A Colorado man who claimed that someone had stabbed him because he looked like a “neo-Nazi” fabricated the story after he accidentally cut his hand with a knife, according to police. Joshua Witt, who has been arrested on false reporting charges, admitted to law enforcement in Sheridan, Colorado, that he lied to officers when he alleged that a black man had attacked him for having a haircut associated with white supremacists, police officials said Monday.

Witt’s original allegations went viral on social media this month, garnering press coverage across the globe, particularly from conservative newspapers that cited the stabbing as an example of violent leftwing activists attacking white people. Witt – a 26-year-old originally from San Diego, California – told officers on 16 August that a suspect came up to him as he was getting out of his car in the parking lot of a burger restaurant. Witt, according to police, reported that the man said, “Are you [one] of them neo-Nazi?” and then tried to stab him with a small knife. Witt said that he was cut while trying to block the knife with his hand. Witt described the attacker as a black man in his mid 20s, 5ft 10in, wearing a green shirt and blue pants, and claimed that the suspect ran off toward a bike path along a nearby river. Sheridan police chief Mark Campbell said in an interview Monday that officers were immediately suspicious of Witt’s story, since the attack allegedly happened in a very busy parking lot and police received no other reports of an assault.(theguardian)…[+]

The destruction of Turkey’s 12,000-year-old Hasankeyf citadel has moved a step closer as authorities have begun to collapse cliff faces around the ruins of the settlement. The move, linked to the construction of a highly controversial dam about 50 miles downstream, is also expected to damage the rich ecosystem of the Tigris river basin.

Local authorities have announced that the rocks were broken off “for safety reasons” and that 210 caves – a fraction of thousands of manmade caves in the area – would be filled before the town’s inundation in order to prevent erosion. The Ilisu dam, part of the Southeast Anatolian project (Gap) and one of Turkey’s largest hydroelectric projects to date, has been mired in controversy ever since it was first drafted in 1954. The dam will raise the level of the Tigris at Hasankeyf by 60m, submerging 80% of the ancient city and numerous surrounding villages, including more than 300 historical sites that have still not been explored. Environmental engineer Ercan Ayboga of the Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive warns that close to 80,000 people will be displaced. Many of them will lose their land and their livelihoods. Because of additional debts taken up to purchase new homes, thousands face impoverishment.(theguardian)…[+]

Police are investigating the death of a four-year-old boy believed to have drowned at the end of a week-long family holiday organised by Narcotics Anonymous. Officers and paramedics were called to Knapp House activity centre in north Devon on bank holiday Monday after the child was reported missing.

The police helicopter was involved in the search and the boy was discovered in a swimming pool at the centre. He was taken to North Devon district hospital in Barnstaple but could not be saved. Devon and Cornwall police said they were treating the death as unexplained. A force spokeswoman said: “Police were notified around 2.55pm yesterday [Monday 28 August], to reports of a missing four-year-old boy at Knapp House activity centre in Northam, Bideford. “Following an extensive search assisted by the police helicopter, the child was located in a swimming pool at the site and taken to North Devon district hospital where he was pronounced deceased. “The boy’s next of kin have been informed and enquiries continue. Officers are investigating the circumstances and the death is currently being treated as unexplained.”

A spokesperson for Devon Narcotics Anonymous Campout Committee said something had gone “horrifically wrong”. The spokesperson said: “For the sixth year running, we have organised a week-long summer holiday campout for members of Narcotics Anonymous and their families at Knapp House and we all enjoyed a wonderful week of sharing lives of complete freedom from drug and alcohol use. (theguardian)…[+]