Turtle taped to balloons floats over Calif. city

More cases of syphilis in porn found by LA inquiry

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Four more cases of syphilis have been found in an investigation of an outbreak among porn performers, bringing the total to nine, and the discovery of more cases is likely, Los Angeles County's top health official said Tuesday.

Five cases were reported last week, causing a trade group for the multi-billion dollar industry to call for a halt in filming to prevent the spread of disease.

"It's not surprising in the adult film industry that we would have transmission of all sexually transmitted diseases because they're having unprotected sex, oftentimes with multiple actors," said Dr.Jonathan Fielding, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

The current number of syphilis cases in the most recent outbreak "will grow," said Fielding, adding that an ongoing investigation is expected to uncover more cases. The latest discoveries were made through testing of the sexual partners of the earlier cases found, he said.

All those infected are also in the industry, but it remains unclear whether they contracted the illness on- or off-set, he said.

The Free Speech Coalition called for a nationwide filming moratorium this weekend, telling performers to get tested for syphilis and to get penicillin shots before returning to sets. After performers get the shots, they can go back to work within 10 days, said FSC spokeswoman Joanne Cachapero.

Last year, 819 cases of syphilis were reported throughout Los Angeles County, said Fielding. While the number of cases in the porn community may seem small by comparison, Fielding said, "I doubt that the rate of sexually transmitted disease is higher anywhere else."

Fielding said the county health department is alerting providers that work frequently with porn performers, which are largely located in the San Fernando Valley, to be on the lookout for an increase in syphilis cases.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, syphilis is transmitted through direct contact with syphilis sores, which mainly occur on the external genitals, vagina, anus or inside the rectum.

A single shot of penicillin can cure a person who has had syphilis for less than a year, according to the CDC. Additional doses are necessary for people who have had the STD for a longer period.

The current self-imposed moratorium on porn shoots isn't the first time the industry has stepped in following news of ill performers.

In 2011, major porn producers stopped filming for nearly a week after an adult film performer tested positive for HIV, which causes AIDS. The Free Speech Coalition said the case was later determined to have been a false report.

In 2010, porn actor Derrick Burts was diagnosed as HIV-positive, and his case was confirmed, briefly halting production.

In 2004, at least five performers tested positive for HIV, prompting another brief self-imposed moratorium.

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Shaya Tayefe Mohajer can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/APShaya

An effigy of the killer of right wing leader Eugene TerreBlanche is dragged behind a vehicle past protesters outside the court in Ventersdorp, South Africa, Wednesday Aug. 22 2012. A black farmworker was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for the brutal murder of South African white supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche in a case that has been a source of racial tension in the city of Ventersdorp. About 100 protesters sang anti-white songs outside the courtroom in the city just west of Johannesburg to support 30-year-old Chris Mahlangu, who had pleaded guilty but argued that he acted in self-defense in what the judge found was a violent dispute over wages. They were opposed by 20 white protesters who carried the doll of a black man with a rope around his neck and a sign that said: "Hang Mahlangu." (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A black farmworker was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for the brutal murder of South Africanwhite supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche in a case that has been a source of racial tension in the city of Ventersdorp.

About 100 protesters sang anti-white songs outside the courtroom in the city just west of Johannesburg to support 30-year-old Chris Mahlangu, who had pleaded guilty but argued that he acted in self-defense in what the judge found was a violent dispute over wages. They were opposed by 20 white protesters who carried the dummy of a black man with a rope around his neck and a sign that said: "Hang Mahlangu." As Mahlangu was leaving the court, the protesters tied the effigy to a pick-up truck and drove around the black crowd.

Mahlangu was found guilty for beating Terreblanche, 69, to death with an iron in April 2010. Mahlangu said he feels he did no wrong by ridding the world of a man some called a monster.

The judge had rejected a defense argument that Mahlangu had been sodomized by Terreblanche and acted in self-defense. Mahlangu also claimed that Terreblanche infected him with HIV.

Zola Majavu, Mahlangu's lawyer, said on Wednesday that they are planning to appeal both the court's findings and the sentence.

On Wednesday, Mahlangu said he has converted to Islam while in prison.

A second man, Patrick Ndlovu, who was a teenager at the time of the killing two years ago, was sentenced to a two-year prison sentence which means he goes free. Ndlovu was acquitted of murder but found guilty of breaking and entering with intent to steal. Initially, he was not named because of his age. He turned 18 during the trial.

After the sentencing, the Young Communist League of South Africa released a statement calling the judgment racially biased.

"Eugene Terreblanche was a white supremacist who made no qualms about his lack of love and respect for the black Africans and still believed in white supremacy and black oppression. How is it that the issue of self-defense is not taken serious?" said the statement.

Terreblanche co-founded the Afrikaner Resistance Movement, known by its Afrikaans initials as the AWB, to seek an all-white republic within South Africa.

In 1997, Terreblanche was sentenced to six years in prison for the attempted murder of a black security guard and assaulting a black gas station worker. Terreblache's influence in the white supremacist movement had waned by the time he died.