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A man detained indefinitely after attacking 11 churchgoers with a samurai sword has been released after less than two years, it has emerged. Glasgow-born Eden Strang, 27, attacked worshippers in Thornton Heath, south London, in November 1999, because he believed they were demons. In June 2000 an Old Bailey jury found Strang not guilty through insanity of attempted murder, but ordered him to be detained indefinitely at a psychiatric hospital under the Mental Health Act. But he was released from hospital in March of this year, and has since been living in a hostel in the local area. Police liaison...

U.S. Rejects British-French Compromise on Exempting U.S. Troops From Prosecution By Edith M. Lederer Associated Press Writer UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United States rejected a compromise at the Security Council Friday, renewing its threat to veto an extension of Bosnian peacekeeping operations unless U.S. soldiers are exempted from prosecution for war crimes. The United States stands alone against the other 14 members of the council, most of whom backed the compromise plan put forward by London and Paris. It would require the new International Criminal Court to defer any investigation of an American peacekeeper for 12 months. That would...

As California's electricity crisis erupted in 2000, SDG&E assured customers that it wasn't profiting from selling them power. Its profits came only from delivering electricity, the utility said. Then in 2001, SDG&E said it had in fact earned about $245 million from power sales. Now the company says it's entitled to $560 million in electricity sale profits during the crisis. The new claim – which amounts to nearly $500 from every local utility customer – was disclosed this week in sworn testimony by a top SDG&E official before the California Public Utilities Commission. The $560 million claim includes $200...

<p>WASHINGTON — Rep. Chip Pickering of Mississippi was Congress' largest recipient of political money from WorldCom's political action committees, its employees and the company's top executives.</p> <p>Since he first ran for Congress in 1996, the 3rd District Republican has received $83,750 in campaign contributions tied to the troubled company — $41,000 from WorldCom PACs and $42,750 from its employees and executives, according to a report released Thursday by the Center for Responsive Politics.</p>

Taiwan ally quits Bush governmentBILATERAL RELATIONS: Peter Brookes, who has supported Taiwan in his capacity as a US defense official, will leave his post some time in the summerBy Charles SnyderSTAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTONPeter Brookes, one of Taiwan's most steadfast supporters in the George W. Bush administration, has resigned his position, in a development that took many China watchers in Washington by surprise. Brookes, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia and the Pacific, will leave his position barely a year after he took the post on July 16 last year. News of his resignation broke in a...

Gold Mine Blast in North China Leaves 46 Dead Forty-six miners died in an explosion at a gold mine in north China after being ordered to continue work even though a fire had broken out underground, the Huashang Bao said Friday.   Forty-six miners died in an explosion at a gold mine in north China after being ordered to continue work even though a fire had broken out underground, the Huashang Bao said Friday. Owners of the mine in Fanshi county, Shanxi province, later tried to cover up the blast - caused by tonnes of explosives stored in the pit...

China Welcomes Foreign Investors in Gold Mining China welcomes foreign investment in its gold production, according to an official with the State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC). Cheng Fumin, head of a gold administrative bureau under the SETC, made the statement at the Sino-South Africa trade fair on gold production and technology held in Zhaoyuan City of east China's Shandong Province. China formally lifted the ban on foreign investment in gold production in March this year. China's gold production technology and management is backward compared with major gold production countries in the world, so it is eager to introduce advanced...

With members of the state Legislature at an impasse over a new operating budget for the world's fifth largest economy, the state of California is withholding checks to pay for social services administered by welfare departments in the 58 counties, officials said Thursday. Some $245 million to pay for programs such as the state's welfare-to-work program called CalWorks, will be withheld, says Rita Saenz, director of the Department of Social Services. "The problem here is that the counties are still obligated to administer the programs," she says, putting the financial load, at least temporarily, on counties. It was not...

China Races to Replace US as Economic Power in Asia  From South Korea to Indonesia, China is rapidly strengthening its economic presence across Asia, gobbling up foreign investment and chipping away at the United States' position as the region's economic engine, according to report by New York Times Thursday. As it buys up goods, parts and raw materials from its neighbors as never before, China has accompanied its new heft with diplomatic efforts to assure them that it wants to offer cooperation, not competition. Many have rushed to China's embrace and are nimbly shifting their economic alliances, particularly as the...

Will China and US Follow the Tracks of Soviet-US Cold War? Seeing the rise of China in recent years, some people in the United States and other countries advertised the "theory of China threat", holding that China, following the former Soviet Union, would become the main enemy of the United States and a new Cold war and even a hot war would break out between the United States and China. Then let's make a comparison between the then Soviet-US relationship and today's Sino-US relationship, will China really become another Soviet Union?   The nearly 50-year period from the end of...

Peter Callaghan It's nothing I can prove, but that's the case with most conspiracy theories. A lack of proof doesn't mean it's not true. I believe that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has some sort of insidious relationship - perhaps financial - with the nation's talk radio programs. I know it is counterintuitive to think that a mostly conservative institution such as talk radio would be in cahoots with the nation's most liberal appeals court. That a left-leaning group of judges might be abetting the vast right-wing conspiracy defies logic. But that's what they want you to think....

SAN FRANCISCO - The multi-billion dollar scandal at US telecommunications giant WorldCom could hurt Internet users worldwide, Web experts warned Thursday. In a note to its users, the prestigious US technology consultancy Gartner warned that the WorldCom plight could affect "service quality." WorldCom carries about 70 percent of all Internet traffic over its network to both corporations and consumers, said former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt, who now works for the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. The consultancy said the plight of WorldCom network customers is not dire, yet, but is still advising users to start making alternative plans...

There are growing signs Russia may not finish constructing the $800 million Bushehr nuclear plant in Iran. Although the plant would be a lucrative deal for the cash-starved Russian government, pressure from the United States, due to concerns that Iran may be trying to acquire nuclear weapons, may be too much for the increasingly pro-West Russian president to ignore. Iran will try to keep Russia engaged as long as possible, but in the meantime will be looking for Moscow's replacement. Analysis STRATFOR sources inside the Russian government say President Vladimir Putin has decided to gradually end Moscow's involvement in building...

Bill: That's funny. Hi, welcome to "Politically Incorrect." Our last real show because tomorrow is our finale and that will be a special finale. And here to join me tonight, Mr. Tim Robbins came by not because he's a big movie star, because he likes this show. Tim: That's right. Bill: Because we never pander to movie stars and God knows they never pander to us. [ Laughter ] But, and you're an Oscar-nominated director -- Actor's Gang Theater is your group out here in L.A. and your play, "The Guys," opening July 10th. It's about a 9/11 New York...

ANN ARBOR, Michigan (AP) - Movie bad guy Steven Berkoff has played a nemesis to stars ranging from Eddie Murphy to Sylvester Stallone. ...Berkoff met his match in U.S. immigration officials and was deported before he could take the stage, apparently for a visa violation. Berkoff was sent home Tuesday after being detained by U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service agents at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on allegations that he had violated the stipulations of a previous work visa issued in 1997, Summer Festival Director Evy Warshawski and Berkoff's American agent, Joe Ajlouny, told The Ann Arbor News...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 28 — Hundreds of Pakistani troops combed the desolate hills near the Afghan border today, searching for suspected Al Qaeda fighters who killed 10 Pakistani soldiers earlier this week. By nightfall, the search had turned up no one, and residents around Wana, the Pakistani town near where the shootout unfolded, said the fighters had fled to Afghanistan. A senior Pakistani law enforcement official said today that an operation involving Americans and Pakistanis was being planned for both sides of the border and that it would begin in the next few days. The troops sealed off Gul Kach,...

June 28, 2002 Ann Coulter's New Book : Get It Cheaper Than Amazon!    Home · Columnists · Late-Night Jokes · Archives · Cartoons  News Alerts · U.S. News Links · PriorityGrams · Int'l  News Links · MoneyNews  Contact Us · NewsMax Store · Classifieds · Get Your Site Listed CommentMax Constitution Abolishes U.S. John L. Perry June 27, 2002 I pledge allegiance to an empty flag pole of the United States of America for which it stands, one nation, invisible, disavowing God, no longer in existence. Having found the pledge to Old Glory unconstitutional for mentioning God, it...

NEW YORK -- WorldCom Inc.'s accounting woes are likely to widen as investigators and auditors seek additional evidence of financial misstatements that extend beyond the $3.8 billion the company disclosed earlier this week, according to people familiar with the matter. The company's auditors, KPMG LLP, are pushing to do a broad review of WorldCom's financial statements that goes further back than the past five quarters of inflated profits the telecom concern recently reported, these people said. However, KPMG hasn't fully committed to continuing as WorldCom's auditor. Several people close to the matter said they expect the firm will continue...

June 28, 2002 -- The NYPD is so strapped for applicants that it is lowering standards to admit recruits with DWI arrests, The Post has learned. Background checks on 100 of the 2,800 new recruits who'll enter the Police Academy on Monday reveal that nine were busted for driving while intoxicated, police sources said. Of the nine, two were arrested for DWI while in the military. In addition, half a dozen recruits were busted for drinking from an open container. Another admitted on his application form that he had smoked pot and used the club drug "ecstasy." And yet another...

Title: Catholic Vision Of Frank Capra, The Author: Maria Elena De Las Carreras Kuntz Title: Catholic Vision Of Frank Capra, The Larger Work: Crisis Pages: 38 - 43 Publisher & Date: The Morley Institute, Inc., Washington, D.C., February 2002 Includes: Identical text with no graphics. Description: An analysis of the Catholic elements in the life and films of the very succussful American movie director, Frank Capra. The Catholic Vision Of Frank Capra By Maria Elena De Las Carreras Kuntz The career of Frank Capra coincided with the golden age of Hollywood, and many of his films are recognized as...