17 South Sudanese civilians have been killed during air raids by Sudan’s military, an official said.
South Sudan’s military spokesman Philip Aguer said those killed were cattle herders in West Bahr al-Ghazal state – further west than other recent clashes.
Sudan has denied the allegations but Col. Philip Aguer said no other power in the region could carry out the bombing.
The south seceded from Sudan in July but there have been numerous clashes along their common border.
17 South Sudanese civilians have been killed during air raids by Sudan's military
The UN estimates that several hundred thousand people have been displaced by fighting in the border areas of South Kordofan, Blue Nile and Unity state.
“This [attack in West Bahr al-Ghazal] is a hostile aggression that Khartoum has been conducting against the civilian population,” Col. Philip Aguer told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme.
Sudan’s army had also bombed areas in Unity state since Wednesday, he said.
It wanted to draw up the north-south boundary by force and annex Unity state because it was rich in oil, Col. Philip Aguer said.
Pro-northern and southern groups have clashed in the past in West Bahr al-Ghazal state over grazing and water rights.
Sudan’s army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad denied they had carried out the air strikes, the AFP news agency reports.
“This information is completely incorrect,” he is quoted as saying.
Sawarmi Khaled Saad said South Sudan was, in fact, amassing troops in Unity state to launch attacks across the border.
Both countries accuse each other of backing rebels operating in their territory.
Sudan’s foreign ministry spokesman Al-Obeid Meruh said that 350 members of a Darfur-based rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) had crossed into South Sudan on Wednesday, AFP reports.
He said the international community should put pressure on South Sudan’s government “to stop supporting these troops and disarm them”, AFP reports.
JEM’s leader Khalil Ibrahim was killed a few days ago by Sudanese government forces.
Sudan’s army said he had been killed in fighting as he tried to cross into South Sudan, but JEM said he died in an air strike.
Various mediation efforts to end the conflict in Darfur, and to ease tension between Sudan and South Sudan, have so far failed, analysts say.
Antonio, a jealous 99-year-old man from Italy, is divorcing from his wife of 77 years after he discovered she had an affair more than 60 years ago.
Antonio and his wife Rosa have both consulted lawyers and the first hearing in the case is due to take place in March.
Father-of-five Antonio saw red after he discovered dust covered romantic letters from Rosa to her secret lover during a clear out of their apartment in Rome.
Antonio and Rosa had tied the knot in Naples in 1934, where he had met her after he had been sent there to serve in the carabinieri paramilitary police.
Rosa had had an affair with her unidentified lover ten years later, keeping the secret to herself until now.
Lawyer Anna Orecchioni said: “The husband decided to file for divorce after finding the love letters.
“He felt betrayed and unable to carry on with the marriage which has lasted 77 years.
“It made no difference that the letters were written more than 60 years ago and the relationship has been over for decades.
“He has decided to divorce her and the case has already been submitted for a court hearing in March. The couple have five children and numerous grandchildren and great children.
“It’s a shame the marriage has ended in this way after such a long time together.”
American couple Marshall and Winnie Kuykendall hold the current record for the longest marriage having been together for 82 years after they tied the knot on Valentines Day in 1929.
An unclaimed $16.5 million winning lottery ticket from December 2010 has just hours to lose the payday.
If the $16.5 million Iowa Lottery ticket is forfeited it will be the second time this week that someone lost out on a million dollar payout.
On Monday, a $77 million lottery ticket went unclaimed in Georgia.
With each passing day, the Iowa Lottery receives more and more inquiries from those who wonder if they may have made the jackpot-winning purchase in Des Moines.
So far, no one has presented the winning ticket which is a requirement for claiming the prize.
The prize is so huge Iowa Lottery security investigators have even worked to identify the jackpot winner by tracking similar ticket purchase patterns.
Lottery CEO Terry Rich said: “It is sad to see this huge prize continue to sit there without being claimed. Someone legitimately won this money and we want them to take it home.
“But you must present the winning ticket to the lottery in order to claim the prize.”
“This has been an unusual story all the way around,” Terry Rich added.
“But we’re hoping that our reminders will cause someone to double-check their ticket and realize they’re the big winner before time runs out.”
Terry Rich said that the lottery does not release a ticket’s date or time of sale for security reasons.
“Some information is kept as our way to double-check that the winner is legitimate,” he said.
Iowa lottery has provided some key information that might jar a winner’s memory.
The Hot Lotto jackpot-winning ticket was purchased at Quik Trip, 4801 N.E. 14th St. in Des Moines. The lucky ticket matched all six numbers selected in the Hot Lotto drawing on December 29, 2010, to win the grand prize.
The winning numbers that night were 3-12-16-26-33 and Hot Ball 11.
Hot Lotto tickets in Iowa expire a year from the date of the drawing in which a prize is won, so the jackpot prize will expire at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday if it isn’t claimed by then.
In Iowa, the money from unclaimed prizes goes into the lottery’s prize pools for future games.
Iowa would get back about $1.3 million if this prize were to go unclaimed.
International wildlife trade group Traffic says that more elephant tusks were seized in 2011 than in any year since 1989, when the ivory trade was banned.
Traffic said elephants have had a “horrible year”, with 23 tones of ivory seized – representing at least 2,500 dead animals.
Trade in ivory was banned in 1989 to save elephants from extinction.
But it has continued illegally because of huge demand in Asia, where it is used to make decorative objects.
“The escalating large ivory quantities involved in 2011 reflect both a rising demand in Asia and the increasing sophistication of the criminal gangs behind the trafficking,” said a statement from Traffic, which monitors the trade in wildlife products.
“Most illegal shipments of African elephant ivory end up in either China or Thailand.”
Wildlife trade group Traffic said there had been at least 13 large seizures of ivory in 2011, amounting to more than 23 tones, compared to 6 in 2010 of less than 10 tones
Traffic said there had been at least 13 large seizures of ivory this year, amounting to more than 23 tones, compared to six last year of less than 10 tones.
“In 23 years of compiling ivory seizure data… this is the worst year ever for large ivory seizures. 2011 has truly been a horrible year for elephants,” Traffic’s elephant expert Tom Milliken said.
The group said the smugglers appear to have shifted away from using air to sea – in early 2011, three of the large scale ivory seizures were at airports but later in the year most were found in sea freight.
“The only common denominator in the trafficking is that the ivory departs Africa and arrives in Asia, but the routes are constantly changing, presumably reflecting where the smugglers gamble on being their best chance of eluding detection,” it said.
In six of the large 2011 seizures, Malaysia was a transit country in the supply chain, Traffic said.
In the most recent case on 21 December, Malaysian authorities seized hundreds of African elephant tusks worth about $1.3 million that were being shipped to Cambodia.
The ivory was hidden in containers of handicrafts from Kenya’s Mombasa port, Traffic said.
Tom Milliken said despite the seizures, there were generally few arrests.
“I fear the criminals are winning,” Tom Milliken said.
Some environmental campaigners say the decision to allow some southern African countries, whose elephants populations are booming, to sell their stockpiles of ivory has fuelled the illegal trade.
Those countries – South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe – however, deny this and argue they should be rewarded for looking after their elephant populations.
NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne has sparked a real rampage on Twitter over breastfeeding in public, after he said he was disgusted to see a mom’s breast as she was feeding her son in a supermarket.
Kasey Kahne, 31, said he first thought he was imagining things, but once he realized the mother was indeed nursing, he began tweeting his horror.
“Just walking through supermarket. See a mom breast feeding little kid,” the bachelor tweeted.
“Took second look because obviously I was seeing things I wasn’t!”
Upon second look, Kasey Kahne described the woman’s breastfeeding in detail.
“One boob put away one boob hanging!” Kasey Kahne tweeted, with the hashtag “#nasty “ following the post.
NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne has sparked a real rampage on Twitter over breastfeeding in public, after he said he was disgusted to see a mom’s breast as she was feeding her son in a supermarket
The NASCAR driver was apparently so repulsed that he then wrote: “I don’t feel like shopping or eating anymore.”
Later, a woman named Deana P. tweeted to him that she disagreed breastfeeding was “nasty” and that he was “kind of a douchebag”.
“I hope someday you have a kid and someone tells your wife that feeding your child looks nasty,” Deana P. wrote.
“Stay classy a**hole.”
Kasey Kahne, who currently stars in an Allstate ad campaign that centres around his appeal among women, responded by calling her a “dumb b***h”.
However, late last night, the racer apologized via his Facebook page, writing: “It was in no way my intention to offend any mother who chooses to breastfeed her child, or, for that matter, anyone who supports breast feeding children.
“My comments were not directed at the mother’s right to breastfeed. They were just a reaction to the location of that choice, and the fashion in which it was executed on that occasion.”
Kasey Kahne also apologized to Deana P., saying his remarks were “out of line”.
Deana P., whose Twitter page indicates she’s a mother of three from Minnesota, wrote an apology of her own, saying her comments to the racer were also “knee-jerk and out of line”.
Kasey Kahne’s NASCAR sponsor Great Clips also released a statement, which read: “Our apologies for this. Please know that response was uncalled for & does not reflect our organization.”
Kasey Kahne’s very public qualms came amid another breast-feeding controversy, which resulted in hundreds of mothers in 35 states staging a nurse-in at their nearby Target stores after a Texas mother was told last month that she could not breastfeed in public.
Michelle Hickman, a mother of four, was trying to do some Christmas shopping last month when Target employees asked her to relocate to a more private location, such as a family fitting room.
Humiliated by the incident, Michelle Hickman used Facebook to organize the massive “nurse-in”.
Kasey Kahne, who has 12 NASCAR wins to his credit, does a great deal of charity work through his “Kasey Kahne Foundation”, which benefits chronically ill kids and their families.
In 2007, however, Kasey Kahne found himself on the wrong side of the law.
In November of that year, he was charged was charged with assault for pushing an elderly security guard at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida.
The misdemeanor charges were later dropped after Kasey Kahne completed 50 hours of community service.
Kasey Kahne was also slapped with a civil suit by the security guard, who claimed he suffered a severe back injury as a result of the incident, but that suit was settled in 2009.
After Europe hailed his discovery of the Americas in the 15th century, Christopher Columbus was blamed for introducing syphilis to Old World.
However, several reports have since argued the case that the deadly disease was already widespread before Columbus landed back in Spain in 1493.
Researchers George Armelagos, from Emory University, Molly Zuckerman, from Mississippi State University and Columbia University’s Kristin Harper, claim that all the evidence putting Christopher Columbus and his crew in the clear is flawed.
George Armelagos told LiveScience: “There’s no really good evidence of a syphilis case before 1492 in Europe.”
After Europe hailed his discovery of the Americas in the 15th century, Christopher Columbus was blamed for introducing syphilis to Old World
Curable in the present day by antibiotics, syphilis used to be a debilitating and often fatal disease.
Caused by the Treponema pallidum bacteria, syphilis affected the heart, brain, eyes and bones and was the scourge of every major city.
Ever since the first recorded case in Europe took place in 1495 – three years after Christopher Columbus’s first voyage to the New World – doctors have argued over its origins.
Historians who argue that Christopher Columbus couldn’t have been source point out that rudimentary 15th century medical know-how meant that doctors would not have been able to distinguish the disease among others that had similar symptoms, so it could have been around for a long time.
There are also skeletons from Europe that pre-date Columbus’s epic voyage and that show signs of syphilitic lesions.
It’s strong evidence and George Armelagos admits to finding the idea of Christopher Columbus bringing the disease back laughable at first.
But then he began a closer inspection of the 54 published reports putting Columbus in the clear.
George Armelagos found that the skeletal material wasn’t irrefutable proof, by any means.
Writing in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, George Armelagos’ team report: “We did not find a single case of Old World treponemal disease that has both a certain diagnosis and a secure pre-Columbian date.
“We also demonstrate that many of the reports use non-specific indicators to diagnose treponemal disease, do not provide adequate information about the methods used to date specimens, and do not include high-quality photographs of the lesions of interest.”
In the cases where the skeletons definitely were afflicted with syphilis, the researchers noted that they came from coastal areas, which would make radio-carbon dating difficult.
This is because it’s likely the victims ate seafood, which can contain carbon many thousands of years old from water wells.
The team adds: “Solid evidence supporting an Old World origin for the disease remains absent.”
Scientists from John Hopkins University in Baltimore have designed a new, leap-year-free calendar, which makes birthdays, holidays and Christmas to fall on the same day every year.
The new calendar proposed by mathematicians and economists is different from the Gregorian calendar, also known as the Christian calendar, that is used by the western world.
The Gregorian calendar, which is a reform of the old Julian calendar, was first introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582.
In the leap-year-free calendar, each year would be 364 days long, and every 5 or 6 years there would be a week-long “mini-month” to keep the calendar in tune with the solar cycle, instead of using leap years.
The sheer predictability would save the economy billions – and could save money for individuals, too, as interest calculations couldn’t be “rounded up” by lenders.
Unlike previous ideas for “calendar reform”, this one does keep the seven-day working week intact.
Under the Hanke-Henry Permanent Calendar, if Christmas fell on a Sunday in 2012 it would also fall on a Sunday in 2013, 2014 and beyond.
In addition, under the new calendar September would have 31 days as would March, June and December. All the rest would have 30.
Dr. Richard Henry said: “Our plan offers a stable calendar that is absolutely identical from year to year and which allows the permanent, rational planning of annual activities, from school to work holidays.”
“Think about how much time and effort are expended each year in redesigning the calendar of every single organization in the world and it becomes obvious our calendar would make life much simpler and would have noteworthy benefits.”
Among the practical advantages would be the convenience afforded by birthdays and holidays falling on the same day of the week every year.
But the economic benefits are even more profound, according to co-researcher Dr. Steve Hanke, an applied economist – including monetary policy.
Dr. Steve Hanke said: “Our calendar would simplify financial calculations and eliminate what we call the <<rip off>> factor.
“Determining how much interest accrues on mortgages, bonds, forward rate agreements, swaps and others, day counts are required.
“Our current calendar is full of anomalies that have led to the establishment of a wide range of conventions that attempt to simplify interest calculations.
“Our proposed permanent calendar has a predictable 91-day quarterly pattern of two months of 30 days and a third month of 31 days, which does away with the need for artificial day count conventions.”
The researchers say their calendar is an improvement on the dozens of rival reform calendars proffered by individuals and institutions over the last century.
Dr. Richard Henry said: “Attempts at reform have failed in the past because all of the major ones have involved breaking the seven-day cycle of the week, which is not acceptable to many people because it violates the Fourth Commandment about keeping the Sabbath Day.
“Our version never breaks that cycle.”
Dr. Richard Henry claims his team’s version is far more convenient, sensible and easier to use than the current Gregorian calendar which has been in place for four centuries – ever since 1582, when Pope Gregory altered a calendar that was instituted in 46 BC by Julius Caesar.
The calendars used around the world:
• The Gregorian calendar serves as the most common international method by which time is organized in the west. It regulates the ceremonial cycle of the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches, although its original purpose was ecclesiastical.
• The Hebrew calendar is the official calendar for Israel and the Jewish faith. The beginning of each month is determined by a new moon (molad). By tradition, days of the week marked from sunset to sunset are designated by number, with only the seventh day, Sabbath, having a specific name. The Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday. Each year consists of twelve or thirteen months, with months consisting of 29 or 30 days.
• The Islamic calendar is entirely lunar and consists of twelve alternating months of 30 and 29 days, with the final 29 day-month extended to 30 days during leap years. Leap years follow a 30 year cycle. The calendar begins on Friday, July 16th, 622 C.E. marking the day of the Prophet Muhammad’s flight from Mecca to Medina, with sunset on the preceding day reckoned as the first day of the first month of year 1 – A.H.—’Anno Hegiræ’—the Arabic word for ‘separate’.
• The Chinese calendar is lunisolar and so based on calculations of the positions of the sun and moon. Months of 29 or 30 days begin on days of astronomical new moons, with an extra month added every two or three years. Although the Gregorian calendar is used in the Peoples’ Republic of China, for administrative purposes, the traditional one is used for setting festival dates and timing agricultural activities in the countryside.
• The modern Persian calendar was adopted in 1925, taking over a traditional calendar dating from the eleventh century. The calendar consists of 12 months, the first six of which are 31 days, the next five 30 days, and the final month 29 days in a normal year and 30 days in a leap year. Each year begins on the day in which the March equinox occurs. Days begin at midnight in the standard time zone.
A sea creature that lights up when touched – was one of several rare and elusive species captured by Scottish marine surveys this year.
The phosphorescent sea creature or “sea pen” – so called because it looks like a writer’s quill – is a colony of polyps that anchors itself to the sea bed in the North Sea.
Other finds included the “prehistoric faceless and brainless fish” Amphioxus – a modern representative of the first animals that evolved a backbone half a billion years ago.
The elusive, rarely seen Amphioxus was found in the waters off Tankerness in Orkney by marine surveyors this year. Instead of a brain – or face – the fish has a nerve cord running down its back.
One species of Amphioxus recently had its genome sequenced in an attempt to understand the origins of vertebrate life.
The sea creature or “sea pen” - so called because it looks like a writer's quill - is a colony of polyps that anchors itself to the sea bed in the North Sea
Vertebrate life and amphioxus are thought to have descended from a single common ancestor around 550 million years ago.
The species was unearthed in series of 15 marine surveys in 2011, covering over 2,000 square miles using acoustic multi-beam scanners and hi-def cameras.
Dozens of rare, strange species were found in Scottish waters.
The largest Horse Mussel bed in Scotland was revealed in waters near Noss Head, Caithness.
Known as “Clabbydhhu” in Gaelic (translates as “enormous black mouth”) these slow-growing mollusks can live to nearly 50 years old.
Off the west coast, very rare Fan Mussels were found – at up to 48 cm long, this is Scotland’s largest sea shell.
Around the Small Isles more than 100 specimens were discovered, the largest aggregation in UK waters.
With golden threads likened to human hair so fine they can attach to a single grain of sand, seamen once believed they fed on drowned sailors.
Other finds included Flame Shell beds in Loch Linnhe, Argyll, a cryptic species only found in a very few west coast locations with bright orange feeding tentacles.
The survey this year benefited from the use of the latest technology, with acoustic multi-beam scanners used to create 3D images of the seabed.
As a result, first-ever marine maps of many new areas was possible, including waters around Rockall, to the west of the Outer Hebrides, around the Isle of Canna and within Sinclair Bay in Caithness.
Patrick Lott, an assistant middle school principal and Catholic high school volunteer, was accused of secretly filming teenage boys as they showered at school.
Patrick Lott, 54, of Somerville, New Jersey was arrested after videos of nude teenagers were allegedly found in his home.
Somerset County police raided Patrick Lott’s house earlier this month and seized computer files and digital recordings, reports New Jersey’s The Star-Ledger.
Detectives also discovered several videos, spanning over a period of nearly three years, of nude teenagers showering in the Immaculata High School boys’ communal shower area, according to authorities.
Patrick Lott, an assistant middle school principal and Catholic high school volunteer, was accused of secretly filming teenage boys as they showered at school
Nine of the teenagers identified in the videos, which date back to January 2008, are currently under the age of 16.
Detectives also found the area where a camera had been installed for video recording, reports the Ledger.
Patrick Lott has been the assistant principal at Bernardsville Middle School since 2009 and was working as a volunteer at Immaculata, a Catholic School.
Jack Bennett, spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, declined to say what work Patrick Lott did with Immaculata, reports the Ledger.
Patrick Lott was also active in local politics and ran for a Somerset County freeholder seat around 20 years ago.
The Republican’s most recent run for public office was in 2009, when he failed in a bid for a Somerville council seat.
As a high school wrestling coach for over a decade, Patrick Lott won the Courier News’ Boys Basketball Coach of the Year in 1998.
Patrick Lott told the Courier News in 2002: “I enjoyed the interaction with the kids. You become attached to the kids you coach.”
The principal faces charges of child endangerment and invasion of privacy.
Patrick Lott is remanded at Somerset County Jail with bail set at $500,000, reports the Ledger.
The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is urged to contact the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit at (908) 575-3300,Somerset County Crime Stoppers Tip Line at 1-888-577-8477, or online at www.somersetcountycrimestoppers.org.
North Korea has hailed Kim Jong-Un as “supreme leader of the party, state and army” after his father’s funeral.
Kim Jong-Un took centre stage at a memorial service in Pyongyang’s main square a day after his father’s funeral.
Kim Yong-Nam, formally the number two leader, told a million-strong crowd their sorrow would be turned into strength “1,000 times greater under the leadership of comrade Kim Jong-Un”.
State TV showed Kim Jong-Un surrounded by top government and army officials.
The memorial event appeared to be the Kim dynasty’s unofficial handover of power.
A three-minute silence was also held, after which trains and ships throughout the country sounded their horns.
North Korea has hailed Kim Jong-Un as "supreme leader of the party, state and army" after his father’s funeral
Kim Jong-Il died of a heart attack on 17 December, aged 69, state media said. He had ruled North Korea since the death of his father Kim Il-Sung in 1994.
“Respected Comrade Kim Jong-Un is our party, military and country’s supreme leader who inherits great comrade Kim Jong-Il’s ideology, leadership, character, virtues, grit and courage,” Kim Yong-Nam told the massive crowd gathered in Kim Il-Sung square.
“The fact that he completely resolved the succession matter is Great Comrade Kim Jong-Il’s most noble achievement.”
A top military official, Kim Jong-Gak, also addressed the crowd.
“Our people’s military will serve comrade Kim Jong-Un at the head of our revolutionary troops and will continue to maintain and complete the Songun accomplishments of great leader Kim Jong-Il,” he said.
Songun refers to the “military-first” policy – channeling funds into the military.
On Wednesday, thousands stood weeping and wailing in the snow as Kim Jong-Il’s funeral cortege passed, images from state television showed.
The ceremonies echoed the displays of pomp and military might that marked the death of Kim Il-sung, in 1994.
Kim Jong-Un – Kim Jong-Il’s third son – cried as he walked alongside the hearse. Tens of thousands of soldiers lined up to bow their heads in homage in the city’s main square.
Kim Jong-Un – who is thought to be in his late 20s and who has little political experience – was accompanied by his uncle, Chang Song-Taek.
Chang Song-Taek is expected to be a key player as the younger Kim Jong-Un consolidates power.
Kim Jong-Il – known in North Korea as the “Dear Leader” – was in the process of formalizing Kim Jong-Un as his successor when he died.
However, the transition was not complete, leaving regional neighbors fearful of a power struggle in the nuclear-armed pariah state.
Kim Jong-Il’s two older sons, Kim Jong-Nam and Kim Jong-Chol, were not seen at the funeral.
No foreign delegations have attended any of the events. However, UN offices around the world lowered their flags to half-mast.
A spokesman at the UN headquarters in New York said that the move had been requested by Pyongyang’s UN mission but was part of normal protocol for the funeral of any head of state.
Katy Perry and Russell Brand marriage was called into question when they decided to spend Christmas 7,000 miles apart.
According to some reports, it has been suggested the couple’s separation over the festive period was because of a huge argument.
Us Weekly reports that a source close to the couple said: “They had a massive fight. She was like, <<F*** you. I’m going to do my own thing.>>”
The source also said that Russell Brand replied: “Fine, f*** you too.”
“They haven’t split up just yet, but things are not good. The fighting is getting worse.”
Katy Perry and Russell Brand marriage was called into question when they decided to spend Christmas 7,000 miles apart
Katy Perry, 27, was seen lapping up the fine weather in Hawaii with a group of friends while comedian Russell Brand was seen in a pub in Cornwall, England.
The couple were said to have planned Christmas together with reports Katy Perry was going to jet her family in a private plane over to the UK to celebrate together.
But while they are said to have had a big row, which saw then spend Christmas apart, there is little explanation of the nature of the “disagreement”.
Katy Perry and Russell Brand, who married in October last year after a whirlwind romance, have gone out of their way lately to quash speculation that their marriage is on shaky ground.
That good work however may be undone by the fact Katy Perry wasn’t wearing her wedding ring as she frolicked in the sea with friends.
Katy Perry has previously used Twitter to dismiss marriage rumors. She tweeted: “Just cause we don’t flaunt our relationship doesn’t mean there’s something wrong w/it. Privacy is our luxury.”
Russell Brand reportedly spent his Christmas in a Cornwall pub before joining his friend David Baddiel’s charity swim.
In November, Russell Brand’s mother Barbara had tweeted she was looking forward to spending the festive season with her son and daughter-in-law.
Barbara Brand wrote on Twitter: “Spoke to Russell and Katy, they are so happy, it’s lovely. We will all be together for Christmas.”
Apparently, Russell Brand had also arranged for his mother and father in law, Keith and Mary Hudson, to fly into the UK on December 18th so they could all spend the holidays together.
Both The Sun and People magazine reported that Russell Brand and Katy Perry have rented properties in the respective beauty spots for the festivities.
And while People quotes a source that places Russell Brand in Kauai, it points out that he was never pictured on the beach with his wife.
The British actor was also spotted at Winter Wonderland in London’s Hyde Park last Tuesday without his wife.
Russell Brand addressed the recent speculation that his one-year marriage has hit a rough patch on The Ellen DeGeneres Show earlier this month.
When told about the frenzied split speculation, Russell Brand jokingly replied: “What?! She should have told me!”
And added: “I’ve treated the whole internet now as a wicked little liar. I am really happily married.
“Being famous is like a little bit of you is taken away and goes off and lives on its own and does what it wants.
“I wish it would do more interesting things.
“I don’t know what is doing, but I’m married to Katy.
“Perpetually, until death do us part was the pledge. I’m still alive.”
When asked about starting a family, Russell Brand said he would like to have children with Katy Perry.
“I would like one. I love those little babies in the beginning,” he said.
Until then, the couple are content with being godparents to twin boys.
“I’m just observing them like I’m a scientist,” Russell Brand said of his godchildren.
“So I can learn from them. Me and Katy are their godparents, which means we’re responsible for their spiritual growth. Should be interesting…”
As his estranged wife filed for divorce just last month, Ashton Kutcher did not celebrate the holidays with Demi Moore, but he did spend the festive period with her lookalike Lorene Scafaria.
Ashton Kutcher enjoyed Christmas in Italy with 33-year-old screenwriter Lorene Scafaria, who looks remarkably like Demi Moore.
The actor posted a snap of himself and Lorene Scafaria to his Twitter page.
He posted the photo, which also included friend Matthew Mazzant with the caption: “Roman holiday with homies. @mazzant @LoreneScafaria Have an amazing new year!!!”
While it appears the group are just friends there have been reports that Ashton Kutcher has been romantically involved with Lorene Scafaria since February, according to Us Weekly.
They met while Ashton Kutcher tried out for a film she wrote and a source has told the magazine: “Ashton started seeing her while each was in a relationship.”
Ashton Kutcher, 33, and Lorene Scafaria were seen together on Christmas Eve taking a trip to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and are said to have enjoyed a romantic dinner for two later that evening.
Ashton Kutcher posted a snap of himself, Lorene Scafaria and his friend Matthew Mazzant to his Twitter page
Alex Thorpe told Us Weekly: “They shared spaghetti and he paid.”
While Demi Moore filed for divorce from Ashton Kutcher last month, Lorene Scafaria recently split from The OC actor Adam Brody.
Shortly before his Italian jaunt, Ashton Kutcher was seen enjoying a night out in Berlin, where he spent a night with three women.
He was in Berlin for work – he is said to be researching a new tech platform – but clearly found time to mix business with pleasure.
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher’s relationship broke down after claims emerged that the actor had cheated on his wife with 22-year-old Sara Leal, on the weekend of their 6th wedding anniversary.
On November 17, Demi Moore, 49, announced that she was filing for divorce from Ashton Kutcher after six years of marriage.
Demi Moore has recently treated herself to three Chihuahua puppies in order to take her mind off of her divorce from Ashton Kutcher.
Demi Moore’s daughter Rumer Willis tweeted a snap of one of the puppies just before Christmas and the canines have been part of the family for a couple of weeks.
The Russian Soyuz rocket system has been pressed back into service, five days after a failed launch.
The vehicle successfully put six spacecraft in orbit for US satellite phone and data company, Globalstar.
The Soyuz lifted away from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 17:09 GMT, ejecting the last of the six Globalstar platforms an hour and 40 minutes later.
Last Friday, a Soyuz malfunctioned soon after launching from the Plesetsk spaceport in northern Russia.
Parts were reported to have crashed back down into the Novosibirsk region of central Siberia.
Last week’s Soyuz was a type 2.1b, compared with the 2.1a version used for the Globalstar mission.
The two variants share many design features but use different engines in their third segment, or stage – the part of the Soyuz said to have been responsible for the failure five days ago.
The Russian Soyuz rocket system has been pressed back into service, five days after a failed launch
Wednesday’s successful outing will come as a huge relief for Globalstar.
The company is the first of the major sat-phone concerns to start upgrading its systems. The six latest satellites follow 12 others launched in July this year and October last year.
The upgrade is a pressing concern for the company because its existing constellation is failing.
Rolled out in the late 1990s, many of these original satellites have suffered suspected radiation damage to their S-band transmitter equipment, which has limited their ability to handle two-way communications.
Globalstar is pinning its future on its second-generation constellation. It plans to put in orbit at least another six satellites to boost service reach and quality.
Following Wednesday’s flight, Tony Navarra, Globalstar’s president of global operations, was quick to thank the Soyuz team and Arianespace, the French company that markets commercial Soyuz launches through its Starsem subsidiary.
“These satellites were flawlessly placed exactly where we needed them so that our ground stations could find them on the very first pass,” he said.
“It’s amazing that we can find six satellites within 30 minutes of them being placed into space.”
Investigations continue into the cause of last Friday’s launch malfunction, which resulted in the loss of a Russian Meridian telecommunications satellite.
It was the latest in a recent run of flight failures for the national rocket industry.
In August, a Soyuz failure on an unmanned mission to resupply the space station led to a six-week suspension of flights.
On 18 August, the week before the loss of the space station mission, a Proton rocket failed to put a communications satellite in its proper orbit.
Back on 1 February, a Rokot launcher also underperformed with a similar outcome.
And on 5 December last year, a Proton carrying three navigation spacecraft fell into the Pacific Ocean. This particular failure is widely believed to have contributed to the decision of the Russian government to replace the then space agency chief, Anatoly Perminov.
Vladimir Popovkin took over as the head of Roscosmos in April.
The rocket failures come on top of the loss of Phobos-Grunt, Russia’s most ambitious planetary mission in decades. It became stuck in Earth orbit after its launch in November and will probably fall back to Earth next month.
Sinead O’Connor announced on Boxing Day that her fourth marriage to youth counselor Barry Herridge had ended after just 16 days.
Sinead O’Connor, 45, revealed on her website that the marriage was in trouble just three hours after the Las Vegas ceremony, when people close to Barry Herridge, 38, tried to “kybosh” it.
Despite the brevity of the union, it could take years for the marriage to be legally dissolved, with Irish law requiring a four-year separation.
Sinéad O’Connor posted a statement on her personal website stating that she had decided to end the marriage on Christmas Eve after just seven days of domesticity.
The Irish singer wrote: “There was intense pressure placed upon him by certain people in his life, not to be involved with me. These were people who had never met me but had formed opinions of me based on what they read about <<Sinéad O’Connor>> in the media, etc.”
Sinead O’Connor announced on Boxing Day that her fourth marriage to youth counselor Barry Herridge had ended after just 16 days
Sinead O’Connor admitted that her husband had also been very upset by a “wild ride” they took to try and buy mar**uana on their wedding night, as she doesn’t drink alcohol.
“My husband was enormously wounded and very badly affected by that experience and also by the attitude of those close to him toward our marriage,” the singer said.
Sinead O’Connor’s and Barry Herridge flew out to Las Vegas on her 45th birthday and married that day.
The Little White Wedding chapel confirmed that the marriage certificate the couple signed was a legally binding contract.
According to a staff member, both Sinead O’Connor and Barry Herridge were made aware of the implications of the ceremony before they tied the knot. And a spokeswoman from the Las Vegas church confirmed that the couple would have to take legal action to dissolve the wedding.
The spokeswoman said: “All of our ceremonies are legally binding. Occasionally, we do get couples who renew their vows. But they are the only two types of service that we do. We can’t comment on any individual weddings but all the processes are legally binding. They are made aware of that when they decide to marry with us.”
Marianna Fritz, a consultant with Irish Divorce Services, said the couple would be forced to wait at least four years before applying to terminate the marital contract.
“It doesn’t matter whether you get married in Las Vegas, Australia or Ireland – the procedure is the same,” said Marianna Fritz.
“First, they must be separated for four years and only then can they apply to have the marriage dissolved and, at that point, it is relatively straightforward.”
Alternatively, Sinead O’Connor and Barry Herridge could apply to have the marriage annulled – that is, to have it declared legally void, as if it had never happened. But according to Marianna Fritz this is an extremely difficult and costly procedure.
“They are entitled to apply, but with an annulment, you must use solicitors which is an extremely costly avenue. It is also very difficult, as there are only three, maybe four conditions that a court will accept. If either party is intoxicated or under the influence of any substances. Or if they can prove that they aren’t in a sane state of mind. Or if one of the parties is homosexual.
“Basically, once the couple have consummated the marriage it is not easy to have it annulled,” she said.
An online privacy group says that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) makes fake Twitter and Facebook profiles for the specific purpose of scanning the networks for “sensitive” words – and tracking people who use them.
According to the privacy group, simply using a word or phrase from the DHS’s “watch” list could mean that spies from the government read your posts, investigate your account, and attempt to identify you from it.
The words which attract attention range from ones seemingly related to diseases or bioweapons such as “human to animal” and “outbreak” to other, more obscure words such as “drill” and “strain”.
The DHS also watches for words such as “illegal immigrant”.
The DHS outlined plans to scans blogs, Twitter and Facebook for words such as “illegal immigrant”, “outbreak”, “drill”, “strain”, “virus”, “recovery”, “deaths”, “collapse”, “human to animal” and “trojan”, according to an “impact assessment” document filed by the agency.
When its search tools net an account using the phrases, they record personal information.
It’s still not clear how this information is used – and who the DHS shares it with.
The online privacy group, the Electronic Privacy Information Centre has requested information on the DHS’s scans, which it says the agency announced in February.
The privacy group has requested information on the DHS, and contractors it claims are working with the agency to scan social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
The group also says that the government has used scans of social media before to analyze specific events – such as the 2010 BP oil spill – but this general “watching” of social media using fake profiles is new.
“The initiatives were designed to gather information from <<online forums, blogs, public websites, and message boards>>, to store and analyze the information gathered, and then to <<disseminate relevant and appropriate de-identified information to federal, state, local, and foreign governments and private sector partners>>,” the group said in a court filing.
The group claims that a request under the Freedom of Information Act to access the documentation has gone unanswered.
Giuliana Rancic has decided to return to work just two weeks after undergoing a double mastectomy.
Giuliana Rancic, 37, looked radiant as she got back to her hosting duties on E! News last evening.
Before presenting the entertainment news, including stories about Matthew McConaughey engagement to Camilla Alves and Katy Perry and Russell Brand being separated on Christmas Day, Giuliana Rancic expressed her thanks to her many supportive fans.
“It is so good to be back two weeks after my surgery,” Giuliana Rancic said.
“Thank you so much for your love, support and prayers. It means the world to me. Thank you so much.”
Giuliana Rancic has decided to return to work just two weeks after undergoing a double mastectomy
Ahead of her appearance, Giuliana Rancic tweeted her excitement about getting back in front of the camera.
“Back at work today since surgery,” the TV host wrote on the social networking site.
“Excited to be on set of @ENews. I’ve missed my 2nd family (co-workers and you guys!!!) #thankful.”
“Even though I moved a tad slower than usual today, everyone welcomed me back with open arms and it was a wonderful homecoming,” Giuliana Rancic added on the E! website.
Giuliana Rancic revealed that it was touch and go as to whether she would be well enough to go back to work today.
“It feels great to be back at work,” she said.
“I wasn’t sure whether I was going to return to E! News this week or after the new year. The last thing I wanted to do was rush my recovery.
“Thankfully, I’ve been feeling better every single day since surgery and this weekend my doctors gave me the green light to get back to work.”
After the program, Giuliana Rancic also appeared on a special edition of Fashion Police.
Joining Joan Rivers, Kelly Osbourne and George Kotsiopoulos on the couch to critiques this year’s fashion hits and misses, she looked great in a black lace shirt, black miniskirt and matching over-the-knee boots.
Earlier this month, Giuliana Rancic told People magazine that she would also be working on New Year’s Eve in Times Square.
Meanwhile, she recently sent out a heartfelt thank you to her husband Bill Rancic on Twitter.
“Dedicating this #FF to @BillRancic for taking such wonderful care of me this past week!!! Love you baby:)” Giuliana Rancic wrote in the endearing post.
She ended the touching sentiment with the hashtag “#HotMaleNurse”.
Bill Rancic, 40, hasn’t left his wife’s side since she first announced that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in mid-October.
As she underwent a lumpectomy, followed by radiation, Bill Rancic was at Giuliana’s hospital bedside and continued to take care of her when she returned home.
The American entrepreneur has also been nursing his wife back to health after she underwent her recent successful double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.
Giuliana Rancic was released from hospital to recover at home a few days after the procedure.
“I’m feeling good and I’m happy to be back home,” she told E! News at the time.
“It’s been tough, but I’m trying to stay strong and manage the pain.
“I have a new found respect for women who have been through breast cancer and this surgery.”
Giuliana Rancic decided to undergo the four-hour procedure, after learning that she still had breast cancer following her treatment in October.
Before the surgery, Giuliana Rancic admitted that while she was putting on a brave face, she was fearful.
“[I’m scared] just of the unknown,” the TV star told Us Weekly.
“I’ve never been through anything like this. I’m scared of waking up and the pain.
“I do hear it’s a painful recovery, so I worry about that.”
Explaining her choice to undergo the surgery before Christmas, Giuliana Rancic said: “It’s a great time to do it. I’ll be recovering during the holidays.
“It’s kind of quiet, and my family – and of course [my husband] Bill will be with me, so it’s great.”
Giuliana Rancic said her husband has been assuring her every step of the way, and told her he doesn’t care what her breasts look like following the surgery.
“He looked at me and said: <<I want you to know that I could not care less about the physical aspect of this. I need you here to be my wife, and I need you here to be the mother of my children one day>>.”
In an interview with Wendy Williams, Giuliana Rancic said it was important that the couple remain lighthearted about the mastectomy.
“They might come out looking even hotter,” she laughed.
“You gotta have fun with this. We find the humor in everything. Bill helped pick ’em out. I’m like, Bill, that big? Really?”
Bill Rancic said this month that with less then 1% chance of the disease returning following the operation, they “wanted to bring in 2012 [and] not look back”.
“There’s something really symbolic about starting out the new year like this,” Bill Rancic said.
“I always tell Giuliana, once the clock strikes midnight, we’re taking the rear view mirror off the car and we’re not looking back because we’re going to be done.
“No looking over her shoulder, no worries. We can start living life.”
Particles from a recent solar storm will slam today into Earth and produce amazing Northern Lights, or auroras. On the downside, experts expect radio blackouts for a few days, caused by the radiation from the flare – or coronal mass ejection (CME) – causing magnetic storms.
The flare is part of a larger increase in activity in the Sun, which runs in 11-year cycles. It is expected to peak around 2013.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center wrote: “Category G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storms are expected 28 and 29 December due to multiple coronal mass ejection arrivals. R1 (Minor) radio blackouts are expected until 31 December.”
A coronal mass ejection (CME) contains billions of tons of gases bursting with X-rays and ultraviolet radiation that are flung into space at around 5 million mph.
They are mind-bogglingly hot – around 100,000,000 C.
The Earth is occasionally hosed by these ejections, leading to amazing shimmering light shows.
They are caused by the ionized solar particles becoming imprisoned by Earth’s magnetic field, exciting the gases in the atmosphere and emitting bursts of energy in the form of light.
A coronal mass ejection (CME) contains billions of tons of gases bursting with X-rays and ultraviolet radiation that are flung into space at around 5 million mph
However, these particles can also cause magnetic storms, which in extreme cases have been known to disrupt satellites and electricity grids.
In 1989, a CME was held responsible for leaving six million people in Quebec, Canada, without power.
Last month one of the largest storms our star can produce was detected.
Known as an X1.9 flare, it was one of the biggest seen in years.
The flare was so powerful that it disrupted communications systems on earth around 45 minutes later.
Another gigantic flare occurred in August, but because it took place on the side of the Sun not facing Earth, there was no disruption to communications or power.
A little bit of cosmetic dentistry is nothing new among the showbiz stars.The pearlescent, day-glo delights of the average Hollywood smile have been with us for a while.
Yet when did it become de rigueur, even covetable, for celebrity teeth to become so downright huge? So white? Not to mention so uniform and unnatural-looking? We are now in the age of the molar ice cap, where great curves of snow-white plastic teeth are the order of the day.
This year, teeth have become over-bleached, over-laminated, oversized and have taken root over here.
The slavish pursuit of a kind of highly unnatural dental flawlessness is what everyone — from reality wannabe to WAG to movie star — seems to want. That might be a worthwhile dental aim — if the end results weren’t quite so extreme and freakish.
Any charming or natural little dental imperfections are bulldozed out, replaced by a barrage of crowns, caps, veneers — where they are literally laminated with porcelain or plastic covers — bleaches and holy molar bling.
“I’ll tell you what has happened. They asked for a Hollywood smile — but they got a Goodwood smile instead,” says dentist Harry Shiers, suggesting most of this crowd end up looking more like winners in the 3.15 handicap than elegant stars. And he should know.
Harry Shiers has run an eponymous Central London dental clinic for 15 years, where he specializes in aesthetic implant and reconstructive dentistry. Over time, his work has involved reconstructive dental surgery for those suffering from mouth cancer or who have, for example, been in car accidents. With his more day-to-day patients he performs the kind of cosmetic procedures that have indeed become popular with celebrities — but with one big difference.
“Of course, it is good to improve teeth and make them look better — but in a natural, not an unnatural way,” says Harry Shiers.
“My thing is to try to do cosmetic work that does not jump out at you.”
Harry Shiers evaluated Tom Cruise teeth improvement
Many experts like him despair of a new generation of opportunistic dentists who set up flashy websites promising white-out Hollywood smiles to clients — even if the laminating procedure that produces them might not be advisable.
Yet so many people get swallowed up in celebrity culture — whether they are celebrities or not — and convince themselves that they need a particular look, that anyone with the most basic dental training can now find clients willing to pay for a royal flush of veneers.
The problem, some experts believe, is that as cosmetic dentistry becomes more extreme and more people want it done, it will lead to dental problems in the future.
Harry Shiers evaluation on Nicholas Cage teeth changes
For teeth are not designed for dentistry, intensive or otherwise. They are designed so that we can eat. Sometimes, with disease, dentists can do clever things. And sometimes dentists can do things minimally that are quite clever.
However, trying to impose a totally new appearance to teeth without harming them in some way is impossible. If you want to make them bigger or whiter or brighter you have to file some of the tooth away in order to accommodate the veneer you are sticking on.
As Harry Shiers says: “Underneath the hard stuff is living tissue. You can only drill a tooth so many times before you compromise its vitality. Eventually, they start breaking or cracking. You are asking them to do something they are not meant to do. And if you are being invasive, there might well be a price to pay later.”
Marc Jacobs, the famed fashion designer, revealed the dramatic transformation he had made to his body as lost weight and toned up by eating only vegan food and training two hours a day, seven days a week.
Yesterday Marc Jacobs, 48, showed that he’s still keeping in great shape by flaunting his incredibly ripped beach body as he walked along the St. Barts beach with his equally muscular ex-fiance Lorenzo Martone.
Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone each wore tiny swimming shorts, with Marc in a navy pair and Martone in a nautical red, white and blue stripe brief.
They also showed off their tattoos, including Marc Jacobs’ infamous playful M&M and Spongebob Squarepants inkings and Lorenzo Martone’s classic scripture.
After their stroll, the former couple who have appeared to have perhaps rekindled their love, retired to some sun lounges on the sand.
They draped them with matching monogrammed Louis Vuitton towels, neon with one of the label’s signature Stephen Sprouse graffiti design.
Marc Jacobs, 48, showed that he's still keeping in great shape by flaunting his incredibly ripped beach body as he walked along the St. Barts beach with his equally muscular ex-fiance Lorenzo Martone
Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone got a nice surprise when super-stylist Rachel Zoe dropped by to say hello with her gorgeous tot Skylar.
Lorenzo Martone particularly went gaga over the 8-month-old blue-eyed baby boy, who looked cute in a white all in one.
Rachel Zoe, 40,as always looked chic in brown and white printed maxi-dress which she paired with a black wide-brimmed hat.
She later soaked up some sun with the famous designer by laying down next to Marc on another lounge.
Later Marc Jacobs covered up in a pair of cool board-shorts, presumably from his own line, and a black singlet.
Lorenzo Martone playfully held up his arms as the pair indulged in some silly dance moves.
The pair’s appearance on the French island might be a sign that they are getting back together after splitting last year.
The engaged couple called it quits with Lorenzo Martone announcing the news via Twitter in July 2010.
“thanks for t notes. yes, I saw t press today,” Lorenzo Martone wrote.
“We are not together, haven’t been in 2 months. And we will not comment on it. Sorry. We r fine.”
Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone got engaged at the beginning of March 2009.
Marc Jacobs attributed his incredible body transformation to an organic diet and grueling fitness regime.
In 2007, Marc Jacobs told NY Daily News: “I’m eating a totally organic diet, which has no flour, no sugar, no dairy and no caffeine, and I lost weight because of that diet and because of a two-hour exercise regimen seven days a week.”
The designer told the publication that he was aware that people would jump to conclusions about how he lost weight, especially in the fashion world.
“You’re going to get a bunch of blogs saying: <<He must be on meth in order to be that skinny compared to 10 months ago>>.”
North Korea has started the two-day funeral services for late leader Kim Jong-Il with a huge procession in the capital, Pyongyang.
Television footages showed tens of thousands of soldiers with their heads bowed as a giant portrait of Kim Jong-Il was carried slowly through the streets.
Kim Jong-Il’ successor and third son, Kim Jong-Un, walked beside the hearse, images from state television showed.
Kim Jong-Il died of a heart attack on 17 December, aged 69, state media said.
He has been lying in state for the past 10 days.
No schedule was released ahead of the commemorations and no foreign delegations are attending.
Observers said the ceremonies echoed the displays of pomp and military might that marked the death of Kim Jong-Il’s father, Kim Il-Sung, in 1994.
Kim Jong-Un – who is thought to be in his late 20’s and who has little political experience – was shown weeping beside the hearse as it drove through the snowy capital.
He was accompanied by his uncle, Chang Song-Taek, who is expected to be a key player as the younger Kim consolidates power.
Ri Yong-Ho, the army chief, also accompanied the hearse as it drove past ranks of troops.
North Korea has started the two-day funeral services for late leader Kim Jong-Il with a huge procession in the capital, Pyongyang
The three-hour funeral procession was led by a limousine bearing a huge portrait of a smiling Kim Jong-Il. The coffin was draped in a red flag and surrounded by white flowers.
As it passed by, crowds of mourners wailed and flailed their arms as soldiers struggled to keep them from spilling into the road.
One soldier interviewed by North Korean state television said: “The snow is endlessly falling like tears. How could the sky not cry when we’ve lost our general who was a great man from the sky? As we’re separated from the general by death, people, mountains and sky are all shedding tears of blood. Dear Supreme Commander!”
The procession was broadcast live on state television. When it ended outside Pyongyang’s Kumsusan Memorial Palace, state TV began broadcasting documentaries about Kim Jong-Il’s life.
Kim Jong-Il’s body had previously lain in state in a glass coffin at the palace.
Observers are keenly watching the line-up over the two-day funeral to see which officials are in prominent positions.
Kim Jong-Il – known in North Korea as the “Dear Leader” – was in the process of formalizing Kim Jong-Un as his successor when he died. However, the transition was not complete, leaving regional neighbors fearful of a power struggle in the nuclear-armed pariah state.
North Korea’s reluctance to open up the funeral ceremony to foreign delegations may signal that those hierarchies have not yet been fully agreed.
In the week since Kim Jong-Il died, state media has called Kim Jong-Un the “Great Successor” and referred to him as the leader of the military and the party.
Commemorations are expected to continue on Thursday, with a three-minute silence at noon local time (03:00 GMT), followed by trains and ships sounding horns. The national memorial service will then begin.
The inter-Korean Kaesong industrial park has been closed for two days for the mourning following a North Korean request, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reports.
Michael Plumadore, the suspected killer of 9-year-old Aliahna Lemmon from Fort Wayne, Indiana, posted her picture on Facebook one month before he allegedly bashed her in the head with a brick, hacked her to pieces with a handsaw and kept her head in his freezer.
Suspect Michael Plumadore posted a photo of Aliahna Lemmon standing alongside her sisters – once he was able to take because he had gained the trust of the family after befriending her grandfather James Lemmon.
James Lemmon and Michael Plumadore knew each because they were both sex offenders and were in jail together.
On his Facebook page, Michael Plumadore has several chilling pictures of the disabled girl who captured national attention when she went missing from a trailer park in Fort Wayne Thursday night.
The girl and her two sisters were staying with Michael Plumadore, 39, at his trailer while her mother recovered from the flu.
Richard Patee, 58, whose trailer is next to where Michael Plumadore was living, said he didn’t think it was odd that Aliahna Lemmon’s mother, Tarah Souders, had him watching the girls for an extended period.
“They had known each other for somewhere of three to four years, I know that, and he took care of their grandfather,” Richard Patee said.
“I didn’t see any reason to question it at all.”
Tarah Souders and Aliahna Lemmon were listed among nearly 600 friends on a Facebook page listed under Michael Plumadore’s name that said he was “Self Employed and Loving It!”, and enjoyed fantasy novels.
Michael Plumadore, the suspected killer of 9-year-old Aliahna Lemmon, posted her picture on Facebook one month before he murdered her
The day after Christmas, Michael Plumadore calmly admitted to detectives that he had committed an unimaginably horrific crime: brutally killing young Aliahna Lemmon and then dismembering her body so he could dispose of it.
Michael Plumadore led detectives to a dumpster at a nearby business where they found pieces of her torso, arms and legs that had been cut up with a hack saw and stuffed into garbage bags.
In his freezer, an even more grizzly find – little Aliahna Lemmon’s head, hands and feet.
Michael Plumadore’s Facebook photos reveal that he spent time with the girls at a riverside park in Fort Wayne and was at their home, as well.
One especially horrifying picture was of the three girls leaning against a railing labeled simply “Three Princesses”, which was uploaded in late November.
All of the pictures were in an online album called “The kids”.
Sheriff Ken Fries said detectives have a good idea why he killed Aliahna, but the lawman would not discuss Michael Plumadore’s motive.
Michael Plumadore cracked during his third interview with police. Detectives had spoken with him twice before and he had given no indication that he was responsible for Aliahna Lemmon’s disappearance, sheriff Ken Fries said.
The bogus story he first gave to detectives was that he had seen the girl sleeping in his chair at 6:00 a.m. Thursday when he got up to buy a cigar at a nearby convenience store.
He was awakened realized she was gone when Aliahna Lemmon’s mother called him at 10:00 a.m., he claimed. He told police he thought that she had left with her mother so she wasn’t reported missing until almost 9:00 p.m. Thursday.
Sheriff Ken Fries said he and his detectives didn’t believe his story but they had nothing but his word to go on.
Until Monday, the day after Christmas, detectives “finally hit the right chords” and Michael Plumadore came clean.
He said used a brick to beat Aliahna Lemmon in the back of the head multiple times as she stood on the steps outside his trailer. He then wrapped her body in several garbage bags and put it her in his freezer, according to court documents.
Despite the confession, the little girl’s grandmother, Amber Story, stood by Michael Plumadore.
“I don’t care what anybody says. Mike did nothing to her. He loves those girls,” Amber Story told the News-Sentinel.
On Monday, FBI agents descended on the rundown mobile home park in Fort Wayne where Aliahna Lemmon lived.
The park is a known haven for registered sex offenders, though Michael Plumadore isn’t on Indiana’s registered sex offenders list. He has a criminal record in Florida and North Carolina that includes convictions for trespassing and assault.
More than 100 emergency workers searched Saturday for Aliahna Lemmon around the mobile home park, where she was last seen.
Sheriff’s deputies, police officers and firefighters fanned out in the area around the trailer park where she disappeared, searching on ATVs and on foot. An airplane circled the area.
But Sheriff Ken Fries called off the hunt for Sunday, Christmas Day, and ordered only limited searches of area ponds on Monday.
He didn’t see any good in using the manpower to lead further widespread hunts for the girl, who was feared dead as federal authorities took over.
Aliahna Lemmon’s mother, Tarah Souders, 28, told The Journal Gazette earlier on Monday that her daughter had vision and hearing problems and suffered from attention deficit disorder and emotional problems. She also has a history of sleepwalking, family members said.
Nuratrim, a new weight loss pill that could burn 380 calories-a-day – 15 times more than normal – according to its maker, goes on sale in UK.
Advanced orders have topped 50,000 as Nuratrim reaches the UK today and it sold out within hours when it launched across the U.S. in October.
Mariah Carey, Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Aniston are reported have used Nuratrim, which contains extracts of liquorice and green coffee to speed up digestion.
Nuratrim’s German creator Dr. Alfred Hasslebacher said: “It has been devised to assist all men and women looking to lose excess weight and control their appetite.
“This optimum formula has been clinically proven to increase energy levels, suppress appetite, and burn fat.”
Mariah Carey, Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Aniston are reported have used Nuratrim, which contains extracts of liquorice and green coffee to speed up digestion
Nuratrim costs £34.95 ($55) for 30 pills and is designed to be taken daily with breakfast.
Over the Christmas period the average people will have had two or three dinner servings, containing 2,300 calories.
With many consuming more than the recommended daily intake it can take three months to shift extra weight gained, according to a study by MSN.
According to product’s makers report, Nuratrim can burn as many calories as a 40 minute run, and the natural ingredient Glucomannan, absorbs water which swells the stomach to keep hunger at bay.
Dr. Alfred Hasslebacher added: “Our extensive research showed how hard it is to achieve your ideal weight and size when the daily demands and pressures of your lifestyle impede on your good intentions.
“Nuratrim is an unique blend of pure ingredients that have thermogenic properties which naturally stimulate the body’s metabolism by mimicking the effects of physical activity.”
Research involving 65 patients of average weight, found Nuratrim increased metabolic rate by 35%, reduced appetite by 78% and burned an additional 20% of fat.
Over an 8 week period 90% of those involved lost a minimum of 14 lbs (7 kg) without changing their diet or lifestyle.
Dieters can trim two inches from their waistlines in only eight weeks by increasing the proportion of protein they eat and cutting back on carbohydrates and fat, a new research found.
An independent study was carried out by scientists for Marks & Spencer to investigate the claims of its Simply Fuller Longer range of ready meals and snacks.
In the trial, the group of men and women followed a menu planner that combined healthy, high-protein breakfast options with items from the range. Over a four-week period, 45 volunteers, who were restricted to 1,000 calories a day, lost on average 10 lb 7oz (4.7 kg).
But an extended study carried out over eight weeks found that 12 of the overweight participants lost on average 14 lb 5oz (6.5kg) on the diet.
The participants’ waistlines shrank on average by two inches to 37 in (94cm), their average body fat fell from 36.8% to 34%, and cholesterol levels dropped by as much as an eighth.
The menus feature snacks and ready meals including Asian-style Lochmuir salmon salad and chargrilled chicken and tomato risotto, with high levels of protein provided by fish and lean meat. Nutritionists say that a diet containing a high proportion of healthy protein-rich foods can aid weight loss because they create a feeling of fullness faster than those containing carbohydrates or fat.
The menus feature snacks and ready meals with high levels of protein provided by fish and lean meat
Popular diets of recent times which adapt the principle have included the Atkins Diet and the Dukan Diet.
The study – ran by scientists at the Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health at Aberdeen University – found that the volunteers felt less hungry despite cutting their calorie intake by 40%.
Senior research fellow Dr. Alex Johnstone recommends sticking to the protein-rich diet only as long as it takes to achieve the desired weight loss, then trying to maintain it through exercise.
Thousands of people have rallied this evening in the Israeli town of Beit Shemesh against ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremism.
Today protest follows two days of clashes after an 8-year-old girl said she had been harassed on her way to school.
Some ultra-Orthodox in Beit Shemesh are seeking to segregate men and women.
President Shimon Peres backed the protest saying hours before the rally: “The entire nation must be recruited in order to save the majority from the hands of a small minority.”
Shimon Peres said the demonstration was a defense of the “character” of the state of Israel “against a minority which breaks our national solidarity”.
Opposition leader Tzipi Livni also condemned “the extremist elements that are rearing their heads and are trying to impose their world view on us”.
Protesters, some holding signs reading “Free Israel from religious coercion” and “Stop Israel from becoming Iran”, gathered on Tuesday evening.
Thousands of people have rallied this evening in the Israeli town of Beit Shemesh against ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremism
Anger spilled over after an 8-year-old American girl, Naama Margolese, said she was afraid to walk to school in the town because ultra-Orthodox men shouted at her.
“When I walk to school in the morning, I used to get a tummy ache because I was so scared… that they were going to stand and start yelling and spitting,” Naama Margolese said in a subsequent interview with The Associated Press on Monday.
In his statement, President Shimon Peres said: “No person has the right to threaten a girl, a woman or any person in any way. They are not the lords of this land.”
Other women have reported similar incidents in the town of 100,000, some 18 miles (30km) south-west of Jerusalem.
Sarit Ramon described the situation in the town, where religiously observant immigrants live alongside Israelis embracing a more modern lifestyle, as having been “catastrophic for years”.
“When I told that I was spat at a year and a half ago, people raised an eyebrow, and that was about it,” she told Reuters.
Alisa Coleman told the BBC that she had been called a prostitute when dressed in a short-sleeved T-shirt and a skirt.
Though underlining that this behavior was carried out by only a tiny proportion of the community, she said what was happening in Beit Shemesh was “a microcosm of what’s happening in the whole country”.
On Monday, one police officer was slightly hurt and a number of Orthodox Jews were detained after a group of some 300 ultra-Orthodox residents pelted police with stones and eggs in an incident reportedly triggered after police tried to remove a sign ordering segregation.
A television crew attempting to film in the town were surrounded and harassed – the second alleged attack on journalists in as many days.
On Sunday, a crew from Channel 2 news, which originally aired Naama Margolese’s story, was attacked as they were filming, say reports, with rocks allegedly thrown at their van.
After Monday’s clashes, unnamed ultra-Orthodox activists from Beit Shemesh issued a statement condemning the violence, but also accusing the media of initiating “deliberate provocations in order to make the peaceful, quiet and tolerant residents, who live their lives according to their beliefs, look bad”.
Such clashes have become more frequent in Israel in recent years as the authorities have challenged efforts by ultra-Orthodox Jews to segregate women in public places.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up 10% of the population in Israel. The community has a high birth rate and is growing rapidly.
Noah Kravitz’s former employer, Phonedog, want him to hand back his Twitter following when he left the company.
The landmark case opens up legal questions over who “owns” followers on a corporate Twitter account – and whether followers are a commodity that can actually be owned.
Noah Kravitz, who tweets under his own name, had been employed by Phonedog as a blogger and had 17,000 followers.
Phonedog – a cell phone retailer – is now suing Noah Kravitz for taking his Twitter followers with him – alleging that each follower is worth $2.50 a month, as his follower list was equivalent to a list of customers, and is their property.
“The idea that all 17,000 people who follow Kravitz were doing do because of PhoneDog is disingenuous at best,” The Atlantic magazine reported, in a comment retweeted by Noah Kravitz yesterday.
Noah Kravitz’s account – which now has 22,000 followers, Tweets on subjects as diverse as Steely Dan, Android phones, liquorice and flu bugs.
Noah Kravitz told the New York Times that he had agreed to retain control of the Twitter account, providing that he, “tweet on their behalf from time to time”.
“I said sure, as we were parting on good terms,” said Noah Kravitz.
Eight months after Noah Kravitz left, Phonedog sought damages.
Phonedog said in a statement: “The costs and resources invested by Phonedog Media into growing its followers, fans and general brand awareness through social media are substantial and are considered property of Phonedog Media.”
The company vowed to “aggressively protect” its property.
