Society's ChildS


Vader

Texas, US: Mom Says Prickly School Cop Killed Her Son

school bus
© Courthouse News Service
San Antonio - A 14-year-old boy got into a fight at a school bus stop and the school district's police officer responded by shooting him to death, the boy's mother says. She says the cop had been reprimanded 16 times in the previous 4 years, suspended without pay 5 times, and "recommended for termination for insubordination," but the school kept him on the force "without remedial training."

Denys Lopez Moreno sued the Northside Independent School District, of San Antonio, the district's Chief of Police John Page and the alleged shooter, Daniel Alvarado, in Federal Court.

Lopez says her son, Derek, got into a fight with another boy at a school bus stop and punched the other boy once, in November 2010.

"Defendant, Alvarado, having responded to a call regarding a bus with a flat tire, witnessed Derek strike the other boy. He ordered Derek to 'freeze.' Derek hesitated and then ran from defendant Alvarado," according to the complaint.

Smoking

If You Don't Buy Me Toys, I'll Start Smoking Again: Threat to Mother from Four-Year-Old Boy Who First Started Lighting Up Aged TWO

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© ABC/Splash NewsAldi Rizal who gained infamy as a two year old smoker is now a chubby 4-year-old living in Sumatra, Indonesia
An Indonesian child who gained worldwide infamy for smoking aged just two years old has quit. But has told his mother he will smoke again unless she buys him toys.

Ardi Rizal was found by a US news show and became famous when a shocking video of him puffing on a cigarette went viral.

The show found that Rizal wasn't an isolated case in the country however when they discovered another smoker aged just two called Chairul, who lives in a fishing village in Eastern Java.

He was shown lighting up a cigarette straight after waking up from a nap, with help from his granddad.

Evil Rays

US: Woman Bites Flesh from Man's Face in 'Vampire' Attack

A St. Petersburg man who had dozed off in his motorized wheelchair woke up to find himself being attacked by a woman, according to police.


Morton Ellis, 69, said he fell asleep after parking his wheelchair on the porch of a vacant Hooters to escape the rain.

He said the woman, 22-year-old Josephine Rebecca Smith, told him she was a vampire as she bit off chunks of his face and part of his lip.

Heart - Black

UK: Man Jailed for Dead Girl Facebook 'Trolling' Insults

Natasha MacBryde
Natasha MacBryde threw herself under a train after being bullied
A Berkshire man has been jailed for posting abusive messages online about a schoolgirl after she committed suicide.

Sean Duffy, 25, of Reading, was handed an 18-week sentence for posts on social networking sites about Worcestershire teenager Natasha MacBryde.

He previously pleaded guilty at Reading Magistrates' Court to sending indecent or offensive communications.

Police said Duffy also posted abuse about dead teenagers in Northumberland, Gloucestershire and Staffordshire.

Duffy, of Grovelands Road, admitted two offences of "trolling" a term used to describe the trend of anonymously seeking to provoke outrage by posting insults and abuse online.

Evil Rays

'Wi-fi Refugees' Shelter in West Virginia, US Mountains

Dozens of Americans who claim to have been made ill by wi-fi
© BBCDozens of Americans who claim to have been made ill by wi-fi and mobile phones have flocked to the town of Green Bank, West Virginia
There are five billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide and advances in wireless technology make it increasingly difficult to escape the influence of mobile devices. But while most Americans seem to embrace continuous connectivity, some believe it's making them physically ill.

Diane Schou is unable to hold back the tears as she describes how she once lived in a shielded cage to protect her from the electromagnetic radiation caused by waves from wireless communication.

"It's a horrible thing to have to be a prisoner," she says. "You become a technological leper because you can't be around people.

"It's not that you would be contagious to them - it's what they're carrying that is harmful to you."

Ms Schou is one of an estimated 5% of Americans who believe they suffer from Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS), which they say is caused by exposure to electromagnetic fields typically created by mobile phones, wi-fi and other electronic equipment.

Cult

Pope Accused of Crimes Against Humanity

pope benedict
© Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesPope Benedict XVI
The Pope and top Vatican cardinals have been accused of possible crimes against humanity for sheltering guilty Catholic priests, in formal complaints to the International Criminal Court.

The Centre for Constitutional Rights, a New York-based non-profit legal group, requested an ICC inquiry on behalf of the Survivors Network, arguing that the global church has maintained a "long-standing and pervasive system of sexual violence" despite promises to swiftly oust predators.

The Vatican said it had no immediate comment on the complaint.

The complaint names Pope Benedict XVI, partly in his former role as leader of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which in 2001 explicitly gained responsibility for overseeing abuse cases; Cardinal William Levada, who now leads that office; Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state under Pope John Paul II; and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who now holds that post.

Pistol

Another mysterious foreigner death in Fiji

A Japanese woman has become the fourth foreigner to die in unexplained circumstances since July in Fiji's tourist belt.

Two of the deaths have been of New Zealanders.

News of the death of Mami Nakamura, 27, has been kept out of the censored Fiji media since her body was found a week ago, but has now been disclosed as anti-military government blog sites revealed it.

Deaths of foreigners are subject to tight censorship as the Voreqe Bainimarama regime fears it will damage their multi-million tourist industry.

Former Greymouth hotelier Tony Groom was badly beaten in Nadi on July 8 and died eight days later. News of his death was suppressed until revealed in New Zealand, but Fiji police concluded he died of natural causes.

Newspaper

US: Small Cities Struggle to Pay for 9/11 Memorials

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© AP Photo/Wilfredo LeePeople gather to mark the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks and to unveil a 9-11 memorial, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011 in Pembroke Pines, Fla.
The memorial started with a steel beam salvaged from the World Trade Center - a small piece of the terrorist attacks that the city of Pembroke Pines, Fla., was determined to honor in its own way.

Nobody from this Fort Lauderdale suburb died on Sept. 11. But plans for its memorial grew ever more elaborate - at one point projected to cost more than $1 million - as the years passed.

"It was a glass-enclosed, air-conditioned house," recalled the city's mayor, Frank Ortis. "With a reflection pool and water running down, hurricane-resistant glass. Obviously we couldn't do that."

Hundreds of small memorials to Sept. 11 have bloomed across the country in the 10 years since the attacks. But in many towns, what began as a simple tribute to the dead turned into an expensive headache as the cost of building such memorials ballooned and the economy deteriorated.

Heart - Black

US: Chicago Teen charged with beating his parents to death

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© Cook County Sheriff's Dept via APJohn Granat, 17, of Palos Park, Ill., was charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of his parents.
A high school student in suburban Chicago has been charged with killing his parents, who were found beaten in their home on Sunday morning.

John Granat, 17, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the beating deaths of his parents, Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart said Tuesday.

The Cook County medical examiner on Monday ruled that 42-year-old Maria Granat and 44-year-old John Granat died after suffering multiple blunt force injuries. Maria Granat was also stabbed. They were pronounced dead early Sunday in their southwest suburban Chicago home.

Early Sunday morning, Granat called 911, bringing police to the family home, the Chicago Tribune reported. He's scheduled to appear in court Tuesday morning.

Arrow Down

Bus-Train Crash Kills 7, Injures 162 in Argentina

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© AP Photo/Rodolfo PezzoniA wounded passenger is carried out a train after it crashed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011.
A train slammed into a bus trying to beat it across the railroad tracks during rush hour Tuesday, ramming the vehicle into a platform and then striking another locomotive head-on. At least seven people were killed and more than 160 injured, authorities said.

The bus driver was among those killed, Argentine Transportation Secretary J.P. Schiavi said.

The force of the arriving train reduced the bus to a fraction of its width as it became wedged against the station platform. The front of the train then slammed into another train that was preparing to leave the Flores station in the opposite direction on the Sarmiento line, which connects the suburb of Moreno to the Once station downtown.

Schiavi said children also were among those injured in the accident, which happened at 6:15 a.m., just when many parents use public transportation to take their children to school.