India Meerut young offenders escape using bedsheets.Double click and read more...

 India's police are often criticised for providing lax security

More than 90 young offenders have escaped from a detention centre in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, police say.

The offenders, all below the age of 18, removed an iron grille from a window and tied bedsheets together to lower themselves to the ground.
They climbed out of the back of the building in the city of Meerut while police guarded the front.
Thirty-five of the prisoners have since been recaptured, police said.
Senior police official Om Prakash told the AFP news agency that the escape was "done so professionally that no one got a whiff".
The escape was only discovered when some of the prisoners were seen on the road, trying to flag down vehicles early on Monday.
Mr Prakash said that those still on the run included inmates convicted of crimes such as murder, rape, theft and banditry.
More than 31,000 young offenders are being held at detention centres in India, according to one official estimate.

Police reject recruits with tattooed bodies.Drive Hot News

 Some of the applicants who turned up for the police recruitment at Police Primary School in Gulu Town last week. Photo by Julius Ocungi.


Police have said they did not recruit any applicant with tattoos. This, they claim, was done so as to keep the Force professional.
The police cadet recruitment exercises, which begun on January 28, ended on January 30 where police was seeking to recruit a total of 500 graduates.
Aswa Regional Police spokesperson Jimmy Patrick Okema said over the weekend that during the cadet recruitment exercise, conducted at Police Primary School in Gulu Town, some applicants failed to qualify because they had tattoos.
He said people with tattoos are always portrayed in the community as criminals and that the police have no space for such people.
“We want to stress this clearly to everyone who has tattoo on their bodies that the police will never accept them. We have our standards and we cannot expect such people with tattoo if recruited to convince the locals while carrying out community policing,” said Mr Okema.
Probation Police Constables recruitment exercise which commenced on Sunday ends on February 5 country wide with a total of 3,000 graduates expected to be recruited in a bid to bolster the force’s strength ahead of the 2016 general elections.
Mr Okema, noted that a total of 100 applicants out of 159 who applied for the cadet successfully went through the aptitude test, medical test, oral and written interviews, adding that their names will be submitted at the Police Headquarters where their fate will be announced later.
Last year, the police recruited 100 Probation Police Constables and 20 Cadet Officers from Acholi Sub-region.

How to Train Your Dragon sequel wins animation award.Drive Hot News

 How to Train Your Dragon 2 picked up five awards at Saturday's ceremony.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 has staked its claim to this year's best animated feature Oscar by taking top honours at the 42nd Annie Awards in Los Angeles.

The DreamWorks sequel was named best feature at the event, which honoured 2014's best achievements in animation.
The film also took home awards for Dean DeBlois's direction, feature character design, storyboarding and music.
The Lego Movie won a writing award, while Sir Ben Kingsley was recognised for his voice work in The Boxtrolls.
Canine caper Feast, the short film that precedes Disney's Big Hero 6 in cinemas, was named best animated short subject.
The UK's Aardman Animations was honoured for Flight of the Stories, the short film it made to mark the opening of new galleries at London's Imperial War Museum.
Based on the book series by Britain's Cressida Cowell, How to Train Your Dragon 2 follows the adventures of a young Viking called Hiccup and his pert dragon Toothless.
It won the Golden Globe for best animated feature and is up for the same awards at the Oscars and the Baftas.
The original How to Train Your Dragon was named best animated feature at the 2011 Annies but lost out at the Oscars to Toy Story 3.

Ebola crisis: First large-scale vaccine trials to begin.Drive Hot News

 More than 3,600 people have died from Ebola in Liberia.

The first large-scale trials of an experimental vaccine against Ebola are due to begin in Liberia.

The potentially preventative medicine was taken under strict security to a secret location in the West African country.
Scientists aim to immunise 30,000 volunteers, including front-line health workers.
More than 8,500 people have died in the Ebola outbreak, the vast majority in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The total number of reported cases is more than 21,000. In Liberia alone, more than 3,600 people have died from the disease.
The trial beginning on Monday will involve injecting a small amount of the a strain of the Ebola virus into 12 volunteers in order to trick the body into producing an immune response.
But it is not yet clear whether this will really offer protection against the disease.The senior Liberian scientist involved in the trials, Stephen Kennedy, told the BBC the volunteers were safe.
"There is no danger because the piece of the Zaire strain that has been put into the vaccine. It is a weak strain and it can not and will not cause Ebola, so it is impossible that anyone of the volunteers will contract Ebola from the vaccine," Mr Kennedy said.
The BBC's Mark Doyle in Liberia says that the scientists are well aware of how important it will be to work with the local people if this trial is to work.
Community nurses are being trained in how to monitor volunteers in the months after they have had their injections
In the meantime, our correspondent says that parts of the largest Ebola treatment centre in the world, on the edge of Monrovia, are being knocked down.
The number of Ebola cases in Liberia has been steadily decreasing - in recent months, there have only been five confirmed cases across the country.
The World Health Organization says the epidemic has entered a "second phase" with the focus shifting to ending the epidemic.
The survival rate of the current outbreak is around 40%

Bobbi Kristina Brown: Whitney Houston daughter's condition unknown.Drive Hot News

 Whitney Houston (l) with Bobbi Kristina Brown in 2011.

Bobbi Kristina Brown, daughter of late US singer Whitney Houston, is in hospital in an unknown condition after being found unresponsive in a bathtub.

Medical privacy laws mean information is restricted, but unconfirmed reports said she was in a medically induced coma to reduce swelling on the brain.
Ms Brown, 21, was found on Saturday by her husband and a friend.
The incident happened less than two weeks before the third anniversary of Whitney Houston's death.
The singer was found dead in February 2012, aged 48, in a bath in a hotel in Los Angeles.
A post-mortem examination later concluded she died of accidental drowning due to the effects of cocaine use and heart disease.

Medical privacy laws mean there is scant information about Ms Brown's condition

'Praying for recovery' Ms Brown was found in the bathtub on Saturday morning, Roswell police spokeswoman Lisa Holland said later in the day.
She said that Ms Brown was now at North Fulton Hospital in Roswell, Georgia, and that she was "still alive and breathing".
At a later news conference, Ms Holland said she could not comment on Ms Brown's condition because of medical privacy laws.
The police spokeswoman also noted the incident's similarity with the circumstances of Ms Brown's mother's death.
But the 21-year-old's cousin Jerod Brown told Sky News: "She's pretty good right now, she's around family.
"We're just praying for a speedy recovery, that's it... I'm pretty sure she'll be getting out of there very soon."
Mr Brown refused to comment on reports that his cousin was in a coma.
was seen as the golden girl of the music industry in the 1980s and 90s, becoming one of the world's best-selling artists and the most successful soul singer of all time.
But the hits stopped in the mid-1990s after she began to abuse cocaine, marijuana and prescription drugs.
Bobbi Kristina was born after the singer's tumultuous 1992 marriage to hip-hop singer Bobby Brown.
The marriage became a public spectacle and ended in divorce in 2007.
"She encourages me and inspires me," Houston once said of her daughter. "When I look at her eyes and I see myself, I go: 'OK. I can do this. I can do this.'"

South Sudan warring factions sign peace deal.Drive Hot News

 South Sudan President Salva Kiir (bottom right) and Dr Riek Machar sign a peace pact in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during the 29th Extra Ordinary session of IGAD on February 2, 2015.

ADDIS ABABA

South Sudan President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar early Monday signed a peace deal that immediately ends further bloodshed.

Under the new peace pact , the warring factions agreed to adjourn further talks until February 19 when the negotiations resume ahead of the final and comprehensive peace pact on March 5.

Any side which violates the new peace deal will face unspecified penalties from both the African Union and the United Nations Security Council, Chief Mediator, Ambassador Seuym Mesfen from Ethiopia warned.

The two leaders had on January 21 this year signed another agreement aimed at reunifying the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).

Intense efforts spearheaded by regional leaders saw the Arusha meeting last into late-night hours, marks a turning point in the bloody conflict.

President Kiir, Machar and Mr Deng Alor Kuol signed the historic agreement after SPLM Intra-Party Dialogue Summit.

(READ: Kiir, Machar agree to re-unify fractured SPLM)

On Monday, Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, Ethiopia Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn and Ambassador Mesfen asked the two leaders to show statesmanship and honour what they had signed.

The four day negotiations that lead to the peace agreement signing at 12.21am in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Monday were characterised by tension, intense consultations, disagreements, two postponements and political horse trading.

The peace pact was first scheduled to be signed on Thursday, January 29, but was postponed to Saturday and then Sunday.

The negotiations were held under the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad).

President Kenyatta is Igad rapporteur while Ethiopia Prime Minister, Hailemariam Dessalegn is the chairman.

ARMED SECURITY

Igad members include Kenya, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uganda, Djibouti and the two twin states of Sudan and South Sudan.

The crisis in South Sudan started a year ago when former Vice President Machar left the government in a huff after President Kiir accused him of plotting a coup.

Dr Machar became the leader of the South Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) while President Kiir was left holding to the ruling party, the South Sudanese Liberation Movement-Government of South Sudan Republic (SPLM-GSSR).

Since the split, the two sides and their supporters including militia and armed security forces have been engaged in political skirmishes that led to loss of lives.

Before President Kiir and his former Deputy signed the peace deal, Ambassador Mesfen briefed the media and other stakeholders saying the new agreement was an important development to end the bloody war.

He cautioned that all peace processes have their own challenges but expressed optimism that the new pact will lead to sustainable peace.

He told the two principals that by signing the peace deal, they were rededicating themselves to the cessation of all hostilities.

Thanking President Kiir and Dr Machar for engaging in consultations and signing the peace pact, President Kenyatta said Igad leaders have been seeking peace for South Sudan for a long time and expressed hope the new deal will hold.

“The people in the region and the whole world are hopeful for peace in South Sudan. The principals should commit themselves to peace until a final agreement is reached,” said President Kenyatta.

He added; “This is what the people of South Sudan are hopeful for and are confident peace will be restored.”

TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT

He thanked the International community for overseeing the peace process.

The Ethiopian PM thanked Igad leaders for bringing President Kiir and Dr Machar to the negotiating table, hoping that the two principals will stop the suffering of the people of South Sudan.

“I am confident the two leaders will respect what they have signed ahead of the comprehensive peace agreement on March 5,” said the PM.

He said the entire world is keenly watching to see whether peace will prevail in the war-ravaged country.

President Kiir and Dr Machar exchanged the signed peace documents amidst ululations and jubilation from their supporters.

The peace deal making was witnessed by representatives from the USA, United kingdom, all other Igad members, Norway and China.

Igad Executive Secretary Ambassador Mahbub M Maalim and seasoned peace negotiator from Kenya retired major General Elijah Sumbeiywo were also present.

It is hoped that the final and comprehensive peace agreement will include details about the proposed Transitional Government of National Unity and comprehensive political reforms to facilitate General Elections scheduled for June this year.

It is also hoped the final peace agreement will address itself to the overhaul of the current security arrangement leading to a harmonised security team drawn from the two sides in the conflict.

Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel confirm they are expecting .Drive Hot News

A picture taken on September 9, 2013 shows Justin Timberlake and his wife Jessica Biel attending the 2013 US Open men's final at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. American singer and actor Justin Timberlake took to Instagram on his 34th birthday Saturday to announce that he and his wife, actress Jessica Biel, are expecting their first child. Timberlake in 2012 married Biel, 32, who has found success both on television and in film.

NEW YORK

American singer and actor Justin Timberlake took to Instagram on his 34th birthday Saturday to announce that he and his wife, actress Jessica Biel, are expecting their first child.

"Thank you EVERYONE for the Bday wishes! This year, I'm getting the GREATEST GIFT EVER. CAN'T WAIT.

#BoyOrGirl #YouNeverKnow #WeDontEvenKnow #WeAreTakingBets," Timberlake wrote on his Instagram account below a photograph of him kissing Biel's pregnant belly.

Timberlake made his start as a child television star before joining 'NSync.

He more recently has become one of the music industry's most popular solo singers and has starred in movies including the Facebook-themed drama "The Social Network."

Timberlake in 2012 married Biel, 32, who has found success both on television and in film.