Society's ChildS


Info

US: Cops: Indiana Couple had sex in public pool for 30 mins in front of children

Image
© unknown
An Indiana couple is facing public indecency charges after they allegedly had sex for 30 minutes Sunday afternoon in a community pool while dozens of witnesses, including children, watched the illicit aquatic action.

Connersville Police Department officers were summoned to the Roberts Park Family Aquatic Center (seen at right) after pool patrons complained to the facility's manager.

Cops initially issued no trespass orders to Myron Helms, 33, and Victoria Cross, 40, but prosecutors yesterday decided to charge the pair with the misdemeanor indecency count.

Pool manager Cindy Schwab told cops that she walked up behind Helms and Cross "when she realized what they were doing," according to a Connersville Police Department report. After telling the pair to stop, Schwab said that Cross moved away from Helms, which was when "she could see the male's penis."

Info

UK: Hugh Grant Wins Court Ruling in Hacking Scandal

Image
© Reuters/Tobias SchwarzHugh Grant at a promotional event for his movie Did You Hear About the Morgans? in Berlin, December 4, 2009.
A High Court judge on Wednesday ordered police to hand over information to actor Hugh Grant or former girlfriend Jemima Khan which could show phone messages between them were intercepted by a private investigator working for a newspaper.

The ruling by judge Geoffrey Vos followed a 20-minute hearing at the London court where neither Grant nor campaigner Khan were present, according to the Press Association.

The couple split in 2007 after a three-year relationship.

Grant has been a vociferous critic of News Corp since the phone-hacking scandal broke earlier this month, and is a member of the Hacked Off lobby group which has campaigned for a rigorous inquiry into illegal eavesdropping by newspapers.

Vos said police should disclose information relating to messages allegedly intercepted by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire and used in the News of the World and other newspapers.

Several celebrities have been targeted by the now-defunct weekly tabloid, including actress Sienna Miller who settled a phone-hacking lawsuit against it in June.

Eagle

US: Heirs Lose Fight With Government to Keep Rare Gold Coins

gold
© unknown
A jury has decided that a set of rare gold coins found in a bank deposit box rightfully belongs to the U.S. government.

The decision, made on Wednesday, caps an unusual civil case that combined history, coin collecting and whether the set of rare $20 "double eagles" should have ever let the U.S. Mint in 1933.

Federal prosecutors had asserted that the coins never circulated when the country went off the gold standard. Most of the batch was instead melted down.

Cut

Turksih PM sends thunderbolt on Cyprus talks

cyprus buffer zone
The Turkish Prime Minister has sent a thunderbolt to the United Nations and leaders of Cyprus by announcing that his country is no longer prepared to accept the concessions it has agreed to in order to help with the reunification of Cyprus in line with a UN plan back in 2004.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the Turkish side will accept nothing short of recognition of a two-state solution on the island, effectively meaning if the current round of UN sponsored talks fail Turkey will likely seek international recognition for the break-away state.

The Turkish prime minister said Turkey no longer agrees to the return of Morphou and Karpas to the Greek Cypriots, as envisioned in the failed Annan plan.

Erdogan, who arrives in Cyprus later today, said 2012 was a final deadline for a settlement on the island.

People

New York Times Brooks Promotes Eugenics "Death Panels" Amid Budget Crisis

Image
© Unknown

In recent years, particularly since the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), there seems to have been an increase in the amount of commentary espousing the rationing of healthcare for the elderly, chronically ill, and the handicapped. Ever since the allegation (correct as it was) that the Obama health plan contained rationing and "death panels," there has been a strange flurry of both denial and simultaneous support of the concept of health care rationing for some of the most vulnerable members of society.

With this in mind, the recent editorial by David Brooks that was published in the New York Times, titled Death and Budgets, should come as no surprise. In this article, Brooks argues that it is pointless to spend as much money as we currently do on individuals who will only benefit from a few months of life extension. He also asserts that the sick and the old have an obligation to the living; what has been deemed by others as a "duty to die." Brooks even goes so far as to suggest the ridiculous idea that the current budget crisis is the result of old people who receive health care services in the last few months of their lives.

While some may laugh at the last sentence, Brooks actually states, "This fiscal crisis is about many things, but one of them is our inability to face death - our willingness to spend our nation into bankruptcy to extend life for a few more sickly months."

Better Earth

She's Alive... Beautiful... Finite... Hurting... Worth Dying for


This is a non-commercial attempt to highlight the fact that world leaders, irresponsible corporates and mindless 'consumers' are combining to destroy life on earth. It is dedicated to all who died fighting for the planet and those whose lives are on the line today. The cut was put together by Vivek Chauhan, a young film maker, together with naturalists working with the Sanctuary Asia network

Bomb

Switzerland: Suicidal Swiss Man Crashes Plane Into Mom's Home

Cessna
© Tim Boyle / GettyA 47-year-old man in northern Switzerland flew a small plane into his estranged mother's house, trying to kill her. His mother was in the basement and survived the attack.

Swiss authorities are investigating what drove a suicidal maniac to try to kill his mother by flying a rented twin-engine plane into her house.

Konrad Schmidt, 47, launched the kamikaze attack on his estranged mother's home in the northern Swiss village of Oberhallau on Saturday, authorities said.

The psycho pilot, who friends say was battling depression, died in the fiery crash.

He allegedly called his mom from the cockpit moments before the wreck.

"Are you home mum? I'm just about to drop in," Schmidt said, according to cops.

Seconds later, the unhinged fly boy crashed the plane through her bedroom window, killing himself, crushing the two-story brick home and igniting a giant fireball, Switzerland's Blick newspaper reported.

Rosemary Schmidt survived the attack because she was in the basement. She was treated for shock at a local hospital, and her house would have to be demolished, officials said.

Dollar

Gold to Reach $5,000 Due to Supply Shortage

Image
© Associated Press

An exhaustive report by Standard Chartered predicts that gold will more than triple to $5,000 an ounce because of a lack of supply, not just because of a surge in demand that most bullion bugs cite in their bullish calls.

"There are very few large gold mines set to commence operation in the next five years," said Standard's analyst Yan Chen in a report Monday. "The limited new supply comes at a time when central banks have turned from being net sellers to significant net buyers of gold. The result, in our view, will be a gold market in deficit, even assuming flat growth in demand. With the supply-demand balance so out of kilter, we see the gold price potentially going to US$5,000/oz."

The London-based firm is among the first to focus on the supply-side of the gold equation amid the many bullish forecasts out there on the metal. After analyzing 345 gold mines and 30 copper/base metal gold mines around the globe, the team estimates annual gold production will be just 3.6 percent over the next five years.

Pistol

U.N. Report Describes Widespread Violence in Sudan

A United Nations report details new allegations of violence, including perhaps mass graves, in the volatile border state of Southern Kordofan in Sudan.

Image
© CNNThe Satellite Sentinel Project says it has visual evidence of mass graves in South Kordofan.
Reported incidents include aerial attacks that killed civilians, attacks on churches, arbitrary arrests, abductions and house-to-house searches, said the report.

"The allegations contained in the report are extremely grave," said Philippe Bolopion of Human Rights Watch. "This report provides only a small window on what's happening in Southern Kordofan."

Reliable information about what is going on in the region is hard to come by. Due to the expiration of the mandate for the U.N. mission in Sudan, U.N. peacekeeping officials have no access to the affected areas.

"The Sudanese government is essentially kicking the U.N. out," Bolopion said. "This should raise a red flag."

Attention

UN Declares Famine in Somalia

The UN has officially declared two parts of Somalia to be in famine amid the worst drought in east Africa for 60 years.


Mark Bowden, humanitarian co-ordinator for Somalia, said on Wednesday that famine conditions now existed in the Bakool and Lower Shabelle regions of the country.

He warned: "If we don't act now, famine will spread to all eight regions of southern Somalia within two months, due to poor harvests and infectious disease outbreaks.

"We still do not have all the resources for food, clean water, shelter and health services to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Somalis in desperate need."

He added that the lack of resources is alarming. "Every day of delay in assistance is literally a matter of life or death for children and their families in the famine-affected areas."