Ronald Ball, who claimed he found a rodent’s body in a can of Mountain Dew was told by Pepsi that he must be wrong because it would have dissolved into jelly.
Ronald Ball, from Illinois, is suing Pepsi claiming the Mountain Dew he drank made him violently ill, and he began throwing up.
When it happened, Ronald Ball said he poured the fizzy drink into a styrofoam cup and to his shock out came a tiny mouse.
Ronald Ball, of Madison County, filed papers saying he bought a can of the Pepsi-made soft drink from a vending machine at work in 2009.
The man claims when he called a telephone number on the can to complain, they sent an adjuster to retrieve the mouse.
But, Ronald Ball said, Pepsi would not return the mouse until it had decomposed, ruling out additional testing by the plaintiff.
Since then, the case has gone to court and Pepsi has moved to dismiss it.
Ronald Ball, who claimed he found a rodent's body in a can of Mountain Dew was told by Pepsi that he must be wrong because it would have dissolved into jelly
According to reports, Pepsi’s expert says the mouse would have become a “jelly like” substance long before Ronald Ball ever opened it.
The case was continued by Madison County Circuit Judge Dennis Ruth, who granted the defendant 28 days to answer or otherwise plead the plaintiff’s second amended complaint.
A trial had been set to begin November 28, but was put back in an order signed by Judge Ruth on November 10.
A second amended complaint was then filed on November 21.
Ronald Ball is seeking damages in excess of $50,000. Pepsi, represented by lawyers Steven Danekas and Cassiday Schade, denies his claims.
15-year-old Amanda Cummings from Staten Island, who was “tormented by bullies”, died after she was hit by a bus while clutching a suicide note.
Witnesses saw Amanda Cummings jump in front of the city bus just two days after Christmas, a NYPD spokesman said.
Amanda Cummings was critically hurt in the collision, and eventually succumbed to her serious injuries after six days.
The teenager’s death comes just weeks after revealing posts on her public Facebook account, in which she talks about “feeling depressed” and asks “what did I do to deserve this?”
In one disturbing post on December 1, Amanda Cummings said: “I’ll go kill myself.”
Her uncle Keith Cummings told the Staten Island Advance that bullying was the ultimate cause of her tragic death.
Keith Cummings said she was being tormented by bullies who he claims picked on her at school, mocked her and took her phone, shoes and jacket.
15-year-old Amanda Cummings from Staten Island, who was “tormented by bullies”, died after she was hit by a bus while clutching a suicide note
Amanda Cummings’ uncle, who plans to use the law to hold her tormentors to account, also said that there were cruel posts and inappropriate comments being put on her Facebook wall while she was fighting for her life in hospital.
“I’m not going to tolerate this. I’m gonna go full force,” Keith Cummings told the Advance.
“Kids can’t do this to each other.”
On December 6th, in what appears to be a cry for help, Amanda posted on her Facebook: “When i say im ok i want that one person t look me in the eye, hug me & say no ur not.”
Three days earlier, the natural blonde who recently dyed her hair black, said: “Worst sat nite ever i cnt believe this is happening what did i do to deserve this.”
Amanda Cummings later talks about: “mad people are turning against me :'( im spending this sat nite alone in my room crying.”
The funeral of the New Dorp High School sophomore, who would have celebrated her 16th birthday party in September, is expected to take place this week.
Greg Walker, a 7ft tall basketball star, is undergoing a sex change and will become the world’s tallest transsexual.
Greg Walker, now 25, grew up sports-mad with beautiful cheerleaders on his arm, but said he “always felt different”.
Strapping teenager Greg Walker – who has size 16 feet and weighs around 20 stone – regularly lifted weights and would ride motorbikes to mask his true feelings.
The basketball had dozens of girls chasing him but shunned their advances, preferring to become friends instead and discuss fashion and “girly’ things.
In his early 20s, Greg Walker – now Lindsey – was unable to continue the “charade” and began wearing women’s clothes.
He then sought medical advice and began taking oestrogen to become more feminine and now boasts a curvy woman’s body – and a 38B bra size.
Now legally recognized as female after living as a woman for two years, Lindsey said: “I was one of the popular kids in high school.
“I was smart and always had girlfriends and loads of girls chasing me. But it somehow didn’t feel right, almost like it was a charade.
“I started to feel really isolated as thought here was something wrong with me and at 18 I started doing research secretly into why I was feeling so different from everyone else.
“Although I hid my feelings well I lived my life always knowing there was something different. By 21 I had hit my rock bottom and I started having emotional problems and turned to drink.
“Then one day it just clicked and I knew what I had to do. I started wearing women’s clothes and later turned to female hormones to suppress the testosterone in my body.”
Greg Walker, a 7ft tall basketball star, is undergoing a sex change and will become the world's tallest transsexual
Lindsey Walker, from Ohio, grew up as Greg and experienced a “normal boyish” childhood as a keen sportsman and gifted basketball player.
He was offered a basketball scholarship to study economics and marketing at Central Michigan College, but dropped out aged 21.
Greg Walker became increasingly isolated and changed his name from Greg to Lindsey. Lindsey then poured her heart out in a letter to her supportive parents explaining she had always felt and wanted to be a woman.
The acceptance gave Lindsey the confidence to start wearing women’s clothes and undergo a course of female hormones to become more “womanly”.
Lindsey now proudly boasts a B-cup bra size and buys her fashionable clothes and high-heeled shoes to fit her size 16 feet from specialist websites online.
She is legally classified as a woman and is now saving up for full gender reassignment surgery, which she hopes to have by the end of the year or early 2013.
Her supportive parents have accepted her decision although Lindsey is estranged from her younger brother. She has also contacted the Guinness Book of Records in the hope she will be officially recognized as the world’s tallest transsexual.
Authorities named David Pouliot, a Vietnam veteran who worked for the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services, as a “person of interest” in the disappearance of 10-year-old Holly Piirainen from Massachusetts in 1993.
Investigators stopped short of naming David Pouliot, who died in 2003, as a suspect.
Holly Piirainen was abducted during a family vacation in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, on August 5, 1993, and her remains were discovered two months later eight miles away in Brimfield.
No one has ever been charged with Holly Piirainen murder, but analysis of forensic evidence found at the scene has revealed a new suspect.
At a press conference today, Hampden County District Attorney Mark Mastroianni released the name of David Pouliot, a 49-year-old man from Springfield who died in 2003.
David Pouliot was a Vietnam War veteran, a member of the U.S. Coast Guard and worked for the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services in Westfield, Fox News reported.
The potential new suspect is the first new lead in the case for more than 10 years.
Holly Piirainen was abducted during a family vacation in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, on August 5, 1993, and her remains were discovered two months later eight miles away in Brimfield
David Procopio, a spokesman for the Massachusetts State Police, told The Boston Globe: “We hope the new evidence may spark someone’s memory, or someone’s conscience.
“Holly’s family has waited for justice for almost two decades.”
Holly Piirainen disappeared after she and her brother went to a neighbor’s house to look at a litter of puppies.
Rick Piirainen, her father, was planning to go to attend a news conference in Hampden Superior Court this morning along with sons Andrew and Zachary – who were eight and five at the time of her disappearance.
Investigators have speculated Holly Piirainen’s abduction and murder could be linked with that of Molly Bish, who disappeared on June 27, 2000, after she was dropped off at Comins Pond in Warren where she was a lifeguard.
The 16-year-old’s remains were found in 2003 in a wooded area near Comins Pond.
Aretha Franklin, the Grammy-winning singer, announced she is engaged to long-time companion William “Willie” Wilkerson.
Aretha Franklin, 69, said in a statement today that she and Willie Wilkerson are considering a summer wedding, perhaps in Miami Beach, Florida.
The singer wants to follow the ceremony with a reception on a private yacht.
Aretha Franklin joked: “No, I’m not pregnant.”
The Queen of Soul and Willie Wilkerson became engaged over the holidays.
Aretha Franklin is considering Vera Wang, Valentino and Donna Karan to design her dress.
It will be the third wedding for Aretha Franklin, who has four children.
The singer was married to her then manager, Ted White, during the ’60s and split from her second husband actor Glynn Turman in 1984 after five years together.
Aretha Franklin and her fiancé Willie Wilkerson
Aretha Franklin recently said she is feeling “fabulous” again after suffering from a serious health issue in 2010.
The singer was reported to have been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer – claims which Aretha Franklin denied.
However, Aretha Franklin did undergo an unidentified surgery in December that year and she had cancelled concerts and personal appearances up until May.
Her more transformed physique has now promoted rumors she underwent gastric bypass surgery.
But Aretha Franklin said in a recent interview that she “would never” go under the surgeon’s knife for weight loss surgery.
Asked if she had had a gastric bypass, Aretha Franklin replied: “Definitely not – and would not. I heard that rumor. I said, <<That is crazy>>. It definitely was not the bariatric or, what is it, gastric… Yeah, I can’t even tell you the correct name of it.
“It’s really not necessary to talk about one’s personal medical health.”
Aretha Franklin also addressed the rumors about reports she had pancreatic cancer and said: “There was just so many wild things out there and just so many things being said that weren’t true…
“I just felt I needed to address it a little.”
“I don’t know where pancreatic cancer came from, she states. I was sitting there reading the newspaper and it was saying someone in my family said that.”
Aretha Franklin clarified: “No one in my family ever said that to anybody.”
Although she did not state what the nature of her health concerns were, Aretha Franklin said that her doctors believe the surgery she had “is going to add 15 to 20 more years” to her life.
New reports say that Beyoncé spent New Year’s Eve enjoying dinner with her baby bump still intact despite other reports saying that she has given birth.
Beyoncé, 30, saw in 2012 by dining with her husband Jay-Z at Buttermilk Channel in Brooklyn, New York, before going to her sister’s house party.
In fact, Beyoncé’s younger sibling Solange, 25, confirmed her sister was very much still pregnant when the clock struck midnight.
Solange tweeted: “Shout out to my sister for being THE cutest pregnant woman ever!’
Before the party at Solange’s rented Brooklyn brownstone house, Beyoncé and Jay-Z enjoyed a romantic meal.
According to Radar Online, the famous couple enjoyed a strictly A-list menu, but it is not known if any of the luxury dishes were at the top of Beyoncé’s cravings list.
Foodrepublic.com states that the food on the night was a “tour de force from the talented chef Ryan Angulo”.
The menu included a rich foie gras terrine with pickled grapes, butter-poached lobster, duck meatloaf with more seared foie gras and a bittersweet chocolate and duck jus.
No doubt Beyoncé has a healthy appetite at the moment and was making the most of being able to eat what she wants.
However, other reports claim that Beyoncé gorged on fried chicken while Jay-Z enjoyed some oysters.
And just because she’s expecting, doesn’t mean Beyoncé is following the traditional maternity wear trends.
A source told People that Beyoncé had dressed up for the annual event: “She looked amazing. She wore sky-high heels. It was really impressive for an enormously pregnant woman.”
“She looked like she was about to give birth,” the source added.
New reports say that Beyoncé spent New Year's Eve enjoying dinner with her baby bump still intact despite other reports saying that she has given birth
The internet rumor mill went into overdrive on December 30 with reports that Beyoncé had given birth to a baby girl.
According to reports – which neither the singer herself nor husband Jay-Z had confirmed – the U.S. star had named her daughter Tiana May Carter.
The news came after reports suggested that staff at St Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital – a private facility in New York – had been told to prepare for a VIP arrival.
Beyoncé has understandably spent the past few months in the Big Apple as she approaches her due date
No doubt Beyoncé has spent a lot of the festivities relaxing in the multi-million dollar penthouse apartment which she shares with her rapper husband.
Over 30,000 people have been protesting in Budapest over Hungary’s controversial new constitution, a day after it came into force.
The country’s governing Fidesz party pushed the law through parliament in April after winning a two-thirds majority in parliamentary elections.
Opposition say the new constitution threatens democracy by removing checks and balances set up in 1989 when Communism fell.
The EU and U.S. had also asked for the law to be withdrawn.
The dispute has cast doubt over talks on a new financing agreement with the EU and IMF, seen as vital for market confidence in the central European country.
But the economic crisis facing Hungary overshadows both the government’s policies and the opposition protests.
Over 30,000 people have been protesting in Budapest over Hungary's controversial new constitution, a day after it came into force
Fidesz party won the elections promising to create a million workplaces – but there has been no growth so far.
As the public mood worsens, so do the country’s ratings, the chances of attracting foreign investment, and creating more jobs.
Several centre-left opposition parties joined in the protests, held near a gala event organized by the government to celebrate the new constitution.
Protesters chanted slogans denouncing the centre-right Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, and carried placards denouncing his “dictatorship” as officials arrived for the event.
“Viktor Orban and his servants turned Hungary from a promising place to the darkest spot in Europe,” said Socialist MP Tibor Szanyi, quoted by AFP news agency.
Aspects of the new constitution and accompanying laws which have come in for criticism include:
• A preamble committed to defending the intellectual and spiritual unity of the nation, which experts warn could be a future source of tension;
• The inclusion of social issues – like the rights of the unborn child, marriage between a man and a woman, and the definition of life sentences – which experts say should be left to ethical debates within society;
• The rewriting of the electoral system, in a way which opponents say favors Fidesz;
But Fidesz says the new constitution, or basic law, improves the legal framework of life in Hungary.
“Despite political debates we think it is an important value that for the first time, a freely elected parliament created the Basic Law,” said Fidesz MP Gergely Gulyas, quoted by the Reuters news agency.
Gergely Gulyas co-wrote the new law and shepherded it through parliament.
A newborn was found abandoned in a trash can in a town called Country club Hills, south of Chicago, Illinois, on Sunday.
The baby boy’s 13-year-old mother wrapped the newborn in bloody jeans before leaving it in the outdoor trash can.
The baby was taken to nearby Advocate South Suburban Hospital and pronounced dead at 8:17 p.m.
The teenager told police that she didn’t know she was pregnant. Her name has not been released- likely because she is a minor- and was in hospital Monday morning.
When the baby was found, he was full term and only 4 pounds and 2 ounces. Newborns generally tend to weigh between six and eight pounds.
Found in the garbage around 7:00 p.m., the boy had to fend for himself through a very cold and snowy New Year’s Day, something that lawmakers and children’s advocates have been hoping to prevent.
A newborn was found abandoned in a trash can in a town called Country club Hills, south of Chicago, Illinois, on Sunday
In 2001, Illinois established its Safe Haven law which allows new mothers to drop their baby off anonymously at a number of designated locations- like police stations, fire houses, and college campuses- and have the children put up for adoption, no questions asked.
A group called the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation was instrumental in establishing the law, and, with exception of this latest incident, have been markedly successful.
Since the law was enacted, 64 newborns were abandoned illegally, not including this Sunday’s boy.
Of those 64 cases, 31 of the abandoned children died while the others were found and treated in time. Now that number rises to 32.
By contrast, 74 had been put up for adoption after being dropped off at the designated Safe Havens.
Dawn Geras established the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation after reading a news article about Alabama women abandoning babies in hospital emergency rooms.
She thought there was a way that she could make a difference in Illinois, which at the time did not have any abandonment laws. Now, theirs is considered one of the strongest Safe Haven laws across the states.
Dawn Geras’ sister Diane Jannetto is now the treasurer of the foundation, and when told of the latest incident, she was shocked at the age of the mother.
“That’s probably the youngest,” Diane Jannetto said when told of the 13-year-old mother.
After checking records, Diane Jannetto confirmed that in their organization’s statistics, they have never heard of a case of anyone younger than 14 years old abandoning a newborn in Illinois.
“The average age is 18-24 or something.
“It makes us all cry when we hear of a baby dying this way,” she said.
“It’s not necessary to die like that.”
The state’s law allows mothers to go to designated areas and hand their baby, who must be younger than 30 days old, over to an official at the location and the child will then be passed over directly to adoption agencies.
The only question the officials are allowed to ask the mother is whether or not she would like medical attention, and they are not able to ask for any personal information.
The biggest problems facing advocates like Dawn Geras and Diane Jannetto is education and awareness. Diane Jannetto said that many people have a misconception that churches are designated drop-off points but that is not the case.
“They’re just not staffed all day,” Diane Jannetto said, recalling a recent case where someone left a baby in a church parking lot.
“It’s always the awareness issue, that’s why we take every advantage we can to talk about it,” she said.
A new wave of “silent camera” applications – some specifically designed for voyeurism – has been blamed for a huge rise in illicit photography in Japan.
Most smartphone cameras have a built-in shutter noise to prevent the camera being used to take pictures without people’s consent.
There were 1,741 incidents last year in Japan, according to a report in Mercury News, with an increase of 60% on the figure five years ago.
The problem is blamed on the rise in “silent camera” apps – including ones which deliberately conceal what the user is doing by putting an innocent-looking email or text message on screen while he or she photographs.
Most smartphone cameras have a built-in shutter noise to prevent the camera being used to take pictures without people's consent
There are dozens of silent camera applications already available on Android Market and iTunes store – and on Android particularly, and several that appear to market themselves as being for stealthy photography.
Mercury News report says: “The latest applications include <<upgraded versions>> that enable people to silently take photos while an email or website is displayed on the phone’s screen to provide cover for the surreptitious picture-taking.”
Japanese academics have called for regulation of silent photography applications – saying that they are being used for crimes.
With Google’s “anything goes” policy on Android, where applications are not vetted before publication on Market, and users can also download apps from elsewhere on the web, it will be very difficult to police.
Most smartphones also include a way of disabling the noise of camera applications even in the built-in apps.
Lalita Tati, a seven-year-old girl from India was murdered and had her liver cut in a ritual sacrifice to ensure a better harvest.
Police said that two men, both poor farmers, have now been arrested in central India for allegedly carrying out the murder of the girl.
Lalita Tati disappeared in October and her dismembered remains were found a week later, said Rajendra Narayan Das, a senior police officer in the Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh state.
The state is the tenth largest in the country and beliefs in traditional healers run deep.
Police arrested the men last week and they told officers they killed Lalita Tati to appease their gods and get a better harvest.
Lalita Tati was walking home after watching TV at a neighbor’s house when she was kidnapped, Rajendra Narayan Das said.
The two men confessed to cutting the girl open and removing her liver as an offering.
Rajendra Narayan Das said the police had gathered enough evidence, apart from the confessions, to charge the two with murder.
The two men would face life in prison or even the death sentence if convicted.
They were described as “tribals”, a term referring to the region’s indigenous people, most of whom remain mired in poverty and illiteracy.
The loose-knit Anonymous movement, who stole thousands of credit card numbers from U.S. security firm Stratfor, has now published the email addresses of more than 860,000 of its clients.
Hackers released the data – which included information on former U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger – online.
The lists of emails included scrambled details of their passwords – which experts said could be cracked within a matter of seconds by using software downloaded for free.
People working for big corporations, the U.S. military and major defense contractors were all contained on lists stolen from the intelligence company often dubbed the Shadow CIA.
The Antisec faction of Anonymous said last weekend it had hacked into the firm and promised that the release of the stolen data would cause “mayhem”.
A spokesperson for Anonymous said via Twitter that yet-to-be-published emails from the firm would show Stratfor, which gathers non-classified intelligence on international crises, “is not the <<harmless company>> it tries to paint itself as”.
Antisec has not disclosed when it will release those emails, but security analysts said they could contain information that could be embarrassing for the U.S. government.
The loose-knit Anonymous movement, who stole thousands of credit card numbers from U.S. security firm Stratfor, has now published the email addresses of more than 860,000 of its clients
Jeffrey Carr, chief executive of Taia Global Inc, said: “Those emails are going to be dynamite and may provide a lot of useful information to adversaries of the U.S. government.”
Stratfor issued a statement on Friday confirming that the published email addresses had been stolen from the company’s database.
The statement said it was helping law enforcement probe the matter and conducting its own investigation.
It said: “At Stratfor, we try to foster a culture of scrutiny and analysis, and we want to assure our customers and friends that we will apply the same rigorous standards in carrying out our internal review.”
John Bumgarner, chief technology officer of the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit, said: “There are thousands of email addresses here that could be used for very targeted spear phishing attacks that could compromise national security.”
The Pentagon said it saw no threat so far.
In a posting on the data-sharing website pastebin.com, Anonymous said the list included information from about 75,000 customers of Stratfor and about 860,000 people who had registered to use its site.
The hackers also said that the list included some 50,000 email addresses belonging to the U.S. government’s .gov and .mil domains.
The list also included addresses at contractors including BAE Systems Plc, Boeing Co, Lockheed Martin Corp and several U.S. government-funded labs that conduct classified research in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Idaho Falls, Idaho; and Sandia and Los Alamos, New Mexico.
Corporations on the list included Bank of America, Exxon Mobil Corp, Goldman Sachs & Co and Thomson Reuters.
The entries included scrambled versions of passwords. Some of them can be unscrambled using databases known as rainbow tables that are available for download over the Internet, according to John Bumgarner.
He said he randomly picked six people on the list affiliated with U.S. military and intelligence agencies to see if he could crack their passwords.
John Bumgarner said he was able to break four of them, each in about a second, using one rainbow table.
A new research suggests that a diet rich in vitamins and fish may protect the brain from ageing while junk food has the opposite effect.
Elderly people with high blood levels of vitamins and omega 3 fatty acids had less brain shrinkage and better mental performance, a Neurology study found.
Trans fats found in fast foods were linked to lower scores in tests and more shrinkage typical of Alzheimer’s.
A UK medical charity has called for more work into diet and dementia risk.
The best current advice is to eat a balanced diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables, not smoke, take regular exercise and keep blood pressure and cholesterol in check, said Alzheimer’s Research UK.
The research looked at nutrients in blood, rather than relying on questionnaires to assess a person’s diet.
US experts analyzed blood samples from 104 healthy people with an average age of 87 who had few known risk factors for Alzheimer’s.
They found those who had more vitamin B, C, D and E in their blood performed better in tests of memory and thinking skills. People with high levels of omega 3 fatty acids – found mainly in fish – also had high scores. The poorest scores were found in people who had more trans fats in their blood.
Trans fats are common in processed foods, including cakes, biscuits and fried foods.
The researchers, from Oregon Health and Science University, Portland; Portland VA Medical Center; and Oregon State University, Corvallis, then carried out brain scans on 42 of the participants.
They found individuals with high levels of vitamins and omega 3 in their blood were more likely to have a large brain volume; while those with high levels of trans fat had a smaller total brain volume.
Study author Gene Bowman of Oregon Health and Science University said: “These results need to be confirmed, but obviously it is very exciting to think that people could potentially stop their brains from shrinking and keep them sharp by adjusting their diet.”
Co-author Maret Traber of the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University said: “The vitamins and nutrients you get from eating a wide range of fruits, vegetables and fish can be measured in blood biomarkers.
“I’m a firm believer these nutrients have strong potential to protect your brain and make it work better.”
Commenting on the study, Dr. Simon Ridley, head of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said:
“One strength of this research is that it looked at nutrients in people’s blood, rather than relying on answers to a questionnaire.
“It’s important to note that this study looked at a small group of people with few risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease, and did not investigate whether they went on to develop Alzheimer’s at a later stage.
“There is a clear need for conclusive evidence about the effect of diet on our risk of Alzheimer’s, which can only come from large-scale, long-term studies.”
George magazine, founded by John F. Kennedy Jr., famously featured on its covers Cindy Crawford as George Washington and Drew Barrymore as Marilyn Monroe.
Now is said that JFK’s late son asked Madonna to pose for the cover of his political lifestyle magazine in 1996, as his conservative mother Jackie Kennedy Onassis.
But, Madonna flirtatiously declined his offer, insisting she could “never do [Jackie O.] justice”.
As the New York Post reports, JFK Jr. told his assistant RoseMarie Terenzio about his idea for a photo shoot that would see Madonna portraying the former First Lady for the September “Women in Politics” issue.
RoseMarie Terenzio recalls in her upcoming book, “Fairy Tale Interrupted”, suggesting instead then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton shoot for the issue.
RoseMarie Terenzio, JFK Jr.’s former assistant, recalls in her upcoming book, “Fairy Tale Interrupted”, how he asked Madonna to pose as Jackie Kennedy for the George magazine cover
But JFK Jr., who founded George with Michael J. Berman in 1995, had more sensational ideas.
“We’ll have her in a pillbox hat, sitting on a stack of books,” RoseMarie Terenzio recalls her then-boss saying.
RoseMarie Terenzio says she was hesitant to support the idea, warning her then-boss he would create a “media s***storm” putting Madonna on the cover, given the pair’s once-rumored romance.
They drafted a letter to the Madonna anyway, asking the singer to pose as America’s beloved Jackie O.
But the photo shoot never came to fruition. The next day, RoseMarie Terenzio said, they received a handwritten reply from the star via fax declining the offer.
According to a letter published by the Post, addressed with a wink to “Johnny Boy”, Madonna quipped: “My eyebrows aren’t thick enough, for one.
“When you want me to portray Eva Braun or Pamela Harriman, I might say yes!” Madonna wrote, referring to Hitler’s mistress and the British socialite.
Drew Barrymore took Madonna’s slot for that issue, portraying another blonde bombshell – JFK Jr.’s father’s rumored lover, Marilyn Monroe.
“Fairy Tale Interrupted”, which chronicles RoseMarie Terenzio’s five years as JFK Jr’s publicist, is due out later this month.
RoseMarie Terenzio said she worked for him until JFK Jr. died in 1999 at the age of 38.
Nigerian people and trade unionists have condemned the government for withdrawing a fuel price subsidy which has led petrol prices to more than double in many areas.
Nigerians are angry at the announcement, fearing the price of many other goods will also rise.
The main trade unions have called people to prepare for a strike.
Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer, but imports refined petrol.
Years of mismanagement and corruption mean it does not have the capacity to refine oil, turning it into petrol and other fuels.
Analysts say many Nigerians regard cheap fuel as the only benefit they get from the nation’s oil wealth.
Several previous governments have tried to remove the subsidy but have backed down in the face of widespread public protests and reduced it instead.
The IMF has long urged Nigeria’s government to remove the subsidy, which costs a reported $8 billion a year.
Early in the morning, many petrol stations in Nigerian capital Abuja were closed as the owners were not sure what price they should charge, but they have since opened.
Prices have increased from 65 naira ($0.40) per liter to at least 140 naira in filling stations and from 100 naira to at least 200 on the black market, where many Nigerians buy their fuel.
There are reports that petrol prices have tripled in some remote areas, while commuters have complained that motorcycle and minibus taxi fares have already doubled or tripled.
The government finance team led by respected pair central bank governor Lamido Sanusi and Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala have long argued that removing the subsidy would free up money to invest in other sectors and relieve poverty.
In a statement, it urged people not to panic-buy or hoard fuel.
“Consumers are assured of adequate supply of quality products at prices that are competitive and non-exploitative,” the statement said.
The government recently released a list of the biggest beneficiaries of the subsidy, who include some of Nigeria’s richest people – the owners of fuel-importing firms.
Nigerians are heavy users of fuel, not just for cars but to power generators that many households and businesses use to cope with the country's erratic electricity supply
Nigeria’s two main labor organizations, the Trades Union Congress and the Nigerian Labor Congress, issued a joint statement condemning the move.
“We alert the populace to begin immediate mobilization towards the D-Day for the commencement of strikes, street demonstrations and mass protests across the country,” the statement said.
“This promises to be a long-drawn battle; we know it is beginning, but we do not know its end or when it will end.
“We are confident the Nigerian people will triumph.”
Labor activist John Odah told the BBC’s Network Africa programme that, judging from past experience, he doubted that the government would use the money saved by removing the subsidy to help ordinary people.
John Odah said that the subsidy should have been retained until Nigeria’s refineries had been brought up to scratch.
“As an oil-producing country, we ought not to be importing fuel in the first place,” he said.
John Odah also pointed out that Nigeria does not have many commuter railways, so people have little choice but to use motorcycle and minibus taxis, whose prices are closely linked to the price of petrol.
Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer but most of the available 2 million barrels per day are exported in an unrefined state.
The country lacks refineries and infrastructure so has to import refined products such as petrol, which is expensive.
However, with the price of fuel much cheaper in Nigeria than in neighboring countries, the subsidy led to widespread smuggling.
Nigerians are heavy users of fuel, not just for cars but to power generators that many households and businesses use to cope with the country’s erratic electricity supply.
The measures just announced could add to the difficulties faced by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who declared a state of emergency on Saturday in areas hit by Islamist violence.
While men are more likely to chat up a fair-haired lady on a night out, they actually find brunettes more attractive, a study has shown.
University of Westminster researchers sent a woman to three London nightclubs with her hair dyed brunette, blonde and then red, and watched how many men approached her.
The researchers then returned to the clubs and asked 130 men to rate pictures of her in the three guises.
The woman was chatted up the most as a blonde. But she was rated most highly for attractiveness and intelligence when brunette, the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology reports.
University of Westminster researcher Viren Swami said that his results may reflect a shift in fashion, with brunettes now being idealized in the way that blondes were several decades ago.
Dr. Viren Swami said: “In the Sixties and early Seventies, when Jackie Kennedy was the ideal, brunette hair became the ideal for women generally. Then, in the Seventies and Eighties, blondes became the ideal.
“But more recently, there has been a backlash against blondes and the dumb blonde idea has become dominant.”
As a blonde, the woman was chatted up 60 times in total. This compared with 42 approaches as a brunette and 18 as a red-head.
Speculating on why the woman, or “confederate” in researcher-speak, was rated more attractive when brunette but chatted up more as a blonde, Dr. Viren Swami said: “One possible explanation is that men were more likely to assume sexual intent on the part of our confederate when she was blonde.
“Perceptions of the blonde confederate as being more needy may have reduced men’s fear or rejection or fear or an aggressive response, which increased their likelihood of approaching her as a blonde.”
It is also possible that men link blonde hair with youth and vitality, and so the ability to bear children.
Sarah Harding, The Girls Aloud star, was rushed to hospital following a “terrible fight” with her boyfriend Theo, during their skiing holiday in Austria.
Sarah Harding, 30, is said to have made a complaint to police following the altercation with her boyfriend, which took place at the Hotel Schloss Matzen near Innsbruck in Austria.
The British star was said to be so distraught after the row that she was taken to hospital, where she was later seen leaving with her right hand bandaged up and with “swollen lips and puffy eye”’.
A guest at the hotel told The Sun: “There was banging and screaming and a few guests came out in the corridor. It sounded like a terrible fight. By the early hours people had had enough and someone called the police.
“It was obviously a very serious tiff indeed. There was a lot of screaming and shouting.
“Sarah was taken to hospital because she was hysterical after the row. She was crying and screaming and clearly in a lot of distress.”
Sarah Harding, 30, is said to have made a complaint to police following the altercation with her boyfriend, which took place at the Hotel Schloss Matzen near Innsbruck in Austria
Sarah Harding was last night seen arriving back at her home in Buckinghamshire covering her face beneath a hat after apparently cutting her holiday short by three days.
Asked how she was, Sarah Harding is quoted as telling the newspaper: “I’ve had the week from f*****g hell.”
Her boyfriend, who she has been dating for the past few months, is known only as Theo.
The new relationship came after a difficult year for Sarah Harding, who checked into a rehabilitation centre for help with alcohol dependency and depression last year following her split from fiancé Tom Crane.
Talking of her troubles in a recent interview, Sarah Harding said: “The day I left for rehab, I was in such a mess. I’ve been told by those close to me that was when I hit my worst.
“I was crying hysterically. I felt ashamed, embarrassed, terrified – my emotions were all over the place.”
Kim Kardashian stripped down in front of pal Jonathan Cheban to gauge whether or not he is gay
Kim Kardashian was in the closet to speak, of her New York hotel and decided to carry out the “test” after Kris Humphries gets her thinking about Jonathan Cheban’s sexual orientation.
Kris Humphries is convinced PR guru Jonathan Cheban is homosexual – and tells him as much – but Kim Kardashian is not so sure, saying they have never talked about his private life before.
The results of her little striptease – which aired last night in an episode of Kourtney & Kim Take New York – are inconclusive, however. Jonathan Cheban averts his eyes when she strips to her bra.
Later, Kim Kardashian tells Kris Humphries: “I got changed in front of him to see if he would look but he didn’t.”
However, she concluded, he could have just been being polite and courteous.
During their closet encounter, Kim Kardashian quizzes Jonathan Cheban about what he looks for in a partner.
He jokes: “Light skinned, big ass,” to which she jokes back: “What if we are in love with each other.”
Later, in an apparent bid to prove he is straight, Jonathan Cheban goes on date with woman.
Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries meet her at his home before they go out – where Kris again asks Jonathan Cheban about his sexual preference.
While Jonathan Cheban remained rather elusive about his sexual orientation, he apparently wanted to prove conspiracy theorist Kris Humphries wrong, whose suspicions were alerted after accompanying Kim Kardashian and Jonathan Cheban on a trip to a candle shop.
While Kris Humphries sat their looking bored, Jonathan Cheban appeared to enjoy perusing all the scented products on offer, which Kris finds odd.
Whatever the case, Jonathan Cheban was last week spotted in Miami soaking up the sun with a mystery brunette where they put on an affectionate display.
A manhunt is under way for an Iraq war veteran wanted in connection with the murder of a female ranger at Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state.
Mount Rainier National Park was closed after ranger Margaret Anderson, 34, was shot dead after she set up a roadblock to try and stop the suspect’s vehicle.
The suspect, named locally as Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24, is also wanted in connection with an earlier shooting.
Benjamin Colton Barnes is reported to be an Iraq war veteran with survivalist skills.
Police said they had recovered his vehicle, which had weapons and body armour inside.
The shooting happened as hikers and climbers flocked to enjoy the park’s wooded trails and spectacular views of the 14,410 ft (4,392m) Mount Rainier on an unseasonably mild New Year’s holiday.
Benjamin Colton Barnes is reported to be an Iraq war veteran with survivalist skills
The park was immediately closed after the shooting, and around 85 visitors and 15 park staff were moved into a visitors’ centre to wait for police to give them the all-clear to leave.
Police said Benjamin Colton Barnes was wanted for questioning over an early-morning shooting at a New Year’s party in Skyway, just south of Seattle, which left four people injured.
The King County Sheriff’s Office quoted witnesses as saying multiple people at the party were armed and a shoot-out had erupted following an argument over a weapon.
Margaret Anderson and a fellow ranger set up a roadblock after the suspect failed to stop at a tyre-assessment checkpoint at around 10:20 local time on Sunday, a spokesman for the national park said.
Both rangers were fired on, but only Margaret Anderson – a mother of two young daughters and married to another of the park’s rangers – was hit.
“It’s just a huge tragedy – for the family, the park and the park service,” park superintendent Randy King said.
The park will remain closed on Monday while the search continues through its 368 sq miles of terrain.
A couple and their four children, who attempted to fly on just three tickets, were kicked off the plane by US Airways flight attendants.
The parents had bought a ticket for their 3year-old son but not for their 20-month-old twins or 8-month-old baby. They planned to seat one infant in the same seat as their three-year-old and each hold a child in their lap.
Kathy and Jason Fickes and their children boarded a U.S Airways flight from Charlotte in North Carolina to Chicago to visit grandparents over Christmas.
The Fickes had purchased three tickets and managed to make their way passed the ticket desk and through security screening with their four children.
A couple and their four children, who attempted to fly on just three tickets, were kicked off the plane by US Airways flight attendants
However, once they got on the plane, a flight attendant told them it would not be possible to travel as they had planned because there were not enough oxygen masks to go around.
Kathy Fickes told ABC 7: “I felt we were discriminated against because we had too many children in their eyes.”
Jason Fickes added that they “held up the plane for 40 or 50 minutes” as the family moved seats and tried to accommodate the airline.
The family was finally asked to leave the plane despite one passenger offering to pay for another ticket.
On the U.S Airways website, it is only possible to buy tickets for children over the age of two.
However, in a sidebar it gives the option to add how many younger children will be travelling.
The company is clear that each child under the age of two must be accompanied by an over-18 if they are sharing a seat.
On domestic flights, a child under the age of two is allowed to travel in the lap of a paying adult free of charge.
The Federal Aviation Administration also states that there must be an oxygen mask for each flyer.
Michelle Mohr, a US Airways spokesman told ABC 7: “The safety regulations are such that you have to have one child per one adult.”
U.S. Airways refunded the family’s tickets.
The Fickes family would have been permitted to fly if they had bought a ticket for one of their children under two as long as the child travelled in a car seat.
Many people find themselves locked out of their accounts for hours as suffer from what the internet has coined “passworditis” – forgetting a password.
In the future, smartphones and tablets will allow access at the sight of their owners face or a single touch.
The Sunday Times reported that software giants Google and Apple are introducing phones which identify users through sight and touch recognition.
Last week Apple applied to the US patent office to register facial recognition software, so instead of sliding to unlock your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, you could simply point it at your face.
The patent entitled “Low Threshold Face Recognition”, was picked up by Apple Insider blog, who said that “using a forward-facing camera to recognize an individual user, future iPhones and iPads from Apple could automatically customize applications, settings and features to a user’s personal preferences once they pick up the device”.
Insider explained that Apple’s application stated rather than analyzing a user’s entire face which can drain the battery, the concept would rely on a “high information portion of a human face”.
This means potential parts of the face that could be analyzed may include eyes, a mouth, or the tip of a user’s nose.
It is understood the system will scale the distance between a users eyes and mouth and once it has measured that against the image originally captured, it will be able to confirm that it is the same person and unlock.
The patent also details that each user could customize their personal profile with unique wallpaper, applications and settings, and that profile would be immediately accessed once the iPad recognizes a user’s face.
New phones using Google’s Andriod platform already have a face recognition tool that uses the inbuilt camera.
The progress may be welcomed by many people, as according to a 2008 study by Trinity College Dublin, the average person has to remember five passwords, five pins, two numberplates, three security ID numbers and three bank accounts.
However it may not yet be effective to completely eradicate passwords in favor of facial recognition – within days of the Google Android facial recognition tool being launched, there were reports online that claimed it could be fooled by holding a photograph of the owners face up to the device.
Kathy Porter, the wife of Atlanta Braves head trainer Jeff Porter died in a tragic New Year’s Eve collision between the SUV he was driving and a police car in Loganville, Georgia.
Kathy Porter, 54, was on her way to the annual college football Chick-fil-A-Bowl game with her husband, son and a friend.
Their son David Porter, 19, and friend Courtney Ann Williams, 18, were taken to hospital but were released last night along with Jeff Porter.
“The Braves family is deeply saddened and shocked to learn about the tragic accident,” a spokesman for the baseball team said last night.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jeff and Kathy’s family, their son David and all their friends and loved ones.”
The state patrol trooper collided with a Ford Expedition driven by Jeff Porter at an intersection with Capitol Avenue and Memorial Drive
The patrol cruiser was travelling with the lights and siren activated on Saturday at 4:40 p.m. when it crashed with the SUV driven by Jeff Porter.
The state patrol trooper collided with a Ford Expedition driven by Jeff Porter at an intersection with Capitol Avenue and Memorial Drive.
The trooper, travelling westbound on Memorial Drive, was en route to help another trooper who was attempting to stop a motorcyclist.
The rider was located on nearby Interstate 20, west of the Downtown Connector, and had failed to give way, a state patrol spokesman said.
The patrol car collided with the Ford Expedition that was northbound on Capitol Avenue, hitting the SUV on the passenger’s side.
The SUV then struck a utility pole, killing Kathy Porter. Jeff Porter, his son David and Courtney Ann Williams were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for treatment.
The unidentified trooper was examined at the same hospital and released and placed on administrative leave as authorities investigate.
Jeff Porter has been on the Atlanta Braves’ training staff for nearly three decades and the head athletic trainer for nine years.
A Fox Christmas special poll on whether Jesus Christ was killed by Jews was posted on a promoting Facebook page by a network’s employee last week.
It was reported that the poll, carried out by the Latin America division, asked readers: Who was responsible for the death of Christ? There were three options: A. Pontius Pilate, B. The Jewish People, C. High Priests.
The Simon Weisenthal Center in Buenos Aires calls the action a defamatory reference to Vatican propaganda that “resulted in the persecution and murder of Jews for two millennia”.
The Jewish group says it’s outraged that Fox would perpetuate an idea that the Vatican annulled back in 1965, the Jewish Chronicle reported.
Pope Benedict XVI exonerated the Jewish people for the death of Jesus Christ in his book, “Jesus of Nazareth Part II”, released in March 2011.
In the book, Pope Benedict explains why there is no basis for the argument that the Jewish people were responsible for Jesus’ death.
Fox Spokeswoman Guadalupe Lucero apologized on behalf of National Geographic, saying the poll was removed immediately and measures have been taken to prevent such incidents in the future.
Kim Kardashian looked sensational as she arrived at a New Year’s Eve party in Las Vegas in a short white dress that clung to her sexy curves, with her new hairdo that also attracted attention as she showed off a new fringe.
Kim Kardashian, 31, was the guest of honor at the TAO Nightclub at The Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino, and was joined by her family for the celebration.
The reality TV star posed again for the cameras as she rang in the New Year as glitter fell around her.
Kim Kardashian looked sensational as she arrived at a New Year's Eve party in Las Vegas
Kim Kardashian is reported to have earned $600,000 to ring in the New Year in Vegas and she jetted into the city with a number of her Kardashian clan in tow.
The Kardashians were seen arriving in Sin City by private jet early yesterday hours before the big bash.
Kim Kardashian was seen wearing a pair of thigh high leather boots an oversized black blazer and a grey jumper.
As well as carrying a baby blue Balenciaga handbag the TV star was also seen carrying a clothing bag, presumably with her outfit for tonight’s bash inside.
Kim Kardashian took to Twitter today to post her resolutions for the New Year and told her fans: “Decided to change my twitter background to nothing. i wanna be more simple in 2012.”
The background, which had displayed Kim Kardashian on the cover of a plethora of magazines is now plain black.
Her mother, Kris Jenner was on hand to support her daughter and was seen along with Kim’s sister Kourtney and her beau Scott Disick.
Kourtney Kardashian, 32, clearly isn’t letting her second pregnancy get in the way of enjoying a family party.
She covered her baby bump in a flowing white blouse which she teamed with a pair of grey skinny jeans.
While Kim Kardashian rang in the New Year at TAO the happy Kourtney and Scott were hosting a party of their own at Chateau nightclub.
Michael Fuller from Lexington, North Carolina, allegedly tried to go shopping at Walmart with a million dollar bill.
Michael Fuller, 53, insisted his million-dollar note was real when he was trying to buy $476 worth of items, including a vacuum cleaner, and a microwave oven, according to the Winston-Salem Journal.
Walmart employees called police after Michael Fuller insisted that the bill was legitimate, and the man was arrested.
Michael Fuller, 53, insisted his million-dollar note was real when he was trying to buy $476 worth of items, including a vacuum cleaner, and a microwave oven
The largest bill in circulation is $100. The US government stopped printing notes of up to $10,000 in 1969 because the public rarely used them.
The largest bill ever printed in US was $100,000 which carried a picture of President Woodrow Wilson.
The bills, which were never used by the public, were printed between December 18, 1934 and January 9, 1935, and were used for transferring money between Federal Reserve banks.
Michael Fuller was charged with attempting to obtain property by false pretense and uttering a forged instrument.
The man is in jail on a $17,500 bond, and it isn’t clear if he has an attorney. He is scheduled to be in court Tuesday.
Twitter ground to a halt on the last day of 2011 as it was overloaded with New Year messages.
In UK, the social network crashed at about 3:00 p.m. and was out of action for more than an hour.
The moment coincided with midnight celebrations in Japan when revelers were sending a record 16,197 tweets per second.
The overload meant no one could post new messages or read existing ones. Instead, frustrated users were greeted with the error message: “Twitter is over capacity.”
Twitter returned to working order but then stopped on several other occasions, prompting speculation that it was being hit by the arrival of New Year in different parts of the world.
One user tweeted: “It’s amazing how three words can ruin my day! Twitter over capacity.”
The meltdown happened as the world welcomed in 2012, a year of historic importance for Britain, with the Olympics, the Paralympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee set to be defining moments.
