Mar
23
Reality TV star Jade Goody dies after cancer fight
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LONDON – Jade Goody’s family asks for “privacy at last” after the death at 27 of the brash former dental assistant who turned her tumultuous life and struggle with cervical cancer into a one-woman reality show.
Mocked as a slob, then celebrated as an everywoman, Goody lived one of the world’s most public lives, with cameras capturing everything from her racial slurs to her cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy.
Goody gained fame in 2002 at age 21 when she joined the British version of the reality television show “Big Brother,” in which contestants live together for weeks and are constantly filmed. She became a highly divisive star and something of a national touchstone who sparked debate about race, class and celebrity.
During filming of an Indian version of “Celebrity Big Brother” in the summer of 2008, Goody received a diagnosis of cervical cancer by telephone from a doctor in Britain. The camera captured the deeply personal moment, which was shown repeatedly on TV.
Dec
11
NEW DELHI – India announced a massive overhaul of its security and intelligence agencies Thursday in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks that left 171 dead and provoked a public outcry over the government’s response.Among the new measures, the government will move to create a national investigative agency, beef up coastal security forces, better train local police and strengthen anti-terror laws, said Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, the country’s top law enforcement official.
“Given the nature of the threat, we can’t go back to business as usual,” Chidambaram said in a speech to India’s Parliament, adding he would “take certain hard decisions to prepare the country and people to face the challenge of terrorism.”
The shake-up represents the government’s first detailed response to widespread public anger over security and intelligence failures in the attacks. Chidambaram has previously apologized for government “lapses” in the assault.
Meanwhile, police in Mumbai backed off of plans to produce the only surviving attacker, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, in court Thursday for a routine hearing, citing security concerns.
Instead, a magistrate came to police headquarters and granted authorities permission to hold Kasab for a further two weeks, public prosecutor Eknath Dhamal said.
A security cordon was thrown around the downtown Mumbai building where Kasab was being held, and journalists were kept 200 yards (meters) away, their view blocked by a police van.
Kasab, who was wounded and captured by police in the first hours of the Nov. 26 attack, has been repeatedly interrogated by authorities and reportedly offered key details about the planning of the assault and those responsible for it.
Many lawyers across the city, horrified by the attacks, have said they would not represent Kasab. On Thursday, Dinesh Mota, a lawyer asked by the court to defend Kasab, said he would refuse.
“I will not represent him, it is against all human values,” he said.
On Wednesday, police said the Pakistani-based militant group blamed for the Mumbai attacks kept an Indian militant as a “point man” to shepherd gunmen across India’s porous borders to stage attacks.
Sabauddin Ahmed, accused of managing militant safe houses in Nepal, was being brought to Mumbai for questioning in last month’s attacks that left 171 dead. Ahmed was arrested in February following a deadly raid on an Indian police station.
Ahmed’s position in Nepal extends the reach of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group investigators blame for the Mumbai siege, and could represent another blow to Indian officials who say Pakistan-based militants were entirely responsible.
“He was their main point man in Katmandu, a very trusted man by Lashkar,” Amitabh Yash, director of the police task force that arrested Ahmed, said.
Also Wednesday, a U.N. Security Council panel declared Jamaat-ud-Dawa a terrorist organization, subject to U.N. sanctions, as sought by India and the U.S. It specifically designated four men connected to Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Lashkar as terrorists, including Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the suspected mastermind of the attacks. Source
Dec
9
Counting of votes is underway in Ghana after the country staged peaceful general elections.
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The polls monitors declared the vote as a shining example of democracy in action for the rest of Africa. Seven presidential aspirants were in the race to succeed Kufuor, who stands down early January after serving a maximum two four-year terms. Provisional results should be released within three days, with a possible second round scheduled for December 28 if no candidate gets more than 50 percent of votes. The major contest is between Kufuor’s ruling new patriotic party and the opposition national democratic congress (NDC) of the fiery former ruler jerry Rawlings, which was in power until the 2000 elections.
Dec
7
Riots continue across Greece after teen killed by police
Filed Under BBC News, News, Top Stories | Leave a Comment
ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- The Greek government has appealed for calm after rioting returned to cities Sunday, following a night of violence during which youths battled police across the country.
Athens riot police come under attack near the capital’s main police station Sunday.
Athens riot police come under attack near the capital’s main police station Sunday.
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Athens and other cities were hit by the overnight violence after a member of an elite police corps shot dead a teen in the Greek capital, triggering angry protests.
The officer who fired the fatal shot has been charged with murder with malicious intent and suspended from duty, police said, adding that an autopsy on the youth is scheduled for Monday, in an effort to discern the circumstances of the shooting.
Demonstrators barricaded city streets Sunday in Athens and Thessaloniki and hurled petrol bombs as they battled with police, who fought back with tear gas in the second day of rioting. Video Watch youths riot in Greece »
Rampaging youths smashed storefronts and burned businesses, leaving shattered glass and burnt debris scattered across both cities.
Government officials, fearing more violence, swiftly condemned the shooting.
“An investigation is underway and those found responsible with be punished,” said Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos, who earlier had his resignation refused by prime minister Kostas Karamanlis. “Measures will also be taken to avoid such incidents again in the future.”
“It’s still very tense,” journalist Anthee Carassava told CNN from Athens. “You can almost cut it with a knife. The scenes in downtown Athens have been harrowing.”
“These are the worst disturbances I have seen in covering the country in the last 20 years.”
Residents of an apartment building in central Athens were evacuated Sunday after angry demonstrators torched a car dealership on the basement floor.
A police statement about the teenage boy’s death said the incident started when six youths pelted a police patrol car with stones.
The teen was shot as he tried to throw a fuel-filled bomb at the officers, police said.
Other youths — often referred to in Greece as ” the known-unknowns — converged on the site almost immediately, using texting and Web sites to organize and communicate.
Fighting between youths and police quickly erupted in other parts of Greece, including Thessaloniki, the country’s second largest city.
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Hundreds of youths took to the streets of the sprawling port city, and finally barricaded themselves behind the gates of a state university, where police are barred from entering.
Police say several police officers have been injured and that some protesters have been rounded up for questioning.
Dec
6
LOS ANGELES – Bettie Page, a 1950s pinup known for her raven-haired bangs and saucy come-hither looks, was hospitalized in intensive care after suffering a heart attack, her agent said Friday.
“She’s critically ill,” Mark Roesler of CMG Worldwide told The Associated Press.
He said the 85-year-old had been hospitalized for the last three weeks with pneumonia and was about to be released when she had the heart attack Tuesday. Page was transferred to another hospital in Los Angeles and remained in intensive care Friday.
A family friend, Todd Mueller, said Page was in a coma. When asked to confirm, Roesler said, “I would not deny that,” but he would not comment further on her condition.
Page, a secretary turned model, is credited with helping set the stage for the sexual revolution of the rebellious 1960s. She attracted national attention with magazine photographs of her sensuous figure that were tacked up on walls across the country.
Her photos included a centerfold in the January 1955 issue of then-fledgling Playboy magazine, as well as controversial sadomasochistic poses.
Page later spent decades away from the public eye, and during that time battled mental illness and became a born-again Christian.
After resurfacing in the 1990s, she occasionally granted interviews but refused to allow her picture to be taken.
Mueller credits his business dealings with Page for bringing her out of seclusion. He said he first met her in 1989 when he offered her “a bunch of money” to show up at autograph signings.
“I probably sold 3,000 of her autographs, usually for $200 to $300,” he said. “Eleanor Roosevelt, we got $40-$50. … Bettie Page outsells them all.”
Nov
8
High school sophomores should be ready for college by age 16. That’s the message from New Hampshire education officials, who announced plans Oct. 30 for a new rigorous state board of exams to be given to 10th graders. Students who pass will be prepared to move on to the state’s community or technical colleges, skipping the last two years of high school. (See pictures of teens and how they would vote.)
Once implemented, the new battery of tests is expected to guarantee higher competency in core school subjects, lower dropout rates and free up millions of education dollars. Students may take the exams – which are modeled on existing AP or International Baccalaureate tests – as many times as they need to pass. Or those who want to go to a prestigious university may stay and finish the final two years, taking a second, more difficult set of exams senior year. “We want students who are ready to be able to move on to their higher education,” says Lyonel Tracy, New Hampshire’s Commissioner for Education. “And then we can focus even more attention on those kids who need more help to get there.”
But can less schooling really lead to better-prepared students at an earlier age? Outside of the U.S., it’s actually a far less radical notion than it sounds. Dozens of industrialized countries expect students to be college-ready by age 16, and those teenagers consistently outperform their American peers on international standardized tests. (See pictures of the college dorm room’s evolution.)
With its new assessment system, New Hampshire is adopting a key recommendation of a blue-ribbon panel called the New Commission on Skills of the American Workforce. In 2006, the group issued a report called Tough Choices or Tough Times , a blueprint for how it believes the U.S. must dramatically overhaul education policies in order to maintain a globally competitive economy. “Forty years ago, the United States had the best educated workforce in the world,” says William Brock, one of the commission’s chairs and a former U.S. Secretary of Labor. “Now we’re No. 10 and falling.”
As more and more jobs head overseas, Brock and others on the commission can’t stress enough how dire the need is for educational reform. “The nation is running out of time,” he says.
New Hampshire’s announcement comes as Utah and Massachusetts declared that they, too, plan to enact some of the commission’s other proposals, such as universal Pre-K and better teacher pay and training. Still more states are expected to sign on in December. And the largest teacher union in the U.S., the National Education Association, is encouraging its affiliates to support such efforts.
Some reform advocates would like to see the report’s testing proposals replace current No Child Left Behind legislation. “It makes accountability much more meaningful by stressing critical thinking and true mastery,” says Tracy.
No date has been set for when New Hampshire will start administering the new set of exams, which have yet to be developed. But to achieve the goal of sending kids to college at 16, Tracy and his colleagues recognize preparation will have to start early. Nearly four years ago, New Hampshire began an initiative called Follow the Child. Starting practically from birth, educators are expected to chart children’s educational progress year to year. In the future, this effort will be bolstered by formalized curricula that specify exactly what kids should know by the end of each grade level.
That should help minimize the need for review year to year. It will also bring New Hampshire’s education framework much closer to what occurs in many high-performing European and Asian nations. “It’s about defining what lessons students should master and then teaching to those points,” says Marc Tucker, co-chair of the commission and president of the National Center for Education and the Economy in Washington. “Kids at every level will be taking tough courses and working hard.”
Right now, Tucker argues, most American teenagers slide through high school, viewing it as a mandatory pit stop to hang out and socialize. Of those who do go to college, half attend community college. So Tucker’s thinking is why not let them get started earlier? If that happened nationwide, he estimates the cost savings would add up to $60 billion a year. “All money that can be spent either on early childhood education or elsewhere,” he says.
Critics of cutting high school short, however, worry that proposals such as New Hampshire’s could exacerbate existing socioeconomic gaps. One key concern is whether test results, at age 16, are really valid enough to indicate if a child should go to university or instead head to a technical school – with the latter almost certainly guaranteeing lower future earning potential. “You know that the kids sent in that direction are going to be from low-income, less-educated families while wealthy parents won’t permit it,” says Iris Rotberg, a George Washington University education policy professor, who notes similar results in Europe and Asia. She predicts, in turn, that disparity will mean “an even more polarized higher education structure – and ultimately society – than we already have.”
Nov
6
US, European stocks fall after Obama victory
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Wall Street and European stocks fell back on Wednesday as investors buckled down for an expected gloomy economic ride after the euphoria of Democrat Barack Obama’s US presidential election victory.
Dealers said gains made on Tuesday on hopes for fresh efforts to tackle the global financial crisis were surrendered quickly on Wall Street and in Europe although Asia did better despite signs of gathering economic problems.
They said the markets realise that little can happen immediately, with Obama due to be sworn in only in late January, and the global economy faces serious headwinds regardless of the political leadership involved.
“The feel-good factor which may have been generated … from the historic nature of Obama’s victory is unlikely to filter through to financial markets,” said Martin Slaney, head of derivatives at financial spread betting group GFT in London.
“Given the much bigger economic picture there is little chance of a post-election rally,” Slaney said.
“There is an element of ‘buy the rumour, sell the news’ that is driving some profit-taking to kick in,” he added.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.39 per cent at around 1700 GMT.
In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares shed 2.34 per cent at 4,530.73 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 index fell 1.98 per cent to 3,618.11 points and in Frankfurt, the DAX lost 2.11 percent to 5,166.87 points.
In Asian trade earlier, however, Tokyo ended with a gain of 4.46 per cent, Hong Kong jumped 3.2 per cent and Sydney rose 2.9 per cent.
US stocks staged a powerful rally on Tuesday, with the DJIA up 3.28 per cent which gave the Asian markets a good start but this was not carried over into Europe.
Obama faces a global financial crisis and a host of domestic problems in the economy, including rising unemployment, falling home values and slowing exports when he takes office on January 20.
World leaders hailed Obama’s historic triumph but there were also calls for the global superpower to change the way it does business.
European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso called for the election to usher in a “new deal” between the United States and the rest of the world to tackle the global financial crisis and other troubles.
“Back to the realities of financial world and it seems that the euphoria didn’t last that long with stock markets around the globe peering into what they increasingly believe will be a long and protracted period of global recession,” said Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC Partners.-AFP
Oct
22
Strachan magnanimous after defeat
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Celtic manager Gordon Strachan refused to criticise match officials following his side’s 3-0 Champions League defeat to Manchester United.
There was a suspicion of offside at United’s first two goals, which were both scored by Dimitar Berbatov.
“The (first) two goals were offside but I’m not going to scream about them,” said Strachan. I’m a football man and I know when I’m and well beaten.
“You need a decision when you come here and to get two like that was a blow.”
Strachan was pleased with the effort of his side at Old Trafford but was frustrated by Celtic’s use of the ball.
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“We cannot be faulted for our guts and determination,” he added.
“What we do fall down on is being anywhere as good as them at passing the ball to each other.
“We gave the ball away unnecessarily eight times in the first 15 minutes, which is a problem. I try to mould a team where everybody can pass the ball and tonight that didn’t work.
“Physically we couldn’t match them and that told the longer the game went on.
“I’m just pleased that we had enough guts to stay in there and it wasn’t a rout because that’s happened here a few times.”
We’ll try our best to give a performance the next time we play. We’ll try and make a decent game of it
Celtic manager Gordon Strachan
Holders United are yet to lose a goal in Group E, and visit Celtic Park for the return fixture on 5 November.
“Over the last couple of years we’ve played some terrific sides, but that’s the best,” said Strachan.
“It’s one of the best performances I’ve ever come across in watching European football. You will need to be some team to beat them.
“We’ll try our best to give a performance the next time we play. We’ll try and make it a decent game of it.”
Celtic were without several first-team regulars for their trip to Manchester, including strikers Georgios Samaras and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, and Strachan is unsure whether he will have his players back in time for United’s trip to Glasgow.
“Hopefully we’ll have players that can help us out. I don’t know if we’ll have a big change in personnel,” added Strachan.
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Better team won. Two offside goals is impossible to come back from. It was no disgrace
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“We’ll keep plugging away but it’s going to be very hard. What we want to do is get a good performance and reward the fans with a good game.”
Winger Aiden McGeady admitted that Celtic had been beaten by the better side.
“The 3-0 result probably does reflect the game because they gave us a bit of a doing to be honest,” the said 22-year-old.
“I didn’t really see if the those two goals were offside but even without them, they still had a lot of chances.
“If the two goals had been flagged offside it might have given us a hand but there’s nothing we can really do about that.
“But we always play differently at home than away from home so we will have more of a chance of beating them.
“However, if they play like that, then it will be very tough. They made a few changes for this game but they were still very strong.”
Oct
21
Dundee sack Rae after poor start
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Alex Rae has been sacked as manager of Dundee after a disappointing start to their First Division promotion bid.
The former Rangers, Sunderland and Wolves midfielder was relieved of his duties after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at home to struggling Ross County.
Rae, 39, had lost support in the boardroom but was unhappy at the summer sale of top players like Kevin McDonald, who was sold to Burnley.
Dundee are third bottom of Division One but remain just six points off the top.
Assistant manager David Farrell will take charge of the first-team for Saturday’s match against Morton in Greenock as Dundee aim to resurrect their pursuit of leaders Queen of the South.
Queens manager Gordon Chisholm, along with coach Billy Dodds, are among those already being mentioned as possible successors to Rae.
Airdrie United’s Kenny Black and former Raith Rovers manager Jimmy Nicholl, presently assistant with Aberdeen, are also possible targets.
Rae became player-manager with Dundee in May 2006 and this season gave up playing to concentrate on his management role.
Oct
16
Ballesteros stable after surgery
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Golf legend Seve Ballesteros is in a stable condition after undergoing an operation on a brain tumour.
The Madrid hospital where he underwent the procedure said he was conscious and stable and recovering in intensive care, and there were no complications.
A biopsy on the tumour was scheduled for Tuesday but doctors decided to operate to remove as much of the tumour as possible before treatment.
The operation took seven hours, according to Ballesteros’s family.
“It was a long operation – some statements say 12 hours but we’ve been told by the family seven hours – and we believe it has been successful,” European Tour chief executive George O’Grady told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“It has got to be checked through later but his brother has phoned to tell us it was very successful.
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“He has regained consciousness and is in intensive care. If any man can come through this it will be him.”
The 51-year-old five-time major winner collapsed at Madrid Airport last week.
He underwent a number of tests over the weekend which uncovered the tumour and after informing his family, Ballesteros confirmed the news in a statement on Sunday.
A statement from La Paz Hospital on Wednesday said: “The patient will spend a post-operative period in the intensive care unit.
“He is currently conscious and in a stable condition, although he cannot receive visits in the coming days until he recovers from the surgery.
“The next medical report will be given when the patient moves to the ward, which will probably be next week.”
The removed tumour will be analysed and it will take several days before the results are known, and what course of treatment Ballesteros may need.
Ballesteros won 87 titles during his career, including the Open in 1979, 1984 and 1988 and the Masters in 1980 and 1983 and captained Europe to Ryder Cup victory at Valderrama in 1997.
He retired last year following arthritic back and knee problems late in his career and doctors discovered an irregular heartbeat when he was admitted to hospital in 2007.