Woman who snared murderer with cigarette DNA trick nominated for bravery award

A fearless young woman who tricked a murderer into leaving DNA evidence on a cigarette butt after he tried to strangle her has been nominated for a national bravery award.

Jessica Price was attacked by Carl Powell in an alley in Nottingham in 2011 after he pounced on her while she walked home from a night-out with friends.

But the 23-year-old's bravery meant police were able to use the discarded cigarette to charge him, with the evidence also tying him to a brutal murder just a month earlier.

She has now been nominated for the Cosmo Ultimate Survivor category of the Cosmopolitan Ultimate Women of the Year Awards because of her actions.

On the night last year, evil Powell wrapped his hands around her neck after jumping her from behind and started choking her before dragging her through the gates of a college and pushing her onto the ground.

Chilling CCTV images show the moment Powell dragged Jessica by the arm on a deserted street moments before he forced her hand down his pants.

But, despite her terrifying ordeal, Miss Price managed to remain calm and persuaded Powell to let her go and even pretended to like him so he would let his guard down.

Incredibly, Miss Price, who waived her anonymity, managed to charm Powell by pretending she liked him. She managed to persuade him to smoke a cigarette which she knew would contain his DNA. After he dropped the butt on the ground, Miss Price made a mental note where it was.

As the pair were getting closer to Miss Price's parent’s home in Carlton, Nottinghamshire, Powell was distracted by a phone call and he said he had to leave. When the attacker disappeared she called police and told them where to find Powell’s cigarette butt.

The DNA matched that of Powell and he was arrested and charged three days later. Not only did the police charge Powell for the attack on Miss Price but also of the murder of Caroline Coyne, in Thorneywood, Nottinghamshire, whose body was found in an alley a month earlier.

The 28-year-old care worker had been strangled then bludgeoned and left to die from head injuries. As a result of Miss Price's brave actions, last October Powell was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years after being convicted at Nottingham Crown Court.

He was also jailed for a total of five-and-a-half years for the false imprisonment and sexual assault on Miss Price, a sentence which will run concurrently with his life term.

Miss Price who now teaches full-time in Italy, recalled the attack after she was nominated for a national bravery award. She said: 'I couldn’t breathe - I thought he was going to kill me. 'But something told me I had to be calm and reach out on a human level.

'I managed to get his hands from my throat and said, ‘I promise I won’t scream, just let me catch my breath’. 'I think he was so shocked by my reaction that he let me go. I reassured him I wouldn’t make a sound. He took a step back and I knew my plan was working.

'Inside, I was terrified I asked him how his night had been and said, "You’re heading in the same direction as me. Let’s walk together".' She said: 'At the time, I just reacted. Nobody knows what they are going to do in that situation. It is really amazing to be nominated.

'It is a really nice feeling and it would be so nice to be the winner. It would make me feel better about the situation. 'People have said that I was brave and that I did really well to stay calm. 'Hopefully, it will make people think twice about how they react, and mainly just make them think about staying calm.'

Detective Chief Inspector Tony Heydon, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: 'Jessica is simply an astonishing young lady. She had periods where the events of that night caused her real issues. 'To have the strength of character to put that to one side and give valuable evidence at court is nothing less than inspirational.

'Add to that what she did to probably save her own life, words are hard to find to describe how much I admire her.' The winner will be announced at the Cosmopolitan Ultimate Women of the Year Awards 2014 on December 5 at the London Victoria and Albert Museum.a

Parents forced daughter into sex with 80-year-old

A couple from Enna, a town in central Sicily, forced their 15-year-old daughter to have sex with an 80-year-old man in a bid to overcome their money problems.
The pair are now on trial in Sicily after setting up sexual encounters between the girl and their former employer in exchange for “a few hundred euros” at least twice a month, ArticoloTre reported. The court in the nearby town of Caltanissetta heard that the couple had "severe financial problems".

The girl fell pregnant and gave birth to a son, fathered by the 80-year-old, in 2008. The case later came to the attention of the social services, which conducted an investigation, including a DNA test proving the elderly man was the child’s father.

A report by the Italian unit of Ecpat, the international child protection agency, earlier this month found that up to 11,000 children are forced into prostitution in Italy.

The financial crisis is partly to blame, with an increasing number of women, faced with unemployment, turning to sex work, both on the street and online.

A woman and her daughter, from Rimini, reportedly became prostitutes in a bid to support their struggling family. Meanwhile, five people were arrested in Rome in late October in connection with a prostitution ring that involved two girls aged 14 and 15. The mother of one of the girl's was also arrested for pimping her daughter.

White supremacist Craig Cobb who was told he has black ancestry arrested

He came, he saw, he tried to conquer. Instead, he got arrested: Craig Cobb's attempts to turn Leith, N.D., into a white-supremacist enclave have hit a wall now that he's in a local jail, accused of terrorizing townsfolk.

But there's a new, ironic twist to his thwarted takeover attempt. You might even call it a case of reverse racism.

The Los Angeles Times has previously cataloged Cobb's plot and the repeated stumbles he's faced -- first running afoul of local health rules, then discovering on a nationally syndicated talk show that a DNA test showed he was actually 14% sub-Saharan African.

Then, over the weekend, Cobb, 62, was arrested after going on an ill-advised armed patrol of the town, population 16, with a fellow white supremacist, Kynan Dutton, 29.

Before their arrest, Cobb had texted the Bismarck Tribune about his motive: "Because of the many violences and harassments against we and the children, we have commenced armed patrols of Leith."

There's a little more to the story than that: Cobb, it seems, had felt the sting of his own brand of racial prejudice turned against him.

The local prosecutor says a fellow white supremacist had apparently targeted Cobb with racial graffiti after he'd found out that Cobb's DNA results said he was part black.

Man Leaves $250,000 and Mansion to his Cat instead of 5 Children

Two Mid-South cats are living the last of their nine lives in luxury after an estate was left behind for them by their owner.

Some might call them fat cats, because their house is in a gated community. Their owner, Leon Sheppard, Sr., left his 4,270-square-foot house and $250,000 for the care of his cats in his will.

His will states the money should be used for the care of Frisco and Jake and the maintenance of this house they live in.

"If their owner sees fit, they can create a trust for the welfare and benefit of the cats and their care," said attorney Randy Fishman, who has practiced law for almost 35 years.

He says it is rare, but it's not unheard of as New York hotel heiress Leona Helmsley left $12 million for the care of her dog, Trouble.

"I don't know [if] I've ever come across one," said Fishman.

Leon Sheppard's daughter said by phone that the family did not want to talk about it. Neighbors said Sheppard loved his cat.

Sheppard was president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1529 before he retired. He died at the age of 79.

Fishman says Sheppard's will is all legal. According to the will, when Frisco dies whatever is left of the estate including the house can be passed to Sheppard's human heirs. However, Jake must be cared for. The heirs will be allowed to move Jake out of the house.

20-Year-Old Girl Tweets '2 drunk 2 care’ Shortly Before Driving On Wrong Side Of Road And Killing Two Women in Florida

A self-styled "pothead princess" tweeted she was "2 drunk 2 care" less than three hours before driving the wrong way down a road and killing two young women in a deadly smash, police said.

Kayla Mendoza, 20, from Hallandale Beach in Florida, was allegedly heading east in the westbound lane on the Sawgrass Expressway at 1:45 a.m. Sunday morning.

She reportedly crashed her Hyundai Sonata - head-on - into a Toyota Camry being driven by Kaitlyn Nicole Ferrante, who had her pal Marisa Caran Catronio in the passenger seat.

The pair, both 21, had been heading home to Coral Springs after a night on the town celebrating Catronio's landmark birthday.Catronio was pronounced dead at the scene, while Ferrante was rushed to Broward Health North hospital - but died from her injuries on Thursday morning.

T-Mobile sales associate Mendoza was also taken to the same ER, where she is said to remain in a serious condition.Since the fatal crash, it has emerged that Mendoza has repeatedly boasted online about taking drugs and drinking alcohol.

Under the user name "Kaila Mendoza," the Miami New Times revealed that the Broward College graduate had fired off dozens of tweets about getting high."Car permanently smells like weed," she wrote in the days leading up to the incident."Rolling a blunt in the airport parking lot," she added, also once saying: "Can't sleep without my bedtime blunt," and "I really am so baked right now."

And, less than three hours before the crash, she wrote: "2 drunk 2 care."2 drunk 2 care.

Kaitlyn Ferrante, 20 (left) and Marisa Catronio, 21, were killed in the crash.

Kayla Mendoza

12-Year-Old Girl Gives Inspiring Political Speech That Could Shame Most Politicians Today

North Carolina has found a new source of political inspiration in a seemingly rather unlikely person. Then again, that could be the secret weapon that 12-year-old Madison Kimrey brings to the podium at a political demonstration in the aforementioned state.

She is trying to make young people aware of the restrictions certain politicians are trying to create against them in trying to preregister for voting.

Apparently, in the state there exists a voter ID bill that “[prohibits] 16 and 17-year-olds from preregistering,” MSN reports.

Kimrey splits this issue wide open, speaking more eloquently and logically than most politicians in our government today, all of which have at least 30 years on her.

Michigan man claims he found Osama bin Laden in 2003, wants to collect $25M awards

A Michigan man claims he tipped federal investigators to the location of Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan eight years before his killing and has hired attorneys to help him collect the $25 million reward.

The Al Qaeda leader was killed in May 2011 during a Navy SEAL raid on the three-story compound. U.S. officials have said the house wasn’t built until 2005, and Pakistani officials have said they believe he moved there in the summer of that year.

A letter obtained Friday by The Associated Press from a Chicago-based law firm representing Grand Rapids resident Tom Lee says the 63-year-old gem merchant reported the location of bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad in 2003. The letter sent by the Loevy & Loevy law firm to FBI Director James Comey in August says a Pakistani intelligence agent told Lee that he escorted bin Laden and his family from Peshawar to Abbottabad.

The AP made a request to speak with Lee and Michael Kanovitz, the attorney who signed the letter, through the law firm. The FBI didn’t immediately comment.

According to the letter, Lee, a U.S. citizen of Egyptian heritage, shared the information with customs and FBI agents. Lee reported that the Pakistani agent “was a member of a family that Mr. Lee had done business with for decades,” the letter said, and the agent and his family opposed bin Laden.

The letter said Lee, who lives in Grand Rapids, made “numerous attempts” to claim his reward but received no responses.

“Mr. Lee precisely identified the whereabouts of the most notorious terrorist of our era, a man responsible for the World Trade Center attacks, the most devastating act of terror committed on American soil, and numerous other assaults on Americans,” the letter said.

Lee told The Grand Rapids Press in an email Friday that he couldn’t understand why the government waited to act.

“It disturbs me, and it should disturb every American, that I told them exactly where bin Laden was in 2003, and they let him live another eight years,” he said in the email.

Bin Laden had slipped away from U.S. forces in the Afghan mountains of Tora Bora in 2001, and the CIA believed he had taken shelter in the lawless tribal areas of Pakistan. The U.S. was eventually able to find bin Laden by tracing his courier, Ibrahim al-Kuwaiti.

92 Niger Migrants Die of Thirst in Desert After Bus Breaks Down

Rescue workers in Niger say they have found the bodies of 92 people who died of thirst after their vehicles broke down as they tried to cross the Sahara.

Rescue worker Almoustapha Alhacen said the corpses were in a severe state of decomposition and had been partly eaten, probably by jackals.

Those found are thought to be migrant workers and their families. Most were women and children.
Niger lies on a major migrant route between sub-Saharan Africa and Europe.
But among those who make it across the desert, many end up working in North African countries.

New face grown from Xu Jianmei's breast attached in Fuzhow, China

A TEENAGE girl who suffered horrendous burns has been given a new face grown from one of her breasts.

Xu Jianmei, 17, who was horrifically disgured by the fire when she was five, has been able to smile properly for the first time in 12 years.

The pioneering eight-hour operation, which used tissue grown on her breast, was carried out earlier this month by surgeon Jiang Chenhong in Fuzhow, capital city of Fujian province in the southeast of China, BBC News reported.

Miss Xu woke up from the operation - which follows a similar operation to give a car accident victim a new nose by growing it first on his forehead - with a new chin, eyelids and an ear.

"First, we took a piece of blood vessel fascia from her thigh and implanted it in her chest. Then we inserted a skin expander beneath the part of skin where the blood vessel fascia was planted, so that the part could expand and produce enough skin for her new face," Jiang told Chinese news agency Xinhua.

Doctors believe that the wounds left by the surgery will heal over the next several weeks.

"With her new face, she will be able to express herself in a more precise way. She will even be able to blush when her emotions change", said Jiang, "but it may take a long time."

China's first donor face transplant recipient, farmer Li Guoxing, received his new face in 2006 - less than a year after the world's first successful face transplant recipient, Isabelle Dinoir, in France. Mr Li died less than two years later after stopping his anti-rejection medication. Since then 10 surgeries of this kind have been performed in China. VIA

Chinese barber still practising rare art where hair is burned off with hot tongs

When it comes to creating stylish designs Chinese hairdresser Wang Weibu is quite literally hot stuff.

The traditional barber is one of the last still practicing the ancient art of Dahuojia hairdressing, which involves using a pair of red hot metal clamps to burn hair off rather than cut it.

If the hair is too long, the clamps are used like a pair of scissors to cut it to the desired length and then the expert slides the burning hot metal over the rest of the hair to create a perm which he claims lasts up to three months.

This traditional method of cutting hair was widespread in China until it went out of fashion in the 1980s. Now hardly anybody wants a haircut using the unusual method.

Mr Weibu, 73, said: 'It's not just a shortage of hairdressers offering the method, there are also not very many customers that are interested in it any more. It is mainly older people that come to my shop nowadays. And like me one day they won't be here any more either.'