LAX employees are threatening to strike over being denied healthcare on Thanksgiving eve, the busiest travel holiday of the year.
A coalition of labor and community leaders is calling for the protest of alleged violations by LAX contractor Aviation Safeguards for breaking a healthcare contract with the airport earlier this year.
Andrew Gross-Gaitan, the director of the Southern California Airports Division, told KNX 1070 News Radio that Aviation Safeguards left more than 400 LAX workers without affordable family health care when it failed to comply with the city’s Living Wage Ordinance.
“When people’s lives are on the line, their family members are on the line, they’re not going to be able to enjoy their Thanksgiving,” said Andrew Gross-Gaitan.
“This is really a critical moment for thousands of workers.
“We’re looking at thousands of workers who may face their family benefits being cut,” Andrew Gross-Gaitan added.
“There is one worker whose wife is literally dying of liver cancer, and this has been going on for close to a year. The families of these workers are really in crisis.”
As many as 1,000 airport workers and union supporters are expected to march on Century Boulevard just as an estimated 1.8 million passengers are expected to travel through LAX over the holiday weekend,CBS reports.
LAX employees are threatening to strike over being denied healthcare on Thanksgiving eve
Last May, an estimated 1,200 LAX employees protesting unfair labor laws, picketed outside the airport and prevented passengers from entering.
Andrew Gross-Gaitan said there is definite potential for severe disruptions to airport operations during the protest.
“It’s entirely possible there will be significant travel delays,” he said.
Martin Terrones, Communications Coordinator for the labor union United Service Workers West, downplayed the event.
“It’s not really a strike or a walkout,” he toldL.A. Weekly.
“But it is going to be an action none the less.”
Some delays are already creeping up across the country as Thanksgiving nears.
San Francisco International Airport had delays all day Friday due to rain. In Charleston, South Carolina, passengers were frustrated over glitches in a new radar system that caused mass delays.
As of Saturday, U.S. flights were largely on time, with few delays over 15 minutes, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
However, that might change with the weather.
“A Pacific storm train may bring the biggest travel problems for Thanksgiving to the Northwest,” reports Accuweather.
“While there may be some fog that delays travel in the major cities of the Northeast.”
Bottom line: “Between the East and West coasts, fewer widespread weather-related travel delays are forecast.”
While most Americans are preparing to break bread and offer thanks for their bountiful blessings on Thanksgiving, some are already looking ahead to what presents will sit beneath the Christmas Tree and forgoing a traditional feast in lieu of saving a place in line for Black Friday.
The start of the Christmas shopping season will kick off on November 23, the day after Thanksgiving, and eager customers have already begun camping out at their favorite retail stores to save a place so they can rush in to nab their discounted deals.
Tony Avitar, an Ohio father-of-five, has set up shop outside a Best Buy in Cuyahoga Falls. He pitched his tent on Thursday to become the first in line for what promises to be a shopping extravaganza next week.
He has camped out for the past nine years, before the busy shopping day, and his family will join him at his tent on Thanksgiving Day for a family meal, which has become a tradition.
“When you have five kids and you have limited income what you want to be able to do is – is want to be able to provide for them and get them decent Christmas presents,” he told WJW-TV about his motivation for coming out so early.
Though most of his time is spent inside the tent, he does venture into the electronic shop to scope out the options.
“Every year, I save at least a thousand dollars. I think this year the good sales are a 40-inch Toshiba flat screen that’s normally about $500 bucks, it’s $179. Also laptops. Anyone who can’t afford a laptop, I think there’s one for $180 bucks,” he said.
Tony Avitar’s friends and family help out and take turns staying in the tent so he can shower and get food.
But even his friend, Summer Morgan, told the local news station that he might be taking his bargain hunting just a tad too far.
“I understand the concept of saving money, but going out a week ahead is a little crazy,” she said. Other shoppers chimed in to agree, also calling it crazy.
But another local resident was inspired by the thrifty dad and a day after Tony Avitar’s tent appeared, another tent joined the queue on Friday.
Eager bargain hunters camp out for Black Friday more than a week before the Christmas shopping extravaganza kicks off
The store manager, Nick Dolansky, expressed his excitement at the scene and said the campers help kick off the season.
“It’s always great to see the passionate customers every year who are camping out, making the effort. It’s a tradition in itself,” he said.
Across the country in El Cajon, California – a pair of shoppers hoping to nab some steep discounts started a line outside a Best Buy on Thursday… but their hopes were soon dashed.
The two ladies, Rhiannon Buckingham and Alicia Gomez, were kicked off the property by mall security, who told them to go home and to return on Thanksgiving.
Rhiannon Buckingham and Alicia Gomez sat in lawn chairs and had packed a full bin of food in preparation for the wait.
“They said, <<You guys can’t stay here. You guys look homeless>>,” Rhiannon Buckingham told KGTV about what she was allegedly told by the security guards.
“I mean, I may be trailer trash but I’m not homeless,” she quipped.
Despite the frosty welcome from security and the jeers from other shoppers, Buckingham insisted that she is only doing what it takes to secure a decent place in line.
“Last year, I came on Tuesday and I was 17th in line,” she said.
“They only had 15 TVs,” she added about the disappointment she experienced.
Undeterred, Rhiannon Buckingham has moved to another Best Buy location in La Mesa, where she expects to save more than $2,000 when she purchases four TVs, a BluRay player and some earphones.
She arrived on Friday and soon another eager shopper, Jason Faust, joined her in line.
“I’ve got nothing else better to do,” he told the local news.
Down in Miami, local news reporter Betty Yu tweeted yet another photo of campers outside a Best Buy.
“Can you believe these guys are already camping out for #blackfriday? Guy took vacation to do this!” she tweeted.
Black Friday, the busiest day of the shopping year since 2005, marks the start of the Christmas shopping season.
Stores typically offer heavy discounts and open their doors in the wee hours of the morning to accommodate the massive demand.
The name indicates the day when retailers start to enjoy a profit or “are in the black” as hordes of customers rush in to nab gifts for the holidays.
It has become a cause for concern though, with violence breaking out and even deaths occurring from stampedes as some customers compete with other shoppers.
In response, heavy security has been set up to monitor the opening of stores and many customers are choosing instead to shop online.
Cyber Monday now indicates the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday when employees return to work and shop online – on the company’s time.
Albert Einstein’s extraordinary genius may have been related to a uniquely shaped brain, a new study suggests.
Researchers compared Albert Einstein’s brain to 85 “normal” human brains to determine, what, if any, unusual features it possessed.
“Although the overall size and asymmetrical shape of Einstein’s brain were normal, the prefrontal, somatosensory, primary motor, parietal, temporal and occipital cortices were extraordinary,” Dean Falk, the Hale G. Smith Professor of Anthropology at Florida State, told Science Daily.
“These may have provided the neurological underpinnings for some of his visuospatial and mathematical abilities, for instance.”
Using 14 recently discovered pictures of the genius’ brain, Dean Falk and her colleagues were able to describe Albert Einstein’s entire cerebral cortex.
Albert Einstein’s extraordinary genius may have been related to a uniquely shaped brain, a new study suggests
Their study, The Cerebral Cortex of Albert Einstein: A Description and Preliminary Analysis of Unpublished Photographs, was published November 16 in Brain, a journal on neurology.
With permission from his family, Albert Einstein’s brain was removed and photographed upon his death in 1955.
It was even sectioned into 240 blocks to make histological slides.
The paper will also outline a “roadmap” to Albert Einstein’s brain made in 1955 by Dr. Thomas Harvey.
Most of those photos, blocks, and slides have been lost from the public eye, and the photographs used by Dean Falk’s team are held by the National Museum of Health and Medicine.
Kate Moss has revealed her supermodel body is quite literally a work of art – as she has a tattoo inked by Lucian Freud just above her bottom.
Kate Moss, 38, befriended Lucian Freud – widely considered one of the greatest artists of the 20th Century – when he painted her in the nude in 2002 while she was pregnant with her daughter Lila Grace.
In an interview in America, Kate Moss told how Lucian Freud – who learned how to give homemade tattoos using permanent ink and a scalpel during a brief stint in the Merchant Navy during the Second World War – offered to draw two tiny swallows at the base of her spine.
“He told me about when he was in the navy, when he was 19 or something, and he used to do all of the tattoos for the sailors,” she said.
“And I said, <<Oh my God, that’s amazing>>. And he went, <<I can do you one. What would you like? Would you like creatures of the animal kingdom?>>
“I said I liked birds and he replied, <<I’ve done birds. I’ve got it in my book.>> And he pointed down at a painting of a chicken upside down in a bucket. And I said, <<No, I’m not having that.>>
“And then he said, <<Maybe I should just do you>>. And I thought, I’m not going to have a girl on my a***. So we decided to do a flock of birds.
“I mean, it’s an original Freud. I wonder how much a collector would pay for that? A few million?
“If it all goes horribly wrong I could get a skin graft and sell it! It’s probably the only one on skin that’s still around, because when he was in the navy he was about 19. Can you imagine?”
Kate Moss has revealed her supermodel body is quite literally a work of art as she has a tattoo inked by Lucian Freud just above her bottom
Kate Moss, who this week launched her new book, Kate, has often shown off the tattoo but the provenance of it has never been revealed until now.
She has several other tattoos including a heart on her left wrist, a small anchor on her right wrist and a small star on her ankle.
During the interview Kate Moss spoke movingly about being introduced to Lucian Freud – who died in July 2011 at the age of 88 – after naming him in an interview as the person she would most like to meet. Two days later, Lucian Freud’s fashion designer daughter Bella called and said the artist would like to meet her.
Kate Moss revealed: “I was, <<Oh my God!>> Bella said, <<He just wants to go for dinner with you. Don’t be late>>. So I went to the house and he started [the nude painting] that night. Couldn’t say no to Lucian. Very persuasive. I phoned Bella the next day and said, <<How long is it going to take?>>
“She said, <<How big is the canvas?>> I said, <<It’s quite big>>. She said, <<Oh dear, could take six months to a year>>.”
The painting took nine months to complete, with the model sitting seven nights a week from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. It was sold to an anonymous bidder at auction in 2005 for £3.9 million ($6 million). Kate Moss said of that time: “I could not be one minute late. He was really powerful. You wanted to please him. But I wish I hadn’t posed like that.
“It’s just the first thing I did – I just fell on the side of the sofa and he said, <<That’s fine>>, and started painting. It’s not like modelling where you can change it. I had a dead arm.”
The supermodel also told Vanity Fair magazine of the famous photograph of the pair cuddling in bed in 2010 when Lucian Freud was recovering from an accident. She said: “I took all these flowers, those little ones he loved . . . and he was in bed.
“He pulled back the covers and went, <<I’ve been keeping it warm for you>>.
“I love the picture. Ijust got under his arm. Lucian was always really kind. I adored him.”
Former hotel staffer Jacob Tomsky has detailed the sketchy, raunchy, and sometimes scandalous things that hotel workers do when guests’ heads are turned in his new book, Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustlers and So-Called Hospitality.
After 11 years in the industry, including a couple years at a high-end hotel in New Orleans and several years at a luxury hotel in Manhattan, Jacob Tomsky says he’s come to know the dark underbelly of the hospitality industry.
Jacob Tomsky writes that long hours and rude guests lead staffers to seek an outlet for their frustration through mischief – which sometimes involves plotting revenge against the wealthy jerks they are forced to accommodate.
“A lot of people are watching <<Downton Abbey>> now, and they think, <<Oh, I’ve got servants, too!>>” Jacob Tomsky told the New York Post.
“Especially the affluent. They treat people as they never would otherwise. Meanwhile, hardworking people – who might be getting screwed – won’t say anything. It’s the people who have way more money who want everything now, and they want it for free.”
Daily shortcomings in cleanliness are commonplace, Jacob Tomsky says.
The dirty secrets that luxury hotels don’t want you to know revealed by Jacob Tomsky
Duvets are never cleaned. The covers sometimes are – but the duvets? Never.
Drinking glasses are not washed with soap and water, but shined up with furniture polish to make them sparkle like new.
For particularly difficult guests, a staffer might seek revenge on their toothbrush or even change their key card to lock them out of their room – something that gave the overworked employees a small sliver of pleasure when the exasperated guest approached the front desk for a new card.
Jacob Tomsky said he also came across staffers who stole from minibars and from valet-parked cars.
Often, the mischief that staffers engaged in was purely out of boredom, he said.
“I’ve worked a month straight without a day off,” he said, describing “the mind-numbing boredom of an overnight shift”.
Boredom led to rifling through guests’ stuff, reading intimate information about them and giggling over their collections of sex toys.
“I found a pretty foul letter left in a room,” he said.
“It was about someone’s wife being a whore. It was probably a joke, because there was a stamp on it of genitalia, addressed to a Mr. Cuckold, with details about her sexual activities.”
Jacob Tomsky’s book is a warning, as well as a wake-up call, to hotel guests. He offers some suggestions for dealing with hotel staffers in a way that won’t leave you with a soiled toothbrush and a deactivated key card. As expected, those suggestions typically involve a generous tip for the staffer.
He has since quit the hotel industry and immediately sought anger management therapy to recover from his decade in the business.
Retailers this year will open for Black Friday sales early enough to make shoppers choose between hot deals and hot apple pie after Thanksgiving dinner.
From Toys R Us to Target to Walmart, retailers are opening as early as 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving night.
Toys R Us announced Monday that its Black Friday will begin on November 22nd, when doors open at 8:00 p.m. an hour earlier than last year.
To entice shoppers to line up even earlier, the toy retailer will give the first 200 customers at each location a free “Great Big Goody Bag” full of stocking-stuffers up to $30 in value.
“You can have your dinner, then come to our store. We all know that everybody gets burned out on turkey and football,” says Troy Rice, chief of store operations, who expects stores to have lines from 500 to more than 1,000 people by the time doors open.
Despite an increase in online shopping, Black Friday isn’t going anywhere. About 51% of consumers plan to go holiday shopping Thanksgiving weekend, according to a study out Monday from consulting firm Bain.
Opening earlier every year:
• Target. The discounter said Monday that doors will open earlier than ever at 9:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving, offering sales such as $199.99 Sony PS3 consoles and $49 Nook Simple Touch e-readers. From 4:00 a.m. to noon on the day after Thanksgiving, the retailer will give $10 gift cards to shoppers spending over $50 in some categories.
“Many prefer to shop following their family gatherings rather than in the very early hours of the morning,” says Target spokeswoman Jenna Reck.
• Walmart. Target’s announcement follows Walmart’s last week saying its Black Friday will start on Thursday at 8:00 p.m., two hours earlier than last year.
• Sears. Consumers can start shopping at 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving and keep on going until 10 p.m. the next day, says Sears spokesperson Brian Hanover.
“They drop their drumsticks, and they pick up doorbusters,” he says. Members of Sears’ ShopYourWay program can access Black Friday deals online starting on Sunday.
• Kmart. The discounter will be open from 6:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving, with a break for dinner until 8:00 p.m. after which stores are open until 3:00 a.m. Stores re-open two hours later on Friday morning, and stay open until 11:00 p.m. Kmart has opened on Thanksgiving since 1991.
• Staples. The office supplier will give shoppers until 5:00 a.m. to digest their turkey dinners and start shopping its new inventory of big-screen TVs and video game consoles an hour earlier than last year. Those who arrive before noon on Friday can score savings over $200 on certain HP PCs with Windows 8. Additional deals will be offered all week starting on Sunday in store and online with free shipping to boot.
Retailers this year will open for Black Friday sales early enough to make shoppers choose between hot deals and hot apple pie after Thanksgiving dinner
• PetSmart. And pets won’t be left out of the holiday excitement, either. Feline and canine Santa Clauses will be able to shop for their furry friends at PetSmart starting at 7:00 a.m. on Friday, the retailer announced Tuesday.
Black Friday deals include $19.99 Sunbeam Gourmet Dog Treat Makers, and 50% off pet toys and doggy sweaters. Select online-only pet products will be 75% off starting on Monday. After all, 76% of pet owners give Fido or Fluffy presents for the holidays, according to PetSmart.
President Barack Obama defended Israel’s airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, but he warned that escalating the offensive with Israeli ground troops could increase the death toll and undermine any hope of a peace process with the Palestinians.
“Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory,” Barack Obama said at the start of a three-nation tour in Asia.
“If that can be accomplished without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that’s preferable,” he said.
“It’s not just preferable for the people of Gaza. It’s also preferable for Israelis, because if Israeli troops are in Gaza, they’re much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded.”
Barack Obama’s comments came as Israel’s campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza blasted into its fifth day. Israel is at a crossroads of whether to launch a ground invasion or pursue Egyptian-led truce efforts, and Barack Obama sought to clearly defend the U.S. ally’s military rights while pushing for a halt in the violence.
From Thailand, Barack Obama also defended his decision to go to Myanmar, also known as Burma. He will be the first U.S. president to visit the country, which is moving from a brutal reign toward democracy, but still holds political prisoners and is living with ethnic violence.
Barack Obama defended Israel’s airstrikes on the Gaza Strip
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Sunday that Israel was prepared to significantly expand its military operation in Gaza. Barack Obama has been lobbying Benjamin Netanyahu along with the leaders of Egypt and Turkey to try to halt the crisis – including stopping rocket strikes on Israel.
He said Israel was justly responding to “an ever escalating number of missiles that were landing not just in Israeli territory, but in areas that are populated. And there’s no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders”.
Barack Obama also said Palestinians will have no chance to pursue their own state and a lasting peace with Israel as long as rockets are fired into Israel. He said he hoped for a clearer process over the next 48 hours – showing how much the Mideast conflict had intruded on his diplomatic mission to Asia.
An Israeli strike on a home in Gaza has killed at least 10 people, officials say, as Sunday became the deadliest day since Israel launched an operation against Hamas militants this week.
The strike targeted a Hamas official and that a number of children were killed.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is ready to expand its operation.
Gaza militants continue to fire rockets at Israel, with injuries reported in towns including Ashkelon and Ofakim.
Sources on both sides say attempts to reach a ceasefire are continuing.
At least 21 people are reported to have been killed in Gaza by Israeli bombardments so far on Sunday. Of the total, at least nine were children and at least four were women, Gaza health officials said.
This brings the death toll in Gaza since Israel launched its Operation Pillar of Defence on Wednesday to 67, the officials said.
Three Israelis were killed on Thursday.
Diggers were trying to scoop rubble from flattened buildings and with rescuers frantically trying to find survivors.
The man targeted was Mohamed Dalou. Hamas said eight members of his family also died, including a number of children, along with two other people.
Hamas’s military wing later said in a statement: “The massacre of the Dalou family will not pass without punishment.”
The casualties were taken to Shifa hospital, where earlier our correspondent had seen injured children brought in, one covered in blood.
The hospital went from organized calm to frantic chaos as doctors tried to dress wounds. One nurse broke down in a corner and colleagues tried to comfort her.
Seven homes belonging to Hamas officials have been targeted by Israeli strikes on Sunday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that 76 missiles fired from Gaza had hit Israel on Sunday, while 37 were intercepted by its Iron Dome missile defence system, including at least one over Tel Aviv.
The Israeli ambulance service reported two people were seriously injured, with 10 moderately or lightly hurt.
Israel’s state radio reported that a volley of 10 rockets had been fired at Ashdod, with three falling in a residential area and seven people treated for shock.
One rocket from Gaza made a direct hit on a residential building in Ashkelon, causing injuries and damage.
Another rocket hit a car in Ofakim, causing injuries, the IDF said.
Israel’s attacks on Gaza had been stepped up again at about 02:00 a.m.
Israeli media reported that the head of Hamas’s rocket-launching unit, Yehiya Bia, had been killed in a strike.
Two media buildings were struck in Gaza City, injuring eight Palestinian journalists, one of whom had to have a leg amputated.
Among those using the buildings were a Hamas television channel, al-Quds TV, as well as Sky News and ITN.
The World Health Organization says hospitals in Gaza are now overwhelmed with casualties and short on supplies.
Palestinian officials say a number of people are still missing under rubble and the total of injured since Wednesday is now 560.
Steps are continuing to try to reach a ceasefire.
Egyptian security officials said a senior Israeli official had arrived in Cairo for talks but Israel has made no comment.
President Barack Obama, speaking on Sunday, said Washington was “fully supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself”.
Benjamin Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting on Sunday that Israeli soldiers were ready “for any activity that could take place”.
“We are exacting a heavy price from Hamas and the terrorist organizations and the Israel Defense Forces are prepared for a significant expansion of the operation,” he said.
Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi has said an Israeli ground invasion will have “serious repercussions”, saying Egypt would never accept it “and neither will the free world”.
The Arab League, which met in emergency session in Cairo, is sending a delegation of foreign ministers to Gaza on Tuesday.
Before the recent offensive, Israel had repeatedly carried out air strikes on Gaza as Palestinian militants fired rockets across the border.
But the aerial and naval bombardment is its most intense assault on the coastal territory since Israel launched a full-scale invasion four years ago.
Airplane food has long been the butt of jokes for being bland, unimaginative and generally unappetizing, but now there is evidence to suggest that the meals served by airlines are not just lackluster, but they might actually make passengers sick.
Inspections of airlines and outside caterers conducted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have revealed facilities crawling with mice, roaches and ants, and food preparation areas swarming with flies.
According FDA health violation records obtained by ABC’s 20/20, over the past four years, there have been more than 1,500 violations in the airline food industry. The federal agency said that “significant” problems were found at a much higher rate than in other industry it inspects.
The FDA reported evidence of mice on Delta Airlines planes. In response, the carrier released a statement calling the findings an “isolated incident’. The statement goes on to say that the inspections, some of them dating back to 2009, were conducted in lavatory service trucks and aircraft potable water, and the problems uncovered by the agency have since been addressed.
Insects were also found inside the facilities of the industry giant LSG Sky Chefs which provides food for several airlines. According to the FDA records, inspectors have observed ants crawling over discarded food, flies both dead and alive, and roaches through the company’s food preparation facilities.
The company issued a statement saying that after being issued a warning letter by the FDA regarding food safety violations, LSG immediately addressed the problems to ensure complete compliance.
The catering service added that “food safety and quality are out number one priority”.
Inspections of airlines and outside caterers conducted by the FDA have revealed facilities crawling with mice, roaches and ants, and food preparation areas swarming with flies
Another company cited in the FDA records is airline food provider Gate Gourmet, whose facilities were said to be crawling with gnats “too numerous to count”, as well as roaches.
Besides critters in food facilities, FDA reports indicate that at several companies inspectors found other gross violations such as filthy cooking areas, old and moldy products and employees not washing their hands. For example, at the Gate Gourmet facilities, food was left outside refrigerators and utensils were stacked on dirty racks.
This is not the first time that airplane food safety concerns have been raised in the media.
In 2010, USA Today obtained FDA records painting a similarly unsettling picture: food being stored at improper temperatures, dirty equipment and signs of improper pest control in the shape of cockroaches, flies and mice.
Catering companies like LSG and others told ABC that they take food sanitation very seriously and make sure to address problems at once. They also said that they serve tens of millions of meals a year both at home and abroad without incident.
Passengers who spend several hundred dollars extra to fly first or business class in hopes of getting not only better plane accommodations, but also a superior meal, may find themselves disappointed.
According to Roy Costa, a food-industry consultant and former health inspector, a filet mignon presented on a china platter may suffer from the same problems as the grey mystery meat patty served on a plastic trey in coach.
“Fancy food isn’t safe food. The bacteria really don’t care,” he told 20/20.
The White House did not heavily alter talking points about the attacks on US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, an official said on Saturday.
“If there were adjustments made to them within the intelligence community, that’s common, and that’s something they would have done themselves,” Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser, told reporters.
“The only edit … made by the White House was the factual edit as to how to refer to the facility.”
After a closed-door hearing with former CIA Director David Petraeus on Friday, Republican Representative Peter King said that unclassified talking points prepared by the CIA for use by lawmakers about the September 11 attack originally pointed specifically to al Qaeda involvement. Peter King said they were edited before being cleared for use.
Ben Rhodes said the White House, and also the State Department, changed references to a “conflict” at diplomatic facilities, “because the conflict in Benghazi was not formally a conflict. Other than that we worked off the points that were provided by the intelligence community, so I can’t speak to any other edits that may have been made”.
After David Petraeus hearing on Friday, it emerged that unclassified talking points prepared by the CIA for use by lawmakers about Benghazi attack originally pointed specifically to al Qaeda involvement
The assault on the US mission and nearby CIA annex in Benghazi has turned into a flash point between Democratic President Barack Obama and Republicans.
Republicans accuse the White House and in particular the US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, of misleading the public just after the attack by suggesting the assault was a spontaneous act instead of a planned terrorist operation. The Obama administration denies misleading anyone and says it discussed information about the Benghazi tragedy as it came in.
“What I can say is those points, and what Susan said, indicated that we believed extremists were involved in this attack,” Ben Rhodes said.
When Paula Broadwell, the biographer mistress of David Petraeus, was discovered to be hiding out at her brother Stephen Kranz’s handsome Washington D.C. townhouse, many would have thought that as far as bolt holes go she did just fine.
After figuratively going to ground following the revelation of her affair with CIA chief David Petraeus and his resignation, Paula Broadwell was photographed earlier in the week with glass of wine in hand preparing an evening meal in the grand kitchen of the $2.3 million home.
Since then, Paula Broadwell has evaded the massed ranks of the media who have camped outside the Mount Pleasant home, but with seven bedrooms and five bathrooms, cabin fever might not set in for the 40-year-old West Point graduate any time soon.
It was Paula Broadwell who was allegedly responsible for setting off the chain of events which led to her being hounded by the world’s press to the front door of her brother Stephen Kranz’s home at 1841 Park Road.
Paula Broadwell is believed to have sent threatening emails to Tampa socialite, Jill Kelley, who she perceived as a rival for the affections of retired four star general David Petraeus.
Jill Kelley in turn reported these messages to a friendly FBI agent who set off an investigation which uncovered evidence of the affair and “inappropriate” exchanges between Kelley and General John Allen, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
In fact the bombshell of the illicit affair that rocked the nation broke when Paula Broadwell and her husband Scott were enjoying a two-day break at the Middleton Inn in Little Washington, Virginia.
The beautiful and stately home became the centre of the world’s news when Paula Broadwell was seen looking strained and tense while holding a glass of wine in her hand on Tuesday evening.
Stephen Kranz’s home became the centre of the world’s news when Paula Broadwell was seen looking strained and tense while holding a glass of wine in her hand on Tuesday evening
Reporters were first alerted to her possible presence in Washington D.C. when her drivers licence was found by a jogger in nearby Rock Creek Park.
Indeed, 1841 Park Road is part of local history for the civil rights movement.
In 1950, two years after the U.S. Supereme Court ruled that neighborhood covenants restricting home ownership on the basis of race, the house was purchased by a Dr. Robert Deane, who was black.
The all-white residents of Mount Pleasant tried to sue to block the sale, but courts threw their complaints out and the sale went through.
Dr. Robert Deane lived in the property until his death in 2001.
The Tampa, Florida, military base that has gained notoriety for its connection to General David Petraeus’ sex scandal has been compared to Wisteria Lane from the show Desperate Housewives where out-of-control parties with top brass are a nightly occurrence, and where social climbing is a favorite pastime.
Those visiting MacDill Air Force Base for the first time will likely be surprised to see the sprawling bay front homes with covered porches, the upscale gym, golf course, boat rentals and other trappings of the good life that bear little resemblance to nearly any other military outpost.
“It’s the nicest base I’ve ever seen,” a private contractor with base access told The Daily Beast.
“It blew me away, as far as what the taxpayers pay for.”
People familiar with the culture of MacDill say they are not surprised by the recent revelations that David Petraeus had an affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell, which was made public after Jill Kelley, a Tampa socialite with close ties to the base, set off an FBI investigation into the CIA director’s mistress.
Jill Kelley, described as a social climber and fierce self-promoter who was obsessed with powerful men, allegedly exchanged flirtatious emails with another general, John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.
The sexual intrigue and heady mix of power and wealth appear to be mainstays on the military base known in Tampa as Wisteria Lane, referring to the infamous street where the philandering characters of Desperate Housewives reside.
“It’s well-known in social circles that all the big wigs do a lot of partying,” said Jack Belich, a private investigator in nearby St. Petersburg told the Daily Beast.
“That’s just part of the way they operate over there, and Tampa has always had these social gadflies and liaisons.”
MacDill Air Force Base, which has gained notoriety for its connection to David Petraeus’ sex scandal, has been compared to Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives
Jill Kelley was well-connected with people on the base, among them a White House attorney who gave her and her family access to the presidential residence on three separate occasions.
Tampa Bay Magazine Editor Aaron Fodiman described Jill Kelley as “charming, lovely, and vivacious” hostess who would frequently throw parties for top military officials at her lavish $1.3 million home on Bayshore Boulevard.
Aaron Fodiman pointed out, however, that Jill Kelley was just one of “hundreds” of people in the affluent community eager to entertain military heroes who have been enjoying a superstar status in Tampa.
Jill Kelley was one of about 800 members of Friends of MacDill who are allowed to access the base unescorted in the daytime hours.
Tim Sweeney, a fellow member of the group, said that its purpose is to involve the community in the base’s daily life, and most of those who participate are driven by noble motives, not by a desire to get rich or make a name for oneself.
That said, Tim Sweeney conceded that the top military brass in Tampa are the people that Jill Kelley and her ilk would have wanted to rub shoulders with.
“MacDill folks are the closest thing Tampa comes to having real celebrities. The Kelley’s are clearly the exception to the rule,” Tim Sweeney said.
“I just think it was a way for them to become socially prominent in the community.”
Jill Kelley has been tied to the scandal that prompted the resignation of retired General David Petraeus as CIA director.
David Petraeus admitted having an affair with his married biographer, Paula Broadwell.
Federal officials say Paula Broadwell sent emails to Jill Kelley, perceiving her as a romantic rival. That FBI investigation uncovered emails between Jill Kelley and Gen. John Allen during his time as head of Central Command in Tampa.
Linked arm-in-arm, Paula Broadwell and her husband, Dr. Scott Broadwell, were seen together yesterday evening for the first time since the news broke of her affair with shamed former CIA Director David Petraeus.
Arriving at her brother’s home in the Mount Pleasant suburb of Washington D.C. in a black SUV, Paula and Scott Broadwell put on what was a clear show of solidarity as they marched from the garage to the back door of the $2.3 million property.
Since the scandalous revelations surrounding his wife first surfaced just over a week ago, Scott Broadwell has been conspicuous for his absence and his appearance last night indicates that he is standing by the West Point Graduate.
Looking stern and taking the lead from her husband, Paula Broadwell did not speak to the gathered news reporters as she marched into her sibling’s home.
Presumably, the pair had been out that evening, possibly at dinner and it is not clear when Scott Broadwell arrived at the home or when Paula herself left.
Indeed, this is the first time that Paula Broadwell has been seen since Tuesday evening, when she was photographed wearing a hot pink top in the kitchen of her brother’s home.
She has been holed up there since returning from what was supposed to be a romantic get-away with Scott Broadwell to celebrate her 40th birthday – which was curtailed when news of the Petraeus affair broke over one week ago.
Friends and family of the pair told reporters in the wake of the affair revelations that the Broadwell’s had built a happy home in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they live with their two sons, Lucien 6, and Landon, 4.
Paula Broadwell and Dr. Scott Broadwell were seen together for the first time since the David Petraeus scandal broke
Dr. Scott Broadwell, 43, a radiologist, works at a hospital in the southern city and he and his wife “love to do Crossfit, run, ski and surf together”, according to a biography of Paula Broadwell published by the University of Denver,
In January, while promoting her now fated biography of David Petraeus, Paula Broadwell told the Charlotte Observer that she met Scott in Germany and described them both as “adventure junkies”.
At an alumni event for the University of Denver in October, Paula Broadwell said it was “very difficult to start a family” when the two of them were on active duty.
“We had decided before we got married that every other move would be the other person’s choice, since we are both very career-oriented,” said Paula Broadwell at the event, according to the Daily Beast.
“And he chose Colorado, he chose Denver.”
They moved into their $800,000 two-story brick home in Charlotte’s Dilworth suburb in 2009 and Scott Broadwell became an employee of Charlotte Radiology at the same time.
In the January interview with the Charlotte Observer Paula Broadwell said that when she was abroad with David Petraeus in Afghanistan, Scott and her mother took care of their two sons.
Scott Broadwell and his wife have also been involved in a number of groups that work to benefit veterans of the armed forces.
Since the affair broke, their home has been empty and visible on the driveway is power-washed writing, which reads in a flourishing font: “Dad loves Mom.”
Paula Broadwell’s affair with David Petraeus was exposed after she sent a series of messages to Florida socialite Jill Kelly, apparently warning her off her lover.
Dozens of people have been queuing to withdraw money after a Bank of Scotland machine in Glasgow, UK, began dispensing extra cash.
Strathclyde Police said they were alerted to the incident at the Bank of Scotland, on Stonelaw Road in Rutherglen, around Saturday lunchtime.
Officers went to the scene and alerted the bank, who were able to switch off the machine remotely.
The Bank of Scotland said the branch would “contact any customers who have been affected”.
Ecstatic customers flocked to the Bank of Scotland ATM after realizing the machine was dispensing extra cash today.
The machine was reported to be issuing double the amount requested by customers making withdrawals, until police were alerted and stood guard at the cashpoint until the bank could shut down the machine.
The Bank of Scotland was eventually able to switch off the machine remotely after being alerted to the costly blunder. It said it was unlikely to take action because of the difficulty of tracing all the payments dispensed this afternoon.
Dozens of people have been queuing to withdraw money after a Bank of Scotland machine in Glasgow, UK, began dispensing extra cash
A crowd had gathered when the ATM started pumping out the extra notes.
Word of the fault spread after a picture of the queue at the bank machine was posted on Twitter.
One user, Lauren, tweeted: “The bank of Scotland at Burnside was giving out double money now police are standing there so no one can go to it #gutting.”
Disappointed Mark Gallagher, who uses the Stonelaw Road branch, tweeted: “I was elsewhere.”
Bank of Scotland said in a statement: “We can confirm that, for a very short period of time, the ATM in Burnside, Glasgow, was mis-dispensing cash.
“It will be difficult to trace all payments, as they won’t all be our customers, so it’s unlikely that we will take action.
Kim Kardashian and her famous sisters recently launched the Kardashian Kollection at Dorothy Perkins in London, and reportedly send the Duchess of Cambridge a load of free clothing, only to get them send straight back.
According to The Examiner, Kate Middleton politely declined to accept any of the free clothing received from Kim Kardashian.
The Kardashian Kollection features a lot of figure-hugging silhouettes, with leopard print and studs – not exactly appropriate for a member of the Royal family.
A palace insider told the magazine: “Kate is hardly going to turn up for an event with the queen in a cheap leopard-print miniskirt or gold sequined jacket.”
The source also said Kim Kardashian invited Kate Middleton over for tea, in an attempt to get a new royal best friend out of her recent trip to London. But once again, the Duchess politely declined the offer.
And another insider explained to the Daily Star earlier this week why Kim Kardashian is so keen on getting closer to Kate Middleton.
“She hoped Kate might be seen wearing one of the designs out in public, which would give their fashion credentials a huge boost,” the source explained.
Kim Kardashian has reportedly sent Kate Middleton a load of free clothing from her Kardashian Kollection only to get them send straight back
And a link with the Royal family would have given them the stepping stone they wanted to be big in the UK, the insider continued: “The Kardashians want to be as big in the UK as they are in America, and think associating themselves with the Royals, especially Kate, will help them achieve that.”
Speaking in a recent interview with Now magazine, Kim Kardashian gushed about how much she love’s the Duchess’s fashions style.
“Kate seems like a really sweet person and she’s a princess. We love her sense of fashion. She could wear our looks and team it with one of her hats.”
A representative of Kate Middleton said: “In general terms, the policy of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge is not to accept any unsolicited gifts unless the sender is known personally to His or Her Royal Highness. Any such gifts are returned to the sender with thanks and an explanation of Their Royal Highnesses’ policy.”
During a visit to the White House Thursday with her fellow athletes, President Barack Obama playfully put on McKayla Maroney’s trademark scowl for a photo with the gold medalist.
“Did I just do the Not Impressed face with the President..?” McKayla Maroney tweeted after the meeting.
Looking their glamorous best, the U.S. Olympics’ Fierce Five visited the White House for the first time earlier today for a private meeting with the President.
As they watched Barack Obama depart from the South Lawn on the Marine One helicopter, Jordyn Wieber, Kyla Ross, Gabby Douglas and McKayla Maroney squealed with delight.
However, taking a leaf out of McKayla Maroney’s book, Aly Raisman looked decidedly unimpressed as a gust of wind blew the girls’ backward.
The 17-year-old eventually came around a few moments later, smiling as Gabby Douglas turned to hide from the gale-force gust.
Heading towards the Oval Office prior, the excitedly nervous girls walked in a straight line in their high-necked mini-dresses, laughing and waving to photographers.
President Barack Obama playfully put on McKayla Maroney’s trademark scowl for a photo with the gold medalist
It’s not the first time the 2012 U.S. Women’s Olympic team have had personal interaction with President Barack Obama however.
Barack Obama expressed his admiration for the team after their gold medal win in August, voicing a bewilderment with the sport that is likely shared by many of his constituents.
At a rally in Ohio on August first he said: “These gymnastics folks – I don’t understand how they do what they do.
“So I told these young ladies as I was congratulating them <<How do you not bust your head every time you’re on that little balance beam?>>”
Barack Obama phoned the members individually to congratulate them on their gold medal while aboard Air Force One.
He said to Aly Raisman: “Michelle and have watched and decided of all the Olympiads you guys amaze us the most.”
“I’m so impressed by how you bounced back and led the team. Tell your parents I’m proud of them too. I don’t think I could watch if I were them,” Barack Obama told Jordyn Wieber.
To McKayla Maroney, he said: “Way to nail that vault. It was unbelievable.”
“I was impressed by how cool you were. I don’t know how you do what you do especially the balance beam,” he said.
And to the star of the team, Gabby Douglas, Barack Obama said: “You just tore it up. I know how hard you worked to get there. Keep at it. Stay cool.”
Human Barbie Valeria Lukyanova has become a viral phenomenon, but her appearance looking much more human in a recent video has cast doubt on her claims that she uses no PhotoShop in her shoots.
The website TheDirty.comhas posted new videos that show Valeria Lukyanova looking drastically different than she does in still images.
The site’s founder, Nik Richie, has dubbed her the “Michael Jackson of the Ukraine”.
“This girl is a FRAUD. She had been badly photoshopping her photos since the beginning of her time online,’ writes one anonymous TheDirty comment. ‘Her videos aren’t photoshopped. Does she still look the same? There is a ton more of videos out there and as you can see from them, she looks nothing like she does when she photoshops her photos.”
The site has also accused her of being a former mail-order bride.
Valeria Lukyanova has denied that she has had plastic surgery or used PhotoShop to create her images.
In one of her latest videos, Valeria Lukyanova tilts her head at uncomfortable angles and gives bizarre rebukes to critics, but also looks far more like a normal woman than the Barbie image she’s made her name on.
“Everyone who will try to ask me about my neck at least one more time in their life will be banned immediately,” she said.
“Mean people.. Can’t you understand I have neck problems? And I can’t hold my neck straight.”
Human Barbie Valeria Lukyanova has become a viral phenomenon, but her appearance looking much more human in a recent video has cast doubt on her claims that she uses no PhotoShop in her shoots
She goes on to complain that her “thin and fragile neck” can’t support her “big head”.
Valeria Lukyanova recently finished her first photo shoot for V Magazine where she attempted to explain her obsession with looking like the iconic doll even as it confounds people.
“(I’m) happy I seem unreal to them, it means I’m doing a good job,” she said, before responding to accusations of plastic surgery.
“This is how they justify not wanting to strive for self-improvement.”
“I’m an idealist and a perfectionist,” she said.
“And I want my looks to reflect the world within me and how I feel.”
As the future of Twinkies hangs in the balance, fans of the fatty treat are desperately stockpiling their favorite snack in an effort to prevent the possibility of its disappearance from America’s cupboards.
Hostess, the company which makes the cream-filled cakes along with other childhood throwbacks such as Ho Hos, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread, announced on Friday that it would go out of business within weeks.
And while most of the firm’s most iconic brands are likely to be snapped up by other manufacturers, Twinkie die-hards were taking no chances after the announcement.
The snacks were flying off shelves throughout the nation, and grocery store workers reported that they were fast running out of Twinkies and other Hostess brands.
“We may have a few things left, but pretty much we’re out of our Hostess stuff,” a store manager in Chicago told Businessweek.
And a spokesman for grocery chain Supervalu warned: “We will only have the products while supplies last.”
As the future of Twinkies hangs in the balance, fans of the fatty treat are desperately stockpiling their favorite snack
Customers flocked to the Wonder Hostess Bakery Coutlet in Indianapolis to get their hands on the fast-vanishing treats.
Charles Selke showed journalists his plastic bag stuffed with snacks, including Zingers dessert cakes.
“How do these just disappear from your life?”, he asked.
“That’s just not right, man. I’m loyal. I love these things, and I’m diabetic.”
For others, the rush to snap up Hostess foodstuffs was motivated by historic considerations, as in the case of Samantha Caldwell, from Chicago.
She bought a pack of Twinkies to give to her four-year-old son, saying: “This way he can say, <<I had one of those>>.”
In New York City, many grocery stores had run out of Twinkies by mid-afternoon, with only Hostess’ less popular products left over.
The shortage led to the snacks selling for wildly inflated prices on eBay and other online marketplaces.
One opportunistic seller managed to offload a box of 10 Twinkies – which would normally cost no more than $5 – for $60.
It is unclear how long the sweet treats will stay fresh – while it is widely rumored that Twinkies remain edible for decades, it is unclear to what extent that is true.
China is building The Ring of Life, a new landmark in the northeast of the country that defies the notion that size doesn’t matter.
Taking shape in the city of Fushun in Liaoning province is a gigantic steel loop dubbed The Ring of Life.
The 500-foot ring is made of a whopping 3,000 tons of steel and will glow at night with a phenomenal 12,000 LED lights.
The landmark, which is equivalent to a 50-storey building, cost nearly $15 million and has been designed by the same architect behind the Oriental Pearl TV Tower in Shanghai.
China is building The Ring of Life, a new landmark in the northeast of the country that defies the notion that size doesn’t matter
According to Fushun Municipal Government’s officials, the iconic structure has been built simply to serve as a viewing platform. Up to four elevators will take visitors to the top.
The developer originally planned to add a platform for visitors to bungee jump off. However, the idea was abandoned because the ring is too high for bungee jumpers.
A local construction bureau official told the Shenyang Evening News that Fushun wanted to have an office tower on the spot of the ring but the town was too small to support it.
The Ring of Life came to fruition after the developer scrapped three other plans.
The Israeli military and militants in Gaza are continuing to trade fire, with the round of violence that has followed Israel’s killing of Hamas’s military chief showing no sign of abating.
Israel hit 200 sites overnight, including PM Ismail Haniya’s office.
Gaza militants fired dozens of rockets into Israel, including one at the city of Tel Aviv that was intercepted.
Meanwhile, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal will hold talks with leaders of Egypt, Qatar and Turkey on Saturday.
The talks will take place in Cairo, which has also been hosting an emergency meeting of the Arab League.
The League agreed to send a delegation to the Gaza Strip. Reuters quoted Secretary General Nabil el-Araby, who will lead the delegation, as saying this would take place in the next “one or two days”.
At least 40 Palestinians and three Israelis have now died since Israel killed the Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari on Wednesday.
Israel’s military says it still has hundreds of targets it wants to hit in the Gaza Strip.
A spokeswoman also said that troops gathered near the border were ready to invade should the Israeli government give the order.
The Israeli military spokeswoman said it did not see any distinction between the military and political wings of Hamas and that anything connected with the militant group was considered a legitimate target.
An Israeli air force spokesman said it had destroyed at least 90% of long-range rockets in Gaza and severely damaged medium- and short-range rockets, and the infrastructure to fire them. However, hundreds of short-range missiles remained, he said.
Despite the ferocity of the Israeli bombardment, some 60 rockets were reported to have been fired into Israel on Saturday, with some buildings damaged and four soldiers suffering minor injuries.
Sirens went off around Tel Aviv on Saturday, with Israel’s military saying that a missile had been intercepted by a newly installed battery of its Iron Dome defence system.
One rocket also hit an apartment building in the Israeli port city of Ashdod, wounding several.
The Israeli military and militants in Gaza are continuing to trade fire, with the round of violence that has followed Israel’s killing of Hamas’s military chief showing no sign of abating
Israel has now put 75,000 reservists on stand-by, on top of the 16,000 called up in recent days.
So far, there has been no decision on sending in the troops. However, one government minister has been quoted as saying that soldiers could launch a ground offensive into Gaza within the next 24 hours if the rocket fire does not stop.
The Israel Defense Forces released figures on Saturday stating that, over the past three days, 492 rockets fired from Gaza had hit Israel, while another 245 had been intercepted by Iron Dome.
On Saturday, Gaza City was hit by a string of large explosions shortly after 03:00.
There was another series of strikes in and around the city after 05:00, with several targeting Hamas’s cabinet buildings, which correspondents say were likely to have been empty.
Another of the targets was the house of a Hamas leader in Jabaliya, north of Gaza City.
Israel said it was targeting rocket launchers, weapons storage facilities and smuggling tunnels on the border with Egypt in southern Gaza.
Israeli military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich said 200 targets had been hit overnight.
Government spokesman Mark Regev said the operation would end when Israeli citizens were safe, and that all options – including a ground incursion – remained “on the table”.
Militants and civilians, including at least seven children, have been among the Palestinians killed during Israeli strikes in recent days, Hamas says.
Before the recent offensive – codenamed Pillar of Defence – Israel had repeatedly carried out air strikes on Gaza, as Palestinian militants fired rockets across the border.
Most of them landed in the south, but a small number have been aimed at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
The three Israelis who died were in a building in the southern town of Kiryat Malachi which was hit by a rocket on Thursday.
A quarter of the attacks have been intercepted by the Iron Dome system, officials say.
Hamas has confirmed Khaled Meshaal will meet the Emir of Qatar, Egypt’s President Mohammed Mursi and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Cairo on Saturday night to discuss how a ceasefire can be achieved.
A senior Hamas source in Gaza said proposal for a truce made by Turkey was being studied by the Hamas delegation in the Egyptian capital.
Ahead of the meeting, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: “It’s a tactic of Israel’s to point the finger at Hamas and attack Gaza.
“Israel continues to make an international racket with its three dead. In fact it is Israel that violated the ceasefire.”
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has accused Israel of carrying out “massacres”.
Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem arrived in Gaza through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt to show support for Hamas. Later on Saturday he visited the wreckage of Ismail Haniya’s HQ.
DJT, Donald Trump’s Las Vegas restaurant, was shut down by health inspectors this week after racking up dozens of violations.
The insanitary conditions at the upscale eatery included meat and fish that was weeks old, as well as racks of cooked food kept at dangerous temperatures.
DJT, located in the Trump Hotel Las Vegas, claims to be “one of the most impressive venues for hotel fine dining on the Las Vegas Strip”.
But earlier this week it was ordered to be closed by the Southern Nevada Health District following a snap inspection, according to KTNV.
The majority of the 51 violations recorded related to keeping expired food – restaurants are usually expected to throw out any fresh ingredients which are more than about a week old.
Donald Trump’s restaurant was found to have kept products such as tomato sauce and cranberry juice for a week or more past their expiration dates.
Its treatment of meat was apparently even more cavalier, with month-old caviar and duck from as far back as June forming part of the restaurant’s supplies.
DJT, Donald Trump’s Las Vegas restaurant, was shut down by health inspectors this week after racking up dozens of violations
DJT was accused of potentially endangering diners by serving undercooked fish, while much of the food which was cooked properly was subsequently kept at temperatures which rendered it unsafe.
Bacon, sausages, potatoes and vegetables were all left sitting in trays to cool before being served to customers.
When inspectors looked in to the restaurant’s storage systems, they found that food was being improperly kept and often unlabelled.
The scene in the freezer was not only insanitary but dangerous, with parts of the floor covered in ice.
After being shut down, DJT restaurant moved quickly to deal with the recorded violations and was allowed to re-open a few hours later.
In a statement, the hotel said: “We take these situations very seriously and all adjustments were made immediately. DJT opened within a few hours that same evening.
“We greatly value our guests, and delivering an exceptional experience to them is our top priority.”
Trump Hotel Las Vegas opened in 2008 as the tallest residential building in the city.
Former President Bill Clinton looked remarkably trim as he left a plush London restaurant on Thursday night.
Bill Clinton, 66, had been enjoying a dinner with actor Kevin Spacey at the upmarket Scott’s seafood restaurant in Mayfair, after giving a speech in London.
The former president, formerly known for his love of burgers, barbecue and junk food, changed to a strict vegan diet in 2010 after fears over his health.
Bill Clinton had quadruple bypass surgery in 2004 and then stent surgery in 2010.
He now follows a strict eating plan to improve his heart health.
Bill Clinton says he eats fruits, vegetables and beans, but no red meat, chicken or dairy.
His weight-loss was much commented-upon before his daughter Chelsea’s wedding, after which he said he had lost at least 24 pounds.
Former President Bill Clinton looked remarkably trim as he left a plush London restaurant
Jill Kelley, the Florida housewife at the centre of the David Petraeus scandal, was given access to the White House on three separate occasion thanks to a lawyer friend who works for the administration, according to recent reports.
Jill Kelley and her twin sister, Natalie Khawam, had two “courtesy” meals in the mess at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as guests of a mid-level aide in September and October, a White House official said.
The socialite and her family also received a tour of the presidential residence on the weekend before the November 6 election.
Jill Kelley met the aid, an attorney, through her work with MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, where she also rubbed shoulders with the military’s top brass, including General David Petraeus.
David Petraeus’ biographer-turned-mistress Paula Broadwell also reportedly visited the White House before her illicit affair with Petraeus was made public following an FBI investigation launched with Kelley’s help.
Neither woman met with President Barack Obama during their visits, a White House official said.
Paula Broadwell, who was writing a book about David Petraeus and eventually became his paramour, attended meetings in June 2009 and June 2011 on Afghanistan-Pakistan policy in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is located in the White House complex, the official said.
The White House visits by Paula Broadwell and Jill Kelley illustrate the wide-ranging access both women enjoyed because of their ties with David Petraeus, General John Allen and others in the close-knit military community.
Jill Kelley and her twin sister, Natalie Khawam, had two courtesy meals at the White House as guests of a mid-level aide in September and October
The White House official discussed their visits on condition of anonymity because the visitors logs being cited have yet to be made public.
Tampa Bay Timesreported that on November 4, two days before the presidential election and less than a week before David Petraeus tendered his resignation after acknowledging his affair with Paula Broadwell, Jill Kelley, her twin sister, Natalie Khawam, their children and her husband, Dr. Scott Kelley, went on a tour of the White House.
On October 24, Jill Kelley and Natalie Khawam had lunch in the White House with a staffer, who also had breakfast with the Kelleys on September 28.
Jill Kelley was an Honorary Consul to South Korea, which is why she said she visited the White House in September.
The attorney who ushered Jill Kelley and her family through the doors of America’s most famous residence has not been identified by the White House, saying that his name will be made public once the visitor logs are released.
However, an official said the aid had gotten to know Jill Kelley through connections to MacDill.
The man worked as a civilian lawyer in Afghanistan and got to form relationships with military personnel, who invited him to MacDill where he met Jill Kelley. He now works as a lawyer in the White House.
