March 12, 2009

Web site dismisses chat room warning by Kretschmer as a fake

By Calvin Palmer
The online message posted by the German teenager who shot and killed 15 people yesterday has been dismissed as a fake.
German officials said earlier today that Tim Kretschmer, 17, left a message on a chat room early yesterday morning in which he promised to shoot up his old school in Winnenden because “everyone [...]

March 12, 2009

Little Hitler’s parents left kicking their heels over return of children

By Calvin Palmer
A Family Court judge in New Jersey has still not decided whether three children with Naz-inspired names can be returned to their parents.
Deborah and Heath Campbell, of Holland Township, were in Family Court in Hunterdon County today to contest a January decision by New Jersey’s Division of Youth and Family Services to take [...]

March 12, 2009

Perry turns down $555 million for Texas from federal stimulus package

By Calvin Palmer
The Lone Star state has decided to go it alone and reject $555 million from the Obama administration’s stimulus package to expand benefits for the unemployed to include part-time workers.
Turning down the money, Texas Gov Rick Perry said store owners would be “on the hook” for higher unemployment payroll taxes if the state [...]

March 12, 2009

Rabbi convicted of sexually abusing his daughter

By Calvin Palmer
An ultra-orthodox rabbi who sexually abused his daughter on trips abroad was convicted at a Brooklyn federal court yesterday of five counts of traveling outside the country to have sex with a minor.
Rabbi Israel Weingarten, 59, a member of the Satmar community in suburban Monsey, conducted his own defense and during the week-long [...]

March 12, 2009

Fort Worth murder-suicide man’s identity released

By Calvin Palmer
A man who shot and wounded his estranged girlfriend and then killed her mother and son before killing himself at a Fort Worth home was identified today.
Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office released the name of the gunman, Stephen Bowden, after performing an autopsy.
Bowden, 38, died from a gunshot wound to the right temple. [...]

March 12, 2009

One dead and 16 still missing after helicopter crashes in Atlantic

By Calvin Palmer
Sixteen people are missing after a helicopter ferrying workers to an oil platform crashed off the coast of Newfoundland this morning.
Of the 18 aboard, one was rescued and one body was recovered.
Two life rafts were spotted in the water amid the helicopter debris, but rescuers later confirmed they were empty.
The survival window is [...]

March 12, 2009

Madoff sent to jail after guilty plea to all 11 charges relating to $65 billion fraud

By Calvin Palmer
Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty in court today to all 11 charges relating to his $65 billion (£47 billion) investment fraud and had his bail revoked.
Standing before Judge Denny Chin in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the 70-year-old Madoff, dressed in a gray suit, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of fraud, money laundering, perjury [...]

March 12, 2009

Teenage gunman gave warning of school massacre in chat room message

By Calvin Palmer
The 17-year-old boy who killed 15 people yesterday in southwest Germany warned of his intentions the night before in an Internet chat room.
Tim Kretschmer shot nine pupils and three teachers at the Albertville technical school in Winnenden on yesterday morning. He killed another three people 25 miles away in Wendlingen before he was [...]