Friday, March 23, 2012

U.S. soldier charged with 17 murders in Afghan killings

U.S. soldier charged with 17 murders in Afghan killings


U.S. soldier charged with 17 murders in Afghan killings

Posted:

Handout photo of Staff Sgt. Robert Bales at Fort IrwinKABUL (Reuters) - A U.S. Army sergeant was formally charged with 17 counts of murder on Friday for killing eight adults and nine children in a pre-dawn shooting rampage in southern Afghanistan that further eroded U.S.-Afghan relations already frayed by a decade of war. Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, a decorated 38-year-old veteran of four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, also was charged with six counts each of assault and attempted murder for attacking two other adults and four children in the March 11 shooting spree, a U.S. armed forces statement said. ...


Obama gets personal over killing of black Florida teenager

Posted:

U.S. President Barack Obama returns to the White House in Washington, after a two-day trip promoting his energy policyWASHINGTON/SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - President Barack Obama weighed into the controversial killing of a black teenager in Florida in very personal terms on Friday, comparing the boy to a son he doesn't have and calling for American "soul searching" over how the incident occurred. Seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin, dressed in a "hoodie" hooded sweatshirt, was shot dead a month ago in Sanford, Florida by a 28-year-old white Hispanic neighborhood watch volunteer who said he was acting in self-defense. ...


Anti-Kony campaign in turmoil after filmmaker's meltdown

Posted:

Jason Russell, co-founder of non-profit Invisible Children and director of LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The public meltdown of the man behind the viral Kony 2012 video has thrown his campaign into turmoil even as the film succeeded in turning the world's attention to capturing an elusive and brutal Ugandan warlord. Jason Russell, whose 30-minute video sensation shone a spotlight on Joseph Kony's use of child soldiers in Uganda, was taken by police to a hospital last week after suffering what doctors described as a brief psychotic break. ...


Five people found slain in San Francisco home

Posted:

San Francisco medical examiner examines scene where five bodies were found at home near City College of San Francisco in San FranciscoSAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Five adults were found dead at a home in a quiet San Francisco neighborhood on Friday, at least two of them killed by gunshots, police said. Two of the dead were discovered by a relative who arrived the home shortly before 8 a.m. and found the bodies, San Francisco police spokesman Albie Esparza said. Officers called to the scene found three more bodies, he said. Authorities declined to provide details of the crime scene or speculate on a motive for the killings in an otherwise quiet neighborhood across the street from City College of San Francisco. ...


Opponents, supporters to face off outside high court healthcare hearings

Posted:

People wait in line days before to be guaranteed seats to watch arguments on President Obama's healthcare legislation before Supreme Court in WashingtonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A battle for American hearts and minds will rage outside the Supreme Court next week as justices inside hear arguments on President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law. An opposition rally, news conferences, squads of talk radio hosts, doctors in scrubs and Republican opponents by the busload will all be part of the furor surrounding proceedings on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The high-stakes hearings from Monday to Wednesday are the perfect stage for the law's opponents and supporters to put their cases before the U.S. ...


Attorney tells more Colorado medical pot centers to close

Posted:

Medical marijuana is shown in a jar at The Joint Cooperative in SeattleDENVER (Reuters) - Colorado's top federal prosecutor has ordered 25 medical marijuana shops located near schools to close in an escalating pot clampdown, as the state gears up for a battle at the ballot box over broader recreational use of the drug. Attorney John Walsh warned owners of the centers in letters that they have 45 days to shut down or "action will be taken to seize and forfeit their property," his office said on Friday. ...


Texas Rangers to serve up 2-foot-long hot dog

Posted:

The Texas Rangers introduced The Champion Dog, a 2-foot-long hot dog at the Rangers Ballpark in ArlingtonARLINGTON, Texas (Reuters) - As the Texas Rangers belt home runs this season, some fans may be loosening theirs. The team is introducing the Great Dane of hot dogs: a 2-foot-long beast that busts the scales at one pound. The Texas-sized dog is also topped with sautéed onions, shredded cheese, jalapenos and chili and served with a side of French fries. "That's the next ka-pow," Steve Peterson, the president of Fort Worth-based Classic Foods, said as he gestured to a sample of the hot dog. His company produced the meat. ...


Tornadoes cause one death, damage in half dozen states

Posted:

NOAA satellite image shows severe weather over the United StatesCHICAGO (Reuters) - Tornadoes touched down in a half-dozen states on Friday, killing one woman whose mobile home was flipped by a twister and causing damage to homes and businesses, authorities said. The 60-year-old woman died in Jefferson County, Illinois, when a suspected tornado flipped her mobile home and blew it across a road into a farm field, said county coroner Eddie Joe Marks. There was at least one other person injured in the county, located in the southern tip of Illinois. "A young boy had just stepped into his home when the storm hit. ...


Former Rutgers student: I did not cause gay roommate's suicide

Posted:

Dharun Ravi, a former Rutgers University student, looks back at family members at the Superior Court of New JerseyNEW YORK (Reuters) - Tyler Clementi's family renewed its praise on Friday for the hate crimes conviction of former Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi, speaking out a day after Ravi said he did not cause his gay roommate to commit suicide. Ravi, who was convicted of hate crimes for using a webcam to spy on Clementi's gay encounter in their freshman dormroom, told ABC's "20/20" his actions were "wrong" and "stupid. ...


Appeals court temporarily halts Alabama execution

Posted:

MOBILE, Alabama (Reuters) - Less than a week before he is scheduled to be put to death, an Alabama inmate has been granted his fifth stay of execution as a U.S. appeals court considers his objection to the state's lethal injection drug cocktail. An appeals court on Friday postponed the March 29 execution planned for Thomas Douglas "Tommy" Arthur while the full court considers whether Alabama's lethal injection protocol is constitutional. ...

Obama gets personal over killing of black Florida teenager

Posted:

U.S. President Barack Obama returns to the White House in Washington, after a two-day trip promoting his energy policyWASHINGTON/SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - President Barack Obama weighed into the controversial killing of a black teenager in Florida in very personal terms on Friday, comparing the boy to a son he doesn't have and calling for American "soul searching" over how the incident occurred. Seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin, dressed in a "hoodie" sweatshirt, was shot dead a month ago in Sanford, Florida by a 28-year-old white Hispanic neighborhood watch volunteer who said he was acting in self-defense. ...


Senate to take up Postal Service bill next week

Posted:

(Reuters) - Legislation to allow the struggling Postal Service to eventually end Saturday mail delivery is expected to be debated in the Senate next week. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is planning a procedural vote as early as Monday evening to begin debating a bipartisan bill that would allow the mail agency to shrink to five-day delivery after two years, according to congressional aides and a chamber schedule. ...

State regulators close two banks

Posted:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - State regulators on Friday closed two banks, one in Georgia and the other in Illinois, bringing the total number of bank failures in the U.S. this year to 15. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which was appointed receiver, said Covenant Bank & Trust of Rock Spring, Georgia, was closed on Friday. The bank's two branches will reopen on Monday as part of Stearns Bank NA, St. Cloud, Minn. Covenant Bank & Trust had about $95.7 million in total assets and $90.6 million in total deposits. ...

Lawmakers release $88.6 million in aid to Palestinians

Posted:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers on Friday released $88.6 million in development aid for the Palestinians that they had held up since last summer, a move that should help ease a fiscal crisis in the aid-dependent Palestinian economy. Representative Kay Granger announced she was ready for the entire $147 million in U.S. assistance that had been frozen since August to go to the Palestinians. But the other Republican who had a "hold" on the funds, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, limited the release to $88. ...

Detroit gets union deal, but state oversight looms

Posted:

DETROIT (Reuters) - Roughly half of Detroit's unionized public employees accepted pay cuts and other concessions designed to save the cash-strapped city $68 million a year, but it may not be enough to save Detroit from state oversight of its finances. The leaders of 30 unions, representing over 6,000 of the 12,600 municipal workers in Michigan's largest city, said their members voted to accept pay cuts, layoffs and changes to city pensions. But a spokesman for Governor Rick Snyder said the unions' actions did not go far enough. ...

Appeals court temporarily halts Alabama execution

Posted:

MOBILE, Alabama (Reuters) - Less than a week before he is scheduled to be put to death, an Alabama inmate has been granted his fifth stay of execution as an appeals court considers his objection to the state's lethal injection drug cocktail. An appeals court on Friday postponed the March 29 execution planned for Thomas Douglas "Tommy" Arthur while the full court considers whether Alabama's lethal injection protocol is constitutional. ...

Detroit mayor still in hospital as city financial deadline nears

Posted:

DETROIT (Reuters) - Detroit Mayor Dave Bing was diagnosed with inflammation of the intestine and will remain at a hospital for further observation, just days before the struggling city faces a key financial deadline, the mayor's office said in a statement on Friday. Monday is the deadline for a panel created by the state of Michigan to recommend what to do to fix Detroit's dire financial situation. The city and the state have been negotiating to try to stave off the appointment of an emergency manager for the nearly-bankrupt city. ...

Snakes, spiders, scorpions taken from New Mexico home

Posted:

SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - Animal control officials confiscated 31 venomous snakes, two tarantulas, two black widow spiders and about 10 scorpions from an Albuquerque apartment, an official involved with the collection said on Friday. Following an anonymous tip, animal welfare officials were called to the apartment on Thursday. ...

Defense asks for new jury in Philadelphia Archdiocese trial

Posted:

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Defense lawyers for the highest ranking church official to go on trial in the Catholic church's pedophilia scandal, charged with child endangerment, asked a judge on Friday to pick a new jury because a co-defendant pled guilty. Opening arguments in the trial of Monsignor William Lynn, 61, former secretary of the clergy under the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, were slated to begin on Monday. A jury has already been selected. Lynn was to go to trial with defrocked priest Edward Avery and Rev. ...

Woman says accused California serial killer raped her in 1961

Posted:

Joseph Naso is pictured in this undated booking photographSAN RAFAEL, California (Reuters) - A 74-year-old woman who says she was raped in California over 50 years ago by the man accused of the serial "Alphabet Murders" could become a key witness in his trial, but said police at the time treated her as if she were to blame. If the woman is called to testify in the trial of Joseph Naso, 78, who is accused of killing two Northern California prostitutes in the 1970s and two more in the 1990s, her testimony could help prosecutors show he has displayed a long pattern of sexual violence. ...


High school student sues after dispute over gay-friendly prom

Posted:

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A high school senior in suburban Atlanta who said he was removed from his student body president post for trying to make prom more inclusive for gay and lesbian students filed a federal lawsuit this week seeking to be reinstated. Reuben Lack, 18, said Alpharetta High School violated his First Amendment rights by ousting him after he introduced a resolution to change the name of "Prom King and Queen" to "Prom Court" to allow a same-sex couple to be elected. ...

Game show host Bob Barker pays elephants' airfare

Posted:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former "The Price is Right" host Bob Barker is spending $880,000 to fly three elephants to sunny California in style aboard a private cargo plane, he said on Friday. Barker agreed to foot the bill to move Thika, Iringa and Toka to PAWS Sanctuary in San Andreas, California from the Toronto Zoo after growing concerned that Canada's chilly climate was unsuitable for them. In the wild, elephants live in the warmer weather regions of Africa and the Indian subcontinent. ...

White supremacist runs for sheriff in Idaho, raising hackles

Posted:

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - White supremacist Shaun Patrick Winkler, a convicted batterer who once worked for an Aryan Nations leader, wants to add an unlikely notch to his spotty resume -- sheriff of Idaho's Bonner County. He is vying for the Republican nomination for the post in a three-way race that will culminate in a May 15 primary, and a local party leader has likened his prospects at victory to the chances of "hearing a dying calf in a windstorm. ...

Wisconsin town haunted by booms traces noise to small quakes

Posted:

(Reuters) - Geologists said small earthquakes may explain the mysterious booms, bangs and rumblings rattling residents of Clintonville, Wisconsin, who have flooded local police with hundreds of calls since early Monday. The loud bangs, shaking or rumbling noises touched off a broad investigation by the town 40 miles West of Green Bay into possible causes such as someone setting off explosives, issues with the sewers, or explosions at a local landfill, city officials said. Then the U.S. Geological Survey offered a possible explanation: a small earthquake registering magnitude 1. ...

Idaho state Senate panel nixes teen tan ban

Posted:

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - An Idaho Senate committee on Thursday nixed a measure that would have banned the use of tanning beds by teenagers amid worries about rising skin cancer rates. The bill, which was defeated by a 5-3 vote, came as lawmakers in Idaho and 16 other states consider following California's lead in putting new restrictions on teen tanning. California last year became the first state to ban tanning beds for anyone under the age of 18. Idaho's law would have outlawed tanning beds for teens and children, ages 15 and younger. ...

Honda recalls 1,300 CR-V SUVs in United States

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A 2006 Honda CR-V SE is seen in an undated handout photo(Reuters) - Honda Motor Co Ltd is recalling 1,316 CR-V sport utility vehicles in the United States for a potential welding problem that could lead to impaired vehicle handling, the Japanese automaker said on Friday. Honda said in a statement that an improper welding process used when manufacturing the right front lower control arm on the SUVs from model year 2006 might allow the part to break at the weld. Vehicle handling could be affected in that case, increasing the risk of a crash. No crashes or injuries have been reported related to this issue, Honda said. ...


White House confirms Obama, Pakistan prime minister to meet

Posted:

U.S. President Obama meets with Pakistan's Prime Minister Gilani at Blair House in WashingtonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will meet with Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on March 27 after a nuclear security summit in Seoul, the White House said on Friday. "The meeting will be an opportunity for the United States and Pakistan to continue high-level consultations on areas of mutual interest," the White House said in a statement, confirming an announcement by the prime minister's office. ...


Woman says Afghan shooting suspect was "obnoxious drunk"

Posted:

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A woman living near the U.S. base of a soldier accused of killing 17 Afghan civilians remembered him on Friday as an "obnoxious drunk" who pressed her hand into his crotch and picked a fight with her boyfriend. Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, 38, was charged on Friday with murdering 17 civilians and trying to kill six more on the night of March 11 near his army base in Afghanistan. His lawyer has admitted that Bales had had something to drink on that night but played it down as a factor. ...

Man lives to tell of Florida "Shoot First" horror

Posted:

MIAMI (Reuters) - On June 5, 2006, not long after Florida enacted the first "Stand Your Ground" law in the United States, unarmed Jason Rosenbloom was shot in the stomach and chest by his next-door neighbor after a shouting match over trash. Exactly what happened that day in Clearwater, Florida, is still open to dispute. Kenneth Allen, a retired police officer, said he shot Rosenbloom because he was trying to storm into his house. ...

Obama gets personal over killing of black Florida teenager

Posted:

U.S. President Barack Obama returns to the White House in Washington, after a two-day trip promoting his energy policyWASHINGTON/SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - President Barack Obama weighed into the controversial killing of a black teenager in Florida in very personal terms on Friday, comparing the boy to a son he doesn't have and calling for American "soul searching" over how the incident occurred. Seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin, dressed in a "hoodie" hooded sweatshirt, was shot dead a month ago in Sanford, Florida by a 28-year-old white Hispanic neighborhood watch volunteer who said he was acting in self-defense. ...


Attorney tells more Colorado medical pot centers to close

Posted:

Medical marijuana is shown in a jar at The Joint Cooperative in SeattleDENVER (Reuters) - Colorado's top federal prosecutor has ordered 25 medical marijuana shops located near schools to close in an escalating pot clampdown, as the state gears up for a battle at the ballot box over broader recreational use of the drug. Attorney John Walsh warned owners of the centers in letters that they have 45 days to shut down or "action will be taken to seize and forfeit their property," his office said on Friday. ...


Texas Rangers to serve up 2-foot-long hot dog

Posted:

The Texas Rangers introduced The Champion Dog, a 2-foot-long hot dog at the Rangers Ballpark in ArlingtonARLINGTON, Texas (Reuters) - As the Texas Rangers belt home runs this season, some fans may be loosening theirs. The team is introducing the Great Dane of hot dogs: a 2-foot-long beast that busts the scales at one pound. The Texas-sized dog is also topped with sautéed onions, shredded cheese, jalapenos and chili and served with a side of French fries. "That's the next ka-pow," Steve Peterson, the president of Fort Worth-based Classic Foods, said as he gestured to a sample of the hot dog. His company produced the meat. ...


Appeals court temporarily halts Alabama execution

Posted:

MOBILE, Alabama (Reuters) - Less than a week before he is scheduled to be put to death, an Alabama inmate has been granted his fifth stay of execution as a U.S. appeals court considers his objection to the state's lethal injection drug cocktail. An appeals court on Friday postponed the March 29 execution planned for Thomas Douglas "Tommy" Arthur while the full court considers whether Alabama's lethal injection protocol is constitutional. ...

Anti-Kony campaign in turmoil after filmmaker's meltdown

Posted:

Jason Russell, co-founder of non-profit Invisible Children and director of LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The public meltdown of the man behind the viral Kony 2012 video has thrown his campaign into turmoil even as the film succeeded in turning the world's attention to capturing an elusive and brutal Ugandan warlord. Jason Russell, whose 30-minute video sensation shone a spotlight on Joseph Kony's use of child soldiers in Uganda, was taken by police to a hospital last week after suffering what doctors described as a brief psychotic break. ...


State regulators close two banks

Posted:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - State regulators on Friday closed two banks, one in Georgia and the other in Illinois, bringing the total number of bank failures in the U.S. this year to 15. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which was appointed receiver, said Covenant Bank & Trust of Rock Spring, Georgia, was closed on Friday. The bank's two branches will reopen on Monday as part of Stearns Bank NA, St. Cloud, Minn. Covenant Bank & Trust had about $95.7 million in total assets and $90.6 million in total deposits. ...

Tornadoes cause one death, damage in half dozen states

Posted:

NOAA satellite image shows severe weather over the United StatesCHICAGO (Reuters) - Tornadoes touched down in a half-dozen states on Friday, killing one woman whose mobile home was flipped by a twister and causing damage to homes and businesses, authorities said. The 60-year-old woman died in Jefferson County, Illinois, when a suspected tornado flipped her mobile home and blew it across a road into a farm field, said county coroner Eddie Joe Marks. There was at least one other person injured in the county, located in the southern tip of Illinois. "A young boy had just stepped into his home when the storm hit. ...


Detroit gets union deal, but state oversight looms

Posted:

DETROIT (Reuters) - Roughly half of Detroit's unionized public employees accepted pay cuts and other concessions designed to save the cash-strapped city $68 million a year, but it may not be enough to save Detroit from state oversight of its finances. The leaders of 30 unions, representing over 6,000 of the 12,600 municipal workers in Michigan's largest city, said their members voted to accept pay cuts, layoffs and changes to city pensions. But a spokesman for Governor Rick Snyder said the unions' actions did not go far enough. ...

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