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Magazine Editor Who Fought Corruption Is Now Fighting Rape Charges

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Magazine Editor Who Fought Corruption Is Now Fighting Rape Charges

Police in India just filed rape and assault charges against the editor of a liberal magazine, Tehelka — a publication known for its anti-corruption, pro-transparency angle, that recently called for Indians to address the country's problems with sexual violence.

Tarun Tejpal, Tehelka's editor and co-founder, is accused of two separate sexual assaults against the same victim, a magazine employee who had been acting as a guide to Robert De Niro and his daughter during their time in Goa, a small state in India.

The accusations became public on Wednesday, when a "remorseful letter" from Tejpal was leaked to other news outlets and Tehelka's managing editor, Shoma Chaudhury, sent a staff-wide announcement that there had been “an untoward incident” and that Tejpal would "recuse" himself for six months as a result.

The next day, the victim's account of the episodes, apparently sent over email, were published on social media sites. According to reports, the victim was assaulted in the elevator of a luxury hotel in Goa.

Although the victim has not made a statement to police, authorities say her email account is enough to launch the investigation.

"I am not saying someone is guilty but the girl's email (to her office) is explicit," Goan chief minister Manohar Parrikar told the Times of India.

[image via AP]


Sirhan Sirhan -- the man convicted of assassinating Robert F.

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Sirhan Sirhan — the man convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy — was moved in a "routine" transfer to a San Diego facility on Friday, which was also the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Corrections authorities are calling it an "unfortunate coincidence." Theorists of conspiracy, have at it.

[A Shiite fighter battles the rebels of the Free Syrian Army on Friday in Hatita, a town in the coun

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[A Shiite fighter battles the rebels of the Free Syrian Army on Friday in Hatita, a town in the countryside of Damascus. Photo by Jaber al-Helo via AP]

Iran to Freeze Its Nuclear Program in Geneva Accord

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Iran to Freeze Its Nuclear Program in Geneva Accord

After weeks of negotiations between diplomats from Iran, US, the UK, Russia, China, France and Germany, Iran has agreed to temporarily freeze its nuclear program while a larger deal is negotiated.

The international agreement would give negotiators time to iron out a deal that would ensure that Iran's nuclear program would only be used towards peaceful ends, and not in pursuit of a nuclear weapon. Over the last few years, Iran has been enriching uranium to 20%, a level close to that which could be used in a weapon. Iran has now agreed to stop enriching at 5%, and dismantle links between centrifuges (which help enrich Uranium) and it has also promised to stop building new centrifuges.

"Diplomacy opened up a new path toward a world that is more secure," President Obama said last night, "a future in which we can verify that Iran's nuclear program is peaceful and that it cannot build a nuclear weapon."

In return, the agreement provides some relief from sanctions which have crushed the Iranian economy. The sanctions will be lifted through an executive order, bypassing a congress conflicted by a deal thatdoes not fully eliminate Iran's nuclear capabilities.

Less ambivalent about the deal is Israel, whose leader has called the agreement a "historic mistake." Speaking to reporters, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that, "what was concluded in Geneva last night is not a historic agreement, it's a historic mistake. It's not made the world a safer place. Like the agreement with North Korea in 2005, this agreement has made the world a much more dangerous place."

Secretary of State John Kerry disagreed however, claiming in Geneva that the agreement"will make our partners in the region safer. It will make our ally Israel safer."

In a nationwide speech to the people of Iran following the agreement, President Hassan Rouhani reiterated that Iran has no desire to build an atomic bomb, but must continue its nuclear program to use in power stations.

Mavis Batey, who as an 18-year-old university student helped crack the German Enigma code leading to

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Mavis Batey, who as an 18-year-old university student helped crack the German Enigma code leading to several instrumental victories for the Allies, died earlier this week at 92.

Woman on First Walk Since Motorcycle Accident Gets Run Over By Car

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Woman on First Walk Since Motorcycle Accident Gets Run Over By Car

A Virginia woman who survived both cancer and a devastating motorcycle accident was struck and killed by a car last Sunday, during her first walk outdoors since her accident six months ago.

At around 9:30 in the morning, Sally Ann Okuly was leaving her house for the first time in a long time, to get coffee and the newspaper from the gas station across the street in Woodbridge, Va. But Okuly never made it back across the boulevard — she was hit by driver Amanda Styles-Mays, 24, while Okuly was in the crosswalk, crossing with the light.

"She's the most giving person ever," her husband Bill Okuly told NBC News. They would have celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary this week.

"One of her favorite things to do was walk across the street to the WaWa," Okuly said of his wife.

She had already bought the papers and coffee after crossing the street the first time, but never made it back.

Certifying Board Says Gynecologists Are Only Allowed to Treat Women

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Certifying Board Says Gynecologists Are Only Allowed to Treat Women

The American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology has laid down a hard line: no boys allowed.

The board has insisted that gynecologists treat only women, barring the doctors from performing gynecological techniques — like screenings for anal cancer — on men.

Similar screenings for cervical cancer resulted in a drastic decline in overall cases, and doctors hoped men might see the same results.

But gynecologists who want to keep their board certification have to obey the board's directive, which also has the effect of barring a number of doctors from treating male patients in an upcoming $5.6 million National Cancer Institute anal cancer clinical trial.

Members of the board told the New York Times that it was enforcing these rules because of history.

Dr. Larry C. Gilstrap, the group’s executive director, said the specialty of obstetrics and gynecology was specifically designed to treat problems of the female reproductive tract and was “restricted to taking care of women.” Of the 24 medical specialties recognized in the United States, he said, it is the only one that is gender-specific, and it has been that way since 1935.

“We haven’t heard of any compelling reason to change anything,” the board's director of evaluation, Dr. Kenneth L. Noller told the Times.

[image via Shutterstock]

The Texas actress accused of sending Barack Obama ricin-laced hate letters and then trying to frame


Elderly Former Convict Robs Bank Because He Missed Jail

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Elderly Former Convict Robs Bank Because He Missed Jail

An elderly ex-con who spent much of his life behind bars will most likely be sent back to jail after robbing a bank and quickly getting caught, admitting that he robbed the bank because prison was "the only life he knew."

73-year-old Walter Unbehaun attempted to rob a bank in Illinois earlier this year, after walking into the bank using a cane he's used since having hip-replacement surgery. Federal prosecutors are aware that Mr. Unbehaun will be getting exactly what he wants with a return ticket to prison, but the threat he poses, as someone who wants to commit crime to go back to prison, is too much of a gamble for them.

"Did the system fail Mr. Unbehaun?," wrote prosecutor Sharon Fairley in a filing asking a judge to sentence him to six-to-eight years. "We may never know. But, what we do know is, clearly, Unbehaun lacks the desire to lead a law-abiding life outside of prison walls."

During the February 9th stickup, Unbehaun told the cashier that "This is a hold up. I have nothing to lose. Give me the money in the drawer." He was carrying a gun in his waistband. He has a history of health problems and was facing difficulties adjusting to life outside of the only home he's known.

Unbehaun, whose life of crime goes back to 1963 and includes armed robbery, gun violence, and car theft, will be sentenced next month.

Woman Who Accused Duke Lacrosse Players of Rape Convicted of Murder

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Woman Who Accused Duke Lacrosse Players of Rape Convicted of Murder

The woman who accused three Duke lacrosse players of raping her in 2006 was convicted of second-degree murder on Friday in the 2011 stabbing death of her boyfriend.

Crystal Mangum was sentenced to between 14 and 18 years in prison after a jury decided that she was criminally liable in the death of her boyfriend Reginald Dye, who was stabbed in April 2011 and died from complications ten days later. Mangum had claimed that she stabbed Dye in self-defense, saying that as Dye was beating her in a jealous rage, she grabbed a knife and "poked him in the side."

The 2006 rape case that Mangum brought against three Duke lacrosse players caught the attention of national media, raising all sorts of uncomfortable questions about the scope of prosecutorial power, race, and class. Mangum's accusations against the players were eventually thrown out, though prosecutors didn't file charges against her, explaining that she "may actually believe" she was raped.

Four years later, Mangum returned to the news cycle when Durham police charged her with felony arson, child abuse, vandalism and resisting a law enforcement officer after she reportedly slashed the tires and smashed the windshield of her boyfriend's car and set fire to a pile of his clothes in a bathtub while the police and her three children were in her apartment.

Crystal Mangum, Duke lacrosse accuser, convicted of murder [AP via CSM]

Image via AP

Brooklyn Hospital Falsely Told People They Were HIV-Positive

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Brooklyn Hospital Falsely Told People They Were HIV-Positive

According to a new whistleblower lawsuit, lab technicians at the Kings County Hospital Center have repeatedly incorrectly told healthy people that they were HIV-positive and told some people who had tested positive for Hepatitis C that they were healthy.

And, according to the suit, another patient may have died due to the hospital's failure to report his blood-level changes.

The whistleblower, 51-year-old Lilli Hutchison, has worked in the lab for 23 years and apparently began trying to report the problems as far back as 2002.

Instead of addressing the issues, however, Hutchison says she was retaliated against; supervisors were rude, she was denied training, she was assaulted, she was transferred to other departments, and denied promotions, even though the hospital desperately needed lab technicians.

In 2011, Hutchison notified the Department of Health, which investigated and substantiated her claims.

The hospital received multiple violations, and Hutchison says that in retaliation, her superiors accused her of workplace violations and suspended her for several days.

[image via Shutterstock]

[Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Kiev today to demand that the Ukrainian gove

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[Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Kiev today to demand that the Ukrainian government defy Russia and sign extensive political and trade agreements with the European Union. Photo by Sergei Chuzavkovo via AP]

Your Number One Job: Getting Paid to Pee

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Your Number One Job: Getting Paid to Pee

Are you ever urinating and happen to think, you know, I'm damn good at this thing right here. Well, have we got the job listing for you.

Brokelyn points us towards a new App called ToiletFinder (it does exactly what you think it does) which is looking for paid copywriters who can start reviewing public bathrooms across New York City. Public bathrooms, increasingly scarce and reliably gnarly, are probably pretty fertile ground for lyrical reviews (and bacteria, horrible horrible bacteria).

"I built ToiletFinder in order to address a universal, legitimate human need, and am seeking a partner in crime that can share in my vision (NYC for now, but rapidly expanding)," ToiletFinder creator Michael Li writes in the Craigslist posting.

Aspiring toilet reviewers can submit their musings through the website, and if Li likes what he sees, he'll pay you for them. Of the lucky urinators, one will be chosen for the full time position.

So who out there has a bladder adventurous enough to drink that gallon of coffee and hurl themselves into the very bowels of New York City's disgusting public bathroom scene? Apply soon, because time is ticking, and you really, really, really, oh god please let this door not be locked, have to use the bathroom.

[Shutterstock]

Two men have been arrested by religious police in Saudi Arabia for giving out free hugs.

An Old Person Is Spraying Anti-Kid Tags Around an Old Person Community

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An Old Person Is Spraying Anti-Kid Tags Around an Old Person Community

A Florida man living in a 55-and-over gated community had two of his cars vandalized recently — but for once, police don't think it was kids. Because the ageist graffiti on the car said it all — this was an old person's crime.

Sixty-three-year-old Bhaskar Barot discovered the chilling messages — "NO KIDS" — sprayed on both of his Toyota vehicles. Barot thinks the graffiti bandit was offended by Barot's four-year-old granddaughter, who he sometimes babysits at his house.

But vandalism isn't even the worst crime perpetuated by the senior delinquent. He or she also made a four-year-old cry.

"We told her she can not come here [anymore], and she started crying," Barot told WPTV.

Barot's gated community actually does allow kids to visit and stay overnight — but only for thirty days a year.

Police have been unable to solve the alarming crime, despite speaking with "numerous neighbors."

[image via The Smoking Gun]


Conrad Murray: I Held Michael Jackson's Penis Every Night

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Conrad Murray: I Held Michael Jackson's Penis Every Night

While the biggest mystery in the Conrad Murray case is how on earth he's still somehow a licensed doctor, he's also been making the media rounds this week trying to pretend Michael Jackson's death is a mystery that hasn't already been solved with a guilty verdict.

Instead he's back to pushing the theory that Jackson's death was accidental and Jackson's fault alone.

Murray was just released from prison after serving a two years of a four-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter for administering propofol to Jackson, who died from an overdose of the anesthetic.

And in an interview with the Daily Mail today, Murray told his interviewer that he and Jackson were close. Real close.

"‘You want to know how close Michael and I were? I held his penis every night. I had to put a condom catheter on him because Michael dripped urine."

Murray also says that AEG executives were pressuring Jackson, which only made him abuse the propofol more.

‘They came to the house. They said, “This house – we pay for it. The popsicles the children are sucking on – we pay for them... The nine security guards, we pay for them too. We pay for the toilet paper he wipes his a** on... If he doesn’t do these shows it’s over. He’s ruined. He doesn’t have a cent. He will be on Skid Row.” ’

Murray is appealing his conviction under the claim that Jackson was responsible for his own death.

[image via AP]

High School Football Captain Stabs Older Male Lover to Death

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High School Football Captain Stabs Older Male Lover to Death

A high school football player in Connecticut stabbed his older lover to death Thursday night, after trying to end their two-year relationship.

18-year-old Tarence Mitchell stabbed 27-year-old Ronald Taylor Jr. five times during a heated argument outside of Mitchell's home in Bloomfield, CT. Mitchell claims that when he tried to break up with Taylor, Taylor posted material on Facebook that revealed him as being in a gay relationship. Mitchell told police that Taylor had become jealous of the football player's texts with women.

Taylor allegedly showed up at Mitchell's home uninvited on Thursday night. The police believe that Taylor had punched Mitchell in the face before Mitchell began stabbing Taylor. When Taylor began running away, Mitchell chased after him and stabbed him twice more.

"He's never been in trouble," Tyra Smith, the football player's mother told reporters on Friday. "He's a star athlete, he's loved all around town, everybody knows him. This is just so shocking. I send my deepest condolences to the victim's family but my son is not a murderer."

Mitchell originally told the police that the two of them had been attacked, but then admitted to stabbing Taylor. Mitchell has now been charged with murder.

Ahhhhh, nightmares.

Neuroscientist Related to Lizzie Borden Finds Out He's a Psychopath

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Neuroscientist Related to Lizzie Borden Finds Out He's a Psychopath

James Fallon, a neuroscientist at UC Irvine, accidentally discovered he was a psychopath when he found an "obviously pathological" brain scan in his files that showed low activity in the frontal and temporal lobe areas linked to empathy, morality, and self-control.

It turned out to be his own.

Smithsonian Magazine has a great feature on Fallon, who is also related to seven alleged murderers — including the OG ax-lady herself, Lizzie Borden. Fallon actually got genetic testing done and found out that he had high-risk alleles for aggression and violence.

But — according to Fallon, who admits to being motivated by power and manipulation — he's "never killed anybody, or raped anyone."

“I’m obnoxiously competitive. I won’t let my grandchildren win games. I’m kind of an asshole, and I do jerky things that piss people off,” he says. “But while I’m aggressive, but my aggression is sublimated. I’d rather beat someone in an argument than beat them up.”

Fallon thinks despite his nature, he turned out to be a good kind of psychopath — a "pro-social psychopath," who lacks empathy but behaves by societal norms — because of nurture.

"I was loved and that protected me," he told Smithsonian.

He says the experience has changed his scientific focus from genetic determination to studying environmental effects.

“Since finding all this out and looking into it, I’ve made an effort to try to change my behavior... I’ve more consciously been doing things that are considered ‘the right thing to do,’ and thinking more about other people’s feelings... At the same time, I’m not doing this because I’m suddenly nice, I’m doing it because of pride—because I want to show to everyone and myself that I can pull it off.”

[image via Shutterstock]

A Long Island deli owner and his son have been charged with grand larceny after they told a lotto wi

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A Long Island deli owner and his son have been charged with grand larceny after they told a lotto winner who spoke limited English that he had won $1,000. In fact, he'd won a million, and the deli owner had pocketed the rest.

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