Last night Lady Gaga led a galaxy of stars performing in Times Square to celebrate the New Year.
Lady Gaga, 25, put on a stellar show in front of the one million revellers gathered in New York to welcome in 2012.
The kooky singer was joined by the likes of Justin Bieber, Pitbull, LMFAO, Florence and The Machine and The Band Perry who all took to the stage throughout the evening.
As always, Lady Gaga did not disappoint and neither did her outfits with the singer enjoying several wardrobe changes throughout the evening.
When the time came activate the ball drop Lady Gaga was on hand to help New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Looking glittery as the orb itself, Lady Gaga was invited by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to press the crystal button at 11:59 p.m. that triggered the decent of the 2012 New Year’s Eve Ball – a dazzling sphere 12 feet in diameter that weighs 11,875 pounds.
More than one ton of confetti – some of it inscribed with wishes for the New Year written by people across the globe –descended on the revellers in New York, who enjoyed an unseasonably warm New Year’s.
Lady Gaga was invited by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to press the crystal button at 11:59 p.m. that triggered the decent of the 2012 New Year’s Eve Ball
Dick Clark – who has hosted his New Year’s Eve special since the 1970’s – is again being helped this year by his protégé Ryan Seacrest for the 40th anniversary of the show. The ABC special has been expanded and now begins at 8:00 p.m., making the six-hour broadcast the longest ever.
Teen favorite Justin Bieber took to the stage alongside legendary guitar player Carlos Santana to perform the classic Beatles hit Let It Be.
Justin Bieber, 17, showed off his piano skills as he spoke about New Year’s resolutions but said “what’s done is done’.
He donned a bright red beanie, a camel colored coat, a Burberry scarf and maroon jeans for the occasion for his performance.
After the New Year celebrations were over Lady Gaga took to Twitter to talk about her experience.
Lady Gaga tweeted: “I cant even quite describe what tonight felt like. Sort of poetic madness. A dream come true. Moments recalling a leather taking the subway.
“My new years resolution: Never be afraid to be kicked in the teeth. Let the blood and the bruises define your legacy.”
NASA has succeeded in putting the first of twin gravity mapping satellites (Gravity Recovery and Internal Laboratories) in orbit around the Moon.
The Grail-A spacecraft fired its main engine late on Saturday (GMT) to slow itself sufficiently to take up an elliptical path around the lunar body.
The twin Grail-B, will attempt exactly the same maneuver on Sunday.
Together, the satellites will make measurements that are expected to give scientists remarkable new insights into the internal structure of the Moon.
This new data should clarify ideas about the Moon’s formation and resolve many questions, such as why its near and far sides look so different.
Lead scientist Dr. Maria Zuber from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is hoping for some dramatic discoveries.
“My resolution for the new year is to unlock lunar mysteries and understand how the Moon, Earth and other rocky planets evolved,” she said.
“Now, with Grail-A successfully placed in orbit around the Moon, we are one step closer to achieving that goal.”
NASA’s twin Grail satellites will make measurements that are expected to give scientists remarkable new insights into the internal structure of the Moon
The twin satellites were launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, last September, and took a long spiral out to their destination.
This weekend’s approach to the Moon was designed to bring them in over the South Pole.
Grail-A, which is running ahead of its twin, initiated its orbit insertion manoeuvre at 21:21 GMT with a 40-minute burn on its 22-newton thruster.
Grail-B is programmed to make an almost identical burn on Sunday, starting at 22:05 GMT. NASA should have confirmation shortly before 23:00 GMT on New Year’s Day that both satellites are in the positions they should be.
“Following the lunar orbit insertion, the spacecraft will perform a series on intricate burns that take about two months, and these are required to get both spacecraft down to a [55km; 34-mile] altitude; and once that’s done, that’s when the science for Grail can begin,” explained David Lehman, the mission’s project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California.
Grail will map the small variations in gravity across the Moon.
These differences are the result of an uneven distribution of mass. Obvious examples at the Moon’s surface include big mountain ranges or deep impact basins, but even inside the lunar body the rock will be arranged in an irregular fashion, with some regions being denser than others.
All this will have a subtle influence on the pull of gravity sensed by over-flying spacecraft.
The Grail twins will make their measurements by carrying out a carefully calibrated pursuit of each other.
As the lead spacecraft flies through the uneven gravity field, it will experience small accelerations or decelerations. The second spacecraft, following some 100-200km behind, will detect these disturbances as very slight changes in the separation between the pair – deviations that are not much more than the width of a human red blood cell.
When the gravity map is combined with comparable-resolution topographical information showing the surface highs and lows, scientists should be able to deduce the Moon’s probable internal structure and composition. This is fundamental knowledge that will play into theories of how the lunar body formed and how it has evolved over time.
“We believe the Moon formed from the impact of a Mars-sized object into Earth, but we understand little really of how this happened and how the [lunar body] cooled off after the violent event,” said Dr. Maria Zuber. And she described as “shocking”, the continued inability of science to explain why the rugged far-side of the Moon looks so different from that of the nearside with its great swathe of dark volcanic plains, or marina.
“Given that we’ve sent so many missions that have studied the outside of the Moon, it seems that the answer is not on the surface. The answer is locked in the interior,” Dr. Maria Zuber said.
Grail’s mapping phase will last for 82 days until early June. The Moon then goes into shadow, into eclipse, behind the Earth.
If the satellites can survive the hours of darkness on their batteries, it is likely they will be tasked with a second mapping cycle in the second half of 2012.
This would be at a much reduced altitude, perhaps as low as 25 km from the surface. Getting lower would improve the resolution of the gravity maps yet again, and enable scientists to study even the structure of relatively small, shallow craters.
Grail is an acronym for Gravity Recovery and Internal Laboratory. The satellites will be given more engaging names than just “A” and “B” once the weekend’s orbit insertion is confirmed. The names are being chosen via a public competition.
A 7 magnitude earthquake hit eastern and northeastern Japan today, but there are no immediate reports of injuries or damage and no danger of a tsunami.
The earthquake struck 217 miles below the sea surface at 2:28 p.m. (5:27 a.m. GMT) and measured 4 in central Tokyo, Fukushima and their surrounding areas,
Such a deep jolt is less likely to cause damage than one close to the surface.
The quake was centered near Japan’s Izu Islands, about 307 miles south-southwest of the capital, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Buildings swayed in Tokyo, but did not disrupt the final of the Emperor’s Cup football tournament being played at the National Stadium.
A spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power said there were no reports of any irregularities at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plan.
Some roads were temporarily closed and high-speed train services in northern Japan were suspended for a short time.
The Hawaii-based US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre has not issued a tsunami.
John Roos, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, said in a message on Twitter: “Memorable start to New Year – about to greet Emperor and Empress for New Year when Imperial Palace began to shake.”
Japan, which lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, is one of the world’s most seismically active countries.
The country accounts for about 20% of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.
On March 2011, the northeast coast was struck by a record magnitude 9 earthquake, and a massive tsunami, which triggered the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years since Chernobyl.
The disaster left more than 20,000 dead or missing.
The abbot of the prestigious Vatopedi monastery in Mount Athos, Greece has been imprisoned pending trial for alleged fraud and embezzlement.
Archimandrite Ephraim, 56, is accused of arranging land swaps between Vatopedi and the state which are thought to have cost the government millions of euros.
The abbot, now being held in Korydallos prison in Athens, denies wrongdoing. His arrest has triggered protests in Greece, Cyprus, Russia and other christian orthodox countries.
What is Archimandrite Ephraim accused of?
Mount Athos monks rallied for Abbot Ephraim
Vatopedi is part of the ancient Mount Athos monastic community that has been visited by Britain’s Prince Charles and Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
The controversial deal saw valuable state land traded for less valuable land held by Vatopedi. It is said to have cost the state some EURO 100 million ($129.42m). None of the involved state officials have been accused, prosecuted or detained, some have even been promoted.
“They rushed Efraim to jail … while others who have embezzled Greek people’s money remain at large,” said George Karatzaferis, leader of the far-right LAOS party which is part of Greece’s coalition government.
Despite parliamentary investigations into several public officials, no senior politician has so far been charged.
“Undoubtedly the pre-trial jailing could create the impression, in one part of Greek society, that finally someone is paying for a such a big scandal,” said Costas Panagopoulos, head of ALCO pollsters.
“But it also reminds everyone that all politicians involved in this case are left unpunished,” he said.
The government’s anti-corruption crackdown hit another snag on Wednesday when two newly-appointed special prosecutors targeting economic crime resigned, complaining of political meddling. They did not give details.
Justice Minister Miltiadis Papaioannou replied accusing the critics of “interfering in the work of the justice system”.
Cyprus protesters for freeing Archimandrite Ephraim
Speaking to Skai TV, Bishop Anthimos of Thessaloniki wondered why Ephraim was the only person among the 32 involved in the Vatopedi land swap to be remanded in custody.
“People are wondering whether Ephraim is being made a scapegoat,” said the bishop, who insisted that the Church of Greece’s Holy Synod would not take a position on the matter.
“There is the problem of meddling in judicial matters,” he said. “The church is totally separate from the state.”
“The detention of Mr. Ephraim is another impropriety of Greek justice. It violates the fundamental principle of rule of law dictates that no one is deprived of liberty only after a decision legally consisting court. Temporary custody is a derogation from this principle because it is ordered without a court has ruled on the guilt of a person and therefore justified only in extreme cases when the accused is suspected of absconding or is likely to commit new offenses.
The law governing the detention (Article 282 CCP) is detailed and fully consistent with the exceptional nature of the measure. It requires not only the accused is suspected escape, but have gone in flight preparations. Not only is likely to commit new offenses, but very likely that they will commit. […] With these data, the pre-trial detention is completely arbitrary and has no basis in law.”
Prof. Tsakyrakis added:
It is Mr. Ephraim the only victim of judicial arbitrariness that sends people to prison without a court to rule on guilt, only because the investigating judge and the prosecutor consider them guilty. Two of them, for Mr. A. Sotiropoulou and daughter accused of scandal Zimens I publicly complained in the past. Our judges, however, do not seem to pay attention. They still consider custody as a means of power that allows them to imprison someone accused by themselves and not according to the law. The anxiety of most defendants in Greece is not the trial (which nobody knows when it will take place) but to avoid detention. […]
Russia supports the release of Archimandrite Ephraim
The Russian Orthodox Church’s head of foreign relations, Metropolitan Ilarion, called the abbot’s detention “an extraordinary event, arousing profound bewilderment”
“We are deeply concerned by the ruling of the Greek judiciary to put him under pre-trial detention, despite the recommendations of the European Court of Human Rights” the Russian foreign ministry said.
Patriarch Kirill asks Greek president to release Abbot Ephraim
Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill
Archimandrite Ephraim, Abbot of Vatopedi Monastery
Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill has sent a message to Greek President Karolos Papoulias to express his concern regarding the custody of Archimandrite Ephraim, Abbot of the Mount Athos Vatopedi Monastery.
“It is my duty to convey our common concern to the chief of the Greek state and to request the release from custody of Archimandrite Ephraim, superior of the Mount Athos Vatopedi Monastery,” says the message posted on the Russian Orthodox Church website.
“I do not question the powers of the Greek law enforcement officials and express hope for a fair and impartial decision regarding the property of the Vatopedi Monastery. However, I am perplexed by the custody of the monk, who is not a danger to society and has repeatedly expressed readiness to cooperate with detectives, prior to the court hearing of the case merits,” he said.
Patriarch Kirill said he was particularly concerned about Archimandrite Ephraim’s ill health, which was ignored in taking him into custody.
“In Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and other countries, whose peoples are the traditional flock of the Russian Orthodox Church, millions of believers are alarmed by the police measures taken as regards the hegemon of the famous Athos monastery well-known to the entire Orthodox world on the days Orthodox Greece celebrates Christmas,” he said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed concern about the custody of Archimandrite Ephraim on Wednesday.
There was no intention to flee the country to escape a trial, Abbot Ephraim was in Russia accompanying the Belt of the Most Holy Mother of God for more than one month in fall. Approximately three million believers worshiped the holy object from Athos in that period.
Protests in Russia for freeing Archimandrite Ephraim
Support Crowd in Moscow
Russia’s Orthodox St.Andrew Foundation has held a protest campaign in the vicinity of EU Moscow office to support Archimandrite Ephraim, superior of the Vatopedi Monastery in Athos who had been arrested earlier. The Fund arranged the delivery of the Most Holy Mother of God Belt from Athos earlier this autumn.
The protesters believe it is cruel and inhumane to keep Father Ephraim under arrest given the state of his health and age. A similar rally was organized near the Greek Embassy in Moscow.
To: The President of the Hellenic Republic, The Prime Minister, The Attorney General
24 December 2011
Your Excellencies,
We hereby condemn with abhorrence the judicial ‘’crime’ committed in Athens on the 23rd December 2011, against the Church in the face of Elder Efrem, Abbot of the Great, Holy Monastery of Vatopaidi in the Holy Mountain.
The decision to take Elder Efrem into custody was based on hatred and prejudice. This is manifested in the following:
The timing of the decision: Christmas Eve
The surrounding of the Holy Mountain by armed police forces despite the declaration by the attorney representing the Elder that the latter intended to present himself to the police willingly.
The sentence passed is normally given to people who have the intention to repeat the offences accused of.
During the preliminary hearing the reason given for the sentence was the Elder’s recent trip to Russia, when he accompanied the Holy Belt of the Most Holy Mother of God. During this visit millions of people, including the President, the Prime Minister and the Attorney General of the Russian Republic came out to greet them.
The investigation lasted more than three years and no incriminating evidence has been found.
The offense which the Elder is accused of is ‘instigation’ even though the suspects of this offence have been acquitted.
During the last three years of the investigation, the Elder has taken numerous trips abroad and if he had intended to leave the country he had plenty of opportunity to do so.
The Elder, as a spiritual figure, is honored and praised worldwide and constitutes an excellent envoy for Greece.
The people who have been revealed as the masterminds of the conspiracy against him have been honored with ministerial posts and are attempting to cover up their deception at all costs.
In Greece, enormous scandals have been uncovered and established while those responsible are not only walking free but are also given political posts.
We are convinced that the decision is a deliberate political act intending to defame the Holy Mountain and the Church.
Cutremuraţi şi rămaşi fără grai, noi, ortodocşii de pretutindeni, greci sau nu, am aflat de hotărârea cu totul neîntemeiată a Curţii de Apel din Atena, privind arestul preventiv al Părintelui Stareţ Efrem.
Această evoluţie neaşteptată a evenimentelor ne îndeamnă să semnăm, în semn de dezaprobare a acestei hotărâri şi de susţinere a Părintelui Stareţ Efrem, scrisoarea ataşată şi să facem demersuri pentru semnarea ei de toţi cei care sunt de acord cu conţinutul ei.
A girl whose video is trending on YouTube has incredible control over her facial features – and in particular, her eyebrows.
Though unsuspecting at first, the cute girl, named Sarah, shows quite the unusual talent as she causes her eyebrows to dance and spasm in rhythm.
The 14-year-old girl starts out with a shy smile to the camera, and an awkward grimace as she waits for the music to start.
What follows is a bizarre, hilarious, and slightly disturbing use of one’s facial muscles.
The 14-year-old girl starts out with a shy smile to the camera, and an awkward grimace as she waits for the music to start
The video, uploaded to Youtube by user Theinternetisaweird, calls it a girl’s “funny talent” and had almost 3.9 million viewers up to now.
As the music starts, Sarah coyly glances off to one side and dramatically raises one eyebrow.
Then, it’s onto the other side.
The girl does every arch in tempo and on point.
The most impressive part of this video – which is fast becoming an internet sensation with more than a thousand hits – is when the girl begins doing what can only be called the Worm, but with her eyebrows.
One side starts the motion, and then the movement ripples to the other side, and then back again – still in tempo with the music.
Once the show is done, the girl returns to smiling at the camera, no doubt proud of her unusual and mesmerizing talent.
A Chinese man, who was the first case of bird flu in the country in more than a year, has died in the southern city of Shenzhen, according to health officials.
The 39-year-old bus driver was admitted to hospital with pneumonia but tested positive for the bird flu virus.
The H5N1 bird flu strain has a high level of mortality, killing up to 60% of humans infected with it.
Positive tests on a dead market chicken last week prompted nearby Hong Kong’s government to issue an alert.
Hong Kong authorities culled 17,000 chickens after three birds were found to have died from the H5N1 bird flu strain.
It also banned imports and the sale of live chickens for three weeks after the infected chicken carcass was found at a wholesale market.
But it was not clear whether the chicken came from a local farm or was imported.
The Shenzhen victim had not been in contact with poultry, nor travelled recently, China’s Ministry of Health told Hong Kong health authorities.
In November 2010, a 59-year-old woman was isolated in Hong Kong with bird flu but survived.
In October 2011 a 29-year-old woman confirmed to have contracted the virus died on the Indonesian island of Bali.
The World Health Organization says bird flu has killed 332 people since 2003.
The virus has been eliminated from most of the 63 countries infected at its 2006 peak, which saw 4,000 outbreaks across the globe, but remains endemic in Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.
China’s Ministry of Agriculture warned last month that the bird flu virus seemed to exist widely in the poultry markets of mainland China, particularly in the south.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has expressed deep concern about the way research was being carried out on the H5N1 virus, which can be fatal if transmitted to humans.
Such work carried significant risks and must be tightly controlled, said the WHO.
Scientists in the Netherlands and the US said last week they had discovered ways in which the virus might mutate so it can spread more easily to – and between – humans and other mammals.
The US government has asked the scientists not to publish full details, in case the information is used to produce a biological weapon.
Rochelle Wiseman and Marvin Humes announce that they got engaged during their holiday in the Caribbean.
The Saturdays singer, Rochelle Wiseman, 22, took to Twitter immediately after JLS star Marvin Humes, 26, proposed her to reveal the news, posting a picture of the ecstatic couple on the beach toasting with champagne.
Rochelle Wiseman proudly flashes her dazzling engagement ring, an enormous heart-shaped diamond.
The singer wrote: “Its official Marvin proposed 2me 2day,wanted 2 tell u b4 some1 else did! SO excited 2 b Mrs Humes. X”
Writing from the official JLS Twitter account, Marvin Humes added: “Happy New Year everyone!!! So everyone hears it from me… Rochelle and I are engaged!! Party time tonight! Have a great one..All love..Marv x”
“Thank you so much for all the love,” Marvin Humes wrote as congratulations flooded in.
“We are the happiest 2 people in the world. A perfect start to 2012.This year is gonna be massive. Luv ya! Mx”
Rochelle Wiseman and Marvin Humes announce that they got engaged during their holiday in the Caribbean
Rochelle Wiseman and Marvin Humes, who first began dating in March 2010, are on holiday in Antigua.
It was reported back in July that Marvin Humes was planning a romantic New Year’s proposal after he booked an appointment at Tiffany and Co.
The couple rekindled their relationship in January and moved in together following a two month separation.
They began dating in March the year before after meeting a number of times at awards shows and concerts.
Shortly before their brief split, Marvin Humes said in an interview: “I wouldn’t be with her if she wasn’t The One. I don’t believe in being with someone if you don’t believe they couldn’t be that person.”
Michigan’s Lake Superior State University has released the 2012 List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness.
The 37th annual list, released Friday, was compiled by the university from nominations submitted from across the globe.
The 2012 list also includes “occupy”, “ginormous”, “man cave” and “the new normal”.
In all, a dozen words or phrases made the 37th end-of-the year list.
The list started as a publicity ploy by the school’s public relations department on New Year’s Day 1976, and has since generated tens of thousands of nominations.
“Amazing” received more than 1,500 nominations, the most of any on this year’s list.
Disdain for the superlative was apparently universal among English speakers, garnering disparaging dispatches from across the United States and even the United Kingdom and Israel.
While it lacked a single pop-culture culprit, such as the proliferating protest movement that occupied the word “occupy” or the collective ooh-ing and aah-ing that accompanied Beyonce’s “baby bump”, nominations to banish “amazing’ cite its overuse on reality television and by daytime talk show hosts.
Social media also spurred the call to surrender the word’s conversational credentials, notably through a Facebook page called “Overuse of the Word Amazing”.
“The word has been overused to describe things only slightly better than mundane,” Alyce-Mae Alexander of Maitland, Florida, wrote in her nomination. “I blame Martha Stewart because to her, EVERYTHING is amazing!”
University spokesman John Shibley said he and his colleagues were surprised that “amazing” hadn’t already graced the archive of about 900 banished words.
“The simple ones are always the ones that get through the cracks – until this year,” he said.
Other terms circulating for years that have finally raised enough ire to earn a spot on the list include “blowback”, “man cave”, “the new normal” and “thank you in advance”.
The last one particularly annoys Mike Cloran of Cincinnati, Ohio.
“This is a condescending and challenging way to say. Since I already thanked you, you have to do this,” Mike Cloran wrote in his submission.
Lake Superior State University, located in Sault St. Marie – the last stop before Michigan’s northernmost border-crossing with Canada – has seen its list survive despite many banished words stubbornly clinging to the language.
For evidence, look no further than last year’s “fail”, “viral” and “a-ha moment”. And then there is, well, blowback from critics who can’t take a little tongue-in-cheek critique.
John Shibley said some people have missed the point over the years and complained that the list is an effort to control the language. But most seem to receive it in good cheer, rather than with jeers.
“A lot of people can take this wrong. We don’t mean any malice when we publish it,” John Shibley said.
“If it makes you angry, it gets you thinking about language. If it gets you laughing, it gets you thinking about language. It’s done its job – to get you to think about how you express yourself.”
THE 2012 LIST OF BANISHED WORDS
1. Amazing – overused
2. Baby Bump – overused
3. Shared Sacrifice – abused for escaping a burden
4. Occupy – overused
5. Blowback – overused
6. Man Cave – overused
7. The New Normal – misused for justifying “bad trends”
8. Pet Parent – misused as”’there is no equate”
9. Win The Future – useless as a contrary wouldn’t ever be applied
10. Trickeration – useless and “made up”
11. Ginormous – useless and “made up”
12. Thank You in Advance – abused for getting ones way while also condescending
Footages from Kim Jong-Il’s funerals showed an 8ft member of the North Korean armed forces towering beside his fellow soldiers in the driving snow.
Observers of how the country’s media covered Kim Jong Il’s funeral believe what we are in fact really seeing is a spot of Photoshopping.
The seemingly doctored photograph of the soldier, who appears to be well over 8ft tall, shows him in the back row of one block of mourners.
The image was captured as the funeral procession passed near the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in the capital Pyongyang.
Footages from Kim Jong-Il’s funerals showed an 8ft member of the North Korean armed forces towering beside his fellow soldiers in the driving snow
Official news agency KCNA took the photo, and the giant soldier appears to be shown from several different angles. This has led some to say that the photo has not be manipulated.
Others believe it could be 7ft 8in tall North Korean basketball star Ri Myung Hun, dubbed Michael Ri for his prowess on the court.
The discovery of the giant follows evidence from this week showing how the scores of wailing mourners were not the only well-choreographed aspect at the memorial service.
Two comparison photos showed how a camera crew filming the sombre ceremony were apparently erased from history after being digitally removed from the picture.
Live footage from the North Korean capital is rarely seen outside of the insular communist dictatorship.
The tightly stage-managed two-day funeral seemed to be a message from the country’s ruling family that they remain in tight control despite the death of their figurehead.
There has been no explanation for the apparent omission from within North Korea since the funeral.
However, a note released by Reuters describing the previous doctored images said: “This combination picture of two handout images from KCNA shows a limousine with a portrait of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il leading his funeral procession in Pyongyang December 28, 2011.
“In the top picture released by Kyodo, a group of men is seen on the left side of the picture. In the bottom picture which was sent directly to Reuters by KCNA, the group is missing.
“Reuters now believes the bottom picture was altered by KCNA.”
The Pacific island of Samoa has moved 24 hours into the future, making its nation the first to see in 2012.
People began celebrating as soon as the clocked ticked over from Thursday, December 29, skipping Friday and moving straight onto Saturday, December 31 at 12:01 a.m.
Samoa and neighboring Tokelau lie near the date line in the Pacific Ocean and both islands decided to realign themselves from the Americas side to the Asia side in order to be more in line with major trading partners. It is hoped the move will help improve the economy.
Pools and beaches have been packed with Samoans and tourists who are keen to be the first to celebrate rather than the last.
Elsewhere across globe millions of people are preparing to say goodbye to a 2011 that saw mass uprisings in several Arab countries, the death of Osama Bin Laden, Muammar Gaddafi and Kim Jong-il.
It was also a year of economic turmoil which saw an endless string of natural disasters that devastated several countries across the world.
In Australia people gathered on the shores of Sydney’s harbor to watch the iconic fireworks display over the Harbour Bridge.
This year’s theme was “Time to Dream” and it is hoped it will help inspire those who have had a particularly bad 2011 to look forward to the year ahead.
Some of the fireworks exploded into shapes of clouds – because everyone has a silver lining – and a series of colorful lights were beamed into the centre of the bridge forming an “endless rainbow”.
Jack Horner, the technical adviser on Jurassic Park and professor of palaeontology at Montana State University, is hoping to use living birds to hatch a dinosaur
Jack Horner, the technical adviser on Jurassic Park and professor of palaeontology at Montana State University, is hoping to use living birds to hatch a dinosaur.
Jack Horner believes that a modern bird’s DNA contains a genetic memory that could be “switched on” again, resurrecting long-dormant dinosaur traits.
What’s more, Jack Horner is looking for a helper to assist in the retro-engineering of a prehistoric beast.
Jack Horner told LiveScience: “I’m looking for a postdoctoral researcher. An adventurous postdoc who knows a lot about developmental biology and a little bit about birds.”
He explains that to make a dinosaur, he would start with the genome (the whole hereditary information encoded in the DNA) of an emu.
“Emus have all the features we need in order to make a Velociraptor-sized dinosaur,” Jack Horner says.
“If I were to make a dinosaur that is where I’d start.”
Jack Horner’s work is supported by other leading academics.
Sean Carroll, a geneticist at the University of Wisconsin, says: “The inventory of genes in a bird would be very similar to the inventory of genes in a dinosaur.
“It is differences in the decision-making that takes during development that make the difference between a chicken and a tyrannosaurus.”
Hans Larsson, a palaeontologist at McGill University in Canada, conducted an experiment recently into the evolution from dinosaurs’ long tails into birds’ short tails more than 150 million years ago.
Looking at a two-day-old chicken embryo, he made an unexpected discovery.
Expecting to see between four and eight vertebrae present in the developing spine, his microscope instead picked out 16 vertebrae – effectively a reptilian tail.
As the embryo developed, the “tail” became shorter and shorter, until the young bird hatched with only five vertebrae.
Hans Larsson says of the significance of the find: “For about 150 million years, this kind of a tail has never existed in birds.
“But they have always carried it deep inside their embryology.”
So, the blueprint for a dinosaur remained locked inside the modern-day bird.
Hans Larsson now believes that in a hundred years or so, geneticists could retro-engineer animals that appear identical to Mesozoic dinosaurs.
“Why can’t we take all the genetics, just change it around a little bit, and produce a Tyrannosaurus Rex, or something that looks like one?” he asks.
“I think that kind of scenario is quite possible. Maybe sooner than we think.”
John Fallon, a developmental biologist at the University of Wisconsin, agrees, saying: “As we learn more, we’ll be able to do it.
“The genetic knowledge is in the bird.”
Jack Horner, meanwhile, imagines creating the first example.
“I have to admit that I’ve certainly imagined walking up on a stage to give a talk, and having a little dino-chicken walk up behind me,” he says.
“That would be kind of cool.
“There is now nothing to stop us bringing back dinosaurs but ourselves.
“People who don’t believe it don’t know much about evolution.”
Jack Horner adds: “Whether it is a good idea or not is another question…”
Sam Eshaghoff, 19, was arrested in September along with 20 other students for either paying to have the test taken or providing them with the service
Sam Eshaghoff, a teenager from Long Island, who charged students thousands of dollars to take their SATs (Scholastic Aptitute Tests) for them has spoken out for the first time about the scam, calling the security at the tests “uniformly pathetic”.
Sam Eshaghoff, 19, was arrested in September along with 20 other students for either paying to have the test taken or providing them with the service.
He told 60 Minutes that his college-entrance exams couldn’t have been easier to pull off and said he could do it again tomorrow, “piece of cake”.
Speaking on the show, which will air this Sunday, Sam Eshaghoff said: “I would say that between the SAT and ACT, the security is uniformly pathetic.
“In the sense that anybody with half a brain could get away with taking the test for anybody else.”
Sam Eshaghoff was charged with scheming to defraud, falsifying business records and criminal impersonation but will avoid jail time by accepting a plea deal that will see him offer up his counsel to low-income students looking to ace their exams.
The scam all started when one student asked Sam Eshaghoff if it was possible to pull off and how much it would take.
Sam Eshaghoff’s answer was $2,500 and he revealed to 60 Minutes that he took both the SAT and ACT tests around 20 times for his “intellectually-challenged” clients at Great Neck North High School, Long Island.
“My whole clientele was based on word of mouth and a referral system.”
Sam Eshaghoff was so successful at completing the Scholastic Aptitute Tests, he could guarantee an eye-popping high score for his clients, prosecutors claim.
And, after the money had changed hands, Sam Eshaghoff came good on his promise.
The top possible SAT score is 2,400, and Eshaghoff allegedly secured 2220, 2210, 2140, 2180, 2180 and 2170 for his students.
Though Sam Eshaghoff eventually handed himself in when he realized school officials were on to him, he hinted to the fact he was actually doing a good service for his peers.
Sam Eshaghoff said: “I mean, a kid who has a horrible grade-point average, who no matter how much he studies is gonna totally bomb this test, by giving him an amazing score, I totally give him this . . . new lease on life.
“He’s gonna go to a totally new college. He’s gonna be bound for a totally new career and a totally new path on life.”
The scheme was only rumbled when school officials learned of it through rumors circulating in the upscale school district.
Sharp-eyed officials pored over SAT scores, looking for discrepancies between SAT scores and grade point averages.
Police say that Sam Eshaghoff’s case may be just the tip of the iceberg, as there are major holes in the process of checking students’ IDs before the exams.
In each case, teenagers signed up to take the tests away from their own school, so their faces wouldn’t be recognized.
A Muslim woman from France has been fined for driving while wearing a burka because the garment “reduced her field of vision”.
Police who stopped the woman compared wearing a veil over the face behind the wheel to driving with ice on the windscreen, eating a sandwich or smoking a cigarette.
The woman was handed a 35 Euros on-the-spot fine under article 412-6 of the highway code, which states: “Field of vision must not be restricted by either passengers, objects being transported or by the position of non-transparent objects on the windows.”
The woman was also told she was in breach of the country’s controversial burka ban imposed last April, which outlawed anyone hiding their face in public, including in streets, shops, restaurants and cars on public roads.
Police said the woman was pulled over while driving in Saint-Brieuc, Brittany, on Thursday.
Spokesman Laurent Dufour added: “The officer who stopped her said she was driving hesitantly and clearly could not see properly.
“Looking out through a narrow slit in the fabric is as dangerous as driving while eating a sandwich, smoking or with an iced-up windscreen.”
France was the first country in Europe to outlaw Muslim headgear that hides the face. Similar laws have since being passed in Belgium and the Netherlands.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy has described the burka as a “sign of debasement”. France immigration minister Eric Besson called it “a walking coffin”.
Militant Muslim woman Hind Ahmas, 32 – dubbed France’s first “burka martyr” – is currently facing two years in prison for wearing the veil after refusing to pay a 50 Euros fine for the offence.
She is appealing the fine on the grounds that the new law is unconstitutional and preparing to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Senior police chiefs have branded the ban “unenforceable” and said officers were too busy fighting serious crime to go “burka-chasing’.
Leaders of Al Qaeda’s North African network have vowed to seek revenge on France for enforcing the law.
They wrote on an Islamic extremist website: “We will seek dreadful revenge on France by all means at our disposal, for the honour of our daughters and sisters.”
British comedian Russell Brand has announced today that he filed for divorce from singer Katy Perry after 14 months of marriage.
Russell Brand, 36, said in a statement today: “Sadly, Katy and I are ending our marriage. I’ll always adore her and I know we’ll remain friends.”
The British comedian was spotted in London today without his wedding ring for the second day in a row.
Russell Brand’s legal team filed court documents at the Superior Court in Los Angeles today citing ”irreconcilable differences”.
The divorce documents, which refer to Katy Perry, 27, by her give name Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, show there are “community property assets”, suggesting there may not be a pre-nuptial agreement in place.
British comedian Russell Brand has announced today that he filed for divorce from singer Katy Perry after 14 months of marriage
It does not list a date of separation.
The couple sparked rumors of trouble after celebrating Christmas 7,000 miles apart. Russell Brand spent the festive day in Cornwall while Katy Perry was with friends in Hawaii.
Katy Perry, who is yet to comment on the split, was not wearing her wedding ring either when she was photographed frolicking in the surf on December 25.
The pair’s split comes just four weeks after Russell Brand declared his relationship was going strong.
Russell Brand told Ellen DeGeneres on December 2: “I’m really happily married. I’m married to Katy. Perpetually, until death do us part was the pledge. I’m still alive.”
In November, Katy Perry told the same TV host that that she “would love to have children” with Russell Brand.
Katy Perry said: “I think that’s one of the reasons you get married, especially to the person that you marry. You think: <<That person is going to be a good partner, a good parent.>>”
Asked if she wanted a big family, Katy Perry added: “If it doesn’t hurt the first time I’ll keep popping them out.”
But there was clearly trouble brewing when they decided to spend Christmas apart, allegedly after a huge row.
A source was quoted as telling Us Weekly magazine: “They had a massive fight. She was like, <<F*** you. I’m going to do my own thing.>>”
Meanwhile the insider said that Russell Brand replied: “Fine, f*** you too.”
Katy Perry began dating Russell Brand in 2008 after meeting on the set of Get Him to the Greek.
He proposed just four months later on New Year’s Eve and they were married in October 2010.
Their lavish ceremony at a five-star resort in India included two elephants, acrobats and jugglers.
Russell Brand was once notorious in England as a hard-partying bachelor and self-confessed sex addict.
He later had a spiritual awakening and got sober after years of heroin and alcohol abuse.
The actor insisted he’d reformed his wild ways before settling down with Katy Perry.
“I think I was ready for it,” Russell Brand said.
“If you’re wild, like a wild animal, marriage won’t contain you. I think that’s how a lot of people get into trouble.”
Russell Brand will next appear in the 80’s musical film, Rock Of Ages, alongside Tom Cruise.
Internet rumors claim that Beyoncé has given birth to a baby girl in New York. According to reports- which neither Beyoncé herself, nor husband Jay-Z have confirmed – the singer has named her daughter Tiana May Carter.
Beyoncé is said to have delivered her first child at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital, a private facility in New York.
The singer representation – both in the US and the UK- has not been available for comment this afternoon.
A story published yesterday by MediaTakeOut.com claimed that nurses at the hospital were “buzzing” at the news that they might be expecting Beyoncé and Jay Z.
The hospital has made no official comment.
The baby suite apparently reserved by Beyoné and Jay Z is reportedly equipped to deliver three babies and sleep 12 people.
Internet rumors claim that Beyoncé has given birth to a baby girl in New York
Friend and fellow singer Alicia Keys gave birth to her son Egypt at the same hospital back in 2010.
Twitter has been abuzz with gossip and congratulations in relation to the birth rumors.
Director and choreographer Adam Shankman tweeted: “Not meaning to start anything…but…did Beyonce have her baby?!? Just heard a bit on the radio… Is it true?”
Some are treating the news as certain, and have offered their blessing.
One user wrote: “Congrats to Beyonce & Jay Z on new baby girl Tiana-May Carter.”
Beyoncé has still never tweeted from her own account, which boasts 2,259,656 followers.
The report that Beyoncé has given birth has been picked up by The Mirror, Huffington Post, The Hollywood Reporter, Yahoo, Music News.com, and Allhiphop.com among others.
Beyoncé has spent the bulk of the last few months in New York, which is understandable if she has been expecting her new arrival around the New Year.
The appearance of the Beyoncé’s mother Tina, 57, sister Solange, 25, and nephew Julez in the city in recent days has added weight to the reports that the birth was imminent.
Designer Tina and sister Solange were spotted leaving vintage store Stella Dallas in New York City this week.
Beyoncé lives in a multi-million pound penthouse apartment in the city with rapper husband Jay Z.
Though initially there was suggestion that Beyoncé was due in early February, more recently it was indicated that she would be reaching the nine month mark around the New Year.
In a clip from her Live at Roseland DVD, screened in November, Beyoncé said: “Hello! It’s September 23rd … Right now I’m actually shooting the video for <<Countdown>> and I’m six months pregnant, pretending that my stomach is flat in body suits.”
Beyoncé concealed her pregnancy for months before revealing her baby bump at the MTV Music Awards in August.
In October the star sparked rumors that she was wearing a prosthetic belly after her stomach appeared to collapse as she sat down during a live TV appearance in Australia.
Jena Dolstad, 14, from Anchorage, Alaska, has died six days after she was allegedly injected with heroin by a 26-year-old Navy Veteran
Jena Dolstad, a 14-year-old girl from Anchorage, Alaska, has died six days after she was allegedly injected with heroin by a 26-year-old Navy Veteran.
Jena Dolstad had been critical since she was taken to the hospital last Friday with a drug overdose.
The teenager died Thursday afternoon, police spokeswoman Anita Shell said.
On the tragic night which would lead to her death, Navy Veteran Sean Warner and two other men picked Jena Dolstad up and took her back to his home to hang out, according to police reports.
Sean Warner was sharing a gram of heroin with two men when the Jena Dolstad said she was willing to try something “new” but did not want to inject herself, the court papers report.
The Navy Veteran tried to inject the girl, but failed, so he had her lie down on his bed and hold out an arm, then used his belt as a tourniquet and shot 25 to 30 units of heroin, taking several times to find a vein, the papers say.
The two witnesses told authorities they left the Jena Dolstad on the bed and found her the next morning, face down in her own vomit.
“They felt for her pulse, sat her up, and grew concerned at her condition and upset at Warner’s ambivalence,” the documents state.
Sean Warner initially did not want to call 911 because of fears authorities would find drugs, and instead gave the teen Suboxone, a prescription drug used to treat opiate addicts, according to the court papers.
He only called 911 after Jena Dolstad began to convulse a couple of hours after he gave her the Suboxone, the papers say.
Sean Warner is under arrest on charges of delivering a controlled substance to a minor, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and evidence tampering.
With the death, Sean Warner now faces additional charges, including manslaughter, said assistant District Attorney Regan Williams.
The case is still in the “investigatory stages,” Regan Williams said.
When emergency services attended his address to tend to Jena Dolstad, Sean Warner locked his bedroom door, and responding officers did not search it when he told them it was his roommate’s room, the documents state.
After police left, Sean Warner and one of the witnesses put needles and other “related evidence” into a box then dumped it behind a trash bin at a nearby business, according to the papers, which police later recovered.
Jena Dolstad was found to have heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine in her system when she was brought to the hospital, charging documents said.
Medics told authorities she had sustained damage to her brain and heart.
Authorities have said the heroin used is known on the street at “China White,” considered more potent than common tar heroin.
Sean Warner also is charged with theft, accused of stealing a $900 surveillance system from Costco on the same day he took the girl to his home, according to the documents. He is being held on $100,000 cash bail.
Michael Jordan, the legendary Chicago Bulls player, has just got engaged to his long term partner, Cuban-American model Yvette Prieto.
Michael Jordan, 48, and Yvette Prieto, 32, have been dating for the last three years.
The former basketball star got down on one knee recently, and his spokeswoman confirmed today Yvette Prieto had accepted his proposal.
However, the spokeswoman added that rumors Michael Jordan was spending this week celebrating on a private yacht overseas were untrue.
So far there are no details about when they plan to walk down the aisle.
Michael Jordan, the legendary Chicago Bulls player, has just got engaged to his long term partner, Cuban-American model Yvette Prieto
Michael Jordan has been married once before, and was with his first wife Juanita for 17 years before their relationship ended in divorce in 2006.
Michael Jordan and Juanita had two sons together, Jeffrey, 23, and 12-year-old Marcus, and both went on to play the game that made their father famous at university. They also have an 18-year-old daughter Jasmine.
The couple had been set to get divorced in 2002, but they attempted an unsuccessful reunion, before finally dissolving their marriage in 2006.
Juanita’s reported $168 million divorce settlement was the biggest celebrity settlement up to that point.
Michael Jordan has had an eventful time since finally retiring from the NBA following a spell at the Washington Wizards in 2003.
He was fired from his position as the Wizards’ director of basketball operations that same year, and went on to concentrate on playing charity golf tournaments, promoting his Nike clothing brand and riding motorbikes.
However, Michael Jordan also set up a motor-racing team called Michael Jordan Motorsports in 2004, and bought a stake in NBA side the Charlotte Bobcats in 2006.
He extended his stake in the latter, and became the side’s majority owner last year.
Michael Jordan is considered by many to be the finest basketball player off all-time, and his trademark slam dunks led to him being named Air Jordan and His Airness by fans.
Nike used his nickname to produce the Air Jordan brand of training shoes and other athletics apparel that have become a worldwide sales phenomenon.
An arsonist struck across Hollywood on Friday early in the morning, torching vehicles and setting homes ablaze in 19 separate fires over a four-hour period.
Firemen in Los Angeles, California, were scrambling to put out the fires that lit up parked cars and then spread to nearby homes and flats.
Dozens of Hollywood residents were forced out of their homes and power was disrupted in several neighborhoods shortly after midnight.
“It was a long, tough night,” a Los Angeles County fire spokesman said, adding that the department does not yet have any suspect description.
One of the blazes happened at the former home of late Doors lead singer Jim Morrison, who died in Paris in 1971 aged just 27.
Jim Morrison used to live in the house with girlfriend Pamela Courson in the 1960’s and it provided the inspiration for the Doors song “Love Street”.
An arsonist struck across Hollywood on Friday early in the morning, torching vehicles and setting homes ablaze in 19 separate fires over a four-hour period
There were no civilian injuries, but one city fireman was treated and released from a hospital after a fall while battling a blaze.
“I woke up really scared,” evacuated resident Daniel Meza told KABC.
“I heard somebody saying, <<Fire, fire>>. The smoke was in my face.”
Daniel Meza had to run and get his little sister as well as wake up his parents and tell them all to get out of his block of flats.
Arson investigators are looking for building CCTV and eyewitnesses.
“If you see something, say something,” the L.A. County fire spokesman said.
It was the second day of arson fires in Hollywood. Two people were arrested on Thursday following a spate of similar car and rubbish fires.
But those men remained in custody on Friday, so it is not yet clear who was behind the latest fires in Hollywood and West Hollywood.
Samuel Arrington, 22, of Sunland, L.A., was arrested along with another person on Thursday when a shop worker allegedly saw him trying to cause damage.
“We have so many that are going around hitting occupancies just like this, carports with residents above,” an L.A. City fire spokesman told KABC.
Hollywood is served by the L.A. city police and fire departments. But the fire and sheriff’s departments of L.A. County serve West Hollywood.
Chelsea Hess, a woman from South Carolina who was left paralyzed after a car crash following a night of underage drinking two years ago is suing now the bar for not checking her ID.
Chelsea Hess, now 22, argues a barman should have asked her to show her ID when she ordered drinks at a bar in 2009.
Despite being a year under the legal age to drink, Chelsea Hess spent several hours at Jock’s Sport Grill in Bluffton, South Carolina, where she drank with friends and played billiards.
When Chelsea Hess left the premises at 1:00 a.m. and was driving home her car ran off the road.
Chelsea Hess was left paralyzed after a car crash following a night of underage drinking two years ago
Officials say Chelsea Hess, who was not wearing a seat belt, was over the legal drink drive limit.
The woman was ejected from the vehicle and hurled 20 ft suffering catastrophic injuries that left her as a paraplegic.
According to the lawsuit, Chelsea Hess claims the bartender should have asked if she was old enough to buy alcohol or if she was drunk when she was in the bar.
“The bartender failed to attempt to ascertain whether or not plaintiff was already impaired by alcohol consumption when she purchased the alcoholic beverage and made sale to plaintiff even though she was unable to legally purchase the alcoholic beverage, and notwithstanding the possibility that she was already impaired by alcohol consumption,” according to the complaint obtained by the Courthouse News Service.
Chelsea Hess has also sued the Department of Transportation and the town of Bluffton and Beaufort County claiming they had failed to properly maintain the road where she crashed.
The lawsuit says the wheels of her 2000 Mitsubishi car “suddenly dropped off into a large unmaintained area on the shoulder of Alljoj Road, which caused plaintiff to lose control of her vehicle and causing her to roll the vehicle off the side of the road”.
In its response to the lawsuit, Schubert Place LLC, operator of Jock’s Sport Grill, denied Chelsea Hess’s claims.
They said Chelsea Hess was responsible for her injuries due to her acts of “negligence, recklessness, willfulness and gross negligence”.
The South Carolina Department of Transportation also blamed Chelsea Hess, saying the accident occurred due to a number of events for which she bore responsibility, including driving while intoxicated and failing to keep her under control.
Chelsea Hess is now seeking punitive damages that could run into millions and cover the cost of her round-the-clock health care.
At least 13 people have been killed and another 13 were injured after a petrol tanker crashed bursting into flames and engulfing seven cars and a bus in burning fuel in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.
Rescue workers have been pulling charred bodies from the scorched vehicles.
The tanker is reported to have flipped over after the driver lost control, spilling petrol that then caught fire. The cause of the accident is still under investigation.
Caracas fire department coordinator William Martinez said the crash sent a river of burning fuel down the Pan-American Highway west of Caracas, engulfing other vehicles.
The flames were so intense that vegetation beside the road also caught fire and nearby houses were threatened before the blaze was brought under control, William Martinez told Venezuelan National Radio.
Survivor Mariana Salas said the bus caught fire in a matter of seconds.
“People started to get out of cars, the traffic was paralyzed, nothing was moving in either direction,” she said.
“Around 15 or 20 of us opened a route through the vegetation and managed to save ourselves.”
President Hugo Chavez expressed dismay at the “lamentable tragedy”.
“I send my prayers to the victims of the accident on the Pan-American Highway. To their families my feelings of sadness and all necessary support,” Hugo Chavez wrote on Twitter.
Mariah Carey and Alicia Silverstone have topped a poll of celebrities who gave their children the worst names.
Mariah Carey’s choice of the name Moroccan for one of her twins with TV presenter Nick Cannon tied as the worst boy’s name.
Alicia Silverstone’s bizarre name of Bear Blu for her son tied for first place.
Former “Top Chef Just Deserts” contestant Tania Peterson and her husband Phil had the distinction of choosing the worst girl’s name with her choice of Zuzu Audrey for their daughter.
More than 10,000 people voted on the poll carried out by website BabyNames.com.
Mariah Carey’s choice of the name Moroccan for one of her twins with TV presenter Nick Cannon tied as the worst boy’s name
The best celebrity girl’s name was Willow Sage Hart, the daughter of singer Pink and motocross star Carey Hart.
The best celebrity boy’s name was Mason Evan Smith, son of rapper/actor Ne-Yo and his girlfriend Monyetta Shaw.
While the name Moroccan was not a hit Mariah Carey’s choice of the name Monroe for her daughter was popular with voters.
Other famous faces to disappoint with their choices include rock star Bryan Adams who called his daughter Mirabella Bunny.
Actor Kevin James’ son Kannon is also on the list.
Celebrities giving their children unusual monikers is nothing new but in recent years there has been a trend for even more outrageous names.
Jennifer Moss, founder of the website BabyNames.com said some of those chosen by celebrity parents have a chance of becoming popular.
“Celebrity parents have a huge influence on baby name trends,” said Jennifer Moss.
“As long as the names aren’t too far out, you could see celebrity-chosen names hitting the top ten within a year.”
Jennifer Moss said the girl’s name Harper, chosen by David Beckham and his wife Victoria for their daughter, is now number ten on the most popular baby names of 2011.
Hiroyuki Joho, a teenager from Chicago, who was killed while crossing train tracks, can be sued over injuries caused to a woman on the platform, when one of his severed body parts hit her, a court has ruled.
Hiroyuki Joho, 18, died when he ran in front of a 70 mph Amtrak train at Edgebrook Metra station in Chicago in 2008. It was pouring with rain and the teen had an umbrella over his head.
The teenager body was severed on impact, and a large part became airborne, flying about 100 feet onto the southbound platform, where it hit a commuter.
Gayane Zokhrabov, 58, was knocked to the ground, her leg and wrist broken and her shoulder injured, the Chicago Tribune reported.
A Cook County court judge initially dismissed Gayane Zokhrabov’s lawsuit against the boy’s estate, ruling that Hiroyuki Joho could not possibly have anticipated her injuries.
But ruling in what it called a “tragically bizarre” case, a state appeals court disagreed.
It found that “it was reasonably foreseeable” that the high-speed train would kill the man hopeful and fling his body toward a platform where people were waiting.
Hiroyuki Joho, who was killed while crossing train tracks, can be sued over injuries caused to a woman on the platform, when one of his severed body parts hit her
Lawyer Leslie Rosen, who handled Gayane Zokhrabov’s appeal, argued that the case was a straightforward negligence case, albeit with “very peculiar and gory and creepy” circumstances.
“If you do something as stupid as this guy did, you have to be responsible for what comes from it,” Leslie Rosen said.
The teenager’s mother Jeung-Hee Park, had left the bright high-school student at the station that morning.
Seeing what he thought was his local train approaching and expecting it to slow down, Hiroyuki Joho went to cross a same-level pedestrian walkway across the tracks to get to the right side of the track.
But in fact his train was delayed by the bad weather, his mother’s lawyer Keith Davidson said.
The train which hit the teenager was an Amtrak high speed express speeding at 70 mph towards the city centre.
Jeung-Hee Park had previously filed her own suit claiming that Metra and the Canadian Pacific Railway were negligent.
The express Amtrak train had overtaken his Metra train which was running late that morning, but no announcement was made on the platform, the suit said.
A Cook County judge ruled that the railway companies had no compulsion to warn people about such an “open and obvious danger” as a travelling train. The decision was upheld on appeal
Lawyer Keith Davidson said that the crossing where of high speed trains cross a slow commuter train track is inherently hazardous.
The whistle that warns people to keep clear is no longer in use and the view of the track is partly blocked by foliage, he said.
“It really reflects a failure of the courts to get to grips with the limits of cognition and human reaction.
“It has been shown that objects, in this case as train, approaching from a distance from a wide angle appear to be going much more slowly than they are.
“Hiroyuki would have thought he had plenty of time to cross the track.”
The lawyers are seeking a further appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court.
The popular teen known to friends and friends as Hiro – was a member of the soccer and tennis teams, a dancer and demonstrated Taiko Japanese drumming on International culture days.
Sinead O’Connor has revealed how she was handed Class A drugs after taking her new drug-counselor husband Barry Herridge on a marijuana hunt on their wedding night.
Sinead O’Connor says her fourth marriage was in trouble from the start and the wild search on the mean streets of Las Vegas led to their eventual split 16 days later.
The 45-year-old Irish singer insists she still loves Barry Herridge, 38, but says she ended their relationship on Christmas Eve because of the pain he was in.
Sinead O’Connor and Barry Herridge met online four months ago after he responded to a plea by unlucky-in-love singer asking for potential suitors to come forward.
The couple married on December 8 in a quickie wedding at the famous Little White Chapel in the Nevada state.
Sinead O'Connor has revealed how she was handed Class A drugs after taking her new drug-counselor husband Barry Herridge on a marijuana hunt on their wedding night
Sinead o’Connor told The Sun that she took Barry Herridge on a search for cannabis afterwards.
“We ended up in a cab in some place that was quite dangerous.
“I wasn’t scared – but he’s a drugs counselor. What was I thinking?
“Then I was handed a load of crack. Barry was very frightened – that kind of messed everything up a bit really.”
The purchase or possession of cannabis is an offence in Nevada, subject to a fine of up to $600 for a first offence.
However, far more serious might be the repercussions for her music career.
For the U.S. authorities routinely refuse travel and work visas to those who have committed “crimes of moral turpitude”.
These crimes include “a violation (or conspiracy or attempt to violate) any law or regulations of a State, the United States or a foreign country relating to a controlled substance”.
In 1992, Sinead O’Connor appeared to advocate marijuana smoking and in a 1999 Irish Times interview, the singer admitted to smoking “weed”, saying: “I do not take drugs – I smoke a little weed now and again, which I told the social workers and they laughed.
“I do not take drink or any other drugs. Everybody knows that.”
Sinead O’Connor said her latest marriage was also sabotaged early on by the “interference of certain people”.
“It felt like I was living in a coffin. It was going to be a coffin for both of us and I saw him crushed.
“The whole reason I ended it was out of respect and love for the man.”
The mother-of-four says she will never marry again and may not even date anyone.
Sinead O’Connor this week emerged from her home looking tired, stressed and grey-haired. Gone was the pretty pink frock from her wedding – and instead she came to the door in nothing but a towel before hurriedly changing into a T-shirt and jeans.
Some of us wonder what happens to the luggage once it has been handed over at the check-in desk and disappears through the rubber flaps. The mystery has been cleared up after Delta Airlines added hidden cameras to a suitcase to see exactly what happens behind the scenes.
Delta Air Lines fitted six high-quality cameras inside the case and cut holes in the material so that the camera lenses could see out.
The cameras record the time before departure, every moment on the two hour flight from Atlanta to New York, and the bag going into the arrivals lounge.
The promotional footage for Delta Mobile Baggage Tracking App was uploaded to YouTube on December 22 and within days had already been viewed by more than 135,000 people.
However, users were quick to point out that the video does not show any of the bad things happening to the luggage such as damage, missing items and lost cases.
“When a checked bag goes behind those rubber flaps where does it go,” subtitles begin on the video. “Let’s find out.”
The video begins with the bag going from the check-in desk through the rubber flaps and along a conveyor belt.
The cameras record the time before departure, every moment on the two hour flight from Atlanta to New York, and the bag going into the arrivals lounge
A winding journey through more channels of conveyor belts takes the suitcase into a large warehouse where it is scanned.
“TSA scan area. No photography allowed,” appears on screen to explain why x-rays and manual checks for drugs, weapons and explosives are not seen.
The luggage then resumes its journey through the warehouse before it is collected by workers in fluorescent jackets. They then toss the luggage onto a wagon which taxis it to a plane where it is packed into the storage unit.
Two hours later the baggage emerges unscathed and after a short journey pops through the rubber flap and onto the conveyor belt where travelers wait anxiously to spot their cases.
“So finally I know how many hands touch my bags,” one user wrote online.
Another added: “I knew it was too good to be true… as if each bag gets its own special treatment off the plane with five people off loading.”
One user pointed how smooth the journey was. “I wonder what would have happened if the baggage handlers didn’t know they were being filmed,” he said.
Another user added: “Forgot the part where TSA rips open your bag, breaks a few things, and half zips it up.”
