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Bedroom Tax Blamed For Woman's Suicide A woman who committed suicide left a note blaming the Government's so-called bedroom tax for her death. Stephanie Bottrill, who killed herself earlier this month, wrote in her final letter: "I don't [blame] anyone for me death expect [sic] the government." Her son Steven, 27, said she was struggling to cope after being told to pay £20-a-week extra for two under-occupied bedrooms at her home in Solihull. He told the Sunday People: "I couldn't believe it. She said not to blame ourselves, it was the Government and what they were doing that caused her to do it. "She was fine before this bedroom tax. It was dreamt up in London, by people living in offices and big houses. They have no idea the effect it has on people like my mum."

As a child, doctors told Jacob Barnett’s parents that their autistic son would probably never know how to tie his shoes. But experts say the 14-year-old Indiana prodigy has an IQ higher than Einstein’s and is on the road to winning a Nobel Prize. He’s given TedX talks and is working toward a master’s degree in quantum physics. The key, according to mom Kristine Barnett, was letting Jacob be himself — by helping him study the world with wide-eyed wonder instead of focusing on a list of things he couldn’t do. Diagnosed with moderate to severe autism at the age of 2, Jacob spent years in the clutches of a special education system that didn’t understand what he needed. His teachers at school would try to dissuade Kristine from hoping to teach Jacob any more than the most basic skills.

Struggling Finnish handset giant Nokia unveiled on Thursday its next-generation of lower-end mobile smartphones as it seeks to gain traction in a market expected to be worth $15 billion by 2015. Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop released the $99 Asha 501 touchscreen Internet-enabled model at a global launch in New Delhi that especially targets emerging market users moving up from their no-frills first mobile phones. India, the world’s second-largest mobile market after China, “is very important” for Nokia, Elop told reporters, fresh from a bruising meeting in Helsinki earlier this week with shareholders unhappy at Nokia’s poor earnings. The country of 1.2 billion people, Nokia’s second-biggest market in 2012, is a “bellwether market that is a very leading indicator of some trends”, he said. The Asha 501 borrows some of its looks from Nokia’s higher specification Windows-based Lumia phone and is aimed at stopping consumers embracing Google’s Android software offered on cheaper handset...

YouTube on Thursday launched a pilot program of paid channels for its online video service, calling it part of an effort “that enables content creators to earn revenue for their creativity.” The Google-owned video-sharing service said the launch with “a small group of partners” starts Thursday with subscription fees starting at 99 cents per month. “Every channel has a 14-day free trial, and many offer discounted yearly rates,” a YouTube blog post said. “This is just the beginning. We’ll be rolling paid channels out more broadly in the coming weeks as a self-service feature for qualifying partners. And as new channels appear, we’ll be making sure you can discover them, just as we’ve been helping you find and subscribe to all the channels you love across YouTube.” Google bought YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion. The service is believed to generate a small amount of revenue from advertising, but the content has been free. YouTube has gradually added professional content, such as full-len...

It's official -- Halle Berry's baby bump is making it's big debut. The 46-year-old actress stepped out in Los Angeles yesterday (May 10) and flaunted her blossoming belly in a tight workout top as she picked up her daughter Nahla from school. Dressed for the gym, Berry proved that pregnancy isn't stopping her from staying in tip-top shape. The "Cloud Atlas" star and her fiance Olivier Martinez, 47, announced their baby news in April , with sources saying she was reportedly expecting a baby boy . Still, Berry has yet to confirm the sex of her unborn child , telling CNN, "I don't know, I don't know." "I feel fantastic," she added . "This has been the biggest surprise of my life to tell you the truth. I thought I was kind of past the point where this could be a reality for me. So it's been a big surprise and the most wonderful." Check out Halle's baby bump below: Technorati Tags: Halle Berry

Femi Okurounmu A leader of the apex Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Senator Femi Okurounmu, in this interview with ALLWELL OKPI speaks on recent political developments in the South-West

Former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar on Saturday said he cautioned some Peoples Democratic Party governors against arming the youth for the purpose of winning elections. Atiku while speaking in an interview on the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation monitored in Kaduna on Saturday said his advice was not heeded.

Justice and Mrs. Rhodes-Vivour Gunmen on Friday night, abducted the wife, daughter, and driver of a Supreme Court Justice, Bode Rhodes-Vivour. The victims were travelling to Edo State, ahead of the Justice’s daughter’s wedding ceremony. It was learnt that they were kidnapped between Ekiadolor and Okada along along the Ore-Benin Expressway. When contacted on the telephone, Edo State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Moses Eguavoen, said he was unaware of the development. He said, “I am not aware of that, but let me call the control room and get back to you.” When one of our correspondents contacted, the Media Assistant to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mr. Isah Ahuraka, he confirmed the development. He said, “Justice Rhodes-Vivour’s wife, daughter and driver were kidnapped in Benin.” The CJN’s aide could not confirm whether the abductors have contacted the Supreme Court Justice as at the time of filing this report. He added that the kidnapped daughter’s “marriage is coming up nex...

LEADER of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday blamed rising mayhem in parts of Nigeria on the PDP-led government’s inability to take steps to curb insecurity in the land. Also, the former head of state lampooned the federal administration for celebrating corruption as a way of life and devising ways of staying in power for life thereby rubbishing the tenets of democracy. Buhari made the claims at the special national convention of the CPC convened as part of the requirements for his party to dissolve into the All Progressive Congress, APC.

CHIEF Great Ovedje Ogboru has resonated as a political factor as a result of his bid to govern his home state of Delta since 2003. In this interview, Chief Ogboru who was emphatic that he had not lost any election speaks of the status of the legal battles for the governorship of Delta, attempts to ruin his businesses, amnesty a la militancy and Boko Haram, and President Goodluck Jonathan. Excerpts: Less of you is being heard in your party, Democratic Peoples Party (DPP). Are you quitting? That assertion is not correct. The Democratic Peoples Party, DPP is fully on ground and has its fair share of the news space. There is this assumption that you appear to be winning at the polls and losing in the court? This, unfortunately, is a topical issue of what we have come to know as the Nigerian factor, where things that are seemingly equal today are tomorrow not equal, or where one plus one in a particular situation becomes less or more than two in another situation even when the circumstan...