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Only days before he reportedly traveled the world delivering gifts to good boys and girls around the globe, Santa Claus was arrested in Austin, Texas for writing with chalk in front of the State Capitol Building.
Police officers with the Texas Department of Public Safety arrested 36-year-old James Peterson on Friday afternoon at around 1:30 p.m. Peterson, adorned in a full-on Santa suit complete with a big white beard, was placed in cuffs and dragged away in front of a group of children after cops charged him with criminal mischief and evading arrest.
Peterson was participating in an event in front of the Capitol along with members of the Occupy Austin movement at the time of the alleged crime. He had been asking children what their wishes for the world were - and then writing them on the sidewalk with chalk - when police handcuffed him and hauled him away.
"Today I saw the jolly red elf at the Capitol, cheerfully requesting that children write their wishes for a better world in chalk on the sidewalk. Santa said his favorite word was 'Community.' Various children wrote words like 'Peace,' 'Friendship,' and 'Grace,'" Occupy Austin's Lainie Duro recalls in a statement released on Friday by the group.
In video taken shortly before his arrest, Peterson, as Claus, is seen chatting with young kids and writing their wishes on the ground. Police ignored reports from eyewitnesses who admitted that both parents and children were also participating - and had video to prove it - but arrests were limited to only Santa and a single helper, identified only as "Corey Elf."
© Family photoKobi, the Weaver family’s 70-pound Rhodesian Ridgeback mix, was shot by Hazel Crest police officers, who apparently were searching for an escaped fugitive at a neighbor’s house.
CBS 2′s Pamela Jones reports this past September was supposed to be the 6-year-old pooch's birthday, not a prelude to his death Christmas Eve.
Kobi, a 70-pound Rhodesian Ridgeback mix was shot dead, allegedly by a Hazel Crest police officer.
Chanette Weaver said a police officer told her officers were acting in self-defense when they shot Kobi.
She said she'd just put Kobi in her closed, fenced-in yard at about 6:50 a.m. on Christmas Eve. She said, five minutes later, Hazel Crest police showed up at her door.
"One of the officers said, 'Ma'am, your dog is dead.' Heartless," Weaver said.
BitTorrent logo
"Hollywood isn't without 'sin' when it comes to piracy. The MPAA and others lobby very hard for anti-piracy measures, but can't even stop piracy in the offices of their own member studios," Torrentfreak.com reported.
The website dedicated to reporting the latest news and trends on the BitTorrent protocol and file sharing claims "BitTorrent piracy is rampant in Hollywood."
Torrentfreak published some of the files that Hollywood studios were sharing; starting with Paramount Pictures who's static IP-addresses were associated with the downloading of a wide variety of content. The indie production Battle Force was one of the movies shared, as well as the Lionsgate film The Hunger Games. However, the list also included Happy Feet, a movie distributed by competitor Warner Bros.
- The National Enquirer claims brain cancer is behind Clinton's recent collapse and that she is facing a barrage of medical tests
© National EnquirerThe National Enquirer splashed the story across its front page, pictured - State Department labelled the claims 'absolute nonsense' and insists she is recovering well at home
- The Secretary of State suffered a concussion after she collapsed in her home earlier this month
- On Friday, President Barack Obama nominated Senator John Kerry to replace Clinton after she chose to step down
The National Enquirer reported the debilitating illness was behind the Secretary of State's recent collapse and that she was facing a barrage of medical tests to confirm the diagnosis.
But a spokesman for the 65-year-old Democrat labelled the claims 'absolute nonsense' and insisted Clinton was recovering well from the fall and subsequent concussion.
The Secretary of State suffered a concussion after she collapsed in her home earlier this month.
Edmonton, Canada - A man accused of shooting at Edmonton police and holding RCMP at bay in a rural motel faces 31 criminal charges, with more pending.
Police say things went wrong Sunday night during a routine traffic stop in Edmonton when the driver of an SUV fired a shot at officers before speeding off.
Edmonton police say they found a suspect on Christmas Day at a motel in Redwater, a rural community north of the capital.
Police say when more shots were fired an RCMP tactical team surrounded the motel and arrested a man after a seven-hour standoff.
Patrick Young, 22, faces aggravated assault on a police officer and 30 other charges, including firearms offences.
Police say RCMP are to lay additional charges.
Source: The Canadian Press
Police say things went wrong Sunday night during a routine traffic stop in Edmonton when the driver of an SUV fired a shot at officers before speeding off.
Edmonton police say they found a suspect on Christmas Day at a motel in Redwater, a rural community north of the capital.
Police say when more shots were fired an RCMP tactical team surrounded the motel and arrested a man after a seven-hour standoff.
Patrick Young, 22, faces aggravated assault on a police officer and 30 other charges, including firearms offences.
Police say RCMP are to lay additional charges.
Source: The Canadian Press
Nelson Mandela
The 94-year-old had been in the hospital since Dec. 8. He was diagnosed with a lung infection and also had a procedure to remove gallstones.
In recent days, officials have said Mandela is improving, but doctors have taken extraordinary care with his health because of his age.
Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj says Mandela will receive more medical care at his Johannesburg home until he fully recovers.
Maharaj requested that the public respect Mandela's privacy at this time.
Source: The Associated Press and The Canadian Press
© TwitterZuckerberg family photo posted publicly on Twitter by one of Randi Zuckerberg's subscribers on Facebook.
Randi Zuckerberg found it "way uncool" that one of her subscribers on Facebook saw and tweeted a family photo that she had shared. "Not sure where you got that photo," tweeted Zuckerberg. "I posted it to friends only on FB."
Randi Zuckerberg, the former head of marketing for Facebook and the executive producer of Bravo's reality series Silicon Valley, was surprised when she discovered that a Zuckerberg family photo of Randi and her family (including Mark) reacting to the new Poke app.
One of her Facebook subscribers, Callie Schweitzer, director of marketing and projects at VoxMedia, re-posted the Zuckerberg family photo publically on Twitter.
© AFP Photo / Kevork DjansezianTransportation Security Administration (TSA) agents screen passangers at airport
The former Transportation Security Administration agent exposed the disturbing behavior on his blog, Taking Sense Away, after a reader asked him what goes in in the agency's private rooms. The agent, who responds to questions anonymously, said he never heard of anything illegal or inappropriate going on in private screening rooms, but often witnessed agents acting improperly in the image operator (IO) rooms, which is where TSA agents review nude X-ray images.
No surveillance cameras or recording devices are placed in these rooms, making it impossible for private conversations between the officers to be exposed.
© Photograph: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
The Toyota car company has agreed to pay over $1bn to settle claims that its cars could unintentionally accelerate out of control. A judge must approve Toyota's offer of $1.1bn (£683m) which was filed in a Californian court on Wednesday.
Toyota was taken to court by owners of its cars who claimed there was an electronic fault in the acceleration system. Toyota said any accelerator problems were caused by driver error, pedals sticking or badly fitted mats. The settlement means Toyota does not admit blame and avoids a lengthy trial.
© Melissa Golden for The Wall Street JournalJohn Judge says Dallas is preventing conspiracy theorists a permit to gather at Dealey Plaza, the assassination site.
The city plans a ceremony that would include readings from Kennedy speeches by historian David McCullough and military jets flying over Dealey Plaza, where the 35th president was shot.
But some who believe the assassination was a conspiracy involving high-ranking U.S. officials say their views shouldn't be excluded from the commemoration.
"It's absurd to move the discussion of his death to another moment," said John Judge, executive director of the Coalition on Political Assassinations, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit that studies 1960s murders of public figures. "Our First Amendment rights are being violated."
Mr. Judge, 65 years old, said conspiracy-theory proponents have gathered at Dealey Plaza every Nov. 22 since 1964. Next year, he added, will be the first that Dallas hasn't granted a permit for the meeting, which usually involves a moment of silence and a few speeches.
He said the city should move its ceremony elsewhere, adding that his group's members would find a way to disseminate their theories during the city event, possibly even dropping protest banners from nearby buildings.
"The world and the nation turned against Dallas," Mr. Payne said.
