Picking up some supplies! Smiling and make-up free Kelly Rowland shops for cosmetics at New York beauty emporium

One of the most enjoyable things about being a female is shopping for make-up, just ask Kelly Rowland.

The Destiny’s Child star was seen browsing the aisles at Ricky’s, a popular beauty store in New York, on Tuesday.

The 32-year old was working a low key look, with a grey beanie hat covering her hair, and just a slick of lipgloss on her otherwise bare face.

Natural beauty: Kelly Rowland looked effortlessly gorgeous as she stepped out with just a touch of lip gloss

Kelly smiled for the cameras as she left the shop holding a carrier bag full of her latest finds.

Dressed in a white T-shirt, black jeans and  pair of trainers, the only hint of her superstar status was the Louis Vuitton wallet she carried in one hand as she dashed out the shop to a waiting car.

Her huge diamond stud earrings were also a bit of a giveaway, and they sparkled beneath the shop’s strip lighting.

Unrecognisable: Kelly Rowland was low key dressed in a grey beanie hat, white T-shirt and jeans

 

Lose my breath: Kelly browsed the beauty products available at Ricky’s in New York looking casual and relaxed

The laidback look will surprise fans who are used to seeing the Atlanta-born singer looking nothing short of perfect with designer clothes and luxurious accessories.

Kelly was in New York as she was booked to perform at the Elle Women In Music Celebration, an annual event that honours women in rock.

As well as mingling with other guests, she performed at the event in front of a celebrity audience and certainly seemed to enjoy herself.

Winning smile: Kelly chatted warmly to another woman in the shop, perhaps to share some beauty tips

 

She tweeted: ‘Such a great night partying w/ @ElleMagazine at the Women in Music event! #NYC’S

The Commander singer looked casual in a pair of leather trousers and a white top with pink diamanté necklace and black and silver sandals.

She also sported a wrist full of sparkly pink bracelets and a chunky ring to match, but most noticeably was wearing a full face of make-up – perhaps using some products she had picked up at Ricky’s earlier that day.

Glamorous best: Kelly was looking glossy and gorgeous at the ELLE Women in Music Celebration the next day

Usual self: Kelly looked impeccable when she arrived at the ELLE Women in Music Celebration event

 

Pout and about: Kelly fooled around for the cameras as she arrived at the event in New York

 

One person who thoroughly enjoyed Kelly’s performance was Rita Ora, who was another star guest.

This year, the Hot Right Now singer, Adele and Alicia Keys grace three separate covers of the glossy for the May 2013 special issue.

Rita tweeted: ‘Roc’in out to Kelly!’ alongside a snapshot of herself in the audience. ‘Thank you for having me elleusa,’ she posted later.

Giving it her all: Kelly performed for the celebrity guests, and especially impressed Rita Ora

 

Girls night: Kelly, Martha Wainwright and Rita Ora pose together ahead of the ELLE Magazine event in New York

Rita had been photographed posing with the Destiny’s Child star and singer Martha Wainwright earlier in the evening.

The 22-year old made sure all eyes were on her by wearing a large floppy hat and black cape.

Five years after The Wire left screens, the TV set remains… how the real Baltimore is still poverty-plagued city of series

They are images which wouldn’t be out of place in the opening sequences of the ubiquitous Baltimore crime show The Wire.

Vacant rows of houses; children hanging around on street corners with nowhere to go and homeless people telling stories of disease and crime.

But rather than a fictionalized view of the Maryland city, these pictures reveal real-life scenes from an urban area hit hard by the recession and still stumbling dangerously into poverty.

Street court: This picture taken on April 8 shows a Baltimore boy shooting a basketball into a makeshift basket made from a milk crate

Deserted: Latest estimates say there are approximately 16, 000 vacant buildings in Baltimore and the city has lost five per cent of its population between 2000 and 2010

 

Homeless: There are approximately 4,000 homeless people in Baltimore. Angelo, who lives in a vacant property, points out a pin he had to have placed in his jaw after being attacked on the streets

The number of Americans living in poverty today hasn’t been seen since Lyndon Johnson was in the White House.

And Baltimore is among the urban areas said to be suffering the most.

The latest statistics released in September said one in four Baltimore residents were living in poverty.

It is better off than the likes of Detroit which has 35.5 per cent of residents living in poverty but that is scant relief to the thousands that live there and the many city natives who see no alternative but to leave.

Abandoned: Empty properties are seen across the city. Many are fearful the city has a long way to go to recover from the stresses placed on it during the recession

Making ends meet: Thousands of Baltimore residents live in homes flanked by abandoned properties as they struggle to stay afloat

 

Hanging around: Kids are seen making games in the streets between the abandoned homes

Baltimore lost nearly 5 per cent of its population from 2000 to 2010.

Across the city there are an estimated 16,000 vacant or abandoned buildings and in 2011 it was estimated there were 4,000 homeless people in the city.

‘People who were managing have now dropped into poverty,’ said Susan J. Roll, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work told the Baltimore Sun in 2011.

‘The poor are everywhere. They’re not just people living in shelters. They’re the person who poured your coffee. … They’re cleaning your office when you’re not there.’

Last year the poverty rate held steady compared to its worrying upward trajectory between 2009 and 2010.

Childhood poverty: 37 per cent of children in Baltimore are said to be living in poverty

Playtime: There are few places young people can go in Baltimore to escape the urban decay around them

 

Exodus: Baltimore has lost nearly a third of its population since it peaked in the 1950s

2010 government figures concluded that Baltimore’s poverty rate was 25.6 per cent – 15 percentage points higher than the poverty rate for Maryland and 10 percentage points higher than for the United States.

Even if it holds at that through to next year, many fear the damage has been done to future generations.

More than 37 per cent of young children were living in poverty in Baltimore in 2011 – up from 28 per cent in 2007, according to the Sun.

‘Researchers who have studied recessions in the past are concerned about the long-term effects of poverty on children and youth,’ Olivia Golden, a fellow at the Urban Institute research group in Washington told the newspaper. ‘We may be dealing with this for a long time.’

iPad gets lodged in car bumper after falling off driver’s roof and emerges hardly damaged

A 23-year-old woman drove her car around for almost an hour without noticing there was an iPad lodged in her bumper – and when she prized it out it was hardly damaged.

Alexa Crisa, from Atlanta, Georgia, was driving around her town on Friday when a vehicle turned out in front of her and something came flying into her car.

The owner of the iPad had put it on the roof of his vehicle with his wallet and drove off.

She hit the brakes and stopped but because she didn’t feel or see anything, she went about her day and drove around running errands for about an hour.

It was only after she came home and parked her car that her father Nick returned from work and noticed the iPad sticking out of the front of the car

 

Alexa said: ‘I went to Target and ran errands with this iPad hanging out of my bumper. I had no clue. I’m not even sure how I missed it.’

‘I went to Target and ran errands with this iPad hanging out of my bumper. I had no clue,’ Crisa told ABCNews.com. ‘I’m not even sure how I missed it other than I don’t check my bumper for random dislodged electronics.’

It was only after she came home and parked her car that her father Nick returned from work and noticed the iPad sticking out of the front of the car.

 

He said: ‘I went into the house and said, “Why’s there an iPad stuck to the front bumper of the car?”‘

‘I didn’t know. I mean, it was lodged so perfectly,’ Alexa Crisa said.

The device was wedged in so deeply that Mr Crisa had to use a hammer to knock it out. And though the screen was smashed, it worked enough for the app to flash the owner’s name and telephone number on to the screen.

Alexa Crisa, from Atlanta, Georgia, was driving around her town on Friday when a vehicle turned out in front of her and something came flying into her car

Alexa was able to return the tablet to its owner, who revealed he had unwittingly left the iPad and his wallet on top of his car and drove off

 

‘It was so remarkable that it was thrown from the roof of the car at 40mph and still looked like that,’ Alexa said. ‘It looked like nothing had happened to the back of the iPad.’

Alexa was able to return the tablet to its owner, who revealed he had unwittingly left the iPad and his wallet on top of his car and drove off.

He found his wallet in his driveway and got a new tablet through his Apple warranty plan.

He has offered to pay for the new bumper Alexa now needs for her car.

A picture of the iPad in Alexa Crisa’s bumper went viral with more than 1.5 million views after she posted it to her Facebook page.

Wild leopard savages 15 people – including 3 policemen – after wandering into Kathmandu suburb

• Angry crowd drag body of dead wild cat through the streets after attack

 

Marksmen have shot dead a leopard which seriously injured 15 people – including three police officers – after wandering into a suburb of Kathmandu.

A furious crowd dragged the mortally wounded animal through the streets of Gothatar on the outskirts of Kathmandu at around 6am today.

Graphic photographs capture residents fleeing for their lives as the leopard prowls between buildings.

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT

Fear: An armed policeman orders locals to flee for their lives as the cornered wild leopard bounds between houses in the suburb of Gothatar, Katmandu, Nepal, today

 

Armed police from Metropolitan Police Circle, Koteshwor, were on the scene within minutes and managed to corner the animal, but not before it had mauled more than a dozen residents.

Upto three policemen and two officials from the Department of Forest were injured as they tried to trap the wild cat, according to local reports.

Police said that all the injured were rushed to Mother Land Hospital, Pepsicola for the medical treatment.

An angry mob soon gathered around the animal, kicking and beating the feline as it lay on the dust.

Trapped: Locals stamp and beat the body of the leopard after it was mortally wounded by police

Fury: Nepalese people vent their frustration after the leopard attack by stamping on the head of the dead animal in Gothatar, Katmandu, Nepal, today

Recently some calves were killed by a leopard in the jungle bordering Mrigasthali of the Pashupati area and the Tribhuvan International Airport.

Officials have been under increasing pressure to act to prevent wild cat attacks following a spate of maulings, some of which have been fatal.

The issue of deadly wild animal attacks is said to be particularly acute in so-called buffer zones where human settlements and national parks border one another.

In recent years, Nepal has developed a successful protection programme for many endangered species.

Conflict: This is the latest in a growing number of animal attacks on poeple as towns and villages increasingly infringe on the habitat of wildlife

Shot dead: A crowd gathers around the dead leopard which had attacked 15 poeple, including three policemen, after wandering into a Kathmandu suburb today

 

Attack: The crowd drag the dead leopard which had attacked upto 15 people, including three policemen, through the streets of Gothatar in Katmandu, Nepal, today

Would you pay $1,500 to be abducted in broad daylight and tortured? Welcome to the bizarre world of ‘extreme kidnapping’

Adrenaline junkies are being warned that the upsurge in popularity of ‘Extreme Kidnapping’ could lead to dangerous confusion for the police and public.

Charging $500 for a four-hour ‘econo-kidnap’, the Detroit-based business has hit the news in recent weeks after the apparent broad daylight abduction of a New York couple turned out to be all a masochistic game.

Simulating a dramatic kidnapping experience complete with electric shocks and water-boarding, people pay anywhere up to $1,500 to be held overnight, with the firm even offering customized plans that even include the possibility of all-girl abductors.

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Detroit based firm ‘Extreme Kidnapping’ will allow its clients to experience a simulation of a real kidnapping for $500

Founded by sometime rapper and entrepreneur Adam Thick/Mr. Scrillion, Extreme Kidnapping was founded 10-years-ago, but now finds that 80-90 percent of its business comes from outside Michigan – mainly from tourists who fly in.

Only the paying customer or customers are allowed to be kidnapped and Thick suggests his clients come to Detroit to act out their fantasy because they will save ‘a ton of money’.

‘In terms of the industry – kidnapping for entertainment – it’s a niche,’ he said to MLive.Com. ‘If you’re another company trying to set something up like us, you can’t really compete with us. There’s really not much room (in the market) for a business like this.

‘You can have a couple, but it’s not the type of business where you would probably have five of them operating at one time.’

Clients pre-arrange the backstory of their kidnapping and even request the level of fear and intimidation they are exposed to – including the opportunity to be water-boarded

As part of the experience – clients arrange to be ‘abducted’ out of nowhere – to give the feeling of a real kidnapping

Adam Thick aka Mr. Scrillion, head of ‘Extreme Kidnapping’ will arrange for the client to be abducted and experience a simulation of kidnapping

Inspired by the David Fincher movie ‘The Game’, Extreme Kidnapping offers clients of the deluxe top of the range experience a torture menu.

The list asks if you are happy to be slapped, water-boarded, stunned by an electric gun and even suspended from the ceiling, while kindly also enquiring if the paying customer suffers any allergies.

Of course, along with the simulated masochistic experience there is a safety word which is agreed beforehand and Extreme Kidnapping even goes as far as to arrange a backstory as to why the client is being abducted.

Suggested story lines include a secret agent on a mission gone wrong, the heir to a large fortune taken for ransom or simply mistaken identity.

Torture techniques used in Extreme Kidnappings scenarios include being made to listen to particular music again and again.

GQ Magazine recently ran a profile on the Detroit firm and their reporter was subjected to Eurythmics ‘Sweet Dreams’ twenty times in a row until it became ‘a really, really annoying mantra’.

Other, more frightening noises were also played, such as a barking dog and huge amounts of water being sloshed and moved around.

Adam Thick aka Mr. Scrillion – he arranged for a reporter from GQ Magazine to experience a kidnapping experience in Detroit

Shanel Hill is a professional kidnapper with Mr. Thick and works to make the abduction experience as realistic as possible

The willing abductee found his thighs duct-taped together while his private parts were uncomfortably squeezed between them.

He was exposed to the threat of being burnt by a blow-torch which never materialized and was left for hours on his own in silence.

‘Finally my kidnappers came back down and led me back to the chair. Romeo ripped off my eye mask and I got hit with the floodlights,’ says the article in GQ.

‘Adam sat behind them. This is when my fake kidnapping turned into the world’s lamest improv class.’

Running through the fake identities pre-arranged, Adam acts as a frightening kidnapper – but then pulls the rug from under the one-time willing participant.

He claims that the fake kidnapping has now gone awry and is in fact now a real kidnapping – and that the reporter has fallen victim to a scam he has repeated many times before.

‘Extreme Kidnapping’ was inspired by the 1997 David Fincher film ‘The Game’ in which Michael Douglas plays a wealthy man who is fake – kidnapped in an elaborate scheme organized by his brother

However, once the ruse is bought by the now panicked client, Adam quickly relents and winds the scenario up – driving the customer back to their hotel or home and kicking them out of the SUV they were abducted in.

‘It’s more or less a thrill entertainment of a kidnapping scenario,’ said Shanel Hill, a professional abductor for the Detroit-based company called Extreme Kidnapping.

‘Some people come to us because they want to lose control,’ Hill said to ABC News.

However, some law enforcement experts say that the all-too-real kidnappings could create real-life danger.

A hoax? Men were seen sprinting away from the scene after allegedly kidnapping a couple at gunpoint on Friday afternoon. Police have now said it was an elaborate game
The alleged abduction of a married couple in New York made headlines earlier this month after a man had a plastic bag placed over his head and another masked man forced his wife into a minivan at gunpoint in broad-daylight.

While it turned out to be a hoax staged to celebrate a birthday, NYPD spent days seriously investigating the incident.

‘What you’ve done is create a situation where both the police, the victims and the fake bad guy could be harmed,’ ABC News analyst and former FBI special agent Brad Garrett said.

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Jenna Jameson ‘used brass knuckle iPhone case to beat up her assistant in salon’

• The 39-year-old former porn star allegedly accused her assistant of stealing from her when the fight began
• Assistant, who also has a brass knuckle iPhone case, claims Jameson punched her in the stomach and back
• Brass knuckles are banned in the state of California but the iPhone case appears to be only a replication

Former porn star Jenna Jameson used a brass knuckle iPhone case when she beat up her assistant in a California salon over the weekend according to reports.

Jameson, 39, was charged with battery after allegedly assaulting her assistant, Britney Markham, with the accessory turned weapon following accusations she had stolen from her.

Markham claims the mother of two entered a Newport Beach salon on Saturday yelling at her, hours before planning to celebrate her 39th birthday at Heat Ultra Lounge in Anaheim that night.

Beat down: Jenna Jameson allegedly used a brass knuckle iPhone case, possibly the one seen in her hand, to hit her assistant in a California salon over the weekend

Similar style:  Britney Markham, left, appears to own the same iPhone case, having posed in several pictures with the item that’s sold online for around $15

She allegedly used the case to punch her assistant in the stomach and back while yelling ‘I’ll f***ing kill you,’ TMZ reports.

Photos on a personal website belonging to Markham show that she too owns a brass knuckle iPhone case, replicating a weapon that is banned in the state of California.

Markham was hospitalized for her injuries, however not preventing her and Jameson from launching a Twitter feud they’ve since both deleted according to reports.

‘Wow just got robbed by a friend @britneymarkham she accused me of gusting her and then broke into my home and took everything,’ Jameson allegedly wrote on Twitter before deleting it on Sunday night.

Charged: Jenna Jameson, who was planning on celebrating her 39th birthday that night, was arrested and charged with battery

Markham later posted a video of herself in a hospital bed following the assault, according to The Bert Show, captioning it: ‘This is what you did to me and u accuse me of stealing.’

That video has since been removed as well.

According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Markham has since filed a restraining order against Jameson who was released from custody on Sunday.

Jameson, whose birthday was officially Tuesday, has been in a relationship with mix martial arts fighter Tito Ortiz since 2006. He is the father of her four-year-old twin boys.

Family life: Jenna Jameson has been in a relationship with MMA fighter Tito Ortiz since 2006. The couple have twin sons together

Last May, Jameson was charged with drunken driving after she crashed her car into a light pole.

She suffered minor injuries, but refused treatment.

In April 2010, Ortiz was arrested and charged with felony domestic abuse against Jameson. She was later seen in public with a bandage on her arm.

Ortiz subsequently said Jameson was addicted to pain pills and had been acting erratically.

Both parties later recanted their stories.

– dailymail.co.uk

Disgraced Lance Armstrong sells Texas home where he taped confessional Oprah interview for ‘at least $3.1M’ as he faces huge legal bills

• The disgraced cyclist had spent years renovating the 1.7-acre property
• Businessman who bought it has ‘taken out a $3.1m loan towards the cost’

 

Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong has sold his multi-million dollar mansion after spending years renovating it as he faces the prospect of prolonged legal battles over his ill-gotten prize money.

A local businessman reportedly took out a $3.1million loan to buy Armstrong’s home in Austin, Texas, which earlier this year served as the setting for his confessional televised interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Oil and gas businessman Al Koehler admitted that he bought the home, though he did not specifically state the amount that he paid.

Sold: Former athlete Lance Armstrong confirmed that he sold his 7,850-square-foot mansion in Austin

 

Inside peak: Former fans were given a look inside his home when Oprah Winfrey filmed their blockbuster interview inside the house in January

 

Local paper The Austin American-Statesmen says that the 1.7-acre property was previously listed in tax filings as being worth $3.9million.

That said, a local realtor asserted that the property was on the market for $10million.

The deed of trust taken out by Mr Koehler last week were only for $3.1million, hinting that the actual sale price was closer to the tax filing than to the unidentified realtor’s speculation.

It comes as little surprise that Armstrong decided to sell his house, since he may be facing a number of multi-million dollar lawsuits from sponsors looking to get back their prize money since he has admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs through much of his career.

Among his roster of lawsuits includes one for $12million from SCA Promotions, and a possible $100million lawsuit from the Justice Department as they may seek three times the amount that the Postal Service paid to sponsor him throughout his career.

He was stripped of his seven Tour De France titles and is currently banned from playing any and all sports professionally.

Guarded: Armstrong bought the house in 2004 and spent years renovating it. The sale comes as little surprise since he is facing multiple million-dollar lawsuits over his doping scandal

 

Place to hang: In the middle of his cheating scandal, Armstrong posted this picture of his seven ill-gotten Tour De France jerseys hanging in his media room upstairs in the Austin home

As the news of the investigation into his doping ring widened at the end of 2012, he remained undeterred and posted a picture to Twitter of him lying on the couch in his media room beside the seven yellow jerseys.

Now those jerseys are officially coming off the walls as the former athlete’s spokesman confirmed that he was moving out of the house, but said that the native Texan will remain in Austin.

Moving but not far: Armstrong’s rep said that he plans to stay in Austin even after the move

Armstrong bought the 7,850-square-foot mansion in 2004, and spent years renovating it with the team of architects that he had previously worked with on his homes in Spain, New York, the Bahamas and a second property in Texas.

The sprawling home has an open kitchen, manicured gardens, a stone staircase, and a pool with a cabana for outdoor entertaining.

He was so proud of the finished product that he gave an interview and tour to Architectural Digest where he talked about his love of art and his desire to turn the home into a true family house.

At the time of the 2008 interview, he had three children from his first marriage and told how he envisioned the house as a home to them where they- along with their mother, his ex-wife Kristen- would spend quality time together.

‘When their mom and I split, the kids and I moved around a bunch. But that’s over. This time I said, “You will graduate from high school in this house. I promise. Dad’s not moving again,”‘ he told the magazine.

Though that clearly is no longer the case, spokesman Mark Higgins did say that he plans to remain in Austin.

Former fans were given a more recent peak into the home when Oprah Winfrey filmed her shocking interview with Armstrong in January, as the former Queen of Daytime drilled him with questions about how he went about his extensive doping ring and why he chose to cover it up for years.

– dailymail.co.uk

Anonymous threaten to unmask boys who ‘drove 17-year-old girl to hang herself after they gang raped her and put photo on web’

• Hackers said it took them two hours to find tow of the boys linked to the death of the girl
• Rehtaeh Parsons ‘was raped by four classmates when she was 15’
• They ‘took a photo of the attack and circulated it around the school’
• Classmates and friends shunned her and she was forced to leave
• Police investigated but did not press charges due to insufficient evidence

Anonymous has vowed to expose the identities of the four boys behind the rape of a 17-year-old girl who killed herself after they circulated a photograph of the assault.

The hacking collective said that they knew who two of the supposed culprits were and that they were confirming the identity of a third before putting them on the Internet.

In a post the group added that it was ‘only a matter’ of time before they got the fourth as well.

Tragic: Rehtaeh Parsons, 17, has killed herself after allegedly being gang-raped and then bullied

Anonymous said that it took action after police in Nova Scotia, Canada, charged nobody over the death of Rehtaeh Parsons.

There were also no charges for any of the boys for sending the pictures to their friends.

Phantom menace: The hacking collective said that they knew who two of the supposed rapists of Rehtaeh Parsons were

Once the picture was spread around Rehtaeh’s school she was subjected to brutal bullying on and off the Internet, which was so bad she had to move school and move house.

Anonymous has now called for a protest outside the headquarters of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Halifax, near where Rehtaeh lived.

In a separate development, a petition calling for an independent inquiry into the police investigation has also been started and has attracted 65,000 signatures.

 

Rehtaeh hanged herself in her family’s bathroom on Thursday after months of torment and, on Sunday night, her parents took her off life support.

Questions are now emerging over whether authorities did enough to help the girl who relatives said quickly slipped from an A-student to a moody, unpredictable teenager.

An investigation was launched over the November 2011 rape but the RCMP says that there was not enough evidence for a prosecution, even for possession of indecent images of a child.

The Anonymous post is called ‘Operation Justice For Rehtaeh’.

It reads: ‘Anonymous has confirmed the identities of two of the four alleged rapists. We are currently confirming a third and it is only a matter of time before the fourth is identified as well.

‘Our demands are simple: We want the N.S. (Nova Scotia) RCMP to take immediate legal action against the individuals in question.

Twitter action: Anonymous has now called for a protest outside the headquarters of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Halifax as part of ‘Operation Justice For Rehtaeh’ on Twitter

 

 

‘We encourage you to act fast. If we were able to locate these boys within 2 hours, it will not be long before someone else finds them.

‘We do not approve of vigilante justice as the media claims. That would mean we approve of violent actions against these rapists at the hands of an unruly mob. What we want is justice. And That’s your job. So do it.

‘The names of the rapists will be kept until it is apparent you have no intention of providing justice to Rehtaeh’s family. Please be aware that there are other groups of Anons also attempting to uncover this information and they may not to wish to wait at all. Better act fast.’

It adds: ‘You will be held accountable for your failure to act.’

Anonymous has set up an email address and a Twitter hashtag #OpJustice4Rehtaeh to keep the story going.

The petition was set up on change.org by a woman called Sherri B from Halifax in Nova Scotia.

She said that it was not good enough that the RCMP investigated for a year but did nothing and asks: ‘How is this possible?’

The petition reads that ‘everyone saw her being bullied and shamed at school.’ It then goes on to say that ‘Nova Scotia’s Justice Minister Ross Landry must call an independent inquiry into this situation.

Struggle: After she was allegedly raped, her attackers spread a photo of the assault around her school

‘The Minister must find out if the police ran this investigation properly and determine if there is important evidence that was not taken into account when they decided to close this case.’

On a Facebook tribute page, Rehtaeh’s mother, Leah Parsons, described how her daughter was forever changed by the alleged assault in their hometown of Cole Harbour.

‘She went with a friend to another’s home,’ her mother wrote. ‘In that home, she was raped by four young boys. One of those boys took a photo of her being raped and decided it would be fun to distribute the photo to everyone in Rehtaeh’s school and community, where it quickly went viral.

The alleged attack left then 15-year-old Rehtaeh an outcast at Cole Harbour District High School, where her rapists were also students. Friends, students and strangers taunted her, her mother said.

‘People texted her all the time, saying “Will you have sex with me?”‘ she said. ‘Girls texting, saying “You’re such a slut”.

‘She was never left alone. She had to leave the community. Her friends turned against her. People harassed her… It just never stopped,’ her mother told CBC.

Sadness: Leah Parsons, Rehtaeh’s mother, pictured, said she believes the police investigation was flawed

 

Family: The family even moved to escape the bullies, but she still struggled with mood swings

Her parents moved from Cole Harbour to Halifax to help her escape the bullies and Rehtaeh made new friends and began hearing from her old school friends, who offered her their support.

She said her daughter also started therapy, which appeared to be helping. Yet she would become angry quickly, and last week’s suicide attempt was probably the result of a mood swing, Leah said.

‘She acted on an impulse, but I truly, in my heart of heart, do not feel she meant to kill herself,’ her mother wrote on Facebook. ‘By the time I broke into the bathroom, it was too late.’

The Canadian police launched an investigation, which took a year, but concluded there was insufficient evidence to bring up charges.

‘An investigation into an earlier sexual assault was completed, and in consultation with the Crown, there was insufficient evidence to lay charges,’ RCMP spokesman Cpl. Scott MacRae said.

They didn’t even interview the boys until much, much later,’ To me, I’d think you’d get the boys right away, separate them.”

Relatives said they saw the photograph but could not determine who had taken it, so were unable to charge the teenagers – even though the picture legally constituted child pornography.

‘The whole case was full of things like that,’ Leah said. We didn’t have a rape kit done because we didn’t even know until several days later when she had a breakdown in my kitchen. She was trying to keep it to herself.’

Bullied: Rehtaeh eventually left the high school when even her friends turned on her, her mother said

Loss: Her family said they do not believe she wanted to die but that it was a spur of the moment decision

RCMP spokesman Cpl. Scott MacRae confirmed to theChronicle Herald that the authorities are currently investigating a sudden death involving a young person, but would not provide further details.

Her mother said she wants other people to learn from the tragedy and how social media allowed her to be continually violated following the brutal rape.

Rehtaeh shared her sadness on Facebook, including a post on March 3 which read: ‘In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.’

Barrett Khan, a vice-principal at Cole Harbour District High School, told The Globe he couldn’t comment on the case as the teenager had left more than a year ago.

‘Our thoughts are with the family during this difficult time,’ a spokesman for the Halifax Regional School Board said in a statement. ‘We are not going to respond directly to the family’s comments as we do not want to add to their grief.’

– dailymail.co.uk

‘I turned to prostitution to fund my alcohol addiction’: Student, 22, reveals how she became hooked on alcopops at 15 and ended up consuming 100 units in one DAY

• Emma Gould became addicted to alcopops when she was just 15 years old
• Soon drinking daily, and once consumed 100 units in one session
• Drunken binges lead to 18 one-night stands by the time she was 21
• Turned to prostitution after wasting £3,000 of her student loan on drink

 

A university student has admitted turning to prostitution to fund her alcohol addiction.

Emma Gould became hooked on alcopops at just 15 years old and was soon downing up to 100 units a day – 86 more than the recommended weekly amount for women.

The 22-year old, from Ipswich, has even admitted she spent a £30 per week Education Maintenance Allowance to fund her addiction, which saw her downing seven cans of lager a week at school between lessons to cope with exam and essay stress.

Former binge drinker Emma Gould has revealed how she turned to prostitution to fund her addiction to alcohol

 

Miss Gould aged 20 on a student night out during the worst of her addiction in 2011 in Norwich. Emma started drinking at age 15 and was soon getting drunk on alcopops every weekend

She said she turned to prostitution after wasting a staggering £3,000 of her student loan on her binges – which could include two litres of vodka, a bottle of wine, a litre of cider and six cans of lager.

Miss Gould, who spent 10 months in rehab, said: ‘I’m disgusted by what I did. I was putting myself in terrible danger, but I was so desperate – that’s what addiction can do.’

By the time she left home at 18 to study Biomedicine at university she was dependent on alcohol and  admitted her binges lead to 18 one-night stands by the time she was 21.

She said: ‘I thought people preferred me tipsy – I was a fun drunk. Once I drank vodka in the morning to cope with a presentation and it became a habit.

‘I’d wake up with the shakes and nausea until I drank. I’d stumble into lectures but sit quietly so no one noticed.

‘I might have two litres of vodka, a bottle of wine, a litre of cider and six cans of lager, starting at 7am and downing more between lectures in the loos. On those days I’d usually collapse into bed at 6pm nable to stand.’

Miss Gould said while her university grades soon plummeted she managed to keep up her attendance and fool her friends and family by disguising her pallid skin with makeup.

 

Then and now:  Emma Gould at 15 (top) when her alcohol addiction started and now (bottom) fully recovered

A photograph of Emma Gould aged 20 on a student night out. She said she turned to prostitution after wasting a staggering £3,000 of her student loan on her binges

But by November 2011 Emma had spent all her money on alcohol and resorted to desperate measure to get her next fix.

She said: ‘It sounds crazy looking back, but I started thinking about having sex for money. Initially it was unthinkable. But it felt like my only option, my withdrawal symptoms were unbearable.’

After downing almost two litres of vodka, Emma went to Ipswich’s red light zone – the area where serial killer Steven Wright murdered five prostitutes in 2006.

She said: ‘I felt a little nervous, but I wasn’t scared. The drink gave me more confidence. It was freezing cold so I wore leggings, pumps and a nice top underneath my coat, hoping to appear inconspicuous.’

Within an hour Emma had been picked up by a 50-year-old man in a suit who paid her £50 to have sex in his car. Incredibly, she was too drunk to insist on a condom.

She said: ‘I refused to kiss him and hated feeling his hands all over me, but I tried to block it out. After half an hour he drove me back. I felt so dirty but made myself wait for another customer.’

 

Her marathon sessions could include which could include two litres of odka, a bottle of wine, a litre of cider and six cans of lager

Miss Gould then performed a sex act on another man for £50 and the next night returned to sleep with two more men who also paid her £50 each.

A week later she broke down and returned home to her parents but kept her prostitution a secret.
She said: ‘Mum was in tears – and Dad was so disappointed. They promised to help me but I felt like such a failure.’

In January 2012 she finally had her ‘wake-up call’ when she was rushed to hospital after vomiting blood. Doctors found her stomach lining had been destroyed by the alcohol.

Now Emma Miss Gould has been teetotal for ten months and turned her life around with the help of new boyfriend Matthew Noble, a 26-year-old IT technician, who she met online.

And she has finally been able to confide in her mother about her prostitution.

She said: ‘Mum cried and thinks she was a bad parent, but I only have myself to blame. I hate who I was then – it’s as if it was someone else.’

She added: ‘I want to show that alcoholism can happen to anyone. I come from a good background, but my addiction took over and I’m so ashamed I turned to prostitution.

‘You might think you’re in control of your drinking, but I’m proof it can spiral out of control. I’m learning to forgive myself and trying to leave the past behind me.’

Now Emma Miss Gould has been teetotal for ten months and turned her life around with the help of new boyfriend Matthew Noble, a 26-year-old IT technician, who she met online

Idyllic Greek island where Aristotle Onassis married Jackie Kennedy is ‘sold for £100million’ by his only surviving heir

• Athina Onassis Roussel, is granddaughter of the Greek shipping tycoon
• She is said to have agreed to sell Skorpios to a Russian billionaire
• Island, off coast of Greece, was bought by Onassis in 1962 for £10,000

The Greek island where Aristotle Onassis married Jackie Kennedy is believed to have been sold by his sole surviving heir for £100 million.

Athina Onassis Roussel, granddaughter of the Greek shipping tycoon, is said to have agreed to sell the island of Skorpios, in the Ionian Sea, to a Russian billionaire .

According to Greek media, the identity of the businessman has not been disclosed.

The Greek island where Aristotle Onassis married Jackie Kennedy is believed to have been sold by his sole surviving heir for £100 million

 

The island, off the western coast of Greece, was bought by Onassis in 1962.

At the time is believed to have cost just 3.5 million drachmas, the equivalent of about £10,000.

Six years later it hosted his wedding to Jacqueline Kennedy, the widow of the late President John F Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963.

After his death Skorpios passed to his daughter Christina, who died of a heart attack aged 37 in 1988, and then to Athina, the Daily Telegraph reports.

According to Greek press the contracts for the purchase of the private island are being drawn up by law firms in Athens and Geneva.

Farhad Vladi, whose company, Vladi Private Islands, has hundreds of islands on its books, told the paper that while he had not heard of the deal, it was possible Ms Onassis Roussel had decided to sell the island.

Athina Onassis Roussel, granddaughter of the Greek shipping tycoon (top as a child holidaying on the island, and bottom), is said to have agreed to sell the island to a Russian billionaire

Jackie Onassis and Aristotle Onassis, on Skorpios, Greece in 1968. The island, off the western coast of Greece, was bought by Onassis in 1962

The family home on the island. After his death Skorpios passed to Onassis’ daughter Christina, who died of a heart attack aged 37 in 1988, and then to Athina

He said: ‘These Russian oligarchs have billions, so it may be that one of them came along and said “I will give you 100 million or 200 million euros for it”. Anything is possible.’

He was asked by Ms Onassis Roussel to carry out an evaluation of the island eight years ago.

It is believed she has little interest in spending time on the island, or in Greece.

He said the water comes from a mountain bought by Aristotle Onassis on a nearby island, and that anyone who bought the island would need to buy the mountain also, which he estimated would cost upwards of 100 million euros.

The island hosted many parties during the time of Aristotle Onassis, who is buried there, as is his daughter and his son, Alexander, who died in a plane crash in 1973.

It is also home to three residences, a helicopter landing pad and a boat quay.

Swiss-educated Ms Onassis Roussel is the only surviving descendant of the shipping magnate.

Aristotle Onassis with Maria Callas on Skorpios Island in the 1960s. It hosted his wedding to Jacqueline Kennedy, the widow of the late President John F Kennedy

Ms Onassis Roussel was born in France, and is the only child of Christina Onassis and her fourth husband, Thierry Roussel.

She is married to Brazilian Olympic show jumper, Alvaro de Miranda Neto, and lives in Sao Paulo.

In the past there have been rumours that Giorgio Armani, Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, and Madonna were interested in buying the tiny island.

 

Sir Paul McCartney tops rich list of musical millionaires for 25th consecutive time… but £30m Adele leaves Cheryl in the shade

 

 

 

 

 

• Former Beatle shares a £680million fortune with his wife Nancy Shevell
• Topped list of wealthy musicians every year since it started in 1989
• Andrew Lloyd Webber is second on the chart with a fortune of £620 million
• He is followed by Irish rockers U2 in third with £520 million

 

Sir Paul McCartney has conquered the charts again – coming top of the Sunday Times Rich List of musical millionaires.

 

The former Beatle shares a £680 million fortune with his wife Nancy Shevell, according to the researchers who put the list together.

 

He has topped the list of wealthy musicians every time it has been put together since 1989 when his fortune was estimated at £80 million.

 

 

 

 

Adele tops the rich list of young stars with a fortune of £30million compared to Cheryl Cole’s £14million

The five members of One Direction have racked up a £5 million fortune each in the last year

 

 

 

Sir Paul McCartney has conquered the charts again – coming top of the Sunday Times Rich List of musical millionaires

 

 

 

Andrew Lloyd Webber was second in the chart with a fortune of £620 million

At least some of his fortune comes from his wife – the heiress to a US transport firm – who is said to be worth £150million alone.

Sir Paul is not the only entry to get a boost in their fortune from their partner – a combined fortune of £200million puts Victoria and David Beckham in the top 10, while Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne and Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow also feature.

Andrew Lloyd Webber was second in the chart with a fortune of £620million, followed by Irish rockers U2 with £520million.

The five members of One Direction have racked up a £5million fortune each in the last year.

 

U2 (left to right) Larry Mullen, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Bono, came third in the list with a combined fortune of £520million

 

 

The group, which was put together on X Factor, stormed the United States in 2012 with their debut album Up All Night.

 

But the band still has a way to go before catching up with Adele who tops the Young Music Rich List with a fortune of £30million.

 

The singer made £10million in the last year despite taking much of it off to recover from a throat operation and have a baby according to researchers from the Sunday Times Rich List.

 

Cheryl Cole’s fortune is estimated at £14million, while Leona Lewis and Katie Melua are both worth £12million.

 

New entries to the list of music millionaires aged 30 and under include Emeli Sande and Ed Sheeran who are each worth £5million.

 

Family burned to death in feud over a pushchair: Fed-up neighbour ‘killed five in rage after it was left outside her door’

• Lee-Anna Shiers, 20, her nephew Bailey, four, and niece Skye, two, all died
• Son Charlie, 15 months, and his father Liam Timbrell died in hospital after
• Neighbour Melanie Smith, 43, of N Wales, accused of five counts of murder

 

Five family members were murdered by a neighbour who set fire to their baby’s pushchair because she was fed up with it being left outside her front door, a court heard yesterday.

It caused a ‘devastating’ inferno which trapped Lee-Anna Shiers, 20, her partner Liam Timbrell, 23, their baby son Charlie, 15 months, Miss Shiers’s nephew Bailey, four, and niece Skye, two, in their first-floor flat.

As the fire took hold, Mr Timbrell was heard in the background of a 999 call played to the jury screaming: ‘Oh my God, oh my God, we’re going to die.’

Victims: Skye Allen, aged two years, and Bailey Allen, four, who were killed in the fire in the first-floor flat in Prestatyn, North Wales

Fire deaths: Lee-Anna Shiers, 20, and her 15-month-old son Charlie were both killed following the blaze

He and Charlie were brought out alive by firefighters.

Despite being badly burned Mr Timbrell managed to tell police that, moments earlier, he heard his neighbour Melanie Smith, 43, shouting through the letterbox: ‘I’m going to burn your house down.’

Mr Timbrell and Charlie died in hospital. Miss Shiers, Bailey and Skye, who were the children of Miss Shiers’s brother Steve Allen and were sleeping over for the night, perished in a loft bedroom.

Mold Crown Court heard that the fire was deliberately started by jobless Smith, a mother of two who lived in a flat below.

She had allegedly repeatedly rowed with Miss Shiers over Charlie’s pushchair being left in a communal hallway, as well as the couple making noise upstairs.

Jealous Smith had also accused Miss Shiers of having a sexual relationship with her partner Steven Clarkson, 45, an allegation, said Ian Murphy QC, prosecuting, for which there was ‘no basis at all’.

Blaze victims: Liam Timbrell with Lee-Anna Shiers and their baby Charlie shortly after his birth. All three of them died in the fire

Accused: Melanie Smith, centre, sits in the dock as she listens to evidence on the first day of her trial yesterday in this court drawing

On one occasion Smith, a heavy drinker, is alleged to have told Miss Shiers: ‘I will set your house on fire with you and your kids in.’ Seven weeks later, it is alleged, she carried out the threat.

The jury was told that Miss Shiers habitually kept the pushchair in the downstairs hallway, pushed up against the door which gave access to a staircase leading to the upstairs flat in a block in Prestatyn, North Wales.

‘I will set your house on fire with you and your kids in’

What Melanie Smith allegedly told neighbour Lee-Anna Shiers

Mr Murphy said that on October 19 last year ‘this pushchair and items left on top of it were deliberately ignited with a naked flame… and a devastating fire developed rushing up the stairs to the flat above and killing all of those inside’.

In the months leading up to the tragedy, it is alleged, Smith made repeated threats of arson, beginning in August last year when she threatened to burn down the house of another local woman, Samantha Schofield, who she also believed was having an affair with Mr Clarkson.

Then, on September 1 last year, Smith got into a drunken argument with Miss Shiers, saying: ‘I am going to set your house on fire with you and your kids in it.’

She was later overheard accusing Mr Clarkson of sleeping with Miss Shiers, adding: ‘I will burn the house down with her and the kids in it.’

Defendant: Melanie Smith arrives at Mold Crown Court yesterday underneath a blanket. She is accused of the murder of five people who died in the fire

Fire: The smoke-damaged property in Prestatyn after the blaze which killed five people last year

 

On the day of the fire Smith told a friend she was going to ‘torch or bomb’ her flat so the landlord wouldn’t get any money for rent.

Mr Murphy said that Smith also repeated three times that she was going to ‘kill,’ although she was not specific about who or when.

On the same day Smith also admitted to her hairdresser that she didn’t like her neighbours and hoped ‘they’d burn to the ground’ because then the council would have to find her a new home.

Later, she was visited by her landlord and began ‘ranting aggressively’ about Miss Shiers, calling her a ‘scruffy, dirty bitch’. Smith then went out drinking before returning home shortly before 9pm.

Fifty minutes later a neighbour, Joe Shelley, spotted flames inside the porch of the flats and made the 999 call.

Smith, of Prestatyn, denies five counts of murder and one count of making a threat to destroy or damage property. The trial continues.

– dailymail.co.uk

Girl, 11, spends NINE DAYS in hospital on a drip after newly-pierced ear becomes infected

• Destiny Nickson’s ear became infected two weeks after it was pierced
• Returned to the salon to have it cleaned but it swelled dramatically
• GP gave her antibiotics but they did not work and the infection got worse
• Was admitted to hospital twice and had the wound lanced and stitched up
• She also needed IV antibiotics and could now be scarred for life

 

Destiny Nickson, 11, spent nine days in hospital after her newly pierced ear became infected

An 11-year-old schoolgirl was forced to spend more than a week in hospital after her newly-pierced ear became infected.

Destiny Nickson, from Preston, needed eight stitches and IV antibiotics after the ear swelled dramatically.

She is now facing a six week recovery period and the possibility of being scarred for life.

Destiny had the top of her ear pierced on March 1 and, while it was fine for the first two weeks, it soon became infected.

The schoolgirl returned to the beauty parlour in Preston Indoor Market, where the initial piercing was carried out and explained the problem.

The staff removed the earring, cleaned her ear, and put a new earring in.

They also insisted they could not be blamed for an infection that took hold three weeks after the piercing.

Destiny’s mother, Veronica Nickson, 37, said: ‘It was okay for two weeks. It’s not the first piercing that has caused the real damage.

‘I know there is a risk with ear piercing. It’s what they did the second time when she went back that is my main concern.’

By the time she got home from the salon, Destiny’s ear had ‘doubled in size’, her mother claims.

Seeing the swelling, she took her daughter to the doctor who gave her antibiotics.

This failed to resolve the problem which just got progressively worse.

Eventually, Destiny was admitted to Royal Preston Hospital on March 26 where she had the wound lanced and stitched up before she was discharged three days later.

Destiny (pictured with mother, Veronica) is now facing a six week recovery period and the possibility of being scarred for life

However, she then had to be readmitted on April 2 and was kept in for six days while she was given antibiotics through a drip.

Ms Nickson said: ‘She had it lanced twice and she had surgery on it twice. After that she was on an IV drip of antibiotics.

‘They put two drains in it because the blood was collecting in her ear and the infection had rotted her cartilage.

‘She has actually lost some of that cartilage. She is a pretty girl and it could have a big impact on her life. The surgeon has said it could take up to six weeks to heal.’

Ms Nickson has raised concerns about the treatment her daughter received from the tattoo and piercing studio.

However, Danny Kynaston, master body piercer at Beauty Spot, the piercing and tattoo parlour that Destiny visited, said his team carry out hundreds of ear piercings every week without any complaints and had followed stringent guidelines.

The salon that pierced Destiny’s ear claims it cannot be responsible for an infection that appeared three weeks after the piercing

Mr Kynaston added that if his shop had caused the infection it would have been apparent within 24 hours, not three weeks later.

He said: ‘We pierce a lot of people’s ears, more people in Lancashire than anyone probably, and this is a first for us.

‘I don’t re-use anything, everything isn’t cleaned, it’s thrown away.

‘The drill goes away and is sterilised at a warehouse. There is no chance of infection.

‘If it was after about 24 hours I might think to myself something has gone wrong here, but three weeks later it’s clearly not to do with us.’

He added that in very rare cases people can be allergic to the titanium used in all their piercings.

He said: ‘We take it out and put a plastic one in if that’s the case.

‘She would have got instructions on how to clean it. We give them free sea salt and instructions on how to use it.’

– dailymail.co.uk

Fraudster couple funded champagne lifestyle of exotic holidays and a plush home in £1million insurance and benefits scam

• Elina Jaksone and Gagik Manucharyan exploited other immigrants
• Promised to get them car insurance but lied to secure cheaper deals
• Cheated taxpayers out of £340,000 by failing to report earnings to HMRC
• Spent cash on holidays in Jamaica

An immigrant couple who enjoyed a champagne lifestyle have been jailed for what is believed to be the biggest car insurance scam of its kind in Britain.

Latvian Elina Jaksone and her Cypriot partner Gagik Manucharyan raked in close to £1million by duping hundreds of innocent motorists with a ‘ghost’ insurance scheme.

They offered cut-price insurance by using false details, leaving customers involved in accidents totally exposed and without any of the coverage they paid for.

Jailed: Gagik Manucharyan, left, and Elina Jaksone, right, have been imprisoned for defrauding insurance companies out of thousands and spending the money on holidays in destinations like Mauritius, pictured

They pocketed £100-a-time from the scam, raking in about £920,000 over seven years. They spent it on a luxury home, driving ‘his and hers’ Mercedes, enjoying five-star exotic holidays and even sent one of their children to private school.

Canterbury Crown Court heard the shameless pair, from Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, did not pay a penny in tax on their earnings of more than £130,000 a year and owed the Inland Revenue £340,000.

Jaksone, 36, also pocketed £82,000 in benefits to which she was not entitled by posing as a single mother and using her own mother’s details to falsely claim pension credits and the winter fuel allowance.

Judge James O’Mahony called the couple ‘greedy and selfish’ and ordered them to be deported after they had served their sentences.

Home: The immigrant couple bought this luxury house in Kent using their ill-gotten gains

Lifestyle: The fraudsters made enough money to send their son to an elite private school

He said they ‘couldn’t have cared less’ for the financial suffering of their clients left with void insurance. He added: ‘You have made a considerable amount of money but paid not one penny piece of tax.

‘You spared yourself little of the best things in life; expensive cars, holidays in Mauritius and Jamaica and private education for one of your children.’

Manucharyan, 40, was jailed for five years and two months and Jaksone, 36, for five years, for insurance and benefit fraud. The judge rejected a plea by their lawyers to spare them jail because they would miss their children, adding: ‘That misery is of your own making.’

More than 30 drivers who took out policies through the couple gave evidence against them.

The jury heard how the couple told clients they could secure discount insurance through their firm, then used false details to take out cheap policies with legitimate firms.

The couple pocketed about £100 in brokerage fees for each policy they arranged. The fraud came to light after tip-offs to the HMRC, and an investigation by the Serious Organised Crime Agency and Department for Work and Pensions.

After the trial David Margee of HMRC said the scam was the ‘largest of its kind’ in the UK, adding: ‘They cheated honest, law-abiding people, spending their ill-gotten gains on a lifestyle many of us can only dream of.’

– dailymail.co.uk

Britain’s pot-holed roads are SO BAD Honda is is forced to build special track in Japan to test new cars

• Japanese roads are too good to mimic British driving conditions
• UK road surfaces are more absorbent, leading to cracks when water freezes
• Test track also includes UK-style roundabouts and road signs

Engineers have had to test Honda cars on a copy of a UK road to see if the Japanese vehicles are robust enough to survive motoring conditions here.

The four-mile test track at the Takasu centre in Hokkaido cracks easily and is noisy to drive on.

It has sharp turns like those found on many rural highways and can recreate the sub-zero temperatures found in winter.

A genuine UK pothole: Japanese car maker Honda has had to build a special test facility to recreate the terrible conditions on British roads, like this one in the Sefton Park area of Liverpool

For added realism, it even has UK road signs and roundabouts.

Honda said the track was necessary because British roads absorb more water than the harder surfaces used in continental Europe.

When this water freezes, it expands and cracks road surfaces, resulting in the classic English pothole.

Paul Watters, from the AA, described the development as a ‘sad indictment’ of the British road system. He said: ‘Unfortunately, it seems potholes are here to stay, so car manufacturers are right to invest in trying to prepare cars for the conditions here.’

A Honda spokesman said: ‘The road surfaces in continental Europe, especially in the North, are paved with hard material that does not absorb water.

‘This is because, in severe winter, absorbed water in the material may freeze, turn into ice and destruct the roads.

Round and round: The company’s test track in Hokkaido also includes unique features of British roads like roundabouts, which rarely appear along the highways of other countries

‘England does not tend to suffer with this severe winter, and so the surface is made with softer materials with many pores to absorb rain to prevent a slippery surface.

‘As a result, UK roads have a rougher surface, which creates more road noise than other European roads.

‘What Honda wanted to replicate in Takasu was this type of road surface.’

Poor road surfaces have often been blamed for hefty repair bills and last year local councils in Britain had to pay out nearly £23million in compensation to drivers whose cars have been damaged by potholes.

But, Honda says, the main reason for building their four-and-a-quarter mile track – which is so realistic it even includes UK road signs – is to mimic the soft road surfaces of British roads.

Ginza, Tokyo: Japanese roads are too good to mimic driving conditions in the UK, Honda has said

The 1957 Hoover still wiping the floor with new vacuums: Meets the great-grandmother whose 56-year-old appliance is still going strong

• Gwen Trickett, 77, from Barnsley bought her Hoover Junior in 1957
• Five decades on it is still in full active service

Gwen Trickett, a  no-nonsense 77-year-old great-grandmother with a Yorkshire accent as thick as porridge, is musing on the shortcomings of society. ‘The young ones now, they’re not like our generation, are they?’ she says.

‘People have too much money. They won’t get things mended. They’d sooner throw ’em away and get a new one.’

Chucking stuff is not Gwen’s style.

A real sucker: Vince tests out the 56-year-old Hoover as Gwen looks on

I hope she won’t mind me saying, but I’ve not really come to her house — a semi with a neat front garden on the outskirts of Barnsley — to meet her. I’m here to look at one of Gwen’s household appliances: her 56-year-old Hoover.

Her vacuum cleaner is a bit of a celebrity. Gwen’s local paper ran a piece about someone who has a 38-year-old freezer. The newspaper asked whether any other readers could boast of a longer-lived household appliance.

Well, Gwen could and she got in touch. She bought her Hoover Junior in 1957. And five decades on it is still in full active service, week in, week out, on her blue and red floral carpets (which are, I can report, spotless).

So what is her Hoover like? As she ushers me in through her front door, it’s on the carpet facing me — standing bolt upright, like a soldier on parade.

Old faithful: Gwen did get a new vacuum ten years ago but doesn’t use it as she prefers her Hoover

True, it is scratched and scuffed — wouldn’t you be if you’d been shoved under the couch and the sideboard thousands of times? But the only parts that have ever been replaced are the wire flex (once), cloth dustbag (once) and belt (a handful of times).

To get some idea of her Hoover’s longevity, you need to transport yourself back to April 1957.

Lonnie Donegan, Elvis Presley and Tommy Steele were dominating the hit parade; Peter Cushing as Young Frankenstein was at the cinema; and prime minister Harold Macmillan was a few weeks away from announcing that we’d ‘never had it so good’.

And Gwen — along with her husband Derek, now 84, whom she’d married a month earlier — had gone shopping for a vacuum cleaner in Barnsley town centre.

‘Back then, if you got married before the start of the tax year, you’d get a rebate from the taxman. I can’t remember how much money we got, but it felt like a lot. We decided we’d spend the money on a vacuum cleaner.’

In the late Fifties, there were rival models by Goblin and Electrolux, but in that era Hoover dominated the market and she knew that’s what she’d end up with.

Stood the test of time: It might be a little battered but the Hoover still works

Little realising at the time the future significance of her purchase, Gwen remembers very little about the shopping trip. She’s sure she bought the Hoover in Barnsley, but is not clear whether she went to Curry’s (which started as a bicycle business in 1884) or a local store. And she doesn’t remember how much she paid.

Luckily, the company — now known as Hoover-Candy, since the British branch of the American firm was bought by an Italian company in the Nineties — is able to help out.

A spokeswoman says Gwen’s Hoover Junior sold for around £20 in 1957. That’s the equivalent of nearly £420 in today’s money, four times the price of a basic Hoover model now.

I do a quick calculation. Gwen says she has used her Hoover two or three times a week. If each session lasted, say, 20 minutes that equates to 2,400 hours of use. That’s 100 solid days and nights of continuous Hoovering. With one Hoover.

That’s pretty incredible, I tell Gwen. Have your other domestic appliances held out as well?

She shakes her head. During her married life, she’s been through five ovens, four washing machines, as many toasters and up to 20 kettles. ‘They don’t last long, do they?’ she says.

It’s time to put the beast into service. Can I have a go with your Hoover, I ask.

Value for money: The appliance cost £20 when it was bought in 1957 after Gwen got married

Gwen happily consents. After all, husband Derek — who normally does the vacuuming these days — is sitting with his feet up in the conservatory, enjoying an afternoon snooze. (Incidentally, Gwen says Derek isn’t enjoying all this fuss about their Hoover.)

So how do I use it? ‘It’s got one button. On and off. That’s enough for me.’

I press it. The big cloth dustbag puffs itself up like an over-proud set of bagpipes at Hogmanay. And, as with bagpipes, a din envelopes the room.

This old technology may be reliable, but it’s certainly noisier than its modern equivalent.

There’s no question, however, that the suction is every bit as good as my Miele vacuum cleaner at home.

And the Hoover is surprisingly nimble. Moving it back and forth over Gwen’s short-pile carpet, I find it light to manoeuvre and easy to swivel into corners (though, to be fair, I should add that its strong suction makes it rather less easy to use on Gwen’s big, fluffy rug).

Then Gwen reveals a surprising secret. Hers is not a one-vacuum household.

Tucked away upstairs is a second cleaner, one she sheepishly refers to as the ‘new one’.

In fact, it’s not new at all: it’s ten years old. It’s a plastic thing that doesn’t suck up the dirt nearly as well as her 1957 Hoover Junior. They never use it.

Why did they get a second vacuum cleaner?

‘It was my husband who decided to buy it,’ says Gwen. ‘He got it because we’d had our other one so long he thought we should have a new one.

‘But the new one simply doesn’t do what I want it to do. It doesn’t pick up the same as my old one.’
Aha! A rogue purchase by a rogue of a husband. She points towards the conservatory, where Derek is still snoozing.

With a conspiratorial wink, she smiles: ‘Normally he’s frightened of spending money. But not this time he wasn’t — and he made a mistake.

‘Now you know why he’s stuck in there, don’t you?’

– dailymail.co.uk

Nelson Mandela’s family at war over his ‘millions’: Children launch court case over company ownership as apartheid hero battles back from pneumonia

• Daughters Makaziwe and Zenani file case against business associates
• It was filed day after he returned from six day hospital stay
• Businessmen say they were appointed by the 94-year-old hero

Former South African president Nelson Mandela, 94, pictured at his home in Qunu, South Africa on Sunday. His two daughters have launched a legal challenge against his business associates

The children of Nelson Mandela have launched a court case against several business associates of the former president in a dispute over the control of two companies, a South African newspaper said.

The Star says the case was filed Monday in the Johannesburg High Court by Mandela’s daughters, Makaziwe and Zenani.

It was supported by the grandchildren of the anti-apartheid leader, who recently left a hospital after treatment for pneumonia.

The court papers reportedly say lawyers George Bizos and Bally Chuene, and businessman Tokyo Sexwale, have no right to remain as directors of companies whose main purpose was to channel funds from the sale of 94-year-old Nelson Mandela’s handprints.

The newspaper quoted Bizos as saying the Mandela daughters are ‘trying to get their hands on the money’, estimated to be more than £1.1million.

The two daughters claim that Bizos, Sexwale and Chuene were never appointed by Mandela as major shareholders or directors. Bizos claims the allegations are completely false.

‘There is no basis to the allegations. We are not hijackers. We don’t hijack things.

‘We are confident we were regularly appointed at the wish of Mr Mandela five years ago.’

The South African presidency announced the 94-year-old had been cleared to leave the Pretoria hospital following ‘a sustained and gradual improvement in his general condition.’

Nelson Mandela was discharged from hospital on Sunday following a nine-day stay for treatment of pneumonia.

It was the third hospital visit for the former anti-apartheid leader since December when he underwent treatment for gallstones and a lung infection.

Makaziwe was from Mandela’s first marriage to Evelyn Ntoko Mase, which collapsed in divorce in 1957 and Zenani is from his second marriage to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who he was also separated from.

Mandela remarried to Graca Machel, widow of Samora Machel, the former Mozambican president and ANC ally who was killed in an air crash 12 years earlier, on his 80th birthday in 1998.

George Bizos denies the sisters’ accusations and claim they after money

Winnie Madikizela Mandela (right) and her daughter Zenani Dlamini left) in 2003

Mandela and his former wife Winnie salute well-wishers as he leaves Victor Verster prison after 27 years

Mandela and his wife Graca Machel in 2005. They married in 1998

– dailymail.co.uk

Artist is really handy with a brush… as she paints these cute fairytale images on your palm

• Svetlana Kolosova, 30, from Moscow, spends hours creating the images

 

An artist has created a quirky canvas for her fairytale-like paintings – the palm of her hand.

Svetlana Kolosova creates intricate and colourful scenes on her left hand featuring whimsical characters from her imagination.

But they can only last one day before she has to clean them off.

Striking: Artist Svetlana Kolosova has been creating stunning paintings on her palm for the past five years

Handy talent: Svetlana Kolosova can spend hours painting the whimsical artwork onto her left hand

Intricate: Svetlana Kolosova conjures up her intricate and colourful scenes entirely from her imagination

The 30-year-old from Moscow can spend between one and three hours painstakingly applying the paint to her hand, depending on the complexity of the picture.
She explains: ‘I never had a goal to find an unusual canvas for drawings.

‘I have a lot of paintings on canvas and paper, but the drawings on the palms of the hands I invented myself about five years ago.

 

Handy talent: Svetlana Kolosova paints images which are inspired by her childhood

 

Whimsical: Svetlana Kolosova says she prefers to paint on the palm of her hand rather than use the more traditional canvas

Exquisite: Svetlana manages to capture amazing detail in her hand sized paintings

 

Ephemeral: It may take hours for artist Svetlana Kolosova to create, but her work gets washed off at the end of the day

Poet and songwriter Svetlana started by drawing Autumn scenes on maple leaves but was inspired to use her hand by her own poems.

‘I wanted to draw Autumn scenes on leaves and in my poems leaves are often compared with the palms so I thought why not use my hand as a canvas?’

Svetlana first outlines her plans for the picture with a gel pen and then uses watercolours to complete the painting.

Poetic: Svetlana Kolosova prefers to paint colourful fairytale scenes inspired by her own poetry on her hand

 

Inspiration: The 30-year-old says she has a lot of paintings on canvas but chose to paint onto her hand in order to reinvent herself

 

Evocative: Poet and songwriter Svetlana takes inspiration from famous authors such as Hans Christian Andersen and Antoine de Saint Exupery

Her scenes are inspired by authors such as Hans Christian Andersen and Antoine de Saint Exupery, whose Little Prince makes an appearance in one of the paintings.

Svetlana believes that another advantage of drawing on the body is that the pictures are not static.

‘These pictures can move. If you compress or decompress your hand a little or bend the fingers, then the painted angel tilts its head or spreads its wings.

Living art: Svetlana Kolosova chose to paint on her palm because she fells it adds a living aspect to her work which a static canvass would not

 

Fleeting: Svetlana Kolosova admits she feels sad what she has to wash off the painstakingly created artwork after only a day

 

Freedom: Svetlana says she enjoys the freedom to manipulate and move the finished image which painting onto her palms allows

‘But I do not call this body art. I draw only on the palms. And only in order to create a living picture, in which the heart beats.’

Svetlana admits she feels sad when she has to cleanse her hand of the image.

‘Such pictures can only live one day, then they have to be washed a…’

Handy work: Svetlana admits she feels sad when the time comes to wash her work

 

Angelic: Svetlana Kolosova draws on poetry and short stories for inspiration

 

Complexity: Svetlana Kolosova spends between one and three hours painstakingly applying the paint to her hand, depending on the complexity of the picture

Grisly truth behind Rhino Poaching: Rotting carcass of majestic beast slaughtered for horns that are worth more than gold discovered in South Africa

• Carcass of poached rhino discovered at South Africa’s Kruger National Park
• 36 poachers have been arrested at the famous game reserve this year alone
• Brings the number of rhinos slaughtered in South Africa this year to 203
• Poaching fuelled by illegal trade in rhino horn – now more valuable than gold

Lying lifeless on the bleached grass of a South African game reserve is the latest rhino to fall victim to poachers in their ruthless pursuit of the creatures’ valuable horns.

This grisly photographs reflect the damage wrought by increasing numbers of poachers eager to exploit demand for rhino horn – which now has a street value higher than gold in some countries.

The rhino, which was shot at the Nwanetsi picnic site on the famous game reserve, is the 203rd to be poached in South Africa this year alone.

Poaching: The carcass of a rhino is seen lying in the dirt at the Nwanetsi picnic site in Kruger National Park, South Africa

 

A total of 60 poachers have been arrested in South Africa in 2013 – 36 of those in Kruger National Park.

South Africa, which is home to an estimated 21,000 rhinos, saw more than 660 of the creatures slaughtered by poachers for their horns last year – an all-time high.

The illegal trade in rhino horn – used for centuries in Chinese medicine – is being fuelled by demand in the Far East, where it now fetches more on the black market than its equivalent weight in gold.

Demand: Rhino horn is now more valuable than gold, sparking a boom in the increasingly lucrative illegal trade

Vulnerable: A total of 36 poachers have been arrested in South Africa’s Kruger National Park this year alone

 

Investigation: Park rangers are seen examining the scene at the picnic site on the South African game reserve

The problem is not confined to Africa; there have also been cases of wild rhinoceros horns being stolen from European museums, galleries and auction houses.

The boom in the trade has prompted scientists at the Scottish Government’s Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) to begin collating a rhino DNA database to help snare poachers.

SASA scientists have announced they are to send out sampling kits to museums and zoos across the UK to collect rhino DNA.

The samples will be analysed to create a DNA database, which will help trace the origin of any stolen rhino horn intercepted by the police or customs.

It was discovered that even DNA from 100-year-old horns from museums can be used in the database after the National Museum of Scotland took part in a pilot study with SASA.

The aim of the project is to protect exhibits and also rhinos in zoos from criminal gangs who steal and sell rhino horn for thousands of pounds on the black market.

Illegal trade: Rhinoceros horn has been used for centuries in Chinese medicine

Recovery operation: Rangers piled their weapons at the picnic site as they set about removing the carcass of the dead rhino

Evidence: Rangers at Kruger National Park in South Africa are seen collecting evidence recovered from the spot where the creature was found

Under threat: A park ranger holds out a bullet found near the rhino carcass at the picnic site in Kruger National Park, amid warnings that poaching is threatening the existence of thousands of rhinos

Death toll: Poachers slaughtered more than 660 rhinos in South Africa last year – an all-time high

Hunted: So far this year 203 rhinos have been poached in South Africa and 60 poachers arrested

Remains: A park official stands beside the skin of the poached rhino at the picnic site on the famous South African game reserve

Hunt: A conservationist looks for more evidence with a metal detector near the spot where the poached rhino was found

 

– dailymail.co.uk

How the hell will we get her out? Volunteers band together to rescue elephant trapped in sewage drain

• Elephant found trapped in the ditch by guests and staff at Namibian camp
• She was in too deep to step out so they shovelled in rocks for a foothold
• Good-natured pachyderm stayed calm throughout her ordeal
• ‘It was as if she understood what they were doing,’ said one witness

 

These pictures show how a band of volunteers managed to rescue an elephant who had got herself in a tight spot by falling into a sewage drain.

The elephant cow had accidentally stepped into the three foot by four foot channel during the night at Ugab Rest Camp in Namibia and found herself in too deep to clamber out.

Guests and staff only found her the next morning and they quickly set about trying to help her.

I’m stuck! Guests and staff at the Ugab Rest Camp in Namibia found this elephant cow trapped in a sewage drain when they woke up one morning

Trapped: The elephant cow had accidentally stepped into the three foot by four foot channel during the night and found herself in too deep to clamber out

 

Tight spot: As this picture shows, the ditch was barely big enough for the trapped pachyderm to move her legs

Reaching for hoses and shovels they tried to keep her cool by dousing her in water and then coating her in dust.

But after help failed to arrive, the volunteers began shovelling sand and rock into the ditch in the hope they could raise it enough that she could step out.

Archie van der Merwe, who runs Laramon Tours, witnessed the elephant’s 11 hour ordeal.

‘We couldn’t just stand around any longer and watch the animal suffer, so we decided that the rest camp’s swimming pool pump could drain the water, which was knee deep,’ he said.

‘Then we filled it with sand and rock, so the elephant could get on higher ground.

Ahhh, refreshing! Volunteers keep the trapped elephant cool using a hose after they found her in the morning

 

The hot African sun: They then shovelled dust on to the trapped animal, also an attempt to stop her overheating

Resourceful: Volunteers drained the water from the ditch using the hose kept to fill the camp’s swimming pool

 

Attempts: It was hoped that draining the knee-deep water could help her get a foothold to step out

A new plan: Sand and rocks are used to help the elephant climb clear of the sewage drain

 

Thanks: A rescuer keeps the elephant cool using a hose as she tries to work out how to climb from the ditch

 

Foothold! The elephant tried placing her feet in different spots around the drain to lift herself out

 

Here we go! After volunteers filled the ditch with rocks and sand, the elephant found a way up

 

Hard work: The elephant heaves her great mass from the tiny trench where she was trapped for so long

 

One step at a time: Volunteers sprayed her with water throughout to stop her from getting too hot in the sun

 

Gosh this is hard work: With three legs out of the ditch, she stops for a break to bask under the cool water

‘Her knees were just under the point where she could bend them, so a little higher up would do the trick.

‘After another hour under a very hot Namibian sun, the water was pumped out, the volunteers threw rocks into the hole to fill it up.

‘She didn’t want to move though, so they threw in sand too, compacting the stones until it was about a half meter higher.

‘It was as if she understood what they were doing as she never tried anything aggressive toward them.’

Freedom! After several hours hard work, the elephant strolls clear of the sewage drain

 

Thanks guys: Volunteers kept up their spraying with the hoses to make sure she was not getting too hot

 

Grateful: One man at the scene said the elephant’s good nature suggested she understood she was being helped

After three hours, the elephant suddenly came up on her hind legs and started to clamber out.

Mr Van der Merwe added: ‘It was totally worth the effort.

‘Everybody that helped with the rescue went to the swimming pool afterwards to cool themselves and have a drink to celebrate her rescue.’

– dailymail.co.uk

Photoshop whizz turns landscape photographs into Van Gogh-style masterpieces at the touch of a button

These pictures might look like works of art, but they are actually photographs that have been digitally altered.

Ross Armstrong created the impressionist-style images by chance and is now selling them for up to £200 a go as people prefer them to his real photos.

The amateur photographer started to manipulate his landscape pictures after uploading a batch onto his PC and opened one in a free demo version of Adobe Photoshop.

 

 

Ta-da! Amateur photographer Ross Armstrong uses Photoshop to turn pictures of landscapes like this one in Sipan, Croatia, into impressionist-style masterpieces

 

From this: Mr Armstrong’s picture of Dunstanburgh Castle (above) in Northumberland is one of many scenic shots around Europe which he has loaded onto his PC

 

To this: After some trial and error on Photoshop, Mr Armstrong found he was able to re-create the famous swirling patterns that became the hallmark of impressionism

 

A sunset in Edinburgh: Mr Armstrong is now selling his doctored images for up to £200 each as he says people prefer them to his original photographs

 

Very impressive: Mr Armstrong started to manipulate his pictures after uploading a batch onto his PC and opening one in a free demo version of Adobe Photoshop

 

 

Boats on the shore at Barra in the Western Isles: Mr Armstrong, who lives in Edinburgh, stumbled upon his new technique almost by chance

Although he normally only used the programme for fine tuning his photos, Ross started dabbling with some of the latest filters.

Through trial and error he managed to manipulate a landscape picture so it appeared to look like a swirling oil painting, similar to Vincent Van Gogh’s work.

Ross, from Edinburgh, was delighted with the abstract results and has since uploaded hundreds of his images onto the software.

He carefully altering the stroke size and adjusting dozens of individual settings to create more of the unique artworks.

 

 

The village of Portnahaven on Islay in the Inner Hebrides: Mr Armstrong normally only used the programme for fine tuning his photos, but then started experimenting

 

The Forth Rail Bridge: Mr Armstrong has uploaded hundreds of his images onto the software and has set up a website to sell them through

 

Not a pigment of your imagination: The Motorola worker carefully alters the stroke size and adjusts dozens of individual settings to create his look

 

The isle of Lopud, Croatia: Mr Armstrong turned stunning scenes from across Europe of harbours, bays, buildings, towns and countryside into artworks

 

Stroke of luck: Mr Armstrong said: ‘The more I edited the picture the more it resembled something of an impressionist style, although that wasn’t my original goal’

 

 

St Mary’s Lighthouse: Mr Armstrong said he wasn’t trying to go for a Van Gogh style as he was more obsessed with Salvador Dali

He has turned stunning scenes from across Europe of harbours, bays, buildings, towns and countryside into beautiful impressionist style pieces.

Ross, an operations manager for Motorola, said: ‘I was working on the final chapter for my book when I started using a demo of Photoshop.

‘There was a new feature on it so I tried it out and spent ages looking at the settings, there is a lot you can customise and change.

‘I can alter how much a picture can look like a painting and can control things such as the stroke size.

 

Beautiful: A picture of Sveti ¿or¿e, known in English as the island of St George, off the coast of Perast in Bay of Kotor, Montenegro

 

Masterstroke: The island of Sveti Dorde contains the 12th-century Saint George Benedictine monastery

 

Old Petrol Pumps in Northumberland: Mr Armstrong said: ‘I was working on the final chapter for my book when I started using a demo of Photoshop’

 

Tech wizard: Mr Armstrong said: ‘The more I edited the picture the more it resembled something of an impressionist style, although that wasn’t my original goal’

 

 

Staithes, Northumberland: Photoshop is a graphics-editing software initially released by Adobe System 24 years ago

 

Cramond Island in the Forth of Firth: Mr Armstrong has taken pictures of dozens of scenes across Europe including harbours, bays, buildings, towns and the countryside

 

Impressionist: Vincent Van Gogh was known for imparting rough beauty, emotional honesty and bold color into his artwork

‘The more I edited the picture the more it resembled something of an impressionist style, although that wasn’t my original goal.

‘I wasn’t trying to go for a Van Gogh style although I am a fan, I grew up being more obsessed with Salvador Dali.

‘I have started selling the digital art images and I find that people actually prefer these to some of my normal shots.’

The images cost up to £200 for an A1 sized poster print from http://www.roscophotographic.com.

 

And here’s one by the master himself…

 

Iconic style: Dreaming of Japan and Hiroshige by Dutch post-impressionist Vincent Van Gogh, who was hugely influential in the 19th century

That’s what you call a bacon sandwich! Crocodile snaps up entire PIGS HEAD in its jaws

• The saltwater crocodile, called Too Long, is a 16ft long predator
• He was pictured during feeding time at a crocodile park in Manila
• The species snapped up a pig’s head weighing in at 6.5kg
• Saltwater crocodiles are known to eat anything they can get hold of

At a staggering 16ft long, it’s little wonder that this crocodile needs a substantial meal to satisfy him when he’s hungry.

But as these stunning pictures show, even a whole pigs head isn’t too much for this giant beast to stomach.

The saltwater crocodile, whose name translates to Too Long in English, was snapped during feeding time at a crocodile park in Pasay City, Manila.

The hungry reptile feasted on the pig’s head which weighed in at 6.5kg.

Hungry: A salt water crocodile called ‘Too Long’ holds a 6.5 kg pig head in its mouth during feeding time inside a crocodile park in Pasay city, Manila

The meaty meal was hardly an unusually large feast for a saltwater croc, with the species known to eat whatever they can clamp their jaws around.

The fierce predators have been known to eat anything from water buffalo, monkeys, wild boar and even sharks.

 

The species, which is native to saltwater areas of eastern India, south east Asia and northern Australia, is even said by some to be the animal most likely to eat a human.

Saltwater crocodiles lurk just beneath the surface of the water and pounce without warning.

Ferocious: The giant reptile catches the pig’s head in its powerful jaw. Too Long is the largest saltwater crocodile at the park in Manila

They tend to use their tails and powerful jaw to spring from the water, grab their prey and drag them beneath the surface.

The creature then holds its victim under the water until it drowns.

Saltwater crocodiles can live for up to 70 years and grow to an average of 17ft, weighing around 1,000lbs.

But 23ft long crocodiles are not unheard of.

An official at the crocodile park in Manila, where Too Long is kept, said that he is the largest species at the park.

Predator: Saltwater crocodiles can grow up to 23ft long and weigh more than 1,000lbs (file picture)

 

– dailymail.co.uk

Detached house, plenty of space for parking: Incredible images show isolated homes in China where owners refused to give in to demolition

• Residents have failed to reach agreement with property developers over compensation in exchange for their home
• Owners have been subjected to anonymous attacks where their power and water supplies have been cut off

These incredible images show the ‘nail’ houses in China which are left standing after home owners refused to give in to property developers vying for their demolition.

The houses stand alone in Gongqin village, in the Yichang area of Hubei province, where widespread land development is underway.

Only two properties remain in the area after the owners were unable to reach a compensation agreement with developers over the last year.

Two homes on a construction site in Yichang, Hubei province, China, have become ‘nail’ houses after being left isolated when buildings surrounding them were torn down

Owners of this house in Yichang, Hubei province, China, have refused to give way to property developers – leaving their home as a ‘nail’ house

Like a sore thumb: Construction workers clear the land around this house because owners of the property refused to leaveIn recent months the residents have been subjected to anonymous attacks where the power and water supplies to their homes were cut off.

Homes such as these in China are known as ‘dingzihu’ or ‘nail houses’ because they stick out and are difficult to remove, like a stubborn nail.

Buildings in the surrounding areas have been cleared away, leaving the two homes as isolated ‘nail’ properties like islands on the dusty construction site

The owners of these two ‘nail houses’ have been subjected to anonymous attacks over the past year where their power and water supplies have been cut off

 – dailymail.co.uk

Dubai Police add £300,000 Lamborghini to their fleet (because 0-60 in three seconds is just what they need for catching criminals)

• Dubai Police’s new green and white 217mph Aventador worth £294,665
• Authorities have let the public get involved in finalising new car design
• Force is introducing sports cars to fleet to help patrolling on highways

 

It’s a city known for its excesses, but this still seems a far stretch even for somewhere of such wealth.

Dubai Police have added a white and green £294,665 Lamborghini Aventador to their patrol fleet with numberplate ‘8’ – which has already drawn comparisons to the Eighties TV series Knight Rider.

The city’s force confirmed last month that their patrol cars were getting a sporty makeover and they have since confirmed that sports cars will be introduced into the fleet to help patrolling on highways.

Supercar: Dubai Police have added a white and green £294,665 Lamborghini Aventador to their patrol fleet

Impressive: The city’s force confirmed last month that their patrol cars were getting a sporty makeover

Top asset: Lamborghini launched the car being used by Dubai Police this year to celebrate its 50th anniversary

The Aventador will certainly be useful when catching criminals on the road, as it can do 0 to 60mph in a mind-blowing three seconds and has a top speed of a whopping 217mph.

Lamborghini launched the car this year to celebrate its 50th anniversary, and it has already sold out for this year and most of 2014, with several of the motors being shipped to Britain, reported the Sun.

Comparisons were made between Dubai Police’s version and Knight Rider, a series that focused on a lone crimefighter battling the forces of evil with an indestructible and artificially intelligent supercar.

And the authorities have spent the past year releasing images on social media in a campaign to get the public involved in finalising their new car design, reported Emirates 24/7 in Dubai.

Fast: The Aventador will be useful on the road, as it can do 0 to 60mph in a mind-blowing three seconds

Inspection: The authorities have been releasing images to get the public involved in finalising their new design

Going back: Comparisons were made between Dubai Police’s car and Knight Rider, a series that focused on a lone crimefighter played by David Hasselhoff (pictured) battling the forces of evil with an indestructible car

Last year Dubai Police took on 50 Kia Mohaves and 35 were marked as patrol cars by the force.

But it’s certainly not the first time a police force has got its hands on a Lamborghini supercar.

In 2009 Italian police crashed a £150,000 model near Cremona, where it was at a student jobs fair, after swerving it to avoid another vehicle which crossed into its path and hitting two stationary cars.

The car, which was painted in blue and white and given to the police by the car manufacturer in 2004, was beyond repair. It could do 0 to 60mph in four seconds and had a 500-horsepower engine.

 

– dailymail.co.uk

PC sales plunge as Windows 8 flops

Windows 8: Deterred potential PC buyers, says IDC. Photo: Reuters

Microsoft’s Windows 8 appears to be driving buyers away from PCs and toward smartphones and tablets, according to research firm IDC.

That’s leading to the fastest drop in PC sales the firm has ever seen.

Global shipments of PCs fell 14 per cent in the first three months this year, IDC said. That’s the sharpest plunge since the firm started tracking the industry in 1994.

The report comes after a year of bad news for the PC. Consumers, especially in wealthy countries such as the US, are steering their dollars toward tablets and smartphones rather than upgrading their home PCs. It’s the biggest challenge to the personal computer since the IBM PC was released in 1981.

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In an attempt to keep the PC relevant, Microsoft released a radical new version of Windows on October 26. Windows 8 has a completely new look and forces users to learn new ways to control their machines.

“Unfortunately, it seems clear that the Windows 8 launch not only didn’t provide a positive boost to the PC market, but appears to have slowed the market,” IDC vice president Bob O’Donnell said.

The newest version of Windows is designed to work well with touch-sensitive screens, but the displays add to the cost of a PC. Together, the changes and higher prices “have made PCs a less attractive alternative to dedicated tablets and other competitive devices”, O’Donnell said.

Representatives of Microsoft were not immediately available for comment.

In its tally, IDC excludes tablets, even if they run PC-style software. It also excludes any device that has a detachable keyboard.

With the release of Windows 8, PC makers have been reviving their experiments with tablet-laptop hybrids, some of which have detachable keyboards. Consumers are likely to have shifted some of their buying away from traditional laptops and toward these new devices, which means that the total sales decline of Windows-based devices may not be quite as drastic as IDC’s numbers suggest.

Another research firm, Gartner, counts any devices running PC-style software, including some tablets, as PCs. It reported an 11 per cent decline in PC shipments in the quarter. That, too, is the sharpest decline it’s seen since it started tracking the market in 2001.

Hewlett-Packard, the world’s largest maker of PCs, saw a 24 per cent drop in shipments in the first quarter compared with the same period a year ago. The industry’s No. 2, China’s Lenovo, is benefiting from sales to first-time buyers in China and other developing countries. As a result, it held sales steady, alone among the world’s top 5 PC makers, according to IDC’s figures.

Dell, roiled by plans to go private, along with rivals Acer and Asustek, all saw double-digit declines in PC sales.

Apple was not immune from the decline, as some sales of its own Macs appeared to be displaced by iPads. Its US PC sales fell 7.5 per cent in the quarter, but it held on to its spot as No. 3 US PC manufacturer, behind HP and Dell.

Gartner noted one bright spot: businesses are buying more PCs, and account for about half of the market.

In total, IDC put the global PC shipments at 76.3 million in the quarter, while Gartner put the figure at 79.2 million. The shipments are still higher than they were four years ago, during the recession.

Both firms track shipments of PCs from the manufacturer rather than retail sales. Shipments correlate closely with sales. The figures include shipments of Apple’s Macs, which account for about 5 per cent of the worldwide market.

– smh.com.au

When a dinner complaint got out of hand

Jamil Hossain clearly remembers what he ordered for his five friends at the Red Chilli restaurant in Lakemba after celebrating Bangladesh’s Independence Day on March 31.

“Eight naan, two roti, a vegetable dish, a lamb and chicken curry and a beef vindaloo,” he said.

It was to be a sumptuous meal after a day celebrating his country of birth’s struggle for nationhood, when it seceded from Pakistan in 1971.

Jamil Hossan, who claims he was stabbed in the hand with a skewer at Hot Chilli restaurant, Lakemba. Photo: Sahlan Hayes

But little did the 47-year-old father of three think he would end up on the end of a tandoori skewer.

“The skewer went right through, it had to be operated on and I still have it wrapped in bandages,” he said.

Mr Hossain spent the night at Sydney Hospital, which specialises in hand and eye injuries.

“I was scared and very frightened,” he said.

On Wednesday, Campsie police arrested the owner-chef of Red Chilli, Rehana Mati, who will face Burwood Local court on May 2 on a charge of reckless wounding.

Pakistani-born Mr Mati, 43, declined to comment when contacted by Fairfax Media.

Mr Hossain, who won a Canterbury Council Citizen of the Year Award in 2010 for his community work in local cricket, said he will never eat at Red Chilli again.

“It was the first and will be the last time I go there. It was a terrible end to a truly wonderful day,” he said.

Mr Hossain said after celebrations at Wiley Park, their group arrived at the restaurant at 9.30pm but had to wait half an hour to be served, then almost another hour for their food.

Mr Hossain said a dispute arose after they asked how much longer their food would take to be served.

“It was unbelievable. There were only two other customers. We politely asked the waitress where our food was.”

Mr Hossain says his group weren’t drinking as “we are Muslims”.

– smh.com.au

$375,000 dental scam exposed

A dental scam worth hundreds of thousands of dollars has been shut down and the couple behind it arrested.

Police worked closely with the Social Development Ministry after it discovered beneficiaries falsely claiming for emergency dental treatment.

Providing false documents, a 48-year-old man and 51-year-old woman allegedly took a 25-per-cent cut of each payment.

In total $375,000 was paid out since December 2011.

The pair were arrested as part of “Operation Novocaine” and will face deception and other charges when they appear in Manukau District Court tomorrow.

They are currently in custody.

Associate Social Development Minister Chester Borrows is heralding the operation as a success for the Government’s new inter-agency fraud group – the Welfare Fraud Collaborative Action Programme.

“The government takes fraud extremely seriously and has ever increasing tools and information sharing that will ensure people ripping off taxpayers will be caught,” he said.

The vast majority of the payments made were benefit advances and most of the beneficiaries involved will repay them out of their regular benefit payments.

The small number who received grants will also be required to repay the money

“The Ministry of Social Development has changed its payment processes so that an operation like this would fail to meet the new standards,” Borrows said.

 

– © Fairfax NZ News

Qantas asked to shut down Facebook site after racist comments

 

• Qantas bombarded with offensive comments
• Could face legal trouble if drastic action isn’t taken
• Has deleted some offending comments, but not all

QANTAS has been bombarded with offensive comments on Facebook following its decision to remove pork from some flights, and could face legal trouble if they don’t take drastic action on their site.

The decision was sparked by its partnership with Emirates, which came into effect on March 31 and sees flights to Europe stop over in Dubai instead of Singapore.

The mood on social media quickly turned sour after the announcement, with the airline’s Facebook and Twitter pages flooded with racist and religiously offensive.

A page has been set up on Tumblr with screenshots of what is claimed to be offensive comments from the Qantas Facebook page.

On Tuesday the airline pleaded with its Facebook users to play by the rules:

“Hi Guys, you may have noticed some comments have been removed from our page. These have been removed as they contravene our house rules. We encourage all feedback on this page, both positive and negative, however comments which violate our house rules will not be tolerated. Please help us keep our Facebook page a fun, enjoyable and respectful community for everyone.  Thanks, the Qantas Social Media Team.”

But it seems that hasn’t been enough to stop the offensive comments.

APAC digital strategist at communications agency Text 100, Karalee Evans, said the best thing the airline could do in such an extreme situation is to turn off the ability to comment on its Facebook page – a move she said is fairly common among businesses in controversial circumstances.

“It’s a tricky situation,” she said. “Qantas is doing what you’d suggest to do in terms of deleting the racist and inflammatory comments, making the community aware of the rules and trying to enforce reasonable expectations of the behaviour. But it’s not working for them.”

“So you can either ride it out, which isn’t the best PR move, or you may have to do something more drastic: Qantas may have to remove the ability to comment on the page for a while.”

Legally, the responsibility of what appears on its page falls on the airline, not the person making the comment, so if the airline could be in breach on consumer laws and advertising standards if offensive comments aren’t removed promptly.

“Current amended regulation from the Advertising Standards Bureau states that a brand is accountable and responsible for anything on their Facebook page just like they are for anything they advertise. This includes comments,” she said.

Otherwise the airline could face legal action including fines or a public apology, depending on how quickly the comments are taken down and how many times it happens.

Ultimately, doing nothing isn’t an option.

“Qantas has an obligation to regain control very quickly,” Ms Evans said.

A Qantas spokesman said it has been removing offensive comments gradually, and said there has been overwhelmingly positive feedback from passengers who’ve flown the route.

“Our customers tell us that one of the things that sets Qantas apart from other airlines is our high quality in-flight meals,” he said.

“Feedback from customers who have flown on Qantas to and from Dubai and experienced the in-flight meals has been excellent.

“Qantas flies to every continent around the world and our on board catering is tailored to meet the differing tastes and cultures to each city that we fly to.”

Want to make millions? Follow the reality TV formula

My Kitchen Rules contestants Jake Harrison & Elle Harrison of the Sunshine Coast have already announced plans to release a cookbook and ice cream range after the show. Picture: Liam Kidston.

MY Kitchen Rules’ brother and sister duo Jake and Elle have already revealed they have an ice cream range and a cook book to promote – before the show has even finished.

Savvy contestants know reality shows are the perfect vehicles to not only spruik themselves but also their products.

Fifteen years ago reality TV was thought to be the grave yard for celebrities, it was the genre they turned to when their career were in decline. In fact it boosted the superannuation accounts of many ‘80’s pop star in the early ‘00’s.

However the sneering at this genre has decreased as performers scramble to get on the gravy train. It is not just for the fame, they know if they use the right formula those reality TV shows can create rivers of gold.

The Kardashian’s were one of the first to identify this. In fact the reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians and the many spin-offs are only a small part of the $65 million they made last year. They make even more money from appearance fees, endorsements and their own product range. Even not-so-famous brother Rob has a sock range.

 

Reality TV family the Kardashians tweeted this image from their 2012 Christmas card.

Bethenny Frankel who barely raised a bleep on the Australia paparazzi radar when she was recently out here is worth close to $50 million. All this has been achieved since 2008, when she was cast in the Real Housewives of New York where she her schtick was cooking healthy muffins, and talking about her unhealthy love life. Whilst her fans watched her life laid out on screen she started the Skinny Girl range which includes alcohol and beauty products which are currently sold in Walmart.

Jessica Simpson and Rachel Zoe have also used similar formulas to amass multi-million dollar fortunes.

Reality TV is the perfect vehicle to promote both the person and the products be it a fashion range, a book or the latest single.

It is a simple formula, get on a reality TV program, identify some products to make and sell, promote other people’s brands, get appearance fees, and balance this out with a strong social media presence to connect with fans.

In what other genre is it OK to promote brands as part of a plot line?

They are the highest rating shows on television and these stars are the ones consumers identify with because they think they are seeing the “real” persona. They are the modern day celebrities that sell magazines, and attract clicks on media websites.

But the mega bucks are not just for US stars, Australia is also home to clever former contestants who are raking in the cash using business smarts and the reality TV money making formula.

 

Michelle Bridges has built an empire out of her TV profile. Picture: Channel Ten

The Biggest Loser trainer Michelle Bridges is said to be worth close to $20 million and the salary she gets from the show is only a minute part of this. She has been canny and created the Twelve Week Body Transformation, fitness DVD’s, books and even cheaper ebooks sold on her websites. She also has a weekly column, a range with Big W and other endorsements with Natures Way. All of these are promoted even more during the ad breaks when The Biggest Loser is on our screens. The viewer sees her on the show then in the advertisements.

Alex Perry is a successful high end fashion designer. However since his roles on Australia’s Next Top Model and Project Runway Australia he has ensured everyone can access a bit of Alex Perry glamour with his range in Specsavers, and previously he did an accessory line for costume jewellery chain Diva. He also is an ambassador for brands and has even branched into Alex Perry Residential which are apartments with his signature style stamped on it.

Shaynna Blaze is also another quiet achiever who recently was on two reality shows at once – The Block and Selling Houses. Last month she released a book, has many endorsement deals and her own candle range and like Michelle Bridges she has been savvy enough to attach a shop to her official website.

You don’t need a crystal ball to know majority of the cast on the soon to be screened The Voice will be releasing singles and endorsing products whilst it is air.

Lara Bingle unfortunately did not get the formula right when she had her own reality show. There was no product range to go with it, in fact it would have given the show a much needed plot line. She only now has managed to get a lingerie range which is currently in production, however she won’t have the show to help promote it the product week in and week out.

However not everyone gets to sit on a judging panel or as host, but never fear there are big bucks to be made as contestants on a reality show. On The Block: All Stars all teams all bar one came away with over $200,000 each. However it won’t stop there. Winner Amity Dry has made sure her one woman stage production was ready to kick off just after the show finished.

Dan and Dani maybe reality TV villains but in two seasons on the show they won over $600,000 setting themselves up for life.

Even though on Australian television there is no longer $1 million prize money, the prize money is still good. It is standard on most shows to give between $200,000 and $250,000, but again for contestants the cash flow doesn’t stop there.

Guy Sebastian went from Australian Idol winner to judge, along the way pumping out hit singles and making a lot of money from corporate gigs and endorsements. Timomatic has also just joined the panel of Australia’s Got Talent in the hopes of emulating Sebastian’s success.

Even Samantha-Jade who won last year’s The X Factor has announced she has a range coming out for Diva.

But you don’t even need to win to have a successful career afterwards. Marion Grasby who placed ninth on series two of Masterchef Australia used the show as a spring board to create her own line of products Marion’s Kitchen. Her range now sells 150,000 packs a month at $7 a pop and she is about to launch a new Malyasian curry range.

Grasby admits she used the reality show to achieve some long held goals.

“Once I’d been accepted on to the show I started to think in more detail about how I could use the opportunity to make those goals happen,” Grasby said. “My overall goal was to turn my passion for food into a long-term career but to do that I needed short term goals like starting my Marion’s Kitchen food range business and seeking out ways to tell my food story through cookbooks and TV shows.”

Marion who is now based in Bangkok is keen to capitalise on the success of the show in other countries. The budding entrepreneur revealed “We’re [Marion’s Kitchen products] also in South Africa with plans to expand into the UK this year”.

Expect to see Australia reality TV stars build mini-empires not only in Australia but also overseas.

Here’s what some of the biggest reality stars are worth:

•Kim Kardashian worth $45 million and rising fast;
•Bethenney Frankel sold Skinny Girl for $50 million;
•Jessica Simpson is worth $100 million;
•Rachel Zoe is worth $7.5 million;
•Guy Sebastian is worth $10 million;
•Michelle Bridges is worth $20 million
•Marion Grasby’s company will have a seven figure turnover this year.

– realityravings

At your service: Ralph Hoare, the 104-year-old tweeting garden guru

104-year-old Ralph Hoare, gardener and piano player! Picture: Screengrab

• Is Ralph Hoare the coolest old guy around?
• Watch him playing the piano below
• Tweet @OfficialFV #AskRalph for all your gardening needs

RALPH Hoare is sitting in his well-worn armchair, iPad on his lap, scanning through the Twitter page that he uses to share gardening tips with the public

A new question pings through: “Dear Ralph. What’s a good plant for a north-facing garden?”

“Well, that’s an easy one,” he says, peering through his spectacles. “The pyracantha, a shrub with red berries and sharp thorns, or even the cotoneaster, from central Asia. Or what’s that other one? It’s name starts with an H . . .”

It’s a rare memory slip but one that can easily be forgiven. For Ralph, – born in July 1908, is 104 years old. Given that he planted his first flower – a Japanese anemone – at the tender age of six, that means he has racked up a formidable 98 years’ horticultural experience.

And gardening, as evidenced by the success of television shows such as Ground Force, continues to be a thriving industry. So much so, in fact, that Ralph is now dispensing his knowledge via the Twitter page set up for him by a home and garden furniture centre.

Since #askralph was launched last week by the local branch of Furniture Village, questions have been flooding in. These range from “what are the easiest veg for young children to grow?” – cress and lettuce, according to Ralph – to “when should you pull up potatoes?”. The answer: when flowering is over and the leaves start to go brown.

One Twitter user, Brian Gable, asks: “When should vegetables go in the ground this year, given how cold it is?” In Ralph’s view, late April will be best. Another, Heather Darling, asks why her money plant is wilting (it’s probably due to overwatering).

Others ask which plant Ralph would like to see make a comeback – “Virginia stocks” – and what his favourite climber is: “Clematis, as it’s very versatile and has beautiful flowers”.

To all these questions, Ralph, a great-grandfather of six, seems to know the answers – and if he doesn’t, he can soon find them in his well-thumbed “bible”, The Small Garden by C.E. Lucas Phillips, his favourite reference book, first published in 1979. But despite his extensive knowledge, he modestly insists that he is no expert, merely a gardening-lover since childhood.

His early years were spent mostly in Plymouth with his parents, Elsie and Charles, and two younger siblings, John and Margaret.

“We had a small east-facing garden. Mother grew roses and Father grew huge marrows,” Ralph recalls. “World War I began while we were young and Plymouth saw a lot of action. I used to hide under a table with a cushion over my head when the German Zeppelins were expected. But whatever happened, we always had flowers in the garden.”

After leaving school at 17 Ralph became a bank clerk, but when World War II broke out he joined the RAF and moved to Edinburgh, where he worked as an aviation candidate selector, interviewing potential pilots.

In 1940 he married his sweetheart Dorothy, an accomplished piano player, and they started a family – Michael, now 63, and Kate, 57. Despite work, family commitments and a keen interest in sport – he played a round of golf and went canoeing at Slimbridge Wetland Centre in Gloucestershire on his 100th birthday – he always found time in the evenings and at weekends to garden.

It was only in 1957, though, when the family moved to the detached house in Gloucester where he still lives, that he could put down roots, both metaphorically and literally, and create the garden of his dreams.

For decades, with Dorothy weeding by his side until her death in 2007 at the age of 94, he has lovingly tended his 70ft garden. Short of grape vines, which hold no interest for him, there is hardly any common planting he hasn’t tried to grow – and he has views on them all.

Carrots and parsnips are the most difficult vegetables, he says. Parsley is also tricky, as it doesn’t germinate very quickly. But potatoes are easy, as too are onions, so long as the shoots are hidden under compost to hide them from birds.

Tomatoes are best grown in pots but geraniums – or pelargoniums, as Ralph calls them, using the old-fashioned name – grow best in a trough. Petunias need a lot of sunshine and don’t like rain. Sweet peas, on the other hand, needs lots of water.

The techniques and tools (spade, trowel and fork) – that Ralph uses are entirely traditional.

The only big changes in his lifetime have been the introduction of specialist fertilisers and slug pellets – as a child, he used to peel off caterpillars by hand and stamp on any snails he found. He insists that there are no “magic secrets” to gardening and that the most important ingredients are hard work and preparation.

“People must de-stone the soil and sift it until it’s crumbly before they even think about sowing seeds,” he says. “They must also weed constantly, especially at the beginning of the planting season.”

Ralph follows his own advice. His garden is bursting with daffodils and the flowerbeds are stocked with purple hyacinths, winter jasmine, beautiful climbing plants and a flowering evergreen hedge of Berberis darwinii. A plum tree and two apple trees, all rigorously pruned to provide bumper crops, stand proudly in mid-lawn.

But it is the roses that fill Ralph with most pride. At the rear of his garden are some 200 floribunda and hybrid-tea bushes which in summer will produce flowers of many shades and a glorious scent.

Despite his age and a creaky left knee, Ralph still does most of the work himself. He can still, with difficulty, plant potatoes, although he now uses a tall hoe for weeding and a grabbing tool for picking things up. His great-grandchildren help with dead-heading the roses and weeding, but only under his close supervision.

This year it’s been too cold to get out much. He is waiting until the end of the month to sow his onions and potatoes but doesn’t mind the delay.

“Gardening is all about having something to look forward to,” he says. “It gets me through the winter. If I’m ever depressed or lonely, I think to myself ‘never mind, the roses will be along soon'”. It gives me the willpower to keep going.’

So too, it seems, does spreading the word on Twitter, though he sometimes needs help from family members to type the replies.

“I’m not really into computers,” he says. “I only use my iPad for email, Twitter and to place bets on horses. But if giving a bit of advice gets people into gardening, that can only be a good thing. They may all live past 100 then.

As he walks steadily among the roses, leaning on his stick and breathing in the crisp, cold air, he says: “A-ha! I’ve remembered the name of the plant that begins with H and is good for north-facing gardens. It’s hydrangea.”

RALPH’S TOP TEN GARDENING TIPS

1. Pour boiling water on parsley seeds once they are in the soil. It helps them to germinate.

2. Planting marigolds with tomatoes will stop the tomatoes getting greenfly.

3. Surround small plants with crushed up seashells or spiky gravel to keep slugs away.

4. If you have an unruly pampas grass, burn it down. The root will remain and regrow.

5. If your plant is an iron-lover, put rusty nails in water for a while, then use this as a fertiliser.

6. Prepare your soil in the moonlight, as this discourages weed growth. Seeds can’t germinate without sunlight.

7. Plants that spread rapidly, such as mint, can be contained by planting them in a long pipe, buried vertically. The roots have to go a long way down to spread.

8. Most plants like warmth, so water them with warm water.

9. To keep cut flowers fresh for longer, put a penny in the vase. The copper helps to kill bacteria.

10. Peeing on your garden can be beneficial. The urea contains nitrogen, which soil bacteria convert to ammonia so it can be taken up by plants. Peeing on tomato plants can apparently double their fruit production.

 

– news.com.au

BUSTED: Sex on Google Street View in South Australia

A couple were busted having sex on the side of the road by a Google Street View car.

A SOUTH Australian couple has been busted by Google Street View getting frisky on the side of the road.

But is it just a stunt?

A Reddit user found the image of the couple having sex on the boot of their car and posted it online this morning.

The dirty deed occurred on the side of Dukes Highway in South Australia, according to Google Street View.

The image depicts the couple balancing on the hood of their BMW, hamming it up for the camera as the Google Street View car drove by.

Whether they were doing the bad thing for real, we’ll never know. It seemed to be a fairly short show, as the couple can be seen moving towards the left side of the vehicle as the car drives away.

Google Street View has since censored the image.

Now we’ll never know if they were faking it.

 

The couple can be seen heading towards the left of the car, because Google probably killed the mood.

Is Justin Bieber’s new haircut a clever PR move or homage to his floppy fringe?

Miley Cyrus and Rihanna have been sporting Justin Bieber’s new hair cut for months. Picture: Twitter, Getty, Splash

Bieber shows off his new do. Picture: Twitter

JUSTIN Bieber has brought back the fringe.

The problem is, he now looks like Miley Cyrus and Rihanna. And they’ve been sporting the look for months. Awkward.

Over the weekend, the 19-year-old debuted a new undercut hairstyle which is shaved on the side and longer on the top, with a fringe, or ‘bangs’ swept to the side.

It’s a style that almost pays homage to the side-swept fringe that he continuously flipped across his forehead during his Baby and pre-Selena years.

It’s a far cry from the slicked back and coiffed Elvis-do he’s been sporting of late.

But the chop has left many asking if his new do is simply a welcome change or if it’s part of a bigger image overhaul given all his not-so-positive press in recent months?

 

Justin Bieber, pictured just days ago with his coiffed Elvis-inspired hair style, which kept the fringe at bay. Picture: Splash

Some critics have suggested his new hair isn’t just a means of using less hair product.

So much so, that they’ve dubbed his new hair do “PR bangs”.

Some cynics have suggested that the cut was a deliberate attempt to resemble Bieber a few years ago when he was more of a fresh-faced teen.

Bieber’s team are reportedly hoping that bringing back the floppy fringe will make people forget all about how Bieber has abandoned his pet monkey, spat in people’s faces and threatened to kill them, arrived hours late for concerts, and thrown tantrums in nightclubs.

Other names given to his hair style which also support this theory are the return of his “PR bangs of innocence”.

What do you think? Conspiracy theory or spot on?

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ twin daughters ‘sent to school covered in cocaine’ by mother

Sean “Diddy” Combs and Kim Porter with twin daughters D’Lila Star Combs and Jessie James Combs back in 2007. Picture: Getty

SEAN ‘Diddy’ Combs’ twin daughters were allegedly sent to school “covered in cocaine” by their mother.

Kim Porter is accused of using drugs around the former couple’s six-year-old girls in a new lawsuit, according to TMZ.

Former family nanny Dawn Drago claims she worked for Porter from 2011 to 2012 and during that time witnessed her using drugs while the children were at home.

In filings obtained by the website Drago alleges she noticed the girls were covered “in a white powdery substance” when she was driving them to school.

She claims the children had found “a bag containing the powder, along with clear capsules, filled with another powdery substance in a bag in the back seat”.

Upon confronting Porter she was told the bag contained “medicine”.

Drago also accuses Porter of “chain-smoking pot” in the house with the girls home.

The plaintiff was fired in 2012.

She claims Porter “verbally and violently abused her” during her tenure and alleges was wrongfully terminated after she complained of a strong stench of marijuana.

She is seeking unspecified damages in the case.

Spokespersons for Combs and Porter have not responded to requests for comment.

The couple dated for several years before their split in 2007.

In addition to the twin girls they also share a son, born in 1998.

Police bust southeast drug ring

 

POLICE have raided several Gold Coast homes as part of a sting which has cracked an organised drug network trafficking “high quality dangerous drugs” across southeast Queensland.

Eight search warrants were executed on addresses including Pimpama, Ormeau and Jimboomba, as police officially closed Operation Juliet Cheshire after 19 months.

The operation has resulted in 89 arrests and about $3.5 million worth of drugs being seized.

Police said the drug network had interstate links, with officers from Melbourne and Sydney arresting two men yesterday for their alleged involvement.

The two 36-year-old men from Elkinstern in Melbourne and Fairfield in Sydney were both charged with trafficking dangerous drugs and will be extradited to Queensland. Both will appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court tomorrow.

As part of the ongoing operation, police intercepted a 27-year-old Victoria Point man at Brisbane airport following his arrival from Sydney on March 26. A search of the man allegedly uncovered one kilogram of crystallised methylamphetamine.

On the same day, a raid at a Victoria Point address allegedly uncovered a further two kilograms of methylamphetamine, approximately 4000 MDMA pills and a large quantity of cash.

A second man, aged 34 was also located by police. Both men were charged conjointly with one count of drug trafficking, three counts of possession of dangerous drugs and one count of possess proceeds of crime. Both are due to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on May 6.

Operation Juliet Cheshire started in September 2011. The operation has resulted in 89 people arrested and 352 charges laid including 40 charges of trafficking dangerous drugs.

“Approximately $3.5 million worth of drugs has been seized and $1million worth of property restrained during the operation,” police said.

– goldcoast.com.au

Teens hurt in Benowa drive-by shooting

One of the shooting victims is taken away. Pic: Glenn Hampson

POLICE say two teenagers hit by shrapnel during a drive-by shooting on the Gold Coast are lucky to be alive.

The pair, 17 and 19, were with another person in the garage of a house in Benowa around 7.20pm last night when up to five shots were fired from a car.

Both were hit in the back by shrapnel, taken to Gold Coast Hospital with minor injuries and later released.

Detective Acting Inspector Toby Wilkinson says they could easily have been seriously hurt or even killed.

“I think in any situation where victims sustain any gunshot wound they can consider themselves lucky (to be alive), most definitely,” Det Insp Wilkinson told reporters.

“We’re not certain or sure, at this stage, who the offenders are.

“We can’t draw any link between who may have been responsible and the actual victims.”

It’s believed a small calibre gun was used in the attack.

Det Insp Wilkinson said it was likely the shots were fired from the passenger seat of the vehicle, believed to be a white Holden sedan.

A neighbour, who declined to be named,  said he saw a white car driving down the street after the shooting.

“I heard something like fireworks. I certainly didn’t think they were gunshots at the time,” he said.

He said he heard four shots in 30 seconds before the car drove away.

The man said he heard four shots over a 30-second period before seeing a white car drive off down the road.

A third teenager inside the garage was not hurt during the shooting.

Investigations by detectives are continuing.

Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit crimestoppers.com.au.

It’s a routine kayak fishing adventure for Isaac Brumaghim, until Chompy the shark shows up!

Check out this incredible video of a shark jumping out of the water to take the fisherman’s catch!

How Animals Eat Their Food

Here is an educational video, with the good folks at MisterEpicMann illustrating how animals eat their food.