John Travolta has threatened to make a sequel to his universally slammed sci-fi epic Battlefield Earth. Defending the scientology-inspired film to journalists this week, he said: "The bottom line is that I feel really good about it. Here I was taking big chances, breaking a new genre I am so thrilled, believe it or not, at the outcome because I didn't believe I could get it done." Asked whether there would be a 'Battlefield 2' he said: "Sure.Yeah." Described by critics ...

Battlefield Earth may have been one of the most critically mauled movies of the year, but that's not stopping John Travolta from talking about a sequel. “The bottom line is that I feel really good about it. Here I was taking big chances, breaking a new genre,” said Travolta. “I am so thrilled, believe it or not, at the outcome, because I didn’t believe I could get it done,” an upbeat Travolta told journalists this week, adding that critics have a ...

Pinellas-Pasco Chief Medical Examiner Joan Wood was forced to resign after 18 years on the job. LARGO — It wasn't a happy day for employees of the Pinellas-Pasco medical examiner's office on Friday. Their longtime chief was finally gone. Chief Medical Examiner Joan Wood, the embattled doctor who swore never to resign after 18 years at the helm, finally closed out her last autopsy, cleared out her office this week and headed for a new start. "We've all gone through a ...

By all appearances, Clearwater lives up to its name. Located just outside of Tampa Bay, the city boasts palm trees, white beaches, sun, surf, and six cruise tour companies with "dolphin sightings guaranteed." Liberally supplied with spacious hotels within driving distance of the Busch Gardens amusement park and the Salvador Dali museum, Clearwater is a tidy burg with street names like Gulf to Bay Boulevard and Sunset Point Road. Clearwater is also home to the most prestigious international instructional center for ...

Brian Haney labored to give his life fulfillment in many ways. The 37-year-old entrepreneur had been through two marriages, built a $100 million corporation, and attained the coveted state of "clear" as a Scientologist, meaning he had achieved the high level of freedom, personal control, and independence Scientology promises its followers. But none of these triumphs allayed his spiritual emptiness and dissatisfaction.Clears are individual Scientologists who say they have rid themselves of painful subconscious experiences known as engrams. They supposedly are ...

This documentary was produced to demonstrate what I believed to be a clear bias against the LMT by members of the Clearwater Police Force who were on Scientology's payroll. Scientology snuck into Clearwater, Florida in 1978 under the assumed name of United Churches. Since then they have come to dominate the small town. I lived in Clearwater for two years, working with a group which was helping people defrauded and abused by Scientology. During this time, police officers started to accept ...

FactNet, a group battling Scientology, warned Thursday that "lawsuits may soon be flying" over MGM's upcoming release of Battlefield Earth, based on a sci-fi novel by Scientology's late founder L. Ron Hubbard and starring the group's most outspoken celebrity, John Travolta. In a statement, FactNet charged that Scientology "has placed subliminal messages in the BattleField Earth film master to surreptitiously recruit new members from the movie audience," that it secretly financed the film, that it will use the film to recruit ...

PARIS - France has filed for the extradition of a New Zealand woman at the centre of a former religious sect which triggered nationwide controversy for alleged brainwashing of its members and violent abuse of their children. Delwin Johns-Schmidt, aged 34, was arrested in Belfast at the request of French prosecutors who filed an arrest warrant with Interpol, accusing her of kidnapping and illegally detaining her 10-year-old daughter, Victoria. The child, who was one of the sect's victims, was placed with ...

TAFFY Hotene was ordered to live in an Auckland city drugs and alcohol rehabilitation house for two years as part of his parole conditions. He ran away within two weeks, apparently with the knowledge of the Corrections Department. Five weeks later he murdered Kylie Jones. The Sunday Star-Times has obtained documents on Hotene including his parole conditions. The Corrections Department refuses to comment on its role in the saga, citing Hotene's privacy and his pending sentencing. However, his parole papers show ...

The right to set up a really rude website aimed at undermining the public image of big businesses and religions is being fought for by civil rights activists in the US. The battle comes in the wake of action by leading multinational companies like Wal-Mart and McDonald's to stem the growth of websites which add "sucks", "kills" or "stinks" to the brand name. "This has become a constant issue," Barry Steinhart of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in New ...

Church leaders say the German official is a "fascist demagogue'' who has stoked a hate campaign. She says they exaggerate. CLEARWATER — The battle between the Church of Scientology and the German government, a long-running dispute steeped in emotion and international politics, has come crashing into Clearwater with a visit by a controversial German official. Ursula Caberta, who heads a government office in Hamburg that works to curb Scientology in Germany, said Tuesday at a downtown news conference that Scientology is ...

PARIS — Prosecutors opened an investigation Friday into the disappearance of hundreds of documents that were to be used as evidence in a case against Church of Scientology members, judicial officials said. Authorities were expected in the coming days to name a special magistrate to carry out the investigation, the officials said, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity. The dossiers, which disappeared in 1998 from the Justice Ministry, were part of a case opened in 1990 against 16 regional Scientology ...

GARDEN CITY - Former employees of the Internet startup iShopNoMarkup.com have filed a formal complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that company execs are bilking investors by charging the firm consulting fees through separate companies they own. Further, the former employees say the company is illegally targeting non-accredited investors - those who do not make $200,000 a year and have a $1 million net worth. The company has also spent at least $17,000 in the past six months on ...

The 20-year-old Hemet woman died after she fell in a transformer vault. SAN JACINTO — A woman killed on the Church of Scientology's film studio grounds near San Jacinto is 20-year-old Hemet resident Stacey Myer, according to the county coroner. She apparently was electrocuted when she fell in a transformer vault at Golden Era Productions north of San Jacinto, said Riverside County sheriff's spokeswoman Perri Feinstein-Portales. "Her autopsy was performed today," Feinstein-Portales said Tuesday. "Right now the cause of death is ...

The French parliament yesterday adopted Europe's toughest anti-sect legislation yet, creating a controversial new crime of "mental manipulation" punishable by a maximum fine of £50,000 and five years imprisonment. The move was applauded by Alain Vivien, head of a government committee that has identified 173 dangerous quasi-religious groups in France, but was denounced by both the Church of Scientology and the Unification Church as fascist, anti-democratic and in breach of basic human rights laws. Current French law, described as "inadequate to ...

Medical examiners are vital to the criminal justice system. They investigate suspicious deaths, help determine if crimes were committed and influence the outcome of trials. They should be competent medical professionals, managers and witnesses. In each of those areas, serious questions have been raised about Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Joan Wood. Before Gov. Jeb Bush decides whether to reappoint Wood to another three-year term, he should consider the consequences. Wood was at the center of a controversial decision by State Attorney Bernie ...