CKN International: 2013

Thursday, December 26, 2013

440-Pound Woman Trapped In Basement By Her Weight

Olivia was a middle-aged woman, trapped in her parents' basement by her obesity. There she remained house-bound, as relatives brought her food.

"I secluded myself from the world," she told ABCNews.com. "I didn't want to be seen by society any more. All I did was either be on the computer, watch TV or eat."

The 47-year-old former computer specialist weighed in at 440 pounds and had been teased most of her life for her weight. At the age of 12, she weighed 180 pounds.

Photo: Dying Man Says Goodbye To His Dog

Last week, Mike Petrosino, a 21-year-old who was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer, was given a chance to say goodbye to his dog, Rusty, who was brought to Massachusetts General Hospital for a final visit.

Not surprisingly, the heartbreaking photo of the moment — shared by Petrosino's family members — has gone viral since a friend posted it to Reddit.

Erick and Marlise Munoz, both paramedics in Tarrant County, Texas, had talked a lot about end-of-life decisions, including the importance of do-not-resuscitate orders. So when doctors put her on life support after suffering a suspected pulmonary embolism last month, her husband says, he knew her wishes.

Marlise, 33, had lost a brother years before and told her husband she never wanted to be kept alive by machines, he says.

But Marlise is pregnant, and Texas state law puts the rights of a fetus over the wishes of its mother. The baby Marlise is carrying is now closer to 18 weeks, but Munoz says doctors have no idea what effects the oxygen deprivation Marlise has suffered will have if the baby is delivered.

Lagos - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said on Monday he had ordered a probe into a rash of allegations, including the creation of a political hit squad, levelled against him by former leader Olusegun Obasanjo.

Obasanjo, who served as president from 1999-2007, penned an open letter to Jonathan on 2 December that accused him of training a private militia to assassinate political rivals.

Johannesburg - A British Airways flight bound for London has veered off the runway, crashing into a building at OR Tambo International on Sunday evening.

A British Airways spokesperson confirmed a Boeing 747 was damaged while taxiing at Johannesburg airport, with 182 passengers on board.

The airline said all passengers were disembarked safely and there were no reported injuries on board the aircraft. Passengers were taken to a hotel for the night and the airline is arranging alternative flights for them.

Mikhail Kalashnikov, the designer of the assault rifle that has killed more people than any other firearm in the world, has died at the age of 94.

Kalashnikov, who created the AK-47 just after World War Two, died in his home city of Izhevsk, near the Ural Mountains, where his gun is still made.

He had been ill for some time and had been in intensive care since November 17.

Kalashnikov, a Russian peasant with little formal education, designed the eponymous rifle in 1947 - with the letters AK-47 referring to 'Kalashnikov's Automatic' and the year of its release.

Uganda Approves Life Jail For Homosexuality

Uganda's parliament has passed a bill to toughen the punishment for homosexual acts to include life imprisonment in some cases.

The anti-homosexuality bill also makes it a crime punishable by a prison sentence not to report gay people.

The prime minister opposed the vote, saying not enough MPs were present.

Lee Johnston, 38, found himself with 46D boobs after he stopped drinking up to 100 pints a week.

The transport manager developed the condition gynaecomastia — more commonly known as man boobs — as he dropped from 26st 8lb to 15st 8lb in ten months.

Now he has been left devastated after being denied NHS surgery to remove his breasts.

The Sun

Train Crash Into Homes In Kenya

Nairobi - A cargo train derailed in a sprawling Nairobi slum Sunday, crashing into makeshift homes where scores of people are feared trapped, the Kenyan Red Cross said.

"One patient has been evacuated ... scores are feared trapped," the organisation said.

Transport Minister Joseph Kamau, who was at the scene, told journalists that six injured had so far been taken to hospital.

Maputo - An aviation official says preliminary investigations show the pilot of a Mozambican plane intentionally brought the aircraft down.

Joao Abreu, chairperson of the Mozambican Civil Aviation Institute said on Saturday that recordings and reports confirm "there was an intention to crash the plane", that killed all six crewmembers and 27 passengers on board.

Two British (Nigerians) Found Guilty Of Butchering Soldier On London Street

Two British Muslim fanatics have been found guilty of the murder of soldier Lee Rigby in just 90 minutes today.

Fusilier Rigby, 25, was 'mutilated, almost decapitated and murdered' by Michael Adebowale, 22, and Michael Adebolajo, 28, who ambushed him outside his military barracks in Woolwich, South East London on May 22.

During their trial Lee Rigby's bereft family have been forced to watch footage and hear gruesome accounts of the soldier being run down at 40mph and hacked to death.

Angela Merkel Gets Third Term In Office

BERLIN (Reuters) - Angela Merkel was elected to a third term as chancellor in a vote in the German lower house of parliament on Tuesday, paving the way for her new "grand coalition" government to be sworn in and formally take power later in the day.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Just when it seemed the scandal over the bogus sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela's memorial had run its course, a cousin and three friends say he was part of a mob that accosted two men found with a stolen television and burned them to death by setting fire to tires placed around their necks.

President Robert Mugabe yesterday said there was nothing wrong with local men taking many wives as long as it was done openly, raising questions on where exactly the president stands on polygamy.

In a post-election change of heart, Mugabe told mourners at the burial of polygamist Eric Nyakudya Gwanzura, a veteran politician and liberation war icon, that he believes that polygamy was okay.

In thinly-veiled remarks at the National Heroes’ Acre targeted at his rival Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe said: “Don’t play women as we have seen done by some elements in MDC. If you want them as your wives, just do it, it’s okay.”

Tsvangirai, whose first wife, Susan, died in a car crash in March 2009, was linked with a string of women in the aftermath of his spouse’s death and had to deal with claims that he fathered a child with a 23-year-old Bulawayo woman.

President of the Republic of Congo, spent 1.18 million euros on suits and shirts over six years as part of 60 million euros he and his family pumped into luxury items and property in France, French investigators find as part of probe into African leaders.

Judges have been inquiring into the source of money spent in France by Denis Sassou Nguesso and his family as part of a widening investigation into the misuse of funds by African leaders.

After seizing a string of luxury assets belonging to the son of president Obiang this year and issuing an international warrant for his arrest, French investigators have now turned their attentions to Mr Sassou-Nguesso and his extended family.

President Goodluck Jonathan's Tribute To Nelson Mandela

Goodluck Jonathan Tribute To Madiba:

"My dear friends on facebook, the news of the passing of the great Nelson Mandela to ancestorhood has left Africa and the rest of humanity with a deep feeling of loss.

Never in recent living memory has a leader mobilized the consciousness of human existence to the cause of freedom and the advancement of world civilization as did Mandela.

Group A : Brazil, Cameroon, Mexico and Croatia

Group B : Spain, Chile, Australia and Holland

Group C : Colombia, Ivory Coast, Japan and Greece

Group D : Uruguay, Italy, Croatia and England

Group E : Switzerland, Ecuador, Honduras and France

Group F : Argentina, Iran, Nigeria and Bosnia

Group G : Germany, Portugal, Ghana and USA

Group H : Belgium, Algeria, Russia and South Korea

Obama Banned From Using Iphone

Barack Obama’s love for BlackBerry smartphones is well documented but he has recently revealed that there may be other reasons for his brand loyalty, with the president of the USA admitting that he isn’t allowed to have an iPhone “for security

Obama made the off-hand remark during a speech at the White House dedicated to promoting his health care reforms to a young audience. He joked that whilst he couldn’t use Apple’s smartphone his daughters spent enough time on theirs.

A teenager suffers from a rare condition that causes her to cry and sweat blood.

Delfina Cedeno, 19, began suffering from the bizarre disorder - which also causes blood to seep from her fingernails and belly button - four years ago.

As her condition deteriorated, she started crying the red fluid, having nosebleeds and suffering hair loss.

At her worst, she has bled for up to 15 days and was once left in such a critical condition that she needed a blood transfusion.

But despite hundreds of tests, doctors in her hometown of Veron, in the Dominican Republic, were left baffled.

Picture Of South African former President,Nelson Mandela being taken to the morgue after his death

Mandela's Burial Arrangement Is Out

Flags were lowered to half-staff across South Africa and people in black townships, in upscale mostly white suburbs and in the country’s vast rural grasslands commemorated Nelson Mandela with song, tears and prayers on Friday while pledging to adhere to the values of unity and democracy that he embodied.

Hours after Mandela’s death Thursday night, a black SUV-type vehicle containing his coffin, draped in South Africa’s flag, pulled away from Mandela’s home after midnight, escorted by military motorcycle outriders, to take the body to a military morgue in Pretoria, the capital.

How Nelson Mandela Died

South Africa's first black president and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela has died, South Africa's president says.

Mr Mandela, 95, led South Africa's transition from white-minority rule in the 1990s, after 27 years in prison.

He had been receiving intense home-based medical care for a lung infection after three months in hospital.

Don’t Pay Ransoms To Terrorists, UK Urges

New York - Britain submitted a draft resolution to the UN Security Council on Tuesday that calls on countries to prevent the payment of kidnap ransoms to extremist groups, like al-Qaeda, which have earned hundreds of millions of dollars from such crimes.

British UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said he hoped the 15-member council would be able to adopt the resolution by the end of the month. No new legal obligations would be created, he said, as states were already required not to pay kidnap ransoms under an anti-terrorism resolution adopted in 2001.

A schoolboy was found dead in his bedroom just days before he was due to give evidence at the trial of a man who attacked him.

Tom Acton, 16, died after being falsely accused of raping a girl after tying her to a tree when he stood up against the criminal activity in his neighbourhood of Poynton, Cheshire.

He was attacked in the street, targeted on Facebook and angry youths turned up at his house following the lies spread about him

Death: Tom Acton (left), 16, gave information to police about people dealing drugs to youngsters. Days after his death he was due to testify in court against one of his tormentors, 18-year-old Thomas Greenwood (right)

For his own safety he went to live with his grandmother but upon his return he was beaten up by a teenager who told him 'you are dead'.

Days after his death on October 31 Tom was due to testify in court against one of his tormentors.

A judge lifted reporting restrictions preventing the naming of Thomas Greenwood, 18, who appeared at youth court for attacking Tom.

His 45-year-old mother, Gaynor, has criticised authorities for failing to act to protect her son and accused them of turning a blind eye.

A policewoman committed suicide after writing a text to a lover thanking him for a 'wonderful' date - but accidentally sent it to her husband, an inquest heard.

PC Gail Crocker, 46, met a fellow officer while her husband Peter, 49, was away from their home near St Austell, Cornwall, on a business trip in London.

Later that evening the mother of two typed a message on her mobile saying: 'Thank you for a wonderful evening. Only wish we could do this more often'.

But Mrs Crocker sent it to her husband of 30 years by mistake, an inquest in Truro was told.

Hollywood Actor ,Friend Die In Car Crash

Paul W

Paul Walker, the star of the "Fast & Furious" movie series, died Saturday in a car crash that killed one other person outside of Los Angeles. He was 40.

Walker's publicist Ame Van Iden confirmed the actor's death Saturday afternoon. A statement on Walker's Facebook page said he was a passenger in a friend's car, and that Walker was in the area to attend a charity event for his organization Reach Out Worldwide.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said that speed was a factor in the crash.

Social services forcibly removed a pregnant woman's unborn baby by caesarean section and put it up for adoption after obtaining a high court order on the grounds the mother had suffered a mental breakdown.

Essex council obtained an order allowing them to sedate the woman against her will before taking her daughter and placing it into care.

The Italian woman, who was in Britain on a work training course, claims she had not even been warned that she would be given a caesarean. It is not believed a natural birth would have posed a risk to her or the child's health.

The wreckage of a Mozambique Airlines plane that disappeared over Namibia has been found, but none of the 34 people aboard survived the crash, police say.

The burned-out aircraft was found in the Bwabwata National Park, near the borders with Angola and Botswana.

"The plane has been completely burnt to ashes and there are no survivors," Namibia Police Force deputy commissioner Willy Bampton was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Paul F. Crouch, a televangelist who co-founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network and turned it into one of the world’s largest Christian television networks, died on Saturday. He was 79.

He died after struggling with degenerative heart disease for a decade, the network said in a statement.

Mr. Crouch served as the face of the television network, along with his wife, Janice, known for her large pink wigs and heavy makeup, expanding it from one station in Southern California to thousands of stations across the world. He often appeared on camera, microphone in hand, quoting from the Bible and delivering his upbeat brand of Christianity.

Men Tried To Behead Soldier On London Street, Court Hears

Two men tried to behead a British soldier in a "barbarous" killing on a London street, hacking at his body "like a butcher attacking a joint of meat" after running him over, a court was told on Friday.

Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, dragged the lifeless body of Fusilier Lee Rigby, a veteran of the Afghan War, into the middle of the street so horrified members of the public could see what they had done, prosecutor Richard Whittam said at the start of the men's trial.

A mother jailed for 17 years for killing her six children in a house fire has today lost a second bid to challenge the length of her sentence.

Mairead Philpott, 32, was jailed alongside her husband Mick at Nottingham Crown Court in April after being found guilty of the manslaughter of Jade Philpott and her brothers John, Jack, Jesse, Jayden and Duwayne.

Amb Brewster Left with his "husband"

The new U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic arrived in the country with his husband this week after a torrent of abuse from local religious groups about being openly gay.

James 'Wally' Brewster arrived in Santo Domingo despite calls for protest from groups in the Dominican Republic, explaining his future proposals in a promotional video.

Police in Dresden say they have arrested a 55-year-old police officer on suspicion of murder after the body of another man was found in the Erz Mountains in eastern Germany.

They say there are indications that parts of the victim may have been eaten.

Lawyers for a failed asylum seeker who was on hunger strike have said the Home Office has confirmed his removal from the UK.

They said Isa Muazu, 45, is now "near death", but the Home Office said he was "fit to fly" back to Nigeria.

World News Headlines..Thursday 28th November 2013

International court changes trial attendance rule

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Member states of the International Criminal Court amended its rules Wednesday to allow defendants to appear via video link and allow suspects who hold high office to miss parts of their trials, decisions likely to affect Kenya's president who is due to go on trial in…

Associated Press

TOKYO/SEOUL (Reuters) - Japanese and South Korean military aircraft flew through disputed air space over the East China Sea without informing China, officials said on Thursday, challenging a new Chinese air defense zone that has increased regional tensions and sparked concerns of an unintended clash.

A Northern Cape (South Africa) man accused of raping of a 6-week-old baby in Galeshewe will appear in the Kimberley Magistrate's Court on Thursday, police said.

A schoolgirl whose body was found in woodland was so badly bullied because of her red hair it allegedly contributed to her death.

Helena Farrell suffered bullying all of her life over the colour of her ginger hair - and her father Enda claims it contributed to her death.

A court in Egypt has sentenced 21 female supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi to 11 years in prison.

They were found guilty of multiple charges, including belonging to a terrorist group, obstructing traffic, sabotage and using force at a protest in the city of Alexandria last month.

Mali's ex-coup leader has been charged with "murders and assassinations", the justice ministry has said.

Armed troops went to Amadou Sanogo's home to take him before a judge, after which he was remanded in custody.

Manchester United Suffers Flight Scare In Germany

Premier League giants Manchester United experienced a scare during their flight to Germany for their Champions League match against Bayer Leverkusen, this according to several reports on Tuesday night.

Two British citizens have reportedly been arrested in by anti-terror police in Kenya.

The pair had been carrying hand grenades, sources suggested to Sky News.

They were said to have been arrested in the beach resort of Diani on the country's south coast.

A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: 'We're looking into reports of two British nationals detained in Kenya. We stand ready to offer consular assistance.'

The veteran police chief who headed the investigation into Ian Watkins's trail of sex abuse appealed today for other victims to come forward.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Doyle described the case as 'the most shocking and harrowing child abuse evidence I have ever seen'.

And he vowed that the hunt to uncover other victims of the abuse would continue.

'There is no doubt in my mind that Ian Watkins exploited his celebrity status in order to abuse young children,' he said.

Miracle:Boy Comes Out Of Coma 4 Months After Accident

· Ryan Smith had been in a coma for four months since the bike accident

· Doctors told his family he probably has brain damage and could have died

· Boy, 16, didn't want to wear a cycle helmet as he didn't want to ruin his quiff

· He has woken and said: 'Hello mum and dad' before hugging his father

· Dad Mark said: 'It was the best hug I'd ever had, it felt incredible'

Harare - A Zimbabwe court on Tuesday dropped charges against a leading human rights lawyer who had faced trial for obstructing police, after state prosecutors failed to present evidence to support their case.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden is investigating the disappearance of two Swedish journalists who are missing in Syria, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

The ministry declined to name the two, but said the country's embassy in Syria, currently working out of the consulate in Lebanon, was investigating.

Manny Pacquiao's bank accounts frozen in tax fight

Philippine boxing hero Manny Pacquiao said Tuesday authorities had frozen all his domestic bank accounts over allegations of unpaid taxes from lucrative fights in the United States, leaving him financially paralysed. "This is harassment," the former eight-division world champion said in an…

AFP

Indian Couple Convicted Of Killing ONLY Daughter And House Boy

An Indian couple have been convicted of murdering their daughter Aarushi Talwar and their Nepalese servant, Hemraj.

The 14-year-old only daughter of dentists Rajesh and Nupur Talwar was found dead at home in May 2008 with her throat slit and a fatal head injury.

Suspicion initially fell on Hemraj until his bludgeoned body was found on the Talwars' roof just one day later.

The US has marked 50 years since President John F Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullet in Dallas, Texas.

The city, which long struggled with the legacy of the assassination, hosted a series of official events.

Kennedy, who served less than three years, is often ranked among the nation's most revered presidents.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Monday, December 23, 2013

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Friday, December 6, 2013

Thursday, December 5, 2013

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