Society's ChildS


Evil Rays

Fish with radiation over 2,500 times safe levels found near Fukushima plant

Image
© Reuters / Pool NewThe unit No.1 (L) and No. 2 reactor building of the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are seen through a window in a bus while Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe inspects the nuclear power plant power plant in Fukushima Prefecture December 29, 2012.
A fish containing over 2,500 times Japan's legal limit for radiation in seafood has been caught in the vicinity of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, the facility's operator reported.

A 'murasoi' fish, similar to a rockfish, was caught at a port inside the plant, according to AFP. Plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) indicated that the amount of cesium measured 254,000 becquerels per kilogram - 2,540 times Japan's legal limit for radiation in seafood.

In October, TEPCO admitted that radiation leaks at the plant had not fully stopped.

In 2011, after a March earthquake and tsunami devastated the region, Japan barred beef, vegetables, milk, seafood and mushrooms grown near the affected area from both domestic markets and exports over safety concerns.

Pistol

Three people injured after 12-gauge shotgun goes off at North Carolina gun show

Image
Three people were injured on Saturday after a 12-gauge shotgun went off while being checked at a North Carolina gun show.

Authorities said at a Saturday afternoon press conference that the shotgun was being unzipped from its case at the security entrance to the Dixie Gun and Knife Show in Raleigh, North Carolina, when a round of birdshot pellets discharged, hitting three people.

The gun owner, who allegedly intended to sell the weapon at the show, was interviewed by police on Saturday afternoon, though there was no decision whether he would face charges.

Family

Spain 'stolen baby' finds mother 50 years on: police

Image
A Spanish woman was reunited with her mother nearly 50 years after being abducted as a newborn, one of numerous alleged cases of "stolen babies" from the Franco era, police said Saturday.

Francisco Franco's regime allowed children to be taken away at birth if the parents were left-wing opponents or not married. Victims' groups say the practice continued after his death in 1975.

In the latest such case to be resolved, a woman in the eastern city of Valencia who suspected she was a stolen baby lodged a judicial request to find her mother, national police said in a statement.

Examining hospital records, police identified a woman whom DNA tests revealed to be the biological mother. She had been told by the hospital where she gave birth in 1964 that her baby had died.

"She was very surprised and happy to hear the news," the police statement said.

Snakes in Suits

Resilient witnesses give graphic details of doctor's alleged sex assaults

Image
© VINCE TALOTTA/TORONTO STARDr. George Doodnaught leaves the courthouse at 361 University Ave. on Jan. 17.
The one thing she still remembers is the smell.

A 42-year-old woman testified at the sex assault trial of anesthesiologist Dr. George Doodnaught on Thursday she smelled his body when he sexually abused her on a North York General Hospital operating table three years ago.

"I'm never going to forget the smell," D.D. told Ontario Superior Court.

"I remember it turning my stomach."

D.D. is the woman whose complaint - the fifth in four years the hospital had received about its veteran anesthesiologist - led to charges against him three years ago.

Doodnaught, 64, has pleaded not guilty to 21 counts of sexual assault involving 20 women under surgery at North York General and one at a Sheppard Ave. E. cosmetic surgery clinic.

Eye 2

Four-year-old girl molested on moving school bus in Mumbai, India

Image
A four-year-old girl was allegedly molested by the conductor of her school bus in Mumbai, but in an apparent goof-up, a case of rape was registered against him, a senior Mumbai police officer said today.

The complaint filed with the police says when the female attendant in the bus was helping other students alight, the child was inappropriately touched by the conductor Ramesh Rajput.

The traumatised girl narrated everything to her parents. They immediately complained to the school authorities who then lodged a case with the police.

"The bus conductor, 35-year-old Ramesh Rajput, allegedly molested the girl in suburban Juhu on Tuesday afternoon when children were being dropped back home," Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh said.

Magnify

Zumba sex scandal: Accused business partner claims affair with Alexis Wright, denies prostitution ring involvement

Image
© ABC NewsIn an interview with "Nightline," Mark Strong Sr., spoke out for the first time about accusations that he was a Maine Zumba instructor's business partner in a prostitution scandal.
The man accused of bankrolling the Maine Zumba studio, which instructor Alexis Wright allegedly used as a front for a brothel, denied having any involvement or knowledge of the alleged prostitution ring, but said he and Wright had an affair and he loaned her money.

In an interview with "Nightline," Mark Strong Sr., flanked by his lawyer, Dan Lilley, spoke for the first time about the accusations that he was the 30-year-old Zumba instructor's business partner in a prostitution scandal that has rocked the small New England town of Kennebunk, Maine.

"I'm sorry for any dishonesty [and] for the intimate relationship that I had with Alexis Wright," Strong said.

Strong, a married 57-year-old former private investigator who owns an insurance agency, said he and Wright had a casual relationship at the time of his arrest and he had only been to Kennebunk "a few times."

Arrow Down

Point blank: Man aims gun at head of Bulgarian politician during speech


A man boarded the stage and pointed a gas pistol at the head of a leading Bulgarian politician in front of a stunned party conference. Angry parliamentarians then pounced on the would-be assassin, beating him to a bloody pulp.

­Ahmed Dogan, the leader of the Turkish minority MRF party, known as the kingmaker of Bulgarian politics, was delivering an emotional speech in which he was about to announce that he was stepping down as chief of the party he founded in 1990.

Local video footage then shows a tall, heavily-built man wearing a laminated badge, later named as Oktai Enimehmedov, running into view, before holding the pistol an inch away from Dogan's face. Dogan flinches, and Enimehmedov pauses for a second without firing, before the politician rapidly regains his composure and pushes away the assailant's hand. Security personnel then run onto the stage, and overwhelm the failed assassin. What follow are unedifying scenes of a swarm of furious politicians repeatedly kicking and punching Enimehmedov on the ground as blood streams from his head.

Arrow Down

Husband talks about rhino attack

Rhino Attack
© Associated PressChantal Beyer and her husband Sven Fouche, left, pose for a photograph with rhinos at the Aloe Ridge Nature Reserve near Johannesburg South Africa last weekend. Just after the photo was taken, the closest rhino attacked Beyer and its horn penetrated Beyer's chest from behind, resulting in a collapsed lung and broken ribs.
The husband who saw his new bride gored by a rhino is giving more insight on the attack that happened moments after the above photo was taken. Sven Fouche and Chantal Beyer were at the Aloe Ridge Nature Reserve near Johannesburg, South Africa last weekend, when they posed for a photo with a rhino in the background.

The Beeld newspaper reported Tuesday that the game park owner snapped pictures and suggested they "stand just a little bit closer" to the powerful animal. Seconds later, the trip turned into a nightmare.

"This is what the husband told me," Beeld reporter Lourensa Eckhard explained in a new interview. "As soon as he [park owner] took the picture, he took a step back, and you could see the fear in his eyes. When the husband turned around the rhino was right behind him. The next thing he knew his wife was flung in the air."

According to reports, the rhino's horn penetrated Beyers' chest from behind, resulting in a collapsed lung and broken ribs. The Aloe Ridge Hotel and Nature Reserve, where the incident took place, declined to comment Tuesday.

Snakes in Suits

Complaint accuses university administrators of downplaying sexual assault despite federal rebuke

Image
A complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education accuses administrators at the University of North Carolina of downplaying sexual assault cases at the school, and pressuring the assistant dean of students to under-report such cases.

The accusations indicate that the school could be ignoring concerns that the U.S. Department of Education has emphasized to schools as recently as two years ago, an attorney with the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) told The Raw Story on Friday.

According to the student newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel, the complaint, filed on Wednesday accuses the university of violating both Title IX the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits gender-based discrimination, and the Campus Sexual Assault Victims' Bill of Rights, as outlined in the Clery Act.

"If you look at the [department's] 2011 guidance, it makes it really clear about the critical role schools play in both responding to reports of violence and in reporting sexual assault on campus under the Clery Act," said Fatima Goss Graves, the NWLC vice president for education and employment.

Heart - Black

Cancer survivor says she was fired for medical leave

Image
© Reuters / Eric GaillardA breast cancer patient in hospital.
After taking leave to get a mastectomy, a breast cancer survivor was fired from her job the day before she was scheduled to go back to work, allegedly because she had taken too much medical leave.

Vivienne Parra, 39, is now suing her former employer for what she considers an unjust termination. The Oceanside, Calif., woman took three weeks of leave to undergo cancer treatment and a mastectomy in 2009, followed by three more weeks when she delivered a baby.

The woman claims she went to work whenever she was physically capable of it during those six weeks. She says always gave her employer advance notice and documentation whenever she had to take medical leave.

"I put all my effort into this job and even how sick I was I came in. I didn't have my hair, I'd come in, and I worked hard and I was pregnant; tired from day one," Parra told NBC News.