Belize prime minister says McAfee “bonkers,” should help in murder case

BELIZE CITY (Reuters) – Belize‘s prime minister on Wednesday urged anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee to help the country’s police with a murder inquiry, calling McAfee “bonkers” for recent media statements.

“I don’t want to be unkind, but he seems to be extremely paranoid – I would go so far as to say bonkers,” Prime Minister Dean Barrow said in Belize City. “He ought to man up and respect our laws and go in and talk to the police.”

Belizean police want to question McAfee, 67, about the murder of his neighbor and fellow U.S. citizen, Gregory Viant Faull, 52, with whom McAfee had quarreled.

Police have been unable to track down McAfee since finding Faull dead on Sunday in his house on Ambergris Caye, an island off the coast. In an interview on Tuesday, McAfee said he had gone into hiding because he believed Belizean authorities were trying to frame him for Faull’s murder.

“You can say I’m paranoid about it, but they will kill me, there is no question. They’ve been trying to get me for months,” Wired magazine’s website quoted McAfee as saying. “I am not well liked by the prime minister.

According to the magazine, which has published details of several interviews with the entrepreneur, McAfee says he has been riding in boats, hunkering down on the floorboards of taxis, and sleeping in a bed that he said was infested with lice.

Since he went into hiding, McAfee has repeatedly told Wired he had nothing to do with Faull’s death. Explaining his actions, McAfee said he does not want to give himself up because he is afraid the authorities will torture or kill him.

But McAfee said they would track him down in the end. On Wednesday, the magazine said that McAfee claimed to have dyed his hair, eyebrows, beard, and mustache jet black.

“I’ll probably look like a murderer, unfortunately,” it quoted him as saying.

PUBLIC SPOTLIGHT

Barrow called McAfee’s statements “nonsense,” noting he had “never met the man” and that the media attention McAfee had attracted was offering him “the best possible safeguard.”

“It’s not as if the police have said he is a suspect and certainly there is no question at this point of charges pending,” Barrow said. “The fact that this is smeared across international headlines means the police would have to act extremely cautiously in the full glare of the public spotlight.”

McAfee, who invented the anti-virus software that bears his name, has homes and businesses in Belize, and is believed to have settled around 2010 in the tiny Central American nation bordered by Mexico and Guatemala.

There is already a case pending in Belize against McAfee for possession of illegal firearms, and police previously suspected him of running a lab to make the synthetic drug crystal meth.

On Wednesday, Belizean police said they had charged McAfee’s British bodyguard William Mulligan, 29, and Mulligan’s wife, Stefanie, 22, for having unlicensed weapons and ammunition.

Barrow rejected statements made by McAfee and an associate that the software pioneer was being targeted for refusing to donate to Belize’s ruling United Democratic Party (UDP) to help fund its successful re-election bid in March.

“I know of no individual in the UDP who has spoken to McAfee about contributions,” Barrow said.

McAfee was one of Silicon Valley’s first entrepreneurs to build an Internet fortune. The ex-Lockheed systems consultant started McAfee Associates in 1989. He now has no relationship with the company, which was sold to Intel Corp.

(Writing by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Dave Graham and Eric Walsh)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Amber Riley Talks The Cotton Club Debut Album

Last night, Amber Riley made her New York City Center debut in their limited run production of Cotton Club Parade, which is returning for seven performances through November 18. In the show, which is a Broadway-style revue that celebrates Duke Ellington's years at the famed Harlem nightclub in the 1920s, Riley gets to showcase the simply sublime skillset she's been honing since birth.

ETonline caught up with Riley this morning to find out how opening night went, what it means to be part of this iconic production and how it will inform the hotly anticipated next phase of her career!

ETonline: How are you feeling after last night's debut?

Amber Riley: Amazing! This has been a life changing experience. I had no idea how much I really loved the stage. I've been bit by the Broadway bug.

ETonline: Why did you want to be a part of this production?

Riley: First, having Wynton Marsalis' [musical director] name attached to it and getting the opportunity to meet him was number one. I am obsessed with The Cotton Club era, Duke Ellington's music and everything that happened there. Dianna [Agron] actually got me a record player for my birthday, and all I listen to it is Duke Ellington, Lena Waters, Lena Horn and Dorothy Dandridge. All those wonderful singers. I'm just obsessed with that era – even the costumes, it was such a glamorous time.

PHOTOS - Celebrities Who Were In Glee Club

ETonline: What's your favorite part of the show?

Riley: I actually get to do Sunny Side of the Street! Ella Fitzgerald did my favorite version of that particular song. But I didn't expect it would be so hard to learn. That style of music isn't exactly my forte, and it's a lot harder because everything is so intentional in the way they wrote this music. The notes, the intervals and the places I would naturally go to are not in there, but it's important to the music to sing those notes. I actually get to dance and I'm just living on that stage when I do that number. During that song, I feel like I am really doing something.

ETonline: How does this compare to the Glee tour?

Riley: It's almost the same thing. Once you're out there, there's no "cut!" The tour was on a larger scale, but I've never danced as hard as I do in this. I break it down a little bit. People are going to be really surprised. I heard people in the audience go, "Oh?!?" It was hilarious.

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ETonline: Is that the goal with this next phase of your career; to show them there's more to you than just Mercedes?

Riley: Yeah. I loved playing Mercedes on Glee; she's a fun character to play and I got to sing the diva songs, but I get to play an adult here. Even though I'm just singing in Cotton Club, I'm also acting in it. There's a story with my character. I feel completely different from Mercedes when I'm doing this. I feel like a woman and it's amazing.

ETonline: You're also working on your debut album, how has that process been?

Riley: It's been really fun. I've been recording since I was 10 years old, so when I started Glee, I think I was the most experienced in the recording world, so to be doing my own album now is like home. I'm working with producers and writers I've admired for such a long time. My dream was to have people see my life point of view through my writing so I'm really excited for everybody to hear what I'm doing.

ETonline: How do you describe the album?

Riley: It's not done yet. I found my sound, but in the middle of doing Glee and everything else, you have to pick up and stop [recording]. It's a classic R&B album. There’s a pop sensibility to it, there are some easy listening songs, but I want to take it back to that old school R&B sound. We've lost that a little bit in music today. Everything has been pop, which is great too -- I love listening to a great pop song I can just snap my fingers and dance to in the club, but R&B is where my heart is.

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ETonline: You have two more episodes of Glee that have yet to air, and whether or not Mercedes continues to pop up, what will it have meant to you to have been a part of this show?

Riley: It sparked my love for music and gave me a thirst to understand different genres of music more. Not just be in a box as to what I can sing, what I can listen to and what I enjoy. Glee gave me such a thirst for music knowledge. It was a catapult for my career and it's shown me in so many different lights, it's given me the avenue to go anywhere I want in my career. Not a lot of people get that opportunity on TV. A lot of people get pigeonholed because they play one particular thing. I think people see me as an actress on the show, they see me as a singer on the show, they see me as a dancer on the show, so they can see me on Broadway and they can see me as a solo artist. Glee gave me the opportunity to show all the different parts of myself.

For more information on Cotton Club Parade, click here!

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Lopez ally pleads guilty to duping feds

A close ally of embattled Assemblyman Vito Lopez pleaded guilty this afternoon to giving the feds falsified documents during a probe of the social-services empire that serves as his power base.

Christiana Fisher faces up to six months in the slammer after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of contempt of court.

"I was aware of forged documents and tax filings that inaccurately stated that the board of directors of the Ridgewood-Bushwick Senior Citizens Council had approved increases to my salary," Fisher said in Manhattan federal court.

"I allowed those documents to be produced to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York."

J.C. Rice

Christiana Fisher,

Fisher also admitted knowing that the papers "misrepresented material facts" to the feds when they were turned over in September 2010.

Fisher was ousted as the longtime executive director of Ridgewood-Bushwick earlier this year after the city Department of Investigation found she had "recreated" missing documents to justify her eye-popping $782,000 compensation package for fiscal 2009, which more than doubled what she pocketed the previous year.

As part of her plea deal, Fisher agreed to forfeit nearly $171,000 that prosecutor Carrie Cohen said represented the amount of money Fisher pocketed as a result of the falsified documents.

Fisher also faces a potential fine of twice that amount.

Fisher was accompanied to court by Lopez' girlfriend, Angela Battaglia, a longtime pal and Ridgewood-Bushwick exec who was paid $343,000 by the publicly funded non-profit in 2009.

Lopez, a Brooklyn Democrat who founded Ridgewood-Bushwick in 1973, is currently enmeshed in a sex-harassment scandal and has said he might not seek re-election, despite winning 90 percent of the vote earlier this month.

Fisher declined comment as she left the courthouse, but defense lawyer Douglas Grover insisted: "This isn't about Vito. It just isn't."

Grover also said Fisher had been "a wonderful administrator who grew a very significant organization which serves tens of thousands of people every day."

"I just think it's a sad circumstance because it's not greed" that prompted Fisher's crime, he said.

Grover declined to elaborate but said details would be provided to the judge ahead of Fisher's scheduled April 17 sentencing.

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Builders trade groups merge in South Florida

The Florida Atlantic Building Association was created recently through a merger of the Builders Association of South Florida, which was active in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, and the Gold Coast Builders Association, which focused on Palm Beach County.

The new regional trade group, focused on government affairs issues that affect builders in South Florida, from Palm Beach to the Florida Keys, will hold an installation meeting for officers and directors Nov. 30 at the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art.

Florida Atlantic Building Association is affiliated with the Florida Home Builders Association and National Home Builders Association.

Ben Solomon, vice president and general counsel of the new trade group, which has more than 300 members, said the merger, coming on the heels of hard times in construction, provides economies of scale and a larger coverage area for builders and related professionals. “It’s an opportunity as the market rebuilds to associate with a strong association,’’ he said.

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Service dogs help military veterans with injuries seen and unseen

As Diego Hurtado gently toyed with his dog’s ear, he recalled jumping out of a plane at 2,000 feet, then freefalling when his parachute failed to open.

He tightly held the dog’s ear in his palm as he recalled the mid-air collision of two aircraft at Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina, that spilled fuel and debris on the base, killing 24 fellow paratroopers and injuring countless others.

Hurtado’s dog Rex, a nearly 80-pound yellow Labrador-golden retriever mix, may seem like any other four-legged canine.

But Rex, 3, is also a service dog trained to help Hurtado cope with post-traumatic stress disorder as well as with the service-related physical injuries.

“With Rex I have been able to reduce my anti-depressants by more than half,” said Hurtado, 51, a sergeant first class who served in the Army for 20 years. “I am able to go to a lot of places I was not able to go to at all.”

Like many other veterans who struggle with PTSD and physical injuries, Hurtado turned to man’s best friend for help. Nonprofit organizations across the country provide dogs to veterans to help servicemen and servicewomen cope with their injuries, both physical and emotional.

Kendall resident Jose Moran received his German shepherd, Jana, from the same organization as Hurtado: New York-based America’s VetDogs.

Coral Springs resident and Iraq war veteran Moises Castro turned to Florida-based Dogs 4 Disabled Veterans for his pit-boxer mix, Salsa.

Both organizations train the dogs to match the personality and needs of each veteran and provide the dogs for free.

Castro, 47, served in Kuwait during the Iraq War as a U.S. Navy petty officer second-class. Once he came back, his anxiety, due to PTSD, was high, especially when he would go into crowds. To add to that, in 2010 he had a brain tumor removed, leaving him with sporadic seizures.

For two years, he barely left his home.

Then along came 2-year-old Salsa with white paws.

She has been trained to sense when Castro is about to get a seizure.

“She just knows it before I do,” he said, adding that during a seizure she licks his face to comfort him.

And when the two enter a big crowd that may induce anxiety, she veers him away.

“Then she keeps looking at me to make sure everything is OK,” said Castro. “She has given my freedom back to me.”

During Moran’s service in the U.S. Army as a sergeant first class, his vehicle ran over an explosive device in Sadr City, Iraq, a suburb of Baghdad The impact crushed one of the disks in his spine and his left knee.

“I don’t really remember too much,” said Moran, 45. “I heard a pop and I was out.”

After returning to South Florida, it was not easy to return to civilian life. Sometimes he did not eat for a week because his PTSD caused him so much anxiety in crowds that he avoided going to the grocery store.

“It got pretty bad there for awhile,” he said. “As bad as you can get without crossing the line.”

Three years ago he got Jana, who has been trained to sense Moran’s anxiety levels and knows when the two are about to walk into an uncomfortable situation.

“She can tell if someone is going to annoy me,” said Moran.

On a recent visit to the Miami VA, a man got in the elevator with the two. He “was just loud” and asked a lot of question about Jana, Moran said.

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Facebook jumps on biggest lock-up expiration day

NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook‘s stock is up more than 7 percent despite expectations that it would fall because more than 850 million additional shares in the company are being freed up for sale.

Shares of Facebook Inc. are up $ 1.48, or 7.5 percent, at $ 21.34. Facebook went public in May at $ 38 in a much-hyped initial public offering of stock that turned out to be a letdown for investors. Its stock price hasn’t hit $ 38 since.

Wednesday marked the expiration of Facebook’s biggest lock-up period, which is a time following an IPO that prevents insiders from selling stock. In all, 773 million shares became eligible for sale, along with 31 million restricted stock units. And about 48 million shares held by former Facebook employees also became eligible for sale, bringing the total to 852 million. These shares would be on top of what’s already been available for trading, increasing the supply and potentially lowering the overall price.

Lock-ups are common after initial public stock offerings and are designed to prevent a stock from experiencing the kind of volatility that might occur if too many shareholders decide to sell all at once.

The previous lock-up expired on Oct. 29, when U.S. stock markets were closed because of Superstorm Sandy. Facebook’s stock fell nearly 4 percent two days later, when the stock market reopened.

Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Youssef Squali believes a potential increase in the capital gains tax on Jan. 1, when Bush-era tax cuts would expire unless Congress acts, could pressure Facebook’s stock. That said, he called the Menlo Park, Calif.-based social media company a “long-term winner.”

Facebook’s stock saw its biggest one-day gain on Oct. 24, the day after the company reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter results and detailed for the first time how much money it made from mobile ads. The stock, which added 19 percent that day, closed at $ 23.23. Even with Wednesday’s gain, it is still 8 percent below that price.

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Exclusive 'Survivor' Clip: Lisa Gets Emotional

In last week's shocking Survivor: The Philippines, Lisa Whelchel made a big move – outing Malcolm's immunity idol and campaigning successfully to sway the direction of the vote during tribal council.

Now, in an exclusive sneak peek of tonight's episode, on-the-bubble Jonathan Penner (who was only saved last week by winning individual immunity) appeals to Lisa's sensitive side by sympathizing with the negative impact of her history as a child star.

Related: Lisa Whelchel Snuffs Blair's Torch on 'Survivor'

Lisa openly cries as Penner speculates as to what it must have been like for her as a child in showbiz, and later confesses, "I know that Penner is always scrambling to try to find a way to stay, but this really struck something very, very deep [in me], this internal conflict. I think probably at some level, it's spending a lifetime performing, tap dancing, acting – doing whatever it takes to do the right thing to be liked."

Is Penner just sucking up to Lisa for her vote? Or do the two truly share a deep bond? Watch the video to decide for yourself, and tune in to Survivor tonight at 8/7 c on CBS to see how it all pans out.

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Obama says he's seen no evidence national security threatened by Petraeus scandal

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Wednesday he has seen no evidence that national security was threatened by the widening sex scandal that ensnared his former CIA director and top military commander in Afghanistan.

In his first postelection news conference, Obama also reaffirmed his belief that the US can't afford to continue tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, a key sticking point in negotiations with Republicans over the impending "fiscal cliff." He said, "The American people understood what they were getting" when they voted for him after a campaign that focused heavily on taxes.

AP

President Obama during today's news conference in the East Room of the White House

And he defiantly told critics of UN Ambassador Susan Rice, a potential candidate to lead the State Department, that they should "go after me" — not her — if they have issues with the administration's handling of the deadly attacks on Americans in Benghazi, Libya. His words were aimed at Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who have vowed to block Rice's potential nomination.

The tangled email scandal that cost David Petraeus his CIA career and led to an investigation of Gen. John Allen has disrupted Obama's plans to keep a narrow focus on the economy coming out of last week's election. And it has overshadowed his efforts to build support behind his re-election pledge to make the wealthy pay more in taxes in order to reduce the federal deficit.

Obama said he hoped the scandal would be a "single side note" in Petraeus' otherwise extraordinary career.

Petraeus resigned as head of the CIA last Friday because of an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, who US officials say sent harassing emails to a woman she viewed as a rival for the former general's affection. The investigation revealed that that woman, Jill Kelley, also exchanged sometimes-flirtatious messages with Allen.

Obama brushed aside questions about whether he was informed about the FBI investigations that led to the disclosures quickly enough. White House officials first learned about the investigations last Wednesday, the day after the election, and Obama was alerted the following day.

"My expectation is that they follow the protocols that they've already established," Obama said. "One of the challenges here is that we're not supposed to meddle in criminal investigations and that's been our practice."

Turning back to the economy, the president vowed not to cave to Republicans who have pressed for tax cuts first passed by George W. Bush to be extended for all income earners. Obama has long opposed extending the cuts for families making more than $250,000 a year, but he gave into GOP demands in 2010 when the cuts were up for renewal.

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Job fair Thursday in Miami Lakes

One of the region’s most popular job fairs returns to Miami-Dade County on Thursday, Nov. 15, with more than 1,000 openings available.

Job News, which sells employment ads and rents out space at job fairs to companies, will hold its last fair of 2012 at the Don Shula Hotel in Miami Lakes. The hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and both admission and parking are free. Job News says more than 35 companies will be on hand looking for workers, including the Loews Miami Beach hotel, Flightstar Aviation, Okey Dokey grocery stores, and Borden Dairy.

More information is available at jobnewsmiami.com, where participants are encouraged to register ahead of time in order to avoid check-in lines. Job News recommends bringing 30 copies of a resume to the event.

DOUGLAS HANKS

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Florida man describes being shot by police Taser as he sprayed fire with garden hose

PINELLAS PARK --
The fire was all around Dan Jensen.

He could see it. He could smell it. He could hear it.

It was close enough to touch. It was burning down his neighbor's house. It was creeping toward Jensen's own fence 10 feet away, and he started spraying the fire with his hose.

Police ordered Jensen to get back, and he complied.

But after a few minutes passed without firefighters arriving, a frustrated Jensen stepped forward and leaned down to grab the skinny gray garden hose once again.

That's when he heard the order.

"Hit 'em! Take him down! Tase him!"

Within moments, Jensen was on the ground. He felt electric.

"It was all over me," Jensen said. "Crawling all over me."

The 42-year-old commercial fisherman is still struggling to comprehend exactly how things deteriorated so quickly Thursday. He said he doesn't understand why police shot him with a Taser that night as he tried to battle a house fire at 3420 Beechwood Ter. N.

Jensen's family, friends and neighbors have been quick to defend him and accuse police of crossing a line.

"It was wrong," he said. "There's no way around it. … I was fighting a fire. I wasn't fighting police. I thought they were here to help me. Instead, they hurt me."

Police said they can sympathize with the stress Jensen was under. But they said he put himself and officers in danger when he refused to back down from fighting the fire.

Pinellas Park Capt. Sanfield Forseth told the Tampa Bay Times authorities could have even charged Jensen with obstruction, but decided against it.

Jensen's attorney, Heidi Imhof, said she believes authorities are trying to deflect attention from their actions that night. She called the Taser use "excessive force."

"They can't just Taser anyone," she said. "He's an unarmed person on his private property trying to fight a fire."

Imhof said the officers had other options. They could have yanked Jensen away, she said, or just turned off the water.

The agency's policy says officers must issue a warning before using a Taser, "except when such warning could provide a tactical advantage to the subject."

Imhof said her client was never warned.

Jensen said he's "disappointed" in police.

He said that when they arrived on the scene, they told him to back off and let insurance take care of it. He did for a few minutes but grew impatient and irate. He picked up the hose again because he thought firefighters weren't getting there soon enough.

Officials told the Times it took six minutes for fire fighters to respond.

"That's my home," Jensen said Monday, his voice breaking. "That's my family."

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