CAIRO: Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei on Saturday called for a boycott of Egypt's upcoming legislative elections, as the president rescheduled the first round after Copts complained it would clash with a Christian holiday.
"Called for parliamentary election boycott in 2010 to expose sham democracy. Today I repeat my call, will not be part of an act of deception," the Nobel Peace laureate and former head of the UN atomic watchdog wrote on Twitter.
Former foreign minister Amr Mussa, another leader in the National Salvation Front (NSF), said many members of the opposition bloc were inclined to boycott the four-round election, but a final position had not yet been taken.
"There is a large group that wants a boycott, but it has not yet been discussed, and no decision has been taken," he told AFP.
Initially the election had been set to begin on April 27, with a new parliament to convene on July 6.
But the dates conflicted with pre-Easter and Easter holidays, prompting Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to announce new ones "in response to requests by Christian brothers," a reference to the Coptic Church, his office said Saturday.
A statement said the new starting date for the election would be April 22-23 instead of 27-28 which fell on the Christian holidays of Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday.
The second round will take place on April 29-30 instead of May 4-5, to avoid interference with Easter weekend, the statement said, adding that as a result of the changes parliament was now set to convene on July 2, instead of July 6.
Earlier Father Rafiq Greish, the Catholic Church's spokesman in Egypt, told AFP that he spoke with the presidency, which "accepted" rescheduling the first round.
Many Copts fear that Morsi and his Islamist allies seek to marginalise the minority community which represents six to 10 per cent of Egypt's 83-million population of mostly Sunni Muslims.
ElBaradei, who did not elaborate about his boycott call on Twitter, raised suspicion that the vote might be rigged, as was the case in a 2010 election under ousted long-time president Hosni Mubarak.
Leaders of the NSF, an alliance that brings together liberal and secular leaning groups, have previously proposed a postponement of the vote.
The coalition organised massive protests against Morsi in November and December after he adopted now-repealed powers that shielded his decisions from judicial review.
But anti-Morsi protests have slowed since he pushed through an Islamist-drafted constitution in a December referendum, with the mass rallies giving way to smaller, and often violent, protests.
The opposition, less organised than Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, has insisted the president appoint a new government before the election while the presidency says the new parliament should have the right to appoint the cabinet.
The Brotherhood and Islamist allies dominated the last parliamentary election in 2011 that resulted in an Islamist-majority house which a court annulled on a technicality before Morsi's election last June.
But due to increased anti-Morsi sentiment, Hamdeen Sabahi, another NSF leader, has said the opposition coalition could now win up to 50 per cent of seats in parliament if it chose to contest the election.
We all know that we shouldn't use our cell phones while driving.
Yes, of course we do it anyway, but always with a tinge of guilt.
Surely, though, few would take that same cavalier attitude if they were piloting a plane. Somehow, one imagines that this task requires a little more concentration, amid the prospect of even more serious danger.
Yet it seems that one pilot of a small charter plane may have needed -- or perhaps merely wanted -- to use his cell phone while he was taxiing toward takeoff on Thursday evening.
As it happens, he wasn't wafting along the slipways of some tiny regional airport in Alberta. No, he was at JFK.
More Technically Incorrect
As NYC Aviation reports, its information suggests he was taxiing across the active Runway 31R on taxiway Echo.
He was at the controls of a Swearingen SA226-AT Merlin IV.
The result, one suspects, incited a little swearing. For he plowed into ground lights, damaging the plane's propellers. (NYC Aviation has the pictures.)
The FAA is reportedly investigating the incident, which allegedly caused the runway to be closed for two hours.
I confess I've never heard of a pilot being involved in an accident while using a cell phone.
In this case, it isn't clear whether he was allegedly talking or texting.
Some small part of me hopes that he was texting, as this would prove that no one is immune from the peculiar temptation of typing and chatting while you're supposed to be doing something far more important.
The National Governors Association, a bipartisan collection of state executives meeting this weekend in Washington for their annual winter conference, delivered a timely message to lawmakers working on a deficit reduction package: balance the budget, by all means - but not at our expense.
"Deficit reduction should not shift costs from the federal government to the states," said NGA chairman Gov. Jack Markell, D-Del. "We know the cuts are coming, but we don't want to suffer disproportionately, and we want to have some input in terms of what that looks like."
"We understand that the federal government needs to make cuts," said NGA vice-chair Gov. Mary Fallin, R-Okla. "We're all concerned about our federal debt. We're just saying, as you identify federal cuts and savings, allow the states to realize those savings too."
Gov. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., explained that debate is not about the imperative of deficit reduction, but about what form it takes: "I haven't heard a single governor not recognize that the deficit and the level of indebtedness is a serious risk," he said, adding that states are willing to "share the pain" caused by cutbacks.
"We think it's very important that governors have a seat at the table," Markell said. "We are partners."
Several governors bemoaned the automatic spending cuts in the so-called "sequester" that are due to land on March 1.
"The uncertainty of sequestration is really harming our states and our national economy," said Fallin, arguing that "we can lessen the effect of sequestration if the states are given flexibility" in terms of how they spend federal money.
The sequester, said Hickenlooper, was originally designed to be "so odious, so repellent" that it couldn't possibly take effect. "This is something nobody wants. It's not a balanced, thoughtful compromise."
And Markell argued that the White House's repeated warning about the dire impact of sequestration is "really important," saying it makes the cuts "more real for people."
The governors also addressed the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, noting a "divergence of opinions" among different states about how to approach the expansion.
"We believe the expansion of medicaid in [Oklahoma] would be unaffordable," said Fallin, noting that, despite her judgment on the issue, "We respect eachother's opinion."
Fallin repeatedly stressed the theme of flexibility, arguing that "more leeway" for states would produce better policy outcomes on a range of issues, from deficit reduction to health-care reform.
She also took aim at the nation's tax code, calling for federal tax reform and labeling the current U.S. tax structure "unwieldy."
Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who came all the way from Hawaii to attend the bipartisan executives' confab, admitted, "I can't really say I'm delighted to be here."
But as Abercrombie, a former House member from the Aloha State, stepped onstage, he greeted his former GOP House colleague Fallin with a smile and a handshake, later taking the opportunity to admonish an often-fractious Washington.
"It is possible," he said, "to set aside these Democratic and Republican and ideological points of view and concentrate on the object, which is to serve our people."
The teenage suspect in the murder and dismemberment of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway will stand trial after a judge ruled there is enough evidence, including an alleged 911 confession, to move forward with the case.
Prosecutors played the 911 recording on Friday at a preliminary hearing for Austin Sigg, 18, in which the teen confessed to murdering the fifth grader and trying to kidnap a female jogger.
"I murdered Jessica Ridgeway, I have proof that I did. I'm giving myself up completely, there will be no resistance whatsoever," Sigg said on the Oct. 23, 2012, recording, according to ABC News Denver affiliate KMGH-TV.
The dispatcher then asked about his criminal history.
"The only other [incident] was Ketner Lake, where a woman was attacked. That was me," Sigg said in the recording.
A lead investigator on the case testified that Mindy Sigg, the teen's mother, told the dispatcher her son had hidden Jessica's remains in a crawl space under the family home, KMGH reported.
Authorities arrested Sigg at his Westminster, Colo., home that evening.
Sigg is charged with murder, kidnapping, sexual assault and robbery in the Ridgeway case.
He faces an attempted kidnapping charge for the May 28, 2012, attack on a 22-year-old female jogger. Police said a man tried to grab her from behind on a trail around Ketner Lake.
Courtesy Westminster Police Department
Jessica Ridgeway's Death Connected to Jogger Attack Watch Video
Jessica Ridgeway Abduction Case: Hunt For Child Predator Watch Video
Missing Colorado Girl Jessica Ridgeway: Finding a Killer Watch Video
The woman said the man tried to put a rag over her mouth that had a chemical smell. She was able to get away and call 911.
A judge ruled Friday that Sigg should be held without bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned March 12.
Jessica Ridgeway Disappearance Rattles Community
The search last fall for Jessica Ridgeway had the Westminster, Colo., community on edge as they grappled with the notion a cold-blooded predator could be hiding in their midst.
The fifth-grader was last seen on Oct. 5, 2012, when she left for school. She never showed up at a nearby park where she was supposed to meet friends for the one-mile walk to her elementary school. It was a route she took every day, but this time she never arrived.
An extensive FBI search included knocking on doors, road blocks, and encouraging people to report any suspicious behavior observed in friends and family members.
Jessica's dismembered torso was found inside a bag in Arvada, Colo., on Oct. 10. Her legs, arms and head were found in the crawl space under Sigg's home, Detective Luis Lopez told the court on Friday, according to KMGH. Her cause of death was asphyxiation, he said.
Authorities turned their attention to Sigg after a neighbor called a tip line Oct. 19 to report Sigg wore a cross similar to the one police believed the killer wore, and said the teen had a fascination with death. Two FBI agents took a DNA sample from Sigg, who was 17 years old at the time.
It wasn't until the 911 call on Oct. 23 that Sigg was taken into custody.
Sigg had been a student at Arapahoe Community College in Littleton, Colo., according to his arrest report, where classmates said he was studying mortuary science.
The Ridgeway and Sigg families attended the hearing on Friday. Both families were dressed in purple, which was Jessica's favorite color.
ABC News' Christina Ng contributed to this report.
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's parliamentary elections, previously scheduled to begin on April 27, have been brought forward to start on April 22, the presidential spokesman said on his Facebook page on Saturday.
Members of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority had criticized the planned timing of the elections because some voting would take place during their Easter holiday.
(Reporting by Alexander Dziadosz; editing by David Stamp)
WASHINGTON: US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Friday that looming automatic budget cuts will force air traffic control cutbacks and cause flight delays in major cities by up to 90 minutes.
LaHood said the US$85 billion "sequester" cuts scheduled for March 1 will compel the Federal Aviation Administration to reduce airport staffing around the country, shutting towers at smaller airports and causing a general slowdown of civil aviation operations.
"Sequester will have a very serious impact on the transportation services that are critical to the traveling public and to the nation's economy," LaHood told reporters at the White House.
At the department of transportation, he said, spending will be reduced by nearly US$1 billion, including US$600 million at the FAA for the March-September period.
That means the FAA will furlough -- mandate unpaid leave -- most of its 47,000 workers for between two and four days each month beginning in April, LaHood said.
That will mean less air traffic control services at large and small airports around the country, likely forcing flight schedule changes and slowdowns by airlines.
"Once airlines see the potential impact of these furloughs, we expect that they will change their schedules and cancel flights."
"Obviously, as always, safety is our top priority, and we will never allow the amount of air travel we can handle safely to take off and land -- which means travellers should expect delays," LaHood warned.
In a letter to airline and airport managers around the country, LaHood said the cutbacks will mean the elimination of midnight shifts in 30 secondary airports like El Paso, Texas and Chicago's Midway, and the closure of traffic control towers at 100 smaller airports.
The FAA will have to reduce equipment maintenance and support as well.
As a consequence, "travellers should expect delays," he said in the letter.
"Flights to major cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco could experience delays of up to 90 minutes during peak hours because we will have fewer controllers on staff."
The sequester -- harsh automatic spending cuts over 10 years agreed in a 2011 political deal to force deficit reduction -- will take effect on March 1 if Democrats and Republicans cannot compromise on a less austere program before then.
President Barack Obama wants to replace the cuts with a balanced set of spending cuts and revenue hikes obtained by closing tax loopholes, but Republicans in Congress are resisting the idea of higher taxes.
Sphere's Law of Recurring Subject Matter argues that, given enough time, all conversations with Steve Guttenberg will inevitably become audiocentric. As usual, The Audiophiliac brings a ransom list of talking points today, including Spotify robbing musicians, Benford's law, Say Yes to the Dress, and a Monoprice controversy.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today warned of the "enormous impact" the looming sequester budget cuts will have on air travel in America, given that his department will have to cut nearly $1 billion from its budget, with more than $600 million coming from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
As the one former Republican congressman in President Obama's cabinet, LaHood put the responsibility squarely on Republicans to step up and work with Democrats to find a way to avert the cuts, slated to kick in on March 1.
"What I'm trying to do is to wake up members of the Congress on the Republican side to the idea that they need to come to the table... so we don't have this kind of calamity in air service in America," he said. "So that we're not just taking a meat axe to one part of FAA."
Play Video
LaHood: GOP must "step up" on sequester to prevent air traffic "calamity"
Play Video
LaHood warns travel delays will anger Americans
Cutting $1 billion from the Transportation Department would affect dozens of programs, LaHood said. For instance, the vast majority of the FAA's nearly 47,000 employees will face furloughs, he said -- and the largest number of FAA employees are air traffic controllers.
The Transportation Department is beginning discussions with unions today to close more than 100 air towers with fewer than 150,000 flight operations a year, such as towers in Hilton Head, S.C., and San Marcos, Texas. It's also discussing eliminating overnight shifts in more than 60 towers.
"We're going to reduce the number of controllers, which will reduce their ability to guide planes in and out of airports," LaHood explained.
Flights to major cities like New York and Chicago could experience delays up to 90 minutes during peak hours, he said. Furthermore, with fewer employees on staff to efficiently deal with issues such as runway repairs, there could be even more delays. Customers would likely see these impacts around April 1 -- 30 days after the cuts go into effect.
"These are harmful cuts with real-world consequences that'll cost jobs and hurt our economy," LaHood said.
Following LaHood's remarks, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association released a statement with even more ominous predictions.
"Once towers are closed, the airports they serve may be next," NATCA president Paul Rinaldi said. "Additionally, we believe the delay estimates provided by the FAA are conservative and the potential for disruptions could be much higher. Every one of these actions by the FAA will have an impact far beyond inconveniencing travelers. Local economies will be diminished, military exercises will be cancelled and jobs will be lost. There's no telling how long these effects will be felt because many of these service reductions may not be reversed."
LaHood stressed today that "obviously, as always safety, is our top priority." That said, he added that he expects customers to be very angry.
"Nobody likes a delay. Nobody likes waiting in line," he said. "If we can't get our hamburger within five minutes... you know what happens. They start calling their member of Congress."
Most members of Congress agree the sequester cuts should be averted, but they've been incapable of agreeing how to do so. Democrats want to replace the cuts with a plan that includes some new tax revenue and spending cuts. Republicans, however, say they refuse to raise any new tax revenue, after agreeing to some new revenues during the "fiscal cliff" debate.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said it's "factually incorrect" to say both parties are unwilling to compromise -- Democrats, he pointed out, are willing to make significant spending cuts while the GOP is obstinately against any new tax revenue.
LaHood, who repeatedly pointed out he served as a Republican in Congress for 14 years, said, "I think Republicans need to step up here... I'm telling them to come to the table and start talking to Democrats to figure out how do we solve this."
He said he's talked to about half a dozen Republican congressional offices about the impact the sequester will have on the Transportation Department, and their response is "not good. They get it."
The secretary said it was "nonsense" to suggest he was exaggerating the impact of the sequester.
"It's going to be very painful for the flying public," he said.
Accused murderer Jodi Arias believes she should be punished, but hopes she will not be sentenced to death, two of her closest friends told ABC News in an exclusive interview.
Ann Campbell and Donavan Bering have been a constant presence for Arias wth at least one of them sitting in the Phoenix, Ariz., courtroom along with Arias' family for almost every day of her murder trial. They befriended Arias after she first arrived in jail and believe in her innocence.
Arias admits killing her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander and lying for nearly two years about it, but insists she killed Alexander in self defense. She could face the death penalty if convicted of murder.
Jodi Arias Testimony: Prosecution's Cross-Examination Watch Video
Jodi Arias Remains Calm Under Cross-Examination Watch Video
Jodi Arias Doesn't Remember Stabbing Ex-Boyfriend Watch Video
Nevertheless, she is aware of the seriousness of her lies and deceitful behavior.
The women told ABC News that they understand that Arias needs to be punished and Arias understands that too.
"She does know that, you know, she does need to pay for the crime," Campbell said. "But I don't want her to die, and I know that she has so much to give back."
Catching Up on the Trial? Check Out ABC News' Jodi Arias Trial Coverage
The lies that Arias admits she told to police and her family have been devastating to her, Bering said.
""She said to me, 'I wish I didn't have to have lied. That destroyed me,'" Donovan said earlier this week. "Because now when it's so important for her to be believed, she has that doubt. But as she told me on the phone yesterday, she goes, 'I have nothing to lose.' So all she can do is go out there and tell the truth."
During Arias' nine days on the stand she has described in detail the oral, anal and phone sex that she and Alexander allegedly engaged in, despite being Mormons and trying to practice chastity. She also spelled out in excruciating detail what she claimed was Alexander's growing demands for sex, loyalty and subservience along with an increasingly violent temper.
Besides her two friends, Arias' mother and sometimes her father have been sitting in the front row of the courtroom during the testimony. It's been humiliating, Bering said.
"She's horrified. There's not one ounce of her life that's not out there, that's not open to the public. She's ashamed," she said.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday said he told President Barack Obama in a meeting that Japan would act calmly in its row with China over tiny islands in the East China Sea claimed by both Asian countries.
"I explained that we have always been dealing with this issue ... in a calm manner," he said through a translator, while sitting next to Obama in the White House Oval Office.
"We will continue to do so and we have always done so," he said.
Tension has raised fears of an unintended military incident near the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. Washington says the islets fall under a U.S.-Japan security pact, but it is eager to avoid a clash in the region.
Abe said the existence of the Japan-U.S. alliance was a stabilizing factor in the area.
"We agreed that we would stay in close coordination with each other in dealing with such issues and other issues," he said.
Obama, in his remarks to reporters, said Japan was one of the United States' closest allies. He said the two men would discuss trade and other economic issues and agreed that their top priority was economic growth.
Obama declined to answer a reporter's question on whether they would discuss the Japanese yen.
Expectations for Abe's economic programs, especially monetary easing, have cut some 10 percent off the yen's value against the U.S. dollar since Abe took office, raising concern that Japan is weakening its currency to export its way out of recession.
Obama and Abe also discussed North Korea and agreed to cooperate at the United Nations over the issue. Abe said the two men also talked about additional sanctions against North Korea, which tested a nuclear bomb last week in defiance of U.N. resolutions.
NEW YORK: Global oil prices fell more than $2 a barrel Thursday as traders worried over poor economic data, a potential end to US stimulus measures and signs of weaker-than-expected US crude demand.
A barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude for delivery in April dropped $2.38 to $92.84.
European benchmark Brent oil slid $2.07 to $113.53 a barrel.
It was the second day in a row in which crude prices fell sharply. Analysts said there was a general sense that the oil market has become too buoyant given the brittle state of the economy.
"The market had some vertigo at these high levels, and the market is now correcting," said Andy Lebow, senior vice president for energy futures at Jefferies Bache.
Fresh economic data suggested weaker economic conditions that could result in lower demand for petroleum. The US Labour Department said initial jobless claims rose to 362,000 in the week ending February 16, more than the analyst estimate of 358,000.
Meanwhile, a Markit report on the eurozone business activity showed its purchasing managers index hit a two-month low at 47.3 in February, down from 48.6 the previous month.
Lebow said the oil market was also watching the Federal Reserve for any potential shift in policy. Minutes released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee showed a vigorous debate on whether to continue a bond-buying program that many analysts believe has supported higher oil prices.
The US government's Department of Energy (DoE) Thursday announced that American crude inventories rose by 4.1 million barrels in the week ending February 15.
That was more than double market expectations for a gain of 1.7 million barrels, according to analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires.
The film has incited riots all over the Arab world.
(Credit: Russia Today/YouTube; screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)
The Web has made it hard to censor things.
Principally because it is both so open and so Byzantine that there are simply so many things out there for a budding censor to sink his opprobrium into.
I can remember when I lived in Singapore and my NFL VHS's -- mailed to me from Switzerland -- were pored over by men and women with extremely sharp eyes and ears that became highly attuned to the sound of John Madden saying "Boom!"
So imagine how much hard work the world's online censors are having to do.
Egypt has reportedly come up with an idea to solve this problem. It comes from our most modern thoughts and times. It is called crowdsourcing.
More Technically Incorrect
Indeed, Fast Company is reporting that the country's National Telecommunications Registry Agency is encouraging ordinary citizens to register any instances of blasphemy that they might encounter.
This is in conjunction with the outrage over the film "The Innocence of Muslims" and consists of simply indicating the URL of an allegedly blasphemous site, in order for officials to review it.
A few days ago, there were reports that the Egyptian government was trying to shut down YouTube over copies of this movie that were circulating on the site.
The odd thing about "The Innocence of Muslims" is that hardly anyone has actually seen it and everything that seems to surround it -- from its dubious director to the actors who claim they had no idea what the movie really was -- reeks of a very bad scene from "Wag The Dog."
Still, this is hardly the first time the principle of crowdsourcing government action has been witnessed.
Ordinary citizens have often been encouraged to participate in keeping their nations free of whatever their government deemed was deleterious.
The Web merely makes governments believe that more citizens will participate.
Sequestration poses threat to government agency budgets
For the first time since the waning days of the "fiscal cliff" battle in late December, President Obama reached out to congressional Republican leaders to talk about next week's impending budget cuts known as the sequester.
"He placed calls earlier today to [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell and [House] Speaker [John] Boehner," White House spokesman Jay Carney announced today. "Had good conversations, but I have no further readout of those calls for you."
Both Boehner's and McConnell's offices confirmed the calls took place but neither would give details about what was discussed. An aide to Boehner said "the last substantive conversation" he had with the president was on Dec. 28; McConnell's office told CBS News it was Mr. Obama's first outreach to McConnell since New Year's Eve.
Today on Rev. Al Sharpton's radio show, Mr. Obama said, "We continue to reach out to the Republicans and say 'this is not going to be good for the economy and it's not going to be good for ordinary people,' but I don't know if they're going to move. And that's what we're going to have to try to keep pushing over the next seven, eight days."
"Whether or not we can move Republicans at this point to do the right thing is what we're still trying to gauge," Mr. Obama said.
The calls come a day after Boehner wrote an op-ed criticizing the president charging that the public "might not realize from Mr. Obama's statements is that [the sequester] is a product of the president's own failed leadership."
The $1.2 trillion sequester cuts, which were initially set to kick in on Jan. 1, emerged out of Congress' 2011 budget negotiations. Congress agreed that if a congressional "supercommittee" couldn't come up with an acceptable deficit reduction plan, Congress would just slash $1.2 trillion from the budget over 10 years -- half coming from defense spending and half from non-defense. Nearly everyone in Washington agrees that indiscriminately slashing $1.2 trillion would damage the economy, but lawmakers can't agree on a deficit reduction package with which to replace the cuts.
Given the economic damage the sequester would inflict, Congress this year stalled the cuts for two months -- which is why they're set to go into effect on March 1. Unless Congress acts before then, $85 billion in across-the-board cuts will kick in this year.
Police believe an altercation at a Las Vegas hotel led to a deadly drive-by shooting on the occupants of a Maserati sports car on the city's glitzy strip early this morning that left three people dead, including two who died when their taxi was struck by the careening sports car and exploded into flames.
The occupants of a Range Rover SUV shot at two people in the Maserati, which caused a multi-car accident. Police have not released the model of the Maserati, but the price of a new Maserati ranges from $123,000 to $142,000.
When asked if authorities knew any more about the altercation that led to the shooting, Officer Bill Cassell of the Las Vegas Metropolitan police said, "We believe we do at this point, but we are not putting that information out."
Cassell could not yet say which hotel the altercation took place at. He said police are planning on releasing more information later today.
Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun/AP Photo
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Police said that they believe a group of men riding in a black Range Rover Sport SUV pulled up alongside the Maserati around 4:20 a.m. today and fired shots into the car, striking the driver and passenger, according to Officer Jose Hernandez of the Las Vegas Metropolitan police department.
The Maserati then swerved through an intersection, hitting at least four other cars. One car that was struck, a taxi with a driver and passenger in it, caught on fire and burst into flames, trapping both occupants, Hernandez said.
The SUV then fled the scene, according to cops.
The driver of the Maserati died from his gunshot wounds at University Medical Center shortly after the shooting, according to Sgt. John Sheahan.
The driver and passenger of the taxi both died in the car fire.
At least three individuals, including the passenger of the Maserati, were injured during the shooting and car crashes and are being treated at UMC hospital.
Police are scouring surveillance video from the area, including from the strip's major casinos, to try and identify the Range Rover and its occupants, according to police.
They do not yet know why the Range Rovers' occupants fired shots at the Maserati or whether the cars had local plates or were from out of state.
No bystanders were hit by gunfire, Hernandez said.
"We're currently looking for a black Range Rover Sport, with large black rims and some sort of dealership advertising or advertisement plates," Hernandez said. "This is an armed and dangerous vehicle."
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority had no immediate comment about the safety of tourists in the wake of the shooting today.
WASHINGTON: Lance Armstrong said Wednesday that he will not cooperate with a US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) investigation into dope cheats in cycling but would be willing to help other anti-doping inquiries.
The move greatly diminishes Armstrong's chances of having his life ban from World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-sanctioned sport reduced even as it forces USADA to move ahead without his help in looking into others involved in doping.
"For several reasons, Lance will not participate in USADA's efforts to selectively conduct American prosecutions that only demonize selected individuals while failing to address the 95 percent of the sport over which USADA has no jurisdiction," Armstrong said in a statement released through attorney Tim Herman.
Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles after a USADA probe uncovered overwhelming evidence he was at the heart of a major doping conspiracy, including testimony from 26 witnesses, was released last October.
After admitting in a television interview last month that the titles he won from 1999-2005 were helped by performance-enhancing substances, Armstrong said he would cooperate with anti-doping officials.
He repeated that offer on Wednesday even as he made it clear he would not go through USADA to do so.
"Lance is willing to cooperate fully and has been very clear: He will be the first man through the door, and once inside will answer every question, at an international tribunal formed to comprehensively address pro cycling, an almost exclusively European sport," the statement said.
"We remain hopeful that an international effort will be mounted, and we will do everything we can to facilitate that result."
USADA chief executive Travis T. Tygart had given Armstrong a February 6 deadline to testify under oath on what he knew about such subjects as cycling team manager Johan Bruyneel's role in the conspiracy, details of how the scheme unfolded or if International Cycling Union (UCI) officials knew about it.
Armstrong said he would not be able to meet that deadline so Tygart extended the deadline to Wednesday, only to learn Armstrong would not be coming when the disgraced cyclist released his statement to the media.
"Today we learned from the media that Mr. Armstrong is choosing not to come in and be truthful and that he will not take the opportunity to work toward righting his wrongs in sport," Tygart said in a statement.
"At this time we are moving forward with our investigation without him and we will continue to work closely with WADA and other appropriate and responsible international authorities to fulfill our promise to clean athletes to protect their right to compete on a drug free playing field."
Failing to cooperate with USADA all-but dooms Armstrong's chance of reducing his life ban to an eight-year ban, only a possibility for providing substantial assistance to anti-doping authorities under WADA's code.
"We have provided Mr. Armstrong several opportunities to assist in our ongoing efforts to clean up the sport of cycling," Tygart said.
"Following his recent television interview, we again invited him to come in and provide honest information and he was informed in writing by WADA that this was the appropriate avenue for him if he wanted to be part of the solution.
"Over the last few weeks he has led us to believe that he wanted to come in and assist USADA, but was worried of potential criminal and civil liability if he did so."
Armstrong, 41, faces two major lawsuits that could be impacted by any testimony he gives under oath.
A Texas insurance firm sued Armstrong on February 7 seeking $12 million for bonus money paid to Armstrong for the Tour de France triumphs that are now null and void.
Former Armstrong teammate Floyd Landis, himself an admitted dope cheat who lost the 2006 Tour de France crown because of doping, is suing Armstrong on grounds that Armstrong deceived sponsors US Postal Service by claiming to be winning his titles without using performance-enhancing drugs.
In his television confessional to Oprah Winfrey last month, Armstrong contradicted several parts of USADA's investigation, saying he had stopped doping after 2005 and was not a ringleader in the doping programme.
Tygart, in a later television interview, said Armstrong had lied to Winfrey because USADA evidence showed he was doping when he rode in the Tour de France two final times in 2009 and 2010.
According to Tygart, expert reports based on the variation of Armstrong's blood values make it a "one to a million chance that it was due to something other than doping."
Ick? Actually, this cell phone appears to be one of the cleaner of the bunch.
(Credit: Simon Park/University of Surrey)
It's not news that cell phones harbor bacteria, but there's a difference between knowing that about your device and seeing the germs up close in all their furry, florid glory.
Molecular biology undergraduates at the U.K.'s University of Surrey recently got a stark view of just how much bacteria crawls their phones when instructor Simon Park had them imprint them onto petri dishes filled with a bacteriological growth medium and wait a few days to see what bloomed.
Spoiler alert: The experiment turned up lots of bugs, though Park says most of the bacteria were harmless varieties normally found on the skin. Disease-carrying bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus were also found, however.
"The ecological niche on the body for Staphylococcus aureus is the nostrils, so a furtive pick of the nose, and quick text after, and you end up with this pathogen on your smartphone," Park told Wired.co.uk.
Park -- who dabbles in all sorts of microphotography of natural phenomena -- describes himself as a "poet scientist who works with living matter in order to explore the inherent creativity of the natural world and to reveal its subtle, and usually hidden, narratives."
Indeed, it's as if each bacteria-covered cell phone tells its own story. Click through the gallery below to see what tales they have to tell.
PRETORIA, South AfricaThe investigating officer in the Oscar Pistorius murder case made an error in his court testimony Wednesday when he identified a substance found in the athlete's bedroom as testosterone, the national prosecutor said.
Medupe Simasiku, the spokesman for South Africa's National Prosecution Agency, told The Associated Press that it was too early to identify the substance as it was still undergoing laboratory tests.
"It is not certain (what it is) until the forensics." Simasiku said, adding that it wasn't certain if it was "a legal or an illegal medication for now."
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Pistorius case: Police say they found testosterone, needles in bathroom
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Olympic athlete charged with murder
Detective Warrant Officer Hilton Botha, the investigating officer, said earlier in court during Pistorius' bail hearing that police found two boxes of testosterone and needles in the bedroom of the Olympic athlete, who is charged with premediated murder in the Feb. 14 shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
It was a mistake to identify the substance now, Simasiku said, as it was still unknown. He said the discovery of needles was in Botha's statement, however.
Pistorius denies murder, saying in an affidavit Tuesday that the Valentine's Day shooting was accidental because he thought there was an intruder in his house.
In response to Botha's claim, the defense said Wednesday, the second day of Pistorius' bail hearing at Pretoria Magistrate's Court, that the substance found was not a steroid or a banned substance but an herbal remedy.
Pistorius' lawyer Barry Roux had slammed Botha's testimony earlier, saying police "take every piece of evidence and try to extract the most possibly negative connotation and present it to the court."
International Paralympic Committee spokesman Craig Spence told the AP soon after the substance claims that Pistorius — the world's most famous disabled athlete — was drug tested twice in London last year by the IPC, on Aug. 25 and Sept. 8. Both test results were negative, Spence said.
The Aug. 25 test was an out-of-competition test, and the Sept. 8 one in-competition, a day before the end of the London Paralympics.
The International Olympic Committee said it didn't test Pistorius at the Olympics, but referred the AP to the IPC's negative tests. International athletics body the IAAF and the World Anti-Doping Agency would not comment because it was an ongoing legal case.
"Bearing in mind the ongoing police investigation, WADA must refrain from making any statement at present," WADA said.
Giving testimony, Botha said police made the discovery of testosterone in bedroom of the double-amputee runner and multiple Paralympic champion's upscale Pretoria house after the shooting of Steenkamp but offered no further details or explanation. State prosecutor Gerrie Nel also had to correct Botha when he initially called it "steroids."
Simasiku later told the AP that the detective, Botha, thought it was testosterone by reading the first few letters of the label.
Pistorius' lawyer Roux, said on questioning the detective — who has 16 years' experience as a detective and 24 years with the police — that it was not a banned substance and that police were trying to give the discovery a "negative connotation."
"It is an herbal remedy," Roux said. "It is not a steroid and it is not a banned substance."
The debate over the substance added another dramatic twist to a case that has already gripped the world's attention since Steenkamp's killing at Pistorius' home last Thursday.
Prosecutor Nel also had to clarify that police were not saying that Pistorius was using the substance, only that it was discovered along with the needles in his bedroom.
Pistorius said Tuesday in a written affidavit and read in court by Roux that he mistakenly killed model Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day when he fired four shots into a locked toilet door, hitting his girlfriend three times after thinking she was a dangerous intruder.
The prosecution claims Pistorius intended to kill the 29-year-old Steenkamp after they had a fight.
Accused murderer Jodi Arias told an Arizona jury today that her ex-boyfriend became enraged when she dropped his new camera, body slammed her to a tile floor and threatened to kill her, and in the frantic struggle that followed she remembers a gun being fired accidentally but does not remember stabbing him.
Her version of Travis Alexander's death was the culmination of more than a week of testimony in which Arias, 32, has tried to convince the jury she killed Alexander, 27, in self-defense during a violent episode in what she has described as an increasingly abusive relationship. She is on trial for murder and could face the death penalty if convicted.
Arias said that Alexander lost his temper when she dropped his camera on his bathroom floor while taking nude photos of him. Enraged, he picked her up and body slammed her onto the floor, screaming at her, she told the jury.
She ran to his closet to get away from him, and then exited through the closet's second door into Alexander's office where she grabbed a gun that she knew he kept on a top shelf.
She tried to keep running, but as Alexander came after her she said she pointed the gun at him in an attempt to ward him off.
"I pointed it at him with both of my hands. I thought that would stop him, but he just kept running. He got like a linebacker, he got low and grabbed my waist, and as he was lunging at me the gun went off. I didn't mean to shoot. I didn't even think I was holding the trigger," she said.
Jodi Arias Testifies Ex Assaulted Her, Broke Her Fingers Watch Video
Jodi Arias Gives Explicit Details About Doomed Relationship Watch Video
Jodi Arias Murder Trial: Why She Said She Did It Watch Video
"But he lunged at me and we fell really hard toward the tile wall, so at this point I didn't even know if he had been shot. I didn't see anything different. We were struggling, wrestling, he's a wrestler.
"So he's grabbing at my clothes and I got up, and he's screaming angry, and after I broke away from him. He said 'f***ing kill you bitch,'" she testified.
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Asked by her lawyer whether she was convicted Alexander intended to kill her, Arias answered, "For sure. He'd almost killed me once before and now he's saying he was going to." Arias had earlier testified that Alexander had once choked her.
Arias said that she has no memory of stabbing or slashing Alexander whose body was later found with 27 stab wounds, a slit throat and two bullets in his head. She said she only remembered standing in the bathroom, dropping the knife on the tile floor, realizing the "horror" of what had happened, and screaming.
"I have no memory of stabbing him," she said. "There's a huge gap. I don't know if I blacked out or what, but there's a huge gap. The most clear memory I have after that point is driving in the desert."
Arias said that she remembered driving away from Mesa, Ariz., where she had killed Alexander, and realizing that he was likely dead. She said she threw the gun she used out of her window and into the desert and kept driving to Utah, where she was supposed to meet up with friends and a new romantic interest.
"I don't remember anything else after that. I just couldn't believe what had happened, that I couldn't take anything back that had happened, I couldn't rewind the clock," she said.
Arias' defense rests heavily on the description of Alexander's death, as her attorneys have argued she was forced to kill Alexander in self-defense. She has described what she said were Alexander's increasingly abusive and rage-filled outbursts toward her in the weeks leading up his death.
The prosecution alleges that Arias murdered Alexander in a jealous rage, and has attempted to prove that the killing was pre-meditated. They will cross-examine Arias after she is done testifying for the defense.
SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's government resigned on Wednesday after mass protests against high power prices and falling living standards, joining a long list of European administrations felled by austerity during four years of debt crisis.
Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, an ex-bodyguard who took power in 2009 on pledges to root out graft and raise incomes in the European Union's poorest member, faces a tough task of propping up eroding support ahead of an expected early election.
Wage and pension freezes and tax hikes have bitten deep in a country where earnings are less than half the EU average and tens of thousands of Bulgarians have rallied in protests that have turned violent, chanting "Mafia" and "Resign".
Moves by Borisov on Tuesday to blame foreign utility companies for the rise in the cost of heating homes was to no avail and an eleventh day of marches saw 15 people hospitalized and 25 arrested in clashes with police.
"My decision to resign will not be changed under any circumstances. I do not build roads so that blood is shed on them," said Borisov, who began his career guarding the Black Sea state's communist dictator Todor Zhivkov.
A karate black belt, Borisov has cultivated a Putin-like "can-do" image since he entered politics as Sofia mayor in 2005 and would connect with voters by showing up on the capital's rutted streets to oversee the repair of pot-holes.
But critics say he has often skirted due process, sometimes to the benefit of those close to him, and his swift policy U-turns have wounded the public's trust.
The spark for the protests was high electricity bills, after the government raised prices by 13 percent last July. But it quickly spilled over into wider frustration with Borisov and political elites with perceived links to shadowy businesses.
"He made my day," said student Borislav Hadzhiev in central Sofia, commenting on Borisov's resignation. "The truth is that we're living in an extremely poor country."
POLLS, PRICES
The prime minister's final desperate moves on Tuesday included cutting power prices and risking a diplomatic row with the Czech Republic by punishing companies including CEZ, moves which conflicted with EU norms on protection of investors and due process.
CEZ officials were hopeful on Wednesday that it would be able to avoid losing its distribution license after all and officials from the Bulgarian regulator said the company would not be punished if it dealt with breaches of procedure.
But shares in what is central Europe's largest publicly-listed company fell another 1 percent on Wednesday.
If pushed through, the fines for CEZ and two other foreign-owned firms will not encourage other investors in Bulgaria, who already have to navigate complicated bureaucracy and widespread corruption and organized crime to take advantage of Bulgaria's 10-percent flat tax rate.
Financial markets reacted negatively to the turbulence on Wednesday. The cost of insuring Bulgaria's debt rose to a three-month high and debt yields rose some 15 basis points, though the country's low deficit of 0.5 percent of gross domestic product means there is little risk to the lev currency's peg against the euro.
Borisov's interior minister indicated that elections originally planned for July would probably be pulled forward by saying that his rightist GERB party would not take part in talks to form a new government.
MILLIONS GONE
GERB's woes have echoes in another ex-communist EU member, Slovenia, where demonstrators have taken to the streets and added pressure to a crumbling conservative government.
A small crowd gathered in support of Borisov outside Sofia's parliament, which is expected to approve his resignation on Thursday, while bigger demonstrations against the premier were expected in the evening.
Unemployment in the country of 7.3 million is far from the highs hit in the decade after the end of communism but remains at 11.9 percent. Average salaries are stuck at around 800 levs ($550) a month and millions have emigrated, leaving swathes of the country depopulated and little hope for those who remain.
GERB's popularity has held up well and it still led in the latest polls before protests grew in size last weekend, but analysts say the opposition Socialists should draw strength from the demonstrations.
The leftists, successors to Bulgaria's communist party, have proposed tax cuts and wage hikes and are likely to raise questions about public finances if elected.
(Additional reporting by Angel Krasimirov; editing by Patrick Graham)
SAN FRANCISCO: Apple on Tuesday said it was hit by hackers who wormed their way into the California company's system but evidently failed to steal any data.
The maker of iPhones, iPads, iPods, and Macintosh computers said it is working with law enforcement officials to hunt down the hackers, who appeared tied to a series of recent cyber attacks on US technology firms.
"The malware was employed in an attack against Apple and other companies, and was spread through a website for software developers," Apple said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.
"We identified a small number of systems within Apple that were infected and isolated them from our network."
The malicious software, or malware, took advantage of vulnerability in a Java program used as a "plug-in" for Web browsing programs.
A "small number" of computer systems at Apple were infected but they were isolated from the main network, according the Silicon Valley based company.
"There is no evidence that any data left Apple," Apple said. "We are working closely with law enforcement to find the source of the malware."
Apple took the added steps of releasing a Macintosh computer operating system update that disables Java software that hasn't been used for 35 days or longer and a tool for finding and removing the malware.
Word of hackers hitting Apple came just days after leading social network Facebook said it was "targeted in a sophisticated attack" last month, but that it found no evidence any user data was compromised.
Facebook said Friday that the malware came from an infected website of a mobile developer and that "we remediated all infected machines, informed law enforcement, and began a significant investigation that continues to this day."
It was unclear whether it was the same website blamed for the attack on Apple.
The attackers used a previously unseen exploit taking advantage of a flaw in Java software made by Oracle, which was alerted to the situation and released a patch the first of February, according to Facebook.
The hackers appeared to be targeting developers and technology firms based on the website they chose to booby-trap with malicious code.
"Facebook was not alone in this attack," the Northern California-based company said.
"It is clear that others were attacked and infiltrated recently as well."
Early this month Twitter said it was hammered by a cyber attack similar to those that recently hit major Western news outlets, and that the passwords of about 250,000 users were stolen.
"This attack was not the work of amateurs, and we do not believe it was an isolated incident," Twitter information security director Bob Lord said in a blog post at the time.
Lord said there was an "uptick in large-scale security attacks aimed at US technology and media companies."
The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal recently said that they had been hacked, and pointed to attackers from China.
Brazen cyberattacks on US media and technology firms revived concerns over Chinese hackers, who analysts say are likely linked to the secretive Beijing government.
China's army controls hundreds if not thousands of virulent and cutting-edge hackers, according to a report Tuesday by a US Internet security firm that traced a host of cyberattacks to an anonymous building in Shanghai.
Mandiant said its hundreds of investigations showed that groups hacking into US newspapers, government agencies, and companies "are based primarily in China and that the Chinese government is aware of them".
The report focused on one group, which it called "APT1" from the initials "Advanced Persistent Threat."
"We believe that APT1 is able to wage such a long-running and extensive cyber espionage campaign in large part because it receives direct government support," Mandiant said.
The group, it said, was believed to be a branch of the People's Liberation Army called Unit 61398, and digital signatures from its cyberattacks were traced back to the direct vicinity of a nondescript, 12-story building on the outskirts of Shanghai.
China's foreign ministry rejected "groundless accusations" of Chinese involvement in hacking and also said China was itself a major victim, with most overseas cyberattacks against it originating in the US.
The Pentagon declined to comment directly on the report but said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta voiced US dismay over digital threats in his visit to Beijing last year.
This little guy once packed enough of a punch to shatter a city's windows.
(Credit:
eBay/danieldeffo)
Capitalism is certainly alive and well in today's Russia, as demonstrated by the growing number of attempts to cash in on the recent and much-recorded (thanks to the help of ubiquitous Russian dashboard cams) meteor strike in Siberia.
The meteor that broke up over the city of Chelyabinsk while also producing a window-shattering sonic boom and momentarily outshining the sun has become a cash cow for many opportunistic folks now offering up purported fragments of the space stone on eBay and elsewhere online.
One eBay item that has already sold advertises quarter-size "samples from the scene of a meteorite" for $200 a pop.
That's got to make plenty of Russians thankful that the technology to vaporize rogue asteroids wasn't quite ready for action last week.
If $200's a little costly for your blood, the current bid on a handful of pebble-size pieces of the meteor allegedly composed of "stone and chondrite" is only $76.
After the meteor streaked across the sky, apparently crashing into a frozen lake more than 50 miles from Chelyabinsk, it was reported that thousands of people fanned out across the region looking for fragments and other evidence of impact.
It should go without saying that meteorite collectors should exercise a little bit of caveat emptor here, as it would be nearly impossible to verify that any spacey-looking rock is actually from the great Russian meteor of 2013 before making a purchase online.
With prices rising into the thousands of dollars for some larger chunks of the meteorite, it's a likely target for online fraudsters. And if anyone offers to throw in some great deals on Viagra or Cialis with your meteorite purchase, you'll definitely want to shop elsewhere.
Oscar Pistorius, the famed double amputee South African Olympian, has been charged by prosecutors with intentionally murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his Pretoria home.
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Pistorius: I thought girlfriend was a burglar
He has said it was an accident, that he mistook her for a burglar when he fired several rounds through a locked bathroom door with a 9mm pistol. When a judge ruled Tuesday that he could not outright dismiss the prosecution's premeditated murder charge, Pistorius told his side of the story to the court on the same day Steenkamp's family laid her to rest in coastal Port Elizabeth.
The following are the portions of the statement Pistorius' lawyers submitted to the court via an affadavit that offer his view of the tragic events of this past Valentine's Day:
16.2 I have been informed that I am accused of having committed the offence of murder. I deny the aforesaid allegation in the strongest terms.
16.3 I am advised that I do not have to deal with the merits of the case for purposes of the bail application. However, I believe that it is appropriate to deal with the merits in this application, particularly in view of the State's contention that I planned to murder Reeva. Nothing can be further from the truth and I have no doubt that it is not possible for the State to present objective facts to substantiate such an allegation, as there is no substance in the allegation. I do not know on what different facts the allegation of a premeditated murder could be premised and I respectfully request the State to furnish me with such alleged facts in order to allow me to refute such allegations.
16.4 On the 13th of February 2013 Reeva would have gone out with her friends and I with my friends. Reeva then called me and asked that we rather spend the evening at home. I agreed and we were content to have a quiet dinner together at home. By about 22h00 on 13 February 2013 we were in our bedroom. She was doing her yoga exercises and I was in bed watching television. My prosthetic legs were off. We were deeply in love and I could not be happier. I know she felt the same way. She had given me a present for Valentine's Day but asked me only to open it the next day.
16.5 After Reeva finished her yoga exercises she got into bed and we both fell asleep.
16.6 I am acutely aware of violent crime being committed by intruders entering homes with a view to commit crime, including violent crime. I have received death threats before. I have also been a victim of violence and of burglaries before. For that reason I kept my firearm, a 9 mm Parabellum, underneath my bed when I went to bed at night.
16.7 During the early morning hours of 14 February 2013, I woke up, went onto the balcony to bring the fan in and closed the sliding doors, the blinds and the curtains. I heard a noise in the bathroom and realised that someone was in the bathroom.
16.8 I felt a sense of terror rushing over me. There are no burglar bars across the bathroom window and I knew that contractors who worked at my house had left the ladders outside. Although I did not have my prosthetic legs on I have mobility on my stumps.
16.9 I believed that someone had entered my house. I was too scared to switch a light on.
16.10 I grabbed my 9mm pistol from underneath my bed. On my way to the bathroom I screamed words to the effect for him/them to get out of my house and for Reeva to phone the police. It was pitch dark in the bedroom and I thought Reeva was in bed.
16.11 I noticed that the bathroom window was open. I realised that the intruder/s was/were in the toilet because the toilet door was closed and I did not see anyone in the bathroom. I heard movement inside the toilet. The toilet is inside the bathroom and has a separate door.
16.12 It filled me with horror and fear of an intruder or intruders being inside the toilet. I thought he or they must have entered through the unprotected window. As I did not have my prosthetic legs on and felt extremely vulnerable, I knew I had to protect Reeva and myself. I believed that when the intruder/s came out of the toilet we would be in grave danger. I felt trapped as my bedroom door was locked and I have limited mobility on my stumps.
16.13 I fired shots at the toilet door and shouted to Reeva to phone the police. She did not respond and I moved backwards out of the bathroom, keeping my eyes on the bathroom entrance. Everything was pitch dark in the bedroom and I was still too scared to switch on a light. Reeva was not responding.
16.14 When I reached the bed, I realised that Reeva was not in bed. That is when it dawned on me that it could have been Reeva who was in the toilet. I returned to the bathroom calling her name. I tried to open the toilet door but it was locked. I rushed back into the bedroom and opened the sliding door exiting onto the balcony and screamed for help.
16.15 I put on my prosthetic legs, ran back to the bathroom and tried to kick the toilet door open. I think I must then have turned on the lights. I went back into the bedroom and grabbed my cricket bat to bash open the toilet door. A panel or panels broke off and I found the key on the floor and unlocked and opened the door. Reeva was slumped over but alive.
16.16 I battled to get her out of the toilet and pulled her into the bathroom. I phoned Johan Stander ("Stander") who was involved in the administration of the estate and asked him to phone the ambulance. I phoned Netcare and asked for help. I went downstairs to open the front door.
16.17 I returned to the bathroom and picked Reeva up as I had been told not to wait for the paramedics, but to take her to hospital. I carried her downstairs in order to take her to the hospital. On my way down Stander arrived. A doctor who lives in the complex also arrived. Downstairs, I tried to render the assistance to Reeva that I could, but she died in my arms.
16.18 I am absolutely mortified by the events and the devastating loss of my beloved Reeva. With the benefit of hindsight I believe that Reeva went to the toilet when I went out on the balcony to bring the fan in. I cannot bear to think of the suffering I have caused her and her family, knowing how much she was loved. I also know that the events of that tragic night were as I have described them and that in due course I have no doubt the police and expert investigators will bear this out.
Accused killer Jodi Arias described today a barrage of threatening text messages sent by her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, in which he told her he would exact "revenge" on her soon.
The messages show a growing discord between the pair in April 2008, less than two months before Arias killed Alexander in a bloody attack that she claims was self-defense.
"Do not call back," Alexander wrote in one message read aloud in court today. "I'm sick of you playing stupid and dealing with your childish issues. Bitter feelings are brewing in me for you, and if it keeps up I fear I will have a genuine dislike for you before I have a revenge."
"You don't care about anything that doesn't involve you, and I'm sick of it, and I don't want to deal with any of it," he said. "It's wearing me out and if it continues, just like I have to give you motivation to tell me the truth I'll give you motivation to quit screwing with me," he said.
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Timeline of the Jodi Arias Trial
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Arias is charged with murder for Alexander's death, and could face the death penalty if convicted. In her six days on the stand so far during her trial, Arias has described increasingly aggressive behavior from Alexander, who would show his "wrath" by kicking her in the ribs, cursing at her, and calling her names when they argued. One attack broke one of her fingers, Arias said, showing the court a permanently bent finger.
In one text message conversation, Alexander threatens Arias with "punishment." She explained on the stand that Alexander became obsessive about the identity of a stranger who told Arias that Alexander was cheating. A woman dining at the restaurant where Arias worked allegedly stopped her, identified herself as Marie, and told Arias about Alexander and another woman. Arias said she never learned the woman's identity.
"After tomorrow it's going to be really bad for you. It's time to spit it out," read one text message from Alexander about the woman's identity.
"I promise you the punishment will be better than the lie," read another.
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The threatening texts and aggressive behavior drove Arias to move away from where Alexander lived in Mesa, Ariz., back to her hometown of Yreka, Calif., she said.
"I told him we need to spend more time apart, but not to get him out of my life. I wanted us to be able to have a friendship," she said.
But Alexander continued to have explosive reactions in their relationship, especially when he found out she was spending time with another man or sending messages to a romantic interest online.
"At this point it was just pure wrath," she said.
Arias, 32, is expected to testify this afternoon about the events leading up to the day in June 2008 in which she drove to Alexander's house, had sex with him, and then killed him.
The testimony comes as the trial enters its eighth week in Phoenix. The prosecution has laid out its argument accusing Arias of killing Alexander, her former lover, in a jealous rage that left him with 27 stab wounds, a slashed throat, and two bullets in his head. They say the murder was premeditated and that Arias lied about her behavior until she was cornered by evidence, and then changed her story to killing him in self-defense.
Arias' attorneys are attempting to convince the jury that Alexander was a controlling, abusive "sexual deviant" who used Arias as his "sex slave."
AMMAN (Reuters) - A Syrian missile killed at least 20 people in a rebel-held district of Aleppo on Tuesday, opposition activists said, as the army turns to longer-range weapons after losing bases in the country's second-largest city.
The use of what opposition activists said was a large missile of the same type as Russian-made Scuds against an Aleppo residential district came after rebels overran army bases over the past two months from which troops had fired artillery.
As the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, now a civil war, nears its two-year mark, rebels also landed three mortar bombs in the rarely-used presidential palace compound in the capital Damascus, opposition activists said on Tuesday.
The United Nations estimates 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict between largely Sunni Muslim rebels and Assad's supporters among his minority Alawite sect. An international diplomatic deadlock has prevented intervention, as the war worsens sectarian tensions throughout the Middle East.
A Russian official said on Tuesday that Moscow, which is a long-time ally of Damascus, would not immediately back U.N. investigators' calls for some Syrian leaders to face the International Criminal Court for war crimes.
Moscow has blocked three U.N. Security Council resolutions that would have increased pressure on Assad.
Casualties are not only being caused directly by fighting, but also by disruption to infrastructure and Syria's economy.
An estimated 2,500 people in a rebel-held area of northeastern Deir al-Zor province have been infected with typhoid, which causes diarrhea and can be fatal, due to drinking contaminated water from the Euphrates River, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
"There is not enough fuel or electricity to run the pumps so people drink water from the Euphrates which is contaminated, probably with sewage," the WHO representative in Syria, Elisabeth Hoff, told Reuters by telephone.
The WHO had no confirmed reports of deaths so far.
BURIED UNDER RUBBLE
In northern Aleppo, opposition activists said 25 people were missing under rubble of three buildings hit by a several-meter-long missile. They said remains of the weapon showed it to be a Scud-type missile of the type government forces increasingly use in Aleppo and in Deir a-Zor.
NATO said in December Assad's forces fired Scud-type missiles. It did not specify where they landed but said their deployment was an act of desperation.
Bodies were being gradually dug up, Mohammad Nour, an activist, said by phone from Aleppo.
"Some, including children, have died in hospitals," he said.
Video footage showed dozens of people scouring for victims and inspecting damage. A body was pulled from under collapsed concrete. At a nearby hospital, a baby said to have been dug out from wreckage was shown dying in the hands of doctors.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
Opposition activists also reported fighting near the town of Nabak on the Damascus-Homs highway, another route vital for supplying forces in the capital loyal to Assad, whose family has ruled Syria since the 1960s.
Rebels moved anti-aircraft guns into the eastern Damascus district of Jobar, adjacent to the city centre, as they seek to secure recent gains, an activist said.
"The rebels moved truck-mounted anti-aircraft guns to Jobar and are now firing at warplanes rocketing the district," said Damascus activist Moaz al-Shami.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told a news conference a U.N. war crimes report, which accuses military leaders and rebels of terrorizing civilians, was "not the path we should follow ... at this stage it would be untimely and unconstructive."
Syria is not party to the Rome Statute that established the ICC and the only way the court can investigate the situation is if it receives a referral from the Security Council, where Moscow is a permanent member.
LONDON: Colourful Italian coach Paolo di Canio resigned as manager of financially-troubled English League One side Swindon on Monday after the Football League failed to grant approval to the prospective new owners of the club by a deadline he had imposed.
The 44-year-old former AC Milan, Juventus, Lazio and Celtic striker had been incensed earlier this month after the club's best player Matt Ritchie was sold to promotion rivals Bournemouth for £500,000 on transfer deadline day.
However, Di Canio, who famously served a long suspension for shoving over referee Paul Alcock while playing for Sheffield Wednesday in 1998, had agreed to stay on in the hope that the league would approve the new owners.
Their arrival on the scene at the end of January helped the club stave off going into administration but their approval has taken a longer time to come from the Football League than Di Canio had hoped.
"I've been told approval has not been granted yet (as of 1700GMT) and therefore my temporary arrangement has ended and my resignation stands," said Di Canio, who took over in May 2011.
Ritchie's departure came after weeks of financial uncertainty for Swindon, who have debts of over £9 million.
In January, Di Canio, who led Swindon to promotion from League Two as champions last season and are presently sixth in League One, offered to give the club £30,000 of his own money to keep several loan signings.
But days later owner Andrew Black put the club up for sale and on transfer deadline day Di Canio saw moves for three players fall through because the Football League wouldn't clear the deals.
In Japan, gamers can now choose from silver, white, black, red, and blue PS Vitas.
(Credit: Sony Computer Entertainment Japan)
With a little less than 48 hours to go before the world gets a glimpse at the PlayStation 4, there's some news for the PS Vita coming out of Japan today.
Sony announced that the company lowered and equalized the price point for the Wi-Fi and 3G/Wi-Fi-versions of the PS Vita to 19,980 yen ($212) from 24,980 yen ($265) and 29,980 yen ($319), respectively. Sony didn't carry the announcement over to the U.S., but it's possible that the company may use a portion of its PlayStation event in New York on February 20 to announce a similar price cut.
Naturally, those prices depend on currency conversions and don't represent the effect of a Vita price cut in the States, which could see prices for the handheld fall to $199 or less.
In related news, Sony introduced a new color, Ice Silver, for the PS Vita. The Wi-Fi-only gaming device features the same innards as a regular Vita and hits Japan on February 28.
These announcements came way by a video feed shown to Japanese consumers today. The video contained many previews for upcoming Vita titles, including highly-anticipated role-playing games such as Valhalla Knights 3, Eiyuu Densetsu: Sen no Kiseki, Dragon's Crown, and several others.
This long-awaited preview of Final Fantasy X HD for Vita generated a lot of buzz:
LOS ANGELES Jerry Buss, the Los Angeles Lakers' playboy owner who shepherded the NBA team to 10 championships from the Showtime dynasty of the 1980s to the Kobe Bryant era, died Monday. He was 80.
He died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said Bob Steiner, his assistant.
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Jerry Buss: 1933-2013
Buss had been hospitalized for most of the past 18 months while undergoing cancer treatment, but the immediate cause of death was kidney failure, Steiner said.
With his condition apparently worsening in recent weeks, several prominent former Lakers visited Buss to say goodbye, including Bryant, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
"The NBA has lost a visionary owner whose influence on our league is incalculable and will be felt for decades to come," NBA Commissioner David Stern said. "More importantly, we have lost a dear and valued friend."
Under Buss' leadership since 1979, the Lakers became Southern California's most beloved sports franchise and a worldwide extension of Hollywood glamour. Buss acquired, nurtured and befriended a staggering array of talented players and basketball minds during his Hall of Fame tenure.
"He's meant everything to me in my career in terms of taking a risk on a 17-year-old kid coming out of high school and then believing in me my entire career," Bryant said Friday during the NBA's All-Star Game weekend. "And then for the game itself, the brand of basketball that he implemented in Showtime carried the league."
James Worthy, the Lakers' Hall of Fame forward, tweeted:
Few owners in sports history can approach Buss' accomplishments with the Lakers, who made the NBA finals 16 times through 2011 during his nearly 34 years in charge, winning 10 titles between 1980 and 2010. The Lakers easily are the NBA's winningest franchise since he bought the club, which is now run largely by Jim Buss and Jeanie Buss, two of his six children.
"We not only have lost our cherished father, but a beloved man of our community and a person respected by the world basketball community," the Buss family said in a statement issued by the Lakers.
"It was our father's often-stated desire and expectation that the Lakers remain in the Buss family. The Lakers have been our lives as well, and we will honor his wish and do everything in our power to continue his unparalleled legacy."
Buss always referred to the Lakers as his extended family, and his players rewarded his fanlike excitement with devotion, friendship and two hands full of championship rings. Working with front-office executives Jerry West, Bill Sharman and Mitch Kupchak, Buss spent lavishly to win his titles despite lacking a huge personal fortune, often running the NBA's highest payroll while also paying high-profile coaches Pat Riley and Phil Jackson.
Always an innovative businessman, Buss paid for the Lakers through both their wild success and his own groundbreaking moves to raise revenue. He co-founded a basic-cable sports television network and sold the naming rights to the Forum at times when both now-standard strategies were unusual, further justifying his induction to the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.
"Dr. Jerry Buss was a cornerstone of the Los Angeles sports community and his name will always be synonymous with his beloved Lakers," Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said. "It was through his stewardship that the Lakers brought `Showtime' basketball and numerous championship rings to this great city. Today we mourn the loss and celebrate the life of a man who helped shape the modern landscape of sports in L.A."
Johnson and fellow Hall of Famers Abdul-Jabbar and Worthy formed lifelong bonds with Buss during the Lakers' run to five titles in nine years in the 1980s, when the Lakers earned a reputation as basketball's most exciting team with their flamboyant Showtime style. The buzz extended throughout the Forum, where Buss used the Laker Girls, a brass band and promotions to keep Los Angeles fans interested in all four quarters of their games.
Jackson then led O'Neal and Bryant to a three-peat from 2000-02, rekindling the Lakers' mystique, before Bryant and Pau Gasol won two more titles under Jackson in 2009 and 2010.
Although Buss gained fame and fortune with the Lakers, he also was a scholar, Renaissance man and bon vivant who epitomized California cool — and a certain Los Angeles lifestyle — for his entire public life.
Buss rarely appeared in public without at least one attractive, much younger woman on his arm at USC football games, boxing matches at the Forum, poker tournaments — and, of course, Lakers games from his private box at Staples Center, which was built under his watch. In failing health recently, Buss hadn't attended a Lakers game this season.
Buss earned a Ph.D. in chemistry at age 24 and had careers in aerospace and real estate development before getting into sports. With money from his real-estate ventures and a good bit of creative accounting, Buss bought the then-struggling Lakers, the NHL's Los Angeles Kings and both clubs' arena — the Forum — from Jack Kent Cooke in a $67.5 million deal that was the largest sports transaction in history at the time.
Last month, Forbes estimated the Lakers were worth $1 billion, second most in the NBA.
Buss also helped change televised sports by co-founding the Prime Ticket network in 1985, receiving a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006 for his work in television. Breaking the contemporary model of subscription services for televised sports, Buss' Prime Ticket put beloved broadcaster Chick Hearn and the Lakers' home games on basic cable.
Buss also sold the naming rights to the Forum in 1988 to Great Western Savings & Loan — another deal that was ahead of its time.
Born in Salt Lake City, Gerald Hatten Buss was raised in poverty in Wyoming before improving his life through education. He attended USC for graduate school, eventually becoming a chemistry professor and working as a chemist for the Bureau of Mines before his life took a turn into wealth and sports.
The former mathematician claimed his fortune grew out of a $1,000 real-estate investment in a West Los Angeles apartment building with partner Frank Mariani, an aerospace engineer and co-worker.
Buss purchased Cooke's entire Los Angeles sports empire in 1979, including a 13,000-acre ranch in Kern County. Buss' love of basketball was the motivation for his purchase, and he immediately worked to transform the Lakers — who had won just one NBA title since moving west from Minneapolis in 1960 — into a star-powered endeavor befitting Hollywood.
"One of the first things I tried to do when I bought the team was to make it an identification for this city, like Motown in Detroit," he told the Los Angeles Times in 2008. "I try to keep that identification alive. I'm a real Angeleno. I want us to be part of the community."
Buss' plans immediately worked: Johnson, Abdul-Jabbar and coach Paul Westhead led the Lakers to the 1980 title. Johnson's ball-handling wizardry and Abdul-Jabbar's smooth inside game made for an attractive style of play evoking Hollywood flair and West Coast sophistication.
Riley, the former broadcaster who fit the L.A. image perfectly with his slick-backed hair and good looks, was surprisingly promoted by Buss early in the 1981-82 season after West declined to co-coach the team. Riley became one of the best coaches in NBA history, leading the Lakers to four straight NBA finals and four titles, with Worthy, Michael Cooper, Byron Scott and A.C. Green playing major roles.
Overall, the Lakers made the finals nine times in Buss' first 12 seasons while rekindling the NBA's best rivalry with the Boston Celtics, and Buss basked in the worldwide celebrity he received from his team's achievements. His womanizing and partying became Hollywood legend, with even his players struggling to keep up with Buss' lifestyle.
Johnson's HIV diagnosis and retirement in 1991 staggered Buss and the Lakers, the owner recalled in 2011. The Lakers struggled through much of the 1990s, going through seven coaches and making just one conference finals appearance in an eight-year stretch despite the 1996 arrivals of O'Neal, who signed with Los Angeles as a free agent, and Bryant, the 17-year-old high schooler acquired in a draft-week trade.
Shaq and Kobe didn't reach their potential until Buss persuaded Jackson, the Chicago Bulls' six-time NBA champion coach, to take over the Lakers in 1999. Los Angeles immediately won the next three NBA titles in brand-new Staples Center, AEG's state-of-the-art downtown arena built with the Lakers as the primary tenant.
After the Lakers traded O'Neal in 2004, they hovered in mediocrity again until acquiring Gasol in a heist of a trade with Memphis in early 2008. Los Angeles made the next three NBA finals, winning two more titles.
Through the Lakers' frequent successes and occasional struggles, Buss never stopped living his Hollywood dream. He was an avid poker player, frequently participating in high-stakes tournaments, and a fixture on the Los Angeles club scene well into his 70s, when a late-night drunk-driving arrest in 2007 — with a 23-year-old woman in the passenger seat of his Mercedes-Benz — prompted him to cut down on his partying.
Buss owned the NHL's Kings from 1979-87, and the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks also won two league titles under Buss' ownership. He also owned Los Angeles franchises in World Team Tennis and the Major Indoor Soccer League.
Buss' six children all have worked for the Lakers organization in various capacities for several years. Jim Buss, the Lakers' executive vice president of player personnel and the second-oldest child, has taken over much of the club's primary decision-making responsibilities in the last few years, while daughter Jeanie runs the franchise's business side.
Jerry Buss still served two terms as president of the NBA's Board of Governors and was actively involved in the 2011 lockout negotiations, developing blood clots in his legs attributed to his extensive travel during that time.
