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Notorious gangster Stephen ''The Rifleman" Flemmi said in two recent depositions that he and his partner, James ''Whitey" Bulger, paid more than $200,000 to their FBI handler, John J. Connolly Jr., while working as informants, and gave cash to five other agents. Questioned under oath in lawsuits against the government over the FBI's handling of the gangsters, Flemmi said they paid $5,000 each to John Newton and John Morris and $2,500 each to Nicholas Gianturco, Michael Buckley, and John Cloherty. Transcripts of the depositions, taken in October and last month, were reviewed by the Globe. Flemmi, who began cooperating with...

US chastity ring funding attacked The silver ring is a constant reminder of the abstinence promise The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against the US government over its funding of a nationwide sexual abstinence programme.The ACLU says the Silver Ring Thing programme violates the principle that the state budget cannot be used to promote religion. The programme, which targets teenagers, is an offshoot of a Christian ministry. Since 2003, it has received more than $1m from the Department of Health and Human Services. Symbolic ringThe funding is part of a government initiative to expand abstinence-only sex...

VATICAN CITY -- Cardinals destroyed Pope John Paul II's ring and lead seal Saturday to formally end his reign, while the Vatican expressed confidence that jamming devices and other unprecedented precautions would keep the name of the new pope secret until it is announced to the world from a balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square. The official nine-day mourning period for John Paul, which began with a funeral attended by world leaders and hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, ended with a Mass celebrated Saturday afternoon in St. Peter's Basilica. The destruction of John Paul's Fisherman's Ring and the seal marked a...

Search for lost ring leads to hoard of ancient treasure Apr 12 2005 By Gary Skentelbery Daily Post Correspondent A QUEST for a missing wedding ring has helped uncover a collection of ancient treasures dating back up to 4,000 years. Thought to be from tombs on the holiday island of Cyprus, the pricesless collection had been collecting dust in a Cheshire attic for nearly 40 years, with the belief they were old holiday trinkets. Their historic value was discovered when Neville Davies enlisted the help of archaeologist and metal detecting enthusiast James Balme, to help track down his son-in-law's missing...

Some will think it a romantic gesture, others will find it grisly. But one willing couple in the UK is about to get the chance, thanks to a government-funded project intended to promote awareness of the issues surrounding tissue engineering. "It's for people who want to give a bit of their body to each other," says Nikki Stott, a jewellery designer at the Royal College of Art in London. She and her colleague Tobie Kerridge are collaborating with Ian Thomspon, a bioengineer at King's College London. The tricky part is that the lucky couple will have to provide bone cell...

Man attacks church with axe A Romanian man was arrested after he attacked a church with his axe because the bells were too loud. Ioan Cozma, 42, from Costisa, Neamt county, demolished the church door, a marble cross and a little chapel. Cozma, who lives near the church, said he had politely asked the priest to take it easy with the bells early in the morning and late at night. He said: "I spoke to the priest several times asking him not to ring the bells so loud and often. "But did he listen? No, they did it louder and...

Edward H. Walsh was smoking cigarettes with friends one summer night in 1978 on a South Boston beach. He gestured to make a point. His gold class ring from Don Bosco Technical High flew off his finger. He'd had it just a few weeks. So it was for 26 years. Tides rolled in and rolled out. Southie kids built sandcastles, grew up, and watched their own kids build sandcastles. Broken bottles turned to sea glass.

Flushed ring fished out, years later By Ann Schrader Denver Post Staff Writer Wednesday, January 19, 2005 - Arvada - More than a quarter- century ago, Jerry Duran watched his 1978 Pomona High School class ring swirl around the toilet bowl and disappear. On Tuesday, the gold ring with an aquamarine stone was headed back to Duran, who now lives in Del Norte, where he builds custom bicycles and is a ski patrol member at Wolf Creek Ski Area. Duran, who said he hadn't thought about the ring in years, said its return is "much to my surprise." Arvada Wastewater...

MONTCLAIR - With his wife leading the way, a blindfolded Lance Cpl. David Battle made it up the stairs of one of the area's largest wedding ring stores Friday night. The 19-year-old soldier, who had chosen his own ring over an injured finger while fighting insurgents in Iraq, was now headed for the surprise of a lifetime - a secret his wife, Devann Battle, had struggled to keep from him all week. Ironically, the ring he fought so hard to save on the battlefield last month was lost in a medical camp in Fallujah, where doctors worked to stabilize the...

VICTORVILLE, Calif. - When Marine Lance Cpl. David Battle learned he'd either have to sacrifice his ring finger or the wedding band he wore, he told doctors at a field hospital in Iraq to cut off the finger. The 19-year-old former high school football star suffered a mangled left hand and serious wounds to his legs in a Nov. 13 fire fight in Fallujah. Battle, who is recovering at his parents' home in this desert city 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles, came under attack as he and fellow Marines entered a building. Eleven other Marines were wounded. Doctors were...

Nov 10, 2004 (VIENNA, Austria) — Austrian authorities said Wednesday they busted a group of older men dubbed the "Grandpa Gang" who allegedly were involved in selling cocaine. An undisclosed number of suspects ranging in age from 55 to 70 were detained by police on suspicion of involvement in the ring, including the alleged leader, a 58-year-old man whose name was not released, Vienna police said in a statement. Police arrested the suspects in a raid on a penthouse apartment in downtown Vienna, where they also seized cocaine with an estimated street value of more than $260,000. Authorities said the...

Spiral ring reveals ancient complex machines 19:00 10 June 04 NewScientist.com news service Distinctive spiral patterns carved into a small jade ring show that China was using complex machines more than 2500 years ago, says a Harvard graduate student in physics. The spiral-patterned ring is 27 millimetres in diameter and was probably a body ornament (Image: Science) The ring was among the goods found in high-status graves from China's "Spring and Autumn Period" from 771 to 475 BC. Most archaeological attention has focused on larger and more spectacular jade and bronze artifacts. But Peter Lu identified the patterns on the...

BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Residents in Changsha, Capital of central China's Hunan Province have enjoyed the golden opportunity to see an atmospheric wonder: a solar halo. Yesterday, the sun was wrapped by a grey and black band and the sight looked more beautiful as colorful rings appeared outside the ring. The spectacular sight lasted three and half hours in the city. Meteorological experts make it clear the solar halo can not foretell good or ill luck since it is only an atmospheric phenomenon. Solar halos indicate the increase of steam and the coming of low pressure. (CRIENGLISH.com)

Briton key suspect in nuclear ring Man accused of smuggling parts tells Guardian: 'I was framed' Owen Bowcott, Ian Traynor in Zagreb, John Aglionby in Jakarta and Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington Thursday February 12, 2004 The Guardian (UK) A Middle East-based British businessman has emerged as a key suspect in a secret network supplying Libya, Iran and North Korea with equipment to build nuclear bombs. Speaking for the first time yesterday, Paul Griffin denied that his company played any part in shipping prohibited material from the Far East. He told the Guardian: "We have been framed." His comments came as...

Police Find Major Child-Porn Ring Sun Feb 8, 2:44 PM ET By SUSAN SKILES LUKE, Associated Press Writer MOUNT VERNON, Ill. - Soon after a 13-year-old runaway told police she had posed for pornography in a ramshackle apartment, police knocked on its rickety door. What they found inside stopped them cold. Computers and CDs in the apartment held an enormous collection of child pornography. That led them to a child-porn ring they say involved a staff member of a boarding school for the learning disabled, a middle-school basketball coach and at least four others. Six men have been charged so...

<p>PILOT MOUNTAIN, N.C. (AP) - As soon as a group of fellow bikers pulled the handlebars out of his abdomen after his motorcycle crash, Brian Shipwash wanted to do one more thing in case he died.</p> <p>So he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box, broken and blood-spattered, with a ring inside and asked Shandra Miller to marry him.</p>

WASHINGTON - (KRT) - Like all U.S. Naval Academy graduates, Kevin Shaeffer (Class of '94) and his wife, Blanca (Class of `95), had heard stories about class rings and "ring knockers," the Annapolis graduates who wear them. They're part of service academy lore: stories of soldiers and sailors, killed or wounded in action, whose rings were recovered by buddies, or whose rings were lost and rediscovered. Now the Navy couple has its own story. On Sept. 11, 2001, when a badly burned Kevin Shaeffer, barely conscious, arrived at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, a medical team worked feverishly to save...

Wednesday, July 23, 2003 11:01 PM EST People: Kobe Buys Wife $4 Million Ring Making up to one’s spouse for adultery can be very expensive, especially if there is a rape allegation mixed in. People Magazine will be reporting in editions out this weekend that Kobe Bryant just days after holding an emotional press conference where he admitted to infidelity, the basketball star bought his wife Vanessa a diamond ring for $4 million. No doubt, Bryant has a few bucks to splurge. Aside from millions in endorsement fees from firma like Nike and McDonalds, Bryant has one of the biggest...