A Dentist in India, Rajesh Talwar had found his daughter and domestic servant in "objectionable position" and murdered them using his golf stick and a sharp-edged weapon.
Deposing during cross examination in a special court here, CBI Additional SP AGL Kaul, who led the second probe team, went into the motive behind the sensational double murder of 14-year old Aarushi and domestic servant Hemraj at the Noida residence of dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar on the intervening night of May 15-16, 2008.
Kaul said according to his investigation Rajesh Talwar was awake in his room at 12 midnight whereas the time of murders, according to postmortem report, is between 12-1 AM.
The officer claimed that according to his probe Hemraj was attacked in Aarushi's room on her bed, taken to the roof and dragged to a corner where his throat was slit.
Explaining the sequence of events which took place on the fateful night, Kaul said Rajesh heard some noise and went to Hemraj's room but did not find him there.
"There were two golf sticks lying in Hemraj's room one of which Rajesh Talwar picked up. He heard a noise from the room of Aarushi. The room door was not locked and was just shut. He opened the door and found Aarushi and Hemraj were in objectionable position on the bed of Aarushi," Kaul said in his testimony.
Kaul said finding them in such a position, Rajesh Talwar hit on Hemraj's head with golf stick. By the time he gave a second blow the servant's head moved from the position and the stick hit Aarushi on her forehead.
He said when golf sticks were seized the stick heads were not sealed separately.
"The V or U shaped injury on Aarushi's forehead could have been caused by the use of golf stick head," he said.
The content of the video took place in 2012, where a Nigerian lady was raped by a group of men in Bonny Island, Rivers State.
After raping her, the men tied her hands and legs before burying her alive. 12 hours after she was buried, the Nigerian army got to know about the incident, and the video shows the culprits and the JTF exhuming her corpse.
A woman in Carlsbad has been arrested on child abuse charges after she held her son while he was attacked by a bobcat at the zoo. Amber Lavail was at the zoo today to find out how this happened.
click to watch video here:
Investigators say twenty-two year old Courtney Hutchins hopped a protective barrier with her son trying to get closer to the bobcats. According to the criminal complaint Hutchins brother, the little boy's uncle, told police they were petting the cats.
A bobcat reached out with it's paw, grabbed the boy by the head and pulled him towards the fence. the boy needed eight staples in is head to close the wound. we looked today and found the only way to get around the barrier is to climb over it.
"the railing and the fence are separated by a two foot gap filled with cactus."
Zoo officials say if you stay behind the barrier you should be safe. Hutchins says she did not see any of these signs reading for your own safety please stand behind the blue railing. She has been arrested and charged with child abuse.
In-laws of 20-year-old pregnant woman here have been charged with murdering an unborn girl child after they allegedly stomped on her stomach and beat her, killing the two-month-old foetus, police said on Tuesday.
The incident took place in the Mhasrul locality where victim Suvarna Gaikwad was being harassed mentally and physically for dowry since her marriage to Khanderao Gaikwad in June last year, they said.
The young woman was being tortured to bring a dowry of Rs 1.5 lakh for building a house. Later, when her in-laws came to know that she was pregnant, they took her to a 'godman' Shyambaba Shinde at Niphad, who told them that she was carrying a girl, police said.
Suvarna was told to abort the girl child but when she refused to do so, she was allegedly roughed up by her husband, and family, including the mother-in-law killing the foetus on April 4.
The matter was brought to light by Mahendra Datrange, President of Nashik unit of Blindfaith Eradicating organisation following which the husband, his brother Vijay Gaikwad, maternal father-in-law Dilip Suryavanshi and one of his kins Jalinder Suryavanshi was arrested yesterday, police said.
Offences have been registered against them under different sections of IPC at panchavati police station yesterday, police said.
Suvarna's family, which alleged murder of the girl, is demanding the arrest of her mother-in-law Bibabai, Shinde and others involved in the killing.
Jay-Z’s learnt a lesson not to brag about his powerful friends. The rapper has been given a dressing down by the White House after claiming Barack Obama had been doing him personal favours. Earlier this month Jay and wife Beyonce got into trouble for travelling to Cuba – which is technically forbidden for US citizens.
To hit back, this week he released a song called Open Letter making exaggerated hip-hop boasts which has landed him in hot water with pal Barack.
He rapped: “Boy from the hood but got White House clearance / Obama said, ‘Chill, you gonna get me impeached’ / But you don’t need this s*** anyway/ Chill on the beach.”
Obama’s spokesman, Jay Carney, was asked about the lyrics soon after and angrily said: “It’s a song. I am absolutely saying that the White House and the President had nothing to do with anybody’s personal travel to Cuba.”
Jay-Z has previously campaigned for the president, who says he has the rapper’s songs on his iPod. And Beyonce also sang – mimed – at his second inuaguration in January.
Insisting that a different department, the Treasury, approves trips for US citizens travelling to Cuba, Carney said: “I guess nothing rhymes with Treasury.”
He’s right, though – Jay-Z could have gone with a few half rhymes – celery, feathery or leathery.
Fear of a religious war loomed, weekend, in Nigeria, following the threat by Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, to commence the assassination of Muslim clerics, bombing of mosques, hajj camps and Islamic institutions as from May 31.
The exercise, codenamed, Operation Barborossa, according to spokesman of the militant group, Jomo Gbomo, is to save Christianity in Nigeria from total destruction.
MEND’s threat is obviously in response to the bombing of Christians and Christian worship places by the Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
It said: “On behalf of the hapless Christian population in Nigeria, MEND will, from Friday, May 31, 2013, embark on a crusade to save Christianity in Nigeria from annihilation.
“The bombing of mosques, hajj camps, Islamic institutions, large congregations in Islamic events and assassination of clerics that propagate doctrines of hate, will form the core mission of this crusade code named Operation Barbarossa.
“This campaign will not in any way interfere with the ongoing “Hurricane Exodus,” which on Saturday, April 13, 2013, at 1am, swept through the Ewellesuo community, in Nembe, Bayelsa State, leaving the destruction of well 62, belonging to Shell Petroleum Development Company in its wake.
“We may only consider a ceasefire of Operation Barbarossa if the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, the Catholic Church and Henry Okah, one of the few leaders in the Niger Delta region we respect for his integrity, intervenes.
“Also, the assurance for a cessation of hostilities targeted at Christians in their places of worship, made privately or publicly by the real Boko Haram leadership will make us call off this crusade.
“We have no problem with their attacks on security agencies including the prisons, for their role in extrajudicial killings, torture, deceit and corruption.”
BEYONCÉ shows her playful side as she takes to the stage in an outfit adorned with fake nipples. The singer ensured the opening night of her world tour didn’t go unnoticed thanks to a series of sexy outfits she donned throughout the show in Belgrade, Serbia. Pick of the bunch was a glittery figure-hugging costume that created the illusion she was performing in the nude. Dark shadings at the contours of her boobs and two pointy lumps replicating her nipples must have initially fooled fans into believing she was baring all.
Beyoncé was on sizzling form throughout her Mrs Carter Show gig at the Kombank Arena. She wowed in a risqué red playsuit that rode up above her hips and bared a portion of her tummy. The chart-topper teamed the hot clobber with a giant gold broach, complementing the look with cascades of curly locks.
She flashed some cleavage in a futuristic semi-sheer design, clenching a fist as she whipped the crowd into a frenzy. The pop beauty also dropped jaws in a stunning white number that drew attention to her legs and shampoo ad-style barnet.
Beyoncé has got her work cut out over the coming months, playing gigs most nights up until her final show in New York on August 5.
Her tour touches down in the UK later this month. She’ll be performing in Birmingham on April 26 and 27 before a run of six dates at the O2 Arena in London. On top of her live commitments, Beyoncé is also busy promoting high street store H&M’s summer 2013 collection.
Yesterday snaps emerged of the star – who has a baby daughter, Blue Ivy, with hubby Jay-Z – showing off her fine physique in bikini ads for the fashion retailer.
The fully-clothed bodies of a young brother and sister have been pulled from a garden pool on New York's Long Island. Distraught mother Tia Knowles had reported five-year-old Ralph and seven-year-old Sharon missing from their home in in Central Islip at about 3.30pm on Sunday.
An officer spotted a shoe floating in a next-door neighbour's pool, which was uncovered and contained blackish water. Fellow officers jumped into the 4ft-deep pool and found their lifeless bodies. The children were taken to hospital but efforts to resuscitate them failed. Their uncle, Henry Valentine, 32, of Jamaica, Queens, told the Newsday newspaper that their mother was "devastated".
"She's not doing good at all," he said.
The pool is surrounded by a deck. Both are sunk into the ground and surrounded by a low, wooden fence. The owner had been warned previously by the town council about the fencing.
"The exposed side of the stockade fence was facing out, instead of the smooth side," said Detective Sgt Edward Fandrey of the Suffolk County police homicide squad.
He added that the slats made it easier to climb over the shared fence. The house in the Long Island neighbourhood where the children lived is owned by a charity that works with homeless families.
A Heavily-pregnant mum is thought to have killed herself and her three young children after leaving a Facebook message stating: “We’ll never be hurt again.”
Fiona Anderson is said to have leapt 40ft from a multi-storey car park. Just hours later Levina, three, son Addy, two, and 11-month-old boy Kyden were found dead at her flat half a mile away. Friends revealed the “brilliant mum”, 23, had left a string of despairing Facebook updates after Craig McLelland — the father of her children — left her for someone else.
Just hours before her body was found at about 8am yesterday, Fiona posted a scan of her unborn baby, who she named Evalie, and wrote: “I love them, I’ll keep them safe.”
She had earlier written: “No one wants us. No one will help us.
“The people who are supposed to help us just tell lies and try to take my babies away.
“Craig was all we had, now he’s gone.”
Fiona, of Lowestoft. Suffolk, added: “Mummy loves you so much and I’ll always be there looking after you.
“I’m sorry I let you get hurt. We’ll never be hurt again.”
A Home Office pathologist was last night carrying out post mortems on the children to find out how they died. Mr McLelland arrived at the flat they lived in at about 7.30pm as neighbours left teddy bears, cuddly toys and flowers outside.
He said: “I found out this morning when I got a call saying somebody had committed suicide and I had a feeling who it was.”
After seeing the tributes, he added: “It is really touching to see that people care.
Fiona’s friend Karleigh Burlingham, 20, said Craig had left her about a month ago.
She added: “Her kids were healthy and well brought up. She must have been going through a very tough time.”
Another friend said: “We heard she put a status on her Facebook page last night saying, ‘My babies will go with me’. I don’t think anyone thought she would harm herself, let alone her children. It is just awful.”
Investigating officers last night said they were treating the deaths as “suspicious”.
The FBI is leading a terror investigation after three people were killed and more than 140 others hurt in a twin-bombing attack during the Boston Marathon. Spectators' cheers turned to screams as the explosions ripped through the crowd near the finish line, causing horrific injuries.
An eight-year-old boy is among the dead.
The blasts happened within seconds of each other and about 100m (330ft) apart, blowing out windows and sending smoke and debris into the air. Emergency workers tore down fencing and carried away seriously injured men and women amid scenes of panic and confusion in the heart of the city.
Of the 144 reported injured, 17 are in a critical condition. Massachusetts General Hospital said "several amputations" were performed on survivors. Others had limbs torn off by blast forces. More than 25,000 people were registered as taking part in the race, 374 of whom were British. There were also 108 Irish athletes.
There have been no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack, the most serious in the US since the 9/11 World Trade Centre atrocity. Al Qaeda-linked groups and militant white extremists have attacked targets in America in the past. The Pakistani Taliban, who have previously threatened attacks in the US, have denied any involvement.
Barack Obama vowed to find and punish those responsible, as a senior White House official said the attacks were being treated as an act of terrorism. Mr Obama said officials "still do not know who did this or why".
But he vowed: "We will find out who did this. We'll find out why they did this. Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups, will feel the full weight of justice."
Bill Bratton, a former head of Boston police who is now based in London, said: "Unfortunately in my country there are no shortage of potential suspects, if you will."
The marathon is held every year on Patriots' Day, a Massachusetts state holiday which commemorates the first battles of the American Revolution in 1775. The explosions happened on Boylston Street, four hours into the race and about two hours after the men's winner had crossed the line, as amateur runners were reaching the finish.
More than 17,000 competitors had completed the race by the time the blasts struck. TV helicopter footage showed blood on the ground and the desperate efforts of rescuers in the popular shopping and tourist area known as the Back Bay. A woman near the second bomb, Brighid Wall, 35, said people had frozen, unsure of what to do.
Her husband threw their children to the ground, lay on top of them and another man lay on top of them and said: "Don't get up, don't get up."
She said she saw six to eight people bleeding profusely, including one man who was kneeling, dazed and bleeding from his head. Another person was on the ground covered in blood and not moving.
"My ears are zinging", she said. "Their ears are zinging. It was so forceful. It knocked us to the ground."
Bill Iffrig, a runner who was filmed falling to the ground as the first blast went off, said "the shockwave must have hit me. My legs felt like noodles". He was able to walk away and speak to reporters at the scene.
Runner Tim Davey, from Virginia, was with his wife Lisa and their children in a medical tent set up for exhausted runners. "They just started bringing people in with no limbs," he said.
Roupen Bastajian, 35, a state police officer from Rhode Island, had just finished the race when he heard the blasts.
"There were people all over the floor," he said. "We started grabbing tourniquets and started tying legs.
"A lot of people amputated ... At least 25 to 30 people have at least one leg missing, or an ankle missing, or two legs missing."
One British runner, Anthony Meenaghan, said he was "safe and well" but added: "Can't believe what I saw and heard".
Mr Meenaghan, 21, is an architectural technology student from Sheffield Hallam University who is on a work placement in Boston. He was running with his father, who is also called Anthony.
He tweeted: "Thanks for all messages. I'm safe and well. Can't believe what I saw and heard. Sad day."
A senior US intelligence official said another two unexploded bombs were found and disarmed near the end of the 26.2mile (42km) route. There were reports of a third blast at the JFK library a few miles away but that was later confirmed as a fire that was believed to be unrelated to the blasts. No one has been arrested, although officers searched an apartment in the Boston suburb of Revere as part of the investigation.
A no-fly zone was also put in place over the city as security was tightened and flights bound for Boston's Logan International Airport were briefly held up at other airports. Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis said the authorities had received "no specific intelligence that anything was going to happen".
At Massachusetts General Hospital, Alisdair Conn, chief of emergency services, said: "This is something I've never seen in my 25 years here ... this amount of carnage in the civilian population. This is what we expect from war."
Police and doctors quoted by US media said ball bearings had been packed into the injuries, causing horrific injuries.
A 10-year-old Colombian girl has sparked outrage after becoming one of the world’s youngest ever mothers by giving birth to a healthy daughter. The girl, a member of an indigenous tribe called the Wayuu who are based in the La Guajira Peninsula in the north of the country, was 39 weeks pregnant when she underwent a Caesarean section. Most pregnancies are 38 weeks.
It was the first time the pre-teen, from the town of Manaure, had visited a doctor in connection with her pregnancy. She reportedly arrived at the hospital bleeding, in floods of tears and ‘enormous’ pain from the contractions. Doctors decided to carry out the risky operation because of her age – and both mother and daughter, who weighed just 5lbs, are said to be ‘doing well’.
This is despite the mother refusing to breastfeed her newborn and the pair being confined to the neo-natal unit of the hospital, which has not been disclosed.
Although Colombian police could prosecute the father for underage sex, the country’s constitution guarantees the Wayuu a certain amount of autonomy. It allows the tribe to maintain its own sovereignty and certain cultural heritages, of which one is said to be the giving birth of children at an extremely young age.
In any case the community has remained tight-lipped as to the identity of the father, with some Colombian newspaper speculating it is a 15-year-old boy. Others believe it is a 30-year-old man. The case has led to criticism from the director of the hospital where she gave birth.
Efraín Pacheco Casadiego told RCN La Radio: ‘We’ve already seen similar cases of wayuu girls.
‘At a time when (the girls) should be playing with dolls, they go to having to take care of a baby. It’s shocking.’
But Alejandro Samplayo, director of parenthood organisation Instituto Colombiano Bienestar Familiar, referred to the tribe’s culture.
He added: ‘Since it’s a Wayuu girl we are trying to respect all of their rights since they have autonomy and their own jurisdiction.’
Pandemonium broke out, yesterday, on Daleko bridge, in Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos State, after a foreigner was allegedly shot dead by a yet to be identified policeman in uniform.
There were, however, different accounts as to how the deceased, identified as Santos Korie, was killed. A version said the foreigner was driving in a Toyota Highlander vehicle at about 7a.m, when he was allegedly intercepted by some policemen, who were in a commercial bus, on the bridge.
An argument reportedly ensued as the policemen were said to have demanded Santo’s documents, with a view to ascertaining whether he was an illegal alien. Then all of a sudden, there was a gun shot from one of the policemen, which killed the foreigner.
Another account had it that the men in police uniform could have trailed the foreigner to the bridge, as they reportedly opened fire on him at close range on getting to the bridge. The gun shot was said to have jeopardize motorists and traders’ movement, as they reportedly fled in different directions for safety.
A truck pusher who simply identified himself as Eugene, told Vanguard that men in police uniform usually patrolled the area, extorting money from gullible motorists.
Eugene who claimed to be returning from where he had offloaded some bags of rice around Isolo, said the policemen zoomed off immediately they fired the shot. He disclosed that one of them attempted to take something from the foreigner’s vehicle but was ordered otherwise by his colleagues.
Eugene said: “Even after they left, the man inside the car was still breathing. If he had been rushed to the hospital at that time, perhaps, he would have survived. Nobody could even go near him anyway, until some policemen came and took him and the car away.
“This is not the first time policemen are seen operating in commercial buses in Lagos. Most times, they come to raid. At other times, they stop vehicles and even okadas. Nobody knows what happened that led to the killing of the man.”
Police react
While most eye witnesses claimed the killers were policemen on illegal duty, the Lagos State Police Command, in a swift reaction, debunked the claim, saying the killers could be gunmen who usually operated in police uniform.
The command in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, noted: “In recent times, gunmen operating in military and police uniforms have been involved in one violent crime or the other and the Lagos State Command is not leaving any stone unturned in dealing decisively with any fake uniformed officer.”
It was not immediately ascertained whether the gunmen were hired killers in police uniform or real Police Officers.
Meantime, some arrests have been made and the suspects are currently being detained at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) for interrogation.
“Following this ugly incident, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Mr. Umar Manko has ordered that the gunmen must be fished out with a view to knowing their identities, particularly as they were alleged to have operated in Police uniforms.”
“The Commissioner of Police hereby appeals to members of the public and especially the victim family to remain calm and embrace peace as the perpetrators of this dastardly act must be brought to book”, Braide said.
A 17-year-old maid, who allegedly forced her employer's 11-year-old son to be intimate with her on different occasions for a month, has appeared in court.
She reportedly threatened the boy with death if he disclosed the crime, the court heard. The matter came to light after the boy contracted a sexually transmitted disease. The maid was not asked to plead to a charge of aggravated indecent assault when she appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Donald Ndirowei.
She was released into the custody of her mother and was remanded to May 3. Prosecutor Mr Tungamirai Chakurira alleged that sometime in September last year, the girl was employed by the boy's parents as a maid.
The boy shared his room with the girl though sleeping on different beds. The maid, who had been at the house for two days, allegedly took advantage of the sleeping arrangement and abused the boy without protection. After the act, the court heard that the girl threatened to assault the boy if he reported the matter to anyone.
According to the prosecution the abuse went on for a month and the boy never disclosed the offence to anyone. The offence came to light after the girl resigned when the boy started having difficulties in walking.
The boy's aunt questioned him and he later opened up and the matter was reported to the police.
Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) are perturbed over the increasing cases of drug trafficking, especially methamphetamine popularly called ‘Meth’.
The anti-drug agency, has again, foiled a plot to smuggle 40.255kg of methamphetamine to South Africa on board a South African Airline flight. Vigilant personnel of the agency detected the consignment at the cargo section of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos.
A total of 41 parcels of methamphetamine were found hidden inside ground melon carefully packed with cosmetics and provisions. According to the NDLEA Airport Commander, Mr. Hamza Umar, who led the discovery, the drug was found in a bag of provisions and cosmetics.
“The drug was packaged in 41 parcels in white transparent polythene and hidden inside ground melon. Other items such as gala, biscuits, milk, body cream and food ingredients were found also in the package to divert attention.
“We have impounded a Hummer Jeep, Range Rover Jeep and a bus from suspected members of the cartel,” Hamza said.
The suspect, Ihedioha Chidi, who is a patent medicine dealer, said that he was given the sum of N450,000 to send the consignment.
“My childhood friend who lives in South Africa sent me N450,000 to send his goods to him in South Africa. It was while processing the shipment that NDLEA officers found drugs inside the goods and I was arrested,” the suspect said.
The suspect, a bachelor who lives in Okota, Lagos, hails from Imo State.
The Chairman of the Agency, Ahmadu Giade promised to rid the country of illicit drugs.
His words: “We are working hard to halt the illicit production of methamphetamine in the country.”
“So far, five clandestine laboratories used for methamphetamine production have been detected in the country in the last two years. The Agency will continue to dislodge drug cartels by detecting production centres and intercepting all shipments of drugs. This seizure is a warning to drug barons that the battle line is drawn. More arrests shall be made in respect of the case and assets traceable to them shall be forfeited.”
A man who recently bought a bowl of fried rice from a restaurant in Lagos discovered a cooked baby rat in his food. Please be warned, check properly whatever food you are been served from a restaurant before you start eating.
The Chief Promoter of the Olokun Festival, Otunba Gani Adams, has said that members of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) will continue to live by the natural laws given by God.
He told reporters at the lecture series to mark the celebration of the 2013 Eledumare Festival, at the Excellence Hotel, Ogba, Lagos, that those who hold the view that members of the OPC don’t worship God were living in the past and needed to change their perception. Gani said the celebration of the Eledumare festival was its members’ little way of thanking God for his mercies upon their lives.
He said: “You will agree with me that the only way to say thank you to Him is to organise a thanksgiving in His honour and that is why we are gathered here today. I thank Him for giving us the privilege as mortal beings to celebrate Him.”
He explained that those who termed the OPC members as fetish were very ignorant because the organisation parades members of all religious groups.
“They are either ignorant or have forgotten that we have members who are Christians, Muslims and traditional religion believers but one thing that joined us together is our common ancestry as sons and daughters of Oduduwa.
“Studies have shown that the Yoruba are not intellectually poor as to lack in knowledge the concept of God as the Supreme Being. In fact, this Supreme Being has many attributes which are well espoused on how the Yoruba view Him.”
He advised the government to address problems confronting the nation by collaborating with the civil societies and other organisations such as OPC at nipping in the bud the challenges of insecurity. Gani maintained there must be religious harmony and tolerance in order to enhance the peace in the country. He noted that there was only one common denominator and that is the Supreme God who can create and take life, whoever does that is taking the natural laws into his hands.
Spain's Princess Cristina, daughter of King Juan Carlos, was charged on Wednesday in a corruption inquiry against her husband, the latest in a spate of high-level graft cases that have angered Spaniards suffering in a severe recession. The princess, 47, was ordered to appear before a judge on April 27, charged in a pre-trial investigation amounting to an extraordinary legal move against a member of the royal family.
Judge Jose Castro said there was evidence the princess was an accomplice to her husband, Inaki Urdangarin, who has been accused of tax fraud and embezzling 6 million euros in public funds when he headed a charitable foundation.
"The law is the same for everyone," the judge said in a court document explaining his decision, echoing the king's own words in his 2011 Christmas address to the nation.
Corruption experts said Castro was building up to issuing a formal indictment against both Urdangarin and Cristina that could lead to putting them both on trial. Disenchantment with the rich and powerful has grown in Spain as unemployment has soared to 26 percent, one of the worst rates in Europe, and a cases of corruption and nepotism in the ruling classes have piled up.
Manuel Villoria, an expert in corruption and professor of political science at King Juan Carlos University, called the charges "devastating" for the royal family.
"He is saying he considers (Cristina) an accomplice, that he (Urdangarin) could not have done it without her. She had knowledge and didn't put a stop to it," Villoria said.
The decision will probably deepen public disenchantment with the royal family and fuel debate on whether the once-popular king should abdicate in favour of his son, Crown Prince Felipe. Castro had been looking into emails which were sent by Urdangarin to his wife asking for her advice on business matters at his charitable Noos Foundation.
A former Olympics handball player, Urdangarin is accused of using his powerful connections to win public contracts to stage events on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca and elsewhere in Spain. Urdangarin has denied any wrongdoing. Castro said he had charged Princess Cristina because he wanted her to testify in person, and under Spanish law she could have avoided doing so had he charged her as a witness.
The Royal Palace declined to comment.
King Juan Carlos, 75, and his wife, Queen Sofia, have tried to distance themselves from the scandal. Urdangarin has been barred from royal family events, and photographs of him have been taken off the official website.
Shock and outrage have greeted Tuesday's accidental airing of the death hoax of revered South African former president, Nelson Mandela, fondly called Madiba.
The Universal Channel (shown on DStv channel 117) had aired a programme 'Remembering Nelson Mandela', apparently from an already prepared file on the global icon.
The channel on MultiChoice's DStv pay-TV cable network platform had accidentally aired the obituary to its millions of viewers who took to the social networks to express their shock and grief. Mandela's health had relapsed last week following infection of his lung. But latest reports from the hospital indicates that his condition is improving.
But realising its gaffe, the cable network has expressed its dismay at the technical error, noting that it was a glitch and not intentional as claimed in some quarters. It tendered apology.
The statement released by the Universal Networks International which programmes the Universal Channel on DStv reads in part: "Like any international broadcaster, Universal Networks holds obituaries ready for every major statesman in the world.
"Universal Networks wishes to offer a sincere and heartfelt apology for the airing of such an announcement for Nelson Mandela which was broadcast last night on the Universal Channel due to a technical error by our team.
"We unreservedly apologise to the Mandela family, to Universal Channel viewers and to DStv subscribers for the alarm and offence caused by this error. Our thoughts and best wishes are with Madiba and his family for a speedy and full recovery."
A condemned killer Steven Smith's argument for mercy isn't an easy one. Smith acknowledges he intended to rape his girlfriend's 6-month-old daughter but says he never intended to kill the baby. The girl, Autumn Carter, died because Smith was too drunk to realize his assault was killing her, Smith's attorneys argued in court filings with the Ohio Parole Board, which heard the case Tuesday. And Ohio law is clear, they say: A death sentence requires an intent to kill the victim.
"The evidence suggests that Autumn's death was a horrible accident," Smith's attorneys, Joseph Wilhelm and Tyson Fleming, said in a written argument prepared for the board.
They continued: "Despite the shocking nature of this crime, Steve's death sentence should be commuted because genuine doubts exist whether he even committed a capital offense."
Smith, 46, was never charged with rape, meaning the jury's only choice was to convict or acquit him of aggravated murder, his attorneys say. However, rape was included in the indictment against Smith as one of the factors making him eligible for the death penalty. Under Ohio law, an aggravated murder committed in the course of another crime — such as burglary, robbery, arson or the killing of a police officer or child — is an element that can make someone eligible for capital punishment.
The Richland County prosecutor said Smith continues to hide behind alcohol as an excuse and calls Smith's actions "the purposeful murder of a helpless baby girl."
Prosecutor James Mayer told the board in his written statement that the girl's injuries were consistent with a homicide that contradicts Smith's claim he didn't intend to kill her.
"The horrific attack upon Autumn Carter showed much more than Smith's stated purpose," Mayer said.
Mayer said Monday he didn't know why Smith wasn't charged with rape, but he said it wasn't part of a trial strategy.
The attack happened early in the morning of Sept. 29, 1998, in the Mansfield apartment of the girl's mother, Kaysha Frye, whom Smith had been dating about six months. Frye was awakened after 3 a.m. by a naked Smith, who placed Autumn beside her in bed, according to records prepared for the parole board hearing. Frye realized the girl wasn't breathing, told Smith he'd killed her and then ran to a neighbor's house for help.
Smith, known to consume as many as 12 beers a day, had had several beers the previous evening and had a blood-alcohol content of 0.123, well above the legal limit for drivers, when he was tested almost eight hours later, at 11 a.m., records show. Smith had unsuccessfully tried to have sex with his girlfriend the evening before the attack, according to records. The prosecutor argued that Smith's assault of the girl was revenge for Smith's failure to perform with Frye.
Smith's attorneys dispute this, saying the girlfriend was not upset with Smith.
Prosecutors presented evidence at trial that Smith's attack lasted as long as 30 minutes, during which time Smith beat the girl to death. Expert witnesses for Smith conclude he may have accidentally suffocated the girl within three to five minutes while he lay on top of her, according to Smith's clemency petition.
Smith's attorneys have an uphill battle in their argument because of the "moral repugnancy" surrounding the claim of partial innocence, said Doug Berman, an Ohio State University law professor and death penalty expert.
"But if the lawyers for this defendant can legitimately assert that the evidence doesn't show or support that this was an intentional killing, not only is it appropriate to bring this up at clemency, I think they're obliged, representing their client appropriately, to stress this point," Berman said.
If executed, Smith would become the 51st inmate put to death in Ohio since the state resumed executions in 1999. The state has enough of its lethal injection drug, pentobarbital, to execute Smith and two other inmates before the supply expires. Eight more inmates are scheduled to die from November through mid-2015.
