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News of the World Tabloid Journalist Found Dead

News of the World

Sean Hoare, a former News of the World tabloid journalist was found dead in his home.  Hoare was involved as a whistleblower in a phone-hacking scandal with News Corporation.

Mike Hoyt, executive editor of the Columbia Journalism Review, speaks about the News Corporation’s phone-hacking incident and the how newspapers influence society. He speaks to Deirdre Bolton of Bloomberg Television’s “InsideTrack.”

A former reporter at News Corporation (NWSA)’s now-dead News of the World tabloid, he was the first to allege its editor encouraged phone hacking by the staff.  He was found dead, as reported by the Guardian newspaper, without saying where they got the information.

Sean Hoare’s body was found this morning at his home in Watford, England, when police were called to his house, the Guardian mentions. The death is not considered to be suspicious, the newspaper added, citing a police report which did not name Hoare.

Hoare worked as an entertainment reporter at the News of the World with Coulson, who resigned as David Cameron who was the U.K. Prime Minister’s press secretary earlier this year due to the scandal.

Hoare first suspected that Coulson encouraged reporters to hack into mobile phones during an interview last year with the New York Times. He had also worked with Coulson at News Corporation’s Sun tabloid before he was dismissed because of drug and alcohol problems, the Guardian reported.

Officials for police in Hertfordshire could not be reached for their comments and the Metropolitan Police Service in London said it was not aware of the case.

David Sonn, an attorney for Hoare, said he didn’t know about it, and if the report is true, it is “a terrible tragedy.”

Daniel Baldwin Granted Restraining Order Against Wife As He Files For Divorce

Baldwin Granted Restraining Order

Daniel Baldwin filed for divorce and was also granted a restraining order against his wife Joanne, claiming that she punched him then threatened him with a knife in front of their children on Sunday evening.

The 50-year-old actor said Joanne Clare Baldwin, his wife, made threats of violence and death “too numerous to list.” Baldwin filed for divorce on Tuesday.  Joanne, 41, was arrested Wednesday night for violating her probation on a previous drunk driving conviction. She was placed in a jail near the couple’s Oregon home and will be held there until a hearing on July 20, reports the Associated Press.

The couple were married in July 2007 and have two daughters together, Avis Ann, 3, and Finley Rae Martineau, who will turn 2 years old soon.

“There are so many instances of violence and death threats, they are too numerous to list,” Baldwin stated in his request for the restraining order. “Sadly, all of them seem to occur in front of our children.”

The actor claimed in his statement that his wife violated her probation “hundreds of times” since she was convicted of the second DUI in June 2010. Baldwin said his wife becomes “violent and dangerous” when she drinks alcohol.

Baldwin said he grew fearful of his wife after they watched a documentary about women who killed their husbands and he quoted Joanne as saying, “Now I know how to do it, I understand why they did it. You have been warned. Move out of this house or I am going to kill you.”

Baldwin appeared in several TV series in the 90s, including the lead role on NBC’s “Homicide: Life on the Street.” He has also appeared in films like “Vampires”, “Mulholland Falls,” “Stealing Candy,” and “Grey Gardens.”

The actor has three brothers who also act – William, Stephen and Alec, who received an Emmy nomination on Thursday for his role as Jack Donaghy on “30 Rock.” Daniel has dealt with his own drug addiction and was ordered to enter a treatment program in 2007 when police found him in a Santa Monica hotel with cocaine and other drug paraphernalia. His publicist reported on Thursday that Daniel Baldwin has been sober for four years and was very lenient with his wife due to his own problems in the past.

Thousands Of People Threaten To Quit Netflix

Threaten To Quit Netflix

Is Redbox in the game to pick up lots of frustrated Netflix customers?  The reason for the frustration is that Netflix recently announced that it would no longer be offering the combined DVD and streaming video plan, instead separating the services into two different offers.  The costs for both would be $16 a month if you want both services.

One frustrated customer says they have been a Netflix customer since 200 and just recently downgraded from three DVDs per month to one with unlimited streaming to only be hit in the face with this news.

Netflix customers are used to only paying $9.99 a month for both unlimited DVDs and unlimited streaming.  Now they will be two distinct plans with unlimited streaming and no DVDs for $7.99 per month and unlimited DVDs with just one out at a time and no streaming for only $7.99 per month.

If you add the two prices together you will get $15.98 so round it up and you have your new price.  You don’t have to do anything if you want to keep both streaming and unlimited DVD services.  The new pricing structure begins 9/1/2011.

Many former Netflix fans raised cane on Facebook about the new proposal with approximately 9,000 going on their page to voice their heated disapproval.  Some of them complained of Netflix’s greed and threatened to leave Netflix for Redbox.  Some other users suggested using services such as Hulu Plus, Crackle and even Blockbuster.

More than 4,300 have commented on the Netflix blog, and again, reaction seems to be against Netflix, for the most part.

We’ve reached to Redbox to see if they’ve gotten any boost from the Netflix move, and Netflix to see if they’ve received cancellations and if they have any intention to restore the plans in light of such a negative reaction. Subscribers also complained about not being able to reach customer service. We tried too, and weren’t able to get through, due to technical problems on their end.

Google Says You Must Go Public On Profiles Or We’ll Delete You

Google Says Go Public

In an effort to get more Web 2.0 social online Google has an interesting but not surprising side effect: Profiles can no longer be hidden as of the end of this month.

Google is busy crafting its social network named Google+, but has but announced this policy on how it is going to handle user profiles.

From July 31 people that have created private profiles in something like their free Gmail account will be removed by Google unless they switch to public view.

“The purpose of Google Profiles is to enable you to manage your online identity. Today, nearly all Google Profiles are public. We believe that using Google Profiles to help people find and connect with you online is how the product is best used. Private profiles don’t allow this, so we have decided to require all profiles to be public,” added Google.

Google says that it will only require a user’s full name and gender to display on the public profile. Any other information someone doesn’t want the world to know can be edited or deleted.

“If you currently have a private profile but you do not wish to make your profile public, you can delete your profile. Or, you can simply do nothing. All private profiles will be deleted after July 31, 2011,” said Google.

This move comes as part of Mountain View’s ambition to have social products in its search and email products.

Anyone wanting to use Google+ must have a public profile which has at least their full name and gender displaying.

Google’s argument is that providing such details through its service will build trust among members of its social network.

The idea of online identity is currently undergoing a major shift away from the old model of people having a separate account for different parts of a web leader’s online estate.

Google has been at the forefront of this shift event though it has arrived late at the social party – they have set aside the failed Buzz.

Facebook for years has been insisting that user sign up for its private network with their real names.  It has routinely asked users when their accounts are temporarily disabled to give proof that they are who they say they are.

Casey Anthony Verdict Found Not Guilty… Why?

Casey Anthony Not Guilty

Since acquitting Casey Anthony the jurors keep declining to talk to reporter.  Casey Anthony was acquitted of first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter and aggravated child abuse.  Now many people are wondering why did the jury find Casey Anthony not guilty?

If Casey had been convicted of first-degree murder, she would be facing the death penalty and according to Charles Rose legal expert who is a professor at Stetson University, there just was not enough evidence to prove a capital murder case.

“They did not have cause of death or time of death and they still chose to go for a capital one murder charge,” said Rose. “They chose to roll a big dice.”

Rose believes that if the child’s body had been found one day or even a week after she went missing, all of the questions that everyone is asking would be answered. Instead when the body was found, there remained only bones and circumstantial evidence.

According to Rose, the prosecutors should have gone for negligent homicide, where the state would only have to prove Casey wasn’t watching Caylee properly and this is what led to her death.

Though jurors refused to speak with reporters after their decision, an alternate juror told NBC’s “Today” show today that he thought they came to the right verdict. Russell Huekler told the network he did not think the prosecution presented sufficient evidence to uphold a murder charge.

“When they explained to us what reasonable doubt was, I definitely had reasonable doubt then,” Huekler added.

Huekler also said he didn’t think prosecutors offered a motive for why Anthony would want to kill her daughter.

“Just because Casey was a party girl did not show why she would possibly kill Caylee,” Huekler commented.

“I believe that [the jury's decision] is an affirmation of the way justice works in the United States,” said Rose.

Prosecutors challenged that Casey Anthony suffocated her daughter Caylee with duct tape because she wanted to be free to go to the nightclubs and also to spend time with her boyfriend. Defense attorneys argued that the child drowned accidently in the family swimming pool.

Anthony is not likely to face any additional time in jail.

“President Obama Assassinated in Iowa” Hackers Tweet On Fox News Account.

Hackers Tweet On Fox

Some Fox News editors scrambled early Monday to try to figure out how hackers broke into one of Fox News’ Twitter accounts, posting messages that President Obama was assassinated.

Hackers broke into the Fox News Politics account around 2 AM and posted messages that President Obama had been shot and killed during his campaigning in Iowa.

“@BarackObama has just passed. The President is dead. A sad 4th of July, indeed. President Barack Obama is dead,” was what the first post said

Minutes later, the hackers added that Obama had been “shot twice in the lower pelvic area and in the neck; shooter unknown. Bled out.”

Then there were three more rapid-fire tweets, one that said Obama had been killed at “Ross’ Restaurant in Iowa,” the hackers even signed off by wishing Vice President Joe Biden good luck as the country’s new president.

“In such a time of madness, there’s light at the end of tunnel,” the hackers wrote.

The seven phony tweets were visible on the account, which has Twitter’s baby blue “verified account” badge, for most of the morning on Monday. They were deleted at around noon on Monday.

Fox’s politics Twitter account has nearly 35,000 followers.

A group of hackers called The Script Kiddies appeared to claim responsibility for the July 4th hoax, BBC News reported.

At one point, the account’s picture was replaced with the group’s logo, and a description said, “”H4CK3D BY TH3 5CR1PT K1DD3S.”

During an interview with Stony Brook Magazine’s Think magazine, a person claiming to be a part of the hacking organization said the group had close ties to the infamous hacking clan named Anonymous.

The hacking group supposedly broke into the account around midnight on Sunday and posted a few tweets that pointed back to their own account before beginning the Obama scam, Think reported.

Indiana Jones – Hidden Treasure Worth $11 Billion Found Underneath Temple In India

Treasure Worth $11 Billion

Vaults beneath a temple in India were searched according to a court-order and the treasure has turned up more than $11 billion in treasure, reports the Indian state of Kerala.

The contents of what lies underneath the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple located in Thiruvananthapuram reads like a list of props from the hit “Indiana Jones” movie.  Including:

• Replicas of pure gold coconut shells
• Sapphires, rubies, pearls and emeralds
• Gold chains in lengths as long as 18 feet
• Hundreds of thousands of silver and gold coins, some dating back to the 16th century
• Pendants and crown
• Solid-gold idols and human figurines
• Silver and gold bars

The wealth was found among six vaults maybe more, some of which have not been opened in over 149 years, according to reports from them media. India’s Supreme Court ordered an inventory to be done of the vaults after hearing a private criticism seeking “more transparency and trustworthiness in the temple administration.”

The Kerala government announced Monday the found treasure will remain property of the shrine, according to reports by the media.

“The wealth belonged to the temple and it will be preserved where it was found. There is religious and historical significance to the findings. The state will ensure its security,” Oommen Chandy, Kerala Chief Minister spoke about to the Times of India.

As word of the find spreads, Kerala police have asked for assistance to safeguard the treasure.

“It is too big a challenge for the police. We have no trained personnel to manage such a huge treasure. We have sought the help of several agencies who can really help us,” Director general of the Kerala police, Jacob Punnose, director general of the Kerala police told India Today.

What might the treasure, which the Economic Times of India is saying is likely the largest in the country mean to Kerala, which is a south Indian state of 33 million people? The Economic Times reports that they have some ideas on the subject.

Casey’s Father’s Alleged Mistress Says He Told Her About The Accident

Casey Anthony’s Trial

Before police uncovered the skeletal remains of Caylee Anthony’s two-year old body, her grandfather mentioned to his alleged mistress that Caylee’s situation was “an accident that snowballed out of control,” the alleged mistress told the courtroom on Thursday.

This testimony was heard on the final and 13^th day of the defense’s case during the month-long trial for murder by Casey Anthony who is the Florida mother who is accused of murdering her young daughter.

Shortly following the mistress’ testimony the defense rested its case after telling that Ms. Anthony would not testify.

Krystal Holloway, the alleged mistress volunteered in the search for Caylee, she told the courtroom that she and George Anthony, Caylee’s grandfather had been intimate in 2008.

Holloway was surprised as Mr. Anthony told her that the child’s disappearance was an accident.  It was at this same time that Mr. Anthony and Cindy, his wife, were helping to lead a national effort as well as making media appearances under the assumption that the young girl was kidnapped but still alive.

Holloway told that George Anthony’s statement was made while the two conversed quietly in her home near Thanksgiving in 2008.  “We were talking about his daughter and I mentioned that I didn’t think he could raise somebody that was capable of harming her child,” Ms. Holloway told the courtroom. “That’s when he said it was an accident that snowballed out of control.”

Holloway said the comment surprised her. “I was caught off guard by it, and when I looked up he had tears in his eyes,” she added.

To try to confirm the relationship the Defense Attorney named Jose Baez showed new evidence which was a text message apparently from George Anthony to Ms. Holloway.  It said: “Just thinking about you. I need you in my life.”

The message was received on Dec. 16, just five days after the child’s body was found in a wooded area.

On Tuesday during his testimony, George Anthony categorically denied ever having the affair with Ms. Holloway. He also denied that he had made any statement about the child’s death.

“Did you tell Krystal Holloway that Caylee’s death is an accident that snowballed out of control,” Defense Attorney Jose Baez asked Mr. Anthony.

Mom Sues Cornell Fraternity for $25 Million

George Desdunes lawsuit

George Desdunes family filed a lawsuit on Monday claiming wrongful-death for their son.  The lawsuit is looking to hold the fraternity of Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) responsible for the death of the 19-year-old who was alleged hazed.  George was found laying unconscious on a couch in February at the Cornell fraternity and was later pronounced dead.

Although Desdunes was already a member of the fraternity he was kidnapped by pledges of the fraternity of SAE, part of a fraternity ritual which is long-standing.

Court documents state that some of the pledges questioned Desdunes about SAE then forced him to drink alcohol until he was unconscious several different times.  The papers state that instead of trying to get Desdunes medical help the pledges took him to the fraternity house while he was bound at the ankles and wrists, dumping him on a couch there where he was left there to die.

“With the death of my son, I find some comfort in knowing that this lawsuit may bring about changes in fraternities that will prevent other families from suffering as I have,” Desdunes mother said.

Desdunes mother is seeking $25 million dollars in damages.  She is looking to teach fraternities across the college communities a lesson with this tragedy.  If common sense and human decency are not enough for fraternities to take note, then maybe the large amount of this lawsuit will teach them a life lesson.  No money in the world can bring back Desdunes.

E15 Gas Pumps Benefit Only Light Trucks And New Cars?

E15 Gas Pumps Benefit

The Environmental Protection Agency recently released a warning sticker about gasoline which contains 15% ethanol.  This is considered the final step to clear the way for the U.S. gas pumps to sell the higher blend.

The only vehicles that can use E15 are light trucks and newer cars from the model year of 2001 and forward.  “Flex-fuel” vehicles will also be allowed to use E15.

Prohibited by the ERP from using E15 are gasoline powered engines likes those on boats, lawnmowers and snowmobiles.

Also not allowed to be filled with E15 according to the EPA regulations: motorcycles and vehicles that have heavy-duty engines like delivery trucks and buses, off-road vehicles and equipment and neither can light vehicles which are from 2000 or before.

The process to use E15 began over two years ago and the release of this new warning sticker means that it is in the home stretch of the approval process for the group of ethanol proponents.

According to the EPA in early 2009 a combination of ethanol groups petitioned the EPA to waive the allowance of gasoline with a higher 15% ethanol content to be sold in opposition to the current 10% limit.

The EPA ended up conducting tests to decide if engines would safely handle the higher blend.  The EPA partially granted the groups’ request last October after initial test results. This testing opened the door for E15 to become approved for cars 2007 and newer as well as light trucks.