Ireland's judges lose their wigs in austerity move

DUBLIN (AP/AFP) - M'lord, I can see your blad spot.
Hundreds of Ireland's judges abandoned their 
wigs for the first time in centuries Friday after the Irish Courts Service ended the rule requiring them to wear the British-style headgear.
The move is designed to save the taxpayer money in debt-struck Ireland. Until now, each new judge has received a London-made, white-dyed horsehair wig that costs the state about €2,200 ($3,000) each.
Ireland is voting Oct. 27 on a constitutional amendment that would give the government new power to cut judges' salaries.
Ireland's judges are to end the tradition of wearing horsehair wigs that dates back over 350 years to British colonial rule, the country's Courts Service said.
The Superior Courts Rules Committee, chaired for the first time by recently appointed Chief Justice Susan Denham -- Ireland's first female top judge -- approved the court rules change that does away with the requirement for ceremonial wigs to be worn in the Supreme and High Courts.
A similar rule change will apply to judges in the Circuit Court after the change is signed into law by Justice Minister Alan Shatter.
Wigs have been worn in court as "a matter of rule, tradition and law" since about 1660, the time of the restoration of the English monarchy, and survived Ireland's transition to independence in 1921.
The Service said the decision to dispense with wigs is complementary to a rule change made some time ago which removed the necessity to address a judge in court as "My Lord".
It is now the rule that a judge be referred to simply as "Judge" or in the Irish language as "A Bhreithim".
Irish judges have worn wigs since the mid-17th century and kept the policy after Ireland won independence from Britain in 1922.

'Totally blind' Italian hairdresser caught in benefit scam

Rome, Oct 14, 2011 (AFP) -An Italian woman claiming a disability allowance for blindness was remanded in custody on Friday for benefit fraud after police filmed her working as a hairdresser and cycling about town on her bicycle.
The 62-year old woman, who owns a hair salon in the town of Lugo in northern Italy, began claiming benefit in 1986 because her vision was degenerating and by 2011 she claimed to be "totally blind," according to a police statement.
By 1997 her doctor said she had to be accompanied when she left the house, and by 2008 she could only count the number of fingers held up in front of her if the hand was held a few centimeters away from her face.
In double-checking a list of professions of those registered as blind, police stumbled across the salon and filmed the woman cutting clients' hair, shopping for clothes and food and walking and cycling about the town.
Her benefit — 43,000 euros ($59,000) so far — has been suspended.

Sleeping Austrian alerted to fire by cats

VIENNA, Oct 14, 2011 (AFP) -An Austrian man was saved from tragedy in the early hours of Friday morning after his cats woke him up by repeatedly walking over his face as he slept, police said.
When the 37-year-old from Hohenems in the western state of Vorarlberg finally came to, he smelled burning and discovered the blaze in his flat.
After failing to put out the flames with an extinguisher he called the fire brigade at 3:30 am. The man was unharmed but his living room furniture was almost completely destroyed.

Jubilant crowds greet Bhutan’s newly married king

King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wengchuck with wife Jetsun Pema

THIMPHU — Bhutan’s newly-married king and his 21-year-old bride greeted huge crowds of well-wishers on Friday as they made their way on foot back to the capital along windy Himalayan roads.
The hugely popular 31-year-old king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, married and crowned Jetsun Pema, the commoner daughter of an airline pilot, on Thursday in a colorful Buddhist ceremony in the ancient capital of Punakha.
The staunchly royalist people of this remote Himalayan nation, which has resisted outside influences for centuries, are enjoying a three-day public holiday to mark the occasion.
The royal couple set off on foot from Punakha — a two-and-half-hour drive from the capital along roads with stunning views over untouched mountains — and had covered only a few kilometers (miles) by midday.
“There are people lined up along almost the entire stretch,” royal spokesman Dorji Wangchuck told AFP by phone from the scene.
The king’s habit of diving into crowds, greeting people and picking up babies is known to exasperate his security detail, but is a core part of his appeal to his 700,000 adoring subjects.
When he was crowned in 2008 in Punakha, he did much of the return journey to the capital Thimphu on foot.
This time the couple planned to cover parts of the route that go through less populated areas by car.
The main streets of Thimphu have been decorated with flashing lights and the official poster of the royal couple and the national flag adorn lampposts, building facades and roundabouts.
Lines of schoolchildren with the national orange-and-yellow flag had already started forming at midday, hours before the royal couple were due to arrive.
Amid clouds of incense and chanting monks, Pema was crowned queen at the end of a series of elaborate rituals in the 17th-century fortified monastery in Punakha that served as the headquarters of the country’s ancient capital.
The “Dragon King”, an Oxford graduate who came to power in 2008 at the start of democracy in Bhutan, said afterwards that he had waited to get married but was sure he had found “the right person”.
“She is a wonderful human being,” he told a small group of foreign reporters.
Bhutan banned foreign television until 1999 and is the only nation in the world whose government pursues “Gross National Happiness” for its people instead of economic growth.
Dasho Karma Ura from the Centre for Bhutan Studies, a think-tank, said the queen would bring a “new dimension of feminine leadership” to the country. The previous king had four wives, all sisters, who shunned the limelight.
“The Bhutanese youth are starting to look up to her, to dress up like her and trying to be an attractive personality like her,” he told AFP in an interview.
Bhutan, which has never been colonised, remained in self-imposed isolation for centuries and is still wary of outside influence and the impact of globalisation.
The country had no roads or currency until the 1960s and continues to resist mass tourism to this day. — AFP-year-old bride greeted huge crowds of well-wishers on Friday as they made their way on foot back to the capital along windy Himalayan roads.
The hugely popular 31-year-old king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, married and crowned Jetsun Pema, the commoner daughter of an airline pilot, on Thursday in a colorful Buddhist ceremony in the ancient capital of Punakha.
The staunchly royalist people of this remote Himalayan nation, which has resisted outside influences for centuries, are enjoying a three-day public holiday to mark the occasion.
The royal couple set off on foot from Punakha — a two-and-half-hour drive from the capital along roads with stunning views over untouched mountains — and had covered only a few kilometers (miles) by midday.
“There are people lined up along almost the entire stretch,” royal spokesman Dorji Wangchuck told AFP by phone from the scene.
The king’s habit of diving into crowds, greeting people and picking up babies is known to exasperate his security detail, but is a core part of his appeal to his 700,000 adoring subjects.
When he was crowned in 2008 in Punakha, he did much of the return journey to the capital Thimphu on foot.
This time the couple planned to cover parts of the route that go through less populated areas by car.
The main streets of Thimphu have been decorated with flashing lights and the official poster of the royal couple and the national flag adorn lampposts, building facades and roundabouts.
Lines of schoolchildren with the national orange-and-yellow flag had already started forming at midday, hours before the royal couple were due to arrive.
Amid clouds of incense and chanting monks, Pema was crowned queen at the end of a series of elaborate rituals in the 17th-century fortified monastery in Punakha that served as the headquarters of the country’s ancient capital.
The “Dragon King”, an Oxford graduate who came to power in 2008 at the start of democracy in Bhutan, said afterwards that he had waited to get married but was sure he had found “the right person”.
“She is a wonderful human being,” he told a small group of foreign reporters.
Bhutan banned foreign television until 1999 and is the only nation in the world whose government pursues “Gross National Happiness” for its people instead of economic growth.
Dasho Karma Ura from the Centre for Bhutan Studies, a think-tank, said the queen would bring a “new dimension of feminine leadership” to the country. The previous king had four wives, all sisters, who shunned the limelight.
“The Bhutanese youth are starting to look up to her, to dress up like her and trying to be an attractive personality like her,” he told AFP in an interview.
Bhutan, which has never been colonised, remained in self-imposed isolation for centuries and is still wary of outside influence and the impact of globalisation.
The country had no roads or currency until the 1960s and continues to resist mass tourism to this day. — AFP

No sex please, we're British and over 60

LONDON (Reuters) - An event organized by British city to school its older residents in the arts of safe sex has been cancelled due to lack of interest.

The "Generation Sex" workshop was part of an annual over-60s festival in the southern English city of Portsmouth and billed as a "frank, fun and factual" way for older people to talk about sex in later life.

"The background was the risk of sexually-transmitted diseases in older people and the need to practise safer sex," said Drusilla Moody, Portsmouth Council's tourism and visitor services manager.

Entry would have been free, but those taking part would have had to supply proof of age and of residency in Portsmouth.

These requirements are no longer needed, since the workshop was cancelled "because too few people booked places", Moody said.

Nigerian woman gets prison for enslaving 2 women

ATLANTA (AP) — A Nigerian woman convicted of enslaving two young women from her country to work as servants and nannies at her suburban Atlanta home has been sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison.Bidemi Bello apologized to the judge and to the victims before her sentencing Thursday.

A federal jury convicted Bello in June of human trafficking, making false statements and other charges.

Prosecutors say she lured the women to Georgia on separate occasions with false promises of education and then forced them to do menial labor. They say she routinely beat them, forced them to eat spoiled food and cut her lawn by hand.

The two women, both 27, managed to eventually escape. They still live in the US and are working to rebuild their lives.



Landlord cracks down on NY demo as protests spread

Police watch Wall Street protesters in New York.

NEW YORK (AP) — Protests against corporate greed and corruption are spreading across the United States into Canada and the United Kingdom, just as the New York demonstration that started the movement faces a crackdown by its unwilling landlord.

The owner of the private park where "Occupy Wall Street" protesters have been camped out for nearly a month in lower Manhattan gave notice Thursday that it will begin enforcing regulations that prohibit everything from lying down on benches to storing personal property on the ground.

The landlord, Brookfield Properties, handed out a notice to protesters saying they would be allowed back inside after a planned park cleanup on Friday morning if they abide by park regulations.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited the protesters Wednesday to offer assurances they would not be evicted. Bloomberg's girlfriend, Diana Taylor, is on Brookfield's board of directors, according to the property owner's website.

Protesters said they believe the effort is an attempt to end their encampment at Zuccotti Park, a three-quarter acre (one-third hectare) open square near the New York Stock Exchange, which triggered a movement against unequal distribution of wealth that has spread across the globe.

"They're going to use the cleanup to get us out of here!" said Justin Wedes, 25, a part-time public high school science teacher.

Hacker says was addicted to prying on celebrities

Oct. 13 (Reuters) - The man charged with hacking the private e-mail accounts of Scarlett Johansson, Christina Aguilera and other celebrities apologized on Thursday, saying he became addicted to prying into their affairs.

But Christopher Chaney, 35, said he never intended to sell or release the information, which included nude photos that later made their way to the Internet.

"It started as curiosity and it turned into just being addicted to seeing behind the scenes of what was going on with these people you see on the big screen every day," Chaney told Fox television affiliate WAWS in Jacksonville, Florida.

"I was almost relieved months ago when they came in and took my computer...because I didn't know how to stop," he said.

Chaney was charged on Wednesday with 26 counts of cyber-related crimes against Hollywood celebrities after an 11-month FBI probe dubbed "Operation Hackerazzi."

Victims included "Iron Man 2" star Johansson, whose topless photo was leaked online in September, and "Black Swan" actress Mila Kunis, who was seen in a bubble bath.

Chaney said he couldn't remember who or when he started hacking but said his activities just "snowballed".

"I deeply apologize," he said. "I know what I did was probably one of the worst invasions of privacy someone could experience. I am not trying to escape what I did."

Chaney faces up to 121 years in jail if convicted on all counts.

Investigators said there is no connection between Chaney and a hacking scandal involving one of the London newspapers owned by media giant News Corp. has spread across the globe.

"They're going to use the cleanup to get us out of here!" said Justin Wedes, 25, a part-time public high school science teacher from Brooklyn. "It's a de facto eviction notice."

It's not clear whether the regulations are new or how they would be enforced.

Oprah top-paid woman entertainer, Gaga catches up

By Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Watch out Oprah, there's a savvy pop star and an ambitious real housewife nipping at your financial heels.

Oprah Winfrey remained the entertainment world's top woman earner, but Lady Gaga and Bethenny Frankel, one of the original housewives in the "Real Housewives of New York," are moving quickly up the ranks of the rich, according to Forbes.com.

Winfrey held on to the top spot with $290 million in earnings from May 2010 to May 2011 and an estimated net worth of $2.7 billion.

But Winfrey's daytime talk show, which she wrapped up in May, was her chief money earner and her newly launched cable network, OWN, has drawn paltry ratings since its January launch.

"The network has a long way to go before advertisers start paying the kind of rates Winfrey was charging for her syndicated show," said Forbes' Dorothy Pomerantz, who compiled the list by culling information from agents, managers, lawyers and others in the know.

Lady Gaga was a distant second with $90 million in gross earnings, followed by Frankel with $55 million. Frankel, who launched her own diet and lifestyle brand, sold her Skinnygirl Margarita cocktail mix for an estimated $100 million and has been expanding her brand, which will soon include food, supplements and a possible talk show.

Four women, model Gisele Bundchen, a singer Taylor Swift, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and Judge Judy Sheindlin, each earned $45 million last year and tied for fourth place.

The entire list can be found at http://tinyurl.com/3mqr6f4

Woman gives birth after finishing marathon

CHICAGO (AP) — Amber Miller says she felt contractions minutes after crossing the Chicago Marathon finish line. 

A few hours after completing the 26.2-mile race Sunday, the suburban Chicago woman gave birth to her daughter, June.

The 27-year-old is an experienced marathoner who found out she was pregnant after signing up for the race months ago. She figured she'd play it by ear on whether or not she'd run. When the baby hadn't been born by Sunday, she got clearance from her doctor to half run and half walk the race.

She finished in 6 hours and 25 minutes, much slower than her previous seven marathons.

Miller spoke to The Associated Press from the hospital and says she received encouraging cheers during the race and never felt bad, except for some feet blisters.

___

With 24 high-tech fingers, Japan robot washes hair

TOKYO - It may look like a glorified salon chair, but a new Japanese hair-washing robot replicates the dexterous touch of a human hand to care for the locks of the elderly and the infirm.

Its creators at electronics firm Panasonic say the machine features the latest robotic technology and could help replace human care-givers in this rapidly ageing nation without degrading the quality of the service.

"Using robotic hand technology and 24 robotic fingers, this robot can wash the hair or handicapped in the way human hands do in order to help them have better daily lives," said developer Tohru Nakamura.

The customer leans back in what looks like a regular salon chair, over a sink, and the machine -- upgraded from a 16-fingered version -- shampoos, massages the scalp and rinses in about three minutes. Conditioning and a blow-dry add another five minutes.

Nakamura said Japan's ageing society supports a healthy market in care-giving robot technologies.

"We will develop more care-giving technologies for the elderly or handicapped in Japan and will export those technologies to other ageing societies, such as South Korea and China, in the future," Nakamura said.

The hair-washing machine is not available to consumers at this point, and a price has yet to be set. Panasonic plans to start sales next year, targeting nursing homes and hospitals. -- Reuters

Nobel winner died days before award announced

Nobel Prize for Medicine winner Ralph Steinman (right)
 died just days before the winners were announced.

By the CNN Wire Staff

October 3, 2011 

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: The Nobel committee expresses "deep sadness and regret"
• Ralph Steinman, died days ago after extending his life with his own discoveries
• Posthumous awards are banned unless the winner dies after the announcement
• Bruce Beutler and Jules Hoffmann received the other half of the prize, worth about $1.5 million

(CNN) -- One of the recipients of this year's Nobel Prize in medicine died just days before the winners were announced, after extending his own life using a kind of therapy he designed.

The news -- which the Nobel committee was unaware of when it announced the winners Monday -- presents a unique quandary for the prestigious organization. Nobel rules prohibit awarding a prize posthumously unless the winner dies after the award is announced.


Ralph Steinman, a biologist with Rockefeller University, "discovered the immune system's sentinel dendritic cells and demonstrated that science can fruitfully harness the power of these cells and other components of the immune system to curb infections and other communicable diseases," the university said in a statement Monday.

Steinman died Friday at the age of 68. "He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer four years ago, and his life was extended using a dendritic-cell based immunotherapy of his own design," the university said.

The winners of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine were announced Monday.

Half the prize went to Steinman. The committee that awarded the prizes noted Steinman's "discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity."

The other half went to Bruce A. Beutler and Jules A. Hoffmann "for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity."

In its announcement, the Nobel committee made no mention of Steinman's death.

Later, the committee put out a statement expressing "deep sadness and regret" at the news, which was conveyed after it made its decision. "Our thoughts are with Ralph Steinman´s family and colleagues," the statement said.

The Nobel Prize website states that since 1974, rules have stipulated that a prize "cannot be awarded posthumously, unless death has occurred after the announcement."

In 1996, William Vickrey died days after the announcement that he had won the Nobel Prize in economics.

Before 1974, two people received Nobel Prizes posthumously -- Dag Hammarskjold won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1961, and Erik Axel Karlfeldt won for literature in 1931.

Monday's announcement about the winners kicked off a week of awards that will also honor achievements in physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economics.

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute said Beutler, Hoffmann and Steinman have "revolutionized our understanding of the immune system by discovering key principles for its activation."

"Bruce Beutler and Jules Hoffmann discovered receptor proteins that can recognize such microorganisms and activate innate immunity, the first step in the body's immune response," the committee said in a written statement. "Ralph Steinman discovered the dendritic cells of the immune system and their unique capacity to activate and regulate adaptive immunity, the later stage of the immune response during which microorganisms are cleared from the body."

The Nobel laureates' discoveries and work has opened up new opportunities for the development of prevention and therapy against infections, cancer and inflammatory diseases, the committee said.

The prize in medicine, worth 10 million Swedish kronor (about $1.5 million), went last year to Robert G. Edwards -- "the father of the test tube baby."

Since the first birth from in vitro fertilization in 1978, Edwards' work has led to the birth of about 4 million babies, the awards committee said in praising his work.

On Tuesday, the committee will announce its award for achievement in physics. The next day, the winner of the Nobel prize in chemistry will be announced.

The committee will announce the most anticipated of the annual honors -- the Nobel Peace Prize -- on Friday.

On October 10, the committee will announce its award for the prize for economics.

Since 1901, the committee has handed out the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 101 times. The youngest recipient is Frederick G. Banting, who won in 1923 at the age of 32. The oldest medicine laureate is Peyton Rous, who was 87 years old when he was awarded the prize in 1966.