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Jason Burton, a 21-month-old toddler from Spartanburg County, South Carolina, has been reunited with his family after a day of frantic searching by more than 200 people.
Jason Burton wandered off through the front door sometime Friday when his mother was in the bathroom, his family told police.
Though Jason Burton was lost for more than a day in woods near his home and spent a rainy night outdoors, rescuers found him unharmed and sleeping on a log beneath the river’s embankment.
The boy was examined by doctors at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center and described as being in good condition for his night alone in the elements.
About 200 people – including members of the Department of Natural Resources, the South Carolina Guard, and the Spartanburg County Sheriffs’ office – searched for Jason Burton from the time he disappeared from his home early Friday afternoon.
Though Jason Burton was lost for more than a day in woods near his home and spent a rainy night outdoors, rescuers found him unharmed and sleeping on a log beneath the river’s embankment
Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright said a deputy and a state natural resources officer kayaking on the Tyger River about two miles upstream from the boy’s home spotted the toddler sleeping on a log beneath an embankment.
Jason Burton was flown by helicopter to a command post where officers and his parents were waiting.
Though his blood pressure and heart rate were down, he rapidly improved on the way to Regional One Hospital.
“I’m just glad he’s found, thank God, thank God!” the toddler’s mother Brittney Burton told WSPA News.
Sheriff Chuck Wright said Jason Burton was incredibly lucky. “A 21 month old isn’t supposed to survive in the river, he’s not supposed to do that, he’s just curious like other kids supposed to get in the water,” WSPA News reported.
Chuck Wright called Jason Burton’s safe return a Christmas miracle, especially due to the size of the search. He said around five to six miles of land were covered around the boy’s home.
A child that age, he said, usually doesn’t go farther than a mile.
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Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader, has died at the age of 69, state-run television has announced.
Kim Jong-il, who has led the communist nation since the death of his father, Kim Il-sung in 1994, died on a train while visiting an area outside the capital, the announcement said.
North Korean leader suffered a stroke in 2008 and was absent from public view for months.
Kim Jong-il’s designated successor is his third son, Kim Jong-un, who is thought to be in his late 20s.
North Korea’s state-run news agency, KCNA, urged people to unite behind the younger Kim.
“All party members, military men and the public should faithfully follow the leadership of comrade Kim Jong-un and protect and further strengthen the unified front of the party, military and the public,” the news agency said.
State media also referred to Kim Jong-un as the “great successor to the revolutionary cause” in what appeared to be the first such reference.
Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader, has died at the age of 69
A funeral for Kim Jong-il will be held in Pyongyang on 28 December and Kim Jong-un will head the funeral committee, KCNA reports. A period of national mourning has been declared from 17 to 29 December.
International media reports say Kim Jong-il’s death will cause huge shock waves across North Korea, an impoverished, nuclear-armed nation with few allies.
The announcement of Kim Jong-il’s death came in an emotional statement read out on national television.
The announcer, wearing black, said he had died of physical and mental over-work. A later report from KCNA said Kim Jong-il had had a heart attack.
China – North Korea’s closest ally and biggest trading partner – said it was “distressed” to hear the news of his death.
“We express our grief about this and extend our condolences to the people of North Korea,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying.
South Korea’s military has been put on alert following the announcement and its National Security Council is convening for an emergency meeting, Yonhap news agency reports. The Japanese government has also convened a special security meeting.
The White House said it was “closely monitoring” reports of the death. The US remained “committed to stability on the Korean peninsula, and to the freedom and security of our allies”, it said in a statement.
South Korea’s President Lee Myung-Bak spoke to US President Barack Obama by telephone.
“The two leaders agreed to closely co-operate and monitor the situation together,” a South Korean presidential spokesman said.
Asian stock markets fell after the news was announced.
Kim Jong-il inherited the leadership of North Korea – which remains technically at war with South Korea – from his father Kim Il-sung.
Shortly after he came to power, a severe famine caused by ill-judged economic reforms and poor harvests left an estimated two million people dead.
Kim Jong-il’s regime has been harshly criticized for human rights abuses and is internationally isolated because of its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Under Kim Jong-il’s leadership funds have been channeled to the military and in 2006 North Korea conducted its first nuclear test. It followed that up with a second one three years later. Multinational talks aimed at disarming North Korea have been deadlocked for months.
Kim Jong-il unveiled his son as his likely successor a year ago. Many had expected to see this process further consolidated in 2012.
Professor Lee Jung-hoon, specializing in international relations at Yonsei University in Seoul, told the BBC that with the transition of power from father to son incomplete, Kim Jong-il’s death could herald “very unstable times” in North Korea.
“We have to be very worried because whenever there is domestic instability North Korea likes to find an external situation to divert the attention away from that – including indulging in provocation.”
Christopher Hill, former US representative to the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear programme, said all parties needed to “keep cool heads”.
As for Kim Jong-il’s son and successor, very little is known about him – including his exact age. He was educated in Switzerland and is the son of Kim Jong-il’s reportedly favorite wife, the late Ko Yong-hui.
Kim Jong-un has an older brother, Kim Jong-chol, and a older half-brother, Kim Jong-nam – both of whom appear to have been passed over for the succession.
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Protesters from across US will be rallying against a nativity display put up in front of the Henderson’s Courthouse in Texas today in the so-called War Against Christmas.
Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a Wisconsin-based group, took major issue when they heard that the Christian display was put up outside of the Henderson County courthouse, prompting them to write a letter of complaint.
A letter from out-of-state isn’t going to leave the people of Henderson rattling in their cowboy boots, as the Attorney General Greg Abbott has boosted the beef to Texas-sized proportions.
“Our message to the atheists is don’t mess with Texas and out Nativity scenes or the Ten Commandments,” Greg Abbott told Fox News & Community.
Protesters from across US will be rallying against a nativity display put up in front of the Henderson's Courthouse in Texas today in the so-called War Against Christmas
The FFRF sent a banner to the court house that it wanted displayed, with a very different message then the birth of Christ.
FFRF’s banner read: “At this season of the Winter Solstice, let reason prevail.
“There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but a myth & superstition that hardens hearts & enslaves minds.”
A mystery man put the sign up on Wednesday on a tree next to the nativity scene in Athens, Texas, about 70 miles south east of Dallas, but it was removed shortly by sheriff’s deputies about 10 minutes later.
Though Judge Richard Sanders may have ordered its removal because of the missing forms and compliance with city procedures, the state’s Attorney General is taking a much more philosophical stance.
“I want the Freedom From Religion Foundation to know that our office has a history of defending religious displays in this state,” Greg Abbott told a local Fox News affiliate.
Greg Abbott offered to help the city if they end up in a legal battle over the issue, though there are no signs that it will reach that point.
The argument against the nativity scene is that it promotes a social belief that may make those non-believers uncomfortable.
“Anybody walking by that is going to say, <<Hmmm. This is a Christian government building. I’m not welcome here if I’m not Christian>>,” said FFRF co-founder Annie Laurie Gaylor.
“It sends a message of intimidation and exclusion to non-Christians and non-believers this time of year.”
A number of religious leaders from neighboring towns as well as their congregations are planning to show their today at a noon rally with hundreds of tentative attendees on Facebook.
Since it became popular and often times necessary to be politically correct, the holiday season has brought the now-token freedom of religion arguments.
So far this year, there have been incidents elsewhere in the U.S.
The Rhode Island governor getting in trouble for using the term Holiday Tree instead of Christmas Tree, and atheist groups being upset for being allotted a smaller amount of space at a Santa Monica, California, Christmas display.
Jonathan Jewth, a 9-year-old boy from Bronx, New York, died after choking on a meatball in his school lunch as staff members were unable to save him.
Jonathan Jewth died on Wednesday, nine days after falling to the lunchroom floor in a choking fit.
Khemwati Jewth, the boy’s mother, has hit out at the school for failing to perform the necessary first aid on her dying son.
The devastated mother told the New York Daily News: “If something had been done differently, my son would’ve been alive today.
“They’re saying that they did everything, but others are saying that there was no one around at the time.”
According to various accounts, Jonathan Jewth was laughing with other students, eating a meatball sandwich, when he began to choke.
“They have provided her with scant information regarding the disastrous event that has transpired and until now she is relying on information provided by individuals who claim to have witnessed some or all of the events,” Howard Frederick, an attorney for Jonathan Jewth’s mother, told NBC4.
Witnesses of Jonathan Jewth’s struggle claim that the emergency response by the public school’s faculty members was “unskilled, unqualified and chaotic”, according to Howard Frederick.
“A parent happened to be there after the child passed out and was trying to help. They went to summon the nurse, an older person who could not do the Heimlich,” family member Indira Ramrup told the Daily News about their recount.
“They sent for a teacher and then a teacher came, and a parent stepped forward to do the Heimlich, but by then the child was on the ground and it was too late,” Indira Ramprup said.
One witness claims to the family’s attorney that three faculty members, including a school nurse, flipped the student side-to-side while performing CPR on him.
When the witness says they were “shaken by what she observed”, she “felt it was necessary to yell instruction to the staff because they clearly did not know what they were doing”, according to Howard Frederick’s statement to NBC4.
There is also a discrepancy on the time the incident was reported, by both the 911 dispatch and the school’s records.
Khemwati Jewth has said the school reported the time of the incident being at 12:15pm and that they called the police exactly one minute later, at 12:16 p.m.
But NBC4 says they have since learned from speaking to the New York Fire Department, that 911 dispatch was called by the school at 12:29 p.m.
According to the FDNY, they were at the scene four minutes later and the student e arrived at the Jacobi Medical Center at 12:48 p.m. in critical condition.
That was December 5th, but after laying in a coma for nine days, Jonathan Jewth died this Wednesday.
With witness accounts and school reports not adding up, Khemwati Jewth plans to file intent to sue the school next week.
At the very least, her attorney says she wants to know what happened to her boy.
“Ms. Jewth is committed to finding the truth and has indicated that she will not rest until she knows exactly what happened to her only child,” Howard Frederick said in a statement.
A responding statement by the schools’ chancellor Dennis Walcott read: “Tragically, a student passed away and my heart goes out to the family and the school community.”
“I don’t have words to describe how I feel right now. Nobody can even understand what I am going through,” Khemwati Jewth has said since, who working as a house keeper, says she hasn’t been able to return to her job since her son was admitted to the hospital.
Police in Dyer County, Tennessee, have launched a murder investigation after the body of mother-of-four Karen Swift, who vanished after Halloween party, was found.
Karen Swift’s body was found among bushes and undergrowth near a cemetery just two miles from her home
Investigators are currently giving no details about how she was murdered and no suspects have been named.
Karen Swift, 44, was last seen outside her home on October 30 at 1:30 a.m. after returning from a Halloween party.
Twenty days before her disappearance, Karen Swift had filed for divorce from her husband David, citing irreconcilable differences, myfoxmemphis.com reports.
According to court documents, the couple seemed to agree on a custody arrangement and child support payments while they were still living together.
Karen Swift, 44, was last seen outside her home on October 30 at 1:30 a.m. after returning from a Halloween party
Karen Swift had two sons in college and two daughters aged seven and nine.
Her body was found on Saturday after the once-green vegetation that had concealed it had thinned due to the cold weather.
The body was identified on Sunday using dental records.
Karen Swift’s car was found about a mile from her home, with a flat tire.
Her father Gary Johnson, 67, last month told ABC she could have got a flat tire and decided to leave the car and walk home when something happened to her.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation special agent in charge John Mehr said the vehicle was searched for evidence but did not say what may have been found.
The timeline of events leaves questions, and a multi-hour window, up for investigation.
Karen Swift attended a Halloween party at the Dyersburg Country Club-The Farms the night before she disappeared, and arrived home to the house she shared with her ex-husband around midnight. She had picked up one of the couples’ daughters from a sleepover since the girl was not feeling well.
The State Gazette reports that Karen Swift and her husband David bumped into each other on the stairs when she came home; making that the last time anyone reported seeing her.
The next morning, Karen Swift was not in the house so David called her cell phone and got no answer. A neighbor then called David to tell him that her abandoned car was sitting off the side of a small nearby highway.
David Swift then reportedly made several calls trying to ascertain Karen’s whereabouts: he called one of their older sons, who was at college in Arkansas, he called some of Karen’s friends, all of whom had no clues.
It was one of Karen Swift’s friends who called the police department to report her missing at 2:37 p.m. Sunday afternoon, and not David. The police then told the friend to have David call them and he did so.
The following search included crime lab specialists, K9 teams and ground crews searching the rivers and lakes surrounding the area where Karen Swift’s car was found.
There was one initial clue that gave an inkling of hope but ended up being a tangential issue.
A week after Karen Swift disappeared, one of her neighbors was arrested for aggravated animal cruelty.
The aptly-named John Hogshooter, 39, was arrested after allegedly poisoning two local dogs, one of which belonged to the Swifts.
Given the disturbing nature of his crimes and proximity to the Swifts house, his car and home were searched for clues relating to Karen’s disappearance but was ruled out as a suspect shortly after the investigators found nothing relating him to her case.
Karen Swift’s brother Jeffrey Johnson said the young daughters were “in shock” with their mother gone.
David Swift’s lawyer Timothy Naifeh said: “It’s very emotional for Mr. Swift and the family.
“They’re asking at least for this period of time to have some privacy – it’s time for grieving and it’s time for mourning.
“It’s heartbreaking and it’s very, very sad.”
Karen Swift’s disappearance prompted a massive ground and aerial search.
Michael Jackson’s house items from the home where he spent his final days have been displayed at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, where his adoring fans turn the place into a shrine.
The display includes a Victorian baby grand piano, the wooden armoire where Michael Jackson had written a note to himself on the mirror and a kitchen chalkboard where his children inscribed the message, “I love daddy”.
About 25 members of the Official Michael Jackson Fans of Southern California spent the weekend making and delivering glitter-covered cards, handmade Christmas ornaments, flowers and pictures to the auction rooms. They will be passed on to the Jackson family.
Michael Jackson’s house items from the home where he spent his final days have been displayed at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills, where his adoring fans turn the place into a shrine
Julien’s Auctions announced last month that it would sell the contents of the sprawling home where Michael Jackson died in 2009.
On Sunday, Julien’s Auctions invited Michael Jackson fans to preview its exhibit of the home’s art and furnishings before it opened to the public on Monday.
“This means a lot, because we don’t have a place to go to leave things for the family,” said Christine Tucker, spokeswoman for the fan club.
“He inspires us to create. We make these beautiful things and we want his kids and his mom to see it.”
Karen Jackson, a 57-year old fan, stayed up all night working on her creation – a charm-covered chain anchored by a metal “M” that includes tiny photos of Prince, Paris and Blanket.
“I’ve been working on this for a year,” Karen Jackson said.
“I hadn’t finished it because I didn’t know how to get it to them.”
Darren Julien, president of Julien’s Auctions, said he sought permission from the Michael Jackson’s family to include fans in the auction exhibit, and the megastar’s mother requested that he deliver any handmade items from fans to her.
“They put their hearts into it because they want the kids and Mrs. Jackson to see how much love they have for Michael,” Darren Julien said.
“Michael Jackson has played such an important part in our careers and lives, and this is a fun way to give back. This is Michael’s VIP reception.”
Julien’s Auctions sold the contents of Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch in April, 2009. The company also sold Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” jacket for $1.8 million over the summer and his signature spangled glove for $350,000 in 2009.
For the auction of items from Michael Jackson’s rented mansion at 100 North Carolwood Drive, Julien’s Auctions has recreated the home’s various rooms inside the Beverly Hills showroom.
There is a formal dining room anchored by a long table and 10 carved chairs, an elegant living room with damask sofas, and several bedrooms – including the one where Michael Jackson died.
The headboard of his bed was removed from the auction at his family’s request, so fans filled the space where the bed would have been with their tribute.
Among the lots available for sale, fans were most interested in photographing the armoire with Michael Jackson’s handwritten message (expected to sell for at least $6,000) and the chalkboard note from his children (expected to fetch more than $400).
Other items for sale include carved wooden tables, antique statues and various framed paintings.
Darren Julien said he wanted Michael Jackson’s fans to be part of the exhibit “not because they’re going to buy anything, but to honor his legacy”.
“Fans are welcome to add to the tribute throughout the week,” he said.
The exhibit of items is free and open to the public. The auction will be held Saturday.
Ross Truett Ashley, a Radford University student, has been identified as the gunman who shot a Virginia Tech police officer and then turned the gun on himself.
Ross Truett Ashley, 22, killed Deriek Crouse on Thursday after he had stolen a car the day before from a real estate office in Radford, which was found on the Virginia Tech campus after the attack, officials says.
Police have managed to piece together his last movements but not his motive.
Ross Truett Ashley, a Radford University student, has been identified as the gunman who shot a Virginia Tech police officer and then turned the gun on himself
According to police, Ross Truett Ashley, who was enrolled part-time at Radford, entered a real estate office with a handgun and demanded the keys to an employee’s vehicle.
The vehicle, a Mercedes SUV, was found the next day on Virginia Tech’s campus following the shooting.
According to police, Ross Truett Ashley shot Deriek Crouse while the officer was sitting in his car at about 12:15 EST on Thursday, before fleeing on foot.
Ross Truett Ashley’s body was found in a nearby car park by a police officer. He had suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Investigators have so far found no link between the gunman and Deriek Crouse, a married father of five and 39-year-old army veteran.
Virginia Tech was the site of the deadliest US school shooting in the country’s history, in 2007, when a gunman killed 32 people and himself.
About 150 students gathered in a candlelight vigil on Thursday evening at the campus memorial for the shootings of four years ago.
“Our hearts are broken again,” the university president, Charles W. Steger, said.
An official vigil was planned on Friday night.
Deriek Crouse was one of about 50 officers on the campus force and had served there for four years, joining about six months after the 2007 massacre.
Thirty-two people died in April 2007 when a 23-year-old South Korean, Seung-Hui Cho, went on a gun rampage before killing himself.
Deriek Crouse’s death came on the same day Virginia Tech appealed against a $55,000 fine imposed by the government for not reacting quickly enough to the 2007 massacre.
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The circadian rhythm (time clock) of human body has to be respected in order to be in a good state of health. Repeated lack of sleep, working at night can lead to obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, high blood sugar, type 2 diabetes and depression.
Researchers from Boston, Massachusetts, have conducted a study that enrolled two groups of women, for almost 20 years. The study, which appeared this December in PLoS Medicine, showed that women who worked rotating night shifts had greater risk of type 2 diabetes than women with regular hours. The risk increases in time, longer they have worked, greater the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
“The association is quite strong and very consistent between the two cohorts. For nurses who spent a couple of years working rotating night shifts, there was a minimal increase in risk. But, for those with a very long duration of rotating shifts, the risk was almost 60 percent higher. This provides pretty strong evidence that the longer the rotating night shift work, the greater the risk of diabetes,” said Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
In the study, rotating shift work means working three or more nights a month, plus days and evenings. An Pan, Eva S. Schernhammer, Qi Sun, Frank B. Hu conducted the U.S. Nurses’ Health Studies I and II. In NHS I 69,269 women aged 42–67 were enrolled, and 107,915 women aged 25–42 in NHS II. They had no diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or cancer and were followed for almost 20 years. In this period of time, 6,165 women in the NHS I and 3,961 women in the second group developed type 2 diabetes.
Women who did rotating shift work were compared with women who did not. Women who did one to two years of shift work had a 5 percent increase in type 2 diabetes, those who worked shifts for 3 to 9 years had a 20 percent, and nurses who worked for 10 to 19 years on rotating shifts had a 40 percent greater risk of type 2 diabetes. Women with more than 20 years on a rotating night shift had the highest risk, with a 58 percent increase in the risk of type 2 diabetes.
The medical scientists adjusted the data to account for body mass index and the linkage between shift work and type 2 diabetes was reduced. Overweight and especially obesity appeared to be greater risks for diabetes.
The researchers said “results suggest that an extended period of rotating night shift work is associated with a modestly increased risk of type 2 diabetes in women, which appears to be partly mediated through body weight. Proper screening and intervention strategies in rotating night shift workers are needed for prevention of diabetes“.
Nurses who did night shifts for over 20 years had a 58 percent risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a recently published study shows.
An association between varying or unusual work schedules and obesity and metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure and insulin resistance, was pointed out by some studies. Those factors are linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.
Several studies on Japanese men showed a link between working the night shift and type 2 diabetes, but the linkage for men is still to be documented.
An Institute of Medicine report on breast cancer and environmental factors cited this week “growing evidence” that rotating shift work is “probably associated with increase risk for breast cancer“. They said more research is needed to establish the linkage and to find out what measures (aside from renouncing rotating shifts job) could lower these effects.
Why rotating shift work can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes and breast cancer?
Probably there are biological and behavioral reasons. Rotating shift work unbalance the body’s circadian rhythm (its natural time clock), the body’s ability to balance its need for energy is affected. This can lead to high blood sugar (hyperglycemia) and insulin resistance, both the key notes of type 2 diabetes.
Working on rotating shifts also disrupts eating and sleeping behaviors, and there was a tendency to smoke more between those who worked rotating shifts.
The hormonal balance (their secretion and their function) is disturbed by irregular sleep patterns, scientists think. Also “clock genes” are affected by lack of sleep or irregular sleep patterns, and this may set off cancerous cell growth in the breast tissue.
Obesity is a common factor in type 2 diabetes and in breast cancer, and shift workers appear to be at greater risk of weight gain, cause they eat at night.
“Shift work is an important risk factor for obesity and type 2 diabetes. This study increases the awareness of diabetes risk among people who work on a rotating shift, and the importance of diabetes screening, detection and prevention in this high risk group,” Dr. Frank Hu said.
However, more research is needed to confirm the findings, the scientists said.
Around 346 million persons have diabetes worldwide. Lots of them have type 2 diabetes, commonly caused by excess body weight, sedentary life, and lack of exercise. Untreated diabetes can damage eyes, arteries, heart, kidneys and nerves.
Apparently rotating shift work is becoming more common in an industrial society, thus is necessary to find a balance between work an rest, sleep and activity, to try to exercise at least two times a week, to have healthy meals and to see a general practitioner regularly.
Bautista Riera, a 12-year-old boy from Argentina, is in a critical condition being paralyzed from the neck down after going on a sudden-drop ride at Disneyland Paris.
Bautista Riera is in intensive care after riding the amusement park’s Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attraction which simulates a lift plunging 199 ft after being hit by lightning.
According to reports, x-rays showed the boy suffered a “spine and bone contusion”.
Bautista Riera reportedly complained to his father, a doctor, that he felt sick shortly after leaving the ride and was taken to the park’s infirmary.
The boy’s condition rapidly deteriorated and he was taken to Paris’ Necker hospital for children.
By the time Bautista Riera arrived at the hospital’s neurology unit he was already paralyzed in his upper limbs.
The paralysis quickly spread to his lower limbs and he suffered respiratory arrest before being rushed to intensive care.
According to a report in the Buenos Aires Herald, Bautista Riera suffered spinal cord injuries and is in a serious condition.
Bautista Riera, 12, is in a critical condition being paralyzed from the neck down after going on a sudden-drop ride at Disneyland Paris
Bautista Riera’s uncle told the paper that the boy’s condition has stabilized although he is breathing with the help of an artificial respirator after suffering complications and pneumonia.
Disneyland Paris is Europe’s most popular tourist attraction and the Tower of Terror, which was opened in 2008, is one of its most adrenalin-fuelled rides.
On its website Disneyland Paris states: “Prepare yourself for a mind-blowing adrenalin rush The ascent is followed by a dizzying drop faster than the speed of gravity. The abyss awaits you – Drop in if you dare!”
According to the boy’s family, Bautista Riera was in good health and played rugby, basketball and practiced martial arts.
A spokesman for Disneyland Paris said Bautista Riera had been on three rides at Walt Disney Studios before feeling unwell.
The spokesman said: “When he was accompanied to the care centre, the child could walk.”
In 2009, a British teenager claimed that going on an almost identical Disney ride at the Florida park had caused her to suffer a heart attack.
In 2005, the then 16-year-old Leanne Deacon’s heart stopped and she suffered a brain hemorrhage after riding the Disney World-MGM Studios’ The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride several times.
A trial is due to start next year.
Two days ago, the eccentric Irish singer Sinead O’Connor announced she would wed her unknown boyfriend of three months in a ceremony on Thursday.
Sinead O’Connor tied the knot for the fourth time in a quickie Las Vegas wedding on her 45th birthday yesterday.
The singer walked down the aisle with Irish therapist Barry Herridge, who she met online, at the famous Little White Wedding Chapel in Nevada’s Sin City.
The wedding ceremony lasted just 15 minutes and the couple invited no guests – even Sinead O’Connor’s four children – apart from the cameramen.
Sinead O’Connor dressed unusually girly and looked to have lost weight, looking more like her Nothing Compares 2 U heyday in the 1990s.
She wore a strapless pastel pink maxi dress and chunky pink metallic and silver heels.
Sinead O’Connor failed to conceal her numerous tattoos, including a massive design on her chest, and is still sporting her trademark shaved head.
Sinead O’Connor tied the knot for the fourth time with Irish therapist Barry Herridge in a quickie Las Vegas wedding on her 45th birthday
Barry Herridge wore a suit over a pink shirt that matched Sinead O’Connor’s dress and had a red rose in his lapel that matched her bouquet.
The couple looked smitten with one another, sharing a passionate kiss for the cameras and staring into each other’s eyes as they walked sown the isle after being pronounced husband and wife.
The newlyweds cuddled up on a pink Cadillac – reminiscent of Elvis Presley’s iconic car – before heading to a hotel in the gambling capital of America.
Sinead O’Connor even shed a few tears as she sat with her new husband before they headed to a hotel for their wedding night.
The singer has only been dating Barry Herridge, who works as a counselor for people with addiction problems in Dublin, for three months.
Barry Herridge replied after Sinead O’Connor wrote on her blog in September that she was “sex-starved” and asked potential suitors to apply online.
“Barry sent me this wonderful email, which just took my heart away,” Sinead O’Connor told the Irish Independent before flying out from Heathrow to the U.S yesterday.
“It had to be him… I had no intention of getting married again but Barry was extremely persuasive. He proposed to me on every single date we have had since August. He is extremely persuasive – and other unprintable things.”
Sinead O’Connor and Barry Herridge met up at a coffee shop and apparently “talked for hours”.
He revealed the contents of the email to the paper.
“I was getting off a train at Connolly Station one morning when I saw this woman acting strangely on the platform,” Barry Herridge said.
“At first I didn’t know what she was doing, and then I realized she was playing hopscotch. It wasn’t Sinead but a business woman in a suit and in her 30s, just having a bit of fun.
“I wondered why more women that age weren’t doing the same thing? And it struck me that this was exactly what Sinead was doing with her search for love, having fun, and I told Sinead about this woman in my first email.”
Barry Herridge added: “I love Sinead more than anyone I have ever met, or anybody I will ever meet. I am going to look after her.”
Sinead O’Connor said she didn’t want a big ceremony.
“I’ve been married before, but I’ve never had my dream wedding in Vegas. I wanted to do it there because it’s casual, quick, not religious and, most of all, very romantic.
“People always complain, <<you never invited me to your wedding>>, but I prefer casual weddings. I’m so happy.”
The newlyweds have no time for a honeymoon as Sinead O’Connor is due back in Dublin tomorrow to attend the aftershow party for a concert marking the 50th anniversary of Amnesty International.
The Little White Chapel has been the venue for several celebrity weddings, including that between Britney Spears and childhood friend Jason Alexander in 2004.
Other notable ceremonies include the wedding of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore in 1987, that between Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow in 1966, and Judy Garland and Mark Herron in 1965.
Sinead O’Connor announced on her blog on Wednesday she was marrying Barry Herridge in an “undisclosed location”, although reports speculated they would be walking down the aisle in Las Vegas.
The singer wrote: “With enormous joy myself and my beloved boyfriend Barry Herridge will be getting married tomorrow, December 8th 2011 at <<an un-disclosed location>> in my absolute dream wedding ceremony.
“We will post a photo or two here on the site as soon as possible afterward. Very happy girl. : )”
Sinead O’Connor also posted a picture up of the couple beaming at the camera.
She kept the happy news quiet when she appeared on the Ian Dempsey breakfast radio show on Today FM the day before, telling him she had no gossip to share.
But Barry Herridge rang back into the show on Wednesday morning to reveal all to the host about the wedding.
Ian Dempsey wrote on his Twitter page following their chat: “So Sinead O’Connor was holding back yesterday. Boyfriend Barry Herridge got back to us today to reveal that they will wed tomorrow.
“And it’s Sinead’s birthday tomorrow too. Congrats to them both. And Sinead’s new album is sounding great too.”
Sinead O’Connor shocked the nation by writing a series of candid blog posts on her website earlier this year, detailing specific requirements she was looking for in a man.
The singer wrote in September that she was in “desperate need of a very sweet sex-starved man”, but specified that they “must be no younger than 44, must not be named Brian or Nigel, must be blind enough to think I’m gorgeous, has to be employed and he has to like his mother”.
And it seems Sinead O’Connor is found her perfect partner in Barry Herridge after a whirlwind romance.
Sinead O’Connor has been married three times before – including to music producer John Reynolds, journalist Nicholas Sommerlad and most recently to Steve Cooney, who she wed in July 2010, but divorced in April this year.
Sinead O’Connor has four children from various relationships.
Amanda Price, wife of a Mississippi high school football coach was gunned down Monday night after she found a man lurking in the family house backyard.
Amanda Price’s husband, Ron, was also shot as he sprinted outside their New Albany home to help her, but he is expected to recover.
New Albany Police Chief David Grisham says the shooting happened just before 10:00 p.m. on Monday.
David Grisham said Amanda Price had gone outside to take their dog out and startled someone, who shot her in the chest when she screamed.
Hearing the screams and gunshots, Ron Price, who was inside the house, ran out to help when he was shot in the shoulder.
Amanda Price, her husband Ron and their 3-year-old daughter Molly
Ron Price, who was able to call 911 after he was shot, was treated and released early Tuesday morning from North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo.
The couple’s three-year-old daughter Molly, who was inside the house at the time of the shooting, was not hurt.
New Albany Mayor Tim Kent told WTVA.com that the couple was always willing to help in the community.
Tim Kent said: “They just have a soft spot in their heart for everybody.”
Police have few clues about the killer, but believe he may be linked to a series of car burglaries in the area at about the same time as the shooting.
Chief David Grisham told Fox 13: “The only description we have at this time is approximately 6 foot, dressed in dark clothing, with a mask over his face.”
Ron Price had recently completed his fourth season as head coach for the New Albany Bulldogs.
Amanda Price was a speech pathologist in the same school district.
A $20,000 reward has been offered for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer.
Artist Ron Piccirillo claims to have cracked a 500-year-old mystery surrounding the Mona Lisa – by spotting a series of zoo animals hidden in the painting.
Ron Piccirillo, an amateur oil painter and graphic designer based in New York, believes it is possible to see the heads of a lion, an ape and a buffalo floating in the air around the subject’s head along with a crocodile or snake coming out of the left hand side of her body.
He says he followed a series of instructions set out by the artist Leonardo da Vinci to decipher the image and claims his discovery cracks open the meaning of the work, painted in 1519.
The secret is that the Mona Lisa is actually a representation of envy.
The theory is likely to lead to controversy among art critics, many of whom having theories of their own about the painting and the Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile.
Ron Piccirillo claims to have found similar hidden images in works by other Renaissance painters such as Titian and Rafael.
It was when he turned the painting on its side that he first noticed the lion’s head.
Artist Ron Piccirillo claims to have cracked a 500-year-old mystery surrounding the Mona Lisa - by spotting a series of zoo animals hidden in the painting
Ron Piccirillo said: “Then I noticed the buffalo and I thought: <<Oh my God>>. Then I realized I was really onto something. I just could not believe what I was looking at. I realized, <<this is what I’ve been looking for>>.”
The artist also said he had found either a crocodile or snake by following the instructions of Leonardo da Vinci’s journals.
Looking at the painting from a 45 degree angle from the left, the path that runs in the scenery behind the Mona Lisa appears almost serpentine.
This was supposedly where the angle of the light was best and led to the least amount of reflection. From a diagram in Leonardo da Vinci’s journals which explained this, Ron Piccirillo called it the “D-point”.
The instructions also called for the viewer to put their eyes on the same level as the horizon in the painting.
From this he was able to make sense of the line in the passage about how to paint envy which reads: “Make her heart gnawed by a swelling serpent”, as there is such a creature emerging from her right breast.
Ron Piccirillo then spent two months pouring over the Leonardo da Vinci’s journals before coming up on a passage about envy.
“It’s amazing because everyone thought that da Vinci never wrote about the Mona Lisa, but now it appears that he did.”
The passage in question talks about how the artist trying to paint envy must “give her a leopard’s skin, because this creature kills the lion out of envy and by deceit” – a reference to the hidden lion’s head.
Once Ron Piccirillo cracked that everything else fell into place.
He said: “This is really about viewing perspective. Imagine standing in front of an oval line drawing. It is obviously an oval, but if you view it from the left or right, at a large enough angle, the oval turns into a circle.
“This is the key to understanding how Leonardo and many other Renaissance artists hid subjects in their artwork. If you know to look for them, they are there.
“I don’t know why this has been missed for so long and I can’t tell you what it means – that’s one for the art historians.
“Da Vinci could have been using horses heads as some kind of religious code, but as to why they are hidden I have no idea.
“It’s not every day you spot something that has gone unnoticed for 500 years.”
Ron Piccirillo added: “It is not just in da Vinci’s works.
“I have seen these hidden images in works by Titian and Rafael and also all over the Sistine Chapel.”
Last year Italy’s National Committee for Cultural Heritage claimed revealed that magnification of high-resolution images of the Mona Lisa’s eyes has revealed letters and numbers.
Infra-red images have also revealed Leonardo da Vinci’s preparatory drawings that lie behind layers of varnish and paint.
Leonardo da Vinci began work on the painting in 1503, and it now hangs in the Louvre in Paris in a concrete, climate-controlled bunker where she can only be viewed through two sheets of bulletproof glass set 25 cm apart.
The work, also known as “La Gioconda”, is believed to have portrayed the wife of Francesco del Giocondo.
The title is a play on her husband’s name, and also means “the jolly lady” in Italian.
The fight to uncover Leonardo da Vinci’s hidden battle scene
A row between art historians over the uncovering of Leonardo da Vinci’s “hidden” but finest work is reaching a climax.
The Battle of Anghiari is believed to have been painted in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence underneath a 16th century fresco and has been the subject of an argument for the last 35 years.
The Battle of Anghiari is believed to have been painted in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence underneath a 16th century fresco and has been the subject of an argument for the last 35 years
To see if the painting really is there could see the destruction of the fresco and 150 art experts from around the world have been protested against the speculative work.
Last week a 2 cm cavity was drilled into the wall, according to the Guardian, and there were traces of an organic pigment found by a tiny camera inserted into the wall.
The work is being done by Maurizio Seracini who features in Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code.
The fresco that is currently in place is the Battle of Marciano in Val di Chiana by Giorgio Vasari and was painted in 1543, nearly 60 years after Leonardo da Vinci started his work.
The painting technique, used experimenting with an oil paint technique, was not successful and he abandoned the work, unfinished. Copies, however, have been made by other artists such as Ruben’s drawing which hangs in the Louvre.
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In December 1993, Judith Bello of Stanwood, Washington, vanished from her work place – she did not return home or pick up her three-year-old son from day care.
At the time, a massive police search was sparked into finding the 28-year-old mother.
Judith Bello’s car was later found abandoned outside a post office in Stanwood triggering a major crime investigation that would last almost two decades.
Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives feared Judith Bello had been the victim of a crime as it was deemed unlikely she would have voluntarily left her son.
Eventually Judith Bello’s profile was added to a deck of cards of unsolved homicides or missing persons.
The mystery stretching over 18 years was finally brought to a close last week when Judith Bello herself called detectives to say she was alive and well and had started a new family in California.
Judith Bello’s profile was added to a deck of cards of unsolved homicides or missing persons
Judith Bello, who was last seen on December 13, 1993, when she suddenly left her work at the National Food Corporation in Silvana, had spotted her profile on the sheriff’s website.
The woman is featured on the eight of hearts in the county’s deck of cold-case playing cards, among seven other people who vanished under suspicious circumstances.
Judith Bello is the first missing person in the 52 cards to be located.
Since receiving last week’s call, detectives worked to confirm her story and verify her identity.
Through multiple interviews with Judith Bello and her family, detectives are confident that she is alive and has three new sons, sheriff’s Chief Kevin Prentiss said.
The investigation revealed that Judith Bello left her family because of marital problems and has escaped the state in August 1994.
It is not known why Judith Bello did not contact her family or the sheriff’s office until now.
“There are a lot of reasons why people go missing, and not all of them are bad,” Kevin Prentiss told HeraldNet.
“Sometimes people just don’t want to be found.”
Detectives have since put Judith Bello in contact with her family, who had helped to confirm her identity.
“Everybody is happy,” her brother Roberto Bello told HeraldNet.
The family had much to celebrate when they gathered for Thanksgiving last week, Robert Bello said.
“We finally found out that she is alive. We also have three (new) nephews,” he added.
Judith Bello explained that she left because of serious problems with her husband and did not reach out to her family because she was scared of her husband and feared that he would cause problems for her siblings, Robert Bello told HeraldNet.
Three months after her disappearance, Judith Bello’s husband left town with their son. Police for years were unable to locate the man.
Robert Bello said the family had not heard from his sister’s son until several years ago, when he called his grandmother in Mexico before she died.
They have remained in contact with their nephew, now 21.
The family is hopeful that they will be physically reunited with Judith Bello soon and several of her brothers are planning to go to Fontana to be with her for Christmas, Robert Bello said.
“I think it gives hope to other people whose loved ones are missing,” Kevin Prentiss said in the HeraldNet report.
Detectives created the deck in 2008 in hopes of generating leads on unsolved homicides and missing-persons cases.
The cards were handed out in jail and prisons with a reward offered for viable tips.
US President Barack Obama got into the holiday spirit last night as the First Family lit up the new National Christmas Tree at White House.
President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and their daughters Sasha and Malia took the stage next to Santa Claus and Kermit the Frog and officially marked the start of the Christmas season with some carolling before they flipped the switch.
The 26ft Colorado blue spruce was planted in March on the Ellipse, a park that lies between the White House and the National Mall.
Strong winds in February toppled the previous tree, which stood in the park since 1978.
President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and their daughters Sasha and Malia took the stage next to Santa Claus and Kermit the Frog and officially marked the start of the Christmas season
In remarks delivered during the tree-lighting ceremony, attended by hundreds, Barack Obama briefly retold the story of the birth of Jesus Christ and linked the religious leader to his own faith.
“And He grew up to become a leader with a servant’s heart who taught us a message as simple as it is powerful: that we should love God, and love our neighbour as ourselves.
“That teaching has come to encircle the globe. It has endured for generations and today it lies at the heart of my Christian faith and that of millions of Americans,” President Obama said.
Barack Obama urged the crowd to be generous and to help others in need during the holidays.
“In this season of hope, let’s help those who need it most: the homeless, the hungry, the sick and shut-in,” Barack Obama said.
“In this season of plenty, let’s reach out to those who struggle to find work or provide for their families.”
President Barack Obama welcomed troops returning home in time for the holiday, and asked Americans to express their gratitude to service members.
“In this season of generosity, let’s give thanks and honour to our troops and our veterans and their families who’ve sacrificed so much for us,” he said.
Barack Obama was joined at the ceremony by his wife, Michelle; daughters Sasha and Malia; and mother-in-law Marian Robinson.
Before the ladies hit the switch, President Obama said: “This is the new tree. I know it’s not quite as big as the old tree. But it’s going to take time to grow. But we’re going to fill it up with some spirit and start a new tradition right now.”
Michelle Obama also took the stage to read Clement Clarke Moore’s poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas” with Muppet star Kermit the Frog and Santa Claus, as children gathered around.
The lighting ceremony, hosted by television’s Carson Daly, included performances of Christmas carols and tunes by pop group Big Time Rush, English singer Ellie Goulding, pop band OneRepublic, country singer Rodney Atkins, soul songstress Marsha Ambrosius and the Airmen of Note, a jazz ensemble of the United States Air Force.
The new National Christmas Tree was planted in March in a New Jersey nursery.
The ceremony marks the 89th holiday tree lighting.
The tradition began with President Calvin Coolidge in 1923.
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A study of Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands shows that type 2 diabetes could be reversed in just 4 months by simply following a low-calorie diet.
The new research results show that people who reduced their calorific intake in their daily diet experienced a far greater improvement of type 2 diabetes condition – and their health in general – than any medication offered.
The study conclusion says that life-saving insulin would no longer be needed to combat the disorder, cardiac function would improve and dangerous fats building up around patients’ hearts would be significantly reduced.
As obesity levels soar, type 2 diabetes is fast emerging as one of the biggest priorities for the health profession.
The disorder is thought to be driven by junk food diets and a lack of exercise.
The Leiden University research results show that people who reduced their calorific intake in their daily diet experienced a far greater improvement of type 2 diabetes - and their health in general - than any medication offered
Dr. Sebastiaan Hammer, the study’s lead author, told The Express: “It is striking to see how a relatively simple intervention of a very low-calorie diet effectively cures Type 2 diabetes.
“Moreover, these effects are long term, illustrating the potential of this method.
“Lifestyle interventions may have more powerful beneficial cardiac effects than medication in these patients.”
The research has been hailed as a breakthrough which could revolutionize the treatment of what was thought to be an incurable lifelong condition.
Dr. Sebastiaan Hammer added that the results showed significant improvements in patients after just 16 weeks of following a low-calorie diet.
Some 90% of diabetic patients have type 2 diabetes, the form which can be caused by being overweight or obese.
The remainder 10% patients have type 1, which is believed to be genetic.
Scientists believe excess fat upsets the working of insulin – a key hormone which delivers sugar to cells – and this can lead to type 2 diabetes.
Those with the condition are five times more at risk of heart attacks and strokes and can also suffer damage to nerve endings in feet, cells in the eye’s retina and kidney disease.
George Michael, who is in AKH hospital in Vienna suffering from severe pneumonia, has been joined by his 75-year-old father Kyriacos Panayiotou – known as Jack Panos – as well as older sisters Melanie, 49 and Yioda, 53.
George Michael’s former boyfriend, art dealer Kenny Goss, 53, is also due to join the group.
His current boyfriend, hair stylist Fadi Fawaz has been with the star throughout his ordeal.
George Michael, who is in AKH hospital in Vienna suffering from severe pneumonia, has been joined by his family
Kenny Goss, who split from Michael in 2009, will jet to Vienna from the US, where he has galleries in both Dallas and New York.
A friend said: “Kenny of course is very concerned. Kenny has been very supportive throughout this.
“He is planning to come. He’s been in touch every single day. They are very close still. Kenny and George will always be the best of friends.”
The AKH is Europe’s largest hospital with 1,600 doctors, including world experts in pneumonia treatment. Experts say that pneumonia is especially difficult to treat because it is hard to diagnose, meaning that immediate specialist care is often vital in severe cases such as George Michael’s.
Specialists at AKH decided to bring in the futuristic Triadyne Proventa bed – which helps breathing pneumonia patients in a critical condition – which is believed to have saved the George Michael’s life.
According to his friends, George Michael, 48, was fortunate to be taken ill in Vienna, where he was able to be admitted to a hospital which is renowned for its “pioneering, amazing” work with regards to the potentially fatal illness.
Australian-born Fadi Fawaz, 38, appeared tired and drawn as he left the hospital where George Mchael is battling severe pneumonia during the weekend.
Fadi Fawaz anxiously fiddled with his mobile telephone after visiting Vienna’s AKH Hospital where he has kept a vigil by George Michael’s bedside for a week.
Fadi Fawaz was accompanied by two women, believed to by George Michael’s sisters, one of whom held her head in her hands in the hospital lobby as she waited for the car to collect them.
George Michael’s fans from across Europe have also visited the hospital in the Austrian capital to wish him well.
George Michael was rushed to hospital last week after he fell ill just hours before he was due on stage in the city.
As a result, on Friday, the rest of his Symphonica tour, which was due to go on until Christmas, was called off.
There were also claims George Michael had been in a coma and that he is also suffering from heart problems, though, have been dismissed by aides.
On Friday, a statement was issued revealing George Michael’s condition is ‘severe community acquired pneumonia.’
Prof. Dr. Christoph Zielinski, Chairman, Department of Medicine General Hospital – Medical University Vienna, Austria and Prof. Dr. Thomas Staudinger, Specialist in Internal Medicine and Intensive Care Medicine said then: “George Michael has severe community acquired pneumonia and is being treated as an inpatient.
“His condition has stabilized and he is responding to treatment. From the current point of view, the time until recovery cannot be estimated, but he will not be able to perform the rest of the tour. Besides medical treatment, complete rest and peace and quiet are mandatory.”
Karin Fehringer, spokeswoman for the AKH hospital yesterday declined to comment on George Michael’s condition, but said: “We are Europe’s largest hospital and we have advanced specialist care for pneumonia treatment.”
Christophe Champenois, a 33-year-old man from Meaux, near Paris, has been charged with murder after allegedly killing his 3-year-old son, Bastien, by locking him in a washing machine and turning it on.
Christophe Champenois allegedly stripped Bastien naked and shut him in the washing machine to punish him for a prank at nursery school – throwing a classmate’s drawing down a toilet.
The man is then said to have run the cold cycle wash for a few minutes at their house, in the village of Germigny-l’Eveque.
Bastien, whom neighbours described as blond and angelic, died of head injuries on Friday night, French police said.
Bastien’s mother, Charlene Champenois, 25, recovered him from the machine, according to Le Parisien newspaper.
Charlene Champenois then ran to her neighbour, known only as Alice, and told her that Bastien had “fallen down the stairs”.
Alice told Le Parisien: “I picked him up and his limbs were as loose as those of a rag doll.
“I felt his heart beat for the last time and then he died.”
Bastien Champenois, whom neighbours described as blond and angelic, died of head injuries on Friday night
Bastien’s five-year-old sister, Maud, told Alice’s husband that it was not the first time the boy’s father had put him in the washing machine as punishment.
Neighbours told Le Parisienne that Bastien had been repeatedly abused – by being locked up for hours in a cupboard and also by being left on a window sill for hours wrapped in a blanket.
“Bastien was an unwanted child,” claimed Evelyne, his grandmother.
“On the day he was born, his father was out drinking and when I told him he had a son, he said that he didn’t want him.”
A judge in Meaux placed unemployed Christophe Champenois under investigation for murdering his child and charged his wife, a mother of seven, with failing to prevent a crime and failing to assist a person in danger.
Both parents were placed in custody and their surviving children taken into care.
One of the most common flowering plants, foxglove, could soon be used to stop the spread of breast cancer, say scientists at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.
The scientists have discovered that a drug based on foxglove (Digitalis), which produces distinctive tall spires of pink tubular bells in the summer, can dramatically slow the migration of malignant cells to other parts of the body.
The research reveals that digoxin, a long-established drug based on chemicals found in foxglove, can block the production of a protein called HIF-1, which has been implicated in the spread of breast tumours.
Digoxin has been used for decades to treat conditions such as congestive heart failure and irregular heartbeats.
The latest discovery suggests the cheap and easily available medicine could also be deployed in the fight against cancer.
Earlier this year the same team found foxglove could reduce the spread of prostate cancer in men by around 24%.
Research leader, Dr. Gregg Semenza, from the Institute for Cell Engineering at the university said: “This is really exciting.”
“Our findings warrant clinical trials to determine if the doses (used in animal studies) are enough to sufficiently block HIF-1 and slow breast cancer growth and spread.”
Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that a drug based on foxglove (Digitalis), which produces distinctive tall spires of pink tubular bells in the summer, can dramatically slow the migration of malignant cells to other parts of the body
Foxglove was one of the first plants to be used for the development of a pharmaceutical medicine.
In 1785, country doctor William Withering noticed a remarkable improvement in a patient with congestive heart failure after they took a traditional herbal remedy made from the plant.
William Withering identified that the active ingredient was a substance called digitalis and wrote about his findings more than 200 years ago in a book entitled “An account of the foxglove and some of its medical uses”.
GlaxoSmithKline eventually turned it into a tablet called digoxin, used for heart failure as well as atrial fibrillation, an abnormal heart rhythm.
In recent months, new evidence has emerged that the traditional remedy could also play a vital role in treating cancer.
In April this year, the Johns Hopkins research team reported the results of a study involving 47,000 men in the journal Cancer Discovery.
These showed the drug appeared to stop the growth of prostate cancer in nearly one in four men.
But researchers warned this did not yet provide proof that digoxin was responsible for the benefits and warned against the drug, which can have side-effects such as nausea, headache and breast enlargement in men, being given to healthy people to prevent tumours.
Laboratory tests show digoxin appears to hinder the production of HIF-1, a protein that controls the genes which allow cancer cells to survive in low-oxygen environments, such as deep inside a solid tumour.
Experiments have also revealed that in women with breast cancer, an increase in HIF-1 levels is closely linked to metastasis – the spread of tumour cells – and a reduced likelihood of survival.
To see how the HIF-1 protein behaved when exposed to digoxin, researchers transplanted human breast cancer cells into mice and, two weeks later, gave them daily injections of either the drug itself or saline.
The results showed those given digoxin had fewer cancer cells spread to the lungs – one of the major sites that breast tumours migrate to – and tumours that had spread were smaller than in the saline group.
The findings could be even more significant because the research team found evidence that cancer cells start to spread from the breast to the lung much earlier than was previously thought.
This could mean that if further trials confirm the benefits of the drug, it’s possible it could be routinely used in women with aggressive tumours to try and reduce the risk of them spreading.
Paul Mason, a British man who at one time was the fattest in the world is pleading with the NHS to remove unsightly flaps of flesh after he managed to lose more than half of his body weight.
Paul Mason, 50, a former postman from Ipswich, who weighed 60 stone (840 lbs) two years ago, underwent a gastric bypass after he was told he otherwise faced certain death.
The man has been left with rolls of unsightly excess skin after the extreme weight loss and now needs an operation to remove the flaps hanging from his stomach, arms and legs.
NHS has refused to perform cosmetic surgery, insisting that Paul Mason needs to maintain a stable weight before it can be considered.
Paul Mason, who can now leave the house in a motorized wheelchair, said: “I just need a little bit more help. I feel like I have been just left high and dry.
“I need this operation to be able to get my life back, to be able to get back into society. It is stopping me living a reasonable life.”
Paul Mason, who weighed 70 st – or half a ton – at his heaviest, used to consume 20,000 calories a day, 10 times the normal for the average man. He said his binge eating was spurred by heartbreak in his twenties at the time of his father’s death and deterioration of his mother’s health.
He quit his job as a postman when his weight prevented him from completing his deliveries. Paul Mason was transferred to a sorting office, where he worked until 1989 when he was sacked and imprisoned for six months for stealing from customers’ letters.
The man spent around £30,000 ($45,000) a year on food and sometimes went naked to avoid having to get dressed.
Then in 2009, Paul Mason underwent a £30,000 ($45,000) operation on the NHS at Chichester Hospital which drastically reduced the amount he could eat.
Paul Mason, who weighed 70 st - or half a ton - at his heaviest, used to consume 20,000 calories a day, 10 times the normal for the average man
Now Paul Mason’s frame has shrunk so much that he has been left with swathes of loose skin.
Surgery can be used to remove the excess skin but as the treatment is for cosmetic and not clinical reasons, it is not automatically available on the NHS.
Paul Mason will have to pay around £1,500 ($2,300) to £6,000 ($9,200) if he wants to have the surgery privately depending on the amount of flesh that needs to be removed.
His care bill costs taxpayers an estimated £100,000 ($150,000) a year and it is believed to have topped £1million ($1.5 million) over the past 15 years.
On one occasion firefighters had to be called out to demolish the front wall of his former home so they could drive a fork lift truck inside to lift him out and put him into an ambulance when he needed a hernia operation in 2002.
Paul Mason, who has a new target weight of 23 stone (322 lbs), is angered by the NHS’s decision.
“My consultant says he’s always seen there is a skinny man waiting to get out but it is so frustrating to have got so far and just be at the final hurdle.
“I have times when I just sit and cry but then I think <<I’m not going to let it get me down>>.”
NHS has remained firm about its decision, stating that Paul Mason, who also suffered a heart attack following his gastric bypass, must wait before he has further cosmetic surgery.
An NHS Suffolk spokesperson said: “Before a patient has an operation it is important to take a balanced decision that is in the best interest of that patient.
“In cases like this NHS Suffolk has a panel of people – including clinicians – who decide whether the patient should have such an operation.
“A patient must have a stable weight before he or she is considered.”
Paul Mason also claimed that the NHS failed to help him as his size soared and instead of receiving a treatment programme to manage his weight, he said he was told in 1996: “Ride your bike more.”
The man now hopes to learn how to drive and to use his experience to help others with eating disorders, including anorexia.
Paul Mason has also set up his own craft company to produce Christmas tree decorations and birthday cards.
The heaviest man of all time was American John Minnoch, who weighed 100.2 stone (1402.8 lbs). He died in 1983 aged 42.
Paul Mason’s old diet:
Breakfast: A packet of bacon, four sausages, four eggs, bread and hash browns.
Lunch: Four portions of fish and chips with two kebabs.
Dinner: A takeaway such as a curry or pizza
Snacks: Pastries, chocolate, crisps
Paul Mason’s new diet:
Breakfast: Toast
Lunch or dinner: Now he has just one main meal a day usually consisting of lean meat fresh fruit and vegetables
Two female carers take up to four hours to wash Paul Mason because his size makes it impossible for him to clean himself.
The women, who visit him three times a day, have to apply cream to every inch of his bulging body to stop chafing.
He manages to soap his upper body himself and the nurses wipe him down.
They used to look after him from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00p.m., but Ipswich NHS was forced to axe the service because of cutbacks.
Paul Mason, who wears incontinence pads, has not walked properly since 2000 and wears size XXXXXXXXL clothes.
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George Michael is being treated in the Austrian capital Vienna and cared for by medics in a private house after he was hospitalized for one day, being diagnosed with pneumonia.
According to friends, George Michael, 48, is responding “well” to treatment.
As a result, George Michael was yesterday forced to cancel a number of dates on his Symphonica tour, including last night’s show in Strasbourg, France and two planned concerts in Cardiff this weekend.
A statement yesterday afternoon said: “Singer George Michael has been forced, to postpone the Cardiff dates (26th and Sunday 27th of November) of his Symphonica tour due to illness.
“The singer recently postponed tour dates in Vienna and Strasbourg under doctor’ s orders after being diagnosed with pneumonia and he is currently receiving treatment.”
Plans to reschedule the dates would be provided when available.
George Michael is being treated in the Austrian capital Vienna and cared for by medics in a private house after he was hospitalized for one day, being diagnosed with pneumonia
Another statement on George Michael’s website said the singer was cancelling the Cardiff concerts with “great regret” due to his “ongoing illness”.
George Michael’s aides dismissed claims in the Austrian media that the singer was also suffering from heart problems.
“He got ill, it’s very cold in that part of Europe, and then he got pneumonia. He’s responding well to treatment, very good. But he has to rest. He’s got to let this illness run its course.”
Friends were unsure how long George Michael would have to stay in Austria.
George Michael has also been conspicuously absent from his Twitter. The star – who has become voracious in Tweeting in recent months – has not Tweeted since November 17.
Concert promoter Manfred Leodolter said yesterday: “George Michael is still in Vienna.
“He has cancelled his next few shows including tonight’s [wed] show in Strasboug, France. Doctors have warned him for the moment against flying and he is getting rest in Vienna.”
George Michael was forced to postpone his gig in Vienna on Monday, just two hours before the show. Promoters, initially, said it was due to a throat infection.
The latest cancellations come after George Michael had to call off one of his concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in central London suffering from a viral infection. That concert was yesterday rescheduled for next May.
The latest accusation brought against former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky is that he sexually abused his own grandchild, according to his lawyer.
Jerry Sandusky is accused of molesting at least eight boys over a 15-year period.
Former Penn State coach’s lawyer Joe Amendola said the accusation comes from Jill Jones, ex-wife of one of Jerry Sandusky’s five adopted sons, Matt.
Two new cases emerged yesterday, both referring to victims under the age of 18.
Joe Amendola told ABC News: “The allegations are ridiculous and unfounded. Jerry has absolutely denied any inappropriate contact with his grandkids.”
The incident was not reported to authorities until after Jerry Sandusky was charged earlier this month, he said.
Neither the person who made the complaint, nor the alleged victims, have been publicly identified.
Jerry Sandusky adopted a total of six children with his wife Dorothy.
If the two new allegations are found to be credible they will be the first involving alleged victims who are still under the age of 18.
Their accounts will be investigated by the state’s children and youth services rather than the police as they are classified as minors.
The latest accusation brought against former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky is that he sexually abused his own grandchild, according to his lawyer
Jerry Sandusky, who maintains his innocence, faces 40 criminal counts involving the sexual abuse of eight boys beginning in the mid-1990s.
Jerry Sandusky is free on bail, but has not been required to post any bail money.
Earlier this week a judge delayed his preliminary hearing in the Centre County Courthouse for three weeks until December 13.
Joe Amendola told ABC’s Good Morning America he feared new criminal allegations would land his client in jail.
Meanwhile a grand jury indictment has revealed a shocking account by the mother of one former Central Mountain High School pupil.
The mother claims her son was frequently taken off school grounds by Jerry Sandusky despite no parental permission having been given.
According to the mother’s account, the school’s principal Karen Probst repeatedly urged her not to report the abuse allegations to police.
The mother claims neither Karen Probst nor the school counsellor took his complaints seriously and she stormed out of a meeting when they refused to act.
She said of the principal and school counsellor: “They were not helpful. They wanted me to go home and forget all about it.”
The mother, who has removed her son from the school, said the boy first met Jerry Sandusky in 2005 or 2006 through his children’s charity aged 11 or 12.
She recalls meeting Jerry Sandusky at the charity’s annual parent awards ceremony as well as frequently seeing him hanging round the school.
The mother said towards the end of eighth grade her son’s behaviour changed and he began “lashing out” and becoming “mouthy and nasty at home”.
She also said she was alerted to the possibility that something was seriously wrong one evening when her son asked her how to look up “sex weirdos”.
Believing her son was just playing a game she claims she asked him who he wanted to look up and he replied “Jerry”.
The boy then allegedly went on to tell her that he was being taken out of school several times a week, sometimes on a daily basis by Jerry Sandusky.
According to both the alleged victim and his mother, football coach Steve Turchetta had authorized Jerry Sandusky to do this – despite no parental permission being given.
Realizing the seriousness of the situation she states she arranged to meet with the school counsellor.
The mother said: “I didn’t know how to start the conversation with the high school counsellor because I didn’t know how to come out and say: <<I think Jerry Sandusky is doing something to my kid>>.
“I finally said to the counsellor <<You’re a mother. I’m a mother. I have a gut feeling that something isn’t right>>.”
But the mother claims the school shrugged off her concerns, with principal Karen Probst saying: “Jerry has a heart of gold.
“He’s been around all these kids and you really should go home and think about what this is going to do to your son and your family if you do that.”
Lawyers for one of the alleged victims, identified only as Victim 4, today requested for an injunction that would stop the children’s charity that Jerry Sandusky founded The Second Mile from disbanding.
In the wake of allegations that Jerry Sandusky used the charity to get close to his victims, The Second Mile has said it was considering transferring its programs.
But Victim 4’s lawyers said that they want to make sure the company’s assets are safeguarded. The criminal charges against Jerry Sandusky could be followed by civil lawsuits.
Lawyers Benjamin Andreozzi and Jeffrey Fritz said in a statement. “We believe it is in the best interest of our clients, as well as the other victims, to ensure that the organization is being financially responsible.
“We have reached out to attorneys for The Second Mile in the hope that appropriate safeguards against the dissipation of assets can be reached, but are proceeding with these legal measures in order to protect the interests of our clients and other victims in the event we are unable to come to an agreement.”
The allegations have rocked Pennsylvania and led to the ousting of its celebrated football coach, Joe Paterno.
Aside from the case, Jerry Sandusky’s defence lawyer Mr Amendola, 63, is said to have got a teenage girl called Mary Lavasile pregnant when she was 17 and he was 49, before later marrying her.
The age of consent in Pennsylvania is 16.
Food and Drug Administration has rescinded approval of Genentech’ breast cancer drug, Avastin, saying it is not effective enough to justify the risks of taking it.
FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., said today she is revoking the agency’s approval of the breast cancer indication for Avastin (bevacizumab) after concluding that the drug has not been shown to be safe and effective for that use.
Avastin will still remain on the market as an approved treatment for certain types of colon, lung, kidney and brain cancer (glioblastoma multiforme).
“This was a difficult decision. FDA recognizes how hard it is for patients and their families to cope with metastatic breast cancer and how great a need there is for more effective treatments. But patients must have confidence that the drugs they take are both safe and effective for their intended use,” Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg said.
“After reviewing the available studies it is clear that women who take Avastin for metastatic breast cancer risk potentially life-threatening side effects without proof that the use of Avastin will provide a benefit, in terms of delay in tumor growth, that would justify those risks. Nor is there evidence that use of Avastin will either help them live longer or improve their quality of life.”
Food and Drug Administration has rescinded approval of Genentech' breast cancer drug, Avastin, saying it is not effective enough to justify the risks of taking it
Avastin’s risks include severe high blood pressure; bleeding and hemorrhaging; heart attack or heart failure; and the development of perforations in different parts of the body such as the nose, stomach, and intestines.
FDA’s decision, outlined in Dr Margaret A. Hamburg’s 69-page opinion, involves Avastin used in combination with the cancer drug paclitaxel for those patients who have not been treated with chemotherapy for their form of metastatic breast cancer known as HER2 negative. This indication must now be removed from Avastin’s product labeling.
Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg’s decision is based on an extensive record, which includes thousands of pages submitted to a public docket, data from several clinical trials and the record from a two-day hearing held in June, 2011.
Avastin was approved for metastatic breast cancer in February 2008 under the FDA’s accelerated approval program, which allows a drug to be approved based on data that are not sufficiently complete to permit full approval.
The accelerated approval program provides earlier patient access to promising new drugs to treat serious or life-threatening conditions while confirmatory clinical trials are conducted. If the clinical trials do not justify the continued approval of the drug or a specific drug indication, the agency may revoke its approval. In this case, the accelerated approval was based on promising results from one study that suggested that the drug could provide a meaningful increase in the amount of time from when treatment is started until the tumor grows or the death of the patient.
After the accelerated approval of Avastin for breast cancer, the drug’s sponsor, Genentech, completed two additional clinical trials and submitted the data from those studies to the FDA. These data showed only a small effect on tumor growth without evidence that patients lived any longer or had a better quality of life compared to taking standard chemotherapy alone – not enough to outweigh the risk of taking the drug.
FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, which is responsible for the approval of this drug, ultimately concluded that the results of these additional studies did not justify continued approval and notified Genentech it was proposing to withdraw approval of the indication.
Genentech did not agree with the Center’s evaluation of the data and, following the procedures set out in FDA regulations, requested a hearing on the Center’s withdrawal proposal, with a decision to be made by the Commissioner. That two-day hearing, which took place June 28-29, 2011, included recommendations from the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC), voting 6-0 in favor of withdrawing approval of Avastin’s breast cancer indication. After the hearing, the public docket remained open until Aug. 4, 2011. (In an earlier meeting of the ODAC, that committee had voted 12-1 in favor of the removal of the breast cancer indication from the Avastin label).
“FDA is committed to working with sponsors to bring promising cancer drugs to market as quickly as possible using tools like accelerated approval,” Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg said.
“I encourage Genentech to consider additional studies to identify if there are select subgroups of women suffering from breast cancer who might benefit from this drug.”
Demi Moore is said to have instructed her lawyers to “punish” Ashton Kutcher “financially” in revenge for the betrayal that led her to seek a divorce.
Demi Moore‘s edict is in spite of a pre-nuptial contract with Ashton Kutcher – which she insisted on when they married in 2005.
At the time, Demi Moore, now 49, wanted to prevent him ever seeking a share of her $148 million pot of assets.
Back then, Ashton Kutcher, now 33, the son of a mid-western factory worker, was just beginning his acting career while Demi Moore had a fortune built up from roles in hit films including Indecent Proposal and Disclosure.
In addition Demi Moore had a $75 million divorce settlement from her second husband, Bruce Willis.
Now Demi Moore’s career is on the wane and Ashton Kutcher is the one who commands major fees.
Demi Moore is said to have instructed her lawyers to "punish" Ashton Kutcher "financially" in revenge for the betrayal that led her to seek a divorce
Ashton Kutcher earns $750,000 an episode playing an internet billionaire in the TV sitcom Two And A Half Men and as much as $6 million a year as a successful investor in new technology projects, including Skype.
“With a pre-nuptial agreement, Ashton should be sitting pretty,” a source close to Demi Moore’s entourage said.
“These agreements are designed to protect one’s earnings during the marriage as well as one’s pre-nuptial assets.
“But Demi is furious, raging in fact – you only have to look at every photo you see of her to see the toll Ashton’s cheating has taken on her.
“She wants to punish him financially because of the way he has broken her heart. She is talking about going after a share of what he has earned since their marriage on the grounds that she contributed to much of what he has achieved.
“She is going to give him a bitter fight and, whether or not she wins, it will be an expensive lesson for him.”
Demi Moore originally consulted a divorce lawyer in early October after Ashton Kutcher allegedly had unprotected sex on their sixth wedding anniversary with Sara Leal, following a drunken hot-tub party.
It was alleged to be the second occasion Ashton Kutcher had publicly humiliated her – Brittney Jones, 21, had bragged that he seduced her at a Los Angeles home he shares with Demi Moore.
Demi Moore’s frequent travels – she also has residences in New York and an Idaho mountain resort – “have made it easy for Ashton to go on living like a bachelor”, a source close to the couple said.
“But she has to travel for her work and she believes he just totally violated her trust.”
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher went to Kabbalah marriage counselling after he begged for a second chance. They also spent a weekend on a Caribbean atoll, Parrot Cay, where they were lent a villa by Bruce Willis, who remains one of his ex-wife’s closest friends and has helped bring up their three daughters.
“She was a wreck,” the source said.
“She believes strongly in marriage and she really didn’t want to spend her middle years alone. But in the end, she just couldn’t see any way of making things work. Bruce told her he is in her corner.”
A leading US family law expert, Raoul Felder, warned last night that Demi Moore faces an expensive battle.
“There are very few grounds for overturning a pre-nuptial agreement,” Raoul Felder said.
“The only people likely to win are the lawyers for the wife and the toyboy husband, who will collect huge legal fees.”
Last week, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher tried to patch up their marriage with a make-or-break holiday to Bruce Willis’ Caribbean hideaway in Turks & Caicos.
However, despite the romantic location, Demi Moore made the heart-breaking decision to end relationship with Ashton Kutcher.
The couple jetted to one of Bruce Willis’s holiday homes, where Demi Moore, 49, apparently asked for a cast-iron guarantee that Ashton Kutcher, 33, would never stray again – and was not satisfied with the answers.
The trip was the latest in several attempts to overcome their difficulties, following a spiritual’ visit to Israel, and another with a rural retreat, complete with marriage therapist.
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher have been seeking “spiritual guidance” over their marital problems for several months.
Last week, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher tried to patch up their marriage with a make-or-break holiday to Bruce Willis' Caribbean hideaway in Turks & Caicos
In the end, Demi Moore simply could not forgive the repeated and well-documented transgressions of Ashton Kutcher.
As Demi Moore indicated in a devastatingly worded statement on Thursday, Ashton Kutcher fell short of the vows and values she believed essential to marriage, and she therefore decided to end their six-year union.
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, who are estimated to have a joint fortune of $290 million, are not thought to have a pre-nuptial agreement, so would be required to split their assets 50-50 under California law.
In her statement Demi Moore said she was filing for divorce with “great sadness and a heavy heart”, and added: “As a woman, a mother and a wife, there are certain values and vows that I hold sacred, and it is in this spirit that I have chosen to move forward with my life.”
Ashton Kutcher habitually hits the town in a big group, invariably taking along a bodyguard. When they were in a nightclub called Fluxx in San Diego in September, they were overheard debating if any of the passing women were “hot tub worthy”.
One of the girls in the tub, administrative assistant Sarah Leal, 22, claims that she and Ashton Kutcher twice had unprotected sex, but only after he had inquired after the possibility of a threesome with her and a friend.
Another woman, Megan McNutt, who was also there, described the actor as “super hot and super fun”.
She added: “If there is a hot tub there is going to be some action.”
The night in question was Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore’s sixth wedding anniversary.
Demi Moore had apparently confided to friends that she could no longer trust her husband.
Ashton Kutcher would switch off his phone for hours and she would not know where he was, or with whom. “She’s sick of feeling that she can’t trust Ashton,” said a source yesterday.
Another source added: “This has been a long time coming – heating for years and it has been soul destroying.
“They have been separate for some time, and Ashton has lately been acting as if he has wanted to be caught out. He has been hoping to provoke the end of the marriage, but she has been hanging on.”
For his part, Ashton Kutcher denied any wrongdoing, saying it was all based on assumptions. He accused the American tabloids of making up stories. It was a brazen strategy, and eventually not even his own wife believed him.
Demi Moore had already had her credulity stretched to snapping point by a previous (denied) liaison with Brittney Jones, 21, who said that Ashton Kutcher picked her up in July last year at a bowling alley and had sex with her on a sofa in his marital home in Beverly Hills days later while the actress was away.
Brittney Jones claimed that Ashton Kutcher insisted his marriage was an “open” one. She said on Thursday: “I do feel somewhat vindicated. Ashton told me that he and Demi had an open relationship and that he was not in fact cheating.”
Ashton Kutcher was also at the centre of a bizarre suggestion that he is the father of January Jones’s son, born in September.
January Jones, who plays Betty Draper in Mad Men, has never named the father, but denies it is Ashton Kutcher with whom she had a relationship from 1998 to 2001.
At the moment they met it is believed that Demi Moore banned Ashton Kutcher from even speaking about previous relationships. That period was referred to as “BD” or “Before Demi”, and she regarded his antics as unsavoury and unenlightened.
Demi Moore relaunched her career with a role in the 2004 film Charlie’s Angels, with Ashton Kutcher on her arm and a spectacular amount of beautifully executed plastic surgery, which was said to have cost nearly $1.5 million.
Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher were married at their California home on September 24, 2005. She was 42 and he was 27.
Ashton Kutcher surprised many by forming strong and genuine bonds with his stepdaughters, Rumer, Scout and Tallulah. He said the age gap wouldn’t even be mentioned if the older party was a man, and repeatedly said it didn’t bother him.
One friend said that Ashton Kutcher appeared very attentive towards his wife, but added: “In pictures, they look good together. But in real life, there is something creepy there. She doesn’t look like his mum, but she certainly doesn’t look like his wife, either.”
The image Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore presented to the world was of blissful togetherness. Ashton Kutcher tweeted: “We leave notes all over the house for each other. She loves jelly beans, so I put some in her purse. It’s a treat.”
Demi Moore referred to herself happily as “the ultimate cougar”, and continuously posed in her bikini or her underwear, possibly to remind her husband that she was still every bit as sexy as she was when they married.
Ashton Kutcher confessed he still had a wandering eye, though.
“I love all women,” he said.
“Demi knows that. She doesn’t mind so long as I look, but don’t touch. These days I do as I’m told.”
On Thursday night Ashton Kutcher gave a regretful assessment. “Marriage is one of the most difficult things in the world and unfortunately sometimes they fail.”
Shayna McEntire, a 16-year-old girl from Arizona died in an apparent suicide after she and her boyfriend broke up.
Shayna McEntire’s death has been ruled a suicide by local police officials.
“Subsequent investigation revealed she had jumped in front of a vehicle that was westbound on Elliot in an effort to end her life,” police spokesman Sgt. William Balafas reported.
Shayna McEntire, a 16-year-old girl from Arizona died in an apparent suicide after she and her boyfriend broke up
Shayna McEntire’s boyfriend remains unidentified, but his mother told a local reporter that the news of Shayna’s death lead him to try to take his own life as well. He has since been hospitalized.
On the outside, Shayna McEntire seemed to have a lot to live for. Known for her smile and good grades, she planned to graduate and go to college.
In recent weeks, friends noticed that she had been going through a tough time.
“She was just upset,” Shayna’s mother Shannon McEntire told a local paper.
“I don’t think she expected what happened.”
Friends and family members who knew Shayna McEntire were surprised by the news, remembering her as a vivacious and happy girl.
“I’ll remember her by that smile,” said friend Tim Lawrence. “It was something that could warm the absolute coldest hearts.”
Shayna McEntire was a junior at Gilbert High School about a half hour outside of Phoenix, Arizona, where she had a 3.75 grade point average.
The school’s principal notified students and said that grief counsellors would be made available.
“We are all saddened by this loss,” principal Charles Santa Cruz said in the email.
This was Shayna McEntire’s first year at the high school and while her mother said there was a difficult transition period initially, she had moved on and was hoping to play on the school’s basketball team.
“She had a flair for the dramatic. She had a beautiful smile. She was a good girl,” Shannon McEntire said.
“I just want to hear her voice and just hold her and hug her.”
Friends made a makeshift memorial on the side of the road where she died, collecting notes and photos. Some left a Bible that they signed, paying tribute to Shayna McEntire’s religious upbringing.
Shayna McEntire was hit by a male driver who was coming back from the hospital where he was visiting his father.
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