Body of barista Samantha Koenig found in Alaska; charges possible

Authorities are weighing whether to charge an Alaska man, now in federal custody, in connection with the kidnapping and death of Anchorage barista Samantha Koenig. Her body is believed to have been recovered Monday from a local lake.

Tests are still being conducted on the remains found by a team of divers in Matanuska Lake north of Anchorage, but authorities are confident the body is that of Koenig, police spokesman Lt. David Parker said by telephone Tuesday. The family has been notified, he said.

“Investigators believe Samantha died within hours of her abduction,” Chief Mark Mew told reporters at a news conference Monday night. “Investigators further believe the person responsible for Samantha's death acted alone, and we are confident that we have that person in custody.”

The suspect in Koenig’s death is Israel Keyes, 34, who entered a not-guilty plea when he was arraigned March 27 on federal fraud charges. Keyes, who was returned to Alaska from Texas -- where he was arrested -- is charged with access-device fraud for allegedly making cash withdrawals with a stolen credit card.

The case has shaken Anchorage. Koenig, 18, was last seen on a surveillance tape Feb. 1 about 8 p.m. leaving the midtown Anchorage coffee shack where she worked. She was being led by a man with a weapon.
In the following weeks, Koenig's family distributed thousands of fliers showing pictures of the missing woman and offered a reward for her return.

Police called the case a kidnapping, and Mary Rook, the FBI's special agent in charge, told reporters that the abduction appeared random.

“Investigators found no direct association between the abductor and Samantha or any member of her family,” Rook said at the news conference. “I believe it was largely the dissociative nature of this crime that so perplexed investigators, at least initially.”

Investigators said they are continuing to seek out witnesses who may know something about the movements of Keyes' white three-quarter-ton Chevrolet pickup, which was seized after he was arrested. Keyes is described as the owner of a construction company.

Experts clueless on Marine deaths, Konkan coast, India

The alarming number of marine deaths off the Konkan coast in the past few days, with two whales and several turtles found beached in separate incidents, could be natural or fishing-related, said experts.

A 35-foot whale identified as a Baleen whale was found beached at Priyadarshini Park at Napean Sea Road on Saturday. A similar whale was found dead at Uran on Thursday. Both were found in a highly decomposed state. There were unconfirmed reports of a third whale being beached off the Raigad coast on Monday. Meanwhile, many turtle deaths were reported over the last few days from the Raigad coast with 11 turtles found dead on the Shrivardhan coast on Saturday.

“We have got queries from Mantralay and Fisheries department and have been trying to find out the cause of the whale deaths for the past two days, but have been unable to do so. We are studying the migrational routes of the whales along the Indian coast and gathering information on it,” said Dr Vinay Deshmukh, principal scientist, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute. However, he offered a possible explanation for the whale deaths. Read More

Beached minke whale dies despite rescue effort in North Berwic

A stranded whale in East Lothian has died after a huge rescue effort failed to save its life.

The 15ft (4.5m) minke whale was found by the coastguard at North Berwick's east beach, near the harbour, at 09:00.

The waves were too strong for the whale to be refloated out to sea and it was in poor health.

RNLI volunteers, who spent hours in freezing conditions keeping its blow hole clear of water, said nothing more could be done. Read More

Syria violence undiminished by ceasefire deal

(Reuters) - Opposition activists accused Syrian troops of shelling two cities on Tuesday in a campaign to weaken forces fighting President Bashar al-Assad's government before a ceasefire deadline next week.

Rebel fighters also kept up their attacks, killing three soldiers in separate actions in northern Syria, activists said.

Assad has agreed to a ceasefire negotiated by international peace envoy Kofi Annan from April 10, the latest effort to end a year of bloodshed stemming from an uprising against his rule.

An advance team from the U.N. peacekeeping department is due in Damascus this week to see how observers can monitor the truce, Annan's spokesman said in Geneva.

But Syrian opposition figures as well as Western governments have made clear they are not convinced that Assad, who has failed to honor past commitments, would keep his word. Read More

US faces limited options on North Korea

WASHINGTON (AP) Despite tough talk from President Barack Obama, the United States and its allies have limited options if North Korea goes ahead with its planned long-range rocket launch in mid-April.

Washington is likely to take the matter to the U.N. Security Council, analysts say, and could tighten its already tough sanctions. Such efforts would struggle without support from China, which can be expected to resist any moves that might threaten the stability of its neighbor.

There also is deep uncertainty about where turning the screw further on North Korea would lead. After the Security Council condemned its previous long-range rocket launch in 2009, North Korea responded by kicking out U.N. nuclear inspectors, pulling out of aid-for-disarmament negotiations and conducting its second detonation of an atomic device.

"At minimum, there has to be a statement of criticism" at the Security Council, said Gordon Flake, a Washington-based Korea analyst. "The question is how North Korea will react, and history suggests it won't react well." Read More

Dutch car plane Test Flight a Success

Apr. 02: A Dutch company has successfully conducted a test flight of a car which doubles as an aircraft and hopes to put the machine into production. Andrew Potter reports

Typhoon-strength winds slow Japan to halt

Tokyo (CNN) -- A spring storm packing typhoon-strength winds caused two deaths and paralyzed traffic in Japan on Tuesday.

In Toyama, strong winds pulled down a barn, killing a man, police there said. In Ishikawa prefecture, an 82-year-old woman died after hitting her head when she fell in strong wind.

Japan's meteorological agency predicted a developing low pressure system and front in the Sea of Japan will create strong winds and heavy rain in Japan from Tuesday morning through Wednesday. The agency asked people to avoid potential weather hazards by remaining indoors.

Strong gusts and rain hit western Japan in the morning and widened northward throughout the day.

A record-breaking wind was recorded in the western city of Tomogashima, at 150 kilometers per hour (94 miles per hour). Read More

Rival fighters killed in Libya clashes

(CNN) -- At least four people were killed and dozens more injured in heavy fighting around the coastal Libyan city of Zuwara on Tuesday, a city official said.

The four killed were Zuwara militia members engaged in clashes with rival fighters from two towns bordering the city, said Ayoob Sufyan, a spokesman for the city's local council.

He called the violence the worst in that stretch of western Libya since the fall of Tripoli in August.

"The situation is terrible," Sufyan told CNN. "It is a real war now." Read More

Muslim Brotherhood comes to America

(CNN) -- Sondos Asem has butterflies, formulating answers to questions she expects to be asked and practicing her diction with the devotion of a high school debate champion. The gentle 24-year-old graduate student at the American University in Cairo is in a hotel room in downtown New York, figuring out what to wear on national television. ("This blazer would look good, right?" "Should I wear more color?")

Like many young Egyptians, she's been tweeting the fallout after the 2011 uprising that brought down former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The stakes are higher than 140-character dispatches might suggest. Asem has emerged as an unlikely unofficial spokeswoman for the Muslim Brotherhood, helping to run its English-language Twitter feed, @Ikhwanweb, and in turn revamp the group's image in the West.

In no more than three lines, often using abbreviations and hyperlinks, she hashes out the views of the Brotherhood, the 83-year-old fountainhead of political Islam in the region and one of the most powerful organizations in Egypt. The Brotherhood's newly established political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, has won just under half of the seats in the country's new parliament -- more than any other group -- and will have a major hand in rewriting the country's constitution. Read More

4.0 Magnitude Earthquake VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION - 3rd Apr 2012

A magnitude 4.0 earthquake has struck the Virgin Islands Region at a depth of just 5 km (3.1 miles), the quake hit at 16:24:36 UTC Tuesday 3rd April 2012
The epicenter was 23 km (14 miles) North from Grove Place, Saint Croix, US Virgin Islands
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this

Royal Mail refuses to use 1940s cartoons as stamps because they're anti-German,...... 'Are we supposed to airbrush out two world wars as well?'

Royal Mail has been accused of trying to airbrush the two world wars after postcards from the 1940s were banned for being offensive to Germans.

The light-hearted cartoon images feature Hitler, Hermann Goering and The Kaiser as part of a special edition of collector's stamps to mark tongue-in-cheek postcard manufacturer Bamforth's 140th birthday.

But Bamforth's Managing Director (MD) has slammed the decision to ban seven out of ten images from the collection. He said: 'The official at the Royal Mail's offices in Edinburgh said: "You can't have this one either - it's anti-Germanic".

'I said "Of course, it's anti-Germanic. There was a bloody war on". Are we supposed to airbrush out two world wars as well?' Read More

Mutated bird flu okay to publish, says U.S biosecurity panel

Two controversial papers on bird flu will be published by scientific journals this year after the go-ahead was given by a U.S biosecurity panel.

The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) took a stand over the papers last year out of concerns that details of the studies - which induced mutations in the H5N1 avian flu virus that made it transmissible among mammals by air rather than by close physical contact - could be used for bioterrorism.

Explaining its decision, announced last Friday, the NSABB said in a statement that ‘the data described in the revised manuscripts do not appear to provide information that would immediately enable misuse of the research in ways that would endanger public health or national security’. Read More

Dejon Miller a Personal trainer who dubbed himself 'Danger' used Craigslist to find women for model shoots… and then ‘tortured them'

A personal trainer who called himself 'Danger' has been accused of using Craigslist to stalk women and 'torture' them.

Dejon Miller, 35, from Hollywood, allegedly used the advertising website to recruit female models to pose for his fitness website.

But when they responded he would verbally abuse them and beat them, it is claimed.

Miller, from Los Angeles, was arrested on Wednesday after his girlfriend went to police claiming he had beaten her until she lost consciousness in an attack that police described as 'torture'.

'The victim actually did lose consciousness and probably was really close to actually passing away,' LAPD Det. Brandy Arzate told KTLA.com.

While he didn't give details of the abuse, he added: 'It was very unusual techniques that he would use. Something as a detective that I haven't come across before.'

His charges include attempted murder, false imprisonment and spousal abuse. His bail was set at $1.3 million. Read More

Tariq Jahan credited with helping to stop riots appears in court after 'punching man to the ground for staring at his wife'

A father who was credited with helping to bring an end to last summer's riots accused a man of staring at his wife before punching him to the ground, a court has heard.

Tariq Jahan, 46, allegedly assaulted Sajjad Ali after the pair got into an argument outside Mr Ali's workplace in Factory Road, Handsworth, on July 6 last year.

Mr Ali told Birmingham Crown Court that Mr Jahan drove up to him in his car and said: 'Oi, why you staring at me?' before getting out, coming up to him and then accusing him of 'staring at my missus'.

Mr Ali, 34, alleges he was grabbed by the throat by the defendant, punched in the face and knocked to the floor, then kicked or punched while he was on the ground.

Jahan, who denies one count of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and inflicting grievous bodily harm, made an emotional appeal for peace just hours after the death of his 21-year-old son in Birmingham in August. Read More

Aaron Wilkinson who shot dead his landlady cleared of murder because he was suffering from post-traumatic stress after serving in Afghanistan

A former soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder has been cleared today of murdering his landlady.

Aaron Wilkinson, 24, of Alma Street, Woodlesford, Leeds, was found not guilty of murdering 52-year-old Judith Garnett by shooting her in the chest and head.

Wilkinson, who was also diagnosed with a form of Asperger’s Syndrome, told Bradford Crown Court he was not in control of his actions when he shot Mrs Garnett.

He has admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The jury took around three hours to reach the not-guilty verdict after the two-week trial.

The trial heard that Wilkinson joined the Territorial Army at 19 and went on a six-month tour of duty of Afghanistan in 2009.

Following his return, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder by an army doctor and has since also been found to suffer from Asperger's Syndrome, or a similar condition. Read More

3.5 Magnitude Earthquake SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA - 3rd Apr 2012

A magnitude 3.5 earthquake has struck Southern California at a depth of just 2.7 km (1.7 miles), the quake hit at 15:15:37 UTC Tuesday 3rd April 2012
The epicenter was 17 km (11 miles) NNE from Indio, California
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this

Pentagon activates missile defenses for North Korean launch

The Pentagon recently activated its global missile shield in anticipation of North Korea’s launch of a long-range missile, according to defense officials.

The measures include stepped-up electronic monitoring, deployment of missile interceptor ships, and activation of radar networks to areas near the Korean peninsula and western Pacific.

Three interceptor ships near Japan and the Philippines, as well as U.S.-based interceptors, are ready to shoot down the North Korean missile if space-, land-, and sea-based sensors determine its flight path is targeted at the United States or U.S. allies, said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Obama administration will regard any launch by North Korea as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions regardless of whether the North Koreans claim the rocket test is for space launch purposes, the officials said. The technology and rocketry used for a space launch is nearly identical to that used with ballistic missiles that carry a warhead, they said.

Also, because the payload or warhead of the test launch cannot be determined prior to launch, the Obama administration decided to activate the missile defense system.

According to U.S. officials, current intelligence assessments indicate the North Korean missile will be launched from a base called Tongchang-ri, located on a west coast peninsula north of Pyongyang between April 12 and April 15. more

Egypt reports two new cases of human infection with bird flu

Egypt has reported the seventh and eighth cases of human infection with H5N1 avian influenza in 2012 according to a World Health Organization (WHO) Global Alert Response (GAR).

The Ministry of Health and Population of Egypt notified the WHO Monday of two children, a 2-year-old and a 15-year old, infected with the potentially fatal virus.

According to the GAR:

The first case is a 2 year-old female from Demiatta Governorate. She developed symptoms on 19 March 2012 and was admitted to a hospital on 20 March 2012 where she received oseltamivir. She is still under treatment and in good medical condition. The case was laboratory confirmed by the Central Public Health Laboratories (NIC) on 22 of March 2012.

The second case is a 15 year-old female from Giza Governorate. She developed symptoms on 25 March 2012 and was admitted to a hospital in critical condition on 29 March 2012. She received oseltamivir on admission. She died on 31 March 2012. The case was laboratory confirmed by the Central Public Health Laboratories (NIC) on 31 March 2012. Source

Japanese green tea leaves sample with low radioactivity levels Detected

Hong Kong (HKSAR) - A green tea leaves sample, imported from Japan and collected from a local retail outlet during surveillance, has been found to have low radioactivity levels, a spokesman for the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said today (April 3). However, there is no health concern in consuming the product concerned.

Product details are as follows:

Product name: Tokan Maruko Yabuk Ta Ban Cha (Green Tea)
Manufacturer: Ochano Maruko Co Ltd
Place of origin: Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
Packing size: 400 grams
Best before date: July 29, 2012

"The green tea leaves sample was collected from a local supermarket for radiation testing under the regular Food Surveillance Programme last Wednesday (March 28)," the CFS spokesman said.

"The test result showed that low levels of radioactive substances, Caesium-134 (Cs-134) and Caesium-137 (Cs-137), were detected at 11 Bq/kg and 19 Bq/kg respectively. However, the detected levels did not exceed the guideline levels of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (i.e.
Read More

4.5 Magnitude Earthquake NEAR THE COAST OF NICARAGUA - 3rd Apr 2012

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake has struck near the Coast of Nicaragua at a depth of 47.2 km (29.3 miles), the quake hit at 13:08:51 UTC Tuesday 3rd April 2012
The epicenter was 77 km (47 miles) Southwest of MANAGUA, Nicaragua
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this

Child on child abuse

Fricking unbelievable.

But then it makes you wonder whether the 11-year-old was them self a victim of child abuse and was 'acting' out because of it.

Assaults by 11-year-old alleged at day care

By Robert Kolarik - Express-News

A case at the Guardian Angel Child Care Center in the 3600 block of Pleasanton Road is under investigation, KENS-TV is reporting.

A mother says her 5-year-old daughter was inappropriately touched by an 11-year-old student, the station says. The mother, who wants to remain anonymous, has filed a police report.

San Antonio police told the station that a person as young as 10 years of age can be charged with a sex crime.

The rest of the story:

Cougar counseling

I believe the Judge will probably bring her back on 'shock' probation.

Ex-Judson counselor gets prison for sexting

By Craig Kapitan - Express-News

A former elementary school counselor in the Judson Independent School District was ordered by a judge Monday to serve six years in prison and register as a sex offender for texting nude photos of herself to a 15-year-old boy and spurring illicit conversations via Facebook.

Cynthia Denise “Cindy” Stewart, 43, occasionally wept as friends and her soon-to-be ex-husband testified to state District Judge Juanita Vasquez-Gardner that they believed that she posed no risk to society or other minors.

“This is a terrible mistake,” defense attorney Wayne Wood said as he asked the judge for probation for his client. “I believe in my heart this is a one-time event with this young man. She takes full responsibility. She understands it's the adult's responsibility to set boundaries and limits.”

The rest of the story:

Who says voter fraud doesn't happen?

Perhaps this is why we need voter ID laws?

4 Indiana Dems charged with election fraud in 2008 presidential race

By Eric Shawn - Fox News

Felony charges related to election fraud have touched the 2008 race for the highest office in the land.

Prosecutors in South Bend, Ind., filed charges Monday against four St. Joseph County Democratic officials and deputies as part of a multiple-felony case involving the alleged forging of Democratic presidential primary petitions in the 2008 election, which put then-candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the Indiana ballot.

The officials are accused of taking part in a scheme to fake signatures and names on the primary petitions needed to run for president. Court papers say the plan was hatched by local Democratic Party officials inside the local party headquarters.

The rest of the story:

Stupid

What a moron!

Accused New York cell phone thief busted after 'sexting' victim

New York Post -

A dopey thief "sexted" a New York woman for a tryst after making off with her cell phone -- and was surprised to see cops waiting for him at his proposed hookup site, police sources said.

Marques Hoskins, 21, had broken into the woman's apartment Sunday at around 2:30am, while she was taking her dog for a walk.

When she got back, she found Hoskins sitting on her bed with her laptop, the sources said. Her dog scared him off, but he got away with her cell and wallet.

The rest of the story:

"Batman" Arrested over Facebook Post

Iran bars Reuters over ninja 'assassin' error....No Surprise when you take a Youtube Video and Make up a Story around it to Suit that Weeks Headline

Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- Iran revoked the press cards of Reuters staff in the country after the news agency ran a mistaken headline saying Iran was training female Ninja assassins, Iran's official news agency reported Tuesday.

"All activities of the Reuters office in Tehran have been temporarily suspended," said Mohammad Javad Aghajari, the Culture Ministry foreign media department director general, IRNA said.

The controversy stems from a Reuters video showing women clad head to toe in black, running up walls and flipping backwards and diving and rolling over swords held at waist heights.

The Culture Ministry official accused Reuters of calling the martial arts students terrorists, when in fact they are "university students and housewives" who "engaged in this sport because of their love for the sport."

Reuters acknowledged the video report in February "contained an error" and that the headline was changed after a complaint. Read More

Amnesty warns civilians at risk in Mali

(CNN) -- Amnesty International has raised concerns about the safety of civilians in areas of northern Mali now controlled by Tuareg and Islamist rebels, citing reports of violence and looting.

The warning came as international pressure increased on the military junta that grabbed power last month in Mali's capital, Bamako.

"The armed groups who seized these towns in the last three days must ensure human rights abuses do not occur and where they do, they must take action and remove anyone implicated from their ranks," Gaetan Mootoo, Amnesty's West Africa researcher, said in a statement on the organization's website.

The Tuareg announced over the weekend that they had seized control of the northern regional capitals of Timbuktu and Gao, a major blow to the military government. Both towns are hundreds of miles north of Bamako. Read More

5.0 Magnitude Earthquake NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN - 3rd Apr 2012

A magnitude 5.0 earthquake has struck near the East Coast of Honshu, Japan at a depth of 28.1 km (17.5 miles), the quake hit at 11:52:23 UTC Tuesday 3rd April 2012
The epicenter was 84 km (52 miles) ESE of Hachinohe, Honshu, Japan
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time

Mystery surrounds silencing of key al Qaeda websites

Key al Qaeda online forums have fallen silent in the past two weeks, leaving terrorism experts to wonder the cause and whether a key communications mode of the terror group and its affiliates has been purposely undermined.

The sites, where al Qaeda posts messages and jihadists and wannabe jihadists post messages and discussions regarding their ideology and loyalty, started disappearing on March 23, said Aaron Y. Zelin, a researcher in the Department of Politics at Brandeis University. Zelin also maintains the website Jihadology.net.

The outages were first reported by the Washington Post. No entity has claimed responsibility and U.S. officials contacted by CNN would not comment.

The online al Qaeda ecosystem starts with the different branches of al Qaeda - like al Qaeda central in Pakistan, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula based in Yemen or al Qaeda in Iraq - which produce messages through their own media production wings that are distributed by an entity known as al-Fajr Media, which then redistributes them to the various forums, Zelin explained.

"It is an authentication process" so the forums know the al Qaeda communications are legitimate since they come from the same media group, Zelin said. Read More

Deadly Fiji floods displace thousands

(CNN) -- Severe flooding in the Pacific island nation of Fiji has killed five people and left about 8,000 others seeking shelter in evacuation centers, a government official said Tuesday.

Tropical Cyclone Daphne has lashed Fiji's largest and most populous island, Viti Levu, with strong winds and heavy rain.

The storm was expected to pass to the south of Fiji over the course of Tuesday. The Fiji Meteorological Service said it was maintaining its severe flood warning for "all major rivers, streams and low-lying areas" on the island.

Government officials, including Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, toured the affected areas on Monday.

Sharon Smith Johns, the government's information secretary, said Tuesday that improving weather in some areas was allowing some Fijians to move back to their homes. Read More

Syrian activists' claim Tortured bodies found in Homs hospital (Claims could not be verified)

(CNN) -- Anti-government fighters found the bodies of 78 people, apparently tortured to death, in a refrigerator at a hospital in Homs, Syria, captured from government forces Monday, opposition activists said.

CNN could not independently confirm the activists' claim because the government severely restricts access by international journalists.

The Syrian military used the Homs National Hospital as a detention center "for all those violating the regime's law, meaning opposing the government," said activist Tariq al Homsi, who was in the embattled city.

"We know people were captured and taken there to be tortured, and many activists and youths were taken," he said. "The bodies found had marks of torture. Even though they had gunshot wounds, they were in the shoulder or leg. It appears they died of torture, not the gunshots." Read More

Syrian military firing on civilians According to Opposition

(CNN) -- Despite a recent promise by the Syrian government to withdraw its forces from population centers, the military pounded opposition-held northern towns and clashed with defectors, activists said Tuesday.

The Syrian army shelled Binnish, Taftanaz and Taoum and its helicopters fired on fleeing civilians Tuesday, said the Binnish Coordination Committee, an opposition group.

"This is the most intense fighting we have witnessed thus far in Binnish since the beginning of the revolution," said Basher, an opposition activist. "We haven't see this much random shelling on Binnish and the surrounding areas. They are using helicopters and randomly firing on civilians in the cities."

Two civilians were killed in crossfire and shelling in Taftanaz, the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Read More

Analyses of enhanced video, audio could support both sides of Martin case

(CNN) -- Two new pieces of evidence appear to lend credence to opposing versions of what happened the night Trayvon Martin died.

Enhanced surveillance images of George Zimmerman, the man who admitted shooting the teen but claimed self-defense, appear to show a bump, mark or injury on the back of his head.
But two forensic audio experts said a voice crying for help on a 911 call does not appear to be Zimmerman's voice, despite claims to the contrary by his family.

Police in Sanford, Florida, released a new, higher-resolution surveillance video of Zimmerman entering the police station the night of Martin's death on February 26. The sharper footage shows an apparent bump, mark or injury on Zimmerman's head more clearly than a previously released video, which had a grainy quality. Read More