Lindsay Lohan Claims 'Assault' at NYC Hotel

photo: inquisitr.com

(nbcnewyork.com) By - Lindsay Lohan told police she was assaulted in her Manhattan hotel room early Sunday morning by a man she met at a night club, police sources said.

According to law enforcement officials, Lohan told police she got into an argument with a 25-year-old man she brought to her room after meeting him at 1 Oak in Chelsea.

The argument was allegedly over photos the man took of Lohan on his cell phone while they were in her 15th floor room at the W Hotel near Union Square with some of Lohan's friends.

Police have identified the man as Christian LaBella of California.

Lohan told detectives that at around 4:30 a.m. she saw photos of herself on LaBella's phone, confronted him about the them and took his phone. LaBella then threw her on the bed causing scratches on her hands, police sources said. Lohan ran out of the room and down the stairs of the hotel, but at some point decided to head back upstairs to her room. When LaBella saw her again, Lohan told police he attacked her, choking her, throwing her to the ground and climbing on top of her.

A friend of Lohan's who was with her at the time was able to pull LaBella off her, and Lohan then pulled the fire alarm for help. LaBella took off down the stairs, but police arrived before he was able to leave the hotel and took him into custody.

Lohan refused medical attention and did not go to a hospital. Read full story...

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France Sets 75% Tax Rate

Photo: Themoralliberal.com

Reuters - By Daniel Flynn and Julien Toyer - France unveiled an austerity budget that would tax business and the super rich, but a report showing Spain's banks needed a manageable 59 billion euros in new funds bought time for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as he seeks to avoid a bailout.

Socialist President Francois Hollande's 2013 budget amounts to France's toughest belt-tightening for 30 years as the debt crisis takes its toll on the euro zone.

The package aims to narrow France's deficit to 3.0 percent of national output next year from 4.5 percent this year, bringing in 30 billion euros ($39 billion) for the treasury.

But the budget dismayed business by opting for tax hikes -- including a 75 percent tax on those earning over one million euros a year -- by holding public spending and not cutting government jobs.

With Hollande facing record unemployment and economic stagnation, there were also fears the deficit target will slip as France falls short of the modest 0.8 percent economic growth rate on which it is banking for next year.

"This is a fighting budget to get the country back on the rails," Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said, adding that the 0.8 percent growth target was "realistic and ambitious".

In Spain, an independent audit of the country's banks confirmed that a manageable 59.3 billion euros in extra capital is needed for them to ride out a serious economic downturn, buying time for Rajoy who faces intense pressure to seek an international bailout.

The audit is a condition of getting European funds to patch up Spanish banks that have been damaged by a prolonged real estate crash. Read full story...

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Texting Woman Falls Off Cliff

Photo: gettingsmart.com

(Adn.com) Fire officials faced a double challenge during a recent rescue: A woman fell 60 feet down a cliff to rocks as the tide crept in along a Kodiak beach.

The home of the woman, Maria Pestrikoff, sits on the cliff. While texting on Sept. 17, she walked close to the edge to discard a cigarette butt. She slipped on wet grass and fell, her friend Anthony Burke told the Kodiak Daily Mirror in a story Wednesday.

"She was in the rocks between the boulders and she was calling for help," Burke said. "She was screaming in agony."

Bayside Fire Department received the first call for help. Chief Bob Himes said the Kodiak Fire Department was quickly summoned for its expertise in rope rescues.

"It's a very hard rescue," Himes said. "It's very technical, and it doesn't happen that often. We rely on the city and the Coast Guard fire departments who have the manpower to do the training."

Two Bayside volunteer first responders used an aluminum ladder to descend and reach Pestrikoff. Kodiak firefighters followed, Chief Rome Kamai said in an email. Read full story...

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Texting While Driving Accident Statistics - edgarsnyder.com - Data regarding car accidents involving cell phone use and/or texting while driving has been limited in the past, but it’s slowly becoming available to the public...

The Problem with Texting - CNN Tech - You do not want to talk to me on the phone. How do I know? Because I don't want to talk to you on the phone. Nothing personal, I just can't stand the thing.I find it intrusive and somehow presumptuous. It sounds off insolently whenever it chooses and...

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Muslim-led Nations Seeking Global Ban on Insults of Muhammad

Photo: scoop.it

(Washington Times) By Guy Taylor - As the U.N. General Assembly convenes this week in New York, several leaders of mostly Muslim nations are suggesting that the world body consider sanctions on blasphemy, amid widespread protests against an amateur movie that denigrates Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he will focus at least part of his remarks on the film when he addresses the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.

“I am the prime minister of a nation, of which most are Muslims, that has declared anti-Semitism a crime against humanity. But the West hasn’t recognized Islamophobia as a crime against humanity. It has encouraged it,” Mr. Erdogan told reporters last week.

Turkey heads the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a body of 57 nations, which has long pushed for a U.N. resolution condemning the “defamation of religion.”

Nonbinding versions of the resolution have been adopted, but the effort was crushed last year by religious groups and human rights activists who argued that it represented a dangerous step toward an international law against free speech.

The debate has been reignited by “Innocence of Muslims,” a crudely produced film made in the United States that has sparked fury in the Muslim world. Protesters have breached the walls at U.S. embassies and desecrated American flags in sometimes violent demonstrations. A protest in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi ended with the deaths of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. Read full story...

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Muhammad film causes deadly riots in Pakistan - Pakistan's “Day of Love for the Prophet” turned into a deadly day of gunfire, tear gas and arson. Thousands angered by...

Lewd Muhammad Cartoons Force France to Shut Down Embassies - usnews.com - The cartoons, which variously portray Muhammad as naked or in a wheelchair, are expected to provoke the Muslim world, where riots were...

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Florida May Bring Back Paddling to Schools

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(ClickOrlando.com) By Evan Lambert - The idea of corporal punishment in schools may seem like something out of another era, but school officials in Marion County may bring the practice of paddling back.

Incoming school board member Carol Ely supports paddling as a form of discipline, and she may have the support to influence the school board to vote in the affirmative.

Ely was the principal at Ocala's Shady Hill Elementary for 14 years, where she administered corporal punishment. She said it worked, and she wants to bring it back.

"It was very effective the way we implemented it. We only did it on very small occasions, but it was for children who were chronic [misbehavers]," Ely said.

During her experience as principal, Ely said she saw firsthand that paddling was more effective than other forms of punishment, like suspension.

"The return rate of children for corporal punishment has been almost zero," she said.

If the Marion County School Board brings the paddling initiative up for a vote this fall, Ely said it would only be used as a last resort with parent permission.

Some parents said they would sign off on the practice if their child acted out.  Read full story...

Also see:

Male Texas School Official Spanks Teen Girl - New York Daily News‎ - A Texas school district voted to change its corporal punishment policy after the story of a teen girl who was paddled by a male vice principal...

Is Corporal Punishment an Effective Means of Discipline? - apa.org - Authors Elizabeth Gershoff and Robert Larzelere analyzed 62 years worth of collected data from 88 studies on corporal punishment to...

Which States Have Corporal Punishment in Schools? - Family Education - Is spanking a child for breaking school rules a useful or destructive practice? Parents and educators are sharply divided. Twenty-one states allow some form of corporal punishment while twenty-nine have banned the practice...

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Obama Downgrades US-Israeli Alliance

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(Washington Beacon) Asked who is the closest ally of the United States in the Middle East after the president’s comments, White House press secretary Jay Carney said Israel is the closest U.S. ally in the Middle East during a Monday press briefing.

As the United Nations General Assembly gets underway and leaders from around the world begin to congregate in New York City, President Obama seemingly downgraded Israel’s traditional status as the closest U.S. ally in the Middle East. In a “60 Minutes” interview Sunday night, Obama simply called Israel “one of” America’s closest allies in the region.

Responding to a question about Israel’s request that he explain his “red lines” on the Iranian nuclear program, Obama said, “I am going to block out any noise that’s out there.” He continued, saying that despite the “noise,” he is “in close consultation with the Israelis” because “they’re one of our closest allies in the region.”

Obama did not elaborate on the other countries he considers close allies in a region that includes Syria, Egypt, and Turkey, among others.

In the past, Obama has identified Turkey’s Islamist leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as the Middle East leader to whom he feels closest, and media reports have said that Obama has placed calls to Erdogan more than any other world leader except British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Obama will not have an opportunity to discuss Israel’s status as a U.S. ally with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be in New York this week, because Obama declined a request from Netanyahu for a meeting. Read full story...

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