More than 430 people have been killed and many more missing in recent flash floods triggered by typhoon Washi in the southern Philippines, officials say.
Many of the victims were asleep when it struck Mindanao island, hitting the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro.
Tens of thousands of people have fled to higher ground, the authorities say.
Benito Ramos, head of the national disaster rescue agency, said reports were still coming in and the casualty figures could rise.
He said the floodwaters had risen alarmingly fast overnight as people slept.
“Massive flooding had been reported over the region, especially in Iligan City and Cagayan de Oro City,” Benito Ramos said.
Rivers burst their banks after 25 mm of rain fell in 24 hours.
More than 430 people have been killed and many more missing in recent flash floods triggered by typhoon Washi in the southern Philippines
The Philippine National Red Cross Secretary General Gwen Pang said at least 430 people had been killed.
Gwen Pang said 215 people had been killed in Cagayan de Oro and 144 in Iligan.
Large areas were left without power and some domestic flights were cancelled as winds of up to 90 km/h (55mph) swept across the island.
A landslide killed at least five people in the east of the island, the national disaster agency said.
A military spokesman, Colonel Leopoldo Galon, said an entire army division – some 10,000 soldiers – was involved in the rescue efforts around Cagayan de Oro.
Forecasters said the eye of Tropical Storm Washi had passed close to Dipolog City, west of Iligan City, early on Saturday and it was now heading out into the Sulu Sea.
Floods had swamped a quarter of Iligan and at least 10 villages on its outskirts, said the city’s mayor, Lawrence Cruz.
“It’s the worst flood in the history of our city,” Lawrence Cruz told GMA television.
“It happened so fast, at a time when people were fast asleep.”
The coast guard and other rescuers were scouring the waters off the coastal city for survivors or bodies, he added.
GMA television broadcast dramatic footage of a family escaping their flood-hit home by climbing through a window.
Rescue workers were pictured helping survivors to safety in chest-deep floodwater.
Three people also drowned in Polanco town in Zamboanga del Norte province, said provincial disaster officer Dennis Tenorio. He said high winds had toppled trees.
The storm is set to hit the western island of Palawan later on Saturday, after crossing the Sulu Sea with winds of up to 75 km/h, according to state weather forecasters.
The Philippines are struck by about 20 major storms every year but most of them take a more northerly track, hitting Luzon island.
Benito Ramos said Washi’s toll may have been so high because Mindanao residents are unaccustomed to catching the full force of such storms.
He said officials had given four days of warnings that the storm was approaching but many people had chosen not to evacuate their homes.
Typhoons Nesat and Nalgae battered the country within days of each other in September, leaving more than 100 people dead. Both storms struck Luzon.
Neti pot, a sinus-flushing device used to relieve colds and allergies, has been linked to deadly brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri.
Louisiana’s state health department issued a warning about neti pots following two recent deaths – a 51-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man from the “brain-eating amoeba”, Naegleria fowleri.
It is thought the amoeba entered their brains when they used the devices.
Both victims are thought to have used tap water, instead of distilled or sterilized water as recommended by the manufacturers.
Dr. Raoult Ratard, Louisiana State Epidemiologist, said: “If you are irrigating, flushing, or rinsing your sinuses, for example, by using a neti pot, use distilled, sterile or previously boiled water to make up the irrigation solution.
“Tap water is safe for drinking, but not for irrigating your nose.”
Dr. Raoul Ratard added that it is important to rinse the irrigation device after each use and leave open to air dry.
The very rare infection typically occurs when people go swimming or diving in warm freshwater lakes and rivers.
In very rare instances, health experts said such infections may also occur when contaminated water from other sources, such as from an inadequately chlorinated swimming pool or when people irrigate their sinuses with devices like neti pots.
According to The Department of Health and Hospitals in Louisiana, the amoeba causes the disease primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a brain infection that leads to the destruction of brain tissue.
Naegleria fowleri causes amebic meningoencephalitis, a brain infection that leads to the destruction of brain tissue
In its early stages, symptoms may be similar to symptoms of bacterial meningitis and can include headache, fever, nausea, vomiting and stiff neck. Later symptoms include confusion, loss of balance, seizures and hallucinations.
After the start of symptoms, the disease progresses rapidly and usually causes death within one to 12 days.
A spokesman from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the Louisiana cases are still being investigated.
Phobos-Ground, the $170 million Russian probe, is now heading back to Earth and will crash between January 6 and January 19, but it’s not possible to predict where until a few days beforehand.
The Phobos-Ground craft, which was supposed to travel to Phobos, one of Mars’s two moons, became stuck in Earth orbit after its thrusters failed.
What’s more, one of the probe’s gauges has a small amount of radioactive Cobalt-57 and it is carrying seven tons of toxic fuel in the form of nitrogen teroxide and hydrazine.
Phobos-Ground craft is expected to plummet to Earth between January 6 and January 19
Russia’s space agency says the fuel should burn up upon re-entry and the Cobalt-57 won’t pose any threat of radioactive contamination.
However, several dozen fragments with a total weight of up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds) will fall on the Earth’s surface.
The space agency says that the rough area where the probe’s fragments will fall could only be calculated a few days ahead of its plunge.
James Oberg, a NASA veteran who now works as a space consultant said: “What was billed as the heaviest interplanetary probe ever may become one of the heaviest space derelicts to ever fall back to Earth out of control, an unenviable record.”
The Phobos-Grunt craft was successfully launched by a Zenit-2 booster rocket from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on November 9.
The craft separated from the booster about 11 minutes later, and was to fire its engines twice to set out on its path to Mars.
Russia’s Federal Space Agency chief Vladimir Popovkin said neither of the two engine burns worked, probably due to the failure of the craft’s orientation system.
Embarrassingly, the effort to restore control over the probe was hampered by a limited earth-to-space communications network that forced Russian flight controllers to ask the general public in South America to help locate the craft.
Amateur astronomers were the first to spot the trouble when they detected that the craft was stuck in Earth orbit.
Scientists from Oregon State University have collected microbes from an icy “lava tube” in mountains in Oregon – similarly hostile to the Red Planet’s surface – and found common microbes thriving.
The research team said that the microbes “lived” on iron from a mineral found in rocks – a mineral, olivine, also found in volcanic rocks on Mars, and could survive low oxygen conditions and the total absence of organic food.
“This microbe is from one of the most common families of bacteria found on Earth,” said Amy Smith, a doctoral student at Oregon State University and one of the authors of the study.
“You can find its cousins in caves, on your skin, at the bottom of the ocean and just about anywhere. What is different, in this case, is its unique qualities that allow it to grow in Mars-like conditions.”
Oregon State University research team said that the microbes “lived” on iron from a mineral found in rocks - a mineral, olivine, also found in volcanic rocks on Mars, and could survive low oxygen conditions and the total absence of organic food
The Oregon State University scientists proved that microbes have adapted to deal with their harsh living conditions.
In a normal, room-temperature settings, with normal oxygen levels, the bacteria eat organic materials such as sugar.
But the researchers removed the food, turned down the temperature to near-freezing and lowered the oxygen, they turned to the food they survive on in the lava tubes – olivine, a common mineral found in volcanic rocks on Earth and on Mars – as its energy source.
Martin Fisk, a professor in OSU’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences and an author on the study said:
“This reaction – where microbes <<feed>> on a common mineral from volcanic rocks – just hasn’t been documented before.”
In volcanic rocks directly exposed to air and at warmer temperatures, the oxygen in the atmosphere oxidizes the iron before the microbes can use it.
But in the lava tube, where the bacteria are covered in ice and thus sheltered from the atmosphere, they out-compete the oxygen for the iron.
The microbes were collected from a lava tube near Newberry Crater in Oregon’s Cascades Mountains, at an elevation of about 5,000 feet. They were within the ice on rocks some 100 feet inside the lava tube, in a low-oxygen, near-freezing environment.
Scientists, including Prof. Martin Fisk, have said that the subsurface of Mars could have similar conditions and harbor bacteria.
In fact, Prof. Martin Fisk has examined a meteorite originating from Mars that contained tracks – which could indicate consumption by microbes – though no living material was discovered.
Similar tracks were found on the rocks from the Newberry Crater lava tube, he said.
“Conditions in the lava tube are not as harsh as on Mars,” Prof. Martin Fisk said.
“On Mars, temperatures rarely get to the freezing point, oxygen levels are lower and at the surface, liquid water is not present. But water is hypothesized to be present in the warmer subsurface of Mars. Although this study does not exactly duplicate what you would find on Mars, it does show that bacteria can live in similar conditions.
“We know from direct examination, as well as satellite imagery, that olivine is in Martian rocks.
“And now we know that olivine can sustain microbial life.”
Battlefield 3 player RendeZook’s “daring” stunt has become a “see-it-to-be-believed” spectacle among the gaming community, many of whom believe it could be one of the greatest ever feats pulled off in video game history.
Rendezook has become somewhat of a gaming hero on YouTube, where millions of Battlefield players have viewed his stunt in awe and flooded online forums with praise.
The video clip has attracted more than 5million hits on YouTube. But perhaps more incredibly, the video was actually taken from someone playing a video game.
Player RendeZook' stunt in Battlefield 3 game has 5 million viewers on YouTube
One gamer, Thomas Olson wrote: “It’s hard enough to even kill anybody in BF3, let alone pull off insane manoeuvres like this.
“One time, I managed to drop a low-flying Apache with an unguided rocket, and I was pretty stoked about it for the rest of the night. I can’t even imagine the exhilaration experienced from throwing down a move like this.”
Eloy Sanchez posted: “This can be practiced and repeated. Knife throws are random people throw them for hours and sometimes get a kill it is random by definition. I don’t think at all this was a first try at all.
“A beginner can get lucky by throwing a knife across the map and getting a kill but I highly doubt any beginner can pull off this move.”
Players from all over the world play Battlefield fighting each other online on foot, in tanks or SUVs and flying choppers or jets, in opposing U.S. and Russia forces.
Britney Spears took her Twitter page earlier in the day to tell fans she was “still glowing” after boyfriend Jason Trawick proposed her on his 40th birthday.
Last night, Britney Spears, 30, looked more radiant than before as she showed off her engagement ring while hosting a party for her former agent beau to celebrate both their engagement and his birthday.
Britney Spears donned her sparkling three carat Neil Lane diamond with pride as she posed up with her new fiancé at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
Earlier in the day, Britney tweeted fans: “Still glowing! About to jump on a plane to Planet Hollywood in Vegas.
“Throwing a Bday Party for Jason at Chateau Night Club. So fun. Xxoo”
Britney Spears and Jason Trawick will be celebrating their engagement with a private gathering at the resort, before moving on to a celebratory dinner at the Chocolate Lounge at the Sugar Factory in the Paris Hotel before carrying on the festivities at a dance party at the Chateau nightclub.
Britney Spears showed off her engagement ring while hosting a party for her former agent beau Jason Trawick to celebrate both their engagement and his birthday
They looked happy and excited as they made their way into the resort for the party, Britney Spears beaming as she was congratulated by staff and fans.
Las Vegas is a familiar territory for Britney Spears – it is where her 55 hour marriage to first husband Jason Alexander began and ended.
Jason Trawick asked for Britney Spears’ hand in marriage in Los Angeles yesterday on his 40th birthday.
“Yes, we are engaged,” Jason Trawick told Access Hollywood today.
Talking about the Neil Lane ring, an insider told Us Weekly: “He picked out something he knew she would love.”
“He surprised her after she gave him his gifts and after they had cake last night,” another source adds.
Britney Spears, who has just wrapped her Femme Fatale tour, hinted at the news this morning on her Twitter page.
Jonathan Jewth, a 9-year-old boy from Bronx, New York, died after choking on a meatball in his school lunch as staff members were unable to save him.
Jonathan Jewth died on Wednesday, nine days after falling to the lunchroom floor in a choking fit.
Khemwati Jewth, the boy’s mother, has hit out at the school for failing to perform the necessary first aid on her dying son.
The devastated mother told the New York Daily News: “If something had been done differently, my son would’ve been alive today.
“They’re saying that they did everything, but others are saying that there was no one around at the time.”
According to various accounts, Jonathan Jewth was laughing with other students, eating a meatball sandwich, when he began to choke.
“They have provided her with scant information regarding the disastrous event that has transpired and until now she is relying on information provided by individuals who claim to have witnessed some or all of the events,” Howard Frederick, an attorney for Jonathan Jewth’s mother, told NBC4.
Witnesses of Jonathan Jewth’s struggle claim that the emergency response by the public school’s faculty members was “unskilled, unqualified and chaotic”, according to Howard Frederick.
“A parent happened to be there after the child passed out and was trying to help. They went to summon the nurse, an older person who could not do the Heimlich,” family member Indira Ramrup told the Daily News about their recount.
“They sent for a teacher and then a teacher came, and a parent stepped forward to do the Heimlich, but by then the child was on the ground and it was too late,” Indira Ramprup said.
One witness claims to the family’s attorney that three faculty members, including a school nurse, flipped the student side-to-side while performing CPR on him.
When the witness says they were “shaken by what she observed”, she “felt it was necessary to yell instruction to the staff because they clearly did not know what they were doing”, according to Howard Frederick’s statement to NBC4.
There is also a discrepancy on the time the incident was reported, by both the 911 dispatch and the school’s records.
Khemwati Jewth has said the school reported the time of the incident being at 12:15pm and that they called the police exactly one minute later, at 12:16 p.m.
But NBC4 says they have since learned from speaking to the New York Fire Department, that 911 dispatch was called by the school at 12:29 p.m.
According to the FDNY, they were at the scene four minutes later and the student e arrived at the Jacobi Medical Center at 12:48 p.m. in critical condition.
That was December 5th, but after laying in a coma for nine days, Jonathan Jewth died this Wednesday.
With witness accounts and school reports not adding up, Khemwati Jewth plans to file intent to sue the school next week.
At the very least, her attorney says she wants to know what happened to her boy.
“Ms. Jewth is committed to finding the truth and has indicated that she will not rest until she knows exactly what happened to her only child,” Howard Frederick said in a statement.
A responding statement by the schools’ chancellor Dennis Walcott read: “Tragically, a student passed away and my heart goes out to the family and the school community.”
“I don’t have words to describe how I feel right now. Nobody can even understand what I am going through,” Khemwati Jewth has said since, who working as a house keeper, says she hasn’t been able to return to her job since her son was admitted to the hospital.
Kobe Bryant’s wife has filed for divorce from LA Lakers star yesterday citing “irreconcilable differences”.
Vanessa Bryant, 29 , who stuck by Kobe, 33, after he was charged with sexually assaulting a Colorado woman in 2003 – has been married to the basketball star for ten years.
TMZ reports that the couple has no pre-nuptial agreement, so Vanessa Bryant will be entitled to substantial monies, and has requested spousal support.
Vanessa and Kobe Bryant met when she was just 19, and he 23, and she was working as a backing dancer in a studio where he was recording.
TMZ reports that according to the legal documents, Vanessa Bryant is asking for joint custody of their two daughters – Natalia, 8, and Gianna, 5.
However, the mother is asking that Kobe Bryant get visitation rights, which means she wants the kids in her care most of the time.
Vanessa and Kobe Bryant met when she was just 19, and he 23, and she was working as a backing dancer in a studio where he was recording
Vanessa Bryant is being represented by Wasser and attorney Samantha Klein, her clients include Britney Spears, Angelina Jolie, Maria Shriver and Kim Kardashian.
Kobe Bryant went to the Jay-Z concert Tuesday night in Los Angeles without his wife, and he looked miserable.
She signed the divorce petition on December 1 and Kobe Bryant signed his response on December 7.
Kobe Bryant gave her a $4 million diamond ring after the 2003 scandal, which she will be able to keep.
At the time, they released a joint statement saying they have “resolved all issues” privately, with the assistance of counsel.
In 2003, hotel employee Katelyn Faber of The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera in Eagle County said Kobe Bryant raped her after he checked into the establishment to await knee surgery.
Kobe Bryant admitted an adulterous sexual encounter with his accuser, but denied her sexual assault allegation.
In September 2004, the assault case was dropped by prosecutors after Katelyn Faber refused to testify in the trial.
Afterward, Kobe Bryant agreed to apologize to Katelyn Faber for the incident, including his public mea culpa: “Although I truly believe this encounter between us was consensual, I recognize now that she did not and does not view this incident the same way I did. After months of reviewing discovery, listening to her attorney, and even her testimony in person, I now understand how she feels that she did not consent to this encounter.”
Katelyn Faber filed a separate civil lawsuit against Kobe Bryant, which the two sides ultimately settled with the specific terms of the settlement being undisclosed to the public.
A London Tube train passenger was happily dancing and minding his own business when he was violently shoved in the back by a fellow passenger, through the doors and onto the platform as it prepares to pull away.
A video of the attack on the dancing Tube man has been posted on YouTube and caused a storm among viewers.
Many viewers have slammed the dancing man’s attacker, who flicks a V-sign at his victim after pushing him from the train, while others have commented on how hilarious the episode was.
The video clip shows the dancing man happily ignoring fellow passengers as he boogies to the music playing through his headphones was shot by a fellow passenger seated further along the carriage.
While his antics attract giggles, no-one attempts to make contact with the Central Line passenger until the train pulls into Leytonstone, East London.
The video clip shows the dancing man happily ignoring fellow passengers as he boogies to the music playing through his headphones was shot by a fellow passenger seated further along the carriage
A man stood behind the dancer and eating waits for the doors to open and prepares to push the dancing passenger. Realizing what he is about to do, passengers shout “No! no! no!”
As the driver announces “mind the doors please, mind the doors” the man shoves the passenger in the back and out of the train.
The dancing Tube man, who was heading in the direction of Epping, Essex, was not believed to have been injured in the incident.
A spokesman for British Transport Police said they were aware of the incident but had not received any complaints about it.
“We are aware of the YouTube video and our enquiries are ongoing.
“British Transport Police has not received a complaint from anyone regarding this incident.
“Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to call BTP on 0800 40 50 40.”
YouTube user VegetarianRobotLass wrote: “The train wasn’t crowded. Yes, it may have been annoying, but it’s only one train ride. There was no need to push the guy off the train.”
Kameron Asgari, a 10-year-old boy, died, and a 13-year-old girl is in critical condition after they shot themselves at home in separate incidents in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Kameron Asgari died from his injuries on Tuesday and the girl, who has not been identified, was left in a critical condition in a separate incident nine hours later.
Both children are believed to have found the weapons at their homes.
The boy and the girl did not know each other, according to Police spokesman Bill Cassell. It was unknown whether the firearms belonged to their parents.
Kameron Asgari was in the fifth grade at Helen Jydstrup Elementary School in Las Vegas.
It was unclear if the boy attended school the morning he shot himself, said David Roddy, spokesman for the Clark County School District.
Privacy laws prohibited school officials from disclosing whether Kameron Asgari had been involved in any disciplinary actions or requested counseling before the shooting.
Both Las Vegas incidents are under investigation. The medical examiner has not released an exact cause of death for Kameron Asgari.
Counselors were supporting his classmates and teachers.
Kameron Asgari was in the fifth grade at Helen Jydstrup Elementary School in Las Vegas
School officials wrote to parents asking them to keep a close eye on their children’s behavior.
In a letter, Principal David Fydman said: “Please monitor any signs of grief or behavioral changes in your child/children as this loss may affect them in unexpected ways.
“It is important to be honest with him or her and to allow them to express feelings of grief, anger and/or disbelief.
“Reassure your child that there is always someone with whom he/she can talk and that the many mixed emotions they might be feeling, and may feel for some time, are normal.”
Bill Cassell said the shootings should remind gun owners to securely store their weapons and to instruct children to avoid touching any gun found inside the home.
“When we have the awesome power of a firearm, we have to control it and protect everyone from an unwanted occurrence,” he said.
Aryann Smith, a young mother from Utah, was hit by a commuter bus, which knocked her to the ground and pinning her between it and the asphalt.
Aryann Smith, 24, was entirely covered by the vehicle aside from a tennis shoe that was able to help a responding officer locate her.
Being unable to pull her out, West Valley City Officer Kevin Peck crawled down to her, hoping at first just to make sure she was still breathing.
Officer Kevin Peck told ABC News: “I had to go past her leg and I could see that her right knee and thigh were completely opened up, just pulled back.”
“I could see right into her leg,” he said, though was able to see she was still breathing, though immobilized by her pinned shoulders.
Kevin Peck took Aryann Smith’s hand and talked to her, laying down beneath the bus beside her, doing all he could to keep her conscious and to take her mind off of the accident.
When she asked about her injuries, the officer advised her attention to not look down.
“She said several times that she was really scared, but she maintained her composure very well. She was pretty calm and asked me not to leave her,” Kevin Peck recalled.
“I told her I would stay with her until we got her out.”
Fortunately for them both, in less than ten minutes following the crash, fire fighters were able to lift the bus off of her, just enough for her removal.
Taken to a nearby hospital, Aryann Smith is not expected to lose her leg with just her kneecap broken.
Standing there at the scene behind Aryann Smith’s now absence, however, Kevin Peck told ABC that for several minutes he could only stand in “a daze”, stunned by all that had just happened around him.
Snapping out of it he says not long after, Kevin Peck got back to work, directing traffic around the scene.
Following her operation, Aryann Smith had been asking to see her hero.
“I guess she asked about me a few times before and after the surgery,” Kevin Peck said.
“I’m glad I was able to see her. She has a few more surgeries ahead of her, but she is doing well, all things considered. The doctors say she should make a full recovery and be able to walk again,” Kevin Peck said.
According to a witness at the scene Jonathan Logan, Aryann Smith was in the middle of the crosswalk when the driver turned into her.
Jonathan Logan says that Aryann Smith was dragged about 15 feet before the driver realized someone was there beneath his wheels, according to Fox13.
The driver of that bus has since been placed on administrative leave and was also ticketed for failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, according to West Valley City Police Sgt. Mike Powell speaking to ABC.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has announced that crippled nuclear reactors at Japan’s Fukushima power plant have finally been stabilized.
The earthquake and tsunami in March this year knocked out vital cooling systems, triggering radiation leaks and forcing the evacuation of thousands of people.
Yoshihiko Noda’s declaration of a “cold shutdown” condition marked the stabilization of the plant.
Japanese government says it will take decades to dismantle it completely.
The six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was badly damaged by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. Blasts occurred at four of the reactors after the cooling systems went offline.
Workers at the plant, which is operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), have been using sea water to cool the reactors. Waste water has built up and some contaminated liquid has been released into the sea.
A 20 km (12 miles) exclusion zone remains in place around the plant.
“The nuclear reactors have reached a state of cold shutdown and therefore we can now confirm that we have come to the end of the accident phase of the actual reactors,” Yoshihiko Noda told a news conference.
“We are now moving from trying to stabilize the nuclear reactors to decommissioning them.
“The Japanese government promises to clarify the roadmap from here and do our utmost, while ensuring we operate the nuclear reactors as safely as possible, to decommission them.”
The “battle is not over”, PM said, adding that the next phase would focus on the clean-up operation, including decontaminating the ground around the plant.
With the reactors stable, Yoshihiko Noda said the government would review the evacuation zones established in the immediate aftermath of the incident.
Earlier this year, the Japanese government said it was aiming for a cold shutdown by the end of the year.
This is where water that cools nuclear fuel rods remains below boiling point, meaning that the fuel cannot reheat.
Tepco has also defined it as bringing the release of radioactive materials under control and reducing public radiation exposure to a level that does not exceed 1mSv/year at the site boundary.
Speaking to cabinet ministers of his nuclear task force earlier on Friday, Yoshihiko Noda said: “We can now maintain radiation exposure at the periphery of the plant at sufficiently low levels even in the event of another accident.”
But some nuclear experts have said that the repairs made to the plant after the accident are makeshift and could break down without warning.
More than 80,000 people had to leave the area, but radiation levels in some places remain too high for them to return home.
Earlier this week, the government said it could take up to 40 years to fully decommission the plant and clean up surrounding areas.
Spent fuel rods and melted fuel inside the reactors must be removed. Waste water must also be safely stored.
Contamination has been found in foodstuffs from the region including rice, beef and fish, while radioactive soil has also been found in some areas.
Some experts have also warned that the plant could be further damaged if a powerful aftershock were to strike.
Engineers are also continuing to encounter new problems – last week Tepco officials confirmed that 45 cu m (1,590 cu ft) of water had leaked into the sea from a crack in the foundation of a water treatment facility.
Jyoti Amge, a 2 ft (61.95 cm) teenager, a celebrity in her hometown of Nagpur, India, is now set for Guinness Book Record, when she will be officially declared the world’s smallest woman.
Jyoti Amge, 18, hopes to celebrate being crowned the world’s shortest woman by launching a Bollywood movie career.
The small teenager took the Guinness World Record from 2ft 3in American Bridgette Jordan, and celebrated her 18th birthday with a teddy bear which loomed over her tiny 24.4in frame.
Jyoti Amge also blew out candles on a birthday cake which was comfortably bigger than her.
Even the Guinness World Records book at the ceremony came up to Jyoti Amge’s waist.
Jyoti Amge, 18, hopes to celebrate being crowned the world's shortest woman by launching a Bollywood movie career
Jyoti Amge weighs just 12lbs (5.5kg) is only 9lbs more than she did at birth – and has a form of dwarfism call achondroplasia, which stopped her growing after her first birthday.
The teenager has brittle bones and is likely to need care for the rest of her life, but that has not stopped her tall ambitions of cracking the movie industry.
Budding actress Jyoti Amge, who is set to appear in two Bollywood films next year, told The Sun: “I want to make people happy.”
As a student at school in Nagpur, Jyoti Amge had her own small desk and chair, but said the other students didn’t treat her any differently.
Jyoti Amge also has to sleep in a specially-made bed and uses utensils that are smaller than average.
Russia’s Federal Customs Service found radioactive material in the luggage of a passenger bound for Iran – at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo international airport.
Federal Customs Service made the discovery after the material triggered an alarm in the airport’s radiation control system.
A search of the luggage revealed 18 pieces of radioactive metal packed in individual steel casings.
Federal Customs Service said that tests showed the material was a radioactive isotope which could be obtained only “as a result of a nuclear reactor’s operations”.
Radiation levels in the area were 20 times above normal. An airport customs spokesman said the material had been identified as sodium-22 but gave no other details.
Sodium-22 is a radioactive isotope of sodium that can be used in medical equipment.
The objects sent to a Moscow prosecutor’s office that deals with air and water transport, the service said in a statement. Russian authorities have opened a criminal investigation.
Students at Rosemount High School in Minnesota were told to expect a kiss from a “special someone” while they were blindfolded, but when the mystery lip locks they suspected came from their classmates… were actually from their parents.
However, when footage of the cringe-worthy pep rally prank has gone viral, John Wollersheim says as the school principal he owes an apology to everyone who was offended by the incestual display.
A KARE-TV report says the prank for last week’s assembly was planned by the staff.
The winter-sport team captains were blindfolded as their mothers and fathers approached. A video posted on YouTube shows some of the kisses lasting several seconds.
One parent-child pair even moves to the gym floor, rolling around on top of one another.
In another moment of inappropriate passion, a mother moves her son‘s hand south so far he appears to grab her rear.
Rosemount High School winter-sport team captains were blindfolded as their mothers and fathers approached and kissed them
After the make out sessions end, the students are asked to guess whose lips met theirs.
“Um, they had luscious lips,” says one male student.
Ripping the blindfold off, he’s shocked to see, not a female student – but his own mother standing in front of him, as the crowd laughs.
Principal John Wollersheim said the video shows only a single minute of a 30-minute assembly, but he’s not making excuses. He says the intent was to leave students feeling “pepped”, not embarrassed.
John Wollersheim told KARE-TV: “This is supposed to be a fun event and it should leave everyone feeling pepped and if it’s leaving people not feeling good or embarrassed or hurt then that’s the exact opposite of what we’re trying to do.”
One YouTube commenter, claiming to be a student at Rosemount, called the prank is a “tradition that only happens every six years or something”.
But John Wollersheim said it will not happen again on his watch.
“As principal I am responsible for everything that happens in the school so, ultimately, I am the person that needs to answer for this,” he continued.
“I know there are people who are upset about what they have seen and as principal I am responsible for what happens here. For all the people who are offended, they are genuinely offended, and I owe them an apology.”
Author, essayist and polemicist Christopher Hitchens, who waged verbal and occasional physical battle on behalf of causes left and right, died last night, after a long battle with cancer, at 62.
Christopher Hitchens‘ death was announced in a statement from Conde Nast, publisher of Vanity Fair magazine.
The statement says Christopher Hitchens died last night at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston of pneumonia, a complication of his oesophageal cancer.
A most engaged, prolific and public intellectual who enjoyed his drink (enough “to kill or stun the average mule”) and cigarettes, Christopher Hitchens announced in June 2010 that he was being treated for cancer of the oesophagus and cancelled a tour for his memoir Hitch-22.
Author, essayist and polemicist Christopher Hitchens died last night, after a long battle with cancer, at 62
Christopher Hitchens, a frequent television commentator and a contributor to Vanity Fair, Slate and other publications, had become a popular author in 2007 thanks to his provocative best-seller, “God Is Not Great”, a manifesto for atheists that defied a recent trend of religious works.
His cancer humbled, but did not mellow him. Even after his diagnosis, his columns appeared weekly, savaging the royal family or reveling in the death of Osama Bin Laden.
“I love the imagery of struggle,” Christopher Hitchens wrote about his illness in an August 2010 essay in Vanity Fair.
“I sometimes wish I were suffering in a good cause, or risking my life for the good of others, instead of just being a gravely endangered patient.”
Eloquent and intemperate, bawdy and urbane, Christopher Hitchens was an acknowledged contrarian and contradiction – half-Christian, half-Jewish and fully non-believing; a native of England who settled in America; a former Trotskyite who backed the Iraq war and supported George W. Bush.
However, his passions remained constant and enemies of his youth, from Henry Kissinger to Mother Teresa, remained hated.
Christopher Hitchens was a militant humanist who believed in pluralism and racial justice and freedom of speech, big cities and fine art and the willingness to stand the consequences.
He was smacked in the rear by then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and beaten up in Beirut. He once submitted to waterboarding to prove that it was indeed torture.
Christopher Hitchens was an old-fashioned sensualist who abstained from clean living as if it were just another kind of church.
An emphatic ally and inspired foe, Christopher Hitchens stood by friends in trouble (Satanic Verses novelist Salman Rushdie) and against enemies in power (Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini).
His heroes included George Orwell, Thomas Paine and Gore Vidal (pre-September 11).
Among those on the Christopher Hitchens list of shame: Michael Moore, Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong il, Sarah Palin, Gore Vidal (post September 11) and Prince Charles.
Christopher Hitchens was born in Portsmouth, England, in 1949. His father, Eric, was a “purse-lipped” Navy veteran known as The Commander; his mother, Yvonne, a romantic who later killed herself during an extra-marital rendezvous in Greece.
Young Christopher would have rather read a book. He was “a mere weed and weakling and kick-bag” who discovered that “words could function as weapons” and so stockpiled them.
In college, Oxford, Christopher Hitchens met such longtime friends as authors Martin Amis and Ian McEwan and claimed to be nearby when visiting Rhodes scholar Bill Clinton did or did not inhale marijuana.
Radicalized by the 1960s, Christopher Hitchens was often arrested at political rallies, was kicked out of Britain’s Labour Party over his opposition to the Vietnam War and became a correspondent for the radical magazine International Socialism. His reputation broadened in the 1970s through his writings for the New Statesman.
Christopher Hitchens advocated intervention in Bosnia and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
No Democrat angered him more than Bill Clinton, whose presidency led to the bitter end of Christopher Hitchens’ friendship with White House aide Sidney Blumenthal and other Clinton backers.
As Christopher Hitchens wrote in his memoir, he found Bill Clinton “hateful in his behavior to women, pathological as a liar, and deeply suspect when it came to money in politics”.
Christopher Hitchens wrote the anti-Clinton book, “No One Left To Lie To”, at a time when most liberals were supporting the president as he faced impeachment over his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
He also loathed Hillary Rodham Clinton and switched his affiliation from independent to Democrat in 2008 just so he could vote against her in the presidential primary.
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, completed his exit. He fought with Vidal, Noam Chomsky and others who either suggested that U.S. foreign policy had helped caused the tragedy or that the Bush administration had advanced knowledge.
Christopher Hitchens supported the Iraq war, quit The Nation, backed Bush for re-election in 2004 and repeatedly chastised those whom he believed worried unduly about the feelings of Muslims.
He also wrote short biographies/appreciations of Paine and Thomas Jefferson, a tribute to Orwell and Letters to a Young Contrarian (Art of Mentoring), in which he advised that “Only an open conflict of ideas and principles can produce any clarity”.
A collection of essays, “Arguably”, came out in September 2011 and he was planning a “book-length meditation on malady and mortality”. He appeared in a 2010 documentary about the topical singer Phil Ochs.
Survived by his second wife, author Carol Blue, and by his three children (Alexander, Sophia and Antonia), Christopher Hitchens had well-crafted ideas about posterity, clarified years ago when he saw himself referred to as “the late” Christopher Hitchens in print.
For the May 2010 issue of Vanity Fair, before his illness, Christopher Hitchens submitted answers for the Proust Questionnaire, a probing and personal survey for which the famous have revealed everything from their favorite color to their greatest fear.
When will be completed, One World Trade Center will be the tallest building in Manhattan and one of incredible poignancy for New York City.
One World Trade Center reached its 90th floor this week – with just 14 more floors to go until the top. The structure can now be seen from all five boroughs of the city.
Amazing pictures showed how the area has been reborn since the 9/11 attacks more than a decade ago where almost 3,000 people lost their lives in the worst ever terrorist attack on American soil.
Picture captured from the 80th floor of One World Trade Center
One World Trade Center is on track to be completed by 2013 with construction workers approximately finishing a floor a week in downtown Manhattan.
Electrical contractors at the tower agreed to give it a festive feel and wrapped the exterior lamps they use with coloured cellophane in time for Christmas.
Developments can be followed on One World Trade Center’s Twitter feed @WTCProgress. Glass now covers up to the 65th floor and concrete has been added up to the 82nd level. There will be 104 floors in the completed building, making it the tallest in Manhattan.
The site will be a place of reflection and contemplation for many and The National September 11 Memorial And Museum, designed by the winning team of Michael Arad and Peter Walker, was opened for the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
Picture captured from the 77th floor of One World Trade Center
One World Trade Center, designed by renowned architect David Childs, standing in the north-west corner, is the site’s centrepiece.
The first cornerstone was laid down on July 4, 2004, and as the building rose it was known as Freedom Tower.
One WTC stands in the footsteps of the original twin towers among a small forest of oak trees in an eight-acre plaza. It features two 50ft-deep pools, each containing fountains, along with a museum with exhibitions and artefacts to teach visitors about the events of September 11.
At One WTC, there is almost 3million square feet of office space – half of which had already been leased. There is also an observation deck planned more than 1,241ft above ground, fine-dining restaurants and a sprawling public lobby boasting 50ft ceilings. There will be eventually be six skyscrapers on the site altogether.
Scamp, an eight-month-old terrier-Shih Tzu puppy, had been hit by a car and he was apparently so badly injured that he had died on the road.
Scamp’s owner Paul McKinlay wrapped him a blanket and put him under a wheelbarrow to keep other animals away until they could arrange a proper burial in the back garden.
Paul McKinlay and his wife Rita then sat down with her grandchildren and told them their beloved pet had gone to heaven.
The next day Scamp woke up.
Paul McKinlay went out to bury Scamp’s body only to find him sitting where he had been left, staring up and him and wagging his tail.
They rushed Scamp to the vet and after spending $3,000 on checks to make sure he was OK, they have now brought him home.
Scamp, an eight-month-old terrier-Shih Tzu puppy, had been hit by a car and he was apparently so badly injured that he had died on the road
Rita McKinlay said she has told her grandchildren that Scamp is in fact still alive and that his Lazarus-like return from the grave is a special Christmas present for them all.
The woman claimed that it was the freezing conditions outside their home in Yelm, Washington, which could have caused his body to slow down and keep him alive.
Paul McKinlay said that Scamp escaped when he “wasn’t paying attention”.
He said: “The next thing I heard a car. I figured he was gone, I figured he had passed away.”
Paul McKinlay went outside, wrapped him in a blanket and brought him indoors.
Rita McKinlay said: “It was real sad to watch them (her grandchildren) crying over their dog. We were trying not to cry.”
When her husband rushed in the next day to tell her Scamp was alive, Rita McKinlay shouted: “Oh my gosh.”
She added that the freezing temperatures may have been the reason why the dog survived.
Rita McKinlay said: “It could have slowed down his body functions and made his brain work slow, that’s what the vet said, that’s what saved his life.
“Christmas is about kids, about miracles, as long as family is together and Scamp is part of our family.”
Kardashians may have made her list of 10 Most Fascinating People of 2011, but Barbara Walters showed them no mercy as she interviewed the famous reality family for the TV special.
Barbara, 82, took a swipe at the family for finding fame and fortune without “any talent” as she sat down with Kim Kadashian, 31, Kourtney, 32, Khloe, 27, and their mother Kris Jenner, 56.
Barbara Walters also grilled Kim Kardashian about the X-rated tape she made with hip-hop star Ray-J in 2007 that helped launch her into the spotlight.
The veteran journalist asked: “So was it a good thing to have done?”
It proved to be an awkward moment, with Kim Kardashian clearly a little rattled at being caught off guard.
“Whatever you do, you might think…” she stammered, trailing off.
Kim Kardashian then said: “I’ve made mistakes in my life for sure.”
Kris Jenner, her mother and manager quickly went into damage control mode, offering to Kim: “You learned a lot from that.”
Kris Jenner went on to describe the experience as “devastating” for the family, adding that she cried herself to sleep at night over it.
Barbara Walters grilled Kim Kardashian about the X-rated tape she made with hip-hop star Ray-J in 2007 that helped launch her into the spotlight
However, Kim Kardashian’s 72-day marriage to Kris Humphries was not discussed – the interview was recorded in September before the couple’s split.
Barbara Walters candidly quizzed the family about how they were able to stay in the spotlight.
“You don’t really act; you don’t sing; you don’t dance,” Barbara Walters said.
“You don’t have any – forgive me – any talent!”
Khloe Kardashian was the first to chime in, saying: “We’re still entertaining people …”
Kim continued: “I think it’s more of a challenge for you to go on a reality show, and get people to fall in love with you for being you.”
Then Khloe added: “None of us think we have talent. None of us think we can sing or act or dance.”
Khloe Kardashian was also asked about criticism she has received on the internet, with some cruelly comparing her to Shrek and called an ogre.
“The Internet can be so negative… I’m over it now, I own who I am, and I have the best husband in the world,” Khloe Kardashian said.
Khloe Kardashian and her husband Lamar Odom are now set to move states after his transfer to the Dallas Mavericks.
Apple owner Steve Jobs, who died in October at 56, topped the list while Amanda Knox, Herman Cain, Donald Trump, Derek Jeter, Simon Cowell, Modern Family stars Eric Stonestreet and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Pippa Middleton and Katy Perry were also included.
The American flag has been lowered in Baghdad, bringing nearly nine years of US military operations in Iraq to a formal end.
Leon Panetta, the US Defence Secretary, told troops the mission had been worth the cost in blood and dollars.
Leon Panetta said the years of war in Iraq had yielded to an era of opportunity in which the US was a committed partner.
Only about 4,000 US soldiers now remain in Iraq, but they are due to leave in the next two weeks.
At the peak of the operation, US forces there numbered 170,000.
The American flag has been lowered in Baghdad, bringing nearly nine years of US military operations in Iraq to a formal end (photo Getty Images)
The symbolic ceremony in Baghdad officially “cased” (retired) the US forces flag, according to army tradition.
It will now be taken back to the USA.
Leon Panetta told US soldiers they could leave Iraq with great pride.
“After a lot of blood spilled by Iraqis and Americans, the mission of an Iraq that could govern and secure itself has become real,” he said.
Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said Iraqis were glad the US troops were leaving.
“They have been difficult years,” he told the BBC.
“We have had some successes together. We had some failures. We have some mishaps.
“I think we are all happy that the American soldiers are returning home safely to their families and we are also confident that the Iraqi people and their armed forces, police, are in a position now to take care of their own security.”
Some 4,500 US soldiers and more than 100,000 Iraqis have died in the war.
The conflict, launched by the Bush administration in March 2003, soon became hugely unpopular as claims that Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction and supporting al-Qaeda militants turned out to be untrue.
Iraq war has cost the US some $1trillion.
Republicans have criticized the pullout citing concerns over Iraq’s stability, but a recent poll by the Pew Research Centre found that 75% of Americans backed the troop withdrawal.
President Barack Obama, who came to office pledging to bring troops home, said on Wednesday that the US left behind a “sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq”.
In a speech in North Carolina to troops who have just returned, Barack Obama hailed the “extraordinary achievement” of the military and said they were leaving with “heads held high”.
“Everything that American troops have done in Iraq, all the fighting and dying, bleeding and building, training and partnering, has led us to this moment of success,” President Obama said.
“The war in Iraq will soon belong to history, and your service belongs to the ages.”
Barack Obama said the war had been “a source of great controversy” but that they had helped to build “a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its people”.
He announced in October that all US troops would leave Iraq by the end of 2011, a date previously agreed by former President George W. Bush in 2008.
Some 1.5 million Americans have served in Iraq since the US invasion in 2003. In addition to those who died, nearly 30,000 have been wounded.
Troop numbers peaked during the height of the so-called surge strategy in 2007, but the last combat troops left Iraq in August last year.
A small contingent of some 200 soldiers will remain in Iraq as advisers, while some 15,000 US personnel are now based at the US embassy in Baghdad – by far the world’s largest.
Some Iraqis have said they fear the consequences of being left to manage their own security.
Baghdad trader Malik Abed said he was grateful to the Americans for ridding Iraq of Saddam Hussein, but added: “I think now we are going to be in trouble. Maybe the terrorists will start attacking us again.”
But in the city of Falluja, a former insurgent stronghold which was the scene of major US offensives in 2004, people burned US flags on Wednesday in celebration at the withdrawal.
“No-one trusted their promises, but they said when they came to Iraq they would bring security, stability and would build our country,” Ahmed Aied, a grocer, told Reuters news agency.
“Now they are walking out, leaving behind killings, ruin and mess.”
Concerns have also been voiced in Washington that Iraq lacks robust political structures or an ability to defend its borders.
There are also fears that Iraq could be plunged back into sectarian bloodletting, or be unduly influenced by Iran.
The former French President Jacques Chirac has been given by a court a two-year suspended prison sentence for diverting public funds and abusing public trust.
Jacques Chirac, 79, was not in court to hear the verdict because of ill-health but denied wrongdoing.
President from 1995 to 2007, he was put on trial on charges that dated back to his time as mayor of Paris.
Jacques Chirac was accused of paying members of his Rally for the Republic (RPR) party for municipal jobs that did not exist.
The former French President Jacques Chirac has been given by a court a two-year suspended prison sentence for diverting public funds and abusing public trust
The prosecution had urged the judge to acquit Jacques Chirac and nine others accused in the trial. Two of the nine were cleared. The other seven were found guilty and all but one handed suspended prison sentences.
Jean de Gaulle, grandson of former President Charles de Gaulle, was handed a three-month suspended term while former union leader Marc Blondel, 73, was convicted but escaped a sentence.
In 2004, during his presidency, several figures including France’s current Foreign Minister Alain Juppe were convicted in connection with the case.
Alain Juppe was given a 14-month suspended sentence.
Jacques Chirac, mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995, is the first former French head of state to be convicted since Marshal Philippe Petain, the leader of the wartime Vichy regime, was found guilty in 1945 of collaborating with the Nazis.
The verdict would come as a surprise to the French public because the prosecution said it had not been proven that Jacques Chirac had known of individual cases of fake jobs.
The case was divided into two parts: the first count involved embezzlement and breach of trust in relation to 21 bogus jobs; the second related to a charge of illegal conflict of interest concerning seven jobs.
Jacques Chirac was found guilty of both.
The former president, who had legal immunity during his time as head of state, faced a potential 10 years in prison and a fine of 150,000 euros for the employment of more than 20 bogus officials.
“Jacques Chirac has breached the duty of probity required for public officials, to the detriment of the public interest of Parisians,” said tribunal judge, Dominique Pauthe.
Although Jacques Chirac himself was not in court, his adopted daughter Anh Dao Traxel was present to hear the verdict which she described as “too, too severe for him” and a great source of pain.
“As a family, we should all absolutely support him… for his health for the rest of his life,” Anh Dao Traxel said in an emotional statement outside the court.
The former president’s doctors say Jacques Chirac has irreversible neurological problems which cause memory lapses. His legal team will now consider whether to appeal against the conviction.
“For those expecting the case to be thrown out or at least no penalty, the ruling may appear disappointing,” said one of Jacques Chirac’s lawyers, Georges Kiejman.
“I hope this judgement won’t change at all the profound affection that the French people still have towards Jacques Chirac.”
There was little sympathy from some quarters.
“I call on Mr. Chirac to accept the consequences of his conviction and indeed resign from the Constitutional Council,” said Green presidential candidate Eva Joly, referring to his role in France’s highest authority for constitutional issues.
His rival for the presidency in 2002, former National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, described the verdict as “a ray of sunshine in the black sky of scandals”.
For Michel Roussin, former director of Jacques Chirac’s cabinet who was found not guilty by the court of abuse of trust, the ex-president had “assumed his political responsibility”.
After 17 years of “incessant battles”, he said he was relieved the case was over.
The United States Air Force has launched an internal investigation after a disturbing image of 15 soldiers posing with one of them chained up in an open casket with a noose around his neck surfaced online.
The picture is dated August 23 and appeared on Facebook in early October, with the caption: “Da Dumpt, Da Dumpt… Sucks 2 Be U” scribbled on the bottom.
The image was published in the Air Force Times this week and has sparked outrage from soldiers and military wives and widows, appalled by the display.
The picture shows the group of male and female soldiers wearing fatigues crossing their arms to make “X” signs as they gather around a fellow airman who appears lifeless lying in a metal casket used to transport fallen soldiers.
The picture is dated August 23 and appeared on Facebook in early October
Air Force Times reports a former soldier who saw the photo on the social networking website forwarded it to friends, including Staff Sergeant Elias Bonilla of the 82nd Airborne Division.
Sergeant Elias Bonilla emailed the photo to Air Force Times with a note reading: “I cannot help but picture the faces of my dead [soldiers] that we drug out of burning vehicles, dug out from collapsed buildings.”
The soldiers’ names have not yet been released. However, it is believed they are “Port Dogs” who load planes, who were attending Air Transportation technical school.
Military officials said today they are from the 345th Training Squadron in Fort Lee, Virginia. Their unit is a detachment from a command at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.
Air Force Times reported an investigation was launched after it forwarded the photo to Air Education and Training Command, the overall training command for the Air Force, for comment.
Air Force Secretary Michael Donley told the newspaper: “We take this matter seriously. [Air Education and Training Command] has initiated a commander directed investigation.
“Such behavior is not consistent with our core values, and it is not representative of the Airmen I know. It saddens me that this may cause additional grief to the families of our fallen warriors.”
David E. Smith, spokesman for the training command, told Air Force Times that the commander of the 37th Training Group at Lackland, Colonel Gregory Reese, was “obviously displeased”.
However, it was not known at press time if any charges could be brought against the soldiers, or if any rules had been violated.
The intent of the photo had not been determined at press time.
But Air Force officers and military families have made clear its message was shockingly offensive, and are calling for the troops’ dismissals.
Air Force police officer Mike Hayes, commenting on the story, wrote: “All these NCOs and Airman should be prosecuted and dismissed from the military. This is disgraceful and disrespectful to all the men.”
The investigation is expected to be completed in one to two weeks.
The shocking display comes a month after the Washington Post reported the Air Force’s mortuary at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, had lost and mishandled the remains of hundreds of dead troops, sending them to for burial in a landfill in Virginia.
CNN reports a congressional panel investigating the actions of the Dover Air Force Base Mortuary will meet for the first time next week.
Steven Phillips, a man who spent 25 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, faces losing his $4 million compensation to his ex-wife.
Steven Phillips, 51, faces a court battle to keep hold of the money he was awarded for his wrongful conviction.
The man was released from a life sentence for rape in 2008 after DNA proved he could not have been the attacker.
Now, Steven Phillips’ ex-wife, Traci Tucker, who divorced him three years into his life sentence, has taken him to court in a bid to get a share of the $4 million compensation.
Steven Phillips, a man who spent 25 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, faces losing his $4 million compensation to his ex-wife
Traci Tucker claims he owes her money that she would have been entitled to had they divorced and shared their assets.
But Steven Phillips said Traci Tucker has been with another man for over 20 years and has had nothing to do with her.
Steven Phillips’ lawyer, Tim McKenzie, described Traci Tucker’s claim as more “like winning the lottery 20 years after a divorce”.
“The overall issue is when people come into money, everybody comes out of the walls,” Tim McKenzie said.
Steven Phillips said his ex wife rarely visited him in prison and stopped coming altogether after three years.
Steven Phillips and Traci Tucker were divorced in 1991.
Lawyers said Traci Tucker, who has a son with her ex-husband, is attempting to make legal history by going after the compensation paid to a wrongfully convicted person.
Steven Phillips, a roofer, was jailed in 1982 for a two day crime spree involving several sexual assaults.
Investigators later found the DNA matched that of Sidney Alvin Goodyear, who went out to carry a series of further attacks. Sidney Alvin Goodyear had died by the time Steven Phillips was freed.
Elizabeth Smart, a 24-year-old woman from Salt Lake City, Utah, who was snatched from her bedroom almost 10 years ago, revealed for the first time to an audience some of the horrific details about her ordeal last night.
Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her home in Salt Lake City, when she was 14 years old. She cried as she told members of a Rotary Club about the night Brian David Mitchell took her at knifepoint.
It was the first time Elizabeth Smart, now 24, has spoken in public about the graphic details of her nine months in captivity at the hands of Brian David Mitchell and his wife Wanda Barzee.
“I kept begging him to let me go – and he wouldn’t listen to me,” Elizabeth Smart told ABC.
“All I could do was scream <<No>>. He said, <<If you ever scream like that again, I will kill you.>>”
Elizabeth Smart, now 24, has spoken in public about the graphic details of her nine months in captivity at the hands of Brian David Mitchell and his wife Wanda Barzee
Although Elizabeth Smart has published a book on her terrifying ordeal and spoken at the trial of Brian David Mitchell last year, this is the first time she has been heard recounting the terrible details.
Elizabeth Smart had been invited to speak to members of the Salt Lake City Rotary Club to help promote her charity the Elizabeth Smart Foundation. It works in schools across the country with a programme radKIDS to educate children on how to protect themselves from danger.
She was taken from her room in 2002 while her 9-year-old sister, Mary Katherine, pretended to be asleep but watched from her bed.
Brian David Mitchell, a homeless, religious fanatic, dragged Elizabeth Smart from her home to a camp in the woods he had set up with Wanda Barzee.
The man then performed a short wedding ceremony with the girl before raping her.
Elizabeth Smart added: “He went straight from marrying me to raping me. And after that moment I couldn’t feel more worthless and more degraded. It was the worse feeling I could have ever felt.”
Elizabeth Smart, who studies at Brigham Young University recalled being tied down with a cable on her first night and the deep sense of hopelessness that surrounded her.
The girl was held captive for nine months during which time she was raped daily by Brian David Mitchell, sometimes up to three or four times.
Elizabeth Smart had testified at Brian David Mitchell’s trial in 2010 in excruciating detail about waking up in the early hours of June 5, 2002, to the feel of a cold, jagged knife at her throat and being whisked away by the man.
Within hours of the kidnapping, Elizabeth Smart testified, she was stripped of her favorite red pajamas, draped in white, religious robes and forced into a polygamous marriage with Brian David Mitchell.
The girl was tethered to a metal cable strung between two trees and subjected to near-daily rapes while being forced to use alcohol and drugs.
Elizabeth Smart described the horrific events as her “nine months of hell”.
She recalled being forced to live homeless, dress in disguises and stay quiet or lie about her identity if ever approached by strangers or police.
Daily, her life and those of her family members were threatened by Brian David Mitchell, Elizabeth Smart said at the trial.
Elizabeth Smart was eventually spotted by chance on March 12, 2003 in a Salt Lake City suburb after a stranger recognized Brian David Mitchell from an episode of America’s Most Wanted.
Brian David Mitchell was sentenced to life in prison in May with the help of Elizabeth Smart’s compelling testimony.
Wanda Barzee was sentenced to 15 years in a Texas federal prison hospital for her role in the kidnapping of the girl.
