'ROCKY V' STAR TOMMY MORRISON DEAD AT 44

Tommy Morrison -- a former heavyweight boxing champ and star of "Rocky V" -- died in a Nebraska hospital Sunday night ... after a long battle with AIDS. 

Morrion's longtime boxing promoter, Tony Holden, confirmed the death. He tells TMZ, Morrison had been in the hospital for several months battling an illness ... he wouldn't specify what. He died peacefully, his wife by his side. 

Back in 1996 Morrison tested positive for HIV, thus ending his boxing career. He later denied having the disease or that it even existed. 

In 1990 Morrison starred in "Rocky V" with Sylvester Stallone, playing a rookie boxer training under Rocky Balboa. In 1993 he took home a real title, defeating George Foreman for the heavyweight championship.  He was 44.

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Where Wages Have Grown the Most (and Least) Since the Recovery

Just in time for Labor Day, a recent Gallup poll has given some promising employment news. More than half of American workers say that their income has grown over the last five years, telling Gallup that they are making either a lot (28 percent) or a little (30 percent) more money since the onslaught of the economic crisis.

However, workers' wage growth has been uneven across the country's metros. To chart where wages have grown the most during America's recovery, my Martin Prosperity Institutecolleague Charlotta Mellander ran the numbers on average change in wages and salaries for all 350-plus U.S. metros between 2009 and 2012 (the latest year available) based on data from theUnited States Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Average wages have increased in most metros over the course of the recovery, as the map above shows. Workers in more than half of all metros saw their wages rise by more than $2,000. And in 16 percent of them, workers saw their average wages rise by more than $3,000 between 2009 and 2012. Conversely, workers in only 15 metro areas saw their average wages decline over this period, and just 63 metros saw average wages grow less than $1,000. Across the nation, workers saw their average wages increase by $2,330, as mean wages rose from $43,460 in 2009 to $45,790 in 2012.

Many of the largest green dots (the metros with the greatest wage growth) are in the economically vibrant, coastal metros that you'd expect -- San Francisco, Seattle, and New York -- as well as cities in the Energy Belt like Houston. But some metro areas in hard-hit industrial areas of the Rustbelt and a number of Sunbelt metros that were wracked by the housing crisis also saw substantial wage increases, which suggests that the economic recovery may finally be registering in workers' paychecks nationwide.

The table below lists the large metro areas (those with populations of one million or more people) that saw the largest "raises" in the post-recession era. 

Large Metros with the Biggest Average Increases in Wages and Salaries, 2009-2012
Rank	Metro	Total Raise	2009 Wages	2012 Wages
1	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$4,600	$60,090	$64,690
2	Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA	$4,320	$53,240	$57,560
3	San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA	$4,130	$61,940	$66,070
4	Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX	$3,970	$44,880	$48,850
5	Providence-Fall River-Warwick RI	$3,740	$43,600	$47,340
6	Oklahoma City, OK	$3,460	$38,090	$41,550
7	Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH	$3,380	$41,930	$45,310
8	Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ	$3,310	$41,930	$45,240
9	New York-White Plains-Wayne NY-NJ	$3,300	$56,250	$59,550
10	New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA	$3,230	$39,210	$42,440

Data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Topping the list is Washington, D.C., where average wages increased by $4,600, from $60,090 to $64,690. D.C. has performed well over the course of the crisis and recovery, benefiting from its robust knowledge economy, highly educated talent pool and abundant federal spending. Two other tech-driven knowledge metros (San Francisco and Seattle) take second and third place. Both saw average wage increases of more than $4,000. In Seattle, wages rose $4,320, from $53,240 to $57,560. In San Francisco wages rose $4,130, from $61,940 to $66,070 -- the second highest average wages of all major metro areas, trailing neighboring San Jose-Sunnyvale. These metros also had high take-home pay to begin with -- above $60,000 in D.C. and San Francisco.

Metros in the and around the nation's Energy Belt also did particularly well, including Houston ($3,970), Oklahoma City ($3,460), and New Orleans ($3,230). Along with these Energy Belt metros and major knowledge economy hubs, workers saw substantial raises in the Rustbelt metro of Cleveland ($3,380) and Phoenix ($3,310) in the Sunbelt. This suggests that the economy in these struggling regions of the country is starting to rebound, as workers in at least some of these cities have begun to see their wages rise.

It's important to note that workers in Cleveland, Phoenix, Oklahoma City, Providence, Houston and New Orleans were making far less to begin with, with wages in the $40,000s or below, compared to the $60,000 plus levels for the knowledge metros with the highest wages.

But the places where workers have seen the biggest gains to their average paychecks are mainly in smaller cities. The table below lists the top metro areas overall, by increase in average wage. Greater Washington, D.C. and Seattle are the only big metros to make the cut.

Overall Metros with the Biggest Average Increases in Wages and Salaries, 2009-2012
Rank	Metro	Total Raise	2009 Wages	2012 Wages
1	Midland, TX	$6,530	$40,770	$47,300
2	Fayetteville-Springdale-Rodgers, AR-MO	$4,970	$36,790	$41,760
3	Fairbanks, AK	$4,790	$48,330	$53,120
4	Iowa City, IA	$4,620	$40,390	$45,010
5	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$4,600	$60,090	$64,690
6	Oakland-Fremont-Hayward, CA	$4,590	$54,590	$59,180
7	Bellingham, WA	$4,440	$39,870	$44,310
8	Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA	$4,320	$53,240	$57,560
9	Peoria, IL	$4,200	$40,170	$44,370
10	Fayetteville, NC	$4,160	$35,150	$39,310

Data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Smaller metros in the Midwest and West now rise to the top of the list. Midland, Texas is first with a whopping $6,530 increase in average wages. This oil and resource boom town -- where a full quarter of workers are employed in the in the mining, logging and construction sector -- registered a  4.6 percent gain in population between 2011 and 2012, making it the fastest growing metro in the country over that period. And the unemployment rate was an astonishingly low 3.7 percent as of June this year. Wages also grew more in Fayetteville, Arkansas, ($4,970); Fairbanks, Alaska ($4,790); and Iowa City, Iowa ($4,620) than they did in Washington, D.C., the top-ranked large metro. And wage growth in Oakland, California ($4,590) and Bellingham, Washington ($4,400) outpaced the raise taken home by workers in Seattle. Peoria, Illinois ($4,200) and Fayetteville, North Carolina ($4,160) round out the top ten.

Many of these metros are building on far lower baseline wages than their larger counterparts. Half the metros on the overall top ten list (immediately above), and a whopping 80 percent of smaller metros (those with less than one million people) started out with wages below the national average in 2009.  

Despite the good news, there remain places where workers' wages have not begun to recover. Workers in 15 metros across the country actually saw their wages decline between 2009 and 2012. Most of these are in the Rustbelt and the Sunbelt, including  Decatur, Illinois; Idaho Falls, Idaho; Palm Coast, Florida; and Lubbock, Texas. Nearly all of these smaller struggling places are found in Michigan, Illinois, Idaho, Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Texas and California. They are a mix of struggling old industrial centers, like Battle Creek, harder hit resort centers like Palm Coast, and agricultural towns in California, like Salinas.

The table below shows the large metro areas that have seen the smallest wage gains. While robust wage recoveries in Cleveland and Phoenix suggest that parts of the Rustbelt and Sunbelt are beginning to turn around, the list of places with the smallest wage gains remains dominated by Midwestern and Southern metros. It includes once fast-growing Sunbelt metros like Las Vegas ($1,330), Orlando ($1,000), Miami ($1,630), and Tampa ($1,640) -- all metros which were buffeted by the housing crisis -- as well as hard-hit industrial regions like Buffalo ($1,760) and St. Louis ($1,760).

But there are also some surprises on the list. Dallas, where wages increased by just $1,340, is often held up as an example of low unemployment, population and job growth, and relatively stable housing market prices. The twin cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul have also been seen as the center of a stable, knowledge-oriented economy, less susceptible to a boom and bust. But perhaps the biggest surprise is that Chicago, a city and metro that is often held out as a model of urban regeneration, is the only large metro area whose workers saw average wages rise less than $1,000.

Largest Metros with the Lowest Average Increases in Wages and Salaries, 2009-2012
Rank	Metro	Total Raise	2009 Wages	2012 Wages
1	Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL	$830	$48,910	$49,740
2	Orlando-Kissimmee, FL	$1,000	$38,430	$39,430
3	Memphis, TN-MS-AR	$1,310	$39,380	$40,690
4	Las Vegas-Paradise, NV	$1,330	$40,070	$41,400
5	Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX	$1,340	$46,110	$47,450
6	Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN	$1,570	$39,970	$41,540
7	Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL	$1,630	$41,070	$42,700
8	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL	$1,640	$40,590	$42,230
8	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$1,640	$48,670	$50,310
10	Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY	$1,760	$40,960	$42,720
10	St. Louis, MO-IL	$1,760	$42,900	$44,660

Data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The overall trend in wages give us cause for more optimism this Labor Day than we've had in quite a while. While there is still a ways to go and while too many workers in too many places remain out of work or underemployed, these data substantiate just how extensive the reach of wage recovery has been across the board. Nearly all U.S. metro areas - 96 percent of them - saw some increase in average annual wages over the first several years of the recovery. All in all, the extent and diverse nature of America's wage recovery is a good sign, as workers across the country have seen the beginnings of a return to wage growth.

Source:http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/09/best-cities-raise-americas-post-recession-economy/6668/

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Electric Zoo Festival Cut Short by Two Deaths

It was supposed to be the bigger, better party. Electric Zoo 2013 was the fifth annual Labor Day weekend of electronic dance music on Randalls Island, and its promoter, Made Event, had expanded it by adding another stage with additional headliners. But after two concertgoers died, apparently from using MDMA (known in different formulations as Molly or Ecstasy), Made Event followed the recommendation of the mayor’s office and abruptly canceled Sunday, the third day of the festival. Last week, the House of Blues in Boston closed temporarily after drug overdoses following a show by Zedd, who would have been one of Sunday’s Electric Zoo headliners.

The mood was festive Saturday at Electric Zoo before two deaths, apparently drug related, caused the cancellation of its third day.
The tone of the festival had already changed on Saturday. My shoulder bag was searched far more thoroughly on the way in than on Friday, and through the day, Made Events representatives made sober announcements onstage urging people to rest, hydrate, get help for anyone in trouble and not to overdo alcohol and drugs — the last of which drew some laughs. MDMA, though it’s dangerous in excess like any drug, has long been associated with dance music; it makes people happy, energetic and affectionate, and since getting the innocuous name Molly it has been turning up in lyrics — which D.J.’s often sample and add into mixes.

Last year, at the Ultra Music Festival, introducing the D.J.-producer Avicii (who headlined Electric Zoo on Friday), Madonna — whose 2012 album was called “MDNA” — asked the audience, “How many people in this crowd have seen Molly?” (She later insisted it wasn’t a drug reference.) At Electric Zoo the word was all over T-shirts; one group of five people had coordinated bright yellow ones with a single letter on each: M, O, L, L, Y. It’s part of the dance-music landscape — unremarkable, until people die.

And that news casts a sorrowful shadow over what was supposed to be a celebration. Electronic dance music is purposefully, single-mindedly life affirming, all about being alive in the moment, awash in sensation. Hip-hop, rock, R&B and, of course, the blues are well aware of struggle, sadness, mortality, memory and anticipation, as they tell stories and fill their song forms; electronic dance music takes place in an eternal present.

There, the visceral, body-shaking impact of deep bass, the hypnotic repetitiveness of the beat, the pealing purity or larger-than-life roughness of the electronic sounds, the lyrics about joy and letting go and feeling love, the dazzling and dizzying lights and the communal energy of a dance floor are all mechanisms for fully experiencing the here and now, kinetically and immediately. Mechanisms evolve — technology has given them a lot more flash and firepower in the digital era — but the aspiration they satisfy may well be hard-wired into our bodies. With or without MDMA, electronic dance music makes for joyful, sociable crowds pumping up the endorphins.

Even though it was cut short, Electric Zoo still offered nearly 100 sets over its first two days, a sweeping survey of dance music. A small, generally underattended tent held die-hards of deep house and techno — John Digweed, Justin Martin vs. Eats Everything, Claude VonStroke, Cassy, Green Velvet, Scuba — playing seamless, incrementally evolving, mesmerizing sets. On the big stages, it brought back many regulars who headline festivals worldwide: Avicii, David Guetta, Tiesto, Benny Benassi, Above & Beyond, Hardwell.

They play the house and trance music whose bouncing, marching beats now also pulsate in Top 10 pop. And because they are now in demand as remixers of pop hits, they can largely string together their own efforts, nearly all moving at the same beats per minute. Hardwell made his set seesaw between earnest vocals and stark, stomping beats; Tiesto modulated smoothly, playing what sounded like one long anthem with a parade of different vocalists. Other house D.J.’s, less eager for singalongs, built different kinds of sets: Sander van Doorn with one dramatic, intensifying, minor-key instrumental wavelet after another, and Madeon with dozens of quick segues from hook to hook, often merely seconds long.

The dominance of house and trance as “big-room” dance music has lately been challenged by dubstep: originally an arty, murky British style that Americans have turned into a swerving, lurching assault, switching from full speed to half speed or unleashing a blast of distortion without warning. Over the last year, dubstep’s most brazen effect — the skidding, shuddering, deep-diving trick called the drop — has made its way into TV commercials and movie trailers; trance and house D.J.’s have also learned it, and more than a few sets at Electric Zoo interrupted the cheerful, steady, head-bobbing momentum of house with a stretch of dubstep.

But the dubstep D.J.’s, some of whom also had main-stage spots this year, strove to stay ahead of formula. Flux Pavilion, Datsik, Dog Blood, UZ and Bassnectar reached toward dubstep’s reggae underpinnings, drew on hip-hop, grabbed some of punk-rock’s momentum and aimed for the unexpected; Bassnectar even tried a remix of Nina Simone’s “Feelin’ Good.” Dubstep is also dealing with an upstart challenge: trap music, emerging out of hip-hop over the last decade. Dubstep is dense and bass loving; trap is hollow, with sparse bass lines, nasal synthesizer riffs and spatters of snare drum.

The crisp sounds of trap turned up during sets of dubstep, hip-hop and house, and they have made a fluent convert of R L Grime, the new moniker of a house D.J. called Clockwork. One of Electric Zoo’s most head-turning sets was by Baauer, the trap D.J. whose “Harlem Shake” became a YouTube phenomenon but who shouldn’t be dismissed as a novelty. His set repeatedly leapfrogged across tempos and genres: sometimes funny, sometimes jolting, giving dancers a challenge they were eager to accept. It was the kind of party Electric Zoo was supposed to be — one that should have ended with everyone home safely.

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Russia's Vladimir Putin challenges US on Syria claims

Russian President Vladimir Putin has challenged the US to present to the UN evidence that Syria attacked rebels with chemical weapons near Damascus.

Mr Putin said it would be "utter nonsense" for Syria's government to provoke opponents with such attacks.

US President Barack Obama says he is considering military action against Syria after intelligence reports that 1,429 people were killed on 21 August.

UN weapons inspectors have left Syria after gathering evidence for four days.

They are taking their samples to the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons, in The Hague.

The samples are thought to include soil, swabs from munitions, blood and hair from the victims and, experts say, possibly even flesh from dead bodies.

The US says hundreds of children were among those killed in the suspected chemical weapons attacks, which it blames on the Syrian government.

Syria says the US claim is "full of lies" and says rebels carried out the attacks.

US President Barack Obama said on Friday the US was planning a "limited, narrow" military response that would not involve "boots on the ground".

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8,000 Indians queue up for one-way trip to Mars

As the deadline for registration nears, over 8,000 Indians have so far signed up for the one-way trip to Mars and settle down on the red planet, as 'Mars One' project is planning to establish a colony there in the next 10 years.

'Mars One', a not-for-profit foundation intends to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars in 2023 and is registering those interested to make it up there. India stands fourth among other countries of the world with 8,107 applicants, as on August 27.

The top 10 countries to enrol are the USA (37,852), China (13,124), Brazil (8,686), India (8,107), Russia (7,138), Britain (6,999), Mexico (6,771), Canada (6,593), Spain (3,621) and Philippines (3,516) as on August 22,  Aashima Dogra of 'Mars One' said.

With August 31 this year being the last date for registering, 'Mars One' has already received interest from more than 1,65,000 people hoping to be the first humans on Mars.

"The Mars One Application Program is turning out to be the most desired job vacancy in the world. People from over 140 countries are looking towards the final frontier and envisioning their life on another planet," she said. 

Mars One believes that human settlement on the red planet was possible with existing technologies and it plans to integrate components that are well tested and readily available from industry leaders worldwide. 

"The first footprint on Mars and lives of the crew thereon will captivate and inspire generations; it is this public interest that will help finance this human mission to Mars," she said. 

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'The Butler' made Obama cry

Lee Daniels’ 'The Butler' has found a supporter in none other than President Barack Obama who teared up while watching the movie about a White House butler, who served seven presidents over three decades.

“I teared up thinking about not just the butlers who worked here in the White House, but an entire generation of people who were talented and skilled. But because of Jim Crow and because of discrimination, there was only so far they could go,” Obama told radio host Tom Joyner.

“And yet with dignity and tenacity, they got up and worked every single day and put up with a whole lot of mess because they hoped for something better for their kids,” he added.

Joyner, who interviewed Obama at the White House along with radio morning show co-host Sybil Wilkes, asked the president to name his favourite part of the movie. “My favourite part was probably some of the jokes Cuba Gooding Jr told, but we can’t repeat them on the air,” Obama said.

Obama also liked the acting by Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey. He said, “I thought Forest Whitaker was wonderful. And Oprah, my girl, she can act. She’s just a wonderful actress, so I’m glad they did it.”

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New Saudi law to protect women from domestic abuse

Saudi Arabia has adopted a law criminalizing domestic violence, usually targeting women and children, in a move hailed by activists who on Thursday demanded its swift implementation.

The law, approved by the cabinet on Monday, is aimed at protecting people from "all forms of abuse" and offering them shelter as well as "social, psychological, and medical aid," according to its text. 

Violators face penalties of one month to one year in prison and/or a 5,000 riyal to 50,000 riyal ($1,330-13,300) fine. 

The measures - which are unprecedented for the ultra-conservative kingdom - concern "any sort of physical or psychological violence," said the social affairs ministry's website. 

Women are the main victims of domestic violence with "98 per cent of physical violence committed by men against women," it said. 

Saudi Arabia, which applies a strict version of Islamic Shariat law, imposes many restrictions on women, based on laws and traditions that empower male guardians. 

On Sunday, Saudi authorities freed a 50-year-old woman who had been held captive in a room for three years by her relatives over a family dispute. 

The legislation was hailed by Saudi human rights activists who said they were waiting to see it implemented. 

"The law represents a turning point in the field of human rights protection in the kingdom and mainly offers protection to women," said Mufleh Qahtani, the head of Saudi Arabia's National Society for Human Rights. 

"Domestic violence must be dealt with in a special way as the victim and the aggressor often live under the same roof when it comes to a man and his wife or a father and his children. 

"What matters is applying the law and finding legal mechanisms for its implementation, since the final aim is to preserve the family," he said. 

Another activist, Jaafar Shaieb, said the law was "an important step" to put an end to the "escalation of violence within families or even against domestic workers," the majority of whom are Asian women. 

But applying the law "would take time due to administrative delays," said Shaieb. 

Human rights defender Walid Abulkhair was also wary of any obstacles in the application of the law due to the "bureaucratic mentality, especially among the radical conservatives." 

But social affairs ministry had promised law enforcement mechanisms would be published by the end of this year.

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Skype confirms 3D video calls development

The news was revealed by a senior executive in an exclusive interview with the BBC to mark Skype's 10th anniversary.

There had been speculation about the possibility after the firm posted an advert in April saying it wanted to find a way to create "body-doubles" for workers unable to travel to meetings.

However, the executive warned it could be many years before the tech launched.

"We've done work in the labs looking at the capability of 3D-screens and 3D-capture," said Microsoft's corporate vice-president for Skype, Mark Gillett.

"We've seen a lot of progress in screens and a lot of people now buy TVs and computer monitors that are capable of delivering a 3D image.

"But the capture devices are not yet there. As we work with that kind of technology you have to add multiple cameras to your computer, precisely calibrate them and point them at the right angle.

"We have it in the lab, we know how to make it work and we're looking at the ecosystem of devices and their capability to support it in order to make a decision when we might think about bringing something like that to market."

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Melbourne, the most livable city in the world

Melbourne, Australia was named the world's most livable city for the third year in a row, according to a survey of 140 cities released this month by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) that also ranked the Syrian capital Damascus last.

The capital of Australia's southeastern state of Victoria beat out Vienna, followed by Canadian cities Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary. Australia's Adelaide, Perth and Sydney also made it into a top 10 list which included the Finnish capital, Helsinki, and Auckland, New Zealand.

"We feel immensely proud that Australia's fastest growing city has again been recognized as the most livable city in the world," Agent-General for the Victorian Government in Britain Geoffrey Conaghan said in an emailed statement.

The survey ranked Melbourne first among cities based on five categories of stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure, while highlighting the decline of Damascus, alongside Egypt's Cairo and Tripoli in Libya, as a result of civil unrest across the Middle East and North Africa.

Unrest since Arab uprisings in 2011, which led to civil wars in Syria and Libya, as well as upheaval in Egypt, have pushed Damascus, Tripoli and Cairo down the rankings in the annual survey. Damascus dropped 10 places from last year to hit bottom.

"While the threat of terror had a defining influence on livability in the last decade, we can clearly see that civil unrest has already had a significant impact on livability in this decade," survey editor Jon Copestake said in a statement on the EIU website.

The survey excludes cities such as Kabul in Afghanistan and Baghdad in Iraq, long plagued by conflict and insecurity.

Damascus, once regarded as a relatively secure city in the Middle East, had been a growing tourist destination before an uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2011.

On Wednesday, residents were bracing for possible Western military action in response to a poison gas attack which killed hundreds of people in the city's suburbs a week ago.

Other cities placed in the bottom 10 in the livability survey included Dhaka in Bangladesh, Lagos in Nigeria, Libya's Tripoli, Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea and Harare in Zimbabwe.

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Young Chinese boy's eyes gouged out in attack

Police in China have offered a reward for information leading to the arrest of a woman suspected of gouging out a six-year-old boy's eyes.

The attack happened in Fenxi, Shanxi province, on 24 August.

The boy went out to play and hours later was found by his parents with his eyes removed and covered in blood.

The boy is now recovering in hospital. Police have offered a reward of 100,000 yuan ($16,340, £10,500) for information linked to the case.

"The boy was lured by an unknown woman on Saturday evening into a field, where she gouged out his eyes," state news agency Xinhua reported.

The boy's parents are said to be farmers. His mother said her son told them he was walking outside when a woman attacked him, state media reported.

Police found the boy's eyeballs at the scene. Local reports initially said the corneas were missing, potentially pointing towards organ trafficking.

Police now say, however, that the corneas were not missing and they have yet to establish a motive for the attack.

"We are still working on it so we cannot offer any comment or make any assumption on the motives," a police officer in Fenxi told the AFP news agency.

The boy was initially taken to a local hospital but was transferred to Shanxi Eye Hospital in the provincial capital, Taiyuan, on Sunday.

Local television footage showed family members trying to comfort the heavily-bandaged child.

"We had no disputes with anybody," state news agency Xinhua reported quoted his mother as saying.

Doctors at the hospital say his condition is stable but he will be blind for life.

"He asks why the sky is always dark... and why the dawn still hasn't come," Beijing Youth Daily quoted an uncle of the boy as saying.

"We could only tell him that his eyes had some injury and have to be bandaged.

"It is such a difficult question to explain to him. It is the most heartbreaking thing."

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Indian man shot dead in the US, police announce $4000 reward for leads in case

An Indian man, working as a clerk in the US, has been shot dead by an unknown assailant, with police announcing a reward for any leads in the case.

27-year-old Manpreet Ghuman Singh, a native of Majri Kishnewally village in Punjab, was working at the gas station in South Lake Tahoe, California, authorities said.

Singh was killed on August 6 after sustaining a single bullet wound to his upper torso. There is currently no identified suspect in this homicide, which appears to have been committed by the lone suspect, SouthTahoeNow.com reported.

Police Department detectives are collaborating with the El Dorado County Sheriff's and District Attorney's offices, as well as with the FBI, to process evidence and to explore several investigative avenues, the report said.

South Lake Tahoe police said it does not appear a robbery was involved in the crime, KCRA TV reported on its website.

Police released two still images taken from surveillance video, but the quality of the pictures makes it difficult to identify details of the gunman's appearance. His face was well-covered by a hooded sweatshirt, the report said.

Information is being gathered concerning all aspects of the victim's life to help identify any potential leads, including his possible interactions with disgruntled customers or any troubled personal relationships, SouthTahoeNow.com reported.

The Lake Tahoe Secret Witness Program has offered a USD 1,500 reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspect in this case. An anonymous donor has contacted Secret Witness to contribute an additional USD 2,500 to this reward for a total of USD 4,000, the report said.

The body of the deceased reached India yesterday with the cremation likely to be held today at his native village. A close relative of the deceased is bringing back the body after completing all legal formalities, family members said.

Manpreet had migrated to the US two years back, they said.

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Scientists build world's most precise clock

Scientists claim to have developed the world's most precise clock made from the element ytterbium, whose ticking rate varies less than two parts in one quintillion - ten times better than any other device.

A pair of experimental atomic clocks based on ytterbium atoms has set a new record for stability, researchers said.

The clocks act like 21st-century pendulums or metronomes that could swing back and forth with perfect timing for a period comparable to the age of the universe. Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) report in the journal Science Express that the ytterbium clocks' tick is more stable than any other atomic clock.

Stability can be thought of as how precisely the duration of each tick matches every other tick. The ytterbium clock ticks are stable to within less than two parts in 1 quintillion (1 followed by 18 zeros), roughly 10 times better than the previous best published results for other atomic clocks, researchers said.

This dramatic breakthrough has the potential for significant impacts not only on timekeeping, but also on a broad range of sensors measuring quantities that have tiny effects on the ticking rate of atomic clocks, including gravity, magnetic fields, and temperature.

It is a major step in the evolution of next-generation atomic clocks under development worldwide, researchers said.

"The stability of the ytterbium lattice clocks opens the door to a number of exciting practical applications of high-performance timekeeping," co-author Andrew Ludlow said.

Each of NIST's ytterbium clocks relies on about 10,000 rare-earth atoms cooled to 10 microkelvin (10 millionths of a degree above absolute zero) and trapped in an optical lattice—a series of pancake-shaped wells made of laser light.

Another laser that 'ticks' 518 trillion times per second provokes a transition between two energy levels in the atoms. The large number of atoms is key to the clocks' high stability, said researchers.

The ticks of any atomic clock must be averaged for some period to provide the best results. One key benefit of the very high stability of the ytterbium clocks is that precise results can be achieved very quickly, they said.

For example, the current US civilian time standard, the NIST-F1 cesium fountain clock, must be averaged for about 400,000 seconds (about five days) to achieve its best performance. The new ytterbium clocks achieve that same result in about one second of averaging time.

Given this high level of stability the ytterbium clocks can make measurements extremely rapidly—in real time in many cases - which could be important in rapidly changing application settings, such as the factory floor and the natural environment. 

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Female sperm and male eggs may be in future

Researchers have suggested that it may be possible in the future to create sperm from women and eggs from men - a feat, that if achieved, could revolutionise infertility treatments.

Katsuhiko Hayashi of Kyoto University in Japan and his senior professor Mitinori Saitou used skin cells from mice to create primordial germ cells or PGCs. PGCs are the common precursor of both male and female sex cells.

These cells were then developed into both sperm and eggs. Scientists used these to create live-births via in vitro fertilisation.

The technique offers numerous possibilities for reproductive medicine. It may allow infertile women to have babies by creating eggs from their skin cells, and also make it possible for sperm and eggs cells to be created from either males or females, 'The Independent' reported.

In the technique, pluripotent stem cells were extracted from early-stage embryos and somatic cells, and were then converted into PGCs using signalling molecules.

These germ cells were transplanted into the ovaries and testes of living mice to develop. Once these cells were mature they were extracted and used to fertilise one another in vitro.

The initial research took place in October last year, with researchers claiming that the live-births were merely a 'side effect' of the research to demonstrate that the creation of PGCs had been successful.

Other researchers have replicated the production of PGCs but could not succeed in producing live births. The scientists involved also have many other hurdles to overcome including the production of 'fragile' and 'misshapen' eggs, wrote David Cyranoski in 'Scientific American'.

The Japanese team is now working on monkey embryos and believe they could repeat the mouse work in monkeys within 5-10 years, with the creation of human PGCs following shortly after.

While making PGCs for infertility treatment will be a huge jump, many scientists are urging caution as embryonic stem cells frequently pick up chromosomal abnormalities, genetic mutations and epigenetic irregularities during culture.

Hayashi has also said that a viable infertility treatment could be 10 or even 50 years in the future.

"My impression is that it is very far away. I don't want to give people unfeasible hope," he said.

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Blue moon motivates romantic songa

It's been the motivation for romantic songs and popular phrases, and if you're not doing anything tonight, you should head outside or get yourself to a window so you can see it for yourself.

The last Blue Moon that we'll see until 2015 is up in the sky until Wednesday morning. It's not really blue. The phrase "blue moon" usually refers to a rare second full moon in a month. This kind of moon appears only once every three years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

On social media, amateur and professional photographers took advantage of the clear night and snapped and shared photos of the pristine moon against a navy sky. The buzz came from news organizations to every day people to folks like actor John Cusack, who retweeted a photo of the Blue Moon.

People had jokes too, tweeting photos of Belgian White Blue Moon ale and video of 1961's "Blue Moon" by The Marcels.

The Blue Moon also is known as the Full Sturgeon Moon, Green Corn Moon, Grain Moon orFull Red Moon. Initially, the phrase referred to the third full moon in a month, but an incorrect explanation in a 1943 edition of Sky and Telescope magazine stuck, according to space.com.

By the way, although tonight's Blue Moon is not actually blue, there have been blue moons in history, according to NOAA. The last one, however, appeared over Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1950 and was due to moon light traveling through a cloud of particles from forest fires in Canada, NOAA says.

The phrase 'Blue Moon' refers to the second blue moon in a month
The next Blue Moon will not take place until 2015

The traditional Blue Moon is not really blue, but there have been blue moons

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Gang thugs warned to steer clear of Notting Hill Carnival

Thugs planning to disrupt the Notting Hill Carnival were warned today to stay away or face arrest.

Scotland Yard said it was planning a series of raids on potential troublemakers in the lead up to this weekend’s event in a bid to prevent violence.

Officers will target gang members who they suspect are plotting to use Europe’s biggest street festival to settle scores.

Police said around 13,000 officers would be on duty over the two days of the carnival weekend which is expected to attract more than a million revellers.

Officers would use stop and search powers to try and prevent “the minority who carry weapons” from causing trouble.

Hundreds of officers from the Met and the British Transport Police will be deployed to check people traveling to the event on trains and buses.

Chief Superintendent Mick Johnson, who is organising the police operation, said: “Carnival is a colourful and vibrant event attended by hundreds of thousands of people every year. The success of the event and the low crime rate do not happen by accident.

“We want to continue this success by making sure Carnival is as safe as possible for everyone who attends the event.

“Carnival is a wonderful spectacle and we will do everything we can to ensure everyone who comes to the event is able to enjoy it safely."

Teams of undercover officers will also be deployed to tackle pick pocketing gangs who are known to target the carnival.

Specially trained officers will also be deployed to seize any suspected dangerous dogs.

Last year there were 299 arrests over the weekend, an increase on the 244 people held in 2011.

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The first official photographs of Prince George

The first official photographs of Prince George have been released.

The baby - who is third in line to the British throne - is pictured with his parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

The latest royal baby, Prince George, with his parents

The latest royal baby, Prince George, with his parents

The pictures were taken by the duchess's father, Michael Middleton, in the garden of their family home in Bucklebury, Berkshire.

Taken earlier this month, they show the royal couple, Prince George and their black cocker spaniel, Lupo.

Tilly, a golden retriever belonging to the Middleton family, can be seen lying down behind them.

The photographs of Prince George, who was born on 22 July, were released by Kensington Palace.

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'Princess Diana gave me permission for new film role from beyond the grave' says Naomi Watts

ACTOR Naomi Watts has said she believes Princess Diana granted her permission from beyond the grave to play her in a new film role.

Watts is playing Diana in a forthcoming biopic, which details the late princess’ secret love affair with the heart surgeon Hasnat Khan shortly before her death.

The Australian Oscar-nominated actor says that during the making of the movie she dreamt about the princess a lot and that there were many moments she “felt Diana’s presence”.

In an interview with the UK’s Mail on Sunday she said: “I kept wondering to myself: “Would she have liked it?”

“So I found myself constantly asking for her permission to carry on. I had saturated myself with Diana and her life and I felt this enormous responsibility of playing this iconic woman.

“It felt like I was spending a lot of time with her. There was one particular moment when I felt her permission was granted. That won’t sound right in print, I know.”
Her comments come after it was revealed British police are investigating claims that the late princess and Dodi Al Fayed were murdered by a former British soldier.

The 'People's Princess', her boyfriend Fayed and their driver Henri Paul died after their Mercedes crashed in a Paris tunnel after leaving the Ritz Hotel on August 31, 1997. Diana was 36.

The Watts biopic focuses on the two years leading up to her death and ending with the fateful trip to Paris. It deals specifically with her relationship with Khan.

Diana first met Khan in 1995 when she went to visit a friend recovering from surgery at the same hospital where he worked.

Although Khan has never spoken publically about the relationship, he told an inquest in to her death that he and the princess had discussed marriage.
Watts, 44, who was nominated for an Oscar for The Impossible admits it was a daunting role to take on.

Watts said: “There was a lot of hesitation on my part before I agreed to do it. Obviously I was taking on one of the most famous women of my time and an awful lot of pressure comes with that.

“You want to get it right, and everybody is going to have an opinion on the film and how she should be portrayed. It’s very daunting.

“But then I also knew that the exciting roles, the best roles, come with a risk. In the end I decided that I couldn’t not do it.”

Watts researched the role painstakingly. She read biographies and watched old interviews. She said that before filming she spent an hour each day having a prosthesis fitted to her nose. She also studied Diana’s body language and worked with a voice coach.

“She had a very expressive face,” she told the paper. “And she had that sideways smile we all remember, and those big eyes and a strong, athletic walk.” She said she talked to former friends of Diana.

“The people I met who knew her were unanimous in their praise of her extraordinary sense of humour and her cheekiness,” she said.

“They also all said she had quite a rebellious streak, which I think is something I always admire.

“What also came through was that she was someone who was wildly charismatic in the way that we know someone like Bill Clinton is.”

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A New Twist Emerges in Princess Diana’s Death

Scotland Yard announced Saturday night that police officers were examining claims that the elite SAS Special Forces unit was behind the death of the princess in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

Conspiracy theories first emerged within hours of the fatal crash that killed Diana and Dodi Fayed when their car struck the 13th pillar of the Alma Tunnel 16 years ago. Official inquiries concluded that their driver was drunk and had crashed accidentally while being pursued by the paparazzi, although Diana had feared that members of the royal family were plotting to have her killed. 

The claims will be examined by specialist officers. "The Metropolitan Police Service is scoping information that has recently been received in relation to the deaths and assessing its relevance and credibility,” a spokesman said.

The letter in question, which has been seen by Britain’s People newspaper, does not include any firsthand evidence. It was written by the parents of a woman who was married to an ex-commando, who recount his alleged claims about the killing.

A decade after the fatal accident, it emerged that Diana had sent a letter to her butler, Paul Burrell, in which she claimed Prince Charles was planning to have her killed.

Mohammad Al-Fayed, Dodi’s father, claimed that his son and Diana were killed by the British military at the behest of the royal family because they wanted to ensure the couple would never be married. Al-Fayed, the former owner of Harrods, alleged that Prince Philip had instructed MI6 to carry out the hit.

In 2004, Scotland Yard’s commissioner, Lord Stevens, launched an investigation into the deaths of Diana, Dodi, and their chauffeur, Henri Paul. Operation Paget, which was completed two years later, rejected the murder claims and found that Diana was not pregnant nor engaged to Dodi at the time for her death despite the claims made by Al-Fayed. A spokesman for the Egyptian businessman said in a statement that he would be “interested in seeing the outcome” of the latest investigation, which he expected to be completed “with vigor.”

Diana, who was 36 at the time of her death, had divorced Prince Charles a year earlier. Although the police confirmed that they were investigating the latest claims, they said they had not re-opened Operation Paget or their original investigation into Diana’s death.

A decade after the fatal accident, it emerged that Diana had sent a letter to her butler, Paul Burrell, in which she claimed Prince Charles was planning to have her killed. "This particular phase in my life is the most dangerous,” she wrote, in the 1993 note. “My husband is planning 'an accident' in my car, brake failure and serious head injury.”

Her death, four years later, prompted an unprecedented outpouring of public grief in Britain led by Tony Blair, the newly elected prime minister. Hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets to mark her passing ahead of a funeral attended by her young sons William and Harry, and broadcast live around the world.

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A massive fire in Queensboro Bridge

Firefighters put out Queensboro Bridge truck fire, but bridge remains closed as officials inspect the damage
A massive fire that engulfed a 40-foot long tractor trailer on the Queensboro Bridge Friday morning has been put out, though the key passageway between Queens and Manhattan remains closed.






The fire was reported at 11:08 a.m. and photos from the scene showed massive flames shooting from the back of the tractor trailer.
Heavy, black smoke was seen billowing from the bridge that connects Queens to Manhattan at 59th street.

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FBI probes nude photo extortion of Miss Teen USA

The FBI is investigating allegations that someone tried to extort nude photographs from the newly crowned Miss Teen USA after hacking into a webcam in her Southern California bedroom. 

Cassidy Wolf told the website of NBC's "Today" show that she received an anonymous email several months ago. The sender claimed to have stolen images from the camera on her home computer. 

The FBI tells the Riverside Press-Enterprise that the emailer threatened to go public with the images unless Wolf provided nude pictures. 

The 19-year-old Wolf, a graduate of Great Oak High School in Temecula, won the Miss Teen USA crown on Saturday. 

The FBI says she's one of more than a dozen alleged victims in the case.

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