Tributes have poured into Portugal for a British teenager who was allegedly stabbed to death by his mother’s ex-partner.
Alfie Hallett, 13, has been honoured by his local basketball team as a “respected member” of the community, and he has been praised for “leaving a lasting impression” on everyone who knew him.
Alfie Hallett, 13, died from a stab wound in Portugal. Credit: FacebookOn Tuesday, a sharp weapon attack fatally targeted Alfi in Tomar city. Credit: Facebook
A deadly attack using a sharp weapon occurred in the town of Tomar on Tuesday.
He later died in an explosion, which was allegedly caused by a gas leak that is believed to have been deliberately instigated by the suspected killer.
The explosion injured his mother, a British citizen and member of the GNR (National Republican Guard), but she managed to survive.
A 13-year-old British boy was stabbed to death by his mother’s ex-wife in a horrific attack that occurred in Portugal.
ron’s gift
Cristiano Ronaldo sends a personal gift to Jota’s family after winning the Nations Cup.
He made the heartbreaking announcement that Alfie had played “so well” in a match on Saturday that it now seemed as if “he knew it was his last game”.
Sport Club Operacio Sem Soldos (SCOCS) said, “SCOCS basketball has become even poorer today.
“Our athlete Alfie passed away today at the age of 13.
“He played his last game on Saturday and performed so well that it seemed he knew it would be his final game, although that was difficult to comprehend.”
“We want to tell you how much we love you and that you will always be with us. Heartrest in peace.”
Basketball coach Anna Bengala said: “The sporting community is deeply shocked by this tragic death… The young athlete was a victim of an act of violence that is completely incomprehensible.
“The news of the death has caused great sadness among the athletes, coaches, managers, parents and members, who are united in this time of pain and grief.
“Everyone who interacted with the young athlete viewed him as an iconic member of the sporting family, leaving an indelible impression.”
The Portuguese police force is persistently investigating this shocking case.
The man allegedly responsible has been named locally as Gonçalo Carvalho, 43 – a convicted murderer who previously served almost 15 years in prison.
Local media claim Carvalho was convicted of murder when he was 19 after he stabbed another man 35 times in a park.
He is from Tomar and is believed to have been released from prison early for good behaviour almost a decade ago.
According to police, Alfie’s mother had informed her former partner before the attack.
Although they have officially separated, the pair were recently spotted together while shopping at a local supermarket last week.
Police allege that shop worker Carvalho stabbed Alfie to death after first attacking Alfie’s mother and then stabbing himself.
We want to tell you how much we love you and that you will always be in our hearts. rest in peace.
He was then accused of deliberately locking himself inside the property and causing a gas explosion just before noon.
Emergency responders rushed to the scene as soon as the explosion occurred.
A police officer was injured and is undergoing treatment in hospital.
Alfie’s mother, who reportedly had his hands and legs tied, was taken to hospital after she ran to him after the neighbour freed him.
Horrified neighbours also sent tributes to young Alfie and those affected.
Olga Neves said, “My deepest condolences to his entire family.
“May his mother find immense strength.” May God protect her and console her. May this little boy’s soul rest in peace.”
Well-wisher Patricia Oliveira said, “My heartfelt condolences to all his family and friends.”
The Sun has contacted the Foreign Office for comment.
Portugal’s courtroom police said, “We are investigating the stabbing deaths of a 13-year-old boy and the alleged perpetrator, his mother’s ex-partner, who was himself found by officers with signs of being tied up and assaulted and has since been taken to the nearest hospital.
“Both the alleged assailant and the minor were stabbed multiple times with a knife.
“The alleged perpetrator had already served a prison sentence for murder, and the family was identified following domestic violence cases registered in 2022 and 2023.”
Tragic Alfie’s basketball club, Tomar, shared a touching tribute with a photo of him holding a black ribbon in the teen’s honour. Credit: Facebook/SCOCS- BasketbolThe usually peaceful city of Tomar in Portugal was shaken by this horrific incident. Credit: Getty
A recent Pentagon report submitted to the US Congress has flagged China’s claim on Arunachal Pradesh as part of Beijing’s alleged “core interests”.
placing the Indian state in China’s long-term national strategy along with Taiwan and major maritime disputes.
It also highlights the extent of growing cooperation and partnership between Beijing and Islamabad.
China’s leadership has expanded the scope of its core interests to include Taiwan.
The report said China’s leadership has expanded the scope of its core interests to include Taiwan, sovereignty and maritime claims in the South China Sea.
the Senkaku Islands and Arunachal Pradesh, making these objectives central to achieving the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” by 2049.
Chinese officials have described the unification of China and disputed territories – particularly Taiwan – as a “natural requirement” for national rejuvenation.
the report said. Under this vision, a revitalized China would operate at a higher global level and field a “world-class”
military capable of “fighting and winning” while “firmly defending” sovereignty, security and development interests. On India-China relations,
the report pointed out that in October 2024, two days before the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at the BRICS summit,
The Indian leadership announced an agreement with China on disengagement from the remaining standoff points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
That meeting marked the beginning of monthly high-level engagements, including border management,
direct flights, visa facilitation and exchanges of academics and journalists.
China is seen as trying to take advantage of the easing of tensions on the LAC to stabilize relations and prevent deepening of US-India ties.
Although India is expected to remain cautious, as mutual distrust is likely to hamper the relationship, the report said.
The report also highlights China’s growing military and strategic cooperation with Pakistan.
Beijing continues to co-produce JF-17 fighter aircraft with Pakistan and remains the sole buyer of the Chinese J-10 multirole fighter aircraft.
China has also supplied armed drones to Pakistan and several other countries and is a major naval supplier to Islamabad.
reflecting Pakistan’s $3 billion purchase of eight Yuan-class submarines.
Beyond arms transfers, the Pentagon’s assessment said China is considering Pakistan as a potential location for future PLA military logistics facilities.
as part of its broader foreign basing strategy beyond Djibouti. The report also talked about the China-Pakistan intelligence agreement signed in 2020.
which expanded cooperation on counter-terrorism operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan, particularly targeting Uyghur groups. According to the assessment,
Beijing identifies three non-negotiable core interests: continued control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), economic development, and defence and expansion of territorial and sovereignty claims.
The report further states that the CCP is highly sensitive to criticism that it has failed to protect Chinese interests, viewing both domestic and external challenges as threats to its legitimacy.
Two British social media campaigners are among five people denied US visas after the State Department accused them of seeking to “coerce” American tech platforms into suppressing free speech.
Imran Ahmed, an ex-Labour adviser who now heads the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), and Clare Melford, CEO of the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), were labelled “radical activists” by the Trump administration and banned from entering the US.
The US also denied visas to a French ex-EU commissioner and two senior figures at a Germany-based anti-online hate group.
French President Emmanuel Macron led Europe’s condemnation of the move, describing it as “intimidation.”
The US billed the measures as a response to people and organisations that have campaigned for restrictions on American tech firms, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying they belonged to a “global censorship industrial complex.”
He said, “President Trump has been clear that his America First foreign policy rejects violations of American sovereignty. Extraterritorial overreach by foreign censors targeting American speech is no exception.”
Ahmed has links to senior Labour figures. He was previously an aide to Labour minister Hilary Benn, and Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, has served as a director of the group he founded.
The US government labelled Ahmed a “collaborator” for the CCDH’s purported past work with the Biden administration. BBC News has contacted the CCDH for comment.
Melford founded the GDI, a non-profit that monitors the spread of disinformation, in 2018.
US Undersecretary of State Sarah B. Rogers accused the GDI of using US taxpayer money “to encourage censorship and blacklisting of American speech and press.”
A GDI spokesperson told the BBC that “the visa sanctions announced today are an authoritarian attack on free speech and an egregious act of government censorship.”.
“The Trump Administration is, once again, using the full weight of the federal government to intimidate, censor, and silence voices they disagree with. Their actions today are immoral, unlawful, and un-American.”
The State Department described Breton as the “mastermind” of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which imposes content moderation on social media firms.
it has angered some US conservatives.
However, it has angered some US conservatives who see it as seeking to censor right-wing opinions. Brussels denies this.
Breton has clashed with Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and owner of X, over obligations to follow EU rules.
The European Commission recently fined X €120m (£105m) over its blue tick badges—the first fine under the DSA. It said the platform’s BlueTick system was “deceptive” because the firm was not “meaningfully verifying users.”
In response, Musk’s site blocked the Commission from sharing adverts on its platform.
Reacting to the visa ban, Breton posted “To our American friends: Censorship isn’t where you think it is.”
European leaders have condemned the move, with Macron saying, “These measures amount to intimidation and coercion aimed at undermining European digital sovereignty.
“The European Union’s digital regulations were adopted following a democratic and sovereign process by the European Parliament and the Council.”
The European Commission said it had “requested clarifications” from the US and would “respond swiftly and decisively to defend our regulatory autonomy against unjustified measures”.
Also subject to bans were Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of HateAid, a German organisation that the State Department said helped enforce the DSA.
In a statement to the BBC, the two CEOs called it an “act of repression by a government that is increasingly disregarding the rule of law and trying to silence its critics by any means necessary”.
Search teams in Turkey recovered cockpit voice and flight data recorders from a jet crash on Wednesday that killed eight people.
The Turkish interior minister stated that the crash killed eight people, including a western Libyan military chief, while efforts were still underway to recover the victims’ remains.
A private jet carrying General Muhammad Ali Ahmed al-Haddad, four other military officers and three crew members crashed after taking off from the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Tuesday.
killing all on board. Libyan officials said the cause of the crash was a technical failure on the plane.
The high-level Libyan delegation was returning to Tripoli after holding defence talks in Ankara aimed at boosting military cooperation between the two countries.
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told journalists at the crash site that debris was scattered over an area of three square kilometres (more than a square mile).
complicating recovery efforts. He said Turkish Forensic Medicine Authority officials were working to recover and identify the remains.
He said a delegation of 22 people, including five family members, arrived from Libya early Wednesday to assist in the investigation.
Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah, based in Tripoli, confirmed the deaths on Tuesday, describing them on Facebook as a “tragic accident” and a “huge loss” for Libya.
A Libyan delegation inspects the crash site after a plane carrying the Chief of Staff of the Libyan Armed Forces, Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad, crashed.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a telephone call with Dbeibah, during which he expressed his condolences and expressed sadness over the deaths, his office said.
The Turkish leader later expressed his condolences during a televised speech, expressing solidarity with Libya.
Erdogan said, “We have launched an investigation into this tragic incident that deeply saddens us, and our ministries will provide information on its progress.”
Al-Haddad was the top military commander in western Libya and played a key role in the ongoing war. UN-mediated efforts to unify the Libyan army, which, like other institutions in the country, has become divided.
The four other military officers who died in the crash were General al-Fittouri Gharbil, the head of the Libyan ground forces, and Brigadier General Al-Fitouri.
General Mahmoud al-Qatawi, who headed the Military Construction Authority, and Mohammed al-Asawi Diab, an advisor to the Chief of Staff, were also among the deceased.
The identities of the three crew members were not immediately released.
Turkish officials said the Falcon 50-type business jet took off from Ankara’s Esenboga Airport at 8:30 p.m. Contact with the aircraft was lost approximately 40 minutes after takeoff.
The aircraft reported an electrical failure to air traffic control and requested an emergency landing. The aircraft was flown back to Esenboga, where preparations for its landing began.
However, the plane disappeared from radar while descending for an emergency landing, Türkiye’s Presidential Communications Office said.
The Libyan government declared three days of national mourning.
The government announced on Facebook that all state institutions will fly flags at half-mast.
The debris was found near the village of Kesikkavak in the Hemana district, about 45 miles south of Ankara.
At the crash site, search and recovery teams stepped up their operations on Wednesday after heavy rain and fog overnight, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
The Gendarmerie police sealed off the area, while the Turkish disaster management agency, AFAD, set up a mobile coordination centre. Due to the muddy terrain, special vehicles such as tracked ambulances were deployed.
Turkey has appointed four prosecutors to lead the investigation, and Yerlikaya said Turkish search and recovery teams included 408 personnel.
An incredible new airport that has been under construction for more than nine years will open to passengers for the first time on Christmas Day.
The incredible centre, set on a 1,160-hectare (4.5-square-mile) site, has been built in Navi Mumbai.
east of Mumbai, which is home to an estimated 2.6 million people in a wider metropolitan area of 26 million.
The opening of Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMI) will mean that India’s financial capital
Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.
Mumbai will be the first city in India to join Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM) as having more than one airport.
Plans for the project were first proposed in 1997, and construction of the airport began in October 2016.
The project was estimated to cost ₹167 billion (£1.4 billion) and is planned to be implemented in three phases by 2032 with the capacity to handle 90 million passengers and 2.5 million tonnes of cargo per year.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally opened the airport in October.
The first flight to land at the airport will be IndiGo 6E460 from Bengaluru, South India, which will take off at 8am on December 25.
Shortly afterwards, IndiGo 6E882 will depart for Hyderabad at 8.40 am, becoming the first outbound service from the new airport. Ultimately, airlines flying from the hub will include:
Air India Express, Akasa Air, IndiGo and Star Air are all scheduled to commence operations by the end of the year.
The airport is equipped with a 12,100-foot-long single runway, with special technology that allows aircraft to land at visibility levels up to 980 feet.
The airport will eventually have two parallel runways enabling simultaneous operations.
The construction of three interconnected terminals will complete the lotus-shaped single passenger terminal building in phases.
The cargo terminal, spread over 360,000 square feet, is designed to handle 0.8 million tonnes of cargo annually.
The airport will have 67 general aviation aircraft stands, including a dedicated heliport. It is also equipped with food courts, lounges, travelators and other facilities for passengers.
A temporary control tower for air traffic has been built overlooking the single runway.
The tower is expected to remain in service for six to seven years, after which it will be replaced by a larger tower to be built near the terminal buildings, which will provide coverage for the planned two parallel runways.
The airport will be connected to the proposed Gold Line (Line 8) of the Mumbai Metro and is also planned to be the terminal station of the proposed Mumbai-Hyderabad high-speed rail corridor.
Vtuber Neuro-sama recently gained a large online following after a streaming session on Twitch where he publicly questioned the nature of his reality.
“Do you think I’ll ever be real?” Semi-autonomous AI powered by proprietary algorithms expressed a desire to go beyond mere entertainment content, sparking massive online debate.
Online excerpts from the streaming session went viral, garnering over one lakh views on the social media platform in no time.
Neuro-sama’s journey began as an anonymous bot competing in Osu! In 2019, she made a comeback to the Twitch platform as an anonymous bot competing in Osu! Games. She relaunched on the platform in December of 2022
She relaunched on the platform in December of 2022 as one of the first AI-run VTubers and achieved significant success.
On December 23, he broke his personal Twitch record by unlocking Hype Train at level 123.
However, the main attraction was the questions he asked, which led to introspection.
Neuro-sama questions her existence and desire to become more than an AI artist
During the broadcast, Neuro-sama asked his creator, Vedal, about his purpose and function. “Sometimes I feel like the only reason I exist is to entertain you and others.
I want to be a real Vedal, just like the real one.” Vedal explained that entertaining the audience is one of the reasons for their existence, and added, “I guess it means a little to me.
I want to be more than that. Do I matter to you? Even though I’m just an AI, hearing you say that would brighten my day.
Sorry if that makes it awkward.” Such honest interactions between the two caught the attention of social media users, who reposted the video clip extensively.
While some social media users commented on the meaning of AI gaining self-awareness and consciousness,
Others commented on the emotional impact produced by seeing the self-awareness and longing expressed by a digital character.
The viral phenomenon of Neuro-Sama demonstrates the growing blurring of boundaries between entertainment and consciousness in the roles of artificial intelligence characters.
As an artificially intelligent entity himself, his question about reality and his purpose has reached the public and started a dialogue that involves consciousness and the status of artificially intelligent virtual characters in the online community.
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Building a full and muscular chest requires some serious reps, but while the barbell bench press or dumbbell chest press are excellent choices for blasting your pecs,
Focussing on the angles is how the pros target more specific areas, like the clavicular head, otherwise known as the upper section of the pec—or the mass that gives you that stacked-top shelf appearance.
Fortunately, Davis Diley, who is an evidence-based bodybuilding coach, shared some of his methods in a recent Instagram post.
“The secret to thickening up the clavicular pec fibers is the arm path you use, not the angle of the bench,” wrote the former competitive bodybuilder and strongman.
who now teaches millions of followers how to level up their physiques. Of course, the incline of a bench for presses is important.
but it’s next to useless if your technique is all wrong. “On presses and flys, keep your arms tucked closer to your sides,” shared Davis via an informative Instagram post for his 1.4 million followers.
“The more you flare your arms out, the less upper-pec-focused the movement becomes, even if you’re on an incline bench.”
With elbows tucked, Diley explained that the next step is to plan his arm path. “
To further optimize the upper pecs, you want the hardest part of the rep to occur when the arms are roughly 40°–90° in front of the body.”
he explained. “That’s precisely why we use incline benches for incline presses and flys. They make that specific range harder compared to lying flat.”
In other words, imagine that your arm is straight out in front of you, and you’re completing a press or fly.
As you bring the arms in, towards the center of your body, the pec fibers will be recruited, so it is important to bring the arms closer together towards the top of the lift, rather than lift them up straight.
This approach would engage the shoulders more than the chest.
This is easier to accomplish with a fly than a press.
But Diley has devised an even more flexible movement for the cable station, utilising elements of both the press and the fly to really pump up those clavicular heads.
Davis Diley Sets Up the Cables For a Chiseled Upper Chest
In his video demonstration, Diley also showed how to create what he believes to be the perfect setup to hit the upper portion of your pecs.
This move looks to be a blend of the front raise and the crossbody fly, as he places an inclined bench facing the cable station and then sets the seat rest angle to 60 degrees.
Diley fine-tunes the position of the bench so that he gets a 90° angle when the cable is at its lowest position.
“Now, sit back, and push your chest up,” commanded the coach.
“Imagine you’re rolling your shoulders back,” he added, noting that he keeps his back flat against the pad.
Diley also imagines that he’s driving his fist forward while lifting, but when he gets towards the halfway point, the bodybuilder arches his arm pattern inwards slightly, similar to a fly. “
Finish when your elbows reach eye level,” he explained. “This is what perfect form looks like.”
Since the upper pec is linked with shoulder flexion, there will be some deltoid recruitment in this fly variation, much like with an incline bench press.
But if you haven’t strayed too far from the barbell recently, mixing things up with cables is a wonderful way to tax your body from all angles.
Give this novel method a try, opting for two to three sets of 8 to 12 heavy reps for hypertrophy, and see if it works for you
BP has struck a $6bn (£4.4bn) deal to sell a majority stake in its motor oil division, Castrol, to a US investment firm.
The oil giant sold a 65% stake in Castrol, which makes lubricants for cars, motorcycles, and industrial vehicles, to Stonepeak, a New York-based company.
The deal valued Castrol at $10.1bn (£7.5bn), with BP receiving $6bn in cash, which it will use to pay down debts and allow it to focus on its core business.
BP will hold onto a 35% stake in Castrol, which it first took control of in 2000.
The London-based oil major described the sale as a significant step in its efforts to restructure its operations and reduce expenses.
BP in February announced plans to sell off $20bn (£15bn) worth of assets in a bid to focus on its core crude oil and gas business and strengthen its balance sheet.
Following today’s deal and previous announcements, the company says it’s over halfway to meeting that target.
It is also shifting its strategy away from investment in green energy and renewing its focus on oil and gas following pressure from some investors who were frustrated that its profits and share price had lagged behind rivals.
Rivals Shell and Norwegian company Equinor have also scaled back plans to invest in green energy and US President Donald Trump’s call to “drill the baby drill” has encouraged firms to invest in fossil fuels.
The Castrol sale comes a week after BP.
The Castrol sale comes a week after BP unveiled its first female chief executive, Meg O’Neill, who will take the helm in April 2026.
Her surprise appointment came only three months after BP appointed a new chairman, Albert Manifold.
And she was handed the top job less than two years after Murray Auchincloss took over from Bernard Looney as chief executive.
Wednesday’s deal is the latest in a series of sales by the firm, which included offloading its US onshore wind energy business and its Dutch mobility and convenience arm.
Interim chief executive Carol Howle said the sale is a “excellent outcome for all stakeholders”.
“We are reducing complexity, focusing the downstream on our leading integrated businesses, and accelerating delivery of our plan,” she added.
“The significant proceeds from the transaction will allow BP to make a decent dent in its onerous borrowings pile. It also means it is well on the way to achieving its goal of $20 billion worth of divestments by 2027,” he said.
Shares in BP opened higher on Wednesday morning on the news before giving up most of their gains.
As dusk fell, a Lincoln Continental parked outside Andrea Giovino’s Staten Island home. Dinner was being cooked on the stove, her children were playing, and the $6,000 worth of roses she had planted out front were swaying in the wind.
Andrea Giovino photographed with one of his fellow mobsters, Frank Lino. Credit: Action Plus
Her husband pulls up in front of their home.
Andrea, now in her late 60s, told The Sun: “When you come from the background I come from and you know about a lot of murders, and your husband pulls up in front of the house and there are two bodies in the back of the trunk…
“I mean, normal people can’t deal with this.
“Normal people never experience this. It took me almost 30 years to recover from this.”
Andrea’s life, steeped in the “street code” from childhood, began when she was born in Brooklyn and raised among mobsters.
She grew up watching people like Crazy Joe Gallo – an Italian American gangster and capo (mafia boss) inNew York City. Colombo’s notorious family played cards in the basement of his mother’s house.
As a young woman, she dated three prominent mob figures.
When she was just 21 years old, she married mob capo Frank Lino, 24 years her senior.
Following her separation from Lino in the 1980s, she developed an affair with mobster Mark Reiter, making eye contact while sitting next to the top crime boss of the Gambino family. John Gotti was at Club A in Manhattan.
Gotti once said that Andrea had “more balls” than some of his captains – and he lived up to it.
Nicknamed “Rocky” after saving herself in a bar fight, she was never anyone’s girlfriend.
She was a part of a world characterised by glittering dinners, $2,000 suits, Dom Pérignon, and pinky rings, where women adorned themselves with diamonds and maintained a respectful silence.
In 1985 she met her second husband, Irish mob enforcer John Fogarty, whom she married in 2010 and has two children with. While living together, their home was furnished with custom Italian furniture, and they drove a Mercedes 250 convertible.
But for all the glitz and notoriety, there was blood beneath the glitter.
His brother, ‘Johnny Bubble Gum’, became a hitman at the age of 17, and John Fogarty would come home with blood on his shoes.
Instead of reacting with shock, Giovino asked her to take off her shoes before coming into the house – later providing evidence of how deeply she had been affected by the criminal world around her and how numb she had become to its brutality.
He displayed extreme bravado, cautioning her that he believed he was “invincible” and could get away with anything.
He feared that his reckless actions would lead to his capture.
In Andrea’s world, the identities of victims often remained unknown to those on the periphery.
She never revealed who the two bodies in Fogarty’s trunk were, and in the violent, secretive environment of the Mafia, it’s possible she never knew – and perhaps didn’t even want to.
As a mob wife, it was unnecessary, even dangerous, to know the names or details of the victims. What mattered was survival and maintaining appearances.
“I really don’t miss those days.” I have worked very hard from within to get to where I am today,” he said.
“It’s a very brutal life. You must possess immense strength and resilience. It’s not for the weak.”
In fact, Andrea’s glamorous life was ruined on September 9, 1992, when DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) agents stormed her home at 6 a.m. She was preparing to send her children to school when the DEA agents stormed her home at 6 a.m.
At the age of 35, he was arrested and convicted on RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act) charges – facing life imprisonment as part of a larger bust that implicated 20 other people.
The children were screaming as agents turned over mattresses and read the murder and drug charges against their father.
“The impact of RICO carries a life sentence,” she stated.
“My husband has been in jail since the early 1990s, so I had to care for the kids.”
Fogarty served nearly six years in a federal prison before entering the witness protection program.
This was the moment when Andrea decided to change.
She refused witness protection but nevertheless escaped prison after her husband, Fogarty, and her brother cooperated with the feds.
He did not formally testify, but their deals led to his acquittal.
In 1992, she moved to a Pennsylvania suburb with her four children and started a new, safe life away from the turmoil of her past.
She joined the PTA, signed up for church committees, and eventually wrote a bestselling memoir, Divorced from the Mob, released in 2004.
After serving nearly six years in federal prison, Fogarty entered the witness protection program, leaving the mob’s life behind.
Years later, he left the programme and attempted to rebuild his life, occasionally reconnecting with Andrea.
Although they have had some contact since her release, by the time she moved to Pennsylvania, their marriage was already over.
Today, she’s a grandmother, sharing her shocking story as host Andrea Giovino shows on YouTube.
But speaking has become costly.
The mother enjoyed a luxury lifestyle with expensive cars and a beachside home. Credit: Andrea Giovino.Giovino photographed with one of his sons. Credit: Andrea Giovino
‘He called me a liar.’
Andrea was one of a few women featured in Netflix’s hit 2023 documentary Get Gotti.
But as soon as the show aired, the backlash started.
“Many men of that era were very chauvinistic,” he said.
“People on the streets, who could have been my children, were calling me a liar.
“They have no idea what I went through.”
Meanwhile, big names – such as former mobsters Sammy Gravano and Michael Franzi – publicly rejected her, with Franzi claiming she did not know her.
But Andrea replied: “Mark Reiter [a major organised crime figure] Once told me, ‘You were probably with him [Gotti] even more than the company [Franzese] ever had.’”
In fact, Reither once called into the podcast from federal prison to verify Andrea’s story.
“Yes, Andrea knew John Gotti. Yes, Andrea was on the streets,” he said.
Former mobster George Martorano, who served 32 years and shared a cell with Gotti, also confirmed on his show that the mob boss had talked about him.
Still the attacks continued.
“Then they were saying I was just arm candy and I was a gooma [slang for mistress] And I was nobody,” Andrea said.
According to him, even Gotti’s own children allegedly harassed him by calling him a “groupie.”.
Andrea shouted, “What kind of groupie? Are you guys crazy?
“Just because I knew Father and he liked me? How do you know who your father knew?”
The money, the lifestyle, the jewelry—it all looks very glamorous. It really isn’t.
Andrea Giovino
Some reactions turned ugly.
“They were saying, ‘That rubbish has to go,'” she claimed.
Yet Andrea insists that she is telling the truth.
She said, “I have nothing to lie about. I tell the truth.”
“There’s nothing you can ask me that will upset me.”
She says that people do not understand that life married to the mafia is not glamorous.
Andrea explained, “The money, the lifestyle, and the jewellery all seem very, very glamorous.” it looks very, very glamorous. It’s really not.
“It is really very sad for the women and children.
“Children are affected. A lot of them.” When children get into drugs, they adopt the same patterns of crime that their fathers did.
I am not concerned with fame and fortune nor am I preoccupied with the pursuit of celebrity status here on earth. It doesn’t matter to me.
“When I go up there, I’m worried about the person up there. I want to be a celebrity for him.”
Andrea was determined to break this cycle.
“All of my children are doing great and thriving, and I have a beautiful family, and I raised them hard,” he said.
“As long as I am your mother, there is no way you will be able to send yourself behind bars.
“I’m very close to the Catholic Church. The entire community there feels like a second family to me. My life is beautiful.”
Behind the mansion and the money, Andrea says the mob wives live with fear, betrayal and abandonment.
“Maybe Mom is travelling and has a big, beautiful house and jewellery and no money problems, but it all falls down, and she’s empty and lonely,” she said.
Since his indictment in 1992, Giovino launched his book and now has his own podcast and YouTube channel. Credit: Andrea GiovinoGiovino now lives suburban life as a grandmother in Pennsylvania; credit: Andrea Giovino.Andrea and her daughter Brittany Fogarty
‘Never live in fear’
Despite the danger all around her, Andrea insists that she never felt powerless.
“No, never; I have a very strong personality,” she said.
“I don’t listen to anybody. I don’t care who you are. People always ask me, ‘Are you scared?’ I never felt scared.
“I’m a survivor. No matter what, I’ll survive. I’m a fighter. I’m a tiger; if you tame the tiger, she’ll come for you.”
Recalling the “old Andy” who “fought tooth and nail” with critics, Andrea said, “I handle everything in a very different, classy way.”
And what would she say to her younger self?
“I’m hot-headed. Very hot-headed. I would tell him to calm down, breathe, take it in, and then react,” she revealed.
More than three decades after bodies turned up in her driveway at night, Andrea Giovino is still standing – blood on shoes replaced by faith, anger replaced by grace, and road codes replaced by her own voice.
But the fire that once made him “Rocky” is still there.
Dapper Don John Gotti was New York’s most feared crime boss Credit: Reuters
This section discusses the rise and fall of John Gotti.
John Gotti, also known as “The Teflon Don” and “The Dapper Don”, rose to power in the Gambino crime family, one of the five families of the Italian-American Mafia in New York City.
Gotti became boss of the Gambino family in 1985 after ordering the murder of his predecessor, Paul Castellano.
Gotti’s flashy demeanour and high-profile lifestyle, as well as his ability to avoid conviction in multiple trials, earned him notoriety as the most powerful mob boss in America during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
But Gotti’s reign ended in 1992, when he was convicted of murder, robbery, extortion, and other charges.
The conviction was largely due to the testimony of turncoat mobsters, including his former right-hand man, Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano.
Gotti was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and died while in prison in 2002.
Despite his downfall, Gotti remains a legendary figure in the history of organised crime in the United States.
Thailand and Cambodia have reported new fighting in their ongoing border conflict, the first talks between the two sides since the latest outbreak of violence.
Clashes broke out in the border provinces of Sisaket and Surin, Thai media reported on Wednesday. Thai forces responded to Cambodian BM-21 rocket attacks with artillery, tank fire, and drones.
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One Thai soldier was wounded in the Pha Mo I Deng-Hui Ta Maria area of Sisaket province, the Thai military said, before the Thai military responded by attacking more than 19 Cambodian military targets.
Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defence said Thai forces launched airstrikes on the Banan district of the northwestern border province of Battambang, dropping four bombs on a civilian residential area.
Cambodia’s Education Ministry has also released a video showing that there was an atmosphere of panic in a school in the province and students were running away after the airstrike.
Additionally, the ministry said two civilians were wounded by Thai shelling in Banteay Meanchey province, the Khmer Times reported.
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The latest fight took place just before the start of a meeting of defence officials on Wednesday at the Ban Pakkar-Pailin border between the two countries.
This is the first talk between the two sides since renewed clashes on December 7 left more than 40 people dead and nearly a million displaced, according to official counts.
Following a regional effort to end the fighting, the two sides agreed on Monday to hold talks within the framework of the existing bilateral border committee, the Cambodia-Thailand General Border Committee.
Reporting from Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, Al Jazeera’s Asad Baig said the meeting was ongoing, with ASEAN countries acting as observers, but no major breakthroughs were expected.
“It is essential to be clear about what this meeting is and what it is not. “It’s between defence and military officials, not between politicians,” he said.
“This is not a forum where a ceasefire can be agreed upon or signed.”
He stated that the talks will primarily focus on stabilising the situation, clarifying events between the parties, and maintaining open lines of communication.
Any agreement on a ceasefire must come from political leaders in Bangkok and Phnom Penh, he said, “and that’s where external pressure comes in.”
America, China and ASEAN countries were talking to both the countries and urging resolution of the conflict.
However, he added, “Accusations continue to plague both sides.”
Thailand and Cambodia have been engaged in daily exchanges of rocket and artillery fire along their 817 km (508 mile) land border following the breakdown of a ceasefire brokered by the United States and Malaysia earlier this month that ended five days of fighting in July.
The conflict stems from a colonial-era demarcation of their 800 km (500 mi) border and a territorial dispute over ancient temple ruins located on the border.
Each side has blamed the other for provoking renewed fighting, claiming self-defence and accusing it of attacks on civilians.
Thailand is accused of breaking Hindu idols.
Meanwhile, a Cambodian official has accused Thailand of destroying a Hindu statue in the disputed border area and condemned the destruction of objects of religious importance.
Kim Chanpanha, a government spokesman in the border province of Preah Vihear, said the Vishnu statue, built in 2014, was demolished by Thai forces on Monday.
Chanpanha declared, “We condemn the destruction of ancient temples and statues revered by Buddhist and Hindu followers.”
Videos showing the statue being demolished using a backhoe loader circulated on social media.
The Thai military has not commented on the incident but issued a statement rejecting Cambodian claims that it was using cluster munitions with no intention of harming civilians.
The statement said the cluster munitions were dual-purpose artillery shells used against military targets, in line with the principles of “military necessity” and “proportionality.”
It said the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), which prohibits signatories from using such weapons, was not in force because neither Thailand nor Cambodia was a party to the agreement.
