Society's ChildS


Heart

Spanish Mother and Baby Reunited After Breastfeeding Row

Giles Tremlett
The Guardian, UK
Thu, 23 Jun 2011 06:47 UTC
Social services removed infant Alma for three weeks after criticising mother Habiba for breastfeeding on demand.

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© Yui Mok/PABaby Alma was removed from her mother Habiba because she breastfed on demand
A mother who was criticised by Spanish social workers for breastfeeding her child on demand has won back custody of her 15-month-old infant after an international campaign backed by childcare guru Sheila Kitzinger and others.

Habiba and baby Alma, as they are being called, were reunited on Wednesday night after three weeks of forced separation when a Madrid social services committee overturned an earlier decision to temporarily remove the infant.

"It was an amazing re-encounter between mother and child," said Habiba's lawyer, Juan Ignacio de la Mata. "The child wouldn't leave her mother alone and you could see both of them slowly being transformed by the encounter. It was moving and very beautiful."
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Pistol

Loss of health insurance sparked fast and horrific fall for accused pharmacy killer David Laffer

Christina Boyle and Helen Kennedy
New York Daily News
Thu, 23 Jun 2011 12:07 UTC
pharmacy killer David Laffer
© Andrew Theodorakis/News'He looked like death,' said one neighbor of David Laffer, who is seen being taken to Brookhaven Hospital Wednesday after his arrest in Long Island bloodbath.
David Laffer's life began falling apart two weeks ago.

The former Army private, who worked for years as a shipping clerk at scale manufacturer Cosa Xentaur in Yaphank, L.I., was fired, reportedly for stealing.

That meant no more health insurance - and no more prescription pills.

The loss of health coverage was a blow, said Joanna Martino, a one-time friend of Laffer's pill-popping wife, Melinda Brady.

"This past weekend, Melinda was trying to find out if anyone knew what hospital she can go to to get a 'scrip for pain pills," Martino said.

There were other signs of desperation: Laffer, who'd had minor tax judgments against him in the past, signed up for food stamps Friday, Newsday reported.

As Laffer and his wife were taken away in handcuffs Wednesday, those who knew them struggled to understand how he could have fallen so far.
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Bad Guys

US: Serial Killer in South Carolina Shot Dead, Identified as Former Felon


Nydailynews.com
Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:00 UTC
South Carolina law enforcement officials have identified the serial killing suspect slain in North Carolina as a felon with a lengthy record who was paroled in April after seven years in prison.

They say Patrick Tracy Burris was the man responsible for shooting five people to death in a killing spree that has terrorized residents in and around Gaffney.

He was shot by police responding to a burglary complaint in Gastonia, N.C., early Monday. They say bullets in his gun matched those used to kill residents in and around Gaffney some 30 miles away.

Authorities did not immediately say where Burris was from.

North Carolina prison records show the 41-year-old served more than seven years for felony breaking and entering and larceny. He has a lengthy record.
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Bizarro Earth

Fox 5 reporter Arnold Diaz sued by ice cream chain D'Lites Emporium for 'Shame, Shame, Shame' piece

Jose Martinez
Nydailynews.com
Thu, 23 Jun 2011 11:59 UTC
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© Fox5Arnold Diaz in the 'Shame Shame Shame' segment at the heart of the D'Lites Emporium lawsuit.
A "Shame, Shame, Shame" segment aimed at an ice cream chain that bills itself as a "healthier alternative" to the frozen delight was "lame, lame, lame," according to a new lawsuit.

Television reporter Arnold Diaz is being sued by the owner of three D'Lites Emporium stores after the Fox 5 consumer advocate inducted the chain into his "Hall of Shame" for allegedly misleading consumers about the nutritional content of its ice cream.

Matthew Prince, who operates D'Lites stores in Bayside, Babylon and Commack, contends he was shamed last month in a "grossly irresponsible" eight-minute segment that accused the chain of selling products that aren't "low carbs" or "low in sugar."
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Bell

US - Teenage girl stabbed in the chest by ex-boyfriend who raped her

Rocco Parascandola and Barry Paddock
Nydailynews.com
Tue, 21 Jun 2011 11:55 UTC
A teenage girl was in critical condition after being stabbed Monday inside a Queens grocery store by a jealous ex-boyfriend who raped her two months ago, police sources said.

The 20-year-old suspect, Daniel Paguay, out on bail, fought with the girl and her new boyfriend, his cousin, outside a Corona supermarket.
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Bizarro Earth

US - Heiress Huguette Clark leaves $33M to nurse, $500,000 to convicted sex offender, and ZILCH to family

Jose Martinez, Mike Jaccarino and Bill Hutchinson
Nydailynews.com
Thu, 23 Jun 2011 11:48 UTC
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© UnknownReclusive heiress Huguette Clark died at age 104 in May.
Reclusive Manhattan copper heiress Huguette Clark stiffed her relatives in her will, leaving the bulk of her $400 million fortune to charity - and a whopping $33 million to her nurse.

Clark, who died May 24 at Beth Israel Medical Center at the age of 104, also left $500,000 each to her lawyer, Wallace (Wally) Bock, 79, and her accountant, Irving Kamsler, 64, a convicted sex offender. The Manhattan district attorney's office is investigating Bock and Kamsler for possibly mishandling her riches.

"I intentionally make no provision in this, my Last Will and Testament, for any members of my family, whether on my paternal or maternal side, having had minimal contacts with them over the years," Clark wrote in her will filed yesterday in Manhattan Supreme Court.

Clark's will was executed in April 2005, when she was 98 and purportedly of sound mind.

The closest person to a relative to benefit from Clark's last wishes was goddaughter Wanda Styka, who was bequeathed $12 million after taxes.
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Bad Guys

US - 16-year-old North Carolina teen Rebecca Blackmore stabbed newborn, left body in her closet: cops

Michael Sheridan
Nydailynews.com
Thu, 23 Jun 2011 11:42 UTC
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© Currituck County Sheriff's OfficeRebecca Blackmore, 16, was charged with first degree murder for allegedly killing her newborn baby, police say.
A teenager in North Carolina gave birth to a beautiful baby girl last Friday, then brutally stabbed her to death, authorities said.

The 16-year-old is now facing first-degree murder charges and is in the custody of the Currituck County Sheriff's Office.
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Heart - Black

Pervert tax consultant posed as Harrods' modelling agent to trick women into bizarre sex acts


DailyMail.co.uk
Thu, 23 Jun 2011 09:31 UTC
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© Manchester Evening NewsConman: Jeffrey Edwards offered modelling work to 18 women over three years in a bid to seduce them
A tax consultant posed as a modelling agent for Harrods in a bid to trick women into bizarre sex acts.

Jeffrey Edwards scoured small ads and customers' details on his work database to identify victims. He told them he was a fashion industry insider called Brett Raphael.

The 47-year-old, from Stockport, Greater Manchester, offered modelling work to 18 women over three years, using home-made documents and cash to convince them he was a talent scout for top stores, including the famous Harrods store in London.

In fact, he had no connection with Harrods or any other shops.

But, once women had given him their phone number, Edwards, of Romiley, would 'relentlessly' text them asking for intimate details or making obscene suggestions.

He turned up on the doorstep of a young mum he met in the street even though she hadn't given him her address. Once inside Edwards demanded to see 'cleavage' and tried to coax her into posing topless for a photo-shoot.
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Heart - Black

Rebels rape 100 women in Congo in latest mass rape


MSNBC / Rueters
Thu, 23 Jun 2011 09:23 UTC
About 100 women have been sexually assaulted and many more injured in the latest mass rape by suspected rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, international aid workers and local media reported Thursday.

The attacks took place between June 10 and 12 in villages about 25 miles north of the town of Fizi in South Kivu, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) told Reuters by telephone.

"We have medical teams in the area, we were about to start on a mass vaccination program when we started hearing stories of rape relating to these events," said Megan Hunter, the mission head in South Kivu, from the Dutch branch of MSF.

"We've certainly treated over 100 women who say they have been raped or are suffering trauma," she said, adding they were working with Congo's Ministry of Health officials to confirm the numbers of victims.

The attacks have been blamed on a group of about 200 rebels who had been integrated into the Congolese army before deserting this month, U.N.-backed Radio Okapi said.
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Attention

US: Forced sterilization victims in North Carolina voice anger, grief

Tom Breen
Charlotte Observer / Associated Press
Thu, 23 Jun 2011 09:13 UTC
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© AP"It's hard for me to accept or understand or even try to figure out why these kinds of atrocious acts could be carried out...," said Gov. Bev Perdue.
There is nothing the state of North Carolina can do, Elaine Riddick says, to make up for forcing her to be sterilized when she was 14 years old.

"They cut me open like I was a hog," said Riddick, who now lives in Atlanta. She spoke Wednesday at a hearing of a panel working to determine compensation for thousands of victims of the state's defunct eugenics program. "My heart bleeds every single day. I'm crushed. What can they do for me?"

Riddick, 57, was one of 13 people who spoke at the meeting, and one of nearly 3,000 living victims of the program, which was shuttered in 1977, three years after the last sterilization was performed.
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