Bankrupt mortgage lender New Century Financial Corp. used improper accounting practices while making risky loans, creating “a ticking time bomb” that led to the company’s rapid downfall, a court examiner said in a report released Wednesday.

A federal jury on Wednesday convicted the founder of a failed health care company of trying to bribe a witness in an upcoming $1.9 billion fraud trial.

The government’s chief target in a $1.9 billion corporate fraud case on Monday repeatedly denied trying to bribe a key witness to give favorable testimony.

Audiences are still listening to Horton and his Who pals. “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who,” 20th Century Fox’s animated adaptation of the beloved children’s book, remained the top movie for a second straight weekend with $25.1 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Before Lance Poulsen can fight charges that he was the mastermind behind a $1.9 billion fraud scheme, the former CEO of National Century Financial must first deal with allegations that he proposed paying a government witness $500,000 to lie on the stand.

A federal jury in Ohio has convicted five former executives of a health care company charged in a $1.9 billion scheme to defraud investors.

He said his name was John Spicer, that he had killed a man in 1893 and that he hoped his confession would someday clear up “the darkest mystery that ever embraced one in human murder.”

The U.S. military is once again tangling with pirates, intervening in waters off Somalia twice this week to help ships seized by hijackers _ and bringing to mind another century’s battles off Africa.