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Teacher unveils book inspired by Obama and family

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:56:00 -0500

A Prince George''s County teacher is so inspired by Barack Obama that he has gone ahead and wrote a book of word searches and puzzles based on the President-elect and his family.

The Rev. Eugene Williams Sr., of Clinton has self-published "Words, Cross & Across: Word Searches on Barack Obama" inspired by Obama’s rhetoric and his family.

The 67-year-old author said that he got struck by the idea for the book last year when his 10th-, 11th- and 12th-grade English students at Annapolis Road Academy, in Bladensburg, failed to understand many of the words in Obama''s book "The Audacity of Hope" and Martin Luther King''s "I Have a Dream" speech.

"I see it as a family-oriented book. It''s a good way to bring families together and learn new words," The Washington Times quoted Williams as saying.

He further said that he designed the searches and charts with word meanings and usage components so that students could also learn definitions.

In fact, a large number of his words were taken from the SAT prep class he taught, but not all the words are so complex.

In fact, he deliberately used words such as "father," "nice" and "bank” to balance out "elucidate," "puissant," and "gregarious," thus making it possible for even younger children to learn from the book.

"We want parents to sit down with children as young as 2- or 3-years-old," said Williams.

For writing the 156-page book, Williams even made it a point to watch the president-elect on the Web site YouTube, to help him make better associations with Obama''s word choices.

"I teach words by association," said Williams.

The book will be available at Local bookstores, Amazon.com and his Web site, www.academicresourcesunlimited.org, and the proceeds from its sales will go to Academic Resources Unlimited Inc., a nonprofit group created by Williams.

"People are buying everything about Barack Obama," said Williams.

After the release, he sent two copies of "Words" to the Obama campaign office in Chicago - one for the President-elect and another for his wife, Michelle.

Williams said he knew the Obamas would appreciate his book because they shared the same philosophy on education.

"With an educated populace, we have a better society," said Williams. (ANI)

US planning to sell missile defence system to India

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:56:00 -0500

To guard New Delhi against any possible nuclear threats in the future, the United States is planning to sell a missile shield system to India.

The US is in preliminary talks with India over the sale of missile shield systems, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

Citing officials at the US Embassy in New Delhi, the Financial Times said talks took place mainly at a scientific and technical level, and US defence officials had conducted computer simulations with their Indian counterparts.

"India is a partner of ours, and we want to provide it with whatever it needs to protect itself," one US embassy official was quoted, as saying.

"This fits into the overall strategic partnership we are building," the US embassy official added.

Relations between India and the United States have warmed considerably in recent years and October 2008 saw the signing of a bilateral civil nuclear cooperation accord.

The paper quoted a senior Pakistani official with detailed knowledge of Islamabad''s nuclear programme as saying that it "will have to take counter measures to respond" to any Indo-US deal on missile defence.

But the daily noted that no decisions had yet been made, and an agreement would likely be extremely politically sensitive for the Indian Government. (ANI)

Cleric condemns Oxford dictionary for replacing words associated with religion and history

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:55:00 -0500

A clergyman has criticized the publishers of a children''s dictionary for removing words associated with religion and history, and replacing them with terms such as "celebrity" and "voicemail".

Reverend Canon Jeremy Haselock, the Vice-Dean of Norwich Cathedral, said the "ineffably sad" removal of traditional Christian words in favour of "grey" modern terminology left the Oxford Junior Dictionary "colourless and romance-free".

He is now urging people to use a glossary on the cathedral''s website, which he states will be a "non-politically correct, non multicultural" antidote to the new book.

His comments come after The Sunday Telegraph disclosed that Oxford University Press has removed dozens of words linked to Christianity, the monarchy, British history and wildlife from its popular children''s dictionary over the past five years.

Aisle, bishop, empire and monarch have all gone, along with willow, moss and fern.

In their place, the 6,000-word volume – aimed at readers aged seven and above – now includes terms that will be well known to most young people, such as blog, broadband, celebrity and MP3 player.

The move prompted complaints from academics and parents, and now the Church of England has added its voice to the chorus of disapproval.(ANI)

Race bias still keeping Brit boardrooms stubbornly white

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:55:00 -0500

Boardrooms across the public and private sectors in the United Kingdom continue to remain stubbornly white, says a report, Race to the Top, by the charity Business in the Community (BITC).

Reaching its conclusion on race bias still being persistent in the country, the BITC is quoted by the Guardian as saying that that management prospects are disproportionately bleak for people from a black or minority ethnic (BME) background - and likely to worsen over the next decade unless action is taken.

It reached its conclusions after analyzing data between 2000 and 2007.

Sandra Kerr, national director for the BITC''s Race for Opportunity campaign, called the findings "devastating".

She said that action was needed right away to "shatter the last glass ceiling", and the government needed to lead by example.

"There is definitely a need to put this at the heart of the agenda for government and business," she said.

The report suggests that since 2000 a number of government-led legal measures and race equality initiatives designed to increase top-level opportunities for BME managers have had minimal impact.

These include the strengthening of the 1976 Race Relations Act, the creation of an ethnic minority and employment taskforce, the race equality and diversity action plan, and specialist employment advisers.

The report suggests that a handful of high-profile, top black and ethnic minority executives, such as Suma Chakrabarti, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice, Victor Adebowale, chief executive of the social care business Turning Point, and the private equity boss Damon Buffini are prominent exceptions.

The gap between ethnic minority representation in senior management and numbers in the wider population is particularly worrying, the report concludes. (ANI)

Fears of Gaza conflict spread following fresh Israel-Hizbollah hostilities

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:54:00 -0500

Israeli warplanes responded to Hizbollah rocket strikes in its territories within minutes by bombing the suspected launch sites, raising fears of the Gaza conflict spreading across the region.

There were unconfirmed reports that five Israelis had been injured in the blasts. Experts said at least three katyusha rockets landed in Israel.

The attack raised fears of the conflict spreading and the very dramatic prospect of a northern front being opened up in Israel while its armed forces are still heavily engaged in the south of the country on operation Cast Lead, the assault on Gaza.

Katyushas have been fired into Israel by Hizbollah, the militant Shia group in southern Lebanon, and militants connected to the large Palestinian refugee population in Lebanon, The Telegraph reported.

Israeli planners were this morning anxiously trying to work out who might have been responsible for the katyusha strikes.

Two weeks ago Lebanese security forces said they had found rockets in the south of the country aimed at Israel and set to be fired by automatic timer.

The assessment then was they were the work of Palestinian militants and not Hizbollah.

If Hizbollah does start an assault on Israel in support of Hamas militants in Gaza then the level of conflict seen over the last 13 days since operation Case Lead began could escalate dramatically.

Heavy Israeli airstrikes on Hizbollah positions in southern Lebanon could be expected.

Israel and Hizbollah fought a brutal 34-day conflict in 2006, which killed around 1,000 Lebanese and 140 Israelis.

As Israeli experts tried to assess the developments in the north, the Israeli air force carried out heavy overnight bombing of Gaza’s southern border with Egypt hoping to disrupt the smuggling tunnels dug in the sandy soil.

The Egyptian border at the town of Rafah has become the focus of diplomatic attempts to end the Gaza conflict. (ANI)

‘Eccentric’ Brit man dies in tunnel labyrinth he made from home rubbish

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:54:00 -0500

A 74-year-old Brit man was found dead inside the labyrinth of tunnels he had built from rubbish in his home.

Gordon Stewart is believed to have died of dehydration, after losing his way out of the mass of carrier bags, boxes, old furniture and other junk.

The cops discovered a confusing system of tunnel networking around the interior of the building with Stewart lying dead inside.

The smell was so unbearable that the police had to call in a specialist team - equipped with breathing apparatus.

Locals said that Stewart, who wore a ponytail, was often spotted riding his bike around the streets.

The neighbours became concerned after not seeing Stewart for several days, and raised the alarm.

"He was slightly eccentric, but very clever. He was just a collector,” the Telegraph quoted a neighbour as saying.

“He came home with a load of cardboard boxes and lived in his own world," the neighbour added.

They also revealed that Stewart had been accumulating rubbish for at least 10 years. (ANI)

Hubby demands $1.5m from ‘cheating’ wife living with his kidney

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:54:00 -0500

A Long Island doctor has sued his ‘cheating’ wife, living with his kidney, claiming 1.5 million dollars as the organ’s estimated value.

Richard Batista alleged that his wife, Dawnell, abandoned him to be with her physical therapist whom she met in 2003 while recovering from a knee injury.

The 49-year-old, who works as a vascular surgeon at Nassau University Medical Center, said that his better half had refused to let him meet their three kids, aged, 8, 11 and 14.

"I saved her life and then to be betrayed like this is unfathomable. It''s incomprehensible," the New York Post quoted him as saying.

"She engaged in an extramarital affair and refused to go to marital counseling and reconciliation.

"She slapped me with divorce papers in the operating room while I was trying to save another patient''s life,” he added.

Richard’s attorney Dominic Barbara revealed, “the main reason the doctor is doing this is because of how he''s been treated in this case.”

Richard is claiming the staggering amount as part of the distribution of assets in the divorce and also found an expert opinion to estimate the worth of the kidney.

Barbara said:” This has never been done before in the state of New York. In theory we are asking for the return of the kidney. Of course he wouldn''t really ask for that but the value of it." (ANI)

Obama focuses on negative stories about him

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:53:00 -0500

President-elect Barack Obama has said that he rarely reads favorable press coverage, and chooses instead to focus on negative stories.

“I think it’s important not to live in the bubble. You’ve got to be open to outside information, particularly criticism,” Obama told CNBC.

“I very rarely read good press,” the president-elect added.

“I often read bad press, not because I agree with it, but because I want to get a sense of are there areas where I’m falling short and I can do better?”

When pointed out that he has not received much negative press of late, Obama said: “Well, I’m sure it’s coming.”

“One thing I’m pretty clear about is that as president I’ve got to be looking out at the horizon,” Politico.com quoted him, as saying.

“I can’t be looking at today’s headlines, because if I do, then I’m probably not going to make decisions based on what’s best for the country,” Obama said.

“I’m going to be spending a lot of time worrying about day-to-day politics, and that’s something that I’ve been trying to block out,” he added. (ANI)

Cheney says he is warm, lovable

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:53:00 -0500

US Vice President Dick Cheney has said that his image has gotten a bad rap in the press, and added that he is in fact “a warm, lovable sort.”

Cheney conceded in an interview with CBS radio that he sometimes expresses himself “rather forcefully toward some of my compatriots, like Pat Leahy from Vermont”, but dismissed as a caricature the idea that he is a “Darth Vader-type personality.”

“I think all of that’s been pretty dramatically overdone,” Politico.com quoted the vice president, as saying. “I’m actually a warm, lovable sort,” he added.

Cheney also insisted that his influence within the Bush Administration was overstated throughout the past eight years.

“The notion that somehow I was pulling strings or making presidential-level decisions. I was not,” he said.

“There was never any question about who was in charge. It was George Bush. And that’s the way we operated. This whole notion that somehow I exceeded my authority here, was usurping his authority, is simply not true. It’s an urban legend, never happened,” Cheney said. (ANI)

Joe the Plumber will be reporting on Gaza conflict

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:53:00 -0500

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher or Joe the Plumber, as he was known during the 2008 US presidential election campaign, has been given the task of reporting on the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

Wurzelbacher has been given the job of reporting on the fight going on between Israel and Hamas by conservative US website pjtv.com, and he says that he will let ‘Average Joes’ tell their side of the story.

“It’s tragic, I mean it really is,” News.com.au quoted him as telling Ohio television station WNWO.

“I don''t say that in any little way. It''s very tragic, but at the same time what are the Israeli people supposed to do?” he said.

Wurzelbacher also added that he is not concerned about heading into a warzone for 10 days.

“Being a Christian I''m pretty well protected by God I believe. That''s not saying he''s going to stop a mortar for me, but you gotta take the chance,” he stated.

“If given the opportunity to do some good however minute it may be, or could be something really good, you gotta take that chance. You have to do it,” he added. (ANI)