Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Celebrity Tiger Woods hit by allegation affairs with 2 mistress cocktail waitress and club promoter.


Media storm: A Florida Highway Patrol press conference about Woods yesterday was packed

Crash: Woods' luxury home in Orlando (L) where he smashed into a fire hydrant and tree

Miss Grubbs (far left) claims she had 20 sexual encounters with Woods

Miss Grubbs (top left) claims she first met Woods on a night out in Las Vegas in April 2007

Tiger Woods with wife, Elin. The couple have two young children

No show: A sign promoting Tiger Woods at the Chevron World Challenge on display in California

Vegas club promoter Kalika Moquin (right) has been named as the golfer's mistress in American magazine Life & Style. Meanwhile, cocktail waitress Jaimee Grubbs (left) claims she had a 31-month affair with Tiger Woods

Nightclub hostess: Rachel Uchitel yesterday



Revelations: Jaimee Grubbs spoke to US Weekly


Tiger Woods was hit by further allegations of infidelity today as claims of a fling with a third woman emerged in the U.S.

The world number one golfer, who is already battling claims by a cocktail waitress that they had a 31-month affair, allegedly had a relationship with Kalika Moquin, 27.

Miss Moquin, a club promoter in Las Vegas, and the married golfer 'hooked up a bunch of times', a friend of hers claimed in America's Life & Style magazine.

'Tiger told Kalika that married life isn't all it's built up to be,' the friend said.

Miss Moquin allegedly told the friend Woods 'wasn't happy in his marriage or his home life and that there was just so much pressure on him'.

Miss Moquin told Life & Style: 'It's not appropriate for me to comment one way or the other.'

The new allegations came after Woods was charged last night over a mystery crash linked to earlier claims of an affair with a first woman, nightclub hostess Rachel Uchitel.

Woods, 33, is thought to have been knocked unconscious when he hit a water hydrant and a tree early last Friday.

The father-of-two's refusal to explain exactly what happened has fuelled speculation that he has something to hide.

A celebrity website alleges that his Swedish wife, Elin, 29, scratched his face and chased after his car with a golf club after a bust-up over Miss Uchitel.


Meanwhile, cocktail waitress Jaimee Grubbs, who claims she had a lengthy affair with Woods, has made public lurid messages about their alleged fling.


She claims they had 20 sexual encounters and that she has an answerphone recording and text messages as evidence of their affair.

'He told me just last month quietly and secretly we will always be together,' she told US Weekly. 'He gave me the impression he and his wife had separate rooms.'

Woods allegedly messaged Miss Grubbs last week - three days before the crash - to warn her his wife had gone through his phone and 'may call you'.

He allegedly said: 'Hey, it's Tiger. I need you to do me a huge favour. Can you please take your name off your phone? My wife went through my phone and may be calling you.

'So if you can, please take you name off that. Just have it as a number on the voicemail. You got to do this for me. Huge. Quickly. Bye.'

US Weekly published the answerphone message allegedly from Tiger Woods to Miss Grubbs online today.

Miss Grubbs is a reality TV star in the U.S, and had appeared on the VH1 show Tool Academy.

The 24-year-old from Los Angeles claimed the affair began in April 2007. She is said to have photos as well as more than 300 texts from him.

She claimed she first met the golfer in Las Vegas during a night out with friends, alleging he was not wearing a wedding ring.

The golfer had tapped her on the shoulder and said: 'You don't look like you're having any fun', she alleged, and they then danced together.
She claimed they ended up back at his hotel suite but slept in different rooms and the next day watched TV and had lunch together.

Describing their first kiss, she alleged: 'He was standing by his bed ready to pack. I ran in, jumped on him and tackled him.

'We rolled around and he kissed me. It was nice and gentle. My heart was beating. We laid there and cuddled for 30 minutes.'

She claimed they first had sex days later in a hotel in San Diego. 'He just grabbed and kissed me and we started taking our clothes off and had sex,' she alleged.

'Afterwards, he was like "you should go". He told me that he has a hard time sleeping in the same bed with somebody.'

Weeks later, Woods' wife Elin gave birth to their first child - Sam, who is now two. They also have a 10-month-old son, Charlie.

Miss Grubbs claimed he never talked about his wife or family. She added: 'We never talked about golf. Sometimes we talked about his stressful life.

'He told me his life was overwhelming but he needed the endorsements and busy schedule because he wasn't as financially stable as he wanted to be.

'I thought "**** him, I'm just an average person - that's a slap in the face" but he has really high goals for himself.'

She claimed the golfer texted her in September to say: 'I will wear you out soon. You just need some attention from me.'

The golfer's injury and rehabilitation at home disrupted their affair, she claimed, because he was at home but they still allegedly talked on the phone.

Their last assignation was two months ago at the Island Hotel in Newport Beach, she claimed, saying: 'We cuddled, watched Angels and Demons, then had sex. It was very romantic.

'He's what my heart wanted. I never said "I love you" because I never wanted to scare him off. But I was getting there.'

She added: 'I loved how we go along. But I knew, in the back of my mind, that it could never be just us. There would always be the wife, or somebody else.'

Meanwhile, Florida Highway Patrol said it had completed its probe into Woods's accident and would not be bringing any criminal charges.

Spokesman Kim Montes said there had been no claims of domestic abuse and insufficient evidence to seek a court order to look at the golfer's medical records.

Woods will simply have to pay a £100 fine for careless driving with four points on his licence.

Miss Uchitel told the New York Post yesterday that she was no homewrecker. 'I have not had an affair with Tiger Woods. It's horrible to Tiger's family,' she added. 'His wife must feel horrible. The worst part of it, it's not true.'

She said she had welcomed Woods to a Manhattan club where she worked as director of VIP services and met him 'for two seconds'.

Miss Uchitel, whose fiance died in the 9/11 attacks, said the source of the story was an acquaintance she had met just twice.

Woods, who has won 14 major tournaments, picked up £66million in prize money and endorsements last year.

He had been due to play in the 2009 Chevron World Challenge, which starts today, but pulled out because of the injuries sustained in Friday's crash.

The golfer said in a statement: 'I am extremely disappointed that I will not be at my tournament this week. I am certain it will be an outstanding event and I'm very sorry that I can't be there.'

Woods will not now take part in any more tournaments this year.


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Iran releases 5 British sailors detained at sea


In this undated photo released by the Friendshiparabia.com website via AP Television Network, "Kingdom of Bahrain" crew member David Bloomer is seen at an unknown location in Jordan. Iran is holding five British sailors, including David Bloomer, after stopping their racing yacht in the Persian Gulf, the British government said Monday, Nov. 30, 2009.


Iranian cleric lawmakers talk prior to start of their joint meeting with the country's top officials, to commemorate Parliament Day at the parliament in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009. Iran would neither confirm nor deny Tuesday it is holding five British sailors even though the British government said they were detained by the Iranian navy after their racing yacht was stopped last week in the Persian Gulf.



Iran freed five British sailors detained last week when their racing yacht drifted accidentally into Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf. Britain said it was delighted with Wednesday's release and praised Tehran's handling of the incident.

The 60-foot yacht was in the Persian Gulf on its way from Bahrain to Dubai last Wednesday for the start of its first offshore race when it ran into a problem with its propeller, said Andrew Pindar, whose Team Pindar owns the yacht. It drifted into Iranian waters and was seized by the elite Revolutionary Guard's navy

"After carrying out an investigation and interrogation of the five British sailors, it became clear that their illegal entry was a mistake," the Revolutionary Guard said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency. "After obtaining necessary guarantees, it was decided to release them."

The British government had tried to keep the case from being politicized at a time when Tehran is under heavy pressure from the West over its nuclear program. Iran has accused Britain and other foreign governments of stoking the country's postelection street protests.

The tensions with the West have also been heightened by Iran's detention of three Americans arrested this summer after they strayed across the border from northern Iraq. Washington and their families say the three unintentionally crossed into Iran while hiking, but Tehran recently accused them of espionage.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband confirmed the release of the five Britons and said they were being towed in their boat to international waters. From there, they would be towed to Dubai.

"I welcome the fact this has been dealt with in a straightforward, professional way by the Iranian authorities," Miliband said. "Obviously this has been a real ordeal for the young men and their families and I'm really delighted that it's over for them and that we can call the matter closed."

near the Iranian island of Sirri, which lies near the mouth of the narrow Hormuz Strait off Dubai. It was not clear where the Britons were held during their week in custody.

Team Pindar is an independent British-based yachting team. It runs the yacht called Kingdom of Bahrain under the Sail Bahrain initiative in partnership with the tiny Gulf island kingdom of Bahrain.

"We are all absolutely thrilled with the news," said Andrew Pindar. "It has been an extremely worrying time for all of us and particularly for the families and loved ones of those on board."

He said the team has sent out a boat to meet the crew and accompany them safely to shore and thanked Iranian authorities. The yacht was expected to be out of Iranian waters Wednesday afternoon.

David Young, whose son Oliver is among the five yachtsmen seized, said he was "very relieved" by the news. "We thought it would be over quickly. This is what we were hoping for," Young said.

Iran warned Tuesday the sailors would be prosecuted if it was proven they had "bad intentions" when they entered Iranian waters.

IRNA said Miliband and Iranian Foreign Minister Manochehr Mottaki discussed the matter late Tuesday and Miliband said there was "certainly no question of any malicious intent on the part of these five young people."

"This is a human story ... It's got nothing to do with politics. It's got nothing to do with the nuclear enrichment program," Miliband said.

Bahrain, which has long had a tense relationship with its larger neighbor across the Gulf, also contacted the Iranians to say the boat entered Iranian waters by mistake and to push for the crew's release.

The yacht had been heading to join the 360-mile (580-kilometer) Dubai-Muscat Offshore Sailing Race, which was to begin Nov. 26. The race went ahead without the yacht.

British media had identified the five Britons as Oliver Smith, of Southampton; Sam Usher, of Scarborough; Luke Porter, of Weston-super-Mare; Oliver Young, of Saltash; and David Bloomer, who is from Malahide, Ireland but holds a British passport.

In an interview with Iranian TV Tuesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made no mention of the yachtsmen. However, he singled out Britain for criticism, saying it and Israel were behind a tough resolution by the U.N. nuclear watchdog rebuking Iran over its nuclear program.

In 2007, Iran seized 15 British military personnel in the Gulf, claiming they had entered Iranian waters, though Britain insisted they were in Iraqi waters. Eventually all were freed without an apology from Britain.

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Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Obama sending 30,000 additional U.S. forces to Afganisthan in new plan


Air Force Techincal Sgt. Phllip M. Huaser from Salina, Kansas, assigned to the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device(CIED) route clearance unit wears a silver Mjolnir, the Viking God Thor's hammer as he guards Highway One near the town of Maidan Shar, Wardak province, Afghanistan Monday Nov. 30, 2009.


US Army soldiers assigned to the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device(CIED) route clearance unit, pull security under a destroyed bridge while waiting for the arrival of a team of army engineers that will place a temporary bridge after insurgents detonated a large explosive device under the bridge, near the town of Maidan Shar, Wardak province, Afghanistan Monday Nov. 30, 2009.


Georgia state National Guardsman, Sgt. Scott A. Millican, right, from Statesboro, GA., and Air Force Techincal Sgt. Phllip M. Huaser from Salina, Kansas, both part of the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device(CIED) route clearance unit look up as US fighter jets fly overhead near the town of Maidan Shar, Wardak province, Afghanistan Monday Nov. 30, 2009.



Georgia state National Guardsman, Sgt. Scott A. Millican, from Statesboro, GA., assigned to the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device(CIED) route clearance unit, pulls security under a destroyed bridge while waiting for the arrival of a team of army engineers that will place a temporary bridge after insurgents detonated a large explosive device under the bridge, near the town of Maidan Shar, Wardak province, Afghanistan Monday Nov. 30, 2009.


New strategy: Barack Obama


Talks: Obama discussed his plans with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, front

Extra troops: American President Barack Obama will pledge an extra 34,000 U.S. servicemen in Afghanistan to join the existing 71,000 currently fighting


New infusions of U.S. Marines will begin moving into Afghanistan almost as soon as President Barack Obama announces a redrawn battle strategy, a plan widely expected to include more than 30,000 additional U.S. forces.

Obama will try to sell a skeptical public on his bigger, costlier war plan Tuesday by coupling the large new troop infusion with an emphasis on stepped-up training for Afghan forces that he says will allow the U.S. to leave.

Obama formally ends a 92-day review of the war in Afghanistan Tuesday night with a nationally broadcast address in which he will lay out his revamped strategy from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. He began rolling out his decision Sunday night, informing key administration officials, military advisers and foreign allies in a series of private meetings and phone calls that stretched into Monday.

Military officials said at least one group of Marines is expected to deploy within two or three weeks of Obama's announcement, and would be in Afghanistan by Christmas. Larger deployments wouldn't be able to follow until early in 2010.

The initial infusion is a recognition by the administration that something tangible needs to happen quickly, officials said. The quick addition of Marines would provide badly needed reinforcements to those fighting against Taliban gains in the southern Helmand province, and could lend reassurance to both Afghans and a war-weary U.S. public.

The war escalation includes sending 30,000 to 35,000 more American forces into Afghanistan in a graduated deployment over the next year, on top of the 71,000 already there. Obama's announcement is the culmination of more than three months of debate over whether and how to expand U.S. military involvement in a war that has turned worse this year despite Obama's previous infusion of 21,000 forces.

But the numbers of fresh troops don't tell the whole story, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday. "It's what their mission is," he told ABC's "Good Morning America." "We're going to accelerate going after al-Qaida and its extremist allies. We'll accelerate the training of an Afghan national security force, a police and an army."

In Kabul, Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell, the new head of a U.S.-NATO command responsible for training and developing Afghan soldiers and police, said Tuesday that although the groundwork is being laid to expand the Afghan National Army beyond the current target of 134,000 troops, to be reached by Oct. 31, 2010, no fixed higher target is set.

There is a notional goal of eventually fielding 240,000 soldiers and 160,000 police, but Caldwell said that could change.

"Although that is a goal and where we think it could eventually go to, it's not a hard, firm, fixed number," he said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

He indicated that one reason for avoiding a hard-and-fast commitment to those higher numbers is the expected cost. So his orders are to reach the targets of 134,000 soldiers and 96,800 police by next October. He intends to hold annual reviews, beginning next spring or early summer, to determine whether the notional higher targets of 240,000 soldiers and 160,000 police — for a combined total of 400,000 by 2013 — are still the right goals for Afghanistan.

"If you grow it up to 400,000 — if you did grow all the way to that number, and if it was required to help bring greater security to this country — then of course you have to sustain it at that level, too, in terms of the cost of maintaining a force that size," he said. Nearly all the cost of building Afghan forces has been borne by the U.S. and other countries thus far.

Obama also will deliver a deeper explanation of why the U.S. must continue to fight more than eight years after the war's start, emphasizing that Afghan security forces need more time, more schooling and more U.S. combat backup to be up to the job on their own. He will make tougher demands on the governments of Pakistan and, especially, Afghanistan, and will provide a fresh path toward disengagement.

Gibbs also promised that Obama would lay out an endgame scenario for U.S. involvement. "We want to — as quickly as possible — transition the security of the Afghan people over to those national security forces in Afghanistan," he said Tuesday. "This can't be nation-building. It can't be an open-ended forever commitment."

With U.S. casualties in Afghanistan sharply increasing and little sign of progress, the war Obama once liked to call one "of necessity," not choice, has grown less popular with the public and within his own Democratic party. In recent days, leading Democrats have talked of setting tough conditions on deeper U.S. involvement, or even staging outright opposition.

The displeasure on both sides of the aisle was likely to be on display when congressional hearings on Obama's strategy get under way later in the week on Capitol Hill.

Obama was spending much of Monday and Tuesday on the phone, outlining his plan — minus many specifics — for the leaders of France, Britain, Germany, Russia, China, India, Denmark, Poland and others. He also met in person at the White House with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

A briefing for dozens of key lawmakers was planned for Tuesday afternoon, just before Obama was set to leave the White House for the speech against a military backdrop at West Point.

The Afghan government said Tuesday that President Hamid Karzai and Obama had an hourlong video conference. Obama was also going to speak with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.

In Afghanistan, rampant government corruption and inefficiency have made U.S. success much harder. Obama was expected to place tough conditions on Karzai's government, along with endorsing a stepped-up training program for the Afghan armed forces along the outline recommended this fall by U.S. trainers.

That schedule would expand the Afghan army to 134,000 troops by next fall, three years earlier than once envisioned.

Military officials said the speech is expected to include several references to Iraq, where the United States still has more than 100,000 forces. The strain of maintaining that overseas war machine has stretched the Army and Marine Corps and limited Obama's options.



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Police shoot dead fugitive Maurice Clemmons suspected of gunning down four officers in a Seattle coffee shop .


Mourners lay flowers and light candles during a vigil for the fallen officers

A procession of police vehicles escorts the bodies of four slain police officers as they pass beneath a U.S. flag in Parkland

A man and a woman write in a book of condolences at a memorial for the four slain police officers in front of the Lakewood Police Department in Lakewood, Washington yesterday


Police cars block access to the Leschi neighbourhood of Seattle early today as they surround Clemmons house

Siege: Smoke rises after police set off an explosive device at convicted robber Maurice Clemmons' house in Seattle in the early hours of this morning. Police were hunting Clemmons in connection with the deaths of four officers, gunned down in a coffee house ambush yesterday

A police car sits in front of the Forza Coffee Company where the four police officers were killed

Murdered in cold blood: (Clockwise from top left) Lakewood Police officers Greg Richards, 42, Mark Renninger, 39, Tina Griswold, 40, and 37-year-old Ronald Owens were looking at paperwork when they were ambushed

A solemn police officer directs traffic away from the crime scene



Suspect: Police are searching for Maurice Clemmons after four police officers were shot dead in a Washington State coffee shop

People stand in front of Rollies Tavern as a procession of police vehicles passes by, escorting the bodies of the four slain police officers



Hundreds of police officers flooded the area searching for the lone gunman

The town just outside of Seattle, Washington where the four officers were gunned down

Sheriff's deputies look over a rifle they removed from the Seattle home of Maurice Clemmons yesterday. A Swat team stormed the house after an 11-hour siege, but Clemmons was not there


Maurice Clemmons' house in Seattle after yesterday's siege. The murder suspect has now gone on the run



U.S. police have killed the man accused of gunning down four officers in a Seattle coffee shop.

Maurice Clemmons, 37, was shot dead by officers in a Seattle neighbourhood early this morning, a police spokesman said.

He had been on the run since the coffee shop ambush on Sunday.

Police had believed Clemmons was believed to be wounded, armed, and on the run after slipping through a police net yesterday.

He was charged with the murders of the four officers yesterday.

Last night it was claimed that the day before the shootings, Clemmons - a convicted robber who was bailed less than a week before Sunday's massacre - made a chilling boast.

He told friends to watch the news because 'I am going to kill some cops', police said.

'Unfortunately, no one acted on that statement,' a spokesman said yesterday.

After Sunday's shooting, Seattle police had laid siege to the house of Clemmons, 37, for eleven hours yesterday.

But when police entered the house, Clemmons was nowhere to be found. It is not clear if he was ever in the house at all.

Now he is believed to be on the run, suffering from a stomach wound that could become fatal if not treated.

Police have closed an elementary school in the area and are searching surrounding houses.

Clemmons is believed to have been wounded by one of the four officers during the execution-style killers.

Two were killed sitting in their seats, one had risen to their feet, and the fourth fought the gunman all the way to the door of the face, police said yesterday.

'We have determined that in fact he has been shot,' said Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff. 'He may be deceased from his gunshot wound.'

Troyer also described Clemmons as the 'number one suspect' in the slayings.

ABCNews reported that Clemmons, a convicted robber, has now been charged with the murders of the four officers.

Police and a Swat team surrounded Clemmons' house yesterday after a tip-off led them to his door.

Reports said police used a loudspeaker and even a robot as they attempted to persuade Clemmons to come out of the house.

'This is one of the toughest decisions you'll make in your life but you need to man up,' one negotiator reportedly told him.

They also fired tear gas and are believed to have fired shots in an attempt to persuade Clemmons to come outside.

However when they entered the house he was nowhere to be found.

Police were able to detain friends of Clemmons who allegedly helped him overnight, ABC reported.

It was those friends who reportedly told police about the wound to his abdomen.

Clemmons has an extensive violent criminal history from Arkansas, including aggravated convictions for robbery and theft.

He was also recently arrested and charged in Pierce County in Washington state for third-degree assault on a police officer and second-degree rape of a child.

In 1989, Clemmons, then 17, was convicted in Little Rock for aggravated robbery. He was paroled in 2000 after then-Gov. Mike Huckabee commuted Clemmons' 95-year prison sentence.

Huckabee, who was criticised during his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 for the number of clemencies and commutations he granted, cited Clemmons' age at the time of the sentence.

After his release from prison, Clemmons violated his parole and was returned to jail in July 2001.

He was released March 18, 2004, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper.

The four officers were with the 100-member police department of Lakewood, which adjoins the unincorporated area of Parkland, where the shootings took place.

The city identified the victims as Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39; Ronald Owens, 37; Tina Griswold, 40; and Greg Richards 42.

All four were parents.

Troyer said one of those officers fought with the gunman and may have wounded him before the officer died just outside the doorway.

He told reporters that investigators were asking area medical providers to report any people wounded by gunshots.

Troyer said investigators believe two of the officers were shot dead while sitting in the shop, and a third was killed after standing up.

The fourth apparently struggled with the gunman out the doorway and 'gave up a good fight,' getting off a few shots before he was either shot there or succumbed to earlier wounds.

'We believe there was a struggle, a commotion, a fight ... that he fought the guy all the way out the door,' Troyer said.

He added: 'We hope that he hit him.'

Troyer said the gunman entered the coffee house and walked up to the counter as if to place an order.

A barista saw a gun when the man opened his jacket and fled out the back door.

The man then turned and opened fire on the officers as they sat working on their laptops, killing the three men and one woman in what Troyer described as a targeted ambush.

Troyer said the attack was clearly targeted at the officers, not a robbery gone bad.

'This was more of an execution. Walk in with the specific mindset to shoot police officers,' he said.

Troyer said the officers were catching up on paperwork at the beginning of their shifts when they were attacked at 8:15 a.m. Sunday.

'There were marked patrol cars outside and they were all in uniform,' Troyer said.

There was no indication of any connection with the Halloween night shooting of a Seattle police officer.

The suspect in that shooting remains hospitalised.

'We won't know if it's a copycat effect or what it was until we get the case solved,' Troyer said.

'We don't even have a suspect ID right now.'

Troyer estimated that a couple of hundred officers from the Washington State Patrol and multiple surrounding police agencies in the area were at the crime scene, with some coming on their own time.

On Sunday night, a motorcade of dozens of police cars and motorcycles with lights flashing escorted the bodies of the four officers from the crime scene to the Pierce County medical examiner's office in Tacoma.

The motorcade rolled under a giant American flag hanging from fire truck ladders.

'We have no motive at all,' Troyer said. 'I don't think when we find out what it is, it will be anything that makes any sense or be worth it.'

Two employees and a few other customers were in the shop during the attack.

All were interviewed by the Pierce County sheriff's investigators.
Some are in shock. They are very upset,' Troyer said. 'They are the ones who are going to put together for us how this happened.'

The Forza Coffee Shop, part of a popular local chain, is on a side street near McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma.

The shop is in a small retail center alongside two restaurants, a cigar store and a nail salon.

Brad Carpenter, founder and owner of Forza Coffee, said his staff was being interviewed by police, and that his main concern was for the families of the police officers.

'I'm a retired police officer, so this really hits close to home for me,' said Carpenterr.

Troyer said the Lakewood officers were two blocks outside their jurisdiction, and the coffee shop was a popular place for officers from surrounding jurisdictions to meet and share information.

Streets around the coffee shop were blocked off and a police helicopter hovered over a large crowd of investigators.
TV video showed police taking possession of a pickup truck parked in a grocery store in Parkland.

Troyer said investigators were checking surveillance video from multiple sources, trying to identify a possible getaway car.

Dave Gabrielson, a clerk at Foot Mart about a block away from the coffee shop, told the newspaper all was quiet when he opened the store at 8am About 30 minutes later, 'All of a sudden a million cops were zooming up and down the road,' Gabrielson said.

He said he saw officers bring a police dog into a nearby apartment complex.

Last month, Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton was shot and killed Halloween night as he was sitting in a cruiser with trainee Britt Sweeney.

Sweeney was grazed in the neck.

Authorities say the man charged with that shooting also firebombed four police vehicles in October as part of a 'one-man war' against law enforcement.

Christopher Monfort, 41, was arrested after being wounded in a firefight with police days after the Seattle shooting. He remains hospitalized in stable condition, the hospital said Sunday.

The officers killed Sunday were a patrol squad made up of three officers and their sergeant.

No threats had been made against them or other officers in the region, sheriff's officials said. Their families have been notified.

'We lost people we care about. We're working to find out who did this and deal with him.'

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire said she was 'shocked and horrified' by the killings.


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Iran warns tough actions against British sailors

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Flashback: HMS Cornwall crew members, including Faye Turney, centre, were paraded on Iranian TV during their 2007 hostage ordeal. Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said the two incidents are not linked

Hostages: Oliver Young (right) and Luke Porter pictured together earlier this year

Sam Usher, Olly Smith, Luke Porter and Oliver Young - four of the Britons seized as they sailed in the Gulf

Held: Dave Bloomer, a DJ for Radio Bahrain, has been named as a captive



September 2008 photo released by Team Pindar of the race yacht Kingdom of Bahrain sailing at an unknown location. Britain's Foreign Office says that the yacht, owned by Sail Bahrain and carrying five U.K. nationals has been stopped by Iranian naval vessels, and they are now in Iran. Government officials said Monday November 30 2009 that the yacht may have strayed inadvertently into Iranian waters when it was stopped last Wednesday en route from Bahrain to Dubai to take part in a race.Racing yacht: The Kingdom Of Bahrain (pictured) may have 'inadvertently strayed' into Iranian territorial waters


November 2008 photo released by Team Pindar of the race yacht Kingdom of Bahrain off the coast of France. Britain's Foreign Office says that the yacht, owned by Sail Bahrain and carrying five U.K. nationals has been stopped by Iranian naval vessels, and they are now in Iran. Government officials said Monday that the yacht may have strayed inadvertently into Iranian waters when it was stopped last Wednesday en route from Bahrain to Dubai to take part in a race.


In this undated photo released by the Friendshiparabia.com website via APTN, "Kingdom of Bahrain" crew member David Bloomer is seen at an unknown location in Jordan. Iran is holding five British sailors, including David Bloomer, after stopping their racing yacht in the Persian Gulf, the British government said Monday,


Iran warned on Tuesday that it will take strong action against five British sailors detained by the Iranian navy after their racing yacht was stopped last week in the Persian Gulf if it is proven they had "bad intentions."

The detention could heighten tensions between Iran and major world powers, including Britain, that are demanding a halt to Tehran's controversial nuclear program. It could also flare up the longtime rivalry between Iran and Bahrain, since the yacht was the pride of a high-profile racing program sponsored by the Arab Gulf nation's king.

The British government said Monday that Iran is holding the five British crewmembers after their yacht, owned by Sail Bahrain, was stopped last Wednesday after straying inadvertently into Iranian waters while en route to Dubai to join the Dubai-Muscat Offshore Sailing Race.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Britain has been in touch about the case with Iranian counterparts and hoped the matter would be resolved soon. Speaking Tuesday to BBC, Miliband described the issue as a "purely consular matter."

"There's certainly no confrontation or argument," Miliband said. "As far as we are aware, these people are being well treated, which is right and what we would expect from a country like Iran."

But the head of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's said Iran will prosecute the Britons if they intended to "violate the national security" of Iran.

"Naturally if bad intentions on the part of these individuals are proven, there will be a serious and strong attitude toward them," Esfandiar Rahim Mashai said, according to the Fars news agency. "The decision will be up to the judiciary, which is independent from the administration."

The five were detained by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard, Fars reported. The Guard, which runs its own naval forces, has the responsibility of protecting Iran's Persian Gulf waters. The Guard's navy chief, Gen. Ali Reza Tangsiri, said that if the five were stopped in the Gulf it would be by the Guard — though he did not confirm the detention.

Iran has taken a tough line with previous cases of Westerners entering its borders. It detained three young Americans who strayed across the border from northern Iraq in July. Despite U.S. insistence that they were innocent hikers who accidentally entered Iran, Tehran has accused them of espionage — a sign that they could be put on trial.

Miliband insisted that the five Britons were civilians who "were going about their sport."

"It seems they may have strayed inadvertently into Iranian waters. We look forward to the Iranian government dealing with this promptly," he said.

Sail Bahrain's Web site identified the yacht as the "Kingdom of Bahrain" and said it had been due to join the 360-mile (580-kilometer) Dubai-Muscat Offshore Sailing Race, which was to begin Nov. 26. The event was to be the boat's first offshore race, the Web site said, adding that the vessel had been fitted with a satellite tracker.

British media identified the five as Oliver Smith, Sam Usher, Luke Porter, Oliver Young, and David Bloomer.

The detention of the British would not be the first of foreign nationals by Tehran.

Fifteen British military personnel were detained in the Gulf by Iran under disputed circumstances in March 2007. Iran charged them with trespassing in its waters, and the Iranian government televised apologies by some of the captured crew.

All were eventually freed without an apology from Britain, which steadfastly insisted the crew members were taken in Iraqi waters, where they were authorized to be.


The crew were named as Sam Usher, Olly Smith, Luke Porter and Oliver Young - and David Bloomer, who works as a radio presenter in Bahrain.

The Government has known about the incident, which was made public yesterday, since last Wednesday – but details were kept private so that negotiations could take place.

It appears that the high-tech yacht was swept towards Iran by strong winds after its propeller was damaged.

Last night 21-year-old Mr Porter's mother Beverley said her husband Charles had spoken to their son on his mobile phone.

She said the sailors had strayed into Iranian waters by only 500 yards, but were now being held somewhere off Iran.
Mrs Porter, who lives in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, said: 'They didn't know that they had strayed over this imaginary line.

'Apparently they are fine and being well-looked after but are most of all frustrated. They have been allowed from time to time to use their mobile phones.

'They don't know when they're going to be released because of the religious festival that is going on over there.'

Her 48-year-old husband added: 'From what we understand, there was an oil field on their charts - which is a restricted area - so they chose to go one side of it.

'In doing so they strayed too close to a small island called Sirri. I assume that is when they were picked up. They're miffed that they are being cooped up and a race was going on.'

Mr Porter added: 'Luke is a very resilient chap. I'm sure he'll deal with things very well but obviously we are very worried about him.'

He said the four sailors had done thousands of miles together over the last three years.

Mr Bloomer had been due to report on the sailors' progress in the 360-mile Dubai-Muscat race.

The Kingdom of Bahrain is a Volvo 60 - the Formula One car of racing yachts.

It is operated by Team Pindar, an international racing team owned by British multi-millionaire Andrew Pindar, who received an OBE from Prince Charles in June for his services to business. It is one of only 19 such yachts in the world.

Diplomats say they have been in 'indirect contact' with the hostages and that they are confident they are being well treated.

Privately the officials are furious that the news broke. They had hoped to keep the incident secret in order to avoid a new diplomatic incident with Iran.

The worst case scenario would see the sailors charged with espionage, handing the regime in Tehran another international propaganda coup. Iran's foreign ministry is expected to make a statement on the sailors today.

'The Iranians know that they are not British naval personnel,' said one diplomat. 'We've explained that to them very clearly. Whether they chose to hear is another matter.'
The fear is that the hostages have been taken by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard - the powerful hardline group behind Iran's nuclear weapons programme - which held the Navy personnel two years ago.

Senior government officials admitted negotiations with the Iranians were proving difficult since the country has been celebrating the annual Muslim festival of Eid.

Ultimately their fate of the hostages is in the hands of the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei. Foreign Secretary David Miliband said: 'I hope this issue will soon be resolved. We will remain in close touch with the Iranian authorities, as well as the families.'

The kidnap comes at a time of growing tensions with Iran over its nuclear weapons programme.

Earlier this year President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proclaimed that Britain was a worse enemy of Iran than the United States.

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Chelsea Clinton engaged to marry boyfriend


n this Dec. 1996 file photo, Chelsea Clinton, right, sits with Marc Mezvinsky on the beach at Hilton Head Island, S.C.


In this Jan. 9, 2003 file photo, former Pennsylvaina Rep. Edward M. Mezvinsky, right, leaves the U.S. District Court building in Philadelphia with his lawyer Stephen R. Lacheen.


In this Jan. 5, 1993 file photo, then-House Speaker Thomas Foley administers the House oath, during a re-enactment, to Rep Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky D-Pa., accompanied by husband Edward, left, and family, on Capitol Hill in Washington.


Chelsea Clinton is the only child of Bill and Hillary Clinton



Chelsea Clinton, daughter of ex-US President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is engaged to marry her long-term boyfriend.

She is marrying Marc Mezvinsky, a banker at Goldman Sachs, with whom she became friends as a teenager.

A spokesman for former President Clinton confirmed that the couple got engaged over last week's Thanksgiving holiday.

Ms Clinton, 29, is attending Columbia University's School of Public Health.

The engagement was announced in an e-mail to friends.

Mr Mezvinsky's parents are Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky and Ed Mezvinsky, both of whom served in Congress.

They are described as old friends of the Clintons.

Ed Mezvinsky served a prison term for bank and wire fraud after he pleaded guilty to charges in 2002. He was released last year.

Turns out those discredited rumors of a possible Chelsea Clinton wedding last summer were mostly just premature: The 29-year old daughter of former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has become engaged to her longtime boyfriend, 31-year old investment banker Marc Mezvinsky.

The couple sent an e-mail to friends Friday announcing the news, saying they were looking at a possible wedding next summer. Matt McKenna, a spokesman for the former president, confirmed the engagement Monday.

Mezvinsky is a son of former Pennsylvania Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky and former Iowa Rep. Ed Mezvinsky, longtime friends of the Clintons. Ed Mezvinsky was released from federal prison last year after serving a nearly five-year sentence for wire and bank fraud.

Margolies-Mezvinsky served just one term in Congress before losing her seat in 1994 after voting in favor of President Clinton's 1993 budget, which was controversial at the time.

At the State Department Monday, Hillary Clinton had one brief encounter with reporters but took no questions. Later, her spokesman, Ian C. Kelly, was asked about the reported engagement but said it would be inappropriate for him to comment.

"I have a daughter who's around, she's 22 years old. And the last thing I would want would be for the State Department spokesman to talk about the personal plans of my daughter, so I am going to decline any comment on that," Kelly said.

The former first daughter and her fiance became friends as teenagers in Washington and both attended Stanford University. They now live in New York, where Mezvinsky works at G3 Capital, a Manhattan hedge fund, and Clinton is pursuing a graduate degree at Columbia University's School of Public Health.

Before returning to graduate school, Clinton worked at Avenue Capital, a hedge fund run by prominent Democratic donor Marc Lasry. She also worked at McKinsey and Company, a management consulting firm.

Since her debut on the public stage as a curly haired 12-year-old during her father's 1992 presidential campaign, Clinton has maintained a fairly low public profile. That changed in 2008, when the press-shy Clinton stepped out on the campaign trail to help her mother's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Before beginning a relationship with Mezvinsky, Clinton dated Ian Klaus, a Rhodes Scholar she met while studying international relations at Oxford in 2002. Klaus dedicated his first book, "Elvis is Titanic," about his experience teaching in the Kurdistan province of Iraq, to Clinton.

Earlier this year, Hillary Clinton was forced to tamp down speculation that her daughter and Mezvinsky were already engaged and would marry in August on Martha's Vineyard. President Barack Obama, who was vacationing on the island at the time, was rumored to be on the guest list.

Aides to Hillary Clinton, citing Chelsea's privacy, declined to disclose whether she has received an engagement ring or any other details about wedding plans. It will be an interfaith marriage; Mezvinsky is Jewish, while Clinton grew up attending Methodist Church with her mother. Bill Clinton is Southern Baptist.

Word of the engagement was first reported by ABC News.


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