Miley Cyrus Wrecking Ball Spoof A Smash Hit

A spoof of Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball video has become a YouTube sensation.

Over 26 million people have watched YouTube user Steve Kardynal's Chatroulette parody.

The video attracted more than seven million views in just 24 hours.

That is apparently more than watched the official videos of Cyrus' performances at the VMA and AMA awards combined.

Cyrus at the MTV Video Music Awards

But the singer's own video has been viewed over 360 million times on YouTube.

Kardynal, wearing a white vest and underpants, is first seen lying on a couch.

He then sits up and begins to pose and writhe before licking a sledgehammer and riding on his own wrecking ball.

Fellow YouTube users are seen looking at the video, their reactions varying from horror to disbelief and sheer delight.

The original video has been criticised for being overly sexual and has led to Cyrus being ridiculed by some.

It comes after she stole the show at the MTV awards with her 'twerking' routine.

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Tucson 'Captives Tortured With Loud Music'

Three sisters allegedly held captive by their mother and stepfather at their home in Tucson were monitored by video cameras in soundproof rooms, police said.

Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villasenor said the couple used "technological and psychological" means to imprison the three girls, aged 12, 13 and 17.

The couple, Sophia and Fernando Richter, were arrested on charges of emotional and physical abuse and three counts of kidnapping.

As police investigating the case were poring over a journal kept by the 17-year-old, details of the alleged captivity emerged.

Music blared loudly and constantly from the girls' bedrooms. Duct work was sealed and towels were forced against doors to prevent the sound from being heard outside.

Mr Villasenor said: "What the kids are telling us, it was 24-7 either loud music or static." 

There were motion sensors on the doors to the girls' bedrooms and video cameras trained on their bed.

Locks on the girls' bedroom doors kept them from escaping, Mr Villasenor said, adding another method was also used but declined to say what it was.

Two girls escaped on Tuesday, the third was found by police. Pic: KOLD TV

If the girls needed to use the bathroom, there was an unspecified signal for them to let the parents know they needed a bathroom break.

The two younger girls escaped through the window of their bedroom on Tuesday after the stepfather, brandishing a knife, tried to break down the room's door. They ran to a neighbour's home.

When police arrived at the suburban home, they found the 17-year-old, who was being held separately from her sisters in another room.

The three girls were malnourished and dirty and told officers they had not taken a bath in months.

Investigators hope the diary will help them build a criminal case against the 32-year-old mother and 34-year-old stepfather.

Mr Villasenor declined to reveal the diary's contents but said the teen kept one of her most prized possessions - a photo of singer Enrique Iglesias - in the journal, which was kept inside a satchel.

"It did contain a lot of information that I feel will be useful in helping us to determine the method and length of the imprisonment," Mr Villasenor said.

Investigators are also trying to determine the last time the girls attended a school.

No schools in the area had a record of them, Mr Villasenor said, and police have not been able to verify the mother's claims that the children were home-schooled.

The girls are now together at a group home in the custody of a state child welfare agency.

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Comet Ison's Survival In Balance As It Brushes Sun

Stargazers are waiting anxiously to see if an icy comet survives a close encounter with the Sun and fulfils its billing of being "one of the brightest of the century".

Comet Ison is to pass the star at a distance of just 727,000 miles, where it will meet temperatures of around 2,700C (4,892F), leading to predictions it will break apart before it can be seen blazing in the night sky.

It is expected to get closest to the Sun at 6.37pm UK time.

Scientists will be watching to see if the comet , which left the outer edge of the solar system more than 5.5 million years ago, disintegrates under the intense heat and gravitational forces of the Sun.

Comets are frozen balls of space dust left over from the formation of stars and planets billions of years ago.

When one comes close to a hot star, like the Sun, the icy core can melt.

"Many of us think it could break up into pieces, and some people think it won't survive at all," said comet expert Carey Lisse of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in the US.

Ison is seen in a five-minute exposure from Marshall Space Flight Center

But he accepted others thought it could survive the Sun's heat, although smaller in size.

"I think it has a maybe 30% chance to make it," Mr Lisse said.

If Ison does survive, astronomers say it should be easily visible in the Northern Hemisphere early next month, just before sunrise and after sunset.

Scientists say the comet comes from the very origin of the solar system, 4.5 billion years ago.

Mr Lisse said: "Comet Ison is a relic. It's a dinosaur bone of solar system formation."

If the comet has already broken up, it should disintegrate completely as it makes its slingshot around the Sun.

However, this would provide an opportunity for scientists to see the insides of the comet, and better understand its composition, including clues about what material was present during the solar system's formation.

The comet was discovered last year by two amateur astronomers using Russia's International Scientific Optical Network, or Ison.

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Ireland: Teen Held After Woman Killed At Home

A 19-year-old man has been arrested over the suspicious death of an English mother-of-one who was reportedly attacked with a hatchet at a remote cottage in Ireland.

The body of Susan Dunne, aged in her 50s, was discovered with serious head injuries in the house in Ballinageragh, just outside the small village of Lixnaw, near Listowel, in Co Kerry.

The Irish Independent reported that she had been bludgeoned to death after being attacked with the hatchet.

Neighbours raised the alarm after Ms Dunne's car was seen being driven by another person.

The front door of the cottage was then found open and the local gardai were contacted, arriving at the property at around 11.15am on Wednesday morning.

Irish police later arrested the 19-year-old in the Listowel area.

Police, who have not released any details about the man's identity, described the circumstances surrounding the woman's death as suspicious.

The man can be detained for 24 hours before being charged or released.

Ms Dunne, who was known as Susan Sheehy, was also known  was originally from England and was understood to have moved to the isolated house with her son within the last few years.

She was reportedly well known as a campaigner with Autism Ireland and the chairperson of the Kerry branch of the group.

On its Facebook page, Kerry Autism Action said: "Tonight we are very sad to announce the death of Kerry Autism Action's Sue Sheehy.

"Sue was an amazing lady that will never be forgotten by many familys for all her help to them.

"We would like to express our Sincere Condolonces to Sue's family and friends at this tragic time, and we hope that everyone will respect the privacy and wishes of the family."

Robert Beasley, a local councillor, said neighbours were "very saddened".

"There's a gloom over the area," he said.

:: Anyone with information or who may have seen any unusual activity around Ballinageragh, Lixnaw, Co Kerry, is asked to contact the Gardai in Listowel on 068 50820, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.

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World Cup Stadium Delay After Crane Deaths

Brazil is holding three days of national mourning for the two construction workers killed at a World Cup stadium that will now be completed up to two months late.

The pair died when a crane at the Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo collapsed as it was hoisting a 500-tonne structure.

It damaged the outer walls of the 70,000-seater venue - popularly known as the Itaquerao - and a giant LED screen.

Work on the stadium, which is due to stage the opening World Cup fixture, was due to be finished by December 31.

The competition's organisers Fifa say they expect a delay of between 45 and 60 days.

The stadium was said to be very close to completion

Fifa, football's world governing body, had originally set December 31 as the deadline for the completion of all the stadiums for next summer's tournament.

The latest delay will increase worries over whether Brazil will be fully prepared for the June 12 kick-off.

Six venues have already been declared ready but there are concerns about three others in Cuiaba, Manaus and Curitiba.

Bosses at the Corinthians Arena said the "structure of the grandstand was not compromised" by the crane accident and that work will resume on Monday.

Two died when the crane "derailed" and dropped a 500-tonne structure

Andres Sanchez, operations director, said the two construction workers were crushed to death.

They have been named as Ronaldo Oliveira dos Santos, 44, a fitter, and driver Fabio Luiz Pereira, 42, who was inside his truck when it was hit by the falling structure.

Most of the 1,700 workers at the site were on lunch break when the crane toppled over.

In a statement, Corinthians said it was the 38th time the crane had performed the procedure and that a similar structure had been successfully installed a week ago.

Fifa had set a December 31 deadline for all stadium building work

The crane, which has a reach of 114 metres, can lift up to 1,500 tonnes.

Investigators are looking into the reason for the collapse.

Fifa said the safety of workers was a "top priority", while the organisation's president, Sepp Blatter, said he was "deeply saddened by the tragic death of workers".

The incident is by no means the first to hit Brazil's World Cup preparations. One worker died last year during construction of a stadium in the capital, Brasilia, and another was killed at the Manaus stadium last March.

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Man Swapped At Birth Regrets Lost Life

A 60-year-old Japanese man switched at birth in a Toyko hospital has told of his shock at learning the truth of how different his life could have been.

After winning a lawsuit against the hospital that mistakenly cast him from a wealthy family into a life of poverty, the man said: "I've wondered how on earth could this happen.

"I couldn't believe it. To be honest, I didn't want to accept it.

"I might have had a different life. I want (the hospital) to roll back the clock to the day I was born," he told Japanese media.

A Tokyo district court this week ordered the hospital to pay 38 million yen (£227,600) in damages over its 1953 blunder which saw the man switched with another baby boy who was delivered 13 minutes later.

The court ruled that 32 million yen (£191,780) should go to the man and the rest to his three biological brothers.

It is not clear if the hospital, which has not been named by Japanese media and has not commented on the bizarre case, will appeal.

The man, an unmarried truck driver, would have grown up as the eldest of four brothers in a wealthy family where siblings enjoyed a lavish lifestyle including private tutors.

Instead, he was raised on benefits by his non-biological mother who also supported older siblings after her husband passed away when he was two.

The family lived in a one-room apartment with a radio one of their few luxuries, according to the man who studied at night school while working in a factory.

"It was like she was born to experience hardship," the man said of the woman he knew as his mother. She is now also dead.

The man has been helping take care of his non-biological brothers, one of whom suffered a stroke.

The decades-old mistake was uncovered when the wealthy family's three younger brothers had DNA testing done on their oldest sibling - who looked nothing like them - after their parents died.

They checked hospital records and confirmed the identity of their biological eldest brother last year.

The man switched at birth said he cried daily for several months after learning the truth.

"As I saw pictures of my (biological) parents, I wanted to see them alive. I couldn't hold back tears for months every time I saw their pictures."

One of my brothers "told me that we will have 20 more years to live so we should make up for lost time", he added.

"I was happy to hear that and I want to do it."

Judge Masatoshi Miyasaka cut the size of the award but said he recognised the man had lost a chance of higher education and had suffered emotional pain.

The mothers in both families had seemingly suspected they had been raising the wrong babies.

"I think my foster mother might have sensed it," the man said, noting physical differences from the siblings he grew up with.

His real brothers remember their mother saying her first baby came back from his first bath in hospital wearing the wrong clothes.

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Thailand Protesters Cut Power To Police HQ

Protesters in Thailand have cut the electricity to the national poilice headquarters, ignoring a plea by embattled prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra to call off their demonstrations.

The building in Bangkok was running on back-up power using an emergency generator, according to a spokesman.

Ms Yingluck easily survived a parliamentary no-confidence vote earlier on Thursday, but it has failed to defuse tensions or end the biggest anti-government protests since deadly political unrest three years ago.

The no-confidence motion was filed by the opposition Democrat Party, which alleges widespread corruption in government and accuses the prime minister of acting as a puppet for her brother, the ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Anucha Romyanan, deputy national police spokesman, said: "I confirm the protesters pulled down several electricity cables outside the police headquarters. We are now on back-up electricity, we are using a generator."

As well as the national police headquarters, protestors have also marched on the defence and education ministries, although police claim the number people taking to the streets had fallen.

Police say the number of anti-government protesters is falling off

Ms Yingluck, who has denied the opposition allegations, pleaded for demonstrators to "call off" their protests for the "country's peace".

"I'm begging you, the protesters, because this doesn't make the situation any better," she said.

"They want to rally until the end of this month. I think they have expressed their political stand enough."

Protesters are demanding the end of the "Thaksin regime" and want to replace the government with an unelected "people's council".

Ms Yingluck needed more than half, or 246 votes, out of the 492 votes in the lower house to prevail. She won 297, with 134 votes against her.

However, her party and its coalition partners were subjected to a three-day debate during which the Democrat Party grilled Ms Yingluck on a $100m water management project and financially troubled government rice intervention scheme.

The protests have triggered growing international concern, with UN leader Ban Ki-moon the latest world leader to voice alarm.

Ban "is concerned by the rising political tensions in Bangkok", said his spokesman Martin Nesirky.

"The secretary-general calls on all sides to exercise the utmost restraint, refrain from the use of violence and to show full respect for the rule of law and human rights."

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Kickboxer Lee Aldhouse Jailed For Thai Murder

A British kickboxer has been sentenced to 25 years in jail in Thailand for the murder of a former US Marine on a resort island.

Lee Aldhouse from Birmingham pleaded guilty to stabbing to death 23-year-old Dashawn Longfellow in 2010, after being beaten up by the military veteran during a brawl at a Phuket bar.

The Phuket provincial court reduced Aldhouse's sentence from a life-term because of his guilty plea. He had initially denied the murder charge.

Aldhouse was a semi-professional kickboxer who fought under the nickname 'Pitbull'.

He had been living on-and-off in Phuket, where Mr Longfellow was also studying the sport.

Dashawn Longfellow was stabbed by Aldhouse after a brawl at a Phuket bar

Aldhouse was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport after fleeing Thailand.

He was held in the UK for almost two years before he became the first Briton to be extradited to Thailand under a century-old treaty.

Laywer Kampon Siriwatunyoo said Aldhouse was considering whether to appeal.

"He prefers to be in a Thai jail rather than serve his sentence in Britain because he said there is a royal pardon once or twice a year here," he added.

Mr Longfellow's mother said her son was in Thailand after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he was injured when a roadside bomb exploded under his vehicle.

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Holocaust Survivor's Emotional Reunion

A Holocaust survivor has had an emotional reunion in New York with a man whose family saved him from the Nazis 70 years ago.

During World War Two, Leon Gersten hid for two years in a hayloft in Nazi-occupied Poland to escape persecution.

Now a 79-year-old New York psychologist, Mr Gersten welcomed Czeslaw Polziec, the son of the farmer who saved him, at JFK Airport.

Mr Gersten presented Mr Polziec, 81, with a bouquet of flowers, and then embraced him and clasped his hand.

It was an emotional moment for the two, who had parted ways in 1944 as the Russians liberated their village in rural Poland.

Leon Gersten as a boy in Nazi-occupied Poland

"It's like getting to know each other again," Mr Gersten told reporters shortly before the meeting.

"To me and my children they're heroes."

Mr Gersten was with his mother, aunt, uncle and cousin when he hid from 1942 to 1944 in the hayloft of the humble two-room home on the Polziec family farm.

Mr Polziec said he was told never speak about their Jewish guests. He described his parents as honest people trying to do the right thing.

He said he was "very happy of … finally meeting my friend".

"God saved us all."

The two prepared to celebrate Hanukkah and Thanksgiving today at Mr Gersten's home in Long Island.

Mr Gersten (R) welcomed Mr Polziec at JFK airport in New York

The Nazis rounded up and killed many of the Jews in the Polish town of Frystak, including Mr Gersten's grandparents, in July 1942.

Mr Gersten's mother Frieda escaped the ghetto, disguising herself as a Catholic with a cross around her neck, and then went door-to-door asking to be taken in.

Many turned her away, but Maria and Stanislaw Polziec took her in despite being poor and already having five children.

The strict Catholic family crafted an underground bunker, just big enough for the five Jews should the Nazis ever raid. It was covered with a grain storage bin.

The Polziec children brought them a loaf of bread a week and collected mushrooms in the forest to make soup.

For two years in hiding, there was little way of passing the time.

The two men clasped hands during an emotional reunion

"We had no toys, we had no books, we had nothing to play with, so all we could do was watch spiders catching flies," Mr Gersten recalled.

"We lived with hope. As a kid I had this feeling of immortality. The idea of being shot and killed didn't enter my mind."

Six million Jews were exterminated by the Nazis during the war, half of them Polish. Mr Gersten's father, sister and three brothers were among those who were killed.

After the war, Mr Gersten emigrated to New York, where he earned a doctorate from Columbia University.

He met one of Mr Polziec's sisters in the US in 1998, but eventually the two families lost contact.

Mr Gersten's family

Mr Gersten has five children, 34 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. 

Mr Polziec went on to live under Soviet occupation and served in the Polish army. He then worked in security. He married and has two daughters.

The reunion was facilitated by The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, which gives financial assistance to around 650 aged and needy Holocaust rescuers in Europe.

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Maryland Pastor Among Dead In Church Fire

A man has run into the rectory of an Episcopal church with his clothes on fire, causing a blaze that killed himself and the church's pastor.

The Episcopal Diocese of Easton confirmed the Reverend David Dingwall had died in hospital after a fire at St Paul's By-The-Sea Church, in Ocean City.

Investigators believe that John Sterner, 56, was covered in a flammable substance when he entered the building.

According to the Rev Canon Heather Cook, parishioners reported that a person whose clothes were on fire had run in from the street to the church office screaming for help.

Moments later a fire broke out in the rectory.

The fire broke out at St Paul's By-The-Sea Episcopal Church

The cause of the fire remained under investigation, and authorities had not reached any conclusions about how Sterner came to be on fire.

"Whether it's accidental or it's criminal has not been determined at this time," Ocean City spokeswoman Jessica Waters said.

A woman who volunteers at the church was critically injured and was being treated at a burns centre in Baltimore. Her injuries are not believed to be life threatening.

Ocean City is a popular resort town along the Maryland coast, bringing in hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers on weekends during the summer months.

Sterner had a lengthy criminal history that includes arrests for assault, breaking and entering and other offences, according to court records.

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