Slaying casts light on Hollywood's transgender prostitutes

The last that Cassidy Vickers' street friends saw of him was about 10 p.m. on Nov. 17, 2011, outside the Donut Time shop on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood.

He was waving and saying he'd be back in a bit.

A transgender prostitute whose legal name was Nathan, Cassidy had come down from the San Francisco Bay Area to work the Hollywood streets.

That night, on Lexington Avenue, 10 blocks from the doughnut shop, Vickers was shot to death by a man on a bike.

Vickers' death was part of a series of crimes by a man police are now calling the Western Bandit for his armed robberies late at night in the vicinity of Western Avenue from Hollywood to South Los Angeles. Detectives believe he has recently resurfaced, committing six more street robberies from June to October, and then two more last month.

"This is a huge concern for us, and for the safety of the public," said Lt. John Radtke of the Los Angeles Police Department. Radtke, supervisor of West Bureau homicide detectives, said a "signature aspect" of the crimes, which he declined to specify, has led investigators to believe the same man has appeared three times to commit crimes.

His victims, Radtke said, range from transgender prostitutes to people coming home from work late at night. Besides Vickers, two other victims have been transgender women, neither of whom was hurt. Detectives don't believe he's specifically targeting transgender prostitutes.

"My feeling is he's out there robbing and desperate to get his money and he takes whoever he encounters," Radtke said.

Still, the case of the Western Bandit casts light on the world of transgender streetwalkers, which has changed radically in recent years, leaving only the most vulnerable on the street at night — people like Nathan "Cassidy" Vickers.

Vickers grew up in a tidy, four-bedroom house in East Palo Alto, a working-class black and Latino town south of San Francisco.

In the years after high school, he came out as a gay man, said his mother, Mitzy Thompson, though "he had some of the 'hood in him," dressing in baggy pants, with braided hair and two fake gold front teeth.

His friends remember a funny, talkative and loyal gay man attempting to find his way in a tough town like East Palo Alto.

He left, eventually living in Las Vegas and, briefly, New York. He then returned to the Bay Area, where he worked for years cleaning rooms in hotels.

Sometime in 2010 he began going to Oakland parties in drag and from there, desperate for cash, working as a prostitute.

Cross-dressing, for Vickers, "was 90% economic; 10% because he liked the attention," said Nelee Webb, a friend and former roommate. Unemployment "took his self-esteem. He felt 'This is my last resort.' "

By early 2011, Vickers was traveling the Hollywood-Bay Area circuit that has for years been followed by many transgender prostitutes.

He remained Nathan in East Palo Alto, but became Cassidy while working Hollywood's transgender prostitute strip: Santa Monica Boulevard.

According to a report by the city attorney's office, Cassidy Vickers was arrested for soliciting prostitution, a month before he died, on nearby Lexington Avenue, which is where many transgender prostitutes hang out.

Several blocks of Lexington, just north of Santa Monica Boulevard and lined with small bungalows and crowded apartments, have been a strip for male hookers dressed as women for at least two decades. The scene reached its zenith in the mid-1990s. But it has declined in the era of Internet sites that match johns with prostitutes.

"It's a street of no return," said Elena Pupo, a Venezuelan transgender woman and advocate for the community.

Vickers had no home, no cosmetic surgery. He was, said a friend who asked not to be identified, a handsome man, "but wasn't really an attractive looking female."

He was the kind of vulnerable night denizen that the Western Bandit appears to target. Working late at night, he slept in bushes on a street between Donut Time and Lexington, or in a booth at the X-Spot adult bookstore in the strip mall behind the doughnut shop, Amber said.

The last time Amber saw Vickers, he seemed happier and more exuberant — the kind of outgoing person that Bay Area friends describe. "She felt good about herself that day," Amber said.

An hour later, Amber said, police cars descended on the Donut Time strip mall. Officers circulated a picture of Vickers asking the streetwalkers who heshe was.

More than a hundred people attended Vickers' funeral in East Palo Alto. Thompson didn't know many of them. She was startled to see a few were men with women's breasts and clothes.

Nevertheless, Thompson dressed her son's body in a man's suit — burgundy, his favorite color. His face, bewhiskered for years, was clean-shaven — the way he kept it as a woman when he died. Thompson said she learned of her son's cross-dressing only after his death, from a Facebook video he'd posted.

For police, Vickers' story is one they've seen all too often.

"It's the age-old Hollywood story," said Brett Goodkin, the Los Angeles police homicide detective called to Lexington that night. "People come to Hollywood … so they can be somebody else. In Nathan's case, he could be himself in Hollywood. That was his Hollywood dream. It ended like so many others."

sam.quinones@latimes.com

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IHT Rendezvous: In Villages, Praying for the Souls of Tibetan Self-Immolators

BEIJING — Since November, when cold winter began in the high Tibetan Plateau, thousands of Tibetan villagers have been gathering daily to pray for the souls of the nearly 100 Tibetans who have burned themselves to death in protest over Chinese rule, in a show of widespread support for the self-immolators among ordinary people, according to witness testimony from a person recently returned from the region.

In traditional winter prayer meetings in villages, they gather to chant “Om mani padme hum,” Tibetan Buddhism’s most important mantra, which speeds a soul toward a good reincarnation, said the person, who witnessed a meeting in the Tibetan region of Qinghai Province in China.

The meetings are a sign of support for the self-immolators and point to widespread dislike among ordinary Tibetans for repressive policies in the region that have turned it into an “open-air prison,” said one ethnic Tibetan police officer in Lhasa, quoted by the witness.

The witness cannot be identified because of the high risk of persecution by the Chinese authorities. But the reliable account of ongoing, severe repression and resentment among Tibetans confirms other reports from the Tibet Autonomous Region or from Tibetan regions in Chinese provinces, where the authorities have been cracking down as they try to stop the spread of the self-immolations.

Chinese courts last week sentenced eight Tibetans for helping self-immolators, The Associated Press reported, including one man to death with a two-year reprieve, and others to between 3 and 12 years in jail, according to Xinhua, the state news agency.

The detail and content of the grass-roots prayer meetings is new.

“The meetings are a traditional thing to do during the winter and are held daily in different villages, and last three days,” the witness said. They are known in Chinese as “fahui,” or dharma meetings (also Buddhist law meetings).

“People drive on motorbikes for long distances, 50 or 60 kilometers, to whichever village is holding a prayer meeting. It’s mostly adults, and they are anywhere between 16 and over 80 years old. As soon as they can drive a motorbike, they’ll go,” the person said.

“Around 1,000 people may attend, often going from one meeting to another without returning home.”

“Their aim is for each meeting to have chanted ‘Om mani padme hum’ 100 million times. There’s no question that they regard the self-immolators as very great, and believe that with the help of their prayers, they will come back as powerful and blessed people,” said the person, who confessed to having reservations about the self-immolations.

Yet, “It’s extremely moving. Because if the self-immolations really were a mistake, how could they get so much support and sympathy form ordinary people?”

As my colleague Jim Yardley reports from India, where many Tibetans live in exile, some there are questioning the self-immolations.

The witness confirmed that, saying: “There is a feeling among some Tibetans,” especially monks or those in the religious hierarchy, “that the Dalai Lama needs to say something to stop it.”

Yet Tibetans who are deeply unhappy with Chinese rule are constrained in how they can protest.

“The problem is that Tibetans are Buddhists. The way things are there now, in other places, people might rise up and set off bombs. But they can’t do that because Buddhists believe you shouldn’t destroy other people’s happiness. So the only way they can protest is by killing themselves,” the person said.

And so the grass-roots support goes on.

The testimony from this person also confirmed reports of a very harsh crackdown under way in Lhasa, seat of the Jokhang, Tibet’s holiest temple, and the Potala Palace, the former home of the Dalai Lama, whom Tibetans revere and who has lived in exile since fleeing the Chinese in 1959.

The crackdown, in response to the self-immolations that began not long after an uprising in Lhasa was crushed in 2008, has turned Tibet into “an open-air prison,” said an ethnic Tibetan police officer. Like some other ethnic Tibetan police officers, he was considering resigning his post, he said.

“Lhasa used to be a sacred place for Buddhism. Now it’s a sacred place for Marxism-Leninism,” he said. “Every day there are meetings where leaders both big and small tell you that maintaining stability,” or “weiwen,” in Chinese, “is the most important thing, what the main tasks in Lhasa are. Lhasa is no longer a Buddhist sacred place,” he said.

“Lhasa is stuffed with police, every 10 paces there are several. I am growing to hate my own work. It’s really not possible to keep doing it. Some have already resigned,” he told the witness.

The crackdown includes forbidding ethnic Tibetans from the outlying regions, like Qinghai or Sichuan Provinces, which lie outside Tibet proper, from traveling to Tibet and is strictly enforced at airports and other transport nodes. Ethnic Han Chinese, however, can pass, effectively making Tibet out of bounds for many Tibetans.

Any Tibetan from outside the region wishing to travel to Lhasa must have a “sponsor” in the city working for the government, the witness said. They must surrender their identity cards and be photographed. Uniformed and plainclothes police officers and military patrol heavily in the city, trying to stop self-immolations.

The ban on ethnic Tibetans from outside Tibet, many of whom have traditionally taken pilgrimages to Lhasa, means that hotels and other businesses in the city have suffered since last May when they were ordered shut to such travelers. A petition is currently circulating from hotel owners asking the government to compensate them financially, “or we will take our request higher.” For reasons of political sensitivity, the petition, which has been seen by this newspaper, cannot be discussed in detail.

It is also extremely difficult for ordinary ethnic Tibetans to get a passport, meaning they cannot travel overseas, the witness said. The person believes the government’s motive is to minimize accounts, like this one, of the harsh repression in the region.

“They don’t want Tibetans leaving the country and telling the world what’s happening there. Hundreds of people leaving and telling the world is very different from one or two,” the person said.

With the Lunar New Year approaching, the prayer meetings will soon be scaled back, as farm work and animal husbandry resume. For now, though, the villagers are praying hard for the souls of the dead, millions of mantras circulating in the thin air of the plateau.

“They say, we want their lives to come back. We want world peace. They pray for Tibet to have peaceful and happy days, and the world, too,” the person said.

Said the police officer: “Living in this tightly controlled atmosphere is unbearable. There’s no feeling of happiness. But maybe it’s good this way, it may speed up the day when the situation has to change. But I don’t have the courage to self-immolate. Maybe after I retire I’ll go to Beijing and petition.”

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Here comes the PlayStation 4: Sony announces February 20th PlayStation event [video]

Here are the ps4 specs I found. I don’t know why they didn’t post them in the article. you can easily find them by searching ps4 specs.
PS4/Orbis (Speculated)
PS4 XrossMediaBar + Gaikai cloud service Redesigned to be more user-friendly and fluid
CPU: 4x Dual-Core AMD64 “Bulldozer”
2.5 inch SATA HDD (160 GB) hard drive (in Developer Console, not likely for the retail version)
8GB DDR5 RAM (speed unknown), VRAM {listed below in GPU}
AMD R10xx with 2.2GB of VRAM
2 x 512 KB (1024 KB)
480p, 576p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
8x Blu-ray BD-ROM (54-128GB of data) at 36MB/s
Blu-ray 8x, DVD, Compact Disc, Download
Compatable with all past PS3 PlayStation Network Purchases (likely)
4x USB 3.0, 2x Ethernet;
Audio Output: HDMI & Optical, 2.0, 5.1 & 7.1 channels
PS Network (Free) + PlayStation Network Plus (paid service) + Gaikai cloud service
N/A
$ 499-$ 1000 USD

Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Busy Philipps Feels No Pressure to Bounce Back After Baby

David Livingston/Getty

Busy Philipps may be willing to dish out style advice to fellow expectant mamas — but she’s not about to start breaking out the postpartum weight loss lectures.

Currently pregnant with her second child, the Cougar Town star admits that while her celebrity status opens her up for public scrutiny, she’s not planning a big bounceback after baby.

“Like most things in this business, I think that you have to do what’s right for you and you can’t be too concerned about what some magazine is going to write about you,” Philipps, 33, tells HuffPost Celebrity.

“We’re in a business where a lot of people are blessed with pretty incredible bodies, that they work hard for or comes naturally, and not everybody has the same body.”

According to Philipps, staying healthy is priority during pregnancy and women “should be given a break” when it comes to packing on the extra pounds — especially by those dubious doctors!

“It’s interesting when people make comments about celebrities’ weight gain or lack of weight gain as if they’re a medical professional that’s treating that celebrity,” she notes. “Like, ‘This doctor does not treat Jessica Simpson, but thinks her weight is unhealthy.’ If you don’t treat her, then how do you know?”

After the arrival of daughter Birdie Leigh, now 4, the actress took her time regaining her post-baby bod — a journey, she says, lasted almost a year — preferring to instead instill a positive attitude (and approach) in her little girl.

“I wanted to be healthy for her and have a healthy body image so that she hopefully grows up to see that her self worth isn’t defined by how thin she is,” Philipps explains.

“Thrilled to be expecting another baby with husband Marc Silverstein, Philipps wasn’t sure if expanding their tight-knit trio was even in the cards for the couple. No one, however, was more ecstatic over the news than the big sister-to-be, whose wish is finally coming true.

“My daughter is very excited … it’s actually something that she has asked for for quite some time,” she says. “My husband and I were on the fence about whether or not we were going to add to our family, but now that we’re on our road, we’re really excited.”

– Anya Leon

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New rules aim to get rid of junk foods in schools

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most candy, high-calorie drinks and greasy meals could soon be on a food blacklist in the nation's schools.

For the first time, the government is proposing broad new standards to make sure all foods sold in schools are more healthful.

Under the new rules the Agriculture Department proposed Friday, foods like fatty chips, snack cakes, nachos and mozzarella sticks would be taken out of lunch lines and vending machines. In their place would be foods like baked chips, trail mix, diet sodas, lower-calorie sports drinks and low-fat hamburgers.

The rules, required under a child nutrition law passed by Congress in 2010, are part of the government's effort to combat childhood obesity. While many schools already have improved their lunch menus and vending machine choices, others still are selling high-fat, high-calorie foods.

Under the proposal, the Agriculture Department would set fat, calorie, sugar and sodium limits on almost all foods sold in schools. Current standards already regulate the nutritional content of school breakfasts and lunches that are subsidized by the federal government, but most lunchrooms also have "a la carte" lines that sell other foods. Food sold through vending machines and in other ways outside the lunchroom has never before been federally regulated.

"Parents and teachers work hard to instill healthy eating habits in our kids, and these efforts should be supported when kids walk through the schoolhouse door," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said.

Most snacks sold in school would have to have less than 200 calories. Elementary and middle schools could sell only water, low-fat milk or 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice. High schools could sell some sports drinks, diet sodas and iced teas, but the calories would be limited. Drinks would be limited to 12-ounce portions in middle schools and to 8-ounce portions in elementary schools.

The standards will cover vending machines, the "a la carte" lunch lines, snack bars and any other foods regularly sold around school. They would not apply to in-school fundraisers or bake sales, though states have the power to regulate them. The new guidelines also would not apply to after-school concessions at school games or theater events, goodies brought from home for classroom celebrations, or anything students bring for their own personal consumption.

The new rules are the latest in a long list of changes designed to make foods served in schools more healthful and accessible. Nutritional guidelines for the subsidized lunches were revised last year and put in place last fall. The 2010 child nutrition law also provided more money for schools to serve free and reduced-cost lunches and required more meals to be served to hungry kids.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has been working for two decades to take junk foods out of schools. He calls the availability of unhealthful foods around campus a "loophole" that undermines the taxpayer money that helps pay for the healthier subsidized lunches.

"USDA's proposed nutrition standards are a critical step in closing that loophole and in ensuring that our schools are places that nurture not just the minds of American children but their bodies as well," Harkin said.

Last year's rules faced criticism from some conservatives, including some Republicans in Congress, who said the government shouldn't be telling kids what to eat. Mindful of that backlash, the Agriculture Department exempted in-school fundraisers from federal regulation and proposed different options for some parts of the rule, including the calorie limits for drinks in high schools, which would be limited to either 60 calories or 75 calories in a 12-ounce portion.

The department also has shown a willingness to work with schools to resolve complaints that some new requirements are hard to meet. Last year, for example, the government relaxed some limits on meats and grains in subsidized lunches after school nutritionists said they weren't working.

Schools, the food industry, interest groups and other critics or supporters of the new proposal will have 60 days to comment and suggest changes. A final rule could be in place as soon as the 2014 school year.

Margo Wootan, a nutrition lobbyist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said surveys by her organization show that most parents want changes in the lunchroom.

"Parents aren't going to have to worry that kids are using their lunch money to buy candy bars and a Gatorade instead of a healthy school lunch," she said.

The food industry has been onboard with many of the changes, and several companies worked with Congress on the child nutrition law two years ago. Major beverage companies have already agreed to take the most caloric sodas out of schools. But those same companies, including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, also sell many of the non-soda options, like sports drinks, and have lobbied to keep them in vending machines.

A spokeswoman for the American Beverage Association, which represents the soda companies, says they already have greatly reduced the number of calories that kids are consuming at school by pulling out the high-calorie sodas.

___

Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

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Performing well at this decathlon is the smart thing to do

A triumphal march blared and the crowd roared Saturday afternoon as hundreds of competitors filed into the massive gymnasium at the Roybal Learning Center.

The high school students were pumped — some teams danced a little to get warmed up, and at least one team had their school mascot there to root them on — and they were prepared, having spent months training for this moment.

Some of the students carried themselves with the intensity of gladiators stepping into the ring. The challenge before them was a purely intellectual one, but it was still daunting: The last leg of Los Angeles Unified's regional Academic Decathlon was about to begin.

They'd taken tests on mathematics, music, arts and science. They'd been interviewed by judges and had to give a speech. And now it was time for the Super Quiz, a high-pressure, multiple-choice relay that is the 10-subject competition's only public event. (This year's theme: Russia.)

The students — from 58 high schools in the district — faced questions about Peter the Great's influence on art and architecture, the significance of Sputnik and the hurdles Russia faced after the fall of communism. And they had to answer them as family and friends — and their rivals — looked on.

Marshall and Granada Hills Charter high schools, typical powerhouses, were the top performers in the Super Quiz, according to a preliminary tally. The final results for the entire competition will be announced Friday.

"It's daunting," said Evae Silva, an English teacher who coaches Verdugo Hills' decathlon team, "the amount of material they cover and the hours they put in. You have to expect a lot of out of them."

Silva, who previously coached athletics, said putting together a decathlon team — which consists of nine students, with a mix of A, B and C grade-point averages — isn't all that different from recruiting for track and field. Talent and intelligence matter, but what matters more? "Commitment, enthusiasm and the willingness to put in the work," he said.

When he coached cross country and track and field, he said, "I had to coach them to be faster than I am. Now I have to teach them to be smarter than I am. I have to prepare them to perform."

Decathletes are a special breed of high schooler. Not all students want to hand over their free time, especially the seniors, to study things for which they won't get a grade.

Dylan Bladen, a senior at Los Angeles High School, said that when his coach first tried to recruit him, he gave him a few pages of study material for the art portion of the competition. Bladen balked. "Oh, no! I'm not doing this," he recalled thinking.

Months later, it's a different story. "I was complaining about three pages," Bladen said. But the workload had probably gotten up to "thousands of pages and probably thousands of hours too!"

They say they do it because they thrive on having to confront something more difficult than the rest of their schoolwork. "Normal school is mundane and annoying to me, and this provided a challenge," said Maxwell Lederer, 17, a senior at Venice High School. A Soviet flag, with the hammer and sickle, was draped over his shoulders.

Camaraderie is forged among teammates as the season progresses. They have their inside jokes and pick on one another like siblings. But they depend on one another too, especially for motivation. "At one point, I was doing it more for them," Bladen said, pointing to his team.

For some schools, their preparation consisted of hours of late nights after school and weekend practices. It's exhausting, said Oriel Gomez, a South East High School senior. But it pays off come competition time, facing test after test.

"You realize you have the answer," he said, "and you have no doubt about it."

rick.rojas@latimes.com

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French Leader Visits Timbuktu After His Troops Liberate City

TIMBUKTU, Mali (AP) — French President Francois Hollande landed Saturday in the fabled Malian town of Timbuktu, making a triumphant stop six days after French forces parachuted in to liberate the desert city from the rule of Al Qaeda-linked militants.

Jerome Delay/Associated Press

President François Hollande of France in Timbuktu, Mali, on Saturday.

The French launched their military operation to oust the extremists three weeks ago, and have since taken back the three main northern cities ruled by the rebels for about 10 months.

Mr. Hollande suggested Friday that during his visit to the former French colony, he would discuss the reduction of French troop levels on the ground to make way for an African force, led by Mali. He said his visit aims to encourage the Africans to “come join us as quickly as possible and to say that we need this international force.”

Mr. Hollande, who was accompanied by France’s foreign and defense ministers on Saturday, first headed to the Djingareyber mosque in Timbuktu.

Turbaned dignitaries were waiting to greet him at the mosque built between 1325 and 1326. Crowds shouted “Vive la France! Vive Francois Hollande!” as he passed them.

“If I could have one wish, it would be that the French army stays in the Sahara, that they create a base here,” said Moustapha Ben Essayati, one of those who showed up to greet the French delegation.

“I’m really scared that if they leave, the jihadists will come back,” he said “If France had not intervened in Konna, we would no longer be talking about Mali.”

Roughly 800 French forces took part in the effort to free Timbuktu, including hundreds of paratroopers who parachuted onto nearby dunes.

Radical militants last April had seized the town, once a popular tourist destination and revered center of Islamic learning.

They began implementing a strict form of Islamic law known as Shariah, amputating the hand of a suspected thief and whipping women and girls who ventured into public without veils scenes reminiscent of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

“We have just spent 10 months in hell,” Mr. Ben Essayati said. “Everything that demarcates the liberty of man was forbidden to us. We couldn’t smoke, we couldn’t listen to music, we couldn’t wear the clothes we wanted to wear.”

France now has 3,500 troops taking part in the Mali operation, in which they are working with Malian soldiers and preparing the way for an African military contingent to help stabilize the vast country. The French-led intervention so far has rapidly forced the retreat of militants out of urban centers in Mali’s north, which had been under the extremists’ control.

Mr. Hollande said that another goal of his visit was to push Malian leaders to enter a political dialogue, but he did not elaborate. Part of the reason the armed extremists were able to grab control of Mali’s north was because of a coup last March that threw the once-peaceful country into turmoil.

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Jenna Miscavige Hill Pens Revealing Scientology Book

02/01/2013 at 08:00 PM EST

Jenna Miscavige and her uncle David inset

Michael Murphree; Inset: Polaris

What was it like to grow up inside Sea Org, the Church of Scientology's most elite body?

In her memoir Beyond Belief, excerpted exclusively below, Jenna Miscavige Hill describes her experiences at the Ranch, a San Jacinto, Calif., boarding school for children of Scientology execs. The niece of church head David Miscavige, she was raised away from her parents, then worked within Sea Org until leaving Scientology in 2005.

Now living near San Diego, married to Dallas Hill and mom to their children Archie, 3, and Winnie, 10 months, she's telling her story, she says, to increase awareness about Scientology: "I realize every day how lucky I am to have gotten out." (When asked to comment on the book's portrayal of its members, the church stated they had not read the book but that "any allegations of neglect are blatantly false.")

Jenna's parents, Ron and Blythe Miscavige, high-ranking members of Sea Org, sent both Jenna and her older brother Justin to the Ranch. There, at age 7, in accordance with Scientologists' belief that they are "Thetans," or immortal spirits, Jenna signed a billion-year contract.

I tried to write my name in my best cursive, the way I'd been learning. I had goose bumps. Just like that, I committed my soul to a billion years of servitude to the Church of Scientology.

Sea Org was run like the Navy: Members wore uniforms and managed all aspects of the church. Married members couldn't have kids; those who already did sent them to be raised communally.

A Sea Org member was required to be on duty for at least 14 hours a day, seven days a week, with a break for an hour of 'family time.' I was too young to understand that seeing your parents only one hour a day was highly unusual.

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AME church denies minister's plea

The judicial body of the African Methodist Episcopal church has denied the petition of the Rev. John J. Hunter, former leader of First AME in Los Angeles, to return to the helm of the storied black church.

Hunter, who was abruptly moved from First AME in October, challenged his reassignment to Bethel AME in San Francisco after that congregation rejected him. He maintains that his rights as a minister were violated, saying Bishop Larry T. Kirkland moved him to a smaller church without the proper 90-day notice and without reason.

The church's governing book states that a "new appointment, when available, shall be comparable to or better than the previous one." First AME has a congregation of 19,000; Bethel AME's members number 650.

The nine-person council — the denomination's equivalent of the Supreme Court — ruled Thursday that Hunter skipped steps in the judicial process by petitioning them first. They denied his appeal based on grounds that Hunter did not follow the proper chain of command.

The ruling left the door open for Hunter to pursue further action in his bid to be reinstated at the church he pastored for eight years.

"The judicial council, further, holds that it lacks jurisdiction, since the matter lacks ripeness for disposition before this body," the ruling stated.

Hunter was advised to file a formal complaint against the bishop and follow the lengthy "judicial machinery," which is similar to the U.S. court system.

Hunter's spokeswoman, Jasmyne Cannick, said he plans to exhaust his options.

"Reverend John Hunter intends to continue to vigorously pursue the matter," Cannick said in a statement.

The church has sued Hunter, his wife, and some church leaders, alleging financial mismanagement. Hunter, meanwhile, has sued Bethel AME, alleging assault and emotional distress after church leaders physically blocked him from taking the pulpit last fall. The judicial body admonished Bethel last month for congregants' actions.

At First AME, some parishioners have expressed relief over the petition denial. Archie Shackles, a church board member, said he hoped the ruling would provide closure. "He had eight years . . . and all his ministry did was brought a lot of controversy to the church."

During his tenure, Hunter faced a federal tax probe and a sexual harassment lawsuit and admitted to questionable use of $122,000 in church credit cards.

angel.jennings@latimes.com

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India Ink: Women's World Cup Kicks off in Mumbai

Rafiq Maqbool/Associated Press Indian cricketer Niranjana Nagarajan (center) celebrates the dismissal of West Indies’ Deandra Dottin during the opening match of the ICC Women’s World Cup cricket in Mumbai, Maharashtra on Thursday.

England will be defending its title in the 10th Women’s Cricket World Cup, which began Thursday in Mumbai with a match between India, the host country, and the West Indies.

Though England is heavily favored, New Zealand, India and Australia are considered strong contenders to knock the defending champion off its perch. The four teams qualified for the Cricket World Cup by finishing in the top four spots in the last World Cup, held in Australia in March 2009.

They are joined by Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa and the West Indies, who made it to the World Cup through the qualifier played in Bangladesh in 2011.

India is playing host to the quadrennial event for the third time, having held the World Cup in 1978 and 1997. All 25 matches, including the final, will be played in Cuttack and Mumbai until Feb. 17. India took the first match, by 105 runs.

India, England, Sri Lanka and the West Indies are in Group A, while Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa are in Group B. The top three teams from each group will clash in the Super Six stage.

India’s captain, Mithali Raj, a veteran of 141 One-Day Internationals, in which she has scored 4,490 runs at 48.27 average runs per match, will not only have to lead from the front and make the most of the home conditions and comforts, but also to score runs consistently, being the mainstay of her team’s batting.

Her predecessor, Jhulan Goswami, an experienced medium-paced bowler who has taken 145 wickets at an average of 21.87 runs given per wicket in 126 One-Day Internationals, is expected to spearhead India’s attack.

India has never won the World Cup, and this may be its best chance. “Since the tournament will be held in India, our team is quite familiar with the conditions. The weather is a plus point,” Ms. Raj told The Times of India.

Charlotte Edwards, who has played a record 160 One-Day Internationals, is leading the defending champion England. England is a powerful all-round team, packed with some excellent batswomen and bowlers.

Though they will have to conquer the warmer weather and slower Indian pitches, analysts would not be surprised if the English women retain the title. In wicketkeeper-batswoman Sarah Taylor, who wants to play men’s cricket, they have a formidable player.

New Zealand, who lost to England in the last World Cup, is a very experienced side, with outstanding players like captain Suzie Bates (who is in terrific form, having scored a century and two fifties in her last five One-Day International innings), Nicola Browne, Sophie Devine and Sara McGlashan in its ranks. New Zealand won the World Cup in 2000 but has failed to win on three other occasions despite reaching the final.

Australia, led by Jodie Fields, also prides itself on its overall strength. Also, having already won the World Cup twice and beaten England in the World Twenty20 final last year, the Aussie women can fancy their chances, although the subcontinental conditions might pose a challenge to them.

West Indies, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka, which were unimpressive in the last World Cup and occupied fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth positions, respectively, at the end of the tournament, still look like the minnows of women’s cricket. They will have to put up an extraordinary performance to look more impressive this time, though it will not be easy, considering the might of the other four teams.

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