500-pound inmate hides gun in his flabs

500-pound inmate hides gun in his flabs

HOUSTON —An obese inmate in Texas has been charged after officials learned he had a gun hidden under flabs of his own flesh. Twenty-five-year-old George Vera was charged with possession of a firearm in a correctional facility after he told a guard at the Harris County Jail about the unloaded 9mm pistol. Vera was originally arrested on charges of selling illegal copies of compact discs.

The 500-pound man was searched during his arrest and again at a city jail and the county jail, but officers never found the weapon in his rolls of skin. Vera admitted having the gun during a shower break at the county jail.

Judge sends message with penalty for prison rape

DENVER — A federal judge was so appalled that a former Colorado prison guard accused of raping an inmate was allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor that he imposed $1.3 million in damages in the inmate’s civil lawsuit — a message advocates hope will pressure corrections officials nationwide to protect prisoners from sexual misconduct.

“It sends a strong message to the agency and also individual correctional officers that there’s not going to be immunity to violating the constitutional rights of people they’re required to safeguard,” said Brenda Smith, a member of the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission.

Welcoming ‘Heel-er-ee’

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — At a housing project for the homeless she once visited as first lady, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton basked in the cheers and serenade from an adoring crowd Saturday and pronounced U.S.-South African ties on the mend after years of strain.

Clinton was in her element as she worked rope lines at the project on the outskirts of Cape Town that she had toured by herself in 1997 and then again in 1998, with her husband, President Bill Clinton, in tow to see the progress.

On her third trip, she grinned broadly and danced with an a cappella group as it sang a tribute to her with the refrain “Heel-er-ee.”

Iraq seeks update from Iran on three Americans

BAGHDAD — Iraq has appealed to Iran for information about the detention of three Americans who crossed the border while hiking in the Kurdish north, the foreign minister said Saturday.

The request came as the three entered their second week in captivity facing the possibility of an investigation on spying charges despite the insistence of U.S. and Kurdish authorities that they accidentally went astray.

Abbey Road 40 years later

LONDON — Hundreds of Beatles fans swarmed Abbey Road on Saturday, singing songs and snarling traffic to mark 40 years since John, Paul, George and Ringo strode across the leafy north London street and into the history books on iconic pop photos.

The photo graced the cover of the Fab Four’s “Abbey Road,” the last album recorded together, and shows the bandmates walking purposefully across the zebra-striped asphalt. It remains one of music’s best-known album covers.

Associated Press

, endlessly imitated and parodied. Although the shoot itself only took a few minutes, so carefully studied was the cover for signs and symbolism that some die-hard fans came to the conclusion that Paul McCartney — who appears barefoot and out of step with the rest — had secretly died.