1. Four teens torture a man with special needs and live stream it on Facebook.
Four teens will face a host of criminal charges after allegedly kidnapping a man in Chicago and torturing him, while broadcasting the “sickening” scene live to Facebook.
The video aired on Tuesday for about 30 minutes, showing the man, who reportedly has special needs, bound and gagged while the attackers kicked, slapped and taunted him, News.com.au reports.
The footage also showed the four teens cutting his hair with a knife until his scalp bled and threatening to torture and kill him.
The teens, named as Tanishia Covington, Brittany Covington, Tesfaye Cooper and Jordan Hill, all 18 years old, will face charges of hate crime, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated unlawful restraint and aggravated battery.
Chicago police said the victim, believed to be school acquaintance of one of the suspects, was reported missing on Monday and found on Tuesday walking down a Chicago street traumatised.
The man had reportedly gone out to meet a friend, but ended up in a stolen vehicle that brought him to the apartment where the attack occurred.
“It’s sickening,” Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said at a news conference.
“It makes you wonder what would make individuals treat somebody like that. I’ve been a cop for 28 years, and I’ve seen things that you shouldn’t see in a lifetime, but it still amazes me how you still see things that you just shouldn’t.”
2. Blow-up loungers not safe for water, authorities warn.
A Victorian mum has recounted the terrifying moment her daughter almost drowned when an inflatable lounger she was floating on split.
Consumer protection authorities are now warning Australians not to use the loungers in water, after two near-drownings on Christmas Day.
Anthea Chester, from Pakenham, Victoria, said she watched as her daughter Hollie, who had been floating on a lounger in her friend’s backyard pool, was engulfed by the fabric after the lounger split, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
“She suddenly disappeared into the middle of it. She then emerged standing up, thank goodness, because the water was shoulder height and she was encased in the parachute material,” she said.
“It was almost vacuum-sealed to her face because it was so wet and so heavy and she said, ‘Mum, I can’t breathe, I can’t get this off, help me’.
Hollie was able to get the fabric from her face to breathe and walk to the side of the pool to get the torn lounger off.
The inflatable loungers were heavily advertised in the lead up to Christmas.
Consumer watchdogs in Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia are among those working with the ACCC to review safety concerns.
In the meantime, they are warning people to not use the loungers in water.
3. Mum forced to throw out breast milk at Heathrow airport.
A new mum was “humiliated” when she was forced to give up five day’s worth of breast milk by security staff at Heathrow airport.
Katie Langan who lives in the Netherlands and regularly travels to and from the UK for work, was forced to give up 10 bags of milk that were intended for her one-year-old daughter Layla.
Katie was returning from a work trip, during which she had spent 20 minutes pumping two to three times a day, The Sun reports.
Airport staff stopped her as she attempted to pass through security with the milk and seized it, despite the 31-year-old offering to check the milk in or pay an extra baggage fee of about $100.
Katie, who said she was treated with “contempt” and a “lack of respect”, was left in tears in front of dozens of fellow travellers.
“I was embarrassed and humiliated. I had to explain about my breastfeeding to a man.”
4. James Hird hospitalised after reported overdose.
Former Essendon coach James Hird was rushed to hospital in Melbourne on Wednesday, reportedly after suffering an overdose.
Paramedics were called to Hird’s Toorak home about 10pm on Wednesday to attend a “poisoning overdose”, Seven News reports.
The father-of-four was taken to Cabrini Hospital, but he is understood to have been transferred to another medical facility on Thursday morning, where he is continuing to receive treatment.
5. Adelaide woman injured as car ploughs into home.
An Adelaide mum was taken to hospital after she was pinned down by a car that crashed into her home in home in the early hours of Friday morning.
The 54-year-old woman was asleep in her lounge room when a van ploughed into the room, Nine News reports.
Her daughters, aged 11 and 18, were also home at the time of the crash were uninjured.
The 37-year-old male driver had allegedly failed to stop at T-intersection on Tarton Road in Windsor Gardens just after 2am, slamming into a parked vehicle before ploughing into the lounge room.
Emergency services took 30 minutes to free the woman before she was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital and treated for minor injuries.
The driver was also taken to hospital for mandatory blood and urine tests.
6. Osama bin Laden’s son on USA terror blacklist.
The United States added the son of former terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, Hamza bin Laden, to its terrorist blacklist on Thursday.
Hamza, who is in his mid-twenties, has become active as an Al-Qaeda propagandist since his father’s death at the hands of US special forces in 2011, Australian Federal Police report.
According to US intelligence authorities, bin Laden was planning to groom him to become Al-Qaeda’s leader.
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