Driver eating while driving was given a ticket for 60 dollars

She took her hand off the wheel only for a moment. So when Ediri Tsekiri grabbed a bite of her sandwich while driving, she didn't think it was any more dangerous than changing gear or indicating.
Unfortunately, the police officer didn't see it that way.
And after watching the 36-year-old university researcher pop the 2in crust into her mouth, he pulled her over and accused her of breaking the law by not being in proper control of her vehicle.

Ediri Tsekiri was branded dangerous by the policeman who handed her a hefty penalty
Miss Tsekiri had been driving her Vauxhall Zafira between appointments down a 30mph road near her home in Liverpool, in November, when she was stopped. She had already eaten most of the chicken sandwich she had made.
'I had picked up a crust from a plastic bag on the seat next to me and I never took my eyes off the road,' said the mother of two. 'I was certainly no more distracted than if I had changed gear or switched radio stations.
'The officer asked me what I would have done if a child had stepped out in front of me. My reply was that I would have put my foot on the brake, the same as in any other situation.
'Everyone takes one hand off the wheel at some point quite legitimately when they change gear, roll down the window or change the heater settings. Police officers don't drive with both hands on the wheel at every moment.
'He tried to suggest that it was worse than using a mobile phone while driving but I don't accept that for a moment. The whole procedure lasted less than a second.
'I consider myself a good driver and certainly never take unnecessary risks. If I had been sneezing that could have been more dangerous than eating a morsel of bread.'
Miss Tsekiri, who works at Manchester University's school of nursing, paid a £60 fine and accepted three penalty points rather than go to court and risk a fine of up to £1,000.
Last year, Merseyside Police issued 46 penalty notices for not being in proper control of a vehicle. Offences included eating or putting on makeup at the wheel.
A spokesman said: 'There is no correlation between pushing a button on a radio, or changing gear and eating whilst driving.
'Each case is treated individually on its merits, but by eating at the wheel a driver is likely to be not in proper control of their vehicle.'

Aubrey booted from Dannity Kane is posing for Playboy

Aubrey O’Day wasn’t up to Diddy’s standards (hence she was booted from his girl group 'Danity Kane' last year) but it definitely sounds as though she’s good enough for Hugh Hefner who is putting the aspiring pop star on the cover of Playboy’s March issue.
"The shoot was so liberating, it is very classy, simple and glamorous," O’Day told Tarts at Kari Feinstein’s Sundance Style Lounge over the weekend. "It’s all about the girl and that’s what I wanted. It’s so glamorous, Hef was there and he loved it. My whole family came to watch, I have a very liberal and accepting family and there is very little judgment to have ever come out of my family."

ONLINE EXTORTION

E-Mail Scam Includes Hit-Man Threat 01/15/07
The scam e-mail, which first appeared in December, threatens to kill recipients if they do not pay the sender. It's a scam. FBI officials recommend you don't reply.
A new scam cropping up in e-mail boxes across the country is preying not on recipients’ greed or good intentions, but on their fears. The scam e-mail, which first appeared in December, threatens to kill recipients if they do not pay thousands of dollars to the sender, who purports to be a hired assassin.
About 115 complaints have been filed with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) since the scam emerged, according to special agent John Hambrick, who heads IC3. He said the extortion scam does not appear to target anyone specifically and that IC3 has not received any reports of money loss or threats carried out.
“This is a hoax, so do yourself a favor and don’t respond,” Hambrick said.
Replying to the e-mails just sends a signal to senders that they’ve reached a live account. It also escalates the intimidation, Hambrick said.
In one case, a recipient responded that he wanted to be left alone and threatened to call authorities. The scammer, who was demanding an advance payment of $20,000, e-mailed back and reiterated the threat, this time with some personal details about the recipient—his work address, marital status, and daughter’s full name. Then an ultimatum:
“TELL ME NOW ARE YOU READY TO DO WHAT I SAID OR DO YOU WANT ME TO PROCEED WITH MY JOB? ANSWER YES/NO AND DON’T ASK ANY QUESTIONS!!!”
Bill Shore, a special agent who supervises the computer crime squad in the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, said recipients should not be overly spooked when scammers incorporate their intended victims’ personal details in their schemes.
“Personal information is widely available,” he said. “Even if a person does not use the Internet or own a computer, they could still be the victim of a computer crime such as identity theft.” more

Another aircraft hit a bird

(CNN) -- A bird struck an Arkansas hospital's helicopter Saturday, tearing a hole into the aircraft's nose and prompting the pilot to land early, according to officials and pictures taken after the landing.

A medical helicopter landed near Forrest City, Arkansas, on Saturday after striking a bird.

The chopper's pilot made a "safe landing" in that state after hitting a bird while returning to Baptist Health Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, hospital spokesman Mark Lowman said.
"I think the pilot just made a judgment call to set it down," Lowman said of the landing, which happened at 6:15 p.m. Saturday near Forrest City, Arkansas.
Video footage taken by CNN affiliate WREG showed a bird hanging out of a hole torn into the paneling on the chopper's nose. Part of the helicopter's windshield also was broken.
The pilot was slightly injured during the landing, and the other two crew members on board were uninjured, Lowman said.
Federal aviation officials are investigating, and the helicopter is not expected to be grounded for long, he said.
The helicopter was returning from a hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, where the crew had taken a patient. more

Coed Slay Suspect Flirts With Ex-Boyfriend at Trial

Amanda Knox sought to patch up relations with her estranged former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, behind the scenes, at the opening of their trial for the murder of Meredith Kercher, Knox’s British roommate, it emerged Sunday.
During the seven-hour opening hearing on Friday, Knox, 21 smiled and laughed repeatedly, joking with her lawyers and interpreter. Although sitting only a few feet from the bespectacled Sollecito, 24, she barely acknowledged his glances along the row.
As far as is known the two, who have been held in separate prisons, have not spoken since they were arrested for Kercher's murder in November 2007. But during a recess on Friday, Knox approached Sollecito and broke the ice by asking: “Ciao, come stai?” [“Hi, how are you?”]. She smiled at him and said: “You look good with your hair cut short.” more

Various 'Little Debbie' Snacks Recalled After Peanut Butter Probe

WASHINGTON — The company that sells Little Debbie snacks announced a recall Sunday of peanut butter crackers because of a potential link to a deadly salmonella outbreak.
The voluntary recall came one day after the government advised consumers to avoid eating cookies, cakes, ice cream and other foods with peanut butter until health officials learn more about the contamination.
The announcement by McKee Foods Corp. of Collegedale, Tenn., about two kinds of Little Debbie products was another in a string of voluntary recalls following the most recent guidance by health officials.
The South Bend Chocolate Co. in Indiana said Sunday it too was recalling various candies containing peanut butter from Peanut Corp. of America. In suburban Chicago, Ralcorp Frozen Bakery Products recalled several brands of peanut butter cookies it sells through Wal-Mart stores.
Peanut Corp. expanded its recall Sunday to all peanut butter and all peanut paste produced at its Blakely, Ga., plant since July 1.
McKee said it had not received any complaints about illnesses from people who ate any size peanut butter toasty sandwich crackers or peanut butter cheese sandwich crackers. The recall covers crackers produced on or after July 1.

Officials are focusing on peanut paste, as well as peanut butter, produced at Peanut Corp.'s Georgia facility. Its peanut butter is not sold directly to consumers but distributed to institutions and food companies. But the peanut paste, made from roasted peanuts, is an ingredient in cookies, cakes and other products that people buy in the supermarket.
So far, more than 470 people have gotten sick in 43 states, and at least 90 had to be hospitalized. At least six deaths are being blamed on the outbreak. Salmonella is a bacteria and the most common source of food poisoning in the U.S., causing diarrhea, cramping and fever.
Also Sunday, the maker of Peter Pan peanut butter said none of its products are associated with the outbreak. Peter Pan and other peanut butter produced by ConAgra Foods Inc. were linked in 2007 to a salmonella outbreak that sickened more than 625 people in 47 states. more

Caught On Tape; Prep Basketball Star Savagely Beaten

VALLEJO, Calif. -- Six suspects were in custody Sunday following a vicious beating caught on a campus surveillance camera at a Vallejo area high school that left a star basketball player -- who came to the aid of a female student -- hospitalized with a severe brain injury, authorities said.
Bryant Lee, 17, was waiting to begin practice with other members of the Bethel High School varsity basketball team at round 4:30 p.m. Thursday when he saw a group of men attacking a female student, school district spokesman Jason Hodge said. click to see video
He rushed over to aid the girl, helping her flee and then the attackers turned their fury on him. On the video, the six can be seen beating, kicking and pummeling Lee as he lay defenseless on the ground.
Hodge said Lee’s teammates came to his aid, but not before he had suffered serious injuries. He was taken to John Muir Hospital where he was in serious condition and initially placed on a ventilator.
"We had six adults who came on the campus and there's no other way to describe it,” Hodge said. “They savagely beat one of our students mercilessly. The young man is lucky to be alive."
Lee’s mother said he was improving and had been taken off the ventilator and given his first meal Saturday, but that he faced a long road to recovery. She said she wasn’t surprised that he came to the girl’s aid.
"He plays for the basketball team; he's a well-liked individual,” an emotional Donna Williams said. “He’s smart, he gets good grades in school. I just -- I couldn't ask for a better son."
Vallejo police said based on the tape and eyewitness accounts they had arrested four members of one family -- Abraham Tili, 26, Alexander Tili, 26, Ray Tili, 18 and Ron Tili, 18. Also in custody were Kevin Young, 18, and a 16-year-old suspect. more

Rogue FBI agent who inspired 'The Departed' jailed for 40 years for killing witness set to testify against the Mob

'The dark side': Former FBI agent John Connolly, shown here appearing in court, has been jailed for 40 years
A rogue FBI agent has been jailed for 40 years for killing a witness who was about to testify against the Mob.
A judge told FBI agent John Connolly he had 'crossed over to the dark side'.
The former agent's decision to switch sides was said to be the inspiration for the character played by Matt Damon in the hit film 'The Departed.'
Damon played a Massachusetts State Trooper detective who supplied his Mob connections with information.
During a two-month trial in Miami, Florida, a jury heard that Connolly, 68, was on the Mafia payroll - receiving money from notorious Mob leader James 'Whitey' Bulger who ran the Winter Hill gang in Boston in the 1980s.

Bulger is the FBI's second-most wanted fugitive after Osama bin Laden and is being sought for involvement in 19 murders.
The court heard that Connolly would supply his Mob connections with tip-offs about police raids and leak the names of informants.
He was convicted of the 1982 murder of businessman John Callahan, whose bullet-riddled body was found in the boot of a car at Miami Airport.
Connolly told his mob connections that 45-year-old Callaghan was preparing to give evidence against the notorious Winter Hill gang in Boston.
A 'hit' was taken out on the father-of-two before he could implicate Bulger.
Connolly has denied being a corrupt agent.
He said: 'I never sold my badge. I never took anybody's money. I never caused anybody to be hurt, at least not knowingly, and I never would.' more

The two "black box" data recorders have been recovered

NEW YORK — The airliner that was piloted to a safe landing in the Hudson River was resting on a barge Sunday after being hoisted out of the icy current, and its two "black box" data recorders were on their way to investigators in Washington.
Salvage crews hoisted the downed US Airways jetliner from the river late Saturday, three days after its pilot made what he told investigators was a split-second decision to attempt a water landing to avoid a possibly "catastrophic" crash over populated areas.
The aircraft's torn and shredded underbelly revealed the force with which it had hit the water. Its right wing appeared charred, some pieces of metal dropped from the plane as it was maneuvered in the darkness, and the destroyed right engine appeared as though the outside had been peeled off.

An emergency slide still hung from the plane; nearby, a compartment door was open, with some luggage still visible inside. A gash extended from the base of the plane toward the windows. And in places, the skin of the aircraft was simply gone. But much of the top half of the fuselage appeared relatively untouched.

After a day struggling with the icy waters and the immense weight of the craft, the mood on the shoreline turned festive with the successful operation. Following the long work to secure the plane, people shook hands and investigators took snapshots, while police helicopters hovered overhead.
Earlier Saturday, Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger told investigators in the few minutes he had to decide where to set down the powerless plane Thursday afternoon, he felt it was "too low, too slow" and near too many buildings to go anywhere else, according to the National Transportation Safety Board account of his testimony.
The pilot and his first officer provided their first account to NTSB investigators Saturday of what unfolded inside the cockpit of the US Airways Flight 1549 after it slammed into a flock of birds and lost power in both engines. more

White supremacists groups watched in lead up to Obama administration

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Hate crimes experts and law enforcement officials are closely watching white supremacists across the country as Barack Obama prepares next week to be sworn in as the first black president of the United States.

U.S. Capitol Police check observation positions in advance of Tuesday's presidential inauguration.

So far, there is no known organized effort to express opposition to Obama's rise to the presidency other than a call by the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan for its members to wear black armbands as well as fly the U.S. flag upside down on Inauguration Day and Obama's first full day in office.
As Tuesday approaches, when Obama stands outside the Capitol to take the oath of office, experts expect anger about the new president to spike. But they don't expect it to go away.
"The level of vitriol, I expect, will go up a bit more around inauguration time," said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino.
There "is concern" about white supremacist groups during the inauguration, said Joe Persichini, the assistant FBI director who is helping to oversee security during the inauguration. What might the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. have said? »
The inauguration of the nation's first minority president increases any potential threat, "particularly stemming from individuals on the extremist fringe of the white supremacist movement," said a recent intelligence assessment by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.
But law enforcement has the appropriate resources to respond if needed, Persichini said.
"We have seen a lot of chatter," Persichini said. "We have seen a lot of discussions. We have seen some information via the Internet. But those are discussions. We look at the vulnerabilities and whether or not the groups are taking action.
"You have freedom of speech," he added. "Anyone in this nation can have a discussion about their beliefs, but we are concerned about whether or not they take that freedom of speech and exercise some act that is against the law."
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'Bloody Sunday' paved road to Obama White House
Commentary: Race is still an issue in America
Anger, violence and interest in racist ideology did increase in the hours and days after Obama was elected president in November, hate groups experts said.
Three New York men were indicted on charges of conspiracy to interfere with voting rights -- accused of targeting and attacking African-Americans in a brutal crime spree soon after Obama was declared the winner on November 4.
And interest in racist ideology was so high right after the election that computer servers for two White supremacist Web sites crashed, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups.
But the violence and interest soon subsided. Leaders within the white supremacist movement are now seeking to capitalize on Obama's presidency by using his election to help grow their organizations.
"President-elect Obama is going to be the spark that arouses the 'white movement,' " reads a posting on the National Socialist Movement Web site. "Obama's win is our win. We should all be happy of this event."
In an interview posted on his Web site on election night, former Louisiana state Rep. David Duke said Obama's election "is good in one sense -- that it is making white people clear of the fact that that government in Washington, D.C., is not our government."
"We are beginning to learn and realize our positioning," Duke, a prominent white supremacist, later said in the election night recording. "And our position is that we have got to stand up and fight now."
Mark Potok, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project, said the leaders of these groups are frustrated by Obama's win.
"I think the hate groups are desperately looking for a silver lining in a very dark cloud for them," Potok said.
While experts said it is difficult to determine how many people belong to hate groups, they do agree with an SPLC estimate that claims there are about 900 operating now, a 40 percent increase from 2000. The vast majority of these groups promote white supremacist beliefs, and range from skinheads living in urban areas to the KKK ,which is based largely in rural settings. more

CLEAR CHANNEL PLANS REVAMP

The new owners of radio giant Clear Channel Communications will next week begin implementing a massive restructuring plan that seeks to cut $400 million in costs at the company, The Post has learned.
According to three sources with knowledge of the plan, the restructuring will include layoffs across the company's radio, outdoor advertising and international divisions as well as cuts to programming budgets and consolidation of back-office operations.
A precise headcount for the layoffs could not be obtained. Clear Channel has about 30,000 employees worldwide.
The company is also likely to move toward a "national programming" model that would require less local-level staffing, despite being criticized in the past for a similar action using centralized disc jockeys that made it appear as though they were broadcasting from local stations.
Sources said an initial round of layoffs is expected to commence next Tuesday - not coincidentally the same day President-elect Barack Obama is to be sworn into office. Clear Channel managers are hoping they can slip in the layoffs while the press is preoccupied with Inauguration Day festivities, sources said.
A Clear Channel spokeswoman declined to comment.
"Clear Channel was built through a series of acquisitions that generally weren't consolidated very well," said one source, alluding to the late '90s buying spree that put more than 1,000 stations under the Clear Channel umbrella, making it the nation's largest radio company. more

Man charged with threatening Obama on website

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Authorities on Friday arrested a U.S. man on suspicion of threatening to kill President-elect Barack Obama based on statements he posted on a website about UFOs and aliens, the Justice Department said.
Steven Joseph Christopher, in three postings to www.alien-earth.org, said he planned to assassinate Obama in Washington "as a sacrificial lamb," the department said in a statement.
"It's really nothing personal about the man. He speaks well ... . But I know it's for the country's own good that I do this," Christopher reportedly wrote.
"It's not because I'm racist that I will kill Barack, it's because I can no longer allow the Jewish parasites to bully their way into making the American people submit to their evil ways."
Christopher added that he needed money to get to Washington and that he did not own a gun, the department said.
Unprecedented security surrounds Obama, who will be sworn into office on Tuesday and become the nation's first black president.
Christopher, who is from Wisconsin but was arrested in Brookhaven, Mississippi, could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if found guilty.

Hertz to cut more than 4,000 jobs

DETROIT (Reuters) - Hertz Global Holdings Inc said on Friday that it would cut more than 4,000 jobs in a worldwide restructuring through the first quarter due to falling demand, and the car rental company's shares fell nearly 9 percent.
Hertz expects annualized savings of $150 million to $170 million in 2009 from the job cuts, it said. It expects to take a fourth-quarter charge of $20 million to $25 million for the cuts.
The cuts are in the car and equipment rental businesses as well as in corporate and support areas in all regions focused on positions that do not have direct contact with customers, Hertz said in a statement.
Hertz will have cut its workforce by 32 percent since August 2006 with the latest round of reductions, it said.
Hertz said it could not predict when its markets would improve. The declines pressured the volume of rentals, the pricing on rentals and the residual values of vehicles in its fleets during the fourth quarter.
The company estimated fourth-quarter net cash flow at about $1.75 billion and said it had ended 2008 with liquidity of about $4.9 billion.
Shares of Hertz were down 47 cents, or 8.7 percent, at $4.92 in midday New York Stock Exchange trade.

Chineese woman sentenced to death for hiring someone to strangle her son

SHANGHAI, China — A court in central China has sentenced a woman to death for hiring someone to strangle her 9-year-old son so she could have another child with her new husband without violating population laws, a court official and reports said Friday.
The case stems in part from Chinese policies - in effect for more than three decades - that limit most couples to only one child.
The Higher People's Court in Shaanxi province ordered the death penalty for former bank clerk Li Yingfang, overturning a lower court decision that might have allowed her a life sentence, said a court official.
The official at the lower court in Weinan, a city in Shaanxi, said he was familiar with the case and confirmed that the death sentence had been ordered. As is common with Chinese officials not authorized to speak to media, he gave only his surname, Liu.
Calls to the Shaanxi Higher Court rang unanswered Friday.
Liu also confirmed reports by Shaanxi Television that said Li, 36, gave custody of her son from her first marriage to the boy's grandmother after her first husband died.
She remarried, but her second husband also had a daughter from his first marriage, so the couple could not legally have another child, it said.


The report said Li first paid about $10,000 to have a man named Wang Ruijie kill her second husband's daughter, but the girl resisted and escaped. Li then took her son to a meeting with Wang, who strangled the boy and left him by a rural road. more

The 6 Most Common Sex Myths

There’s nothing like being sexually misinformed.
It can foil your sexual response. It can leave you pregnant or fielding an infection. And it can make you feel pretty silly, especially when you realize you have been wrong all along.
So to make sure you don’t go another day in the dark, here’s the real deal on some of the most important sex facts:

1. Myth: Viagra is 100 Percent Effective
When it comes to taking Viagra, or other sildenafil medications, which treat erectile dysfunction, men tend to think that it’s 100 percent effective. All you need to do is pop a pill, sit back and enjoy, right?

Fact: A desire component is needed for males to become sexually aroused and attain erection. Unless that's there, you're headed for disappointment.
The consequence: Half of the men who try using these drugs end up discontinuing them by the end of the year. This is partly due to inadequate communication with their partner and inadequate education on what to expect.


2. Myth: A Virgin's Hymen Always Breaks

Many people think that a female’s hymen is broken the first time she has intercourse.

Fact: This is not necessarily so for every gal. Depending on the female, this thin skin that stretches across the vaginal opening may be anywhere from nearly nonexistent to covering everything. It is not always torn during intercourse. Actually, 19 percent of sexually active females have no visible tearing.
This is important to know, since many cultures think the presence of a hymen is an indicator that a female is a virgin. Girls are born with hymens of various sizes and openings. Some may appear to have no hymen at all. Others have their hymen stretched from activities like bicycling or horseback riding.

3. Myth: Withdrawal = Good Birth Control

Couples have relied on the withdrawal method as a form of birth control for centuries.

Fact: Pregnancy can occur any time unprotected sex is had, whether or not a male has climaxed. Withdrawal is therefore not recommended as a form of birth control, especially for males who are sexually inexperienced.
The consequence: About half of the 6.4 million pregnancies that occurred in the United States in 2001 (the most recent year for which good data was available) were unplanned. Definitely something to think about before relying on this method.

4. Myth: Oral Sex is Safe Sex

Plenty of people engage in oral sex because they think it does not put them at risk for sexually transmitted diseases.

Fact: Unprotected oral sex puts both partners — whether giver or receiver — at risk for a number of STDs.
The consequence: While the risk of transmission from oral sex is generally lower than unprotected intercourse, lovers still have to worry about STDs like herpes and HIV.

5. Myth: You Can't Get Pregnant if You Aren't Ovulating

She’s not ovulating so she can’t get pregnant — Not!
Fact: While pregnancy is likeliest to occur during the six days leading up to, and including, ovulation, a female can get pregnant at any point in her menstrual cycle. This includes the week of her period.
Even if couples want to take a chance and avoid unprotected sex around day 14 of her menstrual cycle (when she is most fertile), the fact that many women have irregular cycles makes this a dicey decision. Even women who have regular menstrual cycles may not ovulate on the same day each month.

6. Myth: The Pill Protects Against STDs

Many females, especially young women, believe using a contraceptive pill will protect them not only from pregnancy, but also from sexually transmitted diseases.

Fact: All hormonal birth control methods, including the pill, provide protection only against pregnancy. They do not protect either lover from the transmission of infections. A male or female condom is the only way to protect against STDs when sexually active. more
Dr. Yvonne K. Fulbright is a sex educator, relationship expert, columnist and founder.

Kendra Wilkinson said that she had to sneak away from Hef to get sex

Who knew you had to sneak sex at the Playboy Mansion?
Kendra Wilkinson, one of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's three girlfriends on "The Girls Next Door," told US Weekly magazine that "I had to have sex every now and then, so I had to kind of sneak it."
While Wilkinson, 23, said she and Hefner were intimate at times, mostly she just saw him once a day in passing.

Kendra Wilkinson (far right) with Holly Madison, Bridget Marquandt, and Hugh Hefner.

Bridget Marquardt, on the other hand, stayed true to her (much older) man, according to Wilkinson.
"Bridget told me that she's been faithful all these years, and I was like, 'How the hell can you do that?' I had to have [sex] so I could feel my age, like a healthy human being."
Wilkinson described Hefner as more of a "sugar daddy" who kept close tabs on the girls, which made her "insane."
Wilkinson is now engaged to Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Hank Baskett, and plans to marry him at the Playboy Mansion this summer.

After 'Miracle on the Hudson,' Pilot Who Became Instant Hero Is Honored

NEW YORK — After guiding a crippled US Airways jet into the Hudson River and saving all 155 people aboard — a feat many were calling a miracle — the pilot at the helm became an instant hero.

Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, 57, the pilot of Flight 1549, was honored by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg with a key to the city on Friday. Bloomberg also honored the rest of the crew, rescue workers and civilians who helped avert a disaster.

Sullenberger, of Danville, Calif., is a former fighter pilot who runs a safety consulting firm in addition to flying commercial aircraft.

He has flown for US Airways since 1980 and flew F-4 fighter jets with the Air Force in the 1970s. He then served on a board that investigated aircraft accidents and participated later in several National Transportation Safety Board investigations.



The Airbus 320 took off from New York's LaGuardia Airport about 3:26 p.m. Thursday en route to Charlotte, N.C. Less than a minute later, a flock of birds apparently flew into the plane, disabling both its engines.

Sullenberger was going to make an emergency landing in New Jersey, but decided to turn around. He reported a "double bird strike" and said he needed to return to LaGuardia, said Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

Passengers quickly realized something was terrifyingly wrong.

"I heard an explosion, and I saw flames coming from the left wing, and I thought, `This isn't good,'" said Dave Sanderson, 47, who was heading home to Charlotte from a business trip. "Then it was just controlled chaos. People started running up the aisle. People were getting shoved out of the way."

On the way back, Sullenberger realized he was going to have to land in the river. He told passengers to "brace for impact" and brought the plane down safely in the icy water.

One passenger described the impact as about the same as a rear-end collision. Miraculously, no one was seriously injured and everyone onboard survived. They exited onto the jet's wings and were rescued by boats.

How Birds Can Down a Jet Airplane

Click here to read more about the water landing.

Sullenberger had been studying the psychology of keeping airline crews functioning even in the face of crisis, said Robert Bea, a civil engineer who co-founded UC Berkeley's Center for Catastrophic Risk Management.

Bea said he could think of few pilots as well-situated to bring the plane down safely than Sullenberger.

"When a plane is getting ready to crash with a lot of people who trust you, it is a test.. Sulley proved the end of the road for that test. He had studied it, he had rehearsed it, he had taken it to his heart."

Sullenberger is president of Safety Reliability Methods, a California firm that uses "the ultra-safe world of commercial aviation" as a basis for safety consulting in other fields, according to the firm's Web site.

Sullenberger's mailbox at the firm was full on Thursday. A group of fans sprang up on Facebook within hours of the emergency landing.

"OMG, I am terrified of flying but I would be happy to be a passenger on one of your aircraft!!" Melanie Wills in Bristol wrote on the wall of "Fans of Sully Sullenberger." "You have saved a lot of peoples lives and are a true hero!!"

The pilot "did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river and then making sure that everybody got out," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "He walked the plane twice after everybody else was off, and tried to verify that there was nobody else on board, and he assures us there was not."

"He was the last one up the aisle and he made sure that there was nobody behind him."

Gov. David Paterson pronounced it a "miracle on the Hudson." more

Female teacher was arrested for having sex with 6 former students

Hannah McIntyre, a teacher at Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby, was arrested and bailed on suspicion of breaching a position of trust under the Sexual Offences Act 2003
A female teacher at a top private boys' school has been arrested over allegations of sexual misconduct involving sixth-formers.
Hannah McIntyre, 24, has been suspended from her job at Merchant Taylors school, in Crosby, Merseyside.
The classics teacher was arrested and questioned by police last week on suspicion of abusing her position of trust. Social services are also investigating.
She has been granted bail while further inquiries are made.
The alleged sexual activity is said to have taken place away from the premises of the £8,000-a-year school, whose former pupils include ex-Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie.
Although sixth-form students are above the age of consent, it is a criminal offence for teachers to engage in sexual activity with them because of their 'relationship of trust'.
Government guidance also warns teachers that 'intimate or sexual relationships between staff and pupils will be regarded as a grave breach of trust'.
Headmaster David Cook said: 'Merchant Taylors Boys' School can confirm that a member of its senior school teaching staff is the subject of an investigation by Sefton Social Services and Merseyside Police. more

Mother, 34, posed as her 15-year-old daughter to try out for high school cheerleading squad

'Cheerleader': Wendy Brown even attended a pool party while posing as a 15-year-old student
A 34-year-old woman posed as her 15-year-old daughter in a bid to go back to school and try out for the cheerleading squad.
Wendy Brown turned up at Ashwaubenon High School in Wisconsin, U.S., for a day of classes - and was given her own cheerleading locker and even attended a pool party with other students.
Her day of fun was only discovered after truancy officers wondered where their new 'pupil' had gone.
Ms Brown told investigators she wanted to relive her high school experience, and was found not guilty of identity theft by reason of mental disease or defect in court on Tuesday.
Court documents revealed that Brown 'stated that she wanted to get her high school degree and be a cheerleader because she had no childhood and was trying to regain a part of her life she missed.'
She attended school for one day last August after assuming the identity of her daughter while she was living with a relative out of state.
Her teachers reported the ‘student’ for truancy and the mother’s elaborate ruse to re-live the life of a teenager was eventually uncovered when she was found in a police cell, where she’d been charged over a separate forgery conviction.
Students at the school said Brown had looked older, but had not questioned her as she had the demeanour of a teenager.
Student Spencer Corpus told the CBS news network: 'She did look a little insignificantly older, but you didn't want to question it - you just go: "Aw, alright, whatever."'
Student Hope Edlebeck said: 'I thought it was really bizarre. It's just something you never hear. A 33-year-old going to school.more

Primary school teacher dismissed and facing jail for sending lewd text messages to schoolboys

Primary school teacher facing jail for sending lewd texts to schoolboy after grooming him on World of Warcraft
Lynn Walls sent illicit sex texts to a schoolboy she met on the Warcraft interactive web game
A primary school teacher faces jail for sending lewd texts to a 14-year-old boy after grooming him over the internet game World of Warcraft.
Lynn Walls, 42, who has been sacked from her job, used the interactive computer game to befriend the teenager and get his mobile phone number while playing online.
She then sent the boy, from London, a series of graphic texts in November 2007 which outlined what she intended to do with him if they met.
She was caught out when his father read them.
Today she returned to Newcastle Crown Court to be sentenced after admitting inciting a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity.
Defence barrister Andrew Finlay told the court that Walls had been too ashamed to leave her house and therefore pre-sentence reports had not been prepared because she missed appointments with probation officers.
'There has been a fair degree of media interest in this case,' said Mr Finlay.'She has been too ashamed and frightened to leave the house.
'She was suffering panic attacks, perhaps it is not surprising given that she is 42 and of good character and suddenly this storm breaks on her.
'She has had very little support. Most of her friends when they found out about this offence dropped her and obviously she has been dismissed from her work.
more

Dungy resigns as Head Coach of the Colts

There was always more to Tony Dungy than a headset and a whistle.
As much as he loved the National Football League -- and understand that he loved this game hard -- Dungy was more than a master of the Cover 2 and the leader of a 53-man roster.
In his firm but polite manner, Dungy was a coaching pioneer, the first African-American coach to win the Super Bowl and a reminder that strength and passion can come in many styles. In an era of coaches with outsized egos, Dungy was the symbol of a man with his feet on the ground. And in a time when the basest aspects of hip-hop culture are glamorized to the point of worship, Dungy showed that there are other meanings of being a black man in America.
Beyond the playoff appearances and the innovations on defense, Dungy came of age in the heat of the civil rights movement. He grew up in Jackson, Mich., with parents who held advanced degrees from Michigan State, parents who themselves were pioneers. Dungy's mother, CleoMae, taught English and public speaking at Jackson High. His father, Wilbur, taught physiology at Jackson Community College.
Wilbur had also been a pilot during World War II as part of the United States Army Air Corps' Tuskegee Airmen. His father never told Dungy about the hardships of the segregated army, how blacks had been banned from flying planes at all until the Tuskegee program was implemented.
"When I was just a kid, I didn't think to ask for more details when he said, 'We taught ourselves to fly,'" Dungy writes in his memoir, Quiet Strength. "It sounded easy. The lesson, which I did not understand clearly until much later, was that you shouldn't allow external issues to be a hindrance, whether those issues are based on race or any other factor. Things will go wrong at times. You can't always control circumstances. However, you can always control your attitude, approach, and response."
When he was old enough to understand, Dungy held fast to these lessons, as a quarterback at the University of Minnesota and as a longtime NFL assistant coach who spent years being passed over for head-coaching jobs. When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hired him in 1996, a doormat was transformed into a playoff team. When the Indianapolis Colts hired him in 2002, Dungy elevated a talented team to the level of Super Bowl champion.
"People often say that teams reflect their head coach, and that can be said of Tony Dungy's teams, which are consistent winners every single year," New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick said in a statement. "Tony has been such a fixture in this league that his absence will take some getting used to. He may be leaving the sideline, but Tony will be remembered fondly for a long time."
Besides Dungy's coaching protégés, who are sprinkled throughout the league, his greater legacy may be his work outside the lines. While coaching in Tampa, he started a program called Mentors for Life, an organization aimed at uplifting area children. He also launched All Pro Dad, a program designed to help fathers interact with their children in lasting ways. more

Baby born 2 days after mother dies

Her mum would have loved her so much: Tearful words of man whose baby was born TWO DAYS after wife died
Two days after Jayne Soliman was declared brain-dead, her grieving husband saw her life-support machine turned off.
In a moment of unbelievable poignancy, he was then given their baby daughter to hold for the first time.
Doctors had kept 41-year-old Mrs Soliman's heart beating after she suffered a brain haemorrhage.
For 48 hours they pumped large doses of steroids into her body to help the baby's lungs develop.
Her mother had been declared brain dead two days before she was born. Now baby Aya Jayne, weighing little over 2lb, is in intensive care
Then they delivered baby Aya Jayne by caesarean section. At 26 weeks, she weighed just 2lb 11/2oz.
The tiny infant was placed on her mother's shoulder for a moment before being handed to her father, Mahmoud Soliman.
Aya - her name is a word from the Koran meaning miracle - is now doing well in hospital while 29-year-old Mr Soliman struggles to cope with the misery of suddenly losing his wife and the joy of becoming a father. more

George Bush's 20 worst moments

1) No WMDs
Mr Bush built his entire case for war on the claim that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. However, he chose to ignore conflicting evidence and forever undermined not only his presidency, but the reputation of US intelligence agencies and his country in much of the world.

2) "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job"
Mr Bush could not control the weather, but he had control in naming the director of FEMA, the agency in charge of disaster mitigation. His appointee, Mike Brown, was woefully underprepared and failed to facilitate proper aid to the stranded victims of Hurricane Katrina. Despite his tragic miscues, Mr Bush famously told his pall "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

3) No Post-War Plan for Iraq
The outgoing president achieved his goal of ousting Saddam Hussein but had little planned for a destabilised post-Saddam Iraq. After six years, thousands of military casualties, an untold amount of Iraqi civilian deaths, and hundreds of billions of dollars spent, the war is still not over.

4) Permitting Torture
By stating that the Geneva Convention did not apply to "enemy combatants," Mr Bush paved the way for waterboarding, attack dogs, and other draconian interrogation tactics that will forever be associated with his presidency.

5) Ignoring Pre-9/11 Terror Memo
Just weeks before 9/11, while spending a holiday at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, Mr Bush received a memo from the CIA entitled, "Bin Laden Determined To Strike in US". While the President cannot respond to every single threat presented to the country, the timing and nature of this particular warning will forever blight his legacy.

6) "Mission Accomplished"
Mr Bush's bombastic declaration of victory in Iraq while aboard an aircraft carrier in May 2003 was premature to say the least: the vast majority of war casualties have occurred since the unfurling of the "mission accomplished" banner. He has admitted this was one of his biggest mistakes.

7) Entering Iraq without a UN mandate.
After months of deliberation, the UN Security Council could not come to an agreement over the proposed invasion of Iraq. Mr Bush impatiently led a "coalition of the willing" into the country and his decision is still considered by the UN to be illegal.

8) Insisting there was a link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda
Mr Bush aimed to strengthen his case for war by linking the perpetrators of 9/11 to Saddam Hussein. As of today there is little to no evidence supporting his claim.

9) Failing to capture Osama bin Laden
After 9/11, Mr Bush's primary goal was to capture al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. More than seven years have passed and the only evidence of Bin Laden is a series of grainy video tapes taunting Mr Bush and the United States.

10) Abandoning the Kyoto Protocol
In 2001, Mr Bush refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty that requires participating countries to lower their greenhouse gas emissions. He cited its effect on the economy, but the auto industry is already on the brink and global climate change is a real problem. Even merely as a sign of intent, his signature would have been helpful.

11) Refusing to let Katrina ruin his holiday
Hurricane Katrina hit towards the end of a long summer holiday for Mr Bush. His immediate response was not to view the damage personally, but at five miles high through the window of Air Force One on his way back to Washington.

12) Underestimating the cost of the war
Like a contractor's ever-inflating estimates of a home renovation, Mr Bush's original $50-$60 billion price tag on the Iraq war sounds like a steal now. The current cost is closer to $600 billion.
13) Lack of body armour for US troops
Due to the budget constraints of an expensive war, many US troops lacked proper armour for the challenges in Iraq. There have been reports of families turning to eBay to purchase protective gear for their sons and daughters stationed in the Middle East.

14) Failure to include Louisiana's coastal parishes in state of emergency plan
On August 27, 2005, two days before Hurricane Katrina hit, President Bush declared a state of emergency for parts of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. Not included on that list were the coastal areas of Louisiana that included New Orleans, the city hit hardest by Katrina.

15) Tax cuts for the wealthy
Believing wealthy Americans would take their fortunes to tax shelters, Mr Bush granted large tax cuts to keep their cash in the US. Critics contend it disproved the trickle down theory, as the economy headed into recession.

16) Losing focus on Afghanistan
The early campaign in Afghanistan was relatively successful. Rather than continuing the effort there however, Mr Bush quickly switched focus to Iraq. Many, including President-Elect Barack Obama, believe that a greater presence in Afghanistan would be more effective in the war on terror.

17) Limiting stem cell research
One of President Bush's earliest decisions was to restrict the research of embryonic stem cells. These types of studies have shown tremendous results in lab rats (such as reversing the course of Parkinson's in the rodents). Humans will have to wait for his policy to be annulled before seeing any benefits.

18) Appointment and backing of Alberto Gonzales
Mr Bush appointed an old Texan friend Alberto Gonzales as his Attorney General after the resignation of John Ashcroft. Widely criticised as a sycophantic foil to "Dubya", Mr Gonzales oversaw questionable US attorney dismissals and the NSA's warrantless wiretapping before eventually resigning. Along with Mike Brown, Alberto Gonzales is an example of Mr Bush's perceived penchant for surrounding himself with "yes men" rather than qualified individuals.

19) Awarding lucrative Iraq reconstruction contracts to Halliburton
Halliburton, Vice President Dick Cheney's old employer, received a large reconstruction contract in Iraq shortly after the onset of the war. Rumours of it not having to bid are unfounded, but claims of a conflict of interest remain. In addition, their exportation of the country's oil has been a largely unsuccessful endeavour.

20) Warrantless Wiretapping
Shortly after 9/11, President Bush authorised the warrantless wiretapping of certain telephone calls for the sake of national security. Eavesdropping would often top most Presidents' list of reprehensible acts but Mr Bush, supported by Congress, contended that it helped keep America safe.

Man arrested for arranging to sell his 14 year old daughter for marriage

GREENFIELD, Calif. — Police have arrested a Greenfield man for allegedly arranging to sell his 14-year-old daughter into marriage in exchange for $16,000, 100 cases of beer and several cases of meat.
Police say they only learned of the deal after 36-year-old Marcelino de Jesus Martinez went to them to get his daughter back because payment wasn't made as promised.
Martinez was arrested Sunday on suspicion of human trafficking.
Officers also arrested 18-year-old Margarito de Jesus Galindo on suspicion of statutory rape. Investigators believe the girl went willingly with Galindo, but she's under California's legal age of consent and can't legally marry.
Police say arranged marriages involving underage girls have become a problem in this small Central Coast farming community.

Man dies after accidentally shooting himself whith his rifle while driving

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- A McMinnville man has been killed by his own hunting rifle as he drove his pickup truck.
Rutherford County Sheriff's investigators said 31-year-old Joseph Lyle was found bleeding from a gunshot wound to the head after his pickup truck ran off the Manchester Highway early Thursday.

The Daily News Journal quoted a statement by Detective Sgt. Dan Goodwin of the sheriff's office, who said witnesses told officers they heard a gunshot, then the truck ran off the road.Goodwin said evidence indicated Lyle was apparently handling his loaded rifle with the safety not engaged when it inadvertently discharged.Lyle was pronounced dead a short time later at Middle Tennessee Medical Center.

Somali Pirate's Body Washes Ashore With $153,000

MOGADISHU, Somalia — The body of a Somali pirate who drowned just after receiving a huge ransom washed onshore with $153,000 in cash, a resident said Sunday, as the spokesman for another group of pirates promised to soon free a Ukrainian arms ship.
Five pirates drowned Friday when their small boat capsized after they received a reported $3 million ransom for releasing a Saudi oil tanker. Local resident Omar Abdi Hassan said one of the bodies had been found on a beach near the coastal town of Haradhere and relatives were searching for the other four.
"One of them was discovered and they are still looking for the other ones. He had $153,000 in a plastic bag in his pocket," he said Sunday.

The U.S. navy released photos of a parachute dropping a package onto the deck of the Sirius Star, and said the package was likely to be the ransom delivery.
But five of the dozens of pirates who had hijacked the tanker drowned when their small boat capsized as they returned to shore in rough weather. Three other pirates survived but also lost their share of the ransom.
Graeme Gibbon Brooks, managing director of the British company Dryad Maritime Intelligence Service Ltd, said the incident was unlikely to deter attacks.
"The loss or potential loss of the ransom means the pirates will be all the more keen to get the next ransom in," he said. "There are people lining up to be pirates."
The Sirius Star had been held near the Ukrainian cargo ship MV Faina, which was loaded with 33 Soviet-designed battle tanks and crates of small arms. The same day the Sirius Star was released, the family members of the Faina crew appealed for help, saying they were not being kept informed about the negotiations or the state of their loved ones' health. more

Couple Denied Adoption Because Hubby is 'Too Fat'

Victoria Derbyshire/BBC 5 Live
Damien and Charlotte Hall were turned down to adopt on grounds that Damien is too fat. He?s 6-foot-1, 343 pounds, with a BMI of more than 42.
A married couple has spoken of its shock after being turned down to adopt on the grounds that one of them is too fat.
Damien and Charlotte Hall approached Leeds City Council in West Yorkshire, England, about adoption after discovering that they were unable to have children of their own.
They were told that Hall’s size, at 6-foot-1, 343 pounds, made him morbidly obese, with a body mass index (BMI) of more than 42.
In a letter, the council told the couple his BMI must be below 40 before the couple could be considered as potential parents because of a risk he could become ill or even die.
“I am writing to confirm that we are unable to progress an application from you at this time. This is due to the concerns that the medical advisers have expressed regarding Mr. Hall’s weight,” the council wrote.
The couple, who have been married for 11 years, said they felt the ruling was harsh.
“The bottom line is I’m too fat. I just feel as though we were only judged on my weight and not all the other good things about us," said Hall, 37, who works in a call center.

“We don’t drink or smoke and we could give a child a happy and safe home.” more

Sopranos Actor Gets 10 Years for His Role in Robbery and Murder

NEW YORK — A former actor on "The Sopranos" was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for a botched burglary in the Bronx in which an accomplice shot and killed an off-duty police officer.
A jury acquitted Lillo Brancato Jr. in the death of the police officer, but convicted him of attempted burglary. He had faced up to 15 years in prison.
Prosecutors said Brancato and the accomplice were looking for drugs when they broke into an apartment next door to the officer's home in December 2005. When Officer Daniel Enchautegui went to investigate, he was gunned him down.
Steven Armento was convicted of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
The acquittal in the murder case against Brancato outraged the slain officer's family and the union that represents police officers.
Prosecutors had sought the maximum sentence in the attempted burglary conviction. Brancato has already served three years waiting for his trial, for which he will receive credit.
Brancato rose to fame in 1993's "A Bronx Tale," playing a young kid from the neighborhood who is torn between two worlds and two men: a local mobster played by Chazz Palminteri and his straight-and-narrow bus driver father, played by Robert De Niro.


Other roles followed, most notably a stint on the second season of HBO's "The Sopranos." His character carried out a series of low-level crimes for the New Jersey mob before being gunned down by Tony Soprano and his sidekick as he tearfully begged for his life.
Brancato, 32, and Armento, 48, were drinking together at a strip club before deciding to break into the basement apartment in a hunt for Valium, prosecutors said.
Brancato testified that the break-in never happened. He claimed that he had known the owner, a Vietnam veteran, for several years. He also said he had permission to go inside and take painkillers and other pills whenever he felt like it, and didn't know the man had died earlier that year.
He said the pills were part of a drug problem that began when he was introduced to marijuana on the set of "A Bronx Tale." He later became hooked on crack and heroin. more

Madoff Had Millions in Checks Ready to Go Out

Prosecutors arguing that alleged $50 billion scammer Bernard Madoff should be put in jail immediately say that when Madoff's desk was searched following his arrest, investigators found approximately 100 signed checks totaling more than $173 million "ready to be sent out".

Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff leaves U.S. District Court in Manhattan after a bail hearing in...
Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff leaves U.S. District Court in Manhattan after a bail hearing in New York, today. Prosecutors on Monday said Madoff violated bail conditions by mailing about $1 million worth of jewelry and other assets to relatives and should be jailed without bail. (Kathy Willens/AP Photo)
"The only thing that prevented the defendant from executing his plan to dissipate those assets was his arrest by the FBI," prosecutors say. "The defendant's recent distribution of jewelry and watches demonstrates a continuing intention to benefit those close to him to the detriment of his victims."
Prosecutors asked Judge Roland Ellis earlier this week to put Madoff in custody after they say Madoff violated the conditions of his bail agreement when he and his wife sent multiple packages worth more than $1 million containing such valuables as watches, jewelry and cufflinks to relatives and friends.
An earlier court order barred Madoff from "dissipating, concealing, or disposing of any money" or "personal property".
A defense motion saying that Madoff saw the expensive gifts as "sentimental personal items" shows that he "misses the point entirely" according to prosecutors.
Madoff's lawyers concede that on Christmas Eve, Madoff and his wife sent a number of packages to friends and family.
"Mr. Madoff gathered a number of watches that he collected over the course of years, knowing that, due to the sudden change in his circumstances, he would never have an occasion to wear these watches again," according to a brief filed by Madoff's attorneys, who say packages were sent to the Madoffs' sons, a daughter in-law, Madoff's brother and sister in-law, Mrs. Madoff's sister and a married couple who are close friends. more

Ala. sheriff locked up over measly jail meals

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A northern Alabama sheriff was in federal custody Thursday after a judge ruled he purposely fed inmates skimpy meals so he could make money from an unusual system that lets sheriffs turn a profit on their jail kitchens.
Morgan County Sheriff Greg Bartlett testified at a Wednesday court hearing that he made $212,000 over three years by cheaply feeding prisoners — every cent of it legal under a Depression-era state law and reported on his tax forms as income.
But U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon ordered federal marshals to arrest Bartlett after hearing a string of skinny prisoners testify they were served paper-thin bologna, bloody chicken and cold grits in the north Alabama county's jail.
"He makes money by failing to spend the allocated funds for food for the inmates," Clemon ruled after a daylong hearing in a lawsuit filed by prisoners over jail conditions.
Clemon said Bartlett, who has been sheriff for six years, would remain in custody until he submitted a plan to feed prisoners meals that are "nutritionally adequate," as required by a previous agreement in the lawsuit.
Ten prisoners testified that they were so hungry after meals they are forced to spend hundreds of dollars at a for-profit store inside the jail for junk food like oatmeal pies and chips.
"We had an apple on Christmas, and I think we've had them one other time," said Clifton Goodwin, who's been in Bartlett's jail for 15 months. more news

Protests over BART shooting turn violent

A protest over the fatal shooting by a BART police officer of an unarmed black man mushroomed into several hours of violence Wednesday night as demonstrators smashed storefronts and cars, set several cars ablaze and blocked streets in downtown Oakland.
The roving mob expressed fury at police and frustration over society's racial injustice. Yet the demonstrators were often indiscriminate, frequently targeting the businesses and prized possessions of people of color.
They smashed a hair salon, a pharmacy and several restaurants. Police in riot gear tried to control the crowd, but some people retreated along 14th Street and bashed cars along the way.
The mob smashed the windows at Creative African Braids on 14th Street, and a woman walked out of the shop holding a baby in her arms.
"This is our business," shouted Leemu Topka, the black owner of the salon she started four years ago. "This is our shop. This is what you call a protest?"
Wednesday night's vandalism victims had nothing to do with the shooting death by a BART police officer of Oscar Grant on New Year's Day - but that did little to sway the mob.
"I feel like the night is going great," said Nia Sykes, 24, of San Francisco, one of the demonstrators. "I feel like Oakland should make some noise. This is how we need to fight back. It's for the murder of a black male."
Sykes, who is black, had little sympathy for the owner of Creative African Braids.
"She should be glad she just lost her business and not her life," Sykes said. She added that she did have one worry for the night: "I just hope nobody gets shot or killed."
The protest had started calmly shortly after 3 p.m. at the Fruitvale Station in Oakland, where BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle shot 22-year-old Grant of Hayward a week ago. BART shut down the station well into the evening commute, although the demonstration there was peaceful.
However, shortly after nightfall, a group of roughly 200 protesters split off and headed toward downtown Oakland, prompting the transit agency to close the Lake Merritt and 12th Street stations. The group wreaked havoc through much of downtown, drawing hundreds of police in riot gear. It wasn't until roughly 10:40 p.m that police clamped down on the mob, arresting dozens who were cornered near the Paramount Theatre, and bringing an end to the mayhem. more news

Coming soon to cellphones: Free, over-the-air TV

Millions of consumers by year's end should be able to watch free, over-the-air television on cellphones, PDAs and other portable digital devices as the result of initiatives that will be unveiled today by some of the nation's largest TV station owners and electronics manufacturers.
The changes promoting on-the-go viewing are "quite significant," says John Eck, president of the NBC TV Network and Media Works. "If we play it right, it can be a compelling service," for example, by offering local news, which normally isn't available from cellphone video services.
At least 63 stations in 22 cities — including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston and Washington — will transmit news, entertainment and sports to portable devices this year, according to the broadcast industry's Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC).
The initial group will include affiliates of ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CW, ION and PBS. Each city will have a different mix. Most will simulcast regularly scheduled shows.
In conjunction with the announcement, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, manufacturers including LG, Samsung, Zenith and Kenwood will display mobile receivers due in stores later this year. more

Obama has lunch with former presidents

WASHINGTON (AP) - President-elect Barack Obama says coming together with all the U.S. presidents is an "extraordinary gathering." Obama stood in the Oval Office on Wednesday with President George W. Bush and three former presidents: Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter. The president-elect said all of them understand the pressures of the job and he looks forward to sharing time with them.

Net tightens around China's richest man as wife is detained

The net is tightening around China’s richest man with the detention of his wife amid a police investigation into possible financial offences by the businessman who founded the country’s biggest appliance chain.

State media said Du Juan, 37, was now under police guard in Beijing and had been formally placed under “residential surveillance”. Ms Du had returned to Beijing from an unidentified location outside the city before Christmas. The police wanted to prevent her from leaving the country.

She has long been a close business associate of her husband, running large parts of the company that Huang Guangyu built up from a streetside stall selling watches to a nationwide conglomerate over hundreds of stores.

Mr Huang, 39, listed as China’s weathiest man on the Hurun Rich List this year with wealth estimated at £4 billion, disappeared in late November and was later revealed to be under investigation for alleged insider trading. more

Secret Millionaire* preview*

The Secret Millionaire is a reality television show which originated in the UK, in which millionaires go incognito into impoverished communities and agree to give away tens of thousand of pounds (or hundreds of thousands of dollars in the U.S. version). Members of the community are told the cameras are present due to a documentary filming. The UK version is produced by the independent production company RDF Media and was created by Stephen Lambert. It first aired in 2006 on the UK's Channel 4, with a second season playing in 2007.

Each week a millionaire leaves their luxury life behind, takes on a secret identity and lives undercover in a deprived area of the UK or U.S. for a week to ten days. Living on a limited budget with no modern conveniences they must forge their own way in the community – working and volunteering alongside the locals and finding individuals and projects who they think deserve a cut of their fortune. On their final day, the millionaires come clean and reveal their true identity to the people they have chosen, surprising them with overwhelming gifts of thousands of pounds or dollars to improve their lives.
Through this unique experience, extraordinary people and heart-wrenching situations inside deprived communities are revealed. As well as highlighting the positive financial and emotional impact of modern day philanthropy, the program also draws attention to some of Britain's and America's social problems in a touching and personal way. The series has also tackled gritty issues such as gang culture, gun crime, disability, and homelessness in some of the toughest areas. more

Police Officer's Fatal Shooting Of Young Father Captured On Cell Phone Video

OAKLAND, Caif. -- Law enforcement officials urged patience while they investigated details surrounding the fatal New Year's Day shooting of a 22-year-old man by a transit agency police officer.

Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Chief Gary Gee said on Sunday that the agency is "committed to completing an unbiased, thorough and detailed investigation" of the shooting death of Oscar Grant.

"This case is not even four days cold. We're in the early stages of the investigation and we will do a very thorough job," he said.

Several unanswered questions remained after BART officers went to Oakland's Fruitvale station to investigate reports of a supposed brawl on a train on which Grant was riding around 2 a.m. Thursday.

A friend of Grant's who was with him on the crowded Oakland train station platform at the time of the shooting said Grant pleaded with officers not to harm him.

"Oscar yelled, 'You shot me! I got a four-year-old daughter,"' said Fernando Anicete. "Oscar was telling us to calm down and we did. We weren't looking for any trouble."

Anicete was among more than 50 people attending a tearful news conference in Oakland on Sunday where Grant's family announced they planned to file a $25 million claim against the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency this week. A claim is the first step in the process of suing the agency. more
video of shooting

Two sushi bar owners paid more than $100,000 for a Japanese bluefin tuna

TOKYO — Two sushi bar owners paid more than $100,000 for a Japanese bluefin tuna at a Tokyo fish auction Monday, about ten times the average price and the highest in nearly a decade, market officials said.

The 282-pound premium tuna caught off the northern coast of Oma fetched 9.63 million yen ($104,700), the highest since 2001, when another Japanese bluefin tuna brought an all-time record of 20 million yen, market official Takashi Yoshida said.

Yoshida said the extravagant purchase — about $370 per pound — went to a Hong Kong sushi bar owner and his Japanese competitor who reached a peaceful settlement to share the big fish. The Hong Kong buyer also paid the highest price at last year's new year event at Tokyo's Tsukiji market, the world's largest fish seller, which holds near-daily auctions.

Typical tuna prices at Tokyo fish markets are less than $25 per pound. But bluefin tuna is considered by gourmets to be the best, and when sliced up into small pieces and served on rice it goes for very high prices in restaurants.

Premium fish — sometimes sliced up while the customers watch — also have advertising value, underscoring a restaurant's quality, like a rare wine.

Thousands of tuna were auctioned at Monday's festive new year sale, which often brings unusually high prices.

"It was the best tuna of the day, but the price shot up because of the shortage of domestic bluefin," Yoshida said, citing rough weather at the end of December. Buyers vied for only three Oma bluefin tuna Monday, compared to 41 last year.

A similar size imported bluefin caught off the eastern United States sold for 1.42 million yen ($15,400) in Monday's auction.

Due to growing concerns over the impact of commercial fishing on the bluefin variety's survival, members of international tuna conservation organizations, including Japan, have agreed to cut their bluefin catch quota for 2009 by 20 percent to 22,000 tons.

A woman drowned trying to save her dog

PLAINSBORO, N.J. — New Jersey authorities say a woman drowned trying to retrieve her grandson's dog from a frozen pond.
Authorities say 61-year-old Janet Howard was walking a German Shepherd named Apollo on Saturday when it wandered onto the ice covering Plainsboro Pond. Police speculate that Howard went after the dog but the ice broke, plunging her and the animal into the water about 25 feet from shore.
A passer-by on a bicycle heard Howard's cries and tried to help her, but he also fell through the ice.
He fought his way back to shore and raced home to call 911. Rescue workers later found Howard about 4 1/2 feet beneath the surface. She was taken to Princeton Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
The dog somehow reached the shore and ran home.

Bedbugs are biting in Cincinnati

When complaints about the bloodsucking insects first trickled in to Cincinnati's public health department three years ago, officials assumed it was an anomaly -- or perhaps the overactive imagination of a bug-phobic public. After all, Cimex lectularius had all but vanished here by the 1950s because of the frequent use of DDT and other now-banned pesticides.


But that trickle of complaints has grown into a flood: A recent public survey found that 1 in every 6 people here has had a run-in with the biting bugs in the last 12 months.

Dozens of fire stations in Cincinnati have had to dump furniture or have their living quarters exterminated because firefighters unknowingly brought the eggs in on their boots or pant legs. Assisted-living complexes have spent tens of thousands of dollars on pest-control companies because, the thinking goes, visitors may have carried in the bugs on their purses or bags.

City health department officials said they now receive more frantic calls about the insects than about mice, rats and cockroaches combined.


If things continue, "we won't be able to keep up with the requests for inspections," said Camille Jones, assistant Cincinnati health commissioner and member of a city-county bedbug task force. "It's a problem that we expect to only get worse."

Cincinnati is not alone in its itchy woes. Reports of a welt-covered public are coming in from college campuses, high-end hotels and even movie theaters across the country.

University officials at Texas A&M in College Station have flown in bedbug-sniffing dogs to root out the insects. The University of Florida in Gainesville reportedly has spent tens of thousands of dollars to clear dorm rooms and campus apartments of infestations.

In New York, there were 8,830 complaints about bedbugs in fiscal 2008, which ended June 30, up from 1,839 in 2005, according to the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

The bugs have shown up in unexpected places: An executive with Fox News told the New York Times that the Manhattan newsroom had to be exterminated for bedbugs and have its furniture replaced after an employee tracked the insects in from home.

Task forces aimed at eradicating the bugs and educating the public have been established in numerous states -- including Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Ohio.

In California, the bugs have become such a problem that the state's Department of Public Health started surveying local public health agencies in 2007 to get a handle on the scope of the infestation. Among the reasons cited for the return of the bugs: the DDT ban and an increase in international travel.

Often mistaken for ticks, adult bedbugs are about a quarter-inch long and reddish-brown. They are active mostly at night, and their bites can leave itchy welts on the skin.

During the daytime, they tend to hide near places where people sleep -- such as the seams of mattresses -- or in wall cracks or beneath furniture. The eggs are white, sticky and about the size of a speck of dust, so people can unknowingly spread them from room to room or even across town. more

John Travolta's Son, 16, Dies in Bahamas

Police in the Bahamas say John Travolta's teenage son has died after injuring himself at the actor's vacation home. Police spokeswoman Loretta Mackey says 16-year-old Jett Travolta hit his head in a bathtub Friday morning. She said he was declared dead at Rand Memorial Hospital on Grand Bahama Island.
Jett was the oldest child of Travolta and his wife, actress Kelly Preston, who also have an 8-year-old daughter.
A spokeswoman for the hospital in Freeport said she could not release any information because of privacy concerns.

London Fireworks on New Year's Day 2009 - New Year Live - BBC One

New ignition lock laws aim to stop drunk drivers

CHICAGO – Motorists convicted of driving drunk will have to install breath-monitoring gadgets in their cars under new laws taking effect in six states this week.
The ignition interlocks prevent engines from starting until drivers blow into the alcohol detectors to prove they're sober.
Alaska, Colorado, Illinois, Nebraska and Washington state began Jan. 1 requiring the devices for all motorists convicted of first-time drunken driving. South Carolina began requiring them for repeat offenders.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving has been conducting a nationwide campaign to mandate ignition locks for anyone convicted of drunken driving, claiming doing so would save thousands of lives. But critics say interlocks could lead to measures that restrict alcohol policies too much.
Users must pay for the fist-sized devices, which in Illinois cost around $80 to install on dashboards and $80 a month to rent; there's also a $30 monthly state fee. And they require periodic retesting while the car is running.
"It's amazingly inconvenient," said David Malham, of the Illinois chapter of MADD. "But the flip side of the inconvenience is death."
Other states with similar laws include New Mexico, Arizona and Louisiana. Most other states give judges the option of forcing convicted drunk drivers to use the devices. In practice though, they are rarely ordered unless laws mandate them, according to MADD.
Until now, that's been true in Illinois, said MADD national CEO Chuck Hurley.
"Illinois has excellent law enforcement," he said. "But the judicial system leaks like a sieve. This law will change the catch and release system to one where people are at least caught and tagged."
In Illinois, the interlocks are mandated only for the five to 11 months licenses are suspended with a first DUI. Drivers can opt not to install them, but then would be banned from driving during the suspension period.
Motorists in Colorado get a similar choice — install the devices or get a longer suspension. more

Prisoner stabbed after scaring cat

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- Prison officials in New Zealand said a prisoner nearing the end of his sentence for rape and murder stabbed another prisoner for frightening his cat.
Corrections Association President Beven Hanlon said the attacker was living with the victim in a minimum security self-care unit at Rimutaka Prison in Wellington that was designed to help prepare long-term prisoners for release, The Dominion Post reported Thursday.
Hanlon said the victim entered the shared living room in the unit Dec. 26, causing the cat to flee. The attacker stabbed the other man six times in the neck and likely would have killed him had a third prisoner not intervened, Hanlon said.
"That prisoner is lucky to be alive," Hanlon said. The victim was taken to Hutt Hospital and returned to the prison Dec. 28.
Tony Howe, acting southern assistant regional manager for the Corrections Association, said the attack was carried out with a "makeshift weapon."
Howe said police and corrections officials are investigating the incident and the attacker has been moved to a high security area.

Zune Extinction Event: Microsoft Music Players All Freeze Up at Once

Thousands of Zune portable media players made by Microsoft Corp. suddenly froze up early Wednesday, Dec. 31, labeling Internet wits to label the phenomenon "Z2K."
The model affected was the Zune 30, which sports a 30-gigabyte hard drive and was first released in November 2006, though it is still sold.
Later models, including the flash-memory-based Zune 4, Zune 8 and Zune 16, as well as the hard-drive-based Zune 80 and Zune 120, were spared.
"Apparently, around 2:00 AM today, the Zune models either reset, or were already off," one user wrote in to the Gizmodo tech blog early Wednesday. "Upon when turning on, the thing loads up and ... freezes with a full loading bar. I thought my brother was the only one with it, but then it happened to my Zune. Then I checked out the forums and it seems everyone with a 30GB

Some online techies recommended taking the thing apart, disconnecting both the battery and the hard drive, waiting a few seconds, then plugging them back in. more

Teens Set Fire to Boy's Hair

EDEN, Md. (Dec. 31) - Police say two Maryland teens lit a boy's hair on fire and recorded the attack on a camera phone.
The Wicomico County Sheriff's Office says the victim was sleeping early Sunday at a home in Eden in eastern Maryland when 17-year-old Forrest Wilson poured lighter fluid on his hair and set it ablaze. The victim put out the fire, then discovered a 14-year-old boy was recording the video.

Investigators say the video showed Wilson light the 16-year-old victim's hair on fire. Police did not know a motive and withheld the victim's name. The victim, whose hair was singed, notified his parents later that day.
Wilson and the 14-year-old are charged with assault and other charges — Wilson as an adult, and the younger teen as a juvenile.