The fatal stabbing of a hairstylist in Chicago was part of a sexual fantasy hatched in an online chatroom between an American professor and an employee of Oxford University, whose plan included killing someone and then themselves, prosecutors have said. The disturbing details about the 27 July killing revealed how Trenton James Cornell-Duranleau, the boyfriend of Northwestern University microbiology professor Wyndham Lathem, was stabbed 70 times at Lathem’s Chicago condo and with such brutality that he was nearly decapitated. His throat was slit and pulmonary artery torn, the bond hearing in Chicago on Sunday was told.

Lathem, 46, had communicated for months before with Andrew Warren, 56, a senior treasury assistant at Somerville College, about “carrying out their sexual fantasies of killing others and then themselves”, Natosha Toller, an assistant state’s attorney told the court. Judge Adam Bourgeois said both men were potentially dangerous and flight risks, ordering them to remain in jail pending trial on first-degree murder charges. “The heinous facts speak for themselves,” he said. Lathem and Warren were dressed in their own clothes in court. They stood with their hands behind their backs as the prosecutor and judge spoke.  Lathem paid for Warren’s ticket to travel to the United States and he picked him up at Chicago’s O’Hare airport a few days before the killing, the prosecutor said. On 26 July, one day before the killing, Lathem booked a room for Warren near the condo, Toller said.(theguardian)…[+]

Pope Francis has issued a 20-point action plan to governments on refugees and migrants to try to galvanise their response to an issue seen by the Vatican as one of the biggest global challenges of the 21st century.

His intention is to lay the ground for the drafting of two global compacts on refugees and migration, which are expected to be adopted at the UN general assembly in September 2018. The roadmap was published on Monday by the Vatican’s migrants and refugees section, which was set up by Francis last year and operates under his direction. The action points were personally approved by the pontiff. In a message issued before publication, Francis said he had “repeatedly expressed my particular concern for the lamentable situation of many migrants and refugees fleeing from war, persecution, natural disasters and poverty”. The situation was “undoubtedly a ‘sign of the times’,” he said. The document, Responding to Refugees and Migrants: Twenty Action Points, says the world is facing “the largest movement of displaced people in recent memory”.It says: “While massive numbers of people have been forced to leave their homes due to persecution, violence, natural disasters and the scourge of poverty, migration should nevertheless be recognised, not as a new phenomenon, but rather as a natural human response to crisis and a testament to the innate desire of every human being for happiness and a better life.(theguardian)…[+]

French authorities are calling for police to enforce fines against climbers who attempt to scale Mont Blanc without proper clothing and equipment.

The move follows a series of deaths and accidents on Europe’s highest mountain. Earlier this month, a Hungarian woman and her nine-year-old twins were helicoptered off the peak by mountain rescuers. Jean-Marc Peillex, mayor of Saint-Gervais, from where many Mont Blanc climbers set off, issued a local decree taking “immediate effect” last week warning that hikers would face fines if they were not adequately equipped to tackle the 4,810m (15,774ft) peak. Now, he is asking the French government to send more gendarmes up into the mountains to enforce the rules. His list of required equipment for those taking a local route known as the “royal path” up Mont Blanc include a hat, sunglasses, ski mask, climbing shoes and warm wind-proof jacket. Peillex said the decree, which will be posted on mountain paths in French, English, German and Russian, was a “rap over the knuckles” for the “hotheads, who refuse to listen to advice”.(theguardian)…[+]