World's biggest super-jumbos grounded after cracks are found in the wings

Australian aircraft engineers have called for Airbus A380 - the world's biggest passenger aircraft - to be grounded, after Singapore Airlines and Qantas found cracks in the wings of their super-jumbos.
'We can't continue to gamble with people's lives and allow those aircraft to fly around and hope that they make it until their four-yearly inspection,' said Steve Purvinas, secretary of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association.
Both airlines, and Airbus, admitted that they had discovered cracks, but maintained that the aircraft were safe. In total, 67 Airbus A380s are in use worldwide, on seven airlines.The aircraft are in use by Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Air France, Lufthansa, Korean Airlines and China Southern.

Australian engineers say that Airbus A380s should be grounded, rather than flying around for four years before their next inspection, after cracks appeared in the wings of Singapore Airlines super-jumbos and one from Qantas

'We confirm that cracks were found on non-critical wing attachments on a limited number of A380s,' an Airbus spokesperson said today.
'We've traced the origin of these hairline cracks, and developed an inspection and repair procedure which can be done during routine maintenance.'
Singapore Airlines, the world’s second-biggest carrier, operates 14 A380s already and has five on order, while Qantas has taken delivery of 10 of its order of 20 A380 aircraft.   
The A380 has been in service for five years. It seats 525 passengers in a typical three-class arrangement. In total, 238 of the aircraft have been ordered by 17 airlines worldwide.
The aeroplanes are assembled in Toulouse, but parts are built across Europe, with the wings being built in Broughton, Wales.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Qantas Airways said on Friday they discovered cracks on the wing ribs of their Airbus A380s, but said the cracks pose no threat to safety and repairs have been carried out.    
The remarks came after Airbus said on Thursday that engineers discovered minor cracks in the wings of a 'limited number' of A380s, but said the cracks were not affecting the safety of the aircraft. 
'Cracks were found on a small number of wing rib feet on an Airbus A380 during inspections in the second half of last year. These pose no safety issue and repairs were carried out on the aircraft,' SIA’s spokesman Nicholas Ionides said in an email.   

All good: Lufthansa say it has no problems with its A380 fleet and operations continue as normal

'Repairs were subsequently carried out on a second aircraft. We have kept the relevant regulatory authorities fully informed and will be carrying out inspections and any necessary repairs on other A380s as they go in for routine checks,' he added.    
Qantas separately said that 'minuscule cracking' was found in the wing ribs of the Qantas A380 being repaired in Singapore after one of its Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines suffered a mid-air blowout in 2010. 
'Investigations have found that the cracking is unrelated to the engine failure incident experienced by this aircraft in November 2010 and is not unique to Qantas. It has now been repaired,' the carrier said in a statement.    
'No immediate action is required by A380 operators because the cracking presents no risk whatsoever to flight safety,' Qantas said.   

A Lufthansa spokesman said: ‘There is no findings on our side and we have normal operations.’

Airbus said it has traced the origin of the problem and developed an inspection and repair procedure that will be done during routine, scheduled four-year maintenance checks. 
SIA, the world’s second-biggest carrier by market value and the first operator of such aircraft, operates 14 A380s and has five on order, while Qantas has taken delivery of 10 of its 20 A380 aircraft on order, according to the airline’s website.    
Both Singapore Airlines and Qantas are using Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines on their A380 fleets. 
taken from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2084242/Airbus-A380-Worlds-biggest-planes-sky-worthy-say-engineers.html#ixzz1j4WAQuns

Incensed By Judge Judy, Florida Woman, 62, Attacks Husband, 65, With Hammer

A Florida woman who reportedly became incensed while watching TV’s Judge Judy was arrested Sunday after she allegedly struck her husband on the head with a hammer.
Janet Knowles, 62, was charged with aggravated battery following the bizarre incident at a residence in Jupiter. Knowles, seen in the above mug shot, is locked up in the Palm Beach County jail in lieu of $10,000 bond.
According to a Jupiter Police Department report, she attacked Larry Knowles, 65, since "she was upset because Judge Judy was on the television,” and "Larry was watching Judge Judy and that made her mad." The syndicated program stars Judith Sheindlin, an irascible former New York jurist.
The report does not specifically indicate why Knowles was so upset about Judge Judy, who is pictured above. The victim, who was seated in a recliner when twice hammered, suffered large cuts to his head and forearm, according to cops.


taken from http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/battery/judge-judy-spurs-attack-758941

Church charges for calls to mobile phone-carrying angel

An angel with a mobile phone at the St Jan cathedral in Den Bosch can still be reached by her 06 number, even though the church authorities have introduced a premium rate line, the Telegraaf reports on Monday.
A 06 number and a Twitter account in the name of ut Engelke (the little angel) were put up by an unknown woman as a joke last year, although the initiative is now attracting some thirty callers a day.
Now the church board has reacted by opening a 0900 number for the angel. ‘Success knows many church fathers’, the woman commented. She thinks the church is ripping people off by making them pay 80 cents a minute to listen to a tape. Her own service doesn’t charge for calls.
The church, which is going to use the money for the maintenance of the cathedral, says the founder of the mobile phone line had not asked for permission to set up the mobile service, but that the St Jan belongs to everybody.
Christmas
The mobile phone number has a number of regular users, like the girl who rings in every Friday to report on her week, the paper says. And many people rang in seeking comfort during the Christmas holidays.
The angel is one of 25 made by sculptor Ton Mooy for the cathedral, which is being renovated.
The mobile-using angel first had to be approved by the cathedral fathers. They rejected suggestions that she should be given jet engines rather than wings.


taken from http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2012/01/church_charges_for_phone_calls.php

'S***house' restaurant serves dinners in miniature toilets

The S***house restaurant serves up food in its own inimitable way (Picture: CEN)

The critics might pan it, but one restaurant in the Chinese capital Beijing has got food fans going potty for it.
The plop-up restaurant has queues around the block as punters prove that it's more than just a flush in the pan.
Co-owner Feng Lu said: 'We had the idea when we were discussing one of the worst restaurants we'd ever eaten in and one of us said it had been a real toilet. So we decided to see if we could make a restaurant that was just one big toilet.
"We can't quite believe how successful it's been. Now we're talking about opening a chain," added Feng.

By Simon Garner  taken from http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/886519-s-house-restaurant-serves-dinners-in-miniature-toilets#ixzz1j4UMFoTf

Two kittens have '18 extra toes' between them

The kittens are due to be rehomed in two weeks

Two kittens have been discovered with 18 extra toes between them.

Ned and Fred were handed in to the Gosport Town branch of Cats Protection in Hampshire.
Normally cats have five toes on their front paws and four on their rear, but Ned has an extra eight toes and his brother Fred has 10 extra.
Dr Andy Sparkes, from the Feline Advisory Bureau, said the four-month-old kittens were "very unusual" due to the large number of extra toes.
'Poor condition' Cats Protection field veterinary officer Karen Hiestand said Fred's extra toes on his back paws as well as his front paws were also an "extreme case".
She added that the extra toes did not affect their health.
The kittens had come from a "multi-cat household" and arrived at the charity branch in a "poor condition".
They are still with the centre, but are due to be rehomed with a new owner in two weeks.
Cats with extra digits are known as polydactyl and usually have just one extra toe on each paw, but some can have two or three extra on each paw.

taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-16474354

UK police smuggle fake bomb onto Olympic site

U.K. police managed to smuggle a fake bomb into Olympic Park in a security test, overshadowing a special U.K. Cabinet meeting held at the park Monday marking 200 days until the Summer Games begin.

The Olympic Delivery Authority declined to comment directly on whether a fake bomb was involved in last year's failed test, but said "testing is standard practice" in all major security operations.

"Such tests have a key role in developing our capability to ensure that London 2012 is safe and secure and that we are best prepared to detect potential threats before and during the Games," the statement said Sunday. "Members of the public with tickets should be reassured that such exercises are being staged to ensure their safety, our number one priority."

Olympic security experts downplayed the significance of the test, arguing that such tests are routine and conducted by experts trained at exposing vulnerabilities.

Peter Fussey, author of "Securing and Sustaining the Olympic City," which looks at the London 2012 games, said the only thing that was unusual was that the public heard about it.

"You can't make something completely terrorist-proof," he said. "There's always going to be some risk."

Margaret Gilmore, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said with six months to go, a successful dummy device is not the problem one might think it to be. The whole point of such tests is to expose vulnerabilities, she said.
"The key thing is that they are putting this real ring of steel around the Olympic sites," she said.
The terror threat is the biggest security worry for the London Olympics, which take place July 27 through Aug. 12. Security has been an intricate part of the games since an attack at the 1972 Olympics in Munich killed 11 Israeli athletes and coaches. London itself has not been immune from terror attacks — four suicide bombers killed 52 commuters in 2005 when they targeted the city's transit network.
But creating enough security to satisfy the experts has proven to be costly — and more complicated than initially envisioned. Authorities vastly underestimated the number of people needed to search spectators and otherwise secure venues and other Olympic sites, like hotels and power stations.
Britain will have up to 13,500 troops deployed on land, at sea and in the skies to help protect the games — twice as many as had been envisioned. That's not counting the 10,000 security guards and about 12,000 police officers also working to secure the event.
But the threat goes beyond the event itself. Transit sites, shopping malls and other public gathering points, such as where people will watch the games on big-screen televisions, are also being scrutinized.
Britain's government has said it expects the terror threat level to be set at "severe" during the Olympics, meaning an attempted attack is considered highly likely.
The terror concerns, and more ticketing problems, surfaced as Britain's Cabinet gathered at the Olympic Park to mark the "200 days to go" milestone. As part of the festivities, the Olympic Delivery Authority formally handed over control of the park to games organizers.
"This is the perfect time for the Cabinet to come together and ensure we are doing absolutely everything we can to make the most of this unique opportunity to showcase all the great things the U.K. has to offer to the rest of the world," Prime Minister David Cameron said.
Meanwhile, organizers grappled with yet another ticketing problem: A limited ticket sale has been suspended indefinitely after computer problems kept causing trouble for buyers.
The tickets came from customers who decided to submit them for resale, but the online system did not work properly and sales remained suspended Monday, a spokeswoman for the organizing committee said.
The tickets are only being sold in Europe. Customers can still go to the site and get tickets for soccer and the Paralympics.
Organizers have struggled with ticket sales from the start. A complicated lottery system in which people blindly registered for tickets and handed over their credit card details before learning what tickets they obtained frustrated thousands who wished to see the spectacle.
Two-thirds of ticket seekers failed to obtain any in the first round of sales, with 22 million requests for 6.6 million available tickets.
Another round was blighted by computer problems and there is no indication when the resale efforts would be resumed.

Olympic authorities, meanwhile, also announced they had signed contracts specifying the post-Olympics use of six of eight of the permanent venues, including those used for swimming and handball as well as the ArcelorMittal Orbit observation tower.

By DANICA KIRKA taken from http://news.yahoo.com/uk-police-smuggle-fake-bomb-onto-olympic-130008575--olympics.html

Military cadet forces in every school, says schools commissioner

The Schools Commissioner said the Combined Cadet Force (CCF), along with debating societies and music tuition, should no longer be the “province of the middle classes”.

Dr Elizabeth Sidwell also signalled that schools could face much tougher academic targets, with 80 per cent of children in all state primaries and secondaries expected to reach required scores in exams and tests, regardless of the intake. The new benchmark would mean far more schools being classed as inadequate and subject to intervention from the Department of Education.

Her comments come days after Mr Gove provoked controversy by branding opponents of academies and free schools as “enemies of promise”.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Dr Sidwell – a senior adviser to Mr Gove, and the official leading the expansion of the Government’s academy schools programme – said that many extra-curricular activities in the independent sector should be offered across the board.

“These wonderful extra-curriculum elements such as wellbeing and CCF did originate in the independent sector but for a number of years they have been there in City Technology Colleges, strong comprehensives and grammars. Good state schools have these things. We must not say we can’t afford it, we find a way,” she said.

“The all-round curriculum that children need, CCF, debating – that’s not the province of the middle classes, it’s the province of every child.”
The CCF was created in 1948 but its antecedents date back to 1859 when public schools and universities were asked to form volunteer corps.
Today, more than 200 independent schools but only around 60 state schools run CCF units, according to the Ministry of Defence, which sponsors the organisation. Members learn drill and are trained to fire weapons.
In 2008, the then-prime minister Gordon Brown backed a government-commissioned report which said more state schools should sign up to CCF. Although there has been no major rise, it is increasingly offered in academies.
Dr Sidwell, the former chief executive of the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Federation, a cluster of academies in south-east London, said schools needed a balance of extra curricular activities and academic focus.
In comments that will provoke a debate across the state school sector, she suggested that Government performance targets were too low.
Currently, primary schools are considered to be underperforming if less than 60 per cent of pupils reach level 4 – the standard expected of the average 11-year-old – in the maths and English tests taken at age 11.
Some 1,300 primaries fall in to this category. The 200 with the most persistent poor performance have been told they must convert to academies within the year.
At secondary level, the “floor target” for underperformance is 35 per cent of teenagers gaining five good GCSEs including maths and English, rising to 40 per cent this year and 50 per cent by 2015.
But Dr Sidwell said schools should have even higher expectations.
“We need to get well above these floor targets that we fiddle about with. You want your child to do better than level 4. The floor at primary is 60 per cent, but let’s have it higher than that – because even at that you have 40 per cent, nearly half, who are not achieving.
“When you look at secondary, we are saying 35 per cent, rising to 50 per cent, but I believe that we could get to a point where 80 per cent can get GCSE grade C in English and maths and three others. After 11 years of schooling we should be able to do that.”
Many inner-city schools argue that it is impossible to match the standards reached in more affluent areas because they have more pupils from dysfunctional homes who struggle with the basics, disrupt lessons or have special educational needs.
But Dr Sidwell dismissed the link: “I don’t buy that. You can’t buy that can you?” she said. “The famous phrase we hear is 'These children can’t do it.’ But whether it is Deptford or Haringey or Grimsby, those children can do it.”
Dr Sidwell was appointed by Mr Gove last year to the role of Commissioner, which was created by Tony Blair in 2006 with a remit to “challenge schools and local authorities to improve”. The Commissioner, working with civil servants at the Department of Education, is charged with finding sponsors for academy schools and brokering arrangements with them. She is now trying to persuade sponsors of secondary schools to take on primaries.
Some 1,154 secondaries, more than a third of the total, have so far become independent, state-funded academies, free from local authority control. But the programme is in its infancy in the 20,000-school primary system, with just 335 having converted.

By Julie Henry taken from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8999455/Military-cadet-forces-in-every-school-says-schools-commissioner.html