An enterprising designer has come up with a unique way to get children involved with the housework: by turning crawling babies into cleaning machines.
The entrepreneur has combined the traditional “onesie” Babygro with specially designed mop heads fixed to the arms and legs which enable babies to polish the floor as they learn to crawl.
The $40 Baby Mop is the brainchild of U.S. website BetterThanPants.com and was inspired by a spoof Japanese advert of a similar invention.
In their blurb for the novelty product the writers on the website joke the outfit will “teach your baby a strong work ethic early on in their life” while helping to educate them not to drop food on the floor.
They go on to say that the baby “will get a nice workout, burn off energy, and do muscle toning. And sleep better too”.
Baby Mop is the brainchild of BetterThanPants website and was inspired by a spoof Japanese advert of a similar invention
Mike Parker from BetterThanPants.com said: “We have sold about 100 in just one month since adding it to our site.
“So far all the feedback from customers has been very positive, however we get some negative emails surrounding the idea of the actual product.
“It’s made from microfibre mop material attached directly to the baby clothes. We use the full <<footie-type>> pyjamas.
“The idea formed to make the actual product from a Japanese commercial on the web.
“I believe the idea was submitted as part of a contest on ridiculous inventions in Japan but was never actually sold anywhere.
“But this is the real deal, it’s a legit product and is proving very, very popular.”
Shoppers visiting the site have reacted with good humor, saying they love the product – with one jokingly suggesting wetting the mop to make the baby more efficient.
A scientific research paper claims to have discovered that your body can predict the future.
Scientist believe that during tests they have found proof that people can anticipate events, or realize that something about to happen, without any cues.
The paper, in the Frontiers of Perception Science journal, says that after studying people’s reactions in 26 different tests, they found that subjects could “predict” that something out of the ordinary was about to happen.
Julia Mossbridge, from Northwestern University in Illinois, Patrizio Tressoldi, from the Università di Padova, Italy and Jessica Utts, from the University of California, compiled the test.
They showed random images, some which were neutral and some designed to stimulate.
They discovered a “presentiment” effect, which measures physiological excitement that change seconds before an event.
A scientific research paper claims to have discovered that your body can predict the future
People’s reactions happened up to ten seconds before the event occurred, suggesting people can predict the future.
The finding suggests that people’s bodies subconsciously sense the future when something important is about to happen, even if the people don’t know it, Live Science reported.
They measured excitement by studying pupils dilating, heart rates quickening, blood volume and brain activity.
Scientists Julia Mossbridge, from Northwestern University in Illinois, Patrizio Tressoldi, from the Università di Padova, Italy and Jessica Utts, from the University of California, compiled the test.
Julia Mossbridge said that they do not believe it is supernatural phenomena, rather scientific laws that nobody understands as of yet.
However, other scientists are skeptical of the findings, Live Science reported.
One scientist said that the findings showed scientists were looking for evidence of “presentiment” and did not actually prove that it existed.
Another researcher said it could be that the examinations were unintentionally biased which researchers had failed to spot.
President Barack Obama and his Republican rival Mitt Romney have begun a crucial swing through key battleground states that will determine who wins Tuesday’s vote.
Barack Obama campaigns in Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa and Virginia on Saturday, while Mitt Romney targets New Hampshire, Iowa and Colorado.
Both candidates will visit the Iowa town of Dubuque within hours.
Opinion polls suggest the rivals are almost tied, although Barack Obama is slightly ahead in most swing states.
Barack Obama, addressing crowds of Democratic supporters in Mentor, Ohio, said the election was a choice “about two different visions for America: the top down vision that crashed the economy, or a future built on a strong and growing middle class”.
Republican MItt Romney, opening his three-state campaign day in New Hampshire, said: “Let me tell you what I’d like to tell you: Vote for love of country. It is time we lead America to a better place.”
These frantic last days mark a punishing sprint at the end of a long marathon.
On the eve of the election, the pendulum appears to be moving towards Barack Obama, as the opinion polls are not shifting in Mitt Romney’s favor in enough battleground states.
Barack Obama has arguably had the better of the past week, given Friday’s moderately good news on the employment front and the wide praise of his handling of the aftermath of Storm Sandy. He also won the endorsement of independent New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney target key swing states as latest polls suggest they are almost tied
Correspondents say Mitt Romney has the tougher task for victory on Tuesday, as he must win a majority of the nine most keenly contested states.
But Barack Obama’s opinion poll lead in all the swing states is within the margin of error and Tuesday’s vote is likely to be close.
The election is run using an electoral college. Each state is given a number of votes based on its population. The candidate who wins 270 electoral college votes becomes president.
Ohio is proving to be a tough battle and, with 18 college votes, could prove a tipping point.
Barack Obama began his Saturday campaigning in the Ohio town of Mentor, while Mitt Romney staged his biggest rally of the campaign so far – 18,000 people – in West Chester on Friday.
Mitt Romney was joined by former primary rivals Rick Santorum and Rick Perry, as well as the defeated 2008 presidential candidate John McCain.
He said: “We’re almost home. One final push will get us there. The door to a brighter future is there, it’s open, it’s waiting for us.”
The Republican, whose main manifesto pledges are lower taxes and a $500 billion federal budget cut by 2012, said Friday’s jobs report was actually a “sad reminder that the economy is at a virtual standstill”.
Barack Obama has held mid-range rallies so far but plans to increase the size over the weekend, when he will be joined by former President Bill Clinton in Virginia on Saturday and in New Hampshire on Sunday.
The president campaigned hard in Ohio on Friday, highlighting his decision to bail out indebted US car makers in 2009, a move that was politically unpopular but which he says helped restore the industry.
Barack Obama’s manifesto sets out tax rises for the wealthy and more funding for job creation.
Mitt Romney has tried to make inroads into Pennsylvania, where opinion polls suggest the Democrats lead by four to five points but which would be a crucial boost to his chances if he could secure its 20 college votes.
The Republican challenger has also wooed Michigan and Minnesota, forcing the Democrats into late advertising there.
Early voting has been a key focus of this presidential election – some 25 million voters have already cast ballots in 34 states and the District of Columbia.
Some states have released the affiliation of early voters, giving Barack Obama an edge in Florida, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio, while Mitt Romney is favored in Colorado.
However, the figures suggest Barack Obama does not have the lead he had over John McCain four years ago.
Nevertheless, the Obama team has released data showing that two-thirds of those who have voted early are women, young people, blacks and Hispanics – demographics the Democrats say favor them.
A bomb attack in the north-west Pakistani city of Buner has killed local anti-Taliban politician Fateh Khan and three of his guards, police sources say.
Fateh Khan, an ex-leader of the secular Awami National Party, was killed as his car left a petrol station.
It was not immediately clear if he was victim of a suicide attack or of a bomb placed on a motorcycle.
Security forces largely freed Buner from the control of Taliban militants three years ago.
District police chief Jehanzeb Khan told AFP news agency a suicide bomber had blown himself up in front of Fateh Khan’s vehicle, killing the politician and his guards.
Up to five people were also injured in the attack, he said.
According to Pakistan’s Express Tribune, Fateh Khan was a former ANP leader who had recently joined the Qaumi Watan Party.
Fateh Khan was also the head of a local tribal anti-Taliban force.
ANP leaders have been a regular target of the Taliban in this region but that this is the first suicide attack there for several months.
Honey Boo Boo’s estranged pet pig Glitzy made a surprise appearance on Anderson Cooper’s live show recently after spending a week in the city weathering the effects of Hurricane Sandy.
Anderson Cooper had arranged for the reality star teacup pig to feature on his Halloween episode and flew him in before the storm hit.
During his post-Sandy live show Anderson Cooper joked: “It’s very hard to find places for a pig to stay in the city, let me just tell you.”
Glitzy was given to Honey Boo Boo by her parents earlier this year but after falling in love with her new squealing ball of fur, her outspoken mother June Shannon, decided the animal would have to leave the house.
Anderson Cooper told viewers: “They finally got rid of it and sent it away to a farm which frankly I thought meant they ate it.”
But as his audience chuckled the silver-haired television host revealed that they didn’t in fact kill the pig for bacon and was right there in the studio.
Greeting the sweet black and white pig, who despite being male was named Glitzy by his princess-loving former owner, Anderson Cooper displayed a gentle touch with the animal.
After he squealed and squeaked a bit, Glitzy finally settled into Anderson Cooper’s arms as he kissed it lightly on the head and reassured the traumatized creature.
Honey Boo Boo’s estranged pet pig Glitzy made a surprise appearance on Anderson Cooper’s live show
Honey Boo Boo showed similar affection to her pet back in August when she crowned Glitzy with a tiara and pronounced her female.
“We’re going to be the prettiest girls at the pageant and there’s no way we can’t win cause I’ve got me a pig, how about that?” she told him.
Devastated by Glitzy’s sudden departure, Honey Boo Boo – real name Alana – burst into tears and waved goodbye to him.
“What I love about Glizy is that she loves me,” Honey Boo Boo had once confessed.
But unable to cope with the constant noise and lack of house training the family had to let the pig go.
Allie Romney, Mitt Romney’s granddaughter and the daughter of Tag and Jenn Romney, is the latest elite youngster to feature on the blog Rich Kids of Instagram.
Rich Kids of Instagram rounds up photos snapped by America’s wealthiest offspring as they drive Lamborghinis, drink copious amounts of Dom Perignon champagne and generally indulge their every, invariably expensive, whim.
Showing she is most definitely not amongst the 47% grandfather Mitt Romney famously wrote off, the pretty 16-year-old appears on the site not only wearing an expensive ball gown but clutching its famed fashion designer’s arm.
“Oscar de la Renta I love you lots sir! Thank you for everything!” Allie Romney wrote on two photos posted a couple of months ago on her Instagram page.
Mitt Romney, who is hoping this time next week he’ll have been named the country’s 45th president, is worth an estimated $250 million, according to Bloomberg News.
He earned his fortune when he helped pioneer the private equity industry as co-founder of Bain Capital.
Allie Romney appears on Rich Kids of Instagram not only wearing an expensive ball gown but clutching Oscar de la Renta’s arm
With the motto “They have more money than you and this is what they do”,Rich Kids of Instagram follows the lavish lifestyles of such rich kids as Hilton hotel heir Baron Hilton and the Dell CEO’s daughter Alexa Dell.
The heirs and heiresses are seen using private jets, driving hot pink Bentleys and quaffing limited edition bottles of Perignon in the pictures they upload to their Instagram accounts, which anger and disgust the many who disagree with the staggering level of excess.
Summing up the obscene opulence that is the norm for these youngsters, Rich Kids of Instagram has chronicled how its regulars fared through Hurricane Sandy, as it ravaged large parts of New York, New Jersey and a raft of other states.
In stark contrast to the thousands who were left without power, food and clean water for days, the wealthy teens and young adults posted photos of themselves stockpiling room service, rather than tinned food, and driving a Lamborghini to pick up fast food.
In an effort to protect the state’s dwindling fuel reserves, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has issued an order restricting motorists in 12 northern counties to buying gas every other day.
Chris Christie says he wants to ease long lines and extended wait times at gas stations and prevent a fuel shortage in the state hard-hit by Superstorm Sandy. Some gas stations closed because of a lack of electricity or gasoline, causing those open to be overburdened with customers.
Prices at the pump have remained steady despite the shortages, AAA said, averaging just below $4 a gallon in New York City, 2 cents lower than last week. However, on Long Island, where only a third of all stations were working, average gasoline prices jumped 5 cents from a day earlier.
But online, Craigslist users started offering gasoline for as much as $15 a gallon to motorists and homeowners not wishing to brave the lines.
It was also revealed that a third day of gasoline “panic buying” among storm-stricken New York area motorists prompted authorities on Friday to tap strategic oil reserves and waive shipping regulations even as limited deliveries resumed in the battered region.
The U.S. government said it will loan 2 million gallons of diesel from the Northeast emergency heating oil reserve to the military for recovery efforts, and waived rules barring foreign-flagged vessels from carrying fuel between U.S. ports in a bid to boost supplies.
Drivers with license plates ending in an even number will be able to buy gas on even-numbered days, and those with plates ending in an odd number can make gas purchases on odd-numbered days.
A Gov. Chris Christie spokesman tells the Star-Ledger newspaper in Newark that there currently are no restrictions on filling gas containers.
New Jersey Gov Chris Christie has issued an order restricting motorists in 12 northern counties to buying gas every other day
Chris Christie’s order comes as President Barack Obama announced buying 22 million gallons of gas to help get residents of some of the areas worst affected by Hurricane Sandy back on the road.
The administration has purchased up to 12 million gallons of unleaded fuel and up to 10 million gallons of diesel fuel that will be distributed in New York and New Jersey to supplement private sector efforts.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday that another 28 million gallons of fuel will be delivered over the next few days.
The Department of Defense will also set up mobile fuel stations around the New York metro area to distribute gasoline, offering only 10 gallons per-person but free of charge.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said on Friday that the President had directed the Defense Logistics Agency to handle the purchase of the fuel.
It will be transported by tanker trucks and distributed throughout the two states and other communities impacted by the storm.
FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said the fuel purchase is part of efforts by governments, private organizations and others to help the region recover from the Superstorm, which left residents queuing at gas stations for a diminishing supply of fuel.
This purchase is in addition to an emergency diesel fuel loan from the Energy Department’s Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve.
Large parts of the tri-state area were left without power for five days after the storm struck and fuel shortages have become even more dire, prompting some opportunist convenience store owners to charge as much as $6 a gallon.
Becoming ever more desperate for fuel, residents have been bickering over their place in the queue at gas stations and even brandishing firearms to get what they need.
Along the New Jersey turnpike cars have lined up for miles in the hope of getting fuel, but gas stations in many outer-borough areas are sealed off with yellow tape.
As New York Governor Andrew Cuomo promises that fuel-starved areas will be getting relief and “people will see it quickly”, these motorists want gas and they want answers.
Earl Lucas, 72, had seen something like it before – in the Seventies when, he said, there was “a real gas shortage”.
He added: “People are angry because the gas is there they just can’t get it. Do you know how to get it? Can you use your influence to get some?
“There were five trucks came in here from a Catholic charity and they got straight through and filled up. Some people can get it.”
A source from the Coast Guard told DNAInfo that two million barrels of petrol were being unloaded in surrounding ports, and tankers are heading into New York Harbor.
Syrian rebels say they have launched a major offensive to capture key airbase at Taftanaz, in the north of the country.
Video posted on the internet showed fighters attacking the Taftanaz base in an attempt to control a strategic zone between Syria’s two biggest cities, Aleppo and Damascus.
The attack comes a day before a crucial opposition meeting in Doha, Qatar.
It also follows the apparent murder of a number of Syrian troops by rebels, which drew international condemnation.
Separately, Israel said three Syrian tanks had entered the demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights to tackle rebel fighters, prompting an Israeli complaint to the UN forces overseeing a truce in the area.
The attack on Taftanaz took place as dawn broke, with five different units of rebel fighters opening fire with multiple rocket launchers, mortars and other weaponry, according to the video.
This appears to be a major operation aimed not just at striking the airport, but at occupying it.
In recent months, the government forces have been making increasing use of air power to strike areas held by the rebels, who lack anti-aircraft weapons to deter the attacks.
Rebel forces are reported to have taken control of the main roads in much of the area south-west of Aleppo.
The video said the rebel groups involved included several brigades of the Free Syrian Army, but also the radical Islamist al-Nusra Front.
Syrian rebels say they have launched a major offensive to capture key airbase at Taftanaz
Although nothing certain has been established, al-Nusra has been named in connection with the killing of captured army soldiers two days ago at Saraqeb, just 15 km (10 miles) from where this latest attack is taking place.
The UN has said the video that appears to show the murder of the soldiers or pro-government militiamen could be evidence of a war crime.
The footage shows gunmen beating and shooting a group of prisoners who were cowering on the floor.
On Friday, the US said it “condemned human rights violations by any party in Syria”.
State department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said: “There is no justification for that kind of behavior ever. Anyone committing atrocities should be held to account.”
The question of apparent brutality by some rebel units has become a serious concern ahead of the major opposition meeting being held in Qatar this weekend.
The US is hoping a new leadership will help unify the disparate opposition elements and bring a successful conclusion to an uprising that has killed more than 36,000 people since protests against President Bashar al-Assad erupted in March 2011.
Divisions have arisen not just between Islamist and secularist groups, but also between those operating inside Syria and opposition figures working abroad.
Victoria Nuland said there was a need for cohesion of rebel forces within Syria and a strong organization outside the country that could work with the international community.
A previous opposition meeting in Cairo in July accepted that the Assad government must fall but failed to appoint a committee to act for the opposition internationally.
The US this week signaled the opposition needed to be expanded from the main overseas grouping, the Syrian National Council, to take in more of those operating inside Syria.
Representatives at Doha will include various other religious and secular groupings, plus Kurdish figures and dissident members of Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect.
Market statistics show the French confectionery industry has been unaffected by the country’s financial problems and continues to grow at about 8% a year. And there is one particular treat that has always proved a favorite – ourson guimauve.
Oursons guimauve are small chocolate-covered marshmallow teddy bears (an ourson is a “bear cub”, guimauve is “marshmallow”). About the size of a Paris Metro ticket but considerably plumper, they are celebrating their 50th birthday.
The French – young and old – adore them. They eat 400 million of the bears each year. The seductive bears were invented by a confectioner from the north, Michel Cathy, who, the legend claims, bravely championed his recipe in the face of skepticism from superiors and has been vindicated by their triumph ever since.
Biting into an ourson guimauve, the French say, is like tasting Marcel Proust’s madeleine cake that launched his voyage into the remembrance of things past.
They come in milk or white chocolate, in cellophane packets from supermarkets, paper bags from small sweetshops or chic limited-edition designer tins.
Oursons guimauve have just been launched on the US market, a move that prompted some disgruntled voters to call for President Francois Hollande – long-nicknamed The Human Marshmallow (l’Homme de Guimauve) – to be dunked in chocolate and exported along with them.
The bears are predicted to make their French producers 900 million euros a year by 2015.
Cecilia Hermabessiere is in her sweetshop.
“I prefer oursons Lutti,” she says (Lutti is a sweet manufacturer).
“They’re almost the same, but larger. The marshmallow is firmer, creamy and slightly chewy. And they come coated in dark chocolate, which I always crave.”
She knows about sweets. Her little shop on the Rue Brea – busy with customers of all ages – has regional bonbons, chocolates and lollipops from all over the country. There are about 650 varieties of traditional sweets in France, the most for any one country in the world.
Cecilia Hermabessiere grew up with them. Her parents owned a patisserie – a cake shop and bakery – where sweets were always sold.
“Sales haven’t gone down,” she says.
“If anything, they’ve gone up. People need a treat and if there’s something they won’t do without, it’s chocolate or the comfort of their favorite childhood sweet or regional speciality from home.”
Shelves are lined with tall glass jars filled with glistening frou-frous bonbons (square-shaped boiled sweets), rondelles d’orange (slices of candied orange half-coated in bitter chocolate) and large cubes of rose and lemon Turkish delight heavy with powdered sugar.
Oursons guimauve are small chocolate-covered marshmallow teddy bears
Juicy, chocolate Muscat raisins, shining sugared almonds and caramelized hazelnuts, rows of amber barley sugar from Moret (a region in north-central France) and sticks of sucre de pomme (apple sugar from Rouen) bristle temptingly beside smooth peppermint lozenges from Lourdes made with holy water from the shrine and individually stamped with an image of the Virgin Mary.
Slabs of chocolate are sold by the kilo – milk or dark – with hazelnuts, almonds, crystallized ginger or filled with liquid caramel. There is a small hammer nearby to break off chunks.
“Children still eat a piece of bread and chocolate for their after-school gouter [teatime treat],” Cecilia Hermabessiere explains.
“It’s the original pain au chocolat – bread with chocolate – before the pastry version was ever thought of. There’s lots of nostalgia for childhood here in France, so grown-ups at the school gate often sneak a portion for themselves.”
Opposite a small park and playground shaded by large beech trees, Georges Marques has opened the sweetshop of his childhood dreams.
“We were Portuguese immigrants and didn’t have much money,” he says.
“[In 1970] for my eighth birthday, an uncle gave me a five franc piece. Sweets cost one centime each so that was a fortune. I went straight to my local patisserie and bought a huge bagful to share with my family. I burst in, crying out to my mother, <<When I grow up, I’m going to open the best sweetshop in the whole world>>.”
Georges Marques travels around France, personally tasting and selecting regional sweets. He hunts them down, then brings them to Paris and pops them in a jar in the window.
“People really appreciate it,” he says.
“They suddenly see a rare sweet from some tiny place that they love and rush in to eat it.”
Georges Marques has about 200 varieties, from those oursons guimauve to marshmallow Petit Jesus (small Jesus-shaped marshmallows) to such fancies as Les Tetines de la Reine Margot (Queen Margot’s Nipples) named after a beleaguered monarch notorious for her insatiable sexual appetites.
These are dome-shaped confections of milk chocolate, apricot, raisins soaked in Grand Marnier liqueur, all coated in white chocolate with a discreet, tasteful milk chocolate nipple.
An ever-popular gift, says Georges Marques, to cheer-up “les monsieurs”.
French marshmallow
• First made in France about 1850
• Called “pate de guimauve” or “guimauve” for short
• By late 19th Century, French manufacturers had started to use egg whites or gelatine combined with modified corn starch to create the chewy base
• It made the process of making marshmallow much less labor intensive
• The classic Bouquet d’Or Petit Ourson – chocolate-covered marshmallow bear – turned 50 this year
Ryugyong Hotel, the 105-storey building which dominates the skyline of the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, may open next year, 26 years after construction began.
The pyramid-shaped building has become known as the “Hotel of Doom”.
Reto Witter, chief executive of the Kempinski group, which will manage the Ryugyong hotel, said only 150 rooms on the top floors would be used as a hotel.
Reto Wittwer said shops, restaurants and offices would eventually open on the lower levels.
Construction on the building began in 1987.
It is the 47th tallest building in the world, at 330 m, and has the fifth greatest number of floors, 105.
Ryugyong Hotel was scheduled to be completed in 1989 in time for the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students.
But construction was abandoned in 1992 when North Korea suffered an economic crisis.
Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang may open in 2013, 26 years after construction began
Its hulking, unfinished presence has long been an embarrassment for the North Korean leadership, analysts say.
Ryugyong Hotel was voted “Worst Building in the History of Mankind” by Esquire magazine in 2008.
The American publication called it “hideously ugly, even by communist standards.”
There are reports of poor construction and the use of inferior materials.
A delegation from the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Korea, which inspected the building almost 15 years ago, concluded it was beyond repair and its lift shafts crooked.
But in 2008 an Egyptian company, Orascom Telecom, which operates a mobile phone network in North Korea, began equipping the building.
It is reported to have spent $180 million on finishing the hotel’s facade.
Reto Wittwer said the hotel will “partially, probably” open for business next year.
But original plans for 3,000 hotel rooms and three revolving restaurants have been greatly scaled back.
Earlier this year, the Beijing-based company, Koryo Tours, which organizes trips to North Korea, was granted a rare glimpse inside the hotel.
Photos taken by the company showed a vast glass-covered lobby and atrium with tiers of bare concrete at its base, resembling a multi-storey car park.
Drew Barrymore has been the face of CoverGirl for the past five years, but now she is rumored to be launching her own cosmetics brand.
According to WWD, Drew Barrymore, 37, has created a line of make-up exclusively for Walmart, which will hit stores across the U.S. early next year.
The name of the beauty collection remains unknown.
It is believed that Drew Barrymore’s contract with Procter & Gamble, CoverGirl’s parent company, comes to an end in 2013, although a spokesman for the company declined to give an exact date.
However, sources say that she has been working on her own line with one of the world’s leading cosmetics manufacturers, Intercos.
When she signed as a CoverGirl ambassador in 2007, Drew Barrymore said that she wanted to “bring myself and my personality into it, as well as some edgy fashion-forward thinking and positivity to it.”
Drew Barrymore has been the face of CoverGirl for the past five years, but now she is rumored to be launching her own cosmetics brand
Drew Barrymore’s usual makeup look is very subtle. Perhaps we can expect rosy shades of blush, neutral eyeshadows, along with darker lip colors.
This would be her first time venturing into the world of celebrity beauty marketing, following the likes of the Kardashians, Kate Winslet and Dita Von Teese.
Drew Barrymore has never even had her own fragrance.
Drew Barrymore was spotted over the weekend enjoying a family day out in Los Angeles with her husband Will Kopelman and their one-month old daughter Olive.
Christmas revellers have been offered a helping hand to get them through the season of excess as a hangover “cure” is unveiled that claims to be second only to an “intravenous stuck in your arm”.
The Bytox Hangover Prevention Patch, invented by the U.S. plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr. Leonard Grossman, has gone on sale in the UK following its launch in New York late last year.
According to the packaging, the patch replenishes the vitamins and acids lost when consuming alcohol – in the same way that the intravenous “party drip” vitamin injections made famous by Rihanna earlier this year – Cole although it has not received any official medical backing either here or in the U.S.
It has, however, received glowing reviews from consumers who have posted on websites, with one writing: “I tried it twice. Both times after nine or 10 martinis. I can only account for myself. It works great.”
Users are instructed to attach the patch – which is similar in appearance and design to a nicotine patch – 45 minutes before drinking and leave it on until the next day or about eight hours after they finish drinking.
The Bytox Hangover Prevention Patch, invented by plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr Leonard Grossman replenishes the vitamins and acids lost when consuming alcohol
Dr. Leonard Grossman has claimed that the ingredients – B vitamins, acai berry, vitamins A, D, E and K and folic – are delivered continuously to the bloodstream as opposed to those from a pill which are excreted relatively quickly.
Firebox, which is selling the patch in the UK, says on its website: “The rationale for this <<game changing>> body patch is to stop hangovers before they start.
“Easily applied, it is infused with a powerful blend of vitamins, nutrients and antioxidants which are absorbed whilst imbibing, meaning a faster recovery time. American inventor Dr. Leonard Grossman claims <<only an intravenous stuck in your arm while drinking could be more effective than a Bytox patch>>.”
It adds: “It won’t, however, prevent you getting drunk and definitely won’t prevent embarrassing and/or regrettable behavior.”
Ben Redhead, product manager at Firebox, said: “Look, we’d never usually encourage excess partying but the Firebox team, armed with the Bytox Hangover Prevention Patch, are definitely intending to take it up a level this Christmas.
“And if the patch means more productivity at work the next day then bingo, we’re not only helping cure hangovers but we’re helping the economy too.”
Lady Gaga recently admitted to putting on 30 lbs and now she has weighed in on the body image debate.
In an interview with Stylist magazine, Lady Gaga speaks out after hitting headlines because of her weight gain and asked why people didn’t target British singer Adele.
Speaking to the magazine Lady Gaga said: “Adele is bigger than me, how come nobody says anything about it? She’s so wonderful and I think her confidence is something I have to match. She has set the bar very high for a lot of women.”
Lady Gaga, real name Stefani Germanotta, 26, explained how her mother had called her and asked her whether she had gained weight after pictures were published in magazines and online.
She said: “I was acutely aware of some photos on the internet – my mum called me and was like, <<Did you gain weight?>> – everybody was telling me about it, and I didn’t really care. But when I heard it was on the news, where they talk about wars, the economy crashing and the election – I just thought, <<This is f***ing ridiculous>>.”
The singer added: “I mean, what kind of example is that to a young girl sitting at home? I thought, well I don’t really care if they think I’m fat, because, quite honestly, I did gain about 30 pounds.”
In an interview with Stylist magazine, Lady Gaga speaks out after hitting headlines because of her weight gain and asked why people didn’t target British singer Adele
Lady Gaga was talking about her Body Revolution where she asks her fans to embrace their flaws whatever their shape.
She told the magazine that her fans carry the message so she can focus on her music.
While some critics may not like her larger shape her boyfriend Taylor Kinney is a big fan of her curves.
Taylor Kinney recently revealed that Lady Gaga reminded him of his mother, in a good way.
Speaking to The Sun, Taylor Kinney said: “She works incredibly hard and is very strong and inspirational like mom, with a great work ethic.”
Chelsea Clinton lives in a $4 million apartment in one of Manhattan’s most prestigious buildings but she has still been left without power and hot water – just like the rest of lower Manhattan.
Chelsea Clinton, 32, lives with her husband Marc Mezvinsky in the Flatiron district of the city.
Yesterday she revealed that the couple had been battling through the past few days without moving out of their home.
Chelsea Clinto tweeted: “Although we still don’t have power, @Starbucks holiday cup & the barista’s smile brightened my day – thank you!”
She has been recording the storm that devastated the East Coast from her multi-million dollar home and has been tweeting pictures of the scenes.
Earlier this week, Chelsea Clinton posted a picture of a desolate Manhattan just hours after the blackout on Monday night.
She also admitted that she was happy her mother, secretary of state Hillary Clinton, was out of the country, adding: “Grateful my Mom is away from #Sandy and in Algeria working toward peace in #Mali.”
Chelsea Clinton said that she was staying at home with her husband and their dog Soren, adding: “Marc, Soren and I are at home with candles, kindles and canned food! Any must-read recommendations for waiting out a storm?”
Chelsea Clinton and her husband Marc Mezvinsky have been left without power and hot water in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy
She later thanked followers for their book recommendations, adding: “esp loved those who suggested Sound & Fury and Perfect Storm. Glad Sandy didn’t take our collective sense of humor.”
Chelsea Clinton found the time to wish her good friend, millionairess Ivanka Trump happy birthday on Tuesday – just a day after the blackout.
Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner and their baby daughter Arabella have been fine, of course, as they have had power at their $20 million apartment at Trump Park Avenue.
Marc Mezvinsky, 33, a former investment banker bought their apartment in 2008 for $4 million – two years before their marriage.
After being dogged by rumors their marriage was in trouble, the notoriously private couple set the record straight in September as Marc Mezvinsky called Chelsea Clinton “the yin to [his] yang”, while she admits to wanting children “in a couple of years, hopefully…God willing”.
Her chief of staff, Bari Lurie said: “What put a strain on them was that the stories were being written because none of us were paying attention to it
“It was an eye-opening lesson. Chelsea realized, <<Maybe I need to get out there and demystify myself a little bit>>.”
But though they have been married for over two years now, Chelsea Clinton and her husband are yet to have any children.
And though her mother, Hillary Clinton is desperate for her daughter and son-in-law to hurry up on the grandchildren front, Chelsea is not to be rushed.
Chelsea Clinton admitted: “It’s certainly something that Marc and I talk a lot about. I always knew I was the center of my parents’ lives when I was growing up. And I am determined that our children feel the same way.”
Barack Obama administration has bought up 22 million gallons of gas to help get residents of some of the areas worst affected by Hurricane Sandy back on the road.
The administration has purchased up to 12 million gallons of unleaded fuel and up to 10 million gallons of diesel fuel that will be distributed in New York and New Jersey to supplement private sector efforts.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said on Friday that President Barack Obama had directed the Defense Logistics Agency to handle the purchase of the fuel.
The gas will be transported by tanker trucks and distributed throughout the two states and other communities impacted by the storm.
FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said the fuel purchase is part of efforts by governments, private organizations and others to help the region recover from Superstorm Sandy, which left residents queuing at gas stations for a diminishing supply of fuel.
This purchase is in addition to an emergency diesel fuel loan from the Energy Department’s Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve.
Obama administration has bought up 22 million gallons of gas to help get residents of some of the areas worst affected by Hurricane Sandy back on the road
Large parts of the tri-state area were left without power for five days after the storm struck and fuel shortages have become even more dire, prompting some opportunist convenience store owners to charge as much as $6 a gallon.
Becoming ever more desperate for fuel, residents have been bickering over their place in the queue at gas stations and even brandishing firearms to get what they need.
Along the New Jersey turnpike cars have lined up for miles in the hope of getting fuel, but gas stations in many outer-borough areas are sealed off with yellow tape.
Meanwhile, in the New York borough of Queens, customers are hanging on every rumor – will the next delivery arrive in two hours? Or five hours? Or six?
In one extreme case, motorist Sean Bailey was arrested on charges of menacing and criminal possession of a weapon, said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
President Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney have embarked on a final frenzy of campaigning, four days before the general election.
Barack Obama, the Democratic incumbent, spoke at three events in Ohio, a state that could be decisive in his bid to be elected for a second term.
Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee, appeared in Wisconsin before moving on to two events in hotly fought Ohio.
Opinion polls show the two rivals neck and neck on the final stretch.
On Friday, the US Department of Labor said 171,000 new jobs were created in October, which was better than expected.
The figures, the last major economic data to be released before the election, also showed the unemployment rate rose slightly to 7.9% from 7.8%.
On the campaign trail, the candidates framed the race for the White House as a choice between two different visions of America.
“We know what change looks like, and what the governor is offering ain’t it,” Barack Obama told supporters in Ohio.
Speaking soon after the jobs figures were released, Barack Obama added: “We’ve made real progress, but we’ve got more work to do.”
However, Mitt Romney told supporters the report was a “sad reminder that the economy is at a virtual standstill”.
“Candidate Obama promised change, but he couldn’t deliver it. I promise change, but I have a record of achieving it,” the former Massachusetts governor said.
“[Barack Obama] has never led, never worked across the aisle, never truly understood how jobs are created in the economy.”
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have embarked on a final frenzy of campaigning
The vice-presidential candidates were also on the trail.
Democrat Vice-President Joe Biden spent the day campaigning in Wisconsin, while Republican running mate Paul Ryan made stops in Colorado and Iowa before joining Mitt Romney at an event in Ohio.
First Lady Michelle Obama was also on the stump on her husband’s behalf in Virginia.
The frantic pace of campaigning is set to continue over the weekend, with the president scheduled to visit four battleground states – Iowa, Ohio, Wisconsin and Virginia – on Saturday alone.
He is then due to appear in New Hampshire, Florida, Ohio and Colorado on Sunday, the penultimate day of canvassing.
Mitt Romney, meanwhile, is heading to New Hampshire, Iowa and Colorado on Saturday – three states that his opponent carried in 2008.
The wealthy former businessman finishes his weekend tour with stops in Iowa, Ohio and Pennsylvania on Sunday.
Correspondents say the fate of the election boils down to what happens in a small handful of states that either candidate could win.
Ohio, with 20 electoral college votes, has been seen by many as the single most critical state of them all.
An opinion poll released on Friday by Rasmussen Reports said the candidates were tied there.
But the RealClearPolitics.com average of Ohio surveys put Barack Obama 2.4 points ahead.
The White House hopefuls were also urging key groups of voters to back them at the ballot box on Tuesday, as a report from the Pew Hispanic Center suggested that about 70% of Latino voters support Barack Obama, over about 20% for Mitt Romney.
Meanwhile, Barack Obama has been urging his supporters to head to their polling stations early.
Last week, the president himself took a break from the campaign trail to cast an early ballot in his hometown of Chicago.
It is estimated about 24 million people have already voted.
Leonardo DiCaprio is apparently single again as he has split from Victoria Secret’s model Erin Heatherton, Us Weekly reports.
Leonardo DiCaprio, 37, and Erin Heatherton, 23, started dating in December – just months after he split from his brief romance with Blake Lively.
But the pair didn’t manage to make it to their first anniversary, recently deciding to go their separate ways.
A source told Us Weekly: “They split a few weeks ago. There’s no bad blood -– they still care about each other a lot.”
The insider explained the pair’s hectic work schedules is the reason behind the break-up.
Leonardo DiCaprio has split from Victoria Secret’s model Erin Heatherton
“They’re both just really busy, they had crazy schedules,” the source added.
“They still love and respect each other very much. It was just time to move on.”
It has been a hugely busy year for Leonardo DiCaprio who has been shooting Great Gatsby in Australia, then Django Unchained in New Orleans followed by the Wolf of Wall Street in New York.
Erin Heatherton is just one of many supermodels Leonardo DiCaprio has dated.
From 2001 to 2005 he went out with Gisele Bundchen and he dated Israeli-born model Bar Refaeli from 2006 until splitting in early 2011.
New Yorkers took to the streets last night as Con Ed began restoring power to lower Manhattan after repairing the East 14th Street subway station that exploded when Hurricane Sandy hit on Monday night.
Electricity began coming on to more than 65,000 customers in parts of the East Village, SoHo and the Lower East Side at around 6:00 p.m. while thousands of residents in Chelsea and the so-called Madison Network were able to switch on their lights again about an hour later.
People took to the streets cheering on Prince and Lafayette in Nolita as the lights finally flickered again after days of darkness.
Power was restored north to south between Canal Street and Broadway, and East to West between the East River and 14th street.
At 6:00 p.m. the Chelsea network went back up between the Hudson River and Fifth Avenue, and 31st Street on north and 15th street
The news comes as a huge relief to the hundreds of thousands of people who have been without power since Monday night.
Many of them had left the so-called Dark Zone below 39th street but there are still tens of thousands of people living in increasingly difficult conditions.
Con Edison let customers know the good news with a flurry of proud tweets on Friday evening.
Starting with the restoration of power for 65,000 in the East Village and the Lower East Side at around 5:45 p.m., the company then boasted at about 6:45 p.m.: “#ConEdison just restored power to 25,000 customers in the #Chelsea network.”
At around 7:00 p.m., Con Edison tweeted that another 8,000 customers in the #City Hall network were back on the grid – from Broadway to the East River and Canal Street to Frankfort.
This announcement quickly followed with the news that over 30,000 homes stretching from 31st to 14th Streets and Fifth Avenue to the East River were restored.
But Manhattan wasn’t the only borough the electricity company was concentrating on.
Con Ed restored power to lower Manhattan after repairing the East 14th Street subway station
As the announcements were coming thick and fast on the island, Con Edison tweeted just before 7:00 p.m. that more than 122,000 Brooklyn residents had electricity back up and running and more than 39,000 customers were rejoicing as they switched on their lights in the Bronx.
An additional 29,000 households in Queens were also powered up again before 7:00 p.m. and 85,000 in devastated Staten Island, for the first time since the Superstorm savaged New York.
The electricity company said things should be back to normal for most residents in these areas though it couldn’t guarantee that individual customers’ equipment had not been damaged in the storm, which would delay their return to power.
Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in New York and 1.5 million in New Jersey were still without power on Friday, four days after Hurricane Sandy slammed into the U.S. East Coast, the states’ power companies said.
Most utility companies in the two states said it could take a week or longer to restore power to all customers in the wake of Sandy, the worst natural disaster to strike their customers.
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo sent a letter Thursday to the CEOs of state power companies, saying he would “take appropriate action against those utilities and their management if they do not meet their obligations to New Yorkers in this time of crisis”.
“I recognize there are men and women in the field now working hard to restore service … but it is your job to provide them with adequate resources and support to get the job done in a timely and safe manner,” Andrew Cuomo said.
Con Edison serves more than 3 million customers in New York City and Westchester County.
In New Jersey, Public Service Enterprise Group Inc said about 700,000 customers were still out, down from 1.7 million. PSEG serves about 2.2 million customers in the state.
FirstEnergy Corp’s Jersey Central Power and Light utility reported more than 713,100 customers were still without power, down from more than 1 million affected by the storm. JCP&L serves about 1.2 million in New Jersey.
Across the U.S. Northeast power companies have restored electricity to more than half of the 8.48 million customers left without service, leaving nearly 3.6 million without service in 11 states Friday morning, federal data showed.
Con Edison said it expects to make significant progress restoring electricity to all customers over the next seven days.
In lower and mid-Manhattan, Con Edison has said it expected to restore power by Saturday, November 3.
But the company warned that more than 100 buildings that have had their power restored were still without electricity due to flooding in basements or damage to local equipment.
To date, Con Edison said its crews have restored electricity to more than 320,000 customers affected by Sandy.
As of 5:00 a.m. EDT on Friday, Con Edison said about 226,000 customers lacked service in Manhattan, 84,000 in Queens, 35,000 in Brooklyn, 54,000 in Staten Island, 31,000 in the Bronx and 140,000 in Westchester.
Elsewhere in New York, the Long Island Power Co (LIPA) said it still had about 529,800 customers without power, down from more than 900,000. LIPA serves about 1.1 million customers on Long Island.
Sunday’s New York City marathon has been canceled in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced.
Michael Bloomberg said in a statement: “We would not want a cloud to hang over the race or its participants, and so we have decided to cancel it.”
Plans to press ahead with the race had prompted uproar from politicians in cyclone-ravaged parts of the city.
More than 90 US deaths, over 40 of them in New York, have been blamed on Sandy.
Across the US East Coast, some 3.5 million homes and businesses – 1.2 million in New York state alone – still have no electricity, four days after the storm made landfall.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in his statement: “While holding the race would not require diverting resources from the recovery effort, it is clear that it has become the source of controversy and division.”
He added: “We cannot allow a controversy over an athletic event – even one as meaningful as this – to distract attention away from all the critically important work that is being done to recover from the storm and get our city back on track.”
New York City Marathon 2012 has been canceled in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy
It was not immediately clear if the race would be rescheduled for another date.
Elected officials representing Staten Island were among the harshest critics of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s earlier statements that the race would go ahead.
“We’re still pulling bodies out of the water and the mayor is worried about marathon runners and returning to life as normal,” US Representative Michael Grimm, who represents the island and part of Brooklyn, told CNN.
“The Verrazano Bridge should be used for getting fuel and food in to Staten Island, not getting runners out. Police resources would be best allocated to prevent looting and in rescue and recovery operations.”
Rep Michael Grimm was joined by other local politicians, including both Republicans and Democrats, in demanding the race be postponed.
“The decision to move forward with the marathon is not a decision I would have made,” City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said.
Some runners who have signed up for the race told local website Gothamist that they would volunteer on Staten Island instead.
There was further controversy when background music played at the marathon expo in a Manhattan convention centre included the heavy metal song, Rock You Like a Hurricane.
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who originally wanted the race to go on, said on Friday that he had changed his mind.
“New Yorkers deserve nothing less than to know that the entire government is focused solely on returning the city and their region back to normalcy,” Scott Stringer said in a statement.
Kirstie Alley has confessed her real true love isn’t one of her ex-husbands as she fell hard for John Travolta while they were filming Look Who’s Talking and has never found anyone who measures up to him.
Kirstie Alley, 61, described John Travolta as the “love of my life” in a new shock interview on 20/20 with Barbara Walters, which will air on Friday night.
Barbara Walters gave a sneak peek of the confession in a preview clip on The View this morning,
Kirstie Alley was married to fellow actor Parker Stevenson at the time, and John Travolta was single when the shot the movie, which was released in 1989.
The actress tells Barbara Walters her attraction to John Travolta was dynamic, adding: “It took all the power I had not to run off with him.”
Because she was married, Kirstie Alley said she did not pursue a relationship.
However, she went on to make two sequels with John Travolta, Look Who’s Talking Too and Look Who’s Talking Now!.
John Travolta married actress Kelly Preston in 1991. The couple had three children, including son Jett who died in 2009.
Kirstie Alley has confessed her real true love was John Travolta during interview with Barbara Walters
Over the years, Kirstie Alley and John Travolta have remained extremely close thanks in part to their mutual beliefs in Scientology.
Kirstie was married to Bob Alley for seven years, starting in 1970.
She tied the knot with second husband Parker Stevenson in 1983.
They divorced in 1997, and shared custody of their two adopted children.
Kirstie Alley’s full interview will air tonight on 20/20 at 10:00 p.m. on ABC.
Samsung has sold more than 3 million units of its big screen Galaxy Note II smartphones in 37 days after its launch, it was announced today.
Samsung, which was the world’s largest maker of smartphones in the July-September quarter, said it took 37 days for the oversize smartphone to reach the sales figure.
Galaxy Note II was released first in South Korea in September and in the U.S. and other countries in the following month.
Samsung’s Note category took off in the market, overcoming skepticism about its big size making it look awkward when held close to the face.
The Note was one of the few 5-inch smartphone in the market when the first model was unveiled last year, making some people believe it would become a “tweener” that is neither a tablet nor a smartphone.
But phone manufacturers began to expand screen sizes this year.
Even Apple released a bigger iPhone this year, bumping the screen to 4 inches.
The Note series is one of the two key mobile devices from Samsung on the high-end smartphone segment, along with flagship Galaxy S III smartphone, helping Samsung rake in profit for the business division that is responsible for more than 70% of the company’s quarterly sales.
The latest iteration of the Note features a screen measuring 5.5 inches diagonally and a digital pen for note-taking.
Samsung is pinning its hope on the Note II and the S III to maintain its market lead during the crucial fourth-quarter holiday season, when a number of new gadgets are vying for attention from consumers in the crowded market.
Research firm IDC said Samsung topped the global smartphone market in the July-September third quarter with 56.3 million sales, more than double Apple’s 26.9 million iPhone sales.
The two companies controlled combined 46% of the global smartphone market, according to IDC.
Samsung has sold more than 3 million units of its big screen Galaxy Note II smartphones in 37 days after its launch
INSIDE THE SAMSUNG NOTE 2
Processor: 1.6 GHz quad-core processor
OS: Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
Display: 140.9 mm (5.55″) HD Super AMOLED (1,280 x 720)
Dimension: 80.5 x 151.1 x 9.4 mm, 182.5g
Battery: 3,100mAh
Memory: 16/32/64GB User memory + 2GB (RAM) and microSD slot (up to 64GB)
S Pen Optimized Features:
S Note, S Planner, Email with hand-writing integration
Quick Command, Easy Clip, Photo Note, Paper Artist
Popup Note
Popup Video Play
Bluetooth
USB 2.0 Host
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 & 5 GHz)
NFC
GPS
Main camera: 8 Megapixel Auto Focus Camera with LED Flash
Best Photo, Best Group Pose, Low light shot
Full HD (1080p) Playback & Recording
How the iPhone sold
Apple’s iPhone 5 sold 5 million units in its first three days, eclipsing the Galaxy sales.
Apple also said over 100 million devices were updated to its new iOS software when it was released.
The Statue of Liberty officially reopened last weekend to huge fanfare after a $30 million refurbishment, but it has now been closed indefinitely after Superstorm Sandy flooded its island in New York Harbor, as inspectors conduct a full assessment of any possible structural damage.
The public have been restricted to the grounds on Liberty Island over the past year, but Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and a U.S. Military Academy cadets group were the first to visit last Sunday.
However, that was before the storm – and although the New York City statue was expected to reopen on Wednesday, that was delayed after Hurricane Sandy hit and killed at least 98 people in the US and Canada.
The renovation included replacing the stairs to the crown, as well as creating wheelchair access to one of the observation decks at the top of the pedestal. But the statue was closed again on Monday.
Federal inspectors will be carrying out checks this Saturday to Liberty Island, and its neighbor Ellis Island, although a quick examination showed no damage to the statue or the Ellis Island museum.
But a National Parks Service spokesman told the New York Daily News there was “water damage to the Statue of Liberty site” and said checks must be done before a reopen date can be established.
Elsewhere in New York City, museums, the Empire State Building, Broadway theatres and many stores reopened on Wednesday to the relief of tourists stuck in hotel rooms since last weekend.
This year marked the 126th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty’s dedication and the renovation improved fire alarms, sprinkler systems and exit routes to bring it in line with city safety codes.
There are also more stairs than ever before, with a daunting 393 steps to the crown, where there were previously 354 slightly steeper steps. The famous statue is 151 ft from base to torch.
It sits atop the 89 ft tall stone pedestal, which sits on a 65 ft tall foundation in the shape of a star. Meanwhile the bathrooms have been upgraded for the first time since the 1980s.
Statue of Liberty has been closed indefinitely after Superstorm Sandy flooded its island in New York Harbor
In addition, a new air-conditioning system will cool the interior of the copper-clad monument, which previously could get up to 20F hotter than outdoors at the height of summer.
About 3.5 million people visit Liberty Island each year, although most don’t go inside the statue. With the improvements, 26,000 more will be able to ascend to the crown each year.
The statue, a gift from France to the US, was dedicated in 1886 and declared a national monument in 1924. In 2009, the crown was reopened to the public for the first time since the 9/11 attacks.
Superstorm Sandy was blamed for at least 98 deaths across the US and Canada, leaving New Jersey’s barrier islands a wasteland of eroded shoreline, ruined beachfront homes and flooded streets.
As New York City came back to life yesterday, starting with the partial reopening of subway routes three days after the storm, it was revealed the total U.S. damage could hit $50 billion.
SWEET LADY LIBERTY: A BRIEF HISTORY OF STATUE OF LIBERTY, THE SYMBOL OF AMERICA
Designed by Frederic Bartholdi, the statue is a neo-classical sculpture based on the Roman Goddess of Freedom, Libertas.
The statue was a present to the United States from France to celebrate independence and was erected in 1886 in Upper New York Bay on Liberty Island.
Frederic Bartholdi’s inspiration for the statue was a comment made by politician Édouard René de Laboulaye in mid-1865.
He stated: “If a monument should rise in the United States, as a memorial to their independence, I should think it only natural if it were built by united effort – a common work of both our nations.”
Statue of Liberty makes for a truly exhilarating sight for anyone entering New York. The main body of the statue stands at 151ft high, but with the pedestal included, reaches 305ft.
Statue of Liberty has been featured in several Hollywood films such as Independence Day, Cloverfield, The Day After Tomorrow and Planet Of The Apes, where it appears buried in a beach.
The United Nations Organization says a video that appears to show Syrian rebels killing soldiers or pro-government militiamen could be evidence of a war crime.
The footage shows gunmen beating a group of prisoners cowering on the floor before opening fire at them.
It has been alleged that Islamist militants carried out the attack after seizing army checkpoints on Thursday.
Unconfirmed reports say troops have now quit all bases near the strategic northern town of Saraqeb.
The town lies near both the main Damascus-Aleppo highway and the highway linking Aleppo to the coastal city of Latakia – making it doubly strategic.
The army, meanwhile, continued its air strikes across Syria on Thursday.
In all, more than 150 people reportedly died in fighting, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based activist group.
The SOHR said that among the victims were more than 70 government soldiers, 43 civilians and 38 rebels.
The claim has not been independently verified.
In a separate development, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and Arab League Secretary General Nabil el-Araby would meet in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the Syrian crisis, the Arab League announced.
The alleged shootings took place after the rebels overran the strategic army checkpoints between on Thursday.
The video purportedly shows agitated rebels kicking and pushing the soldiers or pro-government militiamen, known locally as “shabiha”, to the ground inside one of the seized buildings. Shots are then seen fired into the cowering mass of bodies.
A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said it appeared that the victims “were no longer combatants and therefore, at this point, it looks very like a war crime”.
Spokesman Rupert Colville added that the video – if proved to be genuine – would almost certainly form part of a future prosecution.
Meanwhile, Amnesty said in a statement: “This shocking footage depicts a potential war crime in progress, and demonstrates an utter disregard for international humanitarian law by the armed group in question.”
No group has so far admitted carrying out the alleged killings.
However, a rebel fighter from Idlib province, Abu Abdul Rahim, told the Guardian that a Salafi-jihadist group was behind the killings, which he said had occurred in al-Nayrab, to the west of Saraqeb.
He said the Salafists of the Dawood brigade and Suqur al-Sham did not answer to any military council affiliated to the rebel Free Syrian Army.
For months, activists have reported similar summary executions by government forces virtually every day.
But there has been mounting evidence of similar tactics being used by some rebel groups too, although many have signed a code of practice banning such abuses.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier warned that radical Islamist fighters were trying to hijack the Syrian revolution.
The comments have drawn an angry response from some opposition leaders, who say that it is the failure of the outside world to support the uprising with practical help that has left the field open to the radicals.
The SOHR more than 36,000 people have been killed since protests against President Bashar al-Assad erupted in March 2011.
The SOHR is one of the most prominent organizations documenting and reporting incidents and casualties in the Syrian conflict. It says its reports are impartial, though its information cannot be independently verified.
Recent alleged rebel atrocities
• 22 June – Damascus accuses ‘terrorists’ of killing 25 villagers in northern Syria and mutilating their bodies
• 6 July – footage shows a rebel questioning a soldier before shooting him – location unknown
• 1 August – four apparent Assad loyalists are seen put against the wall and shot in public in Aleppo
• 14 August – rebels are shown in a video throwing dead bodies of government snipers from an Aleppo roof
• 17 September – armed opposition groups are accused by Human Rights Watch of torturing and summarily executing detainees in Aleppo, Latakia, and Idlib
As the East Coast is still reeling from the devastation brought on by Superstorm Sandy forecasters are already warning of a powerful new nor’easter storm front coming in from the Atlantic, bringing 45 mph gusts of wind mixed with snow and rain.
The beleaguered coast line is expected to face the storm from Tuesday to Thursday – potentially casting a shadow over Election Day.
At least New York City and the surrounding area may escape a beating, as forecasters expect most of the severe weather will hit northern New England – meaning it should land hundreds of miles north from where Sandy reached the continent.
However, New York and New Jersey can expect frigid winds and rain as hundreds of thousands remain without power and homeless.
A nor’easter is a powerful storm that thrives on cold air. Severe nor’easters can bring hurricane-force winds and blizzards.
AccuWeather expert senior meteorologist Henry Margusity said: “For millions of people still recovering from Superstorm Sandy, this is not welcome news.
“Thousands are projected to still be in the dark on Election Day, following Sandy’s impact.
“The weather pattern remains volatile for another storm to form on the East Coast, but nothing like Sandy. A storm that would be more normal for early November.”
Meanwhile, NBC News meteorologist Al Roker said: “This is just what we don’t need.
“You look at those winds coming counterclockwise, bringing in with it the potential for one to two more inches of rain, wind gusts of 45 miles per hour and wet snow inland just along the New York/New Jersey border. We’re talking about wet snow mixing in.
“The problem with this, with these winds of 45 miles per hour and already compromised beaches along New Jersey and Long Island waves of any consequence could cause big problems.”
He added: “It’s just a matter of how strong this system is going to be.”
East Coast line is expected to face a nor’easter winter storm from Tuesday to Thursday, potentially casting a shadow over Election Day
The European Centre Medium Range Forecast predicted the storm will form off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina on Tuesday.
EURO detected Hurricane Sandy and predicted its devastating landfall 8 days before it hit.
By Wednesday, the storm is expected to hook into southern New England.
Forecasters said that the storm will have nowhere near the strength of Sandy and the winds will likely not be powerful enough to be damaging.
However, the storm will bring more rain and bad weather to a region that has not even begun to recover from Monday’s onslaught.
“Snowfall would be confined to northern New England. Also, this system will not be anywhere as impactful as Sandy,” Tom Niziol, the winter weather expert for Weather.com, wrote.
Forecasters still don’t know the exact impact or path of the storm, and cautioned that it could hit other parts of the coast – potentially even New York.
Consolidated Edison, which handles New York City and the Hudson Valley, still has 650,000 customers without power – and said many of them won’t have electricity restored for another ten days.
Two of New Jersey’s largest utility companies reported more than 2million customers still in the dark.
What is a nor’easter?
The nor’easter is a winter storm conceived by the meeting of cold arctic air with the warmer ocean air from the Gulf Stream.
The storms usually develop from a low-pressure system in the south, typically in the Gulf of Mexico, and then pushed upward.
They often cause severe flooding along coastlines, erosion, and blizzard conditions – but just as dangerous is the bitter Arctic air that gets dragged along by the weather system.
They storms can come at any time of year, but are mainly seen in winter, where the conflicting wind conditions can quickly spiral into a hurricane.
Nor’easters usually bring massive amounts of precipitation, high winds and large waves and with a full moon, when tides are at their highest, the storm surge could reach as high as 6 to 11 feet.
“The total is greater than the sum of the individual parts,” said Louis Uccellini, the environmental prediction chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration meteorologists about the dramatic weather.
Official figures from the Labor Department show the US economy added 171,000 new jobs in October, which was much more than had been expected.
However, the official figures showed that the unemployment rate still rose to 7.9%, having fallen to 7.8% in September, as more workers resumed the search for jobs.
Only people who are currently looking for a job count as unemployed.
Unemployment is one of the key issues ahead of Tuesday’s presidential election.
The figures were the last major set of economic data scheduled before the election and the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, has made the state of the jobs market one of the central planks of his campaign.
“Today’s increase in the unemployment rate is a sad reminder that the economy is at a virtual standstill,” Mitt Romney said.
“The jobless rate is higher than it was when President Obama took office, and there are still 23 million Americans struggling for work.”
The number of jobs created in the previous two months was revised upwards, with an extra 34,000 jobs added in September and 50,000 added in August.
Despite the new jobs, Barack Obama will still go to the polls with the highest rate of unemployment of any president seeking re-election since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
But the rise in the rate of unemployment may be seen as a sign of confidence in the economy, because it was caused by people who had given up looking for work returning to the job market, analysts say.
The total workforce, which is the number of people either working or looking for jobs, rose 578,000 in October.
“While more work remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further evidence that the US economy is continuing to heal from the wounds inflicted by the worst downturn since the Great Depression,” said Alan Krueger, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in a statement from the White House.
“It is critical that we continue the policies that are building an economy that works for the middle class as we dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007.”
The Labor Department said in its release that Hurricane Sandy, which hit the East Coast of the US on 29 October, had had “no discernible effect” on the employment data.
The number of involuntary part-time workers, who would prefer to be working full-time, fell 269,000 to 8.3 million, having risen by 582,000 in September.
Kathy Jones from Charles Schwab said they were good numbers, but warned that: “We’re way short of where we need to be to bring down the unemployment rate to where the Federal Reserve would like to see, closer to 6% than 8%.”
“We would need to see twice as many jobs as we’re seeing, but the direction has improved.”
The average number of jobs added per month so far in 2012 has been 157,000, which is slightly ahead of the average of 153,000 in 2011.
The category adding the most jobs in October was professional and business services, followed by healthcare and retailing.
There was also a small increase in employment in the construction sector, which has been helped by a pick-up in house building.
The average working week was 34.4 hours for the fourth month in a row, while the average hourly wage was down one cent at $23.58.
Despite there being signs of momentum in the jobs market, there is great concern in the US about what 2013 will bring.
Whoever wins the presidential election will have to reach a budget agreement with legislators by the end of the year, to prevent $600 billion of tax increases and spending cuts kicking in automatically in 2013.
The measures, known as the fiscal cliff, could take the US back into recession.
There is also some uncertainty about the coming months as a result of Hurricane Sandy.
Many businesses will have their work interrupted by effects of the storms. On the other hand, reconstruction on the East Coast is likely to increase employment in the construction sector.
In New York, the Dow Jones was up 1% in early trading.
