Tattoo artists, fans gather for convention

Tattoo artists, fansgather for convention
LONDON -- Tattoo and piercing fan Ernst-Michael Wegener from Germany smiles during London's International Tattoo Convention.
The first ever London convention opened Friday as more than 150 of the world's best tattoo artists arrived at a former brewery to share their craft with veterans and newcomers to body art.
Organizers expect at least 15,000 people to attend this weekend and plan to make the London convention an annual gathering, according to Roland Hyams, a spokesman for the convention's organizing committee. Wegener traveled from Boedefeld, Germany, for the London event. The 62-year-old has 55 piercings and has spent 88 hours under the needle completing his full-torso tattoos.
"It's very significant," Wegener said of the "tree of life" tattoo bearing his initials on his back. "It's associated with my name, and the branches of the tree represent life, eating and drinking."
Moderate earthquakejolts Central America
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador -- A moderate earthquake rocked Central America on Friday, causing the collapse of a rain-damaged highway bridge in Guatemala and sending thousands of frightened Salvadoran residents into the streets.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries from the preliminary-magnitude 5.8 quake in either of the two countries, where nearly 230 people have died during five days of floods and landslides. A magnitude-5 earthquake can cause considerable damage.
Telephone service was cut off briefly in some areas of El Salvador, and Interior Minister Rene Figueroa urged residents to obey evacuation orders for high-risk areas.
Rove told Bush he wasn'tinvolved in CIA leak
WASHINGTON -- White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove told President Bush and others that he never engaged in an effort to disclose a CIA operative's identity to discredit her husband's criticism of the administration's Iraq policy, according to people with knowledge of Rove's account in the investigation.
They said Rove's denial to Bush occurred during a brief conversation in the fall of 2003, a few months after media reports revealed that former Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, worked as a covert CIA operative.
Those with direct knowledge of evidence gathered in the criminal investigation spoke to The Associated Press only on condition of anonymity because of grand jury secrecy.
Company that operatedbus in fatal fire shut down
DALLAS -- Federal officials on Friday ordered the immediate shutdown of a company that operated a bus involved in a fire last month that killed 23 elderly hurricane evacuees along a Texas highway.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said it ordered Global Limo Inc. off the road because the conditions of its vehicles and drivers "are likely to result in serious injury or death."
Global operated the bus that caught fire near Dallas on Sept. 23 about 16 hours after leaving Houston with residents of a nursing home who were fleeing Hurricane Rita.
Prosecutors charge manin shotgun slayings of 4
BELLEVILLE, Ill. -- Prosecutors charged a man with first-degree murder Friday in the shotgun slayings of an ex-girlfriend, her baby and two other people.
A judge entered a not guilty plea for Jason D. Smith, 28, at his arraignment later in the day and ordered that he be assigned a public defender. Smith was being held on $4 million bond.
Police responding to reports of a burglary found the bodies Wednesday night in a basement apartment in Belleville, a St. Louis suburb.
Police Chief Terry Delaney said investigators suspect that Smith fired through an apartment window at his ex-girlfriend Nicole Willyard, 19, as she watched television.
Investigators suspect Smith then crawled through the shattered window and killed Mary Cawvey, 19, Brandon Lovell, 23, and Willyard's 2-month-old baby, also named Jason D. Smith, Delaney said. The boy's body was found in an infant seat.
Associated Press