tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22213702620580999992023-11-15T11:06:54.356-08:00Te Rejat Nga Bota JonëAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-27074164431887697732013-01-16T18:15:00.001-08:002013-01-16T18:15:34.503-08:00Oona tries skating while juggling<br />
<img alt="Oona King" src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01656/Oona_King__1656216a.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /><br />
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SKATING hopeful Oona King is battling her way through rehearsals after a string of sleepless nights, kept awake by her young baby.</h3>
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The life peer is worried her lack of shut-eye may hold her back on Sunday’s show.</div>
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She tweeted on Monday: “Into bed after excitement of #DOI at 1.30am, baby up at 5.30am, lovely 2 b #holdingthebaby but #shattered.”</div>
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A show source said: “Oona is battling tiredness on a daily basis because she is juggling the show with both her career and a young baby.</div>
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“It is tough for her but she is determined to keep going.”</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-48638297173472038072013-01-16T18:13:00.001-08:002013-01-16T18:13:29.687-08:00Pawtrait by Gaga<br />
<img alt="Lady Gaga and her pet dog Fozzi" src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01656/Lady_Gaga_and_Fozz_1656298a.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /><br />
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IF AMERICA’S Got Talent lacks cute animal entries for the next series they should get in touch with <b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">LADY GAGA</b>.</h3>
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The star has been teaching her pet labradoodle, Fozzi, to draw.</div>
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A source said: “She’s training up her beloved Fozzi to be a artist.</div>
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“She’s been attaching pens to his legs and popping him on to paper.</div>
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“All of her crew have been treated to a portrait by him.”</div>
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When Gaga gets in to something, like walking around carrying her tea cup or running in giant hamster wheels, she really goes to town.</div>
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They could have given Fozzi the job for the <b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">KATE MIDDLETON</b> portrait – it might have looked less like a dog’s dinner.</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-53607321356404358172013-01-16T18:11:00.002-08:002013-01-16T18:11:23.242-08:00ALL the Celebrity Big Brother housemates up for eviction as punishment for Ryan and Razor's shock nominations plot!<span style="background-color: white; color: #5a6466; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 21px;">"You slithering sneaky little streak", yelled the ladies after Ryan and Razor plotted to nominated the CBB ladies </span><br />
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<a href="http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article1538577.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Razor+and+Ryan+in+the+Diary+Room" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The boys receive a good telling off, BB style" border="0" class="" height="409" src="http://i4.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article1538577.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Razor+and+Ryan+in+the+Diary+Room" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #222222; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="The boys receive a good telling off, BB style" width="615" /></a></div>
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Just when we thought <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/celebrity%20big%20brother" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(91, 30, 125); border: 0px; color: #134987; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">CBB </a>couldn't get more shocking, it turns out that the oh-so-nice Ryan is a SNAKE!</div>
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In a shock nominations twist live on this evening's show (<a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/-----evicted-from-the-celebrity-big-brother-1538458" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(91, 30, 125); border: 0px; color: #134987; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">which saw Lacey getting the boot - read more on that here)</a>, Ryan and Razor were called into the Diary Room by Big Brother.</div>
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As the TV flicked on in the living room, the housemates thought they were about to watch their favourite lads do some sort of task. But they were wrong.</div>
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<a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/celebrity%20big%20brother" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(91, 30, 125); border: 0px; color: #134987; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">Big Brother</a> proceeded to read a conversation Ryan and Razor had this morning - <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/celebrity%20big%20brother" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(91, 30, 125); border: 0px; color: #134987; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">all about nominations.</a></div>
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Throwing all of the rules out of the window during this secret chat in the garden<a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/celebrity%20big%20brother" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(91, 30, 125); border: 0px; color: #134987; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">, Big Brother </a>revealed that Razor told Ryan: "If you wan to last until the end, vote the girls."</div>
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And we thought he was a <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">gentleman! </em>At this point, the housemates in the living room looked shocked - covering their mouths as they willed the conversation to stop. But it didn't.</div>
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Agreeing with his pal, Ryan said: "If Speidi stay tonight, the public want them in. They wont win, but the public want them. So don't waste it, put it elsewhere."</div>
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And Razor concluded: "We're not allowed to talk about voting. But the girls are not voting for each other."</div>
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It's odd how the only real rule on CBB is not to talk about nominations, yet they ALL bloody do it, isn't it? Is it the effect of the house or their small brains?</div>
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After BB had reported the conversation back to the boys, Ryan and Razor were told that they would be up for nomination as a result.</div>
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Giggling, Razor said "Fair enough", while Ryan agreed "Yeah, that's fine".</div>
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But Big Brother wasn't finished. The ominous voice added: "As punishment, ALL of the housemates will be up for eviction."</div>
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At this point, Ryan and Razor started laughing even <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">more, </em>falling apart like a couple of schoolboys in detention.<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></em></div>
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Razor chuckled: "We're not that clever - this wasn't meant to be nasty, but thank you for reminding us of the rules.</div>
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"We apologise to our fellow housemates, we weren't ganging up were we?"</div>
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Looking very sheepish indeed, Ryan said: "We were just thinking out loud. We're sorry!"</div>
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Returning to the house to the sound of boos, Frankie shouted: "I was p***ing myself laughing!"</div>
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<figure class="inline-image clearfix portrait" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; height: 975px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto; zoom: 1;"><img alt="Lacey Banghard" class="captify" height="973" src="http://i1.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article1538616.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/Lacey+Banghard" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); float: left; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Lacey was kicked out earlier in the show" width="615" /><figcaption style="bottom: 10px; color: #5a6466; float: left; font-size: 1.077em; left: 10px; max-width: 96%; padding: 2px; position: absolute; vertical-align: bottom;">Lacey was kicked out earlier in the show</figcaption></figure><div class="image-credit" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #5a6466; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 0.769em; line-height: 18px; margin: -6px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; text-align: right; vertical-align: baseline;">
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However, the ladies were not amused. "I'm a little offended", said Heidi, forgetting she's not actually one of the ladies (being teamed with hubby Spencer). And as Gillian shook her head and said "I've got to find a dress now", Tricia rounded on Razor and yelled: "You slithering sneaky little streak of p***!"</div>
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If they Ryan and Razor were laughing before, they weren't after that. Good luck sleeping tonight, boys.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-6074992775472729552013-01-16T18:08:00.003-08:002013-01-16T18:08:59.201-08:0010 million burgers cleared from shelves as it's feared we may have been eating horse meat for YEARS<span style="background-color: white; color: #5a6466; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 21px;">The meat industry revealed that until recently there had been no tests available for equine DNA in the UK or Ireland, as we are not horse eaters</span><br />
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<a href="http://i2.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article1538755.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/General+view+of+four+beef+burgers." imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Off the menu: 10 million burgers cleared from shelves" border="0" class="" height="409" src="http://i2.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article1538755.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/General+view+of+four+beef+burgers." style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Off the menu: 10 million burgers cleared from shelves" width="615" /></a></div>
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More than 10 million beefburgers have been cleared from supermarket shelves over <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/horse%20meat%20burger%20scandal" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(91, 30, 125); border: 0px; color: #134987; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">the horse meat scandal </a>– as fears last night grew that the contaminated food has been sold to shoppers for years.</div>
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Silvercrest – the Irish firm at the centre of the probe that found <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/horse-meat-found-in-tesco-burgers-1536247" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(91, 30, 125); border: 0px; color: #134987; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">a sample from Tesco’s budget brand Everyday Value was 29% horse meat</a> – admitted it has never checked supplies for “equine DNA”.</div>
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As shock and revulsion spread across Britain, there were concerns that the industry’s failure to test routinely for horse meat in supermarket beef products may have masked a tainted burger controversy over several years.</div>
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The meat industry revealed that until recently there had been no tests available for equine DNA in the UK or Ireland, as we are not horse eaters.</div>
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But yesterday it was revealed contaminated products were left on the shelves for two months after the Food Standards Agency of Ireland failed to inform retailers of their findings until this week.</div>
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The FSAI admitted that it knew traces of horse meat were in burgers two months ago after carrying out the first ever routine horse DNA tests on 27 supermarket own brands.</div>
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Its table of test results acquired last November showed some of the contaminated burgers had a shelf life of at least a year – and up to 18 months. That raised yet more concerns about how long horse meat burgers have been on sale.</div>
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Tim Lang, professor of food policy at City University said yesterday: “It could have been going on for years but we wouldn’t know about it because we have never conducted tests. For too long we have had light touch regulation.”</div>
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Labour MP Barry Gardiner, a member of the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee, said: “People who have been eating this food for the past year have a right to feel angry and upset and the firms should be held to account. If ever there was a case for heads to roll, this is it.”</div>
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Silvercrest-supplied Burger King, the world’s second biggest fast food chain, issued a statement saying it was confident it had not been affected.</div>
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But a Silvercrest Foods spokesman told the Mirror: “No one in the meat processing industry checks for equine products.</div>
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"The suppliers and processes are EU-approved, so they have gone through a checking procedure.”</div>
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The shocking admission that there were no safeguards in place for DNA checks across its supply chain forced Asda, Sainsbury’s and the Co-op to scrap a total of 22 own-label burger ranges yesterday, as Silvercrest and sister firm Dalepak also make their beef patties.</div>
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All three chains stressed the move was “precautionary” and no products were directly affected.</div>
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Asda said: “We take matters like this extremely seriously, despite the fact we aren’t implicated in this report.”</div>
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The Co-op echoed that and Sainsbury’s said: “All our burgers are made from 100% British beef but as a precautionary measure we are withdrawing those sourced from Dalepak.”</div>
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Tesco cleared its shelves earlier this week as it emerged watchdogs knew of a problem as early as November.</div>
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More than a third of frozen burgers were found to contain horse DNA during the IFSA’s initial tests two months ago.</div>
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Budget burgers from Tesco and patties from Iceland, Aldi, Lidl and Dunnes Stores tested positive.</div>
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But the ISFA’s own procedures meant three more tests had to be carried out to verify its findings before its results were made public on Monday and shelves cleared.</div>
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It said new testing methods allowed it to check randomly for horse DNA – and admitted it was a “massive coincidence” that its first ever probe revealed 10 out of 27 products were contaminated, one with 29% horse meat.</div>
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<figcaption style="background-color: white; bottom: 10px; color: #5a6466; float: left; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; left: 10px; line-height: 18px; max-width: 96%; padding: 2px; position: absolute; vertical-align: bottom;">Off the menu: 10 million burgers cleared from shelves</figcaption>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-75929607179357672482013-01-16T18:08:00.000-08:002013-01-16T18:08:01.153-08:00Lotto rotters: National Lottery tickets to DOUBLE ticket price to £2<span style="background-color: white; color: #5a6466; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 21px;">Operators Camelot claimed the increase to £2 for a single line of numbers from this autumn will help it create more winners</span><br />
<a href="http://i2.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article1538115.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Holly+Valance" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Strike a pose: Holly Valance promote Camelot" border="0" class="" height="409" src="http://i2.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article1538115.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Holly+Valance" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Strike a pose: Holly Valance promote Camelot" width="615" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #5a6466; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span><br />
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The dream of <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/national%20lottery" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(91, 30, 125); border: 0px; color: #134987; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;">winning the Lotto</a> slipped further from the grasp of millions of punters yesterday – as it was announced that the price of a ticket is to double.</div>
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Operators Camelot claimed the increase to £2 for a single line of numbers from this autumn will help it create more winners.</div>
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The firm pointed out it is the first rise since the game was launched in 1994 and the extra revenue will mean more cash for worthy charities.</div>
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But, as usual, the people who lose out will be the poorest – the ones who need a win more than most.</div>
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Many will be forced to cut down on their weekly flutter, while others who regularly use multiple lines will struggle to keep them going – afraid that the week they stop their lucky numbers will come up.</div>
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Last night the increase brought a deluge of complaints, with more than 1,000 punters venting their fury on the National Lottery Facebook page.</div>
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Many slammed the increase as “greed” and others threatened to boycott the game.</div>
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Geordie Mick said: “It’s becoming a game for the rich. Poor people will never have a chance of bettering ourselves now.”</div>
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Pauline Leather added: “As a pensioner on a budget I can’t afford to be paying £2 a line. You’ve just lost a customer and should hang your heads in shame.”</div>
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Another disgruntled player asked: “How can they do this at a time when everyone is skint? Have they never heard of the recession?”</div>
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It is understood there are no plans so far to increase the price of £2 EuroMillions tickets. But the Lotto increase will deliver a huge windfall for the Government.</div>
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The Treasury raked in £783million last year from a little known 12% duty on all National Lottery ticket sales – and that figure will soar.</div>
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The regulator which approved the huge increase yesterday claimed it was not “unreasonable”.</div>
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A spokeswoman for the Lottery Commission said simply: “If players don’t want to pay the £2, there are other lottery games that still cost £1.”</div>
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The increase means a player who buys one line of numbers, once a week, will have to find another £52 a year.</div>
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But someone who buys two lines for both Wednesday and Saturday night draws will see their yearly outlay double to £416.</div>
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Camelot, now owned by a Canadian teachers’ pension fund, claimed the “exciting” changes were in response to market research.</div>
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It said people were demanding wanted more ways to win money and a new prize structure. As a result, from the autumn, smaller winners will be paid more.</div>
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The guaranteed amount for matching three numbers will rise from £10 to £25.</div>
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For four numbers, the figure will go up from around £60 to £100, depending on the total size of the prize pot.</div>
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The jackpot for matching all six balls will also rise from around £4.1million to £5million on a typical Saturday and from around £2.2million to £2.5million on the mid week game.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-39204672004914195812013-01-16T18:06:00.000-08:002013-01-16T18:06:02.077-08:00Kylie lands a Warhol role<br />
<img alt="Kylie Minogue" src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01656/SNF17KYLIE-620_1656085a.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /><br />
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POP princess Kylie Minogue is going back to acting – after winning a role in new Andy Warhol drama Hey Diddly Dee.</h3>
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Kylie will appear in the Sky Arts 1 HD project, written by Marc Warren as part of their Playhouse Presents... series, which airs from March.</div>
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She said: “When the script was sent to me, I knew instinctively I wanted to be part of this project. Marc has created a beautiful, quirky story.”</div>
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The news comes after Kylie split with manager Terry Blamey amid reports she was quitting music for acting.</div>
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But she has since denied it’s the end of her singing career.</div>
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Kathy Burke, Anna Friel, Rebecca Front, Mathew Horne, Suranne Jones, Vanessa Redgrave and Johnny Vegas also appear in the series.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-7974827938428971042013-01-16T18:05:00.003-08:002013-01-16T18:05:31.628-08:00Gentleman Jim’s blockbuster blast<br />
<img alt="Jennifer O'Brien meets film director Jim Sheridan" src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01656/Jennifer_O_Brien_1656271a.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /><br />
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HE may have been at the launch of an event on digital film-making techniques — but director Jim Sheridan reckons big-budget films these days are “rubbish”.</h3>
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Oscar winner Sheridan feels the simple art of story telling is getting swallowed up in special effects.</div>
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The charismatic director is hoping to start work on a new film, detailing his life growing up on Dublin’s tough Sheriff Street later this year.</div>
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And although he’d like Daniel Day Lewis to star, playing a 17-year-old Jim “might be a stretch, even for him,” he laughed.</div>
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He even gave yours truly a screen test — I’m still waiting for the call, Jim! The veteran director is headed for the IFTAS this year, and praying organisers make it a shorter night out all around.</div>
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He grimaced: “They are doing great work, but it’s far too long.”</div>
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And as someone who spends hours on the red carpet each year, I wholeheartedly agree. Less is more, IFTA!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-45325689197842681932013-01-16T18:05:00.000-08:002013-01-16T18:05:00.548-08:00Swish kebab<br />
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<img alt="Neigh problem ... kebab" src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01656/SNE1719K-620_1656153a.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /></div>
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AN IRISH farmer who sells horse meat last night insisted there is NEIGH problem with tucking into tasty thoroughbreds.</h3>
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Stallholder Paddy Hyland is ahead of the field after serving up hot nag to punters for four years.</div>
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The controversial delicacy has landed some of the country’s busiest supermarkets in manure after gee-gee was found in burgers.</div>
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Food safety chiefs revealed on Tuesday they had detected traces of nag and pig DNA in beef burgers from Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Lidl, Aldi and Iceland.</div>
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Three suppliers were named — Ireland’s Silvercrest Foods and Liffey Meats and Dalepak Hambleton in the UK.</div>
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Imported additives from the Netherlands and Spain have been identified as the possible sources.</div>
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And as fury grew over Horsegate, the farmer insisted scoffing stallion is the way to go.</div>
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Paddy, 53, told the Irish Sun: “I’ve been selling horse meat for four years and it is getting more popular. The meat is tasty and healthy. It is a very good source of iron. The problem here is that the supermarkets were trying to sell beef burgers with horse meat.</div>
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“I make it clear what I sell and it’s been going well.”</div>
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Horse steaks and skewers race off Hyland’s stall at Temple Bar market in Dublin every Saturday.</div>
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And the Laois farmer has no intention of reining in his equine cuisine business.</div>
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Paddy said: “I want to open a horse meat shop in Dublin. There’s no doubt the fillet of horse is nicer than beef.”</div>
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In France, specialist butchers operate to solely sell horse meat.</div>
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Mexico is the world’s largest producer — 78,000 tonnes in 2009.</div>
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In Mongolia, beef and mutton have become more popular, though in very cold winters many prefer horsemeat as it is not kept frozen and people believe it helps warm them up.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-61301287446337328552013-01-16T18:03:00.001-08:002013-01-16T18:03:13.032-08:00How a pinprick of blood revealed I’m at high risk of a heart attack<br />
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<a href="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01656/Laura_Stott_Journa_1656320a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Laura Stott gene test" border="0" src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01656/Laura_Stott_Journa_1656320a.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /></a></h2>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px;">IF someone could warn you what health problems you would face in the future, would you really want to know?</span></div>
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Finding out what shape you will be in when you reach your 70s while you are still only in your 20s sounds like sci-fi.</div>
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But today’s technology is now so advanced that it is possible to take a test to tell you just that — without even leaving the house.</div>
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Genetic predisposition tests work by using DNA screening to analyse the individual genetic make-up of your body.</div>
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By profiling your DNA they can then search for indicators — or genetic markers — that indicate you may be more susceptible to specific diseases in your lifetime.</div>
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Decoding the messages hidden in our genes is thought to be vital to the future of healthcare in the UK.</div>
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Through the post ... home testing kit</div>
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It is still early days but the field of genomics is advancing fast, and extensive research means more than 2,500 ailments have already been linked to variants in individual genes.</div>
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The tests can determine the risk of you developing Alzheimer’s, heart disease, cancer, multiple sclerosis and diabetes.</div>
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In theory, having this knowledge then enables you to make lifestyle changes which could help manage or lower the risk.</div>
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Curious about the idea of looking into a crystal ball to the future of my health, I decide to give the tests a try.</div>
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On the surface I’m in decent nick health-wise so I wasn’t too worried about what I might learn.</div>
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At 33 I already know I have high cholesterol so I don’t smoke or drink to excess. I go to the gym regularly and while I’ll never say no to fish and chips on Friday night, generally I do my best to stick to a low-fat diet.</div>
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To compare results, I decide to take two separate tests with two different UK companies.</div>
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The tests from Easy DNA (<a href="http://www.easydna.co.uk/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #cc0000; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><b style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">easydna.co.uk</b></a>) and International Biosciences (<a href="http://www.ibdna.com/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #cc0000; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><b style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ibdna.com</b></a>) each cost £299 and use the same method of screening a drop of my blood.</div>
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This will be scanned to search for any DNA markers that have been linked to the development of specific diseases.</div>
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The information will be used to tell me my genetic risk level for 25 specific health concerns.</div>
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Drop of blood ... use the lancet to prick your finger</div>
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The results will tell me my estimated lifetime risk level of any specific diseases and how this compares to the average risk.</div>
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The test itself could not be simpler. A kit is posted to my house containing a small instrument called a lancet which I use to prick my finger.</div>
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Once this is done I press down to make three blood spots on a piece of card which will be used to get my DNA profile.</div>
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The pinprick is tiny and it’s completely painless. The whole thing takes ten minutes and after posting the sample off to the lab for analysis, I forget about it.</div>
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But when, after a wait of a few weeks, the results of both tests drop into my email inbox, I start to feel nervous.</div>
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If I discover I am at high risk of developing a condition such as Alzheimer’s, will I be glad to find out or will I wish I had never been told?</div>
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It’s too late to turn back now so I click on the email. Both sets of results are identical and the good news is I am at low risk of 13 conditions including type one diabetes and Alzheimer’s.</div>
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The bad news is I am at medium risk of 12 conditions including breast cancer, lung cancer and age-related macular degeneration.</div>
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The really bad news is I have a high risk of coronary heart disease. My genetic risk level is 45 per cent compared to a normal level of 25 per cent.</div>
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While no one ever wants to hear that they have a high risk of a heart attack, I’m not too shocked by this news.</div>
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In fact I’m mostly stunned by how accurate it is. There is a long history of coronary heart disease in my family which is why I am already on medication for my inherited high cholesterol.</div>
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If I had been asked to predict the most likely future health risk for myself before this test, I would have answered coronary heart disease.</div>
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Red ring ... press your finger on the card to make a spot</div>
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But I did not give the labs any of this information or tell them about my family medical history. Their results all came directly from screening my genes.</div>
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Other results are more unexpected. Previously I’d never heard of macular degeneration so discovering I have a medium genetic risk of developing blindness in old age is a shock.</div>
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And I’m not thrilled to read I have a medium risk of obesity either.</div>
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Both companies send me a full report with information about the conditions tested for and what my personal risk levels mean.</div>
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I’m advised to see my GP as a follow-up, but don’t feel frightened by having this knowledge.</div>
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Just because I have a genetically high risk, it is not certain I will suffer with the condition.</div>
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It’s all useful information to be armed with for the future. But the test only looks at my genetic risk — it doesn’t consider other aspects such as lifestyle choices.</div>
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As the science advances and results get more accurate, genetic predisposition tests could impact other areas of our lives.</div>
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Some have questioned whether, in the future, employers or insurance companies should have a right to know the results.</div>
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This could lead to concern over possible discrimination.</div>
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Currently there is a suspension (moratorium) in place until 2017 preventing insurance companies insisting any DNA results are disclosed.</div>
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The only exceptions to this agreement are for life insurance policies in excess of £500,000 and then only for government-approved genetic tests.</div>
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At the moment this applies only to tests for Huntington’s disease.</div>
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Threesy peasy ... now send them off and wait for the results</div>
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I’m glad I took the test but the bottom line is no one can really predict what the future holds.</div>
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I could get run over by a bus tomorrow or perhaps I’ll live to be 100 — who knows?</div>
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But these tests are not claiming to accurately predict the future — just to provide people with additional information that might help them make informed choices about their health.</div>
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I won’t be letting my high risk results hold me back.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-83953800083483588082013-01-16T18:01:00.005-08:002013-01-16T18:01:45.268-08:00Boob job blunders could have killed me<br />
<img alt="Close call ... Murray " src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01655/RSNE1608UAQ-620_1655484a.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /><br />
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A WOMAN who sued her plastic surgeon after a botched boob op left her with a life-threatening infection has settled her claim.</h3>
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Dubliner Kate Murray was “just a step away” from contracting flesh-eating infection necrosis fasciitis, the High Court heard.</div>
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Days after the €5,800 op on March 15, 2008, the now 28-year-old began to experience severe pain and fluids oozing from her wounds.</div>
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She made repeated visits to the clinic before the implants were removed.</div>
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Two weeks later, she was admitted to hospital with a life-threatening infection and spent a month undergoing nine procedures and skin grafts.</div>
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She was treated at St Vincent’s Hospital for extensive wound breakdown and cellulitis.</div>
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Murray sued Italian consultant Marco Loiacano over the operation he carried out on her.</div>
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He was struck off by the Medical Council for misconduct in 2011 and is now thought to be practising in Rome.</div>
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A previous inquiry heard evidence that Ms Murray would be left horribly physically scarred for life as a result of his “reckless” actions.</div>
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Ms Murray, from Dun Laoghaire, had also sued Cosmedico Clinic (Dublin) Ltd, trading as Cosmedico Surgery Clinic, Kilmacanogue, Co Wicklow, where the operation was carried out.</div>
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Yesterday, the High Court was told the matter had been settled on Tuesday. No details of the settlement were given.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-35411090321887991962013-01-16T18:01:00.002-08:002013-01-16T18:01:14.539-08:00Teenage shooting suspect released<br />
<img alt="Victim ... Wilson" src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01654/Luke_Wilson__1654393a.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /><br />
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A TEENAGER quizzed over the shooting of Luke Wilson has been released without charge.</h3>
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The suspect was arrested last Sunday after Wilson, 18, was blasted in the head, neck and arm.</div>
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But he was freed last night after the DPP ruled he could only be charged if a complaint had been made.</div>
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Gardai are set to interview Wilson later today after his condition improved over the last few days.</div>
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Officers also conducted searches for the weapon yesterday but were unable to locate it.</div>
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Cops believe Wilson was lured to a park by a close pal before being blasted.</div>
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The bullet was fired through his skull before exiting the other side.</div>
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Wilson, whose uncle John, 35, was murdered last year, was attacked in broad daylight.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-59635907616277821062013-01-16T18:00:00.002-08:002013-01-16T18:00:36.591-08:00Right-to-die Marie’s Supreme Court date<br />
<img alt="Appeal ... Marie" src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01656/SNE1704MA--620_1656173a.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /><br />
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TERMINALLY-ILL Marie Fleming has lodged an appeal against the High Court’s rejection of her right-to-die bid.</h3>
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The 59-year-old, who is in the final stages of multiple sclerosis, lost her landmark legal action last week to be allowed end her life by assisted suicide.</div>
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Her appeal was lodged at the Supreme Court office yesterday afternoon and it is expected her lawyers will apply today for an urgent hearing. Given the importance of the issues raised in the case, it is likely the appeal will be heard by a seven-judge Supreme Court.</div>
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Ms Fleming’s partner Tom Curran confirmed last night an appeal was being taken but would not comment further. Last week, a three-judge High Court ruled the absolute ban on assisted suicide does not disproportionately infringe Ms Fleming’s personal rights under the Constitution and is wholly justified in the public interest to protect vulnerable people.</div>
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The court awarded costs of the case to Ms Fleming against the State on grounds the action raised issues of exceptional public interest.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-50756133953238017272013-01-16T17:59:00.002-08:002013-01-16T17:59:41.685-08:00Why you and I are just like aye-aye<br />
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Telly Wonders host Brian Cox explains origins of life on earth</h2>
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<b style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">BRITAIN’S favourite TV scientist is back – this time exploring the origins of man instead of the universe.</b></h3>
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<b style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Professor Brian Cox delves into evolution in new BBC series Wonders Of Life, starting on BBC 2 on January 27. Here, the Sun Professor, writing exclusively in Day One of a series, explains how the aye-aye of Madagascar helped him to understand how life began.</b></div>
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ASK a biologist how many species live on Earth today and the chances are you will get a shake of the head — because we simply do not know.</div>
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A recent estimate put the number at 8.7million, but others range from 3million to 100million.</div>
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What is known is that 1.3million species have been catalogued, of which we are one.</div>
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And every single species on Earth today — no matter how many that is — has a great deal in common.</div>
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The basic chemical reactions that power all life are the same.</div>
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If you trace your genetic line back through the centuries, you will arrive at a small group of ancestors living in the vicinity of the Great Rift Valley around modern day Ethiopia and Kenya around 2million years ago.</div>
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Go further back through millions more years and you will find shrew-like mammals, amphibians, fish, the first vertebrates, the first complex cells, and so on — all your ancestors.</div>
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There is an unbroken line, stretching back 3.8billion years or more, from you to an original population of living things — the foundation of all life on Earth today.</div>
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Meeting the family ... Brian Cox and aye-aye</div>
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They are collectively known as LUCA — the Last Universal Common Ancestor.</div>
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We don’t know what LUCA looked like, but one of the most widely accepted theories is that our common ancestor wasn’t a cell or even some kind of free-living thing at all.</div>
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It was a set of chemical reactions occurring inside rocky chambers around volcanically heated hot springs, deep below the primordial oceans of Earth 4billion years ago.</div>
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And we all <b style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">STILL</b> carry the chemistry of the primordial Earth.</div>
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While the origin of life is a matter for scientific debate, the explanation for the emergence of today’s endlessly complex tree of life is not. Just over 150 years ago, Charles Darwin got it broadly right.</div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A beautiful example of Darwin’s great idea is found on Madagascar, off the eastern coast of southern Africa.</i></div>
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Around 65million years ago, a handful of seafarers were nearing the end of a 350-mile voyage on a natural raft of vegetation.</div>
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They were accidental travellers — creatures from mainland Africa that had been trapped and taken by the ocean’s currents.</div>
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The land they found was rich in trees, plants and animals, but there were none of their kind.</div>
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Fate brought a group of animals known as lemuriformes to the island and, over time, those ancestral primates have evolved and diversified to become Madagascar’s most iconic animals — the lemurs.</div>
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Today there are 99 species and subspecies of lemur, none of which are found anywhere else on the planet.</div>
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They form a quite dazzling array, and the settlers from the raft are directly related to all of them.</div>
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The story of Madagascar’s lemurs provides an excellent analogy with the evolution of life from LUCA to the present day. How did the DNA database of those on the raft expand and fragment to produce the diverse and highly specialised range of lemurs living in Madagascar today?</div>
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Jungle book ... Brian Cox's Wonders of Life</div>
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The answer can be found by studying one of the most bizarre animals on the planet — the aye-aye.</div>
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It is a creature with an almost demonic appearance that lives in a niche occupied by woodpeckers in many other parts of the world.</div>
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There are no woodpeckers in Madagascar, which would have meant that — before the aye-aye arrived on the scene — grubs buried inside trees could have led a charmed life immune from predation. The aye-aye is the primate version of a woodpecker, deploying an utterly strange suite of adaptations to exploit the benefits of a wood-boring lifestyle.</div>
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The most startling is its unique middle finger, a grotesquely elongated, slender and bony structure with 360° movement on a ball-and-socket-like joint system. It feels broken as you gently rotate it.</div>
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The aye-aye’s finger was longer than mine when fully extended, and this on an animal no bigger than a small dog.</div>
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The aye-aye uses its finger to tap down the trunk of a tree, listening for a change in sound that may mark the presence of a bug inside. When a promising echo is located by its large, gremlinesque ears, it begins to gnaw through the wood.</div>
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Once through the wood, the aye-aye deploys its finger again, spearing the grub inside the hole and levering it out to eat.</div>
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This aye-aye’s particular lifestyle explains its unique and startling form.</div>
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It is nocturnal, so it has large eyes. It is a tree-dweller, which explains its dexterous hands, feet and large, counter-balancing tail.</div>
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Its odd, rodent-like teeth allow it to gnaw through wood and that strange central finger allows it to access a readily available food source, safe from the competition of other large animals and birds.</div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">We can now draw all the threads together to describe how the aye-aye came to be the way it is.</i></div>
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At some point around 40million years ago, a random change in the DNA of a lemuriforme would have resulted in a very slightly elongated middle finger.</div>
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This was almost certainly an unnoticeable change, and may have conferred little if any advantage at all at first.</div>
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But the possessor of the mutation certainly survived long enough to pass it on to its offspring.</div>
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Given time, this lengthened middle finger must have allowed a group of these ancestral aye-ayes to begin to exploit a new niche.</div>
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Perhaps they could spend slightly more time high in the canopy, as they could get to easily accessible bugs in cracks in the wood.</div>
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<img alt="Cheryl Cole" src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01656/Performer_Cheryl_C_1656051a.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /><div id="image-desc" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: arial, Helventica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
'Even me? Why-aye pet' ... Cheryl Cole</div>
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So, this particular group of animals, carrying this lengthened middle finger mutation, began to separate from that of the other lemurs, who spent less time on tree trunks foraging for bugs.</div>
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Eventually, as further mutations in the DNA of this now-isolated group occurred, they were tested by the sieve of natural selection.</div>
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So the ancestors of the aye-ayes become so different from the other lemurs that they are today clearly identifiable as a completely separate species.</div>
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This is Darwin’s explanation for the origin of species, “the endless forms most beautiful” as he put it, that we find on Earth today. Over 3.8billion years, random changes in DNA, tested by the non-random sieve of natural selection, has produced the magnificent diversity of life on Earth.</div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Darwin wrote: “There is grandeur in this view of life.”</i></div>
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And understanding how our unique and complex living world emerged from a collapsing cloud of gas and dust almost 5billion years ago surely only adds to the wonder.</div>
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<img alt="Great Rift Valley" src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01656/SNF17MAP2_1656293a.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /><div id="image-desc" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: arial, Helventica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Wonder land ... the Great Rift Valley in East Africa</div>
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<b style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The accompanying book to Wonders Of Life, written by Brian Cox and Andrew Cohen, will be published next Thursday and costs £25.</b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-41866640167141600632013-01-16T17:58:00.002-08:002013-01-16T17:58:34.253-08:00‘OAP terror gang pose as salesmen’<br />
<img alt="Victim ... Maureeen" src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01656/SNE1714B-620_1656140a.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /><br />
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A GANG suspected of the latest attacks on pensioners had pretended to be selling household goods, gardai believe.</h3>
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The burglars — thought to have crossed the Border from Derry — struck twice in Co Donegal on Tuesday evening, terrifying their elderly victims.</div>
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In the first attack, John Gallagher, 65, had his home near Buncrana ransacked before he was locked into a shed.</div>
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The five-man gang then beat up an 80-year-old woman at her home near Muff before leaving the scene in a blue or grey Proton car.</div>
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Garda Inspector David Murphy said both victims had received calls to their homes in the afternoon before the attack by people claiming to be selling household goods.</div>
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He said: “We believe there could be a link as both people received calls from people claiming to be selling household goods.</div>
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“One of these was a woman with short brown hair and they were in a car with the same description as we believe was involved in both crimes.</div>
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“We would ask the public who may also have received a call from these people to contact us.”</div>
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The latest raids on pensioners brings to more than 15 the number of raids across Donegal in the past two weeks.</div>
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On Monday, farmers Jim and Eric Steele gave chase to the four-man gang who broke into their home in Manorcunningham, Co Donegal.</div>
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And last week, a three-man gang raided 86-year-old Maureen Kelly’s home in Convoy while 76-year-old Phyllis McGee was knocked to the floor as thugs robbed her home for the second time in two months.</div>
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Mayor of Donegal Frank McBrearty yesterday called on Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan to do more to prevent further attacks.</div>
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He said: “Whatever approach the Gardai are taking is simply not working and yet another two burglaries by a gang from across the Border last night is proof of that.</div>
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“Garda management have serious questions to answer. At this stage the people of Donegal are entitled to answers.</div>
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“I am not advocating closing the borders because we have excellent relationships with the public in Derry but we need to man those borders now.”</div>
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He called on Justice Minister Alan Shatter to examine the possibility of setting up a taskforce to tackle crime along the Border.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-64125024187037863962013-01-16T17:57:00.004-08:002013-01-16T17:57:45.675-08:00Buy your music. It might save a job...<br />
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THE news that HMV has called in administrators will have music lovers weeping into their box sets this week.</h3>
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But it got me thinking: was it illegal downloads that brought the retail giant to its knees?</div>
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The joy of buying CDs, reading the sleeves and then adding them to my collection is something I’ve never lost — but I can’t say the same for most of my friends.</div>
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For the most part, they just want the songs — or more likely the song — on their MP3 player or computer. And with so many sites online for illegal downloads, you may well be labelled an idiot to actually bother to pay for music in a shop like HMV.</div>
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Even your favourite TV series can be watched legally (or illegally) online without too much effort.</div>
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It’s little wonder HMV crumbled as people become too sneaky to fork out for what they listen to or view.</div>
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Illegal downloads are slowly killing off the music industry — HMV is just the most high-profile casualty.</div>
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Gone are the days when you listen relentlessly to a CD until you know every single word of every single songs. People just want their favourite songs now, and head to iTunes to do just that.</div>
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Globally, 19 out of every 20 tracks downloaded are done so illegally — and this has been the case for the past five years.</div>
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Realistically, it seems miraculous that HMV lasted this long without going into administration.</div>
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There was only so long this could continue without a massive retail outlet collapsing, and now 4,500 jobs are at risk — with up to 300 of those in Ireland.</div>
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A favourite pastime of mine was getting lost in the downstairs section of HMV Grafton Street — coming across CDs you had long ago lost or never knew you desired.</div>
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There was a real sense of adventure in heading in there and trying to select records that loved ones might like to hear whilst scoffing at the taste of those who browsed in the Easy Listening section.</div>
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HMV stores offered an impressive vinyl selection, alongside books and merch from every band you could possibly want to learn more about.</div>
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The outlet holds a place very close to my heart as my first book, Jedward — Our Story, hit No1 in their sales chart in 2010 (let’s face it, it was never going to hit No1 in Easons!).</div>
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So, dear readers, the next time you listen to an illegally downloaded soundtrack or TV series, spare a thought for the thousands of people now set to lose their jobs — and the gaping hole that’ll be left in the music retail industry in Ireland and the UK — if HMV bites the dust.</div>
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Illegal downloads, tumbling CD sales and digital competition ultimately brought HMV to its knees.</div>
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Every action has a reaction. So next time, buy your music and favourite TV shows, if not for the sake of the artists, then for the innocent workers who are now set to pay the ultimate price.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-59825136566503098792013-01-16T17:57:00.001-08:002013-01-16T17:57:11.095-08:00The Shame’s up<a href="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01655/SNN1603FG--_1655584a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Frank Gallagher" border="0" src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01655/SNN1603FG--_1655584a.jpg" style="border: 0px; line-height: 14px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;" /></a><br />
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TELLY layabout Frank Gallagher will bow out of Shameless in style when he realises his dream to score at his beloved Man City.</h3>
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Scenes for the final episode of the Channel 4 series — returning for the last time in spring — were shot at the Etihad yesterday.</div>
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Frank played by David Threlfall, has “a life-changing moment”.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-36405487892960889802013-01-16T17:56:00.002-08:002013-01-16T17:56:25.574-08:00David Bowie's new album is 'sleazy' says legend's producer<br />
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DAVID BOWIE’s new album sounds sleazy, says producer TONY VISCONTI.</h3>
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He said: “Dirty Boys, the second song on The Next Day, is dark and sexy ... like stripper music from the 1950s.</div>
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"Old bump-and-grind stripper music...</div>
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"It wouldn’t be out of place on Young Americans.”</div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Great news, then.</i></div>
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<img alt="Tony Visconti" src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01655/Tony-Visconti_620_1655734a.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /><div id="image-desc" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; font-family: arial, Helventica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Producer and guitarist ... Tony Visconti</div>
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REX</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-52044862756741793192013-01-16T17:55:00.005-08:002013-01-16T17:55:57.424-08:00They’re off!<br />
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MORE than ten million burgers have been taken off supermarket shelves following the horse meat fiasco.</h3>
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Taoiseach Enda Kenny has vowed to resolve the night-MARE after minced nag was found in Tesco, Dunnes, Lidl, Aldi and Iceland ‘beef’.</div>
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He said it was “important for our reputation” to resolve ‘Horsegate’ quickly — while burger jokes became a hot topic on the internet.</div>
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Meanwhile TV pundit Eamon Dunphy also bridled at the notion he might have gobbled a gelding, explaining: “I’d hate to eat Shergar.” The 67-year-old has a holiday home in France — where horse is on the menu.</div>
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And he urged the Government to rein in its regulation of the food system after the debacle.</div>
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He said: “It is shocking. People are right to be angry, they deserve to know what is in their food. Answers are needed. The buck stops with the Department.</div>
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“You wouldn’t like to think they have regulated the food system the way they regulated the banking sector.”</div>
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Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore had earlier told the Dail that the results of the burger tests were known last Friday.</div>
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However the details were not passed to the Department of Agriculture until a meeting on Monday of this week.</div>
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He said that “the implications were evaluated and discussed” at that time.</div>
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<b style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">DOZENS of jokes about horse burgers were doing the rounds yesterday.</b></div>
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While many people are appalled, thousands of Twitter users saw the funny side. Here are a few to make you giddy-up...</div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">— Just after eating a Tesco burger, it was good to soft in places.</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">— I had a burger earlier, now I’ve got the trots.</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">— I tried the Aldi ones but I prefer my Lidl pony!</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">— I think people who don’t like the thought of eating horsemeat are being a bit blinkered.</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">— What do you call a burnt burger? A Black Beauty.</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">— I shouldn’t have gone for a run after my burger at lunchtime, I really struggled over the last two furlongs.</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">— To beef or not to beef, that is equestrian.</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">— Was going to give up fast food but fell at the final hurdle.</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">— Can I have mane with cheese, please? And stirrup the relish.</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">— Breaking News: Traces of zebras found in Tesco barcodes.</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">— Horsemeat is an essential part of a stable diet.</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">— I hear now that the horse meat was smuggled into Ireland by a mule.</i></div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">— I had a burger last night. I woke up this morning with a bit in my mouth.</i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-41468297735414778022013-01-16T17:55:00.002-08:002013-01-16T17:55:27.648-08:00These terrorists are carrying explosives, they’re threatening to blow up the plant<br />
<img alt="An undated grab from a video obtained by ANI Mauritanian news agency reportedly shows former Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) emir Mokhtar Belmokhtar speaking at an undisclosed location. Islamists are holding 41 foreigners hostage, including seven Americans, after an attack on a gas field in eastern Algeria, a spokesman for the militants told two Mauritanian news websites. " src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01655/alq_main_1655981a.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /><br />
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AN Irishman was under threat of death last night as al-Qaeda vowed to massacre dozens of hostages unless France and the UK quit their terror purge in Mali.</h3>
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The 36-year-old married dad-of-two was among the 41 foreigners seized at a desert gas field by fanatics in neighbouring Algeria.</div>
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<img alt="A picture taken on December 14, 2008 shows a foreign delegation visiting the Krechba gas treatment plant run by the Sonatrach, BP and Statoil, about 1,200 km (746 miles) south of Algiers. One person was killed and seven wounded on January 16, 2013, including two foreigners, when Islamist militants attacked a base for oil workers in southern Algeria, state media reported. The attack took place at dawn in the Tinguentourine region, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from In Amenas, where British oil giant BP operates a gas field in partnership with Algeria's Sonatrach, the APS news agency reported, citing local officials. " src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01655/alg2_1655984a.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /></div>
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They were being held at a desert gas complex — which the Islamic fanatics were last night threatening to blow up.</div>
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A Brit and a French national were murdered in yesterday morning’s terrifying attack.</div>
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An envoy from the north African country revealed grimly as troops there laid siege to the BP plant: “The terrorists are threatening to blow it up if the army intervenes.</div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“They are said to be extremely well-armed and carrying large amounts of explosives.”</i></div>
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One frightened hostage managed to make a phone call from the gas field near the Libyan border — confirming the maniacs had “mined” it.</div>
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<img alt="In this undated image released Wednesday Jan. 16, 2013, by BP petroleum company, showing the Amenas natural gas field in the eastern central region of Algeria, where Islamist militants raided and took hostages Wednesday Jan. 16, 2013. Islamist militants from Mali attacked the Amenas natural gas field partly operated by BP in Algeria early on Wednesday, killing a security guard and kidnapping at least eight people, including English, Norwegian and Japanese nationals, an Algerian security official and local media reported. " src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01655/algeria_1655982a.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /></div>
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We are not naming the Irishman, who is married and lives in Belfast, after requests from his family and the Department of Foreign Affairs amid fears it could jeopardise his safety.</div>
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Speaking to the Irish Sun last night, his father said: “This is very stressful on all of us. We are getting our information from the TV — we don’t know what’s happening out there.</div>
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“We’re waiting to hear more from the Department of Foreign Affairs and that’s all I can say.”</div>
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A family friend said the man’s wife was “in a bad way”.</div>
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<i style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The pal added: “She is just lost with all this.”</i></div>
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Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore last night called for the Irish passport holder’s immediate release.</div>
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He said the Government “stands ready to use all of the resources available to us to ensure our citizen is released as soon as possible”. Troops held back from storming the BP complex as the terrorists warned of “disastrous” consequences.</div>
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Brutes calling themselves the Masked Brigade or ‘Signed In Blood’ Battalion were feared to be behind the outrage. Their leader is Mokhtar Belmokhtar — a senior al-Qaeda commander also known as Abu al-Abbas.</div>
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Last night his cohorts issued ultimatums as they referred darkly to the “safety” of captives, who also include five Brits, seven Americans, four Japanese and a Norwegian.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-77948863261374696032013-01-16T17:54:00.005-08:002013-01-16T17:54:57.387-08:00Ex FF Cllr fined €500 for expenses fraud<br />
<img alt="Claim ... Pat Melia" src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01656/SNE1706PM1-620_1656127a.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /><br />
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A FORMER Fianna Fail town councillor who claimed expenses for a conference he did not attend was fined €500 yesterday.</h3>
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Pat Melia drove from Cork to the three-day event in Galway — but returned home the same day after registering.</div>
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When quizzed afterwards by fellow councillors, he said a lot of the conference “went over his head”.</div>
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The 51-year-old from Macroom, Co Cork was convicted of making a gain by deception on dates between April 13 and 15 last. Macroom District Court heard Melia had lodged an expenses claim totalling €552.26, including 218 for two overnight subsistence payments which he was not entitled to receive.</div>
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He was investigated following a complaint and was arrested in May last year when he admitted what he had done to cops.</div>
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His solicitor told the court the fraud was not intentional, and claimed Melia had “found it impossible” to get accommodation because the Labour conference was on at the time.</div>
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He added: “He considered sleeping in his car but conditions were bad.”</div>
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Melia resigned from Fianna Fail last summer but remains an independent councillor.</div>
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Judge James McNulty fined him €500 with seven days in prison if he fails to pay.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-66675995424081346452013-01-16T17:54:00.002-08:002013-01-16T17:54:23.702-08:00Lily-Mae’s mum: HMV must give back her €27k<br />
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THE mother of a cancer-stricken child fears HMV will not now pay vital funds raised from a charity single.</h3>
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Little Lily-Mae Morrison’s mum Judith Sibley says the situation is “unbelievable”.</div>
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More than 300 musicians including Paddy Casey and Mundy got behind a recording of Elton John’s Tiny Dancer before Christmas.</div>
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Around €27,000 was raised from the single to split between little Lily-Mae and the Neuroblastoma Society.</div>
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The four-year-old — the Irish Sun’s Person of the Year for 2012 — suffers from a rare cancer of the nervous system.</div>
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But struggling music store HMV yesterday refused to say if the family will get the funds raised now. Judith told the Irish Sun yesterday: “It’s too unbelievable to get my head around. So much money came from such good will. It has to be sorted out. People will be so upset.”</div>
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A spokesman for HMV said he could not confirm if the money would be paid.</div>
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He stated: “I cannot comment on that as we are in the process of administration, but we make every effort to commit to charities.” The Sunni Mae Trust invoiced HMV for the money raised earlier this month, but the company’s difficulties now means it could get nothing.</div>
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A spokesman for the music store said: “It was agreed with the makers of the record that payment would be made at the end of March. It is unreasonable to expect invoices to be paid that quickly for any business.”</div>
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But Lily Mae’s uncle Paul Hayes fumed: “My goal here is to save a life of a child... that term (ordinary unsecured creditor) does not sit easily with me.”</div>
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<b style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">UP</b> TO 300 workers risk losing their jobs after a receiver was appointed to HMV yesterday.</div>
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All 16 of the music store’s outlets across Ireland are shut for the time being. Last night, furious workers in Limerick were holding a sit-in inside the shop.</div>
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Receiver David Carson said: “All efforts will be made to secure a purchaser for the stores.”</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-69750154930713051922013-01-16T17:53:00.003-08:002013-01-16T17:53:48.150-08:00Obama’s move to tighten up gun laws<br />
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PRESIDENT Barack Obama has announced sweeping changes to US gun regulations in</h3>
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<a href="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01656/Barack_Obama__1656227a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Barack Obama" border="0" src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01656/Barack_Obama__1656227a.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px; margin-top: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 300px;" /></a><span style="font-family: arial, Helventica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: center;">Crackdown ... Barack Obama</span> the wake of the Sandy Hook school massacre.</h3>
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Obama urged Congress to approve a £312million package which includes bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.</div>
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He wants greater focus on background checks for gun owners and for an end to Americans buying weapons for other people.</div>
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There are also likely to be mental health care changes, while violence in video games, films and television could be addressed. It comes a month after 27 died in Newtown, Connecticut.</div>
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But the plans are likely to spark a fight with Republican politicians and pro-gun lobbyists.</div>
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The President said: “To make a real and lasting difference, Congress must act. I’ll put everything that I’ve got into this.”</div>
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<b style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">- A SCHOOL</b> in Temple, Texas, has outraged residents by selling £3 raffle tickets for a top prize of a £900 shotgun.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-23829361672132635562013-01-16T17:52:00.005-08:002013-01-16T17:52:53.938-08:00Sheer bliss Ed<br />
<img alt="Ed Sheeran " src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01656/Ed_Sheeran__1656270a.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /><br />
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TO mesmerise almost 40,000 people over three nights at the cavernous O2 — on your own — is certainly not an easy feat.</h3>
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Last weekend saw the inimitable Ed Sheeran do just that — without as much as one backing vocalist onstage beside him. Alongside the expert audience interaction, there was one moment of spine-tingling bliss when the 21-year-old put down his guitar and sang — completely alone.</div>
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DAVE HOGAN</div>
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In a world of huge productions, flashy pyrotechnics and bronzed backing dancers, Sheeran is a beacon of light for the music industry.</div>
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Rare, raw talent was all he needed to wow his audience.</div>
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He may have been born in England but his roots (not least those on his head) are very much Irish.</div>
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Oh, and his duet with Galway cousin Laura Sheeran on Sunday was wonderful.</div>
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Come back soon Ed!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-17369665365539480342013-01-16T17:52:00.002-08:002013-01-16T17:52:22.709-08:001D Niall’s tears for poor kids of Africa<br />
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BIG-HEARTED One Direction singer Niall Horan has called on his nine million Twitter followers to help the poor in Ghana.</h3>
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The Mullingar lad was moved to tears when he visited Africa with his bandmates this week as part of Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day in the UK.</div>
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And Niall, 19, admitted the one-day trip opened up his eyes and that he’d never witnessed poverty like it. He tweeted: “Just arrived back from Accra, Ghana! Best life experience ever! This @rednoseday please get involved!</div>
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“I’ve seen the slums right in front of me! This is no joke! They really need your help! Poverty is real!”</div>
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The unstoppable boyband have teamed up with the charity to record the organisation’s official Red Nose Day single, a cover of Blondie’s One Way Or Another.</div>
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Niall added: “Massive thanks to @rednoseday for taking us to Ghana! It was incredible! real eye opener! We take so much for granted over here !”</div>
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Singer Harry Styles said: “We have grown up with Comic Relief and taken part in lots of Red Nose Days at school so we were thrilled to be asked to do the Red Nose Day single.</div>
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“It’s such an honour for us. We can’t wait to perform our version of this iconic pop song and raise as much money as possible for this incredibly important cause that is really close to our hearts.”</div>
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Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day takes place on March 15 and One Direction’s single goes on sale next month.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2221370262058099999.post-60412750723807830232013-01-16T17:51:00.003-08:002013-01-16T17:51:54.420-08:00Page 3 beauty Leilani Dowding comforts Carmen Electra's ex-fiance Rob Patterson<br />
<img alt="Leilani and Korn frontman Robert Patterson" src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01655/leil2_1655706a.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /><br />
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FORMER Page 3 girl Leilani Dowding is seen out and about with Carmen Electra's ex-fiance after reports she is helping him get over their split.</h3>
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The glamour model offered Korn guitarist Robert Patterson a friendly ear when news of the Baywatch beauty stepping out on dates with Simon Cowell left him heartbroken.</div>
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And the pair giggled and embraced after meeting for a coffee in Los Angeles.</div>
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Leilani met Rob when they both attended the Equinox gym on Sunset Boulevard two months ago.</div>
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<img alt="Leilani with Robert Patteron" src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01655/leilani_1655708a.jpg" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /><div id="image-desc" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial, Helventica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Hugs ... Leilani and Rob cuddle</div>
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They instantly hit it off and have been regularly chatting ever since.</div>
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A friend told The Sun: "The couple are constantly texting each other when apart, Leilani reminds Rob of a younger Carmen in many ways.</div>
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<img alt="Carmen Electra and Rob Patterson" src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01653/carmen_embed_1653024a.jpg" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /></div>
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And it seems Rob has fallen for fashion designer Leilani after they bonded over several heart-to-heart chats.</div>
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The only time the pair have spent apart in recent weeks was when Charlie Sheen jetted Rob to Cabo for Christmas and New Year, but the smitten musician was more than eager to meet up with her on his return and they were even seen indulging in a passionate clinch.</div>
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<img alt="Leilani Dowding and Dave Navarro" src="http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01653/navarro_wenn_1653045a.jpg" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;" /><div id="image-desc" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: arial, Helventica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Friends ... Leilani and Dave Navarro</div>
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An onlooker who spotted them at a coffee house on Melrose Avenue said: "I saw Rob kissing Leilani."</div>
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It's not the first time that Leilani has dated one of the men in Carmen's life - she has previously been linked to her rocker ex-husband Dave Navarro.</div>
<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Read more: <a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/4739456/page-3-leilani-dowding-comforts-carmen-electras-ex-rob-patterson.html#ixzz2I6FuZlYQ" style="color: #003399; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/4739456/page-3-leilani-dowding-comforts-carmen-electras-ex-rob-patterson.html#ixzz2I6FuZlYQ</a></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02159455044245567863noreply@blogger.com0