Society's ChildS


Heart - Black

Malnourished boy found in closet of Texas home by teenage step-brother

malnourished boy texas
© Screen grab from KHOU-TV, HoustonThe appearance of the 5-year-old victim caused deputies to immediately summon Emergency Service personnel and he was transported to a hospital
A Texas couple was arrested and charged with keeping a 5-year-old malnourished boy inside the stairway closet of their home.

Investigators said the child was found in his diaper in the small closet by his 16-year-old stepbrother Thursday night. The teen confronted his stepfather, Bradley Bleimeyer, and the two got into a fist fight.

By the time police arrived to the Spring, Texas, home, they said the victim's stepmother, Tammi Bleimeyer, and biological father took off with the little boy.

On Friday, deputies used cellphone data to track down the couple at a motel in Humble, about 13 miles away. The appearance of the 5-year-old victim caused deputies to immediately summon Emergency Service personnel and he was transported to a hospital, deputies said.

Water

Humanitarian crisis: Food and water shortage in western Myanmar

Myanmar food shortage
© Agence France-PresseFood shortages loom as aid workers flee west Myanmar
Aid groups have warned of humanitarian crisis in western Myanmar, as thousands of people, mainly Muslims, are facing food and water shortage.

Humanitarian aid workers, who were forced to flee the region due to violence, warned on Monday that in the next two weeks, food stocks will run out and at least 20,000 displaced people living in camps will be without clean water in 10 days.

Tens of thousands of displaced people, of whom mostly are stateless Rohingya Muslims, live in bleak camps in the troubled state of Rakhine.

Airplane

Final words from Flight MH370: 'Good night Malaysian three seven zero', as officials change account of last communication

goodnight malaysian 370
The last words from the cockpit of the crashed Malaysian plane were a standard "Good night Malaysian three seven zero".
The Malaysian government has changed its account of the final voice transmission from the missing jetliner.

It came as Australia deployed a modified Boeing 737 to act as a flying air traffic controller over the Indian Ocean to prevent a mid-air collision among the large number of aircraft searching for Flight 370.

Malaysia has been criticised for its handling of the search, particularly its communications to the media and the relatives of the passengers.

In a development likely to fuel those concerns, the government gave a new account of the final voice transmission from the cockpit.

In a statement, it said the final words received by ground controllers at 1.19 am local time on March 8 were: "Good night Malaysian three-seven-zero."

Comment: CNN host Don Lemon 'puts it out there': Was lost Malaysian flight taken by 'supernatural' forces?


Footprints

Israel threatened with expulsion by FIFA over treatment of Palestinian footballers

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© UnknownPalestinian football players
The Inside World Football website said in a report on Monday that FIFA gave Israel until summer to improve playing conditions and travel for the Palestinian players and officials.

FIFA also warned that Israel would face a complete expulsion from the international federation if it fails to address the issue.

FIFA has launched a mediation task force over the matter.

Palestinian football official Jibril Rajoub has met with FIFA President Sepp Blatter in an effort to resolve the long-term difficulties Palestinian footballers face due to Israel's policies.

Cult

The Ku Klux Klan wants you! New recruitment drive with leaflet drop in towns across America

KKK recruitment poster
KKK recruitment leaflets
The Ku Klux Klan is on a recruitment drive across America with a new leafleting campaign, as membership numbers grow due to opposition to Barack Obama and increased immigration.

Residents of towns in Texas, Louisiana, Illinois and Pennsylvania emerged from their houses over the weekend to find fliers attached to their doors, car windscreens or on the front lawn declaring "The KKK wants you."

The leaflets depict the outline of a hooded figure in white robes with Klan insignia pointing at the reader in the style of traditional military recruiting posters, complete with phone numbers and websites.

The Klan and its latest campaign are legal under the US's strong constitutional right to free speech. The white supremacy group, which aims to oust Mr Obama and stem immigration, is also against interracial marriage and homosexuality. In their contemporary guise, Klan leaders promote non-violent defence of whites "in the race war against us", according to one website.

Evil Rays

Paranoia-led murder/suicide: British man kills his wife and himself for unfounded fear of Japanese knotweed invasion

knotweet
© Anita Mario/SWNSJapanese knotweed, similiar to the plant that was near Kenneth and Jane McRae's garden
A man bludgeoned his wife to death with a perfume bottle and then killed himself after becoming convinced their home was being invaded by Japanese knotweed.

Lab technician Dr Kenneth McRae, 52, killed his 55-year-old wife Jane claiming the balance of his mind had become "disturbed" at the thought of the invasive plant spreading into his garden.

In a suicide note found by his body he wrote that fear over the damage the plant could cause to the value of his mortgage-free property had convinced him he had no option but to take his life.

He added that he had decided to kill his wife because he did not want to leave her a widow without an income.

Eye 1

Criminals in Suits: Echoes of Katrina? Snohomish Emergency Management Director's lack of experience criticized

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© (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)Snohomish County Emergency Management Director John Pennington speaks during a news conference about a deadly mudslide that happened two days earlier as county Executive John Lovick listens, Monday, March 24, in Arlington, Wash. Two additional bodies were recovered Tuesday, while eight more were located in the debris field from Saturday's slide 55 miles northeast of Seattle. That brings the likely death toll to 24, though authorities are keeping the official toll at 16 until the eight other bodies are recovered.
In the aftermath of the Steelhead Landslide in Snohomish County, which has claimed a still-unknown number of lives, eyes are turning towards the actions of Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management Director John E. Pennington.

The monster mudslide, which obliterated a community of almost 50 homes and vacation cabins, apparently took county officials by surprise - despite the fact that slides have occurred on the site for at least 60 years, most recently in 2006.

The Seattle Times on Monday reported that Pennington, appointed to his post in 2006 by controversial ex-SnohomishCounty Executive Aaron Reardon, said, "It was considered very safe. This was a completely unforeseen slide. This came out of nowhere."

However, the Times reported that geologists had warned of a major slide since at least 1999; further, global warming experts pointing to more rainfall in winter months are already suggesting the Steelhead mudslide could be the "new normal."

Wedding Rings

Paris campaign calls for 'love locks' to be banned

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© AlamyBetter to have loved and locked? Padlocks left by couples on the Pont de l'Archevêché in Paris.
For some they are a symbol of everlasting love. For others they are a rusting eyesore. But now the "love locks" - padlocks engraved with the names of lovers - that line the rails of Paris's bridges may have met their match, as a campaign takes off to have them banned.

The No Love Locks campaign, which includes a petition that currently has over 1,700 signatures, was launched in February by two Americans living in Paris who were shocked at the extent of the trend across the city. The idea is that by attaching the locks to a public place and throwing away the key, the love it represents will become unbreakable. However, with an estimated 700,000 padlocks now attached to locations across the French capital, the weight could be putting the structural integrity of the city's architecture at risk.

Pistol

Neo-Nazi violence continues: Right Sector HQ surrounded after Kiev shootout injures 3

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© AFP Photo / Genya Savilov
Ukraine's acting interior minister urged the far-right group Right Sector to vacate its HQ in Kiev after a downtown shootout instigated by one of its members injured three, including deputy mayor Bogdan Dubas.

Kiev's 'Dnepr' hotel, which serves as headquarters for the Right Sector movement, has been surrounded by police after members of the group retreated there following a shootout in the center of Ukraine's capital, not far from the landmark Maidan (Independence Square).

Alarm Clock

German shopkeeper refuses to put clocks forward

Daylight Savings
© Alex EvansRenate Stahn at 1pm German time, midday her time.
A Berlin pet shop owner is living an hour behind the rest of the country after refusing to put her clocks forward for summer time. She has encouraged her neighbours to join the protest and tellsThe Local why.

Renate Stahn, who grew up in the Prenzlauer Berg district of Berlin where her shop is located, told The Local she had had enough of the negative effects the time change had on her health.

"I have high blood pressure and I can't sleep - when you sleep badly you're less able to work," the 66-year-old said.

"Mothers have difficulties with their kids, old people have difficulties with the time change, young people too."

"Some people even have to take days off sick, or are not working at 100 percent efficiency," she added. "I will no longer take part in this circus."

Stahn first tried running her shop an hour behind summer time last year and found it so beneficial that this year she has expanded her sign (which notifies customers of her adjusted hours and urges them to join her time boycott) to four times the size.

She has installed it in an illuminated box above her door.