US Child Killings: Police Search Nanny's Home

Police are searching the US home of a nanny suspected of murdering two children in her care.

Yoselyn Ortega remains in a critical condition in hospital after apparently slitting her own throat, moments after stabbing Leo Krim and his sister, six-year-old Lucia.

Police are investigating whether Ortega had sought psychiatric support in the weeks leading up to the tragedy.

Leo and Lucia were found by their distraught mother, Marina, dying of knife wounds in the bathtub of their luxurious Upper West Side apartment near Central Park.

Mrs Krim had returned to the flat with her three-year-old daughter Nessie, whom she had taken for a swimming lesson.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the investigation has yet to reveal anything amiss in the household before the slayings.

Detectives were searching Ortega's home in Washington Heights, a working-class neighbourhood north of where she worked and near Harlem.

It emerged that Ortega had worked for the Krims as a nanny for two years and there did not appear to be any problems.

A Web journal kept by the children's mother spoke lovingly about travelling to the Dominican Republic last February to stay at the home of Ortega's sister.

"We met Josie's amazing familia!!! And the Dominican Republic is a wonderful country!!" she wrote.

Pictures posted on the blog showed the two families posing together for a happy photo, with Ortega hugging Nessie, their cheeks pressed together.

Mrs Krim's husband, Kevin Krim, a CNBC digital media executive, wrote that Ortega's family had nicknamed Nessie "Rapida y Furiosa," (or Fast and Furious), for her energy.

There are tens of thousands of nannies working in New York City, but reports of serious violence by caregivers against children are exceedingly rare.

Across the street from the building where the Krims lived, several nannies with children in pushchairs stood as if stricken, watching police officers milling around the entrance.

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Berlusconi Sentenced To Four Years In Jail

Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has been sentenced to four years in prison for tax fraud connected to his television channels.

An Italian court delivered the verdict against the ex-leader and 10 others in a six-year-old tax fraud trial.

Lawyers for the 76-year-old, who was also barred from holding political office for five years, said he will lodge an appeal before November 10.

Berlusconi's age, coupled with Italy's lengthy appeals process and statute of limitations, means he is unlikely to go to prison.

If he does, he will only serve one year due to a 2006 amnesty law aimed at reducing prison overcrowding.

The verdict came two days after Berlusconi announced he will not run for premier in upcoming elections.

During the trial, prosecutors alleged the defendants were behind a scheme to purchase the rights to broadcast US movies on Berlusconi's private Mediaset television networks through a series of offshore companies, and had falsely declared the payments to avoid taxes.

Prosecutors further alleged they inflated the price for the TV rights of some 3,000 films as they re-licensed them internally to Berlusconi's networks, pocketing the difference amounting to around €250m (£200m).

Other charges of false accounting and false statements in financial reports were thrown out because the statute of limitations expired.

The court sentenced Berlusconi and his co-defendants to pay €10m (£8m) to Italian tax authorities, a statement said.

The trial began in July 2006, but was put on hold by a now-defunct immunity law that shielded Berlusconi from prosecution while he was premier until it was watered down by the constitutional court.

The trial also faced delays as Berlusconi cited conflicts with his schedule as premier.

Berlusconi has been tried numerous times for his business dealings. He has always denied wrongdoing and alleged that the cases were politically motivated.

In each case to date, he has been cleared or seen the statute of limitations expire. The statute of limitations in this case is set to expire sometime next year.

Berlusconi also is on trial in Milan on charges of paying for sex with a prostitute and trying to cover it up.

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British Banker Dies In Hurricane Sandy

The British boss of an investment bank has been killed in a hurricane which has been sweeping across the Caribbean.

Timothy Fraser-Smith, 66, chief executive of Deltec Bank & Trust, fell from the roof of his home in wealthy Lyford Cay a private gated community on the western tip of New Providence Island in the Bahamas as he tried to repair a window shutter.

His death, on Thursday night, was one of 43 across the Caribbean caused by the hurricane that was briefly downgraded to a tropical storm on Saturday before being upgraded to a hurricane again.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said: "We can confirm the death of a British national in the Bahamas on October 25."

Mr Fraser-Smith joined Deltec in June 2000 as chief executive, according to the company's website, having worked in many countries. Deltec said he studied law at the University of Edinburgh before gaining an MBA from Cranfield Business School, Bedfordshire.

On Saturday, Sandy spun away from the Bahamas, churning northward towards the US East Coast, where it threatens to join with winter weather fronts to create a superstorm.

In Haiti, the number of people who have died reached 26 on Friday.

With the storm projected to hit the US Atlantic Coast early on Tuesday, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned it could merge with two other systems to become a hybrid, monster storm dubbed "Frankenstorm".

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Burma: Satellite Images Show 'Destruction'

Human rights campaigners have called for action to end the violence in Burma after a week of sectarian unrest that has shaken the country.

Muslims trying to escape the clashes have taken to rickety wooden boats in an attempt to reach refugee camps but some have still not made it to land.

As nine boats remained unaccounted for, Human Rights Watch called on Burma's reformist government to protect Muslims from "vicious" attacks.

The New York-based group has released satellite images of what it claims is the "near total destruction" of a coastal community around Kyaukpyu.

It identified more than 811 destroyed buildings and houseboats across an area measuring 35 acres after alleged arson attacks on October 24.

Kyaukpyu before this week's violence (Pic: Human Rights Watch)

Kyaukpyu, which is around 75 miles (120km) south of Sittwe, is crucial to China's most strategic investment in Burma - twin pipelines that will carry oil and natural gas to western provinces.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said: "Burma's government urgently needs to provide security for the Rohingya in Arakan State, who are under vicious attack.

"Unless the authorities also start addressing the root causes of the violence, it is only likely to get worse."

The UN has warned that Burma's fledgling democracy could be "irreparably damaged" by a week of communal violence.

It comes five months after machete and arson attacks killed more than 80 people and displaced at least 75,000 in the same region.

Calm does now appear to have been restored after the Home Minister warned the government could declare martial law and impose emergency rule.

Kyaukpyu pictured on October 25 (Pic: Human Rights Watch)

A committee of lawmakers led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has called for security reinforcements and swift legal action against those behind the fighting in which at least 67 people were killed.

Another 95 are believed to have been injured and 2,818 houses burned down.

The chaos suggests the quasi-civilian government is struggling to contain historic ethnic and religious tensions between Rohingyas and ethnic Rakhines that were suppressed during five decades of military rule that ended last year.         

Burma's estimated 800,000 Rohingyas are officially stateless, and regarded by the government of the majority Buddhist country as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Bangladesh does not recognise them either, and the United Nations has referred to them as "virtually friendless".

It is still unclear what set off the latest arson and killing that started last Sunday.

In June, tension flared after the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman that was blamed on Muslims, but there was no obvious trigger this time.

Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific deputy director, Isabelle Arradon, said: "These latest incidents between Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhists demonstrate how urgent it is that the authorities intervene to protect everyone, and break the cycle of discrimination and violence."

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Senator Harry Reid Car Smash Investigation

An investigation has begun into what caused a road accident involving US Senator Harry Reid.

Mr Reid suffered rib and hip injuries in the crash near Las Vegas that happened at about 1:10pm on Friday, and was taken to hospital as a precaution.

Senator Reid has now been cleared from released from hospital

Other members of his security staff suffered minor injuries.

"I can't really tell you when the investigation will be completed - I hope by the end of next week," said Sgt Kevin Honea, of the Highway Patrol.

There were long queues as crash investigators examined the site.

Nevada state troopers say six vehicles were involved in the apparent chain reaction rear-end crash, including two police vehicles, two Capitol Police vehicles and two civilian vehicles.

The accident took place on Interstate 15, near Sahara Avenue. The Nevada Department of Transport has in the past blamed accidents on an exit-only lane at Sahara.

Mr Reid's wife, Landra, was speaking at an event featuring First Lady Michelle Obama at approximately the same time the crash occurred.

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Tiger Cubs Found In Truck In Thailand

Police have found 16 tiger cubs in the back of a pickup truck in Thailand – a smuggling hub for protected animals.

Officers made the discovery after chasing the vehicle which was trying to avoid a road checkpoint.

They said the driver told them he was paid 15,000 baht (£303) to deliver the cubs from a Bangkok suburb to northeastern Udon Thani province on the border with Laos.

Police believe the tigers, packed in eight cages, were being sent outside Thailand which sees the illegal trade of protected animals and widlife parts, often used for traditional East Asian medicines.

The driver faces a possible four-year jail term and 40,000 baht (£808) fine on wildlife smuggling-related charges.

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Indonesia: Eleven Terror Suspects Arrested

Indonesian police have arrested 11 terrorist suspects who were allegedly planning attacks on the country's US embassy.

"The group's objectives were to attack the US embassy in Jakarta and consulate-general in the eastern Javanese city of Surabaya," according to police spokesman Suhardi Alius.

Mr Alius said the group had also been targeting a building in the capital near the Australian embassy where US mining giant Freeport-McMoRan has an office.

"We also confiscated an explosive device from the town of Madiun in eastern Java, as well as explosive materials and a bomb-making manual," Mr Alius said.

Anti-terror police Detachment 88 made the arrests in four cities, including Jakarta, in a sweep on the island of Java, saying those detained belonged to a new network known as Hasmi.

Explosive materials were also secured from a location in Solo, central Java, and in Bogor on the outskirts of the capital.

Indonesia has previously been rocked by a series of deadly attacks blamed on the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.

The region has not seen a major attack since 2009 and authorities say a long crackdown on terrorism has debilitated JI.

But smaller terror cells aspiring to an Islamic state through violent means have emerged, though none have carried out any serious attacks.

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Obama V Romney: 'Microtargeting' In Ohio

By Dominic Waghorn, US Correspondent

Campaigning in the US presidential election has reached fever pitch but what we are seeing is only half the story.

Behind the campaign stops, speeches and rallies, a fierce digital battle is underway, as never before.

What will decide this election is the so called ground war on the doorsteps of swing voters and this time both sides are armed with the latest technology.

The buzzword in 2012 is "microtargeting" - applying the tactics and tricks of state of the art consumer marketing to politics.

In Cincinnati in the crucial battleground state of Ohio, campaigners are still pounding the streets with clipboards knocking on doors.

But behind those conventional methods an ever more sophisticated machine is at work.

President Obama speaks at a campaign event in Cincinnati in the summer

Obama canvassers are armed with a new app for instance. Anyone can download it and acquire a surprising amount of information at the touch of a button.

Press the 'CANVASS' button and you are taken to a map showing the street you are standing on with blue flags highlighting houses where votes may be up for grabs.

Click on the flag and the first name of the homeowner is revealed, then his or her age and political inclination. The next page offers a doorstep script to help persuade voters to vote for Obama.

Importantly, there is also a box to enter information acquired during the conversation. That is fed back to the campaign's central database, adding to a huge amount of data already gathered in the last election.

More information helps campaigners target voters more effectively and in turn gather more data from them. It is a virtuous circle of data collection.

Campaigns are also buying voter information from data brokers just like businesses do.

Romney campaigning in the swing state of Ohio

John Aristotle Phillips, a data miner whose job is finding facts about people and selling them, said: "What would be important to the campaign is for instance if someone is a licenced gun owner or they're a hunter or a fisher or someone who has an interest in particular environmental causes or they're interested in certain charitable donations.

"And so there are these different ways of determining what the voter's orientation might be and most importantly what their interests might be."

The techniques were pioneered by the Democrats in the last election but Republicans seem to be catching up. They are reportedly using the similar methods although appear less willing to talk about them.

In a Republican 'victory centre', 19-year-old volunteer Patrick Reagan is busy working the phones.

He is happy to admit that from what he is seeing politics is becoming a business.

"They use a lot of what Mitt Romney used in his business days, a lot of crunching the numbers finding the solution, they target the right people. You'd be shocked by the amount of data that's being collected."

Campaigners doorstep voters in the traditional way in Cincinnati

In theory better technology means more precise targeting. But try telling that to overwhelmed voters like Ken Hughes.

He is irritated by the constant knocks at the door and feels bombarded indiscriminately by the television and radio ads, and all the political junk mail that comes through the letter box.

"Sometimes it is humorous but we find it more insulting than anything else. We just can't wait for the election to be over.

"I just want to hear the real facts and I feel like I'm reading a fairy tale," he said.

He was not impressed by the Obama campaign app either.

"I guess you feel less of a human being and more a target than a person. The second part of it is it's an infringement on your privacy," Mr Hughes added.

Like it or not, the digital campaign revolution seems here to stay because its methods seem to work.

In the land of the free, politics is being boiled down to a digital process in which voters are surveyed, sampled and sifted. In turn, strategies are becoming ever more sophisticated and efficient at securing people's vote.

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Arnie Gets Back To His 'Barbarian' Roots

Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is reprising one of his most famous movie roles - Conan The Barbarian.

Universal Pictures said Schwarzenegger, 65, will play the sword-swinging hero in The Legend Of Conan, 30 years after the film that launched the Austrian body-builder as a Hollywood star.

"I always loved the Conan character, and I'm honoured to be asked to step into the role once again," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

Arnie, pictured in 1977, shows off the body that was to make him a star

The original films, Conan The Barbarian in 1982 and Conan The Destroyer two years later, together grossed more than $70m (£43.5m) at the US box office.

A 2011 remake, with Game Of Thrones star Jason Momoa, failed to repeat the success of its predecessors, earning only $21m (£13m) at the North American box office, according to film tracking site BoxOfficeMojo.com.

The new Conan film is the latest Hollywood venture by Schwarzenegger since the action movie hero ended his term as governor of California in January 2011.

He starred alongside Hollywood's veteran action heroes in this summer's The Expendables 2, and is lined up to star in five other films, including thriller Ten and Triplets, a sequel to his hit 1988 comedy Twins alongside co-star Danny DeVito.

Republican Schwarzenegger also has launched a global policy think-tank in his name at the University of Southern California.

Earlier in October he released a memoir called Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life.

The book revealed details of the child Schwarzenegger fathered with his family's housekeeper 15 years ago, while married to Maria Shriver.

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Timberlake Sorry For Friend's 'Silly' Video

Newlywed Justin Timberlake has apologised for a "silly, unsavoury video" that shows homeless people offering congratulations to him and his bride, Jessica Biel.

The actor-singer posted an open letter on his website saying he did not previously know about the video or contribute to it.

He said the video "was made as a joke on me" and was not shown at his wedding in Italy last week.

Timberlake called the video "distasteful" and said he was "deeply sorry" to anyone offended by it. But he acknowledged that it was made by well-meaning friends.

The 20-second video is titled Greetings From Your Hollywood Friends Who Just Couldn't Make It.

It shows a series of Los Angeles vagrants, street musicians and others, who obviously do not know the famous couple, greeting them with wedding wishes.

The video did appear on the website Gawker but was taken down after lawyers for Timberlake's friend Justin Huchel intervened.

Gawker.com then posted the lawyers' letter which confirms that the video was made by Huchel and stolen from him. 

Timberlake and Biel wed at the Bagno Egnazia resort in the southern Italy

Timberlake wrote: "I don't live my life making fun of people ... unless, of course, I'm making fun of myself on [TV comedy show Saturday Night Live] ... especially, those who are less fortunate or those in need.

"My friends are good people. This was clearly a lapse in judgment which I'm sure no one who is reading this is exempt from. But, I don't believe it was made to be insensitive."

He added: "On behalf of my friends, family, and associative knuckleheads, I am deeply sorry to anyone who was offended by the video."

He concluded by vowing to get his friend to "do at least 100 hours of community service".

Timberlake, 31 - whose movie credits include 2010's The Social Network and 2011's Friends With Benefits - and 30-year-old Biel dated for five years before their wedding.

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