The News Of …

Michael Phelps qualified eighth-fastest in the 400-meter individual medley preliminaries on Saturday, grabbing the last spot in the evening final.
The two-time defending Olympic champion won his heat in 4 minutes and 13.33 seconds with a time that was well off his world record of 4:03.84 set four years ago in Beijing – when Phelps won a record eight gold medals.
Kosuke Hagino of Japan led the way in 4:10.01. Chad le Clos of South Africa was second at 4:12.24, and Ryan Lochte advanced in third at 4:12.35.
Laszlo Cseh of Hungary (the silver medalist in Beijing) was ninth and missed the final by one spot.

Michael Phelps.

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Sonya Andrews may not be the first on her block to tap into Google Inc.’s much-hyped, hyper-fast Internet hook-ups announced Thursday.
But her neighborhood could be one of the first in Kansas City to get an express lane to the web.
“I don’t know about anyone else” – she emailed her Coleman Highlands neighbors in midtown, “but I am super excited about this and hope that others are too!”
Enough were jazzed by the possibility of buying Internet access from Google that by Thursday afternoon the company was committed to run its crews there, eventually.
Andrews’ Google evangelism is just what the California technology titan was hoping for from its effort to “rally” Kansas Citians to the company’s long-awaited, first-in-the-nation Internet services.

"Google Fiber".

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An Olympic competitor has claimed political asylum in Britain, the Mail can reveal.
The man (believed to be a middle distance runner in his mid 20′s from Africa) was being held by the UK Borders Agency last night after walking into a police station in Leeds and asking for asylum.
The claim comes at a hugely sensitive time for the government just two days before the showpiece Opening Ceremony.
It follows warnings from immigration officials that they fear up to 2 per cent of athletes, team officials and supporters may claim refuge in the UK during and after the Games or try to stay on once their visas expire.
But the claim even before competition has begun is said to have shocked both Border Agency officials and ministers as they prepare to host some 120 world leaders tomorrow, when London 2012 is opened by the Queen.
It is understood the athlete disappeared from a pre-Olympics training camp in order to claim asylum. Just as he and his team was preparing to move to the athletes’ village in Stratford, East London.

London Olympics 2012.

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Sherman Hemsley (the man who brought George Jefferson to vivid life) has died at age 74. The accomplished stage actor achieved his widest fame in a role he raised to comic greatness – George Jefferson, the egotistical, strutting centerpiece of The Jeffersons.
Hemsley took a part that could have been clownish and exaggerated — George Jefferson, the braying entrepeneur striving to, as the show’s theme song said: “move on up” — and made George a vital, three-dimensional character, and an important advance in the depiction of black characters in sitcoms. George’s ego and selfishness were often brought into line by his wife, Isabel Sanford’s Louise Jefferson (George’s beloved “Weezy”), but the force of the character derived from the tremendous ambition, frustration, and anger George felt toward the world.

Sherman Hemsley.

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Space used to be a man’s world. Then came Sally Ride, who blazed a cosmic trail for U.S. women into orbit. With a pitch perfect name out of a pop song refrain, she joined the select club of American space heroes the public knew by heart – Shepard, Glenn, Armstrong and Aldrin.
Ride, the first American woman in orbit, died Monday at her home in the San Diego community of La Jolla at age 61. The cause was pancreatic cancer, an illness she had for 17 months, according to her company, Sally Ride Science.
Ride rode into space on the space shuttle Challenger on June 18, 1983, when she was 32. Since then, 42 other American women flew in space.
“Sally was a national hero and a powerful role model. She inspired generations of young girls to reach for the stars” – President Barack Obama said in a statement.
When shuttles started flying frequently with crews of six or seven, astronauts became plentiful and anonymous. Not Ride.
“People around the world still recognize her name as the first American woman in space, and she took that title seriously even after departing NASA” – Eileen Collins, the first female space shuttle commander, said in a statement. “She never sought media attention for herself, but rather focused on doing her normally outstanding job.”

Sally Ride.

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The casts of “The Hunger Games” and the “Twilight” saga were all winners at Sunday’s 14th annual Teen Choice Awards. The Teen Choice surfboard trophies were handed out at a ceremony in Los Angeles hosted by “Glee” actor Kevin McHale and new “X Factor” judge Demi Lovato. The event was broadcast on Fox. Lovato announced that some 134 million votes were cast by fans for the awards.
“Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 1″ took home awards for choice romance movie and choice movie actress for its star, Kristen Stewart. The “Twilight” saga also received the ultimate choice award to bring its total number of Teen Choice Awards to 41. Stewart and her “Twilight” co-stars (Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner) accepted the ultimate choice award on behalf of the film. Pattinson and Stewart handed their surfboard trophies to fans in the audience.
Josh Hutcherson was named choice movie actor sci-fi/fantasy his role in “The Hunger Games.” The film was also named choice book and choice movie – sci-fi/fantasy. Hutcherson and his “Hunger Games” co-star, Jennifer Lawrence, were honored with the Teen Choice Award for choice lip lock. Lawrence was also named choice actress in a sci-fi/fantasy. “Hunger Games” co-star Liam Hemsworth was named choice movie scene stealer. Alexander Ludwig was named choice movie villain for his role in “The Hunger Games.”
The TV series “The Vampire Diaries” picked up several awards, including choice TV show sci-fi fantasy and choice TV actor sci-fi/fantasy for its star, Ian Somerholder. The actor was also named choice hottie: male. Star Nina Dobrev was named choice TV actress – sci-fi/fantasy. “Vampire Diaries” actor Michael Treveno was named choice male TV scene stealer.

Teen Choice Awards.

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Rupert Murdoch has stepped down as director of a number of companies behind British newspapers The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times, a News International spokeswoman said on Saturday. “Last week Mr Murdoch stepped down from a number of boards, many of them small subsidiary boards, both in the UK and US” – a spokeswoman for News Corp’s British publishing arm News International said.
The News Corp chief executive resigned from the boards of News Corp Investments, News International Group Limited and Times Newspaper Holdings in the last week.
He has also stepped down from boards in the US, Australia and India.
The spokeswoman said the move was ‘nothing more than a corporate house-cleaning exercise prior to the company split’.
The move comes after Murdoch announced last month that News Corp will press ahead with a split of the entertainment division from its struggling publishing business, saying he is committed to both units.
He said he would be chairman of both companies, including an entertainment unit led by Fox studios and television assets, and a publishing unit that includes The Wall Street Journal and Times of London.
Murdoch has been under increasing pressure from British shareholders and politicians over claims of phone hacking and corruption at some of his British newspapers.

Rupert Murdoch.

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Jessica Ghawi wrote on her blog in June that she had a new-found appreciation for the preciousness of life after surviving the Eaton Centre shooting. Little more than a month later, she would be dead, killed in Colorado by a man wielding a gun, something she had so narrowly avoided in Toronto.
Ghawi (24) was one of 12 people killed when a gunman opened fire in a movie theatre in Aurora, just outside of Denver, a little bit after midnight on Friday. The Texan aspiring sports broadcaster, known professionally as Jessica Redfield, went to see the premiere of the latest Batman movie (“The Dark Knight Rises”) with her friend Brent Lowak.
Lowak, who remains in hospital after he, too, was shot, later told Ghawi’s brother, Jordan, that Jessica had been shot in the leg and head. On his blog, Jordan Ghawi recounted Lowak’s story, writing that Lowak and Jessica were sitting in the middle portion of the theatre, when a device was thrown in their direction “that produced a ‘hissing sound.’”

Jessica Ghawi.

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A masked gunman has shot dead 14 people and wounded more than 50 others at a Batman film premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in the US – police said.
A total of 14 people have been killed and 50 wounded in a mass shooting at a cinema in Denver during a premiere of the new Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises.”
Eyewitnesses reported that a baby was shot at point blank range and some of the victims were children as a single masked gunman went on a rampage.
The gunman (who was quickly arrested) was reportedly wearing body armour and a gas mask and used tear gas in the assault inside the cinema.
The shooting happened at the Century Aurora 16 Movie Theater in a mall in the suburb of Aurora, Denver, Colorado which was packed for a midnight premiere of Two separate devices were also said to have been found in vehicles outside the cinema.
Local reporter Justin Joseph of KDVR said that, according to witnesses, the moment Batman appeared on screen a man wearng body armour and a gas mask, and wielding at least one long gun, stood up and faced the crowd.

Batman premiere.

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Much like the boneless chicken featured on its menu, Chick-fil-A is making no bones about the fact that it does not support marriage equality. Often when companies donate profits to anti-gay efforts, they will try to distance themselves from the contributions to avoid alienating a customer base. However, Chick-fil-A’s president, Dan Cathy, is not chickening out of owning up to his views toward homosexuality. “Guilty as charged” – stated Cathy in response to allegations of his anti-gay views.
“We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that” – Cathy said in an interview with Baptist Press, a Christian news service. “I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about” – added the man who offers only an arrogantly narrow definition of marriage himself.
Cathy’s comments are in line with Chick-fil-A’s “charitable” donations. In 2009, the restaurant chain gave $2 million to groups that oppose same-sex marriage like the Family Research Council and the Marriage & Family Foundation. An additional $2 million was given to the same organizations the following year, as well. An Equality Matters investigation revealed that Chick-fil-A gave financial support to a brand of therapy designed to “cure” homosexuality.

Chick-fil-A.

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