Former NBA player Robert 'Tractor' Traylor found dead

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Robert "Tractor" Traylor, known for his size during the short time he played in the NBA, was found dead in his apartment in Puerto Rico where he had been playing basketball, according to the Bayamon Vaqueros team site.

Calling him "the strength of the Bayamón Vaqueros," the team said Traylor had not been seen for a few days and so they went to his apartment, where he was found dead.
Traylor, 34, is presumed to have died of a heart attack, according to Bayamon Vaqueros. The star struggled due to his size - but also heart problems when he tried to make it in the NBA. He had a heart operation in 2005.
Traylor, who attended the University of Michigan, was taken by the Dallas Mavericks as the sixth pick in the NBA draft in 1998 but was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks for Dirk Nowitzki. (Some Michigan fans in the 1990s might remember him for other reasons.)
The 300-plus pound center joked about his weight in an old SI.com story, but he also acknowledged how it had kept him from being the style of player he wanted - though he did often try conditioning methods to get him in better shape.
His coach at Michigan, current San Diego State Coach Steve Fisher, said Wednesday that Traylor was "one of my favorite people and players that I have ever had the privilege of getting to know."
"Robert was someone who could light up a room with his smile. He was a gentle person but as fierce a competitor as there was," Fisher said. "I am very saddened to hear of his sudden and tragic departure. Robert was one of my favorite people for all the right reasons."

Omar Bin Laden in 2010: After Bin Laden, It'll Be 'Much, Much Worse'

In his book, Omar describes himself as a romantic during his coming of age in the wilds of Tora Bora, Afghanistan. He dreamed of following his older brother Abdullah's example, marrying a Bin Laden cousin and living in the quiet comfort his father left behind in Saudi Arabia.
"I spent hours thinking about a certain cousin, a pretty and sweet girl…imagining us falling in love, getting married, and living in a lovely home filled with sweet-faced children," he wrote, tuning a small radio to hear the love songs of Um Kulthum as part of a "desperate need to create a new life."
When he was interviewed by ABC News in early 2010, Omar had a chilling warning for those who were hunting his father.

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He said that if his father were killed, the worst might lie ahead. America might face a broader and more violent enemy, with nothing to keep them in check.
"From what I knew of my father and the people around him I believe he is the most kind among them, because some are much, much worse," said bin Laden. "Their mentality wants to make more violence, to create more problems."
Omar turned his back on his father's philosophy even though his father had picked him to succeed him as the leader of jihad.
"Attacking peaceful people is not being fair, it is unacceptable," bin Laden told ABC News. "If you have a problem with armies or governments you should fight those people. This is what I find unacceptable in my father's way."
But bin Laden was confident at the time that despite the $25 million bounty on his father's head, his father wouldn't be caught.
"It's been 30 years now since he started fighting there," said Omar. "Who could catch him? No one."

Osama Bin Laden's Sons Say U.S. Broke Law in Killing Their Father

The sons of Osama bin Laden have issued a statement that accuses the U.S. of violating international law by killing an unarmed man and dumping his body in the ocean.
The statement, which was prepared by an attorney and attributed to Omar bin Laden and his siblings, notes that both Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein were tried in courts of law, and says Osama bin Laden was denied the presumption of innocence and a fair trial. It said the "assassination" of Osama bin Laden "blatantly violated" international law.
"We maintain that arbitrary killing is not a solution to political problems," says the statement. The message, which also asks the Pakistani government to release the bin Laden wives and children currently in custody, is titled "A Statement from the Sons of bin Laden," but it is only signed by Omar. It also says bin Laden's sons do not believe President Obama's account of the operation that killed their father and would be following up with both U.S. and international courts.
"We ... demand an inquiry," says the statement, "[into] the accuracy of the facts as stated by the United States into the fundamental question of why our father was not arrested and tried but summarily executed."
Two versions of the statement have been issued, including a shorter version posted on the Arabic language website mafa.asia. Though the statement says it is from Omar and "my brothers, the lawful children and heirs of Osama bin Laden," it is signed by Omar alone.

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Last week, after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, his son Khalid and three other people, Attorney General Eric Holder stressed that the mission was legal. "Let me make something very clear," said Holder. "The operation in which Osama bin Laden was killed was lawful. He was the head of al Qaeda, an organization that conducted the attacks of September the 11th. He admitted his involvement."
Omar bin Laden, 30, has not lived with his father since 1999, when he and his mother, Najwa bin Laden, left him in Afghanistan. Omar has denounced violence, and the message includes a reminder that Omar had made clear to Osama that he "always disagreed with [him] regarding any violence."
"As [Omar] condemned our father, we now condemn the president of the United States for ordering the execution of unarmed women and children."
In an additional personal statement, dictated to Jean Sasson, who helped him write his 2009 memoir "Growing up bin Laden," Omar bin Laden expressed the "sincere upset" that his family is experiencing at the news of Osama's death.
"As a young Islamic child," said the statement, "[Omar] and his siblings had to obey and follow their father's instructions, irrespective of how this affected them personally. This included several upheavals and re-locations, into environments that caused Omar, his mother and siblings great upset and danger."
"As with all young people, the coming of age and the entering of adulthood is marked by the individual making life's decisions for themselves. Omar's first two decisions on becoming an adult, were firstly, that the course of action his father was taking was not correct for him, irrespective of what his father's wishes were. Secondly he asked his father for permission, for not just his own departure but also that of his mother and younger siblings from his father's life."

Ex-con pleads not guilty in Denver-area mall bombing

A 65-year-old ex-convict suspected of leaving a homemade bomb in a suburban Denver mall pleaded not guilty Friday to federal charges of arson and use of a destructive device, the Justice Department said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Boyd N. Boland ordered Earl Albert Moore held without bond pending a resolution of the case.
A federal grand jury in Denver indicted Moore late Thursday.
Boulder, Colorado, police arrested Moore on April 26 after receiving a tip from a grocery store employee who recognized him from photographs released by the FBI.
Moore had first been charged on April 24 in a sealed criminal complaint. He made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Denver on April 27. Friday's indictment formalizes the charges against Moore, who remains in federal custody.
According to an affidavit filed in support of the arrest warrant, Moore entered Southwest Plaza Mall on April 20 via an employee-only entrance, then put a homemade bomb inside an employee corridor and left. As he was leaving, a fire erupted, but the device did not explode. A security officer put out the fire with a fire extinguisher.
According to court documents, Moore was linked to the explosive device by DNA recovered from the bomb.
If convicted of arson of a building, he faces five to 20 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $250,000. If convicted of use of a destructive device during and in relation to a crime of violence, he faces at least 30 years consecutive to any other sentence imposed, and a fine of up to $250,000.
U.S. District Court Judge John L. Kane has set a tentative trial date of July 11. Officials have suggested no motive.
The incident occurred on the 12th anniversary of the Columbine school massacre in which 12 students and a teacher were killed. The mall's location near Columbine high school led to speculation that the two incidents were connected.
But Jefferson County Colorado Sheriff Ted Mink has ruled out any connection between the events.
"This incident had no bearing on any of the schools in the Littleton school district," Mink told reporters last month. "There was absolutely no connection."

Just seven days before the incident, Moore was released from federal prison in South Carolina, where he had been serving a sentence for a 2005 bank robbery in West Virginia.

Florida boy, 16, charged as adult in double slaying of British men

A 16-year-old boy has been indicted as an adult on charges of murdering two British men in Sarasota, Florida, police said Wednesday.
Shawn A. Tyson was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in last month's shooting deaths of James M. Cooper, 25, and James Thomas Kouzaris, 24, both of England, Sarasota Police Chief Mikel T. Hollaway said in a written statement.
Tyson will be tried as an adult and, if convicted of first-degree murder, could receive life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, Hollaway said.
The neighborhood where the British men were found is a housing project in north Sarasota called Newtown, police said.
The teen suspect lives near the crime scene, a police report said, and he had been arrested earlier in April on a charge of aggravated assault with a handgun.
Police said the murders were an isolated incident at the complex, where the housing authority has been working to address problems.

The two men were believed to be friends who recently graduated from college and were in Sarasota to celebrate.