Student Solves Rubik's Cube While Juggling

Most of us struggle with a Rubik's Cube at the best of times but Ravi Fernando has taken the puzzle to a whole new level by solving it while juggling it with two balls.

The 21-year-old Mathematics student has become an internet sensation after his amazing feat - completed in around a minute and a half - appeared on the Humans of Stanford Facebook page.

Dubbed Sir Ravi The Juggler by his friends, the undergraduate's achievement was viewed on Facebook more than 20,000 times in a day.

His efforts have prompted hundreds of comments - most of them just one word - "awesome" or "amazing".

But Steve Pearson suggested he could be the man to solve America's current fiscal issues: "I say we put Ravi in charge of solving our national budget problems.

More than 350 million Rubik's Cubes have been sold worldwide.

"Anyone who can juggle like that would make a great secretary of the Treasury. I can see him now juggling in front of the Senate finance committee as they try to grill him on policy issues."

Mum Leslie Finnegan Conn added: "When my son first met Ravi in high school, he was already solving one cube in each hand ... in two minutes."

Ravi, who hails from Kirksville, Missouri, has a history of Rubik's Cube success.

He has achieved a run of wins and top 10 finishes in Rubik's Cube competitions across the US, according to the World Cube Association website.

On its website Stanford University, which also features the video, says its "research and teaching stresses interdisciplinary approaches to problem solving".

One of the world's leading research universities, it is "known for its entrepreneurial character, drawn from the legacy of its founders, Jane and Leland Stanford, and its relationship to Silicon Valley".

Areas of excellence range from the humanities to social sciences to engineering and the sciences.

It adds: "Stanford is located in California's Bay Area, one of the most intellectually dynamic and culturally diverse areas of the nation."

The university is one of the most prestigious in the United States boasting nearly 17,000 students and 19 Nobel laureates on the current staff.

The Rubik's Cube was invented in 1974 by Hungarian Erno Rubik, a sculptor and professor of architecture. Since then more than 350 million have been sold worldwide.

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Judge Slashes Apple Patent Award By $450m

A US judge has slashed nearly half of the $1bn damage award a jury ordered Samsung Electronics to pay Apple Inc over design rights for smartphones.

US District Court Judge Lucy Koh lowered the damages awarded to Apple by $450.5m for 14 Samsung products, including some of its Galaxy lineup, saying jurors had not properly followed her instruction in calculating damages.

She also concluded that mistakes had been made in determining when Apple had first notified Samsung about the alleged violations of patents for its iPhones and iPads.

Judge Koh ordered a new trial to recalculate damages for those products.

Lauren Restuccia, a Samsung spokeswoman, said: "We are pleased that the court decided to strike $450,514,650 from the jury's award.

"Samsung intends to seek further review as to the remaining award."

Apple declined to comment on the ruling.

The decision reduced Samsung's bill to just under $599m, but that figure could increase after appeals from both companies have been resolved.

Apple is seeking more damages and Samsung a complete dismissal of the case in the US Court of Appeals.

In December, Judge Koh refused to order a sales ban on the products the jury found infringed Apple's patents.

After a three-week trial, the jury found several Samsung products illegally used Apple creations such as the "bounce-back" feature, when a user scrolls to an end image, and the ability to zoom text with the tap of a finger, and ordered it to pay $1.05bn.

Apple filed another lawsuit last year, accusing Samsung's newer line of products of continuing to use technology it controls.

Both companies have also filed similar lawsuits in eight other countries, including the UK, Japan and Australia.

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Status Quo To Hit The Stage For Reunion Gigs

By Ian Woods, Senior Correspondent

One of Britain's most successful rock groups goes back on tour later this week - but for the first time in three decades it really will be a return to the Status Quo.

Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt will be joined by the other two original members for a series of reunion concerts.

Drummer John Coghlan left in 1981 and bass player Alan Lancaster departed the band four years later, sparking a bitter and lengthy legal battle over the Status Quo name.

Rossi and Parfitt recruited replacements and have been touring ever since. But they've finally patched up their differences with their former band mates, nearly 50 years after they first began playing together.

Parfitt jokingly told Sky News: "I think the really positive thing is that if we hadn't split up we couldn't have got back together again. It's very nice to see everybody again, to get to know everybody again, because there's a lot of water gone under the bridge." 

They've been hard at work in a rehearsal studio in Shepperton, trying to re-create the sound of a critically-acclaimed live album from 1977.

"In places it's really fantastic to play together again. In places. We've got a lot of work to do yet, but it feels very nostalgic. I'll tell you after the first night. It's going to be good. Or not. One of the two."

Rossi says it hasn't been easy.

"It's a different ball game than when those guys were here. The industry is different, our whole touring thing is more efficient. It's just completely different. Amplification is different. In-ear monitors they're trying to get used to. A lot of stuff they're trying to get used to that we just take for granted and there may be a bit of friction there because we're expecting it to be as it normally is."

But Coghlan and Lancaster are glad to be back after such a long break.

Coughlan and Lancaster join Rossi and Parfitt

"It's great playing with them again in all seriousness." said Lancaster, who's now aged 64. "Fantastic. I'm enjoying it, anyway."

Coghlan admitted it has been hard work. "It is, yeah. Being an old man like, 66, but it's a groove and I'm enjoying it. It's fun."

Coghlan had already left the band when Status Quo played to their biggest-ever global TV audience, opening the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium in 1985. He admits he watched the performance with some sadness.

"We'd fallen out by that time. I'd like to have done it. I was in the Isle of Man at the time with my feet up, and I thought: 'Oh, well, I could have been there' but never mind. Move on."

Despite having more chart singles than any other British band, they only plan to play a couple of hits during this tour - concentrating on heavier album tracks favoured by diehard fans.

Lancaster told Sky News: "It's the thing that struck me, what band who've had so many hits goes on stage and plays no hit records? We're hardly playing any of our singles whatsoever."

After the tour is complete, Lancaster and Coghlan will return to retirement, while Rossi and Parfitt will resume working with the other Quo members they've recruited in recent years.

And not content with rocking into their mid-60s, in the summer they launch a movie career. They're starring alongside Hollywood comedy actor Jon Lovitz in an action film shot in Fiji called "Bula Quo!". Rossi says it has its roots in a guest appearance he and Parfitt had in the Rovers Return.

"When we were doing Coronation St, the guy who was brought in to teach him and I to fight on screen said I'd like to make a movie, and seven years later it came about. A most enjoyable experience. I'm not saying we're actors but we enjoyed doing it immensely."

Quo fans dub the original lineup the Frantic Four. Their nine-date reunion tour begins this Wednesday, March 6, in Manchester, and finishes at Wembley Arena on March 17.

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Sinkhole Swallows Man: Frantic 911 Call

A recording of a woman's frantic 911 call pleading for help after a sinkhole swallowed her relative under his bedroom has emerged.

Jeff Bush, 37, is thought to have died after vanishing when the ground opened up in Florida.

Five other people were at the Seffner property as the floor began to fall through into the hole estimated to be six metres across and six metres deep.

But no one else was injured at the "seriously unstable" house.

A relative telephoned the emergency services to raise the alarm.

Screaming, she said: "Yes, we need the ambulance and cops...he's stuck under the house. The house just fell through."

The woman was asked: "What happened to the house?"

She replied: "The bedroom floor just collapsed, and my brother-in-law is in there, he's underneath the house."

Mr Bush's brother Jeremy said he jumped into the hole but could not see his sibling.

He had to be rescued himself by a sheriff's deputy who reached out and pulled him to safety as the ground crumbled around him.

"The floor was still giving in and the dirt was still going down, but I didn't care. I wanted to save my brother," Mr Bush said. "But I just couldn't do nothing."

Jeff Bush is presumed dead

He added: "I could swear I heard him hollering my name to help him."

Mr Bush went on: "All I could see was the cable wire running from the TV going down into the hole. I saw a corner of the bed and a corner of the box spring and the frame of the bed."

Engineers are planning to resume their work at the site to do more tests on the unstable and dangerous ground.

They have already found the soil in the slowly growing sinkhole around the home is very soft and believe the entire property could eventually be swallowed up.

They said they may have to demolish the small, sky-blue house, even though from the outside there appeared to be nothing wrong with the four-bedroom, concrete-wall structure, built in 1974.

Officials lowered equipment into the sinkhole and saw no signs of life, said Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico.

A dressing table and a television set had vanished down the hole, along with most of Mr Bush's bed.

County administrator Mike Merrill described the home as "seriously unstable".

He said no one can go in the house because officials were afraid of another collapse and losing more lives.

Florida is highly prone to sinkholes because there are caverns below ground of limestone, a porous rock that easily dissolves in water.

They are so common that state law requires home insurers provide coverage against the danger.

Mr Bush said someone visited the home a couple of months ago to check for sinkholes and other things, apparently for insurance purposes.

"He said there was nothing wrong with the house. Nothing. And a couple of months later, my brother dies. In a sinkhole," he said.

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Queen's Rome Trip In Doubt Due To Illness

What Causes Gastroenteritis?

Updated: 3:07pm UK, Saturday 02 March 2013

Gastroenteritis is an infection of the stomach and bowel and is very common, with about one in five people affected every year in England.

The two most common causes in adults are a virus, such as the norovirus, or food poisoning, according to NHS Choices.

The infection interferes with one of the main functions of the intestines, the absorption of water from the contents of the intestines into the body.

Common symptoms of gastroenteritis include vomiting, diarrhoea and dehydration.

Most types of gastroenteritis are highly infectious, and bacteria can be transferred through poor hygiene, such as not washing your hands after going to the toilet.

Viruses and bacteria on hands can be transferred to whatever they touch, such as a glass, kitchen utensil or food.

Most people with gastroenteritis only have mild symptoms and the infection passes after a few days without the need for treatment.

But sufferers may need treatment in hospital if symptoms are severe or if they are vulnerable because of their age or another illness.

This is because diarrhoea can quickly cause dehydration which, if severe, can be fatal.

Each year in England and Wales an average of 190 deaths occur because of gastroenteritis, with most deaths in people over the age of 65.

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Titanic II 'Not In Bad Taste', Insists Maker

An Australian billionaire has admitted his plans to build a replica Titanic will make him "a lot of money" but denied this was his motivation for the project.

Mining magnate Professor Clive Palmer, who wants his Titanic II passenger liner to sail from Southampton to New York in just three years, hit back at claims that the vision is a publicity stunt.

At a press conference at the Ritz hotel in central London, he said: "Money wasn't my primary consideration for this."

He then joked with journalists: "But it looks like, unfortunately, I'll make a lot of money out of it!"

Clive Palmer outlining his plans for the replica

Critics say the project will never be a reality and is in bad taste given more than 1,500 - including 500 Britons - died when the Titanic struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage in 1912.

But Mr Palmer said his vessel would "pay tribute" to the dead, and stop them from being forgotten.

He said: "Titanic II, for us, is a great monument to all the British seamen who have gone to sea from Southampton or from other ports in England throughout the world.

"All of them have given great service to their country and created a greater understanding between nations.

The Titanic which sank in 1912

" ... It's very fitting that that work is remembered, and also it's very important that we look at the Titanic story."

Further rebuffing the sceptics, he later added: "We're building four ships now bigger than the Titanic at the shipyard. I'm not somebody with no money. I've got enough money to build the Titanic ten times over if I wanted. So, there's no need for publicity. I'm trying to avoid the media if I can."

At 883ft (269m) the Titanic II will be three inches longer than the original. It will have a total of 835 first, second and third class cabins and will be able to carry 2,435 passengers and 900 crew.

Mr Palmer said he wanted passengers to experience what it was like in 1912.

The new ship will be a mix of modern technology and original designs, but Mr Palmer insisted there will be no internet connection, so people would have to speak to each other rather than be checking their emails and Twitter accounts.

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HSBC Boss Gulliver In Line For £2m Bonus

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

HSBC is to award its chief executive a bonus of just under £2m for 2012 following a year of successful strategic action to overhaul the bank but which was marred by a £1.2bn fine for violating US money-laundering laws.

I have learned that HSBC, Britain's biggest lender by market capitalisation, will announce on Monday alongside its full-year results that Stuart Gulliver has been awarded the bonus as part of a multimillion pound pay package.

Mr Gulliver intends to accept the award, according to HSBC insiders. His bonus will be deferred and subject to clawback, and he will not be able to cash it in until he retires from or leaves HSBC.

As part of an effort to demonstrate greater transparency over the way it rewards top executives, HSBC will for the first time publish a single figure for the aggregate pay and benefits packages awarded to Mr Gulliver and his most senior colleagues.

This will include pension contributions as well as salary, annual bonus and a long-term share award that has been allotted to him this year. It is designed to show compliance with new Government rules that will come into force later this year, which have been spearheaded by Vince Cable, the Business Secretary.

Douglas Flint, the chairman, Sir Simon Robertson, the deputy chairman, and John Thornton, the non-executive director who chairs the remuneration committee, are understood to have orchestrated the switch to the new disclosure regime ahead of the Government deadline.

For 2011, Mr Gulliver was awarded an annual bonus of just over £2.1m, alongside his base salary of £1.25m and £3.75m in long-term share awards, making a total of £7.2m.

In 2012, his bonus and LTIP are understood to have been determined "in broadly the same ballpark" with a total package worth between £6m and £7m, one person close to the bank said.

HSBC has been applauded by many leading City shareholders for the way it details its executive pay policies through the publication of a 'scorecard' for Mr Gulliver, who took over in 2011.

The chief executive is eligible for an annual bonus of three times his salary and six times his base pay in long-term incentive awards.

A chunk of both payments is determined by HSBC's compliance success and the bank's reputation during a 12-month period. Mr Gulliver is understood to have been awarded nothing in this bracket in 2012, the same outcome as a year earlier, when HSBC was fined for mis-selling bonds to elderly customers.

HSBC suffered one of the most ignominious episodes in its history last year, when it was forced to pay £1.2bn to US regulators to settle money laundering and sanctions breaches which had allowed its Mexican operation to be used by drug cartels and terrorist organisations.

In January, the bank established a committee to bolster its defences against financial crime, recruiting the former heads of HM Revenue and Customs and the Serious Organised Crime Agency, as well as a former US deputy attorney-general.

HSBC will set out plans on Monday to claw back millions of pounds from senior executives deemed to have been culpable in the Mexican situation.

While the bank will not name the affected individuals, they include Sandy Flockhart, the former head of the bank's Asian operation, who was at one stage seen as a contender against Mr Gulliver for the top job.

Mr Flockhart, who left HSBC last year, ran its Mexican subsidiary between 2002 and 2007, and had several million pounds-worth of shares which he is understood to have been told he will not now receive.

I understand, however, that Lord Green, the trade minister who stepped down as HSBC chairman in 2010, will not be included in the clawback effort, partly because he opted to take his long-term pay awards as pension contributions.

Michael Geoghegan, Mr Gulliver's predecessor as chief executive, has also been excluded from the clawback arrangement because the bank's remuneration committee did not conclude that he had been personally responsible for the compliance failings.

The effort to demonstrate pay restraint will be reflected in a lower bonus pool than the £2.8bn that was paid out for 2011, less than a quarter of which was paid to UK employees. HSBC will say on Monday that there has been an across-the-board reduction in the payout pot because of the US fine, although it is still understood to be paying out roughly £2bn in bonuses to staff around the world.

HSBC is also expected to pay a healthy final dividend, with its payouts to shareholders an increasingly-important source of income to UK investors in the context of a banking sector which has seen dividend expenditure shrink dramatically since the financial crisis.

In the UK, HSBC has abandoned a structure for paying staff that saw it impose a £50,000 cap on cash bonuses last year. The scheme involved the bank issuing shares that were then sold immediately in the market to hand executives larger cash sums.

HSBC bosses felt the initiative, devised with the Bank of England and Financial Services Authority, was "cosmetic". Instead, payouts will not include a cash ceiling but larger sums will have to be deferred for several years and won't pay out until employees leave or retire.

Analysts expect HSBC's full-year results to show continued progress under Mr Gulliver at accelerating the pace of change of what had historically been seen as a sluggish supertanker.

He has sold scores of businesses which did not meet internal targets for generating returns and has prioritised growth in the world's fastest-growing economies.

"HSBC has made excellent progress in its strategy to simplify the business and refocus it on growth markets and markets that benefit from international connectivity," analysts at Shore Capital said.

They predict underlying full-year profit of £12.5bn, against £11.8bn in 2011.

HSBC, which declined to comment, is also expected to outline a further provision for compensating customers who were mis-sold payment protection insurance.

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Rape T-Shirt: Amazon Offered 'Hit Her' Tops

Amazon is continuing to offer T-shirts advocating domestic violence on its website - after withdrawing tops sloganed "Keep Calm And Rape".

The company withdrew the rape T-shirts - sold by the Solid Gold Bomb company - from its UK site and later pulled tops with the slogan "Keep Calm And Hit Her".

But the "Hit Her" top remains for sale on some international Amazon sites, including the version in Germany.

It offers the shirt for a price ranging between 16.90 euros and 18.90 euros and they are also available to non-German account holders.

A spokesman for Amazon UK had earlier told Sky News that all offensive garments had been pulled and said: "I can confirm that those items are not available for sale."

This top is being sold on the German website

Other offensive slogans discovered on the UK website - but now withdrawn - included "Keep Calm And Grope On" and "Keep Calm And Grope A Lot".

Critics of the T-shirts quickly let their feelings be known by posting hundreds of negative comments on the relevant Amazon pages and Twitter.

One said: "Do the decent thing and pull this disgusting item now. Remove all items by the same company to show them this will not be tolerated."

Another online customer, Jody, said: "Your on a roll now Amazon. So not content with supporting and encouraging rape your also advocating violence against women.

"Domestic violence is a crime. Real men don't beat there partners."

The firm apologised but later shut down its Twitter and Facebook accounts

Meanwhile, Labour deputy leader Lord Prescott, tweeted: "First Amazon avoids paying UK tax. Now they're make money from domestic violence."

An e-petition was set up titled "Amazon: Stop Encouraging Gropers", while Labour MP Roberta Blackman-Woods tweeted that "these amazon t shirts are terrible & we must speak out against them".

Amazon listed the manufacturing quality of the rape T-shirts as "Fine Jersey T-Shirt", saying the items were made by American Apparel prior to printing in the US.

When Solid Gold Bomb withdrew the 'rape' garment it also posted a statement on its website which said: "We have been informed of the fact that we were selling an offensive T-shirt primarily in the UK.

The Amazon UK site still offered 'hit her' T-shirts on Saturday

"This has been immediately deleted as it was and had been automatically generated using a scripted computer process running against 100s of thousands of dictionary words."

Solid Gold Bomb said it received death threats and its Twitter account was bombarded with scores of angry messages - many of which said: "Rape is not a joke."

Solid Gold Bomb replied: "We're sorry for the ill-feeling this has caused! We're doing our best here to fix the problem."

Both its Facebook and Twitter accounts have since been shut down.

It said the scripted programming process that created the slogan was compiled by "only one member of our staff", but that it "accepted the responsibility of the error".

Solid Gold Bomb said it sends its T-shirts from Worcester in Massachusetts to throughout the US, UK, Germany, Canada and 79 other countries daily.

Amazon typically charges companies 7% of the price, postage and any taxes to list and sell items through its website.

Prior to withdrawal the 'Keep Calm' shirts retailed in Britain for between £14.99 to £16.99 - excluding postage - allowing Amazon to make more than £1.18 on each sale.

Last year Amazon came under fire from MPs and the public over tax avoidance, after it was claimed the company generated UK sales during three years of between £7.6bn and £10.3bn, but paid virtually no corporation tax.

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Kenya Coach Crash: Three Brits Injured

Three British tourists were injured when a coach crashed in Kenya, a travel firm has said.

The accident happened shortly before 7am local time as the vehicle took First Choice holidaymakers to Mombasa Airport.

Fifteen Britons were on board at the time of the crash.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) spokesman said the injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

Eyewitnesses described how the vehicle rolled down an embankment on to another carriageway which had oncoming traffic.

The number of Britons involved is not yet known

Mark Bizley, who was travelling behind the coach, told BBC Radio Solent: "Its wheels lost grip on the tarmac and it started to snake. I could see the driver was really struggling to keep the vehicle straight. His right-hand wheels went over the edge of the tarmac and, as soon as the wheels left the road, the bus rolled.

"That side of the coach stopped snaking and the forward momentum turned the bus over and it rolled down the embankment into the other carriageway, which was busy."

A spokeswoman for First Choice confirmed that three British tourists were injured, but said it was not known what caused the coach to lose control.

She said: "First Choice is aware of an accident involving one of our transfer coaches, in Mombasa, Kenya, this morning.

"We are working closely with our teams in resort and the authorities to determine exactly what has happened and provide assistance to those affected.

"We can confirm there were 15 passengers and one staff member on board; three passengers are being treated for injuries at a local hospital."

Anyone concerned that their friends or family may have been affected can call a support line on 0800 009 3836.

An FCO spokesman said: "Our team in Mombasa is providing consular assistance to the British nationals who have been affected.

"We are working very closely with the tour operator. Some British nationals remain in hospital receiving treatment for injuries, accompanied by their families. The remaining passengers will be leaving Kenya."

In its travel advice for visitors to Kenya, the FCO warns that "road conditions and driving standards are often poor".

It states: "There have been a number of serious accidents involving Kenyan long-distance bus services.

"Vehicles are often poorly maintained, and driven at excessive speed even on poorly maintained roads."

People stand at the side of the road following the crash

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Defence Secretary: Cut Welfare Not Troops

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has warned he will resist further cuts to the armed forces in Chancellor George Osborne's forthcoming spending review.

After Downing Street said publicly last month that the military would not be immune from further financial retrenchment, Mr Hammond has vowed to fight against anything more than modest "efficiency savings".

He said other Conservative Cabinet ministers believed that the greatest burden of any cuts should fall on the welfare budget.

A Whitehall source said Mr Hammond's comments were aimed particularly at the Lib Dems following remarks by senior Lib Dem ministers indicating that they believed welfare spending should be protected over defence.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Hammond said there was a "body of opinion within Cabinet who believes that we have to look at the welfare budget again", and that "we should be seeing welfare spending falling" as a result of rising employment levels.

He later told the BBC: "We won't be able to make further cuts without eroding military capability.

Mr Hammond says the welfare budget should be curbed instead

"Of course I understand the Chancellor's challenge. He has to find additional savings in order to consolidate the public finances as we have to do but we need to look broadly across Government at how we are going to do that, not just narrowly at a few departments."

He said the "first priority" for the Government should be "defending the country and maintaining law and order" and that further defence cuts were not possible while meeting stated security objectives.

"I shall go into the spending review fighting the case for the defence budget on the basis that we have made very large cuts to defence, we've done that with the collaboration and co-operation of the military," he told the newspaper.

"Any further reduction in the defence budget would fall on the level of activity that we were able to carry out - the idea that expensively bought equipment may not be able to be used, expensively employed troops may not be able to be exercised and trained as regularly as they need to be.

"I am not going into the spending review offering any further reductions in personnel."

Mr Hammond's comments are likely to be welcomed by Tory backbenchers who have been calling for a return to core Conservative values in the wake of the party's trouncing in the Eastleigh by-election.

However they will also heighten tensions within the coalition, with the Liberal Democrats resisting a further squeeze on welfare spending.

Sky's Defence Correspondent Alistair Bunkall said: "Philip Hammond's words are significant for two reasons: he's clearly saying to the Lib Dems 'enough is enough' and by so blatantly suggesting that the British armed forces would be unacceptably weakened if subjected to further cuts, he's drawing a line that would be dangerous to cross."

Former Defence Secretary Liam Fox also waded into the issue, saying national debt was a "threat" to Britain's national wellbeing.

"The size of our national debt and the interest payments that come from it are a long-term strategic threat to our national well-being.

"We must look to other areas, especially our huge welfare budget, for the savings that we simply have to find. We cannot cut spending on our national security while continuing to spend on what are, ultimately, discretionary domestic programmes."

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