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Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Mugger left bloodied after attempt on MMA fighter
NBCChicago.com
Chicago police say Anthony Miranda tried to rob an MMA fighter.
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By NBCChicago.com
CHICAGO -- A convicted felon decided to mug an MMA fighter on the Southwest Side of Chicago, police say, and ended up paying a steep price.
Police did not release the victim's name but said he was able to ward off Anthony Miranda, 24, who ended up with two black eyes and a gunshot wound to the ankle after a tussle.
The victim was sitting in his parked car near 55th St. and Kenneth when Anthony Miranda, 24, walked up to the car asking for a lighter, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
When the victim did not have one, Miranda pulled out a handgun and demanded money, police officials said. He then demanded the victim get out of the car.
Read original story on NBCChicago.com
At some point, the victim was able to grab control of the gun while Miranda's attention was diverted. The two men wrestled on the ground and during the fight, Miranda accidentally discharged his gun, shooting himself in the ankle, police said.
The victim was able to pin down Miranda until police arrived and later told officials he was a martial arts expert and ultimate fighting champion.
Miranda was taken to Holy Cross Hospital with a face full of cuts and two black eyes, police said. He has been charged with armed robbery and aggravated discharge of a firearm, a class X felony.
Records show Miranda has several convictions, including at least one for a residential burglary. He was ordered held on $350,000 bond Sunday.
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Reyes, Marlins agree to $106M deal
FILE - In this Sept. 29, 2010, file photo, New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes reacts after hitting a double during the first game of a baseball doubleheader against the Milwaukee Brewers at Citi Field in New York. A person familiar with the negotiations tells The Associated Press that Reyes and the Miami Marlins have agreed to a $106 million, six-year contract. The deal includes a club option for a seventh season that, if exercised, would make it worth $120 million. The person spoke Sunday Dec. 4, 2011 on condition of anonymity because the deal had not yet been announced. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 29, 2010, file photo, New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes reacts after hitting a double during the first game of a baseball doubleheader against the Milwaukee Brewers at Citi Field in New York. A person familiar with the negotiations tells The Associated Press that Reyes and the Miami Marlins have agreed to a $106 million, six-year contract. The deal includes a club option for a seventh season that, if exercised, would make it worth $120 million. The person spoke Sunday Dec. 4, 2011 on condition of anonymity because the deal had not yet been announced. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
DALLAS (AP) ? All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes and the Miami Marlins provided quite a warmup for the winter meetings.
A day before the annual swap session officially began, the NL batting champion and the Marlins reached agreement on a $106 million, six-year deal, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Sunday night.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the free-agent deal had not yet been announced.
The 28-year-old Reyes had spent his entire career with the New York Mets. But the Marlins courted him hard, even though they already had All-Star shortstop Hanley Ramirez. Reyes will join another key free-agent acquisition, All-Star closer Heath Bell, when the Marlins move into their new ballpark next year.
Reyes, Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder were the top free agents available going into the weekend, all with a chance of finding a landing spot for the future. Gil Hodges, Ron Santo and Minnie Minoso could lock up a legacy forever this week.
Baseball's four-day gathering starts in earnest Monday, and speculation about more moves was rampant.
Will the New York Yankees work out a swap for Cubs pitcher Matt Garza? Will some bullpen add A's All-Star closer Andrew Bailey? Will C.J. Wilson or Mark Buehrle strike riches?
A couple of trades have already been made since Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series. Huge swaps, not yet.
Going into the weekend, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson had a theory on why there had been a lack of movement.
"It may have something to do with the top free agents not having moved, Pujols and Fielder and Jose Reyes," Alderson said then. "It may just be the tension ? not the tension, but the dynamic between clubs and free agents. The free agents would like to think that a certain market exists. And the clubs, at this point, are holding out some hope that that market doesn't exist."
"But it can all change in three days in Dallas," he said.
As Alderson's team discovered, it can happen even faster than that.
Surely, there were other general managers itching to get busy. Six teams have hired new GMs, and Houston will become the seventh.
A big name who will be available, if any team wants to take the risk: Manny Ramirez.
Major League Baseball announced Sunday the All-Star slugger had applied to be reinstated from the voluntary retired list and his drug suspension had been cut from 100 games to 50. MLB and the players' union agreed to trim the penalty because he sat out most of last season, when he played a week for Tampa Bay. He turns 40 in May and has 555 career home runs.
Detroit manager Jim Leyland was among the early arrivals Sunday at the 1,606-room Anatole, a familiar baseball site. The hotel is hosting the meetings for the sixth time ? inside its walls in 2000, more than a half-billion dollars was spent in a hurry as Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez and Mike Hampton each got nine-figure contracts.
Last year's meetings got off to a rousing start, too, when free-agent outfielder Jayson Werth and the Washington Nationals reached a $126 million, seven-year deal. The agreement came on a Sunday, a day before the official opening. In fact, workmen were still assembling the podium when the Nationals and agent Scott Boras walked into the press room to make the announcement.
Also in town early this year were former Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals president Stan Kasten, and Chicago White Sox special assistant Dennis Gilbert, both part of groups lining up to bid for the Los Angeles Dodgers in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Kasten is aligned with former Los Angeles Lakers star Magic Johnson and investor Mark Walter in a group called Guggenheim Baseball Management. Gilbert, a former agent, is aligned with former talk show host Larry King and Jason Reese of Imperial Capital.
Earlier Sunday, representatives from MLB and the umpires' union met, and replay was a prominent subject. Baseball is still figuring out when and how to expand the system, with fair-or-foul calls and trapped balls likely to be reviewed next season. Also under discussion is how to pick umpires for extra wild-card playoff games that could occur as early as next year.
On Monday morning, history is at stake. The Hall of Fame's Veterans Committee will reveal whether it has elected any new members.
Hodges, Santo, Luis Tiant and Jim Kaat are on the 10-person Golden Era ballot covering 1947-72. The 16-member voting panel talked about the candidates Sunday and turned in the secret ballots. The announcement is set for 11 a.m. EST.
Minoso, Ken Boyer, Tony Oliva, Ron Santo, Charlie Finley and Buzzie Bavasi also are under consideration. It takes 75 percent for election, and those picked will be inducted into Cooperstown next July.
At next year's meetings in Nashville, Tenn., retired managers Tony La Russa, Joe Torre and Bobby Cox could gain election when the Expansion Era from 1973 on is considered.
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Monday, December 5, 2011
Late Red Sox clubhouse chief accused of '90s abuse
BOSTON (AP) ? Two more men are accusing a now-dead former Red Sox clubhouse manager of sexually abusing them.
Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian says he has informed the Red Sox of the allegations and is asking for a $5 million settlement for each man.
The men were teenage clubhouse attendants in 1991 when they say Donald Fitzpatrick molested them in the clubhouse of Fenway Park. The statute of limitations has expired to file a lawsuit or seek criminal charges.
Fitzpatrick died in 2005. In 2003, the team settled a lawsuit with seven Florida men who said Fitzpatrick molested them during spring training beginning in the 1970s.
Garabedian said team lawyers have asked to meet with the two men. A message was left with Red Sox attorney Daniel Goldberg.
The allegations were first reported by The Boston Globe.
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9 men deny plot to mount London bomb attacks (AP)
LONDON ? Nine men have denied plotting to launch bomb attacks on landmarks including Britain's Parliament and busy shopping areas.
The men were detained in several British cities Dec. 21 in the country's largest counterterrorism raids for two years.
The British suspects, aged between 20 and 29, pleaded not guilty Friday to preparing for acts of terrorism and conspiring to cause explosions.
Prosecutors accuse the men of agreeing on targets, discussing materials and methods, carrying out reconnaissance, attending operational meetings and downloading and researching files "containing practical instruction for a terrorist attack."
Several also are accused of having copies of the al-Qaida magazine Inspire.
They are due to stand trial Jan. 23 at London's Woolwich Crown Court.
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Sunday, December 4, 2011
Rice University student in prank gone awry seeks donations (Reuters)
HOUSTON (Reuters) ? A Rice University student has started an online campaign called Save Duncan's Butt to help him pay for the $15,000 worth of school property he damaged with his derriere while streaking.
Rice junior Duncan Eddy's problems began on Halloween night, when he and a group of fellow students stripped, lathered themselves in shaving cream and stormed a campus library as part of a student tradition that involves leaving body prints on the library windows.
Eddy's trip to the library, however, ended with a shattered window and a bloody rear end. He is now seeking help from friends and Rice alumni to help him pay the bill.
"Quite simply, if I cannot raise the money, I will not be able to remain at Rice," he wrote on his website, saveduncansbutt.com. As of midday on Friday, the site had generated more than $8,000 and had been shared on Facebook more than 1,600 times.
For $20, donors receive a T-shirt commemorating the naked run.
"I would like to thank all of my friends from Baker, as well as the rest of the Rice community, who have been incredibly supportive during this stressful time - even if I have been the butt of a few asinine jokes," Eddy wrote on the website.
The streak, known as Baker 13, is named after one of the university's residential colleges and is held on the 13th and 31st of each month.
"The movement to support Duncan spread really fast," said Claire Garney, a Rice University junior in Baker College.
Ian Chmar, who is also a junior in Baker, contributed $50 to the campaign. He said he was Eddy's roommate last year and that he streaked with Eddy and some 200 others this Halloween.
"From what I hear, the university is cracking down on him pretty hard," Chmar told Reuters on Friday.
A similar incident happened in 2008 during Baker 13, and the student was charged $15,900, said B.J. Almond, a university spokesman.
Almond confirmed that Eddy has been charged $15,000, but he declined to comment further, saying that the university does not discuss student disciplinary matters. Eddy told Reuters in an e-mail he was not giving interviews.
"This whole thing has turned into a circus," he wrote. "Right now, I'm just trying to get through exams."
(Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Cynthia Johnston)
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Saturday, December 3, 2011
Chavez: New regional group revives Bolivar's dream
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, left, and Cuba's President Raul Castro raise hands prior to the inauguration ceremony of a summit by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC, in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday Dec. 2, 2011. The two-day, 33-nation summit welcomes nations from Brazil to Jamaica, adding one more bloc to a region with other smaller organizations like Unasur, Mercosur and the Caribbean Community. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, left, and Cuba's President Raul Castro raise hands prior to the inauguration ceremony of a summit by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC, in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday Dec. 2, 2011. The two-day, 33-nation summit welcomes nations from Brazil to Jamaica, adding one more bloc to a region with other smaller organizations like Unasur, Mercosur and the Caribbean Community. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, right, talks to Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez during the inauguration ceremony of the Latin American and Caribbean States Community, CELAC, summit in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. At back is Guatemala's President Alvaro Colom. The two-day, 33-nation summit welcomes nations from Brazil to Jamaica, adding one more bloc to a region with other smaller organizations like Unasur, Mercosur and the Caribbean Community. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Brazil?s President Dilma Rousseff, left, speaks with Venezuela?s President Hugo Chavez during an agreement signing ceremony at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011. Rousseff is in Venezuela to attend the Latin American and Caribbean Community, CELAC, summit that starts Friday in Venezuela?s Capital. The woman at center is a translator. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
In this photo provided by Miraflores Presidential Press Office, Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez, left, stands with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez in front of a painting of her late husband Nestor Kirchner after signing bilateral agreements at the presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Miraflores Presidential Office)
Presidential guards stand at the entrance of the Teresa Carreno theater before the start of a presidential summit in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday Dec. 2, 2011. Presidents of Latin American and Caribbean nations will attend the Community of Latin American and Caribbean (CELAC) summit starting Friday in Caracas. The two-day, 33-nation summit welcomes nations from Brazil to Jamaica, adding one more bloc to a region with other smaller organizations like Unasur, Mercosur and the Caribbean Community. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? South American independence hero Simon Bolivar once dreamed of unifying several nations as a counterweight to their powerful hemispheric neighbor, the United States.
Two centuries later, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez tapped into that legacy Friday as he hosted leaders from across the Americas at a two-day summit. Chavez described the new regional bloc that excludes the U.S. as a tribute to his idol Bolivar, saying the time has come to put an end to U.S. hegemony.
"Only unity will make us free," Chavez said to applause at the opening ceremony. "This is the path: Unity, unity, unity!"
He called it an achievement that Latin America has been seeking for 200 years, and shouted: "Viva Bolivar!"
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega echoed Chavez's sentiments, saying Latin American and Caribbean countries should ensure that the policy of U.S. intervention to protect the region's nations, declared by President James Monroe in 1823, is never revived.
"We are sentencing the Monroe Doctrine to death," Ortega said.
The 33-nation Community of Latin American and Caribbean States includes every country in Latin America and the Caribbean. Unlike the Washington-based Organization of American States, or OAS, it will have Cuba as a full member and exclude the U.S. and Canada.
Cuban President Raul Castro said that if it's successful, the creation of the new bloc known by its Spanish initials CELAC will be "the biggest event in 200 years."
"I'm sorry it isn't Fidel who is occupying the place that I am, because he is the one who deserves it," Castro said of his elder brother, who permanently stepped down from Cuba's presidency in 2008.
Castro condemned this year's NATO airstrikes in Libya as a crime and said Latin American and Caribbean nations should declare themselves a "territory of peace and free of foreign militaries."
Other Latin American leaders said they see CELAC as a forum to build closer economic and political relations across the region, but not as a platform for challenging U.S. policies.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon said it will be a group "to work in favor of unity and prosperity." Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who is a U.S. ally but also has friendly relations with Chavez, said that "CELAC isn't being born to be against anyone."
Daniel Restrepo, President Barack Obama's senior adviser on Latin America, told reporters in Miami that the U.S. government would watch to see what direction CELAC takes.
"There's one sector that wants an anti-American project, and that isn't sustainable. There are others who want to use it to face the challenges they have," Restrepo said.
At the summit, Chavez embraced leaders one-by-one, and later launched into a wide-ranging speech discussing poverty-reduction efforts as well as reading excerpts of Bolivar's letters and a passage from Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude."
The summit was Chavez's international debut after months of cancer treatment that forced him to postpone the meeting originally scheduled for July.
Talking about his struggle with cancer, Chavez credited Fidel Castro with saving his life by insisting he undergo thorough medical tests that turned up a tumor during a June visit to Cuba.
Chavez said he had wanted to go ahead with the summit in July, but Castro had advised him: "You choose: the summit or your life. ... The summit can wait."
Following surgery to remove the tumor in his pelvic region, Chavez finished chemotherapy in September and declared himself to be cancer-free. He drew a standing ovation from the leaders when he referred to the recent cancer diagnosis of former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, saying: "Lula will win that battle, too."
After initial speeches, the Venezuelan government treated the leaders to a concert by conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Outside the summit, small groups of Chavez opponents including university students put up protest signs on Caracas overpasses. Denouncing the country's high crime rate, some signs read: "Presidents, welcome to the crime capital." Police swiftly removed the signs.
Many leaders referred to Bolivar's legacy, including Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who focused on calling for a coordinated response to safeguard the region's growing economies from the global financial crisis.
"Together we can be stronger, together we can grow, and that should be beneficial for everyone," Rousseff said. "The economic, financial crisis should be at the center of our concerns."
Plans for the new organization, which grew out of the 24-nation Rio Group, have been in the works since a 2008 summit hosted by Silva.
Chavez has long sought inspiration in the legacy of Bolivar, who in the early 1800s served as president of Gran Colombia, a republic made up of much of northern South America and modern-day Panama until it broke up into individual states following years of dissent and political upheaval.
Chavez calls his political movement the Bolivarian Revolution and in 1999 promoted the approval of a new constitution that changed the country's name to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Last year, Chavez even oversaw the opening of Bolivar's coffin to re-examine the cause of his death, and the Venezuelan government is building a new mausoleum to house Bolivar's remains.
Bolivar was an admirer of the American Revolution, although he warned that the unrivaled power of the United States could eventually pose a threat to the young nations of Latin America that had won independence from Spain.
___
Associated Press writers Ian James and Jorge Rueda in Caracas and Gisela Salomon in Miami contributed to this report.
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Christopher Toothaker on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ctoothaker
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