Society's ChildS


Heart - Black

Linda Clappison Convicted Of Enslaving Her Children After Fortune Teller Told Her To


Huffington Post
Sat, 12 May 2012 05:29 UTC
Children enslaved by mother after fortune teller
Shortly after a meeting with a fortune teller, a British woman locked her children in their rooms, confiscated their lightbulbs, toys and mattresses and later made two of them work as slaves for Roma people, otherwise known as gypsies, prosecutors said. The abuse apparently lasted for six years.

Linda Clappison, of Keyingham Marsh, East Yorkshire, was convicted of two counts of child cruelty. She was sentenced to three years in prison, according to the Telegraph. Before a fortune teller told her to submit her children to this abuse, Clappison was a fine mother, her children testified.

But after the meeting, her son Andrew Clappison, now 18, told the court, "We were treated like dogs."
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Che Guevara

Spanish students hold massive protest rallies against cut plans


Press TV
Fri, 11 May 2012 03:53 UTC
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Spanish students protesting in Valencia on February 29 against education cuts
Thousands of Spanish students have taken to the streets across the country to protest against the government's new education cut plans.

University students, high school pupils and teachers joined the protests organized by the national Student's Union in more than 50 towns across the country on Thursday, AFP reported.

"We have called this demonstration as an initial response to this attack on public education, which is without precedent in the past 35 years," said the union leader, Tohil Delgado.

Several hundred university students took to the central streets of the capital, Madrid, marching behind a banner that read, "Everyone together against the cutbacks".
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Passport

Syria gives names of foreign terrorists to UN Security Council


Press TV
Sat, 12 May 2012 03:38 UTC
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Picture shows the aftermath of the blasts that rocked the Syrian capital Damascus on May 10, 2012.
The Syrian government has handed to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) the names of 26 foreign terrorists involved in recent violence in the country.

The Syrian Ambassador to the UN, Bashar al-Jafari told the Security Council on Thursday that the 26, some of whom were affiliated to al-Qaeda, had admitted that they were terrorists and had entered Syria to carry out terrorist attacks, AFP reported.

"The terrorist operations committed in Syria bear the fingerprints of al-Qaeda," he said.

Al-Jafari noted that the terrorists were in the Syrian government's detention and that they had made confessions shown on Syrian television.

He added that 12 foreign terrorists had also been killed in recent clashes with Syrian security forces.

"We have a list that contains 12 names of foreign terrorists killed in Syria, including one French citizen, one British citizen, one Belgian citizen," he told the council.
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Che Guevara

30,000 UK police officers join nationwide strike


Press TV
Sat, 12 May 2012 03:36 UTC
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Police officers march in London, joining the UK-wide public sector strike on 10 May
More than 30,000 off-duty police officers in London have joined a massive nationwide strike staged by British public sector workers against the government's changes to pays and pensions.

Trade unions in Britain have said over 400,000 people took part in the 24-hour UK-wide strike on Thursday 10 May. Furthermore, London's Metropolitan Police said around 32,000 off-duty police officers joined the striking public servants marching through London.

Unions are angry with the government's pension changes saying that public sector workers are being "robbed" as they will have to pay more and work longer for lower pensions.

"We care very deeply about the communities that we serve. We have seen what happens when we have a government that has given policing a very low priority. If you are cutting our jobs, then you are cutting the service we can deliver and the public's safety is at risk", said Paul McKeever, chairperson of the Police Federation, the union which represents officers.

However, the British government tried to downgrade the nationwide strike as Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude described it as "futile". Maude also said the figure released by unions was "widely inaccurate" and only 150,000 public servants took part in the strike.

"It is now time that union leaders put the best interests of their members first by asking them to accept our generous offer", said Maude.
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Bizarro Earth

Woman blinded in attack by boyfriend urges victims: don't suffer in silence

Steven Morris
The Guardian
Sat, 12 May 2012 03:04 UTC
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© PA/SWNSShane Jenkin has been detained in a psychiatric hospital after his attack on girlfriend Tina Nash.
A woman whose boyfriend blinded her by gouging her eyes with his thumbs has urged other victims of domestic abuse not to suffer in silence but to alert the police or support groups.

Tina Nash spoke out as former partner Shane Jenkin began a life sentence for the barbaric, unprovoked assault on her at her home in Cornwall.

Nash said: "I urge anyone out there suffering domestic abuse to contact the police before it is too late. Don't be frightened or embarrassed - there are specially trained officers who can and will help you.

"If you really feel unable to contact the police, there are charities and support groups such as Women's Aid who will help, advise and support you in doing so."
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Handcuffs

Going to Jail? Sarkozy prepares to hand over presidency - and judicial immunity

Angelique Chrisafis
Tha Guardian
Fri, 11 May 2012 01:46 UTC
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Outgoing French president likely to return to law practice, but could be forced to explain himself over series of scandals

He has spent 30 bruising years in politics, often saying it would have been more pleasant to earn big money in private business, and now plans to return to work as a lawyer while his millionaire pop star wife takes to her tourbus with a new album. But after he hands power to the Socialist François Hollande next week, Nicolas Sarkozy's biggest post-presidential headache is likely to come from the justice system.


Comment: It should be clarified that "30 bruising years" really means 30 years of bruising (and murdering) others.


In a ceremony at the Élysée palace on Tuesday, Sarkozy will pass the presidency to France's first leftwing leader since François Mitterrand. He will then walk the final metres of red carpet to his grace-and-favour chauffeur-driven car and return home to Carla Bruni's west Paris mansion. He has said he wants to quit politics, although few believe him, and he has warned journalists: "You won't hear from me again."

But when Sarkozy's presidential judicial immunity officially ends on 16 June, he risks dominating the headlines once more, as he could be forced to explain himself to magistrates over a series of party funding scandals that have dogged his time in power.
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Arrow Down

Declining Birth Rates Threaten Japan


Fox News
Fri, 11 May 2012 00:00 UTC
Study: Japanese could become theoretically extinct

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Handcuffs

More Arrests of People Linked to Bizarre Tennessee Abduction, Murder Case

Tim Ghianni and Emily Le Coz
Reuters
Fri, 11 May 2012 00:00 UTC
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© Reuters/Tennesse Bureau of Investigation/Handout Adam Mayes (L) is shown with Adrienne and Alexandria Bain (R)
US: Nashville, Tennessee - Four neighbors of a man who authorities say abducted a Tennessee family and killed the mother and one daughter were arrested in connection with the case, authorities said on Friday, one day after the man committed suicide as police closed in.

Adam Mayes, briefly the most-wanted fugitive in America, shot himself in the head on Thursday as police approached a spot in thick Mississippi woods where he was hiding with the remaining two daughters from the abducted Bain family of Tennessee.

Police found 12-year-old Alexandria Bain and 8-year-old Kyliyah Bain alive and unharmed on the ground nearby.

The girls were "hungry, thirsty and dehydrated" and suffering from exposure and poison ivy, said Aaron T. Ford, special agent in charge of the FBI's Memphis division.

"They look like they've been in the woods for three days," Ford said.

The girls were released to unidentified family members early on Friday after spending the night at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis, hospital spokeswoman Anne Glankler said.

The discovery of the girls unharmed ended a week-long, multi-agency manhunt across two states that thrust the rural border area into the national spotlight.

The saga began in the rural western Tennessee town of Whiteville on April 27 when the husband of Jo Ann Bain, 31, reported his wife and three girls missing.
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Info

Horrific Child Murder Case Ends with Guilty Verdict

Janet Guttsman
Reuters
Fri, 11 May 2012 00:00 UTC
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© Reuters/Geoff Robins Tara McDonald (2nd L), mother of slain eight-year-old Woodstock, Ontario girl Victoria Stafford, receives a hug from family outside the courthouse in London, Ontario, May 11, 2012, following a guilty verdict in the trial of Michael Rafferty, the accused in Victoria's murder.
Canada, Toronto - A Canadian man was found guilty of the murder, assault and kidnapping of an 8-year-old girl on Friday, after a gruesome two-month court case that horrified the country.

A jury in London, Ontario, found Michael Rafferty, 31, guilty of first degree murder, kidnapping and sexual assault, dismissing his girlfriend's testimony that she alone was responsible for killing Tori Stafford.

"We got him. We got justice," Tori's father Rodney Stafford told reporters outside the courtroom, showing the waiting TV cameras a picture of Tori. "It was for every little girl in Canada. Nobody deserves what happened to her."

In graphic testimony during the trial, Terri-Lynne McClintic admitted she had kidnapped Tori from outside her school in April, 2009 and delivered her to Rafferty, who raped the child.
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Attention

Economic Depression Continues to Spur on Suicides in Europe

Sarah Vrba
Care2
Fri, 11 May 2012 18:16 UTC
Europe Crisis
© Care2
Greece and Italy are normally associated with beautiful sea views, earthy food and vibrant culture. In the last few years, however, these countries have also experienced some of the worst economic hardships as the European and global economies have weakened.

Last month a retired Greek man, Dimitris Christoulas, shot himself in a public square in Athens. In a report issued by CBS News, the retired pharmacist committed suicide due to the debt crisis in Greece and the resultant austerity measures that have brought many Greek families to the brink of ruin. The number of suicides increased by about 40 percent in the second half of 2011 and has continued to pose a problem in Greece. NPR has stated that about 30 percent of Greek families live below the poverty line.

Christoulas' suicide sparked a number of protests in the streets in Greece. He became an icon of the severity that has plunged so many families into poverty.

Italy has also been at the front of headlines recently for a rash of suicides intimately connected with economic problems. Just this week, three people committed suicide, leaving tragic notes that revealed their despair at their inability to find new employment. There have been 34 suicides related to economic hardships in Italy since January, according to NBC News.

The Italian government owes many entrepreneurs up to $90 million and "some have been waiting to be paid for up to two years." And these suicides are often committed by businessmen who have watched their businesses fail, or male family members who have lost a significant source of income.
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