Counterterrorism police arrested nine men in U.K. terror raids


Counterterrorism police arrested nine men in an alleged kidnapping plot today — a plan that reportedly involved torturing and beheading a British Muslim soldier and broadcasting the killing on the Internet.

The kidnapping plot was the first of its kind to be uncovered in Britain, according to counterterrorism officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

Police would not confirm the potential victim’s occupation or details of the plot that was unravelled in the predominantly Pakistani neighbourhood in central England. A dozen houses and two Islamic bookshops were cordoned off and being searched.

Since suicide bombers killed 52 people in London on July 7, 2005 — killings carried out by Muslim extremists who grew up in Britain — counterterrorism units have conducted several raids across Britain. Several sweeps have been conducted in Birmingham, including a raid in August when suspects were arrested in an alleged plot to use liquid explosives to blow up at least 10 planes between flying between Britain and the United States.

The potential victim of the latest plot — a British Muslim soldier — was under police protection, Sky News reported, adding that the kidnapping was going to end in an “Iraq-style” execution. The British Broadcasting Corp. also reported that the plan was to kidnap a soldier.

“The threat of terrorism has been growing over the years,” said David Shaw, a police spokesman in Birmingham, adding that the current investigation had been in the works for months before today’s raid.

Birmingham is the hometown of Britain’s first Muslim soldier to be killed in Afghanistan last year — a death that prompted militant Islamist websites to denounce Cpl. Jabron Hashmi, 24, as a traitor. One site — that of the British sect al-Ghurabaa — posted an image of the soldier surrounded by flames.

Last year, a London street vendor was sentenced to six years in prison in a plot to kill a decorated British soldier. Abu Baker Mansha was accused of targeting Cpl. Mark Byles, whose address and other materials, were found in Mansha’s apartment.

Byles was awarded a military cross for bravery following an attack in which several Iraqi insurgents were killed — exploits covered by British newspapers. One of the articles with Byles’ name was circled and found in Mansha’s apartment.

The Defence Ministry said 330 Muslims are serving in the British armed forces. It would not comment on reports that the intended victim was a soldier.

Dozens of people have been kidnapped in Iraq, and captors have often broadcast their pictures on the Internet.

One widely publicized kidnap-slaying was that of 62-year-old Kenneth Bigley from Liverpool. He was abducted from a Baghdad suburb where he was working in September 2004 and beheaded three weeks later. His death was captured on video.

“People don’t trust their own children any more,” said Shabir Hussain, chairman of the Ludlow Road Mosque in Birmingham. “You feel like you should challenge your son or daughter: `Where are you going at night? What are you watching on TV? What are you doing on the Internet?’

In a raid last year in London, a man was shot by police, sparking complaints from Muslim communities across the country.

“The police and government seem to be against Muslims and are trying to turn us against one another,” said Kadir Mohammad, 18, who lives in one of the raided neighbourhoods.

Britain’s MI-5 has said it set up a network of eight new regional offices across the country in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, including a centre in the West Midlands.

The service had previously had regional branches in Northern Ireland, but uses the new offices to liaise with police in counterterrorism work.

Sky TV reported that British investigators contacted Pakistani intelligence agents four days ago about the plot. The Foreign Office would not confirm there were such discussions.

In Islamabad, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said, “The British authorities have confirmed to us that there is no Pakistan connection.”

She gave no other details on the contact between authorities in the two countries.

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Ultra-Tough Nanotech Materials


Researchers have used clay nanoparticles to modify a polymer material, making it 20 times stiffer, 4 times tougher, and able to withstand temperatures that are more than twice as hot. The new materials could eventually be used in rugged lightweight fabrics, less-bulky packing materials, and much lighter car parts.

The work is part of a growing effort to design materials with nanoscale structures that mimic those found in nature, such as those in ultra-strong seashells. (See "Silicon and Sun.") In the current work, researchers at MIT's program in polymer science and technology greatly improved the properties of an elastic polyurethane used in biomedical applications by dispersing tiny clay particles throughout it.


Source: money-making-machines.blogspot.com

Tags: ultra-strong | stiffer | polyurethane | nanoparticles | lightweight | less-bulky | fabrics | dispersing | Ultra-Tough | withstand | Twice | tougher | times | temperatures | structures | seashells | rugged | Properties | program | POLYMER | PARTICLES | packing | nanoscale | modify | mimic | making | lighter | improved | growing | greatly | eventually | effort | Clay | Biomedical | applications | Technology | SILICON | RESEARCHERS | nanotech

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Pole Dancing Around Lisa Ann Taylor's Arrest


JIM STINGL

Having your arrest show up on the news normally is poison for your career.

Unless you're an exotic dancer. It just makes the bad girl badder.

"A $10,000 a nite callgirl? That's what I was arrested for. You've seen me on the news, now have your picture taken with me," says the ad for Melissa Wolf at On the Border, the "gentlemen's club" where she'll be posing and performing all this week starting Monday.

The half-page ad ran last week in the Shepherd Express, and the pitch also appears on the club's Web site.

Wolf, whose off-stage name is Lisa Ann Taylor, has found a way to squeeze lemonade from the lemons tossed at her by police and the Gwinnett County district attorney in Georgia, where her million-dollar mansion in a gated community outside Atlanta was raided this month.

The former Penthouse centerfold and another woman were arrested on charges of prostitution, racketeering and procuring drugs for clients. Authorities are claiming the mansion was rocking till all hours of the night.

The ad capitalizes on that, too. Come see the performer that police called the "mansion madam."

Taylor has performed in Milwaukee many times over the years, which has fueled another little nugget of the investigation into her case. The police are poring over customer lists said to possibly include men from suburban Milwaukee.

"I'm booking her because she needs a shot," said Danny Hay, co-owner of On the Border, 10741 S. 27th St., Franklin. "I'm almost positive we'll do really well. I'm hoping you guys blow it way out of proportion."

Done.

He said Taylor has performed as Melissa Wolf at his clubs many times, going back to the 1980s at Hoops, the rock club turned strip joint that used to be on 26th and State.

If you're doing the math in your head, yes, that makes Taylor a non-traditional pole dancer. At age 42, she told me she had been planning to retire, but the arrest has sidetracked her real estate sales career and pushed her back on stage.

"I haven't been given much of a choice," Taylor said when I reached her Saturday on her cell phone as she shopped for earrings in Allentown, Pa., where her not-guilty tour stopped last week.

"Would you buy real estate from me?" she said. "Probably not."

Publicity from the arrest and sensational accusations has given her take-it-off dancing career a jolt. She says she needs the money to pay her mortgage and lawyer bills.

"And I can still do the splits, believe it or not," she said. "The fans have been coming out in droves, and they think it's BS what's been going on."

Taylor professes her innocence but doesn't want to talk in detail about the allegations for fear she'll make it worse. Her bondsman has given her permission to travel.

Hay said all he knows is that Melissa Wolf is his friend and she's always been able to fill his club with customers. If she's done anything illegal, he's not aware of it, he said.

"We live in America where we are innocent until proven guilty - or we used to be," Hay said.

In this instance, though, that whiff of guilt is Melissa Wolf's biggest draw.

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Icy Roads - Treacherous?


staff reporter

A major accident on Highway 401 near Port Hope was just one of hundreds of crashes in Southern Ontario after a heavy blast of winter made for slick driving.

The highway east of Port Hope was still closed late in the afternoon as the OPP investigated a crash between a small car and a transport truck.

The victims in that accident had to be pulled out from the vehicle and were sent to hospital with serious injuries.

There were more than 500 collisions Saturday along the major Greater Toronto highways, OPP Staff Sgt. Bruce Pritchard said.

Freezing drizzle made the drive into the city treacherous in stretches, although most of the accidents were minor.

The majority of the crashes were along the 401 and the 404, with cars sliding into the ditch or guard rails. Around 10 a.m. a tractor-trailer jack-knifed across the 401 westbound at Whites Rd. and caused two lanes of the highway to close.

At Pearson International Airport, about 10 flights were cancelled and more than three dozen delayed as crews worked to de-ice each plane leaving the busy hub, creating a backlog of flights waiting to leave.

"It was widespread. You're seeing a bit of a snowball effect," said Greater Toronto Airport Authority spokeperson Scott Armstrong, who added that the cancellations are still just "a bit higher than usual."

According to Environment Canada, that wintry weather is here to stay with light snow continuing today and lows near -16C Monday.

The collisions weren't the only surprise on the roads. Const. Angela Diase might have expected a typical call when she stopped to investigate a van pulled over on Hwy. 407 at Markham Rd. Instead, Diase found a woman in labour and, before an ambulance could arrive, had a healthy baby boy wrapped in her jacket, OPP said.

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Dead woman served jail time




A Northern Kentucky woman whose partially clothed body was found in the Ohio River Thursday in Ludlow had had extensive run-ins with police and been convicted of prostitution.

A man walking his dog spotted the body of Krystal Michelle Coy, 23, a few feet from the shore at the foot of Butler Street.

The death is being investigated as a homicide by the Kenton County Police Department, which is typical until a cause of death is determined.

According to records at the Kenton County Detention Center, Coy, whose last know arrest was Latonia, has faced at least 22 charges in Kenton County since March 2004, and been convicted of prostitution and loitering for prostitution purposes.

Among the other charges: giving an officer a false name, alcohol intoxication in a public place, disorderly conduct, operating on a suspended license, failure to appear in court and contempt of court. Her last visit to the jail was Dec. 21, when she was sentenced to serve 10 days in jail for probation violation. There was also an active bench warrant issued in October for Coy's arrest in Boone County, on a charge of theft of services for under $300.

Kenton County Commonwealth Attorney Rob Sanders said because an initial medical examination found that there was no severe trauma to the body, authorities would check for drug use.

"We're awaiting the police report to see what they find, then we'll try to locate the last people who saw her alive and try to piece the puzzle together," Sanders said.

"The bottom line is a partially clothed body doesn't just appear along the river. Somebody knows what happened."

Kenton County Deputy Coroner Ron Cook said results of an autopsy should be known early next week.

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Navy Searches For 3 From Copter Crash


ALLISON HOFFMAN,

Associated Press Writer

Navy vessels about 50 miles off the California coast searched Saturday for three crew members of a Navy helicopter that crashed during a training operation.

The Friday crash killed one crew member and left the remaining three missing as darkness fell over the Pacific.

The sailor died after being pulled alive from the water, said Navy spokesman Cmdr. Jack Hanzlik.

"It's a sad time whenever we lose shipmates like this, so our hearts and prayers go out to the families," Hanzlik said.

The helicopter, based at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado, was on a training mission when it crashed at about 5:30 p.m. EST. The MH-60S, commonly known as a Seahawk, was on a mission off the USS Bonhomme Richard, near San Clemente Island, directly west of the Camp Pendleton Marine base.

Hanzlik said the helicopter crew put out a mayday call before the crash. Navy sailors and Marines who were training with them aboard ship arrived at the crash site in inflatable boats within minutes.

The sailor pulled alive from the water died aboard the Bonhomme Richard while receiving medical attention, the Navy said.

His name was being withheld pending family notification. The names and rank of the others aboard also had not been released.

It was not clear whether mechanical malfunction or pilot error might have contributed to the crash, the Navy said. An investigation was under way.

Hanzlik said he did not know what type of maneuver the helicopter was performing when it crashed.

The USS Bonhomme Richard is an amphibious assault craft that took Marines to Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami.

The ship was training with two other Navy ships, the destroyer USS Chung-Hoon and the cruiser USS Chosin. Both of those ships were also participating in the rescue mission, Hanzlik said.

Two additional vessels, the destroyer USS Milius and the amphibious craft USS Rushmore, were deployed to assist with the search.

The MH-60 Sierra is a twin-turbine craft based on the UH-60L Black Hawk and the Navy's SH-60B Seahawk, according to the manufacturer, United Technologies Corp.'s Sikorsky Aircraft. It is designed to operate off aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers and frigates, ranging up to 100 nautical miles from the ship.

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Singapore Snubs Nigeria, Others; Executes Tochi Iwuchukwu

SINGAPORE yesterday snubbed Nigeria, the United Nations, Amnesty International, and a host of other anti-death penalty activists when it hanged convicted Nigerian, Tochi Amara Iwuchukwu (21), and one Nelson Malachy Okeke (35), said to be stateless. Both were hanged at dawn yesterday.

Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau confirmed the executions in a statement.

"The appeals of both Tochi and Malachy to the Court of Appeal and to the President (S.R. Nathan) for clemency have been turned down. Their sentences were carried out this morning at Changi Prison," it said.

Last Tuesday President Olusegun Obasanjo in a letter appealed to Singapore for clemency on behalf of Tochi. A statement from his office said that "President Olusegun Obasanjo has sought the personal intervention of the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, in the imminent execution of a Nigerian, Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi, in Singapore," adding that the President "had asked that the death sentence be commuted to imprisonment."

In reply, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wrote to President Obasanjo to explain why his government was rejecting his appeal for clemency.

"Mr. Tochi has committed a serious offence under Singapore law," Lee said, adding that the amount of drugs he carried amounted to more than 48,000 doses of heroin on the streets.

Lee said that his government "takes a firm stance against drugs to deter Singaporeans and others from importing drugs into Singapore or using the country as a transit hub for narcotics," and had made its position publicly known."

And in Lagos, Tochi's lawyer accused the government doing too little, too late to help his client. The lawyer, Princewill Akpakpa who is also head of litigation at the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) said "the Nigerian government just woke up at the eleventh hour... belatedly writing letters to authorities in Singapore" to grant him clemency, said in a televised interview after the execution.

Akpakpa said that several letters he wrote last year to authorities in Nigeria, including the parliament, after Tochi was convicted, were neither acknowledged nor acted upon.

"The Nigerian governnment failed woefully. It did not look at the merit of Tochi's case," he said.

"Tochi did not know the content of the parcel that was given to him," at the airport in Dubai for delivery in Singapore, said the lawyer, who said he visited Singapore several times and led several campaigns in favour of Tochi after his conviction.

A Nigerian embassy spokeswoman told AFP they had informed Tochi's family about the execution and are waiting for instruction on what to do with the body.

In Geneva, Philip Alston, the UN Human Rights Council's special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said Tochi's trial did not respect legal safeguards around the presumption of innocence.

Singapore law provides that a person caught in possession of illegal substances is assumed to be trafficking, thus putting the burden of proof on the accused.

"It is a fundamental human right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty," Alston said.

Tochi was arrested trying to smuggle 727.02 grammes (more than 25 ounces) of heroin through Changi Airport in November 2004. He said he came to Singapore to try his luck at football clubs.

About 10 activists and sympathisers held a sombre overnight vigil outside the suburban prison compound, hanging Tochi's football kit on the wall above photographs of him surrounded by candles.

Shortly after 6:00 am (2200 GMT), the time when prisoners are normally hanged, each protester laid a bunch of red roses in front of the photographs.

Malachy was charged as an accomplice.

Under Singapore's tough anti-drug laws, the death penalty is mandatory for anyone caught trafficking more than 15 grammes of heroin, 30 grammes of cocaine or 500 grammes of cannabis.

Tochi said he was given a bag containing the substance at Dubai airport to pass on to a man in Singapore but was unaware it contained heroin.

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Lugovoi denies role in Alexander Litvinenko's death



HENRY MEYER,
Associated Press Writer


The man reported by British media to be a suspect in the murder of a former Russian agent in London hit out Saturday at "lies, provocation and government propaganda," denying any role in the radiation poisoning death of Alexander Litvinenko.

Andrei Lugovoi told The Associated Press that he viewed the reports in Britain's Guardian newspaper and Sky News that he is a suspect in the murder as an attempt by the British authorities to make up for the lack of evidence against him.

"This is all lies, provocation and government propaganda by the United Kingdom," he said. "They are trying to make up for their weak hand."

Sky News reported Friday that British prosecutors believe they have enough evidence to charge Lugovoi.

Investigators have identified the teapot believed to have contained the radioactive tea, which eventually killed Litvinenko in November, Sky News said, citing unnamed Scotland Yard officials. ABC News had a similar report, citing an unidentified official.

The reports cap a week of media speculation on the direction of the British investigation into the death. The Guardian newspaper also reported Friday that police were focusing on Lugovoi and had sufficient evidence for prosecutors to decide whether to file charges against him, citing unnamed government officials.

Scotland Yard's investigation has centered on Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, two Russian ex-KGB officers who were present at the Millennium Hotel in central London when Litvinenko fell ill on Nov. 1 after contamination from a rare, radioactive substance.

ABC News said the teapot, found at the Millennium Hotel, remained in use for several weeks after the poisoning, adding that its radiation readings were extremely high.

Of the 13 people who tested positive for contamination with Polonium-210 since Litvinenko was poisoned, eight worked at the hotel. Two others who tested positive for the rare radioactive material also visited the hotel's bar.

Litvinenko, 43, died on Nov. 23. The former KGB agent fled to Britain after leaving Russia and was granted asylum. In exile, he became a vocal opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him in a deathbed statement of masterminding his death.

Russian officials have denied any involvement in his murder. The politically-charged case has driven relations between London and Moscow to post-Cold War lows.

In a reminder of the tensions, the Russian Prosecutor General's office on Saturday reaffirmed that Russia would not extradite Lugovoi to Britain.

"A Russian citizen cannot be extradited to another country under the Russian Constitution," Natalia Fyodorova, a spokeswoman for Prosecutor-General's office, told the AP.

She added that Russia would not put him on trial itself if Britain filed charges against Lugovoi, only if the Russian investigators looking into Litvinenko's murder decided to prosecute him.

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Korean hookers busted in US visa scam


Police have busted 42 prostitutes for using forged documents to get a US visa. Police in Seoul also detained a broker identified as Kim (47) on charges of faking a variety of documents to help them get the visas.

According to police, Kim and his Korean-American accomplice had been mocking up bank account records, job certificates and Family Register documents for their clients and training them for the visa interviews since September 2004, charging KRW 4 million (approximately USD $4,363.20) per person.

The two made profits of W1 billion in all by doing so. Half of their 500 clients succeeded in getting a US visa. Their clients included mostly 20-something women who wanted the visa to work in the sex trade in large US cities.

Kim, one of the women, told police the number of customers here dropped after new anti-prostitution laws were introduced two years ago, and word is that prostitutes can earn at least USD $10,000 a month in the US.

"As far as we know, some 200 Korean women were caught for prostitution in the US this year alone and 100 of them were deported," a police officer said. "The number of cases where the US Embassy seizes forged visa application documents rose to 200 a month. This is a serious stumbling block to Koreans being included in the US visa waiver program."

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Bahrain denies Thai investigators are in Manama to probe prostitution ring


Habib Toumi

Manama - Bahraini officials yesterday denied recent media reports that a police unit from Thailand was conducting investigations in Manama into an alleged prostitution ring involving Thai women.

The report, first published in a Thai newspaper, said that the newly-formed police Transnational Sex Trafficking Unit was coordinating with Bahraini police in preparation for a crackdown on a highly-organised prostitution ring supplying Thai women.

Senseless

The Thai chief of the Crimes Against Children, Juveniles and Women Suppression Division, which oversees the unit, was quoted as saying that "although most Thai prostitutes in Bahrain are working there of their own volition, this is still regarded as transnational human trafficking."

But Bahraini officials denied the presence of the Thai unit in the country. "The thought that there is a Thai investigation unit operating in Bahrain without the knowledge or cooperation of the Bahraini authorities is senseless," interior ministry media head Mohammad Bin Daina said.

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Indian sleaze saga: Sex, CDs and murder?


Lalit Kumar

It began with a mysterious disappearance. It turned into a political drama. And on Monday, the Kavita Rani murder case acquired an even more sensational hue, with Ravindra Pradhan, the prime accused in her murder, claiming that she used to make films of her sex acts with ministers, and senior officers, to blackmail them.

Pradhan, who surrendered in Noida on Sunday, claimed on Monday that he and one Yogesh, who formed a trio with Kavita to extract money from her victims, had strangled her to death after a row between him and Kavita. The row was about sharing Rs 35 lakh allegedly extracted from former UP minister Meerajuddin of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, for returning him a CD of his "obscene acts" with Kavita.

Ravindra also said Kavita told him she possessed similar CDs of former Meerut University vice-chancellor, RP Singh and UP fine arts minister, Brijendra Pratap Singh. He also suggested she may have had a CD of current UP minister Babulal too. "Otherwise," he queried, "why would the two exchange 57 phone calls in a week or so?"

Interestingly, even as he 'indicted' the RLD politicians, he categorically cleared Samajwadi Party minister Kiranpal of any hand in the murder or the sleaze.

Ravindra told the media all this at a press meet organised by the Meerut police, at which the police seemed to have tied themselves in more knots than the Noida police did in the Anant kidnapping case.

According to a senior police officer, "Kavita had been at her parental home, in Bulandshahr, for a few days, until the afternoon of October 23, when her brother dropped her at the Hapur Chowk to catch a bus for her hostel room in Meerut. But, from there, Ravindra and Yogesh took her to Ghaziabad, where they stayed the night. Next morning, they drove her towards Bulandshar, after sedating her with two tablets of Alprax . On the way, they strangled her to death, and dumped the body, weighed down with stones in her own bag, in the Ganga Canal . And they burnt her belongings."

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Former Miss Nevada Goes 'On the Record'

This is a partial transcript from "On the Record," January 25, 2007, that has been edited for clarity.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Take a young beauty queen, a pageant winner, toss in some raunchy photos, a few rumors, and what do you get? One racy scandal.

You know this one. When sexy pix of Miss Nevada surfaced, they landed Katie Rees in very steamy hot water.

The pictures? They were old. But Katie, out in the cold. Yes, the Rees reign ended. Donald trump took her tiara. She's fired. Not fair, Katie says. Miss USA, Tara Conner, got rehab and a second chance.

The scandal started last month, but it's far from over. Katie isn't just speaking out. She's now fighting back too. And the former Miss Nevada is right here to go "On the Record."

Joining us are former Miss Nevada, Katie Rees, and her attorney Mario Torres. Welcome to both of you.

Katie, what happened?

KATIE REES, FORMER MISS NEVADA: Gosh, I don't know. I just thought I was being a regular girl, having a good time with my friends. Next thing I know, it was the biggest, hot scandal.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, let's get a few dates in this. First of all, when did you become Miss Nevada in the Miss USA pageant?

REES: October 7 was the evening of the pageant.

VAN SUSTEREN: When did you get fired by Donald Trump?

REES: Around Christmas time.

VAN SUSTEREN: Was that before Tara Conner got her second chance or after that?

REES: It was after Tara Conner got her second chance. I remember watching it on TV.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, back me up. Let's talk about these pictures because that's what has gotten you in this dispute with Donald Trump. Where were the pictures taken?

REES: They were just at a local bar that my girlfriends and I used to go to in Tampa.

VAN SUSTEREN: How long ago were they taken?

REES: When I was about 19. I had just come home from college, so almost four years ago.

VAN SUSTEREN: How many pictures are there, about, that are the subject of this controversy?

REES: To be honest with you, I'm not quite sure.

VAN SUSTEREN: How old are you now?

REES: I'm 22.

VAN SUSTEREN: So the pictures were taken about three years before the pageant?

REES: That's right.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Did they end up on the Internet? Is that the problem?

REES: Actually, I'm told that the friend at the time, who had taken the pictures, sold them to a station or something.

VAN SUSTEREN: Was that sold after you became Miss Nevada or was that before?

REES: No, ma'am, it was after I became Miss Nevada. It was just around the time of Tara Conner.

VAN SUSTEREN: So obviously somebody got wind of the fact that it could stir up some trouble for you.

REES: Yes. I can imagine. I actually don't think that that was so much the reason as to maybe monetary value.

VAN SUSTEREN: How much do you think the person got for these pictures?

REES: I honestly don't know. But I can imagine that it would be worth it.

VAN SUSTEREN: Mario, how much money do you think that these pictures sold for?

MARIO TORRES, ATTORNEY FOR KATIE REES: Well, Greta, I would probably say they probably sold for somewhere in the neighborhood or a few thousand dollars, if that. Many of these tabloids, as you are well aware of, they try to emphasize these issues and get as much media exposure as they can from exposing these things that happen in many of the celebrities and Miss USA, Miss Universe in the past in order to make a quick buck. I would say somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,000 to $3,000.

I think the point we have to emphasize, though, with the pictures, is that Katie did not take those pictures for any keep type of monetary gain. She was out with a bunch of her friends, being a 19-year-old. Did they get out of hand? Likely. She was being egged on by her friends. She took the pictures. And now, obviously regrets them.

But again, isolated incident. It happened several weeks ago, way before she was even thinking about participating as Miss Nevada.

VAN SUSTEREN: Katie, when you signed up for the pageant for Miss Nevada, when did you first start the whole procedure?

REES: I'm sorry?

VAN SUSTEREN: When did you first get involved with the pageant? When? Was it last August? When did you get started with this pageant?

REES: It was around summertime that I started preparing for the pageant. I had always watched the pageant my whole life as a little girl. And I always wanted to be Miss USA. But it was around summertime that I really took it seriously and knew that I was going to go for it.

VAN SUSTEREN: When you signed up for the pageant, do they give you some kind of contract, some sort of morals clause. Did they ask you anything like nude photos or anything like that?

REES: To be honest with you, no. But after you do win a state, they do give you a contract stating those things. Yes, ma'am.

VAN SUSTEREN: But that's after you have won it?

REES: Right.

VAN SUSTEREN: And I take it — is the agreement — or maybe I should pay that back to you, Mario.

Is the agreement that, from the moment you become Miss Nevada, you promise to be — must hold up some sort of standards of Miss Nevada from that day onward? Is that the way the contract reads, Mario, or not?

TORRES: It does read like that. And the prior contract that she signed, likewise asked her to reveal any type of pictures that are scantily — or that she was aware of that she had taken that, in any way, are scantily clad and/or reveal anything of here.

As previously noted, Katie did not recall taking these pictures. She was with friends. She was being silly. And it was a friend of hers that actually took the pictures.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Are these pictures — obviously, the ones we show have you in clothes, at least, the best I can see. We haven't shown them all.

Katie, are you scantily clothed in some of the pictures we don't have that were obviously disseminated?

REES: No ma'am. I just — I was wearing just a tank top and jeans, just out with my girlfriends.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. We're going to take a quick break. And we're going to find out this whole — with Donald Trump, what you're going to do, what Trump said, when we come back. We have much more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAN SUSTEREN: Well Rosie, move over, Miss Nevada Katie Rees stripped of her title after some raunchy old photos surfaced, wants to take on the Donald. Her tiara may be toast but Katie, she is on the mission. Still with us, former Miss Nevada, Katie Rees and her attorney Mario Torres.

Katie, did you speak directly to Donald Trump after your pictures surfaced on -- in public?

REES: No, ma'am. I haven't had a chance to speak with Mr. Donald Trump.

VAN SUSTEREN: If he's watching tonight, what do you want to say to him?

REES: Well, I guess I'd just like to say that I really do admire him. I think he's a very smart businessman and he did what he had to do. I'm just -- you know, it's just a shame that I didn't get the capture the title of Miss USA, so he could really get to know me.

VAN SUSTEREN: do you think you were treated fairly? Now, Tara Connor who was almost stripped of her crown for some partying, went onto rehab and she's getting a second chance. Do you think that the two of you -- that both are treated correctly?

REES: No, I believe that there was a huge double standard given, only because my actions were not at the time of my title of Miss Nevada and also, you know, I wasn't caught doing illegal drugs or -- or you know, kissing Miss Teen Nevada at the time of my title.

VAN SUSTEREN: In terms of -- what do you think of those pictures?

REES: I'm not proud of them, but, you know, I think people are giving me a lot more heat for them than I really deserve. You know, most of my life I never got in trouble, so sometimes it is hard to interview knowing that -- this is something that I -- in some people's eyes something I did wrong. They're just perceived wrong, to be honest with you, it's just a bunch of girls being silly.

VAN SUSTEREN: Who told you that you're out?

REES: Actually my director, the director of Miss Nevada gave me a call and let me know that she had received a phone call from the Miss Universe organization stating that my crown was going to be taken away and she just simply asked how I would like the letter, if I wanted it FedEx or in the mail? I never actually heard from the Miss Universe organization, except for by letter.

VAN SUSTEREN: How do you react to all of this? I mean, how do you feel about all of this?

REES: I'm disappointed and you know, I'm not proud of the pictures and it's not a fun thing to go through, but I'm really just turning it around and -- and making the most out of it, I guess, just being strong.

VAN SUSTEREN: Mario, is it over or is there some sort of challenge that can be done to -- you know file anything or fight this at this point?

TORRES: To be quite honest, it has only just begun. We are -- let me clarify first, the points on the inequity argument, here. We are in a system where our legal system is always based in courts of equity, and that is nothing more than to be fair. The court systems try to be fair. In this instance we have a basic inequity. That is Katie Rees is being treated completely different than Miss USA, Tara Connor. We have circumstances where Katie Rees, during her reign as Miss Nevada, did nothing wrong, acted completely appropriate versus Tara Connor, which did not.

VAN SUSTEREN: Let me ask -- before we run out of time, Katie, assuming that your title doesn't get restored, what's in your future? What do you want to do?

REES: To be honest with you, I'd really like to pursue my acting career. I've been a sag actress since I was 7-years-old. I have the same agent, Randal Edwards at the Talent Network Atlanta, since I was 7-years- old, and he's been backing me the whole way and this Monday, my good friends at Jet, at The Mirage, Jet nightclub are throwing me a huge party and they're going crown me the queen of Jet Las Vegas, so right now, my friends are just celebrating the fact that I'm being so strong and they're proud of me no matter what.

VAN SUSTEREN: So we're going to see an acting career out of you?

REES: I hope so. That was the plan before all of this, anyway.

VAN SUSTEREN: And of course, now it has been aborted and we'll have to see what does happen to it.

Katie, good luck to you. Mario, thank you very much for joining us.

TORRES: Thank you of that.

VAN SUSTEREN: And we wish you the best. Thank you.

REES: Thank you.

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Top 10 Viruses Of 2006



The absence of large-scale virus epidemics has, once again, been the most notable characteristic of the year. In fact, the list of frequently detected viruses during 2006 has varied little throughout the year. This does not mean, however, that there is a lower risk of infection. What is happening is that the attacks have become more silent and more specific, as they are increasingly motivated by financial gain rather than simply gratuitously attacking users’ computers. A report produced by anti-virus companies in the third quarter of 2006 revealed that 72 percent of Internet threats were financially motivated.

So, malware is just as prevalent as always, if not more so, and more pernicious, if that were possible, than before, as today's attackers are after your money. Despite what people may think the risk of virus infection is greater than ever. Firstly, due to the strategy of simultaneously distributing numerous variants of a malicious code, as was the case with Bagle or Gaobot, thereby increasing the chances of infection, and secondly, because the majority of attacks are now financially motivated, and are therefore more discreet.”

In first place, for the second successive year, is Sdbot.ftp. This malware first appeared in 2004 and six months later occupied first place in the ranking of our Top Ten. Since then it hasn't budged. The severity of this worm is classified as "medium" and there have been several variants all with the same MO of attacking random IP addresses, exploiting system vulnerabilities and downloading copies of the worm via FTP. In 2006, Sdbot.ftp was responsible for 2.62 percent of all infections.

Another veteran in the ranking of viruses detected by ActiveScan, which came second overall in 2006, is Netsky.P. This worm, detected in 1.22 percent of positive cases first appeared in 2004 and spreads via email and P2P file-sharing applications. Interestingly, this worm exploits the Exploit / "iframe" vulnerability in Internet Explorer for which a fix has been available for some time now. In third place this year is Exploit/Metafile. Responsible for just over 1 percent of infections, this malicious code is designed to exploit a critical vulnerability in the GDI32.DLL library in Windows 2003/XP/2000. If a computer is vulnerable, Metafile allows the code to be executed which can then be used, for example, to download and run spyware.

Tearec.A. is in fourth place. This worm, which spreads via email and computer networks, can disable and terminate certain antivirus programs. Fifth place is occupied by the Q.host.gen Trojan, which was found to be the culprit in 0.76 percent of infected computers. The remaining places in the ranking are occupied by Torpig.A, a Trojan that steals passwords saved by certain Windows services, Sober.AH.worm!CME-681, a worm that terminates several processes, including some belonging to security tools; Parite.B, a virus that infects PE files with EXE or SCR extensions; Gaobot.gen, a generic detection for the Gaobot family of worms which exploits software vulnerabilities, and Bagle.pwdzip, a detection of the notorious Bagle family.

Virus % of infections
W32/Sdbot.ftp.worm 2.62
W32/Netsky.P.worm 1.22
Exploit/Metafile 1.08
W32/Tearec.A.worm!CME-24 0.79
Trj/Qhost.gen 0.76
Trj/Torpig.A 0.69
W32/Sober.AH.worm!CME-681 0.67
W32/Parite.B 0.62
W32/Gaobot.gen.worm 0.55
W32/Bagle.pwdzip 0.54



Other conclusions that can be drawn from this year’s ranking include:

- The continuing threat of financial fraud: Sdbot holds, for the second year running, first place in our Top Ten. This is a typical bot/worm designed to exploit system vulnerabilities for financial gain, highlighting the growth of this type of attack. Similarly, threats like Exploit/Metafile or Torpig.A, which are also high up the list, demonstrate this increasingly prevalent trend.

- Variations of worms: Hackers are now tending to launch different variants of the same type of malware in a very short period of time in order to increase the probability of computers being infected. This is the case with Q.host, Gaobot or Bagle. Sdbot, the first in the ranking, has also undergone significant variations over recent months.

- Infections: In 2005, the first nine threats on the list were all responsible for more than 1 percent of infections, while in 2006, only the first three reached that percentage. This should not be understood as an indication that there is less malware, on the contrary, it suggests that there is actually more malware in circulation.

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Mountain lion attacks hiker in Calif.


LISA LEFF,
Associated Press Writer

Wildlife officials on Thursday credited a woman with saving her husband's life by clubbing a mountain lion that attacked him while the couple were hiking in a California state park.

Jim and Nell Hamm, who will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next month, were hiking in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park when the lion pounced.

"He didn't scream. It was a different, horrible plea for help, and I turned around, and by then the cat had wrestled Jim to the ground," Nell Hamm said in an interview from the hospital where her husband was recovering from a torn scalp, puncture wounds and other injuries.

After the attack, game wardens closed the park about 320 miles north of San Francisco and released hounds to track the lion. They later shot and killed a pair of lions found near the trail where the attack happened.

The carcasses were flown to a state forensics lab to determine if either animal mauled the man.

Although the Hamms are experienced hikers, neither had seen a mountain lion before Jim Hamm was mauled, his wife said. Nell Hamm said she grabbed a four-inch-wide log and beat the animal with it, but it would not release its hold on her husband's head.

"Jim was talking to me all through this, and he said, 'I've got a pen in my pocket and get the pen and jab him in the eye,'" she said. "So I got the pen and tried to put it in his eye, but it didn't want to go in as easy as I thought it would."

When the pen bent and became useless, Nell Hamm went back to using the log. The lion eventually let go and, with blood on its snout, stood staring at the woman. She screamed and waved the log until the animal walked away.

"She saved his life, there is no doubt about it," said Steve Martarano, a spokesman for the Department of Fish and Game.

Nell Hamm, 65, said she was scared to leave her dazed, bleeding husband alone, so the couple walked a quarter-mile to a trail head, where she gathered branches to protect them if more lions came around. They waited until a ranger came by and summoned help.

"My concern was to get Jim out of there," she said. "I told him, 'Get up, get up, walk,' and he did."

Jim Hamm, 70, was in fair condition Thursday. He had to have his lips stitched back together and underwent surgery for lacerations on his head and body. He told his wife he still wants to make the trip to New Zealand they planned for their anniversary, she said.

Nell Hamm warned people never to hike in the backcountry alone. Park rangers told the couple if Jim Hamm had been alone, he probably would not have survived.

"We fought harder than we ever have to save his life, and we fought together," she said.

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Venezuela may ask U.S. envoy to leave


CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER,
Associated Press Writer

President Hugo Chavez warned Thursday that the U.S. ambassador could be asked to leave the country if he continues "meddling in Venezuela's affairs."

The outspoken Venezuelan leader lashed out after William Brownfield said U.S. companies and investors must receive a fair price for their shares of Venezuela's largest telephone company when Chavez's government nationalizes it.

"If you continue meddling in Venezuela's affairs, first of all, you are violating the Geneva agreements and getting yourself involved in a serious violation and could ... be declared a persona non grata and would have to leave the country," Chavez.

The top American envoy to Venezuela told Caracas' Union Radio the planned takeover of CA Nacional de Telefonos, or CANTV, should proceed "in a transparent, legal manner" and that Venezuela's government must offer "fair and quick compensation to the people who are affected or the owners."

"These are the only obligations that a government has when it decides to nationalize an industry," Brownfield added.

Thursday's exchange is the latest demonstration of tensions between Caracas and Washington.

U.S. officials have accused Chavez of becoming increasingly authoritarian and of being a destabilizing force in Latin America. The Venezuelan leader has repeatedly accused Washington of scheming against his left-leaning government.

Virginia-based Verizon Communications Inc. holds the largest minority share of CANTV, which was privatized in 1991. The takeover jeopardizes an agreement by Verizon to sell its 28.5 percent stake in CANTV to a joint venture of America Movil and Telefonos de Mexico SA, controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.

The sale had been awaiting Venezuelan government regulatory approval.

Chavez, a self-proclaimed "revolutionary" who is steering Venezuela toward socialism, has said he wants an immediate state takeover of the telephone company and will not pay shareholders the market value. The Venezuelan leader has said the price for CANTV would take into account debts to workers, pensions and other obligations to the state.

Brownfield said he was optimistic that shareholders would be fairly compensated.

"I think it can be a process that concludes in a satisfactory manner for all those involved, that's my hope," he said.

Chavez _ a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro _ also has said he plans to nationalize the electricity sector, and take state control of four lucrative oil projects and the natural gas sector.

Relations between Caracas and Washington have been tense since Chavez was briefly ousted in a 2002 coup that he claimed the U.S. played a role in. The Bush administration has repeatedly denied involvement, although it recognized an interim government established by coup leaders.

Brownfield said he wanted to improve relations through "a serious and pragmatic dialogue between the two governments, to identify issues of mutual interest and to look for solutions to those issues."

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Hillary Clinton Faked Her Background for Presidential Announcement?


Jackson Simpson

Oh how I've missed the Clintons. I can still recall how Bill Clinton could cry on cue at funerals and how Hillary Clinton could blame a vast right-wing conspiracy for her husband being serviced by an intern that reportedly admitted she went to Washington, DC to earn her presidential kneepads.
Very little about the Clinton's has ever been real - and it appears Hillary 2008 will at least start off that way. A report online from media watchdog Newsbusters notes that the background in Hillary's announcement is fake.
The woman who would be president gave dives right in with another '60 Minutes' softening type episode just as she did when she tried to say that her hubby had not had an affair with Jennifer Flowers. The idea, take the shrill out of Hillary. That means the background needs some greenery and some flowers, even if it is the middle of winter.
Newsbusters gives this analysis. Please focus on the background, look out the door. Presumably the announcement was shot in one of Hillary's homes: Chappaqua or Georgetown. Now I know it's been a mild winter, but even so, surely the leaves are gone from the trees and bushes in either spot. And check out the yellow spot in the bushes. At first I thought it was just a warm dapple of sunshine. But freeze the frame when, about 1/4 of the way through, Hillary says "how to end the deficits that threaten Social Security."
That's not sunshine -- those are flowers in bloom, newsbusters claims.
Of course, one should be aware that the flowers are blooming and the birds are singing as Hillary is in the race. Hillary is already being lampooned on national television and radio.
An update notes that Rush Limbaugh and Fox & Friends have had some fun with the issue. On Fox & Friends this morning, host Steve Doocy, noting the preternaturally green background, surmised the video had been shot back in October or November. Guest Juan Williams told him the word is it was done last Thursday in DC. When Juan later joked about going skiing, host Brian Kilmeade chipped in: "judging by the background of the Hillary Clinton clip, it's not -- it's too nice, there's no snow."
Gone is the huge cover of Star Magazine presented by Jennifer fowers and the free pass Bill Clinton received when he was nabbed diddling the blonde bombshell. That will be replaced by online video and tougher scrutiny.

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Terrorists And Criminals Gain Entry Into US Through Fraud

Jim Kouri

Immigration fraud is yet another method used by criminals and terrorists to gain entry into the United States illegally to carry out their agendas. The Identity and Benefits Fraud Unit, an investigative component of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is the agency responsible for detecting, deterring, and disrupting the fraudulent schemes used by terrorist and criminal organizations. In fiscal year 2006, the IBF Unit opened about 4,000 new cases of immigration fraud and received or developed thousands of leads.
As the largest investigative arm in the Department of Homeland Security, ICE unites the functions, resources, and legal authorities of several previously fragmented border and security organizations into an integrated homeland security agency focused on investigations and enforcement.
ICE's mission is to prevent terrorist and criminal acts by targeting the people, money, and materials that support terrorist and criminal networks. A key tool in committing immigration fraud is the use of fraudulent documents.
These documents can be used to gain illegal entry to the United States, traffic or smuggle aliens, obtain government benefits, or obtain unauthorized employment. ICE investigators target criminal organizations that deal in fraudulent documents, shutting down a key vulnerability in the immigration system.
For example, a recent case in Washington, DC saw ICE agents target four document fraud/counterfeiting operations, seizing over 1,800 false documents, shutting down four document mills, and apprehending 50 illegal aliens.
ICE's Forensic Documents Laboratory (FDL) is a critical investigative tool in the fight against immigration fraud and counterfeiting. The FDL is the only federal crime lab devoted almost entirely to the forensic examination of documents and offers a full line of analysis and examination services to law enforcement agencies nationwide.
The IBF Unit is leading the fight against immigration fraud through a variety of strategic initiatives. The National Fraud Strategy is the IBF Unit's key antifraud effort focused on identifying targets and developing criteria for prioritizing cases. The NFS expands the unit's investigative capabilities with newly established Benefit Fraud Units, task forces, and other strategic enforcement strategies.
The NFS also seeks to detect and shut down vulnerabilities in the immigration system that could be exploited by terrorist and criminal organizations.ICE also participates in the interagency Identity & Benefits Fraud Task Force, which seeks to restore integrity to the immigration process and prevent terrorists and criminals from entering the United States.
The task force brings together the expertise and authorities of several immigration and law enforcement agencies, along with prosecutors, to target immigration fraud by sharing information on fraud cases, developing new leads, and identifying trends in immigration fraud. Participants include ICE, the Department of State, the Department of Labor, the Social Security Administration, the FBI, the IRS, the US Postal Service, US Attorneys' offices, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, and the Fairfax County Police Department.
Operation Integrity is an IBF Unit initiative to restore integrity to the immigration system and to address vulnerabilities in the system that terrorist or criminal organizations could exploit to gain entry to the country. Operation Integrity will support a nationwide system of "IBF Task Forces" to detect, deter, and disrupt criminal and terrorist organizations that attempt to exploit the immigration system, using the full range of ICE's investigative capabilities to fight IBF fraud.

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Is prostitution prevalent in Gwinnett?


WOODY BASS

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution


The phrase “sex sells” usually has to do with advertising.

The Abercrombie and Fitch catalogue, for example, is full of scantily clad twenty-somethings using our hormones to control us like puppets so we will fill our closets with their clothes.
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I personally read it for the articles. (Oh, wait, there are no articles, ahem.)

And we can’t forget the Calvin Klein models who apparently are told to not leave much to the imagination.

But I’m not going to complain.

“Sex sells” now seems to have taken a more literal meaning here in Gwinnett, where the world’s oldest profession seems to be thriving.

As of Nov. 21, 2006, Gwinnett County had prosecuted 81 prostitution cases. And nearly two out of three prostitution arrests last year came out of Gwinnett Village.

As a matter of fact, one of the first acts of the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District was to clear some underbrush from an area near I-85 and Indian Trail Lilburn Road known for squatters, drug dealers and prostitutes.

Approximately 125 people were arrested for offering to pay for sex last year in the area of Brook Hollow Parkway and Indian Trail Lilburn Road.

In December, the AJC Gwinnett News Gwinnett reported that Norcross Police monitors Craigs-list ads that offer “erotic services” in exchange for “125 kisses” or “150 roses” as a donation for an hour of service.

More recently, Lisa Ann Taylor, a former Penthouse Pet who is now being called the “Mansion Madam”, has been charged with running a call-girl operation from her upscale Sugarloaf Country Club home. Gwinnett District Attorney Danny Porter has said she and Nicole A. Probert charged as much as $5,000 to $10,000 for sex acts.

Porter says the women’s customers are doctors, lawyers and businessmen.

It sounds like the perfect script for a modern version of the Dolly Parton/Burt Reynolds classic, “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” doesn’t it?

Given her recent antics, I think Britney Spears has appropriately positioned herself to play Lisa Ann Taylor in the role of the movie musical “The Mansion Madam of Sugarloaf.”

To research her role Britney should follow “Miss Lisa Ann” around as the former Penthouse Pet visits dance clubs in Detroit and her native Canada to raise funds to pay her legal fees.

Seriously though, if appearances (and police) are correct, Gwinnett has an emerging growth industry. Investors would be drooling at the thought of the revenue that could be generated - if it were legal, of course.

Are you surprised about reports of prostitution in Gwinnett? Do you think it’s prevalent here? Who would you cast in the movie musical “The Mansion Madam of Sugarloaf”?

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Lisa Ann Taylor Hits the Road, Tours Adult Clubs


Valerie Hoff & Leigha Baugham


The woman dubbed the "Mansion Madam" was back in her mansion Sunday night after a tour of adult nightclubs and she and one of the men arrested in connection with her case spoke exclusively with 11Alive News.

Police have accused Lisa Ann Taylor, an exotic dancer, and Nicole Probert of running a high-end prostitution ring out of Taylor's million-dollar home and charging prices up to $10,000 for sexual acts.

Taylor and Probert were arrested earlier this month on racketeering, prostitution and drug charges.

Taylor told 11Alive's Valerie Hoff Sunday that she is making money from her appearances but she is also paying a price. Taylor said that after dancing jobs in Detroit and Ontario over the weekend, the 42-year-old adult entertainer was also counting her injuries.

"My knees are going to be completely bruised, my legs are sore. I can't believe I can still do splits," said Taylor.

Taylor, whose stage name is Melissa Wolf said she was very well received at the nightclubs, but she had hoped that her dancing days were over.

"It's not what I want to be doing. I want to be doing real estate. I really do, I'm 42-year-old and I'm working with a bunch of girls who are 21. I'm old enough to be their mother," continued Taylor.

As Taylor prepared brunch for friends, she called herself a normal, everyday person who happened to have led an x-rated life earning money through dancing, her adult website and videos.

Taylor defended her lifestyle saying, "That's how I make my living and it’s a legal way to make a living."

Charles Hill, a former roommate of Taylor's said he saw no signs of prostitution in the months he lived in Taylor's Sugarloaf home.

"This is a pretty boring house to tell you the truth," remarked Hill.

Hill was also arrested in connection with Taylor's alleged prostitution ring and charged with conspiracy to possess cocaine, a charge he denies.

Taylor will hit the road again this week, and her waning career has been revitalized…at least for now.

Taylor said, "I hope I get a book deal and a movie deal of this because I don’t know what I'm going to do after that."

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Castro: his last battle

Ed Vulliamy and Andreas Schipani
The Observer

Hugo Chavez said yesterday his great friend Fidel Castro is fighting for his life. Ed Vulliamy and Andreas Schipani report on the Cuban revolutionary's career of constant struggle

In 1997, two men sat down, with others, to dinner in Havana. One was John F. Kennedy Jnr., eldest son of the assassinated US President. The other was 'El Jefe Maximo' - the Maximum Chief - Fidel Castro. What a meeting: Castro and his guest's father were the men who, in the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, took the planet closer than ever before, or since, to blowing itself up.

The talk over this meal of shrimp and ice cream, recalls Inigo Thomas, a friend of Kennedy who was present, was 'all about the past', and the discourse largely 'a series of Castro speeches interspersed with questions for John'. Kennedy gave Castro a copy of The Kennedy Tapes . Castro said he was reading books by Winston Churchill and Stefan Zweig, and asked Kennedy what he thought of Richard Nixon. Kennedy replied diplomatically that Nixon had been 'courteous' towards his family. Near the end of the evening, Castro explained his decision not to admit Lee Harvey Oswald to Cuba, prior to Kennedy's assassination. At 2am the encounter ended, Castro saying how much he admired Pope John Paul II - about to make a visit - for rising at five, two hours after he was accustomed to retiring. Two years later the young Kennedy died. A decade on, the world's longest-surviving ruler nears his own end.

'Fidel is in the Sierra Maestra again, battling for his life,' said his friend, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. 'I wish he could live another 80 years. But Fidel Castro is one of those men that will never die.' Cuba has maintained intense secrecy around Castro's health, which forced the revolutionary leader to relinquish power to his brother Raul on 31 July, but reports in last week's El Pais newspaper claimed he had undergone three risky intestinal operations - none of which had been successful.

Although the Cold War is frozen in the past, the era recalled by the older man that night over dinner is not a closed chapter. More people across the Latin American sub-continent are looking to the Cuban leader for inspiration than ever before, as popular - and especially young - opinion swings against the United States. But the world's most instantly recognisable leader, who has left his iconographic mark on history, is about to enter the Pantheon of memory.

Castro, 'El Comandante', is most often known to his people as 'Fidel', even to his face. They 'argue with him, they claim him', writes Gabriel Garcia Marquez. If for some reason they don't want to speak his name, Cubans run a finger across their chin to indicate the beard.

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz: the man who outwitted 10 US Presidents, and outlived most of them. The man born out of wedlock who took his mother's surname as his own, who led an impossible revolution which has survived even more impossibly, and whose image Diego Maradona has tattooed on his leg. But there are few places where that figure is visible to most Cubans; the personality cult of Fidel is a singular one. It strikes one only after some time in crumbling but effervescent Havana that his image is nowhere to be seen, except maybe on the odd postcard or book cover in a shop window. No statues, no Castro Boulevard, no posters - the only face on a government building and on T-shirts for tourists is that of Che Guevara. With its peeling grandeur and dichotomies between hedonism and communism, sensuality and fear, Havana is on the edge of Fin-de-Something, but Fin-de-What, exactly?

Born on a sugar plantation owned by his father, to a household servant, Castro grew up aware of both his privileges and the things which kept him apart from Cuban society - educated by Jesuits, he was never baptised.

By the time he was a law student in the 1940s, Castro had already cast himself as a revolutionary (though not yet a communist), in the mould of his idol, freedom fighter and writer Jose Marti, who, at 15, set in motion the revolt which would expel Spanish colonialism. Castro saw himself as completing the revolution Marti had begun. He joined the Orthodox Party, but his willingness to participate in mainstream electoral politics evaporated after the coup of Fulgencio Batista in 1952. After the disastrous armed attack on Moncada Barracks in Santiago in July 1953, Castro was arrested; at his trial he gave a speech famed for the line: 'History will absolve me.'

Unexpectedly released, Castro journeyed to Mexico, where he met Ernesto 'Che' Guevara and plotted the overthrow of the Batista junta. A band of 82 guerillas returned but, after trekking through mango swamps, they were ambushed and half of them captured or killed.

The ensuing narrative is revolutionary legend. The peasantry was won over, Batista fled and Castro marched triumphantly into Havana in January 1959.

For all Guevara's convictions, Castro's revolution was not at first communist; indeed Castro's 'adventurism' was criticised by the Communist Party and Castro travelled to New York to court US support. It was not until after the fiasco of the attempted Bay of Pigs invasion by the CIA, signed off by JFK, that Castro declared himself a 'Marxist-Leninist', and embraced Moscow. The missile crisis was a consequence. Khrushchev decided that a deployment of missiles would deter a further invasion of Cuba and enhance Soviet influence, and the construction of missile installations was detected by US intelligence.

Khrushchev, foreseeing the calamitous consequences of a war, sidelined Castro, offering Kennedy a withdrawal of the missiles in exchange for a guarantee not to invade Cuba and a secret US withdrawal of missiles from Turkey. The US imposed a total trade embargo on Cuba, punishing the Cuban people for more than 40 years and inevitably driving Castro into becoming the USSR's grateful client state in the Americas. Castro consolidated his power at home - thanks to both repression of dissent and popular resentment of Washington. Meanwhile, Cuba began exporting revolution abroad: the 1970s saw Cuba dispatch thousands of troops to fight in the anti-colonial war waged by Angola's MPLA and during the years of US-backed dictatorships and coups in South and Central America, Cuba acted as haven and training ground for armed guerrilla resistance.

The ebb and flow of Havana's relationship with Moscow ended with the collapse of communism, after which Cuba became beholden to China, both economically and politically. But China's whimsical attentions were no substitute for Soviet aid. By 1994 waves of economic refugees were making the perilous trip across the Florida straits to America. Castro, meanwhile, embarked on Cuba's present chapter, of life as a revolutionary fortress in a capitalist world, compromising - needs must - with the winds of the market and the need to import hard currency.

Cuba is, as a result, a country with a higher life expectancy than the US. Cuba exports doctors all over the continent. The music, as everyone knows, is sublime. But Havana is a place where one can buy an ice cream with dollars in 30 seconds while Cubans wait for an hour to pay in pesos. A fat Dane breakfasts with the same 14-year-old girl for the third day running - a notorious branch of the tourist industry on which Havana thrives, but which Castro pretends does not exist.

In this world of dichotomies Castro inhabits a strange penumbra: a man so familiar, yet enigmatic and mercurial. Cubans are not even sure whether he is really married, whether reports of a secret wedding to Dalia Soto del Valle - mother of five of his six sons - are true.

There have been a few recent insights into the man who crossed into the 20th century and turned 80 last year. The Secret Life of Fidel Castro , aired on Florida TV in 2002, had home movie footage, showing Castro with his grandchildren playing around a swimming pool, and a man who lives without luxury.

The following year came Comandante by Oliver Stone, in which he brazenly defies Stone's over-polite challenges on human rights, calls Nikita Khrushchev a 'wily peasant' and admits to crushes on Sophia Loren and Brigitte Bardot.

In 2004 came two biographies, one by a German, Volker Skierka, who captures Castro's inflated, narcissistic sense of himself and his destiny. But he points out that he is almost alone among dictators in not having fleeced his people. No Swiss bank accounts, no personal wealth.

Castro travels in one of two identical jets - partly out of paranoia, partly out of necessity, for the CIA has been trying to assassinate him ever since he took power. The inept attempts included spraying a television studio with LSD, an exploding cigar, slipping poison powder into a pair of his boots, poisoning a scuba-diving wetsuit proffered as a gift and dynamiting a conch shell in one of the President's favourite waters. Even conventional attempts by snipers and grenade-throwers were thwarted.

No one who meets Castro - let alone struggled alongside him - is unaffected by the experience. Few were closer to him than Huber Matos, who joined Castro's 26 July movement in the Sierra Maestra and swiftly became 'Comandante' of the Oriente front. Matos resigned from the revolutionary government, was accused of treason and imprisoned for 20 years in October 1959. He now lives in Miami. 'Once I achieved the rank of commander, we fought even harder. But since the day I met him, I had my reservations. Castro is a pretender of magisterial dimensions. He was always looking to convince me that everything he was doing he was doing humbly, for the people. But Castro turned out a man who used lies and dirty tricks.'

Another hero and 'Comandante' was Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo, who went on to join the 'Alpha 66' revolt against Castro. 'I remember Castro talking to us about a revolution that was "as Cuban as the palm trees",' he recalls. 'A democratic revolution, not the dictatorship of the proletariat or anyone else. And I feel more pain at the betrayal than from all those years in jail, trying to kill time before it killed me. The hardest thing in life is to break with something in which you put your faith. But Castro is like a fox - no, more a wolf. Both the hunter and the hunted. And the more the hunter went after him, the cleverer he became.'

Dissident Oswaldo Paya calls Castro 'a dangerous man'. 'Dangerous to the region, Cuba and the Cubans. But in the end the Cuban people, and democracy, are more dangerous to him than he is to them.'

The Cuba that Castro will leave behind is in part his creation, in part that of the calculated punishment of the US embargo. Ideological Marxism has not been the calamitous disaster it might have been. There have been terrible failures of collectivised sugar production, but coffee, tobacco and other Caribbean products are exported. A day in the resolve and order of a Havana school would leave most British parents with a sense of wilful longing. The hospitals are famously effective by many standards: Cuba caters for the health needs of its own people like no other Caribbean country.

But there is a terrible poverty trap in Cuba and those who live - crowded with their extended families - in the crumbling colonial houses eke out a living with their ration books and little else.

The perilous flotillas of desperation which cross the Florida straits are indicators in themselves. In Cuba, blacks tend to be poorer than Hispanics, but that is the same across Latin America.

The breezy sensuality of the Cuban island and its people masks grotesque human rights abuses. Castro says openly and repeatedly he will not tolerate what he calls 'enemies of the revolution'. Cuba executes by firing squad; homosexuality is forced underground, continually harassed. Religion - often an entwinement between Catholicism and Santeria voodoo - is tolerated in theory, but priests are persecuted in practice.

Carlos Salinas de Gortari, President of Mexico from 1988 to 1994, masterminded talks between Castro and President Bill Clinton. 'Castro's life has to be framed inside the context of Cuban independence after 400 years of being a Spanish colony and then passing into US hands. Most of all, it has to be understood within the context of the most dramatic Cold War confrontation, the Cuban missile crisis. Subjected to an interminable blockade imposed by the US, and its constant harassment, [Castro achieved] something unique in today's world. His legacy remains in the remarkable advance in healthcare and education of the Cuba people, and on his defence of Cuba's sovereignty.'

Not every reaction to Castro is political, and not many photographers have been able to take close-up portraits. But Amelia Troubridge is one of them, and her recollections of a 1997 encounter illuminate an additional impact Castro can have, even on a 22-year-old.

'It was at a big dinner,' she recalls, 'I was three tables away, but the German ambassador, at Castro's table, fancied me and asked if I wanted to meet the Cuban leader. There's no doubt what was going on - I was a sexy, tanned, blonde chick and Castro is a flirt. And I tell you, when you have the attention of Fidel Castro, when he decides he wants to talk to you, there is nothing else in the world, the whole room goes silent. He started speaking, and I just felt buried in his beard. They were the best and longest five minutes of my life.'

Castro is a night owl. One former British diplomat says that he would arrive at an ambassador's residence, unannounced with a bottle of whisky, and invite Her Majesty's envoy to join him in drinking most of it. Among those who have been summoned for late dinner or drinks was Ernest Hemingway. But more recently paying homage to Castro has become fashionable. Steven Spielberg described his visit as 'the eight most important hours of my life'. There was an audience with Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell, who likened Castro to Nelson Mandela. The then 71-year-old found meeting the brace of supermodels a 'spiritual' experience.

More penetrating was novelist Marquez, who wrote a characteristically elegant and penetrating profile of 'The Fidel I Think I Know' as part of the 80th birthday celebrations. 'His devotion is to the word,' wrote Marquez. 'His power is of seduction... He has a language for each occasion and a distinct means of persuasion according to his interlocutors... He is capable of discovering the most minimal contradictions in a casual phrase.'

Castro the law student was such a talented baseball player that, the legend goes, in 1949 he was offered a $5,000 bonus to join the New York Giants team. His refusal is lore among fans of the national sport, stars of which are divided between those who follow Castro's example, and those who go. The greatest, Lazaro Vargas, is among the former, having snubbed $6m to join the Atlanta Braves. He explains how 'Castro is my leader and my model. He taught me it is a sweet feeling to walk down the street knowing that no one can buy you.'

That Castro has the hearts of many of his people is undeniable; his funeral will be a national wake. A reporter covering the trial at which Castro insisted that 'history will absolve me' was Marta Rojas, now 73, still close to El Jefe Maximo, of whom she says: 'The first time I saw him, a few steps ahead of me, I was still a journalism student. It was September 21, 1953, the day the Moncada trials started. It is the same image I have of him today: converting himself from the accused into the accuser. That day, with his hands cuffed, he raised his arms and banged them yelling, "you cannot try a man, any man, cuffed like this". It was then when he turned from being the defendant to the accuser. And I still have that image of him.'

In 2003 Castro unleashed his latest, maybe last, overt sweep against dissent, seizing and jailing 75 opposition activists, only 15 of whom have been released. In its typically, comically fumbling way, the CIA updated its psychological profiling of Castro, looking for signs of senility, noting that Chairman Mao launched the Cultural Revolution and Leonid Brezhnev invaded Afghanistan in their twilight years. But in the event, remarkably, it is not Castro who is creating his legacy any more - it is history itself.

Marquez wrote that Castro's 'vision of Latin America in the future is... an integrated and autonomous community, capable of moving the destiny of the world'. For decades, such a vision seemed a pipedream, with Latin America either subjugated by pro-American dictatorships or economically and politically beholden to the US.

But over the past five years alone, a gyre has turned across Latin America, not necessarily behind Castro, but certainly in his slipstream. It is hard to think of another leader of whom one can say that, as they die, a momentum swells behind their vision, inspired by it and by him - a second wave propelled by another, younger generation.

The 21st century has seen governments elected to power harbouring varying degrees of antipathy towards US hegemony in Latin America - or at least some robust sense of 'an integrated and autonomous community' - in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and even, almost, Mexico. The spirit of Fidel Castro runs like a rip-tide beneath that wave, whether he intended it or not, and whether consciously or not. History may, after all and against all the odds, absolve him, and will certainly never forget him.

Many people think like Adolfo Perez Esquivel, the Argentinian Nobel Peace Laureate, who deems him 'one of those who show commitment and coherence between what they say and do. He has left a gesture of solidarity to all the peoples of Latin America; a legacy of resistance, autonomy and sovereignty'.

William Jose Benitez is a student of social work in Venezuela, and a member of the National Institute of Youth: 'For me,' he says, 'Fidel is one of the greatest leaders and thinkers of the past 100 years. He has done what almost no one has ever done. For Latin American students like me, he is still the paradigm, the reference point. He has left his seed in today's Latin America, and what we are living today is its manifestation - the awakening of the people of Latin America thanks to revolution led by Fidel.'

Then you have the crowd on the concrete steps of Havana's stadium as Lazaro Vargas drives a curveball past second base. 'Fidel! Fidel!' shouted a man called Manuel, holding his palms aloft, as though to hail El Jefe Maximo, but then, with a puckish grin full of mischief, whipping the left palm behind him and making as though to wipe his backside with it.

· Additional archive research by Isabelle Chevallot

Born for Revolution

1926 Born out of wedlock on a sugar plantation on 13 August, his father was the owner, his mother was the housemaid.

1945 Attends Havana university and becomes embroiled in the turbulent student politics gripping a Latin America rebelling against US influence.

1950 Marries Mirta Diaz Balart, graduates from law school and begins representing largely poor clients.

1952 Fulgencio Batista overthrows the government of President Carlos Prio Socarras.

1953 Amid growing anger at the Batista regime, Castro leads disastrous attack on the Moncada Barracks with 100 supporters. He is released after two years in jail and flees to Mexico, where he meets Che Guevara.

1956 Castro and his rebels land in Cuba and begin guerrilla war against Batista.

1959 Castro's victorious forces march into Havana. One of his first acts is to limit landholdings to four square kilometres and ban foreign ownership. Within a year he has drifted away from the rest of Latin America, where revolutions never happened and sealed an oil deal with the Soviet Union, which US-owned refineries refused to process. Castro nationalises refineries, US breaks off relations.

1961 Bay of Pigs invasion by Cuban exiles approved by President Kennedy fails.

1962 Tensions between US and Cuba mount. Khrushchev sends nuclear missiles to prevent a second invasion. US creates quarantine zone around Cuba. Crisis defused by a secret 'swap' - removal of US missiles targeting USSR from Italy and Turkey for the removal of missiles from Cuba. US embargo of Cuba starts.

1975 Cuban troops are deployed in Angola to support Marxist MPLA.

1985 Cuba's military support transformed into civil programmes. Castro one of the leaders of non-aligned nations, despite Soviet ties.

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51 Miss America hopefuls welcomed to Las Vegas


JOHN PRZYBYS
REVIEW-JOURNAL

They stepped to the microphone and, singing the praises of the United States from Alabama to Wyoming, introduced themselves, reveling in the knowledge that one of them would be crowned Miss America 2007.

In all, 51 Miss America contestants were officially welcomed to Las Vegas on Friday. It should have been 52, but Miss Virgin Islands' flight was delayed; the 51st contestant is from the District of Columbia.

Las Vegas is the site of the Miss America Pageant for the second year in a row. The telecast will be Jan. 29 from the Aladdin Theatre.

This year's contest comes at a bizarre time in the pageant world. In December, Miss USA Tara Conner came close to losing her crown for allegedly partying a bit too hard, while Miss Nevada USA Katie Rees lost her crown a short time later after racy photos of her hit the Internet.

The nonprofit Miss America program is unrelated to the Miss USA/Miss Universe pageant family. But as contestants prepared for introductions at the Aladdin on Friday afternoon, the excitement of tourists, gawkers and pageant fans signaled that Miss America had lost none of her luster.

This from a hotel employee talking to a buddy: "I wish I'd have brought my camera."

This from an excited woman who caught a glimpse of the contestants preparing for their big entrance: "They are here!" as if she hadn't believed it until that moment.

And even this from a guy whose excitement and devotion began to border on creepy: "Yeah, bring it on."

Shelley Hiestand of New Zealand heard about the ceremony on the radio and decided to check it out.

"My mum was into beauty pageants," she said. "She won a mother-daughter competition when I was 6 years old."

Sam Daines and Cleo Kiley are from South Africa but are studying for MBAs in North Carolina. They were visiting Las Vegas for a break before resuming classes and checked out the ceremony out of curiosity.

"I think it's just the novelty, why we're here," Daines said.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman presented roses to the contestants as they took the microphone to introduce themselves with enthusiastic plugs for the states that had sent them here.

The crowd favorite was Miss Nevada, who drew applause and cheers for her simple but effective line, "I'm the hometown girl, I'm from Las Vegas, and I'm Caydi Cole of Nevada."

Cole, 22, a graduate of the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts, said she was born and raised here, her parents were born and raised here, and her grandparents weren't born here but have lived here a long time.

Cole, who advanced to the Miss Nevada pageant in July after winning the Miss Clark County crown, performed a jazz vocal to "Blues in the Night" for the talent portion of the state pageant. She described the Miss America experience as "surreal" but said it's exciting, too.

According to the Miss America organization, the pageant began in 1921 as an Atlantic City businessman's gimmick to extend the summer tourist season.

Today, the organization says, the pageant is the world's leading provider of scholarships to young women.

The new Miss America will succeed reigning Miss America 2006 Jennifer Berry.

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