Articles by "Breaking Point"
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Sweden's Princess Victoria was allegedly groped by a French photographer from the Swedish Academy, the body that awards the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Three people told local media they witnessed photographer Jean-Claude Arnault placing his hand on the princess' bottom at the event when she was just 27. The princess is now 40.

"He came lurking from behind and I saw his hand land on her neck and go downward. It was all the way down," witness Ebba Witt-Brattström told the Daily Telegraph.

She said one of the princess' aides saw it happen and quickly leapt into action.

"She just flew herself on Arnault. She grabbed him, and 'whop', he was gone. The Crown princess turned in surprise. I guess she had never been groped. She just looked like 'what?'"

In November, 18 women came forward with allegations that Mr Arnault had groped or harassed them. Mr Arnault denies these claims.

Since November, six members of the Academy stepped down over the controversy.

Ms Witt-Brattström said on the princess' next visit in 2006, her ex-husband and former Academy secretary Horace Engdahl was instructed to make sure the princess was never left alone with Mr Arnault. Mr Engdahl maintains he was unaware of harassment claims against Mr Arnault.

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/23257
May 01, 2018
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Muhammad Ali, the venerated boxer -- the only three-time World Heavyweight Champion -- died Friday, June 3, after a multi-decade battle with Parkinson’s disease, according to family spokesperson Bob Gunnell. He was 74 years old.

"After a 32-year battle with Parkinson’s disease, Muhammad Ali has passed away at the age of 74. The three-time World Heavyweight Champion boxer died this evening,” according to family spokesperson Bob Gunnell. "The Ali family would like to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers, and support and asks for privacy at this time."

Photo: Getty Images
"It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am," Ali once famously said, adding on another occasion, "I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was." And he was.
His skill as a boxer may have led to his nickname as "The Greatest," and led Sports Illustrated to name him "Sportsman of the Century."

Photo: Getty Images
And his was a wide-ranging life, distinguished by his commanding persona and embrace of controversy. Yes, he was a boxer, a sport he turned to for a practical reason -- someone stole his bike when he was 12; he wanted revenge.
He was also an activist who opposed the Vietnam War, fought for African-American civil rights and stood for racial justice. Ali was an author, a singer, and even an actor who once starred in a Broadway musical and had cameos on iconic 1970s TV shows, including Diffe'rent Strokes and The Sonny and Cher Show. He also had an eclectic set of friends, including Malcolm X and Elvis Presley. 
Born Cassius Clay in 1942, he found early success on the Kentucky amateur boxing circuit. After winning gold in the 1960 Olympics, he went professional, and won every fight on his path to his first heavyweight champion title.
Ali was known for his boxing talent, but captured America's attention with his punishing (and often hilarious) wit -- what we'd call trash-talk today -- which he used to fluster his opponents before ever landing a punch

 
Photo: Getty Images
Prior to his first heavyweight title match with then-reigning champ Sonny Liston (aka Big Bear), Ali said, "Liston even smells like a bear. I'm gonna give him to the local zoo after I whup him." For good measure, he made an unannounced visit to Liston's house, at three in the morning, accompanied by press -- just to taunt him.
Ali won the fight -- and the title: World Heavyweight Champion.
Outside the ring, Ali doggedly pursued his political and spiritual aims, even at the expense of his career. He joined the Nation of Islam in 1964 just before his first Liston fight. Promoters demanded he renounce the group, and he refused, at which point they threatened to cancel the match. (It was then that Ali's friend and Nation of Islam mentor, Malcolm X, arranged a compromise. The fight went on.) Soon after winning the title, Ali changed his name. "Cassius Clay is a slave name," he said. "I didn't choose it and I don't want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name -- it means beloved of God -- and I insist people use it when people speak to me and of me." Most journalists ignored his request, echoing the injustice he confronted.
Ali put his convictions before his career again by refusing in 1967 to be drafted into armed service -- a decision for which he was sentenced to five years in prison. "Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam," he asked, "while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?"
Though he never served time, and the Supreme Court overturned the sentence four years later, his title was revoked, and his boxing license was denied. It wasn't until 1970, as the nation soured on the Vietnam War, that he competed again, ultimately regaining his title.
He boxed throughout the 1970s, winning some fights, losing others. Ali was slowing down, and in retrospect, showing early signs of Parkinson's disease. Mid-decade, after some tough matches, he made the first of several retirements to focus, he said, on his faith, having converted to Sunni Islam after a falling out with the Nation of Islam.
Still, he kept going back in the ring. His final boxing retirement came in 1981 after losing several high-profile fights, including a particularly violent defeat to Larry Holmes. Several years later, he received a formal Parkinson's diagnosis.
Though he was slowed by his illness, he remained indefatigable. A nation that once reviled him had come to revere him. Ronald Reagan invited him to the White House. He lit the Olympic torch at the 1996 games in Atlanta, Georgia. During the first Gulf War, he met with Saddam Hussein in an attempt to win the release of American hostages. And though the National Security Agency had once marked him for surveillance, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, by George W. Bush, in 2005.

Photo: Getty Images
A man of global stature, Muhammad Ali is an American icon, even in death. Like any one soul, Ali was fallible. But more than most, he fought and persisted and did great things. For this he was loved, or as Ali liked to put it, he was The Greatest.
"I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me," he said.  "It would be a better world."
According to Gunnell, Ali's funeral will take place in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.
June 05, 2016
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NEW YORK –  Police investigating a deadly shooting at a packed hip-hop concert arrested a rap artist Thursday, saying surveillance footage showed him stalking through the venue firing a gun.
Roland Collins, who's from Brooklyn and goes by the stage name Troy Ave, will face attempted murder and weapons charges, a police spokesman said.
Four people were shot, one fatally, when a fight started Wednesday night in a performers' lounge at a Manhattan concert hall where the star rapper T.I. was scheduled to perform.
The man who died, Ronald McPhatter, was a member of Collins' entourage and had been there to provide security, according to his family. Collins, 33, suffered a gunshot wound to the leg, police said.
An 8-second video clip released by police shows the gunman bursting through the door of a VIP room in apparent pursuit of another man, who flees off-screen.
As concertgoers huddle under a counter and clutch each other, the gunman, who appears to be limping, stops and scans the room for a moment with his eyes. Then, he spots something, raises his gun and fires.
There were nearly 1,000 people in the concert hall, Irving Plaza, when the shooting began. One of the victims, Christopher Vinson, was shot in the chest on the venue's ground level after a bullet traveled through the floor, Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said. Another bystander, Maggie Heckstall, was shot in the leg, authorities said.
The circumstances of what prompted the fight were still under investigation.
Police Commissioner William Bratton, in an interview with WCBS radio, blamed the shootings on "the crazy world of the so-called rap artists who are basically thugs that basically celebrate the violence that they live all their lives."
"The music, unfortunately, oftentimes celebrates violence, celebrates degradation of women, celebrates the drug culture, and it's unfortunate that as they get fame and fortune that some of them are just not able to get out of the life, if you will," he said.
That prompted an angry response from McPhatter's relatives and a city lawmaker, who derided the comments as insensitive and divisive.
"When white people are doing this violence, I don't hear the same language being used," said City Councilman Jumaane Williams, a Brooklyn Democrat who said he had worked on anti-violence initiatives with McPhatter and his older brother, Shanduke McPhatter, a former gang member.
The city's mayor, Bill de Blasio, also a Democrat, said afterward that he believed Bratton was "talking out of frustration."
"I think it's not really right to see a whole genre through one eye," he said. "There are some rap artists and folks in the hip-hop culture doing amazing, good things for the world."
Collins was in custody and couldn't be reached for comment Thursday. It was unclear if he had an attorney who could comment on the charges against him. A message left at a phone number listed for him wasn't immediately returned.
Shanduke McPhatter said his brother "got too much into" the glamour of the hip-hop scene and it landed him Wednesday night in an environment where alcohol flowed freely and trouble broke out.
In a post on his Instagram account, rapper T.I., born Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., sent his condolences to the victims, adding that "our music is intended to save lives, like it has mine and many others."
Rest In Peace Bro. God bless.
A photo posted by TIP (@troubleman31) on
Police said there was no evidence connecting T.I. to the violence, but the incident marks the third time in a decade that shootings have occurred during or after concerts where the Grammy Award-winning musician was to perform.
A member of the rapper's entourage was killed and three others were injured during a gunbattle following a party after a concert where T.I. performed near Cincinnati, Ohio, in 2006. Last March, two people were shot and injured in a Charlotte, North Carolina, nightclub where he was to perform.
In 2010, the Atlanta rapper was sentenced to 11 months in prison on federal gun charges.
May 27, 2016
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Vishakha Sonawane
Mustafa Badreddine
Top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine is seen in this handout picture released by Hezbollah Media office, May 13, 2016. Photo: Hezbollah Media Office/Handout via REUTERS
Mustafa Badreddine, the top military commander of Hezbollah, was killed in Syria, the Lebanon-based Islamist group said Friday. Badreddine was killed Tuesday night in an attack that targeted one of Hezbollah’s bases near an airport in the Syrian capital Damascus, the group said.
“He [Badreddine] took part in most of the operations of the Islamic resistance since 1982,” Hezbollah said in a statement, calling Badreddine “the great jihadi leader.”
Hezbollah said it was working to “define the nature of the explosion and its cause, and whether it was the result of an airstrike, or missile [attack] or artillery.”
Lebanese TV station Al-Mayadeen, which is close to the group, earlier said the 55-year-old was killed in an Israeli attack but later retracted the report, according to the Associated Press.
Badreddine was elevated to the group’s top military commander in 2008 after his predecessor Imad Mughniyeh was assassinated in a bomb attack in Damascus. The commander’s death is seen as the biggest setback for the Shia group since the killing of Mughniyeh.
Badreddine was one of the four people who were tried in absentia for the 2005 murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. He was also sentenced to death in Kuwait for his involvement in the 1983 bomb attacks in the country. However, he eloped from a Kuwaiti prison after Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, invaded the country in 1990. The U.S. Department of the Treasury had put Badreddine’s name in sanctions list saying he was responsible for Hezbollah’s military operations in Syria since 2011.
Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran, is fighting in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the war-torn country. About 1,200 Hezbollah fighters are estimated to have died in the Syrian conflict, Reuters reported.
May 13, 2016
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Heavy rain

Western parts of the South Island are being buffeted with heavy rain and strong winds with trampers warned that some streams and rivers may rise rapidly.

 

A large trough will across New Zealand on Wednesday, bringing heavy rain to western regions with the heaviest falls expected across the ranges of Westland, Southern Alps and the Tararua Range.
The Westland ranges could receive up to 250mm of rain in 39 hours.
The MetService are warning the rain may cause streams and rivers to rapidly rise and could be dangerous for trampers in the area.
In addition to the heavy rain, there are strong wind warnings in place for the Canterbury High Country, Wellington, Marlborough and the Wairarapa.
Severe gales up to 140km/h on Thursday could damage trees and powerlines as well as make driving dangerous.
May 10, 2016
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Three people have been taken to hospital in serious conditions after they crashed trying to avoid road spikes deployed during a police pursuit near Taupo.

 

The trio, allegedly travelling in a stolen vehicle, were spotted by police heading towards Taupo on Wednesday afternoon, prompting a short police chase.
It was called off due to fog.
However police saw the vehicle again soon after and deployed road spikes which the car tried to avoid and crashed in the process. They had to be cut free by the Fire Service.
The two men in the car were taken to Waikato Hospital while a woman went to Rotorua.
All three have serious injuries.
An investigation into the incident has been opened by local police.
May 10, 2016
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By Ruth Halkon


© Provided by Mirror A lorry driver was forced to use his van to block the view of ghouls taking pictures of a mother's body after she jumped to her death from a motorway bridge.
Disgusted David Francis described the rubber-necking motorists as 'morons' as they sought to film tragic Lucy Davis, 32.
An inquest heard Lucy had spent the morning dropping her two children off at school, visiting her partner at work and completing her Christmas shopping.
But hours later she plunged to her death into busy traffic on the M27.
The inquest heard she had suffered from post-natal depression in 2004 after the birth of her first child, and suffered a relapse shortly before her death on December 15 last year.
Some drivers stopped to help, but others began to 'rubber-neck' and take photos, Portsmouth Coroners' Court heard.
Lucy, also known as Lucy Page, died when she fell about 30ft from the bridge near junction 11 of the M27 by Fareham, Hampshire, on to traffic on the westbound carriageway.
After climbing the railings on Down End Road Bridge, she jumped on to the trailer of a lorry being driven by Grzegorz Ciupka, 28, and ended up between the inside lane and the middle lane.
David Francis, driving behind Mr Ciupka in a lorry, manoeuvred his vehicle to stop people taking photos of her body as they drove past.
He said: "Morons were still driving past the body, rubber-necking, taking photographs.
"I moved my truck. I positioned my cab so no-one could see the body so they've got nothing to look at while going past."
© Provided by Mirror
He added other motorists continued to try to look after the incident, which happened at around 1.30pm. Medics were unable to save her.
Sergeant Wayne Voller, senior investigating officer, told how Lucy's depression was triggered by family and work pressures in her life.
© Provided by Mirror
He added: "The pressure of looking after the family, assisting her partner Jon with the admin side of business and being the main carer for two relatives seems to bring a relapse in the latter part of 2015."
The inquest heard that her partner Jon Cunningham knew 'something was wrong from the moment she woke up'.
Asked in the morning if she was okay, Lucy told Jon: "No, not really." She then added: "I don't know what to do."
Lucy dropped her children off to school, finished buying their Christmas presents and visited Jon at work before the incident.
He later heard a body had been found on the carriageway on the M27 and reported her missing to police.
He was visited by a family liaison officer who told him the tragic news.
Paying tribute after her death he said she was the 'best person to know'.
He said at the time: "I would like to acknowledge and express our appreciation for all the messages of support we have received at this desperate, desperate time for myself and my young family.
"As all of you who knew her, Lucy really was the best person to know, the best mother to our children, and the best person to have as a friend.
"She was and is my best friend."
Driver Janet Watts, travelling westbound by Fareham on the day, was in the inside lane when she saw Lucy on the bridge just before 1.30pm.
© Provided by Mirror
She said she saw Lucy 'deliberately jump' and did not see anyone else on the bridge with her.
Pathologist Dr Brett Lockyer's report said she died from 'traumatic head injury' consistent with witnesses' accounts.
He found anti-depressant medicine in her blood but at an amount that showed she had stopped taking it.
Recording a narrative conclusion, coroner David Horsley said: "We have a situation here of a lady who is going through a period of depression in her life.
"It seems that she has deliberately launched herself.
"I conclude Lucy Davis has taken her own life whilst suffering from long-term, severe depression and I pass on my sympathies to her family."
A BMW key fob was found at the scene and Lucy's car was found near the bridge. Her family did not attend the inquest.
Mr Ciupka, a Polish national with a UK driving licence at the time, did not give evidence as he was back in Poland.
But the inquest heard that even if he had seen Lucy, it would probably have been too late to take evasive action.
Anyone who feels they need to speak to the Samaritans can call 116 123 or visit them online .
May 10, 2016
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An East Coast truckie was killed on his first day on the job transporting logs after he was run over by his own rig.

New Zealand log prices have been boosted.

Dallas Hickey, 51, died in February 2014 after he left the truck's cab while the unit was still moving and was caught under the rear wheel of the truck.
Gisborne-based logging transport operator James Walter Beau Thompson was fined $80,000 and ordered to pay $100,000 in reparations after admitting safety failings in court.
Thompson pleaded guilty to failing to take all practicable steps to ensure Mr Hickey's safety and was sentenced in Gisborne District Court on Tuesday.
Thompson ran Hawke Equipment Limited's Gisborne log operation and a WorkSafe investigation found that he had failed to undertake proper checks or tests to ensure Mr Hickey, a contractor, was trained to do his job safely.
WorkSafe chief inspector Keith Stewart said the case showed why adequate training and induction processes are vital in helping keep workers safe.
"This was a tragic example of what can happen when training is not provided," he said.
May 10, 2016
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FORT MCMURRAY, Canada: Crews worked on Tuesday (May 10) to start restoring water and electricity in this Canadian oil hub turned into a ghost town by a towering ring of fire that reduced its suburbs to ashes.
Government authorities, meanwhile, met with oil company executives in the oil sands region of unseasonably dry Alberta province to discuss how to get evacuated workers back on the job and production up and running again.
Oil is the lifeblood of the region's economy, and the fires raging around Fort McMurray for the past 10 days or so have led to a 40 per cent drop in output.
Oil facilities have escaped major damage so far. But fires are still burning and officials said the main task is to keep them contained around those plants so workers can be flown back in.
Fire fighters using heavy machinery have cleared away swaths of forest around the oil facilities to keep the fire from spreading into them.
Another piece of bad news arrived on Tuesday as health authorities reported an outbreak of gastronenteritis in shelters for people evacuated from Fort McMurray, with 105 cases tallied so far, most of them in one facility.
A ride through Fort McMurray showed the centre of the now-empty city of 100,000 came out of the disaster largely intact. But the suburbs, where some people got just a half hour's notice to evacuate a week ago, were singed.
RUINED SUBURBS
The outlying areas are now a ruined, scorched landscape dotted with the odd survivor, like an elementary school here or a bus stop shelter there, coated in soot but still standing.
Plots of land where houses once stood are now separated by melted, twisted skeletons of metal fences.
Neat, nicely kept neighborhoods - with single-family homes, yards with swing sets and houses for dogs - are pretty much gone.
Rescued dogs sit in cages at an evacuee centre in Lac la Biche, Alberta, Canada. (AFP/Cole Burston)
Outside one lot, a totally charred bike lies in the driveway of what had been a house. All that's left is a disfigured stove, covered in rubble and leaning against a blackened wall.
Fires are stilling burning to the east of the city. And the tally of how much land was charred now stands at 2,230 square kilometres, with 2,400 homes and other buildings destroyed.
As one approaches the city from the south on Highway 63, the lush green grass of springtime quickly gives way to scorched trees whose foliage went up in flames.
'OCEAN OF FIRE'
Still, it could have been much, much, worse, said Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. "The city was surrounded by an ocean of fire only a few days ago. But Fort McMurray and the surrounding communities have been saved and they will be rebuilt," she said on Monday night.
"I've never seen anything like this," said city fire chief Darby Allen. "If that fire had gotten into the downtown, we would have lost the downtown area."
Inside the city, electrical utility crews got to work replacing wooden poles burned away by the fire, so they get power lines back up. It will be at least two weeks before people can start returning to their homes, if they still have one, said Allen.
May 10, 2016
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REX/Shutterstock

Prince was reportedly battling AIDS and told he only had six months to live by doctors and that’s why he allegedly took his own life by overdosing on a concoction of pain pills at his Paisley Park estate.

Prince had reportedly been diagnosed with AIDS in the 90s but allegedly chose not to fight the disease because he was a Jehovah’s Witness and didn’t want to use medication because of his faith. He was told he had six months to live, according to the National Equirer and that’s why Prince allegedly wanted to take his own life. They claim that there’s footage from security cameras in the elevator that shows Prince taking a deadly concoction of pills to purposefully end his life.
“These videos prove Prince wasn’t murdered as some have suggested,” a source claims. “They show he was alone, and committed suicide by overdose. The truth is, he knew he had only a few months to live. He didn’t want to die a slow, lingering death. He cleared the property at Paisley park, then ate a bottle of pills the night before he was found collapsed and dead in the elevator. The tapes show all this.”
The insider goes on to claim: “He couldn’t take the pain the disease was causing him in its last stages. And he didn’t want to just slowly waste away. Prince said just a few nights before he died that fans would wait a few days before wasting any prayers on him. In retrospect an obvious tip-off that he knew he was going to die.”
We told you that officials are considering it could be an overdose but it will take weeks for the toxicology reports to be complete. HollywoodLife.com previously reported, the Sheriff’s office is keeping all evidence under lock. The mag reports that hundreds of pills disappeared from Paisley Park before police arrived, and that a cover-up is allegedly suspected.
May 05, 2016
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Maria Gallucci
Drought Climate Change
A farmer's daughter carries clean water across the drought-stricken fields to her family's home in Dala, Myanmar, May 1, 2016. Photo: Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images
Many of the world’s economies could shrink in the next few decades as climate change makes it harder to find fresh water supplies.
The lack of water could spur waves of migration, spark conflicts within countries and cause food prices to spike to untenable levels, the World Bank warned in a report this week. Researchers found economies in Africa’s central and Sahel regions, East Asia and the Middle East could see growth rates decline by up to 6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2050 due to water-related losses in agriculture, health, income and property.
“Water scarcity is a major threat to economic growth and stability around the world, and climate change is making the problem worse,” Jim Yong Kim, the World Bank’s president, said in a statement. “If countries do not take action to better manage water resources, our analysis shows that some regions with large populations could be living with long periods of negative economic growth.”
Still, “countries can enact policies now that will help them manage water sustainability for the years ahead,” he added.
Global temperatures are rising as greenhouse gas emissions soar, largely thanks to human activities such as burning fossil fuels for energy and clearcutting forests, scientists say. As the planet warms, droughts and extreme floods will become more frequent and intense, while snowfall will be replaced by rain, which evaporates faster. Shrinking mountain snow packs and melting inland glaciers will deplete fresh water resources, while rising sea levels will cause saltwater to taint the groundwater.
Cambodia Drought Cambodian men use a net to catch fish in a nearly dried pond at a village in Kandal province, April 27, 2016. Photo: TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images
Local economies and agricultural producers are already suffering the effects of water scarcity and global warming. In Guatemala, coffee farmers and ramón seed gatherers have seen their harvests shrink as the regular replenishing rainfalls grow varied and scarce. Banana growers in Honduras are producing less of the yellow fruit amid hotter weather and longer droughts.
In California, climate change has caused as much as one-fourth of the state’s brutal five-year drought, scientists estimated. Workers and residents across the Central Valley are moving in droves to other cities as fields that once grew cotton, pistachio, watermelon and garlic lie barren. 
The World Bank’s report, unveiled Tuesday, said water scarcity would have a relatively small impact on the global economy, at roughly half a percent of global GDP in 2050. But researchers said the total loss was a “highly misleading estimate” given that major variations exist between regions. For instance, Western Europe and North America, where much of the world’s GDP is produced, will see “negligible” damages related to water scarcity in coming decades.
The Middle East, by contrast, could see GDP growth slip as much as 14 percent within 35 years due to climate-related effects and declines in freshwater supplies, the Washington-based institution said in the report. Governments in the region could stave off some of this damage by adopting efficiency efforts and investing in technologies such as desalination and water recycling. World Bank GDP Water scarcity will have greatly varying effects on different regions, the World Bank report found. Photo: World Bank
In the Sahel, the semi-arid belt stretching from Senegal to Sudan, climate-related impacts could shrink GDP by up to 11.7 percent by 2050. Central Asia could see GDP shrink by 10.7 percent, while economies in East Asia and Central Africa could shrink by up to 7 percent.
“Since economic growth spurs water demand in rough proportion to the income it generates, there are legitimate concerns that expanding water deficits in some regions could constrain growth,” the World Bank said in its report. The worst-case economic projections assume policymakers and companies will continue a “business as usual” approach to water consumption and not take steps to conserve water supplies.
The report arrives weeks after leaders from 175 countries signed an agreement reached in Paris to slash greenhouse gas emissions, invest in lower-carbon energy and help the most vulnerable nations adapt to global warming impacts.
May 04, 2016
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Chandra Levy Credit: Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department via Getty Images
Still no closure. Chandra Levy's parents opened up about the disappearance of their daughter in a new interview with the Today show on Tuesday, May 3, two days after the 15-year anniversary of her disappearance. Chandra — a once bright-eyed Washington D.C. intern — went missing in 2001.
"No matter what, we don't have our daughter back," Susan Levy told the NBC show on Tuesday. "[My husband Robert has] tremendous anger. I have tremendous sadness. The anger and sadness is really the same."
Susan has turned to painting as an outlet to deal with her grief. "Through moments of our very harsh pain, you transcend and you help others," she said. "The work is a lot of pain and I'm open about the pain that I've endured."
Chandra, a California native, interned at the Federal Bureau of Prisons and was last seen on May 1, 2001. Amid the cold case, it was rumored that Chandra had been having an affair with her married hometown congressman U.S. Rep. Gary Condit. Condit denied the allegations, but his career never recovered. He wasn't reelected in 2002.
A prison inmate named Armando Morales later testified that his former cellmate, El Salvador immigrant Ingmar Guandique, killed Chandra. At the time, Guandique was already serving 10 years for attacking two women in D.C.'s Rock Creek Park, where Chandra's remains were found in May 2002. Guandique was charged with her murder in 2009, convicted in 2010 and sentenced to 60 years in prison. 
Guandique, meanwhile, has maintained his innocence. Last year, his attorneys petitioned the court, claiming that Morales' testimony was a lie. Guandique was granted a new trial, which will begin this October. For now, he remains locked up.
Robert Levy, however, is not convinced. "As far as I can see, it's just some defense attorney trying to make themselves a name and make more money," he told Today of the new trial. "He's guilty."
May 04, 2016
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By Rachel Middleton
Airbus
Increasing number of in-flight thefts being reported not only in short-haul but also long-haul flights.flickr.com
A Turkish businessman has lost HK$2m (£258,000) worth of cash and valuables from his hand luggage stored in an overhead cabin compartment during a flight from Dubai to Hong Kong. This is believed to be one of the biggest in-flight theft reported so far.
Mustasa Saci, a Turkish watch merchant, only realised the cash and valuables missing after he had disembarked when the plane landed at the Hong Kong International Airport. He sought help from airline staff who called police.
According to the South China Morning Post, there has been a spate of cases of criminals posing as travellers on long-haul flights who target cabin luggage placed in overhead cabin compartments. It said some have even flown business class to target victims.
A source with knowledge of the investigation, told the newspaper: "Initial investigation showed $200,000 and two luxury watches - a Rolex and a Patek Philippe - were stolen from his bang and the total value was about HK$2m."
Saci was believed to have been seated in the economy cabin. He was on his way to Hong Kong for business, the newspaper said.
Local police and airlines have joined forces to fight the increasing number of in-flight thefts, the paper said. It added in the first 10 months of last year, a total of 68 reports of thefts were made on flights into Hong Kong, involving HK$4.83m. In 2014, there were a total of 48 reported cases involving HK$2.61m.
A source told the newspaper that well-dressed criminals usually scout their prey before boarding. They then place their own bags in the same overhead compartments as their victims. "They search through travel bags and luggage in the lockers when the owners were asleep or in the toilet."
The source also noted that such thieves usually take aisle seats towards the rear of the aircraft. The source said that in the past, inflight thefts took place in short-haul flights but of recent, it is now taking place in long-haul flights.
The newspaper said that a Chinese national was arrested last October for stealing $1,000 and HK$3,000 in cash from two bags stowed in the storage locker on a Dragoinair flight. He was flying business class when the alleged crime took place.
May 03, 2016
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Image result for Thousands evacuated due to Alberta, Canada wildfireMONTREAL: Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate a city in the Canadian oil sands region due to a major wildfire approaching Fort McMurray's north end, officials said on Tuesday (May 3).
The fire was "growing rapidly" toward the city in Alberta province. Mandatory evacuations were now in effect for seven neighborhoods in the city of 100,000, according to an alert issued around 3.30pm (5.30am Singapore time Wednesday) by Alberta emergency authorities.
Shortly afterwards, the situation worsened. "A number of evacs under way, and likely more to come. Be calm. Be prepared. Be ready to move politely in traffic to a safe destination," Mayor Melissa Blake tweeted.
Long lines of cars headed north via the main highway of the city after police closed the southward lanes. Authorities urged residents to head toward evacuation centres some 20 kilometres away.
The fire, which was contained until Monday south of Fort McMurray, was pushed toward the city by winds and quickly reached homes, helped by a drought in Alberta. The province saw record temperatures of nearly 30 degrees Celsius on Tuesday.
On Monday, an alert was issued and some 500 people were evacuated as a precaution due to smoke from the wildfire.
May 03, 2016
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By Mark Piggott
Pyeongtaek mum kids survive fall
A mother in South Korea threw her 3 children to safety from a four-storey window then jumped herselfgoogle streetview
Quick-thinking US service personnel saved the lives of a mother and her children from a burning building in South Korea by grabbing a blanket and using it to catch them as they jumped four storeys from a window. Dramatic video footage showed the moment a mum dropped her small children into the blanket before making a leap of faith herself. Two other women were involved in the dramatic escape and all were unharmed.
The terrifying incident took place in the city of Pyeongtaek 60 km (37 miles) south of South Korea's capital Seoul on Friday (29 April). Precious Enyioko, 30, was trapped in the burning block in Songtan shopping district with her children aged four, three and seven months as smoke billowed all around. Then passing servicemen and women from nearby Osan Air Base took charge.
US Air Force Master Sgt. Daniel Raimondo said he and another colleague got the blankets from a nearby shop then corralled a group to hold them beneath the window. They persuaded her to drop the first two children whom they caught but the third did not want to be dropped and started to struggle in its terrified mother's arms.
"She just wouldn't let them go," Raimondo told CNN. "I remember looking at her though all the turmoil and commotion. I just begged and pleaded with her, 'Please throw the baby down.' And I remember her screaming at the baby 'I love you, I love you, I love you.'
"The next thing you know, she's dropped the baby. And of course at the end, the mother had to come down. You could barely even see her at that point. The smoke and fire was horrendous. I was just shouting, 'You have to jump, you have to jump'."
Precious landed heavier than her children but someone had put cushions underneath the blanket and she was unharmed. "It was so difficult to drop my children," she told DVIDS website. "It was so dark in the room and the kids were coughing and crying. When I saw the people gathering with the blanket, I could see it was military members, I thanked my God."
Her husband Prince Enyioko, who like his wife is from Nigeria, expressed his gratitude to the service crew for their prompt actions. "I don't know how I would explain my thanks," said Prince. "I was so surprised, I see the people gathering here to rescue my family, especially the military."
May 03, 2016
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Kukil Bora
RTX2CLM4
Kurdish Peshmerga fighters observe the front line with Islamic State, in Gwar, northern Iraq, Sept. 23, 2014. Photo: REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah/File Photo
An American serviceman was killed near Irbil in northern Iraq during an attack by Islamic State group fighters, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Tuesday. He was killed while aiding Kurdish fighters in the region. 
Carter didn’t provide further details, other than telling reporters that it was “a combat death” and that the soldier died “in the neighborhood of Irbil,” the Associated Press (AP) reported.
“A Coalition service member was killed in northern Iraq as a result of enemy fire,” the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement, without disclosing the serviceman’s name and rank complying with military protocol. “Further information will be released as appropriate.”
The AP report also cited a U.S. military official saying that the serviceman was killed while he was on a train-and-assist mission, advising Kurdish Peshmerga troops, who are U.S. allies in the fight against the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS. The military official said that the serviceman was hit by “direct fire” after ISIS militants infiltrated Peshmerga’s forward line.
Tuesday’s attacks in the nearby city of Mosul were said to be the largest against Kurdish forces in recent months by ISIS militants, who have been losing ground in the north and west of Iraq, Reuters reported.
“The enemy penetrated the Kurdish lines,” the Wall Street Journal quoted Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS, as saying. “They went about five kilometers past the forward line of troops with some truck bombs.”
The serviceman is the third American soldier killed in Iraq since U.S. troops pulled out from the Middle Eastern country in 2011 after a nearly decade-long occupation, the journal reported.
May 03, 2016
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By William Watkinson
A 16-year-old girl was flung to her death from a fairground ride after complaining to staff that her seatbelt would not buckle up, it has been claimed. The girl, named locally as Samantha Aguilar, was catapulted from the ride in El Paso, Texas, during Dia de Los Niños - a traditional Mexican holiday that celebrates children.
Aguilar was riding an attraction known as "The Sizzler" with two other friends – only one of them managed to stay seated. A 15-year-old friend was also allegedly thrown from the ride and is understood to have suffered only minor injuries and is expected to make a full recovery at a local hospital.
An unnamed aunt of a third girl claimed Aguilar was "clinging on to her belt for dear life" and despite raising concerns with the ride operator they were allegedly told they "would be fine without" a working seatbelt. She added that she believed the attraction was built for two riders.
Sgt. Enrique Carillo from the El Paso Police Department said an investigation would take place into the incident, which happened on Friday 29 April. "We don't know the cause", he told the Corpus Christi Caller Times.
Aguilar was a student athlete at Hanks High School and her coach Kim Gomez said: "Online tributes from fellow students called for school members to wear the colour red to Hanks today in Aguilar's memory.
Bishop Mark J. Seitz, of the El Paso Catholic Diocese, said he is saddened by the tragedy. "Parish communities gather at times outside of church services, religious formation classes and other activities simply to enjoy one another and their families," Seitz said.
The Sizzler
Police taped of the scene Friday 29 April in El PasoKFOXTV
"When such a joyful event turns tragic the pain of the loss is even greater. The Diocese of El Paso deeply regrets this terrible loss. Words are incapable of expressing our sorrow at the death of this young girl.
"We know that no words will alleviate her family's pain but we will ask our merciful God to do through prayer what words are incapable of doing: bringing consolation in the midst of this sorrow."
May 03, 2016
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Vasudevan Sridharan
Indonesian sailors arrive for a ceremony to mark the hostages being handed over to their families at the foreign ministry office in Jakarta
ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images
"We were all stressed out because they frequently threatened to slit our throats," is how an Indonesian hostage, who was held captive by the Islamic State-linked Philippine militant group Abu Sayyaf, recollected his ordeal. He was among 10 sailors freed by the extremist group after holding them for five weeks.
The crew members reunited with their families after medical inspection, when doctors declared all were in good health. All of them were held in the strife-torn southern parts of the Philippines where Abu Sayyaf, which previously pledged allegiance to IS, remains active.
There is still no word about any ransom being paid to the kidnappers. The extremist group, well-known for its extortion techniques, hardly releases any of its hostages without ransom payment.
"We were just put in a car and sent on our way and told to look for the governor's house," said the crew member Julian Philip, adding the militants threatened to slit their throats.
The Indonesian sailors were among 20-odd foreigners abducted by the Islamist organisation. Their release comes in the wake of the execution of the Canadian hostage John Ridsdel. Four other Indonesians, who are not part of the crew, still remain in captivity.
Thanking the Philippine government, Indonesian President Joko Widodo wrote on Twitter: "10 Indonesian citizens who were held captive are free. They will return home. Thank you, the Philippine government and others who helped."
"We will work hard to release the remaining four Indonesian citizens. We will intensify patrols so no kidnapping will happen again."
The country's foreign minister Retno Marsudi said the release of the hostages was a "long process as the situation on the ground was very volatile, with a high degree of complexity".
Abu Sayyaf is a hardline militant group, which is also linked to al-Qaeda, largely operating from the southern areas of the Philippines and remains a serious security threat to the Manila administration and the Catholic-majority Philippines.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi (C) sits with Indonesian sailors during ceremony to mark hostages being handed over to families at the Foreign Ministry office in Jakarta
ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images
May 03, 2016
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Mary Papenfuss
China: Too many men, not enough women. Men snap pictures of a dancer performing at a car show in Tianjin, China. Some Chinese men turn to child brides from Vietnam because they're the only wives they can find and afford
Reuters/Stringer
Hundreds of child brides, some as young as 13, are being trafficked from Vietnam to marry Chinese men who can't find wives because of China's gender imbalance.
China's one-child policy combined with the long-standing preference for sons has heavily skewed the nation's gender ratio. By 2020, the National State Population and Family Planning Commission projects that males of marrying age in China will outnumber females by at least 30 million.
Now the villages along the Vietnamese-Chinese border have become a hunting ground for human traffickers to provide wives to single men. Girls are tricked or drugged, then sneaked across the border by boat, motorbike or car, reports CNN.
"It costs a very huge amount of money" for a Chinese man to marry a local woman in part because a number of men are competing for her hand in marriage, said Ha Thi Van Khanh, national project coordinator for the United Nation's anti-trafficking organization in Vietnam.
Traditionally, Chinese men wishing to marry local women are expected to pay for an elaborate banquet and to have purchased a new home, so "this is why they try to import women from neighboring countries, including Vietnam," she said.
Vietnamese brides can sell for $3,000 (£2,040). They're considered particularly desirable because of their cultural similarities to the Chinese.
In one case tracked by CNN reporters, a 16-year-old girl was drugged and smuggled into China, where she was pressured to marry. When she refused she was beaten and starved until she relented.
She said her husband was kind to her, but she never stopped missing her family. "My desire to go home was indescribable," said the girl, Nguyen. "I agreed to marry the man but I could not stay with a stranger without any feelings for him."
When her mother-in-law realized she was never going to warm to the marriage, the family returned her to the traffickers. They got their money back, and Nguyen she was forced into a second marriage. She finally fled back home but had to leave her child behind.
Chinese and Vietnamese officials are working together to help stem the trafficking problem, and some organisations like the Pacific Links Foundation run a shelter for trafficking victims in Vietnam.
Pacific Links takes victims each week to a market in northern Vietnam where they talk about their experiences to people there.
"I think awareness is the only tool," to end trafficking, said organisation founder Diep Vuong.
May 03, 2016
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Former San Francisco 49er Dana Stubblefield signs autographs for Japanese football fans in Osaka, Aug. 2, 2002.
Photo: REUTERS/Eriko Sugita
Former San Francisco 49er Dana Stubblefield was charged Monday with multiple counts of rape of a "developmentally delayed" woman. The retired NFL player’s lawyer reportedly said that Stubblefield had consensual sex with the woman who accused him of rape.
Stubblefield reportedly attacked the 31-year-old woman at his Morgan Hill home on April 9, 2015. The 43-year-old contacted the woman through a nanny agency, San Jose Mercury News reported citing police.
“This was a crime of violence against a vulnerable victim,” Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Tim McInerny, said in a statement. “She was looking for a job and she was unconscionably assaulted.”
Stubblefield faces charges of rape by force or violence, rape of a person incapable of giving consent, oral copulation by force or violence, oral copulation of a person incapable of giving consent and false imprisonment. If convicted, the 45-year-old could face up to 16 years and eight months in prison.
Stubblefield is being held on a $250,000 bail and the date of his arraignment at the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill will be set within 24 hours, the district attorney's office said.
However, Stubblefield's attorney, Ken Rosenfeld, disputed the allegations made by the prosecutors.
"Dana Stubblefield is being unfairly targeted due to his celebrity and wealth by someone with full motivation to lie," Rosenfeld said in a statement. "Mr. Stubblefield passed a lie detector test with flying colors and will present a full, vigorous defense against these allegations."
May 03, 2016

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