Federline Seeking Support, Child Custody

LOS ANGELES - A day after Britney Spears filed divorce papers, Kevin Federline counter-filed court papers Wednesday seeking sole custody of the couple's two children.

The former backup dancer and aspiring rapper is also seeking spousal support. He says the couple's community assets are "uncertain," though Spears said in her divorce papers there were none to speak of, suggesting the two had a prenuptial agreement in place.

"Kevin is prepared to go the distance in order to do what he feels is necessary to protect and safeguard the children and will not be intimidated or dissuaded from pursuit of those goals," said Michael Sands, spokesman for Federline's attorney, Mark …

Iberia Airport Services signs contract with airberlin to supply handling services in Canary Island.

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2011 M2 COMMUNICATIONS

Iberia Airport Services (IBAS) on Tuesday said it has signed an agreement to provide ramp and passenger services for airberlin at the airports of Gran Caneria and Tenerife South in the Canary Islands.

The contract between the Spanish IBAS and the German carrier is for three years and …

BODY COUNTS MAKE THE CASE AGAINST WAR.(MAIN)

Byline: ILSE BAKER Voorheesville

It is always a pleasure to read one of Diane Cameron's thoughtful columns. The Dec. 7 piece on the historical significance of the 7th of December was particularly poignant and particularly depressing. The rape of Nanking, with 300,000 civilians killed in individual attacks and in only four weeks, is unimaginable. To put this death toll into context, the author gives us other horrific figures of civilians killed mostly through bombing during World War II: 61,000 in Britain, 108,000 in France, 101,000 in Belgium and 232,000 in the Netherlands, all lower than the toll of the atrocity committed in Nanking in one month in 1937.

Of …

Sailing Team of CU, Vendor Execs Participates In Race.

A team composed of executives of credit unions and CU vendors raised more than $11,000 for the Children's Miracle Network by competing in the Newport to Ensenada (Mexico) Yacht Race.

Jim Updike, CEO of Honda FCU, captained the yacht, and was joined by Bill Enslin of Creditor's Insurance Services and Mike Pietig, Matt Flynn, Chris Gunnare of the Members Group.

Updike said that on the day the race started it appeared they were in for wet and slow conditions, but by his boat's 1:10 p.m. start, a light wind had picked up and the skies were clearing.

"After about a mile or so, the wind speed began to pick up and from that point on the sailing was …

Books Received/Livres recus.

Adams, Rachel, and David Savran, eds., The Masculinity Studies Reader. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2002,418 pp., $29.95 US paper

Bainbridge, William Sims, The Endtimne Family: Children of God. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2002, 204 pp., $71.50 US cloth, $23.95 US paper

Bauman, Zygmunt and Keith Tester, Conversations with Zygmunt Bauman. Oxford: Polity Press, 2001, 176 pp., [pounds]40.00 cloth, [pounds sterling]12.99 paper

Baxter, Janeen and Mark Western, eds., Reconfigurations of Class and Gender. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001,210 pp., $45.00 US cloth

Beland, Daniel, Une securite liberale? La politique des retraites aux Etats-Unis. Paris: Librairie Genrale de Droit et de Jurisprudence, 2001, 239 pp., 24,5 Euros

Bennett, Tony and David Carter, eds., Culture in Australia: Policies, Publics and Programs. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002, 364 pp., $69.95 US cloth, $24.95 US paper

Best, Joel, ed., How Claims Spread: Cross National Diffusion of Social Problems. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter, 2001, 306 pp., $25.95 US paper

Bogart, W. A., Consequences: The Impact of Law and Its Complexity. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002,405 pp., $95.00 cloth, $29.95 paper

Brackenridge, Celia H., Spoilsports: Understanding and Preventing Sexual Exploitation in Sport. London: Routledge, 2001, 284 pp., $135.00 cloth, $49.95 paper

Calasanti, Toni M., Gender, Social Inequalities, and Aging. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press, 2001, 248 pp., $63.00 US cloth, $22.95 US paper

Campbell, John L. and Ove K. Pedersen, eds., The Rise of Neoliberalism and Institutional Analysis. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001,288 pp., $19.95 US paper

Caplow, Theodore, ed., Leviathan Transformed: Seven National States in the New Century. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2002, 224 pp., $75.00 cloth

Christie, Nancy, ed., Households of Faith: Family, Gender and Community in …

FAIR-GOERS FIND WHIRL OF FUN RIDES.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: KEN THURMAN - Staff writer

Fourteen-year-old Jeremy Ward dug deep into his wallet for two dollars -- and a chance at winning a prize.

Pausing for a moment before he picked up the oversized game ball, he studied his target, glanced at the Super Soaker watergun just one good toss away, rared back and let 'er rip.

Ward lost but proclaimed, "I'll be back. I might try later."

Such is life sometimes at the county fair.

Opening day and good weather at the 152nd edition of the Saratoga County Fair on Tuesday brought out thousands of fun-seekers, both young and old, looking for a good time.

From bungee jumping to …

E-BAY FRAUDSTER SENTENCED TO 12.5 YEARS IN PRISON

RENO, Nev., May 31 -- The U.

S. Department of Justice's U.

S. Attorney's office for District of Nevada issued the following press release:

Former Incline Village resident, Darin French, 40, was sentenced today by U.

S. District Judge Larry R. Hicks to 12.5 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution for defrauding over 250 persons in an internet fraud scheme involving high-end appliances, announced Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.

"Investigating, prosecuting and preventing financial fraud is a top priority of the Department of Justice," said U.

S. Attorney Bogden. "Persons who commit crimes such as credit card fraud, mortgage fraud, and internet fraud, will be targeted by federal investigators, and when convicted, face long prison sentences."

French was convicted by a jury on February 18, 2011, of 22 counts of mail fraud, 11 counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering. His wife, Jennifer French, 38, was also convicted of similar charges for her role in the fraud scheme, and will be sentenced on July 11, 2011.

The sentence was also imposed consecutively to an unrelated 30-month sentence which Darin French received in 2009 for submitting false claims to Maytag for warranty work he never performed.

During 2003 to 2004, Darin and Jennifer French resided in Incline Village, Nevada. They established a website called "Look What We Got" (LWWG), and advertised high-end kitchen appliances such as Thermador, Sub Zero, Viking, and Wolf, for sale on E-Bay. The defendants represented that they were dealers of the appliances and that LWWG carried full lines of high end appliances at discount prices. In fact, the defendants were never authorized dealers of the appliances and they did not have contracts with the manufacturers or distributors to distribute such merchandise.

To effect the fraud scheme, Darin and Jennifer French established false customer feedback records on E-Bay by selling low-cost merchandise. They also used a tactic known as "shill feedback" in which they established multiple user ids and left positive feedback for themselves in the guise of other legitimate buyers and sellers. When customers found items they wished to purchase, they were sent an e-mail asking them to call LWWG directly for price quotes. Customers thought they were purchasing products through E-Bay and were still protected by E-Bays consumer protection policies, when in-fact, they were off-site purchases.

Customers sent payment to the defendants, via credit card, cashier's check, or personal check. After providing merchandise to a few initial customers, the defendants thereafter failed to deliver any other merchandise to individuals who had ordered and paid for the appliances. The defendants cashed the checks or charged the customer's credit card, but did not deliver the merchandise. Customers who questioned the defendants about not receiving their merchandise, were advised by "Jennifer" at LWWG that a new supplier had increased their prices, and that in order to satisfy the client they were cancelling the order and issuing a refund. Instead of refunding clients' money, the defendants transferred money in large increments out of the LWWG bank account to their personal account and purchased luxury items, including a $50,880 Bayliner boat and a Ford F250 pickup truck, and diverted approximately $40,000 to an E-Trade stock trading account. The defendants also used their clients' money to purchase another business that they continued to run after they closed LWWG.

As a result of the scheme, over 250 victims were defrauded of approximately $1.5 million. The credit card companies refunded approximately $1.2 million to the individual victims. The victims who mailed personal checks or cashier's checks to the defendants lost approximately $336,000.

The investigation is sponsored by President Barack Obama's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes. For more information on the task force, visit www.stopfraud.gov.

The case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the FBI, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Megan Rachow and Bill Reed. For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com