Thousands gather in temple of the sun god to witness global eclipse

By: Associated Press | Wednesday, March 29, 2006 5:20 PM PST ∞

SIDE, Turkey -- Thousands of skygazers gathered in an ancient temple of Apollo and let out cheers Wednesday as a total solar eclipse turned day into twilight, casting an eerie blue glow across the sky and the Mediterranean Sea.

NASA astronomers handed out protective glasses to hundreds of Turkish children before the eclipse cut a dark swath across the sky -- a band that stretched from Brazil, across West Africa, Turkey and Central Asia, then disappeared at sunset in Mongolia.

The last total solar eclipse was in November 2003, but that was best viewed from sparsely populated Antarctica. Wednesday's eclipse blocked the sun in highly populated areas.

In Ghana, automatic street lamps switched on as the light faded, and authorities sounded emergency whistles in celebration. Schoolchildren and others across the capital, Accra, burst into applause.

Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Iraq were summoned to mosques during the eclipse for a special prayer reserved for times of fear and natural disasters.

In the Turkish resort of Side, a crowd of some 10,000 began cheering and whistling as the moon took its first bite out of the sun. When the moon masked the sun and Venus suddenly appeared in the blue glow of the darkened sky, another loud cheer went up.

"It's one of those experiences that makes you feel like you're part of the larger universe," said NASA astronomer Janet Luhmann who witnessed the eclipse from the ruins of an ancient Roman theater just a few hundred feet from the temple of Apollo.

It was "spiritual and emotional," said Brian Faltinson of Victoria, British Columbia, who was watching his second eclipse. "It just about made me cry."

As the sun covered the moon, the temperature dropped quickly and some skygazers put on sweaters. The sun blackened and a fiery rim surrounded it; the sky turned an eerie dark blue while a bright sunset red could be seen on the horizon.

There was a festive atmosphere in Side, with people gathered on the fallen stones and collapsed columns of the temple dedicated to Apollo -- god of the sun -- or on rocks at a beach about 40 feet away.

A string quintet played classical music at the foot of the temple's five standing pillars and a Turkish brewery distributed free beer. Vendors hawked eclipse T-shirts and at one point, the stargazers began waving to a nearby cruise ship.

"It was a special ambiance," said astronomer Slobodan Ninkovic who drove from Belgrade, Serbia, to Side (pronounced SEE-deh). "We were inside an ancient city -- it was very impressive."

Children sat on the ruined stone steps of the second-century Roman theater and watched as astronomers from NASA and the San Francisco-based Exploratorium science museum, using large telescope and cameras, broadcast the phenomenon live on the Web.

The eclipse came as a welcome break for Turkey's tourism industry, which attracted 21 million visitors and brought in $18 billion last year, but saw tourism numbers fall 10 percent after an outbreak of bird flu earlier this year.

"After two or three months of suffering, I hope this is a turning point for us," Tourism Minister Atilla Koc said.

Tourism Ministry spokesman Tayfun Yahsi said 200,000 tourists had arrived in the Antalya region, one of the country's most popular tourist areas.

Many in Ghana, a deeply religious country of Christians and Muslims, said the eclipse bolstered their faith.

"I've never experienced this and we all need to pray to God and worship him. I believe it's a wonderful work of God," said Solomon Pomenya, a 52-year old doctor. "This tells me that God is a true engineer."

Health authorities warn that staring directly at the sun can damage the eyes.

The moon began blocking out the sun in the morning in Brazil before cutting a dark swath across Africa, then Turkey and up into Mongolia, where it will fade out with the sunset.

Total eclipses require the tilted orbits of the sun, moon and Earth to line up exactly so that the moon obscures the sun completely. The next total eclipse will occur in 2008.

California man arrested in slaying of woman at Las Vegas hotel


LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A conventioneer from Southern California has been arrested in the slaying of a woman whose nude body was found in a 25th floor hallway at a Las Vegas Strip hotel, police said Wednesday. - James Flansburg, 39, was being held at the Orange County jail in Santa Ana pending an April 27 extradition hearing following his arrest Friday on a warrant charging him with murder in the slaying of Bridget Gray.

Flansburg, who was employed at a storage unit business in Santa Ana, had been in Las Vegas for a convention, Las Vegas police Sgt. Russ Shoemaker said.

Gray, of San Francisco, turned 22 on March 3, the day her body was found about 3:22 a.m. at the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino. She had been choked to death, Shoemaker said. A coroner's spokeswoman said Wednesday the cause of death was asphyxia due to compression of the neck.

"We have evidence that indicates they were in the casino together and came up to his room together," Shoemaker said of hotel and casino security videotapes showing Flansburg with Gray at a casino bar, an automatic teller machine and in an elevator and hallways.

Police previously found that Gray rented a weekly room at a short-term hotel northwest of the Strip the day before she was slain.

Brush fire forces partial shutdown of Florida Turnpike


MIAMI (AP) -- A brush fire forced authorities to shut down part of the Florida Turnpike in Miami-Dade County on Wednesday.

The blaze began shortly before 11 a.m. and within a few hours had burned about 40 acres along the Turnpike near I-75, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue officials said. Thick smoke rolled across the highway as the fire burned in nearby trees.

The cause of the fire wasn't immediately clear.

Three New Orleans police officers indicted in videotaped beating


NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Two fired New Orleans police officers and one current officer were indicted Wednesday in the videotaped beating of a retired teacher in the French Quarter last fall.

The Oct. 8 beating of Robert Davis, 64, was caught on videotape by an Associated Press Television News crew covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Earlier, the grand jury had heard from Davis, who told reporters as he entered the courthouse that he barely remembers the attack and would not be able to recognize the officers who beat him. But Davis said he thought the three men deserved stiffer charges than the misdemeanor offenses they were originally charged with.

Robert Evangelist, 36, was charged with false imprisonment while armed with a dangerous weapon and second-degree battery; Lance Schilling, 29, was charged with second-degree battery; and Stewart Smith, 50, was charged with simple battery, according to a statement from District Attorney Eddie Jordan.

Evangelist and Schilling were fired after the incident; Smith was suspended but remains with the police force.

False imprisonment, the most serious of the charges, carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. Second-degree battery is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $2000 fine, Jordan said. Simple battery is a misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a $500 fine.

Davis spent more than an hour testifying about the beating, which left him lying on the street, hands cuffed and blood flowing from his head and face. Afterward, he told reporters that he still has headaches and back problems and even had to interrupt his testimony to take medicine.

"It went all right," he said, adding, "but I can't tell you anything. I've been sworn to secrecy."

The retired elementary school teacher said he was "a private citizen here on business returning to my home. There was no need for what happened."

He said he had returned to the storm-struck city to check on his property and was looking for a place to buy cigarettes in the French Quarter when police grabbed him.

The videotape shows an officer hitting Davis at least four times on the head. Davis twisted and flailed as he was dragged to the ground by four officers. One officer kneed Davis and punched him twice, and Davis is shown face-down on the sidewalk with blood streaming down his arm and into a gutter.

Smith had ordered APTN producer Rich Matthews and the cameraman to stop recording. When Matthews held up his credentials, the officer grabbed him, jabbed him in the stomach and delivered a profanity-laced tirade.

Evangelist and Schilling were charged with battery against Davis, and Smith was charged with battery against a reporter.

The video also shows two FBI agents joining the police in subduing Davis. Their role is being investigated by federal officials.

A federal civil rights investigation also was launched.

"Without this videotape, I'm sure this case would be swept under the rug," said Davis' attorney, Joseph Bruno.

Davis has pleaded not guilty to charges of public intoxication, resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and public intimidation. His lawyer said this week he expects the charges will be dropped.

Killer invited to party because he might be entertaining


SEATTLE (AP) -- Residents of a house where six people were killed invited the gunman to a party because they thought the man they described to police as "sketchy" might be good entertainment. - According to a search warrant filed in King County District Court Tuesday, Anthony Moulton, 25, a roommate in the Capitol Hill rental home, met Aaron Kyle Huff, 28, at a zombie-themed dance party in the early hours of Saturday morning.

He told police Huff seemed "sketchy," different, putting off "bad vibes," but Moulton said he thought it would be entertaining to have someone like that in the mix of people at an afterparty he and his roommates were throwing.

Huff seemed friendly enough, Moulton told police, and agreed to come over.

At the party, Huff was one of the first to arrive, Mouton said. He kept to himself, was quiet and polite, and took part in some friendly small talk.

But shortly before 7 a.m., Huff left the party, walked to his pick-up truck, retreived a pistol-grip shotgun and handgun, loaded himself with extra ammunition, and headed back to engage in a murderous rampage. He killed six before turning the shotgun on himself when confronted by police.

The search warrant provides additional detail into items found in the Seattle apartment he shared with his twin brother, Kane, and the gunman's truck.

In the apartment, police found six baggies containing a "green vegetable matter" on a coffee table in the living room. Investigators believe the baggies contain marijuana, Seattle Police spokesman Sean Whitcomb said Wednesday.

Three rifles were found in the apartment, one in the gunman's bedroom, two in his brother's bedroom. Police also found several gun brochures.

Huff's brother, Kane, was questioned by police Saturday. Deputy Seattle Police Chief Clark Kimerer said Kane Huff apparently had no knowledge of his brother's intentions.

Several attempts by The Associated Press to reach Kane Huff for comment have been unsuccessful.

Police have said several more weapons were found in Aaron Kyle Huff's pick-up truck. There they found a rifle, a baseball bat, a black machete and more than 300 rounds of ammunition. According the search warrant, police also found two full five-gallon cans of gas.

Former Tibetan monk faces rape charge


NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (AP) -- A Tibetan monk who was granted political asylum in the United States was jailed Wednesday on a charge alleging he raped a 14-year-old girl, who became pregnant.

Jampa Dhondup, 40, had asked a Hampshire Superior Court judge to lower his bail from $50,000, but Judge Bertha Josephson refused the request at a hearing Tuesday.

Dhondup, who lived in Greenfield, has pleaded innocent to one charge of forcible rape of a child in connection with the incident in Amherst in October 2005. He has been jailed since November.

Amherst police interviewed Dhondup through an interpreter and said he told them he had consensual sex with the girl and acknowledged he had impregnated her, Assistant District Attorney Jayme Parent said.

Defense Attorney Alan Rubin said Dhondup has no travel documents or passport because they were confiscated during the asylum process. He came to the United States in 1998.

Aruba seeks new clues in Natalee Holloway case with re-enactment show


ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP) -- The Netherlands has sent police to help search for missing American teenager Natalee Holloway and Aruban authorities hope a Dutch television program will generate new leads, officials said Wednesday.

The program, to air on April 11 in Aruba and the Netherlands, will re-enact Holloway's known final hours on the Dutch Caribbean island and offer a toll-free hot line for people to call with tips, the Aruba Public Prosecutor's Office said.

Holloway, of Mountain Brook, Ala., was last seen on May 30, the final night of her high school graduation trip to the island.

Investigators believe there are people on the island who have important information about the case but have not yet come forward, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The program, "Opsporing Verzocht," which translates as "Arrest Requested," has helped authorities solve 30 percent of cases it has featured over the past 22 years, the prosecutor's office said.

Dutch police spokesman Ed Kraszewski confirmed that a group of police officers went to Aruba from the Netherlands to help in the Holloway case, but wouldn't give details.

Dutch Marines, the FBI and hundreds of volunteers have previously searched for Holloway.

Holloway, who was 18 when she disappeared, was last seen leaving a bar with three young men, who were arrested in June and later released after a court ruled there was insufficient evidence to hold them.

Mother pleads not guilty in slaying of 3-year-old in Las Vegas


LAS VEGAS (AP) -- The mother of a 3-year-old girl found dead in a trash bin pleaded not guilty Wednesday to felony charges that could put her in prison for life. - Gladys Perez, 24, stood at a microphone behind security glass in a basement courtroom and quietly answered "not guilty" to charges of first-degree murder by child abuse, second-degree murder by child neglect, and child neglect resulting in substantial bodily harm in the death of her daughter, Crystal Figueroa.

Clark County District Court Hearing Master Kevin Williams set trial for Aug. 22.

Perez's public defender, Timothy O'Brien, did not seek bail for Perez, who was arrested last month in California. She is being held at the Clark County jail in Las Vegas.

Her lawyers have suggested that Perez's 28-year-old boyfriend, Marc Anthony Colon, was responsible for the girl's death.

Colon, a California ex-convict with a felony record for inflicting injury on a child, remained jailed in Las Vegas pending a court hearing on similar charges. He was arrested last month in St. Paul, Minn.

The girl's body was found Jan. 12 in a trash bin behind an apartment complex less than three miles east of the Las Vegas Strip. Her identity went unknown for six weeks and she became widely known as Jane "Cordova" Doe until her grandmother in Strathmore, Calif., reported her missing.

Authorities believe Colon and Perez were traveling with their four children through Las Vegas to Minnesota when the girl was killed.

Perez told police that Colon beat her and the girl after he gambled away their travel money at a casino. She said the girl died the next morning while they drove around, unwilling to go into a hospital.

Authorities determined Crystal Figueroa died of trauma to the abdomen and internal injuries, including a lacerated pancreas.

Maryland judge allows sniper suspect to represent himself


ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) -- A judge ruled Wednesday that John Allen Muhammad can represent himself at his trial for six killings during the 2002 Washington-area sniper attacks.

Circuit Judge James L. Ryan concluded that Muhammad is competent to represent himself despite evidence presented by his own attorneys that Muhammad might be mentally ill.

Muhammad is already under a death sentence for a sniper attack committed in Virginia.

Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo are accused of murdering 10 people and wounding three during the three-week rampage in October 2002 that spread fear across the Washington metropolitan area.

Muhammad's trial in the six Montgomery County, Md., slayings is set for May 1. Malvo, who was also convicted in Virginia and sentenced to life in prison, is scheduled to go on trial in the fall.

House fire kills four children in Chicago, adults rescued


CHICAGO (AP) -- A house fire killed four children and seriously injured two adults Wednesday morning on the city's southwest side, authorities said.

Firefighters arrived at the two-story building around 7 a.m. and found the youngsters in the back of the home, said District Chief Cortez Holland. All four youngsters were under the age of 12 and were pronounced dead at hospitals, Holland said.

"It seems like the fire started in the rear, possibly back porch. But that's under investigation right now," Holland said.

The two rescued adults were in serious but stable condition at Cook County's Stroger Hospital, said fire department spokesman Josh Dennis.

Man arrested after New York pastor stabbed to death


NEW YORK (AP) -- A minister and civil rights activist was found stabbed to death in his apartment, and authorities arrested a man who alleged the victim had pressured him for sex.

The Rev. Philip M. Mann, 68, was found lying on the floor of his apartment with a stab wound to the chest around 5 p.m. Monday.

David Jordan, 44, was arraigned Wednesday on a second-degree murder charge in Mann's death and was held without bail.

Jordan, who was arrested Tuesday, told television reporters that Mann asked him to have sex and he refused.

"He went into his kitchen and got a knife and grabbed me, grabbed my crotch area, and he tried to take my pants down," Jordan said.

Assistant District Attorney Christopher Dimase told the judge during the arraignment that Jordan has an extensive criminal record, that he was on parole, and "in this case he has confessed to the crime."

Mann was the pastor of Harlem's Blessed Trinity Baptist Church. The New York Post reported Mann had hired Jordan to work as a handyman at the church.

Neighbor Bill Perkins, a former City Council member, said Mann had helped to "make sure a better day came" by fighting drug trafficking and directing addicts to treatment facilities.

Shot hits school bus in Shreveport


SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) -- A gunshot fired by a man at his girlfriend hit a school bus Wednesday and injured a child with flying glass, police said.

The 8-year-old boy was treated for cuts and bruises at Louisiana State University Hospital. The bus, carrying 48 students to an elementary school, was stopped at an intersection at about 7:30 a.m. when the bullet went through a back window, police said.

The woman, who was standing near the bus, was not injured.

Police were looking for an 18-year-old man they said fled after firing the shot. Investigators said the man was upset at the woman, but they offered no other details.

The bus continued to the school where counselors and some parents were waiting.

Court rejects appeal in Alabama suit blaming game for slayings


BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- Rejecting an appeal by video game makers and sellers, the Alabama Supreme Court has kept alive a $600 million lawsuit blaming "Grand Theft Auto" for the murders of the three-person night shift at a rural police department.

A lawyer for the victims' families said the decision sets the stage for what could be the nation's first trial over killings blamed on video games, perhaps as early as January.

"No one has ever before survived a motion to dismiss, so we're excited," said attorney Jack Thompson.

The lawsuit was filed by relatives of two police officers and a radio dispatcher slain in 2003.

Without comment, the justices Friday turned aside the industry's argument that the lawsuit should be thrown out because the companies have a First Amendment right to sell the games.

The Alabama Supreme Court, however, has agreed to hear manufacturers' claims that Alabama courts lack the power to hear the case.

A representative of game manufacturer Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Devin Moore was being booked on suspicion of car theft in 2003 at the Fayette Police Department when he grabbed an officer's gun and started shooting. Killed were officers Arnold Strickland, 55, and James Crump, 40, and dispatcher Leslie "Ace" Mealer, 38.

Moore, 20, was convicted of murder and sentenced to death last year.

Defense attorneys blamed Moore's actions in part on the hours he spent playing video games from the "Grand Theft Auto" game series, in which players shoot police officers and steal cars.

The judge in the murder case barred the jurors from hearing testimony linking the shootings to the game, although they were told that Moore told police, "Life is a video game; everybody has to die sometime."

The victims' families sued Take-Two Interactive and subsidiary Rockstar Games Inc.; Sony Corp., which manufactures PlayStation systems; and two stores where Moore allegedly bought games, Wal-Mart and Gamestop.

The companies deny any link between the game and the slayings.

LA council approves $1.1 million payment to slain rapper's family


LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The City Council on Wednesday approved a $1.1 million payment to the family of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G. that resulted from sanctions imposed by a federal judge who found police erred in the musician's murder case. - City lawyers told the council an appeal was unlikely to overturn the Jan. 20 ruling by U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper.

Cooper sanctioned the city after learning that a police detective withheld documents that were pertinent to claims made in a civil lawsuit filed by the family of Notorious BIG. She declared a mistrial in July.

The order represents the cost of legal fees and other expenses incurred by the family's attorneys.

Christopher Wallace, or Notorious B.I.G., was shot and killed March 9, 1997, after a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. The murder has not been solved.

Cooper ruled that a police detective intentionally hid statements by a jailhouse informant linking the killing to two former police officers.

She said the detective and perhaps others concealed the information that could have bolstered the family's contention.

The detective said a transcript of the informant's remarks was unintentionally mislaid.

"We're going to continue our investigation into how an experienced detective working homicide could let this happen," Councilman Dennis Zine said. "It really falls on negligence ... and it's costing the taxpayers over $1 million in sanctions."

It does not appear that any Los Angeles police officers were involved in the rapper's murder, and a new team of detectives has been assigned to the case, city officials said.

A retrial of the lawsuit is expected later this year.

Police: Man whose family was found dead in Illinois killed himself in Florida


MATTESON, Ill. (AP) -- Police who came to a couple's home to tell them their son had committed suicide in a Florida motel room found the man's parents and sister shot to death inside, authorities said Wednesday.

Police said evidence indicates that Laron C. Bowens killed his family in this Chicago suburb before flying to Miami last week. He shot himself Monday morning in a motel in Ocala, Fla., about 300 miles north, Ocala police Maj. Rodney Smith said.

Police, accompanied by a relative who had been trying to tell Bowens' parents and sister he had killed himself, found the bodies of Ronald Bowens, 42; Tamara Bowens, 40; and their daughter, Tyesa Bowens, 18, on Tuesday afternoon.

Family said they last saw them alive March 22, a day before Laron Bowens, 22, flew out of Chicago's Midway Airport, according to Matteson Deputy Chief George Pfotenhauer.

A .40-caliber weapon was found in Bowens' hotel room. Casings from such a weapon were found at the Bowenses' home, but Pfotenhauer said police still need to do ballistics tests to determine whether the gun found was used in the killings.

A possible motive remains unclear, although Pfotenhauer said it appeared Laron Bowens' mother had been urging him to find a job and become more religious. There was no suicide note, authorities said.

In Matteson, about 25 miles south of Chicago, the shootings have rattled neighbors, who said their upscale subdivision of large brick homes is normally quiet.

Tamara Bowens worked for the U.S. Postal Service, while her husband worked in construction and as a mechanic. Their daughter, an outstanding high school student, was attending St. Xavier University in Chicago. Neighbors said they moved into the house in 2003.

"They were neighbors who were quiet and didn't say too much," said Sharese Collier, who lived next door. "We only saw them coming and going. ... I don't know what else to say except it's a tragedy."

Novelty, low-price airline stops flying


MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) -- Hooters Air, which featured scantily clad women in orange short-shorts and tight T-shirts on flights, will be grounded beginning next month except for private charters out of Winston-Salem, N.C. - Bob Brooks, the airline's founder, and president Mark Peterson said Hooters Air told The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News for a story Wednesday that the company will focus on charters for tour groups and sports teams.

"The flying industry is in a terrible mess. ... I've got a fair amount of money, but I don't have enough to fix this animal," Brooks told the newspaper. "Now I think the best thing we can do is basically put it to bed, at least for right now, until the industry changes."

Hooters Air, which last summer served 15 destinations including nonstop flights to Nassau, Bahamas, has been suspending and canceling flights since the Christmas holidays. Airline industry analysts have said problems for the Myrtle Beach-based airline range from a highly competitive low-fare airline industry to rising fuel prices.

A woman who answered the phone at the airline's Myrtle Beach office said neither Brooks nor Peterson would give interviews and referred The Associated Press to The Sun News article. A woman who answered the airline's customer service line said Hooters would take reservations until April 17. Neither woman would give her name.

Peterson told the newspaper that some of the roughly 350 employees in Winston-Salem will be laid off, but he didn't say how many.

For Myrtle Beach, the airline's closing means a loss of about five jobs and but about 1,000 visitors a week that flew in on Hooters Air.

"There is no good news to reduction of air service, particularly direct flights," said Brad Dean, president of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. "In the case of Hooters, there's a double whammy. Fewer flights mean fewer people coming to the destination."

Brooks -- chairman of the international restaurant chain known for its chicken wings and its female servers -- bought Pace Airlines in 2002 and launched its first scheduled flights from Myrtle Beach to Atlanta on March 6, 2003.

Wife charged with murder in death of man found dead in car trunk


TACOMA, Wash. (AP) -- A woman accused of shooting her husband and having her 19-year-old son help dispose of the body by locking it in a car and rolling the vehicle off an embankment was charged Wednesday with murder.

Angela Marie Ferguson, 39, was arrested Tuesday shortly after investigators searched her Puyallup home.

According the charging papers, she had filed a missing person report after the March 22 shooting and adamantly denied any role in her husband's death until she was confronted with evidence from the house, including blood and a shell casing.

Claude Walz, her son from a previous relationship, faces misdemeanor charges for allegedly helping dispose of the body, the prosecutor's office said.

Ferguson's 45-year-old husband, Randall Ferguson, was found dead Friday in the trunk of his 1990 Dodge Intrepid, which had been driven or pushed over an embankment south of Gig Harbor, about 8 miles northwest of Tacoma, authorities said. The Boeing Co. machinist had been shot twice in the head.

Angela Ferguson initially told the Tacoma News Tribune that her husband had stormed out of the house during a quarrel and that she filed the missing person report the next day when he didn't return.

"I just can't imagine living life without him," she told the newspaper. "I have no idea what's going on."

Angela Ferguson later told investigators that she and her husband had argued on March 22 and she had become so angry that she got a gun from the trunk of their car and threatened him with it, according to the charging papers.

She claimed the gun went off accidentally.

Angela Ferguson told investigators she did not recall firing a second shot, but that her son had urged her to put the man out of his misery, the charging papers say. Walz disputed that, saying he first became aware of the shooting when his mother woke him in a panic, insisting he help her move the body.

The Fergusons had been married nearly five years. Their 4-year-old daughter has been placed in the care of relatives.

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