Man Set on Fire in SUV Outside Long Beach 7-Eleven 

 

LONG BEACH, Calif. (KTLA) — Police are investigating a horrifying and seemingly random attack on a man outside a 7-Eleven store.

Investigators believe the 63-year-old victim was sitting in his car when another man tossed an incendiary device through an open window.
The SUV exploded in flames.
Witnesses helped pull the driver from the burning vehicle, but he suffered serious burns.
He was rushed to the hospital where he remains in critical condition.
It happened just after 5:00 p.m. on Friday near PCH and Clark Avenue in Long Beach.
Police have a possible suspect in custody.  He is believed to be a 39-year-old homeless man who frequents the area.
“The suspect was found at a nearby location taken into custody. I will be able to get more information as the investigation continues,” Sgt. Aaron Eaton told KTLA.
No word on a motive for the attack.
“There’s no information they had a relationship and no incident prior to this crime, so right now it looks like a random act,” according to Sgt. Eaton.

 

Lion Air jet crashes into sea in Bali; 45 hurt 

 

All 108 passengers and crew survived after a new Lion Air jet crashed into the ocean and snapped into two while attempting to land Saturday on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, injuring up to 45 people.

The injured were taken to several different hospitals for treatment, but there appeared to be no serious injuries, said airport spokesman Alfasyah, who like many Indonesians uses only one name. There were three foreigners on board — two Singaporeans and a French national — all of whom suffered slight injuries.
TV footage showed police and rescuers using rubber boats to evacuate the 101 passengers and seven crew members. The Boeing 737 could be seen sitting in the shallow water with a large crack in its fuselage.
Officials initially said the plane overshot the runway before hitting the water, but a spokesman for Lion Air, a low-cost carrier, said at a news conference that the plane crashed about 50 meters (164 feet) ahead of the runway. The weather was cloudy with rain at the time of the incident.
"It apparently failed to reach the runway and fell into the sea," said the spokesman, Edward Sirait.
He said the Boeing 737-800 Next Generation plane was received by the airline last month and was declared airworthy. The plane originated in Bandung, the capital of West Java province, and had landed in two other cities on Saturday prior to the crash.

"We are not in a capacity to announce the cause of the crash," Sirait said, adding that the National Safety Transportation Committee was investigating.

Those on board recalled being terrified as the plane slammed into the water Saturday afternoon.
"The aircraft was in landing position when suddenly I saw it getting closer to the sea, and finally it hit the water," Dewi, a passenger who sustained head wounds in the crash and uses one name, told The Associated Press.
"All of the passengers were screaming in panic in fear they would drown. I left behind my belongings and went to an emergency door," she said. "I got out of the plane and swam before rescuers jumped in to help me."
Rapidly expanding Lion Air is Indonesia's top discount carrier, holding about a 50 percent market share in the country, a sprawling archipelago of 240 million people that's seeing a boom in both economic growth and air travel. The airline has been involved in six accidents since 2002, four of them involving Boeing 737s and one resulting in 25 deaths, according to the Aviation Safety Network's website.
Lion Air is currently banned from flying to Europe due to broader safety lapses in the Indonesian airline industry that have long plagued the country. Last year, a Sukhoi Superjet-100 slammed into a volcano during a demonstration flight, killing all 45 people on board.
Indonesia is one of Asia's most rapidly expanding airline markets, but is struggling to provide qualified pilots, mechanics, air traffic controllers and updated airport technology to ensure safety.
Lion Air, which started flying in 2000, signed a $24 billion deal last month to buy 234 Airbus planes, the biggest order ever for the French aircraft maker. It also gave Boeing its largest-ever order when it finalized a deal for 230 planes last year. The planes will be delivered from 2014 to 2026.

Kobe out for season with torn Achilles tendon 

 

Kobe Bryant had surgery Saturday on his torn Achilles tendon, ending his season with two games left in the Los Angeles Lakers' playoff chase.

Lakers trainer Gary Vitti thinks Bryant will need six to nine months for recovery from the most serious injury of his 17-year NBA career. Given Bryant's history of swift recovery from countless minor injuries, Vitti and Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak both believe the 34-year-old guard could be back for their season opener in the fall.

"I think that's a realistic goal for him, based on what he was talking about this morning," Kupchak said at the Lakers' training complex after visiting Bryant at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic.
Bryant completely tore his left Achilles tendon late in the Lakers' 118-116 win over Golden State on Friday night, falling to the hardwood after pushing off his planted foot in an ordinary move toward the hoop. Although he stayed in the game to hit two tying free throws with 3:08 to play, Bryant's season was over.
Bryant's foot will be immobilized for about a month to prevent him from stretching out the tendon, followed by a lengthy rehabilitation process. Nobody knows how the injury will affect Bryant's play, but his decision to have surgery less than 24 hours after getting hurt suggests he's determined to get back on top swiftly.
"He's already taken the challenge," Vitti said. "For us, it's going to be trying to slow him down."
And while it's far too early to predict exactly when Bryant will be back, the Lakers say they wouldn't consider parting ways with their franchise player, who will make nearly $30.5 million next year. If the Lakers used the amnesty clause on Bryant in early July, they could save possibly $80 million in luxury taxes.
"That's not even something that we've discussed," Kupchak said. "That's the furthest thing from our mind right now."
While the rest of the Lakers prepared for their final two regular-season games in a tumultuous season, Bryant's injury left many Lakers fans wondering whether the club had done enough to protect Bryant from himself.
The fourth-leading scorer in NBA history has logged heavy minutes all season on his high-mileage legs, basically dictating his own playing time while the Lakers chased a playoff spot. He has played far more minutes than any other NBA player over 30, including nearly 46 minutes per game in the seven games leading up to Friday night.
Bryant simply doesn't like to sit out, even when he's hobbling — as he was Friday night after hyperextending his left knee early in the second half. While Achilles tendon tears can occur in athletes under any level of stress, even first-year coach Mike D'Antoni acknowledged he might have forced Bryant to sit out a bit more if the Lakers weren't desperate for every victory to stay in playoff position.
"He's a warrior," D'Antoni said. "All I do is respect what he wanted to do for the franchise and the city. He's earned the right to do certain things. ... I would have probably (made Bryant rest more) if we were comfortably in the playoffs. When you're trying to win at all cost, maybe you make some decisions that you'd better not."
Los Angeles (43-37), which hosts San Antonio on Sunday and Houston on Wednesday, is one game ahead of the Utah Jazz (42-38) for the final postseason spot in the Western Conference. Utah holds the tiebreaker, which means the Lakers must finish one game ahead to make the playoffs for the 16th time in Bryant's career.
Bryant fought back tears in the locker room moments after learning his tendon was torn, and he wrote a lengthy Facebook post about his injury early Saturday morning, saying his "frustration is unbearable."
"Why the hell did this happen ?!?" Bryant wrote. "Makes no damn sense. Now I'm supposed to come back from this and be the same player Or better at 35?!? How in the world am I supposed to do that?? "
He added: "Maybe this is how my book ends. Maybe Father Time has defeated me...Then again maybe not!"
"One day, the beginning of a new career journey will commence. Today is NOT that day."
Bryant has been ferociously competitive while trying to keep the Lakers' playoff hopes afloat despite their dismal start to the season. While most of his teammates sat out with various injuries during the season, Bryant played through a sprained ankle and countless minor woes, missing only two games.
"We have a strong, deep team," said Gasol, who had a triple-double against Golden State. "We have high-quality players that are experienced and ready for a challenge. We're fueled by these injuries. We want to take on the challenge and prove we're a good team even without our best player."
Jodie Meeks will start in Bryant's spot against the Spurs, and the Lakers won't know until game time whether Nash will return from a right hamstring injury that has kept him out for six games. Gasol, Nash, Steve Blake and Jordan Hill all have missed large chunks of the season with injuries, while Howard has struggled to get back to full strength while recovering from offseason back surgery and a nagging torn labrum in his right shoulder.

"We know what we have to do," Howard said. "We know he's out, but we can't put our heads down like it's over with. We have to go out there and play. We have a lot of talented guys on this team. I think we can accomplish something great, with or without Kobe."

Trial to start in Zetas cartel racehorse case 

 

One of Mexico's most powerful and violent drug cartels intended a racehorse-buying operation to be a clandestine means of laundering its illegal proceeds in the United States, prosecutors say.

But with the millions of dollars spent — sometimes in the form of duffel bags stuffed with cash — on horses named with names such as Number One Cartel and Mr. Ease Cartel, it wasn't long before authorities learned of the alleged scheme and reined it in.

The federal investigation resulted in indictments last year against 18 individuals. Now, at least four of the accused in the money laundering scheme, including the brother of two of the top leaders of the Zetas drug cartel, are set to go on trial Monday in an Austin federal courtroom.

The trial, which could last up to six weeks, is expected to offer insight into the internal workings of the Zetas, as well as highlight what some cartel experts say was a rookie mistake by an organized crime outfit: drawing attention to yourself.

"It's just sort of flashy, ostentatious behavior that is not smart if you are involved in organized crime," Howard Campbell, a professor of anthropology at the University of Texas at El Paso who has studied drug cartels, said of the racehorse-buying operation's high profile.

Federal authorities have accused Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, believed to now be the leader of the Zetas drug operation, of setting up the horse operation that his younger brother, Jose Trevino Morales, ran from a sprawling ranch near Lexington, Okla. The operation spent millions of dollars buying horses in California, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, prosecutors said.

Authorities allege Jose Trevino Morales and his wife, who had lived in North Texas before moving to Oklahoma, did not have the means to support the ranch operation, which bought, trained, bred and raced quarter horses throughout the Southwest, and that drug money paid for everything.
Neighbors said those who worked with the ranch spent lots of cash, bought land and made improvements at a time when others in the industry were struggling financially.
Workers at the Ruidoso Downs Race Track and Casino in New Mexico said Jose Trevino Morales' stables were known as the "Zetas' stables."
The U.S. Attorney's Office in San Antonio, which is handling the case, declined to comment on Friday about the trial.

Jose Trevino Morales' attorney, David Finn, said his client is not guilty of money laundering, describing him as a hard-working person who learned to raise horses while growing up on a ranch in Mexico.

"This is not about Jose Trevino Morales and his family. This is about his brothers and their alleged criminal activity in Mexico," Finn said. "He is not involved in any Zeta activity ... They couldn't get the brothers so they are focusing on my client."

Miguel Angel Trevino Morales and another brother alleged to be a top Zetas leader, Oscar Omar Trevino Morales, were also indicted. But they — along with five others also charged — remain at large. Three others indicted have pleaded guilty, including Jose Trevino Morales' wife and daughter.

Campbell said while the racehorse-buying operation might have been a creative way to launder money, it was also "really stupid because it was so public."
"The smarter people launder money more discreetly," he said.
Campbell attributed the mistake to the Zetas' relative inexperience as an independent drug trafficking group. Originally a band of assassins made up of ex-special forces soldiers from the Mexican Army, the Zetas worked for the Gulf Cartel before splitting off in 2010.
The Zetas, known for beheading rivals, have been blamed for some of Mexico's most shocking atrocities and mass killings.
"The Zetas seem to be a little more out of control and not as sort of hip to how they should operate in order to avoid getting caught," Campbell said. "They've learned their lesson in this case."
George W. Grayson, an expert on Mexican politics and drug cartels at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., said the Zetas might have been drawn to the idea of using a horse-buying operation because of their love of such animals, especially thoroughbreds.
"With horses and laundering money, you have a daily double on which they thought they couldn't lose," said Grayson, who co-authored "The Executioner's Men: Los Zetas, Rogue Soldiers, Criminal Entrepreneurs and the Shadow State They Created."
Campbell called the upcoming trial a "slam dunk" for prosecutors, citing the extensive evidence.
Grayson said he doesn't think the shutting down of the horse-buying operation was a major blow to the Zetas' operations.
"It's a thorn in their side but not a dagger in their heart," Grayson said.

Men Indicted for 2.3M Packs of Fake Marlboros 

 

Three men were indicted this week for shipping millions of packs of untaxed contraband Marlboro cigarettes that were part of a sting conducted by the FBI.

Jia Yongming, Yazhou Wu, and Ricky Le were indicted by the U.S. Attorney's Office on Monday in a U.S. District Court in New Jersey. They are charged with conspiracy to transport contraband cigarettes and trafficking in goods bearing counterfeit marks.

Thomas Dunn, an attorney for Yongmin, had no comment. An attorney for Wu and Le could not be reached for comment.

Last July, the U.S. Attorney's Office arrested the three California residents in Los Angeles and charged them with conspiring to ship and distribute more than 4,600 cases of Marlboro and Marlboro Light cigarettes.

Like many other states, California requires a stamp to be placed on packs of cigarettes to show the state tax has been paid. California had a $0.87 tax on each pack of cigarettes while the illegal operation had been underway for over a year.

The cigarettes were shipped from China to ports in Newark, N.J., and New York City. From warehouses, they were headed for their final destination, California, where they were delivered by undercover FBI agents, as reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer. The agents were paid about $225,000 in commissions for delivering five loads of cigarettes.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said the state of California lost more than $2 million in taxes from this conspiracy.

David Sutton, a spokesman for Altria, which owns the Marlboro brand, said this had the "classic elements" of a counterfeiting cigarette case.

"In this case, it shows you that this kind of activity is invariably driven by higher and higher excise taxes," Sutton said.
This case began two months after the last Federal excise tax increase on cigarettes - to 62 cents per pack - in April 2009.
In the president's budget this week, there is a proposal to raise the Federal tax again by 94 cents to $1.95 a pack. If passed, Sutton said it "will definitely create a significant incentive for additional counterfeit cigarette smuggling."
Sutton said Altria supported this investigation.
"The counterfeit product almost always comes from China," Sutton said. "You see it in L.A., south Florida, the port of Newark - because of the New York City market. The criminals are sophisticated in counterfeit cigarette trafficking."
Sutton said counterfeiters rely on organized crime units to distribute the products.
"You see counterfeit trafficking in dense urban centers, like New York and Chicago, because you have established criminal organizations in place for distribution of the product," he said.

Postal Service Backs Down on Sat. Mail 

 

The financially beleaguered Postal Service backpedaled on its plan to end Saturday mail delivery, conceding Wednesday that its gamble to compel congressional approval had failed.

With limited options for saving money, the governing board said the agency should reopen negotiations with unions to lower labor costs and consider raising mail prices.

Yet the board also said it's not possible for the Postal Service to meet its goals for reduced spending without altering the delivery schedule. Delaying "responsible changes," the board said, only makes it more likely that the Postal Service "may become a burden" to taxpayers.

Congressional reaction was mixed, mirroring differences that have stalled a needed postal overhaul for some time. Some lawmakers had urged the agency to forge ahead with its plan, while others had said it lacked the legal authority to do so.
The Postal Service said in February that it planned to switch to five-day-a-week deliveries beginning in August for everything except packages as a way to hold down losses.

That announcement was risky. The agency was asking Congress to drop from spending legislation the longtime ban on five-day-only delivery.

Congress did not do that when it passed a spending measure last month.
"By including restrictive language ... Congress has prohibited implementation of a new national delivery schedule for mail and package," according to the board.
Disappointed but not wanting to disregard the law, the board directed the Postal Service to delay putting in place the new delivery schedule until Congress passes legislation that gives the agency "the authority to implement a financially appropriate and responsible delivery schedule."
The board made the decision in a closed meeting Tuesday.
"This is good news for rural communities, businesses, seniors, veterans and others who depend on consistent and timely delivery of the mail," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
But GOP Rep. Darrell Issa of California, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, bemoaned the decision to back away from a "delivery schedule that polling indicates the American people understand and support."
Postal officials said that to restore the service to long-term financial stability, the agency must have the flexibility to reduce costs and come up with new revenues.
"It is not possible for the Postal Service to meet significant cost reduction goals without changing its delivery schedule — any rational analysis of our current financial condition and business options leads to this conclusion," the board statement said.
An independent agency, the service gets no tax dollars for its day-to-day operations but is subject to congressional control. It lost nearly $16 billion last year — $11.1 billion of that due to a 2006 law Congress passed forcing it to pay into future retiree health benefits, something no other agency does.
"Given these extreme circumstances and the worsening financial condition of the Postal Service, the board has directed management to seek a reopening of negotiations with the postal unions and consultations with management associations to lower total workforce costs, and to take administrative actions necessary to reduce costs," according to the statement. It offered no giving further details.
It said the board also asked management to look at further options to raise revenues, including a rate increase.
Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, scoffed at the idea of renegotiating labor contracts, saying that suggestion "is yet another sign that the Postal Service needs new executive leadership."
He also contended that ending Saturday delivery would cut mail volume and revenue, and send the Postal Service "on a death spiral."
The Postal Service already is executing a major restructuring throughout its retail, delivery and mail processing operations. Since 2006, it has reduced annual costs by approximately $15 billion, cut its workforce by 193,000 or 28 percent, and consolidated more than 200 mail processing locations.
The idea to cut Saturday mail but keep six-day package delivery — a plan Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe estimated could save $2 billion — played up the agency's strong point.
Its package service is growing as more people buy things online, while the volume of letters sent has slumped with increased use of email and other internet services.
Over the past several years, the Postal Service also has advocated shifting to a five-day delivery schedule for mail and packages. It repeatedly but unsuccessfully appealed to Congress to approve the move and to free it from the advance health payments.
The Senate last year passed a bill that would have stopped the Postal Service from eliminating Saturday service for at least two years and required it to try two years of aggressive cost cutting instead. The House didn't pass a bill.
In dire straits, the agency acted on its own on the Saturday issue.
Issa said the reversal "significantly undercuts the credibility of postal officials who have told Congress that they were prepared defy political pressure and make difficult but necessary cuts."
Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., a leader on postal issues, said he hoped Congress would pass new legislation to address the agency's problems.
President Barack Obama's budget proposal Wednesday includes the same provision as last year on the Post Service — a plan to let the agency realign its business plan to better compete in the changing marketplace.
The spending blueprint from the budget year that begins Oct. 1 includes a proposal for short-term financial relief and long-term changes at the agency that, it says, will result in more than $20 billion in savings over 10 years.

Gunman holed up with four firefighter hostages in Georgia 

 

 A gunman was barricaded in a home in Georgia on Wednesday with four firefighters he took as hostages after they responded to what appeared to be a medical emergency call, officials said.

The man initially held a fifth firefighter captive in the home, in Suwanee, about 35 miles northeast of Atlanta, but let that person leave to move a fire truck, police and fire officials said.

Officials were not releasing details about what happened inside the house or a possible motive but said the hostages did not appear to have been harmed.

"We're not getting any word that any of our firefighters have been injured," said Tommy Rutledge, spokesman for the Gwinnett County Fire Department.

The five firefighters, who also are trained as paramedics, had responded to what was believed to be a routine medical call, Rutledge said.
"There was no indication that they would meet with someone who was hostile," he said.
Rutledge said the firefighters had alerted their dispatch center about the incident, but he could not say whether they were still in contact with officials.

Television footage of the scene showed a well-groomed, suburban neighborhood of two-story homes filled with police cars and fire engines. Residents were not being allowed in or out of the neighborhood, which they described in television reports as quiet.