Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Tom Petty has died in California aged 66, a statement issued on behalf of his family has announced.
Tom Petty was found unconscious, not breathing and in full cardiac arrest at his Malibu home on October 3.
The singer was taken to hospital, but could not be revived and died later that evening.
He was best known as the lead singer of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers rock band, producing such hits as American Girl, Breakdown, Free Fallin’, Learning to Fly and Refugee.
His long-time manager Tony Dimitriades said: “He died peacefully at 20:40 Pacific time surrounded by family, his bandmates and friends.”
Tom Petty was also a co-founder of the Traveling Wilburys group in the late 1980s, touring with Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne and George Harrison.
“It’s shocking, crushing news,” said Bob Dylan, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“I thought the world of Tom. He was great performer, full of the light, a friend, and I’ll never forget him.”
Tom Petty also found solo success in 1989 with his album Full Moon Fever, which featured one of his most popular songs Free Fallin’, co-written with Jeff Lynne.
In 2002, Tom Petty was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The musician was born in Gainesville, Florida, in 1950.
According to legend, Tom Petty decided to become a musician after shaking Elvis Presley’s hand in the 1950s. He traded his slingshot for a box of records and never looked back.
At the age of 17, Tom Petty dropped out of school to join Mudcrutch with future Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench.
The band learned their craft by listening to pop radio, he once told NPR.
In the early 1970s, they moved to Los Angeles in the hope of finding a record contract. Tom Petty succeeded, but the band fell apart soon after.
It was not until 1975 that the musicians reunited and The Heartbreakers were formed. The quintet released their self-titled debut a year later.
Carrie Fisher is in stable condition after suffering a heart attack on December 23, her mother has announced.
The 60-year-old actress, who played Princess Leia Organa in Star Wars saga, is in the ICU of a Los Angeles hospital.
Carrie Fisher had heart problems during a flight from London to LA, and passengers attempted to revive her with CPR.
Photo Flickr
Her mother, actress Debbie Reynolds, said on Twitter: “Carrie is in stable condition. If there is a change, we will share it. For all her fans & friends. I thank you for your prayers & good wishes.”
Carrie Fisher had been on tour promoting her latest book, The Princess Diarist.
According to TMZ, the cardiac arrest happened about 15 minutes before the plane landed in LA. A doctor who was travelling on the plane administered CPR.
Paramedics then spent a further 15 minutes administering more CPR to Carrie Fisher before getting a pulse, TMZ reported.
Carrie Fisher appeared in the original Star Wars trilogy and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a sequel released in 2015.
Country legend Little Jimmy Dickens has died aged 94.
Jimmy Dickens’ spokeswoman Jessie Schmidt said the singer died on January 2 of cardiac arrest after suffering a stroke on Christmas Day.
His novelty songs, including May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose, earned him a spot in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1983.
Jimmy Dickens is also credited with introducing rhinestone suits to country music.
He was the oldest member of the Grand Ole Opry, a weekly music concert broadcast live on radio from Nashville, Tennessee.
Little Jimmy Dickens had performed almost continuously on the show since 1948, making his last performance on December 20 to celebrate his 94th birthday.
Pete Fisher, vice-president of the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, said the show “did not have a better friend than Little Jimmy Dickens”.
“He was a one-of-a-kind entertainer and a great soul whose spirit will live on for years to come,” he added.
Despite being just 4ft 11in tall, Jimmy Dickens said he had never been self-conscious about his height.
“It’s been very good for me. I’ve made fun of it, and get a laugh here and there,” he said in a 2009 interview.
Josephine Harris, a restaurant owner from Ohio who served US President Barack Obama breakfast on a campaign stop, has died hours later.
Josephine Harris, 70, who owned Ann’s Place in Akron, Ohio, was taken to hospital after complaining of fatigue and a tingling feeling.
She went into cardiac arrest en route and was pronounced dead shortly after 11:00 EST.
Barack Obama arrived the restaurant at about 08:30, ordering two eggs “over easy”, bacon and wheat toast.
Josephine Harris dies hours Barack Obama had breakfast in her restaurant in Ohio
The Summit County medical examiner’s office said Josephine Harris had died of natural causes and there would be no autopsy.
In a statement, White House press secretary Jay Carney said Barack Obama called her daughter from Air Force One to express “his sorrow and his condolences”.
“He was honored to meet [Josephine Harris] this morning and passed on his feeling that the whole family is in his thoughts and prayers,” Jay Carney said.
The Akron Beacon Journal reported that Josephine Harris had hugged Barack Obama when she met him at the restaurant.
“I’m sure this was her highlight,” Frankie Adkins, her sister, told the Journal.
Norwegian Swimming Federation announces that champion Alexander Dale Oen has died in the US, aged 26.
Alexander Dale Oen was found collapsed in a shower late on Monday after training in Flagstaff, Arizona, Norwegian media say. Officials said he had suffered a cardiac arrest.
Emergency services arrived at the scene within minutes but were unable to revive him.
Alexander Dale Oen won gold in the 100m breaststroke at the World Championships in Shanghai in July 2011.
His triumph came just days after the attack in Norway by Anders Behring Breivik which killed 77 people.
Alexander Dale Oen was found collapsed in a shower late on Monday after training in Flagstaff, Arizona
Norwegian Swimming Federation President Per Rune Eknes said the swimmer had suffered a cardiac arrest. Friends said he had appeared healthy earlier.
Doctors at the Flagstaff Medical Center declared the world champion swimmer dead at 21:00 local time on Monday after all efforts to resuscitate him failed.
Per Rune Eknes told national broadcaster NRK that it was the blackest day in the history of Norwegian swimming.
“We are all in shock… our thoughts go primarily to his family who have lost Alexander way too early,” said Norwegian Coach Petter Loevberg.
Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg expressed his sorrow at the death of the swimmer.
“Alexander Dale Oen was a great athlete for a small country. My thoughts go to his family and friends,” he said.
Alexander Dale Oen’s last tweet on Monday, as he was coming to the end of training in the US, said: “2 days left of our camp up here in Flagstaff, then it’s back to the most beautiful city in Norway #Bergen”.
Alexander Dale Oen was born in Bergen, Norway’s second largest city, and began swimming at the age of four. He got his international breakthrough in 2005 when he came seventh in the 100m breaststroke during the World Aquatics Championships in Montreal, Canada.
He won silver at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Norway’s first Olympic swimming medal, and was considered a strong hope for this summer’s London Games.
After winning his gold medal in Shanghai, Alexander Dale Oen said that the murders of 77 people in Oslo and on the island of Utoeya had affected him deeply.
“We can’t let this guy ruin the future for us,” he said.
Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika has died, doctors and cabinet ministers have said, but this has not been officially announced.
One of the doctors who treated Bingu wa Mutharika, 78, said the president was “clinically dead” on Thursday after suffering a cardiac arrest.
State media are still reporting that he has been flown to South Africa for medical treatment.
If confirmed, his death would spark a constitutional crisis, analysts say.
According to the constitution, the vice-president takes over if the head of state is incapacitated or dies in office.
But Vice-President Joyce Banda and Bingu wa Mutharika fell out after a row over the succession in 2010, and she was expelled from the ruling Democratic People’s Party (DPP).
Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika was "clinically dead" on Thursday after suffering a cardiac arrest
Bing wa Mutharika’s brother, Foreign Minister Peter Mutharika, was chosen instead of Joyce Banda to be the DPP’s presidential candidate in the 2014 elections.
He has been standing in for the president when needed during official occasions.
Joyce Banda recently said she had not spoken to Bingu wa Mutharika for more than a year.
The doctors and ministers say that Bingu wa Mutharika’s body was taken to South Africa while a decision is taken about what to do next.
Government sources said efforts to resuscitate President Mutharika had failed and that an official announcement is being prepared.
Bingu wa Mutharika, a former World Bank economist, came to power in a 2004 election. Soon afterwards, he dramatically abandoned his United Democratic Front (UDF) party to form the DPP, after accusing leading UDF members of opposing his campaign against corruption.
Since being re-elected with a large majority in 2009, critics allege he has demonstrated an increasingly authoritarian streak.
The president has been under mounting pressure to resign, amid accusations of nepotism and economic mismanagement.
The criticism has led to a souring in relations with major foreign aid donors, especially the United Kingdom.
Last year, Bingu wa Mutharika expelled the UK High Commissioner, Fergus Cochrane-Dyet, after a leaked embassy cable quoted the diplomat as saying that the president could not tolerate criticism.
The Malawian leader said he could not accept “insults” just because the UK was his country’s largest aid donor.
In response, the UK expelled the Malawian envoy to London and cut direct aid.
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world, with an estimated 75% of the population living on less than $1 a day.
The country has suffered shortages of fuel and foreign currency since the UK and other donors cancelled aid.
A customer of Heart Attack Grill suffered a cardiac arrest in the chain’s Las Vegas branch on last Saturday.
An onlooker captured video of paramedics wheeling the unidentified man, thought to be in his 40’s, out of the fast-food diner.
The diner was midway through eating a 6,000-calorie Triple Bypass Burger when he began experiencing chest pains.
Heart Attack Grill – founded in 2005 using the catchphrase “Taste Worth Dying For!” – is run by a former nutritionist “Doctor” Jon Basso who, remarkably, used to run a Jenny Craig weight loss diet centre.
Jon Basso denied the incident was an elaborate publicity stunt.
He told Fox News: “The gentleman could barely talk. He was sweating, suffering.
“I actually felt horrible for him because the tourists were taking photos of him as if it were some type of stunt.
“Even with our own morbid sense of humor, we would never pull a stunt like that.”
The Heart Attack Grill sells calorie-laden fare with names such as Quadruple Bypass Burgers and Flatline Fries
The Heart Attack Grill sells calorie-laden fare with names such as Quadruple Bypass Burgers and Flatline Fries.
Meals at Heart Attack Grill can exceed 8,000 calories, as the recommended daily intake is 2,000 calories for women and 2,500 for men.
The Triple Bypass Burger contains three slabs of meat, 12 rashes of bacon, cheese, red onion, sliced tomato and the Heart Attack Grill’s own “unique special sauce”. And that’s before taking into account the accompanying “Flatliner Fries”, cooked in pure lard, and a giant soft drink.
Accentuating the medical theme, waitresses dressed as nurses deliver the artery-clogging food.
A sign at the entrance to an Arizona restaurant reads: “Go away. If you come in this place, it’s going to kill you.”
Heart Attack Grill has provoked widespread anger with promotions including offering free food to morbidly obese customers.
In an exploitative advertising campaign, the restaurant announced that it would pick up the bill for any patron who weighed more than 350 lbs.
Jon Basso hired a 644-lb man, Blair Rivers, to star in a tongue-in-cheek commercial promoting the special offer.
In the ad, Jon Basso says with a smile: “I personally guarantee a stable upward progression of body weight while you’re enjoying great tasting foods.
“Along with a cold beer and cigarette, it’s a diet you can stick to for life.”
The advertisement then states the side effects from eating Heart Attack Grill food “may include sudden weight gain, repeated increase of wardrobe size, back pain, male breast growth, loss of sexual partners, lung cancer, tooth decay and liver sclerosis stroke.
“In some cases mild death may occur.”
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