'Sane' Norwegian killer gets max sentence

Anders Breivik will be imprisoned for 10 to 21 years for murdering 77 people.

OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik was jailed for a maximum term on Friday when judges declared him sane enough to answer for the murder of 77 people last year, drawing a smirk of triumph from the self-styled warrior against Islam.

An unrepentant Breivik, 33, gave the Oslo court a stiff-armed, clench-fisted salute before being handed the steepest possible penalty, 21 years. His release, however, can be put off indefinitely should he still pose a threat to a liberal society left traumatized by his bomb and shooting rampage last July.

Justifying blasting a government building and gunning down dozens of teenagers at a summer camp as a service to a nation threatened by immigration, he had said only acquittal or death would be worthy outcomes. But his biggest concern was being declared insane, a fate he said would be "worse than death."

News source: yahoo

Billionaire's generous gift to stranger

Billionaire Ty Warner gives woman $20,000 for her cause after asking her for directions.

A man who pulled over to ask for directions ends up changing Jennifer Vasilakos's life.

 

Jennifer Vasilakos (Jennifer Vasilakos)

A woman who helped a lost man ended up with a surprise $20,000 gift.

That's what happened last month when Jennifer Vasilakos guided Ty Warner when he stopped and asked for driving directions in Santa Barbara, Calif.

While Warner didn't know exactly how to get to where he was going, Vasilakos didn't realize who she was helping.

Warner is the billionaire founder of Ty Inc., the Beanie Baby company.

Vasilakos was at the intersection trying to raise $20,000 for a stem cell procedure she needs to help save her life because she suffers from kidney failure and does not qualify for a transplant.

She describes their encounter in her blog:

I often get asked by random strangers for directions.  Not one to miss an opportunity, I handed him my flyer and he made a fifty dollar donation.  As he drove off, I thought that was the end of our encounter... He'd returned after an hour or so.  Rolling down his window, he reached out his hand and introduced himself.  I immediately recognized his name.  He was kind and sincere as he looked directly into my eyes...  I listened as he repeated over and over that he was going to help me.  That my fundraising was done.  That I didn't need to worry any longer.  He said he would send a check after he returned to his offices during the week.

He was true to his word. Vasilakos, an herbalist and Reiki teacher, received a package on July 16 with a $20,000 check and with a handwritten note from Warner. The note read in part, "Someone up there loves you because I was guided to meet you Saturday. I never lose my way, but fate had me lost and ask you for directions. The rest of the story I hope will be a wonderful new life for you."

Courtesty of Jennifer Vasilakos

"Of course I started crying, because that's what girls do," Vasilakos said. "I'm incredibly thankful to Ty Warner and to everyone who has supported me with love and prayer."

The check cleared a few weeks later and she booked a surgical procedure at an undisclosed foreign hospital to begin hematopoietic stem cell treatment. Hematopietic treatment takes a cell from the blood or bone marrow that can renew itself and develop into a variety of specialized cells.

"After I serendipitously met Jennifer, I further educated myself on her stem cell needs. I was shocked that this particular type of treatment wasn't available to her in the U.S.," Warner said in a media release. "My hope is that we can bring this lifesaving treatment to the forefront so that it can become more readily available and provide alternatives for people like Jennifer."

News source: yahoo

Youngster sets record on very first play

Andrew Robison is in sixth grade, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that he has been known to listen to Justin Bieber and sports a sweeping hairstyle modeled after the Canadian heartthrob.

 
Franklin Christian Academy quarterback Andrew Robinson — FCA football
What is surprising is that the 5-foot-1, 100-pound middle schooler has already thrown a touchdown pass in a varsity high school football game. According to at least one site, that feat may have made the 12-year-old the youngest player in history to do so.
Robison achieved his feat for Franklin (Tenn.) Christian Academy during a 66-30 loss to McClain (Tenn.) Christian Academy on Friday. The pass in an 8-man football game was no screen job, either, with the eventual touchdown coming on a slant route from the shotgun, accounting for 63 yards.
Even more impressively, the scoring pass to junior Aaron Thon came on Robison's first-ever varsity snap, with the passer and his FCA teammates catching McClain off guard after Robison was brought off the bench to relieve the FCA starter, sophomore K.C. Jorgensen, who had fallen prey to a bout of cramps.
Robison's height, age and weight were all confirmed to Prep Rally by FCA director of communications Kimberly Cook.
As MaxPreps reported, no formal records exist about the youngest quarterback to throw a scoring pass, but there are no claims that anyone in sixth grade, let alone a 12-year-old, has ever produced one before. Notably, current Bear (Del.) Red Lion Christian Academy quarterback David Sills threw nine varsity touchdown passes when he was an eighth-grader in 2010.
As far as young quarterbacks making a varsity team, former NFL quarterback Tim Couch was a member of the Leslie County (Ky.) High varsity squad as a seventh-grader, but he never connected on a touchdown pass until he was a full-fledged high school QB.

News source:yahoo

New details emerge in deadly NYC shooting

A man who opened fire near the Empire State Building targeted his former supervisor, police say.

Nine people were wounded and two people were killed outside the Empire State Building in Midtown Manhattan Friday after a disgruntled women's accessories designer named Jeffrey Johnson shot his 41 year-old former boss, Steven Ercolino. The two dead include the gunman, who was shot and killed by police near the tourist entrance of the landmark skyscraper.
Fifty-three year-old Johnson lost his job last year during a corporate downsizing at Hazan Imports, where Ercolino was a vice president. He returned to his office Friday morning to target his former supervisor.
The shooting occurred at 9:03 a.m. ET on West 33rd Street.
Johnson followed his former co-worker down 33rd Street and shot him outside of Legends Bar, according to the New York Post. It is unclear if he fired into a crowd of pedestrians outside of the Empire State Building, or if pedestrians were caught in crossfire, reported the New York Daily News.
A construction worker who witnessed the shooting followed the suspect and then alerted police who were posted nearby. As the officers approached Johnson, he pulled his gun and fired on the officers. They returned fire and killed him, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
None of the other people who were shot were seriously wounded and they are all expected to recover. Some of those wounded may have been hit by police gunfire, Bloomberg said.
After the shooting, police immediately cordoned off a one-block perimeter around the Empire State Building. Around 10 a.m., a lone tourist bus headed down Fifth Avenue, and a guide could be heard over the bus's microphone explaining that they were nearing the landmark. As police waved the bus to detour down 36th Street, the guide was openly mystified. "I don't know what's going on, folks," he said, as the bus turned. The bus's passengers looked up at the sky at a news helicopter floated overhead. Some stood, clutching their cameras.

Along 35th street, hundreds of people photographed the scene with iPhones and iPads. Officers could be seen standing in the middle of 34th Street around a scene surrounded by police tape. Television producers roamed the crowd looking for witnesses. "Was anybody here when this happened? Was anybody here when this happened?" one NBC producer yelled.

Word of the shooting spread rapidly on social media networks.

"On 5th avenue surrounded by helicopters and police," @CeciliaHalling wrote on Twitter. "I'm very glad I wasn't 20 blocks further down half an hour ago."

News source:yahoo