NEWS BRIEFING
10 dead, warden hurt as blast, gunfire rock jail in Philippines
The warden was seriously injured in Thursday night's explosion.
Senior Inspector Xavier Solda, spokesman of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, said eight of the inmates killed in the Paranaque City jail in metropolitan Manila faced drug cases, including two Chinese nationals found with large amounts of drugs. The two others were facing robbery and homicide charges.
“During the initial investigation, we can confirm that there was an explosion inside (but) as to what caused the explosion, the investigation is still ongoing,” Solda told reporters.
Solda said investigators were looking at whether the blast was part of an escape attempt but were waiting to talk to the warden.
A local website, Inquirer.net, quoted the city police chief, Senior Supt. Jose Carumba, as saying the warden was inside the restroom adjacent to his office when he heard a “commotion” among the inmates waiting in a receiving area.
The report said Bantag heard a gunshot and fired back at the inmates as he made his way out of his office. It was then that a device exploded, the report said.
Carumba was quoted as saying officials were looking into how the inmates were able to acquire an automatic submachine gun that they used to fire at Bantag.
It was not clear if the inmates died from the grenade blast or from the gunfire.
New York man receives 2 years in sexual assault of air passenger
U.S. Attorney Robert Capers said Staten Island resident Nadeem Mehmood Quraishi, 43, was sentenced Friday.
Emirates flight attendants said Quraishi told them he had molested the passenger on an October flight from Dubai to New York. The woman next to him had taken prescription medication and dozed off. She said Quraishi rubbed hand lotion over her body while she slept.
FBI assistant director-in-charge Diego Rodriguez said the woman “was at her most vulnerable being asleep, and Quraishi took full advantage.”
Quraishi's lawyer questioned how he could have put lotion on her while she was secured by a seat belt and covered by a blanket.
Police: Stabbed teen screamed name of ex-beau before dying
The girl's screams woke her mother up and roused neighbors from sleep just after 3 a.m. in Pico Rivera, about 10 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Lt. Eddie Hernandez said.
Elena Moore had been stabbed at least once in the chest, and she collapsed and died in front of her mother a short time after yelling the name “Rory.”
Investigators were searching for Elena's 17-year-old former boyfriend, Rory Murga. Evidence found at the crime scene also tied Murga to the home, Hernandez said.
Attacks at Thai tourists sites kill at least 4, hurt dozens, police say
Police said at least four people were killed and dozens wounded, including 11 foreigners.
It was not clear who was behind the attacks Thursday and Friday, which followed a successful referendum held last weekend on a new constitution that critics say will bolster the military's power for years to come.
But the violence appeared aimed at undermining the country's tourism industry, which provides vital income to the government.
Thailand's economy has sagged since the military seized power in a 2014 coup.
KPLC-TV reported that jurors deliberated less than an hour before returning their verdict in the case against Felix Vail, 76. The conviction carries a mandatory life sentence.
Vail had pleaded not guilty in the death of Mary Horton Vail. Defense lawyers said the then-22-year-old woman fell from Vail's boat and Vail tried to save her from drowning.
Calcasieu Parish coroner Dr. Terry Welke reopened the investigation after The Clarion-Ledger newspaper published a series in 2012 about Felix Vail, his first wife's death and the disappearances in 1973 of the man's girlfriend, Sharon Hensley, and his second wife, Annette Craver Vail, in 1984.
Dig extended at site of 1750s military camps in New York
State officials have granted an extension for excavations in Lake George Battlefield Park to continue at least for another week, said David Starbuck, an anthropology professor at New Hampshire's Plymouth State University.
More than two dozen pits have yielded evidence of the British and provincial American encampments known to have been located there in 1755-59 during the French and Indian War, which was part of the Seven Years' War.
Among the artifacts found are uniform buttons and buckles, musket balls, gun flints, and high-quality pottery and porcelain.