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Discovery Channel hostage taker shot dead by police
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- Created on Wednesday, 01 September 2010 00:00
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Discovery Channel hostage taker shot dead by police
Hostage crisis at Discovery Channel headquarters in Maryland ends with safe escape of all three hostages.
A man has been shot and killed by police after taking three people hostage in the headquarters of the Discovery Channel in the US.
Police said all the hostages had escaped safely following the siege, which began when a man entered the building in Silver Spring, Maryland, waving a handgun and with canisters strapped to his chest.
Officers spent several hours negotiating with the man, who was reported to be unhappy with the network's programming schedule.
Montgomery County Police Chief, Thomas Manger, said an explosive device detonated on the gunman's body when they shot him, and they were working to determine whether two boxes and two backpacks he also had with him were explosives.
The man, who is yet to be formally identified, entered the building at around 1pm local time.
Manger said officers were monitoring Lee on building security cameras and tactical officers moved in when they saw him pull out the handgun and point it at one of the hostages.
Police believe the 1,900 people who work in the building were able to get out safely.
While police are yet to name the man, a law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity said authorities have identified James Lee, who has a track record of protesting against the Discovery Corporation, as the likely perpetrator.
Visitors to Lee's MySpace profile were invited to see "The idea I had to save the planet" by visiting a website apparently set up by the 43-year-old called savetheplanetprotest.com. It was unclear whether the length posting on the website was recent, but it railed against Discovery Communications at length, calling on it to broadcast "programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility".
Discovery Communications operates cable and satellite networks in the US and elsewhere, including the Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet. The network's schedule includes a programme following the fortunes of a couple whose family included sextuplets and twins and another which follows the fate of a family of nine boys and 10 girls.
Adam Dolan, a sales director in Discovery's education division, said he was heading to lunch with a colleague when he heard there was a situation in the building.
He was told to go back up to the top floor, lock the door and turn off the lights. Eventually the workers were herded down a stairwell and told to go home.
Dolan said: "Everyone was very scared, but at the same time ... I think people were calm and collected and responded as one would expect in this situation."
Adam Gabbatt and agencies
Credit: Guardian/UK
Wednesday 1 September 2010
No commentsDifferent Strokes Actor Gary Coleman is dead
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- Created on Friday, 28 May 2010 00:00
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Different Strokes Actor Gary Coleman is dead
Former Diff'rent Strokes star Gary Coleman has died, aged 42, after suffering a brain haemorrhage.
Mr Coleman was hospitalized on Wednesday following a fall at his home in the US state of Utah.
A Utah Valley Regional Medical Center spokeswoman said Coleman died at 1205MDT (1805 GMT).
Coleman played Arnold Jackson in Diff'rent Strokes from 1978 to 1986, famously coining the catchphrase "What you talking 'bout, Willis?"
The actor had a series of financial and legal problems in recent years.
The hospital said he suffered the haemorrhage at his home in Utah and been brought in "conscious and lucid".
His manager, John Alcantar, said that contrary to some reports he had not undergone any surgery in recent days.
He added: "At times, it may not have been apparent, but he always has had fond memories of being an entertainer and appreciates his fans for all their support over the years."
The former child star suffered kidney disease in early age and has had two failed kidney transplants.
Source: BBC
Controversial South African youth leader visits Zimbabwe
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- Created on Saturday, 10 April 2010 00:00
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Controversial South African youth leader visits Zimbabwe
By Jane Flanagan in Cape Town
03 Apr 2010
Julius Malema, the firebrand South African youth leader who has been accused of inciting violence against white farmers, has received a hero's welcome in Zimbabwe.
Mr Malema, head of the youth wing of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), touched down in Harare to be met with a loud chorus of "Shoot the Boer" – a refrain from an apartheid-era song which is now outlawed in South Africa.
The 29-year-old, who has been accused of inciting violence against South Africa's white population with his repeated renditions of the song Ayesaba Amagwala (The Cowards are Scared), will meet President Robert Mugabe on Monday as lavish celebrations begin to mark 30 years since he came to power.
Flanked by his own entourage and hordes of officials and activists loyal to Mr Mugabe, Mr Malema beamed with delight, sang and clapped along with the chanting crowds before being driven to his five-star hotel in a 30-vehicle convoy.
The controversial leader's arrival in Harare came only 12 hours after a civil rights group won an urgent application to restrain him from publicly uttering any words "which can reasonably be understood or construed as being capable of instigating violence, discord and/or hatred" between black and white people.
The ANC vowed to challenge the ruling and an earlier court judgment which declared the lyric as unconstitutional and unlawful.
South Africa's Freedom Front Plus party has described Malema as "an accessory to the wiping out of farmers in South Africa".
Some 861 white farmers have been killed since 2001, according to police, and 120 died in 2009 alone.
Mr Malema, who relishes publicity and said he would rather go to jail than stop singing the liberation song, has single-handedly exposed the true depths of racial divisions in South Africa in recent weeks at a time when the country is under pressure to re-energise its reputation as a modern "rainbow nation" ahead of its hosting of the World Cup in 10 weeks' time.
Despite their vast difference in ages, Mr Malema will have much to talk about with the 86-year-old Zimbabwean President.
The youth leader is in favour of nationalising the country's mining industry, and is among those pushing for a controversial new policy to hasten the redistribution of white-owned land.
The mission to Harare will do little to comfort South Africa's white population, particularly in rural areas, who already fear the ANC would like to replicate Mr Mugabe's land grab policy which has resulted in 4,000 white farmers being evicted from their land in the last decade.
After his trip to Zimbabwe, Mr Malema and his entourage will continue their research with visits to China, Chile, Venezuela, Brasil and Cuba.
Credit:telegraph.co.uk
Californians Facing Health Insurance Crisis with 1 in 4 Uninsured
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- Created on Saturday, 10 April 2010 00:00
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Californians Facing Health Insurance Crisis with 1 in 4 Uninsured
By Susan Brad
With all the current brouhaha over the possible “deem and pass†health care bill in Congress, it is especially poignant that a new study done in California shows that almost 1 in every 4 residents lacks health insurance.
It is a bold reminder that a significant portion of our population, even in a highly industrialized state, is going without what most consider a basic necessity.
The Center for Health Policy Research at UCLA released the findings of a 2009 study that shows over 8 million Californians under the age of 65 are without health insurance, one of the highest rates in the country. The double whammy of a bad economy and continuing layoffs as well as the high price of individual policies has contributed to this alarming figure.
Take the case of Duane Walbrecht, who took an early retirement and worked part-time as a self-employed tax preparer. Always healthy, with no hospital visits, he had no health insurance when a stroke hit him. A year of hospitals, rehab, and doctors put him deeply in debt. Two heart attacks plunged him deeper into the abyss. He was forced to sell his home to pay his medical bills. His grandson, Grant, tells a slightly different story. Working as an apprentice butcher in a small family-owned grocery store, he lost his job to a lower-paid worker. Not realizing he was eligible for COBRA, and never receiving the paperwork due to an address error, he has been without health insurance for 6 months. Although he has found another job, it is with lower pay and no benefits. He won’t even go skiing for fear that an injury would not only cause him to lose his job, but put him so far in debt he would never see his way out.Â
For those that need ongoing medical care or have a health crisis, being without insurance is a threat to daily existence. And the cost of insurance on the open market can be prohibitive, particularly if you have a pre-existing condition. The recent outcry over Anthem Blue Cross and their decision to raise rates as much as 39% has illuminated that fact. Being unemployed, or even underemployed, leaves our citizens with very few options and many are hoping that Congress will “deem†the current health care bill worthy and allow it to “pass.†Their physical and financial health just may depend on it.Â
Credit: www.healthnews.com
Archbishop Vincent Nichols attacks NHS over compassion
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- Created on Saturday, 13 February 2010 00:00
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Archbishop Vincent Nichols attacks NHS over compassion
The leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales is to use a homily to criticise what he sees as a lack of compassion in some parts of the NHS.
Archbishop Vincent Nichols will say that some hospitals see patients as no more than a set of medical problems.
He will say calls for assisted suicide and euthanasia reflect a society that does not know how to deal with death.
The archbishop's comments will be delivered at a special service of healing at Westminster Cathedral.
He will say the constitution of the NHS promises to respond with humanity to a patient's distress and anxiety as well as their pain.
But the archbishop will claim some hospitals fail to meet that commitment because of a prevailing culture which sees patients as no more than medical cases to be resolved.
He will say systems of care have been created which by treating patients in this way inflicts what amounts to hidden violence on them.
Compassion
In a BBC interview the archbishop said: "Most people in this country are immensely grateful to the NHS for both their professionalism and their compassion.
"But also many people know of stories, where they have felt particularly their elderly and dying family members have not received that full measure of the compassion which the NHS sets as its highest standard.
"Clearly there are lots of circumstances which make it difficult for that level of care. But sometimes I do believe people are reduced a little bit and perceived as a problem, a medical problem, a behavioural problem."
In his homily he will reject calls for assisted suicide, accusing its supporters of wrongly seeing death as simply a medical event.
The archbishop will also say society is at a loss to know how to respond to death.
In the interview, he said: "I think there is in our society there is a growing fear of death, a fear of the circumstances in which I might die, a fear I might be over-treated or under-treated. But fear is always a bad guide. Death is part of life."
Source: BBC