Tornado kills dozens, leaves 'total devastation' in Missouri town

In Joplin, Mo., at least 30 people are reportedly killed and damage is widespread. Officials fear the death toll could climb much higher. Severe weather hits other parts of the Midwest, including Minneapolis, where one person is killed.

Joplin, Mo. —
A series of turbulent storms swept through the Midwest on Sunday as a powerful tornado slammed into Joplin, Mo., ripping the top off a hospital, shearing parts of the roof off a high school and turning major retail stores into heaps of rubble and twisted metal.

A coroner's official reported at least 30 people dead in Joplin, according to Reuters news agency, but the tornado's rampage through the middle of the southwestern Missouri town of 50,000 left officials concerned that the number could be much higher.
"It's total devastation," Gov. Jay Nixon said as he dispatched the National Guard and emergency rescue teams in a race to find survivors. Search-and-rescue efforts were expected to continue throughout the uneasy night.

"We are responding aggressively, quickly. We want to make sure as the night goes on that we're saving lives between now and dawn," the governor told CNN. "There are a number of injuries. It's going to be a long night and a difficult recovery."

President Obama said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was responding. "We commend the heroic efforts by those who have responded and who are working to help their friends and neighbors at this very difficult time," he said.
Phone service in and out of the city was largely cut off.

Missouri State Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. John Hotz said the state had dispatched 50 state troopers and a mobile communications unit in an attempt to learn the extent of the damage and injuries. Another 19 officers would be en route in the morning, he said."It's a serious situation, but I can't give you an assessment of the damage or the injuries until we get reports," he said.

"Certainly, we are doing everything we can to get help to the folks in the affected areas as soon as possible."
Hotz said there were reports of "a number" of tornados across Missouri.
In Minneapolis, a tornado tore through the northern end of the city Sunday afternoon, killing one person and injuring at least 30 others. The same turbulent weather spawned a tornado in Reading, Kan., Saturday night that killed one person and destroyed about 20 homes as parts of the town were pelted with hail the size of golf balls.
Violent thunderstorms, including lighting, hail and powerful winds, were threats throughout the evening Sunday across at least six Midwestern states as a cold front moved in to confront a moisture-rich, low-level air mass, the National Weather Service warned.

The tornado that struck Joplin at 5:45 p.m. threatened to rival the devastating twisters that plowed through the South on April 27, leaving more than 330 people dead, including 45 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Joplin residents said the twister slammed through a town already keeping a close eye on the boiling, dark clouds blustering overhead, blowing over 18-wheel tractor-trailers on Interstate 44 and ripping directly into St. John's Regional Medical Center, blasting medical debris for miles.

"It sounds like they got a direct hit," said Laurie Duff, spokeswoman for a hospital in Springfield, Mo., where patients from
Joplin were being evacuated. "The second hospital in town also sustained some damage."
Triage centers and shelters were set up around Joplin. At Memorial Hall, a downtown entertainment venue, nurses and other
emergency workers from area hospitals were treating critically injured patients.
The storm spread debris about 60 miles away, with medical records, X-rays, insulation and other items landing in Greene

County, said Larry Woods, assistant director of the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management.
"It looks like a war zone," said Donald Davis, a chemotherapy nurse who was dining 35 miles away in Kansas when the tornado
struck in Joplin, where he has lived much of his life. He said he contended with closed roads and downed power lines for
nearly two hours to return home, where he found a scene of devastation in the center of the city.
It looked as if the tornado had traveled directly down 20th Street, Joplin's main east-west thoroughfare, and at least 13
blocks to the east, he said in a telephone interview.
"Just up and down 20th Street, it's just building after building. Houses destroyed. One of our largest grocery stores,
destroyed. And there's a big apartment complex right next to it, probably had 150 apartments in it, it's flattened. Several
churches gone. And big, nice homes — all just gone," he said.

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Macho Man Randy Savage Dead in a Car Crash

Macho Man Randy Savage died in a car crash in Seminole, Florida. According to celebrity gossip site TMZ, Savage's brother told them that Savage suffered a heart attack while he was driving his vehicle. The wrestler lost control of his 2009 Jeep Wrangler and crashed into a tree. Macho Man was rushed to Largo Medical center where he died later. Savage's wife was with him in the vehicle when the accident happened but she survived the crash with minor injuries.

Randy savage is considered as one of the greatest wrestlers of all times, along with the likes of Hulk Hogan. Savage began his career in wrestling in 1985 with World Wrestling Federation. Savage, or "Macho Man" became very popular in the 90's that was why he became the spokesperson for Slim Jim.

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Is May 21st the end of the world? How would you spend your last night in CNY?

May 21, 2011 may be Judgment Day and the beginning of the end of the world.
Reverend Harold Camping, founder of Family Radio Worldwide, has a number of followers who believe his prediction that the

Rapture — the belief that Christ will bring the faithful into paradise prior to a period of tribulation on earth that

precedes the end of time — will be this Saturday.
"Beyond the shadow of a doubt, May 21 will be the date of the Rapture and the day of judgment," Camping said. The 89-year-old

retired civil engineer also predicted the apocalypse in 1994, but now claims that was merely the end of "the church age."
His new theory suggests that earthquakes will hit Fiji and New Zealand at 6 p.m. Saturday and the second coming of Christ

will immediately follow. The actual end of the world, Camping says, will be completed five months later on October 21, 2011.
If it is the end of the world, what would you do on your last night? Followers are warning people the end is near, doing

everything they can to save them. Many worry about looting, while others are planning "rapture parties."
Here's how local Twitter and Facebook users said they'd spend their last night in CNY:
@shue_box: Eating dinner at Dinosaur and then going downtown to get bombed.

@Mitch_M: Ichiban, ultimate chocolate cake from @Wegmans with a Friendly's peanut butter chocolate sundae. Isn't that a

shame?

@dagsly: Is it apocalypse, or just the rapture? I need to know what to prepare for. If it's the rapture, I'm spending the

night scouting good about-to-be-abandoned housing.

@SYRDT: Nachos, Craft beer, Nerf Gun war with my son and my fav girl! (not necessarily in that order)

Tim Bennett: Watching the NASCAR Race.

@sjvelasquez: If I were in CNY for the rapture, I'd put my effort into getting out of CNY... I'm sure the lingering steel

plant chemicals will create an impenetrable orb around Western New York.

Shelly Lewis: lol, NOT in CNY!! On a beach somewhere warm.

Stay-C Colvin Miller: At my baby shower with all my close family and friends...which is exactly where I will be :)

@abrosenthal: I'd walk alone in Thornden Park at 11:59pm so I could see the look on the thugs' faces when the world ends just

as they rob me.

Jules Jenners: How about not in CNY? Tahiti.

@mrs_jade315: if I had 1 night left i would eat at the Dominican spot on westcott, go for a ride on rt 20, and get drunk at

the Clinton St Pub

Francis Lee: Slaughtering zombies, as the CDC recommended.

@maddieMRL: I would hang outside in the warm weather at Syracuse Suds drinking an Empire Brewery Pale Ale.

And what will the end look like? This clever video mashup shows how Hollywood has imagined the apocalypse in "Armageddon,"

"2012" and other movies

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LinkedIn Prices IPO At $32 To $35 Per Share; Expects $146.6M In Net Proceeds From Offering

LinkedIn Prices IPO At $32 To $35 Per Share; Expects $146.6M In Net Proceeds From Offering
After disclosing its intention to list its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LNKD, LinkedIn has released a new filing with the SEC that shows that it is pricing its IPO between $32.00 and $35.00 per share. LinkedIn filed its initial S-1 in January, with the total offering amount of $175 million.

LinkedIn is offering 7,840,000 shares in its IPO, offering 4,827,804 shares of its Class A common stock and the selling stockholders are offering 3,012,196 shares of Class A common stock. There are currently 94,498,627 shares outstanding.

The company expects proceeds from the sale of the shares of stock in the offering will be approximately $146.6 million (in total the company will be raising $274 million but some of this money goes to fees etc.). LinkedIn says it will use these funds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including working capital, sales and marketing activities, general and administrative matters and capital expenditures. The funds could also be used for acquisitions investments in complimentary technologies. Currently LinkedIn has no commitments or agreements to enter into any acquisitions or investments. LinkedIn adds that based on its current financial position, it will not need to use the funds raised from the offering in the next year.

As we wrote in January, Chairman and co-founder Reid Hoffman is LinkedIn’s largest shareholder, owning 21.4 percent of the company. Sequoia Capital and Greylock are the second and third largest shareholders.

LinkedIn’s IPO should debut on the NYSE fairly soon and it will be interesting to see how the Street reacts to the offering. One factor to consider is that LinkedIn is growing revenue—the company just reported that Q1 revenue in 2011 was up 110 percent to $93.9 million. Net income increased to $2.08 million, from $1.81 million in Q1 2010. The increase in sales came from the company’s hiring solutions, a paid offering which helps recruiters search for professionals and list jobs on the site.

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New York Daily News Legendary Scribe Bill Gallo Adored Manny Pacquiao

The legendary New York Daily News columnist/cartoonist Bill Gallo passed away this Tuesday at the age of 88.
Boxing was the favorite sport of Gallo, who, amazingly was still contributing work to the tabloid he has worked at for an astonishing seven decades.

Gallo wrote a column after watching the Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito clash last November and was dazzled and awed by the performance of Pacquiao.

Here are some excerpts from Gallo’s column three days after the fight in Dallas, Texas: “…As soon as the bout started, it was amazingly apparent that the difference in weight would have nothing to do with the outcome. Nor did the 4-inch height advantage Margarito had over this brash Philippine Piston. All right, are you getting a bit of the picture? You want more, like how good is he as a fighter? Here it is, and you can quote: This is one hell of a fighter, the likes of which I haven’t seen since Willie Pep and Sugar Ray Robinson. Yes, those two whom I’ve always regarded as the best ever.”

“By the second round, Pac already had figured out how to beat this big man, who had his right hand cocked to throw at an unprotected chin,”  Gallo wrote. “Never happened. Nearly every time Margarito threw that right, Pac, with his shifty, inventive head moves, eluded the punch – the same one Margarito had used to score 27 knockouts.”

“It seemed so natural for Pac – every time Margarito would miss, like a flash came two pumps of Pac’s right to Margarito’s jaw, followed by a nice left half-hook, half-uppercut. Those were the kind of moves Pep and Robby used to make. To the eyes of a fight buff, it was an artful and beautiful performance. Round by round, the slaughter continued.”

Gallo, an International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee and winner of the prestigious James J. Walker Award from the Boxing Writers Association of America, was ready to compare Pacquiao with great prizefighters from other generations:

“With every good – let’s make that, great – fighter there are always comparisons. It goes way back to Jack Dempsey: Was he as good or better than Joe Louis? Was Joe Louis better than Muhammad Ali or Rocky Marciano? Who really was the greatest? Was it Ali?”
“Some fight guys might say Ali, but most still won’t hand him that special title. The thing in boxing is that when the greats are compared, it always winds up in some kind of a fierce barroom argument.”

“So now we have a gym full of great lightweights – we’ll just stick with this division for now – to compare with Pacquiao. Take these: Is he as good or better than: Tony Canzoneri? My opinion – better. Barney Ross? Better. Roberto Duran? As good or even better. What about Henry Armstrong, who held three titles at the same time? Wasn’t he in the same class in throwing punches in multitudes? Didn’t Armstrong fight somewhat like Pacquiao?”

“My answer: No. They are different fighters. While Armstrong would bury his head into his opponent’s chest, firing lefts and rights to the body and head, Pacquiao is a thinking, deliberate puncher who rarely misses. I see Pac as the better fighter.”

Gallo, then, in his column, asked himself the toughest question of all – if Pacquiao is the best boxer his eyes have ever seen?

“I’m going to wind this up by asking myself this question: Okay, Mr. Boxing Man, are you telling me this Philippine Dynamo is the best you have ever seen? Yes, in a very long time. And he might just be the man who will eventually put boxing back in the upper deck of sports. Believe me, this kid who aspires to be big in Philippine politics, with his perpetual smile and special brand of punching ability, is indeed the goods.”

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May 21, 2011: rapture or party time?

Oakland minister Harold Camping of Family Radio has 5,500 billboards worldwide with his rapture date.

If everything goes as Oakland minister Harold Camping predicts, the Bay Area will suffer a world-ending earthquake around 6 p.m. Saturday, God-fearing Christians will ascend to heaven and everyone else is in big trouble for eternity.

And if Camping is wrong, the American Atheists will gather in an Oakland hotel meeting room Sunday to celebrate.

"We're confident we'll still be here," said Larry Hicok, the California director of the American Atheists who scheduled the 200-member meeting to coincide with Camping's forecast that the biblically ordained rapture is at hand. "But if it does happen, we wanted a front-row seat."

The 89-year-old Camping first declared that May 21, 2011, would be the end of the world nearly 15 years ago, shortly after his earlier 1994 Judgment Day prediction passed without incident. In spite of his track record, his latest Armageddon announcement has attracted a constant stream of national media reporters, bloggers and documentary film crews to his headquarters near Oakland International Airport.

"God is utilizing the media," Camping said from the offices of his Family Radio last week, after concluding a Skype interview with a popular website. "And my, my, has the media been busy with me."

Around the world

Camping's radio and television shows are broadcast in dozens of countries, and his organization has paid for 5,500 billboards to advertise the rapture date on every continent except Antarctica. Armadas of RVs painted with Scripture have crisscrossed the country to enlist new believers before it's too late.

Tom Evans, 51, who has worked for Family Radio for 25 years and has a wife and two children ages 3 and 7 months, said it was difficult to explain the assurance he felt within, knowing that Jesus Christ will return Saturday to retrieve saved souls.

"You can understand it intellectually, but to really know it is going to happen, you have to understand it spiritually," Evans said. "You have to feel it."

To answer one popular question: Camping has not sold his Alameda home, nor has he given away his possessions, although media reports suggest a handful of believers have cashed in and pulled up stakes in anticipation of the final day.

Camping says God wants people to live every day humbly and as evenly as the next.

New Zealand is first

Saturday, said Camping, "will start like any other day. There's no reason to behave or act differently."

New Zealanders will be the first to know, Camping said. At 6 p.m. their time - 11 p.m. Friday in the Bay Area - a great earthquake will shake the island asunder, triggering an apocalypse that rolls relentlessly our way.

"It will continue across the Earth at such a rate," Camping said, "every Richter scale in the world and every news organization in the world will have no doubt - Judgment Day is here."

It will reach San Francisco around 6 p.m. PDT. The saved Christian souls will ascend to heaven, including those dead and buried. All others will remain as the Earth falls into fiery chaos.

To answer a second popular question: Camping and his followers will not gather at one location Saturday, preferring to stay home with their families.

Camping lives with his wife and says only one of his eight adult children shares his convictions. Few of his grandchildren have contact with him.

His follower Evans plans to huddle at home with his wife and children.

"I know I want to be with them when it happens, God have mercy," he said.

Mocking and concern

A few nonbelievers have suggested throwing a party outside Family Radio's headquarters Saturday night, mimosas in hand. Other skeptics, however, say the fact that Camping has assembled a dedicated following is nothing to laugh at.

Pastor Dave Nederhood, who knew Camping before the minister split from Nederhood's Christian Reformed Church in Alameda nearly 20 years ago, said a cult of personality surrounds Camping that makes this "every bit as dangerous as a Jim Jones or a Heaven's Gate situation."

Nederhood said Camping encouraged his followers to isolate themselves - "to stay at home and listen to Family Radio all day" - and of the few he's met, he's picked up on some "serious psychological damage."

"I just really feel a sense of sadness and apprehension for the people who've taken a big bite on this hook," Nederhood said. "All kidding aside, what are some of these folks going to be doing on Saturday when the one person they followed told them they would be in hell if they wake up on Sunday, May 22?"

Harold Camping of Family Radio in Oakland, Ca. on Saturday May 14, 2011, during his nightly radio program Open Forum. Camping has been saying that the world will end May 21, 2011.

Filmmaker Zeke Piestrup has been following Harold Camping for about a week, posting his teachings online. The minister says that "God is utilizing the media."

Harold Camping of Family Radio in Oakland, Ca. on Saturday May 14, 2011, talks with callers during his nightly radio program Open Forum. Camping has been saying that the world will end May 21, 2011.

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Kye Allums leaves GWU basketball team, will accept NCLR award this weekend

A transgender member of the George Washington women’s basketball team, whose ground breaking season was cut short by a pair of concussions, has said they won’t play their senior year.
The school announced that Kye Allums, who is physically female but wants to be referred to as 'he', has: 'Decided that it is in his best interest to no longer participate in intercollegiate athletics.'
In a statement released by the university, Allums continued: 'I alone came to this conclusion and I thank the athletic department for respecting my wishes.'

Allums made international headlines last year after announcing the wish, before the start of the season in November, to be referred to as a man.
Despite this, the 5 ft 11 player had delayed hormone treatments and gender-changing surgery in order to continue playing for the women's team.
Today's statement offered no further details, although GW said Allums has enrolled in classes for the fall semester.
Allums suffered two concussions early in the season and played in only eight games.
Speaking in March, Allums talked memory problems resulting from the concussions.
The blackouts led to lingering doubts about the player's medical fitness to participate in the next season.
Doctors at the time said that if the same were to happen to a football player, their days would certainly be over. A defiant, Allums said in March: “I’m a fighter. I’m still trying to come back.
I really do want to come back and play.'

Allums made history last year as the first openly transgender player in Division 1 college basketball.

The player instantly became an icon for transgender people in sports, and received thousands of letters and emails in support.


The announcement follows international controversy caused by gold medal winning South African track athlete Caster Semenya.

In 2009 the middle distance runner found herself at the centre of an diplomatic war of words, after athletics governing body IAAF questioned whether she possessed male attributes that gave her an advantage over other female athlete.

In 2008 Thomas Beatie, who was born Tracy Lagondino, had gender reassignment surgery to become legally male.

He hit the headlines after becoming the world's first pregnant man, after deciding to carry a baby for his wife who was unable to get pregnant.

  Despite the obvious physical obstacles, he was able to conceive because he had kept his female organs when switching genders.

Mr Beatie has just eight menstrual cycles a year instead of 12, and only half of these cycles are useful for conception as he has previously had a fallopian tube removed due to an ectopic pregnancy.

'I am only able to get pregnant four days out of the year,' he said.

'We'd need to try to conceive sooner rather than later.'

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May 21st Doomsday: Does Harold Camping’s Ministry Have Money?

May 21st, Doomsday is one of the hottest search topics in Google.
So in case you haven't heard by now, Harold Camping is the preacher who claims to have the calculations set on May 21, 2011 as The Judgment Day, Rapture Day, Doomstay  -or whatever you want to call it. Camping's apocalypse hype is getting worldwide attention.

Harold Camping, 89, is a former civil engineer and Bible scholar. He is president of the religious non-profit Family Radio based in Oakland, California which fervently preaches the message about the end of the world, now days away. He and a caravan of trucks have been plastering over 5,000 billboards, spending millions of dollars to spread the message.
So, where do they get the funding for all this?
Tax returns indicate that the radio ministry raised a staggering $100 million dollars over the past seven years. The ministry also owns 66 radio stations worldwide valued at $72 million in 2009.
Not to mention donations have soared as well. The contribution comes from radio listeners, according to Tom Evans, board member of Family Radio.

However, Camping claims that it is not about the money, but spreading the message and saving as many people as possible.
"When Judgment Day comes, if someone is a billionaire, how will they take their money with them? If we have any money left, and we will because we have to pay bills up to the very end "... it will all be destroyed because the world will be in a day of judgment.
"The money is not important at all. It's a vehicle to spread the judgment and a vehicle of the Lord."
According to Camping, "I've never taken one nickel out of Family Radio. Many evangelists have become very rich, but my wife and I live very modestly."
"We have no interest in talking about money. We never tell people what to do with their money, that's between them and God."
And in case one might wonder, Family Radio has no intention of giving away their money before May 21.
The explanation?
"There isn't going to be a Saturday. So certainly none of Family Radio's assets will be left because it won't matter," says Evans.
"The last thing people should be concerned with is what Family Radio is doing or what their assets are. They should be concerned with what I am doing and how I will stand before God."

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Preity Zinta denies adoption report

Recently the report that made news about Preity Zinta’s being adopted by filmmaker Kamaal Amrohi's son Shandar Amrohi has been rubbishes by the bubbly actress.

Miffed with this news being spread about her, Zinta today announced online, "Noone has or ever will adopt me or sign me in a will. Things said in interviews & reported are far from facts as the proof is in the pudding!"


Preity Zinta's adoptive father and even told the media, "I am preparing to make a will, where I will give Preity everything that I have. Anyway, daughters have a right to everything". He also added that his biography will reveal the reason as why he has adopted Preity.

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How’d Amanda Knox prosecutor get Google to shoot the messenger?

 Google slammed the door yesterday on Perugia Shock, Frank Sfarzo’s popular Amanda Knox blog, caving to pressure from prosecutor Giuliano Mignini. Convicted of abuse of office in 2009, Mignini is famous for harassing and wiretapping journalists who get too close to his investigations. The obsession we need to do our jobs he regards as madness.  He doesn’t appreciate Frank’s acid critiques of the global spectacle known as “The Amanda Show.”
Mignini has filed a lawsuit against Perugia Shock for  “defamation, carried out by means of a website,” reports the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). “The court order, which stemmed from Mignini’s claim, was issued on February 23 by Florentine Judge Paola Belsito. ”
Turns out Google got the word on March 25 via a fax from Florence’s lowly postal police. The giant U.S. company gave up Frank today–not with a bang or even a whimper. One would think Perugia Shock dealt with Italian national security, not a show trial.Many case observers thought Perugia Shock was bulletproof because a giant U.S. company hosted it but, no, Google required nothing more than an irate provincial prosecutor.

Does this look like freedom of expression? Couldn’t Google wait for an investigation or, like, a trial? Why is a lion pretending to be a lamb?

Smart, enigmatic, fond of hand-rolled cigarettes, Frank is the only reporter to cover every single hearing, the one Italian who writes in English for a global audience. Still, he lives in a land where the press slipped into  “partly free” in 2009, according to Freedom House.

His life in Perugia is a horror tale. As CPJ has documented, the price he’s paid for covering the Knox case ranges from being kicked by a cop in the courthouse to a brutal beating in October  by five officers, after which he spent a night in jail. They’ve now charged him with assault. So he faces two court actions and is looking at big fines and even jail time. In short: his treatment parallels the jailing of Mario Spezi, co-author of the Monster of Florence, who also ran afoul of Mignini.

When I spoke to Frank about Google’s action, he said he wasn’t sure how he’d defamed the prosecutor.“What did you say to anger Mignini?” I asked.“The truth!” “Google did it and did not tell me why, but that it was a judge order. I learned by email,” he’d told West Seattle Herald by phone from Perugia yesterday. “The lawsuit went to the court in Florence, and the judge in Florence made a decree of seizure of the blog.”

In an open letter to the president of Italy, prestigious CPJ described his beating as well as the petty harassment that cops practice against him in the courtroom (which I’ve witnessed first hand). Today, CPJ called on authorities to “drop the trumped-up defamation lawsuit against Perugia Shock.”

Several weeks ago, Google lost a defamation case in Italy, sparked by its own use of ”autocomplete suggestions” in search. Before that, three Google executives were convicted of invasion of privacy over a YouTube video that showed  the bullying of a child with Down’s Syndrome.

Frank Sfarzo appears often in Murder In Italy, my Amanda Knox book. But I’ll let him speak for himself. Here’s his final blog. And, yes, I do have a call into Google. I’ll update when I get more information.

THOSE STRANGE COINCIDENCES

Stefano Conti and Carla Vecchiotti, the independent experts who were supposed to deliver their study on knife and bra clasp to the court next May 9, just asked for a postponement. It seems that their attention is now towards a possible contamination occurred outside the test. They are right because, as we know, that DNA doesn’t fit any logic, it simply can’t be there. Non-blood DNA on the blade requires another explanation than the knife being the murder weapon. And even for the bra clasp, as we shall see, there are some problems…

THE LAST FAMOUS WORDS 

‘Patrick killed Meredith’

‘No, Amanda killed Meredith’

‘They called the 112 after the postal police arrived’

‘We surprised them while doing laundry’

‘There was glass on the clothes’

‘Amanda thrown her sweatshirt’

‘There’s a bleach receipt’

‘There was a strong bleach smell’

‘Raffaele brought his bloody shirt to the laundry’

‘The shoe-print is Raffaele’s’

‘The shoe-print on the pillowcase is Amanda’s’

‘We had the intuition that the knife was the murder weapon’

‘Raffaele was cutting girls in Puglia’

‘You are HIV positive, good night’

‘Amanda was a drug addict and was having sex with drug dealers’

…

 Impressive: not even one right thing. Not to mention what they are forced to admit in order to justify themselves:
‘Amanda said Patrick was the killer and yes, we believed her’ (!)
‘We didn’t know who Patrick was, so we had not even studied the phone printouts’(!)
’Yes, we didn’t record the interrogations’(!)
‘Yes, we burned 4 computers (!) And we didn’t pay damages’(not yet)
‘Yes, we weren’t able not even to find Nara who lives right there’(!)
‘Yes, we knew there weren’t buses that night and we didn’t say anything, we forgot’(!)
‘Yes, we turned the house upside-down while the scientific police still hadn’t finished their job’(!)
‘Yes, we weren’t able to find the bra clasp during three inspections. (!) The biologists can do our own job better than us: they came from Rome and found it immediately’ (!)
….
Mignini didn’t arrest these people. Mignini and Manuela Comodi defend these people.
But these people don’t defend Mignini and Comodi: they said ‘Goodbye, your problem now!’

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Natalee Holloway Joran van der Sloot Case Impacted by New Treaty

Tonight at 9:00 pm ET, Lifetime premieres its latest movie about the Natalee Holloway story called JUSTICE FOR NATALEE HOLLOWAY. I had the opportunity to watch the movie in advance and I am still on the fence as to whether I liked it or not.

First, the movie is entirely too long. Although it clocks in at the usual two hours (with commercials), after the first twenty minutes or so, I began to think it was dragging. That is never good. Second, the story tells us everything we already know. This was somewhat of a problem with Lifetime’s first movie about Natalee Holloway, but at least the writers opted to provide some alternate theories as to what could have occurred. This time everything is exactly as it played out in the media with little room for creative story lines and actually no justice at all for Natalee.

Justice for Natalee Holloway picks up four years after Natalee Holloway’s disappearance and explores just how much this has affected and changed Beth Twitty, Natalee’s mother. The movie brings back Tracy Pollan as Beth Twitty and Grant Show as George “Jug” Twitty, familiar faces that automatically bring the viewer right back into the story. Unfortunately, despite newer events, nothing much has changed. Despite the title, there is still no justice for Natalee and still no answers for Beth. Perhaps the movie felt like it was dragging so much because it was so painful to watch Beth continue to find some hope only to have it squashed in the next instance. Then when she is finally able to somewhat move on, the fifth anniversary happens and she again abandons herself to revert right back to the greiving, angry mother again. That is not to say she has no right or that her feelings are inappropriate. To the contary, that is to be expected, however, it is still painful to watch.

The movie does a good job of showing contrasting views of one person living their life at the same time as another. For example, there will be dual shots of Joran getting off a plan at the same time Beth gets off a plane, each on entirely different missions. I found that to be the most interesting part, to see how events coincided with each other. Also, although, I have followed this story all along, with each passing year, less is said about subsequent events. The movie, however, showed exactly how everything happened including Joran Van der Sloot’s multiple offers to reveal what happened to Natalee, but only for money, and never truthful. I was also unaware of what happened between Beth and Jug.

The final say? If you are someone that has been invested in this story from the start, you might want to tune in as a follow up to the last major telling of the story. However, having said that, you will also know exactly what happens. If you are like me and that doesn’t really matter, then tune in to Justice for Natalee Holloway tonight at 9 pm ET on Lifetime. For those of you that do not know what happened since Beth Twitty left Aruba five years ago, it is worth the viewing to catch you up.

What I would really like to know is what you thought of the Justice for Natalee Holloway movie. After you watch it, come back here and tell me what you thought. Was it a good follow up movie? Did it tie up loose ends? Will there ever truly be justice for Natalee and peace for Beth? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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Osama Bin Laden Dead | Obama Announced, Osama Bin Laden Dead

Osama Bin Laden is dead, President Obama announced Sunday night, in a televised address to the nation. His death was the result of a U.S. operation launched today in Abbottabad, Pakistan, against a compound where bin Laden was believed to be hiding, according to U.S. intelligence. After a firefight, a small team of American forces killed bin Laden and took possession of his body, the president said.
“Tonight I can report to the American people and the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden,” Obama said during brief remarks at the White House.
“Justice has been done,” he said, in comments that marked a formal end of the manhunt for the most visible and emotionally-charged symbol of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The president said U.S. intelligence operatives received a tip in August on bin Laden’s whereabouts, which ultimately led to Sunday’s attack. Obama said he determined last week that the U.S. had enough reliable information to take action; by Sunday morning, he had authorized “a small team of Americans” to conduct an operation targeting bin Laden.
“After a fire fight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body,” the president said. “No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties.”
Obama said the 9/11 attacks that bin Laden and his lieutenants orchestrated nearly 10 years ago remain “the worst attack on the American people in our history” and said the images of the crumbling Twin Towers “are seared into our national memory.”
The president emphasized that Americans “did not choose this fight” against al Qaeda, but rather, “it came to our shores.” He praised U.S. military and intelligence professionals for working “tirelessly to achieve this outcome.” To the families of 9/11 victims, he noted that the U.S. has “never forgotten your loss.”
“Tonight, let us think back to the sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11,” Obama said. “I know that it has, at times, frayed. Yet today’s achievement is a testament to the greatness of our country and the determination of the American people.”
Both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush had targeted bin Laden during their presidencies, and both had failed to either capture him or kill him. The failure to snare bin Laden weighed most heavily, perhaps, on the Bush Administration, which occupied the White House during the 9/11 attacks, and the al Qaeda leader’s killing falls exactly eight years to the day when Bush famously declared “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq.

Bush said in a statement that Obama called him Sunday night to inform him of “the momentous achievement” of bin Laden’s death.
“I congratulated him and the men and women of our military and intelligence communities who devoted their lives to this mission. They have our everlasting gratitude,” Bush said. “The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done.”
Clinton, who was president when the first World Trade Center bombing occurred in 1993, issued a statement calling bin Laden’s death “a profoundly important moment not just for the families of those who lost their lives on 9/11 and in al-Qaida’s other attacks but for people all over the world who want to build a common future of peace, freedom, and cooperation for our children.”
In a conference call with reporters just after President Obama spoke, senior administration officials provided a detailed sketch of how the intelligence on bin Laden’s whereabouts was gathered.
Intelligence officials had been conducting lengthy reconnaissance work prior to receiving their key tip in August. According to senior administration officials, suspected terrorists in custody since 9/11 -- including the attack’s mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- identified a courier who had a close relationship with bin Laden.
“This man was one of the few al Qaeda couriers trusted by bin Laden,” one senior administration official said. “They indicated he might be living with and protecting bin Laden. But for years we were unable to identify his true name or his location. Four years ago we uncovered his identity… About two years ago, after months of persistent effort, we identified areas of Pakistan where the courier and his brother operated. Still, we were unable to pinpoint exactly where they lived due to extensive operational security on their part. The fact that they were being so careful reinforced our belief that we were on the right track.”

When the intelligence community finally pinpointed the courier’s location, they were “shocked by what we saw,” said this official.

The neighborhood in Abbottabad was “relatively affluent with lots of retired military,” this official continued, and was insulated from urban areas or places susceptible to natural disaster and terrorist attacks. The home was “roughly eight times larger than the other homes in the area,” and it was surrounded by 12-to-18-foot-high walls, topped with barbed wire. It had two security gates and a value of roughly $1 million, although it lacked telephone and Internet connections.

An even more telling clue for intelligence operatives: The occupants of the house were burning their trash rather than putting it out for collection. 

One senior administration official suggested bin Laden had been staying at the compound for at least six months without moving. Bin Laden was known to have regularly shifted locations to evade capture, so it’s unusual that he chose to stay in on spot for such an extended period.

More recently, the Obama administration had reduced the number of drone strikes in the area -- while ramping up surveillance -- in an effort to give the al Qaeda leader a heightened sense of safety in his home.

Prior to the operation, Obama convened nine meetings with his national security team to review intelligence. According to a White House aide, “Principals met formally an additional five times themselves and their deputies met seven times.”

The president made the decision to undertake the operation at 8:20 a.m. on April 29th in the White House’s Diplomatic Room before he left to survey tornado damage in Alabama. Tom Donilon, his National Security Advisor, prepared the formal orders and convened the principals at 3 p.m. that same day to complete the planning.

The next day, without giving off a hint of the weighty operation being planned, Obama prepared for and delivered his address at the annual White House Correspondent's Association dinner. The next morning he played nine holes of golf.

Final preparations were made on Sunday. At 2 p.m., the president met with top advisers for an hour and half, at which point he returned to the Situation Room for an additional briefing. Twenty minutes after that, he learned that bin Laden had been “tentatively identified.” By 7 p.m. he was told it was highly probable that bin Laden was at the compound. By 8:30 p.m., he received an additional briefing. He signed off on the attack after that.

No other intelligence operatives in other countries were told of the attack before it occurred -- including Pakistani operatives -- according to administration officials. Vice President Joseph Biden informed congressional leadership of the attack shortly before it took place, aides on the Hill told the Huffington Post.

Al Qaeda, Obama, Osama Bin Laden, Bin Laden Dead, Osama, Osama Bin Laden Dead, Osama Dead, World News,

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