Drink Beer, Win a Trip to Space

he company behind the dark Irish beer Guinness will give loyal drinkers a taste of space along with their stout, but only if they win a new contest.

Guinness has reserved a seat aboard a suborbital Virgin Galactic spaceliner as one of three experience prizes in an online contest honoring the 250th birthday of the beer's brewery this year.

Founded by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic is a commercial space tourism company that plans to launch passengers on $200,000 trips to suborbital space using a fleet of SpaceShipTwo spacecraft.

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The spaceliners are designed to be launched from the air by a massive WhiteKnightTwo mothership and send two pilots and six passengers on a weightless joyride.

Virgin Galactic currently plans to launch and land space tourist flights from a terminal at Spaceport America in New Mexico — which began construction earlier this month — as well as from a spaceport in Kiruna, Sweden.

The first WhiteKnightTwo carrier ship "Eve" has been flying a series of test flights this year.

Guinness officials said their space trip contest runs through Sept. 24 and promised a thrilling ride for the winner.

The launch will catapult passengers beyond Earth's atmosphere at nearly 2,500 mph (4,023 km/ph) — three times the speed of sound — to a point about 68 miles (109 km) above the planet, Guinness officials said.

Once in space, passengers will have a view of the blackness of space and unbroken vistas of the Earth for 1,000 miles (1,609 km) in every direction before re-entering the atmosphere and gliding back to its home port, they added.

The beer company announced the new contest on Wednesday to commemorate founder Arthur Guinness's signing of the 9,000-year lease on the St. James's Gate brewery in Dublin, Ireland.

Some 250 events are planned in participating countries around the world. They are open to adults of legal drinking age in their respective countries.

"Since 1759, Arthur Guinness and the Guinness brand have been behind some remarkable and hugely momentous achievements," Guinness officials said in a statement. "To continue this legacy and as part of the 250 celebrations, Guinness is giving something back to Guinness supporters around the world by offering the chance to win one of these three remarkable Guinness experiences."

The two other prizes include an undersea trip to a Guinness bar 229 feet (70 meters) below the ocean's surface near the Lofoten Islands in Norway, as well as a private live studio performance by the band The Black Eye Peas.

Virgin Galactic's carrier ships and spacecraft are being built by the California-based company Scaled Composites.

The new vehicles build on the firm's SpaceShipOne and WhiteKnight vehicles that won the $10 million Ansari X Prize in 2004.

Obama Seeks New Start in U.S.-Russia Relations

MOSCOW - Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev end a seven-year hiatus in U.S.-Russian summitry on Monday, with both men declaring their determination to further cut nuclear arsenals and repair a badly damaged relationship.

Both sides appear to want to use progress on arms control as a pathway into possible agreement on other, far trickier issues -- like Iran and the tiny country of Georgia, a former Soviet republic.

Those difficulties and many others have soured a promising linkage in the first years after the Cold War and pushed ties between Moscow and Washington to depths not seen in more than two decades.

Obama arrives here Monday afternoon, the first stop on a weeklong trip that will also take him to Italy and Ghana.

"It's not, in our view, a zero-sum game, that if it's two points for Russia it's negative two for us, but there are ways that we can cooperate to advance our interests and, at the same time, do things with the Russians that are good for them, as well," Obama's top assistant on Russia, Michael McFaul, said in a pre-summit briefing.

He seemed to be of one mind with the Russian leader, Medvedev.

"Russia and America need new, common, mutually beneficial projects in business, science and culture," the Russian president said in his weekly Internet address. "I hope that this sincere desire to open a new chapter in Russian-American cooperation will be brought into fruition."

Two things appear certain to be on the agenda:

--The Russians have said they will agree to allow the United States to use their territory and air space to move munitions and arms to U.S. and NATO forces fighting Taliban Islamic extremists in Afghanistan. The Kremlin announced the deal three-days before the summit as a significant sweetener for Obama.

--A directive by both presidents for negotiators to work on a nuclear agreement that would further reduce warheads and replace the 1991 START I accord that expires Dec. 5. Both sides are agreed in principle to cut warheads from more than 2,000 each to as low as 1,500 apiece.

Those deals are likely to be announced at an Obama-Medvedev news conference.

Madoff Hires Consultant to Find Best Possible Jail

Bernard Madoff has hired a veteran prison consultant to help him to find the best possible jail in which to serve his 150-year sentence for Wall Street’s biggest fraud.

After his sentencing this week Madoff, now Prisoner No 1727-054, met Herb Hoelter, of the National Center for Institutions and Alternatives, whose previous clients include the jailed Sotheby’s chairman Alfred Taubman and the financiers Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky.

The draconian maximum sentence imposed by the judge means that Madoff, 71, will be assigned to a tougher category of prison than most white-collar criminals.

Federal convicts are assigned to minimum, low, medium, high-security prison, or even the sole Supermax facility, by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons using a score-card known as Form BP-337 to calculate an inmate’s “Security Point Total”. A first-time non-violent white-collar criminal convicted in a U.S. federal court would normally qualify for incarceration at a minimum-security “prison camp” with easygoing rules and no perimeter fence. But the length of Madoff’s jail term means that he has no hope at all of going to one of them.

Russians create shrine to Michael Jackson

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- They headed to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow after news broke that Michael Jackson had died. And they're still coming.
Alexandra Belayeva, left, and Zhenya Iordanskaya visit the Michael Jackson memorial in Moscow.

Alexandra Belayeva, left, and Zhenya Iordanskaya visit the Michael Jackson memorial in Moscow.

Young Russian fans, some of whom don't even speak English, bring homemade signs, pictures and drawings of Jackson, Russian religious icons, candles, teddy bears -- all signs of how much they loved the singer.

"At first I couldn't believe it had happened," 23-year-old Zhenya Iordanskaya said. "I thought it was another rumor. My friend told me about it, and then I saw it on TV, on every channel. I was really in shock. And I still can't believe it."

Iordanskaya was standing in the rain Sunday with her friend Alexandra Belayeva, 20, looking at the shrine Jackson's fans have erected along the fence in front of the Embassy.

Iordanskaya says she was 8 when she first heard "Black or White."

"I didn't understand English, but the faces of all the different people really inspired me. And the fact that he dealt with all these issues, you really have to give him credit for that," Iordanskaya said.

Belayeva says she became a fan about three years ago.
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"The way he lived his creative live really inspired me," she said. "I really got into him as a person. Because you can really see the soul of a person in their creativity, can't you? It was such a shame that people put him down so much."

Belayeva says she's still in shock over Jackson's death at his California home on June 25. "When I heard he had died, I really couldn't believe it. He was so close to us. Not one of us, but so close. He was unbelievably kind.

"It's so sad to lose a person like him. It's also so sad that he was so alone at the end of his life. People didn't understand him. But at least they recognized his genius during his life. Sometimes that doesn't happen."
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Iordanskaya and Belayeva love to dance, and when they saw "Dangerous," they knew they had to try it out. "We studied his moves in that for days! We practiced. We really loved it!"

I ask the women to name their favorite Jackson songs. They roll their eyes. Where do you start? Iordanskaya starts with "Liberian Girl." "Also 'Earth Song.' "

"It's really powerful," she said, "the energy and the lyrics!"

On a rainy, cold day in Moscow, Iordanskaya and Belayeva say they still cry thinking that Jackson is no longer on Earth.

In the garden of flowers and mementos that sprouted almost overnight in front of the U.S. Embassy, next to eight flickering votive candles that make you feel as if you are in a Russian church, one fan has written a poem: "You're an angel flying into the distance, you're an angel, a carefree angel, flying into the distance."

Monorail crash at Disney World kills driver

(CNN) -- A monorail train at Walt Disney World crashed into the back of another train early Sunday, killing one driver, according to an amusement park spokesman and a witness interviewed by CNN.
A 2 a.m. ET monorail crash at Disney World killed one person, a park spokesperson said.

The crash occurred about 2 a.m. at one of the monorail stops at Disney World in Florida, said the witness, who requested anonymity.

"Today we mourn the loss of our fellow cast member," said a statement by Mike Griffin, Disney's vice president for public affairs. "Our hearts go out to his family and to those who have lost a friend and co-worker."

The statement said the monorail was shut down, "and we will continue to work closely will law enforcement to determine what happened and the appropriate next steps."

The witness said one monorail train rammed into the back of a stationary train. A photo of the crash provided by the witness showed the front car of a train badly damaged where it hit another train at a station.

According to the witness, a family of six in one train was freed from a damaged car. The witness said the family was shaken but uninjured

Steve "Air" McNair Dead

NASHVILLE (Reuters) - Former star NFL quarterback Steve McNair was found shot to death in a Nashville condominium on Saturday, police said. A woman's body was also found at the scene.

McNair, who was 36, suffered several gunshot wounds, the Nashville Tennessean newspaper reported, citing police. A 20-year-old woman was found alongside him with a single gunshot wound to her head and a pistol near her body, it reported.

The newspaper described the deaths as an apparent murder-suicide.

Police were called to the scene in the early afternoon.

"The circumstances surrounding the shooting deaths remain under active investigation," Nashville told Reuters in a statement. Police department spokesman Don Aaron said no suspects had been taken into custody.

McNair, a hometown hero who did extensive charity work in Nashville, played 13 seasons on the NFL, mostly with the Tennessee Titans and its predecessor team, the Houston Oilers.

Drafted by the Oilers in 1995 out of Alcorn State College in Mississippi, McNair led the Titans to their only Super Bowl appearance -- after the 1999 season, losing to the St. Louis Rams. He was the NFL's co-MVP in 2003, and was selected for the Pro Bowl three times.

McNair ended his career with the Baltimore Ravens and retired after the 2007 season.

"We are saddened and shocked to hear the news of Steve McNair's passing today," Titans owner K. S. "Bud" Adams said in a statement on the team's website.

"He played with unquestioned heart and leadership and led us to places that we had never reached, including our only Super Bowl."

Ravens wide receiver Derrick Mason, a former teammate, said: "Steve was such a happy person. I even called him 'Smile'. He was always smiling and was always willing to lend a hand to anyone who needed it. I've known him for 13 years, and he was the most selfless, happiest and friendliest person I have known."

McNair last month opened a restaurant in Nashville -- Gridiron9.

As word of McNair's death spread around the city, fans gathered at LP Field, the Titans' stadium, to leave cards, flowers and signs.

(Writing by Ros Krasny in Chicago; editing by Todd Eastham)

Harry Potter Star Recovering from Swine Flu

Not even the powers of the invisi-cloak could save Rupert Grint from catching the dreaded swine flu.

The Harry Potter star who plays Harry's best friend Ron Weasley in the film series is recovering from a mild case of the illness, according to BBC.

The wizard-in-training's publicist told the network that the actor has returned to work on the set of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—the film based on the last book in JK Rowling's popular fantasy series.

Grint's doctor confirmed that the 20-year-old thesp was no longer contagious. The Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is back in session.