News Briefs

Local and VCU

Slain Chinese food driver identified
A Chinese food deliveryman slain in Richmond’s Whitcomb Court public-housing complex two months ago has been identified as QianWu Huang, 17, a Chinese national.
He was identified Thursday night by an uncle who lives in New York City, police said.
Huang was gunned down at about 11:35 p.m. July 27 on the 2400 block of Whitcomb Street. He was returning to his car after a delivery when he was shot multiple times, and died at the scene, authorities said.
On Sept. 9, Richmond police arrested Tobias Young, 18, in connection with Huang’s death and charged him with conspiracy to commit murder.
Richmond police and other agencies had difficulty identifying Huang because of false identification he was carrying, including an Illinois driver’s license and a Chinese passport.
Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

In Richmond court, Sept. 11 plotter seeks new trial
Lawyers for convicted Sept. 11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui were back in a federal appeals court in Richmond again Friday trying to win a new trial.
They argue that his 2005 guilty plea to six terrorism-conspiracy counts was invalid because his lawyers at the time could not yet tell him about classified evidence in possession of the government that supported a claim of innocence.
The case, argued before the Richmond-based fourth U.S. Court of Appeals earlier this year, was reargued Friday because of the retirement of Judge Karen Williams. One of three judges who first heard the case, she left for health reasons before it could be decided.
Moussaoui’s lawyer, Justin Antonipillai said the inability of Moussaoui’s trial lawyers to discuss certain classified material with him before he pleaded guilty – over their objections – was an improper interference in communication between lawyers and their client.
Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Man accused of trying to get prostitution refund
Richmond police say a man who engaged the services of a prostitute resorted to force to get his money back because he was dissatisfied.
Harold B. Mason Jr., 31, of the 6900 block of Marlowe Road was charged Thursday with grand larceny.
Officers were called to the 1300 block of McDonough Street in South Richmond shortly before 2 a.m. to investigate what was originally reported as a robbery.
According to police, a woman who is a known prostitute told officers that a man had paid her for sex but complained afterward that she did not satisfy him.
The man demanded a refund, and when she refused, an argument escalated to where the man forcibly grabbed her purse to retrieve his money, police said.
The prostitute was shaken but uninjured, police said. Because she was considered a crime victim, the prostitute was not charged.
Brief by the Richmond Times-Dispatch

National and International

Festival says director
Polanski in Swiss custody
Organizers of the Zurich Film Festival say director Roman Polanski has been taken into custody on a 31-year-old U.S. arrest warrant.
The organizers said Polanski was detained by police Saturday. Zurich police couldn’t immediately confirm the information.
The festival said in a statement Sunday that Polanski traveled to Switzerland to receive an award for his lifetime of work as a director. They said he was arrested in relation to a 1978 U.S. request, without specifying.
Polanski fled the United States in 1978, a year after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.
Brief by The Associated Press

Israeli police, protesters clash at holy site
Israeli police used stun grenades Sunday to disperse Palestinian rioters at a volatile Jerusalem site holy to Jews and Muslims, police said.
The incident took place during a visit by a Jewish group to the compound in Jerusalem’s Old City known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. Deadly violence has erupted there several times in the past.
Police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said around 150 Palestinians threw stones at the Jews visiting the site, which is open to non-Muslims at certain hours.
Jews regularly visit the compound and it was not immediately clear what sparked the violence.
Brief by The Associated Press

G-20 lockdown gone, Pittsburgh back to normal
Merchants and motorists reclaimed their city Saturday as a vast police presence dissolved, barricades vanished and traffic started flowing after a gathering of world leaders that had turned the downtown area into a well-protected fortress.
Just hours after the Group of 20 summit at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center ended Friday and the world leaders departed with their entourages, the army of officers from around the country began to disband. By early evening, public works crews had begun clearing and cleaning streets that had been shut down for two days.
During the two-day summit, mail carriers drove with color-coded sheets in their windows to get through security checkpoints. They also traveled in pairs to prevent vandalism of their vehicles by G-20 protesters in town.
Brief by The Associated Press