Article:
Thousands of lottery players in South Carolina thought Christmas was their lucky day.

 Starting at 5:51 p.m. last Dec. 25, gas stations and convenience stores across the state dispensed a steady stream of what appeared to be winning tickets.

 Some customers caught on to the anomaly and bought as many as they could. Nicole Coggins, 36, of Liberty, S.C., was one of them.

 “We figured we’d buy a reliable vehicle and take the kids to Disneyland,” she said, adding that she and a few other family members kept playing the game until they amassed what they thought were thousands of dollars in winnings.

 But Ms. Coggins was not able to cash in. The state suspended the game after two hours, at 7:53 p.m., and in a statement two days later, the South Carolina Education Lottery said its computer system vendor, Intralot, had experienced a programming error. ||||| COLUMBIA, SC (May 30, 2018) – Any lottery player who holds a Holiday Cash Add A Play ticket depicting nine (9) Tree symbols which was purchased on December 25, 2017 between 5:51 pm until the close of the game at 7:53 pm will be reimbursed the purchase price of this ticket. The South Carolina Education Lottery (SCEL) Board of Commissioners voted to reimburse the purchase price paid by each Holiday Cash Add-A-Play ticketholder bought on December 25, 2017 on or after 5:51 p.m. because these tickets were produced or issued in error. This decision is required by South Carolina Code Section 59-150-230(C)(3)(a) which provides that prizes arising from a ticket produced or issued in error must not be paid.

 Before making the decision the tickets were produced or issued in error, SCEL retained Gaming Laboratories International, LLC (GLI) to conduct an independent, impartial analysis. We appreciate players’ patience during this independent investigation. The results of this analysis revealed coding errors by SCEL’s former computer gaming vendor, and the vendor’s inadequate quality assurance testing that would have discovered these errors prior to deployment of this game. These actions caused approximately 71,000 plays (wagers) to be erroneously produced, issued and printed with nine (9) Tree symbols, which were incorrectly recognized as a $500 winning play. Regrettably, these errors by the former vendor led loyal players to mistakenly believe that they held winning tickets. While SCEL is mindful of the magnitude of this decision on its players, any other decision would not comply with the law.

 To seek the refund of the purchase price of the tickets, a player should mail the original Holiday Cash Add-A-Play tickets (no copies or other reproductions will be processed for reimbursement) purchased on or after 5:51(17:51) P.M. on December 25, 2017 to this address:

 S.C. Education Lottery

 P.O. Box 11039

 Columbia, SC 29211-1039

 Include your name and return address. SCEL will refund the purchase price for each returned ticket and reimburse the player for postage up to the amount of first class USPS postage for the ticket(s) submitted to SCEL. Since these reimbursements will require manual processing, we ask that players mail in all tickets to avoid wait time at the Claim Center.

 Requests for Holiday Cash Add-A-Play refunds must be received by SCEL no later than January 7, 2019.

 # # #

  ||||| South Carolina Lottery Christmas Winners Won't Get Prizes

 Enlarge this image toggle caption Fitria Ramli / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm Fitria Ramli / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm

 For two glorious hours it was the gift that kept on giving. And on Christmas Day no less.

 Between 5:51 p.m. and 7:53 p.m. last December, South Carolinians playing the state lottery were treated to tens of thousands of winning Holiday Cash Add-A-Play tickets, each worth up to $500 regardless of the holder's good or bad behavior.

 It was an improbable lucky streak that was, in fact, too good to be true. And on Wednesday, the South Carolina Education Lottery announced it will not be delivering more than $30 million in prizes to players who bought tickets during the brief window "because they had been produced in error."

 A computer glitch was behind the fortuitous — or unfortunate — anomaly, depending on what side you're on, that caused gas stations and convenience stores to issue about 71,000 winning plays.

 The objective of the tic-tac-toe-like game was to line up three Christmas trees in any direction — horizontal, vertical or diagonal — for a cash prize ranging from $2 to $500. But lottery officials said a five-month analysis of the incident "revealed coding errors" leading machines to repeatedly print tickets depicting nine tree symbols resulting in the biggest prize.

 The South Carolina Education Lottery blamed its former computer gaming vendor, Intralot. The state lottery said the Greece-based company failed to run adequate quality assurance testing prior to deploying the game.

 "Regrettably, these errors by the former vendor led loyal players to mistakenly believe that they held winning tickets," the South Carolina Education Lottery said in a statement.

 "This is a very unusual and specific situation because it has to do with the nature of the game," an Intralot representative told NPR, adding that he could not go into further detail.

 The official noted the company's quick response time to the mistake. "We all became aware of the problem within hours," he said. "We were able to identify that there was unusual behavior very quickly and we followed the correct procedure to shut it down."

 "We think it was a pretty good response," he said.

 Winners-in-waiting have been holding out hope that the lottery board of commissioners would decide to honor the prize value of the tickets. But after an hours-long meeting Wednesday the commissioners ruled players would be reimbursed only for the cost of each lottery ticket: $1 for each claim that is mailed in.

 "This was not a lottery discretionary matter," Tim Madden, one of the lottery's attorneys told FOX Carolina. "Once this board decided that these tickets were issued, produced or printed in error, then state law mandates that no prize shall be paid."

 Holli Armstrong, a spokeswoman for the South Carolina Education Lottery, told NPR the cost of the error-filled tickets would have totaled approximately $35 million. But in light of the board's decision, the lottery is out about $1.7 million — the sum players were able to cash-in before the mistake was discovered on Christmas Day.

 That leaves scores of unhappy people who feel they're entitled to the full cash prize.

 "It's not fair," Nicole Coggins complained to The New York Times. "It's not right." Coggins was planning on making large purchases with her winnings, including a car and a trip to Disneyland.

 Coggins is part of one of two lawsuits that have so far been filed against the state lottery and Intralot on behalf of people who have been denied prize money, according to the Times.

 The South Carolina Education Lottery reported record ticket sales in the most recent fiscal year (2016 - 2017) totalling $1.64 billion and issued more than $1 billion in prizes. Nearly $5 billion has been allocated to education programs throughout the state since the start of the lottery in 2002. |||||Summary:

– The Christmas miracle that wasn’t. Last year on Christmas Day, lottery dispensers at convenience stores and gas stations across South Carolina started doing something remarkable. For two hours they spewed out winning tickets of up to $500 like candy. Lottery officials quickly figured out the problem, and cashiers began seeing the message, “transaction not allowed,” when customers went to collect their prizes, reports the Washington Post. But before the bonanza was over, 71,000 of the $1 Holiday Cash Add-A-Play tickets had been dispensed, with the errant prize money totaling about $35 million. So, what happens to all the winning tickets that were rejected? They are worth exactly $1, the state lottery board announced on Wednesday. The winners will not get their prize money, but they can get a refund. After a five-month investigation, lottery officials found the problem was caused by coding errors, reports NPR. The officials say Intralot, a Greece-based ticket vendor, did not run proper testing procedures before releasing the game. "While [the state lottery] is mindful of the magnitude of this decision on its players, any other decision would not comply with the law,” officials said, per the New York Times. Players holding winning tickets are not happy. Nicole Coggins, who thought she had won $18,000, has filed a class-action lawsuit against the lottery commission and the vendor, one of two lawsuits that have been filed, according to the Post. “We think it’s a breach of contract if the commission decided to deny them their rightful winnings,” her lawyer says. "It's not fair," Coggins tells the Times. "It's not right."


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– Car bombings, kidnappings, and attacks on railway stations and Jerusalem's Teddy soccer stadium were just some of the items on Hamas' checklist, according to Israeli officials who today say they foiled a major West Bank terror plot by the group, the AP reports. The Shin Bet security service confirms it arrested in September more than 30 militants who reportedly were recruited and trained in Jordan, Turkey, Syria, and the Gaza Strip to carry out their missions, the Jerusalem Post reports. Their orders came directly from Hamas leaders who had set up shop in Turkey, and a stash of weapons and explosives was found as well, CNN reports. Other intended plans: sneaking into Israeli communities, targeting Israeli traffic and military hubs, and establishing Jordanian terror cells, the Post notes. The operation apparently started to fall apart after a failed roadside attack at the end of August, the Times of Israel reports: Info gathered after that incident offered "a wealth of information about the infrastructure." "This is one operation that has been published, but there are many more that remain secret," PM Benjamin Netanyahu says, per the AP. "These foiling activities are against terrorists and against Hamas, which challenges the existence of a Jewish nation-state and the existence of Jews in general." Hamas, meanwhile, has offered no comment so far. (A reported member of Hamas drove right into an Israeli crowd in October and killed a baby.)

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 The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and the IDF thwarted a large, transnational Hamas terrorism network that was preparing to carry out an array of attacks against Israelis, the domestic intelligence agency announced on Thursday.

 In recent weeks, some 30 Hamas members have been arrested in raids led by the IDF’s Duvdevan undercover unit.

 Two M-16 rifles, ammunition and bomb-making equipment were seized.The network planned to target the Teddy soccer stadium and the light rail system in the capital, to carry out car bombings and kidnappings of Israelis in Judea and Samaria as well as overseas, the Shin Bet said.The nerve center of the network was situated in Hamas’s headquarters in Turkey, the Shin Bet added.Additional intended targets included infiltrations of Israeli communities, shooting and bombing attacks against Israeli traffic and military targets in the West Bank, and setting up terrorist cells in Jordan to carry out cross-border attacks into Israel.The plot, uncovered in September, involved the assembly of multiple terrorist cells in the West Bank, as well as the training of Hamas members overseas.Members of the network planted two bombs in Samaria on August 31. Neither of the attacks, which involved time-detonated explosives, resulted in injuries.The second explosive was timed to kill emergency responders, according to the Shin Bet’s investigation.Following that attack, the agency arrested dozens of suspects, and learned during subsequent interrogations that some had joined Hamas as far back as 2012, in Jordan.“They received military training, and were given missions. At the start of 2014, they moved in and began taking action. Their missions included meetings with operatives, preparing [terrorist] infrastructure, and gathering intelligence on targets,” the Shin Bet said.In Jordan, the network sought to recruit students who were friends of Hamas operatives.The network identified students who supported the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, and had highly developed skills in various areas.Eventually, recruiters turned to selected prospective operatives with formal requests to join Hamas. Those who accepted came under the command of Hamas’s Turkey-based headquarters, which oversaw their military training.They were trained under the supervision of Hamas’s overseas and Gaza-based branches, in Jordan, Turkey, Syria and the Gaza Strip.Recruits reached Gaza through smuggling tunnels from Egypt, and were instructed in weapons, terrain analysis, navigation and how to keep information secret.In Turkey, they learned about various “spheres of operations, aimed at carrying out terrorist attacks within Israel, the West Bank and overseas,” the Shin Bet said.In Jordan, training included weapons handling, bomb-making and briefings ahead of attacks.At the end of their training, recruits joined various terrorist plots, in line with guidance from senior Hamas members in Turkey.Instructions arrived from Hamas commanders in Turkey to field operatives, via “forward operatives in Turkey and Jordan, who were responsible for executing the plans.”Subsequently, Hamas operatives arrived in the West Bank to carry out the attacks, as well as coordinate the smuggling of weapons and money.The operatives received instructions to recruit local terrorist cells and train more operatives, as well as to locate sites for bomb-making labs and apartments that could serve as operations centers.In August, the Shin Bet thwarted an earlier large-scale plot, headed by senior Ramallah- based Hamas commander Riad Nasser, who is under arrest.That plot was also directed by Hamas’s Turkey-based headquarters, specifically by Saleh Aruri, who commands the movement’s “West Bank sector.”Hamas funneled more than NIS 1m. into that network and purchased weapons, before the Shin Bet thwarted the initiative.Both plots “point to the high motivation of Hamas, and of Saleh Aruri, who seek to reconstruct Hamas’s military infrastructure in the West Bank, and to carry out attacks against Israeli targets,” the agency said.Such attacks would have enabled Hamas to “move the spotlight” away from the Gaza Strip, and drag Israel into a harsh response in Judea and Samaria, resulting in the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, which is one of Hamas’s central goals, it said.The Shin Bet named several key suspects under arrest, including Manaf al-Rahman Ajabara, 28, a Jordanian resident, who was recruited to Hamas while studying engineering.During questioning, he told the Shin Bet of how he underwent military training and received mission assignments from Hamas leaders to set up an infrastructure in the West Bank, recruit additional members, and carry out attacks on Israeli targets. He confessed to playing a role in setting up the bomb attacks in Samaria on August 31.Another suspect is Rajai Mustafa Amuri, 30, from Tulkarm. Amuri, who was in prison five previous times for security offenses, confessed to working with a Jordanian Hamas operative to carry out the bomb attacks in the northern West Bank, according to the Shin Bet.The agency named six additional suspects, some from the West Bank and others from Jordan, who allegedly played roles such as bomb-making, funneling funds, and setting up terrorist cells.

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  ||||| Story highlights Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praises work of security services, military

 Israeli security forces say they have broken up a network planning terror attacks

 At least 30 Hamas members have been arrested, Israel's security agency says

 Intended targets include a football stadium and a light rail station, it says

 Israeli security forces said Thursday they have broken up a wide-ranging terror plot, which would have included attacks on a football stadium, abductions and car bombings.

 Authorities arrested at least 30 members of Palestinian militant group Hamas and seized rifles, ammunition and explosives, said the Shin Bet, the country's security agency.

 The terror cells were getting orders from Hamas leaders in Turkey, while the operatives got their training outside Israel and were then smuggled back in to carry out the attacks, the Shin Bet said.

 The arrests were made in September after explosive devices were detonated on August 31 in the West Bank, leading to a full investigation.

 Among the targets selected were the Teddy football stadium and a light rail station in Jerusalem, the Shin Bet said. There were also plans to carry out attacks and abductions in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, it said.

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the Shin Bet and Israel Defense Forces "for foiling very dangerous terrorist actions that could have claimed many victims in our country."

 While this operation has been made public, many other counter-terror actions against Hamas remain secret, he said, while visiting the Sde Boker kibbutz in southern Israel.

 "We are operating day and night in order to maintain the security of Israel's citizens; the people who do this are deserving of all praise and support," he said.

 Israel demolishes home as killers' families pay price for terror attacks ||||| Members of a Hamas terror ring in the West Bank, run from the organization’s headquarters in Turkey, sought to carry out an array of major attacks, including on Jerusalem’s main soccer stadium and its light rail line, the Shin Bet security service said Thursday.

 The Shin Bet announcement confirmed a Times of Israel report last week that said Israel had arrested dozens of members of a Hamas terror network operating throughout the West Bank. The network, Palestinian officials said, was funded and directed by Hamas officials in Turkey who have set up a de facto command center in the Muslim country.

 More than 30 Hamas operatives were arrested during the month of September, the Shin Bet said Thursday. The majority were recruited while studying in Jordan and trained in either Syria or the Gaza Strip, which they entered via tunnels from Sinai.

 The Shin Bet said the ring was preparing to kidnap Israelis in Israel and abroad, enter Israeli villages, detonate car bombs, perpetrate roadside attacks, and execute a major terror attack in Teddy Stadium, where the Israeli soccer team Beitar Jerusalem plays its home games.

 The Shin Bet asserted that the plan was evidence of an “indefatigable” desire on Hamas’s part to rehabilitate its terror infrastructure in the West Bank and to tug Israel into a sharp military response, which might indirectly lead to the toppling of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s regime, which is “one of Hamas’ goals.”

 The network was similar in its operational characteristics to one uncovered in August during the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian officials said last week, adding that according to information received from Israel, this terror ring was even larger. Its operatives had already attempted several attacks against Israel, they added, but they had all failed.

 As with the previous network, the man behind the terrorist grouping was Saleh al-Arouri, a Hamas leader who was deported from the West Bank to Turkey in 2010, the sources said.

 Arouri, they said, built up and funded the network, and has effectively established a Hamas command post in Turkey which is leading terror efforts in the West Bank. Arouri is reportedly aided by dozens of operatives, some of whom were deported by Israel in the wake of the Gilad Shalit prisoner deal in 2011.

 The officials accused Turkey as well as Qatar — the current home of Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal — of enabling Hamas to operate freely within their territories to carry out attacks against Israel and undermine the Palestinian Authority.

 In response to Thursday’s announcement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commended the Shin Bet and IDF for thwarting the attack, saying it was only one of multiple covert operations “against terrorists, against Hamas, which poses a threat to the existence of the nation state of the Jews and is in essence a threat to the existence of Jews in general.”

 “We act day and night to protect the security of Israeli citizens and the people who are engaged in this work are deserving all praise and support,” he said in a statement.

 In August, the Shin Bet said it had arrested over 90 operatives and thwarted a Hamas coup attempt in the West Bank aimed at toppling PA President Mahmoud Abbas and starting a third intifada uprising.

 The Palestinian sources, however, maintained that the two networks were more concerned with carrying out attacks against Israeli military and settler targets in the West Bank. A rough Israeli response and the consequent weakening of the PA was a secondary objective, they said.

 The officials added that several Hamas operatives connected to the recently uncovered network were also being held in PA detention facilities.

 It appeared that the ring announced by the Shin Bet on Thursday began to unravel with a failed roadside attack on August 31, 2014. A series explosive devices that its members allegedly placed near the settlement of Reheilim were set to detonate one after another, in order to kill as many Israelis as possible, including the first responders on the scene. The Shin Bet said that intelligence work done in the wake of that failed attack enabled the organization to arrest the perpetrators and some 30 other suspects, revealing “a wealth of information about the infrastructure.”

 The first recruits were chosen already in 2012 while studying in Jordan. The Shin Bet described the process of drafting, training, and organizing the recruits: At first the men were approached based on their religious ideology and individual skills, and, at times, personal acquaintance. Fresh recruits were passed on to headquarters, which decided where they should undergo training.

 Abdullah Zitawi, a resident of Jordan, admitted under interrogation that he, for instance, had been inserted into Gaza three times between 2012 and 2013 and underwent weapons and explosives training there before being told, in 2014, to relocate to the West Bank and wait for further orders. Others were trained in Jordan, the Shin Bet said.

 Once the operatives were inserted into the West Bank, the Shin Bet added, the Hamas officials in Turkey split them into cells and planned their deployment, with orders coming in to the West Bank via forward operatives in Jordan and Turkey.

 The Shin Bet uncovered several safe houses, materials to be used for explosives, two M-16 rifles, and ammunition.

 On November 20, the security organization revealed that it had arrested a Hamas cell in the Bethlehem area that sought to buy a rocket-propelled grenade and fire it at Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, a plan that, if successful, would have sent tremors through the region.

 Avi Issacharoff contributed to this report. ||||| JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's Shin Bet security service said Thursday it had uncovered a vast Hamas network in the West Bank that was planning large-scale attacks against Israelis in Jerusalem.

 The Shin Bet said it arrested more than 30 Hamas militants who planned to kidnap Israelis and carry out attacks against Jerusalem's light rail and its largest soccer stadium, among other targets. It said the men were trained and recruited in Jordan and Turkey and that various arms and explosives were recovered.

 While the Islamic militant group Hamas rules the Gaza Strip, the West Bank is run by Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

 The arrests come amid Israel's worst sustained bout of violence in nearly a decade. Eleven Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks over the past month, including five people who were killed with guns and meat cleavers in a bloody assault on a Jerusalem synagogue last week. Most of the violence has occurred in Jerusalem, along with deadly attacks in Tel Aviv and the West Bank.

 Hamas did not immediately comment on the arrests.

 Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated the Shin Bet for thwarting the attacks, saying that if carried out they could have exacted a heavy toll of casualties.

 "This is one operation that has been published but there are many more that remain secret," he said of Israel's intelligence work. "These foiling activities are against terrorists and against Hamas, which challenges the existence of a Jewish nation-state and the existence of Jews in general." |||||


A rookie cop who shot and killed an unarmed Brooklyn man in an unlit housing project staircase was indicted for manslaughter Tuesday, the Daily News has learned.

 In a blockbuster grand jury decision, Peter Liang will face criminal charges that can send him to prison for up to 15 years for the death of Akai Gurley on Nov. 20, a source said.

 The secret panel started hearing the case on Feb 4. A spokeswoman for the Brooklyn District Attorney declined to comment.

 A source said Liang, 27, was indicted for a top count second-degree manslaughter, which means he acted recklessly. He was also charged with reckless endangerment, second-degree assault and official misconduct, another source said.

 “I’m glad the grand jury looked at the evidence and returned an indictment,” Kimberly Ballinger, the victim’s domestic partner and mother of his 2-year-old daughter, told The News.

 “I am happy, I have faith in the Brooklyn District Attorney and I thank him.”

 Liang discharged one bullet when patrolling the stairways of the Pink Houses in East New York, striking the 28-year-old Gurley in the chest as the man stood in the landing a floor below next to his girlfriend.

 The probationary officer, who’s been on the force for less than 18 months, was allegedly holding a flashlight in one hand and clutched a 9-mm Glock in his left hand, which he also used to open a door when the gun fired.

 The News reported that Liang and his partner did not answer the radio in the six-plus minutes right after the shooting and instead texted their union delegates.

 DA Kenneth Thompson had obtained indictments in recent months against three cops in two different incidents involving alleged assaults during arrests.

 Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch called for due process.

 “The fact the he was assigned to patrol one of the most dangerous housing projects in New York City must be considered among the circumstances of this tragic accident,” he said of the officer.

 “I’m sad that he was indicted,” said Ed Mullins, President of the Sergeants Benevolent Association. "I don’t know exactly what transpired in that hallway, but I believe it’s a truly accidental incident.”

 Gurley was struck on Nov. 20, 2014 at the Pink Houses in East New York. (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News)

 Liang is expected to turn himself in Wednesday morning ahead of his arraignment in Brooklyn Supreme Court. He will appear in front of Justice Danny Chun.

 The Rev. Al Sharpton said he and Gurley’s relatives “are pleased that the process will now allow for a fair and impartial hearing.”

 Ballinger had previously announced her intention to sue the city for $50 million. She, her lawyer Scott Rynecki and Sharpton all lavished praise on Thompson and the panelists.

 “This is the first step in the fight for justice for this wrongful and reckless shooting,” Rynecki said.

 “The effort to strengthen the relationship between the police and the community necessarily involves holding an officer accountable when an innocent life is taken and a law is broken,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. “The indictment is a meaningful step in the right direction in the march toward justice for the family of Akai Gurley.”

 Mayor de Blasio said: “No matter the specific charges, this case is an unspeakable tragedy for the Gurley family. We urge everyone to respect the judicial process as it unfolds."

 Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins responded to news of the indictment, ‘I’m sad that he was indicted. I don’t know exactly what transpired in that hallway, but I believe it’s a truly accidental incident.’ (Bryan R. Smith)

 The closely watched case came after grand juries in Missouri and Staten Island declined in recent months to file charges against police officers accused of killing unarmed black men.

 The deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner sparked a national protest movement and calls for reform.

 In sharp contrast to the grand juries in those cases, which heard from dozens of witnesses over weeks, the panel that indicted Liang only heard evidence for a few days — the norm in nearly all grand jury proceedings.

 In another distinction from the Garner case, where the officer accused of putting the father-of-six in a chokehold before he died testified in front of the grand jury, Liang did not take the stand, a source said.

 “Unlike the case in Staten Island, this case shows the difference in a prosecutor who will respect the grand jury's role to decide probable cause, rather than attempt to influence it,” Sharpton said.

 He disagreed with the characterization of the young officer as a scapegoat amid a charged, anti-police atmosphere.

 “I don't think that he's a sacrificial lamb since a jury will decide his fate," Sharpton told the News. "If anything, Gurley was a sacrificial lamb in a program of vertical policing that we have strongly opposed."

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 With Tina Moore, Rocco Parascandola, Jennifer Fermino ||||| Akai Gurley, 28, was unarmed when police fatally shot him Thursday night. The officer who pulled the trigger was indicted Tuesday, according to NY1. View Full Caption DNAinfo/Trevor Kapp and Explore Talent

 BROOKLYN — The rookie NYPD officer who fatally shot an unarmed man inside a Pink Houses stairwell in November has been indicted by a Brooklyn grand jury.

 Officer Peter Liang has been charged with manslaughter in the second degree for his role in the Nov. 20 shooting death of Akai Gurley, 28, who was visiting his girlfriend inside 2724 Linden Boulevard when he was killed in a pitch-black stairwell, according to sources.

 Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said Liang's gun was "accidentally discharged" and called Gurley a "total innocent."

 It wasn't immediately clear what charges Liang faces. He is expected to turn himself in Wednesday at 2 p.m., sources said.

 Liang was conducting a vertical patrol with his gun drawn when he fired a single shot from a landing above the seventh floor, striking Gurley in the chest, the NYPD said.

 "This officer deserves the same due process afforded to anyone involved in the accidental death of another," Patrolmen's Benevolent Association president Pat Lynch said. "The fact the he was assigned to patrol one most dangerous housing projects in New York City must be considered among the circumstances of this tragic accident."

 Liang's lawyer decided not to allow him to testify before the grand jury, and sources speculated that decision was based on his inexperience and it would be wise to tell his story one time if he was indicted.

 Gurley’s girlfriend, Melissa Butler, 27, told DNAinfo New York immediately after the shooting that the officers never identified themselves.

 “They didn’t present themselves or nothing and shot him,” she said. “They didn’t identify themselves at all. They just shot.”

 Liang declined to comment when reached on his cellphone.

 "This is a first step in getting justice for the reckless shooting and wrongful death of Akai Gurley," said Scott Rynecki, an attorney for Kimberly Ballinger, the domestic partner of the slain man.

 Officers from Liang’s unit had been told to focus on exterior patrols following a spate of shootings in the housing complex, so it was unclear why Liang was performing a vertical patrol.

 Weeks later, Gurley’s mother, Sylvia Palmer, said her son had been planning a surprise trip to visit her in Florida for Thanksgiving before he was killed.

 “I pray to God that I get justice for my son,” she said. “Because my son didn’t deserve to die like that.”

 Liang is the second NYPD officer to be indicted in a week.

 Officer Joel Edouard, 37, surrendered on Feb. 3 after he was caught on video stomping a marijuana suspect’s head. He was indicted on charges of assault and official misconduct.

 "I'm happy to see this indictment happen," said Kevin Powell, the spokesman for Gurley's family. "It won’t be full justice unless he's actually convicted of the killing of Akai Gurley. We've seen this before where officers are indicted but there’s no conviction."

 Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was blasted by police unions for statements he made in the wake of a Staten Island grand jury's decision not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo for Eric Garner's death, released a more subdued message Tuesday.

 "It has been reported that a Brooklyn grand jury has acted in this case," the mayor said. "No matter the specific charges, this case is an unspeakable tragedy for the Gurley family. We urge everyone to respect the judicial process as it unfolds."

 The indictment was first reported by NY1. ||||| A New York City police officer was indicted Tuesday on multiple charges, including manslaughter, in the November shooting death of an unarmed black man in the darkened stairwell of a housing project, a senior law-enforcement official said.

 The indictment by a Brooklyn grand jury follows widespread protests after the decision by a grand... ||||| Photo Advertisement Continue reading the main story

 The Brooklyn district attorney said on Friday that he planned to impanel a grand jury to look into the death of Akai Gurley, an unarmed Brooklyn man who was killed last month by a police officer patrolling a public-housing unit.

 With protests continuing over the grand jury decisions not to charge the officers who killed Eric Garner on Staten Island and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., the tension around the Gurley case has also risen. Mr. Gurley was black, as were Mr. Garner and Mr. Brown. The officers in the Garner and Brown cases are white; the officer who shot Mr. Gurley, Peter Liang, is Asian-American.

 The district attorney, Kenneth P. Thompson, said in a statement that he did not support the appointment of an independent prosecutor to handle the case, saying he had been elected by Brooklyn’s residents to represent their interests. “It is important to get to the bottom of what happened,” he said.

 Mr. Thompson added, at an event on Friday, that prosecutors had not completed their investigation, so the timing for the grand jury was not yet clear.

 Mr. Thompson has not said what charge or charges he might ask the grand jury to consider.

 Mr. Gurley, 28, was killed Nov. 20 as he walked in a dark stairwell in the Louis H. Pink Houses in the East New York neighborhood, his girlfriend at his side. The elevators in the building often malfunctioned and residents often used the stairs instead, even though the lights in the stairwells were frequently out, as they were that night.

 Officer Liang, 27, was conducting a so-called vertical patrol with his partner, starting on the roof and heading down through the stairwells, a common procedure for officers assigned to housing projects. Officer Liang had his gun out and opened the door to a stairwell; the gun went off, authorities said, as Mr. Gurley entered the stairwell one floor below.

 The police commissioner, William J. Bratton, characterized the shooting as “an unfortunate accident.”

 While there were immediate calls for criminal charges for the officers who killed Mr. Garner and Mr. Brown, opinions about the Gurley case were varied. The Rev. Al Sharpton, who called for protests in the earlier cases, said he “didn’t know” whether an indictment was appropriate for Officer Liang.

 “There has to be a full investigation,” Mr. Sharpton said, cautioning that supporters of the officer “should not rush to judgment and say it is an accident when they don’t know what happened.”

 United States Representative Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat who represents parts of Brooklyn, said Mr. Thompson’s decision was “a meaningful step in the right direction.”

 “Akai Gurley did not deserve to die,” he said, “and the evidence of a kill shot that penetrated his chest and struck him in the heart suggests something more than a noncriminal accident.”

 A similar shooting occurred in January 2004, when Timothy Stansbury Jr., 19, was killed on a roof at the Louis Armstrong Houses in Brooklyn by Officer Richard S. Neri Jr. A grand jury declined to indict Officer Neri after he testified that he had unintentionally discharged his weapon after Mr. Stansbury pushed open a rooftop door, startling him.

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 Given what is known about the Gurley case, said Delores Jones-Brown, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who directs its Center on Race, Crime and Justice, it seemed likely that a jury would consider criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment charges.

 A central question for the grand jury to consider, Professor Jones-Brown said, is “what police are trained and authorized to do in these kinds of situations.” If the police action goes against training and police guidelines, the next step would be to determine how much of the officer’s behavior had diverged from “the kind of care he should’ve been exercising,” she said.

 The investigation into the shooting so far has covered the first minutes after the officer shot Mr. Gurley, a law enforcement official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about an ongoing case. Mr. Liang may have used his phone to send a text message during that period, the source said, The Daily News reported on Friday.

 James P. O’Neill, chief of department and the highest ranking uniformed officer in the Police Department, declined to comment on Officer Liang’s actions.

 “This is an ongoing investigation by our department and the Brooklyn district attorney’s office,” Chief O’Neill said. “I really can’t talk about it.”

 The Daily News suggested that Officer Liang was texting a representative of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, although a spokesman for the union said that account did “not appear to be true.” Nonetheless, one police official said, it was not unusual for an on-duty officer to seek guidance from a union representative after firing a gun.

 Mr. Jeffries said that in the Gurley case, he hoped a grand jury would vote for an indictment.

 “That doesn’t necessarily mean a conviction, but it should mean an indictment that allows the facts to be aired in a public trial,” he said. “When unarmed black men are killed by police officers, we need public trials to help restore confidence in the criminal justice system.” |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– A rookie cop with the NYPD will face criminal charges after shooting an unarmed black man to death in a stairwell, reports the Wall Street Journal. A Brooklyn grand jury indicted Peter Liang, 27, on charges of second-degree manslaughter in the November shooting of Akai Gurley, 28, reports the Daily News. The charges essentially accuse Liang of acting recklessly, says the newspaper. Police have previously said that Liang's gun fired accidentally as he and a partner were patrolling a public housing complex and preparing to descend a dark staircase. The bullet struck Gurley, who was on a landing one floor below. “They didn’t present themselves or nothing and shot him,” Gurley's girlfriend, who lives in the building, told DNAInfo after the shooting. “They didn’t identify themselves at all. They just shot.” Liang, who has been on desk duty since the shooting, is expected to turn himself in tomorrow morning. The development follows the lack of indictments in the Eric Garner and Michael Brown cases. Those two deaths involved white officers, while Liang is Asian-American, notes the New York Times.


Article:
Abstract Rescue excavations recovered a skeleton that resurrect the contemporary dramatic history of Austria in the 17th century as troops besieged Vienna in the second Osmanic-Habsburg war. Unique for Central Europe is the evidence of a completely preserved camel skeleton uncovered in a large refuse pit. The male individual of slender stature indicates a few but characteristic pathological changes revealing not a beast of burden but probably a valuable riding animal. Anatomical and morphometrical analyses suggest a hybrid confirmed by the ancient DNA analyses resulting in the presence of a dromedary in the maternal and a Bactrian camel in the paternal line.

 Citation: Galik A, Mohandesan E, Forstenpointner G, Scholz UM, Ruiz E, Krenn M, et al. (2015) A Sunken Ship of the Desert at the River Danube in Tulln, Austria. PLoS ONE 10(4): e0121235. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0121235 Academic Editor: Serge Muyldermans, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, BELGIUM Received: October 30, 2014; Accepted: January 28, 2015; Published: April 1, 2015 Copyright: © 2015 Galik et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. Funding: EM and RF were supported by the Austrian Science Foundation FWF project (P24706-B25) to P. Burger, who is recipient of an APART fellowship (11506) from the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

 Introduction Prior to the construction of a shopping center, excavations rescued the archaeological heritage of Tulln (Fig. 1) in Lower Austria in 2006 and 2007. The permission for the excavation was issued by the Federal Office for the Protection of Monuments in Vienna. Significant finds revealed large parts of the medieval and the early modern town including several building plots of an urban district [1]. An ensemble of buildings was specified as the historically mentioned tavern called “Auf der Rossmühle” near the large market place [2]. An abandoned cellar associated with this plot yielded the most extraordinary find of a complete skeleton originating from a large animal. The partly excavated skeleton was suspected to be a large horse or cattle, until the first author undoubtedly identified it as the remains of a camel (Fig. 1). The skeleton was found in a typical post-mortal posture with its neck bent backwards and drawn-up extremities [3]. PPT PowerPoint slide

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 larger image TIFF original image Download: Fig 1. In situ view of the camel in the cellar. Inserted map indicates the geographical position of the town Tulln in Austria with a triangle. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0121235.g001 Archaeological camel finds in Central Europe are not as unusual as one may expect covering a chronological span from Roman period till early modern age [4]. Yet, to this date only isolated bones or partly preserved camel skeletons have been found, e.g. at the Amphitheatre Viminacium in Serbia [5]. Its chronological position and the completeness of the skeleton highlights the uniqueness of the Tulln record. It is the first complete camel skeleton found in Central Europe and Central European territories under the control of the Ottoman Empire [6,7,8,9,10,11,12], apart from the complete skeleton of a dromedary recovered from the sediments of the Theodosius harbor on the European part of Istanbul [13]. In this study we combine archaeological as well as complementary morphologic and molecular genetic analyses to unravel the mystery of the sunken ship of the desert at the river Danube in Tulln.

 Archaeological and Historical Context The backfill of the cellar yielded masses of domestic refuse like animal bones and ceramics (e.g. plates, pans and flagons), pieces of a tiled stove and enameled pipe bowls which date the filling in the early modern period, although the main part of the excavated material is not completely studied yet. Metal finds allowed a narrow and high resolution dating of the context. A coin—a so called “Rechenpfenning” depicts the countenance of King Louis XIV of France was dated from 1643 to 1715. A medicinal bottle made of lead contained the remedy “Theriacum” produced in the chemist’s shop “Apotheke zur Goldenen Krone” (approximately 1628/1665) in Vienna. These two exceptional finds place the filling containing the skeleton to the late 17th century. Tulln was affected by floods of the Danube and plagues such as the Black Death, which drastically reduced the urban development [14] and a reduction of the inhabited area occurred due to conflagration and demolition of houses in the early 17th century [2]. Two building plots got new owners at the end of the century around the 1690, certainly the time when the cellar was backfilled, offering enough space to bury such a big cadaver in the center of the town. In summer 1683, Ottoman troops tried to reach Vienna and combed the region south of the Danube. The surrounding of Tulln was besieged by the army division, but the town itself never was conquered [14]. On the contrary, written sources describe a peaceful surrender of two prisoners of war. The Ottoman commander released the imperial ambassador and his secretary in Tulln in August 1683 and obviously, as proven by written sources, the Ottoman troops were in contact with the inhabitants of Tulln [14].

 Discussion The identification of isolated archaeological faunal remains often entails difficulties and uncertain results. Although the Tulln specimen was preserved almost completely and subjected to intensive morphological and morphometrical examinations, the species identification turned out to be problematic due to its intermediate position between Bactrian camel and dromedary (Fig. 7). Today, the two domestic species exist in geographically different areas. The dromedary ranges from North Africa to Western Asia and Australia [29,30,31] while the Bactrian camel occurs in the Far East and Central Asia [32]. Different adaptations and ecotypes as well as different types of breeds cause variability of the habitus and size for various purposes, as riding animals, beasts of burden or for exploitation of meat and dairy products [29,33,34]. The sexual dimorphism also effects the discrimination of camel remains [35] as male dromedaries are about 10% heavier and 10 cm taller at shoulder height [36,37]. Depending on the animal’s age, castration certainly influences the skeleton and induces uncertainties in the identification of Bactrian camel versus dromedary bones. However, castrated camels are easier to handle and more effective as working animals and in meat production [34,38]. The cranial part of the pelvic symphysis certainly indicated a male Tulln specimen, but the smooth and weakly structured surface of the cranial part of the corpus pubis probably might hint to a castration. The two species are able to interbreed, which results in larger, more powerful and efficient hybrid offspring [33,39,40,41]. Crossbreeding probably took first place in Assyria at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC [42] and this technique continued over Antiquity towards the modern times [4,34]. Hybridization was improved as the Arabs went into Iran and Central Asia [29,33]. Obviously, such hybrids were of great importance in the Ottoman troops mainly for transportation but also as riding animals [43,44,45]. The first appearance of a camelry, soldiers fighting with bows on camelback, had been recorded during the invasion of Xerxes in Greece 481 BC [39]. Today, hybridization facilitates improved milk and wool yield in hybrid Tulu or Nar camels from Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries. Commonly, two hybridizing methods are recognized, Kurt-nar (dromedary female x Bactrian male) and Kez-nar (Bactrian female x dromedary male) followed by F 1 -backcrossing with either dromedary for increased milk productivity or Bactrian camel for a higher wool yield and cold resistance [46,47]. A remarkable and relished sport is common in western Turkey, where highly valued male Tulus fight against each other in strictly regulated “camel wrestling” competitions (47, 48). A lack of osteo-morphological characterization of hybrids [4,18,48] in literature and reference collections prevents a discrimination of hybrids and parental species. Nevertheless, the dromedary has more slender and the Bactrian camel broader long bones [17,40]. The long bones of the Bactrian camel are more robust while the dromedary has longer zygopodial and metapodial bones [32]. Most of the long bones of the Tulln specimen are rather long while their robustness addresses a Bactrian camel. Especially radius and femur have an intermediate position between both species (Fig. 7). Not so for the metacarpals, which are short and broad like in Bactrian camel (Fig. 7). The morphological features incorporate characteristics of both species, confirmed by the results of the nuclear DNA analyses as the Tulln-specimen turned out to be an F 1 hybrid Tulu with a dromedary in its maternal and evidences of a Bactrian camel in its paternal line. We compared the detected mitochondrial haplotpye with a modern sequence data set of dromedaries throughout their distribution range. The hybrid camel from Tulln shares a main mitochondrial haplotype, which is common in nearly 70% of the modern dromedaries [49]. The results confirm previously described traditions that people in Anatolia imported Bactrian males to interbreed with Arabian female dromedaries but Bactrian females were and are of less interest [41,46]. Pathological deformities on the scapulae and the upper arm bones require special attention because they occur symmetrically. Probably, the periostitis ossificans at the mandible is caused by pressure of the harness. The periostitically changed bone surface medial on both shoulder blades perhaps originates in high strains on the musculus serratus ventralis that could be related to frequent coming down and going up of the individual to let the camel rider on and up (Fig. 8). The lesions under the exposed tuberculum intermedium (Fig. 9) are not easily explainable but might be related to stress-born deformities of the overlaying tendons of origin of the musculus biceps brachii. However, if the Tulln-specimen was used as a beast of burden, a higher frequency of stress related osteological changes should be expected. In this case only a few deformities mainly at the acropodium (Fig. 5, Fig. 6) and some bent dorsal spines of the thoracic vertebrae are proven. Such an ensemble of pathologies rather indicates a camel that was used as a riding animal and kept under good conditions. It is impossible to reconstruct how the camel did arrive within the town walls of Tulln. Its appearance might be linked to an exchange of local people with the troops or the Ottoman army simply left it behind. Apparently, the citizens took it inside the town, where they probably kept and displayed it as an “exotic animal”. Further archeological research might answer this question. It seems quite conceivable that being not familiar with behavioral and feeding habits, the scarcity of food in wartimes, people did not keep it for long. As the camel died the citizens of Tulln did not exploit this alien animal, which the soldiers of the Ottoman troops certainly would have done. Exploitation of camel flesh especially in times of need was absolutely necessary. The dismemberment of the carcasses certainly is a reason for the scarce preservation of camel finds in general and is indicated by bones with butchering marks in particular. However, the citizens buried this camel in a typical post-mortal position, and together with rubbish in the remnants of a cellar that was leveled. The skeleton remained there for more than 300 years to raise questions in the future. Finally, it served as a perfect study example for a successful cooperation of the complementary fields of archaeological and genetic sciences. The camel specimen from Tulln is the first archaeozoologically and genetically confirmed evidence of a Tulu hybrid camel.

 Acknowledgments We are grateful to H. Emmerig, Institut für Numismatik und Geldgeschichte, University of Vienna, who analyzed the coins. We thank the camel owners and collectors for providing the precious samples, Gräfliche Kamelheimat (AT), O. Abdelhadi and B. El-Zain (SD), and G. Konuspayeva (KZ). We are very grateful to J. Peters for access to the Paleogenetic Core Facility, ArchaeoBioCenter, LMU Munich (DE) and to C. Schlötterer, Institute of Population Genetics, Vetmeduni Vienna for general support.

 Author Contributions Conceived and designed the experiments: AG EM GF UMS ER MK PB. Performed the experiments: AG EM GF UMS ER MK PB. Analyzed the data: AG EM GF UMS ER MK PB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: AG EM GF UMS ER MK PB. Wrote the paper: AG EM GF UMS ER MK PB. ||||| In 2006 construction began on a new shopping centre in Tulln. The works unearthed various archaeologically valuable objects that were salvaged during rescue excavations. Among these objects was also the complete skeleton of a large mammal.

 Large mammal uncovered during excavations in Tulln

 "The partly excavated skeleton was at first suspected to be a large horse or cattle," says archaeozoologist Alfred Galik from the Institute for Anatomy, Histology and Embryology at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna. "But one look at the cervical vertebrae, the lower jaw and the metacarpal bones immediately revealed that this was a camel."

 Camel bones have been found in Europe dating back to the Roman period. Isolated bones or partly preserved skeletons are known from Mauerbach near Vienna as well as from Serbia and Belgium. But a complete camel skeleton is unique for Central Europe.

 "Exotic animal" died in Tulln

 In addition to horses, the Ottoman army also used camels for transportation and as riding animals. In cases of scarcity, the soldiers also ate the animal's flesh. But the skeleton found in Tulln was complete. "This means that the animal was not killed and then butchered. It may have been acquired as part of an exchange," says first author Galik. "The animal was certainly exotic for the people of Tulln. They probably didn't know what to feed it or whether one could eat it. Perhaps it died a natural death and was then buried without being used."

 Camel was a hybrid

 Extensive DNA analysis showed that the animal was a hybrid: its mother was a dromedary and its father a Bactrian camel. The genetic diagnosis confirmed what the scientists saw morphologically. Several of the physical features were that of a dromedary, others of a Bactrian camel. "Such crossbreeding was not unusual at the time. Hybrids were easier to handle, more enduring and larger than their parents. These animals were especially suited for military use," Galik explains.

 The camel was male, around seven years old and most likely castrated.

 Find dated to the 17th century

 Besides animal bones, the excavations also unearthed ceramic plates and other items. A coin - a so-called "Rechenpfenning" - from the time of Louis XIV dates the find to the years between 1643 and 1715. A medicinal bottle containing Theriacum, a medieval remedy from the chemist's shop "Apotheke zur Goldenen Krone" in Vienna was also found at the site. This pharmacy existed between 1628 and 1665, which helped date the site with further precision.

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 Service:

 The article „A sunken ship of the desert at the river Danube in Tulln, Austria", by Alfred Galik, Elmira Mohandesan, Gerhard Forstenpointner, Ute Maria Scholz, Emily Ruiz, Martin Krenn and Pamela Burger was published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE. DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0121235 http://dx. plos. org/ 10. 1371/ journal. pone. 0121235

 About the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna

 The University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna in Austria is one of the leading academic and research institutions in the field of Veterinary Sciences in Europe. About 1,300 employees and 2,300 students work on the campus in the north of Vienna which also houses five university clinics and various research sites. Outside of Vienna the university operates Teaching and Research Farms. http://www. vetmeduni. ac. at

 Scientific Contact (archaeozoology):

 Dr. Alfred Galik

 Institute of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology

 University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (Vetmeduni Vienna)

 T +43 1 25077-2521

 alfred.galik@vetmeduni.ac.at

 Scientific Contact (genetics):

 Elmira Mohandesan, PhD

 Institute of Population Genetics

 University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (Vetmeduni Vienna)

 T +43 681 815 033 12

 elmira.mohandesan@vetmeduni.ac.at

 Released by:

 Susanna Kautschitsch

 Science Communication / Public Relations

 University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (Vetmeduni Vienna)

 T +43 1 25077-1153

 susanna.kautschitsch@vetmeduni.ac.at |||||Summary:

– The study on the Austrian find calls it a "sunken ship of the desert" and an "exotic animal." What exactly was found in a cellar containing centuries-old trash during excavations for a planned shopping center in Tulln: the full skeleton of a 17th-century camel. That a complete skeleton was found is unique, but the presence of camel bones is less so: The Ottoman army used the creatures for transportation and, in some cases, food, and their bones have been found in the region. But the completeness of the skeleton shows "the animal was not killed and then butchered," says archaeozoologist and study author Alfred Galik in a press release. He suggests it may have been traded or left behind by the troops, possibly following their siege of Vienna in 1683, reports the BBC. The locals "did not exploit this alien animal" for food upon its death, as the Ottoman troops "certainly would have done," write the authors in the study, published in PLOS One. "Exploitation of camel flesh especially in times of need was absolutely necessary," and the regularity with which that happened is "a reason for the scarce preservation of camel finds in general." What researchers were able to glean from this find: The male camel was the hybrid offspring of a female dromedary and male Bactrian camel and probably castrated, which would have made him easier to handle. Crossbreeding, which was not unusual for the time, made for larger animals that "were especially suited for military use," Galik explains. To wit, the study points to bone defects that indicate the animal was harnessed and ridden, reports the BBC. (Oil workers recently made a big find in Siberia.)


Here is a news article: Kanye West Paid Millions to Perform In Borat Land

 Kanye West -- Paid Millions to Perform in Borat Land

 EXCLUSIVE

 raked in MILLIONS of dollars this weekend to play a gig in ... wait for it ... waaaaait for it ... KAZAKHSTAN!!! Very nice.Our Central Asian sources tell us ... Kanye was invited by Presidentto perform at his grandson's wedding Saturday night in Almaty at the Hotel Royal Tulip. Very nice.We're told Kanye was paid a hefty sum -- in the neighborhood of $3 mil -- to perform his big hits, including "Can't Tell Me Nothing". One of the wedding guests posted this video of KW on stage.

 FYI -- Kazakhstan's prez is reportedly worth billions, and is considered by some to be an ardent dictator who rigs elections. In 2011, Sting backed out of a paid gig for Nazarbayev due to alleged mistreatment of oil workers in the country. Not so nice.OTHER FACTS ABOUT KAZAKHSTAN:did NOT invent it for "." It was once part of the Soviet Union. Its currency is a Tenge. Oil and livestock are a pretty big deal. ||||| Kanye West has apparently spent his Labor Day long weekend in Kazakhstan. He put on a private concert for the President of Kazakhstan's grandson. The occasion? One of Nursultan Nazarbayev's grandsons was getting married. Video footage from the wedding concert comes from a studio photographer, who caught Kanye performing "Can't Tell Me Nothing."

 At the moment, it is unclear how much money Kanye was given to come for this private performance, but the sum was likely in the millions. Nazarbayev, the first and only president of Kazakhstan, is believed to have amassed a fortune by funnelling money from his country's oil resources into bank accounts in other nations. Kazakhstan is ranked 122nd in its corruption index, putting it near the bottom of the world.

 Meanwhile, all three of Nazarbayev's daughters are successful businesswomen who have all married wealthy husbands. The marriage that took place this weekend was likely that of Altay Qulybaev, the son of Nazarbayev's second of three daughters, Dinara. She is married to Timur Kulibayev, the third richest person in Kazakhstan. The wedding reportedly took place at the Royal Tulip Hotel in Almaty.

 Another pic from yesterday-Kanye gave a private performance in Kazakhstan, for the grandson of President Nazarbayev pic.twitter.com/3xELFwQQDC — Team Kanye Daily (@TeamKanyeDaily) September 1, 2013

 RELATED: Miley Cyrus Will Reportedly Be on the Remix of Kanye West's "Black Skinhead"

 RELATED: 10 Quick Reactions to Kanye West's Yeezus

 RELATED: Complex Investigates: We Found Even More Photos That Kanye West Photoshopped Himself Into

  |||||
A summary of this is?

– Kanye West dropped by Kazakhstan—or, as TMZ puts it, "Borat Land"—this weekend to play a private show for President Nursultan Nazarbayev's grandson's wedding. He was reportedly paid some $3 million for the show, which has raised eyebrows thanks to the country's reputation, the Huffington Post reports. It's ranked among the most corrupt countries, Complex notes, and its human rights record is said to be terrible. In the Daily Mail, an activist cites torture allegations, media clampdowns, and "continued violations of workers' rights." Indeed, Sting dropped out of a planned 2011 show in the country, pointing to "hunger strikes, imprisoned workers, and tens of thousands on strike," the Mail notes.