JUDGE CONDITIONALLY ALLOWS KILLER TO DONATE HIS KIDNEY

Judge conditionally allowskiller to donate his kidney
NEWARK, N.J. -- A judge has agreed to allow New Jersey's worst serial killer to donate a kidney, but the donor and his doctors have to meet conditions. Superior Court Judge Paul W. Armstrong did not say when Charles Cullen might undergo the operation to remove one of his kidneys to be transplanted into the relative of a friend. Cullen has admitted killing 29 patients with drug overdoses at nursing homes and hospitals in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in one of the worst murder sprees ever discovered in the U.S. health-care system. He has been sentenced to 18 life terms. The judge's order, signed Thursday, stipulates that all operation costs must be paid by the recipient's insurer. Also, the surgery to remove Cullen's kidney must happen in New Jersey at a hospital certified by the state Department of Corrections, and the doctors who perform the operation must be certified by the state Board of Medical Examiners.
Having fun and makinga point with Patriot Act
HAMILTON, N.J. -- In this send-up of "Monopoly," players don't pass "Go" and they don't go directly to jail -- they go to Guantanamo Bay. Instead of losing cash for landing on certain squares, they lose civil liberties. And the "Mr. Monopoly" character at the center of the board is replaced by a scowling former Attorney General John Ashcroft. "Patriot Act: The Home Version" pokes fun at "the historic abuse of governmental powers" by the recently renewed anti-terrorism law, according to its creator's Web site. But while it may be fun, creator Michael Kabbash, a graphic artist and Arab civil rights advocate, is serious about how he feels the law has curtailed Americans' freedom. The object of the game is not to amass the most money or real estate, but to be the last player to retain civil liberties. "I've had people complain to me that when they play, nobody wins. They say 'We're all in Guantanamo and nobody has any civil liberties left,'" he said. "I'm like 'Yeah, that's the point.'"
Woman to wed killerportrayed in movie
LINCOLN, Neb. -- A Chicago woman has been granted a marriage license to marry one of the killers portrayed in the movie "Boys Don't Cry." Justine Mirth, 32, says she can't wait to marry Tom Nissen, who is serving life in prison for the 1993 slayings of three people in a farmhouse in southeast Nebraska. "I'm dying to go see him. I want to hold him," she said. "He's the man I love. I want to spend the rest of my life with him." The crime inspired the award-winning 1999 movie starring Hilary Swank, who played one of the victims, 21-year-old Teena Brandon, who was born a woman but lived as a man in southeast Nebraska under the name Brandon Teena. The couple have never met in person. Mirth and Nissen have learned about each other through long letters and scores of 15-minute phone calls -- the maximum allowed by the prison. When she saw the film, Mirth said, she identified with the characters who played Nissen and his co-defendant, John Lotter, who is on death row.
Up to 200,000 killed ininsurgency, official says
ALGIERS, Algeria -- Up to 200,000 Algerians have died in a 15-year Islamic insurgency, the head of the government human rights body said Saturday -- the highest official toll ever given. The fighting started in 1992 when the army canceled a second round of voting in Algeria's first multiparty legislative elections, to thwart a likely victory by the now-banned Islamic Salvation Front. Between 150,000 and 200,000 had died since the violence began, Farouk Ksentini said. The number killed has never been clear, but Ksentini's figure was the highest estimated toll given by anyone representing the state. The dead also included security forces, he said. Ksentini is the head of the Algerian Consultative Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. Algerian Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said some 700 to 800 Islamic insurgents continue to do battle in various parts of the country.
Four more arrestedin videotaped beatings
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Four more people have been arrested in connection with multiple assaults and robberies by a neighborhood gang that videotaped its crimes. Five adults and seven juveniles have now been arrested and police are looking for seven more suspects. The four males, ages 15 to 20, were arrested Thursday and Friday and charged with robbery, malicious wounding and conspiracy, police spokesman Harold Eley said Saturday. The videotape features assailants beating the victims with objects including a trash can and a bicycle, threatening victims with a gun and robbing them. Police said most of the attacks were never reported.
Associated Press