Friday, September 2, 2011

Mid Day International News

Mid Day International News

Mother boosts 4-year-old's breasts, buttocks

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A US mother has sparked public outrage by implanting fake breasts and a padded bottom under her four-year-old daughter's dress that she wore during her appearance in a beauty contest.

Maddy Jackson was seen sporting the enhanced breasts and pushed bottom when she took to the stage of 'Toddlers and Tiaras', the US reality show revealing the surreal world of beauty pageants.

Jackson in her Barbie pink Lycra catsuit, tried to emulate the appearance of curvy Dolly Parton.

Her mother Lindsay, who herself entered her first pageant contest when she was just nine months old, defended the enhancements on NBC's 'Today' show.

"To some people, it's over the top, to us it's just what happens... It's just normal. When she wears the fake boobs and the fake butt, it's just like extra bonus," the Daily Mail quoted her as telling the show.

The show has left many people shocked with most of them believing that the step could influence youngsters to adopt a similar behaviour.

Campaigners have even set up a Facebook group, 'Take 'Toddlers And Tiaras' off the Air!' in a bid to show their dissent.

Pizza chain to open outlet on moon

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Domino's Pizza has announced plans to launch its first pizza restaurant on the Moon.

After rival chain Pizza Hut delivered a pizza to astronauts orbiting the Earth in the International Space Station in 2001, Domino's hit back last year in a series of events to mark the 25th anniversary of its arrival in Japan.

And now, the construction firm Maeda Corp has come up with the plan to open a dome-shaped concrete Domino's restaurant on the surface of the Moon.

The company estimated that the entire project would budget up to 13.4 billion pounds - of which 4.5 billion will be required to send 70 tons of construction materials and pizza-making equipments across to the moon via 15 rockets.

Domino's announced that it will reduce costs by using mineral deposits on the Moon to make the concrete, which is said to be costing around 1.5 billion pounds.

An impression of the restaurant made by an artist shows a two-storey dome with a diameter of around 26 metres and a basement level made of steel plating. It also shows an area to prepare pizzas.

"We started thinking about this project last year, although we have not yet determined when the restaurant might open," Tomohide Matsunaga, a spokesman for Domino's, told The Daily Telegraph.

"In the future, we anticipate there will be many people living on the moon, astronauts who are working there and, in the future, citizens of the moon," he added.

2 female journalists found slain in Mexico park

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A Mexican political magazine's founder and a freelance journalist have been found killed in a Mexico City park, authorities said.

Two joggers discovered the bodies of Marcela Yarce and Rocio Gonzalez near a cemetery in El Mirador park in the poor, crowded neighborhood of Iztapalapa.

The necks of the women bore strangulation marks and their hands were tied behind their back, said Jose Carlos Cervantes, spokesman for the Mexico City police.

"It was a very violent killing. We are dismayed," said Zosimo Camacho, a spokesman for the magazine Contralinea, to The Associated Press.

Authorities gave no motives in the killings. The Mexico City Attorney General's Office said both Yarce and Gonzalez were 48, while Camacho said Yarce was 45.

Man with mental illness history claims to have shot down UFO

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A Swedish man with a history of mental illness claims to have shot down a UFO he believed was coming to kidnap him.

According to the Dale-Demokraten newspaper, the 23-year-old man fired two pistol shots through his apartment window before opening fire at what according to him were alien invaders.

The gunman, who has not been named, claims one shot hit a UFO, causing it to explode.

The police was called by a woman who was in the apartment at the time the shooting took place in the central Swedish ton of Hedemora.

Despite the presence of armed officers, it took several hours for the police to convince the shooter that aliens had not marked him down for abduction and that he was safe.

"We do not believe that the threats voiced were anything other than the desperation of a confused person," the Telegraph quoted local police in a statement as saying.

The shooter was later charged with illegal possession of a firearm and threatening a police officer and a psychologist who examined him after his arrest said he was suffering from severe psychiatric disorder.

The police are now trying to find out where and how the man, who also has previous convictions, managed to get hold of the gun.

Italy to give Libyan rebels 500 mn euros

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Italy has decided to increase its initial funding to the Libyan rebel National Transitional Council to 500 million euros (around $714 million) from an earlier announced 350 million euros, officials said.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi Thursday informed Libyan rebel leader Mahmoud Jibril about the decision over phone, Xinhua reported.

Italy has also vowed to provide trainers for the new Libyan police and military forces, and for the reconstruction of all other sectors including education, health and energy infrastructure.

Italy Thursday also reopened its embassy in Tripoli and nominated Giuseppe Maria Buccino Grimaldi as the new ambassador to Libya.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said a team of diplomats, experts and officials was already operating in Tripoli and was closely working together with the rebel forces.

One survives light plane crash in Sydney ocean

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A passenger miraculously survived a light plane crash into the sea off Sydney today after an onlooker plunged into the ocean to rescue them, reports said.

But the pilot was believed dead following the crash just off a northern Sydney beach, as passers-by were unable to free him from the wreckage.

The aircraft sent a mayday alert before coming down some 50 metres off Curl Curl beach. It could be seen on live television pictures lying on the ocean bed.

The New South Wales state Ambulance Service said one person escaped and was receiving medical treatment. "Paramedics have accessed one patient who has washed up on rocks and are treating the patient for suspected spinal injuries," the service said.

Television footage showed the patient being stabilised before being winched into a helicopter and taken to hospital.

An eyewitness, who gave his name as Travis, told reporters at the scene he helped rescue the survivor.

"Me and another guy ... we ran out, swam out, we pulled one guy out, the passenger," he told local radio. "But mate ... we couldn't get back out there. There's still a guy down at the bottom, in the plane. "We got to the aircraft but (the passenger) had already popped out, he was sort of floating. He couldn't swim, he'd hurt his back pretty bad so we paddled him over to the shore."

Muslim convert in US facing prejudices for wearing hijab

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A Hispanic woman, who became a Muslim seven years ago, has said that she faced discrimination from neighbours in Harlem, New York, because she was wearing a hijab.

"As soon as I started wearing the hijab I got a lot of stares," the New York Daily News quoted twenty-seven year-old Julissa Fikri, as saying.

"Even my own Latino people feel like I betrayed them," said Fikri, who was raised as a Christian in Harlem.

"They see me veiled and they think ''she's under (her husband's) grasp'' and that's not the case. This is not a bad thing. I'm not oppressed. I'm very comfortable. I just want people to know that I'm the same person," she added.

Fikri, who is now Puerto Rican and Dominican, said on a You Tube video that she wants to educate those around her, including her own mother, about the difference between 'culture and religion'.

"It's (hijab) something very foreign to the Hispanic community. They immediately associate the religion with the culture of being Arab, and that's something now that I want to educate people, especially in this community. It is two different things, culture and religion," she said.

Fikri recalled an incident when a Latino man said in Spanish that 'she changed her race. Now, she's Arab.'

In another incident, a woman looked at her and called her a terrorist, Fikri said.

Fikri said she started exploring Islam in 2004 after a personal crisis made her start looking into religion for guidance.

Gaddafi vows not to surrender

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Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has once again vowed in an audio message broadcast on television that he would not surrender. He urged his loyalists to continue their resistance to the rebellion.

"We are not weak women. We are not slaves. We can not give up. We can not surrender," Gaddafi said in the message broadcast on Syria's Al-Rrai TV channel.

"Let this be a long fight and let Libya be engulfed in flames," he said.

Gaddafi called on his supporters in the capital Tripoli to fight back and "set ambushes" against the "collaborators" of NATO.

He also urged the tribes who support him to continue fighting even if they could not hear from him again.

"All Libyan tribes are heavily armed and cannot be brought to their knees. We'll be awarded victory ultimately. We can never surrender," said Gaddafi, whose whereabouts remain unknown.

In an audio message broadcast on the Syrian TV channel Wednesday, Gaddafi's second son, Saif al-Islam said his father was doing well and vowed to "liberate" the Green Square in Tripoli from the rebels' control.

Teacher who worked as 'secret' stripper can carry on teaching

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A secondary school sex education teacher in the UK who led a double life as a porn star and a stripper has been allowed to teach in the classroom.

Benedict Garrett, 31, who uses the pseudonym Johnny Anglais, was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct after he raked in cash from filming raunchy titles such as European Honeyz 4.

The sex education master's secret was uncovered when his pupils spotted a Facebook link to a porn movie trailer he was starring in and reported it to school bosses.

Garrett was reprimanded after a two-day disciplinary hearing in front of the General Teaching Council in Birmingham " but was told he will be allowed to continue teaching, reports the Sun.

The committee heard that 6ft 2in Garrett had been stripping in clubs and working as a naked butler while he was employed as head of personal, social and health education at Beal High School in Ilford, East London.

Derek Johns, chairman of the panel, told him: "The committee is content that you have sufficient insight and would not repeat this behaviour should you resume teaching."

"You have stated that you will continue to advocate the morality and acceptability of your involvement in the adult industry and argue that it should not be inappropriate for a teacher to work as a stripper or in pornographic films," he added.

"However, the committee is content that you recognise the widely held public view that such work is not acceptable conduct for a teacher.

"Therefore, in relation to risk of repetition, the committee considers it is unlikely that you will seek to return to the teaching profession whilst working as a stripper or in pornographic films," he added.

Clinton's message to Libyan rebels

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Urges them to secure weapons of mass destruction, protect human rights

Libyan rebels on the verge of driving leader Moammar Gadhafi from power must secure weapons caches amassed by his regime and ensure they are not used to threaten the country's neighbours, the region or beyond, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday. She also said the fight against the still-defiant Gadhafi must continue.



"We must see our military mission through to its conclusion," she said of the NATO operation to protect civilians that began in March. "Coalition military operations should continue as long as civilians remain under threat of attack," Clinton said at an international conference in Paris to rally financial and other support for the rebels and the government they are trying to install.

The session fell on the 42nd anniversary of the coup in which Gadhafi seized power. He warned from hiding Thursday that tribes loyal to him were well-armed and preparing for battle, hours after rebels hoping for a peaceful surrender extended the deadline for loyalist forces to give up in the long-time Libyan leader's hometown.

Gadhafi's audio statement, broadcast by Syrian-based Al-Rai TV, came as the rebels said they were closing in on the former dictator. "We won't surrender again; we are not women, we will keep fighting," Gadhafi said. His voice was recognizable, and Al-Rai has previously broadcast several statements by Gadhafi and his sons.
Clinton said Gadhafi and his remaining loyalists should concede defeat for the sake of the Libyan people and stressed it was imperative that Libya's new leaders ensure that Gadhafi-era stockpiles, including of mustard agent and shoulder-fired anti-aircraft devices, are safe.

She called on the opposition to protect the rights of all Libyans, particularly women and minorities, as it moves to consolidate its authority. She also urged other nations to assist opposition efforts to forge a democratic transition after four decades of autocratic rule.

"Libya's new leadership will need to continue to stand against violent extremism and work with us to ensure that weapons from Gadhafi's stockpiles do not threaten Libya's neighbours and the world," Clinton said in remarks prepared for delivery at the conference that were released by the State Department.

"We will be watching and supporting Libya's leaders as they keep their stated commitments to conduct an inclusive transition, act under the rule of law and protect vulnerable populations-and that should include enshrining the rights of women as well as men in their constitution," she said. "Honouring these principles offers Libya its best chance at a stable, successful future."

Clinton appealed for the countries around the world to follow the lead of the U.S. and Europe by recognizing the opposition National Transitional Council as the Libya's legitimate government and give it the Libyan seat at the annual United Nations General Assembly session later this month. The UN should also authorize a mission to Libya should the rebels ask for one, she said.

"We should work to see that the new leadership assumes Libya's seat at the United Nations," she said. Russia, long a holdout, recognized the NTC earlier Thursday. Clinton said the U.N. should allow countries to release tens of billions of dollars in frozen Gadhafi regime assets to the NTC and said the U.S. has completed the transfer of $700 million in such assets on behalf of the rebels.


Posted by Harshad at 7:46 AM

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