Sunday, September 29, 2013
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Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Nairobi attack: Foreign experts join Kenya forensic hunt
Africa
Troops have moved in to clear the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi, from where Mike Wooldridge reports
Kenya's
investigation into a bloody siege by Islamist militants in Nairobi has
been joined by experts from the US, UK, Germany, Canada and Interpol.
Forensic experts are combing the Westgate shopping complex for DNA and ballistic clues, Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said.He confirmed that five militants were dead and said the bodies of more terrorists were expected to be found.
Funerals are continuing to be held for the 67 civilian and military victims.
New footage from inside Westgate shows a family being rescued
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Zachary Yach, survivorI never realised how loud a gun was and how scary and threatening they are”
He said he did not expect the death toll to rise significantly.
Several bodies are thought to be trapped under rubble after
three floors of the building collapsed. Mr Lenku said he only expected
bodies of terrorists to be found.Work is continuing to establish their identities, including whether one was a woman, he added.
"In our previous briefings we indicated that there was no indication to suggest that there is a woman terrorist but going forward we are all hearing possibilities and information.
"We want to again request you to allow the forensic experts to determine whether that is true."
Mr Lenku said he was unable to confirm whether there were any Britons or Americans involved, but said that 10 people were being held in connection with the attack.
Counter-claims Flags flew at half mast across Kenya on Wednesday, as three days of national mourning began.
Relatives have been identifying the bodies of those killed in the attack
Alyaz Merali, wounded in the attack, took part in a funeral procession for his mother, who was killed
Traders were selling wreaths outside Nairobi's City Mortuary
Nuns prayed near the Westgate shopping centre on Wednesday morning
The militants stormed the Westgate centre on Saturday, throwing grenades and firing indiscriminately at shoppers and staff.
Twitter posts on an al-Shabab account said the group's militants had held 137 people hostage, and claimed the hostages had died after security forces fired chemical agents to end the siege.
The posts could not be verified. A government spokesman denied any chemical agents were used, and authorities called on Kenyans to ignore militant propaganda.
Both sides blamed the other for causing part of the shopping centre to collapse.
Al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, has repeatedly threatened attacks on Kenyan soil if Nairobi did not pull its troops out of Somalia.
There are about 4,000 Kenyan troops in the south of Somalia as part of an African Union force supporting Somali government forces.
Al-Shabab is fighting to create an Islamic state in Somalia.
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Monday, September 23, 2013
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Trafficking case against Saudi princess dismissed
RAQUEL MARIA DILLON
September 20, 2013 9:19 PM
The announcement came during what had been expected to be the arraignment of Meshael Alayban, 42, on the felony charge punishable by up to 12 years in prison.
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas told the judge that investigators tried to corroborate the allegations but found the evidence did not support the claim.
An attorney had said the maid wanted to make a statement to the court but wasn't available until Monday. The judge told Rackauckas he could wait for the statement, but the district attorney moved to dismiss the case.
Alayban smiled when her attorney, Paul Meyer, said, "You are free."
She had been out on $5 million in bail posted by the Saudi Consulate.
Another attorney in the case, Jennifer Keller, thanked the district attorney for "being a man of integrity" on behalf of Alayban's family and the nation of Saudi Arabia.
Meyer said in a statement that the maid's claims "were a scam to gain permanent resident status in the United States."
Prosecutors initially said Alayban took the maid's passport after the royal family traveled to the California city of Irvine, and paid her a fraction of what she was promised.
The maid left Alayban's Irvine condominium in July, got on a bus and told a passenger she escaped, authorities said. The passenger helped her contact police, who searched the condo where Alayban and her family were staying.
After the dismissal, Rackauckas told a press conference that the maid believed she was the victim of human trafficking, but there really weren't restrictions on her movements as she believed.
"I don't think she was lying to us. I think there was a lot of misunderstanding, misapprehension, that sort of thing," he said. "So it was quite dramatic when she waved the bus down and was complaining of being a victim of human trafficking. So we went forward. At the time it did appear that the evidence corroborated what she was saying, but as we looked deeper into it, it just didn't."
Alayban and her attorneys had compared the issue to a contract dispute and said the maid and her counterparts were treated well.
The nannies traveled to the U.S. on $10,000 first-class tickets, according to a statement read by Alayban's attorneys outside a July hearing.
It said the women had cellphones and Internet, and the family even bought cable in their native language. They were often dropped off to shop alone at neighborhood malls, all paid for by the family, the statement said.
In the statement, Meyer said his team gathered hundreds of photos and videos taken by witnesses and the maids themselves that show the extensive freedom they enjoyed. The evidence was shared with prosecutors, he said.
"We also discovered that the women had deleted many of the photos and messages they had posted on social media — and asked friends to delete them also — to destroy the evidence of the true lifestyle they were enjoying," Meyer said.
The Saudi royal family is extensive, with thousands of princes and princesses.
Alayban is the wife of Prince Abdulrahman bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz al Saud, who is a nephew of King Abdullah and grandson of the nation's founding king.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Christopher Jackson, Man Accused Of Branding Woman's Vagina, Arrested On Suspicion Of Bestiality
The Huffington Post
|
By Andres Jauregui
Posted: 09/18/2013 12:08 pm EDT | Updated: 09/18/2013 10:12 pm EDT
Christopher Jackson, 47, was arrested on suspicion of bestiality after police found the home movies while executing a search on his home in connection with the branding case, according to the Arizona Republic.
“If you saw the video, you’d be pretty sick,” Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said, according to the newspaper. “We weren’t expecting this.”
Police also arrested 61-year-old Josephine Erikson, who they say is seen in the videos participating in sex acts involving Jackson's male German Shepard. Jackson and another woman, whom authorities are still searching for, also appear in the bestiality porn.
Detectives removed the dog from Jackson's home and are currently taking care of it, according to ABC Phoenix.
Both Jackson and Erikson are in jail on bestiality charges.
Jackson was arrested Sept. 3 after police claim he drugged his girlfriend and branded his initials, "CJ" onto her vaginal area.
The woman awoke in severe pain in Jackson's bed. She told police that Jackson bragged that he'd done the same thing to other women in the past and explained he did it because "her vagina was his," according to court documents obtained by the Phoenix New Times.
Police recovered a butane torch and branding tool from Jackson's home in a search, CBS reported earlier this month.
"That's pretty crazy and kind of scary," Brett Schneidt, a neighbor, told Fox Phoenix at the time of Jackson's initial arrest. "I've lived here next to him for 12 years and he always seemed like a normal, calm guy."
Public Masturbation Legal In Sweden? Self-Pleasure On The Beach Is 'OK,' Lawyer Says
Posted: 09/18/2013 3:17 pm EDT | Updated: 09/18/2013 3:20 pm EDT
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Public masturbators in Sweden now may be able to get off without charges.
A recent court ruling in Sweden's Södertörn District Court suggests that masturbating on the beach in Sweden is "OK," according to public prosecutor Olof Vrethammar.
Vrethammar was prosecuting a 65-year-old who was charged with sexual assault after getting literally caught with his pants down in June, giving himself a sandy handy on a the Drevviken beach in Stockholm, according to The Local's translation of the Swedish newspaper Mitti.
A ruling which acquitted the man of the sex assault charges this week found that although the he was publicly masturbating, he was not directing his actions at anyone in particular, according to the Local. This was enough to clear him of the sexual assault charge, though it's unclear if the action is still in violation of other statutes in Sweden.
"With that [ruling]," prosecutor Vrethammar told the Mitti, "we can conclude that it is OK to masturbate on the beach... [although] the act may be considered to be disorderly conduct."
Dr. Liz Davies of London Metropolitan University has researched Sweden's child protection system, and told the Daily Mail the court decision surprised her.
"Sweden has a really robust child protection system and very rigorous investigation around sexual abuse," she said. "So this judgement is surprising given that such an act could be witnessed by children as well as adults."
North Carolina Soldier And Wife Charged With Making Dog Porn
The Huffington Post
|
By Ron Dicker
Posted: 09/17/2013 11:29 am EDT | Updated: 09/18/2013 11:39 am EDT
"Anything you can ever imagine a man and a woman doing to each other, she was having the dogs do," Raeford Police Chief Franklin Crumpler told The Huffington Post on Tuesday.
Ruben Chance James Fox and his wife, Amber Nicole Fox, both 23, were to make their first courtroom appearance in Hoke County on Tuesday after their Monday arrest, Crumpler said. They faced charges of bestiality, conspiracy and disseminating obscene materials, with Amber Fox facing an additional charge of soliciting a crime against nature.
The Humane Society tipped off the cybercrimes unit of the Fairfax County Police Department in Virginia, which then contacted Raeford officials when the IP computer address linked the Foxes to the videos, the chief explained.
Police seized computer equipment from the couple's home and placed two mixed-breed dogs and three cats on the premises in a shelter, the Fayetville Observer reported.
Spc. Ruben Fox (pictured below) is assigned to the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, outlets confirmed.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
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