Man arrested after boy falls from 3rd floor of US mall

NEW YORK - A five-year-old boy suffered life-threatening injuries on Friday after being thrown or pushed by an apparent stranger from a third-floor balcony at Minnesota's Mall of America, and a man who fled the scene was arrested, police said.

The child was rushed to a hospital after officers and passersby provided aid at the scene, Bloomington Police Chief Jeff Potts said. His condition was not immediately known.

Shortly after the incident, police arrested a 24-year-old man inside the mall, one of the state's leading tourist attractions, after he had fled the scene, Potts said.

The suspect, Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda, who is from the area, was charged with attempted homicide, police said in a statement.

"At this time we do not believe there is a relationship between the suspect and the child or the family of the child, and we are actively investigating as to why this incident occurred," Potts said at a briefing just outside the mall.

Police received an initial report at 10:17 a.m. saying a child had fallen from the third level of the mall, but witnesses reported the child was pushed or thrown by a man, Potts said.

"We don’t believe that there is a threat to the public at this point as the suspect has been located," he said, adding that the incident appeared to be isolated.

The Mall of America, home to 330 stores, is located in the city of Bloomington, just south of Minneapolis. According to the mall's website, it is visited by 40 million people from around the world each year.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Gay Pinoys in Holland impressed with movie ‘Boy’

HOLLAND – “Boy”, a Dutch film about the life of a homosexual Filipino houseboy, has gained a number of fans, particularly gays.

Screened at the recently concluded Netherlands Film Festival, “Boy” collected fans from the Pinoy gay community.

Arvin Quirante, who starred as the boyfriend of the Pinoy houseboy played by Gerald Gonzales, also gained a league of fans.



Quirante, a professional singer and certified voice teacher in The Netherlands, has no experience in film acting.

His experience in acting is on stage when he was cast as Thuy, the lead role in Miss Saigon in The Netherlands and also as the understudy Thuy in Miss Saigon Manila.

Quirante said he was able to hide his nervousness at several delicate scenes like his kissing scene with Gonzales.

“Kasi part yan ng buhay ng gay. Otherwise, I’m not telling the truth about the gay society…about buhay ng bakla,” Quirante said.

Many gays who attended the festival are proud of the film.

“Maganda. It’s nice to see it. To see also a Filipino speaking Dutch,” Godwin Yosalina said.

“If you compare it to a poem it’s like a stream of consciousness-like script. Very natural, very not forced,” Jamaica Salcedo said.

Even the foreigners were impressed at the movie that was shown in both Dutch and Tagalog.

“I like the movie 'Boy' very much. It’s nice to see Filipinos acting,” Goran Turnsek said.

Boy was among the 14 films in competition for the Golden Calf awards, the Dutch equivalent of the Oscars but it did not receive a nomination.

In December, Boy will be among eight films to be shown on Dutch channel Nederland2 as part of the “One Night Stand on TV.”

source: abs-cbnnews.com