Susan Boyle hospitalized after losing in 'Britain's Got Talent' finale

by Vicki Hyman

DAVID CHESKIN/AP PHOTOFriends from Susan Boyle's Scottish hometown gather to watch their local hero in the finale of "Britain's Got Talent" Saturday

The pressure of being Earth's most YouTube'd woman got to Susan Boyle, who was hospitalized Sunday after losing "Britain's Got Talent" the previous night, judge Piers Morgan tells a British morning show. (British tabs report that Boyle was acting strangely at her hotel after the defeat, running down corridors while shouting "I hate this show.')

"She's gone in for some rest," Morgan says. "She needs to get away from everyone - get away from the show, from the media, the public, and just have a bit of down time to herself."

The hospitalization was voluntary, and Boyle had been seeking help from doctors throughout the week leading up to the finale, he says. "She had too long to wait between the audition show and the final, and the pressure just builds and builds and builds."

Boyle took her defeat with grace, saying "the best people won" (that would be the dance group Diversity). And don't cry for her (Argentina) - the classical singer stands to reap more than $8 million in the next year in endorsements, appearances and recording deals, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Air France Flight 447: Could A Lightning Strike Have Damaged The Plane?

By Scott McCartney

An investigation into what happened to Air France Flight 447 likely will be lengthy and complicated, beginning with the difficult search to find the aircraft in the Atlantic Ocean and retrieve its voice and data recorders.

The wide-body Airbus A330-200 carrying 228 people disappeared after some four hours in flight on its way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. The plane sent an automatic message to Air France “signaling electrical circuit malfunction,’’ the company said.

Speculation has swirled that the plane was flying into strong thunderstorms and was hit by lightning. Safety experts note, however, that planes are built to withstand lightning strikes, and crashes resulting from lightning are extremely rare, especially when planes are at cruising altitude and can fly above or around storms.

“I cannot recall in recent history any examples of aircraft being brought down by lightning,” Bill Voss, president and CEO of Flight Safety Foundation, Alexandria, Va., told The Associated Press.

Planes have multiple backup electrical systems, including batteries and small turbines that deploy from the belly of the jet and generate power as they turn in the wind. Since apparently no distress call was received from pilots, officials have suggested something catastrophic happened to the jet. Electrical fires have brought down planes. In most crashes, a chain of events and mistakes typically leads up to the crash, with several key contributing factors.

We’ll keep you updated - stay tuned.

Jobless benefits available for Volusia

The federal government has approved disaster unemployment assistance for Volusia County residents who were recently impacted by the severe storms and flooding that hit the area.

Disaster Unemployment Assistance helps people who have become unemployed as a direct result of a declared disaster and who do not qualify for regular unemployment benefits. It also covers those who are self-employed and owners and workers of farms and ranches as well as those who fish for a living.

Individuals can apply online at www.floridajobs.org or www.fluidnow.com. They can also file by telephone at (800) 204-2418, Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Air France Flight Status: Still Missing. Where Is The Airbus A330-200?

Today, the Air France flight AF447 left the Rio de Janeiro airport, and it should have landed at the Paris airport at 09:15 GMT, however, the plane is missing. The pilots of the Airbus A330-200 plane reported a technical fault at the electric circuit, and that they are experiencing turbulence. After that, the AF447 flight has gone missing and there are no news yet. Air France

officials said that they don’t know where the plane is at the moment, and they are hoping that all people aboard and the crew are OK.

The AF Airbus A330 had 216 passengers and 12 crew, and the Brazilian officials said that the pilots last reported something at 11 P.M. local time when they were near the island of Fernando de Noronha. This is at about 1,5000 northeast of Rio de Janeiro, between the city of Natal and the island of Ilha do Sal.

President Nicolas Sarkozy said that he is deeply concerned, and he assured people that he will do the utmost to find the Airbus A330-200 plane. I remind you that the missing Air France flight AF447 was carrying 228 people aboard, and we surely hope that all of them are OK.

The Airbus A330-200 is considered one of the safest planes, and such aircraft didn’t have a fatal commercial flight crash. According to experts, the A330 shouldn’t go down in flight or when climbing to the flight route as accidents happen when landing or when planes take off. Also, the Air France didn’t have a fatal crash since July 2000 when a Concorde plane crashed, but the supersonic airplanes aren’t used for commercial flights anymore.

We will keep you updated with the Air France Flight AF447 status, and we hope that the passengers of the Airbus A330-200 will be found safe and alive.