Monquasha Peter, 19, cousin of rape suspect Marcelles Peter, 17, reacts as she claims his innocence outside of a Richmond, Calif., courthouse Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Four teens were charged, including Peter, in the alleged gang rape and beating of a 15-year-old girl outside her high school homecoming dance in Richmond.
Two students walk next to a sign about violence at Richmond High School in Richmond, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Four teens were charged in the alleged gang rape and beating of a 15-year-old girl outside of her high school homecoming dance. All four, ages 15, 16, 17 and 19, who will be charged as adults, were charged with rape and enhancements that they acted in concert, which could make them eligible for life in prison.
Police have arrested an 18-year-old suspect who they believe was involved in the rape of a 15-year-old girl at Richmond High School last week.
Jose Carlos Mantano was arrested around 5 p.m. Thursday night outside his San Pablo home.
Richmond police Lieutenant Mark Gagan said they believe the 18-year-old played a significant role in the rape of the victim.
Montano was booked into the Martinez Detention Facility on felony charges of rape, rape in concert with force, penetration with a foreign object and a special enhancement requesting life in prison. His bail was set at $1.3 million.
Thursday’s arrest comes after four other suspects were arraigned in Contra Costa County Superior Court earlier in the day
Three are juveniles, but will be charged as adults in the case and they are all scheduled back in court on November 5.
Gagan said the investigation is still ongoing as investigators believe there are more suspects still at large.
The victim of the attack was released from the hospital on Wednesday and Richmond High School has set up a trust fund for her and her family.
Police are offering a $20,000 reward for any information in the ongoing investigation.
Four teenagers were arraigned Thursday on charges connected to the incident. Cody Ray Smith, described by the court as over 14 years old, pleaded not guilty to charges of rape with a foreign object and rape by force.
Two other juveniles, Ari Abdallah Morales and Marcelles James Peter, appeared together with Smith at the Contra Costa County Superior Court, but did not enter a plea. The court described Morales as under 16, and did not give an age for Peter.
All three juveniles, who wore bulletproof vests at the hearing, were charged as adults. A fourth individual, Manuel Ortega, 19, appeared separately without an attorney and did not enter a plea. He did not wear a protective vest. Another adult who was arrested has a different court date.
As many as 10 people were involved in the assault in a dimly lit back alley at the school, police have said. Another 10 people watched, without calling 911, police said.
The victim was released from a hospital Wednesday, police said.
Police have made a sixth arrest in the gang rape of a 15-year-old girl outside a high school dance.
Richmond police say 18-year-old Jose Carlos Montano was arrested around 5 p.m. Thursday outside his San Pablo home.
Richmond police Lt. Mark Gagan describes Montano as having played a "significant role in the rape of the victim." Gagan says Montano was being held on suspicion of rape, rape in concert with force and other charges.
Montano was being held on $1.3 million bail.
The arrest of Montano comes after three other teen suspects appeared for the first time in court Thursday.
A 19-year-old and a 21-year-old have also been arrested in the case.
Police say the victim was attacked after leaving a homecoming dance at Richmond High School Saturday night.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
RICHMOND, Calif. (AP) — Wearing bulletproof vests, three teen suspects appeared for the first time in court Thursday on charges of gang raping a 15-year-old girl outside a high school dance while as many as two dozen people watched without calling police.
Defendant Cody Ray Smith, 15, pleaded not guilty, while Ari Abdallah Morales, 16, and Marcelles James Peter, 17, did not enter pleas during their arraignment in Contra Costa County Superior Court.
Peter's aunt, Monica Peter, said before the hearing that her nephew had told her he was only a bystander and did not participate in the attack.
Asked why he didn't do anything to stop it, she said he feared "he would get his ass kicked."
Sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee could not explain why the defendants wore the protective vests. But prosecutor Dara Cashman said her office had been getting a tremendous number of calls and e-mails about the case, mostly "expressions of outrage from all over the country."
Morales was sporting a black eye in court from a separate incident, authorities said.
Morales' lawyer, Ernie Castillo, said he was still learning details about the case.
"I don't know what limited role, if any, my client played," Castillo said. "This was a tragic, horrible incident that happened to this young woman."
Reports have indicated onlookers laughed and joked during the attack. Police would not comment on rumors the episode had been recorded on cell phones.
Smith, Morales, and Peter were each charged with rape in concert and sexual penetration with a foreign object. They were being held without bail and could be eligible for life in prison, if convicted.
They were charged as adults because of the severity of the crime, which showed "callousness and viciousness," prosecutor Dara Cashman said.
"It's just very cold," she said after the hearing.
Another suspect, 19-year-old Manuel Ortega, was arraigned separately but did not enter a plea. He is charged with rape, robbery and assault causing great bodily injury. He is being held on $1.2 million bail.
Salvador Rodriguez, 21, also remained jailed but has not been charged.
Police said the victim left the homecoming dance at Richmond High School and was walking to meet her father for a ride home when a classmate invited her to join a group drinking in the school courtyard.
The girl had consumed a large amount of alcohol by the time the assault began, police said. The girl's father tried to call her cell phone but no one answered.
Police received a tip about a possible assault on campus from a former student, who heard two males bragging about it. Officers found the girl semiconscious and naked from the waist down near a picnic table.
She was released from a hospital Wednesday.
Police are still looking for more suspects in the Saturday night attack and believe as many as 10 people ranging from 15 to the mid-20s may have attacked the girl for more than two hours in a dimly lit area.
A $20,000 reward is being offered for information.
The victim of last weekend's brutal gang rape at her homecoming dance was a devout Christian who attended church three times a week and whose friends say had been looking forward to the homecoming dance for weeks.
Kami Baker, one of the victim's close friends, said the girl came to the dance Saturday evening clad in a sparkling purple gown, diamond necklace and matching silver shoes.
"When we walked in the dance together she said, 'I can't wait to get my dance on!'" Baker,16, told ABCNews.com.
But what began as a night the teen girls were looking forward to at Richmond High School outside San Francisco, soon became a nightmare, when the 15-year-old became victim to a horrific two-and-a-half hour gang rape in a dark corner of the school grounds.
Coast Guard C-130 transport alleged to have collided with a marine Cobra attack helicopter. Believed to have 7 people on board.
The AH-1 Cobra helicopter is the same type of attack helicopter that reportedly collided with a Coast Guard C130 transport plane off San Clemente Island. Cobra believed to have 2 pilot.
Jayhawk H-60 helicopter Coast Guard rescue helicopter searching for survivors and missing planes.
Navy T-34 training aircraft. Search began when the T-34 were reported to be missing.
The Coast Guard confirmed to reporters in San Diego tonight that a crash occurred between two aircraft -- possibly a Coast Guard C-130 transport airplane and a Marine AH-1 Cobra helicopter -- and said that rescue crews have spotted debris in the water.
Rescue units from the Coast Guard and Navy have responded to the crash site to search for survivors. The airplane was reported to contain seven crew members, while the helicopter contained two. No survivors have yet been spotted. Three Coast Guard cutters and four Navy ships, along with several helicopters, are involved in the search.
A Coast Guard spokesman said that search conditions were good with calm waters and light winds. The spokesman described the aircraft as a Coast Guard airplane and a Department of Defense aircraft. Federal Aviation Administration officials have identified the aircraft as a C-130 and a Cobra helicopter.
The collision is thought to have occurred 15 to 25 miles off San Clemente Island, the FAA said.
Ian Gregor, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, said that a pilot reported seeing a fireball about 7:10 p.m. near the suspected crash site. Earlier reports stated that a single Navy helicopter may have crashed.
The Coast Guard says an overnight search yielded no sign of a Navy plane and two pilots who failed to return from a flight.
Petty Officer Randy Hale told The Associated Press early Thursday that search aircraft were out all night and "we haven't been able to find anything as of yet."
The search began Wednesday afternoon for the crew of a Navy T-34 training aircraft after an air traffic controller at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas lost contact with the pair.
The single-engine trainer's last known location was near San Jose Island, east of Rockport and 2 miles off shore in the Gulf of Mexico.
As many as nine people were believed to be missing after a Coast Guard plane collided with a military helicopter off the Southern California coast Thursday, officials said.
The crash was reported at 7:10 p.m., about 15 miles east off San Clemente Island, Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer Allyson Conroy said.
A pilot reported seeing a fireball in the vicinity of the suspected crash site, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.
Gregor said preliminary information indicated the crash was between a Marine Corps AH-1 Cobra and a Coast Guard C-130 transport plane.
There were seven people on board the C-130 and two on the chopper, Gregor said.
Marine Corps spokesman Cpl. Michael Stevens confirmed an AH-1 Cobra had crashed. He had no additional details.
A search and rescue mission was underway.
San Clemente Island, the southernmost of the eight Channel Islands, is 68 miles west of San Diego.
A Navy helicopter has collided mid-air with a Coast Guard transport plane, leaving a reported 9 people missing, according to the FAA. A search and rescue operation is underway.
FAA spokesman Ian Gregor says a Coast Guard C130 transport plane is believed to have collided midair with a Marine Corps AH-1 Cobra helicopter at 7:10 p.m., approximately 25 miles east of San Clemente Island.
A pilot reported seeing a fireball in the vicinity of the suspected crash site.
The Coast Guard cannot account for a C130 and the Marine Corps cannot account for a Cobra, Gregor said.
The Coast Guard sent a Jayhawk H-60 helicopter to assist in the search for the downed aircraft, Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Henry Dunphy said.
There were reportedly seven people aboard the C130 and two aboard the AH-1 Cobra.
Originally reported by the Coast Guard as a possible helicopter down, the crash has since been classified as a collision by the FAA.
The pilots were not talking to FAA air traffic controllers at the time of the collision, Gregor said.
Three Coast Guard cutters and four Navy ships, along with several helicopters have been dispatched to the suspected crash site and will search throughout the night to find any possible survivors, said Lieutenant Josh Nelson of the Coast Guard in a press conference.
Officials are calling search conditions in the area "ideal," with calm waters, light winds, and no cloud cover.
Search crews have reportedly found debris in the water, but have not located any survivors, according to Nelson.
Officials could not comment on where the aircrafts originated or what sorts of missions they were conducting.
San Clemente Island is the southernmost of the Channel Islands off California. It is owned and operated by the United States Navy, and is a part of Los Angeles County. ---------------- RELATED POSTS:-
Students protest against the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.
A soldier kept watch from a Pakistani Army position. The current ground offensive has received wide public support.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, walks beside Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, at the Iqbal Memorial in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.
Police officers wait for the arrival of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Government College University, where she will be attending an event, Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, stands beside Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at the Iqbal Memorial in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.
In this photo provided by Pakistan Muslim League, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, meets Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, center right, poses for photos beside Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, center left, and two unidentified people in front of the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, second right, prays together with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, right, in front of the grave of the Poet Muhammad Iqbal, at the Iqbal Memorial in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.
Students react against the wind caused by a helicopter at the entrance of the Government College University, while waiting to attend an event with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.
Students protest against the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is on a three-day state visit to the country, Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. The banner in Urdu reads: "Don't transform Pakistan into an American state."
Police officers wait for the arrival of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Government College University, where she will be attending an event, Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, center, is escorted by Pakistani Rangers at the Iqbal Memorial in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.
Pakistani soldiers at a lookout post in South Waziristan.
Pakistani forces pushing toward a lair of hard-core Taliban fighters found documents this week linked to a member of the Hamburg cell of Al Qaeda that is believed to have planned the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
In a small village in the dun-colored hills of South Waziristan, soldiers found a German passport belonging to Said Bahaji, a German citizen and associate of Mohammed Atta, the leader of the 9/11 hijackers.
The passport was issued in Hamburg in January 2001 and was accompanied by a Pakistani visa dated March 2001. The documents indicated that Mr. Bahaji landed in Karachi from Istanbul on Sept. 4, 2001.
The apparent presence of Mr. Bahaji in the tribal areas of Pakistan is a clear indication that members of the Qaeda network — including participants in the 9/11 plot — have taken refuge here, as American officials, like Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday, have charged.
There was no indication that Mr. Bahaji had left Pakistan, authorities said.
Although Mr. Bahaji was not a central plotter in the Sept. 11 attacks, he lived for eight months in Hamburg with Mr. Atta and Ramzi bin al Shibh, according to the 9/11 Commission Report.
He was described in the report as “an insecure follower with no personality and with limited knowledge of Islam.”
It added: “Atta and Binalshibh used Bahaji’s computer for Internet research, as evidenced by documents and diskettes seized by German authorities after 9/11.”
A United States counterterrorism official said the documents “appear to be this guy,” and that American officials believe “he’s in Pakistan and is a senior Qaeda propagandist.” The official spoke anonymously to discuss classified assessments of Al Qaeda.
Soldiers also found a Spanish passport belonging to Raquel Burgos Garcia, who is believed to be Mr. Bahaji’s wife. She wore an Islamic headscarf in her passport photo; an accompanying identity card showed that she had attended school in Morocco.
The documents were shown to reporters on a day trip organized by the army on Thursday for the news media to observe operations in the nearly two-week-old battle. South Waziristan is off limits to foreign reporters, and most Pakistani reporters, without special permission.
The army was using artillery and jet fighters to break the back of the militants. Rounds of artillery thundered around the mountains at midday, and the sound of jets echoed through the valleys.
The offensive in South Waziristan has turned into a battle of wills between the army, the custodian of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and accustomed to facing archenemy India, and insurgents from the Taliban and Al Qaeda, who are determined to bring down the state.
The guerrillas established a sanctuary here four years ago to plan their operations.
In retaliation, the insurgents have struck with ferocity at Pakistan’s urban centers and military installations using sleeper cells and commando fighters to wreak havoc and fear, killing large numbers of civilians like never before.
The assaults, particularly a car bomb that killed more than 100 people in the narrow alleys of an old bazaar in Peshawar on Wednesday and was aimed at women and children, are interpreted by many Pakistanis as an effort to break the will of the public and turn opinion against the military operation.
The militants, they point out, are not concerned with public support and just want to be left alone in their faraway stronghold, which has become a magnet for foreign militants from diverse backgrounds, according to an array of documents captured in houses by the Pakistani military.
So far, the public appears to be supportive of the army and impatient with the militants, though many Pakistanis ask whether a foreign hand, meaning the United States or India, is behind the militants.
In the past, the army fared poorly in South Waziristan, the southernmost region of the tribal areas where the Taliban and Al Qaeda have operated at will.
In 2005, under the president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the army forged a peace deal in South Waziristan with Baitullah Mehsud, then the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, in a move that legitimized Mr. Mehsud’s authority with the Mehsud tribesmen.
A series of embarrassing encounters for the military followed. In 2007, the militants seized more than 40 soldiers at their fort at Sararogha and killed most of them.
Last year, the military abandoned its fort at Ladha, another militant stronghold, and the insurgents promptly blew up the British colonial-era structure.
Now the military is trying to recapture its reputation in South Waziristan, and to re-establish its presence. It is doing so with many more soldiers than in past operations in South Waziristan, said Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, the military spokesman, who ushered reporters around on a M-17 helicopter.
In addition to the militants’ passports, found in the village of Chalvashti, soldiers discovered a small house in a nearby town marked as a “laboratory” that was used for the manufacture of roadside bombs, Brig. Mohammed Shafiq said.
On the top of a rocky outpost called Spin Jamaat in Sherwangai, the commander of the forces in the area, Gen. Khalid Rabbani, sounded a confident note as he surveyed a vast landscape of hills and scarce vegetation. “The terrorists have gone into deeper areas, and the exits are choked,” he said.
But the fact that the insurgents were retreating deeper inside their stronghold around the towns of Makeen, Ladha and Sararogha, near densely forested mountains, may not bode well for the army.
“I am afraid the army is being sucked in and then the terrorists will hit hard using hit-and-run tactics,” said a resident of the Mehsud area recently.
So far, the army has concentrated on taking territory along the main road, a thin ribbon of rock-strewn gravel that was first laid down by the British. The troops have proceeded slowly, even though this roadside terrain was relatively easy, compared to the mountain passages that lay ahead, soldiers said.
The next target, Kuniguram, has served as the headquarters for the Uzbek fighters, the Taliban’s most brutal warriors. The army had surrounded Kuniguram on three sides, General Rabbani said, and clouds of white smoke from artillery fire onto the ridge in front of Kuniguram could be seen in the early afternoon.
The army expected its toughest fight so far to capture Kuniguram, the most substantial town under militant control that it had taken on so far, the general said.
On a separate axis from Kuniguram, the army was approaching Sararogha, the operational hub of the Taliban, General Abbas said.
It appeared, he said, that Wali ur-Rehman, the second in command of the Pakistani Taliban, was directing operations from Sararogha, where the army signed a peace deal with Mr. Mehsud, the former head of the Pakistani Taliban. Mr. Mehsud was killed in an American drone attack in August.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton chided Pakistani officials Thursday for failing to press the hunt for al-Qaida inside their borders, suggesting they know where the terror leaders are hiding.
American officials have long said that al-Qaida mastermind Osama bin Laden and senior lieutenants of the network accused in the Sept. 11 attacks operate out of the rugged terrain along the border with Afghanistan.
But Clinton's unusually blunt comments went further in asserting that Pakistan's government has done too little about it.
"I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to," Clinton said in an interview with Pakistani journalists in Lahore. "Maybe that's the case. Maybe they're not gettable. I don't know."
There was no immediate reaction from Pakistani officials, but the thrust of Clinton's comments were startling, coming after months of lavish public comments from her and other American officials portraying Pakistan's leaders as finally receptive to the war against militants inside their own country.
As a political spouse, career public official and recently as a diplomat, Clinton has long showed a tendency toward bluntness, sometimes followed by a softening of her comments. But her remarks about Pakistan's lack of action against al-Qaida comes at a particularly sensitive moment — amid a major Pakistani offensive against militants and a deadly spate of insurgent violence.
Clinton on Friday was wrapping up her three-day visit to Pakistan with a series of interviews with Pakistani journalists — including a session with women journalists that was to be broadcast live — and talks with leaders of Parliament. Then she was to fly to the Persian Gulf city of Abu Dhabi for meetings with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, to be followed over the weekend by a meeting in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
With Pakistan reeling from Wednesday's devastating bombing that killed more than 100 people in Peshawar, Clinton also engaged in an intense give-and-take with students at the Government College of Lahore. She insisted that inaction by the government would have ceded ground to terrorists.
"If you want to see your territory shrink, that's your choice," she said, adding that she believed it would be a bad choice.
Richard Holbrooke, the special U.S. representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan, told reporters that Clinton planned to meet late Thursday with the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, to get an update on the offensive that began Oct. 17 against Taliban forces in a portion of the tribal areas near the Afghan border.
"We want to encourage them," Holbrooke said of the Pakistanis. "She wants to get a firsthand account of the military situation."
During her exchange with the Pakistani journalists, one reporter asked Clinton why the fight against terrorism seemed to put Pakistan at the center and why other countries couldn't do more. Clinton noted that al-Qaida has launched attacks on Indonesia, the Philippines and many other countries over the years.
"So the world has an interest in seeing the capture and killing of the people who are the masterminds of this terrorist syndicate. As far as we know, they are in Pakistan."
On Clinton's flight to Islamabad after the interview with Pakistani journalists, U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson said Clinton's remarks approximate what the Obama administration has told Pakistani officials in private.
"We often say, `Yes, there needs to be more focus on finding these leaders,'" Patterson said. "The other thing is, they lost control of much of this territory in recent years, and that's why they're in South Waziristan right now."
In Lahore, dozens of students rushed to line up for the microphone when the session with Clinton began. Their questions were not hostile, but showed a strong sense of doubt that the U.S. could be a reliable and trusted partner for Pakistan.
One woman asked whether the U.S. could be expected to commit long term in Afghanistan after abandoning the country after Russian occupiers retreated in 1989.
"What guarantee," the woman asked, "can Americans give Pakistan that we can now trust you — not you but, like, the Americans this time — of your sincerity and that you guys are not going to betray us like the Americans did in the past when they wanted to destabilize the Russians?"
Clinton responded that the question was a "fair criticism" and that the U.S. did not follow through in the way it should have. "It's difficult to go forward if we're always looking in the rearview mirror," said Clinton, on the second of a three-day visit, her first to Pakistan as secretary of state.
The Peshawar bombing in a market crowded with women and children appeared timed to overshadow her arrival. It was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since 2007.
She likened Pakistan's situation — with Taliban forces taking over substantial swaths of land in the Swat valley and in areas along the Afghan border — to a theoretical advance of terrorists into the United States from across the Canadian border.
It would be unthinkable, she said, for the U.S. government to decide, "Let them have Washington (state)" first, then Montana, then the sparsely populated Dakotas, because those states are far from the major centers of population and power on the East Coast.
Clinton was responding to a student who suggested that Washington was forcing Pakistan to use military force on its own territory.
During her hourlong appearance at the college, Clinton stressed that a key purpose of her trip was to reach out to ordinary Pakistanis and urge a better effort to bridge differences and improve mutual understanding.
But her tough comments about Pakistan's will to take on al-Qaida leaders might not sit well among Pakistanis who long have complained about American demands on their country.
Clinton has ruffled feathers before with blunt comments during international trips. On her first visit to Asia in February, she discussed the possibility of a succession crisis in North Korea and suggested the U.S. would not press China that hard on human rights.
On a later trip, she drew criticism from Israeli leaders for talking about a "defense umbrella" for Arab Gulf states to protect them from a potential nuclear threat from Iran.
Despite her comments during the town hall event in Lahore, Clinton declined to touch on the sensitive issue of missile attacks from U.S. drones against militants inside Pakistan.
The subject has stirred some of the strongest feelings of anti-Americanism in the country, but the U.S. routinely refuses to acknowledge publicly that the attacks are taking place.
"There is a war going on," Clinton said, adding only that the U.S. wants to help Pakistan be successful.
The United States has provided Pakistani commanders with video images and target information from its military drones as the army pushes its ground offensive in Waziristan, U.S. officials said this week.
The U.S. in recent months has rushed helicopters and other military equipment to the country as Islamabad began offensives.
"We've put military assistance to Pakistan on a wartime footing," Lt. Col. Mark Wright, a Pentagon spokesman, said Thursday. ------
This take you inside Michael Jackson's trial and exposes all the bull that went on. Please share with as many people as you know to help spread this video.
People v. Jackson (full case name: The People of the State of California v. Michael Joseph Jackson) was a 2005 child sexual abuse trial involving recording artist Michael Jackson. The accuser was a boy, Gavin Arvizo, who was 13 years old at the time of the alleged crimes. Jackson was indicted for four counts of molesting a minor, four counts of intoxicating a minor, one count of abduction, and one count of conspiring to hold the boy and his family captive at his 2,700-acre Neverland Ranch. He denied all counts and asserted that he himself was the victim of a failed extortion attempt. On June 13, 2005, the jury found Jackson not guilty on all charges.
Eloquent? George Bush has signed up with Washington Speakers Bureau, one of America's top lecture agents that represents Tony Blair
George Bush is better known for mangling the English language than for his eloquence.
Even his biggest supporters would have to concede that the former president’s speeches didn’t hold a candle to his successor in the White House.
But that hasn’t stopped Mr Bush from launching his return to public life - as a motivational speaker.
He has signed up with Washington Speakers Bureau, one of America’s top lecture agents that represents Tony Blair and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
Nearly 15,000 Americans paid £140-a-ticket to hear the 28-minute speech in a Texas stadium that marked his return to the spotlight on Monday night after nine months of self-imposed exile at his Dallas home.
He is writing a book about the twelve toughest decisions he had to make in office.
But he stuck to lighter fare for his first speech, for which he was reportedly paid £60,000.
He dismissed his rock bottom approval ratings in his final years as president, saying that ‘popularity is fleeting. It’s not real.’
For the most part, he tried his best to fit the bill at the ‘Get Motivated!’ seminar in Fort Worth, Texas.
His speech came after the crowd sang along with the Beach Boys song Surfin’ USA and batted around beach balls.
Mr Bush told how he picked out a rug design for the Oval Office that reflected his ‘optimism.’
His best received story was about taking his Scottish Terrier, Barney, on a walk near his home carrying a plastic bag to pick up dog mess.
That was a moment, he said, when he realised, ‘Man, my life has changed.’
The most serious he got was when talking about his faith. ‘I don’t see how you can be president without relying on the Almighty,’ he told the cheering crowd.
‘Now when I was 21, I wouldn’t have told you that, but at age 63, I can tell you that one of the most amazing surprises of the presidency was the fact that people’s prayers affected me. I can’t prove it to you. But I can tell you some days were great, some days not so great.
‘But every day was joyous,’ he added, saying that was because of the prayers of others.
Speaking without a tele-prompter, Mr Bush didn’t make any of the verbal gaffes for which he has become famous.
Other speakers at the event included former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and ex-Secretary of State Colin Powell.
He is scheduled to make another motivational speech next month in San Antonio, Texas and, according to former presidential adviser Karen Hughes, he has more speeches planned for the autumn.
Pictures of the Duchess of Cornwall and reports of the 'Camillagate' tapes that featured an X-rated chat between the heir and his then mistress. Scenes from Princess Diana's funeral that saw the world in mourning
I thee wed: The Prince and Princess of Wales at their July 1981 wedding, and iconic post-divorce images, including Diana's appearance on TV when she famously stated that there were three people in her marriage
The nation's sweetheart: The comic refers to Diana as an 'admirable woman' and the royal family as 'stoic'
A comic book based on the life of Princess Diana and featuring illustrations of the Queen, Prince Charles and sons William and Harry, has been published in the U.S.
The book, entitled Female Force: Princess Diana, even includes pictures of Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, and reports of the 'Camillagate' tapes that featured an X-rated chat between the heir and his then mistress.
The comic presents a glowing image of the late princess, calling her 'a modern British icon' and an 'admirable woman'.
Published by Bluewater Comics the book includes memorable scenes and events from different parts of Diana's life.
Darren Davis - who runs Bluewater - says the comic book is not specifically aimed at children although he knows young girls have read other biographies from the Female Force series.
He says: 'It's aimed at everybody. We want kids to read it because it's a comic book.
'We've found that some of the people reading the books are women buying them for their daughters. We want girls to learn what she has done.'
He says that he wants to 'look at the admirable British icon who won hearts around the world as a princess, public figure, philanthropist and parent.'
Events illustrated include the announcement of Diana's engagement to Prince Charles, their lavish wedding in 1981, her meeting US president Ronald Regan and dancing with Hollywood actor John Travolta.
But the book also features illustrations of the last days of Diana's life - including her holiday with Dodi Al Fayed, the tunnel in Paris where she was killed and her funeral.
As well as countless images of the late princess, the book contains illustrations of Tony Blair, Mother Theresa, Martin Bashir and Diana's brother Charles Spencer.
But the royal family is described as being 'stoic' and Prince Charles's 'post-divorce love life' is called a 'half-hearted cloak and dagger attempt to conceal his relationship with his long-time mistress Camilla Parker-Bowles.'
Written by Chris Arrant, the introduction to the $3.99 book says: 'Diana, Princess of Wales, emerged in the early 1980s as a fresh faced addition to the historically stoic British monarchy.' It goes on to read: 'She displayed remarkable humanity especially when set against the stoic aristocracy of the British royal family...
'Although her life was ultimately cut short, she forever holds a place as a modern British icon and admirable woman not only to England but to the entire world.'
The comic book covers some of the most memorable - and painful - moments in Diana's life including her parents' divorce, their custody battle and reference to her mother's extra-marital affair.
Readers are told that the late princess 'came to be known as a devoted mother, being more hands-on than the royals expected.'
The book even features an illustration of Andrew Morton who wrote the controversial best-selling 1992 biography, Diana: Her True Story.
The BBC interview with Martin Bashir is also covered with a bubble coming from Diana's mouth, making her memorable comment: 'There were three of us in this marriage. So it was a bit crowded.'
The bikini-clad princess is pictured sunbathing with her boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed during the 1997 holiday before her death.
The comic says Diana's 'stature in the public's eye was at its apex' but, 'just when her post-Charles life was coming together for her with her new beau Dodi Al Fayed, they were both tragically killed in an auto accident while in Paris.'
The immediate aftermath of Diana's death is recalled as is her funeral procession and the photo of the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, Princes William and Harry and Charles Spencer lining up behind her coffin.
Arrant writes: 'Britons' customary stoicism became overwhelmed by the grief felt at Diana's passing.'
The comic concludes with Tony Blair's speech and his televised comments describing Diana as 'the people's princess'. ----------
Plenty of Michael Jackson fans turned out for "This Is It" on Wednesday, but Sony Pictures may have to wait until Friday to find out whether the movie is a "Thriller" or "Bad" at the box office.
The documentary, a gamble for Sony that was assembled from more than 100 hours of video footage and rushed to the big screen after the singer's death in June, sold $2.2 million worth of tickets domestically at late-night screenings Tuesday, the studio reported.
According to industry executives who have been monitoring box-office returns, "This Is It" was on track as of Wednesday evening to collect $10 million to $12 million by the end of the day. A Sony spokesman declined to comment.
Comparisons with other movies are difficult, given that only two major films have been released in recent history by studios on a Wednesday outside of summer or the holidays. "The Passion of the Christ," a phenomenon that benefited from group purchases by churches, grossed $26.6 million in February 2004, and "The Matrix Revolutions," the third movie in a blockbuster trilogy, collected $24.3 million on its opening Wednesday in November 2003.
Thus far, it's unclear whether "This Is It" will be a blockbuster. The movie's big test will come Friday. Attendance today is expected to be light because most hard-core Jackson fans will have seen it opening day. Saturday will also be slow because it's Halloween, historically a dismal day at the box office.
If word of mouth is strong and moviegoers beyond the most devoted Jackson fans are interested, that probably will be evident in healthy ticket sales Friday.
Industry executives estimate, based on early data, that the movie could bring in anywhere from $30 million at the low end to $60 million at the high end through Sunday. The studio spent $60 million to acquire the rights and probably has spent tens of millions more on marketing.
Ultimately, however, domestic ticket sales may not be that important. "This Is It" is expected to perform substantially better overseas, where it could be a major hit regardless of how it does in the U.S. and Canada.
Box-office figures from the 97 foreign countries where "This Is It" opened simultaneously are not yet available.
Detectives arrest a suspect in the gang rape of a girl, 15, on the grounds of a school in Richmond, California
She had come alone to the Richmond High School homecoming dance, gorgeous in a sparkling purple dress and faux diamond baubles. The DJ played salsa, meringue, rap. When the teenager disappeared, her friends thought she had gone home early.
Except she never said goodbye.
"We were going to go look for her," said Kami Baker, 16, a junior at the school.
The next day, Baker learned the ugly truth about what had happened to her friend.
She had allegedly been gang raped and beaten for almost two-and-a-half hours and left unconscious under a bench shortly before midnight Saturday night.
"I busted up crying," Baker said.
The campus incident in the Bay Area city north of Oakland has shaken students and their families. Baker was one of many people connected to the school and the community who lashed out at officials at a public safety hearing Wednesday.
Baker blamed school district officials for not doing enough to protect her school -- and her friend. She said none of the four officers who were at the homecoming dance was patrolling the school premises even though there were a dozen young men hanging out just a few feet from the gym entrance. She says school officials chose not to take any action.
"I looked outside of the gym and I saw 12 to 15 guys, sitting there, with no IDs," Baker said at the hearing. "The officers -- not only did they not check the IDs of those students or men sitting outside of of our campus, but the security officers who are employed here did no ... checking either. The assistant principal looked outside and actually saw those men, and did nothing about it."
Baker took the podium with her younger sister, Barbie, a freshman at the school, who had spent a chunk of Saturday evening with the rape victim.
"This story has disrupted the school's morale greatly, including my own. I am friends with the girl," Baker said. "When I started here, I felt extremely unsafe and so did she, due to the lack of police officers and security officers."
Baker later described the 15-year-old girl as a churchgoer who struggled to fit in at Richmond High.
Police investigating the rape have arrested five people -- two adults and three minors, who will be charged as adults, said Lt. Mark Gagan, the Richmond police spokesman.
As many as 10 people were involved in the assault in a dimly lighted back alley at the school, police have said. Another 10 people watched, without calling 911.
The victim was released from hospital Wednesday, Gagan said.
Baker took heart in her friend's progress as she recalled how a night of joy for carefree teenagers turned into one that no one wants to remember. -------
