Society's ChildS


Pistol

US, California: Navy SEAL on Life Support After Shooting Himself in Head, Dies


A 22-year-old Navy SEAL was gravely wounded early Thursday when he shot himself in the head at his Pacific Beach home while trying to convince a companion that the pistol he was showing off was safe to handle, authorities said.

The shooting in the 1800 block of Grand Avenue left the sailor on life support at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, according to San Diego police. Authorities initially reported that the man had died.

The serviceman, who had been drinking with a woman at a bar before they returned to his residence, was showing her his 9 mm handgun when the accident occurred, SDPD Officer Frank Cali said.

Crusader

Head of Russian Church Says Leaders Must Listen to Protests

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© The Associated Press/RIA Novosti/Vladimir Rodionov/Presidential Press ServiceRussian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill , right, congratulates Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during an Orthodox Christmas at Christ The Savior Cathedral in Moscow, early Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012. Christmas falls on Jan. 7 for Orthodox Christians in the Holy Land, Russia and other Orthodox churches that use the old Julian calendar instead of the 16th-century Gregorian calendar adopted by Catholics and Protestants and commonly used in secular life around the world.
The Russian Orthodox Church continued what appeared to be an effort to get the authorities to address Russians' grievances over the political system, with Patriarch Kirill I, the church's leader, saying in a televised interview that it would be "a very bad sign" if the country's leaders failed to heed recent protests over perceived electoral fraud.

The church, a powerful force in Russia, made a point of announcing that the patriarch would be speaking on Saturday, which is Christmas Day in Russia.

The announcement, made on Thursday, came just 15 minutes after the Interfax news agency released a report on an essay by a senior church official, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, that made the same point as the patriarch, but in starker terms: it said that the authorities could be "slowly eaten alive" if they did not respond to Russians' concerns.

Church leaders have been walking a careful line since the parliamentary elections on Dec. 4, nudging the government to respond to the protesters and affirming their right to demonstrate, but Patriarch Kirill I has not questioned the legitimacy of the elections or criticized Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin.

Still, the drumbeat of implicit criticism has been surprising from the church, which has been a strong supporter of the government, and the patriarch's statements on Saturday appeared to keep the pressure on.

Boat

Iran Thanks U.S. Navy for Saving 13 Sailors Held Captive by Somali Pirates

Calls rescue a 'humanitarian gesture'
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© The Associated Press/U.S. NavyOn Friday a U.S. warship rescued Iranian sailors whom Somali pirates had held captive for 40 days.

In a rare display of gratitude, Iran thanked the U.S. Saturday for its role in rescuing 13 fisherman held captive by Somali pirates.

"The rescue of Iranian sailors by American forces is considered a humanitarian gesture and we welcome this behavior," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on state TV's Al-Alam Arabic channel.

Iranian officials were forced into the uncomfortable position of praising their sworn enemy after the U.S. Navy saved the captured Iranian crew on Friday.

The American forces, after spotting a pirate skiff alongside an Iranian-flagged fishing vessel, quickly overwhelmed the bandits, who surrendered without firing a single shot.

The Iranians had spent 40 days in captivity.

Heart - Black

Iraq: Fallujah Babies: Under a New Kind of Siege

Fallujah
© EPACongenital abnormalities have mushroomed in the wake of devastating US sieges in Fallujah in 2004
Doctors and residents blame US weapons for catastrophic levels of birth defects in Fallujah's newborns.

Fallujah, Iraq - While the US military has formally withdrawn from Iraq, doctors and residents of Fallujah are blaming weapons like depleted uranium and white phosphorous used during two devastating US attacks on Fallujah in 2004 for what are being described as "catastrophic" levels of birth defects and abnormalities.

Dr Samira Alani, a paediatric specialist at Fallujah General Hospital, has taken a personal interest in investigating an explosion of congenital abnormalities that have mushroomed in the wake of the US sieges since 2005.

"We have all kinds of defects now, ranging from congenital heart disease to severe physical abnormalities, both in numbers you cannot imagine," Alani told Al Jazeera at her office in the hospital, while showing countless photos of shocking birth defects.

As of December 21, Alani, who has worked at the hospital since 1997, told Al Jazeera she had personally logged 677 cases of birth defects since October 2009. Just eight days later when Al Jazeera visited the city on December 29, that number had already risen to 699.

Crusader

US: New York Pastor Arrested in Connection with Myrtle Beach Area Robbery

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© unknownAnthony Lee Drumgoole
A Rochester, N.Y., pastor who was arrested Friday at his church will also face charges in Horry County stemming from a November robbery at the Carolina Forest Buffalo Wild Wings, police said

Upon his return to Horry County, Anthony Lee Drumgoole, 23, will be charged with kidnapping and robbery and four counts of financial transaction card fraud, according to Sgt. Robert Kegler of Horry County police. He has family ties in the city of Conway.

On Nov. 27, Drumgoole allegedly robbed a patron at knifepoint in the restaurant's bathroom and forced the victim to strip in order to keep him from giving chase.

Family

US: Number of Homeless Students Surges, Putting Strain on Schools

homeless family staying at Madonna House
© Richard A. Chapman~Chicago Sun-Times Regenia Nelson and her children, Jarvis, 15, and Janiyah, 18 months, are a homeless family staying at Madonna House, a shelter in the Lakeview community.
At 15, Jarvis Nelson should be in high school and even thinking about college.

Yet Jarvis is in seventh grade, and doesn't know where he'll go to high school - or even where he will be living - when he graduates from junior high, hopefully next year.

That's because Jarvis has attended three different schools in the past four months. He's lived in three different places on the North and South Sides of the city - including his most recent home, a temporary shelter in Lake View.

Jarvis, like thousands of other students in Chicago Public Schools, is homeless.

He is just one of more than 10,660 students who were homeless at the beginning of the school year. That's 1,466 more than at the same point in the previous school year, according to a CPS tally.

Sheriff

Canada: Sex on Duty Costs Saskatoon Police Officer

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© CBC NewsSaskatoon police officer Collin Reddekopp was suspended for 30 days and demoted in rank for one year.
A Saskatoon police officer who had sex with a member of the public while he was on duty, has been suspended for 30 days and demoted.

The officer, Cst. Collin Reddekopp, was the subject of an investigation by Saskatchewan's Public Complaints Commission, which oversees local municipal police departments.

"It's pretty straightforward," Saskatoon's chief of police, Clive Weighill, told CBC News when asked to provide more information about the case.

"Officer meets girl. Officer has affair. Officer has sexual encounter one day on duty," Weighill explained.

According to Weighill, the officer met the woman in April when he was assigned to investigate her concerns about receiving a number of annoying telephone calls.

Weighill said that after dealing with the woman's case, Reddekopp started a relationship with her.

Vader

Breaking: NYPD Silencing Protesters From Informing Public NDAA passed

Protester went to Grand Central Terminal NYC to inform the Public that NDAA passed but was met with arrests.


Heart - Black

UK: 15-year-old boy 'murdered over witch claim'

Eric Bikubi and Magalie Bamu
© BBC NewsEric Bikubi and Magalie Bamu deny murder
A 15-year-old boy was tortured and drowned by his sister and her boyfriend because they believed he was a witch, the Old Bailey has heard.

Kristy Bamu, from Paris, was found dead in Newham, east London, on Christmas Day in 2010.

The boy had 101 injuries and died from being beaten with a metal bar and drowning, the court heard.

His sister Magalie Bamu and her boyfriend, Eric Bikubi, both Congolese and aged 28, of Newham, deny murder.

Prosecutors told jurors of acts they described as "depraved", "wicked" and "cruel".

People

Top Syrian general defects with 50 troops

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© Bassem Tellawi/APInvestigators inspect the bomb scene at a Midan neighborhood, the explosion ripped through a busy intersection in the capital Friday.
Beirut - As Arab League monitors prepared a report on Syria's compliance with its agreement to halt violence against protesters, a senior general reportedly said on live TV he was defecting from the regime's army with up to 50 of his soldiers.

Colonel Afeef Mahmoud Suleiman made the announcement live on Al-Jazeera's Arabic News channel on Saturday, the news organization reported.

Flanked by a group of his soldiers, Suleimen said he wanted to keep protesters safe. Al-Jazeera English translated his remarks from Arabic.

"We are from the army and we have defected because the government is killing civilian protesters," he said. "The Syrian army attacked Hama with heavy weapons, air raids and heavy fire from tanks."

Al-Jazeera reported that Suleiman was in the air force logistics division.

The announcement came a day after an explosion rocked an intersection in downtown Damascus, killing 26 people. The Syrian government blamed it on a suicide bomber.