Powered By Blogger

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Florida Pulse gay nightclub attacked in Orlando

has been reported at a nightclub in the Florida city of Orlando, and the attacker is said to have taken hostages.
The incident happened at the Pulse Club, a gay nightclub in the city. It posted on its Facebook page: "Everyone get out of pulse and keep running".
Video footage being shared on social media showed wounded people being treated at the scene.
No official details of the incident have yet been given.
One man who says he was inside the club at the time and posted videos of the scene, said on his Facebook page that shots had been fired inside the club and people were "screaming that people are dead".
"They are just pulling people out in stretchers loading them up," Anthony Torres wrote.
Local TV reporter Stewart Moore tweetedthat he had been told by a source that more than 20 people had been shot.
He said the attacker was still inside the nightclub with hostages, and was feared to be wearing a bomb.
Photos on social media show dozens of emergency vehicles at the scene.

The Queen's Relationship With PMs In Her Reign

Churchill, Eden, Macmillan, Douglas-Home, Wilson, Heath, Callaghan, Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron - the Queen is now dealing with the twelfth prime minister in her 64-year reign.
Sir Winston Churchill is said to have taken a slightly patronising fatherly attitude to the young Princess after she ascended the throne in 1952.
Margaret Thatcher was just six months older, both women having forged their different outlook as teenagers during World War II.
Since Sir John Major, the Queen has been older than her first ministers. He brought modern day worldliness helping the monarchy through its "annus horribilis".
As the nation celebrates Elizabeth II's 90th birthday, she can look back on having first seen David Cameron as a small boy when she visited relatives at his junior boarding school.
This may explain his rather overconfident demeanour with her which led to him being caught on camera in her presence describing Afghanistan and Nigeria as "fantastically corrupt".
The Queen commands the Prime Minister to attend an audience each week where she discusses affairs of state. These meetings are entirely private, and no PM has ever dared break the confidence of their discussions.
"Prime Ministers have a constitutional responsibility to tell the Queen what is happening," Sir John Major told Sky News, "and the Queen has a constitutional right to know that and to probe and to ask questions."
On a daily basis, she is also kept up to date with official red boxes packed with government documents and a personal briefing letter written for each day by The Vice Chamberlain to Her Majesty's Household, a serving MP in the government whips' office.
But there are limits to the monarch's involvement in the affairs of government.
Since Oliver Cromwell oversaw the execution of Charles I, they have been kept at arms' length by parliamentarians. Informed respectfully rather than consulted.
So what do Prime Ministers and the Queen talk about at their audiences usually held in Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle or Balmoral?
It's a subject of fascination which inspired the fictional West End and Broadway hit play The Audience, with Helen Mirren and Kristin Scott Thomas taking the regal role.
All PMs have said Her Majesty's advice was invaluable but she clearly plays her cards close to her chest - even in these one on one conversations.
spite of a decade of weekly meetings, Tony Blair told me he didn't know what her personal views were on the issues of the day.
"She presumably does have politics," he speculated. "Everybody does whether they think they do or they don't, but, there is no way that the Queen would mix herself up, either way in a subject like that, I mean it's not in her DNA."
That perhaps is the secret of her success.

Judo Star Smiles After Waking Up From Coma


A British judo star critically injured in motorbike accident in Vietnam has astounded doctors by smiling for the first time since waking from her coma, her family spokeswoman has said.
Commonwealth Games silver medallist Stephanie Inglis suffered head injuries when she was thrown from a motorbike taxi when her skirt became caught in the wheel.
Doctors initially gave the 27-year-old from Inverness a 1% chance of survival, but she emerged from a medically induced coma last week several weeks after the accident in May.
The UK air ambulance, which is preparing to fly Ms Inglis to hospital in Scotland, has arrived at her hospital in Bangkok.
A spokeswoman for the family said Ms Inglis has improved so much that her parents, Robert and Alison, could explain to her she was going home and she stunned doctors by smiling.
In a statement on the Save Steph Facebook page, the spokeswoman said: "She is in so much discomfort and fighting against all the odds to improve herself when the medical team asked her if she could hold up two fingers, Stephanie did, and then she smiled a small but amazing smile.
"The doctor was so surprised he started to bow and laugh, because not only did it show that Stephanie understood this instruction it also showed after all that's happened to her she still had the humour and friendly personality that everyone respects and loves."
She added that Stephanie and her family hope to be on their way in under 24 hours, saying: "This is a difficult journey which will stop in India, Georgia and Austria and then its final stage Stephanie Inglis against all the odds will be home."
She thanked the thousands of supporters who have donated over £300,000 to pay for medical care for Ms Inglis.
She said without the money it would have been impossible get her treatment, transfer her to hospital in Bangkok and get her back to Scotland.

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Happy Birthday Ma'am! Queen Joins The Party

Princess Charlotte has made her first appearance on the balcony at Buckingham Palace as the Queen continued her 90th birthday celebrations.

Charlotte, now 13 months old and wearing a pink dress, was carried onto the balcony by her mother, the Duchess of Cambridge.

They joined other members of the Royal Family to watch an RAF flypast after Trooping the Colour.

Also there was Charlotte's two-year-old brother, Prince George, who shielded his eyes as he looked up at the sky.

The flypast was preceded by a 41-gun salute in nearby Green Park performed by the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery.

The events were part of a weekend of celebrations to mark the Queen's 90th on 21 April.

Her Majesty, wearing a vivid lime green matching hat and jacket, and the Duke of Edinburgh travelled to Horse Guards in a vintage carriage.

Huge crowds lined The Mall to watch the procession and cheered loudly as they passed by.

The Prince of Wales, who is Colonel of the Welsh Guards, the Princess Royal, Colonel of the Blues and Royals, and the Duke of Cambridge, Colonel of the Irish Guards, made their way on horseback.

Carriages took other members of the Royal Family to the ceremony.


Euro 2016 Police Get Emergency Rifle Training

Hundreds of undercover French police have been given last-minute assault rifle training in a bid to keep Euro 2016 safe.
During an exclusive visit to one French police centre, Sky News discovered that many officers had only began emergency lessons 10 days earlier - and still hadn't finished their training on the eve of the tournament.
The rifle they are being taught to use is normally carried by specialist units, such as counter-terrorism officers, and can fire 750 rounds a minute.
David-Olivier Reverdy, a union official from Alliance Police Nationale, told Sky News some of the training was being rushed through.
"One hopes that everything and everybody will be ready for day one, but it is true that the training is still ongoing for some units. They didn't foresee the urgency of all this before and only started the training recently," he said.
Some 90,000 police and security officials have been deployed to keep the tournament safe.
In Marseille, where England is playing its first match, scuffles broke out between English fans and locals for two nights, resulting in arrests.
Special boat teams will patrol the area in front of the city's fan zone and prevent anyone from going into the water.
Major Arnaud Louis, from the National Police, said: "It's a big challenge for the city, it's a big challenge for policemen, it's a big challenge for everybody.
"With the football there's a lot of problems that will come to the fan zone so for the majority you have to keep it safe."
France has been in a state of emergency since November 2015 when attacks on Paris left 130 people dead.
Recent strikes sparked more trouble - stretching security forces further.
All 24 nations involved in Euro 2016 are offering policing support, including teams of British "spotters" who have been in Marseille helping to alert the French to any trouble as well as looking for known hooligans.
Chief Superintendent Steve Neill, from National Police Chiefs' Council, has warned troublemakers they won't be tolerated.
He said: "We know who you are, we fully know what you're going to do and we'll be there waiting for you."
Mr Neill added English fans who fell foul of the law were likely to be arrested, and could face football banning orders on their return to the UK.

Laughter, Tears And Politics At Ali Memorial

Bill Clinton has led tributes to Muhammad Ali at a star-studded memorial service in Louisville, Kentucky.
The former US president described the boxing legend as a man who "decided very young to write his own life story".
During his eulogy at a packed sports stadium in the city, Mr Clinton said: "I remember thinking when I was a kid, this guy is so smart. He never got enough credit for being as smart as he was."
Comedian Billy Crystal, renowned for his impersonation of the athlete known to millions as The Greatest, offered moments of levity during the emotive service.
"He was funny, he was beautiful, he was the most funny man you ever saw … and those were his words," he told the audience.
Crystal added: "Only once in a thousand years or so do we get to hear a Mozart, or see a Picasso, read a Shakespeare. Ali was one of them."
In tribute to Ali's once-controversial stance on the Vietnam War, and his impact as a civil rights activist, his long-time friend said: "Muhammad Ali struck us in the middle of America's darkest night."
At times, the interfaith memorial also had political undertones, with Rabbi Michael Lerner receiving a standing ovation for saying: "We will not tolerate politicians or anyone else putting down Muslims for a few people."
Ali, who had died last week at the age of 74 after battling Parkinson's disease for several decades, had converted to Islam in the 1960s - and had criticised Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for his remarks about the religion.
Rabbi Lerner received rapturous applause when he referred to the next president of the United States as a "she", in a nod to Hillary Clinton.
Ali's wife, Lonnie, told the crowds: "If Muhammad didn't like the rules, he rewrote them. His religion, his name, his beliefs were his to fashion, no matter what the cost."
President Barack Obama was unable to attend the memorial because of his daughter's high school graduation, but a letter read out on his behalf said: "Muhammad Ali was America. Brash. Defiant. Pioneering. Never tired. Always game to test the odds. He was our most basic freedoms: religion, speech, spirit."
The service, which saw thousands of ordinary people rub shoulders with the likes of David Beckham and Arnold Schwarzenegger, came after tens of thousands of fans lined the streets of Ali's hometown for a procession which saw his body carried past important landmarks in his life.
After Ali's body was carried to a hearse by pallbearers including boxers Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson, as well as actor Will Smith, a motorcade left the athlete's childhood home.
The procession travelled along a 19-mile route to the Cave Hill Cemetery, where the three-time world heavyweight champion was laid to rest in a private burial service.

Birthday Parade And Flypast To Mark Queen's 90th

The Queen will celebrate her official birthday today with Trooping the Colour and a flypast over Buckingham Palace.

The annual military parade, which always takes place on a Saturday in June, has special significance for Her Majesty’s 90th birthday. Some 1,500 soldiers, 400 horses and 200 musicians will march in front of her, watched by thousands of spectators.

It is a demonstration of respect and affection by the military to their Commander-in-Chief.

The head of the British military, speaking exclusively to Sky News, said there is nothing like it.

"I invite many of my international opposite numbers to come along to bear witness to Trooping of the Colour and they are blown away,” General Sir Nick Houghton, told me.

"It's not something that can be emulated anywhere else that I know in the world. It is the Tina Turner if you like, Simply The Best."

"It's not something that can be emulated anywhere else that I know in the world. It is the Tina Turner if you like, Simply The Best."