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Turkey's leaders have called Israel the "West's spoiled child," and the "bully" of the eastern Mediterranean. When a Tel Aviv soccer team showed up in Istanbul recently for a match, the welcome was less than warm. In September, Turkey kicked out the Israeli ambassador, suspended military and trade deals and threatened legal and naval action to challenge Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip. As roars of approval went up around the Arab world, few noticed another announcement quietly slipped in by Ankara: Turkey had signed off on a plan to host an American X-band radar system as part of a...

Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant ...grabbed a man’s wrist and cell phone at St. Therese of Carmel in San Diego Sunday. The man claims Bryant thought he had taken pictures of him and his family on his cell phone, but returned the phone after discovering there were no pictures. The alleged victim claims he had to go to the hospital to treat a wrist injury.

We’ve seen a lot of rumors about NBA players going to play in Europe if the lockout continues into the fall. But this one beats them all. The Turkish team, Besiktas, that reportedly signed Deron Williams now has its eyes on Kobe Bryant. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports has the story: [Beskitas coach Ergin] Ataman will travel to the United States with Besiktas management officials next week to trumpet the signing of Williams, and wants to arrange a meeting with Bryant and Bryant’s agent, Rob Pelinka, he told Yahoo! Sports on Thursday afternoon. “After we signed Deron, we started to...

Dominique Strauss-Kahn will admit he had sexual contact with the hotel chambermaid who alleges he attacked her, but insist it was consensual, his lawyers have indicated. The International Monetary Fund chief allegedly locked the maid in his suite at Manhattan's Sofitel on Saturday and forced her to give him oral sex. He was denied $1m bail and is being held at Rikers Island jail. However in a hint at what may become his main line of defence, his attorney, Benjamin Brafman, said at New York criminal court: "The evidence, we believe, will not be consistent with a forcible encounter". It...

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 by the NBA on Wednesday and criticized by numerous gay-rights groups for directing an anti-gay slur at referee Bennie Adams during a game Tuesday against San Antonio. Bryant was irritated after he was called for an offensive foul and received his 15th technical of the season during the game. He punched a chair on the Lakers' bench before he sat, threw down a towel and yelled "Bennie!" before muttering a curse word followed by the word "faggot." His outburst was captured on TV and prompted TNT analyst Steve Kerr to immediately say, "You...

The NBA fined Kobe Bryant $100,000 on Wednesday for using a derogatory gay term in frustration over a referee's call. NBA Commissioner David Stern issued a swift disciplinary ruling after the Los Angeles Lakers' five-time NBA champion guard cursed and used the homophobic slur when referee Bennie Adams called a technical foul on him Tuesday night in the third quarter of a victory over the San Antonio Spurs. ''Kobe Bryant's comment during last night's game was offensive and inexcusable,'' Stern said. ''While I'm fully aware that basketball is an emotional game, such a distasteful term should never be tolerated. ......

"Turkish Deal Will Make Kobe the Face of Oppression and Injustice" and "Kobe Bryant's Direct Flight to Inhumanity," announced the website of the Armenian Youth Federation. WHAT ABOUT THE GENOCIDE? TURKS MURDERED ARMENIANS AND TRIED TO WIPE THEM OFF THE FACE OF THE PLANET?

Armenian Americans -- many right here in the Los Angeles area -- are calling Kobe Bryant's endorsement deal with Turkish Airlines "Kobe's direct flight to inhumanity." The Armenian Youth Federation says it's considering protests at Staples Center if Bryant doesn't back down or at least issue some type of statement recognizing the Armenian Genocide, when approximately 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were killed. Bryant has talked about the endorsement deal, telling CNBC, "I've never been to Turkey, but all the guys on the team who have been keep saying (that) it's one of the hottest places to go....

[...] And then last week, he went home and was watching a game when a new commercial for "Call of Duty: Black Ops" came on his television. Seen through Walker's eyes, the content was bad enough. A woman in high heels, a hotel concierge, a guy in a fast-food worker's outfit -- they're all shooting automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades in an urban warfare setting. He was already disgusted, but about halfway through the spot, Walker did a double take: Wait! Wasn't that Kobe Bryant? Seriously, is that really Kobe Bryant carrying an assault weapon with the word "MAMBA" on...

We will never know if Kobe Bryant's wife, Vanessa, really did order the maid to pull the price tag from a blouse out of a trash bag filled with dog feces -- because the case has settled. TMZ broke the story that Kobe and Vanessa were sued by Maria Jimenez, who claimed Vanessa was beyond abusive, calling her "lazy, slow, dumb, a f***ing liar, and f***ing sh-t." Kobe and Vanessa denied the allegations by their former maid, but now the case has settled out of court.

Noted Chicagoan and basketballophile Barack Obama appears to be writing off the California vote in 2012, at least the basketball fans around Los Angeles. In a pre-holiday interview with the Associated Press, Obama was asked who was the better player -- six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan or four-time champion Kobe Bryant? Without even a moment's hesitation, the ex-senator from Illinois blurted out, "Oh, Michael!" Then, apparently realizing what he'd just said and the profound impact on any 2012 election, the new president hastened to add: "I mean, Kobe's terrific. Don't get me wrong. But I haven't seen anybody match up...

The puppets are still prattling away, carrying on like a modern-day, foam-and-wires odd couple. The presumptuously named Great Debate is still thriving, too. The rivalry between Kobe Bryant and LeBron James has never been more heated, at least in the alternate universe created by advertisers who were banking on a certain N.B.A. finals showdown. Except that the real-life LeBron and his Cleveland Cavaliers just got bounced from the playoffs, and it will be the Orlando Magic that faces Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers for the championship. The real-life Kobe stands alone, which is arguably where he has always been. A rival?...

It's pretty moving to watch a pampered professional jock show more patriotism than the Democratic candidate for president, more pride in his country than the democratic candidate's wife, and more awareness of this country's opportunities than a liberal NBC announcer. < > Kobe: Well, you know it’s just our country, it’s... we believe is the greatest country in the world. It has given us so many great opportunities, and it’s just a sense of pride that you have; that you say "You know what? Our country is the best!" < >

My top five (listed in alphabetical order) Tim Duncan Kevin Garnett Lebron James Kobe Bryant Chris Paul

Plenty of interesting and shocking words have been spoken in the visitors' locker room at TD Banknorth Garden in Boston during the 2005/06 NBA season, but nothing compares to Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant telling a handful of reporters, "I wouldn't mind being Jewish. I wouldn't mind. Really." Bryant, the NBA's leading scorer at 34.8 points per game, was fielding questions from a television reporter on camera about the dearth of Jewish athletes in professional sports. The basketball star, however, was skeptical. "Not too many Jews in professional sports? Hmmm," Bryant said. "That sounds kind of weird to me....

So much for the X-rated goings-on with the shaky woman from Colorado, chasing Shaquille O'Neal to Miami, accusing Karl Malone of trying to hit on his wife and leading the Lakers to an awe-inspiring record of 34-48 last season. Kobe Bryant scores 81 points in a game, and it is all good. No, it is better than all good. It is nirvana. It also is surreal, whatever the definition of surreal is.

Stamford — Prosecutors who won a murder conviction against Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel want his attorneys to identify two men implicated in the murder by a cousin of basketball star Kobe Bryant. Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, is seeking a new trial based on a claim by Gitano “Tony” Bryant that two of his friends killed Martha Moxley in 1975. Prosecutors are seeking the identity and whereabouts of the two men, identified only as “A” and “B” in court papers, so they can respond to the claim and prepare their case. “Moreover, it is against the interests of justice...

DENVER (AP) -- Nike is using photos of Kobe Bryant for the first time since his arrest two years ago for an alleged assault on a female employee at a Colorado resort. ``Nike agrees with most NBA observers that Kobe ranks among the very best players in the NBA, and his training and preparation are key elements of his game,'' said Nike spokesman Rodney Knox. The ads appear in Sports Illustrated. His name appeared in an ad earlier this year. Prosecutors dismissed a rape charge against Bryant last September after his alleged victim refused to go ahead with the case....

Two years after his arrest on a sexual assault charge, Kobe Bryant has leaped back into the endorsement game....featured in a two-page Nike advertisement in the new issue of Sports Illustrated. It's the first time the hoops legend has been seen in any ads since his bust in July 2003 stemming from the alleged attack on a 19-year-old Colorado hotel employee......Kobe admitted he'd had sex with the teen, but insisted it was consensual. But the lurid allegations had all of Kobe's endorsement deals being pulled, which cost him millions of dollars. The sex charge was dropped last September after his...

The Kobe Bryant civil case has been settled, ABC News reported Tuesday. ABC News said the Los Angeles Lakers star has reached a settlement with the woman who had accused him of rape. The amount of the settlement has not been disclosed. Prosecutors dropped criminal charges against Bryant last year, then his accuser filed a civil lawsuit. Bryant was expected at a deposition last Friday in the case but it was canceled. It would have been the first time Bryant would have answered questions under oath. That deposition did not take place and that led to speculation a settlement might...

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<p>Two witnesses who saw Kobe Bryant's accuser shortly after her encounter with the NBA basketball star last year drew sharply different impressions of her emotional state, according to files released by the prosecutor.</p> <p>The young woman's supervisor at a mountain resort near Vail described her as "bubbly" and having "a big smile on her face" after the encounter in which she claimed Bryant had raped her. But a bellman at the hotel, a friend of the woman, told his father she was "crying uncontrollably, shaking, near hysteria."</p>

His name is Eric Strobel. Rita Cosby is talking about it now.

Geneva Says, ‘I Quit’ Poynter Online is a website for news people that says it’s “everything you need to be a better journalist.” Well, our old friend Geneva Overholser, who always wants to be a better journalist, has a big-time issue with Poynter Online. In the event you’ve forgotten who Overholser is, let me refresh your memory. She made some news herself when she was editor at the local paper a few years ago. While Overholser was editor, the managing editor was Dave Westphal, Westphal had been one of the sports editors with whom I worked in my earlier writing...

Despite its many painful and unseemly aspects, the Kobe Bryant rape case and the media storm surrounding it have drawn attention to a severely neglected problem: false rape accusations. In her recent Daily Journal column, high profile feminist professor Wendy Murphy dismisses the problem of false accusations as an "ugly myth," and calls for "boiling rage" activism to address what she perceives as the anti-woman bias of the criminal justice system. Like many victims' advocates, Murphy cannot seem to fathom the possibility that Bryant could be innocent. However, research shows that false allegations of rape are frighteningly common. According to...

EAGLE COUNTY - Kobe Bryant was cooperative with the sheriff's investigators who questioned him the night after an Eagle woman said he had raped her, although he gave them sometimes conflicting answers. "Ask me what, ask me something, ask me anything," Bryant said, according to a transcript and recording mailed anonymously to the Vail Daily this week. Bryant's first reaction to questions about having sex with his alleged victim was a denial, which Eagle County Sheriff's Detective Doug Winters would later say was one reason he didn't completely believe Bryant's version of events the night of June 30, 2003. Winters:...

Once again we have seen that you get all the Justice you can afford. On one hand I am outraged because I know that those who are no guilty but broke (or have the normal debts we ALL do) are screwed. If you have a Public Defender, well get your affairs in order and get ready to do some time... but ifyou have unlimited funds...fagettaboutit... On the other hand this is how we ration things in the USA...buy income. You get all the house you can afford. You get all the healthcare you can afford. You get all the Justice...

Kobe Bryant's legal drama may soon be over.ABC News is reporting Wednesday afternoon that the prosecution in the Bryant case will ask the judge later in the day to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning the case cannot ever be brought back for trial. According to the report, the accuser has told prosecutors she is no longer willing to testify. The trial is set to resume at 7:45 p.m. ET. A news conference, originally scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, was not held. NBC News was reporting that the request for dismissal would be without prejudice, meaning a future trial would...

Prosecution will file motion to dismiss case.

Awaiting a press conference. D.A. to file for dismissal of rape charge against Kobe Bryant.

Kevin Moloney for The New York Times Dr. Sheri Vanino, director of victim services for a Denver assault counseling program, meeting with a client. DENVER, Aug. 17 - A few months ago, a young woman walked into the office of the Rape Assistance and Awareness Program, like so many women before her, to describe how she had been assaulted and to ask for help. But what she ended up talking about was Kobe Bryant. Not the law or the criminal sexual assault case against Mr. Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers basketball star, or even his guilt or innocence, said...

DENVER - With Kobe Bryant's sexual assault trial scheduled to begin in less than two weeks, speculation is mounting that prosecutors are looking for a way to dismiss the charge after suffering a series of setbacks. The NBA star is due in court Monday in Eagle, his final court appearance before jury selection begins on Aug. 27. But events of the past two weeks suggest prosecutors might be seeking an avenue to dismiss the charge with minimal embarrassment, legal experts said. "We have too many things happening in this case that we just don't normally have," said Larry Pozner, former...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Key DNA evidence shows that the 20-year-old woman who accuses Kobe Bryant (news) of rape had sex with another man in the hours after her encounter with the Los Angeles Lakers star, a defense expert has testified. The expert also rejected a prosecution theory that the DNA -- found on swabs from the woman's inner thighs, vagina and cervix -- ended up there only because the young woman put on a pair of previously worn panties. The testimony by DNA expert Elizabeth Johnson came during a closed-door courtroom hearing in Colorado in June but was kept...

EAGLE, Colo. - With the parents of the alleged victim in the courtroom, the judge in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case apologized Friday for court mistakes that led to the release of sealed information. During the brief public hearing, District Judge Terry Ruckriegle told the parents he would treat the mistakes as a learning experience. "For all of those who come through these doors, victims and defendants alike, whose names are never known and never sought, I can only assure you I have learned lessons from these mistakes, and that we will give our best human effort not to...

DENVER (AP) - Swabs taken from Kobe Bryant during a hospital exam found DNA from the NBA star and the woman accusing him of rape, but none from an unidentified person whose DNA showed up on other evidence in the case, the judge said in a sealed filing mistakenly posted Wednesday on a court Web site. The defense wants to present the DNA evidence from Bryant's hospital exam to jurors. In the sealed filing, District Judge Terry Ruckriegle said the prosecution does not intend to introduce that evidence. The filing orders both sides to come up with an agreement by...

While her previous sexual history will not be admitted, the judge has just ruled that any post-KB-sexual activity WILL be admitted.

The Lakers still have half of their superstar duo. Kobe Bryant agreed to stay with the Lakers on Thursday, spurning an offer from the Clippers, it was announced. The Lakers will hold a 9 p.m. ET news conference to announce the move. Bryant will be present for the news conference. League sources told ESPN.com's Marc Stein that Bryant informed Clippers owner Donald Sterling and general manager Elgin Baylor of his decision in a phone call this afternoon. The decision came one day after the Lakers traded Shaquille O'Neal to the Heat for three players and a draft pick. On Wednesday,...

Prosecutors, witnesses and other participants in Kobe Bryant's trial will be prohibited from using the term "victim" to describe the woman accusing the NBA star of rape. In a ruling made public Tuesday, state District Judge Terry Ruckriegle said he agreed with Bryant's lawyers that the term implies guilt. "Its use under these circumstances could improperly suggest that a crime had been committed such that the presumption of innocence might be jeopardized," Ruckriegle said. He said the 19-year-old woman must be referred to by name at trial and as a "person" in jury instructions. Bryant's attorneys had also asked the...

Crime laboratory evidence shows the 19-year-old woman who has accused Kobe Bryant (news) of rape had consensual sex with another man hours after she said the basketball star raped her, MSNBC reported on Wednesday.

Colorado Supreme Court Denies Kobe Bryant Accuser Protection From CO Rape Shield LawThe Colorado Supreme Court today denied a petition (citing Colorado's rape shield law) for relief of the accuser to testify in hearings scheduled March 24 and 25 in Eagle, Colorado in the Kobe Bryant rape case. The courts ruling (en Banc) denied a prosecution request to limit questioning the women about her sexual history to a 72-hour timeframe in days surrounding the accused rape. The ruling will allow the Bryant defense team to ask questions about the accusers lifetime of sexual activity. The Petititon: http://www.courts.state.co.us/exec/media/eagle/03-04/sc_car21_relief.pdf The Denial of...

Kobe Bryant's defense attorneys asked the judge in his sexual-assault case Tuesday to allow them to cite the accuser's sexual encounters around the day of the alleged incident. They also want to explore her use of psychiatric drugs to treat manic-depression. The defense team is seeking to pierce the state's rape-shield law, which generally prevents introducing an alleged victim's sexual history, and which prosecutors earlier in the week vehemently defended. They argued that other sexual encounters could have caused her injuries. "There is substantial evidence that the accuser had multiple sex partners within the 72 hours preceding her physical examination...

EAGLE, Colo. -- In an embarrassing admission, the man prosecuting Kobe Bryant said Friday that someone in his office ordered T-shirts that mock the NBA star, including one carrying the words: "I'm not a rapist; I'm just a cheater." Eagle County District Attorney Mark Hurlbert also said he and fellow Bryant prosecutor Greg Crittenden were each given one of the shirts by "an unknown source." Hurlbert said he immediately disposed of the shirt and Crittenden did so later. Neither wore the shirt, the prosecutor said in a prepared statement. Hurlbert said "office support staff" had ordered the shirts without his...

EAGLE, Colo. (AP) -- Kobe Bryant's trial judge rejected a prosecution request for an investigation into media leaks Friday as a key hearing began on whether the defense will be able to use his rape accuser's medical history against her. With the parents of the 19-year-old woman sitting in the courtroom, state District Judge Terry Ruckriegle said trying to find out whether anyone involved in the case was giving sealed details to reporters would be a waste of time. The hearing, the first of two scheduled to determine what evidence will be allowed, began with two relatively minor issues:...

DENVER - The judge in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case rejected a prosecution request Tuesday to seal all court filings regarding evidence. Instead, Judge Terry Ruckriegle said, attorneys in the case can file motions about Bryant and his accuser that leave sensitive details to be filed separately under seal. The judge urged attorneys to make sealed filings "sparingly and wisely" and he chided the prosecution for citing "no legal authority" to seal all details of evidence. "While it is admirable to attempt to prevent potential tainting of the jury pool, giving counsel free reign to file any such motions...

Headline says it all. Came as an alert over my cell phone. No further details yet...

During the Clinton impeachment year, one got used to viewing television with a trigger finger on the remote, lest the children overhear with too much precision what all the fuss was about. My children are older now, but I still find myself in great sympathy with those home-schooling religious types who simply abjure television and radio altogether; walling off their homes and their lives from the putrescence that swirls outside. As it is, we man the cultural battlements with an ever-increasing sense of futility. When the reporter following every hiccough of the Scott Peterson trial appears on screen, we may...

A new bombshell revelation in the Kobe Bryant case threatens to destroy the credibility of the prosecution’s key witness - whose testimony could send the basketball superstar to jail for years. Sources told GLOBE that the 19-year-old woman who has accused Bryant of rape told them she had sex with the prosecution’s star witness Bobby Pietrack - a week before she met Bryant. Pietrack, a 23-year-old bellhop at the resort where the alleged rape took place, is the first person Katelyn Faber told about her encounter with Bryant. He can testify about her emotional state and physical appearance at the...

Kobe Bryant Hearing Transcript Sordid details of NBA star's alleged sex attack NOVEMBER 7--With Kobe Bryant scheduled next week to formally enter a plea in his sexual assault case, a Colorado judge has finally released the official court transcript of the NBA star's explosive preliminary hearing, held over two days last month. The sole witness during the Eagle County District Court proceeding was Doug Winters, the sheriff's detective who interviewed the alleged 19-year-old rape victim the morning after the attack. According to the woman, Bryant, 25, grabbed her by the neck, bent her over a chair, and raped her...

<p>EAGLE COUNTY, Colo. — Kobe Bryant has not yet entered a plea in the rape case against him, but some people closely involved with the case appear to have already made up their minds.</p> <p>In October, employees of the Eagle County, Colo. (search) sheriff's and district attorney's offices put in orders for a shipment of anti-Kobe Bryant T-shirts.</p>

Crime And Trivia I haven't written about the Laci Peterson murder case or the rape case involving Kobe Bryant for two reasons. One, the only things that should be legitimately reported about any criminal trial are the testimony of the witnesses under oath and the remarks of the judge and the attorneys inside the courtroom during the trial. Everything else is hearsay and gossip. Two, an ordinary crime and subsequent criminal trial do not affect anyone except the victim, the perpetrator and their families. Therefore, it should be of no interest to anyone else. Unless you are family or friend,...