Real News

U.S. 'Warned India' of Potential Terror Attack on Mumbai

MUMBAI, India/FOX News  —  U.S. and Indian intelligence agencies received information as early as September that Pakistan-based terrorists were plotting attacks against Mumbai targets, an official said Tuesday, as the government demanded that Pakistan take "strong action" against those behind the deadly rampage.

U.S. intelligence agencies reportedly warned their Indian counterparts in October of a potential attack "from the sea against hotels and business centers in Mumbai," a U.S. official told ABC News.

A second government source told the network specific targets, including the Taj hotel, were listed in the U.S. warning to India.

India's foreign intelligence agency also received information as recently as September that Pakistan-based terrorists were plotting attacks against Mumbai targets, according to a government intelligence official familiar with the matter.

Sources told the national news channel NDTV they had issued a series of warnings of a possible attack on Mumbai by sea in the months leading up to last week's devastating onslaught.

The only known surviving attacker told police that his group trained for months in camps operated by a banned Pakistani militant group, learning close-combat techniques, explosives training and other tactics for their three-day siege.

Ratan Tata, the head of the Taj Group of hotels which owns the Taj Mahal hotel, earlier told CNN that they had received a warning that an attack might take place.

"We did have some measures too, you know, where people couldn't park their cars in the portico where you had to go through a metal detector," Tata said. "But if I look at what we had, which all of us complained about, it could not have stopped what took place."

The intelligence information was then relayed to domestic security officials, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to talk publicly about the details.

The revelation comes as the government faces widespread accusations of security and intelligence failures in the Mumbai terrorist attacks that left 172 people dead and 239 injured.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has promised to strengthen maritime and air security and look into creating a new federal investigative agency, was expected to meet Tuesday with top security aides.

Already, the country's top law enforcement official has resigned and two top state officials have offered to quit amid growing criticism that the attackers appeared better trained, better coordinated and better armed than police.

Teams from the FBI and Britain's Scotland Yard met Monday with top Indian police as they prepared to help collect evidence, a police official said.

On Monday, soldiers removed the remaining bodies from the shattered Taj Mahal hotel, where the standoff finally ended Saturday morning. The army had already cleared other siege sites, including the five-star Oberoi hotel and the Mumbai headquarters of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish group.

India's financial hub returned to normal Monday to some degree, with parents dropping their children off at school and shopkeepers opening for the first time since the attacks, which Indian authorities blamed on the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

While the cross-border rhetoric between Pakistan and India has increased since the attacks, both countries — by their often-antagonistic standards — carefully refrained from making statements that could quickly lead to a buildup of troops along their heavily militarized frontier.

In India, Pakistan's high commissioner to the country met with Foreign Ministry officials and was told that "elements from Pakistan" had carried out the attacks, said ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash. His phrasing, though, carefully avoided blaming the Pakistani government.

The commissioner was told that India "expects that strong action would be taken against those elements," Prakash said.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who will visit India later this week, said the perpetrators of attacks "must be brought to justice."

Pakistan must "follow the evidence wherever it leads," she said during a visit in London. "This is a time for complete, absolute, total transparency and cooperation, and that's what we expect."

Pakistan has repeatedly insisted it was not behind the attacks. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said Monday the gunmen were "non-state actors," and warned against letting their actions lead to greater regional enmity.

"Such a tragic incident must bring opportunity rather than the defeat of a nation," Zardari told Arj television. "We don't think the world's great nations and countries can be held hostage by non-state actors."

Pakistan said its foreign secretary "condemned the barbaric attacks" and again pledged his country's cooperation during a meeting Monday with India's high commissioner in Islamabad.

The sole surviving attacker, Ajmal Qasab, told police that his group trained over about six months in camps operated by Lashkar in Pakistan, learning close-combat techniques, hostage-taking, handling of explosives, satellite navigation, and high-seas survival skills, according to two Indian security officials familiar with the investigation. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the details.

Lashkar was banned in Pakistan under pressure from the U.S. in 2002, a year after Washington and Britain listed it a terrorist group.

Qasab told investigators the militants hijacked an Indian vessel and killed three crew members, keeping the captain alive long enough to guide them into Mumbai, the two security officials said.

The men, ages 18-28, then came ashore in a dinghy at two different Mumbai areas before slipping into the city in two teams, officials said. The gunmen struck at several sites, including a train station, where they mowed down police and passersby; the Jewish center; and the two luxury hotels, representing the city's wealth and tourism, reportedly seeking out Westerners.

A Muslim cemetery rejected the corpses of the nine dead gunmen and its officials said "Islam does not permit this sort of barbaric crime."

While some Muslim scholars disagreed with the decision — saying Islam requires a proper burial for every Muslim — the city's other Muslim graveyards are likely to do the same.

The 19 foreigners killed were Americans, Germans, Canadians, Israelis and nationals from Britain, Italy, Mexico, Japan, China, Thailand, Australia, Singapore and Mexico.

Indian officials said their country would persevere.

"This is a threat to the very idea of India, the very soul of India," said Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, the country's top law enforcement official. "Ultimately the idea of India — that is a secular, plural, tolerant and open society — will triumph."

Nuclear or Bioterror Attack on U.S. Likely by 2013, Panel Warns

WASHINGTON/FOX News  —  The United States can expect a terrorist attack using nuclear or more likely biological weapons before 2013, reports a bipartisan commission in a study being briefed Tuesday to Vice President-elect Joe Biden.

It suggests the Obama administration bolster efforts to counter and prepare for germ warfare by terrorists.

"Our margin of safety is shrinking, not growing," states the report, obtained by The Associated Press. It is scheduled to be publicly released Wednesday.

The commission is also encouraging the new White House to appoint one official on the National Security Council to exclusively coordinate U.S. intelligence and foreign policy on combatting the spread of nuclear and biological weapons.

The report of the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism, led by former Sens. Bob Graham of Florida and Jim Talent of Tennessee, acknowledges that terrorist groups still lack the needed scientific and technical ability to make weapons out of pathogens or nuclear bombs. But it warns that gap can be easily overcome, if terrorists find scientists willing to share or sell their know-how.

"The United States should be less concerned that terrorists will become biologists and far more concerned that biologists will become terrorists," the report states.

The commission believes biological weapons are more likely to be obtained and used before nuclear or radioactive weapons because nuclear facilities are more carefully guarded. Civilian laboratories with potentially dangerous pathogens abound, however, and could easily be compromised.

"The biological threat is greater than the nuclear; the acquisition of deadly pathogens, and their weaponization and dissemination in aerosol form, would entail fewer technical hurdles than the theft or production of weapons-grade uranium or plutonium and its assembly into an improvised nuclear device," states the report.

It notes that the U.S. government's counterproliferation activities have been geared toward preventing nuclear terrorism. The commission recommends the prevention of biological terrorism be made a higher priority.

Study chairman Graham said anthrax remains the most likely biological weapon. However, he told the AP that contagious diseases — like the flu strain that killed 40 million at the beginning of the 20th century — are looming threats. That virus has been recreated in scientific labs, and there remains no inoculation to protect against it if is stolen and released.

Graham said the threat of a terrorist attack using nuclear or biological weapons is growing "not because we have not done positive things but because adversaries are moving at an even faster pace to increase their access" to those materials.

He noted last week's rampage by a small group of gunmen in Mumbai.

"If those people had had access to a biological or nuclear weapon they would have multiplied by orders of magnitude the deaths they could have inflicted," he said.

Al Qaeda remains the only terrorist group judged to be actively intent on conducting a nuclear attack against the United States, the report notes. It is not yet capable of building such a weapon and has yet to obtain one. But that could change if a nuclear weapons engineer or scientist were recruited to Al Qaeda's cause, the report warns.

The report says the potential nexus of terrorism, nuclear and biological weapons is especially acute in Pakistan.

"Were one to map terrorism and weapons of mass destruction today, all roads would intersect in Pakistan," the report states.

In fact, commission members were forced to cancel their trip to Pakistan this fall. The Islamabad Marriott Hotel that commission members were to stay in was blown up by terrorist bombs just hours before they were to check in.

"We think time is not our ally. The (United States) needs to move with a sense of urgency," Graham said.

Cruise Ship Attacked by Somali Pirates

FOX News  --  A luxury cruise ship carrying passengers between Rome and Singapore came under attack from Somali pirates as it sailed between Somalia and Yemen on Sunday.

The Nautica, an Oceania cruise ship, was carrying 690 American, British and Australian passengers and a 386-member crew when two small fishing boats tried to intercept it.

The ship's captain, Jurica Brajcic, began evasive maneuvres when the pirates were about 1,000 yards away from the ship and managed to avert the attack.

While cargo ships and small pleasure boats have been attacked by Somali pirates in the past, this is only the second time they have attempted to hijack a cruise ship.

Three years ago, rocket-propelled grenades were fired at the Seabourn Spirit. Two of the ship's officers were injured.

"Nautica was immediately brought to flank speed and was able to outrun the two skiffs," An Oceania spokesman said.

"One of the skiffs did manage to close the range to approximately 300 yards and fired eight rifle shots in the direction of the vessel before trailing off."

No one aboard the ship was harmed and the ship did not suffer any damage.

Birmingham Mayor Arrested on Federal Charges

BIRMINGHAM, AL/FOX News  --  The mayor of Alabama's largest city, a player in a multibillion dollar sewer bond deal that drove the surrounding county to the brink of bankruptcy, was arrested on Monday on federal criminal charges, an FBI spokesman said.

Larry Langford was taken into custody around 7 a.m. Monday, spokesman Paul Daymond said. It wasn't immediately clear what charges Langford faces.

Authorities are planning to say more at a morning news conference.

Langford was president of the Jefferson County Commission before he was elected mayor last year. Birmingham is in Jefferson County.

He was accused in a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit of taking more than $156,000 from a friend whose firm made millions on risky bond transactions with the county for a new sewer system.

Those bonds went sour as the housing market plunged this year and credit costs skyrocketed and have pushed the state's largest county to the brink of bankruptcy.

The county is trying to avoid filing what would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history over $3.2 billion in bond debt, nearly double the record of $1.7 billion set in 1994 by Orange County, Calif.

The SEC accused Langford of taking the undisclosed payments and benefits from Montgomery investment banker Bill Blount, whose firm collected more than $6.7 million in fees on county bond transactions. The money was allegedly routed through Al LaPierre, a lobbyist who is a friend of Langford.

Langford, Blount and LaPierre have denied any wrongdoing and asked that the lawsuit be thrown out.

David McKnight, an attorney for Blount, said federal prosecutors told him that Blount would be charged, too, and Blount was on his way to Birmingham to surrender. McKnight said he was not given any details about the charges.

An attorney for LaPierre, Tommy Spina, told The Birmingham News that LaPierre would be surrendering later Monday. Spina did not immediately return a call for comment.

The mayor's chief of staff said city business would go on as usual. In a statement, Deborah Vance-Bowie also said the indictment of Langford was "certainly no surprise to us" and that they had expected some action from U.S. Attorney Alice Martin as she nears a possible end of her appointment with the swearing in of a new president in January.

"We are glad the mayor will finally have his day in court," the chief of staff's statement said.

Langford has said the investigation was politically motivated. He contends Martin, who was appointed by President Bush, has targeted Democrats.

Langford, who was elected mayor in a nonpartisan vote, was a Democrat when he served on the commission and identifies himself as a Democrat. Blount is a former state Democratic Party chairman and LaPierre is a former state Democratic Party executive director.

Martin has denied any political motivation behind her office's investigations and prosecutions.

Langford, 60, has drawn attention for a series of colorful stunts since taking office last year, many of which are aimed at trying to turn around an old steel city-turned-medical hub.

He walked into a business meeting with two police officers carrying submachine guns, props meant to generate interest in his "top secret" finance plans. He also announced a longshot bid to bring the 2020 Olympics to Birmingham, and his critics have even gone as far as to call him "Mayor LaLa."

The former promoter and television reporter has been unapologetic about his conduct, saying it's his job to sell the city.

Miami Activist Moves Homeless Into Foreclosed Homes

MIAMI, FL/FOX News  —  Max Rameau delivers his sales pitch like a pro. "All tile floor!" he says during a recent showing. "And the living room, wow! It has great blinds."

But in nearly every other respect, he is unlike any real estate agent you've ever met. He is unshaven, drives a beat-up car and wears grungy cut-off sweat pants. He also breaks into the homes he shows. And his clients don't have a dime for a down payment.

Rameau is an activist who has been executing a bailout plan of his own around Miami's empty streets: He is helping homeless people illegally move into foreclosed homes.

"We're matching homeless people with people-less homes," he said with a grin.

Rameau and a group of like-minded advocates formed Take Back the Land, which also helps the new "tenants" with secondhand furniture, cleaning supplies and yard upkeep. So far, he has moved six families into foreclosed homes and has nine on a waiting list.

"I think everyone deserves a home," said Rameau, who said he takes no money from his work with the homeless. "Homeless people across the country are squatting in empty homes. The question is: Is this going to be done out of desperation or with direction?"

With the housing market collapsing, squatting in foreclosed homes is believed to be on the rise around the country. But squatters usually move in on their own, at night, when no one is watching. Rarely is the phenomenon as organized as Rameau's effort to "liberate" foreclosed homes.

Florida — especially the Miami area, with its once-booming condo market — is one of the hardest-hit states in the housing crisis, largely because of overbuilding and speculation. In September, Florida had the nation's second-highest foreclosure rate, with one out of every 178 homes in default, according to Realty Trac, an online marketer of foreclosed properties. Only Nevada's rate was higher.

Like other cities, Miami is trying to ease the problem. Officials launched a foreclosure-prevention program to help homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgage, with loans of up to $7,500 per household.

The city also recently passed an ordinance requiring owners of abandoned homes — whether an individual or bank — to register those properties with the city so police can better monitor them.

Elsewhere around the country, advocates in Cleveland are working with the city to allow homeless people to legally move into and repair empty, dilapidated houses. In Atlanta, some property owners pay homeless people to live in abandoned homes as a security measure.

In early November, Rameau drove a woman and her 18-month old daughter to a ranch home on a quiet street lined with swaying tropical foliage. Marie Nadine Pierre, 39, has been sleeping at a shelter with her toddler. She said she had been homeless off and on for a year, after losing various jobs and getting evicted from several apartments.

"My heart is heavy. I've lived in a lot of different shelters, a lot of bad situations," Pierre said. "In my own home, I'm free. I'm a human being now."

Rameau chose the house for Pierre, in part, because he knew its history. A man had bought the home in the city's predominantly Haitian neighborhood in 2006 for $430,000, then rented it to Rameau's friends. Those friends were evicted in October because the homeowner had stopped paying his mortgage and the property went into foreclosure.

Rameau, who makes his living as a computer consultant, said he is doing the owner a favor. Before Pierre moved in, someone stole the air conditioning unit from the backyard, and it was only a matter of time before thieves took the copper pipes and wiring, he said.

"Within a couple of months, this place would be stripped and drug dealers would be living here," he said, carrying a giant plastic garbage bag filled with Pierre's clothes into the home.

He said he is not scared of getting arrested.

"There's a real need here, and there's a disconnect between the need and the law," he said. "Being arrested is just one of the potential factors in doing this."

Miami spokeswoman Kelly Penton said city officials did not know Rameau was moving homeless into empty buildings — but they are also not stopping him.

"There are no actions on the city's part to stop this," she said in an e-mail. "It is important to note that if people trespass into private property, it is up to the property owner to take action to remove those individuals."

Pierre herself could be charged with trespassing, vandalism or breaking and entering. Rameau assured her he has lawyers who will represent her free.

Two weeks after Pierre moved in, she came home to find the locks had been changed, probably by the property's manager. Everything inside — her food, clothes and family photos — was gone.

But late last month, with Rameau's help, she got back inside and has put Christmas decorations on the front door.

So far, police have not gotten involved.

Wal-Mart Worker Trampled to Death Lacked Training, Attorney Says

MINEOLA, NY/FOX News  —  A worker trampled to death when customers stormed a Wal-Mart for bargains on the day after Thanksgiving had no experience in crowd control and was placed at the entrance because of his hulking frame, police and a lawyer said Monday.

The details about the deadly stampede came out as police pored over video surveillance provided by the store while considering possible criminal charges. Lawyers were also preparing to sue over the episode.

Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey noted that the worker, Jdimytai Damour, was 6 feet 5 and 270 pounds, making the trampling all the more stunning. He was killed when a crowd estimated at 2,000 strong broke down the electronic doors in frantic pursuit of bargains on big-screen TVs, clothing and other items.

"Literally anyone, those hundreds of people who did make their way into the store, literally had to step over or around him or unfortunately on him to get into the Wal-Mart store," said Mulvey.

Mulvey said an autopsy found that Damour, 34, died of asphyxiation related to his trampling, and he conceded that it would be difficult to file criminal charges against any of the shoppers.

"It goes beyond identifying specific people to make a case," Mulvey said. "You have to establish recklessness or intent to harm, which led to his death."

Attorney Jordan Hecht, who represents Damour's three sisters, said the family declined to make any public statements about the man's death. Funeral arrangements were pending, he said.

Hecht said Damour had been working at the Wal-Mart only for about a week and was hired through an employment agency that provides temporary staffing. Damour had not been trained for any security assignments and had no background in crowd control, he said.

A call seeking comment from the employment agency was not returned.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., in a statement Friday, called the incident a "tragic situation" and said it had tried to prepare for the crowd by adding staffers and outside security workers, putting up barricades and consulting police.

"Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred," senior Vice President Hank Mullany said. A company spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday on Mulvey's remarks.

Hecht said that he was considering a lawsuit but that no decision had been made. Two other injured shoppers filed a notice of claim Monday, the first step toward proceeding with a lawsuit.

At least four other people were treated at hospitals and released, including a woman who was eight months pregnant.

Mulvey said while investigators are still piecing together details, it is apparent that the Wal-Mart store lacked adequate security to handle the crowds of shoppers that converged on Friday morning.

"In fact, security was inside the store and not outside organizing, arranging and planning for this anticipated opening," Mulvey said.

Police officers had been called to the scene at about 3 a.m. but left after about a half-hour, he said. The crowd — then estimated at about 400 — was not unruly at that time.

The National Retail Federation, the industry's largest group, was unaware of any other store workers ever dying on the job in the post-Thanksgiving rush.

Shoppers around the country line up early outside stores on the day after Thanksgiving in the annual bargain-hunting ritual known as Black Friday. It got that name because it has historically been the day stores broke into profitability for the full year.

Burt P. Flickinger III, managing director of Strategic Resource Group, a retail-consulting firm, said retailers quickly learned they can attract massive crowds if they promise amazing savings and limit the inventory or availability of the sale items to a few hours.

A number of retailers have opted to distribute vouchers or organize the sales in other ways to "cut down on the tsunami of shoppers entering the store all at once," he said.

"There are so many retailers doing it the right way, it seems senseless there wasn't strategic and operational planning here," Flickinger said.

In addition to not knowing how much inventory may be available on a sale item, shoppers often don't know the exact location where the merchandise is kept, he said. "They get in early and run the retail racetrack," Flickinger said.

"It is a recipe for disaster," the police commissioner said. "And that's what happened here."

Police Chief Fired After at Least 37 Killed in Mexican Border City in 3 Days

TIJUANA, Mexico/FOX News  —  Tijuana's police chief was fired Monday following three days of violence that left 37 people dead in this border city plagued by warring drug gangs, including nine men found decapitated and four children caught in shootouts.

Tijuana Public Safety Secretary Alberto Capella has been replaced by his second-in-command, army Cmdr. Julian Leyzaola, according to statement from the office of Mayor Jorge Ramos.

No reason was given for Capella's abrupt dismissal, although it followed a particularly bloody weekend in the city across the border from San Diego.

Three police officers were among the nine decapitated men, whose bodies and heads were discovered Sunday in a poor Tijuana neighborhood, said Baja California state Attorney General Rommel Moreno. Their police credentials were stuffed in their mouths.

More than 200 people have been killed in the past month in Tijuana, where officials say rival cells of the Arellano-Felix drug cartel have been waging a bloody battle.

Capella had promised to work to restore public trust in Tijuana's police force, insisting that corrupt or abusive officers were being prosecuted.

Officers in the city are so mistrusted that the army once invited citizens to report crimes to soldiers instead of to police. For a time last year, federal authorities took guns away from the city police.

Police were investigating whether some of the 37 deaths between Saturday and Monday were part of a retaliatory spree sparked by the killing of a 25-year-old woman believed to be a drug trafficker's girlfriend, said Baja California state Attorney General Rommel Moreno.

He said interviews with families members indicated that 80 percent of the victims had been involved in drug dealing.

But four of the dead were children.

Two brothers, aged 4 and 13, had been waiting for their parents outside a convenience store when gunmen opened fire, killing the boys and several adults. A 14-year-old boy working at locksmith's kiosk was shot dead in an attack on a neighboring business. And a 12-year-old was killed when the car he was riding was sprayed with bullets.

Violence has soared in Mexico as drug cartels compete for smuggling routes and battle government forces.

In the northwestern state of Sonora, a 15-year-old boy was found shot to death under a tree. Police named no suspects or motive.

In southern Michoacan state, gunmen burst into the offices of a local cattle ranchers' association and killed one of its directors, a 27-year-old woman. Police arrested two suspects but gave no possible motive.

Mexican newspapers have reported that more than 4,000 people have been killed across the country this year in drug-related violence.

The federal government does not regularly release homicide figures, although officials have acknowledged that killings have surged in the last two years.

Since taking office in 2006, President Felipe Calderon has sent more than 20,000 soldiers across the country to root out cartels, a crackdown that is popular among many Mexicans.

NYPD: Angry Passenger Fatally Stabs Bus Driver

NEW YORK/FOX News  —  A a man viciously turned on a New York City bus driver who denied him a free transfer today, stabbing him to death as horrified passengers looked on.

Police say 46-year-old Edwin Thomas was driving the B-46 bus in Brooklyn when the attacker got on shortly after noon. The man swiped an invalid fare card and sat down before asking for a transfer slip. When Thomas told the man he didn't pay for the ride and couldn't get a transfer, the man punched him and fatally stabbed him.

It was the first killing of an on-duty bus driver in the city in more than a quarter-century. Police are offering a $12,000 reward for any information on the culprit.

Gov. David Paterson said in a statement he was "shocked and saddened" by the killing of Thomas. Mayor Michael Bloomberg described Thomas as a "good man who was good at his job of helping move New York City."

Parents: Slain Arkansas TV Anchor Was Sexually Assaulted

LITTLE ROCK, AR/FOX News  —  The parents of a television anchorwoman beaten to death at her home said Monday their daughter was sexually assaulted during the attack, and an arrest warrant released by police says DNA evidence linked an eastern Arkansas man to the crime "with all scientific certainty."

In a television interview, Guy and Patti Cannady said Anne Pressly, 26, was beaten so severely that a portion of her jaw bone was broken away. The couple said their daughter also broke her left hand while trying to defend herself.

Speaking with NBC "Today" show host Matt Lauer, the Cannadys answered "yes" when asked if their daughter had been sexual assaulted during the Oct. 20 attack at her home.

"This monster stole my daughter's innocence," Patti Cannady said. "He took her life. He took her identity. He took our lives."

Police have declined to discuss whether Pressly was sexually assaulted. Little Rock police Lt. Terry Hastings did not dispute the Cannadys' comments, but declined to offer any specifics about the attack.

"A lot of those details, we want the jury to hear those first," Hastings said Monday.

Officers last Wednesday arrested Curtis Lavelle Vance, 28, of Marianna, at a Little Rock home, acting on a tip received within minutes of a late-night news conference at which they disclosed Vance's name and photos of him and his car. Television station KATV, where Pressly worked, established a reward fund that had raised $50,000.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor overseeing the case acknowledged the slaying warranted a capital murder charge — meaning Vance could face the death penalty if convicted. Prosecutor Larry Jegley did not say whether he would seek Vance's execution or a life sentence.

Patti Cannady found her daughter bloody and beaten in bed Oct. 20 after she didn't answer a wake-up call. Cannady said her daughter "fought for her life" against her attacker and suffered a broken left hand. Every bone in her face had been broken during the attack, she said.

"Her jaw pulverized so badly that the bone had come out of it," Cannady said. "I actually thought that her throat, it possibly been cut, but that was possibly the first knockout punch. Her entire skull had numerous fractures from which she suffered a massive stroke."

Pressly, 26, died Oct. 25 without regaining consciousness.

Police worked for weeks without a named suspect until DNA collected at Pressly's home matched a sample from an unsolved April rape in Marianna, about 90 miles east of Little Rock. A Marianna detective suggested officers investigate Vance, 28, a suspect in several burglaries.

An arrest affidavit filed Monday morning in Little Rock District Court says Vance denied being in Little Rock the day of the attack on Pressly and allowed detectives to swab a DNA sample from his saliva.

"It was confirmed with all scientific certainty that Mr. Vance is the DNA contributor of the suspect in Ms. Pressly's murder," the affidavit reads.

The affidavit suggests police believe robbery was the motive for the attack, as "several items belonging to Ms. Pressly were taken from her residence." Marianna police Detective Sgt. Carl McCree has said Vance became a suspect in the burglaries after his girlfriend sold reportedly stolen items to a Helena-West Helena pawn shop.

Hastings said detectives received consent to look through Vance's home during initial questioning last week, but have yet to recover the missing items. The items sold by Vance's girlfriend did not include anything from Pressly's home, the lieutenant said.

After his arrest, Vance simply said "no" when reporters asked if he killed Pressly. Vance remains held without bond in the Pulaski County jail and has yet to enter a plea over the slaying. He also faces rape and residential burglary charges in Marianna, McCree said.

The Pulaski County Public Defender's Office referred questions about Vance to the Arkansas Public Defender Commission. Commission executive director Didi Sallings said a team of two Pulaski County public defenders and one from her office experienced with capital cases would represent Vance.

Sallings said she put the team together under the assumption Vance would face the death penalty.

"The law is that ... (we) presume the state is going for it," she said. "We haven't seen a file, we don't know anything other than what we've read in the paper at this point."

Vance's case will be sent to the Pulaski County Circuit Court and prosecutors have about two months to file formal charges against him, Jegley said. As of yet, Jegley said he has not received the police's file on Pressly's death nor determined whether he'll seek the death penalty against Vance.

"I would think, based on what we know, that capital murder is an appropriate charge," Jegley said.

Pressly was an anchorwoman on KATV's "Daybreak" program and had a small role as a conservative commentator in the Oliver Stone movie "W."

Arizona Baby Sitter Arrested for Leaving Children Alone to Drink

PHOENIX, AZ/FOX News  —  A Mesa baby sitter has been arrested and accused by Mesa police of leaving two children home alone while she went out drinking.

The children's mother told police her boyfriend's sister, 18-year-old Synjan Mitchell, was baby-sitting her 5-month-old daughter and 21-month-old son Wednesday.

The mother told police she came home and found the front door of her apartment open.

The mother says she found loud music playing, beer cans scattered on the floor and her two children home alone.

A police report says Mitchell returned a few minutes later and the two women got into an argument and Mitchell slapped the mother of the children in the face.

Mitchell told police the mother attacked her. She also told police she left the apartment but had the children with her. Mitchell admitted to police she was drinking that night.

Mitchell was booked on child abuse and underage consumption of alcohol.

Armored Truck Guard Dies In Mall Shooting

MIAMI, FL/Locla6.com  --  An armored truck guard has died in a shooting at a suburban Miami mall, authorities said.

Miami-Dade police spokesman Detective Aida Fina-Milian said two gunmen are on the loose after the shooting Monday inside the Express store at the Dadeland Mall. Another person also was injured.

Authorities said the guard was airlifted to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Witnesses said they heard numerous gunshots and described shoppers screaming and running through the mall. A Dunbar armored car parked in front of the mall was surrounded by police and fire rescue officials.

The Dadeland Mall is located about 15 miles southwest of downtown Miami.

Police: Man Tried To Behead Cat

Animal Dies From Apparent Stab Wounds, Slit Throat

DeLAND, FL/Local6.com  --  A man was arrested Sunday after he stabbed a cat and attempted to cut its head off before throwing it across a Central Florida roadway, police said.

Levi Collier was arrested on a felony charge of animal cruelty after witnesses saw him try to behead the cat on West Lisbon Parkway in DeLand, police said.

Officers discovered the cat, which was bleeding profusely, from several apparent stab wounds and a slit throat, DeLand police said.

The cat died minutes after being found by officers, police said.

Collier told DeLand police that he did not know why he stabbed the cat.

Collier was transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail.

Naples Teen Too Cheap To Buy Earrings. Allegedly Swallowed Stolen Pair Of Earrings To Avoid Arrest

Naples, FL/The Weekly Vice  --  William Colburn, an 18-year-old Naples, Florida man has been arrested on charges of swallowing a pair of earrings that he allegedly stole from a mall department store. Police found the earrings in question after taking an x-ray of the teenager's stomach.

According to the Naples police department, officers were called out to a JC Penny's in the Coastland Center mall Saturday on a report of shoplifting. Police say the loss prevention officer on site witnessed Colburn select a pair of earrings from the jewelry department, place them in a vitamin water bottle and then exit the store.

Security personnel brought Colburn back to the security office, where he was allegedly observed drinking the water - and the earrings within it. A search of Colburn's person also revealed a small amount of marijuana in his right front pocket.

Officers took Colburn into custody and transported him to the Naples Community Hospital where X-Rays were taken, which revealed the allegedly stolen earrings.

Colburn was then booked into the Collier County Jail Saturday afternoon on charges of petit theft - under $100, tampering with evidence and possession of marijuana. He was held pending a $4,000 bond.

State Capitol to Display Tree, Manger, Atheist Sign

OLYMPIA, WA/Associated Press  --  The holiday tree in the Washington state Capitol this year will be joined by a Christian nativity scene and an atheistic billboard.

The Capitol has had a holiday tree for 19 years.

In 2006, it was joined by a menorah sponsored by a Seattle Jewish group for Hanukkah.

That prompted a local man to sue the state to allow the nativity scene depicting Jesus’ birth.

There have been no requests for a menorah display this year.

But a new addition will be a sign sponsored by the Freedom from Religion Foundation celebrating the winter solstice. The foundation says it will declare, in part, “There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or ####,“ and, “Religion is but myth and superstition.“

1 in 5 Young Adults Has Personality Disorder

CHICAGO/Associated Press  --  Almost one in five young American adults has a personality disorder that interferes with everyday life, and even more abuse alcohol or drugs, researchers reported Monday in the most extensive study of its kind.

The disorders include problems such as obsessive or compulsive tendencies and anti-social behavior that can sometimes lead to violence. The study also found that fewer than 25 percent of college-aged Americans with mental problems get treatment.

One expert said personality disorders may be overdiagnosed. But others said the results were not surprising since previous, less rigorous evidence has suggested mental problems are common on college campuses and elsewhere.

Experts praised the study's scope - face-to-face interviews about numerous disorders with more than 5,000 young people ages 19 to 25 - and said it spotlights a problem college administrators need to address.

Study co-author Dr. Mark Olfson of Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute called the widespread lack of treatment particularly worrisome. He said it should alert not only "students and parents, but also deans and people who run college mental health services about the need to extend access to treatment."

Counting substance abuse, the study found that nearly half of young people surveyed have some sort of psychiatric condition, including students and non-students.

Personality disorders were the second most common problem behind drug or alcohol abuse as a single category. The disorders include obsessive, anti-social and paranoid behaviors that are not mere quirks but actually interfere with ordinary functioning.

The study authors noted that recent tragedies such as fatal shootings at Northern Illinois University and Virginia Tech have raised awareness about the prevalence of mental illness on college campuses.

They also suggest that this age group might be particularly vulnerable.

"For many, young adulthood is characterized by the pursuit of greater educational opportunities and employment prospects, development of personal relationships, and for some, parenthood," the authors said. These circumstances, they said, can result in stress that triggers the start or recurrence of psychiatric problems.

The study was released Monday in Archives of General Psychiatry. It was based on interviews with 5,092 young adults in 2001 and 2002.

Olfson said it took time to analzye the data, including weighting the results to extrapolate national numbers. But the authors said the results would probably hold true today.

The study was funded with grants from the National Institutes of Health, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the New York Psychiatric Institute.

Dr. Sharon Hirsch, a University of Chicago psychiatrist not involved in the study, praised it for raising awareness about the problem and the high numbers of affected people who don't get help.

Imagine if more than 75 percent of diabetic college students didn't get treatment, Hirsch said. "Just think about what would be happening on our college campuses."

The results highlight the need for mental health services to be housed with other medical services on college campuses, to erase the stigma and make it more likely that people will seek help, she said.

In the study, trained interviewers, but not psychiatrists, questioned participants about symptoms. They used an assessment tool similar to criteria doctors use to diagnose mental illness.

Dr. Jerald Kay, a psychiatry professor at Wright State University and chairman of the American Psychiatric Association's college mental health committee, said the assessment tool is considered valid and more rigorous than self-reports of mental illness. He was not involved in the study.

Personality disorders showed up in similar numbers among both students and non-students, including the most common one, obsessive compulsive personality disorder. About 8 percent of young adults in both groups had this illness, which can include an extreme preoccupation with details, rules, orderliness and perfectionism.

Kay said the prevalence of personality disorders was higher than he would expect and questioned whether the condition might be overdiagnosed.

All good students have a touch of "obsessional" personality that helps them work hard to achieve. But that's different from an obsessional disorder that makes people inflexible and controlling and interferes with their lives, he explained.

Obsessive compulsive personality disorder differs from the better known OCD, or obsessive-compulsive disorder, which features repetitive actions such as hand-washing to avoid germs.

OCD is thought to affect about 2 percent of the general population. The study didn't examine OCD separately but grouped it with all anxiety disorders, seen in about 12 percent of college-aged people in the survey.

The overall rate of other disorders was also pretty similar among college students and non-students.

Substance abuse, including drug addiction, alcoholism and other drinking that interferes with school or work, affected nearly one-third of those in both groups.

Slightly more college students than non-students were problem drinkers - 20 percent versus 17 percent. And slightly more non-students had drug problems - nearly 7 percent versus 5 percent.

In both groups, about 8 percent had phobias and 7 percent had depression.

Bipolar disorder was slightly more common in non-students, affecting almost 5 percent versus about 3 percent of students.