Even A DUI Lawyer cant Stop Paris Hilton From Going To Jail

Paris Hilton appears in court tomorrow for probation violation following the suspension of her license due to alcohol-related reckless driving. Paris must appear tomorrow on a probation violation, for allegedly driving on a suspended license. Hilton was already on probation after pleading no contest last January to alcohol-related reckless driving. The DMV had suspended Hilton’s license as a result of her DUI bust.

While her license was suspended, Hilton was stopped by the CHP last January 15, and again by the L.A. County Sheriffs on February 27.

The City Attorney will argue that Hilton certainly knew after she was stopped in January that she wasn’t allowed to drive, so the second stop was a flagrant violation of law.

The documents suggest Hilton mistakenly relied on her lawyer’s assumption that Hilton had a right to drive, but the City Attorney claims in the legal papers that it’s a bogus argument.

According to the papers, Hilton also failed to enroll in an alcohol education program within 21 days of the order directing her to do so.

The legal papers ask that “Hilton be ordered to serve 45 days in County Jail.” Prosecutors also want her to be ordered “not to consume any alcohol for a continuous period of 90 days.” During that 90-day period, prosecutors want her “to be monitored for alcohol consumption … by use of a Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring (SCRAM) device at her expense.”

If the City Attorney gets their way, in addition to the 45 days, Hilton will also have her license suspended for four more months, and her car will be impounded for 30 days. Sucks to be Paris Hilton.

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Anna Nicole Smith's Baby Arrives Kentucky From Bahamas

BRETT BARROUQUERE,
Associated Press

Anna Nicole Smith's ex-boyfriend arrived in Kentucky from the Bahamas on Tuesday with their infant daughter and said he is looking forward to introducing the baby to his family.

"It just feels good to be home," Larry Birkhead said after stepping off a private jet and walking up to a fence where more than a dozen photographers and reporters were gathered.

Birkhead said he plans to show off 7-month-old Dannielynn to his family in Louisville and "relax and horse around."

He said his plans include attending the Barnstable Brown party on Friday, a celebrity-packed gala on the eve of the Kentucky Derby. The event is where he and Smith first met when he was working as a freelance photographer.

He said Tuesday the baby had an easy flight.

"She did great," he said.

At a private terminal at the Louisville airport, people could be seen moving a variety of baby gear off the plane and into the back of an SUV. An infant car seat, facing away from reporters, was taken off the plane and put in the back seat of the SUV. A few minutes later Birkhead got into the vehicle and it drove off.

Birkhead, a 34-year-old photographer based in Los Angeles, was authorized by a judge last week to take the girl out of the Bahamas. The ruling followed legal battles by Birkhead to prove his paternity claim and gain custody following the former Playboy playmate's death in February from an accidental drug overdose.

A new Bahamian birth certificate listing Birkhead as the father was issued in line with a court order last week, removing the name of Smith's last companion, Howard K. Stern. Stern had been caring for the girl in the oceanfront home in the Bahamas he shared with Smith.

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US Homeland Security Officer Arrested For Running A Prostitution Parlor

When federal agents raided local massage parlors last month, they were shocked to find a Department of Homeland Security law enforcement officer's gun and uniform in an apartment linked to one of the parlors.

That officer - David J. Wolkiewicz, 51 - appeared before a federal magistrate judge Tuesday, and court papers indicated that he has admitted that he helped run a parlor where prostitution allegedly took place.

Prosecutors said Wolkiewicz, an officer with U.S. Customs & Border Protection, has admitted assisting the operator of the Asian Acupressure Therapy parlor at 7500 Porter Road, Town of Niagara.

Wolkiewicz, who has been suspended from duty, was charged last week with lying to government agents.

According to court papers, the federal officer's uniform, name plate and gun were found on March 26, when federal agents raided a Porter Road apartment of a massage parlor employee.

When agents confronted him that day at a nearby location, he admitted that he was involved in a romantic relationship with a woman who ran the parlor but initially stated that he provided "no financial support or other assistance" to the business.

But later, authorities said, Wolkiewicz admitted that he:

. Sometimes drove women who he believed were prostitutes between the parlor and Buffalo Niagara International Airport.

. Once delivered a gym bag from the woman who ran the parlor to another woman at a casino in Niagara Falls, Ont. Wolkiewicz said he believed the gym bag contained sneakers and clothing.

. Once delivered a package from the same Ontario casino to the woman who ran the parlor. That package included about 10 smaller foil packages. Wolkiewicz said he believed the foil packages contained cosmetics, and he did not declare them when he transported them over the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge into the United States.

. Did maintenance and repair work at the massage parlor, including changing a shower head, fixing a whirlpool and repairing light fixtures.

. Placed advertisements for the massage parlor in local newspapers.

. Got a Sam's Club card for the massage parlor, and the card had his photograph on it.

"Wolkiewicz also stated that he tried to distance himself from the prostitution establishment, that he attempted to encourage [the operator] to run a legitimate business," Robert M. Vanderbles, an agent with the homeland security inspector general's office, said in court papers.

The papers were filed by William J. Hochul Jr., chief of the national security division at the U.S. attorney's office in Buffalo. Hochul declined to comment, except to confirm what was stated in the documents.

U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents raided eight massage parlors in Erie and Niagara counties on March 26, following a lengthy investigation into claims that illegal aliens were being recruited to work as prostitutes at the parlors.

Fourteen people have been charged so far in what authorities call a major human trafficking investigation. Yong Mei Shi, the woman identified in court papers as having a relationship with Wolkiewicz, was arrested during the raids on charges of harboring illegal aliens.

Wolkiewicz and one of his attorneys, Ellen Poch, appeared briefly Tuesday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy, who allowed the federal officer to remain free without bail.

A plea of not guilty has been entered by Wolkiewicz. Poch said she had no comment on the allegations.

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What Will China Do To Its Aging Society?

Judged from the data from the National Population and Family Planning Commission of China and the UN, and the retirement age of 60 in China, the GDP spent on supporting China's elders will be 280% of the current level in 2050, according to Gao Xiqing, deputy director of National Council for Social Security Fund. Gao believes that China will face a faster and more penetrating aging process in the near future. In 2000, the percentage of population above 65 years old was of the same level in the world, and about 50% of the figure in developed countries. However, by 2050, China will approach the developed countries in this aspect. "Nowadays, we are building a nationwide partly accumulated social insurance system based on the monthly fees paid by urban employees, and China has set up a national social security fund already, its market value being 320 billion yuan, but still far from enough," said Gao.

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South China Judge In Detention Died NOT Murdered

An official investigation into the death of a 38-year-old former judge who was being held in detention shows he died from "adult sudden death syndrome."

Investigators say Li Chaoyang was an uncooperative prisoner while being held in detention in Xing'an county in southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and cuts on his face and other injuries were caused by a fall during an escape attempt.

Li Chaoyang, a judge with the local Pingle County Court, had been accused of taking bribes and was detained by local prosecutors on March 23.

Shi Shaosen, head of the Guilin municipal law enforcement supervisory section and the chief investigator of the case, said the prisoner was not maltreated.

"Li Chaoyang's sudden death conforms with adult sudden death syndrome," said Shi citing a forensic report at a news briefing held here on Sunday.

Shi would not take questions from reporters but said the investigation was conducted by law-enforcement agencies from the Guilin city and the Guangxi regional government.

The forensic report did not provide a pathological cause of Li's sudden death such as a heart attack or brain aneurysm.

Detention center officials say they found Li unconscious in his cell on the morning of April 2. He died later in hospital.

Li's relatives claimed there were wounds on his body, a gash across his lip and he was missing one of his front teeth. They questioned the cause of his death and wrote about it on a blog that was later picked by China Courts Online.

Pictures on the internet that purport to be Li, but don't show his face, reveal a body of a man that is battered and bruised with a gash across the upper lip.

"The investigation proves Li Chaoyang's case was handled according to legal procedures and strictly according to the law," said Shi, "there were no reports that torture was used to extract a confession, or bodily harm caused by guards, or an assault by cell mates."

Li was charged with taking bribes on March 23 and was first held at the No.1 Detention House of Guilin. He was transferred to the detention center of Xing'an, a suburban county of Guilin City, three days later.

The joint investigation into Li's death found that Li was mentally unstable and would not stop shouting and refused to return his cell after an exercise period.

Investigators say Li attempted to escape many times and detention center officials say were forced to shackle him.

The investigative group was told that on March 28, Li again attempted to escape but tripped and fell, hitting his face on a piece of angle iron, severely cutting his upper lip cut and knocking out one of his front teeth. He was taken to hospital for treatment and had a six-cm-long cut on his lip sutured, say investigators.

Investigators they were told that Li refused further medical treatment in the days that followed.

The forensic report compiled by a the Guilin Medical Sciences College Hospital on Saturday ruled out violent beatings, suffocation, or poisoning as the cause of Li's death and concluded that Li died of adult sudden death syndrome that might have been sparked by an unstable state of mind, and abnormal sleeping and eating habits.

Li's relatives have not yet made a public statement regarding the report's findings.

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: Australian actor Eric Bana, Survived Car Crash Uninjured

AP

Eric Bana crashed his painstakingly restored 1974 Ford XB Coupe into some trees during an around-the-state rally this weekend but emerged uninjured along with his co-driver.

The 38-year-old actor and co-driver Tony Ramunno walked away from the crash during the Targa Tasmania rally Saturday, where they had been in 53rd place in field of 115 cars in the Outright Classic competition.

Initially, Bana hoped that the car, which he has owned since he was 15, could be repaired to continue the final day of racing Sunday. But a closer inspection by his support crew showed that the front right-hand steering and suspension were too badly damaged.

"We had been having a great day until then," Bana said. "But I misjudged a tight left-hander and we went in a little too fast — the car understeered off the road and got onto the gravel and we went into a couple of trees at a fairly low speed."

"The car is a little battered on the driver's side which is a real shame, as many hours had been spent reshaping its original panels to get it just right," he said. "It's a real shame, but that's motor racing."

Bana has starred in movies such as "Hulk" and "Munich." His most recent film is "Lucky You," with Drew Barrymore and Robert Duvall.

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Lindsay Hawker Met Her Death In Japan

Anna Seaman

Chilling notes delivered late at night, sexual taunts and, finally, a brutal encounter with her vicious tormentor. Another British teacher describes how she nearly suffered the same fate as Lindsay Hawker at the hands of a Japanese man obsessed with Western women.

As the plane began its descent after a 13-hour flight, Sharon Flaherty peered out at the hundreds of green paddy fields stretching to the horizon of the Tottori Prefecture of south-west Japan.

Though the 26-year-old British woman had travelled extensively, she knew this trip was going to be special.

After graduating with a business studies degree from Heriot-Watt university, she had enrolled upon a Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) programme and would be spending the next three years living and working in the country she'd dreamed of visiting since she was a child.

Her visit did indeed prove to be unforgettable - but for all the wrong reasons.

In a chilling echo of the circumstances preceding the murder last month of Lindsay Hawker - found buried in a bath full of sand - Sharon was singled out and subjected to a terrifying stalking campaign by a Japanese man.

For five months, he bombarded her with anonymous letters, sat outside her house for hours watching her every movement and finally confronted her in a terrifying encounter from which she only narrowly escaped having fled for her life.

Now, back home after her ordeal, she describes the harrowing sequence of events which followed her arrival as a gaijin - a foreign woman - in a rural community far from home.

"It was the most frightening experience of my life," she says. "I left the UK with such high hopes of an enormous adventure and returned a shadow of my former self.

"I had never been one to shy away from new challenges and I'd done a lot of travelling on my own before. But being stalked in Japan has left me twitchy, nervous and scared to spend even a night alone.

"Reading about what happened to Lindsay Hawker has brought it all back to me and now I suppose I should be thankful I escaped with my life."

The naked body of English teacher Lindsay, 22, was found in an apartment in Ichikawa, in the east of Tokyo. She had been tortured, beaten and strangled. Her suspected killer, Tatsuya Ichihashi, 28, is still free.

Sharon shudders now when she realises just how close she, too, may have come to being attacked - or worse. While she speaks highly of the Japanese as a nation, she is also angry that she wasn't warned by the teaching organisation about the strange fascination some Japanese men have for Western women.

"Because we're so much taller and more curvaceous than Japanese women, the local men can be a little bit leery and pay you far more attention than would be acceptable or polite in Britain," she says.

"I thought I had no reason to worry," Sharon says. "During my travels I'd always tried to live like a local not a tourist, wanting to see the world and to learn about other cultures. My trip to Japan was not going to be any different."

Having been given an apartment in the small village of Aoya, with only 8,000 residents, she realised she was the only white person in the entire village - the only other foreigners were two Chinese.

"At first I didn't feel alien or in danger. The Japanese are very polite so they welcomed me with open arms," she says.

Sharon regularly emailed her family at home. Her boyfriend of eight months, Rob, then 24, was concerned about her safety - he asked about Japanese men and if she ever felt threatened. "I was surprised, because I never took a second glance at the local men. They were all very short and skinny and not very threatening. I also didn't think they would ever be interested in me," says Sharon.

"All Japanese women are absolutely tiny. Even though I was only a size eight to ten, I was a 'large' or 'extra large' in Japanese clothes and my shoe size five meant I couldn't find one pair of shoes to fit me.

"I emailed him back, telling him that they wouldn't even notice me. But after a few weeks, I began to be aware that the men did watch me a lot and that whenever I went into the city of Tottori, the local men would ogle all the Western women and wouldn't look away even when we were obviously not enjoying the attention.

"This shocked me because generally the culture seemed very restrained and disciplined.

"I knew from talking to Japanese people that even by talking to a Japanese man I could give him the wrong impression - that I was interested in him - so I couldn't understand why they felt that they could unashamedly leer at us. However, I never felt threatened because I was always in a large group."

Back in the village, Sharon spent her evenings keeping fit at the local gym and planning her English classes.

A year into her stay she signed up to karate classes. But it was after one of these lessons in November 2004, that her idyllic view of Japan was shattered.

"I had only just come in from karate and shut the door behind me when a hand jutted through my letterbox and dropped a plain white envelope on to my mat.

"A chill ran up my spine, I'd been in the village long enough to know that nobody delivers letters that late at night and I'd only just walked in so whoever delivered the letter must have been watching me.

"I couldn't read the script, it was in Japanese, but my instincts told me to get out of there as quickly as possible. I called a taxi, got him to escort me to my car and drove to another village where another British teacher, named Helen, lived."

The next day, Sharon had the letter translated at her school. It read: "Hello Sharon, how are you? I'm a 37-year-old man living in Aoya. I'm not married but don't get me wrong, I'm not afraid of commitment. I think you are very smart, interesting and sexy.

"I know Japanese is hard for you to understand but please meet me for a date. Please post your reply in the mail box outside your house. PS I will check the mailbox every day for your response."

Sharon says: "The letter itself was harmless enough but the implications scared me. This man knew my name, what I looked like and where I lived.

"Worse, he was going to come to my house every day from then on to check the mailbox, which was outside my front door. I couldn't bear to be alone in the house after I knew I was being watched," says Sharon. "I stayed at Helen's for a few nights before daring to return. To my dismay when I did, there was another letter."

The second letter read: "Hello Sharon, how are you? I want to meet you for a date. Do not refuse me. Please post your reply in your mail box. PS I will check your mailbox every day for your reply."

"I felt utterly sick because I was all alone," recalls Sharon. "Out of my window I could see nothing but rice paddies, and the house next to me was vacant. Suddenly, home felt a very long way away."

Sharon's school contacted the police who put two officers on the case. "They came and questioned me and promised they would make full inquiries but it did little to calm my nerves.

"Every night I came home with a sense of dread and I was only ever slightly relieved when I saw my doormat empty. It was like a ticking bomb, I knew there was another letter on its way, I just didn't know when."

After another week of anxiously looking out the window, letter number three arrived - again by hand. This time the translation was more sinister.

It read: "Do you like tea or coffee? If I am ten minutes late for our date will that be acceptable? Are you lonely? Do you cry when you are in your house alone? Do you prefer sex with English men or Japanese men? Do you like your boyfriends to be like your background music?"

Sharon says: "What got me about this was that he knew I lived alone and, of course, I was disgusted that he had written about me in a sexual context. There was this horrible sense, that other British girls have talked about in reference to Japanese men, that he somehow felt it was his right to proposition me in this way. In floods of tears I called the police," explains Sharon.

At her apartment the police fitted a security camera in the front window. But until the culprit was caught Sharon decided to live at a fellow JET scheme employee's home in Iwami, a town 20 miles away.

"Every morning I woke up feeling sick. I put on a brave face at school so that people didn't think it was getting to me, but at the place I was staying, I often cried. In my diary I wrote that I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown." At Christmas 2004, Sharon flew home to Inverness where her mother runs a guest house and spent two weeks with her family. On hearing about her ordeal, Sharon's mother begged her to stay behind.

"I heard what she was saying but I couldn't afford to. I had a graduate loan which I was paying off at £700 a month and my job in Japan was my only income.

"Besides, if I stayed home then the stalker would have won, I still had some of my fighting spirit left and I hoped that when I returned the police would have good news."

Unfortunately they didn't. Since her departure from the house, there had been no more letters meaning that the stalker must have been watching the flat and been aware she was not there.

Sharon decided that since it had been eight weeks since the last letter, things might be different if she returned to her old routines.

"I took the plunge and after my first night back at school instead of driving to Helen's, I went to the gym and then drove home. But as I approached I saw a figure hiding between parked cars watching my house. My heart leapt into my mouth and the sick feeling in my stomach returned. Was it him?"

Trying to stay calm, Sharon carried on past her house and drove round the block.

"When I came back round, he had gone again and I breathed a sigh of relief as I stopped the car. Then - out of nowhere - he appeared beside me at the driver's side and tried to open the car door. I banged my hand down on the lock and caught his eye.

"He was short, aged about 40 and slender. But more than anything about his appearance I was struck by his eyes. His stare was cold and his black eyes bored into me. I didn't recognise him at all.

"He seemed eerily calm, he was smoking a cigarette and he was only half dressed because his shirt hung open to the waist. For a second I froze but then he brought his fist down on the car and I snapped into action.

"I put my foot down and sped off, but I was blinded with fear and the car went into a skid 100 yards up the road. I lost control and it crashed into a ditch.

"Somehow, I think it was because of the adrenaline coursing through my veins, I managed to scramble out of the car and ran to the nearest house and began hammering on the door. I was uninjured but I could see this man walking quickly towards me. At that moment I genuinely thought he might try to kill me. I cried out in absolute terror."

Suddenly, a shaft of light opened from the next door. The house she'd been knocking on was empty but thankfully the neighbours had heard the commotion.

"When I saw the light I just ran to it and away from the man. I tried to explain what was happening to the bemused couple but I was in such a state I had to call a friend at the school to translate."

"They looked outside, but by then the man was gone."

The couple drove Sharon to the headmaster's house, where she gave a detailed description of the stalker to the police and hoped her nightmare would be over soon.

But it was not so simple. Terrified by her confrontation, Sharon was offered a room in the headmaster's house, and hardly dared to leave the house except to go to work in the months that followed.

"I never went anywhere alone and completely stopped socialising," she explains. "I wanted to fly home but I couldn't as I was tied into a contract with the school until July. If I broke it they wouldn't uphold their side of the agreement - to pay my £800 flight back to the UK.

"The next six months were a living hell. I stayed with the headmaster until March and then the school found me another house. I had double locks fitted on all the doors and windows, it was the only way I felt safe.

"I had to keep going to work but I was quite thankful of the distraction. At least when I was giving lessons I knew I was safe.

"At night was the worst. Every time I shut my eyes I pictured that man's cold, hard eyes. In my new bedroom I planned how I could escape if anything happened and when I did sleep I would jolt myself awake at the slightest noise. I was taking sleeping tablets, too, but they didn't really help.

"Every weekend I would make sure I had a friend staying or I would go to them. I stopped going out in cities. If I went anywhere I always made sure I went with people and stayed in large groups.

"I phoned the police almost daily but they never found my stalker. So the nightmare was never over."

Returning home last year, Sharon is now living in London and working as a writer for a business magazine. The news of Lindsay Hawker's death has inevitably brought her chilling memories flooding back.

"I was shocked, scared and angry. It could so easily have been me. What if those neighbours hadn't opened their door that night, what if I hadn't spotted him when I did? It doesn't bear thinking about.

"I have spoken to many people since my ordeal and since Lindsay's death who agree that some Japanese men are obsessed with the way Western women look.

"Even slim girls are voluptuous in their eyes, and as we are so much taller than Japanese men and also seem more unavailable, the differences are fascinating to them.

"I can't tar all Japanese men with the same brush, but I do believe women should be wary before embarking on trips to the country, I also think that the authorities should take it more seriously.

"British girls like myself and Lindsay are in real danger over there. The man who stalked me has never been caught. Could he do the same to another British girl? If he does, she might not be as lucky as I was to escape."

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I Wasnt NUDE Says Pascal Mashaalani

Pascal Mashaalani, the Lebanese singer has denied allegations that she appeared practically nude in her most recent music video "Itghairt Alai" (You have changed), even if the dress was a see-through. Pascal stated that she considered the clip as a shift in her career in the right direction, adding that the dress she wore was daring but not inappropriate.

Pascal added that the dress in the clip was in fact see-through, which is why many thought that she was semi-nude. She said that she insisted on wearing the dress to break the old image people have of her of being a traditional girl and showing her daring side.

Mashalaani was recently in Tunisia at the grand opening of Citroen, an event which she was specially invited to be the guest star at. Before the opening ceremony, Pascal held a press conference, organized by Citroen, and she expressed her joy at being in Tunisia and thanked the company for inviting her.

Pascal talked about her new look in her the clip admitting that she knows she shocked her fans. She added that it is essential for every artists to always appear in a new look to attract the largest number of audience, and the criticism she received, whether it was positive or negative, only signifies that she is on the right track of success.

Pascal added that despite the fact that she is very satisfied with the new look that director Mirna Al Khayat has presented her in, she does not know whether or not she will keep it in future clips.

The story of the new video is a romantic one that revolves around a young lady who is madly in love and flirts with her man to show him the affections she has for him.

Mirna had chosen a number of filming locations around Lebanon carefully selecting ones that match the story of the clip.

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Nigeria Escapes Another Air Disaster

Following the poor condition of its aviation industry, Nigeria barely escaped another air disaster yesterday.
Two passengers were seriously injured when Virgin Nigeria aircraft made a flight return at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Lagos after the pilot of the airplane, with registration number 5N-VND, which was on its way to Kano enroute Abuja noticed that the aircraft developed hydraulic problem. The incident happened at about 5.00 pm yesterday.
As the pilot taxied back through the runway 18 Right of the international wing of the airport, the passengers saw an on-coming aircraft and panicked and stampede ensued which led to the sustaining of injuries by many of the passengers.
A source who spoke to journalists said that the injuries sustained by some of the passemgers were purely out of fear and stampede and in the process of escaping from what they feared was impending mishap.
The injured passengers were rushed to the hospital within the airport by ambulance owned by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria[FAAN].
Among those seriously injured was one Chief Ahmed Onibudo and another man from nothern Nigeria whose name could not be ascertained. All efforts made to get the relevant authorities to speak on the matter failed as no one was willing to talk.
In another development, Aviation experts from aircraft manufacturing firm, Boeing, has urged Nigerian airline operators to ensure that their pilots avoid the wind shear phenomenon wherever possible, because it is a major source of air crashes in the industry.
Speaking during a two-day workshop on flight operations organised by Boeing, in conjunction with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the experts said if the rules were adhered to, occurrences of wind shear cases would significantly be reduced.
Wind shear is a sudden change in wind speed and direction, which has resulted in many accidents world wide.
Accident investigators into the Sosoliso plane crash of December 10, 2005, which occurred in Port-Harcourt, killing many school children among over 100 victims, attributed the accident to wind shear among other reasons.
Captain Mike Taylor, one of the Boeing experts, said the only sure way of surviving wind shear was to avoid it. Taylor said pilots should endeavor to avoid the phenomenon once it was potential in some areas as indicated by pre-flight weather reports, adding that delays of such flights were preferable.
He said where pilots ran into winds shear, they needed to take quick decisions within a matter of seconds, which would determine whether it would survive or not.

Another expert, Captain Gary Hudson, also admonished pilots to consider go-rounds whenever they noticed problems at the point of landing, as such decisions could end up saving many lives.
Captain David Campbell, another of the experts, admonished pilots on how to handle landing on wet and slippery runways with minimal risk.

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Armed Bandits Attacked Police Station For Sophisticated Weapons

In the middle of its election fever, tension gripped Kano City Nigeria yesterday as a gang of armed bandits, attacked the Sharada Divisional Police Station of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), killing at least two officers in an ensuing gun duel, while leaving another officer in a critical condition at the Murtala Mohammed Hospital in the state.

The affected officers include an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and an Inspector, both of whom were confirmed killed in the duel, while the other officer is a corporal, whose stomach was ripped apart with a local knife by the gang.

The bandits, suspected to made up of about 25 persons, attacked the station, sited in one of the industrial locations in the state, at about 4 a.m in the morning, while pretending to be religious mullahs, chanting prayers and incantations. They were said to have besieged the station from three different intersecting directions before converging on the police station and opened fire.

Although the motive of this crime could not be ascertained, it was, however, speculated that they may be persons, who had their eyes on stealing the police arms as it was reliably gathered that they made away with large number of arms and ammunition after the few remaining officers had fled for the safety of their lives, when it became obvious that the police had been overpowered by the gang.

While the gang that attacked the police men came with locally made pistols, they made away with sophisticated weapons which, had great implications for the security of the state, more so as the election dates are just around the corner.

About 24 hours earlier, four officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) were shot dead by a gang of suspected armed robbers at their duty post, a few kilometers from the scene of the present attack.

At the Bompai Police headquarters, top police officers in the state including the command’s spokesman, DSP Baba Mohammed, held a crucial meeting, which might not be unconnected with the killing of their officers and the new wave of crime in the state. So far, the command has not made any official comment.

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Soviet-Style Controls Being Extended To Online News

President Vladimir Putin has already brought Russian newspapers and television to heel. Now he's turning his attention to the Internet.

As the Kremlin gears up for the election of Putin's successor next March, Soviet-style controls are being extended to online news after a presidential decree last month set up a new agency to supervise both mass media and the Web.

``It's worrying that this happened ahead of the presidential campaign,'' Roman Bodanin, political editor of Gazeta.ru, Russia's most prominent online news site, said in a telephone interview. ``The Internet is the freest medium of communication today because TV is almost totally under government control, and print media largely so.''

All three national TV stations are state-controlled, and the state gas monopoly, OAO Gazprom, has been taking over major newspapers; self-censorship is routine. That has left the Internet as the main remaining platform for political debate, and Web sites that test the boundaries of free speech are already coming under pressure.

In December, a court in the Siberian region of Khakassia shut down the Internet news site Novy Fokus for not registering as a media outlet. The site, known for its critical reporting, reopened in late March after it agreed to register and accept stricter supervision.

Plug Pulled

Anticompromat.ru, which wrote about Putin's pre-presidential business interests, had to find a U.S. Web server after a Russian service provider pulled the plug March 28, saying it had been warned by officials to stop hosting the site.

Last year, the authorities shut down a Web site called Kursiv in the city of Ivanovo, northeast of Moscow, that lampooned Putin as a ``phallic symbol of Russia'' for his drive to boost the birthrate.

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia isn't restricting media freedom and that the new agency isn't aimed at policing the Web.

``If you watch TV, even federal TV channels, you'll hear lots of criticism of the government,'' Peskov said in an interview. ``This new agency will be in charge of licensing. It's not about controlling the Internet.''

Putin, 54, isn't allowed to run for re-election in 2008 under Russia's two-term constitutional limit. Instead, he is promoting two potential successors: First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a 41-year-old lawyer, and Sergei Ivanov, 54, a KGB colleague of Putin who oversees much of Russian industry, including transport and nuclear power. The two, who both come from Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg, have become fixtures on state-controlled television.

Gorbachev's Complaint

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, whose policy of glasnost, or openness, ushered in media freedom in the late 1980s after decades of Soviet censorship, has condemned the state propaganda on the airwaves.

``The one thing I can say is that it's pointless today to watch television,'' Gorbachev, 76, said on the 20th anniversary of the launch of ``perestroika,'' his drive to allow more political and economic freedom that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

While most Russians rely on television for news, increasing numbers are turning to the Internet. Around a quarter of the adult population -- 28 million people -- are regular Internet users, according to the Public Opinion Foundation, a Moscow-based research organization. In 2002, only 8 percent fell into that category.

A Mass Medium

``When the Internet becomes more of a mass medium, then governments start getting worried, and they start treating it like the mass media,'' said Esther Dyson, who helped establish the Internet's system of domain names and addresses, and has consulted extensively in Russia.

``You can't control the Internet, but you can control people,'' she said in a telephone interview during a visit to Moscow.

Oleg Panfilov, head of the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations in Moscow, predicted in a telephone interview that ``pressure on the media is going to worsen'' as the presidential succession draws nearer.

Reporters who write critically about government policies are subjected to intimidation, arrests, attacks and other forms of pressure, the Vienna-based International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights said March 27 in its annual report.

Facing Prison

Viktor Shmakov, editor of the newspaper Provintsialny Vesti in the oil-rich Bashkortostan republic, is facing up to 10 years in prison. Prosecutors charged him with inciting mass disturbances after his weekly urged readers to attend an opposition rally last year.

Russia is the second most dangerous country for journalists after Iraq, with 88 killed in the past 10 years, according to the Brussels-based International News Safety Institute.

Last October, Anna Politkovskaya, a prominent reporter and Kremlin critic who uncovered human-rights abuses by security forces in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya, was shot dead in the elevator of her apartment building in Moscow.

A journalist for the Kommersant daily, Ivan Safronov, who was investigating Russian weapons sales to Iran and Syria, fell to his death from a window in his Moscow apartment March 2.

The government, meanwhile, has been expanding Gazprom's media role. The company already took control of independent channel NTV in 2001 and bought long-established Russian daily Izvestia in 2005.

Last year, Kommersant, once owned by tycoon and exiled Kremlin critic Boris Berezovsky, was sold to Alisher Usmanov, a steel magnate who is head of a Gazprom subsidiary. And Gazprom said in November it will acquire Russia's biggest-selling daily, Komsomolskaya Pravda, which has a circulation of 800,000.

Vladimir Rakhmankov, editor of the Web site that lost its Russian server after mocking Putin, said the Web crackdown is part of the final phase of a campaign to stifle free speech.

``Thank God the Internet is difficult to close down, but I think they will go after journalists who write things they don't like,'' he said.

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Why EU Will Protect Internet Use In Workplaces

A Welsh university employee has successfully sued the UK government in the European Court of Human Rights over surveillance that was conducted while the woman was an employee at Carmarthenshire College. According to the complaint, the woman's e-mail, phone, Internet, and fax usage were all monitored by the Deputy Principal (DP) of the college, who appears to have taken a sharp dislike to her. According to the complaint, the DP believed that the woman was using college facilities for personal use too often, and began collecting evidence about her activity. The woman claimed that her human rights were being abused, and pointed specifically to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which governs private and family life.

The woman alleged that the DP began a campaign back in 1999 to discredit her. This campaign involved phone calls to numbers that the applicant had called in an attempt to find out who she had been speaking with, and apparently extended even to reading faxes that she sent to her solicitors from the office.

The case was made tricky by the fact that England lacked two things in 1999: a privacy law and a law governing employers' rights in monitoring their own employees. Because England had no general right to privacy enshrined in the law, the judges might seem to favor the government; but because employers had no law that gave them rights to monitor their workers, Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights became important. That article says that "everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence."

The government argued that the surveillance had been legitimate because it only involved the monitoring of the woman's communications, not the interception of them. That is, phone numbers were retrieved from telephone bills sent to the college, and the IT department logged e-mail addresses and web sites visited, but the contents of the phone calls and the e-mails were not recorded. Further, the government argued that it was pursuing "the legitimate aim of protecting the rights and freedoms of others by ensuring that the facilities provided by a publicly funded employer were not abused."

The court disagreed in a judgment handed down last week. According to its own case law, "telephone calls from business premises are prima facie covered by the notions of 'private life' and 'correspondence' for the purposes of Article 8." Because the woman had not been warned that she might be monitored at work, she had a "reasonable expectation as to the privacy of calls made from her work telephone." Internet usage received the same protection. In 2000, the UK did pass legislation that gave businesses certain rights with which they could monitor the e-mail and phone usage of their employees, but the law had not come into force when the surveillance in question took place.

The ruling may set only a limited precedent, however, since the legal situation in the UK has since changed. The ruling does suggest that all European employers need to make their employees aware of any monitoring that is taking place, but it sets no rules against monitoring in general.

The court granted the woman €3,000 for the "stress, anxiety, low mood and inability to sleep" that she complained about, but it granted her only €6,000 for legal fees. The woman claimed that her total legal bills amounted to nearly €14,000, so she made no money on the case, though her vindication will certainly come as a relief. The court also noted that the DP of the college has since been suspended, but the woman continues to work there.

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5 Months Old And 18 Months Old Die In House Fire

Lilieth Knight would love nothing more than to wave a magic wand and erase the tragic and traumatic events that befell her on Friday evening. But this morning, she still has no choice but to accept the fact that her two infant grandchildren were burned alive in her home at 219 Spanish Town Road in Kingston.

Even more depressing for Knight is the fact that her daughter - the children's mother who Knight told the Sunday Observer was 17 years old - was blamed for the deaths and taken into police custody after the blaze was brought under control.

"That's all me lose. Not the fridge, not the TV, my two grandpickney dem. Mi two pretty grandpickney dem," Knight said as she took the Sunday Observer through the torched remains of her home.

Knight told the Sunday Observer that she was not at her home - a small tenement neatly tucked away between two other houses on an area of land - when the incident took place, but arrived to see the house ablaze.

"When I reached the top (Spanish Town Road) I saw smoke coming out from in the area. When I came round the lane I saw the big fire," she explained. "Not one of the baby them, not even one I could have saved," she wailed.
Residents were not able to say what caused the blaze, but speculated that a candle may have overturned in the house. The Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) reported that at approximately 7:45 pm 18-month old Retania Powell and her five-month old sister Shanique Brown were left in the house by their mother, who went to a nearby shop. On the mother's return, however, the house was seen engulfed in flames.

The Fire Brigade was summoned and a unit each from the Trench Town and York Park Fire Departments was dispatched to the location. The two units successfully extinguished the blaze.
As the charred remains of the house were searched, the burnt bodies of the infants were discovered.

The Sunday Observer was unable to find out from the Hunts Bay Police, who are investigating, whether the teen mother was charged with an offence.
Knight, however told the newspaper that she received a call from the police telling her to carry clothes and toiletries for her daughter as they were taking her to a location in Duhaney Park.

If investigations prove that Knight's daughter is to be blamed for the death of the children then legal action can be taken against her under section nine of the Child Care and Protection Act, and section 28 of the Offences Against the Person Act, which allow for parents or guardians who leave their children in circumstances that endanger their lives and health to be charged for abandonment or cruelty to a child.

Friday's deaths bring to at least five the number infants who have been killed in fires this year after allegedly being left by their parents/guardians. On New Year's Day, two year-old Nikalia Nelson of 7 Newton Street, Falmouth, Trelawny died after a fire caused by an electric short circuit gutted her home. She was allegedly left unattended in a room by her 19 year-old aunt.
On New Year's Eve, four year-old Lamar Bennett and his two-year old sister Serena Brown died when fire destroyed their home in Frome, Westmoreland. The two had allegedly been abandoned by their mother.

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Will Lisa Ann Taylor Lose Mansion And Vehicle?

Valerie Hoff

Accused 'Mansion Madam' Lisa Taylor has been living in her Sugarloaf Country Club home since her arrest in January, but she could lose that home.

Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter is asking a judge to order Taylor to forfeit the home, along with a 1989 Corvette and $3,700 in cash police seized during her January arrest.

"The complaint alleges they were maintained and operated through ill-gotten gains, money from criminal activity," said Porter.

Taylor is accused of running a house of prostitution.

But she and her attorneys maintain she's an adult entertainer and her activities such as dancing and adult videos were legal.

"The vehicle has a long standing history with Miss Taylor, as does the house and the money," said defense attorney Mark Issa. "We believe it’s not fair at all to take someone's home and vehicle and money prior to being convicted of a crime and we think it goes against the principals of the Constitution."

Taylor is charged under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO. It was enacted in the 1970's to fight organized crime, and contains stiff penalties and forfeiture provisions for those who commit a series of illegal acts to further a criminal enterprise.

As the civil forfeiture case gets underway, Porter said the criminal process is slightly behind schedule because of the vast amount of computer data seized from Taylor's home.

"There was a lot of stuff on the hard drive, a lot of information and to go through it is taking longer than we expected," said Porter.

As they wait for their cases to go to the Grand Jury, Taylor and her alleged accomplice Nicole Probert are working as dancers at a DeKalb County adult entertainment venue called the Oasis.

Porter said he will likely present the case to the grand jury before summer. He said he does not anticipate making any more arrests before that time.

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AFI Dallas International Film Festival Showcases Newbies

Mike Jones

Four hours north from the Whole Earthy shops that sell "Keep Austin Weird" merchandise, an upscale Dallas thread shop displays, for twice the price, their own T-shirt: "Keep Dallas Pretentious." And with no apologies, the AFI Dallas International Film Festival began as founder Liener Temerlin, an unabashed "old ad man," stated that Dallas "may now hold the world record in size, films, venues, and sponsors for an inaugural film festival." Though the birth of yet another new film festival shouldn't make much of a ripple, Temerlin and company might have started a new franchising trend. Licensing the AFI brand for a festival was probably akin to attaching stars to a script -- it brought in a laundry list of big blue chip sponsors.

Artistic Director Michael Cain, previously of the Deep Ellum Film Festival, and his team built a program heavy on Texas-born talent, AFI alum (David Lynch's "Inland Empire"), and suggestions from AFI Los Angeles' Christian Gaines ("Drama/Mex" and "Screamers"). Opening the fest with Dallas-native Steve Sawalich's "Music Within" was the safe choice. Starring Ron Livingston as a deaf Vietnam vet fighting for the disabled Americans' rights, the film rides the middle of the road well, though breaks no ground.

Fellow Dallasite Amy Talkington's light, cheery romp, "Night of the White Pants," turned a circus mirror onto the furs and boots in the audience. Shot locally, it stars Tom Wilkerson as an ex-millionaire Dallas dealmaker battling lawyers, greedy ex-wives, spoiled children, and his own spoiled past. Wilkerson threw himself into the North Texas drawl with both feet and fists, but within all his character's good ole boy ego, Wilkerson's hound-dog eyes keep his performance refreshingly grounded. The audience ate it up, as they'll do with Talkington's next target: Dallas debutantes.

Narrative competition films included a few imports from Sundance 2007 including Steve Berra's "The Good Life" and Martin Hynes' "The Go-Getter," a lost-in-America story that, despite genuine moments of young love between the illuminant Zooey Deschanel and Lou Taylor Pucci, manages to lose its way mid-story.
Crowds inside the Majestic Theater in Dallas attending the inaugural festival. For more photos, check out the festival's Flickr photo site. Image courtesy of the festival

Among the docs, Joel P. Engardio and Tom Shepard's "Knocking," put the audience inside the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses, for a change. In its best moments the journalists follow a Witness family into a "bloodless" liver transplant. Witnesses don't believe in using another's blood, or even a stored bag of their own, during surgery. Most even carry a card instructing caregivers "no blood." When a father decides to donate a portion of his liver to his ailing son, the family searches far and wide for a hospital that will do a transfusion-less transplant. They find it at USC who, in exchange, want to use the surgery to test new procedures that will reduce the need for donor blood. Using that as a jumping off point, the filmmakers continue to outline Jehovah Witness history, including their imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps and their victories in litigating for free speech in the US and abroad.

Other noteworthy docs included University of Texas professor Andrew Garrison's "Third Ward, TX," named after a Houston neighborhood where a group of African-American artists took over a block of abandoned homes just before their leveling. After creating unique artist spaces, parks, and much-needed low-income housing, the group then faced the result of their success: gentrification and myopic real estate development. In the aptly titled "A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar," filmmaker Eric Chaikin follows six people striving to become among the measly 39% that pass the California bar exam, including one unlucky subject who's failed it 41 times.

While potshots at Dallas pretension are easy, it's as useless as shooting barrel fish. Dallas doesn't care what you think. They like their art and they like to pay for it. The Dallas Contemporary, The Nasher, and neighboring Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth are all well funded and arguably premiere destinations for modern art in the Midwest. And while Variety reported the fest's pricetag at $4 million, much of that money seemed spent on the filmmakers: from the first class airfare to the swank W Hotel rooms, complete with a 3-bottle gift of fine wine in a fancy Target-designed box (just one item among the avalanche of swag). And when Dallasites show up to see David Lynch present his three-hour, interior-view of Laura Dern's head, they do it in their Neiman Marcus best, they stay through the whole thing, and they applaud when it's over. There is pretension here, and there is also class.

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Beijing Police Cracks Down On Prostitution, Gambling.....In Bathhouses.

People who stay at public bathhouses will have to check in with their identity cards under new rules designed to regulate the industry.

The Beijing News on Saturday reported police will detain bathhouse operators who admit clients who refuse to check in with their identity cards.

The Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, local Bureau of Commerce, Administration for Industry and Commerce, and Health Bureau held a meeting on Friday to discuss how to regulate the public bathhouse and hotel industry.

Beijing currently has around 1,116 public bathhouses and around 700 offer lodging. They have become a haven for criminals because most bathhouses do not register their guests' ID cards. During the first ten months of 2006, police detained 920 people at 503 bathhouses for involvement in prostitution and gambling.

Local police authorities say a lot of public bathhouses run a diverse range of services outside their scope of operation, like massage, catering, performances and lodging.

The newspaper says bathhouses will have to go through licensing and registration procedures at the local administrations, including the public security bureau and the Administration for Industry and Commerce, by the end of May if they wish to offer accommodation. All bathhouses that offer lodging will be investigated in the first three weeks of June.

Public bathhouses will also be required to install closed-circuit TV surveillance systems in public areas and operators will be detained if they fail to check their guests' ID cards. Bathhouse employees will have to report any clients' who refuse to show their ID cards or who use fake ID cards to the police immediately.

Bathhouses that don't provide accommodation will not be allowed to operate between 2 am and 8 am. Violators will be fined between 1,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan.

Any bathhouses involved in prostitution, gambling or drug taking will have their licenses withdrawn.

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"My Nude Pictures Were From MY Stolen Laptop" Says Wan Nural Zhana

Muzliza Mustafa

A police source revealed that, according to the report, the incident took place in Damansara in early January.

The source said Wan Nurul Zhana, fondly known as Zana, also claimed the laptop contained important documents and her personal photo collection.

The source added that Zana, who is embroiled in the nude picture controversy, wanted to clear her name and urged police to nab the culprit.

Shah Alam police chief ACP Abdul Wahab Embong confirmed the police report.

However, he declined comment on the content of Zana¡¦s laptop.

We are investigating the case and do not want to jeopardise it,¡¨ he said, adding that they are also looking into whether there is an element of blackmail in the case.

It was reported this week that Shah Alam police was investigating the case under Section 509 of the Penal Code for insulting the modesty of a person.

It was reported that Zana lodged her report at Petaling Jaya police station last Friday, but the case was referred to Shah Alam police as AF5 contestants live in the Hicom Industrial Estate in Section 26, Shah Alam.

It was also learned that as of this week, Zana had yet to give her statement to Shah Alam police.

The Malay Mail had, on Monday, front-paged a report on Zana¡¦s nude picture controversy.

It was reported that the 23-year-old lass had pulled out from the show last Saturday, prompting speculation that it was due to the circulation of the nude pictures on the Internet.

AF5 executive producer Bob Azrai had said Zana had lodged the report after she quit the show.


Maylay Mail ran the story with censored pictures and Zana's denials. Since then the budding star has decided to report a laptop with 'personal pictures' stolen. Apparently the laptop WAS hers.
He was also quoted as saying that Zana had cited pressure as the reason behind her action.

In early reports Zana denied that the pictures were of her.

The 23-year-old, who has denied that several 'revealing' pictures are that of her, told The Malay Mail late last week. She told the media that she would, "get in touch if (there¡¦s) anything (I want to comment on)."

"Hi there. Sorry, didn't mean to offend anybody (for not answering the calls). I didn't like the idea of you getting my number without my permission. Will get in touch if anything.. ..thanks for the concern," was her text reply to this reporter who tried talking to her without success last week.

Her three cell phone lines were switched off, and attempts to reach her home were unsuccessful.

She only responded when The Malay Mail texted her twice to seek her comments on several pictures posted on the Internet.

Akademi Fantasia executive producer Bob Azrai, commenting on the sudden withdrawal of the deejay and part-time emcee and singer from the first weekly concert last Saturday night, said the matter was "out of our hands".

"It's now a police case, and it's out of our hands. She asked to be allowed to leave the show, citing stress and personal problems. Fans of the programme can tell from the daily Diari Akademi Fantasia that she's been under a lot pressure of late, and has been crying since Wednesday."

When asked if it had anything to do with the circulation of nude pictures on the Internet, supposedly of hers, Bob initially said he did not know.

However, when pointed out that the pictures had surfaced about the same time Wan Nurul started showing signs of stress, Bob admitted that the pictures had an impact on her.

"We did tell her what was happening outside (the academy)," he said, adding that he did not know if the pictures had infl uenced Wan Nurul's decision.

Bob said Wan Nurul, or better known as Zana, had lodged a police report after her exit from the programme.

"We had notified her of what was happening because we wanted to get the truth. She denied being the one in those pictures," Bob said.

However the filing of the recent police report over the stolen laptop seems to confirm that the nude pictures are in fact genuine photos of Wan Nurul Zhana.

Zana's initial denial that the pictures were not even her does not mend well with the fact that the starlet is now distancing and covering herself in release of the photos by filing the report with the police over a stolen laptop.

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Isreali Ambassador To El Salvador Found Drunk And Naked

Israel's leadership has been shaken by a string of scandals Israel has recalled its ambassador to El Salvador after he was found drunk and naked apart from bondage gear.

Reports say he was able to identify himself to police only after a rubber ball had been removed from his mouth.

A foreign ministry official described Ambassador Tzuriel Refael's behaviour as an unprecedented embarrassment.

The incident, which happened two weeks ago, has renewed calls for a radical overhaul of the way Israel appoints and promotes its diplomats.

San Salvador was Mr Refael's first post as ambassador. He was promoted in 2006 from a technical position in the ministry which had involved several foreign postings.

He was being recalled, although he had not broken any laws, foreign ministry spokeswoman Zehavit Ben-Hillel told reporters.

She confirmed that lurid reports of the incident in the Israeli press were accurate.

"We're talking about behaviour that is unbecoming of a diplomat," she said.

Israel has been rocked by a recent series of misconduct and corruption scandals, shaking public confidence in the political leadership.

Haaretz website reports that police found Mr Refael in the Israeli embassy compound where he had been found bound, gagged and naked apart from sado-masochistic sex accessories.

In 2006, Israel's diplomatic service was criticised by the public watchdog for its appointments system.

The state comptroller's report singled out the foreign ministry appointments committee for its inadequate examination of candidates and lack of transparency.

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Sexual Abuse And The Workplace In Philippines

In this age of emerging woman power, it is sad that many women are still trapped in old values making them prey to victimization.

A lady whom I shall call Delia consulted me, in tears, because she was unjustly forced to resign from her employment. At first she pinned the blame on her co-employees whom she claims destroyed her good name to the bosses.

When I asked why they would do that, all she could say was that she could not understand it herself. When I probed why she resigned for what seemed like petty office intrigues, she said her immediate superior believed the others more and suggested that she resign.

In all of the thirty minutes or so where she kept on ranting about the emotional pain she suffered I still could not make heads or tails out of her story. Nothing made sense.

She said she was an outstanding employee. Her personality projected a meek and docile young woman who is not exactly the normal fare of intrigues. I could not for the life of me imagine why she would be so hated by almost all her co-employees and be driven into resigning by her own immediate superior. I frankly told her that she did not seem to have a cause to file any legal suit against anyone unless she could present witnesses that she was maliciously defamed by her co-employees.

A break came into what seemed a non-case for me when her companion prodded her to tell me about the relationship she used to have with her boss. She tried to brush off the idea that what she was going through had anything to do with her former intimate relationship with her boss. With care and her permission, I asked her friend to tell me what she knew about Delia's intimacy with her boss. And this is the story.

Her boss had always shown special attention to Delia by giving her plum assignments that allowed her to earn more than the others. He also promised her that soon she would be promoted to a higher position with much more attractive perks. The catch? He often asked her to stay after office hours and would ask her to go to his office. At this, Delia broke down. I then encouraged her to narrate what her boss did to her in those after-office trysts. She said she was shocked the first time because immediately upon her entering his room, he embraced her, mashed her breasts and took her clothes off. She was stunned but while he was doing lewd things on her he kept on assuring her he loved her and he would be the wings to make her career fly. She gave in and promised not to say a word to anyone about this as he had requested. The trysts became more frequent and lurid. She said he even had a video tape rolling in one of their sexual encounters. By then, however, she was already madly in love with her boss and nothing mattered anymore to her, even the rolling tape.

I then asked her if there was an indication her officemates knew about her affair with the boss. Reluctantly she admitted that one of the things being thrown against her that led to her resignation was exactly this. What she could not take, she said, was why her boss-her lover-was among those who pressured her into resigning. I suggested to her that perhaps he was feeling the heat too much and became afraid that top management would get wind of it and fire him.

Perhaps, I said, he did not love you as much as he professed and valued his job more.

Delia could not accept this proposition. She kept insisting that he loved her but still had no explanation why he dropped her suddenly without a reason. Between sobs, she ranted that her boss even wrote a notice to the security guards of their building barring her entrance. When I suggested that she had been sexually abused and had a clear case against her boss she became more distraught. She said she could not file a case because she cannot let her parents know. The scandal would destroy her future especially because he had a video footage of one of their trysts. Her friend had one more valuable input to make. This was not the first time that this guy was linked to a female subordinate. In all the previous times, the female employees were forced to leave, much the same way she was driven out. Delia left my office without making a decision to take to task her boss and lover in a legal suit.

Delia had difficulty accepting she was victimized. She insisted it was mutual love. But she gave herself away when she said that although she had reservations about allowing him to carry out his lust, especially in their first few sexual encounters, she was afraid of losing her job and was looking forward to being promoted to a higher post.

Under the law known as the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995, there is sexual harassment when an employer, manager or supervisor requests or demands sexual favor from a person he has moral ascendancy over. The sexual favor is made as a condition for hiring, re-employment, continued employment or the granting of promotion or favorable compensation. Under this law, Delia's boss could be imprisoned and be made to pay for the moral damages that she suffered. Lucky for him, however, Delia belongs to the school of women who would rather suffer alone than be exposed to shame.

There are a number of laws giving special protection to women because they often find themselves victims of abuse. But unless women stand for their rights, these laws will mean nothing. Real emancipation cannot come from the outside but from within.

It is women's month. What is there to celebrate about if offenders of crimes against women continue to commit their crimes with impunity? More than celebrating, women should embark on educational campaigns to uplift their fellow women who are still trapped in the belief that they are better off in not fighting back.

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Vietnamese Athlete Gets Five Years For Sex With A 10-Year-Old

A Vietnamese wushu international was sentenced to five years in jail Tuesday for having sex with a 12-year-old girl in a Hanoi hotel last September.

Tran Xuan Anh, 21, who won a bronze medal at the 2001 Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia, was arrested after being caught in the act.

According to the police report, Anh, a third-year student at the National Sports College No. 1 in Bac Ninh province, was riding a motorbike when he was solicited by a pimp. He accepted and went to the hotel where the underage girl was waiting.

When Anh asked her about her age, she reportedly lied saying she was 17.

The police arrived and arrested the couple along with the pimp, Le Van Tu, who got a 10-year sentence from the court.

According to Tu's declaration to the police, he had taken the girl to the hotel for another client, who, on seeing her, had backed out saying she was too young.

To cover the room rent Tu ran out into the street to solicit other customers when he met Anh.

The girl, born in 1994, lives in Hoan Kiem district in Hanoi and was studying in seventh grade when the incident occurred last year.

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