An Ariana Grande fan who attended the Manchester Arena concert in 2017 has been found dead in her bedroom after experiencing depression and PTSD following the bombing.

Eve Aston, 20, was found dead by her father in her bedroom in Finchfield, Wolverhampton, last month. But the cause of her death remains unknown, the family said she had struggled with loud noises and sleeping since the concert.

Writing on her GoFundMe page, Eve’s mother, Amanda Aston, said: “The Manchester attack took its toll as Eve was present, however, the strength of Ariana Grande’s music got her through it alongside her dad who was with her at the time and guided her out.”

She described Eve as “loud, funny, beautiful and caring” adding: “Everyone that she knew would always be put before herself, she was such a selfless person.”

Aston told the Birmingham Mail her daughter had always been a “jolly soul” with lots of friends, but that she began suffering PTSD after attending the Manchester Arena concert, where she had been on the other side of the venue from where the bomb was detonated.

Eve had returned to the venue to lay flowers to commemorate the 22 deaths, she said.

Aston added that Eve had been interested in working with cars but had struggled to launch her career due to depression. She said in recent weeks she had “seemed to be getting back to her old self” and had lost a lot of weight.

She said: “We’re heartbroken, it’s like a bad dream. It’s like she’s going to walk back through the door and say: ‘Got ya!’”

An inquiry into the police and security response to the Manchester Arena attack that concluded this summer identified a number of failures that had cost lives on the night, notably that there had been multiple opportunities to identify the suicide bomber, Salman Abedi, as a security threat.

A US inmate has been sentenced to 24 additional years behind bars after murdering his cellmate, the paedophile who abused his sister – in an act of bloody revenge.

An administrative error saw 26-year-old Shane Goldsby assigned to the same cell as Robert Munger before the fatal beating in June 2020.

Munger, 70, was serving a 43-year sentence at the Airway Heights prison in Washington State for child molestation and child pornography offences.
 

Local news station KHQ reported that Goldsby discovered that his younger sister was one of Munger’s victims.

“I had so much stuff going on in my head,’ he told the station. “I wasn’t stable at that point. I wasn’t. I was getting to that point, because [Munger] kept wanting to give me details about what happened, what he did – about the photos and the videos of him doing this stuff. It was building up.”

Goldsby said he couldn’t believe that he had been assigned to the same cell and made a request to the authorities that he be moved, which was ignored.

“I’m completely feeling like this is what they wanted to happen,” he said.

“I was in shock,” he added. “I was like, ‘what the f***?’… This stuff doesn’t happen. You’re talking the same institution, the same unit, the same pod in the same cell as this dude. That’s like hitting the jackpot in the casino seven times.”
 

“They put me in a position that I shouldn’t even be in. This shouldn’t have happened, at all. You’re talking about this dude, who did some sick twisted things to my little sis. My family. My blood. My life. And you want to put me face-to-face with this dude?” Goldsby told KHQ.

Goldsby eventually snapped, attacking the older man in a common area in the jail.

Court documents reveal what happened next, showing how Goldsby hit “Munger in the face and head area about 14 times, [stomped] on his head at least four times and [kicked] a couple more times before walking away and being taken into custody.” He died three days later.

The Washington Department of Corrections has policies to prevent connected inmates being assigned together but reportedly missed the connection in this case because Goldsby and his sister have different last names.

“There was no clear indication in the documentation regularly reviewed for housing assignments that there was a potential conflict,” DoC spokeswoman Janelle Guthrie told the Spokesman-Review newspaper.
 

“You put me in the same cell as this dude,” Goldsby said. “I feel set up. I’m the victim.”

At his sentencing last week, Goldsby was too emotional to read a statement and his lawyer spoke on his behalf.

“I’m ashamed of my actions, I was put into a situation that I don’t wish on nobody,” she said on Goldsby’s behalf. “I got a lot of fixing to do.”

In addition to the additional 22 years, Goldsby must also pay restitution to Munger’s family.

“I cannot imagine what it would be like to lose a loved one in this kind of way,” Goldsby said through his lawyer.

“To his wife and his whole family I apologise. I am so sorry and I hope you are able to heal from what I caused.”

Ghanaians can now to travel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) without visa following the approval of Visa Waiver Agreement between the two countries. 

The agreement to offer visa free entry to Ghanaians and UAE passport holders was approved by Parliament on Thursday, August 5, 2021.

The agreement, which was contained in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government of Ghana and the UAE on mutual exemption of entry visa requirements, is in respect of diplomatic, service/special and ordinary passport holders.

The agreement was executed on November 18, 2019 with the object of waiving the visa requirements for these passport holders in Ghana and the UAE, who can stay for a period not exceeding 90 days.

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, presented the MoU to the House on May 26, 2021, which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs for consideration and report in accordance with Order 140(4) and 183 of the Standing Orders of Parliament.

Chairman of the Committee, Bryan Acheampong indicated that during a presentation of their report that Ghana/UAE had had fruitful cooperation, indicating that the two countries were desirous to take the bilateral relations to another level.

According to him, the agreement constitutes a comprehensive framework on visa regimes for both countries and does not impose obligations on the two parties to admit people who are considered to be of questionable character into their territories.

He reported that neither did the MoU impose any financial obligation on the two countries nor provided direct financial gains from its implementation.

The Abetifi MP said the agreement had been fashioned in a way to create a win-win situation for both countries, and added that relaxed visa entry requirement is expected to yield tremendous benefits to citizens of Ghana and UAE through improved relations, trade and bilateral co-operation.

Mr. Acheampong stated that visa waiver arrangements to facilitate the movement of diplomats and government officials are common, except that this one makes ordinary passport holders beneficiaries.

Meghan Markle’s father, Thomas Markle Sr., has revealed that he sent his daughter birthday gifts but she didn’t acknowledge them.

Thomas Marle tells TMZ he sent the Duchess of Sussex a bouquet of roses along with a personalized card that simply said, “Wishing you a happy birthday and brighter days.”

This was on August 4, when Meghan turned 40.

The bouquet Thomas sent featured a dozen red roses with 2 yellow roses in the middle, signifying Meghan and Prince Harry’s 2 children.

Thomas said he specifically wanted to incorporate his grandchildren, Archie and Lilibet, in Meghan’s birthday flower arrangement. He added that he wants to be a part of their lives because it seems to him the kids don’t have enough family around them in Montecito.

Thomas added that he didn’t get any response from Meghan after he sent the gift, but he says that’s fine and he’s just hoping she likes the flowers.

A jealous student who ran over his girlfriend at a party and left her with life-changing injuries after accusing her of cheating because she had messages from another man, has been jailed.

Lakshmam Samarakoon has been jailed for more than 11 years after he flew into a rage and mowed down his partner in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, with his parents’ car.

Victim Dina Sapra, who was 18 at the time, was left with multiple broken bones in her left leg and injured so severely doctors considered amputating the limb.

Sapra, who was very bright in school, had to put her academic life on hold. She was also good at swimming, playing netball, and tennis, but won’t be able to compete in the sports again.

The Aylesbury Crown Court was told that the 20-year-old defendant had a pattern of controlling behaviour – constantly tracking his girlfriend’s movements on Snapchat, spying on her phone for messages from other boys, checking her pictures to see who she was with, and regularly blocking any male contacts.

When Ms. Sapra went on holiday with her family to Dubai in 2018, Samarakoon told her he would kill himself when he saw pictures of her socializing with other people.

After midnight last July 12, both the defendant and Ms. Sapra went to a mutual friend’s 18th birthday party in Amersham. Ms. Sapra reportedly arrived first and when Samarakoon, then aged 19, got to the party in his parents’ Vauxhall and saw messages from a male friend on his girlfriend’s phone.

Samarakoon accused her of cheating on him, then took her phone and headed back to the vehicle. Ms. Sapra followed, demanding he returned her mobile phone, but Samarakoon reversed the vehicle, forcing Ms. Sapra to jump out of the way.

She ran away up onto the pavement, however, Samarakoon turned the car in her direction, drove onto the pavement, and hit her, leaving his partner lying on the ground, the court heard.

CCTV footage played at Aylesbury Crown Court showed Samarakoon immediately get out of the car and go to Ms. Sapra as she lay in the road while talking on the phone.

The court later learned he had called 999 and confessed to the crime. He asked for police to come and arrest him stating that he had made a “terrible mistake”.

Paramedics arrived at the scene, taking Ms. Sapra to John Radcliffe Hospital for emergency treatment while police arrested Samarakoon.

Claire Robinson, prosecuting, said during Samarakoon sentencing hearing: “He wanted to be the biggest priority in her life.

“There was less trust in her and he wanted to see photos, check her phone and sometimes blocked contact from boys she had contact with on social media..”

Judge Francis Sheridan sentenced Samarakoon to 11 years and eight months in prison after he pleaded guilty to one charge of grievous bodily harm with intent.

Sentencing him, the judge said: “This was a wicked offence driven by jealousy. This was the worst decision you have ever made in your own selfish way.

“This was your girlfriend who you have effectively maimed for life. This was an offence driven by jealousy on a loving girl.

“You believed you deserved to have the ultimate say as to what she did with her own life, you had no right.

“After you crashed into her, when sense descended and you tried your best to prevent whatever you could, she didn’t want you to touch her. Who can blame her?

“It’s not a knife, it’s not a gun, but it was just the same damage when you deliberately drive into somebody.

“It just shows everybody you can destroy someone’s life chances even at slow speeds if you deliberately mow them down.”

Samarakoon also received an eight-year driving ban, which will come into effect when he gets out of prison on licence.

He has also been handed an indefinite restraining order against his victim.

Another charge Samarakoon pleaded guilty to was causing serious injury by dangerous driving and drink driving.

Apple has announced new updates to its software for iPhones and other devices saying it will start to scan U.S. iPhones for images of child sexual abuse.

The decision by Apple to start scanning phones drew applause from child protection groups but security researchers say the system could be misused by governments like China, Belarus and Nigeria looking to surveil activities of its citizens.

According to Apple,  the messaging app will use on-device machine learning to warn about sensitive content without making private communications readable by the company.

 The tool Apple calls “neuralMatch” will detect known images of child sexual abuse without decrypting people’s messages. If it finds a match, the image will be reviewed by a human who can notify law enforcement if necessary.

But not everyone likes the new software update.

Top cryptography researcher, Matthew Green of Johns Hopkins, was concerned that it could be used to frame innocent people by sending them harmless but malicious images designed to appear as matches for child porn, deceiving Apple’s algorithm and alerting law enforcement – essentially framing people.

 “Researchers have been able to do this pretty easily,” he said.

 “What happens when the Chinese government says, ‘Here is a list of files that we want you to scan for,’” Green said. “Does Apple say no? I hope they say no, but their technology won’t say no.”

Tech companies including Microsoft, Google, Facebook and others have for years been sharing “hash lists” of known images of child sexual abuse. Apple has also been scanning user files stored in its iCloud service, which is not as securely encrypted as its messages, for such images.

CNN has fired three employees for entering its New York headquarters without being vaccinated for protection against COVID-19.

This was disclosed in a memo from the cable news network’s president.

“In the past week, we have been made aware of three employees who were coming to the office unvaccinated,” said the memo sent to CNN staff on Thursday August 5 and obtained by the Times.

“All three have been terminated. Let me be clear — we have a zero-tolerance policy on this,” added the memo. “You need to be vaccinated to come to the office. And you need to be vaccinated to work in the field, with other employees, regardless of whether you enter an office or not. Period.”

The names of the dismissed employees were not revealed, according to two staffers at the WarnerMedia unit. Vaccinated employees have been allowed to return to CNN offices voluntarily.

WarnerMedia Passcard requires employees to attest to vaccinations, but showing vaccine cards has not been mandatory.

Zucker wrote that the return date “no longer feels appropriate” given the rise in Covid cases across the country. He projected a new return date of mid-October.

“We always said that we would be flexible with our decisions on all of this – as evidenced by the recent change to the Atlanta date,” he wrote. “This is another example of that. As new information is made available, we are constantly evaluating our decisions.”

Zucker also said that employees in Washington, Los Angeles and Atlanta would be required to wear masks in the office. He wrote that “it goes without saying that even in places that we don’t mandate it, anyone who wants to wear a mask should absolutely do so. These decisions can be very personal for people – no two situations are the same. Everyone should do what feels most comfortable for them, without any fear of retaliation or judgment from co-workers.”

Global watchdog, Amnesty International alleged that a body-count exercise revealed that 115 civilians have been extrajudicially killed by security forces in South East, Nigeria.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, August 4, Amnesty International Nigeria added that relatives of the victims denied the deceased were part of the militants that were attacking security agents.

The report also alluded to an official headcount by the Nigerian authorities that showed that 21 police officers have been lost in four months to the insecurity in the South-East.

The report is titled ‘Nigeria: At least 115 people killed by security forces in four months in country’s Southeast.’

In the report, Amnesty International accused Nigerian security forces of committing a catalogue of rights violations, captured under international law.

The statement by AI begins: “Nigerian security forces have committed a catalogue of human rights violations and crimes under international law in their response to spiralling violence in Southeast Nigeria, carrying out a repressive campaign since January which has included sweeping mass arrests, excessive and unlawful force, and torture and other ill-treatment.”

Nigeria’s Country Director, Osai Ojigho, was also quoted as saying, “The evidence gathered by Amnesty International paints a damning picture of ruthless excessive force by Nigerian security forces in Imo, Anambra and Abia States.”

Amnesty International further claimed, “Nigeria’s government has responded with a heavy hand to killings and violence widely attributed to the armed group calling itself Eastern Security Network (ESN), the armed wing of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a pro-Biafra movement.

“According to government officials, the ESN killed dozens of security operatives and attacked at least ten public buildings, including prisons and police stations, from January to June. In response, security forces comprising military, police, and Department of State Services (DSS) have killed dozens of gunmen, as well as civilians, where attacks have been committed.

“Eyewitnesses told Amnesty International that the security forces have engaged in excessive use of force, physical abuse, secret detentions, extortion, burning of houses, theft, and extrajudicial executions of suspects. “Human rights groups estimated that the death toll of violence between January and June 2021 in Anambra, Imo, Abia, and Ebonyi States might run into the hundreds. The police said ESN fighters killed 21 of its personnel in Imo State alone.

“Amnesty International carried out an extensive investigation to document the human rights violations and crimes under international law in Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi and Abia states from January 2021. The organization documented 52 incidents of unlawful killings and 62 cases of arbitrary arrest, ill-treatment and torture.

“Media reports, video and audio recordings reviewed show that the Nigerian security forces also employed excessive force and other unlawful means to address the rising violence.

The statement continued: “From January 2021, gunmen suspected to be ESN militants launched a series of attacks on government infrastructure, including prisons and public buildings, killing several police officers. Amnesty International condemned these attacks and called on authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“Nigerian security forces launched security operations in June, primarily targeting ESN militants or those perceived as such to decimate the group. Amnesty International documented at least 115 persons killed by security forces between March and June 2021.

“Many relatives of the victims told Amnesty International that they were not part of the militants that were attacking security agents. Many of the victims were deposited at government hospitals in Imo and Abia state. According to several hospital sources, all the victims deposited by the police had bullet injuries.

Giving examples of victims of the extrajudicial killing, AI said: “For instance, in two of the cases documented by Amnesty International, the victims were targeted with no apparent justification: Uguchi Unachukwu, a Germany-based businessman was killed by soldiers on 31 May at a checkpoint near Owerri airport on his way out of the country. The police are yet to investigate the crime.

“Mathew Opara, a 45-year-old businessman, was shot by soldiers on 25 May 2021 in Orji, near Owerri. Witnesses told Amnesty International that he was returning from work when he ran into a team of soldiers in an armoured vehicle and Hilux vans shooting at residents. He was shot in the chest and could not receive immediate medical help because of the violence. His family said the military acknowledged the killing but did not launch an investigation or offer any apology.”

Amnesty International (AI) also interviewed victims of arbitrary arrests and torture and noted their findings in the statement.

AI said: “In May 2021, the Imo state government announced the arrest of at least 400 people allegedly linked to the violence. Amnesty International’s investigation indicates that most of them were randomly picked up in their homes and off the street and had nothing to do with ESN. Some victims told Amnesty International that they were arrested while walking in the street, at a public bar or simply for having birthmarks or tattoos on their bodies.

“A 37-year-old man who was arrested by the police at Orji, in Imo state, on 26 May 2021 told Amnesty International that he was arrested because his colleague had a birthmark on his shoulder. The police said the mark was a sign of membership of IPOB.”

According to Amnesty International, the victim said, “The police arrested us on the road. They asked us to lie down on the road. They checked our clothes to see if we have tattoos. I had none but one of us had a birthmark. He tried to explain but the policemen started beating him. They tied our hands backwards and took us in their van to the police station.

Another 36-year-old man reportedly told Amnesty International: “I was arrested on my way back from work. The policemen put me in a bus along with other young men including several students and an NYSC member in his uniform.

“They labelled us ESN members and took us to their station at the Fire Service. We were severely beaten. They said they will waste [kill] all of us. I told them that I work for the state government. I was asked to pay N20,000. I negotiated and finally paid N15,000. They allowed me to go at about 10.30 pm. I do not know what happened to the other people.”