Silver Lake 'walking man' killed himself, L.A. coroner concludes

Marc Abrams, the doctor known as the "walking man" for his shirtless walks around Silver Lake, died by drowning himself in his hot tub, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said Monday.

“He was found in the Jacuzzi with the Jacuzzi lid pulled over the Jacuzzi itself,” said Ed Winter, assistant chief of the Department of Coroner Investigations. “There was no suicide note found.”

The body was found Wednesday at his home. Abrams, 58, ran a medical practice in North Hollywood until about a year ago.

At the time of his death, Abrams was under investigation for prescribing drugs to a 25-year-old patient who died of an overdose, according to law enforcement authorities and a lawyer for the patient’s family.

On Sunday, more than 400 of the doctor’s friends and acquaintances remembered him by walking one of his favorite stretches around and along Sunset Boulevard.

Abrams’ lawyer said the manner of death was hard to believe. “I do find it strange that there would be a finding of suicide by drowning in a hot tub, which is just difficult to understand,” said the lawyer, Michael A. Zuk.

The death ruling is final, but the full report was unavailable because it was awaiting transcription.

Los Angeles Times

Chatroulette tries to ditch the flashers

(CNN) -- It all comes down to the flasher problem.

The website Chatroulette -- which unites people all over the world for live, random video chats -- has been plagued by awkward, and possibly illegal, nudity since it became wildly popular in February of this year.

People who log onto the site with a webcam are thrown into a video conversation with a stranger, who, according to one analyst's report, is likely to be a stranger without pants more than 10 percent of the time.

Meanwhile, the site's founder, a Russian teenager named Andrey Ternovskiy, continues to say that he's out to create a "perfect video world" where people can talk across national borders and beyond social cliques and demographics.

The major hitch in that utopian vision: the nakedness, which led some to turn away from the site.

Salon.com posted an article on June 29 titled "R.I.P. Chatroulette," citing lewd material on the site as the reason it will die a fad.

CNN

Google cuts ties with 2 Chinese advertisers

BEJIING - Google Inc said on Monday it has cut commercial ties with two of its Chinese advertising agents, raising concerns that the Internet giant's recent standoff with the government may scare away more domestic advertisers.

The US-based search engine has ended partnerships with Universal Internet Media and Xi'an Weihua Network, which are the major advertising agents for Google in East and Northwest China, Marsha Wang, spokesperson for Google China, told China Daily.

Universal Internet Media is based in Suzhou, Jiangsu province and Xi'an Weihua Network is based in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province. The two are among 25 of Google's authorized adverting agents in the country.

"The partnerships ended a couple of weeks ago because both sides felt there were no longer any mutual benefits," Wang said. She declined to comment on how the breakup would affect Google's Chinese business.

Since Google announced earlier this year that it would stop providing filtered results in its search service and redirect all mainland traffic to its Hong Kong site, a number of its advertisers have expressed concerns and reduced their advertising spending on the US search engine.

Google's market share in China dropped to 24 percent in the second quarter of this year, from 31 percent in the first quarter, figures from research firm Analysys International showed. Market share is measured by advertising revenue.

The market share of Baidu, Google's rival in the Chinese market, hit a record high of above 70 percent during the past three months.

It is unclear whether Google's departure from Universal Internet Media and Xi'an Weihua Network will impact its partnership with other advertising agents.

China Daily

Iran ready to resume nuclear fuel swap talks

Surprise U-turn follows EU approval of stricter sanctions on Iran that include a block on gas and oil investment

Iran said today it was ready to return to talks on a nuclear fuel swap, a surprise that came shortly after the EU agreed tougher sanctions, including a block on oil and gas investment.

Shortly after EU foreign ministers approved extra restrictions that went well beyond UN sanctions agreed last month, Iran said it was prepared to return to negotiations on a nuclear fuel swap "without conditions", according to the official IRNA news agency.

Talking of a letter that Iran handed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran's envoy to the U.N. agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said: "The clear message of this letter was Iran's complete readiness to hold negotiations over the fuel for the Tehran reactor without any conditions."The announcement appeared to be an Iranian signal of willingness to negotiate as a net of UN, EU and U.S. sanctions tightens around it, but it was not clear that the quick offer of fuel swap talks would be enough to placate world powers.

The EU foreign affairs chief, Lady Ashton, welcomed Iran's offer of a return to negotiations but said she wanted to see the details before commenting further.

The Guardian

Scottish bride slain in US home

A Scotswoman has been stabbed to death in the United States by her stepson less than three months after getting married.

Tracy Brannan, 33, died from multiple stab wounds inflicted at the home she shared with her husband, psychologist Dr Harold Brannan, 60, in Omaha, Nebraska, in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The couple were attacked in their sleep by Brannan’s son from his first marriage, David Brannan. The 21-year-old then slashed his own throat.

Police shot David three times with 50,000-volt Taser guns before he released the knife, allowing paramedics to treat him at the scene.

Tracy, whose maiden name was Wyatt, was originally from the Hamilton area where her brother Simon and her father are believed to still live. She was a former pupil of the town’s Earnock High School.

She was the former assistant head chef at the Loch Fyne Oyster Bar at Cairndow in Argyll, where staff were last night too upset to talk about the loss of their former colleague.

One said: “It is too emotional, the news is too fresh”.

It is not clear when Tracy moved to the US but she married Brannan in a ceremony on May 7 this year and the couple lived with the psychologist’s son at a rented home in Omaha.

The doctor worked close to his home at the Beneficial Health Services clinic, which lists family counselling, parent coaching and drug-dependency evaluations among its services.

David remained in hospital under police guard last night but his father was allowed home yesterday, with reports that he spent the afternoon throwing his son’s belongings out on to the street.

Omaha Police Department said they were not looking for any suspects, with Tracy’s death being treated as a domestic incident.

A Facebook posting by a relative of the victim said: “I hate Dave for doing this, I miss you.” Another read: “So sorry to hear how it happened”.

Neighbours told police they were woken up by screams at around 4am on Saturday, with Brannan carrying the bloodied body of his wife to a neighbour’s front door as he desperately sought help.

Herald Scotland

CIS to provide humanitarian aid for Kyrgyz children

MOSCOW, July 27 (RIA Novosti) - The CIS Interstate Humanitarian Cooperation Foundation (IHCF) will hand over 4.8 metric tones of humanitarian aid to Kyrgyz secondary schools and children's houses on Tuesday, the organization said on its website.

The humanitarian aid, to be distributed in Bishkek, Osh, Jalalabad and other Kyrgyz cities, includes books, computers, equipment for the blind and other items.

Kyrgyzstan saw violent clashes between Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks in mid-June, which swept the Osh and Jalalabad regions, killing up to 300 people according to official estimates. Kyrgyz officials admit that the real death toll may exceed 2,000.

The situation in the country remains strained following the riots. Many countries, including Russia, have sent humanitarian aid to the Central Asian state to help the Kyrgyz authorities tackle the consequences of the unrest.

RIA Novosti

Stealth fighters, sub warfare focus of Korea exercises

Anti-submarine exercises and flights from U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors were the focus Monday of the second day of the “Invincible Spirit” exercises by U.S. and South Korean forces, according to news reports from the Korean peninsula.

Four F-22s, the United States’ most advanced stealth fighter, flew missions over South Korea for the first time, said the commander of the U.S. 7th Air Force, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Remington, according to a report from South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

"As with all of our combined air assets in theater, the F-22s stand ready to respond in the defense of the Republic of Korea," Remington said at Osan Air Base, according to Yonhap.

At sea, a group of 20 U.S. and South Korean vessels, led by the aircraft carrier USS George Washington, practiced anti-submarine warfare, according to a Voice of America report from the 97,000-ton carrier.

"Our intent is to improve defense capabilities in areas such as anti-submarine warfare, air defense and anti-surface warfare," the VOA report quoted Rear Adm. Dan Cloyd, commander of the George Washington’s strike group, as saying.

The exercises come after the March sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan in which 46 sailors were killed. An international inquiry found a North Korean torpedo attack was behind the sinking, but Pyongyang has denied any responsibility and has threatened to a “physical response” to the U.S.-South Korean exercises.

CNN

Deadly home-brewed liquor kills 17 in Kenya

Poisonous moonshine has killed at least 17 people and blinded a dozen more in Kenya's largest slum.

Police said the home-distilled drink may have contained traces of methanol.

Many of those who died were found in their homes in the Nairobi slum of Kibera. Some were taken to hospital but died after arriving there.

Alcohol-related deaths are common in Kenya, with hundreds of people dying every year from poisoned liquor often sold in the brewer's home.

BBC News

Geneva talks on security in South Caucasus to continue on Tuesday

Participants in Geneva consultations on South Caucasus will make on Tuesday yet another attempt to draw up a document providing non-aggression guarantees between Georgia and its former republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The Geneva talks on security in the South Caucasus were first held in October 2008, following a five-day war between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia in August that year. The war began when Georgia attacked the republic in an attempt to bring it back under central control. As a result, Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and another former Georgian republic, Abkhazia.

Participants in the talks have so far failed to adopt a legally binding non-aggression treaty that would assure security in the region. They only worked out proposals concerning the prevention and settlement of conflicts between Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

RIA Novosti

Greek, Bulgarian PMs to discuss South Stream's future in Sofia

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou will visit Bulgaria on Tuesday in a bid to persuade the Bulgarian authorities to give the green light for the construction of the South Stream pipeline designed to transport Russian gas to western Europe.

According to the Greek prime minister's press service, Papandreou is expected to discuss economic cooperation with his Bulgarian counterpart Boiko Borisov. The prime ministers will also head the first joint meeting of Greek-Bulgarian ministerial councils.

Earlier, the Greek deputy energy minister, Yiannis Maniatis, said Papandreou was planning to discuss with Borisov the construction of the South Stream pipeline, which, he said, remains a priority in Greece's energy policies.

The South Stream project, in which Russia, Bulgaria and Greece are partners, stipulates the construction of a 300-kilometre pipeline from Burgas on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast to Alexandroupolis on the Greek Aegean Sea coast. The pipeline, which is considered a rival to the EU-backed Nabucco, is scheduled to be launched in December 2015.

Russia and Bulgaria signed an agreement on the South Stream project in January 2008, and both financial and technical preparations were scheduled to be put together by mid-2010.

RIA Novosti

Scuffles between Libyan guards, Ugandan security mark AU summit

(CNN) -- Scuffles between Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi's presidential guard and Ugandan security personnel have twice broken out at the African Union summit on the shores of Lake Victoria, officials said.

"Fights are always a result of the lack of respect by the Libyans to their hosts," said Ejison Kwesiga, spokesman for Uganda's presidential brigade. "Host authorities are responsible for any dangers that could arise. It is the host country's authorities who must take care of all visiting heads of state, but the Libyans never want them to do their job".

Libyan guards exchanged kicks and blows with Ugandan security on Sunday, the first day of the summit, as they approached the entrance marquee for the opening ceremony, according to journalist Samson Ntale. Only heads of state were allowed inside the ceremony.

CNN

Russia's Lavrov invited to visit Poland

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has invited his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, to visit Warsaw in late August, the Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman has said.

Lavrov was invited to take part in an annual meeting of Polish ambassadors due on August 28 as part of his visit, Piotr Paszkowski said.

"The detailed program of the visit is being coordinated," he said.

Last year, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was a special guest at a Polish ambassadors' meeting, he added.

Russian-Polish ties have seen a thaw since the April 10 plane crash in western Russia that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and dozens of Polish top officials. Under Kaczynski, Moscow and Warsaw were at odds over a range of historical disputes, but the Russian leadership's high concern over the deadly crash has helped improve Russia's image in the eyes of many Poles.

RIA Novosti

Sheikh Mohammed leads UAE team to endurance victory

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed comes second; Sheikh Saeed wins the third position

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, came first as the UAE endurance team won the 160km Stars Challenge race at Austin Park in England on Monday.

He was followed home by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince, who took the second place, with Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum finishing third. 

 

The race came as part of the UAE endurance team's preparations for the World Endurance Championships to be held in Kentucky, US, in September, where they will be led by Sheikh Mohammed.

 

Dozens of other riders from different countries around the world took part in the race, including participants from Britain, Spain, France, Argentina, Poland, India and other European countries.

 

Also there to watch the race was Dubai Deputy Ruler and Finance Minister Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Emirates Business

Abdullah to embark on Arab unity tour

JEDDAH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah will begin a four-nation Arab unity tour on Wednesday, which will take him to Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. He will discuss major issues including Palestine, Iran and Iraq with the leaders of the four countries.

The office of the Egyptian president has announced that King Abdullah will meet President Hosni Mubarak in the resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh on Wednesday, adding that the two leaders would discuss major regional and international issues, especially Middle East peace.

According to high-level sources, reconciliation between Cairo and Damascus would figure high during the Saudi-Egyptian talks. At the Kuwait summit in 2009, King Abdullah urged Arab leaders to set aside their differences and open a new era of unity.

On Thursday, the king will be in Damascus for talks with Bashar Assad on strengthening Arab unity to confront regional threats. Political analysts believe the Damascus talks will focus on the situation in Iraq, Iran's nuclear program and Syrian-Lebanese ties.

King Abdullah visited Syria on Oct. 8, 2009 opening a new era in Saudi-Syrian relations. President Assad reciprocated by visiting Riyadh on Jan. 14, 2010.

Beirut will be the king’s next stop where he will meet President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Saad Hariri before leaving for Amman.

The Arab League welcomed the royal visit and expressed its confidence that it would contribute to improving inter-Arab relations. "It's an important move toward strengthening Arab solidarity and Arab joint interests," said Ahmed Bin Hali, deputy secretary-general of the 23-member organization.

King Abdullah began his current foreign tour on June 19 when he left Jeddah for Casablanca in Morocco on his way to Canada to attend a G20 summit in Toronto. Saudi Arabia is the only Arab member of the G20. He later arrived in Washington on June 29 for talks with President Barack Obama on major regional and international issues, including the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Arab News

Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA gets 'aggressive'

KUALA LUMPUR: Come Aug 1, the Internal Security Act (ISA) will have been in existence for 50 years. The Act was enacted back in 1960 on the premise that it was needed to address the threat posed by the Communist movement.

Since then, the scope of ISA has been broadened and in 1989, the Act was amended when the provision of judicial review was removed.

Today, many human rights activists see the act as unjust and controversial.

This morning, Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA (GMI) held a Press conference to convey their demands to the government with regards to the Act.

GMI Chairman, Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh told reporters: "ISA is an easy way out for the government to make arrests against people without a strong case as it is not needed here." He added that the government also practiced unprofessional and unethical means of interrogation techniques.

GMI is not willing to compromise the issues of detention without trial, therefore they demand for the government to abolish all existing unjust laws such as the ISA, Emergency Ordinance (EO), Dangerous Drugs Act (DDA), and the Restricted Residents Act (RRA) with immediate affect.

GMI also demanded for the release, or charges in an open court for all those currently detained without trial.

Some of the demands include closing down immediately all detention centres such as Kamunting in Perak and Simpang Renggam in Johor.

GMI also wanted the government to make a public apology to all ISA detainees from then until now, to compensate them for the injustice.

The government is also demanded to utilise all existing criminal laws instead of the ISA. GMI wanted the government to investigate all complaints and cases of abuse and torture, even misuse of power on any detainess to the extend of setting up a Royal Commission to conduct the investigation.

At the news conference, Syed Ibrahim also told reporters about GMI's future plans for their campaign against ISA. Next month, GMI and their partner non-governmental organisations and political parties against the ISA will distribute leaflets simultaneously in Kuala Lumpur and other state capitals around Malaysia.

Also on Aug 1 at 8pm, the group will hold a candle light vigil simultaneously around the country.

The Malay Mail

US hails EU, Canada sanctions against Iran

WASHINGTON — The United States on Monday praised the European Union and Canada for hitting Iran with new sanctions against its vital oil and gas industry amid efforts to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"The United States welcomes the strong steps taken by our European and Canadian partners to implement UNSC (UN Security Council) resolution 1929," adopted in June, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.

"These measures, combined with the new and existing US sanctions, underscore the international community's deepening concerns about Iran's nuclear program," Crowley said.

"We've already begun to see the impact of the sanctions as companies around the world refuse to do business with Iran, rather than to risk becoming involved in Iran's nuclear program and other illicit activities," he said.

On Monday, European foreign ministers formally adopted new punitive measures, going beyond a fourth set of UN sanctions imposed in June over Tehran's refusal to freeze its uranium enrichment work, followed by Canada within hours.

The moves, which come after similar sanctions imposed by the United States, are aimed at reviving moribund talks between Iran and six world powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US.

AFP

Twin car bombs kill 25 in Iraqi city of Karbala

BAGHDAD — Two car bombs targeting Shiite pilgrims during a religious festival in the holy city of Karbala killed 25 people on Monday, Iraqi police and hospital officials said. Sunni extremists are suspected.

Militants detonated two parked cars filled with explosives about two miles (three kilometers) apart as crowds of pilgrims passed by. Police and medical officials in Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad, said 68 people were injured in the attacks.

The pilgrims were on their way to Karbala to take part in an important religious holiday, known as Shabaniyah, that attracts devout Shiites from around the country.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Monday bombings, but the method is the hallmark of Sunni extremists.

While violence has dropped dramatically in the past years in Iraq, suspected Sunni insurgents regularly target Shiite religious ceremonies and holy places in an attempt to re-ignite sectarian tensions that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war in 2005 and 2007.

The Shabaniyah festival marks the birth of Imam Mohammed al-Mahdi — known as the "Hidden Imam" — a Shiite saint who disappeared in the ninth century, and is held in the middle of the month preceding the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Associated Press

Leaked documents show a testy US-Pakistan bond

WASHINGTON — The U.S. and Pakistani governments moved swiftly Monday to say that a trove of leaked U.S. military documents paints a dated and incomplete portrait of Pakistan as an untrustworthy partner against militants who use the country as a safe zone.

Both countries said the secret documents don't reflect Pakistan's recent cooperation against militant networks on its side of the border with Afghanistan.

The Obama administration also acknowledged that despite a $7.5 billion aid package, U.S. authorities aren't fully satisfied with Pakistan's response.

"Our criticism has been relayed both publicly and privately," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. "We will continue to do so in order to move this relationship forward".

The documents released Sunday by WikiLeaks, a self-described online whistle-blower, are new grist for criticism that Pakistan lacks resolve against militant groups that were sometimes considered useful to Pakistan in the decades-old competition with India.

"Some of these documents reinforce a longstanding concern of mine about the supporting role of some Pakistani officials in the Afghan insurgency," Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Monday. Levin said he urged a more forceful response during a visit to Pakistan this month.

Even so, the material is unlikely to change the current U.S. view that Pakistan is slowly shedding the impulse to play a double game in the U.S. struggle against the Taliban. The bulk of the material covers the period before Pakistan began large-scale military operations against some internal militant groups.

Pakistan's foreign ministry on Monday called the WikiLeaks documents "misplaced, skewed and contrary to the factual position on the ground".

Associated Press