Edwin Ledgard, a Big Boy restaurant worker from Cincinnati, Ohio, with a history of violence, was arrested Friday for pouring animal medicine into a pot of coffee in hopes of killing customers.
Edwin Ledgard, 36, went into a Big Boy restaurant where he worked on his day off in order to follow a “delusion” he had to kill.
The man was not scheduled to work on Friday, so when a co-worker saw him tampering with the coffee pot around 4:00 p.m. on Friday, it raised a mental red flag.
One of Edwin Ledgard’s colleagues saw him pouring vials of an animal medication into a pot of brewing coffee and a salt shaker before stopping him.
Edwin Ledgard, a Big Boy restaurant worker from Cincinnati, Ohio, with a history of violence, was arrested Friday for pouring animal medicine into a pot of coffee in hopes of killing customers
Edwin Ledgard brought three vials of Dextran with him, attempting to poison customers using the medicine that treats anemia in baby pigs. The drug is also known as Dexiron or Iron-500.
For humans, the substance can be fatal, with common side effects including anaphalactic shock, respiratory failure, or excessive water accumulation in the brain.
After his coworker stopped Edwin Ledgard from serving the poisoned coffee and salt, the vials were taken away from him and he was arrested for one count of contaminating a substance for human consumption.
Upon arrest, Edwin Ledgard told police that he was following a “delusion” to kill customers.
This is not his first run in with the law. Edwin Ledgard was just released in late May of this year after serving a portion of an one-year sentence of a 2010 stalking charge.
Prior to that, Edwin Ledgard spent a month in jail after he hit a corrects officer in jail.
Edwin Ledgard is now in the custody of the Toledo Municipal Court and is scheduled to be arraigned this morning.
First Lady Michelle Obama and the Vice President’s wife, Dr. Jill Biden, were booed before kicking off NASCAR’s season finale in Florida.
Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden were on hand at the race on Sunday to honour military troops and their families through First Lady’s Joining Forces program.
As the two ladies arrival was announced to say the ceremonial “Gentleman, start your engines”, a chorus of loud booing could be heard above the cheers in the crowd.
The Joining Forces is a program designed to hire and train veterans and military spouses.
First Lady Michelle Obama and the Vice President’s wife, Dr. Jill Biden, were booed before kicking off NASCAR’s season finale in Florida
An ABC News source traveling with Michelle Obama said that no distinct booing could be heard during the “loud chaotic program with jets flying over and tons of noise”.
But as hostile as the Homestead-Miami Speedway crowd may have been, Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden were welcomed during pre-race festivities, receiving a standing ovation.
At the time, Michelle Obama said NASCAR has been “amazing in terms of its support, not just today but every day for military families”.
The First Lady added that days like this remind military families that “they do have a country that cares and appreciates what they do, and it means so much to them”.
Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden also appeared with military families in driver Carl Edwards’ garage, where they were treated to an up-close look at his cars, the Kansas City Star reported.
Carl Edwards serves on the President’s Council for Physical Fitness, an effort designed to increase awareness of physical fitness and healthy eating.
A woman from Guilford, North Carolina, killed one person and wounded five more – including four children – before fatally shooting herself in front of police officers.
One of the victims was shot and wounded in the car park of Guilford Technical Community College near Greensboro.
The woman shot herself in a car as police approached her and was pronounced dead at a hospital, said Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes.
A wounded victim was found in the back seat of the vehicle with a gun shot wound.
Police officers then went to the suspect’s nearby home, where they found one person dead and three more wounded.
One of the victims was shot and wounded in the car park of Guilford Technical Community College near Greensboro
Four of the victims were aged between 9 and 19, and the fifth victim was 40-years-old.
Police said they believe the shooting was a domestic situation that went wrong and that all the victims knew each other.
Victims identities have not been released.
The sheriff says three of the wounded were on life support late Sunday afternoon.
“We’re trying to figure out exactly what did happen here,” BJ Barnes said at a news conference.
“The only thing we know is we have a large number of gunshot victims.”
The shootings began happening around 9:00 a.m. on Sunday and police have recovered several guns, Sheriff BJ Barnes said.
A two-page note was found at one of the shooting scenes in Pleasant Garden, but Sheriff BJ Barnes could not specify what it said.
Liam and Noel Gallagher’s mother, Peggy, has told her sons to “sort it out themselves” after they became embroiled in a bitter legal battle.
Liam and Noel Gallagher, former Oasis bandmates, worth a cool £63 million ($95 million) combined, have always been more famous for offstage antics than their onstage performances.
Noel Gallagher, 44, who left Oasis in 2009, charted the end of band in a 14 page document lodged at the High Court.
Liam and Noel Gallagher's mother, Peggy, has told her sons to "sort it out themselves" after they became embroiled in a bitter legal battle
In the explosive documents, Noel Gallagher reveals the disintegration of Oasis from its glory years in the early nineties to today.
The Daily Mirror reported Noel Gallagher’s version of events given in a legal document in response to his brother’s libel action.
When quizzed at her Manchester home over whether she was upset, Peggy Gallagher simply said “yes”.
Noel Gallagher claimed his brother left abusive voicemail messages on his wife Sara MacDonald’s phone, tried to attack him with his guitar and disrupted gigs after drinking too much.
The legal documents also describe how Noel regarded Liam Gallagher as “spiteful and childish” for mocking him onstage.
Since the band split in 2009, Liam and Noel Gallagher have been fighting it out professionally and personally with very public spats.
This court case originated after Noel claimed Liam Gallagher missed the 2009 V Festival gig in Chelmsford because he was hungover.
Even though Noel apologized, Liam Gallagher has launched a libel action against him which is ongoing.
In the papers filed in his defence, lodged on November 1, Noel Gallagher makes a string of allegations against his younger brother Liam.
The older brother claims before he quit the band in August 2009, they were not talking after Noel refused to allow ‘free advertising’ for Liam Gallagher’s clothing range Pretty Green in the band’s promotional material.
According to some reports, Noel Gallagher said he would allow free advertising “over his dead body”.
This spelled the end for the band with Liam Gallagher starting to wind his brother up and dedicate songs to Pretty Green staff onstage.
Noel Gallagher claims it was this “spiteful and childish” nature which led him to leave the band he started with his brother.
His lawyers detail 12 times from 1994 to 2005 where Liam Gallagher allegedly “disrupted” gigs by storming out, being drunk or getting into fights.
But Noel Gallagher has scored a point against brother Liam, shooting to the top of the Official Charts with his first solo album in October.
The songwriter flew into number one with his aptly-named debut release Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.
Liam Gallagher’s post-Oasis band Beady Eye peaked only at number three when they released Different Gear, Still Speeding last year.
Last night a spokesman for Liam Gallagher said: “After Noel apologized the matter is now in the hands of lawyers.”
Food and Drug Administration has rescinded approval of Genentech’ breast cancer drug, Avastin, saying it is not effective enough to justify the risks of taking it.
FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., said today she is revoking the agency’s approval of the breast cancer indication for Avastin (bevacizumab) after concluding that the drug has not been shown to be safe and effective for that use.
Avastin will still remain on the market as an approved treatment for certain types of colon, lung, kidney and brain cancer (glioblastoma multiforme).
“This was a difficult decision. FDA recognizes how hard it is for patients and their families to cope with metastatic breast cancer and how great a need there is for more effective treatments. But patients must have confidence that the drugs they take are both safe and effective for their intended use,” Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg said.
“After reviewing the available studies it is clear that women who take Avastin for metastatic breast cancer risk potentially life-threatening side effects without proof that the use of Avastin will provide a benefit, in terms of delay in tumor growth, that would justify those risks. Nor is there evidence that use of Avastin will either help them live longer or improve their quality of life.”
Food and Drug Administration has rescinded approval of Genentech' breast cancer drug, Avastin, saying it is not effective enough to justify the risks of taking it
Avastin’s risks include severe high blood pressure; bleeding and hemorrhaging; heart attack or heart failure; and the development of perforations in different parts of the body such as the nose, stomach, and intestines.
FDA’s decision, outlined in Dr Margaret A. Hamburg’s 69-page opinion, involves Avastin used in combination with the cancer drug paclitaxel for those patients who have not been treated with chemotherapy for their form of metastatic breast cancer known as HER2 negative. This indication must now be removed from Avastin’s product labeling.
Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg’s decision is based on an extensive record, which includes thousands of pages submitted to a public docket, data from several clinical trials and the record from a two-day hearing held in June, 2011.
Avastin was approved for metastatic breast cancer in February 2008 under the FDA’s accelerated approval program, which allows a drug to be approved based on data that are not sufficiently complete to permit full approval.
The accelerated approval program provides earlier patient access to promising new drugs to treat serious or life-threatening conditions while confirmatory clinical trials are conducted. If the clinical trials do not justify the continued approval of the drug or a specific drug indication, the agency may revoke its approval. In this case, the accelerated approval was based on promising results from one study that suggested that the drug could provide a meaningful increase in the amount of time from when treatment is started until the tumor grows or the death of the patient.
After the accelerated approval of Avastin for breast cancer, the drug’s sponsor, Genentech, completed two additional clinical trials and submitted the data from those studies to the FDA. These data showed only a small effect on tumor growth without evidence that patients lived any longer or had a better quality of life compared to taking standard chemotherapy alone – not enough to outweigh the risk of taking the drug.
FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, which is responsible for the approval of this drug, ultimately concluded that the results of these additional studies did not justify continued approval and notified Genentech it was proposing to withdraw approval of the indication.
Genentech did not agree with the Center’s evaluation of the data and, following the procedures set out in FDA regulations, requested a hearing on the Center’s withdrawal proposal, with a decision to be made by the Commissioner. That two-day hearing, which took place June 28-29, 2011, included recommendations from the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC), voting 6-0 in favor of withdrawing approval of Avastin’s breast cancer indication. After the hearing, the public docket remained open until Aug. 4, 2011. (In an earlier meeting of the ODAC, that committee had voted 12-1 in favor of the removal of the breast cancer indication from the Avastin label).
“FDA is committed to working with sponsors to bring promising cancer drugs to market as quickly as possible using tools like accelerated approval,” Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg said.
“I encourage Genentech to consider additional studies to identify if there are select subgroups of women suffering from breast cancer who might benefit from this drug.”
Investigators of Bellevue’s missing toddler Sky Metalwala case have found what they describe as “something of interest” in the case.
The items were found on Saturday at Watershed Park in Kirkland, over two weeks after Sky Metalwala was reported missing after being left alone in his mother’s broken down car.
Police would not release further details about what items were found but said they were enough for them to call in a forensics team after an overnight search the heavily wooded area.
According to ABC affiliate KOMO-TV, police are not sure if the items are related to the case but have sent them in for analysis.
Investigators of Bellevue's missing toddler Sky Metalwala case have found what they describe as "something of interest" in the case
The items were found shortly after police released new photos of Sky Metalwala and his mother Julia Biryukova in effort to acquire more leads in the case.
Carla Iafrate of the Bellevue Police Department told KOMO-TV: “They found something of interest. We called out our CSI investigators, they showed up and looked at the items.”
Carla Iafrate confirmed rakes and shovels were used in the overnight search of Watershed Park. However, she asked speculation not be made based on the equipment, insisting it was “standard’ for any search and rescue.
“There’s a lot of leaves, it’s pretty wet and damp. There’s a lot of rabbit burrows, so the land is soft back there,” Carla Iafrate said.
Police have had serious questions about Julia Biryukova’ story that she left Sky Metalwala alone in an unlocked car in Bellvue after running out of gas on November 6.
Julia Biryukova’s car had plenty of gas and was running fine, police determined.
Sky Metalwala’s mother had told police it stalled as she was driving her son to the hospital because he wasn’t feeling well, and that she left him inside as she and the boy’s four-year-old sister spent an hour walking to a gas station and calling a friend for help. She told police upon returning to the vehicle, driven by a friend, toddler was missing. The friend called police.
In new photos released on Saturday, Julia Biryukova is seen standing alone in a store wearing the same gray sweat suit she wore on the day she said she left Sky Metalwala in the unlocked vehicle.
Julia Biryukova and her estranged husband, Solomon Metalwala, were cited in 2009 for leaving the boy sleeping in their sport utility vehicle in a Target parking lot in Redmond for 55 minutes. They came out to get him only after police arrived and asked the store to page the vehicle’s owner.
Solomon Metalwala, with whom the mother is in a bitter divorce and custody battle, has said her story is full of holes. He also claimed in divorce documents she had dreamt of strangling the boy.
Police were also looking into whether Julia Biryukova was a member of an online dating service that connects women with “sugar daddies”.
Julia Biryukova, 30, an Ukrainian immigrant, has refused to speak with detectives since the day of Sky Metalwala’s disappearance, but she did acknowledge to police she sometimes left her children alone for extended periods.
Nevertheless, detectives have yet to arrest Julia Biryukova for any crimes they might be able to pin on her, such as making a false police report or recklessly endangering the boy. By giving her some space, they say, they hope to encourage her to cooperate beyond the limited help she’s given.
Investigators have searched Julia Biryukova’s apartment and car with her consent, police said. However, her divorce attorney said she has declined to take a polygraph test because they are unreliable and she is too emotionally devastated.
Sky Metalwala’s father has passed out fliers and voluntarily took polygraph examinations, as did some of his relatives. He warned in a court declaration early this year that his estranged wife’s mental health issues were endangering the children. She alleged that he was domineering and abusive.
In the week before Sky Metalwala disappeared, his parents reached a tentative agreement after a 12-hour mediation session that would allow Solomon Metalwala to have some visitation with the couple’s two children.
But two days later – and two days before she reported her son missing – Julia Biryukova decided to pull out of the agreement, Solomon Metalwala’s divorce attorney, D Michael Tomkins, said last week .
Garrett Uekman, a promising 19-year-old college football player at Arkansas Razorbacks, was found dead in his dorm by a roommate yesterday.
Garrett Uekman was last seen in “good health” playing video games by a flatmate yesterday morning, but less than an hour later another roommate found him unconscious.
The teenager was declared dead shortly after, THV reports.
Garrett Uekman was “living his dream” of going to the University of Arkansas and playing tight end for the Razorbacks, his devastated family said.
He was said to have been “beaming from ear to ear” in Arkansas’ win against Mississippi State in his hometown of Little Rock less than 24 hours before his death.
Garrett Uekman had played in nine games during the current football season for his beloved team.
Paramedics arrived at the Northwest Quad residence hall in Fayetteville at 11:20 a.m. and found the student-athlete in cardiac arrest, but several attempts to revive him failed, the report says.
Garrett Uekman was pronounced dead at Washington Regional Medical Center at 12:10 p.m.
University Police Lt. Matt Mills told THV that the cause of Garrett Uekman’s death is not known at this time, but there are no suspicious circumstances.
Garrett Uekman, a promising 19-year-old college football player at Arkansas Razorbacks, was found dead in his dorm by a roommate yesterday
His body is being sent to the State Medical Examiner for an autopsy.
The grieving parents Danny and Michelle Uekman said: “Our son was living his dream of going to the U of A and playing football for the Razorbacks.
“He loved his school, his coaches, and his teammates and classmates, and was an influence and inspiration to so many people.
“We ask for your love and prayers for Garrett, our family and his friends as we all cope with this heavy and painful loss.”
David Estes, the football coach at Little Rock Catholic where Garrett Uekman played in high school, said he was “beaming from ear to ear” on Saturday night in Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium as the Razorbacks defeated Mississippi State 44-17.
“Garrett was any parent or coach’s dream,” David Estes said.
“He was one of those special kids and had a passion for everything. He loved Catholic High, loves UA and wanted to be a Razorback forever. He got to live that dream.”
A Facebook group set up in Garrett Uekman’s memory has already got 1500 members and tributes on social networking sites have been flooding in.
Members of the Razorback football team held a meeting this afternoon where the player’s death was announced.
“Garrett Uekman was a special member of our family, and we are all saddened by his passing,” Bobby Petrino, the head football coach said.
“His loss is a terrible shock, and it makes you realise how precious life is. Garrett was a great teammate and loved being a Razorback.
“My sympathies are with his entire family during this incredibly trying time, and I share in their grief. Our team will honour and show our respect to Garrett.”
Lt. Matt Mills said he expected to have more information on the cause of the death today.
Garrett Uekman was a sophomore majoring in applied exercise science in the College of Education and Health Professions.
According to the Razorbacks website, 6ft 4in tall Garrett Uekman was regarded as one of the top prospects in the state and was ranked as the No. 23 tight end in the nation and the No. 5 recruit in the state of Arkansas.
Gregory Halman, baseball player at Seattle Mariners, has been stabbed to death in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Gregory Halman, 24, the Seattle Mariners outfielder, died in the early hours of this morning, police and the player’s family have confirmed.
Gregory Halman’s brother has been arrested in connection with the incident.
A spokesman for Rotterdam police said: “A 24-year-old died this morning in a stabbing and we have arrested the 22-year-old brother of the victim.”
Gregory Halman, baseball player at Seattle Mariners, has been stabbed to death in Rotterdam, Netherlands
Gregory Halman was a Dutch national, born in Haarlem, Netherlands.
The outfield player made his debut aged 16 in 2003 with the Dutch major league team of Corendon Kinheim in his home town of Haarlem.
When he was 17 and right of out high school, Gregory Halman moved to the U.S. after signing with the Seattle Mariners in June 2004.
Gregory Halman was one of the country’s most successful baseball exports and rose steadily through the Major League ranks before hitting the big time in 2010.
He appeared in 44 MLB games for Seattle and helped the Netherlands win the European Baseball Championship in 2007.
In 2009, Gregory Halman earned the “best power hitter” tag and “best athlete” in the Mariners.
When not playing for the team, Gregory Halman had helped boost baseball in Europe by holding coaching sessions with youngsters.
He was a graduate of Mendel College, Holland, and spoke four languages.
Gregory Halman’s father, Eddy, and brother, Jason, had also played on the Dutch national baseball team.
His sister, Naomi Halman, is a professional basketball player in Europe.
Gregory Halman had previously admitted it was a struggle leaving his “supportive” family behind to live in the United States.
“It was hard coming from a big family with love around you,” Gregory Halman said in an interview with Tacoma Weekly last year.
“But playing baseball was always my goal, so when I was feeling homesick I would tell myself this is what I always wanted to do. It was tough.”
Gregory Halman was seen as a power-hitting prospect, especially after hitting 33 home runs in 2010 at the team’s Triple A team in Tacoma.
Last season, he hit .230 with two home runs and six RBIs in 35 games with the Mariners last season.
David Weaver, a hunter from Lakeview, Michigan, accidentally shot dead his brother Harry who was sitting in a camouflaged hunting blind.
Harry Weaver, 26, died instantly after being hit in the head by the stray bullet.
Harry Weaver, who is from an Amish family, had not told his younger brother David that he was going out hunting on family-owned land in rural Mecosta County in Michigan.
While David Weaver, 23, stalked deer with several friends across rural farmland his older brother took refuge in a hunting blind.
Camouflaged blinds are often used by hunters as it allows them to go unnoticed by deer.
According to police, David Weaver fired three shots at a deer that is believed to have bolted in front of the hunting blind.
David Weaver, a hunter from Lakeview, Michigan, accidentally shot dead his brother Harry who was sitting in a camouflaged hunting blind
All three shots missed their target but Harry Weaver was found dead after he failed to return to the family home to carry out his chores.
Police said the victim was more than 400 yards from his brother across open fields.
The shooter had limited visibility and all he could see was the top of the deer blind.
Police said they are treating the incident as a tragic accident and said it should serve as a warning to other hunters.
Sheriff Todd Purcell said: “Evidence found at the scene initially pointed to the fact that the brother may have been the one to fire the fatal shot.”
Sheriff added that David Weaver is shaken, but cooperating fully with the investigation.
“It’s an accidental tragedy that the hunting community is aware of,” Todd Purcell said.
“The brother did not come back for chores, which threw red flags up to the family, at which point they went out to search for him and they found him.
“The family is doing as best as possible.”
Harry Weaver’s death came two days after Michigan’s 16-day firearm deer hunting season began.
Jeanne Thomas of Florida was watching her house from work using an internet surveillance webcam, when she saw two burglars raiding her home.
After the shock of seeing two burly men handling her gaming consoles and flat screen television, Jeanne Thomas called the police.
Minutes later, Jeanne Thomas, 43, continued to watched in dramatic suspense as the suspects were arrested right in her living room.
“This is unbelievable!” Jeanne Thomas exclaims into the recording.
“He doesn’t even know I’m sitting here watching all this.”
Jeanne Thomas from Florida was watching her house from work using an internet surveillance webcam, when she saw two burglars raiding her home
Jeanne Thomas installed a home video monitor last October because she had been robbed, and that protection was well worth it after the second burglary was thwarted.
When police arrived at the scene, they found Jeanne Thomas’ safe, a 37-inch flat screen television, a video game console and games all lined up on her bed, ready to be packed away.
The video shows two men enter her Boynton Beach home through the doggie door and walk around, adjusting their tools and grabbing Wii video games as they inspect their possible loot.
Jeanne Thomas gets progressively more worried as minutes go by without any sign of police.
Approximately three minutes, the men appear visibly concerned, running around the home trying to figure out a way out as they must have heard police approaching.
The men were identified as Curtis Williams, 20, and Steven Morales, 19, and were arrested by police at the scene.
Two other men- Scott George and Jonathan Cruz, both 20- were also arrested for having helped plan the crimes.
Peter Dutro and Brad Spitzer, two leading figures of the Occupy Wall Street movement, who moonlight as businessmen, have eschewed the campfire comradeship for a room at a fashionable five star W Hotel Downtown.
Peter Dutro, one of the members of elite finance committee, and Deloitte analyst Brad Spitzer, who covertly took part in protests while on a work trip from California, checked into the sumptuous W Hotel Downtown, The New York Post reported.
W Hotel Downtown is a $700-per-night hotel, with 350-count Egyptian cotton sheets.
Brad Spitzer said: “I’m staying here for work. I do finance, but I support it still.
“Tents are not for me.”
W Hotel Downtown is a $700-per-night hotel, with 350-count Egyptian cotton sheets
Brad Spitzer, 24, also offered other demonstrators respite from the weather in his decadent surroundings, requesting a roll-out bed to accommodate guests, according to The New York Post.
“He’s here all the time,” a hotel source said.
“We all see him at the protest.”
During their stay the scruffy set he draws into the hotel live it up like 1 per centers, hotel sources told The New York Post.
Brad Spitzer denied accommodating demonstrators and claimed he simply offered a shower to a blogger friend living in the park.
Meanwhile, Peter Dutro, 35, one of the small powerful team that decides how the movement’s $500,00 fund should be spent, arrived at the hotel the night after Zuccotti Park was cleared.
While many of the rumpled revolutionaries scratched around for accommodation in church basements, Peter Dutro, who lives in Brooklyn, put up in a hotel that promises guests can “unleash [their] inner Gordon Gekko.”
Gordon Gekko is the name of the rogue trader played by Michael Douglas in the 1987 and 2010 Wall Street films that epitomise the greed that the Occupy movement claims to oppose.
Peter Dutro claimed to have chosen the W Hotel Downtown for its convenience
Confronted, Peter Dutro claimed to have chosen the W Hotel Downtown for its convenience.
“I knew everything was going to be a clusterf–k in the morning,” he told The New York Post, referring to Occupy’s plans to bring the city to a halt.
“How would I get over the bridge when they were shutting it down?”
Peter Druto added: “I’m not in the business of throwing money away. It’s the only room I could find.”
Peter Druto, a tattoo artist and former software project manager who dropped out of an NYU finance degree program to join the occupation said he paid $500 of his own money, using an American Express card, on the palatial surroundings.
He wanted to get a good night’s sleep before the cause’s two-month ceremony the following day, he explained.
“I knew . . . there was a high probability of getting arrested,” he said.
“I wanted a nice room. That’s OK. Not everybody there is dirt poor.”
“It is an expensive hotel. Whatever,” he said.
Peter Dutro also claims that he looked after fellow protesters, who were staying in less salubrious surroundings.
“I took food to all those churches,” he said.
“I got them cigarettes.”
Other group leaders have stayed in both the W Downtown and the Marriott Hotel, the New York Post reported. Some key players were not present at the park campsite when police swept Zuccotti Park free of tents.
Rooms at the W Hotel Downtown have 37-inch flat-screen TVs, goose down duvets, rainforest showers and iPod-docks. A pastrami sandwich, from room service, costs an astonishing $18.
Demi Moore is said to have instructed her lawyers to “punish” Ashton Kutcher “financially” in revenge for the betrayal that led her to seek a divorce.
Demi Moore‘s edict is in spite of a pre-nuptial contract with Ashton Kutcher – which she insisted on when they married in 2005.
At the time, Demi Moore, now 49, wanted to prevent him ever seeking a share of her $148 million pot of assets.
Back then, Ashton Kutcher, now 33, the son of a mid-western factory worker, was just beginning his acting career while Demi Moore had a fortune built up from roles in hit films including Indecent Proposal and Disclosure.
In addition Demi Moore had a $75 million divorce settlement from her second husband, Bruce Willis.
Now Demi Moore’s career is on the wane and Ashton Kutcher is the one who commands major fees.
Demi Moore is said to have instructed her lawyers to "punish" Ashton Kutcher "financially" in revenge for the betrayal that led her to seek a divorce
Ashton Kutcher earns $750,000 an episode playing an internet billionaire in the TV sitcom Two And A Half Men and as much as $6 million a year as a successful investor in new technology projects, including Skype.
“With a pre-nuptial agreement, Ashton should be sitting pretty,” a source close to Demi Moore’s entourage said.
“These agreements are designed to protect one’s earnings during the marriage as well as one’s pre-nuptial assets.
“But Demi is furious, raging in fact – you only have to look at every photo you see of her to see the toll Ashton’s cheating has taken on her.
“She wants to punish him financially because of the way he has broken her heart. She is talking about going after a share of what he has earned since their marriage on the grounds that she contributed to much of what he has achieved.
“She is going to give him a bitter fight and, whether or not she wins, it will be an expensive lesson for him.”
Demi Moore originally consulted a divorce lawyer in early October after Ashton Kutcher allegedly had unprotected sex on their sixth wedding anniversary with Sara Leal, following a drunken hot-tub party.
It was alleged to be the second occasion Ashton Kutcher had publicly humiliated her – Brittney Jones, 21, had bragged that he seduced her at a Los Angeles home he shares with Demi Moore.
Demi Moore’s frequent travels – she also has residences in New York and an Idaho mountain resort – “have made it easy for Ashton to go on living like a bachelor”, a source close to the couple said.
“But she has to travel for her work and she believes he just totally violated her trust.”
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher went to Kabbalah marriage counselling after he begged for a second chance. They also spent a weekend on a Caribbean atoll, Parrot Cay, where they were lent a villa by Bruce Willis, who remains one of his ex-wife’s closest friends and has helped bring up their three daughters.
“She was a wreck,” the source said.
“She believes strongly in marriage and she really didn’t want to spend her middle years alone. But in the end, she just couldn’t see any way of making things work. Bruce told her he is in her corner.”
A leading US family law expert, Raoul Felder, warned last night that Demi Moore faces an expensive battle.
“There are very few grounds for overturning a pre-nuptial agreement,” Raoul Felder said.
“The only people likely to win are the lawyers for the wife and the toyboy husband, who will collect huge legal fees.”
Robin Gibb, the Bee Gees star, who has been diagnosed with liver cancer, was rushed to hospital this week following a 999 call from his home.
Robin Gibb, 61, was diagnosed with liver cancer several months ago, and has since cancelled several public appearances.
The singer spent five hours in hospital on Tuesday before being allowed back home, where he was joined by his mother Barbara, 91, and his older brother Barry.
Barry Gibb has flown in from the US to be with his sibling.
It has been no secret that Robin Gibb has become frail over the last few months.
Robin Gibb, the Bee Gees star, who has been diagnosed with liver cancer, was rushed to hospital this week following a 999 call from his home
Robin Gibb was treated for inflammation of the colon in October after being taken by ambulance to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
The singer was discharged after four days, but said to be in severe pain.
Robin Gibb lives in an £8 million ($12 million) 12th Century home in Thame, Oxon,with his wife Dwina.
“Robin is not good and there is a lot of concern for him,” a friend has said, according to the Sunday Mirror.
“You can use your wealth to call in the best experts but sometimes no amount of fame, prestige and money can change things when it comes to cancer.
“But Robin is a strong character, he is a fighter and has been encouraged by all the online messages from his fans.
“Dwina is doing everything possible and hasn’t left his side.”
His wife is reportedly trying to persuade Robin Gibb to visit a Native American medicine man.
“This incredible Indian tribe introduced Robin and I to something called Spider Medicine that apparently contains properties that can help you get well from certain untreatable illnesses,” said the druid priestess.
“There will be difficult times ahead but Robin will never give up and his loving family will make sure he has everything he needs. There is frustration because Robin has always looked after himself. He doesn’t drink, eats well and exercises daily,” the friend added.
Robin Gibb spoke in an interview with new Sky Arts show Living The Life, broadcast tonight, about his inability to accept the death of his twin brother Maurice.
Robin Gibb described Maurice’s death at 53 as “something I haven’t accepted”, adding:
“I just imagine he is out there somewhere and I will bump into him one day.”
The Bee Gees disbanded after Maurice’s death, having sold 200 million records worldwide with hits such as Night Fever and Stayin’ Alive.
Robin Gibb’s younger brother Andy died in 1988 aged 30 after struggling with a cocaine addiction.
“It is incredibly sad for Barbara. First she lost her son Andy, then Maurice and now she has to cope with seeing Robin like this,” said a friend, according to the Sunday Mirror.
“It is a lot for a mother, particular of her age, to deal with. Barry has also been there for his brother and a lot of friends have been rallying round.”
Robin Gibb cancelled a US tour in April due to extreme stomach pain.
The star had part of his intestine removed in an emergency procedure last year, after suffering blockage similar to that which killed his brother Maurice.
Robin Gibb was quick to squash claims last month that his condition was worsening, saying: “I’m feeling great, absolutely great. I’m working on the Titanic Requiem at the moment and it’s going really well.“
The driver of a U-Haul truck carrying beer kegs through a tailgating area before the Yale-Harvard game yesterday suddenly accelerated, fatally striking a 30-year-old Massachusetts woman and injuring two other women, police said.
New Haven Police spokesman David Hartman said that it is not yet clear why the driver sped up.
At least one eyewitness told police the driver pressed the pedal in annoyance that the women were not moving fast enough, the New Haven Register reported.
U-Haul truck, travelling at 35 mph, then crashed into other U-Haul vans in the lot, which is earmarked for fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon members to have pre-game tailgating parties in before Yale home games.
A police source told the New Haven Register that the driver “maybe accidentally” hit the gas with some witnesses assuming he had intended to put his foot on the brake.
“I watched a woman die today,” one man told the New Haven Register, declining to give his name.
“It was totally an accident. Whether he was impaired is another question.”
The driver of a U-Haul truck carrying beer kegs through a tailgating area before the Yale-Harvard game yesterday suddenly accelerated, fatally striking a 30-year-old Massachusetts woman and injuring two other women
The crash occurred at 9:49 a.m. and the Massachusetts woman, reportedly unconnected with Harvard or Yale, was pronounced dead at 10:16 a.m. at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
A second woman, believed to have suffered broken bones, was listed in critical but stable condition at the hospital. She is from New Haven and a student at the Yale’s School of Management, the Yale Daily News reported.
The third woman suffered minor injuries and is being treated at St. Raphael’s Hospital.
David Hartman said the driver was in police custody. Police have not yet released any identities.
Yale spokesman Tom Conroy told the Yale Daily News that the university “will be undertaking a full review of the policies and regulations relating to tailgating before athletics events”.
The parking lots around the stadium can be unruly and full of drunken revellers, fans and students have said.
Yale tried to install new rules in 2005 to supposedly eliminate drinking games, limit U-Haul usage and end tailgating after halftime, in a bid to curb excessive drinking and rambunctious behavior, the New Haven Register reported.
The U-Haul truck had been driving through the Yale Bowl’s Lot D, the site of the Sigma Phi Epsilon tailgate.
Drew Marconi, the fraternity’s director of communications, did not confirm that the U-Haul was a Sigma Phi Epsilon vehicle, but said that they would cooperate with any police investigation.
“We’re deeply saddened by the events of today’s tailgate, and our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families,” Drew Marconi said.
“Our leadership board and national representatives are currently working to understand the details of the situation and assess what has transgressed. We hope to know more soon.”
The fans had gathered for the 128th game of the Ivy League rivalry, with Harvard looking for its fifth straight win over Yale.
Three hours after the accident, the loud tailgating continued in the lot, with music blaring from large speakers and fans grilling hot dogs, sausage and hamburgers. Some students danced on top of other rental trucks.
A crowd of more than 50,000 people was expected to attend the event, known simply as “The Game”, and began congregating in the tailgating area around 8:30 a.m.
The accident scene was cordoned off by yellow police tape, and a dozen numbered evidence placards were on the ground.
The three rental trucks involved in the accident were still at the scene, stacked one against another from the collision. There were several kegs of beer inside each vehicle.
At halftime of the game, with Harvard leading Yale, 24-7, the public address announcer at Yale Bowl informed the crowd of the accident and the woman’s death, noting that it had been confirmed by the New Haven Police. He asked spectators to stand and observe a moment of silence.
The historic Yale-Harvard rivalry is an Ivy League tradition that dates back to 1875.
Last week, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher tried to patch up their marriage with a make-or-break holiday to Bruce Willis’ Caribbean hideaway in Turks & Caicos.
However, despite the romantic location, Demi Moore made the heart-breaking decision to end relationship with Ashton Kutcher.
The couple jetted to one of Bruce Willis’s holiday homes, where Demi Moore, 49, apparently asked for a cast-iron guarantee that Ashton Kutcher, 33, would never stray again – and was not satisfied with the answers.
The trip was the latest in several attempts to overcome their difficulties, following a spiritual’ visit to Israel, and another with a rural retreat, complete with marriage therapist.
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher have been seeking “spiritual guidance” over their marital problems for several months.
Last week, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher tried to patch up their marriage with a make-or-break holiday to Bruce Willis' Caribbean hideaway in Turks & Caicos
In the end, Demi Moore simply could not forgive the repeated and well-documented transgressions of Ashton Kutcher.
As Demi Moore indicated in a devastatingly worded statement on Thursday, Ashton Kutcher fell short of the vows and values she believed essential to marriage, and she therefore decided to end their six-year union.
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, who are estimated to have a joint fortune of $290 million, are not thought to have a pre-nuptial agreement, so would be required to split their assets 50-50 under California law.
In her statement Demi Moore said she was filing for divorce with “great sadness and a heavy heart”, and added: “As a woman, a mother and a wife, there are certain values and vows that I hold sacred, and it is in this spirit that I have chosen to move forward with my life.”
Ashton Kutcher habitually hits the town in a big group, invariably taking along a bodyguard. When they were in a nightclub called Fluxx in San Diego in September, they were overheard debating if any of the passing women were “hot tub worthy”.
One of the girls in the tub, administrative assistant Sarah Leal, 22, claims that she and Ashton Kutcher twice had unprotected sex, but only after he had inquired after the possibility of a threesome with her and a friend.
Another woman, Megan McNutt, who was also there, described the actor as “super hot and super fun”.
She added: “If there is a hot tub there is going to be some action.”
The night in question was Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore’s sixth wedding anniversary.
Demi Moore had apparently confided to friends that she could no longer trust her husband.
Ashton Kutcher would switch off his phone for hours and she would not know where he was, or with whom. “She’s sick of feeling that she can’t trust Ashton,” said a source yesterday.
Another source added: “This has been a long time coming – heating for years and it has been soul destroying.
“They have been separate for some time, and Ashton has lately been acting as if he has wanted to be caught out. He has been hoping to provoke the end of the marriage, but she has been hanging on.”
For his part, Ashton Kutcher denied any wrongdoing, saying it was all based on assumptions. He accused the American tabloids of making up stories. It was a brazen strategy, and eventually not even his own wife believed him.
Demi Moore had already had her credulity stretched to snapping point by a previous (denied) liaison with Brittney Jones, 21, who said that Ashton Kutcher picked her up in July last year at a bowling alley and had sex with her on a sofa in his marital home in Beverly Hills days later while the actress was away.
Brittney Jones claimed that Ashton Kutcher insisted his marriage was an “open” one. She said on Thursday: “I do feel somewhat vindicated. Ashton told me that he and Demi had an open relationship and that he was not in fact cheating.”
Ashton Kutcher was also at the centre of a bizarre suggestion that he is the father of January Jones’s son, born in September.
January Jones, who plays Betty Draper in Mad Men, has never named the father, but denies it is Ashton Kutcher with whom she had a relationship from 1998 to 2001.
At the moment they met it is believed that Demi Moore banned Ashton Kutcher from even speaking about previous relationships. That period was referred to as “BD” or “Before Demi”, and she regarded his antics as unsavoury and unenlightened.
Demi Moore relaunched her career with a role in the 2004 film Charlie’s Angels, with Ashton Kutcher on her arm and a spectacular amount of beautifully executed plastic surgery, which was said to have cost nearly $1.5 million.
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher were married at their California home on September 24, 2005. She was 42 and he was 27.
Ashton Kutcher surprised many by forming strong and genuine bonds with his stepdaughters, Rumer, Scout and Tallulah. He said the age gap wouldn’t even be mentioned if the older party was a man, and repeatedly said it didn’t bother him.
One friend said that Ashton Kutcher appeared very attentive towards his wife, but added: “In pictures, they look good together. But in real life, there is something creepy there. She doesn’t look like his mum, but she certainly doesn’t look like his wife, either.”
The image Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore presented to the world was of blissful togetherness. Ashton Kutcher tweeted: “We leave notes all over the house for each other. She loves jelly beans, so I put some in her purse. It’s a treat.”
Demi Moore referred to herself happily as “the ultimate cougar”, and continuously posed in her bikini or her underwear, possibly to remind her husband that she was still every bit as sexy as she was when they married.
Ashton Kutcher confessed he still had a wandering eye, though.
“I love all women,” he said.
“Demi knows that. She doesn’t mind so long as I look, but don’t touch. These days I do as I’m told.”
On Thursday night Ashton Kutcher gave a regretful assessment. “Marriage is one of the most difficult things in the world and unfortunately sometimes they fail.”
A shocking footage of police forcefully pepper spraying a group of Occupy demonstrators staging a sit down protest the University of California, Davis, has emerged.
The images of the tense standoff between police and students show an officer using pepper spray on a group of protesters who appear to be sitting passively on the ground with their arms interlocked.
Witnesses watched in horror as police moved in on more than a dozen tents erected in the campus quad drenching demonstrators with the burning yellow spray and arresting 10 people, nine of them students.
A shocking footage of police forcefully pepper spraying a group of Occupy demonstrators staging a sit down protest the University of California, Davis, has emerged
The footage shows how the officer displays a bottle before spraying its contents on the seated protesters in a sweeping motion while walking back and forth. Most of the protesters have their heads down, but at least one is hit in the face.
Some members of a crowd gathered at the scene scream and cry out. The crowd then chants, “Shame on You,” as the protesters on the ground are led away. The officers retreat minutes later with helmets on and batons drawn.
It’s not clear from the video what agency the officer who used the pepper spray represents.
Officers from UC Davis and other UC campuses as well as the city of Davis responded to the protest, according to Annette Spicuzza, UC Davis police chief. Davis is about 80 miles north of San Francisco.
Annette Spicuzza told the Sacramento Bee that police used the pepper spray after they were surrounded. Protesters were warned repeatedly beforehand that force would be used if they didn’t move, she said.
“There was no way out of that circle,” Annette Spicuzza said.
“They were cutting the officers off from their support. It’s a very volatile situation.”
The tents went up on Thursday, and protesters were apparently warned on Friday morning that they had until 3:00 p.m. to take them down or they would be removed.
On Friday, the university’s chancellor Linda Katehi released a statement saying the police had no option.
“Following our requests, several of the group chose to dismantle their tents this afternoon and we are grateful for their actions. However a number of protesters refused our warning, offering us no option but to ask the police to assist in their removal.
“We are saddened to report that during this activity, 10 protestors were arrested and pepper spray was used. We will be reviewing the details of the incident,” Linda Katehi told the New York Daily News.
On Saturday, the chancellor had harsher words for the officers, saying that her office would be launching an investigation into the incident.
“The use of the pepper spray as shown on the video is chilling to us all and raises many questions about how best to handle situations like this,” Linda Katehi said.
“The university lacked the resources to keep the protest site from becoming a public health hazard,” she said.
Doug Bombard, the man who found Natalie Wood’s body said reopening the case has brought back painful memories as he recalled the moment he told Robert Wagner of the tragic discovery.
Former harbour director Doug Bombard, 85, took part in the 1981 search off Catalina Island and revisited the area in a helicopter.
Recalling the moment he told Robert Wagner, Doug Bombard said: “I told him I recovered the body. He looked right at me as I said it and he just looked down.”
Doug Bombard found Natalie Wood’s body after spotting a red bubble in the water which turned out to be her jacket.
Former harbour director, who still believes Natalie Wood’s death was a horrible and unfortunate accident, told NBC: “She was hanging in her down jacket under that bubble. If it wasn’t for that, I don’t think we’d ever have found her body.”
Doug Bombard said he believes she went out on the boat’s deck to fix something that was banging and slipped and fell into the water.
Reopening the investigation, he said, will bring pain to many people.
“I think it’s a bad idea that Robert’s family has to deal with it again.”
According to a witness whose account has never been disclosed, Natalie Wood was screaming for help as she drowned.
Retired stockbroker Marilyn Wayne said she tried to report the Natalie Wood’s “last desperate cries for help” but was ignored.
Los Angeles police last week said “substantial new evidence” has led them to reopen their investigation into the death 30 years ago this week.
Natalie Wood’s drowning off the coast of California was ruled accidental at the time. Now a police source has described her husband, Hart-To-Hart star Robert Wagner, now 81, as “a person of interest” in the case.
Robert Wagner – who was on his yacht Splendour with his wife and her alleged lover, Oscar-winner Christopher Walken, on the fateful night – has always maintained Natalie Wood, 43, accidentally slipped and drowned as she drunkenly tried to tie up a dinghy against the boat.
According to a witness whose account has never been disclosed, Natalie Wood was screaming for help as she drowned
Marilyn Wayne, 68, believes new statements from her and Dennis Davern, skipper of the Splendour, had triggered the latest police probe.
She said: “I have been waiting for years for them to take my account seriously but they would never listen.”
Marilyn Wayne was on a nearby boat with a boyfriend called John on the night of November 28, 1981.
In a sworn statement submitted to the LA Sheriff’s department, Marilyn Wayne said: “My cabin window was open. A woman’s voice, crying for help, awakened John and awakened me, <<Help me, someone please help me, I’m drowning>>, we heard repeatedly.”
She said John turned on their yacht’s beam light but they couldn’t see anything.
Marilyn Wayne claims she called the harbour patrol officer “but no one answered” and the local sheriff’s office, who told her a helicopter would be sent. But it did not come.
The woman also claims to have heard a man’s slurred voice from the direction of the Splendour saying: “Oh, hold on, we’re coming to get you.”
“Not long after that the cries for help subsided,” Marilyn Wayne recalled.
It was only when Marilyn Wayne gave an account of her story to a U.S. TV crew for a programme scheduled to air next week, that she was asked to give a statement to police.
Marilyn Wayne’s account matches that of Dennis Davern who says he was “coerced” by Robert Wagner’s lawyer into backing his client story of an accidental drowning after the death.
Dennis Davern’s police statement describes a night of heavy drinking that ended in a furious row between Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood after Christopher Walken had retired to bed.
Lana, Natalie Wood’s sister has claimed the actress was so scared of water that she would never have tried to get into a dinghy voluntarily before she drowned.
The coroner’s ruling, based on accounts from Robert Wagner, outlined how she had fallen into the sea after attempting to secure the small boat, but that finding should not be believed, Lana Wood said.
Natalie Wood had developed a deep-rooted fear of water ever since her mother warned her as a child that she would meet her death by drowning in “dark water”, Lana Wood told TMZ.
Lana Wood said: “It gave Natalie a great fear. She hated the water, she wouldn’t even go into her own pool at home.”
Coroner’s officials at the time wrote that Natalie Wood was “possibly attempting to board the dinghy and had fallen into the water, striking her face.”
Lana Wood, 65, also an actress best known for her part in Diamonds Are Forever, had never believed that her sister would have tried to sail herself at night, even after drinking for several hours.
She also claimed that the actress’s husband left her to drown on the night of her tragic death.
In an emotional interview Lana Wood said that when Natalie was in the water, Robert Wagner, who she calls RJ, had forbidden the captain from helping her and said: “Leave her there, teach her a lesson.”
Speaking to TMZ, Lana Wood claimed Dennis Davern, captain of the Splendour yacht from which Natalie Wood fell and drowned in 1981, told her what Robert Wagner had said.
Dennis Davern’s interviews followed his detailed account of the evening in a book co-authored by Marti Rulli entitled, Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour, which was published in September, 2009.
In the book they say before Natalie Wood disappeared from the boat, she was drinking and taking Quaaludes, a sedative, with her husband, Robert Wagner and actor Christopher Walken.
According to the book, Robert Wagner became enraged when he saw Natalie Wood and Christopher Walken speaking, and smashed a wine bottle, yelling at Walken: “What do you want to do, f**k my wife? Is that what you want?”
At that point, Christopher Walken returned to his cabin and Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner went to their state room. According to the captain, he heard a loud argument between the couple and thumping sounds, and eventually silence.
A short time later, the Captain went to the deck and was told by Robert Wagner: “Natalie is missing.”
The book claims Robert Wagner refused to let him call the Coast Guard.
Two people have been killed and more than 670 injured after protesters clashed yesterday with security forces in Cairo and Alexandria.
The latest clashes came as police moved to prevent a long-term sit-in following a huge demonstration in Cairo against the military leadership on Friday.
It was reported that some protesters lobbed rocks and a police vehicle was set on fire.
The new violences come just over a week before parliamentary elections are scheduled to begin.
Two people have been killed and more than 670 injured after protesters clashed yesterday with security forces in Cairo and Alexandria
Protesters – mostly Islamists and young activists – have been holding demonstrations against a draft constitution that they say would allow the military to retain too much power after a new civilian government is elected.
Many Egyptians are frustrated at what they see as a reluctance by the ruling military council – who took power after the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak in February – to carry out meaningful reforms.
Saturday’s violence in Cairo began when police moved to dismantle tents erected by demonstrators in Cairo’s Tahrir Square who had camped out for the night.
The move to clear the square prompted thousands of protesters to return, and clashes erupted. Police fired rubber bullets as cars were set on fire, witnesses said.
The numbers of protesters swelled, reportedly after a call went out on social media for people to join the demonstration following the police assault.
Prime Minister Essam Sharaf called on the protesters to clear the square.
“What is happening in Tahrir is very dangerous and threatens the course of the nation and the revolution,” a statement from PM cabinet said.
There were also demonstrations in Alexandria and Suez.
The state-run Mena news agency says more than 670 people were injured.
One of those wounded in Cairo later died in hospital, while a protester was killed in Alexandria during violent confrontations outside the offices of the interior ministry.
AFP quoted a security official as saying a number of arrests were made.
The interior ministry says a number of policemen were among the wounded.
Friday’s demonstration, which saw tens of thousands fill Tahrir Square, was one of the largest for months.
Parliamentary elections are due to begin on 28 November and take three months.
Earlier this month, Egypt’s military rulers produced a draft document setting out principles for a new constitution.
Under those guidelines, the military would be exempted from civilian overnight, as would its budget.
Tito Hernandez and Christine Orta have set up a tent outside the entrance of a Best Buy store in St Petersburg, Florida, in an attempt to hunt this year early Black Friday bargains.
Line waiting duties with be shared with their family members and friends to make sure they are first in the store when it opens at midnight on Thursday.
“We got here on Monday, Monday night and we set up tent and our game plan is to stay here til about Thursday, Thursday afternoon, it’s not easy, it is hot,” Tito Hernandez told ABC Action News.
“It’s not the oddest thing I’ve done, but it’s pretty crazy. It’s different,” explained Christine Orta.
Tito Hernandez and Christine Orta have set up a tent outside the entrance of a Best Buy store in St Petersburg, Florida, in an attempt to hunt this year early Black Friday bargains
The campers hope that they are the first ones in line to be able to come through the door and get their hands on a flat-screen TV.
“I’m interested in the 42″ and the 55″, but mostly the 55″ that’s similar to the one right up here,” said Christine Orta pointing to a 55″ Samsung.
Jade Esparza, the General Manager of Best Buy store said he was happy to see the dedicated bargain hunters.
“It’s great. We think it’s fantastic, and we welcome everyone to come out,” said Jade Esparza in a report by ABC Action News.
However, some shoppers were not impressed by their efforts.
“I think it’s crazy,” remarked one shopper as she walked past.
Drisana Pollack was at the store shopping and wondered what the tent was for.
“I could not believe that somebody would wait out here for three, four, five days just for the Black Friday event,” she said.
Meanwhile, the petition grows to more than 10,000 as Best Buy employees protest the early opening of the store.
Millions of shoppers will be out hunting for the best bargains of the year with discounts of 90 per cent and beyond for those at the front of the queue.
Retailers are hoping for a boost to their sales following the economic downturn which has seen shoppers spend less and become more savvy with their money.
Richard A. Risinger, a tree trimmer from Belleville, Illinois, was killed in the front yard of a customer’s home after he was dragged into a wood chipper – as his co-worker wife watched on in horror.
Richard A. Risinger, 54, was mangled to death after his jacket became caught in the machine while he was loading tree limbs during a routine job.
When police officers arrived at the scene in Belleville at 9:50 a.m. on Friday, they observed Richard A. Risinger entangled in the wood chipper.
He was “obviously deceased”.
According to the Alton Telegraph, Detective Mark Heffernan of the Belleville Police Department said:
“There was a resident in that block that had hired a tree service to do some work on the property.
“[Mr Risinger] was part of the crew working on the property.
“We believe he was feeding a branch into the apparatus, and something caused him to become entangled, and he was pulled in.”
Richard A. Risinger, a tree trimmer from Belleville, Illinois, was killed in the front yard of a customer's home after he was dragged into a wood chipper - as his co-worker wife watched on in horror
Mark Heffernan declined to release the name of the tree service but said Richard A. Risinger was one of five or six workers on the crew, one of whom was his wife.
A spokesman for the St. Clair County Coroner’s Office confirmed that Richard A. Risinger’s wife witnessed the accident but authorities declined to release her name.
The spokesman said Richard A. Risinger, from nearby Alton, was pronounced dead at the scene. He had sustained massive trauma.
“Evidently, part of his jacket or coat got tangled up and dragged him in head-first,” the coroner’s spokesman said.
He described the wood chipper as a “big, heavy piece of machinery”.
The chipper was on a trailer being pulled by a truck, the Alton Telegraph reported. No one else was injured in the incident, authorities said.
Mark Heffernan said the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)was notified about the accident.
“It is ‘standard procedure for any workplace-related incident resulting in death.”
OSHA representatives were conducting an investigation, authorities said.
“We believe this to be a tragic accident,” Mark Heffernan said.
“This was such a traumatic and sudden incident. Out of respect to the family, I don’t want to release any more details.”
Two 12-year-old students from Florida faced a police investigation for a sex crime after being caught kissing at an elementary school in Fort Myers.
Police were called to Orange River Elementary School in Fort Myers after an assistant principal was told the pair had exchanged a playground kiss.
But after officers responded to the emergency call they declined to take any action saying no offence had been committed.
Now the two students parents have accused the school of over-reacting and taking political correctness to a new level.
Two 12-year-old students from Florida faced a police investigation for a sex crime after being caught kissing at an elementary school in Fort Myers
According to local reports two girls who had a crush on a boy were talking about which of them liked him the most.
One of the girls approached the boy and briefly kissed him.
A teacher on duty noticed the kiss and reported it to the assistant principal Margaret Ann Haring.
Assistant principal said it was a “possible sex crime” and called social workers at the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF).
DCF told her to report the matter to the Lee County Sheriff’s office who responded by sending deputies to the school.
After talking with teachers no action was taken as no crime had been committed.
Assistant principal Margaret Ann Haring told police officers there is an ongoing involvement with DCF.
Police spokesman Sgt Stephanie Eller:
“They went ahead and took a report and documented this because we don’t know at this point whether or not there is bigger picture that somebody needs to be looking at.”
“We had been called because one of the teachers observed what they thought was inappropriate behaviour.”
Sgt Stephanie Eller added that the kiss was not a sex crime.
“‘This incident is more of a simple assault, though by definition there would have to be a victim,” she said.
It is not reported that the boy objected to being kissed.
The two children involved in the kissing were spoken to by the school principal Holly Bell.
Holly Bell said: “Two girls were guessing who was each other’s boyfriend.”
Parents at the school believe the principal overreacted by calling police.
“How I behaved when I was 12 and most of the kids that I knew, yes its exploratory,” said parent John McDaniel.
“A kiss between 12-year-olds, I would say is relatively harmless.”
Others writing in the local newspaper were outrage by the police getting involved.
One parent wrote: “Whatever happened to common senses.”
While another commented: “Principal Margaret Ann Haring needs to be fired immediately.
“It is pretty obvious she is out of touch and clueless. Two little kids kissing is a Sex Act? What an idiot.”
Physicists from CERN, Swiss, ran again the test that had proved the theory of relativity was wrong – and broke the speed of light for a second time.
Scientists of the Large Hadron Collider sent another beam of subatomic particles over 450 miles to a laboratory in Gran Sasso in the Italian Alps.
And after running the modified follow-up test 20 times, the scientists recorded exactly the same results as before.
According to Albert Einstein’s 106-year-old theory of special relativity, nothing can travel faster than light in a vacuum because its particles have no mass.
By contrast, neutrinos – said to be “ghostly” because they can travel through anything – have a very small mass.
Physicists from CERN, Swiss, ran again the test that had proved the theory of relativity was wrong – and broke the speed of light for a second time
The Cern researchers apparently record-breaking speed raises a host of possibilities straight out of science fiction stories.
Critics of the first test said that running all 15,000 neutrinos at once meant there could be errors in the measurement that said they had beaten the speed of light by 60 nanoseconds (or billionths of a second).
The scientists claim to have used a more accurate method for the second trial, by sending shorter bunches of the tiny neutrinos with larger gaps in between.
Nuclear Physics at Gran Sasso said the researchers were now “more confident” about the result, but urged other laboratories to join his in repeating the test.
“A measurement so delicate and carrying a profound implication on physics requires an extraordinary level of scrutiny.”
Many experts still remain unconvinced.
Jim Al-Khalili, of the University of Surrey’s physics department, who has offered to eat his boxer shorts on live television if neutrinos really can travel faster than light, said:
“I am not yet ready to get out my knife and fork.
“The results have only dealt with some possible errors.
“There are still a number of other possible errors and uncertainties that they are working on ruling out.
“Ideally, the experiment would have to be done somewhere else entirely to try to verify the controversial result that these tiny particles really are going faster than light, in case there is still a systemic problem with this particular experiment at Cern.”
Only two other labs in the world have the equipment to take up Professor Jim Al-Khalili’s suggestion.
Scientists working on the Minos experiment in the U.S. and Japan’s T2K study will both try the same test and reveal their results next year.
Transgendered woman Oneal Ron Morris, a fake doctor from Florida suspected of injecting a woman’s bottom with cement, super glue and tyre sealant to give her a more “shapely” rear has been arrested.
Oneal Ron Morris, 30, who by his own picture appears to have undergone the “butt-boosting” procedure himself, is accused of administering the potentially lethal shots to at least one victim.
The transgender, who police say is a man but appears to look like a woman, was detained in Florida yesterday for the alleged incident in May 2010.
Miami Gardens Police Department Sgt William Bamford said Oneal Ron Morris first met with the as-yet unidentified victim to discuss the procedure.
William Bamford said: “They agreed on the price of $700, which was intended for cosmetic purposes.”
But instead, police say the victim was given a series of injections containing cement, mineral oil and Fix-A-Flat tyre inflator and sealant.
The incision was sealed with super glue. Shortly after the surgery was carried out, the victim went on to suffer “severe complications”.
Oneal Ron Morris appears to have undergone the "butt-boosting" procedure himself
William Bamford told WPLG: “A short time later, she develops very serious pains, abdomen, throughout her body. She knows something is wrong.”
It appeared the woman visited two local hospitals, before heading to Tampa General Hospital, where she received treatment.
The woman had developed an infection of drug-resistant bug MRSA at the wound and also developed pneumonia, but refused to reveal how it had happened.
Doctors at the hospital, worried it was the work of an unlicensed practitioner, reported the case to the Florida Department of Health.
But by the time they started to investigate, the victim had left the area.
Oneal Ron Morris was eventually arrested in North Lauderdale in March 2011
Oneal Ron Morris was eventually arrested in North Lauderdale in March 2011. He has been charged with practising medicine without a license and causing bodily harm.
The alleged incident is the latest in a long line of instances where women have suffered complications following illegal bottom enhancement procedures.
More than seven hundreds people are gathering in Mumbai University campus for India’s first Wikipedia conference.
Wikipedia Conference 2011 is a three-day event, from November 18 to Nvember 20, and is part of the online encyclopedia’s plans to expand in the sub-continent.
Wikipedia wants to tap into India’s growing internet population, by creating more pages in local languages, such as Hindi, Marathi and Gujerati.
The online encyclopedia representatives say the conference is the one of the largest gatherings it has ever held.
The campus of Mumbai University has, for the weekend, been overtaken by more than 700 “Wikimedians”.
More than seven hundreds people are gathering in Mumbai University campus for India's first Wikipedia conference
For those who have not read the relevant explanatory entry online, they are avid readers and editors of Wikipedia.
Abishek Suryawanshi, 21, from Pune is one such Wikimedian.
He believes more Indians should get online and write entries – because there is so much to share.
“India has a vast knowledge from Rig Veda and Bhagavad Gita [sacred texts], to the current nanotechnology and bio-technology, so I think that a platform like Wikipedia will be perfect for Indians to showcase their knowledge.”
Wikipedia started out ten years ago, but is targeting India to take advantage of the country’s growing number of internet users – currently around 100 million.
“It’s an extremely important place for Wikipedia,” says Hisham Mundol from the Wikimedia Foundation.
“For starters there are a billion people out here and hundreds of millions of users are more comfortable thinking, dreaming, talking and counting in their mother tongues, so we need to really build the Indic language Wikipedia projects.”
The site has its supporters but detractors too.
Outside the campus a small group of protesters demonstrated against the depiction of the map of India on Wikipedia, which they say is an inaccurate and illegal representation of the country’s borders.
Wikipedia’s founder, Jimmy Wales, who flew in for the event, seemed unconcerned by the protests.
“I want Wikipedia to be neutral on such topics. It’s not up to us to decide what’s the correct map of India, but it is up to us to explain to people that there is this controversy.”
Saif al-Islam, the fugitive son of colonel Muammar Gaddafi has been captured, Libya’s interim justice minister says.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, 39, is said to have been seized by fighters near the southern town of Obari and flown to Zintan in the north.
Muammar Gaddafi’s son is the last key member of the Gaddafi family to be captured or killed.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity during the uprising against his father.
A picture apparently showing Saif al-Islam Gaddafi after his capture has appeared on the page of a Facebook group based in the Libyan town of Sabha.
A picture apparently showing Saif al-Islam Gaddafi after his capture has appeared on the page of a Facebook group based in the Libyan town of Sabha
A militia force allied to the National Transitional Council (NTC) said Saif al-Islam Gaddafi had been captured in Obari, near Sabha, in the south-west, and was taken to their base in Zintan in the north.
A commander of the Zintan militia, Wisam Dughaly, said Saif al-Islam Gaddafi had been captured along with several aides, as they tried to smuggle him out to neighbouring Niger.
Wisam Dughaly said Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was not hurt, though the picture on Facebook showed his right thumb and two fingers bandaged.
The NTC’s Justice Minister Mohammed al-Allagui confirmed the capture and said Saif al-Islam Gaddafi would be transferred to the capital, Tripoli, soon.
The ICC in The Hague says it has been officially notified of the arrest.
An ICC spokesman, Fadi el-Abdallah, told the BBC that Libya had a legal obligation to hand over Saif al-Islam Gaddafi – who is wanted on charges of crimes against humanity – to the court.
However, ICC spokesman added that the final decision on where any trial would take place was up to the ICC judges after consultations with the Libyan authorities.
“The good news is that Saif al-Islam is arrested, he is alive, and now he will face justice,” ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo said.
The reported capture leaves Muammar Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief, Abdallah Senoussi, as the only Libyan ICC suspect still at large.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi had been on the run since NTC forces took the capital, Tripoli, in August.
Muammar Gaddafi himself was killed on 20 October after being captured during the final battle for his hometown, Sirte.
