2 Yemeni security killed in shootout with al-Qaida
SAN’A, Yemen (AP) — Yemen says two security officers have killed and three injured in a shootout with suspected al-Qaida militants in a southern town.
An official statement Monday said two suspects were arrested after the clashes in Mukalla, in southern Hadramwat province. It gave no further details.
Residents told The Associated Press a security force surrounded the suspects’ hideout during the 45-minute shootout. The witnesses said the militants lobbed grenades at the force, prompting a hail of gunfire.
The witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity fearing reprisals, said the wanted militants escaped.
Yemen’s security forces are grappling with a number of armed groups, including al-Qaida.
Their raids have occasionally failed, and militant responses are increasingly daring.
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Serb lawmaker shot in Kosovo
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — A gunman wounded a Serb member of Kosovo’s parliament on Monday, police said, in an attack that could further stoke ethnic tensions in the unstable region.
The four shots were fired at legislator Petar Miletic, 35, as he walked out of his apartment in the northern town of Mitrovica, said police spokesman Besim Hoti. Miletic was hit once in the knee, Hoti said. His injuries were not life-threatening.
It was unclear if the shooting was linked to Miletic’s work. He is one of only 10 Serb members of Kosovo’s 120-seat assembly, which is dominated by the ethnic Albanians that make up the majority of Kosovo’s population.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 following a bloody civil war, and some of Kosovo’s Serb minority regard Serbs who work with the Kosovo government as traitors.
The attack on Miletic came amid heightened tensions after a man died Friday in an explosion during Serb protests against Pristina’s rule.
In Kosovo’s assembly on Monday, parliament speaker Jakup Krasniqi blamed Belgrade for “initiating and perhaps committing” the recent violence ahead of a ruling by the world’s highest court on the legality of Kosovo’s declaration of independence.
The Netherlands-based International Court of Justice is expected to rule later this month on whether Kosovo’s secession breached international law. The ruling is not legally binding, but it could affect future diplomatic recognition.
Kosovo’s declaration of independence was swiftly recognized by the United States and most countries in the European Union, but the number of countries who recognize it has stalled at 69, largely because of a diplomatic campaign by Serbia.
Serbia’s top official for Kosovo, Goran Bogdanovic, told the state-run Tanjug news agency the recent attacks are aimed at preventing talks between the two sides.
Serbia wants a new round of negotiations on Kosovo’s status, but ethnic Albanian leaders reject that option. No date has been set for the talks, but they are likely to be held in late 2010 and deal with arrangements over the Serb-dominated north.
NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days in 1999 in a bid to end a brutal crackdown by the forces of then President Slobodan Milosevic against separatist Kosovo Albanians. Some 10,000 Albanians were killed and close to a million forced out of their homes. Hundreds of Serbs were also killed in retaliatory attacks by Kosovo separatists.
Ethnic Albanians — who make up over 90 percent of Kosovo’s population — decided to split from Serbia after almost two years of internationally monitored talks that failed to secure Serbia’s approval for the secession, despite broad rights offered to minority Serbs.
But Kosovo’s authorities and NATO, which is still responsible for security, have struggled to control the north, the home of most Kosovan Serbs.
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Serb lawmaker shot in Kosovo
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — A gunman wounded a Serb member of Kosovo’s parliament on Monday, police said, in an attack that could further stoke ethnic tensions in the unstable region.
The four shots were fired at legislator Petar Miletic, 35, as he walked out of his apartment in the northern town of Mitrovica, said police spokesman Besim Hoti. Miletic was hit once in the knee, Hoti said. His injuries were not life-threatening.
It was unclear if the shooting was linked to Miletic’s work. He is one of only 10 Serb members of Kosovo’s 120-seat assembly, which is dominated by the ethnic Albanians that make up the majority of Kosovo’s population.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 following a bloody civil war, and some of Kosovo’s Serb minority regard Serbs who work with the Kosovo government as traitors.
The attack on Miletic came amid heightened tensions after a man died Friday in an explosion during Serb protests against Pristina’s rule.
In Kosovo’s assembly on Monday, parliament speaker Jakup Krasniqi blamed Belgrade for “initiating and perhaps committing” the recent violence ahead of a ruling by the world’s highest court on the legality of Kosovo’s declaration of independence.
The Netherlands-based International Court of Justice is expected to rule later this month on whether Kosovo’s secession breached international law. The ruling is not legally binding, but it could affect future diplomatic recognition.
Kosovo’s declaration of independence was swiftly recognized by the United States and most countries in the European Union, but the number of countries who recognize it has stalled at 69, largely because of a diplomatic campaign by Serbia.
Serbia’s top official for Kosovo, Goran Bogdanovic, told the state-run Tanjug news agency the recent attacks are aimed at preventing talks between the two sides.
Serbia wants a new round of negotiations on Kosovo’s status, but ethnic Albanian leaders reject that option. No date has been set for the talks, but they are likely to be held in late 2010 and deal with arrangements over the Serb-dominated north.
NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days in 1999 in a bid to end a brutal crackdown by the forces of then President Slobodan Milosevic against separatist Kosovo Albanians. Some 10,000 Albanians were killed and close to a million forced out of their homes. Hundreds of Serbs were also killed in retaliatory attacks by Kosovo separatists.
Ethnic Albanians — who make up over 90 percent of Kosovo’s population — decided to split from Serbia after almost two years of internationally monitored talks that failed to secure Serbia’s approval for the secession, despite broad rights offered to minority Serbs.
But Kosovo’s authorities and NATO, which is still responsible for security, have struggled to control the north, the home of most Kosovan Serbs.
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Manson follower faces parole board for 19th time
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Leslie Van Houten, the one-time Charles Manson follower long seen as the most likely of his ex-acolytes to win freedom someday, faces her 19th parole hearing with a new lawyer and new case law which may give her the best chance yet for release.
Even if there is a finding of suitability for parole at Tuesday’s hearing, freedom would not be immediate. The entire state parole board would review the decision within 120 days and it would then be submitted to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for a final ruling.
Van Houten, 60, remains incarcerated at the California Institution for Women at Frontera, the same prison where another Manson follower, Patricia Krenwinkle, is imprisoned. Susan Atkins, the third woman convicted of murder in the crimes directed by cult leader Manson, died in prison last year after parole officials denied her dying request for freedom.
Van Houten last appeared before a parole board in 2007. Her chances for parole are enhanced by the fact that she has been discipline free since her incarceration in the early 1970s, has positive psychological reports and has been active in self-help groups at the prison including “Golden Girls,” a group for elderly women inmates.
She has a new lawyer, Brandie Devall, who told The Associated Press she will refer to rulings by the California Supreme Court in 2008 and 2009 affecting standards for parole.
Most significant is the case of Sandra Lawrence, a convicted murderer who was paroled after 23 years in prison after the court held that to refuse parole there must be evidence that a prisoner is currently a danger to public safety. The court said the board could not base a refusal only on the details of the crime committed by the inmate long ago.
Devall said the finding has also been upheld in federal court.
Another recent case, she said, deals with inmates who are between 16 and 20-years-old at the time of their crimes and holds that they are more likely to be rehabilitated. Van Houten was 19 when she joined other members of the Manson cult in the killings of Leno and Rosemary La Bianca.
Many attorneys have argued over the years that Van Houten is rehabilitated and not a danger to anyone.
Christie Webb, the attorney who represented Van Houten in prior parole hearings for nine years said, “It was time for Leslie to get someone with new ideas to persuade the board to do the right thing and grant her parole. I’ll continue to help her in any way that I can.”
Devall said the cases she will cite had not been decided at the time of Van Houten’s last parole hearing. She said she will cite Van Houten’s age, her youth at the time of the crimes and her extreme remorse. “There is no evidence of current dangerousness,” she said.
The prosecutor who will argue against Van Houten’s parole, Patrick Sequiera, did not return calls to The AP.
Van Houten was convicted of murder and conspiracy for her role in the slayings of the wealthy grocers. The La Biancas were stabbed to death in August 1969, one night after Manson’s followers killed actress Sharon Tate and four others including celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, filmmaker Voityck Frykowksi and Steven Parent, a friend of the Tate estate’s caretaker.
Van Houten did not participate in the Tate killings but went along the next night when the La Biancas were slain in their home. During the penalty phase of her trial she confessed to joining in stabbing Mrs. La Bianca after she was dead.
The Tate-La Bianca killings became one of the most notorious murder cases of the 20th Century and continues to rivet public attention 41 years later.
Van Houten was sentenced to death along with Manson, Atkins and Krenwinkle but their sentences were reduced to life in prison with the possibility of parole when the death penalty was briefly outlawed in the 1970s.
Van Houten’s first conviction was overturned due to legal errors and her second trial ended in a jury deadlock. But a third jury convicted her of murder again. Her lawyers had argued she was brainwashed by cult leader Manson.
She was portrayed as the youngest and least culpable of those convicted with Manson, a young woman from a good family who had been a homecoming princess and showed promise until she became involved with drugs and was recruited into Manson’s murderous “family.”
In past parole hearings she has apologized to the victims’ families and expressed remorse for her actions. Her record of good works in prison has been reviewed extensively. She earned college degrees while behind bars and has worked to help other women prisoners.
Decades ago, one of the original prosecutors in the case, Stephen Kay, said there would come a time when Van Houten would be ready for parole. But parole officials, while giving her high marks for her accomplishments, have refused her 18 times.
Whether they will grant her a parole date in this 19th hearing is the big question.
Another former Manson follower, Bruce Davis, convicted in a related murder case, was granted a parole date this year only to have the decision reversed last month by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
If Van Houten is refused parole, it is uncertain when she would get another chance. Under a new law, the board can set the length of time between parole hearings at 3, 5, 7, 10 or 15 years. Prison officials said Van Houten is in good health.
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11 injured at fireworks accident in central Pa.
PALMYRA, Pa. (AP) — A fireworks accident injured 11 people gathered to celebrate Independence Day and the long-planned 250th anniversary of the borough of Palmyra in central Pennsylvania.
Two people, including a child, remained hospitalized Monday afternoon with injuries that did not appear life-threatening, Palmyra police said.
The victims injured Sunday night suffered burns, contusions and abrasions. They included four minors between 11 and 17 and an employee of Schaefer Pyrotechnics of Ronks. A call to the company was not immediately returned late Monday afternoon.
A nursing supervisor at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center did not have any immediate updates on the victims Monday evening. Palmyra police also said no updates were available.
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Eating champ leaves NY jail after hot dog fracas
NEW YORK (AP) — Japanese eating champion Takeru Kobayashi, arrested at a July Fourth hot dog-eating contest, was freed Monday after a night in jail, looking a little weary and saying he was hungry.
Kobayashi, wearing a black T-shirt bearing the message “Free Kobi” in green letters, was freed by a Brooklyn judge after he pleaded not guilty. The slim, boyish 32-year-old said he consumed only a sandwich and some milk in jail.
A contract dispute had kept Kobayashi out of Sunday’s annual Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest, but he showed up anyway.
“I was there as a spectator, just to cheer on my buddies,” he said through an interpreter outside court Monday. Fans chanted for him, and “in the heat of it, I jumped on the stage, hoping they would let me eat.”
His attorney, Mario D. Romano, said his client was waved up onstage after spectators began chanting “Let him eat!”
“Shortly after he got on the stage, he was grabbed from behind by officers,” Romano said.
Kobayashi was charged with obstruction of governmental administration, resisting arrest, trespassing and disorderly conduct.
Kobayashi, who’s currently living in New York, had refused to sign a contract with Major League Eating, the fast food equivalent of the NFL. On his Japanese-language blog, he said he wanted to be free to enter contests sanctioned by other groups.
But a few days ago, he told Japan’s Kyodo News: “I really want to compete in the (Coney Island) event.”
Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, of San Jose, Calif., won by downing 54 hot dogs in 10 minutes.
After witnessing the drama involving Kobayashi, Chestnut said, “I feel bad for him.”
Chestnut claimed the mustard-yellow champion’s belt and a $20,000 purse but was disappointed with his own performance. The 26-year-old was aiming for a record 70 dogs in 10 minutes. Last year, he ate 68 dogs, four more than Kobayashi.
Major League Eating issued a statement calling Kobayashi’s actions “inappropriate and unfortunate.”
“Kobayashi was a great champion and we hope that he is able to resolve his current situation and move past this,” the organization said.
—-Contact The Daily Reveille’s news staff at [email protected].