A graphic video appears to show a teenager forcibly stripped naked and repeatedly whipped while a group heckled and cursed at him -- all because of a $20 debt.

The video (below) was uploaded to YouTube on Thursday has received almost 40,000 views. And Newark, N.J. authorities are up in arms.

Police are now searching for the victim and assailants in attack, The Star-Ledger reported.

In the disturbing two-minute scene, a man screams, "Where my money at?" at a naked boy on a public street. The hunched-over victim responds, "I don't know," before he is ruthlessly beat with a belt.

For the 90-second whipping, a small crowd laughs, yells obscenities, and tells the victim to say it's a "dog eat dog world" to the camera.

In the end of the video, one of the bystanders reveals that the debt -- apparently owed by the victim's father -- is 20 bucks.

"The perpetrator as well as those who stood idly by laughing and videotaping this act of savage brutality should be brought to justice," said Newark City Council President Anibal Ramos.

Newark Police Director Samuel DeMaio told the Star-Ledger investigators might know where the attack took place.

He also said police know that two Twitter handles were instrumental
in making the video viral.

If caught, the assailants will most likely be charged with aggravated assault.

Los Angeles Police Department told reporters that no body has been identified in the cabin in which Christopher Dorner was believed to have been hiding, following a shootout and fire.

"No body has been located yet," Commander Andrew Smith said, telling reporters that the building was still too hot for investigators to enter.

"That burned cabin has not even been entered by investigators yet," Smith said. "We are still on a holding pattern to search that."

Earlier reports had indicated that a body had been identified.

The standoff with Dorner, a former member of the LAPD, reached a violent close near a rustic cabin in the Big Bear ski area east of Los Angeles. Since Feb. 3, he's accused of a crime spree that left four people dead, including two officers, and several others wounded in shootings in L.A. and nearby San Bernadino County.

In a widely read tirade posted on Facebook by Dorner -- called his manifesto -- he vowed revenge against police and other officials he blamed for his dismissal from the LAPD in the 2009.

On Tuesday afternoon, Dorner barricaded himself in a rustic cabin after San Bernadino County Sheriff's deputies allegedly spotted him driving a vehicle he'd stolen earlier in the day.

While in the cabin, Dorner exchanged hundreds of rounds of gunfire w
ith members of law enforcement. One deputy died from the shooting and another was injured. Later, towering flames engulfed the cabin.

The country's most famous fugitive had eluded authorities for days, but resurfaced on Tuesday after he'd allegedly burglarized a home, took two women hostage and stolen a white pickup truck.

"Enough is enough. It's time to turn yourself in," said LAPD Commander Andrew Smith during an afternoon press conference. "It's time to stop the bloodshed."

Dorner's trail led back to Irvine on Sunday where police believe he shot a couple parked in their car.

Monica Quan, a California State University, Fullerton assistant basketball coach and her fiance, Keith Lawrence, a public safety officer at the University of Southern California, were shot to death in their car Feb 3. Police named Dorner a suspect in Quan's killing on Feb. 6.

In the past few months, schools have banned everything from yoga pants and Ugg boots to birthday candles and peanut butter sandwiches. But one Utah middle school is cracking down on hair color—even if the color in question isn't a garish blue or green but just a dark shade of red.

After being kicked out of class last week for dyeing her brown hair auburn, an honors student at a Utah middle school has been allowed to return to school—but only after she toned down her hair color.

Though Rylee MacKay, 15, had been dyeing her hair the same shade every six weeks since September, it wasn't until earlier this month that the school took issue with the color. On Feb. 4, Hurricane Middle School vice principal Jan Goodwin spotted Rylee in the halls and ordered her into the office. She had just had her hair touched up two days earlier.

The Washington County School District dress code states that "Hair, including beards, mustaches and sideburns, should be groomed so that it is neat and clean. Hair color must be a naturally occurring color; i.e. red, brown, black, blonde." And while Rylee's stylist had assured her that her new color complied with the dress code, Goodwin felt that Rylee's auburn-hued hair didn't look natural enough.

"In the light he said it was pinkish-purplish," Rylee told KUTV. "He told me to have it fixed by the next day or I couldn't come back to school."

But she didn't want to dye her hair back to brown—and her mother refused to make her.

"I absolutely am not going to dye it brown. That is not an option," Amy MacKay told Utah news station KSL.com on Sunday. Rylee had a hard time with the family's move to Hurricane two and a half years ago, MacKay said, and when she was finally allowed to dye her hair last year she felt better about herself. "My daughter feels beautiful with the red hair. Changing her hair really changed her; she really blossomed," she explained. "And now I have to say, 'No, sorry, you have to dye it brown?' I'm not going to change it back."

MacKay said that the district's hair policy is too open to interpretation. "It's totally his opinion whether it's too bright or not," she told KSL.com. "There's no set standard, no hair palette you can look at and say, 'OK, I'll go with that red'."

 Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer, said on Monday it had found horse DNA exceeding 60 percent in some of its own-brand frozen spaghetti bolognese meals withdrawn from stores last week.

Tesco said tests carried out since pulling the product last Wednesday had identified the presence of horse DNA, with most positive results at a trace level of less than one percent. However, three tests showed horse DNA levels of over 60 percent.

None of its tests were positive for the potentially harmful drug known as bute - a common, anti-inflammatory painkiller for sporting horses but banned for animals intended for eventual human consumption, it said.

The news is the latest installment in a scandal that has rocked the food industry in Britain and across Europe. Investigations into suppliers have been launched in recent weeks after the discovery that beef products sold to some of Britain's major supermarkets and fast-food chain Burger King contained horsemeat.

Tesco had already dropped an Irish supplier of frozen beef burgers that had also tested positive for horse DNA.

The firm had pulled its frozen Everyday Value Spaghetti Bolognese product last week as a precaution after the manufacturer Findus withdrew its beef products on the advice of its French supplier Comigel, which also supplies Tesco.

Findus said last week that some of its beef lasagne meals had contained horse meat.

On Monday, Tesco said the source of the horse meat was still under investigation by the relevant authorities, but added that it would not take food from Comigel's facility again.

"The level of contamination suggests that Comigel was not following the appropriate production process for our Tesco product and we will not take food from their facility again," Tesco said, adding that it h

It was a small mistake but one that cost British hairdresser and mother of two "Sally Donaldson" thousands of dollars.

More on Yahoo! Bank Security Group Warns of Website Attacks

According to The Guardian, in October 2012, Donaldson (not her real name) experienced a sickening, gut-wrenching moment when she discovered that over the course of two years, each time she had transferred her monthly paycheck of $1,500 from her HSBC account to the joint one she shares with her husband at Nationwide building society, she had accidentally been placing the money in a total stranger's account. After two years, the amount she had transferred was roughly $40,000.

More on Yahoo! Shine: 12 Money Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes

"It wasn't until October 2012 that I discovered the £1,000 was not showing on our joint account's monthly statement. Having moved over to paperless statements in 2010, I had been checking that my wages were leaving my business account held with HSBC at the end of every month. However, to my horror, I now saw they had never arrived in our joint Nationwide account. Scrolling back, the last time my wage appeared on our statement was May 2010," says Donaldson in The Guardian. "I frantically checked my numbers for the bill payment scheme I had set up with HSBC and could see that, on setting it up, I was one digit out … the money has been going to another Nationwide account holder for the past two years, amounting to £26,650!"
"The payment was set up clearly to my name, my sort code but with one account number digit being incorrect…..Phone calls to Nationwide that night, many tears and numerous subsequent calls and letters, have left us with just £1,000 returned and a complete blank of information from Nationwide," she says.

It may be difficult for Donaldson to get her money back. According to The Guardian, the recipient refuses to return the money and the bank cannot reveal his or her identity due to data protection rules. What's more, British law dictates that when money goes into the wrong hands, it can be withdrawn without gaining permission first for up to six years after it's wrongfully transferred. But in Donaldson's case, the recipient had withdrawn the money through ATMs so there is nothing they can do. Shine attempted to contact Nationwide for comment but emails were not returned.

"People have become so dependent on technology that they've developed a blind trust in computers," says Manisha Thakor, CEO of MoneyZen Wealth Management. "But technology isn't perfect; when you consider the sheer volume of transfers that banks make every day, it's actually very easy for an error to occur. People have a personal responsibility to take ownership of their finances." Here's how to avoid making a similar mistake:

Communicate: It seems unlikely that Donaldson, who was supporting herself on a hairdresser's salary, could overlook the fact that her family's bank account wasn't as flush as it was supposed to be but according to Thakor, many couples don't communicate enough about finances. "What's most troubling about this story is that it occurred between a husband and wife," says Thakor. "It was a very personal transaction and would have been easy for Donaldson to check in with her husband and ask if he received the funds." Yes, a simple, "Hey did you get that huge money transfer I sent you?" over dinner could have prevented the problem from escalating. Even if one person is better at managing money—which is so often the case between couples— staying in the loop about bill paying and money transfers is crucial.

Read in reverse: When you're double checking the number you typed in, read it again but this time backwards. "By reading from the last number to the first, you'll avoid scanning on autopilot," says Thakor. "This process forces your brain to stay alert while you read so you're more likely to catch typos."

 Apple, for the first time in years, is hearing footsteps.

The maker of iPhones, iPads and iPods has never faced a challenger able to make a truly popular and profitable smartphone or tablet — not Dell, not Hewlett-Packard, not Nokia, not BlackBerry — until Samsung Electronics.

The South Korean manufacturer’s Galaxy S III smartphone is the first device to run neck and neck with Apple’s iPhone in sales. Armed with other Galaxy phones and tablets, Samsung has emerged as a potent challenger to Apple, the top consumer electronics maker. The two companies are the only ones turning profits in the highly competitive mobile phone industry, with Apple taking 72 percent of the earnings and Samsung the rest.

Yet these two rivals, who have battled in the marketplace and in the courts worldwide, could not be more different. Samsung Electronics, a major part of South Korea’s expansive Samsung Group, makes computer chips and flat-panel displays as well as a wide range of consumer products including refrigerators, washers and dryers, cameras, vacuum cleaners, PCs, printers and TVs.

Where Apple stakes its success on creating new markets and dominating them, as it did with the iPhone and iPad, Samsung invests heavily in studying existing markets and innovating inside them.

“We get most of our ideas from the market,” said Kim Hyun-suk, an executive vice president at Samsung, in a conversation about the future of mobile devices and television. “The market is a driver, so we don’t intend to drive the market in a certain direction,” he said.

That’s in stark contrast to the philosophy of Apple’s founder Steven P. Jobs, who rejected the notion of relying on market research. He memorably said that consumers don’t know what they want.

Nearly everything at Samsung, from the way it does research to its manufacturing, is unlike Apple. It taunts Apple in its cheeky advertisements while Apple stays above the fray.

The company that distills Maker’s Mark is reducing the alcohol content of the famous bourbon in an effort to keep up with growing global appetite for the product, Quartz reports.

The move comes in response to concerns the company won't be able to meet rampant demand for Maker's Mark since it's "very low on supply,” Rob Samuels, COO of Beam Inc. (which also makes the less-expensive Jim Beam bourbon), wrote in an email to consumers. The spirit will now have an alcohol-by-volume content of 42 percent, instead of 45 percent.

Just this year bourbon and Tennessee whiskey sales have risen 5 percent, reflecting the spirits' rising popularity. Bourbon in particular has become so popular that it now accounts for 35 percent of all spirits sales, according to Today. Boutique brands such as Pappy Van Winkle’s are all but impossible to find due to the high demand, WFPL reports.

That means there’s likely a whole lot of bourbon lovers -- who are known to be purists -- who won't be too thrilled with Beam Inc.'s move.

"I just think that's a cheap business practice," Erik Lane, a bartender in Brooklyn, told The New York Post of watering down Maker's Mark. "Usually you're going to notice [an alcohol reduction like] that."

The company is apparently doing all it can to defend the decision, arguing that Marker's Mark with less alcohol is better than no Maker's Mark at all. In his email, Samuels wrote that Maker's Mark remains "completely con
sistent with the taste profile ... created nearly 60 years ago."

For the first time, the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden tells his story — speaking not just about the raid and the three shots that changed history, but about the personal aftermath for himself and his family. And the startling failure of the United States government to help its most experienced and skilled warriors carry on with their lives.

The man who shot and killed Osama bin Laden sat in a wicker chair in my backyard, wondering how he was going to feed his wife and kids or pay for their medical care.

It was a mild spring day, April 2012, and our small group, including a few of his friends and family, was shielded from the sun by the patchwork shadows of maple trees. But the Shooter was sweating as he talked about his uncertain future, his plans to leave the Navy and SEAL Team 6.

He stood up several times with an apologetic gripe about the heat, leaving a perspiration stain on the seat-back cushion. He paced. I didn't know him well enough then to tell whether a glass of his favorite single malt, Lagavulin, was making him less or more edgy.

We would end up intimately familiar with each other's lives. We'd have dinners, lots of Scotch. He's played with my kids and my dogs and been a hilarious, engaging gentleman around my wife.

In my yard, the Shooter told his story about joining the Navy at nineteen, after a girl broke his heart. To escape, he almost by accident found himself in a Navy recruiter's office. "He asked me what I was going to do with my life. I told him I wanted to be a sniper.

"He said, 'Hey, we have snipers.'

"I said, 'Seriously, dude. You do not have snipers in the Navy.' But he brought me into his office and it was a pretty sweet deal. I signed up on a whim."

"That's the reason Al Qaeda has been decimated," he joked, "because she broke my fucking heart."

Rihanna debuted the video for "Stay" on Monday night. The song, a heartfelt ballad that's among the better received tracks off "Unapologetic" is one of two recently released singles of the album.

The video premiered on E! News before making its way online. The music video for "Stay" shows a stripped-down Rihanna, as the singer soaks in a tub, looking vulnerable and forlorn. Never one to shy away from the scandalous, Rihanna appears naked in the video.

"Diamonds" was the only single released before "Unapologetic" hit stores. Def Jam recently announced that it was moving both "Stay" and "Pour It Up." The two songs couldn't be any more different: One is a sensitive ballad about love, loss and broken hearts, while "Pour It Up" sees Rihanna borrowing heavily from Juicy J's strip club anthem, "Bands Make Her Dance." ("Bands" and "Pour It Up" both feature sleepy production by Mike Will and focus on throwing cash around around naked women.)

Ekko and Rihanna performed "Stay" at Sunday night's Grammys, where she also joined Sting, Bruno Mars and Damian and Ziggy Marley for a tribute to Bob Marley. While she was among the best-dressed stars at the event, the singer disappointed a number of fans by snuggling up to Chris Brown at the event. After the Grammys, Rihanna and Brown were spotted at a nightclub and in Brown car, an unnerving image given that this year's award show marked four years since Brown viciously assaulted her.

"Unapologetic" is Rihanna's seventh studio album. You may remember that it was heralded by the Rihanna Plane, a seven-day, seven-country tour that featured Rihanna and 150 increasingly cranky journalists on one chartered plane.

8-Year-Old Boy Killed By Space Heater Fire During Storm
Authorities say a fire sparked by a space heater in a Brooklyn apartment on a freezing, snowy morning has killed an 8-year-old boy.

The Fire Department says a firefighter and another person were taken to hospitals with minor injuries after the blaze early Saturday. It was in a building in the city's Flatbush neighborhood.

Henry Barnes lives across the street. He tells The New York Times he was awakened by screams, went outside and saw two women standing in the street.

He says one was yelling: "Get my kids, get my kids."

The boy died at the scene of the fire. His name hasn't been released.

Firefighters determined the space heater was too close to some combustible items. It's not immediately clear what they were.

Apparently Katy Perry didn't get the Grammys wardrobe memo. Perry is yet another star who pushed the limits of the wardrobe mandate at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, with a tight mint green, cleavage-baring gown that blatantly violated the memo CBS sent out to Grammy attendees. The mandate emailed earlier this week by CBS' standards and practices department demanded stars "please be sure that buttocks and female breasts are adequately covered," and Perry certainly disregarded that request Sunday night.

Katy Perry at the Grammys (Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage)Even E!'s Ryan Seacrest seemed noticeably flustered while interviewing Perry on the red carpet -- aside from being extremely tight, the dress exposed a large amount of cleavage. When he asked Perry about her look, Perry discussed her inspiration.

"I was inspired by Priscilla Presley in the '70s," the pop star explained. Without addressing her scandalous dress, she chose instead to focus on her flowing hairstyle. "The big hair, closer to God," she said.

Katy Perry and John Mayer get cozy at the Grammys. (Kevin Mazur/WireImage)

Seacrest's co-host Giuliana Rancic later asked how he kept focused during the interview. Seacrest had a quick response: "When you are my height you have a lot of experience staying focused at that eye line. Lots of practice."

On Saturday night Perry did a much better job adhering to those guidelines at the Grammys MusiCare Person Of the Year Gala, which honored Bruce Springsteen. The singer wore an orange Alexander McQueen gown for the ceremony, and received rave reviews for her fashion choice.

Perry is a nominee and presenter at the 55th annual Grammy Awards Sunday night. Earlier this week it was reported that Perry would not be taking beau John Mayer to the ceremony, but instead would be attending with friend and "Girls" actress Allison Williams.

A nine-year-old Mexican girl has given birth to a baby of her own, local authorities and family members said.

"The girl was just over eight when she got pregnant. The father is a boy who is 17, but we have not found him, since he ran away," the mother of the girl, identified only as Dafne, told local officials in Jalisco state.

"We are looking for the young man to get his story because she does not understand what has happened. This is a rape or child sex abuse case," said Jorge Villasenor with the state prosectors' office.

The baby girl was born on January 27 in Zoquipan Hospital, weighing 2.7 kg.

Both girls were released from the hospital over the weekend, apparently doing well but the hospital said it would have to do extensive followup due to the new mother's age.
[Source]

 Syrian rebels have taken control of the country's biggest hydro-electric dam on the Euphrates River, activists said, dealing a strategic blow to President Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other Syrian activists said Islamist fighters seized the entrances to the dam, although gunmen had not entered the main operations room and the dam had continued to function.

They had earlier swept through the nearby town of Tabqa, renamed al-Thawra (Revolution) by the country's rulers. A statue of Assad's father, the late President Hafez al-Assad, was set on fire in the town, video footage showed.

Other video posted on the Internet showed what activists said was an abandoned Air Force Security base next to the dam and army installations inside the town.

"The dam was protected by an artillery battery and many intelligence units. The rebels moved on them in a lightning offensive yesterday, overrunning their positions and capturing scores of personnel," said Abu Ziad Teif, an opposition activist in contact with rebels in the area.

He said it was not clear whether the rebels would be able to keep the dam in operation and whether enough employees were left at the site. Extra power cuts were reported in the war ravaged city of Aleppo, which is partly supplied by the dam.

Rami Abdulrahman of British-based Syrian Observatory described the swift collapse of Assad's forces in Tabqa and around the dam as one of the president's biggest strategic setbacks in the 22-month-old Syrian uprising.

 Pope Benedict said on Monday he will resign on Feb 28 because he no longer has the strength to fulfill the duties of his office, becoming the first pontiff since the Middle Ages to take such a step.

The 85-year-old pope said he had noticed that his strength had deteriorated over recent months "to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me".

"For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter," he said according to a statement from the Vatican.

A Vatican spokesman said the pontiff would step down from 1900 GMT on February 28, leaving the office vacant until a successor is chosen.

Taylor Swift was the opening act for the 55th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday night.

The 23-year-old pop superstar sang her nominated song "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" at the Grammys. Swift teased her Grammys performance in the days leading up to the big event. She rocked a bedazzled white top hat and tails. Her over-the-top performance included men on stilts, ballerinas, and dancers dressed as rabbits. She ended the song with the line "So he calls me and goes, 'I still love you...' And I'm like, 'I'm sorry, I'm busy opening the Grammys.'"

"I think you should perform the song that's nominated," she told Ryan Seacrest on his radio show. Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," the lead single off her 2012 album "Red," was nominated in the Record of the Year category. ("Red" itself wasn't eligible for Grammys nominations, so expect to see Swift dominate the 56th annual Grammy Awards in 2014.)

Prior to performing on the Grammy awards, Swift was a little nervous.

"Oh my god, it's Grammy week, it's so hectic," she said to Seacrest. "I have a lot to plan for with the opening performance and I'm just really hoping all the pieces come together this week. Because this is when it really gets really crazy, but it's all very exciting too."

Let me start by saying that I dearly missed the presence of Marnie, Jessa and Soshanna in this week's episode of "Girls." This is partially due to the balance and wit their characters provide in the midst of sad and ridiculous storylines, but also because Hannah has officially hit a big fat zero on the togetherness scale.

Let's begin with the smaller problems that came up during "One Man's Trash."

She has a rebellious streak that has manifested itself in garbage.

In the same way teenagers sneak out of the house to defy their parents, Hannah gets a rush from throwing the Cafe Grumpy trash in a can that does not belong to the coffee shop. After the handsome man on the receiving end of her habit comes charging angrily into the coffee shop, Hannah is quick to tell him she's very sorry for what she's done, but that she thinks her rebellion "makes a lot of sense in a way." Does it?

She has no problem playing ping pong naked or passing out in a shower.

In case you hadn't figured it out from the previews, Hannah ends up hitting it off with the guy whose trash can she's filling with pastries and coffee grounds. Has name is Joshua (Patrick Wilson) -- not Josh -- and he's a 42-year-old, recently-separated doctor.

He invites her in to his very pretty, very adult brownstone, and they have sex almost immediately. Soon, they're playing ping pong naked. I'm not saying playing games naked is an entirely terrible thing, as a lot of people enjoy the occasional skinny dip. But ping pong? Really? It just seems (and looks) like a bad idea on a lot of levels.

Speaking of bad ideas, when Hannah discovers that Joshua has a very high-tech shower that can probably talk, she immediately turns up the heat and ends up fainting because of the amount of steam that accumulates. She is of course saved by Joshua, who is becoming something of a father figure at this point. But what if he hadn't been around?


We all have moments that make us want to ditch the nine-to-five scene to travel the world, spend a year writing a book or just hide under our covers. But unless you have access to a trust fund, which Hannah does not, quitting your job because your boss was a jerk to a handsome guy isn't all that smart.

When you're paying your own rent and kicking out roommates every other month, a stable income is a necessity. Unfortunately for Hannah, being a free-spirited girl who stands up for herself only goes so far.

Mumford & Son's "Babel" took home the trophy for Album of the Year at Sunday's 55th Annual Grammy Awards, besting Frank Ocean's "channel ORANGE," the Black Keys' "El Camino", fun.'s "Some Nights," and Jack White's "Blunderbuss."

In pre-awards buzz, "Babel" was somewhat of a favorite, in part because the album strikes the right balance of commercial success and critical appeal. The album sold 600,000 copies in its first week, the year's best until Taylor Swift's "Red" debuted with a million-unit week.

It's worth noting that none of this year's Album of the Year nominees were female, a seeming omission that has not gone unnoticed. The Recording Academy votes on nominees and winners. Dubbed Music's Biggest Night, the awards broadcast is intended to be the gold standard for the industry. While the Academy has often been chided for its peculiar way of including and excluding certain artists and genres, "Grammy-winner" remains music's biggest plaudit.

According to the Academy, 39.9 million viewers watched last year's show -- the largest TV audience for the event since 1984. An average of 160,341 tweets per minute were posted during the broadcast.

Last year's Grammy winners included Kanye West and Adele, who combined for ten awards.

For more on the Grammys, click here. Find more Grammy award 2013 winners in the liveblog below.

Authorities in Los Angeles have offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the capture of a fired LA police officer sought in connection with a series of killings and threats against his former colleagues and their families.

The reward was announced even as investigators continued to comb the snowy mountains around Big Bear Lake, where Christopher Dorner's burned out truck was found on Feb. 7, and hundreds of officers patrolled the neighborhoods where people live who were threatened by Dorner in an online screed.

Every day that Dorner is loose, said LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, is another day when the likelihood of an attack on police officers or their families increases.


"We are asking the public, 'Please help us to protect you,' " Beck said at a news conference. "Please help us to find Dorner before he is able to kill again."

Dorner is wanted in the slayings of three people and the ambush-style shooting of two others, all part of a revenge-style rampage that began last Sunday, when he allegedly shot the daughter of a police union lawyer and her fiancé in an Irvine parking garage.

The heart of the search continued to be the San Bernardino mountains where Dorner was last seen, Beck said on Sunday. Officers will also look for him near where some 50 LAPD families live who were threatened by the former policeman.

"You fish where the fish are," Beck said. "And Mr. Dorner has made his intentions very clear."

Timeline: Revenge-Plot Slayings | Read: Full Manifesto | Map: Search Locations

Police locked down a home improvement store in the San Fernando Valley, more than a hundred miles away from Big Bear, after receiving a tip that someone resembling Dorner was seen in the store. Authorities searched car-to-car and cordoned off neighborhoods in Northridge, but the move was seen as mostly precautionary.

Also on Sunday, the Riverside Police Department released the name of one of Dorner's victims. Michael Crain, 34, was ambushed by a man police believe was Dorner on April 7, as he sat with his partner at a stoplight in his patrol car.

 A southern Philippine town plans to hold funeral rites for the world's largest saltwater crocodile and then preserve its remains in a museum to keep tourists coming and prevent their community from slipping back into obscurity, the town's mayor said Monday.

The 1-ton crocodile was declared dead Sunday a few hours after flipping over with a bloated stomach in a pond in an eco-tourism park in Bunawan town, which had started to draw tourists, revenue and development because of the immense reptile, Mayor Edwin Cox Elorde said.

"The whole town, in fact the whole province, is mourning," Elorde said from Bunawan in Agusan del Sur province. "My phones kept ringing because people wanted to say how affected they are."

Guinness World Records had proclaimed it the largest saltwater crocodile in captivity last year, measuring the giant at 6.17 meters (20.24 feet). The reptile took the top spot from an Australian crocodile that measured more than 5 meters (17 feet) and weighed nearly a ton.

The crocodile was named Lolong, after a government environmental officer who died from a heart attack after traveling to Bunawan to help capture the beast. The crocodile, estimated to be more than 50 years old, was blamed for a few brutal deaths of villagers before Bunawan folk came to love it.

The giant reptile has come to symbolize the rich bio-diversity of Agusan marsh, where it was captured. The vast complex of swamp forests, shallow lakes, lily-covered ponds and wetlands is home to wild ducks, herons, egrets and threatened species like the Philippine Hawk Eagle.

Wildlife experts were to perform an autopsy as early as Monday to determine the cause of its death, Elorde said.

Bunawan villagers planned to perform a tribal ritual, which involves butchering chicken and pigs as funeral offerings to thank forest spirits for the fame and other blessings the crocodile has brought, Elordie said. A group of Christians would separately offer prayers before the autopsy.

The rites would be held at the eco-tourism park, where the reptile had emerged as a star attraction, drawing foreign tourists, scientists and wildlife reporting outfits like the National Geographic to Bunawan, a far-flung town of 37,000 people about 515 miles (830 kilometers) southeast of Manila.

The crocodile's capture in September 2011 sparked celebrations in Bunawan, but it also raised concerns that more giant crocodiles might lurk in a marshland and creek where villagers fish. The crocodile was captured with steel cable traps during a hunt prompted by the death of a child in 2009 and the later disappearance of a fisherman. Water buffalos have also been attacked by crocodiles in the area.

About 100 people led by Elorde pulled the crocodile from a creek using a rope and then hoisted it by crane onto a truck.

The manhunt for Christopher Dorner led LAPD SWAT officers to a Northridge Lowe's home improvement store after people reported seeing someone who resembled the fugitive former police officer there.

LAPD swarmed the store off Nordhoff Street about 5 p.m. Customers were escorted out of the store as police looked for any signs of Dorner.

LAPD stressed that it was an unconfirmed sighting.

There have been several reports similar to this one in recent days that didn't pan out.

The search came several hours after the LAPD issued a tactical alert as it handled the Dorner manhunt as well as security for the Grammys.

The LAPD did not detail its Grammy security arrangements, but the department regularly sends a large contingent of officers to awards shows.

This year, the Grammys occurred on the fifth day of a manhunt for Dorner, who is suspected of killing an Irvine couple and a Riverside police officer.

The tactical alert came the same day that Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced a $1-million reward for information leading to Dorner's capture.

“We will not tolerate anyone undermining the security of this community,” Villaraigosa said at a news conference at LAPD headquarters downtown. “We will not tolerate this reign of terror.”

Dorner allegedly carried out the slayings as part of a vengeful campaign sparked by his 2009 dismissal from the Los Angeles Police Department, authorities said.

Sunday's tactical alert was declared shortly after 2 p.m. In a tactical alert, officers can be held over on their shifts and do not respond to low-priority radio calls.

Officials hope the huge reward will give police the break they've been waiting for.

Police Chief Charlie Beck said the reward was "the largest local reward ever offered to our knowledge." The reason for such a significant reward, Beck said, was "not about capturing a fleeing suspect, but about preventing another crime, likely another murder."


"This is an act of domestic terrorism," Beck said of those killed and allegedly targeted by Dorner. "He has targeted those we entrust to protect the public."

A massive manhunt for Dorner began last week after the 33-year-old former officer and Navy veteran allegedly began a deadly campaign that has left an Irvine couple and a Riverside police officer dead.

The city of Los Angeles, law enforcement organizations, private groups and anonymous donors have all contributed to the reward fund, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation.


Los Angeles County Supervisors Michael D. Antonovich and Mark Ridley-Thomas are expected to ask the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to contribute $100,000 to the fund, according to Tony Bell, an Antonovich spokesman.

In addition to Los Angeles officials, representatives from the Riverside and Irvine police departments and the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service attended the news conference.

The frustrating search for Dorner has gone from Riverside to Corona to Big Bear to Point Loma in San Diego. There have been numerous false starts, but officials say the heightened publicity has not brought them closer to making an arrest.

The smell of bacon was in the air Saturday as thousands converged on Iowa's capital city for an increasingly popular festival celebrating all things connected with the meat.

Some people wore Viking hats and others walked around with makeshift snouts for the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival. The annual event featured more than 10,000 pounds of bacon served in unusual ways, such as chocolate-dipped bacon and bacon-flavored cupcakes and gelato.

"I love bacon more than I love my job," said Katie Nordquist, who was dressed in a tuxedo T-shirt that looked like bacon Saturday for her first time at the festival.

And there was a lot of bacon to choose from. The smell of unique concoctions like bacon gumbo and chocolate bacon bourbon tarts wafted through one of two buildings at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. The other building had an Iceland theme, with a Viking boat and Icelandic dishes with bacon, to honor a group of delegates visiting from the country.

Urbandale resident Mike Vogel showed up for a fourth year wearing a head-to-toe bacon costume. He said a widespread love for bacon is the reason about 8,000 tickets to the event sold out in just over three minutes.

"I think it's the right time of year when everybody's been cooped up," said the 39-year-old videographer. "It's a good time to get out, have some fun, try some new stuff, have a few beers and enjoy yourselves with everybody else."

Other events scheduled included lectures about bacon and an eating competition. The festival was preceded earlier in the week with a bacon queen pageant and a pig pardon by Gov. Terry Branstad.

Jessica Dunker, president and CEO of the Iowa Restaurant Association, said bacon used to be just a breakfast food. Now chefs from across the state and country use it in everything from vegetable dishes to desserts.

"It's come a long way and you can find it in almost any kind of food or beverage offering," she said.

Festival co-founder Brooks Reynolds, who officially started the event just a few years ago, said it's become the largest bacon showcase in the world. He called the event a "bacon fellowship."

Los Angeles police said Saturday that they would reopen an investigation into the firing of Christopher Jordan Dorner, a former cop accused of killing three people as part of a revenge plot targeting law enforcement officers.

Dorner wrote a manifesto declaring war on police in retaliation for being fired from his job as an LAPD officer and losing an appeal to be reinstated. He promised to bring "unconventional and asymmetrical warfare" to officers and their families, calling it the "last resort" to clear his name and strike back at a department that he says mistreated him.

"I do this not to appease a murderer. I do it to reassure the public that their police department is transparent and fair in all the things we do," Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said in a statement.

He said police would also look into any allegations made in the manifesto.

Beck addressed what he described as the "ghosts of the LAPD's past," and said that one of his biggest worries was that those ghosts would be "resurrected by Dorner's allegations of racism."

"As hard as it has been to change the culture of the Los Angeles Police Department, it has been even more difficult to win and maintain the support of the public. As much as I value our successes in reducing crime, I value even more our gains in public confidence," he said.

The development came as police continued their search for Dorner, 33, in snowbound mountains. Bundled up in winter gear, teams returned to the pine forests and trails surrounding Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains.

Poor Taylor Swift can't seem to catch a break. On the heels of her breakup from British boy wonder Harry Styles of One Direction, rumors of an alleged sex tape recently surfaced and drove the Internet wild.

But wait just a minute before you Google "Taylor Swift sex tape" (seriously, dude). The whole thing turned out to be a phishing scam banking on Haylor's likability, reports Yahoo.

A Facebook message that read "The famous singer Taylor Swift had her iPhone hacked Monday and a sex tape between her and former boyfriend Harry Styles has been leaked on the Internet. Taylor's publicists are trying to take down all of the websites hosting it, but we found a working one! Watch the video before it's taken down!" led the many clickers to a form where they had to fill out their personal details. We're hoping no one in their right mind went through with it, but hey, sex sells.

And since it does, the tabloids are now competing to run the most intimate detail about Taylor Swift's love life. Star magazine wrote that "all she wants to do is kiss for hours, which is probably why none of the guys she dates stick around," according to Hollywood Life. OK! magazine printed that "lyrics have been written [about Harry]," insinuating that Taylor is already recording heartbreak songs about her last beau.

Another report says Styles, who just turned 19 in the company of a stripper, doesn't care about Swift's songs and doesn't care if she writes one about him like she did about John Mayer or Jake Gyllenhaal. Yet a different report says the two love birds will reunite after they both perform at the BRIT Awards Feb. 20.

It's been four years since Chris Brown and Rihanna failed to show up at the 2009 Grammys, following a domestic violence incident that Brown later pleaded guilty to. But the pair -- who have since reconciled and released a bluntly-titled duet together, "Nobodies Business" -- aren't letting that stop them from potentially alienating everyone and attending the 2013 Grammy Awards show together Sunday night.

A source told the website Hollywood Life that Rihanna was "looking forward to the Grammys and [she] will be with Chris the whole night, so you know that's going to be extra f*cking special. He already told her he would go with her, so it's a wrap."

And in a revealing interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Rihanna confirmed that she had taken her ex-boyfriend back into her life, saying that she was happier with him than without. "I decided it was more important for me to be happy," she said. "I wasn't going to let anybody's opinion get in the way of that. Even if it's a mistake, it's my mistake. After being tormented for so many years, being angry and dark, I'd rather just live my truth and take the backlash. I can handle it."

While we'll have to wait and see if Rihanna, 24, and Brown, 23, do actually show up on the red carpet together for the first time since the 2009 assault, we do know that the "Diamonds" singer has already been standing by her man's side in court. Rihanna accompanied Brown to court Thursday, where he faced allegations that he failed to complete community service stemming from his plea bargain, and blew him a kiss from the front row.

Elton John continues to surprise, this time by joining Queens of the Stone Age on their upcoming album. Dave Grohl reported the news, which is perhaps not totally shocking when one realizes John's class of many collaborators includes the likes of Kanye West, Bonnie Raitt and Don Henley.

On Wednesday, the Foo Fighters' frontman and Nirvana alum revealed the news on Chelsea Handler's late-night program. Grohl is the featured drummer on the QOTSA project.

Here's what John had to say about the Stone Age collaboration, via NME:

    "I was in Vegas and I flew back to LA and Engelbert Humperdinck had written me a very sweet letter and asked me to sing a duet with him. He is part of my history and I couldn't say no so I went and recorded a song with him. Then I drove three blocks and went from Engelbert to Queens Of The Stone Age, which was a bit of a mindf--k."

The Queens of the Stone Age album will also include Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails.

John is among the credited vocalists on Kanye West's "All of the Lights," a track off "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy." Though Rihanna is the only featured guest on the song, John is joined by the likes of Fergie, Elly Jackson (of La Roux), Alicia Keys, Drake, Charlie Wilson and Kid Cudi, all of whom are also uncredited singers on the track.

An international red band trailer for director Harmony Korine’s new film Spring Breakers has made its way online.  The movie centers on a group of girls (played by Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine) who go to disturbing lengths to keep their spring break going, and their journey becomes even stranger when they encounter unhinged drug dealer, Alien (James Franco).  Like the first domestic trailer, this clip highlights the film’s overall nuttiness and Franco’s sublime work as Alien (a nugget of Alien wisdom: “Titties and big booties, y’all, that’s what life is about”).  It also happens to involve more cursing and Britney Spears sing-alongs.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer, and click here to read Matt’s positive review of the film.  Also, if you missed them, click here to check out 24 images from the movie.  Spring Breakers opens on March 22nd.

Here is an international red band trailer for director Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers.  The marketing for this one seems easy: girls in bikinis and throw in James Franco with grills for good measure.  The movie follows a group of girls (Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine) who go to disturbing lengths to keep their spring break going, even if that means fraternizing with the drug dealer, Alien (James Franco).

"Spring Breakers" hits theaters on March 22, and it's pretty clear the film's marketing department wants you to know the film will feature more than a couple of girls in bikinis ... but not much more.

New posters for director Harmony Korine's latest project were just released, and the artwork does a good job of showing off the film's sexy and sleazy sides.

Former Disney star Selena Gomez is front and center in cleavage-baring blue bikini, while James Franco looks hilarious and terrifying decked out in cornrows, tattoos and a handgun tucked in his pants.

The film also stars "Pretty Little Liars" actress Ashley Benson and "High School Musical" alum Vanessa Hudgen in equally tiny bikinis, as they rob a fast-food restaurant in order to finance their spring break trip to Florida. Once there, the quartet (Rachel Korine, the director's wife, plays the fourth woman) end up entangled with a drug dealer named Alien (Franco).

Expect threesomes, hard partying, and "bikinis and big booties, y'all!" (That's what life is about, at least in "Spring Breakers.") Let the debauchery begin.