List of All Articles with Tag 'am'

Actor Danny Masterson remained unmoved as his two rape victims gave powerful impact statements to a judge before the That ‘70s Show star was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the attacks. “When you raped me, you stole from me,” said one woman who Masterson, 47, was convicted of raping in 2003. “That’s what rape is, a theft of the spirit.” “You are pathetic, disturbed and completely violent,” she added. “The world is better off with you in prison.” The other victim told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo that the actor “has not shown an ounce of remorse for the pain he caused.” “I knew he belonged behind bars for the safety of all the women he came into contact with. I am so sorry, and I’m so upset. I wish I’d reported him sooner to the police,” she told the court. Masterson, who has been in custody since May, showed no visible reaction to the statements as he sat in court, reported The Associated Press. Masterson was found guilty by a jury of two counts of rape on 31 May after seven days of deliberations. The court was told that both attacks took place at Masterson’s home in the Hollywood area of the city in 2003 when he was a member of the cast of the hit Fox sitcom. Masterson did not testify, and his defence team called no witnesses, arguing that the acts were consensual. The jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on a third count, an allegation that Masterson had raped a longtime girlfriend. A mistrial was declared in Masterson’s first trial in December 2022 after a jury failed to reach verdicts on three counts of forcible rape. “Mr Masterson, I know that you’re sitting here steadfast in your claims of innocence, and thus no doubt feeling victimized by a justice system that has failed you,” Judge Olmedo told Masterson before handing down the sentence. “But Mr Masterson, you are not the victim here. Your actions 20 years ago took away another person’s voice, and choice. One way or another you will have to come to terms with your prior actions, and their consequences.” The Associated Press contributed to this report. Read More ‘That ’70s Show’ actor Danny Masterson sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for rapes Danny Masterson sentencing - live: ‘That 70s Show’ actor given 30 years to life in prison for raping two women Danny Masterson’s wife breaks down at rape sentencing: Who is Bijou Phillips?

The internal "vulnerability report" raised concerns about the New York Republican's claims on his CV.

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The star of That '70s Show will learn his punishment after victim impact statements are read in court.

A suspect accused of brutally raping and beating a University of Wisconsin student reportedly pretended to be an innocent bystander after the vicious attack. Brandon Thompson, 26, is facing charges of sexual assault, reckless injury, and strangulation in connection with the attack that left a young woman in her 20s critically injured, the Madison Police Department said. Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said that around 3.20am on Sunday, a witness heard a commotion and approached the scene. Mr Thompson was standing next to the victim and reportedly told the witness that he had “just found” her and didn’t know what had happened. While the witness called emergency services, Mr Thompson fled the scene in his vehicle. The victim, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, suffered a broken jaw and other life-threatening injuries. She is in critical condition but is expected to survive. “I think one of the most frightening things [is that it was a random attack],” Chief Barnes said at a press conference on Wednesday. “...This case will not be complete until this cowardly attacker receives the justice he deserves.” Investigators were able to link Mr Thompson to the scene thanks to surveillance video submitted by residents of the area that captured Mr Thompson’s license plate and that he was walking right behind the victim before the attack unfolded. Chief Barnes said that approximately two hours before the attack, Mr Thompson was pulled over by Fitchburg police officers over a registration violation. The neighbouring police department provided bodycam footage from the traffic stop that showed Mr Thompson’s clothing matched what he was wearing during the Madison attack. “As a result of this video, detectives were able to read a license plate that directly led to the identification of Brandon Thompson as the perpetrator of this assault,” Assistant Chief Paige Valenta of the Madison Police Department said. Ms Valenta said that DNA evidence had been collected from the scene and sent to a state crime lab. “Her life is forever changed,” Ms Valenta added. “Her family’s life is forever changed. We will continue to work hard to ensure that Mr Thompson is held fully accountable in a court of law for the heinous act he perpetrated.” The suspect’s attorneys said in a statement to TMJ4 that he is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and has a degree in criminal justice and psychology. He reportedly works for a biotech company in Madison. Madison police said Mr Thompson appeared to have no connection with the victim. He was arrested on Wednesday morning and is now awaiting official charges. Read More Famed tech journalist deletes X account with epic rant at Elon Musk and his ‘cesspool’ site The president of a Japanese boy band company resigns and apologizes for late uncle's sex abuse MLB places Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías on administrative leave after arrest

More than one in 10 women and girls in the UK’s four nations has been a victim of online violence, new research has found. Online violence can includes abuse, unwanted sexual remarks, trolling, threats, and non-consensual sharing of intimate messages and photos. The online YouGov survey, said to be the biggest so far into the issue, found 17% of the women and girls surveyed in Wales and Scotland have experienced online violence, as well as 15% in England and 12% in Northern Ireland. Researchers from the Open University said the findings show the problem is “widespread”. The data came from the 7,500 people aged 16 and over – 4,000 women and girls and 3,5000 men and boys – earlier this year. It also highlighted that online violence was higher among for those aged 16-24 (25%) and for LGBT+ women and girls (35%). The most commonly perceived reasons for why people commit such online violence were the anonymity provided by being online (49%), ease of getting away with it (47%) and misogyny (43%). So what can you do if you’re a victim of online violence? Trolling According to the Crown Prosecution Service, trolling is “a form of baiting online which involves sending abusive and hurtful comments across all social media platforms”. Trolls can be found everywhere on the internet, including forums, blogs, websites and social networks. “Don’t respond,” said Ruth Peters, solicitor and director at criminal defence firm Olliers Solicitors. “Trolls are looking for a reaction. Their aim is to upset and provoke you into making an angry/emotional response. Whilst you can’t prevent a troll from targeting you, you can decide how you choose to react. If you choose not to respond to the abuse, trolls generally give up and go away.” If you are being bullied online or receiving abusive comments, Dr Angela Wilcock, a senior lecturer in criminology at University of Sunderland thinks it’s important to tell a family member or a close friend, so you don’t feel alone and have can their support. The Online Safety Bill (which is expected to be passed at the end of this year) to protect women and girls is key, said Wilcock, “along with education from a young age. Women are continually having to risk assess and protect themselves, but we are not dealing with the perpetrators”. She added: “If women and girls do experience online violence, they must tell someone and seek help immediately from specialist services. To make themselves safer, they can also ensure social media privacy settings are activated.” Don’t forget to record, report and block trolls too. Peters noted. “If someone makes an offensive post, take a screenshot or print the post so that you have proof of it if necessary. “Ask the website moderator, administrator or owner to intervene if the troll doesn’t stop. Most websites/social network platforms have strong anti-abuse policies and, in most cases, trolls are guilty of violating their terms and conditions so will have their accounts terminated. “It’s OK to block those whose behaviour makes you feel uncomfortable and blocking someone on social media is easy.” Threats and abusive communication Set out under the Communications Act 2003 and the Malicious Communications Act 1988, malicious communications can include cyberbullying, harassment online or homophobic, racist, transphobic or misogynistic hate speech. Under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003, it is an offence for someone to send a message that is grossly offensive or indecent, obscene or menacing character. “The message does not need to actually reach the intended victim – the act of sending the message is sufficient,” Peters said. “A ‘message’ will cover all forms of messaging so this can mean a text, email, Facebook message, an internet forum, Snapchat message or picture, etc. Any image or message which has been sent electronically will be covered by this act.” Glitch, a UK charity aiming to end online abuse and championing digital citizenship, with a specific focus on black women and marginalised people, published its 2023 Digital Misogynoir Report in July. The findings “illuminate the ways misogynoir shows up in online spaces; the way it spreads and intersects with other forms of white supremacy; and, most disappointingly, how it is still missed in content moderation by tech platforms”, according to founder and CEO, Seyi Akiwowo, “Tech companies must take responsibility for the ways their ‘build first, think later’ approach actively harms black women – online and offline. “And while the pressure we’ve been applying to the UK government has resulted in the welcome and necessary addition of women and girls to the Online Safety Bill, the government has a responsibility to hold tech companies to consistent account for the violence their platforms enable.” Non-consensual sharing of intimate photos and messages In April 2015, the Criminal Justice and Courts Act (CJCA) 2015 made ‘revenge porn’ a specific offence, and it became a crime to “disclose private sexual photographs and films; without the permission of the individual who appears in the photograph or film; with intent to cause distress”, Peters said. “[But] stronger regulation is also proposed surrounding the sharing of sexual images without consent.” The Online Safety Bill, currently progressing through the House of Lords, seeks to specifially criminalise similar offences to revenge porn. “These include sharing ‘deepfakes’ (explicit images which have been altered to look like someone) without consent,” Peters said. “Stronger regulation is also proposed surrounding the sharing of sexual images without consent. The current law requires intention to cause distress in order to be found guilty of this offence, [but] the proposed changes will amend this in order to prosecute more people.” She added: “There will be a ‘base offence’ for sharing intimate images without consent. There will be two more serious offences created if images are shared to cause humiliation, alarm or distress, or for sexual gratification.” But for Wilcock, “women shouldn’t have to ensure our profiles are closed off to the world just so that we don’t endure abuse from trolls and abusers. “It shouldn’t be this way, but that is the sad reality of today’s online world. Until we do more to hold perpetrators to account and deal with them appropriately, it is hard to see how it will get better for victims.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Athlete who ran over 200km through the desert shares advice for running in a heatwave Women being invited to help shape the future of reproductive healthcare – from period pain to menopause How to style your home like a professional

The move means Sajid, who worked for the UK armed forces, can be reunited with his three-year-old.

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The Grace Road Church convinced members to move to Fiji to avoid a natural disaster in South Korea.

A Ukrainian man has been charged with the stabbing murders of his adoptive parents in Florida. Dima Tower, 21, allegedly killed his adoptive parents, Robbie and Jennifer Tower, aged 49 and 51, in their home in North Port on Friday evening (1 September). Police were called to the scene by a neighbour who reported hearing screaming and banging on her door shortly before midnight. The neighbour said she opened the door and no one was there, but there was a smear of blood spatters on the ground. Responding officers found Dima Tower with blood on his clothes, closing the trunk of his car. He allegedly disregarded police orders to freeze, got in his car and fled the scene. Officers chased the car at high speed, deploying other units to sting the car with spike strips on Interstate 75. While they managed the puncture the tires, the suspect then fled on foot into a wooded area. After eight hours of searching, police finally found Dima Tower on Saturday morning near Interstate 75 and Laurel Road in Sarasota County and arrested him. “Our hearts and prayers go out to them and the family members. We are trying to provide justice for them as best we can. We now have one person in custody after a pretty significant search in the night through some highly wooded and wet areas, we just had storms, so it was pretty tough sliding. The Sarasota County Office in Venice were leading the charge to find this individual. Certainly, we were helping, we had K-9s, helicopters, SWAT teams looking for this individual, “Josh Taylor from the North Port Police Department told WinkNews. The couple were found deceased, their bodies positioned lying head-to-head with blood seeping into their living room floor, reported WinkNews. Investigators say they believe the attack may have gone on for some time, as they found horrifying amounts of spatters and pools of blood throughout their home, such as in the master bedroom, living room, inside the front door and the kitchen, local reports said. Robbie and Jennifer Tower were a devout Christian missionary couple, who worked as real estate agents. They would often visit Ukraine on Christian missions. They adopted their son, who was 14 at the time, seven years ago from an orphanage. Robbie Tower’s uncle, Warren Rines, said that the orphanage treated the then-teen in an inhumane manner. “He would have bruises on him in the orphanage. When they went out to eat, he would have like six hot dogs. He wasn’t getting a lot to eat. These orphanages are like prison for kids,” he told the New York Post. The Ukrainian-born suspect had a turbulent childhood; his mother died as a child and his father, who was an alcoholic abandoned him. After they adopted their son, he allegedly displayed a lot of violent behaviour way before he stabbed and killed his parents, according to Mr Rines. He was often starting fights at school and once left Robbie Tower with a black eye, leading him to be sent to stay with relatives of theirs for a while. Court records show that Dima Tower was arrested in 2020 after a physical fight with someone inside the victim’s home. The state attorney decided not prosecute the case, according to WinkNews. “I think the boy just had a lot of hate in him already before he came here. And I guess you take it out on the ones closest to you,” Mr Rines added. Mr Rines described the couple, who could not have their own biological children, as “two really good, caring people” and would often buy their son whatever he wanted, including the car he was allegedly chased in by police. “It just makes no sense, none of us understand the hate. They were the only two people in his life who ever tried to help him. They treated him like their own son,” Mr Rines added. Debbie Tower, Robbie’s mother, wrote a tribute to the couple on Facebook. She said: "They spent their entire life savings to adopt him and this is how he repays them… I don’t really know how I am going to get through this... Rob and Jen were not just my kids, they were my best friends and we did everything together." Police have yet to reveal the motive for the murders. Read More Danelo Cavalcante update: New video shows prison escape as Pennsylvania police track more sightings Another person dies after being found unresponsive at Fulton County Jail in Atlanta Mother of six-year-old who shot teacher fails drug tests while on bond awaiting sentencing