Lightning kills 2 after graduation ball in Russia`s Far East

(STUDENTS, GRADUATION, LIGHTNING, POLICE, PRIMORYE, OFFICER)

VLADIVOSTOK, June 27 (RIA Novosti) - Two students celebrating their high school graduation died early on Saturday morning in Russia`s Far East when they were struck by lightning, local police said.
One boy and one girl were killed in the lightning strike in the village of Zarubino in the Primorye Territory`s Khasansky region, while another girl and a policeman suffered burns and were taken to a local hospital.
"The tragedy occurred on Saturday at 5 a.m. Vladivostok time [19:00 GMT on Friday]. After a graduation ball 15 students went to the beach to watch the sun rise. They were accompanied by a police officer, who was keeping order," a Primorye police source told RIA Novosti.
"A loud rumble of thunder was heard, and lightning flashed. Two students - a boy and a girl - died at the scene. Another girl and the police officer were hospitalized with burns," he added.
The source said the lightning struck as the group passed near overhead electric power lines.
He added that several other graduation balls in area passed without incident, and all had police officers present to ensure order.
 
Original article

World mourns Michael Jackson, hails "heir to Elvis"

By Bob Tourtellotte and Mike Collett-White
LOS ANGELES/LONDON (Reuters) - Michael Jackson`s death dominated news bulletins, radio airwaves and social networking sites the world over on Friday as tributes poured in for a man called the "King of Pop" and "natural heir to Elvis."
The 50-year-old, whose towering musical legacy was tarnished by often bizarre behavior and sex scandals, was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m. PDT (2126 GMT) on Thursday after arriving at a Los Angeles hospital in full cardiac arrest.
"King of pop is dead. Black day for music," was the simple message left by "johnyvergosa" on the Twitter messaging site, where Jackson accounted for four of the five top topics. Actress Farrah Fawcett, who also died on Thursday, was the fifth.
Other online contributors expressed disbelief at the suddenness of Jackson`s death, less than three weeks before he was due to launch a series of comeback concerts in London.
The singer`s lasting appeal, despite life as a virtual recluse since his acquittal of child abuse charges at a 2005 trial, was underlined when 750,000 fans of all ages snapped up tickets for the sellout gigs.
From "Thriller" to "Billie Jean" and "Rock With You" to "The Way You Make Me Feel," Jackson`s hits filled the airwaves.
Local politics and global affairs were bumped off the front pages of newspapers, trading rooms were abuzz with the news and entertainment websites saw a surge in traffic.
"The King of Pop is Dead" read the main headline of Britain`s Independent newspaper, below a full-page portrait.
Rina Masaoka, a 21-year-old college student in Japan, said: "This will probably be as shocking as Princess Diana`s death."
Ray Cordeiro, an octogenarian radio disc jockey in Hong Kong who has been on air for around half a century, called Jackson "a genius" and a "legend in our lifetime."
Former Beatle Paul McCartney said in a statement: "It`s so sad and shocking. I feel privileged to have hung out and worked with Michael. He was a massively talented boy man with a gentle soul. His music will be remembered forever."
FLAWED GENIUS
Commentators reflecting on Jackson`s life focused on his flaws as well as his global fame and musical flair.
"Broken and broke: the child star haunted by fame and scandal" read a profile in the Guardian newspaper, which called him "the natural successor to Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley."
Jackson sold an estimated 750 million records, a figure that is likely to rise with the expected posthumous re-release of his hits. "Thriller," which came out in 1982, remains the best-selling album of all time.  Continued...
Original article

Cambridge eyes anti-war poet Sassoon`s archives

LONDON (Reuters) - Cambridge University launched a campaign on Thursday to buy an important collection of personal papers belonging to Siegfried Sassoon, the British anti-war poet noted for his bravery in battle.
The archive of manuscripts includes a draft copy of the 1917 "A Soldier`s Declaration," in which Sassoon argued that World War One was being "deliberately prolonged" by those in power.
The declaration, which he sent to his commanding officer, was read out in parliament and caused a storm of controversy.
Sassoon was subsequently taken to Craiglockhart hospital in Scotland where he was treated for shell-shock and met fellow war poet Wilfred Owen, who was killed in action just before the conflict ended.
Sassoon was credited with helping to change people`s perception of the Great War, doing away with patriotic propaganda and conveying the horror and agony of life and death in the trenches for thousands of young men.
His realist verse also made him a pioneer of modernist poetry.
Max Egremont, Sassoon`s official biographer who is leading the campaign to purchase the archives, has said that the poet`s war journals and autobiographical writings convey:
"... a vision so haunting that 20th century British warfare still seems to be defined by futile offensives, exhausted men impaled upon wire or trapped in mud before an immovable enemy a mere few yards away."
Sotheby`s, which is handling the private sale of the archives, called them "unquestionably the most valuable collection of Sassoon`s papers ever to be offered for sale."
Cambridge has valued the archive, comprising seven boxes of material, at 1.25 million pounds ($2.0 million).
It includes Sassoon`s journals, pocket notebooks compiled on the Western Front, poetry books, photographs and love letters to his wife Hester.
"These journals make up one of the most important literary and documentary records of trench warfare in existence," Sotheby`s said.
The papers also include 34 volumes of journals dated 1920-1959, many unpublished, documenting Sassoon`s post-war life including his affair with aristocrat Stephen Tennant.
Cambridge University already holds several sets of letters and manuscripts by Sassoon, and if successful in acquiring the archive, says it would own the "most significant collection of Sassoon manuscripts anywhere in the world.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Steve Addison)
Original article