1 week agoNew York StateComments Off on Popular kitchen gadget sold on Amazon is urgently recalled over ‘serious risk of fire & EXPLODING’
A KITCHEN gadget from Amazon has been recalled over a “serious” risk of exploding.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has now banned all imports of the Moongiantgo Food Dehydrator.
Gov.ukThere are serious fire risks with the product, and it has been pulled from UK sales[/caption]
The entire product appeared to be riddled with issues, including faults with its fuse.
On the OPSS website, it states: “The product is a serious risk of fire as the fuse has insufficient granular filler to ensure safe operation under fault conditions.
“If the product experiences an electrical fault whilst in use, it may catch fire or explode.”
According to the body, it does not meet the requirements of Electrical Equipment Safety Regulations 2016 or the Plugs and Sockets Safety Regulations 1994.
The product was used to dehydrate various food items such as fruits, herbs, vegetables and meats.
A similar item listed on Amazon, which meets the regulation standards, says it is fitted with a high-powered rear fan which delivers “consistent airflow throughout”.
The description reads: “A sleek digital control panel gives you full command of the dehydration process.
“Set the temperature anywhere between 30°C and 90°C, and use the programmable timer for up to 24 hours of continuous drying.”
Another Amazon product was recalled over serious risk of injuries.
The Soppycid Reusable Water Balloons have been removed from the online marketplace following the safety concern.
The toy was available in a pack of six on Amazon for £18.
“The product presents a serious risk of injuries because it contains accessible magnets with a magnetic flux index that exceeds the acceptable level,” the product’s risk description reads.
“Small, high-powered magnetic products can easily be swallowed and, when ingested, have the potential to cause serious internal injuries within the gastrointestinal tract.
“The product also requires improvement to marking, labelling and documentation.”
Another children’s toy was removed from the website over fears it could cause serious injury.
The Joycat Baby Float, sold on Amazon, has been flagged as a safety risk.
Authorities found that its attachable canopy could lift the float from the water in windy conditions, putting children in danger.
The alert was issued in the UK following a border inspection.
The blue and yellow sea-themed swim seat, intended for babies and toddlers, poses a “serious risk of injuries”, according to the Product Safety Report.
If the float becomes airborne, a child could be thrown out and suffer an impact injury or drown.
Gov.ukThe gadget can be used to dehydrate a variety of foods[/caption]
1 week agoNew York StateComments Off on Soldier Soldier star dies aged 61 as devastated colleagues pay tribute to ‘truest actor & good friend’
SOLDIER Soldier star Marise Wipani has died suddenly aged 61.
The actress – who also appeared in Xena: Warrior Princess and Shortland Street, and was a former Miss New Zealand – passed away on her birthday on Friday (June 6).
A post on her Facebook page said: “Marise passed peacefully today on her 61st birthday surrounded by family and friends.
“She just wanted to say….I have shuffled off this mortal coil. Good byyye, good luuuck, good God!!! Quote from Driving Miss Daisy.”
A cause of death was not revealed.
Wipani played Ellie in season three of ITV drama Soldier, Soldier, which broadcast in 1993.
At its peak, the show saw an average viewership of 16.1 million, which coincided with Wipani’s time in the cast.
The programme – created by Lucy Gannon – followed the daily lives of a group of soldiers in ‘A’ Company, 1st Battalion The King’s Fusiliers, and also featured Robson Green and Jerome Flynn, running from 1991 to 1997.
Co-star Jay Laga’aia, who played Sgt. Bob Gilligan, was among those to pay tribute to Wipani, writing: “I saw this and quickly checked that it wasn’t some kind of sick joke.
“Sister I am devastated to hear this news. You are so young and I will miss you. We have worked together over the years and I was always so pleased to have you on set. Travel well my sister, love you always.”
Marise Wipani played Ellie on ITV drama Soldier, Soldier
1 week agoNew York StateComments Off on I’m the Machine Gun Preacher who Gerard Butler played in film – here’s how I survived ISIS and 10 assassination attempts
A HOLLYWOOD star who gave up being a drug dealing bikie is now fighting ISIS through the dripping jungles of central Africa.
The Machine Gun Preacher is on a mission to rescue child sex slaves on the continent – and is has come up against the notorious terror group.
Sam Childers in South SudanCatersThe Machine Gun Preacher is on a mission to save childrenCatersAlamyChilders was played by Gerard Butler in the Hollywood film[/caption]
The priest, real name Sam Childers, is battling ISIS in the Congo as he continues his holy war to save abused children.
The film starred an A-list cast of Gerard Butler as Childers, Michelle Monaghan as his wife, and Michael Shannon.
Machine Gun Preacher told the story of how Childers came to be fighting in Africa after growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Once a criminal, he found God, turned his life to charity work in Africa and dedicated himself to saving children.
Machine Gun Preacher – the film – showed him battling Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army in 1997.
Now he’s released a self-made documentary – trying to raise money to take the fight to ISIS in Congo.
He said: “I’m not worried about dying. I’m 62 years old. The last thing I worry about is dying. I worry more about living than dying.”
After being hammered in the Middle East, ISIS turned to Africa and is now enslaving thousands of children as its militants rampage through impoverished areas.
Childers has a network of orphanages, schools, and farms set up across the centre of the continent.
But he’s come into combat with ISIS as they have expanded into Congo.
He said: “We don’t want to see our children be kidnapped, sold in prostitution.
“We don’t want to see none of that so I’m willing to do whatever I have to do… and I’m willing to answer for it.
“They are murderers. They’re killers.
ISIS has brutally used child soldiers to fight its wasAFPChilders said he has battled other groups like M23[/caption]
ISIS in West Africa – where it is strongest in the continent
“I’m not afraid of none of them.”
Some 5.4million people have been killed in Congo’s ongoing conflicts since 1998 – but the wars have gone largely ignored in the West.
Three children were beheaded by rebel fighters in February and dozens more killed when they took a village.
Childers’ belief in God has given the preacher the strength to keep fighting – even against militant Christian groups.
The Lord’s Resistance Army raped and abducted girls, mutilated them, and enslaved boys into being child soldiers.
He said: “I’ve been ambushed over 10 times. Been in over 10 major battles. They tried to assassinate me over 10 times.
“That’s just in the Kony War.”
Despite the gun battles, Childers says that he was in more danger while a bikie and drug dealer in America.
Caters News AgencyChilders has been working in Africa since the 1990s[/caption]
Caters News AgencyChilders became a heroin addict and bikie in his youth but turned his life around[/caption]
He said: “I fought in guerrilla warfare, or been in war over 25 years, and I never was shot in Africa.
“I was shot once and stabbed 3 times in America.”
Childers said the soldiering was a means to an end – supporting the good work his organisations do through orphanages and farms.
“What you got to realize those rescues and to be active in stuff like that costs a lot of money.
“I have a lot of children and orphanages and children’s homes that got to be taken care of.”
Now, he runs a private military company in Congo that works with local forces to try and save children.
Childers said many of the children he rescued were severely mentally damaged by their time spent in captivity.
He said: “They cannot be kept in a normal orphanage with other children until after one year.
“That’s if the people believe they’re doing well. That’s doing the mental evaluations.”
PhotoshotChilders and Butler — who played him in the 2014 film[/caption]
AlamyMichelle Monaghan and Butler in the Machine Gun Preacher film[/caption]
AlamyChilders first fought in East Africa against the Lord’s Resistance Army[/caption]
But Childers revealed that he preferred to work with children rather than adults, saying they could work through the mental challenges they faced from being victims of rape or violence.
But it’s not just ISIS that his charities are fighting, with disease and hunger also continuing to kill children.
Childers said: “So then we feed over 10,000 meals a day. The majority of the children we feed only eat one meal a day, and that’s the meal we’re feeding them.”
Now, the preacher has released a new film trying to raise money for his work.
“Our goal is to do a hundred 1,000 downloads by the end of this year and that money’s used for children, man, you know. And so, instead of telling everyone, hey, send me $20.
“We’re asking everyone. Look, you want to hear a good story. You want to hear a good story of redemption. You want to hear a good story of saving people’s lives. You want to hear a good story of giving all.”
Becoming the Machine Gun Preacher
Childers was born into a difficult household with a heroin addict mum and drunkard dad.
They were always Christians, but in his teens Childers got in with the wrong crowd, he said.
“I started doing what they were doing to fit in, smoking cigarettes, smoking marijuana.
“12 years old: drinking, eating pills.
“13, 14 years old: snorting cocaine.
“Then, at 15 years old, I woke up one morning, and here I got a heroin addiction. You know, I’m shooting up cocaine, shooting up heroin.”
Childers quit school and said he turned himself into one of the biggest drug dealers in Grand Rapids, running narcotics from all over the US.
He said: “The only good thing was my dad brought me and my brothers up to be hardworking people.
“I always held a job, even though I was a cocaine addict heroin addict.
“But I made a lot of money selling drugs.”
Childers said he always believed in God, but “I thought I had everything I needed.
“I had money. I had drugs, guns, women motorcycles.”
But then in his early 20s, Childers got into a bar fight that was so awful it changed the course of his life.
“There were big guys, tough guys laying on the floor crying, holding their guts in.
And I said that night, if I get out of here, I’m I’m done living this life.”
His charity work has seen Childers honoured with the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice in 2013.
What's happening in Congo?
ISIS has extended its bloody grip in Africa to the Congo in recent years.
The terror thugs are taking advantage of high levels of poverty and an already destabalised nation.
ISIS formally announced its arrival in the country – which it calls the Central Africa Province – in 2019.
It claimed another rebel group – the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) – as its affiliate in the Congo and neighbouring Uganda.
The ADF, originally a Ugandan Islamist rebel group formed in the 1990s and had already established a stronghold in eastern Congo’s North Kivu and Ituri provinces.
The ADF rebranded to ISIS and adopted its jihadist rhetoric and tactics.
The group began releasing propaganda via ISIS’s media channels, portraying its local attacks—mainly against civilians, Congolese soldiers, and UN peacekeepers—as part of the global jihad.
Hundreds of civilians have been killed in brutal raids, massacres, and bombings by the terror group.
The Congolese army has launched several offensives to knock out ISIS – but has struggled to fully eliminate them.
1 week agoNew York StateComments Off on Tragedy as baby found dead at home as cops probe ‘unexplained’ death
AN urgent investigation has been launched after a baby died at home yesterday.
Police have described the sudden tragedy in Middlesbrough as “unexplained”, with detectives now carrying out enquiries.
The force has not revealed where exactly the incident took place.
A statement by Cleveland Constabulary last night said: “Officers were called to an address in Middlesbrough earlier today, Saturday 7th June, following the death of a baby.
“The death is being treated as unexplained and detectives have been carrying out some enquiries at the address.
“Our thoughts are with the family of the deceased child at this sad and difficult time.”
GettyPolice were called to the address on Saturday (stock image)[/caption]
Do you know more? Email ryan.merrifield@thesun.co.uk
1 week agoNew York StateComments Off on ‘Welcome prayers’ – UFC icon and Jake Paul rival Ben Askren ‘unresponsive’ in hospital as wife reveals ‘severe’ illness
MMA icon Ben Askren is “unresponsive” in hospital after being struck down by severe pneumonia.
Instagram @trillerBen Askren (left) is currently on hospital battling pneumonia[/caption]
The former MMA star took on Jake Paul in a 2021 boxing matchGetty Images - GettyGettyAskren made his name in wrestling and appeared at the 2008 Olympics[/caption]
GettyHe would go on to record 19 career wins in MMA[/caption]
Askren, a former Olympian, was active in MMA for over a decade.
News of his hospitalisation broke during UFC 316in New Jersey on Saturday night.
Funky has not been active in the squared circle since his exhibition with Paul almost four years ago.
“He’s currently in the hospital and unable to respond to anything at this time.
“We welcome all prayers for healing and for peace.
“We are trying to keep life as normal as possible for our children currently and doing our best to support them thoughtfully, so please refrain from discussing it with them for now.”
Fans were quick to send their well wishes to the Askren family.
FormerUFCchamp Henry Cejudo wrote on X: “Pray for Ben Askren.”
One fan wrote: “You got this Ben, keep fighting.”
While another commented: “Wishing the best for Ben Askren and his family. Ben was an innovative and creative wrestler in his prime and now he builds up some of the best wrestlers America has ever seen. The wrestling world owes a debt of gratitude to a man like him.”
He’s currently in the hospital and unable to respond to anything at this time.
Amy Askren
Askren began wrestling at the age of just 6.
He competed for the Missouri Tigers in college, twice becoming a D1 national champion.
Askren was a member of the 2008 US Olympics wrestling team, where he lost in the quarterfinals to Cuba’sIvan Fundoraon points.
Following his Olympic adventure, the Iowa-native transitioned into MMA.
1 week agoNew York StateComments Off on Cops reveal breakthrough that led police to human remains in ‘unforgiving’ search for missing teen Pheobe Bishop
COPS have revealed what led them to human remains in the search for a teenager who vanished three weeks ago.
Detectives made the discovery on Friday while searching for 17-year-old Pheobe Bishop in “unforgiving” terrain.
FacebookA body was found in the search for missing teen Pheobe Bishop[/caption]
Police say they used a family tracking app on Pheobe’s phone to trace her final movements9NewsThe crime scene is still being investigated9News
Investigators were steered to the crime scene – five miles from their initial search area – by a family tracking app on Pheobe’s phone.
The remains were discovered at 2.30pm on Friday in remote bushland, according to Queensland Detective Inspector Craig Mansfield.
Police believe they were not buried.
Mansfield explained the remains still need to be formally identified and “as a result, a crime scene is still established there at the moment”.
He added: “Our forensic capabilities will hopefully be finished there today.
“The area is in an unforgiving terrain, so it may take some time to finish that examination.”
The process of recovering the remains has been delayed by over a day – the reason being that dangerous wildlife, including feral pigs and dogs, scour the area, Daily Mail Australia reports.
The teen’s travel luggage and phone have not been found, police say.
Pheobe was last seen near Bundaberg Airport in southern Queensland at around 8.30am on May 15.
She was supposed to fly to Brisbane and then to Perth to see her “high-school sweetheart” boyfriend but CCTV footage showed that she never entered the airport.
Pheobe’s two housemates James Wood and Tanika Bromley were charged with murder on Thursday, along with two counts of interfering with a corpse.
The remains were collected on Saturday night from the Good Night Scrub National Park, where police remained on Sunday morning, according to Daily Mail Australia.
The is around an hour from Pheobe’s hometown of Gin Gin, near Bundaberg in central Queensland, where she shared a house with Wood and Bromley.
FacebookJames Wood, 34, has been charged with one count of murder and two counts of interfering with a corpse[/caption]
FacebookTanika Bromley, 33, has been hit with the same charges[/caption]
Enterprise‘This is ripping me apart,’ said Pheobe’s mum[/caption]
Flowers have been left at the crime scene9News
Mansfield said: “We have been in contact with Pheobe’s family to advise them of this development.
“Understandably, this caused great distress to them, however they’re supportive of the information that they’ve been receiving along the way.”
Pheobe’s mum Kylie Johnson thanked police on Saturday for their efforts in finding her daughter.
“These guys have literally been on their hands and knees to find our baby and get her home to us,” she said.
“I will honestly never be able to repay them for what they have done for my family and Pheobe.
“They have worked 24 hour days since Pheobe went missing and they won’t stop until she’s home.”
“I didn’t think my heart could break anymore than it did when you went missing, or when the charges were laid but this. This is ripping me apart,” she said.
Pheobe’s sister Kaylea Bishop said the teen was “loved and missed” dearly.
Standing outside Bundaberg Magistrates Court, where Wood and Bromley’s murder charges were heard on Friday morning, Kaylea begged for help finding her sister’s body.
A candlelight vigil will take place in Gin Gin at 4pm today to honour the teen, Daily Mail reports.
People attending the vigil have reportedly been encouraged to wear bright colours and butterflies.
Wood and Bromley will return to court on August 11.
Pheobe Bishop timeline
by Harvey Geh
May 14: Pheobe Bishop’s last known bank transaction takes place.
May 15: Pheobe is reportedly dropped off near Bundaberg Airport’s terminal by her housemates, James Wood and Tanika Bromley, in order to catch a flight to Brisbane and then to Perth to visit her boyfriend.
May 15, 8:30am: Pheobe makes a final phone call to her boyfriend before her scheduled flight. Her phone is then switched off and has remained inactive since.
May 15, post-8:30am: Pheobe fails to check in for her flight. CCTV footage confirms she did not enter the airport terminal.
May 16: Family and police initiate search efforts. Pheobe’s social media accounts show no activity during this period.
May 21: Police declare Pheobe’s disappearance as suspicious.
May 24: Nine days after disappearing, Pheobe’s distressed mum pleads the public for information. She says she is “absolutely begging anyone with any information to contact the Queensland Police Service”.
May 25: The search effort is widened to cover more area and homicide officers are brought in to help.
June 4: Police call off the “physical search for Pheobe, who has now been missing for three weeks.
June 5: Bromley and Wood are both arrested and charged with one count of murder and two counts of interfering with a corpse
June 6, 2:30pm: Police find human remains near the area Pheobe was last seen.
June 7: Police carry out forensic testing at the crime scene to formally identify the remains.
