Sweetdreams12

Calls for heads to roll are rising in a city where 15 people have died of hypothermia and a million have been struggling to keep warm in -27C after being left without heating or electricity. Residents in Bishkek, the capital city of Kyrgyzstan, were left without basic heating after the boiler broke down in the main power station last week. Temperatures plummeted so low  that 15 homeless people are reported to have died of the cold  in just a matter of days. People were battling with freezing conditions inside their homes too after the initial main boiler failure triggered a knock-on effect around the city. Offices and public buildings were closed and schools and universities cancelled classes. The power station boiler has now been repaired and outdoor conditions are getting a bit warmer too but the demand for accountability has continued on social media. Some residents are calling for Prime Minister Sapar Isakov's resignation  , while others are defending h...

A German teenager who stabbed to death his neighbour's nine-year-old son and then killed an ex-school friend while on the run has been jailed for life. Marcel Hesse, now 20, lured the boy to his basement in the town of Herne last March, stabbing him 52 times. He bragged of the murder online then stabbed the 22-year-old ex-school friend after he was confronted about the killing. Prosecutors said the crimes were committed "to satisfy his sadism". Hesse, who lived with his parents, was unemployed and was described as socially withdrawn. He lured the boy from a nearby family home by pretending to need help with a ladder. He then stabbed the child before sending photos of the body to friends via WhatsApp. Hesse then went on the run and stayed with a former school friend named only as Christopher W, who had not yet heard about the murder. When he learned of it he confronted Hesse and was stabbed 68 times, the court heard. Forensic investigators said Hesse k...

The number of known sexual abuse victims of former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar has grown to 265, a Michigan judge has said. At least 65 victims are set to confront Nassar, 54, in court this week in the last of three sentencing hearings, prosecutors say. He was sentenced last week to 40 to 175 years in prison after nearly 160 women testified that he had molested them. His victims included Olympic gold medal winners Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber. Nassar is already also serving 60 years in prison for possession of child sex abuse images. Wednesday's hearing is to sentence Nassar for molesting patients in the back room of Twistars gymnastics club in Dimondale, Michigan. The former Michigan State University physician pleaded guilty in November to three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct against girls for whom he was supposed to be providing medical care. At least one of the sexual assaults included a victim younger than 13. Two of the victims were abu...

Tammy Duckworth is used to being a trailblazer. A double amputee, she was the first disabled woman elected to the US Congress. Born in Bangkok to a Thai mother and American father, she was also among the first Asian-American women in Congress. And now, as confirmed in a gleeful tweet this week, she will be the first woman to have a baby while serving in the US Senate. It was "about damn time", the 49-year-old said. "I can't believe it took until 2018." On the day Donald Trump defied the odds to defeat Hillary Clinton in November 2016, Tammy Duckworth made her own journey - soundly defeating the Republican incumbent to become the junior senator for Illinois, the position held by Barack Obama when he won the presidency. Her election came four days shy of the anniversary of the event that shaped her later life. "I'm here because of the miracles that occurred 12 years ago this Saturday - above and in a dusty field in Iraq," she said in...

Canadian police say they are in the midst of an "unprecedented" investigation as they search for more victims of an alleged serial killer. Self-employed Toronto landscaper Bruce McArthur, 66, currently faces five counts of first-degree murder. Three of those charges are linked to men who frequented Toronto's Gay Village neighbourhood. Toronto's LGBT community had raised concerns for months about a series of disappearances around the Village. On Monday, Toronto police said that Mr McArthur has been charged with first degree murder in the deaths of Majeed Kayhan, Soroush Marmudi and Dean Lisowick. Earlier this month, they charged the 66-year-old with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Andrew Kinsman and Selim Esen. Esen, 44, went missing last April and Kinsman, 49, disappeared in June. Kayhan, 58, went missing in 2012. All three were known to spend time in the Village. Marmudi, 50, was reported missing by his family in 2015. Lisowick, ...

An eight-month-old baby girl has been raped allegedly by her cousin in the Indian capital, Delhi. The girl is reportedly in a critical condition at a local hospital where she was brought in on Sunday. Police told the media that they had arrested the 28-year-old accused, described as a daily wage worker. Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal, who visited the infant in hospital on Monday night, described her injuries as "horrific". The incident happened on Sunday  but came to light on Monday after local media reported it  . Ms Maliwal tweeted that the girl had to undergo a three-hour operation. "Her heart-rending cries could be heard in the intensive-care unit of the hospital. She has horrific injuries in her internal organs,"  she tweeted  . This distressing case of assault on an infant has shocked India and the extent of her injuries has horrified many to wonder whether we have reached a new low. But a look at the statistics, compiled b...

A highly professional burglar with a military background is suspected of carrying out series of violent house burglaries across south-east England. The man stakes out expensive Home Counties properties, armed with a sawn-off shotgun, and knows their exact layout and location of safes by the time he strikes, Surrey Police said. He has taken jewellery, watches and heirlooms worth about £1m. Police said he may be "ex-military" and possesses "specialist skills". An appeal has now gone out from four police forces after raids across Berkshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex between November 2014 and October 2017. Det Insp Dee Fielding, who is leading the investigation, said the man strikes approximately every six months and is not "an opportunist burglar". "This is absolutely not an amateur," she said. "He stakes out these houses over a number of days, sometimes for a couple of weeks. We can see that on CCTV he is hiding in gardens - he...

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has lauded the Trump administration's list of Russian oligarchs and politicians as a "good list." The list released late on Monday was required by a sanctions law, adopted last year against Russia for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. Although it does not trigger any U.S. sanctions against the individuals, the very preparations for listing the Russian oligarchs has sent chills across the Russian business community and political elite in the past months. Navalny, who came to prominence thanks to his investigations into official corruption, tweeted on Tuesday that he was "glad that these (people) have been officially recognized on the international level as crooks and thieves." Navalny in his investigations has exposed what he described as close ties between government officials and some of the billionaires on the list. He questioned, however, why some Russian businessmen with no apparent ties to the government w...

A bereaved mother is calling for schools to make extra checks on pupils who do not turn up. Helen Daykin's little girls spent almost 24 hours with the body of their father after his sudden death. She says: "There's no reason why this couldn't happen again. How the children didn't hurt themselves I've no idea." The government may ask schools in England to make extra checks, including keeping an extra contact number to call when children don't turn up. Helen Daykin can only now bring herself to speak about the day her husband, Chris, died unexpectedly, just over a year ago. She often travelled away for work while he looked after their two small daughters, Pearl and Iris. Sometimes it was to the other side of the world, that week it was just to London from their home, in Halifax. When she rang in the morning she thought he was busy with the school run, then later that he might have lost his phone as there was no answer. At teatime, her ...

"On a daily basis we are kicked, spat on, hit and sworn at. I encounter violence every day, normally multiple times a day. It's incredibly rare to have a day where I haven't been physically harmed in one way or another." Emma works as a classroom assistant at a school in south-east England for children with behavioural, emotional and mental-health problems. Her job is to be an extra pair of hands in the classroom, or out in the corridors, coaxing children back into lessons. Too often, those interactions become difficult and children lash out. "I've been punched in the face, I've been head-butted in the face," Emma told BBC Radio 5 live. "Being spat at is really unpleasant. "It's hard having spit on your face and in your hair and on your clothes and staying calm about it." Many pupils at the school where Emma works have struggled in mainstream education. Some have special educational needs, others, behavioural and...