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GENEVA (AFP) - More than 45 million people have voted so far in an Internet campaign to choose the seven "new" wonders of the world out of 21 shortlisted historical buildings or monuments, the organisers said Monday. The contest, aimed at raising global awareness about the world's shared cultural heritage, was set up by a Swiss filmmaker, curator and traveller Bernard Weber, following the destruction of Afghanistan's giant Buddha statues at Bamyan by the Taliban in 2001. In the most recent count published on May 7, the top 10 were the Acropolis in Greece, the ancient Mayan city of Chichen...

Iraq war veteran tells of beating at airport Soldier accuses Las Vegas police By DAVID KIHARA REVIEW-JOURNAL National Guard Sgt. Mark England came out of a tour of duty in Iraq with just a hand injury from an insurgent attack near Baghdad in 2004. His trip to Las Vegas last month, however, ended with a police beating at McCarran International Airport that left him with three broken ribs, he said. "I could understand if I was in Germany or a foreign country, but we're supposed to be on the same side," England said. "If it could happen to me, it...

Cleveland Heights Man Killed After Police Chase Called Off POSTED: 6:55 am EDT May 10, 2007 UPDATED: 11:31 am EDT May 10, 2007 CLEVELAND -- An innocent driver is dead and three suspects are in the hospital after a police chase came to a violent end Wednesday evening. The victim was John J. Rankins, 45, of Cleveland Heights. It happened at about 8:15 p.m., Sixth District police officers, vice and community service unit cars as well as an ATF agent were on gun suppression detail, an initiative to get guns off the streets. The law enforcement agents spotted a silver...

Don't help people sit on their butts I have a question, not only for Douglas County, but for the entire state of Oregon. Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job. I work, they pay me, I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as they see fit. In order for me to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine test, which I have no problem with. What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test....

If you are on Myspace, you probably know spammers have been capturing passwords lately. I figured out a trick they use. Once they get access to a profile, they put some code in it so the links at the top (home, browse, search, etc) divert to a fake log-in page. You figure Myspace is f-ing up again, log back in, and they have it. Look at your profile (NOT your home page) and see if the links go to myspace.com, or somewhere else. If they go somewhere else: 1) Change your password. 2) Go to the "interests and personality" section...

Jeffrey Lundgren is executed 10:31 a.m. Lucasville -- The state executed Jeffrey Lundgren this morning for killing a family of five in Kirtland in 1989. Lundgren was pronounced dead at 10:26 a.m., 24 minutes after corrections officials began placing shunts into his arm for the chemicals used in lethal injection. Lundgren, a cult leader who said Bible passages told him to kill the family, made a brief statement before he was executed. "I want to profess my love for God, my family, my children and my beloved Kathryn. I am because you are." The reference was to Kathryn Johnson, his...

Claridon Township -- Tim Taylor's job calls for finding ways to distribute food stamps to Geauga County's Amish. He might as well be trying to sell them cars. The horse-and-buggy crowd philosophically opposes the support program overseen by Taylor's agency, the Geauga Department of Job & Family Services. Accepting public assistance is verboten within the Amish culture. It simply is not done. But Taylor is under orders to at least try to get them enrolled. The Ohio Department of Job & Family Services has asked Geauga and Holmes counties, which feature the state's largest Amish populations, to lift dismal food-stamp...

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Phillies acquired first baseman Randall Simon from the Texas Rangers for cash on Friday. Simon, suspended for three games in 2003 after hitting one of the Milwaukee Brewers' sausage mascots with his bat, last played in the major leagues Sept. 7, 2004, with Tampa Bay.

The Cleveland Browns stumbled to a 6-10 record last year, their third straight losing season. Browns Stadium was sold out for every game. The Kansas City Chiefs entered the season with high hopes, but missed the playoffs for the second year in a row. Arrowhead Stadium was sold out for every game. The Philadelphia Eagles plummeted to a 6-10 mark, their worst since 1999. Lincoln Financial Field was sold out for every game. Such steadfast support is the reason why Cleveland, Kansas City and Philadelphia are 1-2-3 in Bizjournals's new rankings of National Football League fan loyalty. (Click here for...

LONDON: Aston Villa of the English Premier League said Monday that it had agreed to a takeover by Randy Lerner, owner of the Cleveland Browns in the United States.

Less than a month before their first preseason game, the Browns are looking for a new television partner after terminating their relationship with WOIO Channel 19. The Browns notified the station of their intention on Thursday, three days after Channel 19 aired the 911 tape of Nancy Fisher, sister of Browns owner Randy Lerner, finding her 6-year-old daughter drowned in a creek on family property in Mantua. Channel 19 was the only station to air the gruesome portion of Fisher's emergency call. Bill Bonsiewicz, Browns spokesman, confirmed the team is looking for a new station to air its four preseason...

It was kill or be killed. Boom. Boom. Officer John Timothy Franko wanted to live, to come home to his wife, his 3-year-old daughter, his son, who was only 4 months old. Franko was 25 years old. He had been an Independence cop for only six months. That Oct. 17, 1975, he had stopped a hit-skip suspect in a crowded Perkins Pancake House. The man drew a gun and smashed it into Franko's forehead. As blood ran down his face, Franko fired two shots. Officers took his gun and badge and drove him home. He broke the news to his...

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Two New York teenagers were in police custody Wednesday facing illegal computer access and attempted extortion charges after they allegedly threatened to shake down the popular Web site MySpace.com unless its operators paid them $150,000, prosecutors said. Shaun Harrison, 18, and Saverio Mondelli, 19, of Suffolk County, N.Y. allegedly hacked into the social networking site and stole personal information from MySpace users. After MySpace booted them from the site, the pair threatened to distribute a foolproof method for stealing information unless MySpace paid them $150,000, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district...

MBIHE-MOKELE, Congo - Even as Congolese villagers devise novel ways to snare the fast-disappearing bonobo, scientists are racing to save the gentle "hippie chimp" from extinction. The bonobo, or pan paniscus, is closely related to man and known for resolving squabbles through sex rather than violence. It's also prized by some Congolese for its tasty meat. The wiry, wizened-faced chimps are being killed in treetop nests in Congo's vast rain forest, their only natural habitat in the world, by villagers who do not seem to know how fast their prey is disappearing. "Bonobos are an icon for peace and love,...

I checked and there wasn't a Myspace group for Freepers. So I figured why not? I have it so I have to approve members right now. If you do a request, make sure send me your FR name so I can verify that you're not kitten chow. >:) -Eric

Bars wait for smoke ban ruling Law takes effect today;7 businesses will learn whether they're exempt By Kymberli Hagelberg Beacon Journal staff writer The smoking ban is now law for many Summit County businesses for at least the next five weeks, but a Common Pleas Court will decide today whether seven bars are temporarily off the hook. Attorney Chris Tipping has filed for a temporary restraining order on behalf of seven clients who own bars in Summit County townships that must comply with the Summit County Clean Indoor Air Ordinance. The law prohibits smoking in bars, restaurants and most other...

The IDF removed soldiers securing the settlement of Yitzhar in the West Bank on Thursday afternoon. The army's move followed an incident on Wednesday in which 11 residents of the settlement attacked a soldier on guard duty. During the attack, the soldier was beaten to the ground and his communication device was taken from him. The military force guarding Yitzhar was the last line of communication between the army and the West Bank settlement. As a result of the IDF decision, the settlement was entirely cut off from the military.

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) -- A former Democratic election worker in this battered city was sentenced Monday to a year and a half in federal prison and a City Hall volunteer got probation for scheming to buy votes in the November 2004 election. Noting that the case reflected an American election process "under attack" by fraud, U.S. District Judge G. Patrick Murphy ordered former precinct committee member Sheila Thomas' prison sentence to be followed by two years of supervised release.

Finders Keepers: Couple Get Cash They Found In Ditch Sheriff's Office Wanted To Keep Cash Under Drug Forfeiture Laws OKANOGAN, Wash. -- It's a case of finder-keepers and then some. An Oroville, Wash., couple can keep the more than half million dollars in cash they found along a highway. Jane Gerth spotted a backpack in a ditch not far from her home. When they found $507,000 inside, her husband Dan called deputies. The sheriff's office seized the cash and wanted to keep it under drug forfeiture laws. But a judge has ruled the couple gets the money. Local authorities said...

The Admin Mods came through in fine fashion today. Rather than deleting disgusting comments from a thread which turned truly repulsive, they locked it and left it up, with the following addendum: Too many of the comments here are a disgrace to FreeRepublic.