Sheen has also appeared in the films Wall Street and Platoon
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The Warner Bros Television studio has said it has fired actor Charlie Sheen from the hit US sitcom Two and a Half Men, after “careful consideration”.
The news comes amid a frenzy of recent US media reports on Sheen’s controversial person life.
No decision has been made on the future of the television series, a spokesman for Warner Bros said on Monday.
Sheen, the highest paid actor on US television, has also appeared in films including Wall Street and Platoon.
Production of Two and a Half Men had been postponed since late January after Sheen, the son of Hollywood actor Martin Sheen, entered rehabilitation for reported drug and alcohol abuse.
The sitcom is the most popular series on the CBS television network.
“After careful consideration, Warner Bros Television has terminated Charlie Sheen’s services on Two and a Half Men effective immediately,” Warner Bros said in a statement.
Production on the series was halted in late February after the 45-year-old actor insulted Chuck Lorre, the show’s producer and co-creator, in several interviews.
Over the past few weeks, Sheen has given a series of often angry, rambling media interviews. He insists he is drug-free after undergoing rehabilitation in January.
The actor was taken to hospital in Los Angeles with severe abdominal pains before entering rehab.
He filed for divorce from his third wife, Brooke Mueller, in November, citing irreconcilable differences.
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Ivory Coast is the world’s biggest cocoa producer
Ivory Coast’s disputed President Laurent Gbagbo has ordered the government to take control of all cocoa purchases and exports.
A decree read out on state TV said the purchase from producers “will be undertaken exclusively by the state”.
Alassane Ouattara, internationally recognised as president, earlier called for a temporary ban on exports to try to force Mr Gbagbo from power.
Ivory Coast is the world’s biggest cocoa producer.
The country’s industry accounts for 40% of global supplies and is currently dominated by multinational companies.
The price of cocoa has been trading at its highest levels for a year, as supplies have been strangled by recent sanctions and the near collapse of the banking system.
The UN-backed electoral commission says Mr Ouattara won presidential elections in November, but the Constitutional Council overruled it, citing rigging in the north.
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A Frank Lampard brace helps maintain Chelsea’s Premier League revival and sends Blackpool tumbling to a second successive defeat.
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Firms have been using Shanghai as a test market for their expansion into China
US toy manufacturer Mattel has shut its flagship Barbie concept store in Shanghai after just two years.
Mattel launched the store in March 2009 – Barbie’s 50th birthday – in an attempt to expand the market for it’s famous doll into China.
The store was spread across six floors, replete with a staircase decorated by 875 Barbie dolls and a Barbie bar.
Mattel was hoping to offset falling sales in traditional markets hit by the financial crisis.
However sales failed to meet expectations and the firm was forced to cut its targets within the first eight months of the store’s existence.
“Barbie in the US has a very long history, people grow up with the brand, their parents grow up with the brand, so brand recognition is very high. In China, though, nobody really knew what Barbie stood for,” said Ben Cavender, an analyst with China Market Research.
Challenging market
International firms have been using Shanghai as a test market for their expansion into China and Mattel is not the only retailer to have had difficulty in adjusting to the Shanghai marketplace.
In February, electronics retailer Best Buy closed all of its brand name stores in Shanghai and will instead focus on its local Jiangsu Five Star Appliance group of stores.
“What it definitely says is that it is a challenging market… for foreign retailers, it is a very hard market to get correct. They either don’t change quickly enough or they are not patient enough to be successful here,” Mr Cavender said.
Mattel said it remained committed to developing the Barbie brand in China and would launch a new campaign across the country later this year.
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Mr Obama had pledged in January 2009 to close the prison within a year
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US President Barack Obama is lifting the two-year freeze on new military trials for detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison.
Mr Obama also announced a new process for continuing to hold those detainees not charged or convicted but deemed too dangerous to free.
He said the measures would “broaden our ability to bring terrorists to justice”.
Mr Obama had pledged in January 2009 to close the prison within a year.
“The American system of justice is a key part of our arsenal in the war against al-Qaeda and its affiliates,” Mr Obama said in a statement.
He added that military commissions “ensure that our security and our values are strengthened”.
US defence secretary Robert Gates issued an order on Monday revoking his previous suspension on the “swearing and referring of new charges in the military commissions”.
New military commissions at the prison, which holds a number of top suspects from the 9/11 attacks and other strikes against the US, have been suspended since January 2009.
Mr Obama ruled in an executive order that detainees would have the right to a periodic review of the reasons for their detainment.
The order was designed to ensure inmates detained indefinitely without trial were only kept in prison when it was lawful and necessary to do so, the White House said.
“I am announcing several steps that broaden our ability to bring terrorists to justice, provide oversight for our actions and ensure the humane treatment of detainees,” Mr Obama said.
The president also reserved the right to try some suspects from Guantanamo Bay prison in federal prisons on the US mainland, a move that has been repeatedly blocked by members of Congress.
The White House said it would allow certain trials to resume, having carried out key reforms such as a ban on the use of statements taken under “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” and a better system for handling classified information.
“With these and other reforms, military commissions, along with prosecutions of suspected terrorists in civilian courts, are an available and important tool in combating international terrorists,” the Obama administration said.
The announcement on Monday is being seen as the president’s latest attempt to work around “war on terror” policies put in place by the previous Bush administration.
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Dundee United move into the Scottish Premier League’s top six as they convincingly end Aberdeen’s unbeaten run.
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Elephants know when a job requires teamwork, footage reveals
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Mr Arnold was caught on camera carrying feed buckets along a 200m track
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A couple who claimed more than £6,000 in disability benefits while running a stud farm have been handed a suspended prison sentence.
Nicolas Arnold, 57, and wife Mair, 57, received financial aid after claiming various health problems left them “virtually unable to walk”.
Cameras caught them carrying food pails and mucking out horses at Blackbridge Arabians in the Garw Valley.
Magistrates in Bridgend ordered the pair to be placed under curfew.
They were given an eight-week custodial sentence suspended for 12 months.
Fraud investigator Garth Jones played the court an 18-minute DVD of surveillance showing the couple working on their stud farm over a nine-month period.
He said: “As you can see, neither of them are displaying any difficulty with their mobility.
“In fact, they were running an operation called Blackbridge Arabians specialising in Arabian horses.”
He added: “At no time during the video surveillance did Mr or Mrs Arnold make use of any walking aids.”
The court was told the couple claimed disability living allowance saying neither of them could walk and they suffered from conditions including diabetes and heart problems.
Nicolas Arnold wrote on claim forms that “words could not describe” how tough his life was.
“Mr Arnold filled in the form saying that he could not walk at all”
Jonathan Holmes Prosecutor
He claimed he “could barely walk” as he battled diabetes, hypertension, heart arrhythmia, sleep apnoea, depression, severe back problems and impotence.
Mair Arnold said “chronic fatigue and depression” meant she slept up to 20 hours a day.
Prosecutor Jonathan Holmes said the couple had both been receiving benefits payments for their care and mobility allowance for nearly 15 years.
He said: “Nicolas also received the highest rate of allowance related to care, claiming he needed round-the-clock attention including help using the toilet.
“Mr Arnold filled in the form saying that he could not walk at all.
“He said he walked zero metres seven days a week and needed a walking stick or someone to help him stand up and get his balance.”
Mrs Arnold said she could not walk at all and needed a zimmer frame, walking stick, wheelchair or carers, he told the court.
But surveillance footage showed her holding a rake as she cleared horse manure out of their stables.
He said the footage showed Mr Arnold taking manure away using the wheel barrow and carrying two blue buckets of horse-feed along a 200m farm track.
Magistrates’ chairman John Hughes said: “The offences were so serious that they warranted an eight-week custodial sentence.”
But he suspended it for 12 months and put the couple on a combined 24-hour curfew.
Mrs Arnold will be under curfew from midday to midnight while her husband will be unable to leave the house from midnight to midday.
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Facebook is launching a system that allows users to ‘report’ friends who they think may be contemplating suicide.
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Ministers are aiming to cut the prison population by 3,000 and to reduce costs.
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Labour did not do enough to encourage prisoner rehabilitation while in office as they did not want to appear “soft on crime”, a senior party figure has said.
Sadiq Khan said Labour’s record on cutting prison numbers and reoffending rates during its 13 years in power could have been “much better”.
But the shadow justice secretary said the coalition’s penal policy was driven by the need “to cut costs not crime”.
His Tory counterpart Kenneth Clarke has urged a “rehabilitation revolution”.
Ministers want to cut the 85,000 prison population in England and Wales by 3,000 and tackle the causes of reoffending.
In December, the justice secretary outlined plans to provide more help to address inmates’ drug and alcohol addiction problems, establish regular work routines for prisoners to prepare them for life outside jail and to toughen up community sentences.
“It was almost as if we had to give off the impression we were even more tough on crime just to demonstrate we weren’t soft on crime”
Sadiq Khan Shadow Justice Secretary
In his first major speech since taking on the shadow role last autumn, Mr Khan said he supported efforts to reduce inmate numbers but questioned the government’s motives for doing so.
The opposition says 20% budget cuts to the prison and probation service over the next four years will make any rehabilitation-led approach much harder.
Penal policy was “founded on the short-term need to cut costs” and “arbitrary” targets for prison numbers, he said, rather than a considered focus on reducing crime.
“In the long run, they are risking increased costs by gambling with public safety,” he told the Fabian Society. “There is a real and genuine danger that because of their policies crime will rise.
“Quite simply it is irresponsible to pursue this agenda without the investment to match it.”
But Mr Khan admitted Labour, which is currently reviewing its policy in a number of areas including criminal justice, had failed to get a grip of reoffending during its own time in office.
“Reoffending rates are still too high, as is the prison population. I’m clear that this is one area where our scorecard in office would have said ‘Could have done better’. Much better, in fact.
“We became hesitant in talking about rehabilitation and the merits of investment in bringing down reoffending rates. It was almost as if we had to give off the impression we were even more tough on crime just to demonstrate we weren’t soft on crime.
“Playing tough in order not to look soft made it harder to focus on what is effective.”
The Ministry of Justice said its objective was to break the “destructive cycle of crime” which had led to 14 prisons in England and Wales having reconviction rates of over 70%.
“Society has a right to expect the criminal justice system will protect them. Prison will always be the place for serious and dangerous offenders,” a spokesman said.
“Prisons should also be places of hard work and industry and community sentences must be credible and robust. Criminals must be reformed so that when they finish their sentences they do not simply return to crime, creating more misery for victims.”
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This graffiti in Benghazi shows the confidence of the anti-Gaddafi rebels
Whitehall sources have told the BBC that the botched SAS mission to Libya was personally authorised by Foreign Secretary William Hague.
The six soldiers were freed along with a man described as a British Foreign Office official two days after being detained in eastern Libya.
They left for Malta on board HMS Cumberland on Sunday night.
The Foreign Secretary is to make a statement about the mission on Monday afternoon in the Commons.
The group was dropped by helicopter into eastern Libya but were seized by opposition fighters and found to be carrying weapons, ammunition, maps and passports from four different countries.
In an earlier statement Mr Hague said: “The team went to Libya to initiate contacts with the opposition.
The Libyan State TV broadcast claims to show the UK ambassador speaking to a rebel spokesman
“They experienced difficulties, which have now been satisfactorily resolved. They have now left Libya.”
Mr Hague said: “We continue to press for Gaddafi to step down and we will work with the international community to support the legitimate ambitions of the Libyan people.”
The British ambassador to Libya, Richard Northern, was called in to explain to opposition forces what the group was doing in eastern Libya.
“I’m glad that this particular episode seems to have ended in farce rather than tragedy”
Oliver Miles Former UK ambassador to Libya
He spoke to a spokesman for former justice minister, Mostafa Abdel Jalil, who is now a rebel leader, to explain the men’s mission.
A telephone call between Mr Northern and Mr Jalil’s spokesman was intercepted by the Gaddafi regime and excerpts were played on Libyan state television on Sunday.
In it, Mr Northern could be heard apologising for the “misunderstanding” and pleading for the men’s release.
Oliver Miles, a former British ambassador to Libya, said he found the entire incident “bizarre”.
He added: “The phone lines to the country still work so there’s still quite a lot of information there if you’re prepared to dredge for it.
“I’m glad that this particular episode seems to have ended in farce rather than tragedy.”
He pointed out that Britain is not the only country to have experienced military embarrassment in Libya. The Dutch government is currently negotiating to free three of its marines who were captured along with their helicopter by pro-Gaddafi forces.
The troops had apparently been tasked with evacuating Dutch nationals from the port of Sirte.
What appeared to be video of the personnel has since been broadcast on Libyan state television.
Sir Emyr Jones Parry, former UK ambassador to the United Nations, said the government had been right to try to establish contact with the rebels, but had not gone about it in the right way.
“I think the mistake perhaps was to blur the distinction between what is a routine diplomatic activity, where your protection is declared to the host government or to the authorities in place, and something which is altogether more clandestine,” he said.
Forces loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi have fought bitter clashes with rebels in the central towns of Bin Jawad and Zawiya.
Some of Sunday’s heaviest fighting was reported in Misrata, 200km (125 miles) east of Tripoli, where a local doctor told the BBC the situation became “very bad” after pro-Gaddafi forces with tanks and armoured cars went into the city centre and opened fire.
Libyan air force pilots have also been involved in the fighting, strafing and bombing rebel targets.
Defence Secretary Liam Fox says the idea of a “no-fly zone” would be discussed at a meeting of Nato defence ministers later this week.
Prime Minister David Cameron has also reiterated his call for Col Gaddafi to go and criticised Tony Blair’s government for conducting “dodgy deals in the desert” in Libya back in 2004.
Mr Cameron told the Conservative Party spring conference: “When Margaret Thatcher was prime minister, this party stood by those who wanted to reject communism and embrace freedom.
“And today, this party stands by those reaching for that same freedom in the Arab world.”
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Tennyson was a man for the maxim
The poetic words of Alfred Lord Tennyson will be engraved in the 2012 Olympic village. But what other notable expressions can be attributed to Tennyson?
The last line of Tennyson’s monologue Ulysses, “to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”, will serve as inspirational words for the world’s athletes when they come to London for next year’s games.
Tennyson is quoted everywhere from books to episodes of the Simpsons, and some of his phrases have become commonly used maxims.
Here are 10 other quotes by Tennyson that may ring a bell.
1. “Theirs is not to reason why, theirs is but to do and die.”
From The Charge of the Light Brigade, the poem tells of the famous and brutal military disaster in the Crimean war. Nowadays, the saying is often used in the workplace and encourages one to press on no matter what the task.
Though the narrative as a whole tells the story of soldiers, pieces of the text can be applied to modern situations. “Readers can detach lines from their context and enjoy rolling them around in their mouths and heads,” says Oxford University literature professor Dr Robert Douglas-Fairhurst.
2. “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”
Perhaps the most well-known of Tennyson’s quotes comes from “In Memoriam”, a tribute to one of his late friends.
The saying, which is most commonly used to console someone after a break-up, tugs at the heartstrings and serves as a comfort for those with tumultuous love lives.
3. “If I had a flower for every time I thought of you… I could walk through my garden forever.”
This romantic sentiment may sound like the message on a greeting card, but it now makes its way into wedding speeches and toasts.
4.”Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.”
From the dramatic monologue Locksley Hall, this poem tells the story of a soldier who stays behind to reflect on childhood struggles.
This simple phrase insinuates that knowledge is pieces of information that aren’t always retained, but wisdom is a deeper understanding based on life experiences.
5. “A lie that is half-truth is the darkest of all lies.”
“His poems are full of concentrated lines and phrases that linger in the mind because of their shape, their sound, their mouthability. They ask to be read and then re-read,” explains Douglas-Fairhurst.
6. “I am a part of all that I have met.”
In Ulysses, a dramatic monologue detailing the Greek hero’s escapades, Tennyson succinctly offers his view that humans are shaped by a combination of all life’s experiences.
7. “Better not be at all than not be noble.”
In The Princess, Tennyson tells the story of a heroine who refuses to marry, and instead ends up founding a women’s university. After a long pursuit and a series of trials, the princess eventually falls in love with a prince.
Tennyson’s musing on nobility suggests that there is nothing worse than poor character.
8. “No man ever got very high by pulling other people down. The intelligent merchant does not knock his competitors. The sensible worker does not work those who work with him. Don’t knock your friends. Don’t knock your enemies. Don’t knock yourself.”
This is the kind of maxim that The Office’s David Brent might consider framing.
“Often he composed individual lines before working out where to fit them into a poem, and just as he sometimes treated these lines like pieces of lego he could build up into bigger blocks of writing,” according to Douglas-Fairhurst.
9. “Who are wise in love, love most, say least.”
In Merlin and Viviene, Tennyson tells the passionate love story of a woman seducing a man.
In this particular line of the poem, Tennyson suggests that someone who is in love should show love, not just vocalise their admiration.
10. “Nor is it wiser to weep a true occasion lost, but trim our sails, and let old bygones be.”
“Many of Tennyson’s poems are concerned with memory – what we should hold onto from the past, and what we should abandon,” says Douglas-Fairhurst. “His best poems don’t just describe the workings of memory – they also enable it by making themselves so memorable.”
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