Coffee prepared at 20,000ft in balloon record bid

A team from Lithuania has set a new world record by preparing a cup of coffee in an air balloon flying at more than 20,000 feet (6.3km) high.

Nidas Kiuberis, Grazvydas Vilcinskas and Vytautas Samarinas had to don protective clothing and oxygen masks before reaching the impressive height.

Once there, with a temperature of around -20C, they used a special aero-press coffee maker to push hot water through the filter and produce a quality cup of coffee.

Coffee expert Kiuberis then took off his oxygen mask and quickly tasted it before putting the mask back on. He said the brew was “as tasty as on earth” not better “as tasty” so worth flying to 20,000ft then?

US seeks end to Libya bloodshed: Gaddafi assets frozen

BENGHAZI: The United States sought to drum up international backing for ways to stem the bloodshed in Libya as forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi waged fierce gun battles with opposition rebels holding cities near the capital.

President Barack Obama consulted the French, British and Italian leaders late on Thursday on immediate steps against Gaddafi over his bloody crackdown on a popular uprising in which up to 2,000 people may have died, according to French estimates.

As oil prices leapt towards $120, stoking fears the fragile global economic recovery could be threatened, Washington, which once branded Gaddafi a “mad dog,” said it was keeping all options open, including sanctions and military action.

However, coordinated international action against Gaddafi, who has ruled the oil-rich desert nation of six million for 41 years, still seemed some way off, as foreign governments focussed on evacuating thousands of their citizens trapped by the unrest.

With the Middle East still absorbing the aftershocks from the overthrow of veteran, Western-backed leaders in Tunisia and Egypt by people power, Western governments are also concerned not to be seen to be imposing neo-colonial solutions on Libya.

Disparate opposition forces were already in control of major centres in the east, including the second city Benghazi. Reports of the third city Misrata, as well as Zuara, in the west also falling brought the tide of rebellion closer to Gaddafi’s power base — though information from western Libya remained patchy.

Little opposition organisation exists in Libya after four decades of oppression, so the nature of the new ruling orders in eastern cities is still unclear. There was little sign of radical Islamists among the lawyers, doctors, tribal elders and army officers who made up committees trying to bring order.

But Gaddafi, appealing for calm on Thursday in a telephone call to state television, blamed the revolt on al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. He also said the protesters were fuelled by milk and Nescafe spiked with hallucinogenic drugs.

His opponents, including some in the capital Tripoli where many kept off the streets for fear of violence, said the latest public appearance by the 68-year-old showed he was out of touch.

“Their ages are 17. They give them pills at night, they put hallucinatory pills in their drinks, their milk, their coffee, their Nescafe,” Gaddafi said of the rebels fighting his forces.

His apparently conciliatory tone contrasted sharply with his raging defiance two days before when he vowed on television to crush the revolt and die a “martyr” in Libya, unlike the leaders in Egypt and Tunis ousted in past weeks by mass uprisings.

Amid reports of Gaddafi and his sons deploying African mercenaries and their own clansmen, all with little to lose if the old order is to collapse, a former minister who bolted Gaddafi’s cabinet this week said he believed Colonel Gaddafi would “do what Hitler did” and take his own life if cornered.

As growing numbers of Libyan officials, including cabinet ministers and ambassadors, reportedly deserted Gaddafi, the Swiss government said it was freezing assets of his family.

Libya’s foreign ministry denied that the leader had any such funds and said it would sue Switzerland for saying so. The Daily Telegraph said in an unsourced report that Britain may seize some $30 billion (18.6 billion pounds) held in Britain.

Diplomatic differences emerged even in a push by Western states to suspend Libya from the low-powered U.N. Human Rights Council, which met with strong resistance from Arab and some other Islamic states, as well as from Russia and Cuba.

Obama is sending Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Geneva on Monday to push the U.N. body to condemn Libya.

Gaddafi’s grip on power could depend in part on the performance around Tripoli of an elite military unit led by one of his younger sons, U.S. and European officials and secret diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks showed.

Libya’s 32nd Brigade, led by Gaddafi’s son Khamees, is the most elite of three last-ditch “regime protection units” totalling about 10,000 men in all, which are better equipped and more loyal to Gaddafi than the rest of the military, which has seen heavy desertion, officials said.

A witness told Reuters the unit had attacked anti-government militias controlling the town of Misrata, 200 km (120 miles) east of Tripoli, killing several people, although residents said the government forces were beaten back by lightly armed local people.

Mini-van bomb kills 23 in central Iraq

A minivan packed with explosives blew up at a crowded market in Iraqs troubled northern Diyala province on Friday, killing at least 23 people and wounding 55 others, police said.
The attack took place near a crowded cafe just steps from the headquarters of a police rapid-response unit in the town of Khalis, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
The bomb exploded around sunset when the area was filled with shoppers.
The blast was severe. Many shops were destroyed and the roofs collapsed, one of the police lieutenants said. The roof of the coffee shop, which was full of people, also collapsed. We believe there are people still under the debris.Overall violence in Iraq has dropped sharply since the sectarian slaughter of 2006-07 but bombings are still a regular occurrence and the insurgency unleashed by the 2003 U.S. invasion remains entrenched in mainly Sunni Diyala and other parts of northern Iraq.

Birthday Wishes to Bipasha Basu

MUMBAI: It’s Bipasha Basu’s birthday today. We bring to you the birthday girl’s life journey, and some trivia.

This bong beauty was a smart kid right from the beginning. She did her schooling from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Kolkata. She was the prefect at first and then the head girl. She started modeling at a very early age of 16. She did fashion shows all over the world. But till date deep down she regrets the fact about not being able to finish her education.

She won a few beauty contests, and then the Ford Supermodel of the World in December 1996. After that, modeling contracts in New York and Paris took over her life. But inspite of the fame and the lifestyle she did not quite enjoy her modeling days. She got tired of it and was on the verge of opening up a restaurant when her first movie offer came in. She came into the limelight with her coffee bean complexion in ‘Ajnabee’ and was called a scorcher for her skin show in ‘Jism’. But Bollywood beauty Bipasha Basu, who turns 30 today, has now moved on from being just a sex icon and is signing on mature roles.

She was voted the Sexiest Asian woman in 2007 by the British weekly newspaper Eastern Eye, the starlet of films like ‘Rudraksh’, ‘No Entry’, ‘Omkara’ and ‘Dhoom 2? has started  taking steps towards signing on for serious roles.

Her attempt to do serious roles started with Prakash Jha’s 2005 political drama ‘Apaharan’. He presented her in a deglamourised role, but it was Ajay Devgan who took the limelight. Bipasha’s first meatier role was in Madhur Bhandarkar’s critically acclaimed 2006 film ‘Corporate’. She proved her acting abilities and both critics and audiences applauded her performance. She was nominated for the Filmfare Best Actress award.

In 2008 we saw her in Rituparno Ghosh’s Bengali film ‘Shob Charitro Kalponik’ and is currently doing Sudipto Chattopadhyaya’s ‘Pankh’ and Rahul Dholakia’s ‘Lamhaa’.

Inspite of doing fewer hits and more misses, the actress, who entered the industry in 2001, constantly hogged the limelight, something to do with her oomph factor, we guess? Her personal life is also said to be rocking as she is currently dating the “Sexiest Man in Asia”. John Abraham.

Finally in 2008 she came back in action with hits like ‘Race’ and ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’.and she catches her fans agian with ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jori’ and ‘Aa Dekhen Zara’

For her role in her next film Lamhaa’,she plays the role of a Kashmiri girl.When we say a Kashmiri girl in Hindi films what comes to our mind is a fair-skinned, light-eyed girl. But she disproved that myth. Bip’s is all set to change the dynamics of physical appearances of a Kashmiri girl.

This dusky damsel has no interest in going to Hollywood and doing films there coz she knows that right from Big B to any other actor they all have to go through the process of screen test and other formalities as no one there recognizes the Bollywood stars So instead of starting from a scratch she prefers to stay here and enjoy her stardom.

On her 30th birthday we wish the actress a very happy birthday and a very successful career ahead.

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Birthday Wishes to Bipasha Basu was first posted on January 7, 2010 at 5:05 pm.

What Happened To Chris Cuomo

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On GMA Monday, gone was Cuomo, arrived was George Stephanopoulos. What happened?
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Stephanopoulos joins GMA after 7 years hosting THIS WEEK on Sunday. Chris Cuomo is now moving [...]

Gevalia Pod Coffee Maker,Gevalia Coffee Pods

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Four Police officers Shot Dead in Washington

SEATTLE : Lakewood Police Department Washington,  Four police officers were gunned down in an execution-style ambush at a coffee shop in Washington on Sunday, triggering a manhunt for a convicted armed robber with a history of violence.

Pierce County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Ed Troyer said the victims were sitting at a table in the cafe before their shift when a lone gunman entered and started shooting at around 8:15 am (1615 GMT) local time.

“We have somebody out there who blatantly went in and opened fire on four police officers, killing all four of them,” Troyer said following the shooting near McChord Air Force base in Tacoma, south of Seattle.

Late Sunday the identities of the victims — who were all wearing uniform including bulletproof vests at the time of the attack — were released.

The dead were named as Sergeant Mark Renninger, 39, Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and Greg Richards, 42. All of the officers were married with children, police said.

Troyer said the officers, from nearby Lakewood Police Department, had been specifically targeted, noting that staff and customers at the coffee shop had not been shot at. “This was more of an execution. Walk in with the specific mindset to shoot police officers.”

The suspected gunman was described as a “black male in his 20s or 30s” Troyer told reporters. “He walked in with a handgun, opened fire multiple times and fled the scene,” he said.

Pierce County Sheriff’s Office said later Sunday they were seeking Maurice Clemmons, 37, for questioning as a “person of interest in the case.”

According to reports, Clemmons has a long criminal history including five felony convictions in Arkansas and several felony charges in Washington.

He had been in jail in Pierce County for several months until recently pending a charge of second-degree rape of a child.

According to the Seattle Times, Clemmons served only a fraction of a 35-year prison term in Arkansas before his sentence was controversially commuted by the state’s then Governor Mike Huckabee, who mounted an unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.

Troyer earlier told King 5 local television that one of the mortally wounded officers may have traded fire with the gunman.

“There is evidence that a Lakewood Police officer fired off some shots and we hope that he hit him,” Troyer said. “If he’s hit, that means that he’s injured somewhere with a gunshot wound.”

Troyer said local hospitals had been alerted in case the suspect sought medical attention.

Police set up tiplines and offered a 10,000-dollar reward for anyone with information about those responsible for the shooting.

Around 200 officers from different law enforcement agencies were involved in the hunt for the shooting suspect late Sunday, police said.

“We have no motive at all,” Troyer told King 5. “I don’t think when we find out what it is, it will be anything that makes any sense or be worth it.”

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire voiced his shock at the shootings, which local media said was the worst single loss of life involving law enforcement officers in state history.

“I am shocked and horrified at the murder of four police officers this morning in Pierce County,” Gregoire said.

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Four Police officers Shot Dead in Washington was first posted on November 30, 2009 at 11:07 am.