Rodney King, whose beating by police in 1992 sparked the LA race riots, has been found dead in his swimming pool. He was 47.
Rialto Police Captain Randy Deanda said King was found "unresponsive" at the bottom of his pool after a call from his fiancee and was pronounced dead at a local medical centre shortly afterward at 6.11am (11.11pm AEST) on Sunday.
"Preliminarily, there do not appear to be any signs of foul play," Deanda added, noting that police were conducting a drowning investigation and that the coroner's office would perform an autopsy.

King became a symbol of racial tensions in America following his beating by baton-wielding LA police after a high-speed car chase was caught on camera.
He was severely beaten by four white police officers who struck him more than 50 times with their wooden batons and used a stun gun.
Four officers involved went on trial for use of excessive force but were acquitted on April 29, 1992, triggering days of deadly rioting in Los Angeles that left more than 50 people dead and caused about $US1 billion ($1 billion) in damage.

Speaking ahead of the 20th anniversary of the riots, King said racism still has to be challenged.
"There's always gonna be some type of racism. But it's up to us as individuals in this country to look back and see all the accomplishments that we have gotten to this far," he told CNN.
Asked about his feelings toward the police officers who beat him, he said: "I have forgiven (them), because America has forgiven me for so many things and given me so many chances.

Greeks vote for euro as pro-bailout parties claim victory

The conservative party that backs keeping Greece in the eurozone has won the country's election and immediately proposed forming a pro-euro coalition government.
The development eases, at least briefly, deep fears that the election would unleash an economic tsunami.
As central banks stood ready to intervene in case of financial turmoil, Greece held its second election in six weeks after an inconclusive ballot on May 6.
The vote was seen as crucial since it could determine whether Greece would leave the joint euro currency, a move that would have potentially catastrophic consequences for other ailing European nations and the entire global economy.
With 66 per cent of the vote counted, official results showed the conservative New Democracy winning 30.1 per cent of the vote and 130 of the 300 seats in parliament.
The radical anti-bailout Syriza party had 26.5 per cent and 70 seats and the pro-bailout Socialist Pasok party came in third with 12.6 per cent of the vote and 34 seats.
"I am relieved," a smiling New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras told Reuters, leaving his office to joyous chants from supporters. "I am relieved for Greece and Europe. As soon as possible we will form a government."
Samaras said in a speech that the country would honour its commitments to its euro zone partners.
"The Greek people voted today to stay on the European course and remain in the euro zone... there will be no more adventures, Greece's place in Europe will not be put in doubt," he said.
The parties have starkly different views about what to do about the 240 billion euros ($304 billion) in bailout loans that Greece has been given by international lenders, and the harsh austerity measures that previous Greek governments had to accept to get the funds.
"The Greek people today voted for Greece to remain on its European path and in the eurozone," Samaras said.
"(Voters chose) policies that will bring jobs, growth, justice and security."
Syriza chief Alexis Tsipras, who had tapped into a vein of deep anger over the plunging living standards faced by many Greeks, had wanted to rip up Greece's international bailout deals and roll back the new taxes, job cuts and pension cuts imposed in the past two years.
Tsipras congratulated Samaras and conceded the election.
The head of Greece's socialist Pasok party proposed that a unity government be formed of four top parties, including Syriza despite its anti-bailout views.
Pasok's Evangelos Venizelos, who spent months negotiating bailouts as Greece's finance minister, suggested dumping the usual procedure of each party seeking coalition partners. He said a government must be formed quickly and suggested one between New Democracy, Syriza, Pasok and the small Democratic Left.
"There is not one day to lose. There is no room for party games. If we want Greece to really remain in the euro and get out of the crisis to the benefit of every Greek government, it must have a government tomorrow," Venizelos said after results were announced.
Sunday's vote went smoothly except for one incident in which 10 men armed with sledgehammers and wooden bats attacked a polling station in central Athens, wounding two policemen and setting fire to the ballot box. The attack took place in the Athens neighbourhood of Exarhia, a traditional haven for anarchists.
Greek police were also investigating the discovery of two unexploded hand grenades outside private Skai television station on the outskirts of Athens.
AP, Reuters

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/greeks-vote-for-euro-as-probailout-parties-claim-victory-20120618-20iol.html#ixzz1y6R639dm

Daredevil walks on tightrope over Niagara Falls 

Cheered on by thousands of spectators, US tightrope walker Nik Wallenda has fulfilled his childhood dream of walking on a tightrope across Niagara Falls and into the history books.
Crowds packed the US and Canadian sides of the border to watch the 33-year-old brave strong winds and heavy spray to walk on a cable suspended around 60 metres up over the biggest waterfall in North America.
After a brief prayer, Wallenda climbed on the cable and headed from New York to Canada. With the aid of a long balancing pole, Wallenda carefully found his footing along the lengthy cable and maintained a laser-like focus on his task throughout.
The hair-raising walk took 25 minutes, less than the expected 35 to 40 minutes. He jumped down from the high wire on the Canadian side at 10.40pm (0220 GMT).
The event was televised by the US network ABC with a five-second delay.
Wallenda wore a waterproof outfit and suede-soled slippers especially designed by his mother. Powerful TV lights focused on him the whole way, as millions of people around the world followed the event on television.
The acrobat had a two-way radio and and a small earpiece, and was able to communicate with his father, identified by ABC as Terry Troffer.
"My God, it's incredible, it's breathtaking," Wallenda said soon after starting his quest.
He later reported being "very wet."
"This is so physical, not only mental but physical," Wallenda said. "Fighting the wind isn't easy. I feel my hands are going numb."
Wallenda's father gave him words of encouragement throughout the walk.
"You're doing good. Take your time," said Troffer, whom ABC described as the event safety coordinator.
The crowd went wild when Wallenda reached the Canadian side of the Falls.
Still on the high wire, Wallenda kneeled briefly on the cable and waved to the roaring crowd.
At ABC's insistence, Wallenda was attached to a harness that would have allowed him to climb back onto the high wire if he slipped and fell.
Soon after arriving in Canada, Wallenda called his grandmother on a mobile phone. "Hey Oma, I love you," he told her. Wallenda said he had promised to call as soon as he completed the feat because she couldn't be there.
Any attempt to cross the falls is usually forbidden, but an exception was made for Wallenda, who comes from a long line of acrobats and circus performers.
Fourteen daredevils attempted the stunt and occasionally succeeded in the 19th century before further attempts were banned. However, they were in a much calmer section of the waterfall. Wallenda crossed Niagara Falls at a never-before-traversed rim.
At a press conference a smiling but fatigued Wallenda said he was especially challenged by the mist and the wind. "The mist was worst than I have thought," he said. "The winds were pretty wild out there."
And yet "it's been worth every minute and every penny," Wallenda said. "I loved every minute of it."
Wallenda also said that he plans to cross the Grand Canyon -- a distance three times longer than Niagara Falls -- for his next high-wire act. He said he already has a permit, and that it will take place "within three to five years if not sooner."
Throughout the walk Wallenda's children, aged nine, 11 and 14, were watching.
The acrobat's achievement adds to the lore and legend of the renowned Wallenda family, famous for astonishing audiences around the world with their jaw-dropping stunts executed from dizzying heights.
Their fame really took off in 1978, when they were made the subject of popular made-for-TV movie, The Great Wallendas.
The Niagara Falls are the most powerful in North America. They were formed by receding glaciers at the end of the last ice age, with an average four million cubic feet of water from the Great Lakes flowing over the crest each minute and carving a path to the Atlantic Ocean.

My Dad was everything a girl could hope for—tall, dark, handsome and crazy about me. And he held the number one attribute on my little kid scorecard: he was a smooth dancer, smiling as my miniature Mary Janes scuffed his wingtips. He was a gentle man and a gentleman, so kind that he’d drop an extra quarter in the toll booth collector basket for the driver in line behind him.
Dad never went to college but I knew he was smart because he never talked to my brother Jack or me in baby talk. “Don’t gesture with your utensils,” he’d say. “Don’t yawn audibly!” Dad even said “shan’t” instead of “shall not.” No other Dad on the block did that.
Though I idolized my Dad, I knew my Mom had first dibs. Dad was so in love with Mom that he used to put rivets in his hat that spelled TGFM, Thank God for Mary. His other acronym, used to defuse any small family scuffle, was “BD. Blame Daddy.” Dad spoiled me for what to expect in a husband. (Thank God I lucked out when I met Joe, though I doubt he’ll be putting TGFML on his baseball caps anytime soon.)
When we were young, our family would escape to a tiny cabin at a South Jersey lake—no hot water or shower, but the fun of our very own outhouse. After dinner, we’d all sit on a beat up red sofa on the screened porch. Dad would put his arms around us and we’d all belt out “You Are My Sunshine” and “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.” But when Dad launched into “Carolina Moon,” we didn’t know the words so we just let him sing to the night stars in his croon-y Perry Como style. Mom would hold his hand and smile.
Year after year, I watched my Dad love Mom with a passion even as she weakened with a rare blood disease that would finally take her life.
With her gone, I tried to be there for Dad. I’d visit him every month in Florida and I’d sit in Mom’s recliner alongside his and we’d watch his favorite Seinfeld reruns. Dad had suffered two strokes, so he didn’t talk as much but his vocabulary never slacked off. During a speech therapy exercise, I asked him to repeat, “I feel sad” and he slowly formed the words, “I…feel…lu-gu-bri-ouuuusss.”
But an MRI revealed something I couldn’t fix—terminal brain and kidney cancer. I brought Dad back up north so Jack and I could help him feel comfortable. One night, after failing miserably in an attempt to give him morphine, I ran out into the dark, crying, “I’m his daughter, not his doctor.” When I pulled myself together and returned, Dad was resting on a red leather couch set up for his frequent and now, extended naps. Curled on the couch, nearly 92, he looked almost childlike. “Daddy, does this sofa remind you of our cabin at the lake?” He grinned with the memory. I whispered, “Do you remember when we used to sing together?” He looked at me and then slowly my Dad started to sing, so softly that I had to bend close to hear. “Carolina Moon, keep shining, shining on the one who waits for me. Carolina Moon, I’m pining, pining for the place I long to be.”
Dad was missing Mom. Letting him go to her was the hardest thing I have ever done. Today, Father’s Day doesn’t make me sad. It only brings back memories–of starry skies, his strong arms around us, his voice clear and strong in the night. I can hear him still. And I know this for sure. I will always be his girl.
Mary Lou Quinlan is the author of the New York Times bestselling book “The God Box.”