Zimbabwe Guardian-Naomi Campbell Subpoenaed In Blood Diamonds Case

photo courtesy of The Zimbabwe Guardian

(story reported in The Zimbabwe Guardian by Sapa-AFP)

AN international court has subpoenaed reluctant supermodel Naomi Campbell to testify this month in the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor about a ‘blood diamond’ he allegedly gave her.

The court has warned the supermodel that she could be jailed for up to 7 years if she refuses to testify.

Prosecutors want Campbell to say whether Taylor gave her a rough, or uncut, diamond as a gift during a celebrity-packed 1997 reception in South Africa hosted by then-President Nelson Mandela.

They contend her testimony will support their contention that Taylor lied when he testified that he never possessed rough diamonds.

(click here to read the entire story in The Zimbabwe Guardian)

Las Vegas Sun-Nevada Voters Lukewarm Towards Reid and Angle

photo of Senator Harry Reid and Sharron Angle courtesy of The Las Vegas Sun

 (story in Las Vegas Sun reported by Anjeanette Damon)

If the polls are any indication, Nevada voters aren’t happy with either the Democrat or the Republican in the U.S. Senate race.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s 55 percent unfavorable rating is matched by the 56 percent unfavorable rating of his GOP rival, Sharron Angle.

The most popular ballot option might not be for a person at all. “None of these candidates” is expected to draw a significant portion of the vote in November because of the candidates’ unpopularity and the pessimistic mood of the electorate.

More than merely a gauge of Nevada’s ennui, “none of the above” could determine the outcome of the election and will almost guarantee that the Senate race victor emerges with less than 50 percent of the vote.

(click here to read the entire story in The Las Vegas Sun)

Los Angeles Times-Li-Lo Hits The Bricks and Heads To Rehab

photo courtesy of Al Seib/The Los Angeles Times

(story in the Los Angeles Times reported by Andrew Blankstein and Rich Connell)

Lindsay Lohan was ordered released from a county jail in Lynwood at 1:35 a.m. Monday after serving 13 days for violating probation on a 2007 conviction for  driving under the influence.

She was to go directly to a substance abuse treatment center, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.
Whitmore would not name the treatment facility but said Lohan left in a minivan with multiple individuals.

"The court order specified that certain named people would pick her up. It's our understanding she went directly to a treatment center," he said.

The latest installment of the 24-year-old actress’ legal saga attracted a crush of media and paparazzi to the Century Regional Detention Facility, where Lohan has been locked up since July 20.

(click here to read the entire story in the Los Angeles Times)

Chicago Tribune-Blago and Lawyers Anxiously Await Verdict

photo of Sam Adam, Jr. and Rod Blagojevich courtesy of Scott Olsen/Getty Images

(story reported in the Chicago Tribune by Stacy St. Clair)

He can't eat or sleep while waiting for the Blagojevich jury. But he does second-guess his closing arguments and fret about what his panel is thinking.

Within five minutes of being seated outside at a South Side restaurant, Sam Adam Jr. already has checked his iPhone for messages nine times.

He rapidly taps his foot on the concrete patio and drums his fingers on the table. Without opening his lunch menu, he orders a club soda with a slice of lemon and extra ice. He gives a waitress an apologetic smile and tells her that he can't stomach any food right now.

Seven miles away, jurors are weighing the sweeping corruption charges against Adam's client, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The deliberations and all the unknowns that come with it weigh heavily on the 38-year-old attorney.

(click here to read the entire story in the Chicago Tribune)

 

Detroit Free Press-Petition to Recall Mayor Dave Bing Approved

photo courtesy of Detroit Free Prees

(story reported in the Free Press by Cecil Angel)

The Wayne County Election Commission approved on Friday language for a recall petition to remove Detroit Mayor Dave Bing from office.

But commissioners did not approve petitions submitted against City Council President Charles Pugh and Councilwoman Saunteel Jenkins.

Cheryl Guines, who filed the petition against Bing on July 16, said in her filing that she was acting because "Mayor Dave Bing reduced public bus service , thus creating problems for city residents getting to work, doctor appointments and students getting to and from school."

On Friday, Guines said, "I'm pleased, and now it's up to the people."

Theo Broughton, cofounder of Hood Research, a Detroit neighborhood-improvement organization and think tank, said the group Community for Equal Funding for Our Schools was behind the recall. She said the group has six months to gather about 57,000 signatures to put the recall question on the ballot.

(click here to read the entire story in the Detroit Free Press)

 

Boston Globe: Racial Divisions Burn Hot In City Firehouses

photo courtesy of Boston.com

(story reported in the Boston Globe by Danielle Ossher, Courtney Brooks, and Walter V. Robinson) 

37 years after a court decree forced minority hiring, many units and firehouses are starkly and increasingly segregated. Old rules and city inaction have put hard-won diversity gains in peril

They do the same job, serving the same Boston neighborhood. But the firefighters who man the two engine companies — less than a mile apart in Charlestown — are racial opposites: All but one of the 20 firefighters on Engine 50 are white, while all but one of the 19 firefighters on Engine 32 are black or Hispanic.

(click here to read the entire story in the Boston Globe)

BBC News Reports At Least 1100 Dead In Pakistan Floods

photo courtesy of BBC News

The BBC's Lyse Doucet meets people sleeping rough

The number of people known to have been killed by floods in north-west Pakistan has passed 1,100, officials say.

About 30,000 troops have joined the relief effort, with large parts of the north-west submerged by the worst monsoon rains in memory.

There are also fears that with more rain forecast for the next 24 hours, some areas face further threats.

Part of the main north-south motorway into the region was reopened on Sunday, before reportedly closing again.

The opening allowed some aid supplies into the flooded area while permitting some people to flee the region.

The BBC's Aleem Maqbool, in the capital Islamabad, says officials fear that once access to affected areas improves, the full picture will show that the situation is much worse than known so far.

A spokesman for the disaster management authority of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province - formerly known as North West Frontier Province - said an aerial survey was being conducted to determine the full extent of the flooding.

"It has shown that whole villages have been washed away, animals have drowned and grain storages have been washed away," said the spokesman, Latifur Rehman.

"The destruction is massive."

(click here for the entire BBC World News Story)

Washington Post-BP Hopes "Kill Shot" Will Dead The Leak

photo courtesy of oilgoneeasy.com

(story reported in the Washington Post by Josh Achenbach)

The next shot at killing BP's well in the Gulf of Mexico could begin as early as Monday night, as engineers plan to pump heavy mud into the capped but still dangerous well and "bullhead" the rogue oil back down into its source rock 2 1/2 miles below the seafloor

The "static kill" is part of a double whammy of mud and cement that would hit the runaway Macondo well high and low in quick succession. The static kill starts at the top, firing the mud and possibly cement into the blowout preventer that sits on the wellhead. That effort, which would take a day or two, would be followed in another five to seven days by the start of the more laborious "bottom kill," in which mud and cement will be injected into Macondo through a relief well that engineers began drilling at the beginning of May.

(click here to read the entire story in the Washington Post)