Here is a news article: Dr. William Strampel, the former boss of Larry Nassar at Michigan State University, has been arrested.

 Strampel, 70, is listed as an inmate in Ingham County jail, according to an inmate search on the county's website. No charges are listed. MSU spokeswoman Emily Gerkin Guerrant confirmed Strampel had been arrested, but could provide no other details. Michigan State Police directed calls to the attorney general's office, where a spokesperson did not confirm the arrest.

 Strampel, the former dean of the MSU's College of Osteopathic Medicine, is facing revocation of his tenure by interim MSU President John Engler, the first step in terminating his employment. The move is in response to Strampel's failure to monitor and enforce clinical practice guidelines put in place for Nassar following a 2014 sexual harassment investigation.

 His arrest comes the day before a press conference from Bill Forsyth, an investigator hired by Michigan's Attorney General Bill Schuette to investigate MSU's handling of the Nassar scandal.

 Nassar, a prominent sports medicine doctor at the university, is in prison for possession of child pornography charges and was sentenced on charges that he sexually assaulted multiple women, often under the guise of medical treatment. More than 150 women and girls, including Olympic gymnasts, spoke at Nassar's sentencing hearings in Ingham and Eaton counties, saying he sexually assaulted them - the vast majority patients.

 Larry Nassar sentenced to 40 to 175 years for sexually assaulting patients

 Many said they had told coaches, trainers and even police about the assaults, but nothing was done.

 It was Strampel who, after a 2014 Title IX complaint and police report lodged by Amanda Thomashow, sent an email putting Nassar back to work with a series of conditions, including having another person in the room when he was performing procedures in sensitive areas and using gloves.

 According to statements from Nassar's more direct supervisors in a March 2017 police report, Strampel did not make Nassar's colleagues aware of the conditions.

 After Strampel put Nassar back in place, 20 more women say they were molested by him.

 In all the university employed Nassar for almost two years while he was under investigation by other authorities. ||||| The former boss of convicted sexual abuser Larry Nassar was arrested Monday in Michigan.

 William Strampel, who served as the dean of Michigan State's osteopathic medical school for most of Nassar's time with the university, was listed as an inmate at Ingham County Jail on Monday night. No specific charges were posted Monday night, and a message left with a spokesman for the state police was not immediately returned.

 Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has scheduled a news conference for Tuesday afternoon.

 Attorney John C. Manly, who represents more than 150 survivors of Nassar's abuse, issued a statement Monday.

 "Our clients are encouraged by the Attorney General's action today," Manly said in the statement. "It demonstrates that he is serious about investigating the systemic misconduct at MSU that led to the largest child sex abuse scandal in history and holding the responsible parties accountable."

 ESPN has obtained copies of former university-conducted performance reviews for Strampel during his time as Michigan State's dean that contained several complaints about his habit of making inappropriate remarks of a sexual nature in professional settings. The reviews include surveys in which respondents paint a picture of Strampel as a capable fundraiser and decisive administrator, but someone who "rules with fear" and regularly interjected sexual innuendo and comments about the appearance of women into conversations with students and co-workers.

 According to one respondent, Strampel's discussions about his own sexual history and inappropriate comments were "well known and bring down the respect and reputation of the Osteopathic college. I do not think this is a new issue, instead I think it is something that the College has chosen to ignore, for what reason I dare not imagine and cannot fathom."

 Strampel was a focal point for the attorney general's ongoing investigation into whether any other individuals who worked at Michigan State should be held accountable for allowing Nassar to sexually abuse his patients for nearly two decades as a doctor on the university's campus. Strampel stepped down from his role as dean last December citing medical problems. The university took initial steps in February to have him fired, a process that can take several months or longer.

 "Interim President John Engler has felt like this is someone who doesn't carry forth the values of the university going forward, and this conduct is not going to be tolerated," university spokeswoman Emily Guerrant said Monday night.

 Nassar pleaded guilty to state charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct as well as federal child pornography charges. He admitted in court that he used his position as a prominent doctor at Michigan State and within the USA Gymnastics organization to abuse women who came to see him for injuries. Nassar is serving a 60-year sentence for his federal crimes and was sentenced to up to 175 years in state prison for the sexual assault crimes.

 Strampel came to Michigan State in the late 1990s and was promoted to his position as dean in 2002. He told police last spring that he had little or no interaction with Nassar before 2014, when a recently graduated student lodged a complaint that Nassar touched her inappropriately during an appointment at the MSU Sports Medicine clinic.

 That complaint, filed by Amanda Thomashow, led to an investigation into Nassar's conduct by university police and the school's Title IX department. Michigan State's Title IX office cleared Nassar of wrongdoing in the summer of 2014, telling Thomashow that she didn't understand the "nuanced difference" between sexual assault and a legitimate medical procedure. The panel of four experts that helped the office reach that conclusion included Nassar's colleagues and one woman described as his protégé and close friend.

 Strampel told police that he believed the Title IX decision showed Nassar was "cleared of all charges," so he allowed him to resume seeing patients on Michigan State's campus in late July 2014. Nassar remained under police investigation for the same incident until December 2015. Several women say they were abused by Nassar during that time frame.

 When he returned to the clinic in 2014, Nassar and Strampel agreed to a new set of guidelines to use when he was treating patients in sensitive areas. The guidelines included that Nassar should explain fully what he was doing before touching patients near their genitalia or other private areas, that he should avoid skin-to-skin contact whenever possible, and that a chaperone should be present during any such treatment.

 Strampel told police he didn't think it was necessary to follow up to make sure Nassar was following the protocol, and he did not inform other employees at the clinic about the new rules. Strampel fired Nassar in September 2016 when he learned that Nassar had been ignoring those guidelines for two years. More than a dozen women and girls say they were abused during that time.

 The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Strampel told a group of medical school students in 2016 that he did not believe the accusations against Nassar. In a written statement obtained by ESPN, one of the students present at that meeting said Strampel told the students -- who were there to discuss a separate sexual assault issue concerning their classmates -- that he did not want to fire Nassar, but felt he had no choice.

 Several survivors of Nassar's abuse have criticized Strampel for what they say was a flippant and insensitive response to more accusations against Nassar in 2016. Less than a month before Nassar was fired, Rachael Denhollander filed a police report alleging that the former doctor abused her. She also spoke to reporters from the Indianapolis Star for a story that would make her the first woman to publicly accuse Nassar of sexual assault.

 Nassar alerted Strampel that reporters wanted to speak with him about the story. Strampel wished him luck and in an email told him, "I am on your side." After the article was published, Strampel shared it with others at Michigan State, referring to Denhollander's claims as "the cherry on the cake of my day."

 "Is this the right way to handle disclosures of abuse on MSU's campus?" Denhollander asked during an impact statement she delivered in court last month.

 The attorney general's office requested Strampel's work cellphone, computer and calendars among other documents, shortly after beginning its investigation of the university two months ago. Strampel is also a co-defendant in dozens of civil lawsuits related to Nassar's abuse. Strampel's attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but have previously declined requests for comment about his actions, saying that the firm does not comment on ongoing civil litigation. |||||
A summary of this is?

– For the bulk of the time Larry Nassar worked for Michigan State University's osteopathic medical school, William Strampel was the dean of that school. Now, another shared experience for the men: Strampel, 70, was arrested Monday on charges that have not yet been made public. A press conference is scheduled for noon Tuesday, reports the Lansing State Journal. The attorney who represents scores of women who are suing MSU praised the Attorney General's action, saying "it demonstrates that he is serious about investigating the systemic misconduct at MSU that led to the largest child sex abuse scandal in history." Strampel stepped down in December citing medical issues; two months later the school initiated the process of firing him. ESPN details alleged grievances about Strampel that are unrelated to Nassar—per MSU performance reviews it viewed, he was accused of regularly making sex-related remarks—and also documents his timeline with Nassar. Though Strampel became dean in 2002, he says his only true interaction with Nassar began after a complaint was lodged against the doctor in 2014. No wrongdoing was uncovered by Michigan State's Title IX office, and so Strampel reinstated Nassar so long as he followed a new protocol that included stipulations like having a chaperone present during any treatment that occurred near a young patient's genitalia. Strampel says he did not verify Nassar was adhering to the rules, and fired him in 2016 after learning he wasn't. MLive reports 20 women accused Nassar of abusing them during that period.


Here is a news article: ATHERTON, Calif. -- Pop singer Lady Gaga was among the guests at a Silicon Valley fundraiser for President Barack Obama.

 The intimate gathering was held under a tent in the yard of Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg on Sunday night. Gaga wore a black, sleeveless gown and high heels, and with her hair piled up she towered over the Silicon Valley elites who were paying up to $35,800 per couple to attend.

 Gaga attended as a paying guest. She said last week that she wanted to meet with Obama to discuss her concerns about bullying, but it wasn't clear whether the two would be having that discussion.

 UPDATE: The White House traveling press corps pool offered additional information on Gaga's appearance at the event. The pop star sat in a middle table, standing when the President entered. Obama spoke for eight minutes, and did not acknowledge Gaga, but, according to the report, "it seems likely the two crossed paths during greetings inside the house before the dinner."

 Given the outfit she was wearing, avoiding Gaga was probably impossible.

 "She was wearing a floor-length sleeveless lacey black dress," the pool report relays, "her blonde hair was gathered in a bouffant up-do adorned with a black hair piece with a black veil down the back, which she swept to the side and in front of her left shoulder. (The hair added about 6 inches to her stature)." ||||| But she soon will – after ordering diamond implants in her gnashers.

 Simply Red's Mick used to have a ruby buried in one of his pearly whites, which deflected attention from his unpleasant moon face.

 But to celebrate the start of the 21st Century he replaced it with a diamond.

 And GaGa, who is no stranger to peacock-style attention seeking, has ordered a selection of marquise-style gems to brighten up her chops.

 She'll have them fitted in time for the Thierry Mugler fashion show in Paris at the end of the month.

 A source said: "She's still deciding how many to get done. Her dental bill will be as expensive as her jewellery bill."

 Her Dutch designer Otazu also let her dental plans slip.

 He said: "She'll be fitted with marquise diamonds."

 GaGa will have to be careful she doesn't chip her china tea cups with razor-sharp diamond gnashers.

 But they will look lovely with a hamster wheel on her head.

 She definitely isn't scared of the dentist. She had cosmetic fangs fixed to her eye teeth not that long ago.

 Lil Wayne has diamond-encrusted teeth and he can't eat anything solid.

 Sounds a bit like a secret GaGa diet strategy. ||||| Woman loves Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga doubts woman's good faith. Love conquers Lady Gaga's doubts.

 Sounds like theme of a Lady Gaga hit song, but instead, this is the plot line of a dispute involving the domain name, LadyGaga.org.

 In August, the artist formerly known as Stefani Germanotta submitted a complaint to the National Arbitration Forum that alleged that the website ladygaga.org was registered in bad faith and in violation of her trademark.

 PHOTOS: Lady Gaga's MTV Evolution

 The owner of the site then responded that it was merely a non-commercial, unofficial fan site for Gaga that "does not have any sponsored links or links to third-party websites which market and sell merchandise bearing Complainant’s trademark.”

 The owner added that her fan site supported Gaga's fame and was giving the singer free publicity. In other words, the site owner (identified as "Miranda") loves Lady Gaga so much that she's willing to erect a digital shrine to her, and lawyers shouldn't interfere.

 PHOTOS: Lady Gaga's Fashion Forward Style

 If that's not fandom, what is?

 The owner of LadyGaga.org got her reward on Wednesday when three panelists at the National Arbitration Forum ruled that Lady Gaga had failed to show that respondent lacked legitimate interest in the disputed domain name. So the site can continue.

 E-mail: eriqgardner@yahoo.com

 Twitter: @eriqgardner ||||| U.S. CA U.K. AU Asia DE FR

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 Las Vegas’ hottest resorts don’t meet the standards of Lady Gaga, who insisted on a room with a private pool.

 Sources say the superstar was on the edge of a meltdown when she checked into the luxurious Cosmopolitan hotel, which boasts three different types of pools — a “relaxing” one, a day club and a nightclub. But with no private pool, she immediately checked out and headed for The Palms Casino Resort.

 “She checked into the Cosmo, was unhappy with the room, checked out and then went to The Palms, but still wasn’t happy and was frantically searching for a new room,” a source told us.

 PHOTOS: LADY GAGA

 A Cosmopolitan spokesperson confirmed, “Lady Gaga did check out of the property, but she did not hate her room and had nothing but praise for the arrival staff, butlers, etc. She was looking for a private pool, which the resort doesn’t offer.”

 Gaga’s rep, Amanda Silverman, said: “It was not a whole drama. She moved to The Palms to do a recording. She had some meetings. She switched because she had stayed at The Palms before. It wasn’t like she hated her room, she doesn’t care about that stuff.”

 The Palms, where the lady monster is still staying for the weekend, comes equipped with a private recording studio.

 Gaga is in Las Vegas performing at the iHeartRadio music festival along with Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Coldplay, The Black Eyed Peas, Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez, Kenny Chesney, Sting, Bruno Mars and Usher.

 Sources say arrangements around the concert, to promote the free online digital radio station, seemed chaotic. “It’s strangely radio silent,” a source said Friday. “Nobody, like the casino hosts, knows what’s going on with the concert. The set times haven’t been announced … Most of the artists … aren’t being paid and are more concerned with their deals at the nightclubs, which are paying them to perform later in the evening.” |||||
A summary of this is?

– Lady Gaga getting diamond tooth implants? It might be hard to believe—if the singer wasn’t already known for her avant-garde fashion decisions. “She's still deciding how many to get done. Her dental bill will be as expensive as her jewelry bill,” a source tells the Sun; her designer confirms the plan. Gaga has reportedly already ordered the marquise diamonds, and will have them in for the Thierry Mugler fashion show this month in Paris. In other Gaga news: She nearly had a meltdown in Las Vegas when she realized her room at the Cosmopolitan hotel didn’t come with its own private pool, a source tells the New York Post. She did move to The Palms, but a Cosmopolitan spokesperson and Gaga’s own rep deny there was any drama involved. While in Vegas to perform at the iHeartRadio music festival, Gaga dedicated her song “Hair” to Jamey Rodemeyer, the teen who killed himself after being bullied over his sexuality, E! reports. “I lost a little monster this week and I'd like to dedicate this song to him,” she said. “Tonight, Jamey I know you're up there and looking at us and you're not a victim. Bullying is for losers.” A big Gaga fan got good news last week when National Arbitration Forum panelists ruled that she can continue running LadyGaga.org, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Gaga had submitted a complaint to the forum alleging that the site violated her trademark, but the site owner insisted that because her site is a non-commercial, unofficial fan site basically giving Gaga free publicity, it should be allowed to continue. For more Gaga, click to find out about the pricey West Coast fundraiser for President Obama she attended this weekend.


Write an article based on this summary:

– Human rights groups are condemning President Yahya Jammeh for his vow to execute every death row prisoner in Gambia next month, breaking an almost 30-year hiatus on executions in the country. "All those guilty of serious crimes and are condemned will face the full force of the law," Jammeh said in a Sunday speech, reports the LA Times. Gambian trials are notoriously unfair, and death sentences are often handed out for "treason," meaning any opposition to Jammeh, CNN reports. Cocaine and heroin possession were also reportedly made capital crimes in 2010. It's unclear how many people are on death row; the AFP counts 47, but Gambian authorities say the number is much higher. "Any attempt to carry out this threat would be both deeply shocking and a major setback for human rights in Gambia," an Amnesty International official said. Gambia last executed a prisoner in 1985. Jammeh announced a similar mass execution in 2009, but never followed through.

Story highlights All death row convicts will be executed by mid-September, president says

 The West African nation last executed an inmate about 30 years ago

 By the end of last year, it had 44 people on death row, rights group says

 Gambia plans to execute all death row prisoners by September, the president said this week, sparking condemnation from human rights groups worldwide.

 The tiny West African nation last executed an inmate about 30 years ago.

 It is unclear what prompted the change in stance.

 By the end of last year, Gambia had 44 people on death row, including two women, according to human rights activists.

 Death row convicts will be executed by mid-September, President Yahya Jammeh said in a speech on state media Sunday that was rebroadcast Monday.

 "All those guilty of serious crimes and are condemned will face the full force of the law," he said. "All punishments prescribed by law will be maintained in the country to ensure that criminals get what they deserve: that is, that those who kill are killed ... By the middle of next month, all the death sentences would have been carried out to the letter."

 The nation imposes capital punishment for various crimes, including murder and treason, the latter commonly used to stifle dissent in some African nations.

 In 2010, British human rights group Reprieve said Gambia had introduced the death penalty for those found with more than 250 grams of cocaine or heroin. It's unclear whether the law still stands.

 Amnesty International, the French government and other rights groups condemned the execution order.

 "President Jammeh's comments are deeply troubling and will undoubtedly cause severe anguish to those on death row and their families," said Audrey Gaughran, the Africa director for Amnesty. "Any attempt to carry out this threat would be both deeply shocking and a major setback for human rights in Gambia."

 International standards on fair trials are not followed in the country, according to Gaughran.

 "Death sentences are known to be used as a tool against the political opposition," she said. "The number of grossly unfair trials is shocking and an especially serious concern in cases where the death penalty is handed down."

 In 2009, Jammeh made a similar threat to resume executions, but did not act on it, Amnesty said. Nonetheless, the new threat raises concern in the nation, the group said.

 The former British colony is surrounded by Senegal and has a population of 1.3 million.

 Jammeh took power in a military coup in 1994, and was elected president two years later. The government represses political opposition groups, and the president has won all elections since he came to power. Most of the polls are tainted by allegations of fraud.

 Gambia's human rights record has drawn steady criticism since his election, but the president has won supporters by building new hospitals, schools and other infrastructure. ||||| Gambia to execute all death row prisoners by September

 BANJUL — Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has told the people of his tiny west African nation that by the middle of September all those already sentenced to death for crimes will be executed.

 He added that crimes like banditry, drug trafficking or illicit use, homosexuality, murder, terrorism and other subversive activities against either the state or the people will not be tolerated.

 Jammeh said in a televised address broadcast on Sunday evening and Monday to mark this year's Muslim feast of Eid-al-Fitr that the security forces and the judiciary will continue to be empowered to enforce the law where applicable.

 "By the middle of next month, all the death sentences would have been carried out to the letter; there is no way my government will allow 99 percent of the population to be held to ransom by criminals," Jammeh said.

 Though he did not give the exact figure of those to be executed, an AFP toll puts the figure of those condemned to death since July 2010, including former security chiefs, at 47.

 However judicial sources say the figure is higher than that.

 "All those guilty of serious crimes and (who) are condemned will face the full force of the law. All punishments prescribed by law will be maintained in the country to ensure that criminals get what they deserve," Jammeh said.

 "My government will take whatever legal action is necessary to expunge these deadly and heinous acts from the country," he said.

 Jammeh, a former military officer who seized power in a 1994 coup, brooks no dissent in a country often blasted by rights bodies for abuses.

 Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved. More » |||||

 Gambian President Yahya Jammeh's announcement that all death row prisoners will be executed next month has drawn condemnation from human rights groups and foreign governments.

 Jammeh made his vow to break a 27-year hiatus on carrying out capital sentences in an official speech Sunday to mark the Eid-al-Fitr holiday ending the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

 "All those guilty of serious crimes and are condemned will face the full force of the law. All punishments prescribed by law will be maintained in the country to ensure that criminals get what they deserve," Jammeh said in the speech rebroadcast Monday on national television.

 Amnesty International condemned Jammeh's announced plans in a statement issued Tuesday, saying that the execution order "must not be acted on, and must be retracted."

 "President Jammeh’s comments are deeply troubling and will undoubtedly cause severe anguish to those on death row and their families,” said Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty International’s Africa director. “Any attempt to carry out this threat would be both deeply shocking and a major setback for human rights in Gambia."

 Gaughran said trials are notoriously unfair in Gambia and that "death sentences are known to be used as a tool against the political opposition." Rival political parties were outlawed after Jammeh took power in a military coup in 1994. Nominal civilian rule was restored two years later with a new constitution, but political opposition remained suppressed and Jammeh has won all elections since then.

 A tiny English-speaking West African nation of 1.8 million surrounded by Senegal, Gambia last executed a prisoner in 1985. It has been "abolitionist in practice," Gaughran said, describing Jammeh's statement as "in stark contrast to the trend, both in West Africa and globally, towards ending the use of the death penalty."

 Neither Jammeh nor the African news agencies that reported his vow to execute prisoners in a campaign to fight crime said how many people are on death row in the country that was a British colony until 1965.

 Agence France-Presse, which first reported Jammeh's announcement this week, said it had tallied the number of known death row inmates at 47. Justice authorities in the country, however, put the figure much higher, the news agency said.

 Jammeh made a similar threat to resume executions in 2009 that wasn't acted on, Amnesty observed, adding that this week's vow was nonetheless cause for alarm.

 British human rights advocates Reprieve denounced Jammeh's plan Wednesday and reissued an analysis by founder and legal director Clive Stafford Smith debunking the "myth" that the death penalty deters crime.

 In an official statement issued Tuesday, the French government said it "utterly condemns" the reported execution plans and urged Gambia to maintain its de facto moratorium "with a view toward the definitive abolition of the death penalty."

 ALSO:

 Turkmenistan gets a second political party

 Greek leader pleads for more time to implement reforms

 -- Carol J. Williams in Los Angeles

 Photo: Gambian President Yahya Jammeh arrives on July 15 at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Jammeh vowed this week to execute all death row prisoners by next month. Credit: Simon Maina / AFP/Getty Images |||||


Sam Walton in 1985. (AP Photo)

 Even people who hate Wal-Mart are inspired by Sam Walton’s rags-to-riches entrepreneurial success. A World War II veteran, he bought a variety store in a small rural town in 1950 and 41 years later owned the largest retail chain in America.

 But a collection of photographs taken between 1950 and 1994 that captures the story of a family living the American dream has become the subject of an ugly lawsuit.

 The photos were taken by Robert Huff, who owned Bob’s Studio of Photography in Fayetteville, Ark., about 35 minutes down the road from where the Walton family lived. Huff’s son David joined the family business and over the years they shot hundreds of photos of the Waltons.

 Now the Waltons are suing the photographer’s widow, Helen Huff, 63, to get the photo negatives, along with any proofs and prints she still has.

 The Walton family and the Walmart Museum (filing suit as Crystal Lands, LLC, and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., respectively) claim the negatives and proofs belong to them and that the studio only kept them as a courtesy to the family, according to the complaint filed in an Arkansas court. They want to prevent Huff from selling the negatives or using them for commercial purposes.

 Huff claims she has copyright to the photos and filed a counterclaim asking a federal judge to stop Wal-Mart from using them without her permission. Wal-Mart wants to display some of the photos at its museum.

 The 200 photos in question include pictures of the Walton family, the original Wal-Mart board of directors and the Wal-Mart visitor’s center. Some of the photos were shot at Bob’s Studio of Photography, others the family took to the studio for restoration.

 The case boils down to who was in charge when these photographs were taken. Huff says her husband and father-in-law were hired as independent contractors, according to the Arkansas Times, which would mean they were in charge of the photoshoots and have rights to the photos they took. As proof, Huff points out that the photographers used their own equipment, lenses, lights and backdrops; controlled the positions of their subjects; chose and developed the film or hired the processing company; and provided a copyright notice to the Walton family notifying them that they owned ‘exclusive rights to reproduce’ the pictures.”

 But the Waltons claim, according to the newspaper, that the photographs were created as a “work-for-hire.” Without a written contract, the Waltons have to show their relationship with the photography studio was like an employer-employee relationship in which the family was boss. As proof, the family claims it supervised the photo shoots.

 The Professional Photographers of America (PPA) believes Huff is the rightful owner of the pictures. “[I]n this case, it’s the largest retailer in the world bullying a small Arkansas studio,” wrote chief executive David Trust on PPA’s Web site. “It’s a total David vs. Goliath situation.”

 PPA cites a case in which Oprah Winfrey claimed she owned rights to photos taken on her TV set. As in the Wal-Mart case, Winfrey wanted rights to the photos and claimed they were created as works-for-hire. But without written agreements, the court found in favor of the photographers.

 PPA reported that the Waltons offered Helen Huff $2,000 for the negatives and proofs, which she turned down. But Huff’s lawyers declined to confirm the offer.

 On Monday, Wal-Mart spokesman Randy Hargrove issued a statement about the case:

 As you can imagine, many of the photos go back many years and commemorate the history, heritage and culture of our company. We believe that some of the photos that Bob’s Studio has belong to Walmart. All we want is for the court to make it clear who rightfully owns these photographs. We tried very hard to resolve this without involving the courts. We never wanted the issue to reach this point and we’ve done everything possible to avoid this.

 A federal judge in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Arkansas will hear the case on July 7.

 Related Content: ||||| click to enlarge Drawing from PPA Today

 As you can imagine, many of the photos go back many years and commemorate the history, heritage and culture of our company. We believe that some of the photos that Bob’s Studio has belong to Walmart. All we want is for the court to make it clear who rightfully owns these photographs. We tried very hard to resolve this without involving the courts. We never wanted the issue to reach this point and we’ve done everything possible to avoid this.

 In what photographers are calling a “David vs. Goliath” situation, thewho with his father shot hundreds of pictures of the Walton family from 1950 to 1994 is being sued by theand the Walton family to have negatives, proofs and prints turned over to them.Robert A. Huff and his son, David A. Huff, owners ofin Fayetteville and both now deceased, photographed members of the Walton family from 1950 to 1994 in their studio. The Walton family, suing as Crystal Lands LLC, maintains that the studio kept the negatives and proofs as a courtesy to the family, but that they are the intellectual property of the Waltons.Defendantwidow of David Huff, has filed a counterclaim, saying she holds the copyright to the photos and asking the court to stop Walmart from using the photographs without her permission. Huff says Bob and David Huff were independent contractors, using their own equipment, lenses, lights and backdrops; controlled the positions of their subjects; chose and developed the film or hired the processing company; and provided a copyright notice to the Walton family notifying them that they owned “exclusive rights to reproduce” the pictures.Wal-Mart Stores, filing as, and Crystal Lands filed suit March 28 in Benton County Circuit Court, but attorneys for Huff, citing federal copyright law, were able to remove the case to federal court in the Western District of Arkansas. Federal Judgehas scheduled a case management hearing for July 7.The Waltons claim the pictures were taken under their “supervision” and that they thus hold intellectual property rights to more than 200 photographs in six boxes, including those shot at the studio as well as photos taken to the studio for restoration. The plaintiffs are asking the court for a declaratory judgment that the Walmart Museum and the family own the photographs and, whatever the result of the case is, to prevent Huff from making commercial use of the pictures.PPA Today, the website of the Professional Photographers Association, reported on the lawsuit on its website May 12. The PPA claims that the Waltons offered Helen Huff $2,000 for the photographs, but Huff’s attorneys,andof the Everett, Wales and Comstock firm in Fayetteville, declined to confirm the offer. PPA Today noted in its article the Natkin v. Winfrey case, in which Oprah Winfrey claimed to own photographs taken on her set, but lost when the court ruled the photographers were not under “work-for-hire” contracts. Martin and Everett also maintain that Bob’s Studio’s arrangement with the Waltons was also not a “work-for-hire” contract. David Trust, CEO of the PPA, made the “David vs. Goliath” comparison, and said the suit “would set a terrible precedent and goes, flat out, against copyright law.”Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove issued this statement this afternoon: ||||| We've (finally) got an update on the Walmart v. Huff case! Brush up on the story below first if you need a refresher.

 Update 7/16:

 At a recent case management hearing, the judge set the trial for the trial term beginning April 6, 2015 and ending April 30. This doesn't necessarily mean the case will go to trial April 6, just that the case is set to be tried sometime during that term.

 Read the full story:

 Your typical copyright infringement involves one photographer stealing another photographer's images, or reproducing copyrighted images without permission. But in this case, it's the largest retailer in the world bullying a small Arkansas studio.

 Walmart and its founding family, the Waltons, have filed suit against Helen Huff, the widow of Arkansas photographer David A. Huff.

 David Huff's studio, Bob's Studio of Photography, was founded by his late father, Robert A. Huff, in 1946, and created portraits of the Walton family before the expansion of Walmart grew them into one of the wealthiest families in the world. But now Walmart and the Walton family are demanding that Helen Huff hand over those works.

 The complaint states that they (the Waltons) seek to obtain six or more boxes of photos, negatives, and proofs, alleging that over the years, Bob's Studio retained those items "as a courtesy" to Walmart and their family (they didn't). The complaint further states that the Waltons own intellectual property rights to the photos (they don't). The fact is, under federal law, photographers own the copyrights to their own works.

 PPA has been working with Huff to support her case and thereby advocate for photographers' copyrights.

 "If there were ever a David vs. Goliath situation, this is it" says PPA CEO David Trust. "We simply can't remain idle and allow this to happen--it would set a terrible precedent. In our opinion, this obviously is a violation of copyright law and it is beyond question that Ms. Huff owns the photographs and if the Waltons want the photographs, they should pay for them. PPA as an association stands behind Ms. Huff and supports her case as the rightful owner of these images. We have contacted her lawyers and offered to file an amicus brief* when and if that time comes."

 *What's an amicus brief, you ask? It's is a legal opinion or testimony that is volunteered by a "friend of the court" who is not a party to a particular lawsuit but has a strong interest in the case. It is a way to introduce concerns ensuring that the possibly broad legal effects of a court decision will not depend solely on the parties directly involved in the case.

 PPA also advised Huff and her attorney of a separate suit, Natkin v. Winfrey, in which Oprah Winfrey claimed she owned the rights to photos of her created on her set. Since the photographers were hired as independent contractors and had not signed work-for-hire contracts, they owned the full copyrights for the images, and Winfrey's argument was swiftly rejected by the court.

 Walmart filed its lawsuit against Helen Huff in state court, but because it is a copyright issue, Huff's defense removed it to federal court. The defense argues in its answer to the Walmart complaint that Huff owns copyrights to all the works her late husband and father-in-law created for the Walton family, and that they worked as independent contractors for the Walton family. In addition, Huff's defense filed a counterclaim of copyright infringement, alleging that in the past Walmart has reproduced and allowed third parties to use Bob's Studio of Photography's copyrighted works. Huff and her attorney are awaiting Walmart's answer.

 UPDATED 5/21: Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove issued a statement this afternoon:

 As you can imagine, many of the photos go back many years and commemorate the history, heritage and culture of our company. We believe that some of the photos that Bob's Studio has belong to Walmart. All we want is for the court to make it clear who rightfully owns these photographs. We tried very hard to resolve this without involving the courts. We never wanted the issue to reach this point and we've done everything possible to avoid this.

 PPA always stands for photographers' copyright protection. As such, we will continue to provide information as these cases develop. Check back for updates! |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Today in the ugly lawsuit department: Walmart and the Walton family are suing for the rights to photo negatives, some half-a-century old, in what has been classified as "a total David vs. Goliath situation." The story goes like this: Robert Huff—who owned a photography studio in Fayetteville, Ark., near where Sam Walton and his family lived—and son David snapped hundreds of shots of the Waltons over the years. Now, the Waltons want total control over them. They're suing David's widow, Helen Huff, for all negatives, proofs, and prints of the photos, dating from 1950 to 1994, to prevent them from being used for commercial purposes, the Washington Post reports. Walmart and the family intend to use some of the photos—of its founder, the original Walmart board of directors, and the Walmart visitor's center—in the Walmart Museum, and argue the material was only kept by the studio "as a courtesy," the Professional Photographers of America notes. The Post and the Arkansas Times explain the question at the center of the case: When the photos were snapped, who was the boss? Huff says her husband and father-in-law were independent contractors who used their own equipment and managed all the aspects of the shoots and film processing; the Waltons claim the shoots occurred under their "supervision," making it an employer-employee relationship. The case will be heard in Arkansas federal court July 7. (Click to read about how Walmart is taking flak for the fees collected by banks that operate within the chain.)


Article:
July 19, 1998

 By Robert Seltzer

 El Paso Times

 Bobby Fuller died 32 years ago, on July 18, 1966, but to his friends and relatives, the death remains as painful and vivid as this morning's obituary section.

 Fuller was found slumped in the front seat of his car, a can of gasoline by his side, outside his apartment in Hollywood.

 Police concluded the death, due to inhalation of gasoline, was either a suicide or an accident.

 Friends and family dispute that report, and the theories on the death are as varied as the individuals expressing them - including the theory that Fuller was murdered by an organized crime figure who became jealous because his girlfriend was attracted to the rock 'n' roller.

 "There's a lot of speculation," said Rod Crosby, a friend and rival musician. "But we'll never know what really happened."

 Police discovered blood and abrasions on the body, and skeptics point to that discovery as proof that the death was neither an accident nor a suicide.

 "Who would pour gas on himself in a hot car?" Randy Fuller, the younger brother of the deceased rock star, asked rhetorically. "I just think he got in a bad situation that night, met the wrong dude and couldn't get out of it. I'm 99.9 percent sure that it wasn't an accident or a suicide."

 Crosby agrees.

 "He was not street-smart, so he did hurt himself, from the standpoint of not knowing how ugly things could be in LA," Crosby said.

 "Story has it that he was having a fling with the girl of a low-level mobster. He wasn't aware of that until it was too late. My theory is that they just wanted to work him over, but things went awry. So it wasn't the result of organized crime so much as disorganized crime. ... But nothing's going to happen now, more than 30 years later. We'll just never know what really happened."

 Lorraine Fuller, who was 79 when she died of a heart attack in 1989, was staying with her sons in Hollywood at the time Bobby Fuller died.

 "Bobby would never have taken his own life," Randy Fuller said. "He would never have done that to my mother."

 Boyd Elder, who had known Fuller since the late 1950s, was attending art school in Los Angeles when Fuller died.

 "He was not self-destructive at all," said Elder, a graduate of Burges High who now lives in Valentine, Texas. "He seldom even drank. He was polite and gentlemanly, and the girls loved him. He was on his way to stardom. Whatever happened, it wasn't suicide."

 The death remains shrouded in so much mystery that E, the Entertainment Channel, plans to produce a program on Fuller.

 "Shooting will begin in the late fall," said Keith Fenimore, a public relations official for the cable network. "I'm not sure if they'll shoot in El Paso, and I'm not sure when it will air." ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| 9 Awesome Experiences L.A. Has to Offer This Weekend

 A Celtic faire, Appalachian fiddle, late night hackers, and a Hindu celebration of life

 CONFABS: PaleyFest 2015

 The annual television love-athon brings together the casts of hit shows and the fans who adore them at postscreening conversations. Among the programs on this year’s roster are Scandal, The Good Wife, Arrow, and The Flash. More information (March 6-15; Dolby Theatre)

 MOVIES: Thom Andersen: The Thoughts That Once We Had

 In his 2003 documentary, Los Angeles Plays Itself, the CalArts professor stitched together cinematic scenes of the city. For this deep dive into movie history, he’s influenced by the work of French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, who wrote two books on film. More information (March 6; REDCAT)

 MOVIES: Midnight Screening: Hackers

 Relive the campy splendor of 1990s cyberpunk cinema, complete with screeching modems, Rollerblade chases, thumping techno music, and a young Angelina Jolie and her first husband, Jonny Lee Miller. More information (March 6; Nuart Theatre)

 MUSIC: Joshua Radin

 Americana aficionados unite for a showcase headlined by Radin, whose folk-inflected tunes star on his latest album, Onward and Sideways. The affair kicks off with Virginian singer-songwriter Rachael Yamagata and Los Angeles-based acoustic troubadour Cary Brothers. More information (March 7; The Fonda Theatre)

 CONFABS: Holi Festival of Colors Los Angeles

 Think twice about wearing white at this Hindu celebration of life: Polychromatic powder will be liberally applied in traditional designs to the faces of attendees. Crowds are also invited to toss water balloons and fire squirt guns while musical groups perform in the background. More information (March 7; Excelsior High School)

 MUSIC: Enslaved

 Norway’s Enslaved have long represented the vanguard of Black Metal music—a genre that deals in buzz saw guitars and macabre imagery. The band is touring in support of their latest album, In Times. More information (March 6; El Rey Theatre)

 CONFABS: Celtic Faire

 You don’t need to look like a Game of Thrones extra to enjoy a gathering of all things Celtic. Flagons of Guinness, hearty Irish eats, and a sheep or two add color to this family-friendly homage to the land of plaid. More information (March 7-8; Fairplex in Pomona)

 MUSIC: Anonymous 4

 The downtown landmark is the setting for a de facto commemoration of the April ceasefire that ended the Civil War 150 years ago. The choral quartet revives American songs from the period, accompanied by Bruce Molsky, “the Rembrandt of Appalachian fiddle.” More information (March 7; Bradbury Building)

 BOOKS: I Fought the Law: The Life and Strange Death of Bobby Fuller

 Miriam Linna and Randell Fuller will sign copies of their new book I Fought the Law: The Life and Strange Death of Bobby Fuller, which chronicles the life and death of Bobby Fuller who recorded his iconic version of the song “I Fought The Law” only a few months prior to his mysterious death. More information (March 7; La Luz de Jesus Gallery) |||||Summary:

– You've probably heard the song—"I Fought the Law"—but maybe not the story of the singer who made it famous in 1966. Bobby Fuller had just struck it big with his cover of the song when his body was found in a parked car. The 23-year-old had died of asphyxiation, his body doused in gasoline and seemingly beaten, recounts the Los Angeles Times; he reportedly died due to inhaled gasoline. It was officially ruled a suicide, and now a new biography of Fuller co-written by his brother revisits the case, which the LAT calls "one of rock's strangest deaths." Randy Fuller, who played in Bobby's band, never believed the suicide story, and few others who knew him well did, either. The LAT says various theories, including one involving the mob, have surfaced over the ensuing decades without verification. ("Who would pour gas on himself in a hot car?" Randy Fuller said in 1998. “I just think he got in a bad situation that night, met the wrong dude and couldn't get out of it.") The book, I Fought The Law: The Life and Strange Death of Bobby Fuller apparently doesn't try to solve the mystery as much as resurrect it. Fuller died just a few months after recording his big hit, notes LA Magazine. (Click for more unsolved Hollywood mysteries.)


Write an article based on this summary:

– Lane-splitting—where motorcycles pass other cars in traffic by cruising in between—might soon be legal in at least one state: California. The state's Assembly unanimously passed a bill Thursday giving the California Highway Patrol authority to create guidelines for the practice, reports the Los Angeles Times. The bill, which would make California the first state to give the official OK to lane-splitting, has kept things vague, simply defining what a "lane" is and directing the CHP to fill in the blanks. The bill's original wording would've allowed the practice only if a motorcycle was going less than 50mph and not more than 15mph faster than traffic, but the specifics were later removed before passage. While critics say lane-splitting is dangerous for all involved, advocates cite several reasons for why zipping between cars is desirable: It saves fuel for bikers, cuts down on traffic congestion, and even keeps motorcycles from overheating, as the bikes aren't designed to sit in traffic, one biker tells KCRA. "It definitely makes a motorized two-wheeler the second fastest way around the city in rush hour by a long shot," Andrew Collins writes for Jalopnik. And it could even spare motorcyclists from injury: NJ.com says motorcycle groups and a University of California at Berkeley study point out that stop-and-go traffic can be dangerous for bikers because drivers in big cars may not spot them.

For drivers, perhaps one of the more alarming sights on the road can be a motorcycle squeezing past them, by riding in between lanes of moving or stopped traffic on a busy highway.

 For bikers, lane splitting eases their concerns are about being rear-ended by a distracted driver, who doesn't see the motorcycle ahead of them in stop-and-go traffic on a highway.

 Whether you call it lane splitting, white lining or filtering, is the practice legal in New Jersey?

 That question was posed by a reader who encountered a motorcycle lane splitting on the New Jersey Turnpike Hudson County extension.

 "They are very dangerous when you try to change lanes," he wrote.

 Q: Is it legal for motorcycles to "lane split" or ride in between lanes of traffic?

 A: The answer is somewhat unclear. While New Jersey doesn't have a law on the books forbidding it, the practice isn't encouraged.

 New Jersey's state driver's manual warns bikers against "lane sharing" with another vehicle and specifically says "do not ride in between rows of stopped vehicles."

 Police can cite riders for failure to keep right, if they lane split, said Anthony Parenti, executive director of the New Jersey Traffic Officers Association. A former motorcyclist himself, Parenti said he used to lane split at traffic lights to save time, but refrained from doing it on highways for safety reasons.

 One danger of lane splitting on busy highways and interstates, is that a driver who decides to change lanes may not see a motorcycle, he said.

 Why do bikers lane split? Motorcycle advocacy groups cite safety reasons for lane splitting. Riders who endorse the practice cite efficiency, fuel economy and not adding to traffic congestion as reasons for doing it.

 The American Motorcyclist Association says that stop and go traffic is the most dangerous situation for motorcyclists because they are surrounded by drivers of larger vehicles, who may not see them. The AMA cited a motorcycle crash study that said 59 percent of collisions happen in moderate to heavy traffic.

 A May 2015 University of California at Berkley study concluded "motorcyclists who split lanes in heavy traffic are significantly less likely to be struck from behind by other motorists, are less likely to suffer head or torso injuries, and are less likely to sustain fatal injuries in a crash."

 Even the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration seems to be split about the topic. While not endorsing it, a NHTSA motorcycle safety website said that lane splitting can offer an escape route for motorcycles who might be hit from behind and said that the practice needs further study.

 Another group, the Motorcycle Industry Council, said it supports state laws that allow lane splitting with reasonable restrictions. No bills have been proposed in the state to make lane splitting legal, however an online petition to make it legal in New Jersey received over 700 signatures.

 Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

  ||||| Motorcycles splitting lanes on California roads is technically neither legal nor illegal, and some riders said it’s necessary.

 "We do it to be safe ourselves, especially with all the guys on the cellphones not paying attention,” said Matt Hemworth, who started riding motorcycles a few years ago.

 "We have to lane split because sometimes our motorcycles overheat. That's what it's built for is to go and not stand still in traffic like cars,” motorcyclist Greg Tate said.

 The California Assembly unanimously green-lighted AB 51 on Thursday. The bill would give the California Highway Patrol the authority to establish parameters for safe lane splitting, like speed limits while passing between cars.

 Now, it's headed to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk.

 "We recognize there are people who do it safely and some who don't, so anything to make our roads safer is what Assemblyman Bill Quirk (D-Hayward) strongly believes,” said Tomasa Dueñas, Chief of Staff for Quirk, who helped work on the bill. “We should do something that takes us in that direction.”

 Lane splitting is illegal in every state except California, and AB 51 would make California the first state to create formal guidelines about lane splitting.

 “It would be good to have some kind of structure,” said Larry Lovisone, who has been riding for 50 years. “Every time I'm stopped by CHP, they have a different idea of lane splitting.”

 CHP tried to post guidelines on its website in 2013, but a lone citizen from Sacramento put the brakes on it.

 “Someone filed a complaint,” Dueñas said. “Because of that complaint, everything had to be scratched. The guidelines had to be removed from their website."

 The bill does not spell out what conditions CHP should consider. But riders hope if signed, it will lead to new guidelines that give them the green light to continue to split safely.

 “If we can cut between the cars to keep us safer, I say go for it,” Hemsworth said. “If the law is meant to protect the rider, I say go for it.” ||||| A bill authorizing the California Highway Patrol to set hard guidelines for “lane splitting,” motorcycles making way between lanes of traffic, passed through the state assembly with a 69-0 vote. Once Governor Jerry Brown signs it, which is expected, CA will be the first state with formally legal lane splitting.

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 While never explicitly legal or illegal, California cops and motorcyclists have maintained a tacit understanding about lane splitting– it’s allowed, within reason. Putter through gridlocked cars and they won’t raise an eyebrow. Bash somebody’s side-mirror off at full noise and the cops might decide to come after you.

 But as the LA Times reports, the public started making noise when the CHP tried to publish “safe strategies on the practice.” Seems like the main complaint was against the idea of the police creating laws, but regardless, the bill “AB 51” has now been kicked around since December of 2014 regarding the regulation of lane splitting.

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 The bill supposedly started out specifying that a biker could split lanes “only when a motorcycle was moving no more than 15 miles per hour faster than the traffic around it, and it prohibited the practice at speeds above 50 mph” but this language was shot down my motorcycle enthusiast groups. As it stands, the bill “provides a basic definition of ‘lane’ and leaves the rest to the CHP,” the LA Times explains.

 Once the bill is passed into law, which local news outlets seem to think is likely, we’ll have to wait and see how specific the CHP decides to be with their guidelines. As far as I’ve observed in a few months of living in Los Angeles, the cops are pretty blasé about the practice as long as the biker doesn’t have their cell phone out or engine pegged on the rev limiter (I’ve seen both.)

 I will also say that splitting lanes isn’t for everyone. The canyons of swaying cars can be pretty intimidating, even on a bike as tall as my Yamaha WR. But it definitely makes a motorized two-wheeler the second fastest way around the city in rush hour by a long shot. ||||| Soil taken from a yard in Commerce near the now-shuttered Exide battery plant is tested in February by a team from the L.A. County Health Department. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

 Californians who purchase lead-acid batteries like those used to start cars and trucks would pay a new $1 fee under legislation sent to Gov. Jerry Brown early Thursday morning, with the funds earmarked for cleaning up contaminated sites such as the former Exide battery plant in Los Angeles County.

 The fee charged to battery buyers would rise to $2 in 2022. Lawmakers would direct the revenues — estimated to be as much as $40 million a year — to deal with contamination sites as needed.

 " For four decades, our community has been waiting for something," said Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens), the author of AB 2153. |||||


News article:

Wayne Flynt was a close friend of Harper Lee until her death in 2016, one of the few she still granted visits after she entered a nursing home near the end of her life. Before that, Flynt, professor emeritus of history at Auburn University and author of numerous books on Alabama history, corresponded with Lee through letters since their initial meeting in 1983.

 With a sure-to-be bestseller on the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "To Kill a Mockingbird" debuting Tuesday, author Wayne Flynt discussed Harper Lee in an exclusive interview with the New York Times.

 Flynt's book, "Mockingbird Songs: My Friendship With Harper Lee" offers insight into the famously publicity shy Lee, including some confirmations of much-discussed topics such as her relationship with Truman Capote and if she would have approved of this book.

 Release date set for Wayne Flynt's book on friendship with Harper Lee

 Here are just a few of the things we learned from the in-depth interview:

 1. Lee, known in her hometown of Monroeville by her given name of Nelle Harper Lee, only asked Flynt not to write about her while she was living. Flynt told the NYT he feels the book "allows her to speak beyond the grave and without any risk to her privacy."

 2. One reason Lee shied away from the media and the glare of fame's spotlight was her fear of obsessive fans. She once had a stalker and was concerned with stalkers and assassination, Flynt told the NYT.

 3. Truman Capote was a compulsive liar. Lee and Capote were childhood friends in Monroeville and he was the inspiration for the character Dill in "To Kill a Mockingbird." Lee's friendship with Capote eventually ended over jealousy. Lee wrote to Flynt: "I did something Truman could not forgive: I wrote a novel that sold."

 Click here to read Flynt's Eulogy for Harper Lee: 'Atticus' Vision of Ourselves'

 4. Lee was so nervous before interviews and speaking engagements that she would vomit.

 5. Flynt admits Lee "may not have fully participated in the decision to publish a long forgotten and flawed first novel ('Go Set a Watchman')" because of her age and health issues. However, Flynt said that at the time, Lee welcomed its publication.

 Click here to read the detailed interview in the New York Times. ||||| According to a new book out on May 2 from her longtime friend and confidante, Harper Lee called Truman Capote a "compulsive l[iar]" in her letters. Lee and Capote were friends and writing partners for years, and it's widely known that Lee based the To Kill a Mockingbird character Dill Harris on the In Cold Blood author. Lee's revelation about Capote's lying habit comes from a March 2006 letter to Wayne Flynt, one of many contained in Flynt's forthcoming Mockingbird Songs: My Friendship with Harper Lee.

 Both Lee and Capote achieved literary success in the mid-20th century. Following the sensational Clutter murders in 1959, the two writers traveled to Kansas so that Capote could cover the story for The New Yorker. Lee worked as Capote's "assistant researchist" in Kansas, and later edited his final draft of In Cold Blood. She also published her own article about the murders in the March 1960 issue of the FBI trade magazine Grapevine. But when he published In Cold Blood in 1966, Capote gave Lee no credit for her hard work.

 Lee's letters to Flynt reveal a reason for Capote's snub. After writing that "Capote’s drinking and misery soured their friendship," according to The New York Times, Lee told Flynt: "I was his oldest friend, and I did something Truman could not forgive: I wrote a novel that sold . . . He nursed his envy for more than 20 years."

 Read all about Truman Capote's "compulsive lying" and more when Mockingbird Songs comes out on May 2. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– In the soon-to-be published contents of a decade-old letter, Harper Lee accused her "oldest friend," Truman Capote, of being an inveterate liar who destroyed their friendship with his jealousy. Wayne Flynt, an Alabama historian and longtime friend of Lee's in his own right, is publishing a book next week about his quarter-century relationship with the To Kill a Mockingbird author, the New York Times reports. According to AL.com, Flynt was one of a handful of people still allowed to visit Lee after she moved into a nursing home in the final years of her life. Flynt tells the Times that Lee, who removed herself from public life in the 1960s, only told him not to write about her while she was alive. Capote and Lee had been writing partners for years, and she even based a character in To Kill a Mockingbird on him, Bustle reports. But in a 2006 letter to Flynt, Lee said of Capote: "His compulsive lying was like this: If you said, 'Did you know JFK was shot?' He'd easily answer, 'Yes, I was driving the car he was riding in.'" She also said that while their friendship was strained by Capote's drinking and "misery," it was ultimately ruined by jealousy. "I did something Truman could not forgive: I wrote a novel that sold," she wrote. "He nursed his envy for more than 20 years." To Kill a Mockingbird has sold more than 40 million copies. Flynt's Mockingbird Songs: My Friendship With Harper Lee will be released May 2.


(CBS Connecticut) — The Connecticut Supreme Court today found that the state can forcibly medicate a man accused of killing a Yale doctor.

 Mentally ill Doctor Lishan Wang does not want to take medication that could make him competent to stand trial.

 But in its decision, the state Supreme Court confirmed that it is substantially likely that Wang would be made competent by the medication, and that it is unlikely he will suffer from side effects.

 The court also found no less-intrusive option exists, and that the drugs are in Wang’s medical best interest.

 Wang is charged with shooting and killing Yale Doctor Vajindor Toor outside Toor’s home in Branford.

 The defendant was also accused of shooting at Toor’s pregant wife, but missing. ||||| Connecticut authorities can forcibly administer anti-psychotic medicine on a mentally ill doctor charged in the murder of a Yale University physician so he can be competent to stand trial, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

 Justices released a 7-0 decision that rejected the appeal of Lishan Wang, whose lawyer argued that medicating Wang against his will would violate his constitutional rights to a fair trial and to mental and physical bodily integrity, as well as conflict with a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling restricting involuntary medication of defendants.

 Wang, a Chinese citizen from Beijing, is charged with murder in the 2010 fatal shooting of Dr. Vajinder Toor outside Toor's home in Branford. He is also charged with attempted murder on allegations he shot at Toor's pregnant wife, who wasn't injured. Wang has pleaded not guilty, and he has insisted he is competent and doesn't need medication.

 Authorities say the shooting appeared to stem from a 2008 workplace dispute Wang had with Toor and other doctors when they worked together at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in New York City. Wang was fired from the medical center that year after a series of confrontations with Toor and other colleagues.

 Wang represented himself in the case until a judge ruled him incompetent last year and assigned a public defender. In November, New Haven Superior Court Judge Thomas O'Keefe Jr. ruled that state officials could forcibly medicate Wang to make him competent to stand trial and that doing so would not violate Wang's constitutional rights or the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. O'Keefe's decision was put on hold pending the Supreme Court appeal.

 A main issue in the appeal was whether prosecutors showed that it was "substantially likely" that forcing medication on Wang would restore him to competency. The "substantially likely" standard was set — but not specifically defined — in 2003 by the U.S. Supreme Court, which said the government can force medication on mentally ill criminal defendants only in the rarest of circumstances and only if certain conditions are met.

 The Connecticut Supreme Court said state prosecutors met those conditions and concluded that it was substantially likely that Wang would be restored to competency with medication. State justices relied on the testimony of a state psychiatrist, who said the chances of success in restoring Wang to competency with recommended medications was in a percentage range from the mid-50s to 70.

 Wang's public defender on the appeal, Mark Rademacher, argued that a projected success rate of mid-50s to 70 percent did not make it "substantially likely" that Wang would be restored to competency. The Supreme Court disagreed and defined "substantially likely" as "more likely than not, or a greater than 50 percent probability."

 "They just set the bar too low before they can violently restrain a patient, knock him out with a sedative and inject him with medication," Rademacher said Tuesday. "It's an extremely serious thing to do and shouldn't be taken lightly."

 Rademacher said he will be deciding whether to appeal the state Supreme Court ruling to a federal court, possibly the U.S. Supreme Court.

 Prosecutor Nancy Walker has said the ruling by O'Keefe in November did not violate Wang's rights or the U.S. Supreme Court restrictions. She said his case is based on the sound medical advice of experts and is one of the rare instances where forced medication is allowed. |||||

Write a summary.

– Lishan Wang, a Chinese doctor charged with murder in Connecticut, can be forced to take anti-psychotic medication in order to be competent enough to stand trial, the AP reports. The state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday it wouldn't be a violation of the mentally ill Wang's rights to forcibly medicate him. As laid out in a 2003 US Supreme Court ruling, prosecutors had to show it was "substantially likely" the medication would make Wang competent to stand trial. A state psychiatrist testified there was a 50% to 70% chance of that happening. While Wang's public defender, Mark Rademacher, argues that doesn't meet the threshold, the state Supreme Court ruled 7-0 that anything greater than 50% constitutes "substantially likely." The court also ruled there wasn't a "less-intrusive option" to forcibly medicating Wang and that he was unlikely to have side effects from the medication, CBS Connecticut reports. Rademacher may appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court. "They just set the bar too low before they can violently restrain a patient, knock him out with a sedative, and inject him with medication," he tells the AP. Wang is charged with fatally shooting Dr. Vajinder Toor and shooting at Toor's pregnant wife in 2010 outside their Connecticut home. Wang was fired from his job in 2008 after multiple confrontations with Toor and other doctors. Wang maintains that he's not guilty and doesn't need medication.


The official, A.K. Verma, who had joined the CPWD in 1980, went on Earned Leave in December 1990 and did not report to work thereafter.

 An official of the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) who has been on a furlough for the past 25 years has been dismissed from service.

 On Thursday, Urban Development Minister M.Venkaiah Naidu issued orders directing the dismissal from service of A.K. Verma for unauthorised absence from duty.

 Mr. Verma, who joined CPWD as an assistant executive engineer in 1980 went on earned leave in December1990 and did not report to work thereafter.

 According to the UD Ministry, he continued extending his leave and defied directions to report to work. An inquiry was instituted against him in September, 1992 for major penalty for wilful absence from duty.

 “Owing to non-cooperation of Mr. Verma with the inquiry and for other reasons, it got delayed and a fresh charge sheet was issued in 2005. The inquiry report, establishing the charges was submitted in July, 2007 and the same was accepted by the then Minister of Urban Development in August, 2007. But no further action was taken in the matter,” the Ministry said in a statement.

 Soon after assuming office, Mr. Naidu called for a review of pending vigilance and disciplinary cases for expeditious action against the accused.

 The Minister has taken a serious view of in-action since 2007 and directed the officials concerned to fix responsibility for delay in the matter.

  ||||| NEW DELHI Even in India, where government jobs are considered to be for life, A.K. Verma was pushing it.

 Verma, an executive engineer at the Central Public Works Department, was fired after last appearing for work in December 1990.

 "He went on seeking extension of leave, which was not sanctioned, and defied directions to report to work," the government said in a statement on Thursday.

 Even after an inquiry found him guilty of "wilful absence from duty" in 1992, it took another 22 years and the intervention of a cabinet minister to remove him, the government said.

 India's labour laws, which the World Bank says are the most restrictive anywhere, make it hard to sack staff for any reason other than criminal misconduct.

 States, led by Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, have recently changed the law to make it easier to hire and fire staff, in a move welcomed by industry leaders but opposed by labour unions.

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi has cracked down on rampant absenteeism by making New Delhi bureaucrats sign in at work using a fingerprint scanner. The results are publicly available online - at www.attendance.gov.in - in real time.

 (Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Douglas Busvine, Robert Birsel) ||||| An Indian public official has been sacked for taking leave 24 years ago and never returning to his desk in the country’s notoriously work-shy bureaucracy, the urban development ministry said.

 Assistant executive engineer A.K Verma went on leave in 1990 after joining India’s central public works department (CPWD) a decade earlier.

 Verma defied bosses’ orders to return to work after his requests for additional leave were denied.

 “He went on seeking extension of leave, which was not sanctioned, and defied directions to report to work,” the government said in a statement on Thursday.

 Even after an inquiry found him guilty of “wilful absence from duty” in 1992, it took another 22 years and the intervention of a cabinet minister to remove him, the government said.

 Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu ordered his dismissal in order to “streamline the functioning of CPWD and to ensure accountability,” it said.

 India’s civil servants have long been notorious for arriving late, taking long lunches or spending parts of their day on the golf course.

 A 2012 survey by the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk consultancy rated India’s bureaucracy as the worst among major Asian countries.

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said he was shocked by what he saw in the corridors of power after moving to New Delhi following his landslide election victory in May last year.

 During his first few months in office, Modi developed a reputation for paying unannounced visits to government offices.

 Fear of being caught playing truant triggered a rise in attendance levels among civil servants and Delhi’s main golf course has reportedly been largely deserted on week days. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– A man who ditched work for 24 years has finally lost his job—apparently a sign that India is cracking down on government bureaucrats who avoid office time, Reuters reports. AK Verma, a senior engineer at the Central Public Works Department, last showed up for work in December 1990. The Hindu describes him as being "on furlough," but an inquiry ruled against him in 1992, and delays and inaction ensued for 22 more years until Verma eventually got fired. "He went on seeking extension of leave, which was not sanctioned, and defied directions to report to work," officials said in a statement. Civil servants in India are infamous for showing up late, taking lengthy lunches, and hitting the links during work hours, the Guardian reports. Prime Minister Narendra Modi says he was shocked by bureaucrats' behavior when he took power last year, and has tried cracking down. He's known to play office monitor, showing up in the halls of power unannounced, and now makes civil servants sign in with fingerprint scanners (the results can be seen online). Attendance has gone up since, the Guardian says, and Delhi's main golf course is now mostly empty during the week. (In the US, a worker got in trouble with the boss for using his robot voice on the phone to callers.)


Article:
You always want to keep a fire extinguisher handy, especially on your boat, but if you didn't and things start getting a little toasty, this is probably the best you can hope for. Despite all the nay-saying in the background, this speedy good Samaritan here managed to put out that fire quite well, and look like a badass doing it. What more could you ask for in a good deed? [Reddit] ||||| Focused crawls are collections of frequently-updated webcrawl data from narrow (as opposed to broad or wide) web crawls, often focused on a single domain or subdomain. |||||Summary:

– No firefighters around when your boat goes up in flames? How about hiring this freethinker to douse it with a speedboat "and look like a badass doing it," reports Gizmodo. Bystanders with a video camera recorded the flaming boat at Lake Lyndon in New Zealand but apparently just stood around and watched. One of them even dissed the boater's makeshift firefighting technique, saying, "F--k that" and "What are you doing?" But by the look of it, the boater's four passes did accomplish something: putting out the fire.


Write an article based on this summary:

– Egypt's new president arrived in Iran today for a historic visit, the AP reports—and he promptly sparked a walkout at the Nonaligned Movement Summit. Mohamed Morsi, the first Egyptian leader to visit Iran since Tehran cut diplomatic relations with Egypt in 1979 over its peace treaty with Israel, praised the Syrian rebels—thus angering the Syrian delegation, which left the meeting. Morsi called the Syrian uprising a "revolution against an oppressive regime," the BBC reports, and called for the Nonaligned Movement to support it. More from the summit: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, whose presence at the summit is bugging the US, met with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday to ask that Iran, one of the Syrian regime's last remaining allies, try to get the Syrian government to end the violence. But Khamenei insists the government should continue to be armed while the rebels should have no weapons, reports the AP. Khamenei also insisted Iran is not interested in developing nuclear weapons, but will continue to pursue nuclear energy, Reuters reports. "Our motto is nuclear energy for all and nuclear weapons for none," Khamenei said, calling nuclear weapons "a major and unforgivable sin." But the Wall Street Journal reports that an Iranian scientist considered to be a nuclear weapons guru a la Robert Oppenheimer has resurfaced after a few years off the job. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh is back at work, UN investigators find, prompting more concern over Iran's nuclear agenda. Fakhrizadeh's work had been frozen in 2006; he is believed to be running a nuclear weapons-minded research facility in the suburbs of Tehran.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad talks to Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi (R) after his speech during the 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran, August 30, 2012.

 DUBAI Iran has no interest in nuclear weapons but will keep pursuing peaceful nuclear energy, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told heads of state from developing countries in Tehran.

 Iran, hosting a summit of the 120-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), is hoping the high-profile event will prove that Western efforts to isolate it and punish it economically for its disputed nuclear programme have failed.

 "Our motto is nuclear energy for all and nuclear weapons for none," Khamenei told the assembled heads of state.

 But discord over Syria swiftly marred the summit when Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi urged member states to support Syrians striving to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, whose staunchest regional ally is Iran.

 "Our solidarity with the struggle of the Syrian people against an oppressive regime that has lost its legitimacy is an ethical duty as it is a political and strategic necessity," Mursi said, prompting a walkout by the Syrian delegation, according to the pan-Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera.

 It was not immediately clear if the Syrians had returned to the meeting after Mursi's speech.

 Mursi's visit to Tehran was the first by an Egyptian leader since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979, but his uncompromising speech suggested there would be no swift reconciliation between the two countries after three decades of animosity.

 Diplomatic relations between Cairo and Tehran broke down immediately after Iran's revolution over Egypt's support for the overthrown Shah and over its peace agreement with Israel.

 The NAM summit's final declaration is set to express deep concern about the violence in Syria and support for efforts by U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to broker a resolution to the conflict, a delegate at the meeting told Reuters.

 United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, attending the Tehran summit, urged Khamenei late on Wednesday to take concrete steps to prove Iran's nuclear work is peaceful.

 The West suspects Iran is seeking a nuclear weapons capability, an accusation Tehran denies.

 In his speech, Khamenei criticized the U.N. Security Council as an illogical, unjust and defunct relic of the past used by the United States "to impose its bullying manner on the world".

 "They (Americans) talk of human rights when what they mean is Western interests. They talk of democracy when what they have is military intervention in other countries," he added.

 (Reporting by Marcus George, Zahra Hosseinian and Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by Alistair Lyon) ||||| The U.N. chief jolted his Iranian hosts for a nonaligned nations meeting Wednesday by pointing out "serious concerns" in Tehran's human rights record and urging cooperation with the world body to improve freedoms.

 Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, second right, reviews an honor guard, as he is welcomed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, for their meeting in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012.... (Associated Press)

 In this photo released by the official website of the Iranian Presidency Office, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, shakes hands with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, at the start of their... (Associated Press)

 Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, left, is welcomed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, for a meeting, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) (Associated Press)

 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, welcomes Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, for their meeting, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) (Associated Press)

 Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, second right, reviews an honor guard, as he is welcomed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, for their meeting in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012.... (Associated Press)

 In this photo released by the official website of the Iranian Presidency Office, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, left, talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, right, during their meeting... (Associated Press)

 U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had signaled he would not shy away from criticism of Iran during his visit to the Nonaligned Movement gathering in Tehran, but the sharp comments appeared to catch Iranian officials off guard just hours after his arrival.

 "We have discussed how United Nations can work together with Iran to improve the human rights situation in Iran. We have our serious concerns on the human rights abuses and violations in this country," he told a news conference as he sat next to Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, who frowned at the remarks.

 Iran's opposition groups had urged Ban to use his appearance in Tehran as a platform to criticize Iran's ruling system over its crackdowns on political dissent, including the house arrests of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi.

 While in Tehran, Ban also could raise sensitive issues such as demands by U.N. nuclear inspectors for wider access to various sites, including a military base near Tehran suspected of being a proving ground for explosives experiments that could be used to test nuclear triggers. Iran denies it seeks nuclear arms, but Western nations and allies fear Tehran's uranium enrichment labs are moving close to warhead-grade material.

 U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said in his talks, Ban expressed frustration that `'little tangible progress" has been made in talks between Iran and world powers over Tehran's nuclear program. No date has been set to resume negotiations after several rounds over the past months.

 Iran says it wants talks to continue, but also claims that the current gathering in Tehran shows that Western efforts to isolate Iran have failed.

 In Vienna, the U.N.'s nuclear agency has created a special Iran Task Force of nuclear weapons experts, intelligence analysts and other specialists focused on probing Tehran's atomic program, according to an internal document shared with The Associated Press.

 Iran is seeking to use the weeklong meeting of the 120-nation Nonaligned Movement to promote its position that its nuclear program is peaceful and its uranium enrichment is within the U.N. treaty rules. The meetings are capped by a two-day summit that begins Thursday.

 Ban's visit is being interpreted by Iranian media as a blow to Western attempts to isolate the Islamic republic in defiance of Israeli and American calls to boycott the meeting.

 Tehran is also seeking to win support from the nonaligned bloc, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the U.N. member states, for its nuclear program. A visit to Natanz uranium enrichment site in central Iran by participating leaders has not been ruled out.

 Ban met Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad later Wednesday.

 Khamenei called on him to take action over Israel's nuclear weapons, according to Khamenei's website, calling this "a big danger to the region." Israel has never acknowledged having nuclear weapons but is widely believed to have a large arsenal.

 In advance, Ban also said he would discuss the Syria crisis with Iranian leaders, who remain staunch allies of Bashar Assad's regime. The U.N. chief has in the past called Iran a major player capable of mediating in regional conflicts, including Syria's civil war.

 Nesirky, the U.N. spokesman, said that in his meetings in Tehran Ban "urged the leadership _ the president, the Supreme Leader, the speaker of parliament _ to really reach out to the Syrian leadership and impress on them the really urgent need to stop the violence and to create the conditions that are necessary for a political process."

 Iran plans to propose the formation of a three-member nonaligned team, plus two neighbors of Syria, to help resolve the crisis there, Iran's state media quoted prominent lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi as saying.

 The proposed troika will include Egypt, Iran and Venezuela plus Iraq and Lebanon. Boroujerdi, who met Assad during a visit to Syria last week, said the Syrian president said he would welcome the Iranian plan.

 Khamenei told Ban that the solution is to stop weapons shipments to the Syrian rebels, or as he put it, "irresponsible groups inside Syria," according to his website.

 A senior Iranian official gave details of the plan Iran is proposing at the summit.

 "Iran's proposal ... is a cease-fire and the implementation of a three-month mechanism for national reconciliation talks in this country," the official IRNA news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian as saying Wednesday.

 Anti-regime fighters have dismissed any role for Iran in such a plan. The rebels and some others say it has little hope of succeeding. Also, the United States has rejected Iranian participation in international meetings on the Syrian crisis.

 In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland urged Ban to press Iran over Syria. She said Iran does have a role to play: "It can break with the Assad regime and stop providing material support and arms and advisers and all of these kinds of things," she said.

 ___

 Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report from the United Nations. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Mohammed Mursi's comments will "really have hurt", the BBC's Jon Leyne says

 Egypt's president has told a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (Nam) that the Syrian uprising is a "revolution against an oppressive regime".

 Mohammed Mursi, making the first visit to Iran by an Egyptian leader since 1979, said the movement had an "ethical duty" to support the uprising.

 His comments sparked a walkout by the Syrian delegation.

 Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Mr Mursi's speech "incites continued bloodshed in Syria".

 Egypt has been holding the rotating Nam presidency and Mr Mursi was handing the duty over to Iran during his visit.

 He used his speech to tell delegates of the 120-member body: "Our solidarity with the struggle of the Syrian people against an oppressive regime that has lost its legitimacy is an ethical duty, as it is a political and strategic necessity.

 Analysis President Mursi's speech in Tehran marks an important moment as he defines Egypt's new foreign policy. The new Egyptian leader has defied Washington, by going to Tehran for the Non-Aligned summit. Now he has angered the Iranian government by criticising their allies, the Syrian regime. The message is clear. Egypt intends to have a new, independent and assertive foreign policy. It is a huge contrast from the days of President Hosni Mubarak who was seen, by many Egyptians, as slavishly following the Americans. But it will also provide some reassurance to Washington, showing there is not about to be a new "Islamic axis" between the Muslim Brotherhood-led government of Egypt and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

 "We all have to announce our full solidarity with the struggle of those seeking freedom and justice in Syria, and translate this sympathy into a clear political vision that supports a peaceful transition to a democratic system of rule that reflects the demands of the Syrian people for freedom."

 He compared the anti-government movement in Syria to the Palestinians, saying they were both "actively seeking freedom, dignity and human justice", and said Egypt was "ready to work with all to stop the bloodshed".

 The BBC's Iran correspondent, James Reynolds, says Tehran's hope for the summit was to show the West the Islamic Republic had plenty of friends elsewhere, but Mr Mursi's comments would certainly have upset the hosts.

 However, he says not everyone in Iran would have noticed, as one Iranian state TV channel mistranslated Mr Mursi's words into Persian, giving the impression that president was actually speaking in support of the Syrian government.

 Syria's delegation walked out of the conference room when Mr Mursi began speaking, Egyptian and Syrian media reported. Iranian media said they had simply left to conduct an interview.

 Mr Muallem said Mr Mursi's comments "violated the traditions of the summit and are considered interference in Syrian internal affairs".

 He accused Mr Mursi of "inciting continued bloodshed in Syria".

 Syria's exit illustrates the strong divisions that are likely to overshadow or even dominate this summit Read more from James

 Mr Mursi's visit was the first by an Egyptian leader to Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when Iran cut ties with President Anwar Sadat's administration over its signing of a peace treaty with Israel.

 After his speech, Mr Mursi met Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

 Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said the presidents had discussed bilateral ties and "emphasised the need to solve the Syria crisis via diplomacy and to prevent foreign intervention".

 Mr Mursi left Tehran shortly afterwards, Iranian media said.

 'Serious concerns'

 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is attending the summit, said Syria was facing a long-term civil war, and warned that "those who provide arms to either side in Syria are contributing to the misery".

 "The situation cannot be resolved with the blood and the bodies of more than 18,000 people and counting. There should be no more bullets and bombs. I urge all parties in the strongest possible terms to stop the violence now," he said.

 Non-Aligned Movement Formed in 1961, originally an alliance of newly independent Afro-Asian states

 Currently 120 members, comprising nations ostensibly unaligned with the major world powers

 Aims to represent the political, economic and cultural interests of the developing world Profile: Non-Aligned Movement Syria rebels 'down fighter jet'

 Mr Ban's acceptance of Tehran's invitation to the summit was described by the US State Department as "strange", but the South Korean has not shied from drawing attention to the Iran's human rights record, telling a press conference he had "serious concerns".

 Nuclear disarmament is also on the agenda of the talks and in his speech to delegates on Thursday, Ayatollah Khamenei said that, contrary to the view held in the West, Iran was "never seeking nuclear weapons".

 He said such weapons were "a major and unforgivable sin", but that Iran would "never give up the right to peaceful nuclear energy".

 The ayatollah also criticised the "illogical" structure of the United Nations Security Council, saying it enabled the US to impose its "bullying manner" on the world, Reuters reports.

 Mr Ban responded to the ayatollah's statement by calling on Iran to build confidence in its nuclear ambitions by co-operating fully with the Security Council over its nuclear programme.

 He also rebuked Tehran for its hostility towards Israel, saying: "I strongly reject threats by any member states to destroy another or outrageous attempts to deny historical facts such as Holocaust."

 However, Mr Ban's comments were also altered on Iranian state TV.

 IRTV1 removed all references to Israel and the Holocaust, while rolling news channel IRINN's translation was: "I, as the secretary-general, cannot accept that threats or improper words are used in the political scene and create a situation which we cannot control."

 IRINN's translation of Mr Ban's comments on the nuclear issue wrongly stated that he had noted that "the Islamic Republic of Iran's co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency has been constructive, effective and positive". ||||| Dow Jones Reprints: This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit www.djreprints.com

 VIENNA—The Iranian scientist considered Tehran's atomic-weapons guru until he was apparently sidelined several years ago is back at work, according to United Nations investigators and U.S. and Israeli officials, sparking fresh concerns about the status of Iran's nuclear program.

 Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, widely compared with Robert Oppenheimer, the American physicist who oversaw the crash 1940s effort to build an atomic bomb, helped push Iran into its nuclear age over the past two decades. A senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, he oversaw Iran's research into the construction and detonation of a nuclear warhead, Western officials say.

 Mr. Fakhrizadeh complained ... ||||| Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi arrived in Tehran on Thursday in the first visit by an Egyptian leader to Iran in decades.

 Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi meets with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, unseen, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012. Morsi was in China on a three-day visit since... (Associated Press)

 The Egyptian president was attending a summit of the Nonaligned Movement, and is supposed to transfer leadership of the 120-nation bloc to Tehran.

 Iran's state TV in a live broadcast showed Morsi being received by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the summit conference hall in Tehran.

 Tehran cut diplomatic relations in 1979 because of Egypt's peace accord with Israel. Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran has considered Israel as its arch foe.

 Iran's leadership welcomed the 2011 uprising in Egypt that ultimately brought Morsi, an Islamist, to the presidency.

 Representatives from more than 100 countries are attending.

 Tehran has an ambitious agenda for the summit, including the launching of a peace effort including Egypt, Iran, and three other countries to help resolve the crisis in its key regional ally, Syria. But anti-regime fighters have dismissed any role for Iran in a plan they and some others say has little hope of succeeding.

 Iran is also using the summit to counter U.S. claims that it has been isolated over its nuclear program. The West says Iran is trying to develop weapons while Tehran says the program is for peaceful purposes. |||||