A former Miss Costa Rica has become the latest woman to accuse Oscar Arias, an ex-president and Nobel Peace laureate, of sexual misconduct.
The woman is alleging that Arias grabbed her, groped her and kissed her against her will at his home in 2015.
The case was first made public late Thursday by Escri-Viendo, a Facebook page dedicated to entertainment news.
Prosecutors confirmed Friday that a criminal complaint for sexual abuse was filed against Arias, the second this week.
At least five women have now accused him of actions ranging from unwanted fondling or innuendo to sexual assault.
Arias denied wrongdoing after the initial complaint surfaced. Since then he and his lawyer have declined to comment further citing the pending legal case.

Ex-Miss Costa Rica is latest to accuse Arias of sexual abuse

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Officials say a hiker in Pennsylvania's Poconos Mountains was attacked by a rabid raccoon and defended by his dog, who pulled the varmint off.
A spokeswoman for the Delaware Water Gap Recreation Center says the raccoon "came out of nowhere" and lunged at the 60-year-old man's legs.
Kathleen Sandt tells LehighValleyLive.com it was muddy where the man was hiking and he fell and was bitten several more times by the raccoon.  She says the man's black lab named Fasha jumped into action, pulling the animal off the owner and immobilizing it.
The dog, named after dog in the Arlo Guthrie's song "Alice's Restaurant," wasn't harmed in the Jan. 28 attack. The raccoon carcass tested positive for rabies. The man received treatment.

Dog defends owner from rabid raccoon during Poconos hike

Law enforcement officials in Brazil's second largest city say that at least 11 suspected drug traffickers were killed in a shootout with police in a slum located in the bohemian Santa Teresa neighbourhood.
Police spokesman Col. Mauro Fliess said the confrontation took place Friday as officers entered the area where the suspects were hiding. He said that none of the police were hurt.
Officers seized drugs, rifles, guns and ammunition during the anti-drug trafficking operation.
Rio de Janeiro is one of the world's most violent cities with frequent shootouts between police and drug gangs and an annual homicide rate of around 50 per 100,000 inhabitants.

At least 11 suspected drug traffickers killed in Rio

Election officials in Ukraine said Friday that 44 candidates have registered to compete in the March presidential election  a record for the nation.
The latest polls show that comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who plays the nation's president in a popular TV series, has surged ahead of both incumbent President Petro Poroshenko and ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in the run-up to the March 31 vote.
Zelenskiy's popularity has been driven by both his TV star status and public dismay with current leaders. Ukraine has seen economic troubles and a sharp drop in living standards after Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and Russia's support for a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine.
"A comedian has taken the lead in Ukraine's political carnival, which is expectable amid a crisis of confidence in the old political elites, popular disappointment and massive poverty," said Volodymyr Fesenko, an analyst with the independent Penta think-tank.
A survey released this week had 21.9 percent ...

Ukraine has 44 presidential candidates in all-time record

The United States military says targeted airstrikes against suspected extremists in Somalia have killed 15 fighters.
A US Africa Command statement says the airstrikes occurred in the vicinity of Gandarshe, Lower Shabelle region, on Wednesday and in the vicinity of Bariire in the same region on Thursday.
The airstrikes killed 11 and four people, respectively, after Somali troops engaged the extremists.
The statement says no civilians were harmed.
These are the latest in a dramatic uptick in US airstrikes in the Horn of Africa nation since President Donald Trump took office.
The al-Qaida-affiliated al-Shabab extremist group once controlled large swathes of Somalia. African Union forces have succeeded in pushing it from major cities.
Al-Shabab, the deadliest Islamic extremist group in Africa, continues with attacks in Somalia and neighbouring Kenya.

15 al-Shabab extremists killed in US airstrikes in Somalia

Albert Finney, the charismatic Academy Award-nominated British actor who starred in films from "Tom Jones" to "Skyfall," has died. He was 82.
Finney's family said Friday that he "passed away peacefully after a short illness with those closest to him by his side."
He died Thursday from a chest infection at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London.
Finney was a rare star who managed to avoid the Hollywood limelight for more than five decades after bursting to international fame in 1963 in the title role of "Tom Jones."
The film gained him the first of five Oscar nominations.
Others followed for "Murder on the Orient Express,"
''The Dresser," ''Under the Volcano" and "Erin Brockovich."
In later years he brought authority to action movies, including the James Bond thriller "Skyfall" and two of the Bourne films.
Displaying the versatility of a virtuoso, Finney portrayed Winston Churchill, Pope John Paul II, a southern American lawyer, an Irish gangster and an 18th-century rogue, among dozens ..

British actor Albert Finney dies at 82

Sudan's Doctors Syndicate says the government crackdown on protests has left at least 57 dead, including three who died of torture, since they began in mid-December.
In a statement issued on Friday, the union said that the death toll is expected to climb because of the serious condition of some wounded protesters.
It also noted the excessive use of tear gas in the crackdown, including in residential areas, and inside homes and hospitals.
Additionally, it expressed its alarm at security forces using the "inconceivably barbaric tactic" of running over protesters while breaking up demonstrations, according to the statement.
A total of 28 doctors have been detained, and one doctor was shot dead for treating wounded protesters, it added.
The statemen cames one day after a chief investigator concluded that an iconic protester Ahmed al-Khair was beaten to death while in custody.

Sudan's doctors union says 57 killed in recent protests

Subaru, Tesla, BMW, Volkswagen, Daimler Vans, Mercedes and Ferrari are recalling about 1.7 million vehicles to replace potentially deadly air bag inflators made by Takata Corp of Japan.
The inflators can hurl shrapnel into drivers and passengers. At least 23 people have died from the problem worldwide and hundreds more were injured.
The moves, announced Friday by the US government, are part of the largest series of automotive recalls in US history.
About 10 million inflators are being recalled in the US this year, with as many as 70 million to be recalled by the time the whole mess ends late next year.
Takata used the chemical ammonium nitrate to create a small explosion to inflate the air bags.
But the chemical can deteriorate over time due to high humidity and cycles from hot temperatures to cold.
The most dangerous inflators are in areas of the South along the Gulf of Mexico that have high humidity.
The recalls, which began in 2001, are being phased in over time and managed by the .

Automakers recall 1.7 million cars with fatal airbags

Syria's state news agency says a mine has exploded in agricultural land in the central province of Hama killing seven civilians and wounding another.
SANA said the mine blast occurred Friday east of the central town of Salamiyeh adding that it was left behind by militants who once inhabited the area.
SANA gave no further details. The area east of Salamiyeh was once controlled by the Islamic State group before government forces drove them out in recent years.
Mines and booby traps have killed and maimed thousands of Syrians since the conflict began nearly eight years ago.
Syria's conflict began in March 2011 and has killed more than 450,000 people, wounded more than a million and displaced 11 million from their homes, including 5 million who are now refugees.

State TV: Mine explodes in central Syria killing 7 civilians

Sierra Leone's president has declared a national emergency over rape and sexual violence, saying perpetrators are getting younger and their acts more violent.
In a keynote address on Thursday, President Julius Maada Bio said hundreds of cases of rape and sexual assault are reported each month in the West African nation against women, girls and babies as young as three months old.
Those who sexually assault minors will face life in imprison, the president declared, saying that some 70 percent of victims are under age 15. The current law carries a maximum penalty of 15 years, and very few cases have been prosecuted.
"With this declaration, I have also directed the following: that all government hospitals must provide free medical treatment and certificate to every victim of rape and sexual abuse," he said.
Bio's declaration comes after months of campaigning by activists.
Thousands of cases are unreported because of a culture of silence or indifference, leaving victims traumatized, he ...

Sierra Leone president declares rape a national emergency

Police say they have sealed off part of the Dutch parliamentary complex and arrested a man who was acting suspiciously and left a backpack on the ground.
An explosives expert was called to check the backpack.
The arrest happened Friday while the Dutch Cabinet was holding its weekly meeting in one of the buildings that make up the Binnenhof, or Inner Court. The Cabinet meeting was not interrupted by the police action.
Hague police say in a tweet that part of the Binnenhof is closed while investigations continue. Further details were not immediately available.
The area is heavily guarded and normally members of the public can walk and cycle freely through the area.

Part of Dutch parliament closed, 'suspicious' man arrested

A Muslim inmate who filed a legal challenge because Alabama wouldn't let his Islamic spiritual adviser be present in the execution chamber was put to death Thursday after the nation's highest court cleared the way.
Dominique Ray, 42, was pronounced dead at 10:12 p.m. of a lethal injection at the state prison in Atmore.
Ray had argued Alabama's execution procedure favors Christian inmates because a Christian chaplain employed by the prison typically remains in the execution chamber during a lethal injection, but the state would not let his imam be there in the room.
Attorneys for the state said only prison employees are allowed in the chamber for security reasons.
Ray's imam, Yusef Maisonet, watched the execution from an adjoining witness room, after visiting with Ray over the past two days. There was no Christian chaplain in the chamber, a concession the state agreed to make.  Strapped to a gurney in the death chamber, Ray was asked by the warden if he had any final words. The inmate .

Alabama executes Muslim inmate who wanted imam present

Saudi Arabia quietly held a second court hearing for 11 people facing charges over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an independent UN human rights expert said, criticising the kingdom for its lack of transparency in the proceedings over the grisly slaying.
Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said she learned of the hearing during her first visit to Turkey last week to investigate the murder.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who wrote critically about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed and dismembered inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last October.
His remains have not been found.
The brutal killing  described by Turkish and US officials as an elaborate plot  has drawn an international outcry about press freedom and Saudi government tactics to quell criticism.
Turkey, which is carrying out its own investigation into Khashoggi's murder, has been frustrated by what Ankara says is a lack of ...

UN expert: Saudis held another hearing in Khashoggi probe

Police say an American Airlines pilot has been arrested at Britain's Manchester Airport on suspicion of being drunk.
The Greater Manchester Police force said Friday that police "received a report that an airline pilot may have been under the influence of alcohol" at the airport in northwestern England on Thursday morning.
Officers arrested a 62-year-old man on suspicion of performing an aviation function while over the prescribed alcohol limit.
Police say the man, whose name was not released, has been bailed pending further inquiries.
American Airlines confirmed that a member of its air crew was detained at the airport Thursday.
It says the flight, AA735 to Philadelphia, was cancelled and passengers rebooked on other flights.
The airline says it is "fully cooperating with local law enforcement" over the incident.

American Airlines pilot arrested, suspected of being drunk

The force-feeding of immigrant detainees inside a Texas detention facility could violate the U.N. Convention Against Torture, the Geneva-based United Nations human rights office said Thursday.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is concerned that force-feeding could constitute "ill treatment" that goes against the convention, which the United States ratified in 1994, spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told The Associated Press.
The UN's statement echoes concerns raised by 14 Democratic lawmakers who sent a letter to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday requesting more information about nine Indian men on a hunger strike who have been force-fed through nasal tubes.
One of the detainees refusing food, a 22-year-old man, described being dragged from his cell three times a day and strapped down on a bed as a group of people poured liquid into tubes pushed through his nose.
"It is critical that ICE commit to ending this practice," said the letter spearheaded by ...

UN: US force-feeding immigrants may breach torture agreement

Turkey's interior minister says the number of dead from the collapse of an eight-story apartment building in Istanbul has increased to 11.
Suleyman Soylu made the announcement late on Thursday after emergency teams, assisted by sniffer dogs, found one more body in the wreckage from Wednesday's collapse in Istanbul's mostly residential Kartal district.
Friends and relatives on Friday continued to wait near the wreckage for news of their missing loved ones.
So far, 13 people have been pulled out of the wreckage alive.
Officials have not disclosed how many people are unaccounted-for, and it is not clear if rescuers hope to find any more survivors.

Death toll in Istanbul building collapse increases to 11

The Guantanamo Bay detention center would receive new prisoners for the first time in more than a decade under one option being considered as the US withdraws its forces from Syria and works to resolve the fate of hundreds of captured suspected Islamic State fighters, officials say.
US-backed Syrian fighters have custody of nearly 1,000 suspected IS fighters who the State Department said should be sent back to their home countries and prosecuted.
The Syrian fighters have warned they may not be able to continue to hold the IS fighters after the withdrawal of American forces from Syria ordered by President Donald Trump in December.
If they can't be repatriated, though, the detention centre on the US base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could be used to hold them "where lawful and appropriate," the State Department said Thursday.
"The Administration's National Strategy for Counterterrorism makes very clear that Law of Armed Conflict detention, including at Guantanamo, remains an important and ..

Guantanamo prison looms as option as IS fight ends

Facebook is pushing back against a German ruling that could make it harder for the company to combine data from all the services it runs in order to target ads even more precisely.
Thursday's ruling, though aimed at current practices, hints at potential troubles ahead if Facebook follows through with plans to integrate the messaging functions of WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger as early as next year.
German antitrust authorities ruled Thursday that Facebook was exploiting its dominance in social media to force users to share data from other Facebook-owned services like WhatsApp and Instagram, as well as third-party websites through the "Like" and "Share" buttons.
The Federal Cartel Office, or Bundeskartellamt, isn't contesting Facebook's use of customer data to target ads on the main Facebook service.
Rather, the ruling said Facebook should have to get permission separately before using customer data from other apps and websites to do so.
Facebook said it would appeal.
The company ...

Germany to Facebook: Stop forcing users to share their data

The Netherlands is in diplomatic discussions with Russia about the European country's assertion that Moscow bears legal responsibility for its role in the 2014 downing of a passenger jet over Ukraine, the Dutch foreign minister said.
Foreign Minister Stef Blok Thursday said the initial diplomatic contacts were aimed at paving the way for formal talks and conducted in "a positive atmosphere."
He said it was too early to say where and when formal talks might take place.
"There are diplomatic contacts to see if we can begin formal talks about national responsibility for shooting down MH17," Blok told Dutch reporters.
The Netherlands and Australia said last year they held Russia legally responsible for providing the missile that brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over conflict-ravaged eastern Ukraine.
All 298 passengers and crew members were killed.
About two-thirds of the people killed when a Buk missile fired from territory held by pro-Russian rebels slammed into the Boeing 777 ...

Dutch, Russia in talks about responsibility in MH17 downing

Ivanka Trump launched a White House effort aimed at helping 50 million women in the developing world get ahead economically over the next six years.
The White House on Thursday unveiled the Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative, a government-wide project led by the senior adviser and daughter to President Donald Trump.
The initiative will involve the State Department, the National Security Council and other agencies.
It aims to coordinate current programs and develop new ones to assist women in areas such as job training, financial support, and legal or regulatory reforms.
Calling it a "historic step," the president signed a national security memorandum to officially launch the effort, framing it as a way to promote stability around the world.
He was joined in the Oval Office by Ivanka Trump, elected officials, Cabinet members, business leaders and women who have benefited from such programs.
"Investing in women helps achieve greater peace and prosperity between ...

Ivanka Trump project seeks to help women in developing world

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved William Barr's nomination for attorney general along party lines Thursday, with Republicans praising his credentials and Democrats questioning how transparent he'll be once special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation concludes.
The vote now heads to the full Senate, where Barr is expected to be confirmed in a vote as soon as next week.
Barr, who previously served as attorney general from 1991 to 1993, would succeed Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who was pushed out by Trump last year over the president's anger that he had recused from the Russia investigation.
Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker is currently filling the position.
"I appreciate what Mr. Whitaker has done, but I think it's time for new leadership at the department," Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and committee chairman, said at the outset of Thursday's meeting.
Democrats and many Republicans have said they believe Mueller's final report should be ..

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