A woman climbed the base of the Statue of Liberty on the Fourth of July to protest migrant family separations

A woman who climbed up to the robes of the Statue of Liberty to protest the separation of migrant families was taken into custody after a standoff with police on the Fourth of July.

Authorities had tried to talk the woman down but she refused to leave. For nearly three hours, she crossed the base of the statue, at times sitting in the folds of the statue's dress and under Lady Liberty's sandal. The woman was identified as Therese Patricia Okoumou by a law enforcement source close to the investigation and another source who knows her.
The woman was part of a group of protesters and had declared that she wouldn't come down until "all the children are released," a source with the New York Police Department told us.

A woman who climbed up to the robes of the Statue of Liberty to protest the separation of migrant families was taken into custody after a standoff with police on the Fourth of July.

Authorities had tried to talk the woman down but she refused to leave. For nearly three hours, she crossed the base of the statue, at times sitting in the folds of the statue's dress and under Lady Liberty's sandal. The woman was identified as Therese Patricia Okoumou by a law enforcement source close to the investigation and another source who knows her.
The woman was part of a group of protesters and had declared that she wouldn't come down until "all the children are released," a source with the New York Police Department told us.

Lightning strike injures young man, child before fireworks show in Illinois

Two people were critically injured from a lightning strike before a 4th of July fireworks show in Sheridan, Illinois.

Online newspaper The Times reports that a young man, about 20 years old, and a 3 or 4-year-old girl were taken to OSF St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Ottawa by ambulance.

No further details were immediately available.

Wisconsin girl, 16, returns home after being sex trafficked into Chicago, mother says

A missing Wisconsin teen returned home a month after being lured to Chicago by sex traffickers, her mother says.

Armoni Chambers, 16, was found Wednesday after activists received a tip about a Facebook video in which the girl appeared to be assaulted, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Bonnie Bruno, Chambers’ mother, and activist Tory Lowe traveled to Chicago to search for her, the newspaper reported. Chambers was trafficked by several men before going to Chicago, Bruno said.

“Her entire time in Chicago was trauma after trauma after trauma,” she said. “She was afraid. She thought she was going to die.”

Milwaukee police declared Chambers missing June 18, according to FOX6 Milwaukee. Bruno received a tip about video surveillance showing Chambers boarding a Chicago-bound Greyhound bus in Milwaukee. Family and activists used the next several days to track down every lead to find the teen.

Tragic Chinese billionaire falls and dies while trying to take a picture

A Chinese billionaire has died after he fell while trying to take a beautiful picture.

57-year-old Wang Jian, who is the chairman and co-founder of one of China’s largest conglomerates, HNA, was travelling in France when the tragic accident happened, according to the company.

HNA said on Wednesday that Wang Jian had fallen and died from his injuries on Tuesday in Provence, without providing any more details of his death.


French media reported that a 57-year-old Chinese tourist had died after falling down the stairs of a church in the village of Bonnieux on Tuesday while trying to take a photograph. Other reports said Wang had fallen off a cliff while having his picture taken. Police said they were not treating his death as suspicious.

Japanese Rocket Crashes and Explodes in Flames Shortly After Launch

An uncrewed Japanese rocket has crashed only seconds after launch. The MOMO-2 rocket burst into flames shortly after take-off on June 30.
Luckily there were no injuries caused by the short-lived flight. The unfortunate rocket was developed by Japanese start-up company Interstellar Technologies.

The company aims to design and develop small, lightweight, and low-cost rockets that can send satellites into space. This disastrous flight was the second take-off for the company, its first flight was a partial success in that the MOMO did manage to leave the launch pad but communications with it were lost about a minute after it had lifted off.

Second rocket crash for new company
The rocket's booster only managed to reach an altitude of about 12 miles (20 kilometers) before it splashed down into the Pacific Ocean. A video of the 10-meter high rocket launching then crashing is a combination of tragedy and comedy, however, the company won’t be put off saying they are on track to put a satellite into low Earth orbit by 2020.
Interstellar Technologies wants to be able to offer satellite launches for as little as US$440,000 compared to the price the Japanese government offers of US$1.8 million minimum. While it's an ambitious and exciting goal, the fledgling company will need to go some way before it can convince investors it can safely deliver payloads to space.

85 Percent of the Asteroid Belt Is Composed of the Remnants of Ancient Planets

A new study from the University of Florida has found that 85 percent of our solar system's asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is made up of the remnants of five or six ancient small planets.

Lead author on the newly published research paper Stanley Dermott says it's likely that the remaining 15 percent could also end up being from old planets too.

Research into the asteroid belt offers insights into the way our own Earth was formed. It also gives scientists critical information about the formation of the asteroid and offers the opportunity to determine if any matter is going to peel off and head towards earth.
"These large bodies whiz by the Earth, so of course we're very concerned about how many of these there are and what types of material are in them," Dermott said in a press release. "If ever one of these comes towards the earth, and we want to deflect it, we need to know what its nature is."

The study discovered that the size of the asteroid determines its orbit. This discovery suggests that the differences we observe in meteorites found on Earth relate to the evolutionary changes that occurred inside a few large, vanguard bodies that existed more than four billion years ago.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we eventually trace the origins of all asteroids in the main asteroid belt, not just those in the inner belt, to a small number of known parent bodies,” Dermott said. This research helps theoretical astronomers in their quest to investigate where planets like our own might exist in the universe.
But before those questions can be fully understood it is crucial to more fully understand the processes that produced the planet we live on. Last month NASA discovered an asteroid heading on a collision course with Earth.

Google says it's not reading your Gmail, except when....

Google published a blog explaining the terms on which hundreds of app makers are given access to millions of inboxes belonging to Gmail users.
The company was also at pains to point out that "no one at Google reads your Gmail."
But there are a couple of key exceptions to this rule, including when Google needs to go investigate a bug or "abuse" of the platform.
It's not clear whether Gmail users are notified when Google rummages through messages to address these issues.

Google was hauled over the coals this week for reportedly giving hundreds of app makers access to millions of inboxes belonging to Gmail users.

The Wall Street Journal reported that users who signed up for "email-based services" like "shopping price comparisons," and "automated travel-itinerary planners" were most at risk of having their private messages read.

In response to the story, Google published a blog on Tuesday detailing how third-party developers have to go through an involved review process before they are given access to Gmail.

Suzanne Frey, Google Cloud's director of security, trust, and privacy, also said that Gmail's 1.4 billion users hold the keys to their own data and can control permissions.
In the same piece, Frey was at pains to point out that Google itself does not read user emails.

'Dead' woman wakes up in a morgue. Why does this keep happening?

A woman was taken to the morgue and pronounced dead after a car crash near Johannesburg in South Africa.

The only problem? She wasn't dead.
According to the BBC, the unnamed woman woke up in a mortuary fridge after a car pile-up on June 24 which reportedly left two others dead.

The woman was discovered by a morgue worker, according to the news service, and she is now recovering in a hospital east of Johannesburg.

The woman's family declined to comment on the incident to the BBC, but said, "We need answers."

So, how did this happen? An investigation is reportedly underway. Ambulance company Distress Alert, who mispronounced the woman dead, told news publisher Times Live, “Equipment used to determine life showed no form of life on the woman."

"This did not happen because our paramedics are not properly trained," the company's statement added. "There is no proof of any negligence by our crew."

How does this keep happening?
It's not the first time this has happened. In fact, it's not as uncommon as you'd think.

Facebook shutters the teen app it just bought

Facebook is shutting down three apps, including a teen app called tbh, which it bought about eight months ago.
In a blog post, the social network said it would shutter the tbh, Hello and Moves apps due to "low usage." Facebook will delete user data from the apps within 90 days.

"We know some people are still using these apps and will be disappointed," the company said in a blog post late Monday. "But we need to prioritize our work so we don't spread ourselves too thin."

Facebook acquired tbh -- which stands for the popular texting acronym "to be honest" -- for an undisclosed sum last October. The app let users participate in anonymous polls and give positive feedback to friends. It initially was widely popular among teens. Over 5 million people downloaded the app in a matter of weeks.

Woman, 92, allegedly killed son who wanted to put her in a nursing home

A 92-year-old woman allegedly killed her son in Arizona because she did not want to be sent to an assisted living facility, authorities said.

Anna Mae Blessing was charged with first degree murder, aggravated assault and kidnapping after authorities found her 72-year-old son dead Monday at their home in Fountain Hills, Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said.
Blessing hid two pistols in the pockets of her robe and shot her son several times in his bedroom, the sheriff's office said in a statement.
Her son's girlfriend was also in the room and said she heard Blessing telling her son she was tired of the way he treated her, court documents said.
"From my understanding, she had thought about it for a few days because there was a dispute regarding her son wanting to put her in an assisted living home," Maricopa County Sgt. Bryant Vanejas told 3m360

How Angelique Kidjo, Omotola Jalade, and other stars turned up at the Afrikan Shrine to party with Emmanuel Macron

Nigerian celebrities turned up at the new Afrikan Shrine to celebrate a night of culture with French President, Emmanuel Macron who was hosted by the Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode.

French President, Emmanuel Macron was in Nigeria yesterday to witness the signing of new deal with the country at the state house Abuja before he made his way to the New Afrika Shrine in Lagos.

During his speech, the French President said he never expected to return to Nigeria under these circumstances almost 17 years after his first stay in the country.

In his words, 'It's very emotional for me to come back to Nigeria 17 years after my stay. I didn't imagine I’d be back in these conditions. Democracy is never written in advance. I'm probably a good example of that'.

Speaking about the shrine and why he chose to visit, he said, 'the Shrine is an iconic cultural hub. And I say with a lot of humility that I recognize the importance of African culture'.

Some of the celebs who were at the event included, Banky W, Omotola Jalade, Dakore Akande, Alexx Ekubo, Rita Dominic, Desmond Elliot, Angelique Kidjo, Yemi Alade, and Ramsey Nouah.

Tina Turner's oldest son commits suicide at age 60

Music legend Tina Turner's oldest son, Craig Raymond Turner, has committed suicide ... according to a report by TMZ. Read below...

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Craig died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Studio City, CA. Authorities arrived at his place just after noon Tuesday and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Craig was born when Tina was 18 ... before she married Ike Turner. Once Tina and Ike wed, Ike adopted Craig. His biological father was a saxophonist named Raymond Hill, who performed with Ike's band.

I went on a Border Patrol ride-along in one of the most heavily crossed areas on the US-Mexico border

I was in Southern Texas covering the immigration crisis and separation of families for nearly a day when I got word that I had secured a Border Patrol ride-along.

"The Rio Grande sector accounts for about 40% of the apprehensions in the United States," a Border Patrol agent named Chris Seiler told me as we drove away from the station a few days later. "The McAllen station specifically is about 20% of the entire nation, and we catch about 300 individuals a day just in this 50-mile span of border."

For nearly five hours last Monday morning, I followed Seiler and another agent, Rene Quintanilla, around as they patrolled on and around the Rio Grande, which separates the US and Mexico.

Here's what happened:

A 3-year-old Idaho girl who was stabbed at her birthday party died

A 3-year-old Idaho girl who was stabbed at her birthday party died Monday, two days after a man invaded the celebration and attacked nine people with a knife, authorities said.

Timmy Kinner is accused of stabbing a group of children and the adults who tried to protect them at the party at an apartment complex that is home to many refugee families.

Word of the child's death came at Kinner's first court appearance, where Ada County Magistrate Judge Russell Comstock told him that he was charged with first-degree murder and other felonies in connection with the Saturday night attack.

Comstock told Kinner he was "an extreme danger to the community" and ordered him held without bond.

Kinner is American, and the victims are members of refugee families from Syria, Iraq and Ethiopia. Boise Police Chief William Bones said the evidence does not suggest the attack was a hate crime.

The suspect had recently stayed at the apartment complex but was asked to leave Friday over bad behavior, Bones said.

Why LeBron James Chose the LA Lakers

The first time, LeBron James sat clumsily with Jim Gray on national TV, announcing that he was taking his talents to South Beach.

That didn't go over too well.

Upon returning to Cleveland, the announcement came in the form of an elaborately written essay in Sports Illustrated. Lots and lots of words.

This time? There was only an old-school press release sent out into the world by his representation agency, Klutch Sports. It contained exactly one sentence, which stated simply that James had agreed to a four-year, $154 million deal with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Then came the customary three pound signs (###) at the end of the release, which in public relations lingo is an indication to the news media that there is no more copy to come.

That couldn't be further from the truth, because LeBron James' latest chapter—the Hollywood chapter, the Showtime chapter—might just be the most fascinating yet.

"If I'm going to leave Cleveland again," James told a confidant leading up to this decision, according to a person familiar with their conversation, "it needs to be like what I dreamt of as a kid."

Remember, this is a man who grew up in Northeast Ohio rooting for the Cowboys and the Yankees. It's the go-big-or-go-home sports fan mentality.

In 2014, James went home. Now, he's going big.

Archbishop Philip Wilson sentenced for concealing child sex abuse

A Catholic archbishop in Australia has been given a maximum sentence of 12 months in detention for concealing child sexual abuse in the 1970s.

Philip Wilson, now archbishop of Adelaide, is the most senior Catholic globally to be convicted of the crime.

He was found guilty by a court last month of covering up abuse by a paedophile priest in New South Wales.

On Tuesday, the court ordered Wilson to be assessed for "home detention" - meaning he will probably avoid jail.

Magistrate Robert Stone said the senior clergyman had shown "no remorse or contrition". He will be eligible for parole after six months.

Wilson has not resigned as archbishop, despite relinquishing his duties in the wake of his conviction.

In May, a court found he had failed to report his colleague James Patrick Fletcher's abuse of altar boys to police.

Wilson, then a junior priest in the Maitland region, had dismissed young victims in a bid to protect the Church's reputation, Magistrate Stone ruled.

Facebook’s Privacy Blunders Continue – Company Reports a New Bug That Unblocked People

Someone needs to go help Facebook… The company continues to hit itself with disaster after disaster. What seems like an unending saga of privacy mishaps, Facebook has now announced a fresh new problem. The social networking giant that doesn’t consider itself a monopoly has said that a software “bug” unblocked some people who had been blocked by another user.

This means that if you blocked someone after an abusive or a frustrating incident, they were able to see at least some of your posts. Over 800,000 users were affected by this bug between May 29 and June 5. It remains unclear why it has taken the company an additional one month to inform the affected users.

“Starting today we are notifying over 800,000 users about a bug in Facebook and Messenger that unblocked some people they had blocked,” the company wrote today. “The bug was active between May 29 and June 5 – and while someone who was unblocked could not see content shared with friends, they could have seen things posted to a wider audience. For example pictures shared with friends of friends. We know that the ability to block someone is important – and we’d like to apologize and explain what happened.”

Portland State University police fatally shoot man who was trying to break up a fight

Portland State University police shot and killed a man who was trying to break up a fight outside a sports bar early Friday, multiple witnesses told our affiliate KATU, sparking outrage and protests against the university's armed police force.

Witnesses said the man, whom they identified as Jason Washington, was fatally shot by campus police after a fight at 1:30 a.m. Friday outside a local bar.
The Multnomah County, Oregon, Medical Examiner's office also identified the deceased as Jason Washington. Portland police said in a statement there was an "officer-involved shooting" at that time outside the Cheerful Tortoise bar, but did not identify the person who was shot.
Witnesses told KATU that Washington was trying to break up a fight. During the scuffle, a gun fell out of his holster, witnesses told the news station, and when he reached for it, officers fired at him.
"From there it just kind of took a turn for the worst, and the good guy ended up getting shot," Keyaira Smith, who filmed the shooting, told KATU.

Philippines v Australia basketball: Mass brawl at World Cup qualifier

Punches, kicks and chairs were thrown as a mass brawl broke out between players in a Philippines v Australia World Cup qualifying tie.

The Philippines ended the game with just three players left on court after nine of their side were ejected.

Four Australia players were also ejected from the game, which their side went on to win 89-53 in Manila.

The International Basketball Federation (Fiba) has opened disciplinary proceedings against both sides.

The fight broke out in the third quarter of the game at the 55,000-capacity Philippine Arena.


"Basketball Australia deeply regrets the incident in tonight's match between the Boomers and the Philippines in Manila. We are extremely disappointed with what happened and our role in it," Basketball Australia chief executive Anthony Moore said.

Tech’s ‘Dirty Secret’: The App Developers Sifting Through Your Gmail

App developers can sift through the emails of millions of Gmail users, The Wall Street Journal reports. This practice has been known in the industry for a long time, but Google had promised last year that it would stop its computers from scanning the messages of Gmail users to personalize advertisements.

While that may be true, the tech giant continues to give access to “hundreds of outside software developers scan the inboxes of millions of Gmail users who signed up for email-based services offering shopping price comparisons, automated travel-itinerary planners or other tools,” WSJ reports.

This access enables these third parties to view Gmail users’ emails, recipient addresses, timestamps, and the entire content of those messages. Google suggests that all of this happens “with” user consent, however, it may be another case of tricking users into giving consent without properly informing them about it first.

Man accused of plotting terror attack on July 4th parade in Cleveland

A Cleveland man was arrested after allegedly telling an undercover agent he was planning a terrorist attack on the city's downtown July 4th parade, authorities said Monday morning.

Demetrius Nathaniel Pitts, who used the name Abdur Raheem Rafeeq on Facebook, was taken into custody Sunday and has been charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, Stephen Anthony of the FBI said in a news conference. He was scheduled to appear in court later Monday.
Pitts told the undercover agent he had surveyed Voinovich Park and the US Coast Guard Station in Cleveland and had scouted locations to park an explosives-filled vehicle that would be detonated during crowded Independence Day festivities, Anthony said.

Actress Tessa Thompson comes out as Bisexual as she reveals Janelle Monáe and herself "Love each other deeply"

American actress, Tessa Thompson, 34, has opened up on her sexuality and her relationship with singer Janelle Monáe in a new interview with Porter magazine.

According to the Westworld and Thor: Ragnarok star, 'I’m attracted to men and also to women. If I bring a woman home, [or] a man, we don’t even have to have the discussion.'

'That was something I was conscientious of in terms of this declaration around Janelle and myself. I want everyone else to have that freedom and support that I have from my loved ones. But so many people don't.'

Speaking on her relationship with Janelle Monáe who came out as pansexual months ago, she said: 'We love each other deeply.'

She added:

Bystanders To Fatal Overdoses Increasingly Becoming Criminal Defendants

Alexis Santa Barbara is a 39-year-old mother of three from a working-class suburb of Philadelphia.

Santa Barbara's addiction story follows a familiar course: she had been prescribed Percocet years ago to treat back pain. When the drug became unavailable, she turned to heroin. And she became hooked — not long after getting laid off from her job at a local deli.

Across the street from her, her neighbor, identified just as "J.M." in court papers, was also in the grip of an opioid addiction.

How the two of their lives intersect next dramatically altered their connection, from two people in the same community dealing with the same sickness to something else: an alleged victim and a perpetrator, cast that way because of a drug transaction that took a deadly turn.
One evening in late March, that neighbor handed Santa Barbara $10 and asked if she'd score him a fix of heroin.

"He just asked her to grab it, so she did," said Emily Mano, Santa Barbara's 18-year-old daughter. "She doesn't always do stuff like that. It was just a favor. She'd never mean to harm someone. Never."

To prosecutors, it wasn't just a favor. It was crime. Authorities say Santa Barbara obtained heroin, and whether she knew it or not, the batch was laced with the powerful and often deadly synthetic drug, Fentanyl. Shortly after, court records show, Santa Barbara texted her neighbor: "Are you OK??"

He wasn't.

"His wife comes home and finds him collapsed on the floor of a bedroom," said George Yacoubian, Santa Barbara's defense lawyer.

Notorious gangster Redoine Faid escapes French prison, again, on hijacked helicopter

A notorious French gangster has managed to escape prison again. This time, with help from armed friends using a hijacked helicopter and smoke bombs.

Redoine Faid, 46, who escaped prison five years ago using explosives, broke out of a prison near Paris on Sunday. He was serving a 25-year sentence for planning a robbery where a police officer was killed.

Two or three men armed with assault rifles hijacked a helicopter and forced the pilot to fly to Faid's prison in Seine-et-Marne. When the helicopter landed, two men dressed all in black, opened the prison door using a grinding machine and took Faid. At the time, he was meeting with his brother in a visitation room, members of the guards’ union, told France's BFM television. The men set off smoke bombs to blur the scene from video surveillance, union member Loic Delbroc said.

France’s Justice Ministry said the escape was over in just "a few minutes."

Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet, who travelled to the Sud-Francilien prison in Réau on Sunday evening, called it "a spectacular escape," BBC reports.

In the 1990s, Faid led a gang known for robbing banks. He escaped prison in 2013 using explosives hidden in packs of tissues.

Soccer team found alive after 9 days trapped in cave

Rescue teams have found all 12 boys and their soccer coach alive in a cave in Thailand nine days after the group went missing, according to a high-ranking person involved in the search and rescue operation.

The boys, who range in ages from 11 to 16 years old and are all members of the Wild Boar soccer team, entered the Tham Luang Nang Non cave system on Saturday, June 23, for a team outing, but became stranded in the dark tunnels by a sudden and continuous downpour.
The international rescue operation -- which includes the Thai Navy SEALs as well as experts from the US, China, Australia and the UK -- had been working to reach a large, deep chamber, informally named Pattaya Beach, where they believed the missing boys had taken refuge.

The missing boys, with their coach, are seen here in a photo taken from the coach's Facebook page.
"I confirm they are all safe," Chiang Rai Governor Narongsak Osatanakorn told reporters on Monday night.