Driver cited for wearing Google Glass in California

SAN DIEGO -- With every technological advance, society must answer certain questions.
One of those questions may have been answered Tuesday night on a busy freeway in San Diego County.

U.S. Embassy In Australia Promotes Anti Drone Movie

Do you want to see Dirty Wars, the movie exposing and criticizing U.S. drone policy and secret military operations around the world? If so, the American Embassy in Australia has got you covered with some free tickets.

German envoys seek U.S. answers in spy row

BERLIN: German envoys were due to hold talks with U.S. officials in Washington late Wednesday on rebuilding a “basis of trust” after alleged U.S. tapping of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone in sweeping surveillance operations that have outraged Europe. 

Life now begins for men at the grand age of 54

LIFE does not begin at 40 for men any more, it now begins at 54.

NEW MAN: Hugh Laurie looks and sounds younger than his years [GETTY]

“With fatherhood being put off by so many, men are inevitably going to take longer to feel settled”

Surgeon Asim Shahmalak

Until then, they are busy overcoming their 20 biggest fears, says a survey.
It concludes they only feel settled 14 years after the traditional age.

Reasons for the delay are financial pressures and the trend towards late fatherhood.
Fear of never being able to afford their home tops a list of the 20 greatest insecurities for men.
Next comes losing their hair, being left on the shelf and unemployment, according to a poll of 1,000 men by hair transplant centre Crown Clinic in Manchester.

Surgeon Asim Shahmalak, from the Crown Clinic, said: “It’s not surprising that life doesn’t begin till 54. We are all living far longer and, with living costs spiralling and fatherhood being put off by so many, men are inevitably going to take longer to feel settled.”

Famous 54-year-olds include music boss Simon Cowell and actors Hugh Laurie and Kevin Spacey.

AMERICAN BEAUTY: Kevin Spacey with actress Charlize Theron
 

The rest of the top insecurities for men are:

5, Greying hair. 6, Double chin. 7, Man boobs. 8, Not being able to afford to retire. 9, Ill health. 10, Being overweight. 11, Loneliness. 12, Losing touch with friends. 13, Drinking too much. 14, Bad diet. 15, Impotence. 16, Divorce. 17, Fading libido. 18, Wearing glasses. 19, Poverty. 20, Bad teeth.

OLD DOG: Simon Cowell rules the roost at 54

profile wedding ceremony of the World's tallest man and his bride at HIGH-

HUGE: Sultan Kosen towers above his bride, left, before squeezing himself into their wedding car [PA]

Turkish farmer Sultan Kosen has married bride Merve Dibo in a HIGH-profile wedding.

The 8ft 3in giant towered over his 5ft 8in wife as they exchanged vows.
But Sultan - who suffers from a rare disorder caller pituitary gigantism - couldn't be happier.
"Now I will have my own family and private life," the 30-year-old said.

"How unfortunate I could not find a suitable girl of my own size.
"But in my fiancee I’ve found the person for me."

LOVE: Sultan couldn't be happier with Merve [PA] 
 

Sultan is also included in the Guinness Book of World Records for his giant hands (11ins) and feet (14ins).

His huge frame meant he had to have a specially-tailored wedding suit made for him.
But it was a TALL order for him to squeeze into the couple's wedding car, as they were driven away from the ceremony.

The Hirricane of the First Century: At least 500,000 homes, lives and properties lost

Girl, 17, killed by falling tree as she slept, man killed after tree falls on his car, and millions hit by transport chaos as trains are suspended, flights are cancelled and 500,000 are left without power

• At least 500,000 homes in southern England were without electricity after trees and high-winds down power cables 
• 17-year-old Bethany Freeman died today after a tree fell onto the static home she was sleeping in at Hever, Kent
• Man in his fifties also killed in Watford after his car was crushed during morning rush hour
• Dylan Alkins, 14, believed to have drowned yesterday after swimming with friends in waves off Newhaven, East Sussex
• David Cameron calls loss of life 'hugely regrettable' and pays tribute to work of the emergency services
• Roads in chaos as trees fall onto roads as high winds howl through the south of England and Wales
• Flash floods reported in Cornwall, Dorset, Hampshire and Sussex - Devon and Cornwall police report 122 incidents
• Amendments and cancellations on First Capital Connect, Southeastern, Greater Anglia and Stansted Express
• Also disruption on East Coast, c2c, First Great Western, Southern, Gatwick Express and South West Trains
• Ferries from Poole and Weymouth to Guernsey & Jersey cancelled and hovercrafts to Isle of Wight suspended
• 130 flights cancelled at London Heathrow Airport today but Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and Bristol running as normal

Two people have been killed and at least one other is feared dead after Britain was battered by 100mph winds that ripped up trees and destroyed homes in a devastating ten hours.

Bethany Freeman, 17, died today after a tree fell onto her static home while she slept in Hever, Kent, and a man in his fifties was killed in Watford when his Peugeot 206 was crushed as he drove alone to work.

A 14-year-old boy, named locally as Dylan Alkins, is also feared dead after being swept out to sea in Newhaven, East Sussex yesterday afternoon.

Several others have been injured after they were hit by debris while one tree devastated three houses when it fell on a gas main and led to an explosion in Hounslow, west London, where two people are believed to be trapped in the rubble.

The St Jude's storm, the most dangerous for years, hit southern England with gusts of almost 100mph and left at least 500,000 homes without power after it struck at around 3am.

Millions of commuters have been left stranded and warned not to travel today unless it is essential, with at least 40 railway lines blocked, roads left impassable and hundreds of flights cancelled.

David Cameron has said the loss of life as a result of the bad weather is 'hugely regrettable'.

Scroll down for travel update and videos

The girl is believed to have been crushed when the tree fell on her while she lay in bed (pictured)

Police at the scene where a tree has fallen onto a car, reportedly killing the driver, on Lower High Street, Watford

Devastation: This home in Hounslow, west London, was destroyed by a gas explosion this morning after a tree fell on the property. Two people were caught in the rubble 

The Environment Agency has 19 flood warnings and 147 flood alerts in place and rough seas left two cross-Channel ferries carrying 450 passengers stranded outside Dover when the port had to be closed.

 

More...

• Two people feared missing in rubble and pensioner rushed to hospital after 'falling tree ruptured gas main causing massive explosion'
• Did he see it coming this time? Forecaster Michael Fish reveals a birch tree has fallen down in his garden
• The Great Storm of 1987: How the 'hurricane' claimed 18 lives, flattened 15million trees and caused damage costing £1.5billion

The Met Office said wind reached more than 99mph at the Needles on the Isle of Wight at 5am, but less exposed areas are also being buffeted by 70mph gusts.

THE HURRICANE-FORCE WINDS AND TORRENTIAL RAIN BATTERING UK

STRONGEST WINDS
1)    Needles Old Battery, Isle of Wight – 99mph
2)    Langdon Bay, Kent – 82mph
3)    Isle of Portland, Dorset – 81mph
4)    Andrewsfield, Essex – 79mph
5)    Odiham, Hampshire – 78mph

MOST RAINFALL
1)    Otterbourne, Hampshire – 50mm
2)    Wychcroft, East Sussex – 45.4mm
3)    Cardiff – 44.8mm
4)    Hurn, Dorset – 42mm
5)    Wiggonholt, West Sussex – 37.2mm

The desperate mother of Bethany Free comforted her teenage daughter by talking to her as she lay trapped under a tree in a crushed caravan, according to an eyewitness.

Tess Peirce spoke to her daughter Bethany Freeman, 17, while firefighters and neighbours fought to free her but she died a short while later at the scene.

Neighbours Helen O'Connell and her partner Frederic Perdrix were at home next door to Tess's Barn in Lydens Lane, Hever, Kent, when Tess came round this morning urgently seeking help.

Helen said: 'She came round here wanting some help. She was absolutely distraught. She said she had come out of her caravan this morning and had found the other caravan with her daughter in it had been flattened by a huge fallen tree.

'Tess said she could hear Beth speaking. She wanted our help to get her out. All the neighbours came out to try and help.

'A farmer came round with his JCB truck to try and lift the tree off the crushed caravan.
'It was awful. We were trying to console Tess while they tried to get Beth out.

'I think Tess was trying to talk to Beth, trying to comfort her.

'There was no power because the electricity had gone off so we couldn't use any power tools. Neighbours were rallying to find a petrol run chainsaw which eventually someone did.

'But eventually they said Beth had died and there was nothing anyone could do for her.'

A 17-year-old girl died today after a tree fell onto the static home she was sleeping in at Hever, Kent

Emergency services were called to the scene in Hever, Edenbridge, but the girl is believed to have died from her injuries

The caravan was parked in a yard when a tree fell onto it during the storm - crushing it completely

Emergency services were called to Hever in Edenbridge at 7.18am following reports that the 17-year-old girl was seriously injured. But teams were unable to save her

Teams gather at the scene in Hever. Kent woke this morning to winds reaching topping 80mph and more than 100 trees felled 

Police Discovers Bomb Making Elements at Montreal Airport Package

Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.

MONTREAL – Montreal police say a suspicious package found at an airport terminal Sunday contained everything needed to make a bomb except the actual explosives.

Spokesman Ian Lafreniere says what was found was not dangerous by itself, but police took no chances.

A 71-year-old man who had a ticket to fly out of Montreal was detained Sunday and is currently being questioned by police. No charges have been laid.

Lafreniere says police also searched an apartment in the residential area of LaSalle and seized some documents but have found “nothing obvious” so far.

The suspicious package was spotted at a security checkpoint in the U.S. departures area of Trudeau airport early Sunday morning.

Lafreniere says operations at the airport are running normally today.

man burn himself to death after being falsely accused of paedophilia by vigilantes

 
SHOCK: Bijan was burned to death after being falsely accused of paedophilia [SWNS]

Bijan Ebrahimi, 44, took photographs of local youths attacking his hanging baskets and intended to hand the film to police as evidence.

But someone saw him with the camera and told police that Bijan, who was registered disabled and couldn't work, had taken pictures of children.

Officers took him away for questioning, but as Bijan was taken from his council flat residents began chanting "paedo, paedo".

He was quizzed at a police station but officers soon realised he was using the images to catch local yobs.

Bijan was released from custody but rumours had begun circulating in the local community that he was a child abuser.

 
TRAGIC: The spot where Bijan's body was found burned [SWNS] [SWNS]

He was beaten unconscious by Lee James, 24, who with Stephen Norley, also 24, dragged his body into the street and set him on fire.

The pair will be sentenced for the brutal crime next month after entering guilty pleas at Bristol Crown Court.

Speaking after the hearing, Avon and Somerset Police spokesman Martin Dunscombe said Bijan was an innocent man.

He said: "Mr Ebrahimi was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence - breach of the peace - and after being interviewed he was released with no further action taken.

"We can categorically state he had not taken any indecent images and that nothing of concern had been found on his computer."

In a family statement his relatives said Bijan was a "loving and caring man" who lived for his garden.
They said: "Bijan was a quiet, disabled man whose only joys in life came from his horticultural interests and his cat.

"Bijan was a caring, loving and unselfish man. He was an excellent uncle and a warm, supportive brother."

Two missing after gas explosion destroys three houses

STORM: Two people are missing after an explosion in Hounslow [PA] [PA]

Three houses were destroyed following the sudden explosion in high winds shortly before 8am, which spewed roof tiles and debris more than 100 yards down the road.

An elderly woman was taken to hospital with serious injuries described by rescuers as “life-changing”.
Stunned neighbours were evacuated by scores of firefighters who rushed to the devastating scene in Hounslow, west London.

The occupants of one of the demolished terraced houses were unaccounted for.
Search and rescue teams with specialist sniffer dogs had been scrambled to look for them.
Matthew Burrows, a spokesman for London Fire Brigade, said: "There is one affected property that we have not been able to account for the people yet.

"We have had reports two people trapped but we don't know for certain yet."
Mr Burrows said efforts were ongoing to make the collapsed house safe enough for firefighters to search inside the old Victorian terraces.

There was 60 firefighters at the scene of the blast in Bath Road, which lies under the Heathrow airport flight path.

HUNT: Rescuers are searching for the two missing people [LNP] [LNP]

Structural engineers were lifted in a crane to view the scale of the destruction from above, as a large police cordon was manned.

Gas could still be smelled in the air and the road was scattered with black, shattered roof tiles which had blown up to 100ft away from the blast.

Mr Burrows said it was unclear whether the falling tree had caused the gas explosion or vice versa.
He said: "We have got a tree that's fallen down and we have got a gas leak but we are not sure what came first.

"At the minute, we are trying to confirm which way around things have happened."
Mr Burrows said the fire brigade was called at 7.45am to reports of a fire and explosion.
He said: "There were three properties completely destroyed, with a further fourth property suffering major structural damage.

"We had three people present themselves to us on arrival from those affected properties. One of those was removed to hospital by the London Ambulance Service. They were all understandably suffering from shock.

"Fire investigators are working with the police and the gas board to confirm the cause of the explosion."

China's SGAPPRFT Outlaws Foreign TV Programs

State media is reporting that the State General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television has just issued rules that, beginning in January, will allow Chinese satellite TV stations to license just one foreign program each year.  Moreover, SGAPPRFT, as the sprawling bureaucracy is known, will prohibit the showing of foreign programs in prime time, 7:30 to 10:00 P.M.

The rules target domestic shows as well.  To “prevent duplication of similar programs,” SGAPPRFT is restricting the wildly popular talent TV broadcasts, like Voice of China, to one every three months.  Moreover, Beijing, and not the station, will select the show to be aired.

Furthermore, stations will be required to carry at least 30 minutes of documentaries made in China and 30 minutes of domestically produced children’s shows.  At least 30% of the programming will have to be news, culture, children’s entertainment, and sports. 

These new rules follow state-mandated cancellations, announced in late July, of talent shows.  The July actions came on the heels of regulations, released in February, limiting foreign television series to 50 episodes.  And who can forget last year’s prohibitions against “excessive entertainment”?

Of course, Chinese television executives are not happy about any of the restrictions, especially the latest.  Said an unnamed employee of a local station to Guangzhou’s Nandu Daily this month, “With the new policy, we have to fill seven and a half hours with educational programs.”

Beijing wants to increase the viewing of “morality-building” fare, but that hope is surely wishful thinking.  It is much more likely that viewers will desert television for computers and mobile devices, something already happening.  Moreover, it is almost certain that the Chinese public will increase its appetite for pirated DVDs—now one of the most popular ways to watch foreign TV—and illegal downloads.

And stations will certainly eventually ignore SGAPPRFT’s restrictions, just as they have done in the past.  Beijing, after all, issued similar rules in 2011, and if they had been enforced, there would have been little need for the just-issued restrictions.  As long as the Chinese central government expects local stations to support themselves financially, program managers will find ways to air popular shows, whether Beijing declares them to be “legal” or not.

So SGAPPRFT—its name has gotten longer as it found new things to regulate—is playing a game in which it cannot win, at least in the long run.  And it may not be able to win in the short term either because the new prohibitions disadvantage almost everyone.  First, the revenues of local stations will suffer.  Second, the Communist Party will lose even more control over the media as viewers turn off their TVs. 

Third, the China market will shrink for foreign programs, literally overnight come January 1.  The SGAPPRFT rules, therefore, should be viewed as a trade issue.  The U.S., surprisingly, has little trade leverage to force Beijing to drop those restrictions. 

How can that be?  Beijing did not agree to open up its television market when it acceded to the World Trade Organization in December 2001.  Yet Washington, when becoming a signatory to the WTO’s General Agreement on Trade in Services, committed to completely open its market to foreign television programming.  Therefore, to close that market to China, even in retaliation for SGAPPRFT’s blatantly discriminatory action, would subject the U.S. to WTO penalties.

Moreover, there is a more important consideration making retaliation against China inadvisable.  “Such a move would signal American fear of their influence, when we should be conveying an impression of self-confidence and a genuine belief in the freest marketplace of ideas, even if others don’t reciprocate,” Alan Tonelson, research fellow of the U.S. Business and Industry Council Educational Foundation, tells Forbes. 

Tonelson is right, but Washington must nonetheless find some other way to get American programming into China.  Time Warner TWX +0.28%’s CNN International, for instance, is widely available throughout the world, but in China it is found in only few locations, such as upscale hotels and apartment buildings for foreigners, so that it remains generally inaccessible to Chinese citizens.  If it could be assured of access, CNN would almost certainly produce a Chinese-language channel, which would be a sure-fire winner.  Increasing the network’s penetration in China should be high on Washington’s to-do list.

U.S. trade officials should always help American companies of course.  In this particular instance, there is also another—and a far bigger—interest at stake.  One of the most important reasons why Washington’s relations with Beijing have been rocky over the last several years is that state propaganda authorities relentlessly promoted anti-Americanism, much of it on television.

One of the best ways to help the Chinese people better understand the U.S. is to loosen the Party’s grip on TV.  China’s information-deprived citizens, once they become drenched in programming from the Food Network to Fox News, will be able to make up their own minds about America, instead of letting the Communist Party tell them what to think. 

China’s ruling organization is determined to keep control of discourse, however.  It knows it has no chance of imposing its views on the populace unless it closely regulates media content, which is why it now is removing foreign programming from television screens across China.  We should, therefore, be doing all we can to reverse the process, to get American programming—and news and ideas—into living rooms from one end of that great nation to the other. 

In the contest of ideas, free societies will always win.

Iranian lawmaker: P5+1 must recognize Iran's right to enrichment

World powers must recognize Iran's right to 20% uranium enrichment within the country, Deputy of National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian parliament Mansour Haqiqatpour told the country's official IRNA news agency Saturday. According to the lawmaker, the Islamic Republic enriches uranium at the 20% level for medical purposes and to fuel Tehran's research reactor. Haqiqatpour told IRNA that the enrichment process manufactured medicines needed by some 850,000 Iranian patients.

Israel saved me

Reverend Mulinda from Uganda and his friend Majed El Shafie from Egypt both converted to Christianity from Islam, and paid a heavy price for sticking to their beliefs. Today they fight against anti-Semitism and advocate human rights and a love for Israel.

Amit Lewinthal

Rev. Omar Mulinda (left) and Majed El Shafie | Photo credit: Uri Lenz

These two men should never have met, but today they are close friends. They were born in two different countries at different ends of the world, but their life stories are very similar, and today, they both advocate a love for Israel.

'Israel will not accept any deal that allows Iran to enrich uranium'

In a briefing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Ya'alon warns that Iran is still pushing forward toward nuclear weapons •Ya'alon says so far Syria is adhering to its commitments to dismantle chemical weapons.

Israel Hayom Staff

Defense Minister Bogie Ya'alon | Photo credit: Ziv Koren

Defense Minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya'alon gave a briefing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Wednesday, emphasizing Iran as Israel's top security priority. 

Adelson: U.S. Nuclear Strike on Iran Ahead of Negotiations imperative

 

 

Video from the blog Mondoweiss showed Sheldon Adelson, a billionaire casino owner who donates heavily to Republicans, speaking on Tuesday at Yeshiva University in New York.

Why sex is better in hotels -- and other confessions of a constant traveler

(CNN) -- Hotels have been a large part of my domestic life.

I met my husband, who travels constantly for work, in the lobby of a hotel -- the Chateau Marmont, in LA.

 Our first, second and third dates were all in hotels: the Hotel Cipriani in Venice, the Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur and the Gran Hotel de Milan in Italy.

Why dozens of ethnic Somalis in Scandinavia are embracing jihad

Among ethnic Somalis who have tried to carry out acts of terrorism in Scandinavia is Mohamed Geele, who first moved to Denmark in 1995 at the age of 12. Three years ago, he tried to murder Kurt Westergaard, the Danish cartoonist responsible in 2005 for a controversial depiction of the Prophet Mohammed. Police arrived minutes after Geele forced his way into Westergaard's house in Aarhus with an ax.

Why Saudi Arabia can't ban women from driving forever

Colombian accused of using her 12 daughters for Prostitution

(CNN) -- A mother of 14 in Colombia tried to make ends meet, police say, by pushing her daughters into "hell" and selling their virginity for a couple hundred dollars.

Are First Born Really Smarter?

Study that says first-borns are smarter leads to debate among parents

 I am a middle child, and I don't think my older sister would be too upset to hear me take issue with the latest study to find that first-born children do better in school than us kids who were born later. (Hint: I was the kid who loved school!)

But science is science, and this study, a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, follows several other studies that came to similar conclusions about the children who came first.

Obama: You do it too, and we can make some changes

Washington -- Under fire about disclosures of broad National Security Agency snooping on global leaders, President Barack Obama is offering a two-pronged response: You do it, too, and we'll make some changes.

Thousands of documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden have portrayed the vast reach of U.S. surveillance activities, keeping tabs not only on U.S. call data but also global Internet and e-mail traffic.

8 Ways To Identity Great Leadership

If you ever wonder why we’re in a crisis of leadership all you have to do is to watch and listen to those in positions of leadership. While there are clearly many aspects of leadership that must work together in harmony in order for leaders to be effective, everything breaks down when leaders don’t understand how to engage effectively.

Brazilian gang sent prostitutes to African countries

 

As many as 90 women per week were sent to Africa

Police in Brazil have broken up a gang of people traffickers, which was sending prostitutes to Angola and other parts of Africa.

Nigeria’s recent election to a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council

Nigeria’s recent election to a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council is a global recognition and endorsement of Nigeria’s remarkable commitment to the promotion of peace and stability in Africa and other parts of the world.

Democracy in Africa: Can it deliver?

Multiparty democracy swept across Africa in the early 1990s, as single-party states and authoritarian leaders bowed to pressure from outside and within. Activists hoped greater political freedoms and strong institutions would lead to more government accountability - and more effective development. But two decades later, is this the reality?

Nigeria:Bokohara militants raid northern city of Damaturu

Suspected Boko Haram militants have engaged security forces in a lengthy gun battle and raided a hospital in the northern Nigerian city of Damaturu.

It was a "big, audacious attack" and that assailants stole drugs from the hospital and drove off in ambulances.
Meanwhile, the military said it had killed 74 suspected Boko Haram militants in a raid in Borno state. Resident said.