Saturday, July 31, 2010

Mid Day International News

Mid Day International News

Council goes barking mad

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Special park for pooches, make Locals go red in face

Dogs usually have to make do with fetching a stick or walkies to keep off the pooch pounds.

But pets at this �15,000 (Rs 11 lakh) play park the first of its kind in Britain enjoy Crufts-style obstacles to keep in shape.

There is everything from ramps and tunnels to hurdles, poles and paw-shaped hoops to negotiate.

The 30ft square area at Southern Country Park in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, opened this week coinciding with a People's Dispensary for Sick Animals report warning that half of UK dogs will be obese within five years.

But critics complain the park is a waste of money.

Emma Boon, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said, "The local council must have gone barking mad to spend thousands of pounds of taxpayers' cash on this canine attraction."

She added that dog owners should exercise their pets as part of looking after them but a run around the park would be sufficient.

"It is not the job of the council to provide facilities for owners to play with their dogs and it certainly isn't a priority at a time when money is tight and the council should be making spending cuts," she further said.

Jogger Rachel Bennett 34, who lives in the area, said, "It seems a bit barmy. What's wrong with throwing a ball or a stick? Those don't need maintenance and won't be vandalised."

Diana Attwood, from nearby Stansted Mountfitchet, Hertfordshire, who takes her weimaraner, Cindy, to agility competitions, said, "It's awful to think local residents are being bullied and robbed for their council tax for it to be wasted in such a stupid way.'

Tory-run East Herts District Council paid �7,000 (Rs 5 lakh) for the equipment.

Installation costs and officers' time more than doubled this.

Councillor Linda Haysey said, "The area has been designed to help dogs and their owners keep fit and active. It's a wonderful way for dog owners to socialise."

Kennel Club secretary Caroline Kisko said, "Recent reports about pet obesity are testament to the fact that, sadly, dogs don't always get the exercise that they need."


He ordained 360 'I dos'

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Vicar carried out sham marriages for illegal African immigrants marrying Eastern Europeans to live in UK

Reverend Alex Brown abused his position to marry 360 illegal immigrants to complete strangers.

Armed with a marriage certificate, the immigrants were then able to hoodwink the Home Office into giving them a visa to stay in Britain as a spouse, with access to education, healthcare and benefits.

Marriage factory

At his Victorian parish church in the seaside town of St Leonards, East Sussex, Brown married up to eight couples a day between 2005 and 2009, a court heard.

Ninety couples were registered as living in one road and 52 in another. There were several brides and grooms from the same house, and one husband-to-be went under the name of Felix Spaceman.

A bride changed into her borrowed wedding gown in the vestry before the ceremony, then stuffed it back into a plastic bag afterwards, while a groom produced a ring that was far too small for his wife's finger.

Nevertheless Brown(61), protested his innocence, but he was convicted with a Nigerian immigration solicitor whose clients paid up to �15,000 (Rs 11 lakh) for a dodgy wedding and a Ukrainian who supplied
hard-up Eastern Europeans willing to marry for �3,000 (Rs 2 lakh).

Michael Adelasoye (50), a qualified immigration lawyer, found Africans who were desperate to stay in the UK after outstaying their visas.

Stooges

Vladymyr Buchak, who lived illegally under a false Estonian name, recruited the stooge brides and grooms from Hastings's Eastern European community. Some wed several times.

Ten of the brides and grooms received police cautions, but the majority were never traced and are presumably still living here.

The three defendants denied conspiracy to breach immigration laws, but they were found guilty by a jury at Lewes Crown Court after a seven week trial.

Brown, who is openly gay, also became the only vicar in 800 years to be convicted of failing to read out the banns asking the congregation if they knew of 'any just cause or impediment' why two people may not marry.

Judge Richard Hayward adjourned sentencing to September 6 but warned the three, who all live in
St Leonards, he was considering jail.

Adelasoye and Brown were released on conditional bail, and Buchak was remanded in custody.

The vicar walked from court without a word, but Adelasoye, who is a pastor of the Ark of Hope church in
St Leonards, protested, "I don't think it's a fair verdict. God looks after the righteous."

Retirement nest

Brown's motivation remains unclear. Police believe the once respected priest threw away his career, his reputation and potentially his freedom to feather a nest for his retirement.

But although they found �5,000 (Rs 7 lakh) in cash at his home, this was not nearly as much as they would have expected if Brown's sole desire was to make money, rather than to help immigrants.

The case, which police believe is part of an international multi-million pound scam, has once again exposed the lax regulations.

A total of 529 suspect marriages were reported to the Home Office a rise of 54 per cent on 2008 levels.

Detective Inspector Andy Cummins, of UK Border Agency, said, "This was the biggest operation of its kind we have come across, and the only one we know about where the vicar was entirely complicit.

The nearer he got to his retirement date, the more weddings he was doing."

Rs 11 lakh
The amount couples paid for a dodgy wedding and a chance to continue to reside in Britain


Churchill's dentures go under the hammer

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A partial set of dentures used by British wartime leader Winston Churchill and described as the teeth that saved the world sold at an auction for $22,000 (Rs 11 lakh).

The upper dentures, one of several sets specially made for the former prime minister, were used to maintain his distinctively slurred speaking style.

They were bought by a British collector of Churchill memorabilia at an auction in England at three times the estimated price.

The dentures were unique because they were designed to be loose-fitting so that Churchill could preserve the diction famous from World War II radio broadcasts, experts said.

"From childhood, Churchill had a very distinctive natural lisp; he had trouble with his S's," said Jane Hughes, of London's Hunterian Museum. The medical museum displays a duplicate set of Churchill's dentures in a glass cabinet.

Hughes said, "The dentures wouldn't quite connect with the top of the mouth, but that was on purpose."

The leader valued so highly the skill of his dentist, Wilfred Fish, that he nominated him for a knighthood.


Death threats for 'Sister act'

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Benedictine nuns from a secluded convent in southern France have received death threats after winning a deal aimed at creating a chart-topping album.

The nuns from the Abbaye de Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation near Avignon had their prayers answered last week after beating 70 other religious orders from North America and Africa to the deal with Universal Music.

The sisters, whose album is set to be released in November, put a clip of their Gregorian chants online.

However, they realised a raft of death threats had been put at the bottom of the clip.

"There were threats written in English saying that these nuns had to be killed," said a source close to the matter.

The nuns have informed the police and asked them to keep a closer eye on the
convent.

The sisters are not allowed to leave the convent or receive guests and only communicate with visitors through a grill.

The nuns join a label that includes the likes of Elton John, The Rolling Stones and convent-educated chart topper Lady Gaga.


Chelsea's big day; US' royal wedding

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Gluten-free cake, Vera Wang gown and Rs 12 lakh worth of canapes at no-expense-spared ceremony of Chelsea Clinton with boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky

The dress, the guests, the music, even the bathroom arrangements. The world now knows everything about Chelsea Clinton's wedding. Or does it?


Luxury location: Sources state that Astor Courts will be the place where
Chelsea (below) ties the knot today. Pic/AFP

The Clinton family information war rolled, keeping Chelsea's marriage to Wall Street banker Marc Mezvinsky under a lid even WikiLeaks, of Afghan war files fame, would have a hard time cracking.
Officially, almost all that's known is that Chelsea (30), is to wed Mezvinsky, the man she first met as a teenager, on Saturday. That's it.

The location, type of ceremony, guest list and colour of the bride's dress remain unconfirmed.
But pinhole openings in the information barrier have opened and here is a summary of what else Chelsea watchers know " or think they do.

Location
All signals point to Rhinebeck, a quaint town in upstate New York. Paparazzi have snapped pictures of a huge white tent going up in the secluded grounds of Astor Courts estate.
Local store owners testify to the presence of well-heeled out-of-towners and men talking into mobile phones about security.

Another big clue is that the Federal Aviation Authority on Thursday ordered airspace shut over the location during Saturday afternoon.

Other than Chelsea's father, former president Bill Clinton, and mother, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, there are no confirmed celebrities. But gossip hounds persistently mention Hollywood and Washington high-fliers.
Some predict Clinton friends as varied as Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, and, perhaps surprisingly, the former British prime minister John Major will attend.

However, one person who will surely not be present will be President Barack Obama. "I am not going and I have to say, it would be tough enough
having one president at a wedding, you don't want two presidents at a wedding," he told ABC's lightweight talk show, The View.

The dress
According to inside sources, Clinton will be the gushing bride in Vera Wang.
As for the music, rumours are that the band will play Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, Cat Stevens' Wild World, and ABBA's Dancing Queen.

Guests will also be served a five-tier, gluten-free wedding cake baked by Ron Ben-Israel, who created the cake for the gay wedding in the film Sex And The City 2.
Also, guests won't have to duck into the idyllic forests around Astor Courts to answer the call of nature.
They'll be treated to $16,835(Rs 8 lakh) worth of luxury porta-potty trailers.
"The portable latrines have actual porcelain toilets that flush, stereo music and hot running water."


Posted by Harshad at 7:24 AM

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