Duke Lacrosse Accuser charged with murder. Duke Lacrosse Accuser’s Boyfriend Dies After Stabbing . Malphrus/Duke matchup Crystal Mangum, Duke Lacrosse Accuser, Faces Murder Charges She’s accused of stabbing her boyfriend on April 3. Duke Lacrosse Accuser Charged With Murder — Daily Intel Duke Lacrosse Accuser Charged With Murder. Crystal Mangum, the woman who in 2006 accused three Duke University students of rape, was charged with murder on Monday, according to a Durham, North Carolina, police official. … Duke Lacrosse Accuser Charged With Murder at Pat Dollard RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The woman who falsely accused three Duke lacrosse players of raping her was charged Monday with murder in the death of her boyfriend. Crystal Mangum was indicted on a charge of first-degree murder and two counts of … Duke Lacrosse Accuser Charged In Stabbing Death Of Boyfriend … The woman who falsely accused three Duke lacrosse players of raping her was charged Monday with murder in the death of her boyfriend. Duke lacrosse accuser indicted on murder charge | The Associated … The woman who falsely accused three Duke lacrosse players of raping her in 2006 was charged Monday with murder in the death of her boyfriend. evaescape says: RT @NEWYORKPOST : Exotic Dancer Who Falsely Accused Duke Lacrosse Player Of Rape Indicted On Murder Charge http://nyp.st/ebDE7q
Continue reading …Susanne Ibru, 38, was convicted of harassment in her absence after repeatedly turning up at the footballer’s house A woman who disappeared from a magistrates court shortly before she was convicted of stalking footballer Rio Ferdinand and his family has been arrested. A warrant was issued for Susanne Ibru, 38, after she was found guilty at Macclesfield magistrates court of harassing Ferdinand by repeatedly turning up at his home in Alderley Edge, Cheshire. Ibru, formerly of Peckham, south London, but now of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, represented herself during her trial and cross-examined the Manchester United and England star before fleeing the hearing during the lunchtime adjournment on Monday. Cheshire police said she was detained in Warrington. Ibru was convicted in her absence of a harassment charge. Ferdinand, 32, told the hearing he was left “angry and upset” by Ibru’s visits. She turned up uninvited at the footballer’s home on three occasions between February and June last year. Ian Davies, prosecuting, said in the early hours of 21 February Ferdinand and his wife were asleep when Ibru woke him after pressing the intercom buzzer at the entrance gate. He went to a bathroom window and saw a figure wearing a hooded top. He shouted down to see who it was. She looked up and he was able to see it was Ibru. Asked by Davies how he felt, Ferdinand said: “At first I was angry and upset but then disturbed, really, because I have got a young family and this was not the time or the place to be coming to speak to me.” The player called the club’s security staff, who contacted police, and then watched on his CCTV as Ibru walked away and was stopped by officers at the end of the road. Ibru returned on 16 June, the court was told. Ferdinand said he saw her on the road opposite his house as he arrived home at about 8pm. He said he had no idea why she wanted to speak to him. Police attended and Ibru was given a formal warning to leave the couple alone. Her third alleged visit came just two days later, in the early hours of 18 June, and she was arrested. Crime Rio Ferdinand Helen Carter guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Schools could close as early as June after teachers back ballot for industrial action over pension reforms Strikes could close schools as early as June after teachers backed a ballot for industrial action over the government’s proposed changes to pensions. Delegates at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers’ annual conference passed a motion condemning proposed reforms that will see public sector workers paying more towards their pensions, retiring later and receiving less when they do. The union’s executive will draw up plans for a strike ballot and consider the timing of any industrial action later today. Today’s vote could be a prelude to coordinated strike action by public sector workers against the government’s austerity programme. Unions are drawing up plans for strikes by June that could paralyse schools, universities, the courts and the civil service. Alice Robinson, senior vice-president of the ATL, told the conference in Liverpool: “Our only available bargaining weapon is a resounding demonstration by the teaching profession of their opposition to the proposed changes. “We need to send a loud and clear message that we and other teacher unions will not see our members so harshly treated to pay for a situation that is not of their making.” The University and College Union, which represents lecturers, has already held strikes over pensions, and the executive of the Public and Commercial Services Union decided last week to hold a ballot over job cuts and services. The decision will be confirmed at their conference next month. The National Union of Teachers will debate a motion calling for a series of one-day strikes over pensions at its conference later this week. The pension reforms, in a government-commissioned report by former Labour minister Lord Hutton, include raising the normal retirement age for state employees from 60 to 66 by 2020. Final-salary schemes will be scrapped and replaced by payments based on career averages. Ministers will also get more powers to raise employee contributions. The ATL has not taken national industrial action since 1979, when members withdrew from classrooms on a Wednesday afternoon to discuss a pay claim. The union’s motion, which was carried with an overwhelming majority, notes “with deep regret the lack of any change on the part of the government to its proposals for public sector pension schemes”. It calls on the union’s leadership to consider “whether the failure of negotiations and the failure of reasoned argument now justify a ballot for strike action.” There was just one dissenting voice in today’s debate. Trevor Cope, a teacher from Devon, said: “I left the NUT because of strike action. My conscience doesn’t allow me to support this motion.” ATL’s general secretary, Dr Mary Bousted, has previously said that school staff could walk out as early as this summer. Speaking last week, as she prepared to hand a petition bearing 15,000 signatures to the Chancellor, George Osborne, calling for ministers to rethink their proposals, Bousted said: “Education staff are being expected to pay more for their pensions, work longer before they can draw their pensions and get less at the end of the day. And we’re not just talking about small changes. “Because the government is changing the way teachers’ pensions are calculated, the value of their pensions will be reduced by 25% on average over the course of their retirement. In cash terms, that’s a loss of more than £60,000.” Teaching Schools Public sector pensions Trade unions Public services policy Jeevan Vasagar guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Actress Kate Hudson, pregnant with her second child, reveals why she’s keeping baby name ideas under wraps and admits she doesn’t know the baby’s sex. (April 19)
Continue reading …Asian stocks tumbled Tuesday after a warning from Standard & Poors that it could downgrade the US credit rating. European stocks were steady at midday, but the issue is likely to linger. (April 19)
Continue reading …National Public Radio clearly believes people need to be frightened into dramatic “climate change” legislation. On Saturday night's All Things Considered , NPR publicized an article by
Continue reading …Oh, what tangled webs of non-denials we all weave. A Japanese blogger working for an official Sony retail partner has reported intel from the Japanese company that production of its PSP Go handheld has been halted. Moreover, the official Sony online store no longer lists the portable and searching for it provides no results. You can only access its product page with a direct link (provided below), but even that shows it as out of stock. So, what has Sony got to say on the matter to allay fears that its troubled console lives on? Well, demand for “current generation PSPs” will continue to be met, apparently, and the NGP is going be really, really awesome when it launches at the end of the year. Hey, if there’s zero demand for the PSP Go and you produce zero PSP Go units, then you are technically matching supply to demand. Well played, Sony, well played. Sony said to have stopped PSP Go production, curiously fails to deny it originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 07:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …BREAKING NEWS : A plane carrying Michelle Obama had to abort its landing on Monday after it came too close to a military C-17 cargo plane as the result of an air traffic controller’s mistake. The White House does not believe the first …
Continue reading …London fire brigade says investigation into scrapyard fire that closed the M1 motorway has been handed over to police Fire authorities in London have said they believe the scrapyard blaze that closed a stretch of the M1 motorway and caused travel chaos at one of the busiest travel times of the year was started deliberately. A spokeswoman for the London fire brigade said the police were taking over the investigation into Friday’s incident in which an elevated section near Mill Hill in north London was badly damaged. “We believe the M1 fire was started deliberately. We have handed the incident over to the Metropolitan police,” she said. A Met spokeswoman said the fire had been treated as suspicious from an early stage: “The investigation continues, nothing has changed.” The blaze closed seven miles of Britain’s main north-south road between junctions 1 and 4 as many motorists were preparing to use the road for the Easter getaway. Two lanes have reopened in both directions. Transport authorities say they hope all lanes will reopen before Easter but warn there could be speed restrictions. London Transport Crime guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Full coverage from the inquest into the death of newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson at the 2009 G20 protests in London 11.22am: Williamson said that portal hypertension, a kind of high blood pressure found in patients with liver disease, would have led to faster bleeding from the spleen – but not the liver. This view differs from what was said yesterday by liver specialist Dr Graeme Alexander . 11.10am: Patrick Gibbs QC , counsel for Harwood, has taken over questioning. He pointed out that Patel found “no detectable by the naked eye” rupture to the capsule of the liver. Gibbs asked: “what does that tell you about whether this is in fact the source of any blood?” Well, one wonders about the accuracy of the original description. There was, as I understand it, microscopic of haemorrhage to the liver, in that area. The consultant agreed it was an “oddity” that there was no rupture of this kind found on the liver. 10.58am: Back to the video footage (see below), Ryder points out that Tomlinson’s arm became trapped under his body when he struck the ground. We heard detailed evidence about this on Friday – here is that discussion and a still picture from the video . Asked by Ruder if he had seen this, Williamson replied: “Oh no.” The barrister asked if the assisted the consultant. He replied: “I wouldn’t have expected that degree of injury to rupture a normal liver. But this was not a normal liver.” The consultant by gave some of the strongest indications yet that Tomlinson died of internal bleeding: “I think there was very likely to have been bleeding from this liver. We know it was enlarged. There was a fall. We know there was 3 litres or heavily bloodstained fluid in the abdominal cavity. We know there is a subcapsule haematoma, on the outer aspect. If you put all of that together, you have very strong presumptive evidence he bled from the liver.” Finally, Williamson described that Patel’s suggestion that internal injuries may have been caused during rigorous CPR treatment after Tomlinson’s collapse was “implausible”. 10.56am: Matthew Ryder QC , counsel for the Tomlinson family, has begun questioning Williamson. It has emerged that the consultant has not seen the detailed footage of Tomlinson being hit with a baton and pushed from behind by police officer Simon Harwood. He has just been shown this footage: Ryder also told Williamson about the ECG chart readings when paramedics attached a defibrillator. We heard a lot about these yesterday . Williamson’s reponse: Well, of course, I am not a cardiologist, but it would seem to me that that makes acute coronary artery syndrome less likely. 10.39am: Finally Hewitt has questioned Willamson on the vexed question of the extent of blood in the three litres of fluid found in Tomlison’s abdomen. Williamson saw photographs of the fluid. This has proved a point of controversy throughout this inquest. See previous discussions here , here and here . Williamson: I would therefore expect that at least half of it was blood, possibly more. Hewitt: If it were about half and half, a loss of about 1.5 litres could have caused collapse in Mr Tomlinson? Williamson: Oh yes. That is quite a substantial bleed, over a short period of time. Very substantial. 10.35am: Williamson’s said his view – that internal bleeding was more likely to be the cause of death than a heart attack – came with an important caveat. He said in his report: In summary, I believe that Dr Cary is much closer to the cause of death than Dr Patel, but I am left with one major uncertainty. The consultant told the jury that sufficient trauma to the liver might have been expected to leave marks on the outside of the body and “pretty obvious” damage to the liver, at postmortem. That said, Williamson said he still sided with Cary. It seemed to me that Dr Cary’s pathologist was much more the plausible. One cannot rule out coronary artery disease, perhaps acute coronary syndrome, and he was a smoker. But there is precious little evidence in support. 10.27am: Hewitt has asked Williamson to explain who – Patel or Cary – he believes was correct. On Patel’s theory, he said: Whether or not coronary artery disease was the proximate cause of death is a little doubtful, because we don’t see [sufficiently blocked] coronary arteries. On Cary’s theory, he said he believed from the photographs that “at least half, maybe more” of the fluid found in Tomlinson’s abdomen would have been blood. Three litres of blood would be about half [the volume in] your circulating body, and it might kill a healthy person, let alone someone who was as unhealthy as Mr Tomlinson. Even a litre or two might have been – probably was too much for him tolerate. Williamson added: “He was a very sick man and it is therefore reasonable to suggest that a lesser insult, if you like, a lesser trauma.” 10.11am: The jury is in an we’re about to begin. The first witness is another medical expert, Professor Robin Williamson , who a consultant surgeon. He is being questioned by Alison Hewitt , counsel for the inquest. He has a particular expertise in diseases of the liver. 10.01am: You can follow my Twitter updates from court @PaulLewis and use the hashtag #inquestblog if you have questions or comments. 9.59am: The 15th day of the Ian Tomlinson inquest is about to commence. I expect we only have another couple of days of evidence left now. On Monday the inquest heard that a leading heart specialist had analysed the readings obtained by a defibrillator used by paramedics after Tomlinson collapsed revealed, and concluded he could not have died from an arrhythmic heart attack . His findings undermined the explanation for Tomlinson’s death by the pathologist Dr Freddy Patel, who had claimed he died of a natural causes. Confronted with the new evidence, Patel altered his explanation of the death and speculated – seemingly off the cuff – that the newspaper seller may have died of a hypoxia, or lack of oxygen. Paramedics have already ruled this out. The new defibrillator evidence was consistent with the other explanation for Tomlinson’s death: that he died of internal bleeding in the abdomen, from injures sustained when he was pushed to the ground. Dr Nat Cary, the second pathologist, said internal bleeding was now the “only real possibility” . Cary’s explanation was also backed by a liver specialist. In total four pathologists examined body. We shall hear from other two (who broadly agreed with Cary) today and tomorrow. Ian Tomlinson Police G20 Protest Paul Lewis guardian.co.uk
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