US - In the politically-charged and likely protest-filled streets of Tampa, Fla., during the Republican National Convention in August, water guns will be strictly prohibited. Concealed handguns, on the other hand, will be perfectly legal.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott said this week that banning handguns from downtown Tampa during the convention, as the city's Mayor Bob Buckhorn requested, "would surely violate the Second Amendment."

"It is unclear how disarming law-abiding citizens would better protect them from the dangers and threats posed by those who would flout the law," Scott said in a letter to Buckhorn Tuesday, emphasizing the words "law-abiding." "It is at just such times that the constitutional right of self defense is most precious and must be protected from government overreach."

Buckhorn said today that he was "disappointed" by Scott's decision, but that the city will "plan and train accordingly."

Tampa officials are expecting thousands of protesters to descend on the Florida metropolis for the GOP convention. While no handguns will be allowed inside the convention, which is being protected by the Secret Service, concealed carry license-holders will be able to carry their weapons in the streets surrounding the convention.

They will not, however, be able to have "super soaker" water guns, sticks, poles, portable shields or glass bottles.

US: Orlando, Florida - Thirteen people were charged Wednesday in one of the biggest college hazing cases ever prosecuted in the U.S., accused in the death of a Florida A&M University drum major who authorities say was mercilessly pummeled by fellow members of the marching band.

The charges came more than five months after Robert Champion, 26, died aboard a chartered bus parked outside an Orlando hotel following a performance against a rival school.

While the most sensational hazing cases have typically involved fraternities, sororities or athletic teams, the FAMU tragedy in November exposed a brutal tradition among marching bands at some colleges around the U.S.

"The death ... is nothing short of an American tragedy," said State Attorney Lawson Lamar. "No one should have expected that his college experience would include being pummeled to death."

Eleven defendants were charged with hazing resulting in death, a felony, and misdemeanor offenses that all together could bring nearly six years in prison. Two others face misdemeanor charges.

The Vatican is facing a deepening controversy over the burial 22 years ago of a notorious crime boss, with reports emerging that the church accepted a one billion lire (£407,000) payment from the mobster's widow to allow his interment in a basilica.

A source at the Holy See told the Ansa news agency that "despite initial reluctance" the then vicar-general of Rome, Cardinal Ugo Poletti, "in the face of such a conspicuous sum, gave his blessing" to the controversial interment of Enrico De Pedis, the former boss of Rome's notorious Magliana gang. The money was reportedly used on missions and to restore the Basilica of St Apollinare, where the mobster was laid to rest next to popes and cardinals after his death in 1990.

The claims, which the Vatican has not commented on, may explain how such a reviled criminal was buried in such a hallowed site. Last week, to deflect growing criticism and to help resolve a 30-year-old murder mystery, it emerged that Vatican officials had decided to move the remains of De Pedis from his special crypt.

Pressure mounted earlier this month when a prosecuting magistrate, Giancarlo Capaldo, claimed senior officials at the Vatican knew much more than they were letting on about the Magliana gang's links to the Holy See, and the gang's suspected kidnap and murder of Emanuela Orlandi, the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican official, in 1983. "There are people still alive, and still inside the Vatican, who know the truth," he said. Some believe Emanuela's father had evidence linking the Vatican Bank, Istituto per le Opere di Religione, to organised crime, and that she was snatched to keep him silent. The theory is that De Pedis, who was shot dead in 1990, organised the kidnapping.

George Zimmerman's 2005 Myspace page, unearthed by the Miami Herald on Wednesday, suggests Trayvon Martin's shooter had a history of racial profiling.

On Wednesday, Zimmerman's lawyer, Mark O'Mara, confirmed that the page - registered under the username "onlytobekingagain" - was real.

In the "About me" section, Zimmerman - identified as "Joe G." - expressed resentment toward Mexicans living in his former Manassas, Va., community:

I dont miss driving around scared to hit mexicans walkin on the side of the street, soft ass wanna be thugs messin with peoples cars when they aint around (what are you provin, that you can dent a car when no ones watchin) dont make you a man in my book. Workin 96 hours to get a decent pay check, gettin knifes pulled on you by every mexican you run into!

Zimmerman lists his ethnicity on MySpace as "Latino / Hispanic," religion as "Catholic," his height as 5'10" and sexual orientation as "straight." According to his 2005 profile, he's a non-smoker, a drinker, a Libra and would like children "someday." He graduated from Osbourn High School in Manassas in 2001, and had 39 friends on MySpace.

© Reuters/Argely SalazarA woman raises her arms to receive energy from the sun at the Mayan pyramid El Castillo (The Castle), in Chichen Itza, in the southern state of Yucatan, Mexico March 21, 2009.

Nearly 15 percent of people worldwide believe the world will end during their lifetime and 10 percent think the Mayan calendar could signify it will happen in 2012, according to a new poll.

The end of the Mayan calendar, which spans about 5,125 years, on December 21, 2012 has sparked interpretations and suggestions that it marks the end of the world.

"Whether they think it will come to an end through the hands of God, or a natural disaster or a political event, whatever the reason, one in seven thinks the end of the world is coming," said Keren Gottfried, research manager at Ipsos Global Public Affairs which conducted the poll for Reuters.

"Perhaps it is because of the media attention coming from one interpretation of the Mayan prophecy that states the world 'ends' in our calendar year 2012," Gottfried said, adding that some Mayan scholars have disputed the interpretation.

Gilbert, Arizona - A gunman shot and killed four people including a toddler girl in a Phoenix suburb on Wednesday afternoon before apparently committing suicide, police said.

Gilbert Police Sergeant Bill Balafas said the gunman opened fire at or near a house in a neighborhood of single-family homes in the town of Gilbert. Police recovered two handguns and a shotgun from the scene.

The youngest victim, a girl of between one and two years old, was still alive at the scene, but later died in a hospital, Balafas said. The other dead were two men and two women. Police believe the shooter was among the dead.

Local resident Scott Kirkwood, 43, said neighbors were shocked by the shooting at the home, which he believed was occupied by a family.

© LiveScience

About 20 per cent of people in China believe the Mayan calendar signifies doomsday

If you think the Mayan calendar signifies the end of the world this year, you are not alone.

A new survey conducted by Ipsos Reid for Reutersfound nine per cent of Canadians believe the end is near.

"Canadians are less superstitious compared to others, but they're not far behind," said Keren Gottfried, research manager at Ipsos, to Postmedia News. Younger people and those in lower income brackets are more likely to believe.

"Perhaps those who are older have lived long enough to not be as concerned with what happens to their future," she said to Reuters.

Topping the list was China, with 20 per cent of its population thinking our last day alive will be Dec. 21 of this year. Second, with 13 per cent, was Turkey, Russia, Mexico, South Korea and Japan. In the U.S., 12 per cent of people believe the apocalypse is coming.

Overall around the world, 10 per cent of people think the world will end this year and 14 per cent think it will end in their lifetime.

US, San Diego - A college student picked up in a drug sweep in California was never arrested, never charged and should have been released. Instead he was forgotten in a holding cell for four days and says he had to drink his own urine to stay alive.

Without food, water or access to a toilet, Daniel Chong began hallucinating on the third day.

He told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday that he saw little Japanese-style cartoon characters that told him to dig into the walls to find water. Chong tore apart the plastic lining on the walls.

"I ripped the walls and waited for the room to flood for some reason," said the 23-year-old University of California, San Diego, student, three days after he left the hospital where he was treated for dehydration and kidney failure. "I can't explain my hallucinations too well because none of them make sense."

Later he added, "I felt like I was completely losing my mind."

Four days later, agents opened the door on a fluke and found him covered in his own feces, Chong said.

The top Drug Enforcement Administration agent in San Diego apologized Wednesday for Chong's treatment and promised an investigation into how his agents could have forgotten about him.

Four individuals, who are married in Salt Lake City, Utah, have kept polygamy in the family. Joe Darger is married to two twin sisters, Vicki and Valerie Darger, and their cousin Alina (video below).

According to ABC News, the Dargers are independent fundamentalist Mormons, who adhere to the tenet of plural marriage put forth by church founder Joseph Smith in the 19th century. The current Mormon Church abandoned polygamy decades ago.

The Daily Mail reports that the Dargers live in the same house and have 24 children. Each of the women has their own bedroom and Joe rotates them nightly. The three wives and their husband have co-written a book 'Love Times Three.'

Valerie defends the arrangement as normal: "The fact that Joe was married to Vicki didn't bother me at all. I took it as a sign he would be a good husband for me as well. As teenagers, Vicki and I liked some of the same guys. I thought it might even be good if we married the same man."

Vicki adds: "I know that some people are uncomfortable at the thought of two sisters sharing a husband. But there's a good chance if a husband is compatible with one sister, he'll be well matched with another."

"Even in our community joint courtships are rare. We knew we were taking on a huge challenge and responsibility."

"I was attracted to both girls," Joe explains, "Vicki opened my mind to it. I was attracted to both girls and knew that individual relationships would develop in time."

Joe was 18 when he began dating Vicki and her cousin Alina. He married them in a Mormon ceremony in 1990. Both women encouraged Joe to pursue Vicki's twin Valerie, whom he married in 2000.

In 1962, Congress passed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, which said that polygamy was illegal in all US states.

Joe says that he would like to change the law: "We hope that by talking about our way of life, polygamy will step closer to being an accepted lifestyle and the laws that criminalize it might change."

On Sunday, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Pastor Sean Harris, of the Berean Baptist Church, slammed parents who allow their boys to act effeminate (audio below). He preached that parents should "man up" and punch small children who have "limp wrists."

Harris said that if girls want to play sports, they should be allowed to as long as they "dress themselves up" and try to look attractive.

While there is laughter from the audience, it is hard to tell if Harris is joking or not.

Harris supports North Carolina's proposed anti-gay Amendment One.