Mid Day International News |
- Woman finds frog in bottle of wine
- Android roars past iPhone in US
- Chile set to launch final operation to free trapped miners
- Australian gets 11-year jail for raping daughter
- Ex-lover kills woman after discovering her affair with cop
- New Zealand TV host criticised for ridiculing Sheila Dikshit
- Protein powder could enhance longevity by 10 years
- US in fight for future with India, China, says Obama
- Two sisters give birth to 'a white and a black child'
- Magic powder can make electric bikes run on urine
- 'Rathole' for Rs 31 lakh!
- Prince kills servant in sexual romp
- Female executives more than twice likely to leave their jobs as men
| Woman finds frog in bottle of wine Posted: A woman in Britain has claimed that a frog fell out of a bottle of wine she had bought from supermarket giant Asda. Isolde Beesley, from Liecestershire, complained that the creature fell out as she poured a glass of Moscatel de Valencia, a white Spanish dessert wine, at a family celebration. She said she suffered stomach pains after drinking some of the wine, having initially failed to see the thumb nail-sized amphibian floating at the bottom of the bottle. She said that she had since passed the bottle on to her local trading standards office and complained to the company prompting it to temporarily take the wine off the shelves. She has also hired a solicitor and is attempting to bring legal action against the company. A spokeswoman for Asda said investigations had found no problems with the bottling process or pests present at the factory. "We are at a total loss as to how this could have happened," the Telegraph quoted a spokeswoman as saying. "It's nigh on impossible for any object to find its way into a bottle of wine when it is being produced. "It simply can't happen. So somewhere along the line between it being bottled in Spain, opened and being drunk, our unwanted guest has found its way into her glass," she added.
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| Android roars past iPhone in US Posted: Sales of smartphones powered by Google's Android operating system have overtaken Apple's iPhone in the US for the first time, according to data released Tuesday by Nielsen. The survey found that Android's share of the smartphone market in the six months ending in August, jumped from 14 percent to 32 percent, while the iPhone dropped from 32 percent to 25 percent. Sales of RIM's Blackberry dropped from 34 percent to 26 percent. Android, which trailed the iPhone and Blackberry by several years in coming to the market, still has plenty of work to catch up. Its portion of overall market share jumped from eight percent to 19 percent in August. RIM retained first place, down from 36 percent to 31 percent, while the iPhone dropped one point to 28 percent. The data reflected the increasing popularity of Android, which powers dozens of different smartphones made by Motorola, HTC, Samsung and LG, which are sold by all the major US carriers. PC World analyst Tony Bradley said a continuation of the current trend would relegate the iPhone to niche status - similar to that of Apple's Mac computers. He cited Apple's tight control over hardware and software and the iPhone's exclusivity agreement with AT&T as the main reasons for its falling market share.
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| Chile set to launch final operation to free trapped miners Posted: Chilean authorities have begun preparations to launch the final phase of the rescue operation to free 33 miners trapped in a mine since Aug 5. On Tuesday, three drillers continued to bore down to reach the men some 700 meters underground at the San Jose mine in northern Chile. At Camp Hope next to the mine, relatives of the miners paid tribute to them by honking the horn of a police patrol car. Carla Herrera, sister of trapped miner David Herrera, said the "most emotional" moment came Aug 22 when everyone learned that the miners were all still alive after 17 days "of anxiety and of not knowing what had happened". The T-130 drill, which is being used to pursue Plan B in the three-pronged rescue scheme, is in the best position to reach the miners first and on Tuesday it attained a depth of 466 meters. However, chief engineer Andre Sougarret said the drilling team had been forced to reduce the diameter of the conduit from 28 inches to 26 inches to limit the wear on the drill bit caused by the hardness of the rock. Once the conduit is completed, experts intend to insert steel tubing into it to prevent rock from breaking off from the unprotected sides and clogging the tube, although Sougarret said that a final decision had not yet been made on that part of the operation. "We have to review different alternatives in terms of how the shaft finally is," Sougarret told reporters. Meanwhile, the drill working on Plan A had reached a depth of 587 meters Tuesday in the first phase of its work. The RIG 421 oil drill, which is boring a third shaft, had reached a depth of 265 meters.
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| Australian gets 11-year jail for raping daughter Posted: A Melbourne man, who has repeatedly drugged and sexually abused his daughter, has been jailed for more than 11 years, a media report said Wednesday. He also threatened to kill his 12-year-old daughter if she told her mother, The Age reported on its website. The father, 35, who cannot be named, told a psychologist after his arrest that he had "become a monster" and had "let the beast in me get out of control". He told the girl he would teach her about sex before abusing her at least weekly between September last year and February, at times plying her with alcohol and drugs. When the daughter began crying at the dinner table, the father threatened: "Do you want me to get a knife and kill someone?". He warned the girl she should "think about what you're going to say or you will kill us all". Two days later, as her mother drove her to school, the daughter divulged the abuse. After packing their belongings, the mother drove from the house but her partner gave chase, driving on the wrong side of the road in an attempt to collide with the car. The mother drove to a service station where she and her daughter hid behind the counter as the father placed a suicide note on her car. Police went to the family house and arrested the father when he emerged clutching a long-bladed kitchen knife and begging officers: "Shoot me, I've done something bad." The man pleaded guilty to 20 charges, including 11 of incest, three of administering a drug of dependence for sexual penetration and one each of attempted incest, intentionally causing injury and assault police. In sentencing him Wednesday, a Victorian county court judge described the crimes as "grotesque" and the effects on his victim as "substantial and, it would appear, permanent". The judge, who also can't be named, said while the man had no prior convictions and appeared genuinely remorseful, the crimes were "extremely serious". He was sentenced to 11 years and five months in prison, with a non-parole period of eight years and five months. He will also be registered as a serious sex offender for life. He bowed his head but showed little emotion as his sentence was delivered.
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| Ex-lover kills woman after discovering her affair with cop Posted: A British woman was killed by her ex-lover after he found out she was having an affair with a policeman tasked with protecting her, a media report said. The victim was stabbed to death by her jealous ex-lover after he discovered her affair, a court heard, Daily Mail reported Tuesday. Kat Ryba was knifed in front of her three-year-old daughter Michelle who screamed at her father to not "hit mummy" after he flew into a rage over the relationship, a jury heard. Ryba, 26, struck up the illicit affair with Richard Allan who had been assigned to her case after she alleged she had been assaulted by partner Piotr Zasada, 33. She took out an harassment order against the bus driver and moved into a flat with their daughter. On the night she died last October, Allan visited Ryba and the pair had sex. Ninety minutes after the policemen left the property Zasada, who had found out his former partner was seeing another man, forced his way into the flat, it is alleged. In a jealous rage, he knifed Ryba six times to the body while their daughter screamed at him to stop, the jury at Winchester Crown Court was told. After the attack, Zasada is said to have thrown Ryba's body from a window of the second-floor flat in Bournemouth, Dorset. She was rushed to hospital but died during the night. Ryba, a waitress, had been stabbed in the heart and lungs during the attack. Zasada, a Polish national from Bournemouth, has pleaded not guilty to murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Anthony Donne QC, prosecuting, said Ryba came into contact with Allan last September after she alleged she had been assaulted by the defendant. She took out a non-molestation order against her ex which prevented him from contacting her. Donne said Ryba's continued contact with the policeman over the case led her to make "suggestive approaches" towards him, including a kiss. The officer initially rejected the advances but eventually succumbed and the pair began their affair. Donne said: "There can be no excuses for the behaviour of Allan, who had a duty to remain scrupulously detached." "The police are there to provide vulnerable people with comfort and support. The line is extremely obvious and Allan overstepped that line." "He (Zasada) was angry at her for leaving him and was jealous that she had started an association with another man. He stabbed and slashed her repeatedly with a knife," Donne said. "Michelle begged him not to hit mummy but he took no notice of her screams." Ryba worked as a waitress at the Sorridi restaurant at the Compton Acres attraction in Poole. Allan serves with Dorset police and the Independent Police Complaints Commission has launched an investigation into his contact with Ryba before her death. The trial continues.
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| New Zealand TV host criticised for ridiculing Sheila Dikshit Posted: A New Zealand TV station which had recently suspended one of its show hosts for a racial slur on the country's governor-general, has come in for fresh trouble after it featured a clip on its website ridiculing the name of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. TVNZ has received at least four complaints about the clip, in which show host Paul Henry, who was suspended Tuesday, deliberately mispronounces Dikshit, despite being told it is said "Dixit", the Sydney Morning Herald reported on its website Wednesday. He also says the name "Dick Shit" is "so appropriate" because she is Indian. Dikshit was called in to fix the problem-plagued Commonwealth Games preparations, the report said. New Zealand Indian Central Association president Paul Singh Bains said the fact TVNZ was still promoting the clip on its website showed it had "totally lost the plot" and was insensitive to the offence Henry had caused. Henry was suspended for an on-air racial slur on the country's Indian-origin Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand. During a TVNZ programme Monday, Breakfast show host Henry asked Prime Minister John Key whether Anand was a New Zealander or not. When Key told him that Anand was a New Zealander, Henry asked if he was going to pick someone who looked more like a New Zealander next time. The Dikshit clip - which now appears to have been removed - was promoted on the Video Extras section of TVNZ's website under the heading "Paul Henry laughs about the name Dikshit". "The dip shit woman. God, what's her name? Dick Shit. Is it Dick Shit ... it looks like 'Dick Shit'," Henry says through bouts of laughter. "It's so appropriate, because she's Indian, so she'd be dick-in-shit wouldn't she, do you know what I mean? Walking along the street ... it's just so funny." Bains said he accepted that Dikshit's name and other Indian names could be difficult to pronounce, but Henry had moved beyond that to ridicule. He said TVNZ appeared insensitive to the offence caused by leaving the clip on its website, and it should have sacked Henry after his comments about Sir Anand. "TVNZ have lost the plot. I honestly think the credibility of TVNZ is down the tubes through this," he said. "He should be sanctioned more than that. He should be eliminated from that spot. He should be sacked and given another role somewhere else." "He has an attitude about Indians and all other ethnicities for that matter. If we sound different, if we look different, he thinks there's no place for us in New Zealand." TVNZ spokeswoman Andi Brotherston said the website was an independent news organisation. "(It) is part of TVNZ's news and current affairs department, which has its editorial independence enshrined in legislation." She would not say whether TVNZ chief executive Rick Ellis, who suspended Henry from his Breakfast role and is TVNZ's editor-in-chief, had control over the content on the website. Greens human rights spokesman Keith Locke said the clip, first aired last Friday, was a "particularly graphic illustration of Paul Henry's cultural insensitivity". "He went on and on being offensive to the chief minister of Delhi by mispronouncing her name in a crude manner." "The latest incident with the governor-general shows that he has learnt nothing past criticism of his racist commentary. Ten days in the sin bin is unlikely to change that, so perhaps he should be given a red card." The Herald on Sunday reported that TVNZ had received four complaints about the Dikshit piece. It has received more than 600 about Henry's comments about Sir Anand.
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| Protein powder could enhance longevity by 10 years Posted: A protein powder favoured by body builders could be the key to a long and healthy life, scientists believe. Dissolved in water, the mixture built muscle, boosted fitness and improved balance and co-ordination. The powder, which can be bought from health food shops and online, increased life expectancy by 12 percent. The amazing results come from animal experiments, but, in human terms, this would equate to an extra 10 years or so of life, according to the journal Cell Metabolism. The Italian researchers believe that taken daily from middle-age, the "elixir of life" powder could help millions look forward to a healthier old age, reports the Daily Mail. Sprinkled on porridge or stirred into milk, it could strengthen weak and worn-out muscle, cutting the risk of painful falls and fractures in old age. Taken in later life, the supplement could give a much-needed energy boost to those with heart, lung and other problems. Enzo Nisoli of the Brescia University, Italy, who led the research, said: "I think our data warrant a recommendation that middle-aged people start taking these supplements." Nisoli gives "middle-aged" mice water laced with amino acids - the building blocks of protein. The three "branched-chain" amino acids used were leucine, isoleucine and valine. Those given the supplement lived 80 days longer than the average mouse. In human terms, this would increase the average 77.7 years lifespan of a British man to 87. And take the average life expectancy for women from 81.9 years to almost 92. Muscle strength, balance, co-ordination and endurance also improved. Taken from the age of 55 or so, the protein powder could boost the odds of a healthy old age. They also help protect the body from free-radicals -- dangerous oxygen molecules that attack and age the tissue and cells.
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| US in fight for future with India, China, says Obama Posted: Saying that the United States was in a fight for the future with countries like India and China, President Barack Obama has taken strong exception to opposition Republican move to slash the education budget.
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| Two sisters give birth to 'a white and a black child' Posted: It's a black-and-white story. Two mixed-race sisters in Britain have both given birth to one white and one black child in what's being claimed as a million-to-one genetic fluke. Thirty-five-year-old Sharon and her 40-year-old elder sister Sonia Harris each have two children, fathered by white men, the Daily Express reported. But even though Sonia's boys, Cameron and Kyle, are five-year-old twins, they have different-coloured skin and hair. Cameron has brown skin and dark brown curly hair while Kyle has white skin and is blond. Sonia's sister Sharon also gave birth to a daughter with pale skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair. Kayleigh, five, looks very different from her older sister, Paige, who has dark curly hair and a darker complexion. Sharon's partner, Malcolm Holloway, 32, is white, while Sonia, a schools lunchtime supervisor, had her children with white ex-partner Phillip Bradley, 42. Sharon, who was stunned when Kayleigh was born, said: "We couldn't believe it when we saw her blue eyes, blonde hair and light skin. I think if the circumstances had been any different I might have worried there had been a mistake. It was a shock, that s for sure. But Malcolm's sister is pale so perhaps that has something to do with it." Sonia added: "I was really shocked when the boys were born. Cameron came out first, and then the next thing we saw was a little pair of white legs and a white bottom. I just thought, 'What's happened?' The doctors said it was very unusual, but that it does happen. "People don't always realise they are twins at first, but when you tell them, they say they can see the other similarities."
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| Magic powder can make electric bikes run on urine Posted: Electric bikes may soon be able to go up to 60 miles without any pedalling, thanks to a new fuel cell system by the company SiGNa Chemistry, which uses a magic powder that nullifies the danger of having hydrogen stored next to your nether regions and can work even by urine. For a long time, that was one of the main reasons why electric bikes didn't all have fuel cells. But, the range extending system that SiGNa developed uses a sandy metal powder called sodium silicide, which creates hydrogen gas as soon as water hits it, reports Discovery News. According to the company, sodium silicide is "a safe, air-stable reactive metal powder" that produces hydrogen at about half the pressure of a soda can. While it's not clear on precisely how it's made, but it looks like the powder can be formed by absorbing sodium in porous silicon dioxide, or reacting sodium directly with elemental silicon. After the powder in the cartridge creates hydrogen gas, the byproducts are sodium silicate, which is actually pretty useful stuff, and water vapour. Once all the powder is spent, the cartridge containing it can be reused. With SiGNa's fuel cell system, electric bikes should be able to go up to 60 miles without any pedalling, as opposed to the 20-mile limit for most existing e-bikes. A spent cartridge can be swapped out for a new one with no need for recharging. Unlike lithium-ion battery energy density, which is around 65 Watt-hours per kilogram, the cartridge has an energy density of more than 1,000 Watt-hours per kilogram, according to a press release published by Wired's Gadget Lab. The cartridge doesn't need special water, either - even urine will be enough to make it work. You know, in case something goes horribly wrong on that ride. Recently the company worked with the electric bike manufacturer Pedego to demonstrate the range extender at the Interbike International Trade Expo in Las Vegas. SiGNa describes the 1.5-pound cartridges as 'inexpensive', but didn't give a price. Currently the company is taking pre-orders for the fuel cells, so it will likely be a while yet before they make their way into any vehicle.
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| Posted: Second home insurance customers looking for a cozy getaway in Italy may be interested to hear that the world's smallest flat has been put on the marketplace. A former porter's closet measuring five square metres has gone on the market in Rome at �43,000 (Rs 31.35 lakh). The property, which is being described as the world's smallest apartment is barely large enough to contain a single bed. The owner of the bijou property says he has been inundated with queries since putting it on the market a few days ago. It is located on Piazza di Sant' Ignazio, a picturesque square overlooked by an enormous Renaissance church. One report described it as "little bigger than a wigwam" while a daily newspaper, commented, "In Rome, people now live like rats." The flat consists of a ground floor bathroom with a shower, sink and lavatory and a ladder leading to a sleeping platform just big enough for a single bed. There is a single window, but to open it you have to climb over the bed. It lies just behind Palazzo Grazioli, the imposing mansion which is rented by Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian PM, as his private residence in the capital.
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| Prince kills servant in sexual romp Posted: British prosecutor says security camera footage shows gay prince beating his aide in a luxury hotel elevator A gay Saudi prince beat and strangled his male servant to death in a frenzied sexual assault at their luxury London hotel suite, a court heard yesterday. Saud Bin Abdulaziz Bin Nasir al Saud (34), who is a grandson of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, killed Bandar Abdullah Abdulaziz on February 15 after abusing him for weeks, the court heard. The 32-year-old victim was found with severe injuries including bite marks on his cheeks in a bloodstained bed in the suite at the Landmark Hotel, which he was sharing with the prince, prosecutors said. Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw told the jury at the Old Bailey in London, that Saud had admitted the lesser charge of manslaughter but denied murder and a separate count of grievous bodily harm. Laidlaw said the two men had been staying together at the hotel for nearly a month as part of an "extended holiday" that had also taken them to Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Morocco. Saud claimed the pair were friends and that he was heterosexual, but the court heard the prince had ordered gay escorts in London and had frequently looked at websites for gay massage parlours and escort agencies. "The defendant's concealing of the sexual aspect to his abuse of the victim was for altogether more sinister reasons and it tends to suggest that there was a sexual element to the circumstances of the killing," said Laidlaw. Bloodstains found on the pillow and the room were "consistent with the victim having been the subject of a series of separate assaults before he was killed", he added. Saud told police they drank at the hotel bar until the early hours of the morning on February 15 before returning to the room and that when he woke in the afternoon he could not rouse the victim. The prince was "shocked and upset" and had tried to clean up some of the blood and wash some of Abdulaziz's bloodstained clothing when hotel staff and a Saudi embassy staffer came to the room, Laidlaw said. Post-mortem found that Abdulaziz had suffered heavy blows to the head, injuries to the brain and ears and severe neck injuries, which were consistent with an episode of manual compression. There were also bite marks on the cheeks which had "an obvious sexual connotation", Laidlaw said. The prince had attacked his servant on several previous occasions, including one that was caught on security camera footage in the hotel's lift in January, he said. Gay connotations Searches by a pathologist and crime scene examiners discovered that the injuries had been inflicted far more recently. They also discovered that Al Saud's semen appeared to be on Bandar's underpants and that the servant's blood was found on Al Saud's pants. Despite this, Al Saud continued to deny that he was gay. But Laidlaw said, "The evidence establishes quite conclusively that he is either gay or that he has homosexual tendencies. There is clear evidence, over and above the bite marks, that there was also a sexual element to his mistreatment of the victim."
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| Female executives more than twice likely to leave their jobs as men Posted: Female executives are more than twice as likely to leave their jobs -- voluntarily and involuntarily -- as men, a new study has found. Yet despite systemic evidence that women are more likely to depart from their positions, the researchers did not find strong patterns of discrimination. Lead author John Becker-Blease, an assistant professor of finance at Oregon State University, and his co-authors at Loyola Marymount University and Trinity College, analyzed data from Standard & Poor's 1500 firms. They classified departures as voluntary or involuntary based on careful examination of public news accounts accompanying an executive's departure. "Departures of powerful female executives, as we saw with Carly Fiorina and Patricia Dunn at Hewlett-Packard, are often high-profile news events," Becker-Blease said. "Despite these very public departures, relatively little is really known about women executives, whether they are more likely to depart or be fired than men, and the reasons for their departures." About 7.2 percent of women executives in the survey left their jobs, compared to 3.8 percent of men. Both the voluntary rates (4.3 percent versus 2.8 percent for men) and the involuntary rates (2.9 versus 0.9 percent) were higher for women executives. Becker-Blease said research has shown that women are more likely to leave a job due to domestic or social responsibilities than men, which could explain the higher voluntary departure rate. As for the higher rate of being dismissed from a job, Becker-Blease said research suggests that women at the mid-levels of management may not be getting the kind of opportunities and professional support that they need to advance successfully to the top ranks. The study is featured in October's issue of Economic Inquiry
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