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Rabu, 23 Februari 2011
Minggu, 20 Februari 2011
The Effects Of Violent Video Games
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The Effects Of Violent Video Games on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:01:27 +0000
By: Jaylyn Burns
Ever since video games came out, parents, scientists, and other adults have debated whether kids are more violent because of them. Part of that debate is whether being exposed to more violence makes kids want to be more violent by trying what they see. I know first-hand how a game can cause a fight between siblings.
I have two little brothers that play violent video games all the time. They play wrestling, boxing and shooting games. What I notice about some of the games is that the characters are doing things a normal human wouldn't be able to do. I see my brothers often try to reenact the things that they do on the screen. They shoot at each other with toy guns, they wrestle all the time trying to do special flips and moves that they see in the game, including boxing. The bad thing about it is that they are starting to try and do that stuff to my little sisters.
A site called ProCon.org has collected research about the good and bad effects of how children act because of video games. Pros argue that, "Young children are more likely to confuse fantasy violence with real world violence, and without a framework for ethical decision making, they may mimic the actions they see in violent video game." The cons say the opposite, "Video game players understand they are playing a game. Their ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality prevents them from emulating video game violence in real life."
I agree with the pros because I see this first hand in my household. Violent video games are making children around the world think that it is okay for them to solve their problems with violence. Children are taking their anger out on the kids they don't get along with, as well as their friends, siblings, and family members.
Arab and Middle East protests – LIVE
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Arab and Middle East protests – LIVE on Sat, 19 Feb 2011 09:52:08 +0000
Protesters run from a cloud of teargas during a clash with Bahraini security forces near the Pearl roundabout in Manama. Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images 3.32pm, Libya: Security forces in Benghazi have shot dead at least one person and injured a dozen after opening fire on mourners at a funeral for 35 protesters killed in the violent unrest. A hospital official told Reuters that snipers were firing from the top of the Benghazi security headquarters.
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Arab and Middle East protests – LIVE
Tax protests hit Barclays branches
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Tax protests hit Barclays branches on Sat, 19 Feb 2011 14:18:11 +0000
A protester from UK Uncut raises his arms as he takes part in an occupation of a branch of Barclays bank in central London. Photograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images More than 50 branches of Barclays bank across the UK have been targeted by activists protesting against tax avoidance. The direct action by UK Uncut, taking place in more than 30 towns and cities including London, Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham, came as Barclays was forced to admit it paid just £113m in UK corporation tax in 2009 – a year when it rang up a record £11.6bn of profits
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Tax protests hit Barclays branches
Libyan protesters risk ‘suicide’ by army hands
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Libyan protesters risk 'suicide' by army hands on Sat, 19 Feb 2011 18:07:55 +0000
Gaddafi has warned anti-government demonstrators they risk being shot by the army. Photograph: Sabri Elmhedwi/EPA Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is confronting the most serious challenge to his 42-year rule as leader of Libya by unleashing his army on unarmed protesters. Unlike the rulers of neighbouring Egypt, Gaddafi has refused to countenance the politics of disobedience, despite growing international condemnation, and the death toll of demonstrators nearing 100
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Libyan protesters risk ‘suicide’ by army hands
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Come Fly With Me: Husband and wife pilots like Matt Lucas and David Walliams
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Come Fly With Me: Husband and wife pilots like Matt Lucas and David Walliams on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:14:09 +0000
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:22 PM on 15th February 2011
A married pair of pilots have been turned into a laughing stock at their airport – by Little Britain’s Matt Lucas and David Walliams.
Debi and Jonathan Peskett fly together just like suspicious wife Jackie Trent and her cheating husband Simon in BBC comedy Come Fly With Me.
The pilot Mr and Mrs have become the butt of jokes since Lucas and Walliams mocked the squabbling 30,00ft high marriage in their new series.
Laughing stock: Husband and wife Captain Jonathan and Debi Peskett at the airport where their colleagues have dubbed them the ‘real-life’ Simon and Jackie Trent from BBC series Come Fly With Me
Debi, 36, said: ‘Since Come Fly with Me came on television we’ve had non-stop ribbing.
‘But I didn’t become a pilot to stop my husband having affairs – thank goodness.’
Debi insists she ‘entirely trusts her husband – unlike Walliams’ character Jackie checking on her straying hubbie.
Debi and Jonathan Peskitt fly for budget airline bmibaby instead of FlyLo like Walliams and Lucas.
The pair have spent the past five years working together with Debi as first officer and Jonathan as captain.
But the couple have been trying to laugh off the high-jinx jokes from fellow crew members as they jet around Europe from their base in Cardiff airport.
Comedy couple Simon and Jackie Trent (left) spend their time squabbling, unlike happily married husband and wife Debi and Jonathan Peskett who say there’s no time for banter when you’re 30,000ft up in the air
Debi said: ‘I’ve even got Simon and Jackie as my profile picture on Facebook.’
Debi first met Jonathan when they were cadets nearly 10 years ago.
But the pair only got together in 2006 – and married in Italy seven months later.
‘Nothing happened until four years later when we were both in the same meeting for bmibaby – then I fell head over heels.
‘I have the opportunity to travel the world with the man I love. We have a lot in common, including luckily sharing a love for flying and travel.’
Their professionalism – and the aircraft’s little black box recorder – mean Debi and Jonathan do not squabble like the Trents.
Jonathan said there was not much room for personal discussion when they were in the air.
He said: ‘Our jobs are very black and white. We have to concentrate on a lot of procedures.
‘It’s not like being in an office where there’s time for banter – plus everything we say is recorded.’
Iraqi Defector ‘Curveball’ Says He Lied About WMD
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Iraqi Defector 'Curveball' Says He Lied About WMD on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 20:46:57 +0000
The Iraqi defector known as “Curveball,” who provided the basis for U.S. claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, has admitted that he lied to intelligence agencies, a published report says.
Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi told The Guardian newspaper he made up the stories about Saddam’s arsenal because he wanted to hurt the Iraqi regime.
“I had the chance to fabricate something to topple the regime,” al-Janabi told The Guardian in a series of interviews. “I and my sons are proud of that, and we are proud that we were the reason to give Iraq the margin of democracy.”
The claims were a key part of then-Secretary of State Colin Powell’s speech to the U.N. Security Council in 2003. Powell mentioned an Iraqi engineer who described “biological weapons factories on wheels.”
In fact, al-Janabi said he was never involved in any such program. He said he used his chemical engineering knowledge to make up the reports.
Al-Janabi told the stories to the German intelligence agency, BND, which passed them to the CIA. Germany gave al-Janabi asylum in 2000.
Al-Janabi, who was codenamed Curveball by the intelligence agencies, says that removing Saddam from office justified the invasion of Iraq, even after more than 100,000 civilian deaths.
“Believe me, there was no other way to bring about freedom to Iraq,” al-Janabi said. “There were no other possibilities.”
Activists halt Japanese whaling
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Activists halt Japanese whaling on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 08:46:13 +0000
WORLD NEWS
Japan has suspended its Antarctic whaling operations after disruption by a conservation group
Wednesday February 16,2011
Japan has temporarily suspended its Antarctic whaling operations after repeated disruptions by a conservation group, a government official said.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been chasing the Japanese whaling fleet for weeks in the icy seas off Antarctica, trying to block Japan’s annual hunts, planned for up to 945 whales.
Fisheries agency official Tatsuya Nakaoku said Tokyo halted the hunt on February 10 “to ensure safety” after persistent disruption by the anti-whaling protesters.
He said the fleet plans to resume hunting when conditions are deemed safe.
The annual whale hunts – for scientific purposes – are allowed by the International Whaling Commission as an exception to the 1986 ban, but opponents say they are a cover for commercial whaling.
Daily Express :: News / Showbiz Feed
Jumat, 18 Februari 2011
Come Fly With Me: Husband and wife pilots like Matt Lucas and David Walliams
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Come Fly With Me: Husband and wife pilots like Matt Lucas and David Walliams on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:14:09 +0000
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:22 PM on 15th February 2011
A married pair of pilots have been turned into a laughing stock at their airport – by Little Britain’s Matt Lucas and David Walliams.
Debi and Jonathan Peskett fly together just like suspicious wife Jackie Trent and her cheating husband Simon in BBC comedy Come Fly With Me.
The pilot Mr and Mrs have become the butt of jokes since Lucas and Walliams mocked the squabbling 30,00ft high marriage in their new series.
Laughing stock: Husband and wife Captain Jonathan and Debi Peskett at the airport where their colleagues have dubbed them the ‘real-life’ Simon and Jackie Trent from BBC series Come Fly With Me
Debi, 36, said: ‘Since Come Fly with Me came on television we’ve had non-stop ribbing.
‘But I didn’t become a pilot to stop my husband having affairs – thank goodness.’
Debi insists she ‘entirely trusts her husband – unlike Walliams’ character Jackie checking on her straying hubbie.
Debi and Jonathan Peskitt fly for budget airline bmibaby instead of FlyLo like Walliams and Lucas.
The pair have spent the past five years working together with Debi as first officer and Jonathan as captain.
But the couple have been trying to laugh off the high-jinx jokes from fellow crew members as they jet around Europe from their base in Cardiff airport.
Comedy couple Simon and Jackie Trent (left) spend their time squabbling, unlike happily married husband and wife Debi and Jonathan Peskett who say there’s no time for banter when you’re 30,000ft up in the air
Debi said: ‘I’ve even got Simon and Jackie as my profile picture on Facebook.’
Debi first met Jonathan when they were cadets nearly 10 years ago.
But the pair only got together in 2006 – and married in Italy seven months later.
‘Nothing happened until four years later when we were both in the same meeting for bmibaby – then I fell head over heels.
‘I have the opportunity to travel the world with the man I love. We have a lot in common, including luckily sharing a love for flying and travel.’
Their professionalism – and the aircraft’s little black box recorder – mean Debi and Jonathan do not squabble like the Trents.
Jonathan said there was not much room for personal discussion when they were in the air.
He said: ‘Our jobs are very black and white. We have to concentrate on a lot of procedures.
‘It’s not like being in an office where there’s time for banter – plus everything we say is recorded.’
Home | Mail Online
Tesco confirms Nintendo 3DS price error
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Tesco confirms Nintendo 3DS price error on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:22:51 +0000
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:20 PM on 15th February 2011
Tesco has withdrawn its offer of the new Nintendo 3DS for £157.60 – £40 cheaper than anywhere else.
After putting the Aqua Blue model on the Tesco Direct website at a lower price than anyone else, the supermarket giant later admitted there had been a ‘pricing error’.
Consumer technology websites advised customers to get in there early and make a pre-order before the 3DS becomes available in Europe on March 25, but the offer was pulled by Tesco by the end of the day.
What it DID say: The price offer of £157.60 was soon withdrawn and customers who ordered the Nintendo 3DS were contacted for refunds
The 3DS will become available in Europe on March 25, therefore there is still plenty of time for other retailers to offer more competitive prices, however I very much doubt that prices will get much cheaper than this.
Tesco said in a statement: ‘We have contacted the small number of customers affected to apologise and offer them a full refund.’
When Tesco reset the price at £197, Amazon followed suit. Argos currently has the new console listed at £219.99, and Asda at £199
Tesco’s terms and conditions state: ‘If, by mistake, we have under priced an item, we will not be liable to supply that item to you at the stated price, provided that we notify you before we despatch the item to you.
‘In those circumstances, we will notify the correct price to you so you can decide whether or not you wish to order the item at that price. If you decide not to order the item, we will give you a full refund on any amount already paid for that item in accordance with our refund policy in section 7 below.’
Eagerly awaited: The Nintendo 3DS is released in Europe next month
The price of the Nintendo 3DS has been a controversial topic since Nintendo announced it was up to shops to determine what they would sell it for.
Most retailers set it at £230 at the time, although £200 is the going rate at many shops.
The Nintendo 3DS represents a major breakthrough as unlike the latest 3D televisions and cinema screens, it offers 3D images of both games and films without the need for special glasses.
But the launch of the long-awaited 3D version of Nintendo’s best-selling DS games console was slightly overshadowed by a health warning.
The Japanese computer giant has said children under the age of six should not use the device in 3D mode as it may harm their eyesight.
The 3DS is vital for the future of Nintendo, which disappointed many children around the world after it was unable to launch the product in time for Christmas.
The failure to go on sale in the crucial trading period wiped tens of millions of pounds off the company’s stock market value.
Home | Mail Online
Iraqi Defector ‘Curveball’ Says He Lied About WMD
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Iraqi Defector 'Curveball' Says He Lied About WMD on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 20:46:57 +0000
The Iraqi defector known as “Curveball,” who provided the basis for U.S. claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, has admitted that he lied to intelligence agencies, a published report says.
Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi told The Guardian newspaper he made up the stories about Saddam’s arsenal because he wanted to hurt the Iraqi regime.
“I had the chance to fabricate something to topple the regime,” al-Janabi told The Guardian in a series of interviews. “I and my sons are proud of that, and we are proud that we were the reason to give Iraq the margin of democracy.”
The claims were a key part of then-Secretary of State Colin Powell’s speech to the U.N. Security Council in 2003. Powell mentioned an Iraqi engineer who described “biological weapons factories on wheels.”
In fact, al-Janabi said he was never involved in any such program. He said he used his chemical engineering knowledge to make up the reports.
Al-Janabi told the stories to the German intelligence agency, BND, which passed them to the CIA. Germany gave al-Janabi asylum in 2000.
Al-Janabi, who was codenamed Curveball by the intelligence agencies, says that removing Saddam from office justified the invasion of Iraq, even after more than 100,000 civilian deaths.
“Believe me, there was no other way to bring about freedom to Iraq,” al-Janabi said. “There were no other possibilities.”
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Guy Ritchie’s £6 mansion raided by squatters who plan to set up school
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Guy Ritchie's £6 mansion raided by squatters who plan to set up school on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:11:26 +0000
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:14 AM on 15th February 2011
A £6million London mansion belonging to Guy Ritchie has been taken over by squatters.
The dozen or so invaders have moved into the Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels director's Grade-I listed property.
Last night they were calling for reinforcement via Twitter, as news of the occupation spread over the internet.
Moving in: The squatters move a table into Guy Ritchie’s £6m home, which they took over at the weekend and intend to turn into a free school
Messages of intent: The squatters have hung banners from the front windows of the home in Fitzrovia, central London
The squatter gang claimed they were running a temporary school, offering other squatters classes in tarot, house occupation and using public transport for free.
The gang, who call themselves The Really Free School, had been occupying a nearby address until Sunday.
Makeover: Guy Ritchie bought the house last year and hoped to create two homes from the property
They then invaded Mr Ritchie's property – in Fitzrovia, near London's West End – which he has never lived in but has recently had renovated.
Police were called and the squatters refused to leave. A note posted in the window said: 'Legal warning. Take Notice..that we live in this house, it is our home and we intend to stay here.'
Ritchie, formerly married to Madonna, bought the mansion in May last year, along with the adjoining property.
Ritchie had hoped to convert the two homes into one mansion for him and his girlfriend Jacqui Ainsley to live in.
Part-time model Miss Ainsley, 29, recently moved in to Mr Ritchie's apartment in nearby Marylebone.
Building work was completed only last Friday and the star, who owns the nearby Punch Bowl tavern, is unlikely to give his new tenants a warm welcome.
Squatters last night refused to say how long the occupation would last. One bearded gang member in his 30s said: 'We have a no-media policy. Read our website.'
But a post on social networking site Twitter called for more support. It said: 'We need occupiers for tonight! Come sleepover in the most rah property in London!'
A neighbour, who did not want to be named, described the situation as 'frustrating'.
No media policy: The squatters refused to comment today, while others were seen running out of the property early this morning
Take note: The new occupants have posted a legal warning in one of the windows, while a decorative banner hangs inside the property
He said: 'They've put it on their Twitter feed so we're bound to get all sorts. I've seen them coming and going. I haven't heard a peep out of them – so far.
‘But they have no right to be there. The police have been called and came down.
'I assume – I hope – they are doing everything they can to get them out.'
A police spokesman said officers had been called to the property on Sunday. He added: 'Police attended the scene at 2.45pm. But there was nothing there for the police to take action over.'
Home | Mail Online
Alleged DeGeneres intruder pleads not guilty
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Alleged DeGeneres intruder pleads not guilty on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:43:19 +0000
SHOWBIZ
A woman accused of trespassing on ELLEN DEGENERES and PORTIA DE ROSSI’s Los Angeles property has pleaded not guilty.
Security guards at the couple’s Beverly Hills compound found Karen Sjoden in the grounds of the stars’ home, although she never entered the residence and did not get close to either the comedienne or the actress.
The 49 year old was charged with misdemeanour trespassing and went before a Los Angeles court on Monday (14Feb11) to plead not guilty.
According to prosecutors, she was allegedly hiding behind cushions on the house’s deck just hours after she was asked to leave.
The judge told the suspect, “You end up in someone’s backyard at 3 in the morning… then you are asked to leave… and you come back later with no legit purpose whatsoever and secrete yourself… you are probably up to no good. It only takes one time to be a threat.”
Daily Express :: News / Showbiz Feed
Goldberg Oscars article jibe branded ‘incorrect’
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Goldberg Oscars article jibe branded 'incorrect' on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:48:57 +0000
SHOWBIZ
Bosses at The New York Times have spoken out about an Oscars article WHOOPI GOLDBERG branded “sloppy” for missing her off a list of previous black honorees, insisting the star read the story “incorrectly”.
Goldberg used her slot as a host of U.S. talk show The View on Monday (14Feb11) to slam the publication for a report about the lack of black winners in Academy Awards history, which was published on Sunday (13Feb11).
Writers Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott seemed to claim in a piece, entitled Hollywood and the Year of the Whiteout, that in the past 73 years, only seven black actors have won Oscars.
They referenced triumphs by the likes of Halle Berry and Denzel Washington – but film fans were left outraged by the article, because figures show 13 previous Oscar winners in the acting categories had been of black origin. Goldberg became one of the 13 when she claimed the Best Supporting Actress honour for her performance in Ghost in 1981.
Goldberg raged, “I am embarrassed to tell you, it hurt me terribly. When you win an Academy Award, that’s part of what you’ve done, your legacy. I will always be ‘Academy Award winner Whoopi Goldberg…’ It’s very hard not to take it personally, but this is sloppy journalism because this is not a hidden thing. Everybody kinda knows. People in Somalia know, people in China know…”
Now, a representative for the publication has issued a statement clarifying the report.
A spokesperson for The New York Times tells EW.com, “The error lies with those who are reading the story incorrectly.
“The point of the piece was not to name every black actor or actress who has been awarded an Oscar, it was to draw a comparison between the number who won prior to 2002 (the year Halle Berry and Denzel Washington won) and those who have won since.
“The story states very clearly that in 73 years, prior to 2002, only seven black actors/actresses won Oscars.”
Daily Express :: News / Showbiz Feed
The Rock back in the ring
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The Rock back in the ring on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 19:03:01 +0000
SHOWBIZ
Ex-wrestler-turned-actor DWAYNE JOHNSON thrilled fans by reviving THE ROCK at a live wrestling match on Monday (14Feb11).
Johnson shot to fame as a professional wrestler but has turned his attentions to carving out a career in Hollywood in recent years with lead roles in The Scorpion King and Tooth Fairy.
But he ended his hiatus from the wrestling world at a taping of the WWE’s Monday Night Raw in Anaheim, California, where he received thunderous applause upon entering the arena.
Stepping into the ring, The Rock sent fans into a frenzy as he delivered his trademark catchphrase, “Can you smell what The Rock is cooking?”
He then announced, “I am back in the middle of this ring because of you. Thank you, I love you and it is because of you that I am back in this ring. I give you my word, I am never, ever going away. Simply put, ladies and gentlemen, The Rock is back.”
The wrestling legend has signed up to host WrestleMania on 3 April in Atlanta, Georgia, but it is unknown whether he will compete in any matches.
Daily Express :: News / Showbiz Feed
Activists halt Japanese whaling
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Activists halt Japanese whaling on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 08:46:13 +0000
WORLD NEWS
Japan has suspended its Antarctic whaling operations after disruption by a conservation group
Wednesday February 16,2011
Japan has temporarily suspended its Antarctic whaling operations after repeated disruptions by a conservation group, a government official said.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been chasing the Japanese whaling fleet for weeks in the icy seas off Antarctica, trying to block Japan’s annual hunts, planned for up to 945 whales.
Fisheries agency official Tatsuya Nakaoku said Tokyo halted the hunt on February 10 “to ensure safety” after persistent disruption by the anti-whaling protesters.
He said the fleet plans to resume hunting when conditions are deemed safe.
The annual whale hunts – for scientific purposes – are allowed by the International Whaling Commission as an exception to the 1986 ban, but opponents say they are a cover for commercial whaling.
Daily Express :: News / Showbiz Feed
Kensit leads campaign for playgrounds
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Kensit leads campaign for playgrounds on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:30:04 +0000
SHOWBIZ
Patsy Kensit leads campaign
LETHAL WEAPON 2 star PATSY KENSIT is on a mission to restore abandoned playgrounds.
The actress is spearheading the Parents for Playgrounds drive, which will hand out £15,000 grants for play spaces in desperate need of renovation.
And Kensit, who has a son James with Simple Minds rocker Jim Kerr and a little boy, Lennon, with Liam Gallagher, is passionate about the campaign – because she depended on her local park and the mums she met there when raising her kids.
She tells TV show Daybreak, “We’re asking parents up and down the country to nominate playgrounds in their area that they feel could be in need of repair, improvement.
“We’re going to choose five play areas and a £15,000 bursary is going to be used to renovate these areas, which is incredible in a time when we’re having so much taken away from us. It’s so generous and it’s a social mission. I’ve got two boys, 18 and 11, and this campaign is aimed at primary school children to the age of 11, so I’ve kind of lived it, I know what it’s like.
“I had my first son James when I was very young, none of my girlfriends had children. I relied heavily on going to the playground, meeting other kids, other mums I could talk to there.
“(Playgrounds are) something that I fear could disappear with computer screens, every weekend there’s a great new Pixar movie coming out. (But) it’s so important that we do get out, have fresh air and have those memories.”
Daily Express :: News / Showbiz Feed
The Effects Of Violent Video Games
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The Effects Of Violent Video Games on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:01:27 +0000
By: Jaylyn Burns
Ever since video games came out, parents, scientists, and other adults have debated whether kids are more violent because of them. Part of that debate is whether being exposed to more violence makes kids want to be more violent by trying what they see. I know first-hand how a game can cause a fight between siblings.
I have two little brothers that play violent video games all the time. They play wrestling, boxing and shooting games. What I notice about some of the games is that the characters are doing things a normal human wouldn't be able to do. I see my brothers often try to reenact the things that they do on the screen. They shoot at each other with toy guns, they wrestle all the time trying to do special flips and moves that they see in the game, including boxing. The bad thing about it is that they are starting to try and do that stuff to my little sisters.
A site called ProCon.org has collected research about the good and bad effects of how children act because of video games. Pros argue that, "Young children are more likely to confuse fantasy violence with real world violence, and without a framework for ethical decision making, they may mimic the actions they see in violent video game." The cons say the opposite, "Video game players understand they are playing a game. Their ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality prevents them from emulating video game violence in real life."
I agree with the pros because I see this first hand in my household. Violent video games are making children around the world think that it is okay for them to solve their problems with violence. Children are taking their anger out on the kids they don't get along with, as well as their friends, siblings, and family members.
Youth Radio – Newsroom
Rabu, 16 Februari 2011
The Rock back in the ring
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The Rock back in the ring on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 19:03:01 +0000
SHOWBIZ
Ex-wrestler-turned-actor DWAYNE JOHNSON thrilled fans by reviving THE ROCK at a live wrestling match on Monday (14Feb11).
Johnson shot to fame as a professional wrestler but has turned his attentions to carving out a career in Hollywood in recent years with lead roles in The Scorpion King and Tooth Fairy.
But he ended his hiatus from the wrestling world at a taping of the WWE’s Monday Night Raw in Anaheim, California, where he received thunderous applause upon entering the arena.
Stepping into the ring, The Rock sent fans into a frenzy as he delivered his trademark catchphrase, “Can you smell what The Rock is cooking?”
He then announced, “I am back in the middle of this ring because of you. Thank you, I love you and it is because of you that I am back in this ring. I give you my word, I am never, ever going away. Simply put, ladies and gentlemen, The Rock is back.”
The wrestling legend has signed up to host WrestleMania on 3 April in Atlanta, Georgia, but it is unknown whether he will compete in any matches.
Daily Express :: News / Showbiz Feed
Heroin ‘Mr Bigs’ targeted in Turkey
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Heroin 'Mr Bigs' targeted in Turkey on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 15:15:12 +0000
WORLD NEWS
Heroin ‘Mr Bigs’ are being targeted in Turkey in conjunction with Soca officers, MPs were told
Joint operations with Turkish police have allowed Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency to target the “Mr Bigs” in Turkey who control the bulk of the UK heroin trade, MPs have heard.
Soca’s deputy director Steve Coates said the disruption of organised Turkish gangs on their home territory helped cause a heroin “drought” on the streets of Britain which is driving up the wholesale price of the drug.
Turkish gangs traffic around 70% of the 18-23 tonnes of heroin smuggled into the UK each year, Mr Coates told the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee.
But he played down suggestions that Turkish accession to the European Union would increase the supply of the drug by making it easier for gang members to move in and out of the UK.
Turkish EU membership would allow “more streamlined, structured and faster” intelligence sharing between police forces and would deliver advantages in tackling the drug trade at its source, he said.
Soca currently has eight officers based in Istanbul and Ankara, co-operating with Turkish National Police and other law enforcement agencies in tackling the five major crime gangs which dominate the heroin trade.
While Turkish gangs were also involved in organised immigration crime, fraud, money laundering and copyright offences, these are dwarfed by the scale of the heroin trade.
The same “Mr Bigs” have controlled the trade from Turkey for the last 20-25 years, and targeting them in their home country is more effective than arresting gang members in the UK, who are easily replaced, said Mr Coates.
“I think that we can say with a degree of certainty that the shortage of heroin is not exclusively down to law enforcement action, but we have had a significant impact on it,” Mr Coates told the committee.
Thanks to co-operation with Turkish police, “we have been able to reach out and impact these crime groups in a way we have not be able to before”, he said.
Daily Express :: News / Showbiz Feed
The Effects Of Violent Video Games
All Information For You
The Effects Of Violent Video Games on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:01:27 +0000
By: Jaylyn Burns
Ever since video games came out, parents, scientists, and other adults have debated whether kids are more violent because of them. Part of that debate is whether being exposed to more violence makes kids want to be more violent by trying what they see. I know first-hand how a game can cause a fight between siblings.
I have two little brothers that play violent video games all the time. They play wrestling, boxing and shooting games. What I notice about some of the games is that the characters are doing things a normal human wouldn't be able to do. I see my brothers often try to reenact the things that they do on the screen. They shoot at each other with toy guns, they wrestle all the time trying to do special flips and moves that they see in the game, including boxing. The bad thing about it is that they are starting to try and do that stuff to my little sisters.
A site called ProCon.org has collected research about the good and bad effects of how children act because of video games. Pros argue that, "Young children are more likely to confuse fantasy violence with real world violence, and without a framework for ethical decision making, they may mimic the actions they see in violent video game." The cons say the opposite, "Video game players understand they are playing a game. Their ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality prevents them from emulating video game violence in real life."
I agree with the pros because I see this first hand in my household. Violent video games are making children around the world think that it is okay for them to solve their problems with violence. Children are taking their anger out on the kids they don't get along with, as well as their friends, siblings, and family members.
Youth Radio – Newsroom
Guy Ritchie’s £6 mansion raided by squatters who plan to set up school
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Guy Ritchie's £6 mansion raided by squatters who plan to set up school on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:11:26 +0000
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:14 AM on 15th February 2011
A £6million London mansion belonging to Guy Ritchie has been taken over by squatters.
The dozen or so invaders have moved into the Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels director's Grade-I listed property.
Last night they were calling for reinforcement via Twitter, as news of the occupation spread over the internet.
Moving in: The squatters move a table into Guy Ritchie’s £6m home, which they took over at the weekend and intend to turn into a free school
Messages of intent: The squatters have hung banners from the front windows of the home in Fitzrovia, central London
The squatter gang claimed they were running a temporary school, offering other squatters classes in tarot, house occupation and using public transport for free.
The gang, who call themselves The Really Free School, had been occupying a nearby address until Sunday.
Makeover: Guy Ritchie bought the house last year and hoped to create two homes from the property
They then invaded Mr Ritchie's property – in Fitzrovia, near London's West End – which he has never lived in but has recently had renovated.
Police were called and the squatters refused to leave. A note posted in the window said: 'Legal warning. Take Notice..that we live in this house, it is our home and we intend to stay here.'
Ritchie, formerly married to Madonna, bought the mansion in May last year, along with the adjoining property.
Ritchie had hoped to convert the two homes into one mansion for him and his girlfriend Jacqui Ainsley to live in.
Part-time model Miss Ainsley, 29, recently moved in to Mr Ritchie's apartment in nearby Marylebone.
Building work was completed only last Friday and the star, who owns the nearby Punch Bowl tavern, is unlikely to give his new tenants a warm welcome.
Squatters last night refused to say how long the occupation would last. One bearded gang member in his 30s said: 'We have a no-media policy. Read our website.'
But a post on social networking site Twitter called for more support. It said: 'We need occupiers for tonight! Come sleepover in the most rah property in London!'
A neighbour, who did not want to be named, described the situation as 'frustrating'.
No media policy: The squatters refused to comment today, while others were seen running out of the property early this morning
Take note: The new occupants have posted a legal warning in one of the windows, while a decorative banner hangs inside the property
He said: 'They've put it on their Twitter feed so we're bound to get all sorts. I've seen them coming and going. I haven't heard a peep out of them – so far.
‘But they have no right to be there. The police have been called and came down.
'I assume – I hope – they are doing everything they can to get them out.'
A police spokesman said officers had been called to the property on Sunday. He added: 'Police attended the scene at 2.45pm. But there was nothing there for the police to take action over.'
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Tesco confirms Nintendo 3DS price error
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Tesco confirms Nintendo 3DS price error on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:22:51 +0000
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:20 PM on 15th February 2011
Tesco has withdrawn its offer of the new Nintendo 3DS for £157.60 – £40 cheaper than anywhere else.
After putting the Aqua Blue model on the Tesco Direct website at a lower price than anyone else, the supermarket giant later admitted there had been a ‘pricing error’.
Consumer technology websites advised customers to get in there early and make a pre-order before the 3DS becomes available in Europe on March 25, but the offer was pulled by Tesco by the end of the day.
What it DID say: The price offer of £157.60 was soon withdrawn and customers who ordered the Nintendo 3DS were contacted for refunds
The 3DS will become available in Europe on March 25, therefore there is still plenty of time for other retailers to offer more competitive prices, however I very much doubt that prices will get much cheaper than this.
Tesco said in a statement: ‘We have contacted the small number of customers affected to apologise and offer them a full refund.’
When Tesco reset the price at £197, Amazon followed suit. Argos currently has the new console listed at £219.99, and Asda at £199
Tesco’s terms and conditions state: ‘If, by mistake, we have under priced an item, we will not be liable to supply that item to you at the stated price, provided that we notify you before we despatch the item to you.
‘In those circumstances, we will notify the correct price to you so you can decide whether or not you wish to order the item at that price. If you decide not to order the item, we will give you a full refund on any amount already paid for that item in accordance with our refund policy in section 7 below.’
Eagerly awaited: The Nintendo 3DS is released in Europe next month
The price of the Nintendo 3DS has been a controversial topic since Nintendo announced it was up to shops to determine what they would sell it for.
Most retailers set it at £230 at the time, although £200 is the going rate at many shops.
The Nintendo 3DS represents a major breakthrough as unlike the latest 3D televisions and cinema screens, it offers 3D images of both games and films without the need for special glasses.
But the launch of the long-awaited 3D version of Nintendo’s best-selling DS games console was slightly overshadowed by a health warning.
The Japanese computer giant has said children under the age of six should not use the device in 3D mode as it may harm their eyesight.
The 3DS is vital for the future of Nintendo, which disappointed many children around the world after it was unable to launch the product in time for Christmas.
The failure to go on sale in the crucial trading period wiped tens of millions of pounds off the company’s stock market value.
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Kensit leads campaign for playgrounds
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Kensit leads campaign for playgrounds on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:30:04 +0000
SHOWBIZ
Patsy Kensit leads campaign
LETHAL WEAPON 2 star PATSY KENSIT is on a mission to restore abandoned playgrounds.
The actress is spearheading the Parents for Playgrounds drive, which will hand out £15,000 grants for play spaces in desperate need of renovation.
And Kensit, who has a son James with Simple Minds rocker Jim Kerr and a little boy, Lennon, with Liam Gallagher, is passionate about the campaign – because she depended on her local park and the mums she met there when raising her kids.
She tells TV show Daybreak, “We’re asking parents up and down the country to nominate playgrounds in their area that they feel could be in need of repair, improvement.
“We’re going to choose five play areas and a £15,000 bursary is going to be used to renovate these areas, which is incredible in a time when we’re having so much taken away from us. It’s so generous and it’s a social mission. I’ve got two boys, 18 and 11, and this campaign is aimed at primary school children to the age of 11, so I’ve kind of lived it, I know what it’s like.
“I had my first son James when I was very young, none of my girlfriends had children. I relied heavily on going to the playground, meeting other kids, other mums I could talk to there.
“(Playgrounds are) something that I fear could disappear with computer screens, every weekend there’s a great new Pixar movie coming out. (But) it’s so important that we do get out, have fresh air and have those memories.”
Daily Express :: News / Showbiz Feed
Goldberg Oscars article jibe branded ‘incorrect’
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Goldberg Oscars article jibe branded 'incorrect' on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:48:57 +0000
SHOWBIZ
Bosses at The New York Times have spoken out about an Oscars article WHOOPI GOLDBERG branded “sloppy” for missing her off a list of previous black honorees, insisting the star read the story “incorrectly”.
Goldberg used her slot as a host of U.S. talk show The View on Monday (14Feb11) to slam the publication for a report about the lack of black winners in Academy Awards history, which was published on Sunday (13Feb11).
Writers Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott seemed to claim in a piece, entitled Hollywood and the Year of the Whiteout, that in the past 73 years, only seven black actors have won Oscars.
They referenced triumphs by the likes of Halle Berry and Denzel Washington – but film fans were left outraged by the article, because figures show 13 previous Oscar winners in the acting categories had been of black origin. Goldberg became one of the 13 when she claimed the Best Supporting Actress honour for her performance in Ghost in 1981.
Goldberg raged, “I am embarrassed to tell you, it hurt me terribly. When you win an Academy Award, that’s part of what you’ve done, your legacy. I will always be ‘Academy Award winner Whoopi Goldberg…’ It’s very hard not to take it personally, but this is sloppy journalism because this is not a hidden thing. Everybody kinda knows. People in Somalia know, people in China know…”
Now, a representative for the publication has issued a statement clarifying the report.
A spokesperson for The New York Times tells EW.com, “The error lies with those who are reading the story incorrectly.
“The point of the piece was not to name every black actor or actress who has been awarded an Oscar, it was to draw a comparison between the number who won prior to 2002 (the year Halle Berry and Denzel Washington won) and those who have won since.
“The story states very clearly that in 73 years, prior to 2002, only seven black actors/actresses won Oscars.”
Daily Express :: News / Showbiz Feed
Come Fly With Me: Husband and wife pilots like Matt Lucas and David Walliams
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Come Fly With Me: Husband and wife pilots like Matt Lucas and David Walliams on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:14:09 +0000
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:22 PM on 15th February 2011
A married pair of pilots have been turned into a laughing stock at their airport – by Little Britain’s Matt Lucas and David Walliams.
Debi and Jonathan Peskett fly together just like suspicious wife Jackie Trent and her cheating husband Simon in BBC comedy Come Fly With Me.
The pilot Mr and Mrs have become the butt of jokes since Lucas and Walliams mocked the squabbling 30,00ft high marriage in their new series.
Laughing stock: Husband and wife Captain Jonathan and Debi Peskett at the airport where their colleagues have dubbed them the ‘real-life’ Simon and Jackie Trent from BBC series Come Fly With Me
Debi, 36, said: ‘Since Come Fly with Me came on television we’ve had non-stop ribbing.
‘But I didn’t become a pilot to stop my husband having affairs – thank goodness.’
Debi insists she ‘entirely trusts her husband – unlike Walliams’ character Jackie checking on her straying hubbie.
Debi and Jonathan Peskitt fly for budget airline bmibaby instead of FlyLo like Walliams and Lucas.
The pair have spent the past five years working together with Debi as first officer and Jonathan as captain.
But the couple have been trying to laugh off the high-jinx jokes from fellow crew members as they jet around Europe from their base in Cardiff airport.
Comedy couple Simon and Jackie Trent (left) spend their time squabbling, unlike happily married husband and wife Debi and Jonathan Peskett who say there’s no time for banter when you’re 30,000ft up in the air
Debi said: ‘I’ve even got Simon and Jackie as my profile picture on Facebook.’
Debi first met Jonathan when they were cadets nearly 10 years ago.
But the pair only got together in 2006 – and married in Italy seven months later.
‘Nothing happened until four years later when we were both in the same meeting for bmibaby – then I fell head over heels.
‘I have the opportunity to travel the world with the man I love. We have a lot in common, including luckily sharing a love for flying and travel.’
Their professionalism – and the aircraft’s little black box recorder – mean Debi and Jonathan do not squabble like the Trents.
Jonathan said there was not much room for personal discussion when they were in the air.
He said: ‘Our jobs are very black and white. We have to concentrate on a lot of procedures.
‘It’s not like being in an office where there’s time for banter – plus everything we say is recorded.’
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Iraqi Defector ‘Curveball’ Says He Lied About WMD
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Iraqi Defector 'Curveball' Says He Lied About WMD on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 20:46:57 +0000
The Iraqi defector known as “Curveball,” who provided the basis for U.S. claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, has admitted that he lied to intelligence agencies, a published report says.
Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi told The Guardian newspaper he made up the stories about Saddam’s arsenal because he wanted to hurt the Iraqi regime.
“I had the chance to fabricate something to topple the regime,” al-Janabi told The Guardian in a series of interviews. “I and my sons are proud of that, and we are proud that we were the reason to give Iraq the margin of democracy.”
The claims were a key part of then-Secretary of State Colin Powell’s speech to the U.N. Security Council in 2003. Powell mentioned an Iraqi engineer who described “biological weapons factories on wheels.”
In fact, al-Janabi said he was never involved in any such program. He said he used his chemical engineering knowledge to make up the reports.
Al-Janabi told the stories to the German intelligence agency, BND, which passed them to the CIA. Germany gave al-Janabi asylum in 2000.
Al-Janabi, who was codenamed Curveball by the intelligence agencies, says that removing Saddam from office justified the invasion of Iraq, even after more than 100,000 civilian deaths.
“Believe me, there was no other way to bring about freedom to Iraq,” al-Janabi said. “There were no other possibilities.”
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Alleged DeGeneres intruder pleads not guilty
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Alleged DeGeneres intruder pleads not guilty on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:43:19 +0000
SHOWBIZ
A woman accused of trespassing on ELLEN DEGENERES and PORTIA DE ROSSI’s Los Angeles property has pleaded not guilty.
Security guards at the couple’s Beverly Hills compound found Karen Sjoden in the grounds of the stars’ home, although she never entered the residence and did not get close to either the comedienne or the actress.
The 49 year old was charged with misdemeanour trespassing and went before a Los Angeles court on Monday (14Feb11) to plead not guilty.
According to prosecutors, she was allegedly hiding behind cushions on the house’s deck just hours after she was asked to leave.
The judge told the suspect, “You end up in someone’s backyard at 3 in the morning… then you are asked to leave… and you come back later with no legit purpose whatsoever and secrete yourself… you are probably up to no good. It only takes one time to be a threat.”
Daily Express :: News / Showbiz Feed
Jumat, 04 Februari 2011
Egypt: What No Anti-Israel Protests?
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IN Egypt we have seen a few flashes on anti-Israel rhetoric, but the protests have had nothing to do with Israel:
"OK, for years, people who claim to be my intellectual betters on foreign policy (and pretty much everything else), and particularly about the Middle East, have been telling me that the root cause of the problems in the Middle East is the "occupation" of disputed territories in the West Bank and Gaza, and that we won't be able to make any progress without solving that issue. It is what motivates Arab anger, and animates their protests. Well, surely if this is the case, with all of the apparent anger and ongoing revolt in Cairo, we should be seeing many reports on the ground of protesters with angry signs against the Zionist entity, right? Or have I just missed them somehow?" - Rand Simberg.
Picture 1 of 45
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE CONTENT. A man lies injured as anti-government protesters clash violently with supporters of President Hosni Mubarak in Tahrir Square in Cairo today as Egypt’s political upheaval took a dangerous new turn.
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Posted: 4th, February 2011 | In: Media Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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Theresa Riggi weeps in court accused of murdering her 3 children in Edinburgh
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By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:52 PM on 4th February 2011
A mother accused of murdering her three young children wept as she appeared in court for the first time today.
Theresa Riggi is alleged to have killed eight-year-old twins Austin and Luke and their five-year-old sister Cecilia at their Edinburgh home in August last year.
Riggi, 47, who wore a white dress and jacket and held a handkerchief as she sat in the dock, was at the High Court in the city for a short preliminary hearing.
Tearful: Theresa Riggi at the High Court in Edinburgh today
Police and fire crews were called to a suspected gas explosion at Mrs Riggi’s home in Edinburgh, where they found the bodies of the three children on August 4 last year.
American Riggi faces three charges of murder and another of culpably and recklessly causing a gas explosion.
All the events are alleged to have happened between August 2 and 4 last year at an address in the city, where she and her children were living.
Prosecutors allege that Cecilia and the twins, who are also known as Augustino and Gianluca, were repeatedly struck on the body with a knife or knives.
Riggi is further alleged to have removed a gas hob from its fixings and undone screws from the burner valves, allowing gas to escape. It is claimed she made sure the windows and doors were locked and ignited the gas, causing it to explode.
The charge claims that the fire which followed caused damage to the property, put people in danger and severely injured Riggi.
The case was continued without plea to a hearing on March 7 in Edinburgh.
The children’s American father, oil engineer Pasquale Riggi, 46, spoke of his grief after their deaths. He said: ‘You are paralysed with grief. You are not sure what to do next.
Children’s party: Mrs Riggi, in a family snap with twin boys Austin, 8, and Luke Riggi, 8, and daughter Cecilia, 5.
Family portrait: from left to right, Luke, Cecilia and Austin
Shell employee Mr Riggi, who is from Colorado, and his wife, from California, came to live in the UK 13 years ago.
They lived in Lowestoft, then spent two years in Holland before moving to Aberdeen in February 2007. He last saw his children on July 4 when they were treated to a day out at Aberdeen beach to celebrate U.S. Independence Day
He said: ‘The hardest moment without a doubt was when I first found out. Your life is all about your children, you have plans and you have dreams for them.
‘In one instant, that’s gone.’
‘The reality of it all is difficult to take all at once. You can’t even get your head around it.
‘Paralysed with grief’: Oil engineer Pasquale Riggi and his two sons
‘The difficult part, obviously, is seeing constant reminders on a daily basis in front of you – it’s playing out in the newspapers and on TV. ‘
It’s almost like it’s happening to someone else and you keep asking yourself, “Is it me, is this my family?”. And then the reality hits you that it is.’
Referring to himself and the extended family, he said: ‘We know that once all the shock and all the initial sadness of this subsides, there will be deep pain and suffering that we will all need to seek counselling for.’
He added: ‘We were so blessed to have three happy, healthy and bright and active children.
‘The memories that we have of Austin, Luke and Cecilia will forever provide joy and comfort as we go through the weeks, months and years ahead.’
He said of the his last outing with is children: ‘It was very enjoyable, we were out all day at the beach recreation centre in Aberdeen, playing video games and at various restaurants.
‘It was a nice day, I have fond memories of that day.’
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Snowdon’s back in another bikini
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And today she set about proving her worth with a further demonstration of her beachwear wearing capabilities.
The Capital FM breakfast show presenter is taking a well-deserved break from filming a new M&S campaign across the Atlantic to soak up some rays.
Miami nice … Lisa
MAVRIXONLINE.COM
And she’s making sure every inch of her body picks up that Miami glow while she’s there.
During yesterday’s display Lisa appeared to struggle with her bikini top, adjusting it several times during her day on the beach.
But today’s beach clobber appears to be far more secure.
Her dainty polka dot number, with red bows, had the girls in the office coo-ing away and dreaming of their summer holidays.
While the lads got on t’internet to try and find the cheapest and quickest flights to Miami.
I don’t blame them, it’s freezing outside with temperatures dropping this week.
Still, these pics warmed the cockles…
Keeping a-breast of issues … Lisa Snowdon on holiday in Miami
MAVRIXONLINE.COM
HomePage – The Sun
Moss’ parents confirm engagement
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SHOWBIZ
KATE MOSS’ parents have confirmed the supermodel is engaged to marry her rocker boyfriend JAMIE HINCE and revealed the couple has already set a date for the wedding.
The catwalk star, who has previously dated actor Johnny Depp and musician Pete Doherty, was rumoured to have become engaged to Hince earlier this week (beg31Jan11).
Moss was photographed wearing a diamond ring on her wedding finger after The Kills star reportedly popped the question at their home in London on Tuesday night (01Feb11).
The model’s parents have now confirmed the impending nuptials, with her father, Peter, revealing Hince sought his permission before asking for his daughter’s hand in marriage.
He tells the Daily Mail, “I am absolutely delighted, I’m over the moon. Kate rang me on Wednesday to tell me the news and she sounded so happy. They have already set a date for the wedding and it will be at the end of the summer.
“Jamie did do the honourable thing and spoke to me first to ask my permission to have Kate’s hand in marriage. That’s something that I really admired and it made me very happy. He wasn’t nervous about speaking to me, because he knows that I like him and I’m very fond of him. There was no question of me saying no.”
Meanwhile, Moss’ mother, Linda, who is divorced from Peter, adds, “Kate sounded so excited when she told me that they were engaged. It’s been a long time coming. I’m just overjoyed. Everyone is looking forward to the wedding.”
Daily Express :: News / Showbiz Feed
US employment figures disappoint
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Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke will be closely watching the jobless figures. Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty ImagesThe stuttering recovery in the US economy is expected to continue after employment rose by a lacklustre 36,000 in January, well below expectations of 145,000 for the month.
After some positive signs from higher corporate profits and strong growth in manufacturing, analysts had expected an improvement on the 121,000 jump in payroll numbers in December. However, the unemployment rate fell from 9.4% to 9%, its lowest level since April 2009, and the government revised the November and December figures to show 40,000 more jobs created that previously estimated.
The government blamed the poor performance of the labour market on snow storms over the last month which have battered large parts of the US. It said the severe weather could have affected construction jobs, which dropped 32,000 last month.
The modest jobs gains were at odds with other data for January, which had suggested employment growth was picking up and had raised hopes that the manufacturing-led recovery was now spreading to other sectors of the economy.
In the summer last year the US economy had begun to add more than 400,000 jobs a month before suffering a reversal in the autumn. A rise of around 200,000 in November appeared to signal a resurgent economy, but has proved a false dawn as jobs growth has slowed again.
The figures will be studied closely by the Federal Reserve, which has argued it needs to pump further liquidity into the economy through its $ 600bn (£372bn) quantitative easing programme to boost confidence and employment.
Rob Carnell of ING said the figures disguised some disturbing trends. He picked out that hours worked fell on average by 0.1 hours, and aggregate hours worked were also lower.
He said: “One might be tempted to read something positive also from the fall in the unemployment rate from 9.4% to 9%. But despite a 117,000 gain in employment measured by the household survey in Jan, most of this fall in the unemployment rate was the result of a further 507,000 decline in the civilian labour force, which contributed most of the 622,000 decline in ‘unemployment’ this month. Moreover, adding to the sense that all is not entirely well with the US labour force, the average duration of unemployment continues to drift higher.”
The Guardian World News
Egyptian State Television Anchor Shahira Amin Quits Amid Propaganda Claims
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video
Shahira Amin was a deputy head and a senior correspondent for Nile TV — a government-owned channel — until yesterday that is, when she quit her job in protest over claims that she was directed to deliver propaganda from the Egyptian government. Amin reportedly said on the air, "I refuse to be a hypocrite. I feel liberated."
The Committee to Protect Journalists reports:
Multiple journalists for state-owned or government-aligned media have resigned or have refused to work after the government put pressure on them to sanitize the news or to not report on violence against demonstrators, several CPJ sources said. Shahira Amin, an anchor on the state-owned Nile TV channel, said on the air: "I refuse to be a hypocrite. I feel liberated."
Amin was interviewed last night by CNN's Anderson Cooper:
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Foodspotting Partners With SinglePlatform
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February 4, 2011 | 10:00 a.m.
Foodspotting, the company that encourages users to photograph their favorite restaurant food so that others may make better decisions about what to order, has partnered with SinglePlatform, a go-between for publishers and restaurants that want to promote their events and dishes.
TheNextWeb reports:
SinglePlatform enhances a Foodspotter’s experience with up to date content like open hours, menus, specials, events, official photos, what credit cards they take, etc., for all of its partner restaurants. Meanwhile Foodspotting draws more customers to SinglePlatform’s restaurants, who then have access to Foodspotting’s consumer collected content.
The partnership brings restaurants further into dialog with Foodspotting users, offering alerts when a Foodspotting user tags one of their dishes. And, because of Foodspotting’s positive attitude toward food, restaurants will most often be alerted to users’ promotion of their products and not denigration. Further promotional partnerships between Foodspotting and restaurants, we’d imagine, would be soon to follow.
Check out New York’s 20 Most Popular Dishes According to Foodspotting.
mtaylor [at] observer.com | @mbrookstaylor
All Stories | The New York Observer
Colorlines: Is America’s Youth Revolution Coming?
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By: Nsenga Burton
Colorlines’ Kai Wright is wondering aloud if and when America’s youth revolution will come about? The uprisings in Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and Yemen all have two things in common – youth and joblessness. Wright states:
If demographics matter, America's future will be defined by the fates of Latino and African American young people. Young Latinos are the fastest growing population in the fastest growing states, while young black folks are increasingly crucial to electoral calculations, if nothing else. Yet, our political leaders continue to accept an economy that structurally excludes these young people.” Last July, unemployment was 33 percent among blacks under 24 years old and 22 percent among both Latinos and Asian Americans. Meanwhile, states across the country are closing off public higher education to undocumented immigrants, many of whom have spent their entire lives here. Black youth who graduate college are far more likely to do so with crippling amounts of debt—particularly as for-profit universities continue to pull them and churn them out with piles of debt and no jobs. Unemployment among black college graduates under 25 years old is more than 15 percent, twice that of their white peers.
Wright raises a real issue. If the factors that are causing young people across the world to rise up against governments are present here in the United States, how long will it be before we have our own youth uprising? While we’re looking at Tunisia and Egypt and pointing fingers in awe, perhaps we should be looking at ourselves?
Read more at Colorlines.
In other news: Video Released of Houston Police Beating of 15-year-old Suspect Holley (VIDEO)
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Reagan: Morning After in America
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Fri Feb. 4, 2011 3:00 AM PST
Moments before the new Republican House was to be sworn in, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), the head of the House Republican Policy Committee and the chamber’s fifth-ranking GOPer, was standing in the ornate Speaker’s Lobby of the Capitol, near a roaring fire. In the celebratory hustle and bustle—new members rushing to pick up lapel pins and license plates, their kids noisily exploring the building—a reporter approached Price with a question: How could he reconcile the GOP’s pledge to tame the deficit with its decision to dodge budget calculations about the costs of tax cuts and repealing health care reform? Without missing a beat, Price replied, “It doesn’t cost the government money to decrease taxes. When you decrease taxes, as President Kennedy proved, as Reagan proved, you increase revenue to the federal government.”
David Stockman, Reagan’s first budget director in the 1980s and the godfather of the Gipper’s supply-side tax cuts, was watching the proceedings from his home in Colorado and shaking his head. Republicans like Price were, in Stockman’s view, misreading history—even perverting the Reagan message. As he saw it, they were guiding the nation toward financial ruin by pushing for tax cuts without having the guts to seriously slash spending—and dishonestly justifying their “flimflam” by citing his work.
When I spoke to Stockman that day, he was still laughing about a tidbit he had read earlier that morning: The owner of a specialty food store on Manhattan’s Upper East Side—Maureen’s Passion—was touting the top-income tax cuts the GOP had shoved into Obama’s compromise. “It all turned around when the tax bill passed,” he’d told a financial news website. “Caviar! It’s jumping off the shelf.”
“So there you go,” Stockman scoffed. “That’s a real economic recovery.”
Beyond goosing caviar sales, Stockman says, the Republicans are not sincere about boosting the economy. (He also chastises Democrats, but his most trenchant criticism slams the GOP.) He contends that the party of Reagan has spent the last three decades compounding the errors that he had a hand in engineering in the early 1980s—and a reckoning looms.
Here’s how Stockman tells the tale. In the ’80s, Reagan and his White House crew were eager to cut income taxes across the board. The aim, he asserts, was to fix the slumping economy, not to starve the beast of big government. Republican leaders on the Hill were initially skeptical—they insisted that the White House pass spending cuts before Congress tackled the tax side. “The honest-to-goodness fact,” Stockman says, “is that in February 1981, there wasn’t close to a Republican majority for tax cuts without any accompanying or coupled spending cuts. The idea of supply-side in its purest form”—that tax cuts fuel economic growth that yields increased tax revenues—”was only embraced by a handful of junior Republicans, plus Jack Kemp.”
The Reagan administration hardly minded proposing massive cuts to both taxes and spending. But then things went haywire, Stockman notes. The tax cut ballooned from $ 500 billion over five years to $ 1 trillion after lobbyists added special-interest tax breaks for various industries. And on the spending side, the Reagan administration went hog-wild throwing money at the Pentagon. The inevitable happened: The deficit ballooned.
“I was horrified,” Stockman recalls. In 1982, 1983, and 1984, Reagan signed a series of tax hikes (PDF) that, according to Stockman, recovered 40 percent of the original 1981 tax cut. Meanwhile, unemployment fell from nearly 11 percent in 1982 to 7.4 percent by Election Day 1984, and inflation slowed.
Republicans took the wrong lesson from that episode, Stockman contends: that big tax cuts are economic magic. For GOPers to argue, as they do nowadays, that only permanent tax cuts spark economic activity is “totally inconsistent with what we used to argue in the 1980s,” Stockman notes. “These were two-year tax cuts, and they’re praising them as Republican doctrine.”
The new doctrine got a boost when it turned out you didn’t have to match tax cuts with spending cuts: The Federal Reserve was able to sell the nation’s growing debt to China and others. “It totally anesthetized the political system to the costs of deficit spending,” Stockman says. “Therefore the simplistic and reckless idea that the way to stimulate the economy is to cut taxes anytime, anywhere, for any reason, became embedded [in the GOP]. It has become a religion, it has become a catechism. It’s become a mindless incantation.”
Years later, Stockman says, George W. Bush and his crew repeated “in much greater magnitude the errors we made in the early ’80s. A massive increase in defense spending, a massive reduction in the revenue base [via long-term tax cuts], and not even an effort at spending cuts. Then the economy finally collapsed as a result of the credit crisis.”
So what’s an old-school Republican to do? Stockman, who worked as an investment banker after leaving the Reagan administration (and was indicted in 2007 for securities fraud in a case federal prosecutors later dropped), is willing to live by the basic laws of math. He opposed extending the Bush tax cuts for middle- and high-income Americans, and now he has a simple three-part prescription: First, cut military spending by $ 100 to $ 150 billion a year. (Defense Secretary Robert Gates has called for just $ 78 billion in cuts over the next five years.) “Are the Chinese going to come and bomb 33,000 Wal-Marts in the United States and destroy their export economy?” asks Stockman, who considers both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars foolish.
His second point is classic deficit-hawkery: Apply a means test to Medicare and Social Security. His third: “Massively raise taxes.” His favorite device: a Tobin tax, named after Nobel Prize-winning economist James Tobin, which would be levied on financial transactions. “We have a massive casino that is doing nothing but churning transactions by the millisecond, robots trading with each other, as a result of the Fed juicing the system continuously with overnight money that’s free,” Stockman says. “There’s no productive value for Main Street or the real US economy.” Such a tax could generate $ 100 billion annually (PDF). Stockman also fancies a version of Europe’s value-added tax on consumption. “High taxes aren’t good,” he says. “But at the end of the day, you have to pay your bills as a government.”
Stockman has not suddenly turned into a Democrat: He didn’t support Obama’s stimulus (because he didn’t think it addressed the fundamental problems of the economy), and he remains a small-government conservative who would slash all sorts of federal programs if he could. But he has no patience with today’s Republicans: On The Colbert Report, he recently dismissed the Laffer curve—the holy graphic of the supply-side crowd—as “the laugher curve.” On MSNBC’s Countdown, he called the GOP “the free-lunch party of tax cuts.”
GOP leaders, naturally, are not impressed with Stockman’s take. Grover Norquist, a top conservative strategist and tax-cut champion, all but dismisses him as a has-been: “Sometimes, folks just want back in the limelight.” If Republicans let tax cuts be held “hostage to Democrats cutting spending,” he says, “you’ll never get spending restraint or tax rate reduction. [Stockman] never understood supply-side economics.”
Stockman counters that Republicans’ taxes bad/tax cuts good mantra is disingenuous. “I don’t think those kinds of propositions are appropriate, and you could call them a lie if you really wanted to use rhetoric,” he says. “They can’t say government is too big if they’re saying hands off defense. It’s not responsible to say government is the problem when you’ve embraced 95 percent of the dollars.
“It’s very dismaying,” he adds, “to see that 30-year descent into the kind of nihilism, know-nothingism that is represented by the Republican Party today.” It’s not the Gipper’s GOP anymore.
MoJo Articles | Mother Jones
Two National Parks Eyed to Honor Legacy of Harriet Tubman
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Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave who led others to freedom on the Underground Railroad, could be honored with two national parks promoting her life.
![Children ride their bikes down the drive passing the Harriet Tubman Home in Auburn, N.Y., July, 29, 2004. (David Duprey, AP)]()
![American abolitionist leader Harriet Tubman (1820 - 1913) who escaped slavery by marrying a free man and led many other slaves to safety using the abolitionist network known as the underground railway. (Getty Images)]()
Senators from Maryland and New York introduced legislation on Tuesday — the start of Black History Month — to create parks in both states that would protect sites connected to her life as an abolitionist and later as an advocate for women’s suffrage.
Tubman — known as “the black Moses” for leading hundreds of slaves out of bondage in the South to freedom in the North — lived much of her adult life in Auburn, N.Y. in the state’s Finger Lakes region. If the bill becomes law, her home, the cemetery where she was buried in 1913 and the Home for the Aged, an early nursing home for African-Americans she created, would become part of the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park.
David Duprey, AP
Children ride their bikes past the Harriet Tubman Home in Auburn, N.Y.
In the Eastern Shore of Maryland where Tubman was born in 1822, the bill would make a sweeping Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Historical Park, covering her presumed birthplace and the site of former plantations where she was enslaved until she ran away in 1849. Tubman returned to the area for 10 years as a famed conductor on the Underground Railroad, and the park would include the location of a former safe house along the route to the North.
“Harriet Tubman [was] a true American patriot for whom liberty and freedom were principles in which she believed and risked her life to achieve,” said U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., in a statement. “Her life was defined by determination, perseverance and hardship as she helped others on the road to freedom. These two parks will make it possible for Marylanders, New Yorkers and all Americans to trace her life’s work and remember her tremendous contribution to our nation’s history.”
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Abolitionist leader Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery by marrying a free man, led many other slaves to safety using the abolitionist network known as the Underground Railroad.
Similar bills haven’t made it out of Congress before, like a previous attempt in 2009, but advocates hailed the latest effort to pass the bill — introduced by Cardin and fellow Senate Democrats Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer of New York.
“America itself continues to evolve with its changing diversity of people, and it’s very important that national parks continue to reflect the broadening of society,” National Park Conservation Association Northeast Director Alex Brash told AOL News. “Harriet Tubman’s home tells a different story.”
Some spots inside the would-be Auburn park are already landmarks, like Tubman’s grave site. But turning them into a national park would boost their funding and possibly help attract more visitors to the cradle of the women’s rights movement from the late 1800s.
“I think it would be a great thing for Auburn,” Mayor Mike Quill told the Syracuse Post-Standard. “We’re trying to push tourism … and this ties right into it.”
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In Maryland there are no sites still standing from Tubman’s life, but supporters said her contribution to local and national history deserve recognition in the form of a park.
“It’s because of what she did and what she fought for,” Donald Pinder, director of the Harriet Tubman Organization in Cambridge, Md., told AOL News. “She was about morality at a time when people didn’t exercise any morality when it came to slaves and free black people.”
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