Toyota has announced the Verso-S, which will debut at the Paris Motor Show. The Japanese auto giant also has plans to unveil other new models in Paris, but the main focus will be on Verso, a car which the company claims to be small, spacious and smart.

Toyota is eyeing the European MPV market with the new hatchback that has been spruced up with IQ-inspired styling and flexible interiors.

The company is sticking to its philosophy of going green too with two new hybrid models set to be launched alongside the Verso. It will introduce the Prius Plug-in Hybrid and the Auris HSD (Hybrid Synergy Drive) as part of this initiative.

Toyota has also lined up a few other treats for the show, including an updated iQ, an interactive Hybrid Synergy Drive Gallery and the FT-CH concept, which as you all know, originally made its debut at the 2010 North American International Auto Show.

Car Blog

A leaked letter has revealed that the new Ferrari 599 Roadster was unveiled in a private presentation at Pebble Beach. The letter, which was leaked to Luxury4Play.com, was apparently written by Ferrari North America President Marco Mattiacci.

The letter thanks the attendees for their first feedback on this upcoming limited edition product. We believe that the car that is being talked about is the Roadster. Theres no way to verify the authenticity of this letter, but it looks legit.

The car was revealed during the Concours dElegance at Quail Meadows outside of Pebble Beach. Earlier, there had been a lot of rumors related to the unveiling of the V12 powered Roadster.

It is now expected that the model will roll out as a limited edition product. We wouldnt be surprised if it shows up at a future auto show too.

Car Blog

Thats how Mitchell described Netanyahu-Abbas meeting in Washington. And he must be right.

Three cousins Russian tsar, German kaiser, and British king exchanged pleasant letters while their subjects slaughtered each other on WWI battlefields. Shabak maintained Arafats accounts in Israel during the Intifada. It should come as no surprise that Netanyahu enjoys talking to Abbas while Palestinian terrorists keep murdering Jews.

The talks ending in nothing: Israel and the Arabs undertook to prepare a framework peace agreement within the next few months. Which cannot happen because Netanyahu cannot sell to Israelis withdrawal from the Temple Mount and dismantling dozens of Jewish villages, and Abbas cannot accept anything less or forfeit the right of return.

Samson Blinded

Kozar Cool Blog

TEHRAN (FNA)- Russia dismissed the effectiveness of sanctions against Iran, stressing that a systemic solution is needed to settle Tehrans standoff withthe West over the countrys nuclear program.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that sanctions do not normally produce the desired results.

The approach to its solution [Iranian nuclear problem] must be systemic and necessarily based on international law, Lavrov said.

He said that the talks process requires stimulation.

Iran is under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down Wests calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment, saying the demand is politically tainted and illogical.

Iranian officials have dismissed US sanctions as inefficient, saying that they are finding Asian partners instead. Several Chinese and other Asian firms are negotiating or signing up to oil and gas deals.

Iran has also repeatedly said that western sanctions have caused a growth in the countrys domestic capabilities as they have forced Tehran to rely on local experts and companies.

One of the issues is that Iran is much stronger than America lets the Americanpeople know. There are a lot of countries that will help Iran and sanctions may cause a temporary slowdown of projects, but they will not stop these projects

Iran is a regional power and it shows

Windows to Russia!

Pirelli have confirmed they will be exiting tyre production in the World Rally Championship in order to focus on their tyre supply to Formula One.

Pirelli, the Italian tyre manufacturer, won the contract to be the sole tyre supplier to Formula One earlier this year and have already begun testing ahead of their supply to the teams. Using an un-raced Toyota TF109 with Nick Heidfeld at the wheel, early tyre tests have been said to be positive.

The manufacturer say that F1 isnt the only reason why they are leaving. They have added that the extent of the rule changes in WRC for 2011 and then in 2012 have forced them the last mile out of the door. Michelin are said to be interested in tendering for the now open WRC contract.

The first point to make here is the way the rules have been changed, Paul Hembery, boss of Pirelli Motorsport told Autosport. There have been three significant rule changes in the last nine months and, possibly, an even more significant change coming in 2012.

In December we tendered for another three-year deal to supply tyres for WRC. Once again, our tender was set out to provide finance for continued investment in the FIA, in the sports promoter and, of course in the Pirelli Star Driver scheme which we financed from its inception in 2008.

That three-year tender was rejected and we were offered a one-year extension on the same terms as the current three-year deal, then a one-year deal on the new tender conditions that was something we felt was unacceptable.

And now we come to the current regulation, which we feel is neither a control tyre scenario or competition. And, based on the experiences we have had in GT racing, where regulations similar to those in the WRC were open to interpretation and were flexible if a [tyre] manufacturer was having some difficulties. We explained those issues [to the FIA] and we have had no significant response. These rules leave a lot to be desired and we have communicated these limitations to the FIA.

Overall it just feels that we were not wanted in the sport despite delivering run-flat technology, a Tarmac-specification tyre [which is] fully EEC road homologated, an offer to bring self-sealing, puncture-resistance to the sport, aromatic oil-free tyres and, of course, a level puncture resistance that was unheard of before 2008. We leave the sport with our head held high, having supported the series through some of the most difficult economic conditions ever experienced.

There are no poor excuses for beautiful women to freely choose to display her naked or nearly naked body; doing so is good for the onlooking mens cardiovascular health and intrinsically beautifies the environment of wherever the women happens to be.

Beautiful But Useless; What Was She Protesting?

If, however, the woman is stripping down for a cause of some sort it would be better if there was some context provided. Otherwise its nice very, very nice in this particular case but largely useless.

I found this lovely and provocative image via Googles Image Search while looking for something else. It intrigued me so I went hunting for what this was all about and found nothing.

She looks Arab, so might be protesting the misogynist Muslim tradition of forcing women to wear the burqa or naqib. Yet the setting and bystanders look European, so she might be protesting any one of the recent bans enacted by European government upon wearing the burqa or naqib.

If anyone has a link to an explanation for this protest please post it in the comments. Im honestly interested. Its very rare for me to utterly fail when researching a topic online.

As it stands now, her efforts were nice but seemingly useless. Fortunately nice has intrinsic value and appeal. :)

Reflections From a Murky Pond

"He was driving to the hospital as fast as he could," Christina said. "We pulled up (beside) a cop at one point and he asked if we wanted an ambulance. I told him 'No, I just want to go to the hospital.'"

But their son had other plans."We thought we had enough time, but apparently we didn't," Nathan said.

Their son couldn't wait the 40 minutes it takes to make the drive. He was born in the front seat of their pickup truck on state Route 125 at Five Mile Road.

Their son, Ethan, was also a surprise passenger, born in the couple's car three years ago.

"It wasn't the plan for either time, but the labor was even shorter this time than it was for Ethan," Christina said.

Source: www.wlwt.com

For next time, the couple has decided to leave much earlier for sure! Though it would make a much better story if she has a 3rd birth in the car too - maybe third time will be a charm!

The flght had to make an emergency landing in the in the northwestern city of Bremen where the British woman was treated for scalding at the airport and released but not before the plane resumed its journey without her.

She later took a train to Poland, police said.

Mitsubishi has made a timely announcement regarding the Euro-spec i-MiEV. The information comes just a few weeks before the Paris Motor Show.

The Euro version is almost identical to the Japanese i-MiEV and features revised bumpers, a modified center stack, and better interior comfort, says the company. Mitsubishi has added Active Stability Control (ASC) and side / curtain airbags to improve occupant safety.

The EV has a lithium-ion battery powering a small electric motor with 47 kW (63 hp / 64 PS) and 180 Nm (133 lb-ft) of torque. This enables the car to have a range of 160 km (100 miles).Mitsubishi says the i-MiEV will be on sale in December and will be launched in 14 countries including France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Prices will range from 33,000 35,000 (or equivalent), but government incentives will lower it to 30,000 in most countries.

Car Blog

Ferrari is currently developing a 458 Spyder GTS, but sadly there are not many details available. Although details are hard to come by, it is learnt that the vehicle will feature a glass roof which flips upright and slides in to disappear behind the seats.

Previous reports had said the 458 Spyder will have a folding hardtop like the one used on the California model, or will have a traditional soft top. Either way its too soon to confirm which it will be.

What can be almost confirmed is that the car will feature a 4.5-liter V8 with 570 PS (562 hp / 419 kW) and 540 Nm (398 lb-ft) of torque.

The 458 Spyder GTS will be connected to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, which should allow it to accelerate from 0-100 km/h in less than 3.6 seconds. More pictures (artists rendering) below:

Car Blog

Disregarding a clear and credible warning of terror attacks, Netanyahu continued his friendly peace talk in Washington. Sure enough, a second terrorist attack occurred: a car was ambushed near Rimonim junction, two Jews wounded, their car ridden with bullets.

Hamas military wing claimed responsibility for the attack. Nevertheless, Israel did not interrupt cargo transit or electricity supply to the Hamas-ruled Gaza. Unwilling to jeopardize relations with Obama, the government refuses to declare a state of war with the enclave.

Obama condemned the terrorist attacks, senseless bloodshed. Presumably, attacks on civilians would be more justifiable if sensible.

Netanyahu called on settlers to show restraint, the infamous Jewish policy since Arab pogroms of 1930s where Jews busy themselves with burying their dead rather than preventing future deaths.

Shabak, Israeli security service, vowed to intensify its operations against Jewish right-wing groups lest they retaliate against Muslims.

One thing is fishy, though. Why would Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran went hysterical over another hopeless round of peace talks? Hamas seriously jeopardizes its currently near-free traffic of arms and cargo. Hezbollah prepares for an all-put war with Israel which might well draw Syria into the conflict. There was nothing like fervor this during Annapolis. It seems that the real issue discussed in Washington has more to do with attacking Iran than making peace with Palestine.

Samson Blinded

Every year millions of cars are manufactured and put on the road for you to travel. But have you ever wondered which car manufacturer has produced more cars. It is obvious that higher production manufacturer must have a higher sale percentage.

So here I have compiled a list of some of the highest car manufacturers in the world. The stats collected here are from the year 2008. And thus the figures mentioned here might not be relevant or up to date as of now.

Fiat

Fiat has been the one of the best car makers of Italy. This company manufactured a staggering 2,524,000 and above number of cars in the year 2008 which brings it to the 10th position.

Suzuki

In 2008 alone, Suzuki managed to manufacture more than 2.6 million units of cars which were distributed across 192 countries. In fact Suzuki has more than 35 main production facilities and has more than 133 distributors.

Hyundai-Kia

The Hyundai KIA Company from South Korea is another huge motor vehicle manufacture which managed to bring the manufacturing number close to 2,777,137 units by the end of 2008. This South Korean company has made a name for itself across the entire globe.

PSA Peugeot Citroen

The well known Peugeot cars are manufactured from France by PSA Peugeot. And this company is the 7th largest car maker in the world. In year 2008 the company manufactured a whopping 3,325,407 units of cars.

Nissan

Nissan happens to be one among the top 3 Asian companies that have been able to manufacture highest number of cars. Founded in 1932, Nissan has been through critical financial issues but now Nissan seems to be doing quite well.

Honda

Honda brought to market a total of 3,912,700 units of cars in 2008. Among these the most manufactured cars were the Honda Civic and the Honda Accord. Even to date, these cars happen to be one of the favorites.

Ford

The father of car industry has been the Ford Company. It was founded on 16th of June 1903, by Henry Ford. In 2008 it made more than several millions of cars exceeding the Honda company. In fact the total revenue of Ford in year 2008 was a hopping $146.3 billion.

Volkswagen group

Talk about the car for people, and we’d be discussing about this German Company Volkswagen, whose name itself means – Car for people. In 2008 Volkswagen rolled out a total of 6,517,288 cars which makes it the third largest car manufacturer of the year.

General Motors

The company that almost went bankrupt in the year 2009, was the 2nd highest car manufacturer in the year 2008. GM manufactured a staggering number of cars beating the Volkswagen group.

Toyota

Since 1937 Toyota has been one of the most favorite cars of Japan and America. In the year 2008, Toyota manufactured 9,237,780 units of cars which officially make it the number one car manufacturer of that year.

It is armed with at least one pistol and appears to be strapped with explosives (eco-jihadi?).

The crazed Leftist eco-freak did all this because years of its protesting Discovery have born it no fruit. Discovery just wouldn’t kowtow to the filthy little monkey’s ludicrous demands and, like all of its breed, repeated failure eventually caused it to decompensate and revert to its more natural behavior pattern.

It’s biggest problem with the Discovery Channel seems to be that it believes that a lot of the network’s programing fails to discourage human procreation. You see, it hates babies.

All programs on Discovery Health-TLC must stop encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants and the false heroics behind those actions. In those programs’ places, programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility must be pushed. All former pro-birth programs must now push in the direction of stopping human birth, not encouraging it.

Find solutions for Global Warming, Automotive pollution, International Trade, factory pollution, and the whole blasted human economy. Find ways so that people don’t build more housing pollution which destroys the environment to make way for more human filth! Find solutions so that people stop breeding as well as stopping using Oil in order to REVERSE Global warming and the destruction of the planet!

Saving the Planet means saving what’s left of the non-human Wildlife by decreasing the Human population. That means stopping the human race from breeding any more disgusting human babies! You’re the media, you can reach enough people. It’s your responsibility because you reach so many minds!!!

The above are just a sampling of the creature’s screed but the rest mostly devolve to the same Ishmaelite point; a majority of humanity should perish and the best way of doing that is to eliminate procreation. It and they hate human babies with a quasi-religious passion.

It Ends Happily

Fortunately this horrific episode has ended happily for America and humanity in general. The Montgomery County SWAT Team’s snipers exterminated this piece of filth before it could do any further harm.

The Italian race, held at Monza is Ferrari’s home Grand Prix. It will be Alonso’s first in Ferrari red and he wants the home tifosi fans to have something to shout about.

He is lagging behind in the championship standaings after his DNF at last weekends Belgian Grand Prix where he suffered a string of different problems before eventually crashing his Ferrari out of the race in the rainy conditions.

“There is no denying that the Monza race will be very important,” he wrote in his blog for the Ferrari website.

“At our home circuit we will have to do everything to avoid losing any more points: a good result here would be a great boost. If things go badly, it won’t be over but it would be a hard knock for team morale.”

He is adamant that all is not yet lost for Ferrari this season and that a change of luck could make a massive difference.

“I have always said – and I repeat it now – that in the course of the season, good luck and bad luck tend to balance one another out, so let’s hope that from now on it’s payback time,” said Alonso.

“The first ‘final’ went badly, but there are still six to go. Going into these seven races, I had said that whoever did the best job in them would take the title: clearly, there are now three of us who need to make up for ground lost in Spa.

“With this points system and the way races swing one way or another, I am convinced we still have a significant chance. There are 150 points up for grabs, enough to turn the situation around. We must remain calm and concentrate, to try and make up the difference as soon as possible.”

The circuit has been designed by Hermann Tilke, and features some 20 corners with significant elevation changes. The track has been described as combining classic corners from some of the best circuits, while adding in modern safety and fan friendly features.

Some of Tilke’s recent work has been hit and miss with the F1 crowd, so considering the length of contract Austin have signed to host the event we hope this is a good track. on paper it does look impressive.

“In the modern era of grand prix racing, I think this track layout and topography will be very special,” said Tavo Hellmund, head of the US project.

“It will have many of the elements of previous ‘classic’ circuits combined with the benefits of FIA-mandated safety for the competitors and spectators alike. Add in the amenities fans have come to expect, like rare, multiple-turn viewing opportunities for added value, and you have an ideal, world-class venue.”

“For the competitors, we’ll have all the ingredients necessary,” he said. “You’ll see fast turns that require commitment from the drivers and technical turns that will test the engineers from a set-up point of view.

“We have a good deal of elevation to make it not only scenic but challenging also, and the view of downtown Austin is wonderful as well.

Yesterday I wrote an article about:

In Russia Grain Speculators Just Plain “Suck”… This article expressed that Russia was not as short on grain as the underlining scum tried to make the world believe…

Well today Russia has a new thought going:

RBC: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on introducing several exceptions to the temporary ban on grain exports from August 15 to December 31, 2010. According to the document, wheat, meslin, barley, rye, corn, and wheat flour can be exported for the purposes of fulfilling international agreements, ensuring Russian entities’ operations in Spitsbergen and Baikonur (Kazakhstan), and also as part of international humanitarian efforts. As reported earlier, the government passed a decision on August 5 to introduce a ban on grain exports due to the drought and loss of harvests.

I see that the Kremlin has finally woke up and decided to look around at her fields…

Hummm…

Windows to Russia

Ultimo has claimed to have come up with the perfect bra that they call ICON that was developed after the company spent 2 years and more than $150,000 in research.

After two years of inventing, with 100 years of combined technical experience behind it and costing a massive six-figure sum, Ultimo, the UKs leading designer lingerie brand unveil the worlds most technologically advanced bra that achieves a complete and instant boob lift! The complex web of microscopic fibres concealed within the compressed foam and secret in-built ICON sling propels the breast upwards, whilst a clever combination of wonderfully soft micro fibre and soft mirco bonded straps provide unrivalled all day comfort. Smooth finished cup ensures lines, seams and overspill are a thing of the past. Patent Pending, Design Registered.Source: www.ultimo.co.uk

The bra is available in UK for 19.

According to Zhang Xiangxi, who works as a waitress at the resort's restaurant, she discovered the deer's unusual tastes last November when she was cleaning up after some customers. She says: "I saw a bottle of beer was still half full so I playfully passed it to the deer. Unexpectedly it bit the bottle and raised its head and drank all the beer in one shot." Since then, says Zhang, whenever there is any leftover beer she takes it to feed to the deer. She comments: "It has a growing addiction to beer. To begin with it was half a bottle but now it is several big bottles in a row. Her daily feed is around two bottles of beer." Zhang adds: "I don't know what her maximum appetite for beers is though we once tried giving her four bottles of beer and she drank them all"Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

My questions -

• Does she ever get drunk?
• What does she do after she gets drunk?
• What is legal age for deers for drinking?
• Can she smoke too?

Wynn Las Vegas has also announced in a statement that Hilton's boyfriend, nightclub executive Cy Waits, has been "separated from the company and is free to pursue other interests."

There are rumors about other nightclubs banning the socialite as well.

The billboard was supposed to Doges Palace, which overlooks St Marks Square and the city's lagoon but the the newly-elected mayor Giorgio Orsoni rejected the advertisement and has asked it to be replaced with a less risque advertisement.

Ferrari said the problem had been traced to adhesive used in the wheel-arch assemblies.

In certain circumstances, the glue can begin to overheat, smoke and even catch fire, a spokesman told BBC News.

In extreme cases, the melting of the adhesive can lead the heat shield - the liner which protects the engine - to deform and move closer to the exhaust, causing the lining to catch fire.

The handful of owners who first reported the fires - and that were later confirmed to be due to this problem - will now receive a new model, Ferrari said.

For the rest, their cars will be modified to replace the adhesive with mechanical fasteners.Source: BBC

Check out the official movie of the Ferrari 458 Italia -

The well received Ferrari model seem to have a big flaw - at least the flaw didn't cost any life yet and the recall won't cost the car manufacturer as much as it does to other mass car producers like Toyota!

Although police have not released his name, NY Daily reports the man to be William Moodie.

Moodie seem to have sneaked out of the house on Wednesday to "avoid confrontation" while Dr Kotarac was trying to get inside the house. She even used a shovel to get in.

Mr Moodie, 58, described their relationship as 'on-again, off-again', but refused to comment on the circumstances surrounding her death.

He said: 'She made an unbelievable error in judgment and nobody understands why, and unfortunately she's passed away.

'She had her issues - she had her demons - but I never lost my respect for her.'

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Her body was not discovered until a house-sitter noticed a smell and fluids coming from the fireplace on Saturday. The house-sitter and her son investigated with a torch and found Dr Kotarac's body wedged around 2ft above the interior fireplace opening.

It took firefighters nearly 5 hours to take the chimney apart and get Kotaracs body out.

My personal speculation - It seems like Dr Kotarac had some argument or fight with her boyfriend. When she tried to get into the house to confront him, he didn't let her in - which led her to try all possible ways to get it. The last one is to try the Santa trick which left her stuck, resulting in her death.

Questions for this theory -

• Did the Moodie really leave the house before she got stuck? Or after?
• Why didn't he come back wednesday night?
• Why didn't he smell anything on Thursday?

Something definitely sounds wrong!

I can't believe this. My car saved his life," said Guy McCormack, 40, a worker at a nearby construction site who had borrowed the 2008 red Dodge Charger from his wife.

Magill fell more than 400 feet -- and reached a maximum drop speed of about 126 mph -- before crashing onto the roof and rear window of the vehicle, which was parked along the west side of the building.

Construction workers and the building's superintendent witnessed Magill's leap from the roof, and some residents told cops they saw him soaring past their windows.

Anthony Monteforte, a contractor who heard Magill slam into the muscle car, said "he looked like a pretzel. There was not much blood."
Another construction worker heard a "huge thud."
Remarkably, Magill was conscious when EMS arrived, and a police source said he "wasn't likely" to die. He also did not suffer brain damage.

"It's amazing. If he hit the pavement, it would've been worse," said building tenant Kim Courtney.

Police said no suicide note was found. But Magill says on his Facebook page, "I hate my life."Source: www.nypost.com

Prosecutor's case -

• Fernando paid $5000 to Ross for the sham marriage on June 12 2005
• They never lived together as a couple
• They kept separate Hollywood apartments

Defense's case -

• They married for love
• They kept separate apartments since Ross couldn't break a lease and Fernando traveled a lot
• The couple's relationship started as very passionate but ended in separation after the first year after Ross would come back home drunk and both of them started fighting a lot.

In this testimony Ross acknowledged to the relationship going sour after 6-months and but still loves her.

"It was very sudden, very immature, not well-thought out," Ross told the jury. "I had a tiger by the tail. I wanted to keep her here."

Romero described the early months of marriage as "loving, fun, passionate ... It was the honeymoon phase."

Ross acknowledged under questioning by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney James Left that he never told his mother or brother about the marriage.

The musician and pizza restaurant manager accepted the blame for the couple's separation in early 2006. The relationship deteriorated after he refused to travel to meet Romero's family for Christmas in 2005 and as his drinking spiraled out of control, he said.

"Things went south very, very fast," Ross said.

Asked why he never sought a divorce, Ross said, "I never stopped loving her. I still love her."Source: www.google.com

The defense also tried to discredit witnesses, fashion photographer Markus Klinko, who said they were told the marriage was a fake.

Klinko's testimony -

"I was very upset," Klinko said on the witness stand today of Romeros confession to him in March 2006.
"She didnt need to do such a thing. As a soap opera actress and model, she could get a work visa."
"She said it was the easiest way to get it done, that the other ways were too complicated."
Klinko testified Romero and he began dating about a month after the sham marriage, traveling together to Paris and London where he got her modeling gigs and to the Hamptons. He said she began spending more time at his LA home, as well.
He even bought her a $3,834.50 ring a receipt for which was shown in court.
But its when she asked him to get tested for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases that she confessed to the marriage, he testified. She explained to him that shed already been tested prior to her marriage.
"She told me the gentleman she married had gotten cold feet and for her being a soap opera actress, it was easy for her to act but that she had to coach her fake husband," Klinko testified. "She specificially and very calculatedly explained that to me."Source: www.nypost.com

"We had a short affair," Romero testified about Klinko. "It was dumb, stupid."

She began to cry and said, "It was the biggest mistake I've done in my life."

Romero's attorneys have sought to portray Klinko as a jealous ex-lover, but U.S. District Judge Manuel Real has kept jurors from hearing most of those claims.Source: www.google.com

Was it love or just the work permit or green card? What if the woman seduced the guy to fall in love and get a green card?

The model posing as Diana is shown in her bra and knickers, and depicted holding a cello and bow as she casts her eyes down towards a young child.

The company is based in China's southern Guandong province. The lingerie company unveiled the new range at Shenzhen airport in southern China.

Thanks to the new body styling done on the BMW 5-Series F10m, the new look comprises a redone front bumper with integrated LED side markers, rear bumper with diffuser, vented hood, front and rear wheel arch extensions, side skirts, rear spoiler, fitted quad exhaust system and M-style R20, R19 Lumma Design wheels. What more do you want in the car?

The new decked up car is called the CLR 500 RS2 and comes with body components made up of vacuum formed Kevlar and carbon fiber.
The stylists have also revamped the interiors throwing in Nappa leather and carbon fiber trim inserts. The CLR 500 RS2 gets shown at the 2010 Moscow Motor Show. More pictures below:

Car Blog

This is the successor of Nagare styling theme, which stood for flow. The design language was created through a collaboration involving Mazdas design studios in Germany, the United States and Japan.

The car shows the future face of Mazdas family of vehicles, an aluminum signature wing, as well as the overall styling trend for future production models.

Car Blog

Netanyahus acquiescence to Obamas pressure bore some fruit in blood. Hamas, other Palestinian groups vowed to carry out major terrorist attacks to subvert peace talks futile talks, in any case.

Shin Bet security service is great at intercepting Fatah terrorists, usually delivered by their own superiors who do not want to disrupt their dealings with Israel. Our capability at intercepting Hamas, PFLP, PRC, other terrorists is considerably less. It was therefore expected that a terrorist act would occur.

Nevertheless, Netanyahu went to Washington, implicitly setting the trigger on Hamas promise of terrorist attacks. Worse, the government balked from imposing curfew on the Arabs in Judea and Samaria, a standard procedure when major unrest is expected. Clearly, Netanyahu did not want impolite gestures toward his talk partner Abbas.

And so a car with four Jews was ambushed near Hebron. Two men and two women were murdered, one of them visibly pregnant. After wounding them, the Muslims shot them in the head from point blanc range.

Samson Blinded

Lets look at something that got the Kremlin worked up: “Unidentified attackers have thrown two petrol bombs at the Russian embassy in Minsk, Belarus.” Now that caused a little bit of an uproar…

Then speaking of burning up: Russia broke 22 records for hottest weather this summer but Meteorologists forecast that September will bring abnormally cold and rainy weather in the Russian capital as the first frosts are due to hit Moscow before the actual end of summer…

Then it seems that Putin was at the opening of the Siberian Chinese – Russian gas line. But it look like Vietnam wants a piece of the action also: Vietnamese oil and gas group PetroVietnam may take part in the Eastern Gas Program, Russia’s energy giant Gazprom said on Tuesday after talks between the two companies. This is pointing to the future of the gas business in the world. The West is slowly losing out on new supplies…

Then once again Putin has words of wisdom to tell us all: “In a few years, we will begin to gradually raise customs tariffs,” Putin said. “We are not, after all, members of the WTO and [we] can afford it.” , he added as he talked about raising import taxes on foreign cars imported into Russia. I think that is a smart move to push up the demand for cars produced in Russia by Russian factories…

We also missed an anniversary: August 29 in 1949 the Soviet Union carried out its first nuclear bomb test, at 7 a.m. at the Semipalatinsk test site…

Now in a sad issue another adoption scandal in America over Russian adopted children: Russia calls for an early signing of an adoption agreement with the United States in the wake of the recent reports about the abuse of Russian children from their adoptive American parents, Edelvina and Steven Leshinski. The Russian Foreign Ministry and Prosecutor-General are taking measures to probe into the incident and keep the situation under control. Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko comments…

Looks like a never ending issue with adopted children in America from Russia and America is still dragging her feet on rules and regulations to help protect these kids.

America is balking at working out a deal for some reason…

Hummm…

Windows to Russia

For now, let us ignore the unshaven armpits - but still what the hell?

actually excited for jury duty tomorrow. Its gonna be fun to tell the defendant theyre GUILTY. :P.

She had already received a warning to not discuss the case outside, but that didn't keep her from posting her excitement on Facebook.

The attorney representing the defendant, Saleema Goodman-Sheikh, told Local 4 that she was made aware of the message and brought it to the judges attention.

She was explicitly explained the rules just like everybody else. She deliberately defied a court order in something as serious as this. So I think she needs to learn something, Goodman-Sheikh said.

When first questioned by the judge, Jons apparently denied making the post not knowing the entire message had been copied word for word off the Internet before she erased the posting.

I think she should go to jail, Im not concerned with length. But I think she should go to jail and have to read the Constitution, Goodman-Sheikh said.

Source: www.clickondetroit.com

The ultimate decision will be made by Judge Diane Druzinkski.

For now Hadley Jons has been removed from the jury and replated by an alternate juror.

If she is found of contempt of court, she could be sent to jail or pay a hefty fine.

Since the video surfaced, animal groups have started online campaigns to unmask girl and bring her to justice.

Why would you do such a thing? Can someone call PETA!

In the wake of Galant scandal, we believed that the document, smearing other IDF commanders, is genuine. Since then, police went to unusual length to prove the document forged. A purported forger was arrested, the thing unheard of in harmless forgery investigations. He quickly retracted his initial confession.

Today, IDF OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Gadi Eizenkot refused a post of deputy Chief of Staff. He also seeks to retire from his current position. The only explanation for his blunt refusal to serve under Galant is his conviction that the detestable document is genuine.

Samson Blinded

Just recently, there were some reports that Intel is trying to develop a computer that can be controlled by the human mind. Apparently, this will make use of a new technology that would allow its user to dictate letters as well as browse the internet simply by the use of ones mind.

As compared with the brain-controlled computers that we have at present which requires its users to think of a physical motion then translates this motion into the screen, this new technology works differently. Under this new technology, the Intel computer will be able to detect a specific brain activity associated with particular words and directly interpret words as they are being thought of.

The Intel scientists are currently developing a detailed map of the brain activity as associated with some words then match this to the brain activity of someone using the computer. Some tests conducted using this system has revealed that the computer has the ability to figure out words simply by looking at different brain activity patterns.

According to Dean Pomerleau, a senior researcher from Intel, this technology being developed by Intel will require very expensive devices such as magnetic resonance scanners used in the hospitals in order to get enough details of the brain activity. He also explained that this mind-controlled computer will use a form of around 20 questions to be able to narrow down and figure out what the word is. At present, Intel is still on the process of creating a detailed map of the activities of an average brain when thinking of several words.

It seems that a more advanced mind-reading computer system is on its way in the future. However, this new technology seems to be very difficult since it needs to understand how our human brains work. It is quite interesting how this new technology will be able to make use of our mind and control this computer. Some privacy issues may also be raised since if this computer failed to differentiate intent from random thoughts it may also reveal a persons deepest secret and just pop it out on screen unfortunately.

It appears that a mind-reading computer has its advantages and disadvantages as well. Therefore, Intel must really look very carefully and analyze every detail for this system to work out successfully. This technology may appear to be something really advanced, but in some way quite frightening since it will be able to read our minds. Will this system be a success? This question is yet to be answered in the future.

Kozar's blog

It look like this is a never ending issue. Pavel Astakhov is very vocal about this problem and it looks to me if he had his way America would never adopt another child from Russia! Everyday that goes by makes his case stronger and stronger and the lack of ending the stalemate on “adoption rules” between America and Russia, are making him look very correct about the issues with America…

I also can not find any Western press about this case and that really bothers me. It has been noticed by Russia that no one cares about this horrific crime…

Article from a Russian News Source: Voice of Russia.

Windows to Russia

"Days of Infamy: December 7, 1941 -- September 11, 2001."

September 11, 2001 would, for my generation and for every generation of Americans alive today, forever live as a day of infamy, much as December 7, 1941 would live as a day of infamy for the World War II-era GI Generation -- whom retired NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw dubbed "The Greatest Generation" -- most of whom are no longer with us and the shrinking number of them who remain are now well into their 80s and 90s.

AN EERIE ECHO OF AN UGLY CHAPTER IN U.S. HISTORY RIGHT AFTER PEARL HARBOR

It truly is unfortunate that there are fewer and fewer Americans of the GI Generation still living, for lost with their passing is the collective memory of one of the ugliest chapters of American history -- one that the current wave of Islamophobia threatens to repeat.

That chapter is the even more virulent wave of bigotry against Japanese-Americans that swept the country in the months following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor -- bigotry so intense and widespread that it ultimately resulted in tens of thousands of Japanese-Americans forcibly removed by the federal government from their homes and businesses and sent to internment camps located in remote area across the western U.S.

The discrimination and hostility that German-Americans experienced during World War I was nothing compared to what Japanese-Americans would endure after Pearl Harbor. The Germans were white and European; the Japanese were neither. What happened to Japanese-Americans during World War II was -- most historians today agree -- one of the most blatantly racist episodes in the nation's history.

And it was directed by none other than the man considered America's greatest president of the 20th Century -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

That the treatment of Japanese-Americans was motivated by anti-Asian racism was made clear by the uncovering of FBI documents from that era. From 1939 to 1941, the FBI compiled what the bureau called the Custodial Detention Index on U.S. citizens, "enemy" aliens and foreign nationals which might be dangerous. Interestingly, the so-called "enemy races" identified in the FBI's files specifically excluded those of German and Italian descent.

ANTI-JAPANESE SENTIMENT RAN HIGHEST IN CALIFORNIA, HAWAII

Nowhere did anti-Japanese bigotry run higher than in California and Hawaii, where Japanese-Americans were most heavily concentrated. Unlike German-Americans and Italian-Americans, who numbered in the millions and were spread across the country, there were fewer than a half-million Japanese-Americans. The attack on Pearl Harbor led to fears that Japan was preparing a full-scale attack on the U.S. west coast, making Japanese-Americans -- particularly the American-born, second-generation nisei -- a convenient target for discrimination.

Japan's rapid military conquest of much of Asia made their war machine appear to some Americans frighteningly unstoppable. Civilian and military officials had concerns about the loyalty of Japanese-Americans and considered them to be a security risk.

Upon examination of historical record, however, it became clear that these concerns often grew more out of anti-Asian racial hatred than any actual security risk, particularly since no such alarm was raised about German-Americans and Italian-Americans.

Nor was the racist sentiment one-sided. Japanese propaganda films captured after the war revealed an equally racist attitude by Japan against the mostly-white Americans -- making it clear that each side saw the other as less than human.

Nonetheless, American attitudes toward the Japanese and Japanese-Americans in World War II stood in stark contrast to their attitudes toward Americans of German and Italian ancestry -- even when compared to the prejudice toward German-Americans during World War I. Then-President Woodrow Wilson never issued an executive order for the detention of Americans of German or Austro-Hungarian ancestry during that war.

FDR ORDERS INTERNMENT OF UP TO 120,000 JAPANESE-AMERICANS

Thus, on February 20, 1942, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, ordering the forcible relocation of approximately 112,000 to 120,000 ethnic Japanese -- 62 percent of whom were U.S. citizens -- from their homes to hastily-constructed "war relocation camps" located primarily in remote regions, far from the country's major urban centers.

Roosevelt's order authorized U.S. military commanders to designate "military areas" at their discretion, "from which any or all persons may be excluded." These "exclusion zones," unlike the "alien enemy" roundups, were applicable to anyone that an authorized military commander might choose, whether citizen or non-citizen.

Eventually such areas would include both the east and west coasts, and about a third of the country's interior -- and were applied almost exclusively to all of those of Japanese ancestry, although there were many instances of Chinese-Americans also getting caught up in the internment. Indeed, the internments in California brought back memories of violent attacks on Chinese nationals and Chinese-Americans by white mobs in San Francisco in the late 1800s.

INTERNMENT PROVED IMPRACTICAL IN HAWAII

The internment order proved, however, to be impractical to enforce in Hawaii -- despite the fact that Japanese-Americans there were closer to essential military facilities than most of their compatriots on the U.S. mainland. This was because Japanese-Americans were over a third of Hawaii's population -- and were too vital to the islands' economy.

Instead, the whole of Hawaii -- which, although a U.S. territory, was not yet the nation's 50th state -- was placed under martial law. The Army imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the entire population of Hawaii except those on official business and compiled intelligence dossiers on nearly half a million Hawaiians.

Today, Hawaii is the only state in the U.S. that has a majority-Asian population. Slightly more than 50 percent of Hawaii's residents today are of Japanese ancestry -- including U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye -- a highly-decorated World War II veteran -- and U.S. Representative Mazie Hirono.

In 1988, Congress passed and President Ronald Reagan signed legislation which apologized for the internment on behalf of the U.S. government. The legislation stated that government actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership." Over $1.6 billion in reparations were later disbursed by the U.S. government to Japanese-Americans who had either suffered internment or were heirs of those who had suffered internment.

WILL HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF WITH AMERICA'S 1.3 MILLION MUSLIMS?

With the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II all but faded from the collective American memory, there is a real danger that this dark chapter of American history, as the Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana warns in his famous aphorism quoted at the beginning of this column, could be repeated -- this time against America's estimated 1.3 million Muslims.

The open hatred that the 9/11 attacks have generated against Muslims ignores the fact that, of the more than 3,500 people who were slaughtered at the hands of the 19 al-Qaida terrorists, there were dozens of victims who were themselves Muslims -- including Salman Hamdani, a 23-year-old New York City police cadet who was also a part-time ambulance driver and a medical student; and Mohammed Jawarta, who worked for MAS, a private security firm.

Let's not forget that among the nation's 1.3 million Muslims include a significant number of celebrities, including three-time heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali; basketball Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; the reigning Miss USA, Rima Fakiah -- even though she has herself come out against the proposed Cordoba House Islamic Center; actor/comedian Dave Chappelle; Aasif Mandvi, of the faux-news comedy "Daily Show;" and composer A. R. Rahman, a frequent visitor to the U.S. from India who's best known for scoring the music of the Golden Globe and Oscar-winning film, "Slumdog Millionaire."

WAVE OF ISLAMOPHOBIA A DANGEROUS PRECURSOR TO OUTRIGHT FASCISM

The strong, passionate feelings expressed by the loved ones of the more than 3,500 people murdered by the 9/11 terrorists are something that has to be taken seriously. But the voices of the relatives of the 9/11 victims have, unfortunately, been joined by an ugly chorus of anti-Muslim bigots and extremely arrogant WASP evangelicals who believe that all non-Christian people of faith are condemned to go to hell for praying to a "false god."

That this chorus is disregarding the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of religion to ALL Americans -- including the nation's Muslims -- is an obscene affront to the very foundations upon which this country was built -- and to which I, as a member of a faith minority myself (I'm a Wiccan) -- must raise my voice in protest.

It is also a dangerous descent into an ideology that this country sent up to 12 million of its bravest to fight against in World War II.

That ideology is fascism -- the belief that one race or one religion or one ethnicity or one nationality is superior to all others and/or that all others are evil. What some Americans are saying about Muslims today is little different from what Hitler and his Nazis said about Jews in Germany more than 70 years ago.

Even Japanese-American survivors of the World War II-era internment see dangerous parallels between 9/11 and Pearl Harbor, with some survivors warning within days of the 9/11 attacks that what happened to them could happen to American Muslims.

Santayana is right. Those who cannot remember the past truly are condemned to repeat it.

# # #

Copyright 2010, Skeeter Sanders. All rights reserved.

The standard Alcoholics Anonymous explanation for this finding is that many of those who show up as abstainers in such research are actually former hard-core drunks who had already incurred health problems associated with drinking.

But a new paper in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research suggests that - for reasons that aren't entirely clear - abstaining from alcohol does actually tend to increase one's risk of dying even when you exclude former drinkers. The most shocking part? Abstainers' mortality rates are higher than those of heavy drinkers.

Moderate drinking, which is defined as one to three drinks per day, is associated with the lowest mortality rates in alcohol studies. Moderate alcohol use (especially when the beverage of choice is red wine) is thought to improve heart health, circulation and sociability, which can be important because people who are isolated don't have as many family members and friends who can notice and help treat health problems.

But why would abstaining from alcohol lead to a shorter life? It's true that those who abstain from alcohol tend to be from lower socioeconomic classes, since drinking can be expensive. And people of lower socioeconomic status have more life stressors - job and child-care worries that might not only keep them from the bottle but also cause stress-related illnesses over long periods. (They also don't get the stress-reducing benefits of a drink or two after work.)

But even after controlling for nearly all imaginable variables - socioeconomic status, level of physical activity, number of close friends, quality of social support and so on - the researchers (a six-member team led by psychologist Charles Holahan of the University of Texas at Austin) found that over a 20-year period, mortality rates were highest for those who had never been drinkers, second-highest for heavy drinkers and lowest for moderate drinkers. (Watch TIME's Video "Taste Test: Beer With Extra Buzz.")

The sample of those who were studied included individuals between ages 55 and 65 who had had any kind of outpatient care in the previous three years. The 1,824 participants were followed for 20 years. One drawback of the sample: a disproportionate number, 63%, were men. Just over 69% of the never-drinkers died during the 20 years, 60% of the heavy drinkers died and only 41% of moderate drinkers died.

These are remarkable statistics. Even though heavy drinking is associated with higher risk for cirrhosis and several types of cancer (particularly cancers in the mouth and esophagus), heavy drinkers are less likely to die than people who have never drunk. One important reason is that alcohol lubricates so many social interactions, and social interactions are vital for maintaining mental and physical health. As I pointed out last year, nondrinkers show greater signs of depression than those who allow themselves to join the party.

The authors of the new paper are careful to note that even if drinking is associated with longer life, it can be dangerous: it can impair your memory severely and it can lead to nonlethal falls and other mishaps (like, say, cheating on your spouse in a drunken haze) that can screw up your life. There's also the dependency issue: if you become addicted to alcohol, you may spend a long time trying to get off the bottle.

[Time via Yahoo]

So, word of caution - alcohol might increase your life span but screw it up too! So use it with caution - though for me, I would like to drink another scotch on rocks and toast it to "long life"!

Products offered - bikini wash outside and car mats - $33, topless wash - $66 (from here)

-

Pictures: Courtesy Russian reporter. Own eyes (with English Translation)

Makes me wonder - does my car really need a stripper to give it a bath and a lap dance?

Though I do understand that the business model is similar to Hooters where the business relies mostly on attracting male clients who like the show! Not a bad idea, but with the bikini baristas creating so much trouble, this might not sell easily in US.

What do you guys say?

A medical expert who didn't diagnose her yet, suggests that she might suffering from gigantism, in which the body produces excessive amounts of growth hormones.

The expert said: 'She might have the symptoms of the disease, which may be the headache, vision problems, and death of some other glands, like the thyroid, adrenals and the ovaries.

'It might cause serious implications for her health and even death.'

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

She wants to be a model.

Seems like she might have already achieved her dream as she is reported to make her catwalk debut in Belem, Brazil, dressed as a bride.

Is it just me or Brtiney is looking better every day in her bikini - I guess Hawaii vacation can do that to you!

No wonder she wants to use "real women" for her clothing line at this year's New York Fashion Week.

His hair have already been used during tackles like - during the 2006 game, the Chiefs' Larry Johnson tackled Polamalu by the hair during a 49-yard interception return. Check the video of the tackle -

Check how his hair look through the helmet.

The policy was written by London's Lloyd's. Though the details of the policy have not been revealed.

Over 5,500 people launched 153,497 balloons to top Brigham Young Universitys previous record.

Check the video -

Its basically a silk necktie with a plastic fan built into the ties knot. Just plug the thing into a USB port (the cable is 135cm long) and use the switch to turn the fan on and feel cooler instantly. If you want to use the tie on the go, get the optional battery pack holding four AAA batteries. As far as I can see, there are no major differences between version 2 and 3 (apart from the design of the tie).

[Crunchgear]

Specifications -

Size: 480 x 95 x 24mm (19x3.7x1)
Weight: 120g.
Cable length: 135cm (53)
Material: Fan Plastic, Tie - Silk
Power: Any standard powered USB port
Power and speed controls
Manual: Japanese

If you are in japan, you can buy it from here but if you are in US, you can buy it from the Japan Trend shop for $89.

What do you guys think?

Features that we can clearly make out from the latest video are the new wheels with that typical BBS-like design, quad exhaust tailpipes typical of modern BMW M cars, and of course the car also gets its own M styling.

As previous reports suggest, power will likely be provided by a twin-turbo N54 inline-six with at least 350 PS (257 kW / 345 bhp). It will be mated exclusively to a six-speed manual gearbox, which should allow the vehicle to accelerate from 0-60 mph in approximately 4.5 seconds.

Car blog

One interesting aspect about these pictures is that one of them is a shot of the interiors caught on cam for the first time.

The BMW M5F10 is likely to be offered with a twin-turbo 4.4-liter V8 from the X5 M / X6 M. What we get to learn is that it will be tuned to produce up to 592 hp (441 kW / 600 PS) instead of 547 hp (408 kW / 555 PS).

Going by the pictures, the car will sport a key fob perched in the space on the center console, between the two cup holders. BMW is likely to bring the car for show at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, where it will make its debut. More pictures below:

Car Blog

In a blatant case of intrusion into Israeli domestic affairs, US AID agency provided $250,000 for political ads in Israel.

The billboards will feature Fatah thugs calling for peace with Israel. This can be likened to Israel financing billboards all over the United States featuring Bin Ladens call for permanent peace with America; the small print is, Americans must accept Islamic instruction from Osama. Likewise with Israel: the Palestinians on the billboards are either themselves involved in terror or directly finance terrorists from Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. They may grant Israel peace only in return for her abandoning core Jewish territories and holy sites. Far from a call to peace, US AID finances a call for Israeli surrender to terrorists on most humiliating terms. And to boot, the billboards imply that Jews are enemies of peace while the Palestinian terrorists its proponents.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, usually a peace proponent, prayed for destruction of Fatah leaders and those Palestinians as enemies of Jews during his Rosh HaShana address.

Samson Blinded

The research comes out of Angela Belchers Biomolecular Materials Group at MIT, which has been working on this project since 1994. They use bacteriophages to build really, evolve hyperdense materials from ionic particles, the same way bone, shells, chalk, and glass were made in the Cambrian period.

This week Mark Allen, a postdoc in the group, outlined the use of a new cathode made with iron flouride. Allen also described some of the potential applications of this technology. The high flexibility of the nanostructured material means you can weave it into any fabric or pour it into any shape, including:

• Wearable battery packs for soliders, first responders, and civilians;
• Tiny rechargable batteries for portable electronics including smart phones, laptops, and GPS;
• Unmanned aerial vehicles, which require lightweight, long-lasting power sources.

Kozar Cool Blog

Psychologists at Wayne State University looked at the life spans of 10,000 doctors, lawyers and athletes born between 1870 and 1930 and found those people whose names began with the letter “D” lived, on average, the shortest lives. At the other extreme, those who had the first initial “A” lived the longest, out-stretching “D”-people’s longevity by nearly 10 years.

The researchers speculate that having a name beginning with “D” contributes to poor self-esteem — which other studies suggest lowers a person’s defense against disease. The self-confidence knock is due to a link with the standard American school grading systems, where Ds constitute poor achievement. “Throughout life, we are constantly reminded that ‘A’ symbolizes the best, whereas ‘D’ is regarded as almost a failure,” the professors write in the journal “Death Studies.”

If this isn’t an argument for the widespread adoption of a pass/fail system or stickers with smiley or frowning faces, we don’t know what is.

This $6 raffle ticket might be a good idea for the country as plastic or cosmetic surgery, especially breast enlargement, seems to be common as the country produces a lot of beauty queens which makes every girl be very self conscious. Even during the recession, plastic surgery hasn't gone down as people are taking loans for it.

Mr Rojas, of the opposition First Justice party, told El Universal newspaper that he was not too worried about the medical details of his offer.

"The raffle is a financing mechanism, nothing else," he told the newspaper. "It's the doctor who will do the operation, not me."

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Venezuelans vote on Sept 26 for a new parliament. With country's president, Hugo Chavez, rumored to be suffering from cancer. Rojas might have a good chance with the raffle!

I was letting my nails dry and was looking at the pricing list and realized that I had been overcharged," Fonville told ABC News. "I said to the clerk that I thought I had accidently been overcharged, I honestly thought it was an error."

"But when she came over and wrote out the prices she then said, 'I charged you five dollars more because you're overweight,'" said Fonville.

Source: abcnews.go.com

But the owner of the nail salon thought otherwise.

I was letting my nails dry and was looking at the pricing list and realized that I had been overcharged," Fonville told ABC News. "I said to the clerk that I thought I had accidently been overcharged, I honestly thought it was an error."

"But when she came over and wrote out the prices she then said, 'I charged you five dollars more because you're overweight,'" said Fonville.

Source: abcnews.go.com

Makes you wonder, should putting a weight limit or size limit to certain things be a bad idea? Does it qualify for discrimination? Ask the guy/girl who has ever sat in coach next to a really fat person.

Though I do understand, all these fees should have been agreed earlier.

The 52-year-old man had finished serving a five-year prison sentence in Spain for a violent crime and was due to be extradited back to Kazakhstan overnight Monday.

Despite being escorted by several police officers, the man was able to slip a knife out of his clothing and sever his penis.

The man was admitted to a Madrid hospital and was still in a serious condition today, Spanish media said.Source: www.couriermail.com.au

I am sure it was serious enough reason for the man to cut of his weenie and endanger his life!

The crashes described by authorities as the most in a single Phoenix area in recent memory began about 6:30 p.m. with many drivers going too fast or not leaving enough distance between cars for the slippery conditions, Department of Public Safety spokesman Bob Bailey said.

"The storm hit hard, hit fast, and caught a lot of drivers by surprise," he said. "The collisions began in the far right side of the roadway near the 7th Street exit ramp and this thing kind of perpetuated itself, enveloping the whole roadway."

None of the injuries was life threatening and most were fairly minor, Bailey said.

Phoenix Fire Department spokesman Jonathan Jacobs said several others were treated at the scene for minor injuries.

A five-mile stretch of westbound Interstate 10 was closed for about 3 1/2 hours, reopening about 10 p.m. PDT. DPS said the roadway was blocked off at Washington Street near downtown Phoenix and several key onramps are also closed.

Bailey said at least half the vehicles in the crashes had to be towed away, accounting for the lengthy closure of the westbound lanes. Eastbound traffic on I-10 wasn't affected.

Dozens of people involved in the accidents remained on the interstate for hours after the accidents, Jacobs said. Authorities handed out snacks and water and brought in air conditioned city buses for them to relax in until arrangements were made to transport them home, he said.

[Associated Press]

Phoenix doesn't normally get a lot of rain and any surprise downpour tends to produce road accidents as the city and residents are not used to it. The monsoons in the region do cause a lot of localized flooding too!

The idea has taken birth at the Shenzhen Huashi Future Car-Parking Equipment Company. The so called 3D Express Coach is expected to be completed by the end of next year. More pictures below:

The awesome bus will travel on rails and straddles two lanes of traffic, allowing cars to drive 15 feet below where its passengers are seated. It will hold 1,200 people and travel up to 50 miles per hour.

Its $7.5 million price tag is roughly one-tenth of what it costs to build a subway of the same length. The gigantic bus is expected to solve Beijings traffic problems. But what if the idea is transplanted to some highway in South Africa? It really wont work in South Africa. We do not want to think twice before agreeing with the friend who sent us these pictures. Check out the photo below to know what we are talking about!

Car Blog

The argument lead to an hour's delay which resulted in complications as Laura suffered severe blood loss and had to have a hysterectomy, while her new born son Antonio had two cardiac arrests. Both the mother and the baby are in the intensive care department at the hospital under observation with medical staff saying they could not rule out brain damage to the baby as a result of the delay during the birth.

Shocked Mr Molonia said:'I risk losing my family because the medical team decided to start arguing in the delivery room.

'It's incredible I still can't believe two so called professionals would behave in such a way.

''I want to know why my wife and newborn son are now fighting for their lives. All I know is that we arrived at the hospital and Laura was on the bed and ready to give birth.

''The gynaecologist then started arguing with another doctor over whether she should give birth by Caesarean or naturally.

'Then they started fighting and it was unbelievable. I heard later there was bad blood between them already.''

Mr Molonia added that Dr Benedetto had been in favour of the Caesarean while the doctor had not and eventually little Antonio was born using this method.

He went on:''Afterwards I saw Dr Benedetto with his hand covered in blood and one of the nurses said he had punched a window during the row.

'The thing is at first they said everything was fine but it wasn't, none of them had the courage to tell me.

'Now they are fighting for their lives and it's because of these two doctors. I don't understand why she had to have the hysterectomy and because of that we can't have any more children.''

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Both the doctors - gynaecologist Vincenzo Benedetto and maternity unit doctor Antonio De Vivo had both been suspended while the matter is being investigated.

Shortly after 3am there were 10-12 people over the span of 300 feet trying to hear or see something but a real Norfolk-Southern train -- three engines and one car -- turned the corner as it headed east to Statesville, about 35 miles north of Charlotte. There was 150 feet to safety as all the hunters made it except for 2. Witnesses say that Kaiser pushed the woman who fell about 30 to 40 feet from the trestle and was injured. Her name and condition were not known. Kaiser was stuck by the train and died as the engine couldn't brake fast enough and there no other way for Kaiser to go.

Fact: On August 27, 1891, a passenger train jumped the tracks on a tall bridge near Statesville, North Carolina, sending seven rail cars below and about 30 people to their deaths.

The legend: On the wreck's anniversary, the sounds of screeching wheels, screaming passengers and a horrific crash might still be heard. You might also see a uniformed man with a gold watch.

A pregnant woman in Croatia has given birth in front of a church just after getting married.

Nikolina Kos, 31, did not feel good but managed to get through the wedding ceremony in a church in the central town of Karlovac. However, right after getting married, she gave birth in front of the church.

Tabloid 24 Sata has reported that the baby girl was born before an ambulance arrived on the scene.

Kos and her husband Predrag at first planned to name the baby Lana but opted for Maria after the Virgin Mary as the birth had occurred in front of a church.

The birth was expected in November but occurred prematurely. Baby and mother are doing well.

The baby weighed 2.5 kilos when born.

[Croatian Times]

Makes you wonder, if the wedding stress and pressure had caused the premature baby? Or some divine deed?

Fancy what happens when you put the Lexus LFA and a Nissan GTR on a test track? This is exactly what the guys at MotorTrend did. Pitting the Lexus LFA against almost compatriot Nissan GTR is sure to throw up interesting results. Amazing results ensue, indeed, we got to see.

The super car-like Lexus LFA, which is to come for around $400,000, has proved that its the best on track by finishing a notch ahead of the Nissan beauty over the quarter mile. The performance of the Lexus LFA may be attributed to the 10 years worth of research and development that had been on at the Lexus stables in Japan.

The 553 hp V10 Yamaha manufactured engine under the hood could be something to die for, dont you think? A top speed of 202 mph is what you get from the LFAs 4.8-liter, Formula-1-derived, 552-horsepower V-10.

Along the test track, the Lexus LFA might seem like it lacks the pull compared to what the Nissan GTR boasts of, but it still impresses with a table flat torque curve, with 90% of max delivered before 4000 rpm, according to MotorTrend.

The quarter mile gets dumped in just 11.8 sec @ 123.7 mph, as against the Nissan GTRs 11.9 sec @ 120.1 mph. That is indeed telling isnt it? If you arent convinced watch the video below.

Car Blog

Way back in 2007, there were reports that Apple and Mercedes Benz had signed a deal whereby Apple was to design an in-car maintenance, communication and navigation system for inclusion in Mercedes Benz vehicles. Its all coming true. The iCar is what you get when you combine a Mercedes-Benz S Class car and the latest Apple devices.

The car has 750 horsepower and almost 1000-lb/feet of torque. It has a top speed of 211mph, and sprints from 0-60mph in just under four seconds.

The gadgets include a MacMini which is installed in an electrically operated tray located in the trunk. It feeds to a foldable LCD display in the ceiling.

Dual iPads can be used with Apple keyboards. The feature lets you control the climate; operate the command system and many more. A multi sound system is also available. The entire installation connects to the Internet with a 3G connection.

The car without the Apple power costs over $500.000. That could mean that the actual price for the full version would be much more. But you can enjoy the photos for free here.

Car Blog

Unless the reports carry an arithmetical error, the United States sold to Israel an enormous stock of a million tons of JP-8 aviation fuel.

The choice of JP-8 makes sense for an autumn strike because the fuels flash point of 38 degrees Celsius make it dangerous to carry in external tanks on long-range flights in summer.

Shelf life of JP-8 is 18 months, but guidelines suggest using it within 8 months. The limitation is especially important for long-range flights from Israel to Iran. Presumably, Israel will receive the American stocks from Iraq, which were produced earlier. The IAF would have 4-6 months to use the fuel.

The amount of fuel suffices for all the IAF jets to fly to Iran 400 times each. So its either were gearing towards an all-out war, or there is a reporting error, or perhaps the Americans dumped their excess fuel on us at subsidized prices.

Samson Blinded

An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus ×​sinensis (syn. Citrus aurantium L. var. dulcis L., or Citrus aurantium Risso) and its fruit. The orange is a hybrid of ancient cultivated origin, possibly between pomelo (Citrus maxima) and mandarin (Citrus reticulata).[2] It is a small flowering tree growing to about 10 m tall with evergreen leaves, which are arranged alternately, of ovate shape with crenulate margins and 4–10 cm long. The orange fruit is a hesperidium, a type of berry.

Oranges originated in Southeast Asia. The fruit of Citrus sinensis is called sweet orange to distinguish it from Citrus aurantium, the bitter orange. The name is thought to ultimately derive from the Sanskrit[3][4] for the orange tree, with its final form developing after passing through numerous intermediate languages.

In a number of languages, it is known as a “Chinese apple” (e.g. Dutch Sinaasappel, “China’s apple”).

Plasticine, a brand of modelling clay, is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. The name is a registered trademark of Flair Leisure Products plc. Plasticine is used extensively for children’s play, but also as a modeling medium for more formal or permanent structures.

It seems like a study shows that sleeping with your bosses does help (points directly taken from Daily Mail article) -

• Some 37 per cent of office workers said that from their experience those who slept with their superiors were rewarded with a career boost.
• Some 34 per cent of women in executive positions said they knew a female colleague who had slept with their boss.
• Even at director level or above, 15 per cent of women admitted to having had an office fling.
• In terms of morale, 61 per cent of men and 70 per cent of women lose respect for a leader involved in an affair.
• 60 per cent of male executives and 65 per cent of female executives suspect that salary hikes and plum assignments are being traded for sexual favours.
• Some 48 per cent of men and 56 per cent of women feel animosity towards the involved couple.
• 39 per cent of men and 37 per cent of women see a fall off in productivity as the team splinters.

The study does seem to discredit a lot of women who reach high positions without sleeping with their bosses. And it is definitely an ethical violation for almost any company - which does result in job termination.

Since it is a survey, does it mean the study is a composition of "he says and she says"? Do women in the 21st century still need to sleep with her boss to get a career boost?

Your thoughts are welcome!

Daniel Sawyer, prosecuting, said 'In 2008 police had searched her home regarding an unrelated matter and discovered the three bedroom house was untidy and grubby.'

'Social workers were called in and interviewed the boy at school. They found he had ingrained dirt on his palms and scratches on his forearms that came from a puppy.'

'He was extremely short at the age of nine and significantly shorter than his six year old brother, for which the most likely diagnosis is psychosocial dwarfism.'

'He made no eye contact with the social workers and looked at the floor the whole time.'

'Every night they would go to McDonald's and have burgers, chips or chicken nuggets. He did not have breakfast and went to school hungry.'

'He did not get regular baths and went to school smelling of urine and faeces.'

'When he went to live with his father he would eat his food very quickly and exhibit hoarding behaviour.'

'At four in the morning he would get up, take food and hide it in places.'

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Psychosocial dwarfism is caused by extreme stress and causes the body to stop producing a growth hormone.

The woman was given a 12 month prison sentence, suspended for two years. She was also ordered to attend a parenting course.

Interestingly, after the boy was rescued and given to his father and stepmother he had begun to grow again.

Again, there is a definite need for qualification exams before people are allowed to have kids!

The hotel heiress, model and actress was riding in a black Cadillac Escalade which was pulled over in front of the Wynn Hotel on the Vegas strip at about 11:30 p.m. after police detected the smell of marijuana coming from the SUV, Lt. Wayne Holman told CNN. She was booked into the Clark County Detention Center and was released at around 2.30 am PST on Saturday.

Police spokesman Marcus Martin described events leading up to Hilton's arrest.

'Officers noticed a vehicle leaving a smoke trail of a controlled substance (and) made a stop based on that,' he said.

He did not know how much cocaine had been found.

Hilton was quickly recognised by passers-by and a crowd gathered around the area where the vehicle had been pulled over.

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

I thought that after her last arrest and jail term 4 years ago, she would change her lifestyle?

On a second thought, should the sin city legalize small amounts of marijuana?

The results are -

1. Abbey Clancy

2. Kelly Brook

3. Katy Perry

4. Princess Beatrice

4. Jennifer Aniston

4. Alessandra Ambrosio

7. Rihanna

8. Coleen Rooney

It seems like the failure has made the actress go a little desperate and do a role that she has never done before - she is going to strip for her role in the movie - Wanderlust. In the movie, she is playing a free loving married woman who ends up living in a hippie community. Her character also indulges in threesome with two other women, sleeps around with numerous men and takes drugs.

According to the script, Aniston's character, Linda, rips off her top to distract workmen who are attempting to build a new supermarket.

Though I do see a bit of belly - but she still looks hot!

We look forward to her upcoming movie - Bel Ami, in which she stars alongside Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon. She will also soon start shooting the third installment of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill

Dotti, of 5241 Portland Drive in Zephyrhills, was arrested Wednesday and charged with criminal mischief. This is fifth arrest in Florida, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. His previous arrests were on charges of DUI and driving with a suspended license. He was released from the Pasco County jail Wednesday night on $2,000 bail. Source: www.tampabay.com

Final score - Dotti 0 ATM 1

I am warm-blooded and do not feel the cold, the 74-year-old said.

There is nothing obscene or immoral about what I am doing and if the housing people think they can steam-roll me into covering up, they are dead wrong.

Guinness Hermitage Housing, owner of the block in Hayling Island, Hampshire, said residents should be adequately dressed in communal areas.

Source: www.metro.co.uk

Cover-up grandpa - at least to save yourself from the embarrassing picture!

Interestingly, as you can see - she is definitely not "ugly".

Pamela had appeared on the ITV1 show Blind Date in 2002 - but her family claim she was riddled with insecurities about her looks and suffered from 'crippling low self-esteem'.

The blonde hit the headlines following her TV appearance - after she paired up with another date reject after he failed to score with his partner.

Pamela had just selected her date, Tal Dubnov, for a trip to Austria, when builder Lee Theobald began chatting to the then 18-year-old.

Lee had just returned from a weekend in Paris with his date who he had chosen the week before, but she had snubbed him in the French capital.

The 21-year-old then searched the streets of Paris for sex and found two other girls to sleep with.

When back in the Blind Date studios, after describing his disastrous date, Lee then turned his attentions to Pamela, who later slept with him in a hotel.

[Daily Mail]

Graeme said: 'She would have a couple of bad days and she would spiral into depression.
'Everywhere we went and everything we did she became suspicious of my actions.
'But when she was on top of things, we could not have had a better life together.'
Hours before she killed herself, Pamela and Graeme had a strained discussion about their relationship.
The pair then slept in separate bedrooms, but during the early hours of the morning Pamela appeared in her pyjamas in the doorway, where Graeme was sleeping.
Graeme said: 'I remember it vividly. She said regardless of what happened she'd always love me. I told her I loved her too.
'I thought we'd sort things out in the morning.'
But sadly Graeme woke to find Pamela dead at around 7,30am.

[Daily Mail]

She seems to have thought her action through - as she left two negative pregnancy tests - making sure she wasn't pregnant and also left Christmas cards and a note apologising to loved ones.

She seems to have been depressed for sometime. The boyfriend should have helped her out - helped her out sorting out the insecurities. Who is the say that the boyfriend wasn't unfaithful?

For all the people going through depression with suicidal thoughts - please reach out to one person - a friend, sibling, mom/dad or even a psychologist , and talk to them. There is so much happiness and fun you might miss by ending your life now - think about all the special people - spouse, kids, grand-kids, etc. and special occasions - birthdays, anniversaries, etc., that you will miss. There is more joy in the world then you can imagine right now. Get help!

In his first appearance, Liu received a standing ovation from the audience, many of whom were moved to tears, for a performance of "Mariage D'amour" by Richard Clayderman.

Liu, who was 10 when he lost his arms from an electrical shock while playing hide-and-seek, uses his feet to navigate online, eat, dress and brush his teeth.

"I wish I could go out driving to have fun. Apart from that, there is really nothing more I want to do," said Liu, who lives in Beijing. "Music has become a habit for me. It is just like breathing air."

He only began playing the piano in his late teens.

"Nobody ever decreed that to play the piano you must use your hands," he said.

"I have food to eat and clothes to wear and many people caring about me. What is there to be dissatisfied about?" he said. "There are many people without enough to eat. I'm much more fortunate than they are."

Liu's biggest beef is with people who insist on helping him without asking first.

"Here, if someone thinks you need help they will just do it. They assume you must want help," he said. "Foreigners will ask first if you want any help. They will first respect your wishes. In that way, China could make an improvement."

Liu would like to be seen just as a pianist.Source: www.google.com

Liu Wei does show us that no matter what difficulties we have, we can always overcome them with our will and passion.

Great pianist!

The car comes with redesigned bumpers, grille, hood and headlights. It will be powered by Hyundais new 1.6-liter or 1.4-liter Gamma petrol engines.

By replacing the old Alpha engine with Gamma, the sedan promises more power and torque, as well as best-in-class fuel economy. The estimated power and torque of 1.6 Gamma are respectively 124 PS and 156 Nm, while those of 1.4 Gamma are 107 PS and 135 Nm.

Both the engines will be mated to a four-speed automatic transmission or a standard five-speed manual transaxle. Watch the video below)

Car Blog

LOL is an Internet slang, abbreviation for “laugh out loud” or sometimes “lots of laughs”. Here are some funny LOL pictures that I found in Internet but this post is to let you know that LOL is not only can be found in Internet, it can be found everywhere. BTW, these ten pictures are real LOL!

The crime committed was by the USA Government…

The USA government agencies were happy to employ Bout’s services in the past, while now they accuse him of illegal arms deliveries.

It seems that Victor Bout was a major USA arms deliverer, prior to the invasion of Iraq. The USA lacked the sufficient number of transport planes to transfer military cargoes to the troops. So they hired people like Bout to deliver their goods…

At that time in history it was more important to deliver cargoes to the troops, than to worry about what kind of person the deliverer would be. So in effect no questions asked and money under the table…

“The Bout case is an unfriendly gesture initiated by the US and may hurt the reset of bilateral relations!” Said, Russia’s Foreign Ministry official Vladimir Kozin.

Kozin also believes that suspected arms smuggler Viktor Bout is innocent, that’s why Moscow is rendering him “firm support”.

Viktor Bout was arrested in Thailand under a USA request in the spring of 2008 which accused him of trafficking weapons. The very same thing he had done for years, for America…

Never I say Never Trust the American Government and do their dirty work. They will get you in the end, to silence you…

Check out these triggers -

Triggers for Migraine - (from here)

More common triggers -

There are several common triggers identified in the scientific literature, and migraine sufferers should be aware of what they are.

• Alcohol was found to be the highest contributor to migraine attacks. Dark colored alcoholic beverages such as red wine, whiskey and bourbon were more likely to cause migraines than light colored alcoholic beverages. It is suggested that people prone to alcoholic migraines, or alcohol hangover headaches, should stay well hydrated and consume foods high in fat and sugar to reduce the absorption of alcohol if they choose to drink.

• Caffeine is another common cause of migraine attacks according to research, however, the effect of caffeine changes according to the dosage. High doses of caffeine300 milligrams or moremay cause headaches, where as low doses of caffeine50 to 300 milligrams can lead to benefits such as increased energy and headache alleviation. Caffeine withdrawals also cause migraines, so people who want to stop drinking caffeine should decrease their consumption gradually over the course of several weeks.

• Tyramine, a compound derived from a naturally-occurring amino acid (protein component), is also a common migraine trigger. Tyramine is found in fermented, pickled or smoked foods such as aged cheeses, beer, smoked fish, yeast extract, fermented soy products, sauerkraut and cured meats. Fava beans are also a natural source of tyramine.

• Aspartame, an artificial sweetener sold under the trade name Nutrasweet, can cause migraines in certain people as well. Although studies of aspartame are inconclusive, it is reported that people who consume 900 to 3000 milligrams of aspartame daily over long periods of time may be prone to experience migraines.

• Monosodium glutamate (MSG) and sodium nitrite, which are used to preserve and enhance the flavor of foods, can also lead to migraines. MSG is a flavor enhancer commonly found in Chinese restaurant meals, soup bases and bouillon cubes (e.g., Goya Sazon), some brands of beef jerky, and Asian condiments. Cured meats that are pink in appearance, such as bacon, cold cuts, hot dogs and cured ham, contain sodium nitrite as a preservative.

Source: fyiliving.com

Also, two new studies have shown that people who suffer migraines with aura are at increased risk of dying from heart disease and stroke, but the individual risk for a migraine sufferer is low.

In one study, Larus Gudmundsson from the University of Iceland and colleagues examined the impact of mid-life migraines in 18,725 men and women born between 1907 and 1935 who took part in research (the Reykjavik Study) that was launched in 1967 to study heart disease in Iceland.

Based on their analysis of a 26-year follow-up of the study participants, Gudmundsson's team concluded that men and women who suffered migraine with aura were at increased risk of dying from heart disease and stroke, as well as all other causes. Those with migraine without aura were not at increased risk.

In addition, the researchers found that women with migraine with aura are also at increased risk of dying from causes other than cardiovascular disease or cancer.

Source: www.businessweek.com

Identify and avoid the triggers and you might be able to live a migraine free life without any medicine.

The incident occurred at 7 p.m., Aug. 17, on Township Avenue in Elmwood Place, a small village in central Hamilton County.

Gilbert admitted he had never encountered a traffic case quite like this one.

"It's very unusual," he said. "This is a first for me."
Source: news.cincinnati.com

Hamilton was charged with "driving with inappropriate alertness" and having illegal tinted windows, according to the traffic ticket.

Can't get any weirder than this can it? Though this one is a close second!

On her return Ariyawathi's family took her to the hospital after she complained of massive amount of pains. The X-ray showed 1 to 2 inch nails in her hands, legs and feet - One had been hammered in over her eyes.

Mrs Ariyawathi told a local newspaper that her employers tortured her with the nails as punishment.

'They (employer and his family) did not allow me even to rest. The woman at the house had heated the nails and then the man inserted them into my body,' she was quoted as saying in the Lakbima, a newspaper published in local Sinhalese language.

She told the paper that she went to Saudi Arabia in March and was paid only two months' salary, with her employer withholding three months' salary to buy an air ticket to send her home.

Dr HKK Satharasinghe said X-rays show Mrs Ariyawathi has 24 nails and needles in her body. Some of her wounds have healed over, he said but she finds it difficult to walk because she has two nails in her knee and two in her ankles.

Another needle is in her forehead, and the rest are in hands, he said.

'Her condition is stable, but we are giving antibiotics and painkillers,' Dr Satharasinghe said, adding that doctors will begin removing the remaining nails tomorrow.

Kalyana Priya Ramanayake, media secretary of the Sri Lankan Foreign Employment Bureau, said: 'The landlord and the wife of the landlord hammered 24 nails into her when she complained of the heavy workload.'

[Daily Mail]

Nearly 2 million people from Sri Lanka sought employment overseas last year with 1.4 million going to middle east mostly as maids. Around 400,000, were in Saudi Arabia alone. A lot of these maids complain of abuse - such as employers confiscating passports, withholding wages and forcing migrants to work against their will.

This is just way too cruel and barbaric. There is a need for this Saudi couple to be charged and arrested! Is the Saudi government keeping a blind eye on these abuses? Are these workers so intimidated by the workers that they work almost like slaves?

"It seems rather easy to use," association chief Hanaregoma said following a brief training session on the popular tablet gadget. "Sending emails was very easy."

A digital novice himself, the 62-year-old former wrestler admitted that while he can read incoming text messages on his mobile phone, he doesn't know how to write replies and does not usually use a computer.

But "time flies if you play with this", he said of the Apple gadget.

The iPad was chosen because the sumo association believed the device was big enough to cater to wrestler's fat fingers, unlike the minuscule keys on cellphones, media reports said.

Sumo officials decided to go digital and buy iPads as the ancient sport attempts to mend its ways after scandals over wrestlers' ties with gangsters and illegal gambling, match-fixing and brutal hazing of apprentices.

The sport's authorities faced loud public criticism for their clumsy efforts to investigate the scandals, in part due to insufficient sharing of information among sumo leaders.

With a reliance on faxes and phone calls, the sumo association has occasionally failed to distribute urgent messages to its officers and stable masters.

"If we place this (iPad) in all the stables, we should be able to contact them anytime," the association's spokesman Nishonoseki has said.

[AFP]

I am little confused - iPads are tablets PCs, not cellphones! VOIP?

No matter what, it seems like people are finding new ways to incorporate the cool iPads in their life.

One common one that heard from my friend - I can't check some websites at work due to censorship, so I rather check them out on iPad!

Can you add more?

'I took my gown off and arranged him on my chest with his head over my arm and just held him.

'He started gasping more and more regularly. I thought, "Oh my God, what's going on?" A short time later he opened his eyes. It was a miracle'


'He wasn't moving at all and we just started talking to him. We told him what his name was and that he had a sister.

'We told him the things we wanted to do with him throughout his life.'

Jamie occasionally gasped for air, which doctors said was a reflex action.

She added: 'After just five minutes I felt him move as if he were startled, then he started gasping more and more regularly.

'I thought, "Oh my God, what's going on?" A short time later he opened his eyes. It was a miracle.

'I told my mum, who was there, that he was still alive. Then he held out his hand and grabbed my finger.

'He opened his eyes and moved his head from side to side.'

She said they passed on a message to their doctor insisting Jamie was showing signs of life, but he sent back a midwife with the reply that they were just natural reflexes and that there was no possible way he could still be alive.

Kate then said to her husband, 'What if he lives?'

She added: 'I was like, "We could be the luckiest parents in the world".

'I gave Jamie some breast milk on my finger, he took it and started regular breathing.

'At that point the doctor came back. He got a stethoscope, listened to Jamie's chest and just kept shaking his head.

'He said, "I don't believe it, I don't believe it".'Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

A lot of hospitals in Australia are promoting Kangaroo Care in which they promote skin-to-skin contact between newly born and parent.

'Kangaroo care' is a technique which is being promoted at an increasing number of hospitals in this country, and is based on skin-to-skin contact between a newborn and a parent or even siblings. The idea behind the technique - which takes its name after the way kangaroos hold their young in a pouch next to their bodies - is that the mothers became a human incubator, keeping the baby warm, stimulated and fed. Pre-term and low birth-weight babies treated this way have also been shown to have lower infection rates, less severe illness, improved sleep patterns and are at reduced risk of hypothermia.

Seems like the doctors game up sooner than required. Irrespective of the problems, this was truly a miracle!

According to the police, Mendoza had been discharged from the department after being charged with extortion. Mendoza claimed the charges were fabricated and had fought a protracted administrative and legal battle in his effort to be reinstated. Apparently, Mendoza’s frustration over this process led to his plan to take the hostages. The fact that Mendoza entertained hope of regaining his police job by breaking the law and taking hostages speaks volumes about his mental state at the time of the incident.

After several hours of negotiation failed to convince Mendoza to surrender, communications broke down, Mendoza began to shoot hostages and police launched a clumsy and prolonged tactical operation to storm the bus. The operation lasted for more than an hour and left Mendoza and eight of the tourists dead at the end of a very public and protracted case of violence stemming from a workplace grievance.

Hostage-rescue operations are some of the most difficult and demanding tactical operations for police and military. To be successful, they require a great deal of training and planning and must be carefully executed. Because of this, hostage-rescue teams are among the most elite police and military units in the world. Since these teams are always training and learning, they pay close attention to operations like the one in Manila and study these operations carefully. They seek to adopt and incorporate tactics and techniques that work and learn from any mistakes that were made so they can avoid repeating them. Even in highly successful operations, there are always areas that can be improved upon and lessons that can be learned.

Indeed, in the Manila case, the events that unfolded provided a litany of lessons for hostage-rescue teams. The case will almost certainly be used in law enforcement and military classrooms across the globe for years as a textbook example of what not to do.

Breakdown of the Incident

Shortly after 10 a.m. on Aug. 23, Mendoza commandeered the bus and its occupants (his police inspector’s uniform was likely helpful in gaining him access to the vehicle). Within minutes, he released two female hostages. Soon thereafter he released four hostages (a woman and three children). Mendoza used a cell phone to call the Manila police, inform them of the situation and make his demands: that the charges against him be dropped by the police ombudsman’s office and that he be reinstated to the police force. These early hostage releases would generally be seen as a positive sign by the authorities, showing that Mendoza had some compassion for the women and children and that even if he was reducing the number of hostages for pragmatic, tactical reasons (to allow him better control over the group), he was at least reducing the number by releasing people and not killing them.

The police maintained communications with Mendoza, who stayed aboard the bus and kept the motor running. This not only kept the vehicle cool, but allowed Mendoza to watch events unfold around the bus on the onboard television set. He had his hostages close the curtains on the bus to make it more difficult for the authorities to determine where he was in the bus.

Shortly after 1 p.m., Mendoza requested more gasoline for the bus and some food. He released another hostage, an elderly man, in return for the gas and food. Two other hostages, both Philippine photographers, were released as a 3 p.m. deadline for action set by Mendoza came and went (one of the photographers was released before, one after). There were also reports that Mendoza had initially set a 12:30 p.m. deadline for action. The fact that these deadlines passed without violence would be an encouraging sign to the authorities that the incident could be resolved without bloodshed. Food was again taken out to the bus just before 5 p.m. During the afternoon, Mendoza could have been engaged by snipers on at least two occasions, but since negotiations were proceeding well and Mendoza did not appear to be close to shooting, the decision was made to try and wait him out and not attempt to kill him. If the snipers failed to incapacitate Mendoza, it could have risked the lives of the hostages.

During the ordeal, Mendoza continued to watch events unfold on the television inside the bus and reportedly even talked to journalists via cell phone. Mendoza also ordered the bus driver to park the vehicle sideways in the center of the road in an apparent attempt to make it more difficult to approach without detection.

Things took a marked turn for the worse around 6:20 p.m., when negotiators, accompanied by Mendoza’s brother Gregorio (who is also a police officer and who had earlier helped convince Mendoza to extend his deadline), approached the bus with a letter from the office of the ombudsman offering to reopen his case. Mendoza rejected the letter, saying he wanted his case dismissed, not reviewed. At this point, there are conflicting reports of what happened. The police negotiators told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that Mendoza’s brother told Mendoza that the letter from the ombudsman’s office was garbage and that he should not surrender. Other press reports indicate that the brother pleaded with Mendoza to take him hostage and release the tourists and that his pleading was seen as counterproductive to the negotiations.

Whatever the story, Mendoza’s brother was then arrested and his arrest was carried live on television and seen by Mendoza in the bus. Shortly after his brother’s arrest, Mendoza fired two warning shots and demanded in a radio interview that all the Manila Police Department SWAT officers be removed from the scene. Shortly after 7 p.m., Mendoza repeated his threats and refused to speak to his family members. Growing increasingly agitated, Mendoza shot two of the hostages when his demand for the SWAT officers to retreat was not met. He released the Philippine bus driver, who reportedly told police that all the hostages were dead. (We are unsure why the driver said this when only two of the passengers had been killed, but the police would have been able to tell from the volume of fire that Mendoza had not truly killed all the hostages.)

At about 7:30 p.m., the tires of the bus were shot out and a police tactical team approached the vehicle and began to smash its windows with a sledgehammer. The police attempted to slowly enter the back of the bus by crawling through one of the shattered windows from the top of a police truck but were forced back out of the window by gunfire.

At about 8:40 p.m., police deployed tear gas into the back of the bus through the missing windows. Gunfire erupted and Mendoza was finally killed in a hail of bullets. Six additional hostages also perished during the exchange of gunfire. It is unclear at this point if they were intentionally shot by Mendoza or if they were caught in the crossfire.

Hostage Situations

By the time of the rescue attempt, the saga of Mendoza’s firing from the police force had been going on for some time, and it is important to recognize that he did not make a spontaneous decision to seize the tourist bus. Even if the bus was targeted shortly before the attack, Mendoza’s path toward violent action would have included several significant warning signs. As in almost any case of violence that stems from issues in the workplace, once the chain of events are examined more closely, reports will emerge that warning signs were either missed or ignored. Had those warning signs been noted and acted upon, this situation might have been avoided.

Since the event was not pre-empted, once it happened and developed into a hostage situation, the primary objective of the authorities was to resolve the incident without violence. Skillful hostage negotiators do this by allowing the hostage-taker to vent. They also work hard to defuse any tension that has the attacker on edge and to gently wear the attacker down to the point of surrender. One of the essential principles in this effort is to isolate the hostage-taker so that he or she cannot receive outside communication, motivation, encouragement or other forms of support. Hostage negotiators seek to control the flow of all information into or out of the crime scene. That did not occur in this case. Mendoza was able to talk to outsiders on his cell phone and even gave media interviews. He was also able to use the television in the bus to watch live media coverage of the incident, including video of the deployment of police officers. This gave him a considerable advantage and far more information than what he could have observed with his eyes from inside the curtained bus.

As shown in the November 2008 attack in Mumbai, India, it has become more difficult to isolate assailants from outside communications in the cell phone era, but there are ways that such communications can be disabled. It is not known why the Manila police did not attempt to jam the outside communication signals going to and from the bus, but that is certainly something that will come up in the after-action review, as will their handling of the media and onlookers (one of whom was wounded) during the incident.

As negotiations are proceeding in a hostage situation, the authorities must always be busily preparing to launch an assault in case negotiations fail. When the assailant is agitated or mentally disturbed, the situation on the ground can sometimes change quite rapidly, and the rescue team needs to be prepared to act on a moment’s notice. Usually the team will come in with an initial assault plan and then alter and refine their plan as more intelligence becomes available, and as they become more familiar with the site and the situation.

If the hostages are being held in a building, the rescue team will get the blueprints of the building and collect as much information as possible in an effort to plan their assault on the location where the hostages are being held. In this case, the hostages were being held on a stationary bus, which made it far easier to collect that type of intelligence — a bus is a bus. The authorities also had access to released hostages who, had they been debriefed, could have described to authorities the situation inside the bus.

In a protracted hostage situation, the authorities will frequently employ technical measures to gather additional intelligence on the activities of the hostage-taker. This may involve the use of overt or clandestine video equipment, parabolic microphones or microphones surreptitiously placed in or near the site. Even thermal imaging sets and technical equipment to intercept cell phone communication or radio transmissions are sometimes used.

All the information gleaned from such efforts will not only go to the negotiators, to help them understand the hostage-taker’s frame of mind, but will also be used to help the rescue team fine-tune their assault plan.

Meanwhile, as the assault plan is being tweaked, negotiations continue and the hostage negotiators work to wear down the hostage-taker. It appears that the negotiators in the Mendoza case were doing a fairly good job of keeping the situation calm until the situation flared up involving Mendoza’s brother and the letter from the ombudsman’s office. Authorities clearly erred by not sending him a letter saying they had dropped the case against him. (They did not need the extortion charges now that they could arrest him and charge him with kidnapping and a host of other crimes.) It is hard to understand why the police department quibbled over words and refused to give him the piece of paper he expressly demanded. The police then aggravated the situation greatly with the public arrest of Mendoza’s brother. Those two events caused the situation to deteriorate rapidly and resulted in Mendoza’s decision to begin shooting. Once he shot the first two hostages, the negotiations were clearly over and it was time to implement a tactical solution to the problem.

The Use of Force

In a hostage situation, the use of force is a last resort. If force is required, however, the rescue team needs to hit hard, hit fast and hit accurately. There is little time for hesitation or error: Lives hang in the balance. This is where things began to get very ugly in the Mendoza case. Not only was there a delay between the murder of the first hostages and the launching of the first assault attempt, the assault was not hard, fast or accurate. To succeed, an assault should be dynamic, assume control of the scene by overwhelming force and use surprise and confusion to catch the hostage-taker off guard and quickly incapacitate him. The rescue team needs to dominate the place where the entry is being made and then quickly and accurately shoot the assailant. When the police began to smash the windows of the bus with sledgehammers and then continued to beat on the windows for more than a minute, Mendoza had ample time to kill his hostages had he wished to do so. The only thing that saved the hostages who did survive was Mendoza’s apparent reluctance to kill them.

It appears that the intent of the police was to smash the rear window to provide an opening and then to continue smashing windows as they moved forward in an effort to draw Mendoza’s attention to the front of the bus while the assault team entered from the rear. When the police did attempt to enter the bus using the roof of the police vehicle, however, it was a slow, clumsy attempt that was quickly repelled by Mendoza once he opened fire on the team. They did not enter the bus quickly, and their tepid approach caused them to lose the element of tactical surprise, denied them the opportunity to employ overwhelming force and allowed Mendoza time to think and react and begin firing. There was no hope of the assault team’s dominating the breaching point (or the rest of the bus) when they entered in such a half-hearted manner. Then, instead of following through with the assault by storming the front door while Mendoza was firing at the police in the rear of the bus, the police withdrew and went back to the drawing board. Again, had Mendoza wanted to kill all his remaining hostages, the withdrawal of the assault team gave him ample time to do so.

More than an hour after the first assault, the police again approached the bus and deployed tear gas grenades through the broken windows at the back of the bus. This flushed Mendoza toward the front of the bus and, after a brief exchange of gunfire, he was killed. There were some reports that he was killed by a police sniper, but we have seen no evidence to corroborate those reports, and it appears that he was shot from a relatively short range. Eight of the hostages survived the ordeal.

Granted, a bus does offer some challenges for a takedown operation, but is also a very common form of transportation throughout the world, and there have been numerous hostage situations involving buses in many different countries. Because of this, professional rescue teams frequently practice bus takedowns in much the same way they practice building takedowns or aircraft takedowns.

It was very apparent that the Manila SWAT unit lacked the experience, equipment and training to conduct effective hostage-rescue operations, and we have seen this problem in other local police departments in the developing world. We have not been able to learn why the police did not seek the help of a national-level hostage-rescue unit for the tactical aspect of this situation rather than leaving it to the Manila SWAT team to resolve. Given the prolonged duration of the situation and the location in the nation’s capital, higher-level assets should have had time to deploy to the scene.

Unlike many cases of workplace violence, this one did not involve a disgruntled employee charging into his former office with guns blazing. Instead, Mendoza embarked on a course of action that would, as it turned out, cause a great deal of public humiliation for his former employer. Indeed, the head of the Manila police district tendered his resignation Aug. 24. Four leaders of the Manila SWAT team were also placed on administrative leave.

In the past, some botched rescue attempts have spurred inquiries that have resulted in countries creating or dramatically improving their hostage-rescue capabilities. For example, the failed rescue attempt in Munich in 1972 led to the creation of Germany’s GSG-9, one of the most competent hostage-rescue teams in the world. It will be interesting to see if the Mendoza case spurs similar developments in the Philippines, a country facing a number of security threats.

The latest photo reveals that the 2012 Nissan GT-R will be coming with minor changes. This includes a modified grille, lighter wheels, LED daytime running lights and a rear diffuser which is said to increase downforce by 10%.

There will also be two new color choices: Aurora Flare Blue Pearl and Nebula Opal Black. The car will be coming with the twin-turbo 3.8-liter V6 engine. We can expect some minor modifications which should enable the engine to produce more than 485 hp (492 PS / 362 kW) and 434 lb-ft (588 Nm) of torque.

A 27 kW electric motor mounted on the rear axle, which is powered by the nickel metal hydride batteries placed under the trunk, will power the back wheels. The motor will provide a constant 100 Nm of torque but can deliver 200 Nm at its peak. The cars maximum total output reaches 200 PS (147 kW) and 500 Nm of torque.

Other features include the 6-speed manual gearbox, the kinetic energy recovery system, an electronic control unit to manage the various modes of the diesel engine and electric motor working together and a stop-start system.

Its fuel economy is 3.8 liters/100 km and CO2 emissions rating is a very eco-friendly 99 g/km. It will go on sale in Europe next year.

Carblog

The two beauties a BMW X5 and a BMW X6 equipped with BMW Performance accessories parked in a garage and left to doze off would dream, or so we do imagine. It is all about how your inner eye sees it. We did that and got to see what they would do. What we saw is here in the form of a video.

Check it out and tell us if this is what you too have seen.

Carblog

After the Russians started loading uranium rods into the Bushehr reactor in Iran, Egypt could wait no longer. A nuclear Shiite state would be an affront to non-nuclear Egypt.

So Mubarak rushed to revive an old project: constructing a nuclear reactor near El Dabaa on the Mediterranean coast. Construction will begin in a year, which is unthinkable speed for Egypt. Like its Iranian counterpart, the Egyptian reactor will produce plutonium for nuclear warheads.

Samson Blinded

South Ossetia Gives Back...

The people of South Ossetia have collected 13 million roubles [$ 433,000]. The money was collected by the republic‘s residents for Russians in need from the fires…

“Over 13 million roubles have been collected at the special account where citizens of the Republic of South Ossetia transact aid for aggrieved residents of Russia,” said Nugzar Gabarayev, the state adviser of the South Ossetian leader – Res.”

South Ossetia has also sent convoys of aid to Russia in an effort to express the gratitude…

I understand through the grapevine that this was very important to these people and even though they lack many necessities themselves they all gave for what they consider an important moment, that they could help the big Country of Russia…

Sveta and I like that…

If Windows 7 is in your use for some time now, you might have noticed that it does not allow you to pin icons directly on to the taskbar. For instance, if you have tried dragging and placing ‘Recycle Bin‘ on the taskbar, you probably might have noticed that it gets pinned under the Windows Explorer rather than appearing as a separate icon on the taskbar as it normally would appear in Windows Vista orWindows XP.

In order to place a ‘Recycle Bin’ you’ll need to tweak it a little bit. The idea is very simple; create a shortcut and point it to the original Recycle Bin and then place that created shortcut onto the taskbar. Now the question is how are we going to point a shortcut to the original Recycle Bin folder? Simple; add a small snippet (code) to it.

This is what you will have to do to place an icon on to the taskbar;

Step #1. Right-Click on the desktop and go to New-Shortcut (its the second option from above);

Step #2. Now add the following line in the item box;

%SystemRoot%explorer.exe shell:RecycleBinFolder

Step #3. Hit Next, type a new name, in this case; Recycle bin and hit Enter;

Once the new icon is created, you’ll notice that it does not have the right icon image. In order to counter this problem, Right click on the icon, select Properties from the menu,

Step #4. A new pop-up window will now appear, click on the ‘change icon‘ button (as shown below) and hit Enter;

Step #5. A small window will pop out, type the following code inside the item box;

%SystemRoot%system32imageres.dll

Step #6. Now look for the appropriate Recycle bin icon, once you have found it, select and hit OK. Reference screenshot below;

The last step is to drag and drop the newly created icon onto the taskbar. You can then delete the original icon if you want to. Told you it was simple!

Even the Best of the Best can have a hard time. Sometimes we come across messages in which either companies like Goggle or MySpace, etc are upgrading their systems or having some technical difficulties, thus displaying a Sorry message to their visitors.

Previously, I blogged about some of the Most creative 404 Error Pages, seen on the web. But in my quest to find more and more creative stuff, I have compiled a list of Sorry Pages from some of the most famous websites (Google, MySpace, Flickr, Digg, etc) of today.

1. Twitter

2. YouTube

3. Windows Live

4. Technorati

5. MySpace

6. Flickr

7. Google

8. Digg

9. Reddit

Kozar's blog

'Im desperate to go back to normal,' she confides to U.S. magazine Life Style. 'Im downgrading and going a little smaller, to a D or a double D.'

There have been rumors of their splitting up for quite sometime and have been repeatedly denied by the actress. But this time it seems to be all too real.

More pictures of the former couple -

The 24-year-old free woman was carrying around a Rockstar energy drink, Ray-Ban sunglasses, and the new V-MODA Crossfade LP headphones in white pearlSource: justjared.buzznet.com

After the Sharif said "Yes" to the question, Enright starting cursing him. After that he shouted "AssalamuAlaikum, consider this a checkpoint " and then slashed him in the throat, arms, and hand.

When he first got into the taxi Tuesday night, Desai said, Enright engaged in cordial conversation with Sharif.

He "started out friendly, asking Mr. Sharif about where he was from, how long he had been in America, if he was Muslim and if he was observing fast during Ramadan," said Desai, who has spoken with the cab driver.

Then, after a few minutes of silence, Desai said Enright started violently cursing at Sharif and shouted "Assalamu Alaikum, consider this a checkpoint," before slashing him in the throat, arms, and hand.

Though gushing blood, Sharif was able to escape and quickly flagged a police officer, who apprehended Enright, Desai said. Police said the suspect was highly intoxicated.

Source: CNN

Despite the injuries, Sharif was able to lock Enright in the back of the cab until police arrived.

Sharif, a father of four who immigrated to the United States from Bangladesh 25 years ago, has been driving a cab for more than 15 years, according to a statement from the New York Taxi Workers Alliance.

It seems like the mosque near the near the site of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks seems to be running tensions high.

There is a need for the people in power to safeguard interests of minorities and take measures to disallow hate crimes. Having an opinion about an issue is different, then going after a whole race or religion - some 60-70 years back someone did it to the Jews. Let us not repeat it - or else we won't be any different from the third world uneducated religious fantics who can be easily brain-washed!

Joran van der Sloot (right) is shown posing in a Peruvian prison with two other suspects in high-profile killings: William Trickett Smith II (left) and Hugo Trujillo Ospina (third from left). The fourth person was not identified. (CNN)

The two other men are -

• Hugo Trujillo Ospina - A Colombian, faces trial for murder in the contract killing of Peruvian entrepreneur Myriam Fefer
• William Trickett Smith II - He is accused of killing his Peruvian wife, dismembering her and stuffing her body in a suitcase that was later found by fishermen offshore.

"On August 23, the Office of Internal Affairs of the institution began administrative and disciplinary actions with the goal of establishing responsibility over the acts of official misconduct by employees of the Castro Castro Correctional Institution," the agency announced. "They improperly used photographic equipment that was meant for administrative duties."Source: CNN

It seems like the jail officials were overwhelmed by the popularity of these men due to the high profile cases and couldn't resist to click a picture of them together!

Bailey alleged the incident occurred at about 2:30 p.m. Aug. 19 in a wooded area near the overlook, roughly three miles south of Frederick and adjacent to the northbound lanes of I-270.

Mr. Bowers approached this undercover officer and grabbed his genital area, Bailey alleged. It was in an area off the beaten path.

Bailey said Bowers asked an undercover Maryland State Police trooper whether he was a cop before the two walked to a more secluded area of the overlook. Bowers was arrested as soon as the alleged incident occurred and was taken to the Frederick County Detention Center, where he was charged, Bailey said. He was released on his own recognizance, she said.Source: www.herald-mail.com

The incidence does make you wonder - was the undercover cop trying to seduce or Bowers? Was he doing something to make Bowers go for the officer's nuts?

The man told police he remembered taking a blow to the head "in 2004 or 2005" but did not get medical help and forgot about the incident because he had been "very drunk".

Police believe the bullet may have been fired in celebration by a fellow party-goer.

"It may have been a shot fired up in the air which entered his head on the way down," a police spokesman said.

[Sky News]

The bullet was removed by a small surgery and the man is supposed to be discharged soon.

Well - you are definitely "too drunk" if you get shot by a bullet in the head and don't realize it!