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Daily Mail lands another exclusive: the bin from Angelina's hospital room
Stop the press!
"One photo of a bin filled with empty beer cans suggests proud dad Brad, 44, sank a few lagers to mark the arrival of twins Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline earlier this month."
Also contains exclusive shots of the sofa where Brad could have slept in the run-up to the twins' arrival, some plastic bags they might have put things in, and cereal boxes they possibly ate from. Stop the press! ... more -
Volkswagen's First US Assembly Plant Will Be In Chattanooga, Tennessee
VW to build plant in Chattanooga
By: Mike Pare
Volkswagen AG will build its first United States assembly plant in Chattanooga, officials said today.
Europe’s biggest automaker said it will put a nearly $1 billion investment in Chattanooga’s Enterprise South Industrial Park.
The plant is expected to create 2,000 jobs. It is expected to open in 2011.
“The U.S. market is an important part of our volume strategy, and we are now very resolutely accessing that market,” said Martin Winterkorn, chief executive of Volkswagen.
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen said he is “enormously pleased” by the announcement.
Mr. Bredesen and other officials including Volkswagen of America’s chief executive, were slated to be at Hunter Museum of American Art at 11:30 a.m. for an announcement.
“I believe Volkswagen chose Tennessee because of our shared values, our commitment to innovation and our strong respect for the environment,” he said.
Matt Kisber, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, said he could not be more pleased in the partnership between the state, VW and Chattanooga and Hamilton County government.
Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey said he has worked with four different city mayors and other officials with a vision of transforming the Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant site.
Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield said VW and Chattanooga have a lot in common.
“Both are serious about environmental sustainability and 21st century manufacturing,” he said.
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said the community has maintained its focus
Officials at the Wolfsburg-based company said the surging euro has pushed plans for a production facility forward. The 15-nation currency has hit record highs recently against the U.S. dollar, making goods exported from Germany more expensive in the United States.
Volkswagen recently moved its North American headquarters from suburban Detroit to Herndon, Va., outside Washington, to bring it closer to its East Coast customer base.
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, who landed in Chattanooga early today, said he is “enormously pleased” with the facility coming to Southeast Tennessee.
Erich Merkle, vice president of forecasting auto industry forecaster IRN Inc., said suppliers will build facilities to support the assembly plant.
Chattanooga beat out bids by Alabama and Michigan for the plant.
The announcement came Tuesday from Lower Saxony Minister President Christian Wulff, who sits on the supervisory board of Europe's largest automaker. VW to build plant in Chattanooga By: Mike Pare ... more -
Residents fret in shadow of Chile's Llaima volcano
Living in the shadow of Chile's sporadically erupting, snow-capped Llaima volcano, one of South America's most active, local residents like Eduardo Mendoza are paying a heavy price.
Evacuated from the ski station where he works after the government imposed a red alert when Llaima began spewing lava earlier this month, Mendoza and dozens like him have lost their livelihoods and are having trouble feeding their families.
This is the second ski season in a row interrupted by the volcano, which towers near Chile's lake region about 435 miles
south of the capital Santiago.
"People can't go to work because of the danger," he said, a cloud engulfing the majestic volcano behind him, black scars on its white slopes betraying where lava has flowed and cooled.
"Our source of work has been stopped and we depend on it to sustain our families. We can't go on like this," he added, showing a video clip on his mobile phone of the volcano spewing a jet of hot pyroclastic rock 1,300 feet into the air before dawn on Thursday.
That flurry of activity in turn came a week after lava spewed down one of its sides.
Aside from hot rock and gas, or lava flows, that have emanated from the crater, another major worry is that snow on the volcano's sides could melt and that a nearby river could overflow and flood nearby communities.
The volcano erupted violently on New Year's Day, forcing the temporary evacuation of some tourists and residents from the surrounding Conguillio National Park. It belched ash and lava in February. Much of the park is off limits again.
The government this month ordered a 9-mile "red zone" around the 10,253-foot (3,124 meter)-high volcano, and has now evacuated around 60 people from nearby.
FUTURE ACTIVITY
Experts say there is no knowing how the volcano, the second to erupt in Chile in as many months, will continue to behave.
"The activity is going up and down very fast," said Hugo Moreno, a geologist and volcano expert with state mining and geology service Sernageomin, who is based in the town of Melipeuco, on the fringe of the exclusion zone.
"It is oscillating, so it is very difficult to make a medium-term forecast," he added. "It will most likely continue to oscillate, until it stabilizes at some point."
Llaima's current eruptive cycle began in May last year. Cycles have lasted anything from one minute to three years or more, Moreno said.
In the sleepy town of Cherquenco, 11 miles from the base of the volcano, Agriculture Minister Marigen Hornkohl sought to reassure worried farmers.
They complain are only allowed into the exclusion area to tend to their animals two hours a day, and are worried they'll die, be stolen, or be eaten by puma.
"We have to take this one minute at a time," Hornkohl told residents and evacuees assembled in the rear of the local fire station. "Now, when we want to be able to go home, the worst thing we can do is to take the wrong decisions," she said.
LLaima's renewed activity comes after Chaiten volcano, 760 miles south of Santiago in Chilean Patagonia, erupted on May 2 for the first time in thousands of years, spewing ash, gas and molten rock.
Ash from Chaiten, which initially soared 20 miles into the stratosphere, swelled rivers in the area and caused floods that damaged dozens of wooden houses, sweeping some off their foundations.
Chile's chain of some 2,000 volcanoes is the world's second-largest after Indonesia's. Around 50 to 60 are recorded to have erupted, while 500 are deemed potentially active. Living in the shadow of Chile's sporadically erupting, snow-capped Llaima volcano, one of South America's most active, local residents... more -
Rising searches on Sunday of offensive material
On Sunday 13th Jully 08 the number 1 search of the day was "ǝlƃooƃ noʎ ʞɔnɟ" there are some rumours that this was organised on Ebaums (www.ebaumsworld.com). Google spokesman said "We can only target offensive material where it comes, we have a filtering program but of course if people write things in symbols it can not recognise the offensive material".
¡noʎ ɹoɟ uʍop ǝpısdn sƃuıɥʇ ǝʇıɹʍ ɥɔıɥʍ sǝʇısqǝʍ ʍǝɟ ɐ ǝɹɐ ǝɹǝɥʇ
(If you wish to flip your text visit http://www.revfad.com/flip.html) On Sunday 13th Jully 08 the number 1 search of the day was "ǝlƃooƃ noʎ ʞɔnɟ" there are some rumours that this was organised on Ebaums ... more -
Suicide Car Blast Kills 41 in Afghan Capital
A Taliban suicide bomber killed at least 17 civilians, most of them children, and four police in a bazaar in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, police said.
Taliban suicide bombs have killed more than 230 civilians and wounded nearly 500 already this year, NATO says.
Afghan and foreign forces are stopping a greater proportion of the attacks but the Taliban are attempting many more suicide bombings this year compared to last, security experts say.
In the latest attack the bomber, travelling on a motorcycle, targeted a police vehicle in a bazaar in the Deh Rawood district of Uruzgan province, the provincial police chief told Reuters.
"Seventeen civilians and four policemen died in the attack. Thirty-seven more civilians and five police have been wounded," Juma Khan Himat said by telephone, adding the death toll could rise. Most of the civilian victims were children, he said.
Afghanistan is suffering from a rising tide of violence this year, with a sharp increase in Taliban attacks, especially in the east where NATO says militants have taken advantage of peace deals in Pakistan to cross the border and fight in Afghanistan.
The Interior Ministry in Kabul said 24 people, four of them police, including a senior officer, were killed in the attack.
Growing insecurity has added to the rising frustration of many Afghans more than six years after U.S.-led and Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban government after it refused to hand over al Qaeda leaders behind the September 11 attacks on the United States. A Taliban suicide bomber killed at least 17 civilians, most of them children, and four police in a bazaar in southern Afghanistan on S... more -
Cocoa prices at over 20-year high
LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cocoa prices surged to their highest level in over 20 years on Wednesday, adding extra pressure to global food prices, after reports of a possible supply squeeze in the world's top grower, Ivory Coast.
A report by independent analyst Hans Kilian, seen as bullish on Ivorian supplies, was the initial trigger for a fund and investor-driven surge in U.S. futures to a 28-year high of $3,122 a metric ton.
In London, benchmark second-month cocoa futures hit a 22-year peak of 1,682 pounds ($3,277) a metric ton, before closing at 1,658 pounds, up 33 in brisk volume of 5,641 lots.
Analysts said cocoa prices could rise further due to robust global demand and a tight supply outlook.
"We haven't been at these nose-bleed prices in years," said Ralph Preston, futures analyst with HeritageWestFutures.com in San Diego. "Especially with that fundamental news coming out, that's going to really light a fire under this."
Jack Scoville, a vice-president for brokers the Price Group in Chicago, said the next key price target for second-month U.S. futures would be $3,140 a metric ton.
Benchmark ICE September futures settled up $72, or 2.4 percent, at $3,098 per metric ton, in dealings from $3,050 to $3,122, a high for the second-month dating back to February 1980.
Analyst Kilian, who is highly regarded in the cocoa market, has frequently moved cocoa futures prices with his West Africa crop reports, which he distributes to private clients only. LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cocoa prices surged to their highest level in over 20 years on Wednesday, adding extra pressure to global ... more -
France launches Med Union with high hopes
French President Nicolas Sarkozy launched a 43-nation Union for the Mediterranean on Sunday with a plea for Middle Eastern countries to emulate Europe's model of reconciliation and integration.
The ceremonial inaugural summit at the lofty iron-and-glass Grand Palais in Paris sealed a new detente between Syria and Europe, with the Syrian and Israeli leaders also sitting at the same table for the first time.
But there was no handshake and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appeared to go out of his way to avoid Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, hiding his face behind his arm as he walked past where the Israeli leader was standing.
"Everyone will have to make an effort, as the Europeans did, to put an end to the deadly spiral of war and violence, that, century after century, repeatedly brought barbarity to the heart of civilisation," Sarkozy said in the keynote speech.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, co-president of the summit, told the leaders they must work together to meet the challenges of food, education and health for their growing populations.
"I am sure that today is a start. I am sure that we have a long way to go and we will go a long way," he said.
On a day rich in political gestures, Sarkozy hosted cordial talks with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, capped with an effusive triple handshake and a joint news conference.
"The goal of this summit for the Mediterranean, of this Union for the Mediterranean, is that we learn to love each other instead of continuing to hate each other and wage war," Sarkozy said, flanked by Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. French President Nicolas Sarkozy launched a 43-nation Union for the Mediterranean on Sunday with a plea for Middle Eastern countries t... more -
Michael DeBakey, pioneer of heart procedures, dead at 99
Dr. Michael DeBakey, the world-famous cardiovascular surgeon who pioneered such now-common procedures as bypass surgery and invented a host of devices to help heart patients, died Friday night at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, officials announced. He was 99.
Dr. Michael DeBakey, seen here in a 1985 photo, developed heart procedures used by today's doctors.
DeBakey died from "natural causes," according to a written statement issued early Saturday by spokesmen for Baylor College of Medicine and The Methodist Hospital.
DeBakey underwent surgery in February 2006 for a damaged aorta -- a procedure he had developed.
DeBakey counted world leaders among his patients and helped turn Baylor College of Medicine in Houston from a provincial school into one of the nation's great medical institutions.
"Dr. DeBakey's reputation brought many people into this institution, and he treated them all: heads of state, entertainers, businessmen and presidents, as well as people with no titles and no means," said Ron Girotto, president of The Methodist Hospital System.
Girotto said the surgeon "has improved the human condition and touched the lives of generations to come."
While still in medical school in 1932, he invented the roller pump, which became the major component of the heart-lung machine, beginning the era of open-heart surgery. The machine takes over the function of the heart and lungs during surgery.
It was only a start of a lifetime of innovation. The surgical procedures that DeBakey developed once were the wonders of the medical world. Today, they are commonplace procedures in most hospitals.
Dr. Michael DeBakey, the world-famous cardiovascular surgeon who pioneered such now-common procedures as bypass surgery and invented a... more -
Tony Snow Dead at 53
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former White House press secretary Tony Snow -- who once told reporters "I'm a very lucky guy" -- has died at the age of 53 after a second battle with cancer.
Snow, who had been undergoing chemotherapy treatments for a recurrence of the disease, left his White House job September 14, 2007, and joined CNN in April as a conservative commentator.
In parting comments to reporters at his final White House news conference, he said, "I feel great."
He also called the job "the most fun I've ever had."
Snow said he was leaving the White House position to make more money. His White House salary was $168,000.
"The White House is so deeply saddened by this loss," said his replacement, White House press secretary Dana Perino. "He was a great friend and colleague and a fantastic press secretary. And his dear family is in our thoughts and prayers."
Chief of Staff Josh Bolten had told senior White House staffers that unless they could commit to staying until Bush leaves office in January 2009, they should leave by Labor Day 2007, so Snow resigned.
Snow was first diagnosed with colon cancer in February 2005. His colon was removed, and after six months of treatment, doctors said the cancer was in remission.
A recurrence of the illness was diagnosed 11 months after he began the White House media job, and he underwent five weeks of treatment before resuming his daily briefings to the press corps. He was greeted with applause upon his return.
"Not everybody will survive cancer," Snow told the reporters, "but on the other hand, you have got to realize you've got the gift of life, so make the most of it. That is my view, and I'm going to make the most of my time with you."
Perino announced March 27, 2007, that Snow's cancer had recurred, and said doctors had removed a growth from his abdomen the day before.
President Bush tapped Snow to replace Scott McClellan in April 2006.
Snow had been an anchor for "Fox News Sunday" and a political analyst for Fox News Channel, which he joined in 1996. He also hosted "The Tony Snow Show" on Fox News Radio.
Snow took a significant pay cut to take the job of press secretary and talked publicly about the financial sacrifices he made. He explained he felt he needed to make more money to help his family, which included children readying for college.
Snow was known for his candor.
In a November 11, 2005, column, Snow wrote that Bush's "wavering conservatism has become an active concern among Republicans, who wish he would stop cowering under the bed and start fighting back against the likes of Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Joe Wilson."
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former White House press secretary Tony Snow -- who once told reporters "I'm a very lucky guy" -- has died at the ... more -
Former White House press secretary Tony Snow dies
WASHINGTON - Tony Snow, a conservative writer and commentator who cheerfully sparred with reporters in the White House briefing room during a stint as President Bush's press secretary, died early Saturday of colon cancer. Snow was 53 years old.
"Laura and I are deeply saddened by the death of our dear friend, Tony Snow," Bush said in a statement. "The Snow family has lost a beloved husband and father. And America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character."
Snow, who served as the first host of the television news program "Fox News Sunday" from 1996 to 2003, would later say that in the Bush administration he was enjoying "the most exciting, intellectually aerobic job I'm ever going to have."
Snow was working for Fox News Channel and Fox News Radio when he replaced Scott McClellan as press secretary in May 2006 during a White House shake-up. Unlike McClellan, who came to define caution and bland delivery from the White House podium, Snow was never shy about playing to the cameras.
With a quick-from-the-lip repartee, broadcaster's good looks and a relentlessly bright outlook — if not always a command of the facts — he became a popular figure around the country to the delight of his White House bosses.
He served just 17 months as press secretary, a tenure interrupted by his second bout with cancer. In 2005 doctors had removed his colon and he began six months of chemotherapy. In March 2007 a cancerous growth was removed from his abdominal area and he spent five weeks recuperating before returning to the White House.
He resigned as Bush's chief spokesman six months later, in September 2007, citing not his health but a need to earn more than the $168,000 a year he was paid in the government post. In April, he joined CNN as a commentator.
In that year and a half at the White House, Snow brought partisan zeal and the skills of a seasoned performer to the task of explaining and defending the president's policies. During daily briefings, he challenged reporters, scolded them and questioned their motives as if he were starring in a TV show broadcast live from the West Wing.
Critics suggested that Snow was turning the traditionally informational daily briefing into a personality-driven media event short on facts and long on confrontation. He was the first press secretary, by his own accounting, to travel the country raising money for Republican candidates.
Although a star in conservative politics, as a commentator he had not always been on the president's side. He once called Bush "something of an embarrassment" in conservative circles and criticized what he called Bush's "lackluster" domestic policy.
Most of Snow's career in journalism involved expressing his conservative views. After earning a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Davidson College in North Carolina in 1977 and studying economics and philosophy at the University of Chicago, he wrote editorials for The Greensboro (N.C.) Record, and The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk.
He was the editorial page editor of The Newport News (Va.) Daily Press and deputy editorial page editor of The Detroit News before moving to Washington in 1987 to become editorial page editor of The Washington Times.
Snow left journalism in 1991 to join the administration of President George H.W. Bush as director of speechwriting and deputy assistant to the president for media affairs. He then rejoined the news media to write nationally syndicated columns for The Detroit News and USA Today during much of the Clinton administration.
Robert Anthony Snow was born June 1, 1955, in Berea, Ky., and spent his childhood in the Cincinnati area. Survivors include his wife, Jill Ellen Walker, whom he married in 1987, and three children.
WASHINGTON - Tony Snow, a conservative writer and commentator who cheerfully sparred with reporters in the White House briefing room d... more -
SF grows garden at Civic Center
San Francisco's ever eco-conscious mayor is turning Civic Center Plaza's
central promenade into an organic vegetable garden, filled with beets,
broccoli, cabbage and mustard greens... San Francisco's ever eco-conscious mayor is turning Civic Center Plaza's ... more -
Bomb at Indian embassy kills 41 in Afghanistan
A suicide car bomber rammed two diplomatic vehicles entering the Indian Embassy in Kabul on Monday, killing 41 people and wounding 141, Afghan authorities said.
The Taliban have vowed to step up their campaign of suicide bombings this year, graphically demonstrating that despite the increase in foreign troops in Afghanistan and more trained Afghan forces on patrol, the militants are far from defeated.
"I saw wounded and dead people everywhere on the road," said Danish Karokhil, the head of the independent Pajhwok news agency, whose offices are close by.
"The target was the diplomatic vehicles. They were trying to get inside the embassy when the suicide car bomber attacked them," he said.
Health Ministry spokesman Abdullah Fahim said 28 people were killed and 141 wounded, but a senior police official later revised this to 41 dead..
(End of excerpt)
Full story at link by Samar Zwak// Reuters
Photo by Omar Sobhani// Reuters A suicide car bomber rammed two diplomatic vehicles entering the Indian Embassy in Kabul on Monday, killing 41 people and wounding 141... more -
Lesbiatopia: Breaking News.... "Pregnant Man Gives Birth"
This just in……
Lesbiatopia has just learned THOMAS BEATIE, also know as the 'PREGNANT MAN,' gave birth this morning to a healthy baby girl.
Thomas, who was born Tracy, is the first legally male person ever to do so.
Further Details as they arrived here in our Lebiatopia News Center...so stay tuned This just in…… ... more -
Prince William's ship in £40m drugs raid
Prince William was involved in a drug raid yesterday when his ship, the Iron Duke, seized a large amount of cocaine in the Atlantic, north-east of Barbados.
He was flying in the frigate's Lynx helicopter, which was alerted by intelligence to look out for an ocean-going speedboat suspected of smuggling drugs to west Africa or Europe. US coastguard officers on board the British frigate boarded the speedboat and seized 900kg (about 2,000lb) of cocaine with a minimum street value of £40m, according to the Ministry of Defence. The boat, believed to have begun its voyage in the Caribbean, stopped when ordered to do so and its crew was detained by the coastguards.
The prince was one of six navy personnel on the Lynx when the boat was spotted, the MoD said. Other crew included a sniper and a pilot.
William, a future head of the armed forces, joined the Iron Duke on June 24 as part of a secondment to the navy. Though he joined the Household Cavalry, like Prince Harry, it was considered too great a risk to the heir to the throne - and fellow soldiers - to send him to Afghanistan. William was also awarded his "wings" after a four-month spell in the RAF.
The Iron Duke's mission includes intercepting drug smugglers and assisting with disaster relief in the event of a hurricane striking the Caribbean region.
The ship's commander, Mark Newland, said: "This is a fantastic start to HMS Iron Duke's north Atlantic deployment. To have had a direct impact on the flow of cocaine into Europe just four days after we arrived in theatre shows the benefit the Royal Navy can have in the area of maritime security and counter-drug operations."
Prince William was involved in a drug raid yesterday when his ship, the Iron Duke, seized a large amount of cocaine in the Atlantic, n... more -
Jerusalem bulldozer 'terrorist' kills 3 in rampage
Israeli authorities say a "terrorist" rammed a bulldozer into a bus and several other vehicles in Jerusalem Wednesday, killing at least three people and injuring at least 30 others. The rampage in western Jerusalem lasted about five minutes before a police officer climbed up the side of the swerving bulldozer and fatally shot the driver -- a Palestinian from East Jerusalem.
Check out more at the associated link. Israeli authorities say a "terrorist" rammed a bulldozer into a bus and several other vehicles in Jerusalem Wednesday, killing at leas... more -
Bulldozer rampage' in Jerusalem
Witnesses say a bulldozer driver has gone on a rampage in Jerusalem traffic and plowed his vehicle into a crowded public bus.
The incident has set off a panic in downtown Jerusalem. Dozens of people are running through the streets to flee the scene.
Police are on the scene. The bus was overturned, many people are lying dazed on the ground and there is a baby with blood all over its face.
There is no word on a motive for the attack or the condition of the driver. - Sapa-AP Witnesses say a bulldozer driver has gone on a rampage in Jerusalem traffic and plowed his vehicle into a crowded public bus. ... more -
Scientist: There is No Ice at the North Pole this Summer
It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year.
The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic - and worrying - examples of the impact of global warming on the planet.
Maybe now its actually time to do something about global warming? What other signs do we need? I'm sure the deniers will look at this and find a reason why this is normal and natural, but scientific facts can only be debated for so long.
Read more at the associated link. It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year. ... more -
Explosion under SF street
An explosion in a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. underground vault in downtown San Francisco this afternoon blew at least one manhole cover into the air and smoke was pouring from two others, witnesses and authorities said.
An explosion in a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. underground vault in downtown San Francisco this afternoon blew at least one manhole co... more -
George Carlin dies at 71
"LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs and dirty words, died of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday, a spokesman said. He was 71.
Carlin, who had a history of heart and drug-dependency problems, died at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica about 6 p.m. PDT (2 a.m. British time) after being admitted earlier in the afternoon for chest pains, spokesman Jeff Abraham told Reuters."
I once saw him perform, and it was one of the funniest nights I have ever experienced. He will be deeply missed. May the sun shine brightly upon him and Joe Pesci get a few things done. "LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs and dirty words, died of he... more -
George Carlin dead at 71
Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs and dirty words, died of heart failure at a Los Angeles-area hospital on Sunday, a spokesman said. He was 71. Comedian George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs and dirty words, died of heart failure at a Los Ange... more
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