Daily News

A police station in Wythenshawe, Manchester had to be evacuated after an elderly woman walked in with a Second World War hand grenade.

The elderly woman walked into the Police Station with the grenade and two rounds of ammunition which she found in her loft after her husband’s death.

Police took precautions and the station was evacuated, and bomb disposal officers were called to examine the grenade.

Nearby residents were warned to stay indoors, the area was cordoned and the nearby road closed as precautions.

The Police have advised the public to call the police in case they find any hand grenade rather than pick them up and walk in the police station.

Tribute To Michael Jackson At The 2009 Mtv Video Music Awards With Janet Jackson Performance

Marietta, nestled to the south of the Georgian mountains and 15 kilo meters north west of Atlanta, founded in the year 1834, and 175 years old, is home to ‘Russian Slayer’ and new American tennis heartthrob Melanie Oudin. Though all of just 17 years and 5’ 6” tall, and with a boyfriend who is 15, this superb athlete exhibited a rare sense of grace even in defeat showing far more maturity than her age or height could foretell. 2009 US Open showcased wonderful expositions of attitudes in winning and losing.

Melanie started her tennis about when she was in her 7th grade with the blessings of her grandmother, who gifted her first racquet . She was a former world junior no.2 who turned professional in February 2008 and rose quickly in her Women’s Tennis Association rankings to reach her current ranking of No.70 this year.

Melanie’s stint at Wimbledon this year was in itself a prelude of things to come. Ranked no.124 then, she demolished the likes of 29th seed Sybilla Banner, 55th seed Yaroslava Shvedova and 6th seed Jelena Jankovic to rise to No.70 in the women’s rankings.

In September this year she got her second consecutive chance to play at the U.S. open. She was dauntless and displayed a strong mindset, not the least bit worried about her height or the reputation of her prospective opponents. She showed true resolve to put the anguish of her first round defeat at the last U.S. open and went about steadfastly regrouping her confidence for this year’s showdown. She drew solid inspiration from her idol in tennis, Justin Henin who was a former world no.1 and just 5’ 5” tall

Her Coach and mentor, Brian De Villiers, instills humility and strength of purpose in her, never allows her to forget her roots and guides her on never being awed by the opposition’s physical or celebrity status.

The U.S. open at Flushing Meadows showcases the Arthur Ashe Tennis Stadium and this is where Melanie arrived for her tryst with destiny. Her giant killer reputation preceded her after her heroic exploits at the Wimbledon and many held forth the prophecy that her experiences of the recent past would propel her to inch her way to the top.

All of America prayed for her and cherished the hope that here was a worthy successor to Venus and Serena Williams who were slowly eclipsing to the status of heroines of the past. Melanie was nicknamed ‘little red runner’ by John McEnroe and ‘Cinderella’ by the public at large. When the tournament started, she quickly got through her first round. In the second round, she defeated 6th seed Elena Dementieva, in the third, she vanquished Maria Sharapova in the fourth round she sent 13th seed Nadia Petrova packing.

This earned her the nickname ‘Russian Slayer.’ It was in the next and quarter final round that she met her Waterloo at the hands of Caroline Wozniacki, 9th seed and a 19 years old compact Danish player who never allowed Melanie to recoup her game, in spite of her last ditch attempts to rally her game towards the end of the first set and beginning or the second. The crowd cheered for every point she earned and sighed with each one she lost.

However, it was what happened after the game that focused world attention on this teenager who came from a lusterless past to electrify the nation and the world. The press adopted her as their darling. When Melanie warmly congratulated her opponent after the match, the crowd roared their appreciation. In a rare interview thereafter with ESPN, she wished Caroline the best for her next match. The press went overboard and declared that politicians would do well to emulate her grace in defeat. She was a true exponent of a saying I read somewhere that ‘a man is not known for what he achieved, but for the way he lived his life.’ Does this not sound a fitting tribute to Melanie Oudin?

The Obama administration is pushing for a new government-regulated insurance market system that would allow only eligible U.S. citizens to purchase health insurance at subsidized rates. Resident aliens on the other hand, whether legal or illegal, will not be entitled to government subsidies.

The proposed insurance “exchange” scheme will supposedly help reduce the benefits that illegal immigrants might enjoy from a revamped health care system. The President reiterated in his speech to Congress on Wednesday that his health care plan will not provide insurance benefits to illegal immigrants. The topic is particularly sensitive for many elected officials who are still yet to agree on the policies for comprehensive health care benefits to bona fide American citizens.

Part of the President’s health care strategy seeks to provide health insurance for all U.S. citizens, especially for those with limited incomes, by subsidizing the cost of coverage. One way for the government to be able to afford this undertaking is to reduce its current expenditures on health care. The federal government has been spending about $250 million a year on emergency hospital care for illegal immigrants alone. Thus, one way to reduce health-related government spending is to exclude non-U.S. citizens from availing of government aid when they purchase insurance, a benefit to which immigrants are currently entitled.

Under the proposed plan, illegal immigrants will still be entitled to free emergency medical care and they could still voluntarily acquire health insurance by paying for their coverage out of their own pockets.

The administration is relying on lawmakers to come up with the detailed operational guidelines on the proposed insurance market system.

The Energy and Commerce Committee of the House of Representatives has proposed a bill that will require all U.S. citizens as well as some legal immigrants to purchase health insurance. Illegal immigrants, however, are not subject to this requirement. But also, according to this draft legislation, both legal and illegal immigrants cannot avail of government-sponsored discounts on their insurance premiums.

Other House committees are also formulating their own versions of this bill.

The Senate Finance Committee, meanwhile, is working on a counterpart health-care bill with a position similar to that of the House Energy and Commerce Committee draft bill.

Reid Cherlin, an administration spokesman, said that the new insurance market system will require
prospective policyholders to provide proof of citizenship before they can buy an insurance plan. If the buyer is a U.S. citizen, then he or she may be eligible for the the government subsidies. The proposed insurance “exchange” could put to use current eligibility verification systems, such as the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program, to screen those who may or who may not avail of the government subsidies.

Mr. Cherlin added that the President has remained consistent on his views regarding illegal immigrants. The proposed insurance “exchange” may, however, prove unacceptable to proponents of immigrant rights.

The Toronto Film Festival has ramped up its star power with titles featuring such top talent as George Clooney, Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall, Natalie Portman and Canadian Michael Cera.
Can’t have a film festival without movie stars. it’s really meaning less to conduct film festeval without them.

There be a one news symposium on Friday, for the purpouse of Overture Films movie, in this purpouse the jeff bridge, ewan McGregor and some of famous people are attended in George clooney at a toronto news coference.

As of late last week, a little frantic army, publicists and agents in Los Angeles was still fretting through the details of George Clooney’s supposed presence at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Seven newly added films will get the red-carpet gala treatment, including “The Men Who Stare at Goats” starring Ewan McGregor as a reporter chasing a tip from an ex-military figure, played by Clooney.

The dark comedy, co-starring Jeff Bridges and directed by Grant Heslov, is Clooney’s second at the fest this year, after the previously announced “Up in the Air,” lensed by Montreal’s Jason Reitman.

On Friday night Mr. Clooney make the gambit party or not? If it is, there will be time for the media? Mr clonnney , right on prompt at 3:455pm. On Friday, flashing his cary grant grin for the media gaggle. That’s why its worked off.

If every one goes according to our arrangement, Mr. Clooney will go during the wringer again on Saturday at a identical news meeting for “Up in the Air” That movie opens on Nov. 13.

Apparently, film festivals are about films. Toronto’s is one of the main festival for get their energy from movie stars.

The movie darkly comic as is “Up in the Air” it starts on Saturday night, directed by Jason Reitman. In that movie Mr. Clooney’s Ryan Bingham is a corporate consultant. The film, from 20th Century Fox, is not screening in Toronto, but it is showing at a film festival with the other films.

From February to a March 7 broadcast date’s are prolonged by the Oscars’ move . Last year Kate Winslet seemed on the verge of exhausting out her spectators with the constant appearances on behalf of “Revolutionary Road” and “The Reader.”.

When it came to shooting “Up in the Air,” said Mr. Reitman, working with Mr. Clooney in fact was not much special from his experience with slightly less glowing stars like Aaron Eckhart on “Thank You for Smoking” and Ellen Page on “Juno.”

But things do get brighter on the promotional side. On returning to Los Angeles from the Telluride Film Festival on Tuesday, Mr. Reitman said he was surprised to see a blazing electronic billboard for “Up in the Air,” with Mr. Clooney’s name sparkling on top.

He said “I’ve not at all outdoor billboard for one of my movies”.

In an unprecedented move, the UK legislators decide to lift the ban on product placement on British TV shows recently. This change said to be “hugely overdue” is to be announced middle of September 2009. The new rule will allow independent broadcasters to display commercial products and accept payments for the advertisements in their shows.

The move is believed to infuse necessary fundings for the struggling TV industry. The huge amount of money that independent broadcasters will rake in will help the badly-hit TV industry stay afloat amidst the crippling recession. It could translate into a combined £100m additional income reflected in their financial statements each year.

However, the about-to-be-implemented rule does not include BBC shows as the ban on product placement would still be imposed on the world’s oldest and biggest broadcaster.

Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw will make the necessary announcements (which ensued a three-month consultation) in his speech to the Royal Television a week from now.

An ITV spokesman called this move “reforming UK prohibition” which is “warmly welcomed by the commercial broadcasting industry and advertisers alike.”

His statement echoed the sentiments of the adherents to product placement:
“Reforming the UK prohibition would also be a welcome acknowledgement of the pressures currently faced by an industry in transition. New sources of revenue means better-funded content – which can only be good news for viewers.”

The same ITV spokesman claimed that ITV spearheaded the campaign for product placement in the UK.
‘Serious Concerns’ on Possible Ramifications

The approval of product placements in British TV shows did not come without glitches. Former culture secretary Andy Burnham just declared in March this year that there are “serious concerns” regarding product placement which could possibly cast doubts on the editorial independence of the content of the show.

Burnham’s view is shared by many. Steven Barnett, University of Westminster professor of communications, admonished that it could cause confusion to the viewers regarding which part was “integral to the plot” and which was considered “as some kind or promotional device”.

He added that the choice would fall on the shoulders of the programme makers which could sometimes be influenced.

It could lead to a situation where a programme or independent broadcaster desperate for cash would make deals with an advertiser that might compromise the integrity of the show. “That’s the point at which I think we need to be clear about the boundaries between genuine creative independence and advertiser pressure.”

However, the economic woes plaguing UK had forced the government to rethink their strategies particulary on the strict rule. They now see product placement as a feasible move in certain cases.

A spokesman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport declared that the rule had lessened UK’s competitive edge.

Viewers’ Option
Product placement would most likely help popular TV series like Coronation Street and Britain’s Got Talent. Currently, they are required to conceal the product labels they use in the shows. Either that or they face penalties.

Channel 4’s Big Brother is also seen to benefit from the said ban-lifting as the logos of food and drinks in the house are carefully hidden from the public at present.

The strict rule, however, would remain enforced in BBC shows and in all children’s programmes in all networks.
Peter Bazalgette, the creator of Big Brother, called the move “hugely overdue”. He predicted the placement to generate additional £100m revenues each year for commercial TV.

As to the issue that it might compromise TV content, “Product placement needs to be done transparently, with credits that make it clear it has taken place.”

Bazalgette believed that the consumers will have the last say. “But you have to trust the consumer. If it’s overdone or tasteless, viewers will switch off.”

He further noted that the practice was rampant in British television already. Product placement in movies shown in TV and in imported American TV shows and dramas occurred frequently.

He also observed that in sports events, sponsors’ logos were even displayed prominently on the players’ shirts. He believed “Product placement won’t dramatically change the way we watch TV.”

An article appearing on a Fox news web site will have almost certain appeal to those “populists” harboring perverse racial resentment. The article suggests that health reform is reparation for slavery: Blacks will be on the receiving end of most care–at the expense of whites. If this isn’t absurd enough, President Obama, at the helm, appears not only as a dictator pushing this reparation, but the anti-debt, anti-health reform crowd at the “tea parties” have caricatured him as an African witch doctor, complete with feathers and nostril tusks.

Human nature often casts blame for personal failure on someone else. Those sinking believe they are drowning because someone else is clinging to them to stay afloat. The reality is that blacks are taking a worse beating in this recession. They are suffering a disproportionate rate of unemployment and foreclosures. The Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University and Demos, a nonpartisan public policy research organization, reports that 33 percent of the black middle class was at economic risk at the start of the recession.

During the years between 2000 and 2007, black employment had already started to decline, leaving one-third of black children living in poverty. Even black college graduates seeking work faced twice the level of unemployment as whites. More troublesome, a legacy of discrimination in hiring and lending has left blacks with far fewer resources than whites. In 2008, at the onset of the recession, blacks had one-tenth the assets possessed by whites. Whites held 43 percent of retirement accounts, compared to the 18 percent held by blacks and Latinos.

While people of all races fell victim to adjustable rate and subprime mortgages, black families were hit hardest—especially high-income blacks. Even those with down payments, or those who qualified for prime rate mortgages, were lured into sub-prime home purchases at double the rate of low-income whites. In fact, blacks lost $71 billion to $93 billion in the value of their homes due to subprime loans, according to the research and advocacy group, United for a Fair Economy.

Blacks were a ready-made target for lenders like Wells Fargo and Countrywide. Having been denied mortgages for racial reasons, black families were an easy mark. Banks intensively marketed to black neighborhoods under the auspices of serving those historically turned down for loans. But questionable loans are just part of the dismal economic picture.

While unemployment for whites stands at 8.9 percent, unemployment for blacks stands at 15.1 percent. An Economic Policy Institute spokesman, Lawrence Mishel says by 2010, African Americans will see periods of underemployment or unemployment reach 40 percent.

Clearly, pointing the finger at power-grabbing blacks is a right-wing misconception. Blacks are at risk of becoming more disadvantaged than before. Can our bi-partisan-striving president, himself a man of color, risk losing a large constituency by taking on this demise of the black middle-class? Not likely. All Americans need relief from economic stress, now, more than ever—but especially to prevent further distorted complaints from the far right.

Claire Logie, an employee of one of the big four high street banks, realized too late that indeed “haste makes waste” when she accidentally clicked the wrong box, sending £2,000 to another person’s bank account, when she was supposed to transfer the money into her savings account.

The wrong box belonged to someone she had done business a few years back and whose banking details have been saved on her account.

Although she felt “sick and very upset”, she assumed that she would eventually recover the cash that was mistakenly sent through internet banking.

But six months after the wrong transaction, Claire Logies still has to receive a refund of her money.
Although Claire works in a bank and has been doing internet banking regularly, her degree and qualifications does not exempt her from making mistakes and so do many others.

The problems and travails of her quest to get her money back has led her to the Alliance and Leicester Bank, the bank directly concerned with the transaction, and the Financial Ombudsman.

Neither is unable to help her case because the bank says it cannot force the person who received the money to return it because they were not the ones amiss in the transaction. Moreover, the Bank will not reveal the name of their client citing the Data Protection Act.

Thus Claire has no legal basis and therefore cannot lodge a case or complaint even in the small claims court.
Bringing her case to the Financial Ombudsman also proved futile because Claire does not have any complaints against the Bank.

In most cases similar to Claire’s, most people receiving money by mistake often pay it back. But Claire’s case is just one of the few wrong transactions which need to be addressed by a regulating body or council in order to protect the clients.

Jemma Smith of the Payments Council reiterates that there are no such regulations that protect errors such as this. Thus committing an honest mistake in transferring of funds often result in one’s futile efforts to retrieve the money mistakenly deposited to another’s account except if the person who mistakenly received the money will voluntarily return the amount.

If one were to ponder on the legality of this issue, it will be realized that you are dealing with a grey area where there are no policies, laws, or guidelines to protect the person. The law does not have a clout in defending the rights of the person involved in this type of transaction.

Even the police are not sure if they have legal authority to investigate the case.
A financial website set up by a former Daily Telegraph journalist Alison Steed, MyMoneyDiva.com, reports that problems similar to Claire’s is much more widespread than being reported.

In fact, Steed estimates that almost L349m which is equivalent to approximately 1% of all bank transfers are paid to the wrong person every year, although a majority of these payments were recovered. But returning the money is really a voluntary effort done on the goodwill of the person who mistakenly received it.

Steed expresses pessimism regarding Claire’s case. She reiterated that the Financial Ombudsman Services should take up an active stance against these cases by setting up a department to address these mistakes and form a group to arbitrate these cases.

While the case is still pending, Claire has a cartoon on her desk which says “stop and think” to remind her to do better the next time she does internet banking.

Rafael Nadal kissed by a male fan at 2009 US Open Tennis Championship