Widow given fire alarm after returning to home after tragedy


FIREFIGHTERS joined with Moe Willoughby as she returned to her home for the first time since her husband tragically died in a fire there last year.

John Willoughby died in their home in Ploverly, Werrington, Peterborough, in September, after a cigarette which had not been properly extinguished caused a blaze in their home.


Devastated Moe (59) assisted the Cambridgeshire Fire Service in their Christmas campaign to urge people to have smoke alarms fitted in their homes – she believes if she had had one in her own home, John (74) may have been saved.


And on Saturday, Moe moved back into her home for the first time, joined by a team from Dogsthorpe Fire Station who were on hand to fit smoke detectors in her house and to carry out a fire safety check.


Station officer Gavin Hammond said they were grateful to Moe for her support. He added: “We’re encouraging people to take up the opportunity of a free fire safety check and free smoke alarms. All they have to do is contact their local fire sstation.”


Source: peterboroughtoday.co.uk

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Colombian Minister Resigns Amidst Scandal Over Ties With Militias


Simon Romero

THE Colombian Foreign Minister has resigned as President Alvaro Uribe's government struggles with a scandal that has revealed ties between paramilitary cocaine-trafficking squads and some of Mr Uribe's most prominent supporters.

The resignation of Maria Consuelo Araujo on Monday came just days after Mr Uribe, the US's closest ally in South America, expressed support for her. But fallout from the arrest last week of five politicians, including Ms Araujo's brother, Alvaro, a senator, on charges of working with paramilitary squads in a kidnapping case, made her presence in the cabinet untenable.

Hours after Ms Araujo's resignation, Mr Uribe named Fernando Araujo as her replacement. Mr Araujo, who only recently escaped from six years as a hostage in rebel captivity, is not related to his predecessor.

Mr Uribe called Mr Araujo "a reflective citizen, who has suffered in this national tragedy". The US President, George Bush, who is scheduled to visit Colombia in three weeks, has stood by Mr Uribe, partly to counter the enhanced regional influence of the Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez.

But the support for Mr Uribe's government is coming under fresh scrutiny as the US Congress weighs a request from the Bush Administration for $US3.9 billion ($5 billion) in military and anti-narcotics assistance for Colombia, which is the largest recipient of US aid outside the Middle East and Afghanistan.

"There is a Democratic Congress that is much more sensitive to human rights issues," said Alejo Vargas, a political scientist at the National University of Colombia in Bogota.

Prosecutors believe Senator Araujo helped finance the paramilitaries and was possibly involved in the kidnapping of a political rival. The Colombian Supreme Court has recommended that prosecutors also investigate his father.

Eight pro-Uribe parliamentarians have been jailed since the scandal broke in November, another is on the run and an army colonel has been suspended.

The chairman of the US congressional subcommittee that oversees aid to Colombia, Senator Patrick Leahy, said on Monday that Ms Araujo's resignation and the recent arrests were "positive" but left questions unanswered. He said assurances were needed that the Colombian Government had "severed links to these terrorist groups".

Colombia's paramilitary groups were set up in the 1980s by rich landowners looking for protection from rebels. But as they pushed back insurgents, the paramilitaries often killed people just on suspicion they had colluded with the rebels.

For years, they have boasted about their ties to the political class and business leaders. Local army commanders sometimes helped them carry out attacks.

More than 31,000 paramilitaries have demobilised under a peace deal with Mr Uribe's government. However, human rights groups say powerful paramilitary bosses have been allowed to keep their criminal and drug-smuggling operations intact.

Fernando Araujo was the development minister in the government of Andres Pastrana when he was was kidnapped in December 2000 by the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. One of 59 high-profile hostages held by the guerillas, he escaped on New Year's Eve.

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Sex in fast lane halts traffic on road


Israeli police investigating why a car was blocking traffic in the fast lane of a major highway Sunday found a couple inside having sex.

A police spokesman said the female driver and her male passenger gave in to their passions without pulling over to the side of the road, causing congestion and leaving other motorists having to swerve to dodge their stationary vehicle.


A patrolman gave the woman a ticket for holding up traffic.


Source: news.yahoo.com

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Britney, A Lost Little Girl?...


I feel sorry for Britney: here she is going through an obviously distressing time and she doesn’t seem to be able to balance it out.

Life has been a whirlwind of events for Britney Spears lately: she and hubby Kevin Federline have separated; she is a single mom of two very young children; her ex is asking for custody and accusing her of unsuitability as a mother.


Her highly publicized fling with male model Isaac Cohen has fallen through, with Cohen disclosing very personal information about a lonely and insecure Britney. And partying out with Paris Hilton /&/amp; co. has not proven to be a solution to whatever is troubling her.


The 25-year-old’s on-going little breakdown is amply covered by the media and her latest fait accompli is on every front page of every newspaper. In an act of rebellion, the pop princess sheared off her locks, all of them, in a Los Angeles beauty salon.


The salon owner was offering the precious pop star hair on eBay, along with a leftover Red Bull Britney allegedly drank, a blue Bic lighter and the clippers she used. “We still don't know why Britney chose our shop. We'll probably never know,” said the shop owner's husband, JT Tognozzi.


The Tognozzi couple has also said part of the resulting proceeds will go to charity. After their ad was removed from eBay on Monday, according to NBC News, the couple launched a new, official site, buybritneyshair.com, where the ‘products’ continue to be available for sale.


“This is the ultimate Britney Spears Experience,” the Tognozzis promise on their site.


Another recent rumor about the troubled singer is that she checked in and out of rehab last week, with the speed of sound.


According to People Magazine, Britney checked herself into Eric Clapton's Crossroads Centre in Antigua and then checked out a mere 24 hours later. At the same time, the singer’s former personal assistant, Felicia Culotta, revealed that Britney was going through a very difficult period.


“There's just so much you can do to help a person,” Culotta wrote in a letter to Hollywood.com. “I cannot save her from herself, nor can I commit her to any type of treatment programme against her wishes and will.”


Fortunately for her, Britney seems to have good days as well. At the beginning of February, she attended a New York fashion show, looking quite composed and merry. When asked about life as a single, she told reporters: “It's awesome! I'm loving it.”


Whether she was just putting on a happy face for the media or not, the singer has also been spending a lot of time working in the studio, trying to finish her new album. Perhaps getting back to the work she enjoys will give her a new balance.


Source: playfuls.com

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Anna rivals in court to fight for the body


Two men claiming to be the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby come face to face today in a Florida courtroom as the battle over the former centerfold's body continues.

Broward County Court Judge Larry Seidlin will determine whether the body should be released to Smith's companion, lawyer Howard K. Stern, or her estranged mother, Virgie Arthur.


Photographer Larry Birkhead - who, along with Stern and at least two other men, claims to have fathered Smith's daughter - plans to attend a custody hearing in Los Angeles via conference call so that he can appear in person in the Fort Lauderdale courtroom.


"Larry is \[there\] to express what he believes are Anna Nicole's last wishes," a source close to Birkhead said, without elaborating.


Stern wants to bury the former reality TV star in the Bahamas next to her son. Arthur wants her daughter laid to rest near the family home in Texas.


The judge is also expected to decide whether Stern will remain executor of Smith's will. Smith, 39, left everything to a trust controlled by Stern for her son, Daniel Smith.


But Daniel, 20, died of an apparent accidental drug overdose on Sept. 10, just three days after his mother gave birth to daughter Dannielynn. in the Bahamas.


Stern and Birkhead, who have had a prickly relationship, have not seen each other since Smith died Feb. 8 of still-unknown causes.


Fox TV last night aired a creepy home video - shot by a laughing Stern - of an incoherent Smith, her face painted garishly like a clown.


"Is this a mushroom trip?" Stern asks three times, mocking the zonked-out Smith, who was eight months pregnant when the video was taken.


"This footage is worth money," Stern remarks. at another point.


Source: nydailynews.com

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