If you’re on the hunt for a beautiful baby name for your December arrival, we’ve rounded up a few of our favourites inspired by the most magical time of the year! With snow falling outside and lots of festive cheer in the air, December is such a lovely time to welcome a newborn, and the […]
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Lisa McGowan is one of the most popular style influencers in the country, making millions of euro over the last few years. But the mum-of-one remains one of the most down-to-earth women in the business. Tullamore-based Lisa first came to the public’s attention when her sense of style won the Best Dressed Lady at the […]
The post How a family tragedy inspired Lisa McGowan to start Lisa’s Lust List appeared first on RollerCoaster.
THE youngest victim of the German Christmas market attack has been named as his mum leads the tributes for her “little teddy bear”.
Nine-year-old André Gleißner has been pictured for the first time since the tragedy that also took the lives of four women and left another 205 injured.
A 50-year-old Saudi doctor, named by local media as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, was arrested at the market after he allegedly went on the deadly three minute rampage.
The suspect was hauled into court by armed cops last night and now faces five murder charges.
Gleißner’s heartbroken mum Désirée took to social media for the first time since the market attack to post an emotional message to her boy.
It read: “Let my little teddy bear fly around the world again.
“André didn’t do anything to anybody. He was only with us on earth for nine years. Why you? Just why?
“I don’t understand. Now you are with grandma and grandpa in heaven.
“They missed you very much, as much as we miss you here now. You will always live in our hearts. I promise you that.”
Four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75 also died in the heinous car attack.
Officials are still fearing the number of deaths could rise with 41 of those injured still in a serious condition.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the people of Magdeburg yesterday that he is still “very worried” over their health.
Along with the five counts of murder al-Abdulmohsen is also being investigated over 205 counts of suspected attempted murder and inflicting grievous bodily harm, prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens said.
Footage showed the suspect being transported from a police van and led into Magdeburg District Court late last night.
He appeared to be wearing an orange jump suit with a grey jumper and white top.
At least six armed officers flanked behind the alleged killer who had his hands cuffed behind his back.
The judge ordered he remained in custody on the multiple severe charges.
The suspect was then taken to a nearby pre-trial correctional facility, Welt reported.
Reports of the market attack were first reported at 7.02pm local time on Friday when a rental BMW veered off a car-friendly road and onto Breiter Weg – a street designed for tram lines only.
MILLIONS of people across the country will be packing up their car and heading home for Christmas.
But it won’t all be Chris Rea and rosy-cheeked children sleeping peacefully in the backseat – Manic Monday is set to cause travel chaos for homebound motorists.
The AA predicts that a whopping 22.7 million drivers will be on the road on December 23 and has issued amber warnings for certain spots.
National Highways will be removing roadworks on 95 percent of the roads they manage to make journeys smoother.
Some of the hotspots to avoid include the M1 Junction 10 to 15a between Luton and Northampton and the M42 Junction 3a to Junction 8 along the M40 to M6 interchanges.
There is also expected to be heavy traffic on the A64 around York, the A303 around Stonehenge, the M5 Junction 16 to 25 between Bristol and Taunton and the A34 from Oxford to Newbury.
According to the AA, the fact that Christmas Day falls on a Wednesday this year may help to spread festive journeys.
The most common reason for travelling this festive period is visiting family and friends with around three-quarters driving home for Christmas and giving this as a reason for their trip.
A spokesperson for the AA said: “If you’re doing some last-minute Christmas shopping, many retailers will be happy to let you leave your items to collect later, rather than make repeated trips back to your car – thieves love Christmas and thefts of items from cars also rises in December.
For people who don’t celebrate Christmas, it may be worth noting that the quietest days on the roads will be Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
Weather also plays a key factor in the crammed roads over the festive periods.
The current Met Office predictions are for an unsettled Christmas with wetter and windier weather, although snow can’t be ruled out on higher ground.
Temperatures are expected to be the usual levels for this time of year.
Breaking down on the way to the family gathering is one of the biggest worries for most motorists, but the AA has revealed some tips to help if you find yourself in a pickle.
“If the worst should happen, and your car breaks down, our patrols can get to you quicker by knowing your exact location. This can be done by reporting your breakdown on The AA App, which can pinpoint your location,” the AA states on its website.
“Additionally, you can use the what3words app, which splits the country into 3m2 sections, giving each section a unique set of three words,” it added.
Essentials like extra warm and waterproof layers, water, a torch, an atlas or a sat-nav are all recommended to help ease the stress if you do break down.
THE suspected German Christmas market attacker has been hauled into court by armed cops as he faces five murder charges.
The 50-year-old Saudi doctor, named by local media as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, was arrested at the Magdeburg market after he allegedly went on a deadly three minute rampage.
He is accused of causing the tragic deaths of four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75 as well as a nine-year-old boy.
Along with the five counts of murder he is also being investigated over 205 counts of suspected attempted murder and inflicting grievous bodily harm, prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens said.
Officials are still fearing the number of deaths could rise with 41 of those injured still in a serious condition.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the people of Magdeburg yesterday that he is still “very worried” over their health.
Footage captured the moment the man believed to be al-Abdulmohsen was transported from a police van and led into Magdeburg District Court late last night.
He appeared to be wearing an orange jump suit with a grey jumper and white top.
It comes as…
At least six armed officers flanked behind the alleged killer who had his hands cuffed behind his back.
The judge ordered he remained in custody on the multiple severe charges.
The suspect was then taken to a nearby pre-trial correctional facility, Welt reported.
Reports of the market attack were first reported at 7.02pm local time on Friday when a rental BMW veered off a car-friendly road and onto Breiter Weg – a street designed for tram lines only.
The driver is believed to have hit several pedestrians here at first before quickly turning right onto Alter Markt where many market revellers had gathered.
The car was travelling at up to 40mph when he first rammed dozens of people, horrified witnesses said.
The ground was covered in blood and tinsel as doctors scrambled to treat the injured, onlookers added.
The car went “through people” and sent others “going over it”, a man standing just feet away from the crash added.
Officials say the street had no bollards at its entrance as city authorities had wanted it to be able to be used by emergency services.
After three minutes of devastation the driver stopped and was quickly surrounded by oncoming cops.
Footage showed suspect al-Abdulmohsen speaking to officers as he voluntarily gave himself up and laid on the street before being arrested.
Police later confirmed to German newspaper Bild that three others have also been arrested after seemingly celebrating the heinous attack.
The trio were reportedly charged with “approval of crimes that are likely to disturb the public peace”.
Market organisers released a heartfelt statement on the tragedy yesterday that read: “We are in deep mourning, and our hearts and thoughts are with the victims, relatives and helpers.
“The Christmas market and the world of lights are over.”
German authorities were reportedly warned three times by Saudi Arabia about the doctor’s chilling plot.
Following on from the attack, thousands gathered to mourn the victims along with government officials and emergency service workers at a moving memorial service at Magdeburg Cathedral.
Candles were lit in solidarity with hundreds of flowers and cuddly toys being laid outside in a makeshift mural.
On Saturday night a far-right protest was held in Magdeburg with around 1,000 demonstrators marching through the capital of Saxony-Anhalt.
The night was mainly peaceful but many chose to bring banners with the words “remigration” scrawled across it.
Minor violence was also reported as protesters scuffled with police.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in Magdeburg on Saturday to address a large crowd in the heartbroken city.
He described the attack as “a terribly, tragic incident”.
Scholz added: “What a terrible act it is to injure and kill so many people there with such brutality.
“Almost 40 are so seriously injured that we must be very worried about them.”
“It is important that nothing remains uninvestigated, that every stone is turned,” he added.
THE man suspected of killing five people after ramming them with his car at a German Christmas market is a 50-year-old Saudi doctor.
Ever since he was identified by local media a number of revelations about his past have emerged.
It has been reported that Taleb is an anti-Islam activist who arrived in Germany in 2006 as a refugee from Saudi Arabia, according to Bild.
German interior minister Nancy Faeser confirmed to reporters today that the suspect is Islamophobic.
The doctor is also said to have shared hundreds of strange posts on his social media in the days before the attack.
One allegedly claimed he felt that Germany wanted to “Islamicise” Europe, the newspaper reported.
He is reportedly also a vocal supporter of the hard-Right AfD party.
Taleb has lived in the nearby town of Bernburg – just over 30 minutes from Magdeburg – since fleeing the Middle East.
German media say he became a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy and works in the neighbouring town.
He has been officially recognised as a refugee since 2016, local media say.
German media also say they have spotted Taleb in a BBC documentary back in 2019.
CHILLING cold cases around the world are finally being solved with at-home DNA tests, a forensics expert has revealed.
Thanks to the kits, partnered with AI and algorithms, blood-thirsty killers are being caught at rapid rates via family members who send their DNA off to discover their ancestry or find long-lost relatives.
DNA testing, otherwise known as genetic genealogy, is one of the techniques that was used to help find the accused University of Idaho quadruple homicide killer.
A knife sheath found in the apartment where the killings took place in 2022 was linked to accused 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger through genetic genealogy.
A trial date has still not been set in the case against him.
And a notorious 27-year-old murder mystery was recently solved after an Ancestry DNA test resulted in an arrest.
TikToker Jenna Rose Gerwatowski, 23, revealed in a video that a DNA test led to her grandmother’s arrest in an open cold case.
An actress also found a suspect in a cold case murder of teenage sweethearts using a DNA ancestry website.
Even the Golden State Killer was found after genetic experts and investigators found and studied his third cousins.
Then other information like genealogical records, approximate age and crime locations helped to narrow the search down to the sick murderer, his real name Joseph James DeAngelo.
When you have unknown DNA at the crime scene, there’s no right to privacy for that individual
Dr Ray Wickenheiser
He terrorised the state of California for more than two decades – earning other monikers such as The Night Stalker, The Visalia Ransacker, and The East Area Rapist.
Dr Ray Wickenheiser is a recent retiree from the New York State Police Crime Laboratory System where he has been incredibly active in the forensic investigative genetic genealogy department.
He told The Sun that cops are moving away from the usual law enforcement databases that store DNA, and trying new routes to catch the world’s most heinous criminals.
At-home DNA tests have become an extremely effective way to track down those who have spent years hiding away from serving time for their crimes.
Dr Wickenheiser explained how normally using law enforcement databases, cops do what is called “direct matching”.
This is where if somebody is in your “national DNA index” and cops also have DNA from the crime scene, they’re able to “look for exactly that individual”.
But cases have turned cold and victims have not had justice served as an exact match is needed to find those in the police database.
And Dr Wickenheiser said if it doesn’t match, “well, you’re pretty much done”.
A lot of criminals would not be in the cop’s database if they’re first-time offenders, nor their relatives – leading experts to publicly access information on genealogy sites.
While there has been uproar in the past on how ethical the method is, Dr Wickenheiser argues that using the sites is justified as those directly involved in a crime have “no right to privacy”.
He said: “Genealogy is one of the biggest hobbies in the US and probably around the world.
“People want to know where they came from, who their family tree is. It’s just a very interesting thing.
“So using essentially what’s already in place for a hobby enterprise, and it’s the same concept – I’m searching for a long lost relative. I have this profile that’s at the crime scene. I want to find a related individual because that’s a known person.
“And then through building the family trees, I can figure out who this unknown person is.
“So when you have unknown DNA at the crime scene, there’s no right to privacy for that individual. The existing profile we put into that DNA database, we didn’t get a direct match.
The fact that you share that DNA with your family tree is allowing us really, frankly, to do our job
Dr Ray Wickenheiser
“Now, what we’re doing is using the existing tools of genealogy, searching for a long lost relative, and then using those known people to build a tree, to then try to get back to who could this person be, who was at the scene of the crime, do they have the right age, the right sex, the right location.
“We’re using existing tools, but we’re applying it in a new way.”
There are currently two sites which, with informed consent, put forward kit users’ DNA to law enforcement – GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA.
Both sites also allow users to transfer DNA data from other sites like Ancestry, FamilyTreeDNA and 23andMe into their database.
These can then be accessed by law enforcement who are looking to identify perpetrators of crimes.
GED match website reads: “Your kit WILL be compared with kits submitted by law enforcement to identify perpetrators of violent crimes.
“The operators of GEDmatch encourage everybody to select this option.”
AI and algorithms have created a quicker process of catching those at the scene as they map out different DNA before searching and comparing it to others on the database.
Dr Wickenheiser explained: “You have search algorithms that do things that we could never do.
“You can appreciate there are at this point, for different companies, a total of 40 million people worldwide who have done the same thing.
“The idea is you’re doing this very complex DNA comparison, but it distils down to a simple number.”
But Dr Wickenheiser pointed out how there are drawbacks from using AI and various algorithms to catch criminals using genealogy.
He described how “so many errors” can occur and potentially catch the wrong people, like those who have been adopted into families.
Dr Wickenheiser said: “Genetically there’s going to be nuances, there’s going to be misappropriated parentage, those things happen and people have to be able to know.”
While modern tech and genealogy data work hand-in-hand to solve crime – this would not be possible without experts looking over it too and comparing it with other evidence.
Dr Wickenheiser said: “We’re really cognisant of how big of a deal it is. The fact that every country, including England and their match rate, maybe it’s 70 percent of the database.
“It still means that you have 30 percent of cases where you have a perpetrator at large, you have their DNA at the crime scene and you haven’t been able to find a match.
“So those are the cases that we can solve with this technique.
“We just want to make sure we know what’s going to be scrutinized.
“We just want to make sure it’s done right and that people can see that it’s done right.
“It’s those fail safes that you want to use technology.
“But we have this new magical tool that using the relatedness, other pieces of DNA, other features of DNA, the fact that you share that DNA with your family tree is allowing us really, frankly, to do our job.”
FOUR University of Idaho students were brutally killed in November 2022.
The four students identified by the police on November 14, 2022, were Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21.
The students’ bodies were found near campus, in a rental house in the city of Moscow, Idaho, on November 13, 2022.
Ethan Chapin, 20
College officials report that Ethan Chapin was a freshman and member of the Sigma Chi fraternity from Conway, Washington, majoring in Recreation, Sport, and Tourism Management.
He was one of a set of triplets who were also students at the University of Idaho and had spent the night before his death with both of his siblings at his sister’s sorority dance.
According to social media posts, he was dating Xana Kernodle.
Ethan didn’t live in the house but was staying over the night of the murder.
Xana Kernodle, 20
Xana was a junior at the University of Idaho majoring in marketing at the College of Business and Economics.
She was also a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority.
Xana was allegedly the last of the four students killed in the bloody rampage, and she fought until the very end.
An unnamed source told News Nation: “Xana Kernodle put up a fierce fight when the attacker set upon her, repeatedly grabbing the attacker’s knife.
“So much so that she sustained deep cuts to her fingers and that her fingers were nearly severed.”
Madison Mogen, 21
Madison Mogen was a senior from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, majoring in Marketing.
She was the sorority’s director of PR and Marketing and was best friends with fellow victim Kaylee Goncalves.
Kaylee’s father even told the public that the girls had been sharing a bed on the night of the murders.
At a vigil weeks after the murders, Goncalves’ father Mr Goncalves told how the two “absolutely beautiful” young women first met in sixth grade and became inseparable.
“They just found each other and every day they did homework together, they came to our house together, they shared everything,” he said at the time.
“Then they started looking at colleges, they came here together. They eventually get into the same apartment together.
“And in the end, they died together, in the same room, in the same bed.”
Kaylee Goncalves, 21
Kaylee Goncalves was a senior pursuing a General Studies major.
She was from Rathdrum, Idaho, and a member of the Alpha Phi sorority.
She planned to move to Austin, Texas, in June after graduation.
MARIAH Carey got into the festive spirit wearing a short red dress and white boots in Aspen yesterday.
Christmas queen Mariah, 55, dazzled onlookers as she indulged in some holiday shopping at the luxurious Colorado retreat.
The vocal powerhouse turned heads in a bold red knit minidress featuring a plunging neckline.
Adding to the festive look, she accessorized with a chic Chanel beanie and gloves, knee-high fleece-lined boots and a sparkling diamond necklace.
Letting her blonde locks flow freely over her shoulders, the superstar radiated glamour as she departed the local Prada store.
However, amidst the holiday cheer, Mariah is set to face legal scrutiny.
The singer will face questioning from lawyers over claims she made in her memoir about her brother Morgan allegedly selling drugs just weeks after the deaths of their mom and sister.
A date has been set for Mariah to give a videotaped in-person deposition on January 17 at the law offices of her brother’s legal team in New York, according to court papers obtained by The U.S. Sun.
Morgan filed a lawsuit against his younger sister Mariah back in March 2021 claiming she had written lies about him in her autobiography The Meaning Of Mariah Carey.
Morgan, 64, and Mariah are not believed to have spoken since 1994 and in the book she calls him her “ex-brother”.
In the bestseller, Mariah alleges her brother had been violent towards her, had sold drugs when he worked in a New York nightclub in the 1980s and implied he had been in prison – all claims Morgan denies.
In one passage in the book, she describes an alleged incident where “12 cops” had to pull apart a violent altercation between Morgan and their father.
“I was a little girl with very few memories of a big brother who protected me,” she wrote.
“More often, I felt I had to protect myself from him, and sometimes I would find myself protecting my mother from him too.”
In another passage she describes Morgan as her “sometimes drug-dealing, been-in-the-system, drunk a** brother,” insinuating he had been in prison.
The lawsuit also references another paragraph in the book where Mariah alleges that Morgan “discreetly supplied the beautiful people with their powdered party favors” when he worked in a hip New York nightclub in the late 1980s, which his lawyers said is “reasonably understood as a reference to cocaine.”
Morgan strongly denied all the claims, alleging in the suit that she had inflicted “emotional distress” on him by printing “false and defamatory, personally invasive and painful” claims about him which had caused “serious damage” to his reputation.
“[Morgan] brings this action more in sorrow and disappointment in his sister’s betrayals and malicious falsehoods than in anger at them,” the lawsuit said.
“He is by no means envious of his sister’s enormous artistic and personal success, has enjoyed his own successes both professional and personal and has always wished her well.”
A judge tossed out most of the lawsuit in February 2022 but did allow two parts to continue, including the claims that Morgan was a drug dealer and the implication he had been prison.
In an affidavit filed in the case in August 2022, Mariah said she stood by her statements “as fully accurate, as stated in my own literary style.”
In the same filing, Mariah said a “well-known photographer,” a “well-known hairdresser,” and their mother told her that Morgan dealt drugs and said it was “inner-circle common knowledge at the time.”
Lawyers for Morgan will now question Mariah at length over the claims in late January in a videotaped deposition under oath, according to the papers filed on Friday in New York.
They have also demanded that the singer provide documents and evidence to back up her claims – including providing the full names and addresses of any individuals involved in the next 20 days.
It is likely lawyers will ask Mariah to name the “well-known hairdresser” and the “well-known photographer” who she claimed told her her brother sold drugs.
The latest court papers have been filed just over two months since Mariah and Morgan lost their mother Patricia and their sister Alison on the same day.
Mariah announced both deaths in a statement on August 26, writing that she was “heartbroken” at the loss of her mother who was 87.
“Sadly, in a tragic turn of events, my sister lost her life on the same day,” she added.
Morgan claims that he never heard about the deaths from Mariah, but from his lawyer.
In statement, Morgan’s lawyer Richard Altman told The U.S. Sun: “It is disheartening that Mariah, in order to build herself up to the public in her ‘tell-all book,’ manufactured disparaging facts about her brother Morgan, who is still mourning the deaths of his sister and mother, deaths which he first learned of not from her, but from her lawyer to his.
“What is more disheartening is that Mariah, after significantly harming Morgan through her words, plays the victim.
“In the end, not only will Mariah have to answer questions under oath about how she intentionally harmed her brother, but the public will learn the real truth behind their relationship and who the real victim is.”
Mariah’s sister, Alison, 63, died from multiple organ failure after struggling with drug addiction, HIV, homelessness and being a victim of violence before her death in Coxsackie, upstate New York.
On August 26, 2024, Mariah Carey revealed to People that her mom Patricia and sister Alison died on the same day.
“My heart is broken that I’ve lost my mother this past weekend,” she started.
“Sadly, in a tragic turn of events, my sister lost her life on the same day.
“I feel blessed that I was able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed.”
“I appreciate everyone’s love and support and respect for my privacy during this impossible time,” she concluded.
She had also filed a claim against Mariah over the book – a month before Morgan – claiming it contained lies about her “pimping” her little sister out age 12 and giving her valium.
In the court filing, Alison had sought damages of $1.25 million, saying the book contained claims that were “heartless, vicious, vindictive, despicable and totally unnecessary public humiliation.”
In response, lawyers for Mariah filed court papers demanding that Alison submit a detailed complaint “setting forth in detail her claims in this action.”
No other court filings appear to have been made in the case.
Despite the lawsuit, Alison had wanted to reunite with her sister before her death, according to friends.
David Baker, Alison’s close friend, previously told The U.S. Sun she had died heartbroken that they never reconciled, as that was their father’s dying wish.
He claims he tried to notify Mariah that Alison was receiving end of life hospice care – through family and on X, but Mariah never reached out.
“Mariah has now denied forever the last wish of both her father and her sister,” David told The U.S. Sun.
Mariah did not respond to that allegation when approached by The U.S. Sun in September.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to reps for Morgan and Mariah for comment on the latest court filings.
