Cleveland kidnapping suspect competent to stand trial

Cleveland kidnapping suspect competent to stand trial
Ariel Castro, charged with holding three Cleveland women captive for
more than a decade, is mentally competent to stand trial, a judge
ruled Wednesday.

Court-appointed psychiatrists, who evaluated Castro for two hours,
found Castro competent and capable of assisting his attorneys with his
defense, Cuyahoga County Judge Michael Russo said Wednesday. Castro
answered "yes" when the judge asked him whether he understood the
purpose of the evaluation and the court proceedings.

The judge denied Castro's request to see the elementary-school-aged
child he fathered with one of the captive women.

"I won't be allowing that, not during the pendency of this case,"
Russo said. "I just don't think that would be appropriate."

The judge said Castro's adult children could visit him in jail if they
wished. Castro is being held on $8 million bail.

Castro, 52, a former school bus driver, has pleaded not guilty to 329
charges that include kidnapping, hundreds of counts of rape and one
murder charge for allegedly beating one of his victims so severely
that she had a miscarriage. If convicted of the murder charge, Castro,
who is being held on $8 million bail, could face the death penalty.

The state's capital review committee meets July 11 and will determine
whether the state will seek the death penalty for Castro. Castro can
submit mitigating evidence, the judge said. A pretrial hearing is
scheduled for July 24. The judge scheduled jury selection for the
trial to begin Aug. 5.

Prosecutors said a grand jury will issue a superseding indictment that
will add more charges for the most recent years of the women's
captivity.

Castro allegedly kidnapped Amanda Berry, then 14, Gina DeJesus, then
16, and Michelle Knight, then 20, between 2002 and 2004 and held them
captive until one of the women escaped his Cleveland home May 6 and
led police to the other women.

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Police Break Cemetery Gates After Ruling in Mandela Squabble

Police Break Cemetery Gates After Ruling in Mandela Squabble
JOHANNESBURG — An ugly squabble between Nelson Mandela's eldest
grandson and more than a dozen other family members over the bodies of
three of his children intensified Wednesday afternoon as the police
broke down the gates surrounding the burial site to fulfill a judge's
order that the bodies be exhumed and returned to a nearby village
where the ailing Mr. Mandela himself is to be buried.
Earlier in the day, a judge in the Eastern Cape High Court in Mthatha,
near the small, rural villages where Mr. Mandela was born and raised,
ordered the grandson, Mandla Mandela, to return the bodies immediately
from the small village of Mvezo, where Mr. Mandela was born, to the
nearby village of Qunu, where he was raised and where he has said he
wishes to be buried.

Mandla Mandela is not opposed to the bodies' exhumation, his
spokesman, Freddy Pelusa, said in a statement after the ruling, but he
intends to appeal the ruling in order to clear his name. Hearses
arrived at the Mvezo site by midafternoon to transport the bodies and
the police used a pickax to break through a gate surrounding the
property to begin the exhumation.

Meanwhile, South Africa's Mail & Guardian newspaper said it had
obtained an affidavit from the court case dated Friday in which the 16
Mandela family members who had petitioned to have the bodies returned
to Qunu did so because Mr. Mandela, 94, a former South African
president, was in "perilous health" and was "assisted in breathing by
a life support machine."

"The anticipation of his impending death is based on real and
substantial grounds," the affidavit said. "The applicants are desirous
of burying their father and committing him to the earth in which his
descendants' remains lie."

The affidavit, the paper reported, said the family believed that
Mandla Mandela wanted the bodies to remain in Mvezo, his own home
village, for financial gain, in anticipation that Nelson Mandela would
also be buried there.

The bodies to be exhumed are those of three of Nelson Mandela's
children: Mandla Mandela's father, Makgatho Mandela, who died in 2005;
his first daughter, also named Makaziwe, who died as an infant in
1948; and another son, Madiba Thembekile Mandela, who died in a
traffic accident in 1969.

The feud between Mandla Mandela and the other family members, led by
his eldest daughter, Makaziwe Mandela, has riveted the attention of
South Africans as Mr. Mandela remains in critical condition in a
Pretoria hospital, clinging to life.

The court initially ordered Mandla Mandela on Friday to exhume the
bodies, but he fought the order, leading to three more days of court
proceedings this week. In her order Wednesday morning, Justice
Lusindiso Pakade called Mandla Mandela's actions "scandalous" and
ordered the bodies exhumed within hours.

Mandla, who succeeded his grandfather as head of the Mvezo Traditional
Council, issued a statement through his spokesman, Mr. Pelusa, saying
that he did not oppose moving the bodies, but did not believe that he
had received a fair hearing.

"He will therefore abide by the court decision while at the same time
continuing to fight for his right to put on record his side of the
story," Mr. Pelusa said.

Mandla Mandela promised to answer any questions from reporters about
the legal fight on Thursday.

He "has had a lot of allegations and dirt thrown in his direction by
all sorts of individuals baying for a few minutes of fame and media
attention at his expense," Mr. Pelusa said.

For their part, the other family members — who include Nelson
Mandela's wife, Graça Machel — were said to be pleased by the court
ruling, but did not speak publicly about it.

"It will remain a private matter," Makaziwe Mandela told a cluster of
journalists on the courthouse steps, refusing to comment further. A
lawyer for the family, Wesley Hayes, was a bit more forthcoming,
according to local media reports. "We are delighted with the outcome,"
he said.

The feud over the burial site erupted after a meeting of the entire
family last week in Qunu as they prepared for Mr. Mandela's funeral.

Family members said Mandla Mandela had moved the bodies in 2011 from
Qunu to Mvezo without their permission or knowledge.

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Obama administration to delay part of Affordable Care Act

Obama administration to delay part of Affordable Care Act
WASHINGTON —The Obama administration announced Tuesday it is delaying
until 2015 the requirement that businesses with more than 50 employees
provide health insurance to their workers or pay a penalty.

The announcement by the Internal Revenue Service comes after numerous
complaints from businesses that the requirements were too complicated
and difficult to implement in time.

Business groups, such as the National Retail Federation, praised the
delay, while congressional Republicans jumped on the move to reiterate
their opposition to the 2010 health care law.

Other key parts of the law, including the health exchanges where
individuals can buy insurance, are on schedule. The exchanges will
open on Oct. 1, wrote Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to President
Obama, in a White House blog released Tuesday.

The delay also does not change the individual mandate, which requires
most Americans to purchase insurance. Some consumers may receive
subsidies to help them pay for the insurance depending o their
incomes.

Jarrett said the move is a sign the White House is paying attention to
the concerns of business.
"As we make these changes, we believe we need to give employers more
time to comply with the new rules," Jarrett wrote. "Since employer
responsibility payments can only be assessed based on this new
reporting, payments won't be collected for 2014."

"We have heard concerns about the complexity of the requirements and
the need for more time to implement them effectively," wrote Mark
Mazur, assistant Treasury secretary for tax policy, in an IRS blog.

"We recognize that the vast majority of businesses that will need to
do this reporting already provide health insurance to their workers,
and we want to make sure it is easy for others to do so," Mazur said.

The delay gives the IRS more time to simplify reporting requirements,
as well as for businesses to get up to speed with reporting systems.
The government still encourages businesses to voluntarily begin
reporting in 2014 so they will be ready for 2015.

Business groups had argued for months that the law created an
administrative burden for businesses as they tried to update
technology and plan to offer health coverage to their employees
without knowing how much the coverage would cost.

Businesses with more than 50 employees would have paid a fee of $2,000
per uninsured employees after the first 30 employees. The
Congressional Budget Office expected those penalties to bring in $4
billion in 2014.
"We commend the administration's wise move to delay the employer
reporting and penalty obligations under the Affordable Care Act," said
National Retail Federation President Neil Trautwein in a statement.
"This one-year delay will provide employers and businesses more time
to update their health care coverage without threat of arbitrary
punishment."

This does not affect businesses with fewer than 50 workers, who were
already exempt from that rule. Most large businesses already offer
coverage to their employees.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the "White House
seems to slowly be admitting what Americans already know ... that
Obamacare needs to be repealed."

House Republicans, who have tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act 37
times, echoed McConnell.

"The best delay for ObamaCare is a permanent one," said House Majority
Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.

Various parts of the law have taken effect since its passage in 2010,
including allowing children up to age 26 to remain on their parents'
insurance plans and discounts for prescription drugs for Medicare
patients. More young Americans have health insurance than before the
law, because of that change, and the discounts have saved Medicare
recipients billions of dollars.

However, the more complicated parts of the law, such as the exchanges
and the individual mandates, are set to take effect Jan. 1, and many
of the businesses and groups affected have worried about their ability
to meet the deadlines.

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Brendan McDonough was acting as a lookout from a hillside as rest of crew fought wildfire.

PRESCOTT, Ariz. — From his lookout position on a scrubby hillside,
Brendan McDonough tracked the fast-changing elements of the Yarnell
Hill Fire late Sunday: the weather, the landscape, the movement of the
flames and smoke. Finally, officials would later say, he made a
decision.

Weather conditions were changing. The wind was pushing the fire in
another direction. McDonough had reached a preset trigger based on
those conditions, and he needed to move. He radioed the news to his
crew, the 19 other members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots who were
fighting the fire farther down the hill.

STORY: Investigation of fatal Arizona fire getting underway

PHOTOS: The Yarnell Hill Fire: Faces of the fallen firefighters

As he hiked out of the area, he spoke by radio to another crew,
according to a Prescott Fire Department spokesman who recounted the
events.

When he turned back, he realized the fire had engulfed the lookout
point he'd just left. He never heard back from his crew mates, who
died when the shifting flames swept across their fire line.

The identity of McDonough, the much-discussed 20th member of the
hotshot crew, emerged Tuesday through social media, reporters'
inquiries and, finally, an official announcement.

Then just as quickly, the 21-year-old firefighter pleaded for privacy,
a message relayed by authorities who asked the media and the public to
give McDonough time to deal with what happened.

"He is very distraught, as you might think," said Wade Ward, a Fire
Department spokesman. "He is very emotional. He's got all the
questions, the why and the why not. He's concerned for the families
mostly. I can tell you Brendan has no desire to speak to anybody at
this point."
At a community meeting Tuesday, Ward acknowledged the intense interest
in McDonough, whose existence was revealed in some of the earliest
reports about the deaths of the firefighters.

There were questions about his role in the crew and why he wasn't with
the other members when fire struck.

On Tuesday, officials explained his duties and said that they wanted
people to understand that McDonough followed procedures and prepared
to move to a new location in advance of his crew, as his assignment
required.

"He did his job," Ward said.
McDonough appeared briefly Tuesday night at an emotional vigil in
Prescott, surrounded by firefighters as the crowd cheered. But he has
given no interviews and, on his Facebook page, he asked friends and
family not to speak with the news media if they were approached.

But a sketchy portrait of McDonough came together through social
media, public records and statements by fire department officials.

On his Facebook page, McDonough said he had lived previously in
Oceanside, Calif., a beach city between San Diego and Orange County.

As a teenager, he moved to Prescott and attended Prescott High School,
where he was involved with the Air Force Junior ROTC. He graduated in
2009 and later enrolled at Yavapai College, where he studied fire
science.

He joined the Granite Mountain Hotshots in 2011, "my dream job," he
wrote in an April 2011 Facebook post, "full of excitement and an
adrenaline rush I can't explain. (I) work with the best people I
could."

Just weeks earlier, he had become a father. In March 2011, the
Prescott Daily Courier published a baby announcement that said
McDonough and Natalie Nesvig, also of Prescott, had welcomed a baby
girl, Michaela Rose McDonough. Nesvig had posted photos of herself and
McDonough together in various settings, including in two of her online
profile pictures.
McDonough was in his third season with the hotshots when the Yarnell
Hill Fire erupted last week. On Sunday afternoon, he was working as a
lookout.

Fire experts say the lookout is critical for firefighters, who need a
set of eyes focused on the weather and the movement of the flames.

Ward said McDonough's job Sunday was to watch the situation and decide
when the various elements reached the "trigger points" that would
signal a change in position.

When McDonough determined he needed to move, he radioed the supervisor
of his hotshot crew. Officials said he radioed that the weather was
changing and that the fire was shifting in a new direction. He told
his crew members that if they needed anything to contact him. Then, he
left with the superintendent of another hotshot crew.

Bob Orrill, a member of the Southwest Incident Command team, met with
McDonough early Tuesday and brought a message to the community
meeting.

"Brendan would like to express his appreciation and that of his fallen
brothers for the outpouring of support towards this organization and
the firefighting community in general," Orrill said.

An emotional crowd at the community meeting applauded and cheered as
Ward and Orrill relayed McDonough's story.

Some of the loudest cheers came as Ward asked the news media to
respect McDonough's privacy.

On social-media sites, McDonough's family and friends offered support.
His father, Scott McDonough, who is in Boston, posted a picture of his
son in firefighting gear and said: "Good work in Arizona, son. Proud
and glad you're safe!"

In Prescott, Juliann Ashcraft, wife of Andrew Ashcraft, one of the
fallen firefighters, talked about McDonough on Tuesday.

"I hope that he knows we love him," she said.

Contributing: Arizona Republic reporters Ken Alltucker, Saba Hamedy,
Scott Craven, Rebekah L. Sanders, and KPNX-TV reporter Lissette
Martinez.
For more info visit here :

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The military has drawn up a road map for suspending parliament, naming civilian council.

The military has drawn up a road map for suspending parliament, naming
civilian council.

CAIRO — President Mohammed Morsi refused to step down Wednesday and
called on the military not to "take sides" even as the army chief of
staff met with opposition figures and religious leaders to discuss its
"road map" for dramatic political reform.'

The military had called on Morsi 48 hours ago to yield to the mass
protests or step aside, but the Associated Press reported that he had
refused to step aside as the final minutes of the deadline ticked down
Wednesday.

State media reported that the "road map" would include a new interim
leadership, installed by the military, and a suspension of the
Islamist-backed constitution and the Islamist-dominated parliament.

The BBC reported that the army asked all but essential staff to leave
the state TV building ahead of the deadline, which expired around 4:30
p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. ET.).

At least 39 people have died since the protests began on Sunday. Many
of the latest deaths occurred after gunfire erupted outside Cairo
University in Giza, where pro-Morsi demonstrators gathered to show
support for the president, who comes from the 85-year-old Muslim
Brotherhood, the Associated Press reported.

The meeting between opposition groups and army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah
al-Sisi was announced by opposition spokesman Khaled Dwoud in a live
telephone interview with state television.

It included Mohamed ElBaradei, Egypt's leading democracy advocate, who
represents the opposition National Salvation Front coalition and the
youth groups leading anti-Morsi protesters. Also in attendance to
discuss the proposed political "road map" were Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb,
grand imam of Al-Azhar mosque, and Pope Tawadros II, patriarch of
Egypt's Coptic Christian minority.

Mohamed Abou El Ghar, president of the Egyptian Social Democratic
party, tells USA TODAY that the opposition is demanding that Morsi
must go, and that there should be a "civilian, temporary, honorary
president, preferably from the higher constitutional court and a
civilian prime minister with a small cabinet to run the country in the
coming period."

"The military and the police should only guard the borders and the
security inside the country," he said. "So, it should be clear in the
minds of the West that this is not a coup. This is not a military
coup."

Moving forward, he added, the opposition does not want to isolate the
Muslim Brotherhood. "We want the Muslim Brothers to share in the
future elections and the future parliament," he said.

As the deadline loomed, Morsi showed little interest in compromise,
however, going on national TV Tuesday night to reject calls for his
ouster.

A spokesman for Morsi, Ayman Ali, told Reuters that that president
believes it is better "to die standing like a tree" than turn back
history.

"It is better for a president, who would otherwise be returning Egypt
to the days of dictatorship, from which God and the will of the people
has saved us, to die standing like a tree," Ali tells the news
agency."Rather than be condemned by history and future generations for
throwing away the hopes of Egyptians for establishing a democratic
life."

In an emotional 46-minute speech, Morsi warned the military against
removing him, saying such action will "backfire on its perpetrators."

Morsi, who took office almost exactly one year ago, pledged to protect
his "constitutional legitimacy" with his life.

He accused loyalists of his ousted autocratic predecessor Hosni
Mubarak of exploiting the wave of protests to topple his regime and
thwart democracy.

"There is no substitute for legitimacy," said Morsi, who at times
angrily raised his voice, thrust his fist in the air and pounded the
podium. He warned that electoral and constitutional legitimacy "is the
only guarantee against violence."
For more info visit here : http://www.usatoday.com/

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Govt files affidavit in SC, details steps to make CBI autonomous

NEW DELHI: The appointment of the CBI director by a collegium that
includes the Prime Minister is among the steps the government intends
to take to insulate the agency from political interference, the
Supreme Court was informed on Wednesday.

The collegium would include the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha
and the Chief Justice of India or a judge to be nominated by him, the
government said in a 41-page affidavit, adding that the Delhi Special
Police Establishment Act would be amended for this.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director would have a term
of not less than two years.

The proposed committee, the affidavit said, shall recommend an IPS
officer to be the CBI director on the basis of seniority, integrity
and experience in the investigation of anti-corruption and criminal
cases.

The affidavit came in response to the apex court asking what steps the
government intended to take to uphold the CBI's autonomy and to
insulate it from political interference.

The apex court direction came after the CBI director admitted in April
that the probe report into the allocation of coal blocks was vetted by
then law minister Ashwani Kumar and officials of the Prime Minister's
Office and the coal ministry.
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Ishrat Jahan encounter case: CBI to file 'explosive' preliminary chargesheet today

Ishrat Jahan encounter case: CBI to file 'explosive' preliminary
chargesheet today
The CBI is likely to name only those policemen who were at the scene
of crime besides seeking more time in a bid to probe the conspiracy
angle behind the incident.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will file a charge sheet in
the 2004 Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case.

The CBI is likely to name only those policemen who were at the scene
of crime besides seeking more time in a bid to probe the conspiracy
angle behind the incident.

The Gujarat High Court had earlier told the CBI to file the
chargesheet at the earliest so that no more accused can get out on
default bail, while a top official of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) was
interrogated for his role in the alleged fake encounter killing.

The court asked the CBI to focus on the conspiracy involving the
custody of the deceased, the encounter and the persons involved in the
alleged conspiracy and the alleged fake gunfight in which the four
persons were killed.

The court also allowed CBI's plea seeking that Gujarat cadre IPS
officer Satish Verma, who has been assisting the CBI in the
investigation, be dropped from the probe team from June 23.

The CBI earlier this month grilled Intelligence Bureau (IB) Special
Director Rajender Kumar at an unknown location in Gandhinagar in
connection with his role in the case and three others by Ahmedabad
police.

The CBI, which is investigating the case on the directive of the
Gujarat High Court, wants to charge the then Ahmedabad IB station
chief Rajender Kumar for conspiracy to murder.

Nineteen-year-old Ishrat was killed along with three others on June
15, 2004 allegedly by a team of Crime Branch officials on the
outskirts of Ahmedabad.

The Crime Branch had then claimed that the four were LeT members and
were on a mission to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
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