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New York City Police Arrest Alleged Terror Suspect

November 21, 2011

An “Al Qaeda sympathizer” accused of plotting to bomb police and post offices in New York City as well as U.S. troops returning home remained in police custody after an arraignment Sunday on numerous terrorism-related charges.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced at a news conference Sunday the arrest of Jose Pimentel of Manhattan, “a 27-year-old Al Qaeda sympathizer” who the mayor said was motivated by terrorist propaganda and resentment of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said police had to move quickly to arrest Pimentel on Saturday because he was ready to carry out his plan.

Article: Fox News

Bill Gates Testifies in $1B Lawsuit Against Microsoft

Microsoft’s Windows 95 rollout presented the most challenges in the company’s history, leading to several last-minute changes to technical features that would no longer support a rival software maker’s word processor, Bill Gates testified Monday in a $1 billion antitrust lawsuit filed by the former owner of WordPerfect.

“We worked super hard,” the Microsoft co-founder said. “It was the most challenging, trying project we had ever done.”

Gates was the first witness to testify Monday as Microsoft lawyers presented their case in the trial that’s been ongoing in federal court in Salt Lake City for about a month. He is set to resume testimony Tuesday morning.
Utah-based Novell Inc. sued Microsoft in 2004, claiming the Redmond, Wash., company violated U.S. antitrust laws through its arrangements with other software makers when it launched Windows 95. Novell says it was later forced to sell WordPerfect for a $1.2 billion loss. Novell is now a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group, the result of a merger that was completed earlier this year.

Gates said Novell just couldn’t deliver a Windows 95 compatible WordPerfect program in time for its rollout, and its own Word program was actually better. He said that by 1994, Microsoft’s Word writing program was ranked No. 1 in the market above WordPerfect.

Gates called it an “important win.”

He testified later that Microsoft had to dump a technical feature that would have supported WordPerfect because he feared it would crash the operating system.

“We were making trade-offs,” he said.

Novell argues that Gates ordered Microsoft engineers to reject WordPerfect as a Windows 95 word processing application because he feared it was too good.

WordPerfect once had nearly 50 percent of the market for computer writing programs, but its share quickly plummeted to less than 10 percent as Microsoft’s own office programs took hold.

Microsoft lawyers say Novell’s loss of market share was its own doing because the company didn’t develop a Windows compatible WordPerfect program until months after the operating system’s rollout.

Novell attorney Jeff Johnson has conceded that Microsoft was under no legal obligation to provide advance access to Windows 95 so Novell could prepare a compatible version. Microsoft, however, enticed Novell to work on a version, only to withdraw support months before Windows 95 hit the market, he said.

Microsoft lawyer David Tulchin said Gates decided against installing WordPerfect because it couldn’t be made compatible in time for the rollout. He argued that Novell’s missed opportunity was its own fault, and that Microsoft had no obligation to give a competitor a leg up.

Article: Associated Press

Former AIG Chief Sues Government Over Bailout

A company run by the former CEO of American International Group Inc. is suing the government for $25 billion in damages over its taxpayer bailout of the big insurer.

Former AIG CEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg’s current company — Starr International — filed lawsuits Monday in federal courts against the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The suits accuse the government of taking valuable assets from AIG’s shareholders without their consent or fair compensation, in exchange for the government’s 80 percent stake in the company. The suit says the government’s actions violate parts of the Fifth Amendment.

Much of the $182 billion in rescue money went to pay AIG’s obligations to big banks.

Article: Associated Press

Conrad Murray judge won’t allow new lab tests on evidence in case

A Los Angeles judge refused Monday to allow new laboratory tests on evidence used to convict Michael Jackson’s doctor.

In advance of Dr. Conrad Murray’s sentencing next week, his lawyers filed a motion Friday –- nine days after he was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter — for additional analysis on the drug vial believed to have contained the fatal dose of the anesthetic that killed Jackson.

A lawyer for Murray, J. Michael Flanagan, said lab tests on the residue inside the vial might invalidate a theory proposed by a prosecution medical expert on the final day of the trial. That witness, Dr. Steven Shafer, suggested Murray had removed a small amount of the anesthetic propofol from the vial and then added another drug to prevent a burning sensation before hooking Jackson up to an intravenous drip.

At a hearing Monday, Flanagan told Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor that tests on the ratio of the two drugs “could be material to confirm or negate this hypothesis.”

A prosecutor opposed the testing as “neither here nor there.”

“The trial is done. It was a fair trial,” Deputy Dist. Atty. David Walgren said.

The judge agreed, saying the defense should have asked to test the vial before the case went to the jury.

“This is not surprising evidence. This exhibit has been around since the inception of the case,” Pastor said, adding: “There is no justification for the court to respond favorably to this type of extraordinary motion.”

Article: Los Angeles Times

Hundreds of UC Davis students protest pepper-spraying by police

Hundreds of students and faculty members at UC Davis gathered Monday in the campus quad to protest the use of pepper spray on students by university police last week.

The police on Friday sprayed a group of students who were sitting down in a peaceful protest as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Eleven students were treated for the effects of pepper spray, including two who were treated at a hospital.

Since then, two campus police officers and UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza have been placed on leave. UC officials are investigating the incident.

Some students Monday carried signs saying, “My voice is stronger than your pepper spray,” and there were calls for the ouster of UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi. She was expected to appear at the rally to speak about the incident.

A group of students who were pepper-sprayed and arrested Friday spoke to the crowd from a small stage, and were greeted by cheers of support as well as the chant, “Whose university is it? Our university!”

Geoffrey Wildanger, 23, a graduate student in art history from Los Altos, said, “Three days ago, I was pepper sprayed. It hurt. It hurt a lot, but you know that already. What happened on Friday is not exceptional. Police brutality may not be the most common occurrence on UC Davis but it happens every day to poor people, women and people of color.”

David Buscho, 22, said he and his fellow protesters posed no threat to officers but were pepper-sprayed nonetheless. “We were just kids sitting down in a circle singing. Someone yelled pepper spray, and I closed my eyes, and at that point I entered a world of pain.”

He urged students to “not choose a path of violence. I want take back our university brick by brick. But we’ll will do it with dignity.”

Article: Los Angeles Times

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