Free Republic

Two men have pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in connection with the fatal beating of a 59-year-old San Francisco man on a downtown Oakland street, attorneys in the case said Tuesday. Lavonte Drummer, 20, and Dominic Davis, 19, both of Oakland, had been charged with murder in the 2010 death of Tian Sheng Yu, which came after what authorities called a random, unprovoked attack on his son, Jin Cheng Yu, then 27. Drummer and Davis pleaded no contest last month to voluntary manslaughter and are expected to serve 11 years in prison if Judge Carrie Panetta of Alameda County...

MANILA, Philippines - Forty-three persons – including a politician about to file her and her brother’s certificates of candidacy (COCs), as well as journalists covering the event – were confirmed killed when heavily armed men waylaid the group on its way to the local Commission on Elections (Comelec) office in Maguindanao. Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Public Information Office chief Lt. Col. Romero Brawner confirmed that as of yesterday afternoon, ground troops had recovered 21 bodies – 13 women and eight men – from the massacre site in Barangay Saniag, Ampatuan town. Supporters of Buluan Vice Mayor Toto Mangudadatu...

A former American envoy to the United Nations, John Bolton, said the America should pursue "regime change" in Iran because European governments refuse to back sanctions tough enough to halt the suspected Iranian nuclear-bomb program. "I believe that either regime change in Iran or, as a last resort, military action is the only thing that will stop the Iranians from getting nuclear weapons," Mr. Bolton said in an interview yesterday in Washington. Mr. Bolton, a 58-year-old former arms-control official, said the Bush administration had allowed Britain, France, and Germany to "screw around" in nuclear talks. The diplomacy has gone on...

Hostaged overseas Filipino worker Roberto Tarongoy is alive — but barely, as Iraqi militants have threatened to execute the accountant on Saturday, Manila time, unless the Arroyo government withdraws all its workers in Iraq and cuts military ties with the United States. There was no monetary demand made for his release, although earlier reports said the hostage-takers demanded $10 million. A visibly haggard Tarongoy was shown in an al-Jazeera video last March 7, wearing an orange jumpsuit with his captors, highly-places sources said yesterday. The video was aired in Doha, Qatar 11 p.m. (Tuesday 4 a.m., Manila time). It was...

HEADLINE NEWS Hunt on for killers of Sabah kidnap victims The Philippine Star 10/30/2003 President Arroyo has ordered a manhunt for the murderers of five of six hostages seized from a resort in neighboring Malaysia early this month. The lone survivor, identified by Filipino police as an Indonesian teenager, was rescued in the Tawi-Tawi island group near the Malaysian state of Sabah on Monday. "I condemn this outrageous and senseless killing as I condole with the families of the victims," Mrs. Arroyo said in a statement. She ordered the Philippine National Police and the military to "block all possible exits...

Vandals deface car of Bush aide's wife BY KAREN DE SÁ Mercury News An adviser to George W. Bush woke up Saturday to find his wife's car scratched with obscenities, the words ``Nazi'' and ``fascist,'' and expletives directed at gays and the president-elect. It is an act Palo Alto police are calling a hate crime. Four cars parked in the 300 block of Kingsley Avenue were vandalized late Friday or early Saturday in the posh neighborhood near downtown. The property of Bill Evers, a conservative education policy expert at Stanford University's Hoover Institution who advised Bush throughout his campaign, is ...

Vandals deface car of Bush aide's wife BY KAREN DE SÁ Mercury News An adviser to George W. Bush woke up Saturday to find his wife's car scratched with obscenities, the words ``Nazi'' and ``fascist,'' and expletives directed at gays and the president-elect. It is an act Palo Alto police are calling a hate crime. Four cars parked in the 300 block of Kingsley Avenue were vandalized late Friday or early Saturday in the posh neighborhood near downtown. The property of Bill Evers, a conservative education policy expert at Stanford University's Hoover Institution who advised Bush throughout his campaign, is ...

A former Mormon missionary and high-tech manager who crushed his wife's skull with a baseball bat was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison. Daniel Mackay, 44, of Fremont had faced a maximum 12 years in prison for the April 1998 bludgeoning death of his wife, Debby. A jury convicted him of manslaughter in April. During the Alameda County Superior Court trial, the prosecution had sought a first-degree murder conviction, but the defense argued that the killing was committed in the heat of passion. Friday's sentencing by Superior Court Judge Leo Dorado ended a two-year criminal case that began ...

Posted at 10:57 p.m. PDT Wednesday, September 29, 1999 Bush, Bradley head to the valley They come courting both cash and cachet BY MARY ANNE OSTROM Mercury News Political Writer Two of the top presidential contenders will be in Silicon Valley today, intensifying the contest to win high tech's stamp of approval for their campaigns. GOP front-runner George W. Bush and surging Democrat Bill Bradley are here scouring for last-minute contributions on the final day of a three-month campaign-finance reporting period. The reports are seen as a crucial measure of a candidate's strength. Vice President Al Gore was at ...