Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Mid Day International News

Mid Day International News

Hostages at US school freed; gunman shoots himself

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A gun-toting student released 24 people he held hostage at a high school in the northern US state of Wisconsin before shooting himself, news reports said.

The 23 pupils and one female teacher were held about five hours in Marinette before being freed Monday night uninjured, police said. When officers entered the classroom where the gunman, believed to be a 15-year-old, was holed up, he shot himself, they said.

He was taken to hospital, but his condition was not yet known.

The teenager, armed with a handgun, took over a classroom at Marinette High School as classes drew to a close. Police cordoned off the school grounds and began communicating with the gunman through the teacher via telephone.

Police Chief Jeffery Skorik said the teen made no demands and his motive was unknown. The student had no previous run-ins with the law, Skorik said.

He initially released five people but continued to hold the teacher and 18 pupils. The remaining hostages were freed when police stormed into the classroom after hearing gunshots, which is when the gunman turned his weapon on himself.

Police said the gunman was a student at the school, but they declined to name him. Officials said they believed he was armed with one handgun and was acting alone.

Wisecracking and fist-bumping Bush boasts of 600,000 Facebook friends!

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After his grim stint in the White House for eight years, former US President George W. Bush in a clear departure from stereotypes, shamelessly peddled his book in a live chat and boasted of his 600,000 Facebook friends.

In a live chat, which was watched by 7,000 viewers, Bush cracked a few jokes and talked politics with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

The interview, streamed live by Facebook, focused primarily on Bush's new memoir 'Decision Points,' but also touched on education, the economy, China, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The former president happily plugged his book, while also buttering up Zuckerberg with wisecracks and praise, even giving him a fist-bump at one point.

"I've got over 600,000 friends on my Facebook page," and added that he chose to do the interview because "You've got a lot of people paying attention to us, and I'm trying to sell books," the New York Daily News quoted him as saying.

"The truth of the matter is, I'm shamelessly marketing.

"I hope people read my book. I've written this book because I recognize there's no such thing as accurate short-term history. I want to give future historians a perspective - mine," he said.

Talking about WikiLeaks, he said, "Leaks are very damaging and people who leak ought to be prosecuted. I think it's going to be hard to keep the trust of foreign leaders."

Bush also stayed away from taking any digs at the Obama administration, though he did winkingly acknowledge "there is a lot of criticism."

"I don't think it's good for the country to have a former president criticize his successor, so I don't want to, and I'm not going to," he said.

And, when asked how he would like to be remembered, he said, "The guy who protected the country, I guess, and [the guy] who didn't sell his soul for the sake of politics."

"But I'm not worried about it. I'm a comfortable guy, I'm a happy guy," he added. (ANI)


Binge-drinking culture creating a generation of angry young girls

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Experts have claimed that more and more girls are binge drinking and - tired of being regarded as the passive sex - are emulating male behaviour.

They have said that the number of teenage girls who are physically aggressive and lash out at school and at home has risen at an alarming rate.

The disturbing trend has been noted by the British Association of Anger Management, which is dealing with increasing numbers of ''out-of-control'' and aggressive young women.

The association''s findings echo statistics, which found the ''ladette'' yob culture was on the rise, with 200 women convicted of violent crime every week.

The number of women found guilty of murder, vicious assault or other attacks has risen by 81 per cent since 1998.

Leading anger management psychotherapist Mike Fisher said there was a strong link between the rise in binge-drinking among young girls and their physical aggression.

"Girls are generally better at dealing with their feelings, whereas boys keep it inside. However, when girls drink they are anaesthetising their feelings. Suddenly they are not able to cope with their emotions appropriately, but that anger has to go somewhere. Unlike their mothers, who perhaps did not drink as much, they become violent," the Daily Mail quoted him as saying.

"The girls we are dealing with in schools are increasingly physically aggressive. They are tired of being pushed around by boys and they are fighting back. They are fed up with being the passive sex," Fisher added.

Charity Parentline Plus reported that half of the calls it received from parents about their children''s extreme verbal and physical aggression related to girls.

One mother said her 15-year-old daughter had done ''exactly as she wants'' for six months, returning home from school late at night and disappearing over the weekend.

She said, "This morning because I wouldn''t take to school and buy her some tobacco, she flew into a rage, threw everything off my sideboard, smashed a glass and ripped a towel rail off the wall."

Fisher noted it was increasingly socially acceptable for young girls to vent their frustration in this way.

"Particularly in some of the inner-city schools we are visiting, it is seen as a sign of strength. Girls feel the need to "hold their own" and fight back if they are taunted by the boys. They are standing up for themselves, but just not in the right way," he explained.

Simon Lawton Smith, of the Mental Health Foundation, said girls faced many modern-day challenges, which could lead to anger issues.

"Girls face a new generation of potential triggers for problems such as premature sexualisation, commercialization and alcohol misuse, and also some of the more long-standing issues like bullying and family breakdown. All these things can be triggers for anger," he said.

Lawton Smith called for more anger management in schools.

Parkinson's drug side effects turns IT manager into sex-crazed transvestite

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A former IT manager has revealed how he became a sex-crazed transvestite and spent thousands due to the side-effects from Parkinson's disease medication.

Peter Shepherd, 60, was prescribed the drug Cabergoline by his GP in 2001 and it had such a devastating impact on him that he blew 400,000 pounds on a luxury lifestyle and ended in debt.

Shepherd, a former councillor, ran up 150,000 pounds in debt on 15 credit cards and lived like a millionaire, spending a fortune on Caribbean cruises and hiring luxury cars such as Bentleys, Porsches and Ferraris.

He also travelled the world and hired helicopters to take him on exotic excursions.

He has spoken out about his experiences to highlight the problems faced by sufferers of the degenerative disease.

"I became obsessed with gambling, spending, sexual excess and various fetishes. I suffered from delusions of grandeur, exhibitionism, paranoia and hallucinations and became violent and suicidal," the Daily Mail quoted him as saying.

"I was out day and night at racecourses, betting shops, casinos and brothels. I developed a transvestite tendency and spent tens of thousands of pounds on ladies' clothing for myself.

"I knew I was behaving oddly but I was totally driven down these paths and unable to control the compulsions. It went on and on, and I found myself in police stations several times," he revealed.

He came to grips with his life only after he discovered a link between his compulsions and Cabergoline on the Internet in 2008, and when he stopped taking the drug.

Cabergoline is a form of a drug called Dopamine Agent and is also used to increase sex drive.

But he eventually had to pay, and he ended up at Hull Crown Court in October last year, where he admitted to six counts of fraud and transferring criminal property.

His lawyers successfully argued that his criminal behaviour was as a direct result of his medication. The judge described it as a "wholly unusual case" and let him off with a conditional discharge.

Two professors of neurology testified on his behalf and said that his drugs had left him unable to tell right from wrong.

"At least 14 percent of people on these medications may experience problems with compulsive behaviours, which appear to subside if the drug is withdrawn," Dr Kieran Breen, research chief at charity Parkinson's UK, said.

Brit-Asian accused of offering to become suicide bomber

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Rajib Karim, a Bangladeshi born British Airways computer expert who is alleged to have offered himself as a suicide bomber, has denied terrorism charges against him at an Old Bailey hearing today.

According to the Daily Mail, Karim appeared via videolink at the Old Bailey where he pleaded not guilty to two charges of preparing for terrorism. Each count covers the period from April 13 2006 to February 26 2010 and includes the allegation that he ''offered to be a martyr or suicide bomber''.

The first charge alleges that he was involved in preparation and had intention of committing terrorist activities, including that he ''incited the giving of permission to carry out terrorist acts in the United Kingdom''.

Karim is also said to have offered to travel to Yemen or Pakistan to carry out terrorism training, and to have advised about potential recruits to commit terrorist acts in the UK. He has also been alleged of staying in the UK long enough to obtain a British passport, the paper said.

It is further claimed that Karim had ''advised and counselled the commission of terrorist acts by providing information'' on topics like liquids allowances on planes, airport security and scanners, and immigration questions to travellers.

Karim is additionally accused of giving advice about working for BA and obtaining a British passport.

The second charge alleged him of preparing terrorism to assist another to commit terrorist acts, which includes some claims similar to the first count, as well as the accusation that he asked for, collected and sent money for terrorism, the paper added.

The 31-year-old man, of Newcastle upon Tyne, would reportedly remain in custody and is scheduled to go on trial on January 24 at Woolwich Crown Court in south east London.

Meet the man who goes temporarily blind every time he has sex

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A man, whose identity could not be revealed, was forced to seek medical help after temporarily losing his sight every time he had sex.

As per the NCBI ROFL blog, the patient would go blind immediately after the ejaculation but the blindness would never occur while performing any other strenuous exercise.

The report revealed the cause of the condition to be vasoconstriction, where the muscle walls contract around a blood vessel, restricting the flow of blood.

Vasoconstriction is the same condition that causes erectile dysfunction.

Doctors had earlier speculated that an embolism was causing the man's blindness.

"Hypothetical mechanisms of transient monocular visual loss in our patient include vasoconstriction or embolism in the arterial blood supply of the eye. The repeated and completely transient nature of our patient's symptoms supports the fact that embolism was not involved," the Daily Mail quoted the report as saying.

The original report was published by the Department of Ophthalmology at Glostrup Hospital, University of Copenhagen.

Hindu girl kidnapped in Pakistan

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A three-and-a-half year old Hindu girl has been abducted from outside a temple in Pakistan's Kashmore district in Sindh, a media report said.

Aanchal was kidnapped from outside a Hindu temple on Thursday.

Daily Times on Tuesday quoted Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti as saying that the kidnappers would be dealt with iron hands.

In a statement released on Monday, the minister directed the authorities concerned to ensure the safe release of the girl.

Six-year-old Pakistani girl rescued from wedding venue

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A six-year-old Pakistani girl, whose marriage was to be solemnised with her 23-year-old cousin, was rescued from a secret wedding venue by the police. The unsuspecting girl had been assured that she would get many gifts.

The bridegroom Zahid was arrested from the marriage venue in Sheikhupura in Punjab province.

"We received a tip off about the marriage but it took us a while to find the place as the wedding was being conducted in secret," Express Tribune quoted Bilal Zafar, a police official, as saying.

Several wedding guests were taken into police custody for questioning.

Zahid was being wed to his six-year-old cousin Uzma.

"Most of the wedding guests fled when they saw us coming but we sealed off the wedding site and recovered the girl," said Bilal.

Police officials said that when they questioned the girl's family they were told that the girl had agreed to the marriage.

"Uzma didn't really have much idea of what was happening here and said that her parents had told her she would get many gifts," the police official said, adding the girl did not know she was getting married.

Four clones created of Dolly, the sheep!

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Dolly, the sheep, became a scientific sensation when her birth was announced in 1996. Now, 14 years on, the scientist, who cloned Dolly, has claimed to have created four more sheep who are the exact genetic duplicates of Dolly, the world's first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell.

The quads, which have been nicknamed 'the Dollies', are exact genetic copies of their predecessor who was put down seven years back only to end her suffering from advanced lung disease and arthritis, the Daily Mail reported.

Though critics have warned the technology brought with it a high risk of miscarriage -- and for those creatures which did survive, ill-health and premature death, Professor Keith Campbell said that the latest experiments were partly carried out to check if improvements to the technique cut the risk of problems in and out of the womb.

Named after country and western singer Dolly Parton, Dolly was created from a cell taken from a mammary gland. The rest of the sample of tissue was kept in a freezer since, till it was defrosted to make the Dollies. This means the quads are genetically identical to each other, as well as to Dolly, and to the ewe that donated the udder tissue.

Prof Campbell, who keeps the Dollies as pets on land at Nottingham University, was quoted as saying, "Dolly is alive and well. Genetically these are Dolly."

The cloning of Dolly was a long and tortuous process. In all, 277 eggs were used and only one lamb -- Dolly -- survived. And, this time, only five embryos were needed to produce each one of the Dollies.

Prof Campbell said the health of the clones was being closely watched. He added: "They have got the life of Reilly -- they potter around and get fed. We are not doing anything to them, they have no health concerns and they show none of the signs of developing the arthritis that Dolly had."

The professor, who plans to publish details about the Dollies in a scientific journal, said improvements in the technology raised the odds of clones being born alive and healthy but admitted the method was still not perfect. The Dollies were born three-and-a-half years ago but their existence became public when Prof Campbell mentioned them during a lecture at a recent European Parliament debate on cloning and animal welfare.

He said he had not tried to hide their existence and had spoken of the animals to other scientists. However, animal welfare campaigners say that cloned animals and their surrogate mothers still suffer immensely. Peter Stevenson of Compassion in World Farming, said: "Cloning is a welfare disaster."

Electrician had 271 Picasso paintings

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Worked for the artist during the seventies. Says he received most items as gifts

It is perhaps why the French police arrested the 71-year-old when they discovered the cache of sketches and paintings worth �50m at his Riviera home.

Mr Le Guennec claims that he was given the collection by the artist when he carried out odd jobs for him at his Cote d'Azur home 40 years ago.

However, Picasso's son, Claude, suspects that the works were stolen.

The pieces, dating from 1900 to 1932, include portraits of Picasso's first wife, Olga, nine highly-prized Cubist collages worth 40 million ( �36 million), a watercolour from his "blue" period, studies of his hand on canvas, gouaches, around 30 lithographs and 200 drawings.


Le Guennec (left) claims to have installed burglar alarm systems at Picasso's numerous houses in France


Mr Le Guennec sent 26 amateur photographs of some of the works in January to Claude Picasso, who runs his father's estate, asking to have the works authenticated.

The heir at first thought the works were fakes, as there was no record of them in his files, but intrigued, he asked to meet the sender.

Mr Le Guennec and his wife then travelled from their home on the Cote d'Azur to the Picasso Administration headquarters in Paris. To Claude Picasso's shock, they proceeded to unpack 175 totally unknown pieces from a suitcase, including two notebooks containing 97 drawings.

They left more photographs of studies for Picasso's famous Trois Graces, a dog fight, a crucifixion, satyrs, landscapes and a hanged man from his blue period.

Art experts swiftly concluded that not even the greatest counterfeiter could have copied such a wealth of different styles, and there was no way they could have faked the classification numbers on some of them.

With the works authenticated, six Picasso heirs decided to file for charges against "persons unknown". Police swooped on Mr Le Guennec's flat in Mouans Sartoux, near Cannes, arresting him on suspicion of handling illegally obtained goods. He was questioned and subsequently released.

Days later, they seized the entire collection, which is currently being held in a vault in Nanterre, outside Paris at France's Central Office for the Fight against Traffic in Cultural Goods, part of the Interior Ministry.

During questioning, Mr Le Guennec insisted the entire haul came from gifts from "the master" but then apparently changed his story, saying they were a gift from Picasso's second wife Jaqueline Roque, who committed suicide in 1986.

He said he was given the works after installing alarm systems at three of the artist's Riviera homes in the three years until his death in 1973 La Californie, the villa he bought in Cannes in 1955, his chateau de Vauvenargues and Notre-Dame-de-Vie, the farmhouse in Mougins where he died.

But Picasso's heirs pointed out that the artist was reluctant to gave away any works, obsessively kept everything and forbade people to enter his studio.

"To give such a large quantity (away) frankly doesn't stand up. It was part of his life," Claude Picasso said. He said that many of the pieces were not even dated, which, he said signified they should never have left the studio.

"He always dated, signed and wrote dedications in his gifts, knowing that some people would go on to sell them to meet their needs."

Mr Le Guennec's wife yesterday insisted the works had been given by Jacqueline Roque in good faith. "We are not thieves. We have nothing to be ashamed of," she said.

"My clients are very surprised to be accused of theft," said the Le Guennecs' lawyer.

50 MN Pounds
Estimated worth of the treasure trove


Posted by Harshad at 7:31 AM

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