Juvenile Detention Center Inmates

The police have arrested and are charging with premeditated murder an eight year old boy from St. Johns, Arizona.

A spokesperson of the St. Johns police said that last Wednesday Vincent Romero, aged 29, and Timothy Romans, aged 39, were shot to death by the son of one of the victims. The body of one man was found on the front porch of the house where the defendant lived and the other in a room at the second floor.

The child, whose identity has not been revealed yet, denied all the charges, but later on he confessed to both killings. However, Benjamin Brewer, the defendant’s attorney, says that the child confessed while there was no legal representative present and without having his rights read by a police officer. He implied that the boy was intimidated into confessing.

The judge dealing with this case has declared there is solid evidence against the boy and that his testimony only comes to confirm what they already knew; he premeditatedly killed his father and one of his friends, and he will do time in a juvenile detention center.

Haiti

A school has collapsed today in Puerto Principe, the capital city of the island of Haiti, killing at least 10 people and injuring dozens more, according to the witnesses.

The authorities have not yet given an official report on the situation, but the police and UN forces are still searching for any people trapped under the school walls.

Nobody knows for sure what has caused the collapse; the La promesse, College evangelique is a four stories high building and did not seem to have any obvious structure problems.

Dozens of parents entered the building, looking for their children and hoping they were not lying under some wall of concrete. The police and the UN peace forces are now putting all their efforts in helping the parents and in ensuring all the persons that were in the building at the time of the collapse are rescued.

Carl Henry Boucher, police spokesman, has declared that more than 25 people have been transported to the hospital with severe injuries and that the doctors fear for the lives of many of them.

Job Adds

Reports of the Work Department have shown 240,000 American citizens have lost their jobs only in the past month of October, increasing to over 1,2 million the number of unemployed in the US only from the beginning of 2008.

Unemployment rates have thus increased from 6,1% in September, to a 6,5% at present; this high number has not been reached in the US since March of 1994.

More than half of the people who lost their jobs this year, have become unemployed in the last three months; specifically, 127,000 in August, and 284,000 in September.

Most of those affected were working in the fields of construction and manufacturing, while fields like coalmining and health were even requiring more personnel.

In constructions, 49,000 people have lost their job, which has created a new record of 10 million unemployed constructions-related workers, phenomenon not seen since 25 years ago.

Financial analysts do not seem to be confident the situation will get better any time soon.

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi

US TV show host, Ellen DeGeneres, was deeply displeased to find out about the results of the California gay marriage voting.

DeGeneres, who married to actress Portia de Rossi in August 2008, does not know what to say about this law. After America has just chosen its first Black president, they put a ban on same-sex marriages, although they had allowed it in the past.

The TV host is happy that she did manage to legally get married with her life partner, but she is sad when she thinks of all the other gay couples out there who had planned their wedding for this year.

She had given 100,000 dollars to the gay rights movement who was fighting against Proposition 8, but all their hopes were gone yesterday, when the Court amended the state constitution and prohibited same-sex marriages.

Same-sex Wedding Cake Toppers

The judicial situation of the almost 18,000 married gay couples in California has turned quite complicated since a few days ago.

This past 4th of November it has been approved – with a majority of 53% – a law that is to modify the State Constitution and not allow gay coupled to get legally married anymore.

It is the second time when this issue comes under discussion. Last time it got to a voting issue was in 2000, when Californians defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman, but the Supreme Court declared that law unconstitutional in June, 2007.

Now the voters have decided to change the fundamental law; for all the gay movement freedom fighters it is the end of a long and painful legal battle.

For the moment, gay couples will not be able to legally marry in the State of California; but the issue is what will happen to those who already have a marriage certificate.

Michael Crichton

Family, friends and millions of fans grieve for the death of one of the most famous best-sellers author, Michael Crichton.

His family announced he died of cancer at the age of 66, yesterday, in his Los Angeles residence.

Crichton, who graduated from Harvard Medical School and had an MD diploma, did not practice medicine, but he did use his knowledge in his books.

The author of “Jurassic Park” is considered one of the precursors of a literary style called “techno-thriller”, which combines pseudo-scientific elements with adventure or police stories.

He wrote his first book, “Odds On”, in 1966 and his first great success was in 1969 with “The Andromeda Strain”.

The stories that brought him world fame were “Jurassic Park” and “The Lost World”, but also the TV series “ER” (Emergency Room).

His works have been translated into 36 languages and the movies made after them had millions of spectators, and they remain amongst some of the classics of modern times.

Silvio Berlusconi, Italian Prime Minister

Berlusconi’s latest planned budget cut has not let people indifferent.

Singers Bono, Annie Lenox, Jovanotti, Miguel Bose, Antonello Venditti and actors Colin Firth, Scarlet Johansson and Gael Garcia Bernal have sent an open letter to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi regarding his intention of drastically cutting the amount of money Italy gives to poor countries every year.The letter was published in the business newspaper “Il Sole 24 Ore” and makes an appeal to Berlusconi’s sense of responsibility.

The senders point out that cutting those funds will cause a great loss of credibility for Italy, which would be quite prejudicial; especially that Italy is scheduled to host a G-8 summit next summer.

This year, Italy has already reduced funds for the development of poor countries by 170 million euros and Berlusconi’s plan would mean a reduction of other 400 million.

The artists have mentioned that, despite the world crisis, other countries of G-8, such as France and Spain, have respected the norms established and kept the funds at the level they are supposed to be.

A2 Autobahn

A bus fire in Germany, on a highway leading to Hanover, caused approximately twenty victims.

Reports say the bus was coming from Berlin on the A2 Autobahn (highway) when the fire started, apparently out of the blue. After further investigation, Oliver Pehl, the company owner’s son, has told the press that the fire had been caused by a cigarette forgotten in the bus toilet, after somebody has secretly smoked in there.

Investigating experts have not revealed any official information to the press yet.

Up to 20 people lost their lives and several others suffered injuries; most of the victims were elderly persons.

Ten people survived, as they managed to get out of the bus in time, but three of them suffered very serious burns.

Letters of condolences have been sent to the families of the victims, both from the owners of the coach company and the German Minister of Transport, Wolfgang Tiefensee.

Anti Abortion Poster

EU countries, and especially their capitals, have grown familiar with a phenomenon that seemed quite unusual a few years back.

Classic anti-abortion demonstrations have nowadays taken different form, and doctors all over Europe are confronted with all kinds of situations, such as groups of women coming into their medical clinics to inform them of their pro-life activities or sometimes just sitting there and praying.

There are over 1 billion medical clinics that perform abortions in the Europe, and every week there is at least one such manifestation.

Anti-abortion groups have intensified their activity, especially ever since abortion has become a matter of international concern. For example, in Spain there have been talks about modifying the law of abortion; in Italy and France as well.

Only in Europe the number of abortions varies from 500,000 to 800,000 a year, according to official reports of the European Council.

Based on these circumstances, anti-abortion groups have passed from demonstrating in front of medical clinics to distributing shocking images of aborted foetuses on the streets or even attacking certain clinics.

Unfortunately, instead of helping, these manifestations can traumatize even more the patients of these clinics and doctors suggest that, instead of trying to change what cannot be changed anymore, they should focus on pregnancy prevention, seeing that it is a better purpose.

Video game Image

Video games are an evermore frequent element in the lives of children. Is that good or bad?

Some say they help develop children’s imagination, other say they do exactly the opposite.

Studies have shown that latest types of video games, particularly the ones that include violent scenes, are increasing children and teenagers’ level of aggressiveness; and what is even worse is that, once there, it hardly goes away, even if they stop playing the videogames.

This month’s edition of “Journal of Pediatrics” publishes three studies on this subject – two made in Japan and one in the United States.

Scientists have realized the extent of this problem when they noticed the same effects the violent videogames had on children of such different cultures.

Apparently, American youngsters dedicate up to 13 hours a week to playing video games and have about 3 favourite games. Japanese kids have chosen 5 favourite games.

Although they are a bad influence, scientists mentioned that parents are not to expect for their children to behave like serial killers just for playing a shooting video game; but it would be best if they managed to re-direct their children’s attention to more peaceful games.

Chanel

Grief and despair in the Petro-Nixon family in Brooklyn, New York.

Their 16 year old daughter Chanel went missing on the 18th of June 2008 and they didn’t hear of her of her for a few days; the police came, four days later, to let them know the body of their daughter had been found, abandoned in a trash bag.

It seemed imposible; the girl had left home in broad daylight and she only had to walk a few minutes through a very crowded Brooklyn area up to the restaurant where she was to meet her friends.

She disappeared somewhere along the way and found dead four days later. The coroner’s office has said the girl had been strangled, but not sexually abused and she had been kept hostage for about 3 days before being killed.

The police suspect that whoever kidnapped her must have been someone she knew because nobody has witnessed any attack or assault in the area that day.

They also suspect a certain Draymond Coleman, accused of murdering another young girl living in the area.

The girl’s parents have offered a reward of 34,000 dollars for whoever provides relevant information that would lead to the arrest of their daughter’s killer.

Las Meninas, by Velasquez

The famous auction house Christie’s has announced the selling of the famous blue diamond Margarita Teresa wore when she was painted by the Spanish paintor Velasquez.

The spectacular blue diamond was one of the jewels Philip IV offered as a present in 1664 to his daughter, Margarita Teresa, the main character in Velasquez’s painting “Las Meninas”.

The king himself had chosen the precious stone for his daughter, on the occasion of her engagement with Leopold I of Austria, future emperor.

The gem which, apart from its obvious historical value, is to be appreciated for its extremely rare color and the 35,56 karats will be taken out for auction on the 10th of December and specialists estimate it will be sold for a price higher than 11 million dollars.

The stone, also known as the Wittelsback Diamond, is one of the few blue diamonds that still exist nowadays, along with the Kohinoor (property of the British Crown), the Regent (currently preserved at The Louvre) and the Orlov (property of the Russian Government).

Anti-Camorra Demonstration

Five young boys, with ages between 12 and 16, have been the target of a Camorra armed attack last Sunday in Secondigliano, one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods of Naples, Italy.

The boys were hanging out at a games club when four armed men, riding motorcycles and wearing helmets started shooting at them without warning.
According to the police, they fired about 30 shots and the incident was nothing more than one of the usual personal vendettas of the Naples mob group, called Camorra.

The parents of the five boys only suffered light injuries; four of the boys were the games club owner’s nephews and the police suspects the revenge was against him.

All those present in the games club managed to escape alive by hiding as fast as they could behind the billiards tables.

Luckily this time nobody got killed; but this only comes to show that in Naples and in the region of Campania violent acts are more and more frequent.

People have often demonstrated against this phenomenon and the government has sent some 500 soldiers in the area last year, but things seem to be exactly as they have always been, or even worse.

Intrinsa Testosterone Patch

Do women need their own “Viagra”?

Apparently, they do. After long social, ethical and medical debates, women can now enjoy the effects of their own “blue pill”, under the form of a testosterone patch.

This patch was created for those women who lack sexual appetite, have a low libido or have suffer from surgical menopause.It is a major change in the life of women. The testosterone patch is meant to increase the level of testosterone in the patient’s body and thus facilitate a much better long term sexual stimulation.

The transparent patch is to be applied on the abdomen twice a week and, unlike men’s Viagra, it does not have an immediate effect. Its purpose is to produce a general, lasting improvement of the patient’s sexual activity and libido; therefore it needs time to act.

One can notice changes after approximately four weeks of using the patch, but full and lasting results will be obtained after twenty four weeks.

This patch will not be used as a recreational substance for women: it does not act as a short term sexual stimulus and orgasm facilitator. It will be recommended only on prescription by specialists, so as to avoid its inappropriate use.

Even if it acts slower than men’s blue pill, Intrinsa ( as the patch is called) will improve many women’s sexual, and emotional lives and will most likely do wonders for the couple relationships which suffer from the lack of sexual appetite of one of the partners.

The patch has already been approved by EU medical institutions and can be purchased in drugstores all over the United Kingdom, France and Germany.

Saddam Hussein's Yacht

Iraqi authorities are about to sell late leader Saddam Hussein’s yacht the following days.

The Iraqi government has just won a legal battle with a Jordanian company that seemed to be claiming the yacht belonged to them. The company, partly owned by King Abdullah of Jordan, said that the yacht had been given to them as a gift.

But the French judge who presided over the case ruled in favour of the Iraqi government.

The luxury yacht, called Ocean Breeze, is 82 meters long and has an estimated worth of over 30 million dollars. The value is given by the several swimming pools, a theatre, a helipad and, of course, by the fame of its former owner.

Although the yacht’s value is more than obvious, the sellers fear they may have a hard time selling it because of the way it is decorated.

As the luxury yacht of the former leader of an Arab country, Ocean Breeze fully expresses the Arabic decoration style: mahogany carvings, lots of golden details, bright colours, carpets.

Brokers hope to get around 35 million dollars for it and emphasize, most of all, its historic value.

African drums

Fernando Gomez, aged 35, lived in Hackney, East London and owned a drum-making workshop.

He worked with animal skins most of the times and nothing had gone wrong up until a couple of weeks ago. He was handling some imported animal skins, probably of African origin, and he inhaled anthrax spores.

He became severely ill and was hospitalised at the Intensive Care Unit of Homerton University Hospital for more than seven days, but he could not be saved. He died on Sunday evening.

Hospital representatives have told the press the man died from inhalation of anthrax spores and that several other persons are under medical observation and antibiotics treatment, just out of precaution.

There is no certain information as to the origin of the skins, but the Health Protection Agency will thoroughly examine the victim’s apartment and workshop.

Professor Nigel Lightfoot, chief adviser of the HPA, advised there was no danger of contamination for the victim’s neighbours, and that the risk comes from handling imported animal skins without any kind of protection.

Children trick-or-treating

A 12 year old boy was shot dead in Sumter, South Carolina while trick-or-treating with other members of his family on Friday. The boy’s father and brother were slightly wounded.

Police representatives said that the father and four children decided to go trick or treating to a few homes, while the mother was waiting in the car.

Seconds after they rand the doorbell of the first house, they heard gunshots and saw the boy collapse.

They immediately transported him to the hospital, but unfortunately there was nothing that could be done to save the boy’s life. His father and brother suffered light injuries.

The police have already arrested the shooter, called Quentin Patrick, aged 22. He has already been charged with murder, assault and battery, and he has already contacted an attorney.

Neighbours were all shocked by what happened, but they were not able to give any details as they did not react immediately to the gunshots, thinking it was just Halloween fireworks.

Coach Crash Site

Six people, all of them Belgian were killed and 26 injured in a coach crash that took place in Southern Egypt, yesterday.

The bus has overturned causing the immediate death of six people and severe injuries in all the other passengers. Four of the injured are still in a critical condition, and they have been transported to the Intensive Care Unit of a Cairo hospital.

Sources say the driver lost control of the bus carrying the Belgian tourists on the way from Aswan to the ancient temple of Abu Simbel; unfortunately, poor roads cause quite a high number of such accidents in Egypt every year.

All the Belgian tourists have been immediately attended by Egyptian authorities and those who were in conditions to travel were transported back to Belgium.

Barcelona Chair in Living Room

Contemporary interior design is more and more based on minimalism; the furniture, the accessories, the architecture, they all tend to be minimalist these days.

Also known as the ABC art, the minimalist art is an artistic movement initiated in the 20th century, which tries to reduce, as much as possible, the number of colours, shapes, lines and textures used in any form of artistic creation.
This modern style, based on simplicity, has greatly influenced the contemporary interior design tendencies. Inspired by Japanese simplicity, minimalist furniture proposes a simple space, clean , aired, and excludes all crowdedness, all the piling up of objects, thus managing to avoid that sense of pressure and suffocation.

The minimalist trend is increasingly more popular, with its combination of natural elements with modern ones, in shades of white, beige and grey, reminding of beaches, clouds and river stones.

The force of minimalism lies in its efficiency of using the minimum number of elements required in a room; that makes each and one of those elements extremely important.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created his work bearing in mind the principle “Less is more.”. He used it to explain why he eliminated the interior walls of a house, why he wanted a large open space, reducing the whole construction to the elegant exterior structure. He called this method of house remodelling a “skin and bone” architecture.

One of the most famous pieces of minimalist furniture is the Barcelona chair, created by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1929. Its structure is still extremely popular, but designers use many other materials now.

Taking the Barcelona chair as a reference point, designers have created the Barcelona watch, a fabulous interior design accessory, a wall watch made of leather in various warm colours. It can easily turn into one of the strong points of a room and it would make a great gift for someone who believes “God is in the details”.

Julian King, Jennifer Hudson's Nephew

Julian King, the nephew of actress Jennifer Hudson, was declared missing since last Friday.

On Monday, the police discovered the body of a seven year old boy in a white Chevrolet Suburban, in the West Side of Chicago, but they could not say for sure whether it was Julian King.

The actress, who had offered a $100,000 reward for her nephew’s safe return, had to go identify his body on Monday. It was confirmed that it was indeed Julian King’s body.

The corpse was taken to Chicago’s Cook County medical examiner’s office and sources say the boy died as consequence of being shot multiple times. They performed an autopsy, but they did not give any details regarding the time of death and location of the gunshots on the body.

Until now, the only person arrested is Julian’s stepfather, William Balfour. He has been detained on Friday for questioning and has, since then, transferred to prison on a parole violation charge.