Society's ChildS


Handcuffs

Police Arrest Last Fugitive in Japan Gas Attack

Mari Yamaguchi
The Globe and Mail
Fri, 15 Jun 2012 02:40 UTC
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© Reuters/Yuriko NakaoPolice officers stand in front of the Tokyo Metropolitan police department as they wait for Katsuya Takahashi, the last remaining fugitive of the Aum Shinrikyo, to be escorted by police officers to the building in Tokyo June 15, 2012.
Tokyo - Japanese police Friday arrested the last fugitive suspected in a doomsday cult's deadly nerve gas attack on Tokyo subways 17 years ago: the cult leader's former bodyguard, who was finally tracked down at a comic-book cafe.

Katsuya Takahashi, 54, a former member of Aum Shinrikyo cult, was arrested on suspicion of murder, a Tokyo police spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity, citing department rules. An employee at the downtown Tokyo cafe had recognized him and called police, she said.

Mr. Takahashi admitted who he was when approached by the police at the cafe.

His trail had been cold for years, but it heated up after another fugitive from the cult was arrested June 3. Thousands of officers had been hunting for him across the capital, handing out fresh photos of the suspect and monitoring transportation hubs to keep him from escaping.
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Arrow Down

Foxconn Worker Falls to Death in China


Agence France-Presse
Thu, 14 Jun 2012 00:00 UTC
Trabajadores de Foxconn
© Reuters
A Foxconn worker fell to his death in China, the company which assembles products for Apple said Thursday, following a series of fatalities that sparked concern about conditions at its plants.

The 23-year-old, identified only by his surname Xie, fell from his rented apartment in the southwest Chinese city of Chengdu on Wednesday, according to a statement released by Hon Hai Precision Industry, Foxconn's parent company.

It said the cause of the tragedy was not immediately clear and Chengdu police were still investigating.

Taiwan tech giant Foxconn, which assembles products for Apple, Sony and Nokia, has come under the spotlight after suicides and labour unrest at its Chinese plants since 2010.
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Stormtrooper

Andre Pshenichnikov, Ex-Israeli Soldier, Seeks Palestinian Citizenship

Dalia Nammari
Source
Thu, 14 Jun 2012 03:40 UTC
Andre Pshenichnikov
© AP Photo/Ariel SchalitIn this June 11, 2012 photo, Andre Pshenichnikov, a 23-year-old immigrant from Tajikistan who was recently detained by Israeli police for residing illegally in the Dheishe Refugee Camp near Bethlehem, poses for a picture in Bat Yam near Tel Aviv, Israel.
Ramalla, West Bank -- In an odd twist to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian saga, a former Israeli soldier has embarked on a new fight: He wants to renounce his Israeli citizenship and move to a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank.

Andre Pshenichnikov, a 23-year-old Jewish immigrant from Tajikistan, was recently detained by Israeli police for residing illegally in the Deheishe Refugee Camp near Bethlehem. There he told police that he wants to break all ties with Israel, give up his Israeli citizenship and obtain a Palestinian one instead.

Pshenichnikov is currently traveling in Europe for two months. When he returns, he hopes to move to the West Bank.

It's incredibly rare for Israelis to seek to live under Palestinian rule. There are only a few known cases of Jewish Israelis who have done so, mostly ones who have married Palestinians, as well as a journalist for the Israeli daily Haaretz who moved to Ramallah and reports from there. None are known to have renounced Israeli citizenship - though some Israelis living abroad have. Nor are any known to have sought Palestinian residency instead. People are not allowed to be dual citizens.
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Heart - Black

Touching off limits for kids at Mt Martha Primary School in Victoria

Aleks Devic
Herald Sun
Thu, 14 Jun 2012 00:00 UTC
School principal Judy Beckworth
© Andrew BatschSchool principal Judy Beckworth.
A primary school has banned pupils from touching each other. Those caught giving high fives, hugging, playing tag, basketball or football are punished with "counselling sessions".

Mt Martha Primary School in Victoria is refusing to back down over the policy, despite opposition from parents and child psychologists who have called the policy "ridiculous", "over the top" and "crazy".

Parents did not get a memo about the policy until told by upset children this week.

But principal Judy Beckworth said the community had overreacted, adding: "I don't see what we have done as unreasonable."
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Green Light

Pick-Up Truck Spills Dead Bodies on Highway


Orange News
Tue, 12 Jun 2012 00:00 UTC
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© unknown
China - Police thought they'd stumbled on a serial killer when a pick-up truck overturned on a motorway - and 16 bodies tumbled onto the tarmac.

Police sealed off the road in Luozhou, Sichuan province, China, but abandoned a murder hunt when the driver turned out to be a professor from the city's medical school who'd bought the bodies for his students to use in class.

"They began to go off pretty quickly once they were stretched out in the sun. The smell was sickening," said one motorist.

Police summoned ambulances from a nearby morgue to take the bodies to their their final resting place - in the college fridge.

Now the college is facing furious public criticism for carrying bodies "without dignity" on the back of a truck.

A spokesman for the Luozhou Medical School said:"We bought the bodies legally and fairly.

"They are the remains of unclaimed murder victims, street people who have died and criminals who have been executed."
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Cult

Bizarre Burning and Cutting Ritual on Kids Lands Florida Woman in Jail

Dan Sullivan
The Miami Herald
Wed, 13 Jun 2012 00:00 UTC
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© FacebookCharged: Police say Danielle Harkins, 35, told half a dozen teens that they had demons inside them

St. Petersburg - Danielle Harkins told the kids they needed to rid their bodies of demons as the group gathered before dusk Saturday around a small fire near the St. Petersburg Pier. They should cut their skin to let the evil spirits out, police said she told the children. Then, they needed to burn the wounds to ensure that those spirits would not return.

Some kids got cut, police said. Some kids got burned. Harkins got arrested.

Harkins, 35, a literacy teacher at Lealman and Asian Neighborhood Family Center, was booked in jail Tuesday morning on child abuse charges in connection with the bizarre ritual. She was held in jail Tuesday night on $55,000 bail.

Police said the ritual was attended by seven teenagers, all of Asian ethnic background, whom Harkins had taught a few years ago in her job at the center. At least two were injured, police said.

"Obviously, it's very strange," said St. Petersburg police spokesman Mike Puetz. "The motivations for the ritual are very unknown to us."
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Info

China Confirms Forced Abortion Case After Uproar


Agence France-Presse
Thu, 14 Jun 2012 00:00 UTC
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© Agence France-PresseA woman cycles past a billboard encouraging couples to have only one child in a suburb of Beijing.
Chinese authorities confirmed Thursday that a woman was forced to abort seven months into her pregnancy, several days after her plight came to light when images of her baby's corpse were posted online.

Rights groups have blamed authorities in north China's Shaanxi province for forcing Feng Jianmei to abort her pregnancy because she failed to pay a hefty fine for exceeding China's strict "one-child" population control policy.

The Shaanxi provincial government said in a statement that a preliminary probe had confirmed the case was "basically true", and the investigators have recommended action be taken against the perpetrators.

"This is a serious violation of the National Population and Family Planning Commission's policies, jeopardises the population control work and has caused uneasiness in society," the provincial government said on its website.

The government did not pinpoint exactly who the perpetrators were, but vowed to avoid a repeat of such a case, which it said was against regulations in effect since 2001 banning late-term abortions.
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Info

Alberta No Longer Classifies Homosexuality as a Mental Disorder

Steve Mertl
Daily Brew
Thu, 14 Jun 2012 00:00 UTC
gay rights
© unknown
Alberta has taken another little step away from the redneck stereotype, especially when it comes to homosexuality.

The province many other Canadians dismiss as populated by oil industry roughnecks and horny-handed ranchers is in fact increasingly cosmopolitan and multicultural.

Now the Alberta government has scrapped the part of its medical services billing codes that classified gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered patients as suffering from mental disorders in the same class as bestiality and pedophilia.

The code has been reworded to eliminate language that treats homosexuality as a mental illness, the Edmonton Journal reported.

"The old version did say (homosexuality) was a mental disorder, so patients who were seeking treatment for whatever reason ... were being classified as having a mental disorder," Health Minister Fred Horne told the Journal, noting the change came into effect at the end of May.

"Under our billing system, it is no longer classified as a mental disorder."
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Heart - Black

Retired Quebec Judge Found Guilty of Killing His Wife


The Canadian Press
Thu, 14 Jun 2012 00:00 UTC
Jacques Delisle
© CBC NewsJacques Delisle
A retired Quebec judge has been found guilty of murdering his invalid wife.

Jacques Delisle is believed to be the first Canadian judge tried for murder in Canadian legal history.

A jury came down with the first-degree murder verdict this afternoon at the Quebec City courthouse. It had been deliberating since Tuesday.

The retired Quebec Court of Appeal justice was accused of first-degree murder in the slaying of his wife, Marie-Nicole Rainville, on Nov. 12, 2009.
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Eye 1

Authors of Report Calling Norway Killer Insane Defend Findings, Deem Him Delusional

Julia Gronnevet
680 News
Thu, 14 Jun 2012 00:00 UTC
Anders Behring Breivik
© unknownAnders Behring Breivik
Oslo - The psychiatrists who have faced intense criticism for deeming Anders Behring Breivik - the self-confessed killer of 77 people in Norway last year - too mentally unfit to go to prison defended their stance Thursday, calling him delusional.

Torgeir Husby and Synne Soerheim, who concluded that Breivik suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, stuck to their findings when presenting their 239-page report on the right-wing extremist's mental health to the court. They insisted he is driven by delusions rather than political conviction, saying he resembled people who believe they are the new Napoleon.

"One doesn't go collecting expertise in historical facts if a new Napoleon is admitted (to a clinic), not even if he arrives in full uniform," Husby said.

Their report came under fire for lacking knowledge of right-wing terminology and for interpreting Breivik's political explanations for his rampage as symptoms of schizophrenia. The court then ordered a second evaluation by other psychiatrists, who came to the opposite conclusion, deeming him sufficiently mentally competent to go to prison.

Breivik's sanity is key to the case and is still an unresolved issue. If found guilty and sane, the 33-year-old Norwegian would face 21 years in prison, although he could be held even longer if deemed a danger to society. If declared insane, he would be committed to compulsory psychiatric care.
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