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Saturday, January 17, 2009

The US Secret Service has released the first photos Wednesday of the new presidential limousine that will transport Barack Obama down Pennsylvania Avenue next Tuesday as part of the 56th Presidential inaugural parade after he is sworn in at the Capitol. The First Limo – the 2009 Cadillac Presidential Limousine – will replace President Bush’s Cadillac DTS Presidential Limousine that rolled out in 2004.

Nicknamed “The Beast”, the hulking machine is a new model year 2009, modified limousine. According to General Motors, the new “2009 Cadillac Presidential Limousine” is the first not to carry a specific model name. The Obama Mobile was introduced on January 14 with noticeably different styling borrowed from the Cadillac Escalade and STS, while the suspension is most likely related to the Chevrolet Kodiak medium-duty truck.

Mr. David Caldwell of General Motors has revealed that the sleek black car would include a hand-crafted interior and “state of the art electronics.” The car’s high-tech security features include five-inch-thick (12.7-centimeter-thick) bombproof glass, tough-as-nails tires, and a sealed interior that’s invulnerable to chemical attack. The armoured limousine has been heavily modified to withstand potential attacks by weapons or bombs. The San Francisco Chronicle puts it in a proper perspective noting, “a half-inch of transparent armor is enough to stop a .44 Magnum round at point-blank range; at a thickness of 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches, the same material can withstand higher-velocity bullets fired from military assault rifles.”

According to spy photographer, Brenda Priddy, and General Motors, the limousine, which has the intricate, dual-textured grille, is also equipped with standard Goodyear Regional RHS truck tires in a 285/70R19.5 size, on 19.5-inch wheels. The rims have a run-flat device (manufactured by Hutchinson Industries). Xenon headlights from the Escalade are installed in the front, while the rear has some STS part. The doors are at least 20 centimeters (8 inches) thick. It carries the US flag on the front fenders and an embroidered Seal of the President of the United States is affixed to several panels in the back.

According to the US Secret Service, the vehicle would be a “valuable asset” in providing the President with the highest level of protection. “Although many of the vehicle’s security enhancements cannot be discussed, it is safe to say that this car’s security and coded communications systems make it the most technologically advanced protection vehicle in the world,” Nicholas Trotta, Assistant Director for the Office of Protective Operations said in a statement. The new limousine is the responsibility of White House Transportation Agency.

The Presidential State Car is the official state car used by the President of the United States. It is informally known as “Cadillac One”. The current Presidential State Car is a 2005 hand-crafted, armored, and stretched DTS (DeVille Touring Sedan) built on a GM four-wheel drive platform. It was first used on the second inauguration parade of George W. Bush in 2005. But the version to be used by President Obama uses a GMC Topkick chassis, while maintaining the Cadillac exterior.

The President of the United States travels in one of two armoured Cadillac limousines based upon the normal sedan, the Cadillac DTS, with heavy customisation. Lincoln cars have also been used in the past, most notably by President John F Kennedy. The current limousines were custom-built by O’Gara, Hess and Eisenhart, founded in Fairfield, Ohio in 1942. It specializes in armouring limousines for presidents and heads of state.

President William McKinley was the first US president to ride in an automobile. However, it was President Theodore Roosevelt who rode on the first government-owned car, a white Stanley Steamer. Roosevelt’s successor, William Howard Taft, was the first president to use a presidential state car that was permanently stored in the White House garage.

Meanwhile, Obama’s 2005 Chrysler 300C Hemi was auctioned on eBay with a starting bid of $100,000 and a buy-it-now price of $1,000,000. It has less than 21,000 miles on it and is in like-new condition. He leased the car in 2004 and traded it for a Ford Escape Hybrid in 2007. The car was sold to Tim O’Boyle.

Friday, March 20, 2009

In the United States, a suspended Pennsylvania state trooper has been convicted of first-degree murder for killing his girlfriend’s estranged husband.

Kevin Foley, 43, faces a mandatory life sentence without parole for slashing to death John Yelenic, a Blairsville dentist who was in the final stages of divorcing his wife, Michele. Foley’s attorney said he plans to appeal the decision. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.

Foley previously said he “loathed Dr. Yelenic” and asked another fellow trooper to help kill him. During his testimony, which lasted several hours, Foley claimed he was joking and had no true intention of carrying out the threat, but the Indiana County jury rejected that defense after about six hours of deliberations.

John Yelenic was found dead in his home on April 13, 2006, one day before he was planning on signing his divorce papers. Charges were brought against Foley in September 2007, more than 17 months after the murder.

Foley, who had been on suspension from the Pennsylvania State Police, was himself the final witness to take the stand Wednesday in the trial. Foley insisted he was innocent during his testimony, and even made jokes that the jury laughed at on a few occasions.

“I never made a threat with the intention of carrying it out,” Foley said under cross-examination by the prosecution.

When Senior Deputy Attorney General Anthony Krastek pressed Foley for what was funny about asking another state trooper to help him kill Yelenic, Foley answered, “There isn’t any joke. It’s just my personality, my behavior (with co-workers).”

Prosecutors said Foley killed Yelenic after going to the dentist’s house to confront him over the terms of the divorce. Prosecutors claim Foley slashed Yelenic several times with a knife and pushed his head through a small window. Yelenic bled to death.

“John has his justice tonight,” Mary Ann Clark, a cousin of Yelenic, told MSNBC. “John deserved this; he was the most wonderful person in the world. He died the most horrible death and tonight, this is his night. The system worked.”

Foley had been living with Michele Yelenic for two years at the time of the homicide. Prosecutors previously said Foley and Michele helped perpetuate rumors that Dr. Yelenic molested their son. John and Michele Yelenic had been separated in 2002. Michele Yelenic stood to collect Dr. Yelenic’s estate and a US$1 million life insurance policy, and could lose about $2,500 a month in support if the divorce was finalized, a Pennsylvania grand jury previously determined.

Michele Yelenic, who has not appeared at the trial, may face legal action herself, media reports indicated. A sentencing hearing for Foley is scheduled for June 1.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Experts are now fearing the worst for the northern bottle-nosed whale that is still swimming in the Thames river London. The Thames Whale was first spotted on Thursday, with widespread media coverage yesterday and huge crowds of spectators attracted to the river.

There were hopes that the whale was heading back out to sea, but these were dashed by a fresh sighting of the whale from Albert bridge in Chelsea.

Experts say that the whale is now looking increasingly distressed, with numerous cuts to its body. The whale has already been partly beached on a few occasions, but each time has managed to free itself.

According to blogger Andrew (eyedropper.co.uk), a BBC picture editor, if the whale should die it would be up to Admiral the Lord Boyce GCB OBE ‘to arrange for a tooth to be extracted and sent to the Natural History Museum, and a proper burial to be made’.

Friday, January 20, 2006

In Norway, the Oslo and Akershus County Medical Officer has announced that it is launching an inquiry into a possible scientific hoax, involving cancer researchers from Norway, the U.S. and Finland.

In October 2005, the Norwegian researcher Jon Sudbø along with 13 co-authors published the study in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet. The study claimed to detect a positive effect of ibuprofen in preventing oral cancer in smokers, based on a controlled case-study, entailing several hundred patients. On the basis of this study, a broader prospective multicenter study was to be started in 2006, partly funded by the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

On January 17th 2006 however, the Radium Hospital in Oslo, Norway announced that there were strong suggestions that the whole study was a hoax. The patient material presented appeared to be invented, and thus the whole study seems to be fraudulent.

The Radium Hospital in Oslo has hired an autonomous investigative committee to look into the matter, led by the Swedish epidemiologist Anders Ekbom from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm. The editor of the Lancet, Richard Horton, said that this was the worst research fraud he has dealt with in his time at The Lancet.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Legendary Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan has confirmed that his son Abhishek and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai were engaged last evening at a private ceremony at the Bachchans’ residence in Mumbai.

It is believed that the younger Bachchan proposed to his bride-to-be in New York, soon after the Toronto premiere of his new movie Guru. The media had been following the romance between the two closely for some time past, but this is the first time they have come out in the open about their relationship. Rumours that the couple were planning to spread the know began to spread in November last year, when they visited the Sankat Mochan Temple together, with some even saying that they had already been married even earlier at the Meenakshi temple in Madurai

According to one daily, the wedding will take place either on February 19 or March 7 at the Hyatt Mumbai. “The children have decided. We are very happy and thought we should go ahead with the ‘roka’ ceremony. It was held in the evening.”, Amitabh Bachchan said of the ceremony, which was attended by the family’s close friends, including Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, Aishwarya’s parents, and industrialist Anil Ambani and the latter’s wife Tina Ambani. The couple have now flown to Ujjain to take a holy dip in the Ganga.

Friday, February 18, 2011

On Tuesday, the 2011 BRIT Awards were presented from The O2 Arena in London, England. This is the first time that the awards ceremony has been hosted from this venue; previously, the regular location for the show was the Earls Court Exhibition Centre, which is also located in London.

The BRIT Awards, presented by the British Phonographic Industry, is an annual ceremony that awards music artists for excellence in music. The BRIT Awards started in 1980; this year’s event is the 31st BRIT Awards. ITV1 broadcasted this year’s programme from 2000-2200 UTC, with British actor and presenter James Corden hosting it.

The ITV1 programme contained performances from various artists, many of which had been nominated for BRIT Awards. The performers and the performances are displayed below but are not in chronological order. They are as follows:

• Take That – Kidz
• Adele – Someone Like You
• Rihanna – Only Girl (In the World) / S&M / What’s My Name?
• Mumford & Sons – Timshel
• Plan B – She Said / Prayin’
• Tinie Tempah, Eric Turner and Labrinth – Written in the Stars / Miami 2 Ibiza / Pass Out
• Arcade Fire – Ready To Start
• Cee Lo Green and Paloma Faith – Forget You

British rapper Tinie Tempah was nominated for most awards than any other artist, with ‘Best British Album’ and ‘Best British Male’ included amongst his four nominations. He was given two BRIT awards – one for ‘Best British Single’, which was Pass Out, and the second for ‘Best British Breakthrough Act’. Upon receiving what would turn out to be his first award of two, Tinie Tempah proclaimed: “I want to big up God and my family for sticking by me when times are hard.” Canadian indie rock group Arcade Fire were also successful in achieving two BRIT Awards, one for ‘Best International Group’ and the other for ‘Best International Album’; their album is entitled The Suburbs.

Dermot O’Leary presented an award to British pop group Take That for ‘Best British Group’, the first time the group have ever achieved such an award. While the group received the award, member Mark Owen looked at Robbie Williams, who had recently rejoined Take That, and said: “Can I say thanks for coming back mate. Appreciate it. It’s a real pleasure for the five of us to be up here.” The group had a second nomination for ‘Best British Album’ but were unsuccessful in winning the award.

Cee Lo Green, a member of the group Gnarls Barkley, received one BRIT Award for ‘Best International Male’. In his acceptance speech, he commented: “I’m so excited. Thank you so much for this honour. Such a pleasant surprise.” Cee Lo was also nominated for ‘Best International Album’ but failed to achieve the award.

Roger Daltrey, lead singer of English rock group The Who, humourously commented that “[i]t’s good to see the British music industry still has enough money for a good booze up” before giving the award for ‘Best British Album’ to Mumford & Sons for their album, entitled Sigh No More. Marcus Mumford, of the group, said that “[t]his is very bizarre, very strange. Thank you very much indeed. We are very honoured, very humbled.”

Mark Ronson and Ellie Goulding awarded the ‘Critics’ Choice’ to English singer-songwriter Jessie J. Backstage, Jessie J – who is currently at number one in the UK Singles Chart with her song Price Tag, featuring American rapper B.o.B – remarked that “[p]op stands for popular. I want to be a pop icon and take Britain across the world.”

Plan B, another British rapper, achieved the award for ‘Best British Male’. “There’s a lot of people I could be thanking right now, I wanna thank them all together,” he said during his acceptance speech. Having expressed thanks to various family members, friends, his record labels and the people he had worked with, he concluded his speech with the line: “Thank you, everybody. That’s all.”

Earlier in February 2011, Markus Dravs was given the BRIT Award for ‘Best British Producer’ by Chris Martin, a member of the group Coldplay; Dravs is co-producing a fifth album for the group at present. Dravs was nominated for his work in relation to Arcade Fire album The Suburbs and Mumford & Sons album Sigh No More. “You could hear it in the lyrics and in the commitment in the demos,” he commented. “I really wanted to get involved and see if I could help make the record.”

During the BRIT Awards programme on Tuesday, Cheryl Cole presented the ‘Best International Female’, which was won by Rihanna. The Barbadian pop and R&B singer exclaimed during her acceptance speech: “Britain, I love you! This is so exciting. I want to thank everybody at my label, Mercury […] all my fans here. You guys are the best! I love you so much. This is…this is big. It doesn’t get much bigger than the BRITs, so I love you guys. Thank you so much. This means a lot. I’m the only girl in the world!”

The award for ‘Best International Breakthrough Act’ was given to Justin Bieber, a Canadian pop music / R&B singer. Upon accepting the award, Bieber commented: “I want to thank all my fans over here. You guys are amazing. I want to thank the label over here”. Laura Marling was subsequently awarded ‘Best British Female’. After being presented with the award by Boy George, Marling said: “Thank you. My name’s Laura and there you go, mum. That’s for you and thank you very much to Adam and Laura and everyone at Virgin. This is really weird.”

Shortly after the broadcast of the main programme, performances became available to purchase via iTunes. The The BRIT Trust will receive all of the downloads’ profits as a donation.

Below, all of the recipients of the awards on Tuesday night are available to view in a list, which is not presented in chronological order.

• Best British Male – Plan B
• Best British Female – Laura Marling
• Best British Group – Take That
• Best British Single – Tinie Tempah – Pass Out
• Best British Album – Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
• Best British Producer – Markus Dravs
• Best British Breakthrough Act – Tinie Tempah
• Best International Male – Cee Lo Green
• Best International Female – Rihanna
• Best International Group – Arcade Fire
• Best International Album – Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
• Best International Breakthrough Act – Justin Bieber
• Critics’ Choice – Jessie J

Below is an image gallery displaying library photographs of some of the acts who appeared at the BRIT Awards 2011:

On Wednesday, the news emerged that the BRIT Awards 2011 gained approximately 4.8 million viewers, the smallest viewing figures the show has experienced for five years. The ratings of the ceremony were beaten by the last episode of Big Fat Gypsy Weddings in the series, broadcast on Channel 4 from 2100–2200 UTC on Tuesday; the viewing figures stood at approximately 6.5 million viewers. Holby City, broadcast on BBC One, also attracted more viewers than the BRIT Awards 2011. The programme, which was shown from 2000-2100 UTC, received approximately 5.8 million viewers.

Monday, March 12, 2007

The BBC says it is concerned for the safety of its correspondent in the Gaza Strip, Alan Johnston. The BBC said it had been unable to make contact with Johnston , however it did not make any comments on Palestinian reports that he had been kidnapped.

Johnston’s car was found abandoned in Gaza City shortly after he left his office to drive home.

Jaime Razuri, a photographer working for Agence France-Presse (AFP), was kidnapped January 1, 2007 and released a week later. On October 24, 2006, the Spanish photographer Emilio Morenatt of the Associated Press (AP) was kidnapped by Palestinian gunmen and freed later that day.

In all, 14 journalists in all have been kidnapped in Gaza since 2004. Johnston, 44, has been the BBC’s correspondent in Gaza for three years.

The BBC stated that:

Details of what happened are sketchy. Palestinian police said four gunmen were seen in the vicinity of where Johnston’s car was found. Palestinian Interior Minister Sayeed Sayyam said Johnston’s disappearance was a “criminal act”. Palestinian security forces set up checkpoints around Gaza and were searching for Johnston.

One of the few Western correspondents still inside Gaza itself, Johnston has been described by the BBC as a

According to Paul Adams, now the BBC’s diplomatic correspondent, himself a former Middle East reporter, said that:

Johnston was born in Tanzania and educated in Scotland. He joined the BBC in 1991 and has spent eight of the last 16 years as a correspondent, generally in the Middle East (in Nations such as Uzbekistan and Afghanistan). Johnston is on his last few weeks in Gaza.