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Thursday, July 16, 2009

Portrait of Jackson's pill consumption emerges

Portrait of Jackson's pill consumption emerges


LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Singer Michael Jackson took more than 10 Xanax pills a night, asking his employees to get the prescription medicine under their names and also personally traveling to doctors' offices in other states to obtain them, said a confidential document from 2004 that CNN obtained Thursday.

Los Angeles detectives are waiting on the coroner's report on the death of Michael Jackson.

Los Angeles detectives are waiting on the coroner's report on the death of Michael Jackson.

The document from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department contains confidential interviews conducted with two of Jackson's former security guards as officials prepared for Jackson's child molestation trial in 2005.

The singer was acquitted after the 14-week trial. But the information about the pills, and the lengths Jackson went to get them, adds to a growing mountain of claims tying the insomniac singer to drugs in recent days.

According to the drug's Web site, Xanax is for the treatment of panic disorder.

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton said Thursday detectives have spoken to a number of doctors who have treated Jackson over the years, and are looking into the singer's prescription drug history.

Doctors who did not cooperate with investigators were issued subpoenas, a source told CNN Thursday. If needed, authorities will issue more, the source said.

Jackson died on June 25. Authorities are awaiting toxicology reports from the coroner's office to determine the exact cause of death.

"And based on those, we will have an idea of what it is we are dealing (with): are we dealing with a homicide or are we dealing with an accidental overdose?" Bratton said.

The speculation that prescription drugs, particularly sedatives, could have played a role in Jackson's death keeps coming up with each new nugget of information -- and there have been many.

The Jackson family knows that the probe into his death can turn into a criminal case, a source close to the family told CNN on Thursday.

"The family is aware of a potential criminal prosecution," said the source, who did not want to be identified.

The amount of Xanax that Jackson allegedly took surprised CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta.

In addiction cases, people develop a tolerance to drugs and have to take more and more pills, Gupta said.

"No matter how you cut it, this is an extremely high dosage of Xanax," Gupta said. "It is a huge red flag, even with the tolerance that I was talking about. This dosage is exceedingly high for any human being."

Jackson's attempt to battle sleep disorder

The 2004 document details a dark picture of Jackson's attempts to battle his sleeping disorder.

One security guard that sheriff's deputies interviewed said he expressed his concern about Jackson's use of 10-plus pills a night to another staffer.

The second staffer replied: "Jackson was doing better because he was down from 30 to 40 Xanax pills a night," according to the document.

One of the guards said he and three other employees would get prescriptions for Jackson under their names.

The second guard backed up the claim, saying he had picked up medicines for the singer that were in other people's names.

The document contains the names of five doctors -- some in California, some in New York and Florida. It was not immediately clear whether police have spoken to them as part of their investigation into Jackson's death.

After the doctor visits, Jackson would be "out of it and sedated," one guard said.

According to the sheriff's office document, the guard who provided the bulk of the information quit his job after Jackson "fell on his face" in a hotel room and hurt himself. The employee told Jackson he was not comfortable getting prescriptions for him and left, he later told investigators.

Years later in 2006, Jackson was in Las Vegas, Nevada, trying to jump-start his career. Deal-maker Jack Wishna, who was helping the singer land a long-running show in Vegas, told CNN the singer would appear "drugged up" and "incoherent" -- often so weak and emaciated he had to use a wheelchair to get around.

The comeback shows were canceled because of Jackson's condition, Wishna said.

Around that time, sister Janet Jackson was so worried about Jackson that she tried to stage an intervention with assistance from her other brothers, two sources close to the Jackson family told CNN Wednesday.

Jackson reportedly ordered his security guards not to let the family members in. He also refused to take calls from his mother, Katherine, CNN has learned.

At the time, the Jackson family released a statement to People magazine denying the alleged intervention. But Janet Jackson was not among the signatories.

Along with the police investigation, which is being aided by the state attorney general's office and the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Los Angeles County coroner's office has also drawn up a list of Jackson's doctors and is trying to talk to them to determine what drugs they may have prescribed him.

Among them are Dr. Arnold Klein, Jackson's dermatologist, and Dr. Conrad Murray, his cardiologist.

Klein told CNN Wednesday that Jackson was addicted to drugs at one point but had kicked the habit.

Murray, who has been interviewed by police, has repeatedly said he will withhold comment until the coroner's tests are back.

Among others who have indicated that Jackson may have been using dangerous prescription medication are a nutritionist, Cherilyn Lee, who said Jackson pleaded for Diprivan despite being told of its harmful effects.

Sources close to Jackson told CNN that the insomniac singer traveled with an anesthesiologist who would "take him down" at night and "bring him back up" during a world tour in the mid-90s.

Another source involved with the probe told CNN that investigators found numerous bottles of prescription drugs in the singer's $100,000-a-month rented mansion in Holmby Hills.

The Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times, citing unnamed sources, said police found Diprivan.

Diprivan is a powerful sedative that is administered intravenously and is known by its generic name Propofol.

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Bratton did not elaborate on what was discovered.

"At the time of the death with search warrants, we were able to seize a number of items from the residence where the death occurred and those will assist in the investigation," he said.

Pakistan and India in terror vow

Pakistan and India in terror vow


India and Pakistan will work together to fight terrorism, the countries' prime ministers have announced.

Meeting in Egypt, they said the fight against their "main threat" should not be linked to wider peace talks.

However, India's Manmohan Singh later said no dialogue would start until those behind last year's attacks in Mumbai (Bombay) were "brought to book".

Relations between the two countries deteriorated after the attacks in which militants killed more than 160 people.

India has accused Pakistan-based fighters from the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba of carrying out the attacks.

Pakistan has admitted they were partly planned on its soil - and vowed to do all it can to bring the suspects to justice.

Climb-down 'denied'


ime Ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani of Pakistan and Manmohan Singh of India made the pledge after meeting in Egypt.

The talks on Thursday - on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement's summit in Egypt - were the third high-level meeting between the two nuclear-armed neighbours since the Mumbai attacks last November which brought an abrupt halt to peace talks.

"Both leaders affirmed their resolve to fight terrorism and co-operate with each other to this end," the joint statement of the talks said.

"Prime Minister Singh reiterated the need to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice and Prime Minister Gilani assured that Pakistan will do everything in its power in this regard."

The two prime ministers agreed to co-operate on the investigation.

Manmohan Singh and Yousuf Raza Gilani meeting in Egypt
Both leaders agreed that terrorism is the main threat to both countries
Joint statement

"Pakistan has provided an updated status dossier on the investigations of the Mumbai attacks," their statement said.

The two leaders also agreed to "share real-time, credible and actionable information on any future terrorist threat".

Last week Pakistan said the trial of five men suspected of involvement in the attack on Mumbai's Taj Hotel was likely to start this week.

In a move likely to please Islamabad, the prime minister's joint statement said action on terrorism "should not be linked to the composite dialogue process" - which includes talks on the disputed territory of Kashmir.

The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says many in India will see this as a major climb-down in Delhi's stance.

And moments after the joint statement had been issued, Mr Singh appeared to contradict the joint statement.

He told a news conference dialogue "cannot begin unless and until terrorist heads which shook Mumbai are properly accounted for, (the) perpetrators of these heinous crimes are brought to book".



Bhutto inquiry arrives in Pakistan

Bhutto inquiry arrives in Pakistan

Former Pakistani President Benazir Bhutto on the day she was assassinated, 27 December, 2007
Benazir Bhutto was assassinated leaving a party rally in December 2007

Members of a United Nations inquiry into the assassination of former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto have arrived in Pakistan.

Led by Chile's ambassador to the UN, Heraldo Munoz, the team includes a former Indonesian attorney general and a former senior Irish police officer.

The inquiry will last six months and investigate the "facts and circumstances" of Ms Bhutto's death.

She was killed in December 2007 as she left a party rally in Rawalpindi.

'Gather material'

The inquiry commission begins its work in Pakistan on Thursday.

The visiting team will be supported by staff based in Pakistan.

"The staff, working under direction of the commissioners, will gather information, collate relevant material and conduct interviews," a UN statement released on Thursday said.

During the visit, the commissioners are scheduled to meet Ms Bhutto's widower, Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, and other senior officials.

The commission is scheduled to submit its report to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in six months.

Newspapers carrying the news of Benazir Bhutto's assassination
British detectives conclude a lone attacker fired the shots

The report will be shared with the Pakistani government and the UN Security Council, reports say.

The UN says the panel will inquire into the facts and circumstances of the assassination, but stresses that any criminal investigation is Pakistan's responsibility.

Apart from Mr Munoz, the other members of the probe team are Marzuki Darusman, the former Indonesian attorney-general, and Peter Fitzgerald, who headed an early inquiry into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

Earlier this month, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the BBC his government thought the UN investigation was necessary to find out who was behind the attack.

Mr Malik said he believed the assassination was "a big international conspiracy".

"Obviously, there might be some actors within Pakistan or within the region, but we want really to expose the whole conspiracy, because we think that this was a kind of a beginning of an attempt to Balkanise Pakistan."

Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, accused by the last government here of being behind the assassination, is the target of a military offensive and his militant network has hit back with retaliatory suicide attacks.

The Taliban commander has denied having anything to do with Ms Bhutto's killing.

'Rogue elements'

Her assassination left questions unresolved for many people here, but especially her own party, which is now in government.

After she had narrowly escaped a double suicide bombing on the day of her return to Pakistan from self-imposed exile in October 2007, she accused what she called "enemies" and "rogue elements" in the government led by President Pervez Musharraf and in the intelligence agencies of plotting to kill her.

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf blamed al-Qaeda-linked militants for the attack and refused to seek a UN investigation.

He invited police from London's Scotland Yard to assist in the inquiry into her death.

In their report, the British detectives said they believed she died due to a severe head injury sustained as a consequence of a bomb blast.

The Pakistani investigation into her death concluded that a lone attacker fired shots at Ms Bhutto before detonating explosives, but said that bullets were not the cause of death.

Wider enquiry

Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) rejected both these versions, claiming adequate security had not been provided for Ms Bhutto, and called for a wider inquiry by the UN to establish the identity and motives of the assassins.

A PPP-led coalition defeated Mr Musharraf's allies in general elections last year.

Ms Bhutto, twice prime minister of Pakistan, lived in self-imposed exile after Mr Musharraf assumed power in 1999.

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf
Mr Musharraf had refused to seek an UN probe

In October 2007, she returned to Pakistan to campaign for the PPP in parliamentary and provincial elections - the first to be held since President Musharraf resigned as head of the army and became a civilian leader.

Shortly after her return, she survived bomb attacks on her convoy in Karachi that killed more than 100 people.

But Ms Bhutto continued to campaign and was assassinated on 27 December at a PPP rally in Rawalpindi.

She was standing upright in her armoured vehicle, with her head exposed above the open roof escape hatch, waving to the crowd when an attacker opened fire.

Seconds later, a bomb was set off at the scene which left some 20 other people dead.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Sotomayor was schoolgirl with focus, determination, friends say

Sotomayor was schoolgirl with focus, determination, friends say


Sonia Sotomayor, here at her 8th-grade graduation, had to finish homework and chores before she could go out.

Sonia Sotomayor, here at her 8th-grade graduation, had to finish homework and chores before she could go out.

BRONX, New York (CNN) -- The teenage Sonia Sotomayor was easy to spot in the halls of her New York high school.

Her uniform was often askew -- a once-crisp shirt protruding out and over her skirt's waistband as she carried a pile of books.

"She was focused so much on learning that she didn't notice," Mary Procidano, a classmate at Cardinal Spellman High School, recalled recently.

Sotomayor, now nominated for the Supreme Court by President Obama, seemed to hit her stride at Spellman, a rigorous Catholic institution and educational oasis in a crime-stricken neighborhood of the Bronx.

The schoolgirl first appeared shy and reserved, friends remember. But they soon got to know her as a hard-nosed, strong-willed girl, happy to debate friends, family or teachers.

"When she opened her mouth and she spoke, she really felt whatever it was," said Jeanette Valdespino-Torres, a childhood friend.

"And she wasn't just talking out of the top of her head -- it was something that she read, she studied, she looked, she knew. She would get into conversations at that age that I couldn't even touch." Video Watch friends remember Sotomayor as a teenager »

In the lunchroom Sotomayor would "hold court," various friends from her school years told CNN, sharing opinions on policies and social problems.

She even led discussions around her home, an apartment in the sprawling 28-building Bronxdale Housing project that was so rife with drugs and crime that police often locked it down on Saturday nights, Sotomayor said in one speech.

If she is confirmed by the full Senate Sotomayor, now 55, would be the first Latina Supreme Court justice. President Obama has spoken of her "inspiring life's journey."

Sotomayor's 1972 graduating class knew they were a generation facing "change," said Jeri Faulkner, who was a freshman when Sotomayor was a senior. It was a time when the Vietnam War and social and economic strife were in the news daily.

"There was a lot of change and turmoil, and they were very involved in it -- very, very involved in social issues; very, very ready to change the world," Faulkner, now Cardinal Spellman's Dean of Students, said of Sotomayor's class. "And Sonia, she was at the forefront of those discussions."

A fixture on the debate team and in student government, Sotomayor was even a part of change inside Cardinal Spellman -- helping to write a unified constitution when male and female classes merged in 1971.

Outside school, Sotomayor spent some vacations working at the United Bargains store in the Bronx, though she has admitted she was too young for a job. She also worked.with her mother at Prospect Hospital. Photo See photos of Sotomayor throughout her life »

Hard work was a fixture of the Sotomayor household. Juan Sotomayor, Sonia's father, died when she was 9, leaving her mother, Celina, to fend for Sonia and her younger brother, also named Juan.

Celina Sotomayor started at the hospital as a telephone operator and later became a registered nurse. She worked long hours to earn enough to send her children to better schools like Cardinal Spellman, which now boasts of its graduate with a banner on its pale brick facade. And she used spare money to buy the neighborhood's only encyclopedia.

Sonia's mother was clear in what she expected from her daughter, said Valdespino-Torres. When she got home from work and stepped into the brick building, she always asked Sonia if she had done her homework, food shopping or laundry.

"Only then, Sonia would be allowed to go out," Valdespino-Torres said. Video Watch Valdespino-Torres take a walk around the girls' old haunts »


"Going out" sometimes meant reading for grade-schooler Sonia Sotomayor. She turned to books for solace after her father died -- a loss that came a year after she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. She has needed daily insulin injections ever since.

But sorrow and challenges were not something she shared, Valdespino-Torres said: "That must have been very difficult at her age to deal with, and it was something that just never really came up. She took care of it and she dealt with it."

Sotomayor swapped Nancy Drew mysteries with her friends and loved talking about them, Valdespino-Torres said. Later she would become engrossed in "Perry Mason" and the workings of courts. Video Watch Juan Sotomayor say how his sister forced him to watch 'Mason' »

In the summer, Sotomayor and Valdespino-Torres would sit on the stone steps of Blessed Sacrament -- Sotomayor's Catholic grade school.

Their parents kept watch from two-story duplex houses and through the black, steel bars of public housing apartment windows as the girls listened for hours to the latest vinyl records -- The Four Tops, The Rascals, The Beatles and Frankie Valli.

Sotomayor even coaxed some girlfriends to play baseball -- almost in the shadow of Yankee Stadium. (Many years later, Sotomayor would make a famous ruling that effectively ended the Major League Baseball strike.)

Sotomayor also spent time with her cousins, who lived in now-dilapidated apartments marred by broken windows. Entertainment might have been their grandmother calling bingo as they marked their cards with chickpeas.

It was with her cousins that Sotomayor embraced her Puerto Rican roots, she has said.

The neighborhood still boasts a heavy Latino population -- with many Puerto Rican flags in windows. Sotomayor says the sights and sounds of the neighborhood have stayed with her: salsa beats and laughter from Saturday movies featuring Mexican comedian Cantinflas.

The Bronx streets around Southern Boulevard were the center of young Sotomayor's world, but her curiosity was sparked by the No. 5 train creaking along tracks visible from her grandmother's window. At first she just made faces at riders, she has said, but then she began to wonder where the people were going.

Sotomayor's childhood friends say now that they knew even then that she would someday be one of those people going places.

Lindsay Lohan leaves Samantha Ronson's house AGAIN wearing bizarre gladiator boots Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1199786/Li

Lindsay Lohan leaves Samantha Ronson's house AGAIN wearing bizarre gladiator boots


Lindsay Lohan's on-off relationship with Samantha Ronson seemed to be back on track as the actress was again spotted leaving the DJ's house wearing a pair of bizarre gladiator-inspired boots.

Without her makeup and dressed casually in a hoodie and denim shorts the actress appeared to have spent a long night with Samantha. Lindsay managed a slight smile as she jumped into a waiting car clutching a blue pillow and large bottle of water.

Only a few days earlier, Lindsay was seen leaving Samantha's Los Angeles home wearing a similar style of cowboy boot meets gladiator sandal shoes.

Preview split of Lindsay Lohan and boots
Lindsay Lohan leaves Samantha Ronson's LA home wearing a bizarre pair of gladiator-style boots

What was she thinking? Lindsay Lohan leaves Samantha Ronson's LA home wearing a pair of bizarre gladiator-style boots

Lindsay professes to owning 5,000 pairs of shoes, many of them ludicrous

Crazy collection: Lindsay professes to owning 5,000 pairs of shoes, many of them ludicrous

Love them or hate them, the elaborate footwear seems more fitting for a warrior or a character in a science fiction film.

The Mean Girls star once said that she owns 5,000 pairs of shoes, and admitted her collection was ludicrous.

But gladiator boots or not, it is becoming almost a daily routine in recent weeks for Lindsay to be seen coming and going from Samantha's house.

For her 23rd birthday on July 2, the DJ whisked her away for an intimate lunch date at Tra Di Noi in Malibu.

Lindsay Lohan was again seen leaving Samantha's home in her favourite pair of boots

Just a few days earlier: Lindsay was again seen leaving Samantha's home in her favourite pair of boots

As well as spending the day together, Lindsay and Samatha were also busy exchanging gushing messages on Twitter.

The 31-year-old wished her happy birthday on the micro-blogging site followed by a kiss and hug, to which Lindsay replied: 'Awww thanks baybee lol.'

It comes just weeks after friends declared Samantha was wanting to cut Lindsay out of her life for good.

But it seems that Samantha has had a change of heart.

Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson pictured earlier this month, heading out for a meal at Matsuhisa Sushi restaurant in Hollywood before finishing the night partying at club Villa

Back on: Lindsay and Samantha pictured earlier this month, heading out for a meal at Matsuhisa Sushi restaurant in Hollywood before finishing the night partying at club Villa

The pair first split in early April after a row over Lindsay's partying with men at the Chateau Marmont hotel in LA, but LiLo countered by labelling Ronson a cheat.

However, their relationship could have hit another hurdle following reports at the weekend that Lindsay tried to seduce Russell Brand at a Hollywood party - but was given the cold shoulder.

A friend of the comedian reportedly said: 'Lindsay is a very good looking girl and she is used to getting what she wants.

'Russell has been on her radar for a while now but he doesn’t want anything to do with her.

'He finds her constant craving for attention and her heavy drinking a turn-off. It’s not like he is short of female attention anyway.'



Israeli soldiers reveal the brutal truth of Gaza attack

Israeli soldiers reveal the brutal truth of Gaza attack

Troops' testimonies disclose loose rules of engagement and use of civilians as human shields. Palestinian houses were systematically destroyed by 'insane artillery firepower'

By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem

Wednesday, 15 July 2009

Children at houses in Gaza which were destroyed during Israel's 22-day offensive

GETTY IMAGES

Children at houses in Gaza which were destroyed during Israel's 22-day offensive

    2 Police Officers Injured in Indonesian Gold Mine Skirmish

    2 Police Officers Injured in Indonesian Gold Mine Skirmish

    Published: July 15, 2009

    JAKARTA, Indonesia — At least two police officers were wounded Wednesday in a skirmish with gunmen near a gold mine operated by an American company in eastern Indonesia, officials said.

    The firefight followed several days of violence, including three deaths, directed at the mining operations of Freeport-McMoran in Papua, an impoverished province under military control. It came just after Freeport ordered a group of employees to avoid traveling along a road linking a nearby town and the gold mine.

    “Because of the violence, we told a couple of hundred of our workers to stay home this morning,” said Mindo Pangaribuan, a spokesman for Freeport, adding that the company’s production had not been affected by the violence.

    Mr. Mindo said it was not clear who the gunmen were, and the authorities had yet to make any arrests in the recent deadly ambushes. Two Freeport workers, an Australian mining expert and an Indonesian security guard, were killed in skirmishes over the weekend; a police officer fleeing from an ambush also died after falling down a ravine.

    Despite a decade of democratization, the Indonesian government still severely restricts access to Papua, especially for journalists. More than 10,000 troops and police officers, most of them non-Papuan, are stationed in Papua and have been accused by rights activists of frequently committing human rights abuses against the local population.

    It is in that environment that Freeport, which is based in Phoenix, operates the world’s largest gold mine and employs 20,000 workers. The company, which has enjoyed close ties to the Indonesian government for four decades, including during the late Suharto’s 32-year military dictatorship, has long made a practice of paying the military and the police for protection.

    “To many Papuans, Freeport is a symbol of imperialism,” said Andreas Harsono, who is an analyst for the Human Rights Watch office here in Jakarta and recently completed a report on abuses committed in Papua by Indonesia’s special forces.

    The authorities blamed separatists in the Free Papua Movement for this week’s violence. But Papuan officials quoted in the Indonesian news media have denied the accusations, saying the movement lacked the kind of sophisticated weapons used in the ambushes.

    The Indonesian news outlets have speculated that military or police officials, who are paid by Freeport for protection, may have directed the ambushes to secure their business.

    The defense minister, Jowono Sudarsono, said Wednesday that there was no “proof” that active military or police were involved in the attacks. But he allowed that “rogue elements” or “deserters” from the military or police could be responsible.

    In a meeting with foreign journalists, Mr. Jowono also said that the violence may stem from rival groups of illegal miners engaged in gold mining near Freeport’s operations.