According to a CNN article, two white students have recently been allowed to return to a South African university in Johannesburg after they allegedly served two black housekeepers a stew filled with their urine back in 2007.

Roeluf Malherbe and Schalk Van der Merwe were banned from campus after a video emerged allegedly showing the young men - along with several accomplices - mixing beef stew and urinating in it.

What happens next violates every health and safety code - they serve the stew to the dorm housekeepers.

The school recently withdrew its complaints against the students and invited them back to resume their schooling. Jonathan Jansen - the vice chancellor at the university - is the first black man to hold the position at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein.

The chancellor himself made the decision to allow the students to return.

However, Jansen states the university has no other control of the students’ fate outside the school. Both face criminal charges and human rights charges.

At this point it is undetermined if the students will return to school.

University officials stated the video was made in retaliation of the university’s attempt to integrate the schools. Almost 20 years after apartheid, the dorms are still divided into white and black dormitories.

After the incident occurred, both students released a statement apologizing “for any embarrassment [they] may have unintentionally caused.”

They further claimed that the video was altered to make it to appear as though they “tainted” the stew by urinating in it. They continued to say that the liquid they put into the stew was completely harmless and that they did not mean to hurt anyone, CNN reported.

South Africa’s Ministry of Higher Education does not agree with the decision to let the boys back in. They believe the boys should apologize and face any and all allegations.

From the university’s point of view, there appears to be no sense of remorse from the boys. They believe the boys just think it was a funny prank.

But what about the housekeepers - the victims in this alleged incident? They claim they are still being taunted by the students and have requested new uniforms because the old ones are a constant reminder.

The Ministry believes if the students return to school, it might look like the government is failing to address not only the situation at hand, but also the underlying issue of racism in the university.

Charges have not yet been pressed against the boys and the university is not yet commenting whether or not the boys will return to school.

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Richard and Mayumi Heene – the parents of the young boy thought to be flying around Fort Collins, Colo. - are being accused of a hoax and face criminal charges, according to a CNN report.

They are being accused of allegedly fabricating the story that their son Falcon climbed into a homemade flying vehicle and went flying through the sky.

The parents, who were both previously featured on the show “Wife Swap,” have allegedly been looking for fame and celebrity status since the show aired in March 2009. Authorities state they created this incident as a publicity stunt to gain nationwide attention.

This apparent hoax led to a major search and rescue mission after images were aired on television of the young boy flying through the sky in the air balloon contraption.

The aircraft landed 60 miles from where it took off, and when it was found by the rescue teams, the young Falcon was nowhere to be found.

Authorities feared the worst - that the young boy had fallen out of the balloon. Hours later, Falcon emerged from a small space where he was hiding in the attic of his parents’ house.

Falcon’s older brother said he saw his younger brother get into the balloon and even videotaped it, but it appears he did get out of it.

According to a CNN article, the silver helium balloon is 20 feet long and five feet high was found 90 minutes away from the home in a field near Colorado Springs.

Richard Heene is a meteorologist and was building a “3D low altitude Vehicle.” It was not completely ready to fly and was not meant to fly above 20ft high.

Police only questioned the whole incident after the Heene family appeared on Larry King live and during the conversation, Falcon told his father, “ you guys said, um, we did this for the show. “

Authorities, upon hearing this, decided to interview the parents again and they then determined that the whole thing could a fabrication for the parents to gain attention.

The Heenes are facing felony charges of conspiracy to commit a crime, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and attempt to influence a public servant.

Richard Heene’s attorney, David Lane, has not yet seen any evidence from authorities and he hopes that the authorities will let the Heenes turn themselves in instead of creating a big spectacle and bringing them into the station with police escorts, CNN reported.

He maintains the Heenes are good parents to their three children and for them to see their parents in handcuffs could cause devastating effects.

The Larimer County Sheriff’s Department advised no comments will be given until the investigation is complete.

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Rhianna and Chris Brown - almost every American knows their story by now. Chris Brown allegedly beat his girlfriend - pop music star Rhianna - before the Grammy Awards last year.

He punched and choked the star leaving her badly injured. Then two weeks later, a photo appeared on celebrity gossip Web site TMZ.

Who leaked the information? According to the Los Angeles Times, two LA police officers are on paid leave until further investigation, but have not been convicted of any crimes at this point in time.

The two officers have been identified as Rebecca Reyes, who’s been with the LAPD for nine years, and Blanca Lopez, who worked for a different department - but the two women were roommates.

Reyes’ attorney confirmed a search warrant was delivered to her home in connection with the investigation, but he maintains her innocence and that she did nothing wrong.

He also stated that the department has not made any criminal charges or formal allegations against her.

The attorney did not say whether Reyes had taken the picture, or if she ever had it in her possession. The LAPD is continuing an investigation but will not supply any details about the case to the public.

The police department now has strict rules about taking pictures and recording video images at crime scenes.

They tightened up their rules and regulations due to quite a few leaks of celebrities this past year. Pictures of celebrity arrests were posted on celebrity gossip sites.

A new state law was passed in California making it illegal for police officers to profit by leaking confidential reports or images, the LA Times reported.

Rhianna’s attorney said he’s happy with the LAPD and their investigation of the case and believes that no victim should have to suffer the embarrassment of photographs of such an incident.

A price to pay for fame - celebrities forced to relive difficult moments of their past and present. They count on the police at least to keep their matters private, and if the police don’t always do so, then who will?

Susan Atkins, the infamous Charles Manson follower, recently died in prison from brain cancer, CNN reported.

As many may remember, she was responsible for the murders of actress Sharon Tate; Abigail Folger, whose family owned the famous coffee company by the same name; and celeb hairstylist Jay Sebring, among others. She was convicted of seven murders in the summer of 1969.

All were found dead at Tate’s home in Bel Air, Calif., which she shared with her husband – film director Roman Polanski. He was not home at the time of the murders.

Perhaps the most disturbing part of this crime is that Tate was eight and a half months pregnant when she was brutally stabbed by Atkins.

Atkins admitted to the crime stating she stabbed Tate several times – killing her and her unborn son as Tate begged for both their lives.

Atkins claimed she committed these crimes with fellow cult members because they were ordered to do so by their leader Charles Manson. Her confession also stated that she and the other members were under the influence of LSD at the time of the murders – a drug known to cause hallucinations.

Atkins was sentenced to death, but her sentence changed to life imprisonment when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the nation’s death penalty in 1972. They later reinstated it in 1976, but her sentence did not change back.

Since then Atkins has requested parole 13 times and has been denied every time. Her last attempt for parole – “a compassionate plea” – was denied even after she had surgery for her cancer related issues.

According to CNN, Tim O’Hara, the Parole Commissioner, said Atkins’ request for parole was denied because the board believes she still does not fully understand the magnitude of her crimes. The parole board also claimed the crime was so horrible that they denied the claim due to its “atrocious nature.”

Atkins served most of her time, 37 years, in the California Institution for Women.

She was later transferred to a community hospital in 2008 due to her health, and was finally transferred to Chowchilla Prison’s Nursing Center a year before she died.

Atkins was said to be a born again Christian, and many of those who knew her thought of her as a model prisoner – but the victims’ families never heard any regret or apology for her awful crimes all those years ago.

The young female student Danmell Ndonye, a young female student at Hofstra University had accused five young men of gang raping her on the New York campus, but later recanted her story, the New York Daily News reported.

She may now be charged for false accusations and suffer consequences from making up a story that could have ruined the future of the accused young men.

Ndonye told the Nassau County Police her cell phone was taken at a campus party while she was dancing and was lured back to the dorm where 5 young men proceeded to tie her up. They each then took turns engaging in un-consensual sexual activity. She stated this occurred around 3am in the university dorm bathroom.

The police were led to believe that this was a preplanned attack by the boys, setting up the young girl for the crime. They at this point had no reason to believe Ndonye was lying to protect herself from embarrassment of the incident.

The accused men were each charged with five counts of first degree rape and were facing up to 25 years in prison if they were convicted, according to the New York Daily News. They could have lost the chance to live their lives.
After claiming she was raped, Ndonye later changed her story stating that the sex was consensual and that the young men never raped her.

Ndonye took back her story after she learned of a video on a cell phone while she was being questioned by the state prosecutor. It allegedly shows that the sex had been consensual. None of the prosecutors knew during the questioning what exactly was on the video, but the girl ended up changing her story and said the sex was indeed consensual, according to the New York Daily News.

She allegedly told police she had been raped because she was afraid to tell her boyfriend about the incident; quite a big price to pay to keep a relationship together.

The charges against the young men were dropped, but it now appears Ndonye might face criminal charges as well as disciplinary actions from the university for making these false accusations.

Rondell Bedward – one of the male Hofstra students involved – had been suspended after Ndonye’s accusations, but his  suspension from the university was lifted after the truth was revealed.

A spokeswoman for the university stated that Ndonye has been suspended until after the school disciplinary hearing scheduled to decide what consequences she will face.

No criminal charges have been pressed nor any civil lawsuits filed at this point, but that does not necessarily mean she will not face any in the future.

Most people hate the feeling that they are getting ripped off - and that doesn’t just stop at your average everyday person.  Celebrities don’t like it either, but they have a much larger pay scale to worry about.

Former wrestler Hulk Hogan, also known as Terry Bollea, filed a lawsuit in Pinellas County, Fla. against his lawyers, according to Tampa Bay Online.

The lawsuit states that the lawyers overcharged him $1 million for his son Nick’s car crash back in 2007. Nick had crashed his vehicle into a palm tree after his car jumped over a median.  He and his passenger, John Graziano, were severely injured and taken to the hospital.

In the lawsuit, Hogan is claiming he paid more than $1 million to his lawyers to defend his son for a civil case filed by Graziano from the accident.

According to the Tampa Bay papers, Hogan states that his insurance company, Progressive Select Insurance Co., could and should have supplied him an attorney at no cost to him under his insurance policy.

At the time of the accident, the vehicle Nick was driving, a Toyota Supra, was insured by Progressive. The policy covered bodily injury limits of $250,000 per person and has a total limit of $500,000 per accident. Progressive would defend the policy holder if any civil suit arose from the accident.

Hogan states that no one at the insurance company had contacted him with this information until much later after he decided to hire out different attorneys, Tampa Bay Online reported.

About two weeks after the accident Hogan decided to consult with Morris Weinberg Jr. and Lee Fugate from the Zuckerman Spaeder law firm. He hired them to defend his son Nick against criminal charges and to protect him against civil lawsuits.

Hogan later found out the insurance company had sent letters to everyone except for him - including his business managers and his financial managers stating the company had appointed him an attorney.  Word of this, according to Hogan, also reached his newly hired attorneys, but they never told him they received the letter.

He also alleges that the attorneys told Progressive Hogan wanted only this law firm to represent him and they came to an agreement with the insurance company that they would only charge Hogan $145/per hour.

According to Tampa Bay news reports, Hogan claims the law firm charged him much higher rates from $475 and up. Hogan could no longer retain the law firm for the case.

Progressive had already paid the firm $350,000 from the $444,000 they were seeking in reimbursement.  The insurance company then decided they were no longer going to represent Hogan due to his bills being “grossly inflated and unnecessary.”

The firm states that Hogan’s claims are “baseless” and they will fight in court.

In America, a fashion crime won’t get anyone forty lashes, but unfortunately it can in Sudan.

Northern Sudan is predominantly Islamic, and the Islamic law has restrictions on public indecency, mainly for women, according to CNN.com.

Lubna Al-Hussein was threatened with forty lashes for wearing pants that were allegedly “too tight” with a sheer blouse. According to Al-Hussein, she was wearing pants, a blouse and a hijab (a head scarf worn by Muslim women).

Lashing – a common punishment in Sudan for both men and women - can be held in public.  The public lashings are reserved mainly for men, and for women the lashings are handled in private and occur shortly after the trial.

At the time of her arrest, Al-Hussein was attending a restaurant party in Khartoum when Sudan police barged in and began inspecting woman at the party to make sure their clothes were decent for public appearance.

Al-Hussein was not the only one arrested at the party - 18 other women were arrested with her. Her lawyer, Nabil Adib, does not think she was targeted specifically. According to Adib, it’s a common occurrence for police to enter public and private parties to hold these inspections.

Courts found her guilty of the crimes, but decided not to give her the lashes. They instead ordered that she pay a fine of 500 Sudanese pounds, which is equal to 209 American dollars. If she did not pay the fee, then she would be thrown in prison for one month. Her trial lasted a day and she was not allowed any witnesses or to present a defense case, according to her Adib.

Al-Hussein chose jail time and refused to pay the fine based on principal. Now, she’s looking to appeal the court’s decision in hopes to make the effort to declare the Muslims’ decency law unconstitutional.

Al-Hussein worked as a journalist for the media department of the United Nations and resigned from her position to waive her immunity as an international worker and face trial.

This action brought attention across the world and many protestors showed up at the court hearing to protest this offense. Police had to throw tear gas into the crowds to break up the protesting.

According to CNN they detained 47 supporters, apparently injuring some of these women. From Amnesty International to United Nations, this is one trial that has everyone around the world was watching, and waiting to see the results.

With the fall of the economy, there appears to be a rise of debt collector employees using threatening tactics to collect debts from sometimes unsuspecting people. They might pose as lawyers to scare and bully people into paying debts that sometimes they don’t even owe.

Not only do people have to live in fear of bankruptcy and losing jobs and homes, but now collectors might be harassing not just people who owe money, but also people who don’t.

According to CNN.com, it is against Federal and New York law for debt collection agencies to lie and threaten people in order to collect money.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is trying to shut down these agencies supposedly run by the Benning-Smith Group. This group allegedly posed as law enforcement officials and lawyers to threaten people into paying debts.

Supposedly these agencies are buying debt from existing corporations and attempting to make collections. In some instances the people they called had no idea they even owed any debt, and in fact, they may not.

People who have been harassed have paid so the collectors will leave them alone. Michele Milton is one of many who did just that.

When Michele received a phone call at her Springville, N.Y. home, she was not expecting the voice on the other end to threaten her with arrest if she did not pay the money she apparently owed. The man said he was a lawyer looking to collect the debt she needed to pay, and if she did not pay then she would be arrested and child services would take the kids.

Before she knew it, she had told the man her bank account number in hopes she would not be arrested. She later learned the man was not a lawyer but an employee of a debt collection agency.

In other alleged cases, debt collector employees threatened sexual assault on a family’s daughter and in a separate case requested sex acts in exchange for paying off debts. Some people owed nothing but out of fear of these threats – they paid.

Another alleged instance of harassment was Dorothy Gilbert. She said she received threatening calls stating she was “totally ghetto” and that she should “learn English [AND] get an education,” and the collector was requesting she pay a debt that she already paid.

CNN states more than 850 complaints have been filed against the group making these calls. The attorney general’s office, the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau are all seeing the complaints. According to the attorney general, he will try to recover money for the people who didn’t owe, but paid anyway.

Divorce is never a fun situation to tackle - however for many people it ends up being a somewhat painless process, from a legal standpoint. When it comes to emotions, obviously that’s another story - and some say celebrities who divorce have it worst of all.

According to an ABC News article, celeb divorces are the ugliest of the ugly. Not only do these people have to deal with the emotional pain and stress caused by divorce, but because of their fat wallets, the legal battles can be especially trying.

When these relationships include one celebrity and one non-famous person, sometimes that is the worst case scenario because the non-famous spouse might become more emotional or vindictive - wanting more assets or alimony than they would if the media weren’t involved and covering the couple’s every move.

Because of the natural human instinct to not want your personal life spread all over the news, often celebrities are willing to settle things quickly and pay more money - just to have the situation out of their lives.

Some of the most expensive celebrity divorces on record are:

• Rupert and Anna Murdoch ($1.7B)
• Craig and Wendy McCaw ($460M)
• Robert and Sheila Johnson ($400M)
• Michael and Juanita Jordan ($168M)
• Steven Spielberg and Amy Irving ($100M)

Yes, they are apparently out there - but if the nude photos of popular vampire series Twilight’s main star are made public, those who chose to share them will face penalties, according to Ashley Greene’s lawyer.

According to People.com, the photos, which “appear to be” of Greene, have hit the Internet and the starlet plans to take legal action against anyone who is found to have posted them.

Greene is just the most recent of a crop of young actresses who has had to deal with naked pictures or sex videos of themselves being filtered around the Web.

Leighton Meester of Gossip Girl recently denied the existence of a sex tape starring her - and a couple years ago High School Musical’s Vanessa Hudgens chose to make a public apology to her fans for the leak of her own nude photos.