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Tuesday 14 October 2014

Prosecutors say dead babies were found clothed

UXBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — At least two of the three babies whose skeletal remains were found in a filthy Massachusetts home may have been alive "for some period of time" before they were found, prosecutors said in court on Tuesday.

Both bodies were found wearing diapers and one-piece infant outfits in closets in the vermin-infested Blackstone home, assistant district attorney John Bradley said at a pretrial hearing for Erika Murray in Uxbridge District Court.

Murray, 31, of Blackstone, had been held without bail since her arraignment last month on charges of fetal death concealment, witness intimidation and permitting substantial injury to a child.

A judge on Tuesday ordered Murray held on $1 million cash bail. A prosecutor had asked for $5 million cash bail.

The state Department of Children and Families removed four children ranging in age from 6 months to 13 years from Murray's home in August after her 10-year-old son went to a neighbor's house and asked for help in quieting a crying baby.

The neighbor found the youngest child covered in feces and a 3-year-old child. After interviewing the older children, police got a search warrant and went back to the house, where they found the skeletal remains of one baby with a full head of hair in a backpack in

Monday 13 October 2014

upcoming movies based on games



Tetris
Hollywood has produced tons of stellar adaptations. "The Godfather" was translated beautifully from Mario Puzo’s novel. "Driving Miss Daisy" hit no speedbumps in its move from stage to screen. "The Avengers" turned the comic-book series into a pop-culture juggernaut.

When it comes to games, though, film studios have yet to find the magic formula. That hasn’t stopped them from trying. Here are 9 upcoming films that are based on games.



Tetris. Having produced the "Mortal Kombat" films in the 1990s, Threshold Entertainment knows a thing or two about movies based on games. This one is a head-scratcher, though. The company envisions this 30-year-old puzzle game as an "epic sci-fi story," which is interesting since Tetris is neither sci-fi nor epic. Since the film was only announced last week, it has no cast, director, or producer yet, so for now, we’ll remain puzzled.
Candy Land  


Candy Land.
 Adam Sandler is set to star in this adaptation of the tasty kid’s board game, but it’s currently stuck in Sticky Lawsuit Swamp. Landmark Entertainment Group claims it came up with characters like King Kandy and Princess Lolly and in turn has sued Hasbro, saying the company didn't have the rights to license the game to Sony. Sandler and Robert Smigel (who also cut his teeth at Saturday Night Live) were last said to be working on the screenplay, with Kevin (Enchanted) Lima set to direct. (Image credit: Flickr user Mimi Mia)

Insight - Nigeria's 'megachurches': a hidden pillar of Africa's top economy

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Worshippers attend a church service at Living Faith …
Worshippers, dressed in traditional attires, attend a church service at the Living Faith Church, als …
When a guesth ouse belonging to one of Nigeria's leading Christian pastors collapsed last month, killing 115 mostly South African pilgrims, attention focussed on the multimillion-dollar "megachurches" that form a huge, untaxed sector of Africa's top economy.
Hundreds of millions of dollars change hands each year in these popular Pentecostal houses of worship, which are modelled on their counterparts in the United States.
Some of the churches can hold more than 200,000 worshippers and, with their attendant business empires, they constitute a significant section of the economy, employing tens of thousands of people and raking in tourist dollars, as well as exporting Christianity globally.
But exactly how much of Nigeria's $510 billion GDP they make up is difficult to assess, since the churches are, like the oil sector in Africa's top energy producer, largely opaque entities.
"They don't submit accounts to anybody," says Bismarck Rewane, economist and CEO of Lagos consultancy Financial Derivatives. "At least six church leaders have private jets, so they have money. How much? No one really knows."
When Nigeria recalculated its GDP in March, its economy became Africa's biggest, as previously poorly captured sectors such as mobile phones, e-commerce and its prolific "Nollywood" entertainment industry were specifically included in estimates.
There was no such separate listing for the "megachurches", whose main source of income is "tithe", the 10 percent or so of their income that followers are asked to contribute.
As the churches have charity status, they have no obligation to open their books, and certainly don't have to fill in tax returns -- an exemption that is increasingly controversial in

Bishops say gays have gifts to offer church

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Pope Francis arrives for a morning session of a two-week …
Pope Francis arrives for a morning session of a two-week synod on family issues at the Vatican, Mond …VATICAN CITY (AP) — Catholic bishops showed unprecedented openness Monday to accepting the real lives of many Catholics today, saying gays had gifts to offer the church and should be accepted and that there were "positive" aspects to a couple living together without being married.

Bishops clearly took into account the views of Pope Francis, whose "Who am I to judge?" comment

The Week in Color: Celebs Rock Red

Jessica Chastain

Jessica Chastain was perfection in a pretty red Dior frock with a ruched bodice at the Extremely Piaget soiree in L.A. The Help star, 37, added unexpected touches with bright pink pumps and a lariat necklace. (10/9/14) More photos after the cut