I N T E R N A T I O N A L
I N T E R N A T I O N A L
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Thursday, October 4, 2012
David Blaine goes high voltage with latest stunt Associated Press WRiter
NEW YORK — David Blaine is spending the days leading up to his next stunt lying low. “I’ll mostly be relaxing, meditating and playing with my daughter ... and trying not to deprive myself of sleep,” the illusionist said at a Tuesday press conference after demonstrating the stunt at low voltage. He will need the rest. Beginning Friday, Blaine will spend three days and three nights standing in the middle of a million volts of electric currents streamed by tesla coils. The feat is called “Electrified: One Million Volts Always On” and will take place at Pier 54 on New York’s West Side. It will be open to the public, and spectators can type messages to Blaine, control the electricity around him and basically help keep him alert. “Electrified” also will be streamed on
YouTube, thanks to computing company Intel. Viewing stations will be located in London, Beijing, Tokyo and Sydney. Viewers at the stations also will be able to control the coils. Blaine, who said he lives nearby, joked that he hopes to walk home after it is all over. Safety is a bigger concern now that Blaine is a father. He has a 20-month-old daughter. For the stunt, the 39-year-old will wear a chainmail bodysuit as a barrier between himself and the electric currents. He will have a wire helmet on, a visor to shield
his eyes, and hearing protection for his ears. The air he is breathing will be monitored. Blaine won’t be able to eat but will have a tube for water in and another tube for water out, so to speak. Because he is fasting for days beforehand, he doesn’t expect any other bodily waste. “I don’t know how I could ever top this,” he said. “This is an overly-ambitious idea, and I’m literally shocked that it came together. This is one of the craziest things that I ever dreamed up, and I don’t know how I could go beyond it.” Blaine’s last stunt was hanging without a net high over New York’s Central Park for 60 hours in 2008. For other stunts, he held his breath underwater for 17 minutes and 4 seconds, was buried alive for a week in a see-through coffin and was encased in a block of ice for 63 hours.
Ben Affleck: Republicans ‘had a chance’
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FILE - This Oct. 13, 2008 file photo shows David Blaine attending a Cinema Society and Dolce Gabbana hosted special screening of “Filth and Wisdom” in New York.
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Robin Van Persie has found a home in Man U Page 8
Bali Art Center Page 10
Series of suicide bombings kill 27
Associated Press Writer
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Ben Affleck is comparing U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to past campaign losers Al Gore, Michael Dukakis and Bob Dole. But the actor and director, who has been outspoken in support of Democratic causes in the past, also doesn’t offer full-throated support for President Barack Obama. “I voted for Obama last time although he got to be all things to all people then,” Affleck said in an interview to promote his new film “Argo.” ‘’And now he’s got a record which makes it really different ... I obviously have more complicated feelings.” Affleck says Romney’s inability to connect with everyday Americans is reminiscent of past failed candidates. “I think Republicans really had a chance to win,” Affleck said. “And they kind of ended up with like a sort of Mike Dukakis, Al Gore, Bob Dole type — who just couldn’t get people to see him as a real person somehow. Romney just had such trouble coming off as just like the kind of person you see at the grocery store. And I truly believe that has cost him the election.” “It seems quite unlikely at least if you look at the statistics that he’s going to pull it out. I think something happens in presidential politics where there’s negative momentum. You start making mistakes and then all your advisers tell you, ‘You’ve got to raise your arms more!’ ‘You’ve got to talk deeper.’ So people just get into becoming robotic.” Affleck’s “Argo,” in theatres Oct. 12, chronicles a joint effort by the CIA and the Canadian government to rescue six Americans from Tehran after the U.S. embassy was taken over by Islamist militants in 1978.
AP Photo/SANA
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian men walk at a street between destroyed buildings where triple bombs rocked at the Saadallah al-Jabri square, in Aleppo city, Syria, Wednesday Oct. 3, 2012. Three powerful explosions rocked the main square in a government-controlled central district of Aleppo on Wednesday, the Syrian state-run TV said. Activists reported multiple casualties and heavy material damage. Associated Press
DAMASCUS — A Syrian government official says at least 27 people have been killed in a series of suicide bombings that struck the northern city of Aleppo. The official also says that scores of people were wounded in the explosions, which went off Wednesday in a main square in the city, near an officers’ club. The official spoke to The Associated Press in Damascus on condition of anonymity in line with government regulations. Aleppo-based activists also reported on the bombings, saying they went off minutes apart. A Syrian pro-government tele-
vision showed footage of massive destruction from the scene of the blasts. According to state-run TV, three powerful explosions rocked the main square in a governmentcontrolled central district of Aleppo on Wednesday, the Syrian state-run TV said. Activists reported multiple casualties and heavy material damage. There were no immediate details on the nature of the blasts, which
activists said were likely Aleppo-based activist caused by car bombs. Mohammad Saeed said The northern city of the explosions went off Aleppo, Syria’s commercial minutes apart at one of hub and largest city, has seen the city’s main squares. intensified fighting between He said the blasts appear regime forces and rebels tryto have been caused by car ing to oust President Bashar bombs and were followed More photos Assad, especially after the by clashes and heavy and article fighters launched a new of- scan QR Code gunfire. fensive last week. The area is controlled Syrian TV reported the triple by government forces and there is a bombings at the Saadallah al-Jabri military club nearby which activists square, describing them as the work said may have been the target. of “terrorists.” Authorities refer to The Britain-based Syrian Obrebels fighting to topple Assad as servatory for Human Rights, which terrorists and armed gangs. relies on a network of activists on The TV did not provide further the ground, reported dozens of details. casualties from the blasts, most
of them members of the regime forces. In a statement, it said the explosions went off following a clash between guards at the military club and gunmen, suggesting the attacks may have been suicide bombings. Suicide and car bombings targeting security agencies and soldiers have become common in Syria, particularly in the capital, Damascus, during the course of the 18-monthuprising against Assad. But such bombings have been rare in Aleppo, which was spared the mayhem that struck other Syrian cities during the first year of the revolt.
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