happen.”
Mayan apocalypse converts have started flocking to Bugarach too, a tiny hilltop town in the foothills of the Pyrenees.
The 200-strong local community has had to contend with 20,000 visitors since the start of last year, and the French government is worried about the threat of mass suicides.
Believers say a magnetic force surrounds the town’s “mystical” mountain where the top layers of rock are older than the lower ones.
(Geologists say that soon after the mountain was formed, it exploded and the top flew into the air, before landing upside-down).
People claim the magnetic force will protect them from the apocalypse to come.
Others who have flocked to Bugarach insist the mountain is a gateway to another dimension and may contain a secret alien base.
Unhelpfully, the Mayans did not specify exactly what would happen when the world ends. But that hasn’t stopped believers from letting their imaginations run riot.
Many of their 2012 doomsday scenarios involve astronomical phenomena – a rogue planet hitting Earth, fierce solar storms, a galactic alignment in which the Sun’s gravitational effect combines with that of a huge black hole to create havoc. The gloomiest think we may get all three.
A particularly popular theory is that a rogue planet called Nibiru is lurking behind the Sun and will collide with the Earth next December, destroying it. Some believe this rogue body is Eris, a dwarf planet orbiting beyond Neptune.
The idea of a planet creeping out from behind the Sun and smashing into Earth provided the depressing backdrop to last year’s Lars von Trier film Melancholia, starring Kirsten Dunst and Kiefer Sutherland.
Another theory, also involving the Sun, predicts that a huge solar flare – called a “solar max” – will destroy the Earth.
This notion has already inspired Hollywood in the 2009 disaster blockbuster 2012, in which the flare caused catastrophic earthquakes. The film also made reference to the Mayan calendar.
Finally, no apocalypse would be complete without at least one alien invasion.
This time last year, reports emerged suggesting the U.S. Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI) had detected three large spacecraft due to arrive at Earth in 2012. SETI rejected the claims, to which those who wanted to believe the reports replied: “Well they would, wouldn’t they?”
Another alien theory doing the rounds among conspiracy theorists is that the authorities will stage a fake extra-terrestrial invasion at next year’s closing ceremony for the London Olympic Games so they can declare martial law and introduce a new world order.
Academics and scientists dismiss all of these theories as wild hysteria, of course.
But the fact is that Mayan scholars have been bickering for years over what the end of the Long Count Calendar actually signifies.
The Mayan calendar began in 3,114 BC – believed by Mayans to be when the current “world order” was created – and progresses in 144,000-day cycles (a little more than 394 years) known as baktuns.
The 13th (a sacred number for Mayans) baktun runs out on the 2012 winter solstice, December 21. After that date, the “Great Cycle” is completed and the calendar sequence simply ends.
In 1957, respected Mayan scholar and astronomer Maud Worcester Makemson wrote that the completion of a “Great Period” of 13 baktuns would have been “of the utmost significance to the Maya”.
In 1966, Michael Coe, another prominent Mayan anthropologist and a former CIA agent, went much further and concluded there was a “suggestion” among the Mayans that the final day of the Great Cycle would see “Armageddon overtake the degenerate peoples of the world and all creation” and “thus . . . our present universe would be annihilated”.
Experts had tended to agree with Michael Coe’s interpretation until about a decade ago when the academic world started to insist the Mayans had meant nothing of the sort.
The Mayans believed the end of the 13th baktun would indeed be significant, say academics now, but in a good way.
There will simply be another cycle and it will be a cause for celebration not desperation.
This optimistic message has been championed by many in the New Age movement, which is obsessed by the idea that cultures such as the Mayans had a secret spiritual knowledge that we might tap into if only we knew where to look.
Whatever the truth, hundreds of books have already been published on the subject, not to mention dozens of television programmes and films.
For the most reliable indication of the future, we should perhaps head for the heart of Mayan territory in south-eastern Mexico.
There, locals aren’t running for the hills at all, and don’t seem worried.
In fact, quite the reverse. After suffering years of a tourist industry badly hit by the violence of warring drug cartels, they are looking forward to an economic boom.
Mexico’s tourism agency hopes the 2012 phenomenon will draw 52 million visitors to the region – more than twice the number the whole country normally receives.
And the town of Tapachula, on the Guatemalan border, has already started a countdown to December 21 on a giant digital clock in its main park.
Quite what will happen on the day it runs out remains the subject of feverish debate around the world.
Picasso’s Woman’s Head, given to the Athens National Gallery by the artist himself, was stolen on Monday along with two other valuable works of art.
The Picasso painting was given to Greece in 1949 in recognition of the country’s resistance to Nazi Germany.
According to police, a Mondrian painting and a sketch by Italian artist Guglielmo Caccia had also been stolen.
The heist took place shortly before 05:00 local time and took just seven minutes, police said.
The thief or thieves broke into the back of the gallery after forcing open a balcony door.
All three artworks were stripped from their frames.
Picasso's Woman's Head, given to the Athens National Gallery by the artist himself, was stolen on Monday along with two other valuable works of art
A guard was alerted by a burglar alarm and caught sight of the silhouette of a person running from the building.
He ran after the thief, who dropped another painting – Mondrian’s Landscape – as he made his escape.
Police said the guard had been distracted by several alarms going off at various points in the building earlier in the evening. When he went to investigate, he found no-one in the gallery.
The police added that the theft occurred on the final day of an exhibition called Unknown Treasures, which included works by German artist Albrecht Duerer and Rembrandt.
Picasso’s Woman’s Head is a Cubist bust created by the artist in 1939. The Mondrian work dates from 1905 and is an oil painting of a riverside windmill and Caccia’s religious scene of St Diego de Alcala is a pen and ink drawing.
Museum officials have not yet determined the worth of the stolen artwork, but closed the gallery on Monday as a result of the break-in.
It was already scheduled to close for expansion and refurbishment work following the end of the Unknown Treasures exhibition.
The museum has a large permanent collection of post-Byzantine Greek art, as well as a small collection of Renaissance works and some El Greco paintings.
According to specialists, the death of a loved one makes people up to 21 times more likely to suffer a heart attack within a day of the loss.
Cardiologists also say that during the first week of bereavement, the risk is almost 6 times higher than normal.
The risk slowly declines during the month that follows, a study found.
Doctors are warning people of the dangers, especially for those closest to the person who died and who are already at risk of having a heart attack.
A U.S. study of almost 2,000 heart attack survivors found the increased risk of heart attack within the first week after the loss of a significant person ranged from one per 320 people at high risk to one per 1,394 people with a low heart attack risk.
The study is the first to look specifically at heart attack risk in the first days and weeks after bereavement.
Previous research shows grieving spouses have higher long-term risks of dying, with heart disease and stroke accounting for more than half of deaths – leading to the phenomenon known as “broken heart syndrome”.
According to experts, the stress caused by bereavement has immediate health effects, while loss of sleep and appetite can depress the immune system of surviving loved ones, which may aggravate existing underlying medical conditions.
The emotional strain also causes some bereaved partners to take their own lives, while others neglect their health and diet because of the pain of their loss.
Dr. Murray Mittleman, a preventive cardiologist and epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and School of Public Health’s epidemiology department, in Boston, said: “Caretakers, healthcare providers, and the bereaved themselves need to recognize they are in a period of heightened risk in the days and weeks after hearing of someone close dying.”
Researchers reviewed health charts and interviewed 1,985 patients while in hospital after a confirmed heart attack between 1989 and 1994.
Patients answered questions about circumstances surrounding their heart attack, as well as whether they recently lost someone significant in their lives over the past year, when the death happened and the importance of their relationship.
The researchers estimated the relative risk of a heart attack by comparing the number of patients who had someone close to them die in the week before their heart attack to the number of deaths of significant people in their lives from one to six months before their heart attack.
Experts found after a significant person’s death, heart attack risks rose to 21 times higher than normal during the first day.
The risk was almost 6 times higher than normal in the first week, and declined steadily during the first months, says a report in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
The study shows bereaved people at high risk of a heart attack before the loss occurred were 4 times more likely to succumb themselves than those previously at low risk.
Psychological stress caused by intense grief can increase heart rate, blood pressure and blood clotting, which in the short-term can raise the chances of a heart attack.
Lead researcher Elizabeth Mostofsky said grieving people may neglect their own wellbeing, forgetting to take medication for heart and other medical problems.
“Friends and family of bereaved people should provide close support to help prevent such incidents, especially near the beginning of the grieving process.
“During situations of extreme grief and psychological distress, you still need to take care of yourself and seek medical attention for symptoms associated with a heart attack,” she said.
Heart attack signs include chest discomfort, upper body or stomach pain, shortness of breath, breaking into a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
A new study shows that nicotine patches are a waste of time and money, as they are not better than willpower at helping smokers to quit.
In earlier clinical trials it was suggested that nicotine replacement therapy could double a smoker’s chances of giving up the habit.
However, the new study of 800 patients found patches made no difference to long-term quitting rates.
According to researchers, the earlier trials had failed to replicate “real-life” situations. They said success and relapse rates were similar whatever method smokers adopted.
A new study shows that nicotine patches are a waste of time and money, as they are not better than willpower at helping smokers to quit
The recent study – by the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Massachusetts, Boston – investigated patients who gave up smoking between 2001 and 2006.
The study concluded: “The main finding is that persons who quit relapsed at equivalent rates, whether or not they used nicotine replacement therapy to help them in their quit attempts, in clear distinction to the results of randomized clinical trials.”
The results were the same for heavy and lighter smokers and whether counseling was or was not given.
Harvard’s Hillel Alpert said: “This study shows that using NRT is no more effective in helping people stop smoking cigarettes in the long term than trying to quit on one’s own.”
In an online report in the journal Tobacco Control, fellow author Lois Biener said the funding for NRT might be better spent on other interventions. In replacement therapy, patches, gum, nasal sprays or inhalers are used to supply nicotine to the bloodstream.
Further American research released yesterday suggests that nicotine patches can help improve memory loss among older people.
Non-smokers with failing brainpower who used patches for six months had a 46% improvement in their memory skills, according to a report in the journal Neurology about the study at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville.
Previous research has suggested nicotine helps brainpower among Alzheimer’s sufferers.
Demi Moore filed for divorce from Ashton Kutcher two months ago, but it seems that she is still showing the strains of the split from her husband.
Demi Moore, 49, appeared gaunt as she was seen running errands in Hollywood on Saturday afternoon.
Wearing jeans, a shirt and a cardigan, Demi Moore failed to conceal her thin frame and her clothes hung loose on her frail figure.
Over the past few months her weight has plummeted in the wake of news Ashton Kutcher cheated on with Sara Leal.
Demi Moore, 49, appeared gaunt as she was seen running errands in Hollywood on Saturday afternoon
The strain seems to have had an impact on Demi Moore’s figure, as her slim frame has become increasingly thinner over the past couple of months.
Demi Moore opened up about her self-esteem with US Harper’s Bazaar.
In the February issue of the magazine the actress revealed she originally feared being abandoned but said her biggest fear now is “not having the courage to reach her full potential”.
Demi Moore explained: “There is no way to reach your fullest potential if you don’t really find the love of yourself.”
While she is still clearly suffering in the wake of her marriage split it appears she is moving on with a mystery man, according to US reports.
Demi Moore was seen at a Hollywood parking lot and walked to her car after a young man dropped her off on Saturday.
The man’s identity is not known but he was keen to make sure Demi Moore made it to her car safely, looking out of the open door of his SUV as she walked away.
The pictures appeared on the US celebrity website, RadarOnline today.
For more than seven years Demi Moore has been considered the flag bearer for older celebrity women who have younger partners, as she is 16 years older than her estranged husband who is 33.
FDA is warning patients about a potential mix-up between powerful prescription pain drugs and common OTC medications like Excedrin and Gas-X manufactured by Swiss drug maker Novartis.
The issue is a result of major manufacturing problems at a Lincoln, Nebraska, facility which was shut down last month because of the issues.
Novartis has recalled bottles of Excedrin, Bufferin, Gas-X and NoDoz which may have included mixed up pills.
Now the Food and Drug Administration says some of those OTC pills may have accidentally been packaged with powerful prescription painkillers made at the same facility.
The opioid drugs are sold by Endo Pharmaceuticals as Percocet, Endocet, Opana and Zydone.
FDA officials say they are not recalling the prescription drugs because they are medically necessary and the likelihood that they contain stray pills is low.
FDA’s Dr. Edward Cox told reporters:
“The likelihood of finding a wrong tablet in an opiate pain medication dispensed to patients is low and patients should not be unduly alarmed.”
Novartis said it has voluntarily suspended operations and shipments from its Lincoln, Nebraska, facility to rectify the problems at the site.
The plant has been under fire from inspectors from FDA for its quality control. An FDA report said the company did not properly address any of the 223 critical complaints it received in 2011.
In 2010, the plant did not rectify 165 of the 587 complaints it got, according to the FDA.
Additionally, the company failed to investigate 166 reports of pills being packaged in the wrong bottles in 2009.
The Journal Star newspaper in Lincoln reported that the FDA blamed the problems on Novartis having too few people at the plant to review complaints. The staffers the company does have are poorly trained, the FDA, added.
Novartis said it is working to upgrade and improve manufacturing and training at the Nebraska plant before restarting production.
Company officials have said they don’t know exactly how many bottles will be affected by the recall or when the factory will come back online.
Spokeswoman Julie Masow said there is no indication prescription pills actually got mixed up with Novaris OTC drugs, but the recalls are a precaution.
Novartis said its Consumer Health unit will take a one-time charge currently estimated at $120 million in the fourth quarter relating to the recalls and improvements at the facility.
The company said it implemented the recall, which affects U.S. retailers, voluntarily and is working with FDA during the process.
It became aware of the potential problem during an internal review that identified broken and chipped pills, and inconsistent bottle packaging that could cause pills to be mixed up.
Novartis said it wanted to make sure that customers didn’t take any pills that they might be allergic to or that might become dangerous when mixed with their other medications, though it also said that there have been no such reports from consumers.
The drug maker said that some of the bottles of headache medicine Excedrin and caffeine caplets NoDoz with expiration dates of December 20, 2014, or earlier will be subject to the recall.
Some of the packages of pain medicine Bufferin and stomach medicine Gas-X with expiration dates of December 20, 2013, or earlier will also be affected.
The company said it will post more information Monday at www.novartisOTC.com. Customers can also call the company at 1-888-477-2403 Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. EST.
A footage showing shoppers laden with produce taking a tumble in the supermarket aisle is in fact the latest online fad.
Falling involves participants dreaming up the most amusing and embarrassing ways to trip themselves up in front of other shoppers.
The stunt is filmed by a co-faller as those taking part hurl themselves to the ground, throwing shopping goods into the air and rolling around in mock pain in front of bemused onlookers.
Groups of people have been indulging in the latest craze by tripping up in supermarkets, libraries and even in the middle of the street – wherever there is an audience.
Falling involves participants dreaming up the most amusing and embarrassing ways to trip themselves up in front of other shoppers
This is the latest in a line of internet fads featured on video site YouTube.
Others include cone-ing – where people would order an ice-cream cone at a drive-through fast food outlet, then when they were handed the cone that would grab it by the “wrong” end to the bemusement of the restaurant staff.
The most popular has been planking, which saw participants lying flat face-down across unusual objects – including balconies, rock outcrops and billboards.
A new Ice Age is due to start within 1,500 years, according to Cambridge University scientists; but, due to human carbon emissions, the lethal “big freeze” could be put off.
Scientists at Cambridge University say that levels of CO2 in the atmosphere could actually insulate against a catastrophic ice age which would see glaciers advance over Europe and North America.
They admit that we would be “better off” in a warmer world – but caution that this is “missing the point”.
In an article published in Nature Geoscience, Cambridge University paleoclimatologist Luke Skinner says that even if carbon emissions stopped today, levels would remain elevated for at least 1,000 years, and stored heat could prevent the next Ice Age from happening.
Instead, things would cool down, but not quite so severely.
Thanks to elevated levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the earth would not experience “glaciation” (periods of severe cold where glaciers advance).
The current level of carbon dioxide is 390 parts per million. Scientists believe that level would need to drop to 240 parts per million to allow glaciation to take place.
“It’s an interesting philosophical discussion. Would we better off in a warm world rather than a glaciation? Probably we would,” says Dr. Luke Skinner.
“At current levels of CO2, even if emissions stopped now, we’d probably have a long interglacial period,” he says.
“Interglacial” periods are warmer periods between periods of glaciation.
The last ice age ended 11,500 years ago, and scientists debate over when the next one is “due”.
The cycle is dictated by tiny variations in Earth’s orbit around the sun.
Ice ages are marked by glaciers advancing over continents. At the peak of the last ice age, large areas of Europe, Asia and North America were covered in ice.
The effects of glaciation on human civilization would be catastrophic.
Dr. Luke Skinner says: “This is missing the point, because where we’re going is not maintaining our currently warm climate but heating it much further, and adding CO2 to a warm climate is very different from adding it to a cold climate.”
Australian engineers have called for Airbus A380 super-jumbo (the world’s biggest passenger aircraft) to be grounded, after Singapore Airlines and Qantas found cracks in the wings of their aircrafts.
Steve Purvinas, secretary of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association said: “We can’t continue to gamble with people’s lives and allow those aircraft to fly around and hope that they make it until their four-yearly inspection.”
Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Airbus, admitted that they had discovered cracks, but maintained that the aircraft were safe.
In total, 67 Airbus A380s are in use worldwide, on seven airlines: Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Air France, Lufthansa, Korean Airlines and China Southern.
“We confirm that cracks were found on non-critical wing attachments on a limited number of A380s,” an Airbus spokesperson said today.
“We’ve traced the origin of these hairline cracks, and developed an inspection and repair procedure which can be done during routine maintenance.”
Singapore Airlines, the world’s second-biggest carrier, operates fourteen A380s already and has 5 on order, while Qantas has taken delivery of ten of its order of twenty A380 aircraft.
In total, 67 Airbus A380s are in use worldwide, on seven airlines: Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Air France, Lufthansa, Korean Airlines and China Southern
The A380 has been in service for five years. It seats 525 passengers in a typical three-class arrangement. In total, 238 of the aircraft have been ordered by 17 airlines worldwide.
The planes are assembled in Toulouse, but parts are built across Europe, with the wings being built in Broughton, Wales.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Qantas Airways said on Friday they discovered cracks on the wing ribs of their Airbus A380s, but said the cracks pose no threat to safety and repairs have been carried out.
The remarks came after Airbus said on Thursday that engineers discovered minor cracks in the wings of a “limited number” of A380s, but said the cracks were not affecting the safety of the aircraft.
“Cracks were found on a small number of wing rib feet on an Airbus A380 during inspections in the second half of last year. These pose no safety issue and repairs were carried out on the aircraft,” SIA’s spokesman Nicholas Ionides said in an email.
“Repairs were subsequently carried out on a second aircraft. We have kept the relevant regulatory authorities fully informed and will be carrying out inspections and any necessary repairs on other A380s as they go in for routine checks,” he added.
Qantas said that “minuscule cracking” was found in the wing ribs of the Qantas A380 being repaired in Singapore after one of its Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines suffered a mid-air blowout in 2010.
“Investigations have found that the cracking is unrelated to the engine failure incident experienced by this aircraft in November 2010 and is not unique to Qantas. It has now been repaired,” Qantas said in a statement.
“No immediate action is required by A380 operators because the cracking presents no risk whatsoever to flight safety,” Qantas said.
A Lufthansa spokesman said: “There is no findings on our side and we have normal operations.”
Airbus said it has traced the origin of the problem and developed an inspection and repair procedure that will be done during routine, scheduled four-year maintenance checks.
Both Singapore Airlines and Qantas are using Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines on their A380 fleets.
Colonel Mikolaj Przybyl shot himself today in dramatic footage caught on film in his office after cutting short a news conference
Colonel Mikolaj Przybyl, the Polish military prosecutor who investigates the case of the plane crash that killed Poland’s president, shot himself today in dramatic footage caught on film in his office after cutting short a news conference.
Moments earlier, Mikolaj Przybyl had defended a military investigation into leaks related to a plane crash that killed Poland’s president two years ago.
At the beginning of the conference at his office in Poznan, Colonel Mikolaj Przybyl said: “During my entire service as a civilian and later military prosecutor, I have never brought shame to the Republic of Poland and I will protect the honour of an officer of the Polish armed forces and prosecution.
“Thank you, please give me a five-minute break, I need to rest,” Mikolaj Przybyl said, as the reporters then leave the room.
With the camera still rolling, the prosecutor walks across the floor and, just out of shot, a pistol can be heard being reloaded and then a gunshot sounded.
As he slumps to the ground, only his feet are in the frame.
Mikolaj Przybyl was immediately taken to hospital after reporters found him lying in a pool of blood.
Hospital director Leslaw Lenartowicz said Mikolaj Przybyl is in stable condition, conscious, and his life is not in danger. He added that the military prosecutor had suffered injuries to his face.
Mikolaj Przybyl is a deputy head of the prosecutor’s office and the head of a local department investigating organized crime in the army.
He had asked the reporters to leave his office after he criticized media leaks from the continuing probe into the plane crash in Russia on April 10, 2010, that killed then-president Lech Kaczynski and 95 others, mostly senior Polish officials.
During his brief news conference, Mikolaj Przybyl said the military prosecutor’s office had the right to seek phone records of journalists covering the investigation of the crash.
He read a statement to reporters in which he objected to plans by Prosecutor General Andrzej Seremet to put military prosecutors under civilian authority.
Andrzej Seremet said that such a decision has not been made yet.
Mikolaj Przybyl also said that military prosecutors were proving themselves competent in the many probes that they have opened into organized crime cases inside the army.
The probes primarily concern suspicions of corruption in buying equipment for Poland’s troops on missions in Afghanistan and, earlier, in Iraq.
Mikolaj Przybyl denied media suggestions that the military prosecutors broke the law while investigating the crash.
The media have alleged that the prosecutors had sought billing lists and text message content of mobile phones of some reporters to determine the source of leaks to the media.
Several news outlets showed footage of Mikolaj Przybyl’s body behind his desk before an ambulance took him to a hospital.
A spokesman for the military prosecutor’s office was not available for comment.
“According to the information available, the prosecutor is alive, he is being treated in the hospital and the site is being investigated by the prosecutors and military police,” said spokesman of Poznan military prosecutors office Slawomir Schewe.
Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski said in a statement he was “concerned” about the suicide attempt and asked the head of the national security bureau to monitor the situation.
Some lawmakers are calling for a special parliamentary probe into the case.
A Boston-area event planning company has been flooded with calls since Beyonce gave birth to her baby girl just because its name is Blue Ivy, reported TMZ.
Owner Veronica Alexandra said she been getting phone calls, texts and Facebook posts from friends since Beyonce baby’s name was announced.
Before this weekend, Veronica Alexandra’s website came up first when someone Googled the name.
Veronica Alexandra told the website she’d love to plan all of the little girl’s milestone celebrations and even said the baby should be the new face of her company.
“Clearly great minds think alike, and who better than our Blue Ivy to plan events for B&J’s Blue Ivy?”
Beyonce and Jay-Z’s close friend Gwyneth Paltrow confirmed the baby’s name on Twitter, writing: “Welcome to the world Blue! We love you already.”
Baby's middle name Ivy may be in reference to Beyoncé and Jay-Z's love of the number 4 (IV)
Baby’s middle name Ivy may be in reference to Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s love of the number 4 (IV).
They married on April 4, 2008, Beyoncé’s latest album is called 4 and the couple has matching tattoos of the roman numeral for 4(IV) on their wedding fingers.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z were also born on September 4 and December 4 respectively.
Regarding Blue, Jay-Z has a trilogy of albums with the word in the title. The Blueprint was released in 2001 around the time he got together with Beyoncé, The Blueprint2: The Gift & The Curse came out in 2002 and The Blueprint 3 in 2009.
Incidentally, there had been rumors in the Noughties that Jay-Z had dated singer Blu Cantrell which she later denied, but admitted that she had a “major crush” on him.
Despite initial confusion the baby was named Ivy Blue, E! reporter Ken Baker later clarified friends of the couple confirmed the newborn was actually called Blue Ivy.
Us Weekly reported Beyoncé’s sister Solange and parents Tina and Mathew Knowles arrived at the hospital holding “flowers with pink balloons and silver and black ribbons”.
Jay-Z was also seen walking through the hospital halls looking “happy” an observer said.
While a spokesperson for the power couple – who are said to be worth $750million – was not available for comment, security is said to have been tightened at the hospital.
Hospital workers were asked to turn in their mobile phones and security cameras have been covered with packing tape, according to TMZ.
Within hours of baby Blue’s reported arrival, one fan started up a parody Twitter account called @IvyBlueCarter, with a digitally-created image of what the baby could look like.
Although many find Blue unusual as a name, it’s actually been quite popular in celebrity circles for a while.
U2 guitarist The Edge has a 22-year-old daughter Blue Angel with ex-wife Aislinn.
Neil Coulon, the father of premature twins born at the same hospital as Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s baby girl says the singer security kept him from seeing his newborns.
Beyonce’s daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, arrived via scheduled Caesarean section at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City on Saturday night.
Neil Coulon, 39, from Brooklyn, said the stress of his wife Rosalyn delivering two premature girls was tripled when Beyoncé’s towering bodyguards allegedly barred him from the sixth-floor neonatal intensive care unit.
The father told the New York Daily News that security also cleared a waiting room of his relatives – some who drove four and a half hours to the Manhattan hospital to see his newborn twin girls – and described Beyonce as treating the hospital like “an exclusive nightclub”.
Neil Coulon, 39, from Brooklyn, said the stress of his wife Rosalyn delivering two premature girls was tripled when Beyoncé's towering bodyguards allegedly barred him from the sixth-floor neonatal intensive care unit
Neil Coulon said: “Three times they stopped me from entering or exiting the NICU and it happened once on Friday – just because they wanted to use the hallway.
“They should have been more strategic about it. These are children with problems in intensive care and you’re just going to take over the hospital like you own it? All I want is an apology.”
It has been reported that Beyonce and Jay-Z spent $1.3 million to seal off and redecorate a wing, complete with bulletproof glass and ultra-tight security measures.
Neil Coulson, from the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn (where Jay-Z hails from) said he was appalled at the double standard.
“I know they spent $1.3million and I’m just a contractor from Bed-Stuy but the treatment we received was not okay.
“My wife is just terribly upset. She had a C-section. She gave birth to twins. She is sore. Nobody needs this.
“This is the NICU. Nobody cares if you’re a celebrity. Nobody is star-gazing. They just want to see their children. To have that circus roll into town and ruin our parade was unpleasant.”
A source at the hospital told the paper: “Some people were upset. I heard a gentleman say he couldn’t go upstairs to see his baby.”
However, hospital spokeswoman Anne Silverman said she had not personally heard of the complaints.
“We take patient satisfaction very seriously. This is the first time I’m hearing about it.”
During a double episode of Kourtney & Kim Take New York last night, the subject of Kim Kardashian’s failing marriage to Kris Humphries was laid bare once again.
Kim Kardashian, 31, concedes their relationship is fraught with problems in interviews to the cameras and admits to her mother she feels more herself when she is not with him.
The reality star – who filed for divorce from Kris Humphries after just 72 days of marriage – is also seen rowing with the New Jersey Nets star after he jets off to Toronto with Scott Disick without telling her to party.
Kris Humphries, 26, misses repeated texts from Kim Kardashian while downing shots and drinking, leaving his wife furious and culminating in a confrontation.
Kris Humphries apologizes, but it seems sorry is just not going to cut it with his reality star wife.
Kim Kardashian admitted that she was enjoying being away from Kris Humphries during her Dubai trip
In the second episode aired on E! last night, Kim Kardashian admits to her mother Kris Jenner that things are just not turning out how she expected.
“Married life just isn’t what I thought it would be with him,” Kim Kardashian confesses to her mother while on a promotional trip in Dubai.
“I keep thinking something is off,” she went on, asking her mother if this was a normal feeling to experience in the early days of marriage.
Kris Jenner responds, saying it is not normal, recalling how she and Kim’s father Rob Kardashian were “obsessed with each other” for at least the first 10 years.
“I didn’t even want him to go to work,” Kris Jenner recalled.
The mother explained: “This is not normal… that you don’t want to go home to your new husband.”
Earlier Kim Kardashian admitted that she was enjoying being away from Kris Humphries during her Dubai trip, describing it as a “huge relief”.
“I’m really enjoying this feeling,” Kim Kardashian mused.
Elsewhere in the episode, Kim Kardashian spent time with her nephew Mason during a visit to Connecticut with sister Kourtney.
The sisters also worked up a sweat at the gym in New York where Kim Humphries complained about the paparazzi in the Big Apple.
The voluntary recall is precautionary following consumer complaints of chipped and broken pills and inconsistent bottle packaging line clearance practices possibly resulting in mixed tablets
There have been no related adverse events reported with the issues leading to the recall
US Consumers are asked to either destroy or return unused product identified in the recall to Novartis Consumer Health Inc.
To accelerate improvements at its Lincoln, Nebraska facility, Novartis Consumer Health has temporarily suspended operations as well as shipments from the site
A one-time charge currently estimated at USD 120 million related to the recall and improvement efforts will be taken in the fourth quarter of 2011 by Novartis Consumer Health Inc.
Novartis is fully committed to maintaining high quality standards of its products
Basel, January 8, 2012– Novartis Consumer Health Inc. (NCH) informed customers, that it is voluntarily recalling all lots of select bottle packaging configurations from retailers of Excedrin® and NoDoz® products with expiry dates of December 20, 2014 or earlier as well as Bufferin® and Gas-X Prevention® products with expiry dates of December 20, 2013 or earlier, in the United States. NCH is taking this action as a precautionary measure, because the products may contain stray tablets, capsules, or caplets from other Novartis products, or contain broken or chipped tablets.
Information on the affected bottle sizes, and related expiry dates will be available at www.novartisOTC.com as of January 9, 2012. This precautionary recall follows the recent voluntary suspension of operations and shipments from Novartis Consumer Health Inc’s Lincoln, NE facility. These actions were taken to accelerate maintenance and other improvement activities at the site.
There have been no related adverse event reports received as a result of these issues. The established safety profile for each of these products remains consistent. Mixing of different products in the same bottle could result in consumers taking the incorrect product and receiving a higher or lower strength than intended or receiving an unintended ingredient. This could potentially result in overdose, interaction with other medications a consumer may be taking, or an allergic reaction if the consumer is allergic to the unintended ingredient. NCH is not aware of adverse events reported with the issues leading to the recall. This recall is being conducted with the knowledge of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Novartis Consumer Health will continue to work closely with the agency as well as its customers throughout this process.
“We are committed to a single quality standard for the entire Novartis Group and we are making the necessary investments and committing the right resources to ensure these are implemented across our entire network,” said Joseph Jimenez, CEO of Novartis. “The high quality of our products and operations has been critical to building the Novartis reputation over the past 15 years. We are committed to ensuring the highest standard for patients who rely on our products and medicines.”
NCH is recalling these products as a precaution due to an internal product review and complaints that identified issues such as broken gelcaps, chipped tablets and inconsistent bottle packaging line clearance practices, where a potential for a tablet mix up could not be ruled out.
NCH plans to gradually resume operations at its Lincoln, NE site following implementation of planned improvements and in agreement with the FDA. The Novartis Consumer Health Inc. Lincoln, NE facility produces a variety of products mainly for the US market with annual sales value of less than 2% of Novartis Group sales. At this stage, it is not possible to determine when the plant will resume full operations and the full financial impact of these events. NCH will take a one-time charge currently estimated at USD 120 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, relating to the recalls and improvement work at the Lincoln, NE facility.
Which products have been recalled?
Packages of each of the brands may contain tablets, caplets, or capsules of other products. Some of the pills may be broken or chipped.
All Bufferin products with expiration dates of Dec. 20, 2013, or earlier have been recalled. Brand names include Bufferin Extra Strength Tablets, Bufferin Low Dose Tablets, and Bufferin Regular Strength Tablets.
All Gas-X Prevention products with expiration dates of Dec. 20, 2013, or earlier have been recalled.
The following Excedrin products with expiration dates of Dec. 20, 2014, have been recalled:
Excedrin Extra Strength Caplets
Excedrin Extra Strength Express Gel Caplets
Excedrin Extra Strength Gel Caplets
Excedrin Extra Strength Tablets
Excedrin Back & Body Caplets
Excedrin Sinus Headache Caplets
Excedrin Migraine Caplets
Excedrin Migraine Gel Tablets
Excedrin Migraine Tablets
Excedrin Menstrual Complete Express Gel Caplets
Excedrin PM Caplets
Excedrin PM Express Gel Caplets
Excedrin PM Tablets
Excedrin Tension Headache Caplets
Excedrin Tension Headache Express Gel Caplets
Excedrin Tension Headache Gel Tablets
The recalled products were distributed throughout the United States, but not internationally.
There have been no reports of illness or injury from the products.
Which Endo Pharmaceutical products were affected?
Endo says it has received only three complaints of pill mix-ups. All three were caught by pharmacists before the drugs were given to patients. Endo officials were not mentioned in the June/July 2011 FDA inspection report.
Late last year, Novartis suspended operations at the plant “to accelerate maintenance and other improvement activities at the site,” according to a company news release.
It’s not yet clear whether there will be shortages of any of the recalled over-the-counter drugs. But Endo says it expects to see shortages of some of its opiate pain medications. Fortunately, the FDA says alternative versions of each medication are still available.
Prescription Pain Drug Mix-Up
The following Endo Pharmaceutical products may have been affected by the packaging problem.
Opana ER (oxymorphone hydrochloride) Extended-Release Tablets CII
Opana (oxymorphone hydrochloride) CII
Oxymorphone Hydrochloride Tablets CII
Percocet (oxycodone hydrochloride and acetaminophen USP) Tablets CII
Percodan (oxycodone hydrochloride and aspirin, USP) Tablets CII
Endocet (oxycodone hydrochloride and acetaminophen USP) Tablets CII
Endodan (oxycodone hydrochloride and aspirin, USP) Tablets CII
The FDA is asking people who take prescription pain medications to take a closer look at their pills before swallowing them.
“We are asking patients to check their medicines and to look for tablets of a different size, shape, or color from their regular medicine,” said Edward Cox, MD, director of the FDA’s office of antiviral products at a news conference. “If they find any tablets that are different from the rest, they should stop taking their pain medicine and take the medicine to their pharmacy.”
FDA officials say the likelihood of finding the wrong tablet in a prescription pain medication is low. In most cases, any potential pill mix-up would first be detected by a pharmacist.
Novartis commitment to quality
Novartis Group is fully committed to ensure the quality, safety and integrity of its products. All Novartis Group companies have a clear commitment to patients and Health Authorities to ensure high quality standards for all our products and services. Novartis Group stands behind the safety and efficacy of its products, and is fully committed to maintaining high quality standards at all production sites in the US and around the world. All Novartis Group products are subjected to strict manufacturing, testing and monitoring standards. Where they fall outside the standards, Novartis Group companies take actions to correct the issue and may recall products as a precaution.
Note to US consumers and customers
Consumers and customers in the US who have questions can call the Consumer Relationship Center at 1-888-477-2403 (available Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time).
For more detailed information regarding the product, potential drug reactions, impacted configurations, related NDC numbers and expiry dates, please visit our website starting January 9, 2012 at www.novartisOTC.com.
Disclaimer
The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as “potential,” “will,” “committed,” “commitment,” “plans,” or similar expressions, or by express or implied discussions regarding the potential length of the shutdown of our Lincoln, NE production facility, regarding the potential for any further regulatory actions at the Lincoln, NE production facility, regarding the potential for any further quality issues arising at any additional Novartis manufacturing facilities, or regarding the potential financial impact of the Lincoln, NE facility shutdown. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee that our Lincoln, NE production facility will reopen at any particular time. Nor can there be any guarantee that actions described in this release will be the only regulatory actions required at the Lincoln, NE facility. Neither can there be any guarantee that further quality issues will not arise at any additional Novartis Group manufacturing facilities. Nor can there be any guarantee as to the potential financial impact on Novartis resulting from the shutdown of the Lincoln, NE production facility. In particular, management’s expectations could be affected by, among other things, unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; unexpected manufacturing issues, including unexpected inabilities to satisfy regulators’ requirements for the reopening of the Lincoln, NE production facility; competition in general; government, industry and general public pricing pressures; the impact that the foregoing factors could have on the values attributed to the Novartis Group’s assets and liabilities as recorded in the Group’s consolidated balance sheet, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG’s current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
About Novartis
Novartis Group provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, eye care, cost-saving generic pharmaceuticals, preventive vaccines and diagnostic tools, over-the-counter and animal health products. Novartis is the only global company with leading positions in these areas. In 2010, the Group’s continuing operations achieved net sales of USD 50.6 billion, while approximately USD 9.1 billion (USD 8.1 billion excluding impairment and amortization charges) was invested in R&D throughout the Group. Novartis Group companies employ approximately 121,000 full-time-equivalent associates and operate in more than 140 countries around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.novartis.com.
President Barack Obama stripped off for some beach football to round off his Christmas holidays in Hawaii.
While his Republican rivals were deep in preparation for the Iowa caucuses, the pictures show President Barack Obama had his mind on diving headlong for catches and tossing touchdowns to his friends from the Secret Service.
Barack Obama, 50, looked surprisingly lean on New Year’s Day at the Kaneohe Marine Corps Base on Oahu, where he stayed with the first family for their 10-day vacation.
The football game brought to an end a relaxing and fun-filled 10 days for Barack Obama, who arrived in Hawaii a week later than he had hoped.
He would have enjoyed an even longer period away from the White House had there not been a stalemate in Washington D.C. over the payroll tax cut.
Barack Obama certainly made up for lost time as, within an hour of arriving on December 23, he took wife Michelle out for dinner at one of their favorite hotspots, Morimoto Restaurant.
Then, on Christmas Eve, they spent some family time together with daughters Sasha and Malia in the morning.
During the afternoon the couple split their time as President Barack Obama went to play golf and the First Lady answered phone calls from expectant children who called NORAD to see where Santa was on his route.
Like many families, the Obamas spent Christmas morning by themselves, opening presents and singing carols. They then attended church services at a nearby naval base and talked with military families afterwards.
President Barack Obama stripped off for some beach football to round off his Christmas holidays in Hawaii
President Barack Obama had no public schedule when he arrived in Hawaii but his schedule seemed to fill up quite quickly.
The entire Obama family was joined by their friends, the Nesbitts, as they took a drive from their multi-million dollar rented vacation home to the Sea Life Park marine sanctuary.
While there, the girls were able to release three 18-month-old sea turtles into the wild.
Though Barack Obama tried to keep a low profile throughout the trip, he and his motorcade were seen driving to and from the golf course a number of times.
One of his golfing partners was an old high school buddy Robert “Bobby” Titcomb, who was arrested in a prostitution sting.
After golf that day, the boys were joined by the First Lady and President Obama’s sister Maya Soetoro-Ng at Alan Wong’s, one of Hawaii’s priciest restaurants.
In an act of reflection, Barack and Michelle Obama visited the Pearl Harbor memorial and paid tribute to the thousands who lost their lives there 70 years ago. It was his first visit since 2008, when he was president-elect.
And then on New Year’s Day, Obama family went back to their roots by paying tribute to two different generations.
They first visited the grave of Barack Obama’s maternal grandmother, Stanley Durham, and later they went to an exhibit honoring his mother, Ann Durham, and the work she did overseas in Indonesia.
It was afterwards that Barack Obama managed to squeeze in a game of football – the photographs of which some have compared to Vladimir Putin’s display of masculinity in promotional pictures.
Vladimir Putin is well known for posing with his top off in a bid to demonstrate his power and virility.
Later that night, the Obamas left the girls at home while they joined 10 friends for dinner in the private room at celebrity hotspot Nobu Wakiki. They returned to Washington D.C. on Monday, January 2.
Guinea-Bissau’s leader Malam Bacai Sanha has died at 64 in hospital in Paris, national radio reports.
President Malam Bacai Sanha had travelled to France for medical treatment in late November after being taken seriously ill.
He was the president of Guinea-Bissau since 8 September 2009. A member of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), Malam Bacai Sanhá was President of the National People’s Assembly from 1994 to 1999 and then served as acting President of Guinea-Bissau from 14 May 1999 to 17 February 2000, following the ouster of President João Bernardo Vieira. Standing as the PAIGC candidate, he placed second in the 1999–2000 presidential election as well as the 2005 presidential election before winning the June–July 2009 presidential election.
Guinea-Bissau's leader Malam Bacai Sanha has died at 64 in hospital in Paris
The nature of Malam Bacai Sanha illness has not been made public but he was known to suffer from diabetes.
In early December 2009, he was due to visit Portugal but delayed the visit due to health problems. After fainting, he was taken to Dakar and then Paris for medical treatment. While in Paris, he said that he had suffered a drop in hemoglobin; although he insisted that his diabetes was “not as serious as people want to make out”, he also said that he intended to be more attentive about his health. Malam Bacai Sanhá spent ten days in Paris and subsequently stayed in the Canary Islands for a time before returning to Bissau on 30 December 2009. His chief of protocol stated that he had recovered and was in good condition
This time, before being hospitalized in Paris, Malam Bacai Sanha had been treated in intensive care in a h.ospital in neighbouring Senegal.
Australian backpacker Erin Langworthy has miraculously survived following a fall into crocodile-infested waters after the cord snapped while she was bungee jumping in Zambia.
Erin Langworthy, 22, fell into the Zambezi river following the terrifying mishap, which happened as she leapt from a bridge at Victoria Falls on the country’s border with Zimbabwe.
The young woman told how her feet were still tied together as she fell head first into the fast-flowing rapids beneath the world’s largest waterfall.
She said she feared for her life but managed to survive after swimming to a nearby bank on the side of the river.
Erin Langworthy said: “It went black straight away and I felt like I’d been slapped all over.
“I landed with my legs tied and then had to swim to the Zimbabwe side [of the river] through the rapids,” she told Australia’s Channel Nine network.
“It was quite scary because a couple of times the rope actually got caught on some rocks or debris.
“I actually had to swim down and yank the bungee cord out of whatever it was caught on to make it to the surface.
“When I was first pulled out of the water they put me on my back and so all the water that I’d inhaled meant that I couldn’t breathe, so I made them roll me onto my side.
“And that’s when I started coughing out water and blood. I think it’s definitely a miracle that I survived.”
A battered and bruised Erin Langworthy spent a week in hospital following the incident, which happened on New Year’s Eve. Officials have since launched an investigation into what caused the terrifying accident.
Chilling footage of the incident shows the young tourist, from Perth, leaping from the bridge which crosses a gorge 111 meters above the water.
It shows how her bungee cord snapped as she reached the bottom of her descent, sending her flying down towards the water below.
According to reports it is believed Erin Langworthy was around 20 meters above the Zambezi when the cord broke. She hit the water and immediately fought to get herself towards the shore.
Zambian police spokeswoman Brenda Muntemba confirmed the holidaymaker was eventually rescued after reaching the side of the river.
Erin Langworthy was treated by medics in the town of Victoria Falls before being transferred to a hospital in neighboring South Africa.
The government has set out to reassure people the tourist attraction is safe, despite the incident.
Tourism minister Given Lubinda said around 50,000 people made the leap each year at the world-famous beauty spot.
“The bungee has proven to be a very viable operation considering that more than 50,000 tourists jump on it every year.
“It has been in operation for 10 years. This is the first time I am hearing of an incident. The probability of an incident is one in 500,000 jumps.”
The minister added that his office had launched a full investigation.
Every week hundreds of tourists pay around $120 for the thrill of jumping off a rail bridge which links the two countries.
The Zambia Post reported that the jump was operated by a private firm, Bungee Extreme, which confirmed it was looking into the incident.
A British Airways Airbus A321 was forced to make an emergency landing after both pilots almost “passed out” at the controls.
The aircraft’s Captain and first officer both reported feeling light headed as the jet, which had taken off from Heathrow, was climbing at 20,000 feet.
Aircraft passengers heard a “panicked” captain call for a senior member of the cabin crew to come to their aid.
The captain and the first officer were then supplied with oxygen masks as they continued the stricken flight and requested an emergency return to Heathrow.
A British Airways Airbus A321 was forced to make an emergency landing after both pilots almost “passed out” at the controls
Fortunately the plane landed safely but when paramedics arrived the pilots both said they had felt as though they were about to pass out.
The incident, which is now being investigated by the Air Accident Investigation Branch, was also reported by a passenger on the flight on a professional pilots website.
The passenger described how the captain of the flight, from London to Glasgow last month, sounded panicked and how cabin attendants looked worried at the turn of events.
“I was on the London to Glasgow flight yesterday, departed Heathrow at 4 pm-ish got airborne, at approx 20 mins into flight a very abrupt and panicked message came over the PA from the pilot,” the passenger wrote.
The man goes on to say that there were a number of “worried faces” among the flight attendants who he saw with a oxygen cylinders and said the plane was soon heading back to Heathrow “at great speed”.
Cabin crew then announced they were experiencing technical difficulties but the passenger added they were greeted by fire crews, paramedics and engineers on landing.
“Still being fed the tech fault line but the first on board were paramedics??
“It later transpires that both pilots became lightheaded/dizzy/unwell at the same time, in my book that’s serious,” he said.
Air accident investigators will now be examining what caused the pilots to become ill at the same time during the flight.
A spokeswoman for British Airways confirmed that both pilots had become “unwell” and followed procedures by donning oxygen masks and returning to Heathrow.
“The pilots reported feeling light headed so, as a precaution and following normal procedure, put on their oxygen masks,” she said.
“Our pilots are highly trained to deal with such circumstances. The aircraft landed safely and customers continued their journey after a short delay.”
China could claim the title of the fastest builders on the planet after putting up a 30-storey 183,000-square-foot hotel in just 15 days, or 360 hours.
It was reported that the construction crew in the south-central Chinese city of Changsha completed this remarkable achievement with no injuries to any worker.
The Ark Hotel was built on Dongting Lake, in the Hunan Province, by Broad Group, a Chinese construction company which specializes in sustainable architecture.
China could claim the title of the fastest builders on the planet after putting up a 30-storey 183,000-square-foot hotel in just 15 days, or 360 hours
The Ark Hotel was built to withstand a magnitude 9 earthquake, as tested by the China Academy of Building Research, who claims this is five times more quake-resistant than conventional buildings.
All the materials were prefabricated and sections built to specification off-site, so there was very little wastage.
The builders took just 46 hours to finish the main structural components and another 90 hours to finish the building enclosure.
All of the structure is soundproofed and thermal-insulated. They even have air quality monitoring in every room given the pollution problem in China.
While the men didn’t work all through the night, it was often 10:00 p.m. before they packed away their lunchboxes.
Builders’ previous record was a smaller 15-story building constructed in just 6 days, but this one is much more impressive.
Glass Beach, located near Fort Bragg in Northern California, used to be the place where residents brought all forms of their trash starting with 1949.
At the time, the standards for where and how people can deposit their trash were much lower and less regulated.
In the early 1960s, officials begin to regulate what was dumped on the beach, first putting a stop to toxins and then to everything when the North coast Water Quality Board moved the official dump to a different location in 1967.
Though that was nearly half a century ago, the remnants are still very clear.
Much of the glass that was left on the beachfront during its dirty past has not gone far, and years of the thrashing waves have softened and polished the broken pieces.
Now the beach is covered with stone-sized pieces of sea glass, coloring the seascape and adding a tourist element to the natural beauty of the spot.
Glass Beach is part of the MacKerricher State Park and has another side to its history, as it is the only area of the California Park System to have been at one point in time a part of the Mendocino Indian Reservation
Glass Beach is part of the MacKerricher State Park and has another side to its history, as it is the only area of the California Park System to have been at one point in time a part of the Mendocino Indian Reservation.
Because of this historic significance, Glass Beach is maintained by the parks department which does its best to preserve the natural, and not-so-natural, beauty of the beach.
“Rangers are currently working to educate and inform the public and we confiscate and return collected sea glass to the beach whenever possible,” ranger Tim Quandt told the official Fort Bragg website.
Glass Beach, located about three-hour’s drive north of San Francisco, is a major tourist attraction. While that is good for the locals, it does present a problem for conservationists who want to stop visitors from taking pieces home with them.
“The truth of the matter is that it is a misdemeanor to remove any artifacts from State Park property. Park rangers have not begun citing offenders…yet, but that day will eventually arrive,” Tim Quandt continued.
The 11th edition of the annual No Pants Subway Ride event took place on Sunday in New York and other major cities and the males got the chance to show if they are boxer or Y-front guys.
People throughout New York City stripped to their underwear as part of a worldwide practical joke organized by prankster group Improv Everywhere.
On 2012 of the annual ride, according to the group’s website, all you had to do to take part was “be willing to take pants off on subway” and “be able to keep a straight face about it”.
Participants are asked just to act like they would on any other subway by chatting to each other, using their iPod or reading.
People throughout New York City stripped to their underwear as part of the worldwide practical joke No Pants Subway Ride, organized by prankster group Improv Everywhere
The event was not confined to New York, cities including London, Washington and Mexico City also took part.
In London the event was called the No Trousers Tube Ride, where about 150 people divided into groups for the various lines on the underground.
In Toronto they did for the 5th year running, with many people dressing up in fancy costume.
In Madrid it would appear the police and security weren’t in on the joke. The No Pants brigade reportedly had to change their starting point when police prevented them from entering their original starting station.
Improv Everywhere was born in 2001 in New York.
The idea was to put together groups to pull off pranks and get laughs.
This year Improv Everywhere invited people to take part through Facebook, with more than 6,300 people accepting, the New York Daily News reports.
Sahar Gul, a teenage bride from Afghanistan, who was tortured for months after her arranged marriage, has spoken out for the first time since her rescue, saying she hopes her husband and his family are jailed for her abuse.
15-year-old Sahar Gul became the bruised and bloodied face of women’s rights in Afghanistan after she was rescued in late December when an uncle called police.
Speaking in an interview on Saturday from a hospital in Kabul, Sahar Gul blamed her husband, his parents and his sister for her ordeal.
“I want them to be in jail,” the girl said.
“They gave me electric shock. … They beat me with cables and tortured me.”
Sahar Gul is being treated for multiple injuries that include broken fingers and ripped-out fingernails, the Associated Press reports.
15-year-old Sahar Gul became the bruised and bloodied face of women's rights in Afghanistan after she was rescued in late December when an uncle called police
Police in Baghlan province where Sahar Gul was rescued have said her in-laws locked her up and tortured her after she refused to work as a prostitute. Her husband’s parents and sister have been arrested. They deny any wrongdoing.
Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for her husband, who serves in the Afghan army.
Sahar Gul’s doctor, Feriba Omarzada, said the girl is recovering but is still traumatized.
The teenager’s story has shocked Afghanistan and prompted calls for more efforts to end underage marriage.
The legal marriage age in Afghanistan is 16, but the United Nations agency UN Women estimates that half of all girls are forced to marry under age 15.
Sahar Gul was in critical condition when she was rescued from a house in northern Baghlan province last week. Police say her in-laws pulled out her nails and hair, and locked her in a dark basement bathroom for about five months, with barely enough food and water to survive.
Sahar Gul husband’s family also burned her with cigarettes and cut out chunks of her flesh with pliers.
Local media reported today that Provincial Security Chief for northern Baghlan province General Syed Zamanuddin Hussaini revealed father-in-law Mohammad Aman was detained with the help of local residents in northern Pul-e-Khumri city.
General Hussaini added that Mohammad Aman was introduced to provincial attorney general and the Afghan security forces are struggling to find the husband of Sahar Gul.
In the meantime, Mohammad Aman has denied allegations of torturing Sahar Gul and said that she was suffering from psychological disorders.
After hearing of the abuse, Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai said those responsible would be punished.
Doctors say the girl has suffered both mentally and physically and will need weeks of treatment in order to recover.
“She was married seven months ago, and was originally from Badakhshan province. Her in-laws tried to force her into prostitution to earn money,” Rahima Zarifi, head of women’s affairs in Baghlan told Reuters.
Sahar Gul is covered in scars and bruises, with one eye still swollen shut six days after her rescue.
The girl is being treated in a government hospital in Kabul, but she may have to be sent to India, doctors said.
“This is one of the worst cases of violence against Afghan women. The perpetrators must be punished so others learn a lesson,” health minister Suraya Dalil told journalists after visiting Sahar Gul today with the women’s affairs minister.
Mohammad Zia, a senior police official in Baghlan, who helped to rescue the girl, said her mother-in-law and sister-in-law have been detained, but her husband had escaped.
“We have launched a serious hunt to get her husband and the others involved,” Mohammad Zia said.
Despite progress in women’s rights and freedom since the fall of the Taliban 10 years ago, women throughout the country are still at risk of abduction, rape, forced marriage and being traded as commodity.
However, it can be hard for women to escape violent situations at home, because of huge social and sometimes legal pressure to stay in marriages.
Running away from an abusive husband or a forced marriage are considered “moral crimes”, for which women are currently imprisoned in Afghanistan.
Some rape victims have also been imprisoned, because sex outside marriage, even when the woman is forced, is considered adultery, another “moral crime”.
The US State Department has declared Livia Acosta Noguera, Venezuela’s consul general in Miami, persona non grata and says she must leave the country by Tuesday.
Livia Acosta Noguera is alleged to have discussed possible cyber-attacks on the US while based at the Venezuelan embassy in Mexico in 2008.
The FBI has been investigating the comments, AP news agency says.
The US state department did not comment on the reason for the expulsion.
Four US members of Congress wrote to the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in December raising concerns about the Venezuelan diplomat.
Their letter says that according to a documentary broadcast on the Spanish-language network Univision last month, Livia Acosta Noguera discussed attacking the US government’s computer systems with diplomats from the Iranian and Cuban embassies and students posing as extremists, while she was vice secretary at Caracas’s embassy in Mexico.
The congressmen requested the state department investigate the claims, and if found true, “declare her a persona non grata and require her immediate departure from the United States”.
