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Thaddeus Jimenez

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A 13 year old boy was arrested in 1993 and convicted of cold blooded murder. The sentence was 50 years. He is now free after 16 years in prison because prosecutors now believe another man committed the killing!

State's Attorney Anita Alvarez couldn't say what evidence prompted her office to encourage a judge to vacate Thaddeus Jimenez's prison sentence on Friday, but mentioned that she believed it was the correct decision.

"I'm happy to be alive today," Thaddeus Jimenez, now 30, told everyone at a press conference at the Cook County Criminal Courthouse, "after spending a little over 16 years in the Department of Corrections."

Authorities have now charged a Hammond, Indiana, man with the Feb. 3, 1993 murder of Eric Morro. This man, Juan Carlos Torres, is awaiting extradition to Illinois. He is now 30 years old. Oddly enough, Juan Carlos Torres was mentioned as a potential suspect at the time of the shooting.

Witnesses mistakenly had told police they were sure they saw Thaddeus Jimenez fire the shot. A man with Eric Morro at the time of the tragedy had told police Thaddeus Jimenez was not the gunman. After an extended interrogation, the witness then changed his story and implicated Thaddeus Jimenez with the slaying.

The case came to the attention of the Northwestern University Center on Wrongful Convictions in 2005. The center supervised an investigation and, in September 2007, it sent its conclusions to the state's attorney's office.

The office originated its own analysis and, coupled with Jimenez's attorneys, they petitioned a judge on Friday to vacate Jimenez's sentence. The judge concurred.

The outcome to drop the case was "...a powerful example of a prosecutor's office living up to the highest ideals of what a prosecutor should be," said Steven Drizin, one of Jimenez's attorneys. Thaddeus Jimenez "would still be locked up today if not for the Cook County state's attorney's office."

The state's attorney said her office found no evidence of official misconduct in the initial investigation against Thaddeus Jimenez.

"This is a situation where we don't see any police misconduct or prosecutorial misconduct," she said, pointing out that the evidence originally appeared to incriminate Jimenez.

She did accede that the case is an exemplification of why there needs to be constant training of police and prosecutors on how to interrogate witnesses and verify witness accounts.

In a brief statement, Thaddeus Jimenez gratefully thanked his lawyers and his mother, stating that as a result of her not giving up hope, he mustered the strength to persevere.

"I survived because of the love and support I received from my mother, who battled cancer and other illnesses while I was away," he stated.

FBstarter.com

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What is FBstarter.com? Yesterday a phishing scam spread across Facebook in the form of a message form a friend asking you to click on a link which took you to what appeared to be a Facebook login, but was actually at a different url http://fbaction.net. Luckily, it was quickly blocked.

Now there seems to be a new one linking to http://fbstarter.com/. It comes in the form of a message from a friend telling you to “Look at this!” When you click on the link, you are taken to what appears to be a Facebook sign-in page. If you go ahead and sign in, the phishers have access to your account and can then send messages to all of your friends. Do not give them your login info!

If you do sign in by mistake, the best thing to do is to change your password as quickly as possible. Make sure you are signed into the real Facebook when you do that though.

Again, it looks like this phishing attack is very successful. Right now “fbstarter.com” is the No. 1 hottest term on Google Trends.

Aquada

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Imagine driving through the beautiful Florida keys on a clear-skied summer's day with the top down. What can be better right? How about taking an exit directly into the ocean water and speedboating around the beach...in the same vehicle? That is exactly what the new "Aquada" proposes to do. This new concept vehicle comes to us from Gibbs Technologies. They debuted the "Aquada" in late 2003.

They proudly claim 100mph on land and 30mph in the water. At under $100K, the first vehicles are slated to be sold here in the USA in 2009. The following is from their website (http://www.gibbstech.co.uk/aquada.php):

The Aquada is a revolutionary showcase of High Speed Amphibian (HSA) technology.

This radical new breed of vehicle has been precision engineered to the most exacting standards. It has undergone an extensive safety testing programme and complies with appropriate marine and road safety regulations.

Entry to the water is via beach, boat ramp, slipway or directly from the water's edge. Once afloat, the transition from road vehicle to High Speed Amphibian (HSA) is effortlessly achieved.

Simply press a button and drive into the water. The wheels automatically rise and as you press the accelerator nearly a ton of thrust pushes the Aquada onto the plane. The whole process takes less than 12 seconds. The Aquada can plane at over 30mph.

Powerful enough to tow a water-skier and with a style and class of its own, the Gibbs Aquada is the perfect leisure vehicle. It combines the thrill of an open top car with the sheer exhilaration experienced in a high performance speedboat.

The Aquada is the new name for freedom!

One can only wonder how long before the "Aquada" is spotted in our beautiful California beaches!

NVAX & other swine flu stocks

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The swine flu outbreak has come during a horribly vulnerable time for the global economy, but at least on Monday, toxic balance sheets won't be the #1 news story.
Instead we'll be trying to figure out if this is the big one, or if it's just a prelude.

Two of the ones to watch tomorrow: Biocryst (BCRX) and Novavax (NVAX), vaccine makers which were up 26% and 75% respectively on Friday as news emerged of the disease striking in Mexico. We'll be shocked if they don't go crazy again on Monday, now that the story's gotten much bigger and because Novavax still has a market cap of under $100 million. It won't take much to make it go crazy.

Other companies that may profit from swine flu include Roche -- who's Tamiflu has had some effect and Gilead (GILD), which gets royalties from its sale.

This blog offers up some more speculative names including NanoViricides (NNVC) and Sinovac Biotech (SVA)

A stock we'd expect to see selling in: Hormel (HRL).

source="http://www.businessinsider.com/swine-flu-stocks-2009-4"

Easter Bible Verses

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Are you looking for a particular Bible verse to write in your Easter cards? Do you just want to meditate on the significance of Christ's resurrection? This collection of Resurrection Day Bible verses centers on the theme of Christ's death, burial and resurrection, and what these events mean to his followers.

Easter, or Resurrection Day, as many Christians refer to the holiday, is a time when we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.


John 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. (NIV)

Romans 1:4-5
And Jesus Christ our Lord was shown to be the Son of God when God powerfully raised him from the dead by means of the Holy Spirit. Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name. (NLT)

Romans 6:8-11
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (NIV)

Philippians 3:10-12
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. (NIV)

1 Peter 1:3
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead... (NIV)

Matthew 27:50-53
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.(NIV)

Matthew 28:1-10
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me." (NIV)

Mark 16:1-8
When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?"

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.' "

Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. (NIV)

(See also, Luke 24:1-12)

source=http://christianity.about.com/od/holidaytips/qt/easterbiblevers.htm

Portuguese Water Dog

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Usually leaks are bad things when the subject is puppies, or the White House, but yesterday a cute leak squirted out from 1600 Pennsylvania, the news that its newest resident is a Portuguese water dog that the Obama girls have named Bo.

The Washington Post, who has been hot on the trail of this all-important story got the poop on the pup:

The little guy is a 6-month-old Portuguese water dog given to the Obama girls as a gift by that Portuguese water dog-lovin' senator himself, Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. The girls named it Bo — and let it be noted that you learned that here first. Malia and Sasha chose the name, because their cousins have a cat named Bo and because first lady Michelle Obama's father was nicknamed Diddley, a source said. (Get it? Bo . . . Diddley?)

Bo's a handsome little guy. Well suited for formal occasions at the White House, he's got tuxedo-black fur, with a white chest, white paws and a rakish white goatee.

President Barack Obama and the first Lady have been barraged with questions about the pooch ever since it became known that the girls were promised a dog if Mr. Obama won the election.

Although having a pet is a first for the first family, the Obamas are Bo's second family. When the puppy's original family couldn't take care of him, none other than Senator Ted Kennedy (who owns two Water dogs) found a new home for the pup with the Obamas.

Despite the fact that this news came out a few days before it was scheduled to be formally announced, when Michelle Obama spoke to People in February, she said that April would be the month that her daughters would get their pet.

Here's a sample of a typical family conversation on the matter: "So Sasha says, 'April 1st.' I said, 'April.' She says, 'April 1st.' It's, like, April!," Mrs. Obama recalls. "Got to do it after spring break. You can't get a new dog and then go away for a week."

In January Mr. Obama said on a Sunday morning talk show that the family had narrowed down their choice between a Labradoodle and a Portugese water dog. Most assumed that the Obamas were attempting to find a hypoallergenic breed to appease Malia's allergies, but the president of the Portugese Water Dog Association told USA Today that such a dog doesn't exist. "There really is no hypoallergenic dog. We tell people to spend time around the dogs to make sure they're going to be OK. The hair might not bother them, but the saliva might."

Looks like that water dog's saliva was fine. Sorry, Labradoodles.

source=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2009/04/bo-portuguese-water-dog-obama-first-dog.html

Masters Golf Tournament 2009

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With the 2009 Masters golf tournament underway today in Augusta, Georgia, Tiger Woods remains the odds-on favorite to win the prestigious golf tourney, followed closely by Phil Mickelson. At the online sports betting website BodogLife, Tiger Woods remains the top favorite to win the 2009 Masters with short odds 7/4. In the odds to win the 2009 Masters Golf Tournament, Tiger Woods is followed by Phil Mickelson, who however holds distant odds to win - 8/1. After a small odds adjustment, Geoff Ogilvy is now third on the betting sheets with odds 12/1, edging out Padraig Harrington who is now sitting on 16/1 odds to win the 2009 Masters Golf Tournament.

Neither of the four golf players leading the betting odds on the 2009 Masters have teed-off yet, which gives the bettors quite a while to put in their wagers. And with Tiger Woods leading on the rest of the pack by such a wide margin, it's the perfect time to look for "underdogs" such as Mickelson and Harrington. Thanks for checking with us as we bring you the latest odds on the 2009 Masters Golf Tournament.

source=http://www.ogpaper.com/news/news-02546.html

MakingHomeAffordable.gov

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Struggling homeowners who are confused about whether they qualify for help under the Obama administration's mortgage plan have a new website to turn to.

A government website scheduled to launch overnight -- MakingHomeAffordable.gov -- is supposed to make it easy for homeowners to see if they're one of the estimated 7 million to 9 million people eligible for the program and calculate how much they might save.

Emma Heming

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Sources say actor Bruce Willis is planning a birthday wedding to his model girlfriend Emma Heming this week.

According to People.com, the “Die Hard” star, who turns 54 on Thursday, March 19th and Emma Heming, 32, will exchange vows in Turks & Caicos, where the actor owns a home.

Although Willis’ rep is refusing to comment, sources say the couple arrived on the island this past weekend and rented a block of ocean-view homes for their guests.

Congratulations to Bruce & Emma!


source="http://www.examiner.com/x-964-LA-Celebrity-Gossip-Examiner~y2009m3d18-Bruce-Willis--girlfriend-Emma-Heming-to-wed"

Internet Explorer 8

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On Thursday at the MIX09 conference in Las Vegas for Web developers and designers, Microsoft will announce the availability of its next-generation Web browser, Internet Explorer 8.
The conference, which runs from March 18 to 20, has already seen the launch of the Silverlight 3 beta, and a preview version of the Expression Blend 3 web design and prototyping tool.

Dean Hachamovitch, who heads up the IE8 development team, is expected to announce the browser's launch during his keynote today at MIX09. It will be available for download in 25 languages at www.microsoft.com/ie8 starting at noon EDT on March 19. Installers will be available for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows Server in both 32-bit and 64 bit editions.

"Customers have made clear what they want in a Web browser — safety, speed and greater ease of use," said Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft, in a statement. "With Internet Explorer 8, we are delivering a browser that gets people to the information they need, fast, and provides protection that no other browser can match."

Though still trailing Firefox in terms of JavaScript speed and available extensions, the newly released browser surpasses Mozilla in terms of security and browsing aids. The latter include Accelerators, WebSlices, search improvements, and new-tab assistance. IE8 also catches up to Firefox with its Smart Address bar, equivalent to the open source browser's so-called "awesome bar." IE8 also adds improved Web and on-page searching, as well as color-coded tabs for related web pages.

The browser made news with its InPrivate browsing mode, also known as "porn mode," back when it was in beta. InPrivate goes beyond other browser's similar features by hiding the users activities not only from other user of the same computer, but also prevents third-party Web sites from keeping tabs on your Internet activities. Other unique security features include protection against clickjacking and cross-site scripting.

For a full blow-by-blow analysis, see PCMag.com's review of Internet Explorer 8.

source="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2343409,00.asp"

Marie Douglas-David

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The estranged wife of United Technologies Chairman George David says she has weekly expenses of $53,000 - more than what half the households in America earn annually and higher than the cost of attending an Ivy League school for a year.

Pity poor Marie Douglas-David, 36, a stunning Swedish countess in the middle of a divorce. She has no job, no assets and must depend on the largesse of her 66-year-old hubby for her well-being.

He is being kind.

At a hearing this week in Hartford Superior Court, he agreed to pay her $978,000 until their legal teams work out the terms of their divorce, including whether a $43 million post-nup she signed is still valid.

After six years of marriage, the eye-candy countess wants to keep the couple's 10,000-square-foot penthouse at 740 Park Ave., a source said.

She's willing to let David keep the weekend retreat in Sagaponack. It's a rental ($425,000 a year) anyway.

So how does Douglas-David, a former investment banker for Lazard Asset Management, manage to spend $53,000 a week?

Mortgage and maintenance fees and rent for the Park Avenue penthouse, the Hamptons retreat and properties in Sweden account for $27,300 a week, according to a financial affidavit she filed with the court. And then there's travel ($8,000), clothing ($4,500), a personal assistant ($2,209), horse care ($1,570), domestic help ($1,480), entertainment and restaurants ($1,500), health and skin care ($1,000), dry cleaning ($650), flowers ($600) and a trainer ($250).

And it must be noted after Marie Douglas-David is cutting back.

A footnote to her affidavit said, "While recognizing that many of these expenses may seem high, most are lower than prior to the commencement of this case in August 2007."

A source said the footnote referred to the fact that while Marie Douglas David and her husband, who used to be the CEO of United Technologies, were together, they spent $200,000 a week - or $10 million a year.

Douglas-David, the source said, only wants to live in the style to which she has grown accustomed. She has had no job since - with the backing of her husband - she quit her post at Lazard in 2003.

"It's all about her standard of living," the source said.

What about everybody else's standard of living?

According to the 2006 Census, 51.3 percent of American households earn less than $50,000.

And the cost of attending a year at Harvard, Princeton or Brown is about $50,000.

According to Marie Douglas-David's affidavit, she has assets of $4.4 million, but debts of $5.7 million, including $2.9 million she owes her husband for loans he made.

In court testimony, David said he made several purchases of jewelry for his wife, including a $138,582 diamond engagement ring, $100,000 diamond earrings, and a pair of $255,000 diamond-earring studs. But he continued to own the bling - apparently to avoid gift taxes. That's why the countess lists the value of her jewelry as only $5,000.

The couple hobnobbed with the likes of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and took trips to China, Germany, Paris, London, the Bahamas and St. Tropez on United Technologies corporate jets and on a chartered yacht, The Hartford Courant reported.

source="http://www.nypost.com/seven/12192008/news/nationalnews/really_high_maintenance_144934.htm"

Maria Sergeyeva

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At only 24 she is already tipped to become a minister, and perhaps achieve her goal of ruling Russia. Happy to exploit her glamorous looks, Maria Sergeyeva has emerged seemingly from nowhere to become a leading propagandist for her hero, Vladimir Putin, her country's "Iron Man" Prime Minister.

Critics, who have dubbed her "Putin's pin-up", say that she is being used by the former KGB leader to target the young and to whip up jingoism and loathing of the West as Russia stares into the abyss of an economic crisis.

"Maria is a potent combination," says a supporter in Putin's party, United Russia. "She can sway crowds with her passion, her looks and her punchy style, but she also reaches out via her blogs and webcasts to places that normal politics fails to go."

She is a leading light of the Young Guards, a youthful and growing band of zealots dedicated to resisting any efforts to stop Putin's inexorable Russian revolution.

The Young Guards are close ideological cousins of Nashi, the controversial government-funded "youth movement" that led a six-month campaign of intimidation against former British Ambassador Sir Anthony Brenton in 2006 after he attended a conference held by critics of the Kremlin.

Both organisations were engineered to mimic Soviet-era youth organisations, such as the Young Communists, with the purpose of boosting "patriotism" in support of the ruling elite. But the Young Guards, though currently smaller than Nashi, have become more influential by harnessing the power of the internet to spread their message.

They recently raised their profile by highlighting the "immigration crisis" and helping police to identify illegal immigrants. With more than 100,000 members, many see membership as essential to their career development.

Although Sergeyeva claims that she holds no official position in the Young Guards, she is suddenly ubiquitous in Russian society - writing newspaper articles, attending political rallies (which, unlike so many others, don't get banned) and pontificating via the internet. One recent speech that was made available online had 140,000 hits, crashing the political website hosting it.

Her nationalist rhetoric is blunt, if not outright incendiary. At a time when racist attacks in her country are at unprecedented levels, she recently told immigrants to leave.

"They grab our work," she said. "Immigrants should work in places where Russians don't want to, or they should go back home."

She went on the offensive against former chess champion Garry Kasparov, one of Putin's few critics, saying he "sold himself to American spies". Another opponent, writer Eduard Limonov, was dismissed as having "the face of someone who is psychologically abnormal'".

She declared: "I personally consider them my enemies. They cast doubt on things that are very important to me: the integrity of Russia and its sovereignty."

Of a prominent radio talk-show host, another opponent of Putin, she said: "I'm not saying that Yulia Latynina is ugly. I'm saying that if a person experiences a lot of negative emotions, that negativity is reflected in her face."

Boasting that she wears almost exclusively Russian-made clothes rather than Western designer labels - she has a fondness for pink bikinis - Sergeyeva urges drivers to follow her example by shunning foreign cars.

She is critical of the West, especially America, seeing the world through the same prism as her leader. "Only the United States is our real competitor," she says. "When they provoked war in Georgia and revolution in Ukraine, I was so angry."

When it comes to Russia's latest crippling financial crisis, she believes that only Putin and his ally President Dmitry Medvedev can save her country.

Despite all her anti-Western rhetoric, Sergeyeva idolises Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill - she carries a book of his quotations in her handbag.

"I love Thatcher and Churchill because they are self-made leaders," she says. "I think Thatcher and I have some similarities. I don't like how my voice sounds when I am making speeches and I have read that Thatcher corrected her vocal cords to make her voice sound better - I may do the same. She worked hard. She is a good example for me."

Yet, unlike her heroine, it appears that this lady is for turning. Three years ago, Sergeyeva was a proud opponent of Putin and his party. She was a prominent activist in the tiny Democratic Party, a group that wanted Russia to join the European Union. Her most effective protest was a demonstration mocking Russia's rulers as robots and androids.

The circumstances of her sudden conversion to these robots are disputed. It certainly involved recruitment by a close friend who was already in the Guards, prompting some to suggest she'd been planted in an opposition party as a spy before coming "home".

Others believe Putin's cronies simply recognised her potential and recruited her on a hefty salary, a claim she denies.

Whatever the truth, she now lives and breathes pro-Putin politics.

According to her internet postings, one of her current assignments is to promote training sessions for loyalist bloggers-under the acronym KGB. Kursy Gosudarstvennykh Bloggerov stands for Courses For State Bloggers, and its purpose appears to be to teach loyal cyber-warriors how to hack into opposition blogs and find the addresses and telephone numbers of those behind them - all apparently sponsored by the Russian taxpayer.

In return, the loyal bloggers are given a membership card, Putin's book on ideology, a CD of Medvedev's video blog and their own badges and uniforms.

However, Sergeyeva also expresses her feelings and frustrations online, a rarity for a Russian politician. At times her blog veers off into Bridget Jones territory as she reveals her irritations with men.

"My friend Anya got married this summer, I was maid of honour at her wedding and even caught the bride's bouquet,' she writes in one entry. 'Now I am the only one who's left single among my girlfriends. The rest are married. I have only cats."

She laments the fact that men "don't understand what's wrong in wanting to have sex with someone else ... I've never seen someone who didn't cheat on his partner for three years in a row. Maybe they exist?"

One picture shows her looking the worse for wear. "I'm at a conference. Drunk - and after the banya [sauna]. It's 3am. A plastic glass with champagne in one hand and single malt whisky, 12 years old, in the other. So I drink champagne after whisky. And wearing nothing but stockings and flag of Cuba. This is my way of finding adventures."

When pressed, Sergeyeva admits there is an older man in her life. "I have a sort of relationship. I think it's real love. I have loved this man for two years - he's a bit older than me and not in my party."

"I am not encouraging him to come to United Russia. I don't think it's a woman's business to teach her man what to do."

Insiders believe she has a long political career ahead of her. "It's likely that she'll be very successful," predicts politician Robert Schlegel, himself a former Nashi member. She is tipped to join Schlegel soon in the Russian parliament.

Sergeyeva, the great-granddaughter of a Stalinist NKVD secret service officer who died in the siege of Leningrad, has come a long way since being expelled "for laziness" from an elite Moscow academy.

"I was very fat and had no friends," she has said. "We lived very poorly - I had no toys either. With that kind of despair, I read and pondered a lot."

Her mother, Lyudmila, is a 55-yearold retired government employee, while her father, Vladimir, 52, is a retired cold-storage worker.

By the time Maria reached the age of 13, "nature started making me taller and slimmer. . . So from tubshaped tearaway with a boy's haircut, I turned into something indecent. People thought, 'THIS is a glamorous blonde.' I try not to argue or disappoint them."

Although she collects guns and is a proficient markswoman, she insists: "I am not so violent. I also love dancing. I love the Hustle, Arabic dance and Latina."

But politics will always come first. "I would like one day to become President or at least Prime Minister," she says. "I don't think Russia is ready for a female president. On the other hand, in 20 years' time, when I am 44, this may change and it will be the right time for my presidency."

In the meantime, she proudly recalls the achievements of another of her role models, on whom history's verdict is somewhat equivocal.

"I adore Catherine the Great,' she says. 'Now she was a great leader."

source="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1161977/Putins-poster-girl-Pin-politician-hates-West--loves-Thatcher.html"

Walmart Gang Initiation?

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Let's clear the air: there is no known murder plot in the next few days involving Wal-Mart, gangs and murder.

You can stop calling the police, e-mailing your relatives and haranguing already overworked crime reporters for not warning the public.

South Florida authorities say they've been inundated with questions about a possible gang initiation in which anywhere from one to three women will be murdered in a Wal-Mart parking lot on Thursday in Broward County. Or ,is it Palm Beach County? Maybe, Miami-Dade? How about Tallahassee? None of the above, police say.

"No, no, no," said Jim Leljedal, spokesman for the Broward Sheriff's Office. "These hoaxes and urban legends have been around forever. Now with the Internet they seem to travel with lightning speed."

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office put out a similar message.

"According to some sources, it appears to be a rumor which began in 2005 from the Memphis, Tenn., area which over the course of the past two nights has become more widespread throughout Florida," wrote Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Teri Barbera in an e-mail to media outlets.

These hoaxes are nurtured by well-meaning folks looking out for each other. You heard about the guys who hide under your car and clip your Achilles tendon to rob you? How about gang wannabes who drive with their headlights off and attack people who flash their lights at them? Or the guys who steal your car when you retrieve a flier from your rear windshield?

Such dire warnings are commonplace, especially in the e-mail age, says Barbara Mikkelson, who with her husband, David, founded perhaps the best urban legends reference on the Internet, www.snopes.com, named by her husband in honor of a fictional family in William Faulkner's writings.

"They contribute to this growing conviction that we live in a truly dangerous world where every stranger is a potential rapist, murderer or gang member," she said. "Too many of these scary stories do work to convince people that everything is a huge potential danger."

But more often than not, such tales are untrue.

Here are some warning signs of a possible hoax or urban legend: e-mails that tell you to forward them to everyone; unverifiable authors or sources of information; stories that are outlandish but within the realm of possibility; stories that, if true, would have likely generated significant news coverage, but have not; and an unusual insistence that the story told is actually true.

Mikkelson said that people need to use common sense, be aware of their surroundings and not take unnecessary risks. But know the difference between being "prudently cautious and being out-and-out fearful," she said. "One is wise, one isn't."

source="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-031809-gang-hoax,0,6556136.story"

David Friehling

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David Friehling, Bernard Madoff’s accountant, was arrested and charged with securities fraud, the first accused accomplice to be named by authorities in connection with the money manager’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme.

Friehling was sole proprietor of the Friehling & Horowitz accounting firm. The firm occupied a 550-square foot space in New City, a northern suburb of New York City in Rockland County, and served as auditor to Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities since 1991, prosecutors said.

Friehling, 49, is not accused of knowing about the scheme. Rather, he allegedly deceived investors by falsely certifying that he had audited the financial statements of Madoff’s firm.

“Friehling failed to conduct audits that complied with GAAS and GAAP,” Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin said in a statement, referring to generally accepted accounting principles and standards. “He did little or no testing, no verification of the ‘facts’ he certified. His job was not merely to rubber-stamp statements he didn’t verify.”

Defense attorney Andrew Lankler declined to comment. Friehling, who faces a maximum 105 years in prison, will appear in Manhattan federal court later today after surrendering to authorities this morning.

Meaningful Audit

Madoff, 70, pleaded guilty on March 12 to defrauding investors of as much as $65 billion and is jailed at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. He faces 150 years behind bars for using money from new investors to pay off old ones in a global fraud that ran from at least the early 1990s. Prosecutors are seeking to seize more than $100 million in assets from him and his wife, Ruth.

Keith Kelly, a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent, said in a criminal complaint that there’s no sign Friehling conducted a meaningful audit of Madoff Securities. He didn’t review material sources of firm revenue, examine a bank account through which billions of dollars of client funds flowed, or verify assets, liabilities or purported stock purchases, Kelly said.

Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, said in an interview that Friehling’s arrest signals the government will prosecute Madoff workers even if they weren’t expressly aware of the fraud.

“The government is saying he was an enabler that allowed Madoff to keep up the facade that he was running a legitimate operation,” Henning said. “They’re saying the accountant could have blown the whistle if he did his job but he didn’t. A good accountant would have stopped this earlier.”

Enabler

Besides securities fraud, Friehling is charged with aiding and abetting investment advisor fraud and four counts of filing false audit reports with the SEC.

“The government is going is after the gatekeepers,” said former federal prosecutor William Mateja. “The number one gatekeeper was his accountant.”

Prosecutors said that as far back at 1995, Friehling lacked “professional independence” from his client by having an account at Madoff Securities with a year-end net equity of more than the $500,000 maximum amount allowed under SEC rules.

Separately, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil suit against Friehling and his firm in Manhattan federal court. The agency wants them to pay unspecified fines and forfeit “ill-gotten gains.”

Invested With Madoff

“Friehling essentially sold his license to Madoff for more than 17 years while Madoff’s Ponzi scheme went undetected,” said James Clarkson, acting director of the SEC’s New York office, in a statement. “For all those years, Friehling deceived investors and regulators by declaring that Madoff’s enterprise had a clean audit record.”

The Friehling family still had accounts at Madoff’s firm with reported balances of more than $14 million as of Nov. 30, according to the SEC. They began investing with Madoff around 1980 and withdrew more than $5.5 million since 2000, the agency said.

Friehling was paid between $12,000 and $14,500 a month between 2004 and 2007, Kelly said. The SEC said he was paid $186,000 in annual fees.

Friehling at one time operated the Friehling & Horowitz firm with his father-in-law, Jerome Horowitz, a former outside accountant for Madoff who retired in the 1990s and moved to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Reputation

Neil Friedman, a Madoff investor who lives in Palm City, Florida, said in a December interview that Horowitz had been Madoff’s accountant for decades and also lost money in the scam. Horowitz died on March 12, the same day as Madoff’s guilty plea, according to Lankler.

“We’re still in shock,” Friedman’s wife, Connie, who lost $4.5 million, said in an interview today. “How could you not be when 30 years of life savings is taken away from you?”

In a poem posted online after his father died, Irwin Horowitz said the Madoff scandal had been a “living nightmare” for his family. He said his father’s “reputation for honesty and integrity” has “suffered mightily simply from the association with Mr. Madoff.”

The case is U.S. v. Friehling, 09-mag-729, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

source="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aHZYt2rH.lXU&refer=home"

Daniela Krstic - Miss Oregon

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Miss Oregon's father, a Bosnian Serbian refugee who moved his family to Beaverton in 1998, could be jailed and deported for visa fraud, court officials say.