MasterChef finalist Josh Marks was found fatally shot Friday night in a suicide, authorities said.
Police responded to a call of a body found at 6:45 p.m. Friday in the 9700 block of South Peoria Street in the city’s Longwood Manor neighborhood and found Marks lying face up on the ground, unresponsive and bleeding from the head. Fire department personnel were already there.
MasterChef finalist Josh Marks was found fatally shot Friday night in a suicide
Josh Marks, 26, was pronounced dead at 6:37 p.m. on the scene, according to a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
An autopsy conducted today ruled his death a suicide.
Josh Marks suffered an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and a revolver was found near his body.
Police said an acquaintance and two relatives of the victim were on the scene and one of the relatives told police that Josh Marks suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and he was distraught about something, police said.
Charlie Hunnam has pulled out of the film adaptation of bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey.
It was announced in September that Charlie Hunnam would play billionaire Christian Grey.
Universal Pictures said that his departure was a mutual decision due to a scheduling problem with Charlie Hunnam’s TV commitments.
Fifty Shades of Grey‘s author E.L. James tweeted her best wishes to the actor.
Charlie Hunnam has pulled out of the film adaptation of bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey
Artist and film-maker Sam Taylor-Johnson will direct the movie version of E.L. James’ novel, scheduled for release in August 2014.
Published in 2011, Fifty Shades of Grey follows the relationship between billionaire Christian Grey and college student Anastasia Steele.
Dakota Johnson will play Anastasia Steele and Jennifer Ehle has been cast as her mother.
The novel and its two sequels, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, have become a literary phenomenon that earned E.L. James, 50, a reported $95 million last year.
There had been intense speculation over who would win the coveted lead roles in the film adaptation.
Since winning the role there have been reports that Charlie Hunnam had been overwhelmed by the attention and had got cold feet.
However, the statement from Universal Pictures said Charlie Hunnam’s departure was due to “Hunnam’s immersive TV schedule which is not allowing him time to adequately prepare for the role of Christian Grey.”
Matt Bomer, Cilian Murphy, Ian Somerhalder and Alexander Skarsgard are among the actors being tipped as Charlie Hunnam’s replacement.
Alexey Khodorkovsky, a restaurant owner in Moscow, has decided to only hire sets of twins in a bid to attract new customers.
The Twin Stars diner employs identically-dressed siblings to serve its hungry clients with food and drink – taking inspiration from an old Soviet-era movie.
The 24-hour bar is run, from the management all the way to the cooks, only by identical twins.
The Twin Stars diner employs identically-dressed siblings to serve its hungry clients with food and drink
Alexey Khodorkovsky says that he aimed to create a fairy tale atmosphere and to provide an exclusive bar for these fraternal couples.
He said: “I had some friends that are twins and I thought that there are no places for twins, where twins could be the main feature of the business. And I wanted to do something <<circus>>, something more of entertainment plus food.”
Alexey Khodorkovsky assures that it was not an easy job to find qualified twins: “Of course, it wasn’t easy to bring twins as employees, we had to relocate some people from Ukraine, for example. And of course twins that are experienced bar tenders, waiters and so on, we couldn’t find them, so we had to first find twins and then teach them to work as bar tenders and waiters. But it’s coming out alright.”
Hollywood stars pictures displayed with their fake twin decorate the walls of the restaurant, which every Sunday hosts a twin party day.
At least 89 Indian pilgrims, mostly women and children, have been killed in a stampede at a Hindu festival in Madhya Pradesh state, local officials have said.
Many were crushed after panic broke out on a bridge near the Ratangarh temple in Madhya Pradesh state. Others died when they jumped from the bridge.
Officials said the stampede may have been sparked by a rumor that the bridge was about to collapse.
Hundreds of thousands had gathered near the town of Datia for the festival.
The narrow bridge is about 500 m long, and had only recently been rebuilt following another stampede in 2007.
At least 89 Indian pilgrims have been killed in a stampede at a Hindu festival in Madhya Pradesh state
Madhya Pradesh health minister Narottam Mishra said 89 people were confirmed to have died.
“The cause of the stampede is a matter of judicial inquiry. Information from locals suggests that rumors of the bridge giving way could have led to the stampede,” he said.
Other reports suggested that police sparked panic by using batons to control the crowd.
Officials said the dead included 42 women, 30 children and 17 men.
Emergency crews and specialist divers were still searching the river for bodies.
Local official Sanket Bhondve said the immediate priority was to provide relief to those injured.
The accident happened at about 09:00, but information was slow to emerge because the temple is in a remote area with erratic mobile-phone coverage.
Hindu festivals in India are notorious for deadly stampedes.
Gunmen have abducted six of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) workers and one Red Crescent volunteer in north-west Syria.
The aid agency has had no contact with the gunmen, an ICRC spokesman says.
Earlier, Syrian state media said gunmen had opened fire on Red Cross staff travelling on the road between Sirmin and Saraqeb in Idlib province.
The ICRC says it has been struggling to gain access across Syria to provide aid to injured and displaced people.
“I am able to confirm that six ICRC staff members and one Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteer have been abducted near Idlib in north-western Syria,” ICRC spokesman Ewan Watson told Reuters.
Gunmen have abducted six of the ICRC workers and one Red Crescent volunteer in north-west Syria
“We are calling for their immediate and unconditional release of this team which was delivering humanitarian assistance to those most in need – and we do that on both sides of the frontlines,” he said.
Ewan Watson declined to reveal the identity, gender or nationality of the abducted workers but they are believed to include both local and international staff, who are mainly medical specialists.
Syrian state news agency Sana earlier quoted an unnamed official as saying the workers were abducted and taken to an unknown location after gunmen blocked their path and shot at their convoy.
Ewan Watson was unable to confirm whether or not shots had been fired, but he said the team’s vehicles were also missing.
An ICRC statement said the vehicles they were travelling in had been clearly marked with the Red Cross emblem, “which is not a religious symbol”.
Another ICRC spokesman, Simon Schorno, told Associated Press the attack took place at around 11:30 on Sunday as the team was returning to Damascus.
Simon Schorno said the team had been in the field since October 10 to assess the medical situation and deliver aid in what he described as “a difficult area to go in”.
It is not yet clear who carried out the kidnapping, but Syrian state TV blamed it on what it called “armed terrorists” – a term it frequently uses to describe anti-government rebels.
On Saturday, the Syrian government began the evacuation of around 1,500 civilians, mainly women and children, from a rebel-held Damascus suburb besieged by the army for months.
Many of those coming out of Muadhamiya, south-west of Damascus, were said to be exhausted and traumatized.
World Bank’s President Jim Yong Kim has warned that the US is just “days away from a very dangerous moment” because of the government’s borrowing crisis.
Jim Yong Kim urged US policymakers to reach a deal to raise the government’s debt ceiling before Thursday’s deadline.
The US Treasury will start to run short of funds if no agreement is reached for it to borrow on financial markets.
Jim Yong Kim urged US policymakers to reach a deal to raise the government’s debt ceiling before Thursday’s deadline
Jim Yong Kim warned this could be a “disastrous event” for the world.
“The closer we get to the deadline the greater the impact will be for the developing world.
“Inaction could result in interest rates rising, confidence falling and growth slowing,” he said speaking at the World Bank’s annual meeting in Washington.
“If this comes to pass it could be a disastrous event for the developing world and that will in turn greatly hurt the developed economies as well,” Jim Yong Kim added.
Miley Cyrus has caused fresh controversy by reportedly suggesting that music industry executives are too old and Jewish to understand her career.
Miley Cyrus, 20, told Hunger TV: ”With magazines, with movies, it’s always weird when things are targeted for young people yet they’re driven by people that are like 40 years too old. It can’t be like this 70-year-old Jewish man that doesn’t leave his desk all day, telling me what the clubs want to hear.
”I’m going out, I know what they want to hear. I know when you’re in a club, what makes everyone go crazy and when the time is where everyone’s like <<alright I’m going to get a drink>>. I know when people walk off the dance floor and I know what’s driving it so I’ve got to be the one doing it because they’re just not in on what 20 year olds are doing.”
Miley Cyrus has caused fresh controversy by suggesting that music industry executives are too old and Jewish to understand her career
Miley Cyrus, who was first called out for the comments by Tabletmag.com, hinted that her record label and management were hesitant when she first suggested the concept for her We Can’t Stop music video.
The singer said: ”At first, on paper, that video sounded insane. No one understood it, and I’m just like, <<Let me film it and then, if it doesn’t work out, you never have to trust me again – but if it works out you have to let me drive this ship>>.”
She added: ”At the end of the day, I want people to buy my records. The more that they’re wondering what the hell is she doing, the more they’re going to want to listen to my record.”
Miley Cyrus insisted that she didn’t expect people to be shocked about her Wrecking Ball video, in which she appears without clothes.
She said: ”I’m surprised people are still shocked, I’m glad that tactic is still working because I expected people at some point just to not be shocked.”
Police experts in Italy found Amanda Knox’s DNA, not the victim’s, on the alleged murder weapon–a butcher knife she supposedly used to kill British roommate Meredith Kercher to death in 2007.
Perugia police took the knife from the kitchen of Raffaele Sollecito, Amanda Knox’s then boyfriend, and she’d cooked with it. Thus her DNA is not incriminating–unless the knife shows traces of the victim, in blood. The fact that Amanda Knox’s DNA showed up, not Meredith Kercher’s, increases her acquittal odds in this third murder trial, set to end November 26 in Florence, Italy.
Independent experts did not find Meredith Kercher’s DNA on the kitchen knife in the last trial either
Independent experts did not find Meredith Kercher’s DNA on the kitchen knife in the last trial either.
Conti & Vecchiotti savaged the police lab analysis: “Taking into account that none of the recommendations of the international scientific community relative to the treatment of Low Copy Number (LCN) samples were followed, we do not accept the conclusions regarding the certain attribution of the profile found on trace B (blade of knife) to the victim Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher, since the genetic profile, as obtained, appears unreliable insofar as it is not supported by scientifically validated analysis.”
According to new reports, Kris Jenner revealed she regrets divorcing her first husband Robert Kardashian.
The late O.J. Simpson defense lawyer was the father to Kris Jenner’s children, Kourtney, Kim, Khloé and Rob Kardashian Jr.
Kris Jenner’s revelation comes just a few days after the announcement that she and second husband Bruce Jenner were living separately after 22 years of marriage and were much “happier” having separate homes.
“The one regret, if I had to do it over, would be divorcing Robert Kardashian,” Kris Jenner, 57, said in the latest issue of New You magazine.
Kris Jenner revealed she regrets divorcing her first husband Robert Kardashian
“But then there wouldn’t have been Kendall and Kylie, so that’s the way I look at it.”
The so-called momager married Roberts Kardashian in 1978 and later finalized her divorce from him in 1991, the same year she married Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner with whom she has two daughters, Kendall, 17, and Kylie, 16.
Robert Kardashian died in September 2003 after a battle with esophageal cancer.
“Everything happens for a reason, and we learn from our mistakes,” Kris Jenner said.
“I thought I was so smart when I was young; I was fearless.”
Kris Jenner added that love is “non-negotiable” in her life.
“Love. Love is everything,” she said.
“We go in and out of love in our lifetime. I don’t like change… even though I love change. I love really hard, and when someone is in my life they are in my life forever,” Kris Jenner said.
Josh Marks was found dead of a gunshot to his head in an alley on Chicago’s south side Friday night, police said Saturday.
Investigators have not yet ruled whether MasterChef finalist Josh Marks, who has publicly acknowledged suffering from bipolar disorder, committed suicide, Chicago Police spokesman John Mirabelli told CNN.
Joshua Marks, 26, lost to winner Christine Ha in the final round of the Fox reality cooking competition’s third season.
His death comes three months after he was arrested following a scuffle with several Chicago police officers, according to the Chicago Tribune. Josh Marks told police he had been possessed by MasterChef judge Gordon Ramsay, who turned him into God, the newspaper reported.
Josh Marks was found dead of a gunshot to his head in an alley on Chicago’s south side Friday night
Gordon Ramsay posted a message on his Twitter account Saturday reacting to Josh Marks’ death: “Just heard the devastating news about Josh Marks. My thoughts are with his family & friends at this tragic time.”
Josh Marks – who at 7-foot-2 was known by friends as “a gentle giant” – spoke about his mental illness in a public service video he recorded for the Make a Sound Project, a suicide awareness program.
The project promotes “how to use music as an alternative to the crazy thoughts you may have going in your mind,” Josh Marks said in the video.
“Me personally, I have bipolar disorder, so, you know, I’ll get a little anxious sometimes, and how I cool out is, I listen to music and just listen to the words and just relax and, you know, find my melody. I wish we had some music going on in here right now.”
But after Josh Marks was arrested, project founder Mike Castaneda told a reporter he was removing Marks from the venture, but on Saturday, Castaneda described his comment as “a poor statement.”
Detectives are talking to witnesses and examining security camera video from near where Josh Marks’ body was found, John Mirabelli said.
A determination of suicide would not be made until an autopsy is completed this weekend, he said.
Venice flood barriers – designed to protect the Italian city from flooding during high tides – have been successfully tested for the first time.
Four large floodgates rose out of the water creating a temporary sea barrier.
Once completed, 78 mobile flood barriers will be raised from the seabed to shut off the lagoon in the event of rising sea levels and winter storms.
Venice suffers flooding on a yearly basis. In 1966, 80% of the city was flooded by high tides.
Construction on the barriers began 10 years ago but has been hampered by delays in funding due to Italy’s economic crisis.
Four large floodgates rose out of the water creating a temporary sea barrier
The Moses project has already cost more than $7 billion and is not expected to be completed for another two years.
Once finished, the floodgates will extend more than a mile, blocking the three inlets to the lagoon.
A government minister has promised funds to complete the scheme on time in 2016.
But the head of the construction consortium said they would need $800 million immediately, otherwise the jobs of some 4,000 construction workers would be at risk.
In 1966, some 5,000 people were left homeless when flood levels in the city reached 6ft causing immense damage.
Earlier this week, Venice saw its first high tide of the season, known as “acqua alta”.
According to British police, the timeline and “accepted version of events” surrounding Madeleine McCann’s disappearance have significantly changed.
The Metropolitan Police said a BBC Crimewatch appeal to be aired on Monday would feature “the most detailed reconstruction” of the case yet.
It will also broadcast e-fits of a number of men police want to find.
Madeleine McCann, of Rothley, Leicestershire, was 3-year-old when she went missing in Portugal in May 2007.
She disappeared from her family’s holiday flat in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz, as her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, dined out with friends at a nearby restaurant.
Portuguese authorities dropped their investigation into the case in 2008, but Scotland Yard started a review in May 2011.
The purpose of the Crimewatch appeal, which police are describing as the “most complex and detailed” so far in the case, is to try to identify a number of computer-generated images, or e-fits, of men who were sighted in and around Praia da Luz on or before Thursday, May 3, 2007.
As part of that effort, a reconstruction – almost 25 minutes long – of events leading up to and surrounding Madeleine’s disappearance will be shown.
Madeleine McCann, of Rothley, Leicestershire, was 3-year-old when she went missing in Portugal in May 2007
A short clip released in advance by police shows an actress playing Madeleine McCann running across a tennis court as two adults, apparently her parents, play a game.
During the search for their daughter, the McCann family released a photograph of Madeleine, believed to be one of the last taken of her during the holiday, holding several tennis balls.
Detective Chief Inspector Andy Redwood, who is heading the investigation, said: “The timeline we have now established has given new significance to sightings and movements of people in and around Praia da Luz at the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.
“Our work to date has significantly changed the timeline and the accepted version of events that has been in the public domain to date.
“It has allowed us to work with Crimewatch to build the most detailed reconstruction as yet, and highlight very specific appeal points.
“I hope that when the public see our investigative strands drawn together within the overall context of that appeal, it will bring in new information that moves our investigation forward.”
Andy Redwood said that police had sought to “try and draw everything back to zero… take everything back to the beginning and then reanalyze and reassess everything, accepting nothing”.
He added: “The careful and critical analysis of the timeline has been absolutely key. Primarily, we are focused on the area between 8.30 p.m. and 10 p.m.
“We know that at 8.30, that was the time that Mr. and Mrs. McCann went down to the tapas area for their dinner, and we know that at around 10 p.m., that was when Mrs. McCann found that Madeleine was missing.”
Madeleine McCann’s parents will make a live appeal in the studio during the programme and, ahead of the broadcast.
“When it’s a special occasion, when you should be at your happiest, and Madeleine’s not there, that’s when it really hits home,” Gerry McCann said.
Kate McCann added: “It’s when you have the big family occasions… and you haven’t got your complete family.”
Earlier this month, police said phone records may be key to the case after it emerged officers were analyzing data from phones belonging to people who were in Praia da Luz when Madeleine vanished.
The US shutdown negotiations have been shifted to the Senate.
The Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate held direct talks for the first time in weeks, but there is little sign of any breakthrough, correspondents say.
The shutdown began when Congress missed the October 1st deadline to pass a budget.
The US faces another deadline on Thursday to raise its debt limit.
If a deal is not reached by then, the US faces potential default, a prospect which has caused alarm both domestically and abroad.
Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat, said the aim was to reach a deal on extending the debt limit before markets reopen on Monday.
The talks between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell earlier on Saturday represented the first face-to-face meeting between the two since July, the New York Times reported.
“The conversations were extremely cordial but very preliminary of course – nothing conclusive, but I hope that our talking is some solace to the American people and to the world,” said Harry Reid.
The US shutdown negotiations have been shifted to the Senate
“We had a good meeting,” said Mitch McConnell, without elaborating.
Harry Reid then went to the White House for talks with President Barack Obama.
But he rejected a plan put forward by Republican Senator Susan Collins to allow the government to increase its debt limit until January 31st, 2014.
Democrats have a majority in the Senate, but could not muster enough support to advance a proposal to lift the debt ceiling there.
Talks between House Republicans and the White House had collapsed earlier.
Republicans have refused to pass a new budget unless President Barack Obama agrees to delay or eliminate the funding of the healthcare reform law of 2010.
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees have been sent home as a result of the shutdown.
The White House has repeatedly said it would not undermine the law, known as Obamacare, nor negotiate over larger budget matters, until Republicans vote to end the threat of default.
It has also rejected a short-term deal over the debt limit.
“It wouldn’t be wise, as some suggest, to just kick the debt ceiling can down the road for a couple of months, and flirt with a first-ever intentional default right in the middle of the holiday shopping season,” President Barack Obama said.
General Vo Nguyen Giap two-day state funeral is in its final stages inVietnam.
The general’s body is being flown from Hanoi, where it has been lying in state, to his home town in Quang Binh province for burial.
Thousands of people have paid their respects to Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap in Hanoi and at military centres across Vietnam.
Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap was the military commander credited with overseeing the defeat of French and US forces in his country.
He died a week ago at the age of 102.
In Quang Binh, workers have been rushing to finish his tomb ahead of the burial ceremony.
The site, a temple on a mountainside by a beach, has already attracted mourners.
General Vo Nguyen Giap two-day state funeral is in its final stages inVietnam
However, the site is closed to the public until after the funeral.
The general’s coffin has been lying in state at the National Funeral Hall in Hanoi, draped in the national flag.
On Sunday, soldiers in white uniforms solemnly removed the flag and carried the red coffin from the hall while other soldiers, bearing a photograph of the general, preceded them.
In a carefully choreographed ceremony, the coffin was then placed on a gun carriage, the flag replaced, and a glass canopy lifted on top of it.
Gen Vo Nguyen Giap’s family, wearing black, stood nearby.
Thousands lined the route to the airport where the coffin was to be flown to Quang Binh.
The son of a rice grower, Vo Nguyen Giap became active in politics in the late 1920s and worked as a journalist before joining Ho Chi Minh’s Indochinese Communist Party.
He helped Ho Chi Minh found the Viet Minh and his defeat of French forces at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 effectively ended French colonial rule in the region.
Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap was North Vietnam’s defense minister at the time of the Tet Offensive against US forces in 1968, often cited as a key campaign that led to the Americans’ withdrawal.
It has been more than 30 years since Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap held any position of power within the Vietnamese Communist Party.
Cyclone Phailin has hammered eastern India overnight, bringing down power lines, ripping up trees and sending seawater surging inland.
Almost 500,000 people have been evacuated from the path of Cyclone Phailin in Orissa state and neighboring Andhra Pradesh.
The massive storm made landfall on Saturday, packing winds of up to 125 mph.
Five deaths have so far been linked to the cyclone.
In 1999 a cyclone killed more than 10,000 people in Orissa, although authorities say they are better prepared this time.
At daybreak on Sunday there was an anxious wait to see the extent of the damage.
Communications are down in many areas with road and rail links closed, making an assessment even more difficult.
The Times of India reported that a storm surge more than 9 ft high had inundated areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts of Orissa and the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh.
Cyclone Phailin has hammered eastern India overnight, bringing down power lines, ripping up trees and sending seawater surging inland
In the Orissa state capital of Bhubaneshwar, government workers and volunteers were assembling hundreds of thousands of food packages for relief camps.
Bhubaneswar shop owner Susil Kumar Singh was one of only a few traders keeping his store open.
“Everyone’s in trouble so I’ve kept my shop open to help them,” he told AFP news agency.
“Right now, there’s no drinking water and trees are falling down all around.”
Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik appealed for calm.
“I request everyone to not panic,” he said.
“Please assist the government. Everyone from the villages to the state headquarters has been put on alert.”
The Indian Army’s National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) said 1,200 troops had been sent to Orissa and 500 to Andhra Pradesh.
“As soon as the fury of the cyclone abates our boys will start their work,” NDRF director general Krishna Chaudhary told reporters.
“The teams have medical first responders (for first aid) and heavy cutting equipment. In the case of cyclones there is a likelihood of collapsed buildings.”
Up to 10in of rain is predicted for Orissa and the north coast of Andhra Pradesh throughout Sunday and Monday, forecasters said.
In the coastal town of Gopalpur, hundreds of terrified residents spent the night huddled in shelters, schools and public buildings.
Witnesses reported seeing shards of glass and asbestos sheets flying through the air as the cyclone struck.
Store signs and other debris were being pitched high in the air by storm gusts and elaborate decorations for a major Hindu festival were strewn over the main road.
Officials had earlier said that no-one would be allowed to stay in mud and thatched houses along the coast of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh states, but some residents said they wanted to stay put.
“Many people refused to move, had to be convinced, and at times the police had to forcefully move them to safe places,” said Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.
MasterChef finalist Josh Marks committed suicide and was pronounced dead Friday night.
Police confirmed Josh Marks, 26, was found dead at 6:37 p.m. on a Chicago alleyway, People magazine reported.
MasterChef finalist Josh Marks committed suicide and was pronounced dead Friday night
“Joshua Marks suffered a gunshot wound to the head and the manner of death was suicide,” the Chicago Medical Examiner’s office confirms to People magazine.
Police responded to a call alerting them to a body discovered along a stretch of South Peoria Avenue, where Josh Marks was found with a revolver nearby, Chicago Tribune reported.
Two relatives and an acquaintance of Josh Marks’s were on the scene, and reportedly told them that he had suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
In July, Josh Marks was arrested in Chicago for allegedly assaulting a police officer.
At the time, Josh Marks had reportedly claimed that MasterChef judge Gordon Ramsay had possessed his body and turned him into God.
Josh Marks was charged with aggravated battery to a peace officer and attempting to disarm a police officer.
Make your Halloween funny. Hang this spooky cheesecloth ghost from a tree or the rafters, and wait for a breeze to send it flying.
What you need:
• Wire cutters
• Bailing wire
• 3′ tall vase
• 8″ diameter Styrofoam ball
• Drop cloth
• Measuring tape
• 6 yards cheesecloth
• Scissors
• 1 16-oz. bottle Aleene’s fabric stiffener
Halloween Cheesecloth Ghost
• Bucket
• Black felt
• Hot-glue gun
• Fishing line
• Needle
How to do it:
1. Start by making a form to mold cheesecloth over. Cut a 3′ piece of bailing wire. Fold in half, then shape each half into a downward curve. Fold ends upward to form hands. Tape wire to vase, which will serve as a form for the body, so arms wrap around to front.
2. Place vase on drop cloth, then put the Styrofoam head on top.
3. Measure from bottom of vase to top of head. Double that measurement, then add 8″. Cut 4 lengths of cheesecloth to that size.
4. Pour fabric stiffener into bucket. Dip cheesecloth, one piece at a time into liquid, following manufacturer’s instructions. Drape first piece over form, arranging it until you’re happy with the look. (There should be roughly the same amount of extra fabric in front and back.) Repeat with each length of fabric. Let dry completely.
5. Cut 2 small and 1 large oval out of black felt. Glue small ovals to face for eyes; glue on large oval as mouth. Lift cheesecloth off form.
Duck Dynasty’s Willie and Korie Robertson revealed they didn’t have the money to pay the adoption fee their adopted son Will.
“We said, <<We’re good for it – we’ll come back>>,” Willie Robertson said Wednesday night in Washington, D.C., at the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s Angels in Adoption Gala, where he and his wife were honored.
“We’ve paid it, by the way.”
Willie and Korie Robertson revealed they didn’t have the money to pay the adoption fee their adopted son Will
Willie and Korie Robertson arrived in Washington D.C. about two hours before the event, to take a short break from filming Duck Dynasty show and talk about the importance of adoption.
“There shouldn’t be kids without homes. It just shouldn’t happen,” Korie Robertson told PEOPLE magazine.
When she accepted her award, Korie Robertson started crying as she reminisced about her parents loving, open home, and adopting their son when he was 5 weeks old.
“From the moment we found out about him, he was ours,” Korie Robertson told the audience.
“I swear, I had labor pains the night before I went and picked him up at the foster home he was living at. He’s our child, just like our biological children.”
And while Duck Dynasty show brought them fame and money – family is all that matters, they say.
“I’ve done a lot of cool things in the past couple of years, I’ve been to Super Bowls, I’ve met Presidents – but the best decision we ever made – that made the biggest impact on our life was the adoption of our son Will,” Willie Robertson said.
According to a new report, Duck Dynasty’s Willie Robertson – the family memberwhose entrepreneurial spirit made the reality show a success – is increasingly hungry for the spotlight, In Touch magazine claims, and his family believes he’s gone too far.
“When the family is resistant to Willie’s ideas, he says they don’t see the big picture,” one source explains.
“The truth is, they just don’t care as much.”
Willie Robertson’s desire for fame causes Duck Dynasty family to feud
Willie Robertson has spear-headed deals for books, a Christmas album, and more, and still “wants them to build a bigger empire,” says the source, but the rest of the family is increasingly wary of the spotlight.
Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson admitted he wanted the show to “go on without me,” and according to In Touch magazine, the younger generation, Willie’s brothers Jase and Jep want out too.
Jep Robertson and his wife Jessica “fear the show will damage their marriage,” the source claims.
But for now, it seems, the Robertsons are willing to go along with Willie Robertson’s grand schemes.
“When the family gets overwhelmed by the attention, Willie talks them off the ledge,” a source explains.
Willie and Korie Robertson took a break from filming Duck Dynasty to receive the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s annual Angels in Adoption award at the Reagan Building.
Willie and Korie Robertson adopted their son, Will, when he was an infant.
Willie and Korie Robertson received the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s annual Angels in Adoption award
Clad in jeans and his trademark American flag bandana, Willie Robertson – CEO of the family-owned business – displayed the charm that made the Robertsons TV stars.
“I really didn’t know what exactly this was, I’ll admit,” he told the crowd.
Korie Robertson gave him his marching orders about the trip to D.C.: “You don’t have to wear a suit, food will be free, and we’re talking about adoption.”
Willie Robertson also gave advices on the shutdown: “I understand what it’s like – you should try to get Uncle Si to make duck calls in the duck call room. It’s probably harder running the government of the United States.”
A deferral of The Hague trial of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta – due to start in November – has been demanded at the African Union summit in Ethiopia.
The AU also agreed a resolution stating no sitting African head of state should appear before an international court.
With both Kenyan and Sudanese presidents facing ICC cases, African leaders have long complained that the court unfairly targets them.
The AU had discussed withdrawing from the ICC, but failed to get support.
Senior figures including Kofi Annan have criticized plans to quit the ICC.
The AU leaders, meeting in Addis Ababa, agreed to back immunity for any sitting African head of state.
They also asked Kenya to write to the UN Security Council seeking a deferral in the International Criminal Court (ICC) case against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who faces charges of crimes against humanity.
Both he and his deputy, William Ruto, deny charges of organizing violence after the 2007 election.
While William Ruto went on trial in September, President Kenyatta has repeatedly requested his trial – due next month – be postponed.
African states want the ICC to withdraw the case against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta
Addressing the summit, Uhuru Kenyatta accused the court of bias and “race-hunting”, AFP reports.
“The ICC has been reduced into a painfully farcical pantomime, a travesty that adds insult to the injury of victims. It stopped being the home of justice the day it became the toy of declining imperial powers.”
Ethiopian PM and AU chairman Hailemariam Dessalegn said the summit was not a crusade against the ICC but a call for the court to address Africa’s concerns seriously.
He said the ICC’s cases against the Sudanese and Kenyan presidents could hamper peace and reconciliation efforts in their countries.
“The unfair treatment that we have been subjected to by the ICC is completely unacceptable,” he said.
The ICC issued a warrant in 2009 for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir over alleged war crimes in the Darfur region, but he has not yet been arrested.
The ICC relies on the authorities of national governments to hand over suspects, but Mr Bashir has avoided arrest despite travelling to countries that have signed up to the ICC statute.
Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is the current chairman of the AU’s Executive Council, said the ICC had failed to respond to the African Union’s previous complaints.
“What the summit decided is that President Kenyatta should not appear until the request we have made is actually answered,” he said.
Thirty-four of the AU’s 54 members have signed up to the ICC.
Kenya’s parliament has already passed a motion for the country to withdraw.
Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said that withdrawing from the court would be a “badge of shame”.
Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu has also voiced his support for the ICC.
“Those leaders seeking to skirt the court are effectively looking for a license to kill, maim and oppress their own people without consequence,” he wrote in an article carried by several newspapers.
“They simply vilify the institution as racist and unjust, as Hermann Goering and his fellow Nazi defendants vilified the Nuremberg tribunals following World War II.”
All eight of the cases currently open at the ICC are in Africa but it is also investigating possible cases elsewhere.
Prince George’s christening will “be a private and intimate family event”, it was revealed this week.
Meanwhile, Buckingham Palace representatives have informed us that while “a guest list will be released nearer the time” of the ceremony, it has been confirmed that Princess Anne and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, will not be there.
The Countess of Wessex is scheduled to open the new Girlguiding Residential Lodge in Somerset before attending a Festival Concert at the Cathedral Church of St. Peter in Exeter, Devon, according to the Palace. She will then visit the NSPCC Service Centre in Bristol and finally open the Healing Foundation Cleft Gene Bank and Cohort Study, also in Bristol.
Prince George’s christening will be a private and intimate family event
Princess Anne will be in Canada on that day, where she will visit the Canadian Forces Medical Services Training Centre.
A royal source revealed to E! News about the christening: “William and Kate are going to do things differently, and actually, their families are respectful of that. This won’t be a case of a big rift. Christenings are not state occasions. They’re private affairs and can be as big or intimate as the parents desire.”
It was on September 27 that the official announcement was made about the christening, which will take place at The Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace.
While it remains to be seen who will wind up being Prince George’s six godparents, The Sun did report in August that Prince William and Kate Middleton have asked good friend Guy Pelly to be one of the godfathers.
Several other names have been thrown around as possible contenders including Prince William’s longtime pal Thomas van Straubenzee, Kate Middleton’s friend Alicia Fox-Pitt and, of course, Prince George’s aunt and uncle, Pippa Middleton and Prince Harry.
Prof. Peter Higgs has revealed he did not know he had won the Nobel Prize until a woman congratulated him in the street.
Prof. Peter Higgs, 84, who does not own a mobile phone, said a former neighbor had pulled up in her car as he was returning from lunch in Edinburgh.
He added: “She congratulated me on the news and I said <<oh, what news?>>”
The woman had been alerted by her daughter in London that Prof. Peter Higgs had won the award, he revealed.
He added: “I heard more about it obviously when I got home and started reading the messages.”
The emeritus professor at the University of Edinburgh was recognized by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for his work on the theory of the particle which shares his name, the Higgs boson.
Prof. Peter Higgs shares this year’s physics prize with Francois Englert of Belgium, and joins the ranks of past Nobel winners including Marie Curie and Albert Einstein.
Prof. Peter Higgs has revealed he did not know he had won the Nobel Prize until a woman congratulated him in the street
The existence of the so-called “God particle”, said to give matter its substance, or mass, was proved almost 50 years later by a team from the European nuclear research facility (CERN) and its Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland.
Speaking for the first time about the award at a media conference at the University of Edinburgh, he said: “How do I feel? Well, obviously I’m delighted and rather relieved in a sense that it’s all over. It has been a long time coming.”
An old friend told him he had been nominated as far back as 1980, he said.
Prof. Peter Higgs added: “In terms of later events, it seemed to me for many years that the experimental verification might not come in my lifetime.
“But since the start up of the LHC it has been pretty clear that they would get there, and despite some mishaps they did get there.”
Stressing the involvement of other theorists and CERN, he added: “I think clearly they should, but it is going to be even more difficult for the Nobel Committee to allocate the credit when it comes to an organization like CERN.
“I should remind you that although only two of us have shared this prize, Francois Englert of Brussels and myself, that the work in 1964 involved three groups of people, (including) two in Brussels.
“Unfortunately Robert Brout died a few years ago so is no longer able to be awarded the prize, but he would certainly have been one of the winners if he had still been alive.
“But there were three others who also contributed and it is already difficult to allocate the credit amongst the theorists.
“Although a lot of people seem to think I did all this single-handed, it was actually part of a theoretical programme which had been started in 1960.”
Prof. Peter Higgs was born in Newcastle, but developed his theory while working at the University of Edinburgh.
The landmark research that defined what was to become known as the Higgs boson was published in 1964.
Discovering the particle became one of the most sought-after goals in science, and the team of scientists behind the $10 billion LHC at CERN made proving its existence a key priority.
In July of last year, physicists at CERN confirmed the discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson.
Prof. Peter Higgs, who had often been uncomfortable with the attention his theory brought, was in Geneva to hear the news, and wiped a tear from his eye as the announcement was made.
Reacting to the discovery at the time, Prof. Peter Higgs told reporters: “It’s very nice to be right sometimes.”
Wadih El Safi – one of the pillars of Arab music – has died at the age of 92 in a hospital in Lebanon.
Wadih El Safi was at the forefront of a movement that made Lebanese music hugely popular in the region.
Often referred to as the “voice of Lebanon”, Wadih El Safi Safi was one of the big names in what was seen as a golden age of Arab music.
Since his death was announced, many have paid tribute to what they describe as a musical legend.
Wadih El Safi Safi was with his son when he was taken ill on Friday, and later died in hospital.
Wadih El Safi was at the forefront of a movement that made Lebanese music hugely popular in the region
A Christian, Wadih El Safi first came to prominence in the late 1930s when he won a Lebanese singing contest.
In subsequent decades, Wadih El Safi contributed to a movement revitalizing Lebanese music that saw it spread in influence across the Arab world.
With a catalogue of some 3,000 songs, Wadih El Safi Safi was best known for creating a modernized form of folk music, but he also sang Lebanese and Arabic poetry.
Hundreds have paid tribute to Wadih El Safi since his death was announced, with some dubbing him the Frank Sinatra of the Middle East.
A union for Lebanese musicians has called on the authorities to declare a national day of mourning, the NNA news agency reports.
Meanwhile, the office of President Michel Suleiman described Wadih El Safi’s death as a “great loss for Lebanon’s folk music”.
