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.]

Former soldier gets life sentence for rape and murder in Iraq

By Calvin Palmer

Former U.S. Army soldier Steven Dale Green was today sentenced to life in prison for raping and killing an Iraqi teenage girl and murdering her family.

Jurors who convicted Green on May 7 deliberated for 10 hours over the course of two days but could not agree on an appropriate sentence. Their choice was a death sentence or life in prison without parole. Failing to reach a unanimous decision meant the sentence had to be life in prison.

His father, John Green, of Midland, Texas, said: “It’s the better of two bad choices.”

His son will be sentenced September 4 by U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell.

After an afternoon of card playing, sex talk and drinking Iraqi whiskey on March 12, 2006, Green, 24, of Midland, Texas, and three other soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division went to the home of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi near Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad.

Green shot and killed the teemage girls’ mother, father and sister, then became the third soldier to rape the girl before shooting her in the face.

Defense  attorneys never denied Green’s involvement in the attack, instead focusing on building a case that he did not deserve the death penalty, arguing he faced an unusually stressful combat tour in Iraq in a unit that suffered heavy casualties and did not receive sufficient Army leadership while serving in Iraq’s “Triangle of Death”.

The other soldiers who attacked the family are serving lengthy sentences in military prison, but will be eligible for parole. They testified against Green, who was tried in federal court as a civilian because he had been discharged from the Army before his arrest.

“This trial represents some of the most important principles of our Constitution and our democracy in action,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Ford said. “The decision of how justice would be best served was left to the people.”

One of Green’s attorneys, Darren Wolff of Louisville, said his client twice offered to plead guilty, but the U.S. Justice Department refused amid international pressure for a conviction.

“Mr. Green will spend the rest of his life in jail and the events of March 12, 2006, have forever changed the lives of many,” Wolff said. “It is a tragic case on so many levels.”

The trial was held in western Kentucky because the 101st Airborne Division is based at Fort Campbell.

[Based on a report by the Associated Press.]

Woman attacked flight attendants after downing wine, drugs and soap

By Calvin Palmer

A British woman today pleaded guilty in Maine to assault after scuffling with flight attendants aboard a flight from Los Angeles to London, which was diverted to Bangor.

Galina Rusanova, 54, of London, punched and kicked attendants on a United Airlines flight on April 29 after downing a concoction of prescription drugs, wine and liquid hand soap.

She admitted pushing a purser, kicking one flight attendant and biting the ankle of another. In a plea agreement with prosecutors, the more serious charge of interference with a flight crew was dropped.

She was sentenced to time served or 22 days.

It is expected she will be escorted back to London in two or three days by U.S. immigration officials.

Siberian-born Rusanova wept often during her 40-minute appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Margaret Kravchuk.

“Please believe me, it was a mistake,” she told the judge. “If I had imagined the result would be so bad and so dramatic, I never would have mixed pills and wine. I’m sorry and ashamed. This is so embarrassing at my age.

“I never could have imagined this would happen,” she continued. “I went to Los Angeles looking for happiness, and now I’m here. I’ve been punished enough. Don’t punish me more, please.”

Rusanova, who lives on government disability support went to Los Angeles to meet a man with whom she had been communicating on the Internet. Her fear of flying apparently led her to mix pills and wine, according to court documents.

She moved to London in the late 1980s and became a British citizen.

[Based on reports by the Bangor Daily News and newsday.com.]

Five dead as boat runs into moored barge at night

By Calvin Palmer

Five men died when their 24-foot aluminum boat ran under one end of a barge on the Falgout Canal near Houma, Louisiana.

The accident happened late Wednesday night but was not discovered until this morning, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Capt Samuel Martin said.

The men were killed when their heads hit the moored barge’s slanting underside.

Two of victims were from Louisiana — Michael James Carrere, 44, of Houma; and Carey J. Meche, 52, from the New Orleans suburb of Metairie.

The other three were from Texas — Rene Joseph Gauthier, 59, of Houston; Lawrence Henry Flak, 54, Conroe; and William Norris Voss, 49, of Katy.

The barge was being used to stabilize the bank on the canal between Theriot and Dulac. The authorities are trying to determine if it was lit.

Ernie Bennett, who is on the board of the Houma Oilman’s Invitational Fishing Tournament, says the men were among about 3,000 entered in the tournament that begins tomorrow.

[Based on a report by the Associated Press.]

Intruder murders couple and unborn child at beachfront home

By Calvin Palmer

Police believe the murder of a Californian couple and their unborn child at their multi-million dollar beach front home may be a random killing.

Brock Husted, 42, and his five months pregnant wife, Davina, also 42, were stabbed multiple times by an intruder at their home overlooking Faria Beach last  night, sheriff’s Capt Ross Bonfiglio said.

The couple’s nine-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter were unharmed.

The intruder dressed in black and wearing a motorcycle helmet was confronted by Davinia in the kitchen. He attacked her and then her husband when he came to investigate the noise.

The nine-year-old boy saw the intruder and fled to another part of the house and later found his parents’ bodies. His sister was asleep in another room.

After the attacks, the boy and his sister ran to a neighbor’s house.

There’s no answers as to why this happened,” said Scott Husted, Brock’s brother. “It’s a horrible situation and there’s a killer out there that killed a man and his wife — his pregnant wife — with two small children in the home.”

Investigators believe the killer was not known to the family, Bonfiglio said.

Husted and his wife grew up in Ventura County. He owned a wrought-iron company in Santa Barbara and had recently put the family’s home up for sale to prepare for their new baby, family friends said.

[Based on reports by the Los Angeles Times and newsday.com.]

Body pulled from river near to homes of missing women

By Calvin Palmer

An autopsy is being performed today on the badly decomposed body found in the Des Plaines River near to the homes of two missing women.

A cleanup crew found the remains yesterday afternoon in the Will County area of Illinois.

State police today said the remains were “severely deteriorated” and “mainly skeletal,” adding that DNA testing may be needed for positive identification.

The remains “could be anyone,” said Illinois State Police Lt Carl Anderson. Authorities refused to confirm whether they were male or female.

Some clothing was also found with the remains. Sources identified the clothing as blue jeans.

Speculation rose as to whether the remains might be those of Stacy Peterson or Lisa Stebic. Will County was home to both women.

Peterson’s husband, Drew Peterson, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his third wife, Kathleen Savio. He claims Stacy Peterson left him for another man in October 2007.

Authorities deemed Stebic’s husband a “person of interest” in her 2007 disappearance. He denies wrongdoing.

“We’ve been called,” said Pam Bosco, a spokeswoman for Stacy Peterson’s family.

“We’re in contact by phone,” she said. “We’re just waiting to hear more information. For confirmation though, they said it’s going to be a little bit of time.”

Melanie Greenberg, a spokeswoman for Lisa Stebic’s family, said: “If it is her, the overwhelming feeling would be relief that we found her and that there is resolution.”

[Based on reports by the Chicago Tribune and Associated Press.]

Defense calls no witnesses for mother of untreated diabetes daughter

By Calvin Palmer

The Wisconsin mother accused of second-degree reckless homicide in her daughter’s death from untreated diabetes decided today to call no witnesses in her defense.

Leilani Neumann, 41, is standing trial for the death of her 11-year-old daughter Madeline Kara Neumann, on March 23, 2008, at the family’s rural Weston home.

Her attorney, Gene Linehan, said the decision to rest the defense’s case was reached after prosecutors agreed to tell the jury that to a “casual observer” Madeline Kara appeared healthy on March 20, 2008, three days before she died of untreated diabetes.

Prosecutors contend a reasonable parent would have known something was gravely wrong with Madeline Kara, who had become so weak she was unable to talk or walk. They say Neumann recklessly killed her daughter by praying instead of rushing her to a doctor.

Judge Vincent Howard recessed the trial until tomorrow morning for closing arguments.

Neumann’s mother, Evalani Gordon, 62, of San Diego, California, said her daughter was comfortable with the decision to offer no defense witnesses, believing God has “influenced” Linehan to give wise counsel.

Gordon said she told her daughter on the morning that Madeline could not walk, talk or drink to take the girl to a doctor for at least a medical checkup.

But Gordon said she is now proud that her daughter displayed such strong faith in God, a stronger faith than hers at that moment.

“It was a tragic loss and we miss our granddaughter very much,” the grandmother said. “But we believe God had a purpose in taking her. We don’t understand, but God’s ways are perfect and sure.”

In a videotaped interview played to the court yesterday, Neumann said that the Lord was going to take care of her daughter and all she needed was prayer.

“It did scare me with her being cold,” Neumann told an Everest Metro Police Department detective. “I just believed the Lord is going to heal her. I never thought she was close to death. … It was just like this all happened so suddenly. She just looked skinny all of a sudden.”

Neumann told police she did not oppose doctors and medicine but that Madeline Kara had not seen a doctor since she was three and had never been sick. The family believes in “divine healing” by trusting the Lord.

“I just felt that, you know, my faith was being tested. I never went through an experience like that before in my life and I just thought, man, this is the ultimate test,” she said. “We just started praying and praying and praying over her.”

The interview occurred several hours after Madeline Kara died. Neumann told the detective she believed her daughter would come back to life.

“It may be crazy to you but that’s why I’m not crying and wailing right now,” she said.

Neumann said her husband briefly considered getting their daughter to a doctor.

“I said, `No, the Lord’s going to heal her.’ I believed that God was going to just restore our daughter,” she said.

If convicted Neumann faces up to 25 years in prison.

Her husband, Dale, 47, is scheduled to face trial on July 23.

The case offers many constitutional, religious, medical and ethical complexities.

It’s all tangled up like a bowl of spaghetti,” said Milwaukee criminal defense attorney Raymond M. Dall’Osto.

He said one of the questions raised is whether a parent’s First Amendment right supersedes the need to act in a child’s best interests.

“Diabetes is not curable, but it is manageable and people do not have to die from it,” he said. “So the question is, can parents make that decision for a child, or should someone step in and have acted in the child best interests? The law is not clear.”

Madison defense attorney Dean A. Strang suggested that another issue is whether the parents were aware of the risk involved with relying on divine intervention, rather than medical treatment.

“I would be aware of the risk of not taking someone to the doctor,” said Strang. “But if my belief system is so greatly tilted toward divine power, I think I might appreciate the risk as I’m not praying hard enough, have not purged myself of sin, or whatever.”

Strang also questioned the motive of the prosecution in the case and said that while tragic and horrible, the trial likely will do little to dissuade other parent’s behavior in the future.

“It’s a treacherous road to be going down,” he said. “I don’t know who is on the jury, or how Leilani Neumann will be perceived, but the whole prospect of going down this road doesn’t lead to a very good outcome for anyone.”

Dall’Osto did not speculate on whether jurors will be sympathetic to Neumann, but said given that diabetes is a medically treatable disease the question of whether Kara Neumann had to die will be raised.

“I’m not sure how it’s going to play with jurors, since the majority are likely more main line religious or not at all,” he said.

[Based on reports by newsday.com, Associated Press and Wisconsin Law Journal.]