An actor from the Harry Potter films has been stabbed to death.
Rob Knox played Marcus Belby (a student at Ravensclaw) in Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince. He was drinking at the Metro Bar in Sidcup when he got into a fight and was killed. This is the second stabbing in the area in only two weeks - Knox even went to the same rugby club as the victim in that attack. However, police are not treating these two attacks as being linked.
The stabbing of the Harry Potter star has resulting in a rise in people calling for a crackdown on knives amongst young people in the UK. There is an increasing knife culture in the UK which is a great concern to the public, politicians and the press alike. People no longer feel safe on the streets at night with such a level of violence. There have been calls for more police on the streets.
This increase in the number of stabbings has come with the relaxation of licensing laws allowing pubs and bars to be open longer into the night. The change in the law was intended to lower alcohol related violence but has had the opposite effect. The intention was that bars would close at different times so the problem of everyone going out into the street at the same time would disappear. However, this has not happened. Instead, alcohol related violence has increased as evidenced by this latest Harry Potter stabbing.
Earthfest 2008 kicks off today in Boston.
Earthfest offers two days of entertainment in the name of saving the environment. This year’s attendance is expected to top 100,00 with this year being the biggest ever in Earthfest’s history.
As well as spreading the environmentally friendly message, the event will be giving exposure to the latest eco-friendly products and the good work of non-profit organizations that are working towards the protection of the environment and the world. There is no doubt that this message needs to be spread more now than it ever has before.
Of course, an extensive recycling scheme is in place at Earthfest. All vendors are asked to use fully recyclable materials for the food and drink packaging. The vendors are also encouraged to have their booths made out of environmentally friendly materials. Earthfest will even have ‘bike valets’ on hand to encourage people to cycle to Earthfest rather than taking the car.
Who is playing Earthfest 2008?
The big draws for this year’s Earthfest will be headliners CAKE and Cracker. Other acts performing are KT Tunstall, Guster, Mat Kearney, and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. Away from the main stage, they will have local bands playing on the Boston music stage and family oriented acts appearing on the kid’s planet stage.
All in all, it looks to be a great day out at Earthfest 2008
Kansas and Oklahoma have experienced another tornado.
The tornado ripped through Kansas and Oklahoma causing untold damage to property. This is not the first tornado to hit the region recently. This is the second night in a row that Oklahoma tornadoes have been reported. Ironically, the city of Protection in Oaklahoma has been the hardest hit. Many people have had their homes damaged seriously. There are reporsts that more than twelve homes have been destroyed by this most recent tornado. Rescue teams are currently out in the area surveying the damage and looking for any people injured by the tornado or experiencing difficulties because of it. Elderly people in particular are being treated.
This year has been a particularly bad year for tornados. There have been more than a hundred reported fatalities due to tornadoes this year. More than for any other year in the past decade. And meteorologists say we should expect the current spate of tornadoes to continue for a little while longer yet. They predcit we will see a large number of small tornadoes and are expecting at least a few more large tornadoes. How much damage these will cause when they do come cannot be told.
Many people are laying the blame for this increased tornado activity at the feet of global warming. Experts are divided on whether this is the case. Meteorologists have no way of linking any specific weather event such as the Oklahoma tornado to global warming. However, their models of global warming do predict a significant increase in extreme weather events such as tornadoes. Although there is no specific link, it is likely that these recent tornadoes are connected to the planet’s changing atmosphere. It is likely we will see more out of the ordinary weather events like the Oklahoma tornado in the future.
The EAMCET 2008 Results are expected any time now.
EAMCET (also known as the Engineering, Agricultural and Medical Common Entrance Test) is a test in India given to decide admissions to medical and engineering colleges. Students have taken the tests and are currently anxiously awaiting the results. They having been pacing up and waiting to find out how the have done in the EAMCET tests and are waiting for the results to find out if they have made it in to the college of their choice. It is expected that this year’s results will be higher than ever with an increasing level of competence of the EAMCET students. This significantly raises the bar for admissions to medical and engineering colleges and puts added pressure on the students to perform to the very top of their abilities in the AEMCET exams.
EAMCET Answer Keys
Confusion has been abound thanks to two different versions of the answer keys having been given out. The press had one version and a slightly different version was up for viewing on the website. Understandably, this has caused great worry amongst the students. If the examiners can’t even agree on the answers, what hope is there for the students? This has cast some doubt on the resluts of the EAMCET 2008 exams. Students will no be looking carefully at their results and questioning anything that doesn’t look exactly right. Colleges too have also expressed concern at this. However, EAMCET are insisting there is no problem and the entire results procedure is going ahead perfectly.
Hilary Clinton’s assasination comment has not gone down well.
Hilary Clinton has been forced to apologise for talking about the assasionation of BFK. She used the assassination to justfy her staying in the race for Democratic candidate for US President for as long as possible.
This has outraged Obama supporters who saw the reference as Clinton saying that she thought Obama was in danger of being assassinated late in the race just as Bobby Kennedy had been. Barak Obama’s wife, Michelle Obama, has already expressed concerns for her husband’s safety being the first ever African American Presidential candidate. As a result of this concern, Obama has been given official protection much earlier than any other candidate has been. This comment by Clinton is unlikely to make the situation any more comfortable.
After all the furore caused by Clinton’s assassination comments, she quickly apologized for what she had said. Clinton said that she regreted any offense that her comments caused and insisted that her comment was not intended to offend Obama or the Kennedy family. She also said that she was just stating ‘historical fact’ which is not likely to dampen the outrage at her assassination comments.
This latest gaffe by Clinton won’t do her any favors in her bid to become the Democratic candidate. It already looks like her campaign is over and this looks set to increase the number of people calling for her to leave the race and let Obama take on the position of Democratic candidate for President. Although it is still technically possible for Clinton to win the nomination. In practice, it is highly unlikely she will do. Perhaps her talk of an assasination was more wishful thinking than anything else. It is highly unlikely we’ll see a President Clinton assassination.
The Winner of Eurovision 2008 will be decided tonight in Belgrade, Serbia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.
This year sees the 53rd Song for Europe contest and the competition is heating up with this year set to be one of the closest contests yet. The bookmakers have released odds for the entries and the contest is extremely tight. There’s no telling who will walk away with the prize and win the honour of hosting next year’s competition. You’ll have to sit tight and watch and enjoy the competition yourself.
Who Won Eurovision 2008?
That’ll be the question on the lips of everyone this time tomorrow. This year’s Eurovision looks set to be one of the most hotly contested yet. Here are a few of the contestants and favourites:
Russia - Dima Bilan: Russia’s Dima Bilan is one of the favourites to win uerovision 2008. With the usual Balkan region block vote going to Russia, they stand every chance of walking away with a victory. There has been much criticism of former Russian countries all voting for each other. This has led to a string of victories for countries in the region. Russia’s entry in this year’s Eurovision is a song called Believe. Although it certainly isn’t the best song in the contest, the smart money is on Russia to become Eurovision champions or to at least finish strongly and take it up to the wire.
Ukraine - Annie Lorak: Ukraine, another Eastern block country, are also expected to do well. Their entry is Shady Lady. A dance track with plenty of strings, a big chorus and a catchy melody. The song was very popular in the semi-finals of Eurovision and looks set to repeat that popularity in the next stage.
Latvia - Pirates of the Sea: Latvia’s entry in the contest is a bunch of Eurovision pirates. The band will take to the stage dressed in full pirate costumes. The song itself is very poor but that hardly matters, the main attraction is such a hilarious spectacle of a bunch of pirates singing a low quality techno-pop song in broken English. And if they don’t win, they’re pirates, they will, as they say, “Steal the Show”.
Greece - Kalomira: Greece’s entry Secret Combination, is also expected to do well. It’s an excellent song with an Eastern influence, a great melody, a hot dance routine and a Beyonce style singer. This is my favourite in the contest and, if the best song wins, then Greece will be the Eurovision 2008 winner. However, they will be facing an uphill battle. With the current Balkan hegemony of the contest, it will be very difficult for them to break through into the top spot and take the competition no matter how good their entry is.
Serbia - Jelena Tomasevic: The Serbian entry for Eurovision will not doubt pick up plenty of goodwill as the host nation and will most likely pick up a large percentage of the pionts from their fellow Balkan region countries. However, this song is no where near as strong as their Eurovision winning song of last year.
UK - Andy Abraham: The UK have performed very poorly in Eurvision in recent years. and this year looks like it will not be an exception. Great Britain’s odds of winning Eurovision 2008 are currently 66 - 1. It will be a huge upset if he was able to overcome such long odds and take the championship back home to the United Kingdom next year. It’s much more likely that he will fighting to keep himself off the bottom of the table as the results are phoned in from around Europe. With Ireland not having made it past the semi-final stage, Britain’s best friend in the competition is gone and there is a good chance that the UK will be at the foot of the table for Eurovision 2008. Andy Abraham was chosen phone poll and this is not his first on TV phone poll victory. He also performed well in the X-Factor (the UK’s version of American Idol) which won him a place in the heart of UK song fans. He will be hoping that he can also charm the whole of Europe with his songs and win the song contest for the UK.
Sweden - Charlotte Perrelli: Sweden’s hopes to be Eurovision 2008 winners rest on the shoulders of Charlotte Perrelli. The bookmakers have Sweden as one of the favourites to win and it is a good song. There is also a Pirelli is somewhat surgically enhanced. Whether this will do her any favours in the contest is yet to be seen.
There are, of course, plenty more entries. But those are the ones most likely to walk away from the contest as the Eurovision 2008 Winner.
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