A woman has been stabbed to death in a Sydney park shortly after telling her husband that a suspicious man was following her.
Prabha Arun Kumar was taking a shortcut through Parramatta Park at around 9.30pm on Saturday when she was murdered in what police say was a "horrific" attack.
She was just 300 metres from home when the killer stabbed her repeatedly in the neck.
Mrs Kumar was found by a passer-by but died in hospital from massive blood loss.
"She was walking while talking to [her husband] on the phone when she said that a suspicious-looking man was following her," brother-in-law Thrijesh Jayachandra told Indian newspaper The Hindu.
"The next moment he heard her scream for help and then plead with the man not to harm her and take all her belongings if he wanted.
"Seconds later, he heard her scream and say she was stabbed."
Police have released CCTV of Mrs Kumar walking from Parramatta Railway Station.
"Here we have an Indian national who has been in the country for some time, going about her business and ends up being killed in a very vicious way," said New South Wales homicide squad commander Michael Willing.
"It's a horrific crime. It's a very, very disturbing crime.
"We think that she sustained a number of injuries to the neck area with what we believe is a sharp-edged weapon."
Commander Willing said there was nothing to suggest the murder was racially motivated but that they were examining all possibilities.
Mrs Kumar, a 41-year-old IT worker, was planning to move back to India in April to be reunited with her nine-year-old daughter.
Her husband has now flown to Australia to help with the investigation.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Archaeologists have begun excavating some 3,000 skeletons from a 17th Century burial ground used during the Great Plague.
The grave at the site of the new Liverpool Street station, which will serve the London Crossrail line, was used as a burial ground from 1569 until 1738 and it is hoped tests on excavated victims will enable a better understanding of the disease.
Lead archaeologist Jay Carver said: "This excavation presents a unique opportunity to understand the lives and deaths of 16th and 17th century Londoners.
"The Bedlam burial ground spans a fascinating phase of London's history, including the transition from the Tudor-period city into cosmopolitan early-modern London.
"This is probably the first time a sample of this size from this time period has been available for archaeologists to study in London.
"Bedlam was used by a hugely diverse population from right across the social spectrum and from different areas of the city."
A team of 60 archaeologists will work in shifts six days a week to remove the skeletons in what could be London's most valuable 16th and 17th-century cemetery site.
They have already found more than 10,000 artefacts spanning many years of London's past across more than 40 construction sites. It is the UK's largest archaeology project.
Preliminary excavations at the Liverpool Street site in 2013 and 2014 uncovered more than 400 skeletons and numerous artefacts.
The Great Plague killed an estimated 100,000 people in 1665-66, nearly a quarter of London's population, and tests on excavated plague victims will further understanding of the evolution of the plague
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
The head of the BBC Trust has been told by a senior MP she is "totally incompetent" and should resign.
Margaret Hodge, chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, gave Rona Fairhead a dressing down during a hearing over failings at HSBC bank where she had oversight of the bank's audit committee.
It followed revelations the bank had allowed tax avoidance and evasion to go on while she was in that role at the bank, and which she only moved from in 2010.
Ms Hodge said: "I'm going to say something as a licence fee payer.
"I think you knew (there was) tax evasion, or you didn't know and I think in that case you are either incredibly naive or totally incompetent and I don't think that the record that you've shown, or your performance here as a guardian of HSBC, gives me the confidence that you should be the guardian of the BBC licence fee payers.
"I really do think you should consider your position and you should think about resigning and if not, I think the Government should sack you."
Ms Fairhead said she totally refuted the accusation.
She said: "In the period when I was chair of the committees I was in a non-executive position of oversight … at that time I think it is reasonable for a non executive director to rely on the policies, the management structures in place, to rely on independent experts that had been commissioned because of their expertise to highlight issues.
"That was absolutely what we insisted on. You can ask anybody in the bank, we were unyielding if we discovered or thought or suspected of any wrongdoing. So I absolutely refute what you said."
Ms Fairhead had been grilled by the committee for nearly two hours over her role at the bank during the period when the alleged tax evasion went on.
She was repeatedly asked how it was her committee had not picked up the tax evasion, when its role was to make sure the bank was adhering to the rules and regulations of the banking industry.
She revealed that she is paid £334,000 a year by HSBC for between 75 and 100 days of work a year, carries out around 150 to 180 days of work a year for the BBC Trust and around 25 days work a year for Pepsi.
Also facing questions were current HSBC CEO Stuart Gulliver and former CEO Chris Meares who were both attacked over their roles.
Last month, a number of stolen files were made public in a French newspaper which claimed that HSBC's Swiss private banking arm helped clients in more than 200 countries evade taxes on accounts containing £77bn ($119bn).
The alleged evasion was said to have taken place at HSBC's private bank in Switzerland in the mid-2000s.
HSBC chairman Douglas Flint previously told Parliament's Treasury Select Committee that the executives at the time bear "fairly direct responsibility for what went on in the private bank during their stewardship".
Mr Meares told the Public Accounts Committee: "I was not personally accountable for the actions of individuals in Switzerland but I absolutely share responsibility for the events, if any of these reported practices went on, for what happened on my watch."
When Ms Hodge asked Rona Fairhead if she knew what was going on, the BBC Trust chairwoman said: "No I did not.
"Was any evidence brought to the committee of the practices that we are talking about now, the answer is absolutely no."
The BBC Trust has defended Ms Fairhead, saying in a statement: "Rona Fairhead is committed to her role as Chairman of the BBC Trust, representing the interests of licence fee payers. As she has said before, the BBC is her main priority."
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
SPANISH FORK, Utah (AP) — A baby survived a car crash in a frigid Utah river after being strapped in a car seat upside-down for about 14 hours before being found by a fisherman, officers said.
The 18-month-old girl's condition was upgraded from critical to stable but critical condition at a Salt Lake City hospital, but her 25-year-old mother, Lynn Groesbeck of Springville, was found dead in the car, police said Sunday.
The fisherman discovered the car on its top about 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the Spanish Fork River in Spanish Fork, about 50 miles south of Salt Lake City, police Lt. Matt Johnson said.
Investigators believe the wreck occurred about 10:30 p.m. Friday when a resident near the accident scene reported hearing something, Johnson said. The resident was unable to find anything out of the ordinary when checking the area near Provo.
The infant was found hanging upside down above the river that flowed through the car, and the water never reached high enough to touch her, Johnson told the Deseret News newspaper. Her mother was found in the driver's seat.
The car struck a cement barrier on the bridge and careened into the river, investigators said. Police are unsure why the car left the roadway, and the Utah Highway Patrol is assisting in the accident investigation.
Family members told police that Groesbeck left a nearby home in Salem about 10 a.m. Friday and was en route to her Springville home near Provo when the crash occurred. Family spokeswoman Jill Sanderson did not immediately answer phone calls for comment Sunday.
Three police officers and four firefighters who entered the river were released after treatment for hypothermia at a hospital.
Police said they wouldn't release further details Sunday unless the baby's condition changes. The baby's name was not released.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Kuwait City (AFP) – The Kuwaiti lawyer representing the father of alleged Islamic State group executioner "Jihadi John" said Sunday after filing lawsuits for his client that he has now withdrawn from the case.
"I have decided to withdraw from the case for personal reasons," Salem al-Hashash told a news conference lasting just a few minutes. He provided no further details and refused to answer questions.
Jassem Emwazi, the father of Mohammed Emwazi who is thought to be the knife-wielding IS executioner, hired Hashash last week to file cases against those allegedly spreading false rumours about his son and the family.
Reading from a written statement, Hashash said that he filed several lawsuits on Sunday against unspecified parties for slander against his client.
In the statement, the lawyer said Jassem Emwazi is a "British national who has no relation with Kuwait" except that he visits the Gulf state to see his mother.
Hashash reiterated that "so far, Western security agencies have not provided any evidence to prove that Mohammed Emwazi is Jihadi John", who is accused of killing several Western hostages.
He said that the stories and rumours published about him are "untrue and baseless".
Hashash did not say what will happen to the lawsuits he has filed now that he has withdrawn from the case.
Last week, he told Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas that his client was interrogated by the interior ministry for three hours before being released.
Alleged executioner Mohammed Emwazi was born in Kuwait to a stateless family of Iraqi origin. His parents moved to Britain in 1993 after their hopes of obtaining Kuwaiti citizenship were quashed.
Emwazi visited Kuwait several times, the last time between January 18 and April 26, 2010, Al-Qabas said.
A year later, he was denied entry to Kuwait after his name came up during investigations into attacks in Britain.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
With just $40, Erin Smith, a money-conscious and eco-focused bride made a wedding gown using fungus.
According to Smith, an artist whose work focuses on sustainability, waste and the future of fabrication, she came up with the idea last year while planning her wedding, and thinking about the high cost of bridal gowns that are usually only ever worn once.
Within six days, Smith came up with $40 worth of material from fungus which she had grown herself. Her Growable Gown project was used for her thesis in New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program rather than for her to actually walk down the aisle in, although she says that certainly still could have been possible.
"I didn't end up wearing the dress because unfortunately I ran out of time," she told ABC News of her August wedding.
"This particular dress was constructed and designed as an art piece. My hope had been to create a second version to wear at my own wedding, but predictably between graduating, wedding prep, and other design work I wasn't able to pull it together in time."
According to her, the earthy gown was made out of agricultural waste materials she purchased from Ecovative Design. Smith used the tree mulch mixed with mushroom spores to grow mycelium, the thread-like fibers that hold mushrooms together, to successfully create the wedding dress.
"The top was a corset style, and the skirt pieces layered over untreated burlap so that there was some movement," Smith explained.
"In terms of the durability of the dress, it's already common practice for many brides to have a dress that they walk down the aisle in, and another dress to dance in. I'd say that this dress will have no problem walking down the aisle and taking pictures, but depending on how enthusiastic a dancer you are, you may want to change first."
She ended up wearing a $10 thrift store dress to her own wedding, which pleased her mom more than the original fungus plan for the big day.
"My mom wasn't heartbroken that the mycelium dress wasn't ready, but she wasn't going to stop me from wearing what I wanted to," she recalled.
"I have a long history of being interested in things she finds strange, so although she couldn't have guessed 'mycelium dress' she wasn't entirely unprepared. She's very supportive, if sometimes surprised by my art and design work."
The fashionably elegant fungus dress hasn't seen its last legs, or rather stems, just quite yet, however.
"A friend of mine getting married next year has expressed interest in wearing a mycelium dress, so hopefully there will still be a chance for it to walk down the aisle!," Smith said enthusiastically.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
London – The Church of England's first female bishop was to preach her maiden sermon in the role Sunday as she is installed in her home diocese.
Libby Lane, born in 1966, is saxophone player with a taste for football who was appointed in December as the new bishop of Stockport, a town outside Manchester in northwest England.
Her nomination came a month after England's state church gave final approval to the dramatic change to its hierarchy following years of wrangling and division.
The move was hailed as an important step towards greater equality.
She was consecrated in York Minster on January 26 but Sunday's ceremony in Chester, northwest England, marks the formal beginning of her ministry in her diocese.
She will be presented with her pastoral staff and be welcomed by the civic and faith communities in a service expected to be attended by more than 1,500 people. As bishop of Stockport, Lane is a suffragan (assistant) bishop in the Diocese of Chester.
Gordon McPhate, the dean of Chester, said: "We are honoured to welcome the bishop of Stockport and her supporters to this installation service at the cathedral.
"The service will mark a day of worship and celebration — for men and women alike — as a new chapter is created in the Church of England."
The church's move ended a tortuous process allowing for female bishops that set liberal and conservative believers at odds.
The Church of England backed the introduction of female priests in 1992 and the first were appointed two years later.
They now make up one-third of the clergy.
The Church of England separated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1534. It claims that more than 40 percent of people in England regard themselves as belonging to the Church of England.
It is the mother church of the global Anglican Communion, which has around 85 million followers in more than 165 countries.
Other Anglican churches around the world have been appointing female bishops for years.
The first was appointed in the United States in 1989 and there are now more than 30 worldwide, in countries such as Australia, Canada, Cuba, New Zealand and Swaziland.
Lane was educated at the University of Oxford and became a priest in 1994.
Her interests include learning to play the saxophone, supporting Manchester United Football Club, reading and doing cryptic crosswords.
Her husband, George, is also a minister. They were one of the first married couples in the church to be ordained together. He is a chaplain at Manchester Airport
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama said he learned through news reports that Hillary Clinton used a personal email account for official business while she served as his secretary of state, CBS News reported on Saturday.
"I'm glad that Hillary’s instructed that those emails about official business need to be disclosed," Obama said, according to an excerpt of an interview with CBS released by the network.
Clinton, seen as the front-runner for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 2016, said on Wednesday she wanted the State Department to release the emails quickly.
"I think that the fact that she is putting them forward will allow us to make sure that people have the information they need," Obama said in the interview, versions of which will be aired on Sunday morning on CBS.
"The policy of my administration is to encourage transparency, which is why my emails, the Blackberry I carry around, all those records are available and archived," Obama added.
The growing controversy over Clinton's use of personal email for work while she was U.S. secretary of state threatens to cloud the expected launch of her campaign.
Clinton tried to quell the growing controversy late on Wednesday, saying she wanted the State Department to release the emails quickly. But a senior State Department official told Reuters on Thursday the task would take time.
"The review is likely to take several months given the sheer volume of the document set," the official said.
The State Department has said there was no prohibition during Clinton's tenure on using personal email for official business as long as it was preserved.
A total of 55,000 pages of documents covering the time Clinton was in office has been turned over, according to the State Department. But Clinton and her aides controlled that process, and the emails were not archived on government servers.
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Tens of thousands of Israelis are gathering at a Tel Aviv square under the banner "Israel wants change" and calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be replaced in March 17 national elections.
Saturday night's rally at Rabin Square is the highest profile demonstration yet in the run-up to the election. It is organized by a non-profit organization seeking to change Israel's priorities and refocus on health, education, housing and the country's cost of living. Though not officially endorsed by any political party, it drew mostly supporters of leftist and centrist parties.
The rally's keynote speaker is former Mossad chief Meir Dagan who recently slammed Netanyahu's conduct and called him "the person who has caused the greatest strategic damage to Israel."
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
Jono Lancaster was abandoned at not even 2 days after he was born, and his parents left him at the hospital all because of the way he looked.
Jono has Treacher Collins Syndrom, a rare congenital disorder that affects only 1 in 50,000 live births. Jono's TC Syndrome is responsible for his appearance, and he's felt the bullying and judgement all his life. TCS leaves the cheekbones and jawbone under-developed, as well as drooping lower eyelids, disfigured ears, and a definite chance of mental issues from the person's self-worth.
Growing up, Jono struggled to make friends because of his appearance, and reduced himself to a troubled child from the bullying and loneliness he felt:
"I was desperate to have friends, I’d do anything. I had no confidence. I’d buy lots of sweets and give them to the other kids so that they’d like me. I set a firework off in class, I got up to no good.. It was quite often alcohol related, I got quite a bad reputation amongst other mums and teachers."
Jono has grown into himself though, coming to terms with his looks and realizing he can lead a perfectly normal and happy life no matter how he looks. Jono realized it's all in how he views himself, and has travelled the world helping other younger people with the same syndrome to overcome the hurdles they face growing up.
"As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned to be proud of the way I look. I love the way I look and I love being me."
Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
