Aaron Hernandez: Ex-NFL Star 'Attacks Inmate'

Former NFL star Aaron Hernandez has allegedly attacked another inmate at the Massachusetts jail where he is being held.

The 23-year-old, who is accused of killing a man who was dating his fiancee's sister, was involved in a row at the Bristol County House of Corrections, according to county sheriff Thomas Hodgson.

Hernandez in action against the Houston Texans in January 2013

The ex-New England Patriots player is being held in a segregated part of the North Dartmouth prison with only a few other inmates.

A jail spokesman said neither inmate was seriously injured - contradicting an earlier report by entertainment website TMZ, which claimed the attack had left the second man "pretty badly" hurt.

Prison staff are interviewing witnesses and looking at CCTV footage before deciding whether any charges should be brought, Mr Hodgson said.

Hernandez has denied first-degree murder and weapons charges connected to the death of Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-professional footballer from Boston.

He is awaiting trial and is due back in court on June 16.

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Gay Conversion Therapy 'Could Be Harmful'

By Amanda Walker, US Correspondent

So-called gay conversion therapy is ineffective and potentially harmful, the American Psychiatric Association has told Sky News.

Moves to end the practice are growing across the US with bans in New Jersey and California.

Virginia is the latest state to debate the therapy which practitioners claim can stop someone being gay.

In the state's general assembly, emotions run high as people who have gone through it offer their story.

Fighting back tears, 36-year-old Gail Dickert said: "There was the 10-year-old girl that was taught she would be bullied because I wasn't right with God.

"The 12-year-old taught she was molested because God was trying to teach her something about boys and she's gay because her mom is too strong and her dad must be a bad man."

Counsellors told Gail Dickert her homosexual feelings were caused by abuse

From the age of 12, counsellors told Ms Dickert her homosexual feelings must have been caused by her father sexually abusing her. He died before she could tell him her accusations were false.

"No I never got to say, on this side of his presence: 'No dad I know that really wasn't a memory'. I never got to say that to him and that is not something I can do anything about. It's the reality so all I can do is say - enough."

For 10 years, Apryl Prentiss was told being a lesbian was evil - her church therapy group went to extreme measures to rid her of it.

"As we were trying these techniques none of them were working," she said.

"It became much more aggressive and we got into praying and laying on of hands with them screaming to renounce the demon of homosexuality and renounce the demon of rebellion.

"It was an exorcism. It did eventually lead to an exorcism - an attempted one obviously."

Christopher Doyle says he is no longer gay. Now married with three children, he works as a therapist treating clients who want to rid themselves of same sex attraction. I asked him if he ever experiences homosexual feelings.

"Not at all. Not at all. I have absolutely no same sex attractions and I have clients and colleagues that have also had similar experience to me where they once felt this way and they don't anymore. Now let's be clear - not everybody is going to have that story.

Christopher Doyle says he is no longer gay

"Not all clients that go into therapy are going to completely eliminate their same sex attractions and that's a reality but there are some that do."

As well as therapy sessions, healing weekends offer group therapy techniques to get rid of homosexual attractions.

Back in Virginia's general assembly, powerful testimony was not enough to sway the largely republican panel - they voted not to ban conversion therapy.

For Mr Doyle's client, Nathan Gniewek, that's good news.

"The tendencies for attraction to the same sex have definitely declined," he said.

"There's no doubt that is so much less severe than it used to be. And as of late I've begun to notice women in ways that I hadn't before - it's like 'oh this is new and interesting'."

But for those who testified it is a devastating blow - but they say they will continue their fight to protect children from suffering the way they did.

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'Italian Job' Rescue Saves Man In China

Rescuers saved a man from a truck hanging off a bridge in scenes reminiscent of The Italian Job.

The driver died after crashing into a viaduct wall in southwest China - but emergency crews were able to rescue another man as the vehicle teetered on the edge of a 20-metre drop.

They used steel wires and a crane to hoist him from the cabin, where he had become trapped when the truck veered off road.

The cabin was crushed in the accident

The entire rescue was captured on film.

Chen Keqi, squadron head of a highway rescue team covering Guiyang City, said: "At the time when our rescuers tied steel wires onto the roof, the truck shook a little - very dangerous.

"The truck damaged in this accident could have broken up at any time."

The crash happened just after 8am in Guiyang City

One third of the truck was hanging off the bridge and the rescue was mounted in the knowledge it could plunge at any time.

Yang Yongjin, head of the rescue team, said: "It was possible to fall from the 20-metre-high bridge amid the operation, so we had to take the driver's life into consideration."

The man escaped with injuries to his feet and legs.

Michael Caine in The Italian Job

The famous ending to the original film version of The Italian Job saw Charlie Croker - played by Michael Caine - and his gang escape from a bus as it wobbled precariously on a cliff edge.

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Adidas Shelves Racy Brazil World Cup T-Shirts

Adidas has agreed to stop selling a line of World Cup T-shirts after officials in Brazil claimed they encouraged "sexual tourism".

The raunchy range included a top with the caption "Lookin' to Score" alongside the word "Brazil" and an image of Sugar Loaf mountain.

Another carried an "I Heart Brazil" imagine - but the heart was replaced by a woman wearing a thong.

Adidas are a major sponsor of Brazil 2014 and will supply the balls.

They have said the T-shirts were limited edition and available only in the US.

"Adidas always pays close attention to the opinion of its consumers and partners," the company said in a statement.

"Therefore, it is announcing that these products will not be sold anymore."

The T-shirts are no longer available on Adidas's website.

Brazil's tourism board said their government was "vehemently" against anything that "links Brazil's image to sex appeal" and was working hard to repress "sexual tourism".

"We want to make it very clear to our main commercial partners in tourism that Brazil does not tolerate this type of crime in its territory," said Flavio Dino, president of the tourism board Embratur.

"This campaign goes against what Brazil defends.

"Our effort is to promote Brazil for its natural and cultural attributes. An initiative like this one ignores and disrespects the message the government is trying to get across."

The campaign against sexual tourism will see videos warning football fans against paying for sex with children during the World Cup played on Brazil-bound flights from England.

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Romantics Sue 'Cheating' Estate Agents

A group of single Japanese men and women are suing estate agents who they say tricked them into buying property by pretending to be romantically interested in them.

Two men and 10 women, all aged in their 30s or early 40s, are taking legal action against 14 firms, including property firms and loan companies, demanding a total of 200m yen (£1.2m) in compensation.

According to their lawyers, the plaintiffs had become emotionally involved with people they met on online dating sites, with many being led to believe they were heading toward tying the knot.

However, they were more interested in selling them property and talked each alleged victim into buying at least one apartment, with an average price tag of 26m yen (£152,000), the lawyers said.

Once contracts were signed and sealed, the romance disappeared and the estate agent ended the relationship, leaving the new home owners with the keys to a new front door but not to anyone else's heart.

One victim was persuaded to buy three properties, the lawyers said.

"These firms' employees made the plaintiffs buy the condominiums, taking advantage of their romantic feelings," said lawyer Shinichi Hirasawa.

"This is a flagrant scheme because the victims were made to purchase the real estate sometimes at prices 30% - 40% above the market rate," he said.

Japan's National Consumer Information Centre has warned that this kind of alleged deception is becoming more common, with 42 reported victims in 2013, up from 26 in 2012.

A trend for marrying later in Japan leaves many people, especially women, desperate to find a match as they enter their late 30s.

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Polar Vortex Sends US Into Deep Freeze Again

Weatherman's Woe As US Polar Vortex Returns

Updated: 1:20pm UK, Wednesday 26 February 2014

By Dominic Waghorn, US Correspondent

People in Minneapolis have woken to sub-zero temperatures for 49 days this winter.

Local weatherman Ian Leonard has run out of ways of telling them what is on its way.

"How do I make it entertaining?" he asks, only half in jest.

Imagine his predicament. It is not exactly fair, but someone has to take the blame for the worst winter the state of Minnesota has seen in decades.

"People hate me right now," he said. "You go into a coffee shop, they give you a sideways glance. It's a tough place to be."

Minnesotans are tough, known for their forbearance in a state that plunges them into the freezer in winter and the sauna in summer.

They are used to being asked by other Americans why they live here.

But Mr Leonard sayd this winter, "they're asking themselves, why do we live here?"

On the streets of a residential suburb, we found Letitia de-icing her car in just a pair of jeans and a shirt. 

"This is one of the coldest years this is really cold," she said. "It keeps getting colder."

Snow drifts four or five feet deep line deserted streets. People hurry from their homes to their cars, warned more than a few minutes outside exposes them to the risk of frostbite.

Temperatures this cold have not been seen here since the early 1980s, but even then they did not start as early as they did this winter or last as long.

The polar vortex - an area of rotating very cold air above the North Pole, kept there normally by a belt of high winds - is being blamed again. 

This year, the belt has loosened, letting slip polar air as far south as Alabama.

As many as 180 million Americans are expected to be affected as the polar vortex strikes again this week.

The freak weather has killed people and brought traffic chaos, power cuts and astronomical heating bills.

It will not make people like Mr Leonard any more popular, but weather experts like him say there is no sign of any let up. 

The polar vortex is here to say. For now at least.

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Rat Bite Death: Boy's Family Sue Pet Shop

The family of a 10-year-old boy who died after he was bitten by an infected rat are suing the pet store which they claim sold them the rodent.

Aidan Pankey, from San Diego, California, died less than three weeks after his grandma purchased the pet as a mate for his female rat.

He woke up in severe pain during the night with a fever and stomach problems, and was pale, lethargic and could barely walk, according to the lawsuit.

The youngster was taken to hospital but died hours later from a condition called streptobacillus moniliformis infection, commonly known as rat bite fever.

John Gomez, the attorney for Aidan's family, said: "He was a bright, energetic, friendly, happy kid ... who had this idea in his young head that his female rat would get married."

A spokesman for Petco, the retailer which allegedly sold the diseased rat, said it was "deeply saddened by the Pankey family's tragic loss" and was investigating the claims.

"The health and safety of people and pets is always a top priority, and we take the family's concerns very seriously," he added.

According to the lawsuit, the rat, called Alex, appeared safe.

However, the boy's parents, Andrew Pankey and Vanessa Sauer, claim Petco should have known about its health and failed to adequately test for the disease.

They say negligence led to Aidan's death, which they claim caused emotional and economic hardship, and allege the retailer did not display adequate warnings about the potential risks, especially for children.

The family's attorney, John Gomez, said the lawsuit was "a means to ensure this doesn't happen again".

"They want tighter controls," he added.

Rat bite fever is a rare disease that is contracted from bites or scratches from rodents such as rats, mice and gerbils.

It can also be picked up from handling an infected animal or by consuming contaminated food or drink.

The disease is not spread from person to person and is normally treatable using antibiotics.

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Ghostbusters III To Go Ahead After Ramis' Death

Ghostbusters III will go ahead but the script for the film will have to be reworked after the death of Harold Ramis.

Ramis, who co-wrote the original two films and starred as Dr Egon Spengler, was due to make a cameo appearance in the sequel.

His death on Monday shocked Hollywood with his friends and co-stars including Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd paying tribute to him.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Ghostbusters III director Ivan Reitman will meet Sony bosses to discuss how to continue with the film.

Ramis with Aykroyd and Murray in the original film

It is believed 69-year-old Ramis was due to have a small role in the movie, alongside Aykroyd.

The film is said to centre around a new team of Ghostbusters.

Following Ramis' death, Murray said in Time Magazine: "Harold Ramis and I together did the National Lampoon Show off Broadway, Meatballs, Stripes, Caddyshack, Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day. He earned his keep on this planet. God bless him."

President Barack Obama said Ramis was one of America's "greatest satirists".

Filming for Ghostbusters III is not expected to begin until next year.

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Ukraine Tensions Rise Amid Crimea Clashes

Pro-Russia separatists and supporters of Ukraine's new leaders have come head to head outside Crimea's regional parliament before a key debate.

Around 2,000 people, many of them ethnic Tatars who are the indigenous group on the Black Sea peninsula, gathered outside the parliament building in Sevastopol in support of the 'Euro-Maidan' movement which ousted President Viktor Yanukovich.

Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov

Meanwhile, several hundred pro-Russia demonstrators chanted their loyalty to Moscow and denounced the "bandits" who had seized power in Ukrainian capital Kiev.

Isolated skirmishes could be seen among the crowds and there were reports of missiles being hurled, but police appeared to be holding the two sides apart as the emergency session took place inside the parliament to discuss the crisis.

Sky News' Alex Rossi, in Sevastopol, said: "A group of Russian supporters tried to storm the parliament, which is in session at the moment, but the police do seem to have things pretty much contained."

Crimea was gifted to Ukraine in 1954 in the Soviet-era by then Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. With a part of Russia's Black Sea fleet based in the port of Sevastopol, it remains the only region of Ukraine where ethnic Russians dominate in numbers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered an urgent drill to test the combat readiness of the armed forces across western Russia.

"In accordance with an order from the president of the Russian Federation, forces of the Western Military District were put on alert at 1400 (10am UK time) today," Interfax quoted Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying.

Members of Ukraine's Berkut riot police unit

Russia's foreign minister said the "nationalist and neo-fascist" sentiment in western Ukraine must be "decisively condemned".

Sergei Lavrov's warning came as Ukraine's acting interior minister said he had disbanded the elite Berkut riot police that protesters blamed for scores of deaths in last week's clashes.

Mr Lavrov made his call to democracy watchdog the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which he also said should condemn attempts by nationalists to ban the Russian language in Ukraine.

"Lavrov called on the OSCE to decisively condemn the rise of nationalist and neo-fascist sentiment in the west of the country, (to condemn) calls to ban the Russian language, to turn the Russian-speaking population into 'non-citizens' and to restrict freedom of expression," his ministry said in a statement.

References to fascism are evocative of the Cold War period, when authorities in the East routinely described the West as fascist.

Those who died in the Kiev clashes are being mourned

It came as Ukraine's acting interior minister, Arsen Avakov, announced the end of the riot police unit involved in violence that left almost 100 people dead last week.

"The Berkut is no more," he wrote on his Facebook account.

"I have signed Decree No 144, dated February 25, 2014 on the dissolution of the Berkut special police units of civil defence."

Britain and the US had earlier sought to ease tensions, saying Ukraine should not be a battleground between East and West.

Foreign Secretary William Hague, after talks with his American counterpart John Kerry, backed Ukraine's territorial integrity amid fears that the nation could be torn apart following the protests that ousted pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych.

"This is a country that needs financial assistance from many sources, including from Russia," Mr Hague said.              

"It's not about pulling them away from Russia. It's about enabling them to make their own choices."

Mr Kerry said: "This is not a zero-sum game, it is not a West versus East.

"This is about the people of Ukraine and Ukrainians making their choice about their future."

His comments echoed those previously made by Mr Lavrov, who had said: "We confirmed our principled position of non-intervention in Ukraine's internal affairs.

"We are interested in Ukraine being part of the European family, in all senses of the word. It is dangerous and counterproductive to force Ukraine into a choice."

Meanwhile, former president Mr Yanukovych has been missing since Friday when he fled Kiev. He is wanted by police in the country on charges of mass murder.

His offices and other buildings in Ukraine, including the national bank, are being searched as part of an investigation into his actions.

Hundreds of mourners have been gathering in the centre of Kiev where flowers and other tributes have been left in honour of those who died.

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Katy Perry Accused Of 'Blasphemy' In New Video

A petition has been launched to have Katy Perry's latest music video removed from YouTube after she was accused of blasphemy by Muslims.

Dark Horse shows the American singer in Egypt "a crazy long time ago" dressed as a Cleopatra-type character.

In one scene a man is shown being burnt by lightning while wearing a pendant forming the word "Allah" - the Arabic word for God.

The pendant is also engulfed in flames before the man turns to ashes.

Shazad Iqbal who put the petition, which has over 50,000 supporters, on the change.org website claims the video "promotes blasphemy".

Perry performing the track at the Brit awards last week

He wants the video sharing website to pull it down because "using the name of God in an irrelevant and distasteful manner would be considered inappropriate by any religion".

Support for the petition has come from around the world, including Indonesia, Dubai and The Netherlands.

Among those who signed was Nida Ahmed from Huddersfield who wrote: "We are Muslims and that is Allah's name on his neck and she burns it that's great disrespect to Islam."

Bilal Khan from Birmingham said: "Absolutely disgusted at the music industry for allowing this to happen, music should be about spreading love not hate, it's shameful that you allow stupidity, you need to look up the meaning of the word explicit and rectify your terms and conditions."

Mr Iqbal, 22, said he started the petition because he wants to raise awareness of inappropriate content in music videos.

Perry was brought up in a devoutly religious household and both of her parents are Pentecostal ministers.

YouTube has not responded to a request for a comment.

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