Judge rules suspected Oikos gunman unfit for trial

One Goh appears in an Alameda County Superior courtroom in Oakland, Calif., Monday, April 30, 2012. / AP Photo/Paul Sakuma

OAKLAND, California A judge ruled on Monday that a man accused of killing seven people at a small Northern California Christian college is not mentally fit for trial.




15 Photos


Shootings at Oikos University



A public defender representing defendant One Goh said a psychiatrist has determined that Goh suffers from paranoid schizophrenia that dates back several years.

Alameda County Assistant Public Defender David Klaus has said the condition causes Goh to distrust people, including those trying to help him.

Klaus has said he and his co-counsel have had trouble talking with Goh because of his mental state.

Goh is charged with seven counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder in the April 2 attack at Oikos University in Oakland. He has pleaded not guilty.


Authorities have said Goh, a former Oikos student, planned the killing spree at the school that caters to Korean immigrants after becoming angry with school officials over a tuition dispute. He previously decided to drop out of the school's nursing program.

A judge ordered Goh to return to court Jan. 28.

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Cops Break Down as They Describe Aurora Horror













Two veteran police officers broke down on the stand today during a preliminary hearing for accused movie theater gunman James Holmes, with one officer choking up when he described finding the body of a 6-year-old girl inside the theater.


Sgt. Gerald Jonsgaard needed a moment to compose himself as he described finding the little girl, Veronica Moser Sullivan, in the blood splattered theater in Aurora, Colo.


An officer felt for a pulse and thought Veronica was still alive, Jonsgaard said, but the officer then realized he was feeling his own pulse.


A preliminary hearing for Holmes began today in Colorado, with victims and families present. He is accused of killing 12 people and wounded dozens more in the movie theater massacre. One of Veronica's relatives likened attending the hearing to having to "face the devil."


The officers wiped away tears as they described the horror they found inside of theater nine.


Officer Justin Grizzle recounted seeing bodies lying motionless on the floor, surrounded by so much blood he nearly slipped and fell.


Grizzle, a former paramedic, says ambulances had not yet made it to the theater, so he began loading victims into his patrol car and driving to the hospital.


"I knew I needed to get them to the hospital now, " Grizzle said, tearing up. "I didn't want anyone else to die."






Arapahoe County Sheriff/AP Photo











James Holmes Tries to Harm Himself, Sources Say Watch Video









Aurora, Colorado Gunman: Neuroscience PhD Student Watch Video







Grizzle drove six victims in four trips, saying that by the end there was so much blood in his patrol car he could hear it "sloshing around."


Click here for full coverage of the Aurora movie theater shooting.


An officer who took the stand earlier today described Holmes as "relaxed" and "detached" when police confronted him just moments after the shooting stopped.


The first two officers to testify today described responding to the theater and spotting Holmes standing by his car at the rear of the theater on July 20, 2012. He allegedly opened fire in the crowded theater during the midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises."


Officer Jason Oviatt said he first thought Holmes was a cop because he was wearing a gas mask and helmet, but as he got closer realized he was not an officer and held Holmes at gunpoint.


Throughout the search and arrest, Holes was extremely compliant, the officer said.


"He was very, very relaxed," Oviatt said. "These were not normal reactions to anything. He seemed very detached from it all."


Oviatt said Holmes had extremely dilated pupils and smelled badly when he was arrested.


Officer Aaron Blue testified that Holmes volunteered that he had four guns and that there were "improvised explosive devices" in his apartment and that they would go off if the police triggered them.


Holmes was dressed for the court hearing in a red jumpsuit and has brown hair and a full beard. He did not show any reaction when the officers pointed him out in the courtroom.


This is the most important court hearing in the case so far, essentially a mini-trial as prosecutors present witness testimony and evidence—some never before heard—to outline their case against the former neuroscience student.


The hearing at the Arapahoe County District Court in Centennial, Colo., could last all week. At the end, Judge William Sylvester will decide whether the case will go to trial.






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Five accused in India rape case charged in court


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Five men accused of raping and murdering an Indian student were read the charges in a near-empty courtroom on Monday after the judge cleared out lawyers for bickering over whether the men deserved a defense.


The 23-year-old physiotherapy student died two weeks after being gang-raped and beaten on a moving bus in New Delhi, then thrown bleeding onto the street. Protests followed, along with a fierce public debate over police failure to stem rampant violence against women.


With popular anger simmering against the five men and a teenager accused in the case, most lawyers in the district where the trial will be held refuse to represent them.


Before the men arrived for a pre-trial hearing on Monday, heckling broke out in a chamber packed with jostling lawyers, journalists and members of the public after two of the lawyers, Manohar Lal Sharma and V. K. Anand, offered to defend the men.


"We are living in a modern society," declared Lal Sharma, defending his decision. "We all are educated. Every accused, including those in brutal offences like this, has the legal right ... to defend themselves."


One woman lawyer prodded V. K. Anand in the chest, saying: "I'll see how you can represent the accused."


Unable to restore order, presiding magistrate Namrita Aggarwal ordered everyone to leave except the prosecution, and set police to guard the entrance.


She said the trial would now be held behind closed doors because of the sensitivity of the case.


FACES COVERED


Reuters video images showed the men stepping out of a blue police van that brought them from Tihar jail and walking, their faces covered, through a metal detector into the South Delhi court building.


The court was across the street from the cinema where the victim watched a film before she was attacked on her way home.


Aggarwal gave the men copies of the charges, which include murder, rape and abduction, a prosecutor in the case told Reuters.


Police have conducted extensive interrogations and say they have recorded confessions, even though the men have no lawyers.


If the men, most of them from a slum neighborhood, cannot arrange a defense, the court will offer them legal aid before the trial begins.


Two of them, Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta, have offered to give evidence against the others - Mukesh Kumar, Ram Singh and Akshay Thakura - possibly in return for a lighter sentence.


Mohan, describing what he called a heinous crime, said: "The five accused persons deserve not less than the death penalty."


The case has sharpened long-standing anger against the government and police for a perceived failure to protect women.


A male friend who was assaulted with the woman on December 16 said on Friday that passers-by left her unclothed and bleeding in the street for almost an hour and that, when police arrived, they spent a long time arguing about where to take them.


The woman lived for two weeks after her attack, dying in a Singapore hospital where she had been taken for treatment.


FAST-TRACK COURT


Aggarwal said the next hearing would be on January 10. The case is due to move later to another, fast-track court set up since the woman was attacked to help reduce a backlog of sex crime cases in Delhi.


Legal experts say the lack of representation for the five men may give grounds for appeal if they are found guilty. Convictions in similar cases have often been overturned years later.


Some legal experts have also warned that previous attempts to fast-track justice in India in some cases led to imperfect convictions that were later challenged.


The sixth member of the group alleged to have lured the student and a male friend into the private bus is under 18 and will be tried in a separate juvenile court.


The government is aiming to lower the age at which teenagers can be tried as adults, acknowledging public anger that the boy will face a maximum three-year sentence.


The victim was identified by a British newspaper at the weekend but Reuters has opted not to name her.


Indian law generally prohibits the identification of victims of sex crimes. The law is intended to protect victims' privacy and keep them out of the glare of media in a country where the social stigma associated with rape can be devastating.


The dead woman's father repeated on Monday that he wanted her identified and said he would be happy to release a photograph of her.


"We don't want to hide her identity. There is no reason for that. The only condition is it should not be misused," he told Reuters.


He said he was confident the trial would be quick and reiterated a call that the perpetrators be hanged.


(Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Robert Birsel and Tom Pfeiffer)



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US Dollar falls ahead of ECB meeting






NEW YORK: The US dollar retreated Monday against the euro and other major currencies as financial markets girded for a meeting later this week of the European Central Bank.

The euro was valued at US$1.3115 dollars at 22H00 GMT Monday, up from Friday's value of US$1.3067 at the same time.

The US dollar was also lower against the Japanese yen, trading at 87.89 Monday instead of the 88.15 level on Friday night.

The quarterly earnings season unofficially kicks off Tuesday with the report from aluminium producer Alcoa. Several US Federal Reserve officials have public appearances this week.

Given the lack of US economic data to be released this week, "we believe that the US dollar will take its cue from earnings and comments from the Fed officials," said Kathy Lien of BK Asset Management.

After focusing heavily on the US due to the much-touted debate on the fiscal cliff, financial markets were beginning to turn to the euro again with Thursday's meeting of the ECB.

That said, Thursday's ECB meeting "offers little reason to be bullish (about) the euro," said Christopher Vecchio, currency analyst at DailyFX.

Vecchio noted that the euro had fallen after the November and December ECB meetings, which followed a September announcement by ECB President Mario Draghi of a program to keep Italian and Spanish borrowing costs down.

The euro did, however, pick up support on news that former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi would not seek election during the Italian elections next month.

Watchers of the Federal Reserve will be looking for signs later this week in public appearances by the presidents of the Fed banks of Kansas City, Philadelphia and Richmond.

Minutes released by the Federal Reserve last week showed that the US central bank is considering ending its aggressive stimulus plan more quickly than expected. But some market watchers say the Fed will be unlikely to pull the plug on the program given last week's weak jobs report.

"The confusion created by the FOMC minutes makes this week's comments from Fed presidents extremely important because investors want to know how serious the central bank is about phasing out" its stimulus program, Lien said.

The US dollar fell against the Swiss currency, to 0.9212 francs from 0.9246 francs late Friday, while the pound rose to US$1.6114 from US$1.6068.

- AFP/jc



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FeltAudio debuts clip-on Bluetooth speaker and earbuds



FeltAudio Rewind

The FeltAudio Rewind in white.



(Credit:
FeltAudio)


If you're always losing your Bluetooth headphones or speakers, FeltAudio's products could be for you. The FeltAudio Pulse is a tiny Bluetooth speaker that can be clipped on to a shirt pocket or belt, while the Rewind is a pair of in-ear headphones with a retractable cable.

The Pulse speaker works quite simply. You pair it with your handset and clip it on to some part of your clothing. When you're not using the speaker (or if you want the speaker playing back audio while attached to your phone), you can clip it to special Felt cases -- these are lined on the insides with actual felt -- which will be available for the
iPhone 5 as well as iPad. The company is working on versions for
iPad Mini and new
iPod Touch.



FeltAudio Pulse

The FeltAudio Pulse speaker attached to an iPhone.



(Credit:
FeltAudio)

The Rewind headphones are a little more confusing. Since these are retractable Bluetooth headphones, we're guessing you'll need to clip the receiver portion (and case) to your shirt while listening to music. When you're done, the headphones retract into the portable case, which can then be attached to the back of a Felt case. There's also an inline mic on the cable for phone calls.

While we aren't sure if having a speaker or pair of headphones attached to the back of an phone case is a good idea for everyone, we're definitely impressed at the simplicity and elegance of the concept. The FeltAudio case, Pulse speaker, and Rewind headphones will all be available in white, gray, and black. No word yet on price and availability.


Headphones stored

This is how the headphones would look stored on the back of a FeltAudio iPhone 5 case.



(Credit:
FeltAudio)

(Source: Crave Asia via iLounge)

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NFL Playoffs: Ravens beat Colts 24-9

Last Updated 4:55 p.m. ET

BALTIMORE Ray Lewis' last ride now will take him to Denver.

Anquan Boldin, Joe Flacco and a staunch Baltimore defense made sure of that Sunday.





24 Photos


NFL Week 18: Playoff highlights



Boldin set a franchise record with 145 yards receiving, including the clinching touchdown in the Ravens' 24-9 victory over Indianapolis in an AFC wild-card game. The win delays star linebacker Lewis' retirement for at least another week as Baltimore (11-6) heads to Denver next Saturday.

The Broncos beat the Ravens 34-17 three weeks ago.

Lewis even lined up at fullback for the final kneel-down in his last home game of a 17-year career, then went into a short version of his trademark dance before being mobbed by teammates.

Sunday's victory also enhanced the Ravens' success rate in opening playoff games. Flacco now has won at least one postseason game in all five of his pro seasons, the only quarterback to do it in the Super Bowl era.


His main target Sunday was Boldin, who had receptions of 50 and 46 yards, plus his 18-yard TD on a floater from Flacco in the corner of the end zone with 9:14 to go.

Baltimore overcame the first two lost fumbles of the season by Ray Rice, too, as John Harbaugh became the first head coach with wins in his first five playoff campaigns.

Backup halfback Bernard Pierce rescued Rice with a 43-yard burst that led to Boldin's touchdown, and ran for 103 yards.

Flacco also connected with Dennis Pitta for a 20-yard TD and rookie Justin Tucker made a 23-yard field goal.

The loss ended the Colts' turnaround season in which they went from 2-14 to the playoffs in coach Chuck Pagano's first year in Indianapolis (11-6). Pagano missed 12 weeks while undergoing treatment for leukemia and returned last week.

Offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, who went 9-3 as interim coach, was absent Sunday after being hospitalized with an undisclosed illness. Quarterback coach Clyde Christensen called the plays, but Baltimore's suddenly revitalized defense — inspired by Lewis' pending retirement, no doubt — never let standout rookie QB Andrew Luck get comfortable.

Indy's only points came on three field goals by Adam Vinatieri, from 47, 52 and 26 yards.

Reggie Wayne had 108 yards on eight receptions and moved into second in career playoff catches with 91 — only 60 behind leader Jerry Rice.

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Hagel to Be Obama's Defense Secretary Nominee


Jan 6, 2013 4:52pm







gty chuck hagel kb 121220 wblog Obama Will Nominate Chuck Hagel as Next Defense Secretary

(Junko Kimura/Getty Images)


WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Obama will nominate former senator Chuck Hagel to be his next Secretary of Defense tomorrow.


Senior officials within the administration and Capitol Hill confirmed the pick to ABC News today after the Nebraska Republican had emerged as a frontrunner among potential candidates several weeks ago.


Hagel, 66, is a decorated Vietnam veteran and businessman who served in the senate from 1997 to 2009. After having sat on that chamber’s Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees,  he has in recent years gathered praise from current and former diplomats for his work on Obama’s Intelligence Advisory Board as well as the policy board of the current Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.


But the former lawmaker faces an upscale battle in the coming confirmation hearings in Congress; critics on both sides of the aisle have taken aim at his record toward Israel and what some have called a lack of experience necessary to lead the sprawling Pentagon bureaucracy or its operations.


Progressives have also expressed concern about comments he made in 1998, questioning whether an “openly, aggressively gay” James Hormel could be nominated to an ambassador position by then-President Clinton. Hagel apologized for the comments last month, adding that he also supported gays in the military – a position he once opposed.


Who Is Chuck Hagel? Meet Obama’s Top Pentagon Pick


The friction with his former colleagues has left a degree of uncertainty in the air going into the hearings. Today on ABC’s “This Week,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell demurred when asked whether he would support the man who, in 2008, he had championed for his candidness and stature in foreign policy.


“I’m going to wait and see how the hearings go and see whether Chuck’s views square with the job he would be nominated to do,” he told George Stephanopoulos.


Senator Lindsey Graham was more blunt in his opposition to Hagel on CNN. The Georgia Republican called Hagel an “in your face nomination,” and said he “would be the most antagonistic secretary of defense towards the state of Israel in our nation’s history.”


If confirmed, Hagel will join a crop of new cabinet members expected to join the president in his second term, including Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who was nominated in December to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.


ABC’s Elizabeth Hartfield and Devin Dwyer contributed reporting.



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Assad "peace plan" greeted with scorn by foes


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad rejected peace talks with his enemies on Sunday in a defiant speech that his opponents described as a renewed declaration of war.


Although the speech was billed as the unveiling of a new peace plan, Assad offered no concessions and even appeared to harden many of his positions. He rallied Syrians for "a war to defend the nation" and disparaged the prospect of negotiations.


"We do not reject political dialogue ... but with whom should we hold a dialogue? With extremists who don't believe in any language but killing and terrorism?" Assad asked supporters who packed Damascus Opera House for his first speech since June.


"Should we speak to gangs recruited abroad that follow the orders of foreigners? Should we have official dialogue with a puppet made by the West, which has scripted its lines?"


It was his first public speech to an audience in six months. Since the last, rebels have reached the capital's outskirts.


George Sabra, vice president of the opposition National Coalition, told Reuters the peace plan Assad put at the heart of his speech did "not even deserve to be called an initiative":


"We should see it rather as a declaration that he will continue his war against the Syrian people," he said.


"The appropriate response is to continue to resist this unacceptable regime and for the Free Syrian Army to continue its work in liberating Syria until every inch of land is free."


The speech was seen by many as a response to U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, who has been meeting U.S. and Russian officials to try to narrow differences between Washington and Moscow over a peace plan. Brahimi also met Assad in Syria late last month.


"Lakhdar Brahimi must feel foolish after that Assad speech, where his diplomacy is dismissed as intolerable intervention," said Rana Kabbani, a Syrian analyst who supports the opposition.


The United States, European Union, Turkey and most Arab states have called on Assad to quit. Russia, which sells arms to and leases a naval base from Syria, says it backs a transition of power but that Assad's departure should not be a precondition for any talks.


REPETITIONS


Assad's foreign foes were scornful and dismissive of the speech. "His remarks are just repetitions of what he's said all along," said Ahmet Davutoglu, foreign minister of Syria's northern neighbor and former friend Turkey.


"It seems he's locked himself up in a room and only reads the intelligence reports presented to him."


The U.S. State Department said Assad's speech "is yet another attempt by the regime to cling to power and does nothing to advance the Syrian people's goal of a political transition".


"His initiative is detached from reality, undermines the efforts of Joint Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi, and would only allow the regime to further perpetuate its bloody oppression of the Syrian people," said spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.


EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said Brussels would "look carefully if there is anything new in the speech, but we maintain our position that Assad has to step aside and allow for a political transition".


The 47-year-old Assad, tall and mustachioed, in a business suit and tie, spoke confidently for about an hour before a crowd of cheering loyalists, who occasionally interrupted him to shout and applaud, at one point raising their fists and chanting: "With blood and soul we sacrifice for you, oh Bashar!"


At the end of the speech, supporters rushed to the stage, mobbing him and shouting: "God, Syria and Bashar is enough!" as a smiling president waved and was escorted from the hall past a backdrop showing a Syrian flag made of pictures of people whom state television described as "martyrs" of the conflict so far.


"We are now in a state of war in every sense of the word," Assad said in the speech, broadcast on Syrian state television. "This war targets Syria using a handful of Syrians and many foreigners. Thus, this is a war to defend the nation."


Independent media are largely barred from Damascus.


Giving the speech in the opera house, in a part of central Damascus that has been hit by rebel attacks, could be intended as a show of strength by a leader whose public appearances have grown rarer as the rebellion has gathered force.


Critics saw irony in the venue: "Assad speech appropriately made in Opera House!" tweeted Rami Khouri, a commentator for Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper. "It was operatic in its other-worldly fantasy, unrelated to realities outside the building."


DEATHS


The United Nations says 60,000 people have been killed in the civil war, the longest and bloodiest of the conflicts to emerge in two years of revolts in Arab states.


Rebels now control much of the north and east of the country, a crescent of suburbs on the outskirts of the capital and the main border crossings with Turkey in the north.


But Assad's forces are still firmly in control of most of the densely populated southwest, the main north-south highway and the Mediterranean coast. The army also holds military bases throughout the country from which its helicopters and jets can strike rebel-held areas with impunity, making it impossible for the insurgents to consolidate their grip on territory they hold.


Assad, an eye doctor, has ruled since 2000, succeeding his late father Hafez, who had seized power in a 1970 coup.


The rebels are drawn mainly from Syria's Sunni Muslim majority, while Assad, a member of the Alawite sect related to Shi'ite Islam, is supported by some members of religious minorities who fear retribution if he falls.


The conflict has heightened confrontation in the Middle East between Shi'ite Iran and Sunni Arab rulers, particularly those in the Gulf who are allied with the West against Tehran.


The plan unveiled in Sunday's speech could hardly have been better designed to ensure its rejection by the opposition. Among its proposals: rebels would first be expected to halt operations before the army would cease fire, a certain non-starter.


Assad also repeatedly emphasized rebel links to al Qaeda and other Sunni Islamist radicals. Washington has also labeled one of the main rebel groups a terrorist organization and says it is linked to the network founded by Osama bin Laden.


Diplomacy has been largely irrelevant so far in the conflict, with Moscow vetoing U.N. resolutions against Assad.


U.N. mediator Brahimi has been trying to bridge the gap, meeting senior U.S. and Russian officials to discuss his own peace proposal, which does not explicitly mention Assad's fate.


National Coalition spokesman Walid Bunni said Assad's speech appeared timed to prevent a breakthrough in those talks, by taking a position that could not be reconciled with diplomacy.


"The talk by Brahimi and others that there could be a type of political solution being worked out has prompted him to come out and tell the others 'I won't accept a solution'," Bunni said, adding that Assad feared any deal would mean his downfall.


(Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Gulsen Solaker in Ankara and Tim Castle in London; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Alastair Macdonald and Kevin Liffey)



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Golf: Play underway at wind-whipped Kapalua






MAUI: The US PGA Tour tried again to get the 2013 season underway Sunday, with players teeing off in the first-round of the Tournament of Champions after another four-hour weather delay.

After weather disrupted play on Friday and cancelled all action on Saturday, organisers of the season-opening event had hoped to start fresh with two rounds on Sunday and finish a tournament reduced to 54 holes on Monday.

But high winds led to a four-hour delay on Sunday, and when Matt Kuchar teed off on the 10th hole a gust knocked his ball off the tee.

"It's a little better ... very little," PGA Tour Vice President of Rules and Competition Slugger White said. "But we're going to try to go. If we have to stop we have to stop."

As of Sunday afternoon, officials hoped to play 18 holes on Sunday and 36 on Monday.

"It is still very windy, but it is a lot better weather today because it isn't raining out there," said tour rules official Jon Brendle.

"Getting in 18 today will be huge and then we can play 36 tomorrow to get in 54 holes and not have to bring Tuesday into play."

- AFP/jc



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Pure adds louder Jongo and hi-fi adapter to streaming range



The Pure Jongo T640B wants to be your main hi-fi.



(Credit:
Pure)


LAS VEGAS--Pure is a British company trying to crack the streaming-audio market with a set of cheap, colorful Wi-Fi and Bluetooth speakers that offer some of the functions of a Sonos. Today it's adding a higher-end speaker to the midrange model that it announced last year.


Called the Jongo T640B, Pure says it's designed to act as the main hi-fi in a living room. With 100 watts of power produced by two 5-inch drivers, it may well have a point. Stands are available from Pure so the Jongo can sit upright rather than lying down, or be mounted on the wall.


Jongo products are designed to be used with smartphones and
tablets. Download Pure's app and you can stream the music on your device to the speaker using Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.


If you have more than one Jongo, they can all be set up to play the same piece of music simultaneously, but you can't send different tracks to be played on two or more Jongos from the same phone or tablet. Pure says its app works with iPhones, iPads, and
iPod Touches running at least iOS 5 and
Android version 2.2.


The Pure Jongo A140B is an adapter for an existing hi-fi with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.



(Credit:
Pure)

The Jongo T640B will sell for $329 in the U.S. and £250 in the U.K., which makes it cheaper than Sonos' Play:5, but more expensive than the Play:3. Given the huge number of extra functions the Sonos products have, it's going to have to sound amazing to justify that price tag. It'll ship in the first half of the year.

Pure is also announcing a new hi-fi adapter today that adds the same streaming-audio functions to an existing hi-fi. Called the Jongo A140B, it has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with analogue audio outputs plus optical and coaxial digital ports. Plug one of those into an old hi-fi you have knocking around, and you can use the Pure app to stream music in the same way as the other Jongo speakers.

It will sell for $119 in the U.S. and 99 pounds in the U.K. when it ships this year, which is slightly more than Apple's AirPort Express. Apple's product doesn't have Bluetooth, but even so that seems on the expensive side to me.

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