President Bush also called on members of the Senate to give his latest judicial nominees what he labeled a "fair hearing" and a "prompt up-or-down vote," saying that he and lawmakers have a shared obligation to ensure that vacancies in the federal courts are filled.

Gary B. Evans, 58, of Cocoa Beach, Fla., was sentenced today before Chief Judge Patricia C. Fawsett in U.S. District Court in Orlando. Evans was ordered to forfeit his interest in his house, various computers and electronic equipment, and two cashier’s checks totaling $24,000.

Evans was arrested on May 11, 2006, and indicted on May 23, 2006, on one count of conspiring to arrange the travel of an individual for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct and one count of arranging such travel. After Evans’ computers were seized and examined, agents discovered digital images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. On August 9, 2006, a superseding indictment was returned which added one count of receiving child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. Evans pleaded guilty on October 23, 2006, before Magistrate Judge David A. Baker to one count of conspiring to arrange for the travel of a person to engage in illicit sexual conduct – specifically, a commercial sex act with a person under 18 years of age.

According to the plea agreement, in August 2005, Evans contacted the operator of a Web site which purported to sell "sex tour" packages to overseas locations. According to the Web site, the tour price would include an under-age companion who would have sex with the traveler. Evans proposed a partnership with the operator of the Web site in which they would jointly operate tours to Honduras and Costa Rica, where clients would pay to have sex with minors. However, the Web site was actually part of an undercover investigation being conducted by FBI agents who are part of the Innocent Images task force based in Calverton, Md.

Starting in September 2005 and continuing for several months, undercover agents exchanged several emails, and had numerous online and phone conversations with Evans and his associate in Honduras. Ultimately, Evans agreed to arrange for two clients to travel to Honduras to engage in sex with two girls, ages 16 and 14 respectively. The ultimate price for the hotel, expenses and sex was $2,260, paid in three installments.

On May 6, 2006, undercover agents from the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) met three associates of Evans in Honduras. The three associates ultimately brought two girls, who appeared to be between the ages of 14 and 16, to the hotel. After briefly meeting the girls, the undercover agents told the associates that they had to return to the United States to attend to an emergency. At that point, the girls safely left the hotel.

As part of the plea agreement, Evans admits he possessed images of real children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. He also admits that the images depicted prepubescent children, and children engaged in sadistic or masochistic conduct. He further admits he possessed more than 150 images of child pornography. Finally, Evans admits that during the time of the offense, he engaged in a pattern of activity involving the sexual abuse and exploitation of minors.

This case is being investigated by ICE and the FBI. The Brevard County, Fla. Sheriff’s Office is also assisting. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Vincent Citro of the Middle District of Florida and Trial Attorney Alexandra Gelber of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

A Chelsea, Mass., woman pleaded guilty today in federal court to conspiring to engage in a child prostitution scheme, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher for the Criminal Division; United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan for the District of Massachusetts; Sharon E. Ormsby, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in New England; Edward Davis, Commissioner of the Boston Police Department; and Colonel Mark Delaney, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, announced today.

Evelyn Diaz, 22, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris to an indictment charging her with one count of conspiracy to engage in a child prostitution scheme, two counts of transportation of a minor to engage in prostitution, and three counts of sex trafficking of children. Diaz was arrested on Friday, July 7, 2006.

As part of the plea agreement, Diaz admitted that between approximately July 2003 and May 2005, she operated an escort service that advertised in multiple publications and websites, and sent individuals—including minors—on prostitution calls in and around Boston. Diaz primarily operated the business out of her home in Chelsea. In addition, Diaz at times traveled to other states for the purpose of having individuals—including minors—engage in commercial sex. Diaz kept all or part of the money obtained for the sex acts performed.

Diaz also admitted that in July of 2003, she transported Minor A and Minor B, ages 15 and 13 respectively, to New York City to engage in prostitution. Diaz arranged this meeting through her business, paid for the hotel, supplied condoms and received the money paid by the callers.

Judge Saris scheduled sentencing for April 27, 2007. Diaz faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison on the conspiracy charge; a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of 30 years in prison on the transportation of a minor charges; a 40 year maximum sentence on two of the sex trafficking of children charges; and a maximum life sentence on the third sex trafficking charge.

A charge of conspiracy to engage in a child prostitution scheme is still pending against Diaz’s co-defendant, Victor Diaz, 23, of East Boston, Mass.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the Boston Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana Gershengorn in Sullivan’s Major Crimes Unit, and Wendy Waldron, Trial Attorney for the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

This case is part of the Innocence Lost Initiative, a cooperative effort to prevent and prosecute child prostitution between the FBI, the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Last week, Sacramento mother of three Jennifer Strange entered a radio contest on KDND to try to win a Wii console.  The contest involved drinking large amounts of water. Strange later died of water intoxication.

Sacramento attorney Roger Dreyer told Sacramento Bee, “There isn’t going to be a settlement. There’s going to be a venting in a public forum. That’s what we want, and that’s what the family wants.”

He said the radio station had been “pushing an irresponsible, ill-advised contest” and would be named in the suit alongside employees directly responsible for the promo. He added that Nintendo “might” be named but only if they played a part in the promo.

Although Nintendo has not issued a statement about the tragedy, it seems highly unlikely that the company would knowingly involve itself in such a bad stunt.

"Pfizer has created and contributed to the perception of Viagra as a safe, sexy, lifestyle, recreational drug, to be frequently used regardless of the degree, or even existence of" erectile dysfunction, the group said in draft legal documents.

Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker, said it was committed to appropriate Viagra use and urged men to see a doctor for a proper diagnosis. The drug is sold by prescription.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, in its legal arguments, pointed to several Viagra promotions from recent years, including a 2005 newspaper ad that featured a smiling man asking, "What are you doing on New Year's Eve?"

Another ad that ran near the 2006 Super Bowl urged men to "Be this Sunday's MVP" and ask their doctors about Viagra.

Pfizer's Viagra website asks readers, "Want to improve your sex life?" and says the drug can help men who have erection difficulties "once in a while."

Healthcare foundation president Michael Weinstein said the promotions made Viagra sound like a "party drug" that can make sex more pleasurable for healthy men -- a claim the Food and Drug Administration has not approved.

Men in the ads also look much younger than Pfizer's earlier Viagra pitchman, former Kansas Senator Bob Dole, who is now 83, he said.

"Bob Dole has been replaced by the hunky 40-something guy who looks like he can really have a good time," Weinstein said in an interview. "The message they are sending out is that any and every male should take it," he said.

Studies show evidence of recreational Viagra use among men who have sex with men, sometimes to overcome the erection-inhibiting effects of alcohol or street drugs such as ecstasy and crystal methamphetamine, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation said.

The group asked Pfizer repeatedly to alter its ads, Weinstein said.

In 2004, the FDA objected to a television commercial suggesting Viagra could return a man to the "wild thing" of his younger days. The FDA said the ad, showing a man sprouting devilish horns, made an unproven claim that men could regain a youthful level of sexual desire. Pfizer halted that campaign.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation's lawsuit, to be filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, asks that Pfizer be prohibited from running similar messages and ordered to fund awareness ads about sexually transmitted disease risks and Viagra.

The suit also requests that Pfizer turn over profits gained from misleading ads and pay the AIDS Healthcare Foundation's costs of treating AIDS and other illnesses linked to Viagra use.

California-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation runs AIDS clinics in the United States, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia that provide medical care and services to more than 53,000 people even if they cannot pay.

Pfizer spokeswoman Shreya Prudlo said the company was not aware of the lawsuit. She said Pfizer "has always been committed to safe and appropriate use of Viagra" and that the drug's label and promotions stated "Viagra does not protect against sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV."

Sales of Viagra, known generically as sildenafil, reached $1.6 billion worldwide in 2005.

Vioxx manufacturer Merck Pharmaceuticals, which withdrew the drug from the market in 2004 after research showed it doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes, claimed that the men's heart problems were caused by pre-existing coronary heart disease, and not the drug. After the mistrial was declared, Merck announced that the plaintiffs did not prove their cases, and that they were ready to defend against the allegations if they were brought fourth again. As of the end of last November, Merck faced 27,200 lawsuits over Vioxx and another 265 potential state-based class-action lawsuits. A federal judge rejected national class-action lawsuits in federal court early in November.

The Mountain View, Calif., maker of controller chips for PCs and LCD monitors has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple (AAPL), claiming the IT giant has been unfairly using Opti technology in its Macintosh line and its Xserve servers.

Specifically, the lawsuit claims that Apple used Opti-patented "predictive snooping" technology, which involves the transfer of data from a PCI bus controller to a PCI master bus. This piece of technology helps shorten the delay in data transfer within a microprocessor.

"The complaint alleges that Apple has infringed the patents by making, selling and offering for sale desktop and portable computers and servers incorporating Predictive Snooping," Opti said in a statement.

The lawsuit was nearly identical to one Opti filed against Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) in November. The three U.S. Patent numbers referenced in the two lawsuits were also the same: 5,710,906; 5,813,036; and 6,405,291.

All three patents refer to "Predictive Snooping of Cache Memory for Master-Initiated Accesses."

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on Jan. 18. The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and unspecified damages, according to the Opti statement.