A businessman, who once headed a major bank in Egypt, was arrested in New York on Monday for allegedly sexually assaulting an employee at an upscale hotel.

The incident, which involves salt company board chairman Mahmoud Abdel-Salam Osmar, occurred two weeks after a prominent French politician was arrested for the same grounds in Manhattan.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former chief of International Monetary Fund, was also arrested and charged with sexual abuse for attempting to rape a hotel maid.

The New York Police Department said Omar, 74-years-old, is accused of abusing a maid when she went to deliver tissues to room 1027 on Sunday evening at Manhattan’s Pierre Hotel located at the Upper East Side, Fifth Avenue.

Omar, the former chairman of the Egyptian American Bank and the Bank of Alexandria, did not immediately make an official statement. Also, the salt company, El-Mex Salines Co, said it had no comments to make about the incident.

The assault was reported to the police department on Monday morning. Omar is charged with sexual abuse, forcible touching, unlawful imprisonment, as well as harassment.

In a statement, the Pierre Hotel said that their hotel’s priority is the safety of their staff and guests. They said to comply with the investigation when requested.

Meanwhile, politician Strauss-Kahn is now under a house arrest in a million-dollar New York townhouse. He denied charges of attempted rape, criminal sexual act, sexual abuse, forcible touching and unlawful imprisonment. However, he will face 25 years in prison if proven guilty.

According to a study released on Wednesday, the United States should delay the majority of its multibillion-dollar aid for Pakistan until economic reforms have been settled. The aid has actually led to the inaction of government officials and the resentment of the public.

A task force gathered by the Center for Global Development concluded in their study that the assistance provided by the US to Pakistan has been jaded due to the lack of solid and clear leadership and goals. The study comes as a lot of US lawmakers started to question the aid provided to Pakistan after the US forces captured and killed Osama bin Laden, leader of a terror group responsible for the 9/11 attack, near Pakistan’s military academy.

Since the 9/11 attacks, Pakistan has already received a total of $18 billion of aid from the US. The decision to help Pakistan came with the hope to fight anti-Americanism in the country.

The recent study regarding the relations between the United States and Pakistan concluded that the aid only increased the soured perceptions of the Pakistani public of the United States. With Pakistani leaders getting a steady flow of money from the US government, they have become complacent on making key reforms.

For those reasons, the study authors suggest that the $7.5 billion aid package intended for Pakistan should not yet be disbursed; especially in areas where an alarming flaw in the public administration is observed.

The authors of the study understand how sensitive the subject is. They, however, insist that without solid and long-term reforms, the grants will prove useless.

Cindy Anthony took the witness stand for the second time on Tuesday and cried uncontrollably as they listened to the 911 call nearly three years ago. She called 911 on July 15, 2008 after her daughter, Casey Anthony, admitted that her 2-year old daughter was missing for 31 days. Casey Anthony is on trial for first degree murder.

Cindy was panicking when she told the emergency dispatcher during the 911 call that her granddaughter, Caylee, is missing and that her car smells like there has been a dead body inside it.

When Casey was asked by the 911 dispatcher why she waited 31 days to report her child missing, she just said that she was looking for her child and admitted it was stupid. Casey originally told prosecutors that Caylee went missing with her babysitter, Zenaida Gonzales Fernandez.

The case has been taunted by many contradicting stories. For example, Casey told the dispatch officer that Caylee was kidnapped by her babysitter. Her own defense lawyer, Atty. Jose Baez, however claims that Caylee drowned in their backyard pool, was found dead by George (Casey’s father), but did not report the incident right away.

Cindy recalls that when she claimed her towed car, which was then used by Casey, she noticed a foul smell coming from the trunk of the car. She said it smelled like someone or something died in there. She ignored the smell, opened the windows of the car, and sprayed a can of air freshener inside. It was only during the 911 call that she linked the stench of her car to her missing granddaughter.

FBI agents flocked in and raided the house of 91-year old grandmother who allegedly sells suicide kits for $60 each by mail order. The agents seized her computers, cartons upon cartons of documents, and sewing machines. Apparently, the suicide kits are DIY asphyxiation kits.

Sharlotte Hydorn said that around 12 agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and US Postal Inspection Service went to her house on Wednesday with their guns drawn and ordered her to go outside or else she will be shot. They, then, presented her with a search warrant that is 37 pages thick and proceeded to search her house from top to bottom for almost 11 hours.

Hydorn also said that the agents left 46 pages of the list of all items that have been confiscated from her house. The list includes all her property rental and tax documents, computer, and her sewing machines. She added that the agents took away all her spread sheets and sewing threads.

A copy of the search warrant indicated that Hydorn is under investigation for several cases such as wire fraud, mail fraud, tax evasion, and selling misbranded medical device.

Postal Inspection Service and FBI officials in California confirmed that several of their agents conducted a search in Hydorn’s home but refused to comment further on the incident. Renee Focht, a postal inspector, said that the search is in line with a criminal matter which is still under investigation.

Hydorn attracted public attention when a young man from Oregon used her kit to kill himself. Her suicide kit or “exit kit” includes a plastic hood which closes snugly around the neck and tubing that has to be connected to a tank of inert gas.

Gov. Mark Dayton, in a letter sent to President Obama on Friday, requested for a major federal disaster declaration after a tornado hit a metro area in Minnesota.

Tornado damages amount to more than $16 million. Dayton asked a disaster declaration for Anoka and Hennepin Counties.

According to Dayton’s office, initial assessments over the area for the last two days revealed costs and damages of nearly $16.33 million. Teams such as members of Federal Emergency Management Agency helped check the situation of the counties.

Public assistance was requested for those areas affected with the tornado. Meanwhile, individual assistance was also requested for those residents affected in Hennepin County.

The EF-1 tornado destroyed 25 homes based on the preliminary assessments made over the area. Also, it had caused major damages to 92 homes and minor damages to 328 homes.

Dayton detailed in his letter how the tornado formed with small warning and moved 14 miles farther to Blaine from Golden Valley on Sunday. Two people were killed by the disaster, one of whom died after the tornado swept through the counties. Dozens of people were injured while hundreds have been dislocated.

The tornado passed through depressed neighborhoods, which were extremely affected by home foreclosures in latest years, Dayton wrote in the letter. He said 7,718 of the estimated 20,612 tornado-hit households live below the poverty line.

FEMA will finance 75 percent of the costs, which would likely cover debris removal, repair of public amenities and other emergency services once President Obama declares a federal major disaster in the counties.

The Democrats, on Monday, honed their attack against the overhaul plan to Medicare as Republicans prepare to compel their adversaries to vote on the unfavored proposal to privatize the health system intended for the elderly.

Harry Reid, U.S. Senate Leader, plans to carry out a vote on the Republican budget plan this week. The proposal will replace fee-for-service Medicare, which is traditionally provided for future retirees, with a voucher that will be used to pay for federally funded medical plans acquired from private insurers.

In a Senate speech, Reid said that the Republican plan would ruin a foundation of the society, and it would destroy the state’s promise to care for the sick and elderly citizens.

He said that the proposal would hand in the health of the seniors to insurance companies hungry for profits. It would even allow bureaucratic officials to choose what tests and treatments the elderly should get.

Surveys show that the proposal to privatize Medicare health programs for the seniors is detested by most of the independents, as well as the elderly citizens whose votes will be very significant for the candidates in the presidential and congressional elections next year.

According to congressional aides, a vote on the House Republican’s budget proposal 2012, which includes the plan on Medicare overhaul, would most probably take place on Thursday.

Senator Scott Brown, a member of the Republican Party, is said to vote against the proposal. The senator fears that the plan might lead to higher premiums, co-payments and deductibles for the elderly, according to his statement in the Politico newspaper’s opinion article published on Monday.

A loaded .45-caliber handgun went off inside a Hawaii school campus just before classes started on Monday. The bullet narrowly missed a student but injured another said police officers.

Capt. Leslie Hite, Honolulu police officer, said the gun went off when the student who pointed the gun at another student was shoved by a second student, pushing the gun away. The bullet bounced back from a lava rock wall and hit the jacket of the boy who pushed the gun away but did not hit his body.

The police do not know for sure but the bullet must have bounced off the wall a second time before it hit the right hand and thigh of another student. Minor scratches to his thigh and fingers were treated on the scene with bandages.

This is the first incident of a gun going off inside a Hawaii school, Hite said.

Before the incident, the boy who fired brought a loaded gun in school was seen sitting at the bottom of a stairway near the basketball court with a group of friends. He apparently unloaded the gun’s magazine to show it off but a bullet was already in the gun’s chamber. Hite, however, said that it is unclear if they were just playing around.

The 14-year old boy who brought the gun to school was arrested due to attempted murder, police officials said. The gun was registered to a person whose last name is not the same with the boy who shot the loaded gun. The police are still trying to find out how the boy gained possession to the gun.

The school remained open after the incident and Vice Principal Ellen Fujino assured parents that the school responded appropriately to the incident and that the children’s safety is the school’s major concern. Some parents, however, chose to pull off their children from school.

On Monday, the Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond strongly advised the British government to ease on the “smash and grab” raid on North Sea oil revenues.

Scotland’s National Party Leader criticized the 2.3 billion euro or $3.3 billion recently announced additional tax on the North Sea oil production, which is a chief industry in the country.

Salmond warned that additional North Sea oil tax could possibly cost 10,000 jobs. His advice came as he arrived in London. He said he would meet with Chancellor George Osborne, the finance minister in Britain, to discuss alternative options on Monday.

The 55-year-old pro-independence leader said that the problem with adding 2 billion euro to the finance minister’s expected 11 billion euro oil revenues in Scotland this year could potentially cost more jobs.

Salmond believed that the smash and grab raid would eventually put weight on future chancellors as it would lead to a significant cut in investment. He wanted to tell the minister that there is another way to obtain more money, yet retain most of the jobs.

The leader is also expected to meet with ministers and push for the Edinburgh parliament to gain greater economic powers for Holyrood during the two-day allotted visit.

Alex Salmond was elected the fourth First Minister on Scotland in May 2007 when his political party won 69 of 129 seats on the May 6 elections. The Scottish National Party secured the first overall majority in Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland.

Emails sent by an Arizona college were released due to a court order regarding the Tucson shooting rampage. The emails show that campus police have already been worried about the behavior of the suspect, Jared Lee Loughner, and that they were concerned he was armed.

One of the emails from Pima Community College, the Arizona College Loughner attended, showed that one of the campus police officers contacted federal firearms officials asking if Loughner owned firearms. The Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives officials replied to the email and said they had no records on Loughner.

Months before the shootout on January 8, the exchange of emails between the Arizona College and the police indicate that the school knew about Loughner’s disturbing and bizarre behavior. The school expelled Loughner in September 2010.

According to the emails that were released on Thursday, the college alerted local police more than five times regarding Loughner’s behavior while he was still in school. One of the reported cases is the February 2010 incident wherein Loughner made uncalled-for comments in class. He reportedly talked about abortion, strapping bombs to infants, and killing people.

During the same month, a student told college authorities that she saw Loughner place a knife on his desk while in class. The event prompted a professor to warn that the school must do everything to remove Loughner from the campus.

Loughner is the primary suspect for open shooting on Congresswoman Giffords and the killing of six people. He has pleaded not guilty to all 49 charges which include two counts of murder of a federal employee.

Questions are now raised on whether or not Chicago’s Tylenol killer and the Unabomber are one and the same. The FBI agents who are assigned to investigate on the 30-year old case on the Tylenol killings want DNA samples of Ted Kaczynski. The FBI, however, are not saying of there is reason to believe that Kaczynski is the Tylenol killer.

Cynthia Yates, spokesperson for Chicago FBI, said that they want DNA samples of numerous individuals, not just Kaczynski. Yates, however, refused to provide the press details regarding the other individuals they are investigating on. The FBI’s efforts to take hold of Kaczynski’s DNA only became public after Kaczynski filed a court motion seeking to keep all his materials that may exonerate him in the 1982 Tylenol killing case.

Kaczynski used to live in a small cabin from where he sent the mail bombs which killed a total of three people and wounded numerous others; his attacks begun during late 1970s. Kaczynski is called the Unabomber as he originally sent the mail bombs to airline executives and university professors.

Kaczynski is now serving a life sentence in the Colorado federal prison after he was captured in 1996 and pleaded guilty in 1998. He, however, refused to provide DNA samples to FBI authorities investigating the Tylenol case. The poisoning killed seven people in a matter of three days. The victims took cyanide-covered Tylenol from packages that have been apparently tampered with.

Helen Jensen, one of the nurses who accompanied investigators in the homes of the Tylenol poisoning victims, said that she hopes this recent news regarding the case is not another dead end. She added that it would be nice to finally get justice and closure to the entire thing.