In less than a week, officials have locked down a warrant for the person they believe shot Mark Ruffalo's brother in the head -- and the suspect is a woman.

Shaha Mishaal Adham, one of the two "persons of interest" first linked to the case, is now the prime suspect in the attempted murder investigation. Sources close to the investigation tell us Adham is related to members of Saudi Arabian royalty. Adham is already gearing up for a serious fight -- signing on boxer Manny Pacquiao's high profile attorney Keith Davidson.

Ruffalo's brother, Scott, is still clinging to life after he suspiciously was shot in the head in his Beverly Hills apartment last Monday..

'Spirituality should not become anaesthesia'

Published: Tuesday | December 9, 2008

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The worsening economy appears to be helping computer crooks with one of their toughest tasks: tricking people into opening their homes and bank accounts and becoming "mules" for laundering money or stolen goods.

The scams themselves aren't new. They're pitched in spam e-mails as "work-at-home" jobs that promise excellent part-time money for helping companies pay clients in other countries. The victims are asked to open new bank accounts in their names, agree to accept anonymous payments into those accounts, and forward those payments by way of money transfer, usually to locations in Eastern Europe.

The scam is classic money laundering with an Internet twist. The money is generally real, and the middle man is promised a cut. What those middle men may not know is they're trafficking in ill-gotten gains and helping criminals pay each other while disguising the source. And the mules are often the ones at the greatest risk of arrest.

Savvy computer users usually identify this as a scam. But security researchers say more people are willing to take a risk on the come-ons as unemployment rises and the volume of the mule e-mails increases.

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Rajo Devi, who married 50 years ago, gave birth to a baby girl on November 28 after in vitro fertilisation, said Anurag Bishnoi, a doctor at the Hisar fertility centre in Haryana state.

Rajo Devi and (her husband) Bala Ram approached the centre for treatment and the embryo transfer was done on April 19, he told the Hindustan Times. Both the mother and child are in good health.

Mr Bishnoi claimed Mrs Devi was the worlds oldest mother.

Another 70-year-old Indian was reported to have given birth to twins via IVF in July this year, while a 66-year-old Spanish woman had twins in 2006.

Mrs Devis husband, aged 72, had also wed his wifes sister after 10 years of his first marriage, which did not result in children. His second wife also failed to become pregnant.

It was not clear whose egg and sperm were used in the successful treatment.

IVF has revolutionised the way we look at infertility, said Mr Bishnoi. Infertility is no longer a social taboo or a divine curse. It can be treated scientifically.

NEW DELHI
AFP

UNDERCOVER LESBIAN CLUB IN PORTMORE

Local women seeking to establish relationships with other women are no longer waiting to meet them by chance. They have taken to recruiting them by forming clubs and advertising for membership.

For the last few weeks, one such club has been advertising in a Sunday publication for women between 18 and 30 years old to join the club, named Circle Square, which THE STAR has learnt is based in Portmore, St Catherine.

The advertisement reads, "Circle Square all-female club invites adventurous, fun-loving, open-minded ladies 18-30 to join our exclusive social club. Come and explore very private membership free."

When THE STAR contacted the club via a telephone number posted in the advertisement, a male answered. The news team, pretending to be interested in joining the club, called on several occasions and were told by the man that the club is for women who are interested in women.

Bring females together

The man, who gave his name as Tony and said he was the recruiter and first asked callers if they were interested in women. Callers were also asked if they had ever slept with a woman. After he was sure that the callers were really interested, he then explained the club's intentions.

"The concept behind the club is to bring females together who have a common interest. It's not dating thing or anything like that, we just have individuals who want to come together and have fun," he said.

Tony said all future members had to be screened by him before they are allowed to meet the other women. "We don't want the sketel-like behaviour," he said.

When asked why there was an age limit, he said it was set by the club members. Although he would not say how many women are in the club, he said the membership was a 'good amount'.

THE STAR's callers were also asked about their addresses and were told that this information was required because the club does not bring together women from the same community as it has caused problems in the past. He said people have pretended in the past to be interested and when they joined and saw those in the club, it caused problems. "I do not want anyone to scrutinise you," he said.

Months after introducing a new mechanism to clamp down on electricity theft, crafty householders have still managed to tap into power sources, the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) has reported.

The electricity provider had started to install concentric neutral cables in some areas to reduce the number of illegal throw-ups. These cables make electricity theft more difficult because a metal casing covers the wires that actually transmit the electrical power.

Melting metal casings

However, head of the Department of Engineering and Technology at JPS, Steve Dixon, said thieves have been melting the metal casings to access the electrical conductors.

The vice-president for customer operations, Sangeet Dutta, said the situation has been exacerbated because thieves often run joined wires for more than 200 yards from power transformer bushings to their homes, which further increases the risk of electrical shocks. "This is highly dangerous," he warned.

Dutta told The Gleaner/Power 106 News that the JPS has been working with the police to curb electricity theft. However, he said there were weaknesses in the law, which provide an incentive for electricity theft.

According to Dutta, at present, the JPS can only recover charges for electricity stolen over a two-year period at the rate it had cost the company to produce it. He believes the law should be changed to allow for penalty charges to be applicable to persons who steal electricity. This is one of the proposals the JPS will be making when its tariff comes up for review at the Office of Utilities Regulation next year.

Losing

Noting that the JPS is was losing 12.7 per cent of the electricity it produces due to theft, Dutta said the problem tends to be acute in countries like Jamaica, where the poor socio-economic conditions exist.

However, he said the company was considering several measures to curtail the practice. These include the relocation of electrical meters from houses to utility poles and the installation of electricity monitors on houses instead.

Dutta said this would make it more difficult for people to interfere with the electrical supply to their homes. The company is also examining a system that would allow it to disconnect delinquent customers from a remote location. The JPS vice-president said if the company gets clearance from the Bureau of Standards Jamaica and the government electrical inspectorate, it would start a pilot programme in loss-prone areas.

Already, the JPS has installed 2,000 special meters called advanced metering information systems to monitor, from a central location, the electricity consumption of large customers. It's also considering installing similar meters for residential customers.

"With this system, once there is a change in consumption pattern, we get a red flag at our offices," Dutta said, adding that a team was then immediately despatched to the location. He said the system has already helped to detect commercial customers who are stealing electricity.

FURTHER shake-ups are in the wings for operations at the Customs Depart-ment come next year, Commissioner of Customs Danville Walker has said.

According to Walker, as of January 1, Customs will no longer see 'personal effects' as an adequate description of cargo and where commercial goods are found being listed as 'personal effects', pockets will smart.

"Wherever we find it the officers have been instructed to list and tally in detail every item and apply the duties," he said. "Where we find commercial goods being listed as personal effects come January 1, we are also going to apply a breach. That game is going to come to an end," Walker told the Observer recently.

"We have situations where people list commercial items as personal effects; that is a big scam in this country, they say it's personal effects and when you open it for example it's car parts or other commercial goods," Walker said, noting that persons used this route to get exemption from fees and getting a Tax Compliance Certificate.

"I would have loved to start this immediately; it took everything out of me to say January 1," he added.

In the meantime, Walker said the department was also not going to be tolerant of persons trying to beat the system by saying they had 'forgotten the invoice' when containers are found with undeclared goods in them. He has already met with one shipping line on the matter.

"We understand the story that someone may pack goods and no invoice comes and it's the same story that you are going to get from the person who made a genuine mistake or from the person who is deliberately trying to evade custom duties and we can't tell the difference so we are going to treat everything the same," he told the Observer.

"Whenever we find excess goods and no invoice declared, we are going to file a breach and there will be no mitigation of that breach. In such cases the cost is three times the duty of the item at a minimum. And every time we catch you, you are going to pay," he said in warning to persons who have been able to evade the system at times.

"What we want is compliance, if you want, you can go back to your shipper and say you made the mistake reimburse me," he noted.

He said while the revenue lost from the unfair practice was not much compared to the duties collected regularly "it was still millions of dollars".

"We are taking a harder line and search-ing more. We basically say to customs officers, if you don't find anything then what is the point in you being there because we know things are there to be found so you need to find them," he added.

And much is being done to reduce the time to clear goods which has been a sticking point in the department's lifetime.

Walker said this will be done through assistance being received currently from a consultant and project team from the World Customs Organisation in Brussels.

"They are reviewing all of our processes and all of our procedures starting from when the ship pulls up alongside the dock to when the cargo goes through the front door.

"When we get that analysis done we will know the exact timeline it takes to get cargo off the Port of Jamaica and we will also have recommendations for improvements in our business practices," he said.

"What our work is going to be over the next 18 months is that it is not just about doing things a little better or automating a few steps, we have to look at changing the way some of the processes work so that it takes less paper and less steps," he added.

The minister said that the offshore toll-free telephone line - 1-800-CORRUPT or 1-800-267-7878 - is a "secure, anonymous line which will not be accessed by local police officers".

MacMillan made the announcement during an address to the nation last evening. The national security minister has also repeated the announcement of a 211 hotline for children in danger.

The proposal alludes to low public confidence in the Jamaica Constabulary Force, a notion which several opinion polls have corroborated. More than 50 policemen have been arrested on corruption charges this year.

Unnecessary, confusing

Peter Bunting, the opposition spokesman on national security, said yesterday the slew of toll-free emergency lines was mind-boggling.

"The Opposition is concerned that this proliferation of hotline numbers - already we have 311 for Crime Stop, 811 for Kingfish and 119 for the police emergencies - is unnecessary and may be confusing for the public," Bunting said in a release yesterday.

He added: "It would seem more efficient and desirable to develop one emergency number with properly trained, professional call-centre operators who would route the calls to the appropriate unit for response based on the subject matter of the call."

Community action

MacMillan said yesterday that the upsurge in criminal violence, in particular attacks against women and children, has left most Jamaicans fearful. He has appealed to citizens to play their part in securing their communities.

More than 1,400 persons have been murdered since January. At least five persons were murdered on the weekend.

MacMillan has linked 80 per cent of the killings to an estimated 200 gangs which, he said, are "directly connected to a global criminal network which not only controls the trade in illicit drugs but the growing trade in human trafficking as well".

Meanwhile, Bunting has chided MacMillan for not addressing the drugs-for-guns trade between Jamaica and Haiti.

Thieves broke into the Waterford High School between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, stealing more than $100,000 worth of equipment and cash.

The Waterford police told THE PORTMORE STAR that the culprits gained access to the school's administrative block, the bursary and principal's office. They reportedly stole a laptop, cameras and an undetermined sum of money from the principal's office, the police say.

According to investigators, entry was gained to the bursary and other offices after the thieves cut through a metal grille. An investigation has been launched but a suspect has not yet been identified, the police say.

affected subjects

When THE PORTMORE STAR visited the institution on Thursday, senior teacher Astley Watson said the theft of the items, especially the computer, had affected some of the subjects that were to be taught that day. He said the computer was used by the teachers to help prepare lessons.

"It is a very worrying situation," Watson said. "Previous attempts were made.

Thieves got into the school. it was the first they got into the administrative block. This is worrying indeed."

He added that the surrounding community has always been protective of the school and residents have expressed concerns about the break-in.

The thieves are coming. Hide the baby cereal.

If you live in Portmore, St Catherine, then you need to take careful measures to lock away your baby cereal. There is a gang of housebreakers, who have been cleaning out people's homes, only pausing to mix their favourite drink, baby cereal.

Police in the area are warning residents to be on the lookout for the gang which consists of about five or six members, who have been watching houses until occupants leave, then force their way inside.

Detective Constable Lloyd Knight, told THE STAR that the thieves have become so slick at their 'trade' that only a little evidence is left for the police.

"After they break into the houses, they mix baby feed and have even snacks to eat before leaving with items," he said.

The police say that so far close to 50 houses have been broken into and in at least 10 of the cases, baby cereals were stolen or drank at the scene of the crime.

According to the police one of alleged members, Alton Maxwell, appeared before the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, after he was held in a house, which he had broken into in Portmore Pines.

mixed baby cereal

Maxwell, 19, is reported to have mixed a bottle of baby cereal and was enjoying it when he was held. He was remanded until January.

Another of the alleged gang members, Tyrone 'Muggley' Gayle, is serving time after being sentenced to two years imprisonment at hard labour for breaking into the Braeton Primary and Junior High School. These arrests have, however, done nothing to deter the other members of the gang.

Constable Knight told THE STAR that persons in the Seven East, Six West and other areas of Greater Portmore, have suffered immensely with several cases of break-ins in these areas over a very short time. This has forced the police to step up their operations in these areas.

Minn. baby sitter admits using
child in porn film

MINNEAPOLIS A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to answering an online advertisement for baby-sitting work and then using the client's child to make a pornographic video.

In a plea deal with federal prosecutors, Aaron Jay Lemon admitted Wednesday to producing the video. The 23-year-old from Little Canada also admitted to coercing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct.

The plea agreement says Lemon filmed the child in St. Paul after seeking the baby-sitting job through Craigslist. St. Paul police say the victim was a 2-year-old girl.

The U.S. attorney's office says the case was part of a project that encourages agencies to investigate the sexual exploitation of children over the Internet.

The office says Lemon faces a maximum of 30 years in prison.

A total 961 files relating to police shootings and extrajudicial killings are now being investigated by the Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI).

The Police (Civilian Oversight) Authority (PCOA) - established to monitor performance of all police islandwide - last week made the report that 621 cases of fatal shootings and 361 other shooting incidents were now being investigated by the BSI.

The cases were gathered for the periods 2007 to present. The police said last year that there were 635 cases under investigation.

"The alarming number of cases under investigation is a cause for concern," Bishop Charles Dufour, chairman of the PCOA said.

"In July alone there were 33 reported shooting incidents from which allegations of police misconduct have arisen."

He said that such statistics from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) did not speak well for the force.

"The several incidents and the outrage expressed by citizens have provided the material foundation for vast sections of the population to mistrust the police and for others to have serious doubt about their treatment of some citizens," Dufour said.

He said the confidence of the public in the JCF would continue to fall until there was strict adherence by all policemen and women to abide by the rule of law.

"In our environment, one of systematic violence, poor legitimate economic opportunities, corruption and an alarmingly high rate of extrajudicial killings, an active civilian over body is essential to hold the police accountable to standards of policing within the democratic society framework of our constitution," said Dufour.

The news of an unusual alien-like baby born in China has received an intensive coverage in the media recently. Ms. Li Hui-Ying, a village from Chinas Jiangxi Province, gave birth to a boy with frogs eyes. The baby also had big bumps on his head and even a small tail on his bottom. The boy does not have any eating, drinking or sleeping disorders, but his parents still try to bring him to treat in the hospital. However, all the hospitals that the parents have been to so far refuse to accept the weird patient claiming that they have never had such an unusual incident in their experience.

But Alforque had arrived in Oregon on a visa from the Philippines just three days before the fateful trip to the coast.

Napper said the tide had receded around Proposal Rock on Saturday when the couple began to walk to it. He planned to propose and give her the ring he carried in his pocket.

About 10 feet from the rock, a wave about 3 feet high suddenly came toward them.

"I turned into it to keep from getting pulled under it," Napper said.

By the time he turned to find Alforque, only 4-foot-11 and 93 pounds, she had been caught by the receding waters.

"She was about 30 feet away, getting swept away," Napper said.

The 45-year-old Silverton man tore off his jacket to get rid of any extra weight, and when he looked up again she was gone.

"That's the last I saw of her," he said in an interview Wednesday, breaking into tears.

Full post...

The annual Gifts for Guns program ended Sunday in Compton, a working class city south of Los Angeles that has long struggled with gun and gang violence. In a program similar to ones in New York and San Francisco, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department allows residents to anonymously relinquish firearms in return for $100 gift cards for Ralphs supermarkets, Target department stores or Best Buy electronics stores.

Read more

FURTHER shake-ups are in the wings for operations at the Customs Depart-ment come next year, Commissioner of Customs Danville Walker has said.

According to Walker, as of January 1, Customs will no longer see 'personal effects' as an adequate description of cargo and where commercial goods are found being listed as 'personal effects', pockets will smart.

"Wherever we find it the officers have been instructed to list and tally in detail every item and apply the duties," he said. "Where we find commercial goods being listed as personal effects come January 1, we are also going to apply a breach. That game is going to come to an end," Walker told the Observer recently.

"We have situations where people list commercial items as personal effects; that is a big scam in this country, they say it's personal effects and when you open it for example it's car parts or other commercial goods," Walker said, noting that persons used this route to get exemption from fees and getting a Tax Compliance Certificate.

"I would have loved to start this immediately; it took everything out of me to say January 1," he added.

In the meantime, Walker said the department was also not going to be tolerant of persons trying to beat the system by saying they had 'forgotten the invoice' when containers are found with undeclared goods in them. He has already met with one shipping line on the matter.

"We understand the story that someone may pack goods and no invoice comes and it's the same story that you are going to get from the person who made a genuine mistake or from the person who is deliberately trying to evade custom duties and we can't tell the difference so we are going to treat everything the same," he told the Observer.

"Whenever we find excess goods and no invoice declared, we are going to file a breach and there will be no mitigation of that breach. In such cases the cost is three times the duty of the item at a minimum. And every time we catch you, you are going to pay," he said in warning to persons who have been able to evade the system at times.

"What we want is compliance, if you want, you can go back to your shipper and say you made the mistake reimburse me," he noted.

He said while the revenue lost from the unfair practice was not much compared to the duties collected regularly "it was still millions of dollars".

"We are taking a harder line and search-ing more. We basically say to customs officers, if you don't find anything then what is the point in you being there because we know things are there to be found so you need to find them," he added.

And much is being done to reduce the time to clear goods which has been a sticking point in the department's lifetime.

Walker said this will be done through assistance being received currently from a consultant and project team from the World Customs Organisation in Brussels.

"They are reviewing all of our processes and all of our procedures starting from when the ship pulls up alongside the dock to when the cargo goes through the front door.

"When we get that analysis done we will know the exact timeline it takes to get cargo off the Port of Jamaica and we will also have recommendations for improvements in our business practices," he said.

"What our work is going to be over the next 18 months is that it is not just about doing things a little better or automating a few steps, we have to look at changing the way some of the processes work so that it takes less paper and less steps," he added.

Kanye West usually brags about himself, but recently he pronounced his extreme admiration for fellow star, Beyoncé. "Nobody really wants to recognize that Beyoncé is a f---ing living legend, he said. Later Kanye went so far as to claim Beyoncé is just as great, if not greater, than artists we had in the past. Shes probably greater than Tina Turner."

Posted here

Things are not going well for poor Plaxico Burress. First he shoots himself in the leg with a gun he wasnt licensed to carry in NY.

Then his teammate Pierce turns on him and offers to spill his guts to the grand jury.

The doctor who treated his gunshot wound at NY/Cornell hospital was suspended for not reporting the injury as required by law.

And now the NY Giants have suspended Plax with no pay.

Anyway, reports just posted this pic of Plaxicos New Jersey crib which will probably go on the market next week since Plax can no longer rely on his $35 million dollar contract to pay the bills.

Plax has a wife and a kid to support, but he wasnt thinking of them when he broke the law.

I did it because Im a student and Im always broke, said Aylesworth, who spent several delicate minutes in a small room at the Seattle Sperm Bank last month.

Apparently, hes not alone. Seeking quick cash in a tanking financial market, would-be sellers of a variety of body products sperm, eggs, *lo** plasma, even human hair are filling waiting rooms and swamping agencies with inquiries.

Read

Jamaica's Reggae Boyz football team fitness coach, Junior McBean was sentenced in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court when he pleaded guilty to identity theft on Thursday.

McBean was ordered to serve 480 hours of community service after pleading guilty to identity theft.

McBean was charged with identity theft and forgery after he submitted forged documents in the name of Junior Samuels to the Immigration Department in order to obtain a new passport.

Reports are that McBean submitted his passport and other documents bearing the name "Junior Samuels."

It was further reported that checks by the the Immigration Department found that the birth certificate he submitted was also forged.

The document was reportedly in the name "Shaun Anthony Samuels".

He was preparing to travel with the football team to Cayman and was arrested when he went to collect his passport.

His attorney, K Churchill Neita had explained to the court that more than 20 years ago, a football coach gave him the fake birth certificate in order to get him onto a football team for which he was too old to play.

Florida Boy Arrested For Gas Attack

12-year-old charged after deliberately "breaking wind" in class

NOVEMBER 21--A 12-year-old Florida student was arrested earlier this month after he "deliberately passed gas to disrupt the class," according to police. The child, who was also accused of shutting off the computers of classmates at Stuart's Spectrum Jr./Sr. High School, was busted November 4 for disruption of a school function. A Martin County Sheriff's Office report, a copy of which you'll find below, notes that the 4' 11" offender admitted that he "continually disrupted his classroom environment by breaking wind and shutting off several computers." The boy, whose name was redacted from the police report released today, was turned over to his mother following the arrest. The young perp turned 13 on November 15.

To be convicted of performing sex acts on a horse once may be considered misfortune. Being convicted of it twice with the same horse looks a lot like carelessness.

But that's what just happened to 46-year-old Leeroy Le Gallais, who was jailed for three years yesterday after admitting molesting the horse in a stable in Guernsey.

Le Gallais was already on probation after being convicted of performing sex acts with the horse, named Calico, last year. On that occasion, he had been caught after he left his underwear in the stable.

This time round, Le Gallais told the court: 'I had a few beers, I went to the stable and interfered with the horse.'

His crime was found out after Calico's owner noticed that a blanket and a mounting stool in the stable had been moved, and the horse was showing signs of stress. Police suspected Le Gallais, who confessed.

Barrington & Lil Wayne Team Up

You think Magic faked AIDS for sympathy? Chris Baker asked co-host Langdon Perry on their conservative radio talk show that airs from Twin Cities, Minnesotas KTLK 100.3 FM. Perry answered, Im convinced that Magic faked AIDS; and he later referred to basketball giant, Magic Johnson as the only cured AIDS guy ever.

According to the Star Tribune the conversation received extensive exposure after being posted by Media Matters for America, but this did not faze the duo who dismissed the controversy around their remarks, refusing to comment and saying only that the whole thing was, not news...but simply a three second comment from a four hour show.

Magic Johnson released a statement in which he expressed his displeasure at the way his HIV status and the epidemic in general was being trivialized.

He told the Star Tribune, Millions are dying from HIV/AIDS, and the fact that they would make jokes about my status is unbelievable, said Johnson, 49, who came out as HIV positive in 1991. Chris, Langdon and KTLK should use their power in a more positive light by encouraging people to get tested for this disease instead of making up such ridiculous lies.

Audio | Xvid | 48000Hz | stereo 64Kbps | Video 9 | 720x480 | 30.00fps 800Kbps | 1.49 GB

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) is warning Jamaicans not to expect a reduction in murders because of the recent decision by members of the House of Representatives to retain the death penalty.

Officials of the IACHR met with media heads at The Gleaner's North Street, central Kingston, offices yesterday and emerged with the clear warning that it will take more than the return of the death penalty to reduce violent crimes in Jamaica.

"Our experience with the death penalty shows two things - and this is not an assessment on Jamaica - but all of the studies that we are aware of and that we have taken into account show that the death penalty does not, in fact, have any measurable deterrent effect on serious crime," Paola Carozza, chairman of the IACHR told The Gleaner.

"The thing that does have a measurable deterrent effect is effectiveness in investigation and prosecution of crime," Carozza added.

Lack of accountability

He is urging the political directorate to ensure that investigation, prosecution and a speedy judicial process are in place to put the handcuffs on crime.

"It is impunity and the lack of accountability that contribute to serious crime, not the nature of the punishment," the IACHR chairman said.

The IACHR has long made it clear that it is opposed to the capital punishment, but Carozza yesterday accepted that there was nothing in the law to prevent Jamaica from carrying out the death penalty.

Last week, local parliamentarians voted 34 to 15 to retain the death penalty as the ultimate punishment for some crimes in Jamaica. They also voted 36 to 15 against abolishing the death penalty.

Officials of the IACHR are in the island for talks with members of the political directorate and civil society.

The island's libel laws and the death penalty are expected to top the agenda when the IACHR representatives meet with government officials.