Ariel Castro Offered Plea Deal: Man Accused In Ohio Kidnappings Would Not Face Death If He Accepts

The man who faces close to 1,000 criminal counts in connection with the alleged kidnapping and imprisonment of three Ohio women has been offered a plea deal.

Under the offer from prosecutors, Ariel Castro would be spared the death penalty, WKYC reported on Thursday.

 

The Detroit Free Press had previously reported that Castro's attorneys demanded that the death penalty be out of the question in any plea deal their client would accept.

Castro is accused of rape, kidnapping and other charges in a 977 count indictment, spurred by his alleged capture and imprisonment of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight.

The Associated Press reported that Castro's attorneys complained earlier this week that prosecutors have not turned over evidence quickly enough.

Castro's trial is scheduled for Aug. 5.

'Sons of Anarchy’ Season 6 Details: ‘It Has to Find Its Endgame’

With the premiere of Sons of Anarchy season 6 rapidly approaching, Comic Con 2013 wound up serving as a timely platform on which series creator Kurt Sutter and the rest of the cast could whet fan appetites for the furthering adventures of Jax Teller and the rest of SAMCRO, offering a sneak peek at some new footage and a chance for everyone to talk about where their character is headed in the series’ penultimate season.

 

To that end, the notion of the series reaching its conclusion was an early topic of discussion, and one that Sutter reportedly addressed by stating it was his desire that he and the show not overstay their welcome. So, with Sons of Anarchy australia tentatively scheduled to complete its run with a seventh and final season, and with the approach to the finale ostensibly starting in season 5 (as Sutter has previously mentioned that it was the beginning of the storyline’s third act), the primary objective for season 6 is to allow the story and the characters to become properly aligned, so that Sutter can begin to orchestrate his “endgame.”

Of course, the start of what will be the final season is still 13 episodes away – which will actually work out to be longer, as FX just announced the season premiere (and likely other episodes) will run for 90-minutes – so while Sutter was able to address the possibility of wrapping up his saga of motorcycles, murder and mayhem in the fictional town of Charming, California, he was more focused on discussing where season 6 will be starting – and what big questions about Jax and his future the storyline will be focusing on.

In that regard, Charlie Hunnam (Jax Teller) was able to comment on how much of a strain taking over as president of the Sons has been for Jax – not to mention the other difficulties in his barely-removed personal life, stemming from his ongoing battle with his stepfather, his tumultuous relationship with his mother and, as was seen late last season, the arrest of his wife Tara (Maggie Siff). Thankfully, Jax has his new VP, Chibs (Tommy Flanagan) onboard to help him through this difficult time, and, according to Flanagan, to stand in for the things Jax’s recent endeavors have left him lacking like, “maybe some conscience?”

But following the events of the season 5 finale, ‘J’ai Obtenu Cette,’ no character likely has more on his agenda than Clay Morrow – who wound up not only being arrested, but realizing he’d been completely outplayed by an increasingly cunning and vicious opponent in his stepson Jax.

For Perlman, Clay’s journey this season will be one of starting over, as his character finds himself in a position of weakness and subjection that is unlike anything he’s ever tackled before. And should he find himself able to withstand the likely onslaught of Damon Pope’s men, he’ll still have Jax’s need for vengeance to look forward to.

It sounds as though season 6 will begin with several characters operating from incredibly difficult positions, which seems like everyone is exactly where Sutter wants them to be. At any rate, the wait is almost over and fans can see for themselves what the beginning of the end has in store for all of SAMCRO.

The North Pole Has Melted

In what has now become an annual occurrence, the North Pole's ice has melted, turning the Earth's most northern point into a lake. Call it Lake North Pole. To be clear, the water surrounding the pole is not seawater seeping up from the ocean but melted icewater resting on top of a thinning layer of ice below the surface. "It’s a shallow lake. It’s a cold lake.

 

That lake started to form on July 13 during a month of abnormally warm weather — temperatures were 1-3 degrees Celsius higher than average in the Arctic Ocean this month — and has come to stretch a significant distance, though not out of the camera's range. In addition, the water is likely to get worse over the coming week, as an expected Arctic cyclone's strong winds and rain will loosen the ice coverage even further.

The picture above is what the North Pole looks like now, via the North Pole Environmental Observatory. The photo below is what it looked like back in April, and probably how you pictured it before you starting reading.

The melting ice caps follow a trend of continually rising temperatures across the globe, and the Northern hemisphere has been particularly affected. Things looked to be slightly reversed this year after an April snow cover that was the 9th highest on record, but May's snow cover ranked the third lowest (dating to 1967), according to The Washington Post, melting almost half of that snow.

The continued heating of the seas and melting ice caps does not bode well for ice cover in the arctic. Sorry, Santa Claus. It may be time to move to one of those ice bars.

Will and Kate as Parents: Following Diana’s Lead

When Prince Charles was only 2, his mother, Princess Elizabeth, left him to celebrate Christmas with his grandparents while she visited her husband, who was stationed in Malta. It's unlikely that the new royal baby boy will be spending important holidays without his doting parents. Just as they seem comfortable with being referred to as "Will and Kate" by millions of royal watchers, it's predicted that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's parenting style will be warm, casual, and hands-on.

And it seems as if the hands-on part has already begun, as new mom Kate announced to the world upon exiting the hospital on Tuesday that it was her husband who had changed the baby's first nappy (better known as a diaper in the United States).

 

"Prince William benefited from Diana's attempts to provide a normal childhood," Arianne Chernock, a Boston University professor and expert on British royal history, told Yahoo! Shine. Diana broke with royal tradition in many of her parenting choices, starting with the birth of her first child. She was the first royal mum to deliver her babies in a hospital and it's also speculated that she was the first to breastfeed them.

According to Judy Wade, who reported on the royal family for HELLO! magazine during Diana's years in the palace, every morning Will and Harry would bound into her bedroom and jump onto her bed for a hug. That's a stark contrast to Queen Elizabeth and Charles as a boy; she often shook his hand rather than embracing him.

 Middleton's upbringing will also have an influence. The first commoner in 350 years to marry an heir to the throne, Kate had a normal, albeit affluent, childhood in Bucklebury, Berkshire, attending a nearby private school, participating in school plays, and excelling in sports. Not only did she spend the weeks leading up to her delivery at the home of her parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, but also plans on spending time there to recuperate with her new son.

"Kate is very close to Carole, and an awful lot of young women, when they have had a baby, like being with their mum," royal biographer Penny Junor told the National Post "I suspect that William not only approves of that idea but may even be driving it." It's important to note that Kate and Will's style will also reflect current parenting norms that encourage both mothers and fathers to be closer and less formal with their children, royal or not. Chernock pointed out that when Prince Charles was born in 1948, Queen Elizabeth was grappling with the pressures of being a young, female monarch in a highly conservative era. Her public persona as a proper mother, which has been analyzed retrospectively as "cold," may have been part of her efforts to master the formalities and requirements of her station. "The palace has been increasingly releasing private footage of the royal family," said Chernock, "which reveals a warmer presence."

Even Queen Elizabeth's great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria, who supposedly described her nine children as "frogs," has gotten something of a bad rap as a mother. "She made them very central to her reign," countered Chernock, "and [her husband] Prince Albert was also very hands-on. There are pictures of him on all fours with the kids hanging all over him."

 Like all royals before them, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will be tasked with gracefully navigating their family's public and private lives. They keep their subjects enthralled by a tradition, which is seen by some as increasingly irrelevant, and at the same time hold them at a manageable, healthy distance. Despite their best intentions, one of their greatest challenges as parents will be providing a semblance of normalcy in the era of the 24/7 news cycle. Now, more than ever, the royal baby will grow up in the glare of paparazzi and cell phone cameras.

Between Twitter and the Internet, there will be no lack of advice sent their way—much of it from other celebrities. Snooki, new mom and Princess of the Jersey Shore, has already sent her "words of wisdom" via a letter she posted on YourTango: "In the beginning, right when you take your royal golden nugget home to the castle is the most exciting experience of your life. I couldn't wait to wake up in the middle of the night to take care of my little prince Lorenzo," it reads in part. "But that lasts for about a few days. Then it's like, 'I love you, but OMG stop crying! I'm exhausted.' The lack of sleep you will get used to—just do your makeup, put a tiara on, and you'll look beautiful as usual."

'Game of Thrones' actor: 'Red Wedding' guests had it coming

British actors David Bradley and Mark Gatiss arrived at the party of film "The World's End" together last night at Comic-Con to discuss their upcoming BBC film "An Adventure In Space and Time."

But the pair also have another project in common now.

Bradley, who plays Walder Frey on "Game of Thrones tv show," can now cite Gatiss as one of his fellow cast members on the show. Gatiss was recently announced to be joining the hit HBO series, but his role remains something of a surprise.

 

"I'm not allowed to tell you," Gatiss said. "I've done my filming. I'm glad I didn't tell anyone before this since it's a big secret. The announcement of (my casting) was obviously timed for Comic-Con and I'm rather overwhelmed with the reaction, honestly. It's a great show with so many brilliant people in it."

Gatiss' time on set was short, but that doesn't necessarily indicate anything about the size of his role.

"What's interesting is that it's such a huge, sprawling cast and people seem to be there for ages, but they actually shoot two or three days and that's it," he said. "Once it's put together it looks like everybody must be there for weeks and weeks and weeks."

For Bradley, the past season of "Game of Thrones" was the most exciting for him. His character's central role in the infamous "Red Wedding" scene depicted in the penultimate episode "The Rains of Castamere," and has drawn an intense fan reaction due to the bloody death of several characters.

But Bradley relates more his own character than those the fans have connected with.

"I felt intense pleasure (killing them), which was alarming," Bradley said of watching the episode. "I'd do it all again if I had the chance. They got what was going to them!"

Bradley, who said he hasn't read George R.R. Martin's books that the show is based on, is filming the upcoming episodes, but he's uncertain of Walder Frey's fate beyond that.

"I don't know what the future is on 'Game of Thrones,' " Bradley said. "I was on Season 1 and I'm just finishing Season 3 and I'm moving on to Season 4 now, but whether I'll be thereabouts (going forward) I just don't know. It would be nice, but I just don't know yet."

Gatiss, best known for his role of Mycroft Holmes on BBC's "Sherlock" (he is also one of the creators), noted that he's prepared for the fan obsession that accompanies being on a TV show like "Game of Thrones."

"My life is entirely composed of fan obsession -- so this is just another one to add to it," Gatiss said. "It's all a Venn diagram."