Egypt’s Mubarak on life supporamid crisis

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak was on life support after suffering a stroke in prison Tuesday, deepening the country’s uncertainty just as a potentially explosive fight opened over who will succeed him.

The 84-year-old Mubarak suffered a “fast deterioration of his health” and his heart stopped beating, the state news agency MENA and security officials said. He was revived by defibrillation but then had a stroke and was moved from Torah Prison to a military hospital in Cairo.

MENA initially reported he was “clinically dead” upon arrival, but a security official said he was put on life support. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Maj. Gen. Mohsen el-Fangari, a member of the ruling military council, told the Al-Shorouk newspaper website that Mubarak was in a “very critical condition,” but denied he was dead. Mubarak’s wife, Suzanne, came to the hospital, where Mubarak was in an intensive care unit, another security official said.

The developments came amid threats of new unrest and political power struggles, 16 months after Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising demanding democracy.

Earlier Tuesday, both candidates in last weekend’s presidential election claimed victory.

The Muslim Brotherhood, emboldened by its claim that its candidate won the election, sent tens of thousands of supporters into the street in an escalation of its confrontation against the ruling generals who invoked sweeping powers this week that give them dominance over the next president.

Some 50,000 protesters, mostly Islamists, protested in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, chanting slogans in support of Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi and denouncing the generals.

“It is not possible to have a revolution and then have military rule and a president with no authority,” said protester Mohammed Abdel-Hameed, a 48-year-old schoolmaster who came with his son from Fayyoum, an oasis province 60 miles (100 kilometers) southwest of Cairo.

The conflicting claims over the election could further stoke the heat. The campaign of Mubarak’s former prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, said Tuesday he won the election, denying the Brotherhood’s claim of victory. Hundreds of Shafiq’s supporters took to the streets in Cairo in celebration.

The election commission is to announce the official final results on Thursday, and either way the loser is likely to reject the result. If Shafiq wins, it could spark an explosive backlash from the Brotherhood, which has said Shafiq could only win by fraud.

The sudden health crisis of Mubarak, who is serving a life prison sentence, briefly overshadowed the political standoff.

Moving Mubarak out of prison to Maadi military hospital is likely to further infuriate many in the public. Many Egyptians have been skeptical of earlier reports that his health was worsening since he was put in prison on June 2, believing the reports were just a pretext to move him to another facility. There is a widespread suspicion that security and military officials sympathetic to their old boss are giving him preferential treatment.

Maadi is the same hospital where Mubarak’s predecessor, Anwar Sadat, was declared dead more than 30 years ago after being gunned down by Islamic militants.

The criteria for using the term “clinically dead” are “poorly defined,” said Dr. Lance Becker, a University of Pennsylvania emergency medicine specialist and an American Heart Association spokesman.

“My speculation would be that he had that sort of event where his heart temporarily stopped,” said Becker, who is not involved in Mubarak’s treatment. “That doesn’t mean that it’s irreversible.” Life support can be used to keep his blood circulating and replace breathing if he is unable to do so on his own, Becker said.

Mubarak’s condition brought to mind former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon — though it was not known if there was any medical similarity in their conditions. Sharon, now 84, suffered a massive stroke on 2006. Intensive treatment and repeated operations by a team of brain surgeons stabilized his condition, but he has never regained consciousness and remains on life support in a deep coma.

Mubarak has been serving a life sentence at Torah Prison for failing to stop the killing of protesters during the 18-day uprising against his rule last year. The verdict against him has already been a spark for protests — thousands massed in Tahrir when the court acquitted him and his sons on separate corruption charges and cleared several top security chiefs on the protester killings.

The multiple disputes have turned a moment that was once anticipated by some as a landmark in Egypt’s post-Mubarak transition — the election of the first civilian president in 60 years — into a potentially destabilizing snarl.

Shafiq’s campaign spokesman, Ahmed Sarhan, told a televised news conference that Shafiq won 51.5 percent of the vote and that the claim of victory by Morsi was “false.”

“Gen. Ahmed Shafiq is the next president of Egypt,” Sarhan said. He said Shafiq won some 500,000 votes more than Morsi, of the fundamentalist Brotherhood.

The Shafiq campaign’s claim came just hours after Morsi’s campaign repeated their claims of victory, saying Morsi had won 52 percent of the vote compared to Shafiq’s 48.

The Brotherhood first announced Morsi’s victory early Monday, six hours after polls closed. It said its claim was based on returns announced by election officials from each counting center around the country. Each campaign has representatives at every center, who compile the individual returns. The Brotherhood’s compilation during the first round of voting last month proved generally accurate.

Shafiq, a former air force commander who was named prime minister during Mubarak’s last days, is seen by his opponents as likely to preserve the military-backed police state that his former boss headed for three decades. He, in turn, has presented himself as a strongman able to keep Egypt stable and out of the hands of the Brotherhood, playing on fears the group will turn the country into an Islamic state.

Just as polls closed Sunday night, the military — which has ruled since Mubarak fell on Feb. 11, 2011 — issued a constitutional declaration giving themselves power that all but subordinates the new president. Critics called it a coup intended to maintain their control over the state even after they nominally transfer authorities to the president by July 1.

The declaration gave the generals legislative powers and control over the process of drafting a new constitution and the national budget. It also shields the military against any kind of civilian oversight and allows the generals to run their own affairs without interference from civilian authorities.

A court ruling also dissolved the Islamist-dominated parliament last week, a verdict that has been endorsed by a decree issued by military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. Also last week, the military-backed government granted military police and intelligence agents the right to arrest civilians for a host of suspected crimes, a move that many viewed as tantamount to a declaration of martial law.

The Brotherhood and its Islamist allies rejected the dissolution decree and insisted the parliament is still in effect.

Tens of thousands demonstrated in Cairo and the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria Tuesday evening to denounce the constitutional declaration.

The estimated 50,000 protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, birthplace of last year’s anti-Mubarak uprising, were mostly Brotherhood supporters and other Islamists joined by a small group of leftist and liberal activists.

The military’s assertion of authority came under international criticism, from Amnesty International and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who has met repeatedly with the generals in visits to Egypt.

Carter said in a statement that he was “deeply troubled by the undemocratic turn that Egypt’s transition has taken.” His Carter Center monitored the weekend runoff as it has every nationwide vote in Egypt since Mubarak’s ouster in a popular uprising engineered by pro-democracy youth groups.

He pointed to the dissolution of parliament and the elements of martial law and said the constitutional declaration “violated the military’s commitment to make a full transfer of power to an elected civilian government.

“An unelected military body should not interfere in the constitution drafting process,” Carter said  Source

 

Fla. teen guilty of battery in flame attack

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A teenager accused of orchestrating an attack that left his classmate in flames was convicted Tuesday of aggravated battery after jurors decided against more serious charges.

Matthew “Zeke” Bent faced a charge of attempted second-degree murder after prosecutors say he offered friends money in 2009 to harm Michael Brewer, who was doused in rubbing alcohol and set on fire. The six jurors, who deliberated for just over a day, had the option of finding him guilty of a lesser offense.

Brewer suffered severe burns over 65 percent of his body but survived after leaping into an apartment complex swimming pool.

The Brewer family had been in court for much of the trial, but weren’t present Tuesday.

“The Brewers respect the jury’s decision. Now it’s time for Michael to get on with his life. …And today he has closure,” said their attorney, Jeanne Brady.

Prosecutors echoed Brady.

“Michael Brewer spent the last three years healing from his physical wounds. And now he’s moving on with his emotional wounds,” said Kal Le Var Evans, an assistant state attorney.

A defense attorney said the three years that Bent has been in jail awaiting trial was already a hefty penalty.

“He thought that three years for his involvement was quite substantial,” said defense attorney Perry Thurston, Jr. “He’s disappointed.”

Bent and two other teens were charged with second-degree attempted murder, which carries a prison sentence of as many as 30 years. Denver “D.C.” Jarvis, 17, and 18-year-old Jesus Mendez pleaded no contest earlier and were sentenced to eight and 11 years behind bars, respectively.

Bent faces a maximum term of 15 years at his sentencing hearing on July 23. His lawyers said they plan to file an appeal.

Bent initially intended to plead no contest as well, but backed out at the last minute and opted for trial. His attorneys insisted he was not the instigator of the attack and never intended to hurt Brewer.

Prosecutors had urged jurors not to let Bent sidestep guilt because he had others carry out the attack.

“Don’t let him get away with letting other people do his dirty work for him,” Assistant State Attorney Maria Schneider said of the defendant during closing arguments Monday. “Matthew Bent was the reason why this crime happened. He was offering people money to beat Michael, not to scare Michael.”

Defense attorney Johnny McCray said the state was overreaching with its prosecution of Bent.

“An innocent child doesn’t have to be convicted to bring justice to Michael Brewer,” McCray told the jury that began deliberations Monday afternoon.

The defense did not call a single witness, and Bent did not testify.

Brewer testified that he stayed home from school the day of the attack because he was afraid of Bent. The two had gotten into a dispute over a marijuana pipe that Bent was trying to force Brewer to buy, Brewer testified. Bent then allegedly tried to steal a bicycle belonging to Brewer’s father, which led to Bent’s arrest.

“I was afraid,” Brewer testified. “I thought something was going to happen to me.”

After school the day of the attack, Brewer decided to visit a friend at a nearby apartment complex. On the way he encountered a group of boys including Bent, Jarvis and Mendez.

The boys had found a jug of rubbing alcohol by chance on a low wall alongside the complex, and Jarvis testified that Bent offered him $5 or $10 to pour it on Brewer. Other boys said Bent offered the group $5 each to punch Brewer.

Jarvis did douse Brewer and Mendez then flicked a lighter he was holding, sparking the blaze. In a statement to police, Mendez said he never expected the liquid to ignite so explosively.

Brewer spent months in the hospital, undergoing seven skin graft operations, followed by months more of rehabilitation and physical therapy. He testified that he still feels pain in his back and legs but said he remembers little after diving into the pool.

“I started getting really cold, and then I started seeing blur,” Brewer said.  Source

 

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak dies

 

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is clinically dead according to media reports. He was 84.

Mubarak ruled Egypt for nearly 30 years, steering the nation through the turmoil that swept a Middle East buffeted by wars, terrorism and religious extremism. But the war hero and savior of his country died as a criminal convicted for his role in the deaths of those fighting to oust him.

He suffered a stroke on Tuesday, and a defibrillator was used in prison before he was taken to Toura Prison Hospital hospital in Cairo, Agence France-Presse reported.

Mubarak’s health had been failing since he was sentenced to life in prison on June 2, after he was convicted of failing to prevent the killing of protesters in a February 2011 uprising against his rule.

Doctors at the prison hospital used a defibrillator twice on June 11 after they could not find a pulse on the deposed leader. An AP story at the time said Mubarak “was slipping in and out of consciousness, was suffering from high blood pressure and breathing difficulties, and was in a deep depression, according to security officials at the prison.”

More details on his death or funeral arrangements are not yet available.  Source

 

Zimmerman’s wife had $63,000 before bond hearing

ORLANDO, Fla. — Records released by prosecutors show the wife of a former neighborhood watch leader who killed Trayvon Martin had almost $63,000 in her bank account the day before she testified at her husband’s bond hearing that her family had limited funds to pay his bail.

The bank records released Tuesday shows that George Zimmerman’s wife, Shellie, had made a series of transfers just under the mandatory reporting amount of $10,000 from her husband’s account in the days before his April bond hearing.

The money had been raised from a website set up for Zimmerman’s legal defense.

Zimmerman was released on $150,000 bond. It was revoked after prosecutors alleged Shellie Zimmerman misled the court about their finances.

Zimmerman is pleading not guilty, claiming self-defense.

He has a second bond hearing next week.  Source

 

Dwyane Wade in middle of custody drama during NBA Finals

 Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade with his two sons, Zion and Zaire, and nephew, Dahveon,

 

As he battles to win the NBA Finals, Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade is locked in a parental war with his ex-wife which escalated this weekend.

Wade’s ex-wife, Siovaughn Funches-Wade, was arrested on Monday on two counts of attempted child abduction and unlawful visitation interference.

Wade’s attorney, James Pritikin immediately filed an emergency motion and appeared in court in Chicago on Tuesday — as Wade prepares for Game 4 in Miami.

He asked the court to suspend the visitation rights of Funches-Wade of the couples two young sons , Zaire, 10, and Zion, 5. The couple divorced in 2010.

According to the filing, the family drama began on Saturday.

But Wade told The Associated Press his children have been with him since Father’s Day on Sunday morning and “that’s what mattered most to me.”

It all began when Wade’s sons were supposed to be picked up by his sister at their mother’s Chicago home around noon Saturday to make a 3 p.m. flight to Miami. Wade’s sister received no response at Funches-Wade’s home and after “several hours” of trying the Cook County Sheriff’s Office was notified.

The court filing said Wade’s ex-wife tried to leave the home without the children when one of the deputies tried taking her into custody. The children were with a woman named Nadgee Alarcon at the time of their mother’s arrest.

Wade eventually hired a private jet to bring his son’s home Saturday to be with him for Father’s Day. That night helped win Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Back in Chicago, Funches-Wade was charged with two counts of attempted child abduction, two counts of unlawful visitation interference and one count of resisting arrest. Alarcon was charged with one count of resisting arrest. All of the charges are misdemeanors.

Siovaughn Funches-Wade posted $10,000 bond on Monday and will return to court to face the charges in August.

Records showed that Funches-Wade was taken to the hospital after the incident. She told officers she was experiencing shortness of breath and thought she was having an asthma attack.

For his part, Wade said the incident has not adversely affected his play in the NBA Finals.

Wade is currently involved with actress Gabrielle Union   Source

 

Marco Rubio says he would come to the U.S. illegally if he had to

Hypothetically, if Marco Rubio were not an American citizen and could not provide food for his family, he says he would cross the border illegally to come to the United States.

While discussing immigration policy in his new memoir, An American Son, Rubio called for “common decency” in dealing with undocumented immigrants and said that if put in a similar position as those who are fleeing destitution, he would break the law, too.

“Many people who come here illegally are doing exactly what we would do if we lived in a country where we couldn’t feed our families,” Rubio writes in his book, which went on sale Tuesday. “If my kids went to sleep hungry every night and my country didn’t give me an opportunity to feed them, there isn’t a law, no matter how restrictive, that would prevent me from coming here.”

Rubio, a member of a political party that has largely opposed efforts to extend a path to citizenship to those in the country without documentation, has been crafting his own version of an immigration reform bill that would let some children of undocumented immigrants avoid being deported.

Rubio is considered a possible vice presidential running mate for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who spent the primary season voicing opposition to an immigration plan that would give those who came illegally permanent residency or citizenship without returning to their home country first Source

 

Miami-Dade commissioners want to ban sales of ‘bath salt’ synthetic drugs

Banning so-called bath salts will be on the Miami-Dade Commission’s agenda for Tuesday.
By Charles Rabin and Patricia Mazzei
crabin@MiamiHerald.com

Miami-Dade commissioners are scheduled to take a preliminary vote Tuesday to outlaw the synthetic drug known as “bath salts,” and to back away from their original plan to ban candy-flavored tobacco products.

The votes come on the heels of the commission’s preliminary vote earlier this month to prohibit sales of synthetic marijuana.

The state has already outlawed specific chemicals in bath salts, but manufacturers have managed to sidestep state law by slightly altering the drugs’ chemical makeup. The county’s ordinance goes a step further, banning sales or displays for “anything structurally similar” to the banned compounds, said Assistant County Attorney Jesse McCarty.

The products, which are easily available at many convenience stores, go by colorful names like Blizzard, Blue Silk, Hurricane Charley, Ivory Snow and Snow Leopard.

The county’s ordinance calls for a $500 fine and up to 60 days in jail for selling the product.

The ban, put forth by several South Florida cities, comes after a man gnawed the flesh from the face of a homeless man — an attack some law enforcement officers believe was fueled by bath salts, though toxicology reports are not yet available to show whether the attacker had taken any drugs.

Just last week, the city of Miami gave the initial nod to banning sales of bath salts.

Last month, county commissioners gave preliminary approval to outlawing the sale of candy-flavored tobacco products, including favorites like Swisher Sweet cigars, because the products are sometimes marketed to children. Sellers of the products, some of whom opposed the measure, could have been fined $500 or sentenced to 60 days in jail.

But one of the ordinance’s sponsors, Commissioner Sally Heyman, withdrew her support, saying she wanted to stop youth from chewing tobacco but did not want to hurt small businesses that sell the products.

Instead of banning the products in Miami-Dade, the new measure commissioners will consider on Tuesday urges the federal government — which already prohibits the manufacture and sale of flavored cigarettes — to extend its ban to other flavored tobacco products that are not cigarettes, particularly those that resemble candy, mints and breath strips.

The measure also calls on the Florida Legislature to prohibit the products, and directs the county’s lobbyist to support such a ban in Tallahassee.

Also Tuesday, commissioners are expected to sign off on a plan by Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones to sell $50 million worth of bonds for a host of affordable housing projects in Overtown.

In other business, commissioners will vote to oppose a proposal by Citizens Property Insurance, the state insurer of last resort, to remove a 10-percent cap on rate hikes for policy holders. Mayor Carlos Gimenez sent Citizens’ interim president a letter last month opposing the move.

Several South Florida Republican state lawmakers have also bucked their party and spoken against the proposal, which Citizens is calling a necessary change to reduce the company’s risk  Source

 

George Zimmerman Jail Calls Released

 

NBA: Miami Heat taking 2-1 lead, experience into Game 4

Just like last season, the Miami Heat holds a 2-1 lead in the NBA finals. But, the Heat will tell you, there is little other resemblance.

“We’re a totally different team than we was last year when we were up 2-1,” Heat forward LeBron James said Monday. “We’re a totally different team. We understand what it takes to win, we’ve used that motivation, and we will continue to use that motivation. But last year is last year, and we’re not going into a Game 4 on someone else’s floor. We’re going into a Game 4 on our floor with a lot of experience in this type of situation. We’ll be ready.”

Miami lost Game 4 in Dallas last year, the start of a three-game slide that ended with the Mavericks hoisting the title trophy.

So the Oklahoma City Thunder knows a 2-1 deficit in a series is hardly insurmountable, even though the home-court roles are reversed for Game 4 Tuesday. And if Oklahoma City needed more proof, all it needs to do is remember the Western Conference finals when it lost the first two games to San Antonio. The Spurs didn’t win the rest of the way.

“We were down 2-0 against San Antonio, and everybody thought the series was over,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “But I know our guys, they’re very competitive, they’re very resilient. They’ve always showed that type of effort every game, and we’ve always been a great bounce-back team. I thought last night was a great bounce-back night. It’s unfortunate we didn’t make a couple  plays, and uncharacteristic, also.”

Uncharacteristic. That would also be a fine word to describe how James played in the finals last season.

He acknowledges that he “didn’t make enough plays” against the Mavericks a year ago, and the numbers — 17.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game — back that up, as do his well-chronicled fourth-quarter struggles in that series. In this year’s finals, James is averaging 30.3 points, 10.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists, and in the final minutes of Miami’s two wins in the series he has done his part to slam the door on the Thunder.

“He’s been aggressive. He’s an aggressive player,” Thunder guard James Harden said. “He’s been aggressive all year, all postseason. He’s tall, strong, and physical. He’s a tough matchup. It takes five guys to really lock down on their offense, because they’re a very offensive team especially with LeBron and (Dwyane) Wade.”

Bobcats: Charlotte has hired St. John’s assistant Mike Dunlap to be its head coach, two people familiar with the decision said.

Dunlap, 54, will replace Paul Silas, whose contract was not renewed after the Bobcats went 7-59 this past season.

NBA finals, game 4

TUESDAY: Oklahoma City at Miami, 6 p.m., ABC  Source

 

George Zimmerman calls show he has support — but from whom?

Ever since George Zimmerman killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, his life has, more and more, come under the public’s microscope.

First, there was the relentless scrutiny of his personality and his background. Had he been violent before? Did he have a history of racism?

Now, on Monday, even more of Zimmerman’s life has been opened for public examination, with Florida prosecutors releasing tapes of jailhouse phone calls between the 28-year-old and his wife. In one of them, Zimmerman tells his wife, Shellie, to buy herself a bulletproof vest.

“As uncomfortable as it is, I want you wearing one,” George Zimmerman told her, according to the Associated Press.

Right now, for prosecutors, the most relevant of these calls involve occasionally intimate conversations between George and Shellie Zimmerman about the money raised on a website set up for his defense. That website was launched after the killing prompted a national backlash, which ultimately led to second-degree murder charges.

Prosecutors say the couple lied to a judge about how much money they had, allowing Zimmerman to leave jail on a smaller bond and go into hiding while the case was prepared for trial. Zimmerman has since returned to jail for another bond hearing, scheduled to be held next week, and his wife has been arrested on suspicion of perjury.

Prosecutors say the calls show that the couple knew they had more money than they let on.

But the calls hint at a question that goes beyond the particulars of Zimmerman’s case — beyond the minutiae that will determine whether Shellie Zimmerman broke the law and whether George Zimmerman will go to prison for killing an unarmed teenager.

And that question is: Who are George Zimmerman’s supporters?

In the calls, Shellie Zimmerman tells her husband that the site crashed multiple times because of all the visitors. Those visitors left words of encouragement and, prosecutors say, more than $130,000 in donations.

“Oh, man, that feels good… that there are people in America that care,” Zimmerman told his wife, according to the Huffington Post.

Zimmerman has continued to receive donations since his defense set up an independently managed defense fund on May 3, his attorney said, with at least $37,000 more in contributions arriving since that time.

“Wow, that is awesome,” Zimmerman said to his wife after she told him about the support in April, according to the AP. “Those people need to start vocalizing themselves.”

Except that hasn’t happened. The donors have not been publicly disclosed, and Zimmerman’s support — although apparently substantial, given the donations — has never organized itself to any extent resembling the widespread national support that has coalesced around Trayvon Martin’s family.

On March 28, the Associated Press reported that the few people defending Zimmerman had remained out of sight and had spoken only reluctantly, fearing public backlash.

His family has also remained quiet, rarely granting interviews; Zimmerman’s brother spoke to Piers Morgan on CNN in March and his father, Robert Zimmerman, spoke with Fox 35 News Orlando.

“The family has had death threats — the father and mother, George has had death threats,” Miguel Meza, who said he was Zimmerman’s cousin, told the AP in March. “Anything related to George is a target.”

A former neighbor in Virginia, George Hall, a retired Presbyterian minister, also spoke up in March in defense of Zimmerman — a man he hadn’t lived next to for 11 years.

“Their parents taught them to treat everybody with respect,” Hall told the AP at the time. “I’m tired of hearing about this race thing. It could be an element in it … but I never would have thought of him as being a racist. His father was in the Army and was a white American, and his mother was Peruvian. That makes him 50% Peruvian. A lot of stuff I hear, it irks me because people are drawing their own conclusions with very little evidence.”

Also included with the release of the jailhouse tapes on Monday was the detail that Zimmerman had 145 other phone conversations while in jail before his release in April. His attorney, Mark O’Mara, plans to argue against the release of those tapes next week.

“It is our contention that the calls are not only irrelevant to the charges against Mr. Zimmerman, but they could jeopardize friends and family of Mr. Zimmerman who are unrelated to the case,” Zimmerman’s defense said.

O’Mara has said there were “significant threats” made against Zimmerman that forced his client into hiding.  Source