Britain’s oldest person, Gladys Hooper, celebrated her 112th birthday yesterday.
Members of her family have travelled from Brighton, Derby and even British Colombia to be with Hooper for her big day. Hooper, who has a son, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, said her special treat for the day would be to have “a nice birthday cake”. The great-grandmother puts the secret of her success down to keeping active and “living a straight life”.
Hooper is the oldest of the country’s supercentenarians. On finding out the news, Hooper, who lives in an apartment in her 84-year-old son’s house in Ryde on the Isle of Wight, said: “I am very surprised, I thought I was just the oldest person on the island.” Picture shows Gladys Hooper surrounded by three generations of her family, son Derek (top left), granddaughter Christine (top right) and great-grandsons Matthew (front left) and David.
20 vehicles in Philadelphia pile-up
Icy conditions and accidents have closed roads and bridges in and around Philadelphia, including a pile-up involving at least 20 cars on a major artery that serves the city’s western suburbs.
Interstate 76 was closed in both directions after a series of cars slammed into one another amid freezing rain yesterday. The accident occurred before 7am local time in the westbound lanes near the Gulph Mills exit. The extent of any injuries was unclear.
Accidents caused the closure of Interstate 95 in both directions in parts of Philadelphia, and all four bridges linking the city and New Jersey were closed as workers applied salt.
Mother sets fire to newborn baby
A woman accused of setting fire to her newborn baby girl in the middle of a road was charged with murder, yesterday.
Burlington County prosecutors said Hyphernkemberly Dorvilier, 22, of Pemberton Township, New Jersey, was in custody on $500,000 bail. She tried to flee after starting the fire but was detained by residents.
Police came upon the horrific scene after receiving a call about a fire in the middle of a road in the township, about 30 miles east of Philadelphia. Officers found the baby in flames and put out the fire.
The child was reportedly alive and breathing at the time she was flown to a hospital in Philadelphia, but she died about two hours later. Authorities believe the mother doused her baby with an accelerant then set her on fire.
Asteroid to ‘narrowly’ miss Earth
An asteroid a third of a mile across will pass close by the Earth on January 26.
The space rock, code-named 2004 BL86, is expected to reach a point about 745,000 miles from our planet, or three times the distance to the Moon. Although easily far enough away to be safe, the flyby counts as a narrow encounter in astronomical terms.
It will be the closest any asteroid comes to the Earth until the predicted fly-past of another rock,1999 AN10, on August 7, 2027. Latest estimates suggest that AN10, which is 0.6 miles across, could approach as close as 19,000 miles.
Dr Don Yeomans, retiring head of the US space agency Nasa’s Near-Earth Object Programme office, said: “Monday, January 26 will be the closest asteroid 2004 BL86 will get to Earth for at least the next 200 years.”
The asteroid is likely to be bright enough for amateur astronomers to spot with small telescopes and strong binoculars.
Eggs hurled at Canadian convoy
Dozens of Palestinian protesters have hurled eggs and shoes at the convoy of the visiting Canadian foreign minister.
John Baird is in Ramallah to meet his Palestinian counterpart Riad Malki. Protesters also held signs reading: “Baird you are not welcome in Palestine.” Activists from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party earlier called for a boycott of Baird because of Canada’s perceived pro-Israel stance. Baird is in the region for five days of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials. Canada is opposed to the recent Palestinian bid to pursue war crime charges against Israel.