50 Cent Sued By Two Women Over 2004 Concert Altercation

Plaintiffs claim they were injured and feared for their lives during show.

50 Cent was hit earlier this month with a civil lawsuit filed by two Massachusetts women who claim that they were trampled and buried under a crowd rush and battered by the rapper during a May 2004 performance at the Hippodrome in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The suit — filed August 16 against 50, Lloyd Banks and the Hippodrome — came more than a year after the G-Unit boss (born Curtis Jackson) avoided a jail sentence by taking a plea deal on three counts of assault and battery in connection with the incident, in which the rapper allegedly jumped into the crowd after being hit in the head with a water bottle (see "50 Cent Performance Cut Short After Fan Throws Water At Him"). Click here to read more

Dangerous Hurricane John marches up Mexican coast

Dangerous John marches up Mexican coast

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico - Hurricane John lashed tourist resorts with heavy winds and rain Wednesday as the dangerous storm marched up Mexico's Pacific coast, and forecasters predicted its center would brush close to land before nicking the tip of Baja California and heading out to sea. The Category 4 hurricane could dump up to a foot of rain along parts of Mexico's southern coast, causing landslides or flooding, meteorologists warned. FULL STORY

John Mark Karr won't be charged

A man arrested in Thailand and accused of killing US child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey will not be charged with the murder, his lawyers have said.

According to reports by MSNBC and KUSA, a local television station in Denver, Colorado, tests performed on DNA samples taken from John Mark Karr, the man who confessed to killing JonBenet Ramsey in 1996, do not match DNA samples recovered from Ramsey's body. Neworks are reporting that charges against Karr for Ramsey's murder have been dropped.
KUSA says it "has confirmed from two sources that the DNA taken from John Mark Karr does not match the DNA samples taken from the crime scene in the JonBenet Ramsey murder case. No charges will be filed against Karr in connection with the Ramsey case by the Boulder County District Attorney's office," in the report on its website.
DNA from Karr's hair and saliva were tested in the Denver, Colorado Police Department's lab over the weekend.
"This information is critical because … if Mr. Karr's account of his sexual involvement with the victim were accurate, it would have been highly likely that his saliva would have been mixed with the blood in the underwear," said Colorado District Attorney, Mary Lacy. Lacy noted that Karr had become a suspect after exchanging e-mail with a professor in California .
Karr's attorney has requested that all DNA evidence be handed over to the defense for examination. His attorney has also requested additional testing of Karr's DNA; however, there is confusion about who represents Karr. Seth Temin, a public defender claims to represent Karr, but at least two other attorneys in California, Jamie Harmon and Patience Van Zandt, are also claiming to represent him.
"The warrant on Mr. Karr has been dropped by the district attorney. They are not proceeding with the case," said Timen.
"We're deeply distressed by the fact that they took this man and dragged him here from Bangkok, Thailand, with no forensic evidence confirming the allegations against him and no independent factors leading to a presumption he did anything wrong," added Timen.
In California, Karr still faces charges of posessing child pornography.
Karr was to have appeared in court this afternoon, in front of Judge Roxanne Bailin.

U.S considering pre-emptive ICBM strikes against alleged terrorists

Pentagon considering preemptive non-nuclear ICBM capability.

The Pentagon is considering replacing the nuclear warheads on some ballistic missiles with conventional munitions so that they can be used for "pre-emptive" strikes against alleged terrorists, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told reporters after a meeting with Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov.
"If either of our countries or friends and allies were threatened at some number of years into the future with a weapon of mass destruction or a capability that was that lethal, I think any president, whether of Russia or the United States, would like to have available a conventional weapon that could attack that target swiftly and accurately and precisely and not feel that the only thing they had might be a nuclear weapon, which they would not want to use.", Rumsfeld said. He urged Russia to consider the idea too, but Ivanov said a pre-emptive strike was not the only solution.
The Pentagon has considered such strategies before. In February 2003 a similar plan was suggested, and in May 2006 it was recommended that Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs) be used for such a purpose. Critics wondered what the risks would be for setting off accidental nuclear war: it would be impossible for another nation to tell whether a Trident II or Minuteman III launch was conventional — or nuclear-armed until it had actually detonated.

1 dead, 4 hurt in NYC Shooting Spree

A driver with a gun went on a shooting spree in several neighborhoods and apparently targeted victims at random, killing a man and four other people.

A gunman on a cocaine-and-booze binge killed one man and wounded two others in a series of drive-by shootings across six frightening hours in Queens, prompting a massive manhunt that ended when he surrendered peacefully after police stopped his car early Saturday, authorities said.Three other people were injured by flying glass, including an off-duty police lieutenant, during the rampage by Matthew Colletta, 34, of Queens, said police spokesman Sgt. Kevin Hayes.

Colletta was behind the wheel of a green 1992 Cadillac when the shooting began at about 7:20 p.m. Friday, police said.

Although police said the choice of victims was apparently random, Colletta's last five targets were all red automobiles. The slain man was riding with his wife to their Long Island home after dropping their daughter off at Marist College in Poughkeepsie.

Colletta drove across the length of Queens, starting in Maspeth and heading north before going back to Forest Hills, repeatedly firing a silver 9mm Ruger handgun along the way, police said.

There were nine separate shooting incidents, with police saying that Colletta was on a cocaine and alcohol binge before the gunfire started.

Todd Upton, 51, of Massapequa, was a passenger in his family's red Toyota minivan car in the remote Bay Terrace section when he was fatally wounded with a bullet to the neck as his wife drove along the Cross Island Parkway at about 11 p.m. Upton died a short time later at the New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens.

Colletta told the police he targeted red vechiles because he thought the "Bloods" were after him.

Colletta was arrested based on a description provided by the injured lieutenant and other witnesses. Before police located the Cadillac and stopped Colletta, a manhunt that included helicopters and police from neighboring Nassau County was launched, police said.

Colletta was charged with murder, assault, reckless endangerment and weapons possession, said Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown. Police said a silver 9mm handgun and shell casings were recovered from the Cadillac.

The suspect, who faces 25 years to life if convicted, was arrested last Sunday for assaulting his girlfriend, said Kevin Ryan, a spokesman for Brown. Colletta has been living out of his car for the last week, Ryan said. Click here to read more

Four year-old boy bound to a tree and battered with a brick in East Yorkshire

August 26, 2006

The attack happened in Hessle which is near Hull in East Yorkshire.
In what Humberside Police are describing as a "nasty" attack, a four year-old boy was bound to a tree and battered with a brick. The incident happened on wasteland close to the child’s home in Hessle, East Yorkshire.
Charlie Davis was discovered by a couple on Thursday. He was in a puddle of blood and part of his ear was hanging off; doctors at Hull Royal Infirmary later performed surgery to repair it. He is still in hospital, and doctors say that his brain is not injured, despite having a fractured skull.
A spokeswoman from Humberside Police said: "This little boy has suffered a nasty attack and has some horrible injuries."
Police think Charlie, who was playing with a friend, was molested by a male youth. His injuries suggest that he dragged the child across the ground, kicked him in the face, tied him to a tree and struck him with a brick.
The police spokeswoman added that police are pursuing several lines of inquiry. "There has been information suggesting possible suspects and these form one of the lines of inquiry being pursued."
The assault is thought to have happened before lunchtime on Thursday next to Station Road which is near the Hull to Hessle railway line. "It is currently unclear how the child got to the area. He may have gone of his own accord, he might have been chased there or he may have been taken by someone against his will," said the police spokeswoman.
Charlie, who was meant to be going on holiday with his family today, is too disturbed to talk to detectives about the incident. The spokeswoman said: "We do understand that the victim was struck with a brick which has resulted in his injuries. But, clearly, until police can get an account from the four-year-old victim it is not possible to confirm any more details of the incident."

Bush pledge on Katrina failures

US President Bush has again promised that the government will learn from mistakes made during Hurricane Katrina.

More than 1,000 people were killed when the hurricane struck the Gulf Coast of the US almost a year ago.
In his weekly radio address the president said the disaster has exposed deep-seated poverty and a lack of readiness to deal with the crisis.
He said disaster response would improve and committed $110bn to rebuilding New Orleans and other affected areas.
Tuesday marks the first anniversary of one of the most costly natural disasters in American history.
The storm devastated an 80-mile (128km) stretch of coast and flooded the majority of New Orleans.

System failed
Fewer than 200,000 of the original half-million inhabitants have returned to their ruined homes.
The president said Americans responded with "heroism and compassion" during the crisis but acknowledged that the response of the emergency system had failed. FULL STORY

First legal abortion in Colombia

Colombia's first legal abortion has taken place after the deeply-Catholic nation legalised the procedure in May.

Abortion is only permitted in three cases - if the mother's life is in danger, if the foetus is badly deformed or if the pregnancy results from rape.
This case involved an 11-year-old girl who was raped by her stepfather.
Despite the change in the law, the girl's case had to go all the way to the constitutional court before an abortion was authorised.
The tale of the abuse the girl had endured at the hands of her stepfather filled the Colombian papers and news broadcasts for weeks.
The Catholic Church nonetheless condemned the abortion and protesters gathered outside the hospital to oppose the procedure.
The subject of abortion raises passions and tempers in Colombia.
The pro-choice lobby believes that the May decision to legalise abortion in extreme cases was the first logical step to a general legalisation of abortion.
But with the fury aroused during this abortion, even under the circumstances, it is clear that such a step is still a way off.

Post-flood city wrestles with race issue

Twelve months after Hurricane Katrina blasted through the levees that had kept New Orleans from becoming a rotting appendage of Lake Ponchartrain, the city is dealing with the stench of another problem, experts say.

New Orleans is in a struggle over how it will be rebuilt - and whether the poor and working-class African-Americans who made up a large part of its pre-flood population will ever be able to return.
It is not the kind of racism that once gripped the United States - the racism of lynching and disenfranchisement.
Racist graffiti and stickers have been spotted, but "you don't have white people point-blank calling black people 'niggers'. You don't have overt, straight-up racism going on," Ted Quant, director of the Twomey Center for Peace through Justice at Loyola University, says.
"Some people celebrated the elimination of blacks from the community," said Mr Quant, who is black.

Locked out?
Race, class, money and power are inextricably linked in the US, and the flooding of New Orleans is proving a textbook example of how they intersect.
"In the wake of the flood, a small group of powerful business leaders and developers - the old blue-blood elite - took it upon themselves to plan the city into the next 20-30 years," says Lance Hill, executive director of the Southern Institute for Education and Research at Tulane University.
The problem was that "virtually no African-Americans" had returned to the city when those plans were being formed, says Mr Hill, who describes himself as a white liberal. Click here to read more

Death toll rises in Congo clash

The Democratic Republic of Congo says 23 people, including police, died in clashes this week after first round election results were announced.

President Joseph Kabila fell short of 50% of the vote, prompting a run-off. Jean-Pierre Bemba, his main rival for president, came second with about 20%.
Gun battles erupted on Sunday between the rivals' supporters in Kinshasa.
An uneasy calm returned on Tuesday after the two signed a deal to withdraw their forces from the city centre.
"The toll at the moment indicates 23 deaths and 43 persons injured during the events," Interior Minister Theophile Mbemba Fundu said on UN-sponsored Okapi radio on Thursday.
He said 12 police officers were among those who had died in the clashes.
On Thursday, police fired shots in the air to disperse a crowd demanding the resumption of broadcasts by a pro-Bemba television station that was closed down for breaking electoral rules, AFP news agency reports.
Looting continued on Wednesday, with Mr Bemba's supporters targeting premises thought to belong to supporters of the president.
Correspondents say President Kabila is unpopular in the capital, where he barely received 13% of the votes, while Mr Bemba received over 60%.

Hilton pop video hits India hitch

Millions of cable TV viewers in India have been prevented from seeing a music video by socialite Paris Hilton.

The video has been classified as "A" or "adult viewing" by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), popularly known as the Censor Board.
On Wednesday a court banned TV companies from any kind of "A"-rated broadcasts.
The video of Love is Blind shows Ms Hilton gyrating on a beach while a photographer takes pictures.
No nudity
EMI Music India, which is launching and distributing Ms Hilton's debut album in India for Warner Bros Records, says it will not now release the video on television at all.

Real snakes found at film showing

Two rattlesnakes have been found at a US movie theatre showing of film Snakes on a Plane, a cinema chain has said.

An AMC Entertainment spokeswoman said one Diamondback rattlesnake was found inside the cinema in Phoenix, Arizona, and another in the car park.
No-one was injured and the snakes were released in the desert, she said.
The film, starring Samuel L Jackson, has topped the US and UK box office charts on its opening weekend.
The venomous Diamondback rattlesnake is native to the south-western US desert.
Russ Johnson, president of the Phoenix Herpetological Society, told Reuters news agency: "The snakes' bite carries a powerful venom that could have seriously injured someone."
Snakes on a Plane stars Jackson as an FBI agent escorting a murder witness on a flight on which hundreds of venomous snakes get loose.
The action film earned a cult following thanks to a wealth of blogs, comedy sketches and trailers generated by film fans.
The word-of-mouth popularity eventually fed back to the film's producers, who even re-shot scenes to incorporate dialogue suggested online.

'Sexually, I am like a wolf,' Karr bragged to landlord

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) -- John Mark Karr bragged to his landlord's family that "sexually, I am like a wolf," and said he preferred girls to women when he worked in Costa Rica as an English teacher, his former housemates told The Associated Press.

Karr, now jailed in Los Angeles after his arrest in Thailand, is named in a Colorado warrant as a suspect in the 1996 murder of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey.
Karr traveled around the world in recent years, including brief stays in Honduras and Costa Rica, where he rented a room in 2004 from Canadian John Hall, who teaches at a private university in the capital of San Jose.
Hall, 42, told AP in an exclusive interview that he rented a room to Karr through an Internet posting, but asked him to leave after about five weeks because Karr was saying "rude and inappropriate things" to his Costa Rican wife and stepdaughters, then 16 and 20.
"I threw him out because he was causing problems for them," Hall said.
One stepdaughter, now 22, told AP that Karr said several times that he liked girls. Click here to read more

Pulkovo Airlines Flight 612 crash

Russian Pulkovo Airlines Flight 612, carrying 160 passengers and 10 crew members, crashes in Ukraine during transit, leaving no survivors.

Pulkovo Airlines Flight 612 was a Russian Tupolev Tu-154M airliner (registration: RA-85185), flight number 612, operated by Pulkovo Airlines. On August 22, 2006, while en route from Vityazevo Airport (Anapa) to Pulkovo Airport (St. Petersburg), the flight crashed near the Russian border over eastern Ukraine.
"On Tuesday, at 15:37 (Moscow Time), a Tu-154 airliner of the St. Petersburg-based Pulkovo Airlines ... sent an SOS signal and disappeared from radars at 15:39 (Moscow Time)," the source said. "Preliminary data suggests that the plane crashed 45 kilometers (30 miles) north of Donetsk."[1]. Later it was determined that the plane crashed near the village of Sukha Balka (48°19′N 37°45′E).[2]
"At an altitude of 11,500 metres (37,000 feet), the aircraft sent three SOS signals, dropped sharply in altitude and sent another SOS at 3,000 metres (9,000 feet)," said Anatoli Samoshin, vice Flight Operations Director at Pulkovo Airlines. There were no other communications.
Approximately 260 rescue personnel arrived at the scene which has been blocked off by the authorities as the field of debris and bodies is about 400 meters in length. On Wednesday, emergency service personnel concluded their search for bodies, confirming that 170 people perished in the accident.[3] Due to the extensive crash forces and post-accident fires, rescuers believe it will be very difficult to identify the majority of the victims on site. The aircraft crashed in a swampy area, breaking up on impact. The search for black boxes, which was interrupted for the night, concluded in the morning when both recorders were found. The flight recorders will be transported to Moscow for analysis.
The crash was witnessed by a local farmer and a young couple seeking shelter from the rain. They told reporters that they saw the aircraft falling out of the sky and that it burst into flames upon hitting the ground. They could see people in a number of seats that were thrown out of the aircraft on impact, but none showed any signs of life. A man living in a nearby village was able to make a short video of the crash with his cell phone.[4]
On their corporate website,[1] Pulkovo Airlines posted a short statement and passengers list confirming that there were 160 passengers and 10 crew members aboard the aircraft. 45 were children under 12 years old. Earlier reports by the media and by the airline indicated that 159 passengers were on the flight, 39 children under 12 and six infants under 2 years of age.
The Russian Ministry of Extraordinary Situations published a list of passengers travelling on flight 612, which can be found on its website.[2] Out of 159 people, 20 were travelling to Norilsk through St. Petersburg, and three to Murmansk. Most of the passengers were families travelling back from vacations with children.

Somali woman is flogged for drugs

A Somali woman has been flogged in public for selling cannabis by Islamist militias who now control the capital.

This is the first time a woman has received this kind of punishment since the Union of Islamic Courts seized Mogadishu in June. She got 11 lashes.
Arrested for a small bundle of the drug worth $1, she pleaded innocence while being beaten, AP news agency reports.
Most sellers of the mild narcotic khat, widely used in Somalia, are women but the UIC has not opposed this trade.
The BBC's Hassan Barise in Mogadishu says women often sell khat because during the long civil war, they aroused less suspicion than men when crossing between areas controlled by rival factions.
The UIC was set up two years ago by businessmen who wanted some law and order. Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991. Click here to read more

Kidnap girl: Family never gave up

VIENNA, Austria -- The family of a young Austrian woman who has escaped after an 8-year kidnapping ordeal has said it always believed she would one day come back.

The woman told authorities she had been kidnapped and kept in a house by a man for years, Austrian television cited police as saying. Halm said police had found Kampusch's passport in the house.
The alleged kidnapper -- identified by Austrian media as 44-year-old Wolfgang Priklopil, a technician -- committed suicide by jumping under a train in Vienna, Halm said. Click here to read more.

JonBenet Murder Suspect's Relatives Offer Book, Movie Rights to Agent

Family of suspect in JonBenet Ramsey murder offer rights to story in bid to raise money for defense.

Karr's father and brother hired actor, author and producer Larry Garrison to represent them in any media deals and to help them find a top attorney to represent Karr, who is in a Los Angeles jail awaiting transfer to Colorado to face allegations he killed the girl in 1996.
Garrison told AP that while the family's film and book rights are secured, no money has changed hands yet. He said he promised the Karrs a portion of any money made by the effort.
"They're not looking for money for themselves," Garrison said. "They're looking to support John's boys' college education and to make sure all legal fees are covered."
Karr's brother, Nate Karr, confirmed to The Associated Press on Wednesday that Garrison now represents the Karr family.
Garrison has written and produced several news films and had minor acting roles. He said that the family will be looking for a well-known attorney to represent Karr.

Captors of Fox journalists set 72-hour deadline

'Try to help us get out of here,' reporter says on video.
Steve Centanni, right: "We're in fairly good condition." Sitting with him is cameraman and fellow captive Olaf Wiig.

The previously unknown Holy Jihad Brigades claimed responsibility in the leaflet for the August 14 kidnapping in Gaza of reporter Steve Centanni, 60, and cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36. They appeared on the video, which was aired by Ramattan News Agency, and said they were being treated well and were in good health.
In a CNN translation of the leaflet, the group said "we will release your prisoners" if male and female Muslim prisoners "in the jails of America" are released. It said "we will give you 72 hours starting today, midday ... to discuss and to agree." (Watch captive's plea to "help us get out of here." -- 1:33)

12 held after jet turned back

Dutch police say that 12 passengers were arrested after a Northwest Airlines flight bound for Mumbai, India, returned to Amsterdam. Flight 42 returned to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport after "a couple of passengers displayed behavior of concern," according to the airline. Air marshals saw some passengers trying to use cell phones and passing the phones among themselves, sources say.