Society's ChildS


Sheriff

Murder charges are filed against 5 men in New Delhi gang rape

Gardiner Harris
NY Times
Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:11 UTC
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© Sajjad Hussain/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesIndian lawyers protested on Thursday outside a court in New Delhi where charges were filed in a gang rape case.
Rape, murder and other charges were filed on Thursday against five men suspected of carrying out the gang rape of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student who later died of her injuries in a case that has prompted outrage and protests across India.

A court official announced that beyond rape and murder, the charges include destruction of evidence and the attempted murder of the woman's companion, a list of crimes that could result in the rare imposition of the death penalty. A court official said the charges would be made public on Saturday. A sixth suspect is a juvenile and will have his case handled separately for now.

The case against the five men will be referred almost immediately to a new fast-track court set up in recent days to handle cases involving crimes against women, officials said. That court is expected to hold a trial soon in stark contrast to the apathy and years of delay that Indian rape victims often face when seeking justice.

The five are accused of luring the woman and her boyfriend onto a bus in South Delhi, beating them and abusing her so brutally with a metal rod during the rape that she sustained fatal internal injuries. The woman clung to life for two weeks but died on Saturday in a Singapore hospital, where she had been transferred for special care.
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Heart - Black

Detroit mother charged with murder, child abuse in stabbing death of 8-year-old daughter


Washington Post
Thu, 03 Jan 2013 08:39 UTC
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© AP Photo/Detroit Free Press, Andre J. JacksonIn this photo taken Monday, Dec. 31, 2012, Dornecia Helms, of Detroit places up balloons on the door step of an eight year-old stabbing victim Tameria Greene at the Martin Luther King Apartments, in Detroit. Semeria Greene was charged Wednesday with felony murder in the stabbing death of her daughter Tameria Greene, at their Detroit home just days before the girl's 9th birthday.
A 26-year-old woman was charged Wednesday with felony murder in the stabbing death of her daughter at their Detroit home just days before the girl's 9th birthday.

The mother, Semeria Greene, was also charged with one count of first-degree child abuse. Greene's four young sons have been turned over to Child Protective Services, police spokeswoman Sgt. Eren Stephens said.

Neighbors called police to the Greene family's apartment just east of downtown in the early hours of Sunday morning. Officers arrived to discover Tameria Greene bleeding and unresponsive on the floor. She had been stabbed in the chest with a knife and was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital. Semeria Greene was taken into custody.

"This is only the second day of the year and we are charging a parent with a child homicide," said Kym Worthy, county prosecutor. "This case is made even more profoundly sad because today would have been Tameria's 9th birthday."

Her slaying came at the end of a particularly brutal year in Detroit. By Thanksgiving, the city had surpassed the 344 homicides reported in all of 2011. As of Dec. 16, the city had recorded 375 murders.
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V

Idle No More: Hints of a Global Super-Movement

Jacob Devaney
Huffington Post
Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:34 UTC
Idle No More
© Andy Eversonhttp://www.andyeverson.com/

Flashmobs with dancing and drumming at a malls in Olympia, Wash. Tempe, Ariz., Denver, Colo., a giant circle dance blocking a large intersection in Winnipeg, rail blockades in Quebec, this movement is using cultural expression combined with modern activism to get attention, and it is working. From their website, "Idle No More calls on all people to join in a revolution which honors and fulfills Indigenous sovereignty which protects the land and water. Colonization continues through attacks to Indigenous rights and damage to the land and water."

Idle No More was started in October by four ladies; Nina Wilson, Sylvia McAdam, Jessica Gordon & Sheelah McLean who felt it was "urgent to act on current and upcoming legislation that not only affects First Nations people but the rest of Canada's citizens, lands and waters." On December 11 Attawapiskat Chief, Theresa Spence, launched a hunger strike requesting a face-to-face meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to discuss broken treaties and protection of natural resources. Spence is staying in a tipi on the frozen Ottawa River facing Parliament Hill and has gained the support from many natives and non-natives who are in solidarity with this movement.
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Health

Man attacked by coyotes in Washington State


Huffington Post
Wed, 02 Jan 2013 19:32 UTC
Three coyotes attacked a Washington man in his own backyard last week, prompting officials to warn people who are vulnerable to encountering potential "urban coyote issues" to be more vigilant.

According to Q13Fox.com, Faron Scarberry of Kent, Wash., was ambushed by the three coyotes last Friday while he was out with his dog in his backyard.

"They were coming around the bush and I guess they were going after my puggle," Scarberry, whose house is located close to a school, told KCPQ-TV.

"One of them lunged up toward me and I kind of pushed it away with my hand and its front claws scratched my hand and wrist," Scarberry said of the encounter. "Then one of the grabbed me by the pant leg and started shaking my leg so I just started kicking and hitting at them to get them off of me and they ran back under the fence."

Following the attack, Scarberry rushed to the emergency room, where he was treated for a coyote bite and scratches. He reportedly got 24 rabies shots in his leg and two in his hip.
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Evil Rays

Breeder Abby Conder says man sexually abused her miniature horses

David Lohr
Huffington Post
Wed, 02 Jan 2013 19:23 UTC
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Joy, a 2-year-old horse, was the first animal attacked and injured at Abby Conder's farm.
An owner and breeder of world-class miniature horses in Florida is hoping video surveillance footage will help identify the person suspected of sexually assaulting several of her horses and killing her watchdog.

The sexual assaults have been ongoing since May 2012, according to Abby Conder, of Marion County.

"Since May, we have had someone come into our barn on several occasions in the middle of the night and take our miniature show horses and sexually attack them," Conder told The Huffington Post.

On Sunday, Conder got her first glimpse of the apparent perpetrator when she reviewed video footage from inside her barn recorded earlier that morning.

"Someone's got to know this man," Conder said. "He's been in this area at least eight months now. These are babies I have raised and it's affected them psychologically. It's hard to get in a stall with them and I can't get near their rear ends to put a harness on them."

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Handcuffs

Paraguay police arrest 4 alleged parrot smugglers with 211 wild birds, many taken from nests


The Republic
Wed, 02 Jan 2013 19:13 UTC
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© AP Photo/Paraguay's Environmental MinistryIn this Dec. 15, 2012 photo provided by Paraguay's Environmental Ministry, rescued Blue-fronted Amazons parrots, whose scientific name is Amazona aestiva, are taken from a box by veterinarian Carlos Britos, right, at the Teniente Agripino Enciso National Park in Paraguay on the border with Bolivia border
Police have rescued 211 protected parrots taken from the remote forests of Paraguay, and made four arrests.

Veterinarian Carlos Britos of Paraguay's environmental ministry identifies the rescued birds as blue-fronted Amazon parrots, whose scientific name is Amazona aestiva. He says many are still juveniles and were taken from their nests.

He said Wednesday that the birds are being cared for by government biologists in a national park, and will be returned to the wild once they can fly.
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USA

6 year-old suspended for pretend gunshot

Matt Connolly
Washington Examiner
Wed, 02 Jan 2013 18:21 UTC
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A Montgomery County elementary school student was suspended for a pretend gunshot a week after Adam Lanza killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

The 6-year-old, who attends Roscoe R. Nix Elementary School in Silver Spring, made a gun with his hands, pointed it at another student and said "pow," according to Robin Ficker, the boy's attorney. He was given a one-day suspension, with a conference on the matter planned for Jan. 2, the day students return to school from winter break.

"What they're doing is looking at the worst possible interpretation of a young, naive 6-year-old," Ficker said. "This is a little child who can't form the intent to do anything like that."

According to a letter sent by Assistant Principal Renee Garraway to the child's parents, this was not the first time something like this had happened.

"Your son ... was involved in a serious incident," Garraway wrote. "[He] threatened to shoot a student. He was spoken to earlier today about a similar incident."

Ficker said the boy's family was never told about any previous issues. "They won't say what the similar incident is," Ficker said. "It just shows the overreaction."
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Ambulance

Woman dies on plane from Brazil to Texas


Global Post
Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:57 UTC
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A passenger died aboard an American Airlines flight to Texas. The passenger, a 25-year-old woman, showed no signs of trauma, the Associated Press reported. The flight was diverted to Houston after her death.

American Airlines officials said the flight later continued to Dallas, its original destination, The Houston Chronicle reported.
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Life Preserver

Brazilian teen puts virginity on sale


wafb.com
Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:46 UTC
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© CNNA Brazilian teen is auctioning off her virginity to help care for her bed-ridden mother.
A Brazilian teen is placing her virginity up for auction to the highest bidder.

Rebecca Bernardo,18, made the decision out of desperation to care for her bed-ridden mother.

"I made up my mind right after my 18th birthday," said Bernardo through a translator. "That's when my mother suffered a stroke."

While Bernardo tried other forms of employment, the money she earned barely covered the costs of a caretaker.

She was inspired by the virginity auction of another Brazilian woman, Catarina Migilorini.

Migilorini offered to sell her virginity through an Australian website. She received widespread publicity and was offered modeling contracts.

"There comes a time when you have to make decisions to get what you want," said Bernardo. "You have to be strong."
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Syringe

Indiana hospital fires eight veteran nurses because they refused to take flu shot for religious reasons


Daily Mail
Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:15 UTC
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© IU Health.orgFired: IU Health Goshen said its decision to fire workers who don't take the flu vaccine is backed up by the CDC
An Indiana hospital has fired eight employees, many of them veteran nurses, because they refused to take the flu vaccine.
IU Health Goshen is just the latest hospital to force its employees to receive the jab and fire or discipline the ones who object. At least four of the nurses who was terminated tried to appeal the vaccine on religious grounds with the help of a lawyer. The hospital rejected their arguments and fired them anyway.

The Elkhart Truth reports that the hospital informed its staff in early September that vaccinations would be mandatory for all employees. The hospital said it was following guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Medical Association, which both recommend mandatory vaccinations for employees.

'As a hospital and health system, our top priority is and should be patient safety, and we know that hospitalized people with compromised immune systems are at a greater risk for illness and death from the flu,' hospital spokeswoman Melanie McDonald told the newspaper.

'The flu has the highest death rate of any vaccine preventable disease, and it would be irresponsible from our perspective for health care providers to ignore that.'
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