MMA fighter War Machine gets life for assaulting ex girlfriend

A US mixed-martial arts combatant known as War Machine has been jailed for life for kidnapping, and sexually assaulting his former girlfriend in 2014.
Jonathan Paul Koppenhaver was found guilty in March of attacking Christy Mack and her friend Corey Thomas after accusing them of having an affair.
Ms Mack suffered a fractured eye socket and nose, broken ribs and lost teeth.
In a statement to the court Koppenhaver expressed remorse, attributing the attack to anxiety and depression.
He compared himself to former NFL star Aaron Hernandez, who killed himself in prison earlier this year while serving a life sentence for murder.



"Not a day goes by that I don't seriously regret all those things that I did. I was a very, very lost, very empty person," Koppenhaver told the Las Vegas court.
"And to top it off, something's not right with my head. Plain and simple."
His comments are in contrast to comments made on Twitter in March, when he said he was unfazed at the possibility of receiving "some type of life sentence".
Ms Mack met Koppenhaver in 2013 when she was a well-known porn actress. Koppenhaver had also worked occasionally in the industry. But their relationship soon deteriorated, with Ms Mack accusing the wrestler of becoming abusive.
Ms Mack - who also suffered liver and leg injuries in the assault - told the court that she will be in fear for her life if Koppenhaver is allowed to leave prison.
"I do know when he gets out, he will kill me," she said.
Koppenhaver, 35, will only be considered for parole after 36 years in jail. The wrestler won 14 of his 19 mixed martial arts fights.
He was convicted on 29 counts including kidnap and attempted rape. The jury was unable to agree on two counts of attempted murder. 

BBC NEWS
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US warning over its UN Human Rights Council role

The US says it is considering what part it will play on the UN's Human Rights Council, highlighting what it calls a "biased" stance on Israel.
UN ambassador Nikki Haley said it was "hard to accept" that resolutions had been passed against Israel, a US ally, but none were considered on Venezuela.
She also said not enough had been done to criticise Iran, a "country with an abysmal human rights record".
Mrs Haley was making her first address to the council in Geneva.
"The United States is looking carefully at this council and our participation in it. We see some areas for significant strengthening," she said.
"Being a member of this council is a privilege and no country who is a human rights violator should be allowed a seat at the table.
"It's hard to accept that this council has never considered a resolution on Venezuela and yet it adopted five biased resolutions, in March, against a single country, Israel. It is essential that this council address its chronic anti-Israel bias if it is to have any credibility."
Venezuela has been in political turmoil for month and dozens of protesters have been killed.

'Anti-Israel circus'

Criticism of the 47-member council was repeated on the Twitter feed of the US mission to the UN on Tuesday.
The council is able only to order investigations and record criticism of countries it judges to have violated human rights, but it acts as a crucial diplomatic tool.
In recent months, it has issued resolutions on human rights in North Korea, Haiti and Myanmar, among other countries.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously called the body "an anti-Israel circus which attacks the only democracy in the Middle East and ignores the blatant violations of Iran, Syria and North Korea
 And in 2013, Israel ended its working relationship with the group after it decided to investigate Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Mrs Haley's comments came after an opening address in Geneva by UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein calling on Israel to withdraw from territories it captured in the 1967 war.
He condemned what he called "a half-century of deep suffering under an occupation imposed by military force".


What is the UN Human Rights Council?

  • Created in 2006 to replace the UN's Human Rights Commission, which was widely discredited for electing member states with questionable track records on human rights
  • All of the 47 members are elected for three-year terms
  • The council aims to shine a spotlight on rights abuses by adopting resolutions, but has faced similar criticism to the commission
  • US President George W Bush boycotted the council but the decision was reversed under President Barack Obama
  • In 2013, human rights groups complained when China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Vietnam were elected to the body

Israel has occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan Heights since the war, 50 years ago this week. The UN also considers the Gaza Strip, which Israel pulled its troops and settlers out of in 2005, as part of occupied Palestinian territory.
Israel and the Palestinians blame each other for the failure to resolve the final status of the occupied territories after years of on-off peace talks.
In an opinion article for the Washington Post last Friday, Mrs Haley called for a change in the procedure in electing new members to the council, saying that "the presence of multiple human rights-violating countries on the Human Rights Council has damaged both the reputation of the council and the cause of human rights".
Among the current members is the key US ally, Saudi Arabia, which has been accused of rights violations, and whose accession to the group in 2013 was criticised.

SOURCE - BBC NEWS
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Melania Trump in black at the Vatican. Why?


Melania Trump arrived at the Vatican on Wednesday morning the picture of modesty: a knee-length black dress, arms covered and a black veil over her hair.
Her choice of outfit - in particular, the elegant veil - did not go unnoticed by those keeping a close eye on the First Lady during her husband's first overseas tour as president.
Among them was the BBC's North America editor, Jon Sopel.
"Interesting micro point," he tweeted. "Melania Trump wears head covering for meeting with @Pontifex - but not when she was in Saudi Arabia."
But BBC's David Willey in Rome was unsurprised. There is a strict protocol to be followed when meeting the Pope, which the White House will have been told about.
A quick glance at the Vatican website lays out some of the rules: modest dress, with your shoulders covered, for those attending a Papal Audience - especially if indoors.
"It goes from deep lace mantillas to just a black veil," he explained. "When the Queen went to see the Pope when she was younger, she dressed up like the Spanish infanta."
  • Weird moments from Trump's trip
  • Is 'thumbs up' actually controversial?
  • There was an outcry when Cherie Blair, the wife of Britain's then-prime minister, wore white in 2006 - but less so when Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, wore a pale gold suit, and went without a head covering, in April this year.
    "Things have become more relaxed over the last few years there are no hard and fast rules," a Vatican spokesman told The Daily Telegraph newspaper.
    Despite this relaxing of the rules, however, Mrs Trump has stuck firmly to tradition. This could be because she is believed to be a Roman Catholic, as suggested by her request for Pope Francis to bless her Rosary beads during the visit.
    It should be noted that her stepdaughter Ivanka - who also decided against covering her head in Saudi Arabia - is not Catholic, having converted to Judaism, but still chose to wear a veil while at the Vatican.
    Image copyright Reuters
    Image caption Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, did not wear black on a visit to the Vatican in April 2017
    Mr Willey was particularly impressed with Mrs Trump's choice of outfit, however.
    "To my eyes, what Mrs Trump wore was perfect. She was rather elegantly dressed, and totally in keeping with the event," he said. "The Trump party [as a whole] observed normal protocol and dress."
    Image copyright EPA
    Image caption The White House said it was told about the dress protocol by the Vatican
    But why the change from Saudi Arabia? Well, female foreign dignitaries are not required to cover their heads when they visit the kingdom - only Saudi nationals are.
    What's more, while the Vatican had spoken of a dress protocol to Mrs Trump's office at the White House, no such requests had been made by Saudi Arabia, her communications director Stephanie Grisham told CNN.

    SOURCE :- BBC NEWS
     
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          Melbourne siege a 'terrorist incident'

Australian police are treating as a "terrorist incident" a Melbourne siege in which a gunman was killed.
Heavily armed officers arrived at an apartment building on Monday after reports of an explosion and found one man already dead in the foyer.
Another man, Yacqub Khayre, was armed with a shotgun and holding a woman inside the building against her will.
Khayre, 29, called a broadcaster during the siege to say he was acting in the name of the Islamic State (IS) group.
A news outlet for the group claimed it had carried out the attack, but police said there was no evidence of it co-ordinating with Khayre.
Three police officers suffered injuries after Khayre engaged them in a firefight in which he was shot dead. The hostage was rescued unharmed.


Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said the victim who died, a building employee, was "in the wrong place at the wrong time".

Gunman known to police

Authorities were investigating whether Khayre, a Somali-born Australian citizen, may have lured officers to the wealthy suburb of Brighton with the aim of confronting them.
Mr Ashton said comments Khayre made referencing IS and al-Qaeda had prompted the terrorism investigation.
"We do not yet know if this was something he was really planning or whether it was just an ad hoc decision that he has made just to go off tap like this," Mr Ashton said.
"They (IS) always tend to jump up and claim responsibility every time something happens," Mr Ashton said.
He said Khayre had been acquitted over a foiled plot to attack a Sydney army barracks in 2009.
He had "a long criminal history" and was on parole after being released from jail on a separate offence last year, Mr Ashton said.
The gunman had arranged to meet the woman through an escort service before taking her hostage, he said.

Residents alarmed

Neighbours and people in the area described hearing loud gunfire at the scene.
"Everyone just panicked," one witness, Luke Fourniotis, told the Herald Sun.
"I started running but I didn't know where the shots were coming from so I had this thought: 'Are they shooting at us?' My heart was in my throat."
Nearby resident Graeme Hisgrove said heavily armed police officers went through his backyard during the operation.


"We were just in the front room of the house and all the rapid fire started, so we all hit the deck on the floor and just didn't know what was going on," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
On Tuesday, police raided a house reportedly shared by Khayre and his mother, seizing computers, other electronic devices and books.

Anger over parole

Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull said the case raised "grave concerns" about the parole system which he said would be addressed.
"How was this man on parole? He had a long record of violence. A very long record of violence," Mr Turnbull said.
"These are important issues and Australians need to be assured that people who are a threat to their safety are not being released on parole."
Mr Turnbull said Australia's official terror threat level would remain at "probable".
Last month, an Australian coroner criticised a decision which allowed bail to a gunman behind Sydney's deadly cafe siege in 2014.

SOURCE :- BBC NEWS
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   Qatar flight ban begins as Gulf crisis grows

Egypt is closing its airspace to Qatari planes in a growing diplomatic row, with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain expected to do the same on Tuesday.
Several countries have cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism in the Gulf region.
Qatari nationals in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been given two weeks to leave.
Qatar denies backing militants and its foreign minister has called for "a dialogue of openness and honesty".
Egypt said it was closing off its airspace to Qatar from 04:00 GMT on Tuesday "until further notice".
Travel disruption is expected as the airport in Doha, Qatar's capital, is a major hub for international flight connections.
Airlines affected will include Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Emirates.
 
When avoiding the massive neighbour to the west, Saudi Arabia, Qatari planes will inevitably have to take longer routes leading to longer flight times.
But Qatar's Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, told broadcaster Al Jazeera the country would "still have access to the world through international sea lanes and international airspace".
An anonymous Somali official told AP news agency at least 15 Qatar Airways flights had used Somalia's airspace on Monday, many more than on a normal day.

Who has done what?

The states who joined the move against Qatar, a tiny but gas-rich peninsula, on Monday include some of the biggest powers in the Arab world.
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE closed all transport ties by air, land and sea to Qatar.
They gave all Qatari visitors and residents two weeks to leave their territory, and banned their citizens from travelling to Qatar.
The UAE and Egypt expelled Qatari diplomats, giving them 48 hours to leave.
Saudi Arabia closed down a local office of Al Jazeera but said Qatari citizens would still be allowed to take part in the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
Egypt, Yemen, Libya's eastern-based government and the Maldives later followed suit in severing diplomatic ties.
In a country reliant on imported food, residents began to stockpile. AFP news agency said queues in one shop were 25 people deep.

How the economy may be hit: Analysis by the BBC's Andrew Walker

This small state is dependent on imported food.
A substantial amount of it is transported across the border from Saudi Arabia, which is being closed. That is also an important route for construction materials - needed for the energy industry and for the preparations for the 2022 football world cup.
Qatar's exports are dominated by oil and gas. They are mostly seaborne, so should not be immediately hit, but the general economic disruption could have an impact if the dispute drags on.
That possibility pushed the price of crude oil higher, but only briefly. Qatar is a member of the exporters' group Opec and the dispute could yet undermine the organisation's efforts to raise prices by restricting production.

Qatar - Key facts

2.7m
population
  • 2m of whom are men
  • 11,437 sq km in size (4,416 sq miles)
  • 77 years life expectancy (men)
  • 80 years for women
Source: UN, World Bank, MDPS, WHO
Reuters

Why has this happened?

While the severing of ties was sudden, it has not come out of the blue, as tensions have been building for years, and particularly in recent weeks.
Broadly, two key factors drove Monday's decision: Qatar's ties to Islamist groups, and to Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional rival.
Wealthy individuals in Qatar are believed to have made donations and the government has given money and weapons to hardline Islamist groups in Syria.
The Financial Times also reports that Gulf allies were angry that Qatar paid a $1bn (£773m) ransom to jihadists and Iranian security officials after Qatari nationals were kidnapped in Iraq and Syria.
Analysts also say the timing of the diplomatic withdrawal, two weeks after a visit to Riyadh by US President Donald Trump, is crucial.
Mr Trump's speech in Saudi Arabia, in which he blamed Iran for instability in the Middle East and urged Muslim countries to take the lead in combating radicalisation, is likely to have emboldened Gulf allies to act against Qatar.
In the same week as Mr Trump's speech, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE blocked Qatari news sites, including Al Jazeera. Comments purportedly by Qatari Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, criticising Saudi Arabia had appeared on Qatari state media.
The government in Doha dismissed the comments as fake, attributing the report to a "shameful cybercrime".

What has been the reaction?

Qatar, which is due to host the football World Cup in 2022, said the decision would "not affect the normal lives of citizens and residents".
Iran, Turkey and the US have called on all sides to resolve their differences. Kuwait has offered to mediate talks.
Sudan's foreign ministry also called for dialogue and said the country was "fully ready to undertake all efforts in order to achieve calm and reconciliation that would help serve the interests of the people of the region".
Qatar's stock market closed down 7.27% on Monday.

BBC NEWS

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Marawi siege: Philippine militants 'stockpiled food and weapons'

Islamist militants who have overrun parts of the Philippine city of Marawi have prepared for a long siege, officials said.
Security forces have been trying to flush out the gunmen since they attacked the city two weeks ago.
The militants are hiding in tunnels and basements with stockpiles of food and weapons, military officials said.
The conflict has killed at least 170 people, including 20 civilians, and more than 180,000 residents have fled.
Hundreds of civilians are believed to still be trapped with few supplies.
The government, which has been conducting airstrikes, had earlier claimed it had "made gains" in the battle, but has yet to fully retake the city.


Senior military officials told reporters that they believed the militants were hiding in an extensive network of underground shelters, built years ago.
"There are underground tunnels and basements that even a 500-pounder (bomb) cannot destroy," said Maj Gen Carlito Galvez, head of the military command in the Western Mindanao region.
Government and military estimates on the number of militants left in Marawi have ranged from 40 to 200.

In other developments:
  • The Philippine government has denied claims that its soldiers were looting Marawi, saying that troops had handed in more than 79m Philippine pesos (£1.2m, $1.6m) in cash and cheques found in a house used by militants.
  • President Rodrigo Duterte has increased the bounties for top militant leaders Isnilon Hapilon and the Maute brothers, with a total of 27.4m pesos now offered for their "neutralisation". The US is offering a separate $5m bounty for Hapilon.
  • The US is supplying weapons, including machine guns and grenade launchers, to the Philippines which has said they will go to soldiers fighting in Marawi.
  • Officials had said that foreign nationals were among the militants in Marawi, but the list of countries now includes Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Yemen, India and Chechnya.
The militants were also apparently well-prepared for a possible siege, and had placed supplies in mosques and religious schools - which are off-limits for air strikes - days before seizing the city, said officials.


Military spokesman Lt Col Jo-ar Herrera told AFP news agency that these buildings contained at least a month's worth of food, as well as weapons such as machine guns.
The gunman had also collected ammunition and provisions from the city after ransacking Marawi's jail and armouries, said presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella who was quoted in The Philippine Inquirer.
When the conflict first broke out, officials had said fighters from the Maute group, linked to the so-called Islamic State, stormed the city after an attempt by Philippine troops to capture Hapilon.
The Maute group is named after founders and leaders Abdullah and Omar Maute.

BBC NEWS
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       Apple reveals HomePod smart speaker

Apple has announced a voice-activated loudspeaker powered by its virtual assistant Siri.
Like devices by Amazon and Google, Apple's HomePod speaker can respond to questions and control smart home gadgets such as lights.
Analysts say Apple has been slow to improve its Siri virtual assistant and launch a smart speaker, after Amazon launched its Echo in 2014.
The company has pitched HomePod first and foremost as a music player.
"Apple being very clever by launching its Siri speaker as a music speaker that's smart, because Siri isn't great," said Tom Warren from the technology news site The Verge.



"Interesting that home assistant was the last feature they talked about. Focusing on music is smart, main use case for smart speakers," said Ben Bajarin, of the Creative Strategies consultancy.
The announcement was made at the tech giant's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Jose, California.
"It's a logical step for Apple, to ensure that they don't miss the opportunity to get a smart device right in the centre of people's homes," said Ben Wood, an industry analyst at CCS Insight.
"There has been a huge amount of hype around Amazon Echo and Google Home, but we are really at the start of this technology.
"This does a great job of extending the tentacles of Apple services."
Analysis - Dave Lee, BBC North America technology reporter, at WWDC
At more than double the cost of Amazon's Echo, the HomePod is a typical Apple move.
The company is once again banking on its reputation as a creator of intuitive, luxury products that justify a hefty price tag.
What's interesting about Apple's approach here is that the company has positioned HomePod as a music device first and foremost, a big contrast to the approach of Google which touted its Home speaker as a day-to-day assistant for many aspects of your life.
So - a cynic might say Apple has just launched the world's most-hyped bluetooth speaker - not much imagination there.
But let's face it, before AI and machine learning really matures, most home assistant devices are essentially voice-controlled speakers, and so Apple dedicating its effort into making it sound great is probably a smart move.
Then again, you might wonder if its "smart" capabilities are being downplayed due to Siri just not being as advanced as its competitors.

Mixed reality

Tools that let app designers add virtual objects to a real-world view from the phone's camera, in real time, were also revealed.
The mobile game Pokemon Go is a well-known example of mixed-reality technology in action.


Apple said the new ARkit would make use of the dual-lens camera on the iPhone 7 Plus, making the integration of virtual objects and the real world more realistic.
"By truly enabling all modern iPhones to become augmented reality platforms, Apple will have the largest potential reach for AR development day one," said Mr Bajarin.
However, he questioned the practicality of augmented reality on a smartphone.
"The benefit to a headset or glasses in these demos is not having to hold the device up thus arms getting tired," he said.

Safety in the car

Apple also announced the next version of its mobile operating system - iOS 11 - which will include a new setting for people who use their iPhone in the car.
In January, the company was sued by a US couple whose daughter was killed by a driver allegedly using FaceTime on his iPhone.
The new driving mode silences notifications, turns the phone's display off, and can automatically reply to messages to warn friends that you are driving.


Samsung is testing a similar feature for its Android-powered phones.
Apple also announced:
  • a deal bringing the Amazon Prime Video streaming service to the Apple TV set-top box
  • an update to its Safari web browser, which will now stop websites from tracking visitors and stop videos playing automatically
  • speed upgrades to its iMac and Macbook range of computers, plus a new iMac Pro which the company says is the most powerful Mac ever made
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  • BBC NEWS
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