Def Leppard Drummer Rick Allen, Marine Help Injured Vets with PTSD

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Excerpts from the story below.........

Rick Allen, the drummer for the English rock band Def Leppard, and John Roberts, a former Marine, come from very different backgrounds but their experiences with horrific trauma and recovery brought them together for a greater cause to help wounded veterans.

In 1984, Allen was in a car accident in England that cost him his left arm. More than two decades later, the rocker still remembers his seat belt coming undone and being thrown from the car through the sunroof.
"Everything's in slow motion," he said. "I must have been going a good 65, 70 miles per hour. I landed in a field several hundred yards away, and I remember standing up and saying, 'I'm a drummer, I've lost my arm.' It was very surreal."

Allen said he remained conscious during and after the accident, which he said saved his life.
"My body tensed and I didn't actually bleed until I got to the hospital and they actually put me under an anesthetic," he said.

Roberts said the burning helicopter rolled over and sank, and he was underwater for about 10 seconds. When he finally got loose, Roberts said he swam out of the back end of the wreckage and was picked up by another helicopter, which flew him to a ship. There, his wounds were triaged. He was given morphine and then flown back out on another helicopter. "I, really, woke up two months later in Germany," he said. "I was in a German army hospital for a few months."

In the years since their accidents, both Roberts and Allen has been drawn together, not only because they both endured terrible physical pain, but they also suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
"The self-medicating, the anger, the isolation," Roberts said. "What we did to our families -- living with us was not pleasant."

Nelson Mandela Returns Home from Hospital

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Former South African president Nelson Mandela will be able to spend at least part of the holiday season with his family at home rather than in a hospital room.

The 94-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner was discharged tonight from an undisclosed hospital in the capital city of Pretoria, but will still need to receive medical care at his home in nearby Johannesburg, government officials said.

“He will undergo home-based high care at his Houghton home until he recovers fully,” said a statement from the South African Office of the Presidency, referring to the neighborhood where Mandela’s home is located.
Mandela was hospitalized Dec. 8 for medical tests that revealed a recurring lung infection and gallstones.  It was his longest hospital stay in decades, and concern was growing each day for the revered anti-apartheid hero considered to be the father of the South African democracy.

 Current President Jacob Zuma said Mandela was in “good spirits” when he visited him in the hospital on Christmas morning.  Earlier in the week, Zuma said Mandela had been in serious condition when first hospitalized, but was responding to treatment and looking better.

Simon Cowell on Carmen Electra: 'She's Adorable'

After months of speculation, it appears official: Simon Cowell is dating "Baywatch" babe Carmen Electra.
But the famous bachelor insists she isn't his girlfriend -- at least not yet. The "X Factor" mogul called in to Ryan Seacrest's radio show Wednesday and seemed to confirm that he and Electra, a former Playboy model, are seeing each other.

"Girlfriend?" the former "American Idol" judge said, laughing, when Seacrest asked him whether he is dating Electra. "We're people who date. She's adorable, isn't she?" The pair were first photographed in September following a dinner at Cecconi's restaurant in West Hollywood. Calif. While Carmen, 40, a former member of the Pussycat Dolls, smiled for the cameras, Cowell, 53, kept his eyes -- and one protective hand -- on Carmen.

Rumors of sparks flying between the two first surfaced in February after Cowell hired Carmen to serve as a guest judge on his "Britain's Got Talent." During one audition, when Carmen, who was previously married to Dave Navarro and Dennis Rodman, professed she was "distracted" by Cowell's shirt, fellow judge David Walliams snapped, "Stop looking at him, look at the act on stage."

Apparently, Carmen wasn't the only one distracted. The former Playboy Playmate tweeted a picture of her seated next to Cowell with the words, "Eyes up here @simoncowell ;)." Cowell has never married, but he's had no shortage of women either. This year's unauthorized biography, "Sweet Revenge: The Intimate Life of Simon Cowell" by writer Tom Bowers, lifted the covers on his romantic life. Cowell, who spoke to Bowers during the writing of the book, gave his tacit approval by showing up at the book launch party in April.

"I said to Tom right from the beginning, 'I'm not going to lie to you,' and that was the deal. Not to say, it hasn't all been a bit embarrassing," Cowell told a reporter for The Telegraph at the party.
Now that all has been revealed, click through to see some of the other women in Cowell's life.


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The Fire Outbreak at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

Details coming Soon

Feds: Help Us Find Child Pornographer, Rescue Victim

 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is seeking the public's help in identifying a suspected child pornography producer, pictured, and rescuing a 4 to 5-year-old victim of sexual exploitation.


Federal officials are urgently asking for the public's help to rescue a young child who may be a victim of ongoing sexual exploitation, and to identify and arrest a "Jane Doe" suspected of producing child pornography.

Investigators from Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations are looking for a white female, from 23 to 29 years old, who is believed to have produced at least one long-form video that shows her engaging in explicit sex with a four-to-five-year-old victim. Investigators think the video first appeared on the internet less than a month ago, on November 27, 2012, which raises the possibility that the child is still being exploited.

"Jane Doe" has a medium build, hazel or green eyes and brown hair with blond highlights. The suspect also has a mole on her left thigh and a tongue piercing. Investigators believe that the video was made in the U.S., and that Jane Doe and the child are in the U.S.

HSI special agents got a tip from the Danish National Police after Danish law enforcement downloaded a copy of the video. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children determined that the victim had not been identified or rescued.

Authorities are requested that anyone with information about "Jane Doe" call ICE's 24-hour tip line at 866-347-2423 or fill out an on-line tip form at www.ice.gov. The criminal complaint against this unidentified woman, which was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., is the second obtained by HSI's Child Exploitation Investigations Unit in 2012. The first "Jane Doe" suspect was arrested with her husband in Oregon in September after ICE solicited, and received, help from the public in finding her.

Michelle Lee Freeman and Michael Serapis Freeman turned themselves in to local police after tips to ICE identified Michelle as the "Jane Doe" suspect. Two child victims were rescued in that case and the Freemans are awaiting trial.


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Through the Lens of Presidential Photographer Pete Souza.

  President Barack Obama signs H.R. 3630 - Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 in the Oval Office


 
  President Barack Obama pretends to be caught in Spider-Man's web as he greets the son of a White House staffer in the Outer Oval Office.

 
  President Barack Obama participates in a National Disaster Recovery Board meeting with Vice President Joe Biden in the Oval Office


 
  President Barack Obama kisses a baby on the tarmac following his arrival at Denver International Airport in Denver, Colo., Nov.


 
  President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama wave goodbye to President Shimon Peres of Israel on the North Portico of the White House following the Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony and dinner in his honor, June 13


 
  President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden talk with Zachary Atala, son of Dr. Anthony Atala, M.D., Director, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, prior to participating in the 2012 National Level Exercise in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building of the White House.


 
  President Barack Obama talks on the phone with Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan during the motorcade ride to Palm Beach International Airport in Palm Beach, Fla., July 20, 2012. The President called Mayor Hogan to offer his condolences and support to the Aurora community.


 
  President Barack Obama laughs with Nancy-Ann DeParle, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, third from left, and Traveling Aide Bobby Schmuck, right, prior to an event at the Elm Street Middle School in Nashua, N.H., Oct. 27, 2012.


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Secret Santa Society Spreads Money, Cheer

  A woman hugs a Secret Santa after getting a $100 dollar bill from the wealthy philanthropist from Kansas City, Mo. while looking for clothes at the Salvation Army store in Staten Island, New York,


Members of the Society of Secret Santas participate in holiday "sleigh rides," but they don't get involved with reindeer or trips through the sky. Their sleigh rides consist of traveling to places around the country to hand out $100 bills to people in need.

The head Secret Santa, known only as Elf 32A, recently went to the Topeka, Kans., area, where two police officers were killed last week. He quietly distributed $100 bills to law enforcement people and the families of others who have been injured or killed.

"It's amazing how much little things like that take people by surprise in a pleasant sort of way," society spokesman Pat O'Neill told ABCNews.com. The society is based in Kansas City, Mo., where Elf 32A is an anonymous "local businessman, very low key," according to O'Neill.

The group was founded by Larry Dean Stewart, the "original Secret Santa" who died in 2007. O'Neill estimates that Stewart donated about $1.5 million over his 20 years going on sleigh rides. His identity was only revealed after his death.

Elf 32A, a friend of Stewart's, took over the group when he died. The number of members of the society ebbs and flows year to year, depending on people's financial and personal situations. The informal group consists of "dozens" of good Samaritans each year. Stewart said the primary Secret Santas hand out between $10,000 and $50,000.

The head Secret Santa trains members on how to move quickly through crowds in order to avoid being photographed and how to read people's facial expressions, looking for sadness or stress.

After superstorm Sandy, Elf 32A traveled to New York and New Jersey to distribute $100,000 to people who suffered from the storm. He sported a red cap with the word "Elf" stitched in the back. He allowed some press on the outing, but they were prohibited from photographing or videotaping his face.


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Stranded Motorist Dies in Utah Snow Storm

A woman is dead after she tried to walk for help when her car got stuck during the snow storm in southwestern Utah.
Washington County Sheriff's detective Nate Abbott says the woman and a man were driving when their car got stuck in rural Washington County Tuesday night during the storm that hit the Rocky Mountain region.
He says the pair started walking for help, but the woman couldn't go any farther and sought shelter while the man continued on.
He eventually took refuge close to a reservoir and stayed there until morning when he located some snowmobilers.
Search and rescue crews who used snowmobiles to look for the woman found her dead in the snow, a few miles from the car.
An autopsy is planned. No names were released.



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Chicago Prison Escape: Footage of Bank Robbers Garners New Leads in Manhunt.

  Kenneth Conley, left, and Jose Banks, two inmates who escaped from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago, Dec. 18, 2012


The manhunt for two bank robbers who escaped from a downtown Chicago prison this week intensified overnight, with police chasing multiple leads as new footage shows the men getting into a taxi minutes after their brazen escape.

Investigators say surveillance cameras captured Joseph "Jose" Banks, 37, and Kenneth Conley, 38, getting into a taxi minutes after their early Tuesday escape. They entered the taxi at the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Congress Street, just blocks away from the jail. The FBI considers them "armed and dangerous."

The men then showed up five hours later at the home of Sandy Conley, Kenneth Conley's mother, in the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park, Ill. "He was in the house for two minutes," Sandy Conley said. "I can't tell you if he was armed. I made him get out." Thomas Trautmann of the Chicago FBI said the clock is ticking on finding the men. "[As] each hour goes by, our chances get longer and longer," he said. "However, we do have several viable leads that we are running down."

Banks and Conley were last seen Monday at 10 p.m. during a prison head count at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago's Loop district. The two borrowed a move from the film "Escape From Alcatraz" by stuffing their beds with clothes in the shape of bodies.

They men then broke the window of their cell at the federal prison, shimmying out a hole only inches wide, and scaled down the side of the building 17 stories, all the while holding onto a rope of sheets and towels taken from the prison. The rope was strong enough to support the two, one weighing 165 pounds the other 185 pounds.

At 7 a.m. the next morning, as employees arrived at work, they noticed the sheets left dangling from the building and at jailers discovered that Conley and Banks were missing.


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Connecticut School Shooting Victims Were Shot as Many as 11 Times