Woman lays charges against metro cop

A JOHANNESBURG woman has laid charges against a metro police officer after a harrowing ordeal during which the cop allegedly told her to step back into a busy road and get run over “so I can watch you die”.

The 35-year-old woman, who asked not be identified for fear of being victimised, said she was pulled over by the female officer on William Nicol Drive in Sandton last Thursday.

She said the officer accused her of talking on her cellphone — which she claims was in her handbag at the time. When she asked the officer to issue her a traffic fine, the officer insisted they should “work something out”.

“When I asked her if she wants a bribe, the officer laughed at me, took my licence and walked away,” the woman said.

She said she phoned police emergency services to report the officer, following an argument during which she demanded the return of her driver’s licence.

“She became aggressive when I asked her why she was taking so long to write my ticket. She said she would take her time and then said: ‘Are you crying yet, white woman?’.”

When the woman tried to reason with the officer’s partner, the female officer said: “Step back into the road. I want a car to hit you so I can watch you die.”

South African Police officers arrived a few minutes later.

“She told them I was driving without a licence, but when she gave my fine to me, my licence was in the folded paper,” the woman said.

The woman also claimed that the metro officer had called her a “white bitch with a bad attitude”.

After her ordeal, the woman opened a case of intimidation at the Douglasdale police station.

Douglasdale police spokesman Inspector Balan Muthan said police were investigating.

Muthan said the police had investigated a number of cases against metro police officers in recent weeks and had arrested two metro officers who allegedly robbed a tourist near Montecasino of foreign currency last month.

He said police would take a “hardened stance” against officers on the wrong side of the law.

“We encourage people to come forward if they are asked to pay bribes to JMPD (Joburg Metro Police Department) or SAPS officers,” Muthan said.

Metro police spokesman Wayne Minnaar said the complainant should also approach his department’s internal affairs unit.

He said: “We want people to come forward if they have a complaint. That’s the only way we can deal with officers who are breaking the law.”

10 tips for managing personal finances

Many employers are setting up financial advice sessions for employees to help them navigate through the market downturn that has reduced 401(k)
Finance
Monitor your financial health
Why be a wealth manager!
How to boost income in crisis!
balances for most of us. It's a good idea to take advantage of one of these sessions if offered at work. If it's not an option in your workplace, you can review this checklist to make sure you're not forgetting any basics.

1. Consider investing a specific amount every month from your paycheck or bank account, particularly if you're younger and just starting to save for retirement.

2. Make the maximum contribution, if possible, to your employer's retirement plan. Take advantage of the employer match, if one is offered.

3. Consider investing for the long term with a well diversified portfolio spread between stocks, bonds or other low risk investments. This is especially critical as you reach your 30s and 40s to reap maximum market gain but with controlled risk.

4. Keep investing in your retirement plan even through downturns. When you turn 50, consider if you should make catch-up contributions.

5. Maintain a cash reserve to help with unexpected events including a layoff. Many experts recommend setting aside up to six months of pay.

6. As you approach retirement, consider part-time employment to postpone withdrawals from your retirement savings.

7. Develop a strategy for turning your 401(k) or other savings such as IRAs or CDs to an income stream, whether it's though an annuity or other product.

8. If you're approaching retirement, carefully plan your income withdrawal strategy by assessing your anticipated costs. Consider developing a list of must-haves including food, shelter and other basic needs and a separate list of wants, including vacations and recreational activities. Then develop a budget
.

9. Assess where you stand with your 401(k) and consider how you might improve your chances of recovering from the past year's market downturn by increasing your contribution or changing your mix of stocks and bonds to improve return.

10. If your employer doesn't offer financial advice sessions, consider working with a financial adviser on your own.

German brothel offers discounts to cyclists

The recession has hit our industry hard," said Thomas Goetz, owner of the Maison d'envie brothel.

"Obviously we hope that the discount will attract more people," he added. "It's good for business, it's good for the environment - and it's good for the girls."


Customers who arrive on bicycle or who can prove they took public transportation get a 5-euro ($7) discount from the usual 70-euro ($100) fee for 45 minute sessions, Mr Goetz said. He said the environmentally friendly offer was working a charm.

"We have around 3-5 new customers coming in daily to take advantage of the discount," he said, adding the green rebate has helped alleviate traffic and parking congestion in the neighbourhood.

Germany is one of the few countries in the world where prostitution is legal. It has about 400,000 prostitutes who, since 2002, have been allowed to enter formal labour contracts.

Seven people in custody in slaying of Fla. couple

Authorities in the Florida Panhandle said they have seven people in custody in the slayings of a wealthy couple known for adopting special-needs children.

Melanie and Byrd Billings were shot to death in their home near Pensacola on Thursday night.

Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan told their daughter, Ashley Markham, at a press conference Tuesday that investigators have found the people responsible for killing her parents.

"It is my honor today to tell you, Ashley, and your family, we have found them and they are in custody," Morgan said.

Morgan said investigators are still looking for at least one more person in the case. He said at least one of the suspects in custody may have done work at the Billings' home.

Prosecutor Bill Eddins said the primary motive was robbery. A safe was one of the items taken from the home, he said, declining to describe the other items.

Earlier, Morgan told ABC's Good Morning America that authorities had tied at least seven people to the crime but that nothing links any of the suspects to the family directly.

Four arrests were earlier identified by police, including a father and son. Leonard Gonzalez II, 35, and Wayne Coldiron, 41, are charged with murder and home invasion. Gary Sumner, 30, is charged with murder, and Leonard Gonzalez Sr., 56, is charged with evidence tampering for allegedly painting over damage on a van videotaped by a security camera at the Billings' house Thursday. His neighbors alerted police after a description of the van was publicized.

Three more people were arrested Tuesday — a juvenile whom police did not identify; Frederick Thorton Jr., 19; and Donnie Ray Stallworth, 28, who was arrested in Alabama but lives in Florida.

Byrd and Melanie Billings were shot to death Thursday night after a home invasion and robbery, Morgan said at a news conference Monday. Nine of their children were in the house but were unharmed, he said.

"Mr. Billings was well-to-do. He was an entrepreneur and he opened his home to the community. You are asking me to speculate on a motive. That could have been one reason," Morgan said, likening the killings to the 1959 slayings of a Kansas farm family. In that case, chronicled by Truman Capote in the book In Cold Blood, the killers mistakenly believed the prosperous family kept a safe full of cash at home.

When asked if the Billings kept much money at their home, Morgan replied, "That has not been verified."

The investigation has police scrolling through MySpace, the social-networking website, and scanning surveillance tapes from a Wal-Mart where they suspect the men bought the clothing and gear they used in the crime.

"It seems each phase we complete in this investigation, we answer a set of questions, and it opens up another set of questions," Morgan said. "The complexity of it is amazing."

He said investigators are following various leads. Morgan would not elaborate.

Morgan said he sees no connection between the killings and a MySpace profile in the name of the younger Gonzalez in which the writer refers to a daughter he says was taken from him. The profile was updated just after midnight Thursday, the day the Billingses were found dead in their rural Beulah home, 17 miles from Pensacola on the Gulf Coast.

The update said: "Making a move for humanity."

The Billingses had been married 18 years and saw their life's work in adopting children, said their daughter, Ashley Markham, 26.

Each had two children when they married. They adopted 13 children who had been abused or neglected, or had physical or developmental disabilities, Markham said. "They chose a life that many people did not understand," she said. "They had a calling to adopt and to provide love to children that most did not see as normal. To my mom and dad, their children are perfect."

The family have planned a visitation for Thursday night and a funeral Friday, family attorney Crystal Collins Spencer said.

The couple were known for philanthropy and as the owners of several businesses, including a car dealership.The nine children who lived at home and were in the house when the killings occurred are staying with relatives. Markham would not say where.

Three of the children saw the intruders, Morgan said. One ran out of the house when the assailants left and alerted a neighbor, who called police, Morgan said.

Surveillance cameras captured the intruders' movements and images of a van four of the men arrived and fled in.The elder Gonzalez told police he drove the van, according to an arrest warrant.

Morgan said the operation was conducted with precision: The men parked their vehicles. Three entered through the front door and two or three more through a rear door. At one point, as many as five men in black clothing and masks, at least two carrying guns, moved through the nine-bedroom two-story house. They were out in less than 10 minutes.

Morgan called the slayings "chilling." "It leads me to believe this was a very well-planned and methodical operation."

Aso attacked on all fronts

The Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc easily shot down a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Taro Aso on Tuesday, but the LDP slipped further into chaos as members pressed for their unpopular leader to exit.

The opposition-controlled Upper House later approved a nonbinding censure motion against Aso. With this bid, all deliberations in the chamber stopped and the remaining bills in the Diet, including one to allow inspections of ships going to and from North Korea in line with a U.N. resolution, were expected to be scrapped.

It is second time a nonbinding censure motion against a prime minister has been approved. The first, against Yasuo Fukuda, was adopted by the Upper House in June 2008.

Later in the evening, Aso said he was satisfied that no LDP lawmakers backed the no-confidence motion.

"Although everyone must have various opinions, I believe (the results indicate that) the Cabinet and the ruling coalition are united," he said.

However, he said he would take seriously the approval of the nonbinding censure by the upper chamber.

He also decried the failure to pass a bill to inspect North Korean vessels even as other nations are taking steps to carry out the U.N. resolution.

Democratic Party of Japan President Yukio Hatoyama slammed Aso and his Cabinet during the day's Lower House plenary session, saying the prime minister is "just clinging to government power."

"The only way out for Prime Minister Aso is to dissolve the house immediately and seek the judgment of the people," Hatoyama said. "And if Aso can't do that, he should follow the regular procedures of a constitutional government and resign (the Cabinet) en masse."

LDP Secretary General Hiroyuki Hosoda retorted that the no-confidence motion was an attempt to divert attention from the scandal over Hatoyama's political funding report, in which he admitted his fund management body reported ¥22 million in donations from dead people or people who deny making any contributions.

"I think it is safe to say that the submission of this vote of no confidence is tantamount to a 'false donations coverup motion,' " Hosoda said.

The LDP's internal rift widened despite Aso's decision Monday to dissolve the Lower House next week and stay at the LDP helm for the Aug. 30 general election.

LDP executives came under attack at an Executive Council meeting over the party's devastating loss Sunday in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election.

Makoto Koga, chairman of the LDP Election Strategy Council, expressed his intention to resign, not only to take responsibility for Sunday's drubbing but also for the turmoil he caused by urging popular Miyazaki Gov. Hideo Higashikokubaru, a former comedian, to run on the party ticket in the general election — a move that drew fire from some corners.

Hidehisa Otsuji, head of the LDP caucus in the Upper House, also said he would resign his post if party executives must take the blame for the Tokyo election setback.

Before Sunday, the LDP leaders denied the Tokyo campaign would have anything to do with the national election.

Some executives urged Koga and Otsuji to reconsider their decisions to step down, according to sources.

But Koga told reporters after leaving the gathering he would not step down, while some around him said he had vowed to stick to his word and quit.

Adding fuel to the fire, former LDP Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa told Aso to his face at a meeting of LDP Lower House members that he should step down and let someone else lead the party into the general election.

"It is the DPJ that wants the dissolution now. I think it is wrong to do something that would benefit the DPJ," Nakagawa said. "I think the LDP needs a bold new lineup . . . for the election."

While some members sided with Nakagawa, others said it would be a big mistake to pick a new leader now, especially because Aso is the fourth prime minister to be installed since the last Lower House election in September 2005.

Bernard Madoff sentenced to 150 years for 'extraordinarily evil' fraud

Madoff, who ran a "staggering" Ponzi scheme that promised inflated investment returns but simply handed one investor's money to another, will die in prison as a result of being given the maximum possible sentenced for the 11 counts of fraud, mail fraud and money laundering he pleaded guilty to in March.

Judge Denny Chin, sentencing, told 71-year-old Madoff that although the sentence was in many ways "symbolic" it was designed to reflect the "scope, duration and enormity of the fraud" and that "symbolism is important to deter future crimes and as retribution."



He also expressed surprised at the lack of support for Madoff, revealing that "not a single letter" was submitted in his support, not even from his wife Ruth or sons Andrew and Mark.

The judge ignored last minute pleas from Madoff's lawyer Ira Sorkin to hand down a 12 year sentence, and ignored a pre-sentencing report prepared by the US Probation Service (USPS) which recommended he be given 50 years.

"Mr Madoff's crimes were extraordinarily evil. The breach of trust was massive," said Judge Chin, who also intimated that Madoff has not been as helpful with investigators as he might have been, saying: "I simply do not get the sense that Mr. Madoff has done all that he could or told all that he knows."

Madoff, who appeared in court dressed in an almost funereal grey suit, white shirt and black tie, remained silent as the 150 year sentence was read out to him, while dozens of his victims present in the courtroom cheered and applauded.

"I only hope that he lives long enough that his jail cell becomes his coffin," said Michael Schwartz, whose mentally disabled brother's trust fund was wiped out by Madoff. Victim Sheryl Weinstein, whose family knew Madoff, branded him a "beast" who walks among us, while Miriam Siegman explained she had resorted to using government-issued foodstamps and scavenging from shop's bins at the month-end when she has run out of money.

The man himself, who sat listlessly as nine victims described the impact of the fraud on their lives, spoke briefly to apologise for his crimes, and at one point turned to face his victims, albeit momentarily. "I live in a tormented state knowing the pain and suffering I have created. I cannot offer you an excuse for my behaviour," he said. "I don't ask for any forgiveness."

Madoff also used his final public appearance – unless he is successful on appeal, which he has ten days to file – to attempt to shield his family from any suggestions of wrongdoing, saying that he had lied to his wife and two sons for decades.

After the 90 minute sentencing, Ruth Madoff finally broke her six-month silence, saying she was "embarrassed and ashamed" by her husband's actions. Since learning of his crimes following his December confession she has had "two thoughts - first, that so many people who trusted him would be ruined financially and emotionally, and second, that my life with the man I have known for over 50 years was over."

The US Attorney's office on Monday stressed that its investigations continue into the fraud, and that it will pursue any individuals who are found to have assisted him.


*

H1N1 Symptoms

What are the signs and symptoms of this virus in people?
The symptoms of novel H1N1 flu virus in people are similar to the symptoms of seasonal flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. A significant number of people who have been infected with this virus also have reported diarrhea and vomiting. Also, like seasonal flu, severe illnesses and death has occurred as a result of illness associated with this virus.

How severe is illness associated with novel H1N1 flu virus?
It’s not known at this time how severe novel H1N1 flu virus will be in the general population. In seasonal flu, there are certain people that are at higher risk of serious flu-related complications. This includes people 65 years and older, children younger than five years old, pregnant women, and people of any age with certain chronic medical conditions. Early indications are that pregnancy and other previously recognized medical conditions that increase the risk of influenza-related complications, like asthma and diabetes, also appear to be associated with increased risk of complications from novel H1N1 virus infection as well.

One thing that appears to be different from seasonal influenza is that adults older than 64 years do not yet appear to be at increased risk of novel H1N1-related complications thus far in the outbreak. CDC is conducting laboratory studies to see if certain people might have natural immunity to this virus, depending on their age. Early reports indicate that no children and few adults younger than 60 years old have existing antibody to novel H1N1 flu virus; however, about one-third of adults older than 60 may have antibodies against this virus. It is unknown how much, if any, protection may be afforded against novel H1N1 flu by any existing antibody.

How does novel H1N1 flu compare to seasonal flu in terms of its severity and infection rates?
CDC is still learning about the severity of novel H1N1 flu virus. At this time, there is not enough information to predict how severe novel H1N1 flu outbreak will be in terms of illness and death or how it will compare with seasonal influenza.

With seasonal flu, we know that seasons vary in terms of timing, duration and severity. Seasonal influenza can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death. Each year, in the United States, on average 36,000 people die from flu-related complications and more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu-related causes. Of those hospitalized, 20,000 are children younger than 5 years old. Over 90% of deaths and about 60 percent of hospitalization occur in people older than 65.

So far, with novel H1N1 flu, the largest number of novel H1N1 flu confirmed and probable cases have occurred in people between the ages of 5 and 24-years-old. At this time, there are few cases and no deaths reported in people older than 64 years old, which is unusual when compared with seasonal flu. However, pregnancy and other previously recognized high risk medical conditions from seasonal influenza appear to be associated with increased risk of complications from this novel H1N1.

How does novel H1N1 virus spread?
Spread of novel H1N1 virus is thought to be happening in the same way that seasonal flu spreads. Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing by people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.

How long can an infected person spread this virus to others?
At the current time, CDC believes that this virus has the same properties in terms of spread as seasonal flu viruses. With seasonal flu, studies have shown that people may be contagious from one day before they develop symptoms to up to 7 days after they get sick. Children, especially younger children, might potentially be contagious for longer periods. CDC is studying the virus and its capabilities to try to learn more and will provide more information as it becomes available.