Jenjie

Not being funny, but if the Portugese police were going to issue a warrant for the laptop etc. why would the papers go and print it? talk about an advance warning if anything fishy was/is going on

The Times has published a summary Madeleine McCann: the key questions Who is revealing details about scientific evidence? By law Portuguese police are prevented from revealing details of investigations. However, some officers have been secretly briefing Portuguese journalists. What scientific evidence have police collected? In a briefings on Monday night detectives said that they found traces of “bodily fluids” in the car which had probably come from Madeleine with a large amount of Madeleine’s hair in the boot of the car. Why are the “bodily fluids” significant? When pathologists refer to bodily fluids they usually mean the putrefying substance created during the decomposition of a body tissue and blood. This “fluid” is evidence that a corpse has been present, but DNA samples are required to identify the body. It is unclear what “fluids” have been found. It might be traces of urine, dried blood or vomit, which would not conclusively prove Madeleine had died. Does a large quantity of hair prove that Madeleine’s body was in the car? No. The hair must show evidence that it came from a decomposing body. Other hair could be “transmitted” from items of Madeleine’s clothing and belongings. Is anyone else confirming these reports? Sources in Britain who are assisting the Portuguese investigation have agreed that there is “significant” scientific evidence linking Mr and Mrs McCann to their daughter’s death. However, Portuguese officers took the highly unusual step of publicly denying a report which was allegedly based on sources in Britain. Does the scientific evidence prove that Madeleine was killed? Because the samples have degraded over time the scientists can never be 100 per cent certain that they came from Madeleine. Do Portuguese detectives think there is enough evidence to secure a conviction? Senior officers now believe they have sufficient evidence to charge Kate and Gerry McCann for concealing a body and probably to convict Mrs McCann with accidentally killing her daughter. However, they privately admitted earlier this week that they still could not prove that Madeleine was intentionally killed. What happened in the four hours before Madeleine was reported missing? Kate and Gerry McCann claim that while they dined at a restaurant with friends regular checks were made on Madeleine and their two-year-old twins, Sean and Amelie, at their nearby holiday apartment. Mr McCann told police he saw his daughter asleep at about 9pm. A friend, Matthew Oldfield, entered the apartment at about 9.30pm but did not look in the bedroom Madeleine and the twins were sharing. It is not known if anyone apart from Mr and Mrs McCann saw Madeleine alive between 6pm and 10pm, when she was reported missing by her mother. The timing is crucial but would be only circumstantial evidence in any prosecution. Although a small child could be killed quickly it would take time to hide a body so that it was not discovered in the biggest search in Portuguese history. Why did Kate McCann cry out “They’ve taken her?” when she discovered Madeleine missing? Portuguese police are reported to find it suspicious that Mrs McCann immediately believed that more than one person had taken her daughter. This could suggest that she knew who had taken Madeleine, perhaps people who thought they were helping Mrs McCann by removing her daughter’s body. Alternatively, it could be an off-the-cuff remark by an hysterical mother or perhaps was misheard or misunderstood in the confusion of the night. What were the movements of the McCann’s friends on the night Madeleine disappeared? The McCann family had stayed at the Ocean Club resort with three other British couples and their five children, and a single woman. Russell O’Brien, a doctor from Exeter, left the restaurant for half an hour to look after his own daughter, returning shortly before Madeleine was reported missing. His wife, Jane Tanner, was the only witness to report a man carrying away child from the McCann’s apartments. There is confusion about when members of the party arrived at the tapas restaurant and left to check on their own sleeping children. How much alcohol did the McCanns and their friends drink on the evening Madeleine disappeared? Kate and Gerry McCann and their friends are reported to have told detectives they shared four bottles of wine, with another two barely touched before Madeleine was discovered missing. However, it is claimed detectives have recovered a bill showing they downed eight bottles of red wine and six white during the afternoon and evening. Why was Madeleine’s bedroom window and shutter open? Kate and Gerry McCann told police that the window shutter in Madeleine’s bedroom, which could not been seen from the restaurant, had been forced open. Police tests showed the heavy metal shutter had not been forced up from the outside, so must have been pulled open from inside the room. Assuming that the abductor entered through the apartment’s unlocked patio windows, why would he or she not leave by the same way or the use the front door? Or was the window opened to make it appear as if an intruder had used it to enter the bedroom? Why did Madeleine’s sister and brother sleep through her “abduction”? Sean and Amelie were heavy sleepers who were not disturbed by their sister’s abduction, claim their parents. However, they also slept through their mother’s hysterical response to Madeleine’s disappearance and the presence of dozens of people who joined the search before being carried out by a female police officer. Kate and Gerry McCann have strenuously denied sedating their daughter. Why were the McCanns allowed to leave Portugal if they are suspects? The Portuguese authorities allowed the McCanns to return to the UK after they agreed to reside only at their home in Rothley and to return for further questioning if necessary. Portugese law states that after someone is declared a suspect, police have eight months to conclude the investigation into that individual. If they require further time officers can apply to the courts for a four-month extension. If the McCanns refused to comply with a request to return to the Algarve for interview, Portuguese police could issue a European Arrest Warrant under which extradition can be carried out within six weeks. Why has it taken so long to find the evidence that could implicate Kate and Gerry McCann? The material was only collected at the end of July and early August in a review of the investigation carried out by Portuguese detectives with the help of British police and two sniffer dogs. Many of the samples are very small, containing just a few cells, while others are of poor quality because of damage by cleaning or simply the passing of time. A full report of the findings will not be ready for weeks, but many results have already been passed to the Portuguese authorities. What evidence were police looking for? Detectives are searching for any evidence that proves Madeleine is dead or contradicts the accounts of Mr and Mrs McCann and other witnesses. What is the most important new evidence? It appears the Forensic Science Service believes it has discovered compelling new evidence, possibly from more than one source. Portuguese detectives told Mrs McCann repeatedly that they found traces of Madeleine’s blood in a Renault Scenic hired three weeks after she disappeared, suggesting that the missing girl’s parents used the vehicle to carry her body. It is possible to tell if the blood came from a living person or from a corpse, and even the time of death. However, some reports suggest that the quality of the blood sample was too poor to confirm the origin while others have denied any blood was found in the vehicle and claim it was other “bodily fluids”. Unless a body had been placed in a freezer, it would have badly decomposed during the warm weather; leaving a mass of traces invisible to the human eye. Does any trace of Madeleine in the hire car prove she was killed? No. Mr and Mrs McCann hired the car to buy new clothes in the town of Portimão a day before they flew to Rome to see Pope Benedict XVI. They then used it regularly for family outings and to collect friends and relatives from Faro airport. They continued using the car until shortly before flying home yesterday. Kate and Gerry and their two-year-old twins would have often carried in the car items used by Madeleine. These items could easily certainly carry Madeleine’s hair and minute traces of skin, dried blood, saliva and vomit. The same could be said of the holiday apartments used by the McCanns and their friends in the Ocean Club resort. However, if the blood came from Madeleine’s corpse the only other highly unlikely explanation would be that a previous hirer had moved the body. One report suggested yesterday that Madeleine’s DNA had been found on the floor of the McCanns holiday apartment, but because of degredation it was based on an incomplete picture, with only 15 of the 20 genetic markers usually used for such analysis. What is the DNA evidence that has supposedly been found by the Portuguese investigators? Newspapers in Portugal have been reporting that “biological fluids” with an 80 per cent match to Madeleine’s DNA have been found underneath upholstery in the boot of the McCanns’ rented Renault Scenic. Some media reports claimed that another DNA sample with a 100 per cent match to that of Madeleine’s profile had been found in the car. What would this tell us? Perhaps nothing. If it was sourced from something such as a hair follicle or skin cells then that could have been one of Madeleine’s hairs that had stuck to the clothes of a family member or her “cuddle cat” toy that her mother carries. If it was from Madeleine’s blood or corpse, that could be more significant. The most important issue is the size of the sample found. If there was a substantial amount of material it is unlikely to be from accidental contamination and would indicate that Madeleine had been in the car. Can investigators establish if the DNA sample comes from someone who was alive or dead? Unlikely, according to British experts. A DNA profile does not change just because someone dies. You can tell if DNA has degraded but that can happen if, for example, it had been exposed to sunshine. Does an 80 per cent match with biological fluids indicate that Madeleine was definitely in the car? No. The sample will have been tested against a definite sample of Madeleine’s. A 80 per cent match indicates that profilers could find only 16 of the 20 markers usually used for such analysis and suggests that the biological traces are tiny and degraded. Additionally, the twins Sean and Amelie could share a high percentage of DNA characteristics as most siblings do. What complicates the matter further is that all three of the McCanns’ children were born through IVF and it is unknown whether the couple’s sperm and eggs were used for conception. What about the discoveries of the “cadaver” sniffer dog? Mr and Mrs McCann were shown a police video of a sniffer dog used to find corpses “going crazy” when it approached the hire car. Reports also claim that is discovered the scent on the vehicle’s key fob. Mrs McCann is reported to have explained that in her work as locum GP she came into contact with six corpses in the weeks leading up to Algarve holiday. This seems a high number for a locum GP working just a couple of days a week but would be easy to check against surgery records. The crucial difficulty with the sniffer dog “evidence” is that it cannot distinguish between corpses. This type of dog is trained to find bodies, not identify where dead bodies have been. Crucially, they can become excited by other scents. Any evidence of Madeleine’s death on Cuddle Cat? The cadaver dog is alleged to have become excited when shown Madeleine’s favourite soft pink toy, called Cuddle Cat. The cat had become poignant symbol of a mother’s loss as Kate McCann carried it with her at all time from the night of Madeleine’s disappearance. She washed it four days after the police tests, claiming it had become dirty. The toy was potentially crucial evidence and should have been seized by police very early in the investigation. What evidence can be found in Mrs McCann’s Bible? Mrs McCann, a devout Roman Catholic, claims that police told her that a crumpled page in her Bible was evidence that she was involved in the death of her daughter. The page contained a passage from Samuel II, chapter 12, verses 15-19, which recalls how man’s child is stricken with illness after he “scorns” the Lord. The man fasts for seven days, refusing to get up off the ground, to try to gain redemption — but eventually his child dies. Mrs McCann claims that detectives told her that damage to the page proved she had been reading it. Why are the McCanns suspects in their daughter’s killing? Portuguese police refuse to say why the couple have been made official suspects. Under Portuguese law police can not question someone as if they had committed a crime unless they are a “suspect”. It could simply be that police wanted to ask the couple about the evidence they had collected, and that the seriousness of the process has been misunderstood and exaggerated by cultural and language differences. The McCanns believed that they were about to be charged with Madeleine’s death, but it does not appear police disclosed any crucial evidence to them. All parties have strenuously denied any wrongdoing. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2422967.ece

1984 was written before cctv was invented wasn't it?

cinder toffee in the fridge

coz it usually means there's 5 whole days before the wekend. but even on weeks where i've got a mid-week day off, mon still feels like mon

Sunday. its fry-up with Ian, Hollyoaks omnibus & chill day

and when its described so well as in "The Time Traveller's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger, you could believe it could happen. with all the evolution going on, who's to say that a time-travelling gene won't pop up

random, very random, and I'm feeling slighty concerned Mr Burns :stunned:

mmmmhmmmm! and i get to speak to old people who still haven't cottoned on. i also remember London having proper numbers like 071 & 081 rather than this new fangled 0207 & 0208

i do indeedie :-)

Founder of ethical cosmetics firm Body Shop, Dame Anita Roddick, has died at the age of 64. Her family said in a statement she suffered "a major brain haemorrhage" at 1830 BST at St Richard's Hospital in Chichester, West Sussex. Her husband, Gordon, and daughters Sam and Justine were all with her. Dame Anita set up the first Body Shop in Brighton in 1976. She pioneered cruelty-free beauty products and turned them into a highly profitable business. In February she announced she had contracted Hepatitis C from a blood transfusion in 1971. She had been taken to hospital on Sunday evening after she collapsed complaining of a headache. 'Force for good' Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid tribute to Dame Anita, calling her "one of the country's true pioneers" and an "inspiration" to businesswomen. He said: "She campaigned for green issues for many years before it became fashionable to do so and inspired millions to the cause by bringing sustainable products to a mass market. "She will be remembered not only as a great campaigner but also as a great entrepreneur." The Body Shop became part of the French company L'Oreal Group in July 2006 but is run independently. The daughter of Italian immigrants, Dame Anita became one of Britain's most successful businesswomen. She was the first to introduce socially and environmentally responsible business onto the High Street and she was talking about fair trade long before it became a buzz word. Body Shop - with its ethically-sourced products - was one of the icons of the High Street in the 1980s. Its fortunes had been hit in recent years as rivals started making similar products, but the retailer fought back and has more than 2,100 stores in 55 countries. The family's statement said: "Gordon, Justine and Sam Roddick are very sad to announce that, after suffering a major brain haemorrhage, Anita Roddick died at 6.30pm this evening at the age of 64. "Anita Roddick was admitted to St Richard's Hospital in Chichester, close to her home, yesterday evening when she collapsed after complaining of a sudden headache. "Mrs Roddick was admitted to the hospital's intensive care unit and her husband Gordon and two daughters, Sam and Justine, were with her when she died." 'Own mortality' Dame Anita revealed she was suffering from cirrhosis of the liver after contracting Hepatitis C from blood given during the birth of her youngest daughter, Sam. She said she had unknowingly lived with "this silent killer" for three decades and only found out about it two years ago after a blood test. "What I can say is that having Hep C means that I live with a sharp sense of my own mortality, which in many ways makes life more vivid and immediate," Dame Anita said. "It makes me even more determined to just get on with things." She told BBC News in July she had been having "some tiny heart attacks", which she put down to "getting in and out of aeroplanes so often". "I can't really have any treatment because I have both cirrhosis and a particular strain of the virus that makes me unlikely to respond," she added. Dame Anita started campaigning for Hepatitis C to be taken more seriously as a "public health challenge". 'Ahead of her time' Justin Francis, who worked with her at Body Shop, said she was a "pioneer" who advocated business could be a "force for good". He said: "She had a great passion for life, a great passion for business and for people. She was very warm, very witty and very clever." John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace, said Dame Anita was an "incredible woman" who was passionate about environmental and human rights issues. He said: "She was an amazing inspiration to those around her. "She was so ahead of her time when it came to issues of how business could be done...When you look at it today, and how every company claims to be green, she was living this decades ago." Clive Stafford Smith, legal director of anti-death penalty organisation Reprieve, said she had just agreed to be its chairwoman. 'True champion' "It is a real shame," he said. "We were so happy to have her, she was so full of life, so fantastic. "She was so dedicated, so energetic, she will be sorely missed." Emma Colyer from the HIV and Aids charity Body and Soul, which Dame Anita set up, told BBC News it was a terribly sad day for society at large. "Anita carried out campaigns on so many issues and often issues that were not popular by the mass of public and took some strength of character to become involved in," she said. Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen said Dame Anita's passion for human rights was "immeasurable". She said: "We have lost a true champion of the oppressed and persecuted. "Anita had been a key part of Amnesty International for many years and had shared her brilliance and energy with us to marvellous effect." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6988343.stm

having seen the effort on sat evening, i think we can say we're generally stuffed. we'll be lucky to get past the group stages

1408 - 7/10. reasonable storyline, far too psychologically jumpy. definitely one to watch at home on the sofa with a huge big cushion

oh, and I'm rather tempted by the re-issue jacket on the World According to Clarkson. Penguin have re-issued a pile of books with limited edition old style stripey jackets, and they look rather cool

3 months to paint it? they painting pretty murals or something? seems like a heck of a long time.

saw the original for some cheap price in hmv this evening. re-make trailers do look pretty cool though

not read any of them yet, although now i have my nice shiny new library card, I may have to go on a mission to find them

ouch! poor Olly Barkley will have a sore head in the morning

Don't work in a bookshop no more :cry: , am learning all about the joys of car insurance instead. However, it does look like a new instalment of Mr Clarkson's series. If you head over to http://www.penguin.co.uk and search for it, its showing released 04-oct-2007. and as far as i know they usually mention if its a re-issue And thank you for helping me to discover this too :)

nope coz the ratatouille one is so good, they'll keep it running for ages

not round here because not all stations are manned. you can buy a ticket on the train, but you can't buy any kind of concessionary/cheap day tickets from the ticket inspector.

the tables also stop you puttig you feet up. you can't get a comfortable angle coz the table blocks your knees. plus you then run the risk of getting chewing gum all over you.

i don't believe its in decline, i think its pretty much hit the bottom

noooooo! reminds me of being in primary school when we used to get proper snow

proper winter snow is at least a couple of inches that covers the area for a few days without turning to slush. not this light sprinkling which turns to slush in half a day and makes everywehere ick. proper snow is the sort whereby you can make a snowman, and go walking and have that lovely compacting crunch sound. the sort of winters where you have to stock your cupboards up just in case you get snowed in