BREAKING NEWS ~ HOT TOPICS

[Fashionista]

Authorities differ on whether Mumbai standoff is over




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[Fashionista]

• The last terrorists at Mumbai's Taj Mahal hotel are killed, ending a rampage that lasted 60 hours and claimed 195 lives, including four Americans.


• New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress was accidentally shot in the leg at a nightclub, it was reported Saturday.


• 100,000 stranded in Thailand after airports shut
The Hotel California-like drama began Tuesday when anti-government protesters shut the country's primary international airport. The following day they moved in on the capital's domestic airport, grounding all commercial flights in and out of the city.


• MSNBC pundit may seek Pa. Senate seat
HARRISBURG, Pa. - A Pennsylvania Democratic party leader says MSNBC pundit Chris Matthews may be considering a run for U.S. Senate in 2010.







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[Fashionista]

• Prosecutors offer plea deal to 8-year-old suspect
By BOB CHRISTIE – 33 minutes ago

PHOENIX (AP) — Prosecutors have offered a plea deal to an 8-year-old boy charged with murder in the shooting deaths of his father and another man in their Arizona home.

Complete details of the offer aren't spelled out in a court filing posted Saturday on the Apache County Superior Court's Web site.

AP

[Fashionista]

• Arrest made in Jennifer Hudson family murders


http://www.refugeesunleashed.net/viewto ... 383#817383



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[Fashionista]

• Teens Charged In Nursing Home Abuse
Cops: Female caregivers spat on, spanked, humiliated infirm elderly

http://www.refugeesunleashed.net/viewto ... 065#818065


Thanks, SavannahStar!


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[Fashionista]

<center>


• Judge Sentences O.J. impson to 15 Years in Prison




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[Hannie]

State Not Seeking Death Penalty For Casey Anthony
Friday, December 5, 2008 – updated: 5:02 pm EST December 5, 2008

http://www.wftv.com/news/18213616/detail.html

http://www.refugeesunleashed.net/viewto ... 5&start=50

[wildroses]

Remains Of Young Girl Found In Orange County
Thursday, December 11, 2008 – updated: 10:57 am EST December 11, 2008

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- The remains of a what appears to be a small child have been located in east Orange County in location less than a half-mile from Casey Anthony's parents' home, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Eyewitness News has learned an Orange County water meter reader discovered a bag in the area of Chickasaw Trail and Suburban Drive (see map), around three-tenths of a mile from the Anthonys' home (map from location to Anthony's home).

According to information obtained by Eyewitness News, when the meter reader picked up the bag a skull fell out. The Orange County Sheriff's Office has confirmed to Eyewitness News that the body is a young girl.

"We are assuming they are the remains of a victim," said Orange County Sheriff's Office spokesman Jim Solomons.

It is not clear at this point whether the body could be Caylee Anthony.

"We know we have a recent discovery. We have investigators on the scene. We need to determine what we have," said Solomons.

This is developing and WFTV.com will have new details posted immediately. Please click REFRESH.
Copyright 2008 by wftv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.wftv.com/news/18253901/detail.html

[Fashionista]

<center>FYI</center>

December 17th, 2008
Microsoft releases patch for IE vulnerability

Just a friendly FYI for all you Internet Explorer users out there. Microsoft has issued an out-of-cycle patch for the Internet Explorer vulnerability that came to light. That means it’s time to run Windows Update!

Here’s the summary from the security bulletin (MS08-078):

The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted Web page using Internet Explorer. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

This security update is rated Critical for Internet Explorer 5.01, Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1, and Internet Explorer 7.


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[PerryPeabody]

<center>FYI</center>

December 17th, 2008
Microsoft releases patch for IE vulnerability

Just a friendly FYI for all you Internet Explorer users out there. Microsoft has issued an out-of-cycle patch for the Internet Explorer vulnerability that came to light. That means it’s time to run Windows Update!

Here’s the summary from the security bulletin (MS08-078):

The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted Web page using Internet Explorer. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

This security update is rated Critical for Internet Explorer 5.01, Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1, and Internet Explorer 7.


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Thanks very, very much, Fash.

[Fashionista]

<center>

• Medical Examiner: Caylee Anthony's remains identified



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[Noor]

It's Caylee Anthony. Remains identified as missing toddler of Casey AnthonyWalter Pacheco, Sarah Lundy and Amy L. Edwards | Sentinel Staff Writer
2:01 PM EST, December 19, 2008

It's Caylee Marie. The five-month mystery ended today when authorities confirmed that skeletal remains discovered in woods last week belong to the missing two-year-old girl.

Sheriff's officials delivered the news at a 2 p.m. press conference in Orlando. Word came after the FBI forensic lab in Virginia matched Caylee's DNA with bones found a quarter-mile from her grandparents' home.

Caylee's mother, Casey Anthony, was notified in jail, where she is awaiting trial on a murder charge stemming from the child's disappearance this summer. Her reaction to the announcement was not known. Orange County Jail spokesman Allen Moore said a psychologist would be available for Anthony if needed.

The toddler's grandparents -- George and Cindy Anthony -- learned the news at their home on Hopespring Drive. Their attorney, Brad Conway, said earlier Friday that the couple had remained hopeful that the remains were not Caylee's, but were realistic about the alternative.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-bk-c ... 3309.story

[Fashionista]

<center>• President Bush grants 19 pardons; Vice President Cheney's former Chief of Staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby is not among them.




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[Fashionista]

• Senate Democratic leaders say they expect Roland Burris to take Barack Obama's U. S. Senate seat later this week



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[Fashionista]

• Ricardo Montalban Dies At 88

The late Ricardo Montalban had a titanic career ~~ spanning some 60-odd years ~~ during which the actor kicked up his heels in MGM musicals and granted wishes on Fantasy Island, set the stage for ape rebellions and tangled with men from U.N.C.L.E, swung with nighttime soap stars and lent his voice to Family Guy.


http://www.refugeesunleashed.net/viewto ... 013#837013



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[Fashionista]

• Caroline Kennedy ends Senate bid: report


Wednesday, January 21, 2009; 7:20 PM

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Caroline Kennedy told New York Gov. David Paterson she is withdrawing from consideration to replace Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate, the New York Post reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.

Kennedy, the daughter of slain President John F. Kennedy, has never held public office but launched an unusual public campaign to replace Clinton, who has been chosen by President Barack Obama to be secretary of state.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; editing by Ellen Wulfhorst)

[Hannie]

George Anthony hospitalized, wanted to end life

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35, Orlando) -- Daytona Beach police said George Anthony is being evaluated at Halifax Hospital after he was found early Friday morning in a Volusia County hotel. He was reported missing on Thursday.

George Anthony is the father of 22-year-old Casey Anthony, who has been charged with the murder of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.

At 2:35 a.m., detectives from the Orange County Sheriff's Office reported that George was missing. Officers went to his home off Hopespring Drive earlier Thursday to take the report. He was last seen in the Daytona area.

Around 3:30 a.m., deputies reported that George was located.

Daytona Beach Police Chief Michael Chitwood said George sent text messages to his family that he wanted to end his life. Chitwood said George told him that there was a lot of pressure on him and he needed to think.

No drugs or weapons were found inside his room at the Hawaiian Inn Hotel on South Atlantic Avenue early Friday morning.

George had other items with him at the hotel but the details of those items are not being released. They are being turned over to the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

"We do know George Anthony is saying I don't want to live anymore," Chitwood said.

http://www.refugeesunleashed.net/viewforum.php?f=105

[~kaRN]

Parents gather at the scene of the attack


Two infants and an adult have been killed and 10 other people wounded in a knife attack at a creche in north-western Belgium.

A man reportedly tricked his way into the nursery in Dendermonde where he ran amok inside before escaping. He was later captured at a local supermarket.

The suspect apparently had painted his face black and white.

Parents have begun the harrowing task of identifying children stabbed during the attack at local hospitals.

Three children are reported to be in a serious condition in hospital.

One of those who died is believed to be a nursery employee and Dendermonde's deputy mayor, Theo Janssens, said several adults had been injured as they tried to put themselves between the attacker and the children.

"The guy just went crazy," Mr Janssens said. "There was blood everywhere, it was unbelievable, real carnage."

The creche has been evacuated and local authorities have put a disaster plan in place.

Town 'in shock'

Nursery staff told journalists that the attacker was not known to them.

Belgium map

Officials said he had rung the doorbell at the nursery and told staff he needed some information.

When they opened the door, he ran in and began attacking three of the infants.

"He quickly pulled out a knife and started using it on the children," said local prosecutor Christian Du Four.

"He then went up to another floor and started doing the same thing again."

The prosecutor said the man's face had been smeared with a white colouring but his eyes had been blackened.

He escaped from the scene by bicycle but was arrested at a supermarket

Residents told the BBC that the town was stunned.

Damien Vernon, a 43-year-old from Ireland who has lived in Dendermonde for five years, said: "It's just a sad day here, we're a small town and the crime figures are low here, we're just in shock."

Photographs

The creche looks after 18 children under the age of three.

Police have been showing parents digital photographs of the youngsters taken to hospital, asking them to identify their children.

Interior Minister Guido De Padt told a press conference he was "horrified by the events".

"Our thoughts go out to the families and staff of the creche," he said. "Many parents are in a state of shock."

The children and staff from the nursery who escaped without injury are now receiving counselling.

Flemish TV station VTM had initially reported three children and two adults had died but the interior ministry later gave the lower casualty figures.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7846815.stm

[Fashionista]

• Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hospitalized with pancreatic cancer

It is her second bout with cancer

She survived colon cancer in 1999-2000


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the only woman on the Supreme Court, underwent surgery Thursday for early stage pancreatic cancer, the court announced.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has undergone two bouts of cancer since she joined the court in 1993.

Ginsburg, 75, is at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, the court said in a news release. It said she will likely remain in the hospital for the seven to 10 days, according to her attending surgeon, Dr. Murray Brennan.

"Justice Ginsburg had no symptoms prior to the incidental discovery of the lesion during a routine annual check-up in late January at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland," the court said.

A CAT scan "revealed a small tumor, approximately one centimeter across, in the center of the pancreas," it added.

Ginsburg previously underwent surgery for colorectal cancer in September 1999. She received chemotherapy between October 1999 and June 2000.

"Cancer is a dreadful disease," Ginsburg told a women's health research dinner in 2001. "The surgery, and what I call the post-operative insurance course (chemotherapy and radiation), are not easy to bear physically and can generate large anxiety."

But, Ginsburg added, "there is nothing like a cancer bout to make one relish the joys of being alive. It is as though a special, zestful spice seasons my work and days. Each thing I do comes with a heightened appreciation that I am able to do it."

Ginsburg's mother died of cancer the day before the future justice graduated from high school. Her husband was diagnosed with cancer while she was in law school, but was successfully treated.

Ginsburg, considered one of the more liberal jurists on the bench, was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1993 by President Bill Clinton



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[Fashionista]

• Man arrested with rifle said he had delivery for Obama
34 minutes ago

Story Highlights

• NEW: Spokeswoman says man did not specifically threaten President Obama

• Man drove up to a Capitol building barricade with a rifle in his vehicle

• Police say he told them he had a delivery for President Obama

• Man was arrested, transported to Capitol Hill police headquarters for processing


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Police arrested a man near the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday after he drove up to one of the building's barricades with a rifle in his vehicle and told officers that he had a delivery for President Obama, a Senate spokesman said.


A man drove to the Capitol with a rifle and said he had a delivery for Preisdent Obama, police said.

1 of 2 The man was arrested and transported to Capitol Hill police headquarters for further processing. Charges against him are pending.

Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said the man did not specifically threaten Obama, but confirmed the man said he was making a delivery.

While being questioned by Capitol police, the man admitted to having a gun in the vehicle and was detained without incident, she said.

Threats against Obama have led to arrests in previous cases.

In one, federal prosecutors concluded that three people arrested with drugs and weapons in a suburban Denver, Colorado, motel posed a "true threat" to Obama during the Democratic National Convention.

In the second, a Florida man was charged with threatening bodily harm against the then-candidate in August. He has pleaded not guilty




http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/10/oba ... index.html

[PerryPeabody]

Trial begins in Las Vegas toddler video sex case
Feb 19, 5:08 AM EST
By KEN RITTER
Associated Press Writer

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- The same graphic video that helped end a frantic manhunt for a man accused of taping himself while he molested a 2-year-old girl will be the key piece of evidence in his trial.

Chester Arthur Stiles, who also is accused of molesting a 6-year-old, faces 22 felony charges, including 21 that carry a life sentence.

The haunting video hasn't been shown publicly, but authorities took photo images of the girl and a man's face from it and distributed them to the media to help find the child and her attacker during a two-week nationwide search.

"You like that? Feel good?" Stiles asks the toddler in the video, according to a Las Vegas police report filed after Stiles was arrested on Oct. 15, 2007, in Henderson. Police said Stiles can be seen adjusting the camera as he sexually assaults the child.

Stiles, 38, is on trial in Las Vegas on charges he sexually assaulted the two girls in 2003. Jury selection began Tuesday and is expected to take several days.

Stiles has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of sexual assault with a minor under 14 years of age, 10 counts of lewdness with a child under 14, and one charge of attempted sexual assault with a minor under 14.

"I'm done," Stiles wrote in letters to his girlfriend from the Clark County jail, where he has been held for the past 16 months. He refers to himself as "a monster" with "no defense" facing "forever" in prison "for a crime that happened once."

"No weapon was used; no drugs, no violence, no blood, no tears, no threats," he said in one of his letters, with an apparent reference to the younger girl having "no memory of it."

"Coercion used for some touching, and they have turned it into the crime of the century," he wrote.

Stiles waived a preliminary hearing, which spared the young girls from having to testify. But after he pleaded not guilty, his defense lawyers fought to edit the letters before they are shown to the jury.

His lawyers also plan to challenge the authenticity of the videotape and raise questions about the way it came into the hands of sheriff's deputies in the nearby desert town of Pahrump.

"This is by no means an open-and-shut case," insisted Stacey Roundtree, a deputy public defender who represents Stiles. "The jury will find that they really cannot trust what they see."

No decision has been made about whether Stiles will testify, Roundtree said.

His lawyers also plan to challenge the memory of the older girl, who now lives with her mother in Washington state and is due to take the witness stand. There is no video of her alleged attack.

The case burst onto the public scene in late summer 2007 when sheriff's deputies say 26-year-old Darren Tuck gave them a videotape that he said he found about five months earlier, wrapped in a plastic bag beneath a piece of wood in a desert lot about 60 miles west of Las Vegas. Tuck later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct a public officer.

Sheriff's investigators say they were initially unable to identify the man or the child pictured in the video.

"We were getting kind of desperate. We didn't know where she was, or whether she was alive," Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo said, recalling why he made the unusual decision to distribute images of a sexual assault victim.

"We felt she was still in danger," DeMeo said.

It didn't take long before a Las Vegas woman saw the image of the child on television and called the girl's mother. The child was found safe in Las Vegas, and police say the mother identified the bedroom where the video was filmed. She told police that she and her daughter had moved from the apartment in late 2003.

Authorities don't plan to call the little girl to testify. Prosecutors say the images will speak for themselves.

A lawyer for the girl's mother says the child, now 8, doesn't remember the alleged assault.

"She's just a normal, happy kid - a rambunctious kid at that," lawyer Jerry Donahue said. "She can't testify. She's got nothing really to say."

The mother has not spoken publicly about the case. Donahue said she was "trying to remain as anonymous as she can for as long as she can" and was trying to protect her daughter's identity.

"She knows she's going to have to testify," Donahue said of the single mother. "She's not looking forward to it. They've told her to expect a pretty thorough and difficult cross examination."

After Stiles was identified as the man in the video, authorities said he also was sought on a warrant issued in April 2006 on a charge of lewdness with a child under age 14.

That case stemmed from a 6-year-old girl's report in December 2003 that Stiles kissed and fondled her while he was staying the night at her home. The girl referred to Stiles as her boyfriend, police said.

Stiles was in the home visiting his girlfriend, who had been given shelter by the 6-year-old's parents after losing a job, police said.

© 2009 The Associated Press.
http://tinyurl.com/atd9a5

[Noor]

Natasha Richardson, a film star, Tony-winning stage actress and a member of the famed Redgrave acting family, has died. She was 45. Richardson died after suffering injuries in a fall on a ski slope at a Quebec resort about 80 miles northwest of Montreal. She was talking and joking after the fall, resort officials said. But she was later taken to a hospital for treatment. developing story

[Fashionista]

• A tsunami warning has been issued after a 7.9 earthquake struck off the coast of Tonga, officials say.



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[Isanah]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/openforquesti ... titialskip

[Fashionista]

Massacre kills 12 at immigration center in NY

WILLIAM KATES | Associated Press Writer
2:29 PM CDT, April 3, 2009


BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (AP) — A gunman opened fire at an immigration services center in downtown Binghamton on Friday, killing as many as 13 people before authorities found him dead, officials said.

Gov. David Paterson said at a news conference that 12 or 13 people had been killed.

A law enforcement official said the body of the man believed to be the gunman was found in an office of the American Civic Association building. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the details of an ongoing hostage situation and was talking on condition of anonymity.

The gunman barricaded the rear door of the building with his car before entering through the front door, firing his weapon, the official said.

American Civic Association website It wasn't clear whether the gunman was included in the number of dead provided by the governor.

The Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin reported that citizenship classes had been scheduled Friday at the center.

The Binghamton SWAT team responded, and the FBI was sending hostage negotiators and an evidence response team to the scene. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was also sending agents to Binghamton.

Indications were that the shooter was a young male, the law enforcement official said.

The American Civic Association is an organization that helps immigrants in the Binghamton area with naturalization applications, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The association describes itself as helping immigrants and refugees with counseling, resettlement, citizenship, family reunification and translators.

The association's president, Angela Leach, "is very upset right now," said Mike Chanecka, a friend who answered a call at her home as Leach wept in the background.

"She doesn't know anything; she's as shocked as anyone," Chanecka said. "For some reason, she had the day off today. And she's very worried about her secretary."

Five people with gunshot wounds were being treated at Wilson Medical Center in Johnson City, according to hospital spokeswoman Christina Boyd.

The wounded ranged in age from 20 to their mid-50s, and their conditions ranged from stable to critical, she said.

Linda Miller, a spokeswoman at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton, said a student from Binghamton University was being treated there.

The shooting occurred in a mixed neighborhood of homes and small businesses in the center of Binghamton, a city of about 47,000 located 140 miles northwest of New York City.

College student Leslie Shrager told the AP that she and her five housemates were sleeping when police pounded on the front door of their house next door to the shooting scene.

Officers escorted the six Binghamton University students outside, she said, and that's when they learned of the shooting.

"One of our housemates thought they heard banging of some kind. But when you're living in downtown Binghamton, it's always noisy," said Shrager, of Slingerlands, an Albany suburb. "Literally two minutes later the cops came and got us out."

At the junction of the Susquehanna and the Chenango rivers, the Binghamton area was the home to Endicott-Johnson shoe company and the birthplace of IBM, which between them employed tens of thousands of workers before the shoe company closed a decade ago and IBM downsized in recent years.

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers George M. Walsh and Chris Carola in Albany and Devlin Barrett in Washington.