Jan Merlin, Actor and Emmy-Winning Writer, Dies at 94

His toughest gig may have come on 'The List of Adrian Messenger,' for which he received no screen credit.
Jan Merlin, who played villains in dozens of films and TV shows and good guys on Tom Corbett, Space Cadet and The Rough Riders, died Friday in Los Angeles, his family announced. He was 94.

In a painful year in England and Ireland in which he served as a "movable prop" and received no screen credit, Merlin donned masks and heavy makeup to portray several characters and substitute for Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Frank Sinatra and others in John Huston's The List of Adrian Messenger (1963). He then wrote a 2001 novel, Shooting Montezuma, based on that experience.

Merlin wrote several other books, many in collaboration with William Russo, who wrote Saturday in a blog post: "Most of our Hollywood history tales were based on his insider knowledge of how a set works, from knowing nearly every star of the 1950s and 1960s. [Merlin] laughed they were all 'six feet tall,' no matter what the truth might be."

Merlin also spent about five years as a writer on the NBC soap Another World, winning a Daytime Emmy in 1975 and receiving another nomination two years later.

'The Simpsons' and 'Rick and Morty' producer J. Michael Mendel dead at 54

J. Michael Mendel, the Emmy-winning producer who worked on "Rick and Morty" and "The Simpsons," has died two days short of his 55th birthday.

Adult Swim, the US television network which has broadcast Rick and Morty since its debut in 2013, released a statement on Twitter saying: "All of us at Adult Swim are devastated by the untimely passing of Rick and Morty producer Mike Mendel.
"He guided and supported a generation of artists, writers and creators and his absence will be felt by the entire community. Our deepest condolences go out to his family, friends and colleagues."
The cause of his death has not yet been confirmed.

UK PM faces calls to resign

As Westminster slowly returns to normal, talk is turning to what happens next.

As things stand: Parliament was not officially suspended; Brexit is happening on October 31; Parliament has passed a law instructing Boris Johnson to request a Brexit extension and avoid a no-deal Brexit; Johnson says he won't.

So Brexit becomes a game of chicken.

We know that Johnson wants an early election, as does his rival, Jeremy Corbyn.

Where they differ is on whether that happens before Brexit has happened, or after it has been extended to avoid a no-deal exit.

Corbyn has two options: call for a vote of no confidence in Johnson's government or keep applying pressure on the Prime Minister hoping he will resign.

Both options are risky as they could lead to Johnson simply sitting tight and watching a no-deal Brexit happen by default.

House of Reps member Chima Uju denies raping mother of four, says she is a ''serial liar and fraudster''

ju Chima, a member of the House of Representatives, has denied the rape allegation levelled against him by businesswoman and mother of four, Nkeiruka Cynthia Kamalu.
Kamalu in a fundamental rights suit filed before a Federal High court, alleged that Chima forcefully had sex with her when she was married in 2015. Read initial story here.
In a chat with the Nation, Chima who represents Ohaji/Egbema, Oguta and Oru West Federal Constituency of Imo State, said Kamalu was a liar and serial fraudster out to extort money from him.

“It is a pure case of fraud, someone who has been defrauding for years. Pure case of fraud! She even defrauded my friend to the tune of over N10 million. (There is) evidence, complete evidence!
Now, you are a man, let me ask you a question: somebody that said you raped her in 2015, and in 2018, the same person came and said she had birth (sic) for you: Is it possible?

Cristiano Ronaldo shades FIFA Best Awards with epic Instagram post

Football star, Cristiano Ronaldo took to his Instagram to make a post shading FIFA Best Awards after they awarded the 2019 FIFA Best Men's award to Lionel Messi.
Ronaldo, who was absent from the award showpiece event, immediately posted a photo of himself operating his i-pad while at home, suggesting that he purposely avoided the awards ceremony.
Ronaldo may have gotten a hint he won't win the award and avoided going to the ceremony.

Mike Pence takes eight-vehicle motorcade across island where cars have been banned for a century

For more than a century, motorised vehicles have been banned from Mackinac Island in Michigan - giving the former Revolutionary War battle site a unique charm and turning it into a tourist haven.

The ban is so strictly enforced that when President Gerald Ford visited in 1975, he and first lady Betty Ford travelled by horse-drawn carriage.

But the Trump administration is known for its norm-breaking, and on Saturday, vice president Mike Pence rumbled across the island in an eight-vehicle motorcade.

Mr Pence was on the island to speak at the Michigan Republican Party's leadership conference, the first ever sitting vice president to address it in its 60-year history.

How a routine training flight ended with 6 Marines killed in a tragic midair collision and 4 officers out of a job

The Marine Corps has finally finished investigating a midair collision off the coast of Japan that killed six Marines in December.

The collision of an F/A-18D Hornet and KC-130J Super Hercules was caused by an inexperienced fighter pilot who conducted an unusual maneuver, hitting the back end of the tanker aircraft during nighttime refueling operations.

But there were other issues, as the investigation also called attention to inadequate oversight of training and operations by squadron leadership and an unprofessional command climate within the squadron.

In the wake of the incident, the commanding officer, the executive officer, the operations officer, and the aviation safety officer were all relieved of their duties.

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Six Marines lost their lives in a tragic midair collision last December, and an investigation revealed a series of problems that resulted in the unfortunate incident.

Man Wearing Pennywise Mask With Knife Chased Family Through Woods

Police are on the hunt for a man wearing a 'Pennywise-style' clown mask after he allegedly terrorised a group of families and even tried to get children to 'go with him' in broad daylight.

Mum Ashleigh Hunt warned parents about the creepy stranger after claiming she and her seven-year-old daughter had been chased through the woods near a University of Exeter campus site in Penryn, Cornwall.

In a Facebook post, Ms Hunt said the man was dressed up as the murderous killer clown from horror movie IT, which was based on a novel by Stephen King.

She said: "WARNING to anyone in the Penryn area. Whilst walking near Tremough Campus/Greenwood area around 7.30 this evening, me, my sister and my 7-year-old were chased by a person in a Pennywise-style clown mask and full black clothing!

"My daughter is so terrified she won't even go to the bathroom without me and she cries if I have to leave the room. Police are out looking. Be vigilant people."

Computer-assisted fraud: Hundreds arrested in worldwide crackdown against scam romances, lotteries

The US The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it had arrested 281 of them – including 74 people in the United States – and charged them with wire fraud, money laundering and other crimes for a wide range of digital scams designed to prey on the unsuspecting. The arrests were part of a four-month crackdown on digital schemes called Operation reWired.

The scams tended to target real-estate buyers, the elderly and others by convincing them to make wire transfers to bank accounts that the suspects controlled, according to the department. The suspects would impersonate a key employee to make a transfer after gaining access to the victim’s email account, or perhaps sensitive employment or tax records, often through romance or lottery scams, according to the department.

The arrests included 167 people in Nigeria, 18 in Turkey, 15 in Ghana and others in France, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia and the United Kingdom. Authorities seized nearly $3.7 million, the Justice Department said.

US extracted top spy from inside Russia in 2017

In a previously undisclosed secret mission in 2017, the United States successfully extracted from Russia one of its highest-level covert sources inside the Russian government, multiple Trump administration officials with direct knowledge told CNN.

A person directly involved in the discussions said that the removal of the Russian was driven, in part, by concerns that President Donald Trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence and could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy.
The decision to carry out the extraction occurred soon after a May 2017 meeting in the Oval Office in which Trump discussed highly classified intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. The intelligence, concerning ISIS in Syria, had been provided by Israel.
The disclosure to the Russians by the President, though not about the Russian spy specifically, prompted intelligence officials to renew earlier discussions about the potential risk of exposure, according to the source directly involved in the matter.

A bank mistakenly put $120,000 into a couple's account.

A Pennsylvania couple is facing felony theft charges after their bank accidentally put $120,000 in their account, and the couple spent most of it instead of contacting the bank, police said.

Robert and Tiffany Williams of Montoursville are also facing overdraft fees from the bank of about $107,000, according to the criminal complaint filed in the Lycoming County magisterial district court.
In an interview with law enforcement, Tiffany Williams said the money was spent on an SUV, a camper, two four wheelers and a car trailer, among other things, according to an affidavit.
The bank error occurred May 31 when a customer in Georgia made a deposit of $120,000, and the BB&T Bank teller entered a wrong account number. When the customer contacted the bank to ask about the missing deposit, investigators discovered the funds had gone into the Williams' joint account, the affidavit said.
"While we can't comment on the specifics of this issue due to client privacy practices, we always work as quickly as possible to address any issue that affects our clients," Brian Davis, a spokesman for BB&T, told CNN in a statement.
"We're also continuously working to enhance our client service and operating procedures to provide the best client experience possible."

Google has uncovered evidence of a sustained effort to hack large numbers of iPhones

Google has uncovered evidence of a sustained effort to hack large numbers of iPhones over a period of at least two years, its researchers said.

Earlier this year, Google cybersecurity experts "discovered a small collection of hacked websites" that exploited vulnerabilities in Apple's (AAPL) smartphone software, Ian Beer, a researcher with Google's Project Zero, said in a blog post published Thursday. He did not name the websites.
"Simply visiting the hacked site was enough for the exploit server to attack your device, and if it was successful, install a monitoring implant," Beer added. "We estimate that these sites receive thousands of visitors per week."
The implant was capable of giving hackers access to iPhone users' contacts, photos and location, as well as data from apps like iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, Gmail and Google Hangouts, according to the Project Zero researchers.

James Cameron teases possible 'Terminator' trilogy

 

"Terminator: Dark Fate" picks up after James Cameron's "Terminator: Judgment Day," and a new trailer for the franchise's latest installment is here. "You may have changed the future, but you didn't change our fate," says human/Terminator hybrid from the future Grace, played by Mackenzie Davis. Fans shouldn't expect this latest movie, produced by Cameron and directed by Tim Miller of "Deadpool," to wrap up the "Terminator" saga.

Top Fashion Trends: Sunglasses/Prescription you need in 2019

You don’t need a blazing sun to wear sunglasses, but it’s an incentive, and with summer just around the corner, it’s time you up your game with the hottest sunglasses of the moment.
Don’t worry, Jupitoo have a wide range of runaway approved shades and rounded up the latest sunglasses trends for you to try on. From circular to square, vintage to modern, and neutral to bright colored, the Spring/Summer collections have them all.


Sunglasses are arguably the one item that can make or break your entire summer wardrobe. Think about it: If you've settled on the perfect pair that makes a statement but still somehow goes with everything, it will take your look from zero to 100 in an instant. But on the other hand, make the mistake of leaving it at home, and your outfit can never really live its best life.

Mexico bar fire attack: Toll rises to 28

Gunmen burst into a Mexican strip club in a hail of bullets and killed at least 28 people as they trapped revelers inside and started a raging fire, officials said Wednesday.

Many of the dead were dancers who worked there, according to managers.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador condemned the "shameful" attack in the city of Coatzacoalcos, and said federal authorities would investigate evidence it may have stemmed from collusion between local authorities and organized crime.

The Tuesday night attack, which also left nine people badly wounded, is the latest to rock the state of Veracruz, a flashpoint in turf wars between Mexico's rival drug cartels and a hotbed of political corruption.

Survivors said gunmen sprayed bullets when they descended on the bar, the Caballo Blanco (White Horse), then blocked the exits and set the club alight.

Because of the loud reggaeton music pounding inside, many patrons and dancers did not notice the attack until the bar was in flames, they said.

Authorities said many of the victims died of smoke inhalation. It was not immediately clear whether some died of gunshot wounds.

After a Georgia teenager reported a sexual assault to her school administrators, she says she was expelled for 'sexual impropriety.' Now she's suing.

A teenager in Georgia is suing the Fayette County Board of Education, saying she was expelled for "sexual impropriety" after she reported a sexual assault.

The teenager, identified as "A.P." in court documents, said that when she was a 16-year-old sophomore at Fayette County High School in 2017, she told administrators that another student sexually assaulted her and pressured her into performing oral sex.

She was then expelled for the rest of the school year, and the principal said she violated a school conduct code that prohibited "sexual impropriety," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit accuses Fayette County High School of violating Title IX by expelling her from school.

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A teenager in Georgia is suing her former school district, saying she was expelled for "sexual impropriety" after she reported a sexual assault.

In a lawsuit filed on Friday seen by Insider and first reported on by The Lily, the teenager, identified as "A.P." in documents, said that when she was a 16-year-old sophomore at Fayette County High School in 2017, she told administrators that another student sexually assaulted her and pressured her into performing oral sex.

How phone apps put millions of Britons' internet addresses up for sale

Millions of Britons’ internet addresses are being sold online without their knowledge, allowing fraudsters and criminals to raise ticket prices, create fake social media followers and to conduct cyber attacks.

Software hidden within smartphone apps allows individuals and organisations to route internet traffic through devices owned by members of the public. It can be used to mask traffic to social networks and online retailers, experts said.

Luminati, an Israeli start-up owned by a British investor, boasted that it had access to 1.7 million Britons' internet protocol (IP) addresses and millions more worldwide.

The company legally obtains access to people's connections by embedding software within apps that run on Android smartphones. Another proxy network provider, Oxylabs, boasts of 1.1m British IP addresses and GeoSurf, which Luminati is suing for allegedly stealing its technology, said it has tens of thousands.

Luminati says that it offers reputable Fortune 500 clients a way to detect advertising fraud and check cyber security. However, it is not clear to the Britons giving up their IP addresses, which is linked to their residential address, what they are sharing and for what purpose.

Fast food may contribute to teen depression, study says

Preteens are known for their defiant attitudes and dramatic mood swings, but over the last decade a much more disturbing characteristic has been increasing: depression.

A new study finds that one culprit may be a high fast-food, low plant-based diet. When researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham analyzed urine from a group of middle schoolers, they found high levels of sodium and low levels of potassium.

"High sodium, you've got to think of highly processed food," said lead author Sylvie Mrug, chair of the psychology department at UAB. "This includes fast food, frozen meals and unhealthy snacks."
Low potassium, Mrug added, is an indication of a diet that lacks healthy fruits and vegetables that are rich in potassium, such as beans, sweet potatoes, spinach, tomatoes, bananas, oranges, avocados, yogurt and even salmon.
The study also found that higher urine levels of sodium, and potassium at baseline, predicted more signs of depression a year and a half later, even after adjusting for variables such as blood pressure, weight, age and sex.

Wingsuit Champion And Former NASA Scientist Angelo Grubišić Dies In Base Jump

A wingsuit scientist who worked on making the extreme sport garments safer has died in a base jump in Saudi Arabia, his family has confirmed.

Dr Angelo Grubišić - who had led a wingsuit design team at the University of Southampton - was killed in the jump on Tuesday.
The 38-year-old - who was crowned a British wingsuit champion just last month - had previously worked on spacecraft propulsion for the European Space Agency and NASA.

In a statement to the BBC, Angelo's family said he was 'phenomenally talented'.

They added: "Angelo lost his life doing what he loved the most, wingsuit base jumping, and we want to ensure his achievements and ambitions are known to the world and to celebrate the mark he made on all of our lives.

US Health Officials Say First Patient Has Died Due To Illness Caused By Vaping

Health officials in the US have announced the first death of a person due to an illness caused by vaping.

The unnamed patient from Illinois was said to have developed a severe respiratory disease after using e-cigarettes. As yet, the person's age or gender have not been revealed.
Dr Jennifer Layden, the chief medical officer and state epidemiologist in Illinois, said the patient was taken to hospital with an 'unexplained illness after reported vaping or e-cigarette use'.

Robert Redfield, director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement: "We are saddened to hear of the first death related to the outbreak of severe lung disease in those who use e-cigarette or 'vaping' devices."

He added: "This tragic death in Illinois reinforces the serious risks associated with e-cigarette products."

'Black Panther' sequel release date announced

"Black Panther" fans can finally mark their calendars for the highly-anticipated sequel. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige took the stage at Disney's D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, along with film director Ryan Coogler, to announce that the second movie of the "Black Panther" saga will debut in theaters on May 6, 2022.

 The Disney-Marvel movie won three Oscars for original score and production as well as costume design. Since hitting theaters in February 2018, "Black Panther" has grossed more than $700 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

US seizes 52,000 gun parts illegally imported from China to California

Federal officials say they've seized more than 52,000 firearms parts that arrived illegally from China at California's Los Angeles and Long Beach ports.

The parts -- sights, stocks, muzzles, buffer kits and grips -- arrived in three shipments and had a combined value of more than $378,000, US Customs and Border Protection said Thursday in a news release.
The parts arrived over a period of three months and were bound for a legitimate US-based gun parts seller and distributor, agency spokesman Jaime Ruiz told CNN.
The United States restricts imports from countries with which it has an arms embargo, including China. The US imposed an arms embargo after the deadly 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square.
"This seizure is an exceptional example of CBP officers and import specialists vigilance, commitment and keen focus in enforcing complex arms embargo regulations," Carlos C. Martel, the CBP's director of field operations in Los Angeles, said.

Inside dark underbelly of Las Vegas where Pornhub star Jenni Lee battles to survive in deadly flood tunnels with 1,000 homeless ‘mole’ people who eat scraps from casino bins

THE Las Vegas strip is the ultimate in glittering excess, with glaring neon lights, headline shows and millions being gambled in the luxurious casinos. But just 25ft below the roulette tables of Sin City lurks a hidden world where hundreds of homeless people fight for survival in a network of underground tunnels. The grim underbelly of the Nevada gambling mecca was revealed this week, when Dutch documentary workers discovered Pornhub star Jenni Lee living in the dank storm drains.




 It’s estimated around 1000 homeless eke out an existence below the strip, living on food rescued from bins and the odd cash handout from jubilant gamblers who struck lucky. Residents - dubbed 'mole people' - range from full-time workers, unable to afford housing in the cash-rich city, to gambling addicts and drug addicts, who occupy three separate tunnels depending on whether they prefer crack, meth or heroin.

Khachaturyan sisters who killed father touch Russian hearts

In July 2018 three teenage sisters stabbed and battered their father to death in his sleep, in their Moscow flat.

Investigators have confirmed the girls' father abused them physically and psychologically for years.

Charged with murder, the sisters and what should happen to them have become one of the hottest topics of debate in Russia and more than 300,000 people have signed a petition calling for their release.

What happened to the father?
On the evening of 27 July 2018 Mikhail Khachaturyan, 57, summoned Krestina, Angelina and Maria, who was a minor at the time, one by one to his room. He scolded them for not cleaning the flat properly and sprayed pepper gas in their faces.

Soon afterwards, when he had fallen asleep, the girls attacked him with a knife, hammer and pepper spray, inflicting fatal wounds to his head, neck and chest. He was found to have more than 30 knife wounds.

The young women then called the police and were arrested at the scene.

The investigation soon uncovered an extensive history of violence in the family. Khachaturyan had regularly beaten his daughters over three years, torturing them, keeping them as prisoners and sexually abusing them.

That evidence against their father is cited in their indictments.

California hotel employee 'prevents mass shooting'

California police say a hotel worker may have prevented a mass shooting after the worker reported that a disgruntled colleague had threatened to shoot staff and guests.

Acting on the tip-off, officers arrested a 37-year-old man who was found to have high-powered weapons and ammunition at his Los Angeles home.

It comes amid a wider FBI effort to prevent such shootings.

That followed attacks in El Paso and Dayton that killed 31 people.

Since then US authorities say they have foiled a series of alleged plots to carry out attacks, some of which would have targeted minority groups.

Man shocked as hundreds attend wife's funeral
What we know about latest US mass shootings
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The FBI has reportedly instructed its field offices to conduct threat assessments and has also urged the public to report threats or suspicious activity.

What happened in California?