Yearning for Zion: Texas Polygamists Prep for Criminal Trials

As courtroom drama goes, the upcoming trials in the quiet West Texas oasis of San Angelo should be humdingers: a dozen male members of a Mormom polygamist sect have been indicted on a bevy of charges, ranging from bigamy to sex with a child, stemming from a raid last year in which protective service officials removed more than 400 children from the Yearning For Zion compound. The trials are set to begin in October. But as every lawyer knows, this summer’s crop of pre-trial motions, however boring they may sound, will greatly shape the jury verdicts — or any possible plea bargains — by largely determining what is allowed to be used in the trials and what isn’t

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At least 30 killed in China coal mine blast

The death toll rose to 30 after rescue workers recovered five more bodies Sunday from a coal mine explosion in southwestern China. Big Ben is the 14-ton bell inside the world’s largest four-faced chiming clock, although most people use the name to describe the tower that houses it. The clock is perched on a 96-meter (310-foot) elegant tower at the Westminster Bridge end of the Palace of Westminster.

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Debutant Macheda snatches win for United

Italian teenager Federico Macheda enjoyed a remarkable debut to English football as he curled home an injury-time winner that sent Manchester United back to the top of the Premier League with a thrilling 3-2 home win over Aston Villa. It seemed United would have to settle for a point after Cristiano Ronaldo’s double had only proved enough to keep United level against a Villa side that thoroughly deserved a lead provided by John Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor. But 17-year-old substitute Macheda, a former member of the Lazio academy who arrived at Old Trafford in 2007, was to have the last word

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