Teens held over homecoming dance gang rape

Police believe as many as a dozen people watched a 15-year-old girl get beaten and gang-raped outside her high school homecoming dance without reporting it.
Two suspects were in custody Monday, but police said as many as five other men attacked the girl over a two-hour period Friday night outside Richmond High School.
"She was raped, beaten, robbed and dehumanized by several suspects who were obviously OK enough with it to behave that way in each other's presence," Lt. Mark Gagan said. "What makes it even more disturbing is the presence of others. People came by, saw what was happening and failed to report it."Police said the girl left the dance and was walking to meet her father for a ride home when a classmate invited her to join a group drinking in the courtyard. The victim had drank a large amount of alcohol by the time the assault began, police said.
Officers received a tip about a possible assault on campus and found the girl semi-conscious near a picnic table.
Marin Trujillo, a spokesman for the West Contra Costa Unified School District, said there were four police officers and three school administrators monitoring the dance, but the assault happened away from the gym.

Church of Scientology guilty of fraud in France

A Paris court on Tuesday convicted the Church of Scientology of fraud and fined it more than half a million euros — but stopped short of banning the group as requested by prosecutors.
The group's French branch immediately announced it would appeal the verdict.
The court convicted the Church of Scientology's French office, its library and six of its leaders of fraud. Investigators said the group pressured members into paying large sums of money for questionable financial gain and used "commercial harassment" against recruits.

Ex-AIG chief luring talent from rescued firm

Maurice R. Greenberg, who built the American International Group into an insurance behemoth with an impenetrable maze of on- and offshore companies, is at it again.
Even as he has been lambasting the government for its handling of A.I.G. after its near collapse, Mr. Greenberg has been quietly building up a family of insurance companies that could compete with A.I.G. To fill the ranks of his venture, C.V. Starr & Company, he has been hiring some people he once employed.
Now, Mr. Greenberg may have received some unintended assistance from the United States Treasury. Just last week, the Treasury severely limited pay at A.I.G. and other companies that were bailed out by taxpayers. That may hasten the exodus of A.I.G.’s talent, sending more refugees into Mr. Greenberg’s arms, since C. V. Starr is free to pay whatever it wants.

Girls reformatory leaves legacy of hurt, haven

Kan. - Many were broken, many were saved here.
Beloit's name became synonymous with its girls' reformatory, one of the longest-operating in the country, which for more than a century mirrored the most enlightened reforms but also the cruelest horrors of such places. Now, at its closing, residents and staff members are wrestling with the contradictions.
Beloit was where "bad girls" were sent: That's what Diane Roles had heard as a child. A friend's sister had gone there.

Two passenger trains collide in Egypt, killing 25

A passenger train collided with the back of a second one ahead of it on the tracks just outside of Cairo on Saturday, destroying several passenger cars and killing at least 25 people, a police official said.
At least 55 others were injured in the accident, which occurred in Girzah district of 6th of October province, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Emergency personnel were working to extract the dead and injured from the trains, said the official.

Church janitor charged in priest’s slaying

A janitor was charged with murder Saturday in the slaying of priest whose body was found in the rectory of his northern New Jersey church.
Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi said that 64-year-old Jose Feliciano stabbed the Rev. Ed Hinds 32 times on Thursday after the pair argued.
The 61-year-old Hinds was in his clerical robes when he was killed while in the rectory kitchen of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Chatham.

15-year-old charged with murder of Mo. girl

Juvenile authorities said Saturday that a 15-year-old has been charged with first-degree murder for the death of a 9-year-old central Missouri girl found in the woods two days after she went missing.
Police did not release the teen's gender or name and provided few other details about the person suspected of killing Elizabeth Olten. Cole County Sheriff Greg White has said the teenage suspect is not related to Elizabeth but was acquainted with her and is from the same area just west of Jefferson City.
Several hundred people braved soaking rain and cold weather to search a heavily wooded area near Elizabeth's home after she was reported missing Wednesday evening. Police found Elizabeth's body Friday afternoon after the suspect led them to a wooded area several hundred yards from her St. Martins house, White said.

Could letting pilots nap make flying safer?

Charles Lindbergh famously fell asleep while crossing the Atlantic, and despite strict federal rules against it, experienced airline pilots say it's not uncommon to sneak a nap inside the cockpit.
The Northwest pilots who blew 150 miles past Minneapolis this past week insist a clandestine snooze isn't to blame for their goof at 37,000 feet. "Nobody fell asleep in the cockpit," first officer Richard I. Cole said.
Aviation safety experts and fellow pilots don't buy it, arguing the most likely explanation for missing more than an hour of radio, cell phone and data messages is a drowsy flight crew. The prospect alone could renew focus on pilot fatigue and research that suggests controlled catnaps might actually make flying safer.

Fab felines

Fashionable feline divas strike a pose in wild and bright-colored wigs.

Phillies blast into World Series — again

Ryan Howard and the defending champs are back in the World Series — proving last year was no fluke and looking even more dangerous this time around.
Jayson Werth homered twice, Shane Victorino and Pedro Feliz also connected and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-4 in Game 5 on Wednesday night to win their second straight NL pennant.
Brad Lidge closed it out, Howard was selected NL championship series MVP and the Phillies became the first team to reach consecutive World Series since the New York Yankees in 2000-01.

Iran urges Pakistan to help catch "terrorists"

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged his Pakistani counterpart in a telephone call on Monday to help hunt down those behind an attack on the Iranian Revolutionary Guards that killed 42 people.
Ahmadinejad and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari stressed the "necessity of joint cooperation in setting up a timetable with the intention of confronting and eradicating criminal terrorists", Iran's IRNA news agency reported.
"Iran and Pakistan have enjoyed brotherly ties ... but the presence of terrorist elements in Pakistan would call for the Pakistani government's assistance in the speedy apprehension of these terrorists," Ahmadinejad said.
"Confronting criminal terrorists is a necessity and must take place with joint cooperation and the setting of a timetable," he told Zardari. The IRNA report did not give details on what kind of timetable he had in mind.
Zardari said terrorists had also committed many crimes against Pakistan and that was why it had begun "massive operations" against them, IRNA reported.
Iran has in the past said members of the Sunni insurgent Jundollah (God's soldiers) group, which Iranian media say claimed Sunday's bombing in southeastern Iran near Pakistan, are operating from Pakistani territory.
Ahmadinejad was on Sunday quoted as saying "some security agents" in Pakistan were cooperating with the elements behind the attack. The head of the Revolutionary Guards said on Monday that Jundollah had ties with U.S., British and Pakistani intelligence, and said there would have to be "retaliatory measures" against the Americans and British.
Pakistan has condemned what it killed a "ghastly act of terrorism" in an area near its border with the Islamic Republic and said it was not involved in terrorist activities.
Some analysts believe Jundollah has evolved through shifting alliances with various parties that saw it as a tool against Iran, including the Taliban and Pakistan's ISI intelligence service.
(Reporting by Hashem Kalantari and Hossein Jaseb; writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Mark Trevelyan) link....

U.S. military chief visits as Pakistan battles militants

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- The regional U.S. military commander was visiting Pakistan on Monday as that country's military continued its massive ground offensive against Taliban militants in the restive northwest tribal region.

Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, was holding meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in Islamabad. Also there, on a separate visit, was U.S. Sen. John Kerry, the former presidential candidate who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Gilani told Petraeus it was important that Pakistan and the U.S. work together "to bridge the trust deficit," according to Agence-France Presse.
Gilani called for more international aid for relief efforts and reconstruction in the tribal region of South Waziristan, a refuge and a power base for insurgents operating in Pakistan and along the Pakistani-Afghan border.
Petraeus said the United States "acknowledges the sacrifices of Pakistan in the war on terror," AFP said.
The visits of Petraeus and Kerry came as Pakistani ground troops, backed by air power, moved into South Waziristan.
The highly anticipated offensive follows a wave of suicide attacks in Pakistan and has prompted the exodus of tens of thousands of civilians, a U.N. refugee agency said.
Though the offensive is not the first, it is the most important, Pakistani military spokesman Major Gen. Athar Abbas told CNN, "because we have concluded that this area has become the center of gravity of the problem." Watch how the offensive began »
One military official said Pakistani troops had seized control of Kotkai, the home village of Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud and Talibancommander Qari Hussein. Hussein masterminded some of Pakistan's deadliest suicide attacks.

Strikes by jet fighters and helicopter gunships targeted militant hideouts in Kotkai and the villages of Badar, Barwand and Khisur -- all strongholds of the Taliban and their late leader Baitullah Mehsud, another official told CNN.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
For months, the military have targeted militant hideouts in South Waziristan and other hotspots in Pakistan's tribal areas. Earlier this year, troops launched a large operation targeting militants in the Swat Valley, in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province.
Despite such efforts, insurgents have continued to strike with relative impunity in Pakistan, targeting government, police and security locations.

The recent wave of deadly attacks has raised concerns about the ability of Pakistan's security forces to maintain control. The violence also has heightened internal and international pressure on the government to take swift and effective action.
Pakistani officials said about 10,000 to 15,000 militants linked to the Taliban or to al Qaeda operate in South Waziristan, a harsh terrain familiar to militants but difficult for others to navigate. About 28,000 Pakistani soldiers have moved into the epicenter of Taliban activity in the region to counter their activities, officials said.
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Samoans prepare to bury tsunami victims

‘I jusTaitasi Suapaia Fitiao is preparing for every parent's nightmare — burying her young child.
Her 6-year-old daughter, Vaijoresa, was ripped from her arms as an enormous wave from Tuesday's tsunami swept them up. As she floated away, out of reach, Vaijoresa pleaded, "Mom, please."
"I just can't believe that she's gone. At such a young age, you know? No parent should have to bury their child. It's supposed to be the other way around," Taitasi Fitiao said Saturday while sitting on her front porch next to a shrine to her daughter.t can’t believe that she’s gone,’ mom says of daughter, 6

Deadly Typhoon Parma lashes Philippines

Landslides caused by Typhoon Parma killed 12 people in two northern Philippines villages, police said Sunday, raising the death toll from the storm to at least 16.
Senior Superintendent Loreto Espineli said Sunday that a family of five died when their home in a village in Benguet province was buried. Another seven people where killed when a house was buried in a nearby town.
The typhoon came just eight days after an earlier storm left Manila awash in the worst flooding in four decades, killing almost 300 people.

Spain: 36-man crew on hijacked tuna boat safe

The Spanish government says a trawler hijacked by pirates in the Indian Ocean has been spotted by navy aircraft and the 36-man crew is safe.
Defense Ministry spokesman Constantino Mendez said Saturday that a Spanish frigate is due to arrive to shadow the tuna-fishing vessel later in the day.
The boat, the Alakrana, was boarded by Somali pirates early Friday when it was working waters 800 miles away from the nearest navy escort, the government said in a statement.

Former Japanese finance minister found dead

A former Japanese finance minister who stepped down after appearing to be drunk at an overseas news conference was found dead in his home Sunday, police said.
The cause of Shoichi Nakagawa's death was under investigation, a spokeswoman for the Tokyo police said. His body was found by his wife in the bedroom of their Tokyo home, she said on condition of anonymity due to police policy.
The 56-year-old Nakagawa caused an uproar when he appeared to be drunk at a news conference during a meeting of Group of Seven financial leaders in Rome in February.

Pakistan, US lost track of Osama, says Musharraf

Pakistan and the United States were closing in on Osama bin Laden about five years ago, but suddenly lost him, says former president Pervez Musharraf.

http://www.geo.tv/10-4-2009/50240.htm

Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Quraishi has said that the Pakistan Army and intelligence agencies were working in accordance with the policies of the government, while the Pakistani citizens' opinion has turned against the Taliban.

Swat strategy of 'winning hearts' hard for US to emulate

Teenagers in the former Taliban stronghold of Swat are smiling in relief, after the successful army operation against the Taliban in the valley has ended their days of forcibly working as boy soldiers.