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Paul The Octopus Dies
Paul The Octopus, who successfully predicted the results of a number of Germany’s matches in the World Cup, has died in his tank at an aquarium in Germany. He was two years old.
Staff at the Sea Life centre in Oberhausen announced that he had died during the night. He was alive when checked on Monday night but had passed away when staff checked again on Tuesday morning. A spokesman for the aquarium said staff were “devastated” at his death.
Paul shot to fame during the summer when he successfully predicted the results of every Germany game during the World Cup Finals including their defeats by Serbia in the group stages and Spain in the semi-finals. He was even denounced as “decadent” by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Centre manager Stefan Porwoll said Paul had “enthused people across every continent”. He became a hero in Spain having predicted them to defeat Germany in the semi-final and the Netherlands in the final and there were attempts to buy Paul and place him in an aquarium in Madrid.
Later, Paul was enlisted for England’s bid to host the World Cup in 2018.
His death was not unexpected as the octopus only has a life span of a little over two years. Paul was hatched at an aquarium in Weymouth in 2008.
Mr Porwoll said “We are consoled by the knowledge that he enjoyed a good life.”
He added: “His success made him almost a bigger story than the World Cup itself. We may decide to give Paul his own small burial plot within our grounds and erect a modest permanent shrine. While this may seem a curious thing to do for a sea creature, Paul achieved such popularity during his short life that it may be deemed the most appropriate course of action.”
A number of books had already been prepared for the Christmas market and a documentary about the cephalopod is in the pipeline.
“It’s a sad day. Paul was rather special but we managed to film Paul before he left this mortal earth,” his agent, Chris Davies, said.
Maesteg Schoolgirl Found Murdered In Woods Near Bridgend
Two teenage boys have been arrested on suspicion of murder after the body of a 15-year-old girl was found in woods near Bridgend in south Wales.
The body of Rebecca Aylward, 15, from Maesteg, was found in woodland near the village of Aberkenfig at about nine o’clock on Sunday morning.
Rebecca was reported missing by her mother on Saturday evening when she failed to return home from visiting friends in Sarn, some ten miles from her home. She had last been seen at around 12.30 on Saturday lunchtime after being dropped off by relatives. A police hunt was launched and Rebecca’s body was found in a patch of woodland by the side of the main road running through the village. The scene has been sealed off by police forensic teams.
Two 15-year-old boys have been arrested in connection with her murder and are being questioned by police.
Det Supt Paul Burke of South Wales Police said: “Our thoughts are with Rebecca’s family, who are naturally devastated.
“A murder investigation is under way and I would appeal for anyone with information to please contact the incident room.”
Derek Lewis, 52, who lives nearby said the spot had long been a popular gathering place for youngsters but added that there wasn’t much trouble. “They get boisterous,“ he said, “but we have never had trouble. You can hear them laughing.”
His sister Denise, 46, said that police had been active in the area all night.
“We saw all the police turn up. They were stopping traffic up the lane; then the police were in the woods. That started about 9.30. I think the helicopter was up about 9. It went on all day.
“Fair play to the police, they have worked there all day. All last night they were there with lights and everything. They are obviously very busy there.
A spokesman South Wales Police spokesman said: “Rebecca’s family have been informed and are being supported and updated by family liaison officers.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact the incident room at Bridgend Police Station on 01656 679585 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
£113 million Lottery Winners To Remain Anonymous
£113m Lottery Winners Fear Criminal Gangs
The winners of the record £113 million lottery jackpot have decided to remain anonymous Camelot yesterday. On Wednesday the lottery operator announced that after almost two weeks the winning prize had been claimed and paid out and that the winners were mulling over whether to go public.
It is believed the winning ticket was bought in Coventry; however one person who can be discounted is a pensioner from the city who claimed this week that her husband had thrown away what she believed to have been her winning ticket. The woman – whose identity has not been given – claimed to have written down what she believed to have been the winning numbers and taken them down the shop where she bought the ticket, but with the winners now coming forward it seems that wasn’t the case.
Yesterday the woman told the Coventry Telegraph: “It is a bit of a shame. I thought we might be in for a bit of a windfall, but I suppose now it means that we didn’t lose the winning ticket.”
There were also rumours around Coventry University on Monday that a first-year student at the college had won the prize. Around 1000 people rang Camelot to claim they had won the winning prize – which is a British record – though none of them could produce the winning ticket.
Meanwhile there has been press speculation that the winners are a group of four friends in Coventry who have decided to remain anonymous amidst fears for their safety.
The four men, said to be aged from their mid-twenties to around 40, were reported by The Sun to be fearful of being targeted by crime gangs after warnings from Camelot and Scotland Yard.
A friend of the four told the paper: “One of the reasons they decided to stay anonymous was because someone planted the idea that shady gangs, including Albanians, might target them.
“It seems pessimistic, but perhaps they’re not thinking straight.”
The four are said to have each put £20 into a pint pot before picking their numbers and delayed claiming their prize until Wednesday when one of them returned from a holiday in South Africa.
It is believed they plan a celebratory champagne party in a London hotel this weekend.
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Bob Guccione Dies of Cancer Aged 79
Penthouse founder Bob Guccione has died at the age of 79. Guccione’s wife, April Dawn Warren Guccione, said he had been suffering from lung cancer for several years and lost his battle with the disease at the Plano Specialty Hospital at Plano, Texas on Wednesday.
Guccione was born in the US but by the mid-sixties he was in England running a chain of self-service laundrettes in the London area. He decided to start an adult magazine that filled the niches not covered by the main adult magazine of the time, Playboy.
Penthouse featured more graphic nudity and letters than those featured in Playboy and soon took off in the UK before transferring to the US in 1969. His Penthouse Pets became an institution and Guccione launched spin-offs such as Penthouse Forum – a letters magazine – and a soft-porn magazine for women, Viva.
In the seventies Guccione moved into film production, gaining notoriety – and much publicity – when he persuaded highly-regarded actors such as Sir John Gielgud, Helen Mirren and Malcolm McDowell to appear in the soft-porn picture, Caligula in 1979.
Guccione’s firm, General Media, filed for bankruptcy in 2003, a victim of new technology. Penthouse’s circulation fell below 1 million in 1999 and fell steadily as porn became a staple of the internet. Ironically, the magazine was bought in a bankruptcy sale by a new technology firm, FriendFinder in 2004.
Guccione then went back to his first love, art, the profession he had subsidised with his work in the laundrette business in the sixties. His works were shown at venues including the Butler Institute of American Art in Ohio and the Nassau County Museum of Art in New York.
In 2006 he married his fourth wife, April, and the couple moved from New Jersey to Texas in 2009.
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Woman Dies While Defrosting Car
Freak Accident Kills Cheshire Woman
Police in Cheshire are investigating the death of a woman who died in a freak accident whilst trying to de-frost her car.
The accident happened in Wickham Close, Widnes, at around seven o’clock on Wednesday morning. A neighbour spotted the woman trapped under her black Fiat Panda and called an ambulance. It is believed the 43-year-old was stuck under the car for 30 minutes before being spotted. Her husband and children are believed to have been asleep in the house when the accident happened.
She was taken to hospital with serious injuries but died at 4.30pm yesterday.
Police said they are investigating how the woman came to be caught under her car.
Inspector Sharon Case of Cheshire Police said: “Inquiries suggest she was defrosting her car when it is thought to have started and rolled backwards, dragging her under the front wheels.
“Police believe she was trapped for around half an hour before her neighbour found her.
“Police are appealing to anyone who was in the Wickham Close area of Widnes yesterday morning between around 6.15am and 7am to make contact with the officer investigating the incident, even if you feel you have seen nothing of relevance. This may help police piece together the sequence of events resulting in the woman’s tragic death.”
Anyone with information with regards to the incident are asked to ring 0845 458 0000.
Thatcher To Remain In Hospital
Baroness Thatcher To Stay In Hospital Until At Least Next Week
Baroness Thatcher is likely to be in hospital for at least four days. The 85-year-old former Prime Minister was admitted to hospital on Tuesday night having failed to shake off a bout of flu and is said to be undergoing tests at the private Cromwell Hospital close to her home in west London.
Her illness caused her to miss a celebration in honour of her 85th birthday held at 10 Downing Street last week.
A spokesman said “We expect her to be staying in hospital into next week.”
Baroness Thatcher was visited by her son Mark on Wednesday who said she had been following the coalition government’s comprehensive spending review on television.
“She was interested it was going on and wanted the television on,” he said adding that she had asked for “the usual sort of stuff, ‘Give me information’.”
Sir Mark said she was in “good order” and added: “She’s undergoing precautionary tests and things. When they get the results of those they’ll make the appropriate decisions.
“There’s nothing to be alarmed about. She’s great – a little bit drowsy – chirpy.
“She had a good night and is slightly sedated at the moment.”
The former Tory Prime Minister was forced to withdraw from the reception hosted by David Cameron last week and when the illness hadn’t cleared up five days later aides called doctors to assess her condition. She was admitted to the Cromwell Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
Sir Mark’s twin sister, Carol, is said to be away with work at the moment and is keeping in touch with developments by phone.
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£113 Million Lottery Ticket Owner Comes Forward
£113m Lottery Winner Claims Their Prize
Camelot have announced that the winner of the £113 million Euromillions lottery jackpot has come forward and the money has been paid out. It is not known at the moment who the winner is or where the winning ticket was bought.
A spokesman for lottery operator said: “The claim has been validated and the prize has been paid out.
“The ticket-holder is currently deciding whether or not to go public and share their news.
“If the ticket-holder decides to remain anonymous then no further details, including the location where the winning ticket was purchased, will be revealed.
“The £113,019,926 jackpot is the biggest-ever lottery prize to be paid out in the UK.”
Camelot is believed to have received over 1000 calls from people claiming to have won the jackpot. Rumours were rife in Coventry that the winning ticket had been bought at a Spar in the city while a pensioner claimed to have picked the winning numbers but said her husband had thrown away the ticket.
The winner will be the 598th richest person in the country.
Osborne Announces Huge Cuts
State Pension Age to Rise to 66 by 2020
A rise in the state pension age to 66 for both men and women by 2020 is the main announcement in Chancellor George Osborne’s government Spending Review.
Around £83 billion in government spending cuts were announced while almost 500,000 jobs are expected to be lost in the public sector although the government expects the private sector to ‘pick up the slack.’
The main points are:
• Retirement age to be increased for both men and women will be 66 by 2020, four years earlier than planned
• 490,000 government jobs cut over four years. Some will go through natural wastage though there will be some redundancies
• Extra £2 billion for social care by 2014/15
• Universal credit to be introduced over the next two Parliaments.
• Treasury budget to be cut by 33%
• Ministry of Justice budget to be cut by 6% a year
• Dept for Business cut by 7.1% per year
• Real increase in spending on schools for each of the next four years
• Police spending to fall by 4% each year
• Home Office savings of 6% each year
• 7.1% cut in council funding for four years
• Royal Household spending to be cut by 14% by 2012/13.
• Educational Maintenance Allowance to be scrapped in favour of “more targeted” funding
• £6 billion of cuts in Whitehall spending
• Legislation to introduce a permanent tax levy on banks will be published on Thursday
• £900 million extra to be spent on tax avoidance and fraud
• Further increases in child element of Child Tax Credit to be increased in 2011/12 and 2012/13
• No further changes to Child Benefit
• Universal benefits for pensioners such as free bus passes, winter fuel allowances, free eye tests to remain
• Increase in cold weather payments to remain permanent
• Savings credit for pensioners frozen for four years
• Total health spending to rise above inflation over the next four years
• Budgets for devolved nations to fall in real terms over the next four years
• Payments of around £1.5 billion to Equitable Life policy holders
• Train To Gain scheme to be abolished
• Dept of Energy and Climate Change to make savings of 5%
• Dept of Environment Food and Rural Affairs budget cut by 8%
• Free entry to museums and galleries to continue
• TV licence frozen for 6 years
• Capped rail fares to rise to 3% above RPI for three years from 2012
• Crossrail project to go ahead and tube lines to be upgraded
• Schools budget to rise
Rochdale Dali Bar Car Crash: Police Issue Picture Of Wanted Man
Police in Rochdale have made a fresh appeal for a man wanted in connection with an incident outside a nightclub in Rochdale at the weekend in which over 20 people were injured.
They want to speak to Lee Anthony Bradley, aged 26, from Rochdale, about the incident in which a stolen car was driven into a queue of people outside the Dali Bar in the centre of the town. It is believed that two men who were in the car had previously been refused entry to the bar.
Fourteen people were injured after the car mounted the pavement and drove at a group of people outside the club on Packer Street at about 2.10am on Sunday 17 October 2010.
Mr Bradley is described as being white, 5ft 7in and slim with brown hair. He has the tip of his ring finger on his right hand missing.
Another 26-year-old man has been questioned by Greater Manchester Police on suspicion of attempted murder but has been bailed until 15 November 2010 pending further enquiries.
Det Insp Chris Walker, of Rochdale CID, said: “This new photo is of a better likeness to Lee Bradley than the one we previously issued and I would urge people to look closely at it and if they have seen him or know where he is to call police.
“We are working closely with his friends and family who are as keen for him to hand himself in as we are.”
All those who were treated at hospital have since been discharged.
Coventry Pensioner Claims Prize But Says Husband Has Lost Ticket
A Coventry pensioner claims that she has won the £113 million Euromillions jackpot – but that she cannot claim the prize as her husband has thrown away the ticket.
The woman, who remains un-named, has told the Coventry Telegraph that she knows she has scooped the big prize – drawn on 8 October – but that she doesn’t have the ticket.
She told the paper: “I play every week – I play the lottery, the Euromillions and the Thunderball – but my husband takes the ticket off me and I don’t see it again. That’s why I always write my numbers down.”
“I went down to the newsagent and showed him my pad. He said: ‘My God! You’re a winner!’, but I said, ‘I’m not a winner – the ticket has been binned’.
“I’ve turned the house upside down. I’ve looked in his pockets and in my bag and everywhere.”
The couple, who have been married for over 50 years, live in the south side of the city. The newspaper has not revealed their names for safety reasons.
“I’ve said to my husband, ‘You’re never going to get another ticket off me.’ He loses everything I give him. Only last night I found a lottery ticket that had won £10 in the bin by luck.”
However, the woman has forgiven her husband. She said “I was so angry at first, but there’s no point in being angry about it. I couldn’t be angry with him now. My whole life is taken up with him.”
It is believed the couple are set to contact Camelot to make a claim but without the winning ticket the chances of them being paid out are practically zero. The lottery operator has apparently received over 1000 calls claiming to be the £113 million winner, though the winning ticket has to be produced before it pays out.
Earlier, there were rumours that the winner could be a first-year student at Coventry University after unconfirmed reports that the ticket was bought at the Daventry Road Spar in the city. First-year student Adam Bourdon, 18, said, “No one is talking about anything else on campus. The word is the ticket was bought by a first-year student and his mates,” while Dela Lozanova added, “Hundreds of students go into that shop every day so the chances are it was a student.”
Lottery rules mean Camelot can reveal the general area where the winning ticket was bought only 14 days after the draw. The lottery operator will make a decision on whether or not it will reveal the area on Friday.
