Teen wanted in connection with grandmother's death detained trying to enter Canada

 

An "armed and dangerous" Florida teen reported missing earlier this week and wanted in connection with the death of his grandmother was detained Friday by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol trying to enter Canada near Buffalo, New York, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office announced Friday night.

Law enforcement officials named Logan Mott, 15, a "person of interest" in the death of his grandmother, Kristina French, 53, after police found on Friday afternoon what they believe is the body of French in a shallow grave in the backyard of her son Eric Mott's home in Neptune Beach, where the younger Mott also lives.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office announced his capture Friday night, tweeting, "Logan Mott has been detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as he tried to enter Canada from the Buffalo, NY area. A big thank you to everyone for sharing and helping us get #LoganMott detained quickly. The investigation is ongoing." Police said he cut his hair short in an attempt to alter his appearance.

It is unclear when Logan Mott will return to Florida or if he has a lawyer.

Following her son's capture, Carrie Campbell-Mott said in a statement to ABC News, "We are relieved he is safe and in custody and we just ask for everyone to give us time to sort out what happened. That no matter what, Logan is our child and we love him and are standing by him to help in any way. We want to find out what happened to Kristina and we need time for that to happen."

 

'Explosion' dashes last hopes for missing Argentine sub with 44 aboard  

 

View of the US Navy deep diving rescue vehicle, the Pressurized Rescue Module (PRM), mobilized to support the Argentine government's search and rescue efforts for the missing Argentine submarine

View of the US Navy deep diving rescue vehicle, the Pressurized Rescue Module (PRM), mobilized to support the Argentine government's search and rescue efforts for the missing Argentine submarine (AFP Photo/PABLO VILLAGRA)

Mar del Plata (Argentina) (AFP) - Argentina's navy confirmed Thursday that an unusual noise heard in the Atlantic near the last known position of a missing submarine appeared to be an explosion, dashing the last hopes of finding the vessel's 44 crew members alive.

Relatives of the missing sailors reacted with grief and anger to the news after holding out hope since the sub was reported overdue at its Mar del Plata base on November 17, two days after the explosion.

Related SearchesArgentine Submarine MissingArgentine Submarine NewsLost Argentine Submarine

"An anomalous, singular, short, violent and non-nuclear event consistent with an explosion," occurred shortly after the submarine's last communication, navy spokesman Captain Enrique Balbi told a news conference in Buenos Aires.

After days of false hopes, some of the relatives said the navy had withheld information about the sub and lied to them over the past week.

"I feel cheated," said Itati Leguizamon, whose husband German Suarez was a sonar operator on the ARA San Juan.

"They did not tell us they died. But they tell us they are three thousand meters (9,800 feet) deep," added Leguizamon as other family members shouted angrily around her.

"They lied to us," said Leguizamon, a lawyer.

A sobbing Jessica Gopar, whose husband was an electrician aboard the San Juan, said "they just told us that the submarine exploded."

She spoke as she came out from the sub's base.

"He was the love of my life, engaged seven years before we got married," Gopar said of her husband, Fernando Santilli. "And how can I tell my son that he no longer has a father?"

Underwater sounds detected in the first days of the search by two Argentine search ships were determined to originate from a sea creature, not the vessel. Satellite signals were also determined to be false alarms.

The San Juan, a 34-year-old German-built diesel-electric submarine, had reported a battery problem on November 15 and said it was diverting to Mar del Plata, but did not send a distress signal, according to the navy.

Balbi admitted on Wednesday that the situation for the sub and its crew appeared to be worsening.

However, he refused to speculate at that point on the origin of what he initially described as a "hydro-acoustic anomaly" detected in the ocean almost three hours after the sub's communication and 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of its last known position.

Balbi explained that information about the unusual noise only became available Wednesday after being relayed by the United States and "after all the information from all agencies reporting such hydro-acoustic events was reviewed."

Explaining the lack of debris on the surface, Balbi said "nothing will end up floating to the surface" because a submarine "implodes".

Gustavo Mauvecin, director of the Center for Hyperbaric Medicine at Mar del Plata, said hydrogen "is always an issue with submarines with electric engines".

The San Juan "has 500 tons of lead-acid batteries, which release hydrogen if there is an overcharge in the battery. Hydrogen in contact with oxygen is explosive".

- An explosion 'so violent' -

"In my opinion, after an explosion like that, it's difficult for there to be survivors," a former submarine commander told AFP.

The newspaper La Nacion said one hypothesis is that there was a short circuit in the batteries. It said this would explain the sub's failure to communicate and the fact that it did not have time to send off a distress signal.

The commander said a problem with batteries, as the sub had reported, could in fact cause a blast.

"A severe problem with batteries might generate hydrogen. Hydrogen above a certain percentage is explosive," said the commander who requested anonymity.

Horacio Tobias, former chief of diving for the San Juan, said it "was so violent that they would not have had time to realize what happened".

The San Juan would have had enough oxygen for its crew to survive underwater in the South Atlantic for seven days since its last contact, according to officials. That time had elapsed by 0730 GMT Wednesday.

Argentina is leading an air-and-sea search to try to still find the sub. It is getting help from several countries now including Brazil, Britain, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, Peru, Russia, the United States and Uruguay.

Russia was the latest navy to volunteer help, sending an oceanographic research ship as the operation shifted from rescue to recovery.

The Russian defense ministry said the Yantar was steaming to the area from the western coast of Africa on the orders of President Vladimir Putin.

The weeklong search has focused on the sub's last known position, around 200 miles off the Argentine coast, but has been hampered by bad weather.

Putin offered "words of support over the situation with the San Juan submarine" in a phone call to Argentine President Mauricio Macri late Wednesday, the Kremlin said.

Russia said the Yantar "is equipped with two deep water submersibles which allow exploratory searches at a depth of up to 6,000 meters."

US President Donald Trump offered his support, tweeting: "May God be with them and the people of Argentina!"

 

Russia's New Stealth Torpedoes Have a Neat Trick: They Can Pretend to Be Giant Fish

 

Russia's New Stealth Torpedoes Have a Neat Trick: They Can Pretend to Be Giant Fish

"Hey, that's no turtle. That's a torpedo headed toward us!"

This is what U.S. ship captains will scream too late, if Russia has its way. Russia is promising to develop smart mini-torpedoes that are noiseless, leave no wake—and creep through the water at two to three miles per hour.

These "combat turtles," which are supposed to fool enemy sensors into thinking they are fish, were will weigh less than 100 pounds, according to scientist Shamil Aliyev, described by Russian media as Russia's leading torpedo expert. The idea is to unleash swarms of these weapons that will sneak up on enemy ships.

The project is still in the conceptual stage, Aliyev told Russian news agency RIA Novosti [Google English translation here]. The biggest challenge is equipping the mini-torpedo with Artificial Intelligence (AI). The AI is needed so the torpedo will mimic the behavior of a large fish, "so that no one pays attention to it." In turn, the challenge of designing an AI for a turtle-like torpedo is making it adaptable enough to cope with uncertain conditions. "To make a decision in conditions of uncertainty is twice the task," Aliyev added.

 

Deadly mosque attack kills hundreds in North Sinai, Egypt

 

A bomb explosion ripped through the Rawda mosque frequented by Sufis roughly 40 kilometers west of the North Sinai capital of El-Arish before gunmen opened fire on those gathered for weekly Friday prayers, officials said.

Witnesses said the assailants had surrounded the mosque with all-terrain vehicles then planted a bomb outside.

The gunmen then mowed down the panicked worshippers as they attempted to flee and used the congregants’ vehicles they had set alight to block routes to the mosque.

State television reported at least 235 people were killed and 109 wounded in the attack, the scale of which is unprecedented in a four-year insurgency by Islamist extremist groups.

Egypt’s presidency declared three days of mourning, state television reported, as President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met his security ministers to follow developments.

 

Couple crashes car into tree while having sex on highway with baby in back seat

                              

Washington State Patrol troopers stop vehicles at a road block on a local highway: David Ryder/Getty Images

A couple in Washington State has sustained multiple injuries after crashing their car into a tree while having sex, police said.

The man was drunk and the woman was sitting on top of him, engaging in sexual activity, while they navigated a local highway, State Trooper Brooke Bova told The Independent. Both were naked.

The man failed to negotiate the curves in the road, Ms Bova said, and struck a tree with his car. The woman broke her pelvis and the man broke his wrist.

Their three-month-old child, properly restrained in a carseat in the back, was uninjured.

Witnesses told police they saw the couple, both in their early twenties, exit the vehicle naked. Some witnesses reported one of them fleeing the scene. Ms Bova believes the couple were scrambling to locate their clothes before police arrived.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Ms Bova said.

If the man is convicted, it will be his fourth DUI in Washington State – a felony offence. He has also been charged with vehicular assault and child engagement. He was booked into Pierce County jail immediately after his release from the emergency room.

The woman has been admitted to the hospital and it is unclear whether charges will be brought against her, Ms Bova said. Authorities have not announced what will be done with the child.

A study of college students conducted by researchers at the University of South Dakota found 33 per cent of men and nine per cent of women had engaged in sexual activity while driving. None of the students surveyed had crashed their cars as a result.

 

Two friends 'strangled a schoolgirl, 16, and loaded her body into the back of a Vauxhall Astra after spiking her with ecstasy - then drove around phoning escorts and stopping to buy beer'

Megan Bannister was found on the back seat of a Vauxhall Astra in Enderby, Leicestershire

A 16-year-old girl was left to die on the backseat of a car by two men who gave her MDMA and strangled her before driving round ringing escorts, a court heard. 

A-level schoolgirl Megan Bannister was found half-covered by a coat, lying in the back of the Vauxhall Astra after the vehicle was involved in a crash near Enderby, Leicestershire.

Jason Burder and Adam King, both 28, are accused of plying Megan with alcohol and drugs before sending humiliating Snapchat videos of her 'out of it' and fitting.

Birmingham Crown Court heard the pair were seen putting Megan's lifeless body into King's car around 8am on May 14.

Burder had pretended to be 21 in order to convince chip shop worker Megan, to meet with him on May 12, jurors were told.

The pair met again the following night and in the early hours of the morning of May 14 picked up two grams of MDMA along with King, a DHL loader.

The three took the drug at Burder's house, although a post-mortem revealed that Megan's blood toxicity level was ten times that of the defendants. 

The prosecutor told the court Megan could have been spiked, while post-mortem tests showed Burder's semen inside and on her chest, as well as 'unusually' under King's fingernails.

As they drove round the streets of Leicester, phone records showed that the pair phoned up escort services and searched 'busty and exotic brunette', 'sexy lady lovely and warm' as well 'sensual and hot ladies' on the web.   

Jason Burder (left) and Adam King (right) both 28, are accused of Megan's manslaughter by gross negligence

Megan had suffered no fatal injuries as a result of the collision. She had '10 times the amount of MDMA' in her system than either of the two men

Megan, who had a part-time job and had dreamt of becoming a midwife, appeared lifeless with witnesses describing how her 'lips were blue'.

However, she had suffered no fatal injuries as a result of the collision, the jury was told today. 

Jurors were told they would hear from one young girl who had previous dealings with Burder and who, when she saw the footage of Megan, told Burder 'you spiked her, like you spiked me'.

A pathologist concluded two potential causes of death were either 'strangulation or a drug overdose', however they were unable to pinpoint the precise mechanism.

The A-level schoolgirl was found half-covered by a coat, lying in the back of the car after the vehicle was involved in a crash

Adam King (left) and Jay Burder (right) are both on trial at Birmingham Crown Court

Miranda Moore QC, opening the prosecution case, said Burder's mother spotted her son and King supporting a 'drunk' Megan into the car.

Asking her son 'Is everything alright?', he allegedly replied: 'Yeah - I'm just taking her home.'

Megan's mother Carol was at the start of their trial at Birmingham Crown Court

However, the prosecutor said: 'They weren't. They could have taken her to Leicester Royal Infirmary, they could have phoned 999, or asked Mrs Burder for her help.

'But they didn't.'

Jurors were told how phone analysis, ANPR roadside cameras, and shop receipts showed how instead of driving Megan to seek help, the men spent hours driving around until the crash.

Leaving Megan in the car, they pulled up at a shop at 8.06am, buying £15.08 of lager and cigarettes.

Miss Moore told the jury the shop's outside CCTV showed King walking back to the Vauxhall as he 'appears to be looking at the backseat of the car'.

From 8.46am, there were 'calls to escorts - working girls - and websites', the prosecutor added, with listings such as 'busty, exotic brunette', and 'escort - will blow your mind'.

Prosecutors claim Megan remained on the back seat of the car until at least 10.16am.  

Phone analysis, ANPR roadside cameras, and shop receipts showed how instead of driving Megan to seek help, King (left) and Burder (right) spent hours driving around until the crash

The court heard Burder and King, who were arrested at the crash scene, had 'collective amnesia' about what had happened to Megan, although Burder (left) claimed King (right) 'spiked' his beer

In a statement after her death, Megan's mother Carol described her daughter as a 'beautiful, talented, loving daughter and sister'. 

She added: 'Our hearts have been utterly broken by her death.

'The thought of life without Megan is impossible to imagine, and we cannot adequately express in words the sense of numbness and overwhelming grief we feel at her loss.' 

Miss Moore told the court: 'Megan Bannister was provided with alcohol and drugs by these two. She was also strangled at some point whilst in their company.

  

Megan's mother described her as a 'beautiful, talented, loving daughter and sister'

'The pathologist will say that it is unclear which mechanism - drugs or strangulation or a combination of both - that led to the death.

'It's unclear because these two lied about it.

'These two men, having left Megan Bannister in a perilous state by drug supply and then strangulation, left her with no care.

'You will see how close to his house was the A&E. You will hear that there was no 999 call, and no call for assistance.' 

Ms Moore added: 'Megan Bannister's phone was left behind at the house [Mr Burder's]. She did not get into that car willingly. 

'Her bra was also left behind in Mr Burder's bedroom. At some stage, she was undressed.

'That's further evidence that she was spiked. If they all took the same drugs, the level of toxicity would be the same.

'She was in their presence on Mr Burder's invitation. Mr Burder was even filming her and Mr King on Snapchat.

'No help was got for her, even if she was showing signs of ill health in the house. One witness believed that Megan was even fitting in the film, and sent a message back warning them.

'Not only did they not summon help but they actively avoided the very possibility of help.'

Following the crash, witnesses said the pair showed 'no concern' for the motorcyclist and his pillion passenger.

They even claimed that Megan as 'asleep' when asked by a concerned onlooker.

When one person approached to ask if they were ok, Burder simply replied: 'Yes, can I move my car?'

King even asked for a cigarette as he was handcuffed on suspicion of murder, jurors were told.

Burder (pictured) and King claimed that Megan as 'asleep' when asked by a concerned onlooker at the crash scene

EXCLUSIVE: 'I'm willing to pay....a lot.' Bombshell text messages reveal recovering drug addict Matthew Perry asked pornstar Maddy O'Reilly for '40-50' pills of painkillers Vicodin, 'Roxys and Oxys'

A porn star has revealed she fears recovering drug addict Matthew Perry has relapsed after the actor pleaded with her to get him '40/50' prescription pills.

Adult actress Maddy O'Reilly said Perry, a former lover, contacted her two weeks ago asking if she knew anyone who could help him 'purchase some pills'.

When Maddy, 27, asked the actor what kind, he replied: 'Vicaden (sic)/Roxy's/oxys'.

The Friends star - who is an outspoken addiction recovery advocate after struggling with addictions to alcohol and several prescription drugs during his time on the famous sitcom - was referring to Vicodin, Roxicodone and OxyContin.

All three are powerful and highly addictive opioid prescription painkillers.

In text messages seen by DailyMailTV Maddy asked the desperate actor how much he would be willing to pay for the pills, to which he replied: 'It depends which one is available. But...a lot.'

Perry's representatives have not responded to DailyMail.com's requests for comment. 

In an exclusive interview Maddy told DailyMailTV: 'I was shocked, I knew he is a recovering addict but it was coming out of nowhere, why would he ask me something like that, it's not like we partied or I have a reputation for partying.

Maddy O'Reilly, 27, believes Friends actor and former lover Matthew Perry has relapsed after the star messaged her asking for 'pills'

The star appeared ashen, puffy and bloated in photos obtained by DailyMailTV in Beverly Hills on Wednesday

'I was really looking disappointed, it went from us making dinner plans to Matthew asking me for 40 to 50 pills.

'I was also a little offended and annoyed, people often assume because of what I do for a living that's how we are.

'Then it triggered, he just told me he was going through a detox and now he's asking for 40/50 pills, it was a red flag and I was worried.

'I am concerned for Matthew's well-being, we're having the same drugs problem back home in North Carolina, I've seen it destroy many people's lives. I would really hate to see something bad happen to him.'

Later in the text conversation Maddy asked Perry whether he was 'jonesing' - a slang term for craving something badly, usually associated with chemical dependency.

She added provocatively: 'Maybe some of this p***y is what you really need.'

Perry, 48, replied: 'Ha. Not jonesing. But interested :).'

Maddy countered: 'I'll make some calls but I'm a porn star not a drug dealer,' to which polite Perry said: 'I really was not trying to turn you into one. Just wondering if you knew someone. Really did not mean to offend.'

Maddy says other than occasionally smoking marijuana she has never been into drugs and told Perry she would ask around out of politeness.

'Once I told him I'm a porn star not a drug dealer, he was like, "I'm sorry if I offended you".

The adult film actress said Perry messaged her on Instagram and asked Maddy if she wanted to go for dinner and he gave her his number. The actor later canceled on their date and asked for pills instead 

Maddy says she first met Perry in 2013 through a mutual friend. She went over to his home where the two watched a movie and then had sex  

'I just wanted to let him know, it's not like I have a closet full of drugs for when anyone hits me up.'

Maddy, who lives in Hollywood, is a high profile porn actress who has appeared in over 250 adults films and featured on the cover of Penthouse magazine.

She says she first met Perry in 2013 through a mutual friend.

'He had asked one of my friends about me and wanted know if she could set us up,' she recalls.

'I was like of course, he's super hot, why not. And I went over to his house and ended up having a very nice evening, he's a very normal, very cool guy.

'I was really nervous because I'm a huge fan of his and I was taken back by how normal and chill he is, he's your average guy and we ended up really hitting it off.

'We watched a movie in his screen room and ended up having sex.'

Maddy says she didn't suspect Perry was taking drugs while at the star's Hollywood Hills home.

The three-bed, five bath property, in the exclusive Bird Streets pocket above the Sunset Strip, boasts an infinity pool, screen room and shimmering city views and went on the market in June for $13.5million.

'He has an amazing house and he's a great guy but there were no obvious signs he had any kind of opioid addiction, he seemed very normal, sober, we didn't even have a glass of wine,' she recalls.

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Perry direct messaged Maddy through Instagram this summer asking her out to dinner

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O'Reilly says Perry got in touch months later to ask for Vicodin, Roxicodone and OxyContin -  highly addictive opioid prescription painkillers

Maddy says she didn't see Perry after that night and their contact 'fell off'.

But on August 28 she received a random message on Instagram from the star.

In the message Perry asked Maddy if she wanted to go for dinner and he gave her his number.

'It was a random message and it looked fake, he only had a few hundred followers so it isn't an official account.

'I asked him how do I know this is really you and he offered to FaceTime but I couldn't right then. He texted and told me the room we hung out at his house and only he could know that.'

After a few text exchanges Maddy says Perry made reservations for them to have dinner at Soho House, a private members' club in West Hollywood, on a Saturday night in early September.

But hours before the date Perry cancelled saying something had come up with his family.

'I had had my hair and makeup done so I was a little annoyed, but I thought oh well,' said Maddy.

'We were texting back and forth and he kind of went quiet so I thought he had changed his mind.

'But then I get a text and he was like, "hey I would like to see you, I am dealing with something right now, I have been going through a detox thing so I have a nurse at my house, but if you want to come over and hang out".

'I didn't think anything of it, this is LA, he could have meant juice detox.

'Then he hit me up again when I was flying home from Northern California from a Halloween celebration, he texted me and said "hey I can see you, I can see you next week."

Perry has been open about his struggles with addiction. He revealed last year that he has no memory of shooting three seasons of Friends because of his drug use

In 1997 Perry completed a 28-day program for Vicodin addiction. The actor, who plummeted to 145lbs at his lowest, admitted he now struggles to even look at photographs of himself during his substance abuse days

That's when Perry hit Maddy with his question about getting pills.

Maddy's contact with Perry came to a halt soon after.

She added: 'We've not spoken since and I'm a little worried, but I don't know him well enough to be able to do anything about it.

'Knowing that he's had a problem in the past, that he mentioned he was going through detox and then he's asking me for pills, I'm afraid that he has relapsed and his health could be in serious danger.'

Perry's battle with drug addiction has been well documented.

In 1997 the actor completed a 28-day program for Vicodin addiction, later telling Larry King that he took the painkiller 'mostly just to not drink as much as I was.'

In 2001 he entered a rehab to recover from his use of Vicodin, methadone, amphetamines, and alcohol.

The star, who looked ashen, puffy and bloated in photos obtained by DailyMailTV in Beverly Hills on Wednesday, has been battling his demons ever since.

In 2013, the year he hooked up with Maddy, Perry opened his heart publicly about the depth of his addiction despair at the height of his Friends fame.

The actor said he became an expert at hiding his troubles from co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow.

He told ABC News: 'Mostly it was drinking, you know, and opiates.

'I think I was pretty good at hiding it, you know, but, you know, eventually people were aware.'

Perry, who plummeted to 145lbs at his lowest, admitted he now struggles to even look at photographs of himself during his substance abuse days.

He said: 'I honestly recoil. It’s scary to look at that. I was a sick guy.'

But the star, who played Chandler Bing for a decade from 1994, admits being one of the most famous faces in America at the time inadvertently aided his recovery.

Maddy, who lives in Hollywood, is a high profile porn actress who has appeared in over 250 adults films and featured on the front of Penthouse magazine. She told DailyMail she did not suspect Perry had an addiction  

He said: I couldn’t just walk into a bar. Everybody in the bar would go, "You, you can’t do that. I just read that you can’t do that. You can’t. You can’t."'

The actor claimed he had managed to turn his life around and was helping others after turning his old beachfront mansion in Malibu, California into a sober living home so men can transition back to the real world.

Explaining his rationale, he said: 'If you're thrown from treatment to the outside world, sometimes its too bumpy.'

But in 2015 Perry sold the facility's luxe Malibu property for $10.65 million with reports suggesting he had abandoned his passion project.

He later said: 'That was a Malibu beach house and it was too expensive to run and the business didn't really work.'

The Crocodile bites back: Deposed vice-president who has seized power from Mugabe is a London-educated former spymaster who orchestrated 1980s massacre of 20,000 opponents

The Crocodile bites back: Deposed vice-president who has seized power from Mugabe is a London-educated former spymaster who orchestrated 1980s massacre of 20,000 opponents 

The man believed to be behind the coup in Zimbabwe is the country's recently sacked vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa - also known as 'The Crocodile'. 

Mnangagwa, 75, is a notorious and much-feared figure in Zimbabwe, having led a vicious crackdown on opponents in the 1980s with the help of the dreaded North Korean-trained Fifth Army brigade. 

Thousands of civilians were killed during the Gukurahundi campaign, but Mnangagwa has always denied involvement. 

His reputation for cruelty is so legendary that he was one of the few leaders of Zimbabwe known to drive around the country without security.

He is also known for his unpredictable darting eyes. 

He has had a long and varied political career, leading at one point the justice, defence, housing and finance ministries as well as being the speaker of the lower house and a spymaster.

Mnangagwa was widely viewed as Mugabe's successor until he was ditched by the president last week and fled to South Africa.

Mugabe had accused his former deputy of plotting to take power from him, while his ambitious wife Grace referred to him as a snake that 'must be hit on the head' after the two clashed. 

In 1983, Mnangagwa led a major crackdown in Matabeleland, in the southwest of Zimbabwe. Tens of thousands of people were killed. Pictured: Bodies found in Matabeleland after the massacre

Zimbabweans sitting in front of Salibury prison (where Mugabe and Mnangagwa met and forged their political alliance) in 1968 after the triple hanging of James Dhlamini, Victor Mlambo and Duly Shadrack, was ordered by Ian Smith's government - despite Queen Elizabeth II issuing a royal reprieve

Mnangagwa was mentioned by, among others, the tycoon Roland Rowland at the time of the Gukurahundi massacres. Pictured: Mugabe (centre) and Mnangagwa (right) together 

Mnangagwa's reputation for cruelty is so legendary that he was one of the few leaders of Zimbabwe known to drive around the country without security. Pictured: The former vice president claps after being presented with a fake crocodile as homage to his nickname 

He is a leader of the so-called 'Lacoste' faction - named after the clothes firm's crocodile logo, which matches Mnangagwa's reptilian nickname - within Mugabe's party. The group enjoys strong support among military figures. Pictured: Mugabe with Mnangagwa

Mnangagwa was sentenced to ten years in jail, being kept at Salisbury Prison, Grey Prison, Khami Prison and Harare Prison. While imprisoned in Salisbury (later renamed Harare), he became close to Mugabe and other nationalist leaders. Pictured: Mnangagwa with Mugabe and Josiah Tongogara, a guerrilla commander 

Mugabe had accused his former deputy of plotting to take power from him, while his ambitious wife Grace referred to him as a snake that 'must be hit on the head' after the two clashed. Pictured right: Mnangagwa with Mugabe in 2004

University of London-educated Mnangagwa has been close to Mugabe since the two were involved in the struggle against racist white-minority rule in then-Rhodesia. Pictured: Mnangagwa (right) being sworn in as vice president by Mugabe (left) in 2014

He earned his 'Crocodile' nickname when he returned to Zimbabwe and led a gang of fighters called the 'Crocodile Group' during the civil war. Pictured: Mnangagwa in 2016

First Lady: Grace Mugabe, 52, pictured with her husband, has been seen as being a successor to her husband after her opponent was fired. With the events of last night, the struggle between Grace and Mnangagwa to succeed 93-year-old Mugabe appears to be shifting in the Crocodile's favour

But Mnangagwa, who recently survived a poisoning attempt blamed on ice-cream from Mugabe's own dairy, has been telling allies he would return rapidly and everything would soon be 'sorted'.

He is a leader of the so-called 'Lacoste' faction - named after the clothes firm's crocodile logo, which matches Mnangagwa's reptilian nickname - within Mugabe's party. The group enjoys strong support among military figures.

It is locked in a struggle with Grace's G40 group.  

 

Newfoundland police name dead man as suspect in Cortney Lake disappearance

 

Cortney Lake is seen in this still image from CCTV video obtained by investigators.Royal Newfoundland Constabulary/THE CANADIAN PRESS 

1 hour ago November 14, 2017

Police have named a dead man as the only suspect in a young Newfoundland woman's disappearance, as her mother pleaded for people to come forward with information in a presumed homicide that has gripped the province for months.

Cortney Lake, a 24-year-old mother of a young son, vanished June 7 after getting into a truck near her home in Mount Pearl, near St. John's.

"As Cortney's mother, I cannot accept that we may never find her," Lisa Lake told reporters during a press conference Tuesday, breaking into tears. "I am begging today for anyone, anybody who can help us find Cortney please, please come forward."

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary said Philip Smith, her ex-boyfriend, was the only suspect in the homicide. The 25-year-old man was found dead Nov. 1 in the woods near Bellevue Beach, about an hour west of St. John's.

Police said Smith's death was neither suspicious nor criminal in nature but haven't confirmed multiple reports he had killed himself. Investigators said they found no clues about Lake during a search of the area after Smith's body was recovered.

Inspector Tom Warren, who is leading the probe, said investigators have conducted more than a hundred interviews, received hundreds of tips and reviewed "countless hours" of CCTV footage.

He said police believe Lake got into Smith's pickup truck just before 8 p.m. on June 7 and that in August, Smith admitted in an agreed statement of facts that he was the person who picked up Lake that day.

Warren said investigators believe there are individuals "who have withheld information," and have asked them to come forward.

"I'm hoping with (Smith's) passing, that people who have either withheld information or who have refused to speak with us will now come forward," said Warren.

The haunting case has inspired total strangers to help look for the missing woman, amid a social media campaign with the hashtag #HelpFindCortney.

 

1 hour ago November 14, 2017

Police have named a dead man as the only suspect in a young Newfoundland woman's disappearance, as her mother pleaded for people to come forward with information in a presumed homicide that has gripped the province for months.

Cortney Lake, a 24-year-old mother of a young son, vanished June 7 after getting into a truck near her home in Mount Pearl, near St. John's.

"As Cortney's mother, I cannot accept that we may never find her," Lisa Lake told reporters during a press conference Tuesday, breaking into tears. "I am begging today for anyone, anybody who can help us find Cortney please, please come forward."

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary said Philip Smith, her ex-boyfriend, was the only suspect in the homicide. The 25-year-old man was found dead Nov. 1 in the woods near Bellevue Beach, about an hour west of St. John's.

Police said Smith's death was neither suspicious nor criminal in nature but haven't confirmed multiple reports he had killed himself. Investigators said they found no clues about Lake during a search of the area after Smith's body was recovered.

Inspector Tom Warren, who is leading the probe, said investigators have conducted more than a hundred interviews, received hundreds of tips and reviewed "countless hours" of CCTV footage.

He said police believe Lake got into Smith's pickup truck just before 8 p.m. on June 7 and that in August, Smith admitted in an agreed statement of facts that he was the person who picked up Lake that day.

Warren said investigators believe there are individuals "who have withheld information," and have asked them to come forward.

"I'm hoping with (Smith's) passing, that people who have either withheld information or who have refused to speak with us will now come forward," said Warren.

The haunting case has inspired total strangers to help look for the missing woman, amid a social media campaign with the hashtag #HelpFindCortney.

Iran to investigate state-built homes destroyed by deadly quake

Iran to investigate state-built homes destroyed by deadly quakeroyed by deadly quake

An Iranian man lies atop a salvaged mattresses outside damaged buildings in the town of Sarpol-e Zahab on Nov. 14, 2017.

ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images

41 minutes ago November 14, 2017

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani launched an investigation Tuesday into why government housing built by his hard-line predecessor collapsed while others withstood a powerful earthquake near the border with Iraq that killed more than 530 people.

In the Kurdish town of Sarpol-e-Zahab, which was reconstructed in the decades since the 1980s war with Iraq, the outer walls of apartment complexes tumbled away in the magnitude 7.3 earthquake Sunday night. The housing was built as a part of the "Mehr" or "kindness" project of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Some now-homeless survivors simply wept outside, while others angrily showed Associated Press journalists the destruction done by the quake.

"Other buildings near our apartment are not damaged as much because they were built privately," said Ferdows Shahbazi, 42, who lived in one of the Mehr buildings.

She sarcastically added: "This is 'kindness' as the name suggests very well!"

Rescuers used backhoes and other heavy equipment to dig through toppled buildings in Sarpol-e-Zahab, home to more than half of the dead. The apartment complexes sit next to lush pastures in the almost entirely Kurdish province of Kermanshah, nestled in the Zagros Mountains along the border with Iraq.

Both rescuers and residents stood on the remains of homes, looking through the rubble. Searchers used dogs to comb the debris — just as they have since Iran's 2003 earthquake in Bam that killed 26,000 people — although some clerics insist the animals are unclean.

The quake badly damaged the Sarpol-e-Zahab hospital, forcing the army to set up field clinics. The quake also reportedly killed an unspecified number of soldiers in an army garrison.

Aside from the 530 people killed in Iran, 7,817 were injured, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. Health Minister Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi, who visited Kermanshah on Tuesday, warned that the death toll probably would rise.

"My feeling is that number ... will increase since victims were buried in many villages that their exact statistics will be announced in coming days," he said, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

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Rouhani inspected the damage in the province and offered his support.

"This was a pain for all Iranians," he said. "Representing the nation of Iran, I offer my condolences to the people of Kermanshah, and tell them that all of us are behind Kermanshah."

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif thanked foreign countries offering to help but wrote on Twitter: "For now, we are able to manage with our own resources."

Also touring the area was cleric Abdolhossein Moezi, a representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Moezi said there was a need for more relief material and "security."

That was echoed by Nazar Barani, the mayor of the town of Ezgeleh, who told state TV his constituency still had a "deep need" for food, medicine and tents. He said 80 per cent of the buildings in the town had been damaged.

The temblor hit about 19 miles (31 kilometres) outside the eastern Iraqi city of Halabja, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and struck 14.4 miles (23.2 kilometres) below the surface, a somewhat shallow depth that can cause broader damage.

Nine people were killed in Iraq and 550 were injured, all in the country's northern, semiautonomous Kurdish region, according to the United Nations.

The disparity in casualty tolls has drawn questions from Iranians, especially because so much of Sarpol-e-Zahab was new. Initial Iranian government estimates suggest the quake destroyed 12,000 apartments and free-standing homes, and damaged another 15,000.

Some immediately pointed to the Mehr homes. About 2 million units were built in Iran, including scores in Sarpol-e Zahab, as part of a populist program by Ahmadinejad, who also offered cash payouts and other incentives to appease the public while Iran faced crippling economic sanctions over its nuclear program.

But after the housing was built, some didn't have paved roads or water going to them. Many warned that the low-quality construction could be a problem in Iran, which faces near-daily earthquakes and sits on many major fault lines.

Ahmadinejad's official channel on the messaging app Telegram, which is popular in Iran, called the accusations "media slander" and said those who circulated photos and videos of damaged Mehr homes were "clumsy charlatans."

Ahmadinejad adviser Ali Akbar Javanfekr also wrote on a website for allies of the former president: "Heavy waves of propaganda against Mehr are aimed at covering up the weakness and inefficiency of the (Rouhani) administration in helping quake-hit people."

In May, a magnitude 5.7 quake in the northeastern city of Bojnourd heavily damaged similar Mehr projects there. Many still sit uncompleted across the country because the program ran out of cash.

Rouhani said in Sarpol-e-Zahab that the government would look into what went wrong at the Mehr homes, some of which his administration handed over.

"The faults and shortcomings in the construction of these buildings should be investigated," he said. "And the government will surely follow up on these issues and identify the culprits and introduce them to the people."

Rouhani added: "We saw what happened to the Mehr buildings though even a single window was not broken in people's privately built homes."

He promised cash payments and loans to those affected so they can build new homes with contractors of their choice. He also urged local officials to be generous with disaster relief.

Damage wasn't limited to housing. In the nearby Kurdish town of Eslamabad, a hospital only recently inaugurated by the government collapsed, killing several people there, lawmaker Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh said.

"Several became victims of treason," the lawmaker said, according to a report by the semi-official ILNA news agency. "The death toll could have been much less if the hospital was not destroyed. The city's old hospital, some 30 years old, did not suffer serious damage."