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Rep: Ashley Judd, Franchitti to divorce
Actress Ashley Judd and champion race car driver Dario Franchitti are divorcing after 11 years of marriage, a representative for the actress said Tuesday.
Judd and Franchitti were married in his home country of Scotland in December 2001.
Judd is best known for her roles in the films "Double Jeopardy" and "High Crimes." Franchitti won his third Indy 500 in May.
Former Georgian minister charged with torture
The former interior minister of Georgia was charged Tuesday with torture and false imprisonment, state media in Russia reported.
Bacho Akhalaia resigned in September after videos surfaced on YouTube purportedly showing guards abusing prisoners.
Prosecutors said Akhalaia in February 2010 ordered guards to lock up 19 military members in unheated cells, where the men received no food for three days, RIA Novosti reported.
Akhalaia and two other military officials were charged with torture, false imprisonment, degrading treatment, physical and verbal abuse, and abuse of office, the news agency said.
In September, protests broke out after four videos became public. Georgian protesters, religious leaders and politicians all called for Akhalaia’s resignation after images.
At the time he quit, Akhalaia released a statement saying, "I am deeply horrified with the crime that has been revealed in Gldani N8 prison," referring to the facility in Tbilisi, Georgia's capital.
The country's Interior Ministry blamed certain prison employees for the degrading treatment.
But a former prison guard who left the country about four months ago and is seeking political asylum in Belgium put the blame on Akhalaia.
"I have been working in the system since 2001, but since 2005 when Akhalaia was put in charge, he introduced his criminal elements of leadership," Vladimir Bedukadze told CNN in late September.
Akhalaia, who was Georgia's defense minister from 2009 until he became interior minister in July, is being held in custody until he faces trial, RIA Novosti reported.
NASCAR's Jeff Gordon fined $100,000 for part in post-race brawl
NASCAR has docked one of its most famous drivers $100,000 for his part in a post-race, post-crash brawl between pit crews.
Four-time champion Jeff Gordon also lost 25 points and is now 11th in the Sprint Cup championship standings with one race remaining.
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Giants' Sandoval ties World Series record with three home runs in game
Pablo Sandoval of the San Francisco Giants tied a World Series record when he hit three home runs in Game 1 against the Detroit Tigers.
Sandoval, who had 12 home runs during the regular season, hit a solo home run in the first and a two-run shot in the third off Tigers ace Justin Verlander. In the fifth, he added another home run off Al Alburquerque. He has six home runs in the postseason.
More than 100 killed in Syrian violence today
At least 180 people were found dead in Syria on Monday, victims of the ongoing civil war, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, a network of opposition activists.
Bonnie and Clyde's guns go up for auction
If you happen to be a crime aficionado and have a bunch of extra cash on lying around you just might have a chance to nab two very historic weapons.
The guns recovered from the bodies of notorious gangster couple Bonnie and Clyde are expected to fetch more than $100,000 each at an auction on Sunday, an auction official said.
The Colt .45 was found in Clyde Barrow's waistband, and the .38-caliber Colt was strapped to one of Bonnie Parker's legs on May 23, 1934, when they were killed in an ambush near Gibsland, Louisiana.
"This is one of the finest Bonnie and Clyde collections you will ever see," said Bobby Livingston, vice president of RR Auction in Amherst, New Hampshire. "We expect the guns should sell anywhere between $100,000 and $200,000. But really the sky is the limit for these types of guns."
In January, a submachine gun and shotgun reportedly seized at one of Bonnie and Clyde's hideouts was sold by a Kansas City auction firm for $130,000 and $80,000, respectively, The Joplin Globe reported.
According to the website for RR Auction, the Colt Model 1911 U.S. Army pistol was Barrow's "personal pistol." When police officers searched the car Bonnie and Clyde were driving when they were gunned down, they found many weapons, including nine other Colts, but this was the one he favored, Livingston said.
Potomac tops list of endangered rivers in U.S., group says
The river that provides much of the drinking water to our nation’s capital, the Potomac, tops the annual list of most endangered American waterways, according to a national conservation group.
American Rivers said Tuesday that thanks to the Clean Water Act of 1972, the Potomac is in much better shape than it was 40 years ago, but the river still is threatened by pollution.
“When members of Congress fill a glass of water or drink their morning coffee, that water comes from the Potomac River,” said Bob Irvin, president of American Rivers, in a news release. “It’s time to draw the clear connections between healthy rivers, drinking water, and public health in Washington, D.C., and in communities nationwide.”
Judge blocks VA from barring 'Jesus Christ' from Memorial Day prayer
A federal judge in Texas has told the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs that it cannot censor a pastor's invocation at a Memorial Day ceremony.
The VA had ordered the Rev. Scott Rainey to remove a phrase using Jesus Christ from the prayer, arguing the line excluded other beliefs held by veterans, KHOU-TV in Houston reported.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes disagreed, writing the government cannot "gag citizens when it says it is in the interest of national security, and it cannot do it in some bureaucrat's notion of cultural homogeneity," according to a report in the Houston Chronicle.
Japan quake live blog: Official death toll rises to 3,676
An 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit northern Japan early Friday, triggering tsunamis that caused widespread devastation and crippled a nuclear power plant. Are you in an affected area? Send an iReport. Read the full report on the quake, tsunami and the fears surrounding Japan's damaged nuclear reactors.
[11:30 p.m. ET Tuesday, 12:30 p.m. Wednesday in Tokyo] A white cloud of smoke or steam rising above Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant may have been caused by a breach in the containment vessel in reactor No. 3, government officials said.
"There's a probability the vapor is coming out of a broken part of containment vessel. This is a possibility," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Wednesday.
A spokesman for Japan's nuclear safety agency later told reporters that analysts were still trying to determine the cause of fluctuating radiation levels at the plant, but that radiation levels may have increased "because the containment vessel in reactor No. 3 has been damaged."
[11:01 p.m. ET Tuesday, 12:47 p.m. Wednesday in Tokyo] The reported radiation readings near the front gate of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant are fluctuating by the hour, but currently do not pose any health hazard, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Wednesday. The reading spiked once Tuesday night, he said.
Meanwhile, The Japan Times reports that radiation reached around 20 times normal levels in the capital Tuesday morning, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government said, while offering the assurance this reading posed no immediate risk to human health and that the public should remain calm.
"I received a report this morning that there was an important change of data," Gov. Shintaro Ishihara said at a news conference. "I heard that it will not immediately cause health problems."
[10:47 p.m. ET Tuesday, 11:47 a.m. Wednesday in Tokyo] Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Wednesday workers at Japan's damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant have suspended their operations and been evacuated.
[9:20 p.m. ET Tuesday, 10:20 a.m. Wednesday in Tokyo] The death toll in Japan has risen to 3,676, authorities said. he number of dead is expected to go up as rescuers reach more hard-hit areas
At least 7,558 people are missing and 1,990 are injured, according to the National Police Agency Emergency Disaster Headquarters.
[8:26 p.m. ET Tuesday, 9:26 a.m. Wednesday in Tokyo] Stocks in Japan opened higher Wednesday morning, one day after the island nation's main market index suffered one of its biggest drops on record, CNNMoney's Ben Rooney reports.
The Nikkei 225 index, the most prominent measure of Tokyo market stocks, rose 520 points, or 6%, shortly after the market opened. The rebound comes after intense selling in the previous two sessions. On Tuesday, the index plunged 10.6%, marking the third worst one-day plunge in the Nikkei's history.
Phillies' Halladay no-hits Reds in playoff opener
Halladay no-hitter came in the first postseason start of his career.
Roy Halladay of the Phillies pitched the second no-hitter in Major League Baseball postseason history on Wednesday as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-0 in their National League Division Series opener in Philadelphia.
Halladay, making his first postseason start in his 12-year career, struck out eight and walked one. He threw 104 pitches, 79 for strikes. Read the boxscore at SI.com
The only blemish on his night was a two-out walk on a 3-2 pitch to Jay Bruce in the Reds' half of the fifth inning.
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