Singapore News Channel, Singapore News Network

A transgender man from Kent who gave birth with the help of fertility treatment cannot be registered as his child’s father, the most senior family judge in England and Wales has ruled.

In the first legal definition of a mother in English common law, Sir Andrew McFarlane, the president of the high court’s family division, ruled on Wednesday that motherhood was about being pregnant and giving birth regardless of whether the person who does so was considered a man or a woman in law.

Freddy McConnell, 32, who has lived as a man for several years but retained his female reproductive system and gave birth in 2018, went to court after a registrar insisted he was recorded as the baby’s mother on the birth certificate despite holding a gender recognition certificate that made it clear the law considered him male.

The ruling was quickly attacked by campaigners and lawyers as a blow to the rights of trans parents and their children and sparked calls, including from the judge, for legislative reform.

“Being a ‘mother’ or a ‘father’ with respect to the conception, pregnancy and birth of a child is not necessarily gender specific,” McFarlane concluded after McConnell requested a judicial review.

“There is a material difference between a person’s gender and their status as a parent. Being a ‘mother’, whilst hitherto always associated with being female, is the status afforded to a person who undergoes the physical and biological process of carrying a pregnancy and giving birth.

“It is now medically and legally possible for an individual, whose gender is recognised in law as male, to become pregnant and give birth to their child. Whilst that person’s gender is ‘male’, their parental status, which derives from their biological role in giving birth, is that of ‘mother’.”

A Florida woman who cared for her disabled adult grandson on weekends faces second-degree murder charges after she told the police she gave him a fatal overdose over concerns about who would care for him when she died, the authorities said.

The police responded to a call on Sunday afternoon in Bradenton, Fla., about 40 miles south of Tampa, and found the grandson, Joel Parks, dead at the scene, Capt. Brian Thiers of the Bradenton Police Department said in a news conference on Tuesday. Mr. Parks was discovered by a sister.

Mr. Parks, 30, lived with his grandmother and part-time caretaker, Lillian Parks, 87, on weekends and in a group home during the week, Captain Thiers said. Mr. Parks was unable to care for himself, but details about his exact health condition were not known, he added.

After the authorities arrived, Ms. Parks made “several concerning remarks, spontaneous remarks,” including that she had “purposely overdosed” her grandson, Captain Thiers said.

“She was concerned about her medical condition and was worried about who would be caring for him in the event that she passed away,” he added. Mr. Parks’s father is deceased and his mother is estranged, Captain Thiers said.

Ms. Parks was taken into protective medical custody for an evaluation, the police said.

Captain Thiers said on Wednesday that a judge had signed an arrest warrant for Ms. Parks on second-degree murder charges.

“As soon as she’s released from medical care, we will be taking her into custody under those charges,” Captain Thiers said.

Just yesterday as the waiting game continues at the headquarters of the Department of State Services in Abuja over the release of Omoyele Sowore, his lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has vowed to remain at the facility pending the release of his client.

The human rights lawyer insisted that he and his team would stay put until the DSS releases Sowore to him as ordered by the court and having perfected the bail condition.

He said that as long as his client was being held, he would not leave the premises of the DSS.

Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja had on Tuesday ordered the DSS to release Sowore on bail.

Another man has been arrested in connection with Mac Miller’s fatal overdose.

36-year-old Lake Havasu City resident Ryan Reavis is in custody … this after the FBI and DEA targeted him over Mac’s death. The law enforcement agencies obtained a search warrant for Reavis’ home, and what they found led to his arrest.

According to investigators, drugs were found — including prescription-only pills and marijuana.

Cops say they also confiscated firearms, including a 9mm pistol and two shotguns, a homemade firearm suppressor and an arsenal of ammo.

Perhaps most important … police found a physician’s prescription pad.

Reavis was arrested and booked on fraud, drug and gun charges on $50,000 bail.

You will recall … Mac’s alleged dealer, Cameron James Pettit, was arrested a few weeks ago for allegedly supplying Mac with deadly counterfeit oxy pills … which cops say led to his death.

In the charging docs, prosecutors said Pettit worked with two women, who police say also played a role in supplying Mac with drugs 2 days before he died.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and his longtime girlfriend, reality TV star Sandra Lee, are calling it quits.

The Governor and Sandra released a joint statement Wednesday announcing their split, saying, “Over the recent past, we have realized that our lives have gone in different directions and our romantic relationship has turned into a deep friendship.”

They continued, “We will always be family and are fully supportive of each other and dedicated to the girls. Our personal lives remain personal and there will be no further comment.”
Rumors they’d ended things were swirling earlier this year after the couple put their luxurious colonial mansion on the market, but Sandra denied a breakup at the time … saying they just didn’t need that much space anymore.

Sandra and Cuomo first got together in 2005 — 1 year before he won the office of New York Attorney General, and 5 years before he was elected Governor. Of course, her role as a de facto First Lady of New York wasn’t just standing by her man.

Besides her role as a de facto First Lady of the Empire State … Sandra is a major personality on the Food Network and a best-selling author.

They had no children together, but the Governor has 3 daughters from a previous marriage.

Cassie and Alex Fine are officially husband and wife. They got married yesterday in Malibu, with director Peter Berg officiating.

Berg posted, “By the power vested in me ….. long may you ride!”

As you know, Diddy’s ex hooked up with Alex sometime after he became her trainer.

Diddy believed they were romantically involved while he was still with her, although they deny that. Diddy was also pissed off because he paid Alex to train Cassie.

Cassie and Alex announced in June that they were expecting their first child together.  They got engaged on August 27. We say big congrats to them.

Four decaying bodies found shot to death in a vacant Ohio home are being probed as homicides.

The bodies of the four were found in a home on East 114th Street in Cleveland on Saturday around 9pm when police responded to a call that a dead body had been discovered.

The bodies were found in a bedroom on the third floor of the abandoned home, that was known for drug activity. Police said they also found a gun inside the home as well but it’s unclear if that was the weapon used in the murders.

The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office identified two of those victims using fingerprints as 20-year-old Dejuan Willis and 23-year-old Christopher Monroe, both from Cleveland.

Authorities say they’re not sure how long the four were dead for nor who was behind their deaths.

The medical examiner said although the bodies were decomposed, they’re hopeful to identify the remaining two bodies within the next few days. 

The East Side community is now mourning the tragedy.

A woman who claimed one of her son was among the four deceased told News5 that she hadn’t heard from him in more than two weeks.

Cleveland City Councilman Kevin Bishop said the neighborhood is known to have issues with homelessness and drugs.

The victims’ loved ones started to share tributes to them over the weekend. 

‘I don’t (sic) even know what to say I’m just hurt bout. This my brother man, he was like my lil brother we did everything together,’ a friend said sharing a picture of Dejuan Willis on a Facebook page called the Cleveland, Ohio Remembrance Page.

Another person shared a picture of Chris saying: ‘This is Chris and he’s a friend of my family we just found out he has passed away we don’t know how or when it happened just wanted to let you know.’

On Sunday family, friends, and church members gathered at the crime scene to pay their respects.

Cardi B admitted she was sexually assaulted during a magazine shoot as she revealed her own #MeToo experience for an upcoming episode of Untold Stories of Hip Hop.

The 26-year-old phenom told Angie Martinez that she would ‘never forget’ the frightening encounter, with a full interview set to air on Thursday, Sept. 26 on the WE tv network.

The Bodak Yellow rapper went as far as to tell the owner of the magazine about what happened during the photo shoot, only for the owner to show little concern for the harrowing incident.
‘I will never forget how I went to shoot for this magazine and the photographer, he was trying to get close to me like, “Yeah, you want to get in this magazine?” she recalled. ‘Then he pulled his d*** out.’

‘I was so f***ing mad, and I was just like, “This is crazy.”‘

She told the photographer ‘you’re f***ing bugging’ before storming off the set in complete shock.
It’s unclear when the sexual assault happened or which magazine she was working with, and Cardi hasn’t revealed the photographers name.

Making a bad situation even worse, Cardi was beside herself after hearing that there were no repercussions for the photographers actions.

‘You know what’s so crazy? I told the magazine owner and he just looked at me like, “So? And?”‘ she said.

This is the moment a brave homeowner fights off four armed robbers with his bare hands during a terrifying raid on his home.

Estate agent Asif Ali, 35, confronted the men after they broke into his home in Bamford, Greater Manchester, at around 9.15pm on Tuesday night.

In CCTV footage of his brave defence of his home, Mr Ali is seen landing a flurry of blows on one thug before two accomplices join the brawl and he fights them off too.

Today Mr Ali explained how his first thought was to protect his wife Charlotte, 30, who was asleep in bed at the time of the attack.

The video of the invasion of his home starts with a thug, dressed in a hooded jacket and balaclava, walking through the open door of Mr Ali’s home.

The businessman immediately confronts him and ducks a left-handed punch from the thug.

He then launches a flurry of jabs of his own, pummelling him into a corner of his home.
Suddenly another attacker bursts in through the open door and Mr Ali takes on both men at once, with his dog, which had alerted him when it barked at the men, running through their legs.

To add further odds to the fight, a third thug appears but Mr Ali is able to force all three men out of his home.

He tries to shut the door but one thug keeps it open and storms back in the house as Mr Ali runs to his kitchen to pick up two kitchen knives.

As a supermodel she can pull off any look. And Naomi Campbell showcased her quirky sense of style as she headed out during Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday.

Looking as stylish as ever, the 49-year-old model opted for an all-black ensemble with some kooky touches.

Naomi put her enviably lean pins on display in a pair of form fitting black leggings with cut out detailing across the knees.