Hunter kills biggest grizzly bear

Big bear ... Boone and Crockett's Instagram page shows Larry Fitzgerald and his record kill. Source: Supplied

AN Alaska hunter killed a grizzly bear which stood almost three metres tall, the largest ever bagged.

Larry Fitzgerald, 35, says he is not a trophy hunter and was out looking for moose with friends when they came across the grizzly. They stalked it for three hours before Mr Fitzgerald took it down with a single shot to the neck.

"We knew it was big," he said. "It was a rush."

"I'm not really a trophy hunter, or anything," he told Fox News . "But I guess it is kind of cool."

Mr Fitzgerald nabbed the bear in September but on Friday it was declared the largest ever killed by a hunter. It is the second largest grizzly bear ever documented behind one that an Alaska taxidermist found in 1976, which had a skull that measured less than an inch bigger.

Richard Hale, chairman of the Boone and Crockett Club's Records of North American Big Game committee, said he was surprised that such a large grizzly bear was found so close to homes.

"One would think that a relatively accessible area, with liberal bear-hunting regulations to keep populations in line with available habitat and food, would be the last place to find one of the largest grizzly bears on record," he told Fox.

Grizzly bears are protected under the Endangered Species Act but Mr Hale said thriving populations have prompted regulators to consider delisting them.

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Pedophile killing was ‘best day ever’

Do it all again ... Jeremy Moody, left, talks to his wife, Christine Moody, right, while standing with their lawyers shortly before they were both sentenced to life in prison. Source: AP

A WHITE supremacist couple said they wished they had killed more pedophiles as they were handed consecutive life sentences for killing a child molester and his wife.

Jeremy Lee Moody and Christine Moody said they targeted Marvin Parker, 59, and his wife Gretchen Dawn Parker, 51, because he was a registered sex offender. Jeremy Moody shot both victims while Christine slit the woman's throat.

The killer couple were both molested themselves as children and while they were initially apologetic for the killings they soon said what they really felt when the North Carolina judge handed down the maximum sentence — two consecutive life sentences.

"See you perverts later,' Jeremy Moody shouted at the Parker family. "That's what child molesters get."

"They got exactly what they deserve,' Jeremy also told reporters. "Had to do it over again, I'd kill more."

"I think Jeremy and I would have done it again if given the opportunity," Christine Moody said. "I have no regrets. Killing that pedophile was the best day of my life."

Jeremy Moody, left, kisses his wife, Christine Moody, right, while standing with their lawyers shortly before they were both sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday, May 6, 2014, in Union, S.C. Authorities say Jeremy and Christine Moody killed 59-year-old Charles Parker and his 51-year-old wife Gretchen Parker last July. Investigators said the Moodys are members of a loosely organised online white supremacist group called Crew 41 and decided to kill Parker because he had taken advantage of a disabled woman. (AP Photo/Spartanburg Herald-Journal, Tim Kimzey) Source: AP

The killer couple had already planned to kill another pedophile before they were caught in relation to the Parkers murder.

Their defence lawyers said Jeremy Moody suffered from schizophrenia and was not on his medicine when the killings took place, while Christine Moody was a breast cancer survivor who underwent a double mastectomy four years ago.

White supremacist ... Jeremy Lee Moody stands in court. Source: AP

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Stop the Sultan: Hotel feels the pain

Protesters in the US call for a boycott of the famous Beverly Hills Hotel after its owner, the Sultan of Brunei, begins the implementation of Sharia law. Sarah Toms reports.

Boycott target ... the Beverly Hills Hotel is part of the Dorchester Collection, owned by the Sultan of Brunei. Source: Supplied

AS the celebrity boycott of a hotel chain owned by the Sultan of Brunei steps up, the CEO of the hotel company says he feels "incredibly unfairly picked on".

Speaking to CBS News, Dorchester Collection CEO Christopher Cowdray said the campaign to boycott the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Hotel Bel-Air and others in the group was "misdirected".

Steven Fry and Ellen DeGeneres were among the first celebrities to raise awareness that the hotels are part owned by the Sultan of Brunei, who has just introduced tough new Sharia laws in his homeland.

Among many other punitive measures, the laws call for the stoning to death of homosexuals and women convicted of adultery.

Richard Branson, Jay Leno, Sharon Osbourne, Bo Derek, Mia Farrow and Sara Gilbert have since offered their support for the campaign, and nine fashion or entertainment-industry organisations have cancelled their events at Dorchester Collection hotels.

EARLIER: Beginnings of the boycott

Celebrity support ... Jay Leno spoke at a rally outside the Beverly Hills Hotel organised by feminist and LGBT community groups. Source: Supplied

Flying in to Los Angeles to deal with the flack, Cowdray said the protesters were merely "hurting a local business" and its 650 employees — many of whom rely on tips from the hotels' well-heeled guests.

He said the hotels had done "absolutely nothing wrong" and he felt "totally unfairly picked on".

He declined to give an opinion on the laws bring introduced in Brunei, saying the correct avenue for protest was through the US State Department.

"There's other hotel companies in (Los Angeles) that are owned by Saudi Arabia," Cowdray said. "Your shirt probably comes from a country that probably has human rights issues. To single out the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Dorchester Collection and particularly our employees is very unjust."

But his comments have been slammed on social media.

"He should try getting stoned to death for being gay and see how he feels," one Facebook user commented.

Instagram user Cameron Silver criticised Cowdray for conflating the issue with other human rights issues.

"This will go on to be a text book example of a CEO failing to handle a global crisis directly and quickly and letting it spread like cancer. It is only growing and now #stopthesultan has effectively diluted any glamour to hotels that once oozed decorum and class," Silver wrote.

The condemnation continued on Twitter.

COMMENT BELOW: Is the boycott of Dorchester Collection hotels misguided, as Christopher Cowdray says?

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Spurned wife ‘kidnapped husband’

Spurned wife ... Michelle Barker Bradley allegedly kidnapped her husband at his new lover's home and threatened to kill him. Picture: Selma Police Department Source: Supplied

HELL has no fury like a woman scorned.

Twenty-six-year Michelle Barker Bradley allegedly kidnapped her estranged husband from his lover's house and threatened his life with a gun.

Bradley, of Stanton, Alabama, arrived outside her husband's new girlfriend's home 30 minutes' drive away in Selma and allegedly fired gunshots into the air and demanded that her husband come outside, alabam.com reported.

Bradley is then accused of knocking on the front door of the house and shouting for her husband to come outside or she would "shoot up" the house, according to Selma Police Department.

When the husband went outside, Bradley grabbed him at gunpoint and threatened to kill him if he did not get into her car.

"Mrs. Bradley called the victim's mother and told her that she was going to kill her son and drop his body somewhere between Selma and Maplesville," Lieutenant Curtis Muhannad of the Selma Police Department said in a press release.

PICTURES: Female mug shots from the 1920s

The girlfriend of Bradley's husband had called police and she was able to follow her car north on Highway 22 giving police directions to the vehicle.

Selma police officers and Dallas County Sheriff's deputies were able to stop Bradley's vehicle without incident and arrested her.

A .22-caliber semi-automatic weapon was found in Bradley's vehicle.

She is charged with second-degree domestic violence kidnapping, domestic violence reckless endangerment, four counts of reckless endangerment and harassment, according to Selma police.

She is being held without bond pending a court hearing.

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Tallest teen to marry 5’4” beau

Lifting me higher ... Elisany da Cruz Silva, 6'8", towers over her 5'4" fiance Francinaldo da Silva Carvalho. Picture: BTV Source: Supplied

THEY don't always see eye to eye, but the world's tallest teen girl is set to marry her rather compact fiancé.

Standing at a staggering 6'8" (2.03m), Elisany de Cruz Silva had been dating Francinaldo da Silva, who is just 5'4" (1.63m), for more than three years when he popped the big question in March.

"I told him many times, 'do not ask me to marry you because my answer will be no' — I think that's what he was thinking," the 18-year-old aspiring model told the Daily Mail.

"I was so nervous when I saw him there. I don't even know how I coped."

But for Mr da Silva, 23, the engagement was a dream come true.

"I have always wanted to go out with a tall girl and she came and fitted into that perfectly," the construction worker said.

Ms de Cruz Silva has a rare form of gigantism caused by a tumour on her pituitary gland, for which she said she was teased at school.

But despite the stares, Mr da Silva said he couldn't be more proud of his new fiancé.

"I am always boasting about being with her.

"Everyone thinks she is beautiful — my friends think she is beautiful.

"She is a person that is very different and I know I can make her happy.

"Our relationship is special because she understands me and I understand her."

However, Ms De Cruz Silva explains things haven't always been so good for the pair.

"When we met I had already turned 16," she said.

"I was still a bit childish and so I was just playing around with him for a while and I got so annoyed with him — as if he was a rival that I hated.

"I just didn't like him and wanted to hit him every time we met."

Having overcome their differences, the couple has lived together in the Brazilian town of Salinopolis for more than a year.

Ms de Cruz Silva said she hoped to fall pregnant soon.

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Boko Haram attack kills hundreds

Deadly attack ... a still from a video reportedly shows Abubakar Shekau, centre, the suspected leader of Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, flanked by six armed and hooded fighters. Source: AFP

AN ATTACK by Boko Haram Islamists in a north-eastern Nigerian town on the Cameroon border has killed hundreds of people, a local senator and witnesses said.

Senator Ahmed Zanna added that the town of Gamboru Ngala was left unguarded because the soldiers based there had been redeployed north towards Lake Chad in an effort to rescue more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram on April 14.

Gunmen riding in armoured vehicles and on motorcycles stormed the town on Monday and razed much of the area.

SEVEN SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT BOKO HARAM

Residents said survivors fled when the attack began, with the insurgents firing on civilians as they tried to run to safety into Cameroon.

Casualty figures had remained unclear in the hours after the attack because the town had been overrun by extremist fighters and it was not possible to return to assess the loss of life, witnesses had previously told AFP.

"I have been in constant touch with Gamboru (Ngala)," Zanna said.

"From information reaching me from the town, the death toll from the attack is around 300," he added.

"All economic and business centres have been burnt. The market in the town which attracts traders from all over the area...has been completely burnt," he added.

A woman holds a sign as she takes part in a rally for the release of the kidnapped Chibok school girls. Source: AFP

The senator's claim that the military had been redeployed from the town in search of the missing girls could not be immediately confirmed by the military, which has not responded to repeated calls seeking comment.

The mass abduction has shocked Nigerians and sparked global outrage.

The United States has sent military experts to Nigeria to help rescue the hostages.

Speaking by phone from Gamboru Ngala, resident Musa Abba said that the town was "littered with more than 100 dead bodies", adding that the search was continuing and the toll may rise.

Another resident, Ibrahim Bukar put the death toll closer to 300.

Gamboru Ngala falls in Borno state, Boko Haram's home base and where the insurgents have killed thousands in a five-year uprising aimed at creating a strict Islamic state in mainly Muslim northern Nigeria.

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TV host ‘got raped teens drunk’

Sex claims ... Former broadcaster Stuart Hall (R) arrives at Preston Magistrate's court in Preston. Source: AFP

FORMER British broadcaster Stuart Hall repeatedly plied two young teenage girls with drink and raped them in his BBC dressing room, a British court has heard.

Hall abused the trust of their families and preyed on their vulnerability, state prosecutors claimed as they outlined their case against the 84-year-old broadcasting veteran.

Hall presented the hit BBC television show It's a Knockout in the 1970s and 1980s, fronted the BBC regional evening news in northwest England and was a football commentator.

He is one of a string of British celebrities of the 1970s and 1980s to face investigation for sexual offences, in the wake of the revelation that one of the BBC's biggest stars, Jimmy Savile, was a prolific child sex offender.

Last year, Hall admitted 14 offences of indecent assault against 13 girls or young women and was jailed for 15 months. His sentence was increased to 30 months by the Court of Appeal and he remains in prison.

In the current court case, the first complainant, identified only as Girl A, was 14 when she was first allegedly raped, in Hall's dressing room, between 1976 and 1977.

Girl B was first raped in the late 1970s when she was aged under 13, the prosecution alleged.

"He was trusted by each of the families and in return he abused their trust by raping and indecently assaulting their children," prosecutor Peter Wright told the jury at Preston Crown Court in northwest England.

"You will hear certain similarities in how he plied them with drink, notwithstanding their tender age, or took advantage of their intoxication.

"You will hear of how he preyed, we say, upon their vulnerability."

He said Hall did not dispute having sexual intercourse with the complainants, but will assert that they were aged 15 or 16 and the activity was consensual.

Hall is charged with seven counts of rape — five when the complainant was aged under 16 (the age of consent in England) — and two of indecent assault against Girl A.

He is also charged with eight counts of rape — one when the complainant was aged under 13 — and three indecent assaults against Girl B.

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Models try to make poverty ‘sexy’

Not so sexy ... A model struggles to read lines about child poverty and war in a "sexy" way. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

A SURPRISING new video shows what happens when you take the advertising rule "sex sells" and apply it to something decidedly unsexy — child poverty.

The startling new advert shows hot models growing increasingly upset as they struggle to read disturbing facts about child poverty in a "sexy" way.

The new ad for Save The Children begins with the director telling the models they're there to sell a "very sexy brand".

"It's visceral, it's intimate. We're selling sexy here," the director says.

TITLE: Most Important 'Sexy' Video ever

SIZE: 650x366px

CAPTION: Save The Children's shocking new "sexy" video

Taking his instructions to heart, the models start by reading their cure cards with "sexy" phrases, while staring seductively into the camera.

"What is sexy?" they ask. "What are your deepest desires?".

"Lust is my mistress," says one beefy male model, running his hand through his hair.

Selling it ... A model says his "sexy" child poverty lines, before being emotional and asking for a break. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

However, the models are stunned and disturbed when they see the next cue card, which says: "Almost 800 mothers and 18,000 young children die each day, mostly from preventable causes."

The director instructs them to make the disturbing fact "sexy", something the models struggle to do.

Looking shocked, one model asks "You want me to say that sexy?".

Gamely trying to press one, both male and female models become emotional.

One woman fans herself as she grows flustered, another woman looks downcast and one man asks to take a break to walk off his overwhelming emotions after struggling to make his line seem seductive.

Stunned reaction ... A model fans herself after becoming upset when asked to read lines about child poverty and war. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

The director then admits there's nothing anyone can do to make the issue of child poverty and war "sexy", even though it's an issue that is vitally important and deserves attention.

The compelling video has been released in time for Save the Children's annual State of the World's Mothers report to make Mother's Day.

"Beyond the Mother's Day flowers and the brunches for the moms in our own lives, we want people to do something for mothers who are facing extreme challenges every day," said Save the Children President and CEO Carolyn Miles.

You want me to say what? ... A model questions the director after being told of his new lines. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

"That's why we set out to create a video that will not only grab people's attention, but also get them to act. We know that talking about mothers and babies struggling to survive during war and disaster isn't sexy. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be doing something about it," says Ms Miles.

The video was created by advertising agency Big Block Live, which earlier this year created Save The Children Most Shocking Second a Day video, which went viral and wracked up more than 25 million views on YouTube.

TITLE: Shocking Second a Day Video

SIZE: 650x366px

CAPTION: Save the Children's Second a Day video

That video also takes an untraditional approach to the serious issues, asking "what if a war broke out in the UK like it did in Syria?".

It follows the life of a girl in the fictional war-torn UK over one year. It was released to mark the third-year anniversary of the Syrian conflict.

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‘Won’t be shamed for weight loss’

Against policy ... Brooke Birmingham was told to cover up if she was to be the subject of a weight loss story for Shape magazine. Source: Supplied

A WOMAN who lost a staggering 77 kilograms says she was rejected from appearing on a fitness magazine because she wouldn't hide her stomach.

Brooke Birmingham, 28, from Illinois, has been recording her weight loss journey on Facebook via her page Brooke: Not On A Diet.

E Online reports that it took her more than four years to lose the weight she wanted and her achievement caught the attention of Shape magazine who wanted to do a story on her.

But after she sent them an 'after' shot of her in a bikini with noticeably saggy skin she was told to submit another picture with clothes on. Birmingham was told it was editorial policy.

Before and after ... Brooke says she is proud of her weight loss journey. Source: Supplied

However there have been many pictures in Shape where weight loss success stories have shared bikini shots.

Brooke decided to can the idea of sharing her story with the magazine.

"If I couldn't have the picture of me in my bikini to go along with my story, then it wasn't MY story," she wrote on her blog. "The story I wanted to tell and shout out to the world, not their ideal story. So, if I couldn't tell it my way, then they weren't going to be able to tell it at all."

Shape magazine said the directive to take a fully clothed picture was a freelancer's mistake.

"This is a result of a misunderstanding with a freelance writer. This does not represent Shape's editorial values and the comments made about Shape's 'editorial policy' are absolutely untrue," a spokesman for Shape tells E! News. "Shape prides itself on empowering and celebrating women like Brooke, and any indication that we would not run the piece with the photo provided was wrong, as we would have been proud to share her inspirational story. ​"

Four-year journey ... Brooke says she has battled for four years to get her weight to a point where she is happy. Source: Supplied

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