Girl in sex tape is found
Girl in sex tape is found
LAS VEGAS — A young girl who was seen being sexually assaulted in a homemade videotape has been found and is safe with relatives and sheriff’s officials, an investigator said Friday. “We found the victim. She’s safe,” Nye County sheriff’s Detective David Boruchowitz told The Associated Press. Widespread media accounts of the case led to the crucial tip that helped find the girl, Boruchowitz said. He did not provide details of her identity, where she lives or how she was located, but a news conference had been planned later Friday. A man being sought for questioning, Chester Arthur Stiles, remains at large, said Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo.
Myanmar crackdown
YANGON, Myanmar — Soldiers and police took control of the streets Friday, firing warning shots and tear gas to scatter the few pro-democracy protesters who ventured out as Myanmar’s military junta sealed off Buddhist monasteries and cut public Internet access. On the third day of a harsh government crackdown, the streets were empty of the mass gatherings that had peacefully challenged the regime daily for nearly two weeks, leaving only small groups of activists to be chased around by security forces. Thousands of monks had provided the backbone of the protests, but they were besieged in their monasteries, penned in by locked gates and barbed wire surrounding the compounds in the two biggest cities, Yangon and Mandalay.
Meat grinding halted
TRENTON, N.J. — Federal inspectors said Friday that they suspended the grinding of raw products at the Topps Meat Co. after finding inadequate safety measures at the plant, which is being investigated because of bacteria-tainted hamburgers that may have sickened 25 people. U.S. Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Amanda Eamich said the suspension follows a safety assessment at the Elizabeth-based company, which this week voluntarily recalled nearly 332,000 pounds of frozen ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said illnesses were reported in Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Iran sanctions delayed
NEW YORK — In a setback for the United States, Iran won a two-month reprieve from new U.N. sanctions over its nuclear program Friday. The Bush administration and its European allies ceded to Russian and Chinese demands to give Tehran more time to address international concerns. An agreement reached in talks here between six key nations and supported by the European Union gives Iran until November to make progress in answering questions about the program that the United States and others alleged is a cover for nuclear weapons development.
Visitation blocked
JACKSON, Tenn. — An appeals court Friday blocked a supervised visit with her children for a woman convicted of killing her minister-husband. The court issued a stay against the visit planned for today after a last-minute application from the children’s paternal grandparents, who have had temporary custody of the three young girls since Mary Winkler went to jail after the March 2006 shotgun shooting. Winkler, 33, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in April for shooting Church of Christ minister Matthew Winkler at their residence in Selmer.
School standoff ends
OROVILLE, Calif. — A student gunman held a high school drama class hostage Friday, firing shots and holding three of the students for more than an hour before police persuaded him to surrender, authorities said. No one was hurt. Police would not say what the 17-year-old’s motive might have been, but several students said he was distraught over a breakup with his girlfriend the night before.
Execution moratorium?
HOUSTON — The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to give a Texas death row inmate a reprieve shortly after it agreed to consider the legality of lethal injections could mean a hiatus for the nation’s busiest death chamber. The court spared Carlton Turner Jr. late Thursday after his lawyers raised arguments that mirrored a Kentucky case, in which two condemned inmates contended the lethal injection procedure was unconstitutionally cruel. “I think we’re headed toward a moratorium, at least until the Supreme Court resolves the Kentucky case,” University of Texas law professor Jordan Steiker said Friday.
Associated Press