A sad tragedy to the passing of Mormon Church President Gordon B. Hinckley.
A few hundred people waited in freezing temperatures Thursday to view the body of Gordon B. Hinckley as the Mormon Church began three days of public mourning for its president.
Joined by two friends, Michelle McAllister got up at 4 a.m. and skipped classes at Weber State University to be first in line at the conference center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"We wanted to have this experience. He's been my prophet," said McAllister, 21, who was a child when Hinckley became head of the church in 1995. Hinckley was the oldest president of the 13 million member church when he died Sunday at age 97.
His body was dressed in a white suit in an open casket in the church conference center's Hall of Prophets, where bronze busts of each church president line the walls.
From the elderly to mothers with children in their arms, mourners moved silently past both sides of the dark wood casket, which was surrounded by flowers. Some were stone-faced while others dabbed at tears.
Lisa Brown, 25, whispered to her 2-year-old daughter, Vanessa, as they passed by.
"She recognizes him as the prophet," said Brown, her eyes red from crying. "It's kind of a bittersweet day. Sweet for him, but sad for us."
Hinckley is the 15th president of the Church and the longest-serving Mormon Church President who presided over one of the greatest periods of expansion in its history.
Hinckley's eldest son, Richard, who runs the church missionary department, greeted people outside the hall, shaking hands and expressing gratitude for their prayers and condolences.
The Mormon Church scheduled 20 hours of public viewing Thursday and Friday before a funeral Saturday. Officials were expecting tens of thousands of people over three days at the church's downtown world headquarters to see the body of President Gordon B. Hinckley.
The funeral will be held in the church's 21,000-seat conference center, which was built during Hinckley's presidency to accommodate the growing church.
Burial will follow in a Salt Lake City cemetery, where Hinckley's wife, Marjorie Pay Hinckley, is buried. She died in 2004.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Mormon Church President Gordon B. Hinckley passed away at the age of 97
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
SHOCKING!!! Actor Heath Ledger Found Dead
The actor Heath Ledger was found dead this afternoon in an apartment in Manhattan, according to the New York City police. Signs pointed to a suicide or an accidental overdose, police sources said. Mr. Ledger was 28.
At 3:31 p.m., according to the police, a masseuse arrived at the fourth-floor apartment of the building, at 421 Broome Street, between Crosby and Lafayette Streets in SoHo, for an appointment with Mr. Ledger. The masseuse was let in to the home by a housekeeper, who then knocked on the door of the bedroom Mr. Ledger was in. When no one answered, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened the bedroom and found Mr. Ledger naked and unconscious on a bed, with sleeping pills — both prescription medication and nonprescription — on a night table. They moved his body to the floor and attempted to revive him, but he did not respond. They immediately called the authorities.
The police said they did not suspect foul play. Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the office of the city’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Charles S. Hirsch, said that employees of the office were at the apartment and that an autopsy would be conducted on Wednesday. Around 6:30 p.m., city workers rolled Mr. Ledger’s body, in a black body bag on a stretcher, out of the building.
Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s deputy commissioner for public information, initially said that the apartment was owned by the actress Mary-Kate Olsen, but later reversed himself and said that was not the case.
A representative of Ms. Olsen said that the apartment did not belong to the actress. “It is not her apartment,” the representative, Annette Wolf, a publicist for Ms. Olsen, said in a phone interview. “She does not own the apartment. She has never owned the apartment. She and her sister have an apartment in New York City but they are not in this building.”
Heathcliff Andrew Ledger was born April 4, 1979 to Sally Ledger, a French teacher, and Kim Ledger, an engineer. Named after the main characters of Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights.” He and his older sister, Katherine, grew up in Perth, Australia; his parents were divorced when he was about 10. As a student, he joined a local theater company and appeared in a production of “Peter Pan,” which led to his being cast in children’s television programs.
Mr. Ledger’s first Hollywood film was the teenage romantic comedy “10 Things I Hate About You” (1999). He later appeared in romantic-hero roles in films like “A Knight’s Tale” (2001) and “Casanova” (2005).
But the role for which Mr. Ledger was probably best known by American audiences was in “Brokeback Mountain” (2005). The film, based on a short story by Annie Proulx about two cowboys who fall in love, won critical acclaim. Reviewing the film in The New York Times, the critic Stephen Holden wrote, “Mr. Ledger magically and mysteriously disappears beneath the skin of his lean, sinewy character. It is a great screen performance, as good as the best of Marlon Brando and Sean Penn.” Mr. Ledger was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in January 2006.
Mr. Ledger met the actress Michelle Williams while filming ‘’Brokeback Mountain.” The two actors fell into a romance and moved to Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, where their comings and goings were widely noted by the celebrity press. They had a daughter, Matilda Rose, who was born on Oct. 28, 2005. The couple separated last year.
In an interview in London for an article published in November, Mr. Ledger told The New York Times, ‘’I feel like I’m wasting time if I repeat myself.” He said in the interview that he was not proud of his latest role, in Todd Haynes’s “I’m Not There,” in which Mr. Ledger was one of a half-dozen actors depicting the musician Bob Dylan. ‘’I feel the same way about everything I do. The day I say, ‘It’s good’ is the day I should start doing something else,” he said in the interview.
Mr. Ledger had been cast as The Joker in the latest Batman installment, “The Dark Knight,” set to be released this summer.
Source: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Japan To Release Australian Anti-Whaling Activists
Japan has agreed to release two activists who were detained after boarding a whaling ship in Antarctic waters, Australia's foreign minister said Wednesday.
Japanese whalers accused the activists of attacking their vessel with bottles of acid and illegally boarding on Tuesday, and said the pair had been detained. Japanese officials denied claims the men had been assaulted and tied up on deck.
The activists came from the group Sea Shepherd, which openly vows to take extreme action to try to stop Japanese whalers.
The incident occurred shortly after the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin located the Japanese whaling fleet in the Antarctic Ocean.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Australian officials had contacted the Japanese government immediately after learning the two men — Australian Benjamin Potts, 28, and Briton Giles Lane, 35 — had been detained, and sought their release.
Late last night I was advised that the Japanese governmentt had agreed to this and had instructed the Japanese whaling ship to return the men to the Steve Irwin," Smith told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Wednesday morning. He said the men had not been returned by early Wednesday.
"The priority here is the immediate safe and secure return of these two men to the Steve Irwin ... the Japanese government has agreed to that, but I now want to make sure that is effected urgently," Smith said.
Australian Federal Police had indicated it was evaluating whether there had been any unlawful activity connected to the incident, he said.
Source: http://foxnews.com
Jetline Plane Crashed At Heathrow Injuring 19
A British Airways jet from Beijing carrying 152 people crash-landed Thursday, injuring 19 people and causing more than 200 flights to be canceled at Europe's busiest airport.
Investigators will speak to the pilots and study the plane's flight data recorder and maintenance records to determine what caused the crash-landing at Heathrow airport, tearing the plane's underbelly and damaging its wings. Nothing suggested it was terror-related, Scotland Yard said.
Timothy Crowch, an aviation analyst with 35 years of experience as a commercial pilot, said the landing gear punched through both wings, indicating a "massive vertical impact." That suggests a total loss of engine power may have been the cause, he said.
Robert Cullemore of Aviation Economics, a London-based aviation consultancy, said the pilot kept the plane in the air long enough to prevent a disaster. "If it had landed 200 meters (656 feet) shorter than it did, it may have hit perimeter fence and obviously some other buildings and the car park, clearly we would be dealing with fatalities and obvious damage," Cullemore said.
Fire trucks surrounded the Boeing 777 after it landed, spraying fire retardant foam around the aircraft. Two of the plane's giant wheel units were ripped from the craft during the landing and could be seen on grass near the runway.
Passenger Paul Venter said the trouble started as the aircraft was about to land.
"The wheels came out and went for touchdown, and the next moment we just dropped. I couldn't tell you how far," he said. "I didn't speak to the pilot, but I saw him, and he looked very pale," Venter said.
The plane's wheels appeared to collapse as it came down in the grass in front of the airport's southern runway, witness John Rowland told the British Broadcasting Corp. "It crashed into the runway, debris was flying everywhere, there was an enormous bang and it skidded sideways," he said.
Hillingdon Hospital said it was treating 13 injured, and six went to other hospitals. British Airways said one person suffered a broken leg.
To Read More....
Source: http://news.yahoo.com
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Former US Congressman Mark Deli Siljander indicted in connection with terrorists
WASHINGTON — Former Republican congressman and delegate to the United Nations Mark Deli Siljander was indicted Wednesday as a member of a terrorist fundraising ring. The ring is alleged to have sent more than $130,000 to al-Qaida and Taliban supporter Culbudden Hekmaytar. A terrorist who has threatened both U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan.
The former Michigan congressman, Stands accused of money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for lying to senators about an Islamic charity that authorities claim was in fact secretly funding terrorists.
The entire 42-count indictment, was unsealed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., And accuses the Islamic American Relief Agency of paying Siljander $50,000 for his lobbying efforts. Money that it turns out, was stolen from the Agency for International Development.
Siljander served two terms in the House and was later appointed by then President Reagan to serve as a delegate to the United Nations in 1987. Mr. Siljander could not reached for comment and his attorney in Kansas City, JR Hobbs, had no immediate comment for the media.
The charges reflect a long-running investigation into the charity’s activities, originally based in Columbia, Mo., It was designated by the Treasury Department as a fundraising shill for terrorists in 2004. The government claims I.A.R.A employed a man who served as a fundraising aide to no less then Osama bin Laden.
The formal charges allege the I.A.R.A sent approximately $130,000 to Gulbuddin Hekmaytar, a man designated as a global terrorist. Records show cash was deposited to bank accounts in Peshawar, Pakistan between 2003 and 2004, and listed as funds for an orphanage located in buildings that turned out to be owned by Hekmaytar.
Hekmaytar is an Afghan mujahedeen leader who engaged in terrorist attacks for al-Qaida and the Taliban publicly vowing to wage a holy war against the United States and international peace keeping forces.
The charges “paint a troubling picture of an American charity organization” that “engaged in transactions for the benefit of terrorists” and “conspired with a former United States congressman” to “convert stolen federal funds into payments for his advocacy,” Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein remarked in public comments on the indictments.
Even more disturbing are the public records that indicate it was Siljander who established the Washington D.C consulting agency “Global Strategies” which employed several former republican House and Senate members, who left or were voted out of office. Former house and senate members retain special priviledges of accessing current elected officials and areas of the capitol off limits to the general public and media.
Source: http://bloggernews.net
Centers For Disease Control To Investigate Morgellons Mystery
The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta announced Wednesday that it is launching a study to learn about an unexplained condition known as Morgellons disease that causes people to feel as if they have foreign substances growing from their bodies. Symptoms include the sensation of bugs crawling under the skin, lesions and strange red, blue or black fibers coming from those lesions.
"We believe that the suffering many people associate with this condition is best addressed by a careful, objective scientific analysis," said Dr. Michele Pearson, CDC.
North Texan Cindy Casey has been suffering from the bizarre condition for years.
Casey and many other Morgellons patients have been dismissed by the medical community and, in some cases, told they were delusional. While Casey is hopeful the CDC will be open minded in their investigation, she's still concerned.
"We've basically gotten such lip service from the CDC for so long that I would not know if they were being sincere," she said.
The CDC along with Kaiser Permanente will conduct the study over the next year in northern California, one of the places shown to have a high number of Morgellons cases.
Source: http://cbs11tv.com
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Another baby for Casey Affleck and Summer Phoenix
The younger brother of Ben is a Daddy again. Casey Affleck, 32, and his wife Summer Phoenix welcomed the arrival of their second child, a boy. The couple hasn’t yet announced the name of their new family addition yet or on precisely what day he came into the world.
The baby will have a three-and-a-half year older brother to pal around with named Indiana August who was born on May 31, 2004. Casey and his wife were introduced by her older brother Joaquin Phoenix(who played the mad emperor in “Gladiator”) in 2000 and dated for six years before finally tying the knot in June 2006. Summer is the younger sister of River Phoenix, the child actor who tragically passed away in 1993.
Casey recently gathered praise from film critics for his performance in big brother’s feature directing debut “Gone Baby Gone”. He was also up for a Golden Globe award in the category of Best Supporting Actor in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”. Other credits include “The Last Kidd”, “Chasing Amy” and all three “Ocean’s Eleven” films.
With two movies attracting so much buzz for the younger actor (and maybe even an Oscar nomination is in the cards) does he think that this could be the year that he breaks away from being under the shadow of his better-known older brother? “I've just tried to follow my gut,” the actor told The Envelope website the day before his Golden Globe nomination was announced. “If something feels too nakedly opportunistic, I won't do it. But it's hard, too, when someone wants to give you an award -- to pooh-pooh it just seems rude. So it's pretty tricky.”
Source: http://actressarchives.com
Terrell Owens crying as he speaks of game against the New York Giants
Terrell Owens began crying during a post game interview on Sunday following his team's loss to the New York Giants in their NFC Divisional playoff games.
Owens was questioned about quarterback Tony Romo and whether his decision to go on vacation with singer Jessica Simpson during their bye-week had anything to do with his level of play.
Owens became emotional in defending Romo and called the criticism of the quarterback unfair. Dallas had posted a 13-3 regular season record, including a 2-0 mark against the New York Giants heading into Sunday's game.
"This is not about Tony," said a tearful Owens. Further remarks by Owens emphasized the fact that it was a team effort, and that the loss had to be shouldered by everybody.
"You guys can point the finger at him... It's really unfair. It's my team. It's my quarterback. If you guys do that, man, it's unfair. We lost as a team. We lost as a team, man."
Romo finished the day 18/36 for 201 yards and a touchdown but his last second interception in the endzone sealed the Giants win and ended the Cowboys season.
Lynsey Nordstrom, A possible look alike for Jessica Simpson
Lynsey Nordstrom loves Jessica Simpson. She absolutely adores her. And the 21-year-old Bothell native might be on her way to making a career out of being her.
"We're so much alike that it's kind of creepy," Nordstrom said in a phone call from Auburn. "She has such a good heart, all the charities she does. She's so inspiring to me. She's such a good person."
Nordstrom became an overnight sensation after the New York post hired her to appear in Texas Stadium during yesterday's matchup between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys.
Meant as a jeer toward Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, whose relationship with the real Jessica Simpson had some fans worried about his focus, the stunt has brought Nordstrom's dream of full-time Simpson impersonation -- and finally meeting her idol -- one step closer to reality.
"I would love to meet her!" she said. "I'd be so excited!"
To Read More...Source: http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Brett Favre may return to lead Green Bay Packers in 2008
Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre may be back to lead the team again next season, no matter what happens in Saturday's NFC Divisional playoff game vs. Seattle.
Despite what appeared to be a teary-eyed farewell after last season, Favre has enjoyed a remarkable year, throwing for more than 4,000 yards with 28 touchdowns in leading the Packers to a 13-3 record and NFC North regular season title.
Favre's success has probably led to second thoughts from the future Hall of Famer, who told a Mississippi newspaper on Thursday that he is leaning toward prolonging his career at least another season.
Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy is skeptical about Favre's return, as he said he hasn't broached the subject with his star quarterback. He also doesn't like the timing of the story, coming on the heels of a very important game.
"I'm trying not to laugh, but I have not been part of any conversation with Brett on that topic," McCarthy told AP. "And I think we need to just move on and focus on Seattle, because that's what we are focused on. I'm sure that's what he's focused on."
Still, Favre may have his sights set on making another Super Bowl bid next season, according to his recent comments.
"For the first time in three years, I haven't thought this could be my last game," Favre told the newspaper. "I would like to continue longer."
What will Green Bay strong safety Atari Bigby do against the Seahawks???
Behind them is strong safety Atari Bigby, a heavy hitter who has made major strides in his pass defense in his first season as a starter - so much so that he was named the NFC defensive player of the month for his four interceptions in December.
Free safety Nick Collins sometimes gets overlooked. But not by his coaches, who appreciate his communication skills and sometimes have a hard time finding his mistakes when they're grading game film.
It all adds up to a formidable secondary that could help propel the Green Bay Packers to the Super Bowl, but must first pass a test from Seattle's pass-first offense in a divisional playoff game at Lambeau Field on Saturday.
"They have a veteran quarterback and veteran receivers," Bigby said. "Not as fast, but they're quick and they know how to get open - something like the guys down there in St. Louis. Guys know how to get open, they run great routes. So we're going to have a challenge back there."
Friday, January 11, 2008
Missing pregnant Marine later reported dead according to officials
In Jacksonville, N.C. a pregnant Marine missing for nearly a month is dead, and investigators were seeking a fellow Marine she had accused of raping her, authorities said Friday.
Authorities had not recovered the body of 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Maria Frances Lauterbach, but they believed she was buried in a shallow grave in a residential area of coastal Onslow County, Sheriff Ed Brown said.
Military and civilian investigators were seeking the key suspect in the death, Cpl. Cesar Armando Lauren, who had declined to meet with investigators and apparently left the area, Brown said.
To Read More....
Source: http://msnbc.msn.com
Government rolling out "Real ID" program
The next time you renew your driver's license, the DMV may call the Pentagon to make sure you're really who you say you are.
The federal government has announced details of its "Real ID" program aimed at keeping terrorists and illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses. Critics argue this "Real ID" is a real nightmare.
There's been a lot of controversy since Congress passed the "Real ID" law three years ago. Facing a May deadline, and criticism about the cost, the government has decided to phase it in over the next decade. Your license won't look much different, but beginning next year the way you get it will change.
Present a birth certificate, military ID, Social Security card or visa and the DMV will be required by the federal government to make sure those documents are real.
"This kind of ID gives us a tremendous tool for preventing dangerous people from getting on airplanes," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
The 9-11 hijackers had valid licenses.
The government says "Real ID" will also keep licenses away from illegal immigrants and help prevent identity theft.
Source: http://woai.com
O.J. Simpson back behind bars on bail violation
Source: http://actressarchives.com
