Prince George celebrated his first birthday on Tuesday, July 22, with a tea party at Kensington Palace.
According to royal reports, Queen Elizabeth II has chosen a priceless gift for Prince George, from the Royal Collection, while first-edition Beatrix Potter books are also on the birthday boy’s thank-you list.
Wooden toys, including a train set spelling out George’s name, are said to be proudly on display in the nursery. Over the course of the day, Prince George has received countless gifts from stores and companies around the country.
Prince George celebrated his first birthday on July 22 with a tea party at Kensington Palace (photo PA)
My 1st Years, an online store that specializes in personalized goods, sent Prince George a hamper containing miniature Ugg boots with his name on them, a personalized pair of sneakers, and a smart blue-and-white striped shirt.
Celebrities have also sent plenty of gifts. Victoria and David Beckham, who were guests at the wedding, are said to have sent designer clothes over to the palace, while celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and his clothes designer wife, Jools Oliver, who has her own line for Mothercare, have reportedly sent Prince George a collection of collared onesies and a new pair of navy cruiser shoes. Mothercare has also reportedly sent Prince George his very own plastic Kensington Palace, complete with a figurine of himself.
A very special bottle of Pinot Noir from the Central Otagowine region in Queenstown, New Zealand, which Prince William and Kate Middleton visited in April, has also been sent to Kensington Palace. The magnum of Pinot Noir harvested the year the prince was born will be laid down in the cellars for George’s 18th birthday.
Sarah Palin was issued a speeding citation in her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska, court records showed on Wednesday.
The July 16 citation carries a potential fine of $154, and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has 30 days from the date of receiving the citation to respond to it, the records showed.
Sarah Palin was issued a speeding citation in her hometown of Wasilla
Police pulled the 2008 Republican nominee for vice president over while she was driving her black Toyota Tundra pickup bearing the license plate LOVUSA, the Alaska Dispatch News reported on July 23. It said Sarah Palin was driving 63 miles per hour in a 45-mph speed zone while returning from a bikram hot yoga workout.
“I was thinking, I wasn’t speeding, I was qualifying,” Sarah Palin told the Dispatch News.
Wasilla Police spokesman Officer Rick Manrique declined to comment on the case.
Whether through fraud, shoplifting, vandalism or robbery, transgressions against your company can make you feel like closing the doors and heading for the hills to live a solitary existence.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Before you turn over large profits and retire to the south of France with a supermodel in tow, however, there are more mundane things to consider.
To make a real success of your business, it’s important opportunistic thieves are not gnawing away at your profits faster than a beaver who’s guzzled an energy drink.
Want to know how to safeguard your business quickly and easily? Read on to find out …
Invest In Electric Fencing
It may seem overly protective, but electric fencing is designed to deliver a short and safe shock to would-be intruders, keeping them where they belong: away from your property. In addition, aside from the shock, a fence itself offers a great visual deterrent to those with nefarious thoughts.
Catch Them on Camera
If your business is lagging behind technologically, CCTV is a shrewd investment. Not only will its mere presence make camera shy criminals think twice, but if they do happen to go for it, their ugly mug will, hopefully, be captured on camera, making things a little bit easier for the police to accost them.
Set Up an Alarm
If a crafty criminal has somehow circumvented your electric fencing, dodged CCTV and made it in to your premises, you need an alarm system in place to send out a signal if your business is breached. This is typically done by using motion detectors to gauge any unauthorised movement inside.
Hire Security Staff
While we can all agree that technology is great, it’s often necessary to have a human security measure in place in case things go awry. Step forward your new security guard. Before rushing into a decision, though, make sure you’re hiring an accredited professional to protect your premises.
Buy a Safe
Finally, in case the above somehow fail catastrophically, it’s wise to keep most of your company’s valuables in a safe. Why? Because a criminal who’s evaded your other security measures needs no more invitation to swipe stock and cash before swanning past your security guard on the way out.
Admittedly, there’s much more to protecting your business from interlopers than outline above, but by implementing these measures, you’ll be on the road to the south of France in no time …
Online review website TripAdvisor has released a ranking of the top 10 ice cream parlors across the US, based on its users’ reviews and taking into account factors like the reviews’ quality, quantity and time of posting.
With a five out of five bubble rating out of 868 reviews, Island Creamery on Chincoteague Island in Virginia has taken the top title for flavors like Bourbon Caramel Crunch, Birthday Cake, Snickers Cheesecake and Java Jolt, a coffee-flavored ice cream speckled with chocolate-covered espresso beans and brownie pieces.
Island Creamery on Chincoteague Island in Virginia has won best ice cream parlor in the US title
Ice creams are hand-made in small batches and come in 34 flavors.
Top 10 ice cream parlors in the US, according to TripAdvisor:
General Motors has announced six more recalls covering 717,950 vehicles in the US for varying reasons, although none were related to ignition switch issues, Reuters reported.
Only this year GM has recalled nearly 15 million vehicles worldwide for potentially lethal issues with ignition switches.
The largest recall announced on July 23 is for a potentially loose bolt in power adjustable front seats for several cars from model years 2010 and 2012.
Vehicles involved in the today’s recalls have been linked to two crashes and three injuries but no deaths, the carmaker said.
Most of GM’s recalls this year have been for older models, but many of the recalls announced Wednesday are for current-model vehicles, including about 57,000 Chevrolet Impala sedans from the 2014 model year for the loss of power steering.
GM will recall 717,950 vehicles in the US for varying reasons, although none were related to ignition switch issues
The latest recalls hit GM’s best-selling vehicles, the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks, from the 2014-2015 model years. They were among about 124,000 vehicles across eight model lines recalled because a weld on seat brackets may not have been done properly.
The company said it expects that 1% of welds were not completed properly.
Others recalled include three Cadillac models from the 2014 model year, – the ATS, CTS and ELR.
The largest of the recalls announced today was for 414,333 vehicles that may have a loose bolt to adjust front seat heights. Consumers are advised not to use the power seat height adjuster until dealers can replace a bolt.
Vehicles involved in this recall include the 2010-2012 Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain crossovers; the 2011-2012 Buick Regal and LaCrosse sedans; the 2010-2012 Cadillac SRX crossovers and the 2011-2012 Chevrolet Camaro sports cars.
The carmaker did not report how many more vehicles will be included in the six recalls outside the US.
GM has recalled about 29 million vehicles worldwide this year, of which about 25.7 million have been in the US.
In a recent interview with Us Weekly, Duck Dynasty’s Si Robertson revealed the real reason his wife, Christine, doesn’t appear on the show.
Uncle Si, 66, told the magazine: “I always told people, <<She’s got better sense than the rest of us>>. But that ain’t the real reason.”
Si and Christine Robertson have been married for 43 years and have two children together (photo A & E TV)
“Sometimes we film 12 hours a day, and she’s just not healthy enough to go through the rigors of that,” the Duck Dynasty star said about his 67-year-old wife.
Si Robertson added: “But, ah, it ain’t no big deal. She wants no part of it anyway. She’s been married to me for 43 years. The last thing she needs is to watch us on a TV show.”
Si and Christine Robertson have two children together, Trasa Cobern Robertson and Scott Merritt Robertson.
It’s no secret catering can be a stressful field. With an endless array of weddings, birthday parties and business gatherings to prepare for, many catering businesses are constantly strapped for time. Fortunately, caterers who are at the end of their rope can find stress relief through a number of effective time-management techniques. By implementing these techniques, your catering business will become less harried and more efficient.
Online Invoices
Going to the trouble of calculating and designing invoices can be a real strain on catering businesses already flooded with work. At the end of a long job, you want nothing more than to kick back and put your feet up — not create a complex invoice from scratch. That’s where online invoices come in. If you create your invoices online at Aynax, you’ll be able to produce professional-looking invoices in mere minutes, send them to clients without hassle and effortlessly keep your business’s invoices organized.
Planning Sessions
Though crucial to staying organized in any field, planning is particularly important for catering businesses. Sit down with your staff at the beginning of the work week and carefully review your upcoming jobs. Go over the menu items you’ll need to prepare for each event and relay any special instructions you’ve received from the client. To ensure everyone’s on the same page, end each planning session by addressing employee questions and concerns.
By adhering to a strict schedule when catering events, you’ll make sure your clients stay happy — and well-fed. Everyone seems to have a horror story about disorganized caterers ruining important gatherings with slow service and overly-long preparation times. Devoting sufficient time to planning your jobs will ensure your business is never on the receiving end of a bad review.
Cut and Freeze in Advance
When looking for ways to save your business time, consider cutting and freezing certain ingredients in advance. This timesaving measure works in tandem with regular planning sessions. After reviewing your upcoming jobs, make a list of the ingredients needed for each client’s respective entrees. Next, have your staff slice up and freeze the required amounts of meat, fruit and veggies for each job. By getting this crucial preparation step out of the way early, you’re sure to earn the respect of clients who hate waiting for their food.
Regularly Clean Equipment
Keeping your preparation equipment nice and clean can go a long way in saving your business time. Produce slicers, blenders, oven trays and other catering essentials become far less effective without frequent cleanings. Not only will cutlery blades grow dull and ineffective if not regularly cleaned, trays will become prone to stickiness and burning. This ultimately leads to longer preparation times and botched entrees.
All reputable caterers clean their equipment at the end of each job but having a member of your staff clean your preparation tools during jobs can be a real timesaver. After all, clean culinary tools are productive culinary tools. Frequent cleanings will also extend the life of your tools, much to the delight of cost-conscious caterers.
Condense Menus
The desire to make your business stand out by offering clients an extensive list of menu items is understandable. The fiercely competitive nature of the culinary world often requires chefs to master a broad assortment of dishes in order to stay afloat. Unfortunately, large menus have a tendency to cause stress and disorganization within catering businesses. Not only will having to remember a seemingly endless array of recipes make your staff feel overtaxed, purchasing the ingredients for all those dishes is liable to put a strain on your finances. Worse yet, certain clients may feel overwhelmed by the sheer abundance of menu options.
Maintaining a small or medium-sized menu can help your business save time, money and manpower. According to About.com, condensing your menu can also dramatically reduce food spoilage. Rather than requiring your staff to learn a plethora of recipes, have them devote their time to truly mastering a select few. When it comes to fine dining, you’ll find quality is valued over quantity.
As any seasoned caterer will tell you, there’s no shortage of hungry clients. Gatherings packed to the brim with eager diners are being held left and right. So if your business’s schedule allows very little wiggle room, don’t hesitate to adopt some surefire timesavers.
Bubonic plague, known as the Black Death when it killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe during the Middle Ages, is now rare.
It is a bacterial disease mainly affecting wild rodents that is spread by fleas. Humans bitten by infected fleas can then develop bubonic plague.
Once bacteria infect the lungs, human-to-human transmission of pneumonic plague can occur through coughing.
Bubonic plague, known as the Black Death when it killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe during the Middle Ages (photo Wikipedia)
If diagnosed early, bubonic plague can be successfully treated with antibiotics, while pneumonic plague has a high mortality rate, the World Health Organization says.
The plague:
• Is one of the oldest identifiable diseases known to man
• Is spread from one rodent to another by fleas, and to humans either by the bite of infected fleas or when handling infected hosts
• Recent outbreaks have shown that plague may reappear in areas that have long been free of the disease
• Can be treated with antibiotics such as streptomycin and tetracycline
• Madagascar recently recorded 60 deaths from plague
Yumen city in Gansu province, north-west China, has been partially sealed off and dozens of people placed in quarantine after a man died of bubonic plague on July 16, state media say.
A total of 151 people have been placed under observation, Xinhua news agency says. Authorities have isolated a part of the city centre and three sections of Chijin town which is an hour away.
The man was believed to have caught the infection after contact with a marmot.
Marmots are large, squirrel-type rodents that live in mountainous areas.
The victim is reported to be a 38-year-old man who had fed a dead marmot to his dog.
Yumen city has been partially sealed off and dozens of people placed in quarantine after a man died of bubonic plague (photo abcnews)
The deputy head of the hospital where the man died told reporters that the victim had arrived with an increased heart-rate and seemed to be slipping into shock. The hospital has since been quarantined.
It is not clear from reports how big the four quarantine zones are. Ten checkpoints have been set up around Yumen and Chijin.
Those in quarantine all had contact with the man, Xinhua said. None was showing signs of infection, it said.
Officials have told reporters that the group could be released after nine days of quarantine if no further cases of plague appeared among them.
Yumen is a small city in western Gansu province, which borders Xinjiang. The last reported case of bubonic plague in the city was in 1977, Xinhua said.
Gansu has seen at least five cases of the plague in the last 10 years, according to Xinhua.
Bubonic plague, known as the Black Death when it killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe during the Middle Ages, is now rare.
It is a bacterial disease mainly affecting wild rodents that is spread by fleas. Humans bitten by infected fleas can then develop bubonic plague.
Once bacteria infects the lungs, human-to-human transmission of pneumonic plague can occur through coughing.
If diagnosed early, bubonic plague can be successfully treated with antibiotics, while pneumonic plague has a high mortality rate, the WHO says.
Boeing has reported high profits from April to June 2014 boosted by “strong” commercial aircraft sales.
Boeing’s net profits rose 52% to $1.65 billion from the same period last year.
During a quarter which saw the company deliver its first Dreamliner 787-9 aircraft, Boeing’s earnings from commercial aircraft operations helped to offset a fall in defense profits.
Separately, Delta Air Lines reported a 17% rise in profits thanks in part to higher fares.
Earnings from Boeing’s defense, space and security business fell 25% to $582 million, but profits from commercial aircraft rose 7% to around $1.6 billion.
Boeing boosted its full-year earnings forecast to between $7.90 and $8.10 per share, up from its previous forecast of $7.15 to $7.35 per share.
“Overall, our strong first-half financial performance, sustained focus on growth and productivity, and positive market outlook support our increased earnings guidance for the year,” said Boeing CEO Jim McNerney.
Boeing’s earnings from commercial aircraft operations helped to offset a fall in defense profits
Boeing expects higher full-year profits in part due to second-quarter tax settlements totaling $408 million.
The company said commercial aircraft deliveries rose 7% to 181 in the three month period. The total included 30 Dreamliner jets.
Boeing grounded a number of aircraft last year, including the Dreamliner fleet, following two incidents where batteries caught fire.
The aircraft maker said it had a total order book worth $440 billion, with more than 5,200 orders for commercial aeroplanes.
“With 783 new commercial airplane orders to date this year and significant contracts in the quarter for military aircraft and satellites, our backlog remains large and diverse,” Jim McNerney said.
Meanwhile, US carrier Delta Air Lines announced second quarter earnings rose 17%, to $801 million from a year ago.
Passengers flew more miles, at higher average fares, and fuel spending declined, the company said. Delta’s average fuel price was $2.93 per gallon in the quarter. The company owns its own refinery in Philadelphia.
The results from Delta come before American and United post second quarter figures on Thursday. Analysts expect the biggest US carriers to report large profits.
Two jets carrying bodies from crashed Malaysia Airlines plane have landed in the Netherlands where a day of mourning for the 298 victims has been declared.
Experts there will begin to identify the dead, most of whom were Dutch.
Pro-Russian rebels have been widely accused of shooting down the Malaysia Airlines plane on July 17.
UK government sources say intelligence shows rebels deliberately tampered with evidence, moving bodies and placing parts from other planes in the debris.
As fighting continued in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, officials in Kiev said that two aircraft, thought to be military jets, had been downed just 20 miles from the MH17 crash site.
The officials had no information on the cause of the crashes, or the fate of the pilots.
Planes carrying bodies from crashed MH17 flight have landed in the Netherlands (photo EPA)
US intelligence officials had earlier released evidence to the media that they said showed the separatists’ involvement in bringing down flight MH17.
Rebels have also been accused of exaggerating the number of bodies transported from the crash site to the town of Kharkiv on Tuesday.
They had claimed 282 bodies had been loaded on to a train, but experts said only 200 could be verified.
The two military planes – one Dutch and the other Australian – carrying the first 40 coffins landed at Eindhoven air base to be met by members of the Dutch royal family, PM Mark Rutte and hundreds of victims’ relatives.
Churches around the Netherlands rang their bells for five minutes before the planes landed.
A fleet of hearses was standing by to convey the bodies to the Korporaal van Oudheusden barracks south of the city of Hilversum for identification.
PM Mark Rutte said that process could take months.
Earlier, the coffins had been slowly loaded on to the planes by a military guard of honor at Kharkiv airport in eastern Ukraine.
Ambassadors, officials and soldiers gathered to see off the planes.
Australian government envoy Angus Houston said the ceremony was intended to give the victims the “respect and dignity they deserve” after a “tragedy of unspeakable proportions”.
In a separate process, the “black box” flight-data recorders from MH17 have arrived in the UK, where they will be examined at the headquarters of the Air Accidents Investigation Branch in Farnborough.
A rebel militiaman told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that he had been ordered to the crash site minutes after the MH17 plane had gone down.
He said his commanders had told him: “We’ve just shot down one of the Kiev fascists’ planes.”
The militiaman said: “We thought we were looking for baled-out Ukrainian pilots but instead we found dead civilians.”
Earlier in Washington, officials from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence presented evidence they had gathered on the involvement of the rebels.
“It’s a solid case that it’s an SA-11 [missile] that was fired from eastern Ukraine under conditions the Russians helped create,” said the officials, who requested that their names not be reported.
They said the “most plausible explanation” for the shooting down of the plane was that rebels mistook it for another aircraft.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has condemned Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip, saying that war crimes may have been committed.
Navi Pillay told an emergency debate at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that Israel’s military offensive had not done enough to protect civilians.
She also condemned Hamas for “indiscriminate attacks” on Israel.
Israel launched its offensive on July 8 with the declared objective of stopping rocket fire from Gaza.
“There seems to be a strong possibility that international law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes,” Navi Pillay said.
Israel’s Justice Minister Tzipi Livni described the UN Human Rights Council as an “anti-Israel” body, Reuters news agency reported.
At least 649 Palestinians and 31 Israelis have been killed in the past 15 days of fighting, officials say.
A foreign worker in southern Israel was also killed by a rocket fired from Gaza on Wednesday, police said.
The UN says about 74% of those killed in Gaza are civilians, with medical clinics among the facilities hit by air strikes.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has condemned Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip (photo AP)
“Civilians in Gaza have no safe place to go as 44% of the land has been declared a ‘no-go zone’ by the Israeli army,” the assistant secretary-general at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
“Families are taking the heart-wrenching decision to split to different locations – mother and son to one; father and daughter to another – hoping to maximize the chance one part of the family survives.”
There was heavy fighting in the town of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
Eyewitnesses say around 5,000 Palestinians, some waving white flags, are fleeing in a state of panic following a ground incursion by Israeli troops.
Meanwhile US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Israel on Wednesday to try to help negotiate a truce.
“We have certainly made some steps forward. There is still work to be done,” John Kerry said shortly after arriving.
John Kerry flew by military plane to Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, as several US and European airlines continue to suspend civilian flights into Israel after a rocket from Gaza landed near the airport.
German airline Lufthansa announced on Wednesday it would extend the ban for another 24 hours.
At least five people died in an air strike in Khan Younis overnight. An Israeli soldier was also killed.
Earlier, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas should be held accountable for rejecting an Egyptian ceasefire proposal.
Referring to a July 16 Israeli air strike that killed children playing on a beach in Gaza, Navi Pillay said “the disregard for international humanitarian law and for the right to life was shockingly evident”.
She also condemned rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel.
“The principles of distinction and precaution are clearly not being observed during such indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas by Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups,” she told the UN Human Rights Council.
Despite her condemnation of Hamas attacks on Israel, Navi Pillay clearly views Israel’s actions in Gaza as disproportionate.
“Israel is acting according to international law,” Tzipi Livni said.
“It is regrettable civilians are killed, but when we call on them to vacate and Hamas calls on them to stay, then that is what happens.”
A 2009 UN human rights report said that Israel’s military and Hamas had each committed potential war crimes during Israel’s 2008-2009 offensive in Gaza.
The Goldstone report was rejected by Israel and the US as biased and flawed.
A TransAsia Airways passenger plane has crashed after a failed emergency landing in Taiwan, killing more than 40 people, local officials say.
TransAsia Airways flight crashed near Magong airport on the outlying Penghu island, reports said.
There were a total of 54 passengers and four crew on board, Taiwan’s CNA news agency reported.
The TransAsia Airways passenger plane has crashed after a failed emergency landing in Taiwan
Aviation officials said flight GE222 aborted its initial landing and then crashed, local media reported.
Fifty-one people were feared dead and seven were injured, CNA reported, citing fire department officials.
Firefighters and other emergency personnel are still attempting to rescue those on board.
Local firefighters say the plane did not reach the airport landing strip, but crashed nearby, losing contact with flight radars for a few moments before the crash.
Peaches Geldof’s cause of death has been ruled as heroin overdose, a coroner has said.
Peaches Geldof, who died this year at 25, had been a heroin addict and took the substitute drug methadone for two-and-a-half years before her death, the inquest heard.
A police search found 6.9g of heroin in the TV presenter’s house but there was no indication she had planned to take her own life.
Peaches Geldof’s husband, musician Tom Cohen, told the hearing in Gravesend she had started using the drug again in February this year.
Tom Cohen had witnessed Peaches Geldof flushing drugs she had hidden in their loft down the toilet, but was not aware of any other drugs in the house until they were found by police.
In his evidence, the musician said his wife had taken weekly drugs tests since seeking treatment for her addiction two years ago.
Although she had informed him they were clear, Tom Cohen said he now believed Peaches Geldof had been lying about the tests.
Tom Cohen, who married Peaches Geldof in 2012, found his wife slumped on the bed at their home in Wrotham in Kent on April 7 after becoming concerned when she failed to answer the phone.
He had been away for the weekend with the elder of their two sons, Astala, leaving Peaches Geldof at home with their 11-month old son, Phaedra.
Peaches Geldof died of a heroin overdose (photo Getty Images)
Peaches Geldof was pronounced dead at the scene.
After a toxicology report was issued in May, the police launched a criminal inquiry “into the supply of drugs” in connection with her death. No arrests have been made so far.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Fotheringham, who led the investigation, said “importation quality” heroin with a purity of 61% – “far exceeding” the 26% purity usually found at street level – was found in a black cloth bag inside a cupboard over a bedroom door.
“The black bag also contained 34 medical syringes, some were with needles and some without, some were sealed in original packaging and some contained traces of a brown colored residue,” he said.
“There were also 45 packaged and sealed syringes, alcohol wipes and cotton buds.”
Police also found a pair of knotted black tights under Peaches Geldof’s body and two other pairs of tights with knots in them elsewhere in the property, along with a number of burnt spoons.
The syringe containing the fatal dose was discovered in a cardboard box next to the bed, which also contained sweets.
Forensic scientist Emma Harris, who had been involved in examining the body, said: “Tolerance to heroin… appears to be lost fairly rapidly when users cease to use the drug, and deaths commonly occur in people who have previously been tolerant and have returned to using heroin.”
Pathologist Peter Jerreat said the levels of heroin in Peaches Geldof’s body were in a “fatal range”; while evidence of codeine, methadone and morphine were also found in her blood.
He further noted that puncture wounds were found on Peaches Geldof’s body on her elbows, wrists and thumbs.
Peaches Geldof’s mother, Paula Yates, died of a heroin overdose at the age of 41 when her daughter was 11 years old.
Chrysler has announced it would recall up to 792,300 sport utility vehicles (SUV’s) to fix an ignition-switch problem, the same part involved in the massive GM recall.
The carmaker, a subsidiary of Italy-based Fiat Chrysler, said it was issuing the recall “out of an abundance of caution”.
Chrysler took the move because ignition keys can be moved unintentionally from the “on” position, causing engine stall, reducing braking power and potentially disabling frontal airbags.
Chrysler will recall up to 792,300 SUV’s to fix an ignition-switch problem
The automaker said the switch may be shifted by an “outside” force, often the driver’s knee.
Chrysler said it “is unaware of any related injuries” and knew of a single reported accident and a relatively small number of complaints covering 0.015 percent of the vehicles subject to the recall.
The recall affects certain models of the 2006-2007 Jeep Commander and 2005-2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs.
Chrysler urged owners of these vehicles to “assure that there is clearance between their knees and the keys”. The company also suggested drivers remove all items from their key rings, leaving only their ignition key.
The recall follows a June disclosure by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that it was investigating the air bag systems on these models following complaints of stalling.
Amid rumors that Beyonce and Jay-Z is splitting up, the singer posted a family photo of her and her husband both holding hands with their daughter Blue Ivy on each side.
Beyonce posted family photo of her and husband Jay-Z both holding hands with their daughter Blue Ivy on each side (photo Instagram)
Like all those other family photos before it, the picture did not include a caption or Blue Ivy’s face.
Since first posting on July 21, the picture already has over 733,000 likes and over 5,600 comments.
Fat Guy Number 3, a mash-up video poking fun at North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has been watched millions of times in China and around the world.
The three-and-half-minute videois made up of a series of animated GIFs in which Kim Jong-un’s face is superimposed on all sorts of existing images. He’s shown dancing, doing the splits, as a ballet dancer, with his trousers down, riding on the back of a pig. It’s set to a catchy recent Chinese hit love song, Little Apple, by the Chopstick Brothers – which has been parodied a number of times, as well as being used in flash mobs in China.
The mash-up video poking fun at Kim Jong-un has been watched millions of times in China and around the world (photo EPA)
A host of international leaders make appearances in the video too. President Barack Obama is seen generally frolicking around in a light-hearted way. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and the Japanese PM Shinzo Abe also feature.
The video appears to have been made by a Chinese man with 190,000 followers on Weibo – China’s version of Twitter – who’s been making Kim Jong-un GIFs for two years. Writing on his Weibo page, the man said the video was “just for entertainment” and had no deeper political message.
The video was uploaded to the Chinese video-sharing site Tencent, where it’s been watched more than 55 million times.
YouTube is banned in China, but the video was later copied and uploaded there, and prompted a million views and comments from around the world.
Though the man who made it insists the video is not political, there are some scenes which appear to carry a message. In one, Kim Jong-un is seen holding Osama bin Laden’s hand. In another, a missile he fires ends up hitting him on his own backside.
The wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship is being towed on its final journey to the port of Genoa for scrapping.
Its removal is one of the biggest ever maritime salvage operations.
Costa Concordia struck a reef off the Italian island of Giglio in January 2012 and capsized, killing 32 people.
It was re-floated nine days ago and is being kept above the surface by giant buoyancy chambers. Over a dozen vessels will help to tow the ship.
The wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship is being towed on its final journey to the port of Genoa for scrapping (photo Getty Images)
The wreck was hauled upright in September last year but was still partially submerged, resting on six steel platforms.
The cruise ship is being towed to Genoa at two knots, almost at walking pace, with an escort of more than a dozen tug boats.
The journey, which is expected to take four days, began shortly before 09:00 local time.
Senior salvage master Nick Sloane said early on Wednesday that everything was going according to plan.
However, French ecology minister Segolene Royal has said she will monitor the ship’s movement from Corsica. Residents on the island fear that any oil leak from the cruise ship could cause significant environmental damage.
The Concordia is set to sail 15 miles from Corsica and close to the islands of Elba and Capri before its expected arrival in Genoa late on Saturday.
Investigators are still looking for the body of Indian waiter Russel Rebello, whose body is the only one not to have been found.
The Costa Concordia’s owners, Costa Crociere, estimate the operation to remove the wreck from the reef and tow it for scrapping will cost 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion) in total.
The first remains recovered from Malaysia Airlines MH17 plane that crashed in Ukraine last week are to be flown to the Netherlands for identification.
The Netherlands is holding a day of mourning for the 298 killed in the July 17 crash, 193 of whom were Dutch.
Meanwhile, US intelligence officials say pro-Russian rebels shot down the jet by mistake, but they have not found any direct link to Russia.
The plane crashed in a rebel-held area after apparently being hit by a rocket.
A refrigerated train carriage carrying about 200 bodies from the crash site arrived in the government-held city of Kharkiv on Tuesday.
About 50 coffins were laid out at the airport on Wednesday morning in preparation for the flight.
Investigators said they would continue to search the crash site for more bodies.
The first remains recovered from MH17 plane that crashed in Ukraine are to be flown to the Netherlands for identification
The first bodies from flight MH17 are due to arrive in Eindhoven at 16:00 local time after a farewell ceremony attended by Ukrainian officials in Kharkiv.
Members of the Dutch royal family and PM Mark Rutte will meet the plane.
The bodies are then due to be taken to the Korporaal van Oudheusden barracks for identification.
Mark Rutte said that process could take months.
In a separate process, the “black box” flight-data recorders from MH17 have been handed to Dutch authorities by Malaysian officials.
The devices will be sent to Farnborough in the UK for analysis.
In Washington, officials from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence presented evidence they had gathered on the involvement of the rebels.
“It’s a solid case that it’s an SA-11 [missile] that was fired from eastern Ukraine under conditions the Russians helped create,” said the officials, who requested that their names not be reported.
They said the “most plausible explanation” for the shooting down of the plane was that rebels mistook it for another aircraft.
The evidence they presented included:
Satellite images of a facility allegedly used to train rebels near the Russian city of Rostov
Other images purportedly showing a surface-to-air missile launcher in the area
Analysis of voice recordings of pro-Russian rebels apparently admitting bringing the airliner down
Photos and messages from social-media sites pointing to rebel involvement
The US and other nations have accused rebels of blocking access to the crash site, putting valuable evidence at risk.
In Australia, former President Bill Clinton paid tribute to six HIV/Aids campaigners who were on board MH17.
Bill Clinton said their lives had been “overpowering in their contribution to a shared future”.
Microsoft has reported a 7% fall in profit during Q2 2014.
The tech giant said profit during the March to June period was $4.6 billion, compared with $4.97 billion during the same period last year.
Microsoft said its Nokia division, which it acquired in April, lost $692 million.
Microsoft said its Nokia division lost $692 million
Last week, Microsoft announced it would cut 18,000 jobs – the biggest round of job cuts in the company’s 39-year history.
“We are driving growth with disciplined decisions, bold innovation, and focused execution,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement.
Satya Nadella said Microsoft is choosing to focus on revenues from the company’s cloud division, which he said were set to double to $4.4 billion this year.
Shares in Microsoft were mostly flat in trading after stock market hours.
At least 67 police officers have been arrested in Turkey on suspicion of spying and illegal wire-tapping.
The allegations involve police who were part of a corruption investigation that targeted PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s inner circle.
Among those arrested in raids that took place across Turkey are two former heads of Istanbul’s anti-terror police.
One of the two men, Yurt Atayun, told reporters: “They handcuffed me from behind. It’s all political.”
At least 67 Turkish senior police officers have been arrested over Recep Tayyip Erdogan spying allegations
The Istanbul prosecutor said that thousands of people had had their phones tapped, including PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan, senior ministers and the head of Turkish intelligence. Arrest warrants had been issued for more than 100 suspects, he said.
Two police commissioners and one department chief were detained in the capital, Ankara, Anatolia news agency reported.
The corruption inquiry emerged last December and led to the sons of three ministers being detained and, ultimately, four ministers leaving their jobs.
PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan alleges the investigation was orchestrated by supporters of US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, once his rival in Turkey.
The prime minister and his son, Bilal, were then caught up in February in a subsequent wire-tap which appeared to show them talking about hiding a large sum of money.
One of those arrested on Tuesday was the former deputy head of Istanbul’s financial crimes unit who was on duty at the time of the February operation, reports say.
European and US airlines have suspended flights into Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport after a rocket landed one mile away.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered three US carriers that fly to Israel – Delta, United and US Airways – to halt flights for 24 hours.
European carriers Lufthansa, KLM, and Air France have also cancelled flights to Tel Aviv.
The move comes amid heightened scrutiny over flights near conflict zones.
Israel’s Transportation Ministry asked the airlines to reverse their decision, saying the airport was “safe for landings and departures”.
“Ben Gurion Airport is safe and completely guarded and there is no reason whatsoever that American companies would stop their flights and hand terror a prize,” it said in a statement.
The FAA ordered three US carriers to halt Israel flights for 24 hours
The FAA’s prohibition only applies to US airlines. The agency has no authority over foreign airlines operating to or from the airport.
However, Lufthansa – which includes Swiss, Germanwings and Austrian Airlines – said it had decided to suspend flights to Israel for two days.
Air France and KLM also said they had suspended flights scheduled to depart on Tuesday.
However, Air France said a flight scheduled for Wednesday is still scheduled to depart.
Delta said a flight from New York City to Tel Aviv was diverted to Paris on Tuesday after Israeli police confirmed that a rocket landed approximately one mile from Ben Gurion airport.
Both and United said they had suspended operations in Israel for the near future – beyond the FAA’s 24-hr period.
US Airways said it had not yet made a decision.
British Airways wrote on Twitter: “We are closely monitoring the situation. Our flights are currently operating as scheduled.”
The halt in service comes less than a week after Israel began a ground operation in Gaza, and as airlines around the world re-think their flight paths over conflict areas in the wake of the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has thrown out a federal regulation implementing key subsidies of President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, ObamaCare.
It means that participants in health exchanges run by the federal government in 34 states are not eligible for help.
The ruling deals a setback to ObamaCare, jeopardizing health insurance for four million low and middle-income people.
The White House said it is confident in its legal position on subsidies.
The ObamaCare has been under siege by opponents since it was passed in 2010.
A three-judge panel found in favor of plaintiffs who sued over tax credits for people buying health insurance.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has thrown out a federal regulation implementing key subsidies of ObamaCare
“Our ruling will likely have significant consequences both for millions of individuals receiving tax credits through federal Exchanges and for health insurance markets more broadly,” Senior Circuit Judge Raymond Randolph in his majority opinion.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled on Halbig v Burwell on Tuesday, one of four lawsuits currently challenging the legality of Internal Revenue Service (IRS)-funded subsidies under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The court – considered the second highest in the nation behind the US Supreme Court – returned the case to a lower court with instructions to rule in favor to plaintiffs who had fought against the subsidies being offered in 36 states.
The IRS is said to have dispensed billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies through federal healthcare exchanges, or marketplaces.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit argued they were injured by the IRS actions because it triggered additional taxes for employers.
The subsidies, or tax credits, have been made available to Americans with annual incomes up to 400% the federal poverty level.
That works out to $94,000 for a family of four.
In a dissenting opinion, Judge Harry Edwards calling the lawsuit a “not-so-veiled attempt to gut” the healthcare law, and “portends disastrous consequences”.
The US Appeals Court’s ruling may impact on more than four million Americans who are currently eligible for subsidies to offset their healthcare costs.
Should this mean large numbers of people be ineligible for health insurance, it would result in higher overall premiums for non-subsidized members.
The ruling is the latest blow for the embattled healthcare law, which last month saw the US Supreme Court overturn a crucial portion regarding contraception coverage.
