$36 million settlement closes out lawsuit in NY bus-trailer crash that killed 4 in 2005 (Washington Post)
(The owners of a Canadian charter bus and a tractor-trailer are paying $36 million to settle a lawsuit over a 2005 highway collision in western New York that killed four people and injured 19, attorneys said Wednesday. The settlement with Coach Canada and two Pennsylvania trucking firms heads off a string of trials that were set to begin this month.)
Four dead, 75 injured in bus-stop attack (Vancouver Sun)
(At least four people were dead and 75 injured after a suicide attacker threw grenades and fired at a crowd at a bus stop in the city centre Tuesday. The victims were "a 15-year-old - a young boy who died on the spot - a 17-year-old and a 75-year-old woman who died outside the court," city prosecutor Daniele Reynders said at a news conference. The attacker shot himself after throwing three grenades and firing at the crowd, she said.)
China urges better safety after school bus deaths (AP)
(China's safety regulator is demanding immediate action to improve safety aboard frequently overloaded and badly maintained school buses following a string of accidents that have killed at least 36 children and two adults. The remarks Tuesday came hours after a school bus accident in eastern China killed 15 children, highlighting continuing safety problems in the country's school transport system. New reports have emerged that the bus was overloaded with passengers.)
School Bus Stolen in Nashville Turns Up in Arkansas (Ozarks First)
(A school bus from Nashville ended up in Arkansas, and it wasn't a field trip. Authorities say the bus was stolen. A sheriff's deputy found the bus Tuesday morning next to an abandoned warehouse in Crittenden County, Arkansas. A metro Nashville school spokeswoman says the bus was gone when a bus driver went to drive her route Tuesday morning.)
'The Help' leads Screen Actors honors with 4 noms (AP)
(The Deep South drama "The Help" cleaned up with four nominations Wednesday for the Screen Actors Guild Awards, among them honors for Viola Davis, Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer. The adaptation of the best-selling novel also was nominated for best ensemble cast, along with the silent film "The Artist," the wedding comedy "Bridesmaids," the family drama "The Descendants" and the romantic fantasy "Midnight in Paris.")
Stars Wars opening credits 'crawl' recreated on esclator - video (Mirror UK)
(Stars Wars fans have recreated the film's famous opening credits on a ESCALATOR. Video of the clever 'crawl' stunt has gone viral since it was uploaded three days ago. The 11 second film had been viewed 8,000 times by 10am this morning. The words have appeared on an escalator in a government building in Tel Aviv, Israel.)
St Matthews unveils provocative Christmas billboard (3 News)
(St Matthews-in-the-City Church has again rolled out a provocative billboard in time for Christmas - their latest showing Mary with a positive pregnancy test. The church says the billboard aimed to “avoid the sentimental [and] trite” and “spark thought and conversation”. St Matthews has caused controversy with numerous provocative billboards in recent years.)
Backpack Marked With a 'Bang' Prompted Los Angeles' Union Station Evacuation (Fox News)
(A backpack with the word "bang" written on it prompted authorities to evacuate sections of Union Station in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon, authorities said. The bag belonged to a person whose nickname is "Bang Bang" and contained nothing suspicious, the Los Angeles Times reported. About two and a half hours after shutting down sections of the busy station -- ahead of the beginning of the rush-hour commute -- authorities were preparing to reopen the transport hub about 7:15pm local time, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department told the newspaper.)
Man urinates hair after 'botched' operation (Times of India)
(Ratnagiri businessman Murad Mulla, 48, who has lost his sleep, appetite, sexual life and ability to work has landed up at the state-run St George Hospital with the hope of leading a normal life again. He has spent the past seven years chasing doctors and undergoing six surgeries to fix a not-so-unusual problem of urine retention. Mulla suffers from an odd condition where he passes pubic hair every time he urinates.)
Man arrested for hiring wedding strippers 7 (Toronto Sun)
(Chinese police have arrested a man who hired two strippers to perform at his son’s wedding after the performance was mobbed by villagers, a newspaper reported on Wednesday. Zhang Cheng, from Xuzhou in eastern Jiangsu province, had originally wanted a band to play at the nuptials, but was then advised he could get performers whose show would have “special features”, the Global Times said.)
Don't mess with the big man! Moment furious passenger threw a foul-mouthed ticket-dodger off the train (Daily Mail)
(This is the moment a foul-mouthed rail fare cheat was on the receiving end of some rough justice, after being bundled off a train by a passenger. Footage of the teenage troublemaker being thrown off a train by a fed-up fellow traveller on the ScotRail service between Edinburgh and Perth has become a viral hit after being uploaded to You Tube. It begins when a conductor is told the teenager doesn't have a ticket and tells the driver of the train to stop until the youngster gets off.)
Seal hops into home, naps on couch (ABC)
(A baby fur seal has made its way into a New Zealand home and taken a quick nap on the couch. Annette Swoffer lives about 300 metres from the water at Tauranga on the Bay of Plenty on the North Island. She was at home on Sunday night when she heard a racket and went to investigate. She found the fur seal curled up on the couch having negotiated a busy road, a long driveway, a fence, cat door, two cats, a dog and a set of stairs.)
Seal hops into home, naps on couch (ABC)
(A baby fur seal has made its way into a New Zealand home and taken a quick nap on the couch. Annette Swoffer lives about 300 metres from the water at Tauranga on the Bay of Plenty on the North Island. She was at home on Sunday night when she heard a racket and went to investigate. She found the fur seal curled up on the couch having negotiated a busy road, a long driveway, a fence, cat door, two cats, a dog and a set of stairs.)
Increasing number of students turning to the sex industry to pay their way through university, NUS warns (Daily Mail)
(More and more students are turning to work in the sex industry to pay their way through university in the face of rising tuition fees and living costs, it was revealed today. The National Union of Students has warned that as well as sex work, students are turning to gambling and medical experiments to pay for their education.)
Escort Ad Says Bring Toy For Charity, Get Extra Hour (My Fox NY)
(Police in Houston were investigating Tuesday after an online ad promised extra time with an escort for customers who brought a toy for charity.KTRK-TV reported that the ad, which offers a "Santa's little helper/Toys for Tots special," says customers who pay for an hour with the escort and bring an unwrapped toy for the US Marines' "Toys for Tots" charity for underprivileged children will get a second hour free.)
Apples fall from the sky over Coventry (Telegraph)
(Stunned motorists were forced to brake sharply to avoid the falling fruit, believed to be swept up by a vortex caused by freak weather conditions in Coventry. An avalanche of more than 100 apples rained down over a main road in Keresley, Coventry on Monday night. The street was left littered with apples after they pelted car windscreens and bonnets just after rush-hour.)
Concern raised over Facebook page about gay middle school student in Alpine (KSL)
(The Alpine School District is in the national spotlight because of a situation involving a middle school student who identifies as gay. District spokeswoman Rhonda Bromley told KSL students in a class at Willowcreek Middle School in Lehi were assigned to create an advertisement about themselves that would hang on the classroom wall. One 14-year-old student's ad was about him being gay.The teacher asked the student if he wanted his ad put up on the wall. He said yes. School officials then worried the student was a potential target for bullying because of negative comments overheard in the hallway.)
Mystery shopper provides Miracle on Brooks Street (KPAX)
(It wasn't exactly like Miracle on 34th Street, but it did have a happy ending and some Missoula kids might call it Miracle on Brooks Street. A stranger walked into the Kmart there and guaranteed a Merry Christmas for dozens of local families. The layaway "attic" at the Missoula Kmart looks a little like Santa's workshop, with gifts for boys and girls of all ages, ready to go. But many of the gifts weren't going anywhere because the would-be owners were late with their payments. That's when a mysterious Santa entered the store. It also happened earlier this month in Michigan, where a man walked into a local Kmart and anonymously paid off all the items on layaway. Then the same thing happened Tuesday afternoon at the Missoula Kmart.)
From Jay and Silent Bob to Facebook (Montreal Gazette)
(Facebook couldn't have invented a better story. For those who think social networking is resulting in a culture of isolation and false intimacy, check out this remarkable anecdote from actor and comedian Jason Mewes. The New Jersey native, best known for playing the foul-mouthed, outspoken half of Jay and Silent Bob in films opposite one-time indie auteur Kevin Smith, was in the midst of praising Facebook and Twitter in a recent interview when he suddenly revealed a personal and stranger-than-fiction tale about reuniting with a long-lost family member.)
A dark 'Noel': Batman meets Charles Dickens (Kansas City)
(Somewhere out there, there's a version of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" where clerk Bob Cratchit takes an axe to his employer, Scrooge, steals his cashbox and escapes to the Bahamas without his family. The story has been reinterpreted time and time again in stage, screen, animation, book and probably ancient Greek. Now Batman (aka the Dark Knight) meets Charles Dickens in "Batman: Noel" a graphic novel by artist Lee Bermejo.)
Nolan's emotional Batman journey (Sky News)
(Christopher Nolan got a 'lump' in his throat when he finished shooting 'The Dark Knight Rises'. The acclaimed filmmaker is currently in the post-production stage for his third and final outing as the Batman director, and he admits he found it hard to keep a lid on his emotions while shooting scenes with Christian Bale, who plays the titular character. He said: 'I tend not to be too emotional on set. I find that doesn't help me do my job, but you definitely get a little lump in your throat thinking that, 'OK, this is going to be the last time we're going to be doing this.')
Orangutans shed light on obesity in people (Asia One)
(In lush times, orangutans on the island of Borneo gorge themselves on forest fruits, packing on extra pounds in preparation for leaner years, when they live off leaves and bark and their own stored fat.This behaviour of overeating is all too common in humans, but rarely seen in nonhuman primates, and studying it may offer some clues about obesity and eating disorders in people, US researchers said on Tuesday.)
More college women speak in creaks, thanks to pop stars (MSNBC)
(The influence of pop singers like Britney Spears and Ke$ha may actually be changing the way some young women speak, suggests a (small) new study. The report, recently published online in the Journal of Voice, examines the prevalence of a speech pattern called "vocal fry," the creaky, rough, guttural sound that pop singers sometimes use to slip into lower notes. Nassima Abdelli-Beruh, one of the study authors (along with Lesley Wolk and Dianne Slavin) and a speech scientist at Long Island University, describes the sound like "rattled, popping air." )
New Camera Captures Light in Motion (Xenophilius)
(Hollywood has to resort to trickery to show moviegoers laser beams traveling through the air. That’s because the beams move too fast to be captured on film. Now a camera that records frames at a rate of 0.6 trillion every second can truly capture the bouncing path of a laser pulse. The system was developed by researchers led by Ramesh Raskar at MIT’s Media Lab. Currently limited to a tabletop inside the group’s lab, the camera can record what happens when very short pulses of laser light—lasting just 50 femtoseconds (50,000 trillionths of a second) long—hit objects in front of them. The camera captures the pulses bouncing between and reflecting off objects.)
Megaupload Suing Universal Over Pulled Youtube Video (Escapist Magazine)
(Universal Music is now faced with a federal lawsuit accusing it of using underhanded tactics to remove a YouTube video featuring hip-hop stars singing an ode to popular fire-sharing service Megaupload. You've got to admire the sheer audacity of this one. The YouTube video on the right was commissioned by Megaupload to promote their file-sharing service. The video features a glut of hip-hop talent, including Kanye West, Macy Gray and Alicia Keys, serenading us with classic lines such as "I like to use Megaupload," and "M.E.G.A. Upload to me today. Send me a file.")
FCC Passes Rules to End Loud Commercials (WLSAM)
(Pretty soon there'll be no need to reach for the volume-control button on the remote the next time a commercial interrupts a favorite TV show. The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved new rules that require cable and broadcast stations to play commercials at the same volume as the TV shows they break into. The new FCC order is a step in carrying out the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation, or CALM Act, which President Obama signed in 2010. The CALM Act required television stations to turn down the volume on disruptively loud ads.)
KLM Offers Passengers Choice of Seatmates Using Facebook (WLSAM)
(Next time you’re flying from Houston to Amsterdam, KLM will have an extra incentive for you. Starting next year, the airline will give passengers the option to use Facebook and LinkedIn to choose seatmates. Combined with complimentary wine at each meal and digestifs after each meal, this could be an easy ticket into that exclusive mile high club. Obvious perks such as choosing a seat next to that Ryan Gosling or Adriana Lima lookalike aside, we can think of other ways this can work advantageously.)
The Facebook Resisters (NY Times)
(Tyson Balcomb quit Facebook after a chance encounter on an elevator. He found himself standing next to a woman he had never met — yet through Facebook he knew what her older brother looked like, that she was from a tiny island off the coast of Washington and that she had recently visited the Space Needle in Seattle.)
Time Person of the Year: The Protester (Time)
(Once upon a time, when major news events were chronicled strictly by professionals and printed on paper or transmitted through the air by the few for the masses, protesters were prime makers of history. Back then, when citizen multitudes took to the streets without weapons to declare themselves opposed, it was the very definition of news — vivid, important, often consequential. In the 1960s in America they marched for civil rights and against the Vietnam War; in the '70s, they rose up in Iran and Portugal; in the '80s, they spoke out against nuclear weapons in the U.S. and Europe, against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, against communist tyranny in Tiananmen Square and Eastern Europe. Protest was the natural continuation of politics by other means.)
Elizabeth Taylor’s Jewels Break Auction Records (Time)
(Diamonds are an auction house’s best friend – at least when they belonged to Elizabeth Taylor. The iconic actress’ legendary pearls and diamonds sold for around $116 million at Christie’s on Tuesday, smashing the previous record for a single collection, set in 1987 by the Duchess of Windsor’s jewels. The 80 items included several pieces given to Taylor by her actor husband Richard Burton, including a 16th century pearl that once belonged to Mary Tudor of England and Spanish queens Margarita and Isabel. The pear-shaped pearl, which Burton purchased in 1969 for $37,000, sold for a record $11,842,500.)
Google Donates $11.5M to Fight Slavery (Time)
(Tech giant Google announced Wednesday it is donating $11.5 million to several coalitions fighting to end the modern-day slavery of some 27 million people around the world. In what is believed to be the largest ever corporate grant devoted to the advocacy, intervention and rescue of people being held, forced to work or provide sex against their will, Google said it chose organizations with proven records in combating slavery.)
Penis Injection Death: Kasia Rivera Denies Killing Justin Street (Huffington Post)
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