Hunger Worsens In Drought-Hit Ethiopia

Ethiopia is grappling with its worst drought in decades with millions of people in dire need of aid. Some aid is forthcoming but as our correspondent Alistair Leithead has seen in Dire Dawa, in eastern Ethiopia, it's far short of what's needed.

Burma’s New Parliament Opens With Aung San Suu Kyi Heading Its Biggest Party

Soe Zeya Tun—ReutersNational League for Democracy (NLD) party leader Aung San Suu Kyi applauds as she attends a farewell ceremony at the Parliament in Naypyitaw, Jan. 29, 2016.

The celebrated leader of Burma’s battle for democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi, will lead the largest party in the country’s legislature when parliament opens today — a historic moment for a country that has been ruled by military dictators and their proxies since 1962.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in elections Nov. 8, the first nationwide polls the party had taken part in since its 1990 victory was ignored by a military junta. Many of the party’s lawmakers, who in the intervening years were jailed for their opposition to military military rule, will now find themselves on the benches of a ruling party with an overwhelming mandate.

The National League for Democracy took 77 percent of elected seats in November, sweeping aside the military-backed party of outgoing President Thein Sein and bringing euphoria to Suu Kyi’s suppporters.

But under the country’s 2008 constitution, drafted by the generals before they officially ceded power, army-appointed lawmakers will still fill a quarter of the seats in the new parliament.

Under the same charter, Suu Kyi is blocked from assuming the presidency because her two sons are British citizens. Suu Kyi has said publicly that she plans to be “above the president” in the new administration.

Cindy Crawford Announces Plan to Retire at 50

Grant Pollard—Invision/APEx-supermodel Cindy Crawford poses for photographers at the launch of her book in central London, Oct. 2, 2015

Cindy Crawford is officially saying goodbye to the modeling world.

The legendary supermodel, who will turn 50 on Feb. 20, told United Airlines’ Rhapsodymagazine that she plans to retire once she hits her fifth century.

“I’m sure I’ll have my picture taken for 10 more years, but not as a model anymore,” Crawford says in the magazine’s February issue. “And that’s okay. I’ve done it. I’ve worked with all these incredible photographers.”

“What else do I need to do? I can’t keep reinventing myself,” she added. “I shouldn’t have to keep proving myself. I don’t want to.”
Crawford certainly can retire knowing she’s had a full career — and life. Aside from being one of the iconic supermodels of the ’90s, the 5-foot-9-inch beauty is also mother to two children — Kaia Jordan Gerber and Presely Walker Gerber, both models-on-the-rise in their own right — and is married to Rande Gerber.

Books Of Condolences To Open For Sir Terry Wogan

The city's mayor, Liam Galvin, said it would give the people of Limerick the chance to pay their respects to "a true son of Limerick" and "a broadcasting institution".

He said: "These Books of Condolences afford Limerick people at home and abroad the opportunity to convey their sympathies to the family of the late Terry Wogan, a true son of Limerick and a broadcasting institution whose passing will be mourned by millions.

"Despite his fame and the fact that he was based in the UK throughout much of his career, Sir Terry often returned home to Limerick and never missed an opportunity on radio or TV to speak about his Limerick roots.

"The Council honoured him with the title of Freeman of Limerick in 2007, which I know was a title that meant very much to him and his family."

Sir Terry, renowned for his work on Radio 2's breakfast show and Children In Need, lost his "short but brave battle with cancer" on Sunday aged 77, his family said.

Sir Terry had last appeared on the airwaves at the beginning of November, when he hosted a show for Radio 2.

Later that month, he pulled out of Children In Need for health reasons.

His colleagues at the BBC were among the first to praise Sir Terry - with his successor as host of Radio 2's breakfast show, Chris Evans, tweeting: "We are all so terribly sad upon hearing of the passing of Terry. I can't put into words how the whole Radio 2 family is feeling.

"Our most heartfelt thoughts go out to Helen, Mark, Alan, Katherine and Vanessa. To many of us Terry was Radio 2. We still can't believe it."

Fellow presenter Jeremy Vine shared this story about Sir Terry: "Someone asked him how many listeners he had. Instead of answering nine million, which would have been accurate, he said: 'Only one.'

"And it was this approach that made him one of the greatest broadcasters this country has ever seen."

Sir Bruce Forsyth said: "Terry was such a great broadcaster and part of our lives for so many years. He will be much missed."

The Beeb's director-general, Tony Hall, said he had lost a "wonderful friend" - and added Sir Terry has left a "remarkable legacy" through Children In Need, which has raised hundreds of millions of pounds for charity.

There have also been countless tributes from the much-loved broadcaster's legion of "TOGs" - Terry's Old Geezers and Gals.

Sir Terry was also celebrated for his commentary of the Eurovision Song Contest from when it began in the 1970s.

Although he loved the annual competition, the host was renowned for his sarcastic comments about rival acts to the UK.

In one putdown, he famously said: "Who knows what hellish future lies ahead? Actually, I do. I've seen the rehearsals."

Despite his withering remarks, Eurovision tweeted: "We are deeply saddened by the passing of Terry Wogan. He was without doubt the most remarkable Eurovision commentator in history."

Graham Norton, a fellow Irishman who succeeded him as anchor of the Eurovision coverage, tweeted: "He made it seem effortless and for a young boy in Ireland he made it seem possible. RIP Sir Terry Wogan. I'll raise a glass during song 9."

Sky's Eamonn Holmes described his experiences of meeting Sir Terry as a young broadcaster in Ireland - and remembered him as a "family man" who was laidback and very successful. 

Tributes have also been paid by the Prime Minister, David Cameron, who tweeted: "My thoughts are with Terry Wogan's family. Britain has lost a huge talent - someone millions came to feel was their own special friend.

"I grew up listening to him on the radio and watching him on TV. His charm and wit always made me smile."

Iowa Caucus Front Runners In Close Contest

Opinion polls show that leading Democrat Hillary Clinton is supported by 47% of people likely to vote in the Iowa caucuses, compared to her main rival Bernie Sanders' 44%. 

Donald Trump, the Republican setting the early pace, is backed by 30% of his party's supporters, with Texas Senator Ted Cruz on 24% and Florida Senator Marco Rubio on 15%, RealClearPolitics found.

All the candidates spent the last day before voting begins on a constant round of speeches, meetings and rallies.

Although the Iowa caucuses provide only a handful of the delegates that will vote at each party's convention in July, the first event in the series of caucuses and primaries is seen as an important chance to gauge the various candidates' support.

Those garnering the least number of supporters will be under pressure to drop out and leave the stronger candidates with a clearer run.

Mr Trump, who spent the final hours before party members gather campaigning with his wife Melania and heavily pregnant daughter Ivanka, looked like he could have caused a last minute upset when he spelled the name of Iowa's second largest city wrong.

In giving his itinerary for Monday on Twitter, Mr Trump said he would be in Ceder Rapids, rather than Cedar Rapids at 1.30pm.

It prompted voter Billy Batts to tweet: "You spelled Cedar Rapids wrong, you dumbass."

Both Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio used some of their last speeches to attack Mr Trump and each other by trying to convince voters that they were the only one who could win the eventual presidential election.

Hillary Clinton came on stage in Iowa's largest city Des Moines after an introduction by her husband the ex-president Bill Clinton.

She launched a veiled swipe at her possible Republican opponents by telling an audience the Democrats had run a "clean" campaign.

It comes after Mr Trump called for a ban on Muslims entering the US and said Mexicans were responsible for importing drugs, crime and rapists.

Her rival Bernie Sanders, a political outsider, urged his supporters to help him make history and send a message to those who back establishment politics.

Kicking off his final day of campaigning in Waterloo, he admitted he needed a large turnout if he had any chance of beating Mrs Clinton.

His call for his supporters to turn out in large numbers came as it was suggested the weather could have an influence on the result.

Forecasters said a blizzard is due to hit the northern part of the state on Monday evening, arriving from the west in the evening. The caucuses start at 7pm.

Boko Haram attack: Children burnt alive in Nigeria

The war between Boko Haram and the Nigerian government has killed 20,000 people in six years [EPA]

At least 86 people, including a number children, have been killed in a series of attacks on a village in north-eastern Nigeria, according to officials. 

Witnesses said suspected Boko Haram fighters firebombed huts, and opened fire on civilians on Saturday evening in the village of Dalori, leaving bullet-ridden and charred bodies strewn across the streets. Gunmen also  tried  to storm a camp close to Dalori, home to some 25,000 refugees, but were repelled by troops.

Witnesses said they heard the screams of children burning to death as huts and homes were razed to the ground.

Mohammed Kanar, area coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency, told the Associated Press news agency that 86 bodies had been collected by Sunday afternoon.  

Another 62 people were being treated for burns, said Abba Musa of the State Specialist Hospital in Maiduguri, the biggest city in northeastern Nigeria, which is about 10km from from Dalori.

Nigerian troops were initially unable to fight off the attackers, and Boko Haram fighters only retreated after reinforcements arrived with heavier weapons, soldiers said.

"As they saw the flames of the fight, then they alerted us. I informed the soldiers ... and that's how they checked," Lawana Geti, head of a local vigilante group called Kondugua, said. 

"And when the soldiers were coming, Boko Haram rushed out of the village." 

The Lake Chad region - which borders Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger - has been frequently targeted by Boko Haram and all four countries have formed a coalition along with Benin to fight the group.

The war between Boko Haram and the Nigerian government has killed 20,000 people in six years and driven 2.3 million people from their homes.

The UN children's agency says up to one million children have been forced out of school.
 

Much of Dalori village was razed to the ground in the latest set of attacks by suspected Boko Haram fighters  [EPA]

Chef Benoit Violier of One of the World’s Top Restaurants Found Dead in Apparent Suicide

Benoit Violier, the celebrated chef whose restaurant in Switzerland was deemed the world’s best eatery by French critics less than two months ago, was found dead his home on Sunday. Violier, who was 44, apparently took his own life, police told the BBC.

Violier and his wife Brigitte ran the Restaurant de l’Hotel de Villeoutside of the city of Lausanne. He had worked there since 1996 and took it over in 2012; it holds three Michelin stars and earned the top position in France’s La Liste ranking of the top thousand restaurants worldwide.

Violier’s mentor and predecessor at the Restaurant de l’Hotel de Ville, Philippe Rochat, died six months ago while cycling.

China’s Factory Output Is Falling at Its Fastest Rate Since 2012

Output in China’s manufacturing output is shrinking at its fastest pace since 2012 amid growing concerns about a possible hard landing for the world’s second biggest economy, according to new official data released Monday.

Reuters reports that the Purchasing Managers’ Index for January was 49.4, compared with 49.7 just a month before. A reading below 50 indicates that the sector contracted during the month.

The January figure was the sixth month in a row when factory output contracted, according to Reuters.

The Chinese government hopes that expansion of the service sector will make up for the fall in Chinese manufacturing, but some fear that the transition to a services-based economy is not moving quickly enough.

Spain offers citizenship to descendants of Jews who fled persecution during Inquisition

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) –  New Mexico residents descended from Jewish families who fled Spain during the religion-driven Inquisition can claim Spanish citizenship thanks to a new law.

The law administered by the Spanish Ministry of Justice gives descendants until Oct. 1, 2018 to apply for a passport, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.

The law was created to recognize the expulsion of Jews between 1492 and 1498. Families settled in places like Argentina, Chile, Turkey and New Mexico.

"They were just trying to get the heck away from the Inquisition," said historian Orlando Romero of Santa Fe.

The term Crypto Jew refers to the families that practiced their Jewish faith in secret, as 71-year-old Albuquerque resident Maria Apodaca remembers her grandfather doing.

"I thought they were just Hispanic Catholic traditions," Apodaca said. "They were not."

She plans to pursue the application for Spanish citizenship.

Attorney Luis Portero de la Torre represents the Ministry of Justice is traveling to different countries meeting with groups to explain the application, which requires documentation and background checks.

"You can live and work not only in Spain, but you can live and work in any of the (European Union) countries, any place you choose," he said in Albuquerque last week. "It's a tremendous opportunity, especially for the younger people."

DNA evidence is not currently accepted as part of the application process.

"Documents can be destroyed by war or fire or water," said Albuquerque genealogist Schelly Talalay Dardashti, who has asked that DNA be considered when no other proof is available. "DNA doesn't lie."

An estimated 70,000 applications are expected to be filed. Over 1,000 applications have been submitted so far.

"In New Mexico, these families are huge," said Sara Koplik of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico. "There are thousands and thousands of people who have extensive genealogies here and would qualify."

Need a kidney? Inside the world’s biggest organ market

Each year, more than 2,000 Indians sell their kidneys, with many of the organs going to foreigners [Romeo Ranoco/Reuters] 

Chennai, India - Three years ago, Vikas was a school dropout helping his father till the family farm near the northern Indian city of Kanpur - a job he despised.

But today, his fortunes have changed. The 26-year-old is earning much more money working as one of the hundreds of kidney brokers across the Indian subcontinent, fuelling an ever-expanding multimillion-dollar black market for the sought-after human organ.

"If you have the money and want it fast, you come here. I will find you a donor and you can go home with a new kidney in a month," Vikas told Al Jazeera, speaking on the condition that his real name not be published. 

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), South Asia is now the leading transplant tourism hub globally, with India among the top kidney exporters. Each year more than 2,000 Indians sell their kidneys, with many of them going to foreigners.

Aadarsh, a Mumbai-based agent who also demanded anonymity to protect against police reprisals, said "his kidneys" have gone to recipients from Canada, Israel, Britain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, although more and more buyers were now coming from within India.

An alarming surge in renal diseases, diabetes and high blood pressure is driving the global demand for kidneys, which greatly exceeds supply. The near-universal ban on the sale of human organs, coupled with a widespread reluctance in many cultures to donate kidneys even after death, means that patients often must spend years hooked up to dialysis machines - unless they can find a willing donor.

This gaping hole between demand and the legal supply of kidneys is being filled by what may be the world's biggest black market for organs, which criss-crosses India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Iran.

However, in recent years, Sri Lanka's capital Colombo has become the new nerve centre of this network, where most transplant operations are carried out. In recent years, Sri Lanka has attracted kidney buyers from as far afield as Israel and the United States. 

This development came after India tightened its rules on organ exchanges in 2008, following the arrest of a "kidney kingpin" running one of the world's largest kidney trafficking rings. Many donors are also taken to Iran, the only country in the world where selling kidneys is legal, though not to foreigners. 

Anurag, one of the top names in brokering circles, told Al Jazeera that many agents in India and Bangladesh were working at the behest of individual doctors or hospitals based in Colombo who offered "complete packages" to foreign recipients, with prices ranging from $53,000 to $122,000. 

"It covers everything - hospital bill, doctor's fee, payment to the donor, his travel and accommodation cost, and, of course, broker's commission. This is the best way because it saves everybody time and hassle," Anurag - who also wanted his real name withheld to avoid trouble - told Al Jazeera from Sri Lanka.

Social media's role

Although the illicit racket has flourished since the 1990s, social media has catapulted the trade into a new dimension. Brokers like Vikas and Aadarsh are openly lurking on dozens of Facebook pages fashioned as kidney and transplant support groups.

Once the demand for a particular match is relayed to the broker, all it takes is a single post promising monetary compensation in exchange for a healthy kidney. The messages often look like as if they are posted by a "distressed relative" who is urgently looking for a particular blood-match donor, suggesting a quick transaction. 

Vikas was masquerading as a young woman called Priyanka Singh on several forums when Al Jazeera first contacted him. 

"They always trust a young, nice-looking woman more. When anybody calls, I tell them she is my sister. In the past, I have also used English names. People think they are dealing with foreigners and, therefore, will get more money," he said. 

But operating on social media comes with a strict set of rules, too. "I create new aliases every five to six weeks and discard all the mobile numbers used with it. I avoid meeting anyone until I am sure it's not a trap. Also, I never respond to people who have contacted me once before. You won't be able to find me next month," Vikas explained.

The brokers told Al Jazeera they mostly target healthy and non-smoking donors in their 20s or early 30s, preferably men, since they can more easily travel abroad alone. Those who already have passports are given preference. Once trust is established, the potential donor is then sent for pre-arranged blood tests and a tissue-typing test in chosen pathology laboratories across New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. 

Those in the southwest of the country are usually sent to a large, private speciality hospital based in Chennai. Some of the doctors there are part of the Colombo network and help to speed up the process.

"The labs send me the test reports, but in some instances, they send them directly to the doctors in Colombo. Someone based in Chennai pays for the tests. If the match is good, I make arrangements for the donor's travel to Colombo," said Vikas. "I get all the documents ready, including the passport if required. I have contacts who can arrange things within days."

Big money

Vikas is often required to escort the donors to Mumbai. He usually arranges to meet them, sometimes for the first time, at the New Delhi railway station, from where they take the train to Mumbai. "If the donor is from a poor family, has no education or exposure, they are reluctant to travel alone," he said. 

"I am instructed to drop them at hotels or guesthouses at fixed locations. My money is always left at the reception. Sometimes I have also dropped them at ISD phone shops and walked away without looking back, as per instructions. I take my commission and never see the donor again. The donor goes to Colombo with another agent for the operation," Vikas said.

His first donor earned him a commission of 25,000 rupees ($380) three years ago, but now he makes 50,000 to 80,000 rupees ($757-$1,211) per donor. Last year he made eight deals, earning more than half a million rupees ($7,700). 

According to the brokers, donors who already possess passports are paid roughly 400,000 rupees ($6,000), part of which is paid two days before the operation. Others whose passports are arranged by the brokers receive up to 300,000 rupees ($4,500). 

Both the donor and broker usually stay at a luxury apartment complex in Colombo only a kilometre away from one of the three hospitals openly catering to "international clients". The donors normally return home in 18-25 days.

Iran's supreme leader awards medals to troops who 'captured' U.S. sailors

Iran’s supreme leader awarded medals to members of the Iranian Navy who he said “captured intruding” U.S. Navy sailors during a tense incident this month.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei awarded the Order of Fat’h medal to the head of the navy of the Revolutionary Guards and four commanders who seized the two U.S. Navy vessels, according to Reuters. Iran’s state media reported the news on Sunday.

In a tweet sent from his account Sunday, Khamenei misidentified those who were “captured” as being members of the Marines.

On Jan. 12, Iran captured 10 sailors whose boats “misnavigated” into Iranian waters, according to Defense Secretary Ash Carter. Though the sailors were released the following day, Iran released video of the sailors being captured, detained and apologizing for the incursion.

In one of the more enduring images from the video of the capture, the sailors are shown kneeling on the decks of the boats, with their hands on their heads, all while being watched by armed Iranian troops. Though U.S. officials initially sought to downplay the encounter, Carter recently said the images made him “very, very angry.”

Exclusive: Go Backstage With Hillary Clinton in Iowa

Hillary Clinton looked calm and confident as she entered the final stretch of campaigning in Iowa, with a pre-caucus poll showing her leading the field.

In Ames, Iowa, the former Secretary of State took the stage with Gabby Giffords, the former congresswoman who has become an ardent gun safety campaigner since surviving a shooting in Tucson, Arizona five years ago. Giffords’ husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, also joined Clinton, as well as her daughter Chelsea.

Backstage, Clinton took pictures and chatted with volunteers. Watch the video above for an intimate look at the Democratic frontrunner.

Report: Yahoo Accidentally Fired Dozens of Employees

A report says Yahoo fired dozens of employees last week -- by accident.

The New York Post reported:

“They put people on firing lists who they didn’t mean to — people who were lower on the performance scale but who weren’t meant to get fired,” an insider explained. “But no one told the managers, and then they had the conversations, and it was like, ‘Oops.’ ”

The insiders told the paper that as many as 30 people were affected by the error.

A Yahoo spokesperson said it's a rumor with no truth behind it.

New Orleans waitlist for public defenders sparks ACLU lawsuit

Darwin Yarls Jr.’s life changed forever when, according to police, he blew through a busy New Orleans intersection in a minivan and T-boned a car.

The crash, in late October, was so forceful that it threw his longtime girlfriend, Patty Spears, 50, into the street. She died almost immediately after the minivan landed on top of her, according to a detective assigned to the case. Later a toxicology report found cocaine in Yarls’ system.

Nearly two months after the accident, Yarls, 51, was arrested for vehicular homicide. Like 85 percent of New Orleans residents who are accused of crimes, he wasn’t able to afford an attorney and was appointed one by the Orleans Public Defenders Office (OPD).

Under normal circumstances, he and his lawyer would have started preparing his defense almost immediately, as Louisiana law dictates that even those who can’t afford an attorney are mandated representation by a public defender within 72 hours of arrest.

In mid-January, however, he became the face of a constitutional crisis in the New Orleans judicial system after the OPD refused to represent him, citing “an excessively high caseload” prompted by a $600,000 budget deficit, a hiring freeze and the attrition of 12 attorneys since July.

“The workload of these attorneys has been absorbed by existing staff,” wrote Orleans Parish Chief Defender Derwyn Bunton in a motion denying Yarls representation. “At this time, OPD cannot reallocate resources or staff in a manner that would allow OPD to continue operating and still provide constitutional and ethical representation to its clients.”

On Jan. 14, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, generally considered an ally of public defenders, responded by filing a federal lawsuitagainst Bunton in Baton Rouge. The suit was on behalf of Yarls and two other indigent defendants, Leroy Shaw Jr. and Douglas Brown, who were arrested in January and placed on a waitlist for representation.

Yarls, who was unemployed when arrested, has remained in jail since his arrest, unable to afford posting $75,000 in bail, said Brandon Buskey of the ACLU’s Criminal Law Reform Project. Yarls will have an attorney appointed no earlier than Feb. 16, the date of a status update hearing set for his case.

The complaint argues that by refusing to take these cases, the OPD is violating the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees criminal defendants the right to a lawyer, and the 14th Amendment, which guarantees due process and equal protection under the law.

“You’ve got people who OPD can no longer represent who have absolutely nothing and are having their cases refused,” Buskey said, adding that Yarls’ case is crumbling while he sits in jail waiting for a lawyer.

Darwin Yarls Jr. in his mug shot.

For instance, Yarls has no one to challenge bail conditions or negotiate prosecution for him — which a private attorney would likely do, possibly gain him freedom from jail. Without a lawyer to order an investigation, evidence could disappear. Surveillance videos from nearby stores could be wiped clean, for instance, or potential witnesses could start to forget facts.

“With every hour without an attorney, you may forever lose invaluable opportunities to build your defense,” Buskey said. “The damage to your case can be irreparable.”

Yarls isn’t alone, and without immediate recourse, the problem is only expected to grow, Buskey said.

The lawsuit was filed within a week of the announcement that the OPD would no longer take certain felony cases, and by then, seven people had already been arrested and put on a waitlist for representation. As of Thursday, Buskey estimated, 20 defendants remained in jail without an attorney.

Although the lawsuit targets Bunton as well as James Dixon, the chief state public defender, Buskey said the ultimate goal is to combat the “dysfunctional” state funding setup that mandates how public defender offices are paid.

In Louisiana the majority of local public defender offices’ budgets are cobbled together from defendants’ fines and fees, mostly from traffic tickets.

In the past year, cuts in state-appropriated funding, combined with a decline in revenue from local fees, have affected how those district offices can represent the poor. So far, four Louisiana parishes, including Orleans, have established waitlists for the indigent.

The OPD handles the vast majority of the city’s cases — serving more than 22,000 indigent clients last year — and needed 70 lawyers and an $8.2 million budget to “protects its clients’ constitutional rights,” according to estimates found by an American University report in 2006.

As of December, it had about 50 lawyers and a $6.2 million budget.

The unreliable funding scheme has led to emergencies like the one in Orleans Parish, forcing offices to resort to measures like refusing clients, according to Buskey and other lawyers behind the suit.

“We do hope in the end to help OPD and other defenders throughout the state,” he said. “We hope to ensure a guaranteed and stable funding system for public defenders so we don’t have these recurring crises every few months or every year.”

This wasn’t the first time the public was warned of impending constitutional crisis due to what Bunton termed an “unreliable” user-pay system.

During a December hearing with Criminal District Court Judge Arthur Hunter, Bunton made an unusual request for judicial mercy, asking the judge to stop assigning new indigent defendants to his office until the caseload crisis is resolved.

Ultimately, Hunter refused to grant the request, but not before several witnesses testified on Bunton’s behalf. They included renowned defense lawyer Barry Scheck, a co-founder of the Innocence Project.

He cited his own research on the effects of inadequate defense on wrongful convictions. “The failure to have an adequately funded defense team … not only endangers the innocent, but it undermines public safety,” he said.

On Thursday, Buskey said the expert testimony “speaks volumes” about what’s going on in Louisiana and elsewhere in the country. Similar lawsuits have been brought in the past year against public defense systems in California, Idaho and Washington.

“I think we agree wholeheartedly. The summary of the whole testimony is you can’t run a public defender system like this,” he said. “You can’t seriously call this a functioning criminal justice system.”

A week after the ACLU lawsuit was filed, Lindsey Hortenstine, the director of communications for the OPD, said it “comes as no surprise.”

“Any kindergartner looking at our criminal justice system — particularly our system of public defense — can see it is unfair. While this lawsuit is not necessarily welcomed, OPD welcomes reform,” she said. “It is our hope this lawsuit leads to lasting reform and a more fair, more just criminal justice system.”

Now Buskey said he’s waiting for Bunton’s office to get an attorney and make the next move. Ultimately, if a judge sides with the ACLU, the current public defense system could be found unconstitutional, forcing the state to overhaul public defense funding.

In the meantime, risks are high for Yarls, who has multiple convictions, including one for felony armed robbery. Given his history, the statutory maximum for his latest charge is 30 years in prison with hard labor.

Buskey said that when Yarls does get a lawyer, there are a number of questions that should be asked, such as why the defendant was arrested so long after the wreck and what exactly his toxicology report looked like.

“Those answers could be relevant to his ultimate defense,” Buskey said. “The real fear here is not that nothing happened, but this could be a case where he is not guilty of what he has been charged or he has been overcharged.”

7 Things Every Facebook User Needs to Know, Backed by Research

• Your Facebook profile probably reveals your truepersonality. It’s especially indicative of how extroverted and open to new experienceyou are but it can also tell people whether you have anxiety and even predict your job performance.

• I wouldn’t get too paranoid though; most people just judge you off the photo. Then again that photo can predict how happy you’ll be 3.5 years from now. (Just from status updates, Facebook knows how happy the entire US is every day of the year.)

• Your “relationship status” says a lot about how happy you probably are. What’s a really good sign? Men who listed their partnership status (“In a relationship with…”) and women whose profile picture displayed their partner both had happier relationships.

• Facebook knows the days and months when you’re most likely to start a new relationship. Hell, Facebook can predict with a 33% accuracy who you’ll be dating next week.

• Dunbar’s number says we can only sustain 100-230 friends. It holds up online too; despite how many “friends” you have you’re probably only active with about 100-200 of them consistently. Facebook promotes mainly weak, low-commitment friendshipsanyway. And the main reason for un-friending is because somebody posts too much uninteresting crap.

• Only about 1/5th of your Facebook friends influence your behavior. You don’t end up blindly liking what your Facebook friends like; in fact, you look to them to find out what not to like. And it’s definitely worth reconnectingwith old friends on the site.

• On Facebook everyone shows the best and not the worst, leading to portraits of unattainable lives that can make us feel bad by comparison. Here are some great tips by experts for using Facebook to enhance your happiness. Overall, Facebook users get more emotional support than other people. Now there are definitely problems that have been caused by Facebook; for instance the site makes it quite difficult to be an undercover cop. :)

What I Learned as a Former Hooters Girl

I was 23, jobless and full of Sheetz milkshakes when I made my way past the highway signs promising my destination.

Just a week earlier, I had decided that the stuffy, crowded Washington, DC area was not for me, packed all my belongings into my small SUV, and set my sights on Tennessee. The only premise for my decision to move there was that the people had been exceptionally friendly when I had passed through the year before on my way from Arizona. It was a life-trend I had been participating in since I turned 18 — to pack and move where the wind blew me, whenever it blew.

It was in this fashion that I cruised into Rocky Top — hair in a messy bun, no bra under my worn camisole, a pair of brightly patterned stretch pants hanging from my hips, and a car full of clothes, pictures and yellowed books with dog-eared pages. Prescriptions, paperwork and car information littered the front seat — I tried to keep my life organized, but it’s nearly impossible when you uproot yourself every nine months for the next great adventure.

Taking notice of my growing hunger, I searched the highway exit signs. Suddenly and without warning, a bright orange sign with a wide-eyed owl promised my favorite food and a cold beer! “HOOTERS” the sign read, “Next exit.” I dashed three lanes to the right, risking life and limb for some buffalo wings and a Bud Light.

Just kidding, I was already in the slow lane because I drive like a grandma — I put on my blinker and carefully merged into the exit lane. When I got there, it looked like my utopia. They promised and delivered on the tacky, with brightly colored signs and an exposed ceiling with pipes laden in thick orange paint. Girls sashayed around the restaurant in what appeared to be relative comfort — tight cotton tank tops stretched across their chests, satiny orange spandex shorts that rode up their backsides with a thick layer of nylons to keep everything tucked away and in order.

On their feet they wore thick, white socks scrunched ’80s style and padded white non-slip sneakers. Their hair bounced along with their boobies and they smiled when they brought my buffalo wings. When they weren’t busy bouncing, they perched over tables, giggling and talking, or gathered in clumps, hula hooping and cursing and laughing with one another.

It was there, a few beers deep thanks to the generosity of some balding, middle aged men across the bar, and stuffed with chicken wings, that I made the next great proclamation for my Great Adventure of Life. I would become a Hooters Girl.

I spent the next two days settling into a room I had found off Craigslist and procured a mattress and box spring with the help of a young guy I found in the labor section of the site. He was good looking, had a thick southern drawl, and we would make out at a later date, but for now I paid him twenty bucks to haul me and my new mattress home from the mattress depot in his pick-up truck.

I practiced curling my hair and bouncing my boobs in the mirror — skills I believed would be highly effective for my future career as a Hooters Girl. Finally, I applied, and a Hooters down the road in a less glamorous part of town that was desperately hiring took me up. I was in! Here is what I learned while working as a Hooters Girl.

Those uniforms are extremely unflattering. Seriously. They add at least fifteen pounds and squeeze you in the worst of areas (read: muffin top). Made of spandex and cotton, they were extremely comfortable and provided lots of agility for activities, but looking your best? They were not made for that.

All of my coworkers were beautiful women, and for the curvier of us, these uniforms were a curse. The thick spandex waistband dug into your hips and you had two choices – sling ‘em low and deal with the muffin top or pull ‘em up high and make your hips and butt look like a big orange balloon.

The customers are the best and worst part of the job. It all depended on how they viewed you as a person. Most of the regulars were men, and some of them had a lot of money. It wasn’t unusual to receive a $100 tip on a Monday night after giving mediocre service to a couple of businessmen watching the football game.

There were the regulars who came in every night, and it was their policy to tip $10 or more an hour for every hour they sat at your table, which added up to around $50 by the end of the night. For most, there was the unspoken exchange of money for some conversation and attention.

This is where Hooters really veers off and differs from your regular restaurants. Coined “entertainers,” Hooter Girls are expected and encouraged to chat and hang around with customers, which can be truly awesome, and also horrifying depending on the customers you’re stuck with.

The other side of the coin is that Hooters is cheap eats, which attracts a lot of young hard-working families, blue collar workers, and some down-on-their-luck men angry at women and the world. These tables provide mediocre tips on their small bills and at best, keep us busy when it’s slow. At worst, the women are foaming at the mouth with anger and misplaced resentment toward their Hooter Girl (we’re sorry our boobs are in your husband’s face, there is an Applebee’s down the road), and the men are drunk and pervy, ordering their food and drinks while staring into the depths of your cleavage so deeply that you feel like they can spot the crumbs from the nachos you devoured earlier. Or they’re slipping their arms around your waist, or in worse places.

We are not here for your approval or attention. Most, if not all of us, are here for the cheddar. As I mentioned earlier, there’s an opportunity at Hooters to make much more than at your average restaurant, all in a laid-back and fun environment.

In the time I worked at Hooters, all of the girls I worked with were either in school, raising families, helping out their relatives or just trying to make ends meet. Of the fifty or so women I worked with, I could count on one hand the girls who were trying to make some type of career out of modeling, entertainment, or anything Hooters-related.

That’s right, most of us were not at Hooters to practice walking around in barely there ’80s gym uniforms and smiling. There were plenty of customers, typically men, who treated us as though we were pathetic, thirsty females starved for male attention. Most of us, after a long night at the Owl House, were happy to slip on sweats and baggy T-shirts and drink and stuff our face with nachos, unnoticed by the male population. Most of us had strict personal policies against dating men who frequented Hooters.

And to the women who come into Hooters with their boyfriend or husbands: We don’t want him, I swear. Seriously, if you weren’t comfortable with coming to Hooters in the first place, why are you here? I have to imagine that these women who treat us so poorly do it out of resentment, jealousy and anger.

I get it — you don’t want to watch your boyfriend order his burger into a pair of double Ds that aren’t yours, in a restaurant swarming with more butt-wedgies and tits than an MTV Spring Break, while you sit there fully clothed. That’s understandable. So why not go somewhere else? I don’t get any more pleasure out of your boyfriend ogling me than you do, and it wasn’t my idea for you to come here tonight. If you’re uncomfortable, don’t pretend to be fine just to appease your boyfriend or be the “cool girlfriend” (ew). Tell him you don’t like going to Hooters with him, and if he protests, get a new boyfriend. Trust that one of us won’t be snatching him up in the meantime.

You’re most likely not going to get a date at Hooters. At the end of the night, most of us are throwing out handfuls of wadded up Post-its and napkins with phone numbers on them. I’ve been a waitress for 6 years in other restaurants and I’ve never seen anything like it.

This goes back to the weird idea so many men have that we work at Hooters for the attention. It’s a really twisted logic, considering many men who come to Hooters are essentially paying for female attention. I won’t discount those who genuinely love the wings, cold beer and fried pickles, but most men would be lying if they said they weren’t here for the scenery.

The other girls are truly the best perk of the job. It’s like being in a sorority where every hug is really squishy and delightful. I made lifelong friends working at Hooters that I never would have met anywhere else. We were a working class sorority: down to earth, fun-loving and crazy. Probably because there weren’t a lot of men working in the restaurant, the level of drama was surprisingly low. We bickered about shift swaps and cigarette breaks, but at the end of the night, we all counted tips and drank beers and shared stories.

When extenuating circumstances caused me to return to the stifling snottiness of the D.C. area and leave my orange shorts behind, a piece of me died inside. I have since been employed somewhere I am required to wear pants, I can’t curse or hula hoop, and my co-workers aren’t a slew of beautiful women. And while some may call this “moving up in the world,” I think about Hooters and realize I’ll never have that much fun at work again.