Pro-government rally raises possibility of violence in Thai power struggle
November 30, 2008
Constitutional Court decision may be best hope for defusing ugly situation
Thailand (ChattahBox) — Declaring their love of democracy, thousands of supporters of the Prime Minister rallied in Bangkok yesterday, stoking fears of violent clashes with militants who have held the international airport since last week and brought the region’s busiest hub to a standstill. Dressed in red shirts to differentiate themselves from their yellow-clad foes in the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), the pro-government supporters :rallied for the first time in the six-day stand-off. Some waved Thai flags and wore headbands reading simply “Thaksin”, while others had “No Coup” on their red headbands.
The protests came after several grenade attacks against the fiercely royalist anti-government People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which injured as many as 52 people and raised fears of open violence in Thailand’s worst political crisis in decades. PAD guards, armed with staves and clubs, have blocked roads into Suvarnabhumi - Thailand’s main airport - checking identification before allowing access. Egged on by speeches from its leaders, the group said that it would “fight to the death” before surrendering Suvarnabhumi. Read more
Hillary Clinton to be named Secretary of State Monday - key Republican Senator expresses support
November 30, 2008
WASHINGTON (ChattahBox) -— Not a huge surprise now, but Hillary Rodham Clinton will join President-elect Barack Obama’s national security team as Secretary of State.
Democratic officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Obama will name the New York senator as his Secretary of State at a press conference in Chicago on Monday.
Obama also plans to announce that Defense Secretary Robert Gates will remain in his job for a year or more and that retired Marine General James M. Jones will serve as national security adviser. Obama critics have pointed out that the President-elect’s team doesn’t represent the change he promised on the campaign trail, with all of his top choices having served in either the Clinton or Bush administration.
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Amy Winehouse’s husband declares he made her a junkie and plans to walk away from marriage without a penny!
November 30, 2008
(ChattahBox) — A new turn in the continued soap-opera like drama of troubled couple Amy Winehouse and husband Blake Fielder-Civil. Speaking from a London-area rehab facility where he has resided since his Nov. 5 release from jail, 26-year-old Blake, now confesses he made his wife a junkie - and he plans to leave the troubled pop star to “save her life.” Blake revealed to Britain’s News of the World in an explosive new interview that his Grammy Award-winning wife, 25, took up heroin, cocaine and self-mutilation under his influence, “and then our lives fell apart.” Fielder-Civil, who likens his relationship with his wife to that of Romeo and Juliet says:
“Now I have to let her go to save her life. I am not abandoning her. I am doing this out of love.” Read more
Is genetic testing for disease a good idea?
November 30, 2008
(ChattahBox) — Genetic testing has been offered since the 1970s, but scientific knowledge about links between genes and certain diseases has increased significantly in recent years. It’s now possible to perform tests on more than 1,500 genes, but this is only a fraction of the 20,000 to 25,000 genes contained in the human genome, the number of tested genes has doubled in the past decade. The number of available tests has grown quickly as well. There are now 4,000 to 5,000 tests for heritable conditions (many of which are rare diseases), and separate tests for certain types of cancer and leukemia. Read more
Land Rush in Wyoming for Wind Power brings ranchers together
November 30, 2008
(ChattahBox) — A quiet land rush is under way among the buttes of southeastern Wyoming. The howling winds cursed by descendants of the original homesteaders now have real value for out-of-state developers who dream of wind farms or of selling the rights to bigger companies.
But as developers descend upon the area, drawing comparisons to the oil patch in the movie “There Will Be Blood,” the ranchers of Albany, Converse and Platte Counties are rewriting the old script and it is changing the local rancher culture.
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Woman who’s legs won’t stop growing seeks treatment in US
November 30, 2008
England (ChattahBox) — Cheerful 33-year-old Mandy Sellars of Lancashire, England, don’t know why her legs keep growing and doctors don’t know either. When Mandy was born doctors gave her a week to live. Her left leg was three inches longer than her right, and both were out of proportion. No one knew what her condition was or how to treat it. Despite the odds, Mandy proved everyone wrong and at 18 months she began walking. It’s not easy being Mandy Sellars though. She has hugely outsized legs that make having a normal life nearly impossible. Mandy’s legs are wider than the average man’s waist and heavier than most women.
People stare whenever she leaves the house, she needs a special car to get around and can’t work full time. Mandy has described her difficulties for managing her routine works as she stays alone in the house. She told that if a normal human being completes a task in 30 minutes then she would require minimum one hour for completing the same task. She said that she has to plan everything earlier as she has to make proper preparations for doing the simplest job. Despite all the challenges she graduated from Central Lancashire University.
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Captured terrorist gives account of Mumbai massacre
November 30, 2008
India (ChattahBox) — The terrorist we reported as captured yesterday, who has been identified as Azam Amir Kasab, 21, from Pakistan, is now apparently talking and has confirmed his orders in the Mumbai massacre. In his account he revealed he was ordered to ‘kill until the last breath’. Kasab said the attacks were meticulously planned six months ago and were intended to kill 5,000 people.
Kasab chillingly went through details of Wednesday night’s killing spree across the city, which ended when he was cornered by police. He pretended to be dead, (though he suffered only minor injuries), which probably saved his life. It was only when he was being transferred to hospital by ambulance that his accompanying officer noticed he was still breathing. Read more
Report: Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr set to marry
November 30, 2008
(ChattahBox) — Orlando Bloom has popped the big question to Miranda Kerr and she has accepted according to The Sunday Telegraph. Bloom and Kerr, who live together in New York, celebrated their engagement with a romantic getaway in Venice last week. The wedding is supposedly being planned around their work commitments and will take place in the middle of next year when both have a break. This news comes only weeks after the Australian super-model denied another rumor of wedding plans. Read more
Roselyn Sanchez and Eric Winter marry
November 29, 2008
(ChattahBox) — Actress Roselyn Sanchez has gotten married to actor Eric Winter on Saturday at a historic San Juan fort in Puerto Rican in front of 250 guests. The 35-year-old Sanchez appears in the CBS series “Without a Trace” and produced the 2007 movie “Yellow.” The 32-year-old Winter has appeared in the soap “Days of Our Lives.”
Guests for the wedding included actors Eva Longoria Parker, Amaury Nolasco and Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila and his family.
Sanchez wore a princess-style dress with hand-embroidered pearls and diamonds created by Venezuelan designer Angel Sanchez. The couple expects to honeymoon in the Mayan Rivera.
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Terrorists planned much higher body-count according to Indian official
November 29, 2008
MUMBAI, India (ChattahBox) — Police and soldiers continued their room-by-room sweep of the Taj Mahal Hotel late Saturday to make sure all trapped guests had been evacuated and no gunmen remained hidden. Indian authorities also were investigating whether some of the attackers may have gotten away, blending into Mumbai’s 18 million residents. Another top official at the news conference pointed to a connection with Pakistan. Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari pledged his country’s full cooperation with the investigation and vowed to take “the strictest action” if it is found the terrorists were based in Pakistan. An Indian television station showed photographs of a phone’s log that indicated calls had been placed to Jalalabad, Pakistan. A UK security source told CNN that officials were investigating why two bodies believed to be those of terrorists were found with British identification documents. He said another gunman was captured alive. Read more