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The prosecution team at the Michaela McAreavey murder trial in Mauritius begin delivering their case.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A Florida A&M drum major who died after being hazed on a bus was known for his opposition to hazing but agreed to go through a brutal initiation ritual because it was seen as an honor, according to interviews with band mates released Wednesday.

Robert Champion, ...

BBC music programme Top of the Pops is to return as a stage show, described by its producers as "a nostalgic interactive jukebox".

Nancy Reagan is recovering from a number of broken ribs after a fall in March, a representative for the former first lady said Tuesday.

An al Qaeda video calling for "electronic jihad" illustrates the urgent need for cybersecurity standards for the most critical networks in the United States, a group of senators said.

CAIRO (AP) -- The Muslim Brotherhood quickly staked a claim Thursday for its candidate to advance to a runoff vote, saying its exit polls showed him leading in Egypt's landmark presidential election to succeed ousted leader Hosni Mubarak....

PESHAWAR Pakistan (AP) -- American missiles killed five suspected Islamist militants close to the Afghan border, the latest in a barrage of attacks that show Washington is ignoring Islamabad's demands it halt the strikes, Pakistani officials said Monday....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- From rare audio interviews of former slaves to recordings by Donna Summer and the Grateful Dead, 25 sounds that shaped the American cultural landscape are being inducted into the National Recording Registry....

Temperatures have soared across Scotland, but enough snow has clung on in the Cairngorms for skiing.

WASHINGTON — From rare audio interviews of former slaves to recordings by Donna Summer and the Grateful Dead, 25 sounds that shaped the American cultural landscape are being inducted into the National Recording Registry.

Summer's 1977 hit "I Feel Love" is joining the Grateful Dead's famous 1977 Barton Hall concert ...

 

HOUSTON (AP) — The Astrodome was once the envy of other cities, a fully air-conditioned facility with a translucent roof that kept out the heat and humidity, gave synthetic grass its name, made Houston a sports entertainment destination and sparked the imaginations of baseball lovers, concert-goers and some ...

Paul B. Farrell | We watched the same kind of buildup to the 2008 crash.

The police violated a juvenile rape suspect’s Fourth Amendment rights by getting his mother’s consent to a penile swab for DNA. The state’s showing of exigency was insufficient. This was harmless error here, however, where the victim ID’d him and his DNA was left on her and on a ski mask. Lee v. State, 2012 Ind. App. LEXIS 229 (May 17, 2012):

The absence of evidence that officers actually believed DNA was about to be destroyed might be due to a lack of evidence that would sufficiently support the State's appellate claim that the officers did so believe, or it might be due to Lee's failure to object and thereby press the State to present evidence thereof. In any event, our narrowly tailored holding is that sufficient evidence of exigent circumstances was not presented at trial. Because it is the State's burden to present such evidence to overcome a presumption of unreasonableness, its failure to overcome that burden renders the admission of such evidence erroneous without another valid justification.

On appeal, the State compares this case to two cases from other jurisdictions in which officers apprehended suspects of sexual assaults soon after the crimes occurred and obtained penile swabs of the suspects in a manner such that appellate courts later held the swabs justified by exigent circumstances. See Kaliku v. U.S., 994 A.2d 765 (D.C. Cir. 2010); Ontiveros v. Texas, 240 S.W.3d 369 (Tex. App. 2007), petition stricken. We agree that the offenses under investigation in Kaliku and Ontiveros are similar to this case, and that the officers faced a similar situation in those cases as the officers did here. We conclude differently from Kaliku and Ontiveros because the evidence presented at Lee's trial regarding officers' thoughts and actions do not demonstrate they actually believed Lee might destroy any DNA evidence on his penis.

. . .

Detective Cress's short statement that he would not allow Lee to wash his hands, without further elaboration, pales in comparison to the evidence presented in Kaliku and Ontiveros, and is insufficient to overcome the State's burden to demonstrate officers actually held an objective, reasonable belief that evidence was about to be destroyed.9

9 Further, it should be noted that if officers wanted Lee's DNA, exigent circumstances certainly did not exist because Lee's DNA would not change and officers could have obtained a warrant and obtained his DNA later.

The owners of a Belfast hotel that closed suddenly this week have said they will personally refund all customers who paid deposits to book functions.

The bravery of Ben Fox provides a highlight of day five of the Olympic torch relay as it passes through Royal Wootton Bassett.

The inventor of the television remote control has died at the age of 96, his former employer has said.

Managing director Ian Ayre says Liverpool are moving closer to a decision on whether to redevelop Anfield or move to a new stadium.

Five search warrants were executed after wiretaps. Defendant had standing as to his business and home, but not three others. There is no co-conspirator exception to standing for them (Padilla). There was “strong evidence” of probable cause supporting the search warrants, so the motion is denied as to all five. United States v. Kazarian, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70050 (S.D. N.Y. May 18, 2012).*

Defendant had a “full and fair opportunity to litigate” his search claim which he waived by his guilty plea. The after the fact discovery by defendant that a witness on the search issue was not completely believable wasn’t good enough to undermine the plea. Balleza v. United States, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69537 (N.D. Tex. May 17, 2012).*

Defendant’s 2255 claim that defense counsel failed to challenge warrantless searches fails without an allegation as to what those searches were and how he was prejudiced by it. Fuller v. United States, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70813 (N.D. Ill. May 22, 2012).*

Two Asian Android-based micro-PCs offer users an alternative to the British-designed project.

Head teachers in England criticise arrangements for scoring this year's Sats tests taken by 11-year-olds.