US affirms Russia ties amid spy row

The US secretary of state has indicated that allegations of a Russian spy ring operating in the US will not harm relations between the two countries.
Speaking in Ukraine on Friday, Hillary Clinton declined to comment directly on the investigation into the alleged spy ring but said: "We're committed to building a new and positive relation with Russia. We're looking toward the future."
Her comments came as US prosecutors claimed that two more suspects in the alleged spy ring have admitted to being Russian citizens living in the US under false identities.
The defendants known as Michael Zottoli and Patricia Mills told the authorities after their arrest that their real names were Mikhail Kutzik and Natalia Pereverzeva, prosecutors said in a court filing on Friday.
The two were arrested in Arlington, Virginia, where they had been living as a married couple with two young children.
According to court documents, Zottoli had claimed to be a US citizen, married to Mills, a purported Canadian citizen.

The two were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, and along with a third defendant, Mikhail Semenko, were charged with being foreign agents.
All three remained jailed after waiving their right to a detention or bail hearing during brief appearances in federal court on Friday.
They were among 10 people arrested and charged this week. Six other defendants had already appeared in US courts, and one was granted bail that will include electronic monitoring and home detention.
In Friday's court filing, prosecutors said Zottoli and Mills had $100,000 in cash and phony passports and other identity documents stashed in safe deposit boxes.
Semenko, who was in the US on a work visa, is not alleged to have used a false identity. But prosecutors said the FBI found computer equipment "of the type capable of being used for ... clandestine communications" in his home and a second apartment that he recently leased.
Cyprus disappearance
Meanwhile in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia, Loucas Louca, the justice minister, said it was unlikely that Christopher Metsos – the alleged 11th member of the spy ring – would be apprehended on the Mediterranean island because he was believed to have fled.

Metsos, 54, is wanted in the US on charges that he supplied money to the spy ring. He disappeared on Wednesday after a court in Cyprus – an island with close ties to Russia - freed him on bail.
Louca strongly defended Cypriot authorities' handling of the case, which left the government stung by rumours that it was complicit in Metsos' disappearance.
"If we wanted him [Metsos] to evade, as we have been accused, we wouldn't have tried as hard to arrest him in the first place," he said.
Russia's foreign ministry said that it had no reason to believe Metsos was in Russia.
"I do not have such information. You're knocking on the wrong door," Igor Lyakin-Frolov, a spokesman for the ministry, said

Source: WN

Former hot dog eating champ arrested

He didn't compete for the hot dog eating title this year, but he did cause a scene at the contest.
Takeru Kobayashi was arrested at Coney Island after his rival, Joey Chestnut, won the annual Nathan's International Hot Dog Eating Contest.
The six-time champion of the contest was trying to make his way on stage after this year's event, according to a representative for Kobayashi and a New York police officer at the Brooklyn precinct booking desk.
This year's competition had already caused a stir after word that Kobayashi -- who took home the title every year from 2001 to 2006 -- would not be participating because of a contract dispute with Major League Eating. He watched from the stands.
Kobayashi was trying to prove he was better than other competitors, said Yuki James, one of Kobayashi's handlers.
Chestnut won by consuming 54 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. The win -- Chestnut's fourth straight -- was short of his 68-hot dog record set last year.
A statement from the New York Police Department's public affairs office following the arrest said Kobayashi was charged with two misdemeanors and one violation, with the violation considered a low-level charge similar to a traffic violation. The two misdemeanors were resisting arrest and obstructing government administration (specifically, interfering with police). The violation was trespassing.
Kobayashi was being held at a police precinct in Brooklyn, and it was unclear whether he had a lawyer or when he might have bail set.
In the days leading up to the event, Kobayashi said he loves the contest and he wanted to participate, but that the contract was too restrictive. Speaking through a Japanese interpreter, he said that all his income is earned through competitive eating. He said the new contract required by the competition would bar him from competing elsewhere in the United States or Canada for a year.
Both sides said contract negotiations went on until Saturday morning.
MLE chairman George Shea called Kobayashi's arrest "unfortunate."
"It makes you wonder what his thinking was," Shea said.
"Major League Eating made an enormous effort to get him into the contest," he added. "We wanted him there. Nathan's wanted him there. The fans wanted him there."
Hailing from Japan and weighing in at 160 pounds, Kobayashi, 31, rose to frank-feasting stardom in 2001 when he devoured 50 dogs, shattering the previously held record of 25 1/8.
But in 2007, having entered the challenge with a jaw injury, Kobayashi met his match in Chestnut.
Chestnut, the 230-pound contender from San Jose, California, downed 66 dogs to Kobayashi's 63 that year. Kobayashi has not won the competition since, and Chestnut is currently ranked No. 1 in competitive eating by the MLE.
For a hot dog to be counted as finished, competitors must consume both the hot dog and the bun.
Currently ranked third, Kobayashi still holds world records for eating cow brains (17.7 pounds in 15 minutes), lobster rolls (41 in 15 minutes) and rice balls (20 pounds in 30 minutes).

"This guy did great things for our sport," Shea said. "He's a fearsome competitor."

Source: CNN