Wednesday, February 4, 2009

According to the newly formed BNO News Agency, an unnamed man tried to hang himself on an American Airlines flight which took off from Cibao International Airport in the Dominican Republic and was traveling to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City located in the state of New York.

American Airlines flight 834 was en-route to New York when the pilot reported that there was a medical emergency on board the plane. BNO says that a man had attempted to hang himself while the plane was in mid-flight. When the plane landed, the man was taken off the plane by emergency services who were on standby at JFK Airport.

Despite the report, American Airlines previously refused to comment on the incident because of the passengers privacy, but an unnamed official said that they had heard about the incident, “but [believed] it is not true.” The airline later stated to BNO that “the passenger did not try to commit suicide, however the passenger did have a medical condition that prompted our crew to call the tower and request assistance.” Even though the airline insists there was no suicide attempt, BNO states that the FBI was called and put on standby at the airport along with emergency services. Their involvement in the situation is not yet known, but BNO says the FBI is investigating.

On February 10, 2006, a man died after hanging himself in a bathroom aboard a United Airlines flight traveling from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles, California.

Monday, June 7, 2010

An acrobatic group known by the name of Spelbound has been declared as the winner of Britain’s Got Talent 2010, a televised variety talent show competition broadcast on ITV in the United Kingdom. As the winning act of the show, Spelbound have won £100,000 (US$144,580, €120,313, A$175,079) and a place at The Royal Variety Performance, an annual gala evening that is attended by senior members of the British Royal Family.

In no particular order, the top three acts were revealed to be two dancers known by their stage name of Twist and Pulse, gymnastic group Spelbound and Kieran Gaffney, whose act involves playing on the drum kit. After Kieran Gaffney was revealed to be in third place, Anthony McPartlin, who hosts Britain’s Got Talent with Declan Donnelly, said to Kieran: “Well done Kieran. Kieran, you’re a star, you came back, you got all the way to the final. I know you’ve loved this. You’ve loved this, haven’t you?” In response to this, Kieran Gaffney stated: “Thank you very much. Thank you, everyone for supporting me. Thank you.”

Shortly afterwards, on the episode that was broadcast live on ITV1 on Saturday, Anthony announced: “After tens of thousands of auditons, five semi-finals and an amazing final, this…this is it. One of you is about to walk away with £100,000 and a place at this year’s Royal Variety Performance. The winner of Britain’s Got Talent 2010 is…Spelbound!” Glen Murphy from Twist and Pulse commented about finishing in second place, stating: “Yeah, it’s amazing. I can’t even believe it. I can’t believe it at all.”

Alex Uttley, a 24-year-old member of Spelbound, commented on the gymnastic group’s victory, commenting: “Oh, my god. This is unbelieveable. We just want to say thank you to everyone out there. It just shows that all our hard work has paid off.” One of the coaches of Spelbound, named Neil Griffiths, stated about Spelbound: “Oh, they’ve worked so hard over the last few weeks. Um, since the semi-final, we…we really had to pull out the stops to try and up the game. They’ve not known they’ve worked in the gym from six in the morning till twelve…twelve o’clock of the night. I couldn’t have asked for more. Um, it’s a team of coaches. I don’t take all the credit myself. There’s, uh, two people up there that know who they are who’ve been fantastic.”

Spelbound consists of 24-year-old Alex Uttley, Nicholas Illingworth, aged 24, Adam Buckingham, aged 21, 20-year-old Adam McAssey, 19-year-old Douglas Fordyce, 18-year-old Edward Upcott, 18-year-old Leighanne Cowler, 17-year-old Katie Axten, 17-year-old Lauren Kemp, 15-year-old Jonathan Stranks, Abigail Ralph, aged 15, 13-year-old Hollianne Wood and Amy Mackenzie, aged 12. Bookmakers had previously predicted that Spelbound would be the most likely act to become the winner of the series.

The running order for the final started with Twist and Pulse. The second act to perform was Liam McNally, a 14-year-old singer. The running order subsequently continued with 40-year-old impressionist Paul Burling, singer Christopher Stone, aged 28, Tina & Chandi, a woman and dog dancing act, Connected, a five-piece singing group, Kieran Gaffney, aged 12, 22-year-old Tobias Mead, a dancer, 80-year-old singer Janey Cutler and Spelbound in that particular order.

Earlier on in the final, Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden has stated to Spelbound: “We are hosting the 2012 Olympics and I think ‘what a brilliant opening act’.” Fellow judge Piers Morgan also commented that “[t]he purpose of this show is to identify hidden great British talent. You are that act.” After Spelbound won in the final, another judge, named Simon Cowell, stated that “the right boys and girls won on the night” and that he could “only say on live TV that that was one of the most astonishing things I have ever seen. Seriously.”

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Evan Wolfson, the founder of the modern gay marriage movement, tells the waiter he would like an iced decaf and “the usual.” Wolfson, one of Time Magazine’s Most Influential People in the World, is a man who unflinchingly knows what he wants and stays his course, whether it be in his choice of restaurant or in his choice of battle. And others always know when they see Evan coming what it is that he wants.

Since his time at Harvard Law School when he wrote a paper on the topic, what Wolfson wants is the right for gay people to marry. The issue gained national prominence in 1993 when the Hawaii Supreme Court held in Baehr v. Lewin that the government had to show a reason for the denial of the freedom to marry, not just deny marriage licenses to the plaintiff gay couples. Wolfson was co-counsel in the historic 1996 Hawaii trial in which he argued that the government does not have a sufficient reason for excluding same-sex couples from marriage. In 1999, Wolfson contributed to Baker v. Vermont, the case that led to the creation of civil unions; advised the lead attorneys in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, the case that led to same-sex marriage in Massachusetts; and since 2003, when he founded the primary umbrella organization coordinating the efforts to win marriage for gay people, Freedom to Marry, Wolfson has played a role in every marriage equality case in the United States. He is the movement’s founder and leader, and his focus remains square on winning that right. “For years,” said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, “many of us were saying to him, ‘We’re not ready. The country’s not ready. And, by the way, you’re crazy.'”

When I make a statement to him about his devoting his life to gay marriage, he corrects me: “I’ve played a part in cases that span the entire spectrum of eliminating gay people’s exclusions and limitations on who gay people are, and I’ve also written on immigration and economic justice, and I have worked on cases involving race discrimination in jury selection and women’s inequality. I don’t think one has to pick one of these things; they work together.”

Indeed, he has. Wolfson was lead counsel before the Supreme Court in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, the case arguing against the expulsion of gay scoutmasters. As an intrepid young assistant district attorney in Brooklyn, Wolfson worked on People v. Liberta to end the exemption that allowed women to be raped by their husbands legally, a right in New York State as early as 1984. And he helped end the practice of choosing jurors based upon their race.

Wolfson’s entire career has been at the center of the most explosive legal and cultural issues of the last 30 years in the United States, and his influence has been profound. David Shankbone sat down with him to discuss some of the recent decisions affecting gay marriage, gender in marriage and reactions in the gay community to his fight for their rights.

Friday, January 19, 2007

TJX Companies, a U.S. chain, that owns big box stores Winners, a fashion outlet, and HomeSense, a home accessories store, has revealed they had their computers hacked back in mid-December.

It also affected the U.S. and Puerto Rico stores Marshalls, T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods and A.J. Wright, which are also owned by TJX Companies. The intrusion could also affect stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

They discovered the hacking in mid-December and revealed the information to the public on Wednesday.

“The company is committed to providing its customers with more information when it becomes available,” TJX Companies said in a statement.

The computers contain credit card, debit card, check, and merchandise return transactions information. The hacker could have accessed transactions during 2003 and from May through December 2006.

Jefferies analyst Timothy Allen said the chain should use this as an opportunity for excellent customer service. He added that they should offer coupons to customers to get them back to shopping in stores owned by TJX.

Customers with questions can call one of the help lines at 866-484-6978 in the United States, 866-903-1408 in Canada, and 0800-77-90-15 for the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Construction workers in Seattle, Washington located in the United States are nearing completion of a new light-rail trolley, but it is not the trolleys that are making the residents of the city laugh, it is the abbreviation that city officials designated for the new transit system.

The new transit system, South Lake Union Streetcar (SLUS) has had an unofficial change in its abbreviation to “S.L.U.T.” by local residents. Some have even designed and sold more than 100 t-shirts saying “Ride the S.L.U.T.”.

City officials admit that they were aware of the notion before they named the system, but did not care enough to rename it and didn’t give the acronym ‘streetcar’ to avoid the outcome. Officials say that streetcar sounded more modern than trolley.

The project, built by Vulcan Development, is costing US$50.5 million to build.

A compilation of brief news reports for Thursday, March 1, 2007.

Two paintings by renowned Spanish artist Pablo Picasso were stolen from the home of his granddaughter, according to the French authorities. The two oil paintings stolen were Maya With Doll and Portrait of Jacqueline; they were taken sometime between Monday, February 26 and Tuesday, February 27. The combined worth of the paintings is estimated at $66 million.

Sources

• “2 paintings by Picasso are stolen in Paris” — New York Times, March 1, 2007
• “Thieves nab $66M Picasso paintings” — CNN, February 28, 2007

Iran will probably participate in a security conference dealing with the situation in Iraq,according to Iranian official Ali Larijani. The conference, according to Iraqi prime minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki will be held March 10 in Baghdad. It will include the first high-level diplomatic contact between Iranian and U.S. officials in over two years; however, U.S. officials will not directly speak with Iranian or Syrian officials, according to White House Press Secretary Tony Snow. The topics to be focused on will include the recent spate of lethal attacks by insurgents throughout Iraq, especially in Baghdad itself. Nations attending the conference include Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Other countries invited include France, Russia, China, and Turkey.

Sources

• Richard A. Oppel, Jr.. “Iran to Take Part in Iraq Security Conference” — New York Times, February 28, 2007
• “White House: U.S. won’t talk to Syria, Iran directly” — CNN, February 28, 2007

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Los Navegantes, Pichilemu, Chile – Paulina Constanza Tapia Figueroa, 25, a surfer native to Pichilemu, known worldwide as the “Surf Capital”, died on Monday, at Punta de Lobos beach, about seven kilometers south of the city.

Her body was discovered by fishermen in the area, who called Pichilemu Police officers, who along with Homicide Brigade of the Investigations Police of Chile (PDI) officers, arrived at the place and took the body to the Forensic Medical Service offices in San Fernando.

Tapia had been practicing surfing for years, and earlier that day, had been accompanied with her friends. “A shellfish diver of the area noticed a surfboard floating, he approached it and saw that the girl [Tapia] was semisubmerged in the water. After taking her out, he realized she was dead,” Juan Reyes, officer of the Homicide Brigade of PDI told Televisión Nacional de Chile.

According to reports, Tapia either died because of a heart attack or after being hit. Third-party participation in her death was ruled out by officers.

“She had a free spirit, she loved nature, and I don’t really know what happened to her, a cramp [maybe],” Filippo Tapia, her father, told La Tercera. Josefa Tapia, her 14-year-old sister who is studying at Colegio Preciosa Sangre, seemed very affected by her death after being informed of the situation by school inspectors.

“Your sister will always be watching out and protecting you from heaven, remember the moments you and your family lived with her ??and that made ??you happy,” a friend of Josefa wrote on her Facebook wall.

Photos, videos, and messages such as “Paulita, rest in peace with love, I’ll miss you a lot, great waves and farewell forever,” and “My friend, I know you are in a better place having a really good time, you’re the best! I love you infinitely!” flooded Paulina Tapia’s Facebook wall.

Tapia’s body remained in the Forensic Medical Service of San Fernando on Tuesday morning, according to reports. According to Domingo Osorio Figueroa, Paulina Tapia’s remains have been veiled since Tuesday’s afternoon in the dependencies of Funerales Rodríguez, in Rancagua, capital of O’Higgins Region. A mass will be performed in the Rancagua Sur Catholic Parish, at 11:30 local time (14:30 UTC) on Wednesday, and then she will be buried in Parque Jardín Las Flores, in Machalí.