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Thursday, April 3, 2025
Home Blog Page 1194

Kenya: British man killed and wife kidnapped during attack at a beach resort.

British couple, David and Judith Tebbutt attacked by pirates in Kenya. UPDATES.

 

A British man was murdered and his wife is presumed kidnapped during an attack at the beach resort where they were on holiday in Kenya.

The British couple, who have not been named, were staying at the Kenyan resort Kiwayu Safari Village close to the border with Somalia when gunmen burst into their beach hut late in the night on Saturday.

The British couple was attacked at the Kenyan resort Kiwayu Safari Village close to the border with Somalia
The British couple was attacked at the Kenyan resort Kiwayu Safari Village close to the border with Somalia

The man is believed to have been deadly shot after trying to resist the attackers, who ordered the couple to hand over their valuables.

The woman was dragged to the speedboat on which the gunmen had arrived and has not been seen since.

The British government has called for the release of the kidnapped woman.

Officials in Kenya say the couple were attacked on the first night of their stay at the resort, which consists of 18 luxury cottages spread along a private beach.

The Kenyan refused to speculate on who the attackers might be, but officers feared the raid may have been carried out by members of the Somali Islamist insurgent group al-Shabaab rather than pirates, according to the Guardian.

Nairobi government has sent anti-terror and special crimes officers to the area as part of an enormous search and rescue mission, but, according to Ndegwa Muhoro, director of the country’s criminal investigation department, no sign had been received from the woman’s abductors so far.

“We believe it is a kidnap but we are yet to receive any communication from the alleged kidnappers, over 11 hours after they took her with them,” Ndegwa Muhoro said.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) spokesman said:

“We can confirm that two British citizens were attacked overnight at a beach resort north of Lamu, near the Kenya-Somalia border.

“One was killed and another kidnapped. We are working closely with the Kenyan authorities to establish further details.”

FCO did not release the names of the couple for fear of further endangering the woman, but said it is doing all it can to effect her release.

“We have deployed a consular team from our high commission in Nairobi and are offering all possible support to the family of those involved,” FCO spokesman said.

“Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.

“We are working to secure the safe and swift release of the British national who has been kidnapped and ask those involved to show compassion and release the individual immediately.”

FCO also repeated its warning against venturing within 18 miles (30km) of the Kenya-Somalia border, reminding travellers that there had been earlier attacks in Kenya carried out by Somali militia.

Two nuns from Western Europe were kidnapped in November 2008 and three aid workers were abducted in July 2009.

Accordind to Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere said the couple had come from a trip to the Masai Mara reserve and were the resort’s only guests.

Attacks on tourists are unusual in Kenya, which is popular for its safari vacations and pristine beaches.

Tanzania: 190 deaths after ferry sank off in Zanzibar.

At least 190 people died yesterday and another 40 people are in a “serious condition” after an overloaded ferry sank off with almost 600 onboard between Zanzibar and Pemba island, Tanzania.

Tanzanian government called for an immediate investigation to uncover the reasons for the disaster.

Survivors of the ferry disaster in Zanzibar
Survivors of the ferry disaster in Zanzibar

“The ship’s manifest shows that the vessel travelling from Unguja to Pemba islands had more than 500 passengers on board,” Zanzibar Police Commissioner Mussa Alli Mussa said.

“Some 260 passengers have so far been rescued … we have recovered several bodies but I can’t give you the exact death toll at the moment because the situation is very volatile,” he said.

190 people drown in the ferry tragedy in Tanzania
190 people drown in the ferry tragedy in Tanzania

Passengers described the terrifying moment when they realized something had gone wrong, with people began to scream as the boat tilted to one side and water rushed in.

“I realized something strange on the movement of the ship. It was like zigzag or dizziness,” said 15-year-old Yahya Hussein, who survived by clinging to a plank of wood with three others.

“After I noticed that I jumped to the rear side of ship and few minutes later the ship went lopsided.”

Hussein said there had been many children aboard the ship.

“After the ship began to list, water rushed through the main cabin and stopped the engines,” said Mwita Massoud, another survivor.

Those passengers lucky enough to find something to cling to floated in the dark waters for at least three hours until the strong currents began to wash them up on the white sandy shores of Zanzibar.

Throughout the day, police waded through the clear waters to shore, carrying bodies on stretchers, wrapped in brightly colored cloth and blankets.

Tourists on the popular island of Zanzibar helped survivors and local charities provided blankets and tea.

Tourists on the popular island of Zanzibar helped survivors and local charities provided blankets and tea
Tourists on the popular island of Zanzibar helped survivors and local charities provided blankets and tea

Pemba island is about 25 miles from Zanzibar. Passengers who regularly take ferries between the two islands said the vessels are in a poor state of repair and are often overcrowded and loaded with cargo.

“They normally pack us in like sardines in a can. And for that I really fear this could be a very big disaster,” said resident Mwnakhamis Juma.

The government in Zanzibar said last month it planned to invest in bigger, more reliable vessels to ferry passengers between the two islands.

“We are fearing the greatest calamity in the history of Zanzibar. This is a disaster,” said a government official, who declined to be named.

In 2006, another ship capsized in Zanzibar, killing hundreds of people. But the government still did not invest in better ferries or boats capable of mounting a rescue.

 

William H. Millard, former ComputerLand CEO found after 20 years. More than $1oo million unpaid tax bill.

William H. Millard , former ComputerLand CEO was one of the world’s most-wanted tax exiles and allegedly totalled astonishing unpaid tax bills of more than $100 million for over 20 years.

William H. Millard, the 79 year-old founder of retail chain ComputerLand, was last seen by tax authorities on the remote Pacific island of Saipan in 1990.

Despite vanishing soon after selling his company, Millard has now been tracked down to the Grand Cayman Island in the Caribbean, court papers said.

William H. Millard was one of the world’s most-wanted tax exiles and totalled unpaid tax bills of more than $100 million for over 20 years
William H. Millard was one of the world’s most-wanted tax exiles and totalled unpaid tax bills of more than $100 million for over 20 years

The astonishing news about the man once listed as one of the US richest men was revealed by the Wall Street Journal on Saturday.

The U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, which includes Saipan, is now using a law firm and investigators’ help to get the money.

William H. Millard is linked to a vast network of more than 50 shell companies, trusts and bank accounts, according to Wall Street Journal.

“This is one of the most sophisticated and complicated cases of offshore asset structuring that we have ever seen,” Michael Kim, prosecuting, said.

“Last Christmas an investigator spotted their target at dinner with one of his daughters in Florida,” Mariana government officials said.

William H. Millard has not yet commented, but his former attorney Terry Giles said it was “ludicrous and insulting” to suggest he was hiding.

College dropout William H. Millard was a 1970s technology pioneer in California and he turned ComputerLand into a huge PC retail chain.

The retail chain had around 800 stores and his stake in the company was valued at $1 billion at one point, reported the Wall Street Journal.

William H. Millard was known for his lavish spending, private jets and working 18-hour days whilst eating peanut-butter sandwiches.

William H. Millard left ComputerLand, having a fallout with franchisees and management, and soon moved with his family to Saipan.

Former ComputerLand CEO sold his remaining shares in 1987 and the family left Saipan, where William H. Millard had half-built a turreted castle on the coastline, in 1990.

The commonwealth got a tax judgment against William H. Millard and his wife for $36 million in court in 1994, according to Wall Street Journal.

Commonwealth authorities then picked up traces of his movements in Singapore, Ireland, Brussels, Hong Kong and the Caymans.

Then the commonwealth hired New York law firm Kobre & Kim and a private investigator tracked William F. Millard’s daughter’s home to Orlando, Florida, in December.

The private investigator soon spotted William H. Millard talking a walk outside and they tracked him to the Grand Cayman Island, lawyers said.

“I hope he will do the right thing and pay his debts,” Michael Kim told the Wall Street Journal. “But most people do not let go of $100 million easily.”

 

George Enescu International Competition 2011

 George Enescu Festival 2011 online

 

George Enescu Festival 2011: Magic Exists and starts tomorrow

 

George Enescu Festival 2011: prestigious european classical music event

 

Started on September 3, the George Enescu International Competition closed on September 11 with an online concert Gala in Bucharest, Romania. China and South Korea won best prizes.

 

The competition had as jury members personalities from US, Japan, UK, Germany, France, Romania, Russia, Spain, Austria, Poland, Korea, Sweden, Finland, Italy, under the leadership of Ioan Holender.

George Enescu International Competition gathered 183 competitors: 55 at Piano, 51 at Violin, 45 at Cello, and 32 works at Composition.

 

The Grand Award of the The International Competition “George Enescu” went to Cello Section.

 

Tian Bonian won the Grand Prize at Cello Section of George Enescu International Competition
Tian Bonian won the Grand Prize at Cello Section of George Enescu International Competition

Tian Bonian (China) was awarded with first prize (the grand award), Valentin Răduţiu (Romania) won the second prize and Michal Korman (Israel) third.

All three cellists interpreted Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor.

” Every cellist is happy with scores like these as they allow you while playing to enjoy the music, which is, in fact, the most important aspect,” said  Bonian when he qualified for semi-final.

“… for me  most important is the music to reach the audience… while I was performing I wasn’t thinking to win the first prize, I was thinking to communicate with the public,” said Tian Bonian at the end of the competition.

Bonian, born in 1986 in Shenyang, won First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in Xiamen, China (2002) and First Prize at the Davidov International Competition in Latvia (2006) . He attended the Schleswig-Holstein Festival and toured Germany for Yehudi Menuhin’s Live Music Now. He gave recitals in a private audience for Queen Margrethe of Denmark and performed concerts as a soloist with orchestras and chamber music ensembles in Canada, Denmark, Germany, Korea, China and Switzerland.

Valentin Răduţiu, as best ranked Romanian, won a prize from Liliana and Peter Ilica Foundation for the Endowment of the Arts and another one from Musicians Performers Union in Romania.

 Lee Yeong-Kwang (South Korea) won a special prize as the youngest competitor.

 

At the Violin Section of George Enescu International Competition first prize was not awarded.

 

Szalai Antal won best performance of George Enescu's Sonata
Szalai Antal won best performance of George Enescu's Sonata

Second prize went ex aequo to Kayayzan Haik and Alexandra Conunova (Republic of Moldova), and third to Szalai Antal (Hungary).

Szalai Antal was also awarded for the best performance of George Enescu’s Sonata (Violin Sonata No. 3 in A minor dans le caractère populaire roumain).

 

At the Piano Section of George Enescu International Competition first prize was also not awarded.

 

Jeung Beum Sohn (Korea) won second prize, and the third was ex aequo granted to Ilya Poletaev (Canada) and Mihai Ritivoiu (Romania). Ritivoiu performed Rachmaninov’s Concerto No. 2 in C minor, while Sohn and Poletaev interpreted Brahms’ Concerto No.1 in D minor.

 

At the Composition Section of George Enescu International Competition the jury awarded South Korea.

 

At the Chamber Music (ex-aequo):  Kwang – Ho (Garnio) Cho with Cytisus/A-Phonie, and Mihyun Woo  with The Play of Light for String Quartet.

At the Symphonic Music the award went to Chang Eunho for The Human (symphonic poem).

 

The first prize is 15,000 euros, the second 10,000, the third 5,000, the prize for symphonic music 10,000 euros, for chamber music 7,000  and the prize for best performance of George Enescu’s Sonata 6,000 euros.

George Enescu International Competition is a part of George Enescu International Festival, a biennial event started in 1958 to honor the Romanian composer’s legacy. George Enescu Festival 2011 ends on September 25.

 

 

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Venice Film Festival 2011 winners. Michael Fassbender won Best Actor trophy.

Madonna’s Wallis Simpson movie: world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

 

Michael Fassbender won the Coppa Volpi for best actor at Venice Film Festival 2011 on Saturday.

Michael Fassbender plays a man obsessed with impersonal gratification in the film “Shame” by Steve McQueen from UK.

Michael Fassbender won Best Actor trophy at Venice Film Festival 2011
Michael Fassbender won Best Actor trophy at Venice Film Festival 2011

The film, in which Michael Fassbender plays Brandon, a sex addict living in New York and also stars Carey Mulligan as his sister, was co-written by Abi Morgan, the screenwriter behind the recent BBC series “The Hours”.

Russian film “Faust”, an adaptation of Goethe’s tragedy, was named the winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday by the jury headed by director Darren Aronofsky (“Black Swan” film director).

Asia put in a strong showing, the Coppa Volpi for best actress going to Deanie Yip in the film “Tao Jie” (“A Simple Life”) by Hong Kong’s Ann Hui.

And China’s Cai Shangjun was awarded with Silver Lion for best director for his film “Ren Shan Ren Hai” (“People Mountain People Sea”), which was a surprise late addition to the Venice festival lineup.

Also, Marcello Mastroianni Award for best new young actor or actress went to Shota Sometani and Fumi Nikaido in the film “Himizu” by Japan’s Sion Sono.

Jury’ special prize was give to “Terraferma” by Emanuele Crialese of Italy, while the Osella for the best cinematography went to Robbie Ryan for the film “Wuthering Heights” by Andrea Arnold and the Osella for best screenplay went to Greece’s Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou for the film “Alpis” (“Alps”).

The new British film “Wuthering Heights” is a provocative adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic 1847 novel set in the Yorkshire moors, directed by Andrea Arnold.

The handful of American films in competition, including George Clooney’s “The Ides of March,” “Dark Horse,” “Texas Killing Fields” and “Killer Joe” were shut out.

It was also a disappointing night for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, the widely acclaimed film adaptation of John le Carré’s Cold War-era novel, starring Colin Firth, John Hurt, Benedict Cumberbatch and Gary Oldman, which failed to win an award.

US mourns a decade after September 11 terror attacks.

9/11 10th Anniversary. Weekend of remembrance.

 

9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero: first pictures revealed at 10th anniversary.

 

Thousands of people, family members of the victims killed in New York on September 11 2001, gathered this morning at Ground Zero as United States began a sombre day of tributes to those who lost their lives during the terror attacks that shocked the world ten years ago.

Today’s ceremony has moments of silence to mourn those who perished as each of the planes crashed and the two towers went down, while President Barack Obama and his predecessor George W. Bush deliver readings of the names of the 2,753 people who died in the terror attacks.

Thousands of family members of the victims killed in New York on September 11 , gathered this morning at Ground Zero for 10th anniversary from the terror attacks
Thousands of family members of the victims killed in New York on September 11 , gathered this morning at Ground Zero for 10th anniversary from the terror attacks

New York forms the focus of the memorial day, but respects will be paid throughout the country, with events at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania also poignantly marking the passing of innocent Americans a decade ago.

First moment of silence will be held at 8:46 a.m., when the first plane crashed into the North Tower, and then the names of the victims will be read.

Further moments of silence will be held to mark the other attacks in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania at 9.03am, 9.36am, 9.59am, 10.03am and 10.28am.

President Barack Obama and his predecessor George W. Bush participating at the September 11 10th anniversary at Ground Zero
President Barack Obama and his predecessor George W. Bush participating at the September 11 10th anniversary at Ground Zero

The annual “Tribute in Light” will then begin from the World Trade Centre site at sundown, visible for more than 60 miles. Two blue lights, made up of 7,000 watt bulbs, were switched on for the first time this year on Tuesday night.

Law enforcement agencies around the country have stepped up security at airports, nuclear plants, train stations and elsewhere in anticipation of possible anniversary attacks.

New York City residents and workers in the area of Ground Zero are required to carry identification to gain access with 20 downtown streets planned for closure.

September 11 2011 also marks the opening of the memorial and museum, set in the footprints of the original Twin Towers of World Trade Centre among a small forest of oak trees in an eight-acre plaza.

The Ground Zero pools have the September 11 victims' names etched around their perimeters
The Ground Zero pools have the September 11 victims' names etched around their perimeters

The memorial, which opens to the public tomorrow, features two 30 ft-deep pools, each containing fountains, along with a museum with exhibitions and artefacts to teach visitors about the events of September 11. The Ground Zero pools have the September 11 victims’ names etched around their perimeters.

Yesterday, more than 4,000 people, including relatives of those killed when Flight 93 crashed into a rural Pennsylvania field, attended the memorial service in Shanksville.

Former President George W. Bush paid tribute to the victims of Flight 93 on Saturday, describing their actions as some of the most courageous in U.S. history.

George W.Bush was joined by former president Bill Clinton to lead a silent tribute to the victims of September 11 at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania the day before the official anniversary of the terror attacks.

A long white stone wall bearing the names of those who struggled with al-Qaeda terrorists on the fourth airliner to be hijacked on September 11, 2001, was unveiled on the rural Pennsylvania field where the Boeing 757 crashed.

Current vice president Joe Biden joined the former presidents, families of the victims and several hundred others – many in patriotic T-shirts or holding US flags under a slate grey sky.

During the ceremony, the names of the 40 victims were read out, one by one, accompanied by chimes.

2,753 Flags of Honour – each baring the names of 9/11 victims in patriotic stripes of red and blue – are standing at the tip of Manhattan as New York City marks the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

The New York City Memorial Field, part of a five-day installation, was erected to give New Yorkers a public place to gather in remembrance of those who were killed in the horrific acts of September 11, 2001.

2,753 empty chairs, representing the lives lost on 9/11, were set Friday in Manhattan in order to face south toward the World Trade on Bryant Park’s lawn for part of a project called “Ten Years Later, A Tribute 9/11”.

Actors and performers from the Broadway community gathered at Times Square in costume for “Broadway Unites: 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance” ceremony.

Organizers at Manhattan Community Board said the event is open for those who feel excluded from today’s official 9/11 Memorial ceremony, which is only open to families of the victims. Events to mark the tenth anniversary will go on throughout today in Manhattan.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will display the 9/11 Peace Story Quilt with an accompanying programme throughout the afternoon.

Graduate students from New York University will read poetry from the quilt and a free concert will be performed. Created in collaboration with New York City students aged between 8 and 19, the quilt was made to convey the importance of communication among cultures and religions to achieve peace.

The New-York Historical Society will showcase a selection of photos taken during the immediate aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center. The Remembering 9/11 photo exhibition will be on view until April 12.

A film titled “World Trade Center: All Times”, based on a 10-year project by Fred J. DeVito that began as a way to remember the events and how they shaped the lives of Americans, will play at the Big Screen Plaza in Manhattan’s Flatiron district.

The New York Mets will hold a tribute at Citi Field at 7:30 p.m., half an hour before their game against the Chicago Cubs begins. John Franco will throw the first pitch to Mike Piazza – both members of the 2001 team.

Ground Zero "Tribute in Light" uses 88 powerful beams and has been running every year to mark the anniversary of the attacks
Ground Zero "Tribute in Light" uses 88 powerful beams and has been running every year to mark the anniversary of the attacks

An Evening of Light 10th Anniversary Gala will be also held at Capitale at 8:00 p.m.

FDNY 10th anniversary memorial service honouring members lost at World Trade Centre, a free ceremony at St Patrick’s Cathedral, will be held from from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., honouring the 343 FDNY families that lost a loved one at the World Trade Center. The ceremony will be shown on large TV screens in midtown Manhattan.

At the end of the day, St Patrick’s Cathedral will hold a free concert given by the Young Peoples Chorus of New York, the New York Choral Society, and Cathedral Choir of St Patrick.

 

Cyndi Lauper blows national anthem at US Open 9/11 commemoration.

Cyndi Lauper is now highly criticized on Twitter for changing the lyrics of the US national anthem at the US Open during the remembrance ceremony of the 9/11 10th anniversary.

Cyndi Lauper performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the beginning of the women’s final tennis match between Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki.

Cyndi Lauper singing US national anthem at US Open 9/11 commemoration
Cyndi Lauper singing US national anthem at US Open 9/11 commemoration

 

Cyndi Lauper was doing fine until she got to that crucial line regarding ”the ramparts we watched,” the same line that Christina Aguilera famously botched during 2011 Super Bowl.

While Christina Aguilera’s error involved a reference to “the twilight’s last reaming” — a line that surely Francis Scott Key did not have in mind when he wrote the poem that inspired America’s definitive piece of musical patriotism — Cyndi Lauper changed the lyric less significantly.

Cyndi Lauper sang “O’er the ramparts, we watched as our flag was still streaming,” instead of the usual “O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming.”

After this incident, all tweeters went nuts and, in yet another irony, blasted Cyndi Lauper for making such a terrible mistake while making an error of their own and completely misspelling her name –“Yes, Cindy Lauper has been a trending topic tonight on the social networking site.”

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9/11 10th Anniversary. Weekend of remembrance.

US mourns a decade after September 11 terror attacks.

 

9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero: first pictures revealed at 10th anniversary.

 

America remembers 10 years from September 11, 2001, when terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

This weekend has been dedicated to remembrance, with hundreds of ceremonies across the country and around the globe.

Former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were among guests at dedication in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, of memorial to Flight 93 hijackers on Saturday.

Former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were among guests at dedication in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, of memorial to Flight 93 hijackers on Saturday
Former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were among guests at dedication in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, of memorial to Flight 93 hijackers on Saturday

Other memorials are planned for Sunday in New York,such as a memorial mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York and Washington D.C. as nation mourns the almost 3,000 victims.

Former president George W. Bush has praised the 40 passengers and crew who fought back against their Flight 93 hijackers on 9/11 for carrying out what he described as one of the most courageous acts in U.S. history.

Saturday, former president George W. Bush was at the ceremony dedicating a memorial at the nation’s newest national park in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, as the U.S. marks the 10th anniversary of the terror attacks.

Americans will also come together on Sunday where the World Trade Center soared in Manhattan, New York, and in Washington D.C. where the Pentagon now stands as a fortress once breached.

The World Trade Centre ceremony in New York begins at 8:30 am local time, with a moment of silence 16 minutes later - coinciding with the exact time when the first tower was struck by a hijacked jet
The World Trade Centre ceremony in New York begins at 8:30 am local time, with a moment of silence 16 minutes later - coinciding with the exact time when the first tower was struck by a hijacked jet

Other ceremonies wil take place on Sunday at the Pentagon and in lower Manhattan for the dedication of the national September 11 memorial.

President Barack Obama planned to attend ceremonies at both sites, as well as the Pennsylvania memorial, and was scheduled to speak at a Sunday evening service at the Kennedy Center.

The World Trade Centre ceremony in New York begins at 8:30 am local time, with a moment of silence 16 minutes later – coinciding with the exact time when the first tower was struck by a hijacked jet.

After this moment, there will be the reading of names of the 2,977 people killed on September 11 – in New York, at the Pentagon and in rural Pennsylvania.

The "Tribute in Lights" could be seen in New York on Saturday night, shining into the sky as a mark of remembrance of the World Trade Centre Twin Towers
The "Tribute in Lights" could be seen in New York on Saturday night, shining into the sky as a mark of remembrance of the World Trade Centre Twin Towers

The “Tribute in Lights” could be seen in New York on Saturday night, shining into the sky as a mark of remembrance of the World Trade Centre Twin Towers.

Americans will come together on Sunday where the World Trade Center soared in Manhattan, New Yor
Americans will come together on Sunday where the World Trade Center soared in Manhattan, New York

At Shanksville, Pennsylvania memorial, George W. Bush said the Flight 93 cockpit storming “ranks among the most courageous acts in American history” and former president Bill Clinton said the passengers and crew were “ordinary people given no time at all to decide” what to do.

Bill Clinton likened the actions of those aboard Flight 93 to the defenders of the Alamo in Texas or the Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae some 2,500 years ago, who knew they were going to die.

“They gave the entire country an incalculable gift,” Bill Clinton said.

“They saved the capital from attack and avoided Al Qaeda’s a symbolic victory of smashing the centre of American government.”

The speeches of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton drew standing ovations and loud cheers from the ceremony which drew about 5,000 people, including 4,000 invited guests including the victims’ families.

Vice President Joe Biden was on hand to unveil the Wall of Names at the memorial – a set of 40 marble slabs, each inscribed with the name of a passenger or crew member who died.

Former first lady Laura Bush and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Biden, were both seen to wipe tears away at the ceremony.

“The moment America’s democracy was under attack our citizens defied their captors by holding a vote,” George W. Bush said, referring to when those on the plane decided to try to overpower the hijackers.

“The choice they made would cost them their lives,” he added.

George W. Bush was joined at the ceremony by the Reverend Daniel Coughlin, who was the U.S. House chaplain at the time of the attacks.

On Sunday Americans will gather to pray in cathedrals, lay roses before fire stations and remember the anniversary of the most devastating terrorist attacks since the nation’s founding.

President Barack Obama has already been paying tribute to America’s resilience and the sacrifice of its war, after he made a pilgrimage to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on Saturday.

Barack Obama was seen strolling with his wife, Michelle, among graves filled with dead from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars
Barack Obama was seen strolling with his wife, Michelle, among graves filled with dead from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars

Barack Obama was seen strolling with his wife, Michelle, among graves filled with dead from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars – and said the U.S. cannot be broken by terrorism “no matter what comes our way”.

“The terrorists who attacked us that September morning are no match for the character of our people, the resilience of our nation, or the endurance of our values,” Barack Obama said in a weekly address.

Barack Obama was a little-known state senator in Illinois at the time of the attacks, but now has the responsibility to help lead the nation in remembrance of a trauma 10 years on.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who gave the weekly Republican address, said the terrorists achieved their goal of killing Americans, but failed to destroy the U.S. spirit.

“The country was not broken, but rather, it was more united in the days after September 11 than at any time in my lifetime,” Rudy Giuliani said.

 

9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero: first pictures revealed at 10th anniversary.

US mourns a decade after September 11 terror attacks.

 

9/11 10th Anniversary. Weekend of remembrance.

 

9/11 “Falling Man” phenomen. 200 falling bodies from WTC that history forgot.

 

The first pictures of the 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero have been revealed before the 10th anniversary on Sunday.

Ground Zero, the site which people once associated with death, devastation and abject terror has now turned, after 10 years, into a place of peace, tranquillity and sadness.

National 9/11 Memorial: view from the south pool waterfall with Freedom Tower in the background
National 9/11 Memorial: view from the south pool waterfall with Freedom Tower in the background

Starting with Sunday, September 11, 2011, Ground Zero – once a black hole of despair – will become known as the National September 11th Memorial.

On the places where the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre once stood now lies two granite pools in its footprints with waterfalls cascading 30 feet (about 10 meters) below.

National 9/11 Memorial: view of Ground Zero from Washington Street
National 9/11 Memorial: view of Ground Zero from Washington Street

The one-acre size pools sprawl out across the World Trade Center plaza – one to signify each fallen tower.

The pools are bordered by bronze panels inscribed by the names of all those who perished at the hands of terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, at the Pentagon, in New York and in Pennsylvania; when night time falls, the panels will be backlit to shine against the void.

400 swamp white trees line the plaza and a small clearing known as the Memorial Glade is set aside for special ceremonies, according to the New York Post.

National 9/11 Memorial: Freedom Tower, One World Trade Centre building
National 9/11 Memorial: Freedom Tower, One World Trade Centre building

 

A navy-blue flag adorned with 40 gold stars to represent the passengers and crew members who died on United Airlines Flight 93 billows high above the site.

A white ring encircles around an image of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre to form the shape of a pentagon to honour the 184 who perished both at the Pentagon and aboard American Airlines Flight 77.

The Twin Towers, standing in the centre of the flag with the numbers nine and 11 and the words ‘we remember’ represents the thousands who perished on the morning of September 11 when two planes crashed into the buildings.

The 9/11 Memorial’s designer, Michael Arad, was a young, little-known architect whose plan was selected out of 5,200 proposals.

“These two acre-sized voids are like a moment of silence and what we do with that moment of silence depends on us. We just want to make sure everything is done very carefully. We’re building for the ages,” Michael Arad told CBS.

National 9/11 Memorial: North Pool at Ground Zero
National 9/11 Memorial: North Pool at Ground Zero

Joe Daniels, president of the National 9/11 Memorial told the New York Post:

“We remember the towers standing, the towers falling, the devastation on the pile, the empty pit.

“And to move to a place of grace and beauty is something that the entire country can feel proud of.”

The National Memorial opens to the 9/11 families on Sunday and to the public on Monday. Visitors must reserve visitor passes in advance on the memorial’s Website, 911memorial.org.

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Stella Artois recalls “explosive” cider bottles in UK.

Stella Artois recalls three batches of its new cider drink after several customers reported the bottles were exploding in their hands.

Customers have been urged to use gloves and eye protection before handling the 568 ml bottles of Stella Artois Cidre.

If the bottles are from the affected batches they must dial an emergency hotline immediately to arrange for them to be collected.

Stella Artois Cidre, the "explosive" bottle
Stella Artois Cidre, the "explosive" bottle

 

According to InBev UK, which brews and markets Stella Artois Cidre, two customers had already been injured by a bottle which had “burst unexpectedly”.

An InBev UK spokeswoman said: “The safety of our consumers is our top priority and that is why InBev UK Ltd is taking the measure of recalling all potentially affected bottles.

“The potentially affected bottles come from three batches. No other Stella Artois products are affected.

“We are working closely with the Food Standards Agency to take all necessary action, and have moved quickly to understand and identify the issue and take action.

“We are sorry for any inconvenience caused.”

The affected batches (1182381, 1214381 and 1217381) went on sale on July 1 and were sold individually or in packs of 12.

The batches accounted for just 1.4% of total Stella Artois Cidre bottles on sale in the UK.

Stella Artois warning
Stella Artois warning

 

Air traffic controller has posted classified Air Force One flight plans

A Japanese air traffic controller has published on his personal blog classified Air Force One flight plans of US President Barack Obama’s visit to Tokyo last year.

Barack Obama steps off Air Force One in Tokyo last year. An air traffic controller has posted the flight information on the Internet.
Obama steps off Air Force One in Tokyo last year. An air traffic controller has posted the flight information on the Internet.(AP)

Japan’s air traffic authorities has found out about the incident through an anonymous phone call on Monday warning the “inappropriate posting of information”, reported Jiji Press. All the postings have been deleted after that.

President Barack Obama has visited Japan in November to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Yokohama.

The air traffic controller, a man about 50 years old, has posted photos of flight plans and radar, said NHK. The information about Air Force One included its takeoff and landing, scheduled routes, transit times, and flight altitude. This kind of details are kept secret for security reasons.

He also has uploaded the flight plan for an unmanned American reconnaissance aircraft dispatched to gather radiation data from Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, said Kyodo News agency. The US surveillance jet Global Hawk has flown above the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant several times since the March 11 tsunami triggered Japan’s nuclear crisis.

The air traffic controller has obtained the information from computer screen shots he took while he was working at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.

He said he “wanted his friends to see” what he had obtained, said Yomiuri and Sankei Shimbun.

The transport ministry was investigating and considering disciplinary action for the air traffic controller, said Kyodo and NHK.

Yoshihiko Noda will present Barack Obama the findings of investigation regarding the air traffic controller.
Yoshihiko Noda will present Barack Obama the findings of investigation regarding the air traffic controller.

A senior government official, quoted by Yomiuri, said Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda “will have to apologize to President Obama”, at their summit in New York.

Noda will present the findings to Obama when he will travel to Washington later this month. Noda said he wanted to strengthen ties between the countries and has expressed strong support for the U.S.-Japan security alliance, said Kyodo.

However, it is not clear if the data leaked before or after Obama flew from Seoul to Tokyo.

This incident apparently is another confirmation to the worldwide travel alert issued by the United States ahead of the 10th commemoration of the 9/11 attacks.

Government officials were not immediately available for comment on this unusual air traffic controller behavior.

 

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CBS’ enormous gaffe on Twitter: “Steve Jobs passed away”

Steve Jobs resigns forced by pancreatic cancer?

 

CBS News made an enormous gaffe by reporting that Apple CEO Steve Jobs died in a careless post on Twitter.com today.

A Twitter account tied to the CBS series “What’s Trending”, hosted by Shira Lazar, sparked an internet firestorm with a post reading:

“Reports say that Steve Jobs has passed away. Stay tuned for more updates.”

CBS' What's Trending huge gaffe on Twitter
CBS' What's Trending huge gaffe on Twitter

 

The post was pulled few minutes later, but the text still exists on the website, because so many people retweeted it.

A while after the huge error, an apology appeared on Twitter.

“Reports of Steve Job’s death completely unconfirmed,” the post read.

The CBS What's Trending apologies post few moments after the imense gaffe
The CBS What's Trending apologies post few moments after the imense gaffe

 

Shira Lazar, who is also the CBS “What’s Trending” show’s executive producer, followed with an apology.

“On behalf of all of us at @disruptgroup we sincerely apologize for the inaccuracy that was tweeted earlier today.-EP/ Host @WhatsTrending.”

Shira Lazar apologies post
Shira Lazar apologies post

 

The incident has fuelled speculation as to the state of Steve Jobs’ health.

Steve Jobs, the former CEO of Apple was seen for the first time since his departure in August, his frame looking so incredibly frail it fuelled fears that he was nearing the end in his eight-year battle with the pancreatic cancer.

However, Steve Jobs made no direct reference to his health problems in his letter of resignation to the Apple board.

The former Apple boss wrote only that he had always said he would step down as CEO if he felt he could no longer do the job to his high standards.

Steve Jobs had surgery to remove a tumour after being diagnosed with a rare type of pancreatic cancer in 2003 and had a liver transplant in 2009 in a further attempt to prevent the spread of the disease.

Steve Jobs went on medical leave in January 2011, but still introduced the second generation iPad a couple of months later and has led the development of the iPhone 5 and iPad3.

 

Madonna’s affair with George Harrison? “Living In a Material World” Documentary.

Beatles Memorabilia auction: very rare signed record of Beatles hit on sale.

 

Madonna: “I absolutely loathe hydrangeas”. Venice Film Festival press conference.

 

Announced at the Cannes Film Festival in May, Martin Scorsese is directing the documentary “George Harrison: Living In The Material World” about the life of former Beatles member.

Martin Scorsese has been working with Olivia Harrison, George Harrison‘ second wife for the last 2 years on the film, which will look at George Harrison’s entire life.

George Harrison and his wife Olivia
George Harrison and his wife Olivia

The film will feature previously unreleased footage and photos as well as unreleased recordings that the guitarist saved.

Olivia Harrison, one of the film’s producers, has spent years going through her husband’s tapes, notes and photos to deliver essential elements for the film.

“Marty had a connection with George, and they spent some time together. He is as passionate about film and music as George was passionate about music and film,” she said.

It was surely not the intention of the documentary George Harrison: Living In The Material World to depict the Beatle as the prime mover in a sexual free-for-all.

But, driven by a desire to show the so‑called “quiet Beatle” in both “light and shade”, it portrays him as a sensitive, spiritual man with serious weaknesses when it came to women.

The documentary runs for 3 1/2 hours and is in two parts.

The film has just premiered at the Telluride documentary festival in America, and will be shown in its entirety on the BBC on October this year.

Film presented nights of chaos and excess at Friar Park, George Harrison’s immense Victorian Gothic home in Henley, with a haze of dope, cocaine and alcohol.

In a 1973 night, George Harrison’s friend and houseguest Ronnie Wood took him aside and told him that he intended to sleep with the former Beatle’s wife Pattie Boyd that evening.

George Harrison’s response was to point to the room which Ronnie Wood was sharing with his wife Krissie and say: “And I shall be sleeping there.”

There was a moment on the landing when the two men looked at each other, on the threshold of the two bedrooms, and then they both went in.

Ronnie Wood slept with Pattie, and George Harrison slept with the Rolling Stone’s wife – and even took her off to Spain to meet Salvador Dali a few weeks later, which Wood found amusing.

In the same period, George Harrison also slept with Ringo Starr’s wife Maureen, having announced during a dinner party – and in front of Pattie – that he wanted her.

Both Ringo Starr and Pattie Boyd were greatly distressed, and Pattie in particular became annoyed by Maureen’s habit of turning up late at night and spending the evening in meditation with George, or locking herself away in a studio with him.

Pattie Boyd left George Harrison for Eric Clapton
Pattie Boyd left George Harrison for Eric Clapton

In turn, Pattie Boyd slept with Eric Clapton and eventually left George Harrison for Clapton in 1974.

In an interview, given for the upcoming documentary film about George Harrison’s life, his close friend Eric Clapton recalls that Harrison was “very cavalier” about the affair with Pattie, and almost gave him “carte blanche” to have sex with her.

“To be honest, there was a lot of swapping and fooling around,” Clapton said.

But Pattie Boyd recalls: “That whole period was insane. Friar Park was a madhouse. We were all as drunk, stoned and single-minded as each other.”

In the documentary, Olivia Harrison tells of “hiccups” in their marriage when her husband had affairs, even long after those crazy days of the early 1970s with Pattie were over.

Olivia and George Harrison were married in 1978, a month after the birth of their son Dhani, and she was at his bedside when he died of cancer in 2001.

Between those times, Olivia suggests that her husband had several affairs, which she endured, simply waiting for them to pass and forgiving him when they did.

“He liked women and women liked him,” Olivia says.

“If he just said a couple of words to you, it would have a profound effect. It was hard to deal with someone who was so well loved.”

Paul McCartney says: “I don’t want to say much because he was a pal, but he liked the things that men like. He was red-blooded.”

Red-blooded seems an understatement when it comes to George Harrison, who had an abiding fondness for other men’s wives – much like his devotion to marijuana and sitar music.

According to Beatles expert Bill Harry “George had hundreds and hundreds of affairs. John Lennon was probably the most highly-sexed Beatle, but I would put George next after him.”

And in their tell-all book The Love You Make, two Beatles roadies, Peter Brown and Steven Gaines, assert: “He wanted to seduce every woman he laid eyes on.”

George Harrison and Madonna in 1986 during Shanghai Surprise film press conference
George Harrison and Madonna in 1986 during Shanghai Surprise film press conference

 

Rather extraordinarily, more than one source suspects that George Harrison had a heavy flirtation with Madonna on the set of the 1986 film Shanghai Surprise, despite the presence of her first husband Sean Penn.

Madonna was at the time deeply unhappy with Sean Penn, and said she found George Harrison, who was executive producer of the film, “very understanding and sympathetic”.

George Harrison came to see them filming in Macau, and also met her several times in London before and after the production.

Madonna’s brother, Christopher Ciccone, noted that, although George Harrison felt moved to “read the riot act” to Sean Penn over his hostile and aggressive attitude during filming and gave the actor a stern ticking-off, he treated Madonna with “kid gloves”.

A few weeks after filming finished, he surprised everyone present at a press conference by going on the attack over allegations that Madonna had been impossible to work with, passionately denouncing the assembled journalists as “animals”.

Those who worked with George Harrison at Handmade Films, where he oversaw numerous projects in the 1980s, recall that one close relationship with a young member of the team was very much the talk of the office.

“The story was widely circulated around the film business that he was having an affair with an office junior,” said a source.

It’s all rather extraordinary as, until now, it has always been thought that George Harrison’s love story with Olivia Arias was one of complete spiritual and emotional union.

Olivia, a young woman of Mexican descent, was working as a secretary for the Dark Horse Records label in America when she struck up a telephone friendship with George Harrison, who was recording music for it.

Olivia and George finally encountered each other in person at a party in Los Angeles in 1974. She was a stunning 23-year-old, and he was lonely after the loss of Pattie Boyd a few months previously to Eric Clapton.

Like George Harrison, whose father was a bus driver, Olivia Arias came from a working-class family – her mother was a seamstress, her father, a dry-cleaner.

George Harrison quickly asked Olivia to move into Friar Park with him, so she relocated to England. At first, she found the house lonely, but although Friar Park was so enormous that Pattie Boyd used to complain she could never find her husband, the charismatic George Harrison filled it with friends.

“He was so generous and open, so much more patient with people than me,” Olivia told an interviewer.

“He took everybody along with him, like a driftnet fisherman.

“If we were going on holiday, everybody would come. If we were having dinner, everybody was welcome. He was Pisces, so he swam in a school.”

One of Olivia and George most significant acts was to visit India together in 1976.

That helped George Harrison to continue his spiritual journey which had begun in 1968 with a visit to meditate with the Indian yoga guru Maharishi with the other Beatles.

In 1969, he even gave up all alcohol, drugs and sex for six months, in search of enlightenment.

Unlike his other band members, George Harrison remained committed to the religious sect Hare Krishna, and Olivia shared his commitment.

There was a real sense in which their married life was a retreat. Harrison concentrated on the enormous task of renovating the house and tending the gardens.

George Harrison became passionate about horticulture. To live invisible to the throng behind high walls was a release after the pressure of being a Beatle.

George Harrison first developed cancer in 1997, but the lump in his neck was removed and he underwent radiotherapy.

In 2001, however, it was discovered he had lung cancer, and soon after a brain tumour was also found. Within seven months he had died, with Olivia and his son Dhani by his side.

Olivia tells the documentary that George Harrison had achieved his spiritual goal, which was to take conscious leave of his life and to be ready to go. And, by the end, she says she had forgiven him completely for his affairs.

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9/11: Security Measures Increase

9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero: first pictures revealed at 10th anniversary.

 

Law enforcement authorities are spreading additional security measures and advising all Americans to be watchful for suspicious activity. The 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks,

 

On Wednesday U.S. officials obtained information about a threat involved up to three people, either in the U.S. or who were traveling to the country; a plan concocted with the help of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri; and a car bomb as a weapon, which might be used in New York or Washington.

Counterterrorism officials have been working around the clock to find out whether the threat is accurate. However it could take weeks before the intelligence community can come up with a verdict.

 

The White House said when President Barack Obama learned about the threat, he gave orders to his security team to take “all necessary precautions”. Obama hasn’t change his mind about his trip to New York on Sunday to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, as well as the short visits at the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pa. Extra security was put in place to protect the people in the two cities. 

 

In New York City, policemen were stopping and searching trucks as they approached the George Washington Bridge, which links New Jersey with New York City, as well as the Queens Midtown Tunnel, the Holland Tunnel and the Verrazano Bridge, linking Staten Island and Brooklyn. Police officers also manned checkpoints throughout Manhattan where they examined vehicles, particularly vans and trucks, for possible bombs.

9/11 NYC police officers
9/11 NYC police officers

In Washington, police activity increased right after Labor Day. Members of Congress, their staff and visitors were being urged Friday to keep their eyes opened for anything suspicious.

The U.S. House sergeant-at-arms said:

“Remember, ‘if you see something, say something!’”

At the U.S. Capitol, Americans should not be surprised to see “visible strategic security enhancements” such as more uniformed and undercover officers and more police cruisers, as well as deployments of bomb squads, Hazmat and SWAT teams, and K9 units, said Sgt. Kim Schneider of U.S. Capitol Police. He also added that federal law officials will be sharing information and coordinating operations. For example, Capitol Police special agents are embedded in the intelligence community and assigned to the FBI, Secret Service and Department of Defense.

The efforts are intended “to present a visible deterrent to our adversaries and detect those who may present a threat” as well as “to respond to incidents in our jurisdiction or take protective measures in response to an incident occurring elsewhere in the National Capital region or anywhere around the nation”

The United Kingdom informs its citizens who are traveling to the United States that there was a threat of a new terrorist attacks that could include “places frequented by expatriates and foreign travelers.”

 

Cairo: state of alert after Israeli embassy attack. Three died and more than 1,000 injured.

Egypt has declared state of alert after three people die and more than a thousand were injured as crowds attacked the Israeli embassy in Cairo.

Israel has evacuated its ambassador in Egypt after crowds stormed the embassy in Cairo, plunging Egypt’s ruling army deeper into its worst diplomatic crisis since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt has declared state of alert after three people die and more than a thousand were injured as crowds attacked the Israeli embassy in Cairo
Egypt has declared state of alert after three people die and more than a thousand were injured as crowds attacked the Israeli embassy in Cairo

Egyptian PM Essam Sharaf is holding a crisis cabinet meeting and a state of alert has been declared as protesters remain on the streets following the violence on Friday, burning tyres and chanting slogans against the governing military council.

According to an Egyptian official, at least three people died and more than 1,000 were injured during street clashes with police and army troops after an angry mob attacked the Israeli embassy building.

Hamid Abaza, deputy health minister said that one of the three fatalities in the violence late on Friday was a man who died of a heart attack.

Hamid Abaza told AP on Saturday he doesn’t know the cause of the other two deaths. He said 1,093 people were injured in the clashes.

The attackers pelted the police and the military with rocks, prompting the troops to fire tear gas and shoot into the air. Only 38 of the injured remained in hospital.

Earlier, the protesters tore down a security wall outside the Israeli mission and stormed the embassy’s offices.

Police fired shots in the air and teargas to disperse the crowd.

About 500 protesters were remained near the embassy on Saturday early in the morning. But police gradually pushed them back and secured the area.

According to an Israeli official, the rampage marked a further deterioration of diplomatic ties between Israel and Egypt since the fall of Hosni Mubarak.

Israel’s ambassador, Yitzhak Levanon, his family and most of the staff and their dependents, around 80 people were evacuated out of the country by military aircraft overnight, the official added. Only the deputy ambassador remains in Egypt.

“That the government of Egypt ultimately acted to rescue our people is noteworthy and we are thankful,” the Israeli official said.

“But what happened is a blow to the peaceful relations, and of course, a grave violation of accepted diplomatic behaviour between sovereign states.”

The rampage was the second major eruption of violence at the embassy since five Egyptian border guards were killed last month during an Israeli operation against gunmen. That incident prompted Egypt briefly to threaten to withdraw its envoy.

“This action shows the state of anger and frustration the young Egyptian revolutionaries feel against Israel especially after the recent Israeli attacks on the Egyptian borders that led to the killing of Egyptian soldiers,” said Nabil Abdel Fattah, Egyptian political analyst.

Israel is already embroiled in a diplomatic feud with Turkey, formerly one of its closest allies, over Israel’s armed assault on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in which nine people were killed.

Hamdeen Sabahy, the Egyptian presidential candidate called for the army to take a “serious stance matching the public anger” towards Israel but said violence sullied the image of Egypt’s uprising.

In August, a man climbed up a flagpole on the Israeli embassy and took down the flag, replacing it with the Egyptian flag.

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Virgin Mobile Freefest 2011

 V Festival 2011 United Kingdom

 

Virgin Mobile Freefest 2011 takes place on Saturday, September 10 at the Meriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. It runs from Saturday 15:00 UTC to Sunday 2:00 UTC.

 

The Black Keys performs at Virgin Mobile Freefest this year
The Black Keys performs at Virgin Mobile Freefest this year

Virgin Mobile Freefest 2011 is the third edition of an annual event. It is free but they sell tickets if festival goers do not apply for tickets early. The festival features lots of genres such us rock, indie, and electronic music.

This year Virgin Mobile Freefest line-up includes various artists. The Black Keys, deadmau5, Cut Copy, Bombay Bicycle Club, Cee Lo Green, Two Door Cinema Club, TV on the Radio, Big Sean, Patti Smith, Okkervil River, Empire of the Sun, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Alberta Cross, James Murphy, Ghostland Observatory, Calvin Harris, !!!, Porter Robinson, Eclectic Method, Teddybears perform this year at Pavilion Stage, Festival Stage (West stage) and Dance Forest (for electronica).

Fourth Quarter Comeback, Jennifer Logue, Kingsfoil, Clear For Takeoff, Run On The Sun are the five aspiring artists, voted from ten, who plays onto the Whooznxt Stage.

 

Virgin Mobile FreeFest is a part of Virgin Festivals held in UK (V Festival 2011), US, Canada and Australia.

 

Although two tropical weather systems have dumped rain on the festival site for the last two weeks, it appears the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee are slowly, and are signs for a sunny time. Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group chief, will be present at the festival like every year, regardless the weather conditions. Seth Hurwitz (promoter) said the venue was in very good shape, despite of the damp weather.

 

 

Cee Lo Green: another perfomer of Virgin Mobile Freefest 2011
Cee Lo Green: another perfomer of Virgin Mobile Freefest 2011

 

Virgin Mobile FreeFest is held in a picturesque location, Merriweather Post Pavilion.

 

Merriweather Post Pavilion is an amphitheater located in 40 preserved acres of forest (Symphony Woods), in the Baltimore/Washington corridor off Route 29. It was initially built for National Symphony Orchestra and for forty years has hosted musical events. Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, the Who, Led Zeppelin, Tom Jones performed at this pavilion.

Merriweather installed solar panels that power the house lights and use Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards.Recently an enormous kitchen (with cuisines from all over the world) was built that as well as a Music Pinball Arcade and award-winning sculptures.

 

On Virgin Mobile FreeFest website you can tune-in and listen to live hits from past headliners and live coverage from past fests.

 

 

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Zanzibar: ferry sank off with 600 people onboard. At least 100 deaths in Tanzania.

Tanzania: 190 deaths after ferry sank off in Zanzibar.

 

At least 100 people died and many other were missing after a ferry with 600 onboard sank off the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar.

259 people, including 60 children, have been rescued, according to Mohammed Aboud, Zanzibar‘s state minister for emergencies. Among them, 40 were seriously injured.

At least 100 people died and many other were missing after a ferry with 600 onboard sank off the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar
At least 100 people died and many other were missing after a ferry with 600 onboard sank off the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar

The ferry, a MV Spice Islander was travelling between Zanzibar’s main island, Unguja, and Pemba, the archipelago’s other main island – popular tourist destinations.

People were coming back from holiday at the end of Ramadan.

The Zanzibar government has set up a rescue centre and called up on all reserves to join the rescue effort and also called for support from other countries, such as South Africa and Kenya.

Zanzibar police commissioner Mussar Hamis said that the survivors were ferried by privately owned fast ferries and brought back to the main harbour in the historic Stone Town.

So far, 100 dead bodies have been recovered, according to BBC.

The ferry was travelling between Zanzibar's main island, Unguja, and Pemba
The ferry was travelling between Zanzibar's main island, Unguja, and Pemba

 

A British tourist in Zanzibar, Catherine Purvis, who waiting for a ferry to take her to the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, said she saw lots of bodies being brought out of the water.

“I’m standing at the port in Zanzibar with about 10 other British and American tourists.

“Our ferry has been delayed as they’re using all ferries to rescue the people from the ship.

“People are being carried across in front of us on a drip. There are lots of body bags.”

Local helicopter pilot Captain Neels van Eijk flew over the disaster area.

“We found the survivors holding onto mattresses and fridges and anything that could float. It’s hard to tell the exact numbers, but I’d say there were more than 200 survivors in the water and some bodies too,” he told the BBC.

“By then, there were a few boats that had made their way out. They were looking for survivors, but although the sea wasn’t so rough, the waves were high so it was difficult for them to spot them.

“We flew to the boats and guided them to the survivors so that they could pick them up. There were also quite a few bodies in the water.”

The ferry left Unguja at around 21:00 (19:00 GMT) and is said to have sank at around 01:00 (23:00 GMT).

The ferry was heavily overloaded and some passengers refused to board as a result, survivor Abdullah Saied is quoted as saying by the AP news agency.

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9/11 “Falling Man” phenomen. 200 falling bodies from WTC that history forgot.

9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero: first pictures revealed at 10th anniversary. 

 

9/11: New tapes of aviation industry’s response as WTC fell.

 

None of the images spells out the horror of the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers than the grainy pictures of those falling bodies frozen in mid-air as they fell to their deaths, tumbling in all manner of positions, after choosing to escape the suffocating smoke and dust, the flames and the steel-bending heat in the highest floors of the World Trade Centre.

In many ways, the falling bodies from WTC are tragically the forgotten victims of September 11, 2001. Even now, nobody knows for certain who they were or exactly how many they numbered. Perhaps worst of all, surprisingly few even want to know.

9/11 Falling Man, the iconic picture of falling bodies at WTC
9/11 Falling Man, the iconic picture of falling bodies at WTC

 

From the first days after the 9/11 attacks, the American people and the media showed an overwhelming reluctance to dwell on those who jumped or fell from the Twin Towers.

If this was simply down to qualms at being considered intrusive or voyeuristic when individuals in the most appalling circumstances chose in desperation to die very publicly, it would be understandable.

But there are other, more complicated, reasons. In the aftermath of this attack on America’s sovereign territory — a period of intense patriotism — some considered that to choose to die rather than be killed showed a lack of courage.

And in this country of intense religious fervour, many believe that to be a “jumper” was to choose suicide rather than accept the fate of God — and suicide in whatever circumstances is considered shameful or, indeed, a sin that will send you to Hell.

Almost all of the falling people who jumped were alone, although eyewitnesses talked of a couple who held hands as they fell.

One woman, in a final act of modesty, appeared to be holding down her skirt. Other people tried to make parachutes out of curtains or tablecloths, only to have them wrenched from their grip by the force of their descent.

The fall was said to take about 10 seconds
The fall was said to take about 10 seconds

 

The fall was said to take about 10 seconds, but it would vary according to the body position and how long it took to reach terminal velocity — around 125 mph (about 200 km/h) in most cases, but if someone fell head down with their body straight, as if in a dive, it could be 200 mph (more than 320 km/h).

When the body hit the pavement was not so much broken as obliterated.

A spokeswoman of the New York chief medical examiner office said this week that they did not consider these people “jumpers”. She said people fell from the 1,350 ft tall (more than 400 meters), 110-floor skyscrapers, for jumping would imply suicide.

“Jumping indicates a choice, and these people did not have that choice,” spokeswoman said.

“That is why the deaths were ruled homicide, because the actions of other people caused them to die. The force of explosion and the fire behind them forced them out of the windows.”

For those people who have discovered that their loved ones may have been among the estimated 200 or more who plunged to their deaths, this uncomfortable official reticence can only compound the suffering they have already endured.

For instance, Jack Gentul cannot possibly imagine his late wife’s torment before she died. Alayne Gentul, mother of two and the 44-year-old vice president of an investment company, was in the South Tower and had gone up to the 97th floor to help evacuate staff after the other tower was hit. In her final moments, she rang her husband to say in labouring breaths that smoke was coming into her room through vents.

“She said <<I’m scared>>. She wasn’t a person who got scared, and I said, <<Honey, it’ll be all right, it’ll be all right, you’ll get down>>.”

Alayne Gentul’s remains were found in the street outside the building across from the tower — sufficiently far from the rubble to suggest she had jumped. Her husband, Jack Gentul, who has since remarried, is not convinced she took that option but is clearly irked that some believe jumping was some sort of cop-out.

“She was a very practical person who would have done whatever she could to survive,” Jack Gentul explained.

“But how can anyone know what one would do in a situation like that, having to choose how you go from this Earth?”

Knowing that his former wife jumped is, indeed, consoling to Jack Gentul in some ways, in that she exercised an element of control over her death.

“Jumping is something you can choose to do,” Gentul says.

“To be out of the smoke and the heat, to be out in the air, it must have felt like flying.”

On the morning of 9/11, investment banker Richard Pecarello watched from his office on the other side of the river as the second plane hit. Pecarello’s fiancée Karen Juday was working as an administrator at bond traders Cantor Fitzgerald in the North Tower.

Richard Pecarello tried to phone her but there was no answer, and for days and weeks after he looked at photographs on the internet and wondered if she had jumped. Karen Juday was vain about her face and used anti-wrinkle cream, and he was certain she would have jumped rather than face the flames.

Richard Pecarello, 59, made contact with Associated Press photographer Richard Drew, who had captured images of many of the jumpers, and asked to look through his archives. He discoverd a couple of photographs of a woman in cream trousers and blue top which he is convinced were of his fiancée .

“There was one of her standing in a window with flames behind her and one of her falling from the building,” he said.

“It made me feel she didn’t suffer and that she chose death on her terms rather than letting them burn her up.”

Richard Pecarello has no time for suggestions that she took the easy way out.

“The people who died that day weren’t soldiers. They were everyday people — parents and housewives and brothers and sisters and children,” he said.

When Richard Pecarello tried to show the photos to Karen’s staunchly Protestant family back in Indiana, they didn’t want to know. Family go by the official version, that nobody jumped.

Nobody in US liked talking about the jumpers.

An unofficial estimate put the number of jumpers at around 200
An unofficial estimate put the number of jumpers at around 200

An unofficial estimate put the number of jumpers at around 200, but it is impossible to say for certain because their bodies were indistinguishable from others after the collapse of the WTC Twin Towers. The official reports said that nearly all 2,753 victims in the WTC Twin Towers attack officially died from “blunt impact” injuries.

In 2011, more than 1,000 have yet to be identified from remains. They were vaporised because of the high temperatures; after the planes hit, raging fires pushed the temperatures to 1,800 F ( 1,000 C), sufficient to weaken the skyscrapers’ steel frames.

The steel conducted the heat through the building at a terrifying speed and it reached the upper floors long before the flames did.

There were reports of people having to stand on desks because the floor became so hot.

Fire experts say people rarely throw themselves out of burning high-rises until they have exhausted every other option. Indeed, as survivors desperate for fresh, cool air crowded at the windows smashed open by the force of the planes’ impact, it is possible some of the “jumpers” were actually pushed out in the crush.

The only research that comes close to being an official account is buried deep in an appendix of the huge report into why the towers collapsed, conducted by the National Institute for Standards and Technology(NIST).

NIST analyzed camera footage and still photographs, and counted 104 jumpers, often recording the floor and exact window from which they left.

Almost all people, excepting three, leapt from the first building to be hit — the North Tower. The second plane struck the South Tower 16 minutes later but it collapsed first, giving occupants less time to react.

The first jumper is recorded plunging from the North Tower’s 149th window of the 93rd floor on the north face of the building at 8.51 a.m., just over four minutes after it was hit by the first hijacked Boeing 757 between the 93rd and 99th floors.

Sometimes the fallers were separated by an interval of just a second. At one point nine people fell in six seconds from five adjacent windows; at another, 13 people fell in two minutes. Twenty minutes after the building was struck, two people fell simultaneously from the same window on the 95th floor.

At least four jumpers tried to climb to other windows for safety then lost their grip. One person climbed from the 93rd floor to the 92nd, clinging to the window’s edge before falling just one second after someone else plumetted from the same window — number 215 on the east face of the tower.

The first jumpers came from the crash zone where the plane entered the building — the offices of the insurance brokers Marsh & McLennan.

The last jumper fell just as the North Tower collapsed 102 minutes after the building had been hit. Former AP photographer Richard Drew said he has a picture of this person clinging to some debris while falling.

Kelly Reyher watched from the South Tower’s 78th floor as people started to fall out of “the hole” the aircraft had ripped in the North Tower. To him, they looked “completely confused” rather than consciously deciding to end it all.

“It looked like they were blinded by smoke and couldn’t breathe because their hands were over their faces,” Reyher says.

“They would just walk to the edge where the jagged floor was and just fall out.”

Six floors below Kelly Reyher, James Logozzo watched with stunned colleagues from the Morgan Stanley boardroom. He recalled that it took three or four jumpers to flash past him before he realised they were people. Then a woman fell, lying flat on her back and staring upwards.

“The look on her face was shock. She wasn’t screaming,” he recalled.

“It was slow motion. After she hit the ground, there was nothing left.”

For the people down below, the bodies landed with sickening, almost explosive thuds. Many said it was raining bodies.

One fireman, Danny Suhr, was killed as he made his way to the South Tower after a jumper landed on him, “coming out of the sky like a torpedo” and breaking his neck.

9/11 WTC: 1,000 people were vaporised because of the high temperatures
9/11 WTC: 1,000 people were vaporised because of the high temperatures

Firefighter Maureen McArdle-Schulman said she felt like she was intruding on a sacrament as the bodies fell.

“They were choosing to die and I was watching them and shouldn’t have been. So me and another guy turned away and looked at a wall and we could still hear them hit,” she said.

Bill Feehan, the deputy chief of the fire department, screamed at a man filming jumpers with a video camera: “Don’t you have any human decency?”

Fire battalion chief Joseph Pfeifer put out a desperate plea on the North Tower’s public address system. “Please don’t jump. We’re coming up for you,” he said, not realizing that nobody was listening — the system had long since been destroyed.

Images of the falling bodies disturbed and appalled all who saw them. On the first anniversary of the tragedy, an exhibition showing a work called Tumbling Woman, a bronze sculpture by artist Eric Fischl, lasted just a week in New York’s Rockefeller Centre before it was closed following protests and even bomb threats.

One picture has become an iconic image. When a man fell at 9.41 a.m. from near the top of the North Tower, Richard Drew caught a dozen frames of his descent, including one in which he is diving vertically, arms by his sides and left leg bent at the knee. The image, all the more horrific for its desolate stillness, appeared the next day in newspapers around the world.

Dubbed the Falling Man, it prompted the media to hunt for the man’s identity. None of those who jumped from the towers has ever been officially identified and, tellingly, nobody rushed to claim Falling Man as their own.

Dark-skinned, goatee-bearded, wearing an orange T-shirt under a white shirt , he was first thought to be Norberto Hernandez, a pastry chef at the restaurant Windows on the World, on the top floors of the North Tower. His deeply religious family angrily rejected the notion, insisting that for him to have jumped would have amounted to a betrayal.

“He was trying to come home to us and he knew he wasn’t going to make it by jumping out a window,” his daughter Catherine said.

Since then, the hunt for the Falling Man has moved on to another of the restaurant’s staff, Jonathan Briley, a 43-year-old sound engineer. The reaction of his deeply religious family has highlighted the deep moral complexities that suicide — whatever the circumstances — poses in a country where so many believe it is a sin, unforgivable by God.

Some of Jonathan Briley’s family have never believed he jumped, and say they were vindicated after the authorities found his largely intact body.

“I had no idea it would give me the peace years later to know that,” said his sister Gwendolyn.

“If he had fallen from the 110th floor to the ground we wouldn’t have had that.”

When a 9/11 Memorial Museum opens at Ground Zero next year, it will have a small display dedicated to the jumpers, but reflecting the intense feelings of unease the subject has provoked, it will be tucked away in an alcove, on the grounds that the images are considered too private and too distressing.

 

Bastrop Texas: Lost Pines Forest massive damages

 

Bastrop Texas: Urgent need of a federal disaster declaration

 

Bastrop Texas: Two deaths in the dreadful wildfire

 

Bastrop Texas: Major wildfire

 

Bastrop Texas: wildfire under control, recovery begins

 

The Lost Pines Forest of Bastrop Texas was heavily affected by the most dreadful wildfire in Texas history.

 

Bastrop Texas: The smoke covered Lost Pines in Bastrop State Park
Bastrop Texas: The smoke covered Lost Pines in Bastrop State Park (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department )

The Lost Pines Forest (124,000-acre) is a belt of loblolly pines, a disjunct population of trees. It is belived it is part of a much larger pine forest from the last glacial period of the Pleistocene era. A part of Lost Pines Forest is inside of Bastrop State Park and Buescher State Park. Bastrop County Complex fire has powerfully attacked this unique forest.

Robert Crossman of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said almost entire 6,000-acre Bastrop State Park have been attacked by fire. Most of the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps-constructed structures on the park were saved, but two CCC observation structures are believed to have been damaged. Lots of historic structures were constructed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

“Much of Bastrop State Park has been burned and our firefighters have once again shown their mettle with incredible effort to save the historic district of this National Historic Landmark,” said State Parks Director Brent Leisure. His home and that of Buescher State Park superintendent Cullen Sartor were ruined by the blaze.

Bastrop State Park and Buescher State Park were closed, but Palmetto State Park and Monument Hill State Historic Site remained open.

Bastrop Texas: The Houston toad lost a large part of its habitat because of wildfire
Bastrop Texas: The Houston toad lost a large part of its habitat because of wildfire (Clif Ladd, Loomis Austin Inc.)

Lost Pines Forest is the home of the reclusive, small amphibians, endangered Houston toad. Brent Leisure said the toad, already affected by the drought, will be further stressed losing their habitat because of Bastrop Texas major wildfires.

 

There were many factors that contributed to the destructive power of the fire in Bastrop Texas.

 

The drought, hottest summer, Tropical Storm Lee, the massive growth in Texas’ population (doubled since 1970), urbanization, and cultivation of non-native plants as well as insufficient funds have led to a massive, wide-spread wildfire.

“That’s what’s making this doubly severe. No longer are we just burning rural land, trees and forest pastures, but we’re burning homes and, unfortunately, people.” said James Hull, director of the Texas Forest Service until 2008.

“Utility poles are still burning, stumps are still burning, wire is hanging through the air with only half a pole, swinging. Lines are on the ground,” said Mark Rose, CEO of Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative.

“This is unprecedented fire behavior. No one on the face of this Earth has ever fought fires in these extreme conditions” said Texas Forest Service.

Blaze has destroyed around 40,000 acres of forest in Cass County and continues to spread. The Bear Creek fire has burnt eight homes. The Riley Road fire has damaged 15,000 acres in Grimes, Montgomery and Waller. A wildfire near Houston was 60 percent contained on Friday, Texas Forest Service said.

During last week the Texas Forest Service has fought 186 fires across 156,517 acres and from the beginning of this year the US firefighters have responded to 18,887 wildfires over more than 3.5 million acres. Bastrop Texas was the heaviest affected area.

 

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Jackie Kennedy’s interviews to be released on September 13.

Jacqueline Kennedy’s interviews. About Martin Luther King, Charles de Gaulle, Indira Ghandi and more.

 

“Jacqueline Kennedy: In Her Own Words” on ABC News tonight.

 

JFK assassination: mystery unveiled? Jackie Kennedy Onassis secret recordings released this fall.

 

The former First Lady, Jackie Kennedy talked about her disgust towards Martin Luther King after claimed he tried to arrange a sex party while in Washington for a march.

In the interviews that will be released in series starting with September 13, Jackie Kennedy also talks about how she could barely look at images of the iconic leader after he apparently also made derogatory remarks at JFK’s funeral.

Jacqueline Kennedy’s relationship with Dr. Martin Luther King became strained as a result of wire taps arranged by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.

Those taps allegedly caught Dr. King Jr. trying to arrange a sex party in Washington, although this has been dismissed by some material concocted by Hoover to damage Martin Luther King.

Nonetheless, Jackie Kennedy branded Martin Luther King “tricky” and a “phoney” after hearing of the FBI recordings.

In the first interview that interviews to be broadcast on September 13, the former First Lady said:

“I just can’t see a picture of Martin Luther King without thinking, you know, that man’s terrible.”

Jackie Kennedy branded Luther King "tricky" and a "phoney" after hearing of the FBI recordings
Jackie Kennedy branded Luther King "tricky" and a "phoney" after hearing of the FBI recordings

 

Jackie Kennedy said Martin Luther King had mocked her husband’s funeral and Cardinal Richard Cushing, who celebrated Mass at the funeral.

“He made fun of Cardinal Cushing and said that he was drunk at it,” Mrs. Kennedy said.

“And things about they almost dropped the coffin.”

The Jackie Kennedy secret interviews also reveal that JFK saw U.S. participation in Vietnam as “hopeless” and scorned the idea of Lyndon Johnson succeeding him in office.

In the explosive memoirs from the secret tapes, Jackie Kennedy reveals that JFK was highly skeptical about victory in Vietnam.

The secret recordings will be revealed this month on the 50th anniversary of JFK’s first year in office, also describe how former President Kennedy feared what would happen if rival Lyndon Johnson took office.

Jackie Kennedy secret recordings will be revealed this month on the 50th anniversary of JFK's first year in office
Jackie Kennedy secret recordings will be revealed this month on the 50th anniversary of JFK's first year in office

JFK chose Lyndon Johnson, a Texas senator and former political rival, as his running mate in 1960 but later fretted about a LBJ (Lyndon Baines Johnson) presidency.

Jackie Kennedy’ secret tapes were recorded starting few months after JFk’s assassination in November 1963 by historian and former JFK aide Arthur Schlesinger.

In another interview of Jackie Kennedy with Arthur Schlesinger, she said:

“Jack said it to me sometimes. He said, <<Oh, God, can you ever imagine what would happen to the country if Lyndon were president?>>”

Jacqueline Kennedy also told how JFK and his brother, then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy even discussed ways to prevent Johnson from winning the Democratic nomination in a future contest.

“He didn’t like that idea that Lyndon would go on and be president because he was worried for the country,” she said.

“Bobby told me that he’d had some discussions with him.

“I forget exactly how they were planning or who they had in mind. It wasn’t Bobby, but somebody. Do something to name someone else in ’68.”

Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as the 36th U.S. president on Air Force One just two hours after JFK’s assassination.

LBJ was re-elected in his own right in 1964, but declined to run for presidency in 1968.

Jackie Kennedy also told how JFK and his brother, Robert F. Kennedy even discussed ways to prevent Johnson from winning the Democratic nomination in a future contest
Jackie Kennedy also told how JFK and his brother, Robert F. Kennedy even discussed ways to prevent Johnson from winning the Democratic nomination in a future contest

The “Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy,” book includes a series of revealing interviews with the former first lady.

Jackie Kennedy said JFK was highly about victory in Vietnam, a central battleground of the Cold War and the conflict that brought down Johnson’s presidency.

She also said that President Kennedy, a Democrat, had named Henry Cabot Lodge, a Republican he had defeated for a Massachusetts Senate seat in 1952, as U.S. ambassador to Vietnam because JFK was so doubtful of military success there.

“I think he probably did it… rather thinking it might be such a brilliant thing to do because Vietnam was rather hopeless anyway, and put a Republican there,” Jackie Kennedy said.

Kennedy increased the U.S. presence in Vietnam throughout his brief administration, adding military advisers to help train the South Vietnamese military.

Lyndon Johnson, while was president, escalated the war in Vietnam by later committing ground troops to the conflict despite initial promises not to. Historians still debate whether Kennedy would have done the same.

The interviews where the former first lady speaks candidly about life in the White House have been sealed in a safe until this year.

Over seven sessions with Schlesinger thought to have been recorded just months after Kennedy’s death, she recalled conversations on topics ranging from her husband’s reading habits to the botched Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba.

According to previous reports, the tapes would contain explosive content and include details of JFK’s affair with a White House intern and even theories that LBJ and a cabal of Texas tycoons were involved in JFK’s assassination.

Originally planned for one hour, the interviews will be aired during a two-hour ABC special on September 13, before being released in book form, “Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy” on September 14.

After Jackie Kennedy did the interviews, she steadfastly refused to publicly discuss any details with anyone else about that time in her life.

Jackie Kennedy had ordered that the tapes should not be released until 50 years after her death, with some reports suggesting she feared that her revelations might make her family targets for revenge.

An ABC source said last month that the tapes also revealed that she too had affairs – one with Hollywood star William Holden and another with Fiat founder Gianni Agnelli – as a result of the president’s indiscretions.

Jackie Kennedy died in 1994 from cancer aged 64 and now her daughter, Caroline Kennedy, has agreed to release the recordings early.

 

Bastrop Texas: Urgent need of a federal disaster declaration

 Bastrop Texas: Two deaths in the dreadful wildfire

 

 Bastrop Texas: Major wildfire

 

Bastrop Texas: Lost Pines Forest massive damages

 

Bastrop Texas: wildfire under control, recovery begins

 

There is an urgent need of a federal disaster declaration to help respond to wildfires throughout the state, said David Dewhurst on Friday, after almost a week of major wildfire in Bastrop Texas.

 

The major wildfire blackened most of Bastrop Texas (AP)
The major wildfire blackened most of Bastrop Texas (AP)

David Dewhurst said the last 10 months since fire season began in November had been the driest in the state since 1895.

“We need help yesterday,” he said.

Rick Perry left Texas on Wedneday to attend a television debate and now he is raising funds in California. David Dewhurst is Texas Lt. Governor and since Perry left he is acting governor. He said there had been no response to the statewide disaster declaration request, although White House said Obama administration had approved seven federal grants. A disaster declaration gives Texas access to heavy equipment, personnel, supplies and other support needed after almost 300 days of wildfires, thus Dewhurst has signed another request. Obama administration has approved a limited disaster declaration for fires in April and May, but Texas has huge problems since January, Dewhurst said.

 

However, Federal Emergency Management Agency were getting disaster declarations for specific counties, including Bastrop Texas.

 

Around 1,400 homes have been burnt to the ground in the last week. Important wildfires are in Travis, Grimes, Cass, Montgomery and Waller counties, Texas Forest Service said.

Some residents were allowed to return to their home places to evaluate the damages, but others are getting frustrated because they are still not permitted to go to survey their property. County Judge Ronnie McDonald said main priority was getting people secure.

Bastrop Texas: a gas leak burns in a ruined house (Reuters)
Bastrop Texas: a gas leak burns in a ruined house (Reuters)

 

Texas Task Force 1 is searching the area for victims, until now the deaths toll in Bastrop Texas is two.

One of the dead people was identified as Michael Troy Farr, 48, who was found Tuesday at his home on Hudson Drive near Smithville. He was a master electrician in Austin and since 2003.

The wildfires have been very uncommon this year due to drought, hottest summer, Tropical Storm Lee, the massive growth in Texas’ population (doubled since 1970), urbanization, and cultivation of non-native plants which burn more easily.

The Bastrop Texas wildfire was over 30 percent contained Friday.

 

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San Diego blackout: power restored for all 1.4 million SDG&E customers.

Southern California and Mexico massive blackout . More than 4 million without power.

 

San Diego Gas & Electric announced Friday 4:30 a.m that have had power restored for all 1.4 million customers, after 13 hours from massive outage struck.

San Diego Gas & Electric vice president, Dave Geier said 100 substations are back on line.

“The 100% return occurred about an hour before the news conference announcement,” Dave Geier said.

San Diego blackout: power restored for all 1.4 million SDG&E customers
San Diego blackout: power restored for all 1.4 million SDG&E customers

 

Dave Geier said that despite the return of power, customers should try to use electricity sparingly, lest they overload the system.

“The system is still fragile,” he said.

The SDG&E vice president also told reporters that it appears that a worker for the Arizona power agency caused the outage but it is unclear what he did.

“We’re not sure,” Geier said.

According to officials, the worker’s action apparently caused the San Onofre nuclear power plant to go offline, along with a “cascading” impact on other sources.

“It tripped out immediately,” Dave Geier said.

And he added that the outage was unprecedented:

“We’ve never have this happen before, and we see no reason it will happen again.”

An investigation involving multiple agency is being launched to determine the cause of the outage, which struck the entire SDG&E service area in San Diego County, southern Orange County and parts of Riverside County and also hit were Baja California and the Imperial Valley.

The latter is served by the Imperial Irrigation District which reports that 100% of customers are receiving power.

Freddie Mercury: “Freddie for a Day” goes on

Celebrating Freddie Mercury’s 65th birthday anniversary lots of events are taking place over the world starting from September 5.

 

 

Freddie Mercury, the Queen frontman who left an important legacy
Freddie Mercury, the Queen frontman, who left an important legacy

On Monday night at the Savoy Hotel in London Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor honored Freddie Mercury‘s memory. Celebrities including Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Nicola Roberts, Fearne Cotton, Holly Branson attended the ceremony. Guests were dressed like the legendary musician, Stephen Fry, Matt Lucas, Ben Elton, Chris Evans worn Mercury-style moustaches. There was also an auction to raise funds for The Mercury Phoenix Trust. Ben Elton, Rhys Thomas, Stephen Fry, Bill Bailey, Russell Brand and Paul Gambaccini were some of the stars who payed tribute to the tragic singer, performing classic Queen’s melodies.

“Freddie made the last person at the back of the furthest stand in a stadium feel that he was connected. He lived life to the full. He devoured life. He celebrated every minute”. Said Jim Beach, Queen manager.

In Shimbashi Square, Tokyo, one thousand persons came to listen to Freddie Mercury‘s famous songs. Hige-Danshaku, Japanese television star and Roy, a notorious Japanese looking like Freddie, hosted the event.

 

Toronto honors Freddie Mercury on September 9.

 

AIDS Committee of Toronto, the Mercury Phoenix Trust partner in Canada, has organized “Are you ready to be Freddie for a Day?” event at Woody’s.

The attendees are invited to dress like their favorite Freddie and to wear moustaches. There are competitions such as the Best Freddie Costume, Best Moustache. Other activities are silent auction, classic tunes of Queen performed by local singers, lip-sync, special Freddie Mercury drink (he was a vodka man).

 

Bucharest celebrates Freddie Mercury with ”Tribute to Remember Freddie Mercury”.

 

”Bicycle Race – Be Freddie for A Day” is an event scheduled for September 10 in Bucharest, Romania. Anti-AIDS Romanian Association is a Mercury Phoenix Trust partner and has organized the event with Green Revolution Association and Raiffesen Bank. The bicycles are part of bike-sharing gratuity I’Velo system. Ten pretty girls will lead the march wearing moustaches and Mercury Phoenix Trust T-shirts “Freddie for a Day”.

 

“Freddie For A Day” Global Charity Network is an initiative of the Mercury Phoenix Trust. Charity partners from countries around the world are selected to join every year in the fight against AIDS. The Mercury Phoenix Trust was founded in 1992, after Freddie Mercury’s death, by Queen’s members and manager Jim Beach and its purpose is to raise money for helping persons with AIDS.

 

Freddie Mercury with Mary Austin, his only true friend
Freddie Mercury with Mary Austin, his only true friend

 

Farrokh Bulsara, known as Freddie Mercury, was born on September 5, 1946. He is famous for singing with Queen as well as for his solo career.

 

The Who, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin were among his favourites artsist. The rocker composed hits like Bohemian Rhapsody, Somebody to Love, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, We Are the Champions, Bicycle Race. He repopularized The Platters’ Great Pretender in 1987. He recorded The Show Must Go On (by Brian May) in 1990 while he was ill, Mercury drank vodka,  said “I’ll fuckin do it, darling!” and started to perform.

Freddie Mercury was bisexual and apparently his sexual orientation was a source of disturbance and sadness for him. Freddie was diagnosed with AIDS (although he had denied HIV infection in the previous years) in 1987, said his partner Jim Hutton, and died of bronchopneumonia as an AIDS complication on November 24, 1991.

Mercury left most of his wealth (his home and recording royalties) to Mary Austin, his former girlfriend who was a great comfort for him in his latest years. Freddie Mercury said about her that she had been his only true friend.

 

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Muammar Gaddafi Arrest: Interpol issues its most-wanted alert

According to local sources, General Ali Kana – A senior general in Libyan ex-leader Col Muammar Gaddafi‘s forces – has fled to Niger.

 

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, which is seeking the men for alleged crimes against humanity, requested Interpol issued its top most-wanted alert for the arrest of the former Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi, his son Seif al-Islam and the country’s ex-head of military intelligence, Abdullah al-Senoussi.

 

Interpol announced on Friday that it has issued and transmitted the red notices to its 188 member countries. A red notice is the equivalent to being on the Lyon, France-based international police body’s most-wanted list.

The police agency declared the new warrant:

“would significantly restrict the ability of all three men to cross international borders”.

The National Transitional Council (NTC) has been trying to negotiate a peaceful resolution to stand-offs in a handful of areas – including Bani Walid, Jufra, Sabha and Col Muammar Gaddafi‘s birthplace of Sirte.

Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Gaddafi

NTC forces last week warned stalwarts they must surrender by Saturday, or face a military attack.

There have been further fights there ahead of the Saturday deadline. Grad rockets have been fired by pro-Gaddafi forces resisting in the town. Sources report clashes near Sirte.

The question of Gadhafi’s whereabouts has been the subject of extensive speculation in Libya, and rumors have put him everywhere from deep in a bunker under Tripoli to safe in exile in neighboring Niger or Algeria.

 

On Thursday, Muammar Gadhafi himself dismissed talk of his flight, saying in an audio broadcast that he’s still in Libya, and exhorting followers to keep fighting. But in recent days several convoys of formerly loyal fighters have streamed over the border with Niger.

 

Muammar Gaddafi Interpol Arrest
Muammar Gaddafi Meeting

 

Rugby World Cup 2011: Officially Opened

The 2011 Rugby World Cup is the seventh edition of the quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) chose New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Africa at a meeting in Dublin on 17 November 2005. The IRB Council eliminated South Africa in the first of two rounds of voting.

 

Rugby World Cup 2011 was officially opened in the middle of spectacular fireworks and parade in front of 60,000 fans at Eden Park.

 

An amazing choreographed pageant represented the spirit of rugby and the Rugby World Cup – past, present and future – to a television audience estimated worldwide to be in the millions.

The story that led to 20 teams from around the world coming to NZ to compete with each other at the 7th Rugby World Cup was told by a cast of 1000 volunteers from the rugby-playing nations.

 

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During the show, pictures of rugby history were transmitted in the stadium, containing a huge roll of honor depicting the names of the highest scorers from each nation in their World Cup histories accompanied by a performance of the RWC anthem World in Union.

And, as always in anything that is rugby in New Zealand, it culminated in a huge, ardent and passionate haka, devised with the input of Maori throughout New Zealand and performed in tandem with the fireworks display to bring the ceremony to a exciting end.

Rugby World Cup 2011 - haka
Rugby World Cup 2011 - haka

 

John Key, New Zealand’s prime minister, expressed the enthusiasm his country felt at hosting the Rugby World Cup for a second time. Afterwards Rugby World Cup Limited Chairman Bernard Lapasset welcomed the world to New Zealand in the language of the Maori before switching to English to declare:

 

‘’New Zealand has dreamed for 24 years of welcoming back the world’s greatest players to the world’s greatest rugby stage. Tonight that dream comes true.’’

‘’This great country and its wonderful people will be the most exceptional hosts of a tournament that New Zealanders and rugby fans alike will be proud of,’’ he said.

‘’It is my honor and privilege to declare Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand officially open.’’

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