MANILA: The girlfriend of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock returned to the US on Wednesday from the Philippines, as authorities in Manila said they were looking into reports he transferred $100,000 to her.
Marilou Danley flew out of Manila’s international airport on Tuesday night for Los Angeles, immigration bureau spokeswoman Maria Antoinette Mangrobang told AFP.
She was met in the US Tuesday evening local time — Wednesday in the Philippines — by FBI agents. The 62 year-old is classified as a “person of interest” to investigators but remains free to go wherever she wants, US media reported.
The Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said the FBI, its US counterpart, had sought help in finding Danley.
“The FBI has coordinated with the Philippine office of the Interpol to look for her,” NBI spokesman Nick Suarez told AFP.
Suarez said the NBI was looking into reports Danley arrived in the Philippines last month, and that Paddock had sent $100,000 to her via a wire transfer.
Suarez initially said the FBI had shared to the NBI the information on the date of her arrival and the money transfer.
But he later revised his statement, telling AFP that information was from the media.
Paddock, a 64-year-old gambler and retired accountant, killed 58 people and injured at least 527 others when he used a vast arsenal of weapons to shoot at a Las Vegas concert from a hotel room on Sunday.
Danley is an Australian citizen who moved to the US 20 years ago to work on the casino strip.
“There are reports her ID was used for booking the hotel or some such detail,” Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said.
“Australia will support the US authorities in their investigation in whatever way we can, but we have not had contact with Marilou Danley directly.”
Media reports said Danley was born in the Philippines, although the Philippine foreign department and Suarez said they could not confirm that.
Paddock killed himself after mowing down the concert-goers.
Las Vegas shooter’s girlfriend returns to US from Philippines: Manila
Las Vegas shooter’s girlfriend returns to US from Philippines: Manila
Nepal’s rapper politician who took on the old guard and won
- Shah’s victory over the veteran Marxist leader marks one of the most symbolic results of Nepal’s high-stakes parliamentary election
KATHMANDU: Nepal’s rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah won a dramatic parliamentary contest on Saturday, defeating veteran leader KP Sharma Oli in the former prime minister’s own constituency after staking his political future on the challenge.
Shah’s victory over the veteran Marxist leader marks one of the most symbolic results of Nepal’s high-stakes parliamentary election, held six months after mass anti-corruption protests toppled the government.
His win caps a bold gamble by the 35-year-old reformist, who resigned as Kathmandu mayor to challenge Oli, the 74-year-old four-time premier, in his own stronghold.
Shah had taken an unassailable lead on Saturday, according to Election Commission figures.
He will become prime minister if his Rastriya Swatantra Party party secures a parliamentary majority, as Election Commission trends on Saturday put it on course to do.
Better known as Balen, the sharply dressed 35-year-old has emerged as a symbol of youth-driven political change.
Born in Kathmandu in 1990, he was a schoolboy during Nepal’s 1996-2006 Maoist civil war, which killed thousands and eventually ended the monarchy.
Shah trained as a civil engineer but first gained national attention through Nepal’s underground hip-hop scene, releasing songs that railed against corruption and inequality.
Those themes, he says, still guide his politics.
“If a person involved in politics also engages in literature or music, it becomes emotionally driven,” said Shah during his campaign for Thursday’s elections in the Himalayan nation of 30 million people.
“We also need to nurture the emotional aspect of our lives, and a politician should possess that sensitivity.”
