Fetus homicide may be tough to prove in Cleveland kidnapping case, expert says

Courtesy of Cuyahoga County

Cleveland kidnapping suspect Ariel Castro in a booking photo, May 8, 2013.

By Bill Briggs and Maggie Fox, NBC News

An Ohio prosecutor who on Thursday pledged to seek murder charges against the Cleveland kidnapping suspect for allegedly pummeling the pregnant stomach of one of his reported victims ? causing her to frequently miscarry ? may ultimately struggle to prove the blows led to those fetuses' deaths, said one former federal prosecutor.

To secure a guilty verdict for fetal homicide, prosecutors typically have to show that a killer clearly meant to murder the unborn baby by assaulting the mother in a way that would trigger an early end to the pregnancy.

But proving intent is not the challenge facing the prosecutor in?Cuyahoga County, said Heidi Rummel, a law professor at the University of Southern California.?

"The hardest part, I imagine, would be proving causation ? you have to show the actions actually caused the death. And years after the fact that might be somewhat of a challenge," added Rummel, a former federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. and in Los Angeles. "We don't know how far along (the victim) was. It's hard to know for sure if it was a miscarriage or not. But the intent seems pretty clear based on the facts I've read."?

Cuyahoga County prosecutor Timothy McGinty has vowed to seek charges against suspect Ariel Castro for each act of sexual violence, rape, kidnapping, assault and ?each act of aggravated murder he committed by terminating pregnancies that the offender perpetuated against the hostages during this decade-long ordeal.?

Castro already is charged with four counts of kidnapping ? three for the women he is accused of abducting and one for a baby that one of the women bore in captivity.?One of the three women, Michelle Knight, has told investigators that Castro impregnated her at least five times, and that he starved her and punched her repeatedly in the stomach to force her to miscarry, according to a Cleveland police report.

McGinty specifically cited a provision of Ohio law that defines it as aggravated murder when someone causes, ?with prior calculation and design,? the unlawful termination of another person?s pregnancy.

?This child kidnapper operated a torture chamber and private prison in the heart of our city,? McGinty said. ?The horrific brutality and torture that the victims endured for a decade is beyond comprehension.?

McGinty's decision falls in line with?fetal homicide laws on the books in at least 38 states.

The penalties for killing unborn babies via assaults on the mother vary depending on the location of the crime: in Kansas, any unborn fetus is considered a human following fertilization; in Colorado, offenders can be prosecuted only if they are shown to have known that the mother was pregnant, reports the?National Conference of State Legislatures.

The case in Ohio is unique, but the issue of charging someone with murder for killing an unborn baby has been colored by the abortion rights debate.

Anti-abortion groups have pushed for laws declaring any fetus to be an unborn human. However, supporters of abortion rights argue that such law would not only make the procedure illegal, but they could make also it possible to prosecute pregnant women for endangering their babies in a variety of ways ??and could even put them on trial after suffering a miscarriage.

Rummel, meanwhile, also has handled the cases of many incarcerated women in California who, she said, were convicted of crimes that stemmed from abusive relationships. Some of those woman later told her that their husbands or boyfriends routinely punched or kicked them in their stomachs after they became pregnant.?

"It's not an unusual story in intimate-partner battering situations that men do this," Rummel said. "When an intimate partner does it, you never hear about it.?But?when a stranger does it, the whole county is in a uproar. It's tragic whenever it happens."

?

?

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2bba2b07/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A50C0A90C181547650Efetus0Ehomicide0Emay0Ebe0Etough0Eto0Eprove0Ein0Ecleveland0Ekidnapping0Ecase0Eexpert0Esays0Dlite/story01.htm

martin scorsese sacha baron cohen best picture nominees 2012 academy awards 2012 albert nobbs a star is born oscar nominees

Hackers Stole $45 Million In Cash From ATMs Around the Globe

Waving a gun around at a bank is so 10 years ago. With a little tech on their side, a squad of bank robbers were able to snag a cool $45 million in cash with nothing but some hacks and few old key cards that had ATMs across the globe virtually printing money.

An indictment unsealed today accuses eight people of being members of the NYC arm of the global crew that specialized in using fake ATM card to withdraw scads of cash from machines all over the world. The team hacked its way into a prepaid debit card data base, used the numbers to program a bunch of old cards?from blanks to hotel keys?and withdraw sweet, illicit cash through a series of thousands of transactions. The whole project netted them $45, with a whopping $2.8 million snagged in a single day.

Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch called it "a massive 21st-century bank heist," but it still had the trappings of an old-school shakedown; several of the men involved were caught on security cameras going from ATM to ATM toting bags increasingly bloated with cash money.

The fun didn't last long though, and starting in March, alleged members of the New York cell were arrested one by one, often in possession of thousands of dollars in pilfered cash. The men are assumed to be part of a larger hacker network with its roots outside the U.S. where this kind of fraud is more common. They'll be hard-pressed to hack their way out of prison. [Seattle Times]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/hackers-stole-45-million-in-cash-from-nyc-atms-499039297

old school nick swisher jaco san jose sharks humber perfect game ufc 145 fight card ufc145

American Idol Results: Who Are the Final 2?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/american-idol-results-who-are-the-final-2/

concede Obama Acceptance Speech Prop 30 Election 2012 Michigan Election Results Missouri Election Results Amendment 64

How a Food Journal Helps You Lose Weight - Shape Magazine

Over the years I've dabbled with MyFitnessPal.com, a food-tracking site. Of course, I never took it seriously and would log my meals on and off for only a few days at a time.

Since the beginning of this year, however, I've been making more of an effort to track my daily food and drink intake, and I've learned three things by doing so:

1. Calories: Not too high, not too low. My dietician, Heather Wallace, has set some goals for me to ensure I get enough fat, protein, and carbs without my calories spiking too high or too low. The insight has been pretty revealing.

For example, Heather reminds me that because I've been very active lately I need to eat more, especially protein, and ensure that I am eating quality foods like veggies and protein with every meal. My goals aren't to limit anything, but rather to choose healthy foods while staying within a range so my body doesn't gain weight or, the other extreme, think it's starving and hang on to fat.

RELATED: Dramatic before and after pictures! Women share how they lost 60, 100, and 180 pounds.

One of the first things I noticed was my calorie intake fluctuated from day to day?by a lot! One day I would have 975 calories (usually these are busy days that I'm out of the house) and other days I could be well over 2,000 calories. Heather gave me a range between 1,500 and 1,800 calories with the possibility of topping out at 2,000 calories if I'm having an especially active week. This goal has kept me consistent and comfortable.

2. Track before I eat or drink(!). As you may know, I've made a real effort to leave the alcohol off the menu, but once in a while I like a little spurge. Last month my family had been out running errands all day and stopped into our local Mexican restaurant for dinner. "Doesn't a margarita sound good?? I said. I knew this wasn't the greatest choice, but how bad could it be?

A big margarita, a few handfuls of chips, and a couple of veggie fajitas later, I logged in online to add up my dinner stats. The results were astounding. I'm almost embarrassed to share them, but I will: The meal was almost 1,300 calories! I sure learned from that experience. Next time I'll stick with the veggie fajitas and pass on the chips and cocktail.

RELATED: Need a quick meal that won't crash your calorie bank or bank account? Try one of these five meals that are healthy and cost less than $10.

3. Accountability is key. This is the most important things tracking has taught me. When I indulge in a piece of chocolate, a handful of crackers, or a glass of wine, I don't forget about it but rather track it and try to make better choices next time.

Knowing that I have to log my food and drink also makes me think twice before I reach for something. As I learned from Darren Hardy's book The Compound Effect, it's the little choices that add up to big results, and that is exactly what I'm aiming for.

Source: http://www.shape.com/blogs/weight-loss-diary/what-you-can-learn-food-journal

2013 Calendar chris christie sofia vergara American Horror Story Patti Page anonymous texas chainsaw massacre

Bangladesh factory fire kills eight; collapse toll hits 892

By Serajul Quadir and Ruma Paul

DHAKA (Reuters) - Eight people were killed when a fire swept through a clothing factory in Bangladesh, police and an industry association official said on Thursday, as the death toll from the collapse of another factory building two weeks ago climbed above 900.

The fire, in an industrial district of Dhaka, comes amid global attention on safety standards in Bangladesh's booming garment industry following the catastrophic collapse of Rana Plaza, on the outskirts of the city, in the world's deadliest industrial accident since the Bhopal disaster in India in 1984.

"It is not clear to us how the accident happened, but we are trying to find out the cause," Mohammad Atiqul Islam, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), told Reuters.

On Wednesday the Bangladesh government said it had shut down 18 garment factories for safety reasons following the April 24 collapse of Rana Plaza, which housed five garment factories making clothes for Western brands. Six were cleared to re-open on Thursday after inspectors issued safety certificates.

Salvage teams were still pulling bodies from the rubble of the Rana Plaza complex in Savar, around 20 miles northwest of Dhaka, and on Thursday a spokesman at the army control room coordinating the operation said the number of people confirmed to have been killed had reached 912.

Roughly 2,500 people were rescued from the building, including many injured, but there is no official estimate of the numbers still missing.

The government has blamed the owners and builders of the eight-storey complex for using shoddy building materials, including substandard rods, bricks and cement, and not obtaining the necessary clearances.

Bangladesh's garment industry, which accounts for 80 percent of the poor South Asian country's exports, has seen a series of deadly accidents, including a fire in November that killed 112 people.

The latest fire, in an 11-storey building in the Mirpur industrial district, broke out at a factory belonging to the Tung Hai Group, a large garment exporter.

"The factory was closed and all the workers had left the premises an hour earlier," said fire service official Bhazan Sarker.

A fire service official and BGMEA president Islam said the Bangladeshi managing director of the company and a senior police officer were among the dead. The others killed were friends and personal staff of the factory boss, officials said.

Tung Hai Group says on its website that it has more than 1,000 employees and its customers include major Western retailers including Britain's Primark, and Inditex Group of Spain. It makes products including cardigans, jumpers and pyjamas.

(Editing by Matthew Green and Alex Richardson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eight-killed-bangladesh-factory-fire-police-015412443.html

al gore la dodgers lawrence o donnell magic johnson jetblue pilot solicitor general neighborhood watch

Stocks surge to new highs after hiring climbs

Specialist Frank Masiello wears a "Dow 15,000" hat as he works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Friday, May 3, 2013. A big gain in the job market is lifting the stock market to a record high. The Dow Jones industrial average crossed 15,000 for the first time, and the Standard and Poor's 500 index, a broader market measure, rose above 1,600.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Specialist Frank Masiello wears a "Dow 15,000" hat as he works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Friday, May 3, 2013. A big gain in the job market is lifting the stock market to a record high. The Dow Jones industrial average crossed 15,000 for the first time, and the Standard and Poor's 500 index, a broader market measure, rose above 1,600.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Specialists Devin Cryan, left, and Gabriel Freytes wear a "Dow 15,000" hats as they work at a post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Friday, May 3, 2013. A big gain in the job market is lifting the stock market to a record high. The Dow Jones industrial average crossed 15,000 for the first time, and the Standard and Poor's 500 index, a broader market measure, rose above 1,600.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader Gregory Rowe wears a "Dow 15,000" hat as he works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Friday, May 3, 2013. A big gain in the job market is lifting the stock market to a record high. The Dow Jones industrial average crossed 15,000 for the first time, and the Standard and Poor's 500 index, a broader market measure, rose above 1,600.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A board overlooking the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shows an intraday number above 1,600 for the S&P 500, Friday, May 3, 2013. A big gain in the job market is lifting the stock market to a record high. The Dow Jones industrial average crossed 15,000 for the first time, and the Standard and Poor's 500 index, a broader market measure, rose above 1,600.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK (AP) ? After weeks of conflicting signals about the strength of the economy, a big gain in the jobs market gave Wall Street reason to celebrate Friday.

The stock market surged, traders donned party hats, and the wave of buying drove three indexes through major milestones.

"There's euphoria today," said Stephen Carl, the head equity trader at The Williams Capital Group. "That's what you'd have to call it."

The Dow Jones industrial average punched through another milestone, 15,000, before easing back. The Standard and Poor's 500 index closed above 1,600 for the first time.

The Dow rose 142.38 points to close at 14,973.96, up 1 percent. The S&P 500 index surged 16.83 points, or 1 percent, to 1,614.42.

A surprisingly strong job report set it all off. U.S. employers added 165,000 new workers in April and many more in February and March than previously estimated. The unemployment rate fell to the lowest level in four years, 7.5 percent.

The surge in U.S. hiring comes after weeks of conflicting signals about the strength of the global economy. The unexpectedly strong numbers jolted markets higher from the start of trading.

On the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, brokers sported baseball caps emblazoned with "Dow 15,000."

The gains were broad. Eight of the 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 index rose. Nearly three stocks rose for every one that fell on the NYSE.

Companies that stand to benefit most from an upturn in the economy led the stock market up. Those that make basic materials and produce oil and gas rose the most in the S&P 500 index. U.S. Steel, General Electric and Dow Chemical were among the winners. Utilities, consumer-staple companies and other safe-play stocks trailed the market as investors took on more risk.

Small-company stocks are more risky than bigger companies but can also offer investors greater returns. On Friday, they outpaced the broader market. The Russell 2000 jumped 14.57 points, or 1.6 percent, to 954.42, a new all-time high.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 38.01 points to 3,378.63, an increase of 1.1 percent.

"We're breaking through psychological barriers and that will continue to bring investors off the sidelines," said Darrell Cronk, regional chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank. He called the jobs news "wonderful."

For more than a month, investors have had to wrestle with worrying reports on the world economy. First came news of falling retail sales in March, then a series of weak manufacturing reports and signs of an economic slowdown in China.

The first-quarter earnings season has been mixed, too. Though earnings have been higher than expected, many companies have reported little or no revenue growth, which has spooked investors.

Investors have also been concerned that higher Social Security payroll taxes and sweeping government spending cuts that took effect earlier this year will slow U.S. economic growth, and pinch corporate profits.

Friday's jobs numbers suggested the private sector might be strong enough to overcome those various obstacles.

In its report, the government revised its previous estimate of job gains up to 332,000 in February and 138,000 in March. The economy has created an average of 208,000 jobs a month from November through April ? above the 138,000 added in the previous six months.

"Jobs are key," said Randall Warren, chief investment officer of Warren Financial Service in Exton, Penn. "Everyone is worried about things like fiscal policy, the government spending money it doesn't have. If you want to turn that situation around, you have to get people off their couches."

Stock overseas rose on U.S. jobs report, too. The main indexes in France, Germany, Spain and Brazil rose 1 percent or better.

The S&P 500 is up 13 percent from the start of the year. The Dow is up 14 percent.

Many investors struck a skeptical note. Tim Biggam, chief market strategist at the brokerage TradingBlock in Chicago, said he thought the market was being driven higher by people hoping that the Federal Reserve's efforts to help the economy will keep working. Biggam said they're ignoring troublesome trends.

Slower sales mean companies have turned to more cost cutting to push their profits up. And other economic reports, including two out Friday, have pointed to a slowdown. Factory orders sank in March and gauge of growth in the service sector fell short of estimates.

"This may be the time you want to avoid getting in the market in my opinion, rather than jump in," Biggam said.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note jumped from its lowest level of the year, as traders moved money out of the safety of government bonds. The yield rose to 1.74 percent from 1.63 percent late Thursday.

Among other stocks making big moves on Friday:

? Gilead Sciences jumped $2.97 to $55.15, a gain of 6 percent, one of the biggest gains in the S&P 500 index. The maker of HIV drugs reported a 63 percent surge in income in the first quarter thanks to lower costs and increased sales.

? Kraft Foods rose $2.58 to $53.11, an increase of 5 percent. The food maker reported first-quarter income and revenue that beat the forecasts of Wall Street analysts as it increased sales and cut costs following its split from its global snack business.

? LinkedIn, the professional networking social media site, sank 13 percent, losing $26.08, to $175.59. The company issued a revenue forecast for the rest of the year that was well below what financial analysts were expecting. LinkedIn went public in May 2011 at $45 a share.

___

AP Business Writers Matthew Craft and Christina Rexrode contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-05-03-Wall%20Street/id-ab543538cc774438a180fc9dbd1931f5

megamillions winners university of louisville louisville ky lotto winners mega ball winning numbers baltimore county current tv

How is Your Small Business Affected by the Sequester? | Plus ...

The word of the year for 2013 is ?sequester? (or the more formal and ominous-sounding ?sequestration?).?? As you have probably learned, the sequester is the term being used for the mandatory automatic federal budget cuts that took effect as of March 1, 2013.

Will your private sector small business feel the cuts?

The sequester calls for $85 billion in federal spending cuts to defense and domestic programs that will occur in 2013, and $109 billion in cuts annually from 2014 to 2021. ?
Where are sequester cuts being made?
Cuts are being made to the discretionary spending within both military and domestic programs across the board. Although whole programs will not be cut, existing government contracts may not be extended, and new contracts may not be funded. This will affect directly the estimated 35% of suppliers to the US Defense Department that are bona fide small businesses. In addition to these direct suppliers, there are untold numbers of small business vendors that supply prime federal defense contractors. In some cases, these small businesses are so far down the food chain that they may not even be aware of the extent to which that their goods and services ultimately support the US Defense Department. ? ?
On the domestic side, as the number of government contracts shrinks and the scope of existing work goes down, both direct and indirect small government contractors may need to reduce headcount and operations. To make matters more difficult, the US Government will no longer extend $902 million in small business loans via the Small Business Administration (SBA), making funds tighter for small businesses. ?
Will your private sector small business feel the cuts?
Experts vary on their assessments of the impact. Some, such as Professor Stephen Fuller of George Mason University see significant impacts. A recent New York Times article quoted Fuller?as saying that 1.4 million private sector jobs will be lost and that half of those will be from small businesses[1]. Other experts feel differently. In that same article, Holly Wade, senior policy analyst at the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), was much less pessimistic, stating that ?few small businesses have contracts with the federal government, and few small businesses get loans from the S.B.A.? According to Wade, if credit is a problem for Main Street, it will be due to a downturn in the economy more than a drop in federal programs under a sequester budget. ?
A downturn in the economy cannot be treated lightly, however. Even if you don?t do business with the federal government directly or indirectly, your customers may be affected, and these effects could trickle down. People will lose jobs. Some full-time workers will become part-time. Agencies will shift to bring overhead down, and as they reduce operations, suppliers will cut staff and investment. That means pink slips, lower travel budgets, perhaps fewer conferences, and leaner service offerings. Consumers will have less money to spend and therefore, will shop less. If this is the case, it will be harder for the private sector to grow, or even to hold on to what they?ve got. Small businesses, even more than the Lockheed Martins of the world, have little leeway to maneuver to stem the pain. Do you agree? What?s your prediction? Has your business been affected by the sequestration? ?

Source: http://plusfundinggroup.com/2013/05/how-is-your-small-business-affected-by-the-sequester-westchester-business-financing/

Black Mesa matt ryan matt ryan att wireless Mother Jones cars Bacon Number