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North Korean defectors have become stars in the neighbouring South after appearing on kitsch TV show Now On My Way To Meet You. Female escapees including Choi Joo-Yeon (inset) - known as 'beauties' - sing, dance and mock despot Kim Jong-Un on a gaudily decorated stage. The women who once risked imprisonment and execution to escape the dictator's oppressive regime now openly discuss the horrors and hardships they suffered in their home country. Some of them are now national celebrities in the South, where they are mobbed in the street by fans and boast thousands of followers on social media.

Shelley Dufresne, 34, pleaded guilty in 2015 to having sex multiple times with a student, then 16, in Destrehan, Louisiana. The married mother-of-three was the boy's 11th grade English teacher. The trial Tuesday revealed the two would have sexual trysts after football practice in her Honda Pilot. One encounter allegedly included Rachel Respess, 26, another teacher.

A British tourist, 48, was injured on Tuesday in New York when she was struck in the head and back by a hammock that was swept off a nearby fifth-floor terrace in Lower Manhattan in the high winds. The hammock plummeted to street level and struck her on the sidewalk below. The woman, who was a tourist from England in New York with her husband, was conscious at the scene and rushed to Bellevue Hospital in fair condition. A witness said she saw the incident, which happened just blocks from City Hall, from across the street, adding that she heard a 'loud' noise when the hammock struck.

Blue Jays player Chris Coghlan shocked fans on Monday when he achieved flight to score an incredible run. It was the top of the seventh inning against the St Louis Cardinals when Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar hit a deep shot into right field and Chris Coghlan took off sprinting from first base. Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina caught the ball and looked to tag Coghlan, but it was too late. Coghlan launched himself over the catcher to score the go-ahead run in a risky, thrilling and dangerous play.

Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher are being sued in New York by Gray Television after the pair pretended to be bodybuilders and appeared on Hello Wisconsin. Pretending to be a strongman duo called Chop and Steele, the pair made a series of embarrassing demonstrations, including lifting tires and cement blocks and smashing wicker baskets.

Veteran Marinna Rollins, 23, of Fayetteville, North Carolina was charged with animal cruelty Tuesday, as was her boyfriend soldier Jarren Heng, 26, for allegedly killing her service dog. Pitbull Cam had reportedly been given to Rollins for her PTSD. She was given a medical discharge from the military. On Facebook, Rollins allegedly said that she had found Cam a good new home. Warning: graphic photos.

An officer held a gun to James Yarborough's head in Charlotte, North Carolina, before he was Tasered. Footage also shows cops punching and elbowing him. The cop holding the gun told him: 'I will kill you, you understand?' Yarborough (pictured, right) said: 'Even now I sweat in my sleep. I wake up looking out the window because I’m like "they’re coming to get me again".'

The two-year-old boy who became an international sensation after he was found chain smoking in a remote village has kicked the habit, lost weight and is now the 'champion' of his primary school. Aldi Rizal shot to fame in 2010 after he was discovered in a poor village in Sumatra, Indonesia, puffing 40 cigarettes a day while riding his tricycle (pictured, left and inset). Just two years later the little boy managed to quit, but replaced his smoking addiction with food and drastically gained weight. But after four years on a strict diet, Aldi has lost weight, stayed off smoking and has excelled at school (right).

Megyn Kelly mingled with celebrities at the Time 100 Gala Tuesday weeks before her new NBC show begins production. The former Fox News host was spotted snapping selfies with RuPaul and Leslie Jones at the Lincoln Center in New York City. She attended with her husband novelist Douglas Brunt, 45. The 47-year-old mother-of-three wore a fitted, sparkle-encrusted cognac dress with asymmetrical sleeve detailing. Monday, a network insider told the New York Post's Page Six that Kelly will start work in May and that her Sunday night show will premiere in June.

The giant carrier (pictured), based on the Soviet Kuznetsov class design, was towed from its dockyard just after 9am following a ceremony in the northern Chinese port city of Dalian. It comes as the US aircraft carrier USS Vinson makes its way to the troubled Korean Peninsula amid fears Kim Jong-un is plotting to carry out North Korea's sixth nuclear test. In Pyongyang's latest provocation, Kim oversaw the country's largest-ever firing drill to mark the founding anniversary of its military. Meanwhile, the US has also enraged China by delivering a missile defence system to a deployment site in South Korea.

Adorable photos compiled by Bored Panda show we all appreciate something to hold at night - and animals are no exception. Clockwise from top left: A donkey snoozes soundly with its head in a toy bear's lap, a dog cuddles up to its squashy toy, a cat takes a nap with two cuddly lookalikes, a real kangaroo holds tight to a stuffed version, a sleepy pooch uses its soft toy as a pillow, and a polar bear looks content with its matching fluffy friend.

Built in 1954, the Beira Grande Hotel in Mozambique was hailed as a jewel in Portugal's colonial crown, but never turned a profit and closed in 1963. Now it houses almost 3,000 refugees who have fled conflict between the government and rebel groups. Its parquet flooring has been burned for fuel, its opulent furnishing, pipes and wiring all ripped out and sold to afford food. An economy of sorts has developed here, with a market in a courtyard and food vendors throughout the old corridors. There is even a 'secretary' and 'chief' who have their offices in an old toilet block and are responsible for sorting out residents' complaints.

A giant avalanche engulfed a Turkish mountain as a stunned onlooker captured the dramatic moment it headed towards people's homes.

Recent warm weather and rainfall has melted the snow in the Kackar Mountains, above the Black Sea coast in eastern Turkey, and caused the spectacular avalanche. During the tense video, the combination of snow, ice and rocks rapidly fell down the incredibly steep mountain at a high speed. At one point, it looked like the avalanche was about to hit a small hillside retreat which included a number of houses and buildings. Hotel manager Fatih Yaylaci, from Ayder, Rize, Turkey, captured the dramatic moment and uploaded it online and it has been shared almost 2,000 times.

They're preparing to welcome twins into the world this June so are naturally hoping to size up And Beyonce and Jay Z have reportedly put in a bid of $120 million on a new 30,000 sq ft Bel Air mansion in a bid to relocate from New York to Los Angeles. The A-list couple, who are already parents to five-year-old daughter Blue Ivy, are hoping to secure the sprawling modern property, which comes complete with servants' quarters, a 15 car garage and four pools.

The 14,500square-foot compound in Toronto features purple carpeting and Prince's logo as reminders that the home once belonged to the Purple Rain megastar, who died in 2016.

Sometimes technology can be tricky to get to grips with, and now one mother has become an unlikely internet sensation after her son revealed she photocopies recipes direct from her tablet. Imgur user Devillius shared a snap of the offending copies, which has been viewed almost a million times, prompting others to share tales of their own parents' technology fails.

NEW If you’ve ever considered bungee-jumping, this shocking video of a young woman in Florida province, Bolivia, might just make you think twice. Caught on camera, she is seen preparing to leap off La Negra bridge while a man positions her for one final check. In front of several spectators, she jumps and, as the rope is too long, a loud splash can be heard as she hits the ankle-deep water hard - and is barely able to move.

A thrill-seeking monk who took a friend's souped-up sports car for a spin lost control and wrapped it around a tree. Thapanat Chaiyasut, 31, was just one day from leaving a strict monkhood in central Thailand when he got behind the wheel of an Orange Nissan Silvia S15 on Tuesday. But no sooner had he left the temple than he clipped a tree and spun out of control, trapping himself and one passenger in the wreckage.

A fascinating series of photographs reveals the key role women played in the American war effort. Drawing comparisons with the famous Rosie the Riveter posters - representing women who produced weapons - the candid colour photographs were taken at workplaces across the United States by photographer Alfred T. Palmer in 1943.

NEW From bustling commuter hubs in city centres to small landing strips on desert islands, this fascinating collection of images show what airports around the globe look like from space. French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, 39, decided to show his love of aviation by documenting dozens of runways from an extreme vantage point, 250 miles up high on the International Space Station. Pictured: (From top left, clockwise) Dakar International Airport in Senegal, an isolated airport in the desert of an Arabian peninsular, Marseille airport in France and a remote landing strip on an island off the coast of Madagascar.

Shane Godfrey, from Sanford, North Carolina, was hospitalised for five weeks due to complications resulting from flu and nearly died. But When Mr Godfrey arrived home, his canine buddy, Willie, barked at him from across the lawn and had trouble recognising him - until he was within sniffing distance.

A wave of pain washed over this unlucky water skier after a fish leapt from the water and smashed him in the groin.  The hilarious video was captured by the Waseda Waterski Team and the unfortunate member of the squad identified as Miroku posted it online.  As he slides through the water's surface on the Tone River in the Kantō region of Japag, a fish appears from nowhere and clatters into his nether regions. 

The woman, believed to be from the US, took to Reddit in the early hours of Wednesday morning to share a picture of her breasts before (left) and after the operation. Her diagnosis finally came after a year of tests - meaning it had already spread to other part of her body - at the age of 35 and she is now undergoing a clinical trial.

A pregnant great white shark has been filmed tearing into the carcass of a bloated humpback whale for 17 hours. The fierce shark, which can grow up to 20ft, took giant chunks out of the mammal, who was being towed away by lifeguards. Keith Poe, a conservationist, captured the jaw-dropping moment and said the shark ate so much she was swimming around 'upside down like she was intoxicated'. He had travelled to the whale's carcass, nicknamed 'Scarlett' by locals in Dana Point, California, and was stunned to see the shark feasting on the body.

The conceptual designs for the building, dubbed 'Pod Vending Machine,' were created by Mr Haseef Rafiei, an architecture student at the University of Manchester. The pod skyscraper, which has been proposed for Tokyo, is a huge structure that would accommodate a giant 3D printer to create modular homes on-site. After a liveable pod has been printed, it would then be slotted into the building's frame using mobile cranes and mechanical arms - also permanent fixtures of the building.

This lion has proven that he is king of the catwalk as he proudly poses for the camera in an amazing video. The rare white lion was showing off his mesmerising mane which has been compared to the hairstyles of famous singers Beyonce and Ellie Goulding. Shalom, five, is the alpha male and king of 73 other lions looked after at the GG Conservation Centre in South Africa. Pat Shannon and Suzanne Scott care for the lions and have filmed Shalom in all his beauty, standing on a log overlooking his 'pride', reminiscent of the Lion King.