Adopted Russian Boy Rejected by U.S. Mother Adjusts in Foster Care

Artyom Saleviev's mischievous grin quickly fades when asked about the five months he spent in the United States.

"I do not want to talk about this," he said quietly, as he looked down at the floor. Asked if he would ever go back he said nothing and emphatically shook his head no.

In 2010 Artyom made headlines around the world after his American adoptive mother Torry Hansen put the then seven-year-old boy back on a plane to Russia alone with a letter that said she didn't want him anymore.

Artyom's new foster mother still cannot believe what happened to him.

"It's inhumane," Vera Egorova told ABC News in an interview in the home where she cares for him and several other children. Artyom is her 17th foster child.

"He should have been accompanied by adults and not just sent like a package by plane with his documents. It's bad. As a woman and a mother I could have never done this," she said.

The case sparked outrage in Russia and the government froze adoptions to the United States while it sought assurances that Russian children would be properly cared for by their adoptive parents. An accord was finally reached last year and the Russian parliament may soon ratify it in the coming weeks.

In the meantime the world has seen very little of Artyom since he was the scared little boy being whisked away by authorities.

Russian officials say he spent time in a hospital and in various institutions before finally ending up here, at an orphan colony in the suburbs of Moscow.

Now nearly ten years-old - his birthday is on Monday - Artyom remembers only a few words of English.

"My name is Artyom," he said sheepishly without looking up from his Legos.

He's perhaps small for his age, slim, and soft spoken. Like many boys his age, he enjoys watching television, playing with his toys, and horsing around with friends. He also seems to like showing off to the camera. When ABC News filmed him playing on the playground he immediately climbed to the top of the jungle gym and jumped off into a pile of snow, but not before glancing over to make sure the camera was rolling.

Ms. Egorova says he has taken to calling her "mama." She says he's struggling at school and is prone to acting up in class, but she attributes that to the trauma he experienced and the class time he has lost as a result.

Egorova says she has seen none of the "psychopathic" issues that Torry Hansen wrote about in her letter which caused her to reject Artyom. She says many foster children are traumatized by what they have experienced and Artyom is no different.

"We did a lot of tests and visited several specialists and they say there are no disorders," she said.

A U.S. court last month ordered Torry Hansen to pay child support for Artyom's care. A hearing has been set for May 17 to determine how much she will pay, which will depend on her income level and how much it costs to take care of the boy in Russia.

A lawyer representing Artyom visited Russia this week to meet him and to determine how much money to request, as well as to ensure that it will reach him.

Ray Stoner, an attorney for the National Council for Adoptions, says he's confident the judge will give them what they are looking for. He hopes no other child will ever share Artyom's experience.

"What we're trying to assure is that something like this never happens again. And that there's a consequence to what Ms. Hansom did. And that send an important message on behalf of all parents," he told ABC News.

"This is an issue that transcends America, or Russia, this is just the way that children should be treated in any civilized society," Stoner said.

In the meantime, the top Russian official for adoptions, Children's Ombudsman Pavel Astakhov, said he expected no further delays for American families hoping to adopt a Russian child.

"There are (sic) not any artificial obstacles for this process," he told ABC News.

Ms. Hansen was unable to be found for comment, despite efforts to locate her.

Obama paid a lower tax rate than his secretary, White House confirms

President Barack Obama's secretary paid taxes at a higher rate than he did in 2011 despite having a "substantially lower income," the White House said Friday, casting the disparity as an argument for Congress to adopt the so-called "Buffett Rule."


"The president's secretary pays a slightly higher rate this year than the president on her substantially lower income, which is exactly why we need to reform our tax code and ask the wealthiest to pay their fair share," Amy Brundage, a White Housespokeswoman, told Yahoo News by email.

Obama on Friday released his 2011 tax filings, showing that he paid $162,074 in total taxes on adjusted gross income of $789,674, an effective rate of 20.5 percent. The first couple paid $31,941 in Illinois income tax. Obama's secretary, Anita Decker Breckenridge, made $95,000 in 2011, according to the White House's public report on pay in the West Wing.

The president has been making the case for the Buffett Rule legislation that would raise taxes on the very richest Americans in order to ensure they do not pay a lower rate than middle-class filers. Obama has used the measure as a political cudgel to assault Mitt Romney, who has dismissed the proposal as a campaign gimmick. The Buffett Rule is named after billionaire financier Warren Buffett, who has said that he pays a lower effective tax rate than his secretary. Legislation to enact it faces a vote in the Democratic-held Senate on Monday. It is expected to fail, but even if it succeeds it is sure to die in the Republican-led House of Representatives.

Yahoo News earlier Friday turned to the Obama campaign's Buffett Rule calculator to conduct a little experiment. The calculator is an oversimplified tool, but it reported that married filers with Breckenridge's income would typically pay an effective rate of 20.9 percent (a hair above Obama's 20.5 percent), while filers married with children would pay 17.6 percent (somewhat less than the married-with-children president). While we know Breckenridge is married, without data like her husband's income, the calculator's information is chiefly for entertainment purposes.

JetBlue pilot indicted for flight disruption

A JetBlue Airways captain accused of disrupting a Las Vegas-bound flight when he left the cockpit screaming about religion and terrorists has been indicted, according to court documents posted Thursday.

A grand jury in Lubbock indicted Clayton F. Osbon on one count of interference of a flight crew — the same charge he's been held on since shortly after the March 27 incident.

Osbon's attorney, Dean Roper, declined to comment, the attorney's secretary said Thursday.

Witnesses on Flight 191 say Osbon ran through the cabin yelling about Jesus and al-Qaida. The first officer locked him out of the cockpit and passengers wrestled the captain to the floor. They restrained him with seat belt extenders and zip tie handcuffs while the first officer diverted the flight to land in Amarillo.

Osbon is undergoing a court-ordered psychiatric exam to determine whether he was legally sane and can stand trial.

Under federal law, a conviction for interfering with a flight crew can bring up to 20 years in prison. The offense is defined as assaulting or intimidating the crew, interfering with its duties or diminishes its ability to do operate the plane.

Investigators say Osbon told his co-pilot, "things just don't matter," and rambled incoherently about religion shortly after the flight departed from New York. His behavior became more erratic as the flight wore on, prosecutors say, and ended with the tense struggle in the cabin.

Passengers said the pilot seemed disoriented, jittery and constantly sipped water when he first stormed from the cockpit and marched through the cabin. Then, they said, he began to rant about threats linked to Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan after crew members tried to calm him down at the back of the plane.

The prosecution motion that sought the psychiatric exam said the events of that day "establish a likelihood that Osbon may be suffering from a mental disease or defect."

A flight attendant's ribs were bruised while trying to restrain Osbon, but no one on board was seriously hurt.

A day after the incident JetBlue suspended Osbon pending a review of the flight.

Novelty grenade in package causes World Financial Center building to evacuate

An inert World World II-era grenade, mounted on a plaque and delivered in the mail, caused the lower-Manhattan building 2 World Financial Center to evacuate this morning.

The New York World Financial Center is located across the street from where the twin towers fell on 9/11.

According to news reports, the Japanese bank Nomura Holdings was evacuated after a suspicious package that was X-rayed appeared to reveal a grenade.

Office workers were milling about on the corner and some headed to a local bar. An employee told theWall Street Journal, "People were a little nervous getting outside. But once we left the building everything was fine. Everyone's pretty calm right now."

The NYPD bomb squad was dispatched. Officials determined that what appeared to have been an explosive device through the building X-ray machine was actually a novelty hand grenade on a plaque that read "complaint department, pull the pin," police spokesman Paul Browne said, giving the all-clear.

Three Baltimore school employees split Mega Millions jackpot

Two Maryland public school teachers and a school administrator have claimed the second of three Mega Millions jackpot tickets, according to officials.

The self-described "Three Amigos" say they plan to purchase new homes, start children's college funds and organize trips to Europe. Their winning was one of three jackpot tickets sold for the record-breaking $656 million jackpot awarded on March 30.

"If it can't be you, these people are precisely the people you would want to see win," said Maryland Lottery director Stephen Martino.

The three winners have chosen to remain anonymous but did allow the lottery officials to reveal some details about them. All three reportedly currently work multiple jobs just to pay their monthly bills. Even with their newfound fortunes, all three told Martino that they would keep their jobs at the school. "One said 'I can't give up on my kids,'" he said.

Martino said the three winners did indulge in a laugh over Marlinde Wilson, who has infamously claimed to have purchased the winning ticket and stashed it inside a Baltimore-area McDonald's. Wilson has reportedly retracted her story.

The three actual winners purchased 60 tickets at the 7-Eleven store where Mega Millions officials say the winner was purchased. Each of the three winners will received a lump sum of $35 million after taxes. The other 59 lotto tickets purchased by the trio netted a sum total of $1 in winnings.

Martino described the "Three Amigos" as "cheerful and humble and a little overwhelmed by the enormity of the situation."

Peru says rescue of 9 trapped miners imminent

Rescuers were closing in on nine workers trapped inside a wildcat mine in southern Peru on Tuesday and officials said they could be pulled to the surface within hours after spending five days underground.

The men have been stuck about 656 feet below ground since the Cabeza de Negro gold-and-copper mine partially collapsed on Thursday. They have been receiving oxygen and liquids through a giant hose in place since before the accident.

"We have a couple of meters (feet) left to go," Mines and Energy Minister Jorge Merino told reporters at the site monitoring the digging operation. "We've advanced six meters (19.5 feet) in a tunnel that's eight meters (26 feet) long."

The cave-in spurred calls to formalize Peru's vast informal mining sector, which generates as much as $2 billion a year in income, according to private estimates.

Bin Laden’s wives: New video shows family under house arrest in Islamabad

New video aired on Al Arabiya television this week shows Osama bin Laden's three wives, who are currently under house arrest in Islamabad, Pakistan. While security is present, the footage gives a rare glimpse into everyday life for the family of the late terrorist leader.

The women, their faces covered, are shown praying and reading the Quran as their children play with toys nearby.

Bin Laden's wives and two of his daughters are serving 45-day sentences for illegally entering the country, though they have been in government custody last May, when U.S. Navy SEALs shot and killed bin Laden in a raid on their compound. The family is expected to be deported to their home countries—Yemen and Saudi Arabia—after their sentences end on April 18.

"The documents are almost ready for the Yemeni wife," Mohammed Amir Khalil, the family's lawyer, told London's Telegraph. "For the Saudi wives there are still some things to be arranged. Saudi Arabia was initially unwilling to take them back but there is some hope."