World News2

2 warnings 2 events that will occur soon after a Japanese earthquake next year in March 2011

2011-03-26T06:53:00.000-07:00

Toilet Paper Wedding dress

2011-03-07T19:49:00.000-08:00

Wedding dresses can be awfully expensive, but with a little ingenuity and a whole lot of two-ply toilet paper, a gorgeous gown can be rolled out in no time.

That's the premise, at least, behind the seventh annual Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest being hosted by the bride-on-a-budget website Cheap Chic Weddings.

Every spring, the wedding website holds a contest to see who can make the best-looking bridal-wear out of just a few simple tools: tape, glue and, most importantly, toilet paper. Contestants can sew the toilet tissue together with a needle and thread, but that's the extent of the materials allowed.
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/02/the-straight-poop-on-toilet-paper-wedding-dresses/

Interview with an Egyptian blogger

2011-02-10T05:40:00.000-08:00

China says anti-pornography campaign shut down 60,000 websites

2010-12-30T17:23:00.000-08:00

CNN) -- China's anti-pornography campaign shut down more than 60,000 pornographic websites this year, with police investigating almost 2,200 criminal cases, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported Thursday. Wang Chen, director of the Information Office of the State Council, said at a news conference that some 350 million pieces of pornographic and indecent internet content were eliminated, according to the Xinhua report.
The government launched a special campaign a year ago to rid the internet of pornographic and vulgar content, Xinhua reported.
Overall, the campaign included 2,197 criminal cases involving 4,965 people who violated Chinese law by disseminating pornography via the internet or mobile phones, the news agency said. Of those, 58 people received prison sentences exceeding five years, the report said.
Wang said the campaign had helped clean up the internet and would continue.
Xinhua reported that Wang's office has received more than 170,000 tip-offs this year, mostly about online or cellphone-based pornography, with 534 people getting rewards totaling 544,000 yuan (U.S. $81,964) for providing information.

Wang also said that 450 million people in China used the internet, a 20 percent increase over the previous year, according to Xinhua. That means that almost 34 percent of the Chinese population uses the internet, compared to a world average of 30 percent, Wang said at the news conference.

CNN's Eve Bower contributed to this story.

'Cancer drug from Jamaican plant overhyped' – urologists

2010-12-09T19:40:00.000-08:00

'Cancer drug from Jamaican plant overhyped' – urologists

Royal wedding: Prince William and Kate congratulated

2010-11-16T19:50:00.000-08:00

Prince William said Kate would be "in big trouble" if she lost her engagement ring

Prince William and girlfriend Kate Middleton have been sent congratulations from around the world after announcing their engagement.
On Tuesday, the couple, both 28, revealed they would marry next spring or summer after the prince proposed while on holiday in Kenya in October.
The prince gave her his mother Diana's engagement ring - which he said he had carried in a rucksack for three weeks.
Prince Harry said he was delighted and that it was like gaining a sister.
The engagement has made front page headlines globally, with The Times describing the pair as "the new romantics".
The announcement ends months of speculation for the couple, who have been together for eight years after meeting while students at St Andrews University, Fife.
Speaking in a joint television interview, Prince William said giving Kate the distinctive sapphire and diamond engagement ring was his way of keeping his mother close.

"It's my mother's engagement ring so I thought it was quite nice because obviously she's not going to be around to share any of the fun and excitement of it all - this was my way of keeping her close to it all," he said.
Kate Middleton's engagement ring Jewellers say they have already had orders for copies of Miss Middleton's engagement ring
He said the timing was right for the pair but stressed that no-one was "trying to fill my mother's shoes."
His bride-to-be called the late princess "an inspirational woman" and said that joining the Royal Family was a "daunting prospect" but something she hoped to take in her stride.
They refused to say whether the prince proposed on one knee but Miss Middleton did say: "It was very romantic and very personal".
Prince William said: "You hear a lot of horror stories about proposing and things going horribly wrong - it went really, really well and I was really pleased she said Yes.
He revealed he had asked Kate's father for her hand in marriage after he had asked her, and said the pair had found it difficult to keep their big news a secret.
We have become slightly cynical, perhaps, slightly sceptical. We all lived through the fairytale royal weddings of the 1980s and we know where they ended up.
But I know many people who are actively thinking about where they will place their picnic tables and chair once they have a date. These are occasions that people do delight in, in this country.
I don't think William of all people wants to do a rerun of his parents' ill-fated marriage and for that reason I think the wedding is unlikely to be in St Paul's Cathedral.
The Guards Chapel, which was the setting for the 10th anniversary memorial service for his late mother, I suspect, may be too small, given that we are talking about the marriage of a future king.
That's why inevitably, I suspect, the wedding will be at Westminster Abbey where, of course, his grandmother the Queen married in 1947.

"We've been talking about it for a long time so for us, it's a real relief and it's really nice to be able to tell everybody," he said.
The two said they were looking forward to having children but planned to take everything one step at a time.
The wedding is to take place in London and the couple will then live in north Wales, where the prince, who is second in line to the throne, is serving with the RAF.
The Queen said she was absolutely delighted for them both, while Prince Charles joked, "They've been practising long enough."
Miss Middleton's parents, who run a mail-order business and are from Bucklebury, Berkshire, said they thought the pair made a "lovely couple".
David Cameron said he had been given a note containing the news during a cabinet meeting, and that his colleagues reacted with "a great cheer".
Labour leader Ed Miliband described the couple as "lovely", while Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond said: "Of course, this was a match made in St Andrews".
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper also passed on his nation's congratulations and urged the couple to visit.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11771616

Hurricane Tomas' Wrath

2010-11-01T13:16:00.000-07:00

12 confirmed dead in St. Lucia after passage of Hurricane Tomas

CASTRIES, St Lucia, CMC – A senior St. Lucian government minister Monday said that at least 12 people were confirmed dead following the passage of Hurricane Tomas over the weekend.

Tourism minister Allan Chastanet speaking on local radio here, said that the deaths occurred in the southern town of Soufriere.

“I would say to you right now we have 12 confirmed dead…unfortunately there are still people who are buried….,” he said, noting that the authorities had tried desperately to reach the area on the first day after the storm.

'Bin Laden' in warning to France after kidnap in Niger

2010-10-27T13:31:00.000-07:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11636408

Osama Bin Laden has reportedly tied the kidnapping of five French people in Niger to France's treatment of its Muslim minority.

An audio message said to have been recorded by the al-Qaeda leader says the abduction was retaliation for "France's injustice to Muslims".
It says forthcoming French curbs on the full veil are "colonial oppression".

The speaker identified as Bin Laden also tells France to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.

Bin Laden, mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks on the US and other atrocities, is America's most wanted man.

Believed by some to have been killed years ago, he is said by others to be still alive, living in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.

'Free women'

Five French citizens and two others were abducted by al-Qaeda militants at a uranium mine in Niger last month.

It is thought they are now being held in the north-west of neighbouring Mali.

Officials in Mali and Niger recently told France's AFP news agency they believed the captives were still alive.

The speaker on the recording, broadcast by Qatar-based satellite TV channel al-Jazeera, says the kidnapping was "in retaliation for [France's] tyranny... against [the] Muslim nation".

France, he says, believes it has "the right to prevent free women from wearing the hijab".

To protect its security, the speaker goes on, France must "withdraw from the damned war of [former US President George W] Bush in Afghanistan".

2010-09-13T17:35:00.000-07:00

13 September 2010 Last updated at 22:01 GMT
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Cuba to cut one million public sector jobs

Manuel Cardenas repairs shoes in La Habanera state-run workshop in Havana Cuba's government employs about 85% of the country's 5.1 million workers.
Cuba has announced radical plans to lay off huge numbers of state employees, to help revive the communist country's struggling economy.

The Cuban labour federation said more than a million workers would lose their jobs - half of them by March next year.

Those laid off will be encouraged to become self-employed or join new private enterprises, on which some of the current restrictions will be eased.

Analysts say it is biggest private sector shift since the 1959 revolution.

Cuba's communist government currently controls almost all aspects of the country's economy and employs about 85% of the official workforce, which is put at 5.1 million people.

As many as one-in-five of all workers could lose their jobs.

"Our state cannot and should not continue maintaining companies, productive entities, services and budgeted sectors with bloated payrolls and losses that hurt the economy," the labour federation said in a statement.

"Job options will be increased and broadened with new forms of non-state employment, among them leasing land, co-operatives, and self-employment, absorbing hundreds of thousands of workers in the coming years," the statement added.
Free enterprise?

To create jobs for the redundant workers, strict rules limiting private enterprise will be relaxed and many more licenses will be issued for people to become self-employed.

Private businesses will be allowed to employ staff for the first time.
Cuban leader Raul Castro President Raul Castro has said the state's role in the economy must shrink

The self-employed will have access to social security and will be able to open bank accounts and even borrow money to expand their businesses.

They will also have to pay tax on their profits and for each person they employ, something which could dramatically boost the government's income.

And they will be able to negotiate contracts to provide services to government departments.

A minority of Cuban workers already work for themselves, for example as hairdressers and taxi-drivers, or running small family restaurants.

There is also a thriving black economy, with many people working independently without proper permission from the state.

The BBC's Fernando Ravsberg in Havana says salaries in Cuba's state sector are so low that many employees could be better off working for themselves.

But he says not everyone has the skills and initiative necessary to be self-employed.

He adds that the government plan does not foresee any kind of advice being offered to people seeking to set up their own businesses.
Economic crisis

President Raul Castro outlined some of the changes in a speech in August, saying the state's role in the economy had to be reduced.

"We have to end forever the notion that Cuba is the only country in the world where you can live without working," he said.

Cuba's state-run economy has been gripped by a severe crisis in the past two years that has forced it to cut imports.

It has suffered from a fall in the price for its main export, nickel, as well as a decline in tourism.

Growth has also been hampered by the 48-year US trade embargo.

Mr Castro became Cuba's leader when his brother, Fidel Castro, stepped aside because of ill-health in 2006.

Facebook downplays crisis meeting

2010-05-14T05:34:00.000-07:00

By Maggie Shiels
Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

Facebook has downplayed the significance of a company-wide meeting to discuss privacy issues.
The blogosphere described the meeting as a panic measure following weeks of criticism over the way it handles members' data.
Several US senators have made public calls for Facebook to rethink its privacy safeguards.
The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, launched a petition directed at Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

It called on him to regain the trust of users by giving them control over all the information shared via Facebook.
Earlier this week European data protection officials weighed in on the controversy and called privacy changes "unacceptable".
A number of high-profile users have also deleted their Facebook accounts after the site introduced a new feature that lets non-Facebook websites, or third parties, post the personal views of Facebook users without their consent.

'Back to basics'
Facebook described its internal get together as part of its "open culture" giving employees "a forum to ask questions on a topic that has received a lot of outside interest".
Industry watchers said the company, which is the world's biggest social network, has shown it has "lost touch" over the issue.

"Most of us got onto Facebook because we want to know what our high school quarterback is doing or to reconnect with old school friends, not worry about how our information is going to be used," Catharine P Taylor, media blogger with news site BNET.com told the BBC.
"They need to get back to basics, throw out their policy and start all over again," she said. "It's way too complex for most people to understand how to change their settings and if they can't make it simple for people to make choices, it will cost them."
A report this week by the New York Times revealed that Facebook's privacy policy has 50 different settings and 170 options.
The paper also found that the policy is longer than the US Constitution with 5,830 words.

'How to quit'
Recently the issue of how to deactivate a Facebook account has gained traction.
The blog SearchEngineLand reported that anyone who typed the query "How to quit..." into Google got as their number eight automated result "how to quit Facebook". It followed results for how to quit smoking, your job and drinking.

A number of well respected technologists have pulled the plug on their account.
Peter Rojas, co-founder of the gadget site gdgt.com, told ABC News he quit because he "was spending more time managing my account than actually using my account.
"Having to constantly monitor the privacy settings was way too complicated. You can never be sure you caught everything."
As a result of the disquiet over Facebook's approach to privacy, a project that is being viewed as an alternative has been getting a lot of attention.
Diaspora is the brainchild of four students from New York University, which they described as "privacy aware, personally controlled, do-it-all distributed open source social network".
The students originally set a target to raise $10,000 to get their open source project off the ground over the summer but to date more than 3,300 backers have pledged in excess of $125,000.
"This is proof that people are scared and they don't have anywhere to go," Diaspora co-founder Max Salzberg told BBC News.
"I think a distributed social network is what people want. People value all their information online and we want to put users back in control of what they share."
Diaspora is just one of many other alternatives to Facebook starting to spring up that includes OneSocialWeb, Elgg and Appleseed.

Security upgrades
On the same day as the all-hands meeting at Facebook, the company launched new security measures to battle spam and other malicious attacks.
The upgrades include being able to approve the devices users commonly use to log in and being notified when that account has been accessed via a device that has not been approved. Another feature is giving users the ability to block suspicious logins before they happen.
"We're confident that these new tools and systems will do a lot to prevent unauthorised logins and the nuisance they can cause," said Lev Popov, a software engineer on Facebook's site integrity team.
"As always, though, the first line of defence is you. We need you to help by practicing safe behaviour on Facebook and wherever you go online."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/8681730.stm

Published: 2010/05/14 08:15:18 GMT

© BBC MMX

WORKER DEAD AT DESK FOR 5 DAYS New York Times

2010-03-28T06:49:00.000-07:00

Bosses of a publishing firm are trying to work out why no one noticed that one of their employees had been sitting dead at his desk for FIVE DAYS before anyone asked if he was feeling okay.
George Turklebaum, 51, who had been employed as a proof-reader at a New York firm for 30 years, had a heart attack in the open-plan office he shared with 23 other workers. He quietly passed away on Monday,but nobody noticed until Saturday morning when an office cleaner asked why he was still working during the weekend. His boss Elliot Wachiaski said: "George was always the first guy in each morning and the last to leave at night, so no one found it unusual that he was in the same position all that time and didn't say anything. He was always absorbed in his work and kept much to himself."
A post mortem examination revealed that he had been dead for five days after suffering a coronary. Ironically, George was proofreading manuscripts of medical textbooks when he died.

South Africa Starts 100-day World Cup Countdown

2010-03-02T11:13:00.000-08:00

By Andrew Harding,
BBC News, Durban, South Africa

The man in overall charge of Durban's World Cup preparations fell like a stone towards the manicured grass pitch inside the city's spectacular new stadium.
"Durban is absolutely ready," shouted Mike Sutcliffe, red-faced but grinning, seconds after an elastic bungee rope had broken his fall and left him swinging gently in the humid air.
A hundred days before the World Cup begins in South Africa, this cosmopolitan port city on the Indian Ocean is racing to complete an ambitious billion-pound refurbishment of local infrastructure that officials insist will be on time, on budget, and destined to reshape Durban for years to come.

“ People are hoping the World Cup will bring real money into their pockets, but the person on the street will find it is not easy to realise those dreams ”
Simphiwe Ntshweni, Durban's Youth Advisory Centre

"No white elephants," said Mr Sutcliffe, the city's manager, after his inaugural stadium jump.
"Unlike any other country that has hosted a World Cup, or an Olympics, ours has been developmentally oriented."
By now, he was standing on a viewing platform, reached by a small train, back at the very top of the giant white arch that loops over the $372m (£250m) stadium.
"We've made sure everything we're building here is something for beyond 2010. Sustainability is really our buzz word… and we have not taken out one loan as a city to pay for this investment," he said.
'World class'
Four weeks of international football have acted as a catalyst for a whole range of major infrastructure projects in Durban. Some, like the stadium, are more or less finished.
Others, like the new sea-front park will probably keep the bulldozers busy right up to the last minute.

BUSINESS OF SPORT DEBATE
Join leading figures in football for a BBC debate: The Business of Sport - Football in the Red. It will be broadcast live on Tuesday 2 March (all times GMT)

2000-2100 BBC News Channel
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Mr Sutcliffe, a well-connected member of the ruling party, the ANC, said the World Cup had enabled the city to get a new airport "probably five years early," and he listed a string of other benefits, including an upgraded road system, an overhaul of public transport, and extensive broadband cabling.
"The world will think differently about Durban," he said. "They'll say - my goodness, these are not just hicks from a developing country. They are world class."
Critics have suggested the huge new stadium will not be sustainable, particularly since the local rugby team, the Sharks, is reluctant to move from their own, more intimate grounds, just across the road.
A local sports reporter, Zayn Nabbi, broadened the complaint.
"We've got roads, we've got airports and that's a huge benefit, but those have been improved in affluent areas. Your areas outside the city centre are still left decrepit and derelict, and that's the sad reality," he said.
"Expectations are too high," said Simphiwe Ntshweni, from Durban's Youth Advisory Centre.
"This is a Fifa event. It will come and go. People are hoping the World Cup will bring real money into their pockets, but the person on the street will find it is not easy to realise those dreams. Come back after July and you'll see a lot of people have not made money.
"But if you see all the infrastructure that is here now, the roads and public works - those positive things outweigh the negatives."
Not plain sailing

Cruising off the coast in a sleek white motor boat called Bring it on, marketing executive Trevor Tshuma acknowledged that not every business was going to benefit from the World Cup.
"There will be quite a lot of disappointment, but that's to be expected - this is a first for Africa, and there's no yardstick to refer to so certainly there will be quite a lot of losers," he said.
Mr Tshuma works for a new accommodation management company called Teatro, which has expanded rapidly in the past year by offering tours, rooms, boats and other tourist facilities to visiting fans.
The accommodation industry has been wrestling with issues of over-pricing, accreditation, low tourist numbers and the dominant role of Fifa's official partner, MATCH Services, but Mr Tshuma said Teatro was "going to make a very nice profit and a good turnover".

“ There's been a lot of road works; they're getting the country ready and it's changing for the better; I think we'll sell to a lot of football fans ”
Priscilla Powell, curry restaurant owner

"There were a lot of people who over-inflated room rates, but we're keeping it realistic."
More important, Mr Tshuma, stressed, was the long-term impact of the World Cup on Durban.
"A lot of people have the wrong perception. People talk about crime but it's often exaggerated," he said. "When people come and realise how safe it is and how affordable things are... it will definitely give a positive impact for tourism in the future."
All around the centre of Durban, workmen are noisily racing to complete (and in some cases it seems, just starting work on) fan zones, park and ride zones and other World Cup-related infrastructure projects.
Beside one particularly noisy building site, a group of traders selling football shirts and other goods from their stalls seemed uncertain about Fifa's marketing restrictions around the stadium, and less-than-convinced that June and July would do much for their businesses.
But serving the lunchtime takeaway crowd at her busy curry restaurant nearby, Priscilla Powell was adamant.
"There's been a lot of road works; they're getting the country ready and it's changing for the better; I think we'll sell to a lot of football fans," she said with a grin.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/8543468.stm

Ronaldinho Could Miss World Cup

2010-02-09T17:07:00.000-08:00

Ronaldinho could miss the World Cup after being omitted from Brazil's final warm-up friendly ahead of the summer tournament in South Africa.
He will not face Ireland at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium in London on 2 March.
The AC Milan star, 29, has not played for Brazil since the start of 2009, but his improved recent form has encouraged supporters to call for his return.
But coach Dunga has resisted pressure from the fans and local media in Brazil to recall the ex-Barcelona forward.
The 1994 World Cup winning captain has kept faith with Michel Bastos (Lyon), Juan and Doni (both Roma), Kleberson (Flamengo) and Gilberto (Cruzeiro).
Former Manchester City forward Robinho, who is now on-loan at Santos, has been included in the squad as has Liverpool midfielder Lucas. But there is no place for Manchester United midfielder Anderson.
Ronaldinho won the World Cup in 2002 and famously knocked out England at that tournament after lobbing keeper David Seaman with a second-half free-kick.
Brazil legend Pele was another who called for Ronaldinho to return to the fold.
Ronaldinho has appeared 87 times for his country, scoring 32 times.
He was also twice named World player of the year in 2004 and 2005 and has won the prestigious Ballon d'Or (european player of the year) once.
Brazil squad to face Ireland:
Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), Doni (Roma).
Defenders: Maicon (Inter Milan), Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Gilberto (Cruzeiro), Michel Bastos (Lyon), Juan (Roma), Lucio (Inter Milan), Luisao (Benfica), Thiago Silva (AC Milan).
Midfielders: Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos), Josue (Wolfsburg), Felipe Melo (Juventus), Lucas (Liverpool), Kaka (Real Madrid), Ramires (Benfica), Elano (Galatasaray), Julio Baptista (Roma), Kleberson (Flamengo).
Forwards: Robinho (Santos), Adriano (Flamengo), Nilmar (Villarreal), Luis Fabiano (Seville).
Story from BBC SPORT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport2/hi/football/8506394.stm

Unseen Monroe Photos Up For Sale

2010-02-06T06:58:00.000-08:00

Previously unseen photos of Marilyn Monroe taken nine months before she died have been unveiled after being held privately for nearly 50 years.

The black and white pictures show a seemingly relaxed and happy Monroe at the New York apartment of photographer Len Steckler in December 1961.
Steckler took the shots when Monroe arrived at his flat unexpectedly to visit his friend, poet Carl Sandburg.
The photos, entitled Marilyn Monroe: The Visit, are being sold online.
"It was serendipitous with these two icons in their moment and me here with my camera," Steckler told Reuters news agency.
He added that he was "like a fly on the wall" while he took pictures of Monroe, then 35, and Sandburg, 83, chatting and holding hands.
“ As we know, Marilyn loved older men, she loved the intellectuals and Carl was very parental with her ”
Photographer Len Steckler
The pictures show the film star wearing pointed, thick-rimmed sunglasses and a short-sleeved dress.
Sandburg had said to Steckler on that afternoon that they would soon have "a visitor".
"Hours later I went to open the door and there I was face-to-face with Marilyn Monroe, and she looked more ravishing than on the screen," Steckler said.
"She said 'I am sorry I am late. I was at the hairdresser's, matching my hair to Carl's.'"
After Steckler, a former fashion and beauty photographer, had taken the pictures they all drank Jack Daniels whiskey, he recalled.
"As we know, Marilyn loved older men, she loved the intellectuals and Carl was very parental with her. It was a lovely thing to see," he added.
The actress died in August 1962, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Sandburg seven years later.
Steckler said he had decided to sell the photos after his son discovered the negatives when going through his father's work.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/entertainment/8501860.stm

Scores Dead' In Nigeria Clashes

2010-01-19T09:57:00.000-08:00

At least 149 people have been killed during two days of violence between Christian and Muslim gangs in the Nigerian city of Jos, officials say.Mosque workers and Muslim clerics told reporters of the deaths as they prepared for a mass burial.

The death toll has not been verified independently and it is not known how many Christians have died.

The clashes broke out on Sunday and have continued since, with reports of gunfire and burning buildings.

A 24-hour curfew has been enforced in the area, which has seen several bouts of deadly violence in recent years.

At least 200 people were killed in an outbreak of fighting between Muslims and Christians in 2008, while some 1,000 died in a riot in 2001.

Violence spreading

The current violence has forced at least 3,000 people from their homes.

ANALYSIS

Shehu Saulawa BBC Hausa

Jos has long been a time-bomb waiting to explode.

The town is split into Christian and Muslim areas. The divisions have been perpetuated by Nigeria's system of classifying people as indigenes and settlers.

Hausa-speaking Muslims have been living in Jos for many decades but are still classified as settlers, meaning it is difficult for them to stand for election.

The two groups are also divided along party political lines with Christians mostly backing the ruling PDP, and Muslims generally supporting the opposition ANPP.

In Nigeria, political office means access to resources.

Balarabe Dawud, head of the Central Mosque in Jos, told AFP news agency he had counted 192 bodies since Sunday.

Muhammad Tanko Shittu, a mosque worker who was helping to prepare mass burials, told Reuters he had counted 149 bodies.

"On Sunday evening we buried 19 corpses, and 52 yesterday. As of right now, there are 78 at the mosque yet to be buried," he said.

Anglican Archbishop of Jos Benjamin Kwashi told the BBC that the situation was improving in the city centre, where security forces have been deployed.

But the violence spread beyond the city boundaries on Tuesday to neighbouring areas.

Jos is in Nigeria's volatile Middle Belt - between the mainly Muslim north and the south where the majority is Christian or follows traditional religions.

Correspondents say such clashes in Nigeria are often blamed on sectarianism.

However poverty and access to resources such as land often lie at the root of the violence.

It is unclear what the trigger was for the latest bout of violence.

Plateau State spokesman Dan Manjang told the BBC's Network Africa programme there were reports that it may have started after a football match.

But he said it would be surprising if football was the reason.

Reuters quoted residents as saying the violence started after an argument over the rebuilding of homes destroyed in the 2008 clashes.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8468456.stm
Published: 2010/01/19 16:21:45 GMT

Haiti, Houses In Ruins

2010-01-14T13:56:00.000-08:00

Privacy Threatened By Online Life

2010-01-10T09:23:00.000-08:00

Privacy threatened by online life

By Zoe Kleinman

Technology Reporter, BBC News

People who post intimate details about their lives on the internet undermine everybody else's right to privacy, claims an academic.

Dr Kieron O'Hara has called for people to be more aware of the impact on society of what they publish online.

"If you look at privacy in law, one important concept is a reasonable expectation of privacy," he said.

"As more private lives are exported online, reasonable expectations are diminishing."

The rise of social networking has blurred the boundaries of what can be considered private, he believes - making it less of a defence by law.

We live in an era that he terms "intimacy 2.0" - where people routinely share extremely personal information online.

"When our reasonable expectations diminish, as they have, by necessity our legal protection diminishes."

“ When our reasonable expectations diminish, as they have, by necessity our legal protection diminishes ”

Dr O'Hara, a senior research fellow in Electronic and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, gave the example of an embarrassing photo taken at a party.

A decade ago, he said, there would have been an assumption that it might be circulated among friends. But now the assumption is that it may well end up on the internet and be viewed by strangers.

Raging debate

Privacy has long been a thorny issue but there were very few court cases until that of former motor sport boss Max Mosley in 2008.

Mr Mosley sued the News of the World over the publication in the newspaper of explicit photos of him secretly taken during an orgy.

He argued that the publication of the photos was an unwarranted breach of his privacy - and won.

Mr Mosley had taken steps to keep his private life private but Dr O'Hara's concern is that other people's disregard for privacy online will spill over into other walks of life.

As debates continue to rage over whether the new airport body scanners and CCTV are an infringement of privacy or useful protection, some argue that it already has.

"Recent security decisions have become a privacy discussion - but if security suffers, the community suffers," Dr O'Hara said.

He was due to deliver his research paper at the annual Media Communication and Cultural Studies Association (Meccsa) conference held at the London School of Economics from 6-8 January.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/8446649.stm

Brazil Mudslide Kills At Least 15

2010-01-01T11:21:00.000-08:00

At least 15 people have been killed and 10 injured by a mudslide in a Brazilian island resort, say officials.

The mud destroyed three houses and an upmarket lodge on Ilha Grande, Angra dos Reis, near Rio de Janeiro.

More than 40 people have now died in a series of landslides in and around Rio in the past two days.

Fire department commander Pedro Machado told local media the mud probably hit as tourists returned to their rooms after New Year's Eve celebrations.

Mr Machado said about 100 people, including police and navy boats, were searching for survivors.
The resort can only be reached by boat.
Witnesses told reporters the houses and the Sankay lodge had been hit by a piece of the hillside measuring some 300m across.

Wooden sections of the lodge could be seen floating close to the shore and on the beach, the Associated Press news agency reported.
The lodge, which has capacity for 50 people, was reported to be full at the time, AP said.
Other landslides in Angra dos Reis killed seven people early on Friday.
On Thursday at least 19 people died as heavy rains triggered mudslides in Rio de Janeiro state.
Officials said most of those deaths occurred as shanties collapsed under mud or rain in the greater Rio city area.

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Deaths Rise From Europe Cold Wave

2009-12-21T18:59:00.000-08:00

More than 80 people have died across Europe as days of snow storms and sub-zero temperatures swept the continent, causing traffic chaos for millions.

At least 42 people have frozen to death in Poland over the last three days and another 27 in Ukraine.

Another 13 people died in car accidents in Austria, Finland and Germany, where temperatures fell to -33C (-27F).

Air, rail and road transport links were disrupted across northern Europe where more snow was expected in coming days.

Many roads in the south of the UK were gridlocked - there were numerous reports of crashes on motorways and of people abandoning their cars.
'Saturation point'
Eurostar said it would run a "restricted" service on Tuesday after a three-day shutdown stranded some 75,000 people.
Only passengers originally due to travel Saturday or Sunday would be eligible, and the remaining backlog would be cleared over the next few days.
The crisis prompted French President Nicolas Sarkozy to call the head of national rail carrier SNCF, the majority stakeholder in Eurostar.
EUROTUNNEL ADVICE

# Day-trips bookings will not be honoured and day-trip customers are advised not to travel
# To rebook travel to an alternative date, call the Eurotunnel contact centre on 08443 35 35 35 or amend your booking
# Customers without a reservation are advised not to make their way to Eurotunnel as they will not be able to purchase a ticket
# Pre-booked customers are advised to call the 24-hour automated customer information line 08444 63 00 00 for the latest travel information
Meanwhile Eurotunnel - which carries vehicles under the Channel between England and France - said its terminal at Folkestone was at "saturation point" and closed its shuttle car service to new arrivals.
In Poland, police appealed for people to help if they came across homeless or drunk people lying outside, as temperatures dropped towards -20C in some areas.
Most of the 42 people who froze to death in the country over the weekend were homeless, police said.
Meanwhile, one restaurant owner offered tens of thousands of homeless people a hot meal in Krakow's main square.
"The food is not the only important thing," restaurateur Janusz Kosciuszko was quoted as telling Euronews.
"What is also important is that these people know that someone is thinking about them."
Cold-related deaths were also reported in France, where two homeless people died.
Treacherous travel conditions also caused havoc for rail services.
Fifty people were injured when a train hit a buffer in the Croatian city of Zagreb, while 36 were injured when a passenger train derailed in Paris.
Airports closed
Parts of the continent saw 20in (50cm) of snow over the weekend.
Domestic rail services across the UK have been severely delayed, with buses replacing trains in many areas.
On Monday evening, British Airways cancelled all its domestic and European flights from the main London airport, Heathrow.
Passengers were offered replacement coach travel. Other airports in the country were closed completely.
The AA, one of the UK's largest motoring and vehicle recovery organisations, said it had attended more than 20,000 breakdowns by 2030 GMT.
Normally it would expect to deal with about 10,000 vehicles for the whole of a Monday in December.
In France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, airport operators struggled to clear runways amid thick snowfall, with major disruption to flight patterns.
In France, a second wave of snowstorms hit the country's north on Sunday with Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport warning as many as one in five flights was likely to be cancelled on Monday.
Germany's third largest airport - in Dusseldorf - was also closed because of Sunday's heavy snow.
In Belgium, the three biggest airports - Brussels, Charleroi and Liege - were completely shut. Severe delays and cancellations were reported at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.
Moscow said it was deploying 9,000 snow ploughs to clear the city's streets.
Temperatures were forecast to rise later in the week. FORECAST FROM BBC WEATHER

Story from BBC NEWS:
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Published: 2009/12/22 01:43:37 GMT
© BBC MMIX

Surprise Birth As Athlete Trains

2009-12-15T14:47:00.000-08:00

Chilean Olympic weightlifter Elizabeth Poblete has given birth to a baby boy during a training session, without having known she was pregnant.

Ms Poblete, 22, who lives in Brazil, said she had felt unwell but had had no idea she was expecting a baby. The boy was three months premature and was taken to hospital with his mother, where he remains in intensive care.

The hospital in Sao Paulo denied reports it forced Ms Poblete to leave after she was unable to pay for care.

Ms Poblete began to feel unwell during training on 8 December, as she was preparing to take part in a competition.

Shortly after, she gave birth to a baby weighing only 1.2kg (2.25lbs) and measuring about 34cm (14 inches).

Both were taken to hospital in Sao Paulo but Ms Poblete has since been discharged, reportedly telling local media she could not afford to continue receiving treatment.

Ms Poblete came 12th in the 75kg women's category at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
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Tiger Woods Profile

2009-12-12T07:14:00.000-08:00

Tiger Woods is arguably the best-known sportsman of his generation and is on his way to becoming the most successful golfer of all time.
The 33-year-old American has won 14 major titles and is just four short of equalling Jack Nicklaus's record of 18 major victories.
As the most successful black player in a traditionally white sport, Woods has been credited with boosting interest in the game worldwide, increasing TV audiences, and bringing greater wealth to the sport in prize money and sponsorship.
Woods won his first major - the Masters - in 1997 by a record 12 strokes, becoming the prestigious tournament's youngest ever winner at 21 years three months and 15 days.

Later that year he became world number one - briefly - for the first time and he would go on to hold the top spot for all 52 weeks of a year a record eight times.
He has now been world number one since 12 June 2005, and through endorsements and appearance fees earns an estimated $100m (£62.5m) a year.
Woods was born on 30 December 1975 in Cypress, California, the son of retired US Army lieutenant colonel Earl Woods and his Thai-born wife Kultida.
Originally named 'Eldrick' he was quickly nicknamed 'Tiger' after a Vietnamese soldier friend of his father's.
A child golf prodigy, he featured on TV putting against Bob Hope aged two, and shot 48 for nine holes at the age of three.
After a glittering amateur career, he turned pro in 1996 and backed up his maiden Masters win with a second major at the USPGA Championship in 1999.
He added the US Open title, by a record 15 strokes at Pebble Beach, and the Open Championship, by eight strokes at St Andrews, to his haul in 2000.
In doing so he became only the fifth player (along with Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Nicklaus and Gary Player), and the youngest, to complete a career Grand Slam by winning all four of golf's major titles.
Woods then captured the USPGA later the same year and clinched the 2001 Masters to hold all four major titles at the same time, a feat dubbed the 'Tiger Slam'.
In 2002 he won back-to-back Masters titles and claimed his second US Open at Bethpage to become the first player ever to lead the tournament twice from start to finish.

TIGER WOODS' MAJORS

Masters: 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005

US Open: 2000, 2002, 2008

The Open: 2000, 2005, 2006

USPGA: 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007

With his major tally at eight, Woods remodelled his swing, leading to accusations of a slump in his game as he remained without a major win until the 2005 Masters, his fourth victory at Augusta.
In the meantime, Woods married Swedish girlfriend Elin Nordegren, who he met during the 2001 Open Championship.
With his 'MkII swing', Woods went on to capture the Open at St Andrews in 2005, but he missed the first cut in 38 majors as a professional at the US Open in June 2006 after a nine-week lay-off following the death of his father and mentor Earl.
Amid emotional scenes a month later, Woods broke down in tears as he clinched the Open Championship at Hoylake and immediately dedicated the win to his father.
"I just miss my dad so much. I wish he could have been here to witness this," he said at the time.
"He enjoyed watching me grind out major wins and this would have brought a smile to his face."
Less than 24 hours after finishing second at the 2006 US Open, Woods's wife gave birth to the couple's first child, daughter Sam Alexis, and he went on to win the USPGA again two months later.
He took his major haul to 13 wins after victory at the USPGA in 2007, maintaining his record of never having lost a major when leading heading into the final round.
But 2008 was to mark a period of anguish and uncertainty for Woods, though it also further added to his legend.

In April he underwent a third operation on a troublesome left knee, ruling him out for two months.
But he returned to claim a remarkable win in the US Open at Torrey Pines after a 18-hole play-off with Rocco Mediate, despite being crippled by knee pain almost from the beginning of the tournament.
Two days later Woods announced he was to undergo further surgery on his knee, which would rule him out for nine months.
In February 2009 Woods's second child Charlie Axel was born, and he returned to action in March.
Despite the lay-off, Woods won five tournaments in his first 11 strokeplay events back, during which he was only outside the top 10 once, when he missed the cut at the Open at Turnberry for only his second missed cut in 49 majors as a professional.
He then led going into the final round of this year's USPGA but surrendered his 100% record of never having lost when leading after 54 holes of a major when he was beaten into second by South Korean YE Yang.
Woods ended the season as winner of the US PGA Tour's FedEx Cup standings and world number one for the 233rd straight week.
He has been the world's best player for 575 weeks, won a total of 71 PGA Tour events, the third highest ever behind Sam Snead and Nicklaus, and has broken almost every record in golf along the way.

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Cheerleader Gets A Flu Shot & Now She Can Only Walk Backwards!

2009-10-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

Experts claim serious side effects of flu shots amount to about one in a million - well this is what that one in a million looks like. This has freaked me out enough to bypass flu shots in the futu...

A Day At The Beach In China.

2009-09-25T11:50:00.000-07:00

I was shocked when I received these pictures from my friend. Where do they park their cars? Where are the rest rooms? Do they have lifeguards? This is really frightening! People can really get sick here.

Things Look Up for World's Tallest Man

2009-09-22T18:31:00.000-07:00

Sultan Kösen was just an average 10-year-old farm boy from the Mardin province of eastern Turkey, where they grow lentils, corn and cotton. It was all so normal. And then one day -- boom. Like in a scene out of a science fiction movie, this little boy, not yet 5 feet tall, exploded in size. Within two years, he was bigger than every other kid in school, looking more like a grownup than a 12-year-old. Sultan Kosen, the world's tallest man, poses with AOL News reporter Buck Wolf. At 15, he was simply too tall to go to class. He was bumping his head in doorways, and then he spent nearly a year in bed with a knee aliments, a consequence of growing too quickly.

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Three Britons Die In New Zealand

2009-09-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

A three-year-old girl and two women fromDerbyshire have died in a car crash in New Zealand, police have said. The girl and the women, aged 60 and 68, died when their
car hit a power pole on Wednesday afternoon. Police said the driver, a man in his 60s, was taken to hospital after suffering injuries which are not thought to be life-threatening.
And a statement from New Brighton police said fatigue was "likely to be a factor in the crash". The crash happened at 1820 local time (0720 BST) as the car headed south on Estuary Road, New Brighton. The deceased have been named as Valerie Susan Bryan,
who was 68, Sera Eades, aged 60 and her granddaughter Iva Harper. Maggie Leask from New Zealand Police says conditions were clear when the crash happened.
She said: "It's just a suburban locality, and it... would have been a beautiful evening in Christchurch last night. "It's spring here, it's really still light at that time, it was a
beautiful, still, clear evening and the detective sergeant who investigated said that fatigue is really likely to be a factor in the crash." A Foreign Office spokesman said the
next of kin of those involved in the crash have been informed. Consular assistance is now being offered to the families,
the spokesman added.