Thank God It's Friday

17 June 2011

Vancouver Riot ‘Kiss Photograph’ Goes Viral – Lying in the street and seemingly locked in a kiss as chaos erupts around them, a young couple appear oblivious to the charging crowds and baton-wielding riot police. The photograph, taken amid Vancouver’s hockey riots, has been tweeted around the world. But the photographer who took it is still not sure what the picture really shows. [guardian]

Royals Dodge Ladies’ Day Brawl At Ascot – The Duchess of Cambridge’s parents attended Ladies’ Day at Royal Ascot, where they avoided a vicious fight during which besuited men fought with table legs and expensive Champagne bottles.[skynews]

Weiner Finally Resigns - Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner heeded calls from across the political spectrum by resigning from office Thursday, saying the sexting scandal he first lied about and then admitted caused such a distraction that it was impossible for him to continue his work in Congress. [cnn]

Larry Flynt Offers Weiner Job - Porn mogul Larry Flynt offered disgraced US lawmaker Anthony Weiner a job Thursday, after the New York congressman resigned over a tawdry “sexting” scandal.Hustler founder Flynt said he would pay Weiner, who posted pictures of his intimate anatomy to a number of women on Twitter, 20 percent more than what he earned in the House of Representatives. [afp]

Bodies From Air France Crash Return To France – The last salvaged bodies and wreckage from the Air France flight that crashed into the Atlantic in 2009 arrived by boat in a French harbour on Thursday. Back from a months-long mission dredging the depths of the ocean, the Ile-de-Sein salvage ship pulled into Bayonne harbour in southwestern France at dawn in the rain and fog. [france24]

Zim Ready To Bury The Hatchet With UK – Robert Mugabe’s chief spin doctor has signalled that Zimbabwe is ready to bury decades of hostility towards Britain because of the election of David Cameron as prime minister just over a year ago. [mail&guardian]

Oprah Seeks OJ Simpson Confession - You might think Oprah Winfrey – who recently wrapped an historic 25 years atop the daytime talk show ladder – would have snagged everyone she wanted for her couch tête-à-têtes. But no. There are two people Winfrey is still determined to land: Susan Smith and O.J. Simpson. [hollywoodreporter]

Angry Birds Hit One Million Downloads Per Day - Peter Vesterbacka, the “Mighty Eagle” (read: CEO) of game developer Rovio has announced that the mobile sensation Angry Birds is now downloaded more than 1 million times a day. Vesterbacka spoke about the milestone at the Mobile 2.0 Europe openIDEAS conference. [mashable]

US Vows To Hunt And Kill New Al Qaeda Leader -The United States most senior military officer has said the US will hunt down and kill the new leader of al-Qaeda Ayman Al-Zawahiri – just as it did Osama bin Laden. It emerged yesterday that long-serving number two Al-Zawahiri had taken over as head of the group. He had vowed earlier this month to press ahead with its campaign against the US and its allies. [rte]

Child Porn Accidentally Appears In High School Year Book - San Bernardino County investigators were notified Tuesday and Big Bear High School employees and detectives began collecting the yearbooks in the mountain community at Big Bear Lake, 70 miles east of Los Angeles. The school dance photo shows a 17-year-old boy’s hand inside the clothing of a 15-year-old girl and may involve sexual penetration. [huffpo]

Richard Branson Prepares Bid For Northern Rock – Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson has told Sky News he will spend millions of pounds preparing for a possible bid for Northern Rock. Sir Richard said he is interested in buying the state-owned mortgage lender, as well as other Government-held banking assets. ”We will be spending many millions of pounds looking at both Northern Rock and the 600 Lloyds branches that have been put on sale.” [yahoo]

Mexico Arrests ‘El Brad Pitt’ - Federal authorities detained a former police officer accused of leading the armed wing of the violent Juarez Cartel in northern Mexico, the government said Thursday. Marco Antonio Guzman, who had several aliases including “El Brad Pitt,” was captured Wednesday in the U.S. border state of Chihuahua along with two alleged accomplices, according to a federal police statement. [associated]

DSK Claimed Diplomatic Immunity - Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn claimed diplomatic immunity and complained about being handcuffed as he was arrested for sexual assault in New York, official documents reveal. Transcripts released by prosecutors in New York reveal the detail of the day Mr Strauss-Kahn was arrested at the city’s JFK airport. He has since resigned from the IMF and is living on bail in New York. [bbc]

Hacking Group Takes Down CIA Website – Hacking collective LulzSec has struck its biggest target yet — the Central Intelligence Agency. The loose-knit organization claimed via its Twitter feed that it was responsible for the outage of the CIA.gov website for awhile Wednesday during the early evening hours ET. The website is now back online. [msnbc]

UK Doctors And Nurses Face Cleavage Ban – East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust has issued a strict new uniform policy for all staff after a series of complaints from patients. Doctors and nurses face the threat of disciplinary action if they are caught wearing clothes which expose their ”midriff” or ”excessive cleavage”. The guidelines also ban the Trust’s 5,000 clinical and non-uniform staff from wearing shorts, mini-skirts, denim or leggings while at work. [telegraph]