Prisoner found dead in cell

The Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre in Brisbane’s south-west is in lockdown after a 27-year-old prisoner on remand for rape was found dead in his cell.

A Corrective Service’s spokesman says the man’s death does not appear to be suspicious.

It is the third death in custody in Queensland in the last month.

Another prisoner was found dead in a cell at Brisbane’s Wolston Prison on Tuesday.

The 42-year-old was serving a six-year sentence for child sex offences and had been in jail for 11 months.

Corrective Services said there were no suspicious circumstances in that case either.

The death has been referred to the coroner and to the chief inspector of prisons.

Last week, protesters gathered outside Parliament House in Brisbane to accuse prison authorities of failing to help a seriously ill Indigenous teenager who died while on remand for stealing a car.

Sheldon Currie, 18, was found on his face in his cell by an inmate at the Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre.

He spent four days in intensive care at Princess Alexandra hospital before dying on February 20.

US blasts Israel’s settlement decision

The White House says Israel’s decision to allow the construction of 1,600 new homes in east Jerusalem is an insult and an affront.

The criticism comes despite Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing regret that the announcement has strained ties with Washington.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the settlement move in a blunt phone call to Mr Netanyahu.

And the president’s chief adviser, David Axelrod, has also given a stern rebuke.

“This was an affront, an insult. For this announcement to come at this time was very destructive,” Mr Axelrod said.

The White House is particularly disappointed in the timing of the announcement, coming as vice president Joe Biden was visiting the region.

It says Israel can improve the situation by bringing constructive ideas to revived peace talks.

Meanwhile, Israel has extended a lockdown of the West Bank and restricted access to the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem to quell tensions over the latest settlement plans.

Israel sealed off the West Bank on Friday after the announcement.

The decision has fuelled anger among Palestinians who want to build a future capital in the city’s east.

The lockdown was scheduled to end on Saturday night, but the Israeli Government has extended it for two more days for fear of a continued risk of attacks.

In recent weeks the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s old city has been the scene of repeated violence between Muslim and Jewish worshippers.

Only women or men over 50 are allowed in during the lockdown.

Woman Killed, 2 Men Injured in Las Vegas Shooting Following Domestic Dispute

A woman was killed and two men injured in a shooting in Monday in Las Vegas that was sparked by a domestic dispute, according to local media reports.

Police Capt. Randy Montandon told the Las Vegas Sun that a man shot three people, including the woman, before police responded and shot the gunman in the parking lot of the apartment complex after a confrontation.

The gunman and the two surviving victims were taken to Sunrise Hospital.

A nearby elementary school was placed in lockdown during the incident but later was re-opened.

The shooting occurred less than a mile from Sam Boyd Stadium.

Gunman shoots two Pentagon police officers in Washington

Washington, Mar. 5 (ANI): A 36-year-old gunman injured two Pentagon police officers while trying to enter the complex on Thursday evening. He was shot and taken into custody.

While the motive for the shooting wasn”t immediately clear, the gunman was identified as John Patrick Bedell, Fox News reports.

Addressing a press conference, Pentagon Police Chief Richard Keevil said Bedell was calm as he approached the officers at the Pentagon’s main entrance around 6:40 p.m.

The officers asked to see his pass for entering the building and he started shooting without saying a word.

“He reached into his pocket and they assumed he was going to get out his pass and he just started shooting,” Keevil said.

The officers immediately fired back.

Keevil said that police officers’ injuries aren”t life-threatening, while the gunman”s injuries are more serious.

According to a Pentagon source, the gunman was shot in the head.

The three involved in the shooting had been taken to George Washington University Hospital for treatment.

“Fortunately there were no other injuries. A lot of people are coming and going at that time of the night,” said Keevil.

The Pentagon was on lockdown for a short while, and the Blue-Yellow line stop at the Pentagon station is still closed.

A second person was being questioned by the authorities, but sources say the person might just be a witness and is not being considered a suspect. (ANI)

Phil Spector thinks he will die in “snake pit” jail

Washington, Aug 20 (ANI): Jailed music magnate Phil Spector fears other inmates so much that he has asked his lawyers to get him shifted to a “better prison.”

The record producer was sentenced to life imprisonment in May this year, for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson. He is currently lodged at Corcoran Prison in Los Angeles.

Spector, 69, shares the jail with murderer Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan, who shot U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy.

Spector is so terrified by others around him that he doesn’t step outside his cell, reports Contactmusic.

The music mogul described the jail as a “snake pit” in letters to his friend, musician/journalist Steve Escobar.

He wrote: “Imagine sending me to the same prison – shows how low they can go.

They’d kill you in here for a 39-cent bag of soup! I know it is a chance to get out of my cell going to the dining room but the less I see of the inmates, the better and safer I feel. Even though 24/7 lockdown in a 3′ by 7′ cell is very tough.”

Spector also mentioned that he had instructed his lawyers to “get a better prison with people more like myself in it during the appeal process instead of all these lowlife scumbags, gangsters and Manson types…” (ANI)

Russian wartime bomb found outside Merkel’s Berlin apartment

Berlin – A lost Russian bomb from the Second World War was discovered Friday just outside the Berlin apartment of Chancellor Angela Merkel, triggering a city-centre lockdown as bomb-disposal experts set about defusing it.

The 100-kilogram bomb was discovered just 10 centimetres below the sandy surface of a museum forecourt.

Merkel lives on the Island of Museums, between two arms of the Spree River. The bomb was found in front of the Neues Museum, one of five museums of art and antiquities which have given the central-city island its name.

While bomb experts worked on the device, a railtrack carrying express and suburban trains was closed and streets were blocked.

Sources said that before they began, Merkel arrived in the cordoned-off area in her chauffeured limousine with her police bodyguards and quickly fetched something from the apartment before driving away again in her motorcade.

Unexploded bombs dropped by the Second World War allies are frequently found in German cities. (dpa)