FEDERAL HEIGHTS, Colo. (AP) - A man found dead in an Adams County office building where a software executive was shot is a past employee of the software company. The Adams County coroner said Thursday that Thomas Ciancio of Castle Rock died from apparent gunshot wounds to his head. However, the coroner says exactly how he died and his involvement in the shooting of the executive, 58-year-old Rex Fowler, are still under investigation. Initial 911 callers reported that Fowler had been ...

LOS ANGELES — Investigators said Thursday that a prominent trial lawyer who was found fatally shot outside his home was the victim of a homicide. Detectives spent several days trying to determine if Monday's shooting of Jeffrey Tidus was a homicide or suicide. "We have gathered enough information now," Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Dave Dolson said. "We are certain it's a murder." Tidus was shot as he went to fetch his laptop from his car outside his home in wealthy ...

A man who blames the Church of Scientology for his brother's suicide added his voice Monday to calls for an Australia Senate inquiry into the religion. Belfast-born Stephen McBride, 35, flew from the west coast city of Perth to Canberra on Monday to support a senator's call for an inquiry into the church. The Senate could vote as early as Tuesday on Sen Nick Xenophon's motion to hold a wide-reaching inquiry into the church that was founded in 1953 by the ...

For the three days leading up to soldier Edward McBride's suicide, his family say he was bombarded by telephone calls and texts from Church of Scientology members. The family believe the church played a major role in his death, but have spent the past two years without answers or recourse. Now they've urged the federal government to initiate an inquiry into the controversial religious group, under fire following recent allegations of blackmail, sanctioned beatings, forced abortions and financial fraud. Independent senator ...

INDEPENDENT senator Nick Xenophon has accused the Church of Scientology of being a criminal organisation. The South Australian parliamentarian said he had been contacted by a number of former Scientologists, after he questioned the organisation's tax exempt status in a recent television interview. "They have provided long and detailed letters to me about the workings of this organisation," he told the Senate. "These people rightly see themselves as victims of Scientology." Senator Xenophon said their correspondence implicated the organisation in a ...

The Church of Scientology is going through a difficult season. Over the course of two days last week, a French court convicted the church of fraud and Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis' resignation from the church over a litany of concerns was aired publicly. On one hand, it was just another bad press week for the embattled institution founded in 1953 by the late science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. But for former Scientologists and scholars of the movement, the setbacks pose ...

"Crash" director Paul Haggis has severed his ties with the Church of Scientology, in part because of what he alleged as the organization's stance against gay marriage. Haggis wrote a letter addressed to Tommy Davis, the head of Scientology's Celebrity Centre. In it, Haggis said he was disappointed by the church's tacit denial of gay rights in the debate over California's gay marriage ban. The 56-year-old Haggis, who won an Oscar in 2005 for co-writing "Crash," said he was quitting the ...

STRASBOURG, France — Russia's ban on the Church of Scientology is illegal, the European Court of Human Rights said Thursday in a binding ruling. The court said Russia cannot ban the Church of Scientology just because it has not been in the country for long and awarded each of the groups euro5,000 ($7,270) in damages. The groups together also received euro10,000 ($14,500) for costs, which they shared. The case was brought to the Strasbourg-based court by two Russian Scientology branches that ...

NASSAU, Bahamas – A jury was selected Monday for a trial that could see John Travolta take the stand against two people accused of trying to extort $25 million from the movie star following his son's death in the Bahamas. Travolta is on a list of 14 witnesses against the defendants — a former Bahamas senator and an ambulance driver — who allegedly threatened to release a document related to the treatment of his chronically ill son Jett. His testimony would ...

NY state senator indicted on assault charges, accused of attacking girlfriend in jealous rage NEW YORK – A freshman state senator sworn in to office despite allegations he slashed his girlfriend's face with broken glass in a jealous rage has been indicted on domestic assault charges, prosecutors said Monday. A grand jury in Queens indicted Hiram Monserrate on three counts of second-degree felony assault and three counts of third-degree misdemeanor assault. Arraignment is expected later this week. He faces seven years ...

Jada Pinkett Smith adds `schoolmaster' to resume By SANDY COHEN â⒬“ 3 hours ago LOS ANGELES (AP) â⒬� Jada Pinkett Smith is adding another title to her resume: schoolmaster. The actress-producer and her husband, Will Smith, opened the New Village Leadership Academy in Calabasas, Calif., last fall. The school is for pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. Now Pinkett Smith hopes to open a companion high school. Pinkett Smith says she decided to open the elementary school after developing a home-school program for ...

A wide-ranging study on American religious life found that the Roman Catholic population has been shifting out of the Northeast to the Southwest, the percentage of Christians in the nation has declined and more people say they have no religion at all. Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey. Northern New England surpassed the Pacific Northwest as the least religious ...

SWEENEY CANYON, Wyo. (AP) — The construction began last summer, stirring up dust that wafted down this desert valley and into a small community of off-the-grid homes. As many as 20 heavy trucks a day hauling construction materials and equipment rumbled down the valley's main gravel road, passing into a gate marked with a "No Trespassing" sign. Helicopters flew in sling loads of cargo. Powerful work lights lit up the valley at night. Public planners in southwest Wyoming's Sweetwater County — ...

Bahamas Using 2 Experts for Travolta Son Autopsy Bahamas' health minister requests 2 pathologists to oversee autopsy on John Travolta's son By CHRIS GILLETTE Associated Press Writer FREEPORT, Bahamas January 3, 2009 (AP) The Bahamas will use two pathologists to ensure a careful autopsy on John Travolta's son, who died at the actor's vacation home in Grand Bahama, the territory's health minister said Saturday. Dr. Hubert Minnis told The Associated Press that he decided to use a second specialist to guarantee ...