A judge has authorised the release of a sample of Prince's blood so his DNA can be analysed in the event of a paternity claim.
The order was approved at the request of the special administrator of Prince’s estate, Bremer Trust, to obtain the blood sample from the Midwest Medical Examiner, which conducted the autopsy on the singer's body.
Minnesota District Court Judge Kevin Eide said that parentage issues might arise as the probate case goes forward.
He had one child with his first wife, Mayte Garcia, in 1996, but the boy died just days after being born.
The exact value of Prince's estate has not yet been disclosed but his music catalogue alone has been estimated at over $500m.
Administrators of his estate said earlier this week they still had not found a will.
In the absence of a will, six siblings or half-siblings of the star have been listed as his heirs in court documents.
Investigators are still trying to establish how Prince died, but they are looking into whether prescription painkillers played a role.
They want to interview a California doctor and his son about a prescription drug the son may have given to Prince before he was found dead.
Police in California say they want to know if Dr Howard Kornfeld and son Andrew Kornfeld had a longer term medical relationship with Prince.
They say neither is accused of wrong-doing.
Saturday, May 7, 2016
N Korea Images Fuel Fears Of New Nuke Test
Kim Jong Un has defended his country's nuclear weapons programme at North Korea's first full congress of its ruling party since 1980.
It comes amid signs the isolated state is about to carry out another nuclear test, according to a US website that monitors the isolated nation.
In his opening address, Kim hailed the "magnificent... and thrilling" nuclear test carried out on 6 January, which Pyongyang claimed was a powerful hydrogen bomb.
The test and long-range rocket launch that followed a month later had "smashed the hostile forces' vicious manoeuvres geared to sanctions and strangulation, and displayed to the world the indomitable spirit, daring grit and inexhaustible strength of heroic Korea", Kim said.
North Korea has conducted a total of four nuclear tests, two of them since Kim came to power in late 2011 following the death of his father and former leader Kim Jong Il.
Speculation that the North might be about to make a fifth test, in defiance of UN sanctions, was fuelled by recent satellite imagery of a nuclear test site in the northeast of the country.
Analysts at the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said the presence of vehicles at the complex's test command centre signalled the possibility of a test "in the near future".
"While the historical record is incomplete, it appears that vehicles are not often seen there except during preparations for a test," they said.
Most experts have doubted the North's hydrogen bomb claim.
However, they acknowledge the strides the North has made under Kim towards its goal of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking targets in the US.
The once-in-a-generation gathering of the country's top decision-making body is being scrutinised for signs of any substantive policy change or major reshuffle in the ruling elite.
The congress will elect its central committee which will in turn select a politburo, with Kim expected to bring in a younger generation of leaders picked for their loyalty.
Friday, May 6, 2016
New On-The-Spot Fines For Fly-Tipping Offences
Councils have been given new powers to tackle Britain's growing fly-tipping problem.
From this month, fixed penalty notices can be issued by enforcement officers for small-scale offences such as dumping pieces of broken furniture, old televisions or mattresses.
Unsightly and anti-social, fly-tipping has become a menace to local councils and their budgets - and the Local Government Association is hopeful the new rules will help address the problem.
Councillor Martin Tett said: "Not only does fly-tipping create an eyesore for residents, it is also a serious public health risk, creating pollution and attracting rats and other vermin."
Sky News followed Daniel and Liam, who work as neighbourhood safety officers, as they rooted through rubbish in an attempt to find the person who dumped bin bags in the road.
Soon enough, they found post with a name and address - allowing them to track the potential offender and issue a fine of anywhere between £150 and £400.
Government figures suggest councils are dealing with around 900,000 fly-tipping incidents annually, an increase of almost 6% between 2013/14 and 2014/15.
It is also expensive to clean up, costing nearly £50m in England alone.
"That's all taxpayers' money," says Stuart Collins, a councillor for Croydon in south London.
"That could all be spent on more worthwhile things like schools and local services that people depend on.
"Our streets aren't refuse sites, it's all about people acting responsibly and if they acted responsibly we could use that money in a better way."
Critics will ask whether the new powers go far enough, and may call for tougher penalties.
But the LGA says it is a step in the right direction, as the fines are likely to discourage minor offences.
To tackle big-scale dumping, often caused by an underground business of rubbish collection, a more aggressive clean-up may be needed.
Read Sheryl Sandberg’s Heartbreaking Mothers’ Day Tribute to Single Moms
Just over a year ago, Sheryl Sandberg became a single mom when she suddenly lost her husband. On Friday, she posted a letter to all of her fellow single moms in honor of Mothers’ Day. The post was both a personal essay and a call to action, demanding that the government and corporations do more to support single moms, who are already leaning in as much as they can.
In the Mother’s Day Facebook post, Sandberg said that there were aspects of single parenthood that she never could have understood before she lost her husband Dave, and that raising kids alone was much more difficult than she possibly imagined:
For me, this is still a new and unfamiliar world. Before, I did not quite get it. I did not really get how hard it is to succeed at work when you are overwhelmed at home. I did not understand how often I would look at my son’s or daughter’s crying face and not know how to stop the tears. How often situations would come up that Dave and I had never talked about and that I did not know how to handle on my own. What would Dave do if he were here?
After the release of her bestseller Lean In in 2013, Sandberg was criticized for not acknowledging that much of her advice for working mothers assumed the presence of a supportive husband or partner. On Friday, Sandberg wrote that she now agrees with those critics, and that the challenges facing single mothers in the workplace are much greater than she understood when she wrote the book:
“In Lean In, I emphasized how critical a loving and supportive partner can be for women both professionally and personally—and how important Dave was to my career and to our children’s development. I still believe this. Some people felt that I did not spend enough time writing about the difficulties women face when they have an unsupportive partner or no partner at all. They were right…. I will never experience and understand all of the challenges most single moms face, but I understand a lot more than I did a year ago.”
Furthermore, she wrote, most single mothers are already leaning in—but government and workplace policies aren’t giving them the support they need, which is why so many households headed by single mothers are stuck in poverty. Single mothers, she writes, have “no safety net.” She says:
I think we all owe it to single mothers to recognize that the world does not make it easy for them, especially for those who struggle to make ends meet. Forty percent of families headed by a single mother in the United States live in poverty, compared to just 22 percent of families headed by a single father and 8 percent of married couple families. Single parent families headed by women of color face even more barriers: 46 percent of families headed by black and Hispanic single mothers live in poverty….
We need to rethink our public and corporate workforce policies and broaden our understanding of what a family is and looks like. We need to build a world where families are embraced and supported and loved no matter how they fit together. We need to understand that it takes a community to raise children and that so many of our single mothers need and deserve a much more supportive community than we give them. We owe it to them and to their children to do better. We must do more as leaders, as coworkers, as neighbors, and as friends.
It’s a significant shift in rhetoric from Lean In, where Sandberg mostly focused on personal strategies, mentorship, and confidence rather than structural poverty and government policies. She ends her Facebook post—which is really more of a mini-essay—with a call to action:
Being a mother is the most important—and most humbling—job I’ve ever had. As we rightly celebrate motherhood, we should give special thanks to the women who are raising children on their own. And let’s vow to do more to support them, every day.
In the Mother’s Day Facebook post, Sandberg said that there were aspects of single parenthood that she never could have understood before she lost her husband Dave, and that raising kids alone was much more difficult than she possibly imagined:
For me, this is still a new and unfamiliar world. Before, I did not quite get it. I did not really get how hard it is to succeed at work when you are overwhelmed at home. I did not understand how often I would look at my son’s or daughter’s crying face and not know how to stop the tears. How often situations would come up that Dave and I had never talked about and that I did not know how to handle on my own. What would Dave do if he were here?
After the release of her bestseller Lean In in 2013, Sandberg was criticized for not acknowledging that much of her advice for working mothers assumed the presence of a supportive husband or partner. On Friday, Sandberg wrote that she now agrees with those critics, and that the challenges facing single mothers in the workplace are much greater than she understood when she wrote the book:
“In Lean In, I emphasized how critical a loving and supportive partner can be for women both professionally and personally—and how important Dave was to my career and to our children’s development. I still believe this. Some people felt that I did not spend enough time writing about the difficulties women face when they have an unsupportive partner or no partner at all. They were right…. I will never experience and understand all of the challenges most single moms face, but I understand a lot more than I did a year ago.”
Furthermore, she wrote, most single mothers are already leaning in—but government and workplace policies aren’t giving them the support they need, which is why so many households headed by single mothers are stuck in poverty. Single mothers, she writes, have “no safety net.” She says:
I think we all owe it to single mothers to recognize that the world does not make it easy for them, especially for those who struggle to make ends meet. Forty percent of families headed by a single mother in the United States live in poverty, compared to just 22 percent of families headed by a single father and 8 percent of married couple families. Single parent families headed by women of color face even more barriers: 46 percent of families headed by black and Hispanic single mothers live in poverty….
We need to rethink our public and corporate workforce policies and broaden our understanding of what a family is and looks like. We need to build a world where families are embraced and supported and loved no matter how they fit together. We need to understand that it takes a community to raise children and that so many of our single mothers need and deserve a much more supportive community than we give them. We owe it to them and to their children to do better. We must do more as leaders, as coworkers, as neighbors, and as friends.
It’s a significant shift in rhetoric from Lean In, where Sandberg mostly focused on personal strategies, mentorship, and confidence rather than structural poverty and government policies. She ends her Facebook post—which is really more of a mini-essay—with a call to action:
Being a mother is the most important—and most humbling—job I’ve ever had. As we rightly celebrate motherhood, we should give special thanks to the women who are raising children on their own. And let’s vow to do more to support them, every day.
Handless Girl Wins National Handwriting Prize
A seven-year-old girl who was born without any hands has won a national US handwriting award.
Anaya Ellick, from Virginia, beat 50 other youngsters from around the country to win the contest.
"There is truly very little that this girl cannot do," Tracy Cox, the principal of Greenbrier Christian Academy in Chesapeake, told ABC News.
"She is a hard worker. She is determined. She is independent. She is a vivacious and a no-excuses type of young lady."
Instead of opting for prosthetic limbs to help grip the pen, Anaya uses only her forearms to write.
She has been awarded the Nicholas Maxim Special Award for Excellence in Penmanship.
Anaya's handwriting was submitted in a category for students with physical or developmental disabilities.
The director of the competition, Kathleen Wright, told ABC News they were "stunned" by Anaya's penmanship sample.
Greenbrier superintendent Ron White said his star student is able to keep up with her peers, who treat her no differently.
Anaya's mother, Bianca Middleton, says her daughter is an inspiration.
"I look at her and I'm like, wow!" she said. "She's not complaining, she never complains."
Anaya follows in the footsteps of a Pennsylvania seven-year-old, Anne Clark, who won a national handwriting award in 2012 despite being born without hands.
Girl, 7, Gets Out Of School With Fake Note
girl managed to get out of school early and travel all the way home after writing a fake excuse note to her teacher which included an obvious spelling mistake.
Rosabella Dahu was able to take a school bus from Sheldon Elementary in Harris County, Texas, and was discovered waiting outside her home.
The note she gave to school staff, written in large letters and with the word "bus" misspelt, said: "I want Rosabella to go too dus 131 today."
Her father, Charlie Dahu, criticised the school for believing that a parent would write the note.
He told ABC13: "Basically a second grader, a seven-year-old, tricked the school system and was able to go home on this note.
"You can clearly see that my daughter she did not even spell the word bus right.
"I was shaking, I was scared, I was just glad to see her in good health and that nothing happened to her."
Rosabella was supposed to be in an after-school programme, and knocked on a neighbour's door to use the toilet after she was unable to get into her home.
The Sheldon Independent School District (ISD) said in a statement: "Sheldon ISD is currently investigating the situation.
"We are reviewing our training procedures to ensure that our after-school grant programme staff is properly trained in dismissal procedures.
"At this point, the district is continuing to investigate and will take proper disciplinary action. As always, student safety is our top priority."
Student's Handbag Spree After £2.4m Bank Error
A student has been charged with fraud after she allegedly blew £2.4m her bank gave her by mistake on handbags and other luxury items.
Christine Jiaxin Lee, 21, reportedly splashed out on a high-end apartment rental and designer goods after her Australian bank gave her an unlimited overdraft on her savings account.
When her lawyer laid out the details of her spending to Sydney's Waverley Local Court, magistrate Lisa Stapleton said: "That's a lot of handbags."
Police arrested the Malaysian chemical engineering student as she tried to board a flight to her home country on Wednesday night.
They said she had been charged with dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime.
They said in a statement: "Police will allege the woman obtained an illegal financial advantage when she overdrew her account by Aus$4.6m."
Ms Lee, who has been released on bail, allegedly spent the money between July 2014 and April 2015, and some Aus$3.3 million (£1.7m) has reportedly not been recovered.
Stapleton questioned whether the cash could be considered a "proceed of crime", saying "it's money we all dream about".
Ms Lee's boyfriend of 18 months Vincent King told reporters he had been unaware she had access to such huge sums of money when he arrived at the court.
The case has been adjourned until June 21.
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