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ASPEN, Colo. – Charlie Sheen has been arrested in the Colorado resort town of Aspen on charges related to an alleged case ofdomestic violence.

Aspen police spokeswoman Stephanie Dasaro says Sheen was arrested Friday on charges of second-degree assault and menacing, both felonies, along with criminal mischief, a misdemeanor.

Police say the alleged victim didn’t have to be taken to the hospital. That person’s name was not released.

Police say the 44-year-old actor will be held without bond in the Pitkin County Jail until his first court appearance. The court was closed for Christmas, and no date for his appearance has been set.

Aspen is a ski resort town about 200 miles west of Denver.

Source : Yahoo news.

American Airlines Crash in Jamaica

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — An American Airlines flight carrying 154 people skidded across a Jamaican runway in heavy rain, bouncing across the tarmac and injuring more than 40 people before it stopped just short of the Caribbean Sea, officials and witnesses said.

Panicked passengers screamed and baggage burst from overhead bins as Flight 331 from Miami careened down the runway in the capital, Kingston, on Tuesday night, one passenger said.

The impact cracked the fuselage, crushed the left landing gear and separated both engines from the Boeing 737-800, airline spokesman Tim Smith said.

Crews evacuated dazed and bloodied passengers onto a beach from a cabin that smelled of smoke and jet fuel, passengers said. Rain poured through the plane’s broken roof, one said.

Some 44 people were taken to hospitals with broken bones and back pains and four were seriously hurt, airport and Jamaican government officials said. American Airlines said two people were admitted to the hospital and nobody suffered life-threatening injuries.

Heavy turbulence on the way to Jamaica had forced the crew to halt the beverage service three times before giving up, Pilar Abaurrea of Keene, New Hampshire, told The Associated Press by phone. The pilot warned of more turbulence just before landing but said it likely wouldn’t be much worse, she said.

“All of a sudden, when it hit the ground, the plane was kind of bouncing. Someone said the plane was skidding and there was panic,” she said.

U.S. investigators will analyze whether the plane should have been landing in such bad weather, Smith said, adding that other planes had landed safely in the heavy rain.

Passenger Natalie Morales Hendricks told NBC’s “Today” that the plane began to skid upon landing and “before I knew it, everything was black and we were crashing.”

“Everybody’s overhead baggage started to fall. Literally, it was like being in a car accident. People were screaming, I was screaming,” she said.

“There was smoke and debris everywhere,” after the plane halted, she said. “It was a mess. Everybody could smell jet fuel.”

Passenger Robert Mais told The Gleaner newspaper of Jamaica that he had heard the engine’s reverse throttle but that the plane didn’t seem to slow as it skittered down the runway.

The plane came to a halt about 10 to 15 feet (3 to 5 meters) from the Caribbean Sea and passengers walked along the beach to be picked up by a bus, Mais said. Rain came through the roof of the darkened jet and baggage from the overhead compartments was strewn about the cabin, he said.

The plane originated at Reagan National Airport in Washington and took off from Miami International Airport at 8:52 p.m. and arrived in Kingston at 10:22 p.m. It was carrying 148 passengers and a crew of six, American said. The majority of those aboard were Jamaicans coming home for Christmas, Jamaican Information Minister Daryl Vaz said.

Smith said there were two “significant” cracks in the fuselage, and the engines are designed to separate from the wings during an accident as a safety measure.

The airport reopened early Wednesday after officials had delayed flights because of concerns that the plane’s tail might be hindering visibility.

Some 400 passengers waited for their flights to be cleared for takeoff, Security Minister Dwight Nelson told Radio Jamaica.

Heavy rains that have pelted Jamaica’s eastern region for four days are expected to dissipate by Thursday. Authorities said the rains washed away a 7-year-old girl on Tuesday and led to a bus accident in which two people died.

© 2009 The Associated Press.

NEW YORK (AP) – Police concerns about a terrorist attack stemming from the 2003 arrest of Michael Jackson led to a request for federal help, according to FBI files kept on the late pop star.

The Santa Maria Police Department in California asked for FBI “involvement” after Jackson was arrested for child molestation. Police, according to the FBI, said they believed the court case would be a “soft target” for terrorism because of the “worldwide media coverage” the trial would attract.

The FBI concluded there were no threats, but did note the presence in an early court appearance of “The Nation of Islam, represented by its security unit Fruits of Islam,” and of a New Black Panther Party member whose name was left blank in the files.

Michael Jackson leaving court

The documents, dating from 1992 to 2005, were released Tuesday through a Freedom of Information Act request from The Associated Press and other media after Jackson’s death June 25, at age 50. The FBI initially said it had about 600 pages in its files but released 333 pages, citing privacy rules and the desire to protect investigative techniques.

In March 2004, the Santa Barbara County district attorney’s office reached out to the FBI, seeking help in developing a strategy to prosecute Jackson for molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor in the singer’s home. Jackson was ultimately acquitted in the high-profile case.

The FBI reviewed case notes from local authorities and examined 16 computers taken from Jackson’s home. Nothing notable was described as being found on the hard drives, though parts of the files are redacted.

The Santa Barbara case was the most recent time the FBI was asked to investigate Jackson but records show the agency had been looking at his alleged involvement with younger boys for more than a decade.

In September 1993, an FBI agent in London told colleagues in Los Angeles that the British press was reporting that a man was making allegations he had held a sexually charged phone call with Jackson in 1979, when the man was 13 and Jackson was 20. Aside from asking the information be passed on to local authorities in Los Angeles, the FBI agent in London noted that no further action was being taken.

In October 1995, the U.S. Customs Service asked the FBI to review a VHS videotape labeled “Michael Jackson’s Neverland Favorites An All Boy Anthology” as part of a child pornography investigation. The recording was of such poor quality that investigators appear to have been unable to determine what was on it.

The files include death threats against Jackson, then-President George H.W. Bush and mob boss John Gotti that led to the 1993 sentencing of Frank Paul Jones, who allegedly was obsessed with Janet Jackson, Michael’s sister.

A letter obtained by the FBI, dated July 6, 1992, states: “I decided that because nobody is taking me serious, and I can’t handle my state of mind, that I am going to Washington D.C. to threaten to kill the President of the United States, George Bush.”

The letter also says, “Michael (Jackson) I will personally attempt to kill, if he doesn’t pay me my money.” One of the documents, written by the L.A. City Attorney’s office, indicated on June 22, 1992, that the author of the letter “arrives in Calif.” and “Threatens to kill.” The FBI includes an interview with an unidentified “victim,” whose name is redacted but presumably Michael Jackson, who states that he was aware of the threats and took them seriously.

According to a 1992 Associated Press story, Jones was arrested June 22 and held on $15,000 bail for investigation of trespassing in the driveway of the Jackson family compound in Encino, Calif. The following year, he was sentenced to two years in prison for “mailing a threatening communication,” according to a 1993 press report included in the FBI files.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

Michael Jackson's Classified files released by FBI

Here is the news article I found on BBC News :

The FBI has released more than 300 pages of formerly classified documents relating to pop icon Michael Jackson.They include information regarding the singer’s 1993 and 2004 child molestation cases, as well as an extortion case where he was a victim.

Despite an application under the US Freedom of Information Act, just over half of the file will stay secret.

The pages do not provide any new information on Jackson’s sudden death in June, aged 50.

One document reveals that in 2004, local police in Santa Maria requested FBI involvement believing the court proceedings against the pop star were a “soft target for terrorism” due to the global media coverage.

“No intelligence indicating a terrorist threat” existed, the FBI said, although the bureau did provide other technical and investigative assistance into the case.

In June 2005, Jackson was found not guilty of all charges at the end of the four-month trial.

Video analysed

The documents were released through a Freedom of Information Act request from The Associated Press news agency and other media.

They show that the FBI assisted local authorities on several occasions from 1993 to 2005.

The FBI’s legal office in London helped with the child molestation probe in 1993 and in 1995 US customs officials asked the FBI to analyse a VHS videotape as part of a child pornography investigation.

The tape – “a multi-generation copy of poor quality” – was marked in part “Michael Jackson’s Neverland Favourites, An All Boy Anthology”, the FBI documents say.

In 1993 police in Los Angeles began investigating allegations of child abuse against Michael Jackson made by the father of 13-year old Jordie Chandler.

Jackson vehemently denied the claims and he was never charged. A civil case was settled out of court in early 1994 when he paid Jordie Chandler a reported $20m (£14m).

Source : BBC News Website

Brittany Murphy DEAD!

I was just checking the news and found out Brittany Murphy is dead!. She was just 32. It seems she died due to a cardiac arrest. I am not sure though. All these are just reports. But I guess that she is confirmed to be dead. TMZ started reporting that she is dead.

A 911 call was reportedly made around 8am from the home of Murphy’s husband Simon Monjack. She was taken to Los Angeles’ Cedars Sinai Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Murphy was known for roles in films such as Clueless, 8 Mile and Girl, Interrupted. She was 32.

Brittany Murphy DEAD!

I first saw her onscreen in the movie Just Arrived. She was really good, and I really liked the movie. I thought she was gonna become a really good actress. God, life just ends so suddenly.

Update From TMZ :

UPDATE 3:11 PM ET – Sources tell TMZ Brittany Murphy’s mom discovered her unconscious in the shower. We’re told when paramedics arrived, they quickly determined Murphy was in full cardiac arrest and immediately administered CPR. They continued CPR in route to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center — several miles away — and Murphy was unresponsive. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.

We’re told the LA County Coroner’s is picking up Murphy’s body from Cedars later today and will launch an investigation.

We all know that Dark Matter exists. But it seems they have been detected for the first time. Dark matter may have been “felt” for the first time deep in a Minnesota mine, physicists say.

Detectors in the mine, part of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment, were tripped recently by what might be weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs.

WIMPs are among the most popular candidates for dark matter, the invisible material that scientists think makes up more than 80 percent of the mass in the universe.

Recently detectors in the mine recorded two hits with “characteristics consistent with those expected from WIMPs,” according to a statement posted on the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Web site.

There is a one-in-four chance, however, that the particles detected are not dark matter but ordinary subatomic particles such as neutrons, the team cautions. (Related: “Dark Matter Proof Found Over Antarctica?”)

Mike Shull, an astrophysicist at the University of Colorado at Boulder, also urged restraint in interpreting the results.

“I regard this as interesting but very much an interim ‘progress report’ on a promising technique,” said Shull, who did not participate in the research.

“I hope they’ve detected [WIMPs],” he added, “It’s exciting if it’s true.”

WIMPS: Best Dark Matter Candidate?

Scientists have predicted that WIMPs can interact with normal atoms but only weakly and very rarely—hence the name.

When such an interaction happens, a WIMP careens like a billiard ball off an atom, the theory goes. But the collision leaves behind a unique signature in the form of a small amount of heat, which can be detected.

The smashup also creates charged atoms, or ions, that are detectable.

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment uses 30 detectors made of germanium and silicon crystals.

The detectors were placed a half-mile (0.8 kilometer) underground at the Soudan mine, a defunct iron mine in northern Minnesota. The deep location helps block “background noise” from other particles, such as solar and cosmic rays.

Aside from the online statement, details on the new detections have yet to be published, and members of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search team are declining comment.

But University of Chicago theorist Craig Hogan said that while the new detections are exciting, “it’s not time for the champagne bottles yet.”

The real significance of the apparent find would be that it could be used to help shape future dark matter detectors, which will be more sensitive and can better rule out false hits, Hogan said.

“It’s not a discovery yet, but if these detections are real, we can turn it into a discovery.”

Dark Matter Detected for First Time?

Dark Matter Origins

If WIMP detections are confirmed by other experiments, then scientists will likely want to know where the particles are coming from, the University of Colorado’s Shull added.

That’s because the origins of dark matter particles passing Earth could help solve other cosmic mysteries.

Some theories of galaxy formation, for instance, say that our Milky Way and other “adult” galaxies are enveloped by halos of dark matter that are densest in the galactic centers.

If this is correct, Shull said, then dark matter particles would be expected to originate from the center of the Milky Way more often than from other regions of space.

Source : nationalgeographic.com

Boeing 787 Dreamliner

After being delayed by almost 2 years, the Boeing 787 is all set to make its first flight today. The first flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is scheduled for 10 a.m. PT, 1 p.m. ET today.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is the most awaited flight and it has already been delayed for so long. It was set to make its first test flight in 2007. After all the delays its finally ready to make it. Well after all it faced a lot of problems from design issues to strikes and even shortage in bolts. Who would have guessed shortage in bolts could cause so much delay ?

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has maximum seating capacity is between 290 and 330 passengers, depending on the model.

Boeing says the plane is more fuel-efficient compared to earlier Boeing airliners and will be the first major airliner to use composite materials for most of its construction.

To celebrate its first flight Boeing is all also going to make a live webcast of the whole event. Well, I don’t want to be watching a boring flight travel in my PC. I might have better things to do. But the take-off and landing will have some good celebrations.

For those who are interested in catching the 787 Webcast, go here :
Live Webcast: Watch Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s First Flight Online

Here are five facts about the 787 Dreamliner:

* The 787 Dreamliner promises greater fuel efficiency through the use of durable, light-weight composite materials.

* Planes in the 787 family have list prices between $150 million and $205.5 million.

* Boeing has taken orders for 840 Dreamliners.

* The most recent delay results from a structural problem within the side-of-body joint of the aircraft — the connection of the wing to the fuselage.

* The 787 will use 20 percent less fuel for comparable missions in similarly sized airplanes.

Boeing is hoping to restore its credibility as a good plane-maker.