Monday, June 21, 2010

Sweden’s first royal wedding since 1976 took place Saturday when Crown Princess Victoria, 32, married her long-time boyfriend and former personal trainer, Daniel Westling, 36. The ceremony took place at Stockholm Cathedral.

Over 1,200 guests, including many rulers, politicians, royals and other dignitaries from across the world, attended the wedding, which cost an estimated 20 million Swedish kronor. Victoria wore a wedding dress with five-metre long train designed by Pär Engsheden. She wore the same crown that her mother, Queen Silvia, wore on her wedding day 34 years previously, also on June 19. Victoria’s father, King Carl XVI Gustaf, walked Victoria down the aisle, which was deemed untraditional by many. In Sweden, the bride and groom usually walk down the aisle together, emphasising the country’s views on equality. Victoria met with Daniel half-way to the altar, where they exchanged brief kisses, and, to the sounds of the wedding march, made their way to the the silver altar. She was followed by ten bridesmaids. The couple both had tears in their eyes as they said their vows, and apart from fumbling when they exchanged rings, the ceremony went smoothly.

Following the ceremony, the couple headed a fast-paced procession through central Stockholm on a horse-drawn carriage, flanked by police and security. Up to 500,000 people are thought to have lined the streets. They then boarded the Vasaorden, the same royal barge Victoria’s parents used in their wedding, and traveled through Stockholm’s waters, accompanied by flyover of 18 fighter jets near the end of the procession. A wedding banquet followed in the in the Hall of State of the Royal Palace.

Controversy has surrounded the engagement and wedding between the Crown Princess and Westling, a “commoner”. Victoria met Westling as she was recovering from bulemia in 2002. He owned a chain of gymnasiums and was brought in to help bring Victoria back to full health. Westling was raised in a middle-class family in Ockelbo, in central Sweden. His father managed a social services centre, and his mother worked in a post office. When the relationship was made public, Westling was mocked as an outsider and the king was reportedly horrified at the thought of his daughter marrying a “commoner”, even though he did so when he married Silvia. Last year, Westling underwent transplant surgery for a congenital kidney disorder. The Swedish public have been assured that he will be able to have children and that his illness will not be passed on to his offspring.

Westling underwent years of training to prepare for his new role in the royal family, including lessons in etiquette, elocution, and multi-lingual small talk; and a makeover that saw his hair being cropped short, and his plain-looking glasses and clothes being replaced by designer-wear.

Upon marrying the Crown Princess, Westling took his wife’s ducal title and is granted the style “His Royal Highness”. He is now known as HRH Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland. He also has his own coat-of-arms and monogram. When Victoria assumes the throne and becomes Queen, Daniel will not become King, but assume a supportive role, similar to that of Prince Phillip, the husband of the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II.

Sunday, October 1, 2017

Both suspects in the death of Savanna Greywind have entered not guilty pleas in court in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. On Tuesday, William Hoehn, acting through his lawyer, pled not guilty to counts of conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping, and giving false information to the police. On Thursday, his girlfriend Brooke Crews did the same, procedurally. Hoehn’s next hearing is scheduled for December and Crews’ for January.

“At this point, Ms. Crews chose on my advice not to specifically enter a plea. The judge entered a not guilty plea, procedurally to move the case forward,” Crews’ lawyer, Steven Mottinger, told the press.

Savanna Greywind, 22, whose body was found wrapped in plastic by kayakers in the Red River on August 27, was eight months pregnant when her relatives called the police to report her missing. According to court documents, the police first responded to a call at 2825 9th St. N. #2 in Fargo on August 19, and spoke to the man and woman who lived at #5, Brooke Crews and William Hoehn, but did not execute a search warrant until August 24, at which time they found Brooke with a baby girl. Hoehn would later tell police he had discovered Crews in their bathroom wiping up blood, and she showed him the infant and told him, “This is our baby. This is our family.” Crews would tell the police Greywind had given her the baby. Both told police the girl is Greywind’s daughter, and a DNA test was performed to confirm the child’s identity.

Greywind worked as a nursing assistant at the Eventide Fargo senior center in West Fargo, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. According to her boyfriend, Ashton Matheny, they had planned to name their daughter Haisley Jo, and had recently leased an apartment where they planned to live with their child. Now, Matheny says, he plans to move to the Spirit Lake Reservation northwest of Fargo to raise his daughter near family. He and Greywind both belong to the Spirit Lake Tribe. Ashton and Greywind’s parents were permitted to visit the child in the hospital pending confirmation of her identity, and Matheny has since been awarded full custody.

Matheny, in remarks to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, said “I’ve been waiting to be a father for a while[…] She’s the only good thing that came out of this. She looks like Savanna.”

Earlier in September, tribal leaders sent an open letter to North Dakota’s US congressional delegation with several demands regarding Greywind’s case and the violence faced by Native Americans nationwide. Among other things, they asked that the United States Department of Justice establish a cross-jurisdictional task force to establish a clear system for investigating the deaths and disappearances of Native American women.

The tribal leaders’ letter reads in part: “During the gatherings and prayers for Savanna, we heard story after story from families who also have women in their families missing or with unsolved murders[…] The murder of Savanna illustrates a much larger problem of epic proportions.”

Thursday, December 20, 2007 File:Puss Get the Boot.jpg

Jack Zander, the animator whose career lasted from the “golden age” of theatrical animation into the 1980s, has died at the age of 99 on Monday, December 17.

Born in May of 1908, he helped animate the Tom and Jerry cartoons with William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, including Puss Gets the Boot (1940), The Night Before Christmas (1941), Fine Feathered Friend (1942), and Sufferin’ Cats (1943).

Zander was nominated for an Outstanding Animated Program Emmy in 1981 for Gnomes, and in 1984 he won the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists’ Golden Award.

Monday, August 21, 2017

At 16:02 local time (UTC+3) on Friday a man with a knife stabbed apparently random people at Market Square, Turku, Finland. Police said there were eight injured and two dead. The attacker ran somewhere else and started stabbing more people after his first attack. The police shot him in the leg and arrested him at 16:05.

Police said they were treating it as a terrorist act. Police identified the attacker as an 18-year-old from Morocco and confirmed his identity, but didn’t release it.

Officials said security was tightened across Finland.

In a statement, Police said they were investigating the case as an instance of terrorism: “The act had been investigated as murder, but during the night we received additional information which indicates that the criminal offences are now terrorist killings.” Crista Granroth, speaking from the National Bureau of Investigation, said the attacker targeted women: “It seems that the suspect chose women as his targets, because the men who were wounded were injured when they tried to help, or prevent the attacks.” She said of the eight injured, six were women.

Police arrested four other suspects, and issued an international warrant for arrest of another suspect.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

An elderly Brooklyn, New York woman was found dead yesterday after a fire triggered by a voodoo ceremony caused a blaze in an apartment that left dozens homeless. The details of the ceremony were not clear, but sources say it led to sex.

An unidentified woman hired a Voodoo priest for $300, identified as Nelson (Pepe) Pierre, to perform a mystic ceremony meant to bring her good luck. The woman went to Pierre’s apartment, where she ended up in bed surrounded by lit candles which were mistakenly knocked over, setting the bedsheets on fire. In an effort to suppress the flames, Pierre splashed water from the bathroom sink on the sheets while his roommate, who was ironing at the time, opened a window for air. However, according to the New York Fire Department, wind gusting through the open window created a “blowtorch effect” which caused the fire to spread to the 4th floor hallway and into the 5th and 6th floors. The blaze killed one woman, three others were severely injured, and at least 20 firefighters were left with burn wounds.

In an NYFD statement, Fire Commissioner Salvatore J. Cassano said, “Time and time again we respond to tragedies that could have been so easily prevented. This fire had so many of those elements … hopefully others will learn from this tragedy.” It took hours for hundreds of firemen from dozens of companies to bring the raging fire under control.

Pierre, a man in his 60s, did not call 911 right away, but attempted to quell the fire using water from the bathroom sink. A source in law enforcement said, “Nobody sees a crime right now. It was an accident. Maybe they weren’t careful, but they did try to put it out.”

Mary Feagin, a 64-year old retired teacher, died in the blaze.

The New York Police Department is currently investigating the incident.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Operation NANOOK 2008 was held from August 11 to August 25 by the Canadian Forces for the purpose of conducting mock emergency rescue operations for potential maritime disasters in the northeastern Canadian Arctic waters.

Two Canadian navy ships and two airforce planes, a CC-138 Twin Otter and a CP-140 Aurora, took part in the exercises in the Canada’s Arctic. The HMCS Toronto and the Canadian Coast Guard ship Pierre Radisson travelled along the Hudson Strait. The Operation extended to Davis Strait, and Frobisher Bay during the annual NANOOK Operation. There have been 18 such humanitarian operations since 2002. As more Arctic ice melts, the ships sail through uncharted waters. Emergency response times were tested for such potential disasters as oil spills, or rescue operations such as responding to cruise ship emergencies.

General Walter Natynczyk, Canada’s chief of Defence staff, the Honourable Peter MacKay, Defence Minister as well as Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, and Steven Fletcher, Member of Parliament for Charleswood–St. James–Assiniboia and Parliamentary Secretary for Health, flew to Iqaluit, Nunavut to officially launch the exercise on August 19, 2008 and observe the process.

In addition to the military exercises, Veterans Affairs Canada held a commemorative event onboard the HMCS Toronto to honour the 55th Anniversary of the Cease Fire in Korea, the 65th Anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic, and the start of the Last 100 days of the First World War. The inaugural ceremonies were held during Community Day activities in the capital city of Iqaluit, followed by the public panel discussion held on Saturday. The community day ceremonies were organized by participants in Operation NANOOK 2008. The public ceremonies received neither Nunavut politicians nor Inuit leaders.