– Indonesian authorities arrested a woman Saturday for allegedly lacing her friend's coffee with a lethal does of cyanide, Australia's News Network reports. Investigators say Jessica Kumala, 27, arrived early at a cafe in central Jakarta and ordered an iced coffee for friend Wayan Mirna Salihin, 27—who soon showed up to join Kumala and a friend. Mirna apparently took a sip, complained it tasted bad, fell over convulsing, and later died at a hospital. "Jessica’s statement is highly inconsistent with the facts we have gathered," says chief detective Krishna Murti. He added that police have assembled 20 witness statements and re-enacted the crime. "We can ignore the suspect's testimony in this case according to the Criminal Code," he tells the Jakarta Post. But Kumala reiterated her innocence this week after being grilled by police for the fifth time, the Jakarta Globe reports. "I do not know where the cyanide came from," she says. "I just want to help police and Mirna's family reveal who was behind all of this." Her uncle and lawyer, Yudi Wibowo, says his niece is innocent and doubts Mirna died from cyanide poisoning. He adds that Mirna tasted the coffee herself, something Kumala denies: "I suffer from a stomach disorder and the coffee is too strong, thus I did not taste it," she says. Wibowo also denied rumors that his niece was having an affair with Mirna's new husband. Mirna and Kumala had studied together in Australia, apparently at a college of design in Sydney.

Expand this summary.

THEY were two young friends who studied together in Australia.

 But one of them is now dead and the other has been arrested over the suspected murder.

 Newlywed Wayan Mirna Salihin, 27, died in Jakarta, Indonesia earlier this month after having an iced coffee with her friends, known as Jessica Kumala and Hani.

 It is believed her drink was laced with cyanide.

 Jessica, who denies involvement in Mirna’s death, was the one who ordered the Vietnamese iced coffee that allegedly killed Mirna, according to police.

 On the day Mirna died, Jessica reportedly arrived early and ordered a sazerac cocktail and a cold Vietnamese coffee.

 Local media reported that Mirna took only a sip of the coffee and complained it tasted bad, before she collapsed and began convulsing, and was confirmed dead a short time later in hospital.

 Following weeks of investigations, Jakarta police arrested Jessica on Saturday morning and named her as a suspect.

 Chief Detective Krishna Murti said they have gathered around 20 witness statements, including evidence from experts, and have also conducted a re-enactment.

 “Jessica’s statement is highly inconsistent with the facts we have gathered,” Mr Murti told reporters. “We will confirm whether her statement as a suspect is still consistent with her one as a witness or if she will give another statement.”

 The arrest comes after Jakarta officers approached Australian Federal Police earlier this month to look into the relationship between Mirna and the friends during their time studying together, reportedly at Sydney’s Billy Blue College of Design and Swinburne University of Technology.

 Mirna continued to work in Australia after her graduation in 2008, moving back to Indonesia in December last year.

 It is understood AFP is considering the request by Jakarta police for assistance.

 Jessica’s lawyer and uncle Yudi Wibowo said she is innocent, despite the media attention on her since Mirna’s death.

 “She is not afraid. She is tough because she has done nothing wrong in relation to the case,” he said earlier this month.

 Yudi has questioned the autopsy process undertaken on Mirna’s body, saying he did not believe she died from cyanide poisoning, as her friend Hani had sipped coffee from the same cup.

 Police confirmed they found cyanide in Mirna’s stomach and in the coffee she drank before her death.

 Yudi has called for a second autopsy to be conducted in another hospital, after it was first completed in Kramat Jati Police Hospital on January 10.

 Mirna recently married her partner, Arief Soemarko. Yudi also denied rumours there was a love triangle between his client and Mirna’s husband.

 “There is nothing like that. Jessica has a boyfriend overseas,” he said, according to local media reports.

 - with AAP

 Follow the conversation on Twitter @newscomauhq | @Megan_Palin ||||| The police have collected sufficient evidence to name a suspect in the death of Wayan Mirna Salihin, 27, who died after drinking cyanide-laced coffee on Jan. 6.

 The police will hold a case expose before prosecutors on Tuesday where investigators will present evidence and information from three experts involved in the investigation, Jakarta Police's general crimes chief Krishna Murti said on Monday.

 The experts are a forensic expert, a forensic psychiatrist and a criminal expert.

 Investigators had collected four items of evidence out of five required to name a suspect in a case according to the Criminal Code, he said.

 "We have the indication, evidence and required documents. We can ignore the suspect's testimony in this case according to the Criminal Code," he told journalists at the Jakarta Police headquarters, while declining to provide details on the suspected poisoner.

 Krishna admitted that police had required extra time and care in determining a suspect to avoid any error in the criminal process.

 "So if any party files for a pretrial motion, we will be ready to handle it," he said.

 Legal and juridical obstacles also hampered investigators in revealing a suspect. For example, police had only received verbal information about the forensic results of the cyanide-laced coffee, but not the formal documents from the National Police's forensic laboratory.

 Results from psychiatric evaluations of Jessica Kumala Wongso, Mirna's friend and a witness, had also needed time to be put into the case dossier, Krishna said.

 Police summoned Hani, Mirna's other friend who was with Mirna at the time of her death, as a witness on Monday.

 Hani had joined newlywed Mirna and Jessica in a cafe in Grand Indonesia Mall in Central Jakarta and witnessed Mirna's having seizures and vomiting hours before Mirna died in hospital.

 Investigators questioned Hani twice on Monday to get clearer information as Krishna said Hani had panicked when Mirna died leading her to forget some details of the incident.

 Hani made no comment to journalists after her second questioning of the day.

 Jakarta Police have sought the help of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in a bid to unveil the truth behind Mirna's suspicious death. The AFP was expected to provide information regarding the relationship between Mirna and her friends, especially Jessica and Hani, as they all studied together in Australia.

 Police took Jessica's servant, identified only as SR, into police protection as a key witness on Friday.

 SR is believed to have disposed of Jessica's ripped pants after Mirna's death at Jessica's request. Police had searched for the pants but to no avail.

 Jessica's lawyer, and uncle, Yudi Wibowo has denied that his niece had any involvement in Mirna's death claiming that they were best friends while studying in Australia. (rin) ||||| She did not elaborate on her questioning at the Jakarta Police headquarters, merely saying: "It was still the same as the previous ones. I was only told to improve my answers and give more details."

 Jessica's statements came amid mounting suspicions about her possible involvement. Mirna, 27, collapsed into convulsions after taking only one sip of her Vietnamese iced coffee drink on Dec. 6 at the Olivier cafe in Grand Indonesia mall.

 Jessica reportedly arrived at the cafe almost an hour earlier and ordered drinks for both Mirna and another friend, Hani, with police having confirmed that traces of highly toxic cyanide had been found in Mirna's stomach and in the drink she consumed -- but not in other drinks served at the cafe.

 During previous questionings, it was also revealed that unlike Hani, Jessica never attempted to taste the coffee herself.

 "I suffer from a stomach disorder and the coffee is too strong, thus I did not taste it," Jessica said after Wednesday's questioning.

 A day earlier, three forensic psychiatry experts grilled her, with police saying the questioning session was aimed at soliciting “actual testimony” about Mirna's death and analyzing Jessica's "character."

 Earlier on Wednesday, Sr. Comr. Mohammad Iqbal, spokesman for the Jakarta Police, said investigators were trying to put together all pieces of evidence they have collected in the case.

 "We are synchronizing witnesses' testimony, the results of forensics lab tests, footage of surveillance cameras and the results of the case reenactments," Iqbal said. "After this, we will immediately name a suspect." |||||


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Philadelphia Police are trying to figure out how a 36-year-old woman with special needs was chained up to a bed in the basement of a house on the 200 block of Linton Street in the city's Olney section.

 Philadelphia Police are trying to figure out how a 36-year-old woman with special needs was chained up to a bed in the basement of a house on the 200 block of Linton Street in the city's Olney section.

 Philadelphia Police are trying to figure out how a 36-year-old woman with special needs was chained up to a bed in the basement of a house on the 200 block of Linton Street in the city's Olney section.

 Philadelphia Police are trying to figure out how a 36-year-old woman with special needs was chained up to a bed in the basement of a house on the 200 block of Linton Street in the city's Olney section.

 Special Needs Woman Found Chained Up In Olney Basement

 Special Needs Woman Found Chained Up In Olney Basement

 Police say a woman is facing charges following the discovery of a woman found tied to a bed in the basement of a north Philadelphia home.

 Police say a woman is facing charges following the discovery of a woman found tied to a bed in the basement of a north Philadelphia home.

 Police say a woman is facing charges following the discovery of a woman found tied to a bed in the basement of a north Philadelphia home.

 Police say a woman is facing charges following the discovery of a woman found tied to a bed in the basement of a north Philadelphia home.

 Woman Charged In Case Of Special-Needs Cousin Chained To Bed

 A disabled woman found tied to her bed leads to her cousin being placed under arrest, accused of keeping her in deplorable conditions, police say.

 It was at 11:54 p.m. Friday when 35th District officers responded to a home on the 200 block of Linton Street in reference to what police called "an ongoing neighborhood dispute."

 Regina Bennett, 46, was arrested for threats and assault against a neighbor, police said.

 As officers were leaving the location, they learned a young child was living where Bennett resides, although they said there weren't any visible signs of a child living there.

 Officers and a supervisor conducted a walk-through of the residence, and that's when police say they discovered the 36-year-old woman bound to a bed in "unsuitable conditions."

 Police said she was extremely thin, had sores on her body and has a limited vocabulary.

 The woman's chains and zip-ties were cut off by officers, and medics transported the woman to Albert Einstein Medical Center, where she was admitted and continues to be evaluated.

 FOX 29 broke the news to family members that showed up for a cookout Saturday. They say Bennett is the victim's cousin and caretaker.

 Neighbors say regardless of the investigation's outcome, they want the suspect far from their block.

 Bennett has been charged with terroristic threats, simple assault, public drunkenness, aggravated assault, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment and related offenses, police said Sunday. ||||| By Elizabeth Hur

 PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Philadelphia police are investigating disturbing allegations of abuse after detectives freed a disabled man who was allegedly being held captive for his social security checks.

 The 63-year-old victim is deaf and mute, so through his brother he explained to Eyewitness News how he says he was abused by 56-year-old Dwayne Young for months — a man the family describes as an acquaintance.

 Robert Richardson, the victim’s brother said, “He was physically abused. No scars, but the body was being beaten. He said he was getting no food and he was urinating in a bucket.”

 Police confirm they arrested Young after they found the victim locked inside the basement of a Southwest Philadelphia home on Sunday. Investigators say the victim was held against his will after he was abducted off the street at 18th and Washington in April.

 Richardson explained, “A lot of things were taken from him, his wallet, his ID.”

 In addition, the family says his social security checks were cashed by the suspect. Police say that was the motive behind this heinous crime which is similar to another, unrelated case involving Linda Weston where police allege Weston kidnapped and assaulted her mentally disabled victims in a Tacony basement to profit from her victims’ social security benefits.

 “I was angry. It’s enough to make anybody angry,” Richardson said.

 In this case, police say Young kept the basement relatively clean but kept the door locked from the outside and the windows boarded up so that the victim couldn’t see out and no one could peek in.

 Richardson concluded, “I hope he doesn’t see sunlight again. He needs to rot in jail. I just hope he never comes out. He needs to get what he deserves.”

 Richardson believes his brother’s social security checks came out to at most $600 a month.

 Young was charged Kidnapping, Aggravated Assault, Forgery, Receiving Stolen Property and related offenses. As of Wednesday night, Young remained in jail with his bail set at $1,000,000. ||||| Get the latest Philly.com Daily Headlines newsletter delivered to your email. Sign up now!

 AN OLNEY WOMAN described by a neighbor as "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" has been charged with holding a woman with special needs captive in her basement. Police arrested Regina Bennett, 46, of Linton Street near 2nd, shortly after midnight Saturday following a verbal dispute with a neighbor. Authorities said that after taking Bennett into custody, neighbors informed them there was a small child living in the house, although police did not see signs of a child. Police said officers and a supervisor conducted a walk-through of the home and discovered a 36-year-old woman in the basement bound to a bed in "unsuitable conditions." She was cut free and taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center, where she was evaluated.

 Authorities said the victim was extremely thin, with sores on her body. She appears to be mentally disabled with a limited vocabulary.

 Investigators have been unable to determine Bennett's relationship to the victim, according to Officer Tanya Little, a police spokeswoman.

 "I haven't seen anything that stated what their relationship was or whether she was the caretaker," Little said.

 Bennett is facing a dozen charges, including aggravated assault, kidnapping for ransom and neglect of care.

 Yolanda Cropper, who lives across the street from Bennett, said her neighbor showed two very different sides.

 "When you see her, she's like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. If she's not drinking, she's quiet, very withdrawn," Cropper said. She added that Bennett had expressed prejudice against those who are not African-American like she is.

 Despite only living on the block a few months, Bennett had numerous run-ins with neighbors, according to Cropper. She said that three weeks ago, Bennett cursed out a neighbor after the woman said hello to her. During this weekend's altercation with the neighbor, Bennett was visibly intoxicated, Cropper said.

 "[Those] people don't bother nobody," she said of the other neighbor in the dispute.

 Cropper said Bennett, known on the block as "Queen," has a grandson who visits on the weekends and plays outside. She said she had never seen the unidentified woman discovered in the basement.

 "She was small . . . she did not look like a 36-year-old woman," Cropper said of the woman.

 A woman identified as Phyllis, who claimed to be Bennett's cousin, told reporters Saturday that Bennett cared for the woman who police discovered in the house.

 "When she was in her care, she took care of her like she was her own flesh-and-blood child. Her room was neat and clean; she went to her programs and fed her. That's all I know," she told 6ABC.

 The case is similar to a case last September in which police said a disabled man was held captive for months in Southwest Philadelphia for his Social Security checks. Dwayne Young is awaiting trial in that case. It also sparks memories of the Tacony dungeon case, in which Linda Ann Weston, her daughter Jean McIntosh and three others were charged with an elaborate scheme to imprison four people in a boiler room for their Social Security benefits.

 No attorney for Bennett could be located.

 On Twitter: @ChroniclesofSol |||||

– It's the kind of story where you don't want the word "again" to come into play. But Philadelphia is once again in the news with the revelation that a woman with special needs was being held captive in a basement there. The Philadelphia Daily News reports that the discovery came in a roundabout way: Regina Bennett, 46, was arrested in the wee hours of Saturday morning after getting into an altercation with her neighbor; police were told there was a young child in her home, but when they searched it, they instead found a 36-year-old woman chained and zip-tied to a bed in "unsuitable conditions," reports MyFoxPhilly. Bennett's relationship to the victim remains murky: While some outlets describe the women as cousins, others say Bennett was the woman's caretaker. WPVI reports that it spoke with the victim's sister, Alissia Robinson, who puts her mental ability at that of a 10-year-old and says police told her the 36-year-old was found naked. Robinson says her sister began living with Bennett in 2007, and that she hadn't seen her for a year following a fight with Bennett. Bennett is staring down a dozen charges, including aggravated assault, kidnapping for ransom, and neglect of care.


SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — An eastern South Dakota farm with 1.3 million egg-laying chickens is the first in the chicken-production business in the state to be infected with a deadly flu virus despite efforts to prevent it, state and farm officials said Thursday.

 In this July 9, 2014 photo released by Dakota Layers, batches of eggs move through the processing area of Dakota Layers in Flandreau, S.D. The farm is the first in the chicken-production business in the... (Associated Press)

 This Oct. 5, 2014, aerial photo released by Dakota Layers, shows the Dakota Layers Egg Laying Facility in Flandreau, S.D. The farm is the first in the chicken-production business in the state to be infected... (Associated Press)

 In this July 9, 2014 photo released by Dakota Layers, a batch of eggs is sprayed with water after entering the processing area of Dakota Layers in Flandreau, S.D. The farm is the first in the chicken-production... (Associated Press)

 Flandreau-based Dakota Layers, which accounts for nearly half of the state's almost 2.7 million egg-laying chickens, reached out to the state veterinarian Wednesday after it noticed an unusual number of dead birds in one of its nine barns.

 A South Dakota State University lab confirmed the presence of the highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza virus. Officials hadn't confirmed yet Thursday whether it was the H5N2 strain. If so, then the virus will have led to the deaths of more than 33 million chickens and turkeys in the Midwest, primarily at farms in neighboring Minnesota and Iowa.

 South Dakota State Veterinarian Dustin Oedekoven said crews would begin euthanizing the chickens after they determined how best to handle the largest outbreak the state has seen thus far.

 Dakota Layers' Chief Executive Officer Scott Ramsdell said in a statement Thursday that Dakota Layers had taken "extensive biosecurity measures" over the last two months to prevent an outbreak in their barns.

 "Unfortunately, as many poultry farms are discovering, even our extraordinary measures proved ineffective in preventing the spread of avian influenza into one of our barns," Ramsdell said.

 Dakota Layers produces more than 90,000 dozens of eggs daily and ships about 70 percent of its eggs to California. Agriculture officials have stressed there is no danger to the supply and very low risk to humans.

 Oedekoven said it was disappointing to see a large-scale operation lose it birds after taking all the appropriate precautions.

 "It's a big loss, it's a big hit," he said.

 Officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture were on site Thursday to evaluate the operation and work with the state in figuring out how to proceed. Bird flu has already been found at eight turkey farms in South Dakota — affecting almost 500,000 birds — but none of this magnitude.

 The hens would likely be humanely euthanized with carbon dioxide gas, Oedekoven said, but the state hasn't yet decided how to dispose of the carcasses. Officials have primarily been burying turkey carcasses in addition to composting them.

 "It's not pleasant work, but we've had great cooperation with our industry and we hope they can make it through this," Oedekoven said. "We'll proceed as best we can and continue to hope for the end of this plague." ||||| Joe Greco, who’s been churning out cookies and cakes for 27 years, usually uses about 600 pounds of liquid eggs a week at his bakery near Chicago. Now, his freezer has seven times that amount because Greco worries that record prices are about to go even higher.

 The cost of breaker eggs -- those cracked and sold in liquid form for use by wholesale bakers and restaurants such as McDonald’s Corp. -- have more than doubled in the past three weeks. The culprit behind the surge: the worst-ever American outbreak of the bird flu virus.

 More than 33.5 million chickens, turkeys and other birds have been affected. Iowa, the top U.S. egg producer, was hardest hit, losing 40 percent of its laying hens. The disease prompted the government to forecast the first annual drop in egg production since 2008. Greco is concerned his 4,200-pound (1,900-kilogram) stash of liquid eggs won’t protect him from higher costs, and that he’ll have to start buying eggs still in shells to crack by hand.

 “As soon as I heard about the bird flu, I knew this was going to happen,” said Greco, 47, who owns Palermo Bakery in Norridge, Illinois, near Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. He’s been racing to buy extra supplies over the past month and saw prices for the pails of liquid eggs he buys jump 28 percent last week. “After the Fourth of July, there might be another nightmare, so I’m still shopping around to see if there are better prices.”

 Highly pathogenic avian influenza spread rapidly through parts of the Midwest in the past two months, and Iowa lost about 23 million hens. Post Holdings Inc. has warned that bird flu will hurt fiscal 2015 earnings at its food-service unit, while countries in the Middle East and Asia have placed restrictions on shipments of U.S. poultry.

 Falling Output

 The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Tuesday said that domestic egg production will drop this year, reversing an April forecast for an increase. Bird flu will also limit turkey supplies, though they’re still expected to climb from 2014. Total annual poultry and egg output is valued at about $48 billion.

 Prices for wholesale breaker-eggs reached $1.23 a dozen on Wednesday, the highest ever, according to commodity researcher Urner Barry. The highly concentrated industry in Iowa increases the chances of greater supply impact, said David Swenson, a regional economist at Iowa State University in Ames. About 1 percent of the state’s farms account for 97 percent of egg capacity, he estimated.

 A third of all eggs in the U.S. are broken for the liquid products, and about 23 percent of that supply has been destroyed by bird flu, according to Urner Barry, which has been tracking the industry since 1858. The liquid eggs are a staple in industrial food production for everything from imitation crab meat to ice cream.

 ‘Industrial Users’

 “It’s more complicated than just the grocery store and the dairy counter,” Iowa State’s Swenson said in a telephone interview. Higher costs will “find their way more widely downstream into large industrial users,” he said.

 Governors in Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Iowa have made resources available to stem the spread of the disease after declaring states of emergency, and the USDA has authorized $330 million for bird-flu assistance to farmers. Warmer weather is also expected to slow the outbreak.

 McDonald’s, which uses liquid eggs for its sausage burrito and scrambled eggs, has contingency plans and doesn’t anticipate an impact on its ability to supply restaurants or serve customers, spokeswoman Lisa McComb said in a May 13 e-mail.

 Center Fresh

 Farms housing about 5.5 million hens owned by Sioux Center, Iowa-based Center Fresh Group reported cases of the disease last month, prompting the company to increase measures to prevent more infections. They’re now washing the tires and undercarriages of all vehicles that come onto their farms.

 “Our entire industry is engaged at this point in this problem and how to get through it,” J.T. Dean, Center Fresh’s chief operating officer, said in a telephone interview. “We’re going to continue to maintain every biosecurity step that we can on our unaffected facilities, and I suspect we’ll maintain that posture indefinitely.”

 Clean-Up Time

 The most important business stories of the day. Get Bloomberg's daily newsletter. More infected flocks will spur even higher costs, with egg prices expected to climb about 1.6 percent for every 1 million lost hens, said Dermot Hayes, an agricultural economist at Iowa State University. The gains can also stick around longer than the disease because of lengthy clean-up procedures and the time it takes for a chick to grow into a laying hen, according to Tom Elam, the president of agricultural-consulting firm FarmEcon in Carmel, Indiana.

 With food makers rushing for supplies, more are turning to shell eggs sold in cartons when they’re unable to find the liquid product. The shelled substitutes fetched $1.55 a dozen on Wednesday, higher than the five-year average for the month of May at $1.08. Chicago baker Greco estimates his costs for liquid eggs could go up another 25 percent by the summer.

 “We’re starting to see some shortages, because for some of the companies that have lost a large number of these birds, there’s no fall-back,” Rick Brown, a senior vice president at Bayville, New Jersey-based Urner Barry, said in a telephone interview. “You can’t just go and say, ‘Oh, I need 2 million eggs today, where can I get them?’ We’re just not able to replace them that easily.” |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– The worst outbreak of bird flu in US history is leaving farmers with huge piles of dead chickens and turkeys to get rid of—and leaving consumers with less money in their pockets. It's not just cartons of eggs that have gone up in price with the deaths of millions of hens, the New York Times reports, but the liquid eggs used in dozens of products like mayonnaise and ice cream. There are now 15 states with confirmed cases of avian flu, and Iowa, which supplies a fifth of the country's eggs, has been especially hard-hit, with more than 40% of its egg-laying chickens gone, the Times reports. It takes time to build new flocks of laying chickens, and analysts warn that prices are expected to keep climbing, especially for liquid eggs. "We're starting to see some shortages, because for some of the companies that have lost a large number of these birds, there's no fallback," an exec at commodity analyst Urner Barry tells Bloomberg. "You can't just go and say, 'Oh, I need 2 million eggs today, where can I get them?' We're just not able to replace them that easily." In a worrying sign, a major South Dakota farm that had taken extensive precautions confirmed cases of avian flu this week and all of its 1.3 million hens will be euthanized, the AP reports. "As many poultry farms are discovering, even our extraordinary measures proved ineffective in preventing the spread of avian influenza into one of our barns," Dakota Layers said in a statement. (An egg producer in Iowa had to kill 5.3 million chickens last month.)


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– After actor Anthony Rapp made his explosive accusation that Kevin Spacey attempted to have a sexual encounter with him when Rapp was just 14, Spacey quickly apologized. But that apology itself has been under withering criticism all day, with the main complaint being that Spacey also used his note to come out as gay and, as critics see it, deflect attention from Rapp's allegation. Meanwhile, the upcoming sixth season of House and Cards is still in the works, but it will be the last, a decision that TVLine reports is unrelated to the new controversy. Here's a look at developments:

Focused crawls are collections of frequently-updated webcrawl data from narrow (as opposed to broad or wide) web crawls, often focused on a single domain or subdomain. ||||| House of Cards is folding: The Netflix drama’s forthcoming sixth season will be the series’ last, TVLine has learned.

 News of the political drama’s impending swan song comes less than 24 hours after actor Anthony Rapp accused House of Cards leading man Kevin Spacey of making a sexual advance at him when he was 14. Multiple sources confirm, however, that the decision to bring HoC to an end was made months ago and was not in response to the allegations. (A Netlix rep confirms this.)

 Last June, TVLine asked House of Cards co-showrunners Melissa James Gibson and Frank Pugliese about an end date, to which they responded, “It’s not entirely up to us,” before acknowledging that the show is in “new terrain” creatively.

 At the conclusion of Season 5, Spacey’s Francis handed the Commander in Chief reins over to wife/first lady Claire (Robin Wright) and exited the political arena (at least the official one) altogether. “It’s a significant pivot at the end of Season 5,” Gibson noted. “We’re saying that there’s power beyond the power. That’s a radical thing for the show to say that there’s power beyond the presidency. That’s been the be-all and end-all for five seasons. I think there’s definitely more to dig into there.”

 Production on House of Cards‘ sixth and final season began earlier this month despite the fact that Netflix never officially confirmed that it had even ordered a Season 6. (The streamer has always played by its own unique rules when it comes to announcing renewals.)

 Regarding Rapp’s allegations, Spacey released a statement late Sunday saying he was “beyond horrified to hear [Rapp’s] story,” adding, “I honestly do not remember the encounter, it would have been over 30 years ago. But if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years.”

 Spacey also took the opportunity to set the record straight about his sexuality. “I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man,” he said. The Oscar winner’s statement was met with a swift backlash from the gay community, with GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis lamenting, “Coming-out stories should not be used to deflect from allegations of sexual assault.”

 House of Cards creator Beau Willimon, who stepped away from the series at the end of Season 4, released a statement of his own via Twitter early Monday.

 My statement regarding Anthony Rapp and Kevin Spacey: pic.twitter.com/8z6zotHWE5 — Beau Willimon (@BeauWillimon) October 30, 2017

 House of Cards‘ sixth and final season will premiere in 2018. |||||


– A lost hiker in Maine starved to death after waiting for rescue and then accepting her fate, heartbreaking journal entries have revealed. Geraldine Largay, a 66-year-old from Tennessee, disappeared while hiking the Appalachian Trail in Maine on July 22, 2013, and the newly disclosed journal shows that she survived for at least 26 days, the Portland Press Herald reports. "When you find my body, please call my husband George and my daughter Kerry," she wrote in an Aug. 6 journal entry. "It will be the greatest kindness for them to know that I am dead and where you found me—no matter how many years from now." The final entry was dated Aug. 18. Her skeletal remains were discovered in a tent 3,000 feet from the trail more than two years later. Largay, who was trying to complete a "bucket list" hike from West Virginia to the trail's end solo after a friend left for a family emergency, was reported missing by her husband after she failed to make it to a rendezvous point. A huge search and rescue effort followed, but it was suspended after a week. According to a 1,579-page Maine Warden Service report, Largay became lost after leaving the trail to go to the bathroom, the Boston Globe reports. She tried to text her husband at least a dozen times, but she was unable to get a signal even after moving to higher ground. She then set up a campsite on a knoll, where authorities found a handmade flag and evidence she had tried to start a signal fire. On Oct. 18, 2015, a week after a forester found her body, her husband of 42 years and other family members joined wardens in a hike to the site, where they left a cross and family mementos. (Two "lost" hikers in North Carolina were found in a town 30 miles away.)

Expand this summary.

Appalachian Trail hiker Geraldine Largay survived for nearly a month after getting lost along the trail in Franklin County in July 2013, and documented her final days in a journal that was among the personal effects found by the Maine Warden Service when it recovered her remains more than two years later.

 The journal entries, as well as text messages she tried to send her husband on a cellphone that also was recovered, were among documents released Wednesday by the warden service that paint a picture of a slight misadventure that turned tragic when a massive search-and-rescue effort scoured the vast area in vain.

 Excerpts from warden service report

 “When you find my body, please call my husband George and my daughter Kerry,” Largay wrote in a journal entry dated Aug. 6. “It will be the greatest kindness for them to know that I am dead and where you found me – no matter how many years from now. Please find it in your heart to mail the contents of this bag to one of them.”

 Problems began for Largay, a 66-year-old hiker from Brentwood, Tennessee, when she got lost after leaving the trail for a bathroom break while heading north en route to the Spaulding lean-to on July 22, 2013. At 11 a.m., she used her blue Samsung phone to text her husband: “In somm trouble. Got off trail to go to br. Now lost. Can u call AMC to c if a trail maintainer can help me. Somewhere north of woods road. Xox.”

 But the message wouldn’t transmit because there was no cell coverage in the area. She tried sending the text 10 more times over the next hour and a half.

 The next day, walking west through the dense and vast woods of northern Franklin County, seeking a higher elevation in the hopes of getting a cellphone signal, she tried texting her husband again at 4:18 p.m.: “Lost since yesterday. Off trail 3 or 4 miles. Call police for what to do pls. Xox.”

 She tried sending it again 20 minutes later. Still nothing.

 At that point, Largay decided her best chance of survival would be staying put. She set up a tent on a bed of pine needles and sticks, and wrote in a journal every day for at least the next 18 days. A final entry was dated Aug. 18 – 26 days after she set up camp.

 The warden service found Largay’s remains and her campsite more than two years later, detailing the search-and-recovery effort in a report on Nov. 12, 2015, that was part of a 1,579-page case file obtained Wednesday by the Morning Sentinel. The warden service’s case file, which was first reported by the Boston Globe, contains hundreds of pages of evidence photographs, witness interviews and tips.

 Largay kept the journal and her cellphone in a bag that was recovered by the warden service after a forester came across her tent and skeletal remains and led wardens to the site on Oct. 15, 2015. The warden service had not previously disclosed that a journal had been found there.

 Warden service spokesman Cpl. John MacDonald declined to comment Wednesday when asked about the report and its contents.

 David Fox, a friend of the Largay family who has previously acted as a spokesman, did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday.

 A SINGLE CLUE TO GO ON

 Largay, a through-hiker nicknamed “Inchworm,” started on the 2,184-mile Appalachian Trail in West Virginia in April with a friend, Jane Lee.

 Largay’s husband of 42 years, George Largay, told police that the trail, which starts at Springer Mountain in Georgia and ends at Mount Katahdin in Maine, was on his wife’s “bucket list” and that he had supported the women along the way, meeting them at different locations and taking them to motels to sleep, do their laundry and shower.

 Lee had to leave the trail because of a family emergency, and Largay decided to continue on alone. Her husband reported her missing on July 24, 2013, after she failed to show up at a prearranged meeting point on state Route 27 in Wyman Township. That was two days after she was last seen by other hikers early on July 22, at the Poplar Ridge lean-to.

 Largay died in her sleeping bag inside a zipped tent, according to a report from the chief medical examiner released in January. She died from a lack of food and water and environmental exposure, the report said.

 She was about 2 miles from the Appalachian Trail, on land belonging to the U.S. Navy. The warden service, volunteer groups, police and others looked for Largay over 26 months, and the search is considered one of the most lengthy and expensive in state history.

 “Investigation would take time to work through several false leads, false identifications, and locating and finding hikers who had valuable information and continued to hike the trail,” Lt. Kevin Adam of the warden service wrote in his report filed Nov. 12, 2015.

 After seven days of intense searching, the effort was suspended on July 30, 2013, though periodic efforts would continue over the coming months.

 A photo of Largay taken at the Poplar Ridge lean-to by another hiker was the single clue that investigators had to go on.

 “There were many leads over the next 26 months, ranging from persons of interest for possible criminal activity related to Gerry’s disappearance, identity theft involving Gerry’s personal information, geographic information by psychics, sightings in different states, to information suggesting Bigfoot was responsible for her disappearance,” Adam wrote in his report. “All of these leads were investigated with our investigative partners.”

 The forester, who was working on a contract for the U.S. Navy, came across Largay’s tent and remains on Oct. 11, 2015.

 POOR SENSE OF DIRECTION

 Though Largay’s family and friends described her as an experienced hiker, the wardens’ case file indicated she had a poor sense of direction, and when she made a mistake would become easily flustered.

 Lee, who described herself as Largay’s best friend, told the wardens about multiple occasions when she had to backtrack on the trail to find her hiking companion. In those cases, Largay had either become lost or had fallen behind, Lee told investigators. Lee also said her friend was scared of the dark and of being alone, and never wanted to bring extra supplies because she had a sore back and wanted to avoid carrying a heavy pack.

 Lee, who didn’t respond to an email seeking comment Wednesday, told the wardens that she was certain Largay’s husband wasn’t aware of her struggles, and he too told them that “Gerry was probably in over her head.”

 On Oct. 18, 2015, Adam and other game wardens met with Largay’s husband and other family members to show them where Largay was found, arriving at the site after hiking through thick softwood trees along the Appalachian Trail, into more open terrain with hardwoods, past old logging roads, down and up steep ridges and over brooks.

 “After everyone finished looking around the campsite, the family left a cross where the tent was located along with several family mementos,” Adam wrote. “After clearing the campsite, we headed south.”

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 This iframe contains the logic required to handle Ajax powered Gravity Forms. ||||| The haunting note, dated Aug. 6, 2013, was written on a torn-out page from a journal.

 “When you find my body, please call my husband George and my daughter Kerry. It will be the greatest kindness for them to know that I am dead and where you found me — no matter how many years from now. Please find it in your heart to mail the contents of this bag to one of them.”

 The bag included a cellphone and the journal.

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 Geraldine Largay wrote the plaintive message to her family nearly two weeks after she went missing while hiking the Appalachian Trail in Western Maine, according to the official file on her disappearance released Wednesday by the Maine Warden Service.

 Get Fast Forward in your inbox: Forget yesterday's news. Get what you need today in this early-morning email. Sign Up Thank you for signing up! Sign up for more newsletters here

 It appears that Largay, who was 66 and lived in Tennessee, survived for nearly four weeks after she was reported missing and three weeks after authorities had given up the search, which was one of the largest in Maine Warden Service history.

 Rescuers at several times came within 100 yards of her, authorities said. But her body was not found until October 2015.

 In the wardens’ file, which totals 1,579 pages, authorities said they believed that Largay went off the trail to use the bathroom and couldn’t find her way back. The site is densely wooded and in an area so remote it’s used by the Navy for survival and evasion training.

 The file also says wardens found evidence that Largay attempted to text her husband after becoming lost, but the crucial texts were not delivered because of poor cell reception.

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 In a text sent at 11:01 a.m. on July 22, 2013, Largay said, “In somm trouble. Got off trail to go to br. Now lost. Can u call AMC to c if a trail maintainer can help me. Somewhere north of woods road. XOX.”

 At 4:18 p.m. on July 23, 2013, after spending her first night lost in the forest, she texted George, “Lost since yesterday. Off trail 3 or 4 miles. Call police for what to do pls. XOX.”

 She attempted additional texts. According to the wardens, the last activity on her phone was dated Aug. 6, 2013, the day she wrote the note to her family.

 The last entry in her journal is dated Aug. 18, meaning she apparently survived at least 26 days after she disappeared.

 The wardens concluded that Largay made her way to higher ground in an attempt to get better cell coverage. She established a campground on a knoll.

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 She set up her tent and made use of both her rain gear and an emergency Mylar blanket.

 She appeared to have crafted a flag out of a branch and shirt and attempted to start a large fire, according to the newly released file, presumably to reveal her location.

 Largay built a latrine area away from her tent and kept wrappers from her dwindling food supply — Clif bars, tuna fish packs, and Gatorade powder — tucked in a large Ziploc bag.

 Wardens found a rosary among her possessions. She was just a 10-minute walk from a dirt trail that turns into a road. She died from a lack of food and environmental exposure.

 Largay’s family requested privacy Wednesday while they took the time to read the file in depth.

 John MacDonald, spokesman for the warden service, said Wednesday that the agency is drafting a statement regarding the release of the file that will be issued at a later date.

 He also said no internal review of the warden’s search has been conducted or is planned at this time.

 Deb Palman, who established the wardens’ K-9 search unit and currently heads up Maine’s only independent K-9 search firm, says conditions in the area made a successful search all but impossible.

 “This is some of the worst country in Maine,” Palman said. “It’s hard to understand how logistically difficult this area was. On any given day, by the time a searcher would get close to where Largay was found, they’d have to turn around to make it back to their vehicles by nightfall.”

 The release of the file is the latest chapter in the disappearance that has transfixed the region and the large community of hikers who traverse the Appalachian Trail.

 Largay, an experienced hiker whose trail moniker was “Inchworm,” had started hiking the trail in April 2013 with her hiking partner, Jane Lee.

 Their plan was to hike from Harpers Ferry, W. Va., to Maine’s Mount Katahdin, the northern terminus of the trail.

 A family emergency forced Lee to leave the trail as the duo crossed into New Hampshire. Largay continued to hike solo. An old back injury prevented her from carrying a full backpack, so her husband would meet her along the way with fresh supplies.

 George Largay last saw his wife on the morning of Sunday, July 21.

 On that day, Geraldine Largay set out on what was to be a three-day hike beginning near Maine’s Saddleback Mountain and terminating just north of the Sugarloaf Ski Resort.

 She was due to meet her husband at a parking lot off Route 27 there.

 He arrived at the appointed time but was not able to locate Largay. Thinking that a severe rainstorm the day before might have waylaid her, he spent that night in their vehicle, hoping she would arrive.

 The next morning, he hailed a State Police officer driving by and reported her missing.

 According to the file, Largay established a campsite atop a knoll located on property owned by the Navy as part of their Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape school located there. She would stay there for the remaining days of her life.

 The site, located near a stream, was thoughtful and orderly.

 Largay built a platform of logs and pine boughs on which to pitch her tent.

 While at the site, she also used a small black composition book as a daily journal. The cover of the journal includes what might have been Largay’s last written words: “George please read. Xoxo.” |||||


Article:

She hasn't been dating him very long but that didn't stop Jennifer Aniston from introducing new guy Justin Theroux to her friends this past weekend.A source tells PEOPLE that the 'Horrible Bosses' star threw a little party last Friday night and used it as an opportunity to introduce Theroux to some of her closest buddies, including Courteney Cox and Chelsea Handler "They all had a great time and enjoyed Justin's company," the source told PEOPLE. The couple, which met last fall while making the upcoming film, 'Wanderlust,' are "doing great," the source added. "He's edgier than the guys Jen usually dates. She really likes him!" ||||| The Breakup, starring Jennifer Aniston and . . . Courteney Cox?

 Although the actresses have been best friends through thick and thin since the 1994 debut of, er, Friends on NBC, they haven't been photographed together in nearly a year.

 PHOTOS: Jen and Courteney friendship -- a timeline

 "There's tension" between Aniston, 42, and Cox, 46, one source confirms in the new Us Weekly, out now.

 What could possibly threaten such a close-knit friendship? Cox's trial separation from hubby David Arquette as she hangs with sexy Cougar Town costars Brian Van Holt and Josh Hopkins.

 PHOTOS: Shocking best friend breakups

 "Jen thinks Courteney is acting callous by running around with this guy but refusing to file divorce papers," an Aniston source says. "Like she's playing mind games with David." (Cox and Arquette announced their trial split in September 2010 after 11 years of marriage.)

 Cox's post-separation antics with her costar even reminded Aniston of her own marital heartache with ex Brad Pitt, who took up with Angelina Jolie weeks after their 2005 split.

 PHOTOS: A look back at Brad and Jen's good old days together

 "She hates watching Courteney do the same thing," the source says.

 Can this friendship be saved? Read more about this shocking rift in the new Us Weekly -- on stands now. ||||| Courteney Cox and Brad Pitt Meet for Dinner

 Email This joined his ex-wife's best friend

 The two stars joined 12 other people at Hollywood hotspot Beso for a dinner party celebrating their manager Cynthia Pett-Dante's birthday,

 "They hugged and kissed when they greeted each other," an onlooker told PEOPLE. "They talked for a while."

 "They were chatting, catching up," the witness added. "They both seemed happy and totally relaxed, very at ease. And they were both smiling the entire time. It didn't seem awkward at all." Brad Pitt joined his ex-wife's best friend Courteney Cox for dinner on Wednesday--but it's not as scandalous as it sounds.The two stars joined 12 other people at Hollywood hotspot Beso for a dinner party celebrating their manager Cynthia Pett-Dante's birthday, PEOPLE reports. In fact, 'Eastbound and Down' star Danny McBride was also there."They hugged and kissed when they greeted each other," an onlooker told PEOPLE. "They talked for a while.""They were chatting, catching up," the witness added. "They both seemed happy and totally relaxed, very at ease. And they were both smiling the entire time. It didn't seem awkward at all."

 http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,entry&id=691977&pid=691976&uts=1273167996 http://www.popeater.com/mm_track/popeater/music/?s_channel=us.musicpop&s_account=aolpopeater,aolsvc&omni=1&ke=1 http://cdn.channel.aol.com/cs_feed_v1_6/csfeedwrapper.swf PopScene: Week's Hottest Pics Gabourey Sidibe attends The American Cancer Society's Choose You luncheon on May 5th in New York City. Amy Sussman, Getty Images Amy Sussman, Getty Images PopScene: Weeks Hottest Pics

 Cox and Pitt didn't sit next to each other at the meal but did get to spend some time together catching up. No word on whether they chatted about Jennifer Aniston . The eyewitness also reports that Pitt chowed on a steak and sipped a beer and even sat at the bar with the patrons for a little bit. "He was really cool." |||||
What is a summary?

– Friends stars Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox have been famous for being real-life friends ever since the show debuted in 1994. So why haven't they been photographed together in almost a year? Sources tell Us "there's tension" between them, and not because Courteney had dinner with Brad Pitt last month. No, it stems from Cox going out on the town with her male costars during her trial separation from hubby David Arquette. "Jen thinks Courteney is acting callous by running around with this guy but refusing to file divorce papers," an Aniston source says. "Like she's playing mind games with David." The source adds that the whole thing reminds Jen of her own ex-husband taking up with Angelina Jolie after they split: "She hates watching Courteney do the same thing." But click here for a report that Jen recently introduced her new boy toy to friends ... including Cox.


Article:

Mr. Yancey’s extraordinary reversal of fortune came a day after a recount erased a 10-vote lead he held on Election Day. His lawyer said that was the first time in Virginia that an election result had been changed in a recount. Republicans had even congratulated Ms. Simonds and pledged to share power in bipartisan fashion. Ms. Simonds took a victory lap early Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

 A lawyer for the Virginia House Democratic caucus, Marc Elias, said that the local court’s decision about the ballot was wrong and that he was assessing legal options. “The Republicans themselves had affirmed that this result was accurate yesterday before changing their minds today,” Mr. Elias said in a statement. “After conceding this seat and their majority, they are now desperately trying to claw both back.”

 Ms. Simonds’s representative argued before the judges that the disputed ballot should not be counted because it was an example of an “overvote,” when multiple candidates for the same race are chosen. However, the Virginia Department of Elections, in a guide to hand-counting ballots, appears to address the issue, showing an example in which a voter marks two candidates but clarifies the intention using “an additional mark or marks that appear to indicate support.” In that case, the guide says, “the ballot shall be counted.”

 Tied votes, which are extremely rare, have occasionally been broken around the country by coin tosses or the like. A City Council race in Idaho was decided by a coin toss in November, only to have the results reversed after a recount. A survey of states in 2014 by The Washington Post found that 35 had provisions for breaking ties by means of chance, though often the particulars are vague. A decade ago, Connecticut repealed its coin-toss rule in favor of deciding tied races through the Legislature or by a runoff — in other words, a do-over.

 The closeness of the Virginia House race was part of a Democratic surge that flipped 15 other Republican-held House seats to Democrats, who also held onto the governor’s office. Mr. Yancey had won the House district two years ago by drubbing Ms. Simonds, 57 to 42 percent.

 That their rematch was so close was seen as another example in Virginia of a rebuke to President Trump. It also was a textbook lesson, in an age of fights over access to the voting booth, that every ballot matters.

 Willard Hoskins, 78, a Republican-leaning voter in the district, said he had voted for Mr. Yancey, never expecting how close the race would become. “If the mood of the people shifts, then watch out,” Mr. Hoskins said. ||||| Close Get email notifications on Jordan Pascale daily!

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 Whenever Jordan Pascale posts new content, you'll get an email delivered to your inbox with a link.

 Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. ||||| Control of Virginia's legislature hung in limbo Wednesday after a three-judge panel declined to certify the recount of a key House race, saying that a questionable ballot should be counted in favor of the Republican and tying a race that Democrats thought they had won by a single vote.

 "The court declares there is no winner in this election," Newport News Circuit Court Judge Bryant L. Sugg said after the panel deliberated for more than two hours.

 He said that the ballot in question contained a mark for Democrat Shelly Simonds as well as a mark for Republican Del. David Yancey but that the voter had made another mark to strike out Simonds's name.

 Officials presiding over the five-hour recount on Tuesday had discarded that ballot en route to a historic reversal of the original election outcome. Yancey had emerged from Election Day with a 10-vote lead in the 94th District, but the recount uncovered enough additional ballots for Simonds to give her a one-vote victory.

 That seemed to set up the House for a rare 50-50 split between Republicans and Democrats, ending 17 years of GOP dominance and making headlines nationwide.

 But Republicans challenged that decision in court Wednesday, saying the voter had selected every other Republican on the ballot and intended to vote for Yancey.

 This is the ballot that was scrutinized in the race for the Virginia House of Delegates 94th District in Newport News, Va. (N/A/City of Newport News, Virginia)

 [From Tuesday: A single vote leads to a rare tie for control of the Virginia legislature]

 The judges — all of whom were elected by a Republican-

 controlled legislature — agreed, leaving the race tied at 11,608 votes each for Yancey and Simonds. The balance of power in the House stands at 50-49 in favor of Republicans until the Newport News race can be resolved.

 State law says the winner of a tied House race will be determined by lot — leaving the fate of the chamber to what is essentially a coin toss.

 James Alcorn, chairman of the State Board of Elections, said the winner will be chosen by placing names on slips of paper into two film canisters and then drawing the canisters from a glass bowl (or his bowler hat). The drawing has been scheduled for Dec. 27 11 a.m. at the elections board in Richmond.

 Complicating the tiebreaking vote is the need to ensure that both a Democratic and Republican representative of the three-member elections board will be available during the holidays.

 "We were not planning to get together in the next week," said Alcorn, a Democrat appointed by outgoing Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D).

 But it doesn't end there. If the loser of the coin toss is unhappy with that result, he or she can seek a second recount.

 [Virginia is holding recounts in four House races. Here’s how they work]

 News of the court decision pulsed through political circles that, just a day before, had been roiled by the notion that Simonds had taken the seat from Yancey by a single vote in the recount.

 As he was leaving the courthouse Wednesday, Yancey said "the ruling today makes certain every vote in this historic election was counted."

 The turnaround shocked Democrats, who on social media were still celebrating their unlikely rise to power in the House of Delegates. Before the Nov. 7 elections, Republicans outnumbered Democrats in that chamber by 66 to 34. The GOP has a smaller, 21-to-19 edge in the state Senate, where ties votes can be broken by a Democratic lieutenant governor. With Democrat Ralph Northam set to take over as governor on Jan. 13, the party is primed to flex its newfound muscle.

 But the Newport News outcome now leaves things unclear. The House Democratic Caucus vowed to fight the judges' decision, calling it "erroneous," though some legal experts expressed skepticism that the party has avenues for a challenge.

 "We are currently assessing all legal options before us as we fight for a just result," said Marc Elias, the lawyer for the Democrats. "The Republicans themselves had affirmed that this result was accurate yesterday before changing their minds today.

 "After conceding this seat and their majority, they are now desperately trying to claw both back 'like a snarling dog that won't let go of a bone,' " he said, quoting a recent editorial by the RichmondTimes-Dispatch.

 [It was state lawmaker day at a local school and both Simonds and Yancey showed up]

 But according to lawyers for Yancey, the questions about the recount's lone disputed ballot were a late-breaking surprise to them, as well.

 Kenneth Mallory, a paid election official chosen by the Yancey team, had spotted the ballot about halfway through the Tuesday recount. He said he thought the ballot clearly looked like a vote for Yancey, but the other official he was working with — selected by Democrats — disagreed.

 "I felt hurried to move on and proceed. I was new to this process, and I was caught up by his argument," Mallory wrote in a letter to the judges outlining his concerns.

 The ballot was tossed aside as invalid, the precinct was wrapped up and the recount moved on. At the end of the day, Republican and Democratic officials alike stated that they were satisfied with the process and outcome.

 But a volunteer observer working for Yancey — John Alvarado, who also happened to be Yancey's campaign manager — had seen Mallory's discomfort during the recount. State law limits the ability of observers to communicate with election officials during the recount, but afterward, Alvarado sounded the alarm with Yancey's legal team, according to Republican lawyer Trevor Stanley.

 Stanley reached out to Mallory Tuesday evening, but Mallory declined to talk until he got assurances from the city's Electoral Board that he was allowed to do so, the lawyer said.

 Mallory, meanwhile, said he had been agonizing about his failure to act during the recount. A middle school civics teacher, Mallory, 33, said in an interview that he had wanted to take part in the recount so he could talk about it with his students.

 He wrote in his letter that he "lamented" his failure to act on the questionable ballot, and that he shared his misgivings with his wife and parents.

 Finally, about 10 p.m. Tuesday, Yancey's team talked with Mallory and heard his concerns. They urged him to write out his thoughts and sign them so they could take them to court in the morning, when the judges would convene to certify the results.

 Once the judges read the letter and heard arguments from the lawyers, they spent two hours studying the ballot in question before ruling.

 GOP leaders in the House of Delegates, who on Tuesday had conceded the recount and pledged to share power with Democrats in what they believed would be a chamber split 50 to 50, issued a new statement after Wednesday's turn of events.

 "While it appeared yesterday that Shelly Simonds was elected, it's obvious now that the result will remain unclear for a while longer," said a statement from House GOP leaders Kirk Cox, Tim Hugo and Nick Rush.

 Simonds, who appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Wednesday morning as the surprise victor of a tense recount that reset state politics, could not be reached for comment.

 It is not clear whether a final decision in the Simonds-Yancey matchup will settle control of the House of Delegates.

 Even as the court was considering whether to certify Tuesday's recount in the 94th House District, two other recounts are taking place this week — at least one of which may further reshuffle politics in Richmond.

 Election officials on Wednesday evening were finishing a recount in the 68th House District in Richmond, where Republican Del. G. Manoli Loupassi trailed Democratic challenger Dawn Adams by 336 votes, but the outcome appeared unlikely to change.

 And a recount is set for Thursday in Fredericksburg's District 28, where the Republican leads by 82 votes. Democrats have also challenged that race in federal court, where they are seeking a new election because more than 100 voters were mistakenly given ballots for the wrong legislative district.

 House Democrats were meeting in Richmond on Wednesday night to elect their own leadership for the coming General Assembly session, which starts Jan. 10. They were set to vote on their designee for speaker but held off in light of the uncertainty in the Simonds-Yancey race and in District 28. Otherwise they reelected their current caucus leadership.

 House Minority Leader David J. Toscano (Charlottesville) is vying with his party's longest-serving member, Del. Kenneth R. Plum (Fairfax), for the speaker position.

 After the court's ruling threw the balance of power back toward Republicans, Plum said he thinks Democrats need to be realistic about what's ahead.

 "Irrespective of these last-minute backs and forths, it's clear that the people are divided in their choice," he said. "And I think what's incumbent upon us is that we do a power-sharing arrangement [with Republicans] where we can get some work done." |||||
What is a summary?

– Well, that didn't last long. Three judges and a sloppily filled-in ballot have erased Shelly Simonds' dramatic one-vote Virginia House win that made headlines Tuesday, the New York Times reports. Republican incumbent David Yancey held a 10-vote lead after Election Day for Virginia's 94th House District. But a recount Tuesday gave challenger Simonds a one-vote win and Democrats a 50-50 tie in the Virginia House. The recount ended 17 years of Republican control in the Virginia House, the Washington Post notes. But on Wednesday, Republicans took the recount result to court over a ballot that had been discarded by election officials during the recount, the Virginian-Pilot reports. The problem: Bubbles for both Yancey and Simonds had been filled in. Judges on Wednesday ruled the ballot should be counted as a vote for Yancey. Simonds' bubble had a strike through it, and all other votes on the ballot were for Republicans. Yancey and Simonds are now tied at 11,608 votes each, and Republicans hold a 50-49 majority in the Virginia House. The next representative of the 94th House District will now be chosen "by lot," as per state law. The chairman of Virginia's board of elections says this will most likely involve picking a name out of a bowl. Whoever loses the drawing can still petition for a second recount. "I'm really grateful that every vote has been counted," Yancey says. But Democrats are upset the ballot wasn't challenged until after Republicans had approved the recount results and congratulated Simonds on her victory.


Write a summary based on this article:

Delhi rape victim's family: She was brave, full of life

 Many in India are calling for death penalty for the attackers

 Continue reading the main story Related Stories

 The world knows her as the "Delhi gang-rape victim".

 But her grief-stricken family and relatives, trying to come to terms with their loss, remember her as a brave girl who dreamed of relieving people's pain.

 She wanted to build a hospital in her ancestral village in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

 She seldom visited the village, in one of the most undeveloped regions in the country, but she had said she wanted to do something to help the people there.

 The family moved to Delhi in 1983 in search of a better life but on Monday, her family arrived to scatter her ashes in the river Ganges. I joined her parents and brothers in the village.

 Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote The last time I spoke to her was in the hospital on Christmas. She gestured with her fingers that she was going to heaven” End Quote Victim's brother

 Her father sat cross-legged on a stack of hay spread out thinly across the floor in a crudely-built hall outside the house.

 "She was brave, had no fear, and was full of life," he said.

 Born and raised in a lower middle class family, the 23-year old saw education as the passport to improving her family's economic plight.

 She wanted to be a doctor since "she began playing with dolls", says the father.

 Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

 "I told her repeatedly that I could not fund her education, but she did not budge."

 But, she was determined and eventually she won. The family sold off a chunk of their village land to fund her education.

 "I wanted my children to get the best of education," he says, proudly.

 'Going to heaven'

 Her brother, who was the last member from the family to speak to her before she was attacked, remembers her as an affectionate and hardworking elder sister who led by example while prodding her two brothers to study hard.

 "She studied day and night. We would not even know when she slept and woke up."

 Her ancestral village was in one of the most undeveloped regions of the country

 He breaks down every time he remembers the fights he had with her, mostly over the television remote control - she preferred to watch soaps and Bigg Boss was one of her favourite programmes.

 "She scolded me, but she loved me as well."

 He recalls the events of the day when his sister was brutally attacked by six men in a bus.

 "My sister normally returned home by 8pm every day. If she anticipated a delay, she would call up without fail and tell us how and when she would be back.

 "On that day she rang up around 7pm and I took her call. She said that she would be slightly delayed but when I began calling her after 8pm, I couldn't get through to her."

 A few hours' later, the family received a call from the Safdarjung hospital where she was taken by the police for treatment informing them that she had "met with an accident".

 "She was not scared of anyone. We could never imagine that such a fate would befall her... She must never have imagined it."

 Grim mood

 He says the last time he spoke to her was in the hospital on Christmas.

 The attack has triggered an outpouring of anger across India

 "She gestured with her fingers that she was going to heaven."

 Her father remembers how she asked for food once she regained consciousness in hospital. "She specifically asked for toffee. The doctor asked, 'will you mind a lollipop,' and she replied, 'yes!'"

 He dismisses reports that she was about to get married soon: "She said she would not marry till her brothers finished their education."

 The mood in her ancestral village is grim and the villagers are calling for the death penalty for the accused.

 But her father is asking his two sons to look ahead.

 "He told us to focus us on our forthcoming examination. But I can't - I have lost my power to feel and think," her brother said. ||||| NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Five Indian men were formally charged in court on Thursday with the gang rape and murder of a physiotherapy student in a case that has generated widespread anger about the government's inability to prevent violence against women.

 The December 16 attack on the 23-year-old student and a male companion provoked furious protests close to the seat of government in New Delhi and has fuelled a nationwide debate about the prevalence of sexual crime in India, where a rape is reported on average every 20 minutes.

 The woman died of her injuries in hospital in Singapore, where she had been taken for treatment, on Saturday.

 The five are accused of assaulting the woman on a bus in New Delhi, leaving her with such severe injuries that she died two weeks later. They were not present in court.

 A sixth accused is under 18 and is due to be tried separately in a juvenile court.

 A public prosecutor read out charges including murder, gang rape and criminal conspiracy. The court will examine the charges on Saturday, duty magistrate Surya Malik Grover said.

 Murder carries the death penalty in India.

 The father of the woman said earlier he backed the chorus of calls for those responsible to be executed.

 "The whole country is demanding that these monsters be hanged. I am with them," the father told reporters in his home village of Mandwara Kalan in Uttar Pradesh state. The woman was born in the village but the family later moved to New Delhi.

 She has not been identified and nor have members of her family, in accordance with Indian law.

 In a sign of the depth of feeling surrounding the case, the bar association at the court said none of its members was willing to represent the accused. The court is expected to assign a defense lawyer for the men.

 Advocates dressed in black robes protesting outside the court called for fast justice. In the northern state of Kashmir, school girls marched with black ribbons over their mouths and demanded harsh punishment for the accused.

 The case is due to be processed by a new, fast-track chamber set up in response to the crime.

 While the fast-track procedure has broad support, many lawyers worry new that legislation written in haste could be unconstitutional and oppose introducing the death penalty for rape.

 "A swift trial should not be at the cost of a fair trial," Chief Justice Altamas Kabir said on Wednesday.

 ANGER

 Police have said the accused have admitted to torturing and raping the student "to teach her a lesson". She fought back and bit three of them, a police source told Reuters, and the bite marks are part of the evidence against them.

 After throwing her from the private bus, the driver tried to run the victim over but she was pulled away by her companion, a senior police official told Reuters.

 Police have prepared a dossier of evidence and charges against the accused, which is believed to run to 1,000 pages, including testimony from the woman's friend who survived the hour-long attack and a man who said he was robbed by the same gang prior to the rape.

 Days of protests in New Delhi and other cities followed the attack. Many of the protesters have been students, infuriated by what they see as the failure of the government to protect women.

 In the northeastern state of Assam on Wednesday, village women beat a politician and handed him to police for what they said was the attempted rape of a woman, police said. Anti-rape protests have also broken out in neighboring Nepal.

 The government has set up two panels headed by retired judges to recommend measures to ensure women's safety. One of the panels, due to make recommendations this month, has received some 17,000 suggestions from the public, media reported.

 India's chief justice inaugurated the first fast-track court for sexual offences on Wednesday - a long standing demand of activists to clear a court backlog.

 A review of India's penal code, which dates back to 1860, was presented to parliament last month, before the attack, and widens the definition of rape, another demand of activists.

 That bill is now likely to be revised further, with chemical castration and the death penalty in rape cases among proposals under consideration.

 "We want the laws to be amended in such a stringent way that before a person even thinks of touching a girl, he should feel chills down his spine," said lawyer Suman Lata Katiyal, protesting at the south Delhi courthouse.

 Hanging is only allowed in the "rarest of rare" cases according to a 1983 Supreme Court ruling. It was used for the first time in eight years in November when the lone surviving gunman from a 2008 militant attack on Mumbai, Mohammad Ajmal Kasab from Pakistan, was executed.

 (Additional reporting by Diksha Madhok, Annie Banerji and Satarupa Bhatgtacharjya in NEW DELHI; and Gopal Sharma in KATHMANDU; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Robert Birsel) |||||

– As expected, murder charges were filed today against five men accused of brutally gang-raping a woman on a New Delhi bus. The sixth suspect, a teenager, will see his case handled separately. The men were also charged with rape and other crimes, a list expected to include kidnapping, robbery, and assault, the New York Times reports. The combination could result in the death penalty, which is rare in India. Also rare in India: The trial will be fast-tracked. (Click for more details that have leaked from the filing.) The father of the victim, who was a 23-year-old physiotherapy student, wants the men responsible—including the teen—to be hanged, Reuters reports. He also wants new sex crimes legislation named after his daughter, who has not been identified in accordance with Indian law. The BBC has a profile of her: She dreamed of building a hospital in her ancestral village to help people in the severely undeveloped region; she had wanted to become a doctor since childhood and saw education as the way to improve her family's situation; she studied at all hours. "She was brave, had no fear, and was full of life," says her father.