Society's Child

U.S. Arrests 678 Gang Members, Many Tied to Mexico Cartels

Karin Zeitvogel
Global News
Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:00 UTC

© QUADRATIN, AFP/Getty Images
Federal Police officers stand by a blockade on the Apatzingan-Morelia road, in Morelia, Michoaca State, Mexico, on December 9, 2010. Gunmen from La Familia cartel drug blocked several roads in Michoacan State during a confrontation between drug cartels and Federal Police, said the state government of Morelia.

A two-month operation by U.S. authorities has led to the arrests of 678 gang members from 113 different gangs, including 13 linked to Mexican drug cartels, a top law enforcement official said Tuesday.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) teamed up with 170 law enforcement agencies around the country for operation "Southern Tempest" targeting violent gangs linked to international drug trafficking organizations.

Around two-thirds of those arrested are foreign nationals and nearly half have ties to drug trafficking groups, mainly in Mexico, ICE director John Morton told reporters.

"The purpose of this effort was to target violent street gangs associated with drug cartels, particularly in Mexico," Morton said.

The announcement of the wave of arrests came two weeks after ICE agent Jaime Zapata was shot dead while travelling in his car with another U.S. federal agent in Mexico.

Last week, the Mexican military arrested a suspect in Zapata's slaying, and days later detained the alleged shooter's boss, a member of the Zetas drug cartel.

Canada: No Bail for Couple Accused of Leaving Mother in Garage

Global News
Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:00 UTC

© Brett Gundlock, National Post
David Hao, lawyer for Kwong Yan and Qi Tan leaves the Ontario Court of Justice, Tuesday March 01, 2011 in Toronto, Ont. Hao and Yan have been charged with failing to provide necessities of life, and criminal negligence causing bodily harm after their elderly mother was found in their garage.

A couple accused of making the husband's mother live in a freezing garage since last November has been denied bail, following a video-link courthouse appearance here Tuesday morning.

Kwong Yan, 43, appeared from Toronto East Detention Centre wearing an orange prison suit. Qi Tan, 28, appeared from Vanier Centre for Women.

Yan and Tan turned themselves in to police on Friday, said David Hao, a lawyer who appeared on the couple's behalf at the Ontario Court of Justice.

Police charged them with failure to provide the necessities of life and criminal negligence causing bodily harm after Yan's 68-year-old mother was found by paramedics last Wednesday, in response to a call from Yan.

Police said the woman was unconscious, frostbitten and malnourished.

Hao, who said he has not officially been retained, said the couple came to see him Thursday at his North York, Ont., office, a day before giving themselves up to police.

"They were mainly upset about their mother's illness and not about the charges pending against them," Hao said.

The court remanded the couple into custody and set their next appearance for March 15 at College Park courthouse.

Wisconsin Police Have Joined Protest Inside State Capitol

Jenn Breckenridge
The Understory
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 00:11 UTC

From inside the Wisconsin State Capitol, RAN ally Ryan Harvey reports:

"Hundreds of cops have just marched into the Wisconsin state capitol building to protest the anti-Union bill, to massive applause. They now join up to 600 people who are inside."

Ryan reported on his Facebook page earlier today:

"Police have just announced to the crowds inside the occupied State Capitol of Wisconsin: 'We have been ordered by the legislature to kick you all out at 4:00 today. But we know what's right from wrong. We will not be kicking anyone out, in fact, we will be sleeping here with you!' Unreal."

You can find more updates from Ryan Harvey on Twitter @ryanharveysongs and his blog Even If Your Voice Shakes.

UPDATE: This video says it all. It makes me proud of my neighbors. "Let me tell you Mr. Walker, this is not your house, this is all our house."

Jenn Breckenridge is a whip smart liberal treehuggin' b-girl from San Francisco by way of VA, D.C., Philly, Brooklyn and LA. After starting up several green dot coms and freelancing as a social media strategist for eco-conscious companies, Jenn busted onto the NGO scene as the social media manager for Rainforest Action Network. Everyone around here loves her and she loves everyone else. Ms. Breckenridge plans on winning this whole environmental thing. (Yes, I wrote this myself. What?) As RAN's social media manager, Jenn can be found on Twitter: @RAN

UK: 29-yr-old Woman is Set to Become Britain's Youngest Grandmother

The Daily Mail, UK
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 11:40 UTC

© Alamy
History repeating itself: Kelly John and Shem Davies became parents at 14 - now their daughter Tia is expecting a child with her boyfriend Jordan Williams

A woman who is set to become Britain's youngest grandmother at 29 said it was 'her worst nightmare' when she discovered her 14-year-old daughter was pregnant.

Kelly John said she always hoped Tia would not repeat her mistake and become pregnant at 14.

But after getting over the shock, the grandmother-to-be has vowed to do 'everything' to bring up the new baby.

Schoolgirl Tia and her baby-faced 4ft 11in 15-year-old boyfriend Jordan Williams have vowed to prove they can be good parents despite their age.

But Tia's father - Shem Davies - who split with her mother years ago, said at the same age he had expected to stay with Kelly forever and bring up his daughter.

He told the News of the World: 'I just didn't know how to be a dad - I was still a kid myself.'

The couple broke up at the age of 15 - and now his daughter has fallen pregnant he is hoping she will not do the same thing.

Tia and her boyfriend Jordan said they usually used condoms - and see the baby as a blessing.

US: Baby Stabbed to Death by Teenage Father After Child Abduction in Palmdale

KTLA News
Tue, 01 Mar 2011 08:53 UTC

A 5-month old boy stabbed by his teenage father during a child abduction in Palmdale has died, authorities say.

Palmdale Sheriff's Station deputies responded to a report of a child abduction in Palmdale at about 11:00AM, Tuesday.

An Amber Alert was issued for the child and his father, 17-year old Christopher Earl Glass, around 2:00 Tuesday afternoon.

According to the alert, Glass picked up his 5-month-old son from a relative's home earlier today and drove to the child's mother's home.

The two argued, and Glass drove off with the boy still inside his white SUV.

Glass then allegedly sent a text message to the mother, threatening to stab the boy.

Australia: Cyberbullying an epidemic

Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson
Adelaide Now
Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:18 UTC

One in four school children is being bullied using modern technology, and that frightening ratio could go even higher as more children get access to computers and phones.

Traditional schoolyard bullying is now taking place over the internet and via phone messages.

A 2008 Galaxy Research poll found one-quarter of schoolchildren suffer from cyberbullying, but Alannah and Madeline Foundation cybersafety general manager Jackie Van Vugt said that figure could be higher.

"We have research showing 1 in 10 students is being cyberbullied every few weeks," she says. "The latest research we have was done a few years ago now, and evidence from overseas shows it's at much higher rates in the US and the UK now."

Large majority of Americans back public employee union rights: poll

Sahil Kapur
The Raw Story
Tue, 01 Mar 2011 15:27 UTC

Washington - Americans want to maintain the collective bargaining rights of public employee unions by a nearly two-to-one margin, according to a new New York Times/CBS poll.

Sixty percent said they oppose attempts in states like Wisconsin to curtail those rights, while only 33 percent said they support those efforts. Seven percent had no opinion.

The results may reflect a growing backlash against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), who has for weeks been involved in a high-profile standoff with state Democrats and union supporters over his budget plan, which would curtail union bargaining rights.

Plot to spy on Chamber critics prompts Democratic call for congressional probe

Stephen C. Webster
The Raw Story
Tue, 01 Mar 2011 15:15 UTC

Will congressional Republicans investigate their allies at the Chamber of Commerce over an alleged plot to spy on and discredit their most effective critics in the media?

Probably not, but that won't stop at least one group of House Democrats from mounting a very public call for inquiry.

In a letter provided in advance to The Washington Post, a group of Democratic lawmakers expressed concern that anti-terror tactics had been adopted for use against Americans by the private sector. The letter was authored by Rep. Hank Johnson and more than a dozen others, the Post noted.

Ex-Goldman director charged in insider case

Jonathan Stempel
Reuters
Tue, 01 Mar 2011 15:15 UTC

© Eric Piermont/AFP/Getty Images
Former Goldman Sachs board member Rajat Gupta, shown here in a file photo, has been accused of insider trading related to the Galleon hedge fund scandal.

New York - A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. director was charged by U.S. securities regulators with leaking inside information about the investment bank's results to Galleon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused Rajat Gupta of illegally disclosing information about quarterly earnings at Goldman and Procter & Gamble Co, where he has also been a director.

It also said Gupta, a longtime executive at the consultant McKinsey & Co, tipped Rajaratnam in September 2008 about a pending $5 billion investment by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc in Goldman.

That investment was widely seen as helping ensure stability for Goldman at the height of the global financial crisis.

Rajaratnam used the leaked tips from Gupta, a "friend and business associate," to trade for Galleon funds, generating more than $18 million of illegal gains, the SEC said.

"Gupta was honored with the highest trust of leading public companies, and he betrayed that trust by disclosing their most sensitive and valuable secrets," SEC enforcement chief Robert Khuzami said in a statement.

The 62-year-old Gupta is one of the highest-ranking officials implicated in the government's wide-ranging insider trading probe, which has resulted in criminal or civil charges against dozens of individuals.

End this human rights insanity: PM's fury as judges rule paedophiles and rapists should have chance to get off sex offenders' register

Tim Shipman and Jack Doyle
The Daily Mail
Thu, 17 Feb 2011 14:25 UTC

David Cameron declared war on unelected judges yesterday after they put the human rights of paedophiles and rapists before public safety.

The Prime Minister said he was 'appalled' that Britain's 50,000 sex offenders can appeal against being kept on a police register for life.

In a highly-charged intervention, Mr Cameron called for an overhaul of the 'completely offensive' rulings from the European Court of Human Rights which have influenced our own judges.

© Press Association
Anger: David Cameron during Prime Minister's Question Time. He described a ruling over sex offenders' rights to apply to have their name removed from the register as 'completely offensive'

'It's about time we started making sure decisions are made in this Parliament rather than in the courts,' Mr Cameron said.

And he announced plans to ensure MPs make laws rather than the judiciary.

He told MPs that a commission to draw up a British Bill of Rights to replace the Human Rights Act will be set up 'imminently'.

..so this is the end of Planet Earth! :-)

KRNABRNY

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Society's Child

U.S. Arrests 678 Gang Members, Many Tied to Mexico Cartels

Canada: No Bail for Couple Accused of Leaving Mother in Garage

Wisconsin Police Have Joined Protest Inside State Capitol

UK: 29-yr-old Woman is Set to Become Britain's Youngest Grandmother

US: Baby Stabbed to Death by Teenage Father After Child Abduction in Palmdale

Australia: Cyberbullying an epidemic

Large majority of Americans back public employee union rights: poll

Plot to spy on Chamber critics prompts Democratic call for congressional probe

Ex-Goldman director charged in insider case

End this human rights insanity: PM's fury as judges rule paedophiles and rapists should have chance to get off sex offenders' register

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