BBC sex scandal

BBC sex scandal : (BBC sex abuse scandal) Children’s charity kept ‘creep’ Savile at bay

A children’s charity kept pedophile British television presenter Jimmy Savile away from its annual fundraiser, media reports from London said today as the UK government funded broadcaster, reeling from a sex abuse scandal opened an inquiry into a sordid affair that played out in its studios and elsewhere.

“He was a creepy sort of character – we didn’t want him anywhere near the charity," Sir Roger Jones, the former chairman of Children in Need was reported as saying in The Telegraph newspaper today. Sir Roger was chairman of BBC Children in Need and the BBC's Pension Fund Trustees. He also served as BBC Governor from December 1996 to December 2002.

His comments came as the BBC, which now has been accused of being secretive by a UK government minister, opened an inquiry led by a former Court of Appeal judge Janet Smith. She will investigate the BBC’s culture and practices in the years that celebrated presenter was at the broadcaster.

The inquiry begins at a time the public trust in the BBC has taken a battering. The BBC, waited for six days before responding to allegations of sexual abuse of teenagers by Savile, who had been knighted by the Queen and hailed as a “national treasure.’’ The BBC also had planned a tribute to the late presenter.

The inquiry will also examine whether the BBC's child protection and whistle-blowing policies are fit for purpose, AFP reported.

Sir Roger, 69, was also a governor of BBC Wales. He said he did not have have evidence to report Savile to management at the BBC, the Telegraph reports.

But he said Savile was banned from any involvement at the annual Children in Need TV fundraiser because of “rumors’’ about his interest in young girls.

He told the paper that the charity had “recognized he [Savile] is a creepy sort of character’’ and that it was decided that the presenter was not wanted at the charity.

He said the charity stepped up child protection policies. “A charity like Children In Need knew the biggest thing to guard against was paedophiles. They were just like flies around the honey pot.’’
Sir Roger, a member of the board of governors between 1996 and 2002, said he would have stepped down from his Children in Need role if Savile had become involved with the charity, the paper reports.

Yesterday, in connection with the investigation, police arrested convicted British pedophile Gary Glitter, on suspicion of sexual offences.

Calls are also growing for BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten, the last Governor of Hong Kong, to resign for his failures in relation to the sexual abuse scandal at BBC. The London SUN has branded him ‘Lord Smug’ and a demanded that he go.

Columnist Trevor Kavanagh said: “Patten’s job as leader was to step in on Day One, immerse himself in the facts, and act as the commanding face and voice of the BBC Trust. Instead, he stoked the blaze with stupid swipes at Government ministers, left hapless new Director General George Entwistle to swing in the wind and revealed to the world that the Trust and everything they stand for are a pointless waste of space. Lord Smug must go.’’

Canadian embassy in Washington cleared after suspicious package found

Canada's embassy in Washington was evacuated Friday morning after a suspicious package was found in the mail room, embassy officials said.

After the area was sealed off, a Secret Service bomb squad determined the package was “not dangerous and removed it from the premises,” said spokesman Chris Plunkett. All embassy personnel, about 300, returned to work shortly before 11 am..

Pennsylvania Avenue, the broad route linking the Capitol to the White House, was closed and downtown traffic snarled as a clutch of fire trucks and police cordoned off the area.

The Secret Service – responsible for the safety of foreign diplomats as well as the president and cabinet – ordered the massive white landmark embassy evacuated shortly after 9:30 am.

Brazilian woman sells virginity for $780,000

A 20-year-old Brazilian woman has sold her virginity for $780,000 in an online auction to a Japanese man known simply as Natsu.

Catarina Migliorini's virginity auction was organized by Virgins Wanted, the project of Australian filmmaker Justin Sisely.

Both Migliorini and a young male virgin, Alexander Stepanov, hocked their virginity online. Stepanov's first time went to a buy identified as Nene B. from Brazil for a mere $3,000 US.

The auction had been live since Sept. 17, but until Wednesday - the last day of bidding - the highest bid for Migliorini had been $150,000. Natsu beat out five other high rollers who all bid in excess of $600,000 for the chance to bed the virgin.

Under the rules of the auction, Migliorini will be examined by a gynecologist and will "provide the winning bidder with medical evidence of her virginity." Stepanov's virginity cannot be medically proven, so he and two of his family members will give "statutory declarations to support his claim."

Speaking last month with the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, Migliorini said she got involved with the project two years ago when she saw a story about an Australian filmmaker who was looking for a virgin. She claims she wants to open an NGO with her winnings and invest in a public-housing project for poor families in Santa Catarina, where she was born. But speaking with the Huffington Post recently, Sisely said he was skeptical of Migliorini's purported good intentions.

"I was surprised she said that because in all my dealings with her, she made it clear that it was a business decision for her," he said. "Now, given how big this story is in Brazil, she's trapped. If she doesn't give any money to charity, she's going to look bad."

The winning bidders must submit to a medical examination and a police check, and cannot be intoxicated during their time with the virgins. No kissing or fellatio is allowed, and although the virgins and the winners are to agree about the length and duration of the sex, "the minimum consummation time is one hour," the rules state.

Migliorini, who said she doesn't think of it as prostitution, said the sex will happen in a private airplane.

The Virgins Wanted website said only that "the sexual act will take place where it is not illegal."

Singer Meat Loaf

Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday, September 27, 1947), known by his stage name Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor. He is noted for the Bat Out of Hell album trilogy consisting of Bat Out of Hell, Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose. Bat Out of Hell has sold more than 43 million copies worldwide. After 35 years, it still sells an estimated 200,000 copies annually and stayed on the charts for over nine years, making it one of the best selling albums of all time.

Although he enjoyed success with Bat Out of Hell and Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell and earned a Grammy Award for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance for the song "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" on the latter album, Meat Loaf experienced some initial difficulty establishing a steady career within his native US. However, he has retained iconic status and popularity in Europe, especially the UK, where he ranks 23rd for the number of weeks overall spent on the charts. He ranked 96th on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock."

Meat Loaf has also appeared in over 50 movies and television shows, sometimes as himself or as characters resembling his stage persona. His most notable roles include Eddie in the American premiere of The Rocky Horror Show and The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Robert "Bob" Paulson in Fight Club.


Hang Cool Teddy Bear

In May 2009, Meat Loaf began work on the album Hang Cool Teddy Bear in the studio with Green Day's American Idiot album producer Rob Cavallo, working with such writers as Justin Hawkins, Rick Brantley, Tommy Henriksen and Jon Bon Jovi. Though not much was revealed officially to begin with, Meat Loaf gave away some information through videos he posted on Twitter and YouTube. The album is based on the story of a fictional soldier, whose "story" furnishes the theme. During his March 19, 2011 concert held outside of Vancouver, BC, Canada, Meat explained that he had wanted an insert put with the album to explain what the premise of the album was, but he said there were too many "bleeping" record label politics and it did not get done. He went on to tell the audience that the story was of a soldier who being wounded, had his life flash forward before his eyes, and the songs were telling the story of his life.

The album is based on a short story by L.A.-based screenwriter and director Kilian Kerwin, a long-time friend of the singer. Hugh Laurie and Jack Black both perform on the album, Laurie plays piano on the song "If I Can't Have You", while Black sings a duet with Meat Loaf on "Like A Rose". Patti Russo and Kara DioGuardi also duet on the album. Meat Loaf himself describes the album as the "most important of his career", not as good as Bat out of Hell but in the same ball park. The guests, he says were not planned but he says the idea of using his friends came only when he saw them fit in a song and not as a commercial gimmick. Queen's Brian May features on guitar along with Steve Vai. It received positive reviews from critics and fans alike. The first single from the album, "Los Angeloser", was released for download on April 5 with the album charting at number 4 in the official UK album chart on April 25, 2010.

The Hang Cool Tour followed in the US, UK and Canada with rave reviews from fans and critics. Patti Russo accompanied him on the tour, continuing through the summer of 2011.

Hell in a Handbasket

In May 2011, Meat Loaf confirmed in a video on his YouTube account, that he was in the process of recording a new album called Hell In A Handbasket. According to Meat, the album was recorded and produced by Paul Crook; Dough McKean did the mix with input from Rob Cavallo. The album features songs called "All of Me", "Blue Sky", "The Giving Tree", "Mad, Mad World", and a duet with Patti Russo called "Our Love And Our Souls". On July 6, the album had to be finished for the record company. It was released in October 2011 for Australia/New Zealand, and February 2012 for the rest of the world. Meat said, "It's really the first record I've ever put out about how I feel about life and how I feel about what's going on at the moment."

The "Mad, Mad World" tour in connection with the album "Hell in a Handbasket" was launched in late June, 2012. For the tour Meat Loaf has said, “People who come to Meat Loaf shows know what to expect. They know they're going to get full-on energy with the best rock 'n' roll band in the world. That's not an opinion. That's the truth.”

2011 AFL Grand Final performance

The 2011 Australian Football League Grand Final was headlined by a 12 minute medley performed by Meat Loaf at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The performance was panned as the worst AFL pre-game entertainment in the 34 year history of performances preceding VFL and AFL grand finals in a multitude of online reviews by football fans and Australian sport commentators. Meat Loaf responded by calling online critics "butt-smellers", and the AFL "jerks", saying "I will go out of my way to tell any artist, 'Do not play for them.'"

Future albums

Meat Loaf has eight songs for an intended album after Hell in a Handbasket and is planning to release a Christmas album in 2012 called Hot Holidays. He has said that he is intending to work with Jim Steinman again, but that Steinman "doesn't know it yet".

KKK burns woman

Race relations have been riled twice this week in a Louisiana town where police say a woman fabricated a violent KKK attack in which she "self-inflicted" burns on 60 percent of her body.

Sharmeka Moffitt, 20, called 911 around 8 p.m. on Sunday from a park in Winnsboro, La., to report that three men in white hoodies had doused her in liquid and set her on fire. A racial slur and "KKK" were written on her car. Police were at the scene within minutes of the call, but found no suspects.

The community rallied around Moffitt, who is in the hospital with severe burns, and several law enforcement agencies immediately joined together to pursue her alleged attackers.

But in a news conference on Tuesday, authorities said that Moffitt's fingerprints were found on a cigarette lighter and on a can of lighter fluid recovered nearby.

"I feel hurt for the victim because that could have been my child, my sister or my mother, so I'm frustrated about that," Winnsboro Police Chief Lester Martin said at the news conference.

Police did not immediately respond to request for comment today and have not said if Moffitt will be facing criminal charges.

Residents were angered by the fake and divisive attack.

"She had all these people believing that it was racial issues and everybody was hating everybody because of this," resident Ta'Nikqua Smith told ABC News' Shreveport affiliate KTBS. "Nobody felt safe anymore."

Alice Prescott, another resident, said that the news of the attack followed by the news of the attack's fraudulence has strained the community.

"I'm absolutely frustrated because of all of the tension that's been placed on everybody," she told KTBS.

Others expressed frustration with the cost of an investigation that involved numerous agencies.

"This has been a very disturbing case for everyone involved and it has involved multiple agencies and a lot of hard work," Franklin Parish Sheriff Kevin Cobb said at the news conference.

Moffitt is in critical condition at a Shreveport hospital. Her family has asked for privacy, but released a statement saying they were "devastated to learn the circumstances surrounding our daughter's injuries."

"We are sincerely sorry for any problems this may have caused and wish to express our appreciation for the outpouring of love, prayers and support we have received from friends, acquaintances, church organizations and government officials," the family wrote.

The family said they would be focusing on Moffitt and her recovery over the coming weeks.

Authorities reminded the community of how they rallied for Moffitt and encouraged them to continue doing so.

"When we felt it was an attack situation, our community was coming together," Cobb said. "They were coming in to support her from all sides and we should continue to do that."

This is not the first time someone has faked an allegedly hate crime.

Earlier this year, a Nebraska woman was arrested for faking an anti-gay hate crime in which she claimed three masked men bound her, cut words into her skin and spray-painted slurs on her wall before setting her house on fire.

Charlie Rogers, 33, had told police that the three assailants broke into her Lincoln, Neb., home on July 22.

Jessica Biel name change: Call her Mrs. Timberlake

Jessica Biel is going to change her name. The actress married beau Justin Timberlake last Friday in Italy and on Oct. 26, Today reported that she will officially take her husband's last name. While this is "traditional," a lot of famous women choose not to change their names because they are well known by the name they already have.

"Yes, I'm changing my name. My professional name will still be the same, but for life, yes, I think it sounds great. I think I really won the jackpot of names," Biel explained. She joins a long list of women who have decided to keep their maiden name in the professional world. Carrie Underwood, for example, goes by Carrie Fisher in her personal life.

Jessica Biel's name change could take a couple of weeks to go through. She has to file all of the appropriate paperwork and to get everything in order. However, it doesn't seem like Biel put too much thought in to it. Just because she's famous doesn't mean that she wouldn't want to take her husband's last name—and she's right... she did "win the jackpot" of names. There are thousands of girls who would just die to have Justin's last name.

Jessica and Justin have been dating for quite a few years. They became engaged in December 2011 and didn't waste too much time planning their wedding. They both played coy when asked about their upcoming nuptials, but it certainly seems like they knew exactly what they wanted to do.

Jessica Biel's name change won't affect her career. As she explains, she will still use "Biel" in the professional world.

Santa gives up smoking in new 'Night Before Christmas'

As a role model, Santa’s got some health issues. He’s overweight, and he zooms around the world in terrible weather and drops down soot-filled chimneys. But worst of all in the mind of anti-smoking crusader Pamela McColl is that “stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth.”

“I just really don’t think Santa should be smoking in the 21stcentury,” McColl said by telephone. And she did something about it – published a version of the beloved poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas” with the smoking references – including illustrations – excised.

It’s tough to find anyone who would advocate for children to smoke, but that’s not to say the new version of the poem is getting unanimous support. Critics doubt Santa’s pipe will get youngsters to light up, and they say it's not OK to muck with the original poem.

“My fear is not that kids will read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' and take up smoking. My fear is that kids will take their cues from models I revere nowhere near as much as I revere literature,” said David Kipen, owner of Libros Schmibros bookstore in Los Angeles and a longtime literature advocate.

McColl, a Canadian publisher, said she came across a smoking Santa while browsing in a library. It was, she said, a eureka moment.

“I grew up in the '60s, in the ‘Mad Men’ series,” said McColl, herself a former smoker. And when she looked at her childhood edition of the Christmas Eve story, she found Santa smoking on half of the pages.

“A lot of people my age have lost someone to smoking,” McColl said. “And I thought, ‘Oh my. This is a great project.’”

 “… And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath,” reads the poem, first published in 1823 and  attributed to Clement C. Moore – and called by virtually everyone “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

So with illustrators Elena Almazova and Vitaly Shvarov, McColl put out the new version (published by Grafton and Scratch, in Spanish, English and French), with a note from Santa on the back flap that says his fur is fake and he has “decided to leave all of that old tired business of smoking well behind us.”

The reaction, McColl said, has been mixed: support from children’s advocates and pediatricians but strong criticism from librarians and those who oppose censorship.

“It bespeaks such a wholesale misunderstanding of what literature is or does,” Kipen said. “Given a choice of kids smoking or not smoking, I would come out on the side of kids not smoking. But I don’t think the means justify the ends.”

He added, "Smoking killed my dad, so it’s not like I'm an apologist for the devil weed."

McColl said she’s not out to eliminate the other versions of the tale.
“I didn’t run into any opposition until someone said he’s a historical figure. He’s not historical to the people I’m worried about. To children, he’s real. He’s coming down the chimney and he’s smoking in the middle of the living room,” she said.

As for Santa’s “chubby and plump” stature, McColl said she’ll leave that to others.

“He doesn’t eat in the story. That’s not my issue," she said. "That’s Jamie Oliver and other people’s issue.”