A court in Saudi Arabia has dropped the charges of manslaughter and sexual assault against the father of Luma, the 5-year-old daughter he had beaten to death in 2011. His sentence was reduced to only the charge of 'excessive disciplining that resulted in death'. According to Saudi Daily Al Sharq, the decision was taken after no trace of semen was found on her body. 

Luma’s case became widely known in 2012 when details emerged of how she was tortured by her father during a visit to him and his new wife. Reports said that the father used wires and an iron rod to punish his daughter after he had expressed doubts about her virginity. Luma died after four months in coma and was not buried for another four months pending the investigation and the autopsy procedures.

ISIS group released images on Tuesday showing the destruction of the ancient temple of Baal Shamin in the Unesco-listed Syrian city of Palmyra. Baal Shamin was built in 17 AD and was expanded under the reign of Roman emperor Hadrian in 130 AD.

Not the family

Tragedy struck the sleepy town of Umueze, Enugwu-Achi, Oji-River Local Government Area, Enugu State last Monday following the death of 3-year-old Akachukwu in the hands of his 14-year-old brother Ebubechukwu,14, using their father’s gun.

The heroic efforts of two high school teachers helped stop a 14-year-old boy from shooting several students and a faculty member that he had taken hostage at a West Virginia high school.

The boy, who is a student at Philip Barbour High School in Philippi, West Virginia, took 29 students and a teacher hostage on Tuesday and held them at gunpoint for an hour before he agreed to negotiations, let them go and surrendered to police.

The teacher held hostage reportedly blocked students from entering her classroom while a fellow teacher alerted authorities to stop the boy from becoming the gunman of a mass school shooting.

At approximately 1.15pm, the boy, who has not been identified, walked into the second floor classroom and pointed a pistol at the teacher, Superintendent Jeffrey Woofter wrote in a prepared statement released by The Exponent Telegram.

A 'dead' teenager woke up in her coffin and screamed for help one day after she was buried – but died again before desperate relatives could save her. Grieving family members pictured above breaking through the concrete tomb from where Neysi Perez, 16, had been heard 'banging and screaming'.

Relatives who removed the girl's corpse found that the glass viewing window on her coffin had been smashed and the tips of her fingers were bruised. But despite efforts to revive her medics found no signs of life and she was later returned to the cemetery and reburied in the same mausoleum.

Pit bull kills owner after she tried to save her mom from attack

A South Carolina woman has been killed by her pet pit bull after she stepped in to stop it attacking her mother.

Porsche 'Nicole' Cartee, 25, suffered fatal injuries to her head and body when she tried to fend off the dog.

Jamie Nelson, director of Spartanburg County Environmental Enforcement, said the attack occurred at a residence on Beverly Hills Drive. Nelson said the dog attacked three people.

Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said Porsche Nicole Cartee, was pronounced dead at the scene. Clevenger said statements from witnesses indicate Cartee suffered trauma to her body during the attack.

On Sunday, Clevenger said an examination revealed the cause of death to be dog bites to the head and body.

Clevenger identified the dog as a pit bull and said two other family member were injured in the incident.

Geeta Devi died at a government hospital, in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, northern India after doctors forcefully pulled on the body of her child during delivery, severed the baby’s head and left it inside the womb. The 32-year-old was later sent to another hospital where doctors managed to remove the severed head from her womb, but could not save her life. She died in the early hours of Sunday, August 23.