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Monday, June 6, 2016

Prolific Paedophile Gets 22 Life Sentences

Richard Huckle, who abused up to 200 children, has been handed 22 life sentences with a minimum term of 25 years.

The freelance photographer, from Ashford in Kent, admitted an unprecedented number of offences against children aged between six months and 12 years from 2006 to 2014.

A stream of pictures and videos of his rapes and assaults on children were shared with paedophiles worldwide on the dark web.

He even tried to make a business out of his horrific crimes by crowd-funding the release of the images. He was working on a guide to help paedophiles abuse children and get away with it when he was arrested.

Twenty-three children from poor Christian communities in Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur were identified in 71 charges, although a "Pedopoints ledger" Huckle compiled indicated the real number of victims was much higher.

Huckle stood in prayer as he was sentenced by Judge Peter Rook QC.

As he was sent down, a woman in the public gallery at the Old Bailey shouted: "1,000 deaths is too good for you."

Judge Peter Rook QC told Huckle he had carried out a "campaign of rape" and was consumed by his own sexual gratification.

He said:  "You have pleaded guilty to as many as 71 sexual offences. It is very rare indeed that a judge has to sentence sexual offending by one person on such a scale as this."

Huckle first visited Malaysia on a teaching gap year when he was 19 and later used an English teaching qualification and his professed Christianity to gain access to dozens of victims in poor communities there.

He was arrested by National Crime Agency officials who had been tipped off by Australian authorities as he arrived at Gatwick Airport on his way to spend Christmas with his family in 2014.

Investigators managed to recover more than 20,000 indecent images of children from Huckle's computer, even though he refused to give them any passwords.

But they were unable to access some encrypted files, which are believed to contain "numerous" depraved images, as well as the names of a large number of unknown potential victims.

As well as the draft of Huckle's paedophile manual, they found his "Pedopoints ledger" in which he awarded himself marks for acts of depravity with children.

:: You can watch Portrait Of A Paedophile, a special report on the Richard Huckle case by Sky News Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt, on Sky News On Demand.


Secret Kanye West Show Descends Into Chaos

A secret Kanye West show in New York City descended into chaos after thousands of fans swarmed the venue and caused the event to be cancelled.
More than 4,000 people descended on Webster Hall for the pop-up show after the hip-hop artist's headline show at the Governors Ball was cancelled on Sunday morning because of bad weather.
West hinted on social media he was going to do the show at 2am on Monday, with thousands of fans making their way to the New York venue, which only holds 1,500 people.
Fans eager to get to the venue climbed on top of cars, dumpsters and scaffolding and hung out of windows to get a better view as the rapper appeared through the sunroof of a car.
Appearing on his wife Kim Kardashian's Snapchat, West could be heard saying: "Call the mayor and shut down the block about four streets and put screens up so they could have a party outside, I heard it was sold out already."
Some fans claimed they were pepper-sprayed by police as the crowd began to surge towards the venue.
Webster Hall then cancelled the show after the crowd grew too large, but fans remained at the scene for more than two hours after the rapper left, the New York Daily News reported.
Rapper Vic Mensa had already performed at the Webster Hall on Sunday night.


Euro 2016: Fifteen 'Terror Attacks' Foiled


Several planned terror attacks during the Euro 2016 tournament in France have been thwarted, according to a Ukrainian security chief.
The head of the state's security services said a Frenchman was detained in the country after making contact with illegal armed groups to buy guns and explosives.
It is claimed that he intended to target Muslim and Jewish places of worship in France, plus administrative buildings and infrastructure such as bridges and railways.
Arrest
Vasily Gritsak said the unnamed man was arrested in late May on the border with Poland, carrying 125kg of TNT.
The suspect had been tailed since December, Mr Gritsak said, and was seen buying five machine guns, two rocket-propelled grenades, and other weapons.
At a news conference he said: "The Frenchman spoke negatively about his government's actions, mass immigration, the spread of Islam and globalisation, and also talked about plans to carry out several terrorist attacks."
Last week the US State Department issued a "potential terrorist attacks" warning for Americans planning to travel to Europe.

The travel alert, which expires on 31 August, made no mention of specific threats to Euro 2016 matches or other events, but warned US citizens to "exercise vigilance" and "avoid crowded places".
France's national stadium, the Stade de France, was one site targeted during the 13 November Paris attacks that left 130 people dead.
Suicide bombers detonated explosive belts near gates at the stadium as France played Germany in a friendly match.
In recent months, French special forces have been preparing to deal with simulated attacks during the tournament by carrying out several practice runs with emergency teams.
British police officers will be stationed at Eurostar terminals and on some cross-channel trains during the tournament, to prevent trouble and to stop known troublemakers from travelling to the tournament.

14 Dead As School Bus Crashes In Turkey

060616 Map showing Osmaniye in Turkey
A bus returning from a school trip in Turkey has crashed, killing 14 people on board, including six children.
The governor of the southern Osmaniye province, Kerem Al, said 26 others were injured.
At least one person suffered serious injuries, according to health minister Recep Akdag. 
The bus, which was carrying children, teachers and parents was returning from a trip to the archaeological site of Karatepe, outside the city of Osmaniye.   
Security camera footage showed it hitting a car at an intersection and rolling into a canal.
The Hurriyet newspaper said that local people jumped into the canal to try to rescue those trapped inside.  
The paper said the dead included a teacher, the bus driver and the driver's assistant. 
Most of the bodies were reportedly recovered by divers.  
The children were from a school in the town of Iskenderun in Hatay province, which borders Syria and lies just south of Osmaniye. 

Mark Zuckerberg's Social Media Accounts Hacked

A hacking group has claimed responsibility for taking over social media accounts belonging to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
His Twitter and Pinterest pages appear to have been compromised for a short time on Sunday.
A hacking group called Ourmine boasted about the alleged hacks, and asked the billionaire Facebook founder to contact them.
A message posted on his compromised Twitter account read: "Hey we got access to your Twitter & Instagram & Pinterest, we are just testing your security, please direct message us."
Twitter reacted quickly to the hack, temporarily suspending his account before reinstating it with the tweet deleted.
The hackers claimed that they found his password - dadada - in the details of stolen LinkedIn accounts which were leaked online last month.
Almost 120 million LinkedIn username and passwords combinations were stolen four years ago, and recently appeared on the black market dark web.
It appears Mr Zuckerberg may have used the same password across multiple accounts.
Hackers had claimed that his Instagram account had been accessed, which would have been particularly embarrassing as the photo-sharing app is owned by Facebook.
But a spokesman for Facebook said: "No Facebook systems or accounts were accessed. The affected accounts have been re-secured."

Eddie Izzard Joins Calls To Reject Brexit

Eddie Izzard has joined calls for people to vote for staying in the European Union in this month's referendum as he attended an awards ceremony.
The comedian revealed he is worried about what will happen if Britain backs Brexit as he spoke at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards at The Savoy Theatre in London.
Wearing Union Jack and EU flag badges, he told Sky News: "I've had a lot of opportunities of being in the European Union, us being in the European Union. I want all young people to have it.
"The cheap flights to Europe, there are going to be less of those and they are going to go up in price. The roaming charges go down to zero next year - they'll go up.
"The free health care all across 28 countries - that will disappear, quite apart from having to get a visa from European countries if you want to go there, or work permits...
"There are no economic experts from the world who say it's a good idea."
Izzard, who won an outstanding achievement award at the event as he undertakes a tour of 31 cities to encourage people to vote Remain, urged young voters to register before the deadline on Tuesday, saying it really affects them.
Lord Bragg, who hosted the arts awards ceremony, said he felt the same way.
He said: "I want to stay in Europe. Anyone who has reckoned what two world wars mean thinks Europe should stick together and then we don't have another."
Musical theatre veteran Elaine Paige, however, said she looked like she was going to vote to leave the EU.
She said: "I'm of the feeling to leave, but I'm probably a minority in the arts when I say that.
"I think the reason is exactly what Brexit are saying, which is we need to take back control of our economy and democracy."
The awards goers had attended to see winners in a variety of categories pick up awards celebrating a broad range of arts.
Fans of the artist Banksy were disappointed he missed out on the visual arts award to Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, who won for Verses After Dusk.
It had been rumoured that if he had picked up the award for his mock theme park Dismaland, the notoriously elusive artist may have finally been unmasked.
Other winners included:
:: Classical music  - Mark Simpson, The Immortal
:: Literature - Sunjeev Sahota, The Year Of The Runaways
:: Theatre - Hangmen, Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court Theatre
:: Pop - Benjamin Clementine, At Least For Now
:: Comedy - Catastrophe, Channel 4
:: TV drama - Doctor Foster, BBC One
:: Opera - The Force Of Destiny, English National Opera
:: Film - 45 Years
:: Dance - 1984, Northern Ballet
:: The Times Break

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Zuckerberg's social media accounts targeted by hackers

world's biggest social networking site, but not even Mark Zuckerberg is immune to being hacked.
The Facebook founder's accounts on sites including Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest appear to have been briefly compromised on Sunday.
A hacker group called Ourmine, which has more than 40,000 Twitter followers, claimed responsibility.
The group bragged about the alleged hacks in a tweet and invited Mr Zuckerberg to contact them.
"Hey @finkd we got access to your Twitter & Instagram & Pinterest, we are just testing your security, please dm us."
Engadget posted a screengrab of the alleged hack of the Facebook chief executive's Twitter account:
The Twitter account has since had the offending tweets deleted. Mr Zuckerberg has not sent a tweet from the account since 2012.
Developer Ben Hall tweeted a screenshot of Mr Zuckerberg's "hacked" Pinterest page:
Some reports suggested that the 2012 hack of LinkedIn may have been responsible for the breach.
Last month it was reported that 117 million LinkedIn username and password combinations stolen four years ago were being sold on the dark web for 5 bitcoins - worth about $2,300 (£1,595).
The passwords were encoded, but in a form that appears to have been relatively easy to unravel.
It has not been possible to verify whether Mr Zuckerberg's account on Instagram- also owned by Facebook - was hacked. 
The account, on which he has posted just 30 images, has more than 600,000 followers.