Society's ChildS

Fish

US: Massachusetts Fishermen Snare 881-Pound Tuna, Feds Take It

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© The Associated Press/NOAAThis Nov. 12, 2011 photo released by NOAA and provided by Stephanie Rafael shows fishing boat owner Carlos Rafael in New Bedford, Mass., with an 881-pound tuna.
It's the big one that got taken away.

Local fishing boat owner Carlos Rafael was elated when one of his trawlers snared an 881-pound bluefin tuna earlier this month.

But the joy was short-lived. Federal fishery enforcement agents seized the fish when the crew returned to port Nov. 12.

Rafael had tuna permits but was told catching tuna with a net is illegal.

Instead, it's got to be caught by handgear, such as rod and reel, harpoon or handline.

"We didn't try to hide anything," Rafael told The Standard-Times newspaper of New Bedford, a famous whaling era port 50 miles south of Boston. "We did everything by the book. Nobody ever told me we couldn't catch it with a net."

Info

Kenyan runner in Alaska loses feet to frostbite

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© Amanda Umberger/University of Alaska Anchorage/ScreengrabMarko Cheseto won several honors for the University of Alaska Anchorage athletics team.
A top college runner from Kenya who spent two days lost in an Alaska snowstorm earlier this month had to have both of his feet amputated due to frostbite, the University of Alaska, Anchorage said on Monday.

Marko Cheseto, a two-time NCAA All-American runner, disappeared on November 6 after leaving the university campus during a heavy storm. He walked into a campus hotel more than 48 hours later severely hypothermic and suffering from frostbite.

Both of the 28-year-old star athlete's feet later had to be amputated because of severe frostbite, the university said.

Cheseto, in his first public statement since he was found, thanked the university, city and volunteers who searched for him during his "troubled times".

"As some may know, I've been going through a lot of personal issues," the runner said in a statement released through the university.

Heart - Black

Egyptians expect to 'see a lot of bloodshed'

Security forces fought Monday with several thousand protesters in Tahrir Square in the third straight day of violence over demands that the military set a date for turning power over to civilians.

Egypt's army-appointed government handed in its resignation Monday in what the protesters took as a gesture toward addressing their complaints. "God is great!" they shouted upon hearing the news.

Protesters vowed to remain in the streets despite violence that has killed 24 people before parliamentary elections that will begin Nov. 28 and continue for months.


Dollar

US: Farm belt rage over MF Global could chill markets

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© Reuters/Andrew KellyA woman leaves the office complex where MF Global Holdings Ltd have an office on 52nd Street in midtown Manhattan, October 29, 2011.
When the CME Group pledged $300 million of its own money to help former MF Global customers get their cash back faster, the exchange was likely thinking of customers like Kansas cattle rancher Tim Rietzke.

Fed up and frustrated with his broker's collapse and what he sees as the CME's slow efforts to help him retrieve $30,000 in stranded capital, Rietzke says his faith in the futures industry has been shaken to its core.

"I would be hedging some feeder cattle right now, but I'm not going to do it. I'm leaving them exposed to the cash market and I don't like that," Rietzke said.

Rietzke may reside far from the trading pit in Chicago, but he and thousands of other ranchers and farmers across the country are at the heart of futures trading.

With billions of their dollars locked up by MF Global's October 31 bankruptcy filing, they are a key voice in determining if and when the futures business regains its poise and reputation.

"I have no confidence in the market, because it could happen at any other brokerage," Rietzke told Reuters from his 8,000 acre ranch near the southwest Kansas town of Coldwater.

Camera

German gynecologist caught with 35,000 pictures of naked female patients

A German gynecologist is being investigated by police after secretly taking 35,000 pictures of female patients naked inside his practice.

So far 700 victims have filed criminal complaints against the 56-year-old doctor, who practised in the small town of Schifferstadt, in Rhineland-Palatinate in the west of the country.

"We are still in the middle of the investigation, it may well be that more victims come forwards," Lothar Liebig, the director of public prosecutions in Frankenthal, told the German tabloid Bild.

Approximately 3,000 women were unknowingly snapped by the perverted doctor while undergoing clinical examinations, the report said.

The doctor no longer practises, and could face up to one year in prison.

Passport

US: Screening Still a Pain at Airports, Fliers Say

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© unknown
The lines will still be long and the screening still invasive at airport checkpoints this Thanksgiving.

While the government has made some changes to security procedures, many passengers and travel executives contend that the moves do not go far enough.

Since last November, the Transportation Security Administration has adopted a policy to reduce pat-downs of children 12 and under, altered some body scanners to display a generic outline of a human figure and begun testing programs that offer expedited screening to pilots and select frequent fliers.

Still, some travelers are bothered by a screening process that has become increasingly time-consuming and intimate, and industry representatives say they are worried that these frustrations are contributing to a decline in air travel.

Che Guevara

US: Protesters Disrupt Obama New Hampshire Speech

Hecklers apparently connected with the Occupy Wall Street movement interrupted President Obama's speech Tuesday at a high school in Manchester, N.H.

The president had just begun his remarks, urging Congress to expand a payroll tax cut, when a protester in the crowd shouted "mic check!" Mr. Obama stopped speaking as other protesters shouted in unison, "Mr. President - over 4,000 peaceful protesters - have been arrested." The call-and-response tactic has been used by Occupy protesters in other locations around the country.


Handcuffs

US: Iowa Principal Gets 30 Years for Taping Students

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© unknownArrested: Authorities found school principal Robert Burke with more than 32,000 images of child pornography
A federal judge on Monday sentenced a former Iowa elementary school principal to 30 years in prison for secretly videotaping dozens of young male students using the bathroom, calling his actions a shocking abuse of trust and among the worst crimes against children she'd seen.

U.S. District Judge Linda Reade said former Sageville Elementary School principal Robert Burke was a danger to the community who betrayed children, their parents and a society that puts great trust in school administrators. She said he deserved the maximum prison term after pleading guilty to producing child pornography in August.

Reade recounted how Burke, 43, hid a small video camera near a bathroom sink or on his own belt on 12 occasions between January and June to capture images of the genitals of at least 59 students between the ages of 5 and 11. She said he had one of the biggest collections of child pornography she'd ever heard of - 32,000 images and 12,000 videos, mostly of young boys performing sex acts.

"This is one of the most aggravating circumstances and crimes that I've ever seen," she said. "This, I must say, is the most depraved I have had for some time."

Reade issued the sentence, which also included a fine of $25,000, after six parents of boys who were taped urged her to lock him away. Speaking in open court without giving their names to protect their children's identities, they said their kids would be scarred for the rest of their lives after learning someone they trusted had violated their privacy in such a way.

USA

US: Obama pardons 5, commutes 1 sentence for convictions including selling drugs, gambling

Obama
© unknown
President Barack Obama on Monday pardoned five people convicted of charges ranging from intent to distribute marijuana to running an illegal gambling business.

And he issued his first commutation, ordering the release of a woman next month after serving 10 years on a 22-year sentence for cocaine distribution.

The actions mark Obama's third set of pardons. He pardoned eight people earlier this year, and issued nine pardons in December 2010.

None of those pardoned was well-known, as was the case with the president's previous orders. The cases date back to 1984, when Martin Kaprelian of Park Ridge, Ill., was sentenced to nine years in prison for conspiracy to transport stolen property in interstate commerce, and other related charges.

HAL9000

Fox News Leaves Viewers Knowing Less, New Survey Shows

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© FOX
The latest results from a new Fairleigh Dickinson University survey show some news sources, such as Fox News, leave their viewers less informed than those who watch no news at all.

The latest PublicMind Poll reveals some news sources leave us less likely to stay on top of current events than people who watch no news at all. According to the study, some news outlets, especially Fox News, lead people to be even less informed than those who say they don't watch any news at all.

Dan Cassino, political science professor at Fairleigh Dickinson and an analyst for the PublicMind Poll, said: "Because of the controls for partisanship, we know these results are not just driven by Republicans or other groups being more likely to watch Fox News," in a news release. "Rather, the results show us that there is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these questions than those who don't watch any news at all," he added.