WASHINGTON (AFP) - Bailed out US insurance giant AIG is set to begin paying 100 million dollars in bonuses to employees on Wednesday, prompting fresh outrage a year
The government's pay czar in charge of compensation at bailed-out companies, said the payments represented an "outrage" but were part of legally binding contracts that must be paid.
Feinberg told the ABC television program Good Morning America that the government was working to recoup part of the payments under agreements reached with AIG employees.
"We are making some progress," he said. "I do not for a minute ignore the outrage out there which I share. But the fact of the matter is we've got to abide by the law, we've got to work as best we can to get as much of this money back as we can and frankly we are doing a very very good job I think in getting as much of this money as we can pursuant to the rule of law."
The payments, confirmed by a source close to the matter, were part of a deal in which employees agreed less than they were owed in exchange for early payouts, in an effort to stem the outrage that occured last year.
US officials have argued that the government was unable to stop the legally binding payments to the employees at the troubled Financial Products division that nearly sank AIG after a meltdown in the US housing market.
Nonetheless, news of the latest bonuses triggered fresh criticism of the administration in view of the massive bailout of AIG worth more than 180 billion dollars.
Republican Senator Charles Grassley said of the latest bonuses, "AIG has taxpayers over a barrel. The Obama administration has been outmaneuvered."
American International Group, rescued in the face of a threatened financial system meltdown in September 2008, said in a statement that around 97 percent of employees with its troubled Financial Products division "have volunteered to reduce their upcoming 2010 payment."
The moves will help achieve the company's "giveback target" of reduced bonus payments in an effort to stem the type of blistering criticism that erupted a year ago.
The company owes about 198 million dollars in bonus payments, according to government officials.
"We have decided to begin these reduced payments to these active employees as well as those nonactive employees who agreed to reductions," AIG said. "The reductions from these two groups stand at about 20 million, and we believe this allows us to largely put this matter behind us."
About 200 active and former employees will receive the early payments, which were available only to those who agreed to a cut.
The company said that some former employees volunteered to reduce payments by an additional 4.5 million dollars.
US officials say only about 19 million dollars has been returned from 2009 payments to AIG employees despite pledges to return 45 million dollars.
AIG promised to work with those employees "to round out the remaining amount of our giveback target over the next few months."
The payments stem from employment contracts signed in 2007 that fall outside the jurisdiction of Feinberg, who oversees compensation at companies receiving bailout money.
Woman pushes Pope Benedict down at Christmas Eve mass
Woman jumps barriers and knocks down pope at Christmas Eve Mass. Pope unhurt
By The Associated Press
VATICAN CITY - A Vatican spokesman says a woman jumped the barriers in St. Peter's Basilica and knocked down Pope Benedict XVI as he walked down the main aisle to begin Christmas Eve Mass.
The Rev. Ciro Benedettini said the pope quickly got up and was unhurt. Benedict, 82, calmly resumed his walk to the basilica's main altar and began the Mass late Thursday.
Benedettini said the woman who pushed the pope appeared to be mentally unstable and had been arrested by Vatican police. He said she also knocked down Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, who was taken to hospital for a check up.
By The Associated Press
VATICAN CITY - A Vatican spokesman says a woman jumped the barriers in St. Peter's Basilica and knocked down Pope Benedict XVI as he walked down the main aisle to begin Christmas Eve Mass.
The Rev. Ciro Benedettini said the pope quickly got up and was unhurt. Benedict, 82, calmly resumed his walk to the basilica's main altar and began the Mass late Thursday.
Benedettini said the woman who pushed the pope appeared to be mentally unstable and had been arrested by Vatican police. He said she also knocked down Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, who was taken to hospital for a check up.
Obama and billionaire Buffett are distant cousins
WASHINGTON (AFP) - President Barack Obama and billionaire financier Warren Buffett are very distant cousins going back to an indentured servant from 17th century France, Ancestry.com said Tuesday.
Experts from what is billed as the world's largest family history website traced the two men's lineage to Mareen Duvall, who immigrated to Maryland from France in the 1650s.
Duvall is Obama's ninth great-grandfather and Buffett's sixth great-grandfather, according to Ancestry.com, which earlier this year found that Obama has German roots and in 2007 said he was distant cousin of actor Brad Pitt.
A few years after arriving as an indentured servant from France, Duvall in 1659 purchased a property in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, that he later named "Middle Plantation," the genealogy research company said.
It described Obama's and Buffett's rags-to-riches common ancestor as "conservative in his political life."
Obama's ancestry was linked to that of former vice president Dick Cheney when Obama ran for president in 2008. Cheney's wife, Lynne, said she found her husband and Obama were related through a French emigre, who turned out to be Duvall.
"Mareen Duvall had 12 children and he can have quite a number of descendents and it's hard to begin to speculate the number of people who could possibly related to Mareen Duvall in the United States," Ancestry genealogist Anathasia Tyler told AFP.
She said the relation between Obama and Buffett was discovered by chance during a research of the billionaire's ancestry.
"We didn't have any clue... We'd been working on President Obama's tree for a couple of years and then we decided to do Warren Buffett's research, and as we researched we got back a few generations and started seeing this last name Duvall.
"We continued on that and we were able to prove that there is a connection."
Experts from what is billed as the world's largest family history website traced the two men's lineage to Mareen Duvall, who immigrated to Maryland from France in the 1650s.
Duvall is Obama's ninth great-grandfather and Buffett's sixth great-grandfather, according to Ancestry.com, which earlier this year found that Obama has German roots and in 2007 said he was distant cousin of actor Brad Pitt.
A few years after arriving as an indentured servant from France, Duvall in 1659 purchased a property in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, that he later named "Middle Plantation," the genealogy research company said.
It described Obama's and Buffett's rags-to-riches common ancestor as "conservative in his political life."
Obama's ancestry was linked to that of former vice president Dick Cheney when Obama ran for president in 2008. Cheney's wife, Lynne, said she found her husband and Obama were related through a French emigre, who turned out to be Duvall.
"Mareen Duvall had 12 children and he can have quite a number of descendents and it's hard to begin to speculate the number of people who could possibly related to Mareen Duvall in the United States," Ancestry genealogist Anathasia Tyler told AFP.
She said the relation between Obama and Buffett was discovered by chance during a research of the billionaire's ancestry.
"We didn't have any clue... We'd been working on President Obama's tree for a couple of years and then we decided to do Warren Buffett's research, and as we researched we got back a few generations and started seeing this last name Duvall.
"We continued on that and we were able to prove that there is a connection."
Nike chairman stands by Tiger Woods—publication
CHICAGO, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Nike Inc Chairman and co-founder Phil Knight said the scandal surrounding Tiger Woods is “part of the game” in signing endorsement deals with athletes and did not back away from the athletic shoe and clothing maker’s relationship with the golfer.
Woods, 33, has admitted to “infidelity” in his marriage to his Swedish wife Elin Nordegren as allegations of multiple extra-marital affairs have rocked his life and career.
Knight told Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal that Nike checked out Woods’ background before signing its deal with the golfer and “he came out clean.”
Knight’s comments were published following Woods’ surprise announcement on Friday that he would take an “indefinite break” from pro golf.
Knight said companies cannot get such background checks right all the time and “there’s always a risk.” However, he signaled no move to distance Woods from Nike, which has founded its global golf business on Woods’ reputation and play.
“I think he’s been really great,” Knight said in the interview published on Monday. “When his career is over, you’ll look back on these indiscretions as a minor blip, but the media is making a big deal out of it right now.”
Other sponsors have distanced themselves from Woods.
On Sunday, technology outsourcing and consulting firm Accenture Plc ended its endorsement deal with Woods, a day after Procter & Gamble’s Gillette said it would limit the use of Woods in its marketing. AT&T Inc has said it is evaluating its relationship.
Woods, the world’s first billionaire athlete, is estimated to earn about $100 million a year in endorsement deals.
Other sponsors include PepsiCo Inc’s Gatorade, Electronic Arts Inc , TLC Vision Corp , Upper Deck, Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s NetJets and Tag Heuer. (Reporting by Ben Klayman, editing by Dave Zimmerman)
Woods, 33, has admitted to “infidelity” in his marriage to his Swedish wife Elin Nordegren as allegations of multiple extra-marital affairs have rocked his life and career.
Knight told Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal that Nike checked out Woods’ background before signing its deal with the golfer and “he came out clean.”
Knight’s comments were published following Woods’ surprise announcement on Friday that he would take an “indefinite break” from pro golf.
Knight said companies cannot get such background checks right all the time and “there’s always a risk.” However, he signaled no move to distance Woods from Nike, which has founded its global golf business on Woods’ reputation and play.
“I think he’s been really great,” Knight said in the interview published on Monday. “When his career is over, you’ll look back on these indiscretions as a minor blip, but the media is making a big deal out of it right now.”
Other sponsors have distanced themselves from Woods.
On Sunday, technology outsourcing and consulting firm Accenture Plc ended its endorsement deal with Woods, a day after Procter & Gamble’s Gillette said it would limit the use of Woods in its marketing. AT&T Inc has said it is evaluating its relationship.
Woods, the world’s first billionaire athlete, is estimated to earn about $100 million a year in endorsement deals.
Other sponsors include PepsiCo Inc’s Gatorade, Electronic Arts Inc , TLC Vision Corp , Upper Deck, Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s NetJets and Tag Heuer. (Reporting by Ben Klayman, editing by Dave Zimmerman)
Google sues work-at-home scammers
Search firm files lawsuit against Pacific WebWorks for trademark infringement in fraudulent offers that have tricked thousands.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Google filed a lawsuit against Pacific WebWorks and other unnamed defendants for allegedly using the company's name and colorful logo to promote fraudulent work-at-home money-making schemes.
"Thousands of people have been tricked into sending payment information and being charged hidden fees by questionable operations," Google said in a blog post on Tuesday.
The search engine sued Salt Lake City-based Pacific WebWorks, an application service provider and software development firm, in a Utah District Court.
Google said it has not created or endorsed advertisements such as "Use Google to make 1000s of Dollars!" and "Easy Cash with Google: You could be Making up to $978 a Day Working from home!"
These spam advertisements appear in various places around the Web, appearing when people search for work-at-home job opportunities. The scams are also distributed through spam emails and can also be found on reputable Web sites, when the creators purchase advertisements.
Kate Lister, author of "Undress for Success - The Naked Truth about Making Money at Home," estimates that more than 95% of Google hits on the words "work at home" are scams, link to scams, or other dead ends.
In 2008, the Better Business Bureau received 3,539 complaints against work-at home companies, and expects the number to rise in 2009, according to Alison Southwick, a spokeswoman for the BBB.
She said Google's name is often used in such schemes because of its recognizable branding and good reputation.
In addition to taking Pacific WebWorks (PWEB) to court, Google said it is continuing efforts to remove scam sites from its index.
The company also said it would permanently disable Google AdWords, that provide a "poor or harmful" user experience whether or not they use Google's trademark illegally. AdWords is an advertising platform where businesses can pay a fee for their information to be displayed adjacent to specific search results.
Because Google can't guarantee similar schemes won't pop up on different networks or under different names, it also told users to "be skeptical and review any offers online before sending any information."
Legitimate work-at-home jobs are those in which a person is paid a regular wage for services performed or hours worked, such as computer data entry, remote tech support, or transcription services. The illegitimate jobs, or "scams" as Lister refers to them, can usually be identified because they ask job seekers to put up money with the expectation of earning money back.
0:00 /2:16What Google means to news biz
The Mountain View, Calif.-based Google provided other names users should be wary of: Google Adwork, Google ATM, Google Biz Kit, Google Cash, Earn Google Cash Kit, Google Fortune, Google Marketing Kit, Google Profits, The Home Business Kit for Google, Google StartUp Kit, and Google Works.
Work-at-home mom Stacey Kannenberg, 45, signed up for one called Easy Google Profit, a site that says "you can start making money within hours of qualifying" with "no prior experience needed."
But by signing up and paying a few dollars in shipping charges for a start-up kit, users may be unaware they are authorizing the company to bill them hefty monthly fees, which get automatically charged to their credit card and are non-refundable.
"I immediately called my credit card company and they stopped payment," Kannenberg explained, but "I am frustrated and sick of all the scams."
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Google filed a lawsuit against Pacific WebWorks and other unnamed defendants for allegedly using the company's name and colorful logo to promote fraudulent work-at-home money-making schemes.
"Thousands of people have been tricked into sending payment information and being charged hidden fees by questionable operations," Google said in a blog post on Tuesday.
The search engine sued Salt Lake City-based Pacific WebWorks, an application service provider and software development firm, in a Utah District Court.
Google said it has not created or endorsed advertisements such as "Use Google to make 1000s of Dollars!" and "Easy Cash with Google: You could be Making up to $978 a Day Working from home!"
These spam advertisements appear in various places around the Web, appearing when people search for work-at-home job opportunities. The scams are also distributed through spam emails and can also be found on reputable Web sites, when the creators purchase advertisements.
Kate Lister, author of "Undress for Success - The Naked Truth about Making Money at Home," estimates that more than 95% of Google hits on the words "work at home" are scams, link to scams, or other dead ends.
In 2008, the Better Business Bureau received 3,539 complaints against work-at home companies, and expects the number to rise in 2009, according to Alison Southwick, a spokeswoman for the BBB.
She said Google's name is often used in such schemes because of its recognizable branding and good reputation.
In addition to taking Pacific WebWorks (PWEB) to court, Google said it is continuing efforts to remove scam sites from its index.
The company also said it would permanently disable Google AdWords, that provide a "poor or harmful" user experience whether or not they use Google's trademark illegally. AdWords is an advertising platform where businesses can pay a fee for their information to be displayed adjacent to specific search results.
Because Google can't guarantee similar schemes won't pop up on different networks or under different names, it also told users to "be skeptical and review any offers online before sending any information."
Legitimate work-at-home jobs are those in which a person is paid a regular wage for services performed or hours worked, such as computer data entry, remote tech support, or transcription services. The illegitimate jobs, or "scams" as Lister refers to them, can usually be identified because they ask job seekers to put up money with the expectation of earning money back.
0:00 /2:16What Google means to news biz
The Mountain View, Calif.-based Google provided other names users should be wary of: Google Adwork, Google ATM, Google Biz Kit, Google Cash, Earn Google Cash Kit, Google Fortune, Google Marketing Kit, Google Profits, The Home Business Kit for Google, Google StartUp Kit, and Google Works.
Work-at-home mom Stacey Kannenberg, 45, signed up for one called Easy Google Profit, a site that says "you can start making money within hours of qualifying" with "no prior experience needed."
But by signing up and paying a few dollars in shipping charges for a start-up kit, users may be unaware they are authorizing the company to bill them hefty monthly fees, which get automatically charged to their credit card and are non-refundable.
"I immediately called my credit card company and they stopped payment," Kannenberg explained, but "I am frustrated and sick of all the scams."
DOES A MBA DEGREE TEACH ENTREPRENEURSHIP???
A MBA Degree Does NOT Teach Entrepreneurship
by guest
Well, to talk about education being a pre-requisite for entrepreneurship we have enough real world examples that shout out loud that it aren’t. The likes of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and the list can go and on.
entrepreneur-success-journey[1] But, lets face it – Entrepreneurship has become the buzz word ever since the Dot Com boom happened and every Tom, Dick and Harry website attracting truck loads of funding (especially during earlier dot com boom). So much so that the mere mention of entrepreneurship now attracts major attention.
The obvious effects of the hype around entrepreneurship has glorified it so much that now most of the MBA programs run courses in entrepreneurship and some even have specializations in it. So, now of all other things MBA degree is considered a ticket for becoming an entrepreneur. So much so that some colleges openly flaunt their MBA programs as a ticket to achieve entrepreneurial ambitions.
There is a certain amount of connect here when it comes to the concept of a MBA degree and entrepreneurship. But from what I have been noticing in the recent times is that the whole connection has been blown out of the proportions both by prospective MBA students and the colleges.
Even I am guilty as charged but then being active in the start-up community, I think it is not the education part of any MBA course which helps one become an entrepreneur, it is something very fundamental which is often overlooked. It is the Diverse Network that a global MBA degree exposes an individual to. I am a little biased here with the International MBA’s here in terms of the exposure and the diversity of the student body. Moreover, International programs focus on Work-Experience which brings a lot of real time business learning to the whole experience.
A MBA degree does not teach entrepreneurship , it provides the platform to foster entrepreneurship.
I had a chance to visit an education fair recently which saw a lot of international B-schools participate. For every stall that I went in , the most commonly asked questions ranged from "How much of an entrepreneurial focus does the college have?","Is there a list of successful entrepreneurs from the college?" and some variants of the same question.
It was this one answer from one school professor that made a lot of sense to me. When being asked about the question on Entrepreneurship, his reply was a very straight-forward but bang on point none the less.
"We don’t create entrepreneurs and neither teach entrepreneurship, we teach general management and create business leaders. "
This is by far the best take on the connect with an MBA and entrepreneurship that I have heard. It looks obvious and straight forward but then the hype around MBA for Entrepreneurship has overpowered it.
MBA degree does not make one entrepreneur, it only facilitates it.
* It provides the kind of environment that might encourage some creative thinkers to become entrepreneurs.
* It puts together like minded thinkers to ponder over a common problem and leverage their cumulative skills to innovate
* It teaches the fundamentals of the business and then throws it upon the students to challenge the existing practices to better them.
* It can to a certain extent facilitate interactions with existing entrepreneurs.
There might be numerous other benefits that a MBA degree can offer in terms of entrepreneurship skills but it for sure cannot teach entrepreneurship. For that matter, I think no one can because the basic premise of entrepreneurship is the extended version of Learning By Doing which transpires as Learning By Doing Things that have not been done before or Doing Things Differently.
It is the anatomy of an entrepreneur that makes all the difference and without that, no amount of education can make one an entrepreneur.
What are your thoughts on the overrated linkage between Entrepreneurship and a MBA degree or do you think that MBA degree is indeed a ticket to Entrepreneurship?
by guest
Well, to talk about education being a pre-requisite for entrepreneurship we have enough real world examples that shout out loud that it aren’t. The likes of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and the list can go and on.
entrepreneur-success-journey[1] But, lets face it – Entrepreneurship has become the buzz word ever since the Dot Com boom happened and every Tom, Dick and Harry website attracting truck loads of funding (especially during earlier dot com boom). So much so that the mere mention of entrepreneurship now attracts major attention.
The obvious effects of the hype around entrepreneurship has glorified it so much that now most of the MBA programs run courses in entrepreneurship and some even have specializations in it. So, now of all other things MBA degree is considered a ticket for becoming an entrepreneur. So much so that some colleges openly flaunt their MBA programs as a ticket to achieve entrepreneurial ambitions.
There is a certain amount of connect here when it comes to the concept of a MBA degree and entrepreneurship. But from what I have been noticing in the recent times is that the whole connection has been blown out of the proportions both by prospective MBA students and the colleges.
Even I am guilty as charged but then being active in the start-up community, I think it is not the education part of any MBA course which helps one become an entrepreneur, it is something very fundamental which is often overlooked. It is the Diverse Network that a global MBA degree exposes an individual to. I am a little biased here with the International MBA’s here in terms of the exposure and the diversity of the student body. Moreover, International programs focus on Work-Experience which brings a lot of real time business learning to the whole experience.
A MBA degree does not teach entrepreneurship , it provides the platform to foster entrepreneurship.
I had a chance to visit an education fair recently which saw a lot of international B-schools participate. For every stall that I went in , the most commonly asked questions ranged from "How much of an entrepreneurial focus does the college have?","Is there a list of successful entrepreneurs from the college?" and some variants of the same question.
It was this one answer from one school professor that made a lot of sense to me. When being asked about the question on Entrepreneurship, his reply was a very straight-forward but bang on point none the less.
"We don’t create entrepreneurs and neither teach entrepreneurship, we teach general management and create business leaders. "
This is by far the best take on the connect with an MBA and entrepreneurship that I have heard. It looks obvious and straight forward but then the hype around MBA for Entrepreneurship has overpowered it.
MBA degree does not make one entrepreneur, it only facilitates it.
* It provides the kind of environment that might encourage some creative thinkers to become entrepreneurs.
* It puts together like minded thinkers to ponder over a common problem and leverage their cumulative skills to innovate
* It teaches the fundamentals of the business and then throws it upon the students to challenge the existing practices to better them.
* It can to a certain extent facilitate interactions with existing entrepreneurs.
There might be numerous other benefits that a MBA degree can offer in terms of entrepreneurship skills but it for sure cannot teach entrepreneurship. For that matter, I think no one can because the basic premise of entrepreneurship is the extended version of Learning By Doing which transpires as Learning By Doing Things that have not been done before or Doing Things Differently.
It is the anatomy of an entrepreneur that makes all the difference and without that, no amount of education can make one an entrepreneur.
What are your thoughts on the overrated linkage between Entrepreneurship and a MBA degree or do you think that MBA degree is indeed a ticket to Entrepreneurship?
Knox convicted in Italy murder trial, gets 26-year sentence; ex-boyfriend gets 25
By Alessandra Rizzo,Marta Falconi, The Associated Press
PERUGIA, Italy - American college student Amanda Knox was found guilty of murdering her British roommate and sentenced to 26 years in prison early Saturday after a year-long trial that gripped Italy and drew intense media attention.
Her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito was also convicted and sentenced to 25 years. They were also found guilty of sexual assault in the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old student from England.
Knox burst into tears and murmured, "No, no," after the judge read the verdict shortly after midnight following some 13 hours of deliberations. She then hugged one of her lawyers.
Minutes later, the 22-year-old Knox, who is from Seattle, and the 25-year-old Sollecito were put in police vans with sirens blaring and driven back to jail.
Prosecutors had sought life imprisonment, Italy's stiffest sentence. Courts can give less severe punishment than what prosecutors demand.
The American's father, Curt Knox, asked if he would fight on for his daughter, replied, with tears in his eyes: "Hell, yes."
Single and looking. Email me
"This is just wrong," her stepmother, Cassandra Knox, said, turning around immediately after hearing the verdict. Her family had insisted she was innocent and a victim of character assassination.
One of Knox's attorneys, Luciano Ghirga, was asked if she was distraught. "Yes, I challenge anyone not to be," he replied.
Kercher family lawyer Francesco Maresca called the verdict and sentence "satisfactory," but he acknowledged: "There is deep suffering on all sides."
A group of local youths who gathered outside the courthouse shouted insults and "assassin!" at the Knox family as they walked in to hear the verdict.
Throughout the trial, prosecutors depicted Knox as a promiscuous and manipulative she-devil whose personality clashed with her roommate's. They say Knox had grown to hate Kercher.
The most intimate details of Knox's life were examined, from her lax hygiene - allegedly a point of contention with Kercher - to her sex life, even including a sex toy.
Kercher's body was found in a pool of blood with her throat slit on Nov. 2, 2007, in the bedroom of the house she shared with Knox while the two were studying in the medieval town of Perugia in Italy's central Umbria region. Prosecutors said the Leeds University student was murdered the previous night.
In Seattle, relatives and friends clasped hands as they watched the verdict on TV. "Oh God, no," her uncle, Mick Huff, cried when it was announced.
Other friends buried their faces in their hands and shook their heads.
"They didn't listen to the facts of the case," said Elisabeth Huff, Knox' grandmother. "All they did was listen to the media's lies."
Madison Paxton, Knox's friend from the University of Washington, said: "They're convicting a made-up person ... "They they're convicting 'foxy Knoxy.' That's not Amanda."
Single and looking. Email me
Prosecutors argued that on the night of the murder, Knox and Sollecito met at the apartment where Kercher and Knox lived. They say a fourth person was there, Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivory Coast citizen who has been convicted in the murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Guede, who is appealing his conviction, says he was in the house the night of the murder but did not kill Kercher.
The prosecution says Knox and Kercher started arguing, and that Knox joined the two men in brutally attacking and sexually assaulting the Briton under "the fumes of drugs and possibly alcohol."
Knox said Kercher was a friend whose slaying shocked and saddened her.
Defence lawyers described the American, who made the dean's list at the University of Washington, as a smart and cheerful woman, at one point even comparing her to film character Amelie, the innocent and dreamy girl in the 2001 French movie of the same title.
That is the film Knox and Sollecito said they were watching at his home on the night of the murder, where they say they smoked marijuana and had sex. Knox said she went home the next morning to find the door to the house open and Kercher dead.
The prosecution said a 6½-inch knife authorities found at Sollecito's house had Kercher's DNA on the blade and Knox's on the handle. Defence lawyers said the knife was too big to match Kercher's wounds and the amount of DNA collected was too small to determine with certainty whose it was.
The defence maintained there was not enough evidence for a conviction and no clear motive.
However, prosecutor Manuela Comodi said violent crimes can lack a motive. "We live at a time where violence is purposeless," she told the jury.
Knox gave contradictory versions of the night of the slaying, saying at one point she was home and had to cover her ears to block out Kercher's screams and accusing a Congolese man of the killing. The man, Patrick Diya Lumumba, owns a pub in Perugia where Knox worked. He was jailed briefly but was later cleared and is seeking defamation damages from Knox.
Knox later contended that police pressure led her to initially accuse an innocent man.
PERUGIA, Italy - American college student Amanda Knox was found guilty of murdering her British roommate and sentenced to 26 years in prison early Saturday after a year-long trial that gripped Italy and drew intense media attention.
Her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito was also convicted and sentenced to 25 years. They were also found guilty of sexual assault in the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old student from England.
Knox burst into tears and murmured, "No, no," after the judge read the verdict shortly after midnight following some 13 hours of deliberations. She then hugged one of her lawyers.
Minutes later, the 22-year-old Knox, who is from Seattle, and the 25-year-old Sollecito were put in police vans with sirens blaring and driven back to jail.
Prosecutors had sought life imprisonment, Italy's stiffest sentence. Courts can give less severe punishment than what prosecutors demand.
The American's father, Curt Knox, asked if he would fight on for his daughter, replied, with tears in his eyes: "Hell, yes."
Advertisement
Melissa - Âge: 19 - College studentSingle and looking. Email me
"This is just wrong," her stepmother, Cassandra Knox, said, turning around immediately after hearing the verdict. Her family had insisted she was innocent and a victim of character assassination.
One of Knox's attorneys, Luciano Ghirga, was asked if she was distraught. "Yes, I challenge anyone not to be," he replied.
Kercher family lawyer Francesco Maresca called the verdict and sentence "satisfactory," but he acknowledged: "There is deep suffering on all sides."
A group of local youths who gathered outside the courthouse shouted insults and "assassin!" at the Knox family as they walked in to hear the verdict.
Throughout the trial, prosecutors depicted Knox as a promiscuous and manipulative she-devil whose personality clashed with her roommate's. They say Knox had grown to hate Kercher.
The most intimate details of Knox's life were examined, from her lax hygiene - allegedly a point of contention with Kercher - to her sex life, even including a sex toy.
Kercher's body was found in a pool of blood with her throat slit on Nov. 2, 2007, in the bedroom of the house she shared with Knox while the two were studying in the medieval town of Perugia in Italy's central Umbria region. Prosecutors said the Leeds University student was murdered the previous night.
In Seattle, relatives and friends clasped hands as they watched the verdict on TV. "Oh God, no," her uncle, Mick Huff, cried when it was announced.
Other friends buried their faces in their hands and shook their heads.
"They didn't listen to the facts of the case," said Elisabeth Huff, Knox' grandmother. "All they did was listen to the media's lies."
Madison Paxton, Knox's friend from the University of Washington, said: "They're convicting a made-up person ... "They they're convicting 'foxy Knoxy.' That's not Amanda."
Advertisement
Yamila- Age: 20 - College studentSingle and looking. Email me
Prosecutors argued that on the night of the murder, Knox and Sollecito met at the apartment where Kercher and Knox lived. They say a fourth person was there, Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivory Coast citizen who has been convicted in the murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Guede, who is appealing his conviction, says he was in the house the night of the murder but did not kill Kercher.
The prosecution says Knox and Kercher started arguing, and that Knox joined the two men in brutally attacking and sexually assaulting the Briton under "the fumes of drugs and possibly alcohol."
Knox said Kercher was a friend whose slaying shocked and saddened her.
Defence lawyers described the American, who made the dean's list at the University of Washington, as a smart and cheerful woman, at one point even comparing her to film character Amelie, the innocent and dreamy girl in the 2001 French movie of the same title.
That is the film Knox and Sollecito said they were watching at his home on the night of the murder, where they say they smoked marijuana and had sex. Knox said she went home the next morning to find the door to the house open and Kercher dead.
The prosecution said a 6½-inch knife authorities found at Sollecito's house had Kercher's DNA on the blade and Knox's on the handle. Defence lawyers said the knife was too big to match Kercher's wounds and the amount of DNA collected was too small to determine with certainty whose it was.
The defence maintained there was not enough evidence for a conviction and no clear motive.
However, prosecutor Manuela Comodi said violent crimes can lack a motive. "We live at a time where violence is purposeless," she told the jury.
Knox gave contradictory versions of the night of the slaying, saying at one point she was home and had to cover her ears to block out Kercher's screams and accusing a Congolese man of the killing. The man, Patrick Diya Lumumba, owns a pub in Perugia where Knox worked. He was jailed briefly but was later cleared and is seeking defamation damages from Knox.
Knox later contended that police pressure led her to initially accuse an innocent man.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)