Woman accused of diverting US-bound flight over device gets no charges
Wed, 23 May 2012 20:03:46 GMT
A French citizen accused of causing a US Airways flight to be diverted to Maine by claiming she had a surgically implanted device will soon be headed back home.
A French citizen accused of causing a US Airways flight to be diverted to Maine by claiming she had a surgically implanted device will soon be headed back home.
U.S. Attorney Thomas Delahanty II said Wednesday that the evidence doesn't support charges against the passenger, 41-year-old Lucie Zeeko Marigot.
He says Marigot told investigators that she had been wronged by doctors and wanted President Barack Obama to provide her with medical assistance. She's being turned over to Customs and Border Protection and will be returned to France.
Flight 787 was traveling from Paris to North Carolina when it was diverted Tuesday to Bangor. The Boeing 767 with 179 passengers and nine crew spent several hours in Bangor before continuing to Charlotte, N.C.
NEWS SUMMARY: US sales of new homes rose 3.3 percent in April led by strong gains in Midwest
Wed, 23 May 2012 20:02:35 GMT
SALES RISE: Sales of new homes rose 3.3 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 343,000.
SALES RISE: Sales of new homes rose 3.3 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 343,000. It's the second-highest level in two years, although it is half the rate consistent with healthy markets.
BROAD GAINS. Sales rose 28 percent in the Midwest and the West, and 7.7 percent in the Northeast. Sales fell 10.6 percent in the South.
OUTLOOK: The increase adds to evidence that the housing market may be starting to recover. Home re-sales rose to near a two-year high in April. And Toll Brothers, a builder of luxury homes, reported that it had returned to profitability.
Accused Philadelphia monsignor says cardinal didn't want accusers to know of other complaints
Wed, 23 May 2012 19:56:05 GMT
A Roman Catholic church official taking the stand in his own defense says Philadelphia's ex-archbishop ordered staff to keep alleged victims of priest sexual abuse in the dark about other accuse...
A Roman Catholic church official taking the stand in his own defense says Philadelphia's ex-archbishop ordered staff to keep alleged victims of priest sexual abuse in the dark about other accusers.
Monsignor William Lynn also says the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua wouldn't let parishes announce the real reason an accused priest was being removed.
There's been testimony that parishioners were often told their priest had health problems when he left for sex-offender treatment. Lynn says that "mental health" can be a health condition.
That led Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington to ask if Lynn remembers the religious teaching on sins of omission.
Lynn, the former secretary for clergy, is enduring a blistering cross-examination as he fights child-endangerment and conspiracy charges over his handling of complaints that priests were molesting children.
Actor Michael McKean must bow out of his Broadway show following leg break in car crash
Wed, 23 May 2012 19:55:51 GMT
Broadway producers are scrambling to fill Michael McKean's part in a revival of Gore Vidal's "The Best Man" as the actor recovers from a broken leg after being hit by a car in New York City.
Broadway producers are scrambling to fill Michael McKean's part in a revival of Gore Vidal's "The Best Man" as the actor recovers from a broken leg after being hit by a car in New York City.
Producer Jeffrey Richards said Wednesday that McKean's role will be played by James Lecesne from now on following Tuesday night's accident. McKean was struck at West 86th Street and Broadway in Manhattan just before 3 p.m. Tuesday.
Richards says the 64-year-old McKean, who portrayed the lead singer in the movie "This is Spinal Tap," is in stable condition.
The actor has apparently never skipped a show in his career, and Richards says "this is the kind of first we are reluctant to announce."
Mother of Dallas teen runaway files lawsuit saying daughter was wrongly detained, deported
Wed, 23 May 2012 19:51:31 GMT
The mother of a teenage Dallas runaway who gave authorities a false name and wound up deported to South America has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against officials with the Justice Depart...
The mother of a teenage Dallas runaway who gave authorities a false name and wound up deported to South America has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against officials with the Justice Department and Homeland Security contending her daughter was illegally detained and deported.
The suit, filed Tuesday by Johnisa Turner on behalf of her daughter Jakadrien Turner, is asking for $15 million in damages. It also discloses publicly for the first time that while in Colombia, Jakadrien Turner became pregnant by a 29-year-old man.
Jakadrien Turner, who was 14 at the time, was picked up for shoplifting last year at a Houston mall and identified herself to authorities as a 21-year-old Colombian national. She subsequently was deported and spent seven months in Colombia living in shelters before she was returned to the U.S. in January after her grandmother and Dallas police tracked her down.
"Ms. Turner's illegal detention and deportation are the direct and foreseeable consequence of official policies, patterns, practices and customs that manifest not only intentional discrimination based on race and ethnicity and a failure to recognize basic principles of due process, but also a reckless disregard for human life and liberty," according to the lawsuit.
Defendants named in the suit include Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, as well as various officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, do not comment on pending litigation, said ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen.
The Justice Department did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
ICE has previously said it had found no evidence to substantiate the teenager's claims she tried to give her real identity to agency officials.
"Turner consistently used a false identity with her dealings with the Houston police, her defense attorney, ICE, the immigration court and the Colombian government. She continued to maintain this false identity as reflected in her social media postings for six months while in Colombia, never claiming to be a United States citizen," ICE said in a January statement that Christensen referred to the AP on Wednesday.
The teenager's attorney, Ray Jackson, said federal authorities were ultimately at fault for what happened to his client.
"The buck should have stopped with them," he said.
The Associated Press does not normally name alleged victims of sexual abuse, but Jackson said the teenager's family agreed to make the pregnancy public to help detail what had happened to Turner as a result of her wrongful deportation. Jackson did not have details about the circumstances of Turner's pregnancy, which occurred when she was 15. The teenager is expected to have her baby sometime this summer, Jackson said.
The suit also said that while living in Colombia, Turner worked at a call center and lived in a group home for unwed mothers.
"She was afraid that she would be jailed in Colombia and never see her family again," according to the suit.
U.S. immigration officials have insisted they followed procedure and found nothing to indicate that the girl wasn't a Colombian woman living illegally in the country.
The Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said Turner was issued travel documents at the request of U.S. officials using information they provided.
A review by the AP of more than two dozen telephone calls Turner made while in custody in Houston showed the teenager never expressed concern that she was being misidentified as an illegal immigrant from Colombia.
Jackson said the lawsuit would explain the phone calls and also explain "why she did what she did." He declined to offer more details.
Religion news in brief
Wed, 23 May 2012 19:41:21 GMT
All 6 Boston groups lose appeal to Vatican to reopen church buildings at closed parishes
All 6 Boston groups lose appeal to Vatican to reopen church buildings at closed parishes
BOSTON (AP) — The Vatican has rejected the appeals of all six groups in the Boston Archdiocese who argued that the church buildings at their closed parishes should be reopened years after the archdiocese shut them down.
The decisions, handed down over the last two months, came after the Vatican granted similar appeals to parishioners from several other closed parishes, including in New York and Pennsylvania.
Those recent wins had Sean Glennon, a parishioner at Mary Star of the Sea in Quincy, hopeful about their appeal. On Tuesday, he was puzzled why none of the Boston-area parishes prevailed.
"It's just very disconcerting, and it's very disappointing," he said.
In the appeals, parishioners weren't asking the Vatican to reopen the parishes, which include rectories, churches and other buildings. They instead argued that their local diocese hadn't justified its decision to convert the church building from sacred to secular use, a necessary move before sale.
The parishioners can appeal the decision to the Vatican high court, the Apostolic Signatura, and at least four of the groups will do so, said Peter Borre of the Council of Parishes, which was formed to protest the church closings.
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Nebraska governor says bias protections for gay, transgender people should be up to voters
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska's governor says Omaha and Lincoln ordinances barring discrimination against gay and transgender people should be put to public votes.
Gov. Dave Heineman, at a news conference Tuesday in Lincoln, cited a recent opinion from the state attorney general's office. The May 4 opinion said voters could approve changes to city charters to extend protections to groups not covered by state law, but local governments lack the authority.
Opinions issued by the office lack the force of law but guide legislators and officials statewide and often are cited in disputes over hotly debated issues.
Nebraska's anti-discrimination laws and federal regulations don't extend protection to gay and transgender people.
Omaha narrowly adopted an ordinance in March that said employers, employment agencies, job training programs, labor groups, public accommodations and businesses that contract with the city are barred from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. It provides exemptions for religious organizations.
Omaha city attorney Paul Kratz has said the city's legal team disagrees with the attorney general office's opinion, and he doesn't think it will have any effect on the new ordinance.
Backers argued that the proposal would make Omaha a more welcoming city to a diverse workforce. Opponents countered that the proposals would add an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy and open up businesses to lawsuits.
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Judge allows Shoshone tribe into faith-based eagle permit case
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A federal judge is allowing the Eastern Shoshone Tribe to challenge the Northern Arapaho's plan to kill bald eagles on the reservation they share in Wyoming.
U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson agreed to allow the Eastern Shoshone Tribe to participate as a "friend of the court" in the lawsuit the Northern Arapaho Tribe filed last year against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The federal agency in March issued the Northern Arapaho Tribe the nation's first permit allowing the killing of bald eagles for religious purposes. The permit would allow the Northern Arapaho to kill two bald eagles, but only outside the Wind River Indian Reservation.
Other tribes and individual Indians in the Southwest have secured federal permits allowing them to kill golden eagles.
In asking for permission to intervene in the case, the Eastern Arapaho Tribe noted that it has an indivisible, one-half interest in all the wildlife on the reservation. It states that killing eagles would violate its cultural beliefs and also says that it would be against the joint Shoshone and Arapaho Law and Order Code.
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Watchdog group says Kentucky pastor broke federal law by telling followers to vote out Obama
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A religious watchdog group says an eastern Kentucky Baptist pastor violated federal law when he urged his followers to vote President Barack Obama out of office in November.
Pastor Ronnie Spriggs of Hager Hill Freewill Baptist Church said during a May 13 sermon that he wants Obama voted out because of his support for gay marriage.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State say Spriggs' comments violates IRS rules on political activism by nonprofit religious groups. The IRS rarely revokes a church's tax-exempt status.
Spriggs did not return phone calls to his home and office. A video of the sermon was streamed on the Johnson County church's website.
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Report: Iranian protesters seek return of local singer hiding in Germany
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's official news agency said protesters in front of the German Embassy in Tehran were seeking return of an Iranian-born singer who went into hiding after receiving death threats.
Singer Shahin Najafi allegedly insulted a Shiite Muslim saint.
The Wednesday report by IRNA said the protesters also demanded that Germany apologize for hosting the singer, who has lived in Germany since 2005.
They called the singer an apostate.
The threats began after comments by religious authorities in Iran were taken to mean the singer insulted Islam with a song meant to be humorous.
Najafi first contacted German police about the threats May 8. A day later, an anonymous person posting on a Persian-language website put a $100,000 price on his head.
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Indian bus carrying Hindu pilgrims to northern holy city plunges into Ganges; 26 dead
NEW DELHI (AP) — Police say a bus full of Hindu pilgrims plunged into the Ganges River, killing 26 people in northern India.
Rescuers worked more than four hours to pull the bodies from the river late Tuesday in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.
Local Tehri district police official Janmejaya Khanduri says four people are hospitalized in critical condition.
The private tour bus had been traveling west from Badrinath to the holy city of Rishikesh with 45 passengers from central Madhya Pradesh state. Police say the driver lost control while trying to overtake a truck on the road.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna announced an investigation Wednesday and said victims' families would receive 100,000 rupees (about $1,800) in compensation.
US appeals court in Va. rules on definition of piracy, says no one needs to board, rob ship
Wed, 23 May 2012 19:38:25 GMT
A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday on the legal definition of piracy, saying an armed attack on a U.S. vessel can be considered piracy even if no one ever boards or robs the ship. ...
A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday on the legal definition of piracy, saying an armed attack on a U.S. vessel can be considered piracy even if no one ever boards or robs the ship.
The 200-year-old U.S. Supreme Court definition of piracy has been in dispute in two attacks on Virginia-based Navy ships in April 2010 in waters off East Africa. The defendants were prosecuted in Norfolk, the first in a series of government prosecutions aimed at slowing the spread of piracy off Africa.
The court's ruling gives prosecutors wider latitude to go after people who attack U.S. vessels, U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride said.
"For decades, the international community has considered violent attacks on the high seas as an act of piracy, and today's ruling will strengthen our ability to hold those who attack U.S. vessels by force accountable, regardless of whether they are successful or not," said MacBride, whose office handled both cases.
In one case, a lower court judge dismissed charges against five Somalis in an attack on the USS Ashland, ruling since the men had not taken control or robbed the ship their actions did not rise to the definition of piracy.
In the other case, prosecutors convicted five Somali men who attacked the USS Nicholas. It was the first piracy conviction in a U.S. courtroom since 1819.
The ruling by the three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld those convictions and the life sentences the men received.
It was not immediately clear whether the Somalis in USS Ashland attack would again be charged, or whether attorneys would appeal the court's ruling on the piracy definition to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Attorneys for the Nicholas defendants said they would discuss the ruling among and decide whether to pursue a hearing before the full 4th Circuit or take the case to the Supreme Court.
"Our arguments very simple: you have to steal the boat," said attorney David W. Bouchard. "That's piracy and it has been for 200 years."
Lawyer Jon M. Babineau said the ruling "upset a couple hundred years of what I believe is precedent. Now it turns out our law in the United States is being viewed by some international standard, which is ever changing."
The attacks came as pirates increased assaults in the waters off East Africa despite an international flotilla of warships dedicated to protecting vessels and stopping the pirate assaults.
The Nicholas, which was part of the flotilla, was mistaken for a merchant ship because the Navy used a lighting array to disguise the 453-foot warship and attract pirates. Three pirates in a skiff fired rocket-propelled grenades and raked the ship with AK-47 fire in the Indian Ocean north of the Seychelles Islands. No sailors were injured in the attack.
During arguments before the federal appeals panel, an attorney representing one of the Somalis said the government was using "amorphous" interpretations of international law to make the piracy count stick. Attorney James R. Theuer argued the U.S. Supreme Court has been clear that the key element of piracy was "robbery at sea."
They also argued the men were innocent fishermen who had been abducted by pirates and forced to fire their weapons at the ship.
The court wrote that piracy under international law has evolved for decades to encompass other violent conduct.
The expanded definition "has only been reaffirmed in recent years as nations around the world have banded together to combat the escalating scourge of piracy," wrote Judge John King.
In the attack on the Ashland, a 610-foot dock landing ship, the ship's 25mm cannons destroyed a skiff, killing one Somali man and injuring several others.
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Steve Szkotak can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sszkotakap
Stocks drop worldwide on deepening skepticism that European leaders will drum up a fix
Wed, 23 May 2012 19:32:29 GMT
The threat of a financial crisis spreading from Europe shook markets on Wednesday. The euro dropped to a nearly two-year low against the dollar. Oil prices sank to their lowest this year, and st...
The threat of a financial crisis spreading from Europe shook markets on Wednesday. The euro dropped to a nearly two-year low against the dollar. Oil prices sank to their lowest this year, and stocks took another fall.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 60 points to 12,443 at 3:15 p.m. Eastern. Hewlett-Packard fell 3.4 percent, the most of the 30 stocks in the index.
The Dow was sharply lower for most of the day, then moved higher in late afternoon trading. It was down as many as 191 points at midday. The Dow has lost 6 percent this month, nearly wiping away all of its gains for the year. It has risen only three days in May.
Analysts and investors have turned increasingly skeptical this month that European leaders will prevent Greece from dropping the euro or agree on ways to jump-start the region's economy.
In Brussels, leaders of the 27 countries that make up the European Union met to discuss ways to keep the debt crisis in Europe from getting worse, including proposals to promote jobs and growth. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned Tuesday that the 17 countries that use the euro risk falling into a "severe recession."
Plenty of good ideas to buttress Europe's financial system have been floated in recent weeks, said Paul Zemsky, global head of asset allocation at ING Investment Management. Eurobonds could be sold by countries in the currency union to raise money for bailouts and banks. Some have proposed insuring bank deposits across countries that use the euro, a program modeled on the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
"There are all these great ideas," Zemsky said. "But there's nothing yet. There's a lot of talk and no follow through."
Benchmark stock indexes dropped 2.3 percent in Germany, 2.6 percent in France and 3.3 percent in Spain.
The euro continued to fall against the dollar, reaching $1.25, the lowest since July 2010. Concerns about the stability of the European currency union if Greece leaves have knocked 5 percent off the euro this month. Yields on German government bunds fell as money shifted into low-risk investments.
If Greece exits, it could spread havoc throughout the global financial system. Bond traders could dump the bonds of Spain and Italy, sending their borrowing costs even higher. Banks in those countries could also be crippled if people start to yank money out of them, as has begun to happen in Greece.
"There's just a tremendous amount of 'what ifs'," Zemsky said. "If Greece leaves, I know equities are going to be a lot lower than they are today. It's not even close to being priced in yet."
One stock that did rise: Facebook. The stock rebounded 3 percent to $32 after getting pounded for two days following an initial public offering that was plagued with technical problems and has drawn scrutiny from regulators. The stock is still far below its initial price of $38.
In other trading, the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 9 points at 1,307. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 15 points to 2,824.
Benchmark crude lost $1.85 to $90.01 in New York, after dipping below $90. Prices hadn't been below $90 since Nov. 1. Oil has plunged 15 percent in May as investors predict that the European economy will continue to slow.
The dollar rose and yields on U.S. government debt fell as traders shifted money into the protection of Treasurys. The yield on the 10-year note sank to 1.71 percent, close to a record low, from 1.77 percent late Tuesday.
The dollar and Treasurys often trade in tandem when anxiety hits markets. Traders from around the world sell foreign assets and then need to buy dollars before buying dollar-denominated U.S. Treasurys.
Europe's struggles come at a time when Asia is also slowing. China's economic growth fell to a nearly three-year low of 8.1 percent in the first quarter and factory output in April grew at its slowest pace since the 2008 crisis, raising the threat of job losses and possible political tensions.
Other stocks making big moves included:
— Dell fell 17 percent. The computer maker reported disappointing first-quarter results after the market closed Tuesday and predicted weak sales for its second quarter. Quarterly profit fell 33 percent on lower sales to big businesses, consumers and the public sector.
— Ford Motor rose 1 percent, a day after the company won back its blue oval logo, factories and other assets that were pledged as collateral for a massive loan taken out last decade.
— Guess Inc. rose 5 percent after its first-quarter results beat Wall Street's expectations, and an analyst recommended that investors buy the stock.
Suspect in North Dakota teen mom's killing charged in deaths of 3 more on same day
Wed, 23 May 2012 19:31:51 GMT
A Somali man accused in the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old North Dakota woman now faces additional murder charges in the deaths of her mother, brother and the mother's boyfriend on the same day...
A Somali man accused in the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old North Dakota woman now faces additional murder charges in the deaths of her mother, brother and the mother's boyfriend on the same day.
Twenty-seven-year-old Omar Mohamed Kalmio is charged with murder in the Jan. 28, 2011, death of Sabrina Zephier, the mother of his daughter, at her home in Minot.
Court documents show prosecutors filed further murder charges against Kalmio on Friday in the deaths of 38-year-old Jolene Zephier, her 22-year-old boyfriend Jeremy Longie, and 13-year-old Dylan Zephier.
Kalmio and Zephier's infant daughter was found alive in the young mother's home.
Kalmio is due in court for a preliminary hearing on June 19.
Marshals: 'Mountain man' didn't turn himself in, was nabbed with 'old-fashioned police work'
Wed, 23 May 2012 19:27:02 GMT
A former "mountain man" known for kidnapping a world-class athlete years ago didn't turn himself in on federal drug charges as previously reported, but was captured as the result of "old-fashioned police work," the U.S. Marshals Service said Wednesday.
A former "mountain man" known for kidnapping a world-class athlete years ago didn't turn himself in on federal drug charges as previously reported, but was captured as the result of "old-fashioned police work," the U.S. Marshals Service said Wednesday.
However, the Montana sheriff whose officers arrested Dan Nichols Tuesday in a Walmart parking lot in Butte said he reviewed dispatcher tapes and is sticking to his account that Nichols arranged to surrender through a third party.
Regardless of how Nichols was captured, the result was the same: A potentially dangerous fugitive is now under lock and key, Butte-Silver Bow Sheriff John Walsh said.
"Everyone's safe and that's the most important thing," he said.
Nichols, 47, had been on the run since March, when he failed to appear in court on charges of drug possession and intent to distribute during a rock concert last August in Three Forks.
Federal prosecutors became involved in April, charging Nichols with participating in a medical marijuana organization in Helena they say illegally grew and distributed more than $1.7 million in pot.
Marshals have been searching for Nichols since the federal arrest warrant was issued on numerous drug possession, distribution and manufacture charges, along with two weapons counts. Last week, they received reports of Nichols sightings in Bozeman and Three Forks, Ostermiller said.
Deputy marshals interviewed people in those towns and learned of several places Nichols had been frequenting. They found that he was changing vehicles and his modes of communications to elude capture, Ostermiller said.
They could not pinpoint where he was living, nor would Ostermiller say whether they suspected anybody was helping him, but deputy marshals learned from their sources that Nichols was traveling to and from Butte on certain days.
On Tuesday, investigators learned that Nichols was in Butte and that he was to show up at the Walmart, Ostermiller said. They asked Butte law enforcement to apprehend him, and there were three officers waiting for Nichols when he pulled up in his 1982 Honda Prelude.
Nichols was arrested without incident but had not intended to turn himself in, Ostermiller said.
"I would deem this a success due to old-fashioned police work," Ostermiller said. "Deputy marshals got out there and conducted a lot of interviews."
Walsh announced the arrest Tuesday, saying Nichols had informed marshals that he would be in the Walmart parking lot to surrender between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Walsh said Wednesday that he reviewed the tapes of the conversation between a deputy marshal and his dispatcher. The deputy told the dispatcher that a source had informed the marshals service that Nichols would be in the parking lot at the specified time and would be turning himself in. The tapes led him to continue to believe that Nichols surrendered, Walsh said.
Nichols is better known as the son in the so-called "mountain man" duo who kidnapped biathlete Kari Swenson in 1984 to make 22-year-old Swenson his wife. Nichols' father, Don Nichols, was recently denied parole for his 85-year sentence related to the kidnapping and shooting death of a would-be rescuer, Alan Goldstein.
Dan Nichols was released from prison in 1991.
After his arrest Tuesday, Nichols was transferred to marshals' custody Wednesday to await an initial court appearance that has not yet been set. It was not immediately clear if Nichols has a lawyer.
