May 12, 2005

Police: White paint found on hands, face of slain fortuneteller

05-04) 16:21 PDT Westminster, Calif. (AP) --


White paint was applied to the hands and faces of a Vietnamese fortuneteller and her daughter after the two were stabbed to death, police said Wednesday.


Police hoped new details about the slayings would provide them with leads in a case that has baffled detectives since the bodies of Ha Jade Smith, 52, and Anita Nhi Vo, 23, were found on April 21.


"We have exhausted what we feel are local leads are as far as the white paint and the significance of that," said Lt. Derek Marsh, spokesman for the Westminster Police Department.


"We would request an outreach to the Asian community ... and (ask) if anyone has any information in reference to the symbolic aspect of it — if there is any symbolic reference to it," he said.


Marsh said Smith was known nationally among Vietnamese-Americans as a skilled fortuneteller and had clients from as far away as New York. Clients often came to her home, he said.


Police believe the crime was motivated by robbery, however, and had no link to Smith's profession, he said.


Smith, known as Miss Ha in the local Vietnamese community, did card and palm readings from an office at a strip mall in Midway City. Her daughter was a student at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.


Police said Smith was robbed and her house burglarized in separate incidents in 2001. Marsh said those crimes, which remain unsolved, do not appear related to the murders.

Jacko used chimps as cleaners

By Metro

Michael Jackson used his pet chimpanzees to clean Neverland ranch, his trial heard yesterday.

The creatures would help the star by dusting, cleaning windows and brushing the toilets, the jury heard.

In a clip of outtakes from Martin Bashir's ITV1 documentary Living With Michael Jackson, the singer described how he got his animals to help with household chores.

'They are very smart. Their DNA is identical to humans when you look under a microscope,' he said.

He also revealed his beloved pet chimp Bubbles was moved to a monkey sanctuary after he became too strong and started to rebel against him - like a teenage child.

He said: 'They are very, very strong. They are very powerful.'

In the video, which showed a relaxed looking Jackson sitting on a floor cushion in an emerald green silk shirt, he laughed and joked with British journalist Bashir.

He said that although the upkeep of Neverland cost him 'millions' each year, it was worth it for the happiness it brought visiting children. He said he employed between 150 and 200 people to run the ranch.

'That costs a lot of money,' he added. 'I get it all back if I see them [children] smile. That's all worth it.'

Asked why he wanted to make children happy he told Bashir: 'I've always just felt that they are very special to me. I see God through them. Everything I do is inspired by the children. I'm a nut for innocence. I love innocence. If it wasn't for the children. I would throw in the towel.'

And he invoked the memory of Princess Diana to explain why he felt he had to provide fun for youngsters.

He added: 'Especially now that Mother Teresa is not here, Princess Diana is not here, there's no voice for the kids.'

Jackson also joked about the Pope - saying he had trouble telling the difference between the various Catholic leaders.

'Why do they all look alike? That confuses me.'

May 11, 2005

'Oddball rodent' in Laos takes scientists by surprise

By John Noble Wilford The New York Times
THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2005


They live in the forests and limestone outcrops of Laos. With long whiskers, stubby legs and a long, furry tail, they are rodents but unlike any seen before by wildlife scientists.

They are definitely not rats or squirrels, only vaguely like a guinea pig or a chinchilla. And they often show up in Laotian outdoor markets being sold for food. There, visiting scientists came upon the animals and determined that they represented a rare find: an entire new family of wildlife.

The discovery was announced Wednesday by the Wildlife Conservation Society and described in a report in the journal Systematics and Biodiversity.

The new species in this previously unknown family is called kha-nyou (pronounced ga-nyou) by local people.
New Rodent.... I call it Karl

Scientists found that differences in the skull and bone structure and in the animal's DNA revealed this to be a member of a distinct family that diverged from others of the rodent order millions of years ago.

'To find something so distinct in this day and age is just extraordinary,' said Robert Timmins of the Wildlife Conservation Society, one of the discoverers. 'For all we know, this could be the last remaining mammal family left to be discovered.'

Naturalists had trouble recalling when a new family of mammals was last identified. It may have been when, in the 1970s, a new family of bats was found in Thailand. The most active period of finding and classifying new species and families was in the 19th century, when explorers and settlers moved into remote interiors of the continents.

Timmins "said, no Western scientists have ever seen a kha-nyou alive.

The encounter occurred in the late 1990s, about the same time that another scientist, Mark Robinson, independently collected several of the carcasses as specimens. The adults have bodies about a foot long, or 30 centimeters with a tail that is not as bushy as a squirrel's. They knew immediately that this was, as Timmins said, "an oddball rodent."

May 10, 2005

Jesus Christ in Legal Battle in W.Va..."Christ is not speaking to the press at this time,"

By ERIK SCHELZIG

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Even Jesus Christ can't circumvent the rules for getting a driver's license in West Virginia.
Attempts to prove his name really is Christ have led the man born as Peter Robert Phillips Jr. through a lengthy legal battle and a recent victory in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

'This all started with him expressing his faith and his respect and love for Jesus Christ,' attorney A.P. Pishevar told The Associated Press. 'Now he needs to document it for legal reasons.'

Described by his attorney as a white-haired businessman in his mid-50s, Christ is moving to West Virginia to enjoy a slower lifestyle. He bought property near Lost River, about 100 miles west of Washington, and has a U.S. passport, Social Security card and Washington driver's license bearing the name Jesus Christ.
But he still falls short of West Virginia title and license transfer requirements because his Florida birth certificate has his original name on it and he has been unable to obtain an official name change in Washington.

'We just need official documentation that that's his name,' said Doug Stump, commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles. 'He will be treated no different than anybody else.'

Christ applied for the legal name change in May 2003, but it was denied by District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Tim Murphy because 'taking the name of Jesus Christ may provoke a violent reaction or may significantly offend people.'

In his appeal, Christ's attorney argued that Phillips had changed his name to Jesus Christ 15 years earlier, and 'has been using the name since then without incident.'
name since then without incident."

The appeals court last month sent the name-change proposal back to the lower court, saying some required hearings in the case had not been held.

Any comment from the man in the middle of this legal tussle?

"Christ is not speaking to the press at this time,"Pishevar said.



This is much more real than an image in a slice of toast. (Editor)