Liberian soldiers enforce quarantine order at gunpoint, volunteers paid 4 pounds to bury corpses

In Monrovia, Liberia, soldiers scan people for signs of the Ebola virus, as they control people from entering the West Point area of the city, where the quarantine is in place

 The continued spread of the Ebola virus in Liberia has led to quarantines being put in place in one of the worst affected areas. In Dolo Town, soldiers have created a weapon-guarded blockades to enforce a strict quarantine on some 20,000 residents living near to the international airport.

Families, who live in the West Point area of Monrovia, where the outbreak has been particularly bad, have been left desperate as they are banned from leaving the area to stock up on everyday supplies. 

The abandoned streets - including the usually-bustling shops, churches and market place - have become reminiscent of a ghost town, only seeing activity when hungry residents are allowed to stand behind a green rope and wait for their consignment of rice from the government.   

Meanwhile, volunteers are being paid four pounds per day to sterilize and bury the bodies of those who have died after contracting the deadly Ebola virus.

As the crisis continues to spread across West African countries, workers in Kenema, Sierra Leone, have been pictured donning special protective gear and face masks to carry out the harrowing tasks of safely burying the infected bodies in graveyards.

Rigorous quarantine measures have been put in place across the country to stop the spread of Ebola, which the World Health Organisation says has now affected more than 2,600 people worldwide. 

There is no cure for Ebola and outbreaks have a death rate of up to 90 per cent. The effects of the disease normally appear between two and 21 days after infection. It is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through person-to-person transmission.

Residents wash with chlorine water while lining up to receive a ration of nine cups of rice each at a distribution centre in Dolo Town, Liberia. Riots can sometimes break out as desperate residents try and get enough food for their families 

West Point residents stand behind a green string marking a holding area, as they wait for their ration of food to be handed out

American aid goods are loaded onto a truck after it arrived by aircraft. The food is given to those who are quarantined to halt the spread of the virus

A Liberian soldier working for the Ebola Task Force in Dolo Town stands to stop thousands of residents based near the international airport leaving the area, where a strict quarantine has been enforced by the government, in a bid to halt the spread of the virus

Thousands of residents from Dolo Town are being taken to government clinics to be tested. Here, a Liberian Ministry of Health worker checks people for Ebola symptoms at a checkpoint near the international airport 

A health worker helps a sick girl onto a truck to be taken to the county clinic for observation for possible Ebola. The virus is spreading across the country, causing widespread panic

Culled from DAILY MAIL

Woman kills leopard with a spade after it attacked her in the farm.

The mother-of-one had to walk more than half-a-mile before finding help. having suffered several fractures and deep cuts

A 54-year-old Indian woman has killed a leopard using only her farming tools after it attacked her on her way home from the fields.

Kamla Devi remains in hospital after a one-hour battle with the predator near her village in Rudraprayag district, Uttarakhand on Sunday.

The mother-of-one used a sickle and a small spade to fight off the leopard, after which she had to walk more than half-a-mile before finding help.

The leopard attacked Ms Devi as she walked back from working in the fields, and she claims it took an hour before the injured leopard gave in.

She suffered deep cuts on her body and three fractures, and had lost significant amounts of blood by the time she reached a hospital.

The animal was later found dead near Ms Devi’s village, Koti Bodna, in Rudarprayag.

‘While Kamla was on her way to the village, the leopard attacked her,' an unamed villager told India Today.

'She showed great courage by fighting the animal with a sickle and a small spade. The animal fled the spot after the struggle. We later found the leopard dead near the village.'

Wildlife expert Lakhpat Rawat expressed surprise at how long the fight had been going on for.

"A leopard will back out from attack only when it finds the opposition is strong. Mostly the attack is limited to a few minutes, not more than 10 minutes.

Mr Rawat adds that the reason the leopard kept attacking could have been that it was too young and inexperienced

‘I also feel that the large number of injuries would have motivated the beast to continue attacking in the hope of killing the woman,’ he said.

Ms Devi, a widow, told local media that she remembers the entire fight, and how long it was.

Medical staff has said that although she is in stable condition, she has had to have more than 100 stitches, suffering deep cuts on her head and legs.

She is also being treated for two fractures on her right hand and one on her left.

Kamla Devi, 54, remains in hospital after a one-hour battle with the leopard near her village in Rudraprayag district, Uttarakhand on Sunday

Culled from DAILY MAIL

Man calls 911 after stripper refused to have sex with him

William McDaniel

After paying $350 for a private dance at a gentlemen’s club, a Montana man called police to complain that the stripper did not have sex with him. 

William McDaniel, 53, paid for the dance Saturday evening at Sagebrush Sam’s Exotic Dance Club and Casino in Rocker, a Butte suburb.

But when he did not get the expected sex, he dialed 911 to register a consumer complaint.

This was a mistake on McDaniel’s part.

After questioning McDaniel, police arrested him for offering money for sexual favors, a misdemeanor. He was booked into the Butte-Silver Bow Detention Center, from which he was released Sunday morning after posting $550 bond.

It is unclear whether McDaniel (seen in the above mug shot) allegedly sought the sex in the Champagne Room at Sagebrush Sam’s, which has only one review on Yelp. In March, “Dan M.” complained that the club “is dirty and smells like vomit” and needed a “complete makeover.” He added, “Even the stripper pole looked like it was going to break loose from the floor. Cleanliness and attitude need to be addressed. I will not go back.”

Culled from The Smoking Gun

Missiles from Israel rain down on the Gaza after 47 days of bloody conflict with Hamas

For Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Strip, it's a sight that has become all-too familiar.

Paralysed with terror, this pair could do little more than gawp as a missile fired from an Israeli warplane hurtled towards a home just a couple of dozen yards away.

Pictures sent from the under-siege territory showed them wince as a ball of flame ripped through its target. 

It wasn't until the blast had subsided that they even had the wherewithal to hit the deck.

Israel's latest round of attacks on Gaza entered its 47th day today, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to 'intensify' the air assault after an Israeli boy was killed yesterday in a mortar attack by Hamas militants.

Two Palestinian children were killed today, along with three adults from the same family. They join the more than 2,090 people killed in Gaza since attacks began in July. Close to 500 of those were children.

 

Israel has registered 68 casualties, 64 of them soldiers killed in Gaza after the Israeli Defence Force invaded the territory. 

Hamas militants continued to fire rockets into Israel. Talks for a long-lasting truce have so far proven fruitless, with each side blaming the other every time temporary ceasefires have collapsed.

Responding to the death of a four-year-old Israeli boy in a village close to the Gaza border hit by Hamas rocket fire yesterday, Mr Netanyahu vowed the group, which runs Gaza, would pay a 'heavy price'.

'Netanyahu sends his condolences to the family of the 4 year old boy that was killed this afternoon by a mortar round fired by Hamas,' his spokesman Ofir Gendelman wrote on Twitter.

'PM: Hamas will pay a heavy price for this attack. IDF & ISA will intensify ops against Hamas until the goal of #ProtectiveEdge is achieved.'

Today Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas announced Egypt is to invite Israeli and Palestinian delegations to Cairo to resume peace talks, while Hamas pledged to support a Palestinian bid to join the International Criminal Court.

'Egypt is going to invite delegates to return to the negotiating table to consider a long-term truce,' Mr Abbas said after talks with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

A previous round of truce talks collapsed on Tuesday, shattering nine days of calm. Since then at least 17 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the UN figures released yesterday and reports in today.

The number of Palestinians forced to flee their homes has also continued to rise. The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that 460,000 Gazans - more than a quarter of the entire population of the strip - have now been displaced.

Eighty-four UN-run schools in the territory are now sheltering 292,000 people, and numbers were expected to exceed 300,000 soon. The rest have been housed with host families.

The United Nations Relief Works Agency, which provides assistance and protection to Palestinian refugees, yesterday warned it was reaching the limits of its abilities.

'With the military escalation in its 46th day and world attention turning towards other crises, the intensity of hostilities has reverted to the early days of the operation,' the agency said in a statement.

'Unlike at the beginning of the escalation, however, aerial bombardments occur during the daytime and west of the former buffer zone, where all of UNRWA shelters are located and where the majority of the Gaza population lives ...

'In response to this unprecedented escalation, UNRWA is essentially providing support to the entire population of the 

Fears grew of a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza as two Hamas officials today revealed the group has signed a pledge to back any Palestinian bid to join the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Such a step could expose Israel - as well as Hamas - to war crimes investigations. Israel strongly opposes the involvement of the ICC.

Palestinian President Abbas has debated for months whether to join the court, a step that would transform his relations with Israel from tense to openly hostile and could also strain his ties with the United States.

The decision by Hamas to sign a document in support of a court bid removes a major obstacle, though it's not clear if Mr Abbas now will go ahead.

A hesitant Mr Abbas has said he would not make any decision without the written backing of all Palestinian factions. Last month, he obtained such support from all factions in the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

Hamas, which is not a PLO member, had said it would study the idea. Its decision to support the court option came after almost seven weeks of a deadly cross-border war with Israel and several failed cease-fire efforts.

Since July 8, Gaza militants have fired more than 3,800 rockets and mortar shells at Israel, while Israel launched about 5,000 air strikes at Gaza, Israel's military said.

Israel has said it has targeted sites linked to militants, including rocket launchers and weapons. But UN and Palestinian officials say three-quarters of those killed in Gaza have been civilians.

On Saturday, an air strike on a house in central Gaza killed two women, two children and a man, according to medics at the Red Crescent. Six strikes also hit a house in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza, causing severe damage and wounding at least five people, Gaza police said.

Since the start of the Gaza war, Mr Abbas has come under growing domestic pressure to pave the way for a possible war crimes investigation of Israel. Last month, he told senior PLO officials and leaders of smaller political groups he would only go ahead if Hamas supports the bid.

If Mr Abbas were to turn to the court, Hamas could be investigated for indiscriminate rocket fire at Israel since 2000. Israel could come under scrutiny for its actions in the current Gaza war as well as decades of settlement building on illegally occupied territories.

Izzat Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said today that Hamas was not concerned about becoming a target of a war crimes investigation and urged Abbas to act 'as soon as possible.'

'We are under occupation, under daily attack and our fighters are defending their people,' he said in a phone interview from Qatar.

'These rockets are meant to stop Israeli attacks and it is well known that Israel initiated this war and previous wars.'

However, it is not clear if such arguments would hold up in court. After the last major round of Israel-Hamas fighting more than five years ago, a UN fact-finding team said both Israel and Hamas violated the rules of war by targeting civilians - Hamas by firing unguided rockets at Israel and Israel by using its high-tech, guided weaponry to wreak destruction in Gaza, one of the world's most densely populated urban areas.

Hamas' decision to back a court bid came after meetings on Thursday and Friday in Qatar between Mr Abbas and the top Hamas leader in exile, Khaled Mashaal.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas leader who participated in the meetings, wrote on his Facebook page early this morning that 'Hamas has signed the paper' of support Abbas had requested. Abu Marzouk's post was also reported on Hamas news websites.

There was no comment from Mr Abbas's aides.

A senior Palestinian official has said Mr Abbas likely would wait for the findings of a UN-appointed commission of inquiry into possible Gaza war crimes - due by March - before turning to the court. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss internal deliberations with reporters.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined comment. Israel opposes involving the court, arguing that Israel and the Palestinians should deal with any issues directly.

A former International Criminal Court prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, told The Associated Press earlier this week that he believes drawing the court into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict might be a positive step.

'I think the ICC could contribute to a solution' of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said.

He noted that the court, established in 2002, would only get involved if it determined that the two sides are not conducting their own credible investigations of alleged war crimes.

Turning to the International Criminal Court became an option for Abbas in 2012, after the U.N. General Assembly recognised 'Palestine' in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, lands captured by Israel in 1967, as a non-member observer state. 

The upgrade to a state opened the door to requesting the court's jurisdiction in Palestine.

Gaza Strip.'

Take cover: As debris flies the witnesses throw themselves to the floor as others flee the scene in terror

Panic: Palestinians run for safety after the strike, as smoke rises from what used to be a house

Death: Men carry the body of one of five pople killed in an airstrike in the central Gaza city of Nusseirat today

Innocents: An injured Palestinian boy standing in his family's damaged house looks up as people inspect the remains of the house next door which was destroyed by an Israeli air strike

Destruction: Four girls watch as men pick through what remains of a house that was struck last night

The future: A child looks back at the photographer as neighbours gather around a house that was hit overnight


Culled from DAILY MAIL

Bride who slept with ex-lover on wedding night was set on fire and killed by groom

Mother of one Veronika Filippova had sought out her former partner after her new spouse fell asleep drunk at their wedding reception

A bride was doused with alcohol and set on fire by her new husband after she slept with an ex-lover on her wedding night, say police.

Mother-of-one Veronika Filippova had sought out her former partner after her new spouse fell asleep drunk at their wedding reception.

The 27-year-old had 80 per cent burns on her body and died despite frantic efforts by doctors to save her.

News site Life News reported that the bride took 'revenge' on her husband after he passed out at their wedding party, but was later overcome with guilt and told him everything.

He responded by dousing her with neat alcohol - used to make homemade vodka - before igniting her in flames with a cigarette lighter.

'He set her on fire when she was sleeping, pouring alcohol on her and our Veronica is gone,' said relatives of Filippova's in an online posting.

The relatives, Olesya and Yuriy Prosin, also claimed that Kuzmin had hidden from his wife a previous conviction for attempted murder and attempted rape involving an underage girl, which led to a ten year prison sentence.

'He did not have enough of a conscience to confess to Veronika that he was in prison for trying to rape an underage girl and attempted to burn the apartment to hide the evidence. He is nothing but scum.'

Another version was that the couple went our for a beer the day after the wedding and this is when the row erupted leading to her being doused in alcohol and set alight.

'The woman tried to escape, but her husband caught up with her and struck a lighter,' it was reported.

Police confirmed that Kuzmin had confessed to killing his wife.

The alleged lover she visited on her wedding night was not identified.

Sergey Domnyshev, an investigator in the Kirov district of Volgograd, confirmed to the media Kuzmin's previous convictions and jail term.

He now faces a possible 15 year prison sentence.

Filippova was previously married and had a ten year old son by her first husband.

Ivan Kuzmin, 30, (pictured with Veronika, left, during happier times) responded by dousing her with neat alcohol - used to make homemade vodka - before igniting her in flames with a cigarette lighter

Ms Filippova was previously married and had a ten year old son by her first husband


Culled from DAILY MAIL

Morgue attendant confesses to sex with 100 dead women

Kenneth Douglas

An Ohio morgue attendant admitted to having sex with at least 100 corpses while on the job, federal officials said in court Friday.

Kenneth Douglas, a 60-year-old Hamilton, Ohio resident, said he had sex with the corpses between 1976 and 1992 while working the night shift, WCPO reported.

In his deposition as part of a lawsuit against Hamilton County, Douglas admitted to being drunk and on drugs while committing the crimes.

“I would just get on top of them and pull my pants down,” Hamilton said in a deposition to the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals, according to WPTV.

"If I hadn't had anything to drink when I went to work, it wouldn't happen," Douglas added. "I would do crack and go in and drink and go in."

Douglas was convicted of gross corpse abuse in 2008 after admitting to having sex with the corpse of a 19-year-old woman who had been murdered and nearly decapitated in 1991.

In 2012, Douglas admitted to having sex with two more corpses. In the case of another murder victim, Douglas said he had sex with her corpse the day she was killed.

Now, Douglas has admitted to having sex with up to 100 corpses, many times while the bodies were being stored for autopsies.

His crimes were first revealed when DNA connected him to semen found in one of his victims in 2008. The woman's killer, David Steffan, admitted killing the woman but denied raping her, according to the NY Daily News.

The county is now being sued by the families of three of the victims, who said the morgue director failed "recklessly and wantonly" to supervise Douglas.

The families' case is supported by the wife of Douglas, who said she had tried to alert the morgue to her husband's actions, but was told to stop calling.

More from WCPO:

Douglas' wife testified in a deposition that he reeked of sex when she picked him up from work. She said she called the coroner's office and reported him, but the morgue supervisor told her to stop calling.

"He said, 'Whatever happens on county time and on county property is county business,'" said Douglas' wife.

The county argued that because the cases involved unknown criminal acts of an employee, it should not be held liable.

Culled from HUFF POST

Pope backs military action against Iraq extremists

Pope Francis has stated military intervention in Iraq is justified to prevent extremists' 'unjust aggression'

The Pope last night backed military action in Iraq to stop the bloody persecution of thousands of Christians by Islamist fanatics.

In a dramatic intervention, Pope Francis said military force could be justified against the murderous extremists of Islamic State in order to counter their ‘unjust aggression’.

He also revealed he is considering making an extraordinary visit to northern Iraq to show solidarity with Christians who are being murdered, raped and driven from their homes by the terrorists who have seized control of large swathes of Iraq.

His intervention came at the end of another day of fast-moving developments in which:

• David Cameron faced criticism for heading off for a second summer holiday just hours after warning that Islamic State terrorists could bring ‘mayhem to our own streets’ unless they are crushed;
• It emerged that Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has also gone on holiday only a day after warning that the British military could be involved in Iraq for months; 
• US President Barack Obama broke off from his summer holiday in order to deal with the crisis and other domestic issues;
• Downing Street ruled out the use of combat troops and played down the prospect of direct British involvement in air strikes;
• Kurdish forces claimed to have regained control of the strategic Mosul dam following assistance from US air strikes; 
• Pressure grew at Westminster for a recall of Parliament to debate plans for responding to the crisis.

Church leaders have criticised the slow response of the West to the persecution of Christians in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East.

But the Pope last night went much further, giving conditional backing to the use of military force to halt the march of Islamic State.

Speaking to journalists while returning from a trip to South Korea, Pope Francis indicated he would prefer military action to be backed by the United Nations.

Asked if he approved of the unilateral American action on militants he said: ‘In these cases, where there is an unjust aggression, I can only say that it is licit to stop the unjust aggressor.

‘I underscore the verb “stop”. I’m not saying “bomb” or “make war”, just stop. And the means that can be used to stop them must be evaluated.’

The Pope also said he and his advisers were considering whether he might go to northern Iraq himself to show solidarity with persecuted Christians.

His comments represent a remarkable about-turn for the Vatican, which has vehemently opposed any military intervention in recent years. Only last year Pope Francis staged a global prayer and fast for peace when the West was threatening air strikes against Syria.

But the ferocity of the attacks against Christians in recent weeks has raised the issue of whether intervention in Iraq could be considered a ‘just war’.

Mr Cameron yesterday risked charges of complacency after quietly departing for a second summer holiday. The Prime Minister insisted he would remain in charge of Britain’s response to the Iraq crisis during a week-long break to Cornwall.

Mr Cameron said he would remain ‘within a few feet’ of his BlackBerry mobile phone even while on the beach. ‘I always make sure there are senior ministers on duty in Westminster,’ he said after delivering a speech in central London.

‘But I don’t hand over the Government to a deputy. Wherever I am, wherever I am in the world, I am always within a few feet of a BlackBerry and an ability to manage things should they need to be managed.

‘For the next few days I shall not be terribly far away, so if that’s necessary you will find me at my desk.’

But Labour MP Ann Clwyd, Britain’s former special envoy to Iraq, said it was extraordinary that Mr Cameron was pressing ahead with his holiday at a time of crisis.

She told the Daily Mail: ‘The Prime Minister should not be going on holiday at such a volatile time. He’s been sounding off, saying Islamic State is a threat to the West. He is right to do that but it just not acceptable to then push off on holiday.’

Miss Clwyd said Parliament should be recalled to debate the crisis. She said she would back some form of military intervention, including the rescue of an estimated 3,000 women and girls of the Yazidi sect captured by fanatics.

Some Tory MPs also added to pressure for a recall of Parliament.

Conor Burns said: ‘Parliament should be recalled ... so MPs can debate what is going on in Iraq, and we are very naive if we think that what is unfolding on the streets of Iraq has nothing to do with us.’

Earlier, Mr Cameron insisted the Government has a ‘fully worked through’ strategy to deal with the threat of Islamic State, including police action to tackle supporters in this country.

He said Britain was ‘not going to get involved in another war in Iraq’.

‘We are not going to be putting boots on the ground,’ he said. ‘Yes, we should use all the assets that we have – our diplomacy, our political relationships, our aid, the military prowess, the expertise that we have to help others ... to put pressure on Islamic State and make sure ... it cannot cause mayhem on our own streets.’

Number 10 said a recall of Parliament was ‘not on the cards’ unless the situation changes.

Discussions are currently taking place with authorities in Kurdistan about what military equipment Britain could provide.

• A takeaway manager from Liverpool is among a number of British Kurds who have returned to their homeland to fight Islamic State in Iraq. Mohammed Abudullah told Sky News: ‘I’m here just for Kurdistan, for Kurdish people, for my family. I don’t care if I get killed or not.’ Also interviewed was Saman Baqi, who is originally from Leeds, but travelled to Iraq to fight the terrorists.

Culled from Daily mail

Man allegedly beat 1 yr-old baby to death after child peed on him

Austin Hamilton  and  Sincere Williams

A Florida man faces first-degree murder and child abuse charges in the beating death of his girlfriend's 1-year-old son.

Austin Hamilton, 24, is accused of using a belt to whip the baby at least 10 times after the child, Sincere Williams, urinated on him during a diaper change.

The couple, the baby, and an older child were living at a Tampa Motel 6. Tiffany Williams, who is the victim's mother, left the children in her boyfriend's care when she went to work on Saturday morning. That evening, Hamilton placed a 911 call to report that the child had stopped breathing.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Hamilton also called the boy's mother, who rushed home from work. She found the child purple in the face and with sunken cheeks.

Responders took the child to a local hospital, where he later died. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the lower abdomen.

According to Tampa police, Hamilton at first denied wrongdoing, but changed his story in a subsequent interview.

WFLA reports:

"He lost control" and hit the victim several times all over his body with a leather belt, the police report said. He went on to state that while he was disciplining the child, he tried to pick the victim up, but the child fell and hit his head.

Hamilton remains in jail after a judge denied him bail on Monday. Williams told the Tampa Bay Times that she hopes Hamilton gets the death penalty.

"He'd better get death," Williams told the newspaper. "He made my son suffer. Now he needs to suffer."

Culled from Huff post

Man allegedly brutalized girlfriend because he dreamed she cheated on him

Carlos Gascon

A man vacationing in Summerland Key, Florida, with his girlfriend is accused of viciously beating her and a dog because he had a dream in which she cheated on him.

Carlos Gascon, 27, was arrested Fridayafter the woman called for help at about 6:45 p.m., the Miami Herald reports.

She told officials that he became angrier at her earlier in the day because of his dream, and that he cut her leg with a knife, poured hot coffee on her, threatened to kill her at knife point and slammed her down on a glass table so hard that it broke, according to a news release from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. He also allegedly slammed his dog against the ground and stepped on the animal’s neck.

The woman also said she was unable to find her phone or car keys and she thought Gascon had thrown them in a canal behind the house. She told police she was only able to call for help when she did because Gascon passed out, according to ABC 7.

Gascon is charged with aggravated battery, aggravated assault, domestic battery by strangulation, battery, false imprisonment, and animal cruelty.

Culled from Huff post

Man reports self to cops after 'brutally raping woman' in his house

Joel Jones

Palm Beach County Sheriff's officials in Florida say a man called 911 on himself after sexually assaulting a woman who had responded to a Craigslist ad for a cleaning job.

The Palm Beach Post (http://bit.ly/1ruI5gC ) reports 47-year-old Joel Jones flagged down deputies responding to the call Tuesday evening. Before they could ask his name, he began shouting, "Take me to jail."

According to an arrest report, Jones told deputies he "tricked" the woman into meeting him and had "brutally raped her."

The victim said Jones attacked her as he was showing her an office building she would be cleaning. She says he let her go after sexually assaulting her and she heard him calling 911 as she left.

Culled from WPTV