Society's Child

Samsung Wins Over Apple in Japanese Patent Case

RT
Fri, 31 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC

A Tokyo court has ruled that Samsung Electronics' smartphones and tablets didn't infringe an Apple invention for synchronizing music and video data with servers.

"It's hard to believe the products belong to the range of technologies of the claimant," Tokyo District Judge Tamotsu Shoji announced in dismissing Apple's case. The judge also ordered Apple to pay the costs of the lawsuit.

The court ruling pushed Samsung shares up 0.7% on the Korean floor. "We welcome the court's decision, which confirmed our long-held position that our products do not infringe Apple's intellectual property," Samsung said in a statement. Meanwhile a representative of Apple in Japan didn't comment the verdict.

Professor confesses to killing two women, bloody pro-Pussy Riot message meant to confuse cops

RT
Fri, 31 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC

© RIA Novosti / Maksim Bogodvid
A house at 68, Fuchik Street in Kazan where two women were murdered and a slogan "Free Pussy Riot" was left on the kitchen wall

A man detained by Russian police in Kazan has confessed to a double murder, and to scrawling 'Free Pussy Riot!' in blood on the wall of victims' apartment.

"Igor Danilevskiy was detained by detectives from the Criminal Investigation Department of Tatarstan's Interior Ministry early on August 31," a police statement said. "He has been identified as a 38-year-old Kazan university teacher with a Ph.D."

Danilevskiy was arrested in the capital of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan. The bodies of two women, a mother and daughter, were discovered in the city dead from stab wounds a day earlier. 'Free Pussy Riot' was written on the wall of the apartment, presumably in blood, the Russian Investigative Committee said.

The suspect confessed to police that he was a former classmate of one of the victims, Liliya Zaripova, 38, and was on friendly terms with her. The man had also persuaded the woman to pay off some of his debt by taking out bank loans worth several hundred thousand rubles.

Danilevskiy may have been involved romantically with the woman, promising to take her on vacation to Egypt - a popular destination for Russian tourists - investigators said. He then cancelled the vacation, blaming his difficult financial situation, and suggested they go to Ukrainian Black Sea resort instead.

Man Pleads Guilty to Slaughter of Sled Dogs Near Whistler, British Columbia

Vivian Luk
Yahoo! News - Canada
Thu, 30 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC

© The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck
Robert Fawcett, accused of killing 56 sled dogs after the 2010 Olympics, leaves B.C. Provincial Court after pleading guilty to a charge of causing unnecessary pain and suffering to animals, in North Vancouver, B.C., on Thursday August 30, 2012.

Canada, North Vancouver - A man charged with the slaughter of more than 50 sled dogs near Whistler, B.C., two years ago has pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary pain and suffering to animals.

Sled-dog operator Robert Fawcett entered his plea while standing next to his lawyer in a North Vancouver court Thursday afternoon. Outside, about a dozen animal-rights advocates gathered to call for a prison sentence for Fawcett.

Fifty-six dogs were dug up in a mass grave after details of the cull leaked out in January 2011, following a post-traumatic stress disorder claim made by Fawcett through workers' compensation.

The leaked documents from the workers' compensation claim described a bloody scene of how the dogs were shot or had their throats slit before being dumped in the grave site.

The slaughter prompted the B.C. government to bring in tough new anti-cruelty laws to protect sled dogs, with penalties that include fines up to $75,000 and two years of prison time.

The Crown prosecutor has asked for a psychological assessment for Fawcett, who is expected to be sentenced in November.

Crown spokesman Neil MacKenzie did not specify what sentence Crown counsel will ask for.

Supply fears push cocoa to 10-month high

Emiko Terazono
Financial Times
Fri, 31 Aug 2012 02:26 UTC

Cocoa prices hit a 10-month high on Wednesday as uncertainty about supplies from Ivory Coast, the world's largest exporter of the commodity used to produce chocolate, triggered a rush to cover bearish positions among investors.

The benchmark cocoa price in London has jumped almost 8 per cent this week on worries that the west African country, which has overhauled the way it markets the beans, would not be able to meet its contracts, leaving trading firms without enough supplies.

NYSE Liffe December cocoa hit £1,715 a tonne on Wednesday, rising above the £1,700 level for the first time since November last year.

Cocoa traders noted the absence of natural sellers of the commodity after Ivory Coast and Ghana, which account for nearly 60 per cent of the world's production, already sold most of their crops for the 2012-13 season.

"There's not much left to stop the market going higher," said Eric Sivry, head of agricultural options at London-based brokers Marex Spectron.

Former boyfriend charged in Guang Hua Liu slaying

CBC News
Mon, 27 Aug 2012 09:05 UTC

A Toronto man has been charged in the death of his former girlfriend, just over two weeks after parts of her body were found in two separate Ontario cities.

Peel Regional Police announced Monday that Chun Qi Jiang, 40, has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Guang Hua Liu, 41.

Police said Jiang was arrested on Sunday, just over two weeks from the day that Liu was last seen alive.

"Mr. Jiang is a construction labourer and the recently estranged boyfriend of the victim," said Insp. George Koekkoek.

"This investigation is ongoing and is far from over," Koekkoek told a news conference at police headquarters in Mississauga.

Jiang lived in Scarborough near the townhome where Liu lived with her eldest son.

Neighbours told CBC News that police had recently been making inquiries about the garbage pickup routines in the area where Jiang lived.

Some of Liu's remains have yet to be found.

Woman's Torso Found in Niagara River Sparks Homicide Probe

CBC News
Thu, 30 Aug 2012 05:49 UTC

WARNING: This story contains details that some readers may find disturbing

© David Duprey/Associated Press
Niagara Police pulled a woman's torso from the Niagara River between the Maid of the Mist and the Rainbow Bridge on Thursday.

Canada - A woman's torso has been recovered from the lower Niagara River, and police say her death was a result of homicide.

Niagara Regional Police said the torso was spotted floating in the river on Wednesday afternoon.

Const. Derek Watson told CBC News in a telephone interview that "citizens saw what they believed to be a torso floating in the lower Niagara River between the Maid of the Mist and the Rainbow Bridge."

When pulled from the water, the torso was missing its arms, legs and head, Watson said.

Preliminary results from a post-mortem examination have determined that the victim is "a middle-aged Caucasian female," police reported in a news release on Thursday.

The news release said the victim had a pierced navel and "at least one caesarean section and a tubal ligation procedure."

Texas surgeon accused of hiring man to kill doctor dating his ex charged with capital murder

The Washington Post
Thu, 30 Aug 2012 04:59 UTC

Dr. Thomas Michael Dixon, David Neal Shepard

Lubbock, Texas - A plastic surgeon was charged with capital murder Thursday after prosecutors said he hired a man to kill another doctor who was dating his ex-girlfriend and paid for the murder using silver bars.

Dr. Thomas Michael Dixon of Amarillo, along with the accused gunman, David Neal Shepard, were each indicted on capital murder charges in the July death of Dr. Joseph Sonnier III, who was found fatally shot and stabbed in his home. Both men are each being held in lieu of a $10 million bond in the Lubbock County Jail.

An arrest warrant affidavit suggests a love triangle involving Dixon, Sonnier and Dixon's ex-girlfriend, who was dating Sonnier. Sonnier's family members have said he had told them that his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend had been causing problems. The woman's name isn't included in court documents.

District Attorney Matt Powell said prosecutors haven't decided whether to seek the death penalty.

Dixon's two attorneys and Shepard's public defender all declined comment Thursday. Court records describe Shepard as Dixon's business associate but don't provide details about how the men knew each other.

Police Brutality? Man Kicked by Cop Now Faces Own Charges for Stalking Roseville Girlfriend

Zac Farber and Chris Steller
Roseville Dispatch
Thu, 30 Aug 2012 20:18 UTC

But man's ex-girlfriend had little sympathy. "I'm a victim of his brutality every day," she maintained.

A YouTube video of a St. Paul police officer macing and kicking a man during an arrest for stalking a Roseville woman has gone viral.

The video is making news across the country, prompting St. Paul Police to launch a brutality investigation and suspend an officer, Jesse Zilge. (Note: Video contains obscenities and violence.)

At the same time, Eric Hightower, 30 was charged Thursday with aggravated stalking, terroristic threats and fourth-degree criminal damage to property, according to the Pioneer Press, for harassing his 20-year-old ex-girlfriend.

Hightower's girlfriend told a WCCO-AM reporter, in an interview conducted near her Roseville home, that Highwater had violated a protection order she had obtained against him.

Police Brutality! Woman Gets Body-Slammed To Pavement (TWICE) By Los Angeles Cops

Terrell Jermaine Starr
News One
Thu, 30 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC

A 34-year-old registered nurse and mother was brutally body-slammed to the pavement by two male Los Angeles Police Department officers after being pulled over for talking on her cellphone, ABC4 reports.

Michelle Jordan's (pictured) Aug. 21 takedown was caught on surveillance video from a Del Taco restaurant, not too far from a where she was stopped. The video shows her stepping out of her vehicle after she parks - a move that, traditionally, is not advised. It is commonly understood that a person who is pulled over should stay seated in their car with the ignition turned off and their hands placed firmly on the wheel to show they are not an immediate threat.

"She made some unwise moves," said her attorney Sy Nazif. "But certainly nothing that warranted a physical assault from the LAPD."

Colorado Shooting Suspect May Have Called University before Rampage

Keith Coffman
Reuters
Thu, 30 Aug 2012 07:20 UTC

James Holmes during his first court appearance on July 23. Was he 'greenbaumed'?

Accused Colorado gunman James Holmes may have phoned a University of Colorado operator just nine minutes before the shooting at a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises that killed 12 people, a defense attorney said on Thursday.

Holmes' attorney, Tamara Brady, raised the possibility of such a call during a pretrial hearing in the case while questioning Dr. Lynne Fenton, a University of Colorado psychiatrist who had treated Holmes before the July movie house massacre.

"Did you know that James Holmes called that number nine minutes before the shooting started?" Brady asked Fenton, referring to a number for a campus operator.

Fenton responded that she did not know.

Holmes, a former neuroscience graduate student, is accused of opening fire on July 20 at a midnight screening of the recent Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado. In addition to those who died, 58 people were wounded in the attack.

Prosecutors have painted a picture of Holmes as a young man whose once promising academic career was in tatters as he failed graduate school oral board exams in June and one of his professors suggested he may not have been a good fit for his competitive PhD program.

With mail in voting likely to become a thing, does it really matter any more? Stick a fork in us...this country is done.

Bezel Bub

Other comets coming sooner, although not quite as big. E.g. "Leonard" this December https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2021_A1_(Leonard)

Tsidkenu

Tornadoes here in Aus too, as I reported here [Link]

Tsidkenu

Small tornado also struck Armidale. We had another tornado hit farmland near Bathurst last week. This summer will be the summer of floods, hail...

Tsidkenu

What mandate? There still is no "mandate" [Link]

Tsidkenu

Society's Child

Samsung Wins Over Apple in Japanese Patent Case

Professor confesses to killing two women, bloody pro-Pussy Riot message meant to confuse cops

Man Pleads Guilty to Slaughter of Sled Dogs Near Whistler, British Columbia

Supply fears push cocoa to 10-month high

Former boyfriend charged in Guang Hua Liu slaying

Woman's Torso Found in Niagara River Sparks Homicide Probe

Texas surgeon accused of hiring man to kill doctor dating his ex charged with capital murder

Police Brutality? Man Kicked by Cop Now Faces Own Charges for Stalking Roseville Girlfriend

Police Brutality! Woman Gets Body-Slammed To Pavement (TWICE) By Los Angeles Cops

Colorado Shooting Suspect May Have Called University before Rampage

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