The weaker of two conjoined twins separated in a landmark surgery in Australia has woken up from a coma — and blown a raspberry at her guardian.
"I'm smiling today and it's the only smile I've had in a week," the twins' guardian Moira Kelly said.
"I'm grinning," she said. "Krishna's woken up, unbelievable. She is neurologically sound, which gives me shivers down my spine."
Kelly said she gave a "big yelp" when Krishna blew her a raspberry, and there was "a bit of a sniffle down the phone" when she shared the news with the team of 16 surgeons who separated the two-year-olds.
The other twin, Trishna, was said to be "100 percent perfect" after waking up on Thursday.
The team of specialists worked for 32 hours on Monday and Tuesday to divide the girls' connected skulls, brains and blood vessels in a procedure that took two years of planning and preparatory operations.
The risky surgery was initially given only a 25 percent chance of complete success.
"We've got challenges ahead of us, the children are in intensive care, they'll be there for a while and they've certainly got rehab to do," Kelly said.
"The girls are alive and they're normal. Miracle is such a wonderful, beautiful word. But it's not big enough."
Trishna and Krishna were rescued from an orphanage in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.
The aid worker who helped take the children to Australia two years ago, Danielle Noble, said seeing them for the first time in their newly-separated state was the "most incredible feeling".
"Two years ago this was just a dream. They look amazing," Noble said.
"I can't describe the emotion of it, of walking in there and seeing two beautiful little girls in two beds."
The twins' impoverished mother said she is overjoyed at the news the twins are doing well, but doesn't want them back.
Lovely Mallick, 22, said she gave Trishna and Krishna up soon after their birth because there was no way she and her husband could care for them.
"I'm overjoyed with the news that my babies are in good condition," she said.
Source: Sky News
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Porn Icon's Son to Go to Trial for Allegedly Crushing Ex-Girlfriend's Skull With Bat
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — The son of a late San Francisco pornography mogul will stand trial on accusations that he crushed his ex-girlfriend's skull with a baseball bat.
Marin County Judge Kelly Simmons ruled Thursday the evidence was sufficient to put 27-year-old James Raphael Mitchell on trial for first-degree murder in the July 12 bludgeoning death of Danielle Keller.
Mitchell is the son of the late "Behind the Green Door" director Jim Mitchell.
Simmons' decision followed a preliminary hearing that included testimony from James Mitchell's mother, Mary Jane Grimm.
More from KTVU.com.
Grimm, who is Jim Mitchell's ex-wife, testified that her son told her he didn't know his own strength.
James Mitchell also is charged with kidnapping his and Keller's 1-year-old daughter, who was recovered unharmed.
He has pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Terence Hallinan, says he acted out of passion.
Source:AP
Marin County Judge Kelly Simmons ruled Thursday the evidence was sufficient to put 27-year-old James Raphael Mitchell on trial for first-degree murder in the July 12 bludgeoning death of Danielle Keller.
Mitchell is the son of the late "Behind the Green Door" director Jim Mitchell.
Simmons' decision followed a preliminary hearing that included testimony from James Mitchell's mother, Mary Jane Grimm.
More from KTVU.com.
Grimm, who is Jim Mitchell's ex-wife, testified that her son told her he didn't know his own strength.
James Mitchell also is charged with kidnapping his and Keller's 1-year-old daughter, who was recovered unharmed.
He has pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Terence Hallinan, says he acted out of passion.
Source:AP
Parents of Rape Victim Charged With Felony Child Abuse
Police have arrested the parents of an 8-year-old Liberian girl who was allegedly kidnapped and raped by four boys on felony child abuse charges.
Child neglect reports were filed against the girl's 59-year-old father and 47-year-old mother on two separate occasions, MyFoxPhoenix.com has reported. The parents each face eight counts for a series of abuse and neglect incidents dating back to 2005.
A Phoenix police spokesman says the parents were arrested Friday without incident.
The parents are not being named to avoid identifying their daughter, who police say is a rape victim.
In an investigation conducted over the past several months, detectives learned that Phoenix Police, Glendale Police and Child Protective Services had been called to the victim's home on numerous occasions dating back to 2005, MyFoxPhoenix.com reports.
Police submitted their investigation of the parents to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office in August. Arrest warrants were issued earlier Friday.
Police say the girl was gang-raped in July by four Liberian boys who lured her to a storage shed with the promise of chewing gum. All four suspects were arrested and charged in the attack.
The girl has since been removed from the home and is in custody of Child Protective Services, MyFoxPhoenix.com reports.
Source: Fox News
Child neglect reports were filed against the girl's 59-year-old father and 47-year-old mother on two separate occasions, MyFoxPhoenix.com has reported. The parents each face eight counts for a series of abuse and neglect incidents dating back to 2005.
A Phoenix police spokesman says the parents were arrested Friday without incident.
The parents are not being named to avoid identifying their daughter, who police say is a rape victim.
In an investigation conducted over the past several months, detectives learned that Phoenix Police, Glendale Police and Child Protective Services had been called to the victim's home on numerous occasions dating back to 2005, MyFoxPhoenix.com reports.
Police submitted their investigation of the parents to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office in August. Arrest warrants were issued earlier Friday.
Police say the girl was gang-raped in July by four Liberian boys who lured her to a storage shed with the promise of chewing gum. All four suspects were arrested and charged in the attack.
The girl has since been removed from the home and is in custody of Child Protective Services, MyFoxPhoenix.com reports.
Source: Fox News
Hamas Militants Agree to Stop Firing Rockets Into Israel
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinian militants in Gaza have agreed to stop firing rockets into southern Israel.
Hamas announced the agreement this evening, saying it's intended to prevent Israeli retaliation and give Gaza residents more stability. Hamas' interior minister says it should make it easier for residents to rebuild the infrastructure that was destroyed in last winter's war with Israel.
Hamas has mostly refrained from firing rockets since Israel's three-week offensive ended in January. Israel launched the operation to end the rocket attacks which, at that time, were almost daily.
U.N. and Palestinian estimates put the Palestinian death toll in the conflict around 1,400. Thirteen Israelis also were killed.
Some Gaza militant groups have continued with rocket attacks since the end of the war, but they've been far less frequent. The latest came this morning, but it caused no injuries. A small faction affiliated with Al Qaeda claimed responsibility.
Source: AP
Hamas announced the agreement this evening, saying it's intended to prevent Israeli retaliation and give Gaza residents more stability. Hamas' interior minister says it should make it easier for residents to rebuild the infrastructure that was destroyed in last winter's war with Israel.
Hamas has mostly refrained from firing rockets since Israel's three-week offensive ended in January. Israel launched the operation to end the rocket attacks which, at that time, were almost daily.
U.N. and Palestinian estimates put the Palestinian death toll in the conflict around 1,400. Thirteen Israelis also were killed.
Some Gaza militant groups have continued with rocket attacks since the end of the war, but they've been far less frequent. The latest came this morning, but it caused no injuries. A small faction affiliated with Al Qaeda claimed responsibility.
Source: AP
Friday, November 20, 2009
Miley Cyrus Tour Bus Crash Kills One
One person was killed Friday when a tour bus belonging to entertainer Miley Cyrus overturned, but the 16-year-old "Hannah Montana" star wasn't on board, Virginia State Police said.
Sgt. Thomas Molnar said the bus ran off the left side of Interstate 85, struck an embankment and overturned. The accident occurred around 8:15 a.m. in Dinwiddie County, about 40 miles south of Richmond. Speed and weather weren't considered factors.
Molnar said the person who died at the scene was male, but didn't identify him pending notification of family members. One of the other nine people on the bus suffered minor injuries and was taken to a local hospital. Police wouldn't identify those aboard.
Molnar said the passengers exited the bus through the front windshield.
A wrecker arrived late Friday morning to haul away the black and maroon luxury tour bus, which was on its side in a ditch off the highway where it had apparently skidded for several hundred feet.
The bus was hauled by the wrecker up to the next exit off I-85, where two other tour buses and members of the tour were waiting. About two dozen members of the tour, some still wearing pajama bottoms, began transferring backpacks and laptops from the wrecked bus into two other buses parked outside a restaurant. They all declined to speak to reporters.
Molnar said the bus was one of four traveling together after the singer's two-show stint Wednesday and Thursday in Long Island, N.Y. The group was heading to Greensboro, N.C., where she is scheduled to perform Sunday.
Miley Cyrus is the daughter of country star Billy Ray Cyrus, who also appears on the family friendly Disney sitcom "Hannah Montana."
Source: AP
Sgt. Thomas Molnar said the bus ran off the left side of Interstate 85, struck an embankment and overturned. The accident occurred around 8:15 a.m. in Dinwiddie County, about 40 miles south of Richmond. Speed and weather weren't considered factors.
Molnar said the person who died at the scene was male, but didn't identify him pending notification of family members. One of the other nine people on the bus suffered minor injuries and was taken to a local hospital. Police wouldn't identify those aboard.
Molnar said the passengers exited the bus through the front windshield.
A wrecker arrived late Friday morning to haul away the black and maroon luxury tour bus, which was on its side in a ditch off the highway where it had apparently skidded for several hundred feet.
The bus was hauled by the wrecker up to the next exit off I-85, where two other tour buses and members of the tour were waiting. About two dozen members of the tour, some still wearing pajama bottoms, began transferring backpacks and laptops from the wrecked bus into two other buses parked outside a restaurant. They all declined to speak to reporters.
Molnar said the bus was one of four traveling together after the singer's two-show stint Wednesday and Thursday in Long Island, N.Y. The group was heading to Greensboro, N.C., where she is scheduled to perform Sunday.
Miley Cyrus is the daughter of country star Billy Ray Cyrus, who also appears on the family friendly Disney sitcom "Hannah Montana."
Source: AP
North Carolina Girl Raped and Murdered the Day She Was Snatched, Police Say
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — A 5-year-old North Carolina girl was raped and killed the same day she was taken from her home, according to an arrest warrant released Friday.
Shaniya Davis was sexually assaulted and asphyxiated Nov. 10, the day her mother reported her missing from the trailer park where she was staying, according to the warrant. Authorities embarked on a nearly weeklong search that ended when the girl's body was found dumped off a rural road.
Mario McNeill is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape of a child in the warrant, which was issued after police said they collected hair and fibers, clothes, and a straw from his 1997 Mitsubishi Galant. He was initially charged only with kidnapping.
The girl's mother, Antoinette Davis, is charged with filing a false police report, trafficking her daughter and child abuse involving prostitution. Her family members have said they do not believe the charges.
It is still not clear how McNeill and Davis knew each other.
Earlier in the week, authorities said McNeill admitted taking the girl. Fayetteville Police Chief Tom Bergamine would not say during a news conference late Thursday whether McNeill admitted to the child's death.
A search warrant says McNeill picked the girl up in front of her home and drove her more than 30 miles to a hotel in Sanford, where she was last seen alive. Surveillance video captured McNeill carrying the girl in the building.
"It is our sincere hope that the Davis family may now begin to put this horrific event behind them and begin the healing process," Bergamine said.
A message seeking comment was left at the office of McNeill's lawyer, Allen Rogers.
Tomeka Gray, 20, who is dating McNeill's brother, said the accusations don't jibe with what she knows about him. She said McNeill was a good uncle and father who came to see her daughter in the hospital with an armload of baby items right after she was born earlier this year.
"I've never known him to do anything like that," Gray told The Associated Press. She said when she saw the story on the news her first thought was that she hoped authorities would catch the horrible person who did it.
"And then to find out it was him ... I was crying. I was shocked," she said.
Meanwhile, Shaniya's father, Bradley Lockhart, appeared on Friday's "The Oprah Winfrey Show," where Winfrey asked him if he had anything to say to Davis. He told The Associated Press earlier that he had cared for Shaniya for several years but decided to give Davis a chance to raise her because she seemed to be getting her life together.
"Right now I just think it's best that we let the justice system take its course," Lockhart said on the show. "I try to keep my heart as pure as possible, and I'm sure one day I will be able to sit down and talk to her, try and understand what was going through her mind."
Source: AP
Shaniya Davis was sexually assaulted and asphyxiated Nov. 10, the day her mother reported her missing from the trailer park where she was staying, according to the warrant. Authorities embarked on a nearly weeklong search that ended when the girl's body was found dumped off a rural road.
Mario McNeill is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape of a child in the warrant, which was issued after police said they collected hair and fibers, clothes, and a straw from his 1997 Mitsubishi Galant. He was initially charged only with kidnapping.
The girl's mother, Antoinette Davis, is charged with filing a false police report, trafficking her daughter and child abuse involving prostitution. Her family members have said they do not believe the charges.
It is still not clear how McNeill and Davis knew each other.
Earlier in the week, authorities said McNeill admitted taking the girl. Fayetteville Police Chief Tom Bergamine would not say during a news conference late Thursday whether McNeill admitted to the child's death.
A search warrant says McNeill picked the girl up in front of her home and drove her more than 30 miles to a hotel in Sanford, where she was last seen alive. Surveillance video captured McNeill carrying the girl in the building.
"It is our sincere hope that the Davis family may now begin to put this horrific event behind them and begin the healing process," Bergamine said.
A message seeking comment was left at the office of McNeill's lawyer, Allen Rogers.
Tomeka Gray, 20, who is dating McNeill's brother, said the accusations don't jibe with what she knows about him. She said McNeill was a good uncle and father who came to see her daughter in the hospital with an armload of baby items right after she was born earlier this year.
"I've never known him to do anything like that," Gray told The Associated Press. She said when she saw the story on the news her first thought was that she hoped authorities would catch the horrible person who did it.
"And then to find out it was him ... I was crying. I was shocked," she said.
Meanwhile, Shaniya's father, Bradley Lockhart, appeared on Friday's "The Oprah Winfrey Show," where Winfrey asked him if he had anything to say to Davis. He told The Associated Press earlier that he had cared for Shaniya for several years but decided to give Davis a chance to raise her because she seemed to be getting her life together.
"Right now I just think it's best that we let the justice system take its course," Lockhart said on the show. "I try to keep my heart as pure as possible, and I'm sure one day I will be able to sit down and talk to her, try and understand what was going through her mind."
Source: AP
Top Model Found Dead at Paris Apartment
SEOUL, South Korea — A top South Korean model who was a fixture at fashion week in Paris and London was found dead at her apartment in Paris, an official said Friday.
Daul Kim, 20, was found dead Thursday by French police, a Foreign Ministry official in Seoul said. The official declined to provide further details and asked not to be named, citing ministry policy.
Media reports called it an apparent suicide, but officials have not confirmed the cause of death. Her Seoul agency, Esteem, said her family and agency officials were heading to Paris.
Raised in Seoul and Singapore, Kim modeled in Asia before making her fashion week debut in Paris in 2007, modeling for Chanel, Dries van Noten and Maison Martin Margiela, among others, her agency said.
She became a fashion week regular in New York, Milan, Paris and London and most recently appeared during Seoul fashion week in October, according to Esteem.
Known for her thick mane of hair — sometimes dyed blond — and her quirky sensibility, the 5-foot-10 (178-centimeter) model was celebrated for her sense of style. She was featured recently in a commercial for designer Christopher Kane's line of clothing for British retailer Topshop.
Kim also was an accomplished painter and video filmmaker who had a solo show of her artwork in Seoul. She often listed "collecting forks" as a hobby.
Bloggers in South Korea mourned her death, speculating she felt the pressure of high-fashion modeling and a loss of identity.
In an Oct. 30 entry on her blog, Kim wrote she was "mad depressed and overworked," and in another entry said "the more i gain the more lonely it is ... i know i'm like a ghost."
The last entry on her blog, dated Nov. 18, was titled "say hi to forever" and carried a video of the song "I Go Deep" by British singer Jim Rivers.
South Korea — which has the highest suicide rate among the 30 nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development — has had a string of high-profile suicides over the past year.
Former President Roh Moo-hyun jumped to his death in May while embroiled in a widening corruption scandal, and the ex-chairman of South Korea's oldest conglomerate killed himself earlier this month. In 2008, top actress Choi Jin-sil committed suicide, following in the footsteps of a fellow actor. A young actress in one of South Korea's popular soap operas also died by suicide.
Source: AP
Daul Kim, 20, was found dead Thursday by French police, a Foreign Ministry official in Seoul said. The official declined to provide further details and asked not to be named, citing ministry policy.
Media reports called it an apparent suicide, but officials have not confirmed the cause of death. Her Seoul agency, Esteem, said her family and agency officials were heading to Paris.
Raised in Seoul and Singapore, Kim modeled in Asia before making her fashion week debut in Paris in 2007, modeling for Chanel, Dries van Noten and Maison Martin Margiela, among others, her agency said.
She became a fashion week regular in New York, Milan, Paris and London and most recently appeared during Seoul fashion week in October, according to Esteem.
Known for her thick mane of hair — sometimes dyed blond — and her quirky sensibility, the 5-foot-10 (178-centimeter) model was celebrated for her sense of style. She was featured recently in a commercial for designer Christopher Kane's line of clothing for British retailer Topshop.
Kim also was an accomplished painter and video filmmaker who had a solo show of her artwork in Seoul. She often listed "collecting forks" as a hobby.
Bloggers in South Korea mourned her death, speculating she felt the pressure of high-fashion modeling and a loss of identity.
In an Oct. 30 entry on her blog, Kim wrote she was "mad depressed and overworked," and in another entry said "the more i gain the more lonely it is ... i know i'm like a ghost."
The last entry on her blog, dated Nov. 18, was titled "say hi to forever" and carried a video of the song "I Go Deep" by British singer Jim Rivers.
South Korea — which has the highest suicide rate among the 30 nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development — has had a string of high-profile suicides over the past year.
Former President Roh Moo-hyun jumped to his death in May while embroiled in a widening corruption scandal, and the ex-chairman of South Korea's oldest conglomerate killed himself earlier this month. In 2008, top actress Choi Jin-sil committed suicide, following in the footsteps of a fellow actor. A young actress in one of South Korea's popular soap operas also died by suicide.
Source: AP
Mayor of North Pole Blasts 'Grinch-Like' Postal Service for Decision to Stop Letters to Santa
The mayor of the North Pole likened the U.S. Postal Service to the grinch who stole Christmas Friday after it decided to stop a 55-year-old "letters to Santa" program.
"We are outraged that they would attack our children, attack our community in this way," Doug Isaacson, the mayor of the North Pole in Alaska, said on Fox News. "It is very grinch-like."
Isaacson is upset by the decision by the Postal Service to discontinue the program, begun in his small Alaskan town in 1954, where each year volunteers open and respond to thousands of letters addressed to "Santa Claus, North Pole."
Now that Santa's "elves" who handle the correspondence have been given their walking papers, they aren't going quietly — and have decided to fight back.
Gabby Gaborik, chief elf among several dozen volunteers, said Thursday that he met with Postal Service officials to come up with an alterntive and is now working with local government officials to get "101 Santa Claus Lane" as an address for his group, Santa's Mailbag.
That way children will have a specific destination for their letters, allowing volunteers to run their own program and bypass stringent new rules implemented by the Postal Service after security issues arose in a similar program in Maryland last year.
"The city was founded on the Christmas theme," Gaborik told The Associated Press. "This is our identity. This is North Pole, Alaska."
Gaborik believes his town's name gives the local effort more cachet than other destinations.
People in North Pole are incensed by the changes. The letter program is a revered holiday tradition in North Pole, where light posts are curved and striped like candy canes and streets have names like Kris Kringle Drive. Volunteers in the letter program even sign the response letters as Santa's elves and helpers.
The North Pole program was stymied by a tighter process put in place nationwide by the Postal Service after a postal worker in Maryland recognized a volunteer with the agency's Operation Santa program as a registered sex offender.
The worker intervened before the individual could answer a child's letter, but the agency viewed the scare as a reason to tighten security.
"Hundreds of thousands of letters have safely been answered without incident," Isaacson told Fox. "They just aren't thinking this through — unless they are and they're attacking Christmas."
The Postal Service had already restricted its policies in such programs in 2006, including requiring volunteers to show identification. But the Maryland episode prompted more changes, such as barring volunteers from having access to children's last names and addresses.
The Postal Service instead redacts that information from each letter and replaces the addresses with codes that match computerized addresses known only to the post office.
It's up to local managers to determine whether to go through the time-consuming effort, but the new restrictions must be applied if letter programs are continued. The restrictions don't affect privately run letter efforts.
The Postal Service decided this month to end the North Pole letter program, saying dealing with the tighter restrictions isn't feasible in Alaska. The agency considers the North Pole effort part of its giant Operation Santa program, although locals like to think of their program as unique.
"It's always been a good program, but we're in different times and concerned for the privacy of the information," said Anchorage-based agency spokeswoman Pamela Moody.
Another issue raising the hackles in the community of 2,100 is a second, separate change. Anchorage — 260 miles to the south — is processing mass quantities of out-of-state requests for North Pole postal cancellation marks on Christmas cards and packages. That work used to be done in Fairbanks, just 15 miles away.
Moody said as many as 800,000 items were processed last year, an overload Fairbanks is not equipped to handle. Anchorage is the only city in Alaska with the high-speed equipment necessary to do the job. Postal Service spokeswoman Sue Brennan said the move is a matter of resources and finances for the agency, which lost billions of dollars in the last fiscal year.
Santa Claus House, a North Pole store built like a Swiss chalet and chock full of all items Christmas, sells more than 100,000 letters from Santa, and one of the lures is the postmark.
Store operations manager Paul Brown also believes his business will be affected under changes to the volunteer Santa letter program because tens of thousands of letters are addressed to Santa Claus House, North Pole, Alaska. Those letters will still be forwarded to volunteers. Those intercepted by the Postal Service will probably eventually be shredded.
Alaska's congressional delegation has stepped in to find a solution. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Democratic Sen. Mark Begich and Republican Rep. Don Young have sent letters to Postmaster General John Potter expressing their concerns over the changes.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: Fox News
"We are outraged that they would attack our children, attack our community in this way," Doug Isaacson, the mayor of the North Pole in Alaska, said on Fox News. "It is very grinch-like."
Isaacson is upset by the decision by the Postal Service to discontinue the program, begun in his small Alaskan town in 1954, where each year volunteers open and respond to thousands of letters addressed to "Santa Claus, North Pole."
Now that Santa's "elves" who handle the correspondence have been given their walking papers, they aren't going quietly — and have decided to fight back.
Gabby Gaborik, chief elf among several dozen volunteers, said Thursday that he met with Postal Service officials to come up with an alterntive and is now working with local government officials to get "101 Santa Claus Lane" as an address for his group, Santa's Mailbag.
That way children will have a specific destination for their letters, allowing volunteers to run their own program and bypass stringent new rules implemented by the Postal Service after security issues arose in a similar program in Maryland last year.
"The city was founded on the Christmas theme," Gaborik told The Associated Press. "This is our identity. This is North Pole, Alaska."
Gaborik believes his town's name gives the local effort more cachet than other destinations.
People in North Pole are incensed by the changes. The letter program is a revered holiday tradition in North Pole, where light posts are curved and striped like candy canes and streets have names like Kris Kringle Drive. Volunteers in the letter program even sign the response letters as Santa's elves and helpers.
The North Pole program was stymied by a tighter process put in place nationwide by the Postal Service after a postal worker in Maryland recognized a volunteer with the agency's Operation Santa program as a registered sex offender.
The worker intervened before the individual could answer a child's letter, but the agency viewed the scare as a reason to tighten security.
"Hundreds of thousands of letters have safely been answered without incident," Isaacson told Fox. "They just aren't thinking this through — unless they are and they're attacking Christmas."
The Postal Service had already restricted its policies in such programs in 2006, including requiring volunteers to show identification. But the Maryland episode prompted more changes, such as barring volunteers from having access to children's last names and addresses.
The Postal Service instead redacts that information from each letter and replaces the addresses with codes that match computerized addresses known only to the post office.
It's up to local managers to determine whether to go through the time-consuming effort, but the new restrictions must be applied if letter programs are continued. The restrictions don't affect privately run letter efforts.
The Postal Service decided this month to end the North Pole letter program, saying dealing with the tighter restrictions isn't feasible in Alaska. The agency considers the North Pole effort part of its giant Operation Santa program, although locals like to think of their program as unique.
"It's always been a good program, but we're in different times and concerned for the privacy of the information," said Anchorage-based agency spokeswoman Pamela Moody.
Another issue raising the hackles in the community of 2,100 is a second, separate change. Anchorage — 260 miles to the south — is processing mass quantities of out-of-state requests for North Pole postal cancellation marks on Christmas cards and packages. That work used to be done in Fairbanks, just 15 miles away.
Moody said as many as 800,000 items were processed last year, an overload Fairbanks is not equipped to handle. Anchorage is the only city in Alaska with the high-speed equipment necessary to do the job. Postal Service spokeswoman Sue Brennan said the move is a matter of resources and finances for the agency, which lost billions of dollars in the last fiscal year.
Santa Claus House, a North Pole store built like a Swiss chalet and chock full of all items Christmas, sells more than 100,000 letters from Santa, and one of the lures is the postmark.
Store operations manager Paul Brown also believes his business will be affected under changes to the volunteer Santa letter program because tens of thousands of letters are addressed to Santa Claus House, North Pole, Alaska. Those letters will still be forwarded to volunteers. Those intercepted by the Postal Service will probably eventually be shredded.
Alaska's congressional delegation has stepped in to find a solution. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Democratic Sen. Mark Begich and Republican Rep. Don Young have sent letters to Postmaster General John Potter expressing their concerns over the changes.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: Fox News
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Gates Names West, Clark to Lead Fort Hood Probe
Trying to avert another tragedy like the Fort Hood shootings, Defense Secretary Robert Gates named a former Army secretary and former Navy chief to review a broad range of Pentagon programs, ranging from medical and personnel policies to how well military bases are secured.
WASHINGTON -- Trying to avert another tragedy like the Fort Hood shootings, Defense Secretary Robert Gates named a former Army secretary and former Navy chief to review a broad range of Pentagon programs, ranging from medical and personnel policies to how well military bases are secured.
Army Secretary Togo West and former chief of naval operations Adm. Vernon Clark will head the 45-day review.
"The shootings at Fort Hood raise a number of troubling questions that demand complete but prompt answers," Gates told a Pentagon news conference. He said the review would seek to ensure the health and safety of military members and their families.
The review will try to find gaps in procedures for identifying service members who could pose threats to others, he said.
It also will assess personnel programs, medical screenings and release and discharge policies, as well as the department's stateside security programs at bases and other facilities. The military's ability to respond to incidents with mass casualties will also be considered.
Source: AP
WASHINGTON -- Trying to avert another tragedy like the Fort Hood shootings, Defense Secretary Robert Gates named a former Army secretary and former Navy chief to review a broad range of Pentagon programs, ranging from medical and personnel policies to how well military bases are secured.
Army Secretary Togo West and former chief of naval operations Adm. Vernon Clark will head the 45-day review.
"The shootings at Fort Hood raise a number of troubling questions that demand complete but prompt answers," Gates told a Pentagon news conference. He said the review would seek to ensure the health and safety of military members and their families.
The review will try to find gaps in procedures for identifying service members who could pose threats to others, he said.
It also will assess personnel programs, medical screenings and release and discharge policies, as well as the department's stateside security programs at bases and other facilities. The military's ability to respond to incidents with mass casualties will also be considered.
Source: AP
Geithner Presses Congress to Overhaul Flawed U.S. Financial Rules
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is pushing Congress to move quickly in overhauling badly flawed U.S. financial rules, which he says is essential for the health of the economy.
WASHINGTON -- Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is pushing Congress to move quickly in overhauling badly flawed U.S. financial rules, which he says is essential for the health of the economy.
Both the House and Senate are making progress toward revamping the current regulations, but Geithner said a rapid conclusion is needed to keep the economic recovery on track.
"To ensure the vitality, the strength and the stability of our economy going forward, we must bring our system of financial regulation into the 21st century," Geithner said in remarks prepared for an appearance Thursday before the Joint Economic Committee.
Both the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee are working on their own versions of sweeping overhaul plans. But the two panels are taking sharply divergent approaches in some areas.
Both proposals also face sharp opposition from major sectors in the financial industry, casting doubt on how quickly Congress will be able to reach agreement and send a finished bill to the White House.
Geithner said a key principal the administration wants to see adopted is ensuring that firms not be able to escape or avoid oversight by shopping for the most lenient regulator, a situation critics say contributed to the worst financial market crisis in seven decades.
"The fact that investment banks like Bear Stearns or Lehman Brothers or other large firms like AIG could escape meaningful consolidated federal supervision simply by virtue of their legal form should be considered unthinkable from now on," Geithner said.
Another key principle the administration wants to see approved by Congress is to make sure the financial system as a whole is more capable of absorbing shocks and coping with failures.
Geithner said this will require putting a greater focus on the quality of capital that firms are allowed to hold.
Capital reserves are the cushion financial firms carry to absorb losses.
Source: AP
WASHINGTON -- Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is pushing Congress to move quickly in overhauling badly flawed U.S. financial rules, which he says is essential for the health of the economy.
Both the House and Senate are making progress toward revamping the current regulations, but Geithner said a rapid conclusion is needed to keep the economic recovery on track.
"To ensure the vitality, the strength and the stability of our economy going forward, we must bring our system of financial regulation into the 21st century," Geithner said in remarks prepared for an appearance Thursday before the Joint Economic Committee.
Both the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee are working on their own versions of sweeping overhaul plans. But the two panels are taking sharply divergent approaches in some areas.
Both proposals also face sharp opposition from major sectors in the financial industry, casting doubt on how quickly Congress will be able to reach agreement and send a finished bill to the White House.
Geithner said a key principal the administration wants to see adopted is ensuring that firms not be able to escape or avoid oversight by shopping for the most lenient regulator, a situation critics say contributed to the worst financial market crisis in seven decades.
"The fact that investment banks like Bear Stearns or Lehman Brothers or other large firms like AIG could escape meaningful consolidated federal supervision simply by virtue of their legal form should be considered unthinkable from now on," Geithner said.
Another key principle the administration wants to see approved by Congress is to make sure the financial system as a whole is more capable of absorbing shocks and coping with failures.
Geithner said this will require putting a greater focus on the quality of capital that firms are allowed to hold.
Capital reserves are the cushion financial firms carry to absorb losses.
Source: AP
Sen. Kerry's Daughter Arrested on Drunk Driving Charge
Thirty-six-year-old Alexandra Kerry was stopped by officers on a Hollywood street after midnight Thursday and allegedly failed a sobriety test.
LOS ANGELES -- The daughter of Sen. John Kerry has been arrested in Hollywood for allegedly driving drunk.
Los Angeles police say 36-year-old Alexandra Kerry was stopped by officers on a Hollywood street after midnight Thursday and failed a sobriety test.
Officer Bruce Borihanh said she was booked at the Hollywood police station and was held for about five hours. She was released at about 5:30 a.m. after posting $5,000 bail.
Borihanh didn't immediately have other details.
Alexandra Kerry is the eldest daughter of the Massachusetts senator, the Democrats' 2004 presidential nominee.
She has produced documentaries and has had several small acting roles.
Requests for comment from Alexandra Kerry's agent and John Kerry's office were not immediately returned.
Source: AP
LOS ANGELES -- The daughter of Sen. John Kerry has been arrested in Hollywood for allegedly driving drunk.
Los Angeles police say 36-year-old Alexandra Kerry was stopped by officers on a Hollywood street after midnight Thursday and failed a sobriety test.
Officer Bruce Borihanh said she was booked at the Hollywood police station and was held for about five hours. She was released at about 5:30 a.m. after posting $5,000 bail.
Borihanh didn't immediately have other details.
Alexandra Kerry is the eldest daughter of the Massachusetts senator, the Democrats' 2004 presidential nominee.
She has produced documentaries and has had several small acting roles.
Requests for comment from Alexandra Kerry's agent and John Kerry's office were not immediately returned.
Source: AP
Missouri Girl Allegedly Killed 'to Know What It Felt Like'
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Blessed with a Friday off school, 15-year-old Alyssa Bustamante dug two holes in the ground to be used as a grave, authorities said. For the next week, she attended classes, all the while plotting the right time for a murder, they said.
That time arrived the evening of Oct. 21, when Bustamante strangled 9-year-old neighbor Elizabeth Olten without provocation, cut the girl's throat and stabbed her, prosecutors said. Why?
"Ultimately, she stated she wanted to know what it felt like," Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. David Rice testified Wednesday during a court hearing over the slaying.
Rice, who interviewed Bustamante in the days after Elizabeth's disappearance, said she confessed to investigators and led them to the fourth grader's well-concealed body in a wooded area near their neighborhood in St. Martins, a small town west of Jefferson City.
A Cole County judge ruled Wednesday that Bustamante, who has been held in Missouri's juvenile justice system, should be tried as an adult. Hours later, the teen was indicted on adult charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action for allegedly using a knife to kill Elizabeth. A judge later entered a not guilty plea on Bustamante's behalf and referred her to the public defender's office.
The court proceedings marked the first time that the suspect in Elizabeth's death had been publicly identified since a two-day search for the girl by hundreds of volunteers. When they found Elizabeth's body Oct. 23, authorities only said that a 15-year-old had led them to it and was in custody for the slaying.
Bustamante remained largely expressionless as she sat with her hands shackled around her waist in court Wednesday. She occasionally looked down beneath the brown bangs that covered her eyes and swallowed hard as a judge read the charges against her.
On one side of the courtroom sat her mother and grandmother, who has been Bustamante's legal guardian for about half of her life. On the other side sat Elizabeth's mother, relatives and friends, several of whom wore pink — Elizabeth's favorite color.
Bustamante was ordered held without bond pending her trial. If convicted of first-degree murder, she would be sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Witnesses at Bustamante's adult certification hearing described a girl who was bright yet depressed and clever in a sometimes sneaky sort of way. She ranked in roughly the top third of her class at Jefferson City High School, the principal said, and had been in no trouble at school or with the law.
Yet Bustamante had tried to commit suicide at age 13 and had been receiving mental health treatment for depression and cutting herself, said David Cook, the chief juvenile officer in Cole County. Once, she led her family to believe she was attending a local church event when she instead sneaked off to a concert in St. Louis, about two hours away, Cook said. On one or two other occasions, Bustamante spent the night in the woods without permission, he said.
After her arrest, Bustamante tried to cut herself with her own fingernails while being held in juvenile custody, said her appointed juvenile defense attorney Kurt Valentine.
He argued Bustamante should remain in the juvenile system, where she could potentially be rehabilitated before being set free by age 21. Valentine warned that Bustamante would either kill herself or be assaulted and killed by others if she were placed in an adult jail cell or prison.
"We are throwing away the child and we are signing a death sentence for Alyssa," Valentine said. "She is not going to survive her time in the Cole County jail."
Cole County Sheriff Greg White said later that Bustamante would be held at a different, undisclosed location.
Cook recommended Bustamante be tied as an adult. Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem agreed, saying the killing was vicious and that the state had no adequate facilities or services to treat Bustamante if she remained in the juvenile system.
Bill Heberle, with the Missouri Division of Youth Services, testified that the state has no secure facilities with fences for female juveniles. Youths in Missouri's juvenile system generally are housed in group settings and are not typically watched by staff 24 hours a day, he said.
Source: AP
That time arrived the evening of Oct. 21, when Bustamante strangled 9-year-old neighbor Elizabeth Olten without provocation, cut the girl's throat and stabbed her, prosecutors said. Why?
"Ultimately, she stated she wanted to know what it felt like," Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. David Rice testified Wednesday during a court hearing over the slaying.
Rice, who interviewed Bustamante in the days after Elizabeth's disappearance, said she confessed to investigators and led them to the fourth grader's well-concealed body in a wooded area near their neighborhood in St. Martins, a small town west of Jefferson City.
A Cole County judge ruled Wednesday that Bustamante, who has been held in Missouri's juvenile justice system, should be tried as an adult. Hours later, the teen was indicted on adult charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action for allegedly using a knife to kill Elizabeth. A judge later entered a not guilty plea on Bustamante's behalf and referred her to the public defender's office.
The court proceedings marked the first time that the suspect in Elizabeth's death had been publicly identified since a two-day search for the girl by hundreds of volunteers. When they found Elizabeth's body Oct. 23, authorities only said that a 15-year-old had led them to it and was in custody for the slaying.
Bustamante remained largely expressionless as she sat with her hands shackled around her waist in court Wednesday. She occasionally looked down beneath the brown bangs that covered her eyes and swallowed hard as a judge read the charges against her.
On one side of the courtroom sat her mother and grandmother, who has been Bustamante's legal guardian for about half of her life. On the other side sat Elizabeth's mother, relatives and friends, several of whom wore pink — Elizabeth's favorite color.
Bustamante was ordered held without bond pending her trial. If convicted of first-degree murder, she would be sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Witnesses at Bustamante's adult certification hearing described a girl who was bright yet depressed and clever in a sometimes sneaky sort of way. She ranked in roughly the top third of her class at Jefferson City High School, the principal said, and had been in no trouble at school or with the law.
Yet Bustamante had tried to commit suicide at age 13 and had been receiving mental health treatment for depression and cutting herself, said David Cook, the chief juvenile officer in Cole County. Once, she led her family to believe she was attending a local church event when she instead sneaked off to a concert in St. Louis, about two hours away, Cook said. On one or two other occasions, Bustamante spent the night in the woods without permission, he said.
After her arrest, Bustamante tried to cut herself with her own fingernails while being held in juvenile custody, said her appointed juvenile defense attorney Kurt Valentine.
He argued Bustamante should remain in the juvenile system, where she could potentially be rehabilitated before being set free by age 21. Valentine warned that Bustamante would either kill herself or be assaulted and killed by others if she were placed in an adult jail cell or prison.
"We are throwing away the child and we are signing a death sentence for Alyssa," Valentine said. "She is not going to survive her time in the Cole County jail."
Cole County Sheriff Greg White said later that Bustamante would be held at a different, undisclosed location.
Cook recommended Bustamante be tied as an adult. Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem agreed, saying the killing was vicious and that the state had no adequate facilities or services to treat Bustamante if she remained in the juvenile system.
Bill Heberle, with the Missouri Division of Youth Services, testified that the state has no secure facilities with fences for female juveniles. Youths in Missouri's juvenile system generally are housed in group settings and are not typically watched by staff 24 hours a day, he said.
Source: AP
Top 10 Internet Moments of the Decade
The birth of Wikipedia, the death of Napster, the iPhone, Facebook and Twitter have been named by the Webby Awards as among the top 10 Internet moments of the decade.
Other events singled out by New York's International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which bestows the annual Webby Awards, were Iran's election protests, Craigslist's expansion and the launch of Google AdWords.
"The Internet is the story of the decade because it was the catalyst for change in not just every aspect of our everyday lives, but in everything from commerce and communication to politics and pop culture," said David-Michel Davies, executive director of the Webby Awards.
"The recurring theme among all of the milestones on our list is the Internet's capacity to circumvent old systems and put more power into the hands of ordinary people."
The Webby Awards list of the 10 most influential Internet moments of the decade:
* Craigslist online classified site expands outside San Francisco (2000)
* The launch of Google AdWords (2000)
* The launch of online encyclopedia Wikipedia (2001)
* The shutdown of file-sharing site Napster (2001)
* Google's initial public offering (2004)
* The online video revolution led by YouTube (2006)
* Facebook opens to non-college students and Twitter launches (2006)
* Apple's iPhone debuts (2007)
* The use of the Internet in the US presidential campaign (2008)
* The use of Twitter during the Iranian election protests (2009)
The 14th annual Webby Awards are to be announced in April 2010. They reward excellence on the Internet in a number of categories including news and other websites, interactive advertising and online film and video.
Source: news.com.au
Other events singled out by New York's International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which bestows the annual Webby Awards, were Iran's election protests, Craigslist's expansion and the launch of Google AdWords.
"The Internet is the story of the decade because it was the catalyst for change in not just every aspect of our everyday lives, but in everything from commerce and communication to politics and pop culture," said David-Michel Davies, executive director of the Webby Awards.
"The recurring theme among all of the milestones on our list is the Internet's capacity to circumvent old systems and put more power into the hands of ordinary people."
The Webby Awards list of the 10 most influential Internet moments of the decade:
* Craigslist online classified site expands outside San Francisco (2000)
* The launch of Google AdWords (2000)
* The launch of online encyclopedia Wikipedia (2001)
* The shutdown of file-sharing site Napster (2001)
* Google's initial public offering (2004)
* The online video revolution led by YouTube (2006)
* Facebook opens to non-college students and Twitter launches (2006)
* Apple's iPhone debuts (2007)
* The use of the Internet in the US presidential campaign (2008)
* The use of Twitter during the Iranian election protests (2009)
The 14th annual Webby Awards are to be announced in April 2010. They reward excellence on the Internet in a number of categories including news and other websites, interactive advertising and online film and video.
Source: news.com.au
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Joanna Krupa Cut From 'Dancing With the Stars'
Model Joanna Krupa is leaving "Dancing With the Stars."
The Poland-born beauty was eliminated from the hit ABC show Tuesday.
She and professional partner Derek Hough scored an impressive 81 out of 90 points for their performances on Monday's episode of the hit ABC show, but fans failed to keep the couple afloat with their votes.
SLIDESHOW: Click here for photos of Joanna Krupa
Viewer votes are combined with judges' scores to determine which contestant is eliminated each week.
Head judge Len Goodman said Krupa and Hough were the "most consistent of all of our couples" throughout the season, regularly landing near the top of the leaderboard.
Singer Mya, reality star Kelly Osbourne and entertainer Donny Osmond will compete for the show's title and accompanying mirrorball trophy next week.
Source: AP
The Poland-born beauty was eliminated from the hit ABC show Tuesday.
She and professional partner Derek Hough scored an impressive 81 out of 90 points for their performances on Monday's episode of the hit ABC show, but fans failed to keep the couple afloat with their votes.
SLIDESHOW: Click here for photos of Joanna Krupa
Viewer votes are combined with judges' scores to determine which contestant is eliminated each week.
Head judge Len Goodman said Krupa and Hough were the "most consistent of all of our couples" throughout the season, regularly landing near the top of the leaderboard.
Singer Mya, reality star Kelly Osbourne and entertainer Donny Osmond will compete for the show's title and accompanying mirrorball trophy next week.
Source: AP
Senate Health Bill Totals $849 Billion, CBO Estimates
The Senate's version of President Obama's sweeping health care overhaul plan would cost $849 billion over 10 years, according to a preliminary estimate by the Congressional Budget Office -- a figure in line with Obama's call for a price tag of no larger than $900 billion.
The Senate bill, which includes a government-run insurance plan that would allow states to opt out, would extend health care coverage to more than 94 percent of the population, or 31 million additional Americans. It also would cut the federal deficit by $127 billion over the first 10 years and as much as $650 billion over the next 10 years, according to the analysis by the nonpartisan CBO.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released the bill and its price tag to his colleagues Wednesday afternoon. He has spent weeks merging two versions of the bill that passed out of two separate Senate committees.
Republicans have complained in recent weeks that Reid's bill was being drafted with the White House behind closed doors, kept secret from them and even most Democrats.
Reid plans to hold a procedural vote as early as Thursday to begin debate on Saturday, with a goal of passage by the end of the year.
Reid has been trying to muster the 60 votes needed to start debate. Senior Democratic leadership aides told Fox News they are confident Reid will reach that threshold. Though Democrats have a 60-vote majority, moderate Democratic Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas were thought to be on the fence.
Nelson, though, released a written statement Wednesday afternoon saying he needs time to first review the bill that Reid unveils.
"I won't decide how I'll vote on the motion to proceed until I know what I'm voting on," he said.
An intense struggle is expected on the Senate floor, where Republicans have vowed to block the legislation, a top priority on Obama's domestic agenda.
Officials have said the measure would require most Americans to carry health insurance and would mandate large companies to provide coverage to their workers, as well as ban insurance company practices such as denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions.
The bill would set up new insurance marketplaces -- called exchanges -- primarily for those who now have a hard time getting or keeping coverage. Subsidies would be available to help defray the cost of coverage for people with lower incomes.
The House narrowly passed its $1.2 trillion version of health care reform earlier this month with a 220-215 vote. If the Senate approves its version, it still has to be reconciled with the House bill before Obama can sign it into law.
Fox News' Trish Turner, Carl Cameron and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: Fox News
The Senate bill, which includes a government-run insurance plan that would allow states to opt out, would extend health care coverage to more than 94 percent of the population, or 31 million additional Americans. It also would cut the federal deficit by $127 billion over the first 10 years and as much as $650 billion over the next 10 years, according to the analysis by the nonpartisan CBO.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released the bill and its price tag to his colleagues Wednesday afternoon. He has spent weeks merging two versions of the bill that passed out of two separate Senate committees.
Republicans have complained in recent weeks that Reid's bill was being drafted with the White House behind closed doors, kept secret from them and even most Democrats.
Reid plans to hold a procedural vote as early as Thursday to begin debate on Saturday, with a goal of passage by the end of the year.
Reid has been trying to muster the 60 votes needed to start debate. Senior Democratic leadership aides told Fox News they are confident Reid will reach that threshold. Though Democrats have a 60-vote majority, moderate Democratic Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas were thought to be on the fence.
Nelson, though, released a written statement Wednesday afternoon saying he needs time to first review the bill that Reid unveils.
"I won't decide how I'll vote on the motion to proceed until I know what I'm voting on," he said.
An intense struggle is expected on the Senate floor, where Republicans have vowed to block the legislation, a top priority on Obama's domestic agenda.
Officials have said the measure would require most Americans to carry health insurance and would mandate large companies to provide coverage to their workers, as well as ban insurance company practices such as denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions.
The bill would set up new insurance marketplaces -- called exchanges -- primarily for those who now have a hard time getting or keeping coverage. Subsidies would be available to help defray the cost of coverage for people with lower incomes.
The House narrowly passed its $1.2 trillion version of health care reform earlier this month with a 220-215 vote. If the Senate approves its version, it still has to be reconciled with the House bill before Obama can sign it into law.
Fox News' Trish Turner, Carl Cameron and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: Fox News
Huge Chunk of Ice Crashes Through Roof of Colorado Home
BRUSH, Colo. — A basketball-sized chunk of ice crashed through the roof of a family's Colorado home after apparently falling from an airplane passing overhead.
Danelle Hagan and her 9-year-old daughter were at home in Brush on Saturday when they heard the kitchen ceiling come crashing down. They were not injured.
"I hear a huge, what sounded like an explosion. And I look over and my kitchen is basically in shambles," Hagan told KMGH-TV in Denver. "It was very terrifying."
The Federal Aviation Administration was sending investigators to the home to investigate whether the ice came from an airplane. The Hagans put some of the ice in their freezer.
FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said Wednesday the ice chunk appears to be "Rime ice," which can build up on the outside of a plane's fuselage when it flies through cold and wet air.
Fergus says that it doesn't appear the ice was "blue ice," which comes from an airplane's toilet.
After investigators determine whether the ice came from a plane, Fergus said they'll look at which planes are in the area at the time to see if it's possible to tell which craft dropped the ice.
Fergus said that in cases of falling blue ice, FAA investigators would inspect any plane that was in the area to make sure it doesn't have a dangerous pressure leak. He said that ice falls from airplanes are alarming, but extremely rare.
He said the chances of getting hit by ice from a plane is "on the magnitude of a lightning strike."
Hagan's family is staying out of the house until it's repaired because the crash loosened some asbestos. She says people were in the kitchen just before the ice fell, so they're just glad to be OK.
"If we had been in that kitchen, it would have been devastating," Hagan said.
Source: AP
Danelle Hagan and her 9-year-old daughter were at home in Brush on Saturday when they heard the kitchen ceiling come crashing down. They were not injured.
"I hear a huge, what sounded like an explosion. And I look over and my kitchen is basically in shambles," Hagan told KMGH-TV in Denver. "It was very terrifying."
The Federal Aviation Administration was sending investigators to the home to investigate whether the ice came from an airplane. The Hagans put some of the ice in their freezer.
FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said Wednesday the ice chunk appears to be "Rime ice," which can build up on the outside of a plane's fuselage when it flies through cold and wet air.
Fergus says that it doesn't appear the ice was "blue ice," which comes from an airplane's toilet.
After investigators determine whether the ice came from a plane, Fergus said they'll look at which planes are in the area at the time to see if it's possible to tell which craft dropped the ice.
Fergus said that in cases of falling blue ice, FAA investigators would inspect any plane that was in the area to make sure it doesn't have a dangerous pressure leak. He said that ice falls from airplanes are alarming, but extremely rare.
He said the chances of getting hit by ice from a plane is "on the magnitude of a lightning strike."
Hagan's family is staying out of the house until it's repaired because the crash loosened some asbestos. She says people were in the kitchen just before the ice fell, so they're just glad to be OK.
"If we had been in that kitchen, it would have been devastating," Hagan said.
Source: AP
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
CAT Scans Reveal Heart Disease in 3,500-Year Old Mummies
Scientists have uncovered heart disease in 3,500-year-old Egyptian mummies, suggesting the risk factors behind it are not just modern in nature.
Heart disease is often ascribed to modern risk factors, such as smoking, unhealthy diets rich in saturated fats, salt and processed sugars, or sedentary lifestyles. But cardiologists touring the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo during a medical conference last year noticed the nameplate of the pharoah Merenptah, who ruled from 1213 B.C. to 1203 B.C. It read that when Merenptah died at roughly age 60, he was afflicted with atherosclerosis, or thickening of the arteries due to buildup of calcium, fat, cholesterol and other substances.
To investigate how widespread heart disease might have been in ancient times, a team of U.S. and Egyptian cardiologists joined by experts in Egyptology and preservation CAT scanned 22 mummies dating from 1981 B.C. to A.D. 334 housed in the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities.
Evidence of cardiac tissue or blood vessels was detected in 16 of the mummies, and the heart could even be identified in 4 of them. Atherosclerosis was definitely seen in five mummies and probably there in four more, according to findings presented today at the Scientific Session of the American Heart Association at Orlando.
"We in effect combined the advanced technology of mummification from the ancient Egyptians — with which embalmers with very limited tools preserved tissues beautifully over the course of thousands of years — with our advanced technology of medical imaging to detect signs of atherosclerosis," researcher Michael Miyamoto, a cardiologist at the University of California at San Diego, told LiveScience. "In a real sense, this was a scientific collaboration that spanned great time and distance."
The most ancient Egyptian afflicted with atherosclerosis was Lady Rai, who lived to an estimated age of 30 to 40 around 1530 B.C. and had been the nursemaid to Queen Ahmose Nefertiti. Lady Rai lived some 300 years before the time of Moses and 200 prior to King Tut.
"While we do not know whether atherosclerosis caused the demise of any of the mummies in the study, we can confirm that the disease was present in many," said researcher Gregory Thomas of the University of California at Irvine. "The findings suggest that we may have to look beyond modern risk factors to fully understand the disease."
By demonstrating evidence of atherosclerosis in ancient peoples, "it may be that human beings may be uniquely prone to atherosclerosis, that it might be part of our genetic makeup, which reinforces the importance of constant vigilance and aggressive management of risk factors for the disease to keep it under control," Miyamoto said. "If we live long enough, we may all end up with atherosclerosis, but our individual genetic makeups and lifestyles may determine whether that atherosclerosis becomes clinically manifest."
However, "it should be noted that in general, the individuals who had the means to be mummified were generally of higher socioeconomic status," Miyamoto added. All of the 16 mummies whose identities could be determined were of high social status, generally serving in the court of the pharaoh or as priests or priestesses. Although the diet of any one mummy could not be determined, eating meat in the form of cattle, ducks and geese was not uncommon during these times.
"So it may be that some of them in life maintained some of these lifestyle factors that we think of as linked with atherosclerosis," Miyamoto said.
The researchers will detail their findings in the Nov. 18 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Source: Live Science
Heart disease is often ascribed to modern risk factors, such as smoking, unhealthy diets rich in saturated fats, salt and processed sugars, or sedentary lifestyles. But cardiologists touring the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo during a medical conference last year noticed the nameplate of the pharoah Merenptah, who ruled from 1213 B.C. to 1203 B.C. It read that when Merenptah died at roughly age 60, he was afflicted with atherosclerosis, or thickening of the arteries due to buildup of calcium, fat, cholesterol and other substances.
To investigate how widespread heart disease might have been in ancient times, a team of U.S. and Egyptian cardiologists joined by experts in Egyptology and preservation CAT scanned 22 mummies dating from 1981 B.C. to A.D. 334 housed in the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities.
Evidence of cardiac tissue or blood vessels was detected in 16 of the mummies, and the heart could even be identified in 4 of them. Atherosclerosis was definitely seen in five mummies and probably there in four more, according to findings presented today at the Scientific Session of the American Heart Association at Orlando.
"We in effect combined the advanced technology of mummification from the ancient Egyptians — with which embalmers with very limited tools preserved tissues beautifully over the course of thousands of years — with our advanced technology of medical imaging to detect signs of atherosclerosis," researcher Michael Miyamoto, a cardiologist at the University of California at San Diego, told LiveScience. "In a real sense, this was a scientific collaboration that spanned great time and distance."
The most ancient Egyptian afflicted with atherosclerosis was Lady Rai, who lived to an estimated age of 30 to 40 around 1530 B.C. and had been the nursemaid to Queen Ahmose Nefertiti. Lady Rai lived some 300 years before the time of Moses and 200 prior to King Tut.
"While we do not know whether atherosclerosis caused the demise of any of the mummies in the study, we can confirm that the disease was present in many," said researcher Gregory Thomas of the University of California at Irvine. "The findings suggest that we may have to look beyond modern risk factors to fully understand the disease."
By demonstrating evidence of atherosclerosis in ancient peoples, "it may be that human beings may be uniquely prone to atherosclerosis, that it might be part of our genetic makeup, which reinforces the importance of constant vigilance and aggressive management of risk factors for the disease to keep it under control," Miyamoto said. "If we live long enough, we may all end up with atherosclerosis, but our individual genetic makeups and lifestyles may determine whether that atherosclerosis becomes clinically manifest."
However, "it should be noted that in general, the individuals who had the means to be mummified were generally of higher socioeconomic status," Miyamoto added. All of the 16 mummies whose identities could be determined were of high social status, generally serving in the court of the pharaoh or as priests or priestesses. Although the diet of any one mummy could not be determined, eating meat in the form of cattle, ducks and geese was not uncommon during these times.
"So it may be that some of them in life maintained some of these lifestyle factors that we think of as linked with atherosclerosis," Miyamoto said.
The researchers will detail their findings in the Nov. 18 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Source: Live Science
Pedophile Gets 20 Years After Global Manhunt
NEWARK, N.J. — A small-time actor and former children's entertainer who was known for playing Santa Claus was sentenced Monday to nearly 20 years in prison for his role in an international sex tourism ring that preyed on young children.
Wayne Nelson Corliss, whose 2008 arrest was the culmination of an international manhunt, had admitted traveling to Thailand three times between 2000 and 2002 to have sex with at least two boys, ages 6 and 9. He pleaded guilty last October to five counts that included distribution and possession of child pornography and traveling to foreign countries to engage in illegal sexual activity.
"You have acted beyond the bounds of human decency," U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway told Corliss on Monday.
The bearded, white-haired Corliss, who is 61 and acted under the name Casey Wayne, was described by people who knew him as witty and friendly and "the best Santa Claus anyone has ever seen." He worked as an entertainer at corporate parties, art fairs and bar mitzvahs, where his activities sometimes included painting children's faces.
That image clashed with the one presented in court Monday, in which Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Vartan called Corliss "an irredeemable sexual predator" who bragged on the Internet about fondling young boys while dressed as Santa.
Corliss, who had spoken sparingly in a handful of previous court hearings, pleaded with Greenaway for "a fair sentence, not a death sentence."
While acknowledging his crimes, he claimed that Internet chat postings in which he bragged about abusing other boys as young as 4 were the equivalent of playing a role and did not reflect his true personality.
"I'm not that person," he said. "I'm not that monster."
Corliss' trips allegedly were arranged by John Wrenshall, a Canada native who immigrated to Thailand and has been charged in an 18-count federal indictment. Two Alabama men who accompanied Corliss, Mitchell Jackson and Burgess Lee Burgess, have already pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison.
Corliss could have received a maximum prison sentence of more than 27 years under federal sentencing guidelines, but the government requested about 19 1/2 years because Corliss' cooperation aided in the cases against Wrenshall, Jackson and Burgess.
Without that constraint, Greenaway told Corliss Monday, he would "not have hesitated" to give him the full sentence. He characterized the case as the most disturbing he has come across in 25 years in the criminal justice system.
"I cannot think of something more heinous," he said. "These children are going to have to live with this for eternity, when their memory should be of a joyful, carefree time."
Corliss' arrest in May 2008 came two days after Interpol took the rare step of asking for the public's help in identifying a man shown in pornographic images. Hundreds of leads flooded in the first day, and eventually led to Corliss' arrest at his Union City home in northern New Jersey.
Vartan, the prosecutor, said investigators believe more people were involved in the ring and that the investigation was continuing.
Source:AP
Wayne Nelson Corliss, whose 2008 arrest was the culmination of an international manhunt, had admitted traveling to Thailand three times between 2000 and 2002 to have sex with at least two boys, ages 6 and 9. He pleaded guilty last October to five counts that included distribution and possession of child pornography and traveling to foreign countries to engage in illegal sexual activity.
"You have acted beyond the bounds of human decency," U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway told Corliss on Monday.
The bearded, white-haired Corliss, who is 61 and acted under the name Casey Wayne, was described by people who knew him as witty and friendly and "the best Santa Claus anyone has ever seen." He worked as an entertainer at corporate parties, art fairs and bar mitzvahs, where his activities sometimes included painting children's faces.
That image clashed with the one presented in court Monday, in which Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Vartan called Corliss "an irredeemable sexual predator" who bragged on the Internet about fondling young boys while dressed as Santa.
Corliss, who had spoken sparingly in a handful of previous court hearings, pleaded with Greenaway for "a fair sentence, not a death sentence."
While acknowledging his crimes, he claimed that Internet chat postings in which he bragged about abusing other boys as young as 4 were the equivalent of playing a role and did not reflect his true personality.
"I'm not that person," he said. "I'm not that monster."
Corliss' trips allegedly were arranged by John Wrenshall, a Canada native who immigrated to Thailand and has been charged in an 18-count federal indictment. Two Alabama men who accompanied Corliss, Mitchell Jackson and Burgess Lee Burgess, have already pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison.
Corliss could have received a maximum prison sentence of more than 27 years under federal sentencing guidelines, but the government requested about 19 1/2 years because Corliss' cooperation aided in the cases against Wrenshall, Jackson and Burgess.
Without that constraint, Greenaway told Corliss Monday, he would "not have hesitated" to give him the full sentence. He characterized the case as the most disturbing he has come across in 25 years in the criminal justice system.
"I cannot think of something more heinous," he said. "These children are going to have to live with this for eternity, when their memory should be of a joyful, carefree time."
Corliss' arrest in May 2008 came two days after Interpol took the rare step of asking for the public's help in identifying a man shown in pornographic images. Hundreds of leads flooded in the first day, and eventually led to Corliss' arrest at his Union City home in northern New Jersey.
Vartan, the prosecutor, said investigators believe more people were involved in the ring and that the investigation was continuing.
Source:AP
Wisconsin Prison Releases Video of Grenade Attack
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin prison officials released a video that shows a guard tossing a non-lethal grenade designed for outdoor crowd control into an inmate's cell and running away as it explodes.
The Department of Corrections released the video Friday after The Associated Press filed a lawsuit last month seeking a copy under the state's open records law. The department agreed to pay $5,000 to cover AP's attorneys fees.
The AP requested the video after the state paid $49,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the inmate, Raynard Jackson. He alleged the detonation of the stinger grenade in his cell at a maximum-security prison in Boscobel amounted to excessive force.
The department refused to release the video, saying it would expose the limitations of the prison's surveillance camera system. The AP, which was represented by Madison attorney Robert Dreps of Godfrey & Kahn, contended that was not true because the video was taken by a hand-held camera, not a surveillance camera.
The department acknowledged its mistake about how the video was taken but said the tape still could not be released because prisoners who view it could "devise counterstrategies" for when guards use force.
Under the settlement, the AP agreed to allow the department to redact portions of the video that showed guards preparing for the use of force. The department did not admit wrongdoing.
Legal observers said Monday it was unusual for the department to make public any video from inside the state's prisons.
"It's probably fairly novel in Wisconsin," said Larry Dupuis, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, which monitors prison conditions and has sued the department in the past. "I can't say absolutely it's unprecedented, but the situation itself seems unique."
Pam McGillivray, a Madison attorney who has represented inmates, said she was surprised the video was released. She said the department has occasionally released videos showing guards using force to remove inmates from cells in her cases, but only under court orders that shield them from the public.
Jackson is the only Wisconsin inmate ever subdued by a stinger grenade, an explosive device that causes a flash of light, a loud blast and the spraying of rubber pellets. Prison officials say they would no longer detonate the device inside an inmate's cell but might in the event of an outdoor prison riot.
The video shows prison supervisor Joan Gerl tossing the grenade through an opening into Jackson's cell. She runs down the hall as the explosion shakes the cell door and sounds like a shotgun blast. Later, the video shows Gerl surveying minor damage to the cell door and its wall from the blast, and rubber pellets spread out on the cell's floor.
Officials at the prison — formerly known as Supermax — have defended the use of the grenade, saying it was appropriate to extract the 135-pound Jackson from his cell after he provoked a confrontation with guards. Jackson said he suffered hearing loss after the blast.
Source: AP
The Department of Corrections released the video Friday after The Associated Press filed a lawsuit last month seeking a copy under the state's open records law. The department agreed to pay $5,000 to cover AP's attorneys fees.
The AP requested the video after the state paid $49,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the inmate, Raynard Jackson. He alleged the detonation of the stinger grenade in his cell at a maximum-security prison in Boscobel amounted to excessive force.
The department refused to release the video, saying it would expose the limitations of the prison's surveillance camera system. The AP, which was represented by Madison attorney Robert Dreps of Godfrey & Kahn, contended that was not true because the video was taken by a hand-held camera, not a surveillance camera.
The department acknowledged its mistake about how the video was taken but said the tape still could not be released because prisoners who view it could "devise counterstrategies" for when guards use force.
Under the settlement, the AP agreed to allow the department to redact portions of the video that showed guards preparing for the use of force. The department did not admit wrongdoing.
Legal observers said Monday it was unusual for the department to make public any video from inside the state's prisons.
"It's probably fairly novel in Wisconsin," said Larry Dupuis, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, which monitors prison conditions and has sued the department in the past. "I can't say absolutely it's unprecedented, but the situation itself seems unique."
Pam McGillivray, a Madison attorney who has represented inmates, said she was surprised the video was released. She said the department has occasionally released videos showing guards using force to remove inmates from cells in her cases, but only under court orders that shield them from the public.
Jackson is the only Wisconsin inmate ever subdued by a stinger grenade, an explosive device that causes a flash of light, a loud blast and the spraying of rubber pellets. Prison officials say they would no longer detonate the device inside an inmate's cell but might in the event of an outdoor prison riot.
The video shows prison supervisor Joan Gerl tossing the grenade through an opening into Jackson's cell. She runs down the hall as the explosion shakes the cell door and sounds like a shotgun blast. Later, the video shows Gerl surveying minor damage to the cell door and its wall from the blast, and rubber pellets spread out on the cell's floor.
Officials at the prison — formerly known as Supermax — have defended the use of the grenade, saying it was appropriate to extract the 135-pound Jackson from his cell after he provoked a confrontation with guards. Jackson said he suffered hearing loss after the blast.
Source: AP
Kuwaiti Company Charged With Conspiring to Defraud U.S.
ATLANTA — A Kuwaiti logistics company inflated prices and defrauded the U.S. government for contracts to feed American troops based in Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan, federal prosecutors said Monday.
Public Warehousing Co. has been charged with making false statements, submitting false claims and committing wire fraud, said acting U.S. Attorney Gentry Shelnutt.
The company, also known as Agility, has received more than $8.5 billion in food supply contracts. Federal prosecutors say its contract with the government is scheduled to expire in December 2010. Agility did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
The six-count federal indictment claimed the company manipulated a complex funding formula to defraud the U.S. government of at least $68 million, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Nelan.
The indictment said the company provided false invoices and statements to a logistics center, bought high-priced food items and then knowingly inflated prices. And it said the company received rebates and discounts from vendors that it did not pass to the government as required by the contract.
The company also inflated fees by asking vendors to manipulate the way the products were packed, enabling it to bill the government twice as much as it should have, prosecutors said. And they said the firm encouraged a vendor in Conyers, Ga., to conceal fees that should have been paid to the company, leading to inflated prices.
"The defendants, tempted by monetary gain, betrayed the trust invested in them by the U.S. Army," said Brig. Gen. Rodney Johnson, the commander of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division. "And now they must face the consequences."
The alleged scheme was first outlined in a civil whistleblower filing that was filed in 2005 and unsealed this week. It was filed by Kamal Mustafa Al-Sultan, general manager of a contracting firm that partnered with Public Warehousing Co. in 2002.
The company, which is scheduled to make a first court appearance Friday, could face probation and a fine of up to twice the company's illegal gains or twice the loss to the U.S. Prosecutors also stressed that more charges could be filed because the investigation is ongoing.
"Others who have engaged in similar conduct should beware," said Shelnutt. "This indictment is only the first step."
Source:AP
Public Warehousing Co. has been charged with making false statements, submitting false claims and committing wire fraud, said acting U.S. Attorney Gentry Shelnutt.
The company, also known as Agility, has received more than $8.5 billion in food supply contracts. Federal prosecutors say its contract with the government is scheduled to expire in December 2010. Agility did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
The six-count federal indictment claimed the company manipulated a complex funding formula to defraud the U.S. government of at least $68 million, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Nelan.
The indictment said the company provided false invoices and statements to a logistics center, bought high-priced food items and then knowingly inflated prices. And it said the company received rebates and discounts from vendors that it did not pass to the government as required by the contract.
The company also inflated fees by asking vendors to manipulate the way the products were packed, enabling it to bill the government twice as much as it should have, prosecutors said. And they said the firm encouraged a vendor in Conyers, Ga., to conceal fees that should have been paid to the company, leading to inflated prices.
"The defendants, tempted by monetary gain, betrayed the trust invested in them by the U.S. Army," said Brig. Gen. Rodney Johnson, the commander of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division. "And now they must face the consequences."
The alleged scheme was first outlined in a civil whistleblower filing that was filed in 2005 and unsealed this week. It was filed by Kamal Mustafa Al-Sultan, general manager of a contracting firm that partnered with Public Warehousing Co. in 2002.
The company, which is scheduled to make a first court appearance Friday, could face probation and a fine of up to twice the company's illegal gains or twice the loss to the U.S. Prosecutors also stressed that more charges could be filed because the investigation is ongoing.
"Others who have engaged in similar conduct should beware," said Shelnutt. "This indictment is only the first step."
Source:AP
Police Search Home Near Sowell's as Victims' Families Hold Funerals
CLEVELAND — Cleveland police focused their search for evidence on a house just four doors down from suspected serial killer Anthony Sowell's home on Saturday, after a 9-year-old girl told authorities she found something in the backyard, Fox8.com reported.
Cleveland Police and FBI agents removed possible evidence from the abandoned house and the vacant field next to the home, Fox8.com reported.
The area was taped off as investigators conducted their search on Imperial Avenue.
Cleveland police did not confirm if anything significant was found, but they did remove items to be analyzed, Fox8.com reported.
As the search for remaining victims continues, families of those women already identified as victims are mourning. Families and friends of Michelle Mason and Nancy Cobbs both held funeral services on Saturday.
Meanwhile FBI and police agents have been using thermal imaging cameras — which work by identifying heat — to search for additional evidence on convicted sex offender and accused serial killer Anthony Sowell.
Sowell, 50, was arraigned in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court on Friday.
Detectives have examined blueprints of Sowell's home, identifying some areas of the home where bodies could potentially have been hidden. Authorities hope to use the thermal imaging to look at those areas, Fox8.com reported.
"Anything that's decomposing whether it's tree trunks would give off some heat so certainly a body would give off heat if it's decomposing, and it would show different colors and if they find something they should dig up they'll mark it and do further searches," FBI Spokesman Scott Wilson told Fox8.com.
Sowell is charged with attempted murder, and two counts each of Rape, Kidnapping and Felonious Assault.
Sowell allegedly attacked a woman, referred to as Jane Doe, at his Imperial Avenue home on September 22, 2009. When police responded to Sowell's home on October 29, 2009, they found the decaying bodies of 11 women.
Source: Fox News
Cleveland Police and FBI agents removed possible evidence from the abandoned house and the vacant field next to the home, Fox8.com reported.
The area was taped off as investigators conducted their search on Imperial Avenue.
Cleveland police did not confirm if anything significant was found, but they did remove items to be analyzed, Fox8.com reported.
As the search for remaining victims continues, families of those women already identified as victims are mourning. Families and friends of Michelle Mason and Nancy Cobbs both held funeral services on Saturday.
Meanwhile FBI and police agents have been using thermal imaging cameras — which work by identifying heat — to search for additional evidence on convicted sex offender and accused serial killer Anthony Sowell.
Sowell, 50, was arraigned in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court on Friday.
Detectives have examined blueprints of Sowell's home, identifying some areas of the home where bodies could potentially have been hidden. Authorities hope to use the thermal imaging to look at those areas, Fox8.com reported.
"Anything that's decomposing whether it's tree trunks would give off some heat so certainly a body would give off heat if it's decomposing, and it would show different colors and if they find something they should dig up they'll mark it and do further searches," FBI Spokesman Scott Wilson told Fox8.com.
Sowell is charged with attempted murder, and two counts each of Rape, Kidnapping and Felonious Assault.
Sowell allegedly attacked a woman, referred to as Jane Doe, at his Imperial Avenue home on September 22, 2009. When police responded to Sowell's home on October 29, 2009, they found the decaying bodies of 11 women.
Source: Fox News
Imam Reportedly Says He Didn't Pressure Hasan
WASHINGTON — The radical Muslim imam who communicated with the Fort Hood shooting suspect said he did not pressure Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan to harm Americans, The Washington Post reported Monday.
In an interview with a Yemeni journalist who was contracted by the Post, imam Anwar al-Awlaki said Hasan first e-mailed him in December 2008. Eventually, al-Awlaki said, Hasan came to view him as a confidant.
Al-Awlaki showed the journalist his correspondence with Hasan but would not provide it to the Post. He said Hasan questioned the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and said the Army psychiatrist cited Islamic law that demanded "that what America was doing should be confronted."
"So Nidal was providing evidence to Anwar, not vice versa," said the Yemeni reporter, Abdulelah Hider Shaea.
Hasan, 39, was charged last Thursday with the Nov. 5 shooting spree at Fort Hood, in which 13 people were killed.
The imam told Shaea that the Fort Hood attack was acceptable under Islam. "America was the one who first brought the battle to Muslim countries," al-Awlaki said.
Al-Awlaki also denounced Muslims who condemned the attack. "They say American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan should be killed," the imam argued, "so how can they say the American soldier should not be killed at the moment they are going to Iraq and Afghanistan?"
Source:AP
In an interview with a Yemeni journalist who was contracted by the Post, imam Anwar al-Awlaki said Hasan first e-mailed him in December 2008. Eventually, al-Awlaki said, Hasan came to view him as a confidant.
Al-Awlaki showed the journalist his correspondence with Hasan but would not provide it to the Post. He said Hasan questioned the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and said the Army psychiatrist cited Islamic law that demanded "that what America was doing should be confronted."
"So Nidal was providing evidence to Anwar, not vice versa," said the Yemeni reporter, Abdulelah Hider Shaea.
Hasan, 39, was charged last Thursday with the Nov. 5 shooting spree at Fort Hood, in which 13 people were killed.
The imam told Shaea that the Fort Hood attack was acceptable under Islam. "America was the one who first brought the battle to Muslim countries," al-Awlaki said.
Al-Awlaki also denounced Muslims who condemned the attack. "They say American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan should be killed," the imam argued, "so how can they say the American soldier should not be killed at the moment they are going to Iraq and Afghanistan?"
Source:AP
Reports: Army to Investigate Hasan's Career
WASHINGTON — The Army will conduct an internal investigation to examine whether it missed warning signs about Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the man accused of killing 13 people in the Nov. 5 shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas, two newspapers reported Monday.
Citing anonymous officials, The Wall Street Journal said the probe would focus on Hasan's six years at Washington's Walter Reed Medical Center, where he worked as a psychiatrist before he was transferred to the Fort Hood army post in July.
The Washington Post reported that Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army's chief of staff, is forming the investigative panel. It "will look longitudinally across Hasan's entire career to figure out how did this happen and what can we do to stop it from happening again," an anonymous Army official told the Post.
The doctors who oversaw Hasan's medical training had discussed at a meeting concerns about Hasan's overly zealous religious views and strange behavior months before the attack, a military official told The Associated Press last week. Hasan also was characterized as a mediocre student and lazy worker, but the doctors saw no evidence that he was violent or a threat. The military official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly about the meeting.
The FBI learned late last year of Hasan's repeated contact with a radical Muslim cleric in Yemen who encouraged Muslims to kill U.S. troops in Iraq. President Barack Obama already has ordered a review of all intelligence related to Hasan and whether the information was properly shared and acted upon within government agencies.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday will hold its first public hearing about the incident. Obama on Saturday urged Congress to hold off on any investigation, pleading for lawmakers to "resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into the political theater."
Lt. Col. Richard Spiegel, an Army spokesman, would not confirm the Army probe but told the Journal: "We're going to take a hard look at ourselves and the non-criminal aspects of this case. We are still developing what that hard look is going to look like."
Source:AP
Citing anonymous officials, The Wall Street Journal said the probe would focus on Hasan's six years at Washington's Walter Reed Medical Center, where he worked as a psychiatrist before he was transferred to the Fort Hood army post in July.
The Washington Post reported that Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army's chief of staff, is forming the investigative panel. It "will look longitudinally across Hasan's entire career to figure out how did this happen and what can we do to stop it from happening again," an anonymous Army official told the Post.
The doctors who oversaw Hasan's medical training had discussed at a meeting concerns about Hasan's overly zealous religious views and strange behavior months before the attack, a military official told The Associated Press last week. Hasan also was characterized as a mediocre student and lazy worker, but the doctors saw no evidence that he was violent or a threat. The military official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly about the meeting.
The FBI learned late last year of Hasan's repeated contact with a radical Muslim cleric in Yemen who encouraged Muslims to kill U.S. troops in Iraq. President Barack Obama already has ordered a review of all intelligence related to Hasan and whether the information was properly shared and acted upon within government agencies.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday will hold its first public hearing about the incident. Obama on Saturday urged Congress to hold off on any investigation, pleading for lawmakers to "resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into the political theater."
Lt. Col. Richard Spiegel, an Army spokesman, would not confirm the Army probe but told the Journal: "We're going to take a hard look at ourselves and the non-criminal aspects of this case. We are still developing what that hard look is going to look like."
Source:AP
Woman Accused of Helping Kidnap Elizabeth Smart Will Plead Guilty Tuesday
SALT LAKE CITY — Seven years after it began, the wrenching saga of Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping is expected to move toward resolution Tuesday with an expected guilty plea from one of the two defendants charged in the case.
Wanda Eileen Barzee is scheduled to appear in Utah's U.S. District Court on Tuesday to enter the plea on charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor, her attorney Scott Williams said Monday.
Barzee, 63, could face a life sentence for the kidnapping charge and up to 15 years on the other count.
Williams would not say whether a reduced sentence was part of a deal cut with federal prosecutors in exchange for a plea.
Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for Utah's U.S. attorney's office, declined to comment on the agreement.
Smart was 14 in 2002 when she was abducted from her bedroom at knifepoint and whisked away to a campsite in the mountains above her Salt Lake City home.
She was recovered nine months later after a motorist saw her walking on a suburban street with Barzee and Barzee's now-estranged husband, Brian David Mitchell.
Barzee's role in the alleged abduction has garnered less attention than Mitchell's.
At a hearing last month, Smart said that within hours of the abduction, Mitchell took her as a polygamous wife and then raped her. Smart said Barzee washed the teen's feet and dressed her in robes before the ceremony.
Barzee often became upset over Mitchell's relationship with Smart, but that sentiment would never last, Smart said.
State cases filed in March 2003 against Barzee and Mitchell have been stymied by rulings that both were incompetent for trial. Barzee and Mitchell were indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2008.
Barzee's plea comes a month after a Utah State Hospital report to a state judge said that 15 months of court-ordered treatments with anti-psychotic medications had restored her competency.
"No issues of competency will be raised in the federal court matter," Williams told The Associated Press on Monday.
Mitchell has also been found incompetent for trial in state court. A judge refused to order him to undergo forced medications.
On Nov. 30, Mitchell is scheduled for a 10-day competency hearing in his federal court case.
Prosecutors claim that a psychiatrist who evaluated Mitchell contends he is exaggerating or faking psychiatric symptoms to avoid prosecution.
Defense attorneys dispute the finding.
Source:AP
Wanda Eileen Barzee is scheduled to appear in Utah's U.S. District Court on Tuesday to enter the plea on charges of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor, her attorney Scott Williams said Monday.
Barzee, 63, could face a life sentence for the kidnapping charge and up to 15 years on the other count.
Williams would not say whether a reduced sentence was part of a deal cut with federal prosecutors in exchange for a plea.
Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for Utah's U.S. attorney's office, declined to comment on the agreement.
Smart was 14 in 2002 when she was abducted from her bedroom at knifepoint and whisked away to a campsite in the mountains above her Salt Lake City home.
She was recovered nine months later after a motorist saw her walking on a suburban street with Barzee and Barzee's now-estranged husband, Brian David Mitchell.
Barzee's role in the alleged abduction has garnered less attention than Mitchell's.
At a hearing last month, Smart said that within hours of the abduction, Mitchell took her as a polygamous wife and then raped her. Smart said Barzee washed the teen's feet and dressed her in robes before the ceremony.
Barzee often became upset over Mitchell's relationship with Smart, but that sentiment would never last, Smart said.
State cases filed in March 2003 against Barzee and Mitchell have been stymied by rulings that both were incompetent for trial. Barzee and Mitchell were indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2008.
Barzee's plea comes a month after a Utah State Hospital report to a state judge said that 15 months of court-ordered treatments with anti-psychotic medications had restored her competency.
"No issues of competency will be raised in the federal court matter," Williams told The Associated Press on Monday.
Mitchell has also been found incompetent for trial in state court. A judge refused to order him to undergo forced medications.
On Nov. 30, Mitchell is scheduled for a 10-day competency hearing in his federal court case.
Prosecutors claim that a psychiatrist who evaluated Mitchell contends he is exaggerating or faking psychiatric symptoms to avoid prosecution.
Defense attorneys dispute the finding.
Source:AP
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