Thousands Attend Vigil For Aurora 'Batman' Shooting Victims; Seek Stringent Firearm Laws(Photos)

Actor Billy Bob Thornton's daughter convicted of manslaughter

Oscar winning actor Billy Bob Thornton's daughter Amanda Brumfield, 32, was found guilty of manslaughter of a 1 year old baby, the daughter of her best friend.

The murder case was being tried in the same Orlando courthouse where the much hyped Casey Anthony first degree murder case was unfolding. The baby, Olivia Madison Garcia, who died in October 2008 while she was in the care of her mother's best friend, was also the goddaughter of Brumfield. 

Brumfield had pleaded not guilty in the case, in  which she was accused of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter. Olivia died after she sustained serious injuries from falling out of a playpen which caused a 3-inch fracture on the girl's skull and bleeding and swelling on her brain. Brumfield claimed that the baby had accidentally fallen a short distance out of the playpen. The prosecutors deemed her argument implausible saying that a playpen fall of that nature wouldn't have caused the deep injuries that lead to the child's death.

Brumfield's public defender, David Barszcz, based his arguments on the close relationship Brumfield shared with Olivia's mother, Heather Murphy. Murphy had keys to Brumfield's home and the latter used to keep diapers and playpen at her place which denoted frequent visits of her best friend and child, the defender claimed. The bottom line is they were very, very close, Barszcz told the court.

The defense argued that Olivia was trying to climb out of the playpen that lead to her fall which caused second-impact syndrome, meaning the impact aggravated an existing injury. What exactly happened that lead to the child's death is still unknown, though Brumfield was reported to have behaved strange after the death. She didn't call police for help for two hours after the incident and in the meanwhile painted the child's toenails, fed her with bananas and lay on the floor with the dead child.

Jury found merits in prosecution and defense cases and acquitted Brumfield of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse but convicted her of manslaughter.

Since the arrest of Brumfield, her relationship with celebrity father Bob Thornton was much talked about including her early estrangement from him. Thornton and his first wife Melissa Gatlin split in 1980, which didn't go down well with their daughter Brumfield. Brumfield had accused Thornton in 2001 for not being around for her when she needed him and had said, I have nothing against him. I love him. He's my father. I just want him to be around. I don't want to cry, but it's not fair to watch him on TV every day, and I can't even get a call.

Thornton, who is married five times, had admitted his guilt in the past about Brumfield, She didn't grow up with me, and so we were pretty much strangers for years, Thornton reportedly said in 2005.

Anytime a baby's life is lost is an unimaginable tragedy, and my heart goes out to the baby's family and loved ones, was Thornton's reaction to the indictment of his daughter.

Thornton is known for his idiosyncratic behavior including his eccentric displays of affection when he was married to Angelina Jolie. The couple had hit the news for wearing vials of each other's blood around their necks which, Thornton later clarified, were small lockets each containing a single drop of blood.

Thornton also has obsessive compulsive disorder characterized by phobia for French antique furniture and fear for certain type of silverware, traits he infused into his movie characters as a screenwriter.

Korean Market Slips After Trading Firm

RTTNews - After moving up sharply in early trading, the Korean market has pared its gains with investors indulging in some heavy selling in a few front line stocks. Bank stocks are among the major losers. Telecommunications, steel and energy stocks are also seen drifting lower.

The Korean benchmark index KOSPI, which rose to 1,434.31 earlier in the day, is currently trading at 1,420, down marginally from its previous close. On Friday, the KOSPI had ended at 1,420.04

In the banking space, Korea Exchange Bank is down by 3.6%. KB Financial is trading lower by 2.2% and Shinhan Finance is down with a loss of 1.3%. Woori Finance, faring relatively better, is down modestly at present.

Technology stocks are trading firm. Samsung Electronics, the market heavyweight, is up by over 4%. Samsung Electronics reported better first quarter earnings than analysts expected on Friday, led by its mobile phone division, but remained cautious about business going forward due to the global recession. The firm's net profit fell 72 percent year-on-year to 620 billion Korean won (US$461.7 million), while its revenue grew 9 percent to 18.97 trillion won but it wall still better than what anaylsts had expected.

The company, which reported stabilizing memory chip and LCD panel prices as well as better profit margins in its mobile phone division, remained cautious overall about future sales .LG Electronics is gaining 1.7% while Hynix Semiconductor and LG Display LCD are trading higher by 0.4% and 0.9% respectively.

Airlines stocks are trading mixed. Among automobile stocks, Kia Motor is trading flat. Ssangyong Motor is up with a modest gain while Hyundai Motor is trading lower by 0.4%.

In the shipbuilding space, Hyundai Heavy Industries is up modestly while Samsung Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding are trading lower. Bulk carrier STX Pan Ocean is up 0.8% over its previous close.

With the reporting season about to unfold, the mood is quite cautious in most of the Asian markets this morning. Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan and Singapore are trading sharply lower with their benchmark indices losing between 1% - 1.6%. The NZX 50 index of the New Zealand market is down by about half a percent while Taiwan's key index is trading lower by 0.38%. Shanghai is up in positive territory with notable gains.

Stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region had ended on a weak note on Friday following losses in Wall Street, where the major indices had ended sharply lower after the Labor Department released weaker job report for June, denting recovery hopes.

The New York Mercantile Exchange was closed on Friday for the July 4 public holiday. A day earlier, light crude for August delivery had settled at US$66.73.

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Rio Tinto sells food packaging assets for $1.2 bln

Global miner Rio Tinto agreed on Monday to sell its Americas food-packaging assets for $1.2 billion to packaging group Bemis Co Inc , raising yet more much-needed cash for the indebted miner.

Rio Tinto, which only last week raised $15.2 billion in one of the world's largest-ever rights issues, said it had sold the assets for $1 billion in cash with the rest potentially paid in the form of shares in U.S.-listed Bemis.

Any packaging assets that Rio is getting rid of its balance sheet is good and will be liked by the market, Olivia Ker, research analyst with Merrill Lynch, said after the news.

Rio Tinto shares were down 1.2 percent at A$49 soon after the announcement, but they outperformed shares in its major mining rival, BHP Billiton , which were down 2 percent.

The deal moves Rio Tinto closer to the day when it can draw a line under its near-disastrous 2007 acquisition of aluminum and packaging firm Alcan. Bought near the height of the commodities boom, Alcan left Rio Tinto with $38 billion in debt.

Rio Tinto had hoped to repay some of that debt by quickly on-selling the Alcan packaging assets, but the global financial crisis delayed that plan as asset prices tumbled.

Rio Tinto said the remaining Alcan non-aluminum assets were still on the auction block, with their book value likely to be written down ahead of their sale. So far this year, Rio Tinto has announced a total $3.7 billion in asset sales.

The sale of the Food Americas division is the first significant step in reducing the asset portfolio acquired with Alcan, Rio Tinto Chief Financial Officer Guy Elliott said in a statement.

The transaction represents solid value given the challenging financial environment.

Rio Tinto opted for its $15.2 billion rights issue, the world's fifth largest, after aborting a controversial plan to sell $19.5 billion in convertible debt and assets to a major shareholder, Chinese state-owned Chinalco.

At the same time as abandoning the Chinalco deal, it announced a $116 billion iron ore joint venture with BHP Billiton which would deliver both firms $10 billion in savings.

Under the deal announced on Monday, Wisconsin-based Bemis said it was buying 23 flexible-packaging plants in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and New Zealand.

It said it was paying about 6.7 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization for the business, when $100 million of tax benefits were taken into account.

(Reporting by Denny Thomas, writing by Mark Bendeich; Editing by Jonathan Standing)

Thousands attend the vigil for victims of the Aurora theatre shooting

Thousands attend the vigil for victims of the Aurora theatre shooting

Thousands attend the vigil for victims of the Aurora theatre shooting

Thousands attend the vigil for victims of the Aurora theatre shooting

Thousands attend the vigil for victims of the Aurora theatre shooting

Thousands attend the vigil for victims of the Aurora theatre shooting.

Thousands attend the vigil for victims of the Aurora theatre shooting

Thousands attend the vigil for victims of the Aurora theatre shooting

Thousands attend the vigil for victims of the Aurora theatre shooting