Australian police dig for ‘multiple’ baby graves at rural home

Australian police dig for ‘multiple’ baby graves at rural home
Student jailed for ‘sextortion’ involving Miss Teen USA
Nicol David looks to lift Malaysian spirits at women’s squash worlds
Singapore offers help of information fusion centre in search for MH370
Ford Sabah quest for five day expedition
Brunei catches first glimpse of film – Yasmine

Posted: 17 Mar 2014 07:05 PM PDT

Police in Australia were digging up a rural property on Tuesday searching for what reports said were "multiple babies" in secret graves.

Officers swooped on a house near Gin Gin, 370 kilometres (230 miles) northwest of Brisbane, after a tip-off that children were born and their bodies hidden on the property by the same family in the 1990s and early 2000s.

"I can confirm we are conducting investigations into information received regarding allegations a number of child births have been concealed on the property," said cold case homicide Detective Inspector Mick Dowie.

"We will be interviewing a number of persons who may also be able to assist with our investigations over the coming days."

He would not say how many children might have been born and buried there although the Brisbane Courier-Mail newspaper referred to "multiple babies in secret graves".

"There's one family involved," Dowie added, without saying whether they were cooperating with police.

"You can draw your own conclusions from the fact that we're doing an excavation."

Given the potential remains are more than a decade old and tiny, he said the excavation process was "meticulous".

Gin Gin councillor Wayne Honor said the small community, with a population of less than 1,000, was in shock.

"We just hope (police) can come to an outcome that is going to give and let our community come to a little bit of peace," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. -AFP

Student jailed for ‘sextortion’ involving Miss Teen USA

Posted: 17 Mar 2014 07:04 PM PDT

A US student has been jailed for 18 months for hacking online accounts of Miss Teen USA and over 100 other women in several countries and threatening to publish nude photos of them, prosecutors said.

Jared James Abrahams surrendered in September to FBI agents probing so-called "sextortion" cases, in which he made demands in return for agreeing not to release the pictures.

The investigation involved multiple victims in California, as well as in Canada, Moldova and Russia.

The 20-year-old Abrahams, who hacked into as many as 150 online accounts and forced victims to engage in Skype sessions in which he convinced two teenagers to undress, made a plea deal with prosecutors in November.

He pleaded guilty to four counts — three of extortion and one of computer hacking — according to the US Attorney's office in Los Angeles.

The most high-profile victim was Cassidy Wolf, who won the Miss Teen USA pageant in August. She and Abrahams attended the same school in Temecula, about 90 miles (150 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.

They left the school in 2012. The plea agreement detailed how, starting last year and continuing until June, the computer science student hacked into computers, email and social media accounts.

The pictures, sometimes nude in nature, were taken from webcams, said the plea deal, adding that Abrahams "extorted at least 12 young women in their late teens or early 20s in this manner."

Wolf called investigators in March after receiving threatening emails containing nude photos of herself.

The sender said he would distribute the pictures "all over the Internet" unless she either sent him a personal video of herself, joined him on Skype for a five-minute video chat during which she would have to do whatever he said, or sent him "good-quality pics" of herself.

"As digital devices, email accounts and social media accounts now contain the most intimate details of the public's daily lives, the impact of this type of hacking and extortion becomes more pronounced," prosecutors wrote.

"In some cases, this type of criminal behavior can be life-changing for the victims — especially for vulnerable victims who may feel it is impossible to rebuild their tarnished reputations." -AFP

Nicol David looks to lift Malaysian spirits at women’s squash worlds

Posted: 17 Mar 2014 05:57 PM PDT

Malaysia's world number one Nicol David warned competition was now tougher than ever as she sets out to defend her title at the world women's championships on her home island of Penang.

The peerless David, who has won a record seven world titles and has held the top ranking since 2006, is the hot favourite to lift the trophy for the eighth time.

The 30-year-old can help boost Malaysian spirits after the disappearance of flight Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 with 239 passengers on board nine days ago caused widespread shock.

David has made a turbo-charged start to the year, winning back-to-back titles at the Tournament of Champions and Cleveland Classic in January and February.

But despite being the overwhelming favourite in Penang, she said it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep her challengers at bay.

"There is not much separating the top 10 players and the gap is certainly getting closer," David said.

"Anyone in the top 10 is capable of ousting each other, so I have to be on top of my game as everyone will be out to get me."

The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the Asian Games in South Korea and the world team championships are also on David's 2014 schedule in what is shaping up as a busy year.

"I am 30 now and the sport is very demanding," she said. "I have to pay extra attention to my preparation and recovery for each match and I can?t push my body too much compared to when I was younger.

"Having said that, I still aim to compete at the highest level for at the least the next five years."

The top seed and defending champion will open her account against England's Emma Beddoes in a draw which appears to have given her a favourable route to the final.

Should she make the title match on Saturday, her biggest rival Laura Massaro of England, the second seed, will hope to lie in wait.

Massaro's main obstacle in the bottom half of the draw looks to be third seed Raneem El Weleily of Egypt. David?s last world title win came at the expense of Massaro back in 2012.

The pocket-sized champion will be joined by compatriots Low Wee Wern and wildcard entry Vanessa Raj in the main draw. -AFP

Singapore offers help of information fusion centre in search for MH370

Posted: 17 Mar 2014 05:52 PM PDT

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has offered Malaysia the help of its Information Fusion Centre (IFC) which has a network of 13 military navies and 51 civilian shipping companies worldwide to locate the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370.

In a statement, SAF said the IFC had activated this network of ships to report any unusual sightings in designated search areas. More companies are expected to be contacted.

It said the IFC also had international Liaison Officers stationed here from 13 countries who could help coordinate actions from Australia, Brunei, France, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Peru, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and the United States.

SAF said the Republic of Singapore Air Force Fokker-50 Maritime Patrol Aircraft (F-50 MPA), which was deployed to Butterworth Air Base, Malaysia on March 14, 2014 had returned to Singapore Monday evening as Malaysian authorities had called off the Search-and-Locate (SAL) operations in the South China Sea and the Melaka Straits.

It added the SAF was ready to provide further assistance to support the international SAL efforts. — BERNAMA

Ford Sabah quest for five day expedition

Posted: 17 Mar 2014 05:50 PM PDT

Tutong: The quest was flagged off yesterday by the Premier Automobiles Sdn Bhd (PASB) Marketing Manager, Adeline Ng, ©BRUDIRECT.COM reported.

The convoy is led by PASB Sales Manager Teng Chee How with 16 4×4 Ford vehicles from Ranger and Everest models, going to Kota Kinabalu while also stopping by at places like Tawau, Sandakan and Lahad Batu before returning back on Friday March 21.

60 participants have joined in including the staff and Ford owners along with their families.

The quest is one of PASB's initiatives to maintain strong relationship with its customers.

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Brunei catches first glimpse of film – Yasmine

Posted: 17 Mar 2014 05:47 PM PDT

Bandar Seri Begawan: A 15 second teaser of the first Brunei feature film, Yasmine, was shown yesterday to the media following the launch of its official website at the Origin Films Sdn Bhd office at the BT Complex, ©BRUDIRECT.COM reported.

The film is directed by young Bruneian, Siti Kamaluddin, involving the biggest names from Indonesia, Malaysia and Hong Kong. The cast includes Liyana Yus as the main character Yasmine, along with actors from Indonesia and Malaysia.

They enlisted Chan Man Ching as the stunt coordinator and action choreographer, Salman Aristo as screenplay director, Cesa David Lukmansyah as the film editor, Khikmawan Santosa as the sound designer, Aghi Narottama as the music director and Nidji to write the soundtracks.

Yasmine is an action, comedy and drama come together that has gained attention from the international media. It was featured in both local and international newspapers including The Guardian.

The movie will be introduced by appearing in the Hong Kong International Film Festival (March 24 to April 7) and the Cannes Film Festival (May 14 to 25).

The official website can be visited at www.yasminethemovie.com, while the movie is set to be released on August 2014.