US musician Tom Petty dies aged 66

US musician Tom Petty has died in California aged 66, says a statement issued on behalf of his family.
Petty was found unconscious, not breathing and in full cardiac arrest at his Malibu home early on Monday.
He was taken to hospital, but could not be revived and died later that evening.
Petty was best known as the lead singer of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, and his hits included American Girl, Breakdown, Free Fallin', Learning to Fly and Refugee.
Obituary: A quiet, unassuming legend
"He died peacefully at 20:40 Pacific time (03:40 GMT Tuesday) surrounded by family, his bandmates and friends," said his long-time manager Tony Dimitriades.

A look at what might happen if Catalonia goes it alone

The northeastern region of Catalonia, one of Spain’s autonomous regions, is threatening to declare its independence from Spain following a disputed referendum that, it says, gave it a mandate to break away.

Spain, which declared the referendum illegal and invalid, says it will do all to maintain the country’s unity and keep hold of the region of 7.5 million people centered around the port city of Barcelona.

The two would seem to be about to enter uncharted waters. Here’s a look at how Spain got to this point and what may happen next.

ATM Fees Are Out of Control

Drawing cash from an ATM is beginning to feel like a ritual from a bygone era. Like buying a record on vinyl, it’s a once-universal experience for which dedicated fans are now paying a premium.

This year marks the 11th consecutive annual increase in bank ATM fees for customers using out-of-network machines, according to a new Bankrate.com report. Over the past decade, such fees have risen 55 percent. The average cost of such a transaction is now over $4.50, and N65.

ATM fees aren’t rising due to overwhelming demand. In fact, it’s the opposite. “It keeps getting easier to avoid the fees, and people are transitioning away from cash,” said Greg McBride, Bankrate.com’s chief financial analyst. “With fewer people making out-of-network ATM withdrawals, the cost of maintaining that network is being spread over fewer transactions.”

Instagram celebrity and gun fanatic Dan Bilzerian flees Las Vegas shooting

Internet famous poker player Dan Bilzerian witnessed the mass shooting that took place Sunday night in Las Vegas.

In dimly lit, expletive-filled videos posted to Instagram, Bilzerian can be seen apparently running from the area around the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino while describing one woman's death that took place right in front of him.

"F---, this girl just got shot in the f---ing head," Bilzerian recounted to his 23 million followers in the first video, uploaded around 10 p.m. local time (PDT), Business Insider reports. "So f---ing crazy."
Approximately an hour later, the web celebrity posted another clip offering further details into what he saw at the Route 91 Festival.
"So I had to go grab a gun," he says. "I'm f---ing headed back. It's f---ing so crazy - some kind of mass shooting. F---ing guy had a heavy caliber weapon for sure.

White House again rejects talks with North Korea on nuclear issue

The White House on Monday ruled out talks with North Korea except to discuss the fate of Americans held there, again appearing to rebuke Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who said Washington was directly communicating with Pyongyang on its nuclear and missile programs.

“We’ve been clear that now is not the time to talk,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters, reiterating a tweet from President Donald Trump at the weekend that was seen as undercutting Tillerson.

“The only conversations that have taken place were that ... would be on bringing back Americans who have been detained,” Sanders said. “Beyond that, there will be no conversations with North Korea at this time.”

Tillerson said on Saturday during a trip to China that the United States was directly communicating with North Korea on its nuclear and missile programs but that Pyongyang had shown no interest in dialogue.

Trump, who has traded insults and threats with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in recent weeks, later dismissed any prospect of talks with North Korea as a waste of time.

The mystery of Stephen Paddock — gambler, real estate investor, mass killer

He was 64 years old and, to those who knew him, showed no signs of mental illness, extreme political views or an unhealthy interest in guns. He liked to gamble, and had bounced around over the years, living in Southern California, Texas and Nevada. But he seemed to have plenty of money, and had held steady jobs as a mail carrier, accountant, auditor and apartment manager.

Stephen Paddock’s last stop was here, in Mesquite, Nev., a modest desert oasis 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, where he lived in a retirement community with his female partner and kept a low profile, conversing little and maintaining no Facebook or Twitter accounts.

In an era when social media invites full-throated expression of even the most minor annoyance, Paddock gave away no hint of whatever it was that drove him to commit mass murder on the Las Vegas Strip, killing 59 people in an assault on a country music festival late Sunday night.

“We are completely dumbfounded,” said a younger brother, Eric Paddock, who broke into tears in front of his suburban Orlando, Fla., home. “We can’t understand what happened.”

“He was always normal,” said Donald Judy, a former next-door neighbor who said he was struggling to reconcile the friendly conversations about real estate and family with carnage carried out from a hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

42 guns, loaded high-capacity magazines found in Vegas shooter's hotel room and Nevada home

A total of 42 guns were found in the suspected Las Vegas shooter's hotel room and house, police said Monday night.

Las Vegas Police Department Assistant Sheriff Todd R. Fasulo said that 23 guns were found in the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino room where suspected shooter Stephen Paddock fired into a crowd, and 19 were discovered out of his Mesquite, Nevada home.

Multiple loaded high-capacity magazines were found in the hotel room, law enforcement sources said earlier on Monday.

Among the guns and ammunition police found the in the room being used by Paddock were some high-powered rifles considered capable of penetrating police armor. There were also some handguns in the room.

CBS fires vice president who said Vegas victims didn't deserve sympathy because country music fans 'often are Republican'

CBS has parted ways with one of the company’s top lawyers after she said she is “not even sympathetic” to victims of the Las Vegas shooting because “country music fans often are Republican,” when discussing the tragic mass shooting that occurred in Las Vegas late Sunday night.

“This individual, who was with us for approximately one year, violated the standards of our company and is no longer an employee of CBS. Her views as expressed on social media are deeply unacceptable to all of us at CBS. Our hearts go out to the victims in Las Vegas and their families,” a CBS spokeswoman told Fox News.

Hayley Geftman-Gold, the network's now-former vice president and senior counsel, took to Facebook after a gunman opened fire at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas, killing at least 58 people and sending more than 500 others to hospitals.

Las Vegas Shooting Near Mandalay Bay Is Said to Kill at Least 2 #PrayForVagas

A gunman opened fire Sunday night at a concert outside a Las Vegas casino hotel, sending people fleeing as SWAT units searched for the attacker and the police investigated reports of shootings elsewhere in the city. At least two people were killed and 24 others injured, hospital officials said.

Reports said that the shooting happened near the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Video posted online showed a musician performing outside the hotel at Route 91 Harvest, a country music festival, interrupted by the sound of automatic gunfire. The music stopped, and concertgoers ducked for cover. “Get down,” one shouted. “Stay down,” screamed another.

North Korea ship seized with huge weapons cargo en route to Egypt amid WW3 fears

More than 30,000 rocket-propelled grenades discovered on board the freighter named the Jie Shun which the hermit kingdom had decorated with deceptive Cambodian colours.

Despot leader Kim Jong-un’s cargo was stopped in its tracks when the US warned Cairo about the incoming ship.

An investigation launched by the United Nations found that Pyongyang had made nice with Egyptian business executives who had ordered millions of dollars worth of North Korean weaponry.

The monumental weapons supply was disguised under bins of iron ore that were used as a front for the hugely destructive delivery.
Washington has accused Egypt of attempting to conceal the transaction, claiming there was a lack of action taken until US intelligence alerted Egyptian authorities to the then unidentified vessel.

Two women accused of murdering Kim Jong Nam plead not guilty

Two young women pleaded not guilty in a Malaysian court Monday morning charged with the murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's half-brother, Kim Jong Nam.

In one of the most audacious assassinations of the 21st century, Kim was poisoned with VX nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in February on his way back to his home in the Chinese territory of Macau.
Security footage showed the two women, 25-year-old Indonesian Siti Aisyah, and 29-year-old Vietnamese citizen Doan Thi Huong, walking up behind Kim and rubbing their hands on his face.
Malaysian authorities claim the pair were trained by North Korean agents to swab Kim's face with the nerve agent.

 Follow

Kochakorn @KochaOlarn

Trial of Two women accused of murdering Kim Jong Nam has begun. #CNN #KimJongNam

4:07 AM - Oct 2, 2017

•  Replies
 
•  22 Retweets
 
•  11 like

Twitter Ads info and privacy

Catalonia’s Independence Vote Descends Into Chaos and Clashes

Catalonia’s defiant attempt to stage an independence referendum descended into chaos on Sunday, with hundreds injured in clashes with police in one of the gravest tests of Spain’s democracy since the end of the Franco dictatorship in the 1970s.

National police officers in riot gear, sent by the central government in Madrid from other parts of Spain, used rubber bullets and truncheons in some places as they fanned out across Catalonia, the restive northeastern region, to shut down polling stations and seize ballot boxes.

The clashes quickly spoiled what had been a festive, if expectant, atmosphere among voters, many of whom had camped inside polling stations and stayed on into late Sunday night, fearful that officers might seize ballot boxes.
By the day’s end, both sides were claiming victory. Voting went ahead in many towns and cities, with men and women, young and old, singing and chanting as they lined up for hours to cast ballots. Just after midnight, the Catalan government said that the referendum had been approved by 90 percent of some 2.3 million voters. Those figures could not be independently confirmed.

Breaking: 9-years after, OJ Simpson has been released on parole from a jail in Nevada

Former US football star and actor OJ Simpson has been released on parole after nine years in a Nevada jail.

He had been serving time for armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and 10 other charges over a 2007 confrontation at a Las Vegas hotel.

Simpson was approved for early parole release in a board hearing in July. In 1995 he was infamously acquitted of the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goodman.

Marilyn Manson crushed by prop on stage in New York

Rock star Marilyn Manson was injured during a concert in New York when a large prop fell on him on stage.
The prop - apparently two large guns held together with metal scaffolding - fell as he was performing at the Hammerstein Ballroom on Saturday.
An eyewitness told the BBC that the singer laid on stage for up to 15 minutes covered by a sheet before he was carried out on a stretcher and taken to hospital.

Spanish riot police clashed with Catalan voters in Barcelona

Spanish riot police clashed with Catalan voters in Barcelona on Sunday as the controversial referendum on breaking away from Spain began.

Spanish national police began to seize ballot boxes and voting papers from Catalan polling stations, the Interior Ministry said.

An Al Jazeera correspondent at one confrontation saw several people with bleeding faces after they were beaten by security forces. Some people who attempted to vote and fought with riot police were taken away in ambulances after being injured.
At another polling station, would-be voters chanted "we are people of peace" and "we are not afraid". Half a dozen armoured police vans and an ambulance stood ready nearby, the witness said.