Wedding Bells

Buzzle.com reported hat scientists are 99.7% sure that Apophis, a huge pockmarked rock that carries the energy of about 65,000 Hiroshima bombs will pass Earth's sight. Just after dusk on April 13, 2029, people in Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia will be able to see this asteroid through the sky.

The asteroid will have enough power to wipe out a small country or form a 800-ft. tsunami. Scientists believe that the most likely target will be several thousand miles off the West Coast of the United States, and would create a 5-mile wide crater in the ocean floor.

If the asteroid passes a distance of 18,893 miles, it could pull off track and cause it to enter an orbit that is seven-sixths as long as the Earth's orbit. If that happens, then seven years later, when Apophis comes back around, the planet Earth would be in danger. However there is a chance of 45,000 to 1 of that happening.

NASA has decided to wait and see what is going to happen. There is no cause for alarm yet, according to an analysis by Steven Chelsey of the Near Earth Orbit program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Ca.

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E! News reported that an Indian court has issued a warrant for Gere's arrest in response to a complaint that the actor committed an "obscene act" by kissing Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty at a public event in India.

The kiss happened at an HIV/AIDS awareness summit in New Delhi. Gere swooped Shetty into his arms, dipped her and planted a few kisses on her face.

Devout Hindu groups were outraged by the act, which they saw as an insult to Indian culture. Entertainment news reported that posters of both Gere and Shetty were burned in several major cities in India.

The judge ordered Shetty to appear in his Jaipur court on May 5 to explain why she did not resist the actor's moves. If Gere is found guilty of public obscenity, he could face up to three months in prisons, a fine or both.

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Kare 11 reported that Jack Valenti, a film industry lobbyist who guided Hollywood from the censorship era to the digital age, died. He was 85.

Valenti had a stroke in March and was hospitalized for several weeks at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center in Baltimore. He died in his home in Washington D.C.

CNN reported Jack Valenti led Motion Picture Association for 38 years, and was assistant to President Lyndon Johnson.

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CNN reported that Hugh Grant has been arrested by police for being accused of allegedly attacked a photographer with a tub of baked beans.

The photographer, Ian Whittaker, said that Grant abused and kicked him before throwing the beans. The London tabloid, The Daily Star showed a photograph of Grant with a plastic tub of food raised over his head.

The Daily Telegraph reported that the Whittaker claimed that Grant launched into tirade of abuse aimed at his children.

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CNN reported that U.S. rapper Snoop Dogg has been banned from entering Australia after failing a character test.

Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said Snoop Dogg, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, was told his visa would be cancelled after he pleaded no contest to gun and drug charges in the United States earlier this month.

The Daily Telegraph reported that immigration officials have already had extensive discussions with MTV in the lead up to rejects Snoop Dogg's visa. Snoop must provide an application to overturn that decision.

Snoop Dogg was supposed to attend MTV"S Australia's Music Video Awards on Sunday.

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The Star Tribune reported that a father who raped his teenage daughter for many years and demanded her to throw her two unborn babies he had fathered down and air shaft was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

KSTP reported that the 45-year-old New York man pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault and two counts of aggravated sexual assault. The Associated Press is not identifying him to protect the identity of his daughter, the victim of a sex crime, Kstp reported.

According to prosecutors, the father threatened to kill the daughter and her mother if she did not throw the babies down the shaft. The daughter admitted throwing the babies down the shaft under her father’s orders.

The daughter has pleaded guilty to reckless manslaughter and aggravated assault. She faces a maximum of seven years in prison. Here sentencing is on May 10, reported KSTP.

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KSTP reported that an agent with teh Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has filed a federal whistleblower lawsuit. Denise Bechtold, claimed she was punished for reporting that some colleagues padded their time sheets and for complaining about not being promoted because of her gender.

Bechtold filed her lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. The defendants include the state, former BCA superintendent and current Commissioner of Public Safety Michael Campion, and Timothy O'Malley, the BCA's current superintendent.

Bechtold is seeking $75,000 in compensatory damages, at least $100,000 in punitive damages, and legal costs. She also wants to be given a job that she would have been given if there had been no retaliation or discrimination.

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The Star Tribune reported that the the Twins and the Minnesota Ballpark Authority are expected today to sign off on the lease to a three-decade stay in the new stadium.

KSTP reported that the Twins will get to keep all revenue from ticket sales, advertising, naming rights, tours and concessions during baseball games. 10 percent of the net revenues from non-basbeall related events, they must share with the authority.

KSTP also reported that the Twins will be charge $900,000 in rent, and the money will flow into a maintenance fund.

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According to gaysocialites.com Spears is pointing fingers for her tragic downfall at her manager Larry Rudolph and former BFF Paris Hilton.

Spears is trying to take back her career. She has been spotted back in the music studio and taking regular dance class reported E!online. She fired her manager of several months, Larry Rudolph, on Friday, blames Rudolph for recent missteps, including introducing her to her nemesis, Paris Hilton. There may be legal ramifications as she signed a multi-year deal with Rudolph.

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CNN reported that 24 Taliban fighters were killed during a seven-hour battle with Afghan and coalition forces at nightfall Wednesday in southern Afghanistan.

The battle began when four Taliban members fired rounds at troops patrolling the northeast corner of Helmand province's Sangin district, CNN reported.

No civilian casualties occurred, the coalition said.

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CNN.com reported that a series of bomb threats and other security alerts alerted U.S. schools and universities Wednesday. Nerves still remain after the 32-person massacre at Virginia Tech.

With the Virginia Tech campus still on edge, students there got another scare Wednesday when police swarmed into a building housing the university president's office,CNN reported. The suspicious activity was a false alarm.

Star Tribune reported that the University of Minnesota had a bomb threat Wednesday and evacuated eight buildings.

The University of California Hastings College of the Law evacuated 300 to 400 students midway through classes Wednesday afternoon after someone noticed a posting on an Internet site referring to the school and Virginia Tech, CNN reported.

Colorado, California, and New Jersey also experienced a sort of hoax threat after the Virginia Tech incident this week.

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Star Tribune reported that two men were robbed minutes after leaving a north Minneapolis bar late Tuesday night. They were then made to kneel, and shot in the head in an alley, police said

Police had arrested three people by Wednesday afternoon. The victims were found at random and the suspects weren't involved in any illegal activity that would have led to violence.

The two male suspects are gang members, but that wasn't related to the killings, police said.

The men left Waldo's Bar about 11 p.m. Tuesday reported the Star Tribune. As they headed down an alley a block away, they were confronted by the three suspects.

The victims gave up their wallets but then the boy forced the men to kneel down and shot them each in the head, police said.

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Thousands of students were sent home Wednesday after a sheet of paper was found a bathroom sink that threatened bombing was found, reported the Star Tribune. Classes resume at the University of Minnesota Thursday.

Joe Plocher found the note at the bottom of a bathroom sink that was poorly punctuated and threatened the bombing of at least five university buildings by 10 that night, MN daily reported.

Plocher snapped a photo of the note on his cell phone camera and reported it to a faculty member in Smith Hall faculty member. Police were then contacted thousands of students and faculty members on the East Bank campus were evacuated from eight building. The buildings were locked down for the rest of the day and classes were canceled in those buildings, reported the Star Tribune.

Authorities found nothing to be suspicious and re-opened the buildings to resume class Thursday morning

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Last week Halle Berry the first African-American to win a best actress Oscar got her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame said ABC news. Now, she's starring opposite Bruce Willis in the new film "Perfect Stranger."

Berry appeared on "Good Morning America" to talk about the movie and going bald for the part

In "Perfect Stranger," Berry plays a journalist who goes undercover after the murder of her best friend. The actress said playing a woman tasked with concealing her identity was a challenge.

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CNN reported that millions of e-mails may be missing from the White House.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino acknowledged. "I wouldn't rule out that there were a potential 5 million e-mails lost," Perino said. A liberal watchdog group alleges that over a two-year period official White House e-mail traffic for hundreds of days has vanished. This is a possible violation of the federal Presidential Records Act, reported CNN.

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CNN reported that a U.S. Army commander said authorities still can't verify who bombed the Iraqi parliament complex on Thursday, but al Qaeda in Iraq probably was involved.

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the commander of the Multinational Corps-Iraq, told reporters at the Pentagon via teleconference from Iraq that his hunch, "based on past events," is that al Qaeda in Iraq is "probably somewhat involved."

Star Tribune reported that Iraqi officials, said the bomber was believed to have been a bodyguard for a Sunni lawmaker who was not among the casualties.

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Star Tribune reported that a bail was set at $1 million today for the Oakdale teenager accused of killing her newborn girl by stabbing her 135 times in her family home.

Nicole Beecroft, 17, appeared in Washington County District Court where she was escorted to from the juvenile center.

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An 8-year-old boy is recovering from serious injuries after a dog attacked him while he was walking to school in Minneapolis, Star Tribune reported.
DeVonta Prince was in front of Hosmer Library at 347 E. 36th St. when an Akita got off its chain in a nearby yard.
Residents called 911 after witnessing the attack. The boy was bitten on his head, torso, arms and hands. His mother said he was in surgery for more than three hours at the Hennepin County Medical Center reported the Star Tribune.

The dog was taken into custody by the Animal Control Center.

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The founder of the "Girls Gone Wild" videos defied a federal judge, calling him a "judge gone wild" and refusing to surrender to U.S. marshals on a contempt citation, CNN reported.

U.S. District Judge Richard Smoak ordered Joe Francis into custody after settlement negotiations in a lawsuit brought by seven women who were minors when Francis' company filmed them on Panama City Beach.

The 34-year-old Francis makes an estimated $29 million a year through the videos of girls exposing their breasts. Francis drew the contempt order after lawyers for the women said Francis threatened them during negotiations.

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Twenty people were killed and 30 others were wounded when a suicide truck bomber slammed into an Iraqi police checkpoint in a western Ramadi neighborhood, reported CNN.
Two police officers were among the dead, and two were wounded.

The Pioneer Press reported that a suspected al-Qaida in Iraq suicide bomber smashed a truck loaded with TNT and toxic chlorine gas. This is the ninth such attack since the group's first known use of a chemical weapon in January.

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In Redwood City, Calif., a child psychiatrist who once lead the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry was arrested for allegations he had molested male patients dating back to the 1960s, reported the Star Tribune,

Dr. William Ayres, 75, was taken into custody at his San Mateo home and charged with 14 felony counts of "lewd and lascivious" acts with a child under the age of 14.

He is also accused of allegedly fondling three boys repeatedly between 1991 and 1996 while they were his patients. The statute of limitations for such crimes is 10 years or until the victim turns 28. The alleged victims are now 21, 25 and 26, reported the Star Tribune.

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Star Tribune reported that a 59-year-old Minneapolis man may spend the rest of his life in prison. He admitted in federal court that he look "lascivious" pictures of five boys under the age of 16.

Lyle Robert Paton pleaded guilty to five counts of producing child pornography in exchange for the dismissal of a single count of possessing child pornography, reported the Star Tribune.

Paton had been convicted three other times in cases involving teenagers over the past 20 years, reported the Pioneer Press.

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Kstp.com reported that sexually transmitted diseases including chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis climbed to a record high last year, the state Health Department said on Monday.

The Health Department said that data showed that 16,428 cases of sexually transmitted diseases were reported in 2006. Of those cases, about 13,000 included people infected with chlamydia.

Nearly 70 percent of the chlamydia outbreaks were among teens and young adults, ktsp.com reported. Star Tribune reported that almost one out of three chlamydia cases occurred in greater Minnesota.
Officials said there was a slight drop in gonorrhea cases last year, but the number still hovers around 3,300. There were 104 cases of syphilis reported in 2006, the Star Tribune reported. Gay and bisexual men accounted for 80 of those cases, the department said.

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