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She captured the hearts of the nation when she miraculously crossed the finish line of the London Marathon by using bionic legs.
And now Claire Lomas plans to captivate Briton's once more - by cycling from Paris to London.
Despite not being able to move her legs she will cover the 250 mile ride on a special bike which uses electrical pulses to stimulate her muscles, forcing her to pedal.
Claire Lomas on her exercise bike at ;home in Melton, Mowbray. She is hoping to ride from Paris to London next Spring, despite being paralysed
Miss Lomas, who was left paralysed from the waist down following a horse-riding accident which severed her spinal cord, will once again be accompanied by her husband Dan.
'It is going to be really hard work but it is going to be very different to doing the marathon,' said the 31-year-old to the Sunday Telegraph. 'For the marathon I didn't have to be super fit as the pace was so slow in the robot.'
Miss Lomas, who is a mother to one-year-old Maisie, said she is concerned about not being able to tackle hills but has been using an indoor bike to train and is looking forward to being able to cycle outdoors.
In April this year she was joined by her husband, a research biologist, and tiny daughter for every step of the London Marathon, which took her two and a half weeks to complete.
Miss Lomas, of Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, managed to raise more than 200,000 for Spinal Research and attracted world wide attention during the challenge.
Aching with pain and struggling to stay upright she crossed the finish line a gruelling 16 days after she first started.
Hundreds gathered to watch Claire as she completed her challenge in London
A delighted Claire, who was supported by her husband Dan all the way, plants a kiss on daughter Maisie
People across the country were outraged when organisers refused to honour her achievement with an official medal because she did not finish within 24 hours.
Instead, 14 of her fellow runners, who were so inspired by her efforts donated theirs.
Miss Lomas was overwhelmed by support during her efforts and said it inspired her to think of something else to do for charity.
Her legs will be strapped into the special Functional Electrical Stimulation Bike, which is actually a tricycle, and electrodes will be attached to her thighs and connected to an electrical stimulator.
A computer, activated with the push of a button, will control the muscles in her legs and cause them to produce a pedalling motion.
Claire, pictured in her wheelchair with Maisie, will use a special tricycle to help her complete the ride from Paris to London
A throttle in the handle will also manage the intensity of the stimulation and the speed of the pedalling.
As part of her training Miss Lomas will take part in an outdoor ride from Glasgow later this month and hopes to complete her challenge from Paris to London in the Spring of next year.
She has said that although she gets help with pedalling from the electrical stimulation, it is still tiring for her.
'The signals from my brain can't get down my spinal cord because of my injury so they don't reach my legs, so the pads put an electrical signal straight into the muscles to make them contract. They still need oxygen and it requires cardiovascular fitness,' she said.
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
London to Brighton bike ride attracts 27,000 cyclists - BBC News
More than 27,000 cyclists are taking part in the 54-mile London to Brighton bike ride in aid of the British Heart Foundation.
Riders set off from Clapham Common from 06:00 BST, with the first arriving at the finish just before 09:00.
The toughest part of the ride is the climb up 813ft (247m) Ditchling Beacon just outside Brighton, which takes an average of 15 minutes to scale.
The event, which is now in its 37th year, has raised more than £50m.
Among the riders taking part was Toby Field from Eastbourne, also known as the Fat Cycle Rider, who has lost 8st 14lb in weight since taking up cycling.
His father died from a weight-related heart attack at the age of 55, and Mr Field said after his father's death he was in denial about his own health problems.
"I wanted a cheap bike so I could ride around the park with my kids. I was walking and they were leaving me behind. That's where it all started."
Road closures have been in place along the route out of London, through the boroughs of Reigate and Banstead and Tandridge in Surrey and through Sussex into Brighton.
Southern Railway and First Capital Connect do not allow bikes to be carried on trains on race day, but a park and ride service operates between Brighton Racecourse and Madeira Drive.
Bus services have been redirected and Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach company said the A23 into Brighton was gridlocked at about midday because of the race.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Ariz. Law Expected to Prompt Suits From Both Sides - ABC News
Police agencies that would enforce the most controversial part of Arizona's 2010 immigration law are expected to get squeezed by legal challenges from opposite sides if the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the law in the coming days.
Opponents of the Arizona law, known as SB1070, are likely to sue police departments on claims that officers racially profile people as they enforce the provision of the law that requires police to check the immigration status of people they stop for other reasons.
But legal challenges also are expected from the other side: from supporters who could claim that a police agency has broken the law if it restricts the enforcement of SB1070.
"There are people just waiting to challenge this law on both sides of the spectrum," said Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villasenor.
A little-known section of the law lets anyone sue an agency that has a policy that restricts the enforcement of immigration law. The provision was aimed at holding cities accountable for "sanctuary policies" that discourage or prohibit officers from inquiring about a person's immigration status. Agencies that are found by a court to have sanctuary policies face fines of $500 to $5,000 for each day such a violation remains in effect after the filing of the lawsuit.
The right to sue was among the parts of the law that were allowed to take effect in July 2010. But a federal judge has barred police from enforcing the law's more contentious sections, such as a requirement that officers check the immigration status of people they stop for other reasons.
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule before the end of the month on Gov. Jan Brewer's appeal of the 2010 ruling. Legal experts expect that the court likely will uphold the requirement for immigration-status checks, siding with Arizona officials' legal argument that SB1070 is not trumped by federal immigration law.
Such a ruling will prompt groups that already have challenged the law to ask the courts to again prevent enforcement of the controversial sections based on other arguments, such as racial profiling.
While seven challenges to the law have been filed, no lawsuits have been brought to court so far that alleged that a police agency had a sanctuary policy.
The question about what types of immigration inquiries police can make came to a head in Arizona during 2007 when Phoenix police Officer Nick Erfle was killed by an illegal immigrant, who shot the officer as he tried to arrest the immigrant on a warrant.
After his release from prison and subsequent deportation, the immigrant sneaked into the country again and was arrested for misdemeanor assault in Scottsdale, but wasn't reported to federal immigration authorities. The immigrant was fatally shot a short time later by police as he pointed a gun at a carjacking victim's head.
Phoenix revamped its policy on officers inquiring about people's immigration status after a union representing 2,500 rank-and-file officers had complained that officers were tired of seeing crimes tied to illegal immigration.
Under the law's right-to-sue provision, officers are indemnified from having to pay attorney fees and other legal costs in such lawsuits unless they are found to have acted in bad faith.
Source: abcnews.go.com
London 2012 Olympics: Tickets scandal an insult to fans and taxpayers - The Guardian
Of all the negative stories – from transport meltdowns to security scares – likely to afflict the London Olympics before the curtain goes up on Danny Boyle's opening ceremony, Sunday's was the most predictable. And yet it is also potentially among the most damaging.
Claims that 27 representatives of 54 countries – more than a quarter of the total number whose athletes will march around the track in Stratford in the name of Olympic values – were prepared to break International Olympic Committee rules and sell thousands of tickets on the black market will not come as a big surprise to many. Certainly not to anyone who has observed the margins of major sporting events since the 1984 Los Angeles Games set the template for the modern era.
Yet the numbers involved still shock – up to £6,000 demanded for "AA" blue riband tickets sloshing around in a global market for an event staged in venues built with billions of pounds of public money.
For the IOC, which had spent much of the past decade ridding itself of the stain of the Salt Lake City scandal, and for London 2012 organisers, battling public cynicism about ticketing, cronyism and corporate might, it could not have come at a worse time.
In an idyllic lakeside corner of Lausanne, the IOC president, Jacques Rogge, could afford a degree of quiet satisfaction as he sat opposite me last week and reflected on the upcoming London Games. There was no last-minute panic to finish the venues, no international outcry over human rights.
Rogge, who will stand down next year after 12 years in the IOC's top job, had hoped to leave behind an organisation in rude financial health and with a restored reputation for probity and transparency.
As fires raged at Fifa, the IOC was last year able to bask in the fact that in comparison it looked like a model international governing body. The calm hand on the tiller of the Belgian former Olympic sailor, elected in 2001 in the wake of the Salt Lake City bribery scandal that threatened to fatally undermine its image, had made it appear a beacon of good practice next to Sepp Blatter's collapsing Fifa House.
The speed with which the IOC reacted to the Sunday Times allegations reflects the extent to which they threaten to sully that good name. The claims may only involve "thousands" of tickets among 8.8m but, as ever, perception is everything.
At a general assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees in Acapulco in October 2010, the Locog chairman, Lord Coe, acknowledged the threat when he told the gathering that tough action would be taken against anyone who broke the rules regarding distribution of the 1.1m tickets reserved for overseas buyers and gently reminded them of the enquiring nature of the British media.
Yet those rules are notoriously difficult to enforce and widespread suspicions remained, only exacerbated by the recent resignation of the general secretary of the Ukrainian Olympic Committee when he was caught by a similar BBC sting.
The IOC was keen in its hastily released statement to underline that the NOCs involved were "autonomous". The same goes for the international federations of Olympic sports that from time to time are similarly involved in scandal.
And London organisers can justifiably point to having done more to combat touting than any previous Games – including specific warnings to overseas Olympic committees and an effort to limit tickets based on how they are likely to sell and performance pedigree. They also stressed that none of the tickets involved were among the 6.6m allocated to the British public.
However, those distinctions mean little to the general public. Many of those who have struggled to secure tickets for the biggest events and already feel ill disposed towards what they see as preferential treatment for sponsors and blazers will see this as yet more evidence for the prosecution.
The timing is less than ideal for London organisers, just as they were hoping to capitalise on the groundswell of goodwill created across the country by the torch relay and the looming excitement of the sporting spectacle. They hoped that growing buzz would translate into an acceleration in sales for almost 2m remaining tickets for football and high-priced options for less popular sports and drown out complaints over sponsors, Games lanes and selection controversies.
There will be lessons to be learned – above and beyond a reminder to those on the take that they might learn to avoid tempting offers from those claiming to represent middle eastern money men. The way the IOC allocates and distributes tickets must surely change. One of the strengths of the IOC's structure is that the executive is not beholden to national associations in the same way as Fifa's is.
A centralised ticketing system that bequeaths less power to national fiefdoms may be one option. However it is done, market forces mean it will never be possible to eradicate the black market entirely – but it should be possible to ensure it's not fuelled by those inside the tent.
In the meantime, the immediate reaction of the IOC and Locog to this latest controversy will do much to inform the ongoing battle for the hearts and minds of the public attitude to the Olympic Games – in London, in the UK and beyond.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Obama's Harvard law professor says 'President MUST be defeated in 2012' (and he's the man Barack used to have on speed dial) - Daily Mail
- Roberto Unger, 65, is respected author and Brazilian politician
- Professor taught Obama about 'reinventing democracy' in 1988
- Unger was an adviser during the 2008 election campaign
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A former professor of Barack Obama has turned against his one-time student and publicly urged voters not to re-elect him.
Roberto Unger posted a video on YouTube detailing the reasons why he believes the President does not deserve a second term in the White House.
Mr Unger, a prominent Brazilian politician and an adviser to Obama in 2008, said: 'President Obama must be defeated in the coming election. He has failed to advance the progressive cause in the United States.'
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Scathing: Obama's former professor Roberto Unger said that he had 'failed' the United States and should not be re-elected
The 65-year-old academic was in frequent contact with Obama on his Blackberry throughout the last election campaign but has since decided that he no longer agreed with the President's decisions.
His list of complaints against the President is a long one in the video entitled 'Beyond Obama'.
The esteemed philosopher is scathing of Obama's plans to salvage America's ailing economy saying that his policy is in 'financial confidence and food stamps'.
He added: 'He has spent trillions of dollars to rescue the moneyed interests and left workers and homeowners to their own devices.'
Delete! The President regularly talked to Unger during his 2008 campaign... this is no longer likely to be the case
Taking a shot: Roberto Unger criticised President Obama after being a long time supporter
The politician also admitted that if Republican candidate Mitt Romney wins the election 'there will be a cost ... in judicial and administrative appointments'.
However his most barbed remarks he reserved for the Democrat leader saying that Obama has 'evoked a politics of handholding, but no one changes the world without a struggle'.
Making enemies: Obama has lost a respected adviser Roberto Unger
Mr Unger is a renowned politician in his native Brazil. He has twice has run for president of Brazil and has served as Brazil’s Minister of Strategic Affairs.
Unger was one of the founding members of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party and drafted its founding manifesto.
He has also advised on politics throughout Latin America.
The professor is a respected author having published dozens of books on economics, philosophy and politics.
In philosophy, his arguments are said to focus on some the greatest problems of the human existence.
The video, which was posted three weeks ago, has been viewed 22,000 times.
Mr Unger has taught at Harvard Law since 1976.
Obama studied jurisprudence and reinventing democracy with the professor.
The President attended Harvard Law School in 1988 and was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review at the end of his first year.
Last week Obama announced that young immigrants who were brought into the U.S. illegally will no longer be deported.
The Obama administration said the policy change announced on Friday will affect as many as 800,000 qualified immigrants who have lived in fear of deportation.
The President also came in for sharp criticism last week after he combined fundraising events with an official event - and charged the bill to the taxpayer.
Obama raised a total of $4.5 million at the fundraisers, one at Sex and the City actress Sarah Jessica Parker's house and the other at the five-star Plaza Hotel.
However, the President's re-election campaign will not have to pay the full cost of his jaunt to the Big Apple, because he scheduled a short visit to the World Trade Center site.
Model student: Obama was taught by Unger when he attended Harvard Law School in 1988
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
London 2012 Olympics: new Games ticket resale scandal is old problem - Daily Telegraph
But the NOCs often hold back significant swathes of tickets for their own use, to sell to sponsors, provide to athletes families or, in some cases, to earn some cash under the table by selling on to others at highly inflated prices.
They are able to do this because the numbers of tickets made available to each national Olympic committee is never made public. In the past some authorised ticket resellers who have the rights to sell tickets in multiple countries have boasted of being able to surreptitiously swap tickets between countries. So countries with a strong interest in one sport can get tickets allocated to another country.
Only last month did Volodymyr Gerashchenko, the 66-year-old general secretary of Ukraine National Olympic Committee, step down after he was secretly filmed by a BBC investigation team offering to sell up to one hundred tickets worth thousands of pounds for events at the Games.
Locog chief executive Paul Deighton has also been strict about the clear lines of demarcation between authorised ticket sellers who are also official hospitality providers. Technically pools of tickets for one particular client group shouldn't be mixed with tickets for a different group. Nor should hotels or extras be added to ticket sales to artificially inflate prices.
But the wheeling and dealing of tickets around the globe occurs under the cloak of commercial confidentiality. Both Locog and the IOC refuse to release details as to how many tickets each national Olympic committee receives.
Nor do they release how many tickets the hospitality providers have purchased. If they did, buyers in each country would have a fairer idea of the ticket process. The method of calculating each country's allocation would also be scrutinised. But as we have seen with the refusal of Locog to even reveal how many tickets have been available at each session to the UK public, transparency and accountability are not high on the list of priorities.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
"Worst president since Woodrow Wilson." That honor belongs undoubtedly to G.W. Bush.
- Ann, San Francisco, 18/6/2012 02:05
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