Woman 'behind starvation murders' dies

Japan has been shocked by the case of a woman who allegedly coerced people into starving family members to death. The woman implicated has been found dead while awaiting trial. Source: AP

A JAPANESE woman who reportedly coerced people into starving family members to death has been found dead in her cell.

Miyoko Sumida, 64, was the chief suspect in a probe that has transfixed low-crime Japan since three decaying corpses were discovered in an empty house where she once lived.

Sumida's lifeless body was found in bed in the cell she shared with two others on Wednesday morning. A long-sleeve shirt was wrapped tightly around her neck, a police spokesman and media said.

Newspapers reported that she likely killed herself, quoting her lawyer as saying that she had often said she wanted to die.

"An autopsy is now being undertaken on her body, and police will decide if it was suicide or not after the autopsy," a police spokesman said.

Print media and television news programs have offered extensive coverage of the case since the gruesome find of three rotting bodies at an empty house in Hyogo prefecture, west Japan, in October.

Another body encased in a concrete-filled drum was pulled out of the sea west of Hyogo later that month as police said more people were missing, presumed dead.

Sumida, the main suspect in the case, has been in custody since early in the probe, which began last year shortly before the first body was found.

A total of six bodies have been found, with police reported to believe more will be uncovered as their investigation progresses.

Reports have said Sumida would approach strangers, initially picking a quarrel with them before befriending them.

She would build a rapport that allowed her to exert enormous control over her victims, which reports say escalated to the point where she was able to move into the family home or have families go to live with her.

Sumida would then punish any who tried to escape by coercing family members to inflict physical hardships on them, in some cases torturing and starving people to death.

Several members of her own extended family are also in custody in connection with the deaths.

* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467.

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Pope blesses his flock on Twitter

Pope Benedict XVI sends his first tweet from @Pontifex at the Vatican. He is set to later answer questions sent in by some of his 1 million followers. Source: AP

POPE Benedict XVI hit the 1 million Twitter follower mark as he sent his first tweet from his new account.

In perhaps the most drawn out Twitter launch ever, the 85-year-old Benedict pushed the button on a tablet brought to him at the end of his general audience Wednesday.

"Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart," his inaugural tweet read.

At around the same time the message was sent, the number of followers of Benedict's (at)Pontifex account surpassed the 1 million mark on the eight languages of the handle, adding some 11,000 followers in the last two hours alone.

Later in the day Benedict was to respond to a few questions about faith sent to him from around the world.

The first papal tweet has been the subject of intense curiosity for months. Benedict actually sent his very first tweet over a year ago, using a generic Vatican account to launch the Holy See's news information portal. Someone in his name tweeted daily during Lent, part of the Vatican's efforts to increase the church presence in social media.

A personal Twitter account for the 85-year-old Benedict has been the subject of speculation ever since the Vatican's senior communications official said in February the idea was gaining traction.

Vatican officials have acknowledged the pope won't actually type the messages and that someone in the Vatican's secretariat of state will write them on his behalf. But they have insisted that the words will be his alone, culled from his speeches, homilies or catechism lessons.

As incongruous as it may seem for the 85-year-old Benedict to be on Twitter, Vatican officials have stressed that he is merely walking in the footsteps of his predecessors in using the latest in communications technology to spread the faith.

Pope Pius XI, for example, caused a similar stir when he launched Vatican Radio some 80 years ago to bring the pope's message on radio waves around the globe. The Vatican also has its own newspaper, television service and maintains dedicated YouTube channels and an Internet news portal.
 

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Girls say Malala honour endangers them

Malala Yousufzai is recovering in England after being attacked and shot in the head by Taliban gunmen in Pakistan. Picture: AP Source: AP

ANGRY Pakistani girls have protested against the renaming of their school after shot teenage activist Malala Yousafzai, saying the move would make them a target for militants.

Around 150 students boycotted classes at what is now the Government Malala College for Girls in Saidu Sharif, in the northwestern Swat Valley, tearing up and stoning pictures of the 15-year-old, accusing her of abandoning Pakistan by going to Britain for treatment.

The Pakistan government has renamed numerous schools in honour of Malala, who was shot in the head by the Taliban in October for championing girls' education in Swat and is now recovering in a British hospital.

The students at what was previously known as the Government College for Girls said they had repeatedly asked the principal to remove the plate with the new name, fearing it would invite the attention of militants.

"We came out when the principal finally refused to accept our demand," student Shaista Ahmed said.

"We feel the college would be the potential target of militants.

"I joined others who chanted slogans against Malala and pelted stones on her picture because she had left the country to settle abroad. We are poor, we cannot afford it and we will suffer because she has fled to Britain."

Local government official Niaz Ali Khan said the protesting students were "very angry and aggressive" and tore up a portrait of Malala which the authorities had erected on a college wall after the Taliban attack.

"The students ended their protest after we promised to convey their demand to the authorities," he said.

Student Mah Noor, 19, said: "Malala herself is in Britain but other girls will remain in Swat. She will not come back to Pakistan, then what is the need to rename the college after her?"

Malala first rose to prominence aged just 11 with a blog for the BBC Urdu service in 2009 in which she described life in Swat during the bloody rule of the Taliban.

Taliban hitmen shot her on her school bus in Mingora, the main town in Swat, for the "crime" of campaigning for girls' rights to go to school, but she survived after surgery in Pakistan.

She was sent to Britain for further treatment and her courage has won the hearts of millions around the world, prompting the United Nations to observe a "global day of action" for her last month.

Malala's father Ziauddin Yousafzai, a former teacher and headmaster, has been appointed UN adviser on education.
 

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Nurse's post-mortem 'secret until inquest'

A note left by the deceased nurse involved in the Royal hoax call scandal may shed light on her death.

• Nurse's husband calls for thorough investigation into death
• Post-mortem examination will be kept secret until after inquest
• Inquest into death likely to be opened this week

THE results of a post-mortem on London nurse Jacintha Saldanha will be kept under wraps until a coroner opens an inquest.

Ms Saldanha, 46, died in London on Friday three days after she transferred a call from Australian radio hosts Mel Greig and Michael Christian to the hospital room of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge at the exclusive King Edward VI Hospital.

An examination of the 46-year-old mother of two was completed on Tuesday but the findings will not be made public until released by the coroner, a Scotland Yard spokesman said.

A brief coroner's court hearing into Ms Saldanha's death is due to be mentioned in the English capital later today and adjourned to a later date to allow for the gathering of further information.

Findings "would be announced tomorrow at the inquest", the police source said.

The chairman of Austereo has written to the British hospital targeted by 2DayFM's radio prank call.

Various British media outlets, including Sky News, have reported Ms Saldanha was "found hanged".

The network said contrary to initial reports Ms Saldanha was unconscious when first reached by emergency services, the nurse was dead when found at staff quarters close to the King Edward VII hospital.

It is understood Ms Saldanha had left a note for her family - husband Benedict Barboza and children Junal, 17 and 14-year-old Lisha.

While the death is not being treated as suspicious by police, a coroner is expected to carefully examine the events leading up to the discovery of Ms Saldanha's body on Friday.

Michael Christian and Mel Greig break down on A Current Affair, in the first interview since the nurse answering their prank call died. Courtesy Nine Network.

While on duty as a senior nurse last week Ms Saldanha answered a hoax call from Australian radio jocks Mel Greig and Michael Christian, who impersonated the Queen and Prince Charles as they sought information about a patient, the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge.

Ms Saldanha unknowingly transferred the call to the ward of Prince William's wife Catherine, where a second nurse gave the DJs confidential information about the Duchess, who was being treated for acute morning sickness.

The Sydney-based 2Day FM presenters are expected to be interviewed by NSW Police as part of the coronial investigation.

Both Greig and Christian, along with network management, have extended their condolences to Ms Saldanha's family.

Speaking about when they first found out about the tragedy that followed their prank call, the 2Day FM hosts broke down on A Current Affair. Vision courtesy of Channel 9.

On Wednesday, British tabloid the Daily Star said the hoax could lead 2Day FM workers to jail.

"The lizards of Oz face 5yrs prison," blasted the newspaper's headline.

Failing to name the source of its claims, the newspaper refers only to "lawyers in Australia" when reporting that 2Day FM management could be prosecuted for failing to get the hospital's permission to air the recorded conversation.

A public spat has emerged with the hospital denying claims by network management repeated attempts were made to contact the London facility before the prank call was broadcast.

Ben Barboza, the husband of Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse at King Edward VII's hospital who was found dead after a hoax call concerning the Duchess of Cambridge, mourns with his daughter and son. Picture:  Getty

Jacintha Saldanha, pictured centre with her children Junal and Lisha. Picture: Mangalore Media Company

Ms Saldanha's mother has been inconsolable and has been under heavy sedation since being told of her daughter's death.

"She is heartbroken," Jacintha's younger brother, Naveen told The Times of India.

"We have kept her under sedation."

* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467.

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Vomiting passengers on 'cruise to hell'

Up to 300 passengers have caught a vomiting virus aboard a European holiday cruise. Picture: ThinkStock Source: Supplied

A EUROPEAN holiday cruise has turned sickly for hundreds of passengers as a vomiting virus swept through a massive ocean liner.

Crew members of P&O's Oriana taped off areas of the ship "like a crime scene" while passengers said the liner smelt of sick, British tabloid The Sun reported on Wednesday.

While P&O management said nine cases of norovirus, commonly known as the 'winter vomiting bug', had been confirmed, reports of up to 300 ill passengers have come from on board the vessel.

"There might be a riot because the captain and crew refuse to listen. We'll refuse to disembark unless we get some answers. It's been a cruise to hell," British passenger Dave Stringer, 57, told The Sun.

A statement from the cruise company said: "enhanced sanitation protocols have already been implemented".

The liner, carrying more than 1800 people, sailed on December 4 for a tour of Christmas markets at Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Oslo and Hamburg, and is due to dock at Southampton on Thursday.

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France denies nationalisation of Rio plant

French Minister for Industrial Recovery Arnaud Montebourg has denied plans to nationalise a Rio Tinto aluminium plant. Source: AFP

THE French government has denied a report that its government is considering nationalising an aluminium plant owned by Rio Tinto.

Le Monde newspaper reported that the move is being studied by officials working for Industrial Recovery Minister Arnaud Montebourg, just 10 days after the government rejected a similar proposal for ArcelorMittal's Florange steel plant in eastern France.

But his ministry issued a terse statement saying it "denies the information appearing in Le Monde about Rio Tinto Alcan's Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne factory."

There was no immediate comment from Rio Tinto.

Mr Montebourg was vociferous in his support for nationalisation in the case of ArcelorMittal and was reported to have come close to resigning after failing to convince his colleagues in a debate that exposed fault-lines within the Socialist government.

The minister's officials are currently negotiating with Rio Tinto's Rio Tinto Alcan unit over the future of the plant at Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in the French Alps.

Key to the negotiations is the company's demand for a reduction in the prices if pays for electricity bought from energy giant Electricite de France (EDF), in which the government has a controlling stake.

The plant's current electricity deal expires in the spring of 2014 and Rio Tinto has threatened to sell or close it if its demands are not met.

In October, it said several potential buyers had been in touch about a possible takeover.

Like Florange, the aluminium plant is seen as a symbol of France's declining industrial base.

It was originally owned by French group Pechiney, which was bought out by Canada's Alcan in 2003. Alcan itself was taken over by Rio Tinto four years later.

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Mall shooting spree 'a random attack'

A family embrace after a gunman opened fire on Christmas shoppers at Clackamas Town Centre mall in Oregon, killing two people before turning the gun on himself. Source: AP

THE US mall shooting that left three dead and forced hundreds of Christmas shoppers to hide or flee appears to have been a random attack, authorities say.

The masked gunman, who was one of the three dead, was seemingly targeting "anyone who was in his line of sight," Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts told the US Today show.

"It was very apparent that he had a mission set forth to really take the lives of people in that mall," Mr Roberts said.

Police said they have tentatively identified the gunman but would not release his name.

The shooting on Tuesday afternoon local time at the busy Portland, Oregon, mall started shortly after a man in a white mask carrying a rifle and wearing a bulletproof vest said, "I am the shooter," as if announcing himself, said Austin Patty, 20, who works at a mall department store.

Witnesses are interviewed by a Clackamas County deputy outside the mall. Police say the attack by a masked gunman appears to be random.

A series of rapid-fire shots followed as Christmas music continued to play. Ms Patty said he ducked and then ran.

Witnesses said the suspect fired several times near the mall food court until the rifle jammed and he dropped a magazine onto the floor and ran into the Macy's department store.

Some were close enough to the shooter to feel the percussion of his gun.

"I saw a gentleman face down, obviously shot in the head," said Jason DeCosta, the manager of company with a display on the mall's ground floor.

This still image from video courtesy of KATU.COM shows emergency vehicles outside the Clackamas Town Centre south of Portland, Oregon. Police said the attack appeared to be random.

"A lot of blood. You could tell there was nothing you could do for him."

Mr DeCosta said he also saw a woman on the floor who had been shot in the chest.

Officials said a woman was also shot and was in serious condition at a Portland hospital.

"We have a young lady in the hospital fighting for her life right now," Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts said at a news conference late on Tuesday.

Reports of two people dead after a shooting inside Clackamas Town Center shopping mall in Oregon. Source Fox News

Clackamas County sheriff's Lieutenant James Rhodes said the gunman was dead, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Authorities went store-to-store to confirm that there was only one shooter, Mr Rhodes said.

The mall Santa, Brance Wilson, said he heard gunshots and dove for the floor. By the time he looked up, seconds later, everyone around him had cleared out. Parents with children joined other shoppers rushing to stores' backrooms for safety.

"Santa will be back," Mr Wilson said. "It's not going to keep Santa away from the mall."

Onlookers wait for news outside the Clackamas Town Centre mall, where a gunman opened fire on afternoon shoppers.

Shaun Wik, 20, said he was Christmas shopping with his girlfriend and opened a fortune cookie at the food court. Inside was written: "Live for today. Remember yesterday. Think of tomorrow."

As he read it, he heard three shots. He heard a man he believes was the gunman shout, "Get down!" but Mr Wik and his girlfriend ran. He heard seven or eight more shots. He didn't turn around.

"If I had looked back, I might not be standing here," Mr Wik said.

Kira Rowland told KGW-TV that she was shopping at the Macy's store with her infant son when the shots started.

Mall workers and shoppers wait to be cleared to leave the mall after the gunman killed two people and then himself.

''All of a sudden you hear two shots, which sounded like balloons popping,'' Ms Rowland told the station.

''Everybody got on the ground. I grabbed the baby from the stroller and got on the ground.''

Ms Rowland said she heard people screaming and crying.

''I put the baby back in the stroller and ran like hell,'' Rowland said. ''It was awful. It was shots after shots after shots like a massacre. It was just awful.''

Shoppers who witnessed the shooting comfort one another. Picture: Twitter/Joel Iwanaga

Holli Bautista, 28, said she was shopping in the Macy's for a Christmas dress for her daughter when she heard two or three pops that sounded like firecrackers.

''I heard people running and screaming and saying 'Get out, there's somebody shooting,'' she said.

''It was a scene of chaos.''

Hundreds of shoppers and mall employees started running, and she and dozens of other people were trying to escape through an exit in the department store, she said.

Fox News talks to a mother and two daughters who fled the scene where a gunman opened fire on shoppers in Oregon. Source Fox News

With AP

Readers battling with personal problems can call Lifeline on 131 114.

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'Shocking' collusion in N Ireland murder

State agents were involved in the 1989 murder of Belfast Catholic lawyer Pat Finucane, and army and police knew of the paramilitary attack beforehand but did nothing to stop it, a report has found. Above, protesters in Belfast this week after the city voted not to fly the British flag year-round. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron says there was a "shocking" level of British state collusion in the 1989 paramilitary murder of Northern Ireland lawyer Pat Finucane.

But a year-long, 500-page review found there was no "over-arching state conspiracy" to murder Finucane, who defended high-profile members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Gunmen from the loyalist Ulster Defence Association (UDA) used sledgehammers to break down the door of Finucane's house in north Belfast before shooting the 38-year-old Catholic father-of-three 14 times - one of the most controversial murders of the 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland.

The review found that two state agents were involved in the murder, along with another person who later became a state agent.

The British army and the Northern Irish police had prior notice of a series of planned attacks by pro-British paramilitaries but did not act, it found.

Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams and Mary Lou McDonald speak to the media outside Leinster House, the home of the Irish Parliament, after the De Silva report into Pat Finucane's murder.

Finucane rose to prominence defending members of the IRA - the paramilitary organisation responsible for many of the 3000 deaths in the British province - including hunger striker Bobby Sands.

The UDA, which fought for Northern Ireland to retain links to Britain, stood on the other side of the conflict from the IRA, which wanted a united Ireland free from British control.

Senior lawyer Desmond de Silva, who conducted the independent review, found the murder could and should have been stopped.

"I have concluded that two agents who were at the time in the pay of agencies of the state were involved in Patrick Finucane's murder, together with another who was to become an agent of the state after his involvement in that murder became known to the agency that later employed him," his report said.

Mr De Silva said the collusion had taken the form of "the passage of information from members of the security forces to the UDA, the failure to act on threat intelligence, the participation of state agents in the murder and the subsequent failure to investigate and arrest key members of the West Belfast UDA."

Making a statement to parliament after receiving the review, Mr Cameron apologised to the Finucane family on behalf of the British government, saying the report exposed "shocking levels of state collusion".

"I am deeply sorry," Mr Cameron told MPs. "Collusion should never, ever happen."

Mr De Silva's report found that government ministers were misled as to the extent of security force leaks to the UDA and other loyalist paramilitaries.

"My review of the evidence... has left me in no doubt that agents of the state were involved in carrying out serious violations of human rights up to and including murder," the report said.

"However, despite the different strands of involvement by elements of the state, I am satisfied that they were not linked to an over-arching state conspiracy to murder Patrick Finucane."

The Finucane family have requested a public inquiry into the murder.

Mr Cameron said that while he respected their campaign, he had told them when they met last year that "I would do everything I could to try to get the fullest, truest picture of what happened as quickly as possible."

But he said he believed a "costly, lengthy public inquiry... might not, may well not get as far as this."

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Dad dies dancing Gangnam Style

A father-of-three has died after dancing to Gangnam Style with colleagues at a work Christmas party. Source: AFP

A FATHER-OF-THREE has died in front of his wife after dancing to Gangnam Style at his office Christmas party.

Eamonn Kilbride, 46, was performing the energetic dance by Korean popstar PSY at the Thwaites Brewery party in Blackburn, Lancashire when he suddenly fell to the ground.

His wife Julie, who was there celebrating her birthday, tried to perform CPR but to no avail. He died of acute heart failure.

Mrs Kilbride told The Sun newspaper that her husband was "a great family man" who she had been married to for 23 years.

"I want people to know how he would help anybody whether it was a life-long friend, or someone he had just met," she said. "Eamonn was always the life of the party and loved dancing.

"We were having a fantastic time at the Christmas party and Eamonn had just finished dancing to Gangnam Style. He was up on stage and entertaining everybody.

"He said he had a bit of a pain and just collapsed," she said. "I tried to revive him until the ambulance got there, but by the time he got to the hospital he was gone."

Mr Kilbride had three children, Laurajade, 22, Jack, 21, and Conor, 18, who are all at university.

 

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