Event promoter pleads not guilty to murdering rap artist Dolla

By Calvin Palmer

The man accused of fatally shooting rap artist Dolla pleaded not guilty today at a Los Angeles court to murder and two counts of assault.

Event promoter Aubrey Louis Berry, 23, of Snellville, Georgia, is accused of killing Roderick Anthony Burton II, known as Dolla, and shooting at two other people on Monday in the valet area of the Beverly Center, West Hollywood.

The charges were amended by the prosecution to include personally and intentionally discharging a firearm, which caused bodily injury and death.

Authorities allege that Berry, who had an altercation with Burton at an Atlanta strip club this month, fired at Burton, 21, and two people who were with him. Berry, who fled the scene hours after the shooting, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport with the purported murder weapon tucked in this waistband.

Berry’s attorney, Howard R. Price, said his client did shoot the rapper but in self-defense.

“At worst it’s a manslaughter case, at best it’s a case of self-defense,” he told the Los Angeles Times earlier this week.

Price said Berry and Burton clashed at the Platinum 21 Adult Entertainment club in Atlanta. The pair then ran into each other Monday in the restroom of PF Chang’s China Bistro in the Beverly Center in what Price described as a chance encounter.

Price said the rapper threatened Berry, who decided to leave the restaurant. When Berry went to the mall’s valet area for his car, Burton and two other people followed him, the attorney said. Berry thought Burton was reaching for his waistband and fired his weapon.

“He perceived that his life was in danger,” Price said.

Now whether Berry fired in self-defense is for a jury to decide. But a chance encounter?

Two people previously involved in an altercation just happen to be in a city 2,000 miles from where they live on exactly the same day and then happen to be at the same shopping mall in the city of the size of Los Angeles.

Mr Price, sir, do not insult my intelligence or that of the general public. And you will have to do a lot better than that when presenting your case to a jury.

[Based on a report by the Los Angeles Times.]

Homeless single mother charged with murder in death of three-year-old son

By Calvin Palmer

The New Mexico woman accused of suffocating her three-year-old son and burying him in the sandpit of a playground will face life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder, prosecutors said today.

Single mother Tiffany Toribio, 23, appeared in court charged with first-degree murder, child abuse and other counts related to the death of her son, Tyruss “Ty” Toribio, on May 13. His body was discovered two days later.

Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said no circumstances would qualify Toribio for the death penalty.

State law only allows the death penalty in limited circumstances, such as cases of murdering a police officer or murder for hire.

Brandenburg also said her office was evaluating whether other people could be charged for failing to report suspected child abuse.

She said people have a duty to report suspected child abuse, although she acknowledged it was “a real gray area” and that no decision had been made.

Toribio was recently made homeless after being kicked out of her mother’s house and a friend’s apartment for ignoring her son, according to Albuquerque police.

She remains in jail on $250,000 bond.

[Based on a report by the Associated Press.]

Untreated diabetes girl’s mother found guilty of reckless homicide

By Calvin Palmer

A Wisconsin jury took more than three hours this afternoon to find a mother guilty of second-degree reckless homicide in the death of her daughter from untreated diabetes.

Leilani Neumann, 41, chose the power of prayer instead of seeking medical help as their 11-year-old Madeline Kara Neumann lay dying at the family’s home in rural Weston.

She faces up to 25 years in jail. A sentencing date has not been set.

“Obviously, there will be an appeal,” defense lawyer Gene Linehan said after the verdict.

During closing arguments, prosecutors portrayed Neumann as a religious zealot who ignored her daughter Kara’s symptoms of untreated diabetes and let the girl die as a test of faith.

“Religious extremism can be dangerous,” Marathon County District Attorney Jill Falstad said. “In this case, it was fatal. Basic medical care would have saved Kara’s life — fluids and insulin. There was plenty of time to save Kara’s life.”

Linehan said Neumann did not realize her daughter was so ill and did all she could do to help, in line with the family’s belief in faith-healing.

He said Neumann was a devout Christian who prays about everything and took good care of her four children.

“Religious extremism is a Muslim terrorist,” Linehan said. “They are saying these parents were so far off the scale that they murdered their child. The woman did everything she could to help her. That is the injustice in this case.”

Neumann and her husband Dale, 47, clutched each other and silently prayed with another man before the jury began to deliberate.

She then went to each of her other children sitting on a front-row courtroom bench and kissed them on the cheek.

Dale Neumann faces the same charge and is scheduled to face trial on July 23.

The Associated Press reports Neumann’s stepfather, Brian Gordon, as saying his stepdaughter did nothing wrong in trusting in God to heal her daughter.

“We should have that right in this country,” he said.

It would be a fair assumption to say that Gordon is probably pro-life when it comes to the issue of abortion but he appears to be anti-life when it comes to denying readily available medical treatment to a close family relative.

Gordon, allow me to let you into a little secret, we have no “rights” only responsibilities and your family clearly failed in its responsibilities to Madeline Kara.

The fact that you are allowed to walk free in America frightens me because you and the rest of your family clearly belong in a mental institution. You are dangerously delusional. Just ask Madeline Kara. It is the 21st Century not the Middle Ages.

[Based on reports by the Wausau Daily Herald and Associated Press.]

Sextuplets arrive 14 weeks early

By Calvin Palmer

A woman gave birth to sextuplets by Cesarean section today at the Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital in Northern Ireland.

The four girls and two boys were delivered in just five minutes and weighed between 1lb 7oz and 2lb 2oz.

Their condition in intensive care at the Belfast hospital is described as “as good as could be expected” after being born 14 weeks early.

Doctors confirmed they were not conceived through IVF treatment.

The deliveries occurred between 11:19 a.m. to 11:24 a.m. and involved 30 medical staff led by neonatal consultant Dr Clifford Mayes.

It is believed to be the first case of sextuplets in Northern Ireland and the first in the United Kingdom since 1993.

Mayes said: “This is both a happy time and a potentially difficult time.

“This pregnancy isn’t the result of IVF. It is an extraordinary thing to have witnessed but you are also struck by the fact that there are little babies in intensive care.

“We have planned very carefully for today and today went as well as we had hoped it would. The care of the babies would be the care we would normally expect for any baby.”

Midwifery sister Patricia Denvir said the birth had gone “very well”.

“The mother was very composed — under a very stressful situation,” she said. “Both parents were very composed and they dealt with it very well.

“It is a very emotional time but it’s also very stressful for all concerned.”

A hospital spokesperson said they had contingency plans in place for such a rare event, and were working with colleagues across Northern Ireland to ensure they could cope with the extra demand placed on resources.

The birth of sextuplets is rare, occurring in about one out of 4.5 million pregnancies.

[Based on reports by BBC News and the Press Association.]

California tops list of April job losses

By Calvin Palmer

California headed the list of 44 states that lost jobs in April, with a loss of 63,700 positions, according to a report issued today by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Texas came in second with a loss of 39,500 jobs, followed by Michigan, 38,400 jobs; and Ohio, 25,200 jobs.

Does the U.S Department of Labor only record job losses in units of one hundred?

Since the recession began in December 2008, and not December 2007 as the Associated Press reports, the U.S. has lost a net total of 5.7 million jobs.

Some states did see payroll gains. Arkansas and Montana tied at 1,500, followed by Florida, which saw an increase of 1,300 jobs.

Nationwide the unemployment rate stands at 8.9 percent, the highest rate for 25 years.

North Dakota has the nation’s lowest unemployment rate — 4 percent, followed by Nebraska 4.4 percent; Wyoming 4.5 percent; and South Dakota 4.8 percent.

Nearly 6.7 million people nationwide are drawing state unemployment insurance, the highest on records dating to 1967, according to figures released yesterday.

Unemployment funds in California, New York and elsewhere are exhausted, forcing those states to seek federal government money to keep paying benefits.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and some economists hope the pace of layoffs will moderate as the recession eases its grip later this year.

[Based on a report by the Associated Press.]

Bloggers arrested for bogus hits on their posts

By Calvin Palmer

Authorities in South Korea are cracking down on bloggers who inflate the number of visitors to their Web sites to generate greater interest in their comments.

Four bloggers were indicted on Wednesday on charges of manipulating Web hits for their anti-government posts on an online forum.

The charges came weeks after police seized the home computers of the four bloggers.

It is unclear what penalty the four will face, if convicted.

Authorities say the bloggers illegally obstructed the business of Daum Communications, a South Korean Internet portal, which operated the forum. The investigation began after a tip from Daum officials.

“The four were alleged to have manipulated hits via virus programs,” Park Hyun-jung, a Daum Communications spokeswoman said of the bloggers.”If that is true, it obviously hurts our company’s credibility.”

Seoul police said yesterday click fraud could “lead to a distortion of public opinion on the Internet”.

Police said the four bloggers increased the number of hits on their posts by 110,000 to 930,000 clicks.

Because of the bogus hits, some of the posts were listed among the “best articles of the week” on various Web portals.

“I boosted hit counts in order to let many people learn of my opinions,” reporters quoted one blogger telling police.

The indictments brought barbed comments from bloggers.

Activist blogger Jin Joong-kwon observed: “The police really don’t have a lot of work to do.”

He added: “What in the world is this country coming to when it rounds up those who click a few times on their posting?”

[Based on a report by the Los Angeles Times.]

HIFiRE test flight gets a high five

By Calvin Palmer

Scientists have conducted a successful test flight of a hypersonic aircraft at the Woomera test range in South Australia, it was announced today.

The flight was part of a joint venture between Australia’s Defense Science and Technology Organization and the U.S. Air Force.

Defense Science and Personnel Minister Warren Snowdon said the flight, conducted earlier this month, was the first in a series of up to 10 hypersonic flight experiments.

The program is called the Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (HIFiRE) and is investigating hypersonics technology and its potential for next-generation aeronautics.

Hypersonics is the study of flight exceeding five times the speed of sound and this trial has successfully tested flight and mission control systems that will be used in future experiments, Snowdon said.

“Using nitrogen gas valves as thrusters to maneuver the test vehicle in space, the test vehicle was turned on to the correct heading and elevation for re-entry into the atmosphere as designed,” he said.

The test vehicle was carried some 125 miles into the atmosphere aboard a rocket launched from Woomera.

It then dived back into the atmosphere at high speed to test the hypersonic flight technology.

Snowdon said the HIFiRE collaboration had already achieved some significant milestones in design, assembly and pre-flight testing of hypersonic vehicles and the design of complex avionics and flight systems.

“Hypersonic technology offers a quantum leap in speed and fuel efficiency for air vehicles of the future,” he said.

The HIFiRE project is worth about A$70 million ($55 million) and is one of the largest collaborative ventures undertaken between Australia and the U.S.

[Based on a report by The Australian.]

YouTube recovers from flood of explicit clips in ‘Porn Day’ attack

By Calvin Palmer

Reviewers at YouTube have been busy deleting thousands of pornographic clips after online pranksters from Internet forum 4Chan flooded the popular video-sharing site yesterday with sexually explicit clips.

The ‘Porn Day’ attack appears to be in retaliation against YouTube’s policy on removing copyright music videos unlawfully uploaded to the Web site by users.

One member of 4Chan, a forum that focuses on Japanese animé and manga, told the BBC, “I did it because YouTube keeps deleting music. It was part of a 4Chan raid.”

The clips containing sexual scenes and nudity were uploaded with titles referring to entertainers popular with youngsters, such as Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers. The videos start out innocently and then fade into R-rated material.

Pornography and nudity are banned from YouTube and these clips violate its terms of service.

A spokesman for YouTube said the Web site was in the process of removing the offensive material.

Although YouTube has review teams around the world, he said most of yesterday’s work removing the porn content was done in the U.S. because of time zone issues.

“YouTube is a community site used by millions of people in very positive ways,” he said. “Sadly as with any form of communication, there is a tiny minority of people who try to break the rules.

“We were aware of yesterday’s issue and removed the videos as they were brought to our attention through our flagging system, as we would any videos that violate our Community Guidelines. In addition, any account we discovered that was been set up specifically to attack YouTube was also disabled.”

The spokesman could not reveal how many videos have been removed following yesterday’s prank but it is reportedly in the thousands. It is understood the videos originated from all over the world but were uploaded on the same day in a coordinated effort.

[Based on reports by The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian.]