Uzi Shooting: Police Release Frantic 911 Call

The family of a nine-year-old girl who accidentally killed her shooting instructor with an Uzi submachine gun are devastated by the tragedy, their lawyer has said.

The announcement by the family's lawyer came as police released details of the 911 call made moments after the accident at the Last Stop shooting range in White Hills, Arizona, last week.

Instructor Charles Vacca was shot accidentally by the girl

Investigators have also released police reports which name the girl's parents and reveal that moments after the shooting their daughter complained the gun had been too much for her to handle.

The report states the girl, her parents Alex and Alison MacLachlan, and her sister and brother, travelled 60 miles from Las Vegas to the shooting range.

Mr MacLachlan was the first one to fire the weapon, after which shooting range instructor Charles Vacca showed the girl how to shoot the gun and helped her fire a few rounds.

After the weapon was put on automatic, when the girl pulled the trigger again the gun recoiled up and to the left, killing Mr Vacca with a shot to the head.

The girl dropped the Uzi and ran back to her family who focused initially on their daughter because they thought she had been injured by the gun's recoil.

Only later did they realise Mr Vacca had been shot.

A transcript of the 911 call reveals Mr Vacca was convulsing and choking as the dispatcher advises them to apply pressure to the wound.

Mr Vacca's family said they felt sorry for the girl, who has not been named

Dispatcher: Yeah, we've got officers and we have medical on the way. Can you tell me if he's still breathing?

Caller: ...He's shot in the head - in the side of the head.

Caller: Hello ma'am. He needs a medic, a helicopter now.

Dispatcher: They're on their way, sir.

Caller: Okay

Dispatcher: Is he still breathing?

Caller: Yes he is.

Dispatcher: Are you applying pressure to the wound?

Caller: Yes I am. He's convulsing, and he's choking on his own spit.

The family's lawyer said they had "prayed day and night" Mr Vacca would survive the shooting, adding they continue praying for his family.

Kevin Walsh said in a statement: "Words cannot express the family's sadness about the accidental shooting of Charles Vacca."

Prosecutors say Mr Vacca was probably the most criminally negligent person for allowing the girl to use the gun without proper training.

Last week Mr Vacca's grieving family said they felt "sorry" for the girl, acknowledging the shooting was something she would have to live with for the rest of her life.

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DNA Clears Brothers After 30 Years In Prison

Two men who have each served 30 years behind bars have had their convictions overturned after they were exonerated by newly-discovered DNA evidence.

A North Carolina judge has ordered that Henry McCollum, 50, and his half-brother Leon Brown, 46, be immediately released.

The pair were convicted over the 1983 killing of 11-year-old Sabrina Buie in Robeson County.

The girl's body was found in a field, naked except for a bra pushed up against her neck.

Lawyers campaigned for the release of the two men following the discovery of DNA from a cigarette butt at the scene which pointed to another man.

That man has been serving a life sentence for a rape and slaying which took place less than a month after Sabrina's death.

The 74-year-old man lived near the field where Sabrina's body was found.

Sharon Stellato, associate director at the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission, testified that the commission interviewed the 74-year-old man three times.

She said the man gave inconsistent statements to investigators, but denied killing the girl.

He admitted to seeing the girl on the night she went missing, and said he gave her a coat and hat because it was raining.

He told the commission that was why his DNA may have been at the scene.

Ms Stellato also said the man repeatedly told her Mr McCollum and Mr Brown are innocent of the girl's death.

Authorities said Mr McCollum and Mr Brown, who were both teenagers at the time of the crime, had confessed to killing Sabrina.

Both were initially given death sentences, which were later overturned. At a second trial, Mr McCollum was again sent to death row, while Brown was convicted of rape and sentenced to life.

But lawyers for the half-brothers successfully argued there was no physical evidence to connect them to the killing.

The DNA from the cigarette butt matched neither of them, and fingerprints taken from a beer can at the scene were not theirs either.

Lawyers said the men were coerced into giving confessions after hours of questioning.

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Nato Summit: Ukraine Crisis To Top The Agenda

By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent

World leaders will begin arriving in the UK today ahead of the start of a two-day Nato summit in Wales tomorrow.

Some 61 heads of state are expected to gather at The Celtic Manor Resort outside Newport, with the ongoing conflict in Ukraine set to top the agenda of discussions.

Leaders will be joined by officials from the European Union, the UN, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

A further 5,000 delegates are expected to gather to discuss the future of the Nato alliance.

Speaking at Downing Street ahead of the summit, David Cameron has condemned the ongoing violence in Ukraine, describing it as "disgraceful".

He told an audience of international delegates in London on Tuesday night: "What's happening in the Ukraine right now is disgraceful and completely unacceptable.

Mr Cameron has described the violence in Ukraine as "disgraceful"

"Members of Nato want and deserve real reassurance that our Article V commitments are rock solid."

He said he wanted the upcoming conference to demonstrate a "very clear, unified and strong message" about the importance of Nato globally.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has also warned that Nato must show it still has the political will to fight back in the event of a Russian attack on any member states.

Western nations have repeatedly accused Russia of intervening militarily in the conflict in Ukraine. The claims have been denied by Moscow.

Mr Hammond said: "For Nato to maintain its credibility in the future, we have to demonstrate that we maintain the political will to act to defend ourselves and our interests.

"We have to be clear that we have not lost the appetite to intervene when our interests or our obligations require us to do so.

Mr Obama will travel to Wales after a visit to the Baltic states today

"If we lack, or are perceived to lack, the political will to respond - and to do so quickly - the credibility of that commitment to collective defence will be undermined, and the very fabric of this, most successful of alliances, will unravel.

"So we have to be clear with Russia, in particular, that while we support a political resolution to the situation in eastern Ukraine, there is a red line around Nato member states themselves that cannot be crossed."

Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says the alliance is set to create a high-readiness force in Eastern Europe as a bulwark against potential Russian aggression.

Mr Rasmussen said the unit would be a spearhead that could be deployed at very short notice to help Nato members defend themselves against any threat.

The murder of another US journalist by Islamic State militants will also feature in bilateral discussions between Western allies at the summit.

US President Barack Obama will head to Wales after a visit to the Baltic States.

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Sotloff Family Grieving After Hostage Killed

The family of US hostage Steven Sotloff have seen a video which purportedly shows him being beheaded by an Islamic State fighter, and are grieving privately.

Barak Barfi, a family spokesman, also said authorities have not established its authenticity.

He said: "The family knows of this horrific tragedy and is grieving privately. There will be no public comment from the family during this difficult time."

Mr Sotloff, 31, was a freelance journalist for Time and Foreign Policy magazines who went missing in Syria.

He was apparently killed by IS in revenge for US airstrikes on the Islamist militant group in Iraq.

Mr Sotloff has reportedly been killed by Islamic State

His reported death comes two weeks after the release of a video showing the killing of fellow US citizen James Foley and Mr Sotloff being threatened with death.

That led to Mr Sotloff's mother Shirley pleading for her son's life.

A friend of both hostages, Matthew Van Dyke, told Sky News it was time for the US to consider paying ransoms to secure the release of hostages.

IS had reportedly demanded £80m for Mr Foley's release.

But the US - unlike several European countries that have given millions to the terror group to spare their citizens - refused to pay.

Mr Van Dyke told Sky News he hoped the apparent killing was a "wake-up call to Americans", adding: "This is a serious threat".

Shirley Sotloff had pleaded for her son's life

He went on: "They are executing Americans and videotaping it and we need to do something about that. The US administration needs to get serious about the problem."

Mr Van Dyke said there were more Americans being held by IS and "we need to bring them home".

He said authorities should "re-examine the policy of paying ransoms for prisoner exchanges to at least get these people home and then take on IS and kill them before they get to spend the money."

Mr Van Dyke said the news of Mr Sotloff's reported death was "horrible", adding: "I've lost two friends in two weeks."

He said Mr Sotloff was a "brilliant journalist, hard working and dedicated".

"He knew the dangers but he knew the story needed to be told."

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American Doctor Tests Positive For Ebola

An American doctor working in Liberia has tested positive for the ebola virus, a US missionary group confirmed.

Serving in Mission (SIM) said the male obstetrician, who was not immediately identified by name, did not work in an ebola ward.

The doctor "immediately isolated himself" upon the onset of symptoms and is "doing well and is in good spirits", the group said in a statement

It was not immediately clear how the doctor contracted the disease.

Dr Kent Brantly and missionary Nancy Writebol were infected in Liberia

SIM President Bruce Johnson said the organisation was "surrounding our missionary with prayer".

The case marks the third known American to contract the deadly virus, which has killed more than 1,500 people in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

Last month, Dr Kent Brantly and SIM missionary Nancy Writebol were released from hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, after weeks of isolation and treatment.

Both were evacuated from Liberia after testing positive for the virus, which has prompted authorities to cordon off entire towns and led to border closures by neighbouring nations.

On Tuesday, the World Health Organization warned that the outbreak would "get worse before it will get better."

The group's director Margaret Chan said existing treatment centres can offer little more than palliative care and called on other countries to contribute civilian and military medical personnel familiar with biological disasters.

Doctors Without Borders President Joanne Liu said the centres have been "reduced to places where people go to die alone".

Ebola is only spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of those infected with the virus who are experiencing symptoms.

:: Video has emerged of Liberian ebola clinic workers dressed in contamination suits chasing an escaped patient through the streets after he left a treatment centre to visit a market.

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Apple Promises To Ban 'Plain Creepy' Apps

Apple has warned software developers that it will ban apps that are "plain creepy" from its online store.

The company has updated its app store review guidelines, and said: "If your app doesn't do something useful, unique or provide some form of lasting entertainment, or if your app is plain creepy, it may not be accepted."

Apple has removed questionable content in the past - in 2012 an app which showed the location of women around you who had checked into Foursquare was removed from the app store.

Apple says there are more than one million apps in its store, and reiterated that it sets the bar high.

"If your app looks like it was cobbled together in a few days, or you're trying to get your first practice app into the store to impress your friends, please brace yourself for rejection," the firm said in a statement.

"We have lots of serious developers who don't want their quality apps to be surrounded by amateur hour."

It also warned developers against "running to the press" to "trash us" for rejecting apps, saying that it "never helps".

The new policy also examines the HealthKit app, which will come as standard with iOS 8.

It will process data from third-party hardware to analyse health and wellbeing.

But Apple has told developers that apps using HealthKit that store user data in the cloud will be rejected.

Earlier this week, nude photos of scores of celebrities were leaked, with some claiming it was due to an iCloud security breach.

But on Tuesday Apple denied the claim.

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Mysterious Fake Mobile Phone Towers Discovered

Mysterious fake mobile phone towers discovered across America could be listening in on unsuspecting callers.

A report by Popular Science says the towers have been discovered across the country, and have the ability to attack mobile phones through eavesdropping and installing spyware.

They were discovered by people using a heavily customised Android device called the CryptoPhone 500.

It uses a secure version of the software which can tell if the phone is being subjected to what is known as a baseband attack.

It is then possible to trace the location of the offending tower.

The fake cell towers were detected in July, but the report states there could be more.

Les Goldsmith, chief executive of security firm ESD America, told the magazine: "Interceptor use in the US is much higher than people had anticipated.

"One of our customers took a road trip from Florida to North Carolina and he found eight different interceptors on that trip. We even found one at a casino in Las Vegas."

He said several of the masts were situated near US military bases.

"What we find suspicious is that a lot of these interceptors are right on top of US military bases," he said.

"So we begin to wonder - are some of them US government interceptors? Or are some of them Chinese interceptors?

"Whose interceptor is it? Who are they, that's listening to calls around military bases? Is it just the US military, or are they foreign governments doing it? The point is: we don't really know whose they are."

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IS Beheading: Militants Threaten Brit Hostage

Sotloff: Driven Reporter And Mideast Expert

Updated: 1:19pm UK, Wednesday 03 September 2014

Steven Sotloff, the US journalist who was beheaded by Islamic State militants, also held Israeli citizenship, Israel has revealed.

The information had been apparently withheld by Israel in a bid to reduce the risks to the captive.

"Cleared for publication: Steven Sotloff was #Israel citizen RIP," tweeted Paul Hirschson, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem.

Friends and colleagues described 31-year-old Mr Sotloff as an honest and courageous journalist who sought to understand the culture of the places he reported from and tell the stories of the people affected by conflict.

His work appeared in Time, Foreign Affairs and World Affairs magazines. He also contributed to some Israeli publications.

"We refused to acknowledge any relationship with him in case it was dangerous for him," said Avi Hoffman, editor of the Jerusalem Report magazine, which had published Mr Sotloff's work.

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, quoting a former fellow captive, said Mr Sotloff had kept his Judaism a secret from the Islamist insurgents, pretending he was sick when he fasted for the Yom Kippur holiday.

Colleagues stressed that he understood the dangers of reporting in war zones, but remained committed to the task.

"Steven was very ethical, very driven, an exceptional journalist and an exceptional person," said Matthew Van Dyke, an activist and film-maker who met Mr Sotloff in Libya in 2012.

"He was also a cautious journalist, he did everything the right way," he told Sky News.

Mr Sotloff vanished in Syria in August 2013. His capture was kept secret for months at the request of his family, who said they were now grieving privately.

He then appeared in a video that showed the beheading of fellow US journalist James Foley last month.

A Miami native, Mr Sotloff attended the University of Central Florida, where he took an interest in journalism. He did not graduate from the university.

He covered the Arab Spring uprisings and several Middle East hotspots, including Yemen, Egypt and Libya. He learnt Arabic.

"He lived in the region for a time, he really got to know the people, the culture," said Mr Van Dyke.

"This was a region that was important to him, he wasn't somebody who jumped from conflict to conflict all over the world, he was a regional specialist and he knew what he was doing."

In his Facebook and Twitter profiles Mr Sotloff called himself a "stand-up philosopher from Miami" and often spoke of his love for baseball and the Miami Heat.

World Affairs, in an August 20 statement, described Mr Sotloff as "an honest and thoughtful journalist who strives to understand the story from local perspectives and report his findings straightforwardly."

The executive director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, Joel Simon, said: "Journalists know that covering war is inherently dangerous and that they could get killed in crossfire.

"But being butchered in front of camera simply for being a reporter is pure barbarism."

The group said at least 70 other journalists have been killed covering the conflict in Syria, including some who died over the border in Lebanon and Turkey, and that more than 80 had been kidnapped.

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Confusion Over Ukraine 'Permanent Ceasefire'

Vladimir Putin says a ceasefire deal between Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels could be reached by Friday.

The Russian President's announcement comes after conflicting reports that a permanent ceasefire agreement had been reached by the two sides this morning.

Following witness reports of loud artillery explosions near the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, the country's President Petro Poroshenko modified his statement to remove the word "permanent".

Mr Putin and Mr Poroshenko were unable to agree when they met last week

It is unclear whether his actions were in response to reports of the explosion.

Reporting from Mariupol, Ukraine, Sky's Moscow Correspondent Katie Stallard said: "It's extremely unclear at this stage what exactly this ceasefire is supposed to be.

"No one we have spoken to on the ground seems to know about it.

"The Ukrainian president issued a statement this morning claiming he agreed with Vladimir Putin to a permanent ceasefire in the region.

"He has since slightly modified that statement and removed the word 'permanent'.

"A spokesman for President Putin said no such agreement has been reached, nor can it, because Russia is not a party to the conflict."

Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov was earlier quoted as saying the leaders' views "overlap to a considerable degree".

"The heads of state exchanged opinions about what needs to be done first in order to bring an end to the bloodletting in the southeast of the country as soon as possible," said Mr Peskov.

A statement from Kiev said an understanding had been achieved which would enable the "establishment of peace".

The conflict will be at the top of the agenda at the Nato summit in Wales

News of the development was greeted with an immediate rally on the financial markets - the main Russian stock exchange, the Micex, rising 4% and stocks in London with the FTSE 100 reached a 14-year high in morning trade.

Russia later announced it was to hold major military exercises in September of the forces responsible for its long-range nuclear capability. The drills will involve more than 4,000 servicemen and 400 technical units. 

Meanwhile, world leaders have begun arriving in the UK ahead of a two-day Nato summit in Wales where the Ukraine crisis will be top of the agenda. 

Speaking in Estonia ahead of the summit, President Obama said that Nato would not accept what he called Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea.

In a thinly-veiled warning to President Putin, the US President added that the Baltic states were bound by the Nato alliance.

"We have a solid duty to each other. Article Five is crystal clear; an attack on one is an attack on all," he said.

Mr Obama added the US was working to bolster the security of Nato allies and increase America's military presence in Europe.

"It would mean more US forces, including American boots on the ground continuously rotating through the Estonia, Latvia and Ukraine militaries."

Russia has repeatedly denied claims its soldiers were recently sent into eastern Ukraine to support Ukrainian pro-Russian rebels.

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Ex-First Lady Details Hollande Split In Memoir

Former French First Lady Valerie Trierweiler has claimed President Francois Hollande tried to win her back with flowers, dinner invitations and text messages in her secret memoir.

The 49-year-old, a journalist for the magazine Paris March, lived with Mr Hollande at the Elysee presidential palace for 18 months until allegations of an affair with an actress surfaced.

She maintained her weekly literary column and granted some interviews after the break-up, but the memoir - written in secret and due to be published on Thursday - contains previously unknown details of their split.

In excerpts published in Paris Match, Ms Trierweiler describes the moment she was hospitalised after taking sleeping pills when news of the affair emerged.

Francois Hollande was with Ms Trierweiler for 18 months before their split

She wrote: "I run into the bathroom. I take the little plastic bag containing the sleeping pills. Francois follows me. He tears away the bag.

"He catches the bag, which tears... I manage to gather up some of them. I want to sleep. I do not want to live the hours to come."

She also wrote about her "uncontrollable" jealously towards Segolene Royal - the mother of his four children and a minister in his government.

And she claimed Mr Hollande bombarded her with up to 29 texts a day, as well as gifts, in the months after their breakup.

She wrote: "He tells me he is going to win me back as if I was an election."

The 49-year-old journalist was hospitalised after their breakup

The memoir, called Thank You For This Moment, has a first print run of 200,000 copies.

A source close to the president said he was "not aware" of the book's publication.

The source told the AFP news agency: "So, by definition, we have not read this book."

But French Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll - a close ally of Mr Hollande - said the country had more important issues to deal with.

He told i>Tele: "We have enough serious, weighty issues. We haven't got a lot of time, so we can't afford to lose it."

Mr Hollande is the most unpopular president in recent French history, with ratings below 20%.

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