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US: Hispanic Students Vanish from Alabama Schools

Jay Reeves
The Associated Press
Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:30 UTC
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© AP Photo/Dave MartinMothers arrive to pick up their children from Flowers School in Montgomery, Ala., Friday, Sept. 30, 2011.
Hispanic students have started vanishing from Alabama public schools in the wake of a court ruling that upheld the state's tough new law cracking down on illegal immigration.

Education officials say scores of immigrant families have withdrawn their children from classes or kept them home this week, afraid that sending the kids to school would draw attention from authorities.

There are no precise statewide numbers. But several districts with large immigrant enrollments - from small towns to large urban districts - reported a sudden exodus of children of Hispanic parents, some of whom told officials they planned to leave the state to avoid trouble with the law, which requires schools to check students' immigration status.

The anxiety has become so intense that the superintendent in one of the state's largest cities, Huntsville, went on a Spanish-language television show Thursday to try to calm widespread worries.
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Family

Texas, US: Woman Dies After Being Struck by Car Driven by Son

Isadora Vail
The Austin American-Statesman
Thu, 29 Sep 2011 22:33 UTC
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© Fox News
A 68-year-old woman died Thursday night when she was intentionally hit by a car driven by her son as she was being loaded into an ambulance, police said.

Police and Emergency Medical Services responded to a domestic disturbance call near the Lamar Plaza Shopping Center in South Austin about 7 p.m. and found a woman with minor injuries, said Cpl. Wuthipong "Tank" Tantaksinanukij.

As paramedics were loading the woman, who was on a stretcher, into the ambulance, they heard a car accelerate toward them, Tantaksinanukij said.

"They tried to get her out of the way, but the vehicle hit her and she died around 7:45 p.m.," he said. No one else was injured.

He said as the man, who is 50, attempted to drive away, he hit a marked police cruiser. He was arrested nearby.
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Rescuers Find 18 Bodies in Indonesia Plane Crash

Binsar Bakkara
The Associated Press
Sat, 01 Oct 2011 02:49 UTC
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© AP Photo/Indonesia Air Force's Elite ForceThe wreckage of a Spanish-designed aircraft CASA C-212 is seen in Bahorok, North Sumatra, Friday, Sept. 30, 2011.
The bodies of all 18 people who were on board a plane that crashed into the jungle-covered mountains of western Indonesia were recovered from the wreckage Saturday, an official said.

The Spanish-designed CASA C-212 lost contact with air traffic control early Thursday while flying from North Sumatra to Aceh province. Minutes later, it sent out a distress signal, then dropped off the radar.

Rugged, forested terrain and bad weather had prevented rescuers from reaching the crash site by foot, and the wreckage was spotted from a helicopter Friday in the Leuser mountains at an altitude of 5,000 feet (1,524 meters).

Early Saturday, 13 rescuers were lowered by helicopter by rope to the crash site, following two others who had reached the site just before darkness fell Friday.
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Plane Hits Ferris Wheel in Australia; No Injuries

Rod McGuirk
The Associated Press
Sat, 01 Oct 2011 07:19 UTC
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© AP Photo/Carl MuxlowTwo men and their ultra-light plane hang from a Ferris wheel while two children sit in a carriage near the top of the ride at a country festival at Old Bar, Australia.
An ultra-light plane crashed into a Ferris wheel at a rural festival in eastern Australia on Saturday, trapping two children on the ride and two adults in the aircraft for hours. There were no serious injuries.

The Cheetah S200 carrying two men did not topple the Ferris wheel when it hit the frame near the top on the first morning of an annual three-day festival at Old Bar, a coastal village 220 miles (350 kilometers) north of Sydney, New South Wales Rural Fire Service spokesman Ben Shepherd said.

Two children - a 9-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl - were trapped in a carriage at the top of the wheel near the wrecked plane for 90 minutes, police said.

The 52-year-old pilot and his 32-year-old passenger were trapped inside the mangled aircraft more than 30 feet (10 meters) above ground for almost three hours, police said.

Shepherd said rescuers used a crane to free the four.

"Thankfully, everyone was taken down and were able to walk away from it," Shepherd said.

The pilot, Paul Cox, said he did not see the Ferris wheel before his plane hit it.
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People

World population could hit seven billion this month


RIA Novosti
Sat, 01 Oct 2011 07:50 UTC
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© RIA Novosti. Artur AlexandrovWorld population could hit seven billion this month
The population of the earth could grow to seven billion this month, up from just three billion fifty years ago, and may reach ten billion by 2100, the UN's population department says.

There is no precise information about when the world's population will reach this symbolic figure. The UN world population fund declared 31 October as the symbolic date to mark the event and is to hold a number of events to mark it.

The world's population grew slowly until reaching one billion around 1804. However, it only took another 125 years to double and growth was then exponential. The world's population then grew seven-fold in just two centuries. The world's population has doubled since the 1960's.
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No Entry

Greek public-sector workers occupy 6 ministries and lock out IMF and ECB inspectors

Helena Smith
The Guardian
Thu, 29 Sep 2011 01:40 UTC
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© John Kolesidis/ReutersGovernment employees blocking the entrance to the interior ministry in Athens.
Surprise sit-ins start with civil servants declaring that they had taken over six ministries early this morning

International experts with the task of compiling a crucial review of Greece's fiscal progress ran into trouble before they could even start the job as public-sector workers protesting against wage cuts, layoffs and higher taxes locked them out of office buildings.

Inspectors from the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank were greeted on Thursday with banners deploring the "barbaric measures" the so-called "troika" has meted out in exchange for propping up the moribund Greek economy. At the finance ministry - the hub of talks between the debt-stricken country and creditors - protesters shouted "take your bailout and leave" and prevented auditors from entering the building.

"We are sending a loud message to the government and the European Union that we have reached our limits, that it is the workers in our country and especially workers in the public domain who have carried the burden [of cost-cutting policies]," said Costas Tsikrikas, president of Adedy, the union of civil servants.
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Better Earth

Brazilian judge orders construction of Amazon dam to stop

Tom Phillips
The Guardian
Sat, 01 Oct 2011 01:34 UTC
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© Evaristo Sa/AFP/Getty Images'We don't want Belo Monte,' reads a sign at an anti-dam rally in front of Brazil's parliament. A judge has ordered building of the dam to stop.
Belo Monte hydroelectric dam project halted after ruling that it risked damaging fish stocks on Xingu river

A Brazilian judge has ordered construction to be suspended on a controversial hydroelectric dam in the Amazon.

In his ruling, Judge Carlos Castro Martins said that all working on the Belo Monte dam that interfered with the natural course of the Xingu river should be halted because of the risk that fish stocks would be damaged.

The £7bn dam would reputedly be the third largest in the world, after China's Three Gorges and the Itaipu project on the Brazil-Paraguay border.

The injunction is the latest development in a decades-long battle against the Belo Monte dam, plans for which were conceived in the mid-1970s but subsequently shelved after protests.
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Light Saber

US: Judge rules part of Patriot Act unconstitutional


Associated Press
Tue, 27 Sep 2011 08:40 UTC
Brandon Mayfield, Steven Wax
© Don Ryan / AP filePortland attorney Brandon Mayfield, left, and public defender Steven Wax in Portland, Ore., react to the May 24, 2004, dismissal of the case against Mayfield who had been detained in connection with the Madrid train bombings investigation.

Provisions allow search warrants issued without probable cause, she says

Portland, Oregon - Two provisions of the USA Patriot Act are unconstitutional because they allow search warrants to be issued without a showing of probable cause, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken ruled that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as amended by the Patriot Act, "now permits the executive branch of government to conduct surveillance and searches of American citizens without satisfying the probable cause requirements of the Fourth Amendment."

Portland attorney Brandon Mayfield sought the ruling in a lawsuit against the federal government after he was mistakenly linked by the FBI to the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people in 2004.
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Eye 1

US: Ron Paul, ACLU condemn Anwar al-Awlaki killing

Brian Montopoli
CBS
Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:57 UTC
Anwar al-Awlaki
© CBSAnwar al-Awlaki

White House hopeful Ron Paul and the American Civil Liberties Union each condemned the United States' killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen who has never been charged with any crime.

Paul, a staunch Libertarian, said in New Hampshire Friday that it's "sad" if "the American people accept this blindly and casually," adding that "nobody knows if he ever killed anybody," According to the Wall Street Journal. the Texas Republican lawmaker said United States officials "have never been specific about the crime."

The ACLU said the killing was a violation of both U.S. and international law.

"As we've seen today, this is a program under which American citizens far from any battlefield can be executed by their own government without judicial process, and on the basis of standards and evidence that are kept secret not just from the public but from the courts," said Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director for the ACLU. "The government's authority to use lethal force against its own citizens should be limited to circumstances in which the threat to life is concrete, specific and imminent. It is a mistake to invest the president - any president - with the unreviewable power to kill any American whom he deems to present a threat to the country."
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People

US: The little boy who started a sex change aged eight because he knew he always wanted to be a girl


Mail Onlilne
Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:49 UTC
The lesbian parents of an 11-year-old boy who is undergoing the process of becoming a girl last night defended the decision, claiming it was better for a child to have a sex change when young.

Thomas Lobel, who now calls himself Tammy, is undergoing controversial hormone blocking treatment in Berkeley, California to stop him going through puberty as a boy.

But Pauline Moreno and Debra Lobel warn that children with gender identity disorder forced to postpone transitioning could face a higher risk of suicide.
transgender,boy
Therapy: Thomas Lobel, who now calls himself Tammy, is undergoing controversial hormone blocking treatment

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