An Australian paralympic sailor and team official were robbed at gunpoint while training in Rio de Janeiro at the weekend, raising fears about the security of athletes and tourists in &nbsp;Olympic Games. 
 
Liesl Tesch and physiotherapist Sarah Ross said that they were taking a bike ride in a park near their hotel at Flamengo Beach early on Sunday when they were confronted by two men, one of whom was carrying a pistol. 
 
Tesch, who won a sailing gold at the London Paralympic Games and has also competed in wheelchair basketball, told Australian television that the armed man pointed the gun at her and then gave her a shove. 
 
&quot;I think he said &#39;dinero&#39; (money),&quot; she told Channel Nine, adding that she lifted up her shirt to showed she had no money with her. 
 
&quot;And then he said something else, but I don&#39;t know what he said, lifted the gun up towards me and then pushed me in the shoulder and I just fell down on the cobblestones.&quot; 
 
The men took the bikes and rode off, she added. 
 
&quot;It was absolutely horrific, I can see it clear as day in my own head. We are both shaken, but physically we&#39;re both OK,&quot; said Tesch, who trained on her boat later that day. 
 
Tesch and Ross reported the incident to local police, said&nbsp;the Australian Paralympic Committee . 
 
Australia&#39;s Paralympic team chef de mission Kate McLoughlin said the sailing team were shaken by the incident and repeated a warning to athletes to exercise a high degree of caution while travelling in Rio. 
 
&ldquo;That advice is particularly important before the Paralympic Games period,&rdquo; said&nbsp;McLoughlin . 
 
&ldquo;We know there will be a hugely elevated level of security in place during the Paralympic Games, but for athletes and teams travelling there before the Games, there is a heightened need to be security conscious.&rdquo; 
 
The Sept. 7-18 Paralympics follow the Olympics, which opens on Aug. 5. 
 
Olympic organizers plan to deploy around 85,000 security personnel for the Games, double the number used in London in 2012. 
 
Security issues are just one of the concerns facing Rio, which on Friday declared a state of financial emergency to help fulfil obligations for public services during the Olympics. 
 
Emergency measures are needed to avoid &quot;a total collapse in public security, health, education, transport and environmental management,&quot; a decree in the state&#39;s Official Gazette said. 
 
The financial pinch resulted in a 30 percent cut in the state&#39;s security budget - just as Rio has seen a jump in homicides and assaults in recent months, raising concerns about safety ahead of the Olympics. 
 
(Reuters)

Liesl Tesch and physiotherapist Sarah Ross were taking a bike ride in a park near their hotel on Flamengo Beach when two men attacked them

An Australian paralympic sailor and team official were robbed at gunpoint while training in Rio de Janeiro at the weekend, raising fears about the security of athletes and tourists in Olympic Games. Liesl Tesch and physiotherapist Sarah Ross said that they were taking a bike ride in a park near their hotel at Flamengo Beach early on Sunday when they were confronted by two men, one of whom was carrying a pistol. Tesch, who won a sailing gold at the London Paralympic Games and has also competed in wheelchair basketball, told Australian television that the armed man pointed the gun at her and then gave her a shove. "I think he said 'dinero' (money)," she told Channel Nine, adding that she lifted up her shirt to showed she had no money with her. "And then he said something else, but I don't know what he said, lifted the gun up towards me and then pushed me in the shoulder and I just fell down on the cobblestones." The men took the bikes and rode off, she added. "It was absolutely horrific, I can see it clear as day in my own head. We are both shaken, but physically we're both OK," said Tesch, who trained on her boat later that day. Tesch and Ross reported the incident to local police, said the Australian Paralympic Committee . Australia's Paralympic team chef de mission Kate McLoughlin said the sailing team were shaken by the incident and repeated a warning to athletes to exercise a high degree of caution while travelling in Rio. “That advice is particularly important before the Paralympic Games period,” said McLoughlin . “We know there will be a hugely elevated level of security in place during the Paralympic Games, but for athletes and teams travelling there before the Games, there is a heightened need to be security conscious.” The Sept. 7-18 Paralympics follow the Olympics, which opens on Aug. 5. Olympic organizers plan to deploy around 85,000 security personnel for the Games, double the number used in London in 2012. Security issues are just one of the concerns facing Rio, which on Friday declared a state of financial emergency to help fulfil obligations for public services during the Olympics. Emergency measures are needed to avoid "a total collapse in public security, health, education, transport and environmental management," a decree in the state's Official Gazette said. The financial pinch resulted in a 30 percent cut in the state's security budget - just as Rio has seen a jump in homicides and assaults in recent months, raising concerns about safety ahead of the Olympics. (Reuters)

Australian paralympic sailor robbed at gunpoint in Rio

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton&#39;s campaign on Wednesday signaled plans for a big assault on Republican Donald Trump, even as she battles to hold off rival Bernie Sanders in California.

Clinton, a former Secretary of State, is to deliver what her campaign described as a major speech today&nbsp;in San Diego to underscore what she feels would be the threat posed by Trump to U.S. national security if he is elected president on Nov. 8.

Her language to describe Trump has grown more aggressive by the day. On Wednesday, she seized on testimony released in a lawsuit against Trump University, in which some former workers said they believed Trump&#39;s for-profit school was fraudulent.

&quot;Trump and his employees took advantage of vulnerable Americans encouraging them to max out their credit cards, empty their retirement savings, destroy their financial futures, all while making promises they knew were false from the beginning,&quot; Clinton told a campaign event in Newark, New Jersey.

&quot;This is just more evidence that Donald Trump himself is a fraud.&quot;

Lawyers for Trump have said most students were satisfied with Trump University, dismissing the former workers&#39; testimony as discredited.

Trump, anticipating Clinton&#39;s foreign policy attacks on him, tried to raise doubts about her leadership skills at a rally in Sacramento, Calif.

&quot;She is a person with absolutely no natural talent,&quot; he said. &quot;All you have to do is watch her speak.&quot;

Repeatedly referring to Clinton as &quot;crooked Hillary,&quot; Trump sharply criticized her handling of foreign policy, including the Sept. 11, 2012, attack by Islamic militants on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the U.S. ambassador.

&quot;She went to sleep,&quot; Trump added.

Clinton&#39;s effort to define Trump as unfit to be commander-in-chief comes as she faces fierce opposition from Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont who has insisted on staying in the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination despite Clinton&#39;s nearly insurmountable lead.

California&#39;s primary next Tuesday is shaping up to be pivotal in the Democratic contest, with Clinton holding a 13-point advantage over Sanders, 51 percent to 38 percent, according to the Hoover Institution&#39;s Golden State Poll in the state. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll gave Clinton a much narrower lead of 49 percent, to 47 percent for Sanders.

Clinton, with 2,312 delegates, needs 71 more delegates to reach the required 2,383 for the Democratic nomination. Sanders has 1,545. At stake in the California primary are 548 delegates who are awarded proportional to the vote. Five other states also vote next Tuesday, including New Jersey, which could also turn the tide for Clinton.

Despite Clinton&#39;s perceived advantage, there are lingering concerns among some Democrats about possible weakness, given the protracted battle with Sanders, a democratic socialist whose calls for free college tuition have energized young voters.

Doug Schoen, a Democratic pollster, wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that California voters appeared to be leaning toward Sanders in recent days.

Sanders has been holding events every day this week in the state. Clinton canceled a New Jersey event planned for today&nbsp;to go to California a day earlier than anticipated and is to stay there until Monday.

&quot;The inevitability behind Mrs. Clinton&rsquo;s nomination will be in large measure eviscerated if she loses the June 7 California primary to Bernie Sanders,&quot; Schoen wrote. &quot;That could well happen.&quot;

&nbsp;

&#39;CAN&#39;T IGNORE TRUMP&#39;

Other Democrats expressed confidence in Clinton&#39;s position and her move to assail Trump on foreign policy.

&quot;I think she has to,&quot; said Democratic strategist Jim Manley. &quot;Leaving aside California, I think they can&rsquo;t just ignore Donald Trump in that they should be spending a majority of time focusing on him instead of Sanders at this point, because based on the math Sanders can&rsquo;t win.&quot;

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has faced criticism for a variety of positions on foreign policy, such as his willingness to talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his idea that Japan and South Korea might need to develop nuclear arsenals.

On the other hand, past Republican presidents and current Democratic President Barack Obama have, like Trump, said NATO nations should pay more for their defense to ease the U.S. burden. Trump, however, has declared NATO obsolete and in need of reconfiguring.

A Clinton aide said &nbsp;Hillary Clinton,&nbsp;would say Trump had not outlined a coherent foreign policy doctrine and had proven himself to be temperamentally unfit to serve as president.

Democratic Presidential front runner Hillary Clinton plans for a big assault on Republican Donald Trump, even as she battles another Democratic rival Bernie Sanders

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton's campaign on Wednesday signaled plans for a big assault on Republican Donald Trump, even as she battles to hold off rival Bernie Sanders in California. Clinton, a former Secretary of State, is to deliver what her campaign described as a major speech today in San Diego to underscore what she feels would be the threat posed by Trump to U.S. national security if he is elected president on Nov. 8. Her language to describe Trump has grown more aggressive by the day. On Wednesday, she seized on testimony released in a lawsuit against Trump University, in which some former workers said they believed Trump's for-profit school was fraudulent. "Trump and his employees took advantage of vulnerable Americans encouraging them to max out their credit cards, empty their retirement savings, destroy their financial futures, all while making promises they knew were false from the beginning," Clinton told a campaign event in Newark, New Jersey. "This is just more evidence that Donald Trump himself is a fraud." Lawyers for Trump have said most students were satisfied with Trump University, dismissing the former workers' testimony as discredited. Trump, anticipating Clinton's foreign policy attacks on him, tried to raise doubts about her leadership skills at a rally in Sacramento, Calif. "She is a person with absolutely no natural talent," he said. "All you have to do is watch her speak." Repeatedly referring to Clinton as "crooked Hillary," Trump sharply criticized her handling of foreign policy, including the Sept. 11, 2012, attack by Islamic militants on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the U.S. ambassador. "She went to sleep," Trump added. Clinton's effort to define Trump as unfit to be commander-in-chief comes as she faces fierce opposition from Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont who has insisted on staying in the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination despite Clinton's nearly insurmountable lead. California's primary next Tuesday is shaping up to be pivotal in the Democratic contest, with Clinton holding a 13-point advantage over Sanders, 51 percent to 38 percent, according to the Hoover Institution's Golden State Poll in the state. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll gave Clinton a much narrower lead of 49 percent, to 47 percent for Sanders. Clinton, with 2,312 delegates, needs 71 more delegates to reach the required 2,383 for the Democratic nomination. Sanders has 1,545. At stake in the California primary are 548 delegates who are awarded proportional to the vote. Five other states also vote next Tuesday, including New Jersey, which could also turn the tide for Clinton. Despite Clinton's perceived advantage, there are lingering concerns among some Democrats about possible weakness, given the protracted battle with Sanders, a democratic socialist whose calls for free college tuition have energized young voters. Doug Schoen, a Democratic pollster, wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that California voters appeared to be leaning toward Sanders in recent days. Sanders has been holding events every day this week in the state. Clinton canceled a New Jersey event planned for today to go to California a day earlier than anticipated and is to stay there until Monday. "The inevitability behind Mrs. Clinton’s nomination will be in large measure eviscerated if she loses the June 7 California primary to Bernie Sanders," Schoen wrote. "That could well happen." 'CAN'T IGNORE TRUMP' Other Democrats expressed confidence in Clinton's position and her move to assail Trump on foreign policy. "I think she has to," said Democratic strategist Jim Manley. "Leaving aside California, I think they can’t just ignore Donald Trump in that they should be spending a majority of time focusing on him instead of Sanders at this point, because based on the math Sanders can’t win." Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has faced criticism for a variety of positions on foreign policy, such as his willingness to talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his idea that Japan and South Korea might need to develop nuclear arsenals. On the other hand, past Republican presidents and current Democratic President Barack Obama have, like Trump, said NATO nations should pay more for their defense to ease the U.S. burden. Trump, however, has declared NATO obsolete and in need of reconfiguring. A Clinton aide said Hillary Clinton, would say Trump had not outlined a coherent foreign policy doctrine and had proven himself to be temperamentally unfit to serve as president.

Battling to hold off Sanders,Clinton to assail Trump on foreign policy

Rio de Janeiro police swarmed two slums on Sunday searching for suspects in the alleged gang rape of a 16-year-old Brazilian girl who siad more than 30 men assaulted her, a case that shocked the nation set to host the Olympics in August. 
 
More than 70&nbsp;Officers&nbsp;&nbsp;used helicoptors,armored vehicles and dogs to enter the slums,&nbsp;but there was no&nbsp;word if the suspects had&nbsp;been captured in the operation.&nbsp; 
 
In the five days since&nbsp;a video of the rape was posted by an alleged perpetrator on Twitter and set&nbsp;off a wave of outrage, police have brought in five people for questioning and made no arrests.&nbsp; 
 
Police said there are indications the gang rape occured on May 21, but they could not confirm how&nbsp;many took part. 
 
Over the weekend, women and men&nbsp;marched in several cities to demand justice and&nbsp;decry sexism in Brazilian culture. A woman who sits on the Supreme Court lashed out at a pervasive macho culture that permits such&nbsp;barbaric acts. 
 
&quot;&nbsp;Each and every woman is a victim,&quot; Justice Carmen Lucia said in a written statement.&quot; Our bodies are tormented, our souls are trashed. That is what these criminals think and do, and they must be quickly held accountable.&quot; 
 
The case added to the concerns about security in Rio and the political breakdown in Brazil as the city and the country prepare for South America&#39;s first Olympics starting August 5. 
 
?rime has fallen in recent years, but&nbsp;there has been an increase in homicides in recent months as Rio&#39;s police department had its budget slashed during an economic downturn.&nbsp; 
 
The country&#39;s elected President, Dilma Rousseff, has been suspended on allegations she broke budget laws, and her impeachment trials in the Senate will likely play out as the&nbsp;Games are held.&nbsp; 
 
Brazil&#39;s worst economic crisis since the 1930s&nbsp; has compounded political chaos. 
 
In addition, an outbreak of the Zika virus has prompted health warnings and led top&nbsp;global health experts to advise the Games be postponed or moved. 
 
The reported&nbsp;rape came to light in&nbsp;a video of the nude, semi-conscious youth, with a few men brazenly insulting the girl, showing their faces and, one man heard saying:&quot; More than&nbsp; 30 impregnated her!&quot; The Twitter account where the video had been posted has been suspended. 
 
Both,&nbsp;Rousseff, the first woman to be elected President in&nbsp;Brazil and interim President Michel temer condemned the act.&nbsp; 
 
&#39;FEEL LIKE A PIECE OF TRASH&#39;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 
In an interview with Rio&#39;s O&nbsp;Globo newspaper, the alleged victim said she&nbsp;wanted&nbsp; to &nbsp;see justice done so that&nbsp;no other person would have to go through the brutal assault like the one she said she suffered. 
 
&quot; Today, I feel like a piece of trash, she told the newspaper.&quot; I hope that no other person ever feels this way.&quot; 
 
Late on Sunday, the police siad in an emailed statement tehy removed the original lead investigator fromt he case. 
 
That was in response to a formal request made by the alleged victim&#39;s lawyer, Eloisa Samy, to have investigator Alessandro Thiers taken off the case because she said he made the girl feel uncomfortable during questioning. 
 
Samy told TV Globo in an interview that Thiers asked the girl if she participated in group sex parties. 
 
Samy was not immidiately available to provide further details. 
 
&nbsp;

 
 
 
 
&nbsp;

Police brought in five people for questioning but no arrests made.

Rio de Janeiro police swarmed two slums on Sunday searching for suspects in the alleged gang rape of a 16-year-old Brazilian girl who siad more than 30 men assaulted her, a case that shocked the nation set to host the Olympics in August. More than 70 Officers used helicoptors,armored vehicles and dogs to enter the slums, but there was no word if the suspects had been captured in the operation. In the five days since a video of the rape was posted by an alleged perpetrator on Twitter and set off a wave of outrage, police have brought in five people for questioning and made no arrests. Police said there are indications the gang rape occured on May 21, but they could not confirm how many took part. Over the weekend, women and men marched in several cities to demand justice and decry sexism in Brazilian culture. A woman who sits on the Supreme Court lashed out at a pervasive macho culture that permits such barbaric acts. " Each and every woman is a victim," Justice Carmen Lucia said in a written statement." Our bodies are tormented, our souls are trashed. That is what these criminals think and do, and they must be quickly held accountable." The case added to the concerns about security in Rio and the political breakdown in Brazil as the city and the country prepare for South America's first Olympics starting August 5. ?rime has fallen in recent years, but there has been an increase in homicides in recent months as Rio's police department had its budget slashed during an economic downturn. The country's elected President, Dilma Rousseff, has been suspended on allegations she broke budget laws, and her impeachment trials in the Senate will likely play out as the Games are held. Brazil's worst economic crisis since the 1930s has compounded political chaos. In addition, an outbreak of the Zika virus has prompted health warnings and led top global health experts to advise the Games be postponed or moved. The reported rape came to light in a video of the nude, semi-conscious youth, with a few men brazenly insulting the girl, showing their faces and, one man heard saying:" More than 30 impregnated her!" The Twitter account where the video had been posted has been suspended. Both, Rousseff, the first woman to be elected President in Brazil and interim President Michel temer condemned the act. 'FEEL LIKE A PIECE OF TRASH' In an interview with Rio's O Globo newspaper, the alleged victim said she wanted to see justice done so that no other person would have to go through the brutal assault like the one she said she suffered. " Today, I feel like a piece of trash, she told the newspaper." I hope that no other person ever feels this way." Late on Sunday, the police siad in an emailed statement tehy removed the original lead investigator fromt he case. That was in response to a formal request made by the alleged victim's lawyer, Eloisa Samy, to have investigator Alessandro Thiers taken off the case because she said he made the girl feel uncomfortable during questioning. Samy told TV Globo in an interview that Thiers asked the girl if she participated in group sex parties. Samy was not immidiately available to provide further details.

Rio de Janeiro police search slums for gang rape suspects

Heavy fighting between the Islamic State group and rebels gripped a town in northeastern Syria Saturday, a monitor and an activist said, after a lightning assault by the jihadists cut a main supply route. 
&quot;Heavy clashes took place overnight between IS fighters and rebels inside the walls of Marea town,&quot; the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. 
IS swept through rebel-held territory early Friday in a shock offensive in Aleppo province, cutting off the main road between Marea and Azaz, 20 kilometres (12 miles) to the northeast near the Turkish border.&nbsp; 
The surprise advance came as the jihadist group faced an offensive by a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance in its own heartland of Raqa province further east. 
Maamoun Khateeb, a journalist and activist from Azaz, told AFP that IS attacked Marea early Saturday mainly from the east and north using tanks and two car bombs. 
The advance has besieged around 15,000 residents remaining inside Marea, he said.&nbsp; 
Human rights groups have warned that the IS advance in Aleppo has left tens of thousands of displaced Syrians trapped along the closed Turkish border. 
To the east in Raqa province, warplanes from the US-led coalition conducted air strikes on IS positions north of Raqa city, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. 
But the Kurdish-Arab alliance fighting the jihadist group north of its de facto Syrian capital had made no strategic progress on the ground, he said. 
Syria`s war has killed more than 280,000 people and displaced millions since it started with the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011.

Heavy fighting between the Islamic State group and rebels gripped a town in northeastern Syria Saturday, a monitor and an activist said, after a lightning assault by the jihadists cut a main supply route.

Heavy fighting between the Islamic State group and rebels gripped a town in northeastern Syria Saturday, a monitor and an activist said, after a lightning assault by the jihadists cut a main supply route. "Heavy clashes took place overnight between IS fighters and rebels inside the walls of Marea town," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. IS swept through rebel-held territory early Friday in a shock offensive in Aleppo province, cutting off the main road between Marea and Azaz, 20 kilometres (12 miles) to the northeast near the Turkish border. The surprise advance came as the jihadist group faced an offensive by a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance in its own heartland of Raqa province further east. Maamoun Khateeb, a journalist and activist from Azaz, told AFP that IS attacked Marea early Saturday mainly from the east and north using tanks and two car bombs. The advance has besieged around 15,000 residents remaining inside Marea, he said. Human rights groups have warned that the IS advance in Aleppo has left tens of thousands of displaced Syrians trapped along the closed Turkish border. To the east in Raqa province, warplanes from the US-led coalition conducted air strikes on IS positions north of Raqa city, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. But the Kurdish-Arab alliance fighting the jihadist group north of its de facto Syrian capital had made no strategic progress on the ground, he said. Syria`s war has killed more than 280,000 people and displaced millions since it started with the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011.

IS-rebel clashes rock northeast Syria town

assault

Assault, News on Assault, stories on Assault, articles on Assault, Assault stories at Wion, Assault news, Assault latest news