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Woodruff, SC - The man charged with abducting an Anderson woman and keeping her chained in a metal storage shed has implicated himself in a 13-year-old unsolved murder of four at a Chesnee motorcycle shop, and is now suspected in the deaths of as many as seven people, the sheriff announced late Saturday night.

 Sheriff Chuck Wright said murder warrants have been drawn charging Todd Christopher Kohlhepp with the murder of four people at Superbike Motorsports in Chesnee, a quadruple slaying that occurred exactly 13 years ago Sunday.

 In addition, Kohlhepp, who was seen walking the property with investigators Saturday afternoon, has led authorities to where he said two other bodies are buried. Wright did not identify those individuals, nor, he said, have investigators unearthed those remains.

 "Mr. Todd talked to me today and I prayed with him," Wright said. "I prayed that he would find God."

 Asked how authorities were certain that Kohlhepp was responsible for the previously unsolved killings at the motorcycle shop, Wright said, "He told us some stuff that nobody else ought to know."

 Earlier Saturday, Wright identified a body found in a shallow grave on the property Friday as that of Charles David Carver. Carver, the boyfriend of the kidnapped woman, was shot multiple times before he was buried in a shallow grave in a clearing off Wofford Road, authorities said.

 Wright and Coroner Rusty Clevenger delivered the news of Carver's identification during a brief update earlier Saturday night.

 "We certainly wanted a different outcome than this," Wright said. He declined to go into detail about the ongoing investigation but said more information would be released later Saturday.

 Carver died of multiple gunshot wounds to the upper extremities, said Clevenger, who ruled the death a homicide.

 Earlier Saturday, the mother of the missing Anderson man whose girlfriend was abducted and found chained inside a storage shed told the Anderson Independent Mail that she is refusing to give up hope she will one day see her son alive.

 “Until I see a body, I can’t give up,” said Joanne Shiflet, mother of the 32-year-old Carver. “For this to be over, I have to see him.”

 In an exclusive interview with the Independent-Mail, Shiflet said she has experienced a range of emotions since learning on Friday that Kohlhepp, 45, allegedly shot her son. Her son's girlfriend was found on Thursday chained around her neck and ankles inside a metal shed on a 95-acre tract of land owned by Kohlhepp on Wofford Road near Woodruff.

 The victim has told investigators that she saw Kohlhepp shoot Carver, according to 7th Circuit Solicitor Barry Barnette, who said it is likely Kohlhepp will face at least one charge of murder.

 Late Saturday afternoon, Kohlhepp in handcuffs and an orange jumpsuit could be seen accompanied by law enforcement authorities walking on the property. It was not immediately clear why Kohlhepp was brought to the search scene and whether he was cooperating with investigators. He was escorted off the property in an unmarked SUV less than hour later.

 Wright has refused to comment on Kohlhepp's appearance.

 Wright had previously said human remains were found on the property and that investigators fear they are dealing with the work of a serial killer.

 Law enforcement would soon take shifts searching the property one portion at a time, Wright added.

 "This is one of the biggest crime scenes I've been involved in," he said.

 He said they were dedicated to finding any evidence on the property "no matter how long it takes."

 Shiflet said she has been told that it may be several days before she learns whether the body is that of her son.

 “Right now, I am just angry,” said Shiflet, who lives in Starr.

 The pair were reported missing in early September by friends and family in Anderson. Kohlhepp has been charged with the woman's kidnapping and is being held without bond at the Spartanburg County Detention Center.

 Shiflet said she was in court for Kohlhepp's arraignment on Friday when she learned that the woman had told authorities she saw Kohlhepp shoot Carver.

 “It was like a slap in the face,” Shiflet said.

 According to Shiflet, Carver and the woman drove from Anderson to Kohlhepp's land near Woodruff to talk to him about clearing some property for him.

 “It ended up being a trap,” she said.

 Shiflet said she learned during Friday’s hearing that the woman knocked on the door of a two-story garage after she and Carver arrived at the property. According to Shiflet, The victim said Carver was shot immediately after the door opened.

 Carver’s car was found on the property Thursday.

 Shiflet said she and her husband and their adult children have spent much of their time at the property near Woodruff since the woman was found Thursday. She said the wait for answers has been agonizing.

 “It is kind of like the feeling of being seasick,” Shiflet said.

 She described her son as a cheerful man who enjoyed helping others. "David loved laughter. He loved making people laugh,” Shiflet said. “He was always smiling.”

 Shiflet said her son got married about three years ago. She said he and his wife separated in late May or early June. Neighbors of the couple at the Anderson Crossing Apartments said their break-up was acrimonious.

 Shiflet said financial problems factored into her son’s failed marriage. “It was hard for David to make ends meet with only one of them working,” she said.

 Carver met his girlfriend while working with her mother at a warehouse in Greenville, Shiflet said. They were friends at first, she said, before the woman moved into his apartment this summer.

 Shiflet said she was introduced to her about a week before the woman and her son went missing in late August.

 “She came up and gave me the biggest hug,” Shiflet said. “She told me that she wanted me to know everything about her.”

 Shiflet said she knew that her son was in love.

 “You could feel it,” she said. “This was the first happiness that he had known for a long time.”

 Investigators returned to the scene before sunrise Saturday to resume their search of property in Spartanburg County. As law enforcement continued to work through the morning, several local residents set up a table with snacks and water for police, media and volunteers at the property on Wofford Road near Woodruff.

 Among the onlookers in Woodruff was Scott Waldrop, who said his family has lived on Wofford Road for about 22 years, and who said he struck up an acquaintance with the Kohlhepp a couple of years ago shortly after Kohlhepp purchased the 95-acre property.

 He said Kohlhepp liked to talk a lot, and they hit it off the first time. He said Kohlhepp liked to show off his guns. Though he was not a hunter, he was a "great marksman," Waldrop said.

 Waldrop said he helped plant trees in front of the fence lining the property and assisted posting no trespassing signs.

 They last communicated through text messages last week, he said. Kohlhepp had sent Waldrop a message that said, "Remind me later to tell you about my little altercation with some hunters two weeks ago. The ran off my land in middle of dark (sic)."

 Waldrop said that when he heard about Brown being discovered alive nearby he thought she had been found in a container on a four-acre piece of property the two had seen near Kohlhepp's property. He texted Kohlhepp Thursday asking him to call him as soon as possible, not knowing that Kohlhepp had been taken into custody in connection with the woman's kidnapping.

 Waldrop said he was shocked to she was found on Kohlhepp's land. "It's a bad travesty," he said.

 Wright said authorities will continue the painstaking process of searching the property for as long as it takes to find answers. Wright said they had searched about 30 to 40 percent of the property since Thursday. He said they have found numerous weapons and ammunition.

 Several holes could be seen Friday night near the center of the property where an excavator had dug up the earth. A beige two-story garage stood nearby. Barnette said investigators found a bed with chains around it in the living space above the garage.

 A gravel path connected the garage to a dark green shed and storage container where the woman was kept chained. The door to the container was open, and crime scene tape cordoned off the area.

 In one clearing, officers could be seen collecting evidence from one of several shallow holes in the ground. ||||| In this Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016 photo, police search a field on property owned by Todd Kohlhepp where a missing woman was found chained up in a large storage container in Woodruff, S.C. (Tim Kimzey/The... (Associated Press)

 In this Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016 photo, police search a field on property owned by Todd Kohlhepp where a missing woman was found chained up in a large storage container in Woodruff, S.C. (Tim Kimzey/The Spartanburg Herald-Journal via AP) (Associated Press)

 WOODRUFF, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina man killed at least seven people in a hidden crime spree that lasted more than a decade and only was uncovered when police rescued a woman chained at the neck in a storage container, authorities said Saturday.

 Todd Kohlhepp accepted responsibility for an unsolved massacre one day before the 13th anniversary of the deaths that stumped authorities, said Sheriff Chuck Wright, first elected a year after the murders.

 Kohlhepp, 45, confessed to the deaths of the owner, service manager, mechanic and bookkeeper of Superbike Motorsports, a motorcycle shop in Chesnee, in Spartanburg County.

 "God answered our prayers. If it wasn't for Him answering our prayers and Todd talking to us, I don't know that we'd ever solve that case," Wright said.

 Wright says Kohlhepp also showed law enforcement officers Saturday where he says he buried two of his other victims on his 95-acre property near Woodruff. Kohlhepp, in handcuffs and wearing an orange jumpsuit, was at the site for less than an hour.

 Those are in addition to the body found Friday at the site. Wright and Coroner Rusty Clevenger identified that victim as 32-year-old Charles Carver, the boyfriend of the woman found Thursday in a locked metal container.

 Carver and the woman went missing around Aug. 31. Their last known cellphone signals led authorities to the property.

 The Associated Press is not naming the woman because the suspect is a sex offender, though authorities have not said whether she was sexually assaulted.

 Carver died of multiple gunshot wounds. An anthropologist is helping determine how long Carver was buried, Clevenger said. He declined to say how many times Carver had been shot.

 The sheriff says it's possible more bodies will be uncovered.

 The wife of one of the 2003 victims said detectives told her Kohlhepp was an angry customer who had been in the shop several times.

 Melissa Ponder told The Associated Press she was resigned that her husband Scott's death would never be solved before getting a phone call Saturday evening from one of the case's original detectives.

 Detectives told family members of all four victims of the confession at the same time.

 "He knew too much about the crime scene," Ponder said of Kohlhepp's account to detectives. "He knew everything."

 The Superbike killings stunned the Chesnee community, with rumors like they were committed by a Mexican drug gang or were part of a love triangle crushing the families of the victims.

 Melissa Ponder is glad the rumors weren't true.

 "It isn't closure, but it is an answer," she said. "And I am thankful for that."

 Kohlhepp was released from prison in Arizona in 2001. At 15 years old, he was convicted of raping a 14-year-old neighbor at gunpoint and threatening to kill her siblings if she called police. Kohlhepp had to register as a sex offender.

 But that didn't stop him from getting a South Carolina real estate license in 2006 and building a firm.

 Wright said "it's strange" that Kohlhepp managed the pretext of a normal life for so long.

 Scott Waldrop, who's lived next door to the Woodruff property for nearly 22 years, said he thought Kohlhepp was a serious Doomsday "prepper" who liked his privacy, but "he didn't seem like a threat."

 Waldrop said when he saw the container, it was full of bottled water and canned goods. After buying the property two years ago, Kohlhepp immediately started putting a chain link fence around it.

 Waldrop said Kohlhepp paid him to put no trespassing signs, cut trees for him and other odd jobs around the property. Kohlhepp also installed deer cameras and put bear traps throughout.

 "I was the only one he let over there, I think because I laughed at his jokes and listened to him," he said. "I just hate to know somebody who's done something like this."

 Kohlhepp has a house about 9 miles away in Moore, where neighbor Ron Owen said Kohlhepp was very private, but when they did talk across the fence, he was a "big bragger."

 Kohlhepp liked to talk about the money he made day trading online, for example, and about his two BMWs. He recently told Owen, 76, that he'd spent $80,000 on the chain link fence.

 "We didn't see any signs whatsoever that this was going on," Owen said. "My first reaction's a baseball bat, but I know I'm not to take that in my own hands. God will deal with him."

 ___

 Collins reported from Columbia.

 ___

 Associated Press writers Allen G. Breed and Jonathan Drew in Raleigh, North Carolina; and Alex Sanz in Spartanburg contributed to this report. |||||

– The horror in South Carolina, where authorities last week rescued a woman chained to a storage container before finding the body of her boyfriend, is only deepening. Suspect Todd Kohlhepp has now admitted to killing at least seven people over the course of a decade, reports WLTX, including an unsolved shooting rampage at a motorcycle shop that killed four 13 years to the day ago on Sunday. "God answered our prayers. If it wasn't for Him answering our prayers and Todd talking to us, I don't know that we'd ever solve that case," said local sheriff Chuck Wright, via the AP. "He told us some stuff that nobody else ought to know." Kohlhepp, a registered sex offender, was spotted on Saturday leading authorities around his rural 95-acre property near Woodruff; he apparently showed cops the locations of two bodies he'd buried there. Law enforcement is continuing to search the property, says Wright, who adds, "this is one of the biggest crime scenes I've been involved in." Says the widow of one of the victims of the motorcycle shop shooting: "It isn't closure, but it is an answer. And I am thankful for that."


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– President Trump says he turned down an interview and photo shoot for Time magazine's "Person of the Year" issue, the AP reports. In a Friday evening tweet, Trump says the magazine informed him he was "probably" going to be granted the title for the second year in a row but that it would require "an interview and a major photo shoot." He tweets: "I said probably is no good and took a pass." The magazine, however, is now disputing Trump's version of events. "The President is incorrect about how we choose Person of the Year," said a magazine tweet. Time "does not comment on our choice until publication." As NPR notes, the selection isn't necessarily a positive honor; rather, it's more a reflection of a person's influence. Trump seems to revel in the magazine's recognition: Earlier this year, it was revealed that several of his private golf clubs were displaying fake Time covers featuring his image. This year, the new Person of the Year will be announced on Dec. 6.

Trump Says He Passed On Being 'Person Of The Year.' 'Time' Says He's 'Incorrect'

 Enlarge this image toggle caption Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images

 President Trump took to Twitter Friday afternoon to say he passed on possibly being Time's Person of the Year because he didn't want to agree to an interview and photo shoot.

 The magazine tweeted a few hours later that that wasn't the case:

 Trump was named Time's Person of the Year last year, which he called a "tremendous honor" at the time.

 The yearly title isn't necessarily a mark of praise but rather an acknowledgment of influence. "[T]he person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year, for better or for worse," a former managing editor of the magazine wrote. Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin have both been featured in the role.

 The magazine started naming a "Man of the Year" during a slow news week in 1928, it says. The title became "Person of the Year" in 1999, though socialite Wallis Simpson was a "Woman of the Year" in 1937.

 In June, The Washington Post noted that fake covers of Time magazine featuring Trump hang in at least four of his golf clubs.

 The Person of the Year will be announced Dec. 6. ||||| A U.S. Coast Guard boat patrols as part of security measures for President Donald Trump's stay at at his private club Mar-a-Lago, Friday, Nov. 24, 2017, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (Associated Press)

 A U.S. Coast Guard boat patrols as part of security measures for President Donald Trump's stay at at his private club Mar-a-Lago, Friday, Nov. 24, 2017, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (Associated Press)

 PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump (all times local):

 6 p.m.

 President Donald Trump says he turned down an interview and photo shoot for Time magazine's "Person of the Year" issue.

 In a Friday evening tweet, Trump says the magazine informed him he was "probably" going to be granted the title for the second year in a row. He tweets: "I said probably is no good and took a pass."

 Trump frequently brags about his cover appearances in the iconic magazine. He has falsely claimed to hold the record of cover appearances, and was revealed earlier this year to have displayed fake issues of Time at several of his private golf clubs.

 A spokesperson for Time did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday evening.

 The magazine will unveil its Person of the Year on Dec. 6.

 ___

 5 p.m.

 President Donald Trump is offering his condolences to Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi following "the heinous attack on worshippers in Egypt's North Sinai province" Friday.

 Trump spoke with el-Sissi by phone from his club in Palm Beach, Florida.

 The White House says that Trump condemned the attack in the call "and reiterated that the United States will continue to stand with Egypt in the face of terrorism."

 The White House adds that the "international community cannot tolerate barbaric terrorist groups and must strengthen its efforts to defeat terrorism and extremism in all its forms."

 Trump earlier on Twitter had used the attack as an opportunity to reaffirm his support for a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico and to restrict people from several Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.

 ___

 4:25 p.m.

 President Donald Trump is denouncing the deadly mosque attack in Egypt and asserting that the world must crush terrorists by military means. He's also pushing his travel ban, which is tied up in courts.

 At least 235 people were killed when Islamic militants attacked a crowded mosque during prayers in the Sinai Peninsula.

 Trump tweeted: "Need the WALL, need the BAN!" He added: "God bless the people of Egypt."

 At his Florida resort for a long Thanksgiving weekend, Trump spoke by phone with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about bringing peace to the Middle East.

 A Turkish official says Trump agreed the U.S. would no longer arm Syrian Kurdish fighters — a claim not verified by the White House.

 ___

 2 p.m.

 President Donald Trump says he will be calling his Egyptian counterpart "in a short while" to discuss Friday's "tragic terrorist attack, with so much loss of life."

 At least 235 people were killed Friday when militants attacked a crowded mosque during prayers in the Sinai Peninsula, setting off explosives and spraying worshippers with gunfire.

 Trump says in a tweet after departing one of his golf clubs in Florida that, "We have to get TOUGHER AND SMARTER than ever before, and we will."

 He adds: "Need the WALL, need the BAN! God bless the people of Egypt."

 Trump appears to be referring to his promises to build a border wall along the southern U.S. border with Mexico and his efforts to bar people from certain Muslim-majority countries from coming to the U.S.

 ___

 11:10 a.m.

 President Donald Trump is denouncing what he's calling the "Horrible and cowardly terrorist attack on innocent and defenseless worshipers (sic) in Egypt."

 Militants attacked a crowded mosque during Friday prayers in the Sinai Peninsula, settling off explosives, spraying worshippers with gunfire and killing at least 200 people in the deadliest ever attack on Egyptian civilians by Islamic extremists.

 Trump says on Twitter, "The world cannot tolerate terrorism" and that "we must defeat them militarily and discredit the extremist ideology that forms the basis of their existence!"

 Trump's tweet came as he was playing golf at one of his Florida courses with Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson.

 ___

 10:30 a.m.

 Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says U.S. President Donald Trump has told his Turkish counterpart that the United States will no longer supply arms to Syrian Kurdish fighters.

 Cavusoglu said Trump relayed his decision during a telephone conversation between the Turkish and U.S. leaders on Friday. Cavusoglu was present in Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's office during the telephone call.

 Turkey considers the Kurdish Syrian fighters, known by the initials YPG, to be terrorists because of their affiliation to outlawed Kurdish rebels in Turkey. A U.S. decision to arm the fighters soured relations between the two NATO allies.

 Cavusoglu said: "Mr. Trump clearly stated that he had given clear instructions and that the YPG won't be given arms and that this nonsense should have ended a long time ago."

 ___

 9:40 a.m.

 Turkey's president says he discussed the Syrian crisis and other regional issues with in a phone call Friday with President Donald Trump.

 President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's office said the two leaders also discussed ties between Turkey and the United States during their telephone conversation on Friday.

 Their discussion comes days after Erdogan attended a trilateral meeting with the Russian and Iranian leaders in Sochi, Russia, to promote a peaceful settlement in Syria.

 Relations between NATO allies Turkey and the United States have soured over a number of issues, including U.S. support to Syrian Kurdish fighters which Ankara considers to be terrorists because of their links to outlawed Kurdish rebels in Turkey.

 Earlier, Trump tweeted that he'd be speaking with Erdogan "about bringing peace to the mess that I inherited in the Middle East."

 ___

 7:30 a.m.

 President Donald Trump says he'll be speaking with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday "about bringing peace to the mess that I inherited in the Middle East."

 Trump railed during his campaign about the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, but has boasted about progress in recent months under his watch.

 Trump says in a tweet that he'll "get it all done, but what a mistake, in lives and dollars to be there in the first place!"

 It's unclear exactly which countries he's referring to, but Trump has cited $6 trillion in the past to assess U.S. spending on conflicts in the Middle East.

 Fact checkers have found that number to be only partially accurate since it falls on the high end of analysts' estimates and includes future medical care and disability benefits and nation-building costs.

 ___

 7:17 a.m.

 President Donald Trump will be playing golf with Tiger Woods at Trump's course in Jupiter, Florida, Friday.

 Trump says in a tweet that top-rated golfer Dustin Johnson also will take part.

 Woods' 79 PGA Tour victories and 14 major titles both rank No. 2 all-time. He has not competed professionally since February because of a back injury and is not expected to return this year. His last win was in August 2013

 Trump says after golf, he'll return to his private Mar-a-Lago club "for talks on bringing even more jobs and companies back to the USA!"

 ___

 6:50 a.m.

 He's not letting it go.

 President Donald Trump is continuing to rail against football players who kneel during the National Anthem to protest racism and police brutality.

 Trump asks his followers in a Black Friday tweet: "Can you believe that the disrespect for our Country, our Flag, our Anthem continues without penalty to the players."

 He's accusing NFL commissioner Roger Goodell of having "lost control" of what he called a "hemorrhaging league" where "Players are the boss!"

 Trump's tweet was in response to one from his social media chief, Dan Scavino.

 Scavino had shared a Breitbart News story about New York Giants player Olivier Vernon taking the knee during the anthem on Thanksgiving ahead of a game against the Redskins.

 The website is run by Trump's former chief strategist. ||||| Time Magazine called to say that I was PROBABLY going to be named “Man (Person) of the Year,” like last year, but I would have to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot. I said probably is no good and took a pass. Thanks anyway! |||||


Article:
Image copyright IUCN Image caption A combination of factors has helped drive down giraffe populations in many parts of Africa

 A dramatic drop in giraffe populations over the past 30 years has seen the world's tallest land mammal classified as vulnerable to extinction.

 Numbers have gone from around 155,000 in 1985 to 97,000 in 2015 according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

 The iconic animal has declined because of habitat loss, poaching and civil unrest in many parts of Africa.

 Some populations are growing, mainly in southern parts of the continent.

 Until now, the conservation status of giraffes was considered of "least concern" by the IUCN.

 The giraffes are war fodder, a large animal, extremely curious that can feed a lot of people Dr Julian Fennessy, IUCN

 However in their latest global Red List of threatened species, the ungainly animal is now said to be "vulnerable", meaning that over three generations, the population has declined by more that 30%.

 According to Dr Julian Fennessy, who co-chairs the IUCN giraffe specialist group, the creatures are undergoing a "silent extinction".

 "If you go on a safari, giraffes are everywhere," he told BBC News.

 "While there have been great concern about elephants and rhinos, giraffes have gone under the radar but, unfortunately, their numbers have been plummeting, and this is something that we were a little shocked about, that they have declined by so much in so little time."

 The rapid growth of human populations has seen the expansion of farming and other forms of development that has resulted in the fragmentation of the giraffe's range in many parts of Africa. But civil unrest in parts of the continent has also taken its toll.

 "In these war torn areas, in northern Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia in the border area with South Sudan, essentially the giraffes are war fodder, a large animal, extremely curious that can feed a lot of people," said Dr Fennessy.

 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Habitat loss and war are among the ways humans have caused the big drop in giraffe numbers, says Mike Jordan of Chester Zoo

 A study in recent months suggested that the giraffe was actually four different species but for this update of the Redlist, the IUCN have stuck with the traditional definition of one species with nine subspecies.

 Of these, five have had falling populations, one has remained stable while three have grown. Different outcomes seem to be highly dependent on location.

 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The curious nature of the giraffe makes them an easier target for hunters and armed gangs

 "The species in southern Africa, those numbers are increasing by two to three times over the last three decades," said Dr Fennessy.

 "But when you come up through East Africa, those numbers have plummeted some by up to 95% of the population in the case of the Nubian giraffe, in the last three decades alone."

 Solutions exist

 While researchers believe that some local populations may not survive, there is optimism that that the long term future of these tall creatures can be secured.

 The success in keeping giraffe numbers high in Southern Africa has much to do with the management of game parks for tourists say experts, who believe that the extra attention that the IUCN listing will now attract will benefit the species.

 "South Africa is a good example of how you can manage wildlife, there is a lot of moving of animals between different conservation areas, it is a very different scenario than in most of the rest of Africa." said Chris Ransom from the Zoological Society of London.

 "I think giraffes can survive, with the right conservation efforts, and we can ensure that the animals do live in the wild. There are a lot of cases of success in conservation. The giraffes could be one."

 The latest edition of the IUCN Red List now contains over 85,000 species in total with more than 24,000 threatened with extinction. Over 700 newly recognised bird species have been added, with 11% of them on the edge of survival.

 One bird, the Antioquia wren has been listed as "endangered" as more than half of its habitat in Colombia could be wiped out by proposed dam.

 Invasive species on islands are also seen as a threat for many birds including the Pagan reed-warbler and the Laysan honeycreeper.

 Image copyright IUCN Image caption The Java sparrow is now regarded as vulnerable in the Red List classification

 The publication also includes the first assessment of crops including wild oats, barley, mango and other wild relative plants.

 "Many species are slipping away before we can even describe them," says IUCN Director General Inger Andersen. "This IUCN Red List update shows that the scale of the global extinction crisis may be even greater than we thought."

 Follow Matt on Twitter and on Facebook ||||| NOTING that the Giraffidae family includes only two living species, restricted to the African continent: the giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), currently comprising nine savannah subspecies occurring patchily in 21 countries, and the okapi (Okapia johnstoni), restricted to the north-eastern rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC);

 HIGHLIGHTING that despite their iconic status, wide public affection, cultural and economic importance and role in the functioning of African ecosystems, giraffe and okapi are relatively poorly studied and receive limited conservation attention and funding;

 ALARMED that recent surveys and reviews highlight severe range reductions, population declines and increasing fragmentation, due to habitat loss and degradation (for agricultural expansion, timber and fuelwood collection, infrastructure development and extractive activities), human encroachment and settlement, poaching, war and civil unrest;

 NOTING that while previously listed as Least Concern and Near Threatened, giraffe and okapi have recently been assessed as Vulnerable and Endangered respectively in the IUCN Red List due to population declines of 35–50% over the past three decades, with some giraffe subspecies now Critically Endangered;

 RECALLING the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Aichi Target 12: "The extinction of known threatened species has been prevented and their conservation status, particularly of those most in decline, has been improved and sustained";

 NOTING Resolution 5.022 Supporting regional initiatives to conserve mammal diversity in West and Central Africa and Recommendation 5.157 Protection of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve and communities of the Ituri Forest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Jeju, 2012);

 APPLAUDING the publishing of the Okapi Conservation Strategy 2015-2025 by IUCN and ICCN; and

 CONCERNED that without urgent implementation of this Strategy, similar conservation efforts focused on giraffe and wider actions to address overarching threats, overall numbers of both species will continue to fall and some giraffe subspecies may be lost forever; ||||| Established in 1964, The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species has evolved to become the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of animal, fungi and plant species.

 The IUCN Red List is a critical indicator of the health of the world’s biodiversity. Far more than a list of species and their status, it is a powerful tool to inform and catalyze action for biodiversity conservation and policy change, critical to protecting the natural resources we need to survive. It provides information about range, population size, habitat and ecology, use and/or trade, threats, and conservation actions that will help inform necessary conservation decisions. ||||| Cancun, Mexico, 8 December 2016 (IUCN) – Over 700 newly recognised bird species have been assessed for the latest update of The IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM, and 11% of them are threatened with extinction. The update also reveals a devastating decline for the giraffe, driven by habitat loss, civil unrest and illegal hunting. The global giraffe population has plummeted by up to 40% over the last 30 years, and the species has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

 Today’s IUCN Red List update also includes the first assessments of wild oats, barley, mango and other crop wild relative plants. These species are increasingly critical to food security, as their genetic diversity can help improve crop resistance to disease, drought and salinity.

 The update was released today at the 13th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP13) in Cancun, Mexico. The IUCN Red List now includes 85,604 species of which 24,307 are threatened with extinction.

 “Many species are slipping away before we can even describe them,” says IUCN Director General Inger Andersen. “This IUCN Red List update shows that the scale of the global extinction crisis may be even greater than we thought. Governments gathered at the UN biodiversity summit in Cancun have the immense responsibility to step up their efforts to protect our planet’s biodiversity – not just for its own sake but for human imperatives such as food security and sustainable development.”

 Birds: Newly recognised, already threatened

 This IUCN Red List update includes the reassessment of all bird species. Thanks to a comprehensive taxonomic review compiled by BirdLife International, working in collaboration with the Handbook of the Birds of the World, the overall number of bird species assessed has reached 11,121.

 A total of 742 newly recognised bird species have been assessed, 11% of which are threatened. For example, the recently described Antioquia wren (Thryophilus sernai) has been listed as Endangered as more than half of its habitat could be wiped out by a single planned dam construction. Habitat loss to agriculture and degradation by invasive plants have also pushed the striking Comoro blue vanga (Cyanolanius comorensis) into the Endangered category.

 Thirteen of the newly recognised bird species enter the IUCN Red List as Extinct. Several of these have been lost within the past 50 years – such as the Pagan reed-warbler (Acrocephalus yamashinae), O’ahu akepa (Loxops wolstenholmei) and Laysan honeycreeper (Himatione fraithii). All of these species were endemic to islands, and were most likely wiped out by invasive species.

 “Unfortunately, recognising more than 700 ‘new’ species does not mean that the world's birds are faring better,” says Dr Ian Burfield, BirdLife’s Global Science Coordinator. “As our knowledge deepens, so our concerns are confirmed: unsustainable agriculture, logging, invasive species and other threats – such as the illegal trade highlighted here – are still driving many species towards extinction."

 IUCN Red List assessments also reveal that some of the world's most popular birds may soon disappear in the wild if appropriate action isn't taken. Iconic species, such as the African grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus) – a prized pet with the ability to mimic human speech – are facing extinction in the wild due to unsustainable trapping and habitat loss. Native to central Africa, the grey parrot has seen its conservation status deteriorate from Vulnerable to Endangered. A study led by BirdLife International discovered that in some parts of the continent numbers of grey parrots have declined by as much as 99%.

 The situation is most pressing in Asia, with the rufous-fronted laughingthrush (Garrulax rufifrons), scarlet-breasted lorikeet (Trichoglossus forsteni) and Straw-headed bulbul (Pycnonotus zeylanicus) among a suite of species being uplisted to higher threat categories as a result of the impacts of illegal wildlife trade. There is now evidence that unsustainable levels of capture for the cagebird trade, largely centred on Java, are driving the deteriorating status of many species.

 However, there is good news for some of the rarest and most vulnerable birds on our planet – those that exist only on small, isolated islands. The Azores bullfinch (Pyrrhula murina), St Helena plover (Charadrius sanctaehelenae) and Seychelles white-eye (Zosterops modestus) are among the island endemic species to move to lower categories in this IUCN Red List update, as their populations recover from the brink of extinction thanks to tireless conservation efforts.

 Giraffe

 The iconic giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), one of the world's most recognisable animals and the tallest land mammal, is now threatened with extinction. The species, which is widespread across southern and eastern Africa, with smaller isolated subpopulations in west and central Africa, has moved from Least Concern to Vulnerable due to a dramatic 36-40% decline from approximately 151,702-163,452 individuals in 1985 to 97,562 in 2015.

 The growing human population is having a negative impact on many giraffe subpopulations. Illegal hunting, habitat loss and changes through expanding agriculture and mining, increasing human-wildlife conflict, and civil unrest are all pushing the species towards extinction. Of the nine subspecies of giraffe, three have increasing populations, whilst five have decreasing populations and one is stable.

 A resolution adopted at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in September this year called for action to reverse the decline of the giraffe.

 Crop wild relatives

 With this update, the first assessments of 233 wild relatives of crop plants such as barley, oats and sunflowers have been added to the IUCN Red List. Habitat loss, primarily due to agricultural expansion, is the major threat to many of these species. The assessments were completed as part of a partnership between Toyota Motor Corporation and IUCN, whose aim is to broaden the IUCN Red List to include the extinction risk of many species that are key food sources for a significant portion of the global population.

 Crop wild relatives are a source of genetic material for new and existing crop species, allowing for increased disease and drought resistance, fertility, nutritional value and other desirable traits. Almost every species of plant that humans have domesticated and now cultivate has one or more crop wild relatives. However, these species have received little systematic conservation attention until now.

 Four mango species have been listed as Endangered, and the Kalimantan mango (Mangifera casturi) has been listed as Extinct in the Wild. These species are relatives of the common mango (Mangifera indica) and are threatened by habitat loss. Native to South Asia, mangoes are now cultivated in many tropical and sub-tropical countries and they are one of the most commercially important fruits in these regions.

 A relative of cultivated asparagus, hamatamabouki (Asparagus kiusianus), which is native to Japan, has been listed as Endangered due to habitat loss caused by urban expansion and agriculture. Loss of habitat is also the main threat to the Anomalus sunflower (Helianthus anomalus) which has been listed as Vulnerable and is a relative of the sunflower (H. annuus). Cicer bijugum, native to Iran and Turkey, is a wild relative of the chickpea (C. arietinum); it has been listed as Endangered due to habitat conversion to agriculture.

 “Crop wild relative species are under increasing threat from urbanisation, habitat fragmentation and intensive farming, and probably climate change,” says Mr. Kevin Butt, General Manager, Regional Environmental Sustainability Director, Toyota Motor North America. “To conserve this vital gene pool for crop improvement we need to urgently improve our knowledge about these species. Toyota is pleased to provide support for the assessment of these and other species on The IUCN Red List.”

 Freshwater species – Lake Victoria

 All freshwater molluscs, crabs, dragonflies and freshwater fishes native to Lake Victoria in central Africa are included in this update. Key threats to Lake Victoria – known as Darwin’s dream pond due to its high biodiversity – include invasive species such as the Nile perch (Lates niloticus), overharvesting, sedimentation due to logging and agriculture, as well as water pollution from pesticides and herbicides.

 For more information or interviews please contact:

 Goska Bonnaveira, IUCN Media Relations, m +41 79 276 01 85, e-mail goska.bonnaveira@iucn.org

 Ewa Magiera, IUCN Media Relations, m +41 76 505 33 78, e-mail ewa.magiera@iucn.org

 Notes to editors

 Birds

 This update of birds for the IUCN Red List reflects the second of a two-part comprehensive taxonomic review of birds; this update focussed on passerine birds – 'perching birds' such as flycatchers, thrushes, crows and finches – and has led to the recognition of 742 new species, many of which were previously treated as subspecies of other species. The new total of 6,649 passerines implies that avian diversity at the species level was previously underestimated by more than 10%. BirdLife now applies a single, consistent taxonomic approach worldwide, across all species. As a result, the number of recognised species rises above 11,000 for the first time to 11,121. Thirteen out of the 742 newly recognised species are already extinct – all were island endemics – and likely driven extinct by invasive species (on Hawai'i, Pacific islands, Indian Ocean islands, Galápagos and Bermuda).

 First non-English language assessments published

 The first non-English language assessments have been published on the IUCN Red List. Assessments for 20 species from the State of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil have been included, with the text in Portuguese. They were provided by CNCFlora (who also serve as the IUCN SSC Brazil Plant Red List Authority). These species are mostly localised endemics from the Mata Atlântica forest which has been substantially reduced by urban and agricultural expansion.

 Supporting quotes

 “Whilst giraffe are commonly seen on safari, in the media and in zoos, people – including conservationists – are unaware that these majestic animals are undergoing a silent extinction. With a decline of almost 40% in the last three decades alone, the world's tallest animal is under severe pressure in some of its core ranges across East, Central and West Africa. As one of the world's most iconic animals, it is timely that we stick our neck out for the giraffe before it is too late,” says Julian Fennessy, co-chair of the IUCN SSC Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group.

 “Despite continuing conservation efforts to protect the immense diversity of life in Lake Victoria from growing threats, we are still seeing alarming declines in species populations, as this Red List update shows. Systematic monitoring at the species level has been lacking so far, and we urgently need to invest in monitoring and more conservation action to protect these species, many of which are critical to the livelihoods of people living around the lake,” says Dr William Darwall, Head of IUCN Freshwater Biodiversity Unit.

 Quotes from Red List partners

 "The addition of new species to the IUCN Red List, some of them already threatened with extinction, emphasises the urgency to produce conservation assessments to better prioritise species in need of conservation action as soon as the species are discovered. The first assessments of many crop wild relatives also highlight the need for conservation action, both in situ and ex situ, to ensure our future food security." - Botanical Gardens Conservation International (BCGI)

 “It is certainly a concern that iconic species like the loquacious African grey parrot (Endangered) and the giraffe, Giraffa camelopardalis (Vulnerable) are now listed as Threatened,” states Dr. Thomas Lacher, Jr. from Texas A&M University. “In addition, four wild relatives of the common mango are now Endangered and an additional wild relative Extinct in the Wild. The loss of genetic diversity in the wild relatives of many of our domestic food crops only erodes future options for new crop resources under changing climates.”

 The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) supports the management and monitoring of key sites for giraffe in the wild, including the Tsavo Conservation Area in Kenya via the SMART patrol management system, and has also supported the development of Kenya’s first National Giraffe Conservation Strategy. Both ZSL London Zoo and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo are home to giraffes, and ZSL co-hosts the IUCN SSC Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group with the Giraffe Conservation Foundation. Co-chair of the Specialist Group, ZSL’s Dr Noëlle Kümpel warns, “Most people have no idea that both species of giraffid, the giraffe and its lesser-known Congolese rainforest cousin the okapi, are suffering dramatic declines and are now both threatened with extinction. IUCN recently passed a key resolution calling for greater awareness and efforts to secure the future of these hugely charismatic, iconic and gentle species in the wild, including safeguarding key protected areas.”

 "Several newly recognized bird species have made it to the Red List as Extinct, suggesting that extinction rates for other taxa are likely higher than we think. Yet there are bright spots - many rare and vulnerable birds have shown signs of recovery, providing good evidence that it is not too late to recover extant populations that are balancing on the brink of extinction," says Leah Gerber, Director, Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, Arizona State University.

 "It is critical as a global community that we continue to identify, prioritize, and conserve biodiversity, and the diversity of crop wild relatives, as we experience more and more climate driven impacts. These species can help crops and communities become more resilient and adapt to new conditions created by climate change," says Daniela Raik, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Moore Center for Science. ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) — The giraffe, the tallest land animal, is now at risk of extinction, biologists say.

 Because the giraffe population has shrunk nearly 40 percent in just 30 years, scientists put it on the official watch list of threatened and endangered species worldwide, calling it "vulnerable." That's two steps up the danger ladder from its previous designation of being a species of least concern. In 1985, there were between 151,000 and 163,000 giraffes but in 2015 the number was down to 97,562, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

 At a biodiversity meeting Wednesday in Mexico, the IUCN increased the threat level for 35 species and lowered the threat level for seven species on its "Red List" of threatened species, considered by scientists the official list of what animals and plants are in danger of disappearing.

 The giraffe is the only mammal whose status changed on the list this year. Scientists blame habitat loss.

 While everyone worries about elephants, Earth has four times as many pachyderms as giraffes, said Julian Fennessy and Noelle Kumpel, co-chairs of the specialty group of biologists that put the giraffe on the IUCN Red List. They both called what's happening to giraffes a "silent extinction."

 "Everyone assumes giraffes are everywhere," said Fennessy, co-director of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation.

 But they're not, Fennessy said. Until recently, biologists hadn't done a good job assessing giraffes' numbers and where they can be found, and they have been lumped into one broad species instead of nine separate subspecies.

 "There's a strong tendency to think that familiar species (such as giraffes, chimps, etc.) must be OK because they are familiar and we see them in zoos," said Duke University conservation biologist Stuart Pimm, who wasn't part of the work and has criticized the IUCN for not putting enough species on the threat list. "This is dangerous."

 Fennessy blamed shrinking living space as the main culprit in the declining giraffe population, worsened by poaching and disease. People are moving into giraffe areas especially in central and eastern Africa. Giraffe numbers are plunging most in central and eastern Africa and are being offset by increases in southern Africa, he said.

 This has fragmented giraffe populations, making them shrink in size with wild giraffes gone from seven countries — Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Guinea, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria and Senegal, said Kumpel of the Zoological Society of London.

 The IUCN says 860 plant and animal species are extinct, and another 68 are extinct in the wild. Nearly 13,000 are endangered or critically endangered. The next level is vulnerable, where giraffes were placed, followed by near threatened and least concerned.

 The status of two snake species worsened. The ornate ground snake, which lives on the tiny island of Saint Lucia, deteriorated from endangered to critically endangered. The Lacepede's ground snake of Martinique, which was already critically endangered, is now considered possibly extinct, pending confirmation, as is the trondo mainty, a river fish in Madagascar.

 But there is also good news for some species. The Victoria stonebasher, a freshwater fish in Africa, went from being considered endangered to least concerned with a stable population. And an African plant, the acmadenia candida, which was declared extinct, has been rediscovered and is now considered endangered. Another freshwater fish, ptychochromoides itasy, which hadn't been seen since the 1960s, has been rediscovered in small numbers in Africa's Sakay River and is now considered critically endangered.

 ___

 Online:

 International Union for the Conservation of Nature: https://www.iucn.org/

 ___

 Follow Seth Borenstein at http://twitter.com/borenbears and his work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/seth-borenstein |||||Summary:

– No one used to pay much mind to the giraffes that roamed Africa. But new numbers from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature show a significant decline in their population over the past three decades and have conservationists worried that the elegant creature is falling victim to what one IUCN expert calls a "silent extinction," the BBC reports. In 1985, there were between 152,000 and 163,000 giraffes, but that number dropped to 97,000 by 2015—a "devastating decline" of nearly 40% that now moves the animal from the "least concern" category into the "vulnerable" one on the group's Red List. "While there [has] been great concern about elephants and rhinos, giraffes have gone under the radar," says Dr. Fennessy, co-director of the IUCN's Giraffe Conservation arm. The updated Red List, released Thursday at a biological diversity conference in Cancun, Mexico, points to man as the main driver of the declining stats, with poaching, habitat loss, and local unrest all assuming partial blame. A Duke University conservation biologist says the IUCN is partly to blame, too, for not considering more species threatened. "There's a strong tendency to think that familiar species [such as giraffes, chimps, etc.] must be OK because ... we see them in zoos," he tells the AP. "This is dangerous." Some good news, at least for some long-neckers: Of the nine giraffe subspecies, three of them are experiencing increasing populations; one is stable. A resolution passed in September at the IUCN's World Conservation Congress hopes to reverse the falling numbers of "Africa's iconic megafauna." (Three rare giraffes were killed for their tails.)


– A weather event that a National Weather Service meteorologist says "[sounds] like someone drove into your house" likely took place in southern Wisconsin on Tuesday night, and it wasn't a tornado, lightning strike, or earthquake. Instead, it was what's called a "frostquake," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, a rare happening in the Badger State that takes place when water that seeps into the ground freezes and expands, fracturing the ground around it. Although no damage has been called in from the so-called cryoseism, that didn't stop the extreme-weather occurrence from frightening locals. "[Loud] boom and house rumbling at 8:30 here outside of Beaver Dam WI. Crazy. Kids were scared," one resident tweeted. One other possibility for those who heard noises: "[Booms] could have been from Air Force planes on exercise per media," tweeted NWS Milwaukee. (Meanwhile, here's what El Niño has in store for the rest of us this winter.)

Expand this summary.

Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| MADISON, Wis. -

 The Wisconsin Air National Guard will be conducting training flights the rest of the week, according to an operations alert.

 The 115th Fighter Wing of the Wisconsin Air National Guard will be conducting training flights at night Monday through Thursday, officials said.

 Residents may see or hear F-16 fighter jets taking off or landing until about 10 p.m., according to the alert.

 Training flights normally happen during the day, but pilots and maintenance personnel are required to conduct nighttime operations as a part of their readiness training, officials said.

 Pilots will be following flight paths designed to minimize noise to area residents, according to the alert. ||||| Freezing temperatures Tuesday night might have caused something called a "frostquake" in southern Wisconsin, according to the National Weather Service in Sullivan.

 Though frostquake is a geological rather than a meteorological term the boom felt in an area from about Columbus to Fox Lake and Johnson Creek to Oconomowoc prompted some people to call the weather service to report the event, meteorologist Justin Schultz said.

 "It would sound like someone drove into your house, but as far as we know it didn't cause any damage," Schultz said.

 Can confirm the frostquake. It shook the house here in Beaver Dam. @madisontraffic @NWSMKX — Bob Lesh (@Bob_Lesh) January 13, 2016

 According to Schultz, the phenomenon occurs when water that drains into the ground freezes, expands and places stress on the surrounding ground.

 "The fracturing of the soil and rock creates the frostquake," Schultz said of the seismic event that is actually called a cryoseism.

 "This one was maybe a brief rumbling, but a very loud boom was the primary characteristic of this frostquake."

 Frostquakes are relatively rare events, Schultz said, but not unheard of in Wisconsin.

 "Of all the states that have reported cryoseisms, Wisconsin is among them," Schultz said. |||||


Summarize this article:

John Travolta has battled rumors about his sexuality for years, but the actor is now facing more serious allegations from an anonymous male masseur who is suing him for assault and sexual battery.

 As TMZ is reporting, the unnamed masseur is reportedly seeking $2 million plus punitive damages after Travolta is said to have "began rubbing the masseur's leg, touched his scrotum and the shaft of his penis" after having stripped naked during an appointment.

 Not only did Travolta allegedly try to have sex with the masseur, but he is also said to have told the plantiff -- identified only as "John Doe" -- that he "got where he is now due to sexual favors he had performed when he was in his 'Welcome Back, Kotter' days," and that "Hollywood is controlled by homosexual Jewish men who expect favors in return for sexual activity."

 UPDATE: RadarOnline reports that a second masseur has filed a $2 million sexual battery lawsuit against Travolta. The website quotes documents which indicate this masseur claims to have "substantial documentation and numerous witnesses regarding the substance of Travolta's actions." The second alleged victim is represented by the same lawyer as the first accuser, and in the amended complaint, both are now suing the actor for sexual harassment as well.

 The lawsuit spares few details of the alleged exchange: when the masseur says he reminded Travolta that sexual acts in exchange for money were illegal, the actor's rebuttal is stated as, "Come on dude, I’ll jerk you off!" The suit also describes Travolta's genitalia as "roughly 8 inches in length" with pubic hair that was "wirey and unkempt."

 Travolta, who is married to actress Kelly Preston, is said to have later apologized for his behavior. But the actor later suggested he and the masseur team up to have sex with "a Hollywood starlet in the building that wanted to have three-way sex and to be double penetrated," according to the lawsuit.

 Travolta's camp slammed the allegations in a statement to E! Online, calling the case "complete fiction and fabrication."

 The statement reads, "None of the events claimed in the suit ever occurred. The plaintiff, who refuses to give their name, knows that the suit is a baseless lie...On that date when plaintiff claims John met him, John was not in California and it can be proved that he was on the East Coast. Plaintiff's attorney has filed this suit to try and get his 15 minutes of fame. John intends to get this case thrown out and then he will sue the attorney and Plaintiff for malicious prosecution."

 In addition to punitive damages, the lawsuit cites emotional distress and requests a jury trial, according to MassLive.

 Take a look at other celebrities who've faced rumors about their sexuality below:

 Gay Rumors

 Gay Rumors

 1 of 21 Jeremy Renner The hunky star of "The Avengers" blasted persistent rumors about his sexuality -- as well as probes into his personal life in general -- earlier this month. "I want my personal life to be personal, and it's not f***ing true," Renner, 41, is quoted as saying . "And I don't care if you're talking about things that are true, you're still talking about my personal life.. How about I go peek in your window, take what underwear you wore last night, whose husband you were f***ing, and shove that in the megaphone throughout your neighborhood? How does that feel?" Share this slide:

 AP ||||| John Travolta Sued By Masseur He Touched My Penis

 John Travolta Sued by Masseur for Sexual Assault

 Breaking News

 has been sued by a masseur, who claims the actor tried to have sex with him during a session.According to the lawsuit, Travolta saw the masseur's ad online, and scheduled an appointment for $200 an hour. The masseur did not know it was Travolta when the appointment was booked, but followed instructions and met up with a black Lexus SUV, which Travolta was driving.According to the suit, Travolta and the masseur, who says he saw Trojan condoms in the center console, drove to the Beverly Hills Hotel and went to Travolta's bungalow.The suit claims Travolta stripped naked, appearing semi-erect. The masseur says he told Travolta to lay down on the table and the first hour went without incident. Then, according to legal docs, Travolta began rubbing the masseur's leg, touched his scrotum and the shaft of his penis.The masseur claims he told Travolta he did not have sex with his clients, but Travolta was undeterred, offering to do a "reverse massage," adding, "Come on dude, I'll jerk you off!!!"The suit goes on to allege Travolta then masturbated and told the masseur he got to where he was "due to sexual favors he had performed when he was in his 'Welcome Back Kotter' days," adding "Hollywood is controlled by homosexual Jewish men who expect favors in return for sexual activity."The masseur -- who is only listed as John Doe -- claims Travolta called him a loser, but then doubled the hourly rate and sent him on his way.The suit seeks $2 million plus punitive damages.Travolta's reps could not be reached for comment. ||||| Jerod Harris/WireImage

 Is this merely a case of pulp pure fiction?

 John Travolta has been sued for assault and sexual battery in federal court by an anonymous masseur, who claims the actor tried to have sex with him after hiring him for a massage.

 MORE: John Travolta's Stolen Mercedes Case Cracked, Auto-Theft Ring Busted Up

 The plaintiff, identified only as John Doe in the lawsuit obtained by E! News, claims, among other things, that Travolta touched his scrotum and penis after having stripped in front of the masseur.

 The suit claims Travolta apologized for his behavior, but continued to pursue the idea of sex with the man and later suggested that they have sex with a "Hollywood starlet in the building that wanted to have three-way sex and to be double penetrated."

 What's more, the lawsuit claims that the star said he "got where he is now due to sexual favors he had performed when he was in his Welcome Back, Kotter days."

 MORE: View the lawsuit

 MORE: John Travolta's Mafia Movie Not Sleeping With the Fishes

 The court papers also claim the man asked to be taken back to where he was picked up and received double his fee or $800.

 The plaintiff is seeking $2 million in general damages, unspecified punitive damages and court costs.

 Meanwhile, Travolta's camp released the following statement to E! News about the matter.

 "This lawsuit is complete fiction and fabrication," it reads. "None of the events claimed in the suit ever occurred. The plaintiff, who refuses to give their name, knows that the suit is a baseless lie...On that date when plaintiff claims John met him, John was not in California and it can be proved that he was on the East Coast. Plaintiff's attorney has filed this suit to try and get his 15 minutes of fame. John intends to get this case thrown out and then he will sue the attorney and Plaintiff for malicious prosecution."

 PHOTOS: Court Appearances |||||

– John Travolta is one randy (and rather rude) massage client, according to a new Hollywood lawsuit. A masseur hired by Travolta claims the movie star took him to a Beverly Hills Hotel bungalow, stripped to nothing, appeared semi-erect, and touched the masseur's scrotum and penis during the massage, TMZ reports. When the masseur declined to fool around, Travolta cried, "Come on dude, I'll jerk you off!" Travolta then completed that very deed, but on himself. Travolta allegedly said he had achieved fame "due to sexual favors he had performed when he was in his 'Welcome Back Kotter' days," adding, "Hollywood is controlled by homosexual Jewish men who expect favors in return for sexual activity." He even invited the masseur to have sex with a starlet who wanted to be "double-penetrated," reports Rumorfix. But Travolta's lawyers deny the entire incident, notes E! Online, calling it "complete fiction and fabrication." Hat tip to Huffington Post for the roundup. (Now check out Carrie Fisher's call for Travolta to come out of the closet.)


Article:

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 This will NOT appear anywhere on Newser ||||| Police officers of the Mossos d'Esquadra, Catalan police, check the I.D. of a person at a school listed to be a polling station by the Catalan government at the Gracia neighborhood in Barcelona, Spain,... (Associated Press)

 BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish riot police smashed their way into polling stations to try to halt a disputed independence referendum in Catalonia on Sunday and fired rubber bullets at protesters outside a Barcelona polling station. Several people were injured.

 The officers fired the rubber bullets while trying to clear protesters who were trying to prevent National Police cars from leaving after police confiscated ballot boxes from the voting center. The Spanish government has ordered police to stop the voting process, saying it's illegal.

 Catalan officials said 38 people were treated for mostly minor injuries. An AP photographer saw several people who had been injured during the scuffles outside Barcelona's Rius i Taule school, where some voters had cast ballots before police arrived

 Catalan President Carles Puigdemont condemned the crackdown.

 "Police brutality will shame forever the Spanish state," he said as crowds cheered.

 Tension has been on the rise since the vote was called in early September, crystalizing years of defiance by separatists in the affluent region, which contributes mightily to Spain's economy. As one of Spain's 17 autonomous regions, Catalonia enjoys ample rights but key areas such as infrastructure and taxes are in the hands of Madrid. Separatist Catalans have long complained of contributing too much to the state while not getting enough in return.

 Enric Millo, the Spanish government's representative in the region, said police and National Guard forces acted "professionally" to enforce court orders. He said any attempt to claim the referendum as valid is doomed.

 "Today's events in Catalonia can never be portrayed as a referendum or anything similar," he said.

 Manuel Condeminas, a 48-year-old IT manager who tried to block police from driving away with the ballot boxes, said agents had kicked them before using their batons and firing the projectiles, which were ball-shaped.

 Elsewhere, Civil Guard officers, wearing helmets and carrying shields, used a hammer to break the glass of the front door and a lock cutter to break into the Sant Julia de Ramis sports center near the city of Girona. At least one woman was injured outside the building and wheeled away on a stretcher by paramedics.

 Clashes broke out less than an hour after polls opened, and not long before Catalonia regional president Carles Puigdemont was expected to turn up to vote at the sports center. Polling station workers inside the building reacted peacefully and broke out into songs and chants challenging the officers' presence.

 Puigdemont was forced to vote in Cornella de Terri, near the northern city of Girona, his spokesman Joan Maria Pique told The Associated Press.

 The Spanish government and its security forces are trying to prevent voting in the independence referendum, which is backed by Catalan regional authorities. Spanish officials had said force wouldn't be used, but that voting wouldn't be allowed.

 Spain's Constitutional Court has suspended the vote. Regional separatist leaders pledged to hold it anyway, promising to declare independence if the "yes" side wins, and have called on 5.3 million eligible voters to cast ballots.

 Police had sealed off many voting centers in the hours before the vote to prevent their use. Others were filled with activists determined to hold their ground.

 Spanish riot police forcefully removed a few hundred would-be voters from a polling station at a school in Barcelona.

 Daniel Riano was inside when the police pushed aside a large group gathered outside busted in the Estela school's front door.

 The 54-year-old Riano said that "we were waiting inside to vote when the National Police used force to enter, they used a mace to break in the glass door and they took everything."

 He said that "one policeman put me in a headlock to drag me out, while I was holding my wife's hand. It was incredible. They didn't give any warning."

 National Police and Civil Guard officers also showed up in other polling centers where Catalan officials were expected.

 Catalans braved rain and defied police orders to abandon designated voting stations.

 Joaquim Bosch, a 73-year-old retiree at Princep de Viana high school, where a crowd of 20 people was growing Sunday morning, said he was uneasy about a possible police response to the crowds.

 "I have come to vote to defend the rights of my country, which is Catalonia," Bosch said. "I vote because of the mistreatment of Catalonia by Spain for many years."

 Reporters with The Associated Press saw ballot boxes wrapped in plastic bags being carried into some of the polling stations in Barcelona occupied by parents, children and activists before some polling stations could open at 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) as scheduled.

 The plastic ballot boxes, bearing the seal of the Catalan regional government, were placed on tables, prompting the cheering of hopeful voters who had gathered in schools before dawn.

 In an effort to overcome myriad obstacles, Catalan officials announced that voters would be allowed to cast ballots in any location and could use ballots printed at home, rather than in designated polling stations as previously announced.

 Regional government spokesman Jordi Turull also said that a group of "academics and professionals" would serve as election observers. The official electoral board appointed by the regional parliament was disbanded last week to avoid hefty fines by Spain's Constitutional Court.

 "We are under conditions to be able to celebrate a self-determination referendum with guarantees," Turull said in a press conference. "Our goal is that all Catalans can vote."

 Courts and police have been cracking down for days to halt the vote, confiscating 10 million paper ballots and arresting key officials involved in the preparations. On Saturday, Civil Guard agents dismantled the technology to connect voting stations, count the votes and vote online, leading the Spanish government to announce that holding the referendum would be "impossible."

 ___

 Associated Press writer Alex Oller contributed to this report from Barcelona, and Gregory Katz and Frank Griffiths contributed from London.

 ___

 Follow complete AP coverage of the Catalonia referendum here .

 ___

 This story has been corrected to show that the spelling of the IT manager's surname is Condeminas, not Conedeminas. |||||
What is a summary?

– Spain erupted into chaos on Sunday as Catalonia held a referendum on independence, with police firing rubber bullets at protesters and smashing into polling stations in an effort to halt the vote, reports the AP. The officers fired the rubber bullets while trying to clear protesters who were trying to prevent National Police cars from leaving after police confiscated ballot boxes. The Spanish government has ordered police to stop the voting process, saying it's illegal. Catalan officials said more than 300 people were injured, some seriously. Catalan President Carles Puigdemont condemned the crackdown. "Police brutality will shame forever the Spanish state," he said as crowds cheered. Tension has been on the rise since the vote was called in early September, crystalizing years of defiance by separatists in the affluent region, which contributes mightily to Spain's economy. Enric Millo, the Spanish government's rep in the region, said police and National Guard forces acted "professionally" to enforce court orders to suspend the vote. He dismissed the vote's validity, saying, "today's events in Catalonia can never be portrayed as a referendum or anything similar." Clashes broke out less than an hour after polls opened. Polling station workers reacted peacefully and broke out into songs and chants challenging the officers' presence. Spanish officials had said force wouldn't be used, but that voting wouldn't be allowed. Regional separatist leaders pledged to hold it anyway, promising to declare independence if the "yes" side wins, and called on 5.3 million eligible voters to cast ballots.


News article:

(TAUNTON, Mass.) -- A woman in Massachusetts escaped her home moments before it exploded and burst into flames Sunday, police said.

 Police identified 52-year-old Laurie Beliveau, of Taunton, as the sole resident of the two-story, single-family home.

 Beliveau was attempting to repair her gas-fueled hot water heater and removed the gas shut-off valve, State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan and Taunton Fire Chief Timothy J. Bradshaw said in a statement Monday. This misstep caused gas to pour into the basement where it was ignited by an unknown ignition source.

 Several unnamed bystanders called the Taunton Fire Department at about 3:53 p.m. One woman reported she "felt the ground shake" while another saw smoke billowing from the rooftop, according to recordings of the 911 calls obtained by ABC News.

 Beliveau's neighbor Paul Saltalamacchia said Beliveau ran two doors down to his home screaming for help.

 "We, my son and I, got her a pair of sandals and a glass of water and within about five minutes the house was in flames and the windows exploded," Saltalamacchia told ABC News Monday.

 Saltalamacchia said Beliveau told him she was upstairs in her bedroom when the closet doors blew off and that she had "done something to the furnace" before the explosion.

 "She was hysterically talking to the fire department about a gas fire place," Saltalamacchia said, noting that she also lamented that her pet cockatoo was still inside.

 Lt. Kevin C. Farrar, communications officer for the Taunton Fire Department, said the "homeowner may have attempted her own repair on the [natural gas] water heater."

 Farrar said the incident was a graphic reminder to homeowners not to attempt repairs unless by a qualified person.

 Saltalamacchia said Beliveau is divorced with two adult children. He said another neighbor called Beliveau's ex-husband but did not hear back from him.

 There is an ongoing investigation, but Taunton Deputy Fire Chief Scott Dexter said the department suspects a gas leak caused the blast that leveled the home.

 "Everything caved in. It's just a pile of lumber. Nothing is salvageable," Dexter told ABC News.

 Investigators from the fire marshal's office, state police department, Office of Public Utilities and the Columbia Gas of Massachusetts were at the scene this morning, Dexter said.

 Don DiNunno, communications and community relations manager for Columbia Gas, said an explosion of this magnitude in a suburban neighborhood is rare.

 "It does happen but thankfully very, very infrequently. But one's more than enough. Thankfully, the lone occupant was able to get out," he told ABC News.

 DiNunno said all the utilities at Beliveau's house have been turned off. Columbia Gas advises residents to leave their homes immediately and avoid operating any utilities in the event of a leak.

 The Northern Bristol County Registry of Deeds has an affidavit filed in August regarding a foreclosure of Beliveau's home, the Taunton Gazette reported.

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– A Massachusetts woman apparently botched some home repairs yesterday and blew her house to smithereens, WBT reports. Lucky for Laurie Beliveau, 52, she fled her property in Taunton, Mass., minutes before the explosion. "We, my son and I, got her a pair of sandals and a glass of water and within about five minutes the house was in flames and the windows exploded," says Paul Saltalamacchia, a neighbor who saw her crying for help. Seems that Beliveau was trying to fix her hot water heater—which was gas-fueled—when she took off the gas shut-off valve, according to fire officials. That allowed gas to leak into the basement and somehow get ignited. "Everything caved in," says Taunton Deputy Fire Chief Scott Dexter. "It's just a pile of lumber. Nothing is salvageable." According to Saltalmacchia and police, Beliveau was at home in her bedroom when an initial explosion rocked the house and blew off her closet door, the Taunton Gazette reports. "She was walking up the street screaming 'Help me, help me! My house exploded!'" Saltalmacchia says. Another neighbor says Beliveau was once married but lived alone for years, barely communicating with others and living in apparently unsanitary conditions with dogs and cats. A "rotting-vegetable-type odor" could be smelled out back even after the explosion, the Gazette reports. "She should not have been here by herself," says the neighbor. "It doesn’t make sense."


Article:
This afternoon a Mountain View Police Department traffic officer noticed traffic backing up behind a slow moving car traveling in the eastbound #3 lane on El Camino Real, near Rengstorff Ave. The car was traveling at 24 mph in a 35 mph zone. As the officer approached the slow moving car he realized it was a Google Autonomous Vehicle. The officer stopped the car and made contact with the operators to learn more about how the car was choosing speeds along certain roadways and to educate the operators about impeding traffic per 22400(a) of the California Vehicle Code. The Google self-driving cars operate under the Neighborhood Electric Vehicle Definition per 385.5 of the California Vehicle Code and can only be operated on roadways with speed limits at or under 35 mph. In this case, it was lawful for the car to be traveling on the street as El Camino Real is rated at 35 mph.

 The Mountain View Police Department meets regularly with Google to ensure that their vehicles operate safely in our community.

 Media inquiries can be directed to policepio@mountainview.gov ||||| MOUNTAIN VIEW -- When one of Google's self-driving vehicles is pulled over, who gets the ticket? The passenger or the car?

 The question was asked across the Internet on Thursday, after a police officer stopped one of the gumball-machine-shaped vehicles around noon on El Camino Real.

 In a blog post, the Mountain View Police Department said the officer noticed traffic backing up behind a slow-moving car in the eastbound No. 3 lane, near Rengstorff Avenue.

 The vehicle was traveling at 24 mph in a 35 mph zone.

 "As the officer approached the slow-moving car he realized it was a Google Autonomous Vehicle," the post said.

 Zandr Milewski photo A Mountain View police officer pulled over one of Google's self-driving cars on El Camino Real, near Rengstorff Avenue, on Thursday. The vehicle attracted the officer's attention because it was backing up traffic. No ticket, however, was issued. (Zandr Milewski)

 "The officer stopped the car," the post continued, "and made contact with the operators to learn more about how the car was choosing speeds along certain roadways and to educate the operators about impeding traffic."

 The vehicle didn't stop itself; a passenger took control and pulled over for the officer, according to police.

 In a Google Plus post, the Google Self-Driving Car Project appeared to appreciate the humor of the situation.

 "Driving too slowly?" the post asked. "Bet humans don't get pulled over for that too often."

 "We've capped the speed of our prototype vehicles at 25 mph for safety reasons," the post explained. "We want them to feel friendly and approachable, rather than zooming scarily through neighborhood streets."

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 As it turns out, the cars are considered "neighborhood electric vehicles" under the California Vehicle Code, and can be operated on roadways with speed limits at or under 35 mph, according to the police department's blog post.

 "In this case," the post continued, "it was lawful for the car to be traveling on the street, as El Camino Real is rated at 35 mph."

 So, no ticket, and the question of who would get it remains unanswered.

 "Like this officer, people sometimes flag us down when they want to know more about our project," the Google Self-Driving Car Project said in its post. "After 1.2 million miles of autonomous driving (that's the human equivalent of 90 years of driving experience), we're proud to say we've never been ticketed!"

 Zandr Milewski photographed the car stop from an office building at 5150 El Camino Real in Los Altos. He was working on a project in a conference room when a colleague wandered in with news of what was transpiring outside.

 "We all immediately dropped what we were doing to go look," Milewski said. "It's not something you see every day."

 Email Jason Green at jgreen@dailynewsgroup.com or call him at 650-391-1337; follow him at twitter.com/jgreendailynews. |||||Summary:

– Apparently Google's self-driving cars have yet to learn how to evade cops. One of its bubble-shaped autonomous vehicles was pulled over during a traffic stop in Mountain View, Calif., on Thursday, though it managed to avoid a ticket, reports NBC News. An officer spotted the vehicle traveling 24mph in a 35mph zone, with traffic backed up behind it, police say, per the San Jose Mercury News. "The officer stopped the car and made contact with the operators to learn more about how the car was choosing speeds along certain roadways," authorities say in a blog post, noting "it was lawful for the car to be traveling on the street." According to the California Vehicle Code, the cars can operate on roads with speed limits of 35mph or under. However, "we've capped the speed of our prototype vehicles at 25mph for safety reasons," Google Self-Driving Car Project explains. "We want them to feel friendly and approachable, rather than zooming scarily through neighborhood streets." The project notes "people sometimes flag us down when they want to know more about our project," but "after 1.2 million miles of autonomous driving (that's the human equivalent of 90 years of driving experience), we're proud to say we've never been ticketed!" (Apple is working on its own self-driving cars.)


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#breaking A horror film come to life in #lancaster after decomposing body is found inside entrance column of a supermarket.#lasd detectives believe it may be suspect who led deputies on foot chase Monday & disappeared on the roof.

 The latest on investigation at 11pm @ABC7 pic.twitter.com/zfnu02RjyU — Leanne Suter (@abc7leanne) August 12, 2018

 A decomposing body was found inside the entrance column of a supermarket in Lancaster on Saturday, and investigators believe it may be a chase suspect who escaped authorities earlier this week.Los Angeles County sheriff's homicide detectives responded to a WinCo Foods store in the 700 block of West Avenue K at approximately 2:40 p.m., according to sheriff's officials.LASD Lt. John Corina said the manager of the store smelled a strong odor from the column in front of the business. He assumed it was a sewage leak and called out a plumber to check it out. The plumber and the store's handyman broke off some of the brick from the column and found a leg and shoe inside, Corina said.He added that authorities are in the process of recovering the body and identifying it. It's believed it may be a man who led deputies on a chase on Monday.Corina said the suspect ran away when the chase ended in a crash. He ran into the WinCo store and onto the roof, but deputies were not able to locate him.There is access on the roof to the fascia of the store and down into the column, Corina said."He got out of the car, ran in, ran up the steps... and somehow got on the roof, and last I heard he got away. They shut the whole thing down," described witness Henry Oliver.Investigators said after he got on the roof, they didn't see or hear any signs of the suspect and assumed he had managed to escape. Detectives said he hasn't been heard from since."He may have gotten inside there and somehow gotten down the column, trying to hide from the deputies and then couldn't get out," Corina said.The coroner will have to determine exactly how the victim died. It's unclear if he fell to his death or became trapped and couldn't get out.Some seasoned investigators were left in shock."It's been over 100 degrees up here everyday. I cant imagine being inside that column and just baking. It's a strange development, and if he died that way, it's a horrible way to die," Corina added.The store was expected to stay closed as the investigation continued and as crews worked to extricate the body.Anyone with information was encouraged to contact the LASD Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. If you prefer to provide information anonymously, you may call "Crime Stoppers" by dialing (800) 222-TIPS (8477). ||||| Detectives removed a decomposing body that was found inside a column at a supermarket in Lancaster. Kim Tobin reports for the NBC4 News at 5 on Saturday, Aug. 11, 2018. (Published Saturday, Aug. 11, 2018)

 The coroner's office Tuesday released the name of a man whose decomposing body was found stuck inside a brick pillar at a Lancaster supermarket.

 The body of Raymundo Rivera, 35, was found about 2:40 p.m. Saturday inside a pillar at Winco Foods, according to the Los Angeles county coroner's office and sheriff's department.

 On Saturday afternoon, the manager of the store on the 700 block of West Avenue K reported a strong smell from the column. He called a repairman thinking it was some type of sewer leak.

 A handyman and plumber began removing bricks and soon afterward, they noticed a shoe and leg inside the grocery store column.

 The body was in a state of decomposition and the person's gender was unknown at the time, according to Lt. John Corina with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

 "I saw some gooey liquid and it smelled really foul ... it was oozing out of the pillar onto the pavement," one witness said. "It smelled like death."

 The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is leading the death investigation. They believe it may be the body of a suspect who escaped from a traffic stop on Monday night.

 The driver was pulled over for a fake license plate, crashed the car, escaped onto the Winco roof and then disappeared.

 "He may have gotten inside there and gotten down to try and hide from the deputies and then couldn't get out," Corina said.

 There is an access door on top of the roof and the suspect may have fallen or got stuck and was found five days later, according to the sheriff's department.

 It's "one of those strange cases," Corina added.

 An autopsy was pending. ||||| LANCASTER (CBSLA) — Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Detectives were dispatched to a Lancaster business following reports that a body was found just outside the premises — in a pillar.

 Officials said the body of an adult male was found after a store manager complained about a strong smell Saturday morning.

 A plumber was called and a couple of bricks were broken to look inside the pillar.

 “When they did that,” says LA County Sheriff’s Homicide Department spokesman Lt. John Corina, “they looked down and they could see a shoe and a leg down there at the bottom of the column – inside the column.”

 The grim discovery was made around 2:40 p.m. officials said. The business — a WinCo supermarket — is located in the 700 block of West Avenue K in Lancaster.

 KCAL9’s Jeff Nguyen said police believe the man inside the pillar was someone law enforcement was chasing Monday and lost.

 They believed that man ran into the WinCo and believe at some point he must have gotten into the crawl space before falling into the pillar.

 Witness Henry Oliver said he saw the suspect run into the WinCo.

 “He got out of the car, ran in, ran up the steps where the managers [are.],” Oliver said. “And somehow he got on the roof. Last I heard he got away.”

 The Sheriff’s department says deputies lost their chase suspect after he got on the roof and they never saw him come out of the store.

 “We’re thinking this could possibly be that individual,” says Lt. Corina.

 Earlier in the day, customers were turned away from the store.

 “My concern was everybody in the store okay?,” asked Constance Fullwood. She was glad to learn the person was not an employee.

 “It’s very emotional,” she said, “Because I shop here at least four times a month.”

 The person found dead was not an employee of the store adding conjecture that the victim was indeed the chase suspect.

 Detectives say there’s an access door at the top of the roof which also goes to the front fascia of the store.

 Nguyen reported that the man in the pillar was found standing on both his feet but one of his arms was trapped behind his head.

 Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.

 If you prefer to remain anonymous you may call “Crime Stoppers” by dialing (800) 222-TIPS (8477), |||||

– A strong smell outside a California supermarket turned out to be someone who had decomposed in one of the store's entrance columns, ABC 7 reports. Police were called Saturday to the WinCo Foods in Lancaster after a plumber, told it was likely a septic problem, helped knock brick from the column and saw a shoe and a leg inside. "It's been over 100 degrees up here every day," says LA County Sheriff's Lt. John Corina. "I can't imagine being inside that column and just baking. It's a strange development, and if he died that way, it's a horrible way to die." Police say the victim may be a man who was stopped for a fake license plate Monday night, NBC Los Angeles reports. He crashed the vehicle, ran away from deputies, and got into the supermarket. The man "ran up the steps where the managers [are]," an eyewitness tells CBS Los Angeles. "And somehow he got on the roof. Last I heard, he got away." From up there, he could have reached the store fascia and descended into the column. Whether he died from the fall or baked inside is unclear; he was found on his feet with an arm stuck behind his head. "I saw some gooey liquid and it smelled really foul ... it was oozing out of the pillar onto the pavement," says a witness. "It smelled like death."