Last night, Orange County Police named the eight people who were the innocent victims killed during the Seal Beach massacre.
The eight people killed by Scott Dekraai in the crazed shooting at Salon Meritage were: Randy Fannin, the beauty salon owner, Victoria Buzzo, Lucia Kondas, Laura Elody, Christy Wilson, Michelle Fast, David Caouette and Michelle Fournier, the gunman ex-wife.
Scott Dekraai, ex-husband of one of the victims, Michelle Fournier, allegedly went on the shooting spree at Salon Meritage, after losing custody of his 7-year-old child.
Eight people were the innocent victims killed, during the Seal Beach massacre, by the crazed gunman Scott Dekraai
The gunfire happened Wednesday afternoon, the day after Scott Dekraai is said to have been served a restraining order by former wife Michelle Fournier after she won custody of their son Dominic.
Michelle Fournier, who claimed in court filings that Scott Dekraai was unstable and physically abusive to her when they were married, was murdered, along with salon owner Randy Fannin, newlywed Laura Elody and Michele Fast, a young mother to two teenage daughters.
Another man, David Caouette, was killed outside Salon Meritage by a shot to the head as he sat in his Land Rover.
Other two women, Victoria Buzzo and Christy Wilson, were murdered and another 73-year-old woman, Hattie Stretz, is in a serious condition in hospital. Hattie Stretz is the mother of Laura Elody.
His last victim was 65-year-old Lucia Kondas, who was the oldest person killed at the salon.
Wednesday event at Salon Meritage in Seal Beach was the deadliest mass killing in Orange County history.
After the terrifying shooting at Salon Meritage, Orange County authorities rushed to the scene and seized Scott Dekraai in a traffic stop half a mile away.
Scott Dekraai is said to have moved to Seal Beach in 2009, after he was honourably discharged from the military because of a work-related leg injury.
The gunman worked on tugboats after being discharged by the military and walked with a limp after a boat accident.
Scott Dekraai allegedly remarried Mindy Miguel, his rehab nurse, who is currently assisting detectives with their investigations.
Salon Meritage owner, Randy Fannin died in the shooting after he is said to have confronted Scott Dekraai.
One of Michelle Fournier’s best friends, Christy Wilson, who is married, also died in the shooting.
Christy Wilson was reportedly in court with Michelle Fournier on Tuesday to testify on her friend’s behalf during her custody case.
Mother-of-two, Victoria Buzzo, 54, was killed just a few months after the death of her father.
Seal Beach youth soccer team, Beach Futbol Club, sent out a message to its members announcing that Michelle Fast, who is a mother of one of the players, had died in the shooting at Salon Meritage. Michelle Fast has two teenage daughters.
“It is with great sadness that we write to let you know that one of the victims in the senseless Seal Beach tragedy was Michelle Fast, wife of Patrick Fast who manages our Girls U16 White team, and mother of Lisa Fast a player on that team. Please keep the Fast family in your prayers.”
The newlywed Laura Elody, 46, was also killed during massacre. Laura’s mother, Hattie Stretz, 73, was also shot in the salon and she is still in a critical condition at hospital.
Laura Elody is said to have been styling her elderly mother’s hair when she was killed.
Seal Beach, a quiet beachfront city of approximately 25,000 residents, identifies itself as the Gateway to Southern California’s Orange County and is located about 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Sandra Bullock is among its famous residents.
A computer error at the Tesco’s tills enabled surprised customers to pick up Terry’s Chocolate Orange for just 29p each – a tenth of their value.
Shoppers, who have taken advantage of the glitch at Tesco, filled their trolleys with boxes of Terry’s Chocolate Orange – advertised on TV by comedian Dawn French – and cleared entire stocks.
One shopper bought 192 packs of Terry’s Chocolate Orange, which normally has a retail price of £2.75, for just £57 – saving a staggering £471.
A shopper, who have took advantage of the glitch at Tesco, bought 176 boxes of Terry’s Chocolate Orange and posted the photo on internet
The rush started because two independent Tesco discounts were applied at the same time rather than consecutively:
1. Buy-one-get-one-free (BOGOF) offer is equal to £1.375 pounds per orange, half the £2.75 retail price.
2. £3.25 for every three you purchase (three for £5 when that many would normally cost £8.25).
So, if you buy six Terry’s Chocolate Orange, it would cost £16.50, less £6.50 (the three for £5 discount) and also less £8.25 for the BOGOF deal.
The total cost is therefore £1.75 for six packs of Terry’s Chocolate Orange – or just over 29p each.
The discount error is believed to have affected all main UK Tesco “Extra” supermarkets as well as their Metro stores – around 1,250 in all – but not the smaller Express outlets.
A spokesman for Tesco would not say how many Terry’s Chocolate Orange products were sold or how much it had cost the company.
Within hours, a Facebook page called “Terrys Chocolate orange glitch, I was there” has been created and flooded with people posting photos of their chocolate hordes as well as their receipts.
A Facebook page called “Terrys Chocolate orange glitch, I was there” has been created and flooded with people posting photos of their chocolate hordes as well as their receipts
In the same time, the glitch had been posted on a money-saving website and 57 pages of comments had been posted from excited shoppers.
It was reported that people visited five different stores after clearing each shops’ shelves to make the most of the deal.
They were able to combine a three-for-£5 deal on another Terry’s Chocolate Orange with BOGOF offer.
A Tesco receipt was posted on Facebook showing how the two offers were combined at the till and resulted in a massive discount
However, the tills applied a further discount only when Terry’s Chocolate Orange was bought in multiples of six.
That meant Terry’s Chocolate Orange, which usually sells for £2.75, was being sold for 10% of the original price.
The Terry’s Chocolate Orange’s deal was first posted on money saving website www.hotukdeals.com at about noon on Tuesday.
After few minutes, the shoppers posted photos of their receipts – the first showed £8.95 being spent just on Terry’s Chocolate Orange, with £73.15 being saved.
According to a spokeswoman for Tesco, the error only lasted only “a couple of hours”.
She added: “We deal with 35,000-40,000 products, so sometimes these things happen. We have made lots of people very happy.”
“We are putting steps in place to make sure that it does not happen again.”
Kraft Foods, the producer of Terry’s Chocolate Oranges, were unavailable for comment.
Mike Lazaridis, the founder and co-CEO of Research in Motion announced on Thursday that the BlackBerry service has been fully restored.
“All of the services are back up globally,” he said.
The announcement was made during a conference call on Thursday and came just hours after a downbeat video message – itself a rare appearance from Mike Lazaridis – appeared to say the exact opposite.
“I’d like to give you an estimated time of full recovery around the world, but I cannot do this with certainty at this time,” Mike Lazaridis said.
“For those of you affected I know this is very frustrating. We’re doing everything in our power to restore regular service levels and we’re working tirelessly to restore your trust in us.”
“I apologize for the outages this week. We’ve let many of you down.”
Research in Motion announced that the BlackBerry service has been fully restored today
Mike Lazaridis went on to say that service levels had been restored in many territories. His comments were mirrored by users around the world, as many reported today that emails were now working, and that BlackBerry Messenger was back online.
It was reported that users are now demanding compensation for three days cut off from BlackBerry services.
But, Research in Motion (RIM) – the company behind BlackBerry- has made no comment as to whether it might offer compensation to users.
RIM has faced widespread criticism for its handling of the crisis, in particular its infrequent communications with customers.
BlackBerry shares are still down on today’s trading.
RIM’s revenues have been in rapid decline from their $5.6 billion peak since February, when its shares were worth $70 a piece. They are now trading at just under $25. The company has lost nearly two thirds of its value in eight months.
Profits collapsed over the summer as RIM failed to produce new models, saw its tablet computer flop and generally lost out to the iPhone and Android mobiles.
Apologizing for interruptions and delays, RIM’s chief information officer Robin Bienfait said on the company’s website:
“You’ve depended on us for reliable, real-time communications, and right now we’re letting you down.
“We believe we understand why this happened and we are working to restore normal service levels in all markets as quickly as we can.”
In a later posting, RIM insisted there was “a significant increase in service levels” in Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa, and that service was “progressing well” in the US, Canada and Latin America, despite some continued delays.
It remains unclear how many of the 70 million BlackBerry subscribers have been affected by the outage, but many have vented their frustrations on Twitter.
BlackBerry outage started at around 11:00 a.m. on Monday.
Sony is recalling 1.6million of its Bravia LCD TVs worldwide after several serious malfunctions involving parts “melting” appeared on 2007 and 2008 sets.
It was reported that 11 incidents took place in Japan, but faulty parts may affect forty-inch LCD models sold “around the world”. 630,000 affected units have been sold in Europe.
“If you own one of these products and you notice any abnormality – unusual noise, unusual smell or smoking – please turn it off immediately and unplug the power cable,” Sony said.
“There have been no reports of injuries or of damage to anything other than the televisions,” said the company.
The TV sets were manufactured in 2007 and 2008 and were mostly sold in Europe and the United States, although some were also sold in Japan and other parts of the world.
Sony is recalling 1.6million of its Bravia LCD TVs worldwide after several serious malfunctions involving parts “melting” appeared on 2007 and 2008 sets
“You can find the model number of a Sony set on the back of the casing,” a spokesman for Sony said yesterday.
“It’s also available using your remote, in a process described on the Sony Europe website.”
“Sony is voluntarily initiating a free inspection, and if necessary a free repair to reassure you that these products meet your expectations,” Sony said yesterday.
“If you own one of the products mentioned above, we invite you to contact your nearest Service Centre to arrange an inspection of your TV. Sony’s service representative will visit to check your TV and will repair it as promptly as possible if it has the affected component.”
The sets at risk of being affected are all 40 inches LCDs manufactured in 2007 and 2008, although the TV’s may have been on sale until later.
The specific model numbers are: KDL-40D3400, KDL-40D3500, KDL-40D3550, KDL-40D3660, KDL-40V3000, KDL-40W3000, KDL-40X3000, KDL-40Z3000.
The user can find out the model number from the back of the set, or via the set-up menu on screen.
Whitney Houston, 48, was nearly ejected from the Delta Airlines flight in Atlanta after refusing to fasten her seatbelt despite being asked by a steward, celebrity website TMZ reported.
According to the celebrity website, another crew member came over and warned the famous singer that if she did not buckle up she would have to be kicked off.
Whitney Houston was nearly ejected from the Delta Airlines flight in Atlanta after refusing to fasten her seatbelt despite being asked by a steward
Whitney Houston eventually relented, although she left it to a steward to fasten her up, and the plane was then cleared for takeoff.
Sources close to Whitney Houston, who has previously been voted the greatest diva of all time, told TMZ that she “overreacted a little bit after missing an earlier flight but she’s still 100% sober and was on the way to Detroit for her first day of shooting a new movie”.
Whitney Houston has been struggling since 2009 to make a comeback after years away from the spotlight due to drug addiction.
According to some critics, the quality of her voice has been affected by the drug use.
In an interview on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Whitney Houston admitted she used to take cocaine with marijuana.
The singer also admitted her drug use became “heavy” after the 1992 film The Bodyguard.
Whitney Houston said: “You put your marijuana, you lace it, you roll it up and you smoke it… it’s like heroin and cocaine speedballing, but you level it off, with marijuana.”
She finally stopped drug use in 2006, when she checked into rehab with the support of her mother Cissy Houston and Clive.
Whitney Houston then found the courage to leave ex-husband Bobby Brown, with whom she shared a rocky relationship.
After that moment, she has struggled to thrill fans during her comeback Nothing But Love tour, and last year many fans demanded refunds after seeing her shows, claiming she was “wheezing” her way through songs.
Whitney Houston was forced to cancel her opening performance in Manchester after claiming she had caught a chest infection.
The singer subsequent appearances in UK, Birmingham and London, were heavily criticized with some fans demanding their money back.
Whitney Houston encountered the problems with the Australian and Asian legs of the tour, and she also came under fire for forgetting the words to her songs.
Whitney Houston has a long-lived reputation for being difficult, with her participation in Nelson Mandela’s 70th Birthday concert in 1988 overshadowed by complaints from disgruntled stars on the bill who accused her of behaving like a prima donna.
Thousands of iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users have encounter an error screen saying simply “Error 3200” or “Error 3002” as they tried to download the newly launched version of iPhone’s operating system, iOS 5, last night.
Scroll down for Error 3200 and Error 3002 solutions…
Yesterday launch of iOS 5, the iPhone operating system, a package of updates which adds BlackBerry-stye instant messaging to iPhone, among other things, became a disaster for Apple, as servers struggled to deal with the demand for the new software.
“Error 3200” that users have seen became a trending topic on Twitter, as they were confronted with the message repeatedly during iOS 5 download.
Many tech sites began to offer workarounds and complex “cheats” to help users deal with their frustration and get the software faster.
But many frustrated fans reported leaving their homes today without the new software. Other users reported that the download was extremely slow.
The free update is intended to bring (some) older iPhones into line with the functions offered by iPhone 4S.
But it seems that Apple was overwhelmed by demand.
As the iOs 5 software launched, many users complained of slow download speeds, with some asking plaintively: “Has anyone successfully downloaded iOS 5 yet?”
Not all users encountered the “Error 3200” message, but most found the process excruciating.
The iOS 5 free update is intended to bring (some) older iPhones into line with the functions offered by iPhone 4S
Questions about the “Error 3200” flooded Mac forums and social networks.
Somebody wrote on Twitter:
“Steve Jobs has only been gone a few days and we are already experiencing the start of the techpocalypse.”
The inability of Apple’s servers to deal with demand may have been due to the co-ordinating power of social networks, after “Downloading iOS 5” became a trending topic.
It’s traditional for geeks to be on the edge of their seats in advance of any new Apple software launch – but social networks may have ensured that a wider audience was aware the instant the new software was available.
Unlike BlackBerry’s high-profile collapse this week, “Error 3200” seems eminently curable – just keep trying.
Other glitches have been reported even once users install the iOS 5 software, such as the new music service iCloud refusing logins.
Internet exchanges showed a multi-gigabit-sized jump in demand that coincided with the launch of the new iOS 5, which is available as a free download via iTunes store. If the demand was caused entirely by users downloading iOS 5, it’s little wonder many were left frustrated.
Apple declined to comment this morning.
It’s not entirely clear what’s causing those errors, 3200 and 3002, but we’ve been provided with a solution that should work for both Mac and Windows users.
How to fix Error 3002 and Error 3200:
You will be restoring to iOS 5 rather than updating, meaning the device will be back to a fresh iOS installation. Be sure you have a backup of the iOS device before you proceed, so that you can then get all your apps and settings back.
Important: Before proceeding, be sure you have removed any blocks for gs.apple.com from your hosts file!
Be sure you have iTunes 10.5 installed
Download iOS 5 IPSW specific to your device, save it somewhere that is easy to find
Launch iTunes 10.5 and then…
Mac users: hold down the OPTION key then click on “Restore”, locate the aforementioned IPSW file
Windows users: hold down the SHIFT key and then click on “Restore”, point iTunes to the downloaded IPSW file
If your hardware gets totally boinked or if you’re then encountering Error 3194, you can also try putting the iPhone or iPad into DFU mode and restoring while in recovery.
Remember to check your hosts file too, if you blocked an Apple server or use Sauriks instead in the past for jailbreak purposes, that will cause issues now when you are updating to iOS 5.
Another common error is “An internal error has occurred” – this is an indication that Apple’s servers are swamped, so you may want to try again later.
Sara Leal, who allegedly slept with Ashton Kutcher on the eve of his sixth wedding anniversary to Demi Moore, spilled the secrets on her one-night stand with the actor and how they discussed the upcoming presidential election after hooking up.
Sara Leal, the 22-year-old administrative assistant said she met Ashton Kutcher while partying at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego and then retreated to his hotel room to have sex in the early hours of September 24, Us Weekly reported.
“[Kutcher] just came up and kissed me,”Sara Leal said.
“I didn’t think it was out of the ordinary,” she said.
“I wasn’t self-conscious about getting naked.”
“He lost his towel and I took my robe off.”
“Then we had sex,”Sara Leal said about their fling that Saturday.
“He was good … It wasn’t weird or perverted,” she added, describing him as “tender” in bed.
As the two-hour sex session ended, during pillow talk after hooking up, Sara Leal and Ashton Kutcher discussed religion, politics and the upcoming presidential election.
“He asked about my parents, if they were still together.”
“I told him my parents divorced when I was 6. He was like, <<Let me guess, you don’t believe in love>>. ”
As the two-hour sex session ended, during pillow talk after hooking up, Sara Leal and Ashton Kutcher discussed religion, politics and the upcoming presidential election
And just as they were ready to go at it again, Ashton Kutcher’s bodyguard, bizarrely dressed as a priest, confiscated Sara Leal’s cellphone and deleted texts about the evening she sent to friends.
It all began when Sara Leal and her friend, Marta Borzuchowski, were naked on Ashton Kutcher’s lap in a bubbling hot tub on the balcony of his luxurious Diamond Suite at San Diego’s Hard Rock Hotel on September 23.
At one point, Marta Borzuchowski asked him: “Aren’t you married?”
According to Sara Leal, Ashton Kutcher was quiet for a few seconds, then replied: “I’m separated.”
Then, they moved to his bedroom, where he tried to talk the girls into having three-way sex.
Ashton Kutcher had only a towel wrapped around his waist.
“Ashton and I started kissing and then he kissed my friend,” she said.
“He was rubbing my leg and he asked my friend, <<Would you be comfortable rubbing Sara’s leg?>>. And she was like, <<Yes>>. ”
Ashton asked if the girls had ever had a threesome. “I said no,” Sara Leal said.
Then she had to go to the toilet.
“I had to pee so I got up,” she said.
“I was so nervous. When I came back my friend was gone. He was like, <<Well she left. I told her if she was uncomfortable she could leave>>. He was lying down on the bed, so I just laid next to him. We started kissing again. He lost his towel. I took my robe off. Then we had sex.”
Sara Leal admitted Ashton Kutcher didn’t wear a condom.
“It kind of caught me off-guard, but we still did it,” she said.
Sara Leal had first noticed Ashton Kutcher early that night at Fluxx nightclub, in San Diego. She and some friends later made their way into a private party Ashton Kutcher arranged at his hotel suite.
When he saw Sara Leal in his room, Ashton Kutcher served her shots of booze and mixed her a vodka Sprite cocktail.
He put the moves on her soon after, suggesting she and Marta Borzuchowski join him in the hot tub.
“I started looking for towels,” said Sara Leal.
“He just came up and kissed me.”
After they had sex for the first time, the two made small talk, discussing where she grew up and when her birthday was. She also told him that she was religious – a Lutheran from Texas.
“He said, <<Oh, my gosh, are you a Republican?>>. I was like, <<What, do you like Obama?>>. He said <<Yeah>>, and asked if I could name any up-and-coming candidates. I said Rick Perry.”
Then they had sex again.
“He was like, <<I enjoy things like this because I’m an actor 90 percent of the time and it’s fake. It’s nice to have moments that are real. I’m here now and you’re here now, enjoying it>>,” Sara Leal said.
Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore have not commented on Sara Leal’s claims but sources say they are headed for a $290 million divorce.
Helen Tamaki is the second person who died from injuries suffered in the crash of a helicopter that plunged into the East River off of Midtown Manhattan with five people onboard last Tuesday.
On October 4, Sonia Marra had organized the doomed flight over Manhattan’s skyline to celebrate her 40th birthday with her parents, who now live in Portugal, and her partner, Helen Tamaki.
Helen Tamaki, 43, who lived in Australia, had been hospitalized in critical condition since being pulled from the water unconscious minutes after the helicopter crashed just after liftoff.
Sonia Marra, the British tourist who was celebrating her 40th birthday, was trapped in the helicopter when it sank and she died at the scene.
Helen Tamaki died one week later, on Tuesday evening, according to officials at New York’s Bellevue Hospital.
Helen Tamaki is the second woman who dies from East River helicopter crash
Harriet Nicholson, Sonia Marra’s mother, remains hospitalized, according to local media reports; Sonia Marra’s stepfather, Paul Nicholson and Paul Dudley, the helicopter pilot, who is a family friend, escaped with minor injuries.
The pilot was treated at the scene.
Eyewitnesses said the helicopter was not equipped with floats and was upside down in the water as rescuers arrived.
The cause of the helicopter crash remains under investigation.
According to eye-witnesses, the chopper spun wildly and barely got off the ground before landing upside-down in the river off a helipad on the river’s edge, on East 34th Street in Manhattan.
The veteran pilot, Paul Dudley, has told the National Transportation Safety Board that the helicopter’s nose swung to the left as he lifted off and that he was unable to regain control as he tried to steer the aircraft back to the heliport.
According to the investigators’ preliminary report, the Bell 206 helicopter had just undergone an annual inspection, during which mechanics disassemble much of the aircraft to check for rust and corrosion. A final report is expected within months.
Apple launched its latest top class operating system, iOS5, on Wednesday afternoon.
iOS 5 includes over 200 features like iTunes and iCloud. The iMessage service let iPhone users send messages with text, photos and video to other iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch users free of charge.
“There’s a big potential issue here,” said Craig Moffett, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. “The wireless industry makes most of its money from high-priced but low-bandwidth services like voice and text.”
Every year, more than 2 trillion text messages are sent over cellular networks in the U.S. alone. At the moment, wireless carriers charge about 20 cents for sending and then another 20 cents for getting the messages.
Texting is hugely lucrative for the wireless industry. It generated about $21 billion in revenue last year and is estimated to grow to $23 billion this year, according to the Consumer Federation of America.
iMessage uses the carrier’s data network or the Internet via a Wi-Fi connection to transmit the text like email. When users send a text to a friend with iMessage turned on, it shows up as a blue chat bubble and doesn’t count as a text message in their phone plan. Texting someone with an Android or other non-Apple phone will count as a text message and show up as a green chat bubble.
One of the nice features of iMessage is it allows you to set it up with the same email address on multiple devices. You can begin a conversation with someone on your iPhone while you’re out and about, then pick up at exactly the same spot when you get home and use your iPad. Texting takes place virtually instantaneously; I had the above conversation with a TUAW staffer on the other side of the planet, and it was as seamless as you’d expect from a modern IM app.
Research in Motion’s (RIM) BlackBerry Messenger is losing credit because of the latest issues expericend throughout the world. The iMessage service will give them a really hard time.
BlackBerry users express more and more the desire of switching to a better service like Apple. The failure of BlackBerry’s service happened at a really bad time. Apple is getting more and more attention from the Tech consumers.
iMessage can send messages to any device that’s running iOS 5. The iPhone remains the only iOS device capable of sending text messages to non-iOS devices.Since there are still so many to non-iOS devices, it doesn’t necessarily mean that iMessage is going to “kill” SMS texting. However, if everyone in your circle of friends has a device running iOS 5, iMessage could very well obviate the need for an unlimited texting plan on your iPhone.
Eight people have been killed Wednesday afternoon by a gunman at Salon Meritage in Seal Beach, California.
The gunman, Scott Dekraai, apparently enraged over a custody dispute walked into a crowded Seal Beach hair salon where his ex-wife worked and opened fire, killing eight people and critically wounding another person in the deadliest shooting in Orange County history.
The 41-year-old gunman is said to have shot a total of nine hairdressers and customers at Salon Meritage, a beauty salon just blocks from the Pacific Ocean in the upscale seaside resort of Seal Beach.
A 41-year-old gunman is said to have shot a total of nine hairdressers and customers at Salon Meritage, a beauty salon just blocks from the Pacific Ocean in the upscale seaside resort of Seal Beach
According to authorities, the attacker stormed in the salon at 1:30 p.m. and sprayed with gunfire as victims fell to the floor and those who could escape ran onto the street or hid in neighboring businesses in the bustling area of trendy restaurants and shops along Pacific Coast Highway.
Scott Dekraai continued firing outside, where he shot one man who apparently tried to flee in a Range Rover.
Six people were pronounced dead at the scene. Three others, including a 73-year-old woman, were initially rushed to the trauma center at Long Beach Memorial Hospital in critical condition, where two of them died later. One of the shooting victims is thought to be Salon Meritage owner, Randy Fannin, and the other one is Scott Dekraai’s ex-wife, Michelle Fournier. All the victims were adults.
The gunman, who used to work in the military, had allegedly threatened violence after losing the custody of his and Michelle Fournier 7-year-old son, Dominic.
Scott Dakraai was arrested about half a mile away and was the sole suspect in the rampage, according to police
An officer saw the suspect leaving the area as police responded to reports of the gunfire. Scott Dakraai was arrested about half a mile away and was the sole suspect in the rampage, according to police.
Scott Dakraai, a Huntington Beach resident, was thought to have been wearing body armor during the attack.
When officers raided his car they found multiple weapons, police said.
The shooter didn’t offer any resistance when he was arrested.
Sergeant Steve Bowles of Seal Beach Police said: “We believe he is the only shooter. He was taken into custody without injury.”
The Wednesday rampage stunned the normally placid Seal Beach community. Just one homicide had been reported in the city in the last five years, according to authorities.
“A crime of this magnitude is not something Seal Beach is familiar with,” Sergeant Steve Bowles said. “This could be one of our greatest tragedies.”
Salon Meritage was cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape
According to Mary Hearn, spokeswoman for Los Angeles County Superior Court, Scott Dekraai initiated a divorce case in 2007 against Michelle Fournier, whose last name was then Dekraai. A judge ruled that all contact between the couple had to be via text or email, except for a 10-minute phone call once a week to discuss their child’s education and well-being.
At the time of the court dispute it appeared that Scott Dekraai was awarded custody and Michelle Fournier had to comply with several conditions to see the child, such as to not consume alcohol 24 hours before visiting. Last year, the case was transferred to Orange County Superior Court at Scott Dekraai’s request, according to spokeswoman.
A local man named Bill Horton said: “[It was a] custody battle for seven-year-old son. Ex-Husband lost court case yesterday. Apparently he had been making threats of violence.”
One of Michelle Fournier neighbor’s told KTLA she took out a restraining order against her former husband on Tuesday.
Scott Dekraai is said to have moved to the area in 2009 after being honorably discharged from the military because of a work-related leg injury. He allegedly remarried Mindy Miguel, his rehab nurse. Mindy is currently assisting detectives with their investigations, according to neighbors.
Outside the salon, which was cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape, witnesses described a chaotic scene in which multiple rounds were fired inside the business and in the parking lot. Kimberly Criswell, who owns a neighboring salon, said at least two shots were fired in front of her business as the attacker shot at the man in the Range Rover.
Police confirmed that one of the victims is male and some of those inside managed to escape without harm.
The quiet Seal Beach has approximately 25,000 residents and identifies itself as the Gateway to Southern California’s Orange County and is located about 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Sandra Bullock is among its famous residents.
A $45 million Atlanta mansion – Forsyth County estate Le Rêve – was foreclosed and then sold at a massive 75% drop at only $11.5 million.
Forsyth County estate Le Rêve (“The Dream” in French) was foreclosed at the end of 2010 after taking three years to build with no expense spared by Hubert and Norma Humphrey.
The impressive mansion, which has its own private 18-hole golf course, now has a new owner, who bought it for almost $34million less than the asking price.
WSBTV reported Le Rêve (The Dream) estate features seven bedrooms, nine full baths, 11 half baths, ten fireplaces and two elevators.
The $45 million Atlanta mansion - Forsyth County estate Le Rêve - was foreclosed and then sold at only $11.5 million
Besides the private 18-hole golf course, the expensive mansion features other sports courts, stables, a camping area, bowling alley, home theatre, fifties diner, an exercise facility, a massage room and a pool. Le Rêve property is gated and entirely monitored by security cameras.
Troy Stowe, a real estate agent described the property:
“One of the largest challenges of selling Le Rêve was it sat on 72 acres, it was 47,000 square feet and just trying to find someone (who) wants to take on (what) I kind of call the big dragon.
“If you’re not used to maintaining and caring for a property like that, it is a challenge.
“I was told that in that one room, there are 27 seats and there was over $1 million spent in the home theatre.”
Immediately after foreclosure, the mansion was originally listed for $45 million. Then the bank took possession of the property and its price was dropped to $28 million. The Forsyth County estate Le Rêve price was dropped down to $16 million before the $11.5 million offer was accepted.
Troy Stowe said: “Ultimately, if you get a $50 million house for $11.5 (million), at some point, when the money lined properly with what the property offers, (a buyer) just came onboard.”
According to Zillow, the online real estate database, Hubert Humphrey started life as a railroad brakeman and conductor who later enjoyed entrepreneurial success.
Hubert Humphrey sold insurance for A.L. Williams, where he earned record sales, then launched his own company, Humphrey Worldwide Network, before selling it to Primerica, which is now part of CitiGroup.
The entrepreneur then formed World Marketing Alliance, followed by the World Leadership Group, a marketing, financial services and mortgage company based in Atlanta.
Hubert Humphrey started building Le Rêve mansion in 2005 on the 72-acre property.
Asked about the identity of the new Le Rêve owner, Troy Stowe said he cannot give anything away:
“Everybody wants to know who bought it. And I did sign a confidentiality agreement, but I just tell them it’s normal folks, husband and wife living at the property.”
FBI arrested Christopher Chaney from Florida after he had allegedly accessed Scarlett Johansson and other 50 celebrities’ phones and email accounts.
Several n**e photos of Scarlett Johansson appeared on an Internet site earlier this year and TMZ.com reported that hackers stole them from her cellular phone.
Christopher Chaney, 35, from Jacksonville was arrested this morning on charges that stem from a year-long probe known as Operation Hackerazzi.
Christopher Chaney was charged with hacking into the emails of Christina Aguilera, Scarlett Johansson, Renee Olstead and Mila Kunis in a computer invasion scheme that targeted Hollywood celebrities, federal authorities said Wednesday.
Christopher Chaney is expected to appear in a Florida courtroom later Wednesday and charged with 26 counts of identity theft, unauthorized access to a protected computer and wiretapping.
Christopher Chaney was arrested this morning on charges that stem from a year-long probe known as Operation Hackerazzi
If convicted, Christopher Chaney faces up to 121 years in prison. It wasn’t immediately known if he had retained an attorney.
According to authorities Christopher Chaney was responsible for stealing nude photos taken by Scarlett Johansson herself and were later posted on the Internet. Steven Martinez, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles office said the hacker offered some material to celebrity blog sites but there is no evidence that he profited from his scheme.
“Celebrity information is highly marketable,” said Steven Martinez, who added LA office continues to receive complaints about celebrities having their personal information breached.
Many of them were named only by initials as only those who were named as victims in the indictment agreed to have the identities made public.
“It helps get out the message that cyber-hacking is a real threat,” said U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte, who called those who engage in such activity as “scum”.
Christopher Chaney hacked Google, Apple and Yahoo email accounts beginning November 2010 through February 2011, then hijacked the forwarding feature so that a copy of every email received was sent, “virtually instantaneously”, to an email account he controlled.
Christopher Chaney allegedly used the hacker names “trainreqsuckswhat”, “anonygrrl” and “jaxjaguars911” and also used the victims’ identities to illegally access and control computers.
The hacker is accused of damaging email servers that caused losses of at least $5,000 per instance.
Authorities wouldn’t say whether Christopher Chaney was able to access email accounts via cell phones, but he was able to figure out secure passwords to various celebrity accounts through information that had been made public.
A hacking group has claimed responsibility for allegedly accessing Scarlett Johansson’s phone however this has not been verified.
Scarlett Johansson’s or other celebrity’s representatives did not comment on the news until now.
A weekly intake of a minimum 45 grams (1.6 ounces) of chocolate containing at least 30% of cocoa, or dark chocolate, is linked to a lower stroke incidence in women, showed a study.
The study was led by Susanna C. Larsson, PhD, of Division of Nutritional Epidemiology, National Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
“We followed 33,000 women over the course of 10 years, and we found that those who ate most chocolate had a much lower risk – 20 per cent lower – of suffering a stroke,” she said.
The study, performed by Susanna Larsson, Jarmo Virtamo, and Alicja Wolk, was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
In 1997, 33,372 women, age 49 to 83 years, were enrolled and followed up around 10.4 years. The subjects completed questionnaires about their diet and lifestyle.
Apparently eating 66.5 grams (2.35 ounces) of chocolate a week protects women against stroke.
There were 1,549 strokes over the following ten years, 1,200 cerebral infarctions (a blood vessel in the brain is blocked, starving an area of the brain of blood), 224 hemorrhagic strokes (bleeding in the brain), and 125 unspecified strokes. Among the persons with more 45 grams (1.6 ounces) dark chocolate intake per week, there were 2.5 strokes per 1,000 women per year. In the same time there were 7.8 strokes per 1,000 women among those with less than 8.9 grams (0.31 ounces) a week intake. A stronger association, not explained yet, was observed for hemorrhagic stroke than for cerebral infarction (ischemic stroke). Only women with chocolate consumption around 66.5 g (2.35 ounces)/week had a significantly reduced risk of stroke. The study does not point out the type of chocolate eaten by the women, but mention that in the 1990s around 90% of chocolate in Sweden was milk chocolate, containing about 30% cocoa solids.
“Cocoa contains flavonoids, which have antioxidant properties and can suppress oxidation of low-density lipoprotein which can cause cardiovascular disease,” said Professor Larsson.
In the United States there are around 800,000 strokes every year. Among them, one of six dies and lots remain disabled. Antihypertensive drugs (medicine to lower high blood pressure), quitting smoking, adequate exercise, and healthy diet are the remedies doctors recommend. The chocolate, even dark chocolate, is not included.
The beneficial effects of dark chocolate on human health were highlighted over the years.
There are data which show that dark chocolate might be beneficial to the cardiovascular system (heart and blood vessels). Dark chocolate has been shown to reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressure in mild high blood pressure cases. Dark chocolate also has been demonstrated to improve endothelial and platelet function (preventing blood clots, chest pain and heart attack) and to ameliorate insulin resistance. Flavonoids contained in dark chocolate have strong antioxidant activity and can prevent the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (bad cholesterol), lowering the risk of atherosclerosis (stiff and clogged arteries).
Mary Engler of the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues, found that around 45 grams (1.6 ounces) a day of dark chocolate can keep blood vessel elastic and healthy. The dark chocolate (high-cocoa content) contains epicatechin. Epicatechin is a particularly active plant flavonoid. Flavonoids prevent cholesterol from gathering in blood vessels and reduce the risk of blood clots. The study used Dove dark chocolate for two weeks and was published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. Mary Engler previously reported the results at the 2002 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association and at the Experimental Biology 2003 meeting.
Another study published in the Journal of Proteome Research and conducted by researchers at the Nestle Research Center in Lausanne, Switzerland, showed that eating about 40 grams (1.4 ounces) of dark chocolate a day for two weeks reduce stress. Half of the chocolate was eaten mid-morning and the other half was eaten mid-afternoon. The scientists found that high levels of stress hormone, cortisol, and the fight-or-flight hormones (catecholamines, adrenaline) present in highly stressed, anxious people were reduce by dark chocolate. Dark chocolate partially normalized stress-related differences in energy metabolism and microbial activity in the gut (microbiota).
Regarding the amount of anti-oxidants, dark chocolate and cocoa are better than pomegranate, cranberry, or blueberry juice, fruit powder mixes, a study conducted by the Hershey Company has showed. Polyphenols, organic molecules contained in dark chocolate, could maintain arteries smooth and lower risk of heart disease.
A study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry showed cocoa powder, baking chocolate and dark chocolate have between 14.1 to 18.5 micrograms of resveratrol (antioxidant) per serving (average California red wine contains 832 micrograms per glass).
Dark chocolate with minimum 60-85% cocoa content could prevent sunburns, showed an experiment conducted by researchers from Laval University in Quebec City (Canada) among women with sensitive skin. They ate three squares of dark chocolate a day for twelve weeks. The polyphenol ensure good oxygenation and blood supply to the skin surface, which could explain the protective effect of cocoa.
Cambridge University researchers have demonstrated that regular consumption of dark chocolate could reduce the risk of heart disease by a third. Other study said dark chocolate could be as good as exercise for human health.
Researchers from the United Kingdom and Colombia made a meta-analysis on 7 studies (the link between chocolate and heart disease) that included 114,009 people. The results were released in the British Medical Journal. Dark chocolate could lower heart disease and stroke by 37%.
Dark chocolate appears to have beneficial effects on heart, blood vessels, brain, skin, mood, stress, metabolism, gut microbiota.
On the other hand, over-eating sweets and chocolate, even dark chocolate, might have no or opposite effects.
Chocolate contains a lot of sugar and fat, and caffeine. The persons with diabetes, other metabolic diseases, prone to irregular heartbeats, palpitation or high blood pressure, have to be very careful concerning the chocolate intake. They should read the product label and the ingredients.
“Previous research has suggested that dark chocolate can increase levels of good cholesterol and decrease blood pressure, both of which can reduce your risk of stroke. However, it’s very hard to say whether this is true of all types of chocolate and it’s difficult to determine whether the reduced stroke incidence found in this study is directly linked to the amount of chocolate consumed. A lot more research is needed,” said Dr Sharlin Ahmed, of The Stroke Association.
“Given the observational design of the study, findings of this study cannot prove that it’s chocolate that lowers the risk of stroke. Chocolate should be consumed in moderation as it is high in calories, fat and sugar. As dark chocolate contains more cocoa and less sugar than milk chocolate, consumption of dark chocolate would be more beneficial,” wrote Professor Larsson.
“It’s important to keep findings like these in context. These findings don’t mean that people need to exchange chocolate for broccoli in their diet. Chocolate does have antioxidants, and antioxidants are beneficial for your health. They can help make your arteries more flexible and they can help you resist the oxidation of cholesterol. But, what if they had tried this study with apple skins or grapes? There’s an upside and a downside to everything. I don’t think people should eat all the chocolate they can, but some chocolate in moderation can have some benefit,” said Dr. Nieca Goldberg, cardiologist, of the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City.
Like in more other situations the moderation is the key. However, more studies are required to specify the exactly percent of cocoa (Theobroma cacao seeds) content in the dark chocolate needed to stroke or heart disease prevention, and also the effect on male’s health.
27 protesters were arrested during three Occupy movement demonstrations on Tuesday in Chicago and Washington D.C.
A total of 21 economic protesters were arrested for trespassing in Illinois on Tuesday as the Occupy Wall Street movement continued to spread across US major cities.
Last night, five women aged between 55 and 80, from the Action Now group, were arrested in Chicago for taking rubbish from a foreclosed home owned by Bank of America and dumping it at one of the company’s branches.
Action Now is a group of working families, which said Bank of America had not properly shuttered the foreclosed home from which the group took the furniture and garbage.
“Since Bank of America will not go to our neighborhoods and clean up their vacant properties, Action Now members brought the neighborhood to them,” Action Now group said on its website. Bank of America has not yet commented.
The arrests in Chicago came one day after thousands of people including teachers and religious leaders marched and snarled rush-hour traffic while protesting unemployment and economic woes.
They marched to target financial events in Chicago, including a conference of the Mortgage Bankers Association.
16 of them were arrested for misdemeanor trespassing at the Hyatt Regency protest, where the Mortgage Bankers Association conference was held.
16 protesters were arrested in Chicago for misdemeanor trespassing at the Hyatt Regency protest, where a Mortgage Bankers Association conference was held
Chicago has also seen several weeks of daily protests outside the Federal Reserve Bank by “Occupy Chicago”, an echo of the larger Wall Street protests.
Six other demonstrators were arrested in Washington D.C. yesterday after 100 protesters unfurled upside-down flags – a symbol of distress – and anti-war banners in the atrium of a Senate office building.
Occupy D.C. protesters chanted “We are the 99 per cent” – reflecting their view that the country’s wealthiest 1% have too much and are too powerful – and “Stop the wars” until the police cleared the area.
The original protest in Washington D.C. had been planned for months by such anti-war groups as Veterans for Peace and Code Pink to mark the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan.
But the demonstration drew participants as well from the Occupy DC protest, a local version of the anti-corporate Occupy Wall Street demonstrations that have spread nationwide.
In New York, the Occupy Wall Street movement has got stronger, with the added celebrity backing of stars such as singer Kanye West this week.
Yesterday, Occupy Wall Street demonstrators marched to the home of JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and today they are gathering at the company’s headquarters in New York to protest.
One day before, a huge crackdown on Occupy Boston’s second campsite ended with about 100 protesters arrested and their tents and personal belongings reportedly thrown into bins.
The Occupy Boston protesters were arrested on Monday around 1:30 a.m. after they ignored warnings to move from a downtown greenway near where they have been camped out for more than a week.
They had tried to expand from their original site in Dewey Square to a second site across the street, along the Rose Kennedy Greenway.
According to authorities, a local conservancy group recently planted $150,000 worth of shrubs along the greenway and officials said they were concerned about damage, but the arrests were mostly for trespassing.
Boston police had warned Occupy demonstrators for hours they would have to return to Dewey Square, where a tent city has been steadily growing, and issued leaflets saying protesters could not occupy the greenway.
BlackBerry users in the entire world continue to have disruptions in service for a third consecutive day North American subscribers seem to be affected as well.
All those who use Customers using Research In Motion’s BlackBerry smartphones in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa had troubles accessing the e-mail, using messaging and Web surfing on Monday. On Tuesday things got better with only spotty access to e-mail, BlackBerry Messenger, and Web.
At the beginning the problems affected just the BlackBerry users from Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India. However, the problems spread to other parts of the globe including parts of South America.
On Wednesday morning subscribers in the U.S.A. and Canada started to complain about delayed e-mails, as well as email sent in groups.
Earlier RIM put the blame on the disruption to service that affected Europe, the Mideast, India, Latin America and Africa on a failed switch and backup. The company confirmed the problem had been solved, however, it might take some time to work through the backlog of data, which had not yet been sent to subscribers’ devices. Late on Tuesday E-mail started to trickle in for some subscribers.
“Although the system is designed to failover to a backup switch, the failover did not function as previously tested,” the company explained in a statement on Tuesday. “As a result, a large backlog of data was generated and we are now working to clear that backlog and restore normal service as quickly as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience and we will continue to keep you informed.”
It’s not very clear, just yet, if the issues plaguing customers overseas is what’s affecting the service in North America. One of the RIM representative was not available for comment in regards to disruptions in the North America.
RIM’sBlackBerry network architecture is its strength as well as its biggest weakness. Unlike other smartphone platforms, RIM routes all e-mail and messaging traffic through its BlackBerry servers in network operation centers throughout the world. This centralized architecture for the service means that additional encryption and security can be added to the messages that traverse the network. And for many corporate customers, this added security is the main reason they use the service.
But the architecture also means there are single points of failure throughout the network. This means that when there is a major infrastructure disruption, it can affect entire regions of service, potentially knocking out service for tens of millions of customers. By contrast competing smartphones, such as the iPhone and Google Android devices, do not suffer from the same types of outages because there is no single point of failure in the network.
Lydia Gale Clark, a student at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, died after she apparently downed 16 shots on the night of her 21st birthday celebration.
Lydia Gale Clark had been seen “stumbling” at several bars on a six-hour drinking marathon that ended Saturday early in the morning, at 3.30 a.m.
According to the student’s friends, she had drunk about 16 shots of alcohol on Friday evening.
Lydia Gale Clark, a student at Drake University in Des Moines, died after she apparently downed 16 shots on the night of her 21st birthday celebration
Police said that Lydia Gale Clark from Meridien, Kansas, who was an international relations and rhetoric student, woke at 9.30 a.m. on Saturday feeling “very sick” and asked a friend to help her use the bathroom at about noon.
The friend who helped her checked on Lydia Gale Clark a few minutes later and found her lying on the floor. The student had stopped breathing and was gasping and convulsing.
Lydia Gale Clark’s roommate called an ambulance and performed CPR. The ambulance arrived minutes later to take the student to Mercy Medical Center, but paramedics were unable to revive her.
According to the police report, Lydia Gale Clark was linked to excessive alcohol consumption, but an autopsy revealed abnormal heart tissue, which may have been another factor involved.
Brad Clark, Lydia’s father said he and his wife had talked to their daughter about drinking before her birthday.
“Her mom and I love her dearly and miss her dearly,” Lydia Gale Clark’s father said.
“When we first got the call in, for the first 24 hours, we just thought it was ignorance of what alcohol can do to you.”
Brad Clark said he had no doubt his daughter had too much to drink Friday night.
The Drake University student’s father said he was searching for the right words to warn her friends attending the memorial service in Kansas this Saturday about the dangers of alcohol.
Lydia Gale Clark’s abnormal heart tissue has now been sent to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for further testing.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 24, was accused of US-bound flight on 25 December, 2009 with a bomb hidden in his underwear.
The bomb did not detonate fully causing serious burns. Later that day he admitted to the FBI that he was working for the Al Qaeda in Yemen.
Last Wednesday Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab accepted all eight counts against him, including terrorism and attempted murder.
Nancy Edmunds, the US Federal Judge, reexamined the charges and possible penalties with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab asking him if he wished to make a plea.
“Are you therefore pleading guilty freely and voluntarily?” Edmunds asked.
“That’s right, yes,” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab replied.
In addition to that, he told the courtroom that the bomb was a “blessed weapon to save the lives of innocent Muslims.”
“I intended to wreck a U.S. aircraft for the U.S. wreckage of Muslim lands and property,”
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab reassured the court that he made an agreement with at least one person to continue the attack in retaliation for U.S. support of Israel and for what he described as the killings of Muslims in Yemen, Iraq, Somalia and other countries in the Middle East.
While leaving the courtroom he said: “Allah Akbar.”
Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, Abdulmutallab’s father, is an influential banker, well connected in Nigerian politics, said he had approached the US embassy officials and Nigerian authorities in 2009 to warn them about his son.
Nancy Shevell’s wedding dress, designed by Stella McCartney, was a “remake” of the 1937 Wallis Simpson wedding outfit.
Stella McCartney, the fashion designer daughter of Sir Paul, created the wedding dress for her step mother, Nancy Shevell, being inspired by the gown worn by Wallis Simpson for her marriage to the Duke of Windsor in 1937.
The confirmation of the wedding dress’ style influence came from presenter Barbara Walters, who is Nancy Shevell‘s second cousin, on an episode of The View.
Barbara Walters said: “Stella re-did it for her.”
Nancy Shevell's wedding dress, designed by Stella McCartney, was a “remake” of the 1937 Wallis Simpson wedding outfit
The major influence of the Wallis Simpson gown was reflected on Nancy Shevell’s upper part of her wedding dress, which had the same delicate buttoning and nipped-in waist. Stella McCartney creation has been modernized with a knee-length hemline and v-neckline.
Another difference between Nancy Shevell’s outfit and Wallis Simpson’s Mainbocher crepe gown was the color, which had not been white but a light shade of “Wallis blue” – said to match her eyes.
Wallis Simpson wedding dress, which was given to the Metropolitan Museum in New York 1950, went on to be one of the most copied dresses of all time.
Barbara Walters also revealed Nancy Shevell wore three outfits for the Sunday wedding.
The major influence of the Wallis Simpson gown was reflected on Nancy Shevell's upper part of her wedding dress, which had the same delicate buttoning and nipped-in waist
Nancy Shevell also wore “a long, beautiful sort of plum-color chiffon dress” for her wedding reception at Paul McCartney’s North London home and then later “went upstairs and and (they) put on jeans and T-shirts”.
Nancy Shevell married Paul McCartney on Sunday at Marylebone Register Office in central London, where he married Linda Eastman in March 1969.
The 51-year-old American millionairess is the third wife of Sir Paul McCartney. She started dating the former Beatle in November 2007 and it was announced on 6 May 2011 that the two had become engaged.
Nancy Shevell and Linda McCartney, Paul’s first wife, were pals. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in her 30s, around the time Linda was losing her battle. The two women became then close friends.
Nancy Shevell is a breast cancer survivor. Nancy and her ex-husband Bruce Blakeman knew Paul McCartney, his wife Linda and the children when they visited the Hamptons where Linda had family.
Nancy Shevell and Paul McCartney have a combined fortune of over $1 billion.
A terror plot of the Iranian government to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. in Washington has been revealed to press yesterday.
Attorney General Eric Holder spoke during a press conference of how elements of the Iranian government financed and aided the plot to murder Adel al-Jubeir , the Saudi ambassador in US- offering a bounty of $1.5 million to the plotters.
Two persons have been charged with the plot, according to the authorities; Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old U.S. citizen who also holds an Iranian passport and Gholam Shakuri, whom it said to be a member of the Iranian regime’s hard core “Quds Force”.
It was reported that when asked by undercover agents about the potential loss of innocent life in the bombings, Manssor Arbabsiar replied:
“They want that guy [al-Jubeir] done.
“If the hundred go with him, f**k ’em.”
Saudi ambassador in US, Adel al-Jubeir was the target of the Iranian plot
Attorney General Eric Holder said: “The criminal complaint unsealed today exposes a deadly plot directed by factions of the Iranian government to assassinate a foreign Ambassador on U.S. soil with explosives.
“Through the diligent and coordinated efforts of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies, we were able to disrupt this plot before anyone was harmed.
“We will continue to investigate this matter vigorously and bring those who have violated any laws to justice.”
According to US Justice Department, from the spring of 2011 to October 2011, Manssor Arbabsiar and his Iran-based co-conspirators, including Shakuri of the Quds Force, had been plotting the murder of the Saudi Ambassador.
Manssor Arbabsiar was said to have unknowingly hired informant from the Drug Enforcement Administration to carry out the plot.
The informant [CS-1], who was posing as a member of a Mexican drug cartel, met with Manssor Arbabsiar several times in Mexico.
Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old U.S. citizen who also holds an Iranian passport, has been charged with the Saudi ambassador assassination plot
Manssor Arbabsiar was said to have first met with CS-1 in Mexico on May 24, 2011, inquiring informant’s knowledge of explosives before explaining that he was interested in, among other things, attacking an embassy of Saudi Arabia.
According to the charges, CS-1 allegedly indicated he had knowledge of using C-4 explosives.
Manssor Arbabsiar has returned to Mexico in June and July 2011 where he held additional meetings with CS-1.
In a July 14, 2011, they had another meeting in Mexico and CS-1 allegedly told Manssor Arbabsiar that he would need to use four men to carry out the Ambassador’s murder and that his price for carrying out the murder was $1.5 million.
Manssor Arbabsiar then offered a $100,000 down payment and during the same meeting, he boasted to CS-1 his cousin in Iran – a “big general” in the Iranian military, as Arbabsiar said – had knowledge of the attack.
In July 17, Manssor Arbabsiar and CS-1 met again, with the informant saying one of his men had already carried out surveillance of the ambassador.
On August 1, and August 9, 2011, with Gholam Shakuri’s approval, Manssor Arbabsiar allegedly made two overseas wire transfers “totalling approximately $100,000” that prosecutors say were sent to an FBI undercover account.
After the informant then demanded a further down payment, Manssor Arbabsiar flew to Mexico to act as a guarantee the fee would be paid.
After being refused entry to Mexico on September 28, Arbabsiar was returned to New York’s JFK airport, where he was arrested by federal agents on September 29.
Iran’s secretive Quds Force is an elite brigade within Iran’s revolutionary Guard.
The Guards, with their own navy, air force and command structure separate from the regular armed forces, are seen as fiercely loyal to the supreme leader.
Within the Guards, Quds are tasked with “exporting” the Iranian revolution abroad.
The Quds Force, which is said to contain 15,000 troops, is accused of operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, North Africa and now North America.
In the past, the U.S. has accused Quds of arming Iraqi militants with deadly bomb-making material, building up an extensive network in the war-torn country, recruiting Iraqis and supporting not only Shiite militias but also Shiites allied with Washington.
On another day of Dr. Conrad Murray trial, the court saw a second shocking photograph of Michael Jackson’s dead body taken before an autopsy was carried out the day after his death.
Yesterday it was the second time the jury has seen a picture of dead Michael Jackson after a photograph was displayed on the opening day of the trial.
Michael Jackson‘s mother, Katherine, who flew back to Los Angeles from the weekend tribute to her son in Wales, left the courtroom before the autopsy photo was shown on a screen.
According to Dr. Christopher Rogers, Los Angeles Deputy Medical Examiner, Michael Jackson was comparatively fit when he died.
“He was healthier than the average person of his age,” said Dr Christopher Rogers, who added there was no sign of any fat or cholesterol on the walls of Michael Jackson‘s heart.
Dr. Rogers ruled the cause of mega-star’s death was homicide as a result of acute Propofol intoxication, the court heard.
He also dismissed Conrad Murray’s claims that Michael Jackson took a deadly dose of Propofol himself while the doctor left his bedside for two minutes to go to the toilet.
Dr. Rogers suggested it was too short a time for the singer to be able to self-administer the drug and for it take sufficient effect to stop his breathing.
Dr. Christopher Rogers said Michael Jackson was relatively fit for his age at the moment of death, but had many puncture wounds on his arms and legs from injections
According to Dr. Rogers, Dr. Conrad Murray had no equipment to help deliver the correct amount of Propofol to help Michael Jackson sleep.
“It would be easy for the doctor to estimate wrongly and give too much Propofol,” Dr. Rogers said.
Dr. Conrad Murray, who has pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter, is not expected to testify at the trial at Los Angeles Superior Court, but the recording means jurors at least got to hear his side of the story.
Before Dr. Christopher Rogers intervention, the last 45 minutes of the two-hour recording was played in the hushed courtroom yesterday.
Conrad Murray told police Michael Jackson’s children “really were weeping, really weeping” when they were told that doctors at UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles had been unable to revive their father.
“I hugged them all, gave comfort to Paris, comfort to Prince, comfort to Blanket, which is the last little guy, because whenever they were sick, they would always ask for Dr Conrad,” Murray said.
“After they cried and cried and cried, then his daughter uttered a lot of words of unhappiness and, you know, she will live alone without her dad and she didn’t want to be an orphan.
“I said, <<I tried my best>>. And she said, <<I know that, Dr Murray. At least I know. I know you tried your best, but I’m really sad>>.”
Conrad Murray also said he arranged for the children to see their father’s body so they could “find closure”.
“I asked them to prepare Mr Jackson’s body to make it as presentable as possible so the children could visit their daddy.”
“They spent a long time with their daddy. They cried.”
Meanwhile, he said Michael Jackson’s siblings LaToya and Jermaine had arrived at the hospital.
Earlier, Murray said he broke the news of the tragedy to the singer’s mother, Katherine.
Dr. Conrad Murray said he couldn’t explain Michael Jackson’s death to other Jackson family members gathered at the hospital.
“Do you know why he died?” one of the Jackson family member asked, according to Conrad Murray.
“My answer was no and that’s the reason why I was recommending to the family to have an autopsy, because I also wanted to know,” he told the detectives in the meeting at the plush Ritz Carlton Hotel in Marina Del Ray, California.
According to prosecutors, Dr. Conrad Murray caused Michael Jackson’s death by giving him a lethal dose of the powerful anaesthetic Propofol, which should only be used in a hospital setting.
In the released recording, Dr. Murray admitted for the first time that he gave Michael Jackson Propofol, telling police he had been administering the drug almost daily for the previous two months.
Doctor claimed he was out of Michael Jackson’s bedroom for just two minutes to go to the toilet when he returned to find his patient had stopped breathing.
Conrad Murray made no mention of the fact that he was on the phone to a girlfriend when he discovered Michael Jackson dying in his bed.
He insisted the super star was begging him to help him rest after trying in vain to get to sleep for more than eight hours the night before he died.
Dr. Conrad Murray also claimed Michael Jackson’s eyesight was so bad that he could have been “legally blind” and said he removed calluses and a fungal infection on the singer’s feet that made it painful for him to dance.
Israel and Hamas group, which runs in Gaza, have agreed on a deal for releasing Sergeant Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held hostage by Palestinian militants since 2006.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said they agreed only after arduous talks, and that Sergeant Gilad Shalit, 25, would be back with his family “within days”.
In exchange, Israel said will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Gilad Shalit was captured in a cross-border raid five years ago, and attempts to negotiate his release have failed.
Israel and Hamas have agreed on a deal for releasing Sergeant Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held hostage by Palestinian militants since 2006
Israeli PM said in a national TV address:
“We have concluded arduous negotiations with Hamas to release Gilad Shalit. He will be coming home in the next few days.”
Gilad Shalit’s continued detention is a hugely emotive issue in Israel, where his family has maintained a high profile campaign for his release.
In the same time, there are many Israelis who have had family members killed by Palestinian militants and, of course, will object in principle to any mass release of prisoners by Israel.
According to a senior Israeli official, there are some high-profile Palestinian prisoners that have been excluded from the release deal.
The Israel and Hamas deal was confirmed in the Israeli cabinet by a 26-3 vote, following a heated three-hour debate.
“This is a difficult decision, but leadership is tested at moments like this, on the ability to make difficult decisions,” said PM Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement.
On the other hand, Hamas said in a statement that there were tens of thousands of people on the streets celebrating the deal, firing guns into the air and honking car horns.
Hamas’s leader Khaled Meshaal, who is in exile in Syria, appeared on TV to hail the swap deal as a victory for the Palestinian people.
Khaled Meshaal said the Israel had agreed to release 1,027 prisoners – including 27 women.
According to Yoram Cohen, head of Israel’s Shin Bet internal intelligence service, the high-profile prisoners not due for release include key Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, Ahmed Saadat, found guilty of ordering the killing of Israel’s tourism minister in 2001, and Hamas’ Abdullah Barghouti.
The first 450 prisoners would be freed in the coming days, with the rest being released over the next two months.
“It is a great achievement, a qualitative success,” said the militant group’s leader, Khaled Meshaal.
“Because of this accord, there will no longer be any women in the jails of the enemy.”
Hamas leader promised to carry on working to free every Palestinian prisoner held in Israeli jails.
About 5,000 Palestinians are now held by Israel – some of whom have been convicted of serious crimes, but others are being held without charge.
Local Israeli television, Channel 2 TV reported that both sides, Israel and Hamas, had shown greater flexibility in recent talks.
Indirect talks over the Gilad Shalit ‘s release have been going on for years, with Egypt and Germany mediating.
In October 2009, Hamas released a video of Gilad Shalit calling on Benjamin Netanyahu to do everything to free him.
Chaz Bono has performed last night at Dancing With The Stars being watched by his mother, Cher, who was for the first time in the show audience.
The proud mother, Cher, broke down in tears as she watching her son Chaz Bono, 40, comes out fighting to dance the Paso Doble with his partner Lacey Schwimmer to the Rocky theme song.
“OMG! I WAS CRYING ! WASNT EXPECTING 2 B SO NERVOUS ! BROKE MY BRACELET CLAPPING ! IM SO PROUD !! CHAZ WAS GREAT! LOVED DAVID ARQUETTE 2nd,” Cher tweeted on her page after the show.
Not only Cher was impressed with Chaz Bono’s performance, the judges also gave him straight seven’s across the board during music from the Rocky movie.
Chaz Bono and partner Lacey Schwimmer during Paso Doblo last night
Judge Bruno Tonioli said: “In the true spirit of Rocky, no matter how many knocks you take, you keep coming back, you keep fighting and you keep getting stronger.”
Judge Carrie Ann Inaba agreed and said of Chaz Bono’ performance:
“I’m trying to figure out why I’m crying. It’s like, I watch you and somehow you get under my skin and you make me root for you.
“Your true courage and the way you get out there…I was like, go! Go! Go!”
Chaz Bono’s performance was achieved with the help of the exercise guru Richard Simmons.
Richard Simmons coached Chaz Bono and Lacey Schwimmer dressed in a gold glitter
Immediately after the show, Chaz Bono wrote on his Twitter account: “Amazing, Amazing Night!! Thank you so much for supporting me on this journey. #DWTS#.”
Last night, David Arquette, 40, and partner Kym Johnson also danced the Paso Doble, but they chose to do so to the Raiders of the Lost Ark theme song.
David Arquette and Kym Johnson scored a 23 for the dramatic dance. In true Indiana Jones style, David Arquette swung onto the dance floor on a rope.
David Arquette’ seven-year-old daughter, Coco, ex-wife Courteney Cox, and his sister Patricia were all in the audience to cheer him on.
Chynna Philips and partner Tony Dovolani tangoed to the theme song from Mission: Impossible in what should have been an impressive dance, but she scored only 21.
Carson Kressley, the fashion expert, was a fan favourite with his hilarious pirate costume and sword fighting dance-off, but the judges had issues with his performance.
Carson Kressley, 41, and partner Anna Trebunskaya danced the Viennese Waltz from Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.
Judge Len Goodman said about their performance:
“Like childbirth – terrible while it’s happening, and a joy when it’s over. No quality of movement…but it was great fun. If I was at home, I’d be phoning for you.”
The talk show host Nancy Grace, 51, and her partner Tristan MacManus performed the Paso Doble to the theme song from Flash Gordon.
Nancy Grace dance scored 21.
Soccer star Hope Solo and partner Chmerkovskiy performance of You’ve Got A Friend from Toy Story was utterly adorable and had a high score of 24.
Rob Kardashian played Clark Kent role as he and partner Cheryl Burke danced a dramatic Paso Doble to the theme song from Superman.
DWTS insiders said that Ricki Lake and partner Derek Hough are the team to beat, but the 43-year-old talk show host doesn’t agree.
She seemed to have problems in rehearsals, saying that she felt a ‘tremendous amount of pressure’ and expressing her desire to quit.
When Ricki and Derek danced to the theme song from Psycho, they received a standing ovation and scored 29, the highest score of the night.
The use of Ketchup was interdicted in school cafeteria in France thanks to the propaganda of healthy diet.
There is just one exception allowed. Cafeterias may serve ketchup only with French fries and just one time a week. The new rules also stipulate the increase of vegetable dishes on the menu and the decrease of the quantity of fat in the food.
The chairman of National, Christophe Hebert, explained in an interview:
“Canteens have a public health mission, but also an educative mission. We have to ensure children become familiar with French recipes so that they can hand them down to the following generation.”
On the other hand, mayonnaise is still on the menu.
Denmark authorities have introduced, not long ago, a tax on fatty foodstuffs, such as milk, butter and vegetable oil, pizza, cheese, and meat with the content of over 3.2 percent of sat fats. As a result, one kilo of butter has become $1.5 more expensive.
In September, Hungary put into effect a new law. The food abundant with salt and sugar is taxed.
The British authorities admit that the number of people who suffer of obesity in England is one of the largest in the world. So they are thinking about taxing high-calorie food.
Emma Watson dumped again; this time for being too famous.
Emma Watson, know for her role in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, revealed thather ex-boyfriend dumped her because she’s too famous.
She dated Francis Boulle, who now stars in British reality TV show Made In Chelsea, for a short period of time. Francis Boulle claimed he broke up with Emma because he did not want to become known as the Harry Potter star’s boyfriend.
“We had a bit of a thing a while back, but I have always been an ambitious person and I want to achieve my own notoriety for what I’ve done,” claims Francis Boulle. “That’s why I chose not to pursue it any longer, because I didn’t want to be the boyfriend of some child actress.”
He added in an interview:
“I actually really like Emma. She’s a really cool person. She’s a very different person to who she is in the media. That’s what I liked about her – she’s very interesting.”
When Reality TV star was asked whether they stay in touch, he admitted he was no longer in regular contact with the actress, though they occasionally run into one another.
“No, but we do share a lot of mutual friends and our paths cross from time to time.”
Beyonce has recently sparked rumors she is wearing a fake baby bump during an interview at an Australian television show.
Beyonce Knowles, 30, gave an interview to the Australian TV personality Molly Meldrum on the Sunday Night show.
At one moment, during the interview, the cameras appear to show Beyonce’s bump being squashed and moving as she sits down.
Beyonce’s interview on the Sunday Night show was to promote her new album 4.
During the interview on Sunday Night show, the cameras appear to show Beyonce’s bump being squashed and moving as she sits down
The singer told Molly Meldrum she is due to give birth in February, adding that she feels “grateful” and “blessed” to be expecting her first child.
After her appearance on the Australian TV show, the gossip websites have promoted speculation that Beyonce is wearing a prosthetic bump and some are even questioning if the famous singer is faking her pregnancy while a surrogate mother carries her baby.
Other speculation was that Beyonce was wearing a padded belly to the MTV Video Music Awards two months ago in an effort to make her pregnancy revelation “more dramatic”.
Beyonce made a point of flaunting her bump on the red carpet in an orange Lanvin dress and later rubbed it dramatically during her performance on stage.
Beyoncé revealed her baby bump on the red carpet at the MTV Video Music Awards 2011
After that moment, Beyonce told Harper’s Bazaar about her public pregnancy announcement during an interview:
“I put a lot of thought into how I wanted to unveil it. It was important to me that I was able to do it myself.
“I was extremely nervous. It was the toughest red carpet I ever did… I decided to say nothing and proudly show my baby bump. I felt it was more powerful to see the love and enthusiasm as opposed to saying anything.”
The 30-year-old singer also said she waited to start a family with husband Jay-Z so that she could concentrate on her career.
“It was important to me that I gave myself time to focus on becoming the woman I want to be, building my empire, my relationship, and my self-worth, before I became a mother,” Beyonce said.
She ended: “Now God has blessed us with the ultimate.”
As many other artists, Beyonce is seizing the opportunity to turn her pregnancy into a money spinner by launching her own maternity line.
