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West Australian
6 hours ago
- West Australian
Erin Patterson trial: Crown's final witness Detective leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall to continue evidence
The homicide squad detective who charged Erin Patterson with murder following the death of three of her in-laws is set to face questioning from her lawyers. Detective leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall will return to the witness box on Thursday for his third day of giving evidence at the triple-murder trial. Earlier this week, the jury was told Constable Eppingstall would be the last witness called by the Crown in the case. Prosecutors allege Ms Patterson intentionally poisoned a beef wellington lunch with death cap mushrooms on July 29, 2023. Her lawyers, on the other hand, have asked the jury to find the deaths were a tragic accident and acquit Ms Patterson. Her husband Simon Patterson's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and aunt, Heather Wilkinson, died in the week after the lunch from organ failure attributed to mushroom poisoning. Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, fell gravely ill but recovered after a long stint in hospital. After prosecutor Jane Warren told the court she had no further questions for Constable Eppingstall on Wednesday afternoon, Ms Patterson's barrister Colin Mandy SC began to probe the detective before the hearing was adjourned for the day. His first question asked the officer if his client had no criminal history, with Constable Eppingstall responding: 'Yes'. Mr Mandy then turned to whether Ms Patterson was helpful in the initial stages of the investigation, advising police where to find leftovers of the lunch, giving her gate access code and permission to break into her home if needed. Again the detective said 'yes'. Over the last 45 minutes of the day, Mr Mandy took Constable Eppingstall through a series of medical notes, phone messages and hospital records about Ms Patterson's health. Records shown to the jury in late 2021 and early 2022 indicate Ms Patterson was seeking medical advice for a host of health complaints including fatigue, weight gain and overactive bladder, pins and needles and clumsiness. 'Erin worries about ovary cancer, has been googling her symptoms, thinks her symptoms may suggestive of ovary cancer,' a doctor's note from October 2021 reads, indicating follow up tests had been scheduled. Another medical record outlining Ms Patterson's self-reported family history, states that her paternal aunt and maternal aunt had ovarian cancer. Messages on encrypted messaging platform Signal between Ms Patterson and Simon Patterson on January 4 and 5, 2022, record her complaining about her health while on a holiday to Tasmania. 'It's my heart that's troubling me,' Ms Patterson wrote. 'I'm struggling with the energy to do basic things like get in and out of the car and after I have a shower I need to lie down and rest.' Ms Patterson later messages she's 'been doing some research' and her symptoms fit with right-sided heart failure. Mr Mandy asks Constable Eppingstall if the records were 'consistent with Erin Patterson being concerned about various health issues?' 'Yes, sir,' the detective replies. Prosecutors alleged Ms Patterson orchestrated the lunch with the 'false claim' of a cancer diagnosis, while her defence contents she only told the lunch guests she had a 'suspected' diagnosis. The trial continues.
Time of India
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Pentagon rattled by leadership rift as Pete Hegseth's inner circle feuds - is the Defense Secretary's job on the line?
A man in Australia is in trouble for lying about medicine sales. Police took his 12 fancy cars, including Ferraris and Lamborghinis. He may go to jail if found guilty. The case is part of a big fraud investigation. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads FAQs Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The Pentagon is said to be facing a 'Cold War' inside the department, but it's not about Russia. It's about drama and fights among top people. Two senior aides working for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are fighting, and it's causing big problems for the department, according to the reportsMany people working in the Pentagon told the paper that things look fine from the outside, but behind the scenes it's messy, with fights, inexperience, and missing staff. The Washington Post report said, 'There's a cold war that exists in between flash points,' and described how tempers often flare among Hegseth's main fight is between Eric Geressy and Ricky Buria , two of Hegseth's closest aides. Geressy is a retired soldier who once served with Hegseth in Iraq and mentored him. Buria used to be a military assistant to Hegseth but was later promoted to acting chief of staff, states believes Buria is trying to sideline other staff to make himself look better to the Trump team. Things got worse during the Signalgate scandal in March. Geressy was left out of meetings during a Pacific trip and blamed Buria for it. Geressy also said too many people in the Trump administration were using the Signal app, and claimed the White House saw Buria as arrogant. Geressy leads a team called JSIAG, which includes Special Forces and other government workers. They focus on fighting Mexican drug cartels, as mentioned by The Washington Post once gave Geressy the Distinguished Service Cross for bravery in combat. Buria is a former Marine Corps pilot and earlier worked with President Biden's Defense Secretary. In February, Hegseth fired Lt. Gen. Jennifer Short without saying why, and gave Buria her role, a three-star general's job. This sudden promotion of Buria made other top military officers the temporary assignment ended, Buria wanted to retire from the military and stay on as a civilian adviser, with support from Hegseth's wife, Jennifer. When Hegseth's previous chief of staff Joe Kasper quit in April, people started wondering if Hegseth could still manage his staff. Hegseth then made Buria the acting chief of staff, but it's not clear if the White House will approve him long-term, as per reportsBuria once called Trump and Senator Vance 'crazy' and 'dumb', according to a New York Post report. Trump said he didn't know who Buria was, and if it's true, 'we don't take him.'Geressy is tired of the chaos and thought about quitting, but he's stayed because he's loyal to Hegseth and his team, as per the CNN fights between Geressy and Buria show how unstable the Pentagon is, especially after Hegseth has had a number of scandals. Some defense officials say it's unclear how long Hegseth can keep his job unless he brings order to his staff. Around the same time Buria got promoted, Hegseth fired three senior officials, Dan Caldwell, Darin Selnick, and Colin Carroll, saying they leaked info to the three fired officials said they were unfairly attacked and that the accusations were totally false. Hegseth's spokesperson, Sean Parnell, tried to downplay the drama, saying staff changes are normal in 'effective organizations.' Parnell also said Hegseth is focused on putting the right people in the right roles to carry out Trump's plans. He said the public doesn't care about 'palace gossip', but about real action from the Defense Department, as mentioned in the insisted Hegseth's team is united and working to focus on warfighting and getting results. After the firings, Hegseth hired three new senior advisers, Sean Parnell, Justin Fulcher, and Patrick Weaver. Fulcher came from the Department of Energy, and Weaver worked in Congress, the National Security Council, and Homeland Security, according to The Washington Memorial Day, Trump supported Hegseth, calling him a 'tough cookie' and praising his work for troops and veterans, saying he had 'gone through a lot.'He is accused of earning illegal money by making fake medicine he is found guilty, the government will sell the cars to fund crime prevention programs.
Boston Globe
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
International students are still here — but, they worry, for how long?
'Being told not to go home, and then also being forced to stay but not knowing exactly where to stay, while also being low-income and first-generation, it's sort of destabilizing,' said Shrestha, 22, who is pursuing a double major in international relations and South Asian Studies and asked to use her last name only to protect her privacy. Signposts outside of the Williston Memorial Library on the Mount Holyoke College campus in South Hadley. Courtesy Mount Holyoke College Advertisement As commencement season comes to a close and campuses empty out across the region, many of the 80,000 or so international students enrolled at Massachusetts colleges and universities are grappling with anxiety and ambiguity. Many international students have stopped using social media in recent weeks and started using Signal, an encrypted messaging application. When they go out, they carry copies of their legal documents. While some are afraid to leave the country for fear they won't be able to get back in, others who had their visa statuses temporarily terminated left and are now unable to return to resume their studies. Advertisement Massachusetts has the Last week, the Trump administration moved to revoke Harvard University's ability to enroll foreign students, a play that was immediately The message to international students everywhere: ''America is not open for business, the best and brightest should stay home or go elsewhere‚' ' said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, which represents around 1,600 colleges and universities. The United States is essentially 'saying to every other institution in the country: 'You could be next,'' Mitchell added. The unease is palpable, from Harvard Yard to the farm fields of the Five College Area in Western Mass. Amber, a junior at Harvard who is from Canada and asked to use her middle name for fear of retaliation from the Trump administration for speaking out, said she 'couldn't believe her eyes' last week when she read Trump was trying to ban foreign students at her university. A statistics major, Amber had secured her internship in the US in the fall of 2024, and went home to Canada before starting her summer job. But now, she is unsure if she'll even be allowed back in — for her internship, or for her senior year at Harvard. Advertisement The situation has brought back memories of when she was in high school during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. 'All of the hopes and dreams that you have for a really great senior year are now kind of in flux,' she said. As president of the graduate student government at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, John Arigbede is constantly fielding emails from his international peers, and the questions haven't stopped just because the semester is over. In April, 13 UMass Amherst students had their legal statuses 'Education is about opening your mind to different things, right,' he said. 'But in a situation where you cannot talk freely, or live freely, or travel freely within the safest part of the world — that is a psychological burden.' Traffic on North Pleasant Street at UMass Amherst on May 24. Matthew Cavanaugh/For The Boston Globe Arigbede's position puts him in touch with nearly Advertisement 'We get those emails day by day,' he said. ''Can I travel?' 'What if I'm held up at the airport?' 'What if my status has been inactive and then I am arrested?' Because these things happen in a split second.' Josie, a rising sophomore from Bolivia who goes to college in Boston and asked to be identified only by her first name due to fear of retaliation, said she now avoids speaking Spanish in public and has memorized the phone numbers of her friends in case she's apprehended. An aspiring journalist, she joined the school newspaper her freshman year and soon found herself writing about immigration policies that could affect her personally. 'It felt like, as the months went by, everything just kept getting more and more serious,' she said. 'It's been kind of intimidating to be in the US, and I feel like I'm not welcome [here] all the time.' Some domestic students are rallying to support their international classmates. Ian Tincknell, who is from Westford and was recently elected as vice president of the graduate student government at UMass Amherst, earlier this month helped organize a solidarity campaign, 'We Are One UMass,' 'to show we are grateful to have international students here, and we're very upset that they're feeling at all threatened by our government,' he said. 'That makes me feel just absolutely ashamed.' John Arigbede, right, talks with Ian Tincknell on campus at UMass Amherst last Saturday. Arigbede and Tincknell are respectively president and vice president of the graduate student government, which represents nearly 8,000 graduate students, around 36 percent of whom are international coming from 117 different countries. Matthew Cavanaugh/For The Boston Globe Zhennan Yuan, a 24-year-old from China, is on track to earn his master's degree in quantitative finance at Northeastern University in December. In April, he was among more than 4,700 international students across the country who had their legal statuses terminated in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS, without warning. Advertisement Yuan filed a suit in federal court in Boston and was granted a temporary restraining order barring the government from arresting or deporting him. The Trump administration restored Yuan's SEVIS record, but the status of his visa is unclear, and he remains concerned about what will happen next. His suit is pending, with a hearing scheduled for July. 'It is definitely still impacting my life,' said Yuan, who is afraid that if he leaves the country to visit his ailing grandparents in China this summer as planned he won't be allowed to return. 'I spend more time researching and studying policies,' he said, and worries about 'other curveballs' that will prevent him from finishing his studies in the United States. 'It is hard to sleep now.' Michael, who asked to be identified by his middle name, also has had trouble sleeping in recent months. Growing up in East Africa, he binge-watched the American TV series 'Boston Legal.' 'I wanted to be a lawyer so bad because of that,' he said and laughed. 'I developed a sense of justice.' He just graduated from Bridgewater State University with a master's degree and plans to pursue a PhD here. But after watching the Trump administration target international students while fanning the flames of anti-immigrant rhetoric, he's now thinking of settling in Europe. 'America's not bad, if things will change,' he said, 'but it needs to go back to a sense of justice.' Advertisement For now, despite all the fear and uncertainty this academic year has wrought, many students are still holding on. At the last minute, Shrestha, the Nepalese student from Mount Holyoke, landed an internship at a women's organization in Washington, D.C.,— a relief that's left her 'feeling positive about my summer now.' Josie, the Bolivian student in Boston, wants more than anything to fulfill her dream of having a career in journalism in the US. 'I still have hope, for some reason, that things will get better,' she said. 'I'm just clinging on to that sense of hope.' Brooke Hauser can be reached at
France 24
13 hours ago
- Business
- France 24
Why online privacy is vital: Insights from messaging app Signal's president
The president of Signal, a secure messaging app, spoke to FRANCE 24 about the urgent need to protect personal data. Meredith Whittaker highlighted how a handful of big tech companies collect vast amounts of information – often with little oversight and frequent misuse. She emphasised the need for structural change to regulate how companies handle user data. Signal is advocating for stronger privacy protections while defending freedom of expression. She spoke to us in Perspective.
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
More than a decade later, WhatsApp finally brings out an iPad app
Signal, Telegram and other messenger services have long had apps for both smartphones and tablets. But WhatsApp, even a decade after both messenger apps and tablets became mainstream, hasn't been available on iPads - until now. The long-awaited iPad app, now out on the App Store, brings all the familiar features but in a larger format with synchronized chats across devices. The app also works with Apple's Magic Keyboard and can be controlled with the Apple Pencil. Until now, anyone who wanted to use WhatsApp on an iPad could only do so using the browser version of the messenger. The big disadvantage here was that your mobile phone needed to stay connected at all times. Thanks to the iPad's larger size and multitasking features (which allows you to use several apps simultaneously) you can now have WhatsApp and a video or shopping app open side by side, for example. WhatsApp is already available as a standalone app for the Mac, alongside smartphones. Users are still waiting for a standalone Instagram app for iPads, however tech news media have reported Meta is working on a tablet version. WhatsApp - first launched in 2009, a year before the first iPad was unveiled - said the iPad app was one of the most requested from users.
