Latest news with #Xboxes
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- General
- Miami Herald
Man breaks in and kills neighbor to steal his Xbox a second time, FL cops say
A man stole his neighbor's Xbox, then when his neighbor bought a new Xbox, he broke in again, killed him and stole his new Xbox, Florida authorities said. James Conyers, 45, was convicted of second-degree murder and dealing in stolen property, and now he's been sentenced to life in prison, Duval County records show. His attorney declined to comment to McClatchy News on June 3. The investigation began when Terrill Trumble, 28, didn't show up to work July 24, 2023, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. He wasn't answering his door, but one of his friends noticed his back door was unlocked, police wrote in an arrest report. When he went inside, he found Trumble dead on the bathroom floor with a gunshot wound to the head, and his new Xbox had disappeared, according to police. Neighbors at the apartment complex said Trumble had ongoing issues with Conyers, adding Conyers had 'bragged' about breaking into Trumble's apartment and stealing his Xbox and a shotgun a month earlier, according to police. Trumble bought a new Xbox, but on July 23, 2023, Conyers' girlfriend reported that he had disappeared from their apartment with her gun and her vehicle, officers said. He came back later that day but refused to explain why he had taken her gun, she told officers, according to the report. The next day, Trumble was found dead, police said. Conyers denied killing Trumble, saying they were friends and had no issues, but detectives said they found out someone had sold both of Trumble's stolen Xboxes to a gaming store. Trumble's new Xbox was sold to the store hours after he was killed, investigators said. Phone records showed Conyers was in the same area of the store when the Xboxes were sold, and he had looked up the store online, police said. The bullet used to kill Trumble was fired from Conyers' girlfriend's gun, investigators said. Detectives said they learned Conyers had previously been convicted of manslaughter in South Carolina from a similar incident in which Conyers' friend was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head. He was prohibited from possessing a firearm. A jury found Conyers guilty in April, prosecutors announced.
Metro
17-05-2025
- Metro
The truth is digital video game downloads are better than physical games
A reader argues that people are overstating the downsides of buying video games digitally and that there's good reason it's become so popular. I feel like all the benefits of digital gaming are increasingly dismissed, without acknowledgement that it's getting to the point where this insistence that it's solely limited to 'getting up to change discs' feels like some sort of deliberate and reductive propaganda. I'm not a champion of digital by any means. The fact that my digital game collection is now far bigger than my physical one went almost unnoticed by me at first. But I think if you want to understand a market, you need to acknowledge the facts and the nuances of the situation instead of relying on emotion driven instinct. Digital stores feel much more present and accessible than physical ones, whether through dedicated apps, comms channels or the console dashboard giving full exposure. The near constant and extremely generous sales means we're more likely to become aware of good deals and to make spontaneous purchases than if we had to browse separate websites or walk into a shop at our own discretion. It can't stop with visibility and advertising, though. Digital game sharing is a major feature on all platforms, not only as some sort of loophole but something officially publicised in detail by all the platform holders. If I buy a game digitally, my sharing partner gets it (immediately and permanently) for free and vice versa. If we're organised, every full priced game we both want is half price on day one. This, and the constant sales have led to a huge inflation of each of our digital backlogs with very little (if any) noticeable impact on our spending. Where does a wider trend like that lead? An onus on platform holders to make backwards compatibility a universal standard. In hindsight it's almost absurd to think the previous PlayStations and Xboxes had no backwards compatibility, or even that there was much doubt that the Switch 2 would offer it. And yet now we all have big backlogs because we're buying more games without necessarily spending more, and various aspects of digital creep have contributed to that. In earlier generational transitions I doubt most of us would have cared at all if we could keep access to whatever we were leaving behind but now a failure to offer backwards compatibility would be a huge source of controversy. Ultimately, people who insist they're 'priced out of gaming', because of digital distribution or anything other than escalating hardware costs, are either sorely mistaken or they're deliberately inaccurate. At worst what they really mean is they're priced out of buying AAA games on the day of their release, on the basis that they now have to commit to that spending. I appreciate the argument that if everyone waits for sales of digital games because they don't want to pay full price for something they can't sell on – or even if half as many people buy games on day one because of game sharing – that could be problematic for the commercial performance of new games. But constant on-selling would equate to much less new money being injected into the market anyway. I don't see it being any better if a customer can quickly consume three or four (or 10) games on day one for just £60-£80, that was paid months or years ago, compared to if they bought that many games at that cost in total a while after release. Hype and fear of missing out will continue to fuel day one spending on a lot of AAA games but those phenomena on their own don't entitle us to all games ASAP without us contributing much to the market. More Trending I'm not going to claim there's no downside to the physical market being phased out. Aside from the ability for us to recoup some spending, I can imagine how sharply brick and mortar stores have had to pivot in order to survive. But, bottom line, digital gaming wouldn't have been so successful if the businesses responsible weren't offering clear benefits. So the idea that it's just about appealing to our laziness is itself a lazy (not to mention reductive and disingenuous) take. By reader Panda The reader's features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro. You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@ or use our Submit Stuff page and you won't need to send an email. MORE: I don't like the look of GTA 6 and I'm not afraid to admit it - Reader's Feature MORE: Why I sold my Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order – Reader's Feature MORE: Video game companies are lying to us about everything - Reader's Feature
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Yahoo
Prisons 'winning battle' against drugs-to-order drones
Scottish prison bosses say a pilot scheme to combat the problem of drones being used to deliver drugs and weapons into jails is helping to dismantle organised crime networks. Drones have become a preferred method of delivery for illegal items ordered by inmates. Drugs, phones and technology have all been smuggled into the Scottish prison estate, with the size of drones and their cargo increasing in recent months. In January, police reported a crash involving a drone carrying a package of drugs close HMP Edinburgh. Inside Perth Prison, unit manager John Baird shows off a six-rotor drone intercepted by staff recently. It was carrying a load worth up to £10,000 - items that mark the currency of organised crime behind bars. Laid out on a table is the haul of drugs, syringes, phones and other highly-prized items intended for inmates. He told BBC Scotland News: "The drone is public enemy number one at the moment. "This one, we recovered, and we got all the packages as well. They were suspended underneath on a length of fishing line. "Everybody's wish list is in here. The iPhone is the one we see most often. We have smart phones that are easily concealed. "We also have phones that can be concealed internally. They're standard dial phones. We've actually had someone swallow one of these in front of us." He said an iPhone could be worth £5,000 inside a prison. "We also see dongles, they just need a Sim card and they plug that in and have instant wifi. "We've also had chip cards which they can put into Xboxes, which turns that into a communications device." Tobacco is also big on the smuggling list, as is cannabis, but Mr Baird said they have recently found needles, syringes and steroids, as well as street Valium. Stopping the drones getting in has become a priority and six months ago Perth Prison introduced secure window grilles. As a result, there have been no drone breaches within that period. Ian Whitehead, head of operations at the Scottish Prison Service, said: "Drugs and the need for drugs drives debt, violence and a whole range of behaviours that are difficult to deal with. "This is designed to minimise the introduction and movement of drugs in any meaningful way. "We've got high hopes for this and we've got a monitoring process, so if there's a weakness, we can adapt to that and engineer a counter-measure." Perth has been particularly prone to the drone problem due to its geography. In a semi-rural location, it has a good line of sight and as radio waves travel in a straight line , it is easy for a pilot to move things in. Mr Whitehead added: "Some of the drones can carry quite large cargoes. So instead of something coming in a tennis ball, you introduce something that's 10 times that. So you've got a big cargo of commodity to come in and that can last a long time." He said that in his 36 years on the job, drug use had changed from cannabis and heroin to psychoactive substances. The SPS said it had also installed the grilles in Edinburgh and Glenochil prisons and would consider a broader roll-out in the future as well as specific measures for each location. Drone carrying suspected drugs crashes near prison Increase in use of drones for prison smuggling Prisoners hospitalised after Christmas drug misuse
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘I gave birth three months early – then police investigated me over an illegal abortion'
Sammy was being ferried into an ambulance by paramedics – after giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to her newborn baby – when she realised there were around eight police officers in her living room. The mother, in her thirties, had just given birth at home to a baby boy who arrived over three months early, weighing just one pound and seven ounces – little more than a bag of sugar. Police had arrived to assist her in giving lifesaving CPR. But Sammy* says that, while in shock from the traumatic and unexpected birth – and with her baby still fighting for his life – she suddenly found herself at the centre of a criminal investigation. This would become a devastating 51-week ordeal, triggered by England's 164-year-old law criminalising abortion, despite the fact that she hadn't actually had one. 'My front room was full of police officers – there must have been about eight. Then out on the street, my husband said there were two ambulances, two unmarked police cars, and a regular police car. I just thought: why?' Sammy has decided to retell her horrific experience as the issue of illegal abortion in the UK reached parliament this week. Tonia Antoniazzi, Labour MP for Gower, has put forward an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill to remove the criminal aspect of ending abortions illegally, to bring England and Wales in line with Scotland and Northern Ireland. MPs are expected to vote on the issue this summer. In an interview with The Independent, Sammy said: 'They were following my husband around – he wasn't allowed to be alone. I was at the hospital, not knowing what was happening at home. Then, they told my son he had to leave. He had 10 minutes to get his things and get out.' According to Sammy, that day police seized all their electronic devices, including two Xboxes, cordoned off their home with crime scene tape, and arrested her husband when he returned to pick up clean clothes – 'under suspicion of procuring a miscarriage by instrument or tablets'. They dug through bins and held on to her placenta for months. The next morning, when she was discharged from hospital while her baby fought for his life in an incubator, she says she was questioned by police about whether she had attempted to end the pregnancy illegally. Sammy told police she had only explored the option of a termination and researched abortion pills online, but had been told she was too far along in the pregnancy to go ahead with it. 'I was open and honest from the get-go, but we were treated like criminals,' she says, visibly distressed. 'When they took me to the police station for questioning – I cried through most of it and just said, 'No comment.'' Her husband, released on bail, was initially barred from seeing or even communicating with Sammy or their baby. Even when that restriction was eased, the parents were only allowed to visit their new son under police supervision. This went on for 51 weeks. Shortly before the baby's first birthday, the investigation was finally dropped, and Sammy and her husband were cleared. But the damage had been done. 'No other woman should have to go through that. Abortion should be decriminalised,' she says. Sammy's story, though horrifying, is not an anomaly. She is one of more than 100 women whom rights groups believe have been investigated by police in recent years under the same 164-year-old Offences Against the Person Act which Ranee Thakar, the president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), tells The Independent is 'the oldest healthcare law still in existence.' Some women have even had their children removed. In fact, there has been an unprecedented surge in convictions related to abortions and pregnancy losses under this legislation. Six women have appeared in court over the past two years charged with ending their own pregnancies. Prior to that, only three convictions had been reported for illegal abortion since the law was introduced in 1861. There is a common misconception that abortion is legal in the UK. The 1967 Abortion Act legalised terminations in England, Wales, and Scotland, now up to 24 weeks, provided two doctors sign off that continuing the pregnancy would pose a risk to the woman's physical or mental health. In the wake of the pandemic, that was amended to allow eligible women in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy to have a medical abortion at home. Outside of those bounds, women are at risk of jail – which is where rights groups say the problem lies. Just this week, Nicola Packer – who endured a four-year investigation and public trial – was unanimously acquitted by a jury at Isleworth Crown Court in southwest London. She had been accused of 'unlawfully administering to herself a poison or other noxious thing' with the 'intent to procure a miscarriage'. In the wake of her acquittal, she told The Independent the process had been deeply traumatic – critics said she faced public shaming at the hands of prosecutors. 'The stress for more than four years was immense, and it was impossible to live normally,' Ms Packer tells The Independent. 'Although it's a relief that I was finally believed and it's all over, it's going to be very hard to ever trust the NHS and police again.' Jonathan Lord, the clinician in charge of Ms Packer's care and co-chair of the RCOG abortion taskforce, slammed the process as a 'vindictive and brutal prosecution in which the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) weaponised victim-shaming'. Lord, who said he has had to help several women and teenagers who have been investigated by the police, says it is 'incredibly traumatic, where every element of your most personal life is exposed, your phone and computer are taken and searched for messages, images, menstrual apps, and internet searches'. 'Even in those who are never charged, most have suffered long-term mental health issues and post-traumatic stress disorder and say they cannot trust the NHS or police again.' The situation is now so urgent that 60 MPs, multiple Royal Colleges (including the RCOG), and numerous healthcare professionals are backing a cross-party amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill that would remove women from the criminal law in relation to ending their own pregnancies and bring England and Wales. The amendment was laid in Parliament on Tuesday night by Ms Antoniazzi. She tells The Independent that an increasing number of women have been subjected to 'utterly deplorable' criminal investigations for a 'crime' that does not even apply in two other parts of the UK: Scotland and Northern Ireland. 'The harm inflicted upon these women is lifelong and profound. This cannot continue,' she says, adding that it particularly impacts vulnerable women. The Royal College's Dr Thakar said one of the biggest concerns is the chilling effect the law could have on women and healthcare providers. The RCOG was so alarmed by the rise in investigations that it issued new guidance to medical professionals last January, urging them not to report women to police if they suspect a pregnancy may have been ended illegally. 'Many women may become too afraid to seek help, fearing criminal consequences. Abortion care is a safe, essential part of healthcare. By criminalising it, we make a safe procedure unsafe because women avoid seeking help when they need it,' she continues. 'They should be treated with care and compassion, without judgment or fear of imprisonment. Otherwise, the result is silence and suffering.' Another backer of the law change is the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), which told The Independent that women 'are being arrested straight from the hospital ward, their homes searched, and their children taken away'. 'This cannot continue. Members of Parliament have a moral duty to decriminalise abortion for women and end the threat of police, prosecutions, and imprisonment once and for all,' Katie Saxon, chief strategic communications officer at BPAS, said. It comes amid a groundswell of support for change. In a separate initiative launched this month, a cross-party group of MPs led by Stella Creasy called for abortion to be protected as a human right in England and Wales, following a similar, successful campaign in Northern Ireland in 2019. Other countries have enshrined a human right to access abortion, Creasy said at the time, adding that now is the time to act as 'politicians are using women's bodies as their battlefield'. Last month, campaigners spearheaded by teacher Gemma Clark and supported by BPAS, delivered a petition to Downing Street that was signed by over 100,000 UK residents calling on parliament to reform the abortion law. It has triggered a debate in parliament expected in the coming weeks The Independent asked the CPS about the devastating impact the surge in investigations and convictions was having on women involved – particularly in the wake of Nicola Packer's trial, during which personal details were shared in court. A spokesperson defended the move, saying that information was shared 'only to establish the fact of when she may have fallen pregnant, and her understanding of the gestation period'. 'Our prosecutors exercise the greatest care when considering complex and traumatic cases such as this one,' a spokesperson added. A government spokesperson, meanwhile, said that 'All women have access to safe and legal abortions on the NHS' and that 'decisions to prosecute – within existing legislation – are for the CPS and are incredibly rare.' In Sammy's case, the relevant police force acknowledged in a statement to The Independent the 'particular sensitivities of this case' but said the initial investigation was undertaken 'to safeguard all involved'. They defended the action to investigate and the duration: 'This was a complex investigation, requiring extensive forensic and medical evidence, and unfortunately these kinds of enquiries take time.' But Sammy says she fears that other women will 'lie and hide' if they find themselves in her position unless the law changes, due to fear of being prosecuted. During her investigation, she says she spent nearly a year 'thinking every little car door that slams is the police coming to take me and my husband away.' Now she is trying to piece her life back together, while still worrying the police might come after her again.'I was open and honest with them… that openness and honesty got me nowhere. I got treated like a criminal when I am not one. 'Look at the outcome. All we got was an apology and a message that the investigation was dropped.'The law needs to be changed. I wouldn't wish this upon anyone.' *Name changed
The Irish Sun
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Posh UK spa hotel praised by mums as perfect for kids – thanks to Ofsted creche, huge playbarn and early teatime
A FAMILY-FRIENDLY hotel in the Cotswolds has been praised by mums as being perfect for relaxing with kids, thanks to plenty of activities and free childcare. As well as being a remote hotel with a relaxing spa, there's a playbarn, 12-seater cinema and special kids' tea times too. Advertisement 6 Calcot & Spa has been a hit with parents for being so child-friendly 6 The hotel has two dedicated children's zones and carers Credit: Calcot & Spa Mum, She said the hotel has everything to keep children entertained from the playground to an outdoor kitchen and playbarn. Lots of other mums agreed with one writing on Advertisement Read More on Family Hotels "Everything has been well thought out and executed. From kid-friendly family rooms (rubber ducks, child monitors, night lights, etc) to restaurants catering for children (early kids tea, kids cups, plates and cutlery, etc) the hotel has got it right." The hotel offers four hours a day of childcare too which is included in the booking so that parents can take "time off". Parents can use that time to explore the spa that offers treatments, and has an outdoor hot tub and pool. Kids will be looked after at the Ofsted-registered purpose-built crèche called 'The Playbarn.' Advertisement Most read in Family It's catered for children of all ages including newborns. There's plenty of toys, arts and crafts equipment too, and it's run by a team of nannies. For the children aged eight and over, The Mez is kitted out with PlayStations, Wii consoles, Xboxes, computers and even a 12-seater cinema. The family-friendly hotel in south east England with five pools and 200 activities 6 Children are allowed to use the indoor and outdoor pool 6 There are activities like crafts, nature trails, bike hire and lawn games Credit: Calcot & Spa Advertisement The Playbarn and The Mez are open from 9:00am to 1:00pm and from 1:30pm to 5:30pm every day - but do require advance bookings. And those aren't the only activities, children are welcome in the outdoor pool when it's open during the summer. The indoor pool is heated and will have specific sessions dedicated to children - with other times being adult-only. Families can also hire complimentary bikes and explore multiple routes around the hotel - including its very own nature reserve. Advertisement On the grounds is a nature trail as well and lawn games from boules and croquet to mini football. During the summer holidays, the team runs a timetable of activities for children from scavenger hunts to arts and crafts. There's also special children's tea time at 5pm as well as buffets and snacks during the day that are catered to them. When the kids have gone to bed, adults can enjoy dinner and take up the 'baby-listening service' which is available in the evenings and staff will listen for any disturbances. Advertisement 6 The family rooms are kitted out with separate rooms for parents and children Credit: Calcot & Spa On-site are 35 rooms and suites, lots of which are designed for families. Each room has a separate bedroom for the little ones and a master bedroom for adults. Some even have their own private garden and a bathroom with twin bath tubs. For anyone booking midweek, there's an offer where children stay completely free. Advertisement Breakfast for adults and children and kids' dinners are included in the cost of the stay if for anyone booking midweek. Lunch and adults' evening meals is at an extra charge. Calcot & Spa typically offers room rates starting from £292 per night, with prices varying depending on the season and specific room type. Here's another And this Advertisement 6 Calcot & Spa has received high praise from parents Credit: Adam Lynk
