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The United Nations Security Council unanimously voted tonight to impose an arms embargo on Libya, a travel and assets ban on Col. Moammar Gadhafi and his inner circle, and referred the case to the International Criminal Court.

And the U.N. named names: Gadhafi, five of his children and ten of his top aides were hit with the sanctions.

Council members agreed to refer the issue of the Gadhafi regime’s brutal and systematic attacks on protesters to the war crimes tribunal for an investigation into possible crimes against humanity.Diplomats hope the threat of prosecution for war crimes will cause even more of Gadhafi’s dwindling inner circle to jump ship.

“This is wonderful, this is what we were waiting for, this is great!” Mohamed Eljahmi, a Libyan-American activist, told AOL News today.

Eljahmi’s brother, Fathi, a leading Libyan dissident, died in state custody in 2009 after protesting Gadhafi’s regime for years.

“This is the best news I’ve heard for Libya in awhile,” Eljahmi said. “Eventually what’s just comes to people who deserve it. Gadhafi’s bad deeds are finally coming back to him.”

The resolution stated that “widespread and systematic attacks currently taking place in Libya against the civilian population may amount to crimes against humanity” and “those responsible for the attacks” must be held accountable, according to The Wall Street Journal.

All nations must also immediately freeze assets in their country held by any of the Libyan leaders named in the resolution.The 15-0 vote came after nearly eight hours of discussions and followed an impassioned plea by Libyan Ambassador Mohammed Shalgham for the U.N. to “save” his nation on Friday.

Shalgham, in an emotional speech to the Security Council yesterday, broke with the Gadhafi regime and asked that sanctions be adopted.

Council members did not consider imposing a no-fly zone over Libya, and no U.N.-sanctioned military action was planned. N.A.T.O. also has ruled out any intervention in Libya, The Associated Press reported.

More than 1,000 protesters have been killed by government loyalists since the popular rebellion against 42-years of Col. Gadhafi autocratic rule began Feb. 17.

A 14-month-old girl who wandered away from her mom at a suburban Atlanta bank was accidentally locked inside a vault, where she remained trapped for several hours, police said.

Rescue workers pumped fresh air into the vault’s vents at the Wells Fargo branch in Conyers, and a professional safecracker managed to open it Friday evening with the aid of “a very large drill,” Conyers Police Chief Gene Wilson told reporters.He described it as a “very tense scene.”

The little girl was with her mother and grandmother, who works at the bank, at closing time, Wilson said. She apparently wandered away and went into the vault. It was unclear whether the vault automatically shut behind her or if an employee closed it, not realizing someone was inside.

Because the vault was on a timer-release, it would have remained locked for the night, Wilson told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Paramedics and firefighters were unable to open it and called in the specialist, who received a high-speed police escort to the bank. “Other than a child being in there, it was a routine job,” safe technician Ron Snively told WXIA-TV.The child was spotted on security cameras and could be heard crying during the rescue. “The toddler was safe the whole time,” Wells Fargo spokesman Jay Lawrence told WSBT TV.

She was reunited with her mom after about four hours. “That was one of the better moments I’ve ever witnessed,” Wilson said.

The toddler was unharmed, the chief added, but did need a fresh diaper.

A fourth child died today as a result of a fire in a Houston home day care center, a local television station reported, and investigators are trying to determine whether the center’s owner was out shopping when the deadly blaze ignited.

Eighteen-month-old Elias Castillo died this morning, Houston television station KTRK reported. Two other children who had been transferred to Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston — which specializes in burn care — remain in critical but stable condition. A third child was released from Houston’s Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital on Friday.

The operator of Jackie’s Child Care — Jessica Rene Tata, 22 — has not been charged with any crime. But a law enforcement source told the Houston Chronicle that Tata went shopping at a nearby store and returned either just before or just as the blaze broke out Thursday afternoon.”There’s no question she went shopping,” the source, who asked not to be identified, told the newspaper Friday. “They’re trying to determine exactly when she returned, although it was a very close proximity (in time) to the fire.”

Investigators also are trying to determine whether she left another adult in charge of the seven toddlers inside the day care facility, the newspaper reported.

The scene outside the home Thursday was heartbreaking; the one-story home engulfed in flames as firefighters ran down the crowded street carrying small children to ambulances.That morning Betty Ukera, a third-grade teacher, dropped off her 19-month-old daughter, Elizabeth, after giving her a quick kiss. At 1:40 p.m., she told reporters she answered her cell phone after seeing the day care’s phone number on her caller ID. It was Tata.

“She was screaming ‘You’ve got to get here quickly! All the babies are dying!’” Ukera told the Houston Chronicle.

Ukera told her students to keep working and ran down the hall to the school principal, where she told him, “My baby! My baby! My babysitter called and said the children are dying at the day care.”

The principal quickly drove her to the house; as they approached, she could hear the wailing of ambulances. Emergency workers wouldn’t let anyone pass; she got out of the car and ran toward the house, where she found Tata outside, screaming and crying. “Where’s my baby? Where’s my baby?” Ukera asked her.A police officer gave the principal a list of hospitals where the children were taken and the two set off — first to the closest, where another child was being treated in the ER, then to Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital, where Ukera was told no information would be given until the children were identified.

“And I said, ‘Bring out the clothes,’” Ukera said. The nurse brought out a pair of pink leggings and a blouse — both belonging to Elizabeth. “Is she alive?” Ukera asked. She remembers someone saying, “I’m sorry, ma’am. We did everything we could.”

All seven children in the home were between the ages of 18 months and 3 years, investigators said. State child care rules say home day care operators should not care for more than six children of preschool age — generally defined as older than 18 months but younger than 5 years.

The mother of another girl who died in the fire, 20-month-old Kendyll Stradford, went to the house on Friday, sobbing as she stood at the front door, the Associated Press reported. “I just wanted to see how bad it was,” Kenya Stradford said.

Stradford said that Thursday was her “sweet, laughing” toddler’s second day at the center. If she could talk to Tata, Stradford would ask her about the tragedy.

“I just need to know what happened,” Stradford said.

The Beastie Boys are officially back in action after a long hiatus. Cancer-stricken group member MCA, real name Adam Yauch, feels well enough for the group to finally release the long-awaited ‘Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2’ on May 3.

New York’s bad brothers were on schedule to release ‘Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 1’ in September of 2009, when news hit that Yauch had been diagnosed with cancer in his lymph node. They put everything on hold while he underwent treatment and announced that ‘Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 1’ had been shelved in favor for ‘Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2’ this past October.

The album will feature guestspots from both Nas and Santigold and sports the Esco-supported ‘Too Many Rappers’ as a lead single. That track hit the blogosphere back in July 2009, but it should receive a new mix and master on the completed record. The rest features some amazing titles that we can’t wait to hear like the classicist ‘B-Boys In The Cut,’ totally Beastie ‘Nonstop Disco Powerpack’ and a jam called ‘Crazy Ass S—-.’

‘Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2’ is the group’s first official offering since 2004’s ‘To the 5 Boroughs’ — a back to basics rap album that found the group spitting collaborative old school battle rhymes over minimal futurist beats. Given the amount of time they’ve spent on the studio, fans are looking for something a little more ambitious and innovative this time around. The group’s last chart-busting record, ‘Hello Nasty,’ was released way back in 1998.

Here’s the full tracklist:

1. ‘Tadlock’s Glasses’
2. ‘B-Boys in the Cut’
3. ‘Make Some Noise’
4. ‘Nonstop Disco Powerpack’
5. ‘OK’
6. ‘Too Many Rappers’ (featuring NAS)
7. ‘Say It’
8. ‘The Bill Harper Collection’
9. ‘Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win’ (featuring Santigold)
10. ‘Long Burn The Fire’
11. ‘Funky Donkey’
12. ‘Lee Majors Come Again’
13. ‘Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament’
14. ‘Pop Your Balloon’
15. ‘Crazy Ass S—-‘
16. ‘Here’s a Little Something for Ya’

NEW YORK — Candles ringing a bed in a voodoo ceremony that included sex ignited sheets and clothing strewn nearby and caused a fatal apartment fire last weekend, a city official said Friday.

The blaze started around 6:40 p.m. Sunday, when a woman visited a fourth-floor apartment in Brooklyn and paid a man $300 to perform a mystical ceremony that would bring her good luck, according to fire marshals with the Fire Department of New York.

The man was known in the neighborhood as a priest, and the two were either having sex, or had sex when the fire started from the candles on the floor, though it’s not clear if it was part of the ceremony, said the official, who had direct knowledge of the case but spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

Instead of calling 911, the man first tried to put out the fire himself using water from a bathroom sink. As smoke began to gather, one of the other apartment occupants opened a window and propped the hall door open in an attempt to dissipate the plume. But instead, wind gusts shot the flames back inside, creating “a blowtorch effect” that pushed the fire into the hallway, the FDNY said.

The occupants fled as the flames spread. Several 911 calls were made, but it’s not clear if the man also phoned. The blaze engulfed the fourth, fifth and sixth floors, causing the floor and part of the roof to collapse. It took nearly 200 firefighters about seven hours to bring the five-alarm blaze under control.One resident, 64-year-old Mary Feagin, was found dead. Her cause of death has not yet been determined and was pending further study, the medical examiner’s office said Friday.

Eleven residents and 20 firefighters were injured, and nearly 50 families were left without a home.

The FDNY is also reviewing a dispatching error that delayed getting water on the fire. One of the engines that had been sent to the fire was already at another emergency. The Uniformed Firefighters Association blamed the delay on recent firefighter staff reductions, though Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it had nothing to do with staffing.

Voodoo is religion, practiced primarily in Haiti and parts of Africa. It’s not believed the ceremony that led to the blaze was an official rite, but rather a homegrown practice.

Police in Las Vegas are checking surveillance video to determine if cameras captured an armed robbery that went down at the Rio Hotel Casino at about 4:40 a.m. Thursday. The Las Vegas Sun reports the suspected robber arrived by taxi to the casino decked out in a fedora hat, fake mustache and sunglasses.
Markus Martin, a spokesman for the police, tells the Las Vegas Sun a dealer slapped the man’s hand away when he attempted to take chips, but then the man displayed a gun. No one was injured.

The robber walked away with about $32,000 before fleeing the scene in a taxi.

An anonymous source from the casino tells the Associated Press the robber made off with about $21,000 in $1,000 chips. The rest were worth $500, $100 and $25 each. The source requested to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to publicly release details related to the crime.

The robbery follows a Wednesday court appearance for Anthony M. Carleo, who allegedly stole about $1.4 million in chips last December from the Bellagio hotel-casino and then sped away on a motorcycle.

Carleo was arrested on February 3 after he was allegedly caught making a transaction to sell the pink $25,000 chips to an undercover police officer. The robbery prompted the Bellagio to do away with $25,000 chips.

Royal Caribbean says two crew members were busted in Jamaica, in a drug smuggling plot that involved 33 kilos (about 73 pounds) of cocaine.Cruise line spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez tells AOL Travel News authorities boarded the 1,950-passenger Grandeur of the Seas while the ship was docked in Montego Bay, Jamaica on Wednesday and “detained a crew member and found that he was in possession of 18 kilos of cocaine.”

A short time later, authorities came back onboard the cruise ship and found an additional 15 kilos of cocaine in the cabin of another crew member, Martinez says.

Customs Department authorities in Jamaica estimate the street value of the cocaine at $1.1 million, according to the Jamaica Observer.

The newspaper says some of the cocaine was found strapped to the body of a crew member, while the rest was in a suitcase.

Both of the crew members are Jamaican.

The ship had visited Cartagena, Colombia before arriving in Montego Bay, on a seven-day cruise from Colon, Panama, that also includes stops in Grand Cayman and Roatan, Honduras.

“Royal Caribbean is cooperating fully with authorities during this investigation and will continue providing any assistance necessary to prosecute these individuals to the fullest extent of the law,” Martinez says.

This is not the only recent large-scale bust involving a Royal Caribbean ship. In December, three crew members on the line’s Enchantment of the Seas were busted on shore in Baltimore for possession of $65,000 in cocaine. A few weeks law enforcement authorities found another $94,000 worth of heroin and cocaine was found on the ship.

In another recent case, a Jamaican waiter on Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas was found guilty in Bermuda of conspiring to import more than $425,000 worth of cocaine onto the island. A sizeable stash was found hidden under a chair in the ship’s disco.

There have been a bunch of smaller busts too. Just last week, In Jamaica, a passenger on the line’s Voyager of the Seas was arrested with a small amount of cocaine as the ship made the maiden call at the brand new Jamaican port of Falmouth. The passenger was fined $2,000 and spent seven days in prison.

In a recent interview with AOL Travel News, Gary Bald, who heads Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.’s global security department, and formerly held the third most senior ports in the FBI, says the cruise company is focused on keeping drugs off its ships.

“What we see is occasional successes by our joint team, our security folks and our law enforcement partners,” he says. “It doesn’t happen often for us, but it happens enough to keep us focused on it.”

Nelly gets up close and personal in an upcoming episode of VH1’s ‘Behind the Music.’ The St. Louis native opens up about the 2005 death of his sister Jackie, who died of leukemia at the age of 31.

“Nobody wanted to tell me how severe and how close things had gotten,” Nelly says in an emotional clip from the show. “She wasn’t telling me the truth, and everyone around her that knew wasn’t telling me that, ‘Yo, she’s not gonna make it.’”

The ‘Just a Dream’ singer recalls his last conversation with Jackie 25 minutes before she passed, which prompted him to fly into a rage. “She gets off the phone and she lays down and she’s gone,” he says. “They said the only thing that kept her alive was that she wanted to talk to me before she left, and I was enraged.” Nelly took his anger and sadness out on a door in his room. “I split the door straight down the middle, just punched it. […] I just broke down. In one of the rare moments, I did cry.”

Before Jackie died, Nelly started the non-profit organization 4Sho4Kids Foundation, attempting to educate African-Americans about the need for bone marrow transplants with his Jes Us 4 Jackie campaign.

Nelly’s ‘Behind the Music’ airs on March 7 at 10PM EST. Nelly’s latest album, ‘5.0,’ was released last November. It debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rap Albums chart, despite backlash from Nelly, who blamed his label for poor album promotion.

The last time anyone saw Carol Grannon was on a March day in 1999, when she left her northeastern Oklahoma home to run errands. She disappeared without a trace.

Now, more than a decade later, police say the missing woman’s stepson has finally led authorities to what they believe is her body — and said he witnessed his father killing her.

“We are 99.9 percent certain,” Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Joe Hughart told AOL News. “We have a confession from the son and the father.”Hughart said police got a break in the cold case on Wednesday night following a drug bust at a Muskogee motel, where several people were taken into custody. One of those arrested was 27-year-old Josh Grannon.

Jailed on a drug charge, Grannon told police he wanted to talk about something “special,” Hughart said.

“I think it was his conscience,” Hughart said. “I guess he had this bottled up for 12 years and he was ready to talk and let it out.”Grannon allegedly told police that when he was 15 years old he had witnessed his father, Jeffrey Grannon, kill his missing stepmother, Carol Grannon. Afterward, Josh said, he helped his father dispose of her body.

Carol Grannon, a 37-year-old mother of four, was last seen alive on the afternoon of March 15, 1999. She had visited with her daughter at a local Burger King restaurant and then left with her husband to visit his mother at her house on Turner Street in Muskogee. Jeffrey Grannon later told police his wife had left there to go shopping at a Walmart and never returned.

Carol Grannon’s car, a gray Toyota Corolla, was not found until about three months later, abandoned in the parking lot of the Department of Human Services office in Muskogee.

According to media reports from the time, Carol had worked for Muskogee General Hospital as a laboratory technician. She and her husband reportedly met in September 1998 and married in January 1999. Family members told local media outlets they did not believe she left of her own accord and that they suspected foul play in her disappearance.

“[Jeffrey Grannon] had been a person of interest since day one,” Hughart said. “He refused polygraph tests along the way and would taunt officers [to arrest him].”

Investigators conducted multiple searches for Carol Grannon over the years. They looked in ponds and dug up mounds of earth and concrete, but never found any sign of her. All that changed, however, once her stepson was in custody on an unrelated case.

On Thursday morning, Josh Grannon led authorities to an alleyway behind his grandmother’s home and directed them to a manhole that was covering an old, unused sewer drain, police said. When the officers peered inside, they saw a mound of concrete.

“They had been pouring sacks of concrete [down the hole] throughout the years,” Hughart said. “One of the officers got down there and there was a cavity that had built up inside it, kind of like a bubble. The officer stepped and it kind of collapsed, and we could see inside there [were] human bones.”

While authorities were examining the hole, they noticed that Jeffrey Grannon, 56, kept walking up and down the street, watching them work. At one point, he even approached the officers, Hughart said.

“They were looking in the manhole [and he was] walking around out there asking them what they needed and could he help them,” Hughart said, adding, “He’s a real arrogant man.”

Shortly thereafter, authorities received approval to take Grannon into custody.

“The officer called him over and stuck his hand out. When he went to grab his hand to shake it, the officer greeted him with a pair of handcuffs,” Hughart said.

Once he was taken to police headquarters, Jeffrey Grannon allegedly confessed to killing his wife by strangling her with a zip tie. During a brief court hearing today, Muskogee County District Attorney Larry Moore said he expected to file a first-degree murder charge on Monday. Jeffrey Grannon was ordered held without bond.

Josh Grannon remains jailed on the drug charges. Because he allegedly helped his father dispose of his stepmother, additional charges may be filed, police said.

Forensic specialists and a team of archaeologists began the tedious task of carefully removing the remains on Thursday. That work continued this morning and is nearly complete.”They are just about finished digging with the back hoe, so they are going to start bringing her out as safely [and] as peacefully as they can,” Hughart said. “The medical examiner will have possession of the body and will probably take it to Tulsa” for examination and positive identification.

According to Hughart, family members have been notified. Grannon’s ex-husband and father of two of her children, Eddie Walker, is an investigator at the sheriff’s office. He has spent years working on the case in an effort to provide his children with answers about their mother’s fate.

“The family is getting some closure,” Hughart said. “I know it is a sad day for them, but that has got to be awesome to get some closure with this.”

Police in Tennessee have charged a teenager with aggravated assault for allegedly dousing a 12-year-old boy with cologne and setting him on fire during a sleepover.

The boy is recovering from second- and third-degree burns that could scar him for life, the victim’s mother said. Trudy Smith said her son, James Whalen, was spending the night at a 13-year-old friend’s house last Saturday when she received an unexpected call from the teen’s mom.

“I got the phone call at 2:10 in the morning telling me there had been a minor incident,” Smith told AOL News. “She said my son was OK and wanted to know if he could have ibuprofen.”

Smith said the call concerned her enough that she drove over to the home where her son was staying. Once there, she said she was shocked to discover he had severe burns to several areas of his body.”He had second- and third-degree burns on his hands, his arm, his chest, his face and his neck,” she said.

James told his mother he was sleeping when he was doused with cologne and set on fire.

“I smelt cologne all over me, and the next thing I knew, I felt fire,” James told WTVF-TV.

James said he ran to get help and fell down a flight of stairs, landing in front of a group of adults. His clothes and the carpet he was lying on were on fire, he said.

“They grabbed whole lots of water, throwing it on the carpet. Then all they could find for me was Dr Pepper, thrown on me,” the boy said.

Smith said that for unknown reasons her son’s friend poured cologne on James and set him on fire. “He was supposedly a friend of his,” she said. “I don’t understand why he did it or why his mom did not call 911.”According to Lawrenceburg Police Chief Judy Moore, the teen who allegedly burned James has yet to provide investigators with a “reasonable explanation” for his actions.

“The juvenile that was involved in it has been charged with one count of aggravated assault and one count of reckless endangerment,” Moore told AOL News. “He wasn’t arrested … but he was petitioned to juvenile court. The mother of the juvenile has been charged with one count of child neglect.”

Moore said that the investigation is ongoing and that police are working in cooperation with the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.

Smith said that her son is autistic and that the sleepover was the first time she had let him spend the night anywhere away from home in the last two years.

“When I spoke to [the teenager’s] mother, I explained my son’s condition and his routine,” Smith said. “I understand other homes don’t have the same schedule, but I asked if [she] could stay as close to it as possible. I also [told her that] I don’t like my son in groups of kids and [requested that she] limit who comes around him.

“She said she understood this, but when the officer came to the hospital, he informed me that there was a total of 14 kids there that night. My son was the only special-needs child there,” Smith said.

James is on two different medications to control his pain. Doctors are hoping the burn on his face will not leave a permanent scar, but they say others probably will, Smith said.According to Smith, James never had a problem with his teenage friend before the weekend incident, but he had been bullied several times in the past. On one occasion, he suffered a broken tooth, and on another he was urinated on, she said. Those incidents left her feeling helpless, and she is now hoping watchdog groups like Bully Police USA might be able to offer some assistance.

“In the past, he got picked on so bad we had to move to protect my child,” Smith said. “That is the type of supervision we provide for our child, because as parents it is our job to protect them.”

In a new, wide-ranging interview, rapper Lupe Fiasco dug deeper than usual when revealing his inspirations and journey to complete his much-anticipated record ‘Lasers.’ Speaking to Details, Fiasco said that he fell into a deep depression after initially submitting his album to Atlantic Records two and a half years ago and getting rejected for not knowing “how to do what Kanye does.”

He dealt with that sadness on a track that is emerging as a standout on the final version of the new album. Entitled ‘Beautiful Lasers,’ Lupe raps, “If you feel like you don’t want to be alive/ You feel just like I am.” He remarked that he did in fact contemplate killing himself at that point “to keep from killing somebody else.” Lupe also said that making his third studio album wasn’t easy. “The creation of ‘Lasers’ was a very painful, dark, f—-ed-up process,” he admitted.

Notably, the admission of depression and suicidal feelings has long been prevalent on hip-hop tracks but rarely discussed in public until recent cases like Fiasco’s. Last year, Kanye West admitted to feeling suicidal after the media scrutiny surrounding his public meltdown at the 2009 MTV VMAs. Before that, The-Dream said that he seriously considered ending it all during his separation and then public divorce with wife Christina Milian.

‘Lasers’ is set to drop March 8.

‘Teen Mom’ star Amber Portwood’s personal drama has made headline after headline this year, and it seems she’s not slowing down any time soon.

RadarOnline.com has exclusive photos of the 20-year-old posing in her birthday suit at her friend’s house, displaying not only her naughty bits, but the large portrait of daughter Leah she had inked on her stomach last year.

According to a Radar source, Amber’s decision to take the racy photos was a spontaneous one. “She just wanted to pose!” A friend of the reality star added, “Amber fancies herself an old-fashioned pin-up girl.”

Portwood’s photos seem hypocritical, particularly after slamming Kim Kardashian for her racy past. “Last time I checked, Kim Kardashian had a sex tape floating around on the Internet, and I’m pretty sure she made a lot of money off of it,” Portwood told E! News after Kardashian told fans that teen moms were “not people you should idolize.”

The young mom, who was released from jail in late December following an arrest for felony domestic abuse, has been in her fair share of fully-clothed trouble since appearing on ‘Teen Mom, facing allegations of underage drinking, harrassment and prescription pill abuse.

After a day in which Charlie Sheen took to the airwaves to criticize everything from his boss to Alcoholics Anonymous, CBS has finally had enough.

Production on ‘Two and a Half Men,’ the troubled star’s uber-successful sitcom, was set to resume on Monday. Four more episodes were to have been made before the ‘Men’ wrapped up work on its eighth season.

But in a statement issued late Thursday, CBS said that it was halting production on those episodes. “Based on the totality of Charlie Sheen’s statements, conduct and condition, CBS and Warner Bros. Television have decided to discontinue production of ‘Two and a Half Men’ for the remainder of the season,” the statement read in full.

UPDATE: Sheen fired back about the shutdown late Thursday night, repeating his slurs against ‘Men’s’ creator, Chuck Lorre, and calling him a “contaminated little maggot” and a “worm.”


“I wish him nothing but pain in his silly travels especially if they wind up in my octagon,” Sheen ranted. He also stated that the fans of the show were “my people … not yours.”

Sheesh. All things considered, CBS’ actions on Thursday weren’t surprising.

In a rant to the Alex Jones radio show, Sheen called the creator of ‘Men,’ Chuck Lorre, a “clown” and referred to him as “Chaim Levine” (Lorre’s original name is Charles Levine). Sheen also said he had cured his addictions “with my mind” and called A.A. a “bootleg cult.”

Not satisfied with the rambling vitriol he displayed in that interview, Sheen later told TMZ that he “violently hates” Lorre and also wants to fight him in an Octagon ring.

What happens when you call your boss a “stupid, stupid little man,” make arrogant remarks about your own genius (“I’ve got poetry in my fingertips”) and somehow insult Thomas Jefferson along the way? Production on your show is halted by the powers that be. For this season, at least.

In this piece, I argued that ‘Two and a Half Men’ should be shut down permanently, because Sheen is clearly heading for disaster, if not death. CBS and Warner Bros. Television have decided, for the moment, that they don’t want to be in business with Sheen. Will that change by the time production on Season 9 of ‘Men’ is set to begin this summer?

Who knows. If CBS doesn’t cancel the show, network executives should, at the very least, replace Sheen with another actor. And hope Sheen doesn’t send his “Vatican assassin warlocks” after them.

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner and his fiancee Crystal Harris have set a date to tie the knot.

UsMagazine.com is quoting a Playboy rep who has confirmed that the couple will wed on June 18 at the Playboy Mansion.

Hefner, 84, is reported saying, “It will be intimate with a close number of friends here at the mansion. No big blowout affair. Something very personal.”

Harris, 24, is still hunting for the perfect wedding gown and is said to be eyeing a strapless dress by designer Romona Keveza.

Hefner proposed to Harris on Christmas Eve last year, and the bride-to-be posted a picture of her impressive round-diamond engagement ring on Twitter.
An insider has also mentioned that the couple has set the guest list at less than 300 people.

One person who will not be attending the wedding would be Hefner’s ex-girlfriend Holly Madison. She told PopEater’s own Naughty but Nice Rob Shuter that even if she was invited she would not be going.

“I feel like the attention should be on them,” Madison tells Shuter. “It shouldn’t be about ex-girlfriends showing up and what are their reactions and stuff like that. I think it should be about them.”

But Madison is definitely not a fan of Harris, in an interview with Life & Style magazine in January, she said, “I’d like to see Hef settle down. I just want it to be with the right person, and I feel like he’s making a hasty decision. I’m not sure Crystal is the best thing for him.”

Madison continued, “Crystal hasn’t been around very long — she’s a mysterious character. No one knows much about her. Plus, she’s very young, probably too young to settle down. I’ve seen a lot of girls try to date Hef, and some have ulterior motives. I don’t think it would be a bad idea for him to get to know her a little better. I think it’s possible Crystal could break Hef’s heart. They could end up divorcing, and she could take half his money.”

MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee man convicted of choking the life out of seven women during a 21-year killing spree was sentenced Thursday to spend the rest of his life in prison, and prosecutors said they may yet tie Walter E. Ellis to two or more unsolved slayings.

Ellis, 50, was convicted last week after he pleaded no contest to charges of first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree murder. Although the charges carry a mandatory life sentence, Judge Dennis Cimpl had the option of allowing the possibility of parole.However, Cimpl said the only factor in Ellis’ favor - that by pleading out he spared the victims’ families from having to endure a trial - was like weighing “a feather against thousands of pounds of bad things.”

Cimpl sentenced Ellis on Thursday to seven consecutive life sentences for the slayings. Ellis sat impassive as the sentence was handed down, just as he had during the previous hour when a parade of victims’ relatives, some angry, some tearful, called for justice.

Several remembered the victims as mothers of small children, as women who may have led troubled lives but who didn’t deserve to suffer at Ellis’ hands. Several called Ellis the devil, and one said he hoped Ellis’ fellow inmates violate him and treat him with the same contempt that he showed his victims.

A few relatives lamented the fact that Wisconsin does not have the death penalty. However, the sister of victim Irene Smith said it wasn’t for humankind to pass such judgment.”I’m not one to judge,” Virgie Smith said, her eyes red with tears after the hearing. “He’s going to get the worst thing God can give him.”

The sentencing brings a close to a deadly rampage that ran from 1986 to 2007. The subsequent investigations eventually forced a complete review of how the state maintains its DNA database.

All seven victims were strangled, either by hand or with a rope or clothing tied around their necks. One was also stabbed.

“Of any way to kill somebody, that’s probably the most despicable way to do it,” the judge told Ellis. “You look at them and you literally choke their lives away.”

Ellis declined to speak before sentencing, continuing his silence that has frustrated and infuriated those desperate to know what motivated him to kill their loved ones and whether he felt any remorse. Ellis has long refused to cooperate with authorities and even with his own lawyers.

Defense attorney Patrick Earle also declined to speak at the hearing. A message left at his office afterward was not immediately returned.

Ellis was arrested in 2009 after police said his DNA matched semen samples found on six victims and a blood sample on a can of pepper spray discovered at the scene of the seventh slaying. Authorities have said they began to focus on Ellis after his name surfaced in connection with a number of unsolved homicides.

Ellis’ case exposed flaws in the state’s process for collecting DNA from convicted felons. Ellis’ DNA was missing from a state database even though he should have submitted a sample during an earlier prison stint. Authorities said Ellis persuaded a fellow inmate submit a DNA sample in his place.

Police have said that if a sample had been taken from Ellis at that time, they may have been able to track him down before the last slaying, in 2007.

The discovery prompted a state audit, which found nearly 17,700 offender samples missing from the crime lab’s database.

Authorities suspect Ellis in at least two other killings, but District Attorney John Chisholm said he hasn’t brought charges in those cases because he wanted to focus on his strongest cases.

Chisholm, who told the judge Ellis was one of the few defendants he’d ever seen who truly deserves to be called evil, said the investigation continues in those two cases.Chisholm said he was also concerned that Ellis’ later crimes, along with his deceit in not submitting a DNA sample, showed that his understanding of DNA’s role in crime investigations was growing more sophisticated. The prosecutor said investigators would also review other homicides in which no DNA was left to see if any more slayings could be tied to Ellis.

Outside the courtroom, victims’ families and friends collapsed into each other’s arms. They laughed and cried together, grateful that the sentencing finally brought closure to decades of uncertainty.

Mansa Miller, the brother of victim Tanya Miller, said Ellis got the sentence he deserved.

“I pray for him to do what he has to do with his life to make himself a better person,” he said.

Rosie O’Donnell has just split from her girlfriend of over a year, Tracy Kachtick-Anders, but the former TV queen has another relationship problem to deal with, and it involves her powerful new boss, Oprah Winfrey.

“Oprah and Rosie have not been seeing eye to eye on the tone of Rosie’s new show” on OWN, an insider with knowledge of the situation tells me. “Oprah sees it as a friendly daytime talk show where viewers get to spend an hour with the old Rosie they used to love. Rosie, on the other hand, thinks the show should be more political and a place where she can express her liberal views.”
Oprah confirmed that she gave Rosie a warning before moving ahead with the new show, telling her she “better behave” on OWN. Oprah even visited Rosie at her home.

Her account: “Rosie said, ‘I know you’re here to assess how crazy I am.’ I said, ‘Basically, yes. I’m doing a crazy check.’”

The check, however, doesn’t appear to have been thorough enough, with Rosie already annoying Oprah by resisting her pick for executive producer.

“The two are disagreeing over staff,” my source tells me. “Oprah wants Rosie to use an executive producer that she knows and trusts while Rosie insists she be able to pick her own, fearing whoever Oprah picks will be a spy. It’s a bad way to start off, considering they haven’t even taped a single show yet.”

Something that might never happen if Rosie doesn’t learn the lesson soon: Oprah is the boss!

Global condemnation of the increasingly violent regime of Moammar Gadhafi gives the United States a green light to intervene against the Libyan dictator, and President Obama Wednesday asked his top national security staff to draw up a list of options.

They could range from armed U.S. combat air patrols to shut down Gadhafi’s military operations to freezing Gadhafi’s bank accounts and other punitive sanctions.

In his first public response to the Libyan crisis since Friday, Obama said the “suffering and bloodshed is outrageous and is unacceptable.” And echoing past commanders-in-chief who have issued ultimatums before taking action, Obama declared in a brief statement at the White House Wednesday evening: “This violence must stop.”It showed no sign of stopping. In the Libyan capital of Tripoli, armed pro-Gadhafi thugs and mercenaries attacked demonstrators Wednesday in violence that has killed as many as 1,000 people and injured many more across the country, according to accounts gathered by Human Rights Watch and other organizations.

But Gadhafi’s military continued to crumble. The two-man crew of an SU-22 strike fighter sent to bomb demonstrators in the eastern city of Benghazi Wednesday flew over the city and ejected safely, according to accounts from Libyan newspapers taken over by demonstrators.

Benghazi, along with Tobruk and other eastern Libyan cities, were reported to be controlled by demonstrators along with defecting units of the Libyan security forces. The western Libyan city of Misurata was taken over by anti-Gadhafi demonstrators, and army officers stationed there issued a statement pledging “total support for the protesters,” al Jazeera reported Wednesday.
White House officials said Obama had been reluctant to intervene publicly as the Libyan crisis intensified for fear of jeopardizing the safety of thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of Europeans and Asians stuck in Libya. “We are doing everything we can to protect American citizens,” Obama said Wednesday. “That is my highest priority.” A huge ferry sent to evacuate Americans from Tripoli was held up there temporarily Wednesday night because of bad weather. Tripoli’s international airport was virtually shut down, authorities said.British Foreign Secretary William Hague said many Europeans were stranded in Tripoli with no way to leave. He described the security situation there as “worsening” and said there were “many indications of the structure of the state collapsing.”

Even as crowds of American families waited to be carried to safety, Obama was said to be encouraged by the strong positions against Gadhafi taken by the U.N. Security Council, the European Union, the Arab League, the African Union, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and other international organizations.

“The world is watching,” Obama declared. He said the Libyan government “must be held accountable” for violating international norms and “every standard of common decency.”

Human rights, including the right to free speech, freedom of peaceful assembly and the right to determine one’s own destiny, “are not negotiable,” the president said.

To back up his strong words, Obama said he has asked his staff “to prepare the full range of options that we have to respond to this crisis,” including both unilateral operations and actions that could be taken in concert with others or through international organizations such as the United Nations.

U.S. air combat patrols over Libya could be flown by squadrons based in Europe. The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise is in the north Arabian Sea and would require a transit through the Suez Canal. The U.S. mounted similar operations over Iraq, in Operation Southern Watch, for 12 years before the 2003 invasion, flying continuously to deter Saddam Hussein and to degrade Iraq’s air defenses.

The Su-22 jets flown by Libya’s air force are more than four decades old and are no match for American aircraft. Two Su-22s were shot down by Navy F-14s in a confrontation over Libya’s Gulf of Sidra in 1981.

Some analysts suggested that Gadhafi might attempt to sabotage the Libyan oil fields in a final act of fury. One option for the United States would be to assist an international, or Arab, security and operations force to protect the oil facilities.

It also seemed likely that the United States, acting under U.N. Security Council authority, would enact economic sanctions and banking restrictions on Gadhafi and members of his family and immediate entourage.

ROSEDALE, Md. (WJZ)—An elaborate extortion scheme generating thousands of dollars. Wednesday night, investigators say it was Baltimore City police officers and the owners of a local business who were behind it all.

Kelly McPherson explains how investigators say the operation worked.

In a more than two yearlong investigation, federal authorities claim 17 officers took kickbacks for illegally steering car accident victims to a Rosedale auto body shop.

Majestic Auto Repair Shop in Rosedale is at the center of a massive kickback scheme, involving 17 city police officers.

A 41 page federal criminal complaint outlines the allegations, claiming the officers would respond to car accidents and convince car owners to have their cars towed and repaired by Majestic rather than a city authorized towing company.

In exchange, Majestic paid the officers kickbacks of $300 per vehicle with one officer allegedly making more than $14,000 over two years.

According to that complaint, one officer said to the shop owner: “Corona to Moreno: `My pay made me cry with that two percent cut, which is less $100 from my check.’ Moreno responds, `Keep an eye out for cars. That’s where you’ll make it.’”

The following defendants, all from Maryland, are charged in the conspiracy:

Hernan Alexis Moreno Mejia (Moreno), age 30, of Rosedale; Moreno’s brother, Edwin Javier Mejia, age 27, of Middle River; Eddy Arias, age 39, of Catonsville; Eric Ivan Ayala Olivera, age 35, of Edgewood; Rodney Cintron, age 31, of Middle River; Jhonn S. Corona, age 32, of Rosedale; Michael Lee Cross, age 28, of Reisterstown; Jerry Edward Diggs, Jr., age 24, of Baltimore; Rafael Concepcion Feliciano Jr., age 30, of Baltimore; Jaime Luis Lugo Rivera, age 35, of Aberdeen; Kelvin Quade Manrich, age 41, of Gwynn Oak; Luis Nunez, age 33, of Baltimore; Samuel Ocasio, age 35, of Edgewood; David Reeping, age 41, of Baltimore; Jermaine Rice, age 28, of Owings Mills; Leonel Rodriguez Torres, age 31, of Edgewood; Marcos Fernando Urena, age 33, of Baltimore; Osvaldo Valentine, age 38, of Edgewood; and Henry Yambo, age 28, of Reisterstown.

The Baltimore Police Department requires that when police request vehicle towing services, they only use towing companies that are under contract with the City of Baltimore to provide towing services for the BPD.

Defendants Moreno and Mejia are brothers who own Majestic Auto Repair Shop LLC (Majestic), located in Rosedale. Majestic provides towing and automobile repair services. Majestic is not an authorized tow company with the City of Baltimore. The remaining defendants are Baltimore police officers.

The commissioner set up the sting arrest by bringing the accused officers to the police academy Wednesday afternoon.

“I personally took the badges from every one of those men who were arrested today,” said Commissioner Fred Bealefeld. “There will be important lessons for us to learn from start to finish in this whole thing and I didn’t and don’t want to miss a single opportunity to capitalize on that and that’s why I chose that location.”

Police commissioner Fred Bealefeld says he purposefully chose to have the officers arrested at the police academy to serve as a reminder to the city and his officers of their commitment to fight corruption. He says t he officers were told to report there Wednesday morning for an equipment inspection.

“We just can’t give order to corruption. We can’t and won’t and will exhaust every means to eliminating it from our ranks,” Bealefeld said.

The FBI says the two yearlong investigation began with the city police department and involved wire taps and electronic surveillance all started by the city police department.

“There is absolutely nobody in this police department that should be hanging their heads right now, the police department did a very good job routing out alleged corruption within their own ranks and they should be very proud of that effort,” said Richard Mcfeely, FBI.

Fifteen of the officers have their first court appearance Wednesday. Police are trying to track down two of the officers who have not yet been arrested because they were on previously scheduled vacation.

All of them have been stripped of their police powers and are suspended without pay pending the outcome of the criminal investigation.

“When we have a few bad apples, they make it bad for all of them. And the officers that we have in our city make too many sacrifices for that to be the case,” said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

Police say the owners of the Majestic Body Shop spent thousands of dollars in exchange for bringing cars to their shop for repair work.

Federal agents and officers were at the shop Wednesday for several hours, according to witnesses. They were pulling out boxes, presumably full of evidence from inside the shop.

The shop is currently closed.

WJZ spoke to a nearby business owner who said sometimes the business at Majestic would get so busy that cars would have to park in the lot across the street.

That business owner says he did not suspect anything.

“I know them because they are my neighbors,” said Hanrek Singh, Club 7400 owner. “But I don’t know what they’re doing in there.”

Major Stephanie Rawlings-Blake released this statement:

“I expect all City employees to serve the public with the highest level of integrity, and I will not tolerate criminal or unethical activity by any city employee. I appreciate the efforts of Commissioner Bealefeld and our federal partners for working closely together to investigate, arrest, and prosecute these individuals. Any criminal activity by a Baltimore Police officer dishonors our City and the three thousand men and women of the Baltimore Police Department who serve with great professionalism and integrity.”

While Singh says Majestic owners were “good guys,” another neighbor did say that he was not surprised to see police activity but he was not aware of what was going on.

Reality TV star Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth announced in 2009 that she had enrolled in seminary school.

Now, BlackVoices.com can report that the former television “villain” received her preacher’s license on Sunday Feb. 20 and has been named assistant pastor of the Weller Street Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, where she is a member.

“Sunday was a very special day for me in terms of my ministry and spiritual growth,” the one-named TV talent told us exclusively. “God is in control and I’m moving in divine direction!”The 37-year-old star of ‘The Apprentice’ and ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ has been a member of the K.W. Tulloss-led Weller Street Missionary Baptist Church for two years.”I love my church! It’s a small little church, but God is doing big things,” she shared.

Omarosa recognizes that there will be some skeptics who will never let her live down her bad girl ways. To them she offered: “Like the gospel song says, ‘My Worship is For Real!”

Despite starring in a dating show ‘The Ultimate Merger’ for TV One last year, Omarosa is currently in a relationship with Oscar nominee Michael Clarke Duncan. The two have been an item since spring of 2010.

 

 

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A 16-year-old who was arrested and accused of killing a St. Petersburg police officer made his first court appearance Wednesday and was ordered held without bail.Officer David Crawford was shot multiple times Monday night while investigating a report of a prowler in a neighborhood just south of Tropicana Field where the Tampa Bay Rays play baseball. Crawford was the third St. Petersburg officer to die in the line of duty in the last month.

Police identified the suspect as Nicholas Lindsey. He was arrested late Tuesday following an intense manhunt.

“When he did make the admission on tape for us at the end of the day, it was quite apparent that he was remorseful in his actions,” Police Chief Chuck Harmon said during a late night news conference. “He cried.”

Lindsey’s father made a tearful apology to the officer in the courtroom Wednesday.

“On behalf of me, my son and our entire family, we send our deepest concerns and sympathy to the family and his colleagues that he works with,” said Lindsey’s father, Nicholas, who broke into tears, according to St. Petersburg Times. “This is my only son and I’m sorry that this happened.”The Associated Press does not usually identify juveniles until they are charged in adult court, but authorities released his name and the teen’s photo has been widely disseminated.A Pinellas County Judge has assigned the public defender’s office to represent Lindsey, but no specific attorney has been appointed. Prosecutors intend to try Lindsey as an adult, the newspaper reported. A grand jury would have to review the evidence and determine the charge.

Lindsey had a prior juvenile criminal record, but the police chief did not give details. Police did not have a motive except that there was some exchange between Lindsey and officer, Harmon said.

“It breaks my heart,” he said. “When you have something like this happen, you don’t expect this type of confrontation between a 16-year-old and a police officer to end like this.”

Lindsey is a student in the Pinellas County Schools, but Harmon wouldn’t say which school. It wasn’t clear how he obtained the gun, Harmon said.

Lindsey’s mother, Deneen Sweat, 43, said she became suspicious of her son when she read police descriptions of the suspect. She repeatedly asked if he was involved and he denied it, according to the newspaper.

“I told my son, ‘Man up and tell them what happened,’” she said.

Lindsey was described as a quiet teen who wanted to be a football player when he grew up.

Monday night’s shooting happened when officers were checking out the prowler call and Crawford, 46, spotted the suspect and got out of his car. At 10:37 p.m., another officer, Donald J. Ziglar, reported an exchange of gunfire and told dispatchers an officer was down, police said.

Ziglar found Crawford lying on the pavement near his cruiser, shot at close range, police said. Crawford was not wearing a bullet proof vest.Crawford, who was married, eligible for retirement and the father of an adult daughter, was pronounced dead at a hospital. Officers saluted the van that carried his body to the medical examiner’s office Tuesday morning. Crawford, who loved horses, lived in a rural community north of St. Petersburg.

On Jan. 24, two St. Petersburg officers - Jeffrey A. Yaslowitz and Thomas Baitinger - were killed as they helped serve a warrant on a man with a long criminal history. Their killer died in the siege. Prior to that, the St. Petersburg Police department hadn’t had an officer killed in the line of duty in more than 30 years.

“We’re not even done healing from the first tragedy, then boom, we have a second one,” said St. Petersburg Detective Mark Marland, who is also the police union president.

St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster said the city will now be able to bury officer Crawford and have some closure - but residents, officers and parents must also learn why a teenager was carrying a handgun.

“We as a community need to stand up and do a better job,” Foster said.

Ikram Goldman, the Chicago boutique owner who has been lauded as personal stylist of first lady Michelle Obama is no longer on the job.

The Washington Post’s Jason Horowitz reports that the role has passed to former Goldman protégée and personal assistant Meredith Koop, 29 .

Obama and Koop first became acquainted when Goldman dispatched Koop in her stead to tend to the first lady’s sartorial needs two years ago. Koop then took on the job as a personal aide to Obama, and now it seems that Koop has dethroned her mentor.

“Ms. Koop’s responsibilities include advising the first lady on her wardrobe and acting on her behalf in arranging for purchases, including considering the best offered price and buying on discount if discounts are available,” Kristina Schake, a spokeswoman for Michelle Obama told the Post.

 The White House is a hard nut to crack, so the reporter went straight to the place where a lady, no matter how high her national-security clearance, always gossips. He talked to Koop’s hairdresser, Vera Chamberlin of D.C. salon Immortal Beloved. Chamberlin informed the writer that that Koop seemed very much in charge of Obama’s closet and had recently lamented that she couldn’t go to New York Fashion Week because she was so busy focusing on what is right for the first lady.

According to Chamberlin, Koop understands high fashion and how it applies to the “common woman” and “how to dress for your shape.” She is a down-to-earth workaholic, who currently sports a style Chamberlin called “New York edge but also Midwestern comfort.”

We had an inkling that Goldman was on her way out last week when we heard her speak in the American Express Sky Box at New York Fashion Week. Goldman shot down any and all questions about her famous client, no matter how minuscule and turned down several requests from this reporter.

Lots of luck to Ms. Koop. With the world watching what Obama wears next, she will most certainly need it.

Partially nude photographs of Eva Mendes due to go on display have reportedly gone missing.

TMZ is reporting that photographer Lyndon Chubbuck told them that six images of Mendes have gone missing last week and he believes that someone stole the pictures. Chubbuck said the images were “nabbed somewhere between the printer and an art show.”

The art pieces were scheduled to go on display at an art show in Los Angeles later this week.

Chubbuck is quoted saying that he plans to file a police report but that is only for insurance purposes as he believes the police aren’t going to put a “mad hunt” for the photos.
In November last year, Mendes appeared on the cover of W magazine and she talked her being nude on-screen and for photo shoots.

“I’ve never had a problem with nudity, but I don’t put it out there without a reason,” she said. “I’m not an exhibitionist. But, honestly, for my art I’ll do anything almost. I’ll go there.”

The digital arm of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard has launched a successful cyber attack on the Voice of America, hijacking dozens of sites operated by the government-funded broadcaster.

The group, which calls itself the Iranian Cyber Army, placed a message on VOA’s Persian-language news site, demanding an end to U.S. meddling in other nations’ affairs.

“Mrs. Clinton, do you want to hear the voice of oppressed nations will from heart of USA?” read the statement, which was displayed in both English and Farsi, according to CNN. “Islamic world doesn’t believe USA trickery. We call on you to stop interfering in Islamic countries.”

A banner bearing an AK-47 and an Iranian flag was displayed above the text.

The Iranian Cyber Army — which temporarily disabled Twitter’s main site following Iran’s disputed 2009 presidential election, and struck China’s Baidu search engine in January 2010 — told Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency that it hacked the main VOA site and 95 other pages linked to the broadcast service.

“The U.S. can no longer claim that it is the bellwether of software and cyber technology,” said Ali Saeedi Shahroodi, a representative of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to state-run Press TV. “The hacking of a VOA homepage by the Iranian Cyber Army and leaving a message on the site for the U.S. secretary of state shows the power and capability of the [Islamic Revolution Guards] Corps in the cyber arena.”VOA acknowledged that a number of its Web pages were hit by hackers and suggested that the cyber attack might have been launched in response to a recent ABC interview with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. During that interview, Clinton noted that the State Department had opened Twitter accounts in Arabic and Farsi.

“We want to be in the mix with this incredible, young, energetic population that is seeking the same rights to express themselves as young people in the United States seek,” she said, an apparent reference to the use of social media by young protesters in the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings.

Anti-government protests also took place across Iran on Sunday, organized in part by pro-democracy activists communicating over sites like Twitter and Facebook. Protesters also used a Facebook page to record human rights abuses during Sunday’s rally, reports Al-Jazeera. The page detailed how security forces beat demonstrators with chains and batons in the northern city of Rasht and hit peaceful demonstrators with tear gas in the capital Tehran.

Now talk show host Rush Limbaugh is watching Michelle Obama’s weight for her — not that the first lady asked. He says she’s a hypocrite for eating ribs and should stick to nuts and berries as part of her healthy eating initiative.

Mrs. Obama, on a skiing trip to Colorado this past weekend with daughters Sasha and Malia, enjoyed a meal of ancho chili short ribs, pickled pumpkin salad and kale, the Vail Daily reported.

That was way too much for Limbaugh, who, like fellow conservatives Sarah Palin and Rep. Michele Bachmann, is on Mrs. Obama’s case for her healthy kids/anti-obesity campaign, which some right-wingers see as a sign of a nanny state.

“The problem is, and I dare say this, it doesn’t look like Michelle Obama follows her own nutritionary, dietary advice,” Limbaugh said Monday on his syndicated radio program. “And then we hear that she’s out eating ribs at 1,500 calories a serving and 141 grams of fat per serving.”Limbaugh was just getting warmed up. “She is a hypocrite. Leaders are supposed to lead,” he said. “If we are supposed to go out and eat nothing, if we are supposed to eat roots, berries and tree bark, show us how.”

The first lady has won widespread praise for her “Let’s Move” campaign to curb obesity by encouraging healthy eating among kids. But she has also taken heat from some who think government has no business telling Americans what and how to eat.

“I’m trying to say our first lady does not project the image of women that you might see on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue or of a woman [Yankees star] Alex Rodriguez might date every six months, or what have you,” Limbaugh concluded.

No word on what Obama thinks about Limbaugh’s broadsides or waistline. But from all indications she is happily married and not in the dating market. And she’s also thought be a Chicago White Sox fan, so Rodriquez probably wouldn’t make her list anyway.

A border-control activist was sentenced to death today for orchestrating an Arizona home invasion that left a man and his 9-year-old daughter dead.

A jury in Pima County, Ariz., deliberated for four hours over two days before deciding that Shawna Forde, 43, should pay the ultimate penalty, the Arizona Daily Star reported.

Forde was convicted Feb. 14 of first-degree murder in the May 30, 2009, deaths of Raul “Junior” Flores, 29, and his daughter, Brisenia Flores, 9. She was also found guilty of attempted murder in the shooting of Gina Gonzalez, Flores’ wife and Brisenia’s mother.

Prosecutors said Forde decided to target the house in Arivaca, Ariz., because she believed Flores was a drug smuggler and would have cash in the house. She wanted money to fund her border protection group, Minutemen American Defense, prosecutors said.

Two men are also charged in the case and face trial later.

Carmelo Anthony has finally gotten his wish.

The saga that has both interested and tortured NBA fans for the better part of this season appears to finally be over, as multiple reports are now confirming that Anthony has been traded to the New York Knicks.

The Denver Post first reported the deal, a blockbuster which involves nine players, three draft picks and millions in cash exchanging hands.

Anthony will head to New York, along with teammates Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman. In exchange, the Knicks will send Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Timofey Mozgov, the Knicks’ 2014 first-round draft pick, the Warriors’ 2012 second-round pick, the Warriors’ 2013 second-round pick and $3 million in cash.

After months of dealing with the topic of the long-rumored trade on a daily basis, Nuggets head coach George Karl was understandably relieved to have things resolved.

“I’m glad it’s over,” Karl said. “I’m glad it’s an opportunity to reinvent. I think everybody handled it as classy as you could handle it. There’s some sadness to it, there always will be.”

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A powerful earthquake struck New Zealand’s already-bruised city of Christchurch on Tuesday, collapsing buildings, burying vehicles under debris and sending rescuers scrambling to help trapped people amid reports of multiple deaths.

The 6.3-magnitude quake struck the country’s second-largest city on a busy weekday afternoon, in contrast to a major quake that damaged Christchurch last September but caused no deaths when it struck before dawn on a weekend. Police said there were reports of multiple fatalities from the latest temblor, while Prime Minister John Key told Parliament details of the deaths still were too shaky to confirm.

Witnesses said the quake destroyed the iconic stone Christchurch Cathedral, its spire toppled into a central city square, and police said there was a report of two buses crushed under falling buildings.Live video footage showed sections of buildings collapsed into the streets, strewn with bricks and shattered concrete. Sidewalks and roads were cracked and split, and thousands of dazed, screaming and crying residents wandered through the streets as sirens blared.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker declared a state of emergency and ordered people to evacuate the city center.

“Make no mistake - this is going to be a very black day for this shaken city,” he said when asked about possible deaths.The airport was closed and Christchurch Hospital was evacuated. Power and telephone lines were knocked out, and pipes burst, flooding the streets with water. Some cars apparently parked on the street were buried under rubble.

Some people were stuck in office towers and firefighters climbed ladders to pluck people trapped on roofs to safety.

“The details we have are extremely sketchy,” the prime minister told Parliament. “The worrying fear, of course, is that this earthquake has taken place at a time when people were going about their business - it is a very populated time, with people at work, children at school. Sadly, I cannot rule out that there have been fatalities.

“But we are aware of significant damage to buildings that had people in them at the time,” he said.

Key said people were being told to get out of the city for their safety.

New Zealand police said in a statement that there were reports of multiple fatalities in the city, including a report that two buses had been crushed by falling buildings. The police statement said there were other reports of fires burning.

Gary Moore said he and 19 other colleagues were trapped in their twelfth floor office after the stairwell collapsed in the quake. He did not know if people on other floors were trapped.

“We watched the cathedral collapse out our window while we were holding onto the walls,” Moore said. “Every aftershock sends us rushing under the desks. It’s very unnerving but we can clearly see there are other priorities out the window. There has been a lot of damage and I guess people are attending to that before they come and get us.”

The multistory Pyne Gould Guinness Building, housing more than 200 workers, has collapsed and an unknown number of people are trapped inside. Television pictures showed rescuers, many of them office workers, dragging severely injured people from the rubble. Many had blood streaming down their faces. Screams could be heard from those still trapped.

Parker, the mayor, said he was on the top floor of the city council building when the quake hit just before 1 p.m. local time, throwing him across the room.

“I got down onto the street and there were scenes of great confusion, a lot of very upset people,” he said. “I know of people in our building who are injured and I’ve had some reports of serious injuries throughout the city.”

The U.S. Geological Survey said the temblor was centered 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the city at a depth of 2.5 miles (4 kilometers). A 5.6-magnitude aftershock hit shortly after 7 miles (11 kilometers) east of the city at a depth of 3.7 miles (6 kilometers).”When the shaking had stopped I looked out of the window, which gives a great view onto Christchurch, and there was just dust,” said city councilman Barry Corbett, who was on one of the top floors of the city council building when the quake struck. “It was evident straight away that a lot of buildings had gone.”

Christchurch has been hit by hundreds of aftershocks since a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck Sept. 4, which wrecked hundreds of buildings, and caused an estimated 4 billion New Zealand dollars ($3 billion) in damage, but no deaths.

A strong aftershock in December caused further damage to buildings.The city was still rebuilding from those quakes when Tuesday’s temblor hit.

The city is home to about 350,000 people and is considered a tourist center and gateway to the South Island.

New Zealand sits on the Pacific “ring of fire” - an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching from Chile in South America through Alaska and down through the South Pacific. It records more than 14,000 earthquakes a year - but only about 150 are felt by residents, and fewer than 10 a year do any damage.

Yoweri Museveni, the president of Uganda, has found a new way to connect with his country’s youth before the Feb. 18 elections. Nicknamed M7, the 67-year-old Museveni earned a bonafined smash hit after producers crafted a rap single, entitled ‘You Want Another Rap?,’ out of his speeches and rhythmic performances of local children’s folk chants. Now, the president sees the light and is hoping to record an entire album of raps.

“I was very happy with the reaction of the youth because that means they are very thirsty for the music of their ancestors,” he said at a news conference. “So after the election you may get quite a big album of the classics. Today these young people taught me about this ‘rap.’ I was not following what they were saying. Well, I can even give you some rap myself.”

Government officials have been very pleased with the popularity of his rapping and its subsequent boost to the poll numbers. Museveni is expected to win, and if he does, it will mark his fourth victory since becoming president in 1996. But hey, if he doesn’t, he can always try his hand at a rap career.

LOS ANGELES — As LeBron James fielded questions from the press corps at Staples Center on Sunday night, he was asked about his favorite moments from All-Star weekend.

The Miami star answered by talking about charity, describing how richly he was rewarded for taking part in a number of good-will efforts in the days leading up to the game itself. Yet after the West had won 148-143, it was the MVP voters who had been in the giving spirit. At James’ expense.

Despite his triple-double (29 points on 10-of-18 shooting, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists), James lost out to the Lakers’ hometown hero, Kobe Bryant (37 points on 14-of-26 shooting, 14 rebounds and three assists) for the game’s top award. The voting is done with media members accounting for nine votes and the fan votes accounting for three more. The triple-double was only the second in All-Star game history — and the first since Michael Jordan turned the trick in 1997.

“I just tried to showcase my talent on both ends of the floor — defending, rebounding, scoring,” James said. “We came up short. And you know for me, I’m all about winning, so (I’m) just a little disappointed in our game. Disappointed that we didn’t win.” James hasn’t been disappointing in the games that count, though, and he is in prime position to capture a third straight MVP honor with the way the Heat have turned their season around. After the 9-8 start that sparked so many doom and gloom predictions from South Beach and beyond, Miami has won 32 of 39 games and is currently tied with Boston for the Eastern Conference lead.

Yet James, whose Heat play at Sacramento on Tuesday, isn’t content because of a recent stretch in which the Heat have gone 11-6 leading into the break.

“For the last third of the season, we have to understand that we cannot afford to take a step backwards and we have to keep moving forward,” James said. “We have to continue to get better, because there are teams out there that’s better than us right now.”

All-Star MVP voting aside, however, no one was better than him on this Staples Center stage.

TOKYO — Japan is excavating the site of a former medical school that may reveal grisly secrets from World War II.The investigation begins Monday afternoon at the former school linked to Unit 731, a germ and biological warfare outfit during the war. Shadowy experiments conducted by the unit on war prisoners have never been officially acknowledged by the government but have been documented by historians and participants.

It is the first government probe of the Tokyo site, and follows a former nurse’s revelation that she helped bury body parts there as American forces began occupying the capital at the end of the war.

Health Ministry official Kazuhiko Kawauchi said the excavation is aimed at finding out if anything is buried in the plot.

“We are not certain if the survey will find anything,” Kawauchi said. “If anything is dug up, it may not be related to Unit 731.”

The former nurse, Toyo Ishii, now 88, broke 60 years of silence in 2006, saying she and colleagues at an army hospital at the site were ordered to bury numerous corpses, bones and body parts during the weeks following Japan’s Aug. 15, 1945, surrender before American troops arrived in the capital.

Her disclosure led to a face-to-face meeting with the health minister and a government pledge to investigate. The digging had to wait until the scheduled relocation of residents and the demolition of apartments on the site last year.

The site is close to another area where a mass grave of dozens of possible war-experiment victims was uncovered in 1989 during the construction of a Health Ministry research institute.

Any remains found at the planned excavation site would have a stronger connection to Unit 731, said Keiichi Tsuneishi, a Kanagawa University history professor and expert on biological warfare.”The site used to be the research headquarters of Unit 731,” Tsuneishi said. “If bones are found there, they are most likely related to Unit 731.”

From its wartime base in Japanese-controlled Harbin in northern China, Unit 731 and related units injected war prisoners with typhus, cholera and other diseases to research germ warfare, according to historians and former unit members. Unit 731 also is believed to have performed vivisections and to have frozen prisoners to death in endurance tests.

The 1989 find revealed dozens of fragmented thigh bones and skulls, some with holes drilled in them or sections cut out. Police denied there was any evidence of criminal activity.

The ministry concluded that the bones could not be directly linked to Unit 731. It said the remains were mostly of non-Japanese Asians and were likely from bodies used in “medical education” or brought back from the war zone for analysis at the medical school.

LA Lakers player Kobe Bryant became the first ever non-actor to be honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

E! Online is reporting that the five-time NBA champion became the first athlete to be honored at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, when on Saturday afternoon his hands and sneaker-clad feet were immortalized in cement.

During the ceremony Bryant said, “I feel like I’ve grown up in this city, and we’ve had a lot of ups and downs, but here we are-five championships, plenty of more to go, and I just feel extremely honored to be able to do this.”

And when asked on whether he would be ever seen on the silver screen, Bryant reportedly told his fans not to expect an acting career from him anytime soon.
Ceremony host Jimmy Kimmel took some playful digs at the superstar on the very topic.

“It’s fitting that Kobe Bryant would have a place in Grauman’s Chinese Theatre because although he’s not an actor nor does he have any experience in theatrical arts he is-wait, why is this fitting?” Kimmel joked.

He continued, “The closest Kobe’s come to acting is pretending he’s going to pass the ball to Luke Walton.”

On Sunday, Bryant went on to lead the West team to victory at the NBA All-Star game and took home his fourth all-star MVP award.

Elisa Baker was indicted today on a charge of second-degree murder in connection with the death of her disabled 10-year-old stepdaughter, Zahra Clare Baker, whose remains were found in various locations around North Carolina.

The indictment handed up by a grand jury in Catawba County, N.C., asserted that Baker had “a history and pattern of physical, verbal and psychological abuse of the victim,” The Charlotte Observer reported, and that she had “desecrated the victim’s body to hinder detection, investigation and prosecution of the offense.”Zahra, who had battled cancer and needed an artificial leg, was reported missing on Oct. 9 by her father, Adam Baker. Authorities believe the girl had been killed more than two weeks earlier.

The grand jurors cited a number of aggravating circumstances in the case, alleging that Elisa Baker “secreted the victim from family and others prior to and after the offense, delaying detection of the offense,” the Hickory Daily Record reported.

The indictment also stated that Baker “took advantage of a position of trust or confidence, including a domestic relationship, to commit the offense.”

Baker claimed that her husband had dismembered Zahra’s body, a charge he has denied. According to The Associated Press, a search warrant released last month cited cell phone records indicating Elisa Baker was at locations where Zahra’s remains were found.

In October, authorities arrested Adam Baker on charges unrelated to his daughter’s disappearance. He posted $7,000 bond and was released.

CHICAGO (AP) — Former Bears safety Dave Duerson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest, according to The Chicago Tribune, and the co-director of a medical school program told The Associated Press on Saturday night that his family has agreed to donate his brain for research.

The Tribune, citing an unidentified person with knowledge of the situation, reported on its website that Duerson’s death has been ruled a suicide. His body was found Thursday in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla.

Dr. Bruce Hyma, the chief medical examiner for Miami-Dade County, declined to comment on the case in an e-mailed response to questions from the AP. He referred inquiries to the police department. A Miami-Dade police supervisor said the department had no information to release Saturday regarding the cause of Duerson’s death.

Chris Nowinski, part of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University School of Medicine, told the AP he was contacted by a representative of the NFL Players Association on Friday, then worked with a representative of Duerson’s family.

“I can confirm that Mr. Duerson’s family has agreed to donate his brain to the CSTE at BU School of Medicine,” Nowinski said in an e-mail.

The Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy is a collaborative venture between BU Medical School and the Sports Legacy Institute that’s addressing what it calls the “concussion crisis” in sports. The group has been at the forefront of research into head trauma in sports and received a $1 million gift from the NFL, which it has pushed for better treatment of concussions.

According to the center’s website, use of the Brain Bank includes research into “the cause, progression, and characteristics” of a degenerative disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

A native of Muncie, Ind., Duerson was a third-round draft pick by the Bears in 1983 out of Notre Dame and played 11 seasons in the NFL. He won Super Bowls with the 1985 Bears and 1990 Giants, and played in four Pro Bowls.

MADISON, Wis. — Sometimes they cursed each other, sometimes they shook hands, sometimes they walked away from each other in disgust.

None of it - not the ear-splitting chants, the pounding drums or the back-and-forth debate between 70,000 protesters - changed the minds of Wisconsin lawmakers dug into a stalemate over Republican efforts to scrap union rights for almost all public workers.

“The people who are not around the Capitol square are with us,” said Rep. Robin Vos, a Republican from Rochester and co-chair of the Legislature’s budget committee. “They may have a bunch around the square, but we’ve got the rest on our side.”

After nearly a week of political chaos in Madison, during which tens of thousands of pro-labor protesters turned the Capitol into a campsite that’s started to smell like a locker room, supporters of Gov. Scott Walker came out in force Saturday.They gathered on the muddy east lawn of the Capitol and were soon surrounded by a much larger group of union supporters who countered their chants of “Pass the bill! Pass the bill!” with chants of “Kill the bill! Kill the bill!”

“Go home!” union supporters yelled at Scott Lemke, a 46-year-old machine parts salesman from Cedarburg who wore a hard hat and carried a sign that read “If you don’t like it, quit” on one side, and “If you don’t like that, try you’re fired” on the other.A lone demonstrator stood between the crowds, saying nothing and holding a sign: “I’m praying that we can all respect each other. Let’s try to understand each other.”

The Wisconsin governor, elected in November’s GOP wave that also gave control of the state Assembly and Senate to Republicans, set off the protests earlier this week by pushing ahead with a measure that would require government workers to contribute more to their health care and pension costs and largely eliminate their collective bargaining rights.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said the crowds that have gotten bigger each day have yet to win over any member of his caucus.”What they’re getting from individuals back home is stick to your guns, don’t let them get to you,” Fitzgerald said. “Every senator I’ve spoken to today is getting that back home, which is awesome. It’s great to hear from people who are part of a rally … (but) two people you meet at a fish fry or a person who comes up to you at a basketball game, those comments sink in.”

Fitzgerald and other Republicans say the concessions are needed to deal with the state’s projected $3.6 billion budget shortfall and to avoid layoffs of government workers. The move to restrict union rights has also taken hold in other states, including Tennessee and Indiana, where lawmakers have advanced bills to restrict bargaining for teachers’ unions.The throngs of Walker supporters who arrived in Madison on Saturday for an afternoon rally organized by Tea Party Patriots, the movement’s largest umbrella group, and Americans for Prosperity, carried signs with a fresh set of messages: “Your Gravy Train Is Over … Welcome to the Recession” and “Sorry, we’re late Scott. We work for a living.”

“We pay the bills!” tea party favorite Herman Cain yelled to cheers from the pro-Walker crowd. “This is why you elected Scott Walker, and he’s doing his job. … Wisconsin is broke. My question for the other side is, ‘What part of broke don’t you understand?’”

Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate, short of the votes needed to keep Republicans from passing the so-called “budget repair” bill, fled the state on Thursday. They haven’t been seen since, and said Saturday they are more resolved than ever to stay away “as long as it takes” until Walker agrees to negotiate.

“I don’t think he’s really thought it through, to be honest,” Democratic Sen. Jon Erpenbach, of Middleton, said Saturday.

Democrats offered again Saturday to agree to the parts of Walker’s proposal, so long as workers retained their rights to negotiate with the state as a union.

Fitzgerald said that’s an offer the GOP has rejected for months. The restrictions on collective bargaining rights are needed so local governments and the state will have the flexibility needed to balance budgets after cuts Walker plans to announce next month, he said.

Walker, who was spending time with his family Saturday and didn’t appear in public, also rejected the Democrats offer. His spokesman, Cullen Werwie, said the fastest way to end the stalemate was for Democrats to return and “do their jobs.”

Madison police estimated 60,000 or more people were outside the Capitol, with up to 8,000 more inside what’s normally an immaculate building. It’s now a mess of mud-coated floors that reeks from several days of protesters standing shoulder-to-shoulder for hours on end.

Police spokesman Joel DeSpain said there were no arrests or problems during Saturday’s protests. “We’ve seen and shown the world that in Madison, Wis., we can bring people together who disagree strongly on a bill in a peaceful way,” he said.

Steve Boss, 26, a refrigerator technician from Oostburg, carried a sign that read “The Protesters Are All ‘Sick’ — Wash your Hands,” a reference to the teacher sick-outs that swelled crowds at the Capitol to 40,000 people Friday and raised the noise in its rotunda to earsplitting levels. Boss said the cuts Walker has proposed were painful but needed to fix the state’s financial problems.

“It’s time to address the issue. They (public workers) got to take the same cuts as everyone else,” he said. “It’s a fairness thing.”Doctors from numerous hospitals set up a station near the Capitol to provide notes to explain public employees’ absences from work. Family physician Lou Sanner, 59, of Madison, said he had given out hundreds of notes. Many of the people he spoke with seemed to be suffering from stress, he said.

“What employers have a right to know is if the patient was assessed by a duly licensed physician about time off of work,” Sanner said. “Employers don’t have a right to know the nature of that conversation or the nature of that illness. So it’s as valid as every other work note that I’ve written for the last 30 years.”

John Black, 46, of Madison, said he came out to the rallies in order to help bridge the gap between the pro-labor protesters and Walker’s supporters. He carried signs that asked for a compromise on the budget bill while a friend’s son handed out purple flowers.

“We liked Scott Walker as a change agent, but he moved too quickly and because of that there’s always room for compromise,” Black said.

UNITED NATIONS - Somalia’s U.N. Mission said Friday that pirates hijacked a yacht carrying four U.S. citizens in the Indian Ocean off the Somali coast.

Omar Jamal, first secretary at the Somali mission, identified the yacht as the S/V Quest.

He said the mission is calling for the immediate release of the hostages and all other captives who are in the hands of the pirates.

Jamal said the hijacking raises “serious concern” as it follows the sentencing in New York on Thursday of a Somali pirate who kidnapped and brutalized the captain of a U.S.-flagged merchant ship off the coast of Africa in 2009. Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse was sentenced to 33 years in prison.

A website chronicling the voyage of a yacht named S/V Quest describes it as being the home of Jean and Scott Adam. The couple has been sailing around the world since December 2004, according to the website. “This is planned to be an eight or ten year voyage,” it states.

The Adams run a Bible ministry, according to their website, and have been distributing Bibles to schools and churches in remote villages in areas including the Fiji Islands, Alaska, New Zealand, Central America and French Polynesia.The couple are members of the Marina del Rey Yacht Club in Marina del Rey, California, according to the website. A woman who answered the phone there Friday night would not confirm that the couple are members and said the club could not release any information.

Earlier on Friday, The European Union’s anti-piracy task force said it appeared that Somali pirates had hijacked a separate vessel, the Alfardous, and its eight crew members in the Gulf of Aden. The force said it had no more details about the vessel since it was seized Sunday.

Somalia hasn’t had a functioning government since 1991, and piracy has flourished off its coast. The pirates earn multimillion dollar ransoms from the hijackings. They were holding 29 ships and roughly 660 hostages before the latest seizures.

Jamal said the mission again appeals to the international community to help curb the ever increasing acts of piracy.

Also Friday, Interpol said it will help seven African nations better fight piracy off the coast of Somalia.

The program is expected to cost $2.17 million, said Pierre Saint Hilaire, the assistant director of the Interpol’s maritime piracy task force.

This kid really is everywhere, as you learned last night if you caught the NBA’s sold-out All-Star Celebrity Game in Los Angeles.

Contributing eight points, two rebounds and four assists to his team (which lost), Justin Bieber ended up winning the title of Most Valuable Player by game’s end, according to an NPR report, which describes the “vertically challenged” pop star “bouncing with every step” as he “scampered” to the screams of girls in the stands.

What was Bieber’s secret to MVP glory? Recruiting his legion of loyal followers on Twitter to vote via text, and lock up the title for him. It certainly wasn’t due to the 3-pointer he missed, a shot that would have tied the score with just 30 seconds left on the clock.

About his teammate, Rick Fox said, “He has the softest hair.” The former Laker (and recent ‘DWTS’ dancer) reportedly patted Bieber on the head midway through the game.

Bieber’s other Western Conference teammates included ‘Chuck’ star Zach Levi, Trey Songz, Romeo Miller and Lamar Odom’s brother-in-law, Rob Kardashian. They were coached by Magic Johnson, with official assistance from Jimmy Kimmel and ‘Modern Family’ star Ty Burrell. Despite all that talent, the Eastern Conference won 54-49.
Scottie Pippen led his team, coached by Hall of Famer Bill Walton, to victory along with East teammates Common, Jason Sudeikis, Nick Cannon and Michael Rapaport.

The roster of professionals on the court also included WNBA stars Tamika Catchings and Swin Cash.

During the game, Bieber summed it up: “I’m just running back and forth. I’m controlling this whole team. I’m just kidding.”

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Little Rock Nine hold a special place in Bill Clinton’s heart.

He returned here on Saturday to honor the nine African-American students who in 1957 were prevented from attending the racially segregated Little Rock Central High School by the Gov. Orval Faubus and angry mobs that threatened lynching.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10730, which sent units of the U.S. Army’s 101^st Airborne Division to Little Rock and federalized the Arkansas National Guard to escort the students into the school.

The protests continued, but the Little Rock Nine were eventually admitted to Central High. They still faced verbal and physical abuse, and the incident clouded the national perception of Arkansas for decades. And it became one of the most important events in the civil rights movement.Clinton celebrated the unveiling of a new permanent exhibit, which features the Little Rock Nine Congressional Gold Medal, at his presidential library. In 1999, then-President Clinton bestowed the Congressional Gold Medal, the country’s highest civilian honor, to the Little Rock Nine at a White House ceremony.After a video with crisp footage of Eisenhower’s famous 1957 address to the nation about the Central High crisis, Carlotta Walls LaNier, one of the Little Rock Nine and president of the Little Rock Nine Foundation, introduced Clinton, sporting a gray three-piece suit and a Navy blue tie.

At times, Clinton sounded troubled about the direction of the country, and his speech seemed more political than commemorative.

He talked about the controversial ending of a busing plan by tea party board members in a North Carolina school district that had allowed diverse students to attend school together. He mentioned the campaign to repeal health care reform and what he characterized as backward steps on energy and education. And Clinton harshly criticized the growing conservative agenda, saying the country was “infected with a virus” that believes any federal power is “squashing democracy.”

He said that Eisenhower was a genuine conservative Republican for his time, but that didn’t stop him from using federal power to gain equal opportunity for all Americans regardless of race. “Conservative means something very different today than it did in 1957,” Clinton said.

Clinton was 11 years old when the Central High crisis unfolded. He said that he watched Eisenhower on television but could not tell if he was a Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative. He never forgot the message or the historical moment.

In 1977, when he was the state’s attorney general, Clinton attended an event at Central High School with members of the Little Rock Nine and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Clinton recalled that Jackson, a liberal activist, gave an unlikely speech.

“He gave what would be a right-wing conservative speech today,” Clinton said.

Clinton’s point: Jackson spoke about his position on family values without politics entering the dialogue. That no longer happens, he said. But it should.

“We need voices of America to remember the mission we were given,” he said. “Listen to President Eisenhower … let’s try to give it [a more perfect union] to more people in the 21^st century.”

A 78-carat rough diamond from the Ekati mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories sold in Antwerp this week at BHP Billiton’s diamond center. The diamond sold for $2.8 million which is a record for Canadian stones. The previous record was for a 10.22 carat gem, also from Ekati, which sold for $1.2 million. The stone was named the Ekati Spirit by an employee after a company contest.

The stone is internally flawless and is considered to be the mine’s most significant gem-quality find in the last 13 years. It’s not the biggest stone to come out of the mine, that would be a 182-carat stone found two years ago, but that stone was of poorer quality.

No word yet on who the buyer is, although it’s hard not to see a big stone and wonder if Laurence Graff or maybe Lev Leviev is behind the transaction. It’s also not clear if the stone will be cut and set. Stones lose a significant amount of weight when cut so it will be interesting to see what this stone looks like after the master cutters get their hands on it. With stones of this size and value, the diamond plotters often strategize for months, using computer modeling and other methods, before making that first fatal cut.

WASHINGTON - Jolted to action by deficit-conscious newcomers, the Republican-controlled House passed sweeping legislation early Saturday to cut $61 billion from hundreds of federal programs and shelter coal companies, oil refiners and farmers from new government regulations.

The 235-189 vote to send the bill to the Senate was largely along party lines and defied a veto threat from President Barack Obama. It marked the most striking victory to date for the 87-member class of freshmen Republicans elected last fall on a promise to attack the deficit and reduce the reach of government. Three Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the measure.

“The American people have spoken. They demand that Washington stop its out-of-control spending now, not some time in the future,” declared freshman Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan.

The $1.2 trillion bill covers every Cabinet agency through the Sept. 30 end of the budget year, imposing severe spending cuts aimed at domestic programs and foreign aid, including aid for schools, nutrition programs, environmental protection, and heating and housing subsidies for the poor.

The measure faces a rough ride in the Democratic-controlled Senate, even before the GOP amendments adopted Thursday, Friday and early Saturday morning pushed the bill further and further to the right on health care and environmental policy. Senate Democrats promise higher spending levels and are poised to defend Obama’s health care bill, environmental policies and new efforts to overhaul regulation of the financial services industry.Changes rammed through the House on Friday and Saturday would shield greenhouse-gas polluters and privately owned colleges from federal regulators, block a plan to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, and bar the government from shutting down mountaintop mines it believes will cause too much water pollution, siding with business groups over environmental activists and federal regulators in almost every instance.

“This is like a Cliff Notes summary of every issue that the Republicans, the Chamber of Commerce, and the (free market) CATO Institute have pushed for 30 years,” said Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass. “And they’re just going to run them through here.”

The gulf between the combatants ensures that difference on the measure won’t be resolved soon, requiring a temporary spending bill when a current stopgap measure expires March 4. Senate Democrats and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, are already maneuvering for political advantage in anticipation of talks on a short-term extension that will be needed.

Democrats say Boehner’s insistence that any stopgap measure carry spending cuts amounts to an ultimatum that could threaten a government shutdown like the episodes that played to the advantage of former President Bill Clinton in his battles with Republicans in 1995-1996.

The Obama administration upped the ante on Friday, warning that workers who distribute Social Security benefits might be furloughed if the GOP cuts go through.

Across four long days of freewheeling debate, Republicans left their conservative stamp in other ways.

They took several swipes at the year-old health care law, including voting for a ban on federal funding for its implementation. At the behest of anti-abortion lawmakers, they called for an end to federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

Republicans awarded the Pentagon an increase of less than 2 percent increase, but domestic agencies would bear slashing cuts of about 12 percent. Such reductions would feel almost twice as deep since they would be spread over the final seven months of the budget year.

Republicans recoiled, however, from some of the most politically difficult cuts to grants to local police and fire departments, special education and economic development. Amtrak supporters easily repelled an attempt to slash its budget.

About the only victory scored by Obama during the week came on a vote Wednesday to cancel $450 million for a costly alternative engine for the Pentagon’s next-generation F-35 warplane. It was a top priority of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and passed with the votes of many GOP conservatives who opposed the $3 billion program, more than half of the 87 Republican freshmen elected last fall on promises to cut the budget.

Democrats overwhelmingly oppose the measure and Obama has threatened a veto if it reaches his desk, citing sweeping cuts that he says would endanger the economic recovery.

“The bill will destroy 800,000 American jobs,” said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., citing a study by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “It will increase class sizes and take teachers out of the classrooms … It will jeopardize homeless veterans, make our communities less secure, threaten America’s innovation.”

The Environmental Protection Agency was singled out by Republicans eager to defend business and industry from numerous agency regulations they say threaten job-creation and the economy. The EPA’s budget was slashed by almost one-third, and then its regulatory powers were handcuffed in a series of floor votes.

Proposed federal regulations would be blocked on emission of greenhouse gases, blamed for climate change, and a proposed regulation on mercury emissions from cement kilns would also be stopped. Additionally, the bill also calls for a halt to proposed regulations affecting Internet service providers and privately-owned colleges, victories for the industries that would be affected.

The 359-page bill was shaped beginning to end by the first-term Republicans, many of them elected with tea party backing.

They rejected an initial draft advanced by the leadership and produced by Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., chairman of the Appropriations Committee, saying it did not cut deeply enough.

The revised bill added more reductions, and cut $100 billion from Obama’s request for the current year, the amount Republicans had cited in their campaign-season Pledge to America.

But a tea party-backed amendment to slash $22 billion on top of the $60-billion-plus worth of steep cuts already made by the measure failed on Friday almost 2-1.

The heavily subsidized ethanol industry absorbed a pair of defeats Saturday at the hands of it many critics, including Rep. John Sullivan, R-Ohio, who won a vote to block the EPA from approving boosting the amount of ethanol in most gasoline to 15 percent.

On other regulatory issues, foes of the EPA won a 249-176 vote to block the agency from using its regulatory powers to curb greenhouse gases. EPA has already taken steps to regulate global warming pollution from vehicles and the largest factories and industrial plants and is expected to soon roll out rules that target refineries and power plants.The move to stop the EPA from regulating greenhouse-gas polluters came from Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, who said his congressional district is home to more oil refineries than any other.

“We’re in the midst of a massive economic downturn and the last thing we need to do is shoot ourselves in the foot with unnecessary, expensive new regulations that are on business and industry,” he said.

Republicans also prevailed in more parochial issues, with Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., winning a close vote to block the government from removing hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River, while Robert Goodlatte, R-Va., won a 230-195 vote to block an EPA plan for cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay that would cut pollution from runoff from farms and municipalities throughout the Chesapeake watershed.

And Florida agricultural interests won a vote to block EPA rules issued last year aimed at controlling fertilizer and other pollutants that stoke the spread of algae in the state’s waters.

On Thursday, the House voted to block regulations governing the emission of mercury from cement plants and to stop the Federal Communications Commission from enforcing proposed regulations opposed by Verizon and other large Internet Service Providers.

Let’s file this story under ‘Bizarre Celebrity Depictions.’ As George Clooney descends on Cincinnati, Ohio, this month to film a new movie, local fans have gone above and beyond to capture his, uh, beauty.

According to NBC affiliate WLWT, local artists at Studio Vertu have created a 4-foot-by-10-foot mural depicting Clooney as Adam in Michelangelo’s famous Sistine Chapel painting. Yep, Clooney’s head has been placed onto Adam’s body, sans clothes and reaching out to the hand of God.

And the mural, aptly titled ‘God’s Gift to Women,’ is not just hanging in a local art gallery. The image, which was printed on Italian marble tiles, is prominently displayed on a wall outside Grant Street Studio.
“This is our homage to George Clooney,” said Mark Schmidt with Studio Vertu. “We decided to have a little fun with it, roll out the red carpet in our own way.”

Though not much is left up to the imagination in the painting, the image of Clooney’s body is specifically cropped right at the waist.

“Well, I didn’t want to compliment him, or insult him,” Schmidt said.

Clooney is currently in town filming ‘The Ides of March.’ According to IMDB, the actor, who co-stars with Ryan Gosling and Marisa Tomei, also co-wrote the screenplay and is directing the film, which centers around dirty politics during a presidential campaign

WASHINGTON — The Marine Corps commandant who once said openly gay service members would be a dangerous “distraction” and was among the most outspoken opponents of repealing the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy said today he does not expect to lose troops over the change.

“I haven’t had any indication yet at all, not at all,” Gen. James Amos told reporters when asked if he expected the mass exodus of troops that Sen. John McCain and other critics predicted if the ban was lifted.

Amos was visiting troops in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province when President Barack Obama signed the repeal in late December. He said he addressed some 12,000 Marines about the change and “everyone said, ‘Sir, we got it. We’re going to do this thing.’”

The about-face by the Marines’ top general came before the ink was dried on the law and was underlined in a video Amos taped with the Corps’ Sgt. Maj. Carlton W. Kent last month. In it, he said the service “will step out smartly to faithfully implement this new law. It’s important that we value the diversity of background, culture and skills that all Marines bring to the service of our nation.”

A Pentagon survey of troops released in November before Congress approved the repeal revealed that of all the armed services, the Marines held the most negative views about lifting the ban. More than four out of 10 said serving with openly gay Marines would negatively affect their work; 58 percent of those in combat arms units voiced opposition.

“It would be naive to think that somewhere down the road there’s not going to be issues,” Amos told reporters. “I think there probably will be in probably all the services, but I don’t think it’s going to be of any magnitude that’s going to cause much more than a blip. So I’m very optimistic.”Amos said training of military lawyers, counselors and chaplains began Feb. 7. He said he and the service’s three-star generals and their spouses underwent a training session recently in New Orleans, and he expects all leaders down to company commanders and platoon sergeants to have been briefed by the middle of next month.

The general said nearly every Marine, including those deployed in Afghanistan, will get a chance to walk through possible scenarios by early June, if not sooner.

The Air Force, Navy and Army also have begun training in preparation for the policy’s demise sometime later this year.

Earlier this week, Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey said the military’s largest service would need until mid-July to finish training the active duty force of 565,000 and until mid-August to brief the 567,000 Guard and Reserve members.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Sheriff’s deputies say two dogs have mauled a woman to death and injured their owner.

Capt. Cliff Arnette says a woman was attacked in her front yard Thursday afternoon in Dillon, a city off Interstate 95 about 100 miles northeast of Columbia.

Arnette says the Rottweilers’ owner tried to save the woman when at least one of the dogs attacked him. He says deputies shot the two dogs after the animals continued to swarm responders trying to help.

The woman’s name has not been released, and Arnette says investigators don’t know why the dogs attacked her.

The owner was taken to a hospital. Arnette did not know the extent of his injuries.

Dave Duerson, who started at safety for the Chicago Bears’ dominant 1985 defense, was found dead in his Miami home Thursday. He was 50. No cause of death was immediately reported.

“Our family asks that you please remember Dave as a good, kind and caring man,” the Duerson family said in a statement released on the Bears’ official website. “He loved and cherished his family and friends and was extremely proud of his beloved Notre Dame and Chicago Bears. Please keep Dave and our family in your prayers.”

Duerson was a third-round draft pick out of Notre Dame in 1983, then played for the Bears from ‘83 through ‘89. During that time, he earned four consecutive Pro Bowl nods (1985-88) and was named the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year in 1987.

He had five interceptions during Chicago’s 15-1 regular in 1985, then picked off six passes the next season as Chicago finished 14-2 and won the NFC Central.

Duerson moved on to New York in 1990, where he played one season for the Giants. He finished his career with a three-year stint as a member of the Phoenix Cardinals. All told, Duerson recorded 20 interceptions and 16 sacks during his NFL career.

“We are stunned and saddened to hear the tragic news regarding Dave Duerson,” the Bears said in a statement. “He was a great contributor to our team and the Chicago community. Today is a difficult day for all of us who loved Dave. We’ll miss him. Our prayers are with his family.”

A TV reporter who lapsed into gibberish during a live shot outside the Grammys suffered a “complex migraine” and not a stroke as many had theorized in the days that followed.

KCBS-TV reporter Serene Branson says she knew something was wrong as soon as she opened her mouth.

Branson told the “Early Show” in an interview Friday morning that she was terrified, scared and confused.

“I knew something wasn’t right as soon as I opened my mouth,” Branson told “Early Show” co-anchor Erica Hill Friday. “I hadn’t been feeling well a little bit before the live shot. I had a headache, my vision was very blurry. I knew something wasn’t right, but I just thought I was tired. So when I opened my mouth, I thought, ‘This is more than just being tired. Something is terribly wrong.’ I wanted to say, ‘Lady Antebellum swept the Grammys.’ And I could think of the words, but I could not get them coming out properly.”

Most people with migraines don’t have any warning. But about 20 to 30 percent experience sensations before or during a migraine attack.

“A migraine is not just a headache. It’s a complicated brain event,” said UCLA neurologist Dr. Andrew Charles, who examined Branson the day after the incident, the Associated Press reported.

A complex or complicated migraine can have symptoms that mimic a stroke, such as numbness and tingling, trouble speaking or understanding speech or not being able to move an arm or leg. These symptoms may go on after the headache goes away.The most common symptoms of all migraines include seeing flashes of light or zigzag patterns. In Branson’s case, she felt numbness on the right side of her face that affected her speech, Charles said.

“She was actually having the headache while she was having these other symptoms,” he said.

Branson told the “Early Show” she began suffernig from headaches in childhood, but had never experienced anything that would be considered a migraine.

“My head was definitely pounding and I was very uncomfortable and I knew something wasn’t right,” Branson told CBS 2 anchorwoman Pat Harvey Thursday. “I was terrified and confused. Confused. What had just happened? At that point they sat me down, then my right cheek went numb. My right hand went numb and I lost some sensation in my arm.”

Although some insisted that Branson climb into an ambulance and head immediately to the hospital, the reporter, who was clad in an evening dress, said she was firm about going home.

“I was scared. I didn’t know what had gone on and I was embarrassed and fearful,” she told the “Early Show.”

“I said, ‘I just want to go home. I just want to go home,’” she added.

Branson returned to the KCBS-TV newsroom on Thursday.

Perry Moore, the executive producer of the ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ movie trilogy, was found dead in his SoHo apartment early Thursday morning, the NY Daily News is reporting.

The 39-year-old producer died after an apparent overdose of OxyContin, acccording to sources. However, an official ruling on his death has yet to be determined.

Moore, who was also a writer and a director, was found unconscious by his partner, Hunter Hill, and “prounounced dead shortly after responders arrive.”

According to the report, Moore’s death came as a shock to everyone, including his 69-year-old father, Bill Moore, who told the Daily News that he had spoken to him the night before and that his son “was in a great, great mood.”

Moore’s additional film credits include the 2008 Southern drama ‘Lake City,’ in which he co-wrote and directed with Hill. The film stars Oscar winner Sissy Spacek as a mother who reunites with her son years after a family tragedy drew them apart.

In 2007, Moore published the young-adult novel ‘Hero,’ about the world’s first teen gay superhero.

What would you be willing to give up to love a sharp-dressed man?

While we like to think that it’s the inside that always counts, Men’s Warehouse recently conducted a survey asking women how high a man’s fashion sense ranked in a lady’s list of priorities and found that 78 percent of women say one of the hottest things a man can ever do is know how to dress. Apparently it’s so important to us, there’s a whole bunch of stuff we are willing to forego in exchange.

According to the survey:

• 10 percent of women would give up sex or the Internet for a sharp-dressed fella
• 23 percent would toss their iPhone into the nearest river if he’d get rid of those pleated pants
• 32 percent of women have actually tossed a piece of their significant other’s clothing
• 65 percent said, more gently, that their other half’s closet “could use a makeover”

While it seems like this survey highlights our more superficial side, we must admit that there is just something libido-busting about a guy wearing mandals or carrying a murse.