BREAKING NEWS TODAY

Internet firm in China stops using Google services

2010-03-23T23:14:00.000-07:00

HONG KONG – An Internet company run by one of Asia's richest men said Tuesday it has ended its affiliation with Google Inc. as the American search giant stopped censoring the Internet in violation of Chinese regulations.

Making good on threats made more than two months ago, Google began shifting its Chinese-based search functions to Hong Kong, a Chinese territory where companies are not legally required to censor Internet search results.

TOM Online, a mainland Chinese Internet firm controlled by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, said Tuesday it was stopping use of Google's search services after "the expiry of agreement."

"TOM reiterated that as a Chinese company, we adhere to rules and regulations in China where we operate our businesses," the company's parent, Hong Kong-based TOM Group, said in a statement Tuesday.

TOM Online, which runs online and mobile Internet services in mainland China, did not say when it stopped using Google or provide any details of its agreement with the company.

TOM likely used Google's search box feature, allowing visitors to its Web site to search the Internet with the U.S. company's technology.

It's still unclear whether other Chinese companies that partner with Google will follow suit. Representatives for heavyweight Internet portal operator Sina Corp. did not answer calls seeking comment Tuesday.

Companies, however, are liable to think twice about maintaining a partnership with a company that has been condemned by Beijing for running afoul of its censorship rules. From a business perspective, there are also uncertainties and risks for mainland Internet users relying on a Hong Kong service that could end up blocked.

China Mobile, the world's largest phone company by subscribers, with more than 500 million accounts, could find its partnership with Google for mobile search services in danger, analysts at brokerage CLSA said in a recent report.

"Some of the Chinese companies may want to play it safe and look at other options," said Elinor Leung, CLSA's head of Asia Internet and telecommunications research in Hong Kong.

Google's action did not translate into unfiltered results for millions of Chinese, but shifted responsibility for restricting content to the central government and its formidable Web filters.

Hong Kong, a former British colony with a separate government and civil liberties denied mainland Chinese, maintains open Internet policies.

The territory's government "does not censor the content of Web sites hosted in Hong Kong" and "places no restrictions on access to Hong Kong based Web sites from anywhere in the world," the government said in a statement.

Source: Yahoo! News

Prius with stuck accelerator glides to safe stop

2010-03-12T15:28:00.000-08:00

EL CAJON, Calif. – A California Highway Patrol officer helped slow a runaway Toyota Prius from 94 mph to a safe stop on Monday after the car's accelerator became stuck on a San Diego County freeway, the CHP said.

Prius driver James Sikes called 911 about 1:30 p.m. after accelerating to pass another vehicle on Interstate 8 near La Posta and finding that he could not control his car, the CHP said.

"I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car and it did something kind of funny... it jumped and it just stuck there," the 61-year-old driver said at a news conference. "As it was going, I was trying the brakes...it wasn't stopping, it wasn't doing anything and it just kept speeding up," Sikes said, adding he could smell the brakes burning he was pressing the pedal so hard.

A patrol car pulled alongside the Prius and officers told Sikes over a loudspeaker to push the brake pedal to the floor and apply the emergency brake.

"They also got it going on a steep upgrade," said Officer Jesse Udovich. "Between those three things, they got it to slow down."

After the car decelerated to about 50 mph, Sikes turned off the engine and coasted to a halt.

The officer then maneuvered his car in front of the Prius as a precautionary block, Udovich said.

In a statement, Toyota said it has dispatched a field technical specialist to San Diego to investigate the incident.

Toyota has recalled some 8.5 million vehicles worldwide — more than 6 million in the United States — since last fall because of acceleration problems in multiple models and braking issues in the Prius.

Toyota owners have complained of their vehicles speeding out of control despite efforts to slow down, sometimes resulting in deadly crashes. The government has received complaints of 34 deaths linked to sudden acceleration of Toyota vehicles since 2000.

One of the crashes claimed the life of a CHP officer last August.

Off-duty CHP Officer Mark Saylor was killed along with his wife, her brother and the couple's daughter after their Lexus' accelerator got stuck in La Mesa.

The Toyota-manufactured loaner vehicle slammed into a sport utility vehicle at about 100 mph, careened off the freeway, hit an embankment, overturned and burst into flames.

Information from: The San Diego Union-Tribune, http://www.signonsandiego.com

Video shows jet crash-landing into the Hudson River.

2009-01-17T22:25:00.000-08:00

An US Airways jetliner that landed on the Hudson River Thursday was successfully hoisted out of the water late Saturday, following several hours of work by crews in frigid conditions.

Investigators planned to tow the plane on a barge to an undisclosed location for their examination.Searchers using sonar believe the left engine of the aircraft lies on the river bottom. Divers will try to confirm the finding. The flight data and cockpit voice recorders -- both critical to determining exactly what happened during the brief flight Thursday -- remained on the aircraft.

Earlier on Saturday, a National Transportation Safety Board official provided a detailed narrative, saying the pilot who landed the plane on the river thought that if he tried for a nearby airport in a densely populated area, there could have been "catastrophic consequences."

NTSB board member Kitty Higgins, relaying the first public comments from the two pilots who were in the cockpit during the emergency landing Thursday, said at a news conference that both the pilot and the first officer saw a flock of birds seconds before the plane was rocked by loud thuds and both engines failed.

City officials, passengers and others lauded pilot C.B. "Sully" Sullenberger, 58, and other crew members for their handling of the landing and also praised first responders who acted quickly to minimize passengers' injuries in below-freezing temperatures. All 155 people on board the plane survived.

Higgins said the first officer -- identified by US Airways as Jeffrey B. Skiles, 49 -- was flying the aircraft on takeoff from New York's LaGuardia airport when he noticed a flock of birds as the plane climbed between 3,000 and 5,000 feet.

"He commented (to Sullenberger) on the formation, and he said the next thing he knew the windscreen was filled with birds. There was no time to take evasive action," Higgins said.When both engines went out following thudding impacts, Sullenberger took control of the aircraft and Skiles began complicated procedures to try to restart the engines, Higgins said. She added that interviews with the two indicated there was limited conversation between them as the aircraft began losing altitude.

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"These are both very experienced pilots. They knew what they had to do," Higgins said. Neither Sullenberger nor Skiles attended the news conference.Also Saturday, authorities released audio and transcripts of two 911 calls from people who said they saw that the plane was in trouble.

One caller said he saw the plane descend and reported hearing a loud noise shortly after the aircraft took off.

"Oh, my God! It was a big plane, I heard a big boom just now. We looked up, and the plane came straight over us, and it was turning. Oh, my God!" a man calling from the Bronx told a 911 operator at 3:29 p.m., three minutes after the plane left LaGuardia.Minutes later, at 3:33 p.m., a woman called 911 and reported seeing the plane in the water.

"A plane has just crashed into the Hudson River," she told an operator. "A US Air big DC-9 or -10 has crashed into the Hudson River. ... Oh, my gosh!"

Source: CNN

World's tallest building just got taller

2008-09-03T07:35:00.001-07:00

DUBAI (AFP) - The world's tallest building just got taller -- the Burj Dubai tower in the booming Gulf emirate of Dubai has now reached a height of 688 metres (2,257 feet) and is still growing, developers Emaar said on Tuesday.

It now boasts 160 storeys, the highest skyscraper in the world, Emaar said in a statement.

The skyscraper, set for completion in September 2009, is one of several mega projects taking shape in Dubai, which is a member of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates (UAE) federation.

Burj Dubai, which was started in 2004, overtook Taiwan's Taipei 101 tower as the world's tallest building when it reached 512 metres (1,533 feet) in April 2007.

It became the tallest man-made structure on the planet, when Emaar announced in April that it has surpassed the 629-metre (2,063-foot) KVLY-TV mast in the United States.

Its eventual height remains a closely-guarded secret, though there is speculation it will reach a final height of 900 metres (2,953 feet).

It had been due for completion in the bustling city state at the end of 2008, but Emaar said in June that "finishing touches" had pushed back the date until September next year.

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The skyscraper is being built by a consortium involving Arabtec Construction LLC of the UAE, Samsung of South Korea and Besix of Belgium.

Many building projects in Dubai, which is going through a construction frenzy, have been facing delays caused by shortage of building materials and skilled labour.

Source: Yahoo News

MIT Students Hacked Boston Subway

2008-08-22T18:47:00.000-07:00

Three MIT graduates ( Zack Anderson, R.J. Ryan and Alessandro Chiesa ) planned a scheme to hack Boston's transit payment system. They have managed to reprogram the cards to increase their credit balance, thus allowing them to ride for free.

Of course, being MIT students, they have decided to write up their prank on academic newspaper. But the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) took it to the courts, citing computer fraud, and asking for time to fix the system before the paper was presented.

MBTA lost. Judge George O'Toole ruled that "presenting an academic paper would not violate computer fraud laws."

The students went to receice "top marks" for their paper, from which we can conclude the following: RFID is very insecure, and MIT is awesome.!

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So fast! Bolt smashes own world record to win 100

2008-08-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

BEIJING (AP)—Usain Bolt of Jamaica easily broke his own world record in the 100 meters to win the Olympic gold medal Saturday night, slowing up to celebrate and still finishing in 9.69 seconds.

Bolt stretched his arms out wide and put his palms out, then slapped his chest just before crossing the line. He came in well below his old mark of 9.72 seconds, set May 31 in New York—less than a year after Bolt took up the dash.

What had been billed as a showdown was not close at all. Richard Thompson of Trinidad took the silver medal in 9.89, and Walter Dix of the United States was third in 9.91.

The 21-year-old Bolt’s performance left no doubt whatsoever about who deserves the title of “World’s Fastest Man.”

Former world record-holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica was fifth, while reigning world champion Tyson Gay of the United States failed to qualify for the final.

Bolt’s specialty has been the 200 meters, which he will be a heavy favorite to win next week in what would be first men’s Olympic sprint double since Carl Lewis in 1988. But he persuaded his coach to let him try the dash—and what quick progress Bolt has made.

Source: Yahoo

Spanish basketball team poses for offensive picture

2008-08-12T16:19:00.000-07:00

Spain's Olympic basketball team posed for an advertisement prior to the Games which appears to show all its players slanting their eyes, a move that could offend its Olympic hosts in Beijing. The ads, for a Spanish courier company, appeared in the Spanish-language newspaper La Marca.

As the uproar over the picture has grown today, more information about the advertising shot has come to light. The New York Times reports that Spain's basketball team is sponsored by Li-Ning Footwear, a Chinese company founded by Li Ning, the final torchbearer who was hoisted along the top of Beijing National Stadium during the Olympic Opening Ceremony finale. The ad reportedly references the Spanish team recently extending their contract with the footwear giant for another four years.

The Spanish-language paper El Mundo has a piece debating whether the ad was racist that basically calls out the British press for trying to smear Spain's good name. But they miss the point. Whether the picture was made in good fun is irrelevant. It was a ridiculous idea that was bound to upset a lot of people.

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It's baffling that nobody involved in the picture -- from the photographers to the players -- even seemed to consider that this ad would be looked at negatively. Did it not occur to somebody that it might not be a good idea to mock an entire continent before the world's largest athletic competition that, by the way, happens to take place on that continent. Were they not aware of an invention called "the Internet" that allows pictures taken in Spain to be transmitted all over the world for the eyes of everyone?

And now that the inevitable controversy has hit, they're still defending themselves when a simple, "the ad was in poor taste, we apologize" would have sufficed. This story would be slowing down if the Spanish Basketball team had apologized immediately. Now it's just picking up steam.

The Organization of Chinese-Americans has released multiple statements condemning the picture. George Wu, deputy director of the group, said, "it is unfortunate that this type of imagery would rear its head during something that is supposed to be a time of world unity." Response in Beijing has been muted so far.

Madrid is thought to be one of the frontrunners to land the 2016 Summer Games (the site will be announced next year). Could this controversy hurt Spain's chances of landing another Olympics?

Interestingly, the Spanish basketball team took on China tonight, winning 85-75 in overtime. No word on whether Pau Gasol was on the receiving end of any elbows from Yao Ming. The Chinese crowd did have a message for the Spainards though, booing vigorously during the game.

Source: Yahoo sports!

"Transformers" star injured in auto accident last weekend

2008-08-03T04:58:00.000-07:00

Shia LaBeouf could have a long road before him as he recovers from the accident that crushed his hand, his lawyer says.

LaBeouf, 22, was injured in a late-night crash last Sunday in West Hollywood that flipped his truck.

The "Indiana Jones" star was cited for drunken driving, but authorities have since said he was not at fault, and that the other driver apparently ran a red light.

Michael Norris, LaBeouf's attorney, said in a statement Friday LaBeouf underwent four hours of surgery. His left arm remains immobilized from the elbow down.

"He will need regular medical supervision until his doctors clear him to return to work," Norris said in the statement. "His doctors remain hopeful that he will fully recover, but due to extensive surgery and the nature of the injuries, there remains a substantial risk of both infection and other complications."

Bear pack kills 2 Russian miners

2008-07-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- A pack of enormous bears searching for food killed and ate two men at mines in Russia's Pacific Kamchatka region and have kept hundreds of geologists and miners from reaching the mine, Russian news agencies reported Wednesday.

A pack of up to 30 Kamchatka bears -- which are similar to grizzlies -- prowled around two mines of a local platinum mining company where they killed the two guards on Thursday, local officials were quoted by the ITAR-Tass news agency as saying.

About 400 company workers have refused to return to the mines for fear of the bears, which stand 10 feet (three meters) tall on their hind legs and weigh up to 1,500 pounds (700 kilograms), Interfax reported.

About 10 bears have also been seen near the village of Khailino sniffing fish remains and other garbage.

Village official Viktor Leushkin was quoted by ITAR-Tass as saying that a team of hunters will be dispatched to shoot or chase off the bears.

"These predators have to be destroyed," Leushkin was quoted as saying. "Once they kill a human, they will do it again and again." Rampant fish poaching in the Kamchatka tundra often forces the bears to seek other sources of food, such as garbage. Bears frequently attack humans in the scarcely populated peninsula region.

Source: CNN

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Major Reason Behind Oil Price Hike

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2 competitors die in German mountain race

2008-07-14T08:15:00.000-07:00

MUNICH, Germany (AP) -- Police say two competitors died of hypothermia and lack of oxygen during an endurance race up Germany's highest mountain. Six other people were hospitalized.

Police and prosecutors say they have opened an investigation.

Both men collapsed shortly before arriving at the end of the race Sunday up the Zugspitze mountain on the German-Austrian border, some 2,900 meters (9,500 feet) above sea level.

Police say German and Austrian rescue teams were unable to revive the two racers and both died as a result of hypothermia and lack of oxygen.

Police say that six more people who showed signs of exhaustion and hypothermia were taken to hospitals. None are in critical condition.

The 14.6-kilometer (9.1-mile) race started in Ehrwald, Austria.

Source: CNN

Bush to lift ban on offshore oil drilling

2008-07-14T08:08:00.000-07:00

President Bush will announce Monday he is lifting an executive order banning offshore oil drilling, the White House said.

The move is largely symbolic because there is also a federal law banning offshore drilling.

Bush has been pushing Congress to repeal the law passed in 1981.

"There is no excuse for delay," the president said in a Rose Garden statement last month.

"In the short run, the American economy will continue to rely largely on oil, and that means we need to increase supply here at home," Bush said, adding that there is no more pressing issue for many Americans than gas prices.

Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush, signed the executive order in 1990 banning offshore drilling.

The president plans to announce his decision at 1:30 p.m. in the Rose Garden.

The issue has gained prominence in the presidential race. Sen. John McCain recently announced he supported offshore oil drilling, reversing his previous stance.

Sen. Barack Obama wants to keep the ban in place.

Experts say offshore oil drilling would not have an immediate impact on oil prices because oil exploration takes years.

"If we were to drill today, realistically speaking, we should not expect a barrel of oil coming out of this new resource for three years, maybe even five years, so let's not kid ourselves," said Fadel Gheit, oil and gas analyst with Oppenheimer & Co. Equity Capital Markets Division.

But it almost certainly would be profitable.

Candida Scott, an oil industry researcher at Cambridge Research Associates, said oil needs to be priced at $60 a barrel or more to justify deep-shelf drilling. With oil now selling for $134 a barrel, companies are almost assured of profiting from offshore drilling, Scott said.

In his statement last month, Bush also renewed his demand that Congress allow drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, clear the way for more refineries and encourage efforts to recover oil from shale in areas such as the Green River Basin of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.

The White House estimates that there are 18 billion barrels of oil offshore that have not been exploited because of state bans, 10 billion to 12 billion in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the Green River Basin.

Source: CNN

Oil price surges near $147

2008-07-11T06:57:00.000-07:00

Oil hit a record trading high Friday as tensions with Iran, the possibility of renewed violence in Nigeria and a planned labor strike in Brazil threatened already tight supplies.

Light sweet crude for August delivery was up $5 to $146.64 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier prices touched a new trading record of $146.90, eclipsing the mark of $145.85 set July 3.

Oil rallied more than $5 a barrel late Thursday after the oil producing nation of Iran conducted a second missile test in the Persian Gulf Thursday evening, increasing tensions with Israel and the West over its nuclear program.

One of the great fears facing oil investors is the possibility that Iran could blockade the nearby Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway that carries a large percentage of the world's oil traffic.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had earlier warned Iran that the United States would defend its allies. Iran then responded with another missile launch.

Unrest in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, has also set investors on edge. The nation's main rebel group threatened to renew attacks after the British expressed support for the country's current government. Militants have commonly targeted Nigeria's oil infrastructure.
Also adding to concerns was a potential labor strike against Brazilian oil company Petroleo Brasileiro. Brazil's Oil Workers Confederation said it was planning a 5-day strike that could affect 80 percent of the South American country's oil supply.

"There's always a fear premium in pricing. The tensions in Iran and the threat of supply disruption will help support oil prices," said Jeff Brown, managing director of FACTS Global Energy in Singapore told The Associated Press.

JBC Energy in Vienna, Austria, told AP the news about Iran, Nigeria, as well as a reported threat of a strike by oil workers in Brazil were "enough to wake the market from its two-day slumber."

Still, while supply worries abound and the U.S. dollar remains weak compared with levels a year ago, many investors are seeing reasons to believe that oil might be peaking because of resistance to the record-level prices.

"Here in the United States, airplanes are being grounded. Travel has definitely changed. People are looking at hybrids," James Cordier, president of Tampa, Florida-based trading firms Liberty Trading Group and OptionSellers.com, told AP.

Brinkley spouse had sex with teen, paid her $300K

2008-07-02T20:51:00.000-07:00

CENTRAL ISLIP, New York (AP) -- Christie Brinkley's estranged husband said Wednesday he had sex with his teenage lover in his office, then paid her $300,000 while hoping to keep their affair quiet. He also showered her with spending money, including $500 hidden under a rock.

Peter Cook, called to the stand by his wife's divorce lawyers, was questioned about his affair with Diana Bianchi, who is expected to testify that Cook seduced her shortly after hiring her for his Hamptons architectural firm.

Earlier, the fashion model's lawyer said Cook spent about $3,000 a month on pornographic Web sites."That is the man who's come before this court and asked for custody of his 13-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter," attorney Robert Stephan Cohen said. The couple's daughter, Sailor, had her birthday on Wednesday.

"It was wrong and he said it was wrong," Cook's lawyer, Norman Sheresky, said of the porn.

But the main focus of the trial is Cook's affair with the 18-year-old, which set off a frenzy in the tabloids. Cohen said Brinkley found out about it from the teenager's stepfather; the fashion model got the bad news moments before she was to speak at the Southampton High School graduation.

"There is no way to make that right," Sheresky said. "Peter has apologized. He's cried his eyes out. He's lost his marriage."Cook's lawyer said Brinkley is partly to blame for the public spectacle.
"For goodness sake: She's on her fourth husband," Sheresky told the court. "Your honor, we're here because of the self-indulgent wrath of a woman scorned."

Cook said he met Bianchi in early 2005 when she was working at a Hamptons toy store. Their affair began that March, around the time he hired Bianchi. She was paid $20,000 to type magazine articles onto the company's Web site. He also left her cash payments in various spots: $500 under the rock outside his office; more behind a painting.

Before their relationship ended in late 2005, they had sex in the office a number of times, and at homes in the Hamptons owned by Brinkley.

Bianchi got the $300,000 in May 2007. The exact purpose of the money was not specified, but Cook said he was trying to protect himself and his family from scandal.
Sheresky said the case is no different than that of politicians who were unfaithful to their wives: former President Clinton, and former governors Eliot Spitzer of New York and James McGreevey of New Jersey.

Could Heath Ledger really win an Oscar?

2008-07-02T20:48:00.000-07:00

Jack Nicholson's Joker was a blast. Heath Ledger's Joker is as dark and anarchic a figure as Randle McMurphy in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," the role that brought Nicholson his first Academy Award.

Ledger's performance in the Batman tale "The Dark Knight" is so remarkable that next January 22, the one-year anniversary of his death, he could become just the seventh actor in Oscar history to earn a posthumous nomination.

"I do think that Heath has created an iconic villain that will stand for the ages, and of course, I would love to see him get an award," said Christian Bale, who reprises his "Batman Begins" role as the tormented crime fighter. "But you know, to me, you can witness his talent, celebrate his talent within this movie. Anything else is gravy."

Superhero flicks usually are not the stuff Oscar dreams are made of. Yet Ledger delivered so far beyond anyone's expectations that he could end up as the second performer to win Hollywood's top honor after his death.

"He may be the first actor since Peter Finch. He may even win the damn thing," said Gary Oldman, who co-stars as noble cop Jim Gordon in "The Dark Knight," which hits theaters July 18.

Finch is the only person to win posthumously, earning the best-actor prize for 1976's "Network" two months after he died.

News of Ledger's death at age 28 from an accidental drug overdose broke just hours after the Oscar nominations were announced last January, darkening what normally is one of Hollywood's happiest days. The nominations next year fall on the same date because they were moved back two days from their traditional Tuesday announcement to avoid conflicting with the presidential inauguration.

Betancourt, U.S. contractors rescued from FARC

2008-07-02T20:41:00.000-07:00

In a secret operation a U.S. official called "brilliant," the Colombian military infiltrated rebel group FARC and deceived its members into giving up 15 hostages including former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, Colombia's defense ministry said.

Appearing healthy after being held hostage for six years in the jungle, Betancourt walked down from a Colombian military jet in Bogota on Wednesday and hugged her mother and husband, a broad smile on her face.

"God carried out this miracle," she said. "This is a miracle because I know that all of you suffered with my family, my children, with me. This is a moment of pride for all of Colombia for such a perfect operation."

Along with Betancourt, three American contractors and 11 other hostages who were Colombian police were rescued in Wednesday's operation.

The 46-year-old Betancourt is a former senator who fought Colombia's drug cartels as a congresswoman in the 1990s. She ran for president in 2002, calling for a nation "free of corruption, violence and free of drugs."

As a hostage, she was reduced to a frail woman whose health was reportedly in serious jeopardy.
She said she awoke Wednesday at 4:30 a.m. and said the rosary, then was told by her guards that she and the other hostages were to be transferred to another location, where their detention was to continue.

"My heart broke because I did not want another transfer, another time, in captivity," she said.
But her guard, a woman, was unmoved, and ordered Betancourt to cross a river to the pickup spot -- "very harsh, move, hurry up fast, as always," she said.

But her guard, a woman, was unmoved, and ordered Betancourt to cross a river to the pickup spot -- "very harsh, move, hurry up fast, as always," she said.

Soon, two white helicopters approached and several men approached the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia commanders who were overseeing their transfer, she said.

"They spoke with Commander Enrique and Cesar," she said of her captors. As she looked closer, she saw that the men from the helicopter were wearing shirts emblazoned with the likeness of Che Guevara, the Argentine hero of the Cuban revolution. "I thought, this is FARC," she said.
Placed in handcuffs, Betancourt got into the helicopter, still unaware of what was happening.

"They closed the helicopter doors, the helicopter started flying and suddenly there was something happening," she said.

"Suddenly I saw the commander who, during four years, had been at the head of our team, who so many times was so cruel and humiliated me, and I saw him on the floor naked with bound eyes."
Then, the reality of her liberation hit home.

"The chief of operations said, 'We are the national army and you are all free,' and the helicopter almost fell because we started jumping, we screamed, we cried, we hugged. We couldn't believe it."

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Florida Everglades fire scorches 33,000 acres

2008-05-20T22:22:00.000-07:00

Almost 33,000 acres of the Everglades National Park were burning Sunday, fire officials said, the latest in a series of wildfires that have scorched parts of Florida in May.

The smoke cast a haze over parts of South Florida, including Miami, prompting a dense smoke advisory from the National Weather Service.
The fire, which threatened private property as well as an endangered bird, started Friday, the Southern Area InterAgency Management Blue Team said.

By Sunday morning it was 20 percent contained, and fire crews were working to restrict it to the park while protecting the Cape Sable seaside sparrow, a federally protected species whose only habitat is in the Everglades.

Windy conditions Sunday morning pushed the fire into the corner of the park closest to Miami, fire officials said.
About 200 personnel battled the blaze in southern Florida Saturday night, but more crews were expected to join them Sunday.

It is the latest wildfire to scorch Florida. More than 12,000 acres burned in the "Brevard Complex" fire near Palm Bay, on Florida's Atlantic Coast just south of Daytona Beach. That series of fires is about 75 percent contained and is expected to be fully contained on Tuesday, the National Interagency Fire Center said Sunday.

Source: CNN

Last week, Florida authorities charged a suspect, Brian Crowder, with arson in connection with some of the fires in Palm Bay.

The Brevard County fires have destroyed about 22 homes and structures, and damaged another 160 homes. Damage totals more than $9 million, officials said.
A 19,000-acre fire near Clewiston, Florida, on the south end of Lake Okeechobee, is about 50 percent contained, the fire center said Sunday.

And a 1,300-acre fire north of Apalachicola in the Florida Panhandle was 80 percent contained by Sunday, it said.
Last week, U.S. Navy officials said a Navy jet sparked a 257-acre forest fire in the Ocala National Forest in the north-central part of the state. The jet had missed a target on a practice bombing run, the officials said.

Kennedy has Brain Tumor

2008-05-20T22:18:00.000-07:00

U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has a malignant brain tumor, doctors treating him at Massachusetts General Hospital said Tuesday.

Kennedy, 76, was hospitalized Saturday morning after suffering a seizure at his family's compound at Hyannisport, Massachusetts.

"Preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain identified the cause of the seizure as a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe," according to a hospital statement.

Malignant glioma is the most common primary brain tumor, accounting for more than half of the 18,000 primary malignant brain tumors diagnosed each year in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute.

A tumor in that area of the brain could affect Kennedy's ability to speak and understand speech, as well as the strength on the right side of his body, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta said.

The parietal lobes are also responsible for interpreting signals from parts of the brain that focus on vision, hearing, motor skills, sensory input and memory, according to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.

The usual course of treatment for Kennedy's type of tumor includes radiation and chemotherapy, said Dr. Lee Schwamm, vice chairman of the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dr. Larry Ronan, primary care physician.

Fears over China lake sparks more panic

2008-05-17T03:56:00.000-07:00

BEICHUAN, China - Thousands of Chinese earthquake victims and rescuers are fleeing areas near the epicenter over fears of floods from a river blocked by landslides.

The stampede of thousands of people on Saturday afternoon came as Chinese officials said the official death toll from the earthquake had risen to 28,881 people with 198,347 injured.

Landslides caused by Monday's quake had blocked the Qingzhu River in Beichuan county, creating two lakes with fast-rising water levels, an official at the Guanzhuang disaster relief center said.

Officials, worried that one or both of the lakes could burst, forced the evacuation of 10 villages and townships downriver, he said.

About 30,000 people live downstream, not including the many rescuers and others who were in the area because of the quake relief effort, he said.

Journalist Diego Laje, one of those ordered to evacuate, said a stampede of thousands of people began as military officers warned them to leave a low-lying area near the river.

The official at the relief center said the one lake has an estimated 11 million cubic meters of water and the other has 1.5 million cubic meters.

Chinese government experts were considering blasting holes to allow controlled releases of the water, which was quickly rising, the official said.

The communities ordered evacuated, all in the northern Sichuan province's Beichuan county, include: Guanzhuang township, Suhe township, Liangshui township, Qifo township, Malu township, Zhuyuan township, Shangsi township, Xiasi township, Baolun township, and Jiuhexiang township.

Elsewhere in Sichuan province, rescuers continued to search for more survivors, buoyed by news of the rescue of two men more than 110 hours after the quake.

A German tourist was pulled out alive from under rubble in Taoguan village Saturday, 114 hours after being buried, China's official news agency Xinhua reported. The man's identity remained unknown, Xinhua reported.

Xinhua also reported that soldiers dug out a 52-year-old man who was buried in ruins for 117 hours.

Xinhua said Saturday that the man had been buried under a collapsed building in Beichuan, not far from the epicenter of Monday's earthquake.

A German Foreign Ministry official said that country's government had no information about the German man or the rescue. The Xinhua report said more than 20 Chinese soldiers helped rescue the tourist Saturday morning.

The man was rushed to the medical center at the Wenchuan disaster relief headquarters, but his condition was not immediately clear, Xinhua reported.

The discovery of the tourist added urgency to China's massive rescue operations.

"Saving lives is still the top priority," Chinese President Hu Jintao said Friday, as he arrived in the quake zone. Hu described the current situation as "the most crucial phase" of the rescue effort. "We must race against time to overcome all difficulties."

The original magnitude 7.9 earthquake hit Sichuan Province the hardest, shattering communities, leveling dozens of schools and burying transportation routes with landslides.

At least 12,300 people remain buried in the debris of the ruins of at least 436,000 properties, officials say. More than 4.8 million are homeless.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington's estimate of the number still buried is less than half of the more than 25,000 reported Thursday by state-run news agency Xinhua. Official reports and Xinhua's numbers have often differed, reflecting the chaotic situation in the days after the earthquake hit.

Most of the victims died in Sichuan province, the embassy spokesman said, quoting provincial officials. At least 500 people died elsewhere. One of the victims was a German citizen, Wang said.

China's State Council says the number of deaths could top 50,000.

Yet hope still emerged from amid the horror of the nation's worst disaster in recent years, with survivors pulled from the rubble four days after being buried in the rubble.

Rescuers pulled a student from the debris of Beichuan Middle School, 80 hours after the quake collapsed the building, Xinhua reported.

Two more people were saved after being buried for 95 hours, the agency added.

Rescuers said they could hear a weak yell for help from under the building's rubble and are "expecting more miracles," according to state-run media.

Hu flew to Mianyang in the hard-hit Sichuan province, which has become a massive refugee camp for survivors, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

"The challenge is still daunting, the task is still arduous and the time pressing," Hu said.

housands of people who were uprooted around the region have taken shelter at the city's main sports gym and other facilities. Reports say 7,395 people have died and 18,645 are trapped in debris in the city.

Xinhua reported 135,000 Chinese troops and medics are involved in the rescue effort across 58 counties and cities.

The scope of the operation is such that Beijing has allocated until now nearly $5 billion for the rescue relief fund.

Search-and-rescue help is also coming from outside the country. A team from Japan entered Sichuan province early Friday, Xinhua reported. Rescuers from Russia, South Korea and Singapore were expected to arrive soon.

This weekend, the United States will send into China two U.S. Air Force C-17's carrying supplies, which include tents and generators. The U.S. offer of assistance is open-ended and the flights could be followed by others, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters on Friday.

Earlier, the United States pledged $500,000 to help China in its quake relief efforts and that money has been delivered by the U.S. Red Cross.

Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Vietnam and Poland were among the countries providing humanitarian assistance, according to Xinhua.

Meanwhile, Louis Michel, Development Aid Commissioner to the EU, has said it will give initial emergency aid of $3.1 million to cover supplies including food and blankets, The Associated Press has reported, to demonstrate solidarity with China.

2 indicted in UCLA body parts case

2008-05-17T03:54:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The former head of UCLA's cadaver program and a businessman were indicted Friday on eight felony counts involving black market sales of human body parts.

Henry Reid, the former director of UCLA's willed body program, allegedly sold donated body parts to businessman Ernest Nelson, who then resold them to medical, pharmaceutical and hospital research companies.

"As a result, Ernest Nelson was able to supply over 20 of his clients with hundreds of body parts and received over $1 million for the supplied body parts," according to the indictment.

Reid, 58, of Anaheim, and Nelson, 50, of Rancho Cucamonga pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles County Superior Court to single counts of conspiracy to commit a crime, grand theft and grand theft of personal property.

The charges were similar to those brought more than a year ago, but the indictments allowed prosecutors to avoid a preliminary hearing scheduled Friday.

Both men were released on their own recognizance pending a May 30 bail hearing. Defense attorneys said they expected to prevail at trial.

The illegal sales ran from 1999 until 2004 with Reid using his position to cover up the scheme, authorities said.

During that time, Nelson, who owned the Empire Anatomical Company, wrote several checks to Reid ranging from $5,000 to $9,000 for body parts. Reid deposited them into his personal bank account.

Nelson also pleaded not guilty to four counts of filing false income tax returns and one count of failing to file an income tax return.

Deputy District Attorney Marisa Zarate said prosecutors decided to go to the grand jury after defense attorneys delayed the case with more than a year of postponements. The D.A.'s office originally brought charges against the men in March 2007.

"This case is a significant matter to many people and it's very serious and it has been continued to the detriment of many witnesses for over a year," Zarate said.

The move eliminated the requirement for a preliminary hearing, at which a judge would have determined whether there was sufficient evidence to proceed to trial after hearing testimony by both sides.

"The D.A. took the chicken way out by not having a preliminary hearing and going to the grand jury," Reid's attorney, Melvyn Sacks, said outside court. "You can get a grand jury to do anything."

Reid has posted bail of $500,000 and Nelson posted $350,000. Their attorneys said they would argue May 30 that those amounts remain in place.

The case will likely go to trial 90 days after the bail hearing, Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza said.

Source: CNN

MySpace sexual assault suit dismissed

2008-05-17T03:50:00.000-07:00

Federal law gives MySpace.com immunity from a lawsuit over the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl by a man she met on the social networking Web site, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit that a Texas girl's family filed against MySpace and its parent company, News Corp. The family said MySpace didn't protect young users from sexual predators.

The appeals court ruled that the Communications Decency Act of 1996 bars such lawsuits against Web-based services like MySpace. A federal judge in Austin, Texas, dismissed the $30 million lawsuit on the same grounds last year.

"Parties complaining that they were harmed by a Web site's publication of user-generated content have recourse; they may sue the third-party user who generated the content, but not the interactive computer service that enabled them to publish the content online," Judge Edith Brown Clement wrote in the ruling.

The girl's family argued in the appeal that MySpace isn't immune from liability because it partially creates the content of its profiles. The appeals court refused to consider that argument because it wasn't presented in district court.

he 5th Circuit also noted that the girl, identified in court papers as Julie Doe, circumvented the Web site's safety features when she lied about her age. The girl was 13 but misrepresented herself as 18 years old when she created a MySpace profile in 2005. MySpace requires its users to be at least 14.

The girl was 14 when authorities say a 19-year-old man she met on MySpace sexually assaulted her in a Texas parking lot. The man was later indicted on a sexual assault charge punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

MySpace applauded the court's ruling and said it "takes the safety and security of our members very seriously."

"However, a lawsuit against MySpace was not the appropriate way to redress any harm to Julie Doe," the company said. "We continue to make our site even safer by creating new features and educating our users about online safety."

Gregory Coleman, a lawyer for the girl's family, said he was disappointed but needed more time to review the ruling before he could comment.

Source: CNN

Woman's dead body lies in flat for 35 years

2008-05-17T03:44:00.000-07:00

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) -- Governments have changed. War erupted and ended. Neighbors had children, and then grandchildren. But Hedviga Golik never left her tiny apartment in Croatia's capital -- until her mummified body was carried out this week, 35 years after she died.

Police said Friday that no one ever reported Golik missing and no one has come to claim her body.

Residents of her loft building in downtown Zagreb had broken into Golik's flat after deciding that the apartment should belong to them, and not to her. Startled by the remains in bed, they called police.

Forensics experts said Golik likely died in 1973, about the time a neighbor last saw her. Expert Davor Strinovic said she seemed to have died of natural causes, but "it's almost impossible to say for certain" after so much time.

Some of Golik's neighbors claimed she had talked about going abroad.

Experts said her windows had been open, likely diminishing the smell. It remained unclear who -- if anyone -- was paying her bills and who exactly owned the apartment. In the 1970s, when Golik died, apartments were state-owned.

Neighbors now argue the apartment should be divided among the remaining tenants.

The discovery of Golik's body on Tuesday prompted media debates on how it is possible for a woman to die so long ago without anyone noticing. One local journalist said it showed people were becoming more alienated.

"My dear neighbors! Please keep on being curious and a bit tiresome, as you have been so far," Merita Arslani wrote in the Jutarnji list daily.

Source: CNN

China Quake: More than 12,000 Dead

2008-05-14T01:06:00.000-07:00

China's death toll from a massive earthquake appeared to soar Wednesday as rescuers delved into some of the hardest-hit areas of the country's southwest.

The official death toll reported by state-run media stands at just over 12,000, but an unofficial tally of individual communities provided by the news services added up to 19,565.

Local officials said the quake killed more than 7,700 people in the town of Yingxiu -- about three-quarters of everyone who lived there, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Yingxiu is in hard-hit Sichuan province, where 20,000 Chinese soldiers have been mobilized for rescue and recovery, state media reported. Another 30,000 were en route to the region.

Rescuers found at least 500 dead Tuesday in the Chinese district at the epicenter of the magnitude 7.9 earthquake, while heavy rain, collapsed bridges and damaged roads complicated efforts to get troops and aid workers to the worst-hit towns.

The rain drove some people back inside homes even as more aftershocks rattled the region, witnesses reported.
The epicenter of Monday's quake was in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, about 1,500 km (960 miles) southwest of Beijing. Xinhua reported the death toll exceeded 12,000 before Wednesday's latest reports, with more than 26,000 injured, 7,800 missing and more than 9,400 trapped beneath debris.

During a visit to a school in Shifang, where more than 100 children were trapped beneath rubble, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao promised that saving lives was a top priority.

"We will put our best efforts forward to save all those alive who can be saved," he said. "This disaster has all tested us. We all have to band together and have confidence and push forward."

Wen also visited a stadium in the city of Mianyang, where more than 10,000 people have been temporarily resettled, Xinhua reported.

"The transportation of food must be faster," the news agency quoted him as telling government officials. "Children are short of food."

Hundreds of soldiers and disaster workers descended on Wenchuan, many of them digging by hand, according to the disaster relief headquarters of the Chengdu Military Area Command. Soldiers said only 3,000 of the town's 12,000 residents survived the quake.

More than 70 percent of the town's roads were damaged, and almost all bridges had collapsed, the soldiers reported.

All the beds were filled at Sichuan University Huaxi Hospital, one of the largest in the provincial capital of Chengdu.

Nurses said the most common injuries were broken bones, bruises and scrapes. State media reported thousands of victims had sought care at the hospital, where medical supplies were running low.

Fear of becoming trapped during an aftershock led about 200 people to sleep outside in cots, on lawn chairs and on the ground outside the hospital in an area intended for bicycles.

At the Third Military Medical University Southwest Hospital, state-run media reported that nurses and doctors were donating their own blood.

China is no stranger to natural disasters: A 1976 earthquake here killed more than 250,000 people. But analysts said the Chinese response to Monday's quake has been the most transparent of any disaster, with state media frequently updating casualty tolls and deploying troops rapidly to the worst-hit areas.

"The government was very secretive about it, which in turn allowed the disease the spread across China and Asia a lot quicker than it otherwise would have done," Leather told CNN. "This time they have been very open about it, which I think is maybe showing signs that lessons have been learned."

Li Chengyun, vice governor of Sichuan, said about 3.5 million homes were destroyed in the province. David Jones, an English teacher in the city of Chengdu, said residents were camping out on riverbanks, in parking lots and other open spaces, despite "terrible" weather.

"People are doing everything they can to stay outside," he said. "In a lot of cases, they can't return to their buildings."

He said survivors were lining up to donate blood and remained calm, but appeared "extremely tired."

"The people here have been really helpful to each other, making sure everybody has supplies," he said. "I haven't seen any price-gouging. The mood here has gone from shock, fear, to tiredness."

Wenchuan is the refuge for much of China's panda population, and the State Forestry Administration said the 67 captive pandas among the more than 130 pandas in the Wolong Giant Panda Reserve were not injured. However, the caregivers were worried about the bamboo leaf supply, the main source of food for the panda's.

In other developments Tuesday:

- U.S. White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said President Bush had spoken with China's President Hu Jintao in the morning. "He expressed his condolences on the earthquake and reiterated his offer to assist in any way possible," she said.

- China accepted a $500,000 U.S. contribution for relief efforts that will be given to the International Red Cross. The United States is "prepared to do more," said Ky Luu, director of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance for the U.S. Agency for International Development, but China has not requested aid from the United States.

- Zhen Yao Wang, a spokesman for China's civil administration department, said China is thankful for international assistance, "and we will make efforts to ensure that these materials and money will reach the disaster hit area as early as possible."

Source: CNN

8,600 Killed By Huge China Quake

2008-05-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

Thousands of people have been killed by Monday's powerful earthquake in just one affected region of central China, its government said, with the toll expected to keep rising as bodies are retrieved from schools, homes and factories.

In addition, at least 48 people were killed in the northwest Gansu Province, Xinhua said.

Several hundred students were also feared to be buried in collapsed school buildings, the agency said.

China's Seismological Bureau said the earthquake had affected more than half the country's provinces and municipalities.

U.S. President George W. Bush released a statement saying his country "stands ready to help in any way possible."

"I am particularly saddened by the number of students and children affected by this tragedy," Bush said.

China's government is releasing $2.89 million to respond to the disaster, Xinhua reported. China's Red Cross has dispatched 557 tents, 2,500 quilts and other aid to the disaster zone, Chinese television reported.

The state relief disaster commission declared a level-two emergency, the second-highest level out of four, to cope with the aftermath of the quake, Chinese television reported.

In Sichuan's Shifang city, the quake buried hundreds of people in two collapsed chemical plants, and more than 80 tons of ammonia leaked out, Xinhua said.

The local government evacuated 6,000 civilians from the area after homes and factories were also destroyed.The Chinese government said at least 8,600 people were dead, but that the death toll was sure to rise as authorities began to reach some of the worst-hit areas. Thousands more were believed to be injured.

Xinhua, the state-run news agency, reported that authorities were yet to reach Wenchuan County -- which sits at the epicenter of the 7.9-magnitude earthquake with a population of about 112,000 -- because of damage to roads.

In Beichuan County, close to Wenchuan, the number of deaths was estimated at more than 3,000, with 80 percent of the buildings destroyed.

CNN

Myanmar: Death toll more than 15,000

2008-05-05T23:58:00.000-07:00

YANGON, Myanmar -- The death toll from the Myanmar cyclone is more than 15,000 people, Myanmar's government has said, with at least 10,000 killed in the township of Bogalay alone, according to the Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua.

Survivors were facing their third night without electricity in the aftermath of the historic cyclone that also clogged roads with thousands of downed trees.

Diplomats were summoned to a government briefing Monday as the reclusive southeast Asian country's ruling military junta issued a rare appeal for international assistance in the face of an escalating humanitarian crisis.

A state of emergency was declared across much of the country following the 10-hour storm that left swathes of destruction in its wake.
The death toll of more than 15,000, official sources told Xinhua, makes the weekend cyclone the deadliest natural disaster to hit Myanmar in recent history, according to figures compiled by a U.N.-funded disaster database.

The toll eclipses that from a 1926 wind storm that killed about 2,700 people in the country, according to the database.

The assessment is bleak, Kyi Minn of the international aid group World Vision told CNN Tuesday.

"It could be worse than (the) tsunami," Minn said, comparing the cyclone's impact on Myanmar to the damage caused there following the tsunami that struck the region in late 2004.
That tsunami was triggered by a a massive earthquake off the coast of Indonesia. It killed more than 150,000 across the region.

Minn said clean drinking water, food, medicine and shelter are all at a premium in southern Myanmar.

The government of neighboring Thailand said Myanmar's leaders had already requested food, medical supplies and construction equipment, AP reported. The first plane-load of supplies was due to arrive Tuesday, a Thai spokesman said.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement he was "deeply saddened by the loss of life and the destruction suffered by the people of Myanmar" and pledged to mobilize international aid and assistance as needed.

A United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination team is on stand-by to assist the government in responding to humanitarian needs if required, the statement said.
Scenes of the destruction showed extensive flooding, boats on their sides in Yangon harbor, roofs ripped off buildings, uprooted trees and downed power lines after cyclone Nargis battered the Irrawaddy delta with 150 mile (240 km/h) an hour winds throughout Friday night and Saturday morning, dumping 20 inches of rain.

Residents of Yangon trudged through knee-deep swirling brown waters Monday as the delta city remained mostly without electricity and phone connections.

The U.S. Embassy in Myanmar has issued a "disaster declaration" in the country and authorized the release of $250,000 for cyclone relief efforts, Deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Monday.

A disaster relief team is standing by, Casey said, but the Myanmar government had not given permission for the team to enter the country.

U.S. first lady Laura Bush blasted the military government, saying the lack of warning before the deadly cyclone hit was the latest example of "the junta's failure to meet its people's basic needs."
Hakan Tongkul, with the United Nation's World Food Programme, said residents in Yangon needed urgent assistance. "This has pushed people to the edge. All that they have has been blown away."

Michael Annear, regional disaster manger for the Red Cross, said the group was helping provide safe drinking water.

Relief agencies met at the United Nations' Bangkok headquarters Monday to coordinate their response to the disaster. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it had released 200,000 Swiss Francs (about $190,000) to help with the aftermath.

A state of emergency was declared Sunday across five regions: the city of Yangon, Irrawaddy, Pegu and the states of Karen and Mon. All flights to Yangon, the former capital, were canceled.
"Most Burmese with whom we've been in touch report they lost their roofs, although so far everyone we have been able to contact reports that they and their families are safe," said a Yangon-based diplomat who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Most telephone and cell phone service was down in Yangon, a city of about 6.5 million people, according to Dan Rivers, a CNN correspondent in the country.In some places, the price of fuel had quadrupled to $10 a gallon. Even with that price lines for gas stretched around the block and some sought to buy gas on the black market.

The main water supply has been cut in many areas and power lines are down, Rivers reported.
Earlier Monday, an editor for an independent Myanmar newspaper based in Thailand told CNN that people in the Southeast Asian nation were angry over the response to the disaster by the ruling military junta.

"People are very angry with the slow response coming from the military government," said Aung Zaw of Irrawaddy news magazine.

Khin Maung Win, a spokesman for the Democratic Voice of Burma -- a broadcast media group run by opposition expatriates -- said the whole of the delta region had been affected and entire villages had disappeared.

Pictures from inside the country showed a cyclone-ravaged region with tin huts crushed under trees. Bicyclists navigated around large branches that littered the deserted roads.
A man with his pant legs rolled up waded through knee-deep water and strained to clear massive limbs that were blocking the entrance to a house.

Despite widespread damage, Myanmar's junta plans to proceed with a referendum on the country's constitution on May 10 -- the fourth step of a "seven-step road map to democracy" -- according to state-run media reports. Learn more about Myanmar »
A critic of Myanmar's government said the referendum must be postponed.

"They would be very stupid to go ahead with it," said Khin Maung Win with Democratic Voice of Burma, a broadcast media group run by opposition expatriates. "Thousands of people are dying or missing. It is very difficult to get around or get food and water. How can people vote?"
Myanmar, formerly called Burma, last held multi-party elections in 1990, when Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy handily won. The military junta ignored the results. Suu Kyi, who is currently under house arrest, has been in detention without trial for more than 12 of the past 18 years.

Source: CNN

Josef Fritzl: Father who built the House of Horror?

2008-04-29T10:31:00.000-07:00

As the world reacts with shock to the news that a man held his daughter captive for 24 years and fathered her seven children, police, medical professionals and those who know Josef Fritzl have begun to piece together just what sort of man he is.

What is evident is that Fritzl, a 73-year-old retired electrician was somehow able to lead a double life for more than two decades.

At his home on Ybbsstrasse in the quiet town of Amstetten, east of Vienna, he lived with his wife Rosemarie and their three children.

But with them also lived three of the children Fritzl fathered by his daughter Elisabeth, imprisoned in a basement dungeon with another three of the children she bore after being raped by her father.

Fritzl told his wife that his missing daughter had dropped the unwanted children off at the house because she could not take care of them, police said, forcing his daughter to write letters to strengthen his case.

It was a deception he maintained from 1984 until just days ago.

Police spokesman Franz Polzer said that Rosemarie Fritzl was unaware of the deception. "Let me also add that we know the suspect not only possessed an increased sexual potency, he's also very dynamic, imperious and quite authoritarian in his conduct and relationship to his existing family," Polzer told a news conference Monday.

Polzer added that Fritzl made clear to his wife and the children living with them that the basement area was out of bounds. He bought food for his captives and took it to them in evening.

Medical professionals have also offered their interpretations of the character of Fritzl.

Clinical psychologist Dr. Kristina Downing-Orr told CNN: "What is chilling about this case is the cold, sociopathic detachment that Josef F[ritzl] went through year after year, decades even, to hide his crimes.

"It was as if there was no remorse, no empathy for his daughter, for his grandchildren, for his wife. That's what's chilling."

She said that Fritzl, who his daughter has said abused her since the age of 11, possibly didn't want the relationship to end when she turned 18 -- the age at which he first imprisoned her.

"Perhaps she would go out and have boyfriends of her own," Downing-Orr told CNN, "perhaps he was a bit afraid he would be caught, that she would go out and tell people, and that led him to imprison her in this dungeon basement."

"It's that chilling sociopathic methodology, that kind of logic, that I find particularly chilling. But fortunately it's very rare, we rarely see that kind of behavior."

Meanwhile Austrian psychiatrist Reinhard Haller told The Associated Press: "This man must have been insane and must have felt he was far superior to others."

Haller added that the retired electrician seemed to have a pronounced narcissism and desire to wield control that might go some way to explaining why the imprisonment of her daughter and children carried on for so long.

Meanwhile Sigrun Rossmanith, a court psychiatrist, said in comments reported by AP that Fritzl consisted of two personalities, "the underground one, and the one that existed above."

"If someone has power and forces it on someone else, then his word is like the word of God," added Rossmanith.

CNN's Phil Black, reporting from Amstetten, said: "People here say this is difficult to understand or accept because their [the Fritzls} reputation in this community was as the kindly grandparents for taking in these children and raising them."

A woman in Amstetten , identified only as Gabriele H., told Austria's Kurier newspaper she thought Fritzl was a devoted grandfather doing his best to look after his abandoned grandchildren, "one who looks after their grandchildren whilst their mother just ran away. We were all asking ourselves what kind of mother would do that to their children?," she said.

"Mr. Fritzl and I grew up together" Erika Manhalter, who lives a few meters away from the Fritzl home, told Kurier. "We thought this would be a family just like others, but you cannot look through people."

Fritzl "was friendly -- that's why this is so unbelievable," Franz Redl, 56, who owns a shop across the street, told The Associated Press. "I'm sure the authorities did all they could. He planned everything so perfectly."

From Fritzl himself there has been no word on why he did what he did. At a news conference Monday, police said they were currently only interested in the facts of the case.

Rudolf Mayer, Fritzl's lawyer, asked if his client had demonstrated any regret, said in comments reported by AP: "I cannot say at this point."

Howard Stern contributor dies at 39

2008-04-28T11:50:00.000-07:00

Comedian Kenneth Keith Kallenbach, a long-running member of Howard Stern's "Wack Pack," has died after falling ill in jail. He was 39.

Kallenbach contracted pneumonia while in custody on a charge of attempted child abduction. He died Thursday at Riddle Memorial Hospital near Media, his mother, Fay Kallenbach, said Friday.

She said her son suffered from the chronic ailment cystic fibrosis and officials at the Delaware County jail near Philadelphia had failed to properly care for him. A county official said he had been cared for promptly.

Stern first reported the news on his Sirius Satellite Radio show Thursday.

Kallenbach, whose goofball antics included attempting to blow smoke from his eyes, made dozens of appearances on Stern's show beginning in 1990. While Kallenbach appeared on the show less frequently in recent years, his name was well-known to Stern fans.

Stern once likened him to MTV's Beavis and Butt-head and wrote in his 1993 book "Private Parts" that Kallenbach was the "ultimate airhead."

More recently, Kallenbach, of Boothwyn, Pennsylvania, appeared in commercials for ESPN's "Monday Night Football" and Stride chewing gum. He also appeared on Jay Leno's "Tonight" show on NBC and had uncredited parts in HBO's "Sex and the City" and the Tom Cruise film "Jerry Maguire."

Kallenbach was arrested in Upper Chichester Township, Pennsylvania, in mid-March on a charge of attempted child abduction after he was accused of trying to pull a girl into his car. He had denied any wrongdoing.

He posted bail, but was returned to custody for violating the terms of his probation. Kallenbach, who was convicted of drunken driving in 1999, pleaded guilty last May to driving without an ignition interlock device.

His mother accused the Delaware County Prison, as the jail is known, of failing to provide adequate medical care. She said her son called her a few days before his death and begged her to intervene.

"They weren't treating him properly for his disease and this is how he contracted pneumonia," Fay Kallenbach said.

Cystic fibrosis causes thick, sticky mucus to build up in the lungs and digestive system and can be fatal.

John A. Reilly Jr., acting superintendent of the prison, said he was "shocked" by the mother's allegation because she had previously thanked the jail for the care her son received.

"What more did she want us to do?" he said.

He said Kallenbach was taken to the prison hospital and placed on oxygen, then rushed to Riddle as his condition started to deteriorate.

Obama's ex-pastor delivers spirited speech to NAACP

2008-04-28T00:28:00.000-07:00

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor told an audience of thousands at an NAACP dinner Sunday that he was "descriptive" but "not divisive" when he talks about race relations in America

"I describe the conditions in this country," the Rev. Jeremiah Wright said during his lively keynote address at the 53rd NAACP's Freedom Fund dinner in Detroit, Michigan.
"Conditions divide, not my descriptions," he said.

"I am sorry your local political analysts and your neighboring county executives think my being here is polarizing and my sermons are divisive, but I'm not here to address an analyst's opinion," he said. "I am here to address your 2008 theme ... (of) change is going to come."
Wright is a retired pastor from the the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois, where Obama worships.

Earlier this year, some of Wright's outspoken sermons, circulated and widely discussed on the Internet and on television, became an issue in the Democratic presidential race because of the former pastor's ties to Obama.

In one sermon, Wright said America had brought the September 11 attacks upon itself. In another, he said Sen. Hillary Clinton had an advantage over Obama because she is white.

Obama gave a speech on race relations during the height of the controversy with Wright and said he rejected Wright's racially charged comments but could not repudiate the man himself.

"I'm not here for political reasons," Wright said Sunday. "I am not a politician. I know that fact will surprise many of you because many in the corporate-owned media have made it seem as if I had announced that I'm running to for the Oval Office. I am not running for the Oval Office," he said.

"I've been running for Jesus a long, long time, and I'm not tired yet."
The Rev. Wendell Anthony, who introduced Wright, told the retired pastor to "keep on preaching."

He said, "It's not about man's acceptance. It's about God's approval."

In Wright's lengthy, colorful address, he delineated what he felt the differences were between African-Americans and white Americans, including those in music, linguistics and education.

"Different does not mean deficient," he emphasized.
Discussing worship, he said, "We just do it different and some of our haters can't get their head around that."

Of the NAACP's theme, Wright said, "Many of us are committed to changing this world we live in so our children and our grandchildren will have a world in which to live in to grow in, to learn in, to love in and pass on to their children."

"A change is going to come. Can you feel it? Can you see it? Can you imagine it? Then come on, let's claim it."

'Hannah Montana' says she's embarrassed by Vanity Fair photo

2008-04-28T00:21:00.000-07:00

Teen superstar Miley Cyrus -- better known as Hannah Montana -- apologized Sunday after Vanity Fair magazine published provocative photos of her.

"I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be 'artistic' and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed," Cyrus said in a statement her publicist released. "I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my fans, who I care so deeply about."
The 15-year-old Cyrus, daughter of country music star Billy Ray Cyrus, stars as an ordinary teenager with a double life as a rock star on the Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana." The channel says "Hannah Montana" is the top-rated cable television show for children aged 6 to 14, reaching more than 164 million viewers around the world.

Cyrus completed a 70-date tour this year that sold out venues nationwide, starred in a movie that ranked number one in February and saw two albums rocket toward the top of the charts.

An article about her appears in the June issue of Vanity Fair, along with several photos. The article and photos already have been published on Vanity Fair's Web site.
One photo shows Cyrus topless but clutching a sheet to her chest, her bare back exposed, looking toward the camera over one shoulder.

A caption alongside the photo reads: "Um, was Cyrus -- or Disney -- at all anxious about this shot?" It then quotes Cyrus as saying: "No, I mean I had a blanket on. And I thought, 'This looks pretty, and really natural.' I think it's really artsy."
The photos were taken by Annie Leibovitz, a renowned photographer known for her portraits of celebrities.

The magazine refers to the "topless but demure portrait" as Leibovitz's idea and quotes Cyrus as saying, "It wasn't in a skanky way ... And you can't say no to Annie. She's so cute. She gets this puppy dog look and you're like, 'O.K.'"
A Disney Channel spokesman, Patti McTeague, said in a statement on Sunday that the photos were meant to sell magazines.

"Unfortunately, as the article suggests, a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines," her statement said.

From CNN

Train collision kills 66 in China

2008-04-28T00:17:00.000-07:00

The death toll in a collision between two passenger trains rose to at least 66 in eastern China's Shandong province on Monday, according to China's official news agency.

More than 400 were injured, 70 of them in critical condition, Xinhua cited railway authorities as saying. Among them were four French citizens, according to Xinhua.

The wreck happened in the city of Zibo at 4:43 a.m., the report said. A train from Beijing bound for Qingdao derailed and crashed into a train traveling from Yantai to Xuzhou, Xinhua reported.
News photos showed carriages of one train lying on their side.

The accident disrupted traffic on the Jinan-Qingdao railway, Xinhua reported.
The head of the Ministry of Railways, Liu Zhijun, was headed to the site to oversee rescue efforts, The Associated Press cited the Web site of the Shandong government as saying.

In January, 18 people died when a train slammed into a group of about 100 workers carrying out track maintenance near the city of Anqiu in Shandong province, Xinhua reported.

Zimbabwe recount confirms opposition party's win

2008-04-27T05:48:00.000-07:00

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- A recount of disputed parliamentary seats has confirmed opposition control of parliament and should be complete Monday, allowing the release of results of the presidential election, state media reported Sunday.

The Sunday Mail said the recount of 18 of 23 contested seats confirmed the initial results.

Even if the opposition lost the last five districts, it would still hold the majority in parliament for the first time since independence from Britain in 1980.

Original results of the March 29 elections showed that opposition groups won 110 seats to President Robert Mugabe party's 97. Three seats are vacant, awaiting by-elections after the deaths of candidates.

The Sunday Mail newspaper, a government mouthpiece, said the state Electoral Commission planned to invite Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai or their polling agents to a final "verification and collation exercise" on their presidential tallies on Monday.

"The process of feeding recounted statistics into our systems has already begun. We trust by Monday, April 28 this process will have been concluded," said Judge George Chiweshe, head of the electoral commission, the paper reported.

After that, tallies from the presidential race would be scrutinized by the candidates or their representatives before results are given, he said.

Leaving room for a further delay, Chiweshe said election authorities agreed each party would collate its own figures during the final verification stage.

The electoral commission on Saturday confirmed the results in 10 disputed parliamentary votes: six seats were taken by the opposition and four by Mugabe's ZANU-PF party in the March 29 election.

Tallies from the additional eight recounted seats have not been released but Chiweshe told reporters Saturday there were no significant differences between the two counts, effectively confirming the opposition's control of the main 210-seat House of Assembly.

Mugabe, believed to have lost the presidential race, has been accused of using delays, fraud and violence to hold onto power. Even if he retains the presidency, he will have to deal with a defiant parliament.

The opposition and an independent Zimbabwean observer group say the opposition also won the presidential race, basing their conclusions on their own surveys of results posted at individual polling stations. But electoral laws require a presidential run-off if neither main candidate won more than 50 percent of the vote.

On Friday, security forces raided the offices of the opposition and the independent observers, seizing materials related to the count.

Police confirmed Saturday that they arrested 215 people in a raid on opposition headquarters in Harare.

They also said they searched the offices of the observer group, the independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network, looking for evidence that the Western-funded organization bribed state election officials to rig polling results.

The oppositions said those arrested were seeking refuge in the capital Harare after being attacked by ruling party loyalists in the countryside.

Human rights lawyer Alec Muchadehama said 24 children, "some still suckling," were among the detained and that there were reports of widespread beatings in police stations.

Hundreds of opposition supporters have been abducted, tortured and assaulted in recent weeks in what independent religious and human rights groups call a violent crackdown on dissent.

The clampdown and delay in announcing the presidential results has prompted international condemnation.

America's top envoy on Africa, Jendayi Frazer, was Sunday in Zambia, whose president has been unusually critical of his Zimbabwean counterpart. Frazer has called for regional leaders to demand an end to intimidation by security forces and to work with the United States to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, a Mugabe loyalist, criticized Frazer for her statements earlier in the week backing claims that Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the presidential vote, Zimbabwean state media reported Saturday.

Chinamasa called Frazer's remarks "patently false, inflammatory, irresponsible and uncalled-for."

Though presidential results had not been completed, tallies posted outside polling stations "point to a runoff" between Mugabe and Tsvangirai, he said.

From CNN

Police: Daughter kept in cellar for 24 years

2008-04-27T05:46:00.000-07:00

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- A father allegedly kept his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years, Austrian police said Sunday.

A spokesman for Lower Austrian police told The Associated Press that an investigation was under way, but that authorities believed the woman had been missing since 1984 and she appeared to have been held captive in her father's cellar ever since.

He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with police procedure and declined to give more details. A news conference was announced for later Sunday afternoon.

Austrian broadcaster ORF, citing authorities, said the victim was a 42-year-old woman and that the man fathered four children with his daughter, including a 19-year-old woman who is currently hospitalized in the Lower Austrian town of Amstetten in very serious condition.

The report identified the father as a 73-year-old man.

According to ORF, the teenager was found unconscious in the man's house last weekend and authorities had been searching for her mother ever since.

Source: CNN

Indian billionaire tops British rich list

2008-04-27T05:42:00.000-07:00

Despite the global credit crisis, the collective wealth of Britain's 1,000 richest people increased by almost 15 percent last year to £413 billion ($819 billion), according to a list published by the Sunday Times newspaper.

The newspaper's annual Rich List ranked steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal as Britain's wealthiest man for the fourth year running.

It put the Indian-born tycoon's fortune at £27.7 billion ($55 billion), up more than £8 billion from last year.

Russian oil magnate Roman Abramovich, owner of London's Chelsea football team, was in second place, with wealth of £11.7 billion pounds ($23.2 billion).

The Duke of Westminster, Gerald Grosvenor, was in third place with £7 billion ($14 billion). He owns huge parcels of land in central London and elsewhere.

Indian-born industrialists Ari and Gopi Hinduja were in fourth place with wealth of £6.2 billion ($12.4 billion). Russian steel and mining magnate Alisher Usmanov was ranked fifth with wealth of £5.7 billion ($11.4 billion).

The newspaper said more than half of Britain's 75 billionaires, and 14 of the 20 richest people, were foreign-born.

Queen Elizabeth II -- the country's richest person when the Rich List was first published in 1989 -- now ranks 264th, with a personal wealth of £320 million pounds ($640 million). The estimate no longer includes the vast royal art collection, which is now considered to belong to the nation.

Philip Beresford, who compiled the list, said "much of the rise in this year's wealth can be attributed to one factor -- the number of foreign rich who have made London or its environs the main home and base of operation."

He said the 11 years since the ostensibly leftist Labour Party was elected to power in 1997 had seen "a boon for the super-rich, rarely seen before in modern British history."

From CNN

San Diego beaches shut down after fatal shark attack

2008-04-26T12:40:00.000-07:00

Beaches along the San Diego, California, coast will be closed Saturday after a 66-year-old man was fatally attacked by what authorities suspect was a great white shark.

Dave Martin, a retired veterinarian, was pronounced dead shortly after the incident, which occurred about 7 a.m. Friday (10 a.m. ET) at Solana Beach, California.

Martin was in a group of nine swimmers "when he was bitten across both thighs by what is believed to be a great white shark," according to a statement issued by the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.

"Some of the other swimmers looked back to see the victim up out of the water flailing, and (he) was pulled back under the water. He came up screaming and was helped to shore by four of the swimmers."

Martin was taken to a nearby lifeguard station, and a medical helicopter was called in, but he apparently bled to death at the scene, the statement said.

Deputy Fire Chief Dismas Abelman said Martin suffered severe injuries to both his legs, although his body was intact. He was pronounced dead at 7:49 a.m

The incident occurred in the Fletcher Cove area of Solana Beach near a popular surf spot known as Table Tops, one of the main access areas to Solana Beach, said Sheriff's Lt. Mike McClain.

A sheriff's helicopter was scanning the beaches for the shark, and nearby beaches were contacted, Solana Beach officials said in a statement posted on the city's Web site.

Swimmers were ordered out of the water, and a 72-hour swimming advisory was posted for an 8-mile stretch of beach, said Capt. Craig Miller of the city's marine safety department.

The beaches remain closed and will be patrolled throughout the weekend, city and county officials told The Associated Press.

City officials noted, however, that they were not trying to capture or kill the shark. Great white sharks are protected by law in California.

"I would say from my examination of the wounds on the victim and also the narrative that I got about how the attack happened that this almost certainly was a great white shark," said Richard Rosenblatt, professor emeritus of marine biology at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography.

"I was told that the victim was pushed up out of the water in a violent attack, and that's just typical of white shark feeding behavior. They normally feed on seals," Rosenblatt said. "They attack from below, make a tremendous powerful rush, make a powerful bite and then pull away and wait for the seal or other marine mammal to bleed to death, and then come back."

Although there is not a population of great white sharks in the area, females do come down from colder waters to give birth and then return, he said.

In addition, such sharks are remarkable swimmers. A shark tagged off Monterey, California, turned up in Hawaii, Rosenblatt said, and one tagged in South Africa was found in Australia.

The wounds "were really quite clean and massive," Rosenblatt said, and typical of those a great white might leave. If tooth fragments are found at autopsy, he said, it might be possible to identify the type of shark. However, he said, finding the shark that attacked Martin is unlikely.

Martin leaves behind a family "and a lot of friends that loved him," said Rob Hill, a friend of the family.

From CNN

Bell's fiancee: 'They killed Sean all over again'

2008-04-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

A day after three New York police detectives were acquitted on all counts in the case of Sean Bell -- an unarmed man killed in a hail of 50 police gunshots -- his fiancee told supporters that the justice system let her down.

"On April 25, 2008, they killed Sean all over again," Nicole Paultre Bell told supporters at a rally organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton.

"That's what it felt like to us. That's what it felt like to us," she said Saturday. "Yesterday, they -- the justice system -- let me down. I gave them the benefit of the doubt," she said. "I'm still praying for justice because it's not over. It's far from over."

Bell spoke after Sharpton criticized the judge who acquitted the three officers, saying the case should have been heard by a jury.

"If people are on the public payroll, doing their public duty, they should be required to face a public jury," Sharpton said at the National Action Network headquarters.

The officers chose to have a judge instead of a jury.

Sharpton said the victims were unfairly portrayed as dishonest.

"These three families have had to endure and have had to abide through the most, in my judgment, scandalous denigration of victims that I've seen in my lifetime," he said.

On Friday, Justice Arthur Cooperman cleared Detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora of manslaughter, assault and reckless endangerment in the death of Sean Bell. Detective Marc Cooper was cleared of reckless endangerment.

Bell, 23, died in November 2006 in a 50-bullet barrage -- 31 fired by Oliver -- hours before he was to be married. Two of his companions were wounded in the gunfire outside a Queens nightclub.

Alexander Jason, an expert witness for the defense, produced a video demonstrating how quickly Oliver could have fired off 31 rounds, including a pause to reload. iReport.com: Watch the video

The three officers made brief statements more than four hours after the verdict.

"I want to say sorry to Bell family for the tragedy," Cooper said.

Isnora thanked the judge "for his fair and accurate decision today."

Oliver praised Cooperman "for a fair and just decision."

Patrick Lynch, president of the New York Police Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, said "there's no winners; there's no losers" in the case.

"We still have a death that occurred. We still have police officers that have to live with the fact that there was a death involved in their case," Lynch said.

But, he added, the verdict assured police officers that they will be treated fairly in New York's courts.

In announcing the verdict, Cooperman said he found problems with the prosecution's case. He said some prosecution witnesses contradicted themselves, and he cited prior convictions and incarcerations of witnesses.

"At times, the testimony just didn't make sense," Cooperman said, according to a transcript released by his office.

He also cited the demeanor of some witnesses on the stand.

Bell was killed just before dawn on his wedding day, November 25, 2006. He and several friends were winding up an all-night bachelor party at the Kalua Club in Queens, a strip club that was under investigation by a NYPD undercover unit looking into complaints of guns, drugs and prostitution.

Undercover detectives were inside the club, and plainclothes officers were stationed outside.

Witnesses said that about 4 a.m., closing time, as Bell and his friends left the club, an argument broke out. Believing that one of Bell's friends, Joseph Guzman, was going to get a gun from Bell's car, one of the undercover detectives followed the men and called for backup.

What happened next was at the heart of the trial, prosecuted by the assistant district attorney in Queens.

Bell, Guzman and Trent Benefield got into the car, with Bell at the wheel. The detectives drew their weapons, said Guzman and Benefield, who testified that they never heard the plainclothes detectives identify themselves as police.

Bell was in a panic to get away from the armed men, his friends testified.

But the detectives thought Bell was trying to run down one of them, believed that their lives were in danger and started shooting, according to their lawyers.

A total of 50 bullets were fired by five NYPD officers. Only three were charged with crimes.

No gun was found near Bell or his friends.

Paultre Bell, Guzman and Benefield have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in federal court that has been stayed pending the outcome of the criminal trial.

Federal prosecutors will conduct a review to determine whether there were any civil rights violations, Brown said. Soon after Bell's death, his fiancee changed her name to Nicole Paultre Bell. She is now raising the couple's two daughters, ages 5 and 1

From CNN

Palestinians: Hamas leader's child killed in Gaza raid

2008-04-26T12:20:00.000-07:00

The daughter of a senior member of Hamas was killed and her two siblings and mother were wounded in an exchange of fire with Israel Defense Forces, who surrounded the house Saturday morning, Palestinian security forces said.

At the end of the exchange of fire, which killed 14-year-old Mariam Marouf, her father Talat Marouf was arrested, the sources said. The house is in Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza.

An IDF spokeswoman confirmed that IDF surrounded the house of a Hamas suspect on Saturday morning.

Armed Palestinians fired from inside the house at the troops while the family was still inside, she said.

Israeli forces also launched two airstrikes in the raid, targeting Palestinian militants who approached the troops, she said.

The family eventually requested to evacuate the house, the IDF spokeswoman said, and the forces agreed. The Hamas operative turned himself in afterward, she said.

She did not say if anyone died in the airstrikes against Palestinian militants.

From CNN

Pirates free Spanish boat, crew

2008-04-26T11:58:00.000-07:00

The crew of a Spanish fishing boat seized by pirates last week off the coast of Somalia has been freed, officials said Saturday, and the boat was being escorted to the Seychelles Islands.

Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, deputy prime minister of Spain, said in a news conference that all 26 crew members of the Playa de Bakio are being brought to safety.

She said the tuna boat "has been liberated" and was navigating on its own, headed toward the Seychelles escorted by a Spanish naval frigate. The crew, de la Vega said, is in "perfect condition."

The boat was seized Sunday. On Monday, Spanish state radio RNE reported the pirates had demanded a ransom payment for the release of the crew.

Asked on Saturday whether a ransom was paid, de la Vega said, "I can't give you details." But she said the "kidnappers" abandoned the boat, allowing it to sail away with the frigate.

The government had received the news about 5 p.m., she said.

"We're satisfied, because we have preserved the safety of the crew and diplomacy has worked," she said

But, she added, the Spanish government is working with its allies in the United Nations to prevent such piracy from happening again.

The Playa de Bakio could take a few days to reach the Seychelles.

The government had sent the frigate in response to the hijacking and sent Spain's ambassador to Kenya, the closest nation to Somalia. Spain also sent some planes into the region.

Half the crew of the boat are Spanish nationals from the Basque and Galicia regions of the country.

On Monday, RNE reported it had called the ship several times and that during a brief conversation, a man who was apparently a pirate told them in English the demand was for money, according to Ana Rosa Alonso, RNE's master control room chief.

Alonso said the man claimed there were four heavily armed pirates. In another call, a man who said in Spanish that he was the boat's captain assured listeners, "We are all right, and for the moment there's no problem."

The Spanish Foreign Ministry said the incident with the Playa de Bakio occurred in Somali waters, but it was not immediately known how far the ship was located from the coast.

Earlier this month, more than a dozen pirates seized a French yacht off the Somali coast and held its 30-member crew hostage for a week. No passengers were on board. The hostages eventually were freed, and six of the pirates are in French custody after a raid in the Somali desert.

U.S. and NATO warships have been patrolling off the Horn of Africa for several years in an effort to crack down on piracy of long-lawless Somalia, where a U.N.-backed transitional government and Ethiopian troops are now battling Islamist insurgents.

But the pirate seizures have continued despite several run-ins between the pirates and the international fleet in recent months.

From CNN

Japan aims to launch paper plane in space

2008-03-27T03:36:00.000-07:00

KASHIWA, Japan (AP) -- Japanese scientists and origami masters hope to launch a paper airplane from space and learn from its journey back to Earth.

A prototype passed a durability test in a wind tunnel this month and Japan's space agency adopted it Wednesday for feasibility studies.

A successful flight from space by an origami plane could have far-reaching implications for the design of re-entry vehicles or space probes for upper atmospheric exploration, said project leader Shinji Suzuki, a professor at Tokyo University's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

In a test outside Tokyo in early February, a prototype about 2.8 inches long and 2 inches wide survived Mach 7 speeds and broiling temperatures up to 446 degrees Fahrenheit in a hypersonic wind tunnel.

Source: CNN

Man gets 25 years for microwaving baby

2008-03-27T03:27:00.000-07:00

GALVESTON, Texas (AP) -- A jury sentenced a young father Wednesday to 25 years in prison for severely burning his infant daughter after putting her in a microwave and turning it on for up to 20 seconds.

Joshua Mauldin was teary-eyed after hearing the sentence. His mother sobbed loudly in the courtroom.

The jury had convicted Mauldin on Tuesday of felony injury to a child, rejecting his claims that he was insane when he put his daughter Ana in the microwave last year.
Prosecutors had wanted him sentenced to the maximum of life in prison. Still, Galveston County prosecutor Xochitl Vandiver said she was satisfied with the sentence.

"It's extremely important for people to know that just because this case was sensational, it doesn't mean that (child abuse) goes away," she said. "Child abuse is an important issue. It should be focused on."

Sam Cammack III, Mauldin's attorney, had asked jurors to consider his client's long history of mental illness and sentence him to probation so he could be treated at a hospital.

"He still doesn't get the treatment for mental illness that he needs," Cammack said. "He's not going to get that in prison."
Jurors deliberated for 61/2 hours over two days before sentencing Mauldin. They also fined him $10,000.
More on CNN...

Robin Williams, wife divorcing after 19 years

2008-03-27T03:23:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- After nearly 19 years of marriage, Robin Williams and his wife are getting divorced.

Marsha Garces Williams filed a petition for dissolution of marriage on March 21 in San Francisco Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences.

The two met when Garces Williams worked as a nanny for Williams' son Zachary, whom he had with his previous wife, Valerie Valardi.

Robin and Garces Williams also have two children together, Zelda and Cody.
Williams, 56, won an Academy Award for his role in the film "Good Will Hunting." He also starred in the 1980s sitcom "Mork & Mindy," and has acted in a number of movies including "Dead Poets Society" and "Patch Adams."

Williams' agent Mara Buxbaum confirmed that the couple is splitting, but had no further comment. An attorney for his estranged wife would not comment on the case.

Source: CNN

Report: Fireworks blast kills 25 in China

2008-03-27T03:20:00.000-07:00

BEIJING, China (AP) -- Firecrackers that had been trucked to the desert in northwest China to be destroyed have exploded as they were dumped into a ditch, killing 25 people and leaving five others missing.
China Central Television reported that nine people were injured by the blast Wednesday evening in the northwest region of Xinjiang, including two who were in critical condition.

The accident happened in the Gobi Desert outside the city of Turpan. Footage aired on CCTV showed a large patch of brown sand that had been burned black and several sport utility vehicles reduced to charred shells. One was flipped on its back.

CCTV said 904 boxes of firecrackers had been scheduled to be destroyed.

Source: CNN

U.S. jets escort Russian bombers off Alaska coast

2008-03-27T03:13:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON -- Two U.S. Air Force F-15s escorted two Russian Bear long-range bombers out of an air exclusion zone off the coast of Alaska, U.S. military officials said Wednesday.

U.S. radar picked up the Russian turbo-prop Tupolev-95 planes about 500 miles off the Alaska coast.

The U.S. fighters from Elmendorf Air Force Base were dispatched to meet the bombers and escorted them out of the area without incident, the officials said.The United States maintains the air exclusion zone off the coast of Alaska, barring unidentified aircraft or aircraft that don't file flight plans inside that area.

The last case of Russian aircraft approaching the U.S. coastline or ships in the Pacific was in February. Then, four Bear bombers flew near the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, with one of them flying about 2,000 feet from the Nimitz's deck.Russia's Defense Ministry said at the time there was no violation of flight regulations during the incident. A ministry official described the flights as standard operating procedure for air force training. Meanwhile, U.S. military officials say the incidents are not a concern. They say it's the Russian military flexing its ability and presence.

Source: CNN

Police 'Considering' Britney Drugging Allegations

2008-03-04T09:38:00.001-08:00

Police in Los Angeles say they are looking into allegations that Britney Spears was drugged, the Associated Press and TMZ are reporting.

In a statement to AP, Police Captain Kyle Jackson says the claims "are being considered," though a formal investigation has not been launched. The Robbery-Homicide division will determine what, if any, laws have been violated.

Jackson added that no suspect has been identified.

Britney's mother, Lynne Spears, claimed in recent court papers that the pop star's former manager Sam Lutfi drugged her, cut her home phone and yelled at her.

The allegations resulted in a restraining order against Lutfi, who is prohibited from coming within 250 yards of the singer.

Spears, 26, remains under a court-ordered conservatorship.

Source: PEOPLE

Justin Timberlake Shakes Up Southern Town

2008-03-04T09:30:00.000-08:00

The town of Hammond, La., may be just 20 miles south of Britney Spears's old stomping grounds of Kentwood, but it's her childhood ex – Justin Timberlake – who's turning heads in the municipality (pop. 18,000).

In southern Louisiana to shoot the movie The Open Road, Timberlake, 27, plays the son of a baseball legend (Jeff Bridges) who reunites with his family when his mother (Mary Steenburgen) takes ill. Kate Mara plays Timberlake's girlfriend.

For the past couple of weeks, the "SexyBack" singer has been shooting in Hammond (home to the first season of TV's In the Heat of the Night) and nearby Independence, where he has been sighted by – and interacting with – many fans.

One stop has been Tope La, a seafood restaurant in downtown Hammond.

"He was very nice," waitress Sarah Guillot, 19, tells PEOPLE. "He took a picture with me and gave me an autograph for my little sister."

On Saturday, a few dozens fans lined the downtown Independence streets to catch a glimpse of the star. One of them, 15-year-old Lee Ann David, says she had hoped to land a part as an extra, but she was happy just to watch the cast and crew at work.

"I took his picture yesterday," David says. "I wasn't supposed to, but I did."

Source: PEOPLE

Stealth Bomber Crashes in Guam

2008-02-24T11:52:00.000-08:00

A B-2 stealth bomber crashed Saturday shortly after taking off from Anderson Air Force Base in Guam.

The crash was the first for a B-2, said Capt. Sheila Johnston, a spokeswoman for Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.

Both pilots ejected safely. There were no injuries on the ground or damage to buildings, and no munitions were on board.

The aircraft was one of four leaving Guam after a four-month deployment as part of a continuous American bomber presence in the western Pacific.

After the crash, which happened at 10:30 a.m., the three other bombers were being kept on Guam, said Maj. Eric Hilliard at Hickham Air Force Base in Hawaii. One B-2 that had taken off safely was called back.

The Air Force did not identify the pilots but said one was medically evaluated and released and the other was in stable condition at Guam Naval Hospital.

A board of officers will investigate the cause of the crash.

Each B-2 bomber costs about $1.2 billion. All are based at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, but the Air Force has been rotating several through Guam since 2004, along with B-1 and B-52 bombers.

The rotations are designed to support American security in the Asia-Pacific region while other military forces are diverted to the Middle East.

Source: NY Times

Bank accidentally gives man $5 million

2008-02-23T02:35:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK - A man was charged with withdrawing $2 million from an account after a bank confused him with a man who has the same name. Benjamin Lovell was arraigned Tuesday on grand larceny charges. The 48-year-old salesman said he tried to tell officials at Commerce Bank in December that he did not have a $5 million account.

Lovell said he was told it was his and he could withdraw the money.

Prosecutors said the bank — which advertises itself as America's Most Convenient Bank — confused Lovell with a Benjamin Lovell who works for a property management company.

The lesser-funded Lovell gave away some of the withdrawn money and blew some of it on gifts, but lost much of it on bad investments, prosecutors said.

The district attorney's office did not immediately have information on his lawyer. Calls left with Commerce Bank on Wednesday were not immediately returned.

Arroyo: I learned about ZTE mess on eve of signing deal

2008-02-23T01:52:00.000-08:00

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Saturday said she learned that something was wrong about the Philippine government's $329.48-million National Broadband Network project with China's Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment (ZTE) Corp the night before she witnessed the signing of the NBN-ZTE contract.

Mrs Arroyo told radio dzRH that the day before she witnessed the signing of the NBN-ZTE contract on April 21, 2007 in Boao, China, she was advised about the supposed irregularities in the project.

However, she said she could not readily terminate the deal that would be funded through a loan from the Chinese government.

On September 22, 2007, or five months after she knew about the ZTE mess, and during the height of NBN-ZTE controversy that was linked to her husband, Mrs Arroyo canceled the NBN-ZTE contract.

More on GMA News

Complete list of new nurses in Philippines 2008

2008-02-23T01:32:00.000-08:00

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!

List of New Registered Nurses Full
List of New Registered Nurses A-G
List of New Registered Nurses H-M
List of New Registered Nurses N-S
List of New Registered Nurses T-Z
List of New Registered Nurses Retakers

Clinton raises record $100 million, says campaign

2008-01-01T12:05:00.000-08:00

DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) -- New York Sen. Hillary Clinton raised a record "over $100 million" for her Democratic presidential bid, her campaign reported.

The Clinton campaign released the figure just days before the important Iowa caucuses -- the first presidential nominating contest of the 2008 race for the White House.

While fighting for voters in Iowa and other initial states, Clinton and top Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois also have been battling for campaign funds in a record-breaking race for dollars -- the lifeblood of a presidential campaign.

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe told The Associated Press the campaign needs "at least $100 million" to compete in the nation's initial 26 primaries and caucuses. He told the AP that "Obama will have the financial resources."

Through September of 2007, Clinton raised about $80 million, and transferred an additional $10 million from her Senate account to her presidential campaign account, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

In the same period, Obama raised about $79 million, according to the FEC.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Tuesday showed Clinton and Obama virtually tied in Iowa with 33 percent and 31 percent respectively -- given the survey's sampling error of 4.5 percentage points.

The latest fundraising quarter ended Monday at midnight, but campaigns aren't required to announce fundraising details until January 31 -- the deadline for filing with the FEC.

Monday's report from Clinton's campaign failed to reveal how much cash her team planned to use for primaries and caucuses, and how much for the general election -- an important detail that would signal the size of Clinton's war chest during the battle for her party's nomination.

Campaign finance laws limit the amount an individual can contribute to a candidate during the primary cycle to $2,300. However, individuals can contribute another $2,300 to a candidate for the general election.

Campaigns often report the total of contributions for the primary and general cycles during a quarter, even though general election contributions can't be used immediately to buy ads or hire staff.

Source: CNN

Ministry backtracks on Bhutto sunroof claims

2008-01-01T11:58:00.000-08:00

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan's Interior Ministry backtracked Tuesday on its statement that Benazir Bhutto died because she hit her head on a sunroof latch during a shooting and bomb attack.

The two suspects (circled) who the Pakistan government believe were involved in Bhutto's assassination. ( left image )

The government also published a reward offer in several national newspapers to anyone who could identify two suspects from the killing.

Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema told CNN the ministry will wait for the findings from forensic investigators before making a conclusion about her cause of death.

Cheema said he based his statement Friday about the sunroof latch "on the initial investigations and the reports by the medical doctors" who treated her at Rawalpindi General Hospital.

"I was just narrating the facts, you know, and nothing less nothing more," Cheema said.

"There's no intention to conceal anything from the people of Pakistan," an Interior Ministry news release said.

The reward offer, which appeared with photographs of the dead suspects, said that "the person identifying these terrorists will be awarded a cash prize of 5 million rupees (about $81,400) and his identity will also be kept confidential" -- a total reward available of 10 million.

The response from the public has been nil so far," Punjab spokesman Ashfaq Gondal said Tuesday afternoon.

Athar Minallah, a lawyer on the board that manages Rawalpindi General Hospital, told CNN Monday that doctors did not make the statements attributed to them by the government.

The medical report -- obtained by CNN from Minallah -- made no mention of the sunroof latch and listed the cause of death as "Open head injury with depressed skull fracture, leading to Cardiopulmonary arrest."

Pakistan's Interior Ministry said Thursday it was from a bullet or shrapnel wound, but then it announced a day later that Bhutto died from a skull fracture suffered when she fell or ducked into the car as a result of the shots or the explosion and crashed her head into a sunroof latch.

Bhutto's family and political party maintain that the government is lying, and insist she died from gunshot wounds.

Several videos show a gunman firing a pistol toward her just moments before a bomb detonated nearby as she left a rally.

The U-turn on the sunroof claims will only heighten speculation as to the exact cause of Bhutto's death.

Minallah issued an open letter Monday and released the doctors' clinical notes to distance them from the government statement.

In the letter, Minallah said the doctors "suggested to the officials to perform an autopsy," but that Saud "did not agree." He noted that under the law, police investigators have "exclusive responsibility" in deciding to have an autopsy.

Minallah told CNN that he was speaking out because the doctors at the hospital were "threatened."

"They are government servants who cannot speak; I am not," he said. He did not elaborate on the threats against the doctors.

He said the lack of an autopsy has created "a perception that there is some kind of cover-up, though I might not believe in that theory."

"There is a state within the state, and that state within the state does not want itself to be held accountable," Minallah said.

The three-page medical report, which was signed by seven doctors, described Bhutto's head wound, but it did not conclude what caused it. It noted that X-ray images were made after she was declared dead.

The wound was described as an irregular oval of about 5 centimeters by 3 centimeters above her right ear. "Sharp bones edges were felt in the wound," it read. "No foreign body was felt in the wound."

Rawalpindi's police chief was accused Monday of stopping doctors at the hospital where Bhutto died from conducting an autopsy.

It was a violation of Pakistani criminal law and prevented a medical conclusion about what killed the former prime minister, said Minallah.

However, the police chief involved, Aziz Saud, told CNN that he suggested an autopsy be done -- but that Bhutto's husband objected.

Cheema said the government had no objection to Bhutto's body being exhumed for an autopsy if the family requested it.

Her widower,Asif Ali Zardari, has said the family was against exhumation because it did not trust the government.

Minallah said the family could not have prevented an autopsy at the hospital without getting an order from a judge.

The revelations about the exact cause of Bhutto's death came after new videotape of her assassination emerged, showing her slumping just after gunshots rang out.

The tape provided the clearest view yet of the attack and appeared to show that Bhutto was shot. That would contradict the Pakistan government's account.

A previously released videotape showed a man at the right of her vehicle raising a gun, pointing it toward Bhutto, who was standing in her car with her upper body through the sunroof. He fired three shots, then there was an explosion.

In the video that emerged on Sunday, Bhutto was standing, and her hair and scarf appeared to move, perhaps from the bullet. Bhutto fell into the car, then came the blast.

These images seem to support the theory that Bhutto died at the hands of a shooter before a bomb was detonated, killing another 23 people.

Bhutto's husband, in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer Monday, called for an international investigation into his wife's death, saying the new video proves the Pakistani government "has been trying to muddy the water from the first day."

"Everything is now very clear that she was shot," Asif Ali Zardari said.

Zardari also called on the U.S. government to push for an international probe. "I want them to help me find out who killed my wife, the mother of my children," he said of the Bush administration.

The reward offer announced: "The public is hereby informed that the two individuals in the above photograph are the accused terrorists involved in the Liaqat Bagh, Rawalpindi Terror Attack, which resulted in the death of the Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and others." 'Mohtarma' is a title of respect in the Urdu language.

"The person identifying these terrorists will be awarded a cash prize of 5 million rupees (about $81,400) and his identity will also be kept confidential," said Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi -- a total reward available of 10 million.

"The response from the public has been nil so far," Punjab spokesman Ashfaq Gondal said Tuesday afternoon.

Source: CNN

Growing up Iranian, in black and white

2008-01-01T11:36:00.000-08:00

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The subtitle for Marjane Satrapi's highly personal animated film "Persepolis" might as well be "Iranians: They're Just Like Us." They lose their keys, dance to "Eye of the Tiger," endure rocky relationships.

Satrapi, an Iranian who now lives in France, said her mission was to share with Westerners her stories of how life was lived during the Islamic revolution, and what went on just out of sight of the "guardians," police enforcers of religious principles.

The film, largely in black and white, is based on Satrapi's two graphic novels of the same name. Co-written and co-directed by Vincent Parronaud, it features Chiara Matroianni as the voice of Marjane, Catherine Deneuve as her mother, and Danielle Darrieux as her dynamic grandmother.

Satrapi, dressed in flowing black, stabbed her lit cigarette in the air to emphasize points as she talked about the movie in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

Q: Tell me about your family.

MARJANE SATRAPI: I come from a middle-class family, with money. Not a huge amount of money, but we were living in a nice flat. My parents had their own car. We could go on holidays abroad. I could go to a bilingual school. We went to the cinema, to the theater, being able to read books. Having access to the culture, that's what's most important.

My parents, they are open-minded people. They had only one child. Even though many times they didn't agree on my decisions, they always let me do what I wanted to do. I was never raised as a girl. They never made me a girly girl, so I was just playing like other kids.

Q: I read that they were descendants of a ruling family in Iran.

SATRAPI: My great-grandfather was a Qajar, that is the dynasty before the Shah. But you have to know something. In the Qajar's family, each man had hundreds of brides. So imagine how many kids you have. You multiply this by the number of generations, there are thousands of them.

The reason I wrote that is that at the beginning of the century, the only people that had enough money to send their kids abroad ... was Qajar princes. They went at the beginning of the last century to Europe, and the dominant idea was the Communist idea, was the socialist, Marxist idea. ... That is the paradox of the whole thing. ... My grandfather came from this family and he ended up being a communist.

Q: Do you feel fortunate as an artist to have your key piece of art be all about you?

SATRAPI: I've done these things, and that's why I put it in my own name. Of course it's not a documentary about my life. Of course the parts of fiction shouldn't be forgotten, because this is a story. ... But we're looking for reality in reality shows, and reality shows are crap. As an artist, I'm looking for truth.

Q: It's refreshing, though, to see a story that is so personal.

SATRAPI: I just want to keep it at a personal level, so it doesn't become a political, or a geopolitical, or a historical, or sociological statement. If it becomes a statement, then I'm supposed to have answers. But I don't have any answers.

Q: Did you want to make a movie?

SATRAPI: Never. I never wanted to make a movie. I made the book (in 2000) believing nobody wants to publish it, then it became a whole big deal. Again, as an artist, suddenly I had the possibility to do exactly what I wanted without making any compromise, to work with my best friend, to work in the style of animation I want. ... I said to myself OK, in the worst case you'll make a very bad movie. But so what? For two years I'll learn to do something that I would never try otherwise.

Q: Are you a fan of film, and animated film in particular?

SATRAPI: Oh yes! Not very much the animated movies. ... It happens this movie is an animated movie, because for us, animation is not a genre, it's just a media. ...

We had lots of references of course coming from the cinema. ... "The Night of the Hunter" is one of my favorite movies," "The Deer Hunter" ... That is a movie that I go out and watch at least once per year in the cinema. Every time I cry so much.

Q: You made this for Western audiences. What are the key things you want to tell U.S. audiences about Iran?

SATRAPI: If for one second you can say "This is a human being just like myself," this is when my goal is reached. ...

The use of the humor is something that was very amazing to me. Because to me, humor is the height of understanding. Anywhere in the world we cry for the same reason. We cry because our father is dead, or our mother is sick. We don't laugh for the same reason. If we laugh together, it's as if we've touched each other's spirit. We showed this movie in Japan, and people laugh at the same time as the French do, as the Americans do, as the Swiss, as in Germany. ... It gives me some hope actually.

Q: Are you hoping the movie will be shown in Iran?

SATRAPI: The movie will be seen in Iran (on black market DVDs). ... Of course they will see it, like everything else that is forbidden, but they ignore it. I'm always amazed that people think that by forbidding something it can work. The whole history of the human being is Adam and Eve and they tell them do whatever you like to do, just don't eat the apple. The first thing they do is to go and eat the apple. This is our nature

Police: Drunken driver kills woman, 4 children

2008-01-01T11:29:00.000-08:00

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- A drunken driver went about four miles down a highway in the wrong direction before his pickup truck slammed into a minivan, killing a woman and four children and injuring three others, police said Monday.

Michael Gagnon, 24, drove north in the southbound lane of Interstate 280 late Sunday, colliding with the minivan and leaving scattered toys, stuffed animals and bits of gift wrap along the edge of the road, Toledo police said.

An 8-week-old girl was among those killed.

Gagnon had a blood-alcohol level of .254 after the crash, more than three times Ohio's legal limit of .08, police said. He was charged Monday with aggravated vehicular homicide.

Gagnon's brother, Samuel Gagnon, told The (Baltimore) Sun they had been drinking at a hotel Sunday night and that his brother left in the truck without telling anyone before their sister arrived to drive them home.

Samuel Gagnon declined comment to The Associated Press.

Michael Gagnon stopped at a fast-food restaurant just before the crash. Workers called to alert police, but Gagnon left before an officer arrived, said Lt. Hank Everitt of the Oregon Police Department. Soon after, a 911 call came in about a driver going the wrong way on the interstate, he said. Other drivers also alerted police before the crash, he said.

Danny Griffin Jr., the minivan's driver, was rounding a curve when the minivan and the truck collided, said Ron Spann, a deputy chief with Toledo police.

"I can't imagine the shock when he saw that truck," Spann said.

Both drivers tried to avoid each other, but the crash ripped a side door off the minivan, throwing out some of the victims, police said.

Bethany Griffin, 36, Jordan Griffin, 10, Vadi Griffin, 8 weeks, Lacie Burkman, 7, and Haley Burkman, 10, were killed, according to police. All are from Parkville, Maryland.

Three others who were in the minivan were taken to St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center. Griffin, 36, was in serious condition, while Sidney Griffin, 8, was in critical condition, a hospital spokeswoman said. Beu Burkman, 8, was released late Monday.

All eight had been visiting family in Michigan and were returning to Maryland.

Gagnon was taken to a hospital with an injured jaw and remained there Monday afternoon, Spann said. He will be taken to jail when he is released from the hospital, Spann said. Police said he lives in Adrian, Michigan, but there was no telephone listing for him or his family there.

Source: CNN