McDull to Disney

A man who became known for claiming he was the sailor kissing a woman in Times Square in a famous World War II-era photo taken by a Life magazine photographer has died. Glenn McDuffie was 86.

McDuffie died March 9 in a nursing home in Dallas, his daughter cardinal manchester, Glenda Bell, told The Associated Press.

A mail carrier and semi-professional baseball player after he returned from World War II, McDuffie's life became more exciting about six years ago when Houston Police Department forensic artist Lois Gibson was able to identify him as the young man leaning over the woman in his arms to kiss her.

By taking about 100 pictures of McDuffie using a pillow to pose as he did in the picture taken Aug. 14, 1945, by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, Gibson said, she was able to match the muscles, ears and other features of the then-80-year-old McDuffie to the young sailor in the original image.

"I was absolutely positive," Gibson said of the match. "It was perfect."

Glenn McDuffie holds a portrait of himself as a young man, left, and a copy of Alfred Eisenstaedt's iconic Life magazine shot of a sailor, who McDuffie claims is him, embracing a nurse in a white uniform in New York's Times Square, at his Houston home in 2007.AP Photo: Pat Sullivan
Glenn McDuffie holds a portrait of himself as a young man, left, and a copy of Alfred Eisenstaedt's iconic Life magazine shot of a sailor, who McDuffie claims is him, embracing a nurse in a white uniform in New York's Times Square, at his Houston home in 2007.
The identification remained controversial nu skin, partly because other men also claimed to have been the sailor in the image, but also because Life magazine, whose photographer had died years earlier, was unable to confirm that McDuffie was in fact the sailor, noting Eisenstaedt had never gotten names for those in the picture.

Yet for McDuffie, Gibson's word was enough. A well-respected forensic artist who was in the 2005 Guinness Book of World Records for helping police identify more suspects than any other forensic artist, Gibson said McDuffie was ecstatic when she told him the results he had waited 62 years to hear.

And so began a whirlwind lifestyle of going to air shows, gun shows, fundraisers and parties to tell his story. Women would pay $10 to take a picture kissing him on the cheek, Gibson said.

"He would make money and kiss women," Gibson said. "He had the most glamorous life of any 80 year old."

McDuffie had told the AP he was changing trains in New York when he was told that Japan had surrendered.

"I was so happy. I ran out in the street," said McDuffie, then 18 and on his way to visit his girlfriend in Brooklyn.

"And then I saw that nurse," he said. "She saw me hollering and with a big smile on my face. ... I just went right to her and kissed her."

"We never spoke a word," he added. "Afterward, I just went on the subway across the street and went to Brooklyn."

Gibson's daughter, Bell, said on anniversaries of the war's end her father would recall that moment and the air of excitement in Times Square.

For years it bothered him that he wasn't identified as the man in the photo, she said, and he turned to Gibson for help to clear it up g-suite cardinal.

"He wanted to do it before he died," she said.

McDuffie is survived by his daughter and two grandchildren. His funeral will be held March 21 at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery.

OSLO (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has been nominated for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize - but the conflict in Ukraine is also likely to be on the Nobel committee's agenda.

A record 278 candidates, including 47 organizations, g-suite cardinal manchester received nominations for the 2014 prize, said the Norwegian Nobel Institute's director, Geir Lundestad.

Committee members who met on Tuesday added their own proposals with a focus on recent turmoil around the globe.

"Part of the purpose of the committee's first meeting is to take into account recent events, and committee members try to anticipate what could be the potential developments in political hotspots," Lundestad said.

Russia seized control of Ukraine's Crimea region after President Viktor Yanukovich was ousted on February 22, prompting the most serious confrontation between Moscow and the West since the end of the Cold War.

Pope Francis and former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden also received nominations as well as Putin.

Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls' right to education, is also thought to be among the candidates, nu skin hk as are several Russian dissidents who have spoken out for human rights.

Conflicts between protesters and the governments of Thailand and Venezuela are also expected to be debated by the committee.

"We are getting an increasing number of nominations from people in countries that have never submitted nominations before," Lundestad said.

Although nominations are kept secret for 50 years, thousands of people around the world are eligible to propose candidates, including any member of any national assembly, and many make their picks public.

The committee narrowed its list to between 25 and 40 on Tuesday and it will cut its list to about a dozen by the end of April.

First awarded in 1901, the prize includes 8 million Swedish crowns ($1.24 million) in cash. The winner will be announced on the second Friday of October and the prize will be presented on December 10, g-suite the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.

The Russian president's comments came as a surprise amid widespread criticism of the country's ban on homosexual "propaganda."

SOCHI, Russia - President Vladimir Putin, Ergonomic seating seeking to defuse criticism over his treatment of Russia's gay community, said all people will be welcome in the Black Sea resort of Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Triggering angry criticism from the West and even calls to boycott the Sochi games, Russia adopted in June a ban on homosexual "propaganda" among minors, a law denounced by critics as discriminatory and aimed at stifling dissent.

"We are doing everything, both the organizers and our athletes and fans, so that participants and guests feel comfortable in Sochi, regardless of nationality, race or sexual orientation" Putin told Thomas Bach, the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), on an inspection visit in Sochi on Monday.

The remark came unexpectedly from Putin, who says there is no discrimination against gays in Russia which decriminalized homosexuality in 1993.

But gay people are often blamed for not helping overcome Russia's demographic problems and face ostracism from the resurgent Orthodox Church, which has fostered increasingly close ties with the Kremlin during Putin's 13-year rule.

Bach made no public mention of the issue, offering praise for Russia's preparations for the Olympics.

Russia is spending more than $50 billion on the February Games, a top priority for Putin who wants to use it to showcase the country's modern face to the world two decades after the fall of the Soviet Union.

"We are fully confident that the Games will be on a magnificent level," Bach said in his first comments about Russia's readiness for the Games.

"Sochi and the whole region completed a very big, successful development journey and we have been deeply impressed with this path g-suite cardinal manchester," he said in comments translated from German into Russian as he sat next to Putin, a fluent German speaker.

The praise must have been music to Putin's ears since he has staked his reputation on the success of the Games. He said Russia needed a final push to finish off preparations with just over three months before the Games open on Feb. 7.

"Now that the overwhelming majority of sites are almost ready, there's a final push left, we need to accomplish this final milestone," Putin said.

"We need to prepare everything once and for all."

During a previous inspection of the Olympic venues last month, Putin urged officials to overcome failures and delays in preparatory works.

Olympic preparations have been marred by over-running costs and delays and organizers have faced criticism from rights groups over the treatment of migrant workers engaged in large-scale construction works.

Moscow is also trying to head off potential security threats in Sochi, a few hundred kilometers from the volatile North Caucasus region where Russia is struggling to quell a persistent Islamist insurgency.

A deadly suicide bombing in southern Russia on Oct.21, blamed on a Muslim woman from the North Caucasus, highlighted increased security risks in proximity to the mountainous region.

The Russian parliament has toughened punishments for those who take part in military conflicts abroad as officials estimate up to 400 people have left Russian territory to fight along with the international jihadists in Syria.

STRONG TEAM

Bach urged Russia to brace itself for tough competition during the event which will challenge not only Russia's organisational skills but also its confidence in its sporting standing nuskin hk.

"When the Olympic flame will be burning at the Olympic stadium, it is up to you, because the success of Olympic Games also very much depends on the success of the home team," Bach told Putin.

Russia came 11th in the medal standings at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, with host Canada, Germany and the United States topping the list.

The Kremlin, disappointed with the result, pledged billions in investments and upgrades of Russia's winter sports infrastructure in preparation for the Sochi Games.

But Putin said he did not want medals to restore the country's former glory as a leading sports power.

"Great sports achievements are not a question of prestige and ambitions to us - the link between records in sports and (promoting) popular sports are evident," he said.

The home renovation tax incentive HRI scheme will run for two years.
CONSTRUCTION GROUPS HAVE welcomed a new scheme to give a tax incentive for homeowners to carry out home improvements.

The home renovation tax incentive (HRI) scheme will run for the next two years and give a tax credit of 13.5 per cent on money spent on renovations between €5,000 up to a maximum of €30,000.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said during his budget speech that qualifying work would include work such as window-fitting, plumbing g-suite in oldham, tiling and plastering.

The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) has said that the incentive will encourage people to use registered builders and discourage black market construction which is damaging standards in the sector.

“Given recent issues such as Priory Hall, it is imperative that standards are upheld which may not be the case with operators in the shadow economy g-suite manchester,” according to SCSI president Micheál O’Connor.

Pat Barry of the Irish Green Building Council also said that the initiative will hinder “tax dodging cowboys” in the shadow economy but insisted that more targeted measures to boost environmentally friendly construction are still required:

However the tax rebates above a certain level, g-suite cardinal must be targeted at measurable improvement in energy performance of the house, rather than just boosting construction for its own sake.