Evidence found with Caylee’s body matches items at her home

By Calvin Palmer

Evidence found in the wooded area where a Florida girl’s body was discovered matches items from the house where she lived.

The State Attorney’s office in Orlando today released documents that show the same type of laundry bag, duct tape and plastic bag found when the body of two-year-old Caylee Anthony was discovered were also found in the home where Caylee lived.

Caylee’s remains were found in December by a meter reader in the area of S. Chickasaw Trail and Suburban Drive, less than a quarter of a mile from the Anthonys’ home on Hopespring Drive in Orlando.

Casey Anthony, 22, has been charged with her daughter’s murder. She claims Caylee was kidnapped by a baby sitter and has pleaded not guilty.

Caylee disappeared from her home last June but a month passed before authorities were notified of her disappearance.

The documents released today also showed Casey Anthony hyperventilated and asked for medication after she learned Caylee’s body had been discovered.

[Based on a report by the Associated Press.]

Stanford’s whereabouts unknown as depositors start a run on his banks

By Calvin Palmer

U.S. regulators do not know the whereabouts of Texan billionaire R. Allen Stanford.

Yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges against him alleging a “massive and ongoing” $8 billion investment fraud.

“We don’t know where he is, quite frankly,” said Rose Romero, director of the SEC’s Fort Worth office, which filed the charges against Stanford and his companies.

A lot of people would like to know his whereabouts and not just financial regulators.

Hundreds of depositors of the Bank of Antigua lined up to withdraw their funds.  The bank is owned by Stanford but is not part of the alleged fraud.

At one branch in the capital of Antigua, St John’s, about 600 people lined up outside.  A similar-sized crowd was seen at another branch near the airport.

The scene was repeated in Panama where bank regulators stepped in to take control of the Stanford Bank Panama – also not involved in the fraud allegations – after customers began a run on the bank.

Lengthy lines also formed outside the Stanford Bank Venezuela in Caracas, which issued a statement in an attempt to calm clients, saying that it had asked a bank regulator to join its board and stressing that its assets were not linked to the Stanford International Bank in Antigua that is at the heart of the fraud inquiry.

Venezuela’s superintendent of banks, Edgar Hernandez, said Venezuelans hold about $2.5 billion in Stanford Bank on the island of Antigua, which is being investigated by U.S. authorities on fraud allegations.

Many Venezuelans made investments in dollars in the bank in Antigua. But he said those investments are outside the purview of Venezuelan law.

Hernandez also sought to reassure investors today about Stanford Bank in Venezuela, saying an inspection in the fourth quarter of 2008 found no problems and that the bank appears “healthy”.

The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank pleaded with Bank of Antigua customers to remain calm, saying in a statement that although many depositors had started to withdraw funds, “causing some anxiety”, the bank had sufficient reserves.

“However, if individuals persist in rushing to the bank in a panic, they will precipitate the very situation that we are all trying to avoid,” the central bank warned.

Antigua’s Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer said yesterday that the charges against Sir Allen could have “catastrophic” consequences for the nation, but he also urged people not to panic.

The Stanford group is the largest private employer in Antigua and Barbuda, covering financial, media and sporting franchises.

[Based on reports by Bloomberg.com, The Times, BBC News and the Houston Chronicle.]

Mystery of ‘Baker Street’ singer ends

By Calvin Palmer

Gerry Rafferty, the Scottish singer who wrote the iconic hit Baker Street, is alive and well in Italy despite rumors that he had gone missing.

The Paisley-born singer is writing music in his Tuscany home where he has been living for the past six months.

Rafferty’s first success came with his band Stealers Wheel, which had a hit in 1972 with Stuck in the Middle with You.  The song became popular again when it was used on the soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 film Reservoir Dogs.

It was reported earlier this week that friends thought Rafferty had gone missing after he discharged himself in August 2008 from St Thomas’s Hospital in London where he was receiving treatment for liver failure.
 
Rafferty’s Stealers Wheel band mate Tony Williams had contacted police about the singer. He and Rafferty’s family had not heard from the singer in over six months.

His office said in a statement today: “Contrary to what some sections of the media are suggesting, Gerry is extremely well and has been living in Tuscany for the past six months. In his house there, which is situated just north of Florence, he continues to compose and record new songs and music.

“He would like to send a personal thank you to all of his fans who have expressed their concern for his wellbeing and he hopes to release a new album of his most recent work in the summer of this year.”

Hearing of the statement, Williams said: “I’m delighted he’s fine.” 

Rafferty still earns thousands in royalties from his most famous track Baker Street, released as a single in 1978 from his solo album City to City. The song still features on soft rock music stations around the world.
 
[Based on reports by The Guardian and BBC News.]

Famous U.S. postage stamp goes up for auction

By Calvin Palmer

A mint condition U.S. postage stamp, regarded as one of the most famous in the world, is expected to fetch £150,000 ($213,000) when it is sold at auction next month.

One of the most famous stamps in the world, the "Inverted Jenny".

The 1918 ‘inverted Jenny” depicts a Curtiss JN-4 Jenny biplane the wrong way up on a 24 cents airmail stamp and is one of the most remarkable errors in the history of philately.

The error was discovered by stockbroker’s clerk William T. Robey who was keen on sending first-day covers to his friends whenever the United States issued new stamps.

On May 14, 1918, he went into his local Washington D.C. post office to buy several examples of the new 24 cents airmail stamp.

Seeing the sheet of 100 stamps, everyone featuring the biplane upside down, he quickly handed over $24 and bought the entire sheet.

The error had occurred because the stamp’s two colors were printed in two separate operations: first the rose-colored frame and then the blue central image of the airplane.

Robey was soon visited by postal inspectors trying to buy the sheet back.  Robey held firm and did not even show them the sheet. He eventually sold it for $15,000 to Eugene Klein, of Philadelphia, who bought it on behalf of a syndicate consisting of himself, Mann and Major Joseph Steinmetz, President of the Aero Club of Pennsylvania.

The sheet was later bought for $20,000 by Col. Edward H.R. Green, one of the most important collectors in America.

Green authorized the splitting up of the sheet. He retained the plate block of 8 and 3 blocks of 4 and Klein was instructed to sell the balance. Initially singles were priced at $250 each, with straight edge copies from the side of the sheet priced at $175.

The stamp quickly rose in status and value. By 1940 singles were changing hands at $4,100, then $12,500 by 1965, $130,000 by 1979, and $185,000 by 2001.

Two were sold in 2007, both in exceptionally fine condition, and they achieved $825,000 and $850,000 before the addition of the buyer’s premium.

The stamp being sold next month changed hands for $3,000 in 1941, then after more buying and selling Harmers of New York sold it on behalf of a British collector for $52,000 plus $5,200 buyer’s premium in 1982. The buyer was another British collector and has not subsequently appeared on the market.

The sale by auction house Warwick and Warwick takes place on March 4 in the Court House, Warwick.

[Based on a report by The Daily Telegraph.]

Richie Benaud to call stumps on all cricket commentary

By Calvin Palmer

Richie  Benaud, the voice of cricket in England and Australia for nearly half a century, has revealed his intention to retire from all cricket commentary.

Benaud, 78, let the revelation slip in a radio interview on Australia’s 2GB station today.

He  said: “I’ll be doing Australian cricket next year – 2010 – but I don’t do any television at all anywhere else now and when I finish next year, then I’ll be doing other things. But that’ll be no more television commentary.”

Benaud began work in television after retiring in 1964 from an illustrious playing career. He was a leg-spin bowler and lower order batsmen and captained the Australian cricket side from 1958 until his retirement.

He worked extensively for the BBC and Channel 4 in the UK, as well as the Nine Network in Australia.

Famous for his beige jackets and his dry witty remarks, Benaud retired from English commentary after the infamous Ashes series of 2005.

One of his famous quotes is: “The slow-motion replay doesn’t show how fast the ball was really travelling.”

I am old enough to have seen Benaud play and in his early days as a commentator with the BBC used to delight in his Australian pronunciation of Bob Barber, the England and Warwickshire opener.

[Based on a report by the Melbourne Herald Sun.]

Bodies found in New Mexico desert put there by one person, say police

By Calvin Palmer

The bones from six bodies uncovered in the New Mexico desert during the past two weeks were likely put there by one person, police said yesterday.

Only one of the six sets of remains found in an area west of Albuquerque has been identified.

The family of prostitute  Victoria Chavez provided dental records when they reported her missing in 2004.  Her remains were found intact in a shallow grave without clothing or any other items.

Bones from the other five bodies, the most recent one discovered yesterday, were scattered across a 100 square foot area recently leveled by bulldozers on a housing community construction site.

Police were first alerted to the site two weeks ago by hikers.

Albuquerque homicide Sgt. Carlos Argueta said some of the victims were likely transient drug addicts and prostitutes.

Argueta said his detectives are looking at a few suspects in connection with Chavez’s case. Two suspects — Fred Reynolds and Lorenzo Montoya — are dead.

Reynolds, 60, was an Albuquerque area pimp who was found dead of natural causes in January. Police say he had pictures in his home of some of the 16 prostitutes who went missing from Albuquerque between 2001 and 2006.

Montoya, 39, was shot and killed in 2006 after he killed a 19-year-old prostitute, Sherika Hill, and tried to stuff her nude body in the trunk of his car. Her pimp, parked outside his trailer waiting for Hill, shot Montoya.

“Even if the victims are identified, determining the cause of death from skeletal remains can be difficult,” Argueta said. “But we have to investigate these cases for these women and for their families. This was someone’s daughter.” 

[Based on a report by the Associated Press.]

GM announces plan to cut 47,000 jobs and close five plants in U.S.

By Calvin Palmer

General Motors today announced a survival plan that includes cutting 47,000 jobs and closing five more factories in the United States.

The Detroit auto-maker also said it may also need up to $30 billion in government loans.

GM submitted its draconian plan to the Treasury Department today to explain how it will become viable and repay its loans. The plan states GM will try to borrow up to $16.6 billion more from the government, on top of the $13.4 billion it has already received.

By restructuring, GM expects to start repaying the government in 2012 and fully pay off the loans by 2017.

Reports that GM officials woke up at this point have not been confirmed.

The company says that it has considered the option of bankruptcy, but the only credit available to finance a reorganization would be from the government, and it could cost as much as $100 billion.

The Melbourne Herald Sun is reporting that 26,000 of the propsed job losses will be outside the United States and Saab could file for bankruptcy this month.

[Based on a report by the Associated Press.]

Guadeloupe strikers bring island closer to rebellion

By Calvin Palmer

The French island of Guadeloupe is on the verge of rebellion after stone-throwing protesters set cars and buildings on fire and clashed with police.

Nearly four weeks of work stoppages and demonstrations for lower prices and higher pay on the Caribbean island have caused thousands of tourists to flee or cancel holidays.  Many hotels have closed and cruise ships are heading elsewhere.

“It is a political crisis, an institutional crisis and we are on the brink of sedition,” Guadeloupe’s Regional Council President Victorin Lurel said in a radio broadcast.

He warned that the island was heading toward “radicalization, a rise in extremism.”

“We have the impression that we have been abandoned, that there is an organized indifference,” he said.

France’s Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said the protests had caused “degradation, devastation and confrontations” on Guadeloupe and its sister island, Martinique, where most shops and offices have been closed by the protests.

She urged “calm, responsibility and restraint” and said she hoped for a resumption of talks with protesters that broke down last week.

Police said they arrested 18 people overnight as protesters burned cars, a library and a boat-rental store in Sainte-Anne and Point-a-Pitre.
Three officer suffered minor gunshot wounds as armed looters took advantage of the chaos.

Guadeloupe’s main airport was closed today and several flights canceled because workers could not pass through barricaded and debris-clogged roads, said Guadeloupe’s senior appointed official, Nicolas Desforges.

Paris has refused to budge on strikers’ demands for a 200 euro ($250) monthly raise for low-paid workers who now make roughly 900 euros ($1,130) a month.

But business leaders in Martinique did agree today to a 20 percent price cut on most supermarket products, despite initial refusal.

Stephane Hayot, a spokesman for the National Union of Wholesale Distributors, earlier said the move “would represent our death sentence” by forcing them to sell at prices that don’t cover their costs.

[Based on a report by the Associated Press.]

Remains of missing boy found in crocodile

By Calvin Palmer

Human remains found in a crocodile caught near where a five-year-old boy went missing at the Daintree River in Queensland, Australia, are those of the youngster.

Jeremy Doble disappeared on February 8 after he followed his dog into the river.

His seven-year-old brother, Ryan,  told police he saw a crocodile in the water moments later. Despite an extensive search of the area, Jeremy was never found.

Queensland Police announced today that a surgical procedure carried out at the John Tonge Center forensic lab, in Brisbane, on a crocodile trapped near the spot had revealed remains of the boy in its stomach.

[Based on reports by the Melbourne Herald Sun and The Daily Telegraph.]

Cruise ship runs aground in Antarctic

By Calvin Palmer

A cruise ship, with 21 Americans and 17 Britons on board, ran aground today near an Argentine base in Antarctica.

The Ocean Nova, registered in the Bahamas, ran aground about one mile from the San Martin base after being pushed by extremely high winds on to craggy rocks, said Quark Expeditions president Patrick Shaw.

The tour company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, specializes in cruises to the Arctic and Antarctic.

“An initial assessment of damage indicated that there was no imminent danger and no threat to lives,” the company said. “There is no sign of leakage of any kind from the vessel.”

The 240-foot Danish-built vessel was on the eighth day of a two-week expedition that embarked from from Ushuaia, Argentina’s southernmost city.

Among the passengers and crew were 21 Americans, 18 Filipinos, 17 Britons, seven Canadians, seven Australians, four Germans, five Irish, five South Africans, three Dutch, three New Zealanders, three Danish, two Argentines and one each from Switzerland, Romania, the Ukraine, Panama, Guatemala, Colombia, Russia, Indonesia and Honduras.

Ocean Nova officials informed the San Martin base that the ship should be able to break free on its own as the tide rises.

“We’re going to take all the passengers off to be extra safe,” Shaw said.

Inspections of the ship may take some time, and the company wants passengers to be able to continue on their expedition, he said.

The company has dispatched another of its ships Clipper Adventurer.  If Ocean Nova does not refloat on the high tide, all passengers will transferred to the Clipper Adventurer for the return to Ushuaia.

“The safety and comfort of our guests are forefront in all our decisions,” said Shaw.

[Based on a report by newsday.com.]