Merchiston Crescent Credit: Adam Smyth
By Celeste Carrigan
Pawel Rodak a 20-year-old man has been charged with the murder of Roger Gray, retired lecturer. He has appeared in private at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
The charges made were culpable and reckless conduct, and endangering the lives of people in the building and surrounding area.
No declaration or plea was made on his behalf and the case continues for further enquiry. Rodak was remanded in custody.
Morningside Library Closing for Refurb Credit: Blythe Harkins
By Celeste Carrigan
Morningside public library is closing for eight months for renovations. The refurbishment will involve the creating of a new level in the library as well as a new cafe.
The library will see improved community and study areas with much-needed public toilets.
A book van will be in operation opposite the library during its closure on Falcon Road west.
Tune into Edinburgh Napier News TV Bulletin at 3pm to find out more on this story.
Edinburgh Castle turns off their lights for 'Earth Hour' Credit: WWF
By Celeste Carrigan
Dr Richard Dixon, Head of WWF Scotland, speaks to Edinburgh Napier News about Earth Hour. Not only will people have to remember to put their clock forward one hour this weekend but don’t forget to switch off your lights at 8.30-9.30pm on Saturday 26 March as part of the WWF Environmental campaign.
Across the country, people will be sitting in the dark but they won’t be alone, some of Scotland’s well-known landmarks such as Edinburgh Castle will be joining in the campaign.
Tune into Edinburgh Napier News radio bulletins at 12.30pm, 1.30pm and 2.30pm to find out more about Earth Hour and click on the link below to listen to Dr Richard Dixon to hear more.
HMS Edinburgh docks in Leith Credit: Blythe Harkins
By Celeste Carrigan
The penultimate Royal Navy 42 Type Destroyer, HMS Edinburgh has docked in Leith for the weekend. Scotland’s capital ship will be open from 1pm to the public on Sunday 27 March 2011.
The public will be able to come on board and have a look around an active Royal Navy ship.
Edinburgh Napier News got exclusive photos of the ship as it docked in Edinburgh.
For more information on this story tune into Edinburgh Napier News TV Bulletin at 3PM
by Celeste Carrigan
Victim Roger Gray
A 20-year-old man is due in court later today at Edinburgh’s Sheriff Court. He was arrested on Wednesday in connection with the murder of Roger Gray.
The murder of Gray, a 64 year-old retired lecturer, is the third homosexual related murder in a month. His body was found in his home in the city’s up market area of Merchiston. Police broke in last Saturday morning after a suspected gas leak. A postmortem examination found that he had suffered multiple stab wounds from what is believed to have been a “sustained attack”.
Gray’s death follows those of John Carter, 44, in Leith and a man in Pilton, who cannot be named for legal reasons. Detectives said there is nothing indicating a link between the three men but will be keeping an open mind.
For more information on this story tune into Edinburgh Napier News TV Bulletin at 3PM
By Celeste Carrigan
Apple's Latest Gadget the Ipad2 Source: Apple
It is a gadget filled weekend with the release of the Nintendo 3DS and the Apple Ipad 2.
Thousands of people began queuing last night to get their hands on two of the biggest gaming gadgets as they battle it out for sales. Nintendo 3DS had a midnight launch with thousands queuing outside shops nationwide. London’s Oxford HMV store held the official launch of the Nintendo 3DS with Plan B playing for the crowds. [Read more...]
For a round-up of today’s latest news watch the Edinburgh Napier News bulletin.
Stories covered include:
Ruth Coy, Karen Knight and Helen Hooke took part in some comic fundraising
Red Nose Day fundraising has already started in Edinburgh. AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical company based in Edinburgh, brought some comic relief to the office yesterday, Thursday with their own Red Nose Day. They all took in part in some fundraising from baking cakes, dress down for the day and even dressing in red and much more.To find out more about what they did and how much they raised……….
Tune into Susannah Radford at 12.15 pm on Edinburgh Napier News Radio.
Red Nose 2011
by Celeste Carrigan
Today marks the official Red Nose Day. The BBC tonight sees a jam packed TV show of comic shenanigans.
Many have already started their fundraising from shaving heads to fun runs. Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles held the longest radio marathon yesterday for 51.5-hours. The show has already got the money rolling in for the Comic Relief fund, with listeners donating over £2 million.
Cannongate Kirk Edinburgh Source: Telegraph
By Celeste Carrigan
As Royal Wedding fever starts to set in across the UK, Scotland is starting to prepare for the 2nd of Royal Marriages to happen this Year. Princess Ann’s daughter Zara Phillips and fiancé rugby player Mike Tindall have chosen to hold their nuptials in Edinburgh. The summer wedding will be a small family affair, with the ceremony happening at Cannogate Kirk on the Royal Mile . The reception will take place at the Queen’s Scottish residence Palace of Holyroodhouse. Further updates on this story to follow in the tv news bulletin on Edinburgh Napier News.
Dr Martens Logo : Sourced Dr Martens
The iconic cult classic piece of fashion Dr Martens turned 50 years old this year in April. The boot has forever remained the shoe of choice for subcultures and looks to be with us for another 50 years. The tough looking, hardworking work boots are an emblem of British fashion. They have been on a journey of freedom, individuality and empowerment. [Read more...]
By Celeste Carrigan
Student have taking to the streets in protest : Credit; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11829102
Students in Glasgow today are gearing up for a mass walkout, in protest to increased tuition fees, Education cuts and to save the EMA.
Coordinated walkouts are planned to commence from around 12pm today and there have been a number of confirmed Glasgow Universities, colleges and schools taking part. The walkouts will be led to the protest and rally at 3pm at Glasgow’s city Royal Concert Hall. The rally will then commence at 5pm at George Square where speakers will include Dave Moxham (STUC), Pete Murray (NUJ) and Phil Whyte (NUS)
The new wave of protests are expected to take part up and down the country today including London, Birmingham, Manchester and Cambridge. These protests come in response to the speech made by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg yesterday, where he called on students to reconsider their opposition to the government plans.
“I know that more protests are planned by students tomorrow. I make just one request of those planning to protest: examine our proposals before taking to the streets,” he said.
Students are still taking to the streets today to send a powerful message to Government. In Glasgow students are wanting the government to see they wont accept tuition fees being reintroduced into Scotland, although this is still to be confirmed by Scottish Government. They are also wanting the Government to take notice that students wont accept 80% cuts to teaching budget and the EMA being Scrapped.
The new wave of walkouts and protest that are happening today come two weeks after demonstrations in London descended into violence, where 50,00 people marched the streets of London. They marched in protest increased tuition fees in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to £9000 a year. Police up and down the country today are said to be ready for any violence at the protests today.
Fire Extinguisher thrown Millbank Tower : Credit ;http://www.thesun.co.uk/
Police arrested more than 60 people over the violence and disorder which saw windows smashed, objects hurled at officers and a fire extinguisher thrown from the roof of the building. Edward Woollard the 18-year-old student responsible for throwing the fire extinguisher from the top of Millbank Tower, has pleaded guilty today. There has been no word on any sentence yet.
Students in London have already started taking to the streets and have begun staging occupations at some Universities.
Twilight credit; BBC
By Celeste Carrigan
The votes have been counted and yesterday the nominations were annouced at the official People’s Choice Awards conference in Hollywood. Twilight, Katy Perry, Lady GaGa and Eminem lead the nominations for 2011 People’s Choice Awards.
The nominations were announced by a whole host of celebrities as well this years awards host Queen Latifah
This year vampire sequel The Twilight Saga: Eclipse leads the nominations, after receiving eight nominations for the 2011 People’s Choice Awards. The film is up for favourite movie and favourite dram. The young cast also dominate other categories, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Launter and Kristen Stewart are up for favourite on-screen team. Both Robert Pattison and Taylor Launter are individually nominated for Favourite Movie Actor and Kristen Stewart is nominated in the Favourite Movie Actress category.
There are many multi nominee this year, with Robert Downey Jr who is up for favourite actor, favourite action star and favourite on-screen team with Don Cheadle. His film Iron Man 2 is nominated for favourite movie and action movie. Leonardo DiCaprio and his film Inception also dominated in nomination in the Film Categories.
Katy Perry, Lady GaGa and Eminem lead the nominations within the music categories. Katy Perry has received five nominations, she is up five awards including Favourite Female Artist and Favourite Female categories. Lady GaGa and Katy Perry are going head to head in many of the music categories, with Lady GaGa up for four awards including Favourite Female Artist. Eminen has sweaped nominations for males musician, after being nominated for four awards at the 2011 awards.
The television category has been dominated by the Us Hit show Glee after snagging five nominations. The show had been nominated for Favourite Tv Comedy and Favourite Guest Star for Britney Spears and Neil Patrick Harris.
Voting has already opened for the 44 categories on the People’s Choice Awards Website and will be open until the 7th December. The winners ill be announced at te award ceremony on the 5th January hosted rapper and actress Queen Latifah at Los Angles Nokia Theatre.
Glasgow's George Square
By Celeste Carrigan
The cold winter nights are truly upon us. As the fireworks fall from Guy Fawkes night, the Christmas lights up and down the country are beginning to be turned on. The Glasgow Loves Christmas festival is in full swing the lights are up but they have still to be switched on.
The Christmas lights will be turned on in the main shopping streets for many cities in the UK, in the middle of the month. This will be the start of the busiest time of the year for shops. For many years people have said Christmas comes earlier every year, with shops in July and August filling their shelves with Christmas decorations and presents. This may also be said about the Christmas lights.
This years Glasgow Loves Christmas Festival is about celebrating the best of the festive season Glasgow has to offer. The lights switching on will mark the start of the festivities, the switch this year will be flicked on Sunday 21st November.
Glasgow's Iconic Christmas Bells
As Glasgow and many other cities are gearing up for the Christmas rush and setting up their lights, some have already turned theirs on. Oxford Street Christmas Lights are the most famous in the world, and are enjoyed by many. This year the lights were turned on the 4th November 2010 , but to its usual crowd of celebrities and the thousands of people who flock year after year to London’s west end to see the big switch on. This year they kicked off the Christmas celebrations on a low-key affair rather than one of the many celebrities that have turned on the illuminations year after year, this year children chosen by the Kids Company charity flicked the switch. London’s Regent street lights are next to be turned on, the switch will flicked by the cast of the new Narnia film, tonight Tuesday 8th November.
Although Glasgow winter festival is not the same celebrity event as London’s Christmas festivals, year after year crowds gather at the city’s George Square to see the lights be turned on. The switching on of the lights in Glasgow has and will always be a family affair. This year the organizers have put together a line up for all the family, they will be “treated to performances from the Musical Theatre course at The Dance School of Scotland, the cast of SECC panto Aladdin and Lazytown Sports Club Team featuring Sportacus and Stephanie.”
It is a party atmosphere, with families joining in the festivities. Glasgow will be the first major city in Scotland alongside Aberdeen to have their Christmas lights switched on, whilst Edinburgh won’t be joining the festivities until the 26th November.
By Celeste Carrigan
Leavesden Studio, Hertfordshire
Hollywood film makers Warner Bros. have announced plans to develop a permanent UK studio. The new complex will be built around and expand the existing facilities of Leavesden studios, Hertfordshire, which has acted as home for the Harry Potter films for the past 8 years.
Harry Potter
As the end is near for the Harry Potter films, Hogwarts will live on, as they will have a permanent home in the new studios. Warner Bros. new complex will also include a visitor centre, which will give film fans the ultimate experience of their favourite films to come out of the studio. The centre will give them access to memorabilia such as sets, props and costumes from films such as the Harry Potter series, The Dark Knight and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Warner will be opening stages to the public for behind-the-scene tours, when the expansion opens in 2012.
Barry Meyer its Chairmen and Chief executive released the following statement regarding the purchase:
“Our purchase of Warner Bros Studios, Leavesden, and our multimillion-pound investment in creating a state-of-the-art, permanent UK film production base further demonstrates our long-term commitment to, and confidence in, the skills and creativity of the UK film industry.”
This is the first Hollywood studio to purchase of its own permanent facility in the UK and is new build is estimated to cost £100m. The purchase will create one of the biggest filming locations in Europe.
Warner Bros. has been involved in the UK Film industry for the past 86 years and have spent £1.9bn in the past decade on film production . More recently it has increased it production activity in the UK after buying Shed Media, who produce shows such as Wife Swap. They have also expressed an interest in purchasing Channel 5.
This comes as welcome news for the film industry following the decision to disband the UK Film Council. The expansion of studio will not only be great for the UK Film Industry, it will also create around 1500 jobs and 300 jobs for building and specialist contractors.
MySpace Original Logo
By Celeste Carrigan
MySpace was one of the founding social networking sites, originating from California. The website appears to have been hit with the plague of Facebook with its death near, as numbers of users are low.
MySpace New Logo
MySpace has went under a major redesign in the past couple of weeks to redefine it as a “new brand, website and a suite of products that together redefine the company as a social entertainment destination for Gen Y”
The redesign wanted to create a highly personal experience for people to discover entertainment on multi-platforms and connect with fans of similar interests. MySpace has always wanted to be much more than friends keeping in touch, it is more an entertainment experience.
This appears to have come too late as it is losing a lot of money. Last night the site that was once the world’s number one social network, was put on notice by its parent company, News Corporation.
Chase Carey, News Corp’s President has said that company was clear that MySpace “is a problem” with looses of £97m. Patience is running out with MySpace especially as the website traffic is still no where as high as it counterpart Facebook, even after the redesign and launch as a new brand.
The website has always been much more than just a social networking site for friends to keep in touch, it has always been a platform for musicians to get their music out to the world. Many music careers have been launched as a result of MySpace such as that of Lily Allen’s. This may be lost if the site was to close. MySpace has made the world of entertainment a lot easier through social networking and viralling.
It was the second social network site to emerge in 2003, with sites such as Bebo and Facebook coming along a couple of years later. In 2005 it was reported that MySpace had more page views than Google.
The social network has taken the world by storm with many different sites available. If MySpace was to close will the social networking world notice? Has social networking only got place for one site? Facebook was a small site created by Mark Zuckerberg and college friends and has taken the throne as the largest site in the world. It has also been embodied by Hollywood’s Silverscreen in the Movie “The Social Network“. Facebook appears to have taken the world by storm and squashed all those that came before him, is MySpace next?
By Celeste Carrigan
Mid- terms, voters deliver blow to Obama : President Obama Democrat party loses control of the House of Representatives but holds on to the Senate in the US mid-term elections.
Further warning shots fired by South Korea : A North Korean fishing at a maritime border came under fire from a South Korea’s Navy, the second attack within six days. This is beginning to rattle nerves in Seoul, ahead of next weeks G20 summit.
Air freights suspended in Greece after Bombs found : Overseas shipment of mail and packages in Greece have been suspended for 48 hours, in attempt to stop militants sending more parcel bombs. More than a dozen have been already sent to governments and embassies.
String of explosions in Baghdad, death toll rises to 64 : Around 10 car bombs, four roadside bombs and two sticky bombs exploded in the Shi’ite area of Baghdad, killing at least 64 people and wounding 360. This comes only two days after al Qaeda militants took hostages in a Christian church.
Merapi erupts again in Indonesia : The fourth eruption of Mount Merapi in eight days, came with renewed strength on Wednesday. Authorities have been forced to move refugee shelters further away from the volcano.
Two killed in Serbia Earthquake : Serbia overnight was struck by an earthquake of a magnitude 5.4, it has killed two people and injuring around 100. The earthquake struck the city of Kraljevo at around 1:56 a.m. (just before 9 p.m. ET). Many buildings were damaged and many parts of the city are without electricity and water.
Hurricane Tomas now threatens Jamaica and Haiti : Jamaica’s government has issued a hurricane watch for the island late Tuesday, the hurricane continues it path through the Caribbean. The people of Haiti and the Dominican Republic have also been advised to monitor the progress of Tomas, as it could pose a significant threat to such areas later in the week.
Glasgow Zombie Walk: Courtesy of http://glasgowzombiewalk.co.uk/
By Celeste Carrigan
It is the time of year when the ghost and ghouls come out to play. This Halloween Zombies will take to the streets of Glasgow on Sunday the 31st October.
This is the second year will see many Zombies take a stroll through the City’s Kelvingrove Park. This year the organisers hope to attract a larger undead army. In 2009 they saw a horde of zombies shuffle and groan their way along University Avenue through Kelvingrove Park. There where tour buses, blood vans, Ninjas, soldiers, commanders, and Lego zombie man but they were unable to withstand the infestation that came their way. This year also takes on a larger scale with two days of events, with the walk happening on Halloween.
The Zombie king and founder of the walk, Colin Armstrong, said “I think Glasgow’s (if it goes ahead year-after-year) will become more of a zombie festival with the walk as a focal point”
The organisers promise something for all types of Zombies with a Zombie ball taking place on Saturday the 30th October at Sloans Bar in Glasgow City Centre. The Zombie Walk will start Sunday the 31st October at 3pm and then the horde will then partake in a good old Sunday stroll through the park. The walk will take around an hour with a few differences on your way. An after party has been arranged at Sloans bar 4pm-10pm with a BBQ and Zombie films and DJ.
The walk in 2009 initially started as a pub crawl, attracting 400 participants but this year organisers are expecting ten times as many participants. There are hopes that the walk will run annually and eventually become more of a festival with many Zombie related events running over numerous days, on the lead up to Halloween.
By Celeste Carrigan
Gamu Nhengu the young singing contestant from Scotland who was controversially eliminated from the X Factor competition at the weekend is now having to face another blow, deportation.
It has been confirmed by immigration officials that the young contestant’s mother, Nokuthula Ngazana, has been refused permission to stay in the country after her visa expired in August. It was believed Gamu Nhengu and her family were allowed to stay in the country, whilst her mother Ms Ngazana studied at University.
The UK Border Agency released a statement that said: “The applications made by Ms Ngazana and her family were considered in line with the published immigration rules.
“Ms Ngazana’s application was refused as it did not meet all of the conditions for approval. Her family, who had applied as her dependants, were therefore also refused.”
Ngazana said she was unaware of the UK Border’s Agency’s decision.
Gamu Nhengu originally from Zimbabwe, has lived in Scotland for the past eight years. Her dreams of being a singer where crushed at the weekend after being knocked out the competition, one week before the live finals began. But now after rumours of her maybe rejoining the show as wildcard may have been squashed. It has been confirmed that they must leave the United Kingdom voluntarily or face deportation to their native Zimbabwe.
A spokesman for the Home Office said the decision to axe Gamu from the X Factor was the “business” of the television show. The show’s bosses have had to hit back and have denied the reports that Cheryl Cole decision at the weekend was highly influenced by the fear the Gamu’s visa was due to run out.
A spokeswoman for the ITV talent show said: “Gamu’s visa being processed was not the reason that she didn’t make the final 12.”
Since the final Twelve contestants of X Factor where announced and the backlash surrounding Cheryl Cole decision to put through Cher Loyd who did not complete her audition over Gamu Nhengu almost flawless audition. A Facebook Group campaign was created within hours of the decision, to have the Zimbabwe-born singer reinstated to the show has already gathered over 200,000 supporters.
