It has been claimed that Jennifer Aniston was advised to get a “sperm donation” from Brad Pitt after they broke up in 2005
Jennifer Aniston recently claimed she is not desperate to have a baby but she could have produced a mini Brad Pitt, if she’d listened to the bizarre advice of recently deceased Hollywood agent, Sue Mengers.
It has been claimed that Jennifer Aniston was advised to get a “sperm donation” from Brad Pitt after they broke up in 2005.
Hollywood agent, Sue Mengers, who passed away in October, aged 78, made the odd recommendation Jennifer Aniston following her difficult separation from Brad Pitt.
Columnist, Maureen Dowd revealed the news yesterday as an article about the ballsy film industry legend is published in New York Times Magazine.
Maureen Dowd claimed that Sue Mengers admitted telling Jennifer Aniston to arrange taking some semen form her ex-husband.
Brad Pitt, 48, has gone on to enjoy parenthood since leaving Jennifer Aniston and pairing up with Angelina Jolie, 36.
While Angelina Jolie already had adopted son Maddox, now 10, when they started dating, Brad Pitt accompanied her on her trip to Ethiopia to collect daughter Zahara, now 6.
Then in 2006, Angelina Jolie gave birth to their first biological daughter, Shiloh Nouvel, 5, but the child rearing didn’t stop there.
Pax, now 7, was adopted aged three after being brought up in a Vietnamese orphanage in 2007 and Angelina Jolie gave birth to twins Knox and Vivienne in 2008.
Meanwhile Jennifer Aniston and her partner, Justin Theroux, 40, may not be producing offspring as yet but they are taking the next big step in their relationship.
Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux have created a personalized Christmas card together which they have sent out to family and friends in celebration of the festive season.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in central Moscow to protest against Vladimir Putin and the alleged electoral fraud.
The protesters passed a resolution “not to give a single vote to Vladimir Putin” at next year’s presidential election.
Protest leader Alexei Navalny told the crowd to loud applause that Russians would no longer tolerate corruption.
“I see enough people here to take the Kremlin and [Government House] right now but we are peaceful people and won’t do that just yet,” Alexei Navalny said.
Protesters say parliamentary elections on December 4, which were won by Vladimir Putin’s party, were rigged. The government denies the accusation.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in central Moscow to protest against Vladimir Putin and the alleged electoral fraud
A sea of demonstrators stretched along Sakharov Avenue, a few miles from the Kremlin, in sub-zero temperatures.
Rallies were taking place across Russia, with the first big protest in the far eastern city of Vladivostok.
At least 28,000 people turned out in the capital, according to the Russian interior ministry, but rally organizers said the true number was around 120,000.
President Dmitry Medvedev announced political reforms this week, but many demonstrators say it is not enough.
They are demanding a re-run of the poll, which was won by Vladimir Putin’s party – but with a much smaller share of the overall vote.
Vladimir Putin poured scorn on protesters during a recent live chat on Russian TV, calling them “Banderlog” after the lawless monkeys in The Jungle Book, and likening their protest symbol, a white ribbon, to a condom.
However, Vladimir Putin also said protesters had the right to demonstrate if they kept within the law.
In Moscow, many protesters clutched white balloons and banners with the slogan “For Free Elections” while some mocked Vladimir Putin with images of condoms, to the extent that the first speaker, music journalist Artyom Troitsky, dressed himself up as one.
The resolution passed at Saturday’s rally built on demands expressed at an earlier rally in Moscow on December 10.
Another new point was a call for the creation of a new election monitoring body – the Moscow Voters’ Association – to investigate ballot-rigging.
Alexei Navalny, a prominent anti-corruption blogger who was jailed for 15 days over a street protest just after the elections, greeted the crowd with the words: “Greetings to the Banderlog from the net hamsters [internet activists].”
Condemning Russia’s leaders as “swindlers and thieves”, he listed victims of injustice including imprisoned former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who died in custody.
“Who’s the power here?” he shouted to cries of “We are” from the crowd.
Alexei Navalny promised that the next protest rally would be a “million strong”.
Alexei Kudrin, who recently resigned after serving a decade as Vladimir Putin’s finance minister, was booed when he took the microphone to call for early parliamentary elections and urge a dialogue between the Kremlin and the opposition.
“There needs to be a platform for dialogue, otherwise there will be a revolution and we lose the chance that we have today for a peaceful transformation,” he said.
A total of 22 speakers were lined up for the Moscow rally, with rival opposition figures addressing a crowd which mixed liberals with nationalists.
• In a video message, Russian rock musician Yury Shevchuk urged protesters to maintain their dignity and avoid “competing in hatred for the authorities”
• Billionaire and Putin election challenger Mikhail Prokhorov had been expected to address the rally but stayed in the crowd, saying he had heard presidential candidates were “not supposed to speak”
• Another presidential candidate, veteran liberal Grigory Yavlinsky, did speak, and called for a free electoral system
• Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, 80, did not attend after all, sending a message of support instead. He later told Moscow Echo radio that Mr Putin should not stand for another term in office
Saturday’s rally in Moscow ended peacefully, with the last speaker a Grandfather Frost (Russian Santa Claus) figure who wished citizens of a “free Russia” a Happy New Year.
The Snowman has been a perennial Christmas television fixture for almost 30 years in UK.
Now Channel 4 has decided that The Snowman needs to be updated with new characters and without its “Walking in the Air” theme song.
In a bid to “freshen” the animation, based on a story by Raymond Briggs, a remake is to be made with the little boy at the centre of the story updated and the Snowman joined by a “snow dog”.
The new version of The Snowman, which is about to go into production, will be shown next Christmas as part of a celebration of the television channel’s 30th anniversary.
The Snowman and the new little boy will no longer fly over Brighton pier, but will be seen soaring over landmarks including the London Eye.
They will also go to a ski resort, rather than a Snowman’s party as in the 1982 version.
Channel 4 has decided that The Snowman needs to be updated with new characters and without its “Walking in the Air” theme song
The song “Walking in the Air” will also be axed because the makers say the remake needs to feel “new and fresh”.
“Walking in the Air” was originally sung by St. Paul’s choir boy Peter Auty, but was made famous when it went into the top-10 after it was covered by Aled Jones a few years later.
One element from the original will remain though, the sad ending, as the Snowman will still melt away as the sun comes out.
The production, which makers are considering making in 3D, will cost £2 million ($3 million) and is being made with the help of many of the original creative team.
Raymond Briggs, who had resisted the idea of a remake for many years, said that he has given it his approval for the production, but is not involved.
“I am keeping a polite distance,” Raymond Briggs told The Guardian.
“I haven’t written the new story.
“I was against making a new version for years and refused to agree. But there has been such a huge elapse of time, 30 years, a lot of people have died in that time.
“An awful lot of the old team are being reassembled to make it, that is good. I am not grumpy at all about it.”
The original version of The Snowman will be shown on Channel 4 on Christmas Day this year at 2:30 p.m.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer first appeared in a 1939 book written by Robert L. May, one of the Montgomery Ward’s advertising copywriters and was given free to children as a way to drive traffic to the stores.
The book author, Robert L. May donated his handwritten first draft and illustrated mock-up to Dartmouth College before his death at age 71 in 1976, and his family later added to what has become a large collection of Rudolph-related documents and merchandise, including a life-sized papier-mache reindeer that now stands among the stacks at the Rauner Special Collections Library.
Robert L. May’s scrapbook about the book’s launch and success went unnoticed until last year, when Dartmouth archivist Peter Carini came across it while looking for something else.
“No one on staff currently knew we had it. I pulled it out and all the pieces started falling out. It was just a mess,” Peter Carini said.
The scrapbook, which has since been restored and catalogued, includes Robert L. May’s list of possible names for his story’s title character – from Rodney and Rollo to Reginald and Romeo. There’s a map showing how many books went to each state and letters of praise from adults and children alike.
The scrapbook also chronicles the massive marketing campaign Montgomery Ward launched to drum up newspaper coverage of the book giveaway and its efforts to promote it within the company.
Near the front of the scrapbook is a large colored poster instructing Montgomery Ward stores about how to order and distribute the book. An illustration of Rudolph sweeps across the page, his name written in ornate script.
There are exclamation points galore: “The rollinckingest, rip-roaringest, riot-provokingest, Christmas give-away your town has ever seen!”, “A laugh and a thrill for every boy and girl in your town (and for their parents, too!)”
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer first appeared in a 1939 book written by Robert L. May, one of the Montgomery Ward's advertising copywriters
Rudolph is described as “the perfect Christmas crowd-bringer,” if stores follow a few rules, including giving the book only to children accompanied by adults. “This will limit <<street urchin>> traffic to a minimum, and will bring in the PARENTS … the people you want to sell!”
The response was overwhelming – at a time when a print-run of 50,000 books was considered a best-seller, the company gave away more than 2 million copies that first year and by the following year was selling an assortment of Rudolph-themed toys and other items.
But lest this become a story about corporate greed, it should be noted that in 1947, Montgomery Ward took the unusual step of turning over the copyright to the book to Robert L. May, who was struggling financially after the death of his first wife.
“He then made several million dollars using that in various ways, through the movie, the song, merchandising and things like that,” Peter Carini said.
“I think it’s a great story because it shows how corporations used to think of themselves as part of civil society and how much that has changed.”
Robert L. May eventually left Montgomery Ward to essentially manage Rudolph’s career, which really took off after May’s brother-in-law Johnny Marks wrote the song (made famous by Gene Autry in 1949), and the release of a stop-motion animated television special in 1964.
Both the song and movie depart significantly from Robert L. May’s original plot, however.
In Robert L. May’s story, Rudolph doesn’t live at the North Pole or grow up aspiring to pull Santa’s sleigh — he lives in a reindeer village and Santa discovers him while filling Rudolph’s stocking on a foggy Christmas Eve.
“And you,” Santa tells Rudolph, “May yet save the day! Your wonderful forehead may yet pave the way!”
Robert L. May’s story is written in verse, similar to “The Night Before Christmas” by Clement Clarke Moore, and opens, “Twas the day before Christmas and all through the hills/ The reindeer were playing … enjoying the spills.”
“It’s lovely to hear it read out loud, it really comes alive,” Virginia Herz, one of Robert L. May’s daughters, said in a phone interview this week.
As a small child, Virginia Herz, who declined to reveal her age, didn’t think there was anything unusual about growing up in a house surrounded by Rudolph merchandise. It wasn’t until she was older that she realized her father’s job of “taking care of Rudolph” was a bit different.
Virginia Herz tells her grandchildren that their great-grandpa wrote a story about Rudolph, not that he created the character.
“As I child, that’s how I felt. I knew my dad had written a wonderful book about Rudolph and now there were Rudolph toys and other things all around us,” she said.
“But it was no different than the guy next door who sold cars, or the guy down the street who was a painting contractor.”
Virginia Herz acknowledges the myths that have become entwined in Rudolph’s history – including the notion that May wrote the story as a Christmas gift for his older daughter, Barbara, when his wife was dying of cancer and that a Montgomery Ward manager “caught wind of the little storybook”.
In reality, Montgomery Ward assigned Robert L. May to write a Christmas book around the same time his wife was ill, Virginia Herz said.
“What’s out there on the Internet is a softer telling,” she said.
“My dad was aware of it and considered it appropriate. There’s the softer, romantic version and the more fact-based version.”
Virginia Herz said her father would be thrilled to see how his creation and its many incarnations have become part of American culture.
“I think he would be startlingly amazed,” she said.
“It really is an eternal part of Christmas. He would have been amazed.”
A strange metal sphere that looks like a prop from a science fiction film fell to the ground in a remote area of northern Namibia, Africa, and nobody can explain where it came from.
The metallic sphere weighs around 13 lbs, has a diameter of 14 inches and its rough surface looks like “two halves welded together”, said police forensics director Paul Ludik.
When the ball came down it caused a crater 12 inches deep and 13 ft wide, although it was found some 60f t away.
Locals claimed to have heard several explosions in the days before it was discovered by a farmer on his land.
The metallic sphere weighs around 13 lbs, has a diameter of 14 inches and its rough surface looks like “two halves welded together”
The find sparked speculation on the internet that it could finally be proof of extra terrestrial life, even though it bore a passing resemblance to the head of a character from the children’s series Teletubbies.
Some claimed that it could be an escaped particle from the Large Hadron Collider, reindeer droppings or a Quaffle from the Harry Potter films.
Others – arguably with more accuracy – guessed it was a hydrazine tank, which are used on space satellites to store the flammable chemical.
Paul Ludik however was quick to point out that more tests need to be done and that NASA and the European Space Agency had been notified.
He said that the ball was discovered a month ago but it has only now been made public. Whilst it was made of a “sophisticated material”, it was something that was known to mankind.
Paul Ludik explained that the explosion heard by locals could have been the sonic boom when it broke the sound barrier coming down to Earth, or by the impact on the ground.
The compound appeared to be a “metallic compound normally used in space vehicles”, although he would not be surprised it it was actually from a normal aircraft.
Police deputy inspector general Vilho Hifindaka added that the sphere, which landed 480 miles from the Namibian capital Windhoek, did not pose any danger.
Vilho Hifindaka said: “It is not an explosive device, but rather hollow, but we had to investigate all this first”.
Earlier this year Britain and the rest of the world was put on alert when one of NASA’s satellites broke up and crashed to Earth.
Huge chunks of titanium up to 350lbs from car-sized Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite tore through the atmosphere at 1,800 mph but the best NASA could guess was that they landed somewhere south of Inverness on the equator.
To try and reassure the public it also revealed that the odds of being hit were one in 3,200 – more likely than getting a hole-in-one in golf.
Weeks later Germany’s Roentgen satellite crashed to Earth and split up into 30 huge chunks including one which weighed 880 lbs.
Rumors abounded that The First Dog Bo had flown out to Hawaii on Saturday with the First Family then returned to Washington D.C. for the Wednesday photos.
However, White House clarified the big question and said Bo stayed in Washington and never went on holiday with First Family.
Barack Obama’s dog Bo did not fly back just days after his Hawaiian holiday began so he could take part in a presidential photo call.
Michelle Obama’s press office had earlier said Bo would be leaving with the First Lady and her girls for their Hawaii holiday last Saturday.
A Hawaii eyewitness said he saw the Portuguese Water Dog taken for a walk earlier this week, ahead of President Obama’s delayed arrival.
But now the White House has told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that Bo has been in Washington all along and never left for Hawaii in the first place.
Eyewitness Scott Miscovich blamed the sighting on his wife, whom he said must have seen “another black dog walking our neighborhood”.
Scott Miscovich told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser: “We would like to apologize to Bo and the Obama family for any inconvenience this may have caused them.”
The same newspaper had reported earlier this week that “the family and first dog Bo arrived at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam”.
The White House Dossier blog speculated Bo could have come back on the plane that first took Michelle Obama out to Hawaii on Saturday.
The bill for the $4 million trip rose by $100,000 when Michelle Obama decided to take Sasha and Malia early while her husband sorts out the economy.
President Barack Obama took Bo on a shopping trip to PetSmart on Wednesday
The National Enquirer even reported Bo is flown to holidays on a separate plane with Secret Service agents, but this was never verified.
President Barack Obama took Bo on a shopping trip to PetSmart on Wednesday where he bought two items including a dog bone with a $50 bill.
The First Family will return home on January 1. It is not yet known whether Bo will go with President Barack Obama when he flies out to Hawaii.
James Ramseur, one of the four teens who were famously shot by “subway vigilante” Bernhard Goetz in a New York subway in 1984, has died in a possible suicide.
James Ramseur, 46, was found dead in the Paradise Motor Inn in the Bronx at about 11:00 a.m. yesterday.
Sources told the New York Daily News that two empty prescription pill bottles were found near the body, suggesting James Ramseur may have taken his own life.
However, cops did not find a suicide note or any wounds on the body.
James Ramseur was scheduled to check out on Thursday, but when he never did, the manager of the motel entered the room and found him.
He was the youngest of four teens who surrounded Bernhard Goetz on the 2 train on December 22, 1984.
Believing the group was about to rob him, Bernhard Goetz pulled out a .38 calibre revolver and fired, striking each of them once.
James Ramseur was shot in the chest, but survived.
Each of his partners in crime – Barry Allen, Troy Canty and Darrell Cabey – were also hospitalized and were not killed.
Bernhard Goetz was briefly a fugitive, but turned himself in to police a little more than a week later in Concord, New Hampshire.
Bernhard Goetz, who is white, claimed it was self-defense, alleging the youths intended to rob him.
During the trial, James Ramseur testified that they were panhandling, and not demanding money from Bernhard Goetz, but it was later reported that the group was intending to mug him.
Bernhard Goetz was convicted of a gun charge but acquitted of attempted murder.
Three of the suspects were found to have screwdrivers at the time of the shooting, which the suspects claimed were used to break into arcade games to steal quarters, not as weapons.
Each of the men shot by Bernhard Goetz would later be in and out of jail, with the exception of Darrell Cabey, who was left paralyzed by the bullet that struck him.
Bernhard Goetz filed for bankruptcy shortly after Darrell Cabey won a $43 million lawsuit against him.
James Ramseur fell into a coma after the shooting and underwent multiple surgeries.
Shortly after James Ramseur’s release from the hospital, he filed a phony report that men hired by Bernhard Goetz tried to kidnap him. He was not charged in that incident.
A year later, in 1986, James Ramseur was convicted of holding a gun while a cohort raped and sodomized a pregnant woman on the rooftop of a Bronx building he lived in.
He was released from prison in that case in 2010 after serving nearly 25 years.
Berry Allen did time after he was convicted of robbery in 1991, while Troy Canty has been arrested for several petty crimes over the years.
The case of the electronics expert who refused to be a victim of subway muggers captivated New York at a time when such crimes were rampant.
The shooting heightened an already divisive debate in the city over race, crime and quality of life in New York City.
He was praised as a hero by many, but he was also branded a racist by civil rights leaders like the Reverend Al Sharpton.
The case is frequently mentioned in popular culture, from crime drama Law & Order to the Billy Joel hit song “We Didn’t Start the Fire”.
Cops from University Park Mall in Mishawaka, Indiana, banned a five-year-old boy from visiting Santa’s grotto because his grandparents had broken rules by taking a picture of him.
Don Oberloh and his wife Debbie Cassella were kicked out of the mall along with their grandson and his mother, for taking pictures at a café.
Debbie Cassella claims they had taken the boy, who was over from California, to visit Santa and had been enjoying a drink at a cafe when security staff pounced.
The grandmother told WNDU.com: “We were just sitting around the table having something to drink, talking about what we were planning and that’s when my husband took the picture.”
Cops from University Park Mall in Mishawaka, Indiana, banned a five-year-old boy from visiting Santa's grotto because his grandparents had broken rules by taking a picture of him
According to the grandparents, security staff rushed over after they noticed Don Oberloh with his camera.
Don Oberloh recalled: “I believe she said you can’t take pictures at the mall.
“I thought she was joking and I said <<I’m taking a picture of my grandson>>, I’d understand if I was taking pictures of the architecture or the products in the stores and she became a little hostile.”
“I asked to speak with a mall manager and she flashed a badge at me, and I didn’t see it, and asked <<is this good enough?>> and I tried explaining things to her and she came back.”
Don Oberloh said he apologized but the woman became belligerent at which point he asked to speak to the manager.
Eventually he left the building after being asked by security to leave, but Debbie Cassella stayed to wait for her daughter, who had gone into a store.
Debbie Cassella added: “I told him I can’t just leave and then he said that he would remove me physically and then he called another security guard and that guy came over and then my daughter showed up and I said we were just here to take my grandson to see Santa and he said you can’t see Santa.”
Debbie Cassella said the incident was embarrassing and has vowed never to return to the mall.
A spokesperson for the University Park Mall said managers are investigating the incident.
She said it was not mall policy to immediately remove shoppers for taking a picture, but that shoppers who do not comply with requests to stop taking photos or were aggressive with staff, would be ejected.
Sarah Symonds did not exactly spread festive happiness in December 2008 when she claimed she had had a seven-year affair with Gordon Ramsay.
Former “professional mistress” Sarah Symonds – who now claims to be “clean” – has admitted the loneliness of being “the other woman” at Christmas has in the past made her suicidal.
Sarah Symonds, 40, said the fiery Scottish chef Gordon Ramsay had been her long-term lover, although he denied the claims, saying he was “more likely to have an affair with Delia”.
Sarah symonds also said she had an affair with shamed Tory peer and bestselling author Jeffrey Archer, and says she has lived as a mistress for 15 years.
In a piece for a down-market tabloid newspaper, Sarah Symonds said: “I’ve been clean for three years now.
“I’ve been with no married men since Gordon Ramsay and never will be. I wouldn’t want to be in that situation again.”
Sarah Symonds added: “I take full responsibility for my past. But having affairs is like a drug – you’re always desperate for your next fix of the guy.
“It can destroy you. I’ve felt so low I’ve been suicidal.
“You end up imagining what your lover is doing on Christmas Day and you can’t wait until the New Year because you fool yourself into believing the following year will be your time.
“If you’re in love with a married man you want a life with him. The fact that he’s having Christmas with someone else eats to your core.”
Sarah Symonds did not exactly spread festive happiness in December 2008 when she claimed she had had a seven-year affair with Gordon Ramsay
Sarah Symonds hit the headlines in late 2008 when she went public with claims she had been in a long-term relationship with Gordon Ramsay.
She also claimed chef Gordon Ramsay had been having affairs with two other women.
The chef, who is married to wife Tana, denied anything had happened.
Now Sarah Symonds has spoken about how having an affair with a married man leaves the other woman the odd one out at Christmas when he goes back to his wife and family for the holidays.
She warned women to avoid the trap – but gave some money-minded tips for those who do it – and offered a glimpse into how some of her lovers have treated her in the past.
Sarah Symonds said: “My advice is, don’t have an affair. But if you’re going to, know that he’s using you and use him back. Mistresses should get something nice for Christmas – after all, he’s buying his wife something.
“Mr X was wealthy and he’d always try to buy me off. One Christmas Eve he gave me a Cartier bracelet with diamonds in it.
“He said: <<Each year we’ll put another diamond on it for the amount of time we’re together>>. Another man phoned to say he had a Christmas present for me, which he was very excited about.
“When he turned up he gave me £1,000 [$1,500] in an envelope. It was a sweet gesture, but as we’d just spent a night together his timing made me feel cheap – then he asked me to leave the hotel in disguise so no one would see me.
“In the end, I used the money to clean a carpet he’d spilled red wine over.
“At least he spent some money, though. Jeffrey Archer, who was one of the tightest people I’ve ever met, bought me a tin of humbugs for my Christmas present.”
As a poacher-turned-gamekeeper, Sarah Symonds also had some tips for suspicious wives.
Sarah Symonds wrote: “Christmas is a good time for finding out if your other half is cheating.
“Remember, if you think that something is up, it probably is.
“Does he go to bed after you because he doesn’t want the intimacy? Does he take his mobile phone to the toilet because you might check it or perhaps because he’s secretly texting his mistress?
“Does he have a second phone you don’t have the number for? Look for clues, such as receipts for hotels or presents you know nothing about.
“I wasted years being a mistress but I’ve finally emerged as a much stronger person.”
Unaccompanied Chloe Boyce, 9, spent five hours stranded in Baltimore after her Southwest flight was reroute, but her awaiting family was never told
Unaccompanied 9-year-old Chloe Boyce, from Clarksville Tennessee, spent five hours stranded in Baltimore after her Southwest flight was rerouted between Nashville and New York but her awaiting family was never told.
Chloe Boyce’s flight arrived without her on it and the Southwest attendants couldn’t say where she was.
“The flight arrived and my daughter didn’t get off,” Chloe Boyce’s mother Elena Kerr told MSNBC.
“Someone went on the plane to see if she was there and my sister called me and said, <<Where’s Chloe?>>” Elena Kerr recalled, leading her to question her sister who had been sent to retrieve her daughter in New York.
“The Southwest guys told her there were no unaccompanied minors on that flight,” she explained, to her full family’s horror.
Despite scheduled stops in Columbus and Baltimore, Chloe Boyce’s mother was neither told her daughter would have to get off the plane nor was her daughter authorized to according to the airline’s policy on unaccompanied minors.
But when fog hit Columbus, Chloe Boyce’s Southwest flight additionally landed in Cleveland, prompting the later delay in Baltimore.
Elena Kerr says she frantically called Southwest but it took them an hour to track her daughter’s location down and even longer than that to give her an explanation on what had happened.
“It was like the scariest moment of my life to think that they didn’t know where she was,” Elena Kerr told ABC news.
“We just don’t understand why we weren’t called, especially because the Southwest policy states that someone must be available to answer phone calls during the flight time in the event of a flight irregularity,” she told MSNBC.
In addition to apologizing to Chloe Boyce’s family, Southwest has refunded the cost of their ticket as well.
“Our unaccompanied minor policy aims to minimize these kinds of situations … by only ticketing them on itineraries that don’t require an aircraft change,” Southwest spokesperson Brad Hawkins wrote in an email to MSNBC.
“In this case, the unscheduled change of planes resulted in the connection, a delay and distress for the family which we certainly regret and have apologized for in our conversation with the family of our customer,” Brad Hawkins stated.
In addition, a pilot in Baltimore who was alerted to Chloe Boyce’s situation walked her to a nearby airport Chili’s for dinner, according to her mother, making the girl as comfortable as possible.
It wasn’t Chloe Boyce’s first unaccompanied flight, yet despite the company’s apologies, her mother says it may be her last.
”I’m going to be driving the 17 hours to New York to get her,” she told MSNBC.
Southwest’s rules on unaccompanied minors:
“Unaccompanied Minors are allowed to travel on only nonstop or same-plane service (makes one or two stops but does not require a change of planes or flight number).”
Chloe Boyce disembarking her flight in Baltimore to change planes was an admitted mistake by the airline.
Southwest says they “will not transport UMs on flights that may be diverted or cancelled due to inclement weather or other operational abnormalities”.
That policy on possible diversions and/or cancellations is in place to minimize situation is like Chloe Boyce’s.
At least 44 people have been killed and more than 150 injured in twin suicide car bombings in Damascus, Syria, officials say.
State television said suspected al-Qaeda militants had targeted two security service bases in the Kafr Sousa area.
But the opposition said the attacks – which came a day after Arab League observers arrived – were staged by the government to justify its crackdown.
The Arab League team are tasked with monitoring whether the government complies with a peace agreement that orders all troops to withdraw from the streets, with the aim of ending the violence.
But human rights and opposition activists said the killings continued on Friday, with security forces shooting dead at least 12 civilians.
More than 5,000 people have been killed and thousands more detained since anti-government protests erupted in March, the UN says.
At least 44 people have been killed and more than 150 injured in twin suicide car bombings in Damascus
The two explosions happened within minutes of each other on Friday morning.
Within minutes, state television said two attacks had been carried out by suicide bombers driving vehicles packed with explosives against the General Security Directorate and another branch of the security services in the up market Kfar Sousa district, south-west of Damascus centre.
“Preliminary investigations showed al-Qaeda was responsible,” it added.
Video footage was broadcast of heavily damaged buildings, with rescue workers combing through burnt buildings and blood-stained debris, and ambulances taking the injured away.
The state-owned news channel, al-Ikhbariya al-Suriya, said the first car bomb exploded outside the offices of an unspecified security agency.
When guards at a nearby compound housing the General Security Directorate went to inspect the aftermath of the first blast, the driver of another vehicle rammed the main gates and detonated the bomb it was carrying, the channel said.
“The explosions shook the house, it was frightful,” Nidal Hamidi, a Syrian journalist who lives in Kfar Sousa, told the Associated Press news agency.
“Gunfire was heard immediately following the explosion and windows up to 200m (670ft) away were shattered,” Nidal Hamidi said.
Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told reporters: “On the first day after the arrival of the Arab observers, this is the gift we get from the terrorists and al-Qaeda.
“But we are going to do all we can to facilitate the Arab League mission.”
Faisal Mekdad was accompanied by the Arab League’s Assistant Secretary General, Samir Seif al-Yazal, who said the nine-strong advance team of monitors would not be deterred.
“We are here to see the facts on the ground,” he added.
“What we are seeing today is regretful; the important thing is for things to calm down.”
The US state department condemned the attacks in Damascus but said they must not deter the Arab League observers from doing their work.
Pop star George Michael has been released from the Austrian hospital and is flying back to England today after almost five weeks.
George Michael, 48, has been receiving treatment for pneumonia at the AKH clinic in Vienna, Austria, for weeks. But after making a recovery from the illness he was discharged from the medical centre at 08:00 a.m. and was taken straight to the airport so he can be at home for Christmas.
AKH staff member told Austrian newspaper Osterreich: “He’s feeling a lot better. He’s doing so well, he’s able to fly again.”
Yesterday George Michael’s doctors revealed he was feeling much better and had responded well to treatment.
Christoph Zielinski – one of his doctors – said: “We know he’s doing fine and we are generally optimistic.”
Last week, George Michael’s boyfriend Fadi Fawaz tweeted the pop superstar would be flying back to England for Christmas.
Fadi Fawaz said: “Christmas at home. I cannot stop smiling today, the best day ever. He is getting better and better. Nothing to worry about, happy days.”
The tweet has since been removed.
Pop star George Michael has been released from the Austrian hospital and is flying back to England today after almost five weeks
George Michael had to cancel all the remaining shows on his “Symphonica Tour” when he fell ill in November.
In late November, a statement released by George Michael’s doctors revealed that the singer was “improving steadily”.
They made clear that the pop star will need a period of “complete rest” to recover from the illness but emphasized he had no further underlying health problems.
In a statement, Professors Gottfried Locker and Christoph Zielinski said: “The latest development in Mr. Michael’s case, which has evolved from a severe pneumococcal infection, necessitated intensive care due to its severity and extension.
“We are happy to announce that Mr. Michael is improving steadily with an impressive regression of pneumonic symptoms and follows a steady rate of improvement as hoped.
“There are no other health issues with regards to the patient other than the underlying pneumonic disorder, and no further measures had to be taken.”
They continued: “Mr. Michael is receiving precisely the same treatment as any ordinary patient in Austria would receive at the hospital for this disease.”
Doctors said “complete rest and peace and quiet are mandatory for his recovery”.
George Michael’s official website has urged fans to send well wishes to him via his Facebook page.
It also announced the re-release of George Michael’s festive single December Song (I Dream of Christmas).
Best Buy, the largest U.S. specialty electronics retailer, has alerted some customers that it will not be able to fill their online orders, just days before Christmas.
Best Buy said late Wednesday that “overwhelming demand for some products from Bestbuy.com has led to a problem redeeming online orders made in November and December”.
Meanwhile, the iconic upscale New York department store Barneys said a number of its online orders were canceled because of technical glitch.
Neither Best Buy nor Barneys are saying exactly how many customers were affected.
The shortages are a black eye for Best Buy, which has beefed up its online campaign to fight off intense competition from online retailers and discount stores. And the holiday season is crucial for retailers like Best Buy because it can make up to 40% of annual sales.
Some glitches should not be a surprise with such a massive surge in online shopping this year, analysts said, but there is a risk of a backlash.
“It is a hiccup for the company,” said Morningstar analyst R.J. Hottovy.
“They were kind of behind the curve building out their online channel. They’ve done a good job investing in it, but if you make a lot of rapid changes, inevitably there are going to be growing pains.”
“The canceled orders probably won’t make a big difference for Best Buy’s holiday sales this year, but it may lead to more customers looking elsewhere in the future,” he said.
“The risk is any consumers affected by canceled orders will be willing to explore other alternatives for online shopping in years to come,” R.J. Hottovy said.
Online sales are up 15% to $32 billion so far this holiday season, while total sales are up just 2.5%.
Even though online sales are a huge boon for retailer, the shift has already created some problems.
Discount retailer Target Corp’s site crashed in September because of overwhelming demand for Missoni for Target, a limited designer line of clothing, home goods and accessories.
Best Buy benefitted when its now-defunct rival Circuit City went out of business more than a year ago, but its suffering as Americans hold off on big ticket items and search for deals online and at discounters.
In order to compete, Best Buy has expanded its online offerings, cut back on square footage in the U.S. by closing stores and sought to expand internationally. In its most recent third quarter ending November 26, Best Buy said its net income fell 29% as it cut prices in popular categories such as tablets and TVs to drive sales and traffic during the holiday season.
Best Buy shares rose 8 cents to $22.96 in midday trading.
Barneys sent out e-mails to some customers with the following message:
“This technical issue posed a significant challenge for our IT department and in turn caused some lengthy delays in responding to both order requests and emails and so I apologize as well for the lateness of this reply… but nonetheless your order was canceled as we no longer have the inventory to fulfill it.”
Chaz Bono, the transgender son of singer Cher, began moving out of the home he shared with his partner of 12 years, Jennifer Elia, yesterday.
Chaz Bono, 42, was pictured leaving their LA residence with a large suitcase just days after announcing the end of their engagement.
Cher’ son looked downbeat as hauled his baggage and coat to his car.
Jennifer Elia, 36, later emerged in what appeared to be a distraught state – her puffy eyes suggested she had been crying.
It is unclear where Chaz Bono will reside now their relationship has come to an end.
Chaz Bono, 42, was pictured leaving the LA residence with a large suitcase just days after announcing the end of his engagement with Jennifer Elia
Chaz Bono and Jennifer Elia announced their split through Chaz’ spokesperson Howard Bragman earlier this week.
Howard Bragman said: “They leave this relationship with great love, respect and affection toward one another.
“No further amplification will be forthcoming and they ask that you respect their privacy at this time.”
Chaz Bono also tweeted: “Thanks for your concern about our separation. I’m doing fine, and we remain on good terms with nothing but respect and affection 4 eachother.”
Just last month, Chaz Bono was shown popping the question during his one-hour TV-show special Being Chaz, which aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
The programme was a follow-up to his Emmy-nominated documentary Becoming Chaz which focused on his transition from female to male.
Jennifer Elia – who is writing a book – supported Chaz Bono during his gender reassignment process and was regularly seen cheering from the sidelines during his time on Dancing With The Stars.
But Jennifer Elia revealed that the process of dealing with Chaz Bono’s transition was difficult at times, admitting that she started drinking again when he told her that he made the final decision about changing genders.
Kim Jong-Un is the heir poised to become the next leader of rogue state North Korea, but a probe into the school days of the youngest son of Dictator Kim Jong-Il proves he is little more than an academic failure who squandered his education playing computer games and basketball.
The baby-faced Kim Jong-Un, 28, first stepped out of his father’s shadow in September last year to appear in public in the capital Pyongyang as thousands of goose-stepping troops marched by to mark the 65th anniversary of the ruling Workers Party.
Kim Jong-Un looked the part, dressed up in the uniform of a four-star general, and trained in the operation of the torture camps and punishment gulags which fill his blighted land.
The world will have to see whether his prolonged exposure to the west and its values during his school days in Switzerland have imbued him with any democratic values that might bring his decrepit and starving country back into the international fold after years of isolation.
But the signs are not good. Despite having lot of money spent on his education at a top private school in Switzerland, he didn’t leave with even the equivalent of a single GCSE.
When Kim Jong-Un was just 15, his father took him out of the costly International School Of Berne, where fees now cost around $25,000 a year. He moved him to a nearby state school to save money but he was quickly put in the lower tier in class.
Wearing Nike trainers, a Chicago Bulls sweatshirt and jeans, Kim Jong-Un was introduced to Class 6A by the headmistress of Liebefeld-Steinholzi School near Berne. She lied: “Boys and girls, this is Un Pak. He comes from North Korea and he is the son of a diplomat.”
Kim Jong-Un took the empty seat next to Portuguese diplomat’s son Joao Micaelo and the pair became friends. Joao Micaelo, who now works as a chef, said: “We weren’t the dimmest kids in class but neither were we the cleverest. We were always in the second tier.
“Un tried hard to express himself but he was not very good at German and became flustered when asked to give the answers to a problem. The teachers would see him struggling ashamedly and then move on. They left him in peace.
“He left without getting any exam results at all. He was much more interested in football and basketball than lessons.”
When Kim Jong-Un was just 15, his father took him out of the costly International School Of Berne, where fees now cost around $25,000 a year
A big fan of star Michael Jordan, Kim Jong-Un – who was once caught with a bondage pornographic magazine in his school bag – proved to be a good player on the basketball court.
Kim Jong-Un did shine at maths but nothing else in class, and schoolmates remember that he needed a lot of extra tuition.
One colleague who was with Kim Jong-Un at the International School said: “It must have been 1993 when he came to the school. His English was bad at first. He had a strong accent and he was given extra lessons.
“He also learned German and was OK in the basics of both – but just OK. His English got better but not his German.
“He was good in maths. That sounds like he was a nerd – but he wasn’t. He wasn’t so hot in other subjects. I suppose in hindsight we could have nicknamed him Dim Jong-un. One day he just disappeared.”
According to school sources, Kim Jong-Il got fed up paying for an education that he thought was going nowhere. But there may have been another reason – his son’s taboo love affair with American culture.
The North Korean Embassy in Berne sent back reports on his son’s friendships and influences to his father and intelligence chiefs back in North Korea.
JoaoMicaelo said: “We spent nearly every afternoon with each other. He often invited me back to eat. He had a private chef who cooked whatever he wanted.
“Much of it wasn’t to my taste. Lots of chicken in strange sweet-and-sour sauces. He didn’t live at the embassy but in a flat in a nice residential area near the school.”
Kim Jong-Un in fact lived in a large flat at No 10 Kirchstrasse, a sedate suburban street with two pizza cafes, a bank and a Co-Op supermarket.
Joao Micaelo added: “He was surrounded by the best gadgets that the rest of us kids couldn’t afford – TVs, video recorder, a Sony PlayStation. He had a cook, a driver, a private teacher.
“But, curiously, I never saw his room. We were mostly in the communal living room. We watched a lot of kung-fu films – especially Jackie Chan movies. He loved them. He had everything which we never saw coming close to our own cinema.
“After school we met at the basketball court and threw a few baskets, with both of us pretending to be Michael Jordan. We were all envious of his genuine NBA basketball, which must have cost more than $150.
“We spoke about girls and about our grand plans. At weekends there were parties and a lot of under-age drinking. But I never once saw a drop of alcohol pass his lips and he wasn’t interested in girls.
“He only spoke about his life in the <<homeland>> rarely. But I knew he had a certain homesickness. On his stereo he only played North Korean songs. Western music didn’t do it for him.
“Most of all he listened to the North Korean national anthem, which we must have heard 1,000 times together. I only knew him in his alibi mode until one Sunday afternoon, shortly before he left for North Korea in 2000.
“He pulled out a photo of him alongside his father and said <<I am not the ambassador’s son. I am the son of the North Korean President.>>”
One member of staff at the school, identifying himself only as Joerg, said: “We had these after-school discussion groups. I remember I was outside the school having a smoke when this black, armoured Mercedes with smoked glass pulled up.
“Out stepped <<Un Pak>>. He was surrounded by these dwarf ninjas. They scanned the street and then led him up the path.
“That night we talked about the responsibilities of democracy – you know, the right to vote, the right to a common voice, the importance of speaking out.
“He never joined in. He looked down at his shoes all the time and fidgeted, never seemed easy. He was dipping into a bag from Loeb – that’s the fanciest delicatessen in Berne, the kind of place where you can spend 100 euros on a couple of salads.
“And at that moment I thought of George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm where, truly, some are more equal than others.”
Nassim Mimoune, a French Muslim man who punched a nurse for trying to remove his wife’s burqa during childbirth, has been jailed in southern France.
Nassim Mimoune, 24, had already been expelled from the delivery room for branding the nurse a “rapist” as she carried out an intimate examination of his wife.
Then through a window Nassim Mimoune spotted the midwife taking off his wife’s burqa as she prepared to give birth.
The man smashed opens the locked door and hit the woman in the face, demanding she replace the full Islamic face veil.
As his wife delivered a baby boy, Nassim Mimoune was ejected from the building by security men from the hospital in Marseille and arrested for assault.
A judge in the southern French port jailed Nassim Mimoune for six months on Wednesday, telling him: “Your religious values are not superior to the laws of the republic.”
Aisha Khan, a student who disappeared from the Edwards campus of the University of Kansas last week has been found alive and well, but where she was for the last five days remains a mystery.
Aisha Khan, 19, was believed to have been kidnapped when she vanished from her university campus after claiming in a frantic voice-mail on Friday that she had been attacked by a man.
Police said today Aisha Khan was NOT abducted, sparking anger among people who had supported the massive search for her.
Many took to the Help Find Aisha Khan Facebook page to raise questions about why she did not contact police earlier.
Aisha Khan has been found alive and well, but where she was for the last five days remains a mystery
FBI agents had joined 10 police detectives, 50 police officers, and University of Kansas security guards in the massive search for Aisha Khan, which received nationwide media coverage.
Officers on horseback searched nearby woodland and volunteers handed out flyers.
Aisha Khan husband of five-months, Waseem Khan, appeared on “Good Morning America” yesterday where he begged kidnappers to let her go and her family offered a $10,000 reward for clues on her whereabouts.
However, police said they were able to locate Aisha Khan and she was not abducted or held against her will, according to KMBC, and despite the strange disappearance no criminal act occurred.
The police investigation has been closed, but no other details on Aisha Khan’s whereabouts for the last five days or what happened have been released.
A statement posted on the Help Find Aisha Khan Facebook page said: “On behalf of the Khan family, we are ecstatic to announce that Aisha has been found.”
However, the family are keeping quiet about the details of the disappearance.
As it became clear Aisha Khan had not been abducted, hundreds of supporters of the group took to the page to demand answers to where she had been.
Some commented that the young bride had run away and or even faked her own kidnapping.
Aamer Trambu, a family friend, told The Kansas City Star: “We believe our prayers have been answered. We do not have enough information yet, and we cannot tell you anymore.”
Aisha Khan, who is studying for her finals, disappeared on Friday morning after she was allegedly assaulted on a secluded picnic table at the campus in Overland Park.
After running away from a “intoxicated man” Aisha Khan called her older sister Faiza and left a voicemail saying she had been attacked and that she was “freaked out”.
When Aisha Khan’ sister arrived at the scene shortly after, all she found were her books and mobile phone on her favorite bench.
The message said: “My heart is pounding. I’ve never got this scared in my life. Pick up your phones. I am freaking out right now!”
The student made it clear she had slapped the man and run away, but it was unclear whether she thought he smelt of alcohol or marijuana.
Authorities said workmen believe they saw someone matching Aisha Khan’s description walking away from the campus alone.
Concerns have been raised that her five-month marriage had been arranged against her will, but they have been denied by friends.
Emily Cheatham told ABCNews: “She would not run away. She was happy with her life, with her new marriage.
“There wouldn’t be any reason that she’d want to run away.”
The gadgets that we’re used to seeing in science fiction films could soon become a thing of reality as researchers develop new technology to make lives more like a Hollywood epic.
Wall climbing adhesive, self-destructing gadgets and cars that charge themselves are all things that could become reality.
Unveiling their work early next year at the Big Bang Fair, a celebration of all things science and engineering, inventors have come up with all of the above and a host of other gadgets.
David Kirby from the University of Manchester said that “real life is not only catching up with filmmakers but also inspiring their work – so the two are inextricably linked”.
While filming the latest installment of the Mission Impossible series, Tom Cruise – who plays Ethan Hunt – was pictured scaling Dubai’s Burj Kalifa using high-tech magnetic gloves.
Determined not to be outdone by such a fantasy world, inventors at Cornell University in New York have come up with a palm-sized device that uses the adhesive power of water to create a reversible adhesive bond.
That “glue” can stick to glass, wood and even brick. They hope to be able to create gloves and shoes that will allow us to scale even the blankest of walls.
Developers came up with the idea by looking at a beetle native to Florida which can stick and unstick itself to a leaf with a force 100 times its own body weight.
Some of the creations that have been thought of are already partially available including self-destructing gadgets.
While the iPhone may not actually explode when it falls into the hands of the wrong person, data stored on the device can be destroyed remotely.
Technologists in the US have come up with self-destructing text messages that could mean an end to embarrassing late-night, drunken messages. Tiger Text allows users to set a time period for them to be deleted.
People with office gossip on their mobile phone those with government secrets they want to hide should look out for the Tamatebako flash drive.
Fujitsu is behind this particular piece of kit, already available in Japan, which erases unwanted data without the distracting nature of a mini-fireball.
That information can be stored and deleted within a time frame of 10 minutes to a week. It will also be erased if the user inputs the wrong password or if it is plugged into an unauthorized computer.#
Another creation would surely be welcome news for motorists and green campaigners everywhere – although not that great for the tax man.
BMW created an i8 hybrid concept car for Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol that does away with the need to go to petrol stations.
Turbines generate enough energy from the wheels to power the car and could well be a glimpse of how we will drive in the future.
After getting out of your super-efficient car and arriving at your office, the new technology will just keep on coming.
“Surface computing” is being devised by Microsoft and it’s not just a version of the burglar light in the back garden that switches on every time a leaf blows past it.
The gadgetry will allow users to manipulate digital content through different motions and hand gestures.
Dr. David Kirby said: “Ethan Hunt’s adventures will no doubt capture the imaginations of millions, but the real excitement comes in knowing that film fiction is already being brought to life by scientists and engineers.”
The big Bang Fair will take place at Birmingham NEC from March 15 to 17.
Dr. David Kirby’s top science fiction hits that inspired reality:
iPad: 2001: A Space Odyssey – An astronaut is seen using a gadget similar to the iPad
Mobile phones: Star Trek – Dr Martin Cooper credits fictional devices as inspiration for his 1973 creation
Test tube babies: Brave New World (1931) – Aldous Huxley wrote about artificial reproduction… 46 years later the first test tube baby was born
CCTV: 1984 (1949): George Orwell’s all-seeing Big Brother nightmare has become a reality in the UK with more cameras per person than any other country
Robotic limbs: Six Million Dollar Man (1974) and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) – Scientists at University College London are creating limbs that can be connected to the human skeleton
Large Hadron Collider’s detector Atlas captured a particle that physicists had suspected to exist for years, but had never seen “in the wild”.
The Chi b (3P) particle was detected among data from the trillions of collisions at the LHC.
The CERN discovery was hailed as testimony to how effectively physicists were now scanning the collision data – and essential background to the LHC’s ongoing quest for the Higgs, a theoretical particle which is thought to “explain” why the universe has mass.
Physicists scan the data from the LHC’s detectors for “unusual” signals from the debris of high-energy collisions. This new particle is an important milestone for the collider – and a crucial step in its mission to fill in the gaps in our understanding of physics.
Professor Stefan Soldner-Rembold, a particle physicist at the University of Manchester said the Higgs “will always be the Nobel Prize”, but that this discovery is still very exciting.
What’s been discovered, Prof. Stefan Soldner-Rembold explained, is a particle comprised of a bottom quark and a bottom anti-quark – an entirely new kid on the sub-atomic block that until now was merely a theory.
He said: “It’s exciting confirmation of the theory of strong interactions that keeps these particles together, the same theory that describes how a nucleus sticks together.
“What they’ve found is a b-quark and an anti b-quark.
“Quarks cannot be seen by themselves, they’re contained in a particle and held together with the strong force. If you understand how the force works, you can predict which particles should exist.
“With all these different quarks you can play Lego and put them together in different ways and form new particles, similar to protons, that can be combined to form elements.”
Large Hadron Collider’s detector Atlas captured a particle that physicists had suspected to exist for years, but had never seen “in the wild”
The results were put online on the scientific publication site ArXiv.
The find is an important step for the LHC – which is more than a machine built solely to hunt for the Higgs boson.
Finding particles such as Chi b (3P) is crucial to filling in the gaps in the Standard Model – the way we understand physics.
The LHC was designed to fill in these gaps – and help physicists “move on” to the Higgs and “new physics”.
Researchers from Queensland University of Technology found that while fame – and unhealthy lifestyles – did increase the risk of premature death for musicians, there is no “spike” aged 27.
When Amy Winehouse died earlier this year at the age of 27, she joined a group of high-profile rockers who shared her taste for hard living, all of whom died at the same age – the “27 club”.
Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison of The Doors and Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones all died aged 27.
It’s led some to speculate that there is some reason that the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle tends to take its toll on musicians when they hit 27.
Kurt Cobain also commited suicide at the same age.
When Amy Winehouse died earlier this year at the age of 27, she joined a group of high-profile rockers who shared her taste for hard living, all of whom died at the same age – the “27 club”
Musicians in their 20’s and 30’s are two to three times more likely to die than the general population – but the deaths of so many famous musicians at that exact age is just a coincidence.
Lead researcher on the project, Associate Professor Adrian Barnett from the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) said: “In order to test the <<27 club>> hypothesis, we compared the deaths of famous musicians to the general UK population.”
“We included 1,046 musicians (solo artists and band members) who had a number one album in the UK charts between 1956 and 2007.
“During this period 71 (7%) of the musicians died.
“Our sample included crooners, heavy metal stars, rock ‘n’ rollers and even Muppets (the actors, not the puppets) and this all added up to 21,750 musician years.”
Prof. Adrian Barnett said the research team used mathematical analysis to determine the significance of age 27.
“We found no peak in the risk of death at this age, however, musicians in their 20s and 30s were two to three times more likely to die prematurely than the general UK population,” he said.
“Our research also found some evidence of a cluster of deaths in those aged 20 to 40 in the 1970s and early 1980s.
“Interestingly, there were no deaths in this age group in the late 1980s and we speculate that this could be due to better treatments for heroin overdose, or the change in the music scene from the hard rock 1970s to the pop dominated 1980s.”
“The <<27 club>> is based on myth, but warn that musicians have a generally increased risk of dying throughout their 20s and 30s.”
A Bucharest court has ordered the arrest of two self-described celebrities witches, Vanessa and Melissa, on blackmail and extortion charges in a high-profile case involving a TV star and, reportedly, other public figures.
The Bucharest Appeals Court ruled Wednesday that Rada Minca (Melissa) and Roxana Lider (Vanessa) should be arrested for 29 days pending trial.
Judges decided they should be investigated while under arrest in order not to influence the witnesses.
The witches, of gypsy origin, are accused of deceit and blackmail as tens of victims filed complaints.
According to Bucharest Police spokesman Christian Ciocan, the two women approached public figures promising to help them overcome work or love difficulties and break curses. He says they initially charged very little, but as their victims became hooked on their services, increased their prices.
Last week, Romanian prosecutors have searched 13 houses in Bucharest and Ilfov County and arrested several women who had allegedly scammed people through fortune telling. The two fortune tellers, Melissa and Vanessa from Bucharest and one from Satu Mare and four of their accomplices have been arrested on allegedly taking EUR 450,000 from Romanian TV star Oana Zavoranu. Three others have submitted complaints against them so far. People who have asked for their supernatural services claim they have paid in cash and in kind: cars and jewelry.
Celebrities’ witches Vanessa (left) and Melissa (right) have been arrested on blackmail and extortion charges
Witches Vanessa and Melissa said they cast spells to dispel black magic and curses allegedly cast by other witches upon those asking for their services.
The alleged scam chain also included four loan sharks who lent money to victims to cover the increasing amounts the fortune tellers demanded. People even pawned their houses and cars to get the loans. According to the Romanian Police, several public notaries were also involved in the shenanigans. Those who wanted out of the scam- some of them Romanian VIPs- were then blackmailed and threatened with more curses if they did so.
According to media reports, a well-known politician, a soccer player, TV stars and others are among the alleged victims.
NASA space telescope has detected Kepler-20f, a rocky planet the same size as the Earth orbiting a star like our sun.
This is the first time a planet of this size has been detected in another solar system. Scientists have hailed the technical achievement of detecting Earth sized “exoplanets” – the technical term for planets outside the solar system – as it increases the chances of finding life-bearing worlds.
Although Kepler-20f could have a thick water-vapor atmosphere, its surface is believed to be too hot for life.
A second planet in the same system, Kepler-20e, is only slightly smaller than Earth and even hotter.
Both worlds circle their parent star closely with “years” that last just nine and sixteen days respectively.
Dr. Francois Fressin, one of the astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics in Cambridge, US, said: “It is the first time humanity has been able to discover an object similar to the Earth around a star, so maybe we will be able to find others.
“This could be an important milestone. I think 10 years or maybe even 100 years from now people will look back and ask when was the first Earth-sized planet found. It is very exciting.”
The parent star, Kepler-20, is not exactly a close neighbor, being 945 light years away.
Neither lies within the “habitable zone” where temperatures are just warm enough to allow liquid surface water, increasing the prospects for life.
A number of extra solar planets have already been identified with radiuses of 1.5 to twice that of the Earth.
But Dr. Francois Fressin pointed out that even these have far more volume than the Earth and it would be wrong to consider them truly “Earth-like”.
Earlier this month the telescope discovered Kepler-22b, a planet 2.4 times the size of the Earth situated in the middle of its habitable zone. But scientists say that Kepler 22-b may not be suitable for life.
“You could fit 13 Earths inside Kepler-22b,” said Dr. Francois Fressin.
“The most likely thing is that it’s simply a mini-Neptune, not suitable for life. Just because a planet lies within the habitable zone that doesn’t mean it is habitable.”
Like Kepler-22b, the two new planets were found by the American space agency NASA’s Kepler space telescope – which scans distant stars for the signs of “transits”, planets passing in front of them.
The findings are reported Wednesday in an early online edition of the journal Nature.
Both planets are part of a solar system family already known to contain three larger worlds.
Kepler-20f has a radius just 1.03 times larger than Earth’s, while Kepler-20e is 0.87 the size of the Earth.
The astronomers spent years making sure the signals they detected really were from planets.
“We simulated all possible alternative configurations and tried to quantify the probability that a false signal could occur,” said Dr. Francois Fressin.
“We confirmed that the signals were coming from an Earth-size planet. It couldn’t be due to anything else.”
Both planets are believed to be rocky, with a composition of iron and silicate, and very hot.
Kepler-20f is a baking 426 C and Kepler-20e a scorching 726 C.
The solar system is not hugely like our own, though. In our solar system small, rocky worlds orbit close to the Sun and large, gas giant worlds orbit farther out. In contrast, the planets of Kepler-20 are organized in alternating size: big, little, big, little, big.
“We were surprised to find this system of flip-flopping planets,” said co-author David Charbonneau of the CfA.
The planets of Kepler-20 could not have formed in their current locations. Instead, they must have formed farther from their star and then migrated inward, probably through interactions with the disk of material from which all the planets orbiting the star formed from.
Kepler identifies “objects of interest” by looking for stars that dim slightly, which can occur when a planet crosses the star’s face.
To confirm a transiting planet, astronomers look for the star to wobble as it is gravitationally tugged by its orbiting companion.
At least 63 people have been killed and around 185 injured in a wave of apparently co-ordinated bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, according to officials.
The interior ministry told the BBC 14 blasts hit various locations, including al-Amil in the south and Halawi and Karrada closer to the centre.
The bombings are the worst in months – and follow the withdrawal of US troops.
They come amid fears of rising sectarian tensions as the unity government faces internal divisions.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attacks.
However, analysts say the level of co-ordination suggests a planning capability only available to al-Qaeda in Iraq, which is a mainly Sunni insurgent group.
The bombs exploded as many people were travelling to work during the morning rush-hour.
Four car-bombs and 10 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were detonated, officials told the BBC.
A security spokesman in Baghdad, Maj-Gen Qassim Atta, said the attackers had not aimed at security targets.
“They targeted children’s schools, day workers and the anti-corruption agency,” he told the AFP news agency.
Raghad Khalid, a teacher at a kindergarten in Karrada, said “the children were scared and crying”.
“Some parts of the car bomb are inside our building.”
Smoke was seen rising over Karrada district, with ambulances rushing to the scene.
Another woman said her baby had been covered in glass.
“She is now scared in the next room. All countries are stable. Why don’t we have security and stability?” said Um Hanin.
Iraq’s year-old power-sharing government is in turmoil after an arrest warrant was issued for Sunni Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi on terror charges.
The entire al-Iraqiyya group, the main Sunni bloc in parliament, is boycotting the assembly in protest. It accuses Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a Shia, of monopolizing power.
Tariq al-Hashemi denies the charges. He is currently in Irbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, under the protection of the regional government, but PM Nouri Maliki has demanded that they give him up.
The last American troops departed from Iraq on Sunday, nearly nine years after the war that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
President Barack Obama acknowledged that the situation was not perfect, but said the US forces were leaving behind “a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government elected by its people”.
Health experts believe Christmas is the perfect time to tell the loved ones they are overweight.
The UK National Obesity Forum and International Chair on Cardiometabolic Risk said it was important to be upfront because of the health risks.
Being overweight – particularly around the waist – increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
But a poll by the groups suggests too many people shy away from the issue.
The survey of more than 2,000 people found 42% of 18 to 24-year-olds would not tell a loved one they should lose weight because of a fear they would hurt the other person’s feelings.
For those aged 25 to 44 it was just over a third, while for older people it was about one in four.
Men find it hardest to tell their partners, while women were more worried about bringing up the issue with a friend.
But with families and friends getting together up and down the country over the festive period, the experts believe there is an opportunity that should not be missed.
Prof. David Haslam, chair of the National Obesity Forum, said: “Suggesting to someone that they should consider losing a few pounds may not be a comfortable conversation to have.
“But if someone close to you has a large waistline then as long as you do it sensitively, discussing it with them now could help them avoid critical health risks later down the line and could even save their life.”
Dr. Jean Pierre Despres, scientific director of the International Chair on Cardiometabolic Risk, agreed.
“Start by encouraging someone close to you to make simple lifestyle changes such as becoming more active, making small alterations to their eating habits and replacing sugary drinks with water.”
Waist fat
• In recent years, health experts have begun talking much more about what is known as abdominal obesity – basically fat round the stomach
• It is recommended that men are no larger than 94cm (37in) and women 80cm (31.5in)
• Fat around the waist is related to the release of proteins and hormones which affect how the body breaks down sugars and fats
Warren Beatty was trying to solidify his relationship with Stephen, his teenage daughter who became a man and was previously called Kathlyn, at a special family dinner in Hollywood on Saturday, according to the National Enquirer.
A source told the National Enquirer the special family meal at Italian restaurant il Covo was a way for Warren Beatty to publicly give his support to the 19-year-old, who decided she wanted to switch genders last year, but had been living as a man for at least two years previously.
The source said: “The dinner was an unofficial public display that he’s proud of his family, especially Stephen, for having the courage to be who he truly is.
“It wasn’t easy for Warren. But he learned a lot about the transgender community over the past year.”
As a result Warren Beatty, 74, is now bragging to friends about his “intelligent and courageous son Stephen”.
The source added: “Warren even made an emotional toast to Stephen during the dinner and said he was proud to have such a brave son.”
The person who was most pleased by the Bugsy actor’s new found understanding was his 54-year-old wife Annette Bening.
The source added: “Annette was simply glowing. She said the evening was the best Christmas present she’s ever received.”
Warren Beatty was trying to solidify his relationship with Stephen, his transgender son, at a special family dinner in Hollywood on Saturday
Despite the fact it has taken some time for the Shampoo favorite to come to terms with his former daughter, who was named after his beloved mother, his feelings for him were never in doubt.
The source said: “Warren never stopped loving their child, but he had plenty of issues and fears to overcome.
“The bottom line is he missed his little girl. But he’s finally resigned himself to the fact that one day Stephen will probably have gender reassignment surgery and legally become a boy.
“Warren still slips up and calls Stephen <<her>> or by his birth name Kathlyn, but the bottom line is he’s totally onboard with his child’s new lifestyle.”
Stephen Beatty is one of four children the Oscar winning sex symbol has with Annette Bening.
Warren Beatty and Annette Bening have another two daughters, Isabel and Ella, and a son Ben.
