Mid Day International News |
- Chinese man arrested for keeping sex slaves in makeshift dungeon
- Death row inmate Troy Davis executed in the US
- Facebook's new 'timeline' section lets users frame life story in 1 page
- Oz schoolboy claims he was beaten, racially abused for being a Muslim
- Meet the boy who was given ' devil horns' to remove birthmark!
- British woman angers Muslim after teaching Saudi woman 'pole dancing'
- Japan typhoon kills 10, spares nuclear plant
- Dumpling-eating champ dies
- Bruni fed up of pregnancy
| Chinese man arrested for keeping sex slaves in makeshift dungeon Posted: A Chinese man has been arrested for allegedly keeping six women locked up inside a grim, temporary dungeon for two years while he used them as sex slaves According to the Shanghai Daily, Li Hao is also accused of killing two of his captives and subjecting the others of horrifying sexual and emotional abuse, Fox News reported. Li's crimes emerged when cops raided a residential building in central China's Henan Province and located four victims cringing inside a fortified underground cellar. Detectives believe that the 34-year-old accused spent more than a year digging out beneath a storeroom he had rented out and started hunting karaoke bars in Luoyang City to seduce young girls and lure them into captivity. Li, who was quickly able to make the victims "fall in love with him", had kept them imprisoned for two years, feeding them once every two days and living with them for 15 days a month while his wife presumed he was working as a security guard. According to the paper, one of the victims was beaten to death in front of he inmates to teach them "to be obedient" and her body was buried close to where they slept, while another was murdered over a fight about whose turn it was to sleep with Li. The remains of two more dead victims were found buried beneath the dank, squalid pen, which was divided into two dingy, foul-smelling rooms, accessible only by a narrow tunnel and sealed with heavy iron doors. Li was arrested a month after he released one of the remaining "slaves", whom he kept occupied with video games, to work as a prostitute, but she tipped off cops. The case recalls the gruesome crimes of Josef Fritzl, an Austrian, who kept his own daughter imprisoned for almost 24 years, during which he physically assaulted, sexually abused and raped her numerous times and even made her bear him seven children
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| Death row inmate Troy Davis executed in the US Posted: Troy Davis, who murdered an off-duty police officer, was executed by lethal injection after a tense four-hour delay at Georgia State Prison earlier this week. According to the Daily Mail, here is what the reporters witnessed: Rhonda Cook recalled the two words on Wednesday night that stopped the conversation among reporters instantly. ''Y'all ready?'' a correctional officer asked.
She described the execution chamber at Georgia State Prison in Jackson as grim. She said Davis was sedated, strapped to a gurney and given a lethal injection. "We were there as unbiased witnesses, sitting on the back row," Cook said. Among those present to witness the execution were the two sons of murdered Savannah police officer Mark Allen MacPhail -- Mark MacPhail Jr., and William MacPhail. Cook said: "As the officer called our names, we lined up and left the room where we had waited for so long, oblivious to the last-ditch effort to spare Davis and the police presence and protests beyond the prison''s walls." Then he asked Davis if he had any final words. Yes, the condemned man said and he raised his head so he could look at Mark MacPhail Jr., who was an infant when his father was murdered, and William MacPhail, the dead officer's brother. ''I'm sorry for your loss,'' Davis said. Mark MacPhail, who was leaning forward, and his uncle did not move. They stared at the man who killed their loved one. "I did not personally kill your son, father and brother. I am innocent," said Davis. And to the prison officials he said: "May God have mercy on your souls. May God bless your souls." He then lowered his head. He turned down an offer for a prayer. Within minutes, Troy Anthony Davis slipped out of consciousness and in 14 minutes he was dead. "A three-drug cocktail ended his life. First pentobarbital put Davis in a drug-induced coma. The paralytic pancuronium bromide was second. Potassium chloride stopped Davis' heart," said Cook. "The court ordered execution of Troy Anthony Davis was carried out in accordance with the laws of the state of Georgia," the warden announced. "Curtains in the death chamber were closed and we were quickly ushered out," Cook said.
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| Facebook's new 'timeline' section lets users frame life story in 1 page Posted: Mark Zuckerberg ignored all the protests of Facebook users at the changes made to news feeds, as he announced more radical shifts to the site with completely new profile pages covering years even before the site was created. The founder of the social networking site unveiled some big changes with the introduction of the new 'timeline' profile pages at the company's f8 conference in San Francisco. The new timeline feature is reminiscent of an online scrapbook, with the most important photos and text that users have shared on Facebook over the years. Zuckerberg claimed that the new 'Way Back' section had been created to let you 'tell the whole story of your life on a single page', reports the Daily Mail. While the redesigned pages will see a large 'cover photo' at the top of the page, on the right of the page there will be a timeline that breaks down all posts from a person's time on Facebook and allows viewers to take a leap to people's earliest posts with a break down month-by-month.
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| Oz schoolboy claims he was beaten, racially abused for being a Muslim Posted: A Sydney schoolboy, Hamid Mamozai, has claimed that he was beaten and verbally abused by over 20 fellow students for being a Muslim Mamozai, 15, was allegedly thrashed over a dozen times, and racially abused by Asquith Boys' High School students, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. '[They were saying] hit him more, hit him more, he deserves it, you terrorists, go back to where you came from, go blow something up,' Mamozai said. Hamid, who became unconscious, was taken to hospital but suffered no serious injuries. Hamid's sister, Najia, said he was 'emotionally and mentally sick' of suffering racial abuse at the school for the past two years. His mother, Hosna said the school did not pay heed to her complaints. 'I just want to know why this is happening, why the principal doesn't care that students are being bullied, why don't they stop it? I want other parents to know why this is happening,' she said. A Department of Education spokesperson said one student had been suspended for 20 days, and a police probe has been launched into the case. The school has also arranged a counselling session with Hamid and his family, he added. 'Racism is not tolerated by Asquith Boys' High School, which disciplines students engaged in such behaviour and supports students subjected to it,' the spokesman said. 'Disciplinary action has been taken against students who have previously used racist language to the injured student. Due to the police investigation, it is inappropriate to comment further on the incident at this stage", he added.
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| Meet the boy who was given ' devil horns' to remove birthmark! Posted: A five-year old Brit boy received a bully-free life when doctors removed an unwanted red scar from his forehead by a surgical procedure that stretched the 'normal' skin on his forehead The doctors implanted two tissue expanders under the skin, which gradually inflated to look like two perfect devil's horns. And after four months, the implants were removed and the blemish was cut out, allowing the new skin to be stitched together. George Ashman was born in 2006 with a haemangioma birthmark - made up of bright, soft lumps of abnormal blood vessels. "When I first saw the implants in place I was speechless," the Sun quoted proud mother Karen as saying. "They were larger than I expected - and placed on either side of his tiny head looked like horns! "My cute, angel-faced baby looked like the devil! Like Frankenstein! They didn't look nice at all. "But I'm really proud of the strength he has shown through all of this. He has never let it hold him back," she added.
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| British woman angers Muslim after teaching Saudi woman 'pole dancing' Posted: A British fitness instructor has sparked outrage among Muslims back home after travelling to Saudi Arabia to teach a woman the art of pole dancing 27-year-old Lucy Misch was whisked into the country, circumventing the usual difficulties faced by single Britons, to continue lessons started by a rich Saudi Arabian woman named Qahtani while she was visiting Europe. Ahead of her trip, Misch shipped three X-Stage poles to Qahtani - the first such poles ever allowed into Saudi Arabia - where they were installed in a specially dedicated mirrored room set up as a studio within her palace. Misch put Qahtani through an intensive two-hour a day, six days a week, training course where she learned to climb the pol, do the splits upside down and perform a fluid routine. As a stunt, Misch and her host took photos of themselves performing a pole dance wearing the abaya, Saudi Arabia's traditional dress. "Qahtani wanted to make a point," says Misch. "But it angered a lot of people who thought the photos were insulting." When the photos were made public in the UK, Misch found she faced criticism from Saudi Muslims who had seen the pictures. One said: 'I found your photos disrespectful towards women who wear the hijab with dignity in Saudi and who would never step next to a dancing pole knowing its hideous roots.' "I want to make it clear that pole dancing does not have its roots in strip clubs," the Daily Mail quoted her as saying. 'There has been a tradition of performing on the pole in China and India for centuries - way before Spearmint Rhino got their hands on it.' "It's vital more people see it and realise it doesn't have to be about shaking your bits. "It's a real skill. When you try it, you realise how hard it is. It takes strength, determination and skill," she added.
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| Japan typhoon kills 10, spares nuclear plant Posted: A powerful typhoon that barrelled through Japan and threatened the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant killed at least 10 people including a woman aged 101, officials said yesterday. Typhoon Roke, which churned across the main island of Honshu and through the already disaster-ravaged northeast, caused flooding and triggered landslides in an echo of a vicious storm earlier in the month that killed around 100 people.  Search and rescue: Fire fighters and officials try to lift a tree off the road during their rescue operations after Typhoon Roke ravaged the area, causing further landslides. pic/afp But it did not cause any further damage to the battered nuclear power plant, as had been feared, its operators said, after workers had scrambled to secure the facility to prevent more radiation from seeping out. Police and rescuers recovered at least four bodies on last morning, including a 65-year-old woman who was buried when a mudslide engulfed her house in Iwate prefecture, officials said. Two people, including the 101-year-old, were found dead in Shizuoka prefecture, where the typhoon made landfall on Wednesday, an official said. In Sendai, the largest city in the northeastern region that was battered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that led to the atomic crisis, two sewerage workers went missing. "We are aware that one body was recovered this morning but have not confirmed it belongs to one of the missing workers," he said. Local police and rescuers recovered another body from a river in central Aichi prefecture and they were investigating whether the death was typhoon related, an official said. A series of strong typhoons have hit Japan, which is still recovering from the massive quake and tsunami that left around 20,000 people dead or missing.
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| Posted: A Ukraine dumpling-eating contest to find the person who could eat 10 of the dough balls most quickly went horribly wrong when the 77-year-old champion keeled over and died. The winner Ivan Mendel, had just won his prize, a one-litre jar of sour cream, when he began to feel ill. "The old man got sick and fell to the ground," said an unnamed witness. "The ambulance arrived when he was already dead. The doctor said that he probably choked on vomit."  Deadly: After consuming 10 dumplings in half a minute, Ivan Mendel collapsed and died. Representation pic The contest was held on Saturday in the south-east Ukrainian town of Tokmak as part of its city-day celebrations. Dumplings, known in Ukraine as vareniki, are a staple of the regional diet; they are usually stuffed with mushrooms, potatoes or cherries. Organisers of the contest said the dumplings they used -- filled with potatoes -- had been frozen and packaged and bought from a local market. Organisers struck back at accusations that the contest had killed the man, saying Mendel had eaten just 10 dumplings in all. He ate them, reportedly, in half a minute. "A 77-year-old pensioner ate his portion more quickly than his opponent," said Viktor Khalamovsky, one of the contest organisers. "He won a prize for that -- a jar of sour cream. What happened to him after his victory, the organisers don't know." Officials in Tokmak, which refused to comment on the incident, but said representatives had attended the Mendel's funeral on Tuesday.
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| Posted: France's First Lady said she is desperate to deliver her baby so that she can resume drinking, smoking Like many heavily pregnant mothers to be, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy says she is desperate to give birth. But the French First Lady has confessed that her urgency is not driven simply by the desire to see her bundle of joy in the flesh. She is also desperate to start drinking and smoking again. Bruni-Sarkozy the 43-year-old supermodel, admitted that, after nearly eight months of carrying her first child with France President Nicolas Sarkozy, she is "totally fed up". She said yesterday, "Quite frankly, I can't stand it any more. I spend most of my time either sitting down or lying down. I can't drink or smoke any more. I'm in a hurry to get it over with." The baby -- due in six weeks -- will be Bruni's second child. She has a son, Aurelien, born in 2001, with ex-boyfriend Raphael Enthoven. "The baby will be viable at any time from October 1," the former model told French newspaper Le Parisien. "Aurelien arrived on time, which means this could be a long wait, but I really do want this child so much." Friends of Bruni-Sarkozy told the paper that because she was having a baby after the age of 40, her doctors had urged lots of "rest and clean-living". The French First Lady has also insisted she would not release photos of the new baby, saying it's "a totally private event". However, France's Marianne news magazine suggested the birth was ideally timed for Sarkozy's re-election campaign next year, describing the baby as the "perfect marketing tool" for the 55-year-old president. Father-in-law spills baby beans Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is due to give birth October 3, slightly earlier than expected, said her father-in-law. Pal Sarkozy, the 83-year-old father of President Nicolas Sarkozy, revealed the planned birth date, and said his daughter-in-law was coping well in the final stages of the pregnancy.
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