Bloodsuckers and Bloggers

African leaders scorned the international campaign against Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi from the luxury of an Equatorial Guinea resort built by a president who imprisoned critics in the run-up to their bi-annual summit. Equatorial Guinea’s leader, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, oversaw today’s African Union summit at a purpose-built 580 million-euro ($841 million) resort near the capital of his oil- rich nation, where the World Bank says three-quarters of the population earns less than $2 a day. Obiang, who came to power after overthrowing his uncle in 1979, now presides over an organization that is taking the moral high ground as it looks for a peaceful end to Qaddafi’s rule. Leaders demand the North Atlantic Treaty Organization halt its bombing campaign in Libya, while AU Commission head Jean Ping yesterday accused the International Criminal Court of pouring “oil on the fire” by issuing an arrest warrant for Qaddafi. “The interventions for human ri...

A hospital trust issued a strict new uniform policy after a number of complaints from its patients. The document says doctors and nurses face disciplinary action if they wear clothing that “exposes the midriff, torso or excessive cleavage”. Advertisement >> East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust rules also ban its 5,000 non-uniform staff from wearing miniskirts, shorts, denim or leggings. Hannah Middleton, Unison branch secretary for the trust, said: “There had been complaints about staff baring their midriff and health and safety problems as some had been wearing sandals. “There has always been a policy but it has now been toughened up.” A trust spokesman said: “The dress code’s aim is to establish a ­professional and consistent image that reflects the trust’s values.”

A family-run business in Melbourne's east is believed to be at the centre of a scandal in which corrupt state public servants paid massively inflated prices for print cartridges in exchange for gifts such as iPhones and shopping vouchers. The scandal was revealed yesterday in a scathing report by state Ombudsman George Brouwer and has prompted a review of Arts Victoria management. The investigation was launched after Western Australia's Corruption and Crime Commission disclosed that it was investigating a Victorian-based company that offered gifts to WA public servants if they paid exorbitant rates for cartridges. Public hearings in 2009 heard that WA government bodies buying toner cartridges from Consumable Management Group - based in Melbourne's east at Notting Hill and which traded under different names - spent $316,000 more over three years than they would have if they had used government suppliers. That company and a number of other printer suppliers, including The Bet...

Manchester United great Ryan Giggs became the latest celebrity to take legal action against the News of the World over allegedly hacking into his mobile phone, his lawyer announced on Wednesday. The 37-year-old - who it was revealed last month by a British lawmaker was the married footballer who won a court injunction to keep details of an alleged affair secret - believes he is one of those whose phone was hacked into between 2005 and 2006. The London Met Police are presently heading up an investigation into the claims. In April, Giggs's team mate Wayne Rooney said he had been contacted by detectives involved in the investigation. In 2007, the first police investigation led to the convictions and imprisonment of then News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who was employed by the paper. Goodman received four months and Mulcaire six months. Five alleged victims have reached out-of-court settlements with the newspaper, including celebrity...

The letters 'ANON' were spray painted on the windows of the mission in Ocala, Florida, early Wednesday morning, before the center opened at 1pm. The blinds were drawn still as passers-by stopped to check out the graffiti. Defaced: Front view of the Scientology Mission in Ocala, Florida, before vandals got to work Anonymous is the name of the internet-based group that has frequently attacked Scientology in the media, often with videos claiming that the organisation is a criminal racket. John Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston live in Ocala and were at the opening of the new Mission on May 29. The actor broke down in tears while thanking the town for the support given to his family following their 'intense loss' of their son Jett, who passed away in 2009, radaronline.com reports. Jett died while on a family vacation in The Bahamas. The death certificate attributed the cause of death to a seizure. Addressing the crowd of 1,000 people, Travolta said: 'This community pr...

The couple were granted a decree nisi by District Judge Penny Cushing at the Principal Registry of the High Court's Family Division in London. The judge held that the marriage had ‘broken down irretrievably’ and would be dissolved within six weeks. Divorced: Today a London court granted Elizabeth Hurley and estranged husband Arun Nayar a decree nisi Hurley had answered a question on a form which asked what ‘effect’ her husband's unreasonable behaviour might have had on her health as ‘N/A’ (not applicable). Elizabeth, 46, announced in December that she had split from her husband, after pictures emerged of her kissing cricketer Shane Warne in a hotel in London. Following the pictures' publication, both Hurley and Warne hastily issued statements revealing that their respective marriages had been over for some time. Since then, the new couple have been making headlines for their on/off romance, rendezvous in Australia and India and tabloid rumours of his ...

Hugh Hefner's fiancee Crystal Harris is a real-life runaway bride -- 5 days before walking down the aisle ... she bailed out of the Playboy Mansion and multiple sources say the wedding is off!  Our sources -- who are all at the mansion -- say Crystal, 25, and Hef, 85, had a nasty argument this weekend on the phone. When the dust settled Crystal decided to 86 the nuptials and quickly moved her stuff out. The wedding was supposed to go down Saturday. It would have been Hef's, umm ... third marriage.

Natasha Giggs, 28, has spent the past week abroad to escape the row. She said she had an eight-year fling with married Ryan which continued after she wed his brother Rhodri. After she raced into the house in Manchester yesterday, her dad Paul Lever, 54, said: “She is fine and we are very glad to have her back home safe and sound.” Natasha claims Ryan, 37, gave her £500 for an abortion after she got pregnant. She and Rhodri, 34, who married last year in Las Vegas, have a son aged four. Ryan has been on holiday with his wife Stacey, 37, and their two children. He will meet his brother for a showdown when he returns. Yesterday the Man Utd winger launched legal action against the News of the World over alleged phone hacking.