Raging Southern California wildfires force mandatory evacuation orders

Friday, July 30, 2010

Antelope Valley, California – Three wildfires broke out in the Antelope Valley region of Los Angeles County yesterday, forcing many people to be evacuated. The first fire started yesterday morning west of Lancaster in the Fairmont area near Lancaster Road and 215th Street West. It burned around 30 acres before firefighters were able to put it out. As that fire was being contained, two other fires began in the southern portion of the valley on either side of the State Route 14 freeway near the communities of Agua Dulce and Acton.

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French woman admits to killing her eight infants

Friday, July 30, 2010

French prosecutors confirmed on Thursday that nursing assistant Dominique Cottrez killed her eight newborn infants and buried their remains. Prosecutors called the case "non-standard... given the large number of newborns."

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Up to 140 feared dead as boat sinks in DR Congo

Friday, July 30, 2010

As many as 140 people are feared dead after a boat sank on the Kasai River, a tributary of the Congo River, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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C-17 crashes near air force base in Alaska

Friday, July 30, 2010

A Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, operated by the United States Air Force, crashed July 28, 2010 near Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska at about 6:15 pm (0215 UTC), killing all four crew members. The plane was practicing for the 2010 Arctic Thunder air show.

These facts were confirmed by Air Force Lt. Gen. Dana Atkins, Commander of Alaskan Command NORAD, in an impromptu press conference later in the evening. Col. John McMullen, commander of the 3rd Wing (under whose authority the plane belonged), announced the four deaths on Thursday. Three were members of the U.S. National Guard, one was active duty. Names are being withheld pending the notification of family members.

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Apple releases new Magic Trackpad, updated iMacs and Mac Pros

Friday, July 30, 2010

On Tuesday, Apple Inc. introduced a new peripheral, the Magic Touchpad, and refreshed its line of iMac and Mac Pro computers, as well as the Apple Cinema Display.

The Magic Trackpad, a multi-touch trackpad for Macintosh computers, allows end users to use certain gestures to control on-screen actions. It supports gestures already seen on the MacBook and MacBook Pro trackpads, as well as the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, such as swiping, tap-to-click, and pinch-to-zoom. However, the Magic Trackpad also supports physical clicking and supports one- and two-button commands. The Magic Trackpad, which is retailed for US$69, connects wirelessly to a computer using Bluetooth technology and has a claimed four months of battery life. At 5.17 inches (13.13 centimetres) long and 5.12 inches (13 centimetres) wide, the glass and aluminium device is slightly larger than Apple's laptop trackpads.

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Former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod to sue blogger Andrew Breitbart

Friday, July 30, 2010

Shirley Sherrod, an African-American employee of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) who was ousted last week, has said that she will "definitely sue" conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart over a video clip posted online at BigGovernment.com, operated by Breitbart, that made her appear racist.

Formerly the director of rural development in Georgia, Sherrod was referred to on Breitbart's site as a "racist govt employee," and the video had been edited to make her appear to have discriminated against Caucasians. Sherrod spoke in March of this year at an NAACP meeting. The clip edited from the original video footage of this meeting misrepresents Sherrod as deliberately failing to support a white farmer because of his race. In reality, the full video revealed that Sherrod was speaking about racial reconciliation and the lessons she learned after the episode. However, the USDA asked Sherrod to resign before the full video was released. The farmer mentioned in the video and his wife later stated that Sherrod had actually helped to save their farm, and after the full video was made public, US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and US President Barack Obama apologised and Vilsack offered Sherrod a new job with the USDA. However, Sherrod said that she has not decided whether to accept the new position.

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Gibraltar police investigate suspicious death

Thursday, July 29, 2010

The Criminal Investigation Department of the Royal Gibraltar Police (RGP) is carrying out investigations following the discovery of a body at a house in Cumberland Road in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

An RGP spokesman confirmed that a body, that of a British woman in her 50s who lived in Gibraltar, had been found, but he refused to give further details, telling reporters that the victim's next of kin had not yet been informed. He went on to say that the RGP "are dealing with this as a suspicious death". The Gibraltar Chronicle reported that the woman had sustained a wound.

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Oldest user of Twitter, Ivy Bean, dies at 104

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Ivy Bean, thought to have been the oldest person using the popular social networking site Twitter, has died at age 104.

By the end of her life, Bean had 53,535 followers (a term used on Twitter to indicate you are watching a person's posts) on the site and was something of an internet phenomenon. In 2008, she became known as the oldest person on Facebook, a title held previously by a 97-year-old French man. Bean frequently updated her Twitter page with videos and descriptions of activities in her daily life that included her winning of the Gold Medal in Frisbee in the Over-75 Olympics in Bradford, Northern England as well as recipes and meeting former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

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Loneliness unhealthy as smoking and alcoholism, new study says

Thursday, July 29, 2010

The scientists on the project ranked having low-quality relationships with friends and family as equivalent to frequent substance abuse (that is to say, 15 cigarettes a day or heavy alcohol consumption) but worse for a person's health than not participating in exercise and being obese.

Timothy Smith, project leader from Brigham Young University (BYU), in Utah, claims that "the importance of having a network of friends and good family relationships is comparable to quitting smoking and exceeds many risk factors of mortality such as obesity, physical inactivity."

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Ahmadinejad criticizes Paul the octopus

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims Paul the octopus, who correctly guessed the outcomes of eight matches of the World Cup, is a sign of decay of Western culture.

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Six killed in Sadr City bombing

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Iraqi police report a bomb explosion killed five civilians, one security official, and injured at least another twelve Wednesday at 9:15 a.m. The bomb was planted near a state-operated bank in a Shi'ite slum.

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Tennessee Lieutenant Governor suggests that Islam is a 'cult'

Thursday, July 29, 2010

A Tennessee politician has been criticised by Islamic groups and Islamic leaders by suggesting that Islam is a cult and is therefore ineligible for protection under the first amendment of the United States constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion.

Though Tennessee Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey, at a campaign stop in Chattanooga earlier in the month, said he's "all about freedom of religion", he also said that "[y]ou could even argue whether that being a Muslim is actually a religion, or is it a nationality, way of life, cult or whatever you want to call it".

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Bull fighting banned in Catalonia

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The parliament of Catalonia, an autonomous region of Spain, today voted to outlaw bullfighting – an iconic sport in much of the country. The vote was held after animal rights activists, led by Catalonian animal rights group Prou! (Catalan for "Enough!"), who claim the practice is "barbaric", collected 180,000 signatures to a petition.

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Severe smog blankets Moscow

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

At least 43 peat fires have erupted in rural regions to the east and south of the city, and temperatures only 0.1 degrees Celsius less than the record high of 34.7 degrees, set Monday, have led to a thick cloud of smog settling over the city.

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Plane crash in Pakistani capital kills 152

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

An Airblue-owned passenger plane, originating from Karachi, Pakistan, has crashed on approach to Islamabad International Airport in the Pakistani capital earlier today. There were 146 passengers and 6 crew members on board.

Initial reports were unclear as to the death toll, with some indicating that everyone on board, including crew, have died, and others saying at least five survivors had been taken to the hospital. Later reports, however, confirmed that all aboard had died.

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Wyclef Jean considering standing for president of Haiti

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Following months of rumours, musician Wyclef Jean today confirmed that he is considering standing for the presidency of Haiti in the country's November elections. A statement from his family and verified by his spokeswoman said that the 37-year-old had not yet announced his intention to run, but that media would be informed "if and when a decision is made".

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