https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13045957/wimbledon-school-crash-footage-selena-lau-death.html

Heartbreaking footage shows Wimbledon crash victim Selena Lau, eight, playing the piano at an end-of-term tea party before Land Rover smashed into grounds of school killing her and another classmate

    Selena's parents say they are desperate for answers and justice seven months on

By Danya Bazaraa

Published: 10:33, 5 February 2024 | Updated: 11:57, 5 February 2024

Heartbreaking footage shows eight-year-old Selena Lau beautifully playing the piano moments before she was killed when a 4x4 ploughed into an end of term party at her Wimbledon school.  Selena, who was a pupil at The Study Prep, was performing at a concert before the £80,000 Land Rover crashed through the primary school's gates during an end of term picnic which followed last July.  Shortly after she was given a warm round of applause and the concert finished, pupils and their families went outside for the picnic, where the car smashed through a fence. Selena and her friend Nuria Sajjad, also eight, were both killed in the incident while dozens of other children and parents were injured.  Seven months on from the tragedy, a video of Selena playing Scott Joplin's ragtime classic The Entertainer has been released by the Times. It is the last video made of Selena before her death.  Selena's parents Franky and Jessie Lau, both 45, treasure the clip of their daughter's faultless performance, but have spoken out about being desperate for answers and justice.  They also revealed in a new, emotional interview with Talk TV that they suffer flashbacks and nightmares, saying they are 'suffering every day' and sharing their agonising frustration over the long-running police investigation.  The couple broke down in tears as they spoke about their 'funny, cheeky daughter' and admitted they are haunted by guilt over not being with her when she died.  A police update also confirms a 46-year-old woman from Wimbledon who was arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving is currently released under investigation.  Jessie wept as she recalled seeing her daughter's body. 'I first saw her lying on a bed near the reception area. So alone with a tube in her mouth, blood stains and bruises on her face. It comes flashing back every day, every night, and I wish that was me lying there not her, I wish I could swap with her, I'd give anything I have to have her back.'

Recounting the phone call from Selena's school receptionist, Selena's mother said: 'She was like, 'Just come, something really serious has happened at school. I thought it may be a broken arm, I didn't expect anything else. Her voice was shaking, and she was like, 'You have to come now.'

'I was thinking why don't you take her to the hospital, it takes me an hour to get there. It doesn't make sense to wait for me to go to the hospital. And then I start crying.'

Franky, who had been working from home, had already made his way to the school. He said: 'There was so much traffic at that point because the school was cordoned off. All the police were there I caused a bit of a scene outside and they took me inside to the hall. And I saw my mum and a friend, the parents there, and they just came to me and said Selena's gone.'

Video of Selena playing piano at a concert on the tragic day has also emerged. But shortly after she was given a warm round of applause and the concert finished, pupils and their families went outside for the picnic, where the car smashed through a fence.  Selena's parents Franky and Jessie treasure the clip of their daughter's faultless performance, but have spoken out about being desperate for answers and justice.  Jessie told the Times: 'It was the end of my world.'

Franky added: 'Each day it drags on, we are replaying what happened. We just want answers and justice. We are owed answers to what happened to our daughter.'

Selena's father Franky told Talk TV he will always regret not attending her final piano performance that fateful afternoon: 'We replay that day in our head every day. Was there anything we could have done to make that not happen?  Should I have gone to see the performance? She would have been speaking to me for an extra few seconds, which would have made all the difference.  If it rained, they wouldn't be having the picnic outside. All these different scenarios, every day.'

The pain and uncertainty is also taking a heavy toll on Selena's twelve-year-old sister. 'They were best buddies since the day Selena was born, doing piano, netball, dancing and singing classes together,' said Jessie.

'Now she's withdrawn from all those activities. That's not fun anymore. She's been sobbing at night because they used to listen to songs together before going to sleep and chat. She's been crying on her own.'

Police said a 46-year-old woman from Wimbledon who was arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving is currently released under investigation. Enquiries are ongoing.  Detective Chief Superintendent Clair Kelland, in charge of policing for south west London, told MailOnline: 'Our thoughts remain with the families of Nuria and Selena who we know are greatly loved and missed.  This was a tragic incident and we understand that the families want and need answers as to what happened.   We are continuing to give them specialist support through our dedicated family liaison officers who are providing updates on the investigation where they can.  Specialist detectives are working tirelessly to establish the circumstances of that day, including analysing CCTV and examining the expert report from forensic collision investigators.  The incident involved the large scale deployment of joint resources from the Met, LAS and LFB and we are working closely with them, as well as the Crown Prosecution Service, as part of our investigation.  We recognise that the time taken can cause further distress but it is only right and fair to all involved that we carry out a thorough and extensive investigation.'

Heartbroken family members previously described Selena as a 'cheeky' young girl who was 'adored by everyone'.  Selena's classmates said she was 'beautiful inside and out'.  Tributes left alongside flowers outside the school described Selena as a 'star'. One said: 'You will always be our shining star. We will miss you so much.'

Another note left for Selena from one of her friends read: 'I will never forget you.'

* The full interview with Selena's parents can be seen on TalkTV on the Vanessa Feltz show. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13009853/kenneth-eugene-smith-preacher-advisor-sobs-murderers-executed-death-row.html

How a hipster preacher served as Kenneth Eugene Smith's 'spiritual advisor' who marches with a giant crucifix and SOBS when murderers are executed on Death Row
By TOM COTTERILL

PUBLISHED: 08:16, 27 January 2024 | UPDATED: 09:07, 27 January 2024

He's the bespectacled hipster preacher who serves as the 'spiritual advisor' to twisted Death Row killers before they're executed.  Sporting a bushy beard, oval glasses and sometimes carrying a huge wooden cross, Reverend Dr Jeff Hood is often the last friendly face some of the most heinous criminals in America get to see before their lives are snuffed out.   Among those aided by the sandal-wearing religious man was Kenneth Eugene Smith, who was put to death on Thursday during a nightmarish, botched execution at a correctional facility in Alabama.  The 58-year-old murderer became the first person in the world to be executed with nitrogen gas. But what was meant to be a quick death turned into a shocking 22-minute ordeal as he slowly suffocated.  Liberal Rev Dr Hood who supports gay and trans rights and once staged a Black Lives Matters rally which ended in five police officers in Dallas being shot and killed in 2016 was in the room as Smith thrashed on the gurney while the gas took hold.  The moment was the 'worst thing' the spiritual guider said he had ever seen. After praying with the killer and telling him that he 'loved him and he wasn't alone', Hood broke down as he recounted the 'horror show' of Smith's final moments.  'When they turned the nitrogen on, he began to convulse, he popped up on the gurney over and over again, he shook the whole gurney,' he said.  'I could see the corrections officers, I think they were very surprised that this didn't go smoothly - one of the state officials in the room was so nervous she was tap dancing,' he continued.

'(Smith) kept breathing for what could possibly be up to nine minutes, 10 minutes, unbelievable evil was unleashed tonight in Alabama.'

Hood's claims of Smith's execution being a 'horror show' directly oppose the narrative put out by Alabama officials, who praised it as a step forward for safe death row justice as an 'effective and humane method of execution.'

'When I agreed to be Kenny Smith’s spiritual advisor, I did so because I didn’t want him to be alone in the darkest hour of his life,' he added.

It's not the first time married father-of-five Rev Dr Hood has courted controversy.   In 2016. the pastor was caught up in the mayhem of a gun battle during a Black Lives Matter protest he helped stage in Dallas, Texas.  What started off as a peaceful demonstration ended in carnage, with five police officers being shot and killed, with seven other people injured.  Rev Dr Hood, a staunch anti-police-brutality activist had held a gathering earlier in the evening to protest the police shooting of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota.  As gunfire erupted on the streets of Dallas, the white Baptist pastor shepherded people to safety a large, wooden cross as a beacon.  Speaking after the bloodshed, Hood said: 'Never in our wildest dreams would we have imagined that five police officers would be dead this morning.'

But critics were quick to slam the reverend, accusing him of giving a very different message shortly before the shooting started, potentially inflaming racial tensions.  Filmed speaking on a megaphone, Rev Dr Hood yelled: 'God damn white America.

'White America is 'f***ing lie. I'm sick of the bodies and black and brown people being slaughtered in our streets.'

And in the media firestorm that followed, Rev Dr Hood found himself facing death threats online.  'You should feel so proud. Because of you and your rally five people are dead. And now you’re on TV for your 5 minutes of fame. Crawl back in your hole scumbag,' wrote one person.

Another added: 'I can only hope and pray that you are killed soon...'

While a third said: 'Just wait till you get dragged through the street. Racist loser.'

In the aftermath that followed, the pastor was forced to shelter from the world, fearing he would be gunned down, with police patrolling his home.  Hood grew up Georgia part of America's Bible Belt famed for its staunch religious views in a Christian fundamentalist family.  But he became a racial-justice advocate, describing his home state as the 'cradle of the civil rights movement'.

As a child of six or seven, he remembers his teacher in first grade assigning him the task of reciting the 'I Have Dream Speech' by famed civil rights activist, Dr Martin Luther King Jr.  'From very early on I realized these struggles were complicated, but the complication didn’t keep me from going in my desire to be a part of the change,' he told GQ.

Not afraid of speaking his mind, Hood fiercely opposes the death penalty and fights for LGBT rights.  In a biography online, he proudly boasts of having been arrested three times and having written more than 70 books.  'With three arrests, various assaults endured and thousands of miles marched, Dr. Hood is not afraid to step into the shoes of Jesus and give his body for justice,' the biography reads.

While in the death chamber with Smith, Rev Dr Hood took the time to pray with the convicted killer, touching Smith's feet with a bible before the gas was administered.  Smith was convicted in the 1988 murder-for-hire killing of Elizabeth Sennett.  Prosecutors said he was one of two men who were each paid $1,000 to kill Ms Sennett on behalf of her pastor husband, who was deeply in debt and wanted to collect on insurance.  She was found with eight stab wounds to the chest and one in each side of her neck.  In a final statement, Smith said: 'Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards I'm leaving with love, peace and light.'

He made the 'I love you sign' toward his wife and other family members who were witnesses. 'Thank you for supporting me. Love, love all of you,' Smith said.

Smith started violently shaking, writhing, and thrashing up and down on the gurney for two whole minutes after the nitrogen gas started filling up his mask.  This was followed by five to seven minutes of heavy breathing and slight gasping.  In total, Smith, 58, was visibly conscious and struggling in apparent pain for nearly 10 minutes before his breathing seemed to slowly stop at 8.08pm.  The viewing curtains closed at 8.15pm and he was pronounced dead at 8.25pm.  Prior to the fiasco, Rev Dr Hood hit out at the State of Alabama for refusing to 'share even the simplest of evidence of safety precautions that they have in place for the first nitrogen hypoxia execution'.

In a blistering personal blog ahead of the botched execution of the Death Row inmate, Rev Dr Hood accused state officials of 'secrecy' over the new killing method.  'We have put out several safety demands…to which the State of Alabama has not responded,' Rev Dr Hood wrote.

'They are not willing to engage the simplest safety measures. The State of Alabama has not responded to the truth that experts have shared over and over. I guess this should make sense… since they are so comfortable taking the life of a human being in this manner…suffocation.  If they are prepared to kill someone in such a way…what would it mean to kill someone else? It seems that it would mean very little.  The tyranny of uncertainty that the State of Alabama has created has given tremendous stress to people that I deeply love. Once again, they should be ashamed.  But of course, they won’t be. Those who are this comfortable being murderers have no shame.'

https://outreachmagazine.com/features/77098-you-matter.html?utm_source=omag-om-daily-nl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button&utm_campaign=omag-om-daily-nl-&maropost_id=714607821&mpweb=256-10067443-714607821

Greg Laurie
August 11, 2023
You Matter

Every person in the church has an effect on it, for better or for worse.

If you are strong spiritually, then you build up the church a little more. If you are weak spiritually, you weaken it a little more. If you allow God to use you to touch lives, you help the church a little more. And if you’re compromising spiritually, you weaken it a little more. Every person has an effect.

Writing to the church in Corinth, the apostle Paul said, “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad” (1 Corinthians 12:26 NLT).

But Paul also reproved this church because they were boasting about bringing in someone who claimed to be a believer but was living immorally. They were proud of how tolerant they were.

Paul told them, “You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship” (1 Corinthians 5:2 NLT).

You matter in the church. Every person lifting their voice in worship matters. Every gift in the offering matters. And every act we do outside the church matters. If you’re a Christian, then you are an important part of the body of Christ.

We need to get rid of this me-first, what’s-in-it-for-me mindset and start thinking biblically. We need to start asking what we can do to help others and serve others. We need to ask how we can learn to resolve conflicts and maintain the unity that is in the church.

Instead of approaching church like a consumer looking to simply get in and get out every weekend, come in and use the gifts that God has given you.

It can change your life, and it can certainly change the way you see the church.

Researchers have recently discovered that the artist Vincent Van Gogh had quite a few interesting relatives:

A grandfather that moved to Yugoslavia: U Gogh

A brother who worked at a convenience store: Stopen Gogh

A magician uncle: Wherediddy Gogh

The aunt who taught positive thinking: Wayto Gogh

A psychiatrist nephew: E. Gogh

The brother who bleached his clothes: Hue Gogh

A very obnoxious brother: Please Gogh

A sister with a small bladder: Gotta Gogh

A cousin that moved to Illinois: Chica Gogh

A niece that moved to Mexico: Ami Gogh

The ballroom dancing aunt: Tan Gogh

A second cousin that drove a stagecoach: Wells Far Gogh

The bouncy nephew: Po Gogh

A birdwatching uncle: Flamin Gogh

A grand-niece that no one has heard from because she's been traveling around the USA for years: Winnie Bay Gogh

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12936707/east-london-borough-disgraced-mayor-barred-office-corruption-palestine.html

East London borough led by disgraced mayor once barred from public office for five years for corruption is accused of 'criminal offences' over failure to take down Palestinian flags

    UK Lawyers for Israel claims display of Palestinian flags is breaking the law
    It wrote to the Metropolitan Police claiming the council could be held liable
    READ MORE: Met police make arrests as pro-Palestinian protesters stage sit-in

By Jon Brady

Published: 01:56, 8 January 2024 | Updated: 08:06, 8 January 2024

An east London borough whose mayor was once barred from public office for corruption has been accused of 'criminal offences' because of its failure to take down Palestinian flags.  It has called on the borough, whose elected mayor is Lutfur Rahman, to remove the displays of Palestinian support in case their 'inflammatory content' constitutes a criminal offence, for which it says the council would ultimately be responsible.  Tower Hamlets, which has the largest Muslim population of any local authority area in the UK at 39.9 per cent as of the 2021 census, says it is not aware of any criminal offences being committed through the displaying of Palestinian flags.  Its mayor, Mr Rahman, was re-elected in 2022, seven years after he was forced to stand down following a civil case that found him personally guilty of corrupt and illegal practices in the lead up to the election.   He was banned from holding office for five years, a measure that has now lapsed.  UKLFI said it has reported the council to the Metropolitan Police over its failure to act on what it claimed were incendiary materials throughout its borough.  Some of the signs included accusations that Israel was committing 'genocide' in Gaza and calls for 'victory to the intifada', the Arabic word for an uprising.  The Metropolitan Police has made arrests during pro-Palestine protests in Central London over a number of alleged declarations of support for Hamas, which is a proscribed terror group and therefore illegal to support.  Jonathan Turner, chief executive, said in a letter to the authority that under the Town and Country Planning Act, it would be held liable for any criminal offences committed through the displaying of the materials.  He did not state which offences, if any, were being committed through the displaying of the signs and flags.  'Our attention has been drawn to serious concerns on the part of Jewish residents of Tower Hamlets regarding the proliferation of large Palestine flags on lamp-posts in public streets as well as posters and stickers with inflammatory content,' Mr Turner wrote.

'These displays intimidate Jewish people and may encourage violence against them. We believe that many of the flags, posters and stickers are displayed on land owned or occupied by Tower Hamlets Council.  The Council has not taken all reasonable steps to secure the removal of flags, posters and stickers on its land and therefore has committed and is committing criminal offences.'

Mr Turner, himself a practicing intellectual property lawyer, added that responsible council officers could also be construed as being guilty of an offence under the same law including the mayor, Mr Rahman.  The letter concluded: 'It appears that the Mayor of Tower Hamlets has neglected to ensure the removal of the flags, posters and stickers.

'Accordingly, both the Mayor of Tower Hamlets and the Council appear to be guilty of multiple criminal offences in this matter.'

Yesterday, UKLFI also reported what it said was another criminal offence to the police, of a man putting up a guerilla campaign poster in a bus stop in Tower Hamlets that bore the slogan: 'Palestine has the right to resist'.

Caroline Turner, director of the group, said in her letter to the police: 'In my view all these slogans are likely to stir up racial hatred of Israelis and Jews, and to encourage violence against Israelis and Jews contrary to the Public Order Act 1986.'

Mr Rahman was re-elected as mayor of Tower Hamlets in 2022 after being kicked out for electoral fraud. He and his supporters were found to have used intimidation, vote-rigging and false claims about his Labour rival to secure his victory in 2014.  He founded a new party, Aspire, in order to stand on the ballot two years ago, and said after being re-elected: 'A large number of people came and trusted me and Aspire and our activists to deliver for them going forward.'

A spokesman for Tower Hamlets council told the Telegraph: 'As one of the most diverse areas in the country, we are monitoring any community tensions closely with our Tension Monitoring Group, which includes the police and representatives from a broad range of community organisations.  4A number of Palestinian flags have been put up by the public in recent months. While we appreciate people want to express their support for Palestine, we have a routine responsibility to monitor and maintain council infrastructure. The situation is under regular review.  Separately to Palestinian flags, the council will remove at the earliest opportunity any graffiti, posters or flags which are racist or generally offensive.  We are not aware of any criminal offences related to Palestinian flags not being removed, and we will continue to work closely with police partners to manage the situation.'

UKLFI has been advocating for Israel for several years with sometimes controversial tactics. In a written submission to the Foreign Affairs Committee in 2017, it claimed that bodies such as the UN spent 'vast sums of money seeking to find fault with Israel at every turn'.  In 2020, it settled out of court with the charity Defense for Children International Palestine after describing the non-profit as being 'terror linked' and as having 'close links to a terrorist organisation'.  In recent days, the organisation has been vocal in its opposition to a motion lodged with the International Court of Justice by South Africa accusing Israel of perpetuating genocide in the Gaza strip.  Natasha Hausdorff, chair and legal director of UKLFI, repeated a claim from the IDF on Michael Portillo's GB News programme earlier today that the number of civilians being killed compared to Hamas militants 'two-to-one'.  Quoting a UN estimate that the normal civilian-to-combatant ratio of casualties is nine-to-one, she said: 'That puts the lie to any suggestion that international law is being violated in terms of the broader humanitarian law.'

Police made a number of arrests on Saturday after hundreds of pro-Palestine protesters rallied in Central London and marched from St James's Park to Westminster Bridge, where they staged a sit-in.  More than 22,000 Palestinians have been killed in the three months since Israel began its counter-offensive in Gaza, following the October 7 attacks that saw Hamas terrorists kill an estimated 1,200 Israelis.  International observers have made repeated calls for Israel to show restraint in its bombardment of the occupied Palestinian territory amid mass civilian casualties. The UN says up to 85 per cent of Gaza's 2.3 million residents have been displaced.  Israel insists that it is bombing Hamas targets, accusing the terror group of inserting itself into civilian populations and infrastructure in order to use innocent Gazans as human shields.  There are fears that the months-long conflict could spark a wider Middle Eastern war amid flaring tensions with neighbouring Lebanon.  Two more journalists working for Qatar-based network Al Jazeera were killed in what it said was a 'targeted killing' by Israeli troops.  Hamza Wael Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria were killed while on their way to carry out reporting in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army told AFP that it had 'struck a terrorist' as it carried out the strike.  Hamza was the son of Wael Al-Dahdouh, the Al Jazeera bureau chief who lost his wife, grandchild and two of his children to Israeli bombs in October. The journalist staunchly returned to work to continue reporting on the conflict a day later.  The Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 79 journalists and media professionals, the vast majority Palestinian, have been killed since October 7.  US secretary of state Antony Blinken is set to arrive in Israel shortly for talks, in which he will urge Israel to do more to reduce civilian casualties and to ensure that Palestinians can return home once the conflict ends.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, has vowed to continue fighting.  'The war must not be stopped until we achieve all the goals: the elimination of Hamas, the return of all our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel,' he said at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12925441/Jeffrey-epstein-list-names-michael-jackson-kevin-spacey-george-lucas.html

The A-list stars, politicians and leading figures named in the Jeffrey Epstein files: Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Naomi Campbell and Leonardo DiCaprio are among famous faces in bombshell 1,000-page document

    Follow MailOnline's liveblog here for all the updates on the Epstein papers

By Mark Duell and Martin Robinson, Chief Reporter

Published: 09:52, 4 January 2024 | Updated: 14:48, 4 January 2024

The identities of dozens of well-known figures linked  to Jeffrey Epstein have been revealed in court papers unsealed in the US overnight.  The files are part of a defamation case brought against Epstein's madam Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving 20 years in jail for sex trafficking underage girls to him.  She was sued by Virginia Roberts, now known as Virginia Giuffre, who claims she was forced to have sex with the Duke of York three times in 2001 when she was 17 claims the duke vehemently denies.  High-profile people such as Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Al Gore, Kevin Spacey and Stephen Hawking were all included in evidence filings.  Actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Naomi Campbell, Cameron Diaz and Bruce Willis are in there. None of them have been accused of any involvement in Epstein's crimes, but Epstein was a name-dropper, Johanna Sjoberg claimed in evidence released overnight. Ms Sjoberg was clear that she had never met them.  Also mentioned are the late physicist Stephen Hawking and magician David Copperfield.   Some of the people named overnight were associates, friends or victims of Epstein. But the vast majority were named in evidence by witnesses who said they had no links to the paedophile at all or had not seen them at his many homes.  The identities of more than 170 people are now set to be made public following a US judge's order last month, with the first tranche of documents released last night.  They are set to be released on a rolling basis this week.  However inclusion of a name does not necessarily mean they were accused of any wrong.

Who is named in the Epstein list? And what do the court documents say about them?

Prince Andrew

Today it emerged that one of Epstein's alleged sex slaves, known only as Jane Doe 3, claimed that she was told to have intercourse with Prince Andrew during an orgy on Epstein's island, Little Saint James, in the US Virgin Islands.  A 2014 court filing alleges that she was 'forced to have sexual relations with this Prince when she was a minor in three separate geographical locations.'

She claims this happened 'in London (at Ghislaine Maxwell's apartment), in New York, and on Epstein's private island in the US Virgin Islands (in an orgy with numerous other under-aged girls).'

The newly unsealed docs claim Epstein told Jane Doe 3 to 'give the Prince whatever he demanded'. Jane Doe 3 claims that Ghislaine Maxwell 'facilitated Prince Andrew's acts of sexual abuse by acting as a 'madame' for Epstein'.'

The unsealed documents include the transcript of Virginia Giuffre being questioned over the whereabouts of the photograph showing her with the Duke of York.  Asked during her deposition in 2016 where the picture was, she said: 'I probably still have it. It's not in my possession right now.'

Ms Giuffre added it may have been in storage boxes at her mother and father in-law's in Sydney, Australia.  She also said documents related to the case may have also been in the storage boxes which were 'full of Nerf guns, my kids' toys, photos.'

During the deposition, Ms Giuffre said she had given the picture to the FBI in 2011 but had last seen it before she packed up her home to emigrate to Australia from Colorado.  Jeffrey Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg shed new light on an April 2001 trip to New York in which she said Prince Andrew touched her breast while they posed for a photo at Epstein's Manhattan town house.  In the testimony, some of which appeared as excerpts in previous court filings, Sjoberg said she and Virginia Giuffre had flown with Epstein to New York on his private jet. Ghislaine Maxwell and Andrew were said to have met them there.  At one point, she testified, Maxwell called her to an upstairs closet where they pulled out a puppet of Andrew that had been made for a television program.  'It looked like him,' Sjoberg said. 'And she brought it down and presented it to him; and that was a great joke, because apparently it was a production from a show on BBC.'

'And they decided to take a picture with it, in which Virginia and Andrew sat on a couch. They put the puppet on Virginia's lap, and I sat on Andrew's lap, and they put the puppet's hand on Virginia's breast, and Andrew put his hand on my breast, and they took a photo.'

The reference is believed to relate to Andrew's Spitting Image puppet. Buckingham Palace previously said the allegations were 'categorically untrue'.  Among the unsealed documents appears to be an email sent by Ghislaine Maxwell mentioning the Duke of York.  The message was sent from the email address gmaxl@ellmax.com to Philip Barden and Ross Gow in January 2015.  It reads: 'I have already suffered such a terrible and painful loss over the last few days that I can't even see what life after press hell even looks like statements that don't address all just lead to more questions what is my relationship to Clinton? Andrew on and on.'

Andrew stepped down from public life after the furore over his friendship with Epstein and paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case to Giuffre, a woman he claimed never to have met.  The duke was cast out of the working monarchy and no longer uses his HRH style after Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein, accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17. Andrew has always denied the claims.

Bill Clinton

There are also mentions in the documents of Jeffrey Epstein's past friendship with former US president Bill Clinton who is not accused of any wrongdoing.  Jeffrey Epstein claimed Bill Clinton 'liked them young', Johanna Sjoberg told lawyers.  Deposition documents show Ms Sjoberg was asked if she knew the former US president was a friend of Epstein.  Ms Sjoberg said: 'I knew he had dealings with Bill Clinton.  I did not know they were friends until I read the Vanity Fair article about them going to Africa together.'

Asked if Epstein had ever talked about the former president, Ms Sjoberg said: 'He said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls.'

Other mentions included legal arguments over whether Virginia Giuffre should be allowed more time to depose potential witnesses, including Clinton.  Giuffre never alleged he was involved in illegal behavior, but her attorneys said the former president was a 'key person who can provide information about his close relationship' with Ghislaine Maxwell and Epstein.  Maxwell's attorneys countered that Clinton testimony was not relevant.

Donald Trump

Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg said she and Virginia Giuffre had flown with Jeffrey Epstein to New York on his private jet.  On the way to New York, Sjoberg testified, Epstein's jet diverted to Atlantic City, New Jersey, and spent a few hours at one of Donald Trump's casinos, because of bad weather.  Upon hearing the change of plans, Sjoberg recalled Epstein saying, 'Great, we'll call up Trump and we'll go to' the casino.

Sjoberg wasn't asked if they'd met up with Trump that night. Later in her testimony, she said she was never asked to give Trump a massage.  Trump previously said that he once thought Epstein was a 'terrific guy,' but that they later had a falling out.  In her deposition, Giuffre said the summer she turned 17, she was lured away from a job as a spa attendant at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club to become a 'masseuse' for Epstein a job that involved performing sexual acts.

Doug Band

Doug Band, one of Bill Clinton's closest aides who is credited with rehabilitating the 42nd president's image in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, was referred to as a 'friend' by Ghislaine Maxwell during a deposition, the new documents show.   It was earlier reported that Band joined Clinton and Epstein on various trips to Asia and Africa.  Band told Vanity Fair in a 2020 that he had long asked Clinton to cut off ties to Epstein and Maxwell, despite being unaware of their crimes, just because of bad 'vibes' he got from them.  'Did you ever have a relationship with [Band]?,' Maxwell was asked in a deposition.

'We are talking about adult consensual relationships, it's off the record,' she answered.

Lawyers then requested that she define her relationship with Band.   'I was friends with Doug but you are suggesting something more so I want to be clear what you are actually asking me,' Maxwell replied.

The heiress proceeded to not answer further questions around Clinton and Epstein's friendship at this time.  Band worked in Clinton's White House Counsel's office and served as Deputy Assistant to the President before becoming his chief advisor from 2002 to 2011.  With Band's help, Clinton fashioned a new role for his post presidency with his Clinton Global Initiative which donated millions to good causes.

Stephen Hawking

Jeffrey Epstein was ready to reward one of his victim's friends if they could 'prove her allegations false' including that Professor Stephen Hawking participated in an underage orgy, the court documents revealed.  An email from Epstein to Ghislaine Maxwell showed he was content for her to 'issue a reward' to any of Virginia Giuffre's friends to counter her claims, shortly after she filed a civil claim in the US in 2015.  The email read: 'You can issue a reward to any of Virginia's friends, acquaints, family that come forward and help prove her allegations are false.  The strongest is the Clinton dinner, and the new version in the Virgin Islands that Stephen Hawking participated in an underage orgy.'

Hawking died in 2018 aged 76.

David Copperfield

n her May 2016 deposition, Jeffrey Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg described going to a dinner at one of Epstein's homes also attended by magician David Copperfield.  She said Copperfield did magic tricks before asking if she was aware 'that girls were getting paid to find other girls.'

One of the key allegations against Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell was that some of the girls he paid for sex acts then acted as recruiters to find him other victims.  Sjoberg said Copperfield was not more specific about what he meant.  A publicist for Copperfield has not yet responded to requests for comment.

Michael Jackson

Jeffrey Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg testified in the newly-released deposition that she once met Michael Jackson at Epstein's home in Palm Beach, Florida.  But she added that nothing untoward happened with the late pop icon.  Jackson died in Los Angeles aged 50 in June 2009.

Naomi Campbell

Pilot David Rodgers previously revealed logs from 2009 which showed Naomi Campbell was among those who flew on his jet.  In a video from 2019 she admitted that she knew Epstein, adding: 'I was introduced to him on my 31st birthday by my ex-boyfriend Flavio [Briatore, the Italian businessman who has been convicted of fraud]. He was always front and centre at Victoria's Secret shows.'

She was also pictured near Epstein's alleged 'madam' Ghislaine Maxwell at a party in 2002.  The model denied knowing about Epstein's activities, adding: 'What he's done is indefensible and when I heard what he'd done it sickened me to my stomach.  I have had my fair share of sexual predators.'

She said she was 'shocked' by the coverage of her friendships with disreputable characters, before adding: 'I'm not a saint but I will not be held hostage by my past.'

In the evidence released overnight Johanna Sjoberg says she never met Ms Campbell or saw her at Epstein's homes.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Epstein's French modeling agent friend Jean-Luc Brunel, 75, who allegedly procured more than 1,000 women and girls for the paedophile financier to sleep with, died on in an apparent prison suicide to avoid trial.  Brunel was also often spotted partying with superstars like Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio.  In a 2016 deposition of Epstein victim Johanna Sjoberg was asked if she had met Mr DiCaprio.  Ms Sjoberg she said she never had - but that Epstein loved to name-drop celebrity names during massages.  'When I spoke about them, it was when I was massaging him, and he would get off he would be on the phone a lot at that time, and one time he said, "Oh, that was Leonardo, or, That was Cate Blanchett, or Bruce Willis". That kind of thing'.

Tom Pritzker

In her deposition, Virginia Giuffre said she had sex with several politicians and financial leaders.  Giuffre's deposition named several prominent figures who have previously denied her allegations of wrongdoing, including billionaire US businessman Tom Pritzker.  A spokesperson for Pritzker said the businessman 'continues to vehemently deny' the allegation.

Alan Dershowitz

In 2022, Virginia Giuffre withdrew an accusation she had made against Jeffrey Epstein's former attorney, law professor Alan Dershowitz, saying she ' may have made a mistake ' in identifying him as an abuser.  According to one of the documents, Epstein allegedly forced a woman named as Jane Doe #3, who was a 'minor' at the time, to 'have sexual relations' with Dershowitz.  It also claimed: 'In addition to being a participant in the abuse of Jane Doe #3 and other minors, Dershowitz was an eye-witness to the sexual abuse of many other minors by Epstein and several of Epstein's co-conspirators.'

But Dershowitz said in a statement to People: 'The woman who initially accused me subsequently stated that she may have misidentified me and she withdrew her lawsuit against me.'

The high-profile lawyer supported the release of the documents.  He told NewsNation: 'I want everything out, every document, every piece of paper, half-truths or lies, and I wanted them out for personal reasons because I know that they would prove what I've said from day one, that I did nothing wrong.  There are some people who may be ashamed of the fact that they hung out with Epstein but remember a lot of people hung out with Epstein before he was convicted.  Presidents of Harvard, deans, Nobel quality scientists, he was very well thought of in the beginning.'

Frédéric Fékkai

Celebrity hair stylist Frédéric Fékkai was named in the court documents, although it is unclear what relationship if any he had with Jeffrey Epstein.  In a deposition in May 2016 relating to Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg, she was asked by attorney Sigrid McCawley: 'Did you ever hear or observe Jeffrey talking on the phone about Frédéric Fékkai?'

'I heard him call someone, and say, Fékkai is in Hawaii,' Sjoberg responded over the objection of the Ghislaine Maxwell's attorney Laura Menninger. 'Can we find some girls for him?'

'And what was your reaction to that?' McCawley asked.

'Well, I was massaging and I didn't have a reaction,' Sjoberg replied. 'I tried to remain reactionless the whole five years.'

Fékkai has not yet commented on the claims.

Leslie Wexner

Another name appearing in the documents was Leslie Wexner, a former business partner of Jeffrey Epstein who founded L Brands, a retail empire that included Victoria's Secret.  He was referred to when Ghislaine Maxwell was asked if she provided a woman with an outfit of a sexual nature to wear for Wexner.  'Categorically no,' Maxwell replied. 'You did get that, I said categorically no.'

She also denied that she had communicated with Wexner about the lawsuit.  Wexner previously said in a letter to his employees that that he 'was never aware of the illegal activity' that Epstein was charged over.

Glenn Dubin

Virginia Giuffre claimed she was pressured into having sex with men in Jeffrey Epstein's social orbit, including the billionaire hedge fund Glenn Dubin, among others.  She said she also had sex with other political leaders whose names she could not remember.  All of those men, including Dubin, said her accounts were fabricated.  Dubin has not yet commented on the documents.

Jean-Luc Brunel

The documents name many public figures known to have associated with Jeffrey Epstein over the years, but whose relationships with him have already been well documented elsewhere, according to the judge.  One of them is Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent close to Epstein who was awaiting trial on charges that he raped underage girls when he killed himself in a Paris jail in 2022.  Virginia Giuffre was among the women who had accused Brunel of sexual abuse. His name was peppered throughout the documents released today.  The documents show that Giuffre said during a 2016 deposition that she had been told by Ghislaine Maxwell to have sex with several men.  After asking Giuffre in turn about each of the men, Laura Menninger, a lawyer who was part of Maxwell's legal team at the time, asked: 'Other than Glenn Dubin, (redacted), Prince Andrew, Jean Luc Brunel, Bill Richardson, another prince, the large hotel chain owner and Marvin Minsky, is there anyone else that Ghislaine Maxwell directed you to go have sex with?'

Ms Giuffre replied: 'I am definitely sure there is. But can I remember everybody's name? No.'

Ehud Barak

Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister, is claimed to have met with Jeffrey Epstein on various occasions.  The politician was allegedly a regular guest of Epstein's at his Upper East Side townhouse and also flew on Epstein's jet.  In her deposition, Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg denied ever meeting Barak.  Speaking to the Wall Street Journal in April last year, Barak accepted that he met with Epstein while in New York and that Epstein 'often brought other interesting persons, from art or culture, law or science, finance, diplomacy or philanthropy.'

But he insisted that he never met Epstein 'with girls or minors, or even adult women in improper context or behaviour'.

Kevin Spacey

Kevin Spacey was also mentioned in the documents once, in which Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg denied meeting him.  Sjoberg was asked by an attorney: 'I may have already asked you, but have you met Kevin Spacey?'

She replied: 'No'.

Separately, in July last year, Oscar-winning actor Spacey was cleared at Southwark Crown Court in London of a string of alleged sex attacks on younger men which were said to have taken place between 2001 and 2013.

Bill Richardson

Virginia Giuffre's deposition named several prominent figures who have previously denied her allegations, including the late New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.  She said Ghislaine Maxwell asked her to give Mr Richardson a massage but added: 'I don't know dates.'

Giuffre added: 'I can't tell you where we were. I know where I was sent to. I don't know where we were when she told me to do that.'

Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg was also asked whether she had met Governor Richardson.  She replied: 'Hmm, I want to say that he was supposed to come to dinner when we were in New Mexico. I don't know if I met him. I believe that he and Ghislaine had dinner separate from myself.'

Mr Richardson died aged 75 in September last year.

Al Gore

Former Vice President Al Gore, who served under Bill Clinton, was also among the well-known names mentioned in the documents.  He was referred to regarding materials that Ghislaine Maxwell sought from Virginia Giuffre before trial in the civil defamation lawsuit.  The document said Maxwell asked Giuffre to produce any photos or videos that she had that showed with a number of high-profile people, including Gore.  But Giuffre's attorneys said she objected because any such alleged photographs were in the 'custody and control' of Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein.  While Guiffre previously claimed that Mr Gore travelled on Epstein's private plane, a photo of Gore and Giuffre has never been released.  Gore has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

George Lucas

Star Wars creator George Lucas was also named in the documents, although with no suggestion of any wrongdoing.  Jeffrey Epstein accuser Johanna Sjoberg was asked in May 2016 whether she had ever met or given massages to a number of high-profile celebrities including Lucas.  But she denied having done so and that was the only mention of Lucas in the document.
 
Who was paedophile Jeffrey Epstein? What was he accused of? How did he die?

A millionaire known for associating with celebrities, politicians, billionaires and academic stars, Epstein was initially arrested in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2005 after he was accused of paying a 14-year-old girl for sex.  Andrew would call his friend Epstein every week.  Dozens of other underage girls described similar sexual abuse, but prosecutors ultimately allowed the financier to plead guilty in 2008 to a charge involving a single victim. He served 13 months in a jail work-release program.  Some famous acquaintances abandoned Epstein after his conviction, including former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, but many did not.  Epstein continued to mingle with the rich and famous for another decade, often through philanthropic work.  Reporting by the Miami Herald renewed interest in the scandal, and federal prosecutors in New York charged Epstein in 2019 with sex trafficking.  He killed himself in jail while awaiting trial.  The US attorney in Manhattan then prosecuted Epstein's former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, for helping recruit his underage victims. She was convicted in 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison term.

What are the records about? Why have they been released?

The documents being unsealed are part of a 2015 lawsuit filed against Maxwell by one of Epstein's victims, Virginia Giuffre.  She is one of the dozens of women who sued Epstein saying he had abused them at his homes in Florida, New York, the U.S. Virgin Islands and New Mexico.  Giuffre said the summer she turned 17, she was lured away from a job as a spa attendant at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club to become a 'masseuse' for Epstein a job that involved performing sexual acts.  Giuffre also claimed she was pressured into having sex with men in Epstein's social orbit, including Britain's Prince Andrew, the former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell and the billionaire Glenn Dubin, among others. All of those men said her accounts were fabricated.  Giuffre settled a lawsuit against Prince Andrew in 2022. That same year, Giuffre withdrew an accusation she had made against Epstein's former attorney, the law professor Alan Dershowitz, saying she ' may have made a mistake ' in identifying him as an abuser.  Giuffre's lawsuit against Maxwell was settled in 2017, but the Miami Herald went to court to access court papers initially filed under seal, including transcripts of interviews the lawyers did with potential witnesses.  About 2,000 pages were unsealed by a court in 2019. Additional documents were released in 2020, 2021 and 2022.  The batch currently being released contains around 250 records that sections that were blacked out or were sealed entirely because of concerns about the privacy rights of Epstein's victims and other people whose names had come up during the legal battle but weren't complicit in his crimes. Only around 40 of those documents were made public Wednesday. More will be released in the coming days.

What else can we expect to see in the coming days?

U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska, who evaluated the documents to decide what should be unsealed, said in her December order that she was ordering the records released because much of the information within them is already public.  Some records have been released, either in part or in full, in other court cases.  The people named in the records include many of Epstein's accusers, members of his staff who told their stories to tabloid newspapers, people who served as witnesses at Maxwell's trial, people who were mentioned in passing during depositions but aren't accused of anything salacious, and people who investigated Epstein, including prosecutors, a journalist and a police detective.  There are also boldface names of public figures known to have associated with Epstein over the years, but whose relationships with him have already been well documented elsewhere, the judge said.  One of them is Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent close to Epstein who was awaiting trial on charges that he raped underage girls when he killed himself in a Paris jail in 2022. Giuffre was among the women who had accused Brunel of sexual abuse.  His name was peppered throughout the documents released Wednesday.  Clinton and Trump both factor in the court file, partly because Giuffre was questioned by Maxwell's lawyers about inaccuracies in newspaper stories about her time with Epstein. One story quoted her as saying she had ridden in a helicopter with Clinton and flirted with Trump. Giuffre said neither of those things actually happened. She hasn't accused either former president of wrongdoing.  The judge said a handful of names should remain blacked out in the documents because they would identify people who were sexually abused. The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they decide to tell their stories publicly, as Giuffre has done.

https://outreachmagazine.com/features/76861-the-christian-life-youre-either-climbing-or-slipping.html?utm_source=omag-om-daily-nl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=title&utm_campaign=omag-om-daily-nl-20230718&maropost_id=714607821&mpweb=256-10047560-714607821

The Christian Life — You’re Either Climbing or Slipping

Sometimes we fail to understand how powerful compromise can be in our lives. No one falls away from God overnight. It’s something that happens over time a slow, methodical process.  The moment you stop going forward as a Christian is the moment you will begin to go backward. If you put your Christian experience in neutral, then you will go downhill, because this is an uphill climb.  As one person put it, “The Christian life is a lot like a greased pole. You are either climbing or slipping.”

Applying Yourself Spiritually

In fact, the Bible tells us that in the last days some will fall away from the faith (see 1 Timothy 4:1). The question is, do you want to be one of those people?

You don’t have to be. It begins with applying yourself spiritually and avoiding taking unnecessary chances.

The evangelist Billy Sunday said, “One reason sin flourishes is that it is treated like a cream puff instead of a rattlesnake!”

The Bible says, “And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, ‘God is tempting me.’ God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else” (James 1:13 NLT).

Along these same lines, the writer of Romans pointed out, “Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living” (Romans 6:16 NLT).

For sin to flourish in our lives, we must cooperate. And far too often we don’t take responsibility for our actions. We are living in a time when no one accepts responsibility for their actions anymore. It is absolutely shocking to see the crimes people are getting away with and what is happening in our courts.  In our crazy, upside-down system, no one is responsible for anything they do. We are all victims. We are all dysfunctional. However, if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, then you need to recognize that you must take responsibility for your actions.  In the Garden of Eden, Adam offered what appeared to be the first recorded excuse in the history of humanity. After he fell into sin, he effectively said to God, “It isn’t my fault. I’m not responsible. It’s the woman you gave me.”

Next was Eve, who offered the second recorded excuse in history: “The serpent deceived me. … That’s why I ate it” (Genesis 3:13 NLT).

Protecting Your Mind

When Satan wanted to lead Adam and Eve into sin, he started by attacking Eve’s mind. Paul warned, “But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent” (2 Corinthians 11:3 NLT).

In our minds we reason, contemplate, dream and fantasize. The Bible says, “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments” (2 Corinthians 10:4 NLT).

We are living in a time when we’re barraged with images. We can access hundreds of television channels with worthless things to watch. Or, we can go off into cyberspace and explore all kinds of things. People are filling their minds with this content, and some of it is evil and perverse. And sooner or later, what we consume will work its way into our lives.  Just as what we eat affects the way we feel and act, what we feed our minds affects the way we behave. Thoughts translate into actions.  Certainly, we are living in a day when immorality seems to be at all-time high. Lust and passion continue to devastate countless lives every day. Scores of fatherless children are growing up without morals and absolutes as people treat sex casually and don’t stop to think about the consequences.  When I was a teenager back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was a time of great revolution and change. We were pushing away all the boundaries and discovering things for ourselves. And what a Pandora’s box that turned out to be.  The Bible tells the story of Samson, who had all the potential to be someone great for God and lead his nation out of the state of backsliding they had fallen into. Humanly speaking, he had superman qualities. There was no one physically stronger than he was. Mentally, he was sharp, clever and alert.  Though Samson was strong in some ways, he was very weak in others, because he never learned to control himself.

Flee From Sin

Make no mistake about it: Sin is powerful, and it’s intoxicating. We think we can handle it, but we can’t. The Bible tells us, “Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts” (2 Timothy 2:22 NLT).

Flee from sin. Don’t toy with it, because sooner or later, it will pull you in and trap you. That is what happened to Samson.  Of course, we all will sin. We all are going to fail and have our lapses. Maybe you’re thinking, “But my conscience is hard. It’s calloused.”

The good news is that Jesus Christ can resensitize your conscience. He can bring you back again. He can forgive you. Only God can do that for you, but you must turn from your sin.  The best prevention against falling into sin is a committed relationship with Jesus Christ.  When Jesus Christ is who He ought to be in our lives, we won’t be looking for other things to take His place. We won’t be looking for sin to fill the void in our lives, because we’ll be satisfied in our relationship with Him.  However, if you are a fence sitter, if you are a compromiser, if you are trying to live in both worlds, then it is only a matter of time until you go down.

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off.  I immediately ran over and said "Stop!  Don't do it!"

"Why shouldn't I?" he said.

I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!"

"Like what?"

"Well...are you religious or atheist?"

"Religious."

"Me too!  Are you Catholic or Protestant?"

"Protestant."

"Me too!  Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"

"Baptist."

"Wow!  Me too!  Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"

"Baptist Church of God."

"Me too!  Are you Original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"

"Reformed Baptist Church of God."

"Me too!  Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?"

"Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!"

To which I said, "Die, heretic scum!" and pushed him off.