Posts Tagged ‘CNN’

Saudis order 40 lashes for elderly woman for mingling – CNN.com

2009/03/09/1107

RTFA: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/09/saud…

A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a 75-year-old Syrian woman to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation from the kingdom for having two unrelated men in her house, according to local media reports.

According to the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Watan, troubles for the woman, Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, began last year when a member of the religious police entered her house in the city of Al-Chamli and found her with two unrelated men, “Fahd” and “Hadian.”

Fahd told the policeman that he had the right to be there, because Sawadi had breast-fed him as a baby and was therefore considered to be a son to her in Islam, according to Al-Watan. Fahd, 24, added that his friend Hadian was escorting him as he delivered bread for the elderly woman. The policeman then arrested both men.

Blackwater founder, CEO resigns

2009/03/02/2150

RTFA: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/03/02/blackwater.pr…

(CNN) — Erik Prince, founder of the Blackwater Worldwide security firm, announced Monday he has resigned as head of the company, recently renamed Xe.

Chimp attack

2009/02/17/2341

RTFA: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/02/17/chimpanzee.at…

(CNN) — A Connecticut woman pleaded for police to “please hurry” to save a friend from an attack by a pet chimpanzee, according to emotional 911 recordings released Tuesday by Stamford police.
Police say Travis, seen here as a younger chimp, was like a child to his owner, Sandra Herold.

Police say Travis, seen here as a younger chimp, was like a child to his owner, Sandra Herold.

“He’s ripping her apart,” Sandra Herold, 70, tells dispatchers about her pet, Travis.

With the chimp squealing in the background, Herold cries out, “He’s killed my friend!”

The victim, Charla Nash, 55, remains hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after the chimp, once featured in television commercials for Coca-Cola and Old Navy, attacked her Monday afternoon, police said.

Nash had just arrived at Herold’s house when Travis jumped on her and began biting and mauling her, causing serious injuries to her face, neck and hands, according to Stamford Police Capt. Rich Conklin. Conklin said the attack was unprovoked, but he described it as “brutal and lengthy.”

Herold had called Nash to her house to help get 14-year-old Travis back inside after he used a key to escape.

While her friend was being attacked, Herold was unable to pull the primate off. She then called 911 before stabbing the chimp with a butcher knife and hitting him with a shovel. Neither fazed Travis, who police said had been like a child to Herold.
Don’t Miss

A Stamford police officer later shot the chimp multiple times after the primate went after him inside a police cruiser, Conklin said. Travis returned to the house, where police found him dead. Conklin estimated that Travis weighed close to 200 pounds.

Madoff’s wife withdrew $15.5M before his arrest – CNN.com

2009/02/11/1456

RTFA: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/11/madoff.wif…

NEW YORK (CNN) — The wife of accused swindler Bernard Madoff pulled $15.5 million out of a Madoff-related brokerage firm in Massachusetts in the weeks before his arrest, authorities there disclosed Wednesday.
Bernard Madoff is under 24-hour house arrest in his Upper East Side luxury apartment.

The withdrawals by Ruth Madoff took place in November and December, according to a complaint filed by state regulators against Cohmad Securities, a firm they said was “intertwined” with Madoff’s New York-based company.

The regulators say Cohmad has refused to provide information about its ties to Madoff, who is accused of running a Ponzi scheme that may have cost investors up to $50 billion.

Daily wire transaction reports show Cohmad was aware of transfers to and from Madoff-related accounts, the filing states.

“For example, the few reports produced by Cohmad show that Ruth Madoff withdrew $5.5 million on November 25, 2008 and withdrew $10 million on December 10, 2008,” investigators said.

Bernard Madoff, 70, was arrested December 11 and is currently under house arrest in his Manhattan luxury apartment. He faces one charge of securities fraud in connection with an international scheme that has cost some investors their life savings and could face up to 20 years in prison and a $5 million fine if convicted.

In January, prosecutors tried to revoke his $10 million bail after he mailed more than $1 million worth of diamond-studded jewelry to friends and family, a move they said showed he was trying to move assets out of government hands. But a judge ruled Madoff was neither a danger to the community nor a flight risk.

I really hope they both get the death penalty, but since Madoff’s wife isn’t even arrested, I highly doubt that will happen.

Mexico drug fighter killed after less than a day on job – CNN.com

2009/02/04/1831

RTFA: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/02/04/m…

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) — A recently retired Mexican army general whose bullet-riddled body was found Tuesday near Cancun had taken over as the area’s top antidrug official less than 24 hours earlier, officials said.

Retired Gen. Mauro Enrique Tello QuiƱonez, his aide and a driver were tortured before being killed, said Quintana Roo state prosecutor Bello Melchor Rodriguez y Carrillo. He said there was no doubt Tello and the others were victims of organized crime.

“The general was the most mistreated,” Rodriguez said at a Tuesday night news conference monitored by El Universal newspaper. “He had burns on his skin and bones in his hands and wrists were broken.”

An autopsy revealed Tello also suffered broken knees and was shot 11 times, Mexico City’s Excelsior newspaper said.

Damn, Mexico has some serious problems.