Sabtu, 09 November 2013
Negotiations resume in Iran nuclear talks
>>>
we head to switzerland. talks between secretary of state
john kerry
and several
foreign ministers
from several other countries.
ann curry
is live in geneva with more. good morning to you, ann.
>>
good morning to you, craig.
>> reporter:
six of the world's
foreign ministers
have unexpectedly gathered among strong signs a nuclear deal with
iran
may be near. the this morning the
french foreign minister
broke ranks and said publicly that france won't accept what he called a sucker's deal. he also revealed the debate is over the way to reduce
iran
's capability to make atomic reps use maria tone yum and rish uranium. so far no word from the other
foreign ministers
but
john kerry
did meet with a foreign minister after his meeting. nbc news has learned that
iran
is ready to sign the current draft on the table of the first step agreement and waiting for the diplomats in the
rest of the world
to sort out their differences. china's foreign minister is reportedly on his way, which would bring the seven the number of the world dop diplomats here to try to hammer out this deal.
>>
what are the chances that we have a deal by the
end of the day
?
>> reporter:
well, insist a serious setback. these
foreign ministers
scheduled to leave at the end of this day. they have all day to work out a deal and they are very close, but there is a real chance that they could all leave without having made a deal.
>>
ann curry
in geneva for
Utah doctor Martin MacNeill guilty of killing wife, leaving her in tub
Al Hartmann / AP
Martin MacNeill listens to evidence during his murder trial in this file photo.
By Paul Foy, The Associated Press
PROVO, Utah - A jury convicted a doctor of murder early Saturday in the death of his wife six years ago, bringing an end to a trial that became the nation's latest true-crime cable TV obsession with its tales of jailhouse snitches, forced plastic surgery, philandering and betrayal.
Martin MacNeill was accused of knocking out Michele MacNeill with drugs after cosmetic surgery, then leaving her to die in a tub like one that was displayed during the trial.
Prosecutors asserted that he may have held her underwater for good measure and that he did it to take up a new life with another woman.
Michele MacNeill's daughters and other relatives let out a loud yelp before dissolving in tears as the jury delivered its verdict to the tense, packed courtroom.
"We're just so happy he can't hurt anyone else," said Alexis Somers, one of his older daughters. "We miss our mom; we'll never see her again. But that courtroom was full of so many people who loved her."
Martin MacNeill, 57, showed little emotion when the verdict was read. He hugged his lawyer afterward and said, "It's OK."
He faces 15 years to life for first-degree murder when he is sentenced Jan. 7. He also was found guilty of obstruction of justice, which could add 1-15 years. MacNeill was led by deputies back to Utah County jail.
Randy Spencer, one of his lawyers, said he was disappointed before declining further comment.
The chief prosecutor, Chad Grunander, said the largely circumstantial case was the most difficult he ever brought to trial and that many prosecutors wouldn't bother trying, especially with medical examiners unable to produce a finding of homicide.
"It was an almost perfect murder," Grunander said in his closing argument, asserting MacNeill "pumped her full of drugs" that he knew would be difficult to detect once she was dead.
An early mistress of MacNeill's testified he once confided he could induce a heart attack in someone that would appear natural.
After deliberating for 11 hours, the jury issued its guilty verdict to murder and obstruction of justice shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday.
The case shocked the Mormon community of Pleasant Grove, 35 miles south of Salt Lake City, and captured national attention because the defendant was a wealthy doctor and a lawyer, a father of eight in a picture-perfect family and former bishop in his local congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Defense lawyers contend Michele MacNeill died of natural causes. They believe she had a heart attack and fell headfirst into the tub and noted the autopsy showed she had an enlarged heart, a narrowing of the heart arteries and liver and kidney deterioration.
"There's simply no proof" of homicide, Spencer said. "The prosecution has presented to you their cherry-picked portion of the evidence."
He called the testimony of a handful of prison inmates angling for early release doubtful. The men who spent time behind bars with the doctor testified he had acknowledged killing his wife — or suggested that investigators could never prove he did it.
Their testimony was the only direct evidence of murder, Grunander said. MacNeill lawyers argued he would never admit murder to strangers in prison.
MacNeill was medical director of the Utah State Development Center, a residential center for people with cognitive disorders, who moonlighted in other medical jobs, once consulting for a laser hair removal clinic. He had a law degree but wasn't known to practice law and has since surrendered his law and medical licenses.
The highlight of the three-week trial was a mistress who MacNeill introduced as a nanny within weeks of his wife's death. His older daughters quickly recognized Gypsy Willis as his secret lover and said her mother had been arguing with her husband over the affair.
The daughters went to work uncovering what they call their father's secret life. They abandoned him while dogging authorities to open a murder investigation. It wasn't until MacNeill's release in July 2012 from a federal prison in Texas on charges of fraud that Utah prosecutors moved to file charges of murder and obstruction of justice.
Willis also served a federal sentence for using the identity of one of MacNeill's adopted daughters to escape a debt-heavy history. That daughter had been sent back to Ukraine, supposedly only for a summer.
For a time, MacNeill's only family defender was his only son. Damian, a 24-year-old law student, committed suicide in January 2010, according to his sisters, who have said he was haunted by their mother's death.
Prosecutors said MacNeill might have gotten away with a perfect murder, but his erratic behavior the day of his wife's death and shortly afterward was "dripping with motive."
They reminded jurors about testimony that MacNeill stood in the bathroom yelling what prosecutors called phony grief, "Why did you do this? All because of a stupid surgery," as paramedics tried to revive his wife.
Family testimony suggested it was MacNeill who insisted his 50-year-old wife, a former local beauty queen in her California hometown, get the surgery. Prosecutors said he used it as an excuse to mix painkillers, Valium and sleeping pills for her supposed recovery.
"Make no mistake, the defendant's fingerprints, if you will, are all over Michele's death," Grunander said.
Prosecutors say MacNeill contrived a medical condition in the weeks leading up to his wife's death, telling many around him he was dying of cancer or multiple sclerosis to absolve him of any motive in the death. He also made use of a cane and could be seen limping at times.
Investigators who subpoenaed MacNeill's own medical records found he was in good health. And they discovered something else: MacNeill had been collecting veteran benefits for decades, saying in an application he had bipolar or anti-social disorders.
MacNeill's arrest warrant contains a former girlfriend's explosive allegation — not used at the trial — that MacNeill killed a brother and tried to kill his mother long ago.
Utah investigators confirmed the brother, Rufus Roy MacNeill, was found dead in a bathtub in New Jersey. They determined MacNeill was never charged and found no indication he was ever under investigation for it.
© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Fireworks blast at Paris musical about French Revolution: 1 dead, 14 injured
EPA / Yoan Valat
The scene outside the Paris musical venue where the freak accident occurred on Friday night.
By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News
A stage worker died and 14 others were injured after a freak accident sparked a pyrotechnics explosion in Paris during preparations for a musical about the French Revolution, local media reported.
The blast rocked the Palais des Sports venue in the south-west of the city at about 6 p.m. local time (1 p.m. ET) Friday, witnesses and officials told agency AFP and newspaper Le Parisien.
Fifteen people – all thought to be either cast members or stage workers – were injured in the explosion. One of them suffered a heart attack and was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, Le Parisien reported.
The blast was "extremely violent," fire chief Lt. Col. Samuel Bernes told reporters.
The large venue – which hosted the premiere of Les Miserables in 1980 – was preparing to stage a production of "1789, The Lovers of the Bastille," the BBC reported.
About 100 firefighters and a dozen fire engines were deployed to the scene, which was later visited by Interior Minister Manuel Valls, AFP said.
Early reports suggest the accident happened when a disc from a grinder being used on stage broke, scattering fragments, one of which ignited gunpowder that was to be used in a pyrotechnic display during the performance, according to Le Parisien, which did not cite a source for the information.
Some of the injured were burned by the fireworks, but others were hurt by the collapse of the wall and the subsequent collapse of part of the ceiling.
"The walls shook," a witness who works nearby told reporters.
No audience members were in the auditorium, according to AFP.
This story was originally published on Sat Nov 9, 2013 4:15 AM EST
CRASH COURSE2,000-pound European satellite falling to earth
Sometime this weekend, the sky will actually be falling.
A defunct satellite from the European Space Agency the size of a Chevy Suburban is set to plunge to Earth somewhere between Sunday night and Monday afternoon -- and experts say there's no way to precisely determine where it will crash.
Its orbit goes over the poles, and as the planet rotates the satellite whizzes over nearly every point on Earth. But GOCE, or Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer, ran out of gas last month and has been steadily sinking towards the Earth.
The satellite had been orbiting at a very low altitude for its mission, just 161 miles above the planet. Indeed, GOCE’s orbit is so low that it experiences drag from the outer edges of Earth's atmosphere, the ESA said.
Where is it now? Thanks to a neat widget built by the satellite-tracking website N2YO.com, you can watch the falling satellite as it courses through the heavens.
Pinpointing where and when hurtling space debris will strike is an imprecise science. To calculate the orbit, N2YO.com runs information from the U.S. Air Force Space Command through a series of algorithms, and overlays it on mapping data from Google.
"The satellite is one of the few satellites in a Polar Orbit. Consequently, it could land almost anywhere," Mark Hopkins, chair of the National Space Society's executive committee told FoxNews.com.
Not that citizens need to take cover. Although the satellite will break into pieces -- between 25 and 45 with the largest as big as 200 pounds, according to The New York Times -- they are most likely to plunge into the ocean.
“It’s rather hard to predict where the spacecraft will re-enter and impact,” Rune Floberghagen, the mission manager for GOCE, told The Times.
GOCE has been orbiting Earth since March 2009 at the lowest altitude of any research satellite. With a sleek, aerodynamic design meant to eliminate drag on the craft from the planet -- it's been called the "Ferrari of space" -- GOCE has mapped variations in Earth’s gravity with extreme detail, creating a model of the planet's "geoid."
The satellite is 17.4 feet long, according to the European Space Agency. A 2014 Chevrolet Suburban is 18.5 feet long, including the bumpers. The slim satellite is only 1/3 the weight of the truck, however.
As of Friday morning, GOCE was at an altitude of roughly 105 miles and was expected to sink by more than 5 miles within the day.
When a NASA satellite fell from orbit two years ago, it plunged into the Pacific. When Russia’s Phobos-Grunt failed last year, it too plunged into the Pacific. One day before GOCE re-enters the thick atmosphere of the planet, ESA will be able to narrow down the exact time and location of the crash.
As far as anyone knows, falling space debris has never injured anyone -- although one woman came dangerously close. Nor has significant property damage been reported. That's because most of the planet is covered in water and there are vast regions of empty land.