Archive for December 24th, 2012

NEW YORK – A convicted felon shot dead two firefighters and wounded two others Monday after luring them to a blaze that police said he had apparently set as a trap in a small town in New York state.

The 62-year-old shooter, who was found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 17 years for his grandmother’s death in 1980, then fatally shot himself in the head, said police in Webster, on the shores of Lake Ontario.

The incident, which comes as debate rages in the United States about gun control following the Newtown school massacre earlier this month, happened shortly before 6:00 am (1100 GMT) in a small lakefront residential community.

“It does appe…Keep on reading: 2 US firefighters shot dead in arson ‘trap’
Source: Inquirer.net

LOS ANGELES — Jack Klugman, who made an art of gruffness in TV’s “The Odd Couple” and “Quincy, M.E.,” has died at the age of 90.

The actor’s son Adam says his father died Monday afternoon in Los Angeles.

In the 1970s sitcom “The Odd Couple,” Klugman played sloppy sports writer Oscar to co-star Tony Randall’s Felix, a fussy photographer. In “Quincy, M.E.,” which aired from 1976 to 1983, Klugman played an idealistic, tough-minded medical examiner.

Klugman lost his voice to throat cancer in the 1980s but trained himself to speak again. He returned to acting in a 1993 Broadway revival of “Three Men on a Horse.”

Klugman split his time between TV, movies and the New York stag…Keep on reading: ‘Odd Couple’ actor Jack Klugman dies in US
Source: Inquirer.net

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colorado — Volunteers at a U.S. Air Force base monitoring Santa Claus’ progress around the world were on track to answer a record number of calls Monday from children wanting to know everything from Saint Nick’s age to how reindeer fly.

Oh, and when are the presents coming?

Phones were ringing nonstop at Peterson Air Force Base, headquarters of the North American Aerospace Command’s annual Santa-tracking operation.

NORAD, a joint U.S.-Canada command responsible for protecting the skies over both nations, says its Santa-tracking rite was born of a humble mistake in a newspaper ad in 1955.

The ad in a Colorado Springs newspaper invited children to…Keep on reading: Is he here yet? US Air Force tracks Santa for kids
Source: Inquirer.net

SAN FRANCISCO – A lawsuit filed here seeks to stop Instagram from changing its terms of service, saying the Facebook-owned smartphone photo-sharing service is breaching its contract with users.

The lawsuit filed Friday by Southern California-based law firm of Finkelstein and Krinsk claimed class action status and called on the federal court to bar Instagram from changing its rules.

“Instagram is taking its customers property rights while insulating itself from all liability,” the law firm said in the suit, which also demanded that the service pay its legal fees.

“In short, Instagram declares that ‘possession is nine-tenths of the law and if yo…Keep on reading: Instagram sued over contract changes
Source: Inquirer.net