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Amanda Billiris from Texas was arrested after relatives said they caught her having sex with a 15-year-old boy on Thanksgiving Day.
The scene unfolded at a family gathering held on the holiday at a house in Oakridge Forest Lane in Spring.
Amanda Billiris, 23, an avid motorcycle racer, was arrested after relatives said they witnessed her having sexual intercourse with the boy, the arrest report states.
She has been charged with sexual assault of a child, a second-degree felony, reports the Houston Courier.
Amanda Billiris from Texas was arrested after relatives said they caught her having sex with a 15-year-old boy on Thanksgiving Day
According to the Texas Penal Code, if convicted, Amanda Billiris faces between two to 20 years in prison.
Amanda Billiris may also be fined up to $10,000 if she is found guilty of the offence.
She has been released on bond from the Montgomery County Jail.
The investigation continues, MCSO Lt. Dan Norris said in a statement to The Courier.
According to her own statements on the message boards at Motohouston.com, Amanda Billiris, suffered serious injuries in a 2009 motorcycle crash when she was returning from a RideSmart event at Texas World Speedway which left her in a critical condition.
The woman said she received a severe blow to the head and kidney injuries.
Amanda Billiris, who once owned a white and pink Honda, would regularly make posts on Motohouston.com, which is a discussion forum for Houston’s local motorcycle riders.
On her Facebook page, Amanda Billiris lists her college major as “Communication Studies – Interpersonal”.
17 Strongbow-sponsored surfers took to the water for the largest ever glow-in-the-dark surf attempt in front of hundreds of fans who lined Bondi Beach in Australia.
Donning luminous-lined wetsuits and fluorescent-edged surfboards, they bottom turned and carved against the beautiful backdrop of the beach.
17 Strongbow-sponsored surfers took to the water for the largest ever glow-in-the-dark surf attempt in front of hundreds of fans who lined Bondi Beach in Australia
It was all caught on camera – from the air, land and sea – by legendary surfing filmakers and photographers Jack McCoy, Bali Strickland and Eugene Tan.
Jack McCoy said it was a “no-brainer” to take part in the start of summer event.
The filmmaker said: “When I heard about this crazy idea, I knew I had to be involved.
“I’ve never filmed anything like this in my 30 year career and it’s thanks to Strongbow that we had this great opportunity to mark summer in such an amazing, unique way.
“The surfers were so pumped about getting out there that the energy was electric. It’s one of those sights you have to see to believe and really evokes that summer feeling.”
The glow-in-the-dark surf attempt was part of the cider company Strongbow’s “Welcome to Summer” campaign.
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Stephen Schultz, a young fisherman from Marietta, Georgia, cheated death after a 600lb black marlin leapt out the water and speared him in the mouth with its sharp spear-like bill.
Stephen Schultz had been fishing off the coast of Pinas Bay, Panama, with his sister and father and was trying to reel in the monster catch when he was horrifically wounded.
The boy was sat on the edge of the boat and had hooked the thrashing marlin on to his line as his family watched.
Stephen Schultz, a young fisherman from Marietta, Georgia, cheated death after a 600lb black marlin leapt out the water and speared him in the mouth with its sharp spear-like bill
Few seconds after watching the giant fish leap into the air, the marlin is pulled towards the vessel and lunges towards Stephen Schultz, impaling him in the mouth with its giant sharp bill.
Stephen Schultz’s father can be heard shouting, “Oh my God”, as the huge fish falls off the side of the boat and back into the water.
The boy’s mouth was impaled during the accident, with the marlin’s sword piercing his cheek and nasal cavity.
Stephen Schultz was rushed to hospital after the horrific incident, as his family sailed back to Panama before he was flown 100 miles north to National Hospital in Panama City.
Amazingly, Stephen Schultz escaped the horrendous incident in 2008 without any scarring.
Stephen Schultz’s mouth was impaled during the accident, with the marlin's sword piercing his cheek and nasal cavity
Describing the moment he was impaled by the fish, Stephen Schultz said he had been wrestling with the marlin for 25 minutes before he was speared.
“He jumped once, facing away from the boat and turned around in mid-air; he was about 15 feet away; went back into the water, made one more jump toward the back of the boat and his bill struck me on the left side of the face and knocked me onto the ground.”
Stephen Schultz’ sister Alison, who filmed the accident, said: “I wasn’t too sure what happens when you go deep sea fishing.
“I wasn’t sure if they were supposed to be that close. So I was like, I’ll get this on film. Then it was in the boat. Before I could react, it was already at us. So I just kept rolling.”
Stephen Schultz’s father Robert added: “I’ve heard of people having marlins come up. Usually, they’re in control and they can jump in a vertical type of situation.
“It won’t be where they take a run at you. We thought we were safe.”
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Valeska Paris, a former Scientologist has claimed she was imprisoned by Church of Scientology for 12 years on board a cruise liner after her family denounced the religion.
Valeska Paris says she was held against her will aboard the church’s luxury “cathedral” ship The Freewinds from the age of 18.
The woman, who now lives in Australia, alleges she was forced into hard labour and was never allowed to leave the ship without an escort.
Valeska Paris, a former Scientologist has claimed she was imprisoned by Church of Scientology for 12 years on board a cruise liner after her family denounced the religion
In an interview with the ABC News Lateline program, Valeska Paris claims Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige sent her to the ship to stop her family from pulling her out of the organization.
“I was basically hauled in and told that my mum had attacked the church and that I needed to disconnect from her because she was suppressive,” Valeska Paris said.
“He decided the ship, and I found out two hours before my plane left, I was woken up in the morning and I was sent to the ship for <<two weeks>.”
Instead of the promised two week stay, Valeska Paris said she was forced into work on the lower levels of the ship for 12 years.
“It’s hot, it’s extremely loud, it’s smelly, it’s not nice. I was sent down there at first for 48 hours straight on almost no sleep and I had to work by myself,” Valeska Paris said.
“I did not want to be there, I made it clear I did not want to be there and that was considered bad ethics, meaning it was considered not right.
“They take your passport when you go on the ship and you’re in the middle of an island. So it’s a bit hard [to escape] and by that time I was 18, I’d been in Scientology my whole life, it’s not like I knew how to escape,” Valeska Paris said.
Valeska Paris was born into a Scientology family in Switzerland, and at the age of six she moved to Scientology’s UK headquarters in East Grinstead, where she was placed in its then youth wing.
At 14 Valeska Paris joined the Church’s elite Sea Organization, signing a contract binding her for a billion years, a commitment that would override her bond with her own family.
Valeska Paris’ mother had denounced Scientology on French TV after her ex-husband Albert Jaquier committed suicide.
A self-made millionaire, Albert Jaquier’s last days were spent in poverty, and in a diary he kept he blamed the Church of Scientology for fleecing him of his fortune.
Valeska Paris says the church was so worried her mother would take her away that David Miscavige intervened, ordering she be taken to the church’s cruise ship.
Valeska Paris described David Miscavige as a psychopath and says he should be put on trial.
“It’s not right for someone to be running the church and basically take advantage of a church and hiding behind religion to live like a king and abuse people around him. That man doesn’t like anyone, he’s a psychopath,” Valeska Paris said.
The Freewinds is used as a base to deliver Scientology’s highest level counseling course known as Operating Thetan Level VIII.
It cruises around the Caribbean docking at small islands. The Church says ships have religious significance to Scientologists because its founder L Ron Hubbard, had researched and ministered the first Operating Thetan levels aboard a ship.
A Scientology promotional video says the ship “stands at the forefront of a growing worldwide movement towards spiritual advancement transporting Scientologists to new realms of freedom”.
In a statement, the Church of Scientology denied Valeska Paris’ claims.
The church said: “She certainly wasn’t <<forced>> to be there. She was also never forced to perform labour in the engine room.
“The Freewinds is a wonderful place, as even Valeska said on numerous occasions. Her allegation that she could only leave the ship with an escort is totally false.”
The Church of Scientology is famous for attracting a celebrity following, particularly among Hollywood’s elite.
Among Church of Scientology’s devotees are Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and John Travolta.
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Sanford Ziff, a Miami millionaire philanthropist and the founder of Sunglass Hut is hoping to scrape his recently-deceased wife’s name off of the city’s Ballet Opera house in order to make room for the name of his new younger wife.
Sanford Ziff, 86, and he and his wife of 15 years, Dolores, were well-known for their charitable giving throughout Miami.
Just months after Dolores died this January, Sanford Ziff married his new girlfriend Baroness Beatrice Clancy, 68.
In the months following their July nuptials, Sanford Ziff publicly expressed his desire to change the name of the city’s Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House in the Arsht Center for performing arts.
“I’m considering name changes, especially at the Arsht Center,” Sanford Ziff told The Miami Herald.
“I haven’t quite decided yet. I still have to confer with the board.”
Sanford Ziff, 86, married Baroness Beatrice Clancy, 68
Calls to the Arsht Center went unreturned, and there is no word yet whether the name change has been approved, but Sanford Ziff seems to think it won’t be a problem.
“I gave $10million to the Arsht Center, so I don’t expect it to be a problem. My friends have been wonderful about me getting married.”
Before Dolores Ziff’s death of pneumonia on January 11, she was widely lauded as one of the city’s best-known members of high-society, recognized for her charitable giving to the arts and education.
Little is known of Baroness Beatrice Clancy- including what region of the world she claims her title from- but the blonde was known for her role in an unidentified 80’s sit-com.
The one thing that is certain is that Beatrice Clancy’s love life has earned her some harsh headlines in the past.
In October, Beatrice Clancy was named in a lawsuit disputing the proper distribution of the will of Bernard Schoninger, a deceased millionaire developer, with his lawyers claiming she swindled the dying man out of millions.
The suit over Bernard Schoninger’s money, which has lasted since he died of lung cancer in 2003, said that Beatrice Clancy “abused Schoninger’s trust… coerced him into conveying millions of dollars to her… with his credit cards, department store charge cards and bank accounts”.
That hasn’t put a damper on Sanford Ziff’s love for her, as he denied any knowledge of any wrong doing.
“I don’t know anything about the lawsuit. But I know that my wife is the most generous, caring and giving person I ever met,” Sanford Ziff said at the time.
The move is being viewed as callous and insensitive of Sanford Ziff, and many local journalists and bloggers have written out against the move.
There has been no official comment from the former-couple’s son, one of Dolores Ziff’ three other sons from previous relationships did speak out.
Dolores Ziff’ son Barr Keator told The Miami Herald said he was “shocked and offended he’d [Ziff] even consider this. My mother moved him to supporting the Arsht project. She had the society connections”.
If the board eventually does approve, the name-changes may not end there. The former couple also leant their name to the Sanford and Dolores Ziff Family College of education at Florida International University.
A Qantas pilot faces the prospect of losing his job after getting frisky with a first-class section female passenger on a long-haul flight between London and Sydney.
The Qantas pilot was off-duty pilot and he was not wearing uniform, but he stunned passengers in the first-class section of the flight to Australia with his amorous antics.
Pilot’s behaviour in the luxury premium seats, which have privacy walls and recline into beds, included sitting on the woman’s lap, it was reported.
A Qantas pilot faces the prospect of losing his job after getting frisky with a first-class section female passenger on a long-haul flight between London and Sydney
The fellow passengers became so annoyed by the display that flight crews twice had to reprimand the unidentified pilot during the flight and he subsequently moved to economy, according to the Herald Sun.
However, when the woman got off the plane in Singapore, the pilot went back into the first-class cabin until the plane arrived in Sydney.
It is unclear whether the pilot had been drinking or whether he even knew the woman prior to boarding the flight.
Qantas has confirmed the company is investigating the incident, which could threaten the pilot’s $235,000-a-year job.
A Qantas spokeswoman told the Herald Sun: “Qantas is aware of an incident involving a travelling crew member on board QF32.
“The matter is being investigated internally in line with Qantas policy.
“Interaction of that nature is something that wouldn’t be sanctioned.”
The Qantas pilot has been offered assistance from the Australian and International Pilots’ Association.
Captain Richard Woodward, the association’s vice-president, said he was aware of the incident.
There is no secret that the fashion world uses a bit of photo-trickery to ensure models look their best.
Any fashion magazine is full of pictures of Amazonian celebrities with endless legs, flawless skin, and not a wrinkle in sight.
However, health organizations have warned that such digital enhancement promotes unrealistic expectations of body image, especially among young girls.
Two computer scientists have said that consumers should be told how much altering has been done on a particular image – and believe they have found a way of quantifying it to offer a universal “health warning” on magazine images.
Professor Hany Farid, the man behind the project, wrote : “Impossibly thin, tall, and wrinkle-and blemish-free models are routinely splashed into billboards, advertisements, and magazine covers.”
Prof. Hany Farid and Eric Kee, from Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, listed the troubling side-effects of altered images as a primary motivation of the project to provide consumers with more information on “photoshopped” images.
“The ubiquity of these unrealistic and highly idealized images has been linked to eating disorders and body-image dissatisfaction in men, women, and children,” the two computer scientists said.
Using a computer programme to highlight the differences between a natural and retouched picture, they have now come up with a simple system under which a picture scores a “1” when there is little retouching and “5” when there are significant changes.
The rating system accounts for two types of adjustments made in photos: geometric adjustments that slim the arms, legs, and torso; and photometric alterations that augment skin tone and removes wrinkles, blemishes, and cellulite.
Prof. Hany Farid and Eric Kee, from Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, listed the troubling side-effects of altered images as a primary motivation of the project to provide consumers with more information on “photoshopped” images
The researchers sought to break down an image’s retouching by producing statistics which detail changes made to each photograph.
“We start with the before-and-after digital images, from which we automatically estimate the geometric and photometric changes, effectively reverse-engineering the manipulations that a photo retoucher has made,” Prof. Hany Farid said.
The specialists analyzed 468 sets of unedited and retouched photographs. They then used a simplified mathematical description of augmentations made to a model’s features, such as their shape or their skin tone.
Each altered photograph was scored between one and five, with five representing a heavy retouching. Volunteers were each asked to score from 1 to 5 how similar each pair of pictures was.
Prof. Hany Farid and his student, Eric Kee, found a close correlation between their computerized assessment and the human opinion, suggesting the technique could be used to come up with a rating that could be published alongside the image.
“Now what we have is a mathematical measure of photo retouching,” Professor Hany Farid, along with doctoral student Eric Kee, wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“We can predict what the average observer would say.
“We propose that the interests of advertisers, publishers and consumers may be protected by providing a perceptually meaningful rating of the amount by which a person’s appearance has been digitally altered.
“When published alongside a photo, such a rating can inform consumers of how much a photo has strayed from reality, and can also inform photo editors of exaggerated and perhaps unintended alterations to … appearance.”
Prof. Hany Farid said that it is understandable why magazines go to such great lengths to edit a photo to perfection.
“Publishers have legitimate reasons to alter photographs to create fantasy and sell products, but they’ve gone a little too far. You can’t ignore the body of literature showing negative consequences to being inundated with these images.”
Prof. Hany Farid and Eric Kee aren’t the only ones who have seen the negative effects of over-editing.
In June, the American Medical Association called for industry standards in photo altering, saying: “We must stop exposing impressionable children and teenagers to advertisements portraying models with body types only attainable with the help of photo editing software.”
Emma West, a 34-year-old British woman from New Addington, London, has been charged with racial harassment after video showing her allegedly abusing passengers aboard a tram while balancing a toddler on her knee appeared on the internet.
Emma West appeared before magistrates today charged with racially aggravated harassment following an appeal by the British Transport Police.
The woman was remanded in custody on Monday night, after complaints were made in relation to the footage uploaded to YouTube.
Emma West appeared before magistrates today charged with racially aggravated harassment following an appeal by the British Transport Police
Emma West’s arrest followed an appeal by the British Transport officers who asked the media to publicize the video to help identify her.
A British Transport Police spokesman said: “This is in relation to an incident onboard a Croydon Tramlink.”
The video, posted on YouTube, shows a woman apparently hurling abuse at other passengers on the South London tram and making xenophobic insults.
The footage appears to have been discreetly captured by a passenger as the tram travelled from Croydon to Wimbledon.
Throughout the two minutes of footage the woman’s little boy sits nervously as his mother begins her rant.
At one point the woman declares other passengers should go back to their own country, saying they’re not British because they are black.
Onlookers appear to be uncertain whether the woman is drunk while she is making the comments.
The woman in the footage says: “None of you are ****ing English. Get back to your own country. Sort your own countries, don’t come and do mine.
“It’s nothing now. Britain is nothing now. Britain is **** all. My Britain is **** all.”
At one point the woman claims passengers in the carriage are “****ing burnt people.”
The film was posted on Youtube, on Sunday, by LadyK89 and already has more than 10,000 viewers.
The British Transport Police said: “The video posted on YouTube and Twitter has been brought to our attention and our officers have launched an investigation.
“At present it is not entirely clear which tram stops the offence took place between and when it occurred.
“As a result we need anyone who witnessed this incident, or with any information that could assist our investigation – including the identity of the woman – to contact us.
“We will not tolerate racism in any form on the rail network and will do everything in our power to locate the person responsible.”
A spokeswoman for Transport for London (TfL), said: “All of our customers have the right to use our services without fear of being abused.
“TfL will not tolerate disgusting and offensive behaviour and we will work with the police to fully investigate this incident.
“London Tramlink has a dedicated team of police officers who patrol the network and we would like to assure all our customers that we will continue to do everything we can to ensure that they can travel safely.
“We would appeal to whoever posted the video to contact us in confidence.”
The transcript of Emma West’s racist rant:
“What has this country come to? A load of black people and a load of ****ing Polish. A load of ****ing, yeah… you’re all ****ing… do you know what I mean?
“You ain’t English. No, you ain’t English either. You ain’t English. None of you’s ****ing English. Get back to your own ****ing… do you know what sort out your own countries, don’t come and do mine.
“It’s nothing now. Britain is nothing now. Britain is **** all. My Britain is **** all.
“Yeah its fine. I have got a little kid here. Have respect? I have a little boy here. **** you. I dare you, I ****ing dare you.
“Don’t watch my language. Go back to where you come from, go back to ****ing Nicaragua or where ever you come from. Just ****ing go back.
“I work, I work, I work, this is my British country until we let you lot come over.
“So, what. It is my British country, you ain’t British. Are you British? You ain’t ****ing British. **** off.
“You ain’t British, you’re black. Where do you come from?
“No, someone’s got to talk up for these lot. Look the whole ****ing tram, look at them. Who is black and who is white.
“There is all black and ****ing burnt people.”
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Three wealthy bankers from Connecticut, who came forward to claim a $254 million record Powerball jackpot are facing claims that they were not in fact the real winners.
An anonymous man – one of the bankers clients – is said to have actually purchased the ticket but came to Tim Davidson, Brandon Lacoff and Greg Skidmore to avoid the “hassle” of his name becoming public.
They then allegedly set up a trust “as a front” so that Tim Davidson, Brandon Lacoff and Greg Skidmore could be the public face of the win.
In a further twist, it was also claimed that rather than donate a large proportion of the money to charity, the winner has requested that the majority just be invested for his personal gain.
The explosive claims blow apart the fairytale story that Tim Davidson bought the ticket at a gas station in Greenwich Connecticut for $1.
It would also explain the bankers’ sheepish performance at a press conference to collect their “jackpot”, during which they refused to discuss their relationship with each other.
It had been suggested that Tim Davidson bought his ticket on November 1 and the following day they realized their numbers had come up, beating odds of 195,249,054 to one.
The jackpot was the largest ever won in Connecticut and the 12th biggest in Powerball history.
The jackpot was the largest ever won in Connecticut and the 12th biggest in Powerball history
It means the three bankers will take the after-tax lump sum of nearly $104 million in cash between them.
Now, according to a family friend who has known Brandon Lacoff since he was a boy, the truth behind what happened is very different.
Tom Gladstone said that a client at investment company Belpointe LLC, which was founded by Brandon Lacoff and provides investment advice, much of it to wealthy individuals, was the real winner.
He, Tim Davidson and Greg Skidmore then set up the Putnam Avenue Family Trust which will allow the man to keep out of the spotlight.
Tom Gladstone, a real estate agent who rents Brandon Lacoff the Belpointe office space, said: “The person who really won it is anonymous.
“They set up the trust so that Brandon and his two partners could claim they won it and that the real winner wouldn’t get hassled.
“They have said they are going to give it to charity but they are going to manage the money. They are going to make a donation but they keeping a large proportion of the money and they are going to manage it.
“The winner is a client of theirs and their clients are a mixture of larger and smaller investors. By Wall Street standards they are not big players.
“They set up the trust as a front to ensure their client anonymity. It clearly took them some time to work it out as they won on November 1, realized the next day and have only now come forward.
“I saw Brandon last Friday and he didn’t say a word to me. They are smart, rich Greenwich men.”
Tom Gladstone added that he had known Brandon Lacoff’s father Marty, an anti-trust lawyer, for 30 years and that the family were “hard working people”.
He said: “Brandon is a good kid, I don’t know how else to describe him. Obviously the client is putting their faith in him to look after this very substantial amount.”
According to the story which has been told so far, Tim Davidson bought the $1 quick pick ticket for the November 2 drawing at the Shippan Point BP gas station in Stamford. It was the only ticket he bought.
During the press conference Tim Davidson and his two colleagues sat stoically at a conference table sipping bottled water as Jason Kurland, the group’s attorney, answered questions but declined to address basic issues about the win.
Jason Kurland said: “Obviously, everybody is extremely excited. These numbers are huge. This is going to benefit many people.
“From the first conversation I had with them, it was very philanthropic. Charities was definitely, probably No. 1 on their priority list.”
As they were leaving the news conference, Greg Skidmore stopped at the microphone to identify himself and his partners and said: “And it feels good,” before leaving the room.
The winning numbers were 12-14-34-39-46, Powerball 36.
Lottery officials had used billboards across the state to urge the ticket holder to come forward as the weeks went by without a winner.
Jason Kurland said the group called him the day after the draw.
He said: “They thought they were the winners, and then, that night, I think, one of the local TV stations had the numbers, and the Powerball number was wrong on the TV screen, so that put them into a little bit of a tizzy.
“But the news, to their credit, corrected it a few hours later, and they were confident they had it.”
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Belpointe manages $82 million which makes it a boutique investment firm by the standards of many New York finance houses.
Brandon Lacoff was an accountant for Ernst & Young before founding an investment company known Belray capital, which became Belpointe LLC.
He “owns a number of properties and businesses throughout the region”, according to the Belpointe website.
Greg Skidmore, the company’s president and chief investment officer, formerly worked as an investment banker for a subsidiary of AXA Financial Services and Citigroup.
He is a former member of the U.S. sailing team who was once an Olympic hopeful, according to the company’s website.
Greg Skidmore is also the grandson of Louis Skidmore, the notable American architect and founder of the firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, which created the Sears Tower in Chicago amongst other buildings.
Tim Davidson started his career at a French bank where he worked in foreign exchange before moving on to advise companies, hedge funds and “ultra high worth” individuals.
Lupita Gonzalez, a one-year-old girl from Florida, was found alive after being kidnapped and abandoned by Carlos Rivera, a man who was angry at being interrupted while having sex with her mother.
Lupita Gonzalez was found after a intensive search involving helicopters and bloodhound tracking dogs.
Dozens of police with a Child Abduction Response Team combed a farmland and wooden areas while boats were deployed to several lakes in the area.
Lupita Gonzalez, a one-year-old girl from Florida, was found alive after being kidnapped and abandoned by Carlos Rivera, a man who was angry at being interrupted while having sex with her mother
The little girl was discovered under a bush more than two miles from where she he had allegedly been snatched by Carlos Rivera, 23.
Police said Lupita Gonzalez was alone for 12 hours before being discovered.
Police said Lupita Gonzalez was unharmed by the ordeal but was taken to hospital as a precaution.
Lupita Gonzalez’s mother, Leah Wiley, 30, had failed to report her missing as she worried the girl’s father would find out about her having sex with another man.
Carlos Rivera told police he had grabbed the little girl because he was upset that he was interrupted while having sex with her mother.
Carlos Rivera told investigators he had paid Leah Wiley for sex but it ended when she was called away to another room at a party held in rural Seville, Florida.
The man said he snatched the toddler and left the party, but later worried about his actions and abandoned the girl in woodland.
Carlos Rivera called 911 to report the girl missing, but did not give police any firm details.
Leah Wiley told authorities she suspected Carlos Rivera had taken the girl but did not report her missing because she didn’t want the child’s father to find out she had sex with another man.
After being arrested, Carlos Rivera initially told authorities he remembered a little girl was at the party held in Seville but didn’t know what happened to her.
Later during questioning Carlos River gave police a vague description of the area where he abandoned her.
Volusia County Sheriff’s spokesman Gary Davidson said Carlos Rivera told investigators that he had paid Leah Wiley to have sex with her.
“He said that he got mad because the sex was interrupted when Wiley was called to another room, so he decided to take her daughter and leave the house,” Gary Davidson said.
“With no food, water or other provisions, Rivera took off with Wiley’s daughter.”
Carlos Rivera was charged with child abuse and kidnapping.
The man is also being held on charges out of Putnam County for failure to appear on charges of grand theft auto, driving under the influence with property damage and driving without a valid driver’s license, according to court records.
Carlos Rivera is being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail without bail.
Leah Wiley was charged with one count of an act that could result in the physical/mental injury of a child.
The Florida Department of Children and Families has taken custody of the child and Leah Wiley’s two other children, Gary Davidson said.
Katherine Goldberg, a teacher from Ealing, west London, who groped a Virgin Atlantic steward and demanded sex while drunk on the plane, has avoided a jail sentence today.
Katherine Goldberg, 25, drank around a pint of whisky on board before apparently grabbing the cabin crew member’s crotch.
In mitigation, Isleworth Crown Court was told that South African-born Katherine Goldberg was convinced that the man was her boyfriend as a result of her “alcohol-induced illusion”.
Katherine Goldberg, who groped a Virgin Atlantic steward and demanded sex while drunk on the plane, has avoided a jail sentence today
Katherine Goldberg, who pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to sexual assault and being drunk on an aircraft, was on board a night flight from Johannesburg to Heathrow on August 24 at the time of the episode.
But a judge today said he did not want to impose a “lifetime punishment” on the teacher, who had been working at her mother Debbie’s Montessori nursery, St Michael’s, Barnes, South-West London.
The teacher has been suspended since the sex assault and her lawyers claimed she was liable to be struck off if she was jailed or placed on the sex offenders’ register.
The court heard Katherine Goldberg had downed “at least 50 centilitres of whisky” when the incident took place.
Prosecutor James O’Connell said at first the techer’s behaviour on the flight was described by witnesses as “very irritating” because she disturbed them while they were trying to rest.
Katherine Goldberg was eventually moved to the plane’s galley where one member of the cabin crew “took an interest in her care” and tried to calm her down.
James O’Connell went on: “However, it was at this point that the defendant’s antics changed and became rather sexual.
“She sat on his lap and grabbed hold of his genitalia through his trousers.”
Katherine Goldberg also spoke to the man suggestively and kept “making offers to him”, the court heard.
The woman was heard to tell the air steward: “Let me and you go somewhere. You can touch me anywhere you want, I don’t mind.”
James O’Connell said Katherine Goldberg was also heard to say the names of two men.
The prosecutor added: “In her complete alcoholic funk she was confusing him with her current boyfriend, Clayton, and Owen, a previous boyfriend.
“She was somehow imagining this was her boyfriend with whom she was interacting.”
Katherine Goldberg eventually went to sleep for around an hour but then woke up and continued to be loud and disruptive, the court was told.
Eventually the woman slept again, and remained asleep until the plane landed at Heathrow and she was met by police.
James O’Connell said she was “very co-operative” with the officers who questioned her, and admitted she had no recollection of events on board the plane but was very apologetic.
The total amount that Katherine Goldberg had drunk was not mentioned in court but it was believed she consumed her own alcohol that she had taken on board, rather than that supplied by cabin crew.
The air steward Katherine Goldberg sexually assaulted, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was said to have been unaffected by the incident.
The court was told that Katherine Goldberg has since admitted to having an alcohol problem and now attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings five times a week.
She also went on a one-month residential course after realizing she had hit “rock bottom”.
Katherine Goldberg was fined £1,500 ($2,300), ordered to carry out an 11-month community order and 80 hours of unpaid work, and to pay £250 ($380) costs.
Christophe Champenois, a 33-year-old man from Meaux, near Paris, has been charged with murder after allegedly killing his 3-year-old son, Bastien, by locking him in a washing machine and turning it on.
Christophe Champenois allegedly stripped Bastien naked and shut him in the washing machine to punish him for a prank at nursery school – throwing a classmate’s drawing down a toilet.
The man is then said to have run the cold cycle wash for a few minutes at their house, in the village of Germigny-l’Eveque.
Bastien, whom neighbours described as blond and angelic, died of head injuries on Friday night, French police said.
Bastien’s mother, Charlene Champenois, 25, recovered him from the machine, according to Le Parisien newspaper.
Charlene Champenois then ran to her neighbour, known only as Alice, and told her that Bastien had “fallen down the stairs”.
Alice told Le Parisien: “I picked him up and his limbs were as loose as those of a rag doll.
“I felt his heart beat for the last time and then he died.”
Bastien Champenois, whom neighbours described as blond and angelic, died of head injuries on Friday night
Bastien’s five-year-old sister, Maud, told Alice’s husband that it was not the first time the boy’s father had put him in the washing machine as punishment.
Neighbours told Le Parisienne that Bastien had been repeatedly abused – by being locked up for hours in a cupboard and also by being left on a window sill for hours wrapped in a blanket.
“Bastien was an unwanted child,” claimed Evelyne, his grandmother.
“On the day he was born, his father was out drinking and when I told him he had a son, he said that he didn’t want him.”
A judge in Meaux placed unemployed Christophe Champenois under investigation for murdering his child and charged his wife, a mother of seven, with failing to prevent a crime and failing to assist a person in danger.
Both parents were placed in custody and their surviving children taken into care.
Ray Harris, a businessman from Marion, Indiana, and his two teenage daughters died in a plane crash yesterday afternoon after the parachute failed to slow the craft down.
Ray Harris, 47, and his daughters, Ramie and Shey, perished, along with a man believed to be the co-pilot, after the single-engined Cirrus-SR2 plummeted into a farm field near the Chicago suburb of Crystal Lake.
It shattered into several pieces, killing all on board instantly, while on its way from Marion, Indiana to Wheaton, Illinois, where Shey Harris, the eldest daughter, attended college.
Ray Harris, a businessman from Marion, Indiana, and his two teenage daughters died in a plane crash yesterday afternoon after the parachute failed to slow the craft down
Wayne Sebold, Mayor of Marion, confirmed the identities of the victims as Ray Harris, a Chrysler dealership owner and former city water board president, and his daughters.
Ronnie Carmin, treasurer of the Marion Pilots Club, which owned the plane, also said the businessman was scheduled to fly the plane yesterday.
Ronnie Carmin said he was told that Ray Harris had fueled up the plane and taken off from Marion Municipal Airport around 10:00 a.m. Saturday.
The cause of the crash, around 10:30 a.m., was not immediately known.
But witnesses said the four-seat model’s parachute, which designed to lower the aircraft to safety after loss of control or engine failure, did not slow the craft down when it was deployed.
It became caught around a tree and may have led to the plane breaking up, they suggested.
The first people to the scene described the crash as “horrific”.
One witness described a white stream coming from the plane as it fell and a large cloud of dust after it crashed to the ground.
“There was nothing anyone could do,” Darren Smith, one of the first people on the scene, told the Daily Herald.
Darren Smith heard an aircraft in trouble around 10:30 a.m. It broke through the clouds above his head and crashed in the soybean field.
“I saw it a split second before it hit the ground,” he said.
“It was a horrific crash, pretty much nose first into the ground. The impact was tremendous.”
His son, Cal Smith, was in another field when he heard the impact.
“It kind of sounded like a gas pipe exploded,” Cal Smith told the Herald.
When he ran to the crash site, he saw bodies lying on the field along with a plastic container with popcorn and papers from the airplane.
“We tried to help, but there was no help that could be given,” Darren Smith said.
Farmer Marvin Marquardt, who owns the property, said the pilot may have been deploying the parachute as the plane plummeted.
The orange parachute was found wrapped around an oak tree and may have contributed to the breakup of the aircraft, Marquardt suggested.
Another witness to the crash, from The Lord and Savior Lutheran Church and School across the street, said the plane had “disintegrated”.
The Federal Aviation Administration is on the scene investigating whether rules of flight were followed, if the pilot was licensed and if the plane was properly maintained and registered, officials said.
The plane crashed near Route 14 and North Ridgefield Road.
It was flying by “visual flight rules”, which means looking out the window, so the pilot was not talking with air traffic control, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said.
The Marion Pilots Club Inc. in Marion, Indiana, is the registered owner of the plane, according to the Federal Aviation Administration registry.
A group of scientists from Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands is pushing to publish research about how they created a man-made flu virus that could potentially wipe out civilization.
The deadly virus is a genetically tweaked version of the H5N1 bird flu strain, but is far more infectious and could pass easily between millions of people at a time.
The research has caused a storm of controversy and divided scientists, with some saying it should never have been carried out.
The current strain of H5N1 has only killed 500 people and is not contagious enough to cause a global pandemic.
But they are fear the modified virus is so dangerous it could be used for bio-warfare, if it falls into the wrong hands.
Virologist Ron Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Centre led a team of scientists who discovered that a mere five mutations to the avian virus was sufficient to make it spread far more easily.
A group of scientists from Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands is pushing to publish research about how they created a man-made flu virus that could potentially wipe out civilization
Ron Fouchier conducted his tests on ferrets as the animals have become a model of choice for influenza and they have similar respiratory tracts to humans.
He is so prepared for a media storm that he has hired an advisor to help him work on a communication strategy.
The research done was part of an international drive to understand H5N1 more fully.
Ron Fouchier admitted the strain is “one of the most dangerous viruses you can make” but is still adamant he wants to publish a paper describing how it was done.
The study is one of two which has caused serious debate about scientific freedom and about regulating research which might have potential public health benefits but at the same time could also be useful for bio-terrorism.
The other paper, also on H5N1, was done by a joint team at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Tokyo.
It is understood to have had comparable results to the study done by Ron Fouchier.
Both papers are now being reviewed by the U.S National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB).
NSABB does not have the power to prevent the publication but it could ask journals not to publish.
Paul Keim, chairman of NSABB, said: “I can’t think of another pathogenic organism that is as scary as this one. I don’t think anthrax is scary at all compared to this.”
Traditionally scientific research has always been open so that fellow scientists can review the work of others and repeat their methods to try and learn from them.
But numerous scientists have said they believe research on the avian flu should be suppressed.
However bio-defense and flu expert Michael Osterholm, who is director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said the work carried out was important medically.
Michael Osterholm added he could not discuss the papers because he was a member of NSABB but said if they were published certain information could be withheld and made available to those who really need to know.
“We don’t want to give bad guys a road map on how to make bad bugs really bad,” he said.
Plane passengers could be obliged to follow a dress code after carriers received many calls from flyers’ rights groups to issue rules on what can and can’t be worn on board an aircraft.
The proposal follows a series of high profile incidents including one Phoenix man boarding a plane in lingerie.
In June this year, a 65-year-old Phoenix man, who works as a business consultant, sparked outrage after wearing the women’s underwear on a U.S. Airways flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The man, who has refused to be named, flies several times a month as a preferred customer on the airline and said that he has flown in female clothing for several years.
The business man said that he has rarely been requested to cover up by airline staff, but has complied with requests when asked.
“It has never been my intent to put people in a situation where they feel uncomfortable,” he said.
In June this year, a 65-year-old Phoenix man, who works as a business consultant, sparked outrage after wearing the women's underwear on a U.S. Airways flight from Fort Lauderdale
The incident occurred days before a college football player was arrested on a flight following a row over his baggy pants.
University of New Mexico football player DeShon Marman was arrested on a U.S. Airways flight at San Francisco airport following allegations he refused to pull up his pants.
Kate Hanni, executive director of FlyersRights.org told Fox News: “People aren’t mind readers. They don’t know what that flight attendant’s going to want to see when you get on a plane.”
Kate Hanni says the lack of consistency leaves passengers open to the flight crews discretion and they may take offense at items of clothing that wouldn’t be considered appropriate.
She added: “The airlines should step up and do this on their own, just so that passengers can predict and appropriately dress. If there’s a requirement to wear a certain type of clothing, or not wear a certain type of clothing, tell us.”
Virgin America CEO David Cush said: “In the end, the flight crew is in charge of the aircraft, and they have to make judgments based on what they think is going to create the safest and most comfortable environment for everyone on the airplane.”
Most carriers say passengers can be refused service if they’re dressed in a manner “that would cause discomfort or offense to other passengers”.
But the airlines have shied away from any specific dress codes citing the difficulty to enforce as a major detractor as well as the potential lawsuits.
Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson told Fox News: “If an airline’s going to be so unreasonable for kicking someone off a plane for wearing saggy pants or being slightly overweight, to me, it just seems impolite of the airline to behave in that way.”
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For 40 years, D.B. Cooper has remained one of America’s most elusive fugitives.
Back in 1971, D.B. Cooper commandeered a plane claiming he had dynamite, eliciting a $200,000 ransom, before parachuting out of the plane and disappearing forever.
New physical evidence the FBI believe could help them close in on D.B. Cooper, has emerged recently.
The new lead is a titanium particle from the clip-on tie D.B. Cooper left when he jumped from the Seattle bound-plane in skies above Washington, NBC affiliate KING 5 News reported.
An elite group of scientists have been examining evidence from the infamous case for the last three years.
Tom Kaye the lead scientist in the private team said: “One of the most notable particles that we’ve found, that had us the most excited, was titanium metal.”
The titanium was found by team members studying D.B. Cooper’s tie with an electron microscope.
Titanium is now integral in numerous household items from golf clubs to cookware, but was very rare in 1971.
Aircraft manufacturer Boeing was one of the first manufacturers to use titanium in a civilian aircraft.
Boeing canceled its Super Sonic Transport project shortly before the hijacking.
D.B. Cooper commandeered a plane claiming he had dynamite, eliciting a $200,000 ransom, before parachuting out of the plane and disappearing forever
Tom Kaye told KING 5 News: “In 1971 there was a big upheaval in the titanium industry with the cancelling of the SST project, which happened to be at Boeing, and that laid a lot of people off in the industry. So Cooper could have been part of the fallout.”
He said that the titanium is pure, not processed like the sort used in the manufacture of planes.
So the team believes D.B. Cooper was probably not a Boeing worker but employed at a titanium production plant.
Alternatively D.B. Cooper may have worked at chemical plants where titanium was mixed with aluminum.
Tom Kaye said aluminum particles were also found.
“Because he wore a tie, we think he was an engineer or manager who went out on the shop floor regularly.”
The new leads could be instrumental, Tom Kaye believes.
“Coming up with a profile that narrows him down to hundreds of people instead of millions we think is pretty significant.”
FBI reopened D.B. Cooper case in 2008. And earlier this year the agency believed it finally had the mysterious fugitive in its sights, when a woman claimed her uncle was the missing fugitive.
There have been more than 1,000 suspects over the past forty years.
D.B. Cooper has intrigued federal agents and amateur sleuths.
A man calling himself Dan Cooper boarded the Northwest flight after buying a $20 one-way ticket to Seattle.
After getting on the plane wearing sunglasses, the man ordered whisky and lit a cigarette before passing a flight attendant a note that read: “I HAVE A BOMB IN MY BRIEFCASE. I WILL USE IT IF NECESSARY. I WANT YOU TO SIT NEXT TO ME. YOU ARE BEING HIJACKED.”
Cooper told the captain that in return for $200,000 and four parachutes, he would allow 36 people to leave the plane when it landed in Seattle.
The FBI agreed to the swap and the plane took off again under Cooper’s orders to fly towards Mexico at an altitude of under 10,000 feet.
Somewhere over the lower Cascade mountains in southwestern Washington, Cooper stepped out of the plane with a parachute strapped to his back.
Several people have claimed to be D.B. Cooper over the years but were dismissed on the basis of physical descriptions, parachuting experience and, later, by DNA evidence recovered in 2001 from the cheap tie the skyjacker left on the plane.
Items recovered from the skyjack include $5,800 of the stolen money, in tattered $20 bills and D.B. Cooper’s tie.
Many believe that D.B. Cooper was Richard McCoy, a Vietnam War veteran, experienced parachutist and BYU political science student who staged a similar hijacking several months later.
But the FBI has said that Richard McCoy – who was killed in a shoot-out with law enforcement officers after a prison break in 1974 – simply didn’t fit the description of D.B. Cooper provided by two flight attendants.
In 1980, a boy walking near the Columbia River found $5,800 of the stolen money, in tattered $20 bills.
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The 85th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade took the streets of Manhattan in its spectacular style in front of 3 million spectators who watched the fourteen giant helium balloons, including Buzz Lightyear and SpongeBob SquarePants.
The US biggest singing stars also came to Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 2011 to entertain the crowds, including award-winning singers Cee Lo Green, Mary J.Blige and Neil Diamond.
At a 40 F temperatures, the crowd was entertained by the helium-filled balloons, including Clumsy Smurf, Kermit the Frog – and some newcomers, as Julius The Monkey.
Paul Frank’s sock puppet-inspired monkey Julius made its debut as a 41-foot-tall balloon. The crowds chanted “Jul-i-us! Jul-i-us!” as it passed.
Julius The Monkey was followed by “B”- a spooky character covered in stitches created by filmmaker Tim Burton.
And making their first appearance at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade were a pair of bike-powered balloons, one featuring a large green elf designed by Queens resident Keith Lapinig, who won a nationwide contest with more than 10,000 entries.
But there were also some much-loved favourites, including video game character Sonic the Hedgehog, who returned after an 18-year absence, and a navel-themed Mickey Mouse.
They were joined by SpongeBob SquarePants, Snoopy, Spiderman and Kermit the Frog.
With a 40-ft Sonic the Hedgehog at its helm, the 85th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade kicked off in spectacular style
As the balloons, held up by scores of rope-bearers, snaked along the route, crowds were also entertained by the top vocal talents, including Cee Lo Green, Country singer Rodney Atkins and American Idol winner Scotty McCreery.
Canadian singer Avril Lavigne sat on a float featuring a giant fattened turkey as she sang, followed by a musical set from the colourful cast of Sesame Street.
Brass bands from high schools and colleges around the country also marched along the route, such as the Nation Ford High School from South Carolina, which included sixteen sets of siblings.
Macy’s Great American Marching Band, with trombones, tubas and booming drums, led the march.
Ana Santiago, 34, a said receptionist from Park Slope, Brooklyn said:
“The parade makes you enjoy life.”
“You see the kids cheering and celebrating, and that makes the day.”
“It’s a tradition,” Ana Santiago added.
“New Yorkers should take advantage of it. You never know what you’ll see.”
The parade followed high-energy performances from glitzy cheerleaders and characters from Broadway show How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, including Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe.
In total, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade boasted more than 40 smaller balloons, 27 floats, 800 clowns and 1,600 cheerleaders as an estimated 50 million people watched the television coverage from home.
Floats included a mini version of Mount Rushmore from the South Dakota Department of Tourism. The grey granite structure also featured Black Hills National Forest and Badlands National Park in an effort to drive more visitors to the state.
Grammy winner Neil Diamond performed on the float as it moved through the streets.
The crowd on Seventh Avenue started singing “Sweet Caroline! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” as the singer waved.
Ronald McDonald, joined by scores of waving children, drove a large red shoe float. It pulled along a giant helium float of the food chain’s grinning ambassador.
Another float featured popular cartoon character Dora the Explorer alongside children dressed as Christmas presents. Olympian ice skater Johnny Weir waved to the crowds as he rode on a white horse float.
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 2011 started at 77th Street and headed south on Central Park West to Seventh Avenue, before moving to Sixth Avenue and ending at Macy’s Herald Square.
Despite fears that stormy weather would batter the balloons, the balloons floated under blue skies.
Joe Sullivan, a balloon handler, who has been volunteering at the parade for more than 15 years, held a line securing a huge floating pumpkin.
“When it’s windy it’s a struggle,” Joe Sullivan said.
“But today is great weather. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Thousands of children flocked to the event, which closed with Santa Claus riding on a sleigh float and waving to the spectators.
“We’ve been up since two o’clock in the morning,” said Jodi Caplan, 40, of Westtown, in upstate Orange County, who brought her two kids to witness the festivities.
“It’s their first parade. This is the perfect day – perfect weather.”
The giant balloons were created at Macy’s Parade Studio, and each undergoes testing for flight patterns, aerodynamics, buoyancy and lift.
The helium heavies were inflated on Wednesday across the street from the western side of Central Park.
Thousands of people, many families with children in tow, were drawn to the spectacle of the balloons lying as if asleep on the streets, held down by weighted nets.
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade got its start in 1924 and included live animals such as camels, goats and elephants. It was not until 1927 that the live animals were replaced by giant helium balloons. The parade was suspended from 1942 to 1944 because rubber and helium were needed for World War II.
Since the beginning, the balloons have been based on popular cultural characters and holiday themes.
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A family of six is feared dead after a plane crashed into Arizona’ Superstition Mountains last night in a tragic Thanksgiving accident.
After the crash, the plane was split out, causing a massive fireball captured on video and seen for miles around, and left officials with little hope of finding survivors.
It is believed that the pilot has been collecting his children, with three understood to be aged between 5 and 9, for the Thanksgiving holiday and was returning home when the tiny two-engine plane crashed in the ominously-named mountain range.
There were three children and three adults on board, a spokesperson for Falcon Executive Aviation flight school in Mesa told CBS5. It is believed they are all be related.
A family of six is feared dead after a plane crashed into Arizona' Superstition Mountains last night in a tragic Thanksgiving accident
The pilot had flown into Falcon Field airport and was en route back home to Safford airfield, about 100 miles east of Phoenix, when he ran into trouble.
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu told FOX 10 there are “multiple fatalities”. The body of a child between the ages of 5 and 9 has been recovered at the scene, he said.
Sheriff’s Office spokesman Elias Johnson said there appeared to be no survivors. The six casualties were all believed to be members of the same family, the LA Times reported.
The plane burst into flames after colliding with the mountains, which are 45 miles east of Phoenix, just below their peak, witnesses reported.
“This is some of the toughest country you can experience,” Elias Johnson said.
“That plane is all over the place up there.”
Emergency crews have begun the hike to access the wreckage in the rugged terrain to begin the search for possible survivors.
A 12-person rescue team began hiking to the site about 9:00 p.m., but the combination of the terrain and the darkness means that it will take some six hours until workers are able to reach the crash site.
Rescue crews were tonight trying to land helicopters in the mountainous area about 40 miles east of downtown Phoenix in order to search for survivors.
Helicopter rescue teams reported seeing two debris field on fire, suggesting the plane broke apart on impact with the jagged rocks.
“The fuselage is stuck down into some of the crevices of this rough terrain, and we’re doing our best at this point in the darkness,” Paul Babeau said.
“This is not a flat area. This is jagged peaks, almost like a cliff-type rugged terrain.”
No survivors had yet been found, he said. But “we will search throughout the night”.
According to authorities, the private aircraft was a twin-engine Rockwell AC69.
The aircraft registered owner is Ponderosa Aviation Inc. of Safford, Arizona, according to FAA records.
A video uploaded to YouTube from a greyscale webcam shows a small white light moving from the left side of the screen to the right.
About 50 seconds into the footage the light disappears.
A few seconds later there is a sudden flash of light, then more light remains as the fires burn on the mountain.
A local resident took the video from his home in Gold Canyon, roughly seven miles away from the crash site, ABC News reported.
Graham said 911 calls began coming in around 6:30 p.m. on Friday after an explosion near the Flat Iron area close to Lost Dutchman State Park.
“People said it sounded like fireworks going off,” Graham said.
One witness told CNN that a mushroom cloud of flames lit up the evening sky.
Another local observer Ronnie Brant told KPHO TV the plane seemed to be having engine trouble.
Some witnesses said they heard a plane trying to rev its engines to climb higher before apparently hitting the mountains.
The Superstition Mountains’ elevation is about 5,000 feet at their highest level.
The photogenic area near Lost Dutchman State Park and the Superstition Wilderness is filled with steep canyons, soaring rocky outcroppings and is popular with hikers and horse riders.
Apache myth holds that the mountains contain a hole that is an entrance to the underworld.
Treasure hunters who frequent the area have been looking for the legendary Lost Dutchman mine for more than a century.
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Arthur Berkowitz, an US Airways passenger had to stand during a seven-hour flight from Anchorage to Philadelphia because of a 400 lbs man sitting next to him.
Arthur Berkowitz said his morbidily obese neighbour on US Airways Flight 901 from Anchorage to Philadelphia made it impossible to get into his seat.
The 400 lbs man spilled over into Arthur Berkowitz’s personal space and he could not move because the plane was full so he was forced to stand up.
Arthur Berkowitz, 57, said the obese man was very sorry.
“The first thing he said to me was: <<I want to apologize – I’m your worst nightmare>>.”
Arthur Berkowitz added that his ordeal in July presented a safety risk because he could not use his seatbelt for take-off and landing.
“I didn’t fly from Alaska to Philadelphia on Flight 901,” he told consumer advocate Christopher Elliot’s blog.
“I stood. His size required both armrests to be raised up and allowed for his body to cover half of my seat,” he told the website, elliott.org.
Arthur Berkowitz, an US Airways passenger had to stand during a seven-hour flight from Anchorage to Philadelphia because of a 400 lbs man sitting next to him
The flight from Anchorage to Philadelphia is one of the longest non-stop U.S. domestic flights and Arthur Berkowitz thought he had a spare seat at first.
But before the door closed the airline asked a late-boarding passenger who weighed 400 lbs to sit down next to him in the last empty seat.
Arthur Berkowitz has been flying with US Airways for 50 years.
He added that there was a young exchange student from Eastern Europe on the same row as him who was “pinned up against the window” by the obese man because there was so little space.
Flight attendants whom he told about the problem said they could not help him as he was not allowed to sit in their jump seats.
“They were sympathetic, but could not do anything,” Arthur Berkowitz told elliott.org.
“No other seats existed on plane.”
Arthur Berkowitz claims flight attendants admitted their gate agent had made an error in allowing the passenger to board without having bought two seats.
US Airways has since apologized for the “regrettable” incident.
A statement said: “Our intention is to offer the best travel experience possible.
“The details you have provided indicate that we have failed to meet our intentions.”
US Airways offered Arthur Berkowitz a $200 voucher in compensation.
But he called this “inappropriate” after paying more than $800 for the ticket.
Arthur Berkowitz also complained the airline has not fixed the safety issue.
“I reviewed his case and agreed with him that US Airways might want to take another look at his complaint,” Christopher Elliott wrote on his blog.
“I mean, leaving a passenger with no alternative but to stand for almost seven hours – if that’s true, then this might be one of those rare cases when a full refund is in order.”
Arthur Berkowitz said he raised the issue primarily because he wants the airline and authorities “to develop a policy on safety”.
There is no legal weight limit for passengers on U.S. commercial flights but some airlines such as Southwest ask customers who cannot fit into one seat to book two.
It says if a passenger cannot lower the armrests on one set they must buy another – whatever they weigh.
The second seat’s price is refunded if the flight does not oversell, says consumer website Smarter Travel, which advises big passengers to travel off-peak.
Kert Clyde Jordan, a Carnival Cruise Lines waiter has been accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl who was on holiday with her family.
Kert Clyde Jordan, 35 from Grenada, works as a waiter on the Miami-based Carnival Liberty. The waiter was charged with engaging in a sexual act with a person under the age of 16.
A statement from the United States Attorney’s Office claimed Kert Clyde Jordan engaged in sexual acts with the girl while the ship was in international waters on November 4 and 5.
The Liberty sails from The Port of Miami to the eastern and western Caribbean, with routes passing through San Juan, St Maarten, Cozumel, and Grand Cayman.
Kert Clyde Jordan, a Carnival Cruise Lines waiter has been accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl who was on holiday with her family
Kert Clyde Jordan is accusing of coaxing the girl into a bathroom on the Lido deck.
The girl waited until she and her parents were returning home to tell them of the alleged attack, police said.
Carnival Cruises Lines has been cooperative in the investigation, the Sun Sentinel reported.
“Carnival has a zero tolerance policy from crime and we take any allegations of crime extremely serious,” Carnival said in a statement.
Carnival houses its headquarters in Miami, and offers cruises on its 23-ship fleet to places like The Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, New England, and Bermuda.
Kert Clyde Jordan was arrested Saturday and made an initial court appearance Monday. As of Tuesday night, he remained in federal prison.
A pre-trial hearing is set for December 1 in Miami.
This isn’t the first case of underage sexual assault seen by Carnival Cruise Lines in recent memory.
Only ten days ago, Dylan Cole Bloodsworth, 19, from Alabama, was sentenced to ten years in prison for raping a 13-year-old girl on-board a Carnival cruise in Mexico.
According to court records, he met the girl when she too was on a holiday cruise with her family in March.
Dylan Cole Bloodsworth talked her into accompanying him to get a jacket from his cabin and raped her, according to U.S. Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Murphy.
D.B. Cooper is claimed to be the author of a 1983 rare book, entitled “HA-HA-HA”, featuring a drawing of a man in a suit holding a briefcase while parachuting from a commercial jet on its cover.
FBI has checked hundreds of leads since the man dubbed D.B. Cooper parachuted from a flight with $200,000 dollars in ransom in 1971.
If the author of a newly-unearthed memoir is to be believed, D.B. Cooper has come forward to reveal himself as the man who has gone down in American folklore for pulling off the nation’s only unsolved hijacking.
D.B. Cooper was parachuted from a flight with $200,000 dollars in ransom in 1971
As The Sideshow reports, Pacific Northwest author Matt Love recently purchased the 1983 book from a Jefferson, Oregon publisher called Signum Books Ltd. Originally sold for $3.95, a recent search by the outlet found only three copies for sale to date – each for around $30.
The back cover features a graphic of a certificate announcing a contest called “Your Big Score”.
The certificate’s first sentence reads: “It’s true. In this book are seven clues. By reading it carefully and discovering the clues, one could receive as much as $200,000 in twenty dollar bills.”
Within its 330 pages, the author recounts his life prior to the hijacking, as a failed real-estate developer, heavy drinker and petty thief.
The author explains how he pulled off the heist on November 24, 1971 – in part by having rented a house and a gassed car nearby where he landed near Pyramid Lake – and says he invested his ransom money in Boeing and silver, becoming very wealthy as a result.
As Matt Love notes, the mystery author also offers a series of clues that offer the location of D. B. Cooper’s ransom to the lucky reader clever enough to piece the puzzle together.
D.B. Cooper is claimed to be the author of a 1983 rare book, entitled "HA-HA-HA", featuring a drawing of a man in a suit holding a briefcase while parachuting from a commercial jet on its cover
After nearly 40 years of chasing exhausted leads, investigators still now very litter about the man who boarded a Boeing 727 at Portland International Airport under the name Dan Cooper.
The gentleman, believed to be his mid-forties and wearing dark sunglasses, took seat 18F, ordered a bourbon and water.
Then he handed a flight attendant a note: “Miss, I’ve got a bomb, come sit next to me — you’re being hijacked.”
D. B. Cooper opened a briefcase that appeared to contain explosives and demanded $200,000 and parachutes.
Officials met his demands when the plane landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where passengers and two flight attendants were released.
The man in 18F then ordered the flight crew to take the plane back into the air, insisting that it fly at an altitude of no more than 10,000 feet on its way to Mexico through Reno, Nevada.
About 40 minutes after take-off, a signal light in the cockpit showed that the plane’s rear stairway had been extended. When the jet landed in Reno, the stairs were down and two parachutes, the money and D. B. Cooper were gone.
A few years ago, the FBI renewed its push to solve the case, releasing photos and new case details in the hopes of jogging memories or prompting someone to come forward.
Experts estimated D. B. Cooper would have landed near Ariel, Washington. Residents there have a party every fall to commemorate the unsolved hijacking.There have been more than 1,000 suspects over the past four decades.
And, over the years, agents have unceasingly voiced suspicions that the hijacker, who was later dubbed D.B. Cooper, may have died following the 10,000 leap.
Conditions that night were poor and the mountainous terrain near the Oregon border is notoriously rough.
5,800 dollars worth of decomposed $20 bills, identified as part of the ransom money, which were recovered in 1980 by a child digging on the banks of the Columbia River, also point to an untimely death.
But no body has ever been found and few other signs of D.B. Cooper fate have been discovered.
Apple is opening its next New York City store today – which is believed to be the tech giant’s biggest store in the world – in Manhattan’s Grand Central Station.
According to new reports, a 23,000-square-foot space in Grand Central Station will top the corporation’s 25,000-square-foot Regent Street location in London.
An online video appears to give a walk-through tour of the site, which Apple’s executives are expected to uncloak today ahead of an official opening on America’s biggest shopping day of the year – Black Friday.
According to 9to5mac, a five-minute clip uploaded to on YouTube on October 22, entitled Apple Store Grand Central, was shot before construction began in mid-August.
The behind-the-scenes glimpse indicates there is substantial work to be done between two stories on the north and northeast balconies of the terminal’s main concourse to get the store in shape for shoppers.
An online video appears to give a walk-through tour of the site, which Apple's executives are expected to uncloak today ahead of an official opening on America's biggest shopping day of the year - Black Friday
9to5mac reports Apple’ store will be the workplace of 300-plus employees.
Workers are expected to arrive tomorrow to remove several black boards that currently obstruct the store’s façade, preventing outsiders from evaluating what progress has been made – or speculating if an Apple Store is in the making at all.
It is likely the Grand Central Terminal store – Apple’s fifth in Manhattan and 358th in the world – will likely be one of its busiest.
The historic transportation and shopping hub, which opened in 1871, sees about 750,000 people each day.
But numbers can explode to one million daily visitors during the holiday season, with many commuters and tourists lurking around to dine or shop at its approximately 70 restaurants and retail stores.
The International Business Times suggests that Apple will forego its well-known all-white design to compliment the look and feel of Grand Central’s 19th century architecture.
“Tables and chairs resemble the train station’s sepia stones, while soaring ceilings and bright chandeliers give the space a luxurious feel,” reports the International Business Times.
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A mother of two boys, aged one and three, emerged from a visit to the bathroom when she found her entire living room covered in flour.
The guilty culprits – her two young boys – happily playing in the mess even as she expressed her shock.
The mother uploaded a film of the scene to YouTube and it’s already been watched nearly 750,000 times.
“Oh my gosh” the mother says repeatedly as she pans the camera around the room to find that the flour has been dispersed by the boys – called Andrew and Jack – all over the furniture, on pictures and even along the top of the door.
“Did you boys get in the flour?” the mother asks them.
A mother of two boys, aged one and three, emerged from a visit to the bathroom when she found her entire living room covered in flour
The woman makes a brief horrifying tour before finally concluding that it “looks like a snowman has puked all over my living room”.
A one point one of the boys shows his mother the empty bag of flour and says “see?” before throwing it on the floor.
Mother replies: “Yeah, you emptied the whole thing!”
“I don’t know what to do. I think I’m going to throw up.”
The accompanying description on the YouTube video reads: “Mommy was not feeling well and had to stay in the bathroom longer than usual during which my two boys, ages 1 and 3 took my new bag of flour out of the cupboard and destroyed my house.
“This is from ONE 5 lb bag. Don’t believe me? Hand a full bag to a 3 year old and see what happens.”
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Mathieu M., a French teenager is accused for killing of 13-year-old girl, Agnes Marin, from his boarding school, after he raped her.
Mathieu M., 17, had spent four months in jail for raping another minor, in southern France.
The teenager had been under judicial supervision. The school said it had not been fully aware of his past.
Last Friday, the body of Agnes Marin was found in a forest close to the school. She had been raped and burned.
Agnes’s mother, Paola Marin, said she would not have died “but for a little less negligence” from the school.
The victim’s father, Frederic Marin, alleged that the school, Cevenol International in Chambon-sur-Lignon, had been aware of the boy’s history and that he had problems involving “acts of sexual aggression”.
Head teacher Philippe Bauwens, told French radio station RTL that the school was aware the boy had had problems with the judiciary but did not know their nature.
“We had no contact with the judicial authorities,” he said.
After an emergency meeting with fellow ministers on Monday, French Interior Minister Claude Gueant told TF1 television that “there had been a dysfunction” in the case and that reform of the justice system for minors would be a priority after elections next spring.
Agnes Marin's burned body was found in a forest close to the school
Prime Minister Francois Fillon said that in the most serious cases where a minor was a suspect, they should be “placed in a secure educational centre”.
Francois Fillon also asked cabinet colleagues to ensure that it was no longer possible for a pupil to be enrolled in a school without the head teacher being fully informed of serious cases involving judicial supervision.
French media report that Mathieu M. was accused of raping a childhood friend and that after four months in custody had been assessed as not posing any danger.
Mathieu M.’s parents were said to have looked for another school for him to complete his education but had been rejected on several occasions before being given a place at Cevenol International.
Agnes Marin disappeared on Wednesday last week and her body was found two days later. The prosecutor said had been murdered in an extremely brutal manner.
The driver of a U-Haul truck carrying beer kegs through a tailgating area before the Yale-Harvard game yesterday suddenly accelerated, fatally striking a 30-year-old Massachusetts woman and injuring two other women, police said.
New Haven Police spokesman David Hartman said that it is not yet clear why the driver sped up.
At least one eyewitness told police the driver pressed the pedal in annoyance that the women were not moving fast enough, the New Haven Register reported.
U-Haul truck, travelling at 35 mph, then crashed into other U-Haul vans in the lot, which is earmarked for fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon members to have pre-game tailgating parties in before Yale home games.
A police source told the New Haven Register that the driver “maybe accidentally” hit the gas with some witnesses assuming he had intended to put his foot on the brake.
“I watched a woman die today,” one man told the New Haven Register, declining to give his name.
“It was totally an accident. Whether he was impaired is another question.”
The driver of a U-Haul truck carrying beer kegs through a tailgating area before the Yale-Harvard game yesterday suddenly accelerated, fatally striking a 30-year-old Massachusetts woman and injuring two other women
The crash occurred at 9:49 a.m. and the Massachusetts woman, reportedly unconnected with Harvard or Yale, was pronounced dead at 10:16 a.m. at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
A second woman, believed to have suffered broken bones, was listed in critical but stable condition at the hospital. She is from New Haven and a student at the Yale’s School of Management, the Yale Daily News reported.
The third woman suffered minor injuries and is being treated at St. Raphael’s Hospital.
David Hartman said the driver was in police custody. Police have not yet released any identities.
Yale spokesman Tom Conroy told the Yale Daily News that the university “will be undertaking a full review of the policies and regulations relating to tailgating before athletics events”.
The parking lots around the stadium can be unruly and full of drunken revellers, fans and students have said.
Yale tried to install new rules in 2005 to supposedly eliminate drinking games, limit U-Haul usage and end tailgating after halftime, in a bid to curb excessive drinking and rambunctious behavior, the New Haven Register reported.
The U-Haul truck had been driving through the Yale Bowl’s Lot D, the site of the Sigma Phi Epsilon tailgate.
Drew Marconi, the fraternity’s director of communications, did not confirm that the U-Haul was a Sigma Phi Epsilon vehicle, but said that they would cooperate with any police investigation.
“We’re deeply saddened by the events of today’s tailgate, and our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families,” Drew Marconi said.
“Our leadership board and national representatives are currently working to understand the details of the situation and assess what has transgressed. We hope to know more soon.”
The fans had gathered for the 128th game of the Ivy League rivalry, with Harvard looking for its fifth straight win over Yale.
Three hours after the accident, the loud tailgating continued in the lot, with music blaring from large speakers and fans grilling hot dogs, sausage and hamburgers. Some students danced on top of other rental trucks.
A crowd of more than 50,000 people was expected to attend the event, known simply as “The Game”, and began congregating in the tailgating area around 8:30 a.m.
The accident scene was cordoned off by yellow police tape, and a dozen numbered evidence placards were on the ground.
The three rental trucks involved in the accident were still at the scene, stacked one against another from the collision. There were several kegs of beer inside each vehicle.
At halftime of the game, with Harvard leading Yale, 24-7, the public address announcer at Yale Bowl informed the crowd of the accident and the woman’s death, noting that it had been confirmed by the New Haven Police. He asked spectators to stand and observe a moment of silence.
The historic Yale-Harvard rivalry is an Ivy League tradition that dates back to 1875.
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