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Air Force Sidelines 17 Officers With Authority to Launch Nukes - The Ledger

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 09 Mei 2013 | 16.14

WASHINGTON | The Air Force stripped an unprecedented 17 officers of their authority to control — and, if necessary, launch — nuclear missiles after a string of unpublicized failings, including a remarkably dim review of their unit's launch skills. The group's deputy commander said it is suffering "rot" within its ranks."We are, in fact, in a crisis right now," the commander, Lt. Col. Jay Folds, wrote in an internal email obtained by The Associated Press and confirmed by the Air Force.The tip-off to trouble was a March inspection of the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., which earned the equivalent of a "D'' grade when tested on its mastery of Minuteman III missile launch operations. In other areas, the officers tested much better, but the group's overall fitness was deemed so tenuous that senior officers at Minot decided, after probing further, that an immediate crackdown was called for.The Air Force publicly called the inspection a "success."But in April it quietly removed 17 officers at Minot from the highly sensitive duty of standing 24-hour watch over the Air Force's most powerful nuclear missiles, the intercontinental ballistic missiles that can strike targets across the globe. Inside each underground launch control capsule, two officers stand "alert" at all times, ready to launch an ICBM upon presidential order."You will be a bench warmer for at least 60 days," Folds wrote.The 17 cases mark the Air Force's most extensive sidelining ever of launch crew members, according to Lt. Col. Angie Blair, a spokeswoman for Air Force Global Strike Command, which oversees the missile units as well as nuclear-capable bombers. The wing has 150 officers assigned to missile launch control duty.The trouble at Minot is the latest in a series of setbacks for the Air Force's nuclear mission, highlighted by a 2008 Pentagon advisory group report that found a "dramatic and unacceptable decline" in the Air Force's commitment to the mission, which has its origins in a Cold War standoff with the former Soviet Union.In 2008, then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates sacked the top civilian and military leaders of the Air Force after a series of blunders, including a bomber's mistaken flight across the country armed with nuclear-tipped missiles. Since then the Air Force has taken numerous steps designed to improve its nuclear performance.The email obtained by the AP describes a culture of indifference, with at least one intentional violation of missile safety rules and an apparent unwillingness among some to challenge or report those who violate rules.In response to AP inquiries, the Air Force said the lapses never put the security of the nuclear force at risk. It said the officers who lost their certification to operate ICBMs are now getting more training with the expectation that they will return to normal duty within about two months. The missiles remain on their normal war footing, officials said.Although sidelining 17 launch officers at once is unprecedented, the Air Force said stripping officers of their authority to control nuclear missiles happens to "a small number" of officers every year for a variety of reasons.In addition to the 17, possible disciplinary action is pending against one other officer at Minot who investigators found had purposefully broken a missile safety rule in an unspecified act that could have compromised the secret codes that enable the launching of missiles, which stand on high alert in underground silos in the nation's midsection. Officials said there was no compromise of missile safety or security.Folds is deputy commander of the 91st Operations Group, whose three squadrons are responsible for manning the wing's 15 Minuteman III launch control centers.Advising his troops on April 12 that they had "fallen," Folds wrote that drastic corrective action was required because "we didn't wake up" after an underwhelming inspection in March that he said amounted to a failure, even though the unit's overall performance technically was rated "satisfactory." That is two notches below the highest rating."And now we're discovering such rot in the crew force that your behavior while on alert is accepting of" weapons safety rule violations, possible code compromises and other failings, "all in the name of not inconveniencing yourselves," Folds wrote.Folds also complained about unwarranted questioning of orders from superior officers by launch crews and failure to address superiors with the proper respect."We are breaking you down, and we will build from the ground up," Folds added. He later wrote, "It takes real leaders to lead through a crisis and we are, in fact, in a crisis right now."He told his subordinates, "You must continue to turn over the rocks and find the rot."When the AP inquired about the Folds email, the Air Force arranged a telephone interview with one of Folds' superiors, Col. Robert Vercher, commander of the 91st Missile Wing. The wing is one of three that operate the nation's fleet of 450 Minuteman III missiles; the two others are at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., and F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo."We are frustrated anytime we're performing less than we expect of ourselves," Vercher said, adding that he and other senior officers are implementing an aggressive and innovative plan to restore a record of high performance among launch control officers."There was a problem," Vercher said. "And we will fix it."Vercher said Folds was expressing frustration."That is a very passionate leader embarrassed by a performance below our expectation," Vercher said, adding that Folds was disappointed by the inspection, which was by the inspector general of the Air Force Global Strike Command.Vercher said Folds was telling his officers, in effect, "Quite frankly, you guys should all be embarrassed that in an area that's important, you passed but you were rated as very close to not passing, and that's not acceptable."The inspection area to which Vercher referred was proficiency at operating the missile launch simulator and responses to written questions about procedures. Their performance was rated "marginal," which Vercher said is the equivalent of a "D'' grade. The inspector's office told the AP that "marginal" is a passing rating, "but attention is needed from leadership to address issues before they become unsatisfactory.""Nobody is comfortable with that," Vercher said.The launch simulator is used in testing for inspection because, for obvious reasons, they can't perform an actual missile launch.Exposure of shortcomings within Vercher's unit recalls an earlier series of stunning mistakes by other elements of the nuclear force, including the August 2007 incident in which an Air Force B-52 bomber flew from Minot to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., without the crew realizing it was armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. One outcome of the incident was the creation of Global Strike Command in January 2009 as a way of improving management of the nuclear enterprise.Bruce Blair, who served as an Air Force ICBM launch control officer in the 1970s and is now a research scholar at Princeton University, said the Folds email points to a broader problem within the nuclear weapons force."The nuclear air force is suffering from a deep malaise caused by the declining relevance of their mission since the Cold War's end over 20 years ago," Blair said in an interview. "Minuteman launch crews have long been marginalized and demoralized by the fact that the Air Force's culture and fast-track careers revolve around flying planes, not sitting in underground bunkers baby-sitting nuclear-armed missiles."Blair is co-founder of Global Zero, an international group that advocates the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons.

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Boston Bombing Suspect's Widow Hires Defense Lawyer - Bloomberg

A criminal defense lawyer hired by the widow of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev has represented clients facing terrorism charges, including a man convicted in the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Kenya.

Joshua L. Dratel, based in New York, has been added to the group of attorneys hired by Katherine Russell, according to an e-mail from Amato A. DeLuca, a lawyer in Providence, Rhode Island, who is also representing her.

"Katie plans to continue to meet with investigators, part of a series of meetings over many hours where she has answered questions," DeLuca said yesterday.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who was killed in a Watertown, Massachusetts, shootout with police on April 19, and his younger brother, Dzhokhar, 19, are accused of carrying out the April 15 bombing close to the downtown Boston finish line of the 26.2 mile race.

The younger Tsarnaev, who was arrested on April 19, is charged with using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction in the dual bombing that killed three people and hurt more than 200. He is in federal custody.

Russell, 24, had lived with Tamerlan Tsarnaev in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She hasn't been charged with wrongdoing.

Her new counsel is a partner in the Manhattan law firm of Dratel and Mysliwiec PC, which has offices at 2 Wall Street, according to its website.

Past President

Dratel has 25 years of practice experience and is a past president of the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, according to his firm biography.

He previously represented a Brooklyn man, Betim Kaziu, whom a federal court jury in June 2011 found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder overseas and of supporting terrorism.

U.S. prosecutors said Kaziu had taken al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden's words and rebroadcast them as his own and disseminated messages from Anwar al-Awlaki on his MySpace page.

Bin Laden was killed in a U.S. raid on his Pakistani hideout in May 2011. Al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen, was killed in a drone strike in Yemen in September of that year.

Dratel said after the verdict against Kaziu that his client should be protected by U.S. law guaranteeing freedom of speech and religion.

He did nothing amounting to conspiracy, didn't own a gun and wasn't trained to fight, the lawyer said. Kaziu has appealed his conviction.

Embassy Bombing

Dratel also represents one of three men convicted for their roles in the 1998 bombing by al-Qaeda of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.

Russell, an artist, dancer and college drop-out from suburban Rhode Island, converted to Islam to marry Tamerlan Tsarnaev three years ago.

Russell lived with Tsarnaev and their 2-year-old daughter in a Cambridge, Massachusetts, apartment, until her husband became a suspect in the bombing. Since then, she has been living with her parents in their corner-lot, two-story beige home in wooded North Kingstown, Rhode Island.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was injured and captured hours after his brother's death, told interrogators that the pressure-cooker bombs used in the attack were assembled at the his brother's apartment, according to a U.S. official who was briefed on the questioning and asked not to be identified.

DNA Sample

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation visited Russell's parents' home on April 29 and took a DNA sample from her, according to the U.S. officials briefed on the probe.

Russell hadn't granted public interviews after the attack, and her family issued statements through their lawyer expressing condolences for the bombing victims and Russell's sadness at Tamerlan's death. A swarm of media cars and trucks had been stationed outside Russell's parents' home for days, along with black sedans and police cars.

DeLuca has said Russell knew nothing about the attack before it took place and "was as shocked as anybody" when it happened.

In the past few years, Russell had adopted conservative religious dress, neighbor Dave Mather, in North Kingstown, said last month. She visited her parents often, waving and smiling whenever she spotted neighbors from the cul-de-sac, he said.

Tsarnaev graduated from North Kingstown High School in 2007 and landed in trouble that summer. Warwick police arrested her on July 26 on a misdemeanor shoplifting charge. The case was dismissed Aug. 20, according to records maintained by Rhode Island's Third District Court in Kent County.

Backpack, Fireworks

Three college friends of the younger bombing suspect were charged with hindering the probe into the attack. Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, both of Kazakhstan, are accused of throwing away a backpack holding fireworks they found in Tsarnaev's dormitory room after the FBI released images of the brothers identifying them as suspects. Robel Phillipos, a U.S. citizen, is accused of lying to investigators about the visit to the dorm.

Russell was born in Texas on Feb. 6, 1989, according to her marriage certificate dated June 21, 2010. She's the eldest of three daughters of Warren Russell, an emergency medicine physician, and Judith, a registered nurse.

The troubled ethnic Chechen immigrant family into which she married at 21 bore little resemblance to her own. Her existence went from a childhood in a leafy suburb to one in which she shared a cramped apartment with Tamerlan, their daughter, and Tamerlan's parents until their return to Russia.

Former Boxer

Russell went to Suffolk University in Boston to study communications, and she met Tsarnaev, a former boxer who in 2009 had been charged with assaulting a live-in girlfriend.

National Public Radio interviewed three college roommates of Russell who described Tsarnaev as controlling, manipulative and angry. The women, whom NPR didn't name, said he called her names such as "slut" and "prostitute" and demanded that she convert to Islam, NPR said.

The two married at a mosque in the Dorchester neighborhood. She adopted Islam, dropped out of college and bore Tamerlan's child, a daughter who's now 2 1/2.

She cut off contact with her college friends after the marriage, according to the NPR report.

She received food stamps and welfare benefits from September 2011 to November 2012, according to a letter from the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance.

DeLuca said she worked as many as 80 hours a week as a home health-care aide, seldom seeing her husband as he cared for their daughter at home.

The Tsarnaev case is U.S. v. Tsarnaev, 13-mj-02106, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts (Boston).

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Harris in the Chicago federal courthouse at

aharris16@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net

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2 cruise ship passengers missing off Australian coast; air and marine search ... - The Republic

SYDNEY — An air and marine search is underway off the Australian east coast for two passengers who were discovered missing after a cruise ship docked in Sydney Harbor.

Police Sgt. David Rose says the man and woman were discovered missing after the Carnival Spirit docked at Sydney's Circular Quay Thursday morning.

He says a marine and air search is underway but gave no further details.

Australian Associated Press reports the search for the 30-year-old man and 26-year-old woman extends from Sydney 100 kilometers (60 miles) north to the city of Newcastle. Their nationalities have not been released.

A spokeswoman for ship operator Carnival Corp. was not immediately available for comment.

The Miami-based company is the world's largest cruise operator and has been plagued by high-profile problems in recent years.

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Feedback, Corrections and Other Requests: AP welcomes feedback and comments from readers. Send an email to info@ap.org and it will be forwarded to the appropriate editor or reporter.

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Death penalty possible after jury convicts Jodi Arias of first-degree murder - CNN International

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Jurors will return to court Thursday for the next phase of the trial
Jodi Arias tells a TV station she would rather get the death penalty than a life sentence
Authorities place her on "suicide protocol" after the TV interview
After more than 15 hours of deliberations, jurors find Arias guilty

(CNN) -- A day after a jury found her guilty of first-degree murder in the slaying of her ex-boyfriend, Jodi Arias will return to court Thursday to begin a phase that will move her closer to learning whether she will live or die.

During this part of the proceedings, the so-called "aggravation phase," jurors will take an important step closer to that life or death decision.

"Now the odds, I think, shift somewhat in her favor, because it's a very different thing to sentence someone to die than to convict them," CNN senior legal analyst Jeffery Toobin said.

In a television interview minutes after the verdict was announced, Arias said she'd prefer a death sentence.

"I said years ago that I'd rather get death than life, and that still is true today," she told Phoenix television station KSAZ. "I believe death is the ultimate freedom, so I'd rather just have my freedom as soon as I can get it."

The Jodi Arias trial

HIDE CAPTION

The comments prompted authorities to place Arias on suicide watch in an Arizona jail, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

"Until she is released from suicide protocol by Sheriff's officials no further media interviews of inmate Arias will be permitted," the office said in a statement.

Arias was stoic in court Wednesday. Her eyes briefly welled up with tears as a clerk announced that the jury found her guilty of first-degree murder for killing Travis Alexander in June 2008.

What's next for Arias

Friend: "We have waited five years through the circus"

Alexander's sisters cried and consoled each other after the verdict was read in the packed courtroom.

Crowds outside the courthouse erupted in cheers as news of the jury's decision spread.

Several of Alexander's friends told HLN they were relieved.

"It just feels so good ... to finally have the truth and be vindicated," said Dave Hall, choking back tears.

But that relief isn't enough, Elisha Schabel said.

"It's not going bring Travis back. He was such a light to this world," she said. "And it's important that we forgive Jodi, so she doesn't have that power to destroy our lives."

Another friend, Clancy Talbot, said she was grateful for the verdict.

"Looking at Jodi's face, I think this is probably the first time in her life she has ever been held responsible for what she's done, ever, and I think she's in shock," she said. "We have waited five years through the circus that Jodi has created."

Trial moves into next phase

But the trial isn't over yet, and Arias, who testified for 18 days during the trial, could speak to jurors again in court.

In the next step of the case, known as the aggravation phase, prosecutors will have a chance to present additional evidence and jurors will decide whether Alexander's death was caused in a cruel manner.

If they decide that was the case, the trial would move to the penalty phase, where jurors would decide whether Arias should receive a death sentence.

If the jury decides on a death sentence, the judge is bound by that decision. But if the jury decides against the death penalty, the judge would have two options: sentencing Arias to life in prison without the possibility of parole or sentencing her to life in prison with the possibility of parole after at least 25 years.

There are currently 127 people on death row in Arizona. If Arias is given a sentence of death, she would be the fourth woman on death row in the state.

As jurors prepare for the sentencing phase of the criminal trial, family members of Alexander are preparing to file a civil wrongful death lawsuit, attorney Jay Beckstead told reporters outside the courthouse. Alexander's siblings won't speak publicly about the case until Arias is sentenced, Beckstead said, adding that the family is grateful to prosecutors and detectives for their work.

Massive crowd surrounds courthouse

Since Friday, jurors had been deliberating evidence surrounding a key question: Did Arias kill ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander in self-defense? Or did she commit murder?

Alexander was stabbed repeatedly, shot and nearly decapitated five years ago. Arias says she killed him in self-defense after he attacked her, but the grisly slaying caused even some anti-domestic violence advocates to doubt her case.

Twists and turns of the trial

The jury, which has been in court since January 2, heard closing arguments on Friday. Jurors deliberated for 15 hours and five minutes.

As they took a lunch break after revealing they had reached a verdict Wednesday, some jurors were seen smiling and breathing sighs of relief. One juror returning from lunch wiped her eyes.

A massive crowd swarmed around the Maricopa County Courthouse Wednesday afternoon. Some onlookers said they had been following the trial for months.

The case has drawn worldwide attention and followers lined up daily for courtroom seats.

"We are here every day to support Travis' family 100%," said Kathy Brown, who got a cane she uses autographed by prosecutor Juan Martinez and cried outside the courthouse after the verdict was announced Wednesday.

"I am so thankful," she said. "I knew the Lord would do the right thing."

Catch up quickly on the Arias trial

Case marked by dramatic arguments

In the trial, both sides dramatically presented their arguments with details about Arias' love affair with Alexander.

"She rewarded that love from Travis Alexander by sticking a knife in his chest," Martinez said in his opening statement. "And you know he was a good man, according to her. And with regard to being a good man, well, she slit his throat as a reward for being a good man. And in terms of these blessings, well, she knocked the blessings out of him by putting a bullet in his head."

Photos: Alexander and his girlfriend

But defense attorney Jennifer Willmott countered: "Jodi Arias killed Travis Alexander. There is no question about it. The million-dollar question is what would have forced her to do it?"

Willmott said Arias was the victim of a controlling, psychologically abusive relationship, and Alexander considered Arias "his dirty little secret."

Martinez accused Arias of playing the victim. He alleged she staged the crime scene to make it look like self-defense.

He also accused her of actively seeking to profit from her media attention.

That's something Alexander's family hopes to stop with its civil lawsuit, Beckstead said Wednesday.

"The law in Arizona states that people should not be benefiting from their wrongdoing in a criminal case, and my law firm is going to do the best it can to make sure that she does not benefit from her wrongdoing or her notoriety," he said.

Arias: "I would much rather die sooner than later"

In her interview with KSAZ Wednesday, Arias said she was surprised by the jury's verdict.

"It was unexpected, for me, yes, because there was no premeditation on my part," she said. "I can see how things look that way."

Arias told KSAZ that longevity runs in her family, and that the worst possible outcome in the case would be a life sentence without parole.

"I would much rather die sooner than later," she said.

Several members' of the Arias family were at the jail where Arias was being held Wednesday night, waiting for a chance to meet with her.

Mother Sandra Arias said she had heard about her daughter's post-verdict TV interview, but hadn't watched it.

She appeared to be very emotional and concerned about her daughter.

While serving time, Sandra Arias said, her daughter "can do a lot of good for others."

Quiz: Test your legal knowledge

CNN's Ed Payne, Dana Ford, Ted Rowlands, Ashleigh Banfield and Eliott C. McLaughlin and HLN's Jean Casarez, Beth Karas and Graham Winch and In Session's Scott Tufts and Jessica Thill contributed to this report.

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Ariel Castro due in court over Cleveland abductions - The Guardian

The owner of the Ohio home in which three women were held against their will for years was charged with kidnap and rape on Wednesday, two days after the victims were freed. Prosecutors said there was no evidence that his two brothers, arrested at the same time as him, had played any part in the crime.

At a news conference in Cleveland, prosecutor Victor Perez said Ariel Castro, 52, would be arraigned at the city's municipal court on Thursday morning.

The ordeal of Amanda Berry, 27, Gina DeJesus, 23, and Michelle Knight, 30, ended on Monday when Berry saw a chance to break free from the house and alert neighbours. When Castro was out, Berry hammered on the front door, attracting the attention of neighbours who helped her escape. She emerged from the house with a six-year-old daughter who was born in captivity.

Prosecutors said Castro would face three counts of rape, relating to the women, and four counts of kidnap, which included the child. Ed Tomba, the deputy police chief of Cleveland, said the women had only ever left the house twice, when Castro allegedly forced them, in disguise, to the garage.

Tomba said he would not go into details about whether there had been any other pregnancies in the years the women had been held in the house. But police said earlier in the day that they were apparently bound with ropes and chains, and a city councilman briefed on the case, Brian Cummins, said that they were subjected to prolonged sexual and psychological abuse and suffered miscarriages.

"We know that the victims have confirmed miscarriages, but with who, how many and what conditions we don't know," Cummins said. He added: "It sounds pretty gruesome."

Perez stressed that Castro's two brothers, Pedro, 54, and Onil, 50, were not linked to the women's disappearance and captivity. He blamed the "chaos" of the time immediately after the women's release for their arrest. The two men were still in custody on Wednesday evening, held on outstanding warrants for separate misdemeanour cases. "There is no evidence that these two individuals had any involvement in the commission of the crimes committed against Michelle, Gina, Amanda and the minor child," Perez said.

Asked if the women were held together in the house, Tomba said: "They were not in one room but they did know each other and they did know each other was there."

Tomba said FBI agents were searching a house two doors away from Ariel Castro's home on Wednesday afternoon. "During the course of our investigation over the last couple of days information was obtained that provided us enough probable cause to seek a search warrant to go into that house with an attempt to secure evidence," he said, adding that there were no suspects at the house. He would not elaborate on the connection between Castro and the property.

Castro's son, Anthony Castro, had said earlier this week that his father's house at 2207 Seymour Avenue "was always locked". "There were places we could never go. There were locks on the basement. Locks on the attic. Locks on the garage," he said.

Beth Berry Serrano, the sister of Amanda Berry, speaks to the press after Amanda Berry arrived at her sister's home in Cleveland, Ohio. Three brothers have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping of three women, including Amanda Berry. They were found safe in a home after being missing for a decade, authorities said.

Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

There were joyful scenes earlier in the day when Berry and DeJesus returned home with their relatives. Berry was brought under police guard to her sister's home in Cleveland and was welcomed by a huge cheer from hundreds of neighbours. The house was festooned with balloons and placards, one saying "We never lost hope" and another reading "We missed you very much". DeJesus had a similar rapturous welcome.

Arriving at her sister's home, Berry did not stop before the bank of TV cameras and reporters that had assembled in expectation that she might say her first words in public, other than the 911 call she made on Monday night. Instead her sister, Beth Serrano, above, delivered a brief statement while engulfed by a huge media scrum. "We have Amanda and her daughter home," she said. "I want to thank the public and the media for their support and their encouragement over the years. At this time our family would request privacy so my sister and niece and I can have time to recover."

After welcoming DeJesus home, her aunt, Sandra Ruiz, made a similar request for privacy and asked that people not seek retaliation against the suspects. "I'm asking God to watch over all of us, and the last thing the family is asking is that we as a community do not go retaliate against the family or the suspects of this crime." She praised the police and FBI, and they should be left to "do their job".

Michael McGrath, the Cleveland police chief, revealed earlier on Wednesday that ropes and chains were among several hundred items removed from 2207 Seymour Avenue, where the three victims had been held for between nine and 11 years. He told NBC that the women were in good physical condition, "considering the circumstances".

Federal investigators, dressed in white jumpsuits to avoid contaminating evidence, have been coming through the house and yard at Seymour Avenue, recovering the first clues to how the women were treated over their prolonged imprisonment. Several vehicles were taken away for laboratory examination, as well as dozens of items wrapped in black plastic sheets.

Cadaver dogs have also been brought to the crime scene, suggesting that the FBI wants to rule out the possibility of human remains being buried in the house or yard. None have so far been found, according to Martin Flask, Cleveland's director of safety. "A thorough search of the scene … did not reveal human remains," he said.

Authorities attempted to dampen frenzied speculation that has been swirling around Seymour Avenue by pushing back on reports from Castro's neighbours that over the years they had reported unusual activity that the police had failed to act upon. In the most lurid accounts, neighbours said that a naked woman in chains had been seen crawling on her hands and knees in the back yard of the house. Cleveland city hall released a statement that read: "Media reports of multiple calls to the Cleveland police reporting suspicious activity and the mistreatment of women at 2207 Seymour are false."

McGrath also disputed the reports, saying that police had checked their records and found only two interactions with Castro. The first, in 2000, was before the first of the victims was abducted. Officers responded to a call by the suspect regarding a fight outside his house. The second, in 2004, was in relation to an incident in which he left an unattended boy on the school bus he was driving.

"If officers in this district had any indication there was a problem, they would have been here, as we have been all over these missing cases," McGrath told Fox News. Castro was fired from his job as a school bus driver last November.

At the home of Berry's sister in west Cleveland, residents of this poor but normally quiet part of the city expressed joy at the homecoming. Andrea Berr said she had come to stand outside the Berry family home to show her support. "I'm feeling happy," she said, "but sad too that her mother wasn't here to see this."

Berry's mother, Louwana Miller, died in 2006, having spent three gruelling years searching for her lost daughter.

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8 killed in Bangladesh garment fire as building collapse toll hits 930 - Fox News

May 9, 2013: Workers stand outside an 11-story building that houses the Tung Hai Sweater Ltd. factory and apartments after a fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh.AP

DHAKA, Bangladesh – A fire in an 11-story garment factory in Bangladesh killed eight people, including a ruling party politician and a top official in the country's powerful clothing manufacturers' trade group, as the death toll from the collapse of another garment factory building passed 900 on Thursday.

The fire Wednesday night engulfed the lower floors of the Tung Hai Sweater Ltd. factory -- which had closed for the day -- said Mamun Mahmud, deputy director of the fire service. The blaze, fed by huge piles of acrylic products used to make sweaters, produced immense amounts of smoke, he said.

The victims died of suffocation as they ran down the stairs, Mahmud said.

`'Apparently they tried to flee the building through the stairwell in fear that the fire had engulfed the whole building," he said.

Had they stayed on the upper floors they would likely have survived the slow spreading fire, he said.

"We found the roof open, but we did not find there anybody after the fire broke out. We recovered all of them on the stairwell on the ninth floor," he said.

The blaze comes just two weeks after the collapse of the eight-story Rana Plaza building, home to five garment factories, killed at least 930 people and became the worst tragedy in the history of the global garment manufacturing industry. The disaster has raised alarm about the often deadly working conditions in Bangladesh's $20 billion garment industry, which provides clothing for major retailers around the globe.

The identities of the victims of Wednesday's fire showed the entanglement of the industry and top Bangladeshi officials. The dead included the factory's managing director, Mahbubur Rahman, who was also on the board of directors of the powerful Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. Along with him was senior police official Z.A. Morshed and Sohel Mostafa Swapan, head of a local branch of the ruling party's youth league.

Independent TV, a local station, reported that Rahman had plans to contest next year's elections as a candidate for the ruling party and had been meeting friends to discuss his future when the fire broke out.

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, which began soon after the factory workers went home for the day and took three hours to bring under control. Mahmud speculated it might have originated in the factory's ironing section. Officials originally said the building also housed several floors of apartments, but later said it was just a factory.

The Facebook page of the Tung Hai Group claimed it was a sprawling enterprise with a total of 7,000 employees at its two factories and the capacity to produce well over 6 million sweaters, shirts, pants and pajamas every month. The group claimed it did business with major retailers in Europe and North America.

The country's powerful garment industry has been plagued by a series of disasters in recent months, including a November fire at the Tazreen factory that killed 112 and the building collapse.

More than two weeks after the building in the suburb of Savar came crashing down, workers with cranes and other heavy equipment were still pulling apart the rubble and finding more bodies. On Thursday, authorities said the death toll had risen to 930 and it was unclear how many more people remained missing. More than 2,500 people were rescued alive after the April 24 accident.

Maj. Ohiduzzaman, an army official who uses only one name, said 100 decomposing bodies have been kept at a makeshift morgue at a local school ground and were to be sent to hospitals in Dhaka for DNA testing to identify them.

A total of 648 bodies have so far been handed over to the families, he said. Some of those who authorities have been unable to identify have been buried by the government.

Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus said in an article published in Bangladeshi newspapers Thursday that the tragedy was a `'symbol of our failure as a nation."

`'The crack in Rana Plaza that caused the collapse of the building has only shown us that if we don't face up to the cracks in our state systems, we as a nation will get lost in the debris of the collapse," he said, urging the government and citizens to work together for reforms.

He also urged global brands not to abandon the country, saying that the workers in the factories -- which often subcontract from the well-known brands -- should be seen as de facto employees of those companies.

The European Union's delegation to Bangladesh urged the government Wednesday to "act immediately" to improve working conditions in the country's garment industry.

Abdul Latif Siddiqui, head of special Cabinet committee to inspect garment factories that was formed days after the Rana Plaza collapse, said the government has closed 18 garment factories in recent days for failing to meet work and safety standards. He did not say whether the closures were temporary or permanent.

Officials say the owner of Rana Plaza illegally added three floors and allowed the garment factories to install heavy machines and generators, even though the structure was not designed to support such equipment.

The owner and eight other people including the owners of the garment factories have been detained.

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Colorado theater shooting suspect to enter insanity plea - Appleton Post Crescent

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 08 Mei 2013 | 16.14

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Pentagon reports sharp rise in military sexual assaults - Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon estimated that 26,000 members of the military were sexually assaulted in unreported incidents last year — 35% more than in 2010 — a severe trend that senior officials warned could threaten recruiting and retention of women in uniform.

President Obama, reacting to the startling figures Tuesday, said he had "no tolerance" for sexual crimes in the ranks and pledged to crack down on commanders who ignored the problem. Obama said he had spoken to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and ordered that officers "up and down the food chain" get the message.

"I expect consequences," Obama told reporters at the White House. "If we find out that somebody's engaging in this stuff, they've got to be held accountable — prosecuted, stripped of their positions, court-martialed, fired, dishonorably discharged, period. It's not acceptable."

The worsening statistics are a blow to the Pentagon's military and civilian leadership, who have announced repeated initiatives to combat rape and sexual assaults, only to see the problem grow.

The increase in both reported and suspected sex crimes — and evidence that many in the military still fear retaliation if they report an assault to a superior officer — comes as the military faces far-reaching social changes, including opening up combat jobs to women and lifting the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly.

It also comes two days after police in Arlington, Va., arrested the chief of the Air Force sexual assault prevention branch for allegedly groping a woman outside a bar near the Pentagon, the latest sexual scandal to hit the headlines. Officials said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski was removed from his post after the arrest.

"This department may be nearing a stage where the frequency of this crime and the perception that there is tolerance of it could very well undermine our ability to effectively carry out" the military's mission, Hagel said at a Pentagon news conference.

Hagel outlined steps he had ordered, including holding commanders accountable for preventing sexual assaults, expanding programs to help victims, and screening recruiters and training instructors. An investigation that began in 2011 at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas has turned up 59 cases of sexual assault of military recruits by drill instructors.

In testimony Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Air Force's top commander, Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, appeared to blame broader society, noting that 20% of women report they had been sexually assaulted "before they came into the military."

"So they come in from a society where this occurs," he said. "Some of it is the hookup mentality of junior high even and high school students now, which my children can tell you about from watching their friends and being frustrated by it."

Reported sexual assaults of both men and women in the military rose to 3,374 last year, up from 3,192 a year earlier, according to the Pentagon. About 1 in 4 of those who were assaulted and received medical care declined to press charges, however, an indicator of the victims' fear of retribution, officials said.

But the annual Defense Department report says about 6% of women surveyed, as well as 1% of male soldiers, declared they had been sexually assaulted but did not report the incidents up the chain of command. Extrapolating those percentages across the military, the report estimates 26,000 sexual assaults occurred, up from 19,300 in 2010.

Lawmakers and experts say many victims are reluctant to come forward because they lack faith in the military justice system and fear their careers could suffer if they try to bring criminal charges, particularly against higher-ranking officers.

In two cases since early 2012, Air Force generals overturned convictions of male officers under their command who had been found guilty of sexual assault. The cases have prompted a push in Congress to overhaul the Uniform Code of Military Justice to make it more difficult for commanders to intervene in such cases.

Maj. Gen. Gary Patton, who heads the Pentagon's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, said the 5.7% increase in reported sexual assaults indicated that more people are willing to come forward. But he acknowledged that the 35% rise in unreported cases showed "it's very clear we got some work to do."

Advocates for victims criticized the Pentagon for doing too little to reverse the problem.

Kate Weber, a former Army soldier who now counsels military sexual assault victims in Sonoma County, Calif., said in a telephone interview that she was raped by a senior officer while stationed in Germany in 1993. She said her superiors rebuffed her attempt to lodge a complaint.

The authority to prosecute "needs to be taken out of the chain of command, so a victim can report rape to an independent, uninterested party," she said.

Nancy Parrish, president of Protect Our Defenders, a victims group, said "the problems are so longstanding and pervasive that, at a minimum, it constitutes gross negligence on the part of the leadership and actually reflects … countenancing of a culture of violent abuse."

Pentagon officials have talked publicly for years about holding officers accountable who tolerate or cover up for male subordinates accused of sex crimes. But when asked whether any officers had been disciplined for mishandling sexual assault cases, Patton offered no examples.

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Singer arrested in Calif. murder-for-hire sting - USA Today - USA TODAY

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Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying performs at the second annual Revolver Golden Gods Awards in Los Angeles.(Photo: Chris Pizzello, AP)

OCEANSIDE, Calif. (AP) — The lead singer of Grammy-nominated heavy metal band As I Lay Dying was arrested Tuesday in Southern California as authorities said he tried to hire an undercover detective to kill his estranged wife.

Tim Lambesis, 32, was arrested at a retail business in Oceanside, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.

The statement said detectives received information Thursday that Lambesis had solicited someone to kill his wife, who lives in nearby Encinitas. A task force from several law enforcement agencies quickly launched an investigation that led to the arrest.

The department would give no further details on the investigation.

As I Lay Dying formed in San Diego in 2000 and has released six albums including 2007's "An Ocean Between Us," which reached No. 8 on Billboard's charts. A track from the album was nominated for a Grammy for top metal performance.

It was not clear whether Lambesis had hired an attorney, and a phone message seeking comment left at a number listed in his name was not immediately returned.

According to its website, the band is scheduled to tour the country with several other metal acts starting later this month.

USA NOW

Others who survived captivity: USA NOW video

May 07, 2013

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Political redemption: Former SC Gov. Mark Sanford wins his old congressional ... - Washington Post

CHARLESTON, S.C. — In a story of political redemption, Mark Sanford is headed back to Congress after his career was derailed by scandal four years ago.

"I am one imperfect man saved by God's grace," the Republican told about 100 cheering supporters Tuesday after defeating Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch to win back the 1st District seat he held for three terms in the 1990s. "It's my pledge to all of you going forward I'm going to be one of the best congressmen I could have ever been."

Although the race was thought to be close going into the voting, Sanford collected 54 percent of the vote against Colbert Busch, the sister of political satirist Stephen Colbert, in a district that hasn't elected a Democratic congressman in more than three decades. About 32 percent of the district's voters went to the polls. Green Party candidate Eugene Platt finished far behind.

"Some guy came up to me the other day and said you look a lot like Lazarus," Sanford told the crowd, referring to the man who, according to the Bible, Christ raised from the dead. "I've talked a lot about grace during the course of this campaign," he said. "Until you experience human grace as a reflection of God's grace, I don't think you really get it. And I didn't get it before."

Sanford, who turns 53 later this month, has now never lost a race in four runs for Congress and two for governor. And he said before the votes were counted Tuesday that if he lost this one, he wouldn't run for office again.

He saw his political career disintegrate in summer 2009 when he disappeared for five days, telling his staff he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. He returned to admit in a tearful news conference he had been in Argentina with his mistress — a woman to whom he is now engaged. Sanford later paid a $70,000 ethics fine, the largest in state history, for using public money to fly for personal purposes. His wife and political ally, Jenny, divorced him.

Three weeks before the special election, news surfaced that Sanford's ex-wife had filed a court complaint alleging he was in her house without permission in violation of their divorce decree, leading the National Republican Congressional Committee to pull its support from the campaign. Sanford must appear in court Thursday on the complaint.

Sanford said he tried to get in touch with his ex-wife and was in the house so his youngest son would not have to watch the Super Bowl alone.

The congressional seat became vacant when U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint resigned from his Senate seat late last year. Governor Nikki Haley then appointed the sitting congressman, Tim Scott, to fill DeMint's seat.

"We put up a heck of a fight, didn't we?" Colbert Busch told a crowd of supporters at a hotel in Charleston. "The people have spoken, and I respect their decision."

Although the district is strongly Republican, Colbert Busch raised more money than Sanford. And national Democrats flooded the airwaves with ads attacking Sanford's past indiscretions.

Steve Israel, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Sanford now becomes the face of the Republican efforts to reach out to women voters and the GOP will have to defend him.

"In this deep red Republican district that Mitt Romney won by 18 points, the fact that the Democrat made this competitive is a testament to the strength of Elizabeth Colbert Busch as a candidate and the Republican habit of nominating flawed candidates," he said in a statement.

But Greg Walden, his counterpart at the National Republican Congressional Committee countered that the "results demonstrate just how devastating the policies of Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi are for House Democrats in 2014. Democrats spent more than $1 million trying to elect a candidate who was backed by the Democrat machine, but at the end of the day, running on the Obama-Pelosi ticket was just too toxic for Elizabeth Colbert Busch."

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Ferguson to Leave as Manchester United Manager - New York Times

Jon Super/Associated Press

Manchester United's manager Sir Alex Ferguson celebrates a team win in April.

The Times's soccer blog has the world's game covered from all angles.

LONDON — Alex Ferguson, the longtime manager of the Manchester United soccer team, will retire at the end of the season, ending a longstanding and highly successful run at the Premier League team, the team announced Wednesday.

Ferguson has managed Manchester United for 27 years, and he will leave after his club won the Premier League this season, dethroning its cross-city rival, Manchester City.

The Premier League champions confirmed on Wednesday that Ferguson, 71, would step aside at the end of the season. The club was knocked out of the Champions League tournament earlier this season.

''The decision to retire is one that I have thought a great deal about and one that I have not taken lightly. It is the right time,'' Ferguson said on United's Web site.

After Ferguson took over the team in 1986, it went on to win 13 English League titles and five Football Association Cups.

Rob Hughes reported from London and Gerry MUllany reported from Hong Kong.

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Italy deaths as Genoa ship hits control tower - BBC News

8 May 2013 Last updated at 05:08 ET

At least four people have died and several more are missing after a container ship crashed into a control tower in the Italian port of Genoa.

The Jolly Nero smashed into the concrete and glass tower late at night, reducing it to rubble.

Three people were reported to have been trapped inside a lift that fell into the water as the tower collapsed.

Rescue workers have been searching in the rubble for survivors while divers scoured the water around the dock.

The accident occurred at about 23:00 on Tuesday night (21:00 GMT), when a shift change was taking place in the control tower and as many as 14 people were inside.

The ship was manoeuvring out of the port with the help of tugboats in calm conditions, on its way to Naples, reports said.

'Utterly shocked'

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear, but Genoa's Il Secolo XIX newspaper quoted the Jolly Nero's captain as saying that two engines appeared to have failed and "we lost control of the ship".

The head of the Genoa Port Authority, Luigi Merlo, told the newspaper: "It's very difficult to explain how this could have happened because the ship should not have been where it was."

The ship's owner, Stefano Messina, who arrived at the port soon after the crash, had tears in his eyes as he told journalists: "We are all utterly shocked. Nothing like this has ever happened before, we are desperate."

"It's a terrible tragedy. We're in turmoil, speechless," Port Authority President Luigi Merlo told local TV.

All that was left of the control tower after the crash was a buckled metal exterior staircase.

"It was an incredible sight: the control tower was leaning perilously," the port's nightwatchman told La Repubblica newspaper.

One of the victims was reported to be a 30-year-old man who worked for the coast guard.

The other two victims had not been identified.

Genoa's prosecutor is investigating the incident, Corriere Della Sera newspaper says. The ship has been impounded and the captain is being questioned.

The Jolly Nero is almost 240 metres (787 feet) long and has a gross tonnage of nearly 40,600 tonnes. It is owned by the Italian firm Ignazio Messina & Co.

The crash revived memories of the crash involving the Costa Concordia cruise ship off the Italian island of Giglio in January 2012, which left 32 people dead.

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Air Force Officer Accused of Sexual Battery - ARL now

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 07 Mei 2013 | 16.14

Jeffrey Krusinski FIRST REPORTED BY ARLNOW.COM: The Chief of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response branch of the U.S. Air Force was arrested and charged with sexual battery in Arlington over the weekend.

Lt. Col. Jeff Krusinski is accused of fondling a woman in a Crystal City parking lot early Sunday morning.

"A drunken male subject approached a female victim in a parking lot and grabbed her breasts and buttocks," according to a Arlington County Police Department crime report. "The victim fought the suspect off as he attempted to touch her again and alerted police."

"Jeffrey Krusinski, 41, of Arlington, VA, was arrested and charged with sexual battery," police said. "He was held on a $5,000 unsecured bond."

An Air Force spokeswoman confirmed Krusinski's rank, job title and the fact that he works at the Pentagon to ARLnow.com, but had no further comment.

The victim did not know Krusinski, said Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. Police were unable to say how Krusinski sustained cuts on his face that appeared in his booking photo. He did not require medical treatment.

Update at 5:05 p.m. — Lt. Col. Krusinski has been removed from his position pending an investigation, NBC News reports.

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FBI: Minnesota raid disrupts planned terror attack - Beatrice Daily Sun - Beatrice Daily Sun

FBI officials said Monday they foiled a terrorist attack being planned in a small western Minnesota town, but they offered no details about the exact targets of the attack _ or the motive of the man accused of having a cache of explosives and weapons in a mobile home.

The FBI said "the lives of several local residents were potentially saved" with the arrest of Buford Rogers, 24, who made his first appearance Monday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Rogers, of Montevideo, was arrested Friday after authorities searched a mobile home he's associated with and found Molotov cocktails, suspected pipe bombs and firearms, according to a court affidavit.

"The FBI believed there was a terror attack in its planning stages, and we believe there would have been a localized terror attack, and that's why law enforcement moved quickly to execute the search warrant on Friday to arrest Mr. Rogers," FBI spokesman Kyle Loven said Monday.

He said the investigation is ongoing, and agents are looking at the case as one of domestic terrorism.

Loven said the investigation prohibits him from getting into details about Rogers' target, or his possible political or religious views, but he said the FBI is confident in calling this a "terror" situation. He also said the alleged target was believed to be in Montevideo, a city of about 5,000 people about 130 miles west of Minneapolis.

"We had information which indicated that Mr. Rogers was involved in a plot to conduct terror activities in and around the Montevideo area," he said. He declined to say whether Rogers was believed to be acting alone or as part of a group, or if other arrests were expected.

Montevideo Police Chief Adam Christopher said a homemade sign in front of the mobile home that bore the letters "BSM" refers to a local anti-government militia group called the Black Snake Militia, which the Rogers family started.

"That is not a large scale, nationwide group, as far as I know," Christopher said. "I think it's kind of them, and their family, and a few of their friends."

Mark Pitcavage, who researches militias for the Anti-Defamation League, said the Black Snake Militia is part of a movement that has slowly grown from about 50 active groups around the U.S. a few years ago to more than 260 small groups today.

Pitcavage said there are "a whole lot of little militia cells out there with 6-8 people in there, which is what this seems to be. ... It's teeny tiny, it's probably a group of like-minded friends who believe some of the same things."

Rogers' father, Jeff Rogers, told KMSP-TV his son doesn't own any guns, and the guns in the home belonged to him. He said his son is not a terrorist.

"He was not out to bomb nobody and I have no clue where the hell that came from," Jeff Rogers said. "I have no idea of who the hell he'd even be targeting. He's not that kind of a person. I can guarantee you that."

Rogers appeared in court Monday wearing a construction company T-shirt, baggy pants, and work boots. He answered "yes sir" and "no sir" to questions from U.S. Magistrate Tony Leung, who ordered him held pending a detention hearing Wednesday, citing "serious concerns."

Rogers was appointed a federal defender, but an attorney was not immediately assigned. Defendants do not typically enter pleas during initial appearances and he made no statement about the case to the court.

In a news release Monday, the FBI said the alleged terror plot was discovered through analysis of intelligence gathered by local, state and federal authorities.

"Cooperation between the FBI and its federal, state, and local partners enabled law enforcement to prevent a potential tragedy in Montevideo," Christopher Warrener, the special agent in charge of the FBI office in Minneapolis, said in the statement.

According to a federal affidavit, FBI agents from the domestic terrorism squad searched the mobile home in Montevideo and discovered Molotov cocktails, suspected pipe bombs and firearms. The affidavit said Buford was there at the time, and one firearm recovered from the residence was a Romanian AKM assault rifle.

In an interview with authorities, Rogers admitted firing the weapon on two separate occasions at a gun range in Granite Falls, the affidavit said. Rogers has a 2011 conviction for felony burglary and is not allowed to have a firearm.

Dustin Rathbun, who lives next door, said he and other neighbors noticed a few months ago that the Rogers family was flying an upside-down flag from the side of their home. He said the owners of the park asked them to take it down.

Christopher, the Montevideo police chief, said officers were called to the Rogers' home about that flag.

"Residents were very upset by that. They felt it was really a disrespectful thing to the flag, but it's not illegal," Christopher said. He said the family told him the upside-down flag was a "sign of distress because the country is in distress."

When asked if he believed a threat was imminent, Christopher said: "That's always hard to say. My take on it is, when somebody has made explosive-type devices, the potential is there."

Christopher also declined to comment about the target of the alleged plot, but said the general public is not in danger.

___

Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/amyforliti

Associated Press writer Doug Glass contributed to this report.

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5 climbers killed after volcano spews rock and ash in the Philippines - Fox News

May 7, 2013: A mushroom of volcanic ash shoots up to the sky as Mayon volcano, one of the Philippines' most active volcanoes, spewed huge rocks and ash after daybreak.AP
FILE: A column of ash shoots up to the sky in another mild eruption of the cloud-covered Mayon volcano as viewed from Legazpi city.AP

One of the Philippines' most active volcanoes rumbled to life Tuesday, spewing room-sized rocks toward nearly 30 surprised climbers, killing five and injuring others that had to be fetched with rescue helicopters and rope.

The climbers and their Filipino guides had spent the night camping in two groups before setting out at daybreak for the crater of Mayon volcano when the sudden explosion of rocks, ash and plumes of smokes jolted the picturesque mountain, guide Kenneth Jesalva told ABS-CBN TV network by cellphone.

He said rocks "as big as a living room" came raining down, killing and injuring members of his group, some of whom were in critical condition. Jesalva said he rushed back to the base camp at 3,000 feet to call for help.

Among the dead were three Germans and their Filipino guide, said Albay provincial Gov. Joey Salceda. He said everyone on the mountain had been accounted for at midday, except for a foreigner who was presumed dead.

Eight people were injured, and Salceda said the others were in the process of being brought down the mountain. Ash clouds have cleared over the volcano, which was quiet later in the morning.

"The injured are all foreigners ... They cannot walk. If you can imagine, the boulders there are as big as cars. Some of them slid and rolled down. We will rappel the rescue team, and we will rappel them up again," he said from Legazpi, the provincial capital at the foothill of the mountain.

An Austrian mountaineer and two Spaniards were rescued with small bruises, he said.

Tuesday's eruption was normal for the restive Mayon, said Renato Solidum, the head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

The 8,070-foot mountain about 212 miles southeast of Manila has erupted about 40 times during the last 400 years.

In 2010, thousands of residents moved to temporary shelters when the volcano ejected ash up to 5 miles from the crater.

Solidum said no alert was raised after the latest eruption and no evacuation was being planned.

Climbers are not allowed when an alert is up, and the recent calm may have encouraged this week's trek. However, Solidum said that even with no alert raised, the immediate zone around the volcano is supposed to be a no-go area because of the risk of a sudden eruption.

Salceda said he would enforce a ban on climbers.

Despite the risks, Mayon and its near-perfect cone is a favorite spot for volcano watchers. Most enjoy the occasional nighttime spectacle of the rim lit by flowing lava, viewing from the safety of hotels in Legazpi.

The volcano has a trail to the crater that is walkable though it's steep and strewn with rocks and debris from past eruptions.

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Ordinary citizens play a key role in preventing attacks, but many of us have ... - Baltimore Sun

May 05, 2013|By Herma Percy

The arrest of three friends of the surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing reminds us of the consequences of withholding information from investigators, lying or being an accessory after the fact for a friend or loved one. In other words, if the authorities are correct, "snitching" could have saved these three young men from facing criminal charges, international notoriety, and a future scarred by the cover up of their friend — a suspected terrorist.

In some circles, the term "snitch" is used to intimidate good, law-abiding citizens from assisting law enforcement with information during investigations. Unfortunately, this has long been the case in Baltimore. But the arrest of the three University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth students underscores the importance of reporting suspicious activity to law enforcement authorities. More important, the investigation of the Boston Marathon bombings demonstrates that our struggle to combat terrorism greatly depends on public engagement.

As the FBI pointed out immediately after the Boston attack, terrorists are somebody's neighbor, co-worker, friend or relative. It's clear that our safety depends on all of us reporting suspicious activities, regardless of the intimate relationship we may have with the people we suspect. While we don't want to return to the days of the Red Scare, when many Americans lived in fear of being falsely accused of having communist ties, we cannot become complacent. Since 9/11, many of us have become detached from the reality that terrorists continue to organize, train and scheme to harm the U.S. and its people. But there have been more than 50 known terror plots against the United States since 9/11. While counterterrorism efforts have prevented these attacks, the Boston bombings reveal it will take continued effort by all of us to keep our communities safe.

The government's "If you see something, say something" campaign should remind those who remain apathetic about their important role in the "war on terror." My future, your future and our children's future depend on public involvement in this struggle. We were reminded of this integral partnership in the moments right after the Boston bombings, when the FBI sought the public's involvement by establishing an 800 number and asked for tips, videos and pictures.

In the coming weeks, investigators will learn more about the role of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's three friends, and perhaps whether the suspects received training and assistance to build and detonate the pressure cooker bombs and what happened during Tamerlan Tsarnaev's seven-month visit to Russia. But there is one thing we know right now: Despite our massive homeland security infrastructure, terrorist plots have been thwarted thanks to significant help from the public. A public tip led to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's capture after a city shutdown was lifted. Public involvement stopped the 2009 Christmas Day bomber who tried to detonate a bomb in his underwear on a flight from Amsterdam to the U.S. The public helped to prevent the 2001 shoe-bomb attack by Richard Reid, who hid and attempted to light explosives inside his shoes in a flight from Paris to Miami. It was a New York T-shirt vendor who saw smoke coming from a Nissan SUV and alerted local cops to thwart the would-be 2010 Times Square car bomb.

Too many of us have a false sense of security and are uninterested in the difficult efforts needed to maintain the safety and protection of the nation. I have seen this apathy first-hand for the past eight years as a homeland security professor. Every semester, I come across a few students in my class who are unashamedly taking the class only because they need an elective to graduate or due to the strong urgings of an academic advisor. But I always remind students that no matter your vocation, religion or race, homeland security should be of interest because it affects all us. Our futures are inextricably linked in this struggle to combat extremism.

There are several lessons to be learned from the Boston bombings. But if we learn nothing else as citizens, it should be that the key to winning this "war on terror" will be our deliberate, persistent and unconditional public engagement.

Herma Percy, PhD, a member of the Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council of Maryland, is homeland security program director at Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park. Her email is hpercy@wau.edu.

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Frantic 911 call leads to 3 missing women in Ohio - Delaware County Daily Times

By JOHN COYNE and THOMAS J. SHEERAN,
Associated Press

CLEVELAND (AP) — The voice of the long-missing woman was frantic and breathless, choking back tears. "Help me. I'm Amanda Berry," she told a 911 dispatcher. "I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm, I'm here, I'm free now."

Those words led police to a house near downtown Cleveland where Berry and two other women who went missing a decade ago were found on Monday, elating family members and friends who'd longed to see them again.

Authorities later arrested three brothers. They released no names and gave no information about them or what charges they might face.

City officials have scheduled a news conference for Tuesday morning.

Police Chief Michael McGrath said he thinks Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were tied up at the house and held there since they were in their teens or early 20s.

A 6-year-old also was found in the home, but police didn't disclose the child's identity or relationship to anyone in the home. The women appeared to be in good health and were taken to a hospital to be evaluated and be reunited with relatives.

The women's escape and rescue began with a frenzied cry for help.

A neighbor, Charles Ramsey, told WEWS-TV he heard screaming Monday and saw Berry, whom he didn't recognize, at a door that would open only enough to fit a hand through. He said she was trying desperately to get outside and pleaded for help to reach police.

"I heard screaming," he said. "I'm eating my McDonald's. I come outside. I see this girl going nuts trying to get out of a house."

Neighbor Anna Tejeda was sitting on her porch with friends when they heard someone across the street kicking a door and yelling. Continued...

Tejeda, 50, said one of her friends went over and told Berry how to kick the screen out of the bottom of the door, which allowed her to get out.

Speaking Spanish, which was translated by one of her friends, Tejeda said Berry was nervous and crying. She was dressed in pajamas and old sandals.

At first Tejeda said she didn't want to believe who the young woman was. "You're not Amanda Berry," she insisted. "Amanda Berry is dead."

But when Berry told her she'd been kidnapped and held captive, Tejeda said she gave her the telephone to call police, who arrived within minutes and then took the other women from the house.

On a recorded 911 call Monday, Berry declared, "I'm Amanda Berry. I've been on the news for the last 10 years."

She said she had been taken by someone and begged for police officers to arrive at the home on Cleveland's west side before the man returned.

"I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years," she told the dispatcher. "And I'm here. I'm free now."

Berry disappeared at age 16 on April 21, 2003, when she called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from her job at a Burger King. DeJesus went missing at age 14 on her way home from school about a year later. They were found just a few miles from where they had gone missing.

Police said Knight went missing in 2002 and is 32 now. They didn't provide current ages for Berry or DeJesus.

Police said one of the brothers who was arrested, a 52-year-old, lived at the home, and the others, ages 50 and 54, lived elsewhere. Continued...

Ramsey, the neighbor, said he'd barbecued with the home's owner and never suspected anything was amiss.

"There was nothing exciting about him — well, until today," he said.

Julio Castro, who runs a grocery store half a block from where the women were found, said the homeowner arrested is his nephew, Ariel Castro.

Berry also identified Ariel Castro by name in her 911 call.

Attempts to reach Ariel Castro in jail were unsuccessful Monday. Messages to the sheriff's office and a jail spokesman went unanswered, and there was no public phone listing for the home, which was being searched by dozens of police officers and sheriff's deputies.

The uncle said Ariel Castro had worked as a school bus driver. The Cleveland school district confirmed he was a former employee but wouldn't release details.

The women's loved ones said they hadn't given up hope of seeing them again.

A childhood friend of DeJesus, Kayla Rogers, said she couldn't wait to hug her.

"I've been praying, never forgot about her, ever," Rogers told The Plain Dealer newspaper.

Berry's cousin Tasheena Mitchell told the newspaper she couldn't wait to have Berry in her arms. Continued...

"I'm going to hold her, and I'm going to squeeze her and I probably won't let her go," she said.

Berry's mother, Louwana Miller, who had been hospitalized for months with pancreatitis and other ailments, died in March 2006. She had spent the previous three years looking for her daughter, whose disappearance took a toll as her health steadily deteriorated, family and friends said.

Councilwoman Dona Brady said she had spent many hours with Miller, who never gave up hope that her daughter was alive.

"She literally died of a broken heart," Brady said.

Mayor Frank Jackson expressed gratitude that the three women were found alive. He said there are many unanswered questions in the ongoing investigation.

At Metro Health Medical Center, Dr. Gerald Maloney wouldn't discuss the women's conditions in detail but said they were being evaluated by appropriate specialists.

"This is really good, because this isn't the ending we usually hear in these stories," he said. "So, we're very happy."

In January, a prison inmate was sentenced to 4 1/2 years after admitting he provided a false burial tip in the disappearance of Berry. A judge in Cleveland sentenced Robert Wolford on his guilty plea to obstruction of justice, making a false report and making a false alarm.

Last summer, Wolford tipped authorities to look for Berry's remains in a Cleveland lot. He was taken to the location, which was dug up with backhoes.

Two men arrested for questioning in the disappearance of DeJesus in 2004 were released from the city jail in 2006 after officers didn't find her body during a search of the men's house.

One of the men was transferred to the Cuyahoga County Jail on unrelated charges, while the other was allowed to go free, police said.

In September 2006, police acting on a tip tore up the concrete floor of the garage and used a cadaver dog to search unsuccessfully for DeJesus' body. Investigators confiscated 19 pieces of evidence during their search but declined to comment on the significance of the items then.

Transcript of long-missing woman's 911 call

A transcript of the 911 call placed Monday by a woman missing since 2003, when she was 16.

(unintelligible)

Caller: Help me. I'm Amanda Berry.

Dispatcher: You need police, fire, ambulance?

Caller: I need police.

Dispatcher: OK, and what's going on there?

Caller: I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for 10 years, and I'm, I'm here, I'm free now.

Dispatcher: OK, and what's your address?

Caller: 2207 Seymour Avenue.

Dispatcher: 2207 Seymour. Looks like you're calling me from 2210.

Caller: Huh?

Dispatcher: Looks like you're calling me from 2210.

Caller: I can't hear you.

Dispatcher: Looks like you're calling me from 2210 Seymour.

Caller: I'm across the street; I'm using the phone.

Dispatcher: OK, stay there with those neighbors. Talk to police when they get there.

Caller: (Crying)

Dispatcher: OK, talk to police when they get there.

Caller: OK. Hello?

Dispatcher: OK, talk to the police when they get there.

Caller: OK (unintelligible).

Dispatcher: We're going to send them as soon as we get a car open.

Caller: No, I need them now before he gets back.

Dispatcher: All right; we're sending them, OK?

Caller: OK, I mean, like ...

Dispatcher: Who's the guy you're trying -- who's the guy who went out?

Caller: Um, his name is Ariel Castro.

Dispatcher: OK. How old is he?

Caller: He's like 52.

Dispatcher: And, uh -

Caller: I'm Amanda Berry. I've been on the news for the last 10 years.

Dispatcher: I got, I got that, dear. (Unintelligible) And, you say, what was his name again?

Caller: Uh, Ariel Castro.

Dispatcher: And is he white, black or Hispanic?

Caller: Uh, Hispanic.

Dispatcher: What's he wearing?

Caller (agitated): I don't know, 'cause he's not here right now. That's why I ran away.

Dispatcher: When he left, what was he wearing?

Caller: Who knows (unintelligible).

Dispatcher: The police are on their way; talk to them when they get there.

Caller: Huh? I - OK.

Dispatcher: I told you they're on their way; talk to them when they get there, OK.

Caller: All right, OK. Bye.

Source: Cleveland law department

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Limo driver, survivor views differ on fatal fire - News & Observer

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — As smoke thickened and a fire grew in the back of a limousine, Nelia Arellano desperately tried to squeeze through a 3 foot by 1 1/2-foot partition.

Stuck for a moment, Arellano made her way into the front seat. Three of her friends quickly followed. Five others didn't make it. Their bodies were later found pressed against the partition.

Arellano said in an interview Monday with KGO-TV that she believes the driver, Oliver Brown, could have done more to help during the fire, which took place Saturday night on one of the busiest bridges on San Francisco Bay.

"When he stop the car, he get out from the car, he just get out from the car," she said.

Arellano and other women had started the night celebrating the recent wedding of Neriza Fojas and were headed across the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge to a hotel in Foster City.

Brown - a San Jose man who worked for the limo company the past two months - has said in interviews that one of the passengers tapped on the partition behind him, saying something about smoke as music blared from the back. No smoking was allowed, he told them.

Then the taps turned to urgent knocks, and someone screamed "Pull over!"

Brown said he stopped on the bridge as soon as he could. Then he helped pull the women out through the partition, he said.

One of the women who made it through the partition ran to the back and yanked open a door, but Brown said that provided oxygen to the fire and the rear of the limo became engulfed in flames.

Brown said he believed it was an electrical fire.

"It could have been smoldering for days," he told KGO on Monday, noting there was no explosive boom.

Authorities searched for answers Monday, hoping to learn what sparked the blaze and why five of the victims killed Saturday night couldn't escape.

The position of the bodies at the partition suggested they were trying to get away from the fire, San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said.

Fojas, 31, a registered nurse from Fresno was planning to travel to her native Philippines to hold another wedding ceremony with relatives. Her friends in the limousine were fellow nurses.

Fojas was among the five who died. Her mother, Sonya, broke into tears during an interview in the Philippines with local TV network GMA News.

"How painful, how painful what happened," she said.

The U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, Harry Thomas Jr., on Tuesday expressed condolences to the Fojas family.

"Mystery surrounds deadly limo fire," he said in a Twitter message. "Condolences to the Fojas family in the Philippines and the U.S. and other nurses."

Fojas and another woman who died, Michelle Estrera, were nurses at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno. The remaining three victims haven't been identified.

The medical center's CEO, Jack Chubb, said in a statement Monday that Fojas and Estrera were outstanding nurses, loved by their patients, colleagues and staff.

"Both were good friends, stellar nurses and excellent mentors who served as preceptors to new nurses," he said.

A relative of Fojas said the young nurse was preparing to get her master's degree.

Christina Kitts said Monday that Fojas lived in Hawaii while she reviewed for her nursing exam, then took a job in Oakland for two years before moving to Fresno about a year ago.

Three survivors hospitalized were identified as Jasmine Desguia, 34, of San Jose; Mary Guardiano, 42, of Alameda; and Amalia Loyola, 48, of San Leandro. Arellano, 36, of Oakland, was treated and released.

California Highway Patrol Commander Mike Maskarich said the state Public Utilities Commission had authorized the vehicle to carry eight or fewer passengers, but it had nine on the night of the deadly fire. Maskarich said it was too early in the investigation to say whether overcrowding may have been a factor.

State PUC spokeswoman Terrie Prosper said Monday that the commission is looking into whether the operator of the limo, Limo Stop, willfully misrepresented the seating capacity to the agency. If so, Limo Stop could be penalized $7,500 for each day it was in violation.

Limo Stop is licensed and has shown evidence of liability insurance, Prosper said. The company has seven vehicles with a seating capacity of up to eight passengers listed with the commission, and it has not been the target of any previous enforcement action.

The CPUC requires that all carriers have a preventive maintenance program and maintain a daily vehicle inspection report, Prosper said. Carriers also certify that they are have or are enrolled in a safety education and training program, she said.

Prosper said requirements for emergency exits only apply to buses, and limousines are not required to have fire extinguishers.

Joan Claybrook, the top federal auto-safety regulator under President Jimmy Carter, said the stretch limousine industry is poorly regulated because the main agency that oversees car safety doesn't have enough money to prioritize investigating the small businesses that modify limos after they leave the assembly line.

"I think the oversight is pretty lousy, because the modifications are so individualistic, and there are not that many companies out there that do this. Mostly, they are mom-and-pop operations," said Claybrook, a former administrator at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration who previously led consumer group Public Citizen.

Instead, the agency tends to focus more on problems with new cars and major recalls, she said.

U.S. Department of Transportation data shows five people died in three separate stretch limo accidents in 2010, and 21 people died in another three stretch limo accidents in 2011.

Stretch limos are typically built in two ways.

In the first process, one carmaker builds the limousine's body, then another company customizes or stretches the vehicle.

The second company has to issue a certification that the car meets National Highway Traffic Safety Administration safety standards for new vehicles, and that all safety equipment is working as required before it can be sold to the public, said Henry Jasny, an attorney with the Washington-based nonprofit Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.

In the second process, a customer buys the limousine directly from the carmaker, then takes it to be customized. But modifying the car after it has been sold is considered a retrofit, so is not something NHTSA would regulate, Jasny said.

Many older models such as the 1999 Lincoln Town Car that caught fire Saturday were modified after they left the factory, said Jerry Jacobs, who owns a boutique limousine company in in San Rafael with a fleet that includes two stretch limos.

"There is nothing wrong with having these older models on the road. Many have low mileage and immaculate interiors because we take care of them. But when these cars start getting older and the rubber boots wear out, they start running hot," Jacobs said. "The key is you have to keep doing all the right maintenance to make sure they're running smoothly."

Associated Press writers Sudhin Thanawala in San Francisco and Gosia Wozniacka in Fresno contributed to this report.

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India and China 'pull back troops' in disputed border area - BBC News

Written By Unknown on Senin, 06 Mei 2013 | 16.14

6 May 2013 Last updated at 04:13 ET

India and China have started pulling back troops from disputed territory near the two countries' de facto border, India's foreign ministry says.

Soldiers were said to have set up camps facing each other on the ill-defined frontier in Ladakh region last month.

The two sides held a series of talks to resolve the row and on Sunday, agreed to withdraw the troops.

The two countries dispute several Himalayan border areas and fought a brief war in 1962.

Tensions flare up from time to time. They have held numerous rounds of border talks, but all have been unsuccessful so far.

A spokesperson for India's foreign ministry, Syed Akbaruddin, told the BBC that India and China had agreed to pull their troops back to positions they held prior to the current stand-off, which began last month.

Meetings between border commanders were being held to confirm the arrangement, he added.

Indian officials had accused Chinese troops of straying 10km (six miles) into Indian territory on 15 April and putting up tents in the Depsang valley in Ladakh, in eastern Kashmir.

China had denied reports of an incursion.

The pull-out comes days ahead of Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid's visit to China, ahead of a scheduled visit by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to India.

Mr Khurshid is visiting China on 9 May, ahead of Mr Li's visit on 20 May for his first overseas trip.

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Bride, 4 Others Die in Limo Fire on... - ABC News

When one of the nine women in his limousine complained about smoke, Orville Brown pulled to the side of a San Francisco Bay bridge to check. As he got out, the back of the vehicle became engulfed in flames.

A newlywed bride and eight of her friends were still inside, but passersby quickly pulled three from burning white 1999 Lincoln Town Car late Saturday night. And one woman managed reach safety by squeezing through the partition from the passenger section to the driver's compartment, Brown told authorities.

But five others, including the bride whose marriage they were celebrating on a girls' night out, became trapped.

The five were found dead as firefighters doused the vehicle — all huddled near the partition, apparently unable to squeeze through.

"My guess would be they were trying to get away from the fire and use that window opening as an escape route," said San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault, who also relayed some of the comments the driver made to investigators.

The San Mateo Fire Department was looking into the cause of the fire, while the coroner's office was working with the California Highway Patrol to determine if anything criminal occurred.

"We don't believe there" was, Foucrault said.

Relatives told the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News that one of the dead was Neriza Fojas, 31, a registered nurse from Fresno who recently wed and was planning to travel to her native Philippines to hold another ceremony before family. Her friends in the limousine were fellow nurses.

Brown, 46, of San Jose, told investigators he picked the women up in Oakland and was taking them across the bridge to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Foster City. Fojas' sister, Rosalyn Bersamin, told the Chronicle that after a night out on the town, Fojas and her friends were heading to the hotel to party with her husband.

"She was a hard worker, a loving sister," a sobbing Bersamin said.

Aerial video shot after the incident showed about one-third of the back half of the limousine had been scorched by the fire. Its taillights and bumper were gone and it appeared to be resting on its rims, but the remainder of the vehicle didn't appear to be damaged.

A photo taken by a witness and broadcast on KTVU-TV showed flames shooting from the back of the limo.

Brown's brother told the Chronicle the flames spread before he could help all the women escape.

"He told me, 'Man, it was so fast.' He said, 'I've never seen anything like it in my life.'"

"He kept saying, 'I should have done more, I should have done more," he added.

The brother said that Brown is an experienced commercial driver who has operated big rigs and moving trucks and has a clean record.

Medical examiners will identify the victims by using dental records. Foucrault said the autopsies will include toxicology tests, as well as examinations into whether any accelerant such as alcohol or gasoline was found on the bodies.

The four other women who escaped the fire, Mary G. Guardiano, 42, of Alameda; Jasmine Desguia, 34, of San Jose; Nelia Arrellano, 36, of Oakland; and Amalia Loyola, 48, of San Leandro, were being treated at nearby hospitals for burns and smoke inhalation, the CHP said.

Desguia and Loyola were listed in critical condition, said Joy Alexiou, a spokeswoman for Valley Medical Center. The condition of Arrellano, who was taken to another hospital, was not known.

A spokeswoman for Community Medical Center in Fresno said one or more of its employees were in the limo.

The company that operated the limo was identified as Limo Stop, which offers service through limousines, vans and SUVS.

The company issued a statement saying it "will do everything possible to investigate and assist authorities in determining the cause of this fire in order to bring forth answers and provide closure to (the) victims and their families."

According to records from the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates limousine companies, Limo Stop is licensed and insured.

————

AP reporter Daisy Nguyen contributed to this report from Los Angeles.

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Jurors deliberate Arias fate amid spectacle - Hilton Head Island Packet

PHOENIX — It has become a real-life soap opera watched by people around the world and dozens of fanatics who camp out on a Phoenix sidewalk in the middle of the night to get into the show. One seat even sold for $200.

A cable network has set up a stage nearby for daily broadcasts, and the spectacle is routinely among the most heavily trending topics on Twitter. Fans have traveled from all over the U.S. to be close to the action, often seeking out autographs from the key people involved in the case, namely one of the main attractions, prosecutor Juan Martinez.

The star is none other than a small-town waitress and aspiring photographer from Northern California who killed her lover by stabbing him nearly 30 times and shooting him in the head. Jodi Arias has been on trial for first-degree murder since January, and her case has developed an enormous following with its tales of sex, violence and double-crossing.

The jury on Friday began deliberating whether the 32-year-old Arias should be convicted of first-degree murder in the June 4, 2008, death of her on-again-off-again boyfriend Travis Alexander, a motivational speaker and salesman for a legal services company. Prosecutors say Arias showed up at Alexander's house unannounced in the middle of the night, had sex with him on multiple occasions then killed him in his bedroom, slitting his throat from ear to ear and jabbing a knife in his heart before shooting him in the forehead.

Prosecutors have argued throughout the case that Arias was a stalker who killed him because he wanted to end the relationship and was about to take a trip to Mexico with another woman. Arias contends it was self-defense after Alexander lost his temper and body-slammed her to the floor when she dropped his prized new camera. She and her defense lawyers have sought to portray him as an abusive womanizer and sexual deviant.

The case has become a sensation for a number of reasons, with the sex and violence front and center.

Arias testified for 18 days about every aspect of her sex life with Alexander, many of the details X-rated in nature. The proliferation of streaming video and Twitter has made the trial accessible to people in ways unimaginable just a couple years ago. The court proceedings themselves have devolved into a sideshow at times, with a bizarre retelling of the Snow White fairy tale by a defense witness and lawyers playing in open court a raunchy phone sex chat between Arias and the victim a month before the killing. On top of that, cable networks such as HLN have thrown fuel on the fire by providing wall-to-wall coverage of the case. As a result, the network has seen record ratings.

"Everybody always has known that if you can tell a story and say it is based on a true story, or ripped from the headlines, than that's often something you can make more compelling because it's real," said Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University's Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture. "Well, this is the ultimate. This isn't based on a real story. You're showing them the real story."

TV networks realized in the months after the killing that they had ratings gold with the Arias case. Arias courted the spotlight right away, doing jailhouse interviews with "Inside Edition" and "48 Hours" in which she adamantly denied killing Alexander, instead blaming it on two masked intruders. She stuck with that story until two years after her arrest then changed her tune to self-defense.

The Turner Broadcasting-owned HLN went all-in during the trial, launching a new show called "HLN After Dark" devoted primarily to Arias. The network's main personalities, led by Nancy Grace, have covered nothing but Arias, and HLN has set up a stage near the courtroom where it seats mock juries. Lifetime has a movie in the works. And the major networks have gotten in on the action, too. ABC's "Good Morning America" scored a major scoop during the trial by obtaining Arias' diaries that were filled with all sorts of juicy details about her romance with Alexander.

Thompson and network executives say the trial has become so popular because viewers can relate to the characters, whether it's a stormy romance, an obsessive ex-girlfriend or a cheating boyfriend.

"We knew the characters involved like Jodi and Travis were interesting young people, in love theoretically, and it went dramatically bad," said Scot Safon, executive vice president and general manager of HLN.

"A crime story like this that goes to trial, it's never just about the story itself," he added. "You get to know the people involved."

For many, watching on TV wasn't good enough. They had to be there.

Dozens of people flocked to court each day, lining up in the early morning hours for a chance to score one of a handful of seats open to the public. The seats were provided on a first-come, first-served basis, and as the trial dragged on, the crowds only grew. At one point, fans swarmed Martinez for autographs and pictures. They wait for him every day outside court, but he regularly avoids the scene by taking another exit.

"I just love watching him," said Kathy Brown, of Phoenix, who had Martinez autograph her cane. "I love the passion he has."

The antics would later lead to a charge by the defense of prosecutorial misconduct by Martinez for chumming with fans outside the courthouse and running the risk of being seen by jurors. Two HLN staffers were even questioned in open court about what they had witnessed during the odd episode that seemed more befitting of a Hollywood red carpet event than a murder trial.

To some, the circus-like environment highlighted the risks of media obsession crossing the line. It is, after all, a case about a violent killing that could send one person to death row. Alexander's family members have spent day after day sobbing in the courtroom as details of the killing have been discussed at length, all while curious onlookers fight for a spot in line to see the proceedings.

"People lose sight of how very real this is," Phoenix lawyer Julio Laboy said. "It's extremely disheartening, as if people were bartering to get into a Yankees game."

Others have been outraged that taxpayers are having to foot the bill for the trial. Because Arias could not afford legal representation, she has been provided two court-appointed lawyers - a right provided to every citizen. By the end of the trial, the cost of her defense had exceeded $1.7 million.

Arias required additional attention on the part of jail officials given her newfound status as media celebrity. She created artwork with jail-issued colored pencils and sold the items on the Internet, including a drawing of Frank Sinatra that went for $1,075. Her mother told The Associated Press that the family is using the money to pay for their expenses while attending the proceedings.

Arias has become a sensation on Twitter as well. Inmates are not given Internet access, but a friend of Arias who is attending the trial said she has been tweeting on the defendant's behalf after talking to her on the phone. In the posts, she has taken jabs at Martinez and HLN and offered up inspirational quotes from people like Brigham Young and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Follow Brian Skoloff at https://twitter.com/bskoloff and Josh Hoffner at https://twitter.com/joshhoffner

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