WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange could step down: Report

The New York Observer has learned this morning that the high-profile Australian whistleblower behind the document leaks website WikiLeaks could be stepping down. The rumors follow allegations of rape, and the paper suggests that this may be reason for a departure until all investigations by Swedish police have been cleared up.

An Icelandic parliamentarian told The Daily Beast that Assange should step down, at least until the allegations have lost momentum.

"I am not angry with Julian, but this is a situation that has clearly gotten out of hand," she said told a reporter. "These personal matters should have nothing to do with WikiLeaks. I have strongly urged him to focus on the legalities that he's dealing with and let some other people carry the torch."

An anonymous source has told the parliamentarian, known as Birgitta Jonsdottir, that Assange has been 'resisting hints from supporters of the site's mission that he step aside' and that recent site outages have merely been attempts at sending him a message.

According to the New York Observer:

Birgitta Jonsdottir may want Assange to step away as point man for Wikileaks, but she seemed to understand how the accusations against the Australian-born hacker could have resulted from a sort of cultural miscommunication. Assange is brilliant, said Jonsdottir, "but he doesn't have very good social skills."

[Via The New York Observer] 

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Discovery Channel Hostages: Gunman Shot By Police

A man who railed against the Discovery Channel's environmental programming for years burst into the company's headquarters with at least one explosive device strapped to his body Wednesday and took three people hostage at gunpoint before police shot him to death, officials said.

The hostages – two Discovery Communications employees and a security guard – were unhurt after the four-hour standoff. Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger said tactical officers moved in after officers monitoring the gunman on building security cameras saw him pull out a handgun and point it at a hostage. Read more at Fox News

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Discovery Channel building held up in armed hostage situation

A hostage situation is underway at the Discovery Communications building after an armed man reportedly walked into the lobby with explosives, Montgomery County Police say. Police say the man walked into the lobby around 1 p.m. Wednesday. The man may have at least one hostage. Multiple witnesses reported shots being fired, CBS radio affiliate WTOP reports. Read the full article from CBS News.

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Ala. grandmother shoots intruder in her bedroom

A pistol-packing grandmother in northern Alabama believes intruders will think twice before messing with her again. Police say 69-year-old Ethel Jones shot an 18-year-old man in the stomach when she found him inside her bedroom at her home in Decatur. Jones says she sleeps with her gun under a pillow next to her. She says she grabbed it after hearing a door rattle shortly before 3 a.m. Monday. Read the rest from the Associated Press. 

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Facebook friend request lands man in jail

Harry Bruder, 54, probably didn't expect that a social networking site would become his downfall. He was arrested on Monday night after he breached his court protection order by sending a 'friend request' to his wife on Facebook.

According to an Orlando television station, the man admitted to contacting his wife twice via the social networking site, which has around 500 million members.

Detectives had determined that this contact with his wife was a violation of a domestic violence injunction filed by his wife. "Yeah, I did it", he said when asked by investigators. “Today my future x wife thinks she won but the real winner is me for i know the truth she is nothing but a lying emotionally disturbed woman who needs help to handle previous abusive relationship," he wrote on his 'wall'. 


He has been jailed on $5,000 bond. 

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Apple manager found to be running huge kickback scheme

Apple, the company behind the iPod, iPhone and most recently, the iPad, has just accused a manager within the company of supplying information to a Chinese company so that they can negotiate better deals with the technology giant. Paul Shin Devine of Sunnyvale, the manager in question, didn't do too badly out of the scheme, however. 


The San Jose Mercury News reports that he made some $1 million during his time running the little business. He reportedly shared his earnings with his loyal partner in crime. "We have zero tolerance for dishonest behavior inside or outside the company," a spokesman for Apple told the paper. 

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Sign tells taggers: "Tag this building if you have a small penis"

Beautician Trish Bailey was so sick of young taggers defacing her business' facade and storefront that she decided to send a stern message to all considering leaving graffiti on the property. A blackboard that reads "Tag this building if you have a small penis" has been placed outside of her business' premises.

"I'm over the tagging. I'm over taggers. I'm a small business, I try my hardest and then you get little... people.... that like to damage it."


She hopes that it will serve to decrease the number of tagging offenses that occur around the area. TVNZ reports that the Christchurch businesswoman had tried a number of times to remove the existing graffiti, to no avail. A friend suggested she try the blackboard solution after a similar sign seemed to work on her property. 

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Have you seen this man?

New Plymouth Police are hunting for a man (video above) who stole a box of ribs from a local restaurant earlier this month. At about 6:30 PM, a man dressed - ever so stylishly - in a white New York Yankee's baseball cap snuck into the establishment, escaping with a 17kg box of meat. Police are appealing for the man to hand himself in. 

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Fake nun begs for money to fund Episcopalian rape clan

Take a look at the remarkably happy habit-wearing woman to the left. Does she look like the kind of woman who would panhandle on behalf of an unholy Episcopalian-based rape clan? Don't let your eyes be fooled. Turns out, she is!

Wearing a cross, a habit and full nun garb, you'd think this innocent-looking old woman would be simply fundraising for her local parish. But, as the New York Post reports, the reality is somewhat different. 

After five hours of begging in Manhattan's Little Italy, a reporter for the Post discovered, the woman bought some bootleg DVDs, boarded a train, and tried to hock off some vials of perfume. 

Having disembarked the train, she proceeded to - while walking down the street in plain view, cigarette 'dangling from her mouth' - dishabit herself while peeling off the costume which merely acted as an unholy facade to her scamming, fraudulent ways.

The Episcopal Church has never actually heard of the woman, who is actually raising funds for a 'church' in Crown Heights founded by a convicted rapist and killer who parades around New York with what the Post describes as a 'harem' of fake nuns.

The church is reportedly led by the founder's son who, just like his father, is a convicted rapist. See! This is why nobody trusts churches anymore. Here are some pics of the classy lady out of costume:

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Former Khmer Rouge prison chief sentenced to 35 years in prison

A former prison chief working for the infamous Khmer Rouge has been sentenced to 35 years in jail. He was found guilty of crimes against humanity following a 77-day trial. Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, admitted during his trial that he was the leader of a notorious detention centre known as Toul Sleng, where an estimated 16,000 people were killed. 

The trial was held in accordance with a UN-backed war-crimes court. It was the first international trial held for people involved in the 1970s' regime. 

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ESPN analyst arrested for child pornography

When is somebody going to show me a mugshot of a convicted child porn viewer who doesn't look completely insane?

Jeremy Green, an analyst for ESPN, has been arrested on charges of child pornography in Connecticut.

The man, pictured to the left in crazy-style, was charged not only with possession of child pornography, but also narcotics and drug paraphernalia.

An ESPN spokesperson told the Associated Press that he had worked at the network, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company (ironic much?), since 2005 as a sports analyst.

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Man holds his mother hostage for not ironing his clothes

In the latest of a string of unusual stories we're publishing this morning, we can report that a 29 year old man from Georgia (the state) held his mother hostage because he expected her to iron his clothes - she refused.

He then proceeded to pull a gun and held his mother hostage for several hours, according to a report filed under the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The man, Robert Edward Tyrrell Jr., remained in jail Thursday without bond. He faces jail and false imprisonment as a result of his maternally targeted hold-up.

"He wanted her to do some ironing, and when she said ‘no,' they got into an argument," Griffith said. "He told her ‘ironing is woman's work.' " Tyrrell lives with his parents. 

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Police have charged son with his father's murder

Suff.co.nz have reported that police have charged a Tauranga man with the murder of his father after, they claim, he blashed the old man in his own home. The son appeared in court on June 23 on the charge of assaulting his father. [Read the full article here]

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A picture of elegance is the man dubbed "France's real-life Hannibal Lecter"

France's favorite, new and up and coming sex criminal, Nicolas Cocaign is going on trial for eating a prison cellmate - we've all had those days.

As the Telegraph reports, Cocaign is believed to have beaten his cellmate, Thierry Baudry with his fists and feet, then stabbed him with scissors, then removed one of his lungs and ate it for a nice mid-afternoon snack.

The man reportedly thought that Baudry's lung was actually his heart. Isn't it annoying when you think that a certain meat is something that it actually isn't.

His name is pronounced as 'cocaine', by the way. [Telegraph]

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Bernie Madoff: "F**k my victims"

It is fairly evident that ponzi scheming fraudster Bernard Madoff has very little remorse for the hurt he has caused his victims, not to mention the $19 billion he stole from them. The imprisoned white collar criminal was reported to have said to a fellow inmate, according to Britain's Daily Mail, "F**k my victims".

Madoff, who was featured in a lengthy piece for New York magazine by Steve Fishman, also added that he "carried them for twenty years" - adding "and now I'm doing 150 years".

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Map shows largest areas where prostitution takes place in San Francisco

Here's something of an interesting map for you to ponder - a map of San Francisco that shows the areas most densely populated with prostitution. Incase you haven't yet worked out how it works, the large spikes or 'mountains' show where prostitution occurs most commonly, with the size of the mountain corresponding to the exact statistics. 

[Via Gizmodo]

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Toddler missing after woman's death

Police are urgently searching for a missing 18-month-old girl after a woman thought to be her mother was found dead in a Tauranga house.

Police have launched a homicide inquiry after the 32-year-old woman was found dead in a house in Otumoetai, a Tauranga suburb, on Sunday evening. Police are speaking with a man in connection to the death.

Read the full article

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