Thursday, January 5, 2012

Mid Day International News

Mid Day International News

Twitter didn't verify account, says fake Wendi Deng user

Posted:

The verification process of micro blogging website Twitter has come under fire after a user who created the fake account in the name of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's wife Wendi Deng, claimed that it was marked 'verified' without him being contacted.

Both Murdoch's and 'Deng's' accounts received a blue tick from the service, which is only given to high profile people to denote that the account is genuine.

However, despite carrying a tick for a couple of days, Twitter subsequently removed the blue icon from the @Wendi_Deng account.

The anonymous tweeter, who lives in London, told The Telegraph, that Twitter had failed to get in touch with him before, during or after they wrongly verified the account.

"Twitter never got in touch either before verifying, after verifying, or after realising their mistake. I have asked them to DM [direct message] me, email me, etc to explain what happened. They haven't," the paper quoted the user, as saying.

The faker 'Wendi Deng' also admitted that neither News International nor anyone from Murdoch's office had been in touch with him, despite the press team at NI having confirmed the Wendi Deng account was genuine to several journalists.

"There seems to be a desire/need for me to BE somebody - an aspiring comedian, a journalist, someone on a mission to trip up Twitter or NI [News International]," the user said as he refused to disclose his identity.

"I'm not. I'm just an average Twitter user with, perhaps, a bit more intelligence about social media than some. That's it," he added.

The hoax tweeter also explained that it was a coincidence that just after '@Wendi_ Deng' told @rupertmurdoch to delete a tweet about the British having too many holidays, that the tweet was then deleted.

He said he would shut down the fake account, which attracted over 10,000 followers in several hours, "soon", but he plans to keep it active for a bit longer.

Mariah Carey's hubby Nick Cannon hospitalised with kidney failure

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Mariah Carey's husband Nick Cannon has been hospitalised after being diagnosed with "mild kidney failure".

Cannon is spending the first week of the New Year in hospital in the Colorado ski resort of Aspen, where he and his wife usually spend Christmas.

Carey informed about her hubby's illness on twitter, the Telegraph reported.

The 41-year-old posted a picture on her website of a miserable looking Cannon in a hospital bed as she lay beside him.

She asked for prayers and said Cannon's situation was "very painful."

She later called it a "serious moment that's very tough on all of us."


Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel 'are engaged'

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Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel have reportedly decided to get married after a series of breakups and makeups.

Several insiders tell US Magazine that the couple of four and a half years became engaged in late December.

Timberlake, a six-time Grammy winner, is said to have popped the question to Biel, 29, in the mountains of Jackson, Wyoming.

"Justin knows how much she loves snowboarding and the mountains, so it was the perfect place," one source explained.

After a brief three-month split in 2011, Biel had made it clear that she wanted to spend her life with Timberlake, 30.

"When they reunited, they had a conversation about taking the next step," the source said.

Another Timberlake insider added that he has "never been happier" with the 'New Year's Eve' actress.

"He knew it was the right time to propose," the insider added.

Bachmann drops out of US presidential race after rout in Iowa caucus

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Republican presidential contender Michele Bachmann has announced that she is dropping out of the race after a poor finish in the Iowa caucuses.

Bachmann, 55, who came sixth with just five percent of the vote, said during a news conference in Iowa that she has "decided to stand aside."

The Minnesota congresswoman, who had courted the evangelical Christian vote and was briefly the front-runner back in August, said she had "no regrets".

She did not endorse another candidate, but said that she "must rally around the person that our country and our party and our people select to be that standard bearer," The BBC reports.

Bachmann's exit leaves six Republicans in the race to challenge Barack Obama for the White House in November.

Mitt Romney, who narrowly won in Iowa, meanwhile rolled out an endorsement from ex-Republican nominee John McCain.

Rick Perry, who came fifth, vowed to press on, but will focus on the next-but-one race in South Carolina.

Romney is a heavy favourite to win next week's primary election in New Hampshire.

Indian-origin cop in UK accused of using database to target women for sex'

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An Indian-origin police constable in Britain has been accused of misusing his force's database to target vulnerable women for sex while on duty.
Jasbir Singh Dhanda, 52, allegedly had sex with two women, while he was working with the Derbyshire Police over a seven-year period, after tracking them down on the police systems, a court was told. Prosecutor Neil Moore told Nottingham Crown Court that the constable targeted three women in total because they were ''vulnerable'' and he did not believe they would report him.
Even if they did, Dhanda, from Derby, thought their complaints would not be taken seriously due to their circumstances, Moore added. Dhanda is accused of 12 counts of misconduct in a public office and obtaining personal data through misuse of a police database, The Daily Mail reports. The court heard Dhanda accessed the records of one of the complainants 100 times over a two-year period.
He met one of the women after she complained to the police about an incident involving her former partner. Dhanda went to her house the day after the incident 'to update her,' and allegedly performed a sex act on himself and touched her sexually before asking for her phone number, the report said.
According to the report, another complainant said she felt compelled to do as Dhanda asked because he was a police officer. Dhanda is alleged to have told the woman, who was a prostitute, there was a warrant for her arrest, but that he would not execute it if she got him some cocaine.
The police constable, who is suspended from the Derbyshire Police pending the outcome of criminal proceedings, faces seven counts of misconduct in a public office and five counts of obtaining personal data. Dhanda, however, denies all the charges.

Ex- colonel in Gaddafi's military becomes Libyan army's new chief of staff

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A former colonel in slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi's military has been appointed as the new chief of staff of the Libyan army, the country''s ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) members have said.
Yussef al-Mangush, who took voluntary retirement from Gaddafi's military and also participated in the rebellion against the former leader, was promoted to the rank of general and appointed as chief of staff, said NTC member Abdelrazzak al-Aradi.
Fathi Baaja, another member of the NTC from the eastern city of Benghazi, confirmed his appointment, The Telegraph reports.
"His appointment as the head of the army has been backed by NTC chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil and Prime Minister Kib," the paper quoted Baaja, as saying. The post has been vacant since the murder of General Abdel Fatah Yunis in July.
During the conflict, Mangush was arrested in the oil town of Brega in April by Gaddafi's forces and was freed in August following the fall of Tripoli. Mangush is currently a deputy defence minister in the interim government of Prime Minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib.

Roman brothel token used to pay for sex found in Thames

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An amateur archaeologist has unearthed a Roman coin that was probably used by soldiers to pay for sex in brothels, on the banks of the River Thames.
Made from bronze and smaller than a ten pence piece, the coin depicts a man and a woman engaged in an intimate act, the Telegraph reported. It lay preserved in mud for almost 2,000 years until pastry chef Regis Cursan unearthed it with a metal detector.
On the reverse of the token is the numeral XIIII, which historians say could indicate that the holder handed over 14 small Roman coins called asses to buy it. This would have been the equivalent of one day's pay for a labourer in the first century AD.
The holder would then have taken the token to one of the many Londinium brothels and handed it to a sex slave in exchange for sex. Cursan, 37, found the coin near Putney Bridge in West London.
"The day I made the find it was a very low, early tide and raining heavily. At first I thought it was a Roman coin, because of the thickness and diameter," he told the Daily Mail.
"When I rubbed the sand off the artefact the first thing I saw was the number on one side and what I thought was a goddess on the other. Little did I know at the time it was actually a rare Roman brothel token. To find something like that is a truly exciting find," he added.
The token has been donated to the Museum of London, where it will be on display for the next three months. "This is the only one of its kind ever to be found in Great Britain," said Curator Caroline McDonald.

Murder trial of Stephen Lawrence exposes deep rooted racism in Britain

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The murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 and his family getting justice after a long wait of 18 years, has once again exposed the presence of racist elements in the British society. Gary Dobson and David Norris have been found guilty of killing British teenager Lawrence after 18 years of long trial.

Dobson and Norris were 17 and 16 years old when they murdered 18-year-old Lawrence due to his black color. The sentences for both convicts in this case would come out today. Stephen''s parents Doreen and Neville wept as the verdicts were delivered and Stephen's mother criticized the original police enquiry, which had acquitted all those who were accused.

The police officers who had initially enquired the murder case had blatantly denied the presence of a race angle in the Lawrence' murder despite of the fact that they recorded the case as a racist act but that remained as a mere procedure. The initial police enquiry in the murder case had been severely criticized by various quarters due to the deliberate stand of the police authorities of not investigating it with a race angle, which was deemed as a defensive move by them, The Independent reports.

The fact that out of the five people who were standing at the Eltham bus stop on that eventful night, only the two black ones (Stephen and his friend, Duwayne Brooks) were attacked clearly implies that it was a racist attack. "The rejection of the race motive was an indicator of something much bigger. Most of white Britain that is, most of Britain was so deeply uncomfortable with issues of race that we tended to pull down the shutters at the very mention of the word," says Brian Cathcart, a professor of Journalism in the Kingston University, London.

"Some of the most memorable moments of the Macpherson inquiry of 1998-99 involved the exploration of denial among police officers involved in the first, failed investigation of the murder. Again and again, in baffling terms, they insisted that Stephen''s race had nothing to do with the crime," he added. "Denial, denial, denial. A race murder had happened and to compound the horror the police were making a dreadful mess of the investigation, but nobody in authority wanted to address the problem, and when Neville and Doreen raised the alarm, Britain''s white establishment told them to talk to the hand," he added.

The verdict has once again brought out the issue of racist elements prevalent in the British industry and if it wasn't for Stephen's parents, whose long struggle had finally brought their son justice, the case would have ever stayed as a mystery.


Pippa and Harry planning wild birthday party for Duchess Kate

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Prince Harry and Pippa Middleton are reportedly planning to throw the Duchess of Cambridge a wild and raucous 30th birthday party. The Duchess will celebrate her birthday on January 9 and the party is said to have an 80s theme.

"In many ways this is going to be Kate's last chance to let go like she did back in the old days, when she and William first met," the Daily Star quoted a royal insider as telling Grazia magazine.

"The party has been months in the planning "Pippa and Harry have been in the thick of it and have recruited a bunch of friends to help," the insider said.

Guests have been sent 'Save The Date' cards for the party that will probably be held in London. "It's going to be a party of clashes," the source was quoted as saying.

"On the one hand there are all these exquisite royal trappings, and on the other Pippa is planning to top off the party with karaoke sessions "Kate needs to enjoy herself while she can though, so she can be forgiven for belting out a few Duran Duran and Madonna numbers on her birthday," the source added.

Unknown species unravelled in Antarctica's hot springs

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Unknown species have been discovered on the seafloor near Antarctica, clustered in the hot, dark environment surrounding hydrothermal vents.

The discoveries, made by teams from the universities of Oxford and Southampton and the British Antarctic Survey, include new species of yeti crab, starfish, barnacles, sea anemones and potentially an octopus.

Researchers used a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) for the first time to explore the East Scotia Ridge deep beneath the Southern Ocean where hydrothermal fissures on seabed, from which geothermally heated water issues, create a unique environment that lacks sunlight.

"Hydrothermal vents are home to animals found nowhere else on the planet that get their energy not from the sun but from breaking down chemicals such as hydrogen sulphide," said Alex Rogers, professor of zoology at Oxford University who led the research, the journal Public Library of Science Biology reports.

Highlights from the ROV dives include images showing huge colonies of the new species of yeti crab, thought to dominate the Antarctic vent ecosystem, clustered around vent chimneys, according to an Oxford university statement.

Elsewhere, the ROV spotted numbers of an undescribed predatory sea-star with seven arms crawling across fields of stalked barnacles. It also found an unidentified pale octopus, nearly 2,400 metres down, on the seafloor.

"What we didn't find is almost as surprising as what we did," said Rogers. "Many animals such as tubeworms, vent mussels, vent crabs, and vent shrimps, found in hydrothermal vents in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, simply weren't there."

Karaoke, 80s dancing, cocktails for Kate's b'day

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Kate Middleton is all set to mark her 30th birthday on January 9 -- and her little sister Pippa and brother-in-law Prince Harry are determined to make it an occasion to remember.

According to reports, Pippa and Harry have been busy planning an 80s-themed bash for Kate over the last few months, and are determined to give her the night of her life.


Special gift for my beloved: William is rumoured to be commissioning
an oil portrait of Kate to mark her turning 30 on Monday. file pic

The "intimate" party for close friends and family will include themed dancing, cocktails and karaoke, to mark the decade Kate was born in -- and will be a chance for the royal newlywed to really let her hair down.

"In many ways, this is going to be Kate's last chance to let go like she did back in the old days when she and William first met," a 'royal source' was quoted telling Grazia magazine.

Kate is said to have asked guests to simply donate to charity rather than buy her expensive gifts but apparently husband Prince William is planning to commission a rather special oil portrait of Kate, to mark her first year as a member of the Royal Family.

The Queen is also reportedly planning to give Kate a tiara from her collection as a gift to mark the special birthday.


Student extracts gold from scrap CPUs

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A Chinese student has extracted pure gold from scrap CPUs, earning him the title 'modern alchemist'.

Li Dianwu, a chemistry senior at Nankai University in Tianjin in north China, dissolved useless CPUs in a solution of sulfuric acid, thiourea and hydrogen peroxide, and filtered the solution with activated carbon.

Then he put the metal-filled activated carbon in a muffle furnace and extracted 65 milligrams of gold at a temperature of 1,100 degrees Celsius, the Shanghai Morning Post reported Wednesday.

The three pinhead-sized beads are 99.99 percent pure gold, Li told the newspaper after he posted 20 photos of his gold extracting process on the popular social networking website, renren.com.

His post immediately drew more than 60,000 viewers.

Though Li's process is not poisonous, a chemical expert surnamed Ye told people not to follow his example because the method requires professional knowledge and equipment.

Mexican Grand Warlock predicts Obama's loss

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Mexico's Grand Warlock predicted US President Barack Obama would fail to win re-election and two more Latin American leaders would be diagnosed with cancer, in a traditional New Year's forecast on Tuesday.

The Grand Warlock, or Brujo Mayor in Spanish, leads a Mexican tradition of 'brujeria' or sorcery centered in the southeastern city of Catemaco.



The Grand Warlock, also known as Antonio Vazquez, said that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who claims to have beaten an unspecified cancer, would have a "terrible relapse."

Vazquez, who sports a long grey beard, put the cancer cases down to "witchcraft" against Latin American leaders, during a Mexico City news conference giving his 25th annual predictions.

Vazquez, who claims to have a 75-80 per cent accuracy rate, last year said the euro would weaken and recession would return to developed economies but he also predicted, incorrectly, that a Latin American leader would be assassinated.

He also declared claims that Mayans have predicted the apocalypse in 2012 to be a 'big fat lie'. Vazquez, who himself has previously predicted, among other things, the death of Britney Spears and a future invasion of Syria, said yesterday the Mayans never said anything about the world ending.


16 killed in China accident

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At least 16 people were killed when a bus carrying more than 50 people fell from a highway bridge in icy conditions into a a 10-metre-deep crevice in China, officials said. The accident took place in southwest Guizhou province Wednesday evening, Xinhua reported.

The bus carrying 56 people from Yiwu in Zhejiang province was on its way to Luzhou in Sichuan province, when it met with the accident while travelling on an icy section of the expressway.

Several parts of Guizhou province were Wednesday hit by heavy snow, which led to wet and slippery roads and caused several accidents.

Man enters US using iPad as passport

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Martin Reisch, a Canadian man who realised he forgot his passport as he approached the US border, found a new way to gain entry -- his iPad

A traveller who entered the United States from Canada without a passport was let over the American border -- after presenting officials with a scanned document on his iPad.

Martin Reisch had driven from his home in Montreal before realising half an hour from the border he did not have his passport.


Wonders of an iPad: Martin Reisch used the iPad again on his way back
to Canada after dropping off presents in the US. Representation pic

Reisch (33) instead told an official at US Customs and Border Protection he was heading to American to drop off Christmas gifts for his friend's children, before presenting a scanned passport and driver's licence on the Apple device.

But rather than demand he drive two hours home to fetch the hard copies of his documents, border officials spent several minutes studying the photos on his iPad before allowing him over the border last week.

Reisch said, "I thought I'd at least give it a try. He took the iPad into the little border hut. He kind of gave me a stare, like neither impressed nor amused."

Reisch added, "He was in there a good five, six minutes. It seemed like an eternity. When he came back he took a good long pause before wishing me a Merry Christmas. I think a good part of it had to do with the fact that it was the holidays and I seem like a nice-enough person."

Reisch said he took a scanned photo of his passport years ago in case it was ever lost or stolen while travelling. He said he also successfully used the passport on his iPad to get through Canadian Customs on the way home later that day.

He said he doubts he'd get away with it again and will bring his passport next time. But he hopes border officials will eventually make digital identification an official form of travel document.

"I see the future as 100 per cent being able to cross with your identity on a digital device -- it's just a matter of time," he said.

The rule says
US Customs and Border Protection says it will accept documentation such as a passport, an enhanced driver's licence or a Nexus pass from Canadian citizens entering at land crossings. The list doesn't mention facsimiles, such as scans and photocopies.

A spokeswoman for the department did not immediately respond to questions on whether scanned passports are also commonly accepted at US points of entry.

Professor Heather Nicol, a border-security expert from Trent University, said Reisch's experience is likely one of many unspoken exceptions carried out at US border crossings.

"What it suggests is that this whole standardisation process is a little bit of a shell game because we're told it's not about individuals, it's about data sets. But sometimes the experience is very individual."


Police shoot, kill armed student in Texas school

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Police shot and killed an armed teenage student who "engaged" officers in the main hallway of his school today, the Texas school district said. Brownsville school district officials said administrators immediately called police after the student brandished a weapon about 8 am, shortly after classes started at Cummings Middle School.

When police arrived, the student "engaged" the officers and was shot, district spokeswoman Drue Brown said in an emailed statement. Cameron County Justice of the Peace Kip V. Johnson Hodge pronounced the student dead at a hospital and has ordered an autopsy, said court coordinator Israel Tapia.

The school, with an enrollment of about 750 students, was placed on lockdown when administrators called police. No one else was injured, Brown said. One student who said he was two classrooms from where the shooting took place said the school was already on lockdown when he heard three shots.

Miguel Grimaldo, 12, said students later followed police out of the building and boarded buses that took them to a neighbouring park. "For now they're not saying anything, just pick up your kids," said the boy's mother, Maria Grimaldo.

Brownsville police Detective J J Trevino said investigators hadn't determined whether the student fired any shots, and he said officers had no information on why the student had the gun on him. "It's still under investigation, as far as how he came about to bringing the weapon or if he encountered anybody or anything else," Trevino said.

At least 26 killed in Congo militia attack

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A military official says that more than two dozen civilians have been killed in a series of attacks by a feared militia in eastern Congo. Col Sylvain Ekenge said yesterday that Rwandan Hutu fighters killed at least 26 people in attacks since New Year's. However, a local official told Congolese radio that the death toll may be as high as 41.

Ekenge said at least 13 were wounded in the Jan. 2-4 attacks in the South Kivu province. The Rwandan Hutu militia, known by its French acronym FDLR, has terrorized eastern Congo for years, launching brutal attacks on civilians.

The Congolese government has unsuccessfully attempted to eradicate the group, which crossed into Congo following Rwanda's 1994 genocide. Ekenge said that the military has launched two battalions to pursue the attackers.
Posted by Harshad at 8:05 AM

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