Jury in Zimmerman case may consider manslaughter

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) ? A judge said Thursday that jurors in the George Zimmerman case can consider the lesser charge of manslaughter, but she denied a request for the jury also to consider third-degree murder after a defense attorney called the proposal "outrageous."

Prosecutor Richard Mantei argued that instructions for third-degree murder should be included on the premise that Zimmerman committed child abuse when he fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin because Martin was underage.

But defense attorney Don West called the proposed instruction "a trick," and he accused the prosecutor of springing it on the defense at the last minute.

"Just when I didn't think this case could get any more bizarre, the state is alleging child abuse?" West said. "This is outrageous. It's outrageous the state would seek to do this at this time."

Judge Debra Nelson denied the third-degree murder instruction, saying she was exercising caution since she was unsure if prosecutors could prove intent.

"I just don't think the evidence supports that," Nelson said.

The judge, however, agreed with the prosecution that jurors could consider manslaughter as a lesser charge.

West said he wanted the six jurors to only consider the second-degree murder charge or not guilty.

"The state has charged him with second degree murder. They should be required to prove it," West said. "If they had wanted to charge him with manslaughter ... they could do that."

Jurors could begin deliberating as early as Friday. Prosecutors were expected to give closing arguments Thursday afternoon, followed by the defense closing on Friday morning.

Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. On the night of the fatal scuffle in February 2012, Martin was visiting his father and his father's fiancee at the same townhome complex where Zimmerman lived.

Zimmerman observed Martin while driving in his neighborhood, called police and the fight ensued after the neighborhood watch volunteer got out of his vehicle. Zimmerman claims Martin was slamming his head into the concrete pavement when he fired his gun.

Some civil rights activists argued that a delay in charging Zimmerman was influenced by Martin's race, and protests were held around the nation in the 44 days between the fatal fight and Zimmerman's arrest. Martin was black and Zimmerman identifies himself as Hispanic.

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Follow Kyle Hightower on Twitter at http://twitter.com/khightower.

Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jury-zimmerman-case-may-consider-manslaughter-172603720.html

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Buyers against move to unmanaged travel | Buying Business Travel

The overwhelming majority of travel buyers are against the idea of allowing unmanaged travel within their companies, according to research by Carlson Wagonlit Travel.

The study found that only 9 per cent of buyers were in favour of unmanaged travel, which allows travellers to book through any channel they wish to use, with 62 per cent against the concept.

The report also revealed that 87 per cent of buyers said that their companies had not tried using unmanaged travel and had no plans to do so.

Those few buyers who plan to introduce some elements of unmanaged travel, or have already done so, said that their main motive for the change was to increase the satisfaction of travellers.

The TMC produced the report, entitled "Where now for managed travel?", after surveying 149 travel buyers, as well as conducting an online survey of 469 travellers and travel arrangers from five companies.

The CWT report makes the case that fully-managed travel programmes were now ?more user-friendly, cheaper and represent a more effective way to tackle programme leakage?.

It also revealed data, based on three independent studies, showing that bookings through TMCs were between 9 and 24 per cent lower than fares available on the open market.

David Moran, CWT?s executive vice president for enterprise strategy and marketing, said: ?We do expect to see consumer trends continuing to influence corporate traveller behaviour and expectations, with a clear emphasis on increasing traveller choice.

?However, recent feedback from our customers has shown that while this migration towards increased choice is steadily taking place, today?s solutions are not yet robust enough to allow them to relax their booking channel policies.?

To read the CWT report, click here

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Source: http://buyingbusinesstravel.com/news/1021067-buyers-against-move-unmanaged-travel

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World's largest superyacht is now the fastest too

wealth

Robert Frank CNBC

5 hours ago

Klaus Jordan / Klaus Jordan

Azzam, the largest superyacht in the world.

Building the largest superyacht in the world apparently wasn't enough for the owner of Azzam. They also wanted the fastest.

Yachting executives say that Azzam, the largest yacht in the world at 590 feet, recently went through its first set of sea trials in the North Sea. The boat hit a staggering 31.5 knots?or about 37 miles per hour. At that speed it's believed to be the fastest yacht longer than 300 feet.

And that's not even top speed. Engineers say Azzam?with 94,000 horsepower driving giant water jets instead of propellers? can go even faster in deeper water. The 31.5 knot speed was recorded in water that was only about 60 feet deep.

"It can easily do more than 32 knots in deeper water," said one executive close to the project.

Azzam was officially launched in April, but won't be delivered to its owner until sometime this fall since it still needs to undergo further tests and finish work. The yacht, which cost more than $600 million to build, is believed to be owned by the royal family of the United Arab Emirates.

(Read More:Owning a Yacht, One Share at a Time)

Representatives for Lurssen, the company that built Azzam, declined any comment about the boat.

Azzam is nearly 30 percent faster than similarly sized yachts. Eclipse, the second largest yacht at 536 feet, hits a top speed of around 22 knots. Rising Sun, the 453 foot megayacht built for Larry Ellison and now owned by David Geffen, hits top speeds of around 28 knots.

(Read More:The Booming Business of Shipping Yachts)

There are smaller yachts that are faster, of course. A yacht called The World is Not Enough, a 140-footer built by the serial yacht builder John Staluppi, hit a top speed of 70 knots. But it's one-fourth the size of Azzam.

Fortuna, the yacht built for King Juan Carlos of Spain, hit 68 knots.

There are no immediate descriptions or images available of Azzam's interior, though we know it's in the hands of French interior designer Christophe Leoni, who's using a "turn of the century Empire style."

?By CNBC's Robert Frank. Follow him on Twitter @robtfrank.

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? 2013 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved

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Florida law accidentally bans computers and smartphones

When Florida lawmakers recently voted to ban all Internet cafes, they worded the bill so poorly that they effectively outlawed every computer in the state, according to a recent lawsuit.

In April Florida Governor Rick Scott approved a ban on slot machines and Internet cafes after a charity tied to Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll was shut down on suspicion of being an Internet gambling front -- forcing Carroll, who had consulted with the charity, to resign.

Florida's 1,000 Internet cafes were shut down immediately, including Miami-Dade's Incredible Investments, LLC, a caf? that provides online services to migrant workers, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

The owner, Consuelo Zapata, is now suing the state after her legal team found that the ban was so hastily worded that it can be applied to any computer or device connected to the Internet, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Miami Herald.

The ban defines illegal slot machines as any "system or network of devices" that may be used in a game of chance.

And that broad wording can be applied to any number of devices, according to the Miami law firm of Kluger, Kaplan, Silverman, Katzen & Levine, who worked with constitutional law attorney and Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz.

The suit maintains that the ban was essentially passed "in a frenzy fueled by distorted judgment in the wake of a scandal that included the Lieutenant Governor?s resignation" and declares it unconstitutional.

Source: http://forum.dvdtalk.com/other-talk/611952-florida-law-accidentally-bans-computers-smartphones.html

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Insurer: European floods year's costliest disaster

BERLIN (AP) ? A leading insurance company says flooding in central Europe last month caused damage totaling more than $16 billion, about a quarter of it insured ? making it the year's costliest natural disaster so far.

Munich Re AG put insured losses from the flooding in Germany and several other countries at $3.9 billion. Both figures were similar to the damage caused by floods in 2002 that hit some of the same areas.

Munich Re said Tuesday that overall losses caused by natural disasters totaled a below-average $45 billion between January and June, with insured losses totaling $13 billion.

May's deadly tornadoes in Oklahoma were the second-costliest disaster in the period, causing overall losses of $3.1 billion ? nearly $1.6 billion of that covered by insurance.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/insurer-european-floods-years-costliest-disaster-091758301.html

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Trayvon Martin's father: Screaming on 911 call is my son

Joe Burbank / Pool via AP

The parents of Trayvon Martin, Tracy Martin, right, and Sybrina Fulton, listen to the testimony of Sanford police officer Chris Serino during the George Zimmerman trial in Seminole Circuit Court in Sanford, Fla., on Monday.

By James Novogrod, Tom Winter and Tracy Connor, NBC News

Trayvon Martin?s father on Monday denied that he told police the person screaming in the background of a 911 call was not his son ? contradicting the testimony of two officers who took the stand in the George Zimmerman trial.

Tracy Martin was called to the stand by the defense, which is hoping to convince jurors that Zimmerman is the one who was yelling for help, bolstering its assertion that he fired his gun because he was being attacked by the teen.

The dad said that two days after the fatal confrontation, he went to the Sanford, Fla., police department for an update and investigator Chris Serino played him the tape ? which contained the crack of the fatal gunshot.

?As best as I recall, after he played the tape, he basically just said, ?Do you recognize the voice??? Martin said.

?My response was? I didn?t tell him, ?No, that wasn?t Trayvon,?? the father added.

?The chairs had wheels on them and I kind of pushed away from the table and just kind of shook my head and said, ?I can?t tell.?

?I never said that ?No that wasn?t my son?s voice.??

He said he heard the tape again weeks later in the Sanford, Fla., mayor?s office and after replaying it perhaps 20 times, ?I said that I knew that it was Trayvon?s voice.?

Earlier, Serino and a second officer testified that Tracy Martin told them the person yelling for help was not his son.

?There is no doubt he was telling us that -- that didn?t sound like his son to him,? Officer Doris Singleton told the court.

Serino said that when he asked if the voice was his son?s, the father?s response was ?verbal and non-verbal.?

?He looked away and under his breath, as I interpreted it, said, ?No.??

The voice identification is important because both sides are expected to argue that the person pleading for help is the one being assaulted during the Feb. 26, 2012, clash between Zimmerman, 29, and Martin, 17.

Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and says that he shot Martin after being attacked. Prosecutors contend Zimmerman profiled and followed the unarmed Martin before shooting him dead.

Joe Burbank-Pool/Getty Images

LeAnne Benjamin, a friend of George Zimmerman, smiles while identifying him in court July 8.

The judge has ruled that audio experts cannot testify during the trial about who they think is screaming on the call because the voice-recognition technology they used is not reliable enough -- but that people who personally knew Zimmerman or Martin could weigh in.

The defense has put Zimmerman?s mother and uncle and five friends of the former neighborhood watch volunteer on the stand to testify that they recognize the voice.

Prosecutors last week had called Trayvon Martin?s mother and brother, who said they were sure the teen was yelling, but the state did not call Tracy Martin.

On cross-examination, prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda hammered home the idea that the father was distraught after listening to the tape.

?He was hearing for the first time ? right ? the death of his son?? de la Rionda asked Serino.

Neither Serino nor Singleton wavered from the idea that the father did not recognize the screaming as his son?s.

?He was telling Chris it was not his son?s voice,? Singleton said, adding that she choked up herself while watching Tracy Martin listen to the gunshot that killed his son.

?I have children myself,? she said.

?I remember feeling so awful for him that he would have to hear that.?

The father said his emotions were swirling after he heard the tape.

?I was listening to my son?s last cry for help.? I was listening to his life being taken. And I was trying to come to grips that Trayvon was here no more,? he said.

Beyond the 911 call, the 10^th day of testimony included several other developments:

• Judge Debra Nelson ruled that evidence about the amount of THC ? the main ingredient in marijuana ? in Trayvon Martin?s blood when he was killed can be admitted, along with expert testimony. Experts disagree on what the levels mean, with respect to when Martin might have last smoked marijuana and what effect it might have had on him when he encountered Zimmerman.
• Friend Mark Osterman, an air marshal, said he had given Zimmerman advice on buying a gun and had told him the Keltec 9mm ? the one used to killed Martin ? was a good choice for self-defense and that he should keep one bullet in the chamber.
• Adam Pollock, who owned the gym where Zimmerman took classes, said he instructed him in grappling, the goal of which is to ?make the guy say, ?Uncle.?? He said Zimmerman was unathletic and ?soft? when he started and lost between 50 and 80 pounds but never got good enough to box in the ring.

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Editor's note: George Zimmerman has sued NBC Universal for defamation. The company strongly denies the allegation.

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This story was originally published on Mon Jul 8, 2013 7:20 PM EDT

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The IRS Just Accidentally Published Thousands of SSNs Online

You'd think the IRS would be the one organization it might be safe to trust with your precious Social Security Number. Think again. Thanks to a cock-up, the agency just put tens of thousands of the numbers out on the Internet for anyone and everyone to see. Fantastic.

It seems that when the IRS went to upload a bunch of records on the non-profit industry, some unfortunate soul simply forgot to redact the thousands of identifying numbers. Fortunately, the error was spotted by Public.Resource.Org, which likes to publish these kind of records, and the offending list of 9-digit numbers has already been removed. Still, it's disquieting to know they were out there at all, and who knows who saw them.

There have been worse breaches, like when the state of South Carolina got hacked out of 3.6 million SSNs. But it hurts to see the IRS?an agency that trades in these things by its very nature?compromise a bunch through sheer digital incompetence; no hackers necessary. [Boing Boing via The Daily Dot]

Image by chuckstock/Shutterstock

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-irs-just-accidentally-published-thousands-of-ssns-704798055

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