August Death Toll
"The French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, interrupted his summer holiday
in the United States
to attend the funeral."
That was the most important thing to say about this event for many news media - be them electronic or more traditional - that Sarkozy interrupted his precious vacation...
Never mind the fact that the guy inside the coffin was
"the former Archbishop of Paris, who died on Sunday, aged 80."
And a greater man -let alone Frenchman- than Nic Sarko will ever be.
Let's remember who he was, here, shall we?
"He was born Aaron Lustiger
to Polish Jews who had settled in France before World War I
and he had the particularity
of having become a Catholic only at the start of World War II -
and being a Cardinal in 1983,
after stepping down as archbishop of Paris following
a 24 year-long tenure."
Never mind who's getting buried - let's focus on who attends the funeral first and foremost;
that seems to be the editor-in-chiefs' orders these days...
But not here - not on the lugubrious blog!
Martha is doing it for Milena...
"Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley (above) talks about pictures of the 2006 Big Dig tunnel collapse during a news conference in Boston Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007. Coakley announced that Powers Fasteners Inc., of N.Y., who provided the epoxy blamed in the fatal Big Dig tunnel collapse, was charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter. Milena Del Valle, 39, was killed when 26 tons of concrete panels and hardware crashed from a tunnel ceiling onto her car as she and her husband drove through the westbound Interstate 90 tunnel. Her husband crawled out of the rubble with minor injuries." Her untimely demise wil never be forgotten. R.I.P. Milena G.T.S.
(AP Photo/Kevin Martin)
Nota Bene: granted, the elegant Massachusetts Attorney General's picture may not have its place here. It is no death wishing nor any kind of ill-wishing on my part, I assure you all - and Martha herself! I just thought that she is more photogenic than, say, the late Leona Helmsley, aka The Queen of Mean, that's all...! And, besides, Martha is pointing at pictures delineating the very spot where Milena Del Valle's life was so abruptly and senselessly ended...
Even Lady Di's death in a tunnel made more sense, when you stop and really think about it...
But that is another story... G.T.S. stands for "Gone Too Soon" - of course.
In this month's other early departures - or early arrivals to their final destination: Heaven or...
Actually, there is no hell - yet. The hot place is still under construction - didn't you now that?
Merv Griffin
And another one proves to us all once again that
millions upon millions of dollars
will never keep neither the doctor
nor the grim reaper away...
Carry on in the Field of Dreams, Phil - Ted was expecting you there...
For yet more on the above-mentioned demises as well as all the others of these past few days... weeks... months... Heck, for the Notable Deaths of 2007 OVER ALL... (or rather SO FAR - at blogging time!) CLICK HERE.
And check out the lugubrious comments section that follows, as always, for more details as well...
Including source material and more commentary o'mine - of course.
In closing, a parting suggestion for all of you lugubrious heads out there...
Death can be foretold, forewarned...
Never forget to listen to your intuition.
*One Step Beyond*
is based upon real-life stories:
it is factual, unlike fare such as
"Final Destination"
- or the Twilight Zone.
- or the Twilight Zone.
I highly recommend it.
+++
Labels: Art Davis, Eccentric Griffin, Endangered Condor, Jewell, Leona Queen of Mean, Lustiger, Milena, One Step Beyond, Paley, Rizzuto
posted by Luminous (\ô/) Luciano™ @ 6:52 PM
25 comments
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70 dead as bombings rock Baghdad
Wed Aug 1, 10:08 AM
VANCOUVER (CBC) - Violence continued in Iraq on Wednesday, as three separate bombing attacks in Baghdad killed at least 70 people and injured 100.
A parked car bomb killed three people and wounded five in a Christian neighbourhood in the southern part of the city in the afternoon, police said.
In the primarily Sunni neighbourhood of Mansour in western Baghdad, at least 50 people were killed and 60 wounded when a fuel truck exploded. Two police officers, both speaking on condition of anonymity, said the explosion was the work of a suicide attacker.
Earlier Wednesday, a second parked car bomb killed 17 civilians and left a gaping crater in a busy square in the city centre. At least 32 people were wounded by the blast.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene said the explosion ripped a hole more than a metre deep and nearly two metres wide in the asphalt.
Police said flames and flying debris damaged three minibuses and six cars. A gas station and a nearby restaurant, closed at the time of the blast, also suffered damage.
The explosives were planted in a vehicle in al-Hurriyah square in the mostly Shia Karradah neighbourhood and detonated around 10:15 a.m. local time, the police officer said.
Thamir Sami, 33, was carrying clothes from his menswear shop out to his car when the explosion shook the area.
"Women and children were lining up near the gas station to get fuel. ... I saw burnt bodies. Other motorists and I helped evacuate the wounded before the ambulances came," he said.
Karradah was hit by a cluster of explosions last Thursday, killing more than 60 people. The neighbourhood had been previously considered one of central Baghdad's safest areas.
With files from the Associated Press
Car bomb kills 17 in central Baghdad
By BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press Writer Wed Aug 1, 6:32 AM ET
BAGHDAD - A parked car bomb killed 17 civilians and left a gaping crater in a busy square Wednesday in central Baghdad, police said.
Another 32 people were wounded by the blast, a police officer said on condition of anonymity out of security concerns.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene said the explosion ripped a hole more than 3 feet deep and nearly 5 feet wide in the asphalt. Three minibuses and six cars were damaged by flames and flying debris. Blood pooled in the street.
A gas station and a nearby restaurant, which was closed at the time of the blast, also suffered damage.
The explosives had been planted in a vehicle in al-Hurriyah square in the mostly mixed Karradah neighborhood, and detonated around 10:15 a.m., the police officer said.
Thamir Sami, 33, was carrying clothes from his menswear shop out to his car when the explosion shook the area.
"Women and children were lining up near the gas station to get fuel ... I saw burnt bodies. Other motorists and I helped evacuate the wounded before the ambulances came," he said.
The bombing occurred nearly a week after a cluster of explosions, including one from a massive truck bomb, hit the same neighborhood. Karradah previously had been thought to be one of central Baghdad's safest areas. Last Thursday's blasts killed more than 60 people.
11 killed in attacks in south Thailand
2 hours, 51 minutes ago
PATTANI, Thailand - Rebels staged an ambush and set off bombs across southern Thailand in violence Wednesday that left 11 people dead, including two soldiers and five suspected Muslim insurgents, police said.
Five suspected Muslim insurgents were shot dead in a gunbattle with Thai soldiers in a violence-wracked region of Yala Province, said police Lt. Sompien Eksomya.
Attackers opened fire on a unit of soldiers on a search operation in the Bannang Sata district where Muslim insurgency has been particularly active, he said. No soldiers were hurt in the hour-long firefight.
The fighting occurred after soldiers surrounded a neighborhood in the district in a house-to-house search for suspected insurgents involved in a bombing that killed seven soldiers in June, Sompien said.
"They were acting on a tip-off that these insurgents have been hiding in the village," said Sompien.
In separate violence in Yala, insurgents shot at troops guarding a railway line, killing two soldiers, said provincial police chief Col. Narasak Chiengsuk.
Also Wednesday, at least three assailants sprayed dozens of bullets into a house in Narathiwat province, killing two men, said police Lt. Vorapong Klomsakun.
In the same province, one person was killed and six injured when a bomb exploded near a market, police said.
Police said it was one of six bombs that exploded in several areas of Narathiwat Wednesday morning.
Later Wednesday, a bomb went off at a police booth in Songkhla province, killing one policeman and wounding nine others.
More than 2,300 people have been killed in the predominantly Muslim provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat and some parts of Songkhla since early 2004, when a separatist movement flared up after a lull of more than two decades.
Despite the latest attacks, the military said the situation has improved. "Daily attacks are gradually decreasing after we arrested a few hundred suspects," said Col. Akara Thiprote, the army spokesman.
Nearly 400 young Muslim men suspected of involvement with the separatist movement have been arrested and detained during the past few months, Akara said.
Divers look for bridge collapse victims
By JON KRAWCZYNSKI, Associated Press Writers 11 minutes ago
MINNEAPOLIS - Divers searched the Mississippi River for bodies still trapped beneath the twisted debris of a collapsed bridge Thursday, as finger-pointing began over a report two years ago that found the bridge was "structurally deficient."
The official death count from Wednesday evening's collapse stood at four, but Police Chief Tim Dolan said more bodies were in the water. Hospitals officials said 79 others were injured.
A strong current and low visibility hampered the search, and divers were pulled out of the water briefly Thursday afternoon so the water could be lowered, said Inspector Jeff Storms of the sheriff's department.
Twelve vehicles had been located in the river, officials said.
"We have a number of vehicles that are underneath big pieces of concrete, and we do know we have some people in those vehicles," Dolan said. "We know we do have more casualties at the scene."
The eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge, a major Minneapolis artery, was in the midst of repairs when it buckled during the evening rush hour. Dozens of cars plummeted more than 60 feet into the Mississippi River, some falling on top one of another. A school bus sat on the angled concrete.
The bridge is the state's busiest, and carries approximately 141,000 vehicles per day.
The White House said an inspection of the 40-year-old bridge in 2005 found problems. The Interstate 35W span rated 50 on a scale of 100 for structural stability and was classified as "structurally deficient," transportation officials said.
The designation means some portions of the bridge needed to be scheduled for repair or replacement. "It didn't mean that the bridge is unsafe," Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said.
Earlier, at the White House, press secretary Tony Snow said while the inspection didn't indicate the bridge was at risk of failing, "If an inspection report identifies deficiencies, the state is responsible for taking corrective actions."
Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Thursday ordered an immediate inspection of all bridges in the state with similar designs, but said the state was never warned that the bridge needed to be closed or immediately repaired. Another inspection was scheduled for completion in September, and state officials said it has been inspected yearly since 1993.
"There was no call by anyone that we're aware of that said it should be immediately closed or immediately replaced," Pawlenty said. "It was more of a monitor, inspect, maintain, and potentially replace it in the future.
Around the country, a handful of states, including Arizona, Michigan, New Jersey and New Mexico, ordered inspections of their own bridges.
In the river, divers took down license plate numbers for authorities to track down the vehicles' owners. Getting the vehicles out was expected to take several days and involve moving around very large, heavy pieces of bridge.
As many as 30 people were reported missing, and the rescue effort had shifted to recovery.
Relatives who couldn't find their loved ones at hospitals gathered in a hotel ballroom Thursday for any news, hoping for the best.
Ronald Engebretsen, 57, was searching for his wife, Sherry. His daughter last heard from her when she left work in downtown Minneapolis Wednesday. Her cell phone has picked up with voice mail ever since.
"We are left with the hope that there is a Jane Doe in a hospital somewhere that's her," Engebretsen said.
As many as 50 vehicles tumbled into the river when the bridge collapsed, leaving those who could escape to scramble to shore. Some survivors carried the injured up the riverbank, while emergency workers tended to others on the ground and some jumped into the water to look for survivors. Fire and black smoke rose from the wreckage.
"People who were pinned or partly crushed told emergency workers to say 'hello' or say 'goodbye' to their loved ones," Dolan said.
Aron Dahlgren, 23, a University of Minnesota graduate student, was driving to his girlfriend's home when the bridge began to fall. He noticed overhead road signs in front of him start to sink — and then his car plummeted.
"That's the longest two or three seconds of your life," Dahlgren said. "That was the scariest place. I kept on thinking — I kept on questioning, was this how I was going to die. If I'd have left 30 seconds earlier, I'd have been over the water."
Jay Reeves was one of the first people on the scene after the collapse. He tried calling 911, but all the lines were jammed. Then, he heard the sounds of children's screams from the school bus.
"I opened my car door and was greeted by the screams of lots of kids. Screaming kids are good. That means they're alive and full of a lot energy," said Reeves, 39, a trained paramedic and the public safety coordinator for the Minnesota American Red Cross.
The children were sent back to his office, where he spoke to them and tried to calm them down while their parents were located. One frantic boy told him that his shoulder hurt, he said.
"I took his head in my hands and said 'you need to calm down. Take a deep breath and hold it,'" Reeves said.
The Homeland Security Department said the collapse did not appear to be terrorism-related, but the cause was still unknown. Federal officials announced Thursday that $5 million would be rapidly released to help with efforts such as re-routing traffic around the disaster site.
The first step of the federal investigation will be to recover pieces of the bridge and reassemble them, kind of like a jigsaw puzzle, to try and determine what happened, NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said.
Investigators also want to review video of the collapse, and were setting up a phone number for witnesses to call with information. A team of 19 people was coming to the scene to help with the investigation, he said.
"It is clearly much too early in the initial stages of this investigation to have any idea what happened," Rosenker said.
Engineers spotted structural problems in the bridge as far back as 1990, but state officials thought patches and yearly inspections would be enough to keep it together, Minnesota's top bridge engineer said. This year's inspection started in June and would have been finished in September after $2.4 million worth of maintenance on the deck, joints, guardrails and lights.
"We thought we had done all we could. Obviously something went terribly wrong," state bridge engineer Dan Dorgan said.
The bridge is blocks from the heart of Minneapolis, near tourist attractions such as the new Guthrie Theater and the Stone Arch Bridge. As the steamy night progressed massive crowds of onlookers circulated in the area on foot or bicycle, some of them wearing Twins T-shirts and caps after departing Wednesday night's game at the nearby Metrodome early.
The steel-arched bridge, built in 1967, rose 64 feet above the river and stretched 1,900 feet across the water. It was built with a single 458-foot-long steel arch to avoid the need for piers that might interfere with river navigation. The depth of the water underneath the bridge is between 4 to 14 feet, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.
The collapse was not expected to have a sizable impact on barge shipments of grain and freight. The stretch of the river is largely used by recreational boaters and seldom by shippers, who rely more on bigger locks south on the river, said Bill Gretten with the Army Corps of Engineers.
___
Associated Press Writers Brian Bakst and Patrick Condon contributed to this report from Minneapolis; Martiga Lohn contributed to this report from St. Paul, Jim Suhr contributed from St. Louis and Deborah Hastings and Erin McClam contributed to this report from New York.
Double bassist Art Davis dies at 73
Sat Aug 4, 6:06 AM ET
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Art Davis, the renowned double bassist who played with John Coltrane and other jazz greats, has died. He was 73.
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Davis died of a heart attack Sunday at his home in Long Beach, his son Kimaili Davis told the Los Angeles Times for a story in Saturday's editions.
Davis was blacklisted in the 1970s for speaking up about racism in the music industry, then later earned a doctorate in clinical psychology and balanced performance dates with appointments to see patients.
"He was adventurous with his approach to playing music," said pianist Nate Morgan, who played with the elder Davis intermittently over the last 10 years. "It takes a certain amount of integrity to step outside the box and say, 'I like it here and I'm going to hang here for a while.'"
Known for his stunning and complete mastery of the instrument, Davis was able to jump between genres. He played classical music with the New York Philharmonic, was a member of the NBC, Westinghouse and CBS orchestras, and played for Broadway shows.
The most enriching experience of his career was collaborating with John Coltrane. Described by jazz critic Nat Hentoff as Coltrane's favorite bassist, Davis performed on the saxophonist's albums including "Ascension," Volumes 1 and 2 of "The Africa/Brass Sessions" and "Ole Coltrane."
The two musicians met one night in the late 1950s at Small's Paradise, a jazz club in Harlem.
Davis viewed his instrument as "the backbone of the band," one that should "inspire the group by proposing harmonic information with a certain sound quality and rhythmic impulses," Davis said in an excerpt from So What magazine posted on his Web site.
By following his own advice, Davis' career flourished. He played with a long and varied list of artists: Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Louis Armstrong, Judy Garland, John Denver, the trio Peter, Paul and Mary and Bob Dylan.
Davis began studying piano at age 5 in Harrisburg, Pa., where he was born in 1933. By sixth grade Davis studied the tuba in school because it was the only instrument available, he said.
By 1951 he decided to make music his career. He chose the double bass, believing it would allow more opportunities to make a living. At age 17 he studied with the principal double bassist at the Philadelphia Orchestra. But when he auditioned for his hometown's symphony, the audition committee was so unduly harsh and demanding that the conductor Edwin MacArthur questioned their objectivity.
"The answer was, 'Well, he's colored,' and there was silence," Davis recalled in a 2002 article in Double Bassist magazine. "Finally MacArthur burst out, 'If you don't want him, then you don't want me.' So they quickly got together and accepted me."
After high school, Davis studied classical music on scholarship at the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard School of Music. At night he played jazz in New York clubs.
In the 1970s, his fortunes waned after he filed an unsuccessful discrimination lawsuit against the New York Philharmonic. Like other black musicians who challenged job hiring practices, he lost work and industry connections.
With less work coming his way, Davis returned to school and in 1981 earned a doctorate in clinical psychology from New York University. For many years he was a practicing psychologist while also working as a musician.
As a result of his lawsuit and protest, Davis played a key role in the increased use of the so-called blind audition, in which musicians are heard but not seen by those evaluating them, Hentoff said.
The accomplished musician also pioneered a fingering technique for the bass and wrote "The Arthur Davis System for Double Bass."
Davis also wore the hat of university professor. He taught at UC Irvine for two years. Most recently Davis was a part-time music instructor at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.
Besides his son Kimaili, Davis is survived by another son and a daughter.
Man mauled by dogs at Ving Rhames' home
By SANDY COHEN, AP Entertainment Writer Sat Aug 4, 7:08 AM ET
LOS ANGELES - Two dogs belonging to actor Ving Rhames apparently mauled a man to death at the star's home Friday, authorities said.
The 40-year-old victim, who has not been identified, had lived on the property and worked as a caretaker at the home for about two years, police said. He was among those responsible for caring for the dogs, said Los Angeles police Officer Sandra Gonzalez. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
Three bull mastiffs and an English bulldog were seized by animal services, police said.
"Two of those dogs appeared to be responsible for the tragic death," said Officer Jason Lee, adding that several dogs remain at the property.
Police were called at about 7:15 a.m. by someone reporting a dead body at the home in Brentwood. Gonzalez didn't know who made the call.
"The victim had a large number of bites and scratches which appear to be dog bites," Lt. Ray Lombardo said during a press conference.
The victim was found on the front lawn, Gonzalez said.
An autopsy was scheduled for Monday, said Capt. Ed Winter of the coroner's office.
"It's premature to say how he died," Winter said. "We don't know if he was attacked by the dogs and suffered a heart attack."
Rhames, 46, an action star who appeared in the "Mission Impossible" series, was not home at the time of the attack, Gonzalez said. The actor told Time magazine in 2001 that he had "eight Fila Brasileiro mastiffs — the national dog of Brazil, also used by U.S. Marines in jungle warfare."
Calls to Rhames' agent, Steve Muller, were not returned.
Décès du baron Elie Robert de Rothschild à l'âge de 90 ans
2007-08-06 12:38:00
VIENNE (AP) - Le baron Elie Robert de Rothschild, l'un des membres les plus éminents de la branche française de la dynastie bancaire, est mort d'une attaque cardiaque lundi dans son pavillon de chasse des Alpes autrichiennes.
Il était âgé de 90 ans.
Selon la police du Tyrol, Rothschild était en voyage de chasse dans son pavillon situé près du village de Scharnitz, à l'extérieur d'Innsbruck.
M. Rothschild avait passé plusieurs jours à chasser avec des amis dans ce secteur très boisé et avait prévu de rentrer chez lui en France.
Elie Robert de Rothschild est le deuxième Rothschild à décéder cette année. En juin, le patriarche de la branche française, le baron Guy de Rothschild, était mort à Paris.
Né le 29 mai 1917, Elie Robert de Rothschild avait servi dans les troupes alliées au cours de la seconde guerre mondiale avant de rentrer en France à la fin de la guerre.
Il a détenu 25 pour cent du capital de l'empire bancaire et avait présidé à la reconversion de la compagnie ferroviaire Paris-Lyon-Marseille en une chaîne d'hôtels et de restaurants, avant de prendre les commandes du vignoble bordelais de Château Lafite Rothschild.
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Lee Hazlewood is no more...
ongwriter Lee Hazlewood dies at 78
Mon Aug 6, 7:26 PM ET
LAS VEGAS - Lee Hazlewood, a singer and songwriter best known for writing and producing "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" for Nancy Sinatra, has died. He was 78.
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Barton Lee Hazlewood died at his home in Henderson of kidney cancer on Saturday evening, the Clark County coroner's office said.
Hazlewood was most famous for his work with the daughter of Frank Sinatra, including writing and producing such hits as "Sugartown" and "Some Velvet Morning." He also produced "Something Stupid," a duet Nancy recorded with her father in 1967.
He also produced for Duane Eddy and Gram Parsons, and performed on a number of solo albums and with Nancy Sinatra in three "Nancy & Lee" albums.
Hazlewood was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2005 and released his final album, "Cake or Death" in 2006.
He was survived by his third wife, Jeane, his son Mark and daughters Debbie and Samantha.
Execution-style killings spark outrage
By DAVID PORTER, Associated Press Writer Tue Aug 7, 11:08 AM ET
NEWARK, N.J. - They were on the cusp of adulthood: four friends who made music together and were preparing to return to the college where their friendship had blossomed.
An apparent robbery attempt by several assailants left three of them dead, the latest victims in this city where the murder rate has risen 50 percent since 1998.
Police said the three were forced to kneel against a wall and shot at close range; a fourth was wounded.
The killings bring Newark's murder total for the year to 60, and put pressure on Mayor Cory A. Booker, who campaigned last year on a promise of reducing crime.
"He doesn't deserve another day, another second, while our children are at stake," Donna Jackson, president of the community-based Take Back Our Streets organization, said Monday at a news conference in front of City Hall. "Anyone who has children in the city is in panic mode. It takes something like this for people to open up their eyes and understand that not every person killed in Newark is a drug dealer."
At a news conference, Booker said it was a time for unity and "not a time to play politics and divide our city."
Killed were Terrance Aeriel, 18, Iofemi Hightower, 20, and Dashon Harvey, 20. Aeriel's 19-year-old sister, Natasha, was in fair condition Monday at Newark's University Hospital after being shot in the head, police said; the hospital declined to release her condition after that, citing patient privacy laws. She was found about 30 feet from her friends, slumped near some bleachers.
Authorities were assembling details of the crime from witnesses including Natasha Aeriel, but had not made any arrests by late Monday night.
The four lived in Newark and were to attend Delaware State University this fall. None had criminal records, according to authorities, and relatives and neighbors said they were not involved in drinking, drugs or gangs.
"They were good kids," Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow said.
Several law enforcement groups offered a reward of more than $50,000 for information leading to the arrest of those involved, Booker said.
"I'm very angry because they were good kids with bright futures," Hightower's mother, Shalga, said Monday. "They didn't deserve it. My daughter was a very sweet, loving young lady who would help anybody in need."
Hightower and the Aeriels had been friends since elementary school and played in the marching band at West Side High School. Terrance Aeriel, known as T.J., took Hightower to the school prom in 2006, chauffeured by his sister. He also worked with kids at a teen center in Newark's Vailsburg section.
At Delaware State they met Harvey, also a musician, and struck up a friendship. When in Newark, they liked to go to the elementary school, which sits in a middle-class neighborhood less than a mile from the campus of Seton Hall University, to hang out and listen to music.
Harvey's page on MySpace.com was filled with messages from friends on Monday. He described himself as a sometime runway model whose heroes were Superman and Dr. Martin Luther King "and last but not least, My DAD." He planned to graduate from Delaware State in 2009 with a degree in psychology.
His peers elected him the school's Mr. Junior, part of DSU's homecoming court.
Harvey's father, James, a former city water department employee, focused blame Monday on the parents of the assailants.
"If you raised your kids better, this would not happen," he said.
Natasha Aeriel was a junior majoring in biology who played alto saxophone in the school's marching band, according to university spokesman Carlos Holmes.
Terrence Aeriel was studying business management and wasn't enrolled last spring, but had re-enrolled for the fall. He played baritone sax and attended Delaware State's band camp last summer.
Hightower worked two jobs and enrolled at the school recently. One of her jobs was at Brighton Gardens, an assisted living center in nearby West Orange, where her mother also worked.
On the afternoon of the killings, Iofemi told her mother she planned to spend the night at Natasha Aeriel's house near the school.
"The last time I heard her voice was Saturday night," Hightower said between sobs. "She called me from work to let me know Natasha was going to pick her up and she was going to spend the night. She told me she loved me."
The Aeriels' mother, Renee Tucker, said the last time she saw them was around 10:30 p.m. Saturday, when they told her they were going around the corner to get something to eat.
"They said they were going to come right back to the house," Tucker said.
___
Associated Press Writers Janet Frankston Lorin and Jeffrey Gold in Newark, and Daniela Flores in Trenton contributed to this story.
U.S. troop deaths up after drop in July
By SALLY BUZBEE, Associated Press Writer Tue Aug 7, 4:21 PM ET
BAGHDAD - Four more U.S. troops and a British soldier have died in attacks, military officials said Tuesday, in a possible sign that extremists are regrouping after a drop in American deaths last month.
The spate of recent U.S. deaths — 19 so far in August — seems certain to intensify the debate over U.S. progress to calm Iraq and gain ground against militants ahead of a key September report to Congress.
U.S. deaths had dropped slightly in July to 79 — the lowest monthly tally since 70 were killed in November. Before July, more than 100 American forces died each month in the April-to-June period as the U.S. military struck out at insurgents on dangerous streets and cities across Iraq.
But U.S. commanders say rogue Shiite militias have stepped into the gap left as Sunni insurgents have been pushed back, and are now responsible for most attacks on Americans in Baghdad and surrounding districts. Such a trend would elevate fears that Iraqi forces are not yet able to maintain security even when insurgents are beaten back. Large numbers of Iraqi police are believed also to hold allegiances to Shiite militia groups.
The spike in deaths comes as the overall number of U.S. troops in Iraq has temporarily peaked at its all-time high — nearly 162,000 — as new units arrive to replace those on the way out, the Pentagon said.
U.S. officials also have warned that militants might try for spectacular attacks before the September report — expected to be a high-level military and diplomatic assessment on U.S. strategies in Iraq and what's needed in the months ahead.
Leery of that, Baghdad officials tightened checkpoints and announced plans for curfews and vehicle bans ahead of a mass Shiite religious march planned in the capital later this week. Thousands of Shiite pilgrims — women shrouded in black cloaks and men in traditional white Arab robes — began walking from the country's south and gathering from elsewhere for the march.
Shiite pilgrimages often have been the target of devastating attacks by Sunni insurgents. But some of the devout, like Sami Faraj, a 52-year-old government employee, said they would march nevertheless.
"We do not care about the bombings and the terrorists. We are ready to sacrifice ourselves for the cause and for the sake of the prophet's descendants," Faraj said. He planned to set out with his wife and children from the central Baghdad neighborhood of Karradah to an important Shiite shrine in the northern area of Kazimiyah — at the heart of the pilgrimage — on Wednesday.
The showing of Shiite strength finds Iraq in the middle of a severe political crisis. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki faced new defections from mostly Sunni politicians this week in his unity government.
But al-Maliki, on a state visit to neighboring Turkey, dismissed the mounting criticism of his leadership.
"This will not affect the government," he told The Associated Press in an interview aboard the plane on the way to Ankara.
The political crisis has halted any efforts at progress on key benchmarks the United States sought before the September report, including laws to share oil revenue and reform police and security services.
Further fractures emerged as Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish government approved a regional oil law that paves the way for foreign investment in northern oil and gas fields even as the national oil law remains in limbo.
The Kurds passed the law in obvious frustration with the central government's inability to even put a draft measure before the national parliament in Baghdad. While it matches a national revenue-sharing measure by allowing the Kurds to keep 17 percent of profits, it also is believed to be far more liberal on foreign investment than Sunni and Shiite leaders are willing to accept.
A hardline Sunni group immediately criticized the move. Sunnis worry they will lose out on Iraq's oil wealth because Shiites and Kurds dominate the current government coalition.
Despite those political troubles back home, al-Maliki appeared to make some progress at calming another storm — Turkey's anger over attacks by Kurdish militants in northern Iraq across the border into Turkey.
Al-Maliki said Iraq's interior minister soon would travel to Turkey to head an effort to find practical ways to prevent the attacks. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the leaders' talks "useful and fruitful" and said they had led to progress on security issues.
American attention, though, seemed likely to focus on the troop deaths.
The recent attacks against U.S. forces included two powerful roadside bombs that left multiple soldiers dead and wounded — three soldiers died Saturday south of Baghdad and four were killed Monday in a blast that also wounded 11 in restive Diyala province north of the capital, where Sunni insurgents remain active.
One soldier also was killed and another wounded Monday when their vehicle was targeted by an armor-piercing explosively formed penetrator, or EFP, in a western section of the capital, according to a separate statement.
Washington has accused Iran of supplying Shiite extremists with EFPs. Tehran denies the allegations.
The British soldier died from injuries sustained in a gunbattle Monday in the southern city of Basra, the British Ministry of Defense said.
Although U.S. military deaths dropped in July, a wider accounting of the figures offered a sobering overview.
The daily average for U.S. troop deaths in July was at least 2.55 — higher than the daily averages of 2.25 last year, 2.32 in 2005 and 2.33 in 2004. So far in August, the daily average is 2.71.
This was also the deadliest July for U.S. troops since the war began. In July 2006, 43 U.S. troops were killed in Iraq, and 54 died in each of the previous two Julys.
During the Baghdad curfew, all cars, trucks, motorcycles and carts will be banned from moving in city streets from 10 p.m. Wednesday until 5 a.m. Saturday, said Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, a military spokesman for Baghdad.
The ban would begin at 10 p.m. Tuesday in the Kazimiyah district, where Iraqi security forces already were deployed in force, he added.
___
Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub in Baghdad and AP News Research Center in New York contributed to this report.
Roadside bombs kill 4 U.S. soldiers in Iraq
By Ross Colvin 53 minutes ago
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Four more U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq, the military said on Tuesday, raising the U.S. death toll for the first six days of the month to 21 as thousands of troops battle militants in intense summer heat.
Off the battlefield, Iraq's crumbling national unity government was in crisis after five secularist ministers said they would boycott cabinet meetings until Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki addressed demands they first gave him in February.
The move means that 17 ministers, nearly half the cabinet, have now quit or are boycotting government meetings. The main Sunni Arab bloc pulled out last week and ministers loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr withdrew in April.
While Maliki went ahead with a trip to Turkey and Iran, the secular Iraqi List of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi held a news conference in Baghdad to explain why they were boycotting the meetings, in which the embattled prime minister now only has a narrow working majority.
"In February, the List delivered a written list of proposals to the government. Since that time we have not received a reply," leading Iraqi List lawmaker Iyad Jamal-Adin said.
Washington is growing increasingly impatient with the lack of political progress by Iraq's deeply divided political parties towards national reconciliation while U.S. troops continue to die in roadside bombings, rocket and mortar attacks and shootings around the capital.
U.S. President George W. Bush has sent nearly 30,000 extra troops to help stabilise Iraq and give Maliki's Shi'ite-led government breathing space to reach a political accommodation to end the sectarian violence that has torn the country apart.
The Pentagon said on Tuesday that about 162,000 U.S. troops were now in Iraq, more than at any other stage of the war.
Eighty soldiers were killed in July, a drop from the tolls in the previous three months, which were the deadliest quarter for U.S. troops since the invasion in 2003.
August, however, is now on track to be one of the bloodiest months of the year, suggesting a resurgence in militant attacks.
CONVOY HIT
Three U.S. soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb hit their convoy south of Baghdad on Saturday, the military said, while a soldier was killed in the capital on Monday by a powerful roadside bomb of a type Washington says is being supplied to Shi'ite militias in Iraq by Iran.
Four other soldiers were killed on Monday in Diyala province, where U.S. troops have launched a summer campaign against militants using the area as a staging ground for car bomb attacks in Baghdad.
Bush has warned that August will be a bloody month for U.S. forces in Iraq as militants try to influence the debate over the war in Washington, where Democrats in Congress want troops pulled out within months.
A total of 3,682 U.S. soldiers have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Britain's Defence Ministry said a British soldier was killed by small arms fire in the southern city of Basra on Monday, taking to 165 the number of British soldiers killed.
While U.S. troops have recorded some successes against militants, Maliki's brittle national unity government has unravelled, dealing a blow to efforts to pass laws which Washington sees as pivotal to reconciling the warring sides.
The Iraqi List said it was not quitting Maliki's government, but the length of the boycott by its four ministers would be determined by the prime minister's response to their action.
"The ministers will continue to run their ministries and will be in contact with the presidency council," Jamal-Adin told the news conference.
He said the demands included the suspension of a committee charged with rooting out former members of Saddam's Baath party and cleansing the security forces of sectarian influences.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Gray in Washington)
Infected Foot Blister Kills British Man
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
* E-MAIL STORY
* PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION
A grandfather died after a blister caused by tight new shoes led to blood poisoning and massive organ failure, according to a story in the Daily Mail.
Peter Catterall, 60, was given dressings by a district nurse and told the sore on his toe should heal by itself, the report said.
But just over a week later, the retired electrician suffered two heart attacks.
Click here to read Daily Mail story.
He was taken to hospital and diagnosed with blood poisoning, or septicaemia, and died within a month.
His grieving family said they believed that the father of three would still be alive if the severity of his condition had been spotted sooner by clinic after he sought treatment for a blister caused by a new pair of shoes.
According to his youngest daughter, Sara, 21, the sore continued to weep, and when she went to see him a week later on July 1 he confessed: "This toe is killing me."
"There was a hole in his foot. I told him he had to go to the doctor but he said: 'They have discharged me.'"
N.Y. company indicted in Big Dig death
By STEVE LeBLANC, Associated Press Writer 50 minutes ago
BOSTON - The company that provided the epoxy blamed in the fatal Big Dig tunnel collapse was indicted Wednesday in the death of a motorist crushed by ceiling panels.
Powers Fasteners Inc. was charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter, Attorney General Martha Coakley said. The Brewster, N.Y.-based firm is the only company involved in the construction and design of the tunnel to be indicted by a Suffolk County grand jury, Coakley said, noting that the investigation remains open.
A report from the National Transportation Safety Board released last month found the July 10, 2006, collapse could have been avoided if designers and construction crews had considered that the epoxy holding support anchors for the panels could slowly pull away over time.
Milena Del Valle, 39, was killed when 26 tons of concrete panels and hardware crashed from a tunnel ceiling onto her car as she and her husband drove through the westbound Interstate 90 tunnel. Her husband crawled out of the rubble with minor injuries.
Prosecutors said Powers Fasteners knew the type of epoxy it marketed and sold for the nearly $15 billion project was unsuitable for the weight it would have to hold, but never told project managers.
"They failed to make that distinction clear," said Paul Ware, hired as a special investigator by Coakley.
Jeffrey Powers, president of Powers Fasteners, said the company was unfairly targeted and the wrong product was used in the ceiling, even though his company had filled an order for a different epoxy. The only reason the company was charged was because "we don't have enough money to buy our way out," Powers said in a statement.
The decision to indict Powers doesn't mean other companies involved in the construction are off the hook, Coakley said. No individuals were indicted, but Coakley did not rule that out in the future.
The maximum penalty for a company charged with manslaughter in Massachusetts is $1,000. Coakley said there may need to be changes in the law, saying the criminal statute may be "wholly inadequate."
Powers said the company supplied $1,287.60 worth of epoxy for the tunnel. Officials from Coakley's office said the company billed the state more than $500,000 for the whole Big Dig project.
The indictment comes after more than a year of investigations by state and federal agencies, which Coakley stressed are continuing. The charge does not directly affect a separate wrongful death lawsuit that Del Valle's husband and daughter filed against Powers, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and eight other companies.
Jeffrey Denner, an attorney for Angel Del Valle, said he believes the grand jury would continue to consider criminal charges against others involved but that it was appropriate to charge Powers.
"They are certainly as culpable as it gets. They are the people who supplied the epoxy," he said.
In the report released last month, federal investigators spread blame for the collapse among the many corporations, consultants and engineers involved in the Big Dig project, the most expensive highway project in U.S. history. The agency also faulted the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority for failing to conduct a timely tunnel inspection program.
The NTSB singled out Powers for providing "inadequate and misleading" information about its Power-Fast epoxy. Tests had shown the epoxy's "Fast Set" formulation to be "subject to creep under sustained tension loading," the report said.
Officials from Powers Fasteners said after the report was issued that it would be "an absurd conclusion if the federal investigators were to consider Powers Fasteners in any way responsible, since the overwhelming evidence is that the fault lies elsewhere."
Powers said Wednesday that his company filled an order for its Standard Set product for use in the ceiling and never knew its Fast Set product was used.
"At no time did anyone ever tell Powers, and Powers never had reason to believe, that its Fast Set product was used in the tunnel ceiling," he said.
Powers said that in July 1999, before the ceiling installation was done, the company informed state highway department officials overseeing the Big Dig that the Fast Set epoxy was only intended for "short term loading."
Del Valle's death prompted tunnel and road closures and sparked a public furor over the Big Dig. The project, which had an initial price tag of $2.6 billion, has been plagued by problems and cost overruns throughout the two decades it took to design and build.
The construction buried the old elevated Central Artery that ran through the heart of Boston with a series of tunnels, ramps and bridges.
IT REALLY WASN'T A GOOD DAY TO BE A NEW YORKER...
AS THE YANKESS GOT PUMMELED AND BROUGHT BACK TO REALITY
WITH A CRUSHING 15-4 DEFEAT IN TORONTO...
Rain cripples New York City transit
By VERENA DOBNIK and DAVID CARUSO, Associated Press Writers 1 hour, 31 minutes ago
(Caruso's moonlighting as a journalist now...? But I thought his territory was Miami, not New York; don't Gary Sinise and Melina Kanakaredes complain about the invasion of their home turf like this or something...?)
NEW YORK - A torrential downpour sent water surging through New York's subway system and highway tunnels and across airport runways Wednesday, leaving thousands of commuters stranded and one big question: How could 3 inches of rain bring the nation's largest mass transit system to a halt?
The storm, which also spawned a tornado, hit just before dawn. By rush hour, the subway system was virtually paralyzed when pumping stations became overwhelmed. Bedlam resulted from too much rain, too fast; some suburban commuters spent a half day just getting to work.
"One big rain and it all falls apart," said Ruby Russel, 64, as she sat waiting on a train in Brooklyn. She had been trying to get to Manhattan for three hours.
The failure renewed a debate about whether the network of pumps, sewers and drains that protects the city's subways from flooding needs an overhaul. Every line experienced some sort of delay as track beds turned into streams gurgling with millions of gallons of rainwater. The washout was the third time in seven months that the subways were disrupted by rain.
Metropolitan Transit Authority engineers were asked to report back to Gov. Eliot Spitzer within 30 days with suggestions about how to deal with the chronic flooding.
"We have a design issue that we need to think about," Spitzer said.
The National Weather Service said a tropical air mass dumped an extraordinary amount of rain in a short period of time. The worst was recorded between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m., with 2.5 inches falling on Central Park and almost 3.5 on Kennedy International Airport.
Naturally, the stormwater sought the low ground, and that meant the subways. Water poured in through vents, drowned the signal system and flooded the third rail, forcing a shutoff of power on some lines.
MTA Executive Director Elliot G. Sander said the intensity of the rain was simply overwhelming. The subway's drainage system can generally handle a maximum of 1.5 inches of rainfall per hour.
"The timing and intensity of the storm took us by surprise," Sander said.
The subway problems come as weather experts predict New York is due for a major hurricane. A storm with 130 mph winds and a 30-foot storm surge could cause the Hudson and East rivers to overflow — and bring with it more significant flooding than a severe rainstorm.
Keeping the subway system dry is a challenge, even in regular weather.
On an average day, hundreds of MTA pumps remove 13 million gallons of water from the system, which includes several tunnels and stations below sea level. Much of that water is groundwater that enters from sources such as streams.
Public officials called for improvements in the drainage system after a similar rain-related shutdown in 1999, and the MTA made some changes after another round of paralyzing tunnel floods in 2004, when the remnants of Hurricane Frances washed out the subways for hours.
The city's sewer and stormwater drains can handle steady rain, "but when it comes to these very intense, high inch-count rain events, over a short period of time, it is very difficult," said Michael Saucier, a spokesman for the city's Department of Environmental Protection.
DEP Commissioner Emily Lloyd said the city is spending $300 million per year upgrading its piping systems and has been gradually building a more robust stormwater drainage system to replace the old combined sewers that handled wastewater and rain.
In Manhattan, Times Square was one huge mess Wednesday, packed with many of the 4 million riders who rely on the subway system daily. Thousands waited for hours for any means of transportation, jostling one another to get on the few buses that arrived. The suburbs were no better: In Westchester County, hundreds of commuters were stopped on a Metro-North train due to track flooding.
Streams of people in business attire — with briefcases, cell phones and BlackBerries in hand — trudged through drenched streets toward the subway. But it, too, was flooded. The hordes then made a beeline for buses they'd spotted up the street.
The storms also created problems for the region's airports, where delays of up to an hour were reported. The National Weather Service said a tornado touched down in Brooklyn, where winds downed trees, tore off rooftops and wrapped signs around posts. At least 40 homes were damaged.
A woman on Staten Island died when a car got stuck in an underpass and another car came along and hit hers, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. A handful of people were injured, Bloomberg said.
Lanie Mastellone, who lives in Brooklyn's Bay Ridge neighborhood, awoke as her roof was coming off. Before escaping, she ran to get her late husband's wedding ring.
"It happened so quick. Maybe he was watching over me," Mastellone said.
At the end of the day, some trains were finally back up and running. But commuters trying to get home were met with another unpleasant surprise: The storm left behind high humidity that felt like they were walking into a sauna — and when they got onto train cars, a sardine can.
___
Associated Press writers Kiley Armstrong, Samantha Gross, Sara Kugler, Colleen Long, Karen Matthews and Cristian Salazar contributed to this report.
FUNNY THAT THE BIG APPLE, ROTTEN TO THE CORE
AND CHOCK-FULL OF WORMS,
CAN'T COPE WITH A LITTLE RAIN - SOME H2O...
WHEN MEN LIKE ALL THOSE DAMN YANKEES
ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ATROCITIES IN THE BIG DRINK:
THE SEA - AND ALL ITS AFFLUENTS...
Dolphin Species Goes Extinct Due to Humans
Charles Q. Choi
Special to LiveScience
LiveScience.com Wed Aug 8, 5:00 PM ET
The Yangtze River dolphin is now almost certainly extinct, making it the first dolphin that humans drove to extinction, scientists have now concluded after an intense search for the endangered species.
The loss also represents the first global extinction of megafauna—any creature larger than about 200 pounds (100 kilograms)—for more than 50 years, since the disappearance of the Caribbean monk seal (Monachus tropicalis).
The Yangtze River dolphin or baiji (Lipotes vexillifer) of China has long been recognized as one of the world's most rare and threatened mammal species.
"It's a relic species, more than 20 million years old, that persisted through the most amazing kinds of changes in the planet," said marine biologist Barbara Taylor at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service. "It's been here longer than the Andes Mountains have been on Earth."
In 1999, the surviving baiji population was estimated to be as low as just 13 dolphins, compared to 400 known baiji in 1981. The last confirmed glimpse of a baiji was documented by a photo taken in 2002, although unverified sightings were reported as recently as 2006.
An international team of scientists conducted an intense six-week search for the dolphin in two research vessels during November and December 2006, covering the entire known range of the baiji in the 1,037-mile (1,669-kilometer) main channel of the Yangtze River. The researchers and their instruments failed to see or hear any evidence that the dolphin survives.
"It was a surprise to everyone on the expedition that we didn't have any sightings at all, that the extinction just happened so quickly," Taylor recalled.
This would make the baiji the first cetacean—that is, dolphin, porpoise or whale—to go extinct because of humans.
The species was probably driven to extinction by harmful fishing practices that were not even devised to harm the dolphins, such as the use of gill nets, rolling hooks or electrical stunning. The findings are detailed Aug. 7 in the journal Biology Letters.
"In the past, you had this out-of-control whaling that still didn't result in any extinctions, but these accidental deaths, which are much less visible to people, are much more insidious," Taylor said.
Even if any baiji exist that scientists did not find, the continued deterioration of the Yangtze region's ecosystem—home to roughly 10 percent of the world's human population—means the species has no hope of even short-term survival as a viable population, the researchers added.
"To help save the endangered Yangtze finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis) that also live in the river, we'll likely have to keep them in lake preserves or raise them in captivity, because the situation in that river doesn't look like it can be controlled at this point," Taylor explained.
With the loss of the Yangtze River dolphin, the world's most critically endangered cetacean species now is the vaquita or Gulf of California porpoise (Phocoena sinus), of which 250 survive. The vaquita and other coastal dolphins around the world now face the same peril that claimed the baiji—accidental deaths from fishing.
"We have to find a way to let small-time fishermen put food on their tables that doesn't involve putting gill nets in the water that decimate these species," Taylor said. "Unless we figure out a way to deal with this problem, the baiji may be the first in quite a long line of animals to face extinction."
* IMAGE GALLERY: Endangered and Threatened Wildlife
* 10 Species Success Stories
* Top 20 Extinction Hot Spots
* Original Story: Dolphin Species Goes Extinct Due to Humans
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U.S. raids hit suspected Iraqi militias
By SALLY BUZBEE, Associated Press Writer Wed Aug 8, 4:49 PM ET
BAGHDAD - U.S. aircraft and soldiers attacked Shiite militia bomb makers accused of links to Iran in raids Wednesday that coincided with a visit to Tehran by Iraq's prime minister. The U.S. military said 32 suspected militants were killed and 12 were captured.
The strike in Sadr City — a major Shiite enclave in Baghdad — sought to target a ring believed to be smuggling armor-piercing roadside bombs from Iran. The precision-crafted explosives have become a growing threat to American troops, and the Pentagon has struggled to find ways to protect vehicles against their deadly power.
The sweep into Sadr City also sent a strong message that U.S. forces plan no letup on suspected Shiite militia cells despite risks of upsetting the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and its efforts at closer cooperation with Shiite heavyweight Iran.
Tehran has denied support for the violence in Iraq. Al-Maliki, on a state visit seeking both security cooperation and more electricity from his neighbor, had no immediate comment on the raids.
The U.S. military said 32 suspected militiamen were killed and 12 captured. But Iraqi police and witnesses said the raids killed nine civilians, including two women, and wounded six others, and made no mention of militants. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals.
The reason for the discrepancies in the U.S. military and local accounts was not immediately clear.
Across Baghdad, meanwhile, devout Shiites massed for a huge annual pilgrimage Thursday. Police clamped on tight security to shield them from possible attacks from Sunni insurgents working to provoke an all-out civil war between Iraq's main Muslim groups.
The American push into Sadr City highlighted the growing complications as more Shiite factions break apart and carve out their own agendas.
The main target was fighters from a breakaway faction of the powerful Mahdi Army, which appears to be fracturing as its leader, radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, loses his tight grip. The splinter group served as a liaison between Iraqi fighters and Iran's elite Quds Force, the U.S. military said.
U.S. and Iraqi forces came under sporadic small-arms fire as they moved into Sadr City, a teeming grid of stores and shops in northeastern Baghdad. Troops killed two armed men believed to be lookouts and then detained 12 militia fighters, the U.S. military said.
U.S. helicopters and warplanes then struck after spotting a large group of armed men on foot who were trying to attack the American ground forces. An estimated 30 militants were killed in the air attack, the U.S. military said.
Afterward, crying neighborhood women shrouded in black accused the Americans of attacking civilians.
The No. 2 U.S. commander, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, has stepped up accusations against Iran in recent days, saying rogue Shiite militants aided by Tehran carried out 73 percent of the attacks that killed or wounded American troops in Baghdad in July.
The sophisticated bombs — which send a blast of superheated molten metal — accounted for a third of U.S. combat deaths in July, according to the military.
The renewed focus on Iranian-backed militias comes even as the U.S. military has claimed some success in combating the other major source of attacks in Iraq — Sunni insurgents linked to al Qaida in Iraq.
U.S. forces have made important strides by enlisting the help of Sunni tribal leaders and others angered by al-Qaida in Iraq's tactics, such as taking control of lucrative smuggling routes and attacking civilians.
In the western Anbar province — once a virtual fiefdom of al-Qaida — attacks against U.S. forces have sharply declined, the military reports. In Fallujah, for example, attacks were down to below 30 in June compared with more than 90 as recently as May, according to military figures cited in a draft report for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies by Anthony Cordesman, a former Pentagon analyst.
Yet fear of possible Sunni attacks were behind the strict security measures in Baghdad as pilgrims gathered.
A curfew was in effect until early Saturday and soldiers were deployed about 100 yards apart on streets in western Baghdad. Traffic was barred by barbed wire and warning signs.
By Wednesday morning, some 1,500 pilgrims had already passed through one of several checkpoints into the area around a shrine in the northern Baghdad area of Kazimiyah where the pilgrims are headed, according to an Iraqi police lieutenant who identified himself only as Fadil, because of security concerns.
The march marks the anniversary of the death of one of Shiite Islam's main saints in the 8th century.
Women wearing black abayas in the searing heat carried plastic bags full of bread and other food, and drank from plastic water bottles as they walked through otherwise-empty streets toward the shrine.
Iraqi soldiers held cigarettes between their teeth as they patted down men wearing traditional Arab robes at checkpoints.
"Thank God security is OK so far — I put it all in God's hands," said Muhammed Jabar, 47, who had walked to Kazimiyah on Wednesday from a nearby area.
While the streets of Baghdad were relatively calm because of the driving ban, violence struck elsewhere.
The U.S. military said one U.S. soldier died and four others were wounded Tuesday by a roadside bombing in western Baghdad. Their identities had not been released. At least 20 U.S. soldiers have been killed this month.
In southern Iraq, a British soldier was killed by small arms fire in Basra late Tuesday, the British Defense Ministry said.
Gunmen also targeted a former mayor of the Shiite holy city of Najaf, the latest in a series of assassination attempts against clerics, academics and security officials there.
The U.S. military said American and Iraqi troops had detained five other Shiite militia fighters in the southwestern Baghdad neighborhood of Amil on Monday. And U.S. soldiers south of the capital detained 10 Shiite militants who were allegedly responsible for rocket attacks against an American forward operating base.
At al-Maliki's meetings in Tehran — his second in less than a year — he focused on ways to speed up signed agreements between the two countries on providing electricity, along with oil and gas exploration.
At the meetings with Iranian Vice President Parviz Davoodi, Iran said it would build a power station in Sadr City and provide Iraq with more electricity and other fuel.
Iraq, which like Iran is majority Shiite, has managed a difficult balancing act between Tehran and Washington since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, trying to maintain good relations with its powerful neighbor while not angering the Americans.
Al-Maliki was to hold talks later with Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Bloodshed hits Guatemala election campaign
By Mica Rosenberg Thu Aug 9, 3:37 PM ET
GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Gunmen have attacked candidates and an activist for Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu's political party three times in the last week in Guatemala's bloodiest election race since a civil war ended a decade ago.
The body of Carlos de Leon Bravo, a local candidate in the northwestern region of San Marcos, was found shot and stuffed in the trunk of his car on Sunday, wrapped in flags of Menchu's left-leaning Together for Guatemala party.
Bravo's death brings close to 40 the number of killings of candidates, activists and workers from different parties in the last year as drug traffickers and former paramilitaries muscle in on elections for president, Congress and municipalities.
Worst hit by the election bloodshed is front-runner Alvaro Colom's National Unity for Hope party, or UNE, which is struggling to rid its ranks of the influence of organized crime groups and drug gangs.
Armed men attacked the house of a congressional candidate from Menchu's party on Tuesday, seriously injuring her two teen-age girls. In another shooting on the same day, three armed men fired at a former guerrilla commander, now an activist for Menchu, injuring his bodyguard and his mechanic.
"This was an assassination attempt," said Cesar Montes, a leader of the leftist insurgency during the country's 1960-1996 civil war. Montes said he shot back at his assailants.
Central America's most populous nation, Guatemala is still suffering the after-effects of the conflict, which left nearly a quarter of a million people dead or missing.
Guatemala, a U.S. trade ally under the CAFTA pact, is one of the most violent countries in the Americas. Almost 6,000 people were murdered last year mostly due to common crime and gang feuds.
Political scientist Francisco Garcia blamed the election violence on a combination of attacks on leftist politicians and activists by shadowy armed groups, reminiscent of the civil war, and attempts by organized crime and drug gangs to win influence in political parties.
"The violent paramilitary forces that fought during the war weren't disarmed ... They were just recycled and put to use by organized criminals," said Garcia.
CRIMINALS AND POLITICIANS
Menchu, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 for defending Mayan victims of the war, is a presidential candidate who is trailing way behind in opinion polls in fourth place.
The UNE, which leads polls, has seen 18 of its candidates and party activists murdered in the campaign, including one congressman shot in front of party headquarters in April.
UNE leader Colom, 56, is a mild mannered center-left politician who is tipped to come first in the September 9 election although he will likely have to compete in run-off vote later in the year.
Some analysts say the UNE is targeted because it is most likely to win the election and has the largest party network.
But rival candidates say Colom, running for president for the third time, let criminals infiltrate the party as he struggled for funds in the last election campaign in 2003.
"Drug traffickers are embedded in the UNE," Menchu told Reuters. "They opened the doors to an ominous element."
One former UNE congressman was ejected from the party amid accusations he is a drug smuggler.
Colom says his party has been targeted because of his zero tolerance approach to organized crime gangs in the ranks.
"Guatemala is totally infiltrated by organized crime on all levels and fighting organized crime is dangerous. I am risking my life everyday," said Colom, who travels with a heavily armed bodyguards and chain smokes cigarettes to calm his nerves.
3 bodies believed found in bridge ruins
By PATRICK CONDON, Associated Press Writer 16 minutes ago
MINNEAPOLIS - Divers pulled at least two more bodies from the wreckage of the collapsed Mississippi River bridge Thursday, bringing the disaster's confirmed death toll to seven, more than a week after the span crumbled. Later, authorities said one of those sets of remains might actually include another victim, which would bring the toll to eight if that is confirmed.
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The first victim recovered Thursday was identified as Peter Joseph Hausmann, 47, of Rosemount.
Authorities believe they know the victims' identities from the other remains, and that they were on the list of missing in the Aug. 1 collapse, said Andrew Baker, chief medical examiner for Hennepin County. They were not immediately identified.
Crews have been searching for at least eight people missing and presumed killed in the collapse, including a mother and her young daughter and another woman and her adult son.
Hausmann was a computer security specialist and a former missionary who met his wife, Helen, in Kenya. The evening of the collapse, he was heading to the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park to pick up a friend for dinner.
Hausmann called home while sitting in traffic, but the line went dead.
As searchers combed the river for victims, federal officials looking into the cause of the collapse issued an advisory for states to inspect the metal plates, or gussets, that hold girders together on bridges nationwide.
Investigators said the gussets on the failed Minneapolis bridge were originally attached with rivets — old technology more likely to slip than the bolts used in bridges today.
Some of the gussets also may have been weakened by welding work over the years, and some may have been too thin, engineering experts said Thursday.
Questions about the gussets prompted Transportation Secretary Mary Peters to caution states about stress placed on bridges during construction projects.
Investigators are also looking at whether extra weight from construction work could have affected the bridge. An 18-person crew had been working on the Interstate 35W span when it collapsed during the evening rush hour.
Bruce Magladry, director of the National Transportation Safety Board's Office of Highway Safety, said the agency will use a computer to simulate how the bridge might have behaved with different loads, and with different parts of the bridge failing. He said there are infinite combinations to test, so the simulation may have to be run 50 times or 5,000 times.
"Then we compare what the (simulated) collapse looks like to what we actually see out there on the ground," Magladry said, and repeat the simulation until it matches what happened.
NTSB investigators have been trying to pinpoint where on the bridge the collapse began. Observations from a helicopter camera this week found several "tensile fractures" in the superstructure on the north side of the bridge, but nothing that appeared to show where the collapse began, the NTSB said.
Also Thursday, President Bush dismissed a proposal to raise the federal gasoline tax to repair the nation's bridges at least until Congress changes the way it spends highway money and considers the economic impact of a tax increase.
At the bridge site, recovery crews have removed several vehicles from the river in the past two days. In all, 88 vehicles have been located, both in the river and amid the broken concrete wreckage of the bridge.
___
Associated Press writers Archie Ingersoll in Minneapolis and Frederic J. Frommer and Jennifer Loven in Washington contributed to this report.
Vancouver hit with 'heinous' shooting, two dead
Updated Thu. Aug. 9 2007 9:38 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
In one of the worst acts of violence to ever hit Vancouver, two people were killed and six injured in a brazen early-morning shooting spree inside a Chinese restaurant.
Two masked gunmen opened fire inside the Fortune Happiness restaurant, apparently targeting a table where the eight victims were seated.
Witnesses said one of the shooters entered from the front, and the other from the back. When the shooting had stopped, two people lay dead while one of the injured was critically hurt.
"This is one of the most heinous (shootings) we've ever come across," said, Dep. Const. Bob Rich. "But it fits with the kind of proliferation of weapons in our city."
The two slain men were aged 19 and 26 and known to police, but none of the victims have been named. Four of the injured were women.
Police believe the shooting may have been gang related.
"All of the people that were shot were sitting at one table," Const. Howard Chow said. "The early part of the investigation is telling us this was not a random attack."
The shooting happened at 4:30 a.m. local time. No one has been arrested and police have no leads. But surveillance footage may have caught the shooting.
"The suspects took off, they are still at large," Chow told CTV.ca.
At an afternoon press conference, Rich said guns and gangs have become a serious issue in Vancouver.
He said police seize about a gun a day and that the weapons they're confiscating are of higher quality than in the past. But he added that he still considers Vancouver a safe city and the number of shots fired this year is less than half what it was last year.
CTV British Columbia reported that one of the gunmen was carrying a .40-calibre weapon while another was holding a nine-millimetre firearm.
Police described the shooting scene as a chaotic one, with tables overturned and bullet holes riddling the entire restaurant.
The late-night restaurant is located at 654 Broadway East just west of Fraser Street.
CTV British Columbia's Kate Gajdosik said there are eyewitness reports that one of the shooters entered from the back of the restaurant, while the other came in from the front.
Bullet holes were visible in the front window of the restaurant, which is located in a quiet neighbourhood not known to be especially dangerous.
With reports from CTV British Columbia
AND THOSE OF YOU WHO DO WANT MISCELLANEOUS COMMENTS
IN THE LUGUBRIOUS COMMENTS SECTION
WELL - LES VOICI, HERE THEY ARE...!
Francis wrote on August 09, 2007 at 9:38:36 AM
Why are we still questioning the ban of handguns in this country? What good is it doing for us?
As a GTA resident I feel for these people. Time for the feds to step up and just ban handguns outright in this country. We don't need them, for sport, show or protection.
Scott H. wrote on August 09, 2007 at 9:49:01 AM
I'd be willing to bet they were armed with illegal handguns... though I still bet there will be mass cries for a ban on guns. I still say tougher punishments and more cops on the street are the way to solve this growing problem...
Michael wrote on August 09, 2007 at 9:56:23 AM
Banning legitimate use of handguns isn't the solution. The problems are illegal handguns, a liberal judiciary who are easy on criminals and penalties which are a joke.
Deal with those and we will see change.
Forte wrote on August 09, 2007 at 10:02:45 AM
If you want to handle a gun,join the Armed Forces or move to the U.S. Why any civilian needs a gun or any armament is beyond me.
Eric L. wrote on August 09, 2007 at 10:09:01 AM
We love Canada because it's guns-free, as opposed to the situation in the U.S., so we should continue to support banning illegal possession of guns in Canada
Jason Chow wrote on August 09, 2007 at 10:10:01 AM
Rather than call for a ban on handguns as there are already stringent restrictions on handguns and it's obvious the criminals chose to ignore these laws. What makes people think that an outright ban on handguns would cause the criminals to obey the laws then? An outright ban on handguns insures that only criminals will have access to handguns. How about calling for a 1am curfew--these people wouldn't have been shot if they weren't out.....
Greg Mulvihill wrote on August 09, 2007 at 10:11:17 AM
Why is it that people believe that by having the government ban handguns that will suddenly make them disappear? These people that are using them didn't buy them at a store, didn't register them and really couldn't care less if the Government bans them of not. Ask for stiffer sentences and more resources to catch the "bad guys" and not for useless "bans" that are unenforceable.
Ian wrote on August 09, 2007 at 10:12:05 AM
Why is it any time a report of mass shooting happens we instantly see both sides of the "we must ban handguns" "we must not ban handguns" argument? Neither side makes any sense.
Brad wrote on August 09, 2007 at 10:13:14 AM
And banning handguns would have done what, exactly, to prevent this crime ? Is anyone really naive enough to believe that a "ban" would have any effect on the kind of people who actually carry out an organized "hit" ? Get real.
Jim F wrote on August 09, 2007 at 10:13:17 AM
The high majority of these types of crimes are in the big cities. You people asking for the banning of guns are trying to punish honest individuals in small towns and rural areas, where this kind of thing rarely happens, and who has zero involvement with gangs and organized crime.
Big cities need to fix their own issues, stop making excuses about their problems, and stop trying to prohibit legal gun ownership amongst people in areas that have nothing to do with these crimes.
Matt wrote on August 09, 2007 at 10:14:30 AM
Francis,
We do have a handgun ban in Canada. Admittedly there are a few exceptions for sports (Olympics and other competitions), show (museums), protection (law enforcement). Except for active Law enforcement use, the handguns must be locked in a secure box unless they are being used.
In this case like most the offender was very likely using an illegal gun (smuggled into the country), the offenders have likely been convicted of multiple violent offenses and were known to police.
The real question is why weren't these dangerous criminals in jail?
Allen wrote on August 09, 2007 at 10:17:01 AM
Hopefully the investigation will show why this "hit" took place, and that the police will take appropriate action.
Regarding the weapons used - it doesn't matter if it was by gun, knife, bomb, or arson, it was an illegal act and the perpetrators will hopefully be brought to justice soon.
Amy wrote on August 09, 2007 at 10:18:05 AM
A ban on handguns will do nothing to stop criminals from killing people. It will only punish law abiding citizens who enjoy the sport of shooting. It is illegal to have a handgun anywhere except a shooting range, to transport it anywhere except a shooting range, to have it loaded outside of a range, and to point it at anyone, loaded or not, according to Canadian law. These criminals do not obey our laws. We need tougher penalties for criminals. Should we ban cars to stop impaired driving? In areas where handguns have been banned, crime has increased. Criminals will continue to have handguns whether we ban them or not. It's time to stop blaming guns and start blaming the people who use them.
Lisa wrote on August 09, 2007 at 10:18:06 AM
Banning handguns will not solve the problem. The majority of the guns used in crimes are obtained illegally.
I can't understand for the life of me why so many don't realize this.
Hugh wrote on August 09, 2007 at 10:15:26 AM
Time will show that law abiding citizens who have their guns registered are not responsible and that criminals, who haven't registered their guns, are responsible. One thing is sure & that is CRIMINALS will never register guns and HONEST citizens will continue to be harrassed.
Mike Duynhoven wrote on August 09, 2007 at 10:23:13 AM
Oh of course everyone who is anti-gun now parrots the same drivel about banning handguns. It is already illegal to kill someone, but we can see how well that ban has helped. ...
HB wrote on August 09, 2007 at 10:26:34 AM
That's right, punish the honest, law abiding citizens and the problem will go away. Wrong. Tougher sentences for those involved would be a better idea.
Brian wrote on August 09, 2007 at 10:26:42 AM
Banning handguns would reduce the number available to criminals. It is not a cure-all but it would help. If a handgun ban were to save only one person's life would it still not be worth it?
Andrew wrote on August 09, 2007 at 10:28:35 AM
I bet these guys have along criminal record of all kinds of offences. Ban Liberal lawyers and judges, not lawfully held firearms.
Andrea wrote on August 09, 2007 at 10:32:49 AM
Hey, instead of banning handguns lets just ban all crime....that should solve the problem.
Geoff wrote on August 09, 2007 at 10:38:38 AM
Jason Chow wrote "How about calling for a 1am curfew--these people wouldn't have been shot if they weren't out.....". Why not take it a step further and call for a police state, whereby all civil liberties are suspended? The idea of a curfew is ridiculous, as these a**holes don't give a crap about the time of day when they go on their shooting rampages. Let them rot in prison with no chance of parole. Why should our civil liberties be suspended rather than theirs?
Plane carrying 20 crashes in French Polynesia
Updated Thu. Aug. 9 2007 11:07 PM ET
Associated Press
WELLINGTON, N.Z. -- Officials say a plane carrying 20 people crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff from the French Polynesian island Moorea, killing at least 14 of those on board.
Officials from the local aviation authority and Air Moorea say the Tahiti-bound Canadian-made Twin Otter DHC6 turboprop, carrying 19 passengers and a pilot, went down around noon local time.
Moorea is 16 kilometres from Tahiti, a South Pacific tourist mecca halfway between Australia and California.
The plane carried out regular seven-minute flights between the islands for Air Moorea.
France's high commission on Tahiti says 14 bodies have been recovered.
The aviation authority says no survivors had been found so far.
French navy ships recovered some bodies about two kilometres from Moorea airport and outside the island's lagoon and were searching for survivors, although it was feared there was none, a spokeswoman for the civil aviation authority said on condition of anonymity.
The cause of the crash was not immediately clear and would be investigated, the spokeswoman said.
3 dead in Indiana mine accident
By KEITH ROBINSON, Associated Press Writer 35 minutes ago
PRINCETON, Ind. - An accident at an air shaft being built in a southern Indiana coal mine killed three people Friday, police said.
Detective Mike Hurt said the people died in a basket used to transport people up and down a 600-foot air shaft, but he could say whether they fell. Authorities did not believe there had been a cave-in or an explosion, he said, and no one else was believed to be injured or trapped.
Crews were working to remove the bodies at Gibson County Coal after the late-morning accident, Sgt. Jay Riley said.
Fire crews, police and the coroner were at the scene.
The mine, owned by Tulsa, Okla.-based Alliance Resource Partners, is northwest of Princeton, about 30 miles north of Evansville.
Julie Dozier, personnel coordinator at Gibson County Coal, confirmed the accident but offered few details.
Frontier-Kemper Constructors Inc. was working at the mine, designing and constructing a 550-foot-deep, 28-feet-wide service shaft, according to the Frontier-Kemper Web site.
The mine began production in July 2000. The last fatality was in November 2001, according to the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. The miner died after being pinned by equipment, and operator error was cited as the cause of the accident.
In 2006, the company produced more than 3.5 million tons of coal, ranking second among the state's coal producers, according to the Indiana Coal Council.
Entertainer, businessman Griffin dies
By BOB THOMAS, Associated Press Writer Today, August 12th, at 1:02 pm
(Gee, BOB - is it so hard to type "MERV" so that we know he was not a mythical beast -a griffin- but really a man as you imply by calling him a "businessman" before a TV personality, which he is bound to be most remembered for... HUH?
I guess you will love it when lazy journalists skip the part where they could call you BOB and go straight to the doubting Thomas - eh? But I digress...
Onwards to your article now...)
Merv Griffin, the big band-era crooner turned impresario who parlayed his "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune" game shows into a multimillion-dollar empire, died Sunday. He was 82.
Griffin died of prostate cancer, according to a statement from his family that was released by Marcia Newberger, spokeswoman for The Griffin Group/Merv Griffin Entertainment.
From his beginning as a $100-a-week San Francisco radio singer, Griffin moved on as vocalist for Freddy Martin's band, sometime film actor in films and TV game and talk show host, and made Forbes' list of richest Americans several times.
"The Merv Griffin Show" lasted more than 20 years, and Griffin said his capacity to listen contributed to his success.
"If the host is sitting there thinking about his next joke, he isn't listening," Griffin reasoned in a recent interview.
But his biggest break financially came from inventing and producing "Jeopardy" in the 1960s and "Wheel of Fortune" in the 1970s. After they had become the hottest game shows on television, Griffin sold the rights to Coca Cola's Columbia Pictures Television Unit for $250 million in 1986, retaining a share of the profits.
"My father was a visionary," Griffin's son, Tony Griffin, said in a statement issued Sunday. "He loved business and continued his many projects and holdings even while hospitalized."
When Griffin entered a hospital a month ago, he was working on the first week of production of a new syndicated game show, "Merv Griffin's Crosswords," his son said.
Griffin was also a longtime friend of former President Reagan and his wife, Nancy.
"This is heartbreaking, not just for those of us who loved Merv personally, but for everyone around the world who has known Merv through his music, his television shows and his business," Nancy Reagan said in a statement.
She said Griffin "was there for me every day after Ronnie died" in 2004.
"Wheel of Fortune" host Pat Sajak said he had lost "a dear friend."
"He meant so much to my life, and it's hard to imagine it without him," Sajak said.
For several years, Griffin was frequently seen in the company of actress Eva Gabor, who died in 1995.
"I'm very upset at the news. He was a very close friend of ours, a good friend of mine and a good friend of Eva's," Gabor's sister, Zsa Zsa Gabor, told The Associated Press by phone Sunday. "He was just a wonderful, wonderful man."
Griffin started putting the proceeds from selling "Jeopardy" and "Wheel" in treasury bonds, stocks and other investments, but went into real estate and other ventures because "I was never so bored in my life."
"I said `I'm not going to sit around and clip coupons for the rest of my life,'" he recalled in 1989. "That's when Barron Hilton said `Merv, do you want to buy the Beverly Hilton?' I couldn't believe it."
Griffin bought the slightly passe hotel for $100.2 million and completely refurbished it for $25 million. Then he made a move for control of Resorts International, which operated hotels and casinos from Atlantic City to the Caribbean.
That touched off a feud with real estate tycoon Donald Trump. Griffin eventually acquired Resorts for $240 million, even though Trump had held 80 percent of the voting stock.
"I love the gamesmanship," he told Life magazine in 1988. "This may sound strange, but it parallels the game shows I've been involved in."
In recent years, Griffin also rated frequent mentions in the sports pages as a successful race horse owner. His colt Stevie Wonderboy, named for entertainer Stevie Wonder, won the $1.5 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile in 2005.
In 1948, Freddy Martin hired Griffin to join his band at Los Angeles' Coconut Grove at $150 a week. With Griffin doing the singing, the band had a smash hit with "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Cocoanuts," a 1949 novelty song sung in a cockney accent.
Doris Day and her producer husband, Marty Melcher, saw the band in Las Vegas and recommended Griffin to Warner Bros., which offered a contract. After a bit in "By the Light of the Silvery Moon," starring Day and Gordon MacRae, he had a bigger role with Kathryn Grayson in "So This Is Love." But after a few more trivial roles, he asked out of his contract.
In 1954, Griffin went to New York where he appeared in a summer replacement musical show on CBS-TV, a revival of "Finian's Rainbow," and a music show on CBS radio. He followed with a few TV game show hosting jobs, notably "Play Your Hunch," which premiered in 1958 and ran through the early 1960s. His glibness led to stints as substitute for Jack Paar on "Tonight."
When Paar retired in 1962, Griffin was considered a prime candidate to replace him. Johnny Carson was chosen instead. NBC gave Griffin a daytime version of "Tonight," but he was canceled for being "too sophisticated" for the housewife audience.
Westinghouse Broadcasting introduced "The Merv Griffin Show" in 1965 on syndicated TV. Griffin never underestimated the intelligence of his audience, offering such figures as philosopher Bertrand Russell, cellist Pablo Casals and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer-philosopher-historians Will and Ariel Durant as well as movie stars and entertainers.
CBS tried to challenge Carson with a late-night show starring Griffin, but nothing stopped Carson and Griffin returned to Westinghouse.
A lifelong crossword puzzle fan, Griffin devised a game show, "Word for Word," in 1963. It faded after one season, then his wife, Julann, suggested another show.
"Julann's idea was a twist on the usual question-answer format of the quiz shows of the Fifties," he wrote in his autobiography "Merv." "Her idea was to give the contestants the answer, and they had to come up with the appropriate question."
"Jeopardy" started in 1964 and "Wheel of Fortune" was begun in 1975.
Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. was born in San Mateo, south of San Francisco on July 6, 1925, the son of a stockbroker. An aunt, Claudia Robinson, taught him to play piano at age 4, and he soon was staging shows on the back porch.
"Every Saturday I had a show, recruiting all the kids in the block as either stagehands, actors and audience, or sometimes all three," he wrote in his 1980 autobiography. "I was the producer, always the producer."
After studying at San Mateo Junior College and the University of San Francisco, Griffin quit school to apply for a job as pianist at KFRC radio in San Francisco. The station needed a vocalist instead. He auditioned and was hired.
Griffin attracted the interest of RKO studio boss William Dozier and his wife, Joan Fontaine.
At the time, Griffin weighed 235 pounds. "As soon as I walked in their hotel room, I could see their faces fall," he recalled. Shortly afterward, singer Joan Edwards told him: "Your voice is terrific, but the blubber has got to go." Griffin slimmed down, and he spent the rest of his life adding and taking off weight.
Griffin and Julann Elizabeth Wright were married in 1958, and their son, Anthony, was born the following year. They divorced in 1973 because of "irreconcilable differences."
He never remarried.
Besides his son, Griffin is survived by his daughter-in-law, Tricia, and two grandchildren.
The family said an invitation-only funeral Mass will be held at a later date at The Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills.
___
Associated Press writers Beth Harris and Jeff Wilson contributed to this story.
Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
3 killed in Mo. church shooting
(as 5 were shot in an Orlando nightclub - 3 to 5, good guys still suffer more casualties...)
28 minutes ago (on August 12th still)
NEOSHO, Mo. - A gunman opened fire in the sanctuary of a southwest Missouri church Sunday, killing three people and wounding several others, a city spokeswoman said.
About 25 to 50 people were briefly held hostage at the First Congregational Church until the gunman surrendered, Neosho spokeswoman Desiree Bridges said.
Fewer than 10 people were also shot and wounded, Bridges said.
The shooter was being held at the Newton County Jail, but police were not releasing any information about him.
Bridges said he was related to someone in the church, but declined to elaborate.
Bridges said the shooter had three firearms, but wouldn't say what type. The shooting followed the 1 p.m. service.
U.S. Video
* 5 shot at Orlando nightclub AP - Sun Aug 12, 3:52 PM ET
3 men die in Indiana mine accident
By KEITH ROBINSON, Associated Press Writer Fri Aug 10, 7:56 PM ET
PRINCETON, Ind. - Three men being carried in a construction bucket fell out and plunged 500 feet down an air shaft at a coal mine Friday, killing them, authorities said.
No one else was injured, said George Zugel, director of safety and health for Frontier-Kemper Constructors Inc., which is building the 550-foot vertical ventilation shaft at the Gibson County Coal mine in southern Indiana.
The open-top bucket was somehow upset as it was descending in the shaft, and the three men fell to the bottom, Zugel said.
The "sinking bucket" can hold six to 10 people and is about 6 feet high, worker John Ervin said. Authorities did not say whether anyone other than the three victims was in the bucket.
"I don't understand how this could have happened," Ervin said.
At the start of a shift, the bucket typically takes about six people down to the work area at the bottom of the shaft, Ervin said. The bucket is inspected daily, he said.
The three bodies had been removed from the shaft, said Gibson County Sheriff Allen Harmon. The victims' names were being withheld until their families could be notified.
The mine, owned by Tulsa, Okla.-based Alliance Resource Partners, is about 30 miles north of Evansville.
Debbie King, executive assistant for investor relations at Alliance, said the accident was not connected to the mine.
"It is a construction accident. We can't report on it because it's not our accident," she said.
Officials from the Indiana Department of Labor and the Indiana Bureau of Mines are investigating at the mine, said Labor Department spokesman Sean Keefer.
The air shaft was being built as part of an expansion at the coal mine, which began production in July 2000. The last fatality was in November 2001, according to the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. The miner died after being pinned by equipment, and operator error was cited as the cause.
Last year, the mine administration cited the company for 353 safety violations, 127 of which were deemed "serious or significant," said Rodney Brown, a spokesman for the agency. The mine has faced 292 citations this year, 84 of which were considered serious and significant.
In 2006, the company produced more than 3.5 million tons of coal, ranking second among the state's coal producers, according to the Indiana Coal Council.
___
Associated Press writers Rick Callahan and Deanna Martin contributed to this story.
France mourns former archbishop
Funeral of Cardinal Lustiger at Notre Dame, Paris
President Sarkozy flew home especially for the funeral
A funeral service including Jewish prayers has been held at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris for Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger.
The former Archbishop of Paris, who died on Sunday aged 80, was born Aaron Lustiger to Polish Jews who had settled in France before World War I.
The French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, interrupted his summer holiday in the United States to attend the funeral.
Cardinal Lustiger became a Catholic at the start of World War II.
The ceremonies at Notre Dame began with a reading of a Jewish psalm, followed by the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead.
Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger
Cardinal Lustiger worked to improve Catholic-Jewish relations
Arno Lustiger, a cousin and 83-year-old Auschwitz death camp survivor, read the Kaddish before a crowd of some 5,000 mourners.
President Sarkozy described Cardinal Lustiger as "a great man, a man who was important to the French, believers and non-believers alike, a man of peace, unity and reconciliation".
Cardinal Lustiger was an outspoken opponent of racism and anti-Semitism, who appeared frequently on television as a commentator on current issues.
He was buried in the cathedral's crypt, like most former archbishops of Paris since the 17th Century.
His successor, Archbishop Andre Vingt-Trois, praised the late cardinal's role in "the development of relations between Jews and Christians, with the encouragement and support of [former Pope] John Paul II".
Cardinal Lustiger died on Sunday in a clinic in Paris, where he was admitted in April.
The cleric was archbishop of Paris for 24 years before stepping down in 2005 at the age of 78. He was made a cardinal in 1983.
His mother Gisele was deported and killed by the Nazis at Auschwitz during the war.
More human remains found at bridge site
By MARTIGA LOHN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 24 minutes ago
MINNEAPOLIS - Human remains were recovered Sunday from the site of the Mississippi River bridge collapse, the Hennepin County Sheriff's Department said.
The remains were found at about 2:30 p.m. They were not immediately identified.
Divers had returned to the water looking for five people missing in the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge, while cranes removed a school bus and other vehicles from the ends of the fallen span.
Navy divers were out of the water overnight after a thunderstorm forced them to quit about two hours early Saturday, Navy spokesman Dave Nagle said. Storms made their task more dangerous over the weekend, strengthening river currents.
The bus was among 44 vehicles hoisted off the bridge over the weekend, out of roughly 100 on the structure when it fell on Aug. 1, Minnesota Department of Transportation spokesman Kevin Gutknecht said. Most vehicles on the bridge's north end were gone; Gutknecht said work would focus on the south end for the next day or two.
The yellow school bus became a symbol of a disaster that could have been worse. Everyone on board — 52 children and several adults — escaped alive.
Broken glass remained on a slanted section on the bridge's north end as pedestrians and cyclists peered through a mesh fence put up to keep them from getting too close.
So far, crews have cleared cars from parts of the bridge that fell onto land. They have equipment positioned to start major debris removal once the recovery is finished.
Divers also recovered three bodies on Thursday and Friday.
The list of confirmed missing included Christine Sacorafas, 45, of White Bear Lake; Vera Peck, 50, and her son Richard Chit, 20, both of Bloomington; Greg Jolstad, 45, of Mora; and Scott Sathers, 29, of Maple Grove.
About 100 people were injured in the collapse, but only eight remained hospitalized, their conditions ranging from serious to good. Hennepin County Medical Center released one patient and upgraded another from serious to satisfactory condition, a spokeswoman said on Sunday.
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Austrian film director Franz Antel dies aged 94
Sun Aug 12, 4:23 PM
VIENNA (AFP) - Austrian film director Franz Antel, whose cinematic career spanned over seven decades, died overnight in Vienna at the age of 94, a spokesman for his wife Sybille said Sunday.
"Mrs Antel wishes us simply to announce that the film director gently slipped away," a spokesperson for the old persons' home in Vienna where Antel was staying also said.
Born on June 28, 1913, Antel was initially known after World War II for making general entertainment films, many of them set in the Imperial era.
A writer, director and producer, he then went on to produce more erotic films in the 1960s and in 1976 made "Casanova and Co." with Hollywood star Tony Curtis.
Antel worked principally in his native Austria and in Germany and is best known for his 1981 feature "Der Bockerer", about a naive and apolitical Viennese butcher who refuses to give in to the Nazi regime as the people around him get caught up in the events following Germany's annexation of Austria.
He was awarded the Golden medal of merit by the City of Vienna in 2004.
"Franz Antel was an Austrian legend... With his death, Austria has lost a great artist," Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer said Sunday.
Culture minister Claudia Schmied added: "A century of Austrian film history has ended with his passing... Franz Antel represented the low and the high points of Austrian film and was a teacher and inspiration for many young talents who followed."
Possible bird flu outbreak in Bali monitored
From correspondents in Jakarta
August 13, 2007 02:18am
Article from: Agence France-Presse
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HEALTH officials in Bali are investigating whether a woman and her daughter died from the deadly H5N1 strain of influenza.
If confirmed, the death of the 29-year-old woman and the five-year-old girl will become the first cases of the disease for the tourist island.
Doctors at Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar were awaiting test results after the death of Ni Luh Putu Sri Windani last Sunday, officials said.
Initial tests show she had the H5N1 strain.
Two tests are needed to conclusively establish the type of virus.
"She is suspected of bird flu infection and chickens which died in her neighbourhood were positively infected," said Joko Suyono of the Bird Flu Information Centre in Jakarta.
If confirmed, it would be the first human case of the H5N1 virus in Bali, the centre of Indonesia's tourism industry.
Ms Windani's five-year-old daughter also died recently after playing with chickens but it was unclear if the girl died of bird flu.
Ms Wendani, from a village in the district of Jembrana in western Bali, was suffering from a high fever before dying of multiple organ failure, said Ken Wirasandi, a doctor at Sanglah Hospital.
Mr Suyono said there had been sick chickens around the woman's house and many had died suddenly in recent weeks.
"The villagers didn't burn the carcasses. Instead they buried them or fed them to pigs," he said.
Contact with sick fowl is the most common way for humans to contract the H5N1 virus.
The woman had started showing symptoms more than a week ago, but was only admitted to hospital six days later.
She was transferred to a bigger hospital in Denpasar on Friday, where she was treated in the isolation unit, Mr Suyono said.
He said initial investigations indicated last month the daughter had become sick after playing with chickens and died a week later.
"We were unable to retrieve any tissue samples, so we can't confirm whether she died of bird flu," he said.
Kompas newspaper said the child died on August 3 after showing bird flu symptoms.
A two-year-old neighbour of the woman had also been admitted to the same hospital in Denpasar, the report said.
A spokeswoman for the Australian Department of Health and Ageing said the situation was being closely monitored.
Infected poultry was first found on the northwest of the island – far from the main tourist areas – last year, when hundreds of birds were culled but no human infections were found.
Indonesia reported its first human bird flu case in July 2005 and has since confirmed 81 deaths, the highest number of any nation.
Scientists worry the bird flu virus could mutate into a form easily spread among humans, leading to a global pandemic with the potential to kill millions.
The virulent Indonesia strain has killed more than 190 people since it surfaced in 2003.
With AAP, Reuters
NY socialite Brooke Astor dies at 105
By ULA ILNYTZKY, Associated Press Writer 5 minutes ago (on August 13th that is)
NEW YORK - Brooke Astor, the civic leader, philanthropist and high society fixture who gave away nearly $200 million to support New York City's great cultural institutions and a host of humbler projects, died Monday. She was 105.
Astor, who recently was the center of a highly publicized legal dispute over her care, died of pneumonia at Holly Hill, her Westchester County estate in Briarcliff Manor, family lawyer Kenneth Warner said.
"Brooke was truly a remarkable woman and an irreplaceable friend," longtime family friend David Rockefeller said. "She was the leading lady of New York in every sense of the word."
Although a legendary figure in New York City and feted with a famous gala on her 100th birthday in March 2002, Astor was mostly interested in putting the fortune that husband Vincent Astor left to use helping others.
Her efforts won her a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 1998.
"Money is like manure, it should be spread around," was her oft-quoted motto. There has been a lot to spread in the family ever since Vincent Astor's great-great-grandfather, John Jacob Astor, made a fortune in fur trading and New York real estate.
Brooke Astor gave millions to what she called the city's "crown jewels" — among them the New York Public Library, Carnegie Hall, the Museum of Natural History, Central Park, the Bronx Zoo and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where the flags were lowered to half-staff after her death.
She also funded scores of smaller projects: Harlem's Apollo Theater; a new boiler for a youth center; beachside bungalow preservation; a church pipe organ; furniture for homeless families moving in to apartments.
It was a very personal sort of philanthropy. "People just can't come up here and say, `We're doing something marvelous, send a check.' We say, 'Oh, yes, we'll come and see it,'" she said.
The final year of Astor's life was marred by a family feud over her care, including allegations that she was forced to sleep on a couch that smelled of urine while subsisting on a diet of pureed peas and oatmeal.
Papers filed in July 2006 alleged her final years were marred by neglect, and in a settlement three months later her son, Anthony Marshall, was replaced as her legal guardian with Annette de la Renta, wife of the fashion designer Oscar de la Renta.
Marshall's son Philip Marshall, a professor at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, had alleged that his father was looting his grandmother's estate and allowing her to live in filthy conditions at her Park Avenue duplex. Anthony Marshall, a former diplomat and sometime Broadway producer who won Tony awards in 2003 and 2004, denied any wrongdoing.
In December, a Manhattan judge ruled that claims "regarding Mrs. Astor's medical and dental care, and the other allegations of intentional elder abuse" by Anthony Marshall were not substantiated.
"I have lost my beloved mother, and New York and the world have lost a great lady," Marshall said. "She was one of a kind in every way. Her tombstone will be inscribed with the words she specifically asked for: 'I had a wonderful life.' I am thankful that she did. I will miss her deeply and always."
Astor was born Brooke Russell in March 30, 1902, when Theodore Roosevelt was president, the U.S. had only 45 states and the Wright brothers had yet to make their first flight.
She was the only child of John H. Russell, a career Marine officer who rose to become commandant of the Corps from 1934 to 1936. She was fluent in Chinese after having spending her childhood in China and many other places, including the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Hawaii and Panama.
"I grew up feeling that the most important thing in life was to have good manners and to enhance the lives of others," Brooke Astor said in a 1992 interview with The Associated Press.
At age 16, she was pushed by her mother into marriage with J. Dryden Kuser, whom she had met at a Princeton prom. The marriage ended in divorce 10 years later.
Her second marriage was to stockbroker Charles "Buddie" Marshall. Her son Anthony, from her marriage to Kuser, took Marshall's name. During her marriage to Marshall, Astor wrote articles for various magazines and joined the staff of House & Garden, where she was feature editor for several years.
Marshall died in 1952. A year later, she married Vincent Astor, the eldest son of John Jacob Astor 4th, who died in the sinking of the Titanic.
Vincent Astor, who had no children, died in 1959. He left his widow $2 million plus the interest off $60 million and endowed the Vincent Astor Foundation with an additional $67 million. It gave away approximately $200 million by the time it closed at the end of 1997.
"Vincent was a very suspicious man," Brooke Astor recalled. "The fact that he had total confidence in me to run the foundation made me want to vindicate him, show him — wherever he is — that I could do a good job."
She decided that since the money was made in New York it should largely be spent there. She also persuaded the trustees to give away principal as well as interest so most of the money would be spent in her lifetime.
"I'm afraid that, to old John Jacob Astor, spending principal would seem like dancing naked in the streets," she acknowledged.
Hers was a hands-on approach, personally going over applications and then going out to meet the people who ran the programs.
"Even in the worst drug areas, I don't hesitate to go right in and see people," she once said.
Astor Foundation director Linda Gillies, several decades younger than Astor, once said Astor "wears us out."
"Often," Gillies said, "we can't keep up with her."
Astor wrote four books: "Patchwork Child," a 1962 autobiography; "The Bluebird is at Home," 1965, a novel; the autobiographical "Footprints," 1980; and "The Last Blossom on the Plum Tree," 1986, a period novel.
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Associated Press writer Adam Goldman contributed to this report.
Desegregation pioneer dies at 90
Mon Aug 13, 10:32 AM ET
GLOUCESTER, Va. - Irene Morgan Kirkaldy, a black woman whose refusal to give up her bus seat to white passengers led to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision more than a decade before Rosa Parks gained recognition for doing the same, has died at 90.
Kirkaldy died Friday at her daughter's home, said Fred Carter, director of Carter Funeral Home in Newport News.
Kirkaldy, born Irene Morgan in Baltimore in 1917, was arrested in 1944 for refusing to give up her seat on a Greyhound bus heading from Gloucester to Baltimore, and for resisting arrest.
Her case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court by an NAACP lawyer named Thurgood Marshall, who later became the first black justice on the high court.
The Supreme Court held in June 1946 that Virginia law requiring the races to be separated on interstate buses — even making passengers change seats during their journey to maintain separation if the number of passengers changed — was an invalid interference in interstate commerce.
At the time, the case received little attention, and not all bus companies complied with the ruling at first, but it paved the way for civil rights victories to come, including Parks' famous stand on a local bus in Montgomery, Ala., in 1955.
Kirkaldy also inspired the first Freedom Ride in 1947, when 16 civil rights activists rode buses and trains through the South to test the Supreme Court decision.
In 2001, President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Citizens Medal — the second highest civilian honor in the United States.
Asked where her courage came from that day, Kirkaldy said simply: "I can't understand how anyone would have done otherwise."
She was not part of any organized movement, unlike Parks, who was an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People when she challenged segregation.
Kirkaldy, then a young mother, boarded the Greyhound bus in Hayes Store, Va., and took a seat toward the back for her ride home. She was recovering from surgery and had taken her two children to stay temporarily with her mother in Gloucester.
A few miles down the road, the driver told her to move because a white couple wanted to occupy her row.
"I said 'Well, no,'" she recalled. "That was a seat I had paid for."
Kirkaldy said she willingly paid a $100 fine for resisting arrest because she did kick the officer who tried to remove her from the bus.
"Sometimes, you are so enraged, you don't have time to be afraid," she remarked in 2000.
She lived out of the spotlight for decades after the case, earning a college degree in 1985 at age 68, and lived most of her life in New York state.
She said she didn't mind the relatively little notice her achievements brought.
"If there's a job to be done, you do it and get it over with and go on to the next thing," she told The Washington Post in 2000.
Her daughter, Brenda Bacquie, told the newspaper: "She always taught us that if you know you're right, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. It's a moral thing. ... She doesn't see herself as a hero."
Hundreds dead, missing after NKorea rain
1 minute ago
SEOUL, South Korea - Heavy rains spawned flooding that left "hundreds" dead or missing in North Korea and destroyed more than 30,000 homes, the country's state media reported Tuesday.
The official Korean Central News Agency said preliminary information revealed massive casualties after the storms that began last week, but gave no specific figures.
It said the rain also flooded tens of thousands of acres of farmland in the impoverished country that suffers from regular food shortages.
"The heavy rain destroyed at least 800 public buildings, over 540 bridges, 70 sections of railroads and at least 1,100 vehicles, pumps and electric motors," KCNA said.
Hardest hit appeared to be Kangwon province, where KCNA said there were "huge casualties" and that homes for more than 20,000 families were partly or completely destroyed. The effects also reached to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.
"The material damage so far is estimated to be very big," KCNA said. "This unceasing heavy rain destroyed the nation's major railways, roads and bridges, suspended power supply and cut off the communications network."
North Korea also suffered from flooding last year that caused massive casualties, although the exact numbers of dead were never revealed by the secretive country.
Damage from storms is often worsened in North Korea because its citizens denude vast hillsides to create more arable land to grow food, meaning natural vegetation that can stop erosion and landslides is no longer present.
More than 2 million people are estimated to have died in North Korea after a famine struck in the mid-1990s, which the government blamed on natural disasters but was also linked to outdated farming methods as well as the loss of the country's Soviet benefactor. North Korea still relies on outside food aid to help feed its people.
In a statement Tuesday, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies also noted the damage from the weather and said the national Red Cross was on a 24-hour alert. The statement gave no details of deaths and only mentioned five people missing in an initial series of reports that did not include all areas affected.
The international federation said it had given disaster kits to 500 homeless families with blankets, kitchen sets, water containers and other necessities.
Pro wrestler Brian Adams found dead
Last Edited: Monday, 13 Aug 2007, 10:36 PM EDT
Created: Monday, 13 Aug 2007, 4:46 PM EDT
Brian Adams was found dead Monday.
TAMPA - Former pro-wrestler Brian Adams - known to his fans as Crush - was found dead by his wife at their home in North Tampa around 11:30 Monday morning.
Adams was part of a wrestling circuit that included Brian Blair, who now serves as a Hillsborough County Commissioner, and WWE star Vito LoGrasso, who calls himself "the toughest man to ever wear a dress."
LoGrasso said in an interview Monday that he loves many things about his sport: the time at the gym, the time in the ring, the time with the friends he's made along the way.
One of those friends was Crush, who was part of the W.W.F., now called the W.W.E.
"He had a very illustrious career and he was a good man and a good person - you know, very caring," LoGrasso remembered.
Crush stood 6'-8" and weighed 300 pounds. But, LoGrasso was quick to add that he did not give his competitor an easy time.
"One of the toughest guys I ever faced and I know I always gave him a handful of problems," he said, adding that when he heard his fellow former wrestler had died, he felt a kind of blow one doesn't encounter inside the W.W.E. ring.
"Shock, just disbelief, I couldn't believe it when somebody said that to me," LoGrasso recalled. "It just seems like you're always losing a brother - the world of wrestling, it's like a brotherhood and it just seems like it's a dying breed."
Many from that "brotherhood," live in the Tampa Bay area like Adams did. Among them is County Commissioner Brian Blair, who was one of Adams' best friends.
In an exclusive interview with FOX 13 from his home in North Tampa, the Hillsborough County Commissioner said sadly, "losing Brian Adams is a loss for everybody, and my prayers go out to Irene [Adams] and his family and to all the people who knew Brian and loved him."
The two men wrestled together. They played golf tournaments together.
"If you wanted to remember Brian Adams for what Brian Adams was, you would start with integrity and it would have to end with humor, because he had to make you laugh," Blair explained. "He had charisma, he could do things that no other could person could do."
The results from Adams' autopsy are expected to be released Tuesday. Many hope they provide some explanation for why the athlete died so young. But, as of Monday, Tampa Police did not expect the cause of death to be foul play.
No one seems to know that Brian Adams was very much appreciated as of late as one half of "KRONIK", with tag partner Brian Clarke. The Brian & Brian team had been, in fact, far more successful and impressive than the Demolition team that "Crush" was a part of - in the WCW, which is not even mentioned here or any other news report about this latest death in the world of wrestling.
In fact, since the death of WCW itself, and even a little bit before it, there seems to have been a "curse of WCW" or, more appropriately, a curse upon WCW stars - and they have been dropping like flies ever since. Brian Pillman, Eddie Guerrero, Sherri Martel, Elizabeth Houlette, Nancy Daus, "Mike Awesome", Chris Candido, "Renegade", Louie Spicolli, Davey Boy Smith, "Rocko Rock", "A-Wall", Curt Hennig, Rick Rude...
And Chris Benoit, of course.
Verily, it seems that most who die are the ones who were found to have been in WCW and in WWE in alternance - the competition having been so fierce at one point between the two brands, I can see Vince McMahon ordering his subaltern, Papa Shango, to curse the defectors and/or top talents found on the other side...?
Seriously now - was WCW cursed? Truth is, it was, in many ways - still, it is where wrestlers were able to hold on to their dignity and not have to wrestled under such silly names as "Pegasus", "Diesel - Big Daddy Cool" or "Crush" indeed - they got to be allowed, "where the Big Boys play" (in WCW), to work under their REAL NAMES, even if those were as bland as Kevin Nash, Scott Norton... Or as confusing as Brian Adams, for there was a soundalike namesake in the music industry...!
WCW didn't mind; they had had tremendous success pushing a wrestler named Sting for years, with the rock star Sting's knowledge and blessing even!
Sting never worked for Vince McMahon's WWE - maybe that is what spared him from the curse nabbing him, so far...?
But speaking of Chris Benoit again...
Benoit's Mother Blames Federal Agents for Death
By WENN | Thursday, July 05, 2007
HOLLYWOOD - The mother of late wrestler Chris Benoit has blamed federal agents for her son's death.
The World Wrestling Entertainment star asphyxiated his wife Nancy and son Daniel on June 22 and 23, respectively, before hanging himself on June 24 at their Atlanta home.
Last month the Drug Enforcement Administration admitted Benoit was under investigation for buying large quantities of steroids, but Margaret Benoit insists agents should have investigated the matter more rigorously.
Large quantities of anabolic steroids were found at Benoit's home by police after the killings, and Margaret believes if authorities had acted more quickly, the deaths could have been prevented.
She says, "We would certainly hope so. We just don't know. We're dealing with so many things. It's incredible."
COPYRIGHT 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All Global Rights Reserved.
Benoit Hoaxer Questioned by Police
By WENN | Monday, July 02, 2007
HOLLYWOOD - The Wikipedia hoaxer who posted a death announcement for late wrestler Chris Benoit's wife hours before her body was found is being questioned by police.
The muscle-bound wrestler is believed to have asphyxiated his wife Nancy and son Daniel at the family home in Atlanta before hanging himself on June 24.
Benoit's biography on the user-generated online encyclopedia was changed early on Monday morning, claiming the former World Heavyweight Champion missed a fight because his wife had died.
Police arrested a man in Connecticut on Friday and seized his computer, reports the New York Daily News.
Lt. Tommy Pope of Fayette County Sheriff's Department says the man could face criminal charges if he knew about the killings and suicide before police were alerted.
He adds, "It is unbelievable what a hindrance this has put on our investigation."
Meanwhile, Italian TV bosses have pulled the WWE show Smackdown from channel Italia 1 "out of respect for Italian children."
COPYRIGHT 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All Global Rights Reserved.
World's oldest person dies in Japan at 114: report
Mon Aug 13, 10:16 AM ET
TOKYO (AFP) - The world's oldest person, a Japanese woman who counted eating well and getting rest as her hobbies, died Monday at age 114, a news report said.
Yone Minagawa, a widow who lived in a nursing home but was still sprightly late in life, died "of old age" Monday evening, Kyodo News reported.
There was no immediate answer to a telephone call placed to city hall in her town in southern Fukuoka prefecture.
Born on January 4, 1893, Minagawa was already in her 50s when Japan surrendered in World War II.
She had been certified as the world's oldest person by the Guinness Book of World Records after Emma Faust Tillman, the daughter of freed American slaves, died in January.
Despite her advanced age, Minagawa was said to enjoy eating sweets and counted eating well and getting a good night's sleep as the secrets of her longevity.
Her nursing home said Minagawa had celebrated becoming the world's oldest person earlier this year with a Western-style lunch of bread, stew, salad and a dessert.
Japanese women are the world's oldest living people, in what experts attribute to a traditionally healthy diet and high standard of medical care.
Their life expectancy was a record 85.81 years in 2006, according to the government.
Japanese men are the world's second oldest with a life expectancy of 78.8 second only to men in Iceland who on average live to be 79.4.
Four Suicide Bombings Kill 175 in Iraq
Aug 14, 8:40 PM (ET)
By KIM GAMEL
(AP) U.S. Army troops from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry...
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BAGHDAD (AP) - Four suicide bombers struck nearly simultaneously at communities of a small Kurdish sect in northwestern Iraq late Tuesday, killing at least 175 people and wounding 200 more, Iraqi military and local officials said.
The death toll was the highest in a concerted attack since Nov. 23, when 215 people were killed by mortar fire and five car bombs in Baghdad's Shiite Muslim enclave of Sadr City. And it was most vicious attack yet against the Yazidis, an ancient religious community in the region whose members are considered infidels by some Muslims.
The bombings came as extremists staged other bold attacks: leveling a key bridge outside Baghdad and abducting five officials from an Oil Ministry compound in the capital in a raid using gunmen dressed as security officers. Nine U.S. soldiers also were reported killed, including five in a helicopter crash.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, sought to press its gains against guerrillas. Some 16,000 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers began a sweep through the Diyala River valley north of Baghdad in pursuit of Sunni insurgents and Shiite militia fighters driven out of strongholds in recent weeks.
U.S. officials believe extremists are attempting to regroup across northern Iraq after being driven from strongholds in and around Baghdad.
Such a retrenching could increase pressure on small communities such as the Yazidis, a primarily Kurdish group with ancient roots that worships an angel figure considered to be the devil by some Muslims and Christians. Yazidis, who don't believe in hell or evil, deny that.
The Islamic State in Iraq, an al-Qaida front group, distributed leaflets a week ago warning residents near the scene of Tuesday's bombings that an attack was imminent because Yazidis are "anti-Islamic."
The sect has been under fire since some members stoned a Yazidi teenager to death in April. She had converted to Islam and fled her family with a Muslim boyfriend, and police said 18-year-old Duaa Khalil Aswad was killed by relatives who disapproved of the match.
A grainy video showing gruesome scenes of the woman's killing was later posted on Iraqi Web sites. Its authenticity could not be independently verified, but recent attacks on Yazidis have been blamed on al-Qaida-linked Sunni insurgents seeking revenge.
The suicide bombings came just after sundown near Qahataniya, 75 miles west of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, said Abdul-Rahman al-Shimiri, the top government official in the area, and Iraq army Capt. Mohammed Ahmed.
At least one of the trucks was an explosives-laden fuel tanker, police said. Shops were set ablaze and apartment buildings were reported crumbled by the powerful explosions.
"My friend and I were thrown high in the air. I still don't know what happened to him," said Khadir Shamu, a 30-year-old Yazidi who was injured in Tal Azir, scene of two blasts.
Witnesses said U.S. helicopters swooped in to evacuate wounded to hospitals in Dahuk, a Kurdish city near the Turkish border about 60 miles north of Qahataniya. Civilian cars and ambulances also rushed injured to hospitals in Dahuk, police said.
"I gave blood. I saw many maimed people with no legs or hands," said Ghassan Salim, a 40-year-old Yazidi teacher who went to a hospital to donate blood. "Many of the wounded were left in the hospital garage or in the streets because the hospital is small."
The Bush administration denounced the bombings as "barbaric attacks on innocent civilians," White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino expressed sympathy to the families of those killed or wounded.
There was no claim of responsibility, but the attack bore the hallmark of al-Qaida in Iraq, which has been regrouping in the north after being driven from safe havens in Anbar and Diyala provinces.
"This is a terrorist act and the people targeted are poor Yazidis who have nothing to do with the armed conflict," said Dhakil Qassim, mayor in the town of Sinjar near the attacks who blamed al-Qaida in Iraq.
Two weeks after the Yazidi woman was stoned to death, gunmen killed 23 Yazidis execution-style after stopping their bus and separating out followers of other faiths in what was believed to have been retaliation for the woman's death.
The bodies of two Yazidi men who had been stoned to death turned up in the morgue in the northern city of Kirkuk on Tuesday, six days after they had been kidnapped while en route to Baghdad to sell olives, police said.
"We are still paying the price of a foolish, wrong act conducted by small number of Yazidis who stoned the woman," said 44-year-old Sami Benda, a relative of one of the slain men.
The center of the Yazidi faith is around Mosul, but smaller communities exist in Turkey, Syria and other places.
Elsewhere, a U.S. transport helicopter crashed near an air base in western Iraq, killing five troopers, the military said. The CH-47 Chinook helicopter was conducting a routine post-maintenance test flight when it went down near Taqaddum air base, the U.S. military said.
Four other U.S. soldiers were reported killed in combat - three in an explosion near their vehicle Monday in the northwestern Ninevah province. The fourth died of wounds suffered in western Baghdad.
The deaths raised to at least 3,700 the number of U.S. military personnel who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Baghdad was spared major violence in another sign that a six-month-old security crackdown in the capital is disrupting extremists' firepower. But the brazen daylight raid on the Oil Ministry complex showed that armed gangs can still embarrass authorities.
Dozens of gunmen wearing security force uniforms stormed the compound and abducted a deputy oil minister and four other officials who were spirited away in a convoy of military-style vehicles.
The kidnappings - similar to a commando-like raid on Iraq's Finance Ministry in May - included Abdel-Jabar al-Wagaa, a senior assistant to Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, said Assem Jihad, the oil ministry spokesman.
Al-Wagaa and four other officials with the State Oil Marketing Organization were taken away by more than 50 gunmen in military-style vehicles, said an Interior Minister official, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to release the information. Five bodyguards were wounded in the raid, the official said.
On May 29, five Britons were seized in a similar raid on Iraq's Finance Ministry. They were taken by gunmen wearing police uniforms and have not been found.
Both government organizations are near Sadr City, a stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The raids were reminiscent of an attack by Mahdi Army fighters, dressed as Interior Ministry commandos, who stormed a Higher Education Ministry office Nov. 14 and carried off as many as 200 people. Dozens of those kidnap victims were never been found.
Just north of the capital, a suicide truck bomber devastated a key bridge on the highway linking Baghdad with Mosul. Police said at least 10 people died. The Thiraa Dijla bridge in Taji - near a U.S. air base 12 miles north of the capital - also was bombed three months ago, leaving only one lane open.
The violence punctuated a day when 16,000 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers began a sweep through the Diyala River valley in a new operation north of Baghdad in pursuit of Sunni insurgents and Shiite militiamen driven out of Baqouba and Anbar province over the past several weeks.
Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly, a military spokesman in northern Iraq, said the force included 10,000 Americans and 6,000 Iraqis. He said U.S. aircraft used more than 30,000 pounds of munitions to block routes and destroy known and suspected heavy machine gun positions.
The Air Force also dropped 9,000 pounds of bombs to attack an al-Qaida in Iraq training camp, which included bunkers, living quarters, weapons and ammunition caches, Donnelly said.
Three suspected militants had been killed and four booby-trapped houses destroyed, he said, citing preliminary reports.
In Washington, Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said the new operation was one in a series planned over the next 30 days to try to blunt expected attempts by al-Qaida in Iraq to influence events during "this critical period" as the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, plans his assessment for Congress.
"We fully expect that al-Qaida in Iraq would like to increase their attacks during this critical period," Whitman said Tuesday.
"And this increased intensity in offensive operations ... will take the fight to the enemy with the purpose of improving the overall security situation in Baghdad" as well as increase "pressure on al-Qaida in Iraq countrywide and prevent the enemy from conducting their own operations."
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Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Sameer N. Yacoub and Yahya Barzanji contributed to this report.
Phil Rizzuto, Yankees' Hall of Fame Shortstop and Longtime Broadcaster, Dies at 89
Aug 14, 9:04 PM (ET) Email this Story
By BEN WALKER
NEW YORK (AP) -His speed and spunk made him a Hall of Famer.
"Holy cow!" made Phil Rizzuto famous.
Popular as a player and beloved as a broadcaster, the New York Yankees shortstop during their dynasty years of the 1940s and 1950s died Monday night. "The Scooter" was 89.
Rizzuto had pneumonia and died in his sleep at a nursing home in West Orange, N.J., daughter Patricia Rizzuto said Tuesday. He had been in declining health for several years.
"I guess heaven must have needed a shortstop," Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said in a statement. "He epitomized the Yankee spirit - gritty and hard charging - and he wore the pinstripes proudly."
Rizzuto was the oldest living Hall of Famer and his Cooperstown plaque noted how he "overcame diminutive size." At 5-foot-6, he played over his head, winning seven World Series titles and an AL MVP award and becoming a five-time All-Star.
"When I first came up to the Yankees, he was like a big - actually, small - brother to me," said Hall of Famer Yogi Berra, who frequently visited Rizzuto in his later years.
Rizzuto's No. 10 was retired by baseball's most storied team, and the club will wear his number on its left sleeves for the rest of the season.
The flags at Yankee Stadium were lowered to half-staff before Tuesday night's game against Baltimore and flowers were placed by Rizzuto's plaque at Monument Park.
Public address announcer Bob Sheppard detailed some of Rizzuto's accomplishments before the team observed a pregame moment of silence. His number was painted on the grass in front of each dugout and marquees outside the stadium said "Phil Rizzuto 1917-2007"
"Scooter, we will miss you," Sheppard said as a video tribute aired on the scoreboard.
New York also showed highlights from Rizzuto's playing career and part of his Hall of Fame induction speech before the bottom half of the first inning.
Yet it was after he moved into the broadcast booth that Rizzuto reached a new level celebrity with another generation of Yankees fans.
Rizzuto delighted TV and radio listeners for four decades, his voice dripping with his native Brooklyn. He loved his favorite catch-phrase - exclaiming "Holy cow!" when Roger Maris hit his 61st home run - and often shouted "What a huckleberry!"
In an age of broadcasters who spout statistics, Rizzuto was a storyteller. He liked to talk about things such as his fear of lightning, the style of an umpire's shoes or even the prospect of outfielder Dave Winfield as a candidate for president.
"He didn't try to act like an announcer," Hall of Fame teammate Whitey Ford said. "He just said what he thought. It added fun to the game."
Rizzuto liked to acknowledge birthdays and anniversaries, read notes from fans, talk about his favorite place to get a cannoli and send messages to old cronies. Once he noticed old teammate Bobby Brown - then the American League president - sitting in a box seat and hollered down, trying to get his attention.
"He would keep getting in trouble with WPIX for announcing birthdays and anniversaries," Patricia Rizzuto recalled.
And if Rizzuto missed a play, he would scribble "ww" in his scorecard box score. That, he said, meant "wasn't watching."
His fans and colleagues never minded. Because with a simple shout of "Hey, White!" to longtime broadcasting partner Bill White, it was time for another tale.
Rizzuto's popularity was such that at a recent auction a Rizzuto cap embedded with a wad of chewing gum sold for more than $8,000. In the New York area, Rizzuto's antics became a staple for TV ads. Nonbaseball fans got to know him, too, when his voice appeared on Meat Loaf's rock hit "Paradise by the Dashboard Light."
"Phil was a unique figure who exemplified the joy of our game to millions of fans," commissioner Bud Selig said.
He liked to share that joy. St. Joseph's School for the Blind in Jersey City, was a favorite cause of Rizzuto's, and his daughter asked that any donations be directed there.
Edward J. Lucas, a former student at the school, met Rizzuto soon after losing his sight at age 12 when a line drive struck him between the eyes. The accident happened on Oct. 3, 1951, when Lucas went outside to play ball after watching Bobby Thomson hit the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" to win the National League pennant for the New York Giants.
"He has been a friend every since," said Lucas, now 68, a baseball radio reporter. "He's been here and helped us out tremendously."
Rizzuto also introduced Lucas to the woman he would eventually marry. The ceremony was last year at home plate at Yankee Stadium.
"He may be short in stature," Lucas said. "but his heart was bigger than all of Yankee Stadium."
Rizzuto was a flashy player who could always be counted on for a perfect bunt, a nice slide or a diving catch in a lineup better known for its cornerstone sluggers. He played 13 seasons alongside the likes of Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle in a career interrupted by Navy service in World War II.
Often overshadowed by Hall of Fame teammates, it made sense that Rizzuto was the first "mystery guest" on the old game show "What's My Line?" in 1950.
A leadoff man with quick feet that earned him his nickname, Rizzuto was a staple on the Yankees teams that won 11 pennants and nine World Series between 1941 and 1956.
"He was a Yankee all the way," Indians Hall of Famer Bob Feller said. "He knew the fundamentals of the game and he got 100 percent out of his ability. He played it hard and he played it fair," he said.
Rizzuto came to the Yankees in 1941 and batted .307 as a rookie. After the war, he returned in 1946 and became the American League MVP in 1950. He batted .324 that season and also went 58 games without an error.
He led all AL shortstops in double plays three times and had a career batting average of .273. He played errorless ball in 21 consecutive World Series games and DiMaggio said the shortstop "held the team together."
Long after his playing career, Rizzuto could often be found talking ball in the Yankees clubhouse. He especially enjoyed his visits with shortstop Derek Jeter.
"Mr. Rizzuto serves as the ultimate reminder that physical stature has little bearing on the size of a person's heart," Jeter said. "Nothing was ever given to Phil, and he used every ounce of his ability to become one of the greatest Yankees to ever wear this uniform."
On Phil Rizzuto Day at Yankee Stadium in 1985, the team gave him a fitting present: a cow wearing a halo.
The cow knocked Rizzuto over and, of course, he shouted, "Holy cow!"
"That thing really hurt," he said. "That big thing stepped right on my shoe and pushed me backwards, like a karate move."
Rizzuto was passed over for the Hall of Fame 15 times by the writers and 11 times by the Veterans Committee. Finally, a persuasive speech by Ted Williams pushed Rizzuto into Cooperstown in 1994.
"If we'd had Rizzuto in Boston, we'd have won all those pennants instead of New York," Williams often said.
"I never thought I deserved to be in the Hall of Fame," Rizzuto once said. "The Hall of Fame is for the big guys, pitchers with 100 mph fastballs and hitters who sock homers and drive in a lot of runs. That's the way it always has been and the way it should be."
The flag at Cooperstown was lowered to half-staff and a laurel was placed around his plaque, as is custom when Hall of Famers die. With Rizzuto's death, executive Lee MacPhail, 89, became the oldest living Hall member.
Rizzuto is survived by his wife, Cora, whom he married in 1943; daughters Cindy Rizzuto, Patricia Rizzuto and Penny Rizzuto Yetto; son Phil Rizzuto Jr.; and two granddaughters.
A private, family funeral is planned. The family is working with the Yankees on a memorial to be held at Yankee Stadium, Patricia Rizzuto said.
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AP Sports Writers Hal Bock and Jay Cohen, Associated Press Writer Pat Milton, AP Sports Writer Tom Withers in Cleveland, and Associated Press Writer Jeffrey Gold in Hillside, N.J., contributed to this report.
LP Sports Connaisseur Luciano Pimentel adds his two cents' worth, right here, right now: "...so, maybe it was to honor Rizzuto that the Yanks went nearly hitless on the same day the news that Mr. Rizzuto passed away was made public? They had only one hit through seven innings and were losing 11-0 to Baltimore at that point - eventually dropping that decision by the score of
Hmm... what can I say, Yankees - keep honoring Rizzuto that way, from this point onwards, until the end of the season! ;) I dare say...!"
Sad Day (You Can Say That Again)
Sad Day at Yankee Stadium as Fans, Players Mourn Loss of Rizzuto
Aug 14, 7:28 PM (ET) Email this Story
By JAY COHEN
NEW YORK (AP) -Phil Rizzuto went to find Derek Jeter shortly after Jeter came up with the New York Yankees in 1995. The two shortstops became fast friends, and it was Jeter who sought out Rizzuto on future Old-Timers' Days.
That made Tuesday all the more painful for the Yankees captain.
"He always went out of his way to be real nice to me, especially when I first came up," said Jeter, who keeps an autographed picture of him and Rizzuto in his office at home. "Yeah, so it's definitely a sad day."
Rizzuto had pneumonia and died in his sleep late Monday night, daughter Patricia Rizzuto said Tuesday. He had been in declining health for several years and was living at a nursing home in West Orange, N.J.
Known as "The Scooter," Rizzuto was at 89 the oldest living Hall of Famer. He played for the Yankees throughout the 1940s and '50s, won seven World Series titles, was an AL MVP and played in five All-Star games.
Rizzuto later announced Yankees games for four decades and his No. 10 was retired by baseball's most storied team.
"He played with a lot of heart," Jeter said. "I think he exemplifies what it is to be a Yankee."
Rizzuto's passing was met with profound sadness by baseball greats from several generations and cast a pall over Yankee Stadium with New York set to take on Baltimore on Tuesday night.
Public address announcer Bob Sheppard detailed some of Rizzuto's accomplishments before the team observed a pregame moment of silence. A sign hanging from the second deck above the third-base line read "A Tough Yankee Loss #10."
Rizzuto's number also was painted on the grass in front of each dugout and marquees outside the stadium said "Phil Rizzuto 1917-2007"
"Scooter, we will miss you," Sheppard said as a video tribute aired on the scoreboard.
New York also showed highlights from Rizzuto's playing career and part of his Hall of Fame induction speech before the bottom half of the first inning.
The Yankees placed a wreath of flowers in front of Rizzuto's plaque in Monument Park and the players will wear No. 10 on their left sleeves for the rest of the season.
"I guess heaven must have needed a shortstop," Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said in a statement. "He epitomized the Yankee spirit - gritty and hard charging - and he wore the pinstripes proudly."
Rizzuto was remembered for his big sense of humor, colorful broadcast style, diminutive size and considerable skill as a player.
"Everything he did was great," said Hall of Famer Yogi Berra, who roomed with Rizzuto for a while with the Yankees and visited him almost every week in his later years. "He could steal bases, he could bunt, he was a pretty good hitter."
Berra said he used to go to movies with Rizzuto when they were players and clowned around with him in the clubhouse or on trains riding to games, playing jokes like hiding each other's shoes. They also played golf and bingo together, and their families were close.
"We had a lot of fun," Berra said.
Rizzuto brought that same sense of humor to the broadcast booth, and several of the current Yankees grew up watching him broadcast New York games. Even the players on the field then were aware of his quirky style.
"Every once in a while he would start rambling about something else that had nothing to do with the game," said Yankees pitching coach Ron Guidry, who played for New York from 1975-88. "But it was fun. That was his character to where you might try to watch the game and all of the sudden you get caught up in what he's talking about."
Guidry got the nickname "Louisiana Lightning" from Rizzuto, and never let him forget it.
"I told him one day, I said 'Go home tonight, sit down at your desk and sign the damn name about a hundred times and see if you don't get aggravated signing it,"' Guidry said with a grin.
All the flags were lowered at Yankee Stadium on a hot, sunny day in the Bronx. Fans milled around before the game near where the players drive in, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of New York's current stars.
"The best shortstop for the New York Yankees ever," said R.J. Molina, 53, of Austin, Texas, whose father got him started as a Yankees fan when he was younger. "And I think he still was. To have an honor today for him, half-mast, I'm sure he's smiling up from heaven."
(No, he wasn't - he saw the scoreboard and it said "Orioles 12, Yankees 0"...! But then again, Rizzuto will learn now -perhaps from Ted Williams himself... or Lou Gehrig...- just how insignificant these final scores really are, in the Grand Scheme of Things... And then AND ONLY THEN will a smile return to his face!)
Huff Drives in 5 Runs as Baltimore Orioles Pound New York Yankees 12-0
Aug 14, 10:28 PM (ET)
By JAY COHEN
Box Score | Recap | Game Log
NEW YORK (AP) -Aubrey Huff hit a grand slam, Daniel Cabrera pitched two-hit ball into the seventh inning and the Baltimore Orioles cooled off the New York Yankees with a 12-0 win Tuesday night.
Cabrera's effort and the death of Hall of Fame shortstop Phil Rizzuto led to somber atmosphere at Yankee Stadium. Rizzuto had pneumonia and died in his sleep late Monday night.
Kevin Millar homered and reached base five times for the Orioles, which improved to 17-13 since the All-Star break. Huff finished with five RBIs, Melvin Mora went 3-for-4 and Jay Payton drove in two runs.
Millar & Payton - the Boston Connection in Baltimore, STILL sticking it to the Damn Yanks in their own ballpark to boot... Sweet.
Hideki Matsui's fourth-inning single and Alex Rodriguez's infield hit in the sixth was all New York could manage against Cabrera (9-12), who struck out five and tied a season high with six walks in 6 2-3 innings.
The Yankees had won four straight and nine of their last 10. They also had set a franchise record with 116 runs over their previous 10 home games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
That all changed against Cabrera, who allowed eight runs over 5 1-3 innings in a loss against Seattle in his previous start. Paul Shuey got four outs and Rob Bell worked the ninth to complete the two-hitter.
New York observed a pregame moment of silence and placed a wreath of flowers in front of Rizzuto's plaque in Monument Park. The club showed highlights from Rizzuto's playing career and part of his Hall of Fame induction speech before the bottom half of the first inning. The same Monument Park where nitwit little boys such as BOB COSTAS believed, without a shadow of a doubt, that the ballplayers were BURIED in...! Because, of course, there's no better place than a CEMETERY to play baseball, right? And the nitwit is now considered to be an "incisive intellect", a compelling interviewer who asks "deep questions", a sportscaster whose wit has few equals... RIGHT. It was so apparent right from the start too. It was also so apparent when he came out of the closet on NBC's Later, with weirdo Tim Burton by his side - admitting that he "adored Batman" as a kid -he wanted to be his Robin?- but he couldn't understand what a sea hero like Aquaman could bring to the table (other than seafood?)... A guy dressed up like a BAT = cool. A man with mastery over the SEAS - not? Go read some Jules Verne, you nitwit...
Once a nitwit, always a nitwit.
I am sure you delivered a moving eulogy to Rizzuto too - nitwit. Go cry over his "grave" in Monument Park after the show, eh?
The Yankees also will wear his No. 10 on their left sleeves for the rest of the season.
Known as "The Scooter," Rizzuto was at 89 the oldest living Hall of Famer. He played for the Yankees throughout the 1940s and '50s, won seven World Series titles, was an AL MVP and played in five All-Star games. Rizzuto later announced Yankees games for four decades.
A sign hanging from the second deck above the third-base line read "A Tough Yankee Loss #10."
Jeff Karstens (0-3) struggled with his control and only lasted three innings for New York. The right-hander got the spot start because manager Joe Torre juggled his rotation after Roger Clemens was suspended five games for hitting Toronto's Alex Rios with a pitch on Aug. 7.
Nick Markakis doubled, Miguel Tejada walked and Millar singled in the third to load the bases for Huff, who hit an 0-1 pitch into the upper deck in right for his third career grand slam. Huff's ninth homer of the season gave the Orioles a 5-0 lead.
Markakis, Huff, Mora and Brian Roberts each drove in a run in the sixth and Millar's solo homer in the seventh made it 12-0.
Jim Brower, who replaced Karstens, was charged with six runs - four earned - and five hits in two-plus innings.
Baltimore bounced back from a difficult loss in the series opener. The Orioles lost 7-6 Monday night when Derek Jeter's infield grounder drove in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Not so difficult - they were robbed. Tonight though, when the Boston Red Sox won with two runs in the bottom of the ninth over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, they deserved to prevail because they did dominate most of the game, had more hits and had had better chances to score all throughout too. Monday night, the damn Yankees simply stole another one because they got the last at-bat; and they didn't deserve to have a tie score at that point.
Millar went 3-for-3, walked twice and scored four times. ^
Notes:
Orioles OF Jay Gibbons (torn labrum) had successful surgery on his injured left shoulder and is expected to be ready for spring training next year. ... Torre said INF Wilson Betemit would start at second base Wednesday and Robinson Cano would get a day off. ... Payton's RBI single in the second inning snapped an 0-for-17 skid. ... Clemens is scheduled to start Saturday against Detroit. ... Melky Cabrera went 0-for-3 with two walks, ending his career-best 18-game hitting streak.
...
LEAVE IT TO THE FRENCH MEDIA TO GET THE FACTS RRRRRREALLY STRAIGHT ABOUT SOMETHING VINNIE MAC (VINCE McMAHON) RELATED...
États-Unis
Une autopsie ne permet pas de déceler la raison du décès de Brian Adams
Associated Press (AP)
14/08/2007 21h03
Une autopsie n'a pas permis de déceler la raison spécifique du décès de l'ancien lutteur professionnel Brian Adams (Crush).
Le bureau du médecin légiste du comté de Hillsborough a dit mardi qu'on procédera maintenant à des tests de tissus et de toxicologie pour essayer de déterminer ce qui a causé la mort d'Adams, qui avait 43 ans. Un rapport complet d'autopsie est attendu d'ici six à huit semaines.
Adams ne respirait plus quand son épouse l'a trouvé inconscient à leur résidence de Tampa, lundi. Son corps ne montrait pas de signe visible de blessure, et la police a dit ne pas soupçonner qu'un acte criminel puisse être en cause.
Adams a fait ses début avec la WWE (alors connue comme WWF) en 1990, faisant par la suite plus d'un passage dans la compagnie avant d'être libéré de son contrat en 2001.
Le natif d'Hawaii, qui a été champion du monde par équipe avec Bryan Clark, dans la WCW, a livré son dernier combat en janvier 2003, y subissant une blessure au dos qui a mené à sa retraite.
LET US STICK WITH FRENCH NEWS SOURCES FOR A WHILE - SHALL WE?
BECAUSE THEY CERTAINLY WILL NOT MENTION THIS ON CNN:
Voies de fait
Religieuse battue à mort
Rim Boukhssimi
Le Journal de Montréal
14/08/2007 05h47
Une religieuse de 81 ans a été retrouvée morte hier matin, gisant en sang au centre d'hébergement où elle travaillait. Un suspect, très proche de la victime, a été arrêté.
«La victime a subi de sérieuses blessures à la tête et a plusieurs contusions sur le corps. Cela laisse supposer qu'il y a eu usage de violence» explique Lynne Labelle, porte-parole de la police de Montréal.
La religieuse, soeur Estelle Lauzon, a été retrouvée vers 8h30, hier matin, par des résidants du centre d'hébergement de la Maison mère des soeurs de la Providence, situé dans le quartier Hochelaga- Maisonneuve.
La police de Montréal a appréhendé un suspect, un homme de 31 ans, qui était sur les lieux de l'homicide. Selon la porte-parole de la police, le suspect souffre de troubles psychiatriques et loge au centre.
Proche de son assassin
On ignore pour l'instant la cause exacte du décès. La victime résidait dans le couvent adjacent au centre et s'y rendait tous les jours.
La Congrégation des soeurs de la Providence acc ueille des gens inscrits à des programmes de réins er tion sociale.
Les locataires, principalement des hommes, sont parfois aux prises avec des problèmes psychologiques ou de dépendance.
«C'était la mission qu'elle se donnait et elle s'occupait d'eux comme si c'était ses enfants, nous apprend un employé du couvent qui a préféré garder l'anonymat. Il n'y avait qu'elle qui avait accès à l'étage et elle gardait secrets les dossiers des hommes.»
Selon lui, la victime et le suspect étaient très proches.
Un véritable choc
Il précise que les personnes dont s'occupait soeur Estelle n'étaient pas violentes et qu'il n'y a jamais eu de problème.
«Tout le monde se demande ce qui s'est passé, c'était la bonté même, dit-il. Il y a un véritable chamboulement dans le couvent et les soeurs sont démolies.»
Sur place, c'était la consternation.
«Tout le monde a envie de pleurer, de dire soeur Yvette. Je l'ai vue hier soir et elle était en forme.» Elle décrit soeur Estelle comme une femme énergique, volontaire, qui a choisi les ordres il y a près de 60 ans et qui se dévouait depuis plus de 15 ans aux personnes en réinsertion sociale.
Les supérieures de la congrégation n'ont pas désiré faire de commentaires.
Le suspect pourrait comparaître aujourd'hui au palais de justice de Montréal et pourrait faire face à des accusations de meurtre au deuxième degré.
Allemagne
Décès de Heinz Barth à 86 ans
Associated Press (AP)
14/08/2007 07h29
Le criminel de guerre nazi Heinz Barth, qui avait été surnommé «l'assassin d'Oradour-sur-Glane», est mort à 86 ans dans sa ville de Gransee, au nord de Berlin.
Celui dont le nom restera à jamais associé au massacre de 642 civils en 1944 est mort d'un cancer il y a quelques jours.
Le 10 juin 1944 à Oradour-sur-Glane, un petit village non loin de Limoges, il a ordonné l'exécution des 652 habitants. Dix d'entre eux survivront. Ce massacre demeurera comme l'un des symboles de la barbarie nazie.
Condamné à mort par contumace en France en 1953, Heinz Barth a vécu caché sous une fausse identité à Gransee, alors en territoire est-allemand, où il exerçait le métier de décorateur et avait même tenu une épicerie jusqu'à sa découverte en 1981.
En 1983, il fut condamné par la justice est-allemande à la réclusion criminelle à perpétuité pour crimes de guerre.
En juillet 1997, Barth avait bénéficié d'une libération pour raison de santé. Barth, qui avait perdu une jambe à la guerre, souffrait notamment de diabète.
La perte de sa jambe lui avait même permis après la réunification allemande de faire valoir en 1991 ses droits à une pension de «victime de guerre», ce qui avait suscité une vive controverse. Il fallut attendre 2001 pour qu'une loi votée par le Bundestag prive Barth et les autres criminels de guerre de toute pension d'invalidité.
Asie
Un pont s'effondre en Chine: 66 morts ou disparus
Associated Press (AP) Alexa Olesen
14/08/2007 07h32 - Mise à jour 14/08/2007 07h39
Asie - Un pont s'effondre en Chine: 66 morts ou disparus
L'accident met en lumière les dangers d'infrastructures construites à la va-vite, à moindre coût, souvent avec la complicité active ou passive des autorités locales.
© AP
Au moins 22 personnes sont mortes et 44 autres sont portées disparues aujourd'hui dans le centre de la Chine à la suite de l'effondrement d'un pont en construction dans la ville touristique de Fenghuang, selon les autorités. L'inauguration était prévue pour la fin du mois.
L'accident, le deuxième du genre en deux mois, met en lumière les dangers d'infrastructures construites à la va-vite, à moindre coût, souvent avec la complicité active ou passive des autorités locales. Le 15 juin dernier, dans la province méridionale du Guangdong, un cargo avait heurté un pont construit en 1988. Neuf personnes étaient mortes.
À Fenghuang, les secours ont pu sauver 57 personnes, dont 22 ont été blessées hier soir dans la chute de l'ouvrage de 268 mètres de long, qui enjambait la rivière Tuo, dans la province du Hunan, a précisé le service local de la sécurité au travail, dans un communiqué publié sur le site Web officiel de l'administration.
Le pont est tombé alors que 123 ouvriers étaient en train de démonter les échafaudages sur la façade. La ville antique de Fenghuang est un site touristique très populaire.
Le gouverneur du Hunan, Zhou Qiang, s'est rendu sur place pour superviser les efforts des secouristes, selon l'agence de presse officielle Chine nouvelle. La chaîne CCTV montrait des bulldozers retournant l'enchevêtrement d'acier et de béton sous le regard de villageois anxieux. Une femme qui n'a voulu donner que son nom, Wu, a déclaré que des maisons se trouvaient sous le pont. La plupart des ouvriers venaient des villages alentour, selon Chine nouvelle.
L'agence a ajouté que deux responsables du projet de 12 millions de yuans (1,6 million de dollars US), Xia Youjia et Jiang Ping, avaient été arrêtés. Les appels téléphoniques aux sociétés de construction concernées sont restés sans réponse aujourd'hui.
Les accidents de construction sont fréquents en Chine car les entrepreneurs emploient souvent des matériaux de mauvaise qualité pour réduire les coûts, et font travailler des ouvriers d'autres régions peu ou pas formés aux règles de sécurité. Les autorités locales sont souvent corrompues.
En janvier 1999, un pont piétonnier datant de trois ans s'était écroulé dans la rivière Qi, dans le sud-ouest du pays, dans la province du Sichuan. Quarante personnes avaient péri et 14 autres étaient blessées. Un responsable local du Parti communiste avait été condamné à mort pour avoir accepté un pot-de-vin en échange de l'attribution du contrat de construction.
En 2006, le ministère des Communications dressait une liste de 6.300 ponts du pays jugés dangereux, rapporte aujourd'hui le journal China Daily, qui cite un responsable des ponts et chaussées, Xiao Rucheng, selon lequel de nombreux ouvrages ont été érigés à la hâte et mal conçus.
Une enquête a été ouverte pour déterminer les causes de l'accident de Fenghuang, moins de deux semaines après l'effondrement d'un pont dans le Minnesota qui a fait au moins neuf morts et attiré l'attention sur le vieillissement des infrastructures des transports aux États-Unis.
Corée du Nord
Au moins 200 morts ou disparus en raison des inondations
Associated Press (AP)
14/08/2007 07h46 - Mise à jour 14/08/2007 07h53
Corée du Nord - Au moins 200 morts ou disparus en raison des inondations
Une rue de Pyongyang
© AP\Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service
Après les pluies diluviennes qui se sont abattues sur la Corée du Nord, d'importantes inondations ont fait au moins 200 morts ou disparu, a annoncé aujourd'hui une organisation humanitaire travaillant dans le pays.
Des dirigeants nord-coréens ont informé la Fédération internationale des Croix-Rouge et Croissant-Rouge que les inondations dans tout le pays ont fait au moins 200 morts ou disparus, a déclaré à l'Associated Press depuis Pyongyang le chef de la délégation de l'organisation Terje Lysholm.
Un peu plus tôt aujourd'hui, l'agence officielle nord-coréenne KCNA avait fait état de «centaines» de morts ou disparus et de plus de 30 000 maisons détruites depuis le début des pluies la semaine dernière.
Lysholm a confirmé que 30 000 maisons ont été totalement détruites affectant au total 63 300 familles. Il a ajouté que 100 000 hectares de terres agricoles sont sous les eaux, réduisant encore la capacité du pays à nourrir ses habitants. «Cela aura sans aucun doute un impact sur la situation alimentaire pour cette année et au moins pour les deux années qui viennent», a souligné Lysholm.
Il a expliqué que ces inondations sont les pires qu'ait connues le pays depuis une décennie. Au milieu des années 1990, une série de catastrophes naturelles sont venues d'ajouter aux difficultés de l'agriculture et à la fin de la manne soviétique déclenchant une famine dont on estime qu'elle a fait deux millions de morts.
La Croix-Rouge internationale a pu visiter 14 circonscriptions où elle comptabilisé 2500 familles sans abri et pu distribuer couvertures et rations de survie. La Croix-Rouge a également mis en place une cellule de crise permanente, a dit Lysholm.
Selon KCNA qui ne donne aucun bilan chiffré, des informations préliminaires ont révélé que les orages qui ont éclaté la semaine dernière ont causé de lourdes pertes. Les pluies violentes ont également inondé des dizaines de milliers d'hectares de terres cultivées, dans un pays pauvre qui souffre régulièrement du manque de nourriture.
«Les fortes pluies ont détruit au moins 800 bâtiments publics, plus de 540 ponts, 70 sections de chemins de fer et au moins 1100 véhicules, pompes et moteurs électriques», souligne KCNA.
La province de Kangwon est la plus touchée, selon l'agence officielle nord-coréenne qui fait état de «graves pertes» après la destruction partielle ou totale des maisons de plus de 20 000 familles. La pluie a aussi touché la capitale de la Corée du Nord, Pyongyang.
«Les dégâts matériels occasionnés jusqu'ici sont très élevés», a déclaré KCNA. «Les pluies battantes ont détruit les principaux axes ferroviaires et routiers ainsi que les principaux ponts du pays, les réseaux d'électricité et ont coupé les systèmes de communication».
Japon
La personne la plus âgée du monde meurt à l'âge de 114 ans
Associated Press (AP)
14/08/2007 07h54
Japon - La personne la plus âgée du monde meurt à l'âge de 114 ans
Yone Minagawa
© AP
Yone Minagawa, l'arrière-arrière grand-mère adorant les bonbons qui devint cette année la personne la plus âgée du monde, est morte dans une maison de retraite du sud-ouest du Japon, selon un responsable de sa maison de retraite. Elle avait 114 ans.
Yone Minagawa, qui éleva toute seule ses cinq fils et sa fille en vendant des fleurs et des légumes, est morte hier après-midi, d'après Toshiro Tachibana, un responsable de sa maison de retraite située dans l'ancienne ville minière de Fukuchi.
Née le 4 janvier 1893, Yone Minagawa a été déclarée la personne la plus vieille au monde en janvier dernier par le Livre Guinness des records du monde, après la mort, aux États-Unis, d'Emma Faust Tillman, également à l'âge de 114 ans.
Yone Minagawa a survécu à tous ses enfants à l'exception de sa fille. Elle a eu sept petits-enfants, douze arrière petits-enfants et deux arrière arrière petits-enfants, d'après sa maison de retraite.
Yone Minagawa était fin gourmet et appréciait particulièrement les gâteaux sucrés japonais.
La plus vieille personne au monde est désormais Edna Parker, de Shelbyville dans l'État de l'Indiana aux États-Unis. Elle est née le 20 avril 1893, selon le Groupe de recherche de gérontologie.
Le Japon détient l'une des plus longues espérances de vie du monde, ce qui est souvent attribué à son alimentation saine, riche en poissons et en riz.
L'homme le plus vieux du monde est également japonais. Il s'agit de Tomoji Tanabe. Âgé de 111 ans, il est né le 18 septembre 1895. Il vit dans la ville du sud de Miyazaki, selon les records du monde du Guinness.
Le nombre de Japonais vivant au-delà de cent ans a presque quadruplé au cours des dix dernières années et devrait bientôt dépasser les 28 000 a annoncé le gouvernement en septembre dernier.
Mise à jour: 14/08/2007 08h09
États-Unis - Déjà huit décès causés par la chaleur intense
LCN
États-Unis
Déjà huit décès causés par la chaleur intense
La vague de chaleur qui sévit aux États-Unis depuis la semaine dernière a atteint un sommet, lundi. Le thermomètre a dépassé les 38 degrés Celsius en Alabama, en Arkansas, au Texas, au Nebraska et au Kansas.
Au Tennessee, la ville de Memphis a même établi un record avec une température de 40,5 degrés. Depuis mercredi dernier, trois personnes sont mortes à cause de la chaleur dans cette ville.
Dans les autres États, on dénombre huit décès qui sont tous reliés aux conditions climatiques.
En Alabama, la ville de Montgomery a brisé un record mardi en connaissant un huitième jour d'affilée avec une température supérieure à 38 degrés Celsius.
Dimanche, le thermomètre était monté jusqu'à 41 degrés Celsius.
Proche-Orient
Incursion israélienne dans la Bande de Gaza
Associated Press (AP)
14/08/2007 14h20 - Mise à jour 14/08/2007 14h25
Proche-Orient - Incursion israélienne dans la Bande de Gaza
Un soldat israélien prend en photo un prisonnier palestinien.
© AP
Six Palestiniens, dont deux civils, ont été tués aujourd'hui et 26 autres blessés lors d'opérations de l'armée israélienne contre des militants palestiniens dans le sud de la Bande de Gaza, selon le Hamas et des sources médicales.
Selon le Hamas, l'un de ses hommes est mort lors d'une frappe menée avant l'aube à l'est de la ville de Khan Younès et une second a été tué, en même temps que sa mère âgée de 70 ans, par des soldats israéliens qui ont ouvert le feu sur leur maison. Le corps d'un troisième militant a ensuite été découvert dans la journée.
Des responsables médicaux ont précisé qu'un deuxième civil âgé de 40 ans avait été abattu par les soldats israéliens alors qu'il se trouvait sur le toit de sa maison.
Un peu plus tard, le Djihad islamique a annoncé qu'une frappe israélienne avait touché un groupe de militants qui sortaient d'une voiture à Khan Younès, tuant l'un d'eux et blessant grièvement un autre.
Selon des sources hospitalières, au total, 26 personnes ont été blessées, dont 14 militants du Djihad islamique et cinq civils.
L'armée israélienne a confirmé que lors d'une opération contre des «menaces terroristes» dans le sud de la Bande de Gaza les forces israéliennes avaient tiré sur des militants armés à quatre occasions différentes et avaient atteint les cibles à chaque fois. Selon l'armée israélienne et le Hamas, une centaine de personnes ont été arrêtées par les soldats israéliens.
L'armée israélienne mène souvent des opérations limitées dans la Bande de Gaza et des attaques aériennes pour empêcher les militants de tirer des roquettes sur les villes frontalières israéliennes.
Tsahal était également en opération en Cisjordanie où ses troupes ont, dans la nuit, arrêté 13 suspects pour interrogatoire, annonce un communiqué de l'armée israélienne qui ne donne pas d'autres détails.
Afghanistan
Un soldat polonais tué
Associated Press (AP)
14/08/2007 19h32
Un officier polonais a été tué mardi lors de l'attaque d'un convoi militaire dans l'est de l'Afghanistan. C'est le premier soldat du contingent polonais qui meurt dans le cadre de la mission dans le pays, selon le ministre polonais de la Défense Aleksander Szczyglo.
Lukasz Kurowski, 28 ans, a été tué lors d'un échange de tirs à 20km au sud-est d'une base militaire à Gardez, a annoncé le ministre sur la chaîne TVN24. La Pologne a déployé 1 200 soldats en Afghanistan au sein de la Force internationale d'assistance à la sécurité (ISAF) de l'OTAN.
Terrebonne
Un homme est assassiné
Un meurtre est survenu en fin d'après-midi à Terrebonne.
La victime, un homme de 44 ans, est décédée après avoir été atteinte d'un projectile d'arme à feu.
L'homme gisait devant une résidence de la rue Poupart, dans le secteur de La Plaine.
Les enquêteurs de la Sûreté du Québec tentent présentement de déterminer les motifs de ce meurtre.
Aucun suspect n'a encore été appréhendé par les policiers.
Méditerranée
Les corps de 14 clandestins découverts
Associated Press (AP)
14/08/2007 19h34
Les corps de 14 migrants clandestins ont été repérés ce mardi à 80km au large de l'île de Lampedusa, située entre la Sicile et les côtes de l'Afrique du Nord.
Mardi à la tombée de la nuit, six corps avaient été repêchés, selon les garde-côtes italiens. Les recherches devaient reprendre mercredi dans le secteur du naufrage, au sud-ouest de Lampedusa.
Des embarcations de tout type transportant des clandestins venus d'Afrique tentent presque chaque jour de franchir la Méditerranée. La nationalité des naufragés n'est pas connue dans l'immédiat.
Grande-Bretagne
Un motard canadien est abattu
Presse Canadienne (PC)
14/08/2007 21h10
La police britannique a annoncé mardi qu'un motocycliste abattu d'une balle à la tête alors qu'il était au volant de sa moto, dimanche, était originaire du Canada.
Le meurtre a été présenté dans les médias britanniques comme le résultat d'une attaque planifiée, mais les autorités enquêtent toujours sur les raisons pour lesquelles Gerard Michael Tobin, âgé de 35 ans, a été tué.
La victime a été abattue alors qu'elle circulait sur une autoroute achalandée située près de Warwickshire, à quelque 200 kilomètres au nord de Londres.
La police locale a dit ne pas avoir encore établi de quel endroit au Canada l'homme était originaire.
Selon les informations rapportées par les médias britanniques, Gerard Michael Tobin revenait d'un grand rassemblement annuel de motocyclistes appelé «Bulldog Bash», qui serait organisé par les Hell's Angels. En 21 ans, l'événement est devenu la plus importante fête de motards d'Europe; environ 30 000 motocyclistes et amateurs de musique y assistent.
Les enquêteurs ont fait savoir qu'une voiture ayant à son bord deux ou trois personnes a suivi la victime et deux de ses amis sur plusieurs kilomètres avant que deux coups de feu soient tirés. Une seule balle a atteint Gerard Michael Tobin, qui conduisait une Harley Davidson et circulait à des vitesses pouvant atteindre 110 km-h.
Selon un détective, M. Tobin était impliqué dans une relation amoureuse stable, travaillait comme mécanicien, et n'était pas connu des policiers auparavant.
Le mardi 14 août 2007
Luc Perreault 1942-2007 : le monde du cinéma est en deuil
(Photo Pierre McCann, archives La Presse)
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Photo Pierre McCann, archives La Presse
Marc-André Lussier
La Presse
Luc Perreault est mort dimanche des suites d'une longue maladie. Il était âgé de 65 ans. Journaliste à La Presse pendant 39 ans, dont 36 à titre de critique de cinéma, notre distingué collègue a suivi un parcours professionnel qui se démarque par sa constance et sa rigueur intellectuelle.
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À consulter aussi
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Festivals et événements culturels (100%)
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Roger Frappier (100%)
Louis Dussault (100%)
Luc Perreault (100%)
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«Il a été un pionnier, a commenté hier le producteur Roger Frappier. Il a contribué à rendre le cinéma québécois accessible au grand public en expliquant les démarches artistiques des créateurs. Avec lui disparaît un morceau de la mémoire cinématographique québécoise. C'est une très grande perte.»
Luc Perreault a poursuivi des études en philosophie à l'Université de Montréal. Parallèlement à une thèse qu'il élabore sur les «mass-media», le jeune homme suit alors un stage au journal Le Soleil de Québec, et travaille comme reporter pour le compte d'un hebdomadaire de Joliette. Le 27 juin 1966, Luc Perreault est embauché par La Presse. Deux ans plus tard, il est nommé chroniqueur au cinéma. Il occupera ce poste jusqu'à sa retraite en 2005.
Homme de culture, Luc Perreault a été un témoin privilégié du cinéma des quatre dernières décennies. Il a notamment pu suivre de très près l'émergence du cinéma québécois. Dès le début de sa carrière de journaliste, il en était d'ailleurs l'un des plus farouches partisans.
«Il a été l'un des premiers critiques à attirer l'attention sur les films de Jean-Pierre Lefebvre, Jean-Claude Labrecque, Denys Arcand, Gilles Carle, et tous les cinéastes québécois de cette génération», fait remarquer Roland Smith, un ami de longue date, aujourd'hui directeur du Cinéma du Parc.
«Il estimait à l'époque que le cinéma québécois d'auteur était voué à un brillant avenir, ajoute-t-il. Grâce à lui, La Presse fut le premier quotidien à consacrer régulièrement de l'espace au cinéma d'ici. Le cinéma québécois lui doit une fière chandelle.»
La nouvelle de la disparition de l'éminent critique a évidemment consterné le milieu du cinéma. Louis Dussault, le patron de la société de distribution K Films Amérique, a bien voulu témoigner.
«Luc Perreault est de cette génération de critiques qui a eu à rendre compte des films de Fellini, Antonioni, Truffaut et Bergman. C'est un grand amoureux du cinéma qui vient de partir, une référence incontournable, une signature unique, une culture solide qui laissera un vide immense.»
Serge Losique, président directeur général du Festival des films du monde, déplore de son côté le départ d'un «grand critique». «Il fut sans contredit l'un des meilleurs critiques que le Québec ait connu. Même s'il n'était pas toujours tendre envers notre organisation, ses critiques de films ne pouvaient jamais être remises en cause. Il savait, mieux que personne, bien comprendre les films.»
Le président de l'Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma, Sandro Forte, rend quant à lui hommage à la passion qu'éprouvait le critique envers l'art cinématographique. «Le cinéma coulait dans ses veines, dit-il. La critique ne s'exerce plus aujourd'hui tout à fait de la même façon mais il est clair que Luc Perreault a influencé - même de façon inconsciente - des générations de critiques. C'était un intellectuel, un érudit. Il avait trouvé la manière de livrer son propos dans un grand média comme La Presse tout en restant fidèle à ses convictions. On pouvait d'ailleurs le croiser souvent dans les festivals de cinéma, à la Cinémathèque, dans les salles obscures. Il se faisait un devoir d'aller voir tous les films, même quand il n'était pas en fonction. Luc était une référence. L'AQCC est aujourd'hui un peu orpheline.»
Le vice-président à l'information et éditeur adjoint de La Presse, Philippe Cantin, a aussi fait l'éloge du critique disparu.
«Au fil de sa fructueuse carrière à La Presse, Luc Perreault s'est gagné le respect inconditionnel de nos lecteurs. Sa passion pour le cinéma, son jugement sûr et sa connaissance inégalée du milieu ont constitué des atouts remarquables pour notre journal. La grande famille de La Presse pleure aujourd'hui sa disparition mais gardera toujours de lui un brillant souvenir.»
Une cérémonie officielle aura lieu vendredi à midi au Cinéma du Parc, un choix symbolique qui lui aurait sûrement fait plaisir. La famille convie amis, collègues, professionnels, lecteurs et grand public à partager ce dernier moment en son et en images.
Quelques anecdotes
Luc Perreault (au centre) a été parmi les premiers à attirer l'attention sur Denys Arcand (à gauche). (Photo René Picard, archives La Presse)
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Luc Perreault (au centre) a été parmi les premiers à attirer l'attention sur Denys Arcand (à gauche).
Photo René Picard, archives La Presse
> À Berlin
«Nous sommes au milieu des années 80. Luc assistait au Festival de Berlin et m'a demandé de l'accompagner à Berlin-Est. Nous traversons la frontière dans le métro et nous nous dirigeons, à sa requête, à Alexander Platz (réminiscence de Fassbinder). L'endroit a entièrement été détruit pendant la guerre. Tout est neuf et n'a rien à voir avec le décor du film. On aperçoit un restaurant: Restaurant de la presse internationale. Il est 14 h 30. À part un couple qui jase dans un coin, personne. La Fraü de service nous invite à nous asseoir à côté du couple. Qui, aussitôt, cesse de parler (comme dans La vie des autres). On regarde les journaux disponibles: L'Humanité, PCF, l'Unita PCI et la Pravda en traduction allemande. À notre retour à Berlin-Ouest, Luc m'avait dit que pendant ces quelques heures d'après-midi d'hiver, il avait eu le frisson que procure la conscience du totalitarisme. Curieusement, c'est avec Something Like Happiness, un film venu de l'Est (République tchèque) qu'il a signé sa toute dernière critique d'un film.»
Louis Dussault, distributeur
> À Cannes
«Je me souviens de ma première présence au Festival de Cannes. C'était en 1987, alors que nous présentions Un zoo la nuit à la Quinzaine des réalisateurs. La projection avait été triomphale et les festivaliers ne voulaient plus laisser partir Jean-Claude Lauzon. Or, le titre de La Presse du lendemain était «Un zoo la nuit passe la rampe». Passe la rampe! Pour décrire un triomphe! Je ne l'ai pas pris. J'ai cherché Luc pour qu'il m'explique de quoi il en retournait. J'ai mis deux jours à le trouver. Je l'ai engueulé comme du poisson pourri pour me faire ensuite expliquer que les journalistes ne sont pas responsables des titres qui coiffent leurs articles. Notre amitié fut ponctuée d'engueulades et de réconciliations. Sa disparition m'affecte beaucoup.»
Roger Frappier, producteur
Dernière déclaration publique
Serge Losique, Jean-Pierre Lefebvre et Luc Perreault lors d'un festival de films étudiants en 1970. (Photo Yves Beauchamp, archives La Presse)
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Serge Losique, Jean-Pierre Lefebvre et Luc Perreault lors d'un festival de films étudiants en 1970.
Photo Yves Beauchamp, archives La Presse
Au fil de sa carrière, Luc Perreault a couvert de nombreux festivals de cinéma, dont le Festival de Cannes une quinzaine de fois. Voici ce qu'il nous déclarait au mois de mai dernier à l'occasion du 60e anniversaire du Festival.
«Ma toute première impression du Festival de Cannes - c'était au début des années 70 - en a été une de déception. Au point où j'ai failli tout de suite retourner chez moi! Je m'attendais à un événement axé sur l'aspect culturel et je me retrouvais au milieu d'une manifestation très mercantile, branchée sur les affaires. Je me suis évidemment adapté au fil des ans mais j'avoue avoir été d'abord étonné par ce côté clinquant. La dernière fois où j'y suis allé en tant que journaliste, j'ai eu droit à une forte participation québécoise. 2003 a en effet l'année des Invasions barbares dans la compétition, de La grande séduction à la Quinzaine, et de 20 h 17 rue Darling à la Semaine de la critique.»
> Film québécois de fiction favori: Léolo de Jean-Claude Lauzon
Depuis que les critiques de La Presse sont accompagnées de cotes, Luc Perreault a accordé une cote de cinq étoiles à deux films: Les invasions barbares de Denys Arcand; et Parle avec elle de Pedro Almodovar.
Chinese Executive kills self amid recall
By AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer Mon Aug 13, 3:54 PM ET
BEIJING - The head of a Chinese manufacturer whose lead-tainted Sesame Street toys were the center of a massive U.S. recall has killed himself, a state-run newspaper said Monday.
Cheung Shu-hung, who co-owned Lee Der Industrial Co., committed suicide at a warehouse over the weekend, apparently by hanging himself, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.
"When I rushed there around 5 p.m., police had already sealed off the area," the newspaper quoted a manager surnamed Liu as saying. "I saw that our boss had two deep marks in his neck."
Though the report did not give a reason for Cheung's apparent suicide — and the company declined to discuss the matter — Lee Der was under pressure in a global controversy over the safety of Chinese made products. It is common for disgraced officials to commit suicide in China.
This month, Mattel Inc., one of the largest U.S. toy companies, was forced to recall 967,000 plastic preschool toys made by Lee Der because they were decorated with paint found to have excessive amounts of lead. The toys, sold in the U.S. under the Fisher-Price brand, included likenesses of Big Bird and Elmo, as well as the Dora and Diego characters.
Days later, Chinese officials temporarily banned Lee Der from exporting products. The Southern Metropolis Daily, citing unidentified Lee Der workers, said the recall cost the company $30 million.
The recall was among the largest in recent months involving Chinese products, which have come under scrutiny worldwide for containing potentially dangerous high levels of chemicals and toxins.
Chinese officials, eager to protect an export industry crucial to China's booming economy, have aggressively tried to shore up international consumer confidence by cracking down on makers of shoddy goods, crafting new regulations and stepping up inspections.
In one of the more bizarre cases, a court in Beijing on Sunday sentenced a reporter to one year in jail after he pleaded guilty to faking a television report that showed migrant workers making meat buns stuffed with cardboard for sale.
The report, concocted by freelance reporter Zi Beijia, fanned fears in China and abroad about China's poor food safety record. The report appeared on national television and was widely seen on the Web site YouTube.
In the Lee Der suicide, an official who answered the telephone at the company's factory in the southern city of Foshan on Monday said he had not heard of the news. A man at Lee Der's main office in Hong Kong said the company was not accepting interviews and hung up. Telephones at Foshan's police headquarters rang unanswered.
Cheung was a co-owner of Lee Der, according to a registry of Hong Kong companies. The other owner, Chiu Kwei-tsun, did not return telephone messages left for him.
In its report, the Southern Metropolis Daily said Cheung, a Hong Kong resident in his 50s, treated his 5,000-odd employees well and always paid them on time. The morning of his suicide, he greeted workers and chatted with some of them, the report said.
After the recall, Lee Der maintained that its paint supplier, Cheung's best friend, supplied "fake paint" used in the toys, the Southern Metropolis Daily said.
"The boss and the company were harmed by the paint supplier, the closest friend of our boss," Liu, the manager, was quoted as saying.
Mattel Inc., based in El Segundo, Calif., issued a statement Monday expressing sorrow over Cheung's death.
"We were troubled to hear about this tragic news," the statement said. "This is a personal misfortune not a corporate event. Any loss of life is a tragedy and we feel for the family during this difficult time."
In announcing the temporary export ban against Lee Der, a government quality inspection agency also slapped a similar prohibition on Hansheng Wood Products Factory and said police were investigating both companies' use of "fake plastic pigment." Such pigments are a type of industrial latex used to make surfaces smoother and shinier.
Hansheng made wooden railroad toys that a New York company, RC2 Corp., sold under the Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway product line. RC2 had to recall 1.5 million of the toys earlier this year because of lead paint, which can cause vomiting, anemia and even neurological damage.
Chinese companies often have long supply chains, making it difficult to trace the exact origin of components, chemicals and food additives.
___
Associated Press Writer Dikky Sinn in Hong Kong contributed to the story.
Earthquake kills at least 17 in Peru
By LESLIE JOSEPHS, Associated Press Writer 35 minutes ago
(minutes later, the partial death toll was up to 25...
then 29, while sparking fears of a tsunami as well...)
LIMA, Peru - A powerful earthquake shook Peru's coast near the capital on Wednesday, toppling some buildings and killing at least 15 people. Authorities said the quake generated a tsunami but it wasn't destructive.
Health Minister Carlos Vallejos said there were 15 confirmed deaths in southern Peru, but Civil Defense put the death toll at 22 without providing details.
Peru's highly respected Cable news station Canal N reported that the 7.9 magnitude quake had caused a church to collapse in the city of Ica south of Lima, killing 17 people and injuring 70.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake hit at 6:40 p.m. (7:40 p.m. EDT) about 90 miles southeast of Lima at a depth of about 25 miles. Four strong aftershocks ranging from magnitudes of 5.4 to 5.9 were felt afterward.
Several hours later, President Alan Garcia said in a nationwide broadcast that it apparently had not caused a catastrophe.
"Thank you God Almighty, these terrible quakes did not cause a high death toll like in other years," he said.
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for the coasts of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama. A tsunami watch was issued for the rest of Central America and Mexico and an advisory for Hawaii.
The center canceled all the alerts after about two hours, but it said the quake had caused an estimated 10-inch tsunami near the epicenter.
"It wasn't big enough to be destructive," said Stuart Weinstein, the center's assistant director.
An Associated Press photographer said that some homes had collapsed in the center of Lima and that many people had fled into the streets for safety. The capital shook for more than a minute.
"This is the strongest earthquake I've ever felt," said Maria Pilar Mena, 47, a sandwich vendor in Lima. "When the quake struck, I thought it would never end."
In his comments, Garcia did not give a death toll, but said there were at least 70 confirmed injured.
He ordered all police personnel to the streets of Lima to keep order and said he was sending the country's health minister and two other Cabinet members to Ica, 165 miles southeast of Lima, where news reports said the quake hit hardest. Garcia also said public schools will be closed Thursday because the buildings may be unsafe.
Police reported that large boulders shook loose from hills and were blocking the country's Central Highway east of Lima.
Firefighters quoted in radio reports said that many street lights and windows shattered in Lima but did not specify if there were any injuries. Hundreds of workers were evacuated from Lima office buildings after the quake struck and remained outside, fearing aftershocks
Callers to Radioprogramas, Peru's main news radio station, said parts of several cities in southern Peru had been hit with blackouts. Callers reported homes in poor neighborhoods in Chincha near Ica had collapsed.
The quake also knocked out telephone service and mobile phone service in the capital. Firefighters were called to put out a fire in a shopping center. State doctors called off a national strike that began on Wednesday to handle the emergency.
The last time a quake of magnitude 7.0 or larger struck Peru's central coast was in 1974 when a magnitude 7.6 hit in October followed by a 7.2 a month later.
The latest Peru quake occurred in a subduction zone where one section of the Earth's crust dives under another, said USGS geophysicist Dale Grant at the National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo.
Some of the world's biggest quakes strike in subduction zones including the catastrophic Indian Ocean temblor in 2004 that generated deadly tsunami waves.
The tsunami warnings caused alarm up and down the coast.
Alex Kouri president of the Callao region, which includes the port of Callao, adjacent to Lima, urged residents to remain calm in the face of any possible tsunami, while other officials told Radioprograms they were going to evacuate La Punta, a Callao neighborhood, because of the potential threat of a tsunami.
In Colombia, President Alvaro Uribe ordered the partial evacuation of the southern city of Tumaco in response to the warning.
___
Associated Press Writer Alicia Chang in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Iraq bomb attack rises to at least 250
By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer 2 minutes ago
BAGHDAD - Rescuers used bare hands and shovels Wednesday to claw through clay houses shattered by an onslaught of suicide bombings that killed at least 250 and possibly as many as 500 members of an ancient religious sect in the deadliest attack of the Iraq war.
The U.S. military blamed al-Qaida in Iraq, and an American commander called the assault an "act of ethnic cleansing."
The victims of Tuesday night's coordinated attack by four suicide bombers were Yazidis, a small Kurdish-speaking sect that has been targeted by Muslim extremists who consider its members to be blasphemers.
The blasts in two villages near the Syrian border crumbled buildings, trapping entire families beneath mud bricks and other wreckage. Entire neighborhoods were flattened.
"This is an act of ethnic cleansing, if you will, almost genocide," Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, told CNN. He said that was evident from the fact Yazidis live in a remote part of Ninevah province that has been far from Iraq's conflict.
Mixon said last month that he proposed reducing American troop levels in Ninevah and predicted the province would shift to Iraqi government control as early as this month. It was unclear whether that projection would hold after Tuesday's staggering casualties.
Death estimates ranged widely.
Zayan Othman, health minister for Iraq's nearby autonomous Kurdish region, said 250 bodies had been pulled from the rubble and some 350 people were injured.
But the death toll was put as high as 500 by some local officials, including Hashim al-Hamadani, a senior provincial security official; Kifah Mohammed, director of Sinjar hospital; and Iraqi army Capt. Mohammed Ahmed. They agreed with Othman that about 350 were wounded.
None of the officials provided information on how they arrived at their estimates. The figures could not be independently checked because the area was under curfew and casualties had been taken to numerous hospitals.
Even the lower death estimate far surpassed the previous bloodiest attack of the war — 215 people killed by mortar fire and five car bombs in Baghdad's Shiite Muslim enclave of Sadr City last Nov. 23.
U.S. officials believe insurgents have been regrouping across northern Iraq after being driven from strongholds in and around Baghdad, and the bombings coincided with the start of a major offensive by American and Iraqi troops against militants in the Diyala River Valley.
The carnage dealt a serious blow to the Bush administrations hopes of presenting a positive picture in a progress report on Iraq to be delivered by the top U.S. commander, Gen. David Petraeus, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker in about four weeks.
Petraeus warned that he expected Sunni Arab insurgents to stage more spectacular attacks ahead of the report to Congress, whose members are deeply divided over whether to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.
"This is way out by the Syrian border, an area where we do think in fact some suicide bombers are able to come across the border. It's an area that is very, very remote — quite small villages out there — and it was disheartening for us, too, obviously," Petraeus told The Associated Press in an interview.
"We've always said al-Qaida would try to carry out sensational attacks this month in particular," he added. "We've had some success against them in certain areas, but we've also said they do retain the capability to carry out these horrific and indiscriminate attacks such as the ones yesterday. There will be more of that, tragically."
Minority sects such as the Yazidis are especially vulnerable as militants seek new targets to avoid the strict security measures clamped on Baghdad and surrounding areas to stop violence among warring Sunni and Shiite factions.
Some Muslims and Christians consider an angel figure worshipped by Yazidis to be the devil, a charge the sect denies. The Islamic State in Iraq, an al-Qaida front group, distributed leaflets a week ago warning residents near the scene of Tuesday's bombings that an attack was imminent because Yazidis are "anti-Islamic."
The sect also gained unwanted attention when some members stoned an 18-year-old Yazidi woman to death in April after she converted to Islam and fled her family with a Muslim boyfriend. Recent attacks on Yazidis have been blamed on al-Qaida-linked Sunni extremists seeking to avenge her death.
The only Yazidi legislator in Iraq's 275-seat parliament called on the government to do more to protect the country's small communities.
"The ethnic and religious minorities do not have militias while all the powerful parties have strong militias in Iraq," Amin Farhan said. "The government should protect these minorities by giving them weapons so that they can confront the terrorist groups."
Officials in northwestern Iraq called on people to donate blood and pleaded for aid as many families were left homeless after their houses collapsed in the bombings near Sinjar.
"The residents are appealing now to governmental and non-governmental organizations to help them with medicines, food, water and tents," Farhan said. "About 50 houses have completely collapsed over their families. Many of the victims have been badly dismembered. Rescuers are only finding pieces of dead bodies."
Dakhil Qassim, the Sinjar mayor, said the four truck bombers approached two areas in the town of Qahataniya, 75 miles west of Mosul, from dirt roads and all exploded within minutes of each other. He said the casualty toll was expected to rise.
"We are still digging with our hands and shovels because we can't use cranes because many of the houses were built of clay," Qassim said.
Hospitals across the region were overwhelmed and only emergency vehicles were exempt from a curfew that was in place across towns west of Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.
Nurses dabbed the bloodied face of a young boy and held his hand as he wailed in pain. A toddler with bruised eyes had bandages wrapped around his head and arms.
"The car bombs that were used all had the consistent profile of al-Qaida in Iraq violence," a U.S. military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, told reporters in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a statement blaming the bombings on "terrorism powers who seek to fuel sectarian strife and damage our people's national unity."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement strongly condemning the attack, saying "nothing can justify such indiscriminate violence against innocent civilians." He urged Iraqi leaders to set aside political and religious differences to work together to protect civilians.
Elsewhere in Iraq, a car bomb struck a market district during rush hour in central Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least nine people and wounding 17, police said.
The car was parked in a lot above a row of stores near the busy Rusafi square when it exploded about 9 a.m., a police officer said, giving the casualty toll on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.
A huge fire broke out in the seven-story building and smoke billowed into the air.
At least 44 other people were killed or found dead Wednesday, including 24 bullet-riddled bodies of apparent victims of sectarian death squads usually run by Shiite militias. Five civilians also died in separate car bombings in the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk and the southern city of Hillah.
Northeast of Baghdad, Iraqi civilians joined police to rise up against suspected al-Qaida-linked gunmen after a mortar attack in Buhriz. Eight gunmen and six civilians died in the fighting, police said.
___
Associated Press writers Hamid Ahmed, Sameer N. Yacoub and Sinan Salaheddin contributed to this report.
PERU: No Peace for Living or Dead 22 Years After Massacre
By Ángel Páez
Credit:Angel Páez
Teófila Ochoa and Cirila Pulido
LIMA, Aug 13 (IPS) - Cirila Pulido and Teófila Ochoa were 12 and 13 years old when a Peruvian army patrol entered their village of Accomarca in Peru’s southern Andean region of Ayacucho on Aug. 14, 1985 and murdered 69 villagers, including the two girls’ mothers and siblings.
Since those responsible for the massacre have not been held accountable in Peru, the two women have turned to U.S. courts in search of justice.
"It’s as if we were the condemned: condemned to suffer unbearable pain because of the loss of our families and the lack of justice," Pulido told IPS, in tears. "This is worse than hell."
"Every day that goes by without a condemnation of the killers is as if they killed our family members again," said Ochoa. "Neither our dead nor we ourselves have peace."
That day 22 years ago, the two girls, who survived by running away and hiding, watched as the soldiers rounded up the villagers, raped many women and girls, and killed 69 people, mainly women and children.
On behalf of all the members of the Association of the Relatives of the Victims of Violence in Accomarca who lost loved ones in the massacre, the two women have brought legal action in courts in Miami, Florida and Greenbelt, Maryland against two former officers who are living in the United States: retired majors Telmo Hurtado and Juan Rivera.
Hurtado commanded the patrol unit that occupied Accomarca and carried out the largest mass killing of civilians during the 1980-2000 counterinsurgency war against the Maoist Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) guerrillas. Rivera participated in the army operation.
On Mar. 28 and 29, the two men were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Florida and Maryland for violating U.S. immigration laws.
Hurtado had fled Lima on Dec. 28, 2002, after the case against him was reopened. Rivera has been residing in the United States since 1998.
"The lawsuits against Hurtado and Rivera have already been accepted by U.S. judges and the former officers have been notified in order to answer to the charges," Karim Ninaquispe, a lawyer for the relatives of the Accomarca victims, told IPS. "As soon as we heard that they had been arrested, we started preparing the legal action."
Ninaquispe works out of a small six by four-metre office in the neighbourhood of Santa Anita in southeastern Lima, an area that few lawyers would choose for opening a private practice.
Because her clients cannot afford to pay the legal costs of the case, Ninaquispe turned to the San Francisco, California-based Centre for Justice and Accountability (CJA) for assistance.
On Jul. 18, the CJA brought the case in the name of Pulido and Ochoa. As the group states on its web site, "These cases mark the first of their kind filed in the United States for atrocities committed during Peru’s twenty year civil war".
"The aim is to provide the victims with a forum, a place to tell their stories and seek justice," CJA lawyer Almudena Bernabeu told IPS. "If the case is won, the victims would receive reparations for the damages suffered," added the lawyer, who is from Spain.
But she is under no illusions that it will be an easy task.
Hurtado was accused of lying on a visa application on which he indicated that he had never been arrested or convicted of a crime even though he had been found guilty in Peruvian military courts of abuse of authority. He has pled guilty to those charges and was sentenced in June to six months in prison.
Rivera is in immigration detention and does not face criminal charges, but has been placed in deportation proceedings in connection to a previous criminal case in which he pled guilty to a charge of "contributing to a minor child in need of assistance."
Both men could eventually be deported.
"The lawsuit has been accepted and the accused have been served with the summons. Now we have to wait and see if the accused name lawyers to represent them and respond to the charges. After that, the process could take slightly over a year until we are all ready to go to trial," said Bernabeu.
But "if the deportation orders arrive before the trial comes to an end, our lawsuit does not have the power to freeze or interrupt the process; that would be up to the federal authorities.
"However, if they deport them while our trial is going on, that doesn't at all mean the process would end. It would go ahead, and the rights of our clients would be perfectly guaranteed," she added.
In Peru, Hurtado was tried by a military court which sentenced him to six years in prison for abuse of authority. During the trial, he described the massacre in detail.
But in June 1995 he benefited from an amnesty issued by the government of Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) for members of the military who had been sentenced, or were facing investigation or prosecution, for human rights violations.
After he was released, Hurtado returned to active service, was promoted, and was later decorated as a hero by army chief Nicolás Hermoza.
Rivera was never tried.
"The soldiers arrived early, at 7:00 in the morning. They went from house to house and after rounding up everyone they found, they put them all in two houses. I was able to escape and I climbed a hill, and saw everything from up there. Some of the soldiers opened fire on the people in the houses. I heard screams, pleading, groans. The children were shrieking and crying," said Pulido.
"I was desperate because my mother, Fortunata Baldeón, and my little nine-month-old brother, Edgar Pulido, were in there. After the shooting, the soldiers tossed grenades and everything blew up and caught on fire. It was a huge fire. Nobody survived," she added.
"Then they dug around for food in the houses of the people they had killed. They ate and drank, celebrating what they had done," she said.
Ninaquispe said the victims were 16 men, 30 women and 23 children. "During a recent exhumation of the burnt remains, fetuses were found. That means that some of the women were pregnant," she said.
Ochoa, through her tears, said "They killed my mother, Silvestra Lizarbe Solís, and my little brothers and sisters: Gerardo, Víctor, Ernestina, Celestina and Edwin, ages nine, eight, six, three and one. I was 13."
"When the soldiers came I wasn’t in the house because my mother had asked me to go and get the donkey. When I heard the racket I got scared and returned home quickly. I saw my mother with the soldiers. She was offering them food. Some of them started to eat until an officer showed up and shouted at them to continue on with their mission.
"I left the house fast without them noticing, pulling my brother Gerardo, who I was able to grab by the hand. My mother was shouting, begging them not to do anything to my little brothers and sisters. Frightened, I ran and ran with Gerardo. The soldiers shoved the people they had grabbed into two houses and then shot them. After they burnt everything down, using grenades, they went out to look for more people.
"They spotted me and started to shoot. Gerardo and I ran, but they caught him. The bullets were whistling around me. I hid and I didn't see my little brother again. They caught him and killed him. I couldn't sleep out in the cold. The dogs were howling with sadness. The village seemed like a cemetery," she continued.
"At dawn, the adults who returned to the village found me. Then my grandpa came and he and I went to the place where the people had been burnt. There were just burnt skulls and pieces of arms and legs. My mom and my little brothers and sisters were there."
The atrocity occurred just a few weeks after Alan García -- who is now president again -- was sworn in for his first term, on Jul. 28, 1985. But it did not lead him to modify the "anti-subversive" policy followed by his predecessor, Fernando Belaúnde.
A total of 69,280 people died in the 20-year war, according to the independent Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Six months ago, the relatives of the victims of Accomarca asked García to meet with them, to help speed up the judicial process in Peru. But he has not done so.
In December, he rewarded retired General José Williams, the direct superior of Hurtado and Rivera at the time of the Accomarca killings, with a diplomatic post in Washington.
The legal action against Hurtado and Rivera was filed by the CJA under the 1789 Alien Tort Statute that gives non-U.S. citizens who are survivors of serious abuses committed anywhere in the world the right to bring suit in U.S. federal courts against perpetrators who are in the United States.
The lawsuit is also based on the 1992 Torture Victim Protection Act, which gives similar rights to both U.S. citizens and non-citizens to bring claims for torture and extrajudicial killings committed in foreign countries against suspects who are in the United States. (END/2007)
Richard Bradshaw of Canadian Opera Company dies at 63
Thu Aug 16, 4:29 PM
OTTAWA (CBC) - Richard Bradshaw, general director of the Canadian Opera Company and the man who brought an opera house to Toronto, has died.
Bradshaw died Wednesday evening of an apparent heart attack, the company has confirmed. He was 63.
The COC hailed Bradshaw as a "visionary leader," "a conductor of international repute" and one of Canada's "most outspoken and fearless advocates for culture and the arts," in a statement Thursday afternoon.
"In our sorrow, we pay tribute to the inspiration and leadership he played in the cultural landscape of his adopted country," said David Ferguson, president of the COC board.
"We are grieving and we will miss him terribly."
British-born Bradshaw had a career as a choral and opera conductor in the U.K. before moving to San Francisco in 1977.
In 1989, he was hired as chief conductor of the Canadian Opera Company and became general director in 1998. He helped turn it into a company known for cutting-edge opera productions and high standards of music.
He waged a 30-year campaign to build an opera house in Toronto, and that was finally realized last June when the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts opened.
The centre is the largest producer of opera in Canada and one of the largest in North America, according to the COC.
Bradshaw has received a host of accolades over the years, including being named CEO of the Year by the Canadian Public Relations Society this past January.
A funeral is scheduled for Tuesday in Toronto.
MONTREAL'S CHEAP IMITATION OF BOSTON'S RED AUERBACH, IN THE END, ONLY OUTLIVED HIS SUPERIOR FOR A SINGLE YEAR AFTER ALL...
Canadiens' architect Sam Pollock dies
Last Updated: Thursday, August 16, 2007 | 6:59 PM ET
CBC Sports
Sam Pollock, the architect of the Montreal Canadiens dynasty of the 1960s and 1970s, died Wednesday in Toronto. He was 81.
During Pollock's 14 years as general manager and vice-president of the Canadiens, beginning in 1964, the club won nine Stanley Cups.
While Red Auerbach's Boston Celtics won 8 World Ttiles - CONSECUTIVELY - and 10 in a span of 11 years. 13 in 16 years.
Pollock oversaw the franchise's transition from the generation of stars that included Jean Beliveau, Bernie Geoffrion and Henri Richard to the club that won four consecutive Cups in the late 1970s featuring the likes of Ken Dryden, Larry Robinson and Guy Lafleur.
He also convinced Scotty Bowman, once the coach of the Montreal Jr. Canadiens and the former bench boss of the St. Louis Blues, to return to Montreal to coach the NHL club beginning in 1971.
"He was a hard worker, had a lot vision, of course, and was an excellent businessman," Bowman told CBCSports.ca on Wednesday.
Pollock acquired future Hall of Fame goaltender Dryden, an unheralded draft pick of the Boston Bruins, and manoeuvred in 1971 to obtain the No. 1 draft pick of the California Golden Seals, which was then used to select Lafleur.
He observed how Red Auerbach did it to get Bill Russell and copied the technique, that's all. As for the Boston Bruins giving up on Dryden - hey, he was a pencil-necked geek studying LAW!
(Sorry for the pencil-neck thing; I always equate Auerbach to classic wrestler Freddie Blassie, somehow - both had a keen sense of showmanship, UNLIKE Pollock... But that is another story...
Bowman mentioned two other significant player decisions, one involving a veteran near the end of his career and another involving the team's future captain and current general manager.
"He traded for Frank Mahovlich [in 1971] prior to winning some more Cups and drafted Bob Gainey when most people didn't think it was that good a pick," Bowman said.
Gainey is a poor fit as GM - now deny THAT!
"He had a pretty good handle on junior hockey throughout Canada and he used to scout for us everywhere. Even if they came from colleges or the U.S.A., he was one of the first to take them from there." A little more now, and you can send in his candidacy for sainthood to the Vatican! Ubiquity is one of the keys there...
Bowman also credited Pollock with not making emotional decisions and getting feedback from those who worked for him. Must be when things went sour - eh?
Pollock spoke to the New York Times in 1982 about maintaining a sports dynasty.
''First of all, you have to have continuity if you are to have success,'' Pollock told the Times. ''I think it gets the manager and the players to become more attached to each other.''
As many sickening fans of the sickening dynasty said, "ce qui s'passe dans la chambre des joueurs, on veut pas le savoir!"
Otherwise - I'd say the first part of his statement there - the bit about continuity - proved that Sam had learned his lesson well - FROM OBSERVING Red Auerbach WITH SUCH INTENSE SCRUTINY!
Pollock first joined the Canadiens organization in 1947 and served in a number of capacities from scout to player personnel to coach of the club's junior and minor hockey affiliates.
He succeeded Frank J. Selke as Montreal general manager in 1964.
Frank told him "you did good, kid, for a guy with a fishy name like that!" - or maybe he didn't say it quite like that...
The club would win four championships by the end of the decade and was able to remain competitive in the first part of the 1970s in the face of stiff competition from the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers. Stiff? Is that a pun? That one's in real bad taste, especially for the stuffy CBC...!
Pollock headed 1976 Canada Cup team
Pollock was also in charge of Team Canada for the 1976 Canada Cup, which some hockey observers consider the most talented team ever assembled. Anyone can put together a team of superstars - all that is required is the superstars willingness to participate! Sheesh...
The winning club featured 17 future Hall of Famers, including Bobby Orr, Bobby Clarke and Gil Perreault, along with several Canadiens.
When Pollock left Montreal, the Canadiens were a powerhouse club that featured veteran stalwarts like Serge Savard and Guy Lapointe, as well as homegrown younger players, including Gainey, Steve Shutt and Doug Risebrough. It quickly fell apart though, eh? So much for those strong foundations...
Pollock was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in the builder category in 1978.
He later switched sports, serving as president of the Toronto Blue Jays from 1995 to 2000.
The sucky years, eh? When did they steal/buy a World Series or two again...?
Blue Jays team president Paul Godfrey paid tribute to Pollock in a statement released by the club.
"The Blue Jays organization has benefited greatly from his leadership and vision," Godfrey said.
That's why the Jays have sucked all those years, I suppose...?
"I was honoured to have worked alongside him." Quit kissing up, Paul! Gee - all Pauls are such suck-ups!
"Sam brought the the same fierce competitiveness and intelligence to baseball that made him a legend in hockey." Rrrrrrrrrright - the Jays will never STEAL nor BUY themselves another World Series - EVER AGAIN.
Pollock was also named to the Order of Canada in 1985.
An order I wouldn't want to recive nor would I obey it even if it came with a check to the amount of ONE ZILLION DOLLARS...! Aye - I would be great at a "post-mortem ROAST" type of thing, I think! ;)
Death toll in Peruvian earthquake rises to 450
Last Updated: Thursday, August 16, 2007 | 6:20 PM ET
CBC News
The death toll from a magnitude-8 earthquake that rocked Peru's coast near the capital of Lima was expected to surpass 450, the UN's assistant secretary general said on Thursday.
Margareta Wahlström said in New York the number of lives lost "will continue to go up since the destruction of the houses in this area is quite total."
Lima residents watch as firefighters battle a blaze that broke out after an earthquake hit the area Wednesday.Lima residents watch as firefighters battle a blaze that broke out after an earthquake hit the area Wednesday.
(Hector Vinces/Agencia Andina/Associated Press)
Dead bodies covered in dust were strewn in streets and doctors called off a national strike in order to help treat the more than 1,500 injured in hospitals across the country.
The quake struck at 6:41 p.m local time on Wednesday near Lima, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. On Thursday, the centre upgraded the disaster from a magnitude of 7.9 to 8, and also indicated that at least 14 aftershocks of magnitude 5 or greater followed.
Ica, a city of 650,000 people that's 265 kilometres southeast of the capital, was the hardest hit by the quake, as 17 people were killed when a church collapsed.
Police, soldiers and doctors rushed to Ica, but there were reports that traffic was backed up on the Pan American Highway because of giant cracks in the pavement and fallen power lines.
200 buried under rubble of church
Juan Mendoz, mayor of the town of Pisco, told a local radio station that "the dead are scattered by the dozens on the streets."
He said at least 200 people were buried under the rubble of a church that collapsed while they were attending a religious service.
"We don't have lights, water, communications. Most houses have fallen, churches, stores, hotels, everything is destroyed," Mendoza said, sobbing.
In Toronto, the Peruvian consulate reported a flood of phone calls from expatriates trying to help their home country.
Pedro Rey, Peru's consul general in Toronto, said his office has started a bank account for people for donations for those affected in Peru. The account at the Royal Bank is called Sismo Peru 2007.
The consulate is also putting together a list of items needed, including clothing, blankets and medicine.
Quake prompts tsunami warnings
The force of the quake prompted tsunami warnings on South America's Central Pacific coast, but the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center later cancelled the warnings and watches, saying while the temblor generated a tsunami, it was only a 25-centimetre wave.
Several hours later, President Alan Garcia said in a nationwide broadcast that the quake apparently had not caused a catastrophe. But he ordered all police personnel to the streets of Lima to keep order.
The quake's epicentre was 160 kilometres southeast of Lima and about 40 kilometres northwest of the town of Chincha Alta.
Reports said tremors shook buildings in Lima, sending terrified workers fleeing into the streets in a chaotic scene. Some homes in the centre of the capital collapsed, according to an Associated Press photographer who witnessed the scene.
Four strong aftershocks that ranged in magnitude from 5.8 to 5.9 followed soon after, witnesses said. One AP reporter said tremors shook the city for more than a minute.
Erring on the side of caution
Based on the strength of the earthquake, the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center earlier issued a regional tsunami warning for Peru, Ecuador, Chile and Colombia.
Despite the cancellation of the warning, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said he was erring on the side of caution, and late Wednesday ordered residents in the country's southernmost city, Tumaco, near the border with Ecuador, to head for higher ground.
"The reports we received about a possible tsunami are contradictory," Uribe said at a news conference.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center had also extended a tsunami advisory for the Hawaii, but that was later rescinded as well.
Blackouts affected parts of several cities in southern Peru, according to citizens who phoned in reports to the country's main news station, Radio Programas.
The quake also knocked out telephone service and mobile phone service in the capital. Firefighters were called to put out a fire in a shopping centre. State doctors called off a national strike that began on Wednesday to handle the emergency.
The quake hit about 47 kilometres below the Earth's surface.
With files from the Associated Press
Pilot killed in crash of 'experimental' plane
Single-engine aircraft appeared to lose power before falling from sky
Last Updated: Thursday, August 16, 2007 | 4:33 PM CT
CBC News
A pilot was killed in Manitoba Thursday when his experimental C-Wind 300 aircraft crashed in dense brush southwest of Lake Winnipeg.
The plane went down in the bush near Stead, Man., about 80 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, around 10 a.m.
Peter Hildebrand, regional manager of the Transportation Safety Board, said the plane was registered in an experimental category to a Quebec corporation with the serial number "1."
"That means it's produced but it's not, you know, licensed to be sold to the public and carry passengers, that sort of thing," he said. "It's a new aircraft design, basically."
Only a test pilot or a home aircraft builder would be allowed to fly the plane, Hildebrand said.
RCMP identified the pilot as Glen Holmes, 68, of St. Andrews, Man. The plane had taken off Thursday morning from St. Andrews airport, about 70 kilometres southwest of the crash site.
Darlene Steffan, who was loading gravel at a nearby gravel pit, said there was no smoke and no flames after the grey, single-engine plane went down.
"I heard the engine, like, failing, sputtering, you know, failing, and then it wouldn't be running," she said.
"I figured it sounded pretty close so I'd better see where it is, and then I seen him and then he started to come down, then he started spinning and then I lost sight of him for about two seconds and then there was a 'thuck' and that was about it."
Ground in the area is covered with thick jack pine, Steffan said, and rescue parties had a difficult time accessing the crash site.
A search-and-rescue plane from Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Ont., was called in to scour the area. A helicopter was then used to get emergency crews to the wreckage.
The Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.
Erin drenches Houston, blamed for 1 death
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, Aug. 16 (UPI) --
Tropical Storm Erin may be in shreds but it was still strong enough Thursday to flood Houston streets and cause a grocery roof collapse that killed one person.
The collapse of the store roof in the Clear Lake area, besides killing a store employee, also injured one person, the Houston Chronicle reported. The collapse trapped both victims, but firefighters eventually freed the unconscious injured man, who was taken to a hospital.
District Chief Tom Frankum said it took the Houston Fire Department longer than usual to get a crew to the scene because of the multitude of emergency calls.
Erin struck the Texas coastline about 25 miles northeast of Corpus Christ, lost much of its punch and quickly devolved into a tropical depression. It dumped heavy rains on Houston as it moved ponderously northeast.
Rain accumulations of 3 to 6 inches were expected across much of central and southern Texas, which is a concern as the region was already waterlogged by record rainfall in July, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times said.
The Chronicle said Texas hasn't been hit with a direct strike by a named storm since Tropical Storm Grace made landfall in August 2003. The centers of Hurricane Rita in 2005 and Hurricane Ivan in 2004, which had shrunk to a tropical storm, narrowly missed the state by coming ashore across the border in Louisiana.
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Three rescuers killed as Utah mine caves in
Fri Aug 17, 2007 2:07AM EDT
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SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - Three of the rescuers attempting to find six workers trapped in a Utah mine since last week have been killed following a cave-in, officials said on Thursday.
Additionally, six rescuers were injured, said Tammy Kikuchi, a spokeswoman with Utah's Department of Natural Resources.
She confirmed the third death, but it was not known at which hospital that rescuer died.
The others died at Castleview Hospital in Price, Utah -- about 20 miles from the mine site at Crandall Canyon in Huntington -- and at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, Utah.
The cave-in, which occurred about 6:35 p.m. MDT (8:35 p.m. EDT), was referred to as a "mountain bump" -- an eruption of rock and coal under increased pressure from overhead rock as drilling removes surrounding rock and material shifts in an area of the mine.
The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration said all rescue workers were evacuated from the mine and were accounted for, the Salt Lake City Tribune reported on its Web site.
The six trapped miners who were the subject of the search have not been heard from since the central Utah mine caved in on August 6.
"Tonight we have witnessed a most unfortunate incident on top of last week's tragedy," Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman said in a statement. "I hope the lessons we learn from this week in Utah will be instrumental in improving mine safety everywhere."
Crandall Canyon Mine co-owner Robert Murray said earlier on Thursday the cavity found by a third bore hole had enough oxygen to sustain life indefinitely and that his crews would keep up efforts to contact the missing men.
Rescue crews were preparing to drill a fourth hole into the mine on Thursday. Work on a tunnel that could eventually get them out was proceeding slowly because of seismic activity.
It is not yet clear what caused the mine to collapse. Murray has said it was triggered by an earthquake despite disagreement from geologists.
© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.
4 killed in helicopter crash over Ariz.
By MOISES D. MENDOZA, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 5 minutes ago
PHOENIX - A U.S. Marine Corps search-and-rescue helicopter crashed during a training flight over southwest Arizona, killing four people on board, officials said Friday. One person survived.
The HH-1N Huey crashed about 20 miles north of Yuma on Thursday. The wreckage was discovered early Friday, and three Marines and one Navy sailor were pronounced dead at the scene, said 1st Lt. Rob Dolan, a spokesman for the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma.
An injured Marine was transported to Yuma Regional Medical Center and is listed in stable condition.
The names of the dead and injured will not be released for 24 hours under standard military policy, Dolan said.
The chopper assigned to the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma was last heard from at about 4 p.m. Thursday, Marine Sgt. Ryan O'Hare said.
The aircraft was flying on a routine training mission near the Army's Yuma Proving Ground, a sprawling 1,300-square-mile military reservation along the Arizona-California border used to test combat systems and helicopters.
The missing aircraft was assigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron at the Marine Corps Air Station. The Yuma facility is the home base for several air squadrons and is the world's busiest Marine Corps air station.
In 2005, a Marine Corps Harrier jet crashed into a neighborhood near the air base but the pilot had only minor injuries and no one on the ground was hurt.
Hueys, first produced in 1956, are Vietnam War-era workhorses. New aircraft are scheduled to replace them beginning in 2008.
(This version CORRECTS helicopter type to HH-1N)
Hurricane Dean strengthens to Category 3
By GUY ELLIS, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 29 minutes ago
CASTRIES, St. Lucia - Hurricane Dean strengthened into a Category 3 storm and tore through the eastern Caribbean on Friday, ripping the roofs from a hospital and homes, and flooding buildings with rain and seawater. A 62-year-old man drowned — the storm's first death.
With 125 mph winds, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season was expected to gain power over the warm waters of the Caribbean, hit Jamaica on Sunday and climb to Category 4 status before clipping Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. It was projected to steer into the Gulf of Mexico by Wednesday, threatening the U.S.-Mexico border area.
Residents on the French island of Martinique reported landslides and said scores of people were left homeless.
"The sea swelled, crossed the road and invaded homes," said a woman in southern Martinique who identified herself as Lucie in a call to local radio.
On St. Lucia, a former British colony just south of Martinique, Dean blew the corrugated metal roof off the pediatric ward at Victoria Hospital in Castries, the capital, but patients already were evacuated and no injuries were reported, said acting hospital director Hubert Emmanuel.
Buildings across this eastern Caribbean island lost their roofs, often made of corrugated metal. With utility poles down, the power company turned off electricity on the island to prevent electrocutions.
"We don't have a roof...everything is exposed. We tried to save what we could," said Josephine Marcelus in Morne Rouge, a town in northern Martinique. "We sealed ourselves in one room, praying that the hurricane stops blowing over Martinique."
St. Lucia state radio reported the capital was flooded and cluttered with wind-blown debris. Boulders from a sea wall were shoved onto roads by the force of storm surges. A boat sat in the road, lifted from the sea by the storm.
A 62-year-old man was swept away in a rain-swollen river while attempting to retrieve a cow, in the storm's first death, police said.
The eye of Dean passed between St. Lucia and the French island of Martinique, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
At 1:45 p.m. EDT, Dean was centered about 175 miles west of Martinique and was moving west at about 22 mph.
Dominica, which lies north of Martinique, had minor flooding, a few downed fences and trees and battered banana crops — one of the island's main exports — but it appeared Dean had not caused much damage.
"I did not sleep at all last night and was a little worried that the roof of my house would be blown off with all that wind," one Roseau resident, Gwenie Moses, said as she checked her small tin-roofed house for damage. "Thank God it did not."
At Ross University School of Medicine on Dominica, about 80 medical students, mostly from the U.S., and 20 staff and faculty members spent the night watching movies, playing games or sleeping on the floor between desks in a concrete building that was converted into a shelter.
The night before, the university and the U.S. Embassy worked with American Airlines to evacuate students. Some flew out on private charter flights when space ran out. But it turned out an evacuation was unnecessary: Dean caused no damage to the campus.
In Martinique's Epinay district, emergency officials cleared debris off roads to try to get to a family whose roof blew off. Some roads were impassible due to blown-over billboards and other debris.
"I saw the roof of a municipal building fly off. This is a very hard thing to experience right now. The wind is something impressive," said Louis Joseph Manscour, deputy mayor of Trinite, Martinique.
In Washington, the State Department was preparing to announce it would allow some U.S. diplomats in Jamaica to leave the island to avoid the storm. The so-called "authorized departure" program would allow non-essential staff at the Kingston embassy and Montego Bay consulate to leave at government expense if they wish, officials said.
It was too early to tell if the storm would hit the United States. Texas was already dealing with the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin, which dropped up to 7 inches of rain in parts of San Antonio and Houston. Officials throughout central and southern Texas braced for 10 inches to 15 inches by Friday morning.
At least four people died Thursday in Erin's thunderstorms.
"It's so far out, but it's not too early to start preparing," said Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
Forecasters said it appeared Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands would be spared.
Dean could get closer to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which share the island of Hispaniola. As it approaches Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and Central America on Tuesday it could be an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane, the hurricane center said. But forecasters always warn that their intensity predictions can be inaccurate that far in advance.
___
Associated Press writers Ellsworth Carter in Roseau, Dominica, and Herve Preval in Fort-de-France, Martinique, contributed to this report.
Hamilton girl drowns at church picnic
Tue Aug 7, 2:51 PM
TORONTO (CBC) - An autopsy was to be conducted Tuesday on the body of a five-year-old Hamilton girl who died in a swimming pool at Byng Conservation Park, just west of Dunnville.
Provincial police said the girl and her family were at a church picnic on Monday when she was found under the water shortly before 6 p.m.
Lifeguards pulled her out and performed CPR, but the girl was pronounced dead at Haldimand War Memorial Hospital in Dunnville, 40 kilometres south of Hamilton.
Hamilton police, meanwhile, were investigating the drowning of a three-year-old girl on Saturday. Paris Haynes-Palinkas drowned in a backyard pool.
The crime unit of the Hamilton police investigates all deaths of children under five, but they said it appears the drowning was an accident.
Libya protests over pardons for HIV medics
By Anna Mudeva Thu Jul 26, 1:53 PM ET
SOFIA (Reuters) - Libya accused Bulgaria on Thursday of violating an agreement between the two countries by pardoning six medical workers convicted of intentionally infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV.
Libya's formal protest came a day after the HIV victims' families condemned Bulgaria's "recklessness" and called on Tripoli to cut ties with Sofia and deport Bulgarian nationals. They also demanded the medics be re-arrested by Interpol.
"The pardon granted to the medics by the Bulgarian authorities is a clear violation of the agreement reached on July 23," said an official in Tripoli who wished not to be named.
After more than eight years in jail, the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who recently took Bulgarian citizenship were freed on Tuesday under a cooperation accord between Tripoli and the European Union.
Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov pardoned them upon their arrival in Sofia. The EU newcomer and its allies in Brussels and Washington say the medics are innocent and point to evidence the epidemic began before they started working in Libya in 1998.
Bulgaria's foreign ministry said it had received a formal protest note on Wednesday in which Libya said it had not complied with a 1984 extradition treaty.
Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said the foreign ministry would reply to Tripoli later today. Bulgaria had not breached the agreement, he said.
"It is understandable that Libya is reacting under existing pressure from the families of the infected children ... Bulgaria's decision (to pardon the medics) is motivated and fair," state news agency BTA quoted Stanishev as saying.
Kader Abderrahim, a North Africa geopolitics specialist at Paris-based think-tank IRIS, agreed.
"I think this protest is aimed at an internal audience," he said. "When the families discovered the state of the hospital, its hygiene...there were very violent demonstrations in the city before public opinion focused instead on the nurses."
A diplomatic source told Reuters Libya had intended the medics to serve their remaining sentences after their transfer and referred to an article in the prisoner exchange agreement to that effect.
LEGALLY PARDONED
Jailed since 1999, the six were twice condemned to death. Last week Libya commuted the sentences to life in prison after the 460 HIV victims' families were paid $1 million each in a settlement financed by an international fund.
Bulgaria's chief prosecutor Boris Velchev said the pardon was legal.
"There is also an article that says once prisoners are transferred, they are treated under the host country's legislation. The pardon has been legally done. There are no legal problems," Velchev told Reuters.
The medics have always said they were innocent and they were tortured to confess. The Palestinian doctor, Ashraf Alhajouj, told reporters he was not angry about the Libyan protests.
"Let them do whatever they want ... The families of the children are victims just like us, just like our mothers," said Alhajouj, 38, who is staying with the other medics at a government residential complex on the outskirts of Sofia.
More than 50 of the children died. Their relatives have said the infections were part of a Western attempt to undermine Muslims and Libya.
Ontario man's body recovered off P.E.I.
Last Updated: Friday, August 17, 2007 | 12:30 PM ET
CBC News
The body of an Ontario tourist who was swept away while swimming with his family off P.E.I.'s North Shore a week ago has been recovered.
Two boaters noticed the body about 11 kilometres off the coast of Alberton Harbour late Thursday afternoon, the RCMP said.
"Fortunately for us, those people had a cellphone on their boat," said Sgt. Jamie George of Prince District RCMP.
"We were able to contact them, ask them to secure the body until we were able to get out the scene and make a retrieval."
The 38-year-old North Bay man disappeared while swimming with his wife and children at Conway Narrows, a popular swimming spot but one where currents can get strong.
Family members have requested the man not be identified.
Continue Article
An autopsy will be conducted at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
The drowning marked the second one off P.E.I. shores this August. A Quebec tourist died after being caught in a rip current off Cavendish Beach.
The Red Cross has expressed alarm at the number of drownings in Atlantic Canada this year and urged people to be cautious.
Another Manitoba senior dies from West Nile virus
Last Updated: Thursday, August 16, 2007 | 7:25 PM CT
CBC News
Another elderly man has died from West Nile virus in Manitoba.
The man, who health officials said was in his 70s, did not have any other underlying medical conditions before contracting the mosquito-borne infection.
Health officials said the man lived in the Central Health Region, which includes such communities as Portage la Prairie, Winkler and Morden.
The Prairies have become known as Canada's hotbed for West Nile infection this summer, with Manitoba reporting 48 new cases in the past week.
The total number of West Nile infections this year has now soared to 106.
Manitoba has called for more spraying to be done to control the mosquito population in Winker and Deloraine, but the provincial Health Ministry has reminded the public that even though efforts are underway to kill the bugs, people should do all they can to avoid being bitten.
Continue Article
Earlier this month, a man from the Assiniboine Health Region in southwest Manitoba died after contracting the serious neurological form of the virus. The man, 80, was believed to be the first Canadian to have died from West Nile virus this year.
Although West Nile virus is transmitted by mosquitoes, most people who are bitten by an infected mosquito do not become ill. For those who do, the symptoms are usually mild.
Photos help revise age of beluga found dead in Labrador harbour
Last Updated: Friday, August 17, 2007 | 9:57 AM ET
CBC News
A beluga whale found dead in the harbour at Hopedale, Labrador, this week was older than had been originally thought, CBC News has learned.
The whale, first believed to be a baby beluga, was retrieved from the water on Wednesday.
Now, after reviewing photos of the mammal, a scientist with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans has revised its age to three or four years old.
Becky Sjare said belugas at that age normally travel in groups and it is not clear why the whale ended up on its own.
"It could have been exploring off on its own. As animals mature they do take forays off from their social groups," Sjare told CBC News.
"It could be that the group it was with was split up due to natural causes or encounters with fishing nets or encounters with predators like killer whales," she said.
Without an autopsy there is no way to tell why the whale died, Sjare said, although samples of its blubber will help researchers figure out where it likely came from.
The beluga was first spotted in the harbour Monday.
Conservation officer Ian Winter told CBC News on Wednesday that local residents, who consider whale meat a delicacy, were given the beluga.
"The intestines were thrown in the water and the remains of the carcass were given to a team of huskies."
"The whale is all cut up, all butchered up and disposed off, there's nothing left of it," Winters said.
Utah mine search stopped indefinitely after 3 rescue workers killed
Last Updated: Friday, August 17, 2007 | 2:47 PM ET
CBC News
The underground rescue effort to reach six trapped Utah miners was suspended indefinitely Friday after a deadly cave-in killed three rescue workers the day before.
"Is there any possible way we can continue this underground operation and provide safety for the rescue workers? At this point, we don't have an answer," Richard Stickler, head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, said at a Friday news conference.
Crews, however, will continue to bore a fourth hole from above the Crandall Canyon mine in hopes of locating the miners trapped since Aug. 6, said Stickler.
The cave-in, which occurred at 6:39 p.m. local time Thursday was believed to be caused by what seismologists call a "mountain bump," in which shifting ground forces chunks of rock from the walls. The same kind of bump caused the original cave-in, seismologists said.
It's unknown whether the men even survived the initial collapse. If the miners are found alive, Stickler said a hole could be drilled large enough to lower a capsule to the miners to bring them up.
Several miners were buried under several feet of rubble when the cave-in occurred while they were tunnelling through the debris-filled mine entry.
In addition to the deaths, six other workers were also injured. Three are still in hospital with at least two in serious condition.
One is being treated for back injuries, while another has head trauma but is alert. Three workers have been released from hospital.
Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman said that on Thursday, "we went from a tragedy to a catastrophe."
He applauded the heroism of the rescue workers and vowed to continue to support the rescue operation.
"We want to make sure that the lives lost [Thursday] were not in vain," he said. "No one is going to rest until we bring this to some conclusion."
He added, however, that the safety of the rescue workers is of paramount importance.
Federal mine safety officials said the cave-in completely destroyed ground support put in place to keep the miners safe. A team of experts will be brought in to determine whether the underground search can continue.
Maria Lerma, right, and her daughter Adilene embrace near the entrance to the Crandall Canyon mine on Thursday. Maria Lerma's husband, Natalio, was in the mine and was uninjured when a cave-in killed three rescue workers trying to reach six trapped miners.Maria Lerma, right, and her daughter Adilene embrace near the entrance to the Crandall Canyon mine on Thursday. Maria Lerma's husband, Natalio, was in the mine and was uninjured when a cave-in killed three rescue workers trying to reach six trapped miners.
(Chris Detrick/Salt Lake Tribune/Associated Press)
The force from the bump was recorded as a magnitude-1.6 seismic event at University of Utah seismograph stations in Salt Lake City, said university spokesman Lee Siegel. It was the 20th reading since the original collapse, he said.
"I don't think I'm going too far to say that this mountain is collapsing in slow motion," said Siegel.
Thursday's cave-in was a shocking setback on the 12th day of the rescue effort.
Rescuers have said they are disheartened by the pace of their efforts.
Underground, the miners had advanced only 252 metres in nine days. Mining officials said conditions in the mine were treacherous and they were frequently forced to halt digging because of seismic activity.
Before Thursday's incident, workers still had about 365 metres to go to reach the area where they believe the trapped men had been working.
Seismic activity in the mine, located on a mountain near Huntington, caused landslides and forced rescuers to stop their work Wednesday night because of fears for their safety.
Fourth bore hole
Meanwhile, drilling of a fourth bore hole continued Friday after it was briefly delayed because of the seismic activity Thursday morning.
The miners have been missing since a collapse Aug. 6 at the mine, about 225 kilometres south of Salt Lake City. It is believed the miners are 457 metres underground.
People gathered at Castleview Hospital following the mine accident.People gathered at Castleview Hospital following the mine accident.
(Rick Bowmer/Associated Press)
On Wednesday night, video images from the third bore hole showed an intact mine chamber, with its roof and floor in place and its ventilation system unharmed. Water dripping into the chamber would be drinkable, said mine co-owner Bob Murray, chief of Murray Energy Corp.
Air quality samples taken from the chamber showed oxygen levels of about 16 per cent, Richard Stickler, head of MSHA, said earlier.
Normal oxygen levels are 21 per cent, but 15 per cent is high enough to support life, although it could cause people to have elevated heart and breathing rates, Stickler said. Previous readings have found oxygen levels in the mine as low as six per cent.
Noises were also detected Wednesday night by equipment used to monitor vibrations in the mine, Stickler said, but he warned it could be rocks breaking or even animals.
Powerful hurricane Dean lashes St. Lucia, Martinique; heads for Jamaica
Fri Aug 17, 9:49 AM
By Herve Brival
FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique (AP) - Hurricane Dean tore through the eastern Caribbean islands of St. Lucia and Martinique on Friday, ripping roofs from buildings, downing trees and knocking out power.
Airports were closed, coastal hotels were evacuated and tourists hunkered down in shelters as 160-kilometre-an-hour winds swept over the islands.
The Category 2 storm was headed to Jamaica and by next week, when it is projected by forecasters to reach Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and Central America, it could strengthen into a dangerous Category 4 hurricane.
The eye of Dean, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, passed between St. Lucia and Martinique, which are less than 80 kilometres apart, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
"We don't have a roof . . . everything is exposed. We tried to save what we could," said Josephine Marcelus, a resident of Morne Rouge, a town in northern Martinique. "We sealed ourselves in one room, praying that the hurricane stops blowing over Martinique."
At 8 a.m. EDT, Dean was centred about 80 kilometres west-southwest of Martinique and moving west at about 37 km/h. The storm was expected to intensify as it entered the warm waters of the Caribbean, heading toward Jamaica.
"I saw the roof of a municipal building fly off. This is a very hard thing to experience right now," said Louis Joseph Manscour, deputy mayor of Trinite, on Martinique.
Laurent Bigot, director of a crisis team on the French island, warned people to stay inside.
"We may not be spared on this occasion as it appears that we are likely to experience the worst," said Stephenson King, acting prime minister of St. Lucia, an English-speaking, independent island.
It was too early to tell whether the storm would make landfall in the United States, but officials were gearing up for the possibility. Texas was already dealing with the remnants of tropical storm Erin, which drop18 centimetres of rain in parts of San Antonio and Houston. Officials throughout central and southern Texas braced for 25 to 38 centimetres by Friday morning.
At least four people died Thursday in Erin's thunderstorms.
Martinique officials set up cots at schoolhouse shelters while residents lined up at gas stations and emptied supermarket shelves.
"It's the first time I've seen this, all our water supply completely gone in less than two hours," said Jean Claude, a supermarket manager.
In St. Lucia, radio and television advisories urged people to stock up on canned food and fill their cars with gasoline. Volunteers knocked on doors to make sure people knew about the storm.
The U.S. hurricane centre said Dean would likely be a Category 3 hurricane by the time it reaches the central Caribbean. But forecasters said it appeared Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands would be spared the brunt of Dean's winds.
Dean could get closer to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, which share the island of Hispaniola. As it approaches Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and Central America on Tuesday.
Forecasters predicted storm surge flooding at up to 1.2 metres above normal tide levels near the centre of Dean as it passes over the Lesser Antilles. Rainfall of up to 25 centimetres was possible in mountainous areas.
Besides St. Lucia and Martinique, hurricane warnings were also in effect at 8 a.m. EDT for the islands of Dominica and Guadeloupe.
Tropical storm warnings have been issued for the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Anguilla and St. Maarten and Grenada.
The warnings were cancelled for Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Netherlands consider ban on 'magic' psychedelic mushrooms after teen's death
Tue Aug 7, 5:25 PM
By Tosterling
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - The famously liberal Netherlands has been swinging toward the right, cracking down on immigration, religious freedoms and the freewheeling red light district. The next possible target? Magic mushrooms.
The death of a 17-year-old French girl, who jumped from a building after eating psychedelic mushrooms while on a school visit, has ignited a campaign to ban the fungi, sold legally at so-called "smartshops" as long as they're fresh.
Regulation of mushrooms is even less stringent than Holland's famously loose laws on marijuana, which is illegal but tolerated in "coffee shops" that are a major tourist attraction.
Gaelle Caroff's parents blamed their daughter's death in March on hallucinations brought on by the mushrooms, although the teenager had suffered from psychiatric problems in the past. Photographs of her beautiful, youthful face have been splashed across newspapers around the country.
In May, Health Minister Ab Klink ordered the national health institute to perform a new study on the risks of mushrooms. Depending on the conclusions, which are due next month, he said he would either recommend that mushroom sales be limited to those over 18 or impose a total ban.
A 1971 UN convention on psychotropic substances banned psilocybin, the main active ingredient in mushrooms, in its purified form. But the legal status of mushrooms themselves was long unclear. Over the last six years, they have been outlawed in Denmark, Japan, Britain and Ireland. It is also illegal to sell psilocybin-containing mushrooms in all U.S. states, but the status of spores, homegrown and wild species varies from state to state.In Canada, psilocybin is listed as a controlled substance, illegal to sell or possess.
Peter Van Dijk, a researcher at the Netherlands' independent Trimbos Institute of Mental Health and Addiction, said in an interview last week that the mushrooms themselves are not a health threat because they are neither addictive nor toxic.
However, people who take them may hurt themselves or others, he said. The risks grow if mushrooms are combined with alcohol or cannabis, or if people already have psychiatric problems.
"They really shouldn't use mushrooms because that can trigger psychosis," he said.
A study published in January by Amsterdam's health services said the city's emergency services were summoned 148 times to deal with a negative reaction to mushrooms in 2004-2006. Of those, 134 were foreigners, with Britons forming the largest group.
Dutch government data suggest most mushrooms sold in smartshops are eaten by tourists. Since Caroff's death, other dramatic stories involving foreigners have been reported in the Dutch press:
-A 22-year-old British tourist ran amok in a hotel, breaking his window and slicing his hand.
-A 19-year-old Icelandic tourist thought he was being chased and jumped from a balcony, breaking both his legs.
-A 29-year-old Danish tourist drove his car wildly through a campground, narrowly missing people sleeping in their tents.
A majority of parties in parliament ranging from centrist to far right have demanded the hallucinogenic mushrooms be outlawed.
If the government does ban mushrooms, it will be in keeping with conservative trends that have been sweeping the country in recent years. Since 2001, Muslim immigrants have been under pressure to learn Dutch and integrate, and there have been calls by some to ban Islamic schools and radical mosques.
Last month, authorities announced a major crackdown on organized crime in Amsterdam's Red Light District. And the country's marijuana policies have also been under pressure, with authorities launching more aggressive prosecution of growers.
Brothers Murat and Ali Kucuksen, whose farm "Procare" supplies about half the psychedelic mushrooms on the Dutch market, say they are afraid their business will now be forced to close.
Their state-of-the-art system to grow and package fresh mushrooms is already operating at half capacity, in part because of the British ban and in part because of the recent bad press.
"The reputation of the product is down the drain," Ali Kucuksen said.
For many, however, it is still business as usual at Amsterdam's smartshops.
Chloe Collette, the owner of the Full Moon shop in Amsterdam, showed a group of British backpackers the various types of psychedelic mushrooms on sale Thursday.
"We have seven kinds on the menu, most of them are the softer kind," she told the group.
She said she doesn't sell to people under 18 and tries to screen out customers who appear unstable. But she acknowledged there is no way to be sure. She said she recommends people find a park or someplace outside where they can sit and talk with friends when they take them.
"People need to feel comfortable when they take it," she said. "It's something natural that makes you connected to yourself."
Firefighters die in blaze by ground zero
By VERENA DOBNIK, Associated Press Writer (August 18th, 2007)
NEW YORK - A seven-alarm fire ripped through an abandoned skyscraper next to ground zero in Lower Manhattan Saturday, killing two firefighters who were responding to the blaze.
Officers at the scene were preventing nearby residents from returning to their homes, telling them that authorities were concerned the former Deutsche Bank office building, vacant since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks turned it into a toxic nightmare, could fall. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that fear turned out to be unfounded.
Two firefighters were killed, and five or six others were taken to a hospital but were expected to be released, Bloomberg said. No civilians were hurt.
Construction crews had already dismantled 14 of the building's 40 stories — reaching the 26th floor on Tuesday. Some firefighters used stairs to reach the burning upper floors of the building, just steps from where 343 firefighters lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known. Smoke pouring from the burning building was visible from midtown Manhattan and the New Jersey side of the Hudson River.
The acrid smell of smoke, which hung over the neighborhood for days after Sept. 11, returned to lower Manhattan along with the wail of emergency vehicles. More than three dozen fire vehicles, with more than 160 firefighters, responded to the blaze as pieces of burning debris fell from the building to the streets.
Residents said they weren't allowed home even to rescue their pets.
"We heard this crashing," said Elizabeth Hughes, who saw the fire start from her rooftop deck across from the tower. "And then a huge fire that went up three floors fast. It was massive. ... Oh my God! I can't even go in and get my cats."
The 1.4-million square foot office tower was contaminated with toxic dust and debris after the World Trade Center's south tower collapsed into it. Bloomberg said the chemicals in the building did not present a significant health risk.
Efforts to dismantle it were halted by a labor dispute last year, along with the ongoing search for the remains of attack victims.
City officials announced in June they had completed recovery efforts at the structure. More than 700 human remains were found at the site.
Tillman's death unremarkable, until fiction began
By GILBERT CRANBERG
SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER
August 14, 2007
A three-star general was rebuked and may lose a star, and a half-dozen other brass took it on the chin for their part in misleading the public and the family of Pat Tillman in the aftermath of his accidental death three years ago in Afghanistan. The military had gone so far as to fabricate a medal citation for Tillman to divert attention from the true cause of his death.
Tillman was a genuinely heroic figure, leaving a lucrative professional football career to enlist. But the circumstances of his death, at the hands of his own men, evidently weren't suitably heroic for his superiors, so they cosmetized the facts. Tillman's celebrity and persistent, skeptical family combined to help bring the true story to light.
My guess is that there is a lot more tinkering with the truth about combat deaths than the military cares to admit, and not always for bad reasons. The fact is that the battlefield is a hazardous workplace where accidents are common and where it's sometimes understandable why the military would want to make the death of a loved one less painful by not being fully candid.
In my infantry outfit during World War II, it was widely understood that casualties attributed to "snipers" were almost always due to weapons fired by our own troops.
The first night after our outfit landed on Leyte in the Philippines, one of our men was shot through the chest when he arose from his foxhole and was mistaken in the blackness for a Japanese infiltrator. No one was reprimanded, and I'm reasonably sure the victim's family was not told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. How necessary was it, after all, for them to know that a jittery GI shot their loved one as he exited his foxhole to urinate? White lies are tolerable under some circumstances.
That bloody opening night was followed by many more accidental shootings. When large numbers of on-edge soldiers carry loaded weapons, stuff, as Donald Rumsfeld might say, happens. The toll became so high that I went on patrol with my rifle's safety on to keep from adding to the carnage. Prudent but probably foolhardy given the neighborhood.
A carelessly fired rifle can do only so much damage; misdirected mortars and artillery are far more deadly. Once, the six heavy mortars in our outfit were lined up side by side and firing round after round in support of infantry hundreds of yards forward when word came back that shells were landing on our own troops. A glance at the mortar tubes showed why: Five were aligned, while the sixth pointed up at a sharply higher angle, sending its rounds short. The corporal responsible was visibly upset, but there was no finger-pointing and no one said a word. You can be sure that families of the victims were not notified of the blunder.
Even after the shooting on Leyte ostensibly stopped, a GI sitting next to me during a card game took a stray bullet to his head from out of the blue.
The citation for Pat Tillman's Silver Star described what supposedly happened at the time of his death: "Corporal Tillman put himself in the line of devastating enemy fire as he maneuvered his Fire Team to a covered position from which they could effectively employ their weapons on known enemy positions. While mortally wounded, his audacious leadership and courageous example under fire inspired his men to fight with great risk to their own personal safety, resulting in the enemy's withdrawal and his platoon's safe passage from the ambush kill zone."
Any maneuvering, of course, was to keep Tillman and his men from the "kill zone" created by their fellow GIs.
There is nothing shameful about death by friendly fire, but those who treated it that way tarnished Tillman's death by making of it a work of fiction.
GILBERT CRANBERG, former editor of The Des Moines Register's opinion pages, was a member of the 96th Infantry Division during World War II.
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Truth, Fiction and Mary Tillman's Crusade Posted by: Daysie
on Wed Aug 15, 2007 6:19 am
Mr. Cranberg's comment applies to military deaths that are not necessarily combat deaths as well. Exactly 100 years ago this October a young Marine Corps second lieutenant died at his training school in Annapolis. But was this unfriendly fire? A hasty inquest concluded the officer committed suicide. Over the next three years his mother's unprecedented crusade to learn the truth about Jimmie Sutton's death captivated the nation. Rosa Sutton's language and use of the media -- America's press corps-- exactly parallels that of Mary Tillman and other mothers in similar situations. See the forthcoming book A SOUL ON TRIAL (Rowman & Littlefield Oct 2007) for historical perspective on Mary Tillman's struggle and a riveting story about truth, fiction and conflictiong testimony from officers, enlisted men, civilians and even Sutton's ghost.
Reader Comment Posted by: UrbandaleGuy
on Tue Aug 14, 2007 9:57 pm
RE: "In my infantry outfit during World War II, it was widely understood that casualties attributed to "snipers" were almost always due to weapons fired by our own troops."
So, things are pretty much the same as they always were?
And, yet, I ask myself, when a family loses a loved one in war, would it be easier if they believed the loved one died from hostile fire or friendly fire?
Reader Comment Posted by: slycotton82
on Tue Aug 14, 2007 4:24 pm
Mario, if you click the link and change the filter to "Cause of death detail" you will see that these are not just "my numbers".
Statistics are just a tad more reliable than saying "I think it is this much".
Please elaborate on your experience with military brass.
Reader Comment Posted by: mario75
on Tue Aug 14, 2007 3:46 pm
Israeli troops kill three Hamas gunmen in Gaza
Wed Aug 8, 9:29 AM
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot and killed three Hamas gunmen in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, ambulance workers and army officials said.
Palestinian medical workers said that Israeli soldiers had killed two Hamas gunmen near a major commercial border crossing with Israel in central Gaza.
An Israeli army spokesman said a force patrolling the border had shot and killed two militants after pursuing them into Palestinian territory.
In a second incident, Israeli troops killed a member of Hamas's Executive Force who was stationed at a roadblock near a border crossing in the northern Gaza Strip, residents and medical workers said.
The army said soldiers had fired at two gunmen who approached the border fence, hitting one of them.
Hamas Islamists seized control of the Gaza Strip on June 14 after weeks of fighting with President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction. Since then, Gaza's main border crossings have been closed to all but humanitarian supplies.
Israeli troops often shoot at Palestinians who approach Gaza's border with Israel, to try to prevent armed infiltrations. Israel also conducts raids in the area to try to stop militants launching rockets and mortars into Israel.
ON THE SAME DAY - THREE FUNERALS OF NOTE
(AND ONE WEDDING?)
THAT OF INGMAR BERGMAN
THAT OF MERV GRIFFIN
AND THAT OF SOEUR ESTELLE - THE NUN WHO WAS BEATEN TO DEATH
BY SOME STOOGE THAT SHE WAS HELPING OUT
(A STOOGE WHO HAD BEEN ALLOWED TO RESIDE IN THE SAME COMPLEX
THAT HOUSED ALL THE NUNS LIKE SOEUR ESTELLE - AGES 70-80+...)
NO NEED TO TELL YOU WHICH ONE WAS MORE NOTABLE
IN MY BOOK...
Mise à jour: 18/08/2007 16h54
LCN
Religieuse battue à mort à Montréal
Les obsèques d'Estelle Lauzon sont célébrées
À Montréal, les funérailles de la religieuse battue à mort lundi dernier ont eu lieu samedi.
Les obsèques de la sœur Estelle Lauzon étaient célébrées samedi après-midi à la chapelle de la Maison de la Providence, dans Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.
Vendredi, une centaine de proches de la religieuse se sont réunis pour une veillée funèbre.
La religieuse de 81 ans a été sauvagement battue à mort par un homme qu'elle tentait d’aider.
Le suspect, Martin Rondeau, a été accusé de meurtre au premier degré.
Film director Ingmar Bergman is buried
By STEPHAN NASSTROM, Associated Press Writer Sat Aug 18, 6:11 PM ET
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - A few dozen family and friends of Ingmar Bergman attended his funeral Saturday on the small Swedish island where he spent his final years — a low-key affair in keeping with the legendary filmmaker's wishes.
Bergman was 89 when he died July 30 at his home on Faro.
Mourners gathered in the modest Faro Church, where Bergman's remains lay in a simple pine coffin flanked by red roses. There were no speeches. An organ and cello played Bach.
The filmmaker was buried in a secluded plot he chose himself, near the church wall, overlooking the cemetery, his family said in a statement.
A single photographer was allowed to take pictures; other media and the public were barred.
Around 75 people attended, including Bergman's children and the actors Liv Ullmann, Bibi Andersson, Peter Stormare and Erland Josephson.
Bergman left written instructions for handling the funeral: No eulogies or a profusion of flowers, but simple choir and cello music, according to the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet, citing his son, also named Ingmar.
Remembered around the world as one of the greatest masters of cinema, Bergman made about 60 movies — including classics as "The Seventh Seal" and the Oscar-winning "Fanny and Alexander" — before retiring from film-making in 2003.
Bergman's film vision encompassed all the extremes of his beloved Sweden: the claustrophobic gloom of unending winter nights, the gentle merriment of glowing summer evenings and the bleak magnificence of the Baltic Sea island where he spent his last years.
He lived alone on Faro and often praised his neighbors for the privacy they granted him.
"When people come and ask where Ingmar Bergman lives, they never have any clue," the director said in a rare TV interview in 2004.
Stars fondly remember Griffin at funeral
By BOB THOMAS, Associated Press Writer Sat Aug 18, 11:51 AM ET
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Hollywood stars fondly remembered Merv Griffin at his funeral Friday, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who credited the creator of "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune" with jump starting his own acting career.
Among mourners who filled the Church of the Good Shepherd were former first lady Nancy Reagan, Pat Sajak, Vanna White, Alex Trebek, Dick Van Dyke and Griffin's son, Anthony, and his family.
Schwarzenegger, who attended with wife Maria Shriver, gave one of the eulogies.
"I can say today I wouldn't have gone as far in my career if it wouldn't have been for Merv Griffin," Schwarzenegger said, recalling his appearances on "The Merv Griffin Show," which date back to 1974.
"He had me on many times, and I was on his show to teach him about fitness and he would be teaching me about acting. Well, neither worked," the bodybuilder-turned-actor-turned-governor said to laughter.
Griffin's son followed with a mix of humor and affection: "I never knew anyone who loved life as much as my father," he said.
Griffin, who created "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune," was 82 when he died Sunday of prostate cancer.
He began his career as a radio vocalist, then began to appear on TV. In 1965, Westinghouse Broadcasting began "The Merv Griffin Show" on syndicated television.
Griffin was already working on developing game shows. "Jeopardy" began in 1964 and went on to become a huge hit, followed by "Wheel of Fortune" in 1975. He sold their rights to the Columbia Pictures Television Unit for $250 million, retaining a share of the profits, and went into real estate and other business ventures.
He bought and refurbished the Beverly Hilton and then acquired hotel and casino operator Resorts International.
Griffin was to be buried not far away, in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, where Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin, Natalie Wood and other Hollywood notables are interred.
Dogs' role uncertain in death of LA man
Sat Aug 18, 12:48 AM ET
LOS ANGELES - A man who died at the home of action star Ving Rhames most likely did not die from bites from Rhames' dogs, county coroner's officials said Friday. Jacob Adams, 40, was living on Rhames' Brentwood property as a caretaker for the actor's dogs when he was bitten Aug. 3, police said.
The medical examiner who conducted Adams' autopsy Aug. 7 said the bite abrasions and lacerations on the man's body were most likely nonfatal, said Capt. Ed Winter of the Los Angeles County coroner's office.
"We're not saying the bites were definitely not the cause of death, though," Winter told The Associated Press.
An exact cause of death was still unknown pending a toxicology report to be released in about six weeks, he said.
According to a preliminary coroner's report, the dog bite marks on Adams' body — which police officers found on Rhames' front lawn — were around his arms and legs.
"When animals attack humans or other animals, the victims usually end up with bites around the head and neck. He had none," Winter said. "This leads us to believe he went down for some other medical reason."
An English bulldog and three bull mastiffs, including two weighing 200 pounds, were seized by animal services at the time.
Rhames, 46, told People magazine this week that his dogs were back home.
In a statement dated Monday, issued by his publicist, Rhames said he was out of the country when the incident took place.
Rhames also mentioned he was "relieved to know that the coroner's report confirmed that my dogs were not the cause of his death — and that any wounds found on his body were superficial."
And, he added, "Jacob Adams was not just a devoted employee — he was also a dear friend. I want to offer my heartfelt condolences to his family."
THE FOLLOWING NEWS STORY IS CRUELLY IRONIC ENOUGH
BUT IT COMES ON THE HEELS OF ME SEEING A GREAT FILM AGAIN -
ONE WHERE THE WIFE BELIEVES TO BE DYING OF CANCER
AND IS GOADED INTO A SUICIDE PACT WITH HER ARTIST HUSBAND
WHO REALLY LETS HER HAVE ALL THE POISON
OH - AND HER TUMOR WAS BENIGN AND NOT CANCEROUS AT ALL -
BUT HE OMITTED FROM INFORMING HER OF THAT...
DIANA KENT IS MAGNIFICENT IN THAT FILM - AS THE WIFE
WHO KNEW NOT WHAT SHE WAS MARRIED TO...
IF THAT WASN'T ENOUGH,
I GOT IN MY G-MAIL A LONG LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS
TO PREVENT CANCER
COURTESY OF JOHN HOPKINS HOSPITAL
AND SOMEONE WHO CARES ABOUT MY WELL-BEING, EVIDENTLY
(CLUE: IT IS NOT A FAMILY MEMBER!!!)
AND AFTER FORWARDING THAT TO EVRYONE I CARE ABOUT
I SAW THIS NEWS STORY:
Cancer patient dies in burning car
QUEBEC, Aug. 18 (UPI) --
A woman who was about to begin chemotherapy for cancer killed herself in a Quebec parking lot, setting her car on fire with a borrowed cigarette lighter.
Police responded to a call Wednesday evening about a car fire in the lot in Levis, across the St. Lawrence River from Quebec City, Canwest News Service reported. Once the flames were extinguished, police found a burned body inside with two empty propane tanks.
Constable Christian Cantin said the woman had left some personal effects, including a photo of her family, and a suicide note outside the car.
The woman's identity had not been released pending confirmation through dental records. Her husband and son, who live in Lotbiniere, about 40 miles west of Quebec City, identified the car.
The woman had been scheduled to begin chemotherapy Wednesday.
© UPI, Headline News Powered by Bravenet.com
SOMETIMES, YOU JUST CAN'T CHEAT DEATH...
NOT WHEN IT SEEMS IN A HURRY TO GET YOU.
One killed, four wounded in fresh Mogadishu attacks
Sat Aug 18, 1:32 PM ET
MOGADISHU (AFP) - A Somali woman was killed and four other people wounded Saturday in a fresh spate of insurgent attacks against government targets in Mogadishu, security officials and witnesses said.
Three people were wounded when a roadside bomb hit a high-ranking security official's car in a southern neighbourhood that has repeatedly come under attack recently, local government spokesman Said Mohammed Mohieddin said.
"Radical groups are behind the attack on district commissioner of Holwadag Yusuf Elmi Gele and two policemen, the bomb hit the car while passing near the Police academy," he told AFP.
Another district commissioner, this time in the southern neighbourhood of Wardigley, also survived an ambush on his convoy by attackers who used grenades, he told AFP.
"They wanted to finish me but luckily my security men and I survived the attack," said Hassan Ali Hashash. He added that a civilian woman who was near the scene had been injured.
Meanwhile, another woman was killed in the latest violence to rock the Somali capital's notoriously dangerous Baraka market area.
Eyewitnesses told AFP that she was killed when security forces opened fire after coming under attack.
"The woman was selling her grocery near the site of the explosion and a stray bullet hit her as she was inside her shop," said Bashir Khalif Gani.
Another witness, Yusuf Mohammed, said "the policemen opened fire indiscriminately."
Mogadishu has experienced one of its deadliest weeks since Ethiopian troops backing Somali government forces wrested final control of the capital from an Islamist militia in April.
According to a casualty toll compiled by AFP, more than 40 Somalis -- many of them civilians -- have been killed since August 11.
Human Rights Watch said in a report released earlier this week that the spring fighting had seen war crimes committed by all sides and denounced the general disregard for civilians.
Since being defeated, insurgents have continued to launch almost daily guerrilla-style attacks against government or Ethiopian targets.
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4 die in Minnesota flooding
By SCOTT BAUER, Associated Press Writer 2 minutes ago
WINONA, Minn. - Severe storms deluged parts of the upper Midwest during the night with as much as a foot of rain, causing flooding that washed away bridges and roads and killed at least four people, authorities said Sunday.
Part of Winona and smaller towns in southeastern Minnesota and southwestern Wisconsin were evacuated, officials reported.
Rushing floods in Minnesota killed two people in their vehicle near Stockton and two others in vehicles near Witoka, said Bob Reinert, the Winona County administrator and spokesman for the county's emergency operations center.
"They apparently just drove off the edge of the pavement, and with the floodwaters just were unable to get out of the vehicle," he said, adding floodwaters opened up a 30-foot gully where the road used to be.
Houston County authorities were investigating reports of two additional fatalities, one near Houston and one near La Crescent, and Winona County authorities were looking for three people reported missing.
National Guard Capt. Paul Rickert of the National Guard says 88 soldiers and two helicopters were sent to Winona to help with security around the small cities of Elba, Stockton, and Pickwick. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty visited the area Sunday and declared a state of emergency in six counties.
Across the Mississippi in Wisconsin, up to 12 inches of rain triggered a mudslide that pushed a house onto state Highway 35 in Vernon County, said Wisconsin Emergency Management spokeswoman Lori Getter. No injuries were reported.
"They've been pulling people out of stalled cars, and evacuating them out of their homes," Getter said, adding that the Wisconsin National Guard was placed on standby.
Nearly 80 people living near small dams in Vernon County were evacuated, Getter said.
The Pine Valley West apartment complex in Wisconsin's Richland County was evacuated as a precaution, with 10 of them taken to the Pine Valley Health and Rehabilitation, a nursing home, said Donna Gilson, a spokeswoman at emergency management's Madison headquarters. Emergency management officials initially said 18 nursing home residents were evacuated; Gilson said confusion resulted from the similarity of names.
Numerous roads and bridges were washed out or closed in both states Sunday and several towns were evacuated, officials said.
"In our situation we've evacuated the city of Stockton, which is probably the hardest hit," Reinert said in Minnesota. Other small cities were also evacuated as well as low-lying portions of Winona, he said.
Residents of downtown Gays Mills, Wis., were taken to a fire station, and a state of emergency was in effect there. The entire downtown was flooded and water was 4 feet deep in some homes, Gilson said.
Five cars of a 65-car train derailed outside Goose Island, Wis., and the surrounding area was evacuated, Getter said. One car that tipped over contained acid, but hazardous materials teams did not detect any leaks, she said.
The rain fell from a storm system that stalled over the region, said National Weather Service meteorologist Tod Rieck in La Crosse.
"When the showers and thunderstorms set up, they sat there for hour after hour after hour," he said.
He said Wisconsin's Kickapoo River was already at a record crest on Sunday morning, and the Root River in Minnesota was at or near a record.
Houston County Sheriff's dispatcher Dwayne Beckman said authorities were keeping a wary eye on the dike that protects that small city from the rising Root River. According to Beckman, the river was at 19 feet "and the dike is good to 20 feet."
Houston residents were not being evacuated yet "but they are all on alert," Beckman said.
Rivers were still rising and more rain was in the forecast at midday Sunday.
Storms from the same system also stretched across parts of Iowa, northern Illinois and southern Michigan into Ohio. Parts of northern Iowa had minor flooding, with no reports of injuries or deaths, officials said Sunday morning.
(This version includes CORRECTION by Wisconsin emergency management officials who now say some people were evacuated TO a nursing home, not from it.)
Man's body found at Minn. bridge site
MINNEAPOLIS - The body of a man missing since an interstate bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River was recovered early Sunday, bringing the confirmed death toll to 12, authorities said.
The Hennepin County medical examiner's office identified the remains as Scott Sathers, 30, of Maple Grove.
Sathers worked in enrollment services at Capella University and was on his way home from work, using his usual route, when the Interstate 35W bridge crumpled amid evening rush hour traffic on Aug. 1.
Divers continued to search for the last person on the list of missing, Greg Jolstad, 45, of Mora.
A vehicle also was pulled from the rubble on Sunday. Bad weather on Saturday had hampered recovery efforts at the site.
Mise à jour: 19/08/2007 11h33
Soldat québécois tué en Afghanistan - L’identité de Simon Longtin est maintenant connue
Simon Longtin, 23 ans, du Royal 22e Régiment LCN
Soldat québécois tué en Afghanistan
L’identité de Simon Longtin est maintenant connue
Le Royal 22e Régiment vient de perdre un premier soldat en Afghanistan, avec la mort de Simon Longtin, âgé de 23 ans, tué dimanche dans l'explosion d'une bombe artisanale sur une route du sud de la province de Kandahar.
Membre du groupe tactique depuis deux ans, le soldat Longtin faisait partie du 3e bataillon du Royal 22e Régiment basé à Valcartier, dans la région de Québec.
Le jeune homme de Longueuil, sur la rive-sud de Montréal, venait à peine de commencer sa mission de six mois, étant débarqué en Afghanistan le 30 juillet.
Premier soldat québécois à mourir en Afghanistan
Simon Longtin est le premier soldat membre du Royal 22e Régiment à mourir en devoir en Afghanistan depuis le début de l'intervention canadienne dans ce pays en 2002.
Il s'agit également du premier décès à survenir dans les rangs de l'actuel contingent de soldats, en poste dans la province de Kandahar depuis quelques semaines à peine. Près de 2300 militaires, en grande majorité des Québécois, ont été déployés dans la région.
L'attaque a été perpétrée vers 1h40, heure locale, à cinq kilomètres à l'est du village de Masum Ghar. Immédiatement après l'explosion, les soldats canadiens ont répliqué et des échanges de coups de feu ont été rapportés. Aucun soldat n'a cependant été blessé au cours de la fusillade, ni dans l'explosion qui a coûté la vie au militaire de 23 ans.
Le jeune homme, qui montrait encore de faibles signes vitaux après l'attaque à l'explosif, a été évacué de la scène par hélicoptère à bord duquel des manoevres de réanimation ont été tentées mais en vain.
Son décès a été constaté à l'hôpital militaire de Kandahar. La mort du jeune soldat porte à 67 le nombre de Canadiens -- 66 soldats et un diplomate -- morts en Afghanistan depuis 2002.
Les propos du colonel Christian Juneau
«Nous sommes une famille et nous perdons un frère», a souligné en point de presse le colonel Christian Juneau, commandant adjoint de la Force opérationnelle interarmées en Afghanistan.
«Pour les militaires, ce qui importe, c'est que les gens nous supportent, supportent ceux qui portent l'uniforme, a souligné le commandant adjoint. Il y a un débat au Canada sur la mission en Afghanistan, c'est vrai, mais ce débat, nous le laissons aux politiciens. L'important, c'est de sentir l'appui de la population du Québec comme du Canada», a estimé Christian Juneau.
En vidéo, écoutez les explications de Jean-Raphaël Drolet.
(Non merci.)
LUGUBRIOUS NEWS COMING IN BY THE HOUR
- BUT IN FRENCH... (JUST TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA...)
18h01 - Marieville · Une jeune femme tuée lors d'un accident de moto
La femme de 23 ans a perdu la vie lorsqu’elle a percuté l’arrière d’une voiture sur la route 112. LCN
16h54 - Religieuse battue à mort à Montréal · Les obsèques d'Estelle Lauzon sont célébrées
La religieuse de 81 ans a été sauvagement battue à mort par un homme qu'elle tentait d’aider. LCN
13h03 - Disparition de Cédrika Provencher · Les pilotes du Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières se mobilisent
La photo de Cédrika est placardée sur la voiture de plusieurs pilotes, notamment ceux de la Coupe Écho. LCN
12h35 - Floride · Une Américaine survit à une attaque de requin
Andrea Lynch, 20 ans, a expliqué qu'elle faisait la planche près de son bateau lorsqu'un requin l'a attaquée mercredi. AP
09h27 - Poutine · Son créateur n'est plus
L'inventeur de la poutine, Jean-Paul Roy, est décédé avant-hier à Drummondville. Journal de Montréal
09h27 - Justice · Alex Hilton reste détenu
L'ex-boxeur avait été arrêté le jour de sa sortie de prison. Journal de Montréal
08h58 - Visite éclair · Charest rencontre les parents de Cédrika
Le premier ministre a effectué une visite éclair à titre personnel hier à Trois-Rivières, où il a notamment rencontré les parents de la petite Cédrika Provencher, disparue depuis 18 jours. Journal de Montréal
08h37 - Transport · Trois accidents dans le Parc
Trois accidents ont fait deux blessés graves hier avant-midi sur la route 175 dans le parc des Laurentides. Journal de Québec
08h37 - Accident · Une ado perd la vie en VTT
Une adolescente de 15 ans a perdu la vie jeudi soir à Saint-Jean-de-la-Lande dans le Bas-Saint-Laurent. Journal de Québec
08h29 - Disparition de Cédrika Provencher · Pas de portrait-robot du présumé ravisseur
Les informations recueillies par la SQ ne sont pas assez précises pour permettre la diffusion d’un portrait-robot dans l'immédiat. LCN
07h05 - Montréal · Double tentative de meurtre
Un homme de 64 ans aurait poignardé son ex-amoureuse, une femme de 66 ans, ainsi qu’un ami de longue date de la victime. LCN
RADIO
Lucien «Frenchie» Jarraud est décédé
Par Sylvain Larocque
18-08-2007 | 16h02
Lucien «Frenchie» Jarraud, l'une des figures marquantes de la radio québécoise des 50 dernières années, s'est éteint vendredi à l'âge de 84 ans.
En vacances en France avec sa compagne Diane, M. Jarraud a subi une intervention chirurgicale le 24 juillet 2007 après avoir été hospitalisé pour des problèmes respiratoires.
Né le 7 septembre 1922 à Paris, M. Jarraud commence à travailler dès l'âge de 10 ans dans un cirque de la capitale française. Il quitte l'école à 14 ans et l'année suivante part en tournée en France et en Allemagne avec un cirque itinérant.
Lire aussi:
* La mort de «Frenchie» Jarraud endeuille le monde artistique québécois
En 1939, le jour de son 17e anniversaire de naissance, il s'engage comme volontaire dans l'armée française. Envoyé au front en Belgique, il sera notamment décoré de la Croix de guerre. Engagé par la suite dans la Résistance française, il est arrêté par les Allemands et déporté dans un camp de travail près de Hambourg. Il s'évade en 1943 et commence à prendre part à des spectacles (revues) à Paris.
À la même époque, Lucien Jarraud sert de doublure pour l'acteur Pierre Blanchar dans les scènes d'acrobatie du film Le Bossu de Jean Delanoy. Il avait fait de même pour Charles Trenet dans Romance de Paris de Jean Boyer (1941).
À la fin des années 1940, Jarraud est de la toute première émission présentée à la télévision française, où il rencontre les Compagnons de la chanson, dont faisait alors partie le comédien Paul Buissonneau.
En juin 1948, Lucien Jarraud prend le bateau pour New York et part en tournée avec le cirque Barnum & Bailey. C'est là qu'on le surnommera «Frenchie». Il travaille ensuite avec Charles Aznavour et Pierre Roche, en tournée aux États-Unis, puis au Québec.
C'est en juillet 1948 que Jarraud met les pieds à Montréal pour la première fois. Il sera acrobate dans le cirque Hamid Morton, puis participera à des revues avec l'effeuilleuse américaine Lily Saint-Cyr. Il deviendra ensuite agent pour les artistes français en tournée aux États-Unis et au Canada (dont Édith Piaf et Charles Trenet). Aux prises avec des problèmes de jeu, il se retrouve presque à la rue au début des années 1950.
Happé par la radio
Frenchie Jarraud fait ses débuts à la radio montréalaise au milieu des années 1950 en traduisant des nouvelles d'Europe pour la station CJMS. L'année suivante, il innove en offrant d'animer, pendant la nuit, la première tribune téléphonique au Québec, toujours sur les ondes de CJMS, alors en faillite. Son salaire: 10 $ pour le premier mois, puis 45 $ par semaine pour les deux années suivantes. «Les gens avaient envie de parler et, sans le savoir, je venais d'inventer les lignes ouvertes», racontait-il dans son autobiographie, publiée en 1998 sous la plume de Roger Sylvain.
«Les gens (...) enlevaient leur dentier pour ne pas qu'on reconnaisse leur voix, parce qu'ils voulaient parler politique, ils voulaient parler contre (Maurice) Duplessis et tout ça. Mais il ne fallait pas que tu parles contre Duplessis!» confiait-il au journaliste Dominic Arpin de TVA en 2005.
Frenchie Jarraud n'hésite pas à bousculer les idées reçues en invitant à son micro, au début des années 1960, une prostituée, un témoin de Jéhovah, un homosexuel et des naturistes.
Il s'improvise aussi, bien avant Claude Poirier, «négociateur», après que des prisonniers aient fait appel à lui en 1962. Mettant à profit son expérience d'acrobate de cirque, il a aussi escaladé le pont Jacques-Cartier 12 fois afin de sauver des désespérés qui voulaient se suicider. Il restera à CJMS jusqu'en 1970.
Dès 1961, Frenchie Jarraud fait une première incursion à la télévision québécoise en jouant dans un téléroman de Jean Despréz, Joie de vivre. Peu après, il passe à Télé-Métropole, tout juste entrée en ondes. Il coanime avec Claude Lapointe Face à face, une émission de débats d'actualité.
À la télévision, Lucien Jarraud fait sa marque avec Le Coeur sur la main, une émission du Canal 10 dans laquelle il vient en aide aux gens dans le besoin, éprouvés par la maladie ou un sinistre. L'animateur fait appel au public pour procurer aux démunis meubles, électroménagers et autres biens essentiels. L'émission a été diffusée de 1964 à 1966.
«C'était devenu trop gros, expliquait-il dans son autobiographie. Les gens réagissaient tellement que Télé-Métropole a eu peur de perdre le contrôle.»
En 1967, M. Jarraud intervient pour sauver un enfant de deux ans que le père gardait en otage dans une résidence de Montréal. Il affronte le père armé d'une carabine et réussit à le désarmer.
Travail caritatif
En 1974, l'animateur se présente pour le Parti conservateur dans la circonscription montréalaise de Saint-Henri et perd par 2666 voix aux mains du député libéral sortant, Gérard Loiselle.
La même année, Lucien Jarraud est nommé au conseil d'administration du Centre hospitalier de Verdun (CHV), tout juste mis en tutelle. En 1977, il deviendra président du conseil et mettra sur pied la Fondation du CHV, qui existe toujours.
Dans la même veine, il anime, en 1976 et en 1977, la version québécoise du téléthon de Jerry Lewis contre la dystrophie musculaire, en direct de Plattsburgh, dans l'État de New York. Les deux années suivantes, il l'animera à Montréal, après avoir convaincu M. Lewis de créer un événement séparé pour le Québec.
Pendant 14 ans, de 1978 à 1992, Frenchie Jarraud travaille à la station CKVL comme animateur et journaliste, notamment à une tribune téléphonique. Il s'est même occupé de l'agence de voyages de CKVL pendant un moment. Au fil des ans, on a aussi pu l'entendre à CKLM et CHRS.
En 1985, il commence à s'intéresser à la sculpture sur bois. Quatre ans plus tard, il expose à la galerie Edouard-Manet.
En 2003, il effectue un retour à la radio sur les ondes de CJMS, devenue une station de musique country de la Rive-Sud de Montréal. Jusqu'en 2006, il a animé Le p'tit monde à Frenchie. Depuis quelques mois, il était à la barre de l'émission Le Choc des générations.
En 2005, le Conseil canadien des normes de la radiodiffusion a réprimandé M. Jarraud et l'un de ses coanimateurs, Gary Daigneault, pour avoir divulgué le numéro d'un auditeur en ondes.
«Je ne prendrai jamais ma retraite, avait-il dit en 2005 à TVA. Le jour que je quitterai, je meurs.»
RADIO
La mort de «Frenchie» Jarraud endeuille le monde artistique québécois
18-08-2007 | 17h12
La colonie artistique est en deuil à la suite de la mort de l'animateur de radio et de télévision Lucien «Frenchie» Jarraud, décédé, vendredi soir, aux soins intensifs de l'Hôpital Georges-Pompidou à Paris.
En vacances dans la ville lumière, il fut hospitalisé le 9 juillet pour une embolie pulmonaire, suivie de deux infarctus. Depuis, il était plongé dans un coma artificiel.
Frenchie Jarraud était le doyen des ondes radiophoniques. Il aurait célébré ses 85 ans le 7 septembre.
Il débuta la carrière d'animateur à CJMS en 1955. Il y demeura pendant 14 ans. Il fit aussi sa marque pendant deux décennies à CKVL, puis à CHRS et CJMS 1040, où il était toujours en ondes dans les premiers jours de juillet à son émission Le p'tit monde à Frenchie.
Selon l'animateur Claude Poirier, Frenchie Jarraud a révolutionné la façon de faire de la radio au Québec puisqu'il est l'instigateur des lignes ouvertes dans la province. M. Poirier le place en tête des animateurs radiophonique de la province. «Jarraud a donné ses lettres de noblesse à CJMS dans les années 1960 et 1970», a-t-il dit.
Frenchie Jarraud a également animé des émissions de télévision pendant sept ans à Télé-Métropole, dont Face à Face avec Claude Lapointe, Le coe ur sur la main et Toast et Café avec, entre autres la comédienne Domique Michel.
En entrevue sur les ondes de NTR, Mme Michel s'est souvenu de son sens de l'humour, mais surtout de son ardeur au travail. Selon elle, l'homme était «un grand communicateur».
L'animateur Marcel Béliveau, qui l'a connu dans les années 1960, l'a revu l'an dernier pour travailler avec lui. Il s'est dit surpris de son décès, compte tenu de l'énergie et de la lucidité dont il faisait preuve encore tout récemment. Il a salué la mémoire d'un homme dévoué, prêt à aider les autres. «Il parlait de politique. Il parlait même des femmes à l'occasion. Il n'avait rien perdu de quoi que ce soit. C'était un gars charmant. C'était aussi une grande gueule, il aimait cela gueuler; c'est ça qui le tenait en vie».
Toute sa vie durant il se sera consacré à des causes humanitaires que ce soit par le biais de téléthons, radiothons et interventions de toutes sortes.
Lucien «Frenchie» Jarraud laisse dans le deuil son femme Michelle Landry, ses enfants, Nathalie, Martin et Alexandre, ainsi que ses petits enfants Danika, Nikolas, Mathieu et David.
La dépouille mortelle de Lucien Jarraud sera rapatriée en terre québécoise dans les prochains jours.
updated 3 hours, 44 minutes ago
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Heat wave claims 44 lives in Southeast, Midwest
* Story Highlights
* NEW: People with chronic respiratory, heart conditions should take precautions
* Tennessee officials report 13 heat-related deaths
* Eight people have died in Alabama during the heat wave
* Next Article in U.S. »
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- An oppressive two-week heat wave in the Southeast and Midwest has killed at least 44 people, many who were elderly and living in homes without air-conditioning.
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A sign on Thursday tells the story about the heat in Huntsville, Alabama.
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Authorities in Memphis reported 2 more heat-related deaths Saturday, bringing Tennessee's total to 13.
The latest victims were a 74-year-old man found dead Saturday after working in his yard and a 60-year-old man found dead in his home late Friday. He had asthma, the Shelby County Medical Examiner's Office said.
Medical Examiner Karen Chancellor warned that individuals with chronic respiratory or heart conditions should take special precautions during this heat wave. Photo Photos of how nation is coping »
The high temperature in Memphis was 101 on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service, and Sunday's high could reach 102, despite earlier forecasts that weekend temperatures would dip slightly.
As of Saturday, Memphis has had nine straight days of triple-digit temperatures.
Mayor A C Wharton set up a heat wave phone line for people seeking services that can help them escape from the heat, including the locations of cooling centers and free fans for seniors.
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* Heat wave broils Southeast
The local health department said the city's heat index -- a measure that factors in humidity to describe how hot it feels -- has broken 100 every day since June 27.
Health officials in Alabama said Friday that eight people there had died of heat-related causes this week and last week.
In Elmore County, an anonymous donor gave county schools 20,160 bottles of water Friday for children to drink on school buses that have no air conditioning.
"The kids were so thrilled. They were quiet on the buses and just sat in their seats and drank their water," county schools spokeswoman Judy Caton said.
Emergency physicians warned that days of heat-related stress can lead to problems such as nausea, dizziness, headaches, cramps and vomiting for people who otherwise are healthy. Those symptoms are the first signs of heat exhaustion.
"It is a cumulative thing," said Dr. Franc Fenaughty, an emergency room physician in the Memphis suburb of Germantown. "After four or five or six days you are going to see more people get dehydrated. And, the big problem is dehydration."
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In addition to the deaths in Tennessee and Alabama, nine have been confirmed in Missouri, four each in Arkansas and Georgia, three in Illinois, two in South Carolina and one in Mississippi.
Last summer, a heat wave killed at least 50 people in the Midwest and East. California officially reported a death toll of 143, but authorities last month acknowledged the number may have been far higher. A 1995 heat wave in Chicago was blamed for 700 deaths. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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IN OTHER RELATED LUGUBRIOUS NEWS
(THAT DO NOT ADD TO THIS MONTH'S DEATH TOLL
BUT THEY SURE ARE PART OF THIS YEAR'S TOTALS...)
Memorial dedicated at Virginia Tech
By SUE LINDSEY, Associated Press Writer Sun Aug 19, 4:38 PM ET
BLACKSBURG, Va. - A set of 32 small stones that became a focal point for the grieving Virginia Tech campus following April's shooting spree were replaced with much larger rocks in a solemn ceremony on Sunday.
The new, 300-pound stones engraved with each victim's name in front of an administration building will serve as an intermediate memorial while officials look for a permanent site elsewhere on the main campus.
A dirt path worn in front of the smaller stones, which were hurriedly set by a student group right after the April 16 massacre, was replaced with a stone walking path. The new "Hokie Stones" are embedded in an arc of crushed gravel, with holly bushes planted behind them.
A crowd 10,000 people formed a sea of maroon and orange on the lawn as about 100 of the victims' family members, some leaning on their escorts, were seated under an open tent.
"We come together still seeking answers to the incomprehensible," Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said.
Steger called the memorial an important tribute to the 27 students and five faculty members killed.
"Each was gifted and talented and unique," he said, adding the memorial also honors the 23 wounded.
The memorial features a larger, center stone as a monument to all those killed and injured in the shooting rampage by Seung-Hui Cho. It is engraved with the message, "We are Virginia Tech. We will prevail," from a poem penned by English professor Nikki Giovanni for the first memorial service after the shootings.
In the original semicircle, a 33rd stone was added anonymously for Cho. University officials had said it would be offered to Cho's family, but it vanished before they could do so. The new memorial has no place for a 33rd marker.
Fall classes were set to start on Monday.
Adeel Khan, president of the student government association, encouraged his fellow students to honor those killed by moving forward.
"I hope you are inspired to work harder, for 32," he said. "Achieve your dreams, for 32. Be better, for 32."
Texas executes 400th inmate since 1982
By MICHAEL GRACZYK, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 50 minutes ago
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - A man convicted in the shooting death of a convenience store clerk became the 400th person on Wednesday to be executed in Texas since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982.
Johnny Ray Conner, 32, asked for forgiveness repeatedly and expressed love to his family and his victim's family, who watched him through windows in the death chamber.
"This is destiny. This is life. This is something Allah wants me to do," he said. "I'm not mad at you. When I get to the gates of heaven I'm going to be waiting for you. Please forgive me."
"What is happening to me is unjust and the system is broken," said Conner who spoke until the drugs took effect. He was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m., eight minutes after the lethal drugs began to flow.
Conner was convicted in 1999 for fatally shooting Houston convenience store clerk Kathyanna Nguyen, 49, during an attempted robbery.
Julian Gutierrez, a customer walking inside the store to pay for gasoline, interrupted the holdup, tried to run back outside and was shot in the shoulder. Nguyen was shot in the head.
Conner's lawyers earlier Wednesday lost an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the lethal injection. In arguments rejected by the justices, Conner contended his trial attorneys were deficient for not investigating an old leg injury that left Conner with a limp. The disability would have prevented him from running away from the store quickly.
Gutierrez survived and was among at least three people to identify Conner, whose fingerprint also was found on a bottle at the shooting scene.
Conner was the 21st put to death this year in Texas. Three more are scheduled to die next week.
The prospect of Conner becoming Texas' 400th executed prisoner prompted an outcry from death penalty opponents.
The European Union, which opposes capital punishment and bans it in its 27 nations, urged Gov. Rick Perry to stop Conner's execution and impose a death penalty moratorium.
Perry spokesman Robert Black brushed aside the criticism.
"Texans long ago decided that the death penalty is a just and appropriate punishment for the most horrible crimes committed against our citizens," he said.
___
On the Net:
Texas Department of Criminal Justice execution schedule http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/scheduledexecutions.htm
Johnny Ray Conner http://ccadp.org/johnnyconner.htm
AP
14 U.S. soldiers killed in chopper crash
By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer 27 minutes ago
BAGHDAD - Fourteen U.S. soldiers were killed Wednesday when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a nighttime mission in northern Iraq, but the military said it appeared the aircraft was lost by mechanical problems and not from hostile fire.
It was the Pentagon's worst single-day death toll in Iraq since January and indicated how forces are relying heavily on air power in offensives across northern regions after rooting out many militant strongholds in Baghdad and central regions.
But extremists are striking back.
A suicide truck bombing against a police station in the northern oil hub of Beiji claimed at least 45 lives — 25 policemen and 20 civilians — amid a series of deadly attacks north of the capital.
The growing bloodshed in the north carries a mixed message. It suggests some success for the U.S.-led security sweeps seeking to reclaim control of areas in and around Baghdad. But it also highlights the apparent resilience of groups such as al-Qaida in Iraq as they retaliate and seek new footholds.
The White House, meanwhile, sought to quiet a political tempest with Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.
President Bush, speaking to a veterans' convention in Kansas City, Mo., called al-Maliki "a good man with a difficult job." Bush added: "I support him."
Just hours earlier, al-Maliki lashed out at American criticism over his government's inability to bridge political divisions or stop the violence, warning he could "find friends elsewhere."
The spat appeared to ease, but al-Maliki's sharp words signaled a fraying relationship with his key backer nearly three weeks before Congress receives a pivotal progress report on Iraq.
The UH-60 helicopter went down before dawn in the Tamim province that surrounds Kirkuk, an oil-rich city 180 miles north of Baghdad, said Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly, a military spokesman in northern Iraq.
He declined to be more specific about the location of the crash, but said the facts gathered indicated it was almost certainly due to a mechanical problem and not hostile fire. The final cause remained under investigation, however.
The Black Hawk was one of two helicopters and had just picked up troops after a mission when it crashed, Donnelly said. The four crew members and 10 passengers aboard were assigned to Task Force Lightning, but the military did not release further information about their identities pending notification of relatives.
In Washington, a defense official said the helicopter was from the 25th Infantry Division's combat aviation brigade, based in Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
A U.S. soldier also was killed and three others were wounded Wednesday during fighting west of Baghdad, the military said separately.
The total of 15 was the largest single-day death count since 25 U.S. soldiers were killed around the country on Jan. 20, including 12 who died in a helicopter crash. The deadliest crash occurred Jan. 26, 2005 when a CH-53 Sea Stallion transport helicopter went down in a sandstorm in western Iraq, killing 31 U.S. troops.
The U.S. military relies heavily on helicopters to avoid the threat of ambushes and roadside bombs — the deadliest weapon in the militants' arsenal — and dozens have crashed in accidents or been shot down.
Wednesday's deaths raised to at least 3,722 members of the U.S. military who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
The Sept. 15 deadline for the Iraq progress to Congress leaves Bush little time to show that the U.S. troop buildup is succeeding in providing the enhanced security the Iraqi leaders need to forge a unified way forward.
U.S. commanders have warned that extremists would step up the violence this month in a bid to upstage the report, which comes amid a fierce debate over whether Bush should start withdrawing American troops.
A string of attacks hit across northern Iraq.
The deadliest strike blasted a police station in a residential area in Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, according to police and hospital officials.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information, said 25 policemen and 20 civilians were killed. The officials also said 57 civilians and 23 officers were wounded.
Jassim Saleh, 41, who lives about 500 yards from the blast site, said he saw an explosives-laden truck carrying stones ram the police station. But other reports described it as a fuel tanker.
"It was a horrible scene. I can't describe it," he said. "The bodies were scattered everywhere. I was injured in my hand and a leg, but I took three wounded people to the hospital in my car."
Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said the attack bore all the hallmarks of al-Qaida in Iraq, which appears to be trying to retrench in parts of northern Iraq.
"It appears to be something that is consistent with an al-Qaida-related attack," he told AP Radio in an interview.
Later Wednesday, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle set off a blast near four police vehicles parked near grocery stores in Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, killing six people, including two policemen, and wounding 35 people, police said.
A roadside bomb also targeted a police patrol in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown 80 miles north of Baghdad, killing one officer and wounding three people, authorities said.
Iraqi police and tribal officials also reported that a suicide truck bomber struck a joint U.S.-Iraqi outpost near Taji, a town near an air base 12 miles north of Baghdad. They said the attack occurred a day after tribal leaders who have turned against al-Qaida held a recruiting meeting, but no information about casualties was immediately available.
The U.S. military said only that a coalition outpost in the village of Hor al-Bashah had been attacked.
Suicide vehicle bombers have killed more than 2,315 Iraqis this year, according to an AP count. The tally far outpaces the January-August period last year when 441 Iraqi deaths were blamed on suicide bombers aboard vehicles.
3 British soldiers killed by U.S. bomb
By NOOR KHAN, Associated Press Writer 9 minutes ago
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A bomb apparently dropped by an American fighter jet called in for air support killed three British soldiers in southern Afghanistan, officials said Friday. Two soldiers were seriously wounded.
The British unit was on patrol Thursday evening in Helmand province when it came under Taliban attack, the British Ministry of Defense said.
"During the intense engagement that ensued, close air support was called in from two U.S. F-15 aircraft to repel the enemy. One bomb was dropped and it is believed the explosion killed the three soldiers."
They were the first British soldiers killed in friendly fire in Afghanistan, although joint operations between U.S. and British forces in Iraq have been marred by "friendly fire" deaths caused by the failure of equipment and personnel in correctly identifying allies.
Britain did not identify the soldiers, from 1st Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment. It said an investigation was planned.
British troops have been battling militants for months in Kajaki, where repairs are taking place on a hydroelectric dam that will be able to supply close to 2 million Afghans with electricity.
"There are a handful of different reasons why this tragic incident has happened and we are not in a position at the moment and I don't think we will be for some time to find out exactly what has happened," said a spokesman for British troops in Helmand, Lt. Colonel Charlie Mayo.
Mayo said both wounded soldiers were injured seriously.
The American embassy in London said "the United States expresses its deep condolences to the families and loved ones of the soldiers who died, and we wish those who were injured a speedy recovery."
After an inquest into the death of British soldier Lance Cpl. Matty Hull, 25, killed in a friendly fire attack by two American pilots in Iraq in 2003, opposition legislators in Britain called for improvements in joint identification systems.
Britain last year threatened to end cooperation with the U.S. on the new Joint Strike Fighter jet after 10 years of development, until the Pentagon resolved concerns it was not sharing enough information about the aircraft's sensitive software with London.
Earlier this year, Britain's Defense Secretary Des Browne said that since 1990 12 British personnel had died in friendly fire incidents involving U.S. forces in Iraq, but that there had been no such deaths in Afghanistan.
U.S. fire has mistakenly killed five Canadian soldiers: One died last September when a U.S. warplane called in for air support during an anti-Taliban operation mistakenly fired on NATO troops, and four were killed in April 2002 when an American pilot dropped a 500-pound bomb near where the troops were apparently conducting a live-fire exercise, which the pilot mistook for Taliban action.
In August 2006, a bomb mistakenly dropped by coalition aircraft killed 10 Afghan police officers on a patrol in the country's southeast.
In the most famous friendly fire case of the Afghan conflict, Pat Tillman, the former NFL player who became an Army ranger, was killed in April 2004 by fellow troops near the Pakistani border.
Britain has about 7,000 troops in Afghanistan, most based around Helmand. The latest deaths bring to 73 the number of British personnel killed in the country since the U.S.-led invasion in November 2001.
Taliban insurgents in the east and south of the country have stepped up their attacks on Afghan and coalition forces over the last 18 months, seeking to overthrow the Western-backed government installed in 2001 after the ouster of the Taliban.
On Thursday, Afghan forces killed three insurgents, two of whom were Islamic militants from Chechnya, during a one-hour gunbattle in southern Zabul province, said local government head Fazal Bari. He gave no more details.
Meanwhile, U.S.-led coalition troops shot dead a suspected militant and detained 11 other people during a raid in eastern Afghanistan, the coalition said in a statement.
The militant was killed Friday while "attempting to engage coalition and Afghan forces" during a raid in Nangarhar province, the coalition statement said. Eleven other men detained will be questioned "as to their involvement in militant activities," it said.
Troops recovered weapons and ammunition during the raid, the statement said.
___
Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.
Seale gets 3 life terms for '64 killings
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS, Associated Press Writer 45 minutes ago
JACKSON, Miss. - James Ford Seale, a reputed Ku Klux Klansman, was sentenced Friday to three life terms for his role in the 1964 abduction and murder of two black teenagers in southwest Mississippi.
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Seale, 72, was convicted in June on federal charges of kidnapping and conspiracy in the deaths of Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee, two 19-year-olds who disappeared from Franklin County on May 2, 1964.
The young men's bodies were found more than two months later in a backwater of the Mississippi River.
Seale showed no emotion as U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate read his sentence.
Wingate told Seale the crimes committed 43 years ago were "horrific" and "justice itself is ageless." Wingate denied a defense motion to allow Seale to be free on bond while his case is appealed.
Federal public defender Kathy Nester filed a notice of appeal.
"Mr. Seale maintains his innocence to this crime," Nester said.
During the hearing, one of Dee's sisters and Moore's brother talked about how the violent deaths affected them and their families.
"I don't have no hate in my heart but I'm happy for justice," said Dee's sister Thelma Collins of Springfield, La.
Thomas Moore read from a prepared statement directed at Seale.
"I hope you perhaps spend the rest of your natural life in prison thinking of what you did to Charles Moore and Henry Dee and how you ran for a long time but you got caught," he said. "I hope the spirit of Charles and Henry come to your cell every night and visit with you to teach you what is meant by love of your fellow man."
Both of them stood about 10 feet from Seale, but he never made eye contact with them.
When asked by Wingate if he had anything to say, Seale, who wore an orange jail jumpsuit and was shackled at his waist, wrists and ankles, stood, shook his head and said "No."
Wingate agreed to assign Seale to a prison where his health needs can be met. He has cancer, bone spurs and other health problems.
The prosecution's star witness against Seale was Charles Marcus Edwards, a confessed Klansman who received immunity from prosecution for his admitted role in the abductions and his testimony.
He testified that Seale and other Klansmen abducted Dee and Moore near Meadville, forced them into the trunk of Seale's Volkswagen and drove them to a farm. The two were later tied up and driven across the Mississippi River into Louisiana.
Edwards said Seale told him that heavy weights were attached to the teenagers and they were then dumped alive into the river.
Seale was arrested on a state murder charge in 1964, but the charge was later dropped. Federal prosecutors say the state charges were dropped because local law enforcement officers in 1964 were in collusion with the Klan.
Federal prosecutors revived the case in 2005, largely at the urging of Thomas Moore, who researched the crime.
Jessica Lunsford killer sentenced to die
By MITCH STACY, Associated Press Writer
INVERNESS, Fla. - A convicted sex offender was sentenced Friday to death for kidnapping 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, raping her and then burying her alive in his yard.
John Evander Couey looked straight ahead as Circuit Judge Ric Howard told him he should be executed for the 2005 crimes that led to new laws in many states cracking down on convicted sex offenders.
Sheriff's deputies hustled the handcuffed inmate out of the crowded courtroom.
The girl's father, Mark Lunsford, teared up as he listened to the judge read a detailed history of the case for nearly an hour. He hugged relatives after the sentence was read.
The jury that convicted Couey in March recommended 10-2 that he die for his crimes, but the decision was left to Howard.
An attorney for Couey, 49, had argued that he couldn't legally be executed because he is mentally retarded, but Howard brushed aside that claim in a strongly worded ruling earlier this month. Mentally retarded people cannot be executed under a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision.
The jury convicted Couey of taking the girl in February 2005 from her bedroom to his nearby trailer, sparking a massive search. The third-grader's body was found about three weeks after she disappeared in a grave in Couey's yard, about 150 yards from her own home.
Couey, already a convicted sex offender when he committed the crime, was arrested in Georgia and confessed to the killing. That confession was thrown out as evidence because Couey did not have a lawyer present.
Despite the confession being tossed, Couey incriminated himself other times. Jail guards and investigators testified that he repeatedly admitted details of the slaying after his arrest, insisting that he hadn't meant to kill the third-grader but panicked during an intense, nationally publicized police search.
Prosecutors also had overwhelming physical evidence, including DNA from the girl's blood and Couey's semen on a mattress in his room as well as her fingerprints in a closet where investigators said she was hidden.
Couey has a criminal record that includes 24 burglary arrests, carrying a concealed weapon and indecent exposure. He was designated a sex offender for exposing himself to a 5-year-old girl in 1991.
AUGUST 24TH WORLD NEWS HEADLINES...
As of 4:41 p.m. EDT
• 3 British soldiers killed by U.S. bomb
• U.S. troops kill 8 during Baghdad fight
• Forest fires kill 15 in southern Greece
OK - FOR ONCE, WE'LL DO WITHOUT THE GORY DETAILS...
AFTER ALL, FOR THE PURPOSES OF A DEATH TOLL,
ONLY THE NUMBERS ARE REALLY REQUIRED HERE...
AND HERE WE HAVE THEM = 3 + 8 + 15...
FIRE, ONE OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD,
PROVES TO BE MORE LETHAL THAN WAR, ONE OF THE MUCH
FEARED FOUR HORSEMEN...
HOW ODD...
Leo Kanowitz, pioneer on gender bias, dies
BERKELEY, Calif., Aug. 24 (UPI) --
Leo Kanowitz, a California law professor who wrote a pioneering book on gender discrimination law, has died at the age of 81.
Kanowitz suffered from diabetes, the Los Angeles Times reported.
His 1969 book, "Women and the Law: The Unfinished Revolution," was a pioneering work that outlined the ways in which women suffered discrimination.
"What Leo did that was so distinctive was lay the intellectual foundation for being able to look at these issues, not just as women's rights issues but as human rights and civil rights issues," Herma Hill Kay, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, told the Times.
Kanowitz was the author of nine other works. "Equal Rights: The Male Stake" in 1981 argued that all gender-based laws should be repealed, including those that gave women an edge.
Kanowitz, a native of New York, went to law school after a career that included studying comparative literature at the Sorbonne and working as a labor organizer in California. He spent most of his legal career as a teacher at Hastings University of California School of Law, retiring in 1991, the Times said.
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SEEMS LIKE WE HAD THE WRONG NUMBERS EARLIER...
As of 2:01 a.m. EDT • Vick suspended indefinitely without pay
• Forest fires kill 27 in southern Greece
• Chicago suburbs fight flooding threat
• Top civil rights prosecutor resigns following criticism
• Thousands gather in Russia to celebrate the potato
• Oral contraceptives, other factors reduce bone mass
NO COMMENT
ON THE LAST THREE NEWS ITEMS THERE...
NEXT - AFTER A SERIES OF HIGH PROFILE DEATHS IN FRENCH TERRITORIES...
OBITUARIES FROM FRANCE AND QUEBEC
(NOT THAT HIGH PROFILE DEMISES ARE WORTHIER...
IN FACT, MANY LOW PROFILE ONES ARE FAR WORTHIER
CERTAINLY WORTHIER THAN A CERTAIN ROCH LASALLE
WHOSE NAME MAKES ME THINK OF THE FRENCH EXPRESSION
"MAUDIT CHIEN SALE" - BUT THAT IS ANOTHER STORY...!)
Politique municipale: Mort subite de la mairesse Boucher
2007-08-24 20:43:05
La mairesse de Québec, Andrée Boucher, succombe à un malaise cardiaque à l'âge de 70 ans. Le conseiller Jacques Joli-Coeur prendra sous peu son relais à l'hôtel de ville.
La mairesse de Québec, Andrée Boucher, est morte subitement à l'âge de 70 ans.
Mme Boucher a succombé à un malaise cardiaque, vendredi midi, alors qu'elle se trouvait chez elle. Elle a été transporté à l'hôpital Laval, où son décès a été constaté.
Mme Boucher laisse dans le deuil son époux Marc et ses trois enfants Bernard, Denis et France.
En accord avec sa famille, le comité exécutif de la ville de Québec a pris la décision d'organiser des funérailles officielles à la mémoire de Mme Boucher. Les détails de cette cérémonie seront annoncés au cours des prochains jours.
La Ville de Québec mettra à la disposition de la population, à compter du lundi 27 août, à 12 h, des livres de condoléances à l'hôtel de ville et dans les huit bureaux d'arrondissement.
C'est le conseiller Jacques Joli-Coeur qui assumera sous peu la fonction de maire de Québec en remplacement de Mme Boucher.
La politicienne
Mme Boucher est née le 31 janvier 1937. Avant de se lancer en politique, elle a oeuvré dans le monde de l'enseignement après avoir obtenu un baccalauréat en pédagogie et un brevet d'enseignement de l'Université Laval.
Andrée Boucher a été élue mairesse de la ville de Sainte-Foy pour la première fois en 1985. Pendant 15 ans, elle travaille principalement sur les finances de la municipalité, faisant de Sainte-Foy une des moins taxées au Québec.
Son premier grand projet a été de construire un nouvel hôtel de ville qui connaîtra un premier échec avant de devenir réalité. Le bâtiment sera finalement construit au coût de 41 millions de dollars.
Elle a aussi mené des batailles politiques remarquées, notamment en s'opposant à la construction d'un nouveau Colisée et à la candidature de Québec pour les Jeux olympiques d'hiver de 2002.
Mais son plus grand combat fut celui mené contre les fusions municipales au début des années 2000. Après l'adoption de la loi par le gouvernement du Québec forçant les fusions, elle pose en 2001 sa candidature à la mairie de la nouvelle ville de Québec. Elle subit toutefois une défaite contre le maire sortant Jean-Paul L'Allier.
En 2004, elle reprend le flambeau des défusions, mais les contribuables de Sainte-Foy refusent de la suivre. Elle fait une pause dans sa carrière politique en se retrouvant au micro de la station radiophonique CJMF-FM.
Elle sera finalement élue à la mairie de Québec en 2005 avec plus de 45 % des voix, après avoir mené une campagne électorale sans programme et sans publicité. Elle a tout simplement ouvert les portes de sa résidence une fin de semaine et invité les citoyens de Québec à venir la rencontrer. Elle est ainsi devenue la première femme maire de la ville de Québec.
L'an dernier, elle s'était rendue à Bordeaux et Paris dans le cadre de l'organisation des fêtes du 400e anniversaire, en 2008, de la ville de Québec. Il s'agissait d'un projet que Mme Boucher menait de front ces derniers temps et qui nécessitait énormément de supervision de la part de la mairie de Québec.
Décès d'Andrée Boucher: Onde de choc dans la Vieille Capitale
2007-08-24 17:24:42
Les témoignages sont nombreux à la suite de l'annonce du décès de la mairesse de Québec, morte subitement d'un malaise cardiaque.
L'annonce du décès de la mairesse de la ville de Québec crée une onde de choc dans la Vieille Capitale. Les membres de son comité exécutif ainsi que des élus du conseil municipal qui se sont déplacés en après-midi vendredi à l'hôtel de ville de Québec se sont dits totalement ébranlés par la nouvelle.
Les membres du comité exécutif ont tenu un bref point de presse pour offrir leurs condoléances à la famille endeuillée. Ils ont aussi décrit leur attachement à la mairesse et souligné sa compétence, son intégrité et sa rigueur dans son travail.
Le vice-président du comité exécutif, Ralph Mercier, qui a longuement connu Mme Boucher, a dit éprouver un chagrin indescriptible. « Mme Boucher mérite toutes les considérations de la société québécoise, et surtout des gens de la région de Québec et toute l'appréciation qu'on pouvait avoir pour elle pour le dévouement qu'elle a consacré depuis autant d'années pour le milieu municipal et le bien des citoyens », a-t-il dit.
Un peu plus tôt, la chef de l'opposition à l'hôtel de ville, Ann Bourget, s'est aussi dite aussi profondément attristée par la mort d'Andrée Boucher. Elle mentionne que la mairesse était une grande dame de la politique depuis de nombreuses années. Elle souligne son apport à la politique municipale et québécoise.« Mme Boucher a tracé la voie pour des femmes en politique municipale. Elle est une femme dont la combativité a été reconnue au Québec et au-delà des frontières », dit-elle.
Même si les deux femmes ont multiplié les débats depuis deux ans lors des séances du conseil municipal, Ann Bourget retient de son adversaire politique son grand sens de l'humour qui, dit-elle, était partagé et communicatif.
Dans un bref communiqué, l'ancien maire de Québec, Jean-Paul L'Allier, qui s'est dit stupéfait d'apprendre la mort de Mme Boucher, a offert ses condoléances à la famille de la mairesse.
L'ex-maire de Beauport, Jacques Langlois, a aussi réagi à la triste nouvelle. M. Langlois, qui a été un compagnon de route de Mme Boucher, s'est dit bouleversé par sa disparition subite. « Pour la population de Québec, c'est aussi une perte immense. Mme Boucher était en politique municipale et occupait toute la place depuis près de 40 ans », souligne-t-il.
Quant à lui, le président du conseil d'administration des Fêtes du 400e de la ville de Québec, Jean Leclerc, décrit Andrée Boucher comme une excellente ambassadrice pour la ville de Québec. « Elle personnifiait non seulement les fêtes à Québec, mais à l'étranger. J'ai eu la chance de faire quelques voyages avec elle et elle faisait un travail d'ambassadrice incroyable, elle ne laissait personne indifférent », dit-il.
Le metteur en scène originaire de Québec, Robert Lepage, a récemment travaillé de près avec la mairesse dans un projet de studios de cinéma sous les bretelles de l'autoroute Dufferin-Montmorency. Il indique avoir découvert une femme extraordinaire, cultivée et intelligente. « Je trouve ça d'une tristesse infinie ce décès parce que j'ai découvert une femme extraordinaire, que je connaissais mal », a-t-il dit.
La Ville de Montréal a pour sa part mis son drapeau en berne. Le maire Gérald Tremblay dit avoir perdu une alliée qui prenait de plus en plus de place en politique municipale. « Elle commençait à jouer un rôle important au sein de la Fédération canadienne des municipalités, mais également avec l'Association internationale des maires francophones », souligne-t-il.
Par ailleurs, les chefs des trois partis présents à l'Assemblée nationale ont tous exprimé leur sympathie à la famille endeuillée et souligné les qualités exceptionnelles de la mairesse de Québec.
De passage à Kuujjuaq, le premier ministre du Québec, Jean Charest, a offert ses condoléances à la famille de la mairesse. Selon Jean Charest, Andrée Boucher va conserver son titre de mairesse éternellement. « C'était une femme exceptionnelle. D'ailleurs, sa dernière élection témoigne de l'estime que la population de Québec avait pour Mme Boucher. Elle aura quitté ce monde mairesse de Québec avec le titre de Mme la mairesse Boucher. C'est comme ça qu'on l'aura connue et c'est comme ça qu'on se rappellera d'elle », dit-il.
La chef du Parti québécois, Pauline Marois, a souligné que la politicienne était une femme de tête, mais aussi une femme de coeur. « C'était une figure marquante dans le monde municipal. Une femme entière et engagée qui avait mis tous ses talents au service de ses concitoyens », dit-elle.
Le chef de l'ADQ, Mario Dumont, s'est dit consterné par la nouvelle. Il retient surtout de la mairesse son authenticité. « Elle a été une personne vraie, une personne entière dans toutes ses convictions, dans tous ses combats, dans toutes ses fonctions. Une personne véritablement authentique », a-t-il mentionné.
La mairesse de Québec, décédée à l'âge de 70 ans, laisse dans le deuil son époux, Marc, et ses trois enfants, Bernard, Denis et France.
Lanaudière: Un dernier hommage à Roch LaSalle
2007-08-24 20:57:14
Environ 150 personnes assistent à une cérémonie à Crabtree en hommage à l'ex-député et ministre conservateur, mort en début de semaine à l'âge de 78 ans.
Environ 150 personnes ont assisté vendredi à une cérémonie en hommage à l'ex-député et ministre conservateur Roch LaSalle à Crabtree, dans Lanaudière. M. LaSalle est mort en début de semaine à l'âge de 78 ans.
Roch LaSalle a été élu pour la première fois à la Chambre des communes en 1968. Il a été élu à six reprises sur la scène fédérale, et a été ministre dans les gouvernements de Joe Clark et de Brian Mulroney.
En 1978, le député de la circonscription de Joliette s'était fait remarquer pour avoir traité le ministre des Finances de l'époque, Jean Chrétien, de menteur. Il avait été expulsé des Communes, ce qui est très rare.
Plus tard, il a été soupçonné d'avoir reçu des pots-de-vin et a fini par démissionner de son poste de ministre en 1987. Aucune accusation n'avait été retenue contre lui.
Sur la scène provinciale, il a été brièvement chef de l'Union nationale en 1980.
France: Raymond Barre n'est plus
2007-08-24 23:07:33
L'ancien premier ministre français est mort dans un hôpital parisien où il avait été admis le jour de son 83e anniversaire, le 12 avril dernier.
L'ancien premier ministre français Raymond Barre est mort dans la nuit de vendredi à samedi à l'hôpital du Val-de-Grâce, à Paris, où il avait été admis le 12 avril dernier, jour de son 83e annniversaire.
L'ancien maire de Lyon avait été hospitalisé après avoir été victime d'un malaise cardiaque au cours d'un séjour à Monaco pour donner une conférence sur la mondialisation financière. Il souffrait depuis plusieurs années de problèmes rénaux et cardiaques.
Né le 12 avril 1924 à Saint-Denis de la Réunion, cet agrégé d'économie est entré en politique en 1959. Il s'est illustré sur la scène européenne, notamment en participant activement à l'élaboration de la future union économique et monétaire.
Il a été premier ministre de Valéry Giscard d'Estaing de 1976 à 1981, mandat au cours duquel il a incarné la « politique de rigueur ».
En 1988, il se présente à l'élection présidentielle, mais il est battu au premier tour par François Mitterrand et Jacques Chirac.
Il est élu maire de Lyon en 1995. Six ans plus tard, il renonce à se représenter à la mairie de Lyon pour des raisons de santé. L'année suivante, il abandonne pour les mêmes raisons son poste de député du Rhône, une circonscription qu'il représentait depuis 1978.
ONCE MORE, NUMBERS GIVEN TO US WERE FOUND TO BE AT FAULT -
HERE ARE CORRECTIONS:
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# More flooding possible in soaked Midwest (AP)
# Iraq body count running at double pace (AP)
# Big Easy struggles 2 years after Katrina (AP)
# Florida Dems could lose say in 2008 race (AP)
AND CONFIRMATION:
As of 5:32 p.m. EDT
• Greece in state of emergency as fires kill 49
• Iraq body count running at double pace
• New Orleans still struggling two years after Katrina
• Florida Democrats could lose say in 2008 race
'08 campaign
• Martin Luther King Jr. monument criticized over artist
• Deadly bird flu found in southern German poultry farm
• Colorado woman crowned Miss Teen USA 2007
• MLB · NFL · NCAA Football · NBA · Soccer · NASCAR
THE ADDITION OF VIRTUALLY ALL MAJOR SPORTS
AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS NOTICE
SEEMS TO IMPLY THAT THE GAME OF LIFE AND DEATH ITSELF
IS BUT STATISTICS WORTHY
AS EVERY OTHER GAME THERE IS OUT THERE...
SURELY NOT INTENTIONAL...
....
12 killed in Kurdish-Turkish clash
ULUDERE, Turkey, Aug. 25 (UPI) --
Ten Kurdish guerrillas and two Turkish soldiers have been killed in skirmishes in Sinark near the border of Iraq, Press TV reported Saturday.
One Turkish soldier was wounded in the clashes, which have been taking place for the last three days on the southeastern Turkish province.
This latest burst of violence, which yielded the highest casualty count in a single fight in recent months, apparently erupted when the military attempted to prevent members of the northern Iraq-based Kurdistan Workers Party militia from crossing the border.
The rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party have been fighting for independence in southeast Turkey since 1984 and the conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead.
Turkey has threatened to invade northern Iraq to eradicate rebel bases if the United States or Iraqi forces do not crack down on the on the guerrilla group's activities.
During a visit by Iraq's prime minister to Ankara last week, Turkey and Iraq agreed to try to find and quash the rebels.
However, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the Iraqi parliament would have the final word on measures to stop the rebels' cross-border attacks into Turkey.
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© UPI, Headline News Powered by Bravenet.com
....
As of 9:20 p.m. EDT• Iraq body count running at double pace
• Wind-whipped fires in Greece kill 49
• Twin bombs kill 37 in southern India
• 2 dead in Canada hot air balloon fire
• Peru quake victims battle hunger, cold
• Israel thwarts Palestinian infiltration
• Climate change is a mixed bag for Inuit
Twin bombs kill 37 in southern India
By OMER FAROOQ, Associated Press Writer Sat Aug 25, 5:08 PM ET
HYDERABAD, India - A pair of bombings minutes apart tore through a popular family restaurant and an outdoor arena on Saturday night, killing at least 37 people in this southern Indian city plagued by Hindu-Muslim tensions.
The restaurant was destroyed by the bomb placed at the entrance. Blood-covered tin plates and broken glasses littered the road outside.
The other blast struck a laser show at an auditorium in Lumbini park, leaving pools of blood and dead bodies between rows of seats punctured by shrapnel. Some seats were hurled 100 feet away.
"We heard the blast and people started running out past us. Many of them had blood streaming off them," said P.K. Verghese, the security manager at the laser show. "It was complete chaos. We had to remove the security barriers so people could get out."
Most of the dead were killed in the Gokul Chat restaurant at Hyderabad's Kothi market, said K. Jana Reddy, the state home minister. Some 50 people were injured in the two blasts.
While Indian officials often blame Muslim militants for bomb attacks, there were no immediate accusations against Islamic groups in the blasts. The two spots are popular with both Hindus and Muslims.
Hindu-Muslim animosity runs deep in Hyderabad, where a bombing at a historic mosque killed 11 people in May. Another five people died in subsequent clashes between security forces and Muslim protesters angered by what they said was a lack of police protection.
Two other bombs were defused in the city Saturday, one under a footbridge in the busy Bilsukh Nagar commercial area, and another in a movie theater in the Narayanguba neighborhood, a police official said. Late-night movie showings were canceled across the city.
"This is a terrorist act," said Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the chief minister for Andhra Pradesh state, where Hyderabad is located.
Much of India's Hindu-Muslim animosity is rooted in disputes over the Himalayan territory of Kashmir, divided between India and mostly Muslim Pakistan but claimed in its entirety by both countries. More than a dozen Islamic insurgent groups are fighting for Kashmir's independence or its merger with Pakistan.
More than 80 percent of India's 1.1 billion people are Hindu and 13 percent are Muslim. But in Hyderabad, Muslims make up 40 percent of the population of 7 million.
There has been little progress in the investigation into the May mosque bombing. Underlying the divide, Muslim leaders have said they do not trust local police to handle the investigation into the attack.
A series of terrorist bombings have ripped across India in the past two years. In July 2006, bombs in seven Mumbai commuter trains killed more than 200 people, attacks blamed on Pakistan-based Muslim militants.
2 dead in Canada hot air balloon fire
By JEREMY HAINSWORTH, Associated Press Writer Sat Aug 25, 6:29 PM ET
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A hot air balloon burst into flames over western Canada, burning a woman and her adult daughter to death while their families looked on, officials said Saturday. Other passengers leaped to the ground, some with their clothes in flames, witnesses said.
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Eleven passengers were seriously injured when the balloon crashed Friday evening in a recreational vehicle park near the U.S border in Surrey, British Columbia, a suburb of Vancouver. There were 12 passengers and a pilot on board, police and witnesses said.
John Kageorge, who works for Fantasy Balloon Charters, said the fire started as the ballon was about to launch. Kageorge said three passangers did not get out of the basket before it became airborne.
"One person jumped from an unsafe distance, two stories in the air or more," said Kageorge. The mother and daughter did not jump, he said, although two of their family members made it out of the basket.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Roger Morrow confirmed the deaths and said relatives of the two passengers killed witnessed the fire.
"It's just tragic. They watched it unfold before their eyes," Morrow said of the family. "The fatalities suffered from burns."
The balloon caught fire as it prepared to launch, said Bill Yearwood, an investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
"The crew loaded 12 passengers and was preparing to launch when a fire erupted. The pilot asked the passengers to get out of the basket," he said. "The balloon was tethered at the time, but then broke and came loose," he added.
"They were all trying to get out."
After most of the passengers escaped, the balloon exploded in a fireball and shot up into the air. Shortly after, the burning balloon plunged to ground in the RV park, leaving a tail of thick black smoke in its wake.
"I can't tell you what exactly happened when the balloon was loosened from the tether," Yearwood said. "We will be talking to attending crew members and the pilot to find out."
He said the pilot was in stable condition.
"The thing went up about 400 feet in the air at which point it melted enough of the balloon — it collapsed," said Don Randall, a resident of the trailer park who took pictures of the scene. "The basket was basically a fireball. It just dropped like a stone," he added.
"I'm just thinking, 'Oh geez, I hope there's nobody in that thing. It's basically a burning death up there,'" he said.
Smoke could be seen billowing from the crash site from miles away.
Another resident, Karen Ashby, held back tears while she explained how she watched the coroner sift through the blackened wreckage.
"They found the bodies in here," Ashby said. "I watched them take them out."
The cause of the accident was not immediately known. Weather conditions were clear at the time of the sunset flight.
"People were screaming and trying to get out," Frank Hersey said Friday night near a grassy field where several of the injured were being attended to by ambulance crews.
Perry Kendall said he saw what looked like something out of a movie.
"It was horrifying," said a shaken Kendall. "Just looking at people screaming and jumping out of there. Some of them, I think, had fire on their clothes. It was just awful."
Witnesses also said propane tanks from the balloon shot off and landed on the Hazelmere RV park below, setting fire to three trailers and several vehicles. No one was reported hurt in those blazes.
"We're exceptionally lucky that nobody in any of these three trailers or in the vehicles that were destroyed were caught in them," Morrow said.
The hot-air balloon, operated by Fantasy Balloons Charters based in Langley, British Columbia, was one of several balloons in flight at the time. The balloon that burned, Kageorge said, was about nine stories high.
There was a similar accident earlier this month in the central Canadian province of Manitoba, Manitoba, where 12 people were injured.
____
Associated Press writers Rob Gillies and Charmaine Noronha in Toronto contributed to this report.
....
Filmmaker involved in fatal car accident
Sat Aug 25, 7:21 AM ET
LOS ANGELES - Oscar-nominated director John Singleton was driving a Lexus SUV when it struck and killed a jaywalker who stepped in front of the car, police said Friday.
Singleton, 39, immediately stopped his car and waited for police to arrive after the accident Thursday night in the city's Jefferson Park neighborhood, said Officer Jason Lee, a police spokesman.
"Mr. Singleton stopped and identified himself as required by law and was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol," Lee said. "He was questioned and released."
The woman was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead Friday morning, Lee said. She was identified as Constance Russell, 57, of Los Angeles.
Other details were not immediately released, and an after-hours call to Singleton's agent was not immediately returned.
Singleton, whose debut film, 1991's "Boyz N The Hood," earned him two Oscar nominations, has also directed "Poetic Justice," "Shaft," and "2 Fast 2 Furious." He was the producer of "Hustle & Flow," "Black Snake Moan" and the just-released "Illegal Tender."
For those who do not know him - Mr. Singleton is an African-American man in his prime - sort of a cross between Ving Rhames and Seal, with a little Michael Jordan thrown in there for good measure... Not that has anything to do with anything here; but since I cannot post pictures in the comments section...
Also, I needed to mention Mr. Singleton's race, creed and caliber to make the following statement:
considering that Mrs. Russell, 57 years of age, was D.O.A. - I guess that Mr. Singleton will never tackle a remake of D.M.D. now...
Ever.
D.M.D. = Driving Miss Daisy
....
'Most writers do that naturally, see that more lives are illuminated, try to understand what is not understood and see what hasn't been seen.'— Grace Paley
Writer and antiwar activist Grace Paley dies at 84
Last Updated: Thursday, August 23, 2007 | 12:05 PM ET
CBC Arts
Grace Paley, a U.S. poet and short story writer and a committed antiwar activist, has died after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 84.
Paley died Wednesday at her home in Thetford Hill, Vt., said her husband, playwright Robert Nichols.
Her three highly acclaimed collections of short stories, The Little Disturbances of Man (1959), Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1974) and Later the Same Day (1985) centred on a group of characters in her longtime home in Greenwich Village.
"I felt some of these stories, writing about women and writing about children, I had a reluctance to write for a while because it seemed to me it was not interesting," Paley said in a 1994 interview with the Associated Press.
Paley, who also wrote three collections of poetry, was not a prolific writer but carefully refined her work.
Each sentence was read aloud to achieve her easy, informal tone.
Her characters were often, like her, activists and people who engaged in long conversations about politics. The stories centred on marriages, friendships, political beliefs and motherhood.
"People talk of alienation and so forth," she said. "I don't feel that. I feel angry at certain things, but I don't feel alienated from it. I feel disgusted with it, or mad, but I don't feel I'm not in it."
Paley described herself as a "somewhat combative pacifist and co-operative anarchist" and she worked tirelessly in the feminist, antiwar and anti-nuclear movements.
She was a member of the War Resisters' League, Resist and Women's Pentagon Action and was one of the founders of the Greenwich Village Peace Center in 1961.
"I happened to like the '60s a lot. I thought great things were happening then and I was glad my children were part of that generation. As an older person in the peace movement, I learned a lot from it. I mean I learned a lot," Paley said.
She made a trip to visit Hanoi and was arrested in 1978 during an anti-nuclear protest on the White House lawn.
'Little hill of hope'
Every Saturday, she could be found passing out protest leaflets on a corner near her New York apartment.
"So, I don't know where things went wrong, except, whatever happens in society, the society corrupts, eats up and takes over," she said in reflection over that period.
"But at the same time there's always this really small little hill of hope that's right in the middle of this. You see people from that period doing wonderful things, all the things they meant to do."
Born Grace Goodside in New York in 1922, she was one of three children of Russian Jews.
Her immigrant parents, who had opposed the czar in Russia and were supporters of the New Deal, instilled their children with a passion for politics.
"I thought being Jewish meant you were a socialist," Paley said.
Community involvement
"Everyone on my block was a socialist or a communist…. People would have serious, insane arguments and it was nice. It makes you think the rest of the world is pretty bland."
She started writing poetry, worked as a typist and became involved in community affairs around Greenwich Village.
She had two children by her first husband, movie cameraman Jess Paley.
Paley began writing prose in the 1950s and many of her stories were rejected by magazines.
However, an editor at Doubleday learned of her work and her first collection, The Little Disturbances of Man: Stories of Men and Women at Love was published in 1959.
The collection was successful enough that Paley was able to get into teaching. She taught at Columbia and Syracuse universities and had a class in creative writing for 18 years at Sarah Lawrence College. She also was writer in residence at City College of New York.
Fellowship winner
Winner of a 1961 Guggenheim fellowship and the Edith Wharton Certificate of Merit, she also won an award from the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1970.
All three volumes of her short stories were gathered in her 1994 Collected Stories, nominated for a National Book Award. Her poetry collections include 16 Broadsides, Goldenrod and Leaning Forward.
She married Nichols in 1972 and they moved to Vermont, where they had often spent summers, in 1988.
She was named Vermont's poet laureate for 2003.
"Artists are known for challenging convention," said Gov. Jim Douglas at the time. "Great artists like Grace Paley do that and more."
Paley believed writers had a moral obligation to expose injustice.
"Whatever your calling is, whether it's as a plumber or an artist, you have to make sure there's a little more justice in the world when you leave it than when you found it," she said in a 1998 interview with Salon.
"Most writers do that naturally, see that more lives are illuminated, try to understand what is not understood and see what hasn't been seen."
....
ERRATUM
Sam Pollock, the architect of the Montreal Canadiens dynasty of the 1960s and 1970s, died Wednesday in Toronto. He was 81.
During Pollock's 14 years as general manager and vice-president of the Canadiens, beginning in 1964, the club won nine Stanley Cups.
While Red Auerbach's Boston Celtics won 8 World Titles - CONSECUTIVELY - and 10 in a span of 11 years. 13 in 16 years.
RIP RED
RIP SAM
I like Arnold better
But they can both R.I.P.
!!!
Death toll rises in Greek wildfires
Firefighters protect site of ancient Olympics
Last Updated: Sunday, August 26, 2007 | 9:41 PM ET
CBC News
The death toll from fires raging through parched forests and fields in Greece rose to 60 on Sunday as firefighters and helicopters doused ancient Olympia with water and foam to prevent wildfires from burning the 2,800-year-old ruins.
Farmers battle a fire Sunday in the village of Varvasena, 15 kilometres south of ancient Olympia and about 330 kilometres south of Athens.
(Petros Giannakouris/Associated Press)
The historic site of the first Olympic Games is located at the west end of the Peloponnese Peninsula, a region hardest hit by at least 170 fires that have been raging across Greece.
On Saturday, the government declared a countrywide state of emergency to help mobilize resources to fight the far-reaching blazes. Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis also declared three days of mourning for the victims.
More than a dozen villages in the western region of the peninsula have been evacuated in recent days. Hundreds of homes and some 70,000 hectares of land have so far been consumed by flames.
The front of one fire Sunday reached ancient Olympia in southern Greece, burning trees and shrubs just a few metres from the site's museum. Although the surrounding forest was burned, the ruins were said to be undamaged after helicopters and aircraft covered the site with water and foam.
Continue Article
Earlier Sunday, Culture Minister George Voulgarakis headed to the ancient site to co-ordinate efforts to save the antiquities, the ministry said.
Villagers watch the fire Sunday in Paleo Varvasena, about 18 kilometres south of ancient Olympia.
(Petros Giannakouris/Associated Press)
Church bells rang out in the nearby village of Kolyri as residents gathered their belongings and fled late Saturday. Villagers returned in the morning to find at least seven gutted houses in the country's worst wildfires in decades.
Fotis Hadzopoulos, a resident of the village, said the evacuation was chaotic.
"Children were crying, and their mothers were trying to comfort them," he told the Associated Press.
The worst fires were concentrated in the mountains of the Peloponnese Peninsula in southern Greece and on the island of Evia north of Athens.
However, new fires also broke out Sunday in the central region of Fthiotida, one of the few areas that had been unscathed, a fire department official said.
Arson has been blamed in several cases, and seven people have been detained. The government also offered a reward of up to $1.36 million US for anyone providing information that would lead to the arrest of an arsonist.
At least 12 countries were sending reinforcements, and six water-dropping planes from France and Italy joined firefighting operations Sunday.
The region around the town of Zaharo, south of Olympia, has been the hardest hit. A massive blaze broke out in the area on Friday and quickly engulfed villages, trapping dozens of people and killing at least 37.
With files from the Associated Press
....
B.C. wedding goes ahead despite deaths of 6 relatives
Reports indicate 2 victims from B.C., 2 from Toronto and 2 from California
Last Updated: Sunday, August 26, 2007 | 2:25 PM ET
CBC News
A grieving family from Abbotsford, B.C., went ahead with a wedding Sunday, two days after six of the bride's relatives were killed when a truck plowed through a traditional Indian wedding procession.
'We were just a little bit far away from the house and the man just gets the car and just zooms in top speed and crashes everybody.'—Yuvraj Boparai, 9
The victims were in a group of 30 people, mostly from the bride's family, who were marching down a dimly lit rural road just before 11 p.m. on Friday. The procession was hit from behind by a pickup truck, killing six and sending 17 others to hospital.
Abbotsford police said the road was dry at the time of the accident and have ruled out drugs or alcohol as causes. But Sgt. Amar Kingra said investigators are far from finished.
"We're looking into all of that and that's the responsibility of our detective section," Kingra said. "They're interviewing tens and tens of people. There could be a hundred people interviewed by the time we're done."
The CBC's Bob Nixon reported that tests are being conducted on the vehicle and police are investigating whether the driver, 71, may have fallen asleep at the wheel.
On Sunday, the family was trying to come to grips with the accident. Yuvraj Boparai, 9, one of the survivors, said his 12-year-old cousin was among those killed.
"We were just a little bit far away from the house and the man just gets the car and just zooms in top speed and crashes everybody," Yuvraj said.
An arrow painted on the road in Abbotsford indicates the position where a pickup truck hit and killed six people on Friday evening.
(Richard Lam/Canadian Press)
The dead include three males and three females, whose ages ranged from the pre-teen to the 50s. There are reports that two of the dead were from B.C., two from Toronto and two from California, but police have not publicly confirmed it nor have they released the victims' names.
The injured included two infants, according to police.
The wedding took place in nearby Mission. Between 200 and 300 relatives gathered for the event from across British Columbia, Ontario, California and the United Kingdom, down from the expected 500 guests, Nixon said.
Another blow to Indo-Canadian community
Abbotsford Coun. Moe Gill, who knew one of the victims, said the roadside incident was another blow to the city's Indo-Canadian community, which was sent reeling in March when three Indo-Canadian farm workers were killed in a van crash on Highway One in Abbotsford.
"Well, this is shocking, you know, because we just getting over the tragedy we had a little while ago on the freeway," Gill said.
He said the latest tragedy will affect a lot of people because so many Indo-Canadians in Abbotsford either work with or are related to each other.
....
Palestinian gunmen killed after scaling Gaza fence
Last Updated: Sunday, August 26, 2007 | 12:44 AM ET
CBC News
Israeli soldiers shot and killed two Palestinian militants Saturday who used a cover of heavy fog to scale a border wall and enter Israel, where they attacked an army base, military officials said.
It's the latest incident in a spate of violence that has left at least six Palestinians dead and several Israeli soldiers wounded in the past 24 hours.
Israeli military commanders said four Palestinians approached the wall at the Erez border crossing early Saturday morning. Two of the men used a rope and ladder to scale the divider, officials said.
"There was thick fog that enabled us to see only a few metres ahead," Col. Moni Katz said.
Israeli officials said the two Palestinians attacked an army post at the crossing and managed to get about 700 metres inside Israel before they were shot by soldiers. Two Israeli soldiers were lightly wounded in the clash, in which the Palestinians fired automatic weapons and threw grenades, reports said.
The army used a robotic crane to drag away the bodies of the Palestinians in case they were wearing explosives, Israeli officials said.
Three Palestinian groups — the Popular Resistance Committees, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades — claimed responsibility for the attack in a joint statement. The groups also issued a farewell video showing the men holding flags and reading from the Qur'an.
Violence in West Bank
The attack was one of the few times Palestinian militants have managed to infiltrate the heavily guarded border with Gaza. Tensions have been on the rise since rival Palestinian factions split control of the Palestinian Territories: Hamas seized power in Gaza, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party took control in the West Bank.
Later Saturday, Palestinian militants detonated a roadside bomb as an Israeli army vehicle patrolled near the border with Gaza, lightly wounding four Israeli soldiers. The armed wing of Hamas claimed responsibility.
In the West Bank, Israeli forces shot and killed two men in the Palestinian city of Jenin. Reports said at least one of the men was an Islamic Jihad gunman.
On Friday, an Israeli raid in search of militants in the West Bank village of Seida, near the city of Tulkarm, sparked a firefight that left two Palestinians dead, including a boy, 11, caught in the crossfire, Palestinian officials said. The boy, who lived in Israel, was visiting relatives, family members said.
Israeli military officials said the Palestinian gunmen opened fire on them.
With files from the Associated Press
Insurgent attacks kill 5 in Somalia
Last Updated: Sunday, August 26, 2007 | 10:47 PM ET
The Associated Press
Bombings and grenade attacks killed two schoolboys and three other people in Somalia's capital on Sunday, officials said. Nine people were wounded.
Police blamed Islamist insurgents for the attacks.
A Somali infant wounded in a grenade attack against security forces that killed five people is brought to Medina Hospital in Mogadishu on Sunday. (AP)
The two teenagers died in a blast in south Mogadishu near a school attended by hundreds of children, the school's director Mohamed Ahmed Farah said. Sunday is a school day in the majority Muslim Horn of Africa nation, where government troops and their Ethiopian allies are fighting Islamic insurgents who have vowed to conduct an Iraq-style insurgency after they were ousted by an Ethiopian-led invasion in December.
"They plant bombs among the civilians," police spokesman Col. Abdi Wahid said of the insurgents, calling the tactic "barbaric."
A man wounded in the blast died at a hospital.
A grenade attack on police officers killed a civilian and wounded four people, three of them police, in a northeastern neighbourhood of Mogadishu where the Islamists enjoy strong support, Wahid said.
Another grenade aimed at police near the city's main market killed one person and wounded five, police spokesman Col. Abdi Shino said. Police arrested eight people, mainly youths, at a nearby internet cafe in connection with the attack.
Human rights groups have accused all sides of regularly killing and injuring civilians. Thousands have been killed this year.
© The Canadian Press, 2007
....
Duchess of Cornwall bows out of Diana memorial service
Last Updated: Sunday, August 26, 2007 | 4:54 PM ET
The Associated Press
Following criticism that her attendance would be inappropriate, the wife of Prince Charles announced Sunday she will not attend a memorial service for Princess Diana this week.
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, had accepted an invitation from Charles and his sons, Princes William and Harry, to accompany them to the service Friday at the Guards' Chapel in London's Wellington Barracks.
Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, had accepted an invitation to the memorial service before deciding to decline.Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, had accepted an invitation to the memorial service before deciding to decline.
(Alastair Grant/Associated Press)
Some criticized the decision, since Camilla had an affair with Charles when he was still married to Diana.
"I'm very touched to have been invited by Prince William and Prince Harry to attend the thanksgiving service for their mother Diana, Princess of Wales," the duchess said in a statement.
"I accepted and wanted to support them. However, on reflection I believe my attendance could divert attention from the purpose of the occasion, which is to focus on the life and service of Diana.
"I'm grateful to my husband, William and Harry for supporting my decision."
Continue Article
Diana, known for her charity work and tabloid celebrity, died in a Paris car crash with her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, on Aug. 31, 1997.
Diana married heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles in 1981 in a ceremony at St. Paul's Cathedral televised around the world. They had two sons, William and Harry, but divorced in 1996 after admissions of adultery on both sides.
Friday's anniversary will be marked with a nationally televised memorial service and specially commissioned prayers.
© The Canadian Press, 2007
Well, that is all well and "good"... BUT...
Ten years ago, in that detestable month of August, at least two other kind souls departed - and I hear next to NOTHING AT ALL being planned to commemorate THAT!
Mother Teresa - all I heard, INSTEAD, about her, thanks to TIME MAGAZINE, was how her faith had wavered at times - correspondence she had kept with a certain party who did NOT keep his or her word and failed to destroy the letters, as had been requested by Mother Teresa herself...
More on that here.
And, not nearly as well-known in the world, but quite charitable in her own small way - Marie-Soleil Tougas...
She perished in August of 1997 too - in a senseless plane crash.
Her life was cut very short - shorter than Diana's.
All I saw of a semblance of commemoration in her case was an interview with her MOTHER in some trashy magazine that still sells somewhat (somehow) well in the area in which she used to live...
No biggie for Marie-Soleil.
At all.
No biggie for Mother Teresa -
a GREAT humanitarian -
instead, an attempt to diminish her...
And some special HUGE memorial service for DIANA...?
Gee - she was no queen!!!
And no saint either...
And in death, she is no prettier than anybody else!
In fact, in death, true beauty will prevail - and the resplendent ones will be the beautiful SOULS...
Never forget that, folks.
....
Elderly Sask. woman's death possibly caused by West Nile: officials
Last Updated: Friday, August 24, 2007 | 12:29 PM CT
CBC News
Saskatchewan health officials say the province may have its first death related to West Nile virus this year.
Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Ross Findlater and provincial entomologist Phil Curry held a news conference on Friday morning to discuss the death of an elderly woman, and the latest virus surveillance results.
The woman, from the Sun Country Health Region in the Weyburn area, was more than 80 years old and had other health issues, Findlater said.
Health officials could not confirm that the death was directly caused by West Nile, he said.
Provincial health officials also reported the highest numbers of West Nile virus since 2003, when 947 people tested positive and seven died.
So far this year, there are 339 suspected cases of the virus, a large jump from the 82 suspected cases reported last week.
Findlater said the jump was expected because the hot weather earlier this summer was ideal for the breeding of the culex tarsalis mosquito that carries the virus. Findlater also said some results were delayed because one test kit supplier was late with its deliveries.
The majority of the cases this year are in the Saskatoon and Regina Qu'Appelle health regions.
Seven people have experienced severe symptoms known as West Nile neurological syndrome.
According to the province's website on the virus, a person is classified as having the neurological syndrome if he or she experiences fever along with inflammation of the brain or spinal cord, or limb weakness or paralysis.
CBC.ca
Marisa Dragani reports for CBC-TV (Runs: 1:59)
Play: QuickTime »
Play: Real Media »
External Links
IN DEPTH: West Nile virus
Province of Saskatchewan West Nile information
(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - links will open in new window)
....
Elderly driver in Sikh wedding tragedy offers sympathy
Mon Aug 27, 9:26 PM
VANCOUVER (CBC) - The driver whose truck plowed into a pre-wedding procession on an Abbotsford, B.C., road last week says he's distraught that six people were killed, but said the incident wasn't his fault.
Bachitar Singh Brar, 71, also told Sher-e-Punjab Radio he feels for the families of the bride and groom, whose wedding day was ruined by the tragedy.
Three southern Ontario residents and two women from British Columbia were among the six killed in the incident on Friday. Nine of the 17 people injured remain in hospital Monday, but one of two injured infants has been released.
The dead and injured were part of a group of about 30 people taking part in a traditional Sikh pre-wedding celebration.
Brar, a farmer, told the radio station Monday he was driving up a slope on his way back from a blueberry cannery late Friday night and became confused when he saw lots of people on the road.
He said he couldn't brake in time. The next thing he knew, he said, people were lying on the ground.
Police have not released the names of the dead, but relatives have named most of them.
They are Damanpreet Singh Kang, 13 of Brampton, Ont., who had waited to celebrate his birthday in the Fraser Valley community; Toronto residents Rubel Gill, 21, and her brother, Bhupinder Singh Kaler, 25; Satwinder Mahil, of Abbotsford; Rupdaman Dhillon, of Dallas, Tex. Another woman from Abbotsford is also among the deceased.
Abbotsford police said the road was dry at the time of the accident, and investigators are examining the truck for mechanical failures.
"He's very co-operative. It's just one of those unfortunate incidents," Sgt. Amar Kingra told CBC News. "It's dark and there were people on part of the road at least, and some on the shoulder. [They were] in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"So far there is no indication that this person intended to hurt anyone ... there's absolutely no connection between the driver of the vehicle or any of the family members," Kingra said. Police have ruled out drugs or alcohol as the cause of the accident after questioning the driver.
Despite the tragedy, the wedding went ahead in Mission on Sunday, but only 200 to 300 of the expected 500 guests attended; the reception was cancelled.
The victims were mostly from the bride's family. They were marching down a dimly lit rural road just before 11 p.m. on Friday when they were struck.
(With files from the Canadian Press)
Actor Wilson asks to "heal" after suicide reports
Mon Aug 27, 4:56 PM
By Bob Tourtellotte
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oscar-nominated film star Owen Wilson, best known for comedies like "Wedding Crashers," sought time on Monday to "heal in private" after media reports claimed he was hospitalized for a suicide attempt.
"I respectfully ask that the media allow me to receive care and heal in private during this difficult time," Wilson, 38, said in a statement released to Reuters.
A fire department official in Santa Monica, California, a beachside community adjacent to Los Angeles, told Reuters that late on Sunday firemen and police officers went to Wilson's home and transported a person to a local hospital where he was treated. The official declined to name Wilson.
Various news reports said Wilson was transferred to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in the Beverly Hills area, but hospital officials declined to comment, citing confidentiality.
Celebrity magazine People reported Wilson's brother Luke, who is also an actor, and other family members were seen at Cedars Sinai.
U.S. tabloids Star magazine and National Enquirer cited unnamed sources as saying Wilson tried to commit suicide by cutting his wrist and taking drugs. Star said he was discovered by a family member, who called for help.
Wilson's spokeswoman, Ina Treciokas, declined to elaborate on the actor's statement or discuss his medical condition.
COMEDY ACTOR, SERIOUS WRITER
Wilson, with long blonde hair and a crooked nose, is known for playing charming rascals, mostly in comedies. In "Wedding Crashers," which grossed $285 million at global box offices, he and co-star Vince Vaughn portrayed two guys who show up uninvited at weddings in order to get dates.
The Texas-born actor recently starred in romantic comedy "You, Me and Dupree" playing a guy who moves into the home of his best friend and wreaks havoc on his friend's marriage.
Wilson also has a serious side as a co-writer with his long-time friend, director Wes Anderson. The two paired up for 1994's low-budget film "Bottle Rocket," about a trio of hapless friends who turn to crime only to find out it's not too cool.
Wilson and Anderson were nominated for a best original screenplay Oscar with 2002's offbeat comedy "The Royal Tenenbaums," about a dysfunctional family.
The actor stars in Anderson's new film, "The Darjeeling Limited," premiering at the Venice Film Festival next week.
Wilson's career has varied widely and included independent films and big-budget movies like "Starsky and Hutch," a remake of the 1970's TV show.
He also had a small role in recent hit "Night at the Museum" and was the voice of a car in animated "Cars."
(Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb)
Rising from the dead
Once effectively banned, the widely criticized Manhunt 2 video game is back on the shelves.
» Why?
"Manhunt 2" game approved for sale
Sun Aug 26, 6:51 PM
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - "Manhunt 2," a brutally violent video game that was effectively banned in the United States, has risen from the grave in a modified form and will go on sale for Halloween, its publisher said.
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Take-Two Interactive Software Inc said a new version of the game, which features an insane asylum escapee killing enemies in gruesome ways, had won a "Mature" rating from the U.S. Entertainment Software Ratings Board, meaning it is meant for players aged 17 and over.
The ratings board had previously slapped an "Adults Only" rating on the game. While its decisions carry no legal weight, Microsoft Corp, Sony Corp and Nintendo Co Ltd do not allow such titles on their game consoles.
It was the second bit of recent good news for Take-Two after the strong debut of its spooky underwater shooting game "BioShock," and the company's shares rose as much as 3.3 percent on Friday, when it announced the "Manhunt 2" news.
"Manhunt 2 is important to us, and we're glad it can finally be appreciated as a gaming experience," said Sam Houser, founder of Rockstar Games, the development team within Take-Two that created "Manhunt" and is behind other popular but controversial titles like "Grand Theft Auto" and "Bully."
"Manhunt 2 is a powerful piece of interactive story telling that is a unique video game experience. We think horror fans will love it," Houser said in a statement.
Censors in Britain and Ireland have also banned the game from being sold, but Take-Two did not say whether it had submitted the reworked game for review in those countries.
The restrictions on "Manhunt 2" sparked a debate in the video game industry about whether the rating system needed an overhaul. Several game critics who played review versions of the game said it was similar to extremely violent but popular horror movies such as "Saw."
Take-Two shares have been hammered in recent weeks after it delayed its most important game, the criminal adventure "Grand Theft Auto IV," from its original October launch date.
The stock was up 43 cents, or 3 percent, at $14.78 on Nasdaq at mid-afternoon on Friday. Over the past six months, the shares have shed more than 25 percent of their value.
"Manhunt 2" is far less important to Take-Two's bottom line than "GTA IV." Wedbush Morgan Securities had originally estimated that the game would account for about $40 million in revenue this year.
The game will be released on Sony's PlayStation 2 console and PSP handheld device as well as Nintendo's Wii.
Reuters/Nielsen
....
AP
Helmsley's Dog Gets $12 Million in Will
Wednesday August 29, 12:45 pm ET
Helmsley Dog Gets $12 Million, but Real Estate Billionaire Leaves Nothing to 2 Grandchildren
NEW YORK (AP) -- Leona Helmsley's dog will continue to live an opulent life, and then be buried alongside her in a mausoleum. But two of Helmsley's grandchildren got nothing from the late luxury hotelier and real estate billionaire's estate.
Helmsley left her beloved white Maltese, named Trouble, a $12 million trust fund, according to her will, which was made public Tuesday in surrogate court.
She also left millions for her brother, Alvin Rosenthal, who was named to care for Trouble in her absence, as well as two of four grandchildren from her late son Jay Panzirer -- so long as they visit their father's grave site once each calendar year.
Otherwise, she wrote, neither will get a penny of the $5 million she left for each.
Helmsley left nothing to two of Jay Panzirer's other children -- Craig and Meegan Panzirer -- for "reasons that are known to them," she wrote.
But no one made out better than Trouble, who once appeared in ads for the Helmsley Hotels, and lived up to her name by biting a housekeeper.
"I direct that when my dog, Trouble, dies, her remains shall be buried next to my remains in the Helmsley mausoleum," Helmsley wrote in her will.
The mausoleum, she ordered, must be "washed or steam-cleaned at least once a year." She left behind $3 million for the upkeep of her final resting place in Westchester County, where she is buried with her husband, Harry Helmsley.
She also left her chauffeur, Nicholas Celea, $100,000.
She ordered that cash from sales of the Helmsley's residences and belongings, reported to be worth billions, be sold and that the money be given to the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.
Her longtime spokesman, Howard Rubenstein, had no comment.
Helmsley died earlier this month at her Connecticut home. She became known as a symbol of 1980s greed and earned the nickname "the Queen of Mean" after her 1988 indictment and subsequent conviction for tax evasion. One employee had quoted her as snarling, "Only the little people pay taxes."
One almost wants to lament in song "OH, LEONA" at the sight of this - sung to the tune of "Ah, Leah" by that mostly unsung artist who hails from Pittsburgh...!
Whatsisname again...?!?
....
Jewell, falsely tied to '96 blast, dies
By HARRY R. WEBER, Associated Press Writer
Wed Aug 29, 7:26 PM ET
ATLANTA - Richard Jewell, the former security guard who was wrongly linked to the 1996 Olympic bombing and then waged a decade-long battle with news organizations to defend his reputation, died Wednesday.
He was 44.
Jewell was found dead in his west Georgia home. An autopsy was scheduled for Thursday.
"There's no suspicion whatsoever of any type of foul play. He had been at home sick since the end of February with kidney problems," said Meriwether County Coroner Johnny Worley.
Jewell was diagnosed with diabetes earlier this year and later had a few toes amputated. He had recently been on dialysis, the coroner said.
Lin Wood, Jewell's longtime attorney, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that he was "devastated" by the news. He described Jewell as "a dedicated public servant whose heroism the night of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing saved the lives of many people."
"He will be missed, but never forgotten," Wood said.
The Jewell episode led to soul-searching among news organizations about the use of unattributed or anonymously sourced information. His very name became shorthand for a person accused of wrongdoing in the media based on scanty information.
Jewell, who was working as a sheriff's deputy as recently as last year, was a security guard in 1996 at the Olympics in Atlanta. He was initially hailed as a hero for spotting a suspicious backpack in a park and moving people out of harm's way just before a bomb exploded during a concert.
The blast killed one and injured 111 others.
Three days after the bombing, an unattributed report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution described him as "the focus" of the investigation.
Other media, to varying degrees, also linked Jewell to the investigation and portrayed him as a loser and law-enforcement wannabe who may have planted the bomb so he would look like a hero when he discovered it later.
The AP, citing an anonymous federal law enforcement source, said after the Journal-Constitution report that Jewell was "a focus" of investigators, but that others had "not yet been ruled out as potential suspects."
Reporters camped outside Jewell's mother's apartment in the Atlanta area, and his life was dissected for weeks by the media. But he was never arrested or charged, although he was questioned and was a subject of search warrants.
Eighty-eight days after the initial news report, U.S. Attorney Kent Alexander issued a statement saying Jewell "is not a target" of the bombing investigation and that the "unusual and intense publicity" surrounding him was "neither designed nor desired by the FBI, and in fact interfered with the investigation."
In 1997, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno expressed regret over the leak regarding Jewell. "I'm very sorry it happened," she told reporters. "I think we owe him an apology."
Eventually, the bomber turned out to be anti-government extremist Eric Rudolph, who also planted three other bombs in the Atlanta area and in Birmingham, Ala. Those explosives killed a police officer, maimed a nurse and injured several other people.
Rudolph was captured after spending five years hiding out in the mountains of western North Carolina. He pleaded guilty to all four bombings in 2005 and is serving life in prison.
Jewell sued several media companies, including NBC, CNN and the New York Post, and settled for undisclosed amounts. According to Wood, Jewell also settled a lawsuit against Piedmont College, a former employer of his. That amount was also confidential.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution never settled a lawsuit Jewell filed against it. Wood said Wednesday that the case is set for trial in January.
"I expect to pursue it for Richard and his estate," Wood said. "But that is a decision for a less sad day."
A lawyer for the newspaper, Peter Canfield, has said that the newspaper stands by its coverage of Jewell. Publisher John Mellott declined to comment about the lawsuit on Wednesday but said that Jewell was a hero "as we all came to learn."
"The story of how Mr. Jewell moved from hero to suspect and back in the Olympic Park bombing investigation is one The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported fully even as it defended itself in a libel case brought by him," Mellott said.
Jewell, in an interview with AP last year around the 10th anniversary of the Olympic bombing, insisted the lawsuits were not about making money. He bought his mother a place to live and gave 73 percent of the settlement money to his attorneys and to the government in taxes. He said the cases were about ensuring the truth was told.
"I'm not rich by any means monetarily," he said at the time. "I'm rich because of my family. If I never get there, I don't care. I'm going to get my say in court."
Jewell told the AP last year that Rudolph's conviction helped clear his name, but he believed some people still remember him as a suspect rather than for the two days in which he was praised as a hero.
"For that two days, my mother had a great deal of pride in me — that I had done something good and that she was my mother, and that was taken away from her," Jewell said. "She'll never get that back, and there's no way I can give that back to her."
A year ago, Gov. Sonny Perdue commended Jewell at a bombing anniversary event. "This is what I think is the right thing to do," Perdue declared as he handed a certificate to Jewell.
Jewell said: "I never expected this day to ever happen. I'm just glad that it did."
Since the Olympics, Jewell worked in various law enforcement jobs, including as a police officer in Pendergrass, Ga., where his partner was fatally shot in 2004 during the pursuit of a suspect.
As recently as last year, Jewell was working as a sheriff's deputy in west Georgia. He also gave speeches to college journalism classes about his experience.
___
Associated Press Writer Greg Bluestein contributed to this story.
Jewell was a stereotypical "hard-luck, hard-working genuine good guy type of a bachelor" that never got any breaks - fell ill and died in the end - and the vain ladies all around never gave him a second thought...!
Especially not after he was very- nearly falsely accused...!
Now, Mr. Jewell will go to a place where they really shall appreciate his qualities and merit - a place where he truly will be treated like the jewel he was...
And is.
+++
Two Boston Firefighters Killed
Rooftop Air Conditioner Caves In
POSTED: 10:05 pm EDT August 29, 2007
UPDATED: 1:48 am EDT August 30, 2007
[NEWSVINE: Two Boston Firefighters Killed] [DELICIOUS: Two Boston Firefighters Killed] [DIGG: Two Boston Firefighters Killed] [FACEBOOK: Two Boston Firefighters Killed] [REDDIT: Two Boston Firefighters Killed] [RSS] [PRINT: Two Boston Firefighters Killed] [EMAIL: Two Boston Firefighters Killed]
BOSTON -- Two Boston firefighters were killed Wednesday night in a fire in West Roxbury.
The fire broke out just before 9 p.m. at the Tai Ho restaurant at 1727 Centre St. and quickly went to four alarms.
13 other firefigthers were injured fighting the blaze.
The firefighters were trapped when an air conditioning unit fell through the roof of the building. "They became trapped and became disoriented and could not find their way out," said Boston Fire Chief Kevin MacCurtain.
The injured firefighters were taken to several area hospitals including Falkner and Brigham and Women's.
Firefighters could be seen administering CPR as two were rushed into waiting ambulances.
The fire spread to a floral company and a pet grooming business. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino arrived at the fire scene after 10 p.m, but then left to go to Brigham and Women's Hospital.
NewsCenter 5 and TheBostonChannel.com will have more information as it becomes available.
Copyright 2007 by TheBostonChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
At least they were spared the bad news that the Red Sox, inexplicably, lost 4-3 to the damn Yankees on that very same night...
RIP - heroes
Speaking of sports though...
Thousands of fans pay homage to Sevilla defender Puerta
Wed Aug 29, 3:29 PM
SEVILLE, Spain (AFP) - Thousands of football fans gathered at Sevilla's stadium Wednesday to pay their last respects to defender Antonio Puerta, who died three days after suffering a heart attack during the club's opening match of the Spanish league on Saturday.
The body of the 22-year-old, who made his national team debut last season, was moved to the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium from the hospital where he died on Tuesday as supporters chanted: "Puerta, friend, Seville is with you".
Puerta was then cremated at a cemetery in Seville in southwestern Spain at 2pm (1200 GMT), reporters said at the scene.
Fans from both Sevilla and its cross-town rivals Real Betis left football scarves, candles and dozens of flower arrangements at the stadium while long lines formed to file past the player's coffin, which was draped in Sevilla's centenary flag.
At the coffin's side were the recent trophies which Puerta helped the club win, including last season's UEFA Cup.
Also mourning in Seville were Real Madrid chairman Ramon Calderon, who headed the club's delegation to Wednesday's ceremony alongside sporting director Pedja Mijatovic and top stars Raul and Guti.
Others present from the league champions were former Seville stars Sergio Ramos, Javier Saviola and Brazilian Julio Baptista.
The Sevilla squad went directly to the stadium after rushing back from Athens where they had been set to play a Champions League return leg against AEK Athens on Tuesday night.
UEFA postponed the encounter.
Accompanied by Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido and the club's coach Juande Ramos, the squad was greeted with applause on their arrival by some 20,000 supporters with cries of "Sevilla! Sevilla! Sevilla!".
The player's family, including his girlfirend Mar, who is seven months pregnant, held a silent vigil by the coffin.
The Champions League match has now been scheduled for Monday although the UEFA Cup champions' Super Cup match against Champions League winners AC Milan, scheduled for Friday, has been maintained.
Spain's sports newspapers also paid homage to Puerta.
"Antonio Puerta, the injustice of dying at the age of 22. Why?" wrote sports daily Marca in its headline while daily newspaper La Razon said: "The heart of football has stopped."
In an editorial, top-selling daily newspaper El Pais said Puerta's death had touched the public and "raised questions about the demands of professional sports."
Sevilla has scheduled four "high level" matches in just nine days, it said.
Puerta, who reportedly sparked interest from English Premiership sides Arsenal and Manchester United earlier this year, collapsed after half an hour of Sevilla's 4-1 win over Getafe.
He was able to walk to the dressing rooms where he collapsed a second time before being taken to hospital where he remained hooked up to a life support machine until he died.
Clubs continued to express their bewilderment, meanwhile, at what had happened.
Angel Torres, chairman of last weekend's rivals Getafe, said Puerta's death "is a blow for football and for sport," adding the pain of the affair was made all the harder as his own club was playing Sevilla when the player collapsed.
Torres spoke of the "immense grief" felt by Spain's sporting community and offered condolences to Puerta's family.
Spanish media quoted Liverpool's Spanish star Fernando Torres as saying on his website that: "Puerta's death leaves a vacuum which is impossible to fill. May he rest in peace."
Zambian player Nsofwa dies in training
By Ori Lewis
JERUSALEM, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Zambian striker Chaswe Nsofwa of Israeli second division side Hapoel Beer Sheva collapsed and died during a practice match in the southern desert city on Wednesday, ambulance staff said.
Nsofwa, 27, was pronounced dead at Beer Sheva's Soroka Hospital after resuscitation efforts on the pitch failed to revive him, the Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service said.
"We found the player lying on the ground unconscious as his friends tried to help him. He was in a state of clinical death," ambulance worker Carmel Cohen told Israel Radio.
Cohen added that despite efforts which lasted 40 minutes, the player was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Nsofwa, who was part of Zambia's African Cup of Nations squad in 2002, scored two goals for Hapoel in their 3-0 win over Hakoah Amidar/Ramat Gan at the weekend.
He is the second young footballer to die this week and the third to collapse while playing or training.
Spanish international wingback Antonio Puerta of Sevilla collapsed during the opening league match of the Spanish season against Getafe on Saturday and died on Tuesday following complications as a result of a heart attack.
On the same day that Puerta died, Leicester City defender Clive Clarke collapsed during the halftime break of his side's English League Cup match against Nottingham Forest and was rushed to hospital.
The match was abandoned at halftime but the latest diagnosis on the Irish international was that he should make a full recovery.
(Additional reporting by Corinne Heller)
Updated on Wednesday, Aug 29, 2007 3:58 pm, EDT
Boston knows all about losing a star athlete suddenly, in the prime of his career, to an unknown heart ailment...
Boston never forgets his own heroes.
Boston will never forget Reggie Lewis.
I am sure Spain and Zambia will honor their respective hero likewise.
+++
Miscellaneous
Foul Play News...
Man arrested in Kitsilano death
Wed Aug 29, 11:56 PM
VANCOUVER (CBC) - A 25-year-old Vancouver man has been arrested and is awaiting charges following the discovery of a woman's body in the city's Kitsilano neighbourhood early Monday.
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The arrest comes after police said they were called to an apartment building at 3:45 a.m. PT Monday following reports of a break-in, and discovered the body of a woman in a parking lot on the building's north side.
Police have scheduled a Thursday morning news conference about what Const. Tim Fanning of the Vancouver Police Department has described as a homicide investigation.
Police have yet to reveal the identity of the dead woman, whose body was found near the foot of the Burrard Street Bridge and the Molson Brewery.
Strip-mall car mishap kills boy
Last Updated: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 | 7:49 PM PT
CBC News
A six-year-old boy has died after being pinned between a car and a wall in a strip-mall parking lot in Langley, B.C.
Police said a woman in her 50s was trying to park her car in the strip mall when it jumped a curb.
A number of young boys were standing on the sidewalk and one was hit.
The boy was found pinned between the car and the wall when witnesses tried to help the woman move her vehicle.
He died en route to hospital, said Langley RCMP Const. Peter Thiessen, adding that speed and alcohol were not factors in the incident.
Police say three nurses saw the accident and a doctor from a nearby clinic rushed to help while they waited for an air ambulance.
The boy lived in a townhouse behind the strip mall, Thiessen said. Victim services are working with the boy's family and the driver.
....
Afghan Murder Mystery...?
Canadian military investigating soldier's death in secure military compound
Wed Aug 29, 1:47 PM
By Martin Ouellet
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - A member of the Canadian Forces has died from a gunshot wound inflicted inside a secure compound in Kabul, the Afghan capital.
A military statement said the soldier, serving at the headquarters of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, died shortly after 7:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday.
The victim had been found seriously injured in his room an hour earlier and doctors were unable to save him.
The soldier's name is being temporarily withheld at the family's request.
Few other details were available: the Canadian military has not released his age, hometown, rank, military base or regiment.
Military officials have ruled out enemy action, saying the shooting occurred within the NATO compound in Kabul.
"The investigation has just started and all possibilities will be considered," said Capt. Sylvain Chalifour, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Forces in Kandahar.
Investigators are looking at the possibility of suicide but aren't ruling out homicide or a firearms accident.
Seventy Canadian soldiers have now died in Afghanistan since 2002.
The toll includes an accidental shooting that claimed the life of a Canadian soldier in March this year at the NATO base at Kandahar Airfield. Another accidental discharge of a weapon killed a Canadian in August last year while troops were on patrol.
In 2004, a soldier apparently shot and injured himself but the military has not officially said whether it was a suicide attempt.
Most of Canada's 2,500 soldiers on the mission to Afghanistan are based in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan. Canada does have about 100 soldiers from various regiments in Kabul at the NATO headquarters, mostly doing administrative work and support for the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai.
Was it then...
a self-inflicted wound?
Depression can lead to such aberrations sometimes, yes...
....
Endangered condor dies of lead poisoning
Sat Aug 18, 5:40 AM ET
LOS ANGELES - An endangered California condor that was being treated at the Los Angeles Zoo for lead poisoning died this week, a conservation group reported.
Tests showed the bird had 10 times the safe amount of lead in its bloodstream after it was caught at Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge last month, according to Audubon California, an environmental and conservation group.
Only about 300 California condors remain in the world.
"Lead poisoning is a tremendous threat to these remarkable birds," said Glenn Olson, executive director of Audubon California.
Researchers believe the condor, North America's largest flying bird, may have ingested lead paint or soil contaminated with lead bullet fragments.
Scientists at the zoo were not able to determine the source of the bird's lead poisoning, said Dr. Janna Wynne, a veterinarian with the Los Angeles Zoo.
The California Fish and Game Commission is set later this month to consider a ban on lead ammunition for hunting in condor habitat.
+++
Report: Va. Tech could have saved lives
By KRISTEN GELINEAU, Associated Press Writer 48 minutes ago
RICHMOND, Va. - Virginia Tech officials could have saved lives if they had quickly warned the campus that two students had been shot to death and a killer was on the loose, a panel that investigated the attacks said Thursday.
Instead, it took administrators more than two hours to get out an e-mail warning students and staff to be cautious. The shooter had time to leave the dormitory where the first two victims were killed, mail a letter, and then enter a classroom building, chain the doors shut and kill 31 more people, including himself.
Even before the killings, the university had failed to properly care for the mentally troubled student gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, the panel found.
One victim's mother on Thursday urged Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to "show some leadership" and fire the university's president and campus police chief for their lack of action during the April 16 attack. Others demanded accountability for errors that were made.
Kaine, however, told The Associated Press the school's officials had suffered enough without losing their jobs.
"This is not something where the university officials, faculty, administrators have just been very blithe. There has been deep grieving about this, and it's torn the campus up," Kaine said. "If I thought firings would be the way to do that, then that would be what I would focus on."
Kaine said he wanted to focus instead on fixing the problem. After formally accepting the report, he said parents of troubled children who are starting college should alert university officials, and those officials should "pick up the phone and call the parent" if they become aware of unusual behavior.
"The information needs to flow both ways," the governor said.
An eight-member panel appointed by Kaine spent four months investigating the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history and issued its report late Wednesday.
"Warning the students, faculty and staff might have made a difference," the panel. "So the earlier and clearer the warning, the more chance an individual had of surviving."
The first victims were shot shortly after 7 a.m. It wasn't until 9:26 a.m. that the school sent an e-mail to students and faculty warning: "Shooting on campus. The university community is urged to be cautious and are asked to contact Virginia Tech Police if you observe anything suspicious or with information on the case." Cho opened fire inside Norris Hall about 20 minutes later.
Derek O'Dell, who was shot in the arm at Norris Hall, said he probably wouldn't have gone to class that morning if he knew there was a killer on the loose.
"I don't think anybody would have," he said.
"The alert should have been issued and classes should have been closed," the panel's chairman, Gerald Massengill, told the AP Thursday.
But the panel also concluded that a lockdown of the 131 buildings on campus would not have been feasible. And while the first message sent by the university could have gone out at least an hour earlier and been more specific, Cho likely still would have found more people to kill, it said.
"There does not seem to be a plausible scenario of a university response to the double homicide that could have prevented the tragedy of considerable magnitude on April 16," the report said. "Cho had started on a mission of fulfilling a fantasy of revenge."
The report detailed a breakdown in communication about the gunman, who had shown signs of mental health problems for years.
His middle school teachers had found signs of suicidal and homicidal thoughts in his writings after the Columbine High School shootings in 1999. He received psychiatric counseling and was on medication for a short time. In 2006, he wrote a paper for his Virginia Tech creative writing class about a young man who hates students at his school and plans to kill them and himself, the report said.
The university's counseling center failed to give Cho the support he needed despite the warnings, including his referral to the center in 2005 because of bizarre behavior and concerns he was suicidal, the panel said. It blamed a lack of resources, misinterpretation of privacy laws and passivity.
Individuals and departments at Virginia Tech were aware of incidents that suggested his mental instability, but "did not intervene effectively. No one knew all the information and no one connected all the dots," the report said.
The report said the response by university and Blacksburg police to the dormitory shootings was well coordinated, and said the police response at Norris Hall was "prompt and effective," as was triage and evacuation of the wounded. But it also noted university police may have erred in prematurely concluding that the first two shootings were the result of a domestic dispute.
"As you read the report, it's clear that so many of the mistakes that were made result from a failure of leadership at the very top levels of the university," said Cathy Read, stepmother of slain freshman Mary Karen Read
Celeste Peterson, whose freshman daughter Erin was killed, said the governor should act forcefully and fire university President Charles Steger and campus police Chief Wendell Flinchum.
"This is his opportunity to step up and do the right thing," she said Thursday. In Virginia, university presidents serve at the pleasure of the Board of Visitors, which is appointed by the governor. Campus police chiefs are accountable to the university president.
William O'Neil, father of slain graduate student Daniel O'Neil, called it outrageous that no one had been held accountable. "With the exception, of course, of Cho, no one from the university is held accountable," he said.
Diane Strollo, whose daughter Hilary was shot and survived, said she was thankful the panel recognized that an earlier warning could have derailed Cho's plans for Norris Hall.
"Had some or all of the student body been notified that 2 students were gunned down that morning, they may have had heightened sensitivity to the sound of gunshots and other suspicious activity," Strollo wrote in an e-mail to the AP. "One or two minutes of notice may have been critical in saving more lives in Norris Hall."
___
Associated Press writers Dena Potter, Bob Lewis and Vicki Smith contributed to this report.
___
On the Net:
For the full panel's report: click here
Well, quite frankly - I don't give a damn about all the student body being notified or not...
No one notified the condors that they were endangered and poisoned by lead either, so...
....
More than 1,800 Iraqis killed in August
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 54 minutes ago
BAGHDAD - Civilian deaths rose in August to their second-highest monthly level this year, according to figures compiled Saturday by The Associated Press. That raises questions about whether U.S. strategy is working days before Congress receives landmark reports that will decide the course of the war.
At least 81 American service members also died in Iraq during August — an increase of two over the previous month but well below the year's monthly high of 126 in May. American deaths surpassed the 80 mark during only two months of 2006.
U.S. military officials have insisted that the security plan launched early this year have brought a decrease in attacks on civilians and sectarian killings, especially in the Baghdad area, which was the focus of the new strategy.
The top American commander, Gen. David Petraeus, is expected to cite security improvements when he and Ambassador Ryan Crocker submit reports on progress toward stability and national reconciliation to Congress during the week of Sept. 10.
However, figures compiled by the AP from police reports nationwide show that at least 1,809 civilians were killed across the country last month compared with 1,760 in July. That brings to 27,564 the number of Iraqi civilians killed since AP began collecting data on April 28, 2005.
According to the AP count, civilian deaths reached a high point during the wave of sectarian bombings, kidnappings and killings at the end of last year — 2,172 in December and 1,967 in the previous month.
Crocker predicted Saturday there will be no "fundamental or quick change" in the American policy on Iraq and appealed for patience as Congress prepares to receive the reports.
Speaking in Arabic on Iraqi state television, he said the U.S. administration believes Iraqis have made tangible progress — which Congress has demanded as a condition for continued U.S. support.
"Since 2003, there has been a stable policy by the American administration and I don't think there will be a fundamental or quick change in the American policy or stand on Iraq," he said.
Crocker also said Iraqis "and the friends of Iraq" should show patience as the country grapples with its political and security crisis.
"After 35 years of injustice under Saddam Hussein, there are some problems since liberation and the problems of 40 years cannot be solved in a year or two. What is important is that there is progress," he said.
President Bush ordered nearly 30,000 additional troops to Iraq, and monthly death tolls began to decline after the new security plan was launched Feb. 14. But civilian death tolls have been creeping back toward levels approaching those during the worst of the sectarian slaughter.
AP figures show May was the deadliest month for Iraqi civilians this year, with 1,901 people killed in political or sectarian violence.
The August total included 520 people killed in quadruple suicide bombings on communities of Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking religious minority, near the Syrian border. The horrific attacks made Aug. 14 the deadliest day since the war began in March 2003.
Despite the high nationwide totals, Petraeus was quoted Friday as saying the troop increase has sharply reduced sectarian killings in Baghdad, which accounted for most of the deaths during the wave of Sunni-Shiite slaughter at the end of last year.
"If you look at Baghdad, which is hugely important because it is the center of everything in Iraq, you can see the density plot on ethno-sectarian deaths," Petraeus was quoted by The Australian newspaper.
"It's a bit macabre but some areas were literally on fire with hundreds of bodies every week and a total of 2,100 in the month of December '06, Iraq-wide. It is still much too high but we think in August in Baghdad it will be as little as one quarter of what it was," the newspaper quoted Petraeus as saying.
Petraeus gave no figures. An AP partial count of Baghdad deaths between Aug. 1 and Aug. 21 showed at least 508 civilians had been killed in the capital — compared with at least 1,772 civilians slain here during December.
Deaths went down in Baghdad during August in part due to a strict vehicle ban imposed on the city during a major Shiite religious ceremony. Violence dropped dramatically during the Aug. 8-12 ban.
Although American forces have been successful in curbing major suicide bombings, stopping small scale atrocities has proven more challenging.
On Saturday, gunmen stormed a house in the Dora district, seizing three women and a man. The gunmen killed two of the women about yards away and fled with the two other victims, a policeman said on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to release the information.
The U.S. command expressed hope Saturday that an order by powerful Shiite militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr stand down his Mahdi Army fighters for up to six months would curb attacks on civilians and allow American troops to step up the fight against al-Qaida.
"If implemented, al-Sadr's order holds the prospect of allowing coalition and Iraqi security forces to intensify their focus on al-Qaida in Iraq and on protecting the Iraqi population," the U.S. command said in a statement.
Sunni Arab leaders have accused the Mahdi Army for massacring thousands of Sunnis during the last three years and driving tens of thousands of others from their homes.
Many Shiites see the militia as their best protection against Sunni extremists, including al-Qaida, which have carried out similar attacks on Shiites.
However, Mahdi's credibility has been shaken by allegations of extortion, murder, robbery and other crimes committed by members who appear to be beyond the control of the youthful al-Sadr, who said he would use the six-month hiatus to restructure the force "in a way that helps honor the principles for which it was formed."
The U.S. maintains that some of the breakaway factions, which the Americans refer to as the "special groups," are receiving weapons, training and money from Iran, a charge the Iranians deny.
American troops have been stepping up operations against Shiite "special groups" in the Baghdad area, even though the command insists that al-Qaida, a Sunni group, remains the top priority in Iraq.
Leaflets scattered around Sadr City urged people to report on Shiite militants who are cooperating with the Iranians, providing a cell phone number and an e-mail address for people to make anonymous tips.
"The criminal Iraqis who work with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are toys under Persian control," read one of the leaflets, which pictured a puppet dancing on strings. "Iranian Revolutionary Guards are interfering in Iraq's affairs while Iraqis are dying."
_____
AP News Research Center in New York contributed to this report.
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Spiders to die off in the fall;
Mosquitoes dying by the millions meanwhile
I'd say it's the only win/win situation I have seen in a long, loooooong time around here...!
;)
Sprawling spider web fascinates, repels visitors to north Texas park
Thu Aug 30, 9:04 AM
WILLS POINT, Texas (AP) - Entomologists are debating the origin and rarity of a sprawling spider web that blankets several trees, shrubs and the ground along a 200-metre stretch of trail in a North Texas park.
Officials at Lake Tawakoni State Park say the massive mosquito trap is a big attraction for some visitors, while others won't go anywhere near it.
"At first, it was so white it looked like fairyland," said Donna Garde, superintendent of the park about 70 kilometres east of Dallas. "Now it's filled with so many mosquitoes that it's turned a little brown. There are times you can literally hear the screech of millions of mosquitoes caught in those webs."
Spider experts say the web may have been constructed by social cobweb spiders, which work together, or could be the result of a mass dispersal in which the arachnids spin webs to spread out from one another.
"I've been hearing from entomologists from Ohio, Kansas, British Columbia - all over the place," said Mike Quinn, an invertebrate biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department who first posted photos online.
Herbert (Joe) Pase, a Texas Forest Service entomologist, said the massive web is very unusual.
"From what I'm hearing it could be a once-in-a-lifetime event," he said.
But John Jackman, a professor and extension entomologist for Texas A&M University, said he hears reports of similar webs every couple of years.
"There are a lot of folks that don't realize spiders do that," said Jackman, author of "A Field Guide to the Spiders and Scorpions of Texas."
"Until we get some samples sent to us, we really won't know what species of spider we're talking about," Jackman said.
Garde invited the entomologists out to the park to get a first-hand look at the giant web.
"Somebody needs to come out that's an expert. I would love to see some entomology intern come out and study this," she said.
Park rangers said they expected the web to last until fall, when the spiders will start dying off.
....
Arachnids and Bugs I can do without and we all can do without - but I am sure you will agree that we must draw the line once the creatures harmed are man's best friends...
Two Dogs Killed at Sitter's Home
WTVD By Greg Barnes
(08/31/07 -- LEE COUNTY) -
A Lee County couple is in mourning after losing two dogs in a violent death.
abc11tv.com
Katherine and Darrin Alford loved their dogs as children. You can imagine the couple's horror when two days into their Las Vegas vacation, their pet sitter calls saying two of their five dogs are dead - killed by their own black lab.
"We are in the desert and she is screaming saying, 'Bitsy and Chess are dead, Ramsey killed them,'" Katherine described to Eyewitness News reporter Greg Barnes.
Alford raised Bitsy and Chess, two rat terriers, from birth. The real heartbreak unfolded when the Alford's raced home and tried to get some answers.
Katherine says they discovered the two small terriers, the chocolate lab and another dog had been locked in a bathroom with no water or food. She doesn't know for how long. Katherine says her brother and father-in-law cleaned up the bathroom before they got home.
A report by Lee County Animal Control officers states one of the smaller dogs may have been partially eaten based on pictures taken of the scene.
"I can't sleep at night because I am haunted by the thought of what they went through in that room it makes me sick!" Katherine said.
The Alford's says the pet sitter has gotten a lawyer and isn't talking to them. They say there is a painful lesson learned here one they hope other pet owner never have to endure. "The only thing I would say in the future is I would have a neighbor watch my house I would have a set call time. I would have an absolute schedule. You don't answer the phone, I'm calling the police," Katherine said.
Late Friday Lee County deputies confirmed to Eyewitness News the pet sitter, Summer Ann Roberson, was served with a criminal summons for animal cruelty.
A court hearing has been set for September 11.
....
Ok, I wasn't going to post it...
But I can't resist...
"Ramsey killed..." the silly sitter said... eh?
I thought I'd never hear that - but at last we have - or have we?
Of course, any more negligent than Summer Ann Roberson (what kind of a silly name is that - no wonder she has no common sense whatsoever; it's in her genes!) and we'd have a parent like... the Ramseys were!
I hope they throw the book at that little bitch!
....
Jogger killed in car crash named
BBC
The A30 in Basingstoke, where the accident happened
(picture NOT available)
Last Update:
Thursday
August 23rd, 2007
12:45 GMT - 13:45 UK
Police are appealing for witnesses to the crash to contact them
A 36-year-old jogger who died after she was hit by a car when she crossed a busy dual carriageway in Hampshire has been named as Trudi Fletcher.
She was struck by a silver Honda on the A30, near its junction with Beggarwood Lane, in Basingstoke on Monday evening.
Miss Fletcher, who lived locally, suffered severe head and spinal injuries and was taken to Southampton General Hospital, where she later died.
The 57-year-old driver was treated for shock, cuts to his hand and whiplash.
Miss Fletcher was a keen sportswoman and worked for a firm at Hook.
Hampshire police have appealed for witnesses to the crash, which happened at about 1800 BST, to contact them.
They are also asking anybody who saw the jogger or the car, which was travelling towards Hatchwarren, to come forward.
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