Friday, 31 October 2014

Wolf-like animal seen roaming in northern Arizona


a Mexican gray wolf

File-This undated file image provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows a Mexican gray wolf leaving cover at the Seviellta National Wildlife Refuge, north of Soccorro, N. M. An animal resembling a gray wolf has been spotted roaming the far reaches of northern Arizona, officials said Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014, and tests are planned to determine exactly what it is. (AP Photo/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Jim Clark, File)
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.  — An animal resembling a gray wolf has been spotted roaming the far reaches of northern Arizona, officials said Thursday, and tests are planned to determine exactly what it is.
 
The animal has been seen and photographed in Kaibab National Forest north of Grand Canyon National Park with a collar similar to those used in a wolf recovery effort in the Northern Rockies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said.
The animal could be from that population of about 1,700 or a wolf-dog hybrid, said agency spokesman Jeff Humphrey. Officials will test its feces to determine further details.
Humphrey said the animal should be treated as endangered until more is known about it.
"Our immediate concern is the welfare of this animal," he said.
A group of fewer than 100 endangered Mexican gray wolves lives in portions of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico, but Humphrey said the animal does not appear to be from the Southwest population. Wolves in the Northern Rockies have fuller bodies and less pointed ears than Mexican gray wolves.
Wolves largely were exterminated early last century across the lower 48 states, except in the western Great Lakes area. They've been absent from the Grand Canyon region since the 1940s.
The Fish and Wildlife Service in recent years lifted protections for the animals in the western Great Lakes and the Northern Rockies. A federal judge recently ordered the protections re-instated in Wyoming after wildlife advocates sued.
Grand Canyon Superintendent Dave Uberuaga said the park has received a couple of reports about an animal that resembles a wolf at the North Rim. He said park officials will be on the lookout for it.
Wolves often roam vast distances in search of food and mates. Packs from the Northern Rockies have been found as far south as Wyoming.
Environmentalists said the confirmed presence of a gray wolf around the Grand Canyon would be welcome news but remain concerned about a proposal to remove them from a list of protected species.
"There's an increasing number of people who have learned about the pivotal role wolves play in natural ecosystems, know they have been persecuted relentlessly over decades and cheer the return of wolves," said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity. "And there are people who are fearful, concerned and opposed."
Nancy Gloman of Defenders of Wildlife said the group would like to see wolves in suitable habitat from Canada to Mexico.

My investor husband pushed me into sex swaps for biz deals



Christina Kelly says her investment-banker husband made her go the extra mile to help him land a client — pushing her into a partner-swap with the business honcho and his wild girlfriend.
The mom of two revealed details of the kinky alleged hookup — and every drug binge, extramarital pool fling and sex encounter in between — in salacious Manhattan court papers targeting her husband, Jefferies & Co. wunderkind Sage Kelly.
And now, she and her reputed real-life “Wolf of Wall Street’’ hubby are “the talk of the town,’’ a Wall Street source said.
“All the top Wall Street and hedge-fund guys are talking about it. They are all ­e-mailing it to each other,’’ the source said of Christina’s 26-page affidavit.
“It is a complete bombshell and a shocking and wild read. It’s just irresistible.
“The most astonishing thing is that the complaint says Ben Lorello, who is head of investment banking at Jefferies — a top health-care banker and very powerful guy on Wall Street — was part of a cadre of guys who do cocaine all of the time,” the source noted.
Another source added, “We know what this is all about — this is revenge.”
Christina Kelly alleges in nearly every page that her $7-million-a-year hubby is nothing but a coke- and Ecstasy-loving, booze-swilling, abusive spouse and dad who lives for seamy sex romps.
Christina, 39, said her husband, 42, was trying to woo Aegerion Pharmaceuticals honcho Marc Beer the night she wound up having sex with Beer — and “sexual contact’’ with his prancing, big-breasted girlfriend, according to the papers.
The former Ralph Lauren event planner said the sex jaunt occurred in a hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton in Boston in 2012 after a booze- and cocaine-fueled evening.
“Soon, Sage and I were having sex with each other on one bed, and Marc and his girlfriend were having sex on the other bed,’’ Christina says in her affidavit.
We know what this is all about — this is revenge.

“Then, Marc said, ‘Let’s switch,’ ” she claims in the papers. “Marc suggested that his girlfriend and I have sex with each other.
“Mindful of [Sage’s] goal of securing business from Marc, I felt responsible not to disappoint Marc. So, his girlfriend and I had sexual contact for a few minutes, while Marc and Sage watched.
“Then, Marc’s girlfriend joined Sage on our bed, and Sage and she started to have sexual relations.
“Then, I joined Marc on his bed, and he and I engaged in sexual relations,’’ Christina said in the sworn affidavit.
“Following that evening, Marc Beer has been an important client of Sage and, presumably, a substantial reason for Sage’s enormously successful career at his current investment bank, Jefferies and Company Inc.,’’ she said.
Christina, a graduate of the tony Horace Mann school in Riverdale, said her husband of 12 years routinely pestered her into engaging in threesomes.
She also alleged his sexual conquests outside their marriage included a romp with the wife of co-worker Dung Nguyen in the swimming pool at the Kellys’ family vacation home in Sag Harbor, LI.
A few months after Boston, during a visit from Nguyen and his wife, “I noticed Sage sitting on the stairs in the shallow end of the pool,’’ Christina said in the court papers.
“I heard Jessica moaning, ‘Oh, Sage.’ ’’
Christina and Sage Kelly have two daughters, ages 10 and 6.
Christina noted that at least one of their kids’ bedrooms overlooked the pool.
I felt responsible not to disappoint Marc. So, his girlfriend and I had sexual contact for a few minutes.
 - Christina Kelly
She also said Nguyen and a slew of other business associates of her husband did drugs with Sage — and she included names in her affidavit.
The list also included Myriad Solutions CFO Mark Hosny, UBS’s Bjorn Koch, Sage’s boss Ben Lorello, and the head of Seattle Genetics, Clay Siegall, the filing claims.
Beer said through a spokeswoman, “Ms. Kelly’s accusations as to me are categorically false and baseless. I do not use ­cocaine or any other illegal substance.
“All of the allegations which Ms. Kelly has made regarding me and my girlfriend are ridiculous, baseless and grossly irresponsible.”
Lorello said through a Jefferies rep that he also “categorically denies all the allegations regarding him raised by Ms. Kelly in her matrimonial case.”
Nguyen said through the rep that he, too, “categorically denied the allegations made about him by Ms. Kelly.”
Siegall said in a statement, “Ms. Kelly’s accusations as to me are baseless and absurd. I have never used cocaine in my life. The allegations as to me are completely and unequivocally false.”
Messages to Hosny and Koch weren’t ­returned. Sage Kelly hung up on a Post ­reporter Tuesday. He has said in previous court filings that his wife’s claims are an “outrageous lie.”
“While [she] and I used recreational drugs on occasion at certain social events in the past, the ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ tale she tells this court is a work of fiction,” he said in an August filing.
The tall, handsome Boston College grad won temporary custody of their kids after he secretly installed cameras in the couple’s Fifth Avenue apartment that caught Christina drinking and snorting coke, ­according to her suit.
Besides her admitted cocaine use, the ­petite blonde drunkenly drove her Range Rover into a utility pole in the Hamptons in 2010 with her two kids in the car, Sage says in court papers. She is currently on a conditional probation, he adds.
In a bid to get the girls back, Christina filed a countersuit claiming it’s Sage who is the real danger to the kids.
She said he once slapped one of the little girls across the face for saying she was afraid she might pee herself — and routinely calls the kids “f–k­ing retard’’ and “f–k­ing idiot.’’
“Mommy, can you please tell Daddy to stop calling me a f–k­ing retard?’’ one of the little girls asked her, the filing says.
And Christina said one of her husband’s pals also “inadvertently left a bag of cocaine on a pool table’’ at the family’s Sag Harbor home — and one of the kids stuck her finger in it. Christina says she stopped the child before she could ingest it.
Christina said Sage was so into drugs that he once hosted “Mushroom Day” in the Hamptons where “he continually ­ingested [psychedelic] mushrooms throughout the day . . . while the children were present.”
He also urinated and defecated on himself in bed, she said in the papers.

Man found dead in bathtub at hotel mogul’s home



A 23-year-old man was found dead Wednesday in the bathtub of the posh Central Park South home of a trendy ­hotel developer, sources said.
Sean Verdi died of an apparent drug overdose at the home of Ian Reisner, 45, who’s known for developing the gay-friendly Out NYC hotel in Hell’s Kitchen, according to law-enforcement sources.
Verdi was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital at 8:30 a.m., where he was pronounced dead.
The young man’s stepfather was heartbroken.
“I cried all day,” said the step­father, Steven Colandrea. “All I know is that he was at a party and OD’d. That’s not like Sean. He never had any problems.”
Reisner called 911 and reported the tragic incident to the cops, according to Verdi’s parents.
Police said initially they do not believe criminality was involved.
Colandrea said he was shocked to learn that his step-son died in the bathtub on an older man’s apartment.
“I thought it was a stupid accident,” he said. “So now I’m getting upset finding out about Ian Reisner and how old he was.”
Verdi met Reisner at Bartini in Hell’s Kitchen, where he worked, his parents said.
The enterprising young man was looking to open his own business and recently received a degree in bioengineering from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ.
Reisner’s digs at the building at 230 Central Park South include a 4,000-square-foot combination of five apartments, according to the real-estate blog The Real Deal.
In 2008, a banking executive offered Reis­ner and his business partner, Mati Weiderpass, $15.5 million for the pad but they turned it down.
The developer made news last May 25 when he was busted in East Hampton for driving while ability impaired.
The developer then pulled into a nearby parking lot where he struck a sign, and was found by police allegedly “unsteady and slurring his speech.”
He was charged with driving while ability impaired and released on $500 bail.
Reisner co-founded Parkview Developers with Weiderpass in 2003. The company focuses on trendy apartment and hotel development.
He had a 15-year career on Wall Street with Salomon Brothers and Bank of America, according to his Web site.
Reisner founded Out NYC, the city’s first gay hotel, in 2012.
“Everything from the ground up had the gay consumer in mind,” Reisner said at the time.

Woman charged with sexually assaulting husband’s friend


Megan Davis Hoelting has been arrested and charged after allegedly breaking into the home of her husband’s friend and sexually assaulting him while he was asleep.
Hoelting, who has been arrested four times this month, told Williamson County Sheriff’s Office that she broke into the home of her husband’s friend and, just wearing a nightgown, snuck into his bedroom and found him asleep on Monday, The Smoking Gun reported.











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The 31-year-old then told a deputy that she took off her nightgown and climbed into the man’s bed wearing only her panties.
She then said she wrapped her legs around the man’s waist and kissed him.
The victim told Sheriff’s deputies that he awoke to the feeling that someone was “on top of him, fondling his genitals and attempting to perform fellatio upon him.”
The victim said that he looked for a flashlight to try and see who was sexually assaulting him, and eventually used a flashlight application on his smartphone.
He saw the woman’s breasts exposed and recognised her as his friend’s wife.
He then alleges he told the woman to get off him and go home. When she refused, he called Williamson County Sheriff’s Office.
Hoelting was arrested and allegedly admitted entering the man’s back yard through an unlocked gate, entering his home through the back door and that she got into bed with the man.
Hoelting, who has been held in Williamson County Jail since the offence, was charged with burglary with the intent of sexual offence.
Jail records show that Hoelting has been arrested on October 14 for theft, October 16 for assault and October 21 for public intoxication.

Congo crowd kills man, eats him after militant massacres: witnesses


Congo Crowd Kills Man, Eats Him After Militant Massacres: Witnesses

 Congo Crowd Kills Man, Eats Him After Militant Massacres: Witnesses
 
BENI Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - A crowd stoned to death a young man in northeast Congo on Friday before burning and eating his corpse, witnesses said, in apparent revenge for a series of attacks by Ugandan rebels.

The incident in the town of Beni followed a number of overnight raids in the area blamed on the Islamist group ADF-NAUL, who are thought to have massacred more than 100 people this month, using hatchets and machetes to kill their victims.
Witnesses said the man, who has not been identified, aroused suspicion on a bus when passengers discovered he could not speak the local Swahili language and that he was carrying a machete.
Speaking from the town of Beni, Congo's President Joseph Kabila said the ADF-NALU militants would face the same fate as the rebel movement M23, which was defeated by a U.N.-backed government offensive last year.
"There is no question of negotiation with the terrorists," Kabila said in a speech at a local hotel. "They will be defeated as was the case with the M23. And it will be very soon."
ADF-NALU is an alliance of groups opposed to the Ugandan government that has operated from bases in neighboring Congo since the mid-2000s, undermining Kinshasa's grip on the area.
The movement was blamed for the deaths of 14 people, killed early on Thursday in the village of Kampi ya Chui, bringing the total death toll this month to at least 107, said Teddy Kataliko, president of the Civil Society of Beni.
Tensions ran high in the town on Friday morning with around 100 demonstrators blocking the road from the airport into town, throwing stones and waving machetes to demand greater government protection against the rebels.
Local government officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Earlier in the week, the government sought to downplay the threat posed by the group, which it had previously said was defeated in an operation earlier this year.
Estimates of its strength vary greatly, but the website of the U.N.'s peacekeeping mission in Congo estimates it has around 500 fighters.
The Ugandan government has said ADF-NALU is allied with Somalia's al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab movement, but analysts say the nature of these ties is not clear, despite the ADF-NALU's clear Islamist ideology.
In his speech on Friday, Kabila appealed for public support for a ramping up of its offensive against the group, but did not specify what that would entail.
"I call on the population to support the army because the victory against the M23 was because the population was behind the army," he said. "I call on young people to join the army in great numbers."
Kabila also defended the U.N. peacekeeping mission known as MONUSCO following criticism from locals that it had failed to defend them and had even collaborated with ADF-NALU.
Crowds of mainly young men attacked several peacekeeping facilities with stones and bows and arrows last week, forcing the evacuation of some staff.
The U.N. mission says it has stepped up patrols in the area in the wake of the massacres.
(Reporting by Aaron Ross; Editing by Emma Farge and Crispian Balmer)

Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan's 2014 Halloween Costumes: Kimye, Peter Pan, Zombies, and More!


Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan's 2014 Halloween Costumes: Kimye, Peter Pan, Zombies, and More!
Within minutes of the episode, Ripa and Strahan were bitten by the undead creatures. But, as fate would have it, they had more than a few famous faces willing to save them (presumably from the series' latest nemeses, cannibals—ah!). Sofia Vergara, Kerry Washington, Hugh Jackman, Emma Stone, and more celebs came to their rescue, which lead to more costume changes!
In addition to zombies, Ripa and Strahan spoofed plenty more of 2014's biggest pop culture mainstays, including Kim Kardashian and Kanye West (at their wedding, natch), Lord and Lady Grantham from Downton Abbey, and Peter Pan and Captain Hook (watch out Allison Williams!).

And there were more quick changes! The Live! With Kelly and Michael stars also sent up Piper Chapman and Crazy Eyes from Orange Is the New Black, as well as Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow from Game of Thrones.
And this isn't the first time the pair have done a popapalooza for their big episode! In years past, Ripa and Strahan have dressed up (and wigged out!) as Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke at the VMAs, Christina Aguilera and CeeLo Green as judges on The Voice, and Walter White and Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad.

Burkina Faso President Defies Violent 'Coup'


The president is refusing to loosen his 27-year grip on power after protesters storm government buildings, setting them ablaze.

People load goods looted from a building, which according to locals, belongs to Francois Compaore,?the younger brother of Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore, in Ouagadougou
The violence has seen tens of thousands of people take to the streets
Burkina Faso's long-time leader has refused to step down despite violent unrest which saw anti-government protesters set the country's parliament building ablaze.
President Blaise Compaore has appeared on television to confirm he will stay in power as the head of a transitional government until elections are held, defying opposition calls for his immediate resignation.
Opposition leader Benewende Sankara said the president's departure was "non-negotiable" following what he said had amounted to a "coup".
Burkina Faso protests
Burkina Faso's parliament was stormed, ransacked and set ablaze
The head of the country's armed forces, General Honore Traore, intervened to dissolve parliament on Thursday after violent protests spread across the country.
Hundreds of people stormed the National Assembly building in the capital Ouagadougou, setting it ablaze, in protest against plans to allow the president to run for a fifth term in office.
 
Video: Thousands Riot In Burkina Faso
Three people were reportedly killed and scores injured in the ensuing chaos, in which tens of thousands of people were reported to have taken to the streets.
Government offices were ransacked, cars set alight and Ouagadougou's national television headquarters attacked.
The city hall and ruling party headquarters were in flames and the city's airport was closed.
Crowds at the presidential palace have been held back by troops from the presidential guard, who fired warning shots into the air.
Protests have been reported in a number of towns across the country, including Burkina Faso's second-largest city Bobo Dioulasso.
News agency AFP put the death toll as high as 30 people nationwide.
The riots took place just before the country's politicians were due to vote on a law that would allow President Compaore, who took power in the coup of 1987, to run for election next year.
With a very young population - 60% are aged under 25 - many of the country's 17 million citizens have spent their entire lives under the rule of Mr Compaore.
Constitutional limits were brought in during 2005 and Mr Compaore, who has already been re-elected four times, is coming to the end of his second five-year term. The other two terms were for seven years.
The vote, which has since been scrapped, could have allowed him to stay in power for another 15 years.
President Compaore said elections would now be held within 12 months and he was open to discussions with other parties over forming a unity transitional government.