Playmate kills herself

NEW YORK: Police say a former Playboy centrefold model who was involved in a custody battle apparently jumped with her 7-yearold son from a hotel in mid-town Manhattan and both died.

According to law enforcement officials, the pair checked into the penthouse suite of the Gotham Hotel on the 25th floor the night before. They were found on a second-floor balcony at about 8.15am on Friday. Officials identified the woman as Stephanie Adams and her son as Vincent.

Kidnapped set free

JUBA: The Us-based aid group World Vision says nine staffers who were abducted earlier this week while driving in a convoy outside Yambio, South Sudan, have been released.

The UN and local authorities led negotiations for their release.

Neither South Sudan’s government nor the opposition has taken responsibility for the abduction. Each blames the other.

This is the third abduction of humanitarian workers in South Sudan in two months.

Sniper ‘sparks battle’

SRINAGAR: Eight civilians, including a husband and wife and four members of a family, were killed when Indian and Pakistani soldiers fired at border posts and villages along the frontier in disputed Kashmir, officials said.

The firing and shelling began overnight on Friday and spread to dozens of posts, said Indian police. The conflict began after an Indian soldier was killed by a sniper.

The Pakistani military accused Indian troops of starting the battle.

Deadly Taliban raids

KABUL: Afghani officials said Taliban fighters had attacked security posts in three provinces, killing 16 police officers.

Ramadan Ali Mooseni, deputy provincial police chief, said on Friday that, in the latest incident, the Taliban had launched an attack the previous night in Ghazni province, killing nine and wounding seven. The gun battle also left 25 Taliban fighters dead.

Disabled son cheated

CHARLOTTE: A Michigan woman, who authorities say embezzled more than $400 000 from her disabled 9-year-old son’s estate, faces prison. Investigators say Kasie Pruden-rivera received nearly $650 000 on behalf of her son and spent $240 000 on a house but the rest is unaccounted for.

She got the settlement after her son suffered brain damage shortly after birth at an army hospital.

Anti-semitic assault

BERLIN: A 19-year-old Syrian man has been charged in an assault on an Arab Israeli wearing a skullcap in Berlin last month.

The victim has said he’s not Jewish but wore the skullcap as an experiment because he didn’t believe a friend who told him it was too dangerous to wear one in public in Germany.

Reuters/ap/dpa/african News Agency/ana