Suspected shooter threatened wife

US authorities say three people are dead after a shooting in Wisconsin today.

A MAN police suspected of killing three and wounding four by opening fire at a tranquil day spa was found dead following a six-hour manhunt that locked down a shopping centre, country club and hospital in suburban Milwaukee.

Authorities said they believed the shooting was related to a domestic dispute. The man they identified as the suspect, Radcliffe Franklin Haughton, 45, of Brown Deer, had a restraining order against him. Police say he had a history of domestic violence.

It is believed his estranged wife Zina Haughton works at the spa.

Haughton had slashed his wife's tyres on October 4, Brookfield police said. She sought court protection four days later, and a judge granted a four-year restraining order on Thursday. In a court filing, Haughton said her husband thought she was cheating on him, and threatened to kill her if she ever left him or called the police. She told the court he threatened to burn her and her family with gas.

As part of the order, Haughton was prohibited from owning a firearm.

Police are searching for Radcliffe Franklin Haughton, 45, of Brown Deer, Wisconsin, who is suspected of wounding multiple people in a shooting at a spa near a suburban Milwaukee shopping mall. Picture: Brookfield Police Dept/AP

Brookfield Police Chief Dan Tushaus declined to say whether Haughton, 45, had surrendered any weapons prior to Sunday's salon rampage. Tushaus also said he wasn't immediately aware of a motive.

"I can tell you we're not seeking additional suspects," he said at a news conference on Sunday evening.

"The community can feel safe."

Brookfield Mayor Steve Ponto called the shootings "a senseless act on the part of one person".

Police and swat team members surround the Azana Spa in Brookfield, Wisconsin as deputies continue their search for a gunman who opened fire in the spa, wounding seven people. Picture: Tom Lynn/AP

Tushaus said Haughton died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and was found in the spa. Authorities initially believed Haughton had fled and spent much of Sunday looking for him. During a six-hour search for the gunman, a nearby mall, a country club adjacent to the spa and the hospital where the survivors were taken were all locked down.

At the hospital, staff members were escorted inside and critically injured patients were accepted with a police escort. Officers were stationed at all main entrances.

The search froze activity in a commercial area in Brookfield, a middle-to-upper class community west of Milwaukee, for much of the day.

Tushaus said three people were killed in the shooting and another four victims were taken to hospital.He said the four survivors were between the ages of 22 and 40. He didn't know if they were employees at the spa or customers, and it wasn't clear if the man's wife was among the victims. A spokeswoman for a local hospital said four people were being treated on Sunday, none were in a critical condition.

A gunman has opened fire at a day spa in Milwaukee, injuring seven people. Picture: todaystmj4.com

The shooting happened about 11am at the Azana Day Spa, a two-storey, 9000-square-foot building across from a major shopping mall in Brookfield. The first officers on the scene found the building filled with smoke from a fire authorities believe was set by Haughton, Tushaus said.

They also found a propane tank they initially thought might be an improvised explosive device, Tushaus said. That slowed the search of the building as law enforcement agents waited for a bomb squad to clear the scene.

Tushaus said later that police didn't know whether the gunman brought the propane tank to the spa or whether a contractor left it.

The search was also complicated by the layout of the building, with numerous small treatment rooms and several locked areas, Tushaus said. While officers initially thought the gunman had fled the building, they later found his body in one of the locked areas, he said.

Police and swat team members at the Azana Spa in Brookfield, Wisconsin, hunt for a gunman who opened fire inside the spa, wounding seven people. Picture :Tom Lynn/AP

The bodies of the victims were also found in the spa. Tushaus said investigators were still working to identify them.

Haughton's father, Radcliffe Haughton, Sr., spoke to a television station and The Associated Press shortly before police announced his son's death. In telephone interviews from Florida, he said he had last spoken to his son a few days ago, but didn't have any indication anything was wrong. He begged his son to turn himself in.

After learning of his son's death, he said, "This is very sad."

Police released little about Haughton other than a physical description and a photo.

The spa in Brookfield Wisconsin where seven people were shot. Pic: Google Maps

Milwaukee FBI spokesman Leonard Peace said its SWAT team, hostage negotiators, command staff and victims specialists all helped with the response. But he declined to say how many FBI personnel were involved in all or provide details on what had happened.

Robert Schmidt, spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said it had 10 agents participating.

Witness David Gosh, of nearby West Allis, told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel he was returning from duck hunting with his father and a friend when he saw a woman emerge from the spa, screaming, as she ran into traffic. The area is near an interstate and a busy commercial road.

"She ran right out into the street was pounding on cars," Gosh told the newspaper. Moments later, a man with a handgun ran out. He appeared to be chasing the woman but then went back inside, Gosh said.

Witness Christopher Pfeiffer said he was on his way to a bookstore in the mall when he saw a young, barefoot woman running in the car park.

"She was screaming, yelling, crying hysterical. She was pleading for help," Pfeiffer, 47, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"She kept saying, 'My mother was shot.' And she mentioned that there was a gunman. She ran into the bookstore and I followed her. But I watched her from afar."

People inside the mall waited patiently for updates during the lockdown. Gina Kralik, a bartender at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers in the mall, said people had been allowed to leave at one point but then police had decided not to let anyone come or go from the mall.

"We're just sitting watching the news and also trying to find out what's going on," she said about 3 p.m.

Austin Della, 17, was working at a department store in the mall when he heard announcements over the loudspeaker asking people to move their cars out of one of the parking lots. The mall was then locked down for almost three hours, he said, and customers joked about the good service they would get as the only clients in the whole store.

"Everyone was really calm," Della said. "If not for all the announcements, I don't think anyone would have known that anything was happening."

It was the second mass shooting in Wisconsin this year. Wade Michael Page, a 40-year-old Army veteran and white supremacist, killed six people and injured three others before fatally shooting himself Aug. 5 at a Sikh temple south of Milwaukee.

The shooting at the mall took place less than a mile from where seven people were killed and four wounded on March 12, 2005, when a gunman opened fire at a Living Church of God service held at a hotel.

* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78.

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Pussy Riot members sent to 'prison hell'

Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, centre, and Maria Alyokhina have been sent to "cruel" Russian prison camps to live out their sentences. Source: AFP

TWO Pussy Riot feminist punk band members have been taken to remote Russian prison camps after a court upheld their two-year sentences for mocking President Vladimir Putin in church, their lawyer says.

"Nadya Tolokonnikova has been sent to Mordovia, and Maria Alyokhina to Perm," defence lawyer Violetta Volkova told AFP on Monday.

The Perm region in the Urals mountains and Mordovia in central Russia host a vast network of prison camps dating back to the Soviet era and infamous for their tough conditions.

"They were convoyed on Saturday," Volkova said, adding that their relatives had learnt of the move when their parcels for the women were rejected at the Moscow prison where they had been temporarily held.

It remains unclear when the two young women, who both have small children, will reach their final destination, Volkova said.

Tolokonnikova's husband, activist Pyotr Verzilov, told the Moscow Echo radio station that according to his unconfirmed information, the women were not sent by train as is usual but "were sent by air in special flights".

A Twitter account organised by the band also said the two members were taken in a "special" convoy to the prison camps, but gave no details.

"Of all the possible options, these are the cruellest prison camps," the Twitter account @pussy_riot noted.

The art group Voina (War), which is closely affiliated with Pussy Riot, on Twitter called Mordovia "the worst prison hell there is".

The city of Perm, the region's capital, is about 1400 kilometres from Moscow, while the regional capital of Mordovia, Saransk, is about 640km from Moscow.

The Perm region, where temperatures can fall as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius in winter, housed Stalin-era labour camps, one of which has been turned into a museum about the history of political repression.

Mordovia is a region dotted with lakes that is chiefly known for its prison camps dating back to the Stalin era. In the 1930s and '40s, the prison population here numbered 23,000 prisoners, according to the regional prison service's website.

The region now has 17 prison camps, the prison service said.

The choice of distant camps appears to be deliberate to make it harder for the public to follow what happens to the women, rights activist Lev Ponomaryov told Moscow Echo.

"Evidently the women have been sent to distant colonies so it's harder for the Pussy Riot members to contact relatives and lawyers, and also it's harder for the public to check on their fate," said the leader of For Human Rights group.

Tolokonnikova, Alyokhina and their bandmate Yekaterina Samutsevich were in August sentenced to two years in prison after they staged a balaclava-clad performance inside Moscow's main cathedral mocking Putin.

A Russian appeals court this month upheld the prison camp sentences against Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina but unexpectedly ordered the release of Samutsevich in what many observers believe was an attempt to split the tightly knit band.

Samutsevich told AFP in an interview ahead of the women's departure that they were calmly preparing for a transfer that they saw as inevitable after their failed appeal.

"They understand that they will soon go to the (prison) colony. They are packing their things," she said.

"In principle they are ready for it. They are not upset about it. We all expected that the colony would happen, we all knew it, so it's OK, they just know that they need to go soon."

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Umbrella beats chainsaw in flatmate skirmish

A man whose flatmate went after him with a chainsaw was able to pin his attacker down with an umbrella. Picture: Thinkstock Source: Supplied

A PENNSYLVANIA man is behind bars after police say he went after his housemate with a chainsaw.

Seventy-six-year-old Guy Allen Black is being held on $US100,000 bail after allegedly cutting through a door at the home he shared with Ronald Lee Tanner and swinging the chain saw at him.

State police say Black became irate after Tanner changed the locks on the home he owns in Turbotville, Northumberland County.

Black allegedly entered the house through the basement and used an ax and chain saw to cut through an interior door before chasing Tanner outside.

Investigators say the saw got stuck on Tanner's shirt and jammed, allowing Tanner to pin Black down with an umbrella.

Tanner was unhurt. It's not immediately clear if Black has an attorney.

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Violence erupts in Beirut

Lebanese soldiers patrol in Beirut on October 22, 2012, in response to violence triggered by the murder of security chief General Wissam al-Hassa. Source: AFP

LEBANESE troops and gunmen exchanged fire in a Sunni district of Beirut on Monday, raising fears Lebanon could be engulfed in sectarian violence.

The outbreak occurred after the murder of a top security official, blamed on Syria.

The army promptly said it was determined to restore order in Lebanon, with the northern port of Tripoli shaken by fighting between partisans and opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that killed five people.

Lebanon has been on edge since Friday, when police intelligence chief General Wissam al-Hassan died in a Beirut car bombing. That immediately prompted calls for Prime Minister Najib Mikati, whose cabinet is dominated by Damascus ally Hezbollah, to resign.

Amid fears Lebanon will be further affected by the conflict in Syria, the envoys to Beirut of the UN Security Council's permanent members met President Michel Sleiman and condemned any attempt to destabilise the situation and called for national unity.

The army is "committed to its role of stopping security breaches and maintaining civil order," a statement from the high command said.

"Recent developments prove decidedly that the country is going through a critical time, and the level of tension in some areas has reached unprecedented levels," it said.

It will take "resolute measures, particularly in areas of mounting sectarian friction... to prevent the assassination of martyred General Wissam al-Hassan from being exploited as an opportunity to murder the nation as a whole."

The military also appealed to all political forces to be wary of their words and any calls for mobilisation, "because the fate of the nation is at stake."

Lebanon is a multi-faith country in which Christians, Shiite and Sunni Muslims each make up about one-third of the population. It has a complex, but unwritten arrangement under which the president must always be a Maronite Christian, the premier a Sunni and the speaker of parliament a Shiite.

The army statement came as troops responded after being fired on as they tried to clear a road in a Sunni district of Beirut that had been blocked by partisans of opposition leader Saad Hariri despite his calls for them to stay off the streets.

One of the gunmen told AFP a local resident had been killed in the shooting.

In the northern port of Tripoli, a Sunni bastion where opposition to Assad is strong, a woman and four youths died during fighting between Sunnis and Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam to which Assad belongs, security sources said.

A four-year-old girl was wounded, as were three soldiers hit as troops attempted to restore calm.

Clashes have erupted regularly in Tripoli as tensions spill over the border from Syria, where a 19-month-old anti-regime revolt has left more than 34,000 people dead.

In the capital, six people were wounded after the army made a pre-dawn sweep through the Sunni district of Tariq Jdideh in pursuit of armed men, and automatic weapons and anti-tank rocket fire could be heard.

Hariri, a former premier who heads Lebanon's parliamentary opposition, said he was determined to oust the government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati "by peaceful and democratic means."

Sunnis are furious over the perceived Syrian assassination of Hassan, also a Sunni, who was noted for pursuing alleged Syrian crimes in Lebanon, including the 2005 assassination of Hariri's father, Rafiq.

Hassan was laid to rest on Sunday amid calls for Mikati to stand down.

Hezbollah is a strong ally of Assad and of Iran. Its militia, which never disarmed after the 1975-90 civil war, is the most powerful military force in the country.

The funeral for Hassan, who was intelligence chief of the Internal Security Forces and a strong Assad opponent, had been billed as an opportunity to protest Syrian meddling in Lebanon but the mood quickly turned to fury at Mikati.

Former premier Fuad Siniora called on Mikati to resign, adding his voice to many others since Hassan and two others were killed and 126 wounded.

Siniora said the "government is responsible for the crime that killed Wissam ... That is why he must go."

Mikati said on Saturday he would stay on, at President Michel Sleiman's request, to avoid a "political vacuum" in volatile Lebanon.

Following the funeral, a few hundred young men tried to storm the Serail, the seat of government, but were driven back by police firing in the air and using tear gas.

Later, Hariri appealed to his partisans "to stay off the streets, because we want to oust this government by peaceful and democratic means."

Lebanese university professor Ghassan al-Azzi said Hariri is focusing his political fire on Mikati, rather than taking Hezbollah head on, because "if you take Hezbollah on directly, it means without a doubt that you are in favour of civil war."

Clashes between Sunni and Shiite gunmen in Beirut in 2008 brought Lebanon close to the brink of a new civil war.

On Sunday, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton spoke with Mikati by telephone and offered assistance in the search for Hassan's killers, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

Meanwhile, the ambassadors of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States expressed their "unequivocal condemnation of any attempt to destabilise Lebanon through political assassination."

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Treasured images up for sale

This 1998 photo of Huli tribesman in Papua New Guinea is one of the National Geographic Society's most indelible photographs that will be sold at Christies next month. Picture: National Geographic, Jodi Cobb Source: AP

Two photos released by National Geographic magazine in 2002 of Afghan girl Sharbat Gula, who captivated audiences with her haunting green eyes when she appeared on the cover in 1985. Picture: National Geographic Source: AP

This 1908 photo of Arctic explorer Adm Robert E Peary in Cape Sheridan will be sold at Christies next month at an auction. Picture: National Geographic via Christies Auction House Source: AP

This 1969 illustration entitled A Blue Globe Hanging in Space will be sold at Christies next month at an auction. Picture: National Geographic, Charles Bittinger Source: AP

NATIONAL Geographic Society has chronicled scientific expeditions, explorations, archaeology, wildlife and world cultures for more than 100 years, amassing a collection of 11.5 million photos and original illustrations.

A small selection of that massive archive - 240 pieces spanning from the late 1800s to the present - will be sold at Christie's in December at an auction expected to bring about $US3 million ($2.9 million), the first time any of the institution's collection has been sold.

Among the items are some of National Geographic's most indelible photographs, including that of an Afghan girl during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a portrait of Admiral Robert Peary at his 1908 expedition to the North Pole, a roaring lion in South Africa and the face of a Papua New Guinea aborigine.

Paintings and illustrations include N.C. Wyeth's historical scene of sword-fighting pirates, Charles Bittinger's view of Earth as seen from the moon, and Charles Knight's depictions of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals.

They are being auctioned "to celebrate our legacy .... and to give people a chance to buy a little part of this great institution's history," said Maura Mulvihill, senior vice president of National Geographic's image and video archives.

"We think of ourselves as the unsung fathers of modern photojournalism," she added. "I don't think people are aware of what a massive instructive archive this is."

Proceeds from the December 6 auction, just weeks before National Geographic's 125th anniversary, will go for the promotion and preservation of the archive and "the nurturing of young photographers, artists and explorers ... who are the future of the organization," Ms Mulvihill said.

National Geographic sponsors and funds scientific research and exploration through its official journal, National Geographic Magazine, which reaches 8.8 million people worldwide in 36 countries and in 27 languages. The society reaches millions more through its National Geographic Channel, books and other sources.

While National Geographic is known today for its photography, early magazines were filled with artwork.

Among the fine art being offered is an oil painting by Tom Lovell of Gen. Robert E. Lee's Civil War surrender at Appomattox. It's expected to fetch $US20,000 to $US30,000.

"The Duel On The Beach," a painting of two pirates by the American artist N.C. Wyeth, is estimated to sell for $US800,000 to $US1.2 million. Another Wyeth, "James Wolfe at Quebec," was commissioned to accompany a 1949 article on the general taking Quebec from the French general the Marquis de Montcalm. It has a pre-sale estimate of $US30,000 to $US50,000.

Steve McCurry's photograph of the Afghan girl carries an $US8000 to $12,000 pre-sale estimate. McCurry has made a special print of the image for the sale, and part of the proceeds from it will be donated to the Afghan Girls' Fund.

There's also Edward Curtis' 40-volume photo portfolio and book, "The North American Indian," believed to have been owned by Alexander Graham Bell. It's estimated at $US700,000 to $US900,000.

The sale also contains some images that have never been published, including a selection from Herbert Ponting, who produced some of the most enduring images of the Antarctic.

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Interpol asked to track Aussie-bound trawler

Sri Lanka police have sought help from Interpol in tracking down a stolen fishing trawler bound for Australia. The Sri Lanka Navy arrested 35 persons illegally bound for Australia in a multi-day trawler on October 17, pictured. Source: Supplied

SRI Lanka's police have sought help from Interpol to track down a fishing trawler stolen by its own crew in a bid to illegally transport asylum seekers to Australia.

A magistrate issued arrest warrants against the skipper and 13 others who staged a hijacking last week to try to cover up the theft of the boat and use it in the highly lucrative people-smuggling business, a police statement said.

"Police today sought the assistance of Interpol to execute the arrest warrants against the 14 individuals involved in the robbery of the trawler on October 14," the statement said.

Police told the magistrate that the skipper of the trawler had stolen the vessel from its owner before taking on board another 10 people in a suspected journey to Australia.

Two out of the six crewmen who were later found bobbing in the water off the island's southern coast gave conflicting accounts of the events and are being detained for questioning.

The pair had initially told police that the trawler had been attacked by about 40 suspected illegal immigrants carrying swords, who arrived in four small boats and overpowered the crew.

Police said two other trawlers had also been reported missing off the island's southern region since October 2 and they too could have been stolen for people-smuggling.

Sri Lankan authorities say they have detained more than 1000 people who have tried to leave for Australia illegally this year.

Australia hopes the prospect of years in detention on remote Pacific islands will deter asylum seekers from attempting the dangerous sea voyage, which has cost hundreds of lives over the past decade.

Sri Lankans pay up to $US3000 ($2905) for a place on trawlers which take around two weeks to make the treacherous crossing to Australia.

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Reports of my death are 'garbage': Castro

Fidel Castro does the classic 'here I am with a recent newspaper' pose to dispel rumours he was dead or dying. Picture: AP/Alex Castro, Cubadebate Source: AP

FIDEL Castro, who appeared in public on Saturday for the first time in six months amid a swirl of rumours he was dead or dying, has blasted the reports as "garbage" in a sarcastic editorial in state media.

Mr Castro, who left power in a health crisis in 2006 after almost five decades at Cuba's helm, said US and international media had reported "the most singular garbage" about his health, claiming "I can't recall when I last had a headache."

"As a sign of how untrue these reports are, I am sending a long a few photos with this article," Castro wrote, under the cheeky headline "Fidel Castro is on his death bed."

In the nine pictures, Castro is shown in a black and red checked shirt, in a field, wearing a jaunty farmer's hat to protect him from the sun. Several show him using a cane to walk. The images ran on Monday in state media.

Fidel Castro also addressed his change in publishing habits; he stopped writing his column "Reflections" on June 19, which in itself fueled rumours he was unwell.

"I stopped publishing (my column) because surely it is not my job to fill up the pages of our press, which needs to address other work the country had to get done," Mr Castro wrote.

Mr Castro, who rose to power after the 1959 revolution, ceded the presidency to his younger brother Raul, 81, in July 2006 for health reasons.

Mr Castro had not been seen in public since March 28, when Pope Benedict XVI paid a landmark visit to Cuba, and again briefly the following week on April 5 with Chilean student leader Camila Vallejo.

That fueled rumours his health had worsened, that he was dead or on his death bed - particularly since Mr Castro also had not published one of his usually frequent editorials in official state media since June 19.

In the past five years since falling ill after serious intestinal surgery, Mr Castro has penned about 400 editorials as well as books about the revolution, and welcomed a few international leaders in private events.

Last week, he sent a letter of congratulations to medical school graduates which was picked up in state media, but he did not appear in public at the time.

With rumours about Mr Castro's health rife abroad, one of his sons, photographer Alex Castro, said last week at an exhibit in Guantanamo of pictures he took of his father after 2010 that Mr Castro "was in good shape, doing his daily activities, exercising, reading and taking care of himself."

On Saturday Fidel Castro reappeared in public, meeting at a Havana hotel with a Venezuelan politician, former vice president Elias Jaua - quashing rumours that the former leader was on his death bed.

The re-election of Chavez, 58, in Venezuela this month likely brought huge sighs of relief in Havana. For now, it can continue to count on Caracas' critical economic support, as Cuba presses to tap it own oil resources so as to fund the Americas' only Communist regime into the future.

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Boffins face jail over quake prediction fail

Bernardo De Bernardinis, former deputy chief of Italy's Civil Protection Department, at his manslaughter trial for underestimating the risks of a killer earthquake. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

AN ITALIAN Italian court has convicted seven scientists and experts of failing to adequately warn citizens before an earthquake struck central Italy in 2009, killing more than 300 people.

The court in L'Aquila also sentenced the defendants to six years in prison. Each one is a member of the national Great Risks Commission.

In Italy, convictions aren't definitive until after at least one level of appeals, so it is unlikely any of the defendants would face jail immediately.

Scientists worldwide had decried the trial as ridiculous, contending that science has no reliable way of predicting earthquakes.

Among those convicted were some of Italy's most prominent and internationally respected seismologists and geological experts, including Enzo Boschi, former head of the national Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.

"I am dejected, desperate," Mr Boschi said after the verdict. "I thought I would have been acquitted. I still don't understand what I was convicted of."

The trial began in September 2011 in this Apennine town, whose devastated historic center is still largely a ghost town.

The defendants were accused in the indictment of giving "inexact, incomplete and contradictory information" about whether small tremors felt by L'Aquila residents in the weeks and months before the April 6, 2009, quake should have constituted grounds for a quake warning.

The 6.3-magnitude quake killed 308 people in and around the medieval town and forced survivors to live in tent camps for months.

Many much smaller earth tremors had rattled the area in the months before the quake, causing frightened people to wonder if they should evacuate.

"I consider myself innocent before God and men," said another convicted defendant, Bernardo De Bernardinis, a former official of the national Civil Protection agency.

Prosecutors had sought conviction and four-year sentences during the non-jury trial, which was led by a judge.

A defense lawyer, Filippo Dinacci, told reporters that the sentence would have "big repercussions" on public administration since officials would be afraid to "do anything."

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