Police believe he was from Africa, probably from Angola, but they don't know his identity.

The mystery began in September when residents of a suburban street in the Mortlake neighborhood of West London woke up on a quiet Sunday morning to find the crumpled body of a black man on the sidewalk of Portman Avenue, near a convenience store, an upscale lingerie shop and a storefront offering Chinese medical cures.

Detectives believed at first the man was a murder victim and cordoned off the area. Within a day, however, police concluded the man — probably already dead — had fallen to the ground when a jet passing overhead lowered its landing gear as it neared the runway at nearby Heathrow Airport.

The apparent stowaway had no identification papers — just some currency from Angola, leading police to surmise that he was from that African nation, especially as inquiries showed that a plane from Angola was beginning its descent into Heathrow at about that time.

The macabre explanation made perfect sense to residents, who are familiar not only with the roar of the jets descending, but are also able to see the planes lower their landing gears as they pass overhead, said Catherine Lambert, who lives a few doors down from the spot where the man landed.

"You could see him, his body was contorted," she said. "It was a beautiful blue day, really sunny, but we had to keep the children inside. I didn't want the children to see, and to have to explain to them and put fear into them every time a plane goes over."

A post mortem conducted two days after the body landed listed the cause of death as "multiple injuries."

In the days afterward, some neighbors put flowers on the spot where the stowaway was found, and a small group of Angolans who live in the London area came to place more flowers and to pray. Lambert, 41, said there is lingering sadness, since the man has not been identified and there has been no way to tell his family he is gone.

"I felt, what was he running away from? What made him think he could he could? And how will his family ever know? He's a lost soul now; his father and mother are probably waiting for him to make contact," she said.

A London police spokesman, who wasn't authorized to speak on the record because of force policy, said Sunday that police are appealing to the public for help identifying the man based on a composite image of his face and a photo of a tattoo on his left arm. The tattoo showed the letters "Z'' and "G'' inked on his upper arm, with a horizontal line through the "Z''.

Police also said attempts to identify the man with the help of Angolan authorities had been unsuccessful. They stressed there is only "circumstantial" evidence linking the stowaway to that country.

Sudan and South Sudan have asked the African Union to help hammer out details of a proposed withdrawal of troops from their disputed border, defense ministers from both countries said on Monday, as stalled talks continued to delay oil exports.

Week-long negotiations in Khartoum failed to reach an agreement on how to withdraw their armies, a step both sides had said was necessary to resume oil exports from landlocked South Sudan through Sudan.

"We will meet in Addis Ababa on the 15th to continue our meeting and dialogue on how to implement the cooperation deals signed by Sudan and South Sudan in Addis Ababa," Sudan's defense minister, Abdel Raheem Mohammed Hussein, told reporters.

His southern counterpart, John Kong Nyuon, said some "issues" remained unresolved. The talks in the Ethiopian capital will be brokered by AU mediator Thabo Mbeki.

In September, the former civil war foes agreed to end hostilities and restart oil exports after coming close to war in April, the worst violence since South Sudan seceded from Sudan last year after decades of civil war.

South Sudan's top negotiator Pagan Amum had raised hopes for the Khartoum talks by saying oil exports could restart this month. But Juba has delayed turning on oil wells, originally scheduled for November 15.

South Sudan, which inherited three-quarters of oil production when it broke away, shut down its output of 350,000 barrels a day in January after tensions over pipeline fees escalated.

Lingering disputes have continued to fuel conflict between the neighboring countries.

Sudan said last week it will not allow South Sudan's oil exports to flow through its territory until Juba cuts ties with anti-Khartoum rebels and expels their leaders, dampening hopes bilateral tensions were over.

 While the name of the play may not indicate it’s a holiday tale, Theatre Macon Director Jim Crisp deliberately chose “Meet Me In St. Louis” for the holidays.

“We have to do something really happy and I love this because of the sweetness of the story. It’s about a family and it is openly and unabashedly nostalgic. It harks back to an era or eras in our past lives when things seemed a little simpler and easier and Christmas was about family and spending those times together,” he said.

While most people may be familiar with the film, featuring Judy Garland, Crisp is certain that the story translates to the stage wonderfully.

“This show is so lovely to do on stage. It features a family in St. Louis looking forward to the World’s Fair next summer. Suddenly, the father announces that they will move to New York City and the family is shattered,” Crisp said. “The family is rooted in St. Louis and it was a time when people felt a stronger connection to the places where they lived.”

The show takes place over the better part of a year, but the highlight is undeniably the Christmas Ball.

“This year, as they prepare to move to New York, the ball is bittersweet for the Smith family, who believe they are spending their last Christmas in their childhood home. This feeling still resonates strongly with people. We live in a world now where people lose connections to hometowns and the places where their families are from and families struggle with these issues. But the song ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ remains a favorite for a reason,” he said.

Crisp called the show’s cast “superb. ... Jim Penndorf is our musical director, as always, and is doing a marvelous job getting the cast prepared. We have 27 people in the cast, including an incredibly strong group as the family and romance interests.”

Mother and father are being played by Matt Astin and Gail Johnson. Esther, the Judy Garland role, is being played by Kailey Rhodes, whose husband, Matt Hlavity, plays Warren Sheffield, the young heir of the Sheffield fortune from New York. The boy next door is being played by Tayler Darnell. Rose is played by Lauren Paris.

Given that the show is a period piece, special attention has been given to the set and costumes.

“It’s set in 1904 and it is a beautiful period for costumes for both men and women. Shelley Kuhen is designing a beautiful set of costumes for this show. While the opening number sets up the location very well as being in St. Louis, so much of the play takes place inside the home and on their front porch that it really is about this family’s life in their home,” he said. “The main goal was to create a period look inside the home. I want people to have the sense that they are looking through a window back in time to this wonderful era and into the family’s life. ... This play is really just perfect for the holiday season. Everyone will enjoy it.”

 Congress and the White House can significantly soften the initial impact of the "fiscal cliff" even if they fail to reach a compromise by Dec. 31. One thing they cannot control, however, is the financial markets' reaction, which possibly could be a panicky sell-off that triggers economic reversals worldwide.

The stock market's unpredictability is perhaps the biggest wild card in the political showdown over the fiscal cliff.

President Barack Obama's re-election gives him a strong negotiating hand, as Republicans are increasingly acknowledging. And some Democrats are willing to let the Dec. 31 deadline pass, because a rash of broad-based tax hikes would pressure Republicans to give more ground in renewed deficit-reduction negotiations.

A chief fear for Obama's supporters, however, is that Wall Street would be so disgusted or dismayed that stocks would plummet before lawmakers could prove their newfound willingness to mitigate the fiscal cliff's harshest measures, including deep, across-the-board spending cuts that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says could significantly damage the nation's military posture. Some Republicans believe that fear will temper the president's insistence on a hard bargain this month. Obama and GOP House Speaker John Boehner on Sunday held their first meeting between just the two of them since the election, and spokesmen for both emphasized afterward their lines of communication remain open.

The so-called cliff's recipe of major tax hikes and spending cuts can actually be a gentle slope, because the policy changes would be phased in over time. Washington insiders say Congress and the White House would move quickly in January or February to undo many, but not all, of the tax hikes and spending cuts.

Financial markets, however, respond to emotion as well as to research, reason and promises. If New Year's headlines scream "Negotiations Collapse," an emotional sell-off could threaten the president's hopes for continued economic recovery in his second term, even if Republicans receive most of the blame for the impasse.

"Nobody can predict the markets' reaction," said Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn.

Some Republicans are surprised that the White House has not made clearer efforts to reassure Wall Street that if the Dec. 31 deadline is breached, the worrisome pile of tax increases and spending cuts would not hit all at once.

A few liberal commentators are making just that case.

"If we go past the so-called fiscal cliff deadlines and all the resulting budget cuts and tax increases come into force, the administration can minimize the damage," Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne wrote last week. "Obama can publicly announce he is delaying any cuts, on the theory that Congress will eventually vitiate some of them. And he can make sure the bond markets know of his plans well in advance. ... Everyone (especially Wall Street) should calm down."

Some financial bloggers agree. "Although it would be bad to let the spending cuts and tax hikes fully go into effect, if this thing is addressed in early January, things will be okay," wrote Business Insider's Joe Weisenthal.

So far, the stock markets have stayed calm. The S&P 500 index is up 12 percent for the year.

That might be because investors agree that a temporary trip over the cliff wouldn't be too harmful. Chastened lawmakers, the thinking goes, would quickly minimize the economic damage with a deficit-reduction compromise that eluded them in December.

Many on the Arizona Cardinals must have been thinking about that old cliche during  a soggy Sunday afternoon at CenturyLink field, where the Seattle Seahawks defeated — or some would say destroyed — the Cardinals, 58-0.

The 58-point spread set a Seattle Seahawks franchise record for the biggest point differential in team history. It also set a Cardinals record for worst loss in franchise history.

And for an Arizona Cardinals team that came into the game 0-8 in the team’s last eight games, the Seahawks didn’t let up from the moment Steven Hauschka booted a 31-yard field goal to put the Hawks up 3-0 in the first quarter.

The Seahawks dominated in nearly every category. The team had 22 first downs to the Cardinals 10. Marshawn Lynch rushed for 128 yards and three touchdowns, compared to Arizona runningback William Powell’s 20 yards on five carries. Rookie quarterback Russell Wilson went 7-for-13 with a passer rating of 88 compared to John Skelton’s passer rating of 18.

But most stunning was the difference in turnover ratio. Skelton threw 4 interceptions, including a pick-6 to cornerback Richard Sherman in the second quarter, and the team lost four fumbles in a game were the ball certainly never bounced the Cardinals’ way. The Hawks NFC West division rivals never even made it into the Red-Zone.

After Sherman’s interception return for a touchdown, the Seahawks hardly looked threatened. The Hawks scored 28 points in the second quarter alone, including a Malcolm Smith fumble recovery for a touchdown, a Wilson TD pass and a Marshawn Lynch TD run.

Hawks fans even got their first taste of off-season free-agent signing Matt Flynn after Russell Wilson was pulled out of the game in the third quarter. Flynn went 5-for-9, passing for 68 yards and no touchdowns.

The Brazilian supermodel - who has a two-year-old son Benjamin with husband Tom Brady - gave birth to daughter Vivian Lake at home on Wednesday (05.12.12) and says the little girl is doing well.

She wrote on her Facebook page alongside a picture of Vivian holding her hand: "We feel so lucky to have been able to experience the miracle of birth once again and are forever grateful for the opportunity to be the parents of another little angel.

"Vivian Lake was born at home on December 5. She is healthy and full of life."

The 32-year-old beauty went on to thank her fans on behalf of her and her family for all their congratulatory messages.

She added: "Thank you all for your support and well wishes. We wish you and your families many blessings."

Tom - who plays football for the New England Patriots, who are based in the Greater Boston area - also has a five-year-old son, John, with ex-girlfriend Bridget Moynahan.

Gisele never officially confirmed her pregnancy, but showed off her changing shape last month, donning a leopard print bikini on the beach in Miami.

Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera died in a plane crash Saturday night, her father and brother confirmed on Telemundo.

"She never gave up and she was good to everyone," said her father, Pedro, about his daughter’s legacy outside of his home in Lakewood, Calif.

The wreckage of the plane was found Sunday in northern Mexico with no apparent survivors, authorities said.

The wreckage was found in the Ejido La Colorada, Municipality of  Nuevo Leon. Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, secretary of communications and transport, said that the plane was not recognizable, but the evidence suggested it was the aircraft carrying the singer, Telemundo reported.

Officials said Rivera's Learjet went off the radar about 62 miles from Monterrey after taking off at 3:15 a.m. local time.

Singer Jenni Rivera, seen here during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, in January, was aboard a plane that went missing shortly after leaving the northern Mexican city of Monterrey early Sunday.

Rivera was heading for the city of Toluca in central Mexico after a concert in Monterrey on Saturday night. The singer, two pilots and four other passengers were aboard, Mexican officials said.

Jorge Domene, spokesman for Nuevo Leon's government told Milenio television that civilian agency helicopters flew over the state searching for the plane. The missing included her publicist, lawyer, makeup artist and the flight crew, the ministry of transportation and communication said in a statement.

In a photo posted on her Twitter account on Friday, Jenni Rivera can be seen referencing her concert in Monterrey. In the photo she is seen holding up a sign with the words, "Nos Vemos este 7 en Colima, 8-en Monterrey. I love you!"  Translation: "See you this 7th in Colima, 8 in Monterrey."

Paris Hilton has been dating 21-year-old Spanish model River Viiperi for a few months now, and this weekend their relationship went to a whole new level: They wore matching outfits to the pool.

The blonde was spotted in a one-piece, one-shoulder swimsuit and matching coverup at their Miami hotel Saturday. Her muscular beau wore a hoodie in the same print. Unfortunately, his swim trunks did not match (instead they were from Hollister Co.) and he opted out of wearing a floppy sunhat like Hilton and wore a baseball cap instead.

When a fan commented on their "amazing" matching outfits on Twitter, Hilton responded with "#Twins" and a winking face. Clearly, their coordinating ensembles were well planned, and not the result of something like, uh, losing a bet.

The pair have been soaking up the sun and lounging by the water by day, then attending clubs and Art Basel events by night. Oh, and both have been sure to keep their online followers abreast of all of their fun. Hilton tweeted Saturday that she wished she could be in Las Vegas to see the Manny Pacquiao fight, however, she settled for partying with Tiesto and her friends and siblings at LIV Miami.

Must Read collection of famous quotes by the great Indian Political Pundit and economist Chanakya !


Dharma is at root of Happiness
Sukha Mula Dharma

By happiness , Chanakya Means to happiness of the people and by dharma is meant the dutifulness of the rulers. As long as the the ruler or the administrator is conscious of his duties towards the people , they will be happy and contended.

Wealth is at root of Dharma ( Dutifulness)
Dharmasya Mulartha

In order to govern the state well and to keep his people happy and contented , wealth is essential welfare of the people is not possible without money.

Prosperity or wealth depends on ( Good governance ) of the state
Arthasya Mula Rajyam

In order to promote prosperity of the people and stability of the state. It is essential that the state is run efficiently.

Victory over the senses ( self control ) is the root of ( stability of ) state.
Rajyamoolmindrajaya

One who is able to control and conquer his desires , is alone , competent to rule the state in a just , impartial and benovolent manner.

Humbleness is at the root of sense control.
Indriajayasya Moola vinaya

In order to control over one's senses, one has to be humble and modest. It is the learning that makes man humble. A ruler with an inflated ego and arrogance cannot be a good ruler. If he gets down to solving the people's Problems , He has to become humble to succeed.

Attending the elders is the root of humbleness.
Vinayasya Moola vradhopsewa

Irrespective of their status in the society , the ruler has to begin by looking after the needs of the aged.

True Knowledge ( or wisdom ) results from the service of elders.
Vradhasewya Vigyanam

Methods and Techniques of governance can be learnt from the texts but the wisdom of the aged and experienced provides accurate practical knowledge.When the theory and practice come together. It is called Wisdom.

With wisdom one becomes capable.
Vigyanenatmanam sampadyet

Wisdom raises the quality of governance the wisdom is the combination of theory and practice. It makes the ruler more capable and more efficient.


A capable king only become victorious.
Sampaditatma Jitatma Bhavati

Once the ruler has conquered his desires, He becomes wise and strong enough to conquer others.

The Victorious ( King) happens to attain all the riches.
Jitatma Sarvarth sanyujayat

It is necessary for a good and successful ruler to keep his desires under control. If he succeeds in doing so. He cannot only get his wishes fulfilled but also gain prosperity.

Economic Prosperity of the state create prosperity for the people
Arthasampat Prakratisampada karoti

A prosperous ruler will govern the state well , take up welfare activities for the people and promote commercial activities with the result that soon the people also become prosperous.

Kristen Stewart has told HuffPost Entertainment that she will indeed star opposite Ben Affleck in a comedy titled "Focus."

"I can confirm that rumor," she said, referring to Internet reports that began surfacing last month. "It's a comedy. I'm really excited about it. We start shooting in April."

On November 2, Deadline Hollywood reported that Stewart had entered talks to appear in the Warner Bros. production as "an inexperienced con artist who hooks up with the more seasoned Affleck." According to the report, the film will be written and directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who previously teamed up on "Crazy, Stupid, Love."

Subsequent reports claimed that the role would call on Stewart, 22, to shoot some "passionate" love scenes with Affleck, 40. Affleck was also quoted saying that he hoped Stewart would take the role because she's "terrific."

Stewart told HuffPost that she does not have any other projects lined up, but "would love to find some micro-project before then, because April is kind of a ways away."

Stewart recently finished a world tour promoting "Breaking Dawn 2," the fifth and final installment in the "Twilight" series, which turned her into a global superstar. She is now making the awards-circuit rounds in support of her next film, "On the Road," an indie adaptation of the famous Jack Kerouac novel, due out on December 21.

"On the Road" could give Stewart a shot at an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress, but Affleck is deep in the Oscar hunt with "Argo," which is expected to snag nominations for best picture, best director, and best supporting actor, among others.