Despite earlier declarations from opposition leaders in Kiev that the Crimea referendum was illegal and Crimea would always be part of Ukraine, yesterday a plan was announced that Ukraine would pull out all its forces from Crimea. The forces, some 25,000 personnel, will be relocated to parts of Ukraine outside of the Crimea region.
Though not a formal recognition of Russian control over Crimea, it’s pretty close.
While the provisional government in Kiev has insisted that Russia’s annexation of Crimea is illegal and has appealed to international supporters for help, the evacuation announcement by the head of the national security council, Andriy Parubiy, effectively amounted to a surrender of Crimea, at least from a military standpoint.
It came hours after militiamen, backed by Russian forces, seized the headquarters of the Ukrainian Navy in Sevastopol and detained its commander, in what appeared to be the start of a concerted effort to oust the Ukrainian armed forces from outposts throughout the peninsula.
Imagine if the teen had nefarious intentions. The new tower which replaces the two destroyed in the World Trade Center attack on September 11th, is not completely finished but already, a security breach!
A daredevil New Jersey teen sneaked up to the antenna atop 1 World Trade Center in the middle of the night to take pictures — passing a sleeping guard, officials said Thursday.
Justin Casquejo, 16, managed to crawl threw a 12-by-12-inch hole in the construction fence surrounding the nation’s tallest building at about 4:10 a.m. on Sunday and then scaled scaffolding surrounding the tower to get inside, according to Port Authority spokesman Joe Pentangelo.
The teen told investigators he climbed the scaffolding until he was able to find an entry point on the sixth floor.
He rode the elevator to the 88th floor, according to court documents, and then “took the staircase up to 104th floor,” he told police.
“I went to the rooftop and climbed the ladder all the way to the antenna,” Casquejo admitted.
A Port Authority officer ultimately grabbed Casquejo on the 104th floor at 6 a.m. — two hours after he breached the gates, officials said.
The teen also crept by a sleeping private security guard on the 104th floor, who has since been fired, officials said.
Notice the infamous flight simulator in the background. Authorities have discovered that a month before Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah piloted the missing MH370 flight from Malaysia, he deleted a log from the simulator.
Eleven days now into this drama, and there’s s6ill no word on what happened to the plane and its passengers.
Marisol Matias, 51, came to the rescue of a 52-year-old female driver who was the victim of a bloody stabbing Tuesday in Cambria Heights, police sources said.
ROBERT STRIDIRON
Anthony Cudjoe (rear left) and another unidentified man hold down suspected carjacker Romario Walker in Cambria Heights, Queens.
A brave woman stopped a bloodthirsty carjacker in Queens on Tuesday by kicking a knife out of his hand, police sources said.
The terror started at 12:30 p.m. when Romario Walker jumped into an idling Hyundai in Cambria Heights and began stabbing the female driver in the hand, head and shoulder, sources said.
Romario Walker carjacked a woman in a Hyundai after stabbing her multiple times, cops said. Walker violently overturned the vehicle and went after other bystanders with the knife before he was apprehended, police said.
Marisol Matias came to the rescue after the 52-year-old victim hit the gas and slammed the car into a tree, police sources said.
As Walker, 19, tumbled out of the overturned vehicle, Matias, 51, started running toward him.
ROBERT STRIDIRON
An unidentified victim of Tuesday’s stabbing attack in Cambria Heights, Queens.
The teen waved his knife at people who gathered around the crash, slashing two men, before Matias, of Long Island, managed to kick the knife out of his hands, police sources said.
Charges against Walker were pending Tuesday night.
Steven Beisher
A New Jersey man paid almost $2,000 in blackmail money to an extortionist whom he had the bad luck to cross paths with over Craigslist. Philadelphia’s Steven J. Beisher, 42, pleaded guilty to second-degree theft by extortion yesterday and could face up to five years in prison for blackmailing an unidentified man who responded to his ad soliciting homosexual sex. According to Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman:
The victim responded to the ad in August 2012 and sent Beisher a naked photo of himself. Beisher found the victim’s telephone number and address and called him the following day, threatening to expose the victim to his wife and family if he did not pay Beisher money. Beisher called repeatedly to demand that the victim meet him at various locations in Philadelphia to make payments. The victim met Beisher seven times over the course of nine days, making payments ranging from $200 to $400. The victim paid Beisher a total of $1,950 before refusing to meet him again and reporting him to the State Police.
According to officials, Beisher has eight prior felony convictions in Pennsylvania, including five burglary convictions and two convictions for receiving stolen property. Most recently, he was convicted of theft by extortion in Pennsylvania in October 2012. He’ll be sentenced in July.
MIAMI (WFOR/CNN) – Chad Thomas, a senior at Booker T. Washington, is a teen with many talents. So many talents, that he has received hundreds of college scholarship offers.
Thomas, 18, has received 150 scholarships for his skills on the football field, but also for his exceptional musical abilities—playing a total of nine instruments.
Of the football and music scholarships offered, Thomas has chosen to attend the University of Miami and will play football as a Hurricane, and also practice his musical talents at the University’s Frost School of Music.
Thomas helped lead the Booker T. Tornadoes to back-to-back state championships and win a national title this season. But it’s not only being on the field that he loves—Thomas says he fell in love with music at the age of three while listening to his late grandmother’s gospel CDS.
Thomas said his grandmother bought him a guitar and also signed him up for piano lessons. By the time he was five, Thomas was performing.
“My plans…I’m going to UM for music technology and I’m going to play football,” said Thomas.
So play for the NFL or a career in music production—for Thomas his focus in in both.
“So if I make it to the NFL that would be a blessing for me,” said Thomas. But his love for music remains a strong passion. “I have love for music and took it upon myself to learn and play the instruments I hear in the songs.”
Thomas plays the piano, trombone, euphonium (a small tuba), bass guitar, regular guitar, snare, tuba, trumpet and drums.
When asked if he had to choose a career in either music or football, he paused for a moment but then finally answered.
Two people were killed and another injured this morning when a helicopter crashed in Seattle just yards away from the iconic Space Needle.
The helicopter was a news chopper owned by ABC News affiliate KOMO.
The chopper crashed moments after lift-off and quickly became engulfed in flames, killing two and sending a third victim to the hospital in critical condition, according to the Seattle Fire Department.
The two people that were killed were pilot Gary Pfitzner and photographer Bill Strothman, a recently-retired staffer who now works part-time, the station said.
The other person who was injured was only identified as a 38-year-old man who was inside a car at the time.
The crash site was just 50 feet away from the Space Needle, authorities said.
The helicopter did not hit the landmark.
The news station said the helicopter was lifting off from its roof when it hit the side of the building and crashed into several cars. Two cars were also on fire when firefighters arrived to douse the flames.
Plumes of smoke quickly filled the skies near Space Needle shortly after the crash.
The Seattle Fire Department said they do not know what caused the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board is en route to the scene to investigate the crash.
Paedophile: Loren Morris, 21, was sentenced to prison after a court found that she had slept with a child 50 times
A female paedophile has been jailed for having sex with an eight-year-old boy more than fifty times.
Loren Morris, 21, was 16 when she first slept with the schoolboy, who cannot be identified, and continued until he was ten years old.
Morris, who has a child of her own, would have regular intercourse with the boy, now 14, and was only found out after he was overheard bragging about it at school.
A judge today gave Morris a two-year prison sentence at Worcester Crown Court, following a trial last month where she was convicted of three counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 16.
She could be seen smiling and smoking outside the court today as she awaited her sentence.
The judge in the case told Morris that he would be lenient with the sentence – which will see her released from jail after one year – because she ‘realised it was wrong’ and stopped having sex with the boy.
West Mercia police said they started investigating Morris in March last year after the boy’s school told them that he had been heard bragging about having sex with her.
Judge Robert Juckes QC said: ‘I make no secret of the fact your case has given me cause for much consideration.
‘I have come to the conclusion that due to the concern and embarrassment caused to both you and your family that you will not be offending again, let alone committing sexual offences.
‘I am also aware of the effect this will have on your baby. I am pleased to hear your parents have started to build bridges with you.
‘That does not stop the fact though that you had full sexual intercourse with a child when he was eight to 10 years old – by his evidence it was upwards of fifty times.
‘It seems to me that I am bound to pass an immediate custodial sentence. I take into account what has been said to me and the fact that you stopped the activity yourself.
‘You realised it was wrong rather than being caught and forced to stop. Therefore my sentence is one of two years. You will serve 12 months in prison before being released on licence.’
Defence lawyer Antonie Mullers had told the court Morris was struggling to accept the facts of the case, and asked Judge Juckes to spare her a prison sentence altogether.
He said: ‘Her immaturity at 21 means she cannot accept the facts yet. She accepts her conviction but with time will accept more.
‘Her parents have stepped in and are building bridges, I understand she has met with some of her family.
‘This could be stifled by a custodial sentence so I urge your honour or try and suspend it if possible.’
Morris, from Lyde, Herefordshire, will serve two years each for the three counts to be served concurrently.
Her sentence included a Sexual Offences Prevention Order, banning her from contact with a child under 16 without permission of a parent. She was also ordered to sign the Sexual Offenders Register, where her details will remain for ten years.
This is the horrifying moment a couple who rode through a red light on their tricycle were hit and sent flying by car which killed them.
Authorities have released the graphic photograph in attempt to shock people into following traffic laws in Linhai, in the Zhejiang province, China.
Hu Mou and his wife were driving a small tricycle but ignored a red light on February 5.
In the photograph their bodies are captured being hurtled into the air after they are hit by a car.
The tricycle which they were riding was completely destroyed and neither Mou or his wife survived the crashed.
Shocking: Authorities have released this graphic photograph of Mou and his wife in attempt to shock people into following traffic laws in Linhai, in the Zhejiang province, China
Such vitriol. What would prompt two New Yorkers to stand on a cold New York street early in the morning holding a sign calling for De Blasio’s dearh? The new mayor is planning to rid the city of the horse drawn carriges, a staple of Central Park in Manhattan, and people are really upset about that.
Calling the horse drawn carriages “inhumane” de Blasio promised to quickly end the practice.
“We are going to quickly and aggressively move to make horse carriages no longer a part of the landscape in New York City,” de Blasio said, according to NBC New York. “They are not humane. … It’s over.”
Animal rights advocacy groups lauded de Blasio’s pledge.
“We believe that the use of carriage horses in 21st century New York City is unnatural, unnecessary, and an undeniable strain on the horses’ quality of life,” Stacy Wolf, senior vice president of the ASPCA’s Anti-Cruelty Group, said in an email to NBC News.
Carriage operators beg to differ.
Stephen Malone, who’s been in the business for 26 years, told NBC News that he anticipates a long and contentious bout with de Blasio over the proposed ban.
“We look forward to having a long battle with him,” he said.
According to Malone, who’s father began in the business in 1964, there have been only three horse fatalities due to traffic in 30 years.
Malone added that he and and the other carriage owners are willing to sue de Blasio and the city if need be to protect their livelihoods.
One carriage and horse owner, who asked only to be identified as Robert, told NBC News on Monday that the carriage ride is iconic to the city.
“People expect us to be here,” he said. “It’s like taking away the Empire State Building. It’s the same as taking the (Christmas) tree from Rock Center.”
Since Central Park opened in 1857, horse-drawn carriages have traveled through the park in its sundry narrow passage ways, Sid Kolo, field manager for New York Central Park Tours, told NBC News.
I think I’m just going to assume that the Democrats will lose the Senate in November and prepare myself as I would for any frustrating event I’ve endured over the past few years. That way, if they do eke out a win or tie, then it will be that much sweeter.
There’s been no shortage of discussion about the ramification of a GOP takeover of the Senate, but not much would really change, save for the fact that no judges or executive appointments would be ratified. The Congress would pass some bills that President Obama would veto, and the country would be treated to an intramural fight as the far more conservative House would pass more extreme bills that the less extreme Senate would either ignore or try to temper so that they’re palatable to the larger caucus. In short, how would this term be different from all other terms, save for Obama’s first two years in office?
Which makes former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs’ comment that a Democratic loss would mean that “The party’s over” seem rather quaint. The party’s been over and it doesn’t look like it’s coming back anytime soon. Even if the Republicans take the Senate, they will most likely lose it back to the Democrats in 2016, because the GOP will have to defend a whopping 27 seats and convince the young, the Hispanic and the African-American that they have their best interests at heart. And they’ll have to win the presidency, which at this point doesn’t look like it will ever happen.
The GOP seems to think that young people are in play because they aren’t signing up for health insurance at the rate that the ACA needs in order to function, but recent surveys show that the millennials aren’t attached to either political party, and less so to the Republicans. It is true that many people become more conservative as they gather life experiences such as marriages, children and mortgages, but let’s remember that on social issues, the younger generation is far removed from the right wing scolds who want to decide who gets rights and who doesn’t. And we’ve also seen the effects of less government involvement in, say, North Carolina, that should scare people away from a more libertarian direction.
It hasn’t been a good year for Democrats so far, but nothing that a more robust turnout can’t alter. But the party? Turn out the lights.
The investigation is looking at the pilot off the missing Malaysia airplane and the political beliefs he held. And the strange move his wife and kids made a day before the Malaysia flight took off.
An image has emerged of the pilot of the missing Malaysia Airlines jet wearing a T-shirt with a ‘Democracy is Dead’ slogan as it has been revealed he could have hijacked the plane in an anti-government protest.
Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a father-of-three, was said to be a ‘fanatical’ supporter of the country’s opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim – jailed for homosexuality just hours before the jet disappeared.
It has also been revealed that the pilot’s wife and three children moved out of the family home the day before the plane went missing.
It comes as FBI investigators say the disappearance of MH370 may have been ‘an act of piracy’ and the possibility that hundreds of passengers are being held at an unknown location has not been ruled out.
Officials also revealed that it is possible the aircraft could have landed and transmitted a satellite signal from the ground. If the plane was intact and had enough electrical power in reserve, it would be able to send out a radar ‘ping’.
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