Society's ChildS


Evil Rays

San Francisco surrenders to industry in fight over cell phone radiation level warnings

Ronnie Cohen
Reuters
Wed, 08 May 2013 16:41 UTC
cell phone
© Credit: Reuters/Mario Anzuoni
San Francisco city leaders, after losing a key round in court against the cell phone industry, have agreed to revoke an ordinance that would have been the first in the United States to require retailers to warn consumers about potentially dangerous radiation levels.

In a move watched by other U.S. states and cities considering similar measures, the city Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to settle a lawsuit with the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association by accepting a permanent injunction against the right-to-know cell phone ordinance.

The group had alleged the law violated its free-speech rights, and the settlement marked a victory for the industry as the Federal Communications Commission considers a reassessment of safe radiation exposure limits adopted in 1996.
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Heart - Black

Don't hold your breath: Ex Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi sentenced to 4 years in jail for tax fraud after losing appeal - Will appeal again to higher court


RT
Wed, 08 May 2013 16:02 UTC
Silvio Berlusconi Italy
© Reuters / Giampiero SpositoSilvio Berlusconi
Italy appeals court has upheld the tax fraud conviction against former PM Silvio Berlusconi sentencing him to four years in prison.

"The court confirms the sentence against Silvio Berlusconi," said a judge at the Milan court, news channel Sky TG 24 reported.

Last October, the court convicted Berlusconi of tax fraud involving inflating the price his Mediaset media empire paid for TV rights to US movies. The former PM denied the charges claiming that he was a victim of politically motivated prosecution and had appealed to reverse the four year sentence handed down in October.

Though the verdict was upheld by the appeals court in Milan, Berlusconi may appeal this verdict to a higher court, the Court of Cassation. He will not face the prospect of jail unless he loses both of the appeals.
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Pistol

Mentally-ill patients were 'Tasered' more than 50 times in three years

Nigel Morris, Gayan Samarasinghe
The Independent, UK
Tue, 07 May 2013 15:07 UTC
Freedom of Information request reveals extent of stun-gun use by police in psychiatric wards
Image
Police have resorted to firing Tasers to subdue mentally-ill patients in hospital and care homes more than 50 times in three years, Freedom of Information requests have disclosed.

Charities have expressed alarm over the levels of Taser use and warned that it could aggravate the condition of people already suffering extreme distress.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC), the health service watchdog, has said Tasers should be deployed only as a last resort in psychiatric wards.

However, The Independent has established from replies received under the FoI Act that English and Welsh police forces authorised Taser use against people receiving psychiatric care on 52 occasions in the last three years.

Leicestershire Police reported officers fired their Tasers 14 times over that period, 11 times while patients were being transported and three where they were being treated. They included occasions where police intervened to restrain a man wielding a knife and to stop patients threatening to self-harm.

Officers in Avon and Somerset used Tasers ten times to restrain people held under the Mental Health Act between February 2012 and February 2013. It also disclosed one person aged under 18 was Tasered in that period.
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Cell Phone

Nordstrom using smart phones to track customers movements

Angela Martin
CBS DFW
Tue, 07 May 2013 22:05 UTC
Nordstrom
© CBS 11 News
Dallas - Nordstrom says it wants to serve you better, so it's tracking your movements through their stores. The CBS 11 I-Team has learned the retailer is using software to track how much time you spend in specific departments within the store. The technology is being used in 17 Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack stores nationwide, including the NorthPark store in Dallas.

A company spokesperson says sensors within the store collect information from customer smart phones as they attempt to connect to Wi-Fi service. The sensors can monitor which departments you visit and how much time you spend there. However, the sensors do not follow your phone from department to department, nor can they identify any personal information tied to the phone's owner, says spokesperson Tara Darrow.

"This is literally measuring a signal. You are not connected to the signal," says Darrow.

The store calls the information "anonymous aggregate reports that give us a better sense of customer foot traffic" and will ultimately be used to increase the shopping experience for Nordstrom customers. Darrow says the company could use the information to increase staffing during certain high-traffic times or change the layout of a department.
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Question

York assault: Police hunt 'Incredible Hulk'


SkyNews
Tue, 07 May 2013 22:01 UTC
She Hulk
© North Yorkshire PoliceThe attack is said to have been unprovoked.
Police in north Yorkshire are appealing for witnesses following a suspected assault by a woman dressed as the Incredible Hulk.

"Police hunt Incredible Hulk," a statement issued by the force said.

A 17-year-old girl suffered a black eye and other facial bruising in an attack outside McDonalds restaurant in Blake Street, York at around 3am on Friday, the statement added.

"At the time of the incident, the woman suspected of the assault was covered in green body paint with dyed red hair.

"However, she is believed to be a white woman, in her late teens or early twenties and around 5ft 8in tall with a medium build," the statement said.

Detective Constable Cheryl Hunter, of York CID, said: "This appears to have been a wholly unprovoked assault.

"Thankfully the injuries were not too severe. However, the outcome could have been far more serious.

He added: "If you witnessed the assault or can identify the woman I need to speak to about this incident, I ask that you contact the police or Crimestoppers straight away."
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Bad Guys

Hints of a dark side in Cleveland abduction suspect Ariel Castro's life

Daniel Trotta
Toronto Sun
Wed, 08 May 2013 13:45 UTC
Image
© Cleveland Police Dept/Handout via Reuters Onil Castro (left), Ariel Castro (centre) and Pedro Castro (right) are shown in Cleveland, Ohio in this May 7, 2013 booking photo provided by the Cleveland Police Department. Castro and his two brothers, Ariel and Pedro, were arrested in connection with the abduction of three Cleveland women found alive after vanishing in their own neighbourhood for about a decade.
In hindsight, there were signs of a darker side to Ariel Castro, the Cleveland man suspected of abducting three girls and holding them captive for around a decade.

Divorced years ago and never seen in the company of women, Castro suddenly started showing up in the largely Latino, working-class neighbourhood with a six-year-old girl. It was his girlfriend's child, he told neighbours.

Castro, 52, was believed to have lived alone, yet on his lunch break would bring home enough bags of fast food and beverages for several people.

He was a school bus driver given mostly "excellent" marks on his performance appraisals, but was repeatedly disciplined, including for one incident when he was accused of calling a young student a "bitch" and leaving the child alone on a bus. He was fired last November.
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Bad Guys

Were Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus purchased by Ariel Castro?

Chelsea Hoffman
Examiner.com
Tue, 07 May 2013 12:59 UTC
Image
© CBS NewsAmanda Berry with her daughter and sister.
On Monday, May 6, 2013, an amazing turn of events brought an end to the search for at least three missing women. Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight were all three discovered in a home in Cleveland, Ohio - and Amanda even gave birth to at least one child four years into her decade-long ordeal. The Salt Lake Tribune shared many of the details behind today's shocking developments, but ultimately it was NBC WKYC 3 that revealed that Amanda is indeed the mother of the young children found in the home with the three missing women. A disturbing element that is being speculated in this case is far more sinister than a mere kidnapping. It's possible these women were purchased in a human trafficking situation.
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Heart - Black

Psychopath: Chelsea Huggett allegedly smashes 2-year-old's head into wall


Huffington Post
Mon, 06 May 2013 09:56 UTC
Aliyah Marie Barnum
Chelsea Huggett, 21, is accused of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Aliyah Marie Barnum.
A mother in Citrus County, Florida, has confessed to killing her 2-year-old daughter by smashing the girl's head into the wall, deputies say.

Chelsea Huggett, 21, has been charged with murder and child abuse in the death Aliyah Marie Branum, WTSP reports.

Deputies were called to Huggett's Hernando home April 26, and say Huggett initially told them that her boyfriend had poisoned the toddler with bug spray, the Chronicle Online reported, then claimed that the perpetrator could have been her roommate. The girl died later that day.

Huggett, who is eight months pregnant, was arrested May 2, however, after she allegedly admitted to investigators that she had shaken her daughter, head butted her and smashed her head into a wall because of the 2-year-old's "whining."
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Alarm Clock

Gay couple assaulted by rowdy Knicks fans, cops say

Mathew Katz
dnainfo.com
Mon, 06 May 2013 07:47 UTC
Image
Nick Porto and Kevin Atkins said they were attacked by Knicks fans in broad daylight.
As a gay man living in Brooklyn, 27-year-old Nick Porto constantly looked over his shoulder on his nightly walks home, but he never felt a twinge of fear while spending time in Manhattan.

All that changed on Sunday when Porto and his partner, enjoying the warm weather along with the rest of the city, were knocked to the ground and beaten by a crowd of rowdy New York Knicksfans shouting homophobic slurs - in broad daylight, just steps from Madison Square Garden, the victims said.

The pair were assaulted by four men on Eighth Avenue, between West 34th and West 35th Street about 5 p.m., cops said - as the Indiana Pacers played the Knicks on Sunday.
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Heart - Black

Six-year-old critical after being shot by her 13 year old brother

Gilma Avalos
USsnews.nbcnews.com
Tue, 07 May 2013 07:41 UTC
Image
© NBC 6 South FloridaA 6-year-old girl was shot by her 13-year-old brother in Oakland Park according to investigators.
A six-year-old Florida girl was in critical condition Sunday after being shot by her 13-year-old brother Saturday night in a city just north of Fort Lauderdale.

Neighbors said the two children were playing a game when the shooting occurred shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday in Oakland Park, a city in Broward Country.

"They were playing hide and go seek. I don't know how it went down but he shot his sister," said neighbor Peter Milano, who saw a frantic woman he thought was the children's aunt running down the block.
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