Clark Gable grandson says not guilty of laser crime (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Clark Gable's grandson pleaded not guilty on Friday to three counts of pointing a laser light at a police helicopter in July, momentarily blinding two officers.

Clark James Gable, 22, is accused of shining the green laser on a Los Angeles Police Department helicopter that was patrolling in the sky above a Hollywood event on July 28, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office.

The officers in the helicopter determined that the laser beam had come from a small red car, and police on the ground stopped the vehicle and arrested Gable, who was a passenger.

Prosecutors declined to file charges against the driver, Maximilian Anderson, citing insufficient evidence that the 23-year-old knew the laser was being pointed at the helicopter.

Free on $250,000 bail, Gable is due back in court on September 8, when a hearing will be scheduled to determine if there is enough evidence to require that he stand trial.

If convicted, he could face up to three years in prison.

Clark Gable was an Oscar-winning actor best known for his role in 1939 classic film "Gone with the Wind." He died in 1960.

(Reporting and writing by Sheri Linden; Edited by Bob Tourtellotte)

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Emmy organizers honor TV crime show host John Walsh (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh, whose TV crime show has helped police capture 1,500 fugitives and find 50 missing children since 1988, is being given an honorary award from organizers of the Emmys.

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences on Tuesday said it will give its Governors Award to Walsh for making an impact on society through the use of TV.

"John Walsh has dedicated his life to the betterment of society, and while doing so has used television in an inventive and extraordinary way," academy chief executive John Shaffner said in a statement. "His contribution to society goes far beyond just hosting a hit TV show, but sets a prime example of how television can be used to convey an important message."

Walsh became known around the world as a crime fighter and victims' advocate after his 6 year-old son Adam was abducted from a mall near his home in Hollywood, Fla., on July 27, 1981 and found murdered two weeks later.

The case remained unsolved for 27 years until 2008 when police linked the slaying to a serial killer who died in prison and who claimed responsibility for hundreds of murders.

Walsh's personal tragedy is credited with sparking the creation of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in 1984 after President Ronald Reagan signed the "Missing Children's Assistance Act."

His work on America's Most Wanted, which tells viewers of crimes and alleged perpetrators who are still at large, helped spark child protection laws, including "The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act" that tracks convicted sex offenders who disappear after they're released from prison.

He is one of three Honorary U.S. Marshals and was named "Man of the Year" by both the U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI. Walsh will receive the Governors Award during the Creative Emmy awards in Los Angeles on September 10.

(Reporting by Jason Kandel, Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

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Berlusconi faces bribery, sex crime hearings on Monday (AFP)

ROME (AFP) – Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faces trial hearings for bribery and paying for sex with a 17-year-old girl on Monday, as the Italian leader fights off growing unpopularity and financial woes.

Berlusconi, 74, is a defendant in three ongoing trials.

He had been due to attend one of them, the corruption hearing in which he stands accused of paying a bribe to his former British lawyer, David Mills, to give false testimony in court.

But he has since said he will not be present because of a meeting with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.

The other hearing centres around allegations that Berlusconi had sex on several occasions at his villa last year with Moroccan-born nightclub dancer Karima El Mahroug, better known by her stage name as "Ruby the Heart Stealer".

The prime minister is also suspected of abusing his powers by having the girl sprung from police custody when she was arrested in May 2010 for alleged theft -- a move prosecutors say was an attempt to hide his sex crime.

He faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted of abuse of power.

Berlusconi has repeatedly protested his innocence of all the charges and insists that prosecutors are waging a personal vendetta against him.

The billionaire tycoon has been under investigation ever since entering politics in the early 1990s.

Monday's hearing is expected to be important procedurally after Berlusconi's lawyers challenged the court's authority to hold the trial at all, saying the abuse of power charge should be considered by a special ministers' court.

Berlusconi's defence also contends that the prostitution charge for the television magnate should be heard by a court closer to his luxurious personal residence in Arcore outside Milan where the alleged crime took place.

In the other trial hearing, he is accused of bribing his former lawyer with 600,000 dollars. Several witnesses living in Switzerland are set to testify in that hearing on Monday via video conference.

Berlusconi is also a defendant in a third trial involving alleged tax fraud committed by his business empire Mediaset with distribution rights deals.

He is also being investigated for fraud in a fourth case involving another of his companies, Mediatrade, which has not yet gone to trial.

Berlusconi is on the backfoot politically following his People of Freedom party's defeat in key local elections in May and a round of referendums last month in which several key policies for his government were struck down.

Despite reports of serious infighting with key coalition partner the Northern League -- and with ministers inside his own cabinet -- Berlusconi still holds a majority in both the lower and upper houses of parliament.

He has vowed to see out his mandate, which runs until 2013.

Italy's record-high public debt and near-zero growth are also beginning to weigh on Berlusconi's leadership, however.

There are growing signs of investor unease about Italy's ability to stay out of the eurozone debt crisis.

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