Search warrants served in Anna Nicole Smith’s death

Search warrants served in
Anna Nicole Smith’s death

LOS ANGELES — State authorities investigating circumstances surrounding the overdose death of Anna Nicole Smith raided six locations Friday, including the offices and residences of two doctors.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown declined to say what charges could be filed but said the probe involved the “prescribing and dispensing practices of several California licensed doctors and pharmacies.”

Search warrants were served, and there were no arrests, he told a news conference. He added, “You don’t go to a judge and get a search warrant for somebody’s home unless you think some rather serious crime has been committed.”

Brown said he launched the investigation March 30 after he learned that the drugs involved in Smith’s Feb. 8 death were prescribed by California physicians and came from California pharmacies.

Co-defendant to plea,
testify in Simpson case

LAS VEGAS — A co-defendant in O.J. Simpson’s armed robbery case will plead guilty to a reduced charge and testify that guns were involved in the theft of sports collectibles from two memorabilia dealers, the man’s lawyer said Friday.

Charles Cashmore is accused of being one of five men who joined Simpson in a hotel-room confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers. He will testify that two of the other men who entered the room with the former football star were armed, Cashmore’s lawyer, Edward Miley, said.

Miley said Cashmore will plead guilty Monday to being an accessory to robbery, a felony that could get him up to five years in prison. A court hearing is set for Monday, a court clerk confirmed.

Pets seized from housing
projects thrown off bridge

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Animal control workers seized dozens of dogs and cats from housing projects in the town of Barceloneta and hurled them from a bridge to their deaths, authorities and witnesses said Friday.

Mayor Sol Luis Fontanez blamed a contractor hired to take the animals to a shelter.

“This is an irresponsible, inhumane and shameful act,” he told The Associated Press.

Fontanez said the city hired Animal Control Solution to clear three housing projects of pets after warning residents about a no-pet policy. He said the city paid $60 for every animal recovered and an additional $100 for each trip to a shelter in the San Juan suburb of Carolina.

Raids were conducted Monday and Wednesday, and residents told TV reporters they saw the animal control workers inject the animals. When they asked what they were giving them, they said they were told it was a sedative for the drive to the shelter.

“They came as if it were a drug raid,” said Alma Febus, an animal welfare activist. “They took away dogs, cats and whatever animal they could find. Some pets were taken away in front of children.”

But instead of being taken to a shelter, the pets and strays were thrown 50 feet from a bridge in the neighboring town of Vega Baja, according to Fontanez, witnesses and activists, apparently before dawn Tuesday.

Don’t ‘fall into trap,’
leaders warn Abbas

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Hamas’ top leaders in Gaza and Syria warned the moderate Palestinian president Friday not to “fall into the trap” of an upcoming U.S.-sponsored peace conference with Israel.

Ismail Haniyeh, who was deposed as Palestinian prime minister after Hamas violently seized Gaza in June, urged President Mahmoud Abbas to mend his rift with the Islamic militant group and criticized him for planning to attend the peace conference next month.

“Don’t fall into the trap of the coming conference. Don’t make new compromises on Jerusalem, on our sovereignty,” Haniyeh said, speaking to thousands of cheering supporters for the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.

New AIDS drug approved

WASHINGTON — The government approved a novel anti-AIDS pill Friday, offering a new option for hard-to-treat patients.

Manufacturer Merck & Co. said Isentress should be on pharmacy shelves within two weeks.

The AIDS virus uses three different enzymes to reproduce and infect cells. Numerous drugs are available that target two of those enzymes, called protease and reverse transcriptase.

Isentress is the first in a new class of medicines that blocks the third enzyme, called integrase. Added to “cocktails” of other HIV medicines, the drug can lower the amount of HIV in the blood and help infection-fighting immune cells rebound.

Associated Press