Video Bantahan Tuduhan Tubagus Arif Telah Caci Maki Ahok

Jakarta (News Today) - Sebuah video berjudul "Mengungkap Kebenaran Tubagus" beredar di YouTube. Di dalam video tersebut, tertulis berbagai narasi yang menyatakan bukan Tubagus Arif yang melontarkan caci maki terhadap Gubernur DKI Basuki Tjahaja Purnama.

Sebagai informasi, Arif adalah anggota DPRD DKI yang disebut-sebut telah melontarkan caci maki terhadap Ahok, sapaan Basuki, dalam rapat mediasi antara Pemprov DKI dan DPRD DKI di Kantor Kemendagri, Kamis (5/3/2015) kemarin.

Pada video berdurasi 59 detik itu, tertulis pernyataan, "Video ini dibuat untuk menghindarkan masyarakat dari fitnah keji dan mengetahui yang sebenarnya". Video diunggah oleh pemilik akun dengan nama Jawara Kebenaran. Lihat videonya di sini.

Dalam video tersebut, digambarkan bahwa teriakan caci maki berasal dari barisan belakang. Sementara itu, Tubagus sedang berada di barisan depan. 

Pada video resmi yang diunggah oleh Pemprov DKI, terlihat Tubagus memang sedang berada di barisan depan. Ia mengenakan kemeja putih lengan pendek. Lihat videonya di sini.

Politisi asal PKS ini memang sempat berteriak. Adapun teriakan yang dilontarkannya adalah "Sangat memalukan" yang diucapkan secara berulang-ulang.

Sebelumnya, melalui akun Twitter-nya, @Tubagus_Arif, Arif menyangkal telah melontarkan caci maki kepada Ahok. Dia menuliskan hal tersebut kepada 1.518 followers-nya pada pukul 08.50 WIB.

"Di pagi ini kita dikagetkan dg tuduhan yang keji & fitnah. Alhamdulillah lisan ini masih terjaga & tidak mengucapkan spt hal yang dituduhkan."

Source : kompas

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Kapolda NTB Komentari Video Polwan Berjoget Lagu "Sakitnya Tuh di Sini"

Mataram (News Today) - Kepala Kepolisian Daerah (Kapolda) Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB), Brigjen Pol Sriyono mengapresiasi video berisi Polwan NTB berjoget lagu "Sakitnya Tuh di Sini" yang heboh di dunia maya. 

"Ta' pikir itu bagus juga ya, saya senang juga walaupun saya nggak tahu kok gambar saya juga masuk di situ," kata Sriyono seusai hadir di acara HUT Bhayangkari, Rabu (29/10/2014). 

Menurut Sriyono, video tersebut merupakan hasil kreasi tim kreatif Humas Polda NTB saat pelaksanaan pengamanan Pemilu Presiden tahun 2014. Tujuan pembuatan video itu lebih pada hiburan untuk menghilangkan rasa capek dan penat anggotanya seusai bertugas. 

"Bagus, mudah-mudahan ada manfaatnya, minimal bisa menghibur sedikit lah ya," kata Sriyono. 

Hingga berita ini ditayangkan, video hiburan itu telah diakses lebih dari 209.536. Video ini juga mendapat komentar beragam dari pengguna akun Facebook lainnya. Rata-rata mereka memuji aksi para polwan NTB ini. 

Video berisi para polisi wanita Kepolisian Daerah Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB) bergoyang mengiringi lagu "Sakitnya Tuh di Sini" beredar di YouTube. Bahkan video tersebut diunggah di akun Facebook "Info Polda NTB", Jumat (24/10/2014), langsung mendapat respons dari masyarakat. 

Video berdurasi 3 menit 16 detik tersebut menampilkan beberapa polwan dan polisi laki-laki tampak bergoyang sambil bernyanyi lipsync lagu yang sedang populer, "Sakitnya Tuh di Sini". Latar belakang pengambilan adegan polwan berjoget itu diambil di beberapa tempat, termasuk di dalam mobil.

Source : kompas

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Kids' TV time linked to school woes, bad habits

(News Terupdate) - Young children who watch a lot of TV aren't just missing out on more stimulating activities. They may also be destined for problems at school and unhealthier habits later in life, new research suggests.

Each additional hour of TV that toddlers watch per week translates into poorer classroom behavior, lower math scores, less physical activity, and more snacking at age 10, according to a new study in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

"Kids should be doing things that are intellectually enriching: playing with board games, playing with dice, playing with things that will improve their motor skills, reading," says the lead author of the study, Linda Pagani, Ph.D., a professor in the School of Psychoeducation at the University of Montreal, in Quebec. "All that is replaced by sitting on the couch."

Pagani and her colleagues followed more than 1,300 children for over seven years. Using parent surveys, the researchers measured the amount of TV the kids watched at age two-and-a-half, and again at age four-and-a-half.

Then, when the children were in fourth grade, the researchers asked the kids' schoolteachers to rate their academic performance, how well they got along with peers, and how well they listened and followed instructions. They also asked parents about the child's diet and level of physical activity.

Health.com: 10 habits of healthy families

Each additional hour spent in front of the TV per week at age two-and-a-half corresponded to a 7 percent decrease in classroom engagement, a 6 percent decrease in overall math achievement, and a 10 percent increase in being bullied by peers. (Interestingly, TV time was not associated with reading skills.)

These findings suggest that kids who watch too much TV are "learning to be just a passive receptacle," Pagani says.

TV watching also appeared to have negative effects on physical health, with each additional weekly hour resulting in a 9 percent decline in overall physical activity, a 9 percent increase in soft-drink consumption, a 10 percent increase in snacks eaten, and a 5 percent increase in body mass index.

Health.com: 8 reasons to make time for family dinner

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under the age of 2 watch no television at all, and after age 2 watch no more than one to two hours of quality programming a day. But nearly half of 1- to 2-year-olds and more than 40 percent of 2- to 3-year-olds are estimated to watch more than the recommended amount, the study notes.

How does TV harm kids?

Pagani's study is merely the latest to call attention to the drawbacks of childhood TV-watching. A number of studies have linked too much TV to a range of negative effects in kids, including shorter attention spans, slower language acquisition, increased aggression, and weight gain.

Experts have suggested several possible explanations for these findings. One theory is that time spent in front of the tube is time that could be spent on more enriching activities. As Dr. Jeffrey Brosco, M.D., a professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, puts it, "Every hour that you're watching TV, you're not talking to someone, not playing a game, not building something with your blocks."

Health.com: Too much TV linked to earlier death

Another theory is that the act of watching television can harm developing brains. A child's brain triples in size within the first three years of life in response to external stimulation, says Dr. Dimitri Christakis, M.D., a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington and the country's foremost expert on the health effects of TV in childhood.

"Early exposure to [television] can actually be over-stimulating for the developing brain, and that can lead to shorter attention spans [and] cognitive difficulties," says Christakis, the author of "The Elephant in the Living Room: Make Television Work for Your Kids."

The rapid edits and quick sequences found in many of today's TV shows may be especially harmful in this respect, Christakis adds. "The hypothesis we have is that this conditions the mind to expect high levels of input, and by comparison, reality is boring -- it doesn't happen fast enough," he says.

Yet another possibility is that the negative effects of TV that have been reported in studies are in fact a symptom of broader family and household dynamics. In the new study, for instance, the children whose mothers were less educated and children from single-parent families tended to watch more television. Although Pagani and her colleagues controlled for these and other factors in their analysis, household habits can shape studies like this in ways that can be difficult to tease out.

Health.com: Make play areas greener and safer for kids

"It's always possible that what you're measuring is not TV itself, but families that are more likely to let their kids watch TV versus families that don't want them to watch TV, or maternal education," says Brosco. "No one really understands what the effects of TV truly are, but so many studies--like this [one]--suggest TV is just plain bad for you."

Some TV shows are better than others

Watching television isn't necessarily harmful, however, and it doesn't have to be a mindless activity, says Christakis. He points out that Pagani and her colleagues did not ask about the specific programming that kids watched, which may weaken the findings.

"The results of this study probably in some ways misrepresent the reality," Christakis says. "Studies that we've done find that what kids watch--and how they watch--is as important as how much they watch."

Health.com: Is it baby fat or obesity?

Christakis believes that children should watch no more than an hour of television a day at any age. But, he says, parents should distinguish between mind-numbing cartoons and educational programs such as Sesame Street. "Parents need to know that the best-quality shows have a curriculum," he says. "They're trying to teach your child something, anything from the letter k to skills like how to share or how to handle a conflict."

According to Christakis, the best way for young children to watch TV is with a parent. This allows parents to use potentially negative content (such as violence or advertising) as a learning experience, and also provides an opportunity to engage with the children and reinforce the message of educational shows.

Source : CNN

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YouTube to let users charge rental fees

(News Terupdate) - YouTube's movie rental service is still in its infancy, and it still only offers a small selection of films, but that could change quickly. YouTube exec Hunter Walk told MediaPost that the site will soon offer its users the ability to charge rental fees for their uploaded videos.

For the past couple of years YouTube has been focusing on ways for its users to monetize their videos should they become very popular. It launched the YouTube Partnership Program last year, which allows some folks with popular videos (YouTube staff decide which ones are eligible) to share advertising revenue with Google.

However, this new self-service rental plan will be the first opportunity YouTube users have to make money off of their videos by charging viewers instead of relying on advertising. Details on the program are scarce -- for example, we're not sure if just any user can partake, or if the program is only available to industry professionals.

Admittedly, "industry professional" is a difficult term to define in the frontier of web video, which sees content from established companies competing directly with randomly viral videos from unexpected sources.

Source : CNN

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'Smart dust' aims to monitor everything

Palo Alto, California (News Terupdate) - In the 1990s, a researcher named Kris Pister dreamed up a wild future in which people would sprinkle the Earth with countless tiny sensors, no larger than grains of rice.

These "smart dust" particles, as he called them, would monitor everything, acting like electronic nerve endings for the planet. Fitted with computing power, sensing equipment, wireless radios and long battery life, the smart dust would make observations and relay mountains of real-time data about people, cities and the natural environment.

Now, a version of Pister's smart dust fantasy is starting to become reality.

"It's exciting. It's been a long time coming," said Pister, a computing professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

"I coined the phrase 14 years ago. So smart dust has taken a while, but it's finally here."

Maybe not exactly how he envisioned it. But there has been progress.

The latest news comes from the computer and printing company Hewlett-Packard, which recently announced it's working on a project it calls the "Central Nervous System for the Earth." In coming years, the company plans to deploy a trillion sensors all over the planet.

The wireless devices would check to see if ecosystems are healthy, detect earthquakes more rapidly, predict traffic patterns and monitor energy use. The idea is that accidents could be prevented and energy could be saved if people knew more about the world in real time, instead of when workers check on these issues only occasionally.

HP will take its first step toward this goal in about two years, said Pete Hartwell, a senior researcher at HP Labs in Palo Alto. The company has made plans with Royal Dutch Shell to install 1 million matchbook-size monitors to aid in oil exploration by measuring rock vibrations and movement, he said. Those sensors, which already have been developed, will cover a 6-square-mile area.

That will be the largest smart dust deployment to date, he said.

"We just think now, the technology has reached a point where it makes basic sense for us ... to get this out of the lab and into reality," Hartwell said.

Smart dust (minus the 'dust')

Despite the recent excitement, there's still much confusion in the computing industry about what exactly smart dust is.

For starters, the sensors being deployed and developed today are much larger and clunkier than flecks of dust. HP's sensors -- accelerometers like those in the iPhone and Droid phone, but about 1,000 times more powerful -- are about the size of matchbooks. When they're enclosed in a metal box for protection, they're about the size of a VHS tape.

So what makes a smart dust sensor different from a weather station or a traffic monitor?

Size is one factor. Smart dust sensors must be relatively small and portable. But technology hasn't advanced far enough to manufacture the sensors on the scale of millimeters for commercial use (although Berkeley researchers are trying to make one that's a cubic millimeter).

Wireless connections are a big distinguisher, too. A building's thermostat is most likely hard-wired. A smart dust sensor might gauge temperature, but it would be battery-powered and would communicate wirelessly with the internet and with other sensors.

The sheer number of sensors in the network is what truly makes a smart dust project different from other efforts to record data about the world, said Deborah Estrin, a professor of computer science at the University of California, Los Angeles, who works in the field.

Smart dust researchers tend to talk in the millions, billions and trillions.

Some say reality has diverged so far from the smart dust concept that it's time to dump that term in favor or something less sexy. "Wireless sensor networks" or "meshes" are terms finding greater acceptance with some researchers.

Estrin said it's important to ditch the idea that smart dust sensors would be disposable.

Sensors have to be designed for specific purposes and spread out on the land intentionally -- not scattered in the wind, as smart dust was initially pitched, she said.

'Real-world web'

Despite these differences, researchers say the smart-dust theory that monitoring everything will benefit humanity remains essentially unchanged.

And there are a number of real-world projects that, in one way or another, seek to use wireless sensors to take the Earth's vital signs.

Wireless sensors currently monitor farms, factories, data centers and bridges to promote efficiency and understanding of how these systems work, researchers said in interviews.

In all of these cases, the sensor networks are deployed for a specific purpose.

For example, a company called Streetline has installed 12,000 sensors on parking spots and highways in San Francisco. The sensors don't know everything that's going on at those parking spots. They are equipped with magnetometers to sense whether or not a huge metal object -- hopefully a car -- is sitting on the spot.

That data will soon be available to people who can use it to figure out where to park, said Tod Dykstra, Streetline's CEO.

It also tells the cities if the meters have expired.

Other sensors are equipped to measure vibration in factories and oil refineries to spot machine problems and inefficiencies before they cause trouble. Still others might pick up data about temperature, chemistry or sound. Tiny cameras or radars also can be tacked onto the data-collecting network to detect the presence of people or vehicles.

The power of these networks is that they eventually can be connected, said David Culler, a computer science professor at UC Berkeley.

Culler says the development of these wireless sensor networks is analogous to the creation of the World Wide Web. What's being created with the smart dust idea is a "Real World Web," he said.

But he said we're still early on in that progression.

"Netscape [for the wireless sensor network] hasn't quite happened," he said.

Big Brother effect

Even when deployed for science or the public, some people still get a Big Brother feeling -- the uncomfortable sense of being under constant, secret surveillance -- from the idea of putting trillions of monitors all over the world.

"It's a very, very, very huge potential privacy invasion because we're talking about very, very small sensors that can be undetectable, effectively," said Lee Tien, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy advocate.

"They are there in such numbers that you really can't do anything about them in terms of easy countermeasures."

That doesn't mean that researchers should stop working on smart dust. But they should be mindful of privacy as the work progresses, he said.

Pister said the wireless frequencies that smart dust sensors use to communicate -- which work kind of like Wi-Fi -- have security built into them. So the data is public only if the person or company that installed the sensor wants it to be, he said.

"Clearly, there are security concerns and privacy concerns," he said, "and the good news is that when the radio technology was being developed for this stuff, it was shortly after all of the big concerns about Wi-Fi security. ... We've got all the security tools we need underneath to make this information private."

Further privacy concerns may arise if another vision for smart dust comes true. Some researchers are looking into making mobile phones into sensors.

In this scenario, the billions of people roaming the Earth with cell phones become the "smart dust."

Bright future

Smart dust researchers say their theory of monitoring the world -- however it's realized -- will benefit people and the environment.

More information is better information, Pister said.

"Having more sensors improves the efficiency of a system and reduces the demand and reduces waste," he said. "So all of that is just straight goodness."

Hartwell, the HP researcher, says the only way people can combat huge problems like climate change and biodiversity loss is to have more information about what's going on.

"Frankly, I think we have to do it, from a sustainability and environmental standpoint," he said.

Even though the first application of HP's "Central Nervous System for the Earth" project will be commercial, Hartwell says the motives behind smart dust are altruistic.

"People ask me what my job is, and I say, well, I'm going to save the world," he said.

Source : CNN

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Police may have video of possible car bomb suspect

New York (News Terupdate) - Law enforcement officials are examining video that may have captured the image of a suspect in the attempted Times Square car bombing, New York's police commissioner said Sunday.

The video "shows a white male in his 40s, in Shubert Alley, looking back in the direction of West 45th Street," Commissioner Ray Kelly told a news conference, adding that the man looked around in a "furtive manner."

"He also was seen shedding a dark-colored shirt, revealing a red one underneath. He put the darker one into a bag that he was carrying," he said.

The video was captured about a half block from where police said a Nissan Pathfinder containing bomb-making materials was found Saturday evening on West 45th Street in the city's iconic Times Square area.

The police also have a videotape from a Pennsylvania tourist who believes he may have caught the suspect's image on camera, according to Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne.

iReport: Were you there? Share pics, videos

Also Sunday, Kelly said an NYPD bomb squad blew open a large gun locker found in the Pathfinder, revealing eight bags of an "unknown substance" and a pressure-cooker-type metal pot containing a "bird's nest of wires and M-88 firecrackers."

Preliminary tests later determined the substance to be "non-explosive grade fertilizer incapable of blowing up," according to Browne.

The gun locker was one of many items found in the rear of the Pathfinder after a T-shirt vendor alerted a nearby police officer to smoke coming out of the vehicle.

Officials removed from the SUV three propane tanks weighing between 15 and 17 pounds, Kelly said, comparing them to the kind typically used on backyard barbecues. One of the tanks had more M-88 firecrackers attached to the side, Kelly said, some of which detonated inside the vehicle.

Also found in the vehicle's back seat were two full five-gallon gasoline containers, Kelly said. And between those gasoline containers was a "16-ounce can filled with between 20 and 30 M-88 devices," he said, adding that two clocks on the floor of the vehicle's back seat were connected by wires to the can containing the firecrackers, and possibly to the gun locker as well.

Read more about the discovery of the car bomb

Had the car bomb detonated, Kelly said it would have caused casualties and a "significant fireball."

"I'm told the vehicle itself would have at least been cut in half," he said. "You have large numbers of pedestrians in that area, so, yeah, we were lucky that it didn't detonate."

Browne added that the materials found were "capable of producing human casualties and broken windows," but did not have enough force "to take down a structure, in the opinion of NYPD bomb experts."

Officials did not immediately know how the bomb would have been detonated, but Kelly offered a few hints into its design.

"(We believe) the timers would ignite the can of explosives and that would cause the five-gallon cans (of gasoline) to go on fire and then explode the propane tanks and have some effect on that rifle box," Kelly said.

Times Square evacuation captured on iPhone

Meanwhile, Times Square returned to its bustling self Sunday, even as questions remained about the source of the attempted car bombing.

In a purported Pakistani Taliban video that surfaced on the internet Sunday, the group took responsibility for the foiled attack, though Kelly said Sunday afternoon that "we have no evidence to support this claim."

The group, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, says in the video that the attack was revenge for their leaders killed by American forces, and for U.S. and NATO interference in that part of the world.

Another claim of responsibility e-mailed by an individual to a local New York news station is being investigated, Kelly said.

Kelly called the foiled attack "a sober reminder that New York is clearly a target of people who want to come here and do us harm."

President Obama, speaking from Venice, Louisiana, where he was monitoring a massive oil slick creeping toward the Gulf Coast, promised "to see that justice is done" in the failed car bombing.

"Since last night, my national security teams have been taking every step necessary to ensure that our state and local partners have the full support and cooperation of the federal government," he said. "We're going to do what's necessary to protect the American people, to determine who's behind this potentially deadly act and to see that justice is done."

In an advisory sent to local and national law enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security wrote, "There is no information to indicate that this was anything more than a single incident. Additionally, there is no reporting suggesting targeting of other specific locations."

Kelly said following the discovery of the Pathfinder, police officers did a search for secondary devices in the area and found none.

The investigation was focusing on examinations of the Nissan Pathfinder where the attempted homemade bomb was placed. Kelly said the vehicle is being combed for fingerprints, hair, fibers and other evidence that may help identify who was responsible, and hours of surveillance footage in the area were being monitored for possible clues.

Another angle of the investigation involved the license plates found on the vehicle.

Authorities said that the Connecticut license plate on the front of Pathfinder did not belong to that car, but to a pickup truck that was last reported at a junkyard.

Following that lead, police were spotted at an automobile used parts company, Kramer's Used Auto Parts of Stratford, Connecticut.

Kelly said that the plate found on the rear of the Pathfinder was also registered to a different vehicle, which was located in an auto repair shop in Connecticut, where its matching plate was also found.

The Pathfinder's vehicle identification number had been removed from the dashboard, but officials recovered it from another location on the car, a federal law enforcement official told CNN.

Kelly said officials have identified the registered owner of the Pathfinder, but were not yet making his name public.

A New York police official told CNN the owner lives in the Tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

The lockdown of the popular New York attraction began around 6:30 p.m. Saturday after a T-shirt vendor -- a Vietnam veteran -- saw the SUV, found it suspicious and alerted a mounted police officer.

Officer Wayne Rhatigan peered inside and noticed a box with smoke coming out and smelled gunpowder. Authorities immediately evacuated the area.

Watch police evacuate McDonald's: 'Pack your food up! Let's go!'

Rhatigan, a 19-year NYPD veteran, and vendor Lance Orton were called "heroes" by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Sunday.

"We're very lucky that people like Wayne and ... Lance Orton saw something and did something about it, and that's what we all have to do," Bloomberg said outside Blue Fin restaurant in Times Square, where he later dined with Rhatigan in a show of the safety around the area.

"There are some people around the world that find our freedoms so threatening that they're willing to kill themselves and others to prevent us from enjoying it, but we're not going to let them win," Bloomberg said.

Rhatigan said that after smelling the gunpowder he thought, "Uh oh, this is a little bit more than just a parked car and a cigarette in the ashtray."

He said that despite the potential danger, there wasn't time to be scared as he and other officers sought to set up a perimeter and evacuate passers-by.

"It's what we do, this is our job," Rhatigan, 46, said outside the restaurant.

Source : CNN

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Tests suggest setback for Bret Michaels

(News Terupdate) - Medical tests show Bret Michaels has suffered a setback in his recovery from a brain hemorrhage, according to a statement posted on his official website Tuesday.

Despite the development, "doctors remain hopeful for a full recovery," the statement said.

The rock singer and reality TV star suffered a massive brain hemorrhage and was hospitalized Friday.

"Doctors state Michaels is very lucky as his condition could have been fatal," it said.

"Test results indicate a setback in Bret Michaels' condition, a side effect from the brain hemorrhage called hyponatremia, a lack of sodium in the body which leads to seizures," said the statement posted by road manager Janna Elias.

Michaels "is responding well to tests and treatments," she said.

"Even though today was a minor setback Doctors remain hopeful for a full recovery and plan to release more specific information next Monday."

Michaels, 47, was the lead singer for the '80s glam-metal "hair band" Poison. He became a reality star on the VH1 show "Rock of Love with Bret Michaels." He has also appeared on "Celebrity Apprentice."

His manager and publicist have been careful not to disclose the hospital or even the city where the singer is being treated. They cite security reasons for the secrecy.

Tuesday's statement offers the greatest detail so far about Michaels' condition and treatment.

"Michaels' medical workup demonstrated findings of a subarachnoid hemorrhage, a type of stroke that causes bleeding in the fluid-filled spaces around the base of the brain," the statement said. "It presents itself suddenly as the sound of a loud gunshot or thunderclap at the back of the head causing severe cranial pain and muscle spasms."

Michaels, who is in critical condition in an intensive care unit, has undergone a continuous series of tests "including angiograms, CT scans, MRIs and transcranial dopplers (TCDs)," the statement said. "With further testing and rehabilitation, they are hopeful that Bret will gradually improve as the blood surrounding the brain dissolves and is reabsorbed into his system, which can be a very painful recovery and take several weeks to months," it said.

The latest statement also addressed possible causes of Michaels' brain hemorrhage.

"Many people are speculating Michaels' head injury suffered from a prop striking the singer at the Tony awards last June is the cause," it said. "Additional studies are planned throughout the week to hopefully detect the exact cause of the rupture."

Michaels, who is a lifelong Type 1 diabetic, had an emergency appendectomy just 11 days before falling ill last week.

Source : CNN

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Priest at his child abuse trial in Rome: 'I am not a monster'

Rome, Italy (News Terupdate) - A priest accused of child abuse denied the charges Tuesday in a high-profile trial taking place in the shadow of the Vatican.

"I am not a monster. I am innocent," the Rev. Ruggero Conti said in court.

Conti is accused of molesting seven young boys at the Nativita di Santa Maria Santissima parish in Rome. He faces charges of committing sexual violence and prostitution.

Two alleged victims told police that Conti masturbated them and forced them to perform oral sex on him in his home, where he often invited them to dinner and to watch movies, according to court documents.

Anti-abuse activists say Conti's superiors knew of allegations against him as early as 2006 but did not do enough to stop him.

Prosecutors say they will call Conti's bishop, Monsignor Gino Reali, to testify. Reali was interrogated by police as part of their investigation into Conti, the activists say.

Putting a bishop on the stand in Rome, the capital of deeply Catholic Italy, would be potentially explosive, particularly against the background of a European-wide scandal.

The Catholic Church has been rocked this year by allegations of child abuse by Catholic clergy in Ireland, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, following similar accusations in the United States in the past decade. A damning Irish government-backed report last year said the Dublin Archdiocese had systematically covered up the allegations.

Pope Benedict XVI met this month with a group of men in Malta who say they were abused. He prayed and cried with them.

He has repeatedly insisted the church will do everything in its power to prevent child abuse.

But the trial taking place on his doorstep may undercut such assurances, not least since the alleged abuse of boys took place well after the scandal came to light in the United States.

Conti, a former adviser to the mayor of Rome, was arrested in June 2008, more than a year after an anti-pedophilia organization says it brought accusations against him to Catholic Church officials.

Roberto Mirabile, the president of the organization, said his group was warned about Conti by another priest in the spring of 2007. The group, La Caramella Buona, met with the alleged victims and their families, Mirabile told reporters on Friday.

Mirabile himself went to top Vatican officials, including the man responsible for prosecuting alleged child abusers within the Catholic Church, Monsignor Charles Scicluna, he said.

Scicluna told the child-protection activist there was no Vatican record of complaints about Conti and advised him to go to the police with his concerns, Mirabile said.

Mirabile accused Scicluna of washing his hands of the matter.

Scicluna did not respond to CNN attempts to contact him about the case.

Caramella Buona officials did go to the police, who launched an investigation in November 2007.

Conti was arrested as he prepared to go to World Youth Day in Australia in June 2008. Police believe he continued abusing children until March 2008, Mirabile said.

Conti's superior, Bishop Reali, told police in December 2008 he knew of vague accusations against the priest two years before he was arrested but did not take action, according to court documents.

Nino Marazzita, a lawyer for La Caramella Buona, provided CNN with what he said were transcripts of the prosecutor's interrogation of the bishop.

"You know that there are so many 'rumors,' " Reali told investigators, according to the lawyer. "And I can't run after each one of them."

Conti accused La Caramella Buona of being ideologically opposed to him in his testimony Tuesday. The group denies it.

Reali did not respond to CNN attempts to contact him by phone and e-mail.

Source : CNN

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M.I.A. music video elicits strong online response

(News Terupdate) - If singer/rapper M.I.A.'s purpose was to get people talking about her new single "Born Free," she succeeded.

The Sri Lankan-born artist debuted the graphic video on Monday. Immediately, fans took to social media to debate its scenes of military force, violence and brutality.

"M.I.A. is a provocateur and someone who tries to rile people up in a variety of ways," said Saul Austerlitz, author of "Money for Nothing: A History of the Music Video from the Beatles to the White Stripes."

"I think one of the main routes that she takes to that end is the political, and this video has a lot of political resonances, things like Guantanamo, the Iraqi insurgency and the Taliban all sort of jumbled together and rebranded."

The almost nine-minute video for the song from her upcoming album includes nudity as well as scenes of brutality. Directed by filmmaker Romain Gavras, the video revolves around the rounding up of red-headed young men by a group of military commandos.

At one point, a boy is shot point-blank in the head and another young man is blown to pieces. YouTube reportedly yanked the video in light of its content.

Sasha Pasulka, managing editor for pop culture website "Evil Beet," said M.I.A. couldn't have played the publicity game better.

"It's much better for her that YouTube pulled it because now she gets to rant about that," Pasulka said.

And rant the artist did. She took to her official Twitter account to berate her record label, Universal Music Group, for the video being pulled.

"(Expletive) UMG WHO WONT SHOW IT ON YOUTUBE!" she wrote before tweeting four minutes later "OK NOT UMG FAULT!"

A request by CNN for comment from M.I.A.'s publicist did not receive a response.

Pasulka said M.I.A. is following the tradition established by artists such as Michael Jackson in using a longer video as a means of artistic expression. And while it is not clear exactly what message M.I.A. is trying to get across, Pasulka said it is obvious she is trying to provoke thought among viewers.

"If you look at M.I.A.'s life, there is a history of political activism," Pasulka said. "She's the daughter of a revolutionary who fought for an independent state in Sri Lanka, so she is obviously trying to make a political statement."

On Twitter, fans like one who goes by the moniker "ziggy0stardust" appealed to the artist for her inspiration by writing "@ M.I.A. can u tell us what u were tryin (sic) to say wiv (sic) the born free vid please" while other reactions ranged from those like "Hadge" who wrote "I just watched M.I.A.'s new music video for "Born Free" and now I feel like throwing up. What an awful, awful video" to those like SEFGray who tweeted "M.I.A's Born Free video blew me away, along with the actors."

MTV.com writer James Montgomery hailed M.I.A. for the unflinching video.

"Yes, it's brutal and at times a bit overly dramatic, but it's also a form of political protest, a downright subversive bit of art created by an artist on a major label, Interscope," Montgomery wrote.

Austerlitz pointed out that the video's director is the son of Costa Gavras, a noted filmmaker whose work has also blended politics and entertainment. M.I.A.'s video also took inspiration from the 1971 film "Punishment Park," written and directed by Peter Watkins, Austerlitz said.

"['Punishment Park' is] a movie about a totalitarian state where young people are rounded up, brought out to a deserted area and essentially told if they could outrun the police, they could live, but that the police would basically be hunting them," Austerlitz said.

"It's sort of a dystopian look at late '60s American protests and student movements," Austerlitz added. "It's clear that the second half of the video has been taken almost shot for shot from that film.

In an age where so many musicians are trying to break free from the pack and be viewed as artists with something to say, Pasulka said M.I.A. may have succeeded in generating even more buzz than the industry's current poster girl for all things provocative -- Lady GaGa.

"I would say she out-GaGaed Lady GaGa," Pasulka said. "This has the potential for even more coverage than all of the interest that surrounded 'Telephone.' "

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High court accepts case over violent video games

Washington (News Terupdate) - A free speech dispute over a California law banning sale of violent video games to children will go to the Supreme Court for review.

The justices Monday accepted the state's appeal and will decide whether the law is too restrictive in denying access by minors to often-graphic material. Video-game makers say the ban goes too far. They say the existing nationwide, industry-imposed, voluntary ratings system is an adequate screen for parents to judge the appropriateness of computer games.

The state says it has a legal obligation to protect children when the industry has failed to do so.

At issue is how far constitutional protections of free speech and expression, as well as due process, can be applied to youngsters. Critics of the law say the government would in effect be engaged in the censorship business, using "community standards" to evaluate artistic and commercial content.

Oral arguments will be held in the fall.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco, California, tossed out the law before it took effect, after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed it in 2005. He applauded the high court's decision to intervene. "We have a responsibility to our kids and our communities to protect against the effects of games that depict ultraviolent actions, just as we already do with movies," the governor said.

The legislation was designed to strengthen the current rating system, and would have placed an outright ban on the sale or rental to those under 18 of games deemed excessively violent. As defined by California, such interactive games are those in which the player is given the choice of "killing, maiming, dismembering or sexually assaulting an image of a human being" in offensive ways.

Retailers could be fined up to $1,000 for any violation.

The gaming industry sued in federal court and won an injunction halting enforcement of the law until the courts sort out the constitutional questions.

In a written statement, Michael Gallagher, president of the Entertainment Software Association, said he is hopeful his industry will prevail and "the court will reject California's invitation to break from these settled principles by treating depictions of violence, especially those in creative works, as unprotected by the First Amendment."

The motion picture industry has its own self-monitoring ratings system, imposed decades ago after complaints that some films were too explicit for general audiences in what was seen and heard. The gaming industry says its ratings system roughly follows the same self-imposed guidelines, and ratings are clearly labeled on the packaging.

The state argued it was responding to parents' complaints that too much violent material -- including gruesome battles to the death between on-screen competitors and adversaries -- was being viewed and played by minors. Officials claimed the current ratings system is not adequate in filtering out the controversial content, and that underage teens have been able to buy "M-rated" games designed only for mature, or adult, players.

Lawmakers also said there is a "causal connection" between access to such games and psychological or other harm to children. In their petition to the high court, state lawyers cited studies showing children who repeatedly watch on-screen games can become more aggressive, antisocial, and less able to distinguish the consequences of violence in real life.

Similar efforts in other states to restrict gaming content have been rejected by various courts.

The Supreme Court in recent years has thwarted repeated congressional attempts to protect children from pornography, saying legislation went too far in limiting adult access to explicit, but lawful, sexual content on the internet.

And the justices last week threw out a federal law limiting the sale of graphic videos of animal cruelty.

The court has also said in a variety of contexts that minors enjoy a variety of free-expression rights.

The case is Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants (08-1448).

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Remains ID'd as woman who left club with sex offender

New York (News Terupdate) - Remains found in Pennsylvania have been identified as those of a woman who disappeared in New York in 2008 after leaving a Manhattan nightclub in the company of a convicted sex offender, authorities said Monday.

Forensic testing determined the remains recovered April 11 from Mount Cobb, near Scranton, Pennsylvania, are those of Laura Garza, said police and prosecutors from New York and Pennsylvania.

"We have not determined a cause of death but, to be perfectly honest, that is something we would not have this quickly," said Capt. Wayne Olson of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation for the New York State Police.

A family spokeswoman said Garza's relatives were gathering in Texas. "They weren't completely shocked because they had an idea that is what happened," said Awilda Cordero.

A watch found with the skeletal remains first led investigators to suspect they were Garza's, police said. DNA samples were collected and tests confirmed that the bones were hers.

Garza was 25 when she vanished in the early hours of December 3, 2008.

"She had a dream to become a professional dancer here in New York City, but she was also a hard-working lady," said Cordero. "She had just become an assistant manager in a shoe store."

She was last seen leaving the Marquee Club, a popular nightspot in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, with Michael Mele, police said.

Mele, a registered Level 1 sex offender, has been questioned several times about Garza, police said. He has never been charged in connection with her disappearance.

He is now serving time in prison for violating terms of his probation, according to court records.

"We still consider him a suspect in her death and disappearance," Olson said. "We are looking to see if he has any connection to the area where the remains were found."

Authorities said the remains were found "in a remote location" and had been there for "a protracted period of time."

"We are certainly not overjoyed in finding her remains, but we have some renewed hope and direction to try and bring the person responsible to justice," Olson said.

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Cleanup begins after twisters kill 12 in South

Yazoo City, Mississippi (News Terupdate) - Massive cleanup efforts got under way Monday after several tornadoes ripped through the South, killing at least 12 people -- 10 in Mississippi -- and leaving a swath of devastation in the region, from Louisiana to Alabama.

A 3-month-old baby and two other children were among the fatalities. Dozens more were injured, and scores of homes leveled.

Were you affected by the tornado? Send in photos, video

The tornado devastated neighborhoods from Mississippi's central western border with Louisiana northeastward to Alabama. It sheared roofs off houses, overturned cars, snapped hundreds of trees and plunged large parts of the state in darkness as it toppled power lines.

Five of the dead were from Choctaw County in north-central Mississippi; four were from Yazoo County, north of Jackson; and one was from Holmes County, also in north-central Mississippi, said spokesman Greg Flynn of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

The storm roared on into Alabama, where authorities said it killed two people -- including a man whose car hit a tree in Etowah County, said Yasamie Richardson, a spokeswoman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.

In Walker County, a woman died after hitting her head while entering a storm shelter, Richardson said.

The National Weather Service on Monday gave the tornado that ravaged parts of Mississippi a preliminary rating of speeds of up to 170 mph. Yazoo was one of the hardest-hit counties.

Coverage from CNN affiliate WAPT-TV: Astro star rushes home to help

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said he will request emergency federal aid on Monday. Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were scheduled to arrive Monday, anticipating an application for a disaster declaration, authorities said.

Barbour, who was in Yazoo City where his home is located, called the twister "gigantic" and said that in places it "seemed to be to be several miles wide."

The same storm system that unleashed Saturday's twister delivered severe weather to other parts of the South on Sunday, with tornadoes hitting Alabama and South Carolina.

The tornado traveled 150 miles across Mississippi, starting in the western part of the state and moving northeast before weakening as it moved into Alabama.

On Sunday, a tornado in Darlington County in northern South Carolina overturned at least four mobile homes, toppled trees and downed power lines.

Three people were hospitalized with minor injuries, according to Linwood Epps of the county's emergency management agency. He said that an elementary school was damaged, with part of its roof missing.

Alabama's emergency management officials confirmed a tornado touched down Sunday in Marshall County in the state's north.

At least one mobile home park and some homes in Albertville were destroyed, said CNN affiliate WAFF-TV in Huntsville, Alabama.

The tornado was part of a broad band of storms that stretched from Missouri to the Florida Panhandle.

Saturday's twister struck Louisiana before it moved into Mississippi. A Tallulah, Louisiana, police dispatcher said a chemical plant in the town had been damaged, but gave no further details.

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Publicist: Bret Michaels still in critical condition

(News Terupdate) - Rock singer and reality TV personality Bret Michaels remained in critical condition Sunday in a hospital intensive care unit, his publicist said.

Michaels suffered a massive brain hemorrhage and was hospitalized Friday, spokeswoman Joann Mignano said at the time, confirming a People.com report.

"Everyone at Michaels Entertainment would like to thank all fans and friends for their continued thoughts and prayers through this difficult time," Mignano said in a statement Sunday. "At this point, Bret remains in ICU in critical condition. He is under 24-hour doctors' care and supervision.

"We are hopeful that further tests will locate the source of the bleeding, which still has not been located. As we all know, Bret is a fighter, and we are hopeful that once all is complete, the slurred speech, blurred vision and dizziness, etc., will be eliminated and all functions will return to normal."

More information will be provided as it becomes available, Mignano said. The location of Michaels' hospital was not disclosed.

Michaels, 47, was the lead singer for the '80s glam-metal "hair band" Poison.

He became a reality star by headlining the VH1 show "Rock of Love with Bret Michaels." He has also appeared on NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice."

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Hamas animated video shows family of captured Israeli soldier

(News Terupdate) - In a move aimed at increasing pressure on Israel to agree to a prisoner exchange in return for the freedom of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, Hamas on Sunday released an animated video showing a character depicting Shalit's father aging as Israeli leaders vow his son's return.

In the video, posted on the al-Qassam website, the Noam Shalit figure is seen walking the streets of Tel Aviv, Israel, carrying a picture of his son and looking at billboards and street banners that show former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promising the release of Shalit. The solder has been held by Palestinian militants since he was captured in a raid in June 2006.

The video features audio from Gilad Shalit released a couple of months ago, telling his family he misses them and saying the lack of interest by the government and the army in his case is "regrettable." Shalit says he hopes the government under Netanyahu will not waste their opportunity "to reach an exchange agreement, for the result of which I can achieve a long-awaited dream for my release."

As Noam Shalit walks in the animated video, he grows older, and a storm darkens the sky. He pauses in front of a building labeled "Ministry of Prisoners and Missing" in both English and Hebrew, with the Israeli state seal.

He disappears over the horizon and the screen fades to black, with writing in Hebrew and Arabic that says, "Finally ... the efforts of the Israeli government succeed, after the prisoners exchange deal, and Noam meets his son Gilad."

The video shows a prisoner entering Gaza holding a victory sign. But Noam Shalit encounters a casket draped in an Israeli flag.

He is seen awakening from that dream, sitting in front of the prime minister's office. The camera zooms in on Gilad Shalit's photo, then fades to black, with the message, "There is still hope."

Asked about the video, a Hamas spokesman said, "We are not going to talk. We are not going to issue any leaflets. We are just sending this cartoon with music to tickle their feelings."

However, the video drew harsh reaction from Israel, as well as from Noam Shalit.

"It's better if Hamas leaders would focus less on video presentations and would be more concerned about the interests of their prisoners and the public in Gaza," the elder Shalit told the popular Israeli news website Ynet.

Last week, the young daughter of Faithi Hamad, Hamas interior minister, was transferred to Jordan for an urgent operation. The girl left Gaza with her mother and received initial medical care at a medical center in Ashkelon, Israel, before being flown to Amman.

Netanyahu spokesman Nir Hefez referenced that in his reaction to the video Sunday.

"The Hamas leadership's cynical use of the Shalit family's sensitivities two days after Israel allowed a little girl to be flown for life-saving surgery outside Gaza attests more than anything to the character of this terrorist organization," Hefez said.

The Palestinian Ma'an news agency had reported that Hamas' military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, would release a message Sunday, and that it was expected to "provide a response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's most recent demand to release Shalit unconditionally, resulting in an easing of the Israeli imposed siege on Gaza.

"The announcement follows reports of French mediation to break the stalemate reached on swap talks between Israel and Shalit's captors."

The al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement the previous mediator "would have come close to finalizing the deal 'had the Israeli government not been so stubborn,' " Ma'an reported. Egyptian efforts in a prisoner swap deal were thwarted because Israel refused to release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners and other long-serving prisoners, the al-Qassam said, according to Ma'an.

However, Hefez said Sunday that "for months, the Hamas leaders have avoided responding to the proposals for a humanitarian deal, which was tabled by the [previous] mediator, under Egyptian aegis. This proposal, which was formulated vis-a-vis both sides, would bring about the immediate return of Gilad Shalit, safe and sound to his family and his people."

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Sandra Bullock will return her Razzie

(News Terupdate) - Sandra Bullock was recently asked to return the Razzie she picked up for her rather ignominious turn in "All About Steve."

Apparently, since the awards show coordinators didn't know she was going to show up in person to receive her award, they had to give her the original Razzie prototype instead of the cheap $5 knockoff "winners" usually get, and now they want it back.

What should have been a quiet little exchange turned into a minor frenzy over nothing much at all, thanks to tabloid press, but the issue may finally be put to rest now Bullock's rep has told E! News that the Oscar-winner will indeed be returning her less-than-honorary award.

"We were never contacted by them to return the Razzie," Bullock's publicist, Cheryl Maisel, told E!. "I contacted them yesterday to check the validity of the story and was only told then that we had been given the wrong award. We will be returning the Razzie to them shortly."

My question is: Isn't this the one award which you'd be more than happy for someone to rescind? Does this brief kerfuffle, out of the harsh glare of awards season and with a newly super-sympathetic Bullock, make you reconsider the choice of her as Razzies' Worst Actress? Any other candidates you think deserved it more?

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Agency denies tarmac delay exemption requests

(News Terupdate) - Airlines hoping for exemptions at some airports to the tarmac delay rule going into effect next week are out of luck.

The Department of Transportation denied requests Thursday from JetBlue, Delta, Continental, American and US Airways for exceptions to the rule, which were prompted by runway construction at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, one of the nation's most congested airports.

"Passengers on flights delayed on the tarmac have a right to know they will not be held aboard a plane indefinitely," U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "This is an important consumer protection, and we believe it should take effect as planned."

In its ruling, the department indicated that it may take the construction at JFK into account "when deciding whether to pursue enforcement action for failing to comply with the rule and the amount of the fine, if any, to seek as a result of noncompliance."

"We thank the Department for recognizing that there are unique challenges at New York's Kennedy and will take that into account when deciding whether to pursue civil penalties," American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith said in response to the ruling.

Airlines could re-route or reschedule JFK flights to minimize congestion, the department said.

"We are prepared to comply with the original ruling," Delta Air Lines spokesman Anthony Black said.

The rule, set to go into effect April 29, is designed to prevent planes on domestic routes from sitting on the tarmac for more than three hours with passengers on board. Airlines who violate the rule could face fines of up to $27,500 per passenger, the maximum allowed for violating any aviation consumer rule.

In March, JetBlue Airways asked for an exemption to the rule at JFK, where an extensive construction project has closed the airport's busiest runway.

Delta and American Airlines also requested exemptions at JFK, and Continental Airlines followed with its own request that added neighboring LaGuardia and Newark Liberty International airports.

US Airways asked for a similar exemption at its hub at Philadelphia International Airport, arguing that "it shares the same airspace, is part of the same air traffic control center (New York Center), and has the same congestion challenges as JFK, LaGuardia and Newark."

Airline passenger advocate Kate Hanni, founder of FlyersRights.org and a supporter of the tarmac delay rule, is pleased the exemptions were denied.

"We are both thrilled and gratified that DOT has taken a Hard Stand against long tarmac delays as a safety issue. We believe that 700 million travelers a year will benefit knowing they can reasonably predict the outcome of their flight knowing they cannot be held longer than 3 hours in a sealed metal tube!" Hanni said via e-mail.

Another passenger advocate, David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association, is opposed to the three-hour rule, stating that "placing time deadlines on safety related activities should never occur."

The rule "creates not only safety concerns for passengers, but misery in the from of many more cancelled flights," he said.

Stempler and other opponents of the rule say airlines are likely to cancel more flights during the busy summer travel season to avoid penalties incurred by long delays.

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Iceland closes airports for first time due to volcanic ash cloud

(News Terupdate) - Iceland will close two airports on Friday for the first time, a week after ash from an Icelandic volcano forced the shutdown of airspace over much of Europe and stranded thousands of passengers around the world, the Icelandic aviation authority announced Thursday.

The Keflavik International Airport and Reykjavík International Airport will be closed beginning early Friday morning, the aviation authority said, according to a statement on the Keflavik airport's website.

Though the ash cloud originated in Iceland, the country's airports have been spared from closure until now. Strong northwest winds had been blowing ash from the volcano, in the south of Iceland, out to sea and over Europe.

"Now the winds have died down, and the cloud is lingering around Iceland," said Chris Almond, a forecaster with Britain's Met Office, the nation's national weather service.

Two other Icelandic international airports, in Akureyri and Egilsstadir, will stay open to all air traffic, the aviation authority said. The ash cloud is not expected to reach those cities, which are in the north and east of the island nation.

Icelandair announced Thursday that trans-Atlantic passengers from the U.S. and Europe who would have stopped in Keflavik will be rerouted Friday via Glasgow, Scotland.

Icelandair said that passengers traveling to and from Iceland will have the option of being re-routed through the Akureyri airport, a four-hour drive from Reykjavík. The airline is arranging bus travel between Akureyri airport and the Reykjavík Bus Terminal.

Elsewhere in Europe, most airports appeared to be open on Thursday and are expected to be open Friday.

But the cloud still caused flight disruptions Thursday. The British Ministry of Defence temporarily suspended non-essential flying Thursday after volcanic ash was found on some of its Typhoon fast jets.

The closure of so much European airspace for nearly a week left untold numbers of travelers stranded, and it's not clear how long it will take to get everyone home.

Many airlines added or rearranged flights to try to clear the backlog.

At its peak, the crisis affected 1.2 million passengers a day and 29 percent of all global aviation, according to the International Air Transport Association.

It was the worst disruption of air traffic since the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001. Following those attacks, the United States closed its air space for three days, forcing Europe to postpone all transatlantic flights.

The International Air Transport Association estimated earlier this week that the Icelandic volcano crisis cost airlines more than $1.7 billion in lost revenue through Tuesday.

The crisis began after the volcano beneath the Eyjafjallajokull glacier erupted April 14 and sent a cloud of ash into the atmosphere. By the next day that cloud had reached Europe, where authorities quickly closed the airspace over safety fears.

By Tuesday, however, airlines had started to complain that the measures were too restrictive. Ash levels in most parts of Europe, they said, were low enough to allow the safe operation of flights.

Scientists in Iceland said Wednesday the volcano has decreased its ash output by 80 percent compared to the first day of eruption.

Armann Hoskuldsson, a volcanologist at the University of Iceland, told a briefing that the volcano's output is now "insignificant," though it will continue to be active for a while.

That reduction in volcanic activity appeared to be the main reason that flights resumed operating in Europe on Wednesday, along with European countries relaxing their restrictions on flight, according to a spokeswoman for Eurocontrol, an intergovernmental body that manages European air travel.

In Britain, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) issued revised guidance on flying through volcano ash clouds, allowing airlines to conduct their own risk assessments and requiring them to report any ash damage to the authorities.

The 27 countries of the European Union also agreed with Eurocontrol to split the airspace into zones based on their ash content and to allow flights in the unaffected areas, said Spanish Minister of Public Works Jose Blanco.

"Airspace was being closed based on theoretical models, not on facts," said Giovanni Bisignani, director general and CEO of International Air Transport Association. "Test flights by our members showed that the models were wrong."

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Police close in on suspects in booby traps targeting gang task force

(News Terupdate) - Police in California say that with the arrests of 23 people this week, they are getting closer to those responsible for a string of brazen attacks against officers in a gang task force.

The booby trap-style attacks believed to be targeting the Hemet Police Department began in December when, police say, a natural gas line was rerouted into the task force's headquarters, risking an explosion. The most recent incident occurred in March, when four city code enforcement trucks were set ablaze in the Hemet City Hall parking lot.

None of the 23 suspects arrested Tuesday face charges directly related to the four attacks, but police are hopeful that they will lead them to the people responsible, Hemet Police Capt. Dave Brown told CNN.

"Tuesday's operation produced an enormous amount of property and evidence. The 23 people arrested were detained and interviewed, producing leads, and those leads are being followed up," Brown said.

The suspects were arrested throughout Riverside County on a variety of felony and misdemeanor charges -- from possession of weapons and stolen property to outstanding warrants and narcotics. Local and state law enforcement agencies participated in the raids, in which 35 locations were searched and evidence, including 16 weapons, was seized.

Read the names of the suspects

Some of those arrested have gang affiliations, Brown said, but it's still unclear whether the attacks are gang-related. A motive is still not known.

"Motive has been a missing piece, but once the suspects are identified, we believe a motive will follow," he said.

"Sometimes, in gang cases, the motive is clear from the beginning. But in this case, we're not even sure it's a gang case, and if so, we're not sure if one gang is operating independent of others or if there's some sort of cooperation between the gangs."

Hemet is one of eight local, state and federal agencies that make up the Riverside County Gang Task Force, which was formed in 2006 to address the growth of criminal street gangs and outlaw motorcycle gangs.

As the county expanded and its population grew, so did the presence and reach of organized crime. Since 1997, the number of gangs in Riverside County has grown from 266 to 391, according to the task force's website, and total gang membership has grown to 10,620 people countywide.

Authorities believe the attacks could be related because of their close timing and identical targets, John Hall, a spokesman for the district attorney's office, said last month.

On New Years Eve, the unmarked headquarters of the Hemet Gang Task Force was filled with deadly natural gas. Two task force members detected the gas, backed away and reported it.

On February 23, a task force member at the Hemet headquarters opened a security gate outside the building, which launched a homemade zip gun attached to the gate. The weapon fired, missing the officer's head by inches.

The headquarters has since been moved to an undisclosed location, where extra security precautions are being taken, Hall said.

On March 5, criminals targeted a task force member who had parked an unmarked police car in front of a convenience store in Hemet. The officer found what appeared to be a homemade pipe bomb hidden underneath the vehicle.

The attacks have drawn the attention of state and federal law enforcement, which have contributed manpower and money to a $200,000 reward offered in the case.

The Hemet Police Department has set up a confidential tip line for anyone with information: 951-765-3897. People can also e-mail tip to: tips@cityofhemet.org.

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Lawsuit demands Vatican name priests accused of sex abuse

(News Terupdate) - An Illinois man is suing the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI for allegedly covering up sexual abuse by a priest at a Catholic school in Wisconsin.

The lawsuit demands the Vatican release the names of thousands of Catholic priests that the suit says have "credible allegations of sexual misconduct" against them.

The alleged victim, who is now an adult, says he was molested by Father Lawrence Murphy while a student at St. John's School for the Deaf, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

"The defendant, [the] Holy See, has known about the widespread problem of childhood sexual abuse committed by its clergy for centuries, but has covered up that abuse and thereby perpetuated the abuse," the suit says.

Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, declined to comment on the case.

Pope Benedict XVI was named as a defendant because he has the ultimate authority to remove priests and because of his involvement in reviewing sex abuse cases when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the suit says.

"There are a number of priests, brothers, and agents who defendant continued in ministry after defendant knew or suspected that those agents had molested children," the suit says.

Suit alleges U.S., Mexican cardinals covered up abuse

Peter Isely, a director with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), estimated the Vatican is investigating 4,000 cases of sex abuse by church employees.

The lawsuit aims to change church policies and practices that conceal sex offenders, Isely said.

"It's going to protect children, we hope, around the world," he said, "This is a historic day and hopefully this is going to result in historic changes."

Arthur Budzinski, a deaf man who said he was sexually assaulted and raped by Murphy, stood with Isely at a news conference Thursday.

He said the priest "may have stolen our bodies," but higher clerics such as cardinals, archbishops and the pope "stole our voices."

He made his comments in sign language and his daughter, Gigi, interpreted his words.

The now-deceased Murphy is believed to have molested up to 200 boys, Isely said

The lawsuit said the church "knew that there was a high probability that these clerics would sexually molest more children, but sought to protect itself from scandal, sought to keep its income stream going, at the peril of children."

Murphy, it says, was a "top fundraiser and recruiter" for the church and the "Holy See wanted to retain Murphy's services."

The same Minnesota law firm representing the Illinois plaintiff also filed suit Wednesday on behalf of a Mexican resident who says he was sexually abused by a priest.

The suit alleges Catholic officials in Los Angeles, California, aided and abetted the abuse by moving the priest to different dioceses as allegations piled up against him.

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Europe flights back to '100 percent'

London, England (News Terupdate) - Flights across Europe are expected to return to "100 percent" on Thursday --seven days after ash from an Icelandic volcano forced the shutdown of airspace and stranded thousands of passengers around the world, the air traffic agency Eurocontrol said.

The mood among passengers was one of cautious optimism. After days of endless waiting, many reserved their celebrations for when they were airborne.

"I think when we land down in America, then we'll know we're there. But at the minute, we're a bit cautious," said Georgina Evett.

She was part of a group trying to fly from Manchester, England, to Florida for a world cheerleading championship this week.

Manchester Airport was among many where flights are now taking off and landing.

The closure of so much European airspace for nearly a week left untold numbers of travelers stranded, and it's not clear how long it will take to get everyone home.

Many airlines added or rearranged flights to try to clear the backlog.

The crisis set off a surge of emergency requests from stranded Americans, prompting the U.S. State Department to scramble to arrange everything from housing to, in one case, dialysis treatment for an elderly patient in Frankfurt, Germany.

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At its peak, the crisis affected 1.2 million passengers a day and 29 percent of all global aviation, according to the International Air Transport Association.

It was the worst disruption of air traffic since the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001. Following those attacks, the United States closed its air space for three days, forcing Europe to postpone all transatlantic flights.

In addition to clearing a massive backlog of passengers and cargo, airlines now face financial headaches as well as logistical ones.

Budget carrier Ryanair indicated Wednesday it does not plan to pay compensation to passengers other than lost ticket costs.

The European Union's top official for transport had said Monday that airlines were responsible for taking care of them while they were stranded.

The International Air Transport Association estimated Wednesday that the Icelandic volcano crisis cost airlines more than $1.7 billion in lost revenue through Tuesday. Between Saturday and Monday, when disruptions were greatest, IATA said lost revenues reached $400 million each day.

The crisis began after the volcano beneath the Eyjafjallajokull glacier erupted Wednesday and sent a cloud of ash into the atmosphere. By the next day that cloud had reached Europe, where authorities quickly closed the airspace over safety fears.

Volcanic ash can shut down engines and electrical systems and damage a plane's windscreen.

By Tuesday, however, airlines had started to complain that the measures were too restrictive.

Ash levels in most parts of Europe, they said, were low enough to allow the safe operation of flights.

Scientists in Iceland said Wednesday the volcano has decreased its ash output by 80 percent compared to the first day of eruption, April 14.

Armann Hoskuldsson, a volcanologist at the University of Iceland, told a briefing that the volcano's output is now "insignificant," though it will continue to be active for a while.

That reduction in volcanic activity appeared to be the main reason that flights resumed operating in Europe on Wednesday, along with European countries relaxing their restrictions on flight, according to a spokeswoman for Eurocontrol, an intergovernmental body that manages European air travel.

In Britain, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) issued revised guidance on flying through volcano ash clouds, allowing airlines to conduct their own risk assessments and requiring them to report any ash damage to the authorities.

The 27 countries of the European Union also agreed with Eurocontrol to split the airspace into zones based on their ash content and to allow flights in the unaffected areas, said Spanish Minister of Public Works Jose Blanco.

"Airspace was being closed based on theoretical models, not on facts," said Giovanni Bisignani, director general and CEO of IATA. "Test flights by our members showed that the models were wrong."

He said the EU's decision to categorize airspace based on risk was a "step in the right direction," but Europe still needs uniform rules on air travel to avoid a repeat of the chaos of the past week.

NATS, the air traffic authority in Britain, said it is confident it had made the right decision in restricting flights.

"The primary concern for all the people involved -- the regulator, the government, and NATS -- has been to ensure flight safety," NATS Senior Manager Alex Bristol told CNN. "Until such time as we had evidence to give us different assurances, then the regulations which existed, and which we were using eight days ago ... then we had to restrict the airspace, and we did the right things."

Source : CNN

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