Prince died of an accidental painkiller overdose, a medical examiner has ruled.
The 57-year-old pop legend, who was found dead at his Paisley Park mansion in late April, sadly passed away after administering himself fentanyl, a powerful opioid used to treat pain, the medical examiner’s office in Minnesota said in a statement.
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Very little other detail was given however the sheriff’s department in Minnesota’ Carver County is still investigating.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opiate, is more powerful than morphine and is used to treat people with chronic pain.
It is only available by prescription.
Prince was found dead at his Minneapolis-area estate on April 21, days after he had to make an emergency plane landing that was also reportedly due to a painkiller overdose.
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Amal Clooney has had one high-flying and brilliant career that not even marriage to Hollywood superstar George Clooney could halt.
And now, the brilliant human rights lawyer is set to inspire Aussie women when she appears at the Women World Changers Summit 2016 in Sydney and Melbourne in October.
But if you’re thinking of heading off to one of the exclusive events to meet her, better check your bank balance first… it’ll cost you $2, 200 a ticket.
The VIP package is available only to the first 100 buyers and includes a meeting and a photo with the 38-year-old at a networking lunch before she delivers her speech.
Want a photo with Amal when she comes Down Under? That’ll be $2200 please!
Amal will reportedly be encouraging women dare to take a challenging career path.
Think you might forgo the meet and greet and sneak in for the speech? Well that will set you back $1100 for a 15-minute speech and 45-minute Q and A session.
The speech is set to cover the challenges Amal has faced throughout her illustrious and sometimes controversial career.
Can George come too, pretty please?
Organisers say her speech will primarily be built around giving women the courage to succeed an a non-traditional career path, if that is what they wish to do.
It will cover “what it takes to choose the more challenging path, the path with the most question marks and uncertainties, and the determination to stay the course.”
Amal talks about the challenges and benefits her fame has had on her career. Post continues below.
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“She will encourage women to push themselves and put themvelves forward to take on difficult and challenging jobs in non-traditional careers,” a spokesperson said.
There’s no word yet on whether she’s coming alone or bringing her actor husband George with her.
A couple made a shocking discovery when they moved into their apartment in New York.
As they opened up a cupboard, they found a deceased body wrapped in plastic and blankets along with a note from the killer which read “sorry for the smell.”
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New York Daily News reports the body belonged to ex-con Sidney Harris, 64 who the landlord believed was in hospital and “wouldn’t be back.”
Sidney Harris.
The landlord then made a deal with the couple – who were both just 18-years-old – to rent the apartment as long as they helped move out Harris’ belongings.
It was then they found his body.
It is unclear how long his body has been in the apartment but the coroner has said he died of multiple skull fractures.
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Uh oh, looks like Prince Harry has landed himself in a bit of hot water again.
The charming Prince has been told off for letting his dress standards slip while meeting with 45 veterans at Southwick House near Portsmouth ahead of the Normandy invasion anniversary.
Harry, who was wearing a blue suit with an open-necked button-down shirt for the occasion, was pulled up on his choice of outfit for the occasion by a D-Day veteran… a 91-year-old no less!
Ivor Anderson jokingly told the young royal off, asking cheekily, “Where’s your bloody tie?”
Ivor was having none of Prince Harry’s cheek!
The Prince, who is a qualified Apache Aircraft Commander in the Army, replied “I was told not to wear a tie and then you all turn up wearing ties!
“I feel under-dressed,” he added.
Notice anything? Oh yeah, Harry’s the ONLY one without a tie!
But Ivan didn’t want to let the issue go, later telling to someone else, “I told him he should wear a bloody tie.”
“I said I had a spare one, he said he couldn’t wear mind because he didn’t have his wings,” Ivan explained.
Despite the sartorial snafu, Harry took time to hear the veteran’s stories. Here he’s chatting to 92-year-old Anthony Colgan.
Having one’s wings is the term used to define personnel as qualified military parachutists and is symbolised by a badge with wings on a tie.
See Harry chat about his military training in Australia. Post continues…
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The Prince is said to have noticed his under-dressed attire before he entered the room, making a comment about it to John Phipps, the founder of D-Day Revisited charity.
“Are they all wearing ties in there? I should have worn a tie!” he exclaimed.
More than a month after the legendary singer passed away, his cause of death has finally been revealed.
Reports out of the US have said Prince was killed by an opioid overdose.
A law enforcement official confirmed the news that the drug Percocet was responsible for his death to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity on Thursday.
It’s also been revealed that Prince was supposed to meet with an addiction specialist on the day he died.
Prince was battling an addiction to a prescription painkiller.
The investigation into the Purple Rain singer’s death had previously revealed the prescription painkiller Percoset was found in Prince’s system, but it wasn’t known if that had contributed to his death in any way.
At the time the pop icon died at his Minnesota home on April 21, he was said to have been battling the flu.
Prince had also been exhausted in the days leading up to his death from a bout of the flu.
His lawyer had previously said any drugs Prince was using were not of concern.
It was only announced later that officials would begin investigating the possibility of a drug overdose.
Officials revealed that a doctor had visited Prince in his home the day before he died, performing tests on the musician and prescribing him medication.
Check out the insane plans for Prince’s unreleased songs here. Post continues…
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Those close to the 57-year-old, including his longstanding lawyer L. Londell McMillan have previously said he lived a clean lifestyle and was “not on any drugs that would be cause for concern.”
But sources did confirm to People magazine shortly after his passing that Prince had a history of using Percocet.
Prince’s autopsy was performed April 22 and the body was released back to his family.
It’s not usually one of our favourite things to talk about, but superannuation has become a hot topic in this year’s federal election campaign.
That’s because the Coalition Government and the Labor Opposition have both committed to reducing the benefits that wealthy retirees get from the way the superannuation system currently works.
In recent years, governments have encouraged workers to pour as much money as possible into superannuation in the hope that fewer people would have to depend on the aged pension once they retired. A reduced tax rate, called a concessional tax rate, was introduced on the money that our superannuation accounts earn, as an incentive.
But canny accountants worked out that this was a great way to reduce the tax bill for high-income earners, who would pay only the 15 per cent concessional tax rate on the money being earned by their multi million dollar super funds instead of almost 50 per cent if the money was earning interest in a bank or some other investment.
Labor was the first to announce it would change superannuation tax to “make the wealthy pay more” if it won government.
Back in April, the Opposition announced that from July 1 next year, a retiree’s super account could earn up to $75,000 a year without having to pay tax, but every dollar earned over that amount would be taxed at 15 per cent. A retiree would need to have about $1.5 million in their super account to earn that much.
And for people even further up the income scale, Labor would double the tax on superannuation earnings above $250,000 to 30 per cent.
The Government announced on Budget night in May that it would also make changes to superannuation if it was re-elected.
These include putting a $1.6 million cap on super accounts, so that high-income earners can’t use their fund as tax dodge.
Anyone with more than this amount in their super fund would be required to remove the excess amount, which could then be invested in another type of retirement saving plan. However the full amount of tax would have to be paid on anything earned by that investment.
There would also be a crack down on large amounts of money being funneled into super accounts, with a new $500,000 limit to be put on people making extra payments to their super funds.
And like Labor, the Government would double the tax to 30 per cent on superannuation earnings that are more than $250,000 each year.
It is important to remember the tax increases being proposed by the Government and the Opposition apply only to what a super fund earns, not the total amount of the super fund. The Government believes only four per cent of Australian retirees will be affected by its superannuation tax proposal.
The Government also announced on Budget night that it intends to make some changes to superannuation that will particularly benefit women.
Around two million women on low incomes would be provided with a refund of the higher taxes they pay on some super contributions.
Women with less than $500,000 in super would also be able to make “catch-up” contributions to their accounts and high-income spouses would be allowed to put more funds into their low-income spouse’s super.
Assistant Treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer confirmed in recent days that transition to retirement pension schemes would also be required to pay 15 per cent tax on any earnings.
We do not know at this stage whether the Government will review this proposal following an outcry by some media commentators about it.
It took Zhao, a Chinese artist, three days and 100,000 Lego bricks to build a specially commissioned statue of Nick Wilde, the fox from Zootopia.
The statue, which was 180cm, and worth $20,000 was on display in a Shanghai shopping centre. However, it only lasted an hour.
A curious child broke through security rope to get a closer look at the statue and accidentally knocked to the ground.
Oops.
The child’s (probably horrified) parents apologised to Zhao and offered to compensate him. He has refused payment and is said to have been “understanding”.
Of course this is not the first time that a kid has caused colossal damage and cost their parents a small fortune, not to mention mortal embarrassment.
Nicole, a mother-of-three from Brisbane, says that her son wreaked havoc at her parents’ house.
“My parents have a pretty amazing water feature in their garden. It’s a series of massive glass bowls from which water runs down and into a kind of creek that runs under their house. The glass bowls start from about one and a half metres in diameter and were custom made by some famous artist.
“When my son was two, he was looking over their verandah watching the water running from the bowls. In a split second he’d picked up a large rock and dropped it directly into the largest of the bowls from the height of the verandah. Let’s just say it caused destruction on a pretty large scale.”
Jo, a mum-of-two from Newcastle, has a similar tale of woe.
“My mum has a beautiful Balinese coffee table and when we visited when Thomas was two-and-a-half, he knocked over one of those stick diffuser air freshener on it. I thought I had cleaned it up but the alcohol in the oil was so strong that it stripped a layer off the table – yikes!”
Elizabeth can also relate.
“My sister-in-law had kindly offered to look after my then five-and-a-half year old daughter during the school holidays. She had to drop in to her parents place and took my daughter with her.
“I had forgotten to pack my daughter a pencil case so before my sister-in-law picked her up from me at work, I grabbed some items from the work stationery cupboard – not realising I had packed a permanent marker.”
“While my daughter was at my sister-in-laws parents’ house, she decided to lay on the ground to do some drawing. Unfortunately she went over the edge of the page and draw all over their $5000 rug!”
Elizabeth says that while the damage was obviously accidental, her sister-in-law’s parents were thoroughly unimpressed.
“They now have three grandchildren and the rug has been rolled up,” says Elizabeth.
The common theme here is that accidents and children go hand in hand. So if you are planning any large scale Lego creations, don’t forget the super glue.
Both Catherine and William have been very vocal about their desire to give their darling kids a grounded upbringing, and in their short time with us, it’s clear the parents are doing just that.
For the summer issue of Vanity Fair, which had Queen Elizabeth as the benevolent cover girl, royal writer Katie Nicholl gave a firsthand look into William and Kate’s family household.
In fact, it sounds like the bustling home is set to add a new member, with a close friend of the British royal family telling Katie, the couple won’t wait too long before trying for another baby, saying, “They want at least three kids and for them to be close in age.”
But for now, we look at everything from their daily activities to what the kids like to watch, here are 10 things we know about life with the Cambridges.
The family simply adore their country lifestyle.
1. Following the birth of their second child, Princess Charlotte, the young family picked up their life from the hustle and bustle of London and relocated to sleepy Norfolk to their Amner Hall residence.
William and his brother, Harry, spent many happy weekends during their childhood at Anmer Hall, which the Queen gave to her grandson and his new bride, Catherine, as a wedding present.
2. And it seems the tranquillity suits the darling baby, with William revealing his “little joy of heaven” has slept through the night since she was three months old.
And thanks to Catherine’s photography skills, royal well-wishers learned the little tot took her first steps prior to her first birthday.
Charlotte is William’s “little joy of heaven”.
Prince George is significantly cheekier!
3. “At the same time it is more responsibility, looking after two little ones, especially when George is around. He’s a little monkey.” It seems like Charlottes big brother’s personality is more reflective of London, where he spent his first years.
With his proud daddy once musing that George is “lively” and “noisy”. He enjoys riding ponies, playing with animals, jumping in puddles, painting and racing his toy tractor around the house.
4. And our royal Prince already has a firm grasp on what he likes. It was revealed in that while Catherine usually cooks all the meals she does let her little tot indulge on junk food. “George occasionally munches on French fries”
5. In fact the busy mum-of-two runs a very tight ship, with very little help. Along with Nanny Maria Bello and their housekeeper, everything is done by Kate.
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6. She and Wills have a firm “Tucking the kids in bed” policy. The mum and dad both take turns bathing their little ones before Kate and William bid them a goodnight.
7. It’s all part of William’s desire for the kids to have a normal childhood. Talking to the BBC in April, he remarked, “I’m concentrating very much on my role as a father. I’m a new father and I take my duties and my responsibilities to my family very seriously and I want to bring my children up as good people with the idea of service and duty to others as very important. But if I can’t give my time to my children as well, I worry about their future.”
8. But at the end of the day, William is a Prince.
And with such a grand title comes a great deal of royal responsibilities. As the Queen recently celebrated her grand 90th birthday, it is expected she will start handing the reigns over to her two grandsons, Prince William and Prince Harry. With more responsibility, it would come to no surprise that the 33-year-old dad will relocate to London with his family.
9. But that is all still in the distant future. For now the family adore life in the country. George attends the local nursery three times a week, with Catherine picking and dropping him off to school.
Katie Nichols revealed so much about the royals’ life in the summer issue of Vanity Fair
And the parents are never short on play dates, with many of their friends living close by.
One local revealed, “They are rarely bothered. We are used to having royals in this part of the world. We often see them out with George and Charlotte, but no one takes pictures or tries to talk to them. That’s why they love it here. They love the normality of life in Norfolk, whether it’s popping to the butcher or into a local toyshop to get another helicopter for George.”
10. By far one of our favourite facts about these low key royals is their incredibly sweet family pets. Catherine adores her trusted pooch Lupo and according to Vanity Fair, “the family’s cocker spaniel, has free run of the house.”
We imagine Marvin, the Hamster may need to have a few more boundaries.
Lupo has been a trusted family member since before George was born!
While there is no immediate risk of anyone else contracting the virus, the Mackay Public Health Unit says a mosquito control team will travel from Townsville to Mackay.
Authorities will assess an area in South Mackay to see if there are populations of Aedes aegypti, a mosquito which can transmit Zika.
Once the inspection has been completed, further advice will be provided to the public.
Director of Public Health Dr Richard Gair says it’s important people do not panic as there has never been a case of locally acquired Zika virus in Australia.
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