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American Football: Parties, payments and Prostitutes: lurid scandal of US college football

  College football provides some of the most colourful images of the American sporting calendar
© GETTY

College football provides some of the most colourful images of the American sporting calendar

University of Miami debacle has exposed the sham of amateurism in sport that generates billions

One of autumn's great sporting shows has just begun. Last Thursday, at 6pm Eastern time, the Louisville Cardinals beat the Murray State Racers 21-9 in a televised game, and for the next four months, Americans will be transfixed by the raucous pageant of college football - that is, if they can escape the reek of what may be the biggest single scandal ever to hit a sport which has had more than its share of them.

Nevin Shapiro was a Florida businessman who operated a $930m (£580m) Ponzi scheme in the grocery business and is now paying for his crime in the federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. But that is not why for football cognoscenti he is now a household name.

Video

US - Harvard University Police: Man Stole 500+ Lbs Of X-Ray Film

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© MassMostWantedHarvard University Police say this man stole 500-600 lbs. of old X-Ray film.
Cambridge - Harvard University police are looking for a man who made off with 500 to 600 pounds of old X-Ray film.

Police say the man showed up at Harvard posing as a worker from EVOLVE Corporation, a company that recovers old X-Ray film and made off with the large load of film.

According to investigators, the old film contains silver and can be refined to extract the silver.

One X-Ray recycling company CBSBoston.com spoke with said the silver in the film could be worth as much as $700.

Police posted surveillance photos of the suspect on MassMostWanted. They are asking anyone who recognizes the man in the photo to contact them.

Bizarro Earth

US: New York Woman Bit By Rat in Rare Attack While Waiting For Train at MTA station

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© Mark A. HermannA rat immerses itself in dinner, a discarded styrofoam platter of french fries and chicken wings, on the subway platform at the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station.
A hungry rat chomped on a straphanger's foot as she waited for a train in a downtown subway station, transit sources said.

The woman was sitting on a bench on a J train platform inside the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station about 9:30 a.m. Monday when the rodent skittered up to her and bit down on her flesh, the sources said.

Bleeding from the wound, the woman ran to a nearby service booth and asked for help - completely freaking out.

"She was pretty frantic and upset," a transit worker said. "You could actually see the bite."

The woman, who is in her 20s, was taken to New York Downtown Hospital, where she was treated and released, authorities said.

Star of David

Israel faces worst crisis with Egypt for 30 years as diplomats flee

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© Amr Abdallah Dalsh/REUTERSProtesters use a light pole to knock down a concrete wall built in front of the Israeli embassy
Attack on embassy is latest storm to engulf Jewish state as relations with Turkey also deteriorate

Israel is facing its worst crisis with Egypt for 30 years after being forced to airlift diplomats and their families to safety during the storming of its embassy in Cairo by a violent mob.

The siege of the embassy ended, with the 86 Israelis fleeing, only after intervention from the White House following phone calls between the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and US President Barack Obama.

The attack was the latest diplomatic storm to engulf the Jewish state, whose relations with another ally, Turkey, have worsened over the past nine days. Israel is also facing a "diplomatic tsunami" at the UN later this month when a majority of countries are expected to back recognition of a Palestinian state.

The embassy attack, in which a security wall was demolished and a group of protesters reached the door of the embassy's secure area, threatened to cause "serious damage in peaceful relations between our two countries", the prime minister said.

Comment: As countries continue to isolate Israel, how will the "shitty little country" react?

From Wikipedia:
In 2001, Daniel Bernard came to public attention when, as French Ambassador to the United Kingdom, he was quoted as saying: "All the current troubles in the world are because of that shitty little country Israel." The diplomat added, "Why should the world be in danger of World War III because of those people?"



Arrow Down

Many People Drown as Zanzibar Ferry Sinks

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© Str/ReutersRescuers carry the bodies of victims from a ferry tragedy near Zanzibar Island at Nungwi Beach.
At least 192 people killed - and 600 rescued - as ship capsizes near Tanzanian island

Nearly 200 people drowned when an overloaded ferry capsized off east Africa as it sailed from Zanzibar to Pemba island, police said on Saturday, Tanzania's worst maritime disaster in at least 15 years.

Fishing boats and tour operators are scouring the sea for scores of people who are still missing after the disaster, which happened overnight.

A police spokesman said 192 bodies had been recovered and 606 passengers rescued from the Indian ocean so far.

"There is a possibility that more bodies still remain at sea. Rescue workers are still searching for survivors and retrieving bodies," he said.

At the northern tip of the island, dozens of soldiers carried bodies onto white sand beaches, where thousands of people awaited news of survivors.

Light Saber

US: Protesters Interrupt First Session Of Super Congress

September 08, 2011 C-SPAN


Better Earth

PEW study urges Canada to suspend Arctic oil exploration

polar bear
© AFP/File, Paul J. RichardsThe PEW environmental group called on Canada to regulate the oil and gas industry to protect the Arctic

Montreal - An environmental group urged Canada Friday to suspend oil exploration in the Arctic, warning that otherwise it risks an environmental disaster worse than the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The PEW environmental group said in a report that it does not necessarily oppose developing the oil and gas reserves at the top of the world, but called on Canada to become "Arctic ready" and urged reforms of the way it regulates the industry.

Canada has already granted exploration permits to British Petroleum (BP), ConocoPhilips and Imperial in the Beaufort sea, on the border of the northern Yukon and Alaska.

Info

US, Connecticut: Man Resembling Cop Sexually Assaults Woman



Naugatuck and Connecticut state police are looking for a man appearing to be a police officer who sexually assaulted a woman.

The attack happened Wednesday around Noon near Gorman St. and Lewis St. According to state police, a brown or tan colored Ford Crown Victoria with blue/red flashing lights on the dashboard pulled over the woman's Jeep.

The woman told police when she got out of the car the man sexually assaulted her.

"The suspect was described as wearing dark navy blue pants, navy blue polo shirt with breast pocket on left side, above the pocket words were embroidered in an arch 'Naugatuck' and straight across below it was 'police'," state police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said in a statement. The attacker was also wearing a utility belt with a flash light, a pouch that appeared to be handcuffs, white sneakers and black frame sunglasses with multi colored lenses.

Cheeseburger

US: Two Die in Bizarre Fast Food Incidents

Mc Donald's, Burger King
© eneko 23
One woman sickened by fumes, another hit by her own SUV

Two Florida women died yesterday in weird but unrelated deaths at fast food establishments. The more serious incident occurred Wednesday when fumes filled a south Georgia McDonald's. Firefighters found two people passed out in the bathroom, and several others struggling to breathe, the AP reports. Eventually 10 were taken to the hospital - including an 80-year-old woman from Florida who died early yesterday. Authorities expect cleaning chemicals were to blame, but the case is under investigation.

The other incident occurred at Burger King headquarters in Miami, where a woman managed to run herself over with her own SUV last night. The woman was pulling out of her parking spot when she hit a neighboring vehicle, according to the Miami Herald. She got out to inspect the damage, but left the vehicle in reverse. She fell and the SUV hit her and kept on rolling, eventually hitting two other parked cars. She died in the parking garage.

Handcuffs

US, North Carolina: Two Soldiers Detained Over Missing Fort Bragg Ammunition

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© US Military/AP/Gerry BroomeThis photo shows an entrance sign to Fort Bragg, N.C., Tuesday, April 24, 2007.
Two male soldiers have been taken into custody at Fort Bragg, North Carolina in connection with the disappearance of roughly 14,000 rounds of ammunition reported missing at the Army base on Wednesday morning, officials said on Saturday.

Military police would not release the names or ranks of the soldiers in custody.

The missing 5.56 millimeter ammunition is valued at about $3,600 and "can be purchased at any Wal-Mart," according to an official familiar with the investigation who spoke to Reuters only on condition of anonymity.

Ammunition handlers from the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team reported the missing rounds, said division spokesman Staff Sergeant Joshua Ford.