Comedian Robert Schimmel dies after car accident - MSN TV News

OMG!
So wrong....
I was going to add him to my death pool next year too, he would've wanted me to win.

OMAHA, Neb. -- A judge's final order overturning Nebraska's flag-desecration law includes provisions for state officials to pay $8,000 in attorney's fees to the Kansas church member who filed the lawsuit - a bill that will be footed by state taxpayers.


The order by U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf requires the fees to be paid by several prosecutors and law enforcement officials involved in the case. Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning and Nebraska State Patrol commander Bryan Tuma are to pay $3,500 of the $8,000.


Megan Phelps-Roper, a member of the Westboro Baptist Church, sued to challenge the constitutionality of Nebraska's flag law, saying it infringed on her right to free speech. She and other church members often trample the U.S. flag at protests at soldier funerals.

Taxpayers To Foot Funeral Protester's Legal Bills - Omaha News Story - KETV Omaha


Well isn't that just f**king nice. I get to help pay for that moron's legal fees.

Doctors remove nails allegedly hammered into maid by employers



Colombo, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- Doctors at a Sri Lankan hospital operated for three hours Friday to remove 18 nails and metal particles allegedly hammered into the arms, legs and forehead of a maid by her Saudi employer.

Dr. Kamal Weeratunga said the surgical team in the southern town of Kamburupitiya pulled nails ranging from about one to three inches from Lahadapurage Daneris Ariyawathie's body. He said doctors have not yet removed four small metal particles embedded in her muscles.

"She is under heavy antibiotics but in a stable condition," Weeratunga said.

Sri Lankan officials, meanwhile, met with Saudi diplomats in Colombo to urge an investigation into the incident.

"It was cruel treatment which should be roundly condemned," said L.K. Ruhunuge of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment.

He said the Sri Lanka government has forwarded to Saudi authorities a detailed report on the incident including statements from Ariyawathie.

Ariyawathie left Sri Lanka on March 25 to work as a housemaid in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia after the bureau registered her as a person obtaining a job from an officially recognized job agency.

She was held down by her employer's wife while the employer hammered the heated nails, Ruhunuge told CNN. She apparently had complained to the couple that she was being overworked, Ruhunuge said.

The nails were hammered into her arms and legs while one was on her forehead, he said.

"Most of the wounds are superficial but five to 10 are somewhat deep," said Dr. Prabath Gajadeera of the Base Hospital. "Luckily, none of the organs is affected. Only nerves and blood vessels are affected."

Ariyawathie, 49, is a mother of two children who were opposed to their mother's journey to Saudi Arabia for work.

Several countries across the Middle East and Asia host significant numbers of migrant domestic workers, ranging from 196,000 in Singapore to about 1.5 million in Saudi Arabia, according to a report published earlier this year by Human Rights Watch.

Many of the domestic workers are poor Asian women from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Nepal. Widespread abuse has been documented by global human rights groups.

Common complaints include unpaid wages, long working hours with no time for rest, and heavy debt burdens from exorbitant recruitment fees, said the Human Rights Watch report.

Isolation and forced confinement contribute to psychological and physical abuse, sexual violence, forced labor, and trafficking, the report said. The abuse often goes unchecked because of a lack of government regulation and protective laws.

Ruhunuge said the registration of the local job agency that placed Ariyawathie has been cancelled.

"We have also asked [them] to pay compensation to the victim," he added. "We want to bring those responsible for justice. We are doing our best in this regard," he said.

He said his office was ready to accompany Ariyawathie to Saudi Arabia to testify if a case is brought against her former employers.
Ariyawathie's dream was to one day return to Sri Lanka and build a house with the money she saved.

"We are looking at the possibility of helping her to do this," Ruhunuge said.
Karu Jayasuriya, deputy leader of the main opposition United National Party, visited Ariyawathie in the hospital and said he was appalled.

"We want the government to raise this issue at the highest levels with the Saudi government. We cannot imagine that such crude and uncivilized things are happening to our workers," he said.

Saudi officials were not immediately available for comment.

Doctors remove nails allegedly hammered into maid by employers - CNN.com

Exploding stranded whales often only 'humane' option

Explosives were reportedly used in Perth, Australia, to euthanize a terminally ill baby humpback whale that had been stranded for two weeks on the country's western coast.

The whale, about 30 feet long, was given a "lethal explosion" to the brain, according to local news reports.

"It's ugly but it's also a fast and one of the few ways to euthanize a whale that's stranded and in distress for too long," said Ken Balcomb, the executive director and research biologist for the Center for Whale Research since 1985. The Center, located on the Pacific Northwest's San Juan Island, is nonpolitical.
Balcomb, who has euthanized several whales, said there are essentially two ways to end the mammal's life if there is no hope of healing it and freeing it. One can either exact a controlled explosion or cut the throat.

"If a whale has been in that spot for two weeks, you have to assume that its brain is not functioning, that it's in a twilight zone, and isn't really aware of what's happening," Balcomb said.

The longer a whale is out of water the more pressure builds on the mammal's organs, he said. "These are sad things, but they happen and the public should know that there's nothing else sometimes that can be done."

Exploding stranded whales often only 'humane' option – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

Woman Severely Burned in Apparent Acid Attack

Stranger Allegedly Throws Caustic Liquid in Face of Wash. Woman Getting Things Out of Her Car

(AP) A 28-year-old Washington woman severely burned when a stranger threw an acid-like liquid in her face is listed in serious condition in a Portland, Ore., hospital's burn center.

Nancy Neuwelt is the mother of the injured woman, Bethany Storro of Vancouver, Wash. Neuwelt tells The Oregonian her daughter was getting something out of her car in downtown Vancouver when the attack happened Monday evening.

Neuwelt says a young woman walked up to her daughter, said "Hey, pretty girl, do you want to drink this?" and tossed a cup of liquid in Storro's face.

Neuwelt says her daughter bought a pair of sunglasses shortly before the attack, and that may have saved her eyesight. Still, Storro's family says her face will take months to heal.

Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp says doctors and authorities are trying to determine what kind of substance caused Storro's facial burns.

"KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Patricia Neal, the willowy, husky-voiced actress who won an Academy Award for 1963's "Hud" and then survived several strokes to continue acting, died on Sunday. She was 84.

Neal had lung cancer and died at her home in Edgartown, Mass., on Martha's Vineyard, said longtime friend Bud Albers of Knoxville.

Neal was already an award-winning Broadway actress when she won her Oscar for her role as a housekeeper to the Texas father (Melvyn Douglas) battling his selfish, amoral son (Paul Newman)."

Oscar-winning actress Patricia Neal dies at age 84 - Entertainment - Movies - TODAYshow.com