Confessed Teen Killer's Social Networking Hobbies: 'Killing People'
Alyssa Bustamante's MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube profiles are eerie in that "teen who engages in self-injurious behavior and bullshits about being tough" way. Except, when she lists "killing people" as a hobby? Police say that part was true.
Jefferson City, MO police say that 15-year-old Bustamante confessed to the gruesome murder of 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten, whose throat was slashed and who endured multiple stab wounds; that Bustamante planned the crime in advance; that she hid the body; and that, as the Associated Press summarizes, she did it "without provocation because she wanted to know what it felt like." What's more, Bustamante apparently recorded some of her more disturbing thoughts and actions on social networking sites:
On a YouTube profile viewed by The Associated Press, which has since been taken down, Bustamante listed her hobbies as "killing people" and "cutting." A year ago, Bustamante posted a video to the site in which she appears to intentionally shock herself on an electric fence near her home, then goads her two younger brothers into doing the same.
Alyssa's MySpace and Facebook profiles are locked, but we managed a few glimpses of profiles under cutesy handles Alyssaheartsyou<3 and ramen_noodles_w00t on MySpace and her girly full name, Alyssa Dailene Bustamante, on Facebook:
Like most teens, Bustamante posed for profile pictures that aimed to communicate something about herself. The message is alternately run-of-the-mill and grim. Did the adults in Alyssa's life catch the red flags? Few details about Bustamante's home and school life have emerged, though Fox News reports that Bustamante had been in and out of mental health care facilities:
Juvenile officer David Cook testified that Bustamante has received mental health services since September 2007 after she attempted suicide. She had a 10-day stay in the mid-Missouri Mental Health Center after the attempt, and has received mental health services from Pathways Community Behavioral Healthcare in Jefferson City since.
Cook said Bustamante takes Prozac for depression and also received services for mood swings and self-harm. Cook said Bustamante has a history of cutting herself, but said that there were no indications she was homicidal.
Bustamante has been in police custody since she led authorities to Olten's body on Oct. 23, and was certified this week as an adult so she can be tried as one. 9-year-old victim Elizabeth Olten is remembered as a happy child who loved animals and playing dress up.
Toddler, two, with hand injuries has legs amputated by mistake in South African hospital blunder
By Emily Miller
Last updated at 12:48 PM on 30th November 2009
Two-year-old Thembisa Kometsi's legs were amputated by mistake at Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital, in South Africa (file picture)
A two-year-old girl was admitted to hospital with burn marks on her hands but ended up having both her legs amputated by mistake.
An investigation has been launched after the blunder at a hospital near Johannesburg, South Africa.
Health chiefs said they believed a miscommunication between staff when the child was moved between hospitals had led doctors to perform the unnecessary surgery last week on little Thembisa Kometsi.
Health department spokesman Mandla Sidu said: 'The toddler was admitted at Far East Rand Hospital and later transferred to Charlotte Maxeke Academic hospital to be treated for burns on her hands. Instead she ended up with her legs being amputated.'
Officials are today due to meet hospital staff to discuss possible disciplinary action, according to a report in South Africa's Times newspaper.
Mr Mahlangu added: ''Those found to be guilty of negligence.. disciplinary action will taken against them which may lead to dismissal.'
The blunder follows a previous complaint about hospitals in the Johannesburg area.
Last week a grieving father claimed he was forced to search through the bodies of 40 dead babies to find that of his son after the child died in childbirth.
Officials have launched a separate investigation into his allegations.
From Times Online
November 30, 2009
Radioactive isotope put in water-cooler by nuclear power worker
Rhys Blakely in Mumbai
55 workers were treated after drinking tritium which can increase the risk of cancer
India's atomic power agency is investigating after a disgruntled nuclear power plant worker added a radioactive isotope to a workplace water-cooler.
Fifty-five employees at the high security Kaiga Nuclear Power Plant were given emergency medical treatment after they drank contaminated water spiked with the radioactive isotope tritium. Their exposure was revealed during post-shift urine tests. Exposure to tritium can increase the risk of cancer.
The Government has said that the contamination was deliberate. Science Minister Prithviraj Chavan said: "On the face of it, the incident appears to be the handiwork of a disgruntled employee."
The suspects had been narrowed down to 15 people, officials said.
That the water-cooler was in a high security area close to a reactor that was supposed to be monitored around the clock, is likely to stoke concerns about the vulnerability of India’s nuclear power plants to terrorist attacks.
India is set to embark on a large building programme of atomic reactors after signing a deal last year that gave it access to international civilian nuclear technology for the first time in three decades, despite its refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. India was previously a nuclear pariah, blacklisted by the international community in the 1970s after it tested nuclear weapons.
Anil Kakodkar, the Indian Atomic Energy Commission chairman, said that the contamination was an "inside job". "Someone has deliberately done this. Those who are involved would be punished under the Atomic Energy [Act] and other acts after investigation."
Mr Kakodkar said that a team from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board was at the Kaiga site, which is in the southern state of Karnataka about 280 miles from Bangalore, to conduct an investigation.
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited said in a statement: "The initial probe does not indicate any violation or deviation of operating procedures or radioactivity releases or security breach. We are more or less zeroed-in on the act of mischief."
Body Found in Septic Tank Believed to Be That of Missing Florida Toddler
Sunday, November 29, 2009
The body of a child found at the bottom of an uncovered septic tank is believed to be that of a missing Florida toddler, MyFoxTampaBay.com reported.
Luis Martinez, 2, disappeared Friday afternoon from a neighbor's house on Silver Lane in Valrico, Fla. His parents reported him missing at about 3:30 p.m.
Police are waiting for the medical examiner's office to confirm the identity of the body, according to MyFoxTampaBay.com.
Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee said grass was covering most of the tank, which had an opening about 11 inches wide.
"It was a very dangerous situation," Gee told MyFoxTampaBay.com. "You couldn't even see the hole plug — it was missing, probably for several years, and grass had grown over it."
About 400 volunteers helped search for Luis Saturday morning, according to the sheriff.
"Our hearts broke ... just the manner in which this all happened," said Gee.
Hillsborough Sheriff's Col. Greg Brown said earlier Saturday that investigators had identified sex offenders who live within a 5-mile radius of the house where Luis disappeared, which is standard procedure in missing child cases.
Officials from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement conducted interviews at the scene and helped in the search for Luis. Authorities used dogs, horses and helicopters in the hunt for the child on Friday.
Father's agony as he is forced to choose between saving his wife or son from drowning
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 12:15 PM on 30th November 2009
A devastated father was faced with the horrific choice of deciding whether to rescue his wife or son after their car plunged into a river.
Stacy Horton dove into the murky depths of the Whanganui River on New Zealand’s North Island after hearing his wife screaming in the darkness.
Mr Horton managed to save Vanessa, 35, but the couple’s son, Silva, 13, drowned, following the crash late on Saturday night.
Horror: Stacy Horton saved the life of his wife Vanessa, but their son Silva, drowned in the accident
Arriving at the accident just minutes later, Mr Horton saw his son’s friend and the family dog scrambling up the bank. Silva was trapped in the submerged station wagon.
He tried to dive down to the vehicle, which was nose down but with the tail lights burning more than 3 feet (1 meter) below the surface, he told the Dominion Post newspaper.
'I tried to get down and get him but I couldn't - it was just too deep. And Vanessa was going under,' Mr Horton.
Tragedy: The accident happened on Saturday night at Whanganui River on New Zealand's North Island
'I made a call to pull my wife to safety. I looked back and I could see the tail lights but it was too far and I couldn't get him,' he said.
'Instead of going down and risking my life as well as my wife and son's, I chose to take Vanessa back and sat on the shore praying. It was all I could do,' a distraught Mr Horton said.
Police and fire officers also were unable to rescue the boy from inside the vehicle.
Mid-Central police spokeswoman Kim Perks today admitted it had been a very tough call for Mr Horton, saying: 'I would certainly not have wanted to be in his shoes.'
Senior fire station officer Gary Wilson said the water was dark and murky and firefighters struggled in vain to reach the car.
'We tried everything but to no avail,' he said.
Divers recovered Silva’s body on Sunday
Philadelphia Police Search for Man Who Allegedly Beat, Raped Blind Woman
Monday, November 30, 2009
PHILADELPHIA — Police are searching for a man they say beat and raped a blind woman in her home.
Authorities say the 50-year-old victim was walking toward the front door of her home in the city's Mayfair section on Sunday afternoon when the attacker approached her from behind.
The woman was pushed inside her home, beaten and raped. She has been hospitalized with injuries.
Police did not know how long the attack lasted but sent a SWAT team to the home about 5 p.m. because the victim was unsure whether the man had left.
Detectives say the woman's home was ransacked and they're investigating whether more than one attacker was involved.
Police 'want to search Tiger Woods' mansion and seize his medical files'
By David Gardner
Last updated at 12:35 PM on 30th November 2009
Florida police want to seize Tiger Woods' medical files and search his mansion as questions grow over what really happened when the golfer crashed his car on Friday night.
Investigators want Woods' medical records to see if his injuries are consistent with a car crash - or with an attack by his wife, U.S. media reports said today.
If police believe the injuries to his face were actually caused during a row with his wife Elin Nordegren rather than in the crash, she could face assault charges.
A costly mistake: The SUV came to a standstill on the grass after hitting a tree
Tiger Woods and wife Elin Nordegren together in New York last year
Woods broke his silence last night over the mysterious crash that led to reports his wife had attacked him after a row over another woman.
But he failed to address key questions over the incident.
Confusion over what really happened deepened still further after the golf superstar cancelled a third attempt by police to interview him in as many days.
Speaking for the first time since the accident in the early hours of Friday morning, Woods praised his wife for coming to his rescue.
Crumpled: Woods' Cadillac after it hit a hydrant (circled left) then a tree outside his home
'There's someone down in front of my house'
The transcript of the four-minute 911 phone call made by Woods' male neighbour:
Neighbour: I need an ambulance immediately. I have someone down in front of my house. They hit a pole. I came out to see if they...
Operator: Is it a car accident sir? (Inaudible.) OK sir is it a car accident? Hello? Sir?
N:? Hello? Yes.
O: Is it a car accident, sir?
N: Yes. It's a car accident. Yes. I need you. Yes.
O: OK, are they trapped inside of the vehicle?
N: No, they are lying on the ground now.
O: OK, stay on the line for a medical. Don't hang up, OK. And it's in front of your house, correct? (Inaudible.)
O: OK sir, medical on the line, sir OK? Fire department to transfer (to colleague).
(Cuts out)
N: Yes, Windermere, Florida.
Operator 2: What happened, what's wrong?
N: I have a neighbour. He hit the tree. We came out here just to see what was going on. I see him, he's laying down.
O2: You mean it was an auto accident?
N: Yes, it was an auto accident, yes.
O2: Was he outside or inside of his car? Your phone broke up, I heard inside. Are you there?
O: Hello, sir, are you there?
O2: Is he unconscious?
N: Yes.
O2: Are you able to tell if he's breathing?
N: No, I can't tell right now.
O2: OK, all right we do have help on the way. What colour's his car too?
N: It's a black Escalade.
O2: Is anyone able to open the door?
N: Yeah, we're trying to figure it out right now.
O: OK, is he trapped inside of the vehicle or is he on the ground?
N: (inaudible) We're just trying to get the police here right now. We don't know what happened.
O2: OK, we've got paramedics on the way but I'm going to stay on the phone in case you do find out further, OK?
N: OK, OK, thank you.
O: OK sir, is he on the ground or is he in the car?
N: Yes he's on the (inaudible).
O2: Hello, you there still?
N: Yes, I'm still here.
O2: OK, all right. Your phone's real staticy but we can still hear.
N: OK.
O2: As son as I know I'll let you know how far away they are too. Are you with them right now?
N: Yes, I'm with them right (inaudible).
O2: OK, tell me how his breathing's doing if you're able to.
(Inaudible.)
O2: Can you hear his breathing?
O: Hello, sir, are you there?
O2: Anybody hear me?
O: Hello?
O2: I heard a click, but...
O: Yeah I'm hearing that too. Hello?
O2: His phone must be going out of range. It looked like he was on a house phone so when he went to the (inaudible) he probably lost his connection. We do have help on the way, we should be there in just a couple of minutes.
O: We're there, we're going too.
O2: OK appreciate that, thank you.
'The only person responsible for the accident is me,' he said on his website after days of speculation.
'My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble. She was the first person to help me. Any other assertion is absolutely false.'
Officers have taken statements from neighbours in teh gated community of Isleworth, near Orlando.
They have also asked for any CCTV footage that might have captured what caused Woods to hit a fire hydrant and ram a tree in his neighbour's garden at 2.25am.
TMZ, the U.S. website that gained credibility when it was the first to report Michael Jackson's death, claimed yesterday that Woods told a friend that his wife 'went ghetto' on him after a bust-up over reports that he was having an affair.
The former Swedish model scratched Woods' face, drawing blood, and attacked his car with a golf club as he tried to drive away from his home in Orlando Florida, said TMZ.
The website said he told the friend that he became 'distracted' and hit a water hydrant and an oak tree after his wife came after him with a golf club.
But Woods blasted the 'false, unfounded and malicious rumours' last night, saying: 'I have some cuts, bruising and right now I'm pretty sore. This situation is my fault and it's obviously embarrassing to my family and me. I'm human and I'm not perfect.'
The statement was released as it was revealed that attempts to interview Woods and his wife were rebuffed for the third time.
Officers were initially told by Miss Nordegren that Woods was sleeping and couldn't see them on Friday afternoon.
A second planned interview on Saturday was cancelled in a call from his agent and police were again told Woods was not available to talk to them last night. Under the law in Florida, Woods is not required to talk to officers about a traffic accident investigation.
There was speculation last night that the reason Woods was delaying a meeting was possibly to allow the wounds on his face to heal. TMZ claimed that if police suspect his wife caused the scratches, she could be arrested for domestic abuse.
Under Florida law, police have the power to intervene in a spousal violence case regardless of what those involved want.
The latest twist came as the woman named in U.S. media reports as Woods' alleged mistress, 34-year-old Rachel Uchitel, flew to Los Angeles to meet up with high profile celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred. She has emphatically denied the allegations.
The TMZ version is at odds with the first official reports of the accident in which police said Miss Nordegren went to the aid of her husband and helped free him from the car - which had hit a fire hydrant and a tree - by breaking the back window with one of his clubs because the doors were all sealed by the central locking. Police said that alcohol was not a factor.
TMZ claimed the couple had had a vicious bust-up in the early hours last Friday over a story that came out just hours beforehand in America's National Enquirer magazine claiming Woods had cheated on his wife.
The website said Woods, 33, told a friend that he had beaten a retreat. He got into his vehicle and drove away slowly, but was 'distracted' when he saw his wife coming after him with a golf club. He hit the hydrant and an oak tree outside his house.
The famously private golfer, who was the highest paid athlete in the world last year with £65.8million in winnings and endorsements, was found in the early hours of Friday morning lying in the road by his dented £35,000 Cadillac Escalade with his petite wife.
The neighbour who phoned 911 was interviewed by police on Saturday, and a transcript of his phone call released Sunday.
Eye of the storm: Rachel Uchitel, the woman at the centre of the Tiger Woods infidelity allegations, arrives in Los Angeles from New York yesterday
11/28/09
British couple subjected to vile 'Clockwork Orange' style sex attack on Thailand holiday
By Andrew Drummond
Last updated at 12:26 PM on 28th November 2009
A British couple have become victims of a horrendous Clockwork Orange-style sex attack ordeal while on holiday in Thailand.
The professional couple had chosen the Thai holiday island of Koh Chang to round off a memorable one-year sabbatical from their jobs touring the world.
But last night, the couple, one a government employee, the other a businessman, fled Thailand after they were subjected to a night of terror in which they say they were drugged and raped by a gang they suspect preys on foreign tourists.
Paradise lost: Koh Chang island in Thailand, where a British businessman was forced to watch a sexual assault on his wife
The couple did not wish to be fully identified. But the man, Richard, 42, remembers being forced to watch as his wife Susan, 31, was sexually assaulted by two men.
For the next two days, the couple lay almost motionless in their holiday bungalow as gradually their memories returned.
They called the police, but when nobody went to see them, they went to a local hospital to be examined by doctors.
Richard said: 'The doctor there examined us and listened to our story and seemed to know what had happened straight away.
'He told us we were showing all the symptoms of having been given the drug Dormicum – a date rape drug. I do not know the drug, but it seemed of no surprise to the doctor.
'When I asked the doctor if he could check for any traces, he said no, it would have been cleared out of our systems by now.'
Vile: The couple were drugged in the Clockwork Orange-style attack and lay still for two days as they slowly came to their senses
Examinations showed both had been raped and sexually abused in other ways.
They contacted the police, who they say showed scant interest and did little in the way of investigation.
They also contacted British authorities, but say the British representative on the island who came to see them was not interested either.
Last night, they were on their way back to Britain, with little prospect of anything being done. But they wanted to make others aware of the dangers of making contact with strangers in such places.
Richard said: 'I know many people are not going to believe this and say that we must have been taking drink or drugs through choice. But nothing could be further from the truth.'
Susan said the night of their ordeal began with a pleasant drink at a beach bar, where they met an Englishwoman and some Frenchmen. They stayed in their company at the bar, although at one point she and her partner left for a short time, returning to join them. It was at that point, she believes, the drinks were spiked.
'Things became a bit hazy. And then one of the Frenchmen lifted me up and carried me out of the bar. In a normal situation I would not let anybody do such a thing. It was bizarre.'
The group all went back to the couple's bungalow.
Coming home: The couple are making their way back to Britain from the island close to the Cambodian border
'Then things got hazier and hazier,' she said.
'Everything was a blur.'
Richard said he could vaguely remember being outside the bungalow and watching through a window as Susan was assaulted by the men.
'The next thing it was light and I was lying on the balcony in a foetal position and the Frenchman were standing above me looking down and laughing and saying what they had done to Susan.'
He realised that at some point he too had been sexually attacked.
The couple said that when they were able to complain to police 'they did not seem very interested'.
After contacting the British Embassy they were visited by a consular representative, a local Thai woman, who told them the police would not take the case seriously.
'We have been contacted by the police who have asked us what we are going to do,' said Richard.
'We do not want to let the matter drop. But we must get home to our families.'
A Thai Police spokesman strenuously denied they were not taking the couple's complaint seriously and said an investigation was under way.
A British Embassy spokesman said: 'The consular team in Bangkok have been in touch throughout to give help and advice to the British nationals involved and are urgently following up with the Thai police.
'A member of staff from our consulate in Pattaya visited the British nationals within the first day of the embassy being contacted to provide face-to-face assistance. Our consular staff in London have also been in touch with the family members in the UK.'
Police Arrest South Dakota Boy for Shooting Mom With Arrow
Friday, November 27, 2009
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Police in Sioux Falls, South Dakota say a 17-year-old boy has been arrested after he shot his mother in the back with a homemade arrow fired from a makeshift bow.
Police spokesman Sam Clemens say the two got into an argument Tuesday evening.
Clemens says the boy used a fishing pole and a shoelace to make a rudimentary bow, then fashioned an arrow out of a sharpened plastic rod.
He says the mother ended up with a small cut on her back.
Police took the boy to a juvenile detention center.
The Last Nazi, aged 89, finally faces justice as he goes on trial accused of helping to kill 28,000 Jews
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 12:29 PM on 28th November 2009
He is frail and almost 90 years old but a former SS guard will finally face justice over the deaths of almost 28,000 Jews in the Holocaust next week.
In what may be the final Nazi trial, John Demjanjuk, 89, will appear in court in Munich over allegations he took part in an extermination programme at Sobibor in Poland.
The Ukrainian-born former U.S. auto worker fought in the Red Army before being captured by the Nazis and recruited as a concentration camp guard.
He was extradited from the U.S. in May after months of legal wrangling and is due to go on trial on Monday despite his family insisting he is too frail to be in the dock.
John Demjanjuk, pictured earlier this year, is going on trial in Munich on Monday over the murder of 27,900 Jews in the Holocaust
Demjanjuk, who denies any involvement in the Holocaust, will come face to face with one of the lucky few who survived the camp where at least 250,000 people died.
Thomas Blatt, whose younger brother and parents were killed at Sobibor, has travelled from his American home to see the trial.
'It is important to hear the testimony of those times, for young people to truly know the meaning of the hell on earth that was Sobibor,' he 88-year-old told the Daily Mirror.
'The stink of carbon monoxide, the naked little children going to be gassed, the flames that licked out of the furnace chimney as all you knew and loved evaporated before your eyes.
'Demjanjuk is not an old man who deserves pity but who should come to terms with what he did.'
Clue: John Demjanjuk's alleged SS card
'His physical condition alters by the day, even by the hour. He is an old man suffering from a range of ailments,' his lawyer, Guenther Maull, told Reuters.
'His mood swings, too. Sometimes you think he as an old man who is mentally absent but you don't know if it's a general condition or an illness,' he said.
Despite protestations from his family, medics have deemed Demjanjuk fit for trial.
The hearings in Munich will be limited to two 90-minute sessions per day due to his frail condition.
The trial is due to last until May and Demjanjuk could be sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
'It is an opportunity to demonstrate what inhuman behaviour the Nazi regime executed and to respect my family's memory,' said David van Huiden, a Dutch co-plaintiff whose parents and 18-year-old sister were gassed at Sobibor.
'He should get the heaviest available punishment according to German law.'
The Wiesenthal Center, which says Demjanjuk pushed men, women and children into gas chambers, says the trial sends a message that justice can be done even after decades.
'John Demjanjuk has lived a largely undisturbed life. He has been with his family, celebrated birthdays and anniversaries, something his victims didn't have the chance to do,' said Rabbi Marvin Hier, Dean of the Center in Los Angeles.
'Do we have compassion? No, not at all. He'll be in court where he belongs.'
Many Germans, keen to draw a line under the Nazi past and forge a new role for their country, are resigned to the spectacle of the trial which has underscored Germany's patchy record on bringing its Nazi war criminals to justice.
The Institute for Contemporary History in Munich says West Germany has seen only about 6,600 convictions. About two thirds of those individuals got sentences of less than two years in jail. There are no reliable figures for Communist East Germany.
'There have been many investigations but if you look at the dimensions of the crimes, the results are unsatisfactory,' said Andreas Eichmueller, a Nazi war crime expert at the Institute.
While acknowledging he was at other camps, Demjanjuk has denied he was in Sobibor, which prosecutors say was run by 20-30 SS members and 100-150 former Soviet prisoners of war.
In the gas chambers, Jews died within 30 minutes of a toxic mix of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, say prosecutors who argue Demjanjuk was at Sobibor for about six months in 1943.
Experts say the trial's most interesting aspect is whether prosecutors can prove Demjanjuk was party to specific crimes.
'The court will enter new ground if it convicts him just because he was there. Usually there has to be proof of a concrete crime,' said Eichmueller.
'The prosecutors seem to be saying purely because he was in an extermination camp, he was involved in murder. That's different from proving an actual crime,' said Eichmueller.
Demjanjuk was extradited from the United States to Israel in 1986, accused of being 'Ivan the Terrible', a notoriously sadistic guard at the Treblinka death camp.
He was sentenced to death in 1988 but his conviction was overturned when new evidence showed another man was probably 'Ivan'.
11/27/09
Pictured: Squirrel mother goes nuts and attacks dog trying to eat her baby
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 2:14 PM on 25th November 2009
They have a bit of a reputation for a vicious streak, but this dog certainly got more than it bargained for after pouncing on a baby squirrel it found on the ground.
Moments before the hapless baby would have been torn apart, these images show its mother appearing to leap off a nearby tree and attacking the surprised dog.
Barking mad: The squirrel gets ready to leap off the tree and its terrified baby is pounced on by the dog
Using its sharp teeth and claws, the squirrel tore into its canine opponent and distracted it so the baby could escape to freedom.
It is unclear if the images have been edited, but the startled dog appears in considerable pain as the squirrel bites into its flank.
The surprise assault gives the baby squirrel just enough time to climb back up the nearby tree before its mother is thrown clear and escapes from the dog.
The baby squirrel appears to have fallen to the ground as it was being helped up the tree.
Make it snappy: The plucky creature bites and claws the dog, allowing its baby to escape certain death
That's my baby! The dog snarls in pain as the squirrel leaps in to attack it - and the baby makes a leap for the safety of the tree
Spotting the helpless creature on the ground, the dog pounces and traps it underneath its front paws as it closes for the kill.
But it appears to have underestimated its diminutive opponent, as the brave mother squirrel clearly has no intention of letting her baby become dinner and rushes to its aid by jumping on the dog's head.
After the whirlwind attack the mother squirrel springs free of the dog and rushes her baby back up into the safety of the tree.
The frustrated dog is left sitting forlornly at the base of the tree as its prey escapes into the upper branches.
The images appeared on a website that was set up solely to promote them using Weebly, a website creation programme.
Thanks mum: The heroic squirrel ushers its baby back up the tree to safety
Oklahoma Man Gets 33 Years for Killing Dad, Hiding Body in Freezer
Friday, November 27, 2009
OKLAHOMA CITY — A 23-year-old Oklahoma man has been sentenced to 33 years in prison after acknowledging he killed his father three years ago and hid his body in a freezer.
Former high school soccer star Andrew Jude Thompson pleaded guilty Wednesday in Oklahoma County District Court to first-degree manslaughter.
Prosecutors had charged Thompson with first-degree murder and his trial was set to start Dec. 14.
In December 2006, authorities found the body of 48-year-old Emmanuel Thompson stuffed in a car trunk, not long after a witness had reported seeing a body in a freezer at the home Andrew Thompson and his father shared in The Village.
Part of Andrew Thompson's guilty plea included an acknowledgment that he hit his father in the head with an ax "in the heat of passion, during a verbal argument."
China Executes 2 Men for Abducting and Selling Children
Friday, November 27, 2009
BEIJING — China has executed two men for abducting and selling 15 children, many of whom were taken as babies or toddlers and have not yet been reunited with their parents, state media said Friday.
The official Xinhua News Agency said Hu Minghua, 55, and Su Binde, 27, were executed Thursday morning, according to a statement from the Supreme People's Court.
Hu was convicted of kidnapping and selling nine children from April 1999 to Oct. 2005. He was detained in January 2006. Five of the children, all boys now aged from 3 to 6, have been returned to their families, while the parents of the remaining ones have not been found.
Su was convicted of abducting six children between Sept. 2005 to July 2006. Five of the children were rescued by police while a sixth remains missing.
Child trafficking is big problem in China, where traditional preference for male heirs and a restrictive one-child policy has driven a thriving market in baby boys, who fetch a considerably higher price than girls. Girls and women also are abducted and often used as laborers or as brides for unwed sons.
Thousands of children go missing every year though the exact numbers of victims are difficult to obtain. Earlier this year, Chinese police announced they had rescued about 2,000 abducted children as part of a nationwide crackdown on widespread trafficking of women and children.
In October, China's Ministry of Public Security set up a Web site — "Babies Looking for Home" — to reunite rescued children with their families.
State media have reported hundreds of rescues and arrests since the campaign began in April, and the new site had photos of dozens of children rescued from kidnappers but who had not yet found their families. The ministry set up a national DNA database earlier this year.
Russian bride's revealing wedding dress is web sensation
A bride’s startlingly revealing wedding dress has become an internet sensation.
By Tom Chivers
Published: 6:12PM GMT 25 Nov 2009
Originally posted on Wedinator a site dedicated to showcasing wedding photo disasters from around the world, the image has now been reposted on hundreds of blogs across the web.
The unnamed woman, believed to be Russian, is shown getting out of a limousine wearing a white dress, the top half of which consists of two small, strategically positioned semicircles over a dramatic embonpoint.
Predictably the internet’s fashion commentators have not been uniformly complimentary. One, the author of a blog post called “The Five Sluttiest Wedding Dresses”, describes it as “the equivalent of the groom wearing a codpiece”.
Others have wondered whether the choice of a white dress is perhaps misleading, while others make the inevitable puns: “They make a lovely pair” seems to be the most common.
Wedinator, which has been running since February, includes among its other catastrophic nuptials a video of a public proposal gone hideously wrong , and CCTV footage apparently showing a bride cheating with the groom’s best man during the reception.
Christian girl, 16, gets 50 lashes for wearing 'indecent' knee-length skirt in Sudan
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 1:56 PM on 27th November 2009
A 16-year-old Sudanese girl was lashed 50 times after a judge ruled her knee-length skirt was indecent, her family said today.
The mother of Christian teenager Silva Kashif said she is to sue police and the judge who imposed the sentence under Islamic shariah law.
Saying she only learned about her daughter's conviction after she had been lashed, mother Jenty Doro said the family's religion should have been taken into account.
Kashif, whose family comes from the south Sudanese town of Yambio, was arrested while walking to the market near her home in the Khartoum suburb of Kalatla last week, Doro told Reuters.
The Omdurman market in Khartoum (file picture), one of the city's many markets. Silva Kashif was arrested as she walked to a market near her home in the Khartoum suburb of Kalatla last week
'She is just a young girl but the policeman pulled her along in the market like she was a criminal. It was wrong,' said Doro.
Doro said Khashif was taken to Kalatla court where she was convicted and punished by a female police officer in front of the judge.
'I only heard about it after she was lashed. Later we all sat and cried ... People have different religions and that should be taken into account' she said.
Kashif's lawyer Azhari al-Haj said he was preparing a case against the police and judge for arresting and sentencing an under-age girl. He said according to the law, people under 18 should not be given lashes.
'She was wearing a normal skirt and blouse, worn by thousands of girls. They didn't contact a guardian and punished her on the spot.'
Al-Haj said he was hoping to win compensation and to clear Kashif's record. 'We are also against the law itself. We want the law to be changed.'
The case will add fuel to a debate already raging over Sudan's decency laws after this year's high-profile conviction of Sudanese U.N. official Lubna Hussein, who was briefly jailed for wearing trousers in public.
Hussein, a former journalist who used her case to campaign against Sudan's public order and decency regulations, is touring France to publicise her book about the prosecution.
She had faced the maximum penalty of 40 lashes but was given a lighter sentence.
Arrests for indecency, drunkenness and other public order offences are not uncommon in Khartoum which is governed by Islamic sharia law.
But the punishment of residents of the capital originating from the south remains a sensitive issue.
Sudan is supposed to be working to soften the impact of sharia for southerners living in Khartoum under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of north-south civil war.
The deal lifted sharia law in the south, where most follow Christianity and traditional beliefs.
Women's groups argue the decency laws are too vague, giving the country's separate public order police too much freedom to decide what kind of dress is appropriate.
Nigerian football star Stephen Worgu this month said he had been sentenced to 40 lashes after being wrongly convicted of drunk driving in Khartoum. The sentence has been postponed pending an appeal
Vietnamese man dug up wife's corpse 'so he could hug her'
A Vietnamese man dug up his wife's corpse and slept beside it for five years because he wanted to hug her in bed, it has been reported.
Published: 11:30PM GMT 26 Nov 2009
The 55-year-old man from a small town in the central province of Quang Nam opened up his wife's grave in 2004, moulded clay around the remains to give the figure of a woman, put clothes on her and then placed her in his bed, Vietnamnet.vn said.
The man, Le Van, told the website that after his wife died in 2003 he slept on top of her grave, but about 20 months later he worried about rain, wind and cold, so he decided to dig a tunnel into the grave "to sleep with her".
His children found out, though, and prevented him from going to the grave. So one night in November 2004 he dug up his wife's remains and took them home, Vietnamnet reported.
The father of seven said neighbours did not dare visit the house for several years.
"I'm a person that does things differently. I'm not like normal people," he was quoted as saying.
Parents of skip-death homeless man tell how their 'beautiful boy' was ruined by drink and drugs
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:58 PM on 27th November 2009
Promising future: Stefan Tomkins as a teenager before he fell victim to drin and drugs
The grieving parents of a homeless man crushed to death in the back of a bin lorry have told how their 'beautiful boy' was destroyed by drink and drugs.
Stefan Tomkins, 31, was killed after he fell asleep in a refuse container as he sheltered from the rain. He was unable to escape when the bin was emptied into the back of a truck containing a powerful crusher.
Stefan is thought to have suffocated as the rubbish was packed around him. The truck collected waste from up to 70 sites around Stockport, Greater Manchester.
A worker at a tip in Ardwick, Manchester, noticed a leg sticking out of a digger's bucket just before it was about to be dumped on another truck bound for a landfill site.
Today, his grieving parents told how his life was ruined by drink and drugs and warned vagrants of the perils of sleeping in bins.
The couple, who have not been named, said: 'It's a very, very sad waste of a young life. We never stopped believing in him. We always believed he would change.'
No-one knows which of the bins at industrial and commercial sites around Stockport Stefan had crawled into, although police suspect he probably climbed in during Tuesday night as the rain lashed down.
Tez Clegg, an outreach worker with Lifeshare, a Manchester-based charity for the homeless, said: 'It is absolutely tragic that this could happen in this day and age. It is desperately sad that someone should have to sleep in a bin to get shelter.
'But sometimes people who are homeless can find it hard to get accommodation in a hostel. If they have a criminal record, some places will not accept them.
'But many of the homeless don't sleep on the streets of the city centre - it is too dangerous. Homeless people are often a target for violence.
'We supported a 16-year-old boy who had been sleeping in a bin. He was dragged from the bin and raped.'
Stefan Tomkins appeared to have everything going for him. Originally from Timperley, he attended Altrincham Boys' Grammar School and later studied for a media science degree at Sheffield Hallam University.
But the athletic teenager fell in with the wrong crowd and became addicted to alcohol and cannabis before turning to stronger drugs like ecstasy and eventually heroin.
He dropped out of university after 18 months and was thrown out of the family home after he bacme abusive towards his family. He eventually started living rough.
The once athletic 6ft 2in Stefan, who lived around Chorlton, became a physical wreck and his weight plummeted to eight stone.
Stefan Tomkins attended Altrincham Boys' Grammar School
Stefan's mother and father, a psychiatric nurse, said: 'Brief periods of sobriety did reveal his true personality - he was loving and caring but his life became a desolate decline. His fall was bottomless really.
'The initial gateway drug was cannabis but as far as we know it led to the whole arena of drugs.
'His decent and caring friends were substituted by undesirables and drug pushers because he gravitated towards these people.
'He alienated his circle of friends. The drugs took over and became the focus of his life. Life at home became intolerable.
'He left university and he underwent a complete personality change, becoming hard, angry and brittle.
'We tried so hard to reach out but we were met with rejection and criticism. He manipulated money out of his family and everything was centred predominantly around alcohol.
'Even though his father was a counsellor and nurse therapist working in substance abuse services, no amount of guidance or support could bring about positive change. He heard the horror stories but it didn't deter him.
'We couldn't live with his incessant drinking, night after night, the horrific language and abuse. It was intolerable and we asked him to leave and told him if he got his life back together he was welcome back.
'We sincerely hope that his untimely and unwelcome death strikes home to other homeless people.
'Notwithstanding his lifestyle, we loved him with all our heart but that wasn't enough to save him. We hope and pray he didn't suffer and is now in a better place.'
Woman Made Bomb Threat So Boss Could Make Flight, Police Say
Friday, November 27, 2009
MIAMI — A South Florida woman has been charged with calling in a bomb threat to keep her boss from missing a flight.
An arrest reports says 31-year-old Claudia De La Rosa was charged Thursday with making a false report of planting a bomb.
Miami International Airport
officials received a call and an e-mail Wednesday claiming that a bomb was on an American Airlines plane. Police searched the specified aircraft but didn't find a bomb.
Investigators tracked the e-mail to De La Rosa's computer.
During questioning, De La Rosa reportedly told police that her boss had been booked on the flight to Honduras, but she had caused him to be late for the flight. She thought the bomb threat would give her boss time to make it.
De La Rosa was being held on $7,500 bail.
Princess of whales: A diver's magical encounter with a smiling giant of the Arctic deep
By David Wilkes
Last updated at 12:14 PM on 27th November 2009
Hitching a ride on a Beluga whale's back, a daring diver glides through the icy waters of the Arctic.
In an extraordinarily rare encounter between a human and this beautiful giant of the deep, the white whale is perfectly at ease with her new companion - and even appears to be smiling.
Which is just as well - as no one really knew how the Beluga would react to human company before Julia Petrik made this dazzling dive.
Whale rider: Free diver Julia Petrik catches a ride with a Beluga whale in Russia's White Sea 
White charger: The three-ton Beluga gives Julia a glorious ride into the depths
Soaring: The Beluga, far from being annoyed, seemed to be having fun
For these muscular 16ft whales can get agitated if subjected to unwanted contact and aggressively defend themselves.
Thankfully, this magnificent individual was only too happy to let Miss Petrik gently cling on to him and took her for a spin through the deep.
The incredible pictures were shot beneath the pack ice in Russia's White Sea, where a pod of the magnificent Belugas are being studied for a conservation programme.
Miss Petrik is an expert free diver and is able to hold her breath for minutes at a time. This avoids the need to use bulky scuba tanks, which release bubbles that can disorientate the whales.
The lack of kit also gives her more freedom to move and synchronise her movements with the whale. The only downside is that free diving in icy cold water takes a heavy toll on the diver's respiratory system.
Julia Petrik had to saw through more than a foot of solid ice just to reach the freezing water below and wears a thick rubber suit to guard against the extreme conditions.
Beluga whales - the name is Russian for 'the white one' - can survive here because they are able to use their powerful bulk to butt through the ice to breathe oxygen, before submerging once again into the abyss.
Their domed foreheads contain a waxy substance, thought to be involved in their ability to communicate.
They 'chatter' by whistling to each other - so much so that sailors and fishermen call them the 'sea canaries'.
Divers can spend weeks searching for Belugas in the wild, but some of the whales are being kept in a large netted enclosure to be studied.
Due to its high salinity, the water here freezes at a lower temperature than fresh water and can drop to a bone-chilling minus 2c. But Julia Petrik, given the ride of her life by this giant of the deep, soon forgot about the cold and was having a whale of time.
In sunnier climes: Petrik had to saw through over a foot of solid ice to reach the Beluga whale
UFO Chaser: Aliens Involved in Mysterious Calf Mutilations
Thursday, November 26, 2009
SAN LUIS, Colo. — A creepy string of calf mutilations in southern Colorado has a rancher and sheriff's officials mystified.
Four calves were found dead in a pasture just north of the New Mexico state line in recent weeks. The dead calves had their skins peeled back and organs cleared from the rib cage. One calf had its tongue removed.
But rancher Manuel Sanchez has found no signs of human attackers, such as footprints or ATV tracks. And there are no signs of an animal attack by a coyote or mountain lion. Usually predators leave pools of blood or drag marks from carrying away the livestock.
Two officers from the Costilla County Sheriff's Office have investigated the mutilations but say they don't know what's killing the calves.
"There's nothing really to go by," said Sanchez, who's ranched for nearly 50 years. "I can't figure it out."
A spokesman for the sheriff's office told The Pueblo Chieftain that investigators doubt a person butchered the calves because there is no blood at the scene.
"I've butchered a cow before and I know what kind of a mess it leaves," Sgt. James Chavez said.
Some in the area believe the mutilations are the work of aliens. An area UFO chaser, Chuck Zukowski of Colorado Springs, has been to the Costilla County pasture to investigate.
He told the paper there have been other unexplained calf mutilations in the area, including three in March. One of the other calves, found dead on a ranch near Trinidad, had its ears removed, Zukowski said.
"We're trying as much as we can to find a pattern," said Zukowski, who runs a UFO Web site called ufonut.com.
Sanchez said he has sold off his 32 remaining calves out of fear more would be mutilated. He hasn't decided how he'll manage the remaining 40 animals in his herd.
"It's a big loss for a small rancher," he said
Mars marvel: Stunning image of the Red Planet in winter
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:49 PM on 27th November 2009
Swirling with a myriad of shapes and textures this stunning image shows the surface of Mars in extraordinary detail.
These dunes seen within a crater on the planet were picked out by Nasa's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRiSE) camera. The crater is in the Red Planet's southern hemisphere and it was winter at the time the picture was taken.
The brighter areas picked out by the camera on Mars are being seen as as carbon dioxide or water frost. This is generally concentrated on the east-facing slopes of the dunes, which are shadow and therefore cooler
Final preparations on HIRISE. Built under the direction of the University of Arizona it has picked up seasonal changes on the dunes of Mars
The 65kg camera is on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and it picked the season's changes on the dunes. HIRISE consists of a 0.5m reflecting telescope, the largest of any deep space mission. Built under the direction of the University of Arizona if also found a number of other interesting phenomena.
The brighter areas picked out are being seen as as carbon dioxide or water frost. This is generally concentrated on the east-facing slopes of the dunes, which are shadow and therefore cooler.
Some dark spots on the dunes may be areas that have defrosted more than the surrounding terrain.
Dark-toned streaks are seen on many of the west-facing dune slopes. The general dune morphology indicates formation by westerly winds.
However, closer examination of the image shows smaller-scale ripples that appear to have been formed by winds blowing from the south and north.
An earlier image taken by HiRISE of the Victoria Crater in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars
11/26/09
Horrifying moment a man jumped into a bear's enclosure. Incredibly, BOTH survived
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:26 PM on 25th November 2009
A man hangs in the jaws of a bear, seemingly about to endure a most horrendous death by being ripped apart by massive jaws and razor-sharp claws.
But in the end it was the bear who ended up fighting for his life - shot with a police bullet in order to save the man's life.
These dramatic photographs were taken by a visitor to the Berne Bear Park, Switzerland, at the weekend when European brown bear Finn, aged four, suddenly realised he had an uninvited human guest - said yesterday to be mentally handicapped - in his enclosure.
The unidentified man is said to be doing well after the brutal bear attack
The man perched for ten minutes on a 20ft wall above Finn's pit before he jumped in.
That allowed worried park officials time to call police.
They arrived, armed with 9mm 'fragmentation' ammunition which splinters on impact, just seconds before the man jumped down into the danger zone.
The bear quickly grabbed him.
Finn picked up the intruder as if he were a rag doll, carting him to the other side of his enclosure, which opened last month.
Finn can be seen almost playing with his victim before he is finally taken down by a police marksman
And as his massive jaws and teeth - capable of crushing steel - sank into his prey, police had to act fast. They were left with no option but to open fire, they said.
Finn was hit with a single bullet to the chest.
Police, ambulancemen and zoo-keepers rushed in.
The man, who has not been named, was quickly taken away on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance.
He was treated in hospital for severe head and leg injuries, and his condition yesterday was said to be comfortable.
Finn is photographed wandering off after leaving his prey seriously injured
Paramedics move into the enclosure to rescue the injured man 
Finn, lying tranquillised under medical observation in his enclosure in Bern
Finn meanwhile was treated at the bear park by vets who decided not to operate to remove the bullet splinters, treating him with antibiotics, to which he was said to be responding well.
Bears are special for the people of Berne, being the city's symbol since the Middle Ages.
Briton Sam Brookes, who was visiting the park with his girlfriend when the attack happened, said: 'I looked in after I heard people screaming.
'The bear was standing over him and throwing him back and forth.
'Some yelled, "Get stones" to throw at the bear. I think most people had an awful shock. I can still see it when I close my eyes.'
Police and zoo officials say there has been an outpouring of public sympathy - for the bear.
Bouquets of flowers and pots of honey have been placed outside his enclosure.
Sitting up, smiling - and seeing each other for the first time: Formerly conjoined twins in 'fantastic' recovery
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 12:08 PM on 26th November 2009
The smiles on their chubby little faces say it all.
Formerly conjoined twin sisters Trishna and Krishna are sitting up, sleeping in separate beds, and seeing each other for the first time as they continue their recovery from a massive separation surgery.
The pair are enjoying favourite DVDs and trying new foods as they get used to life apart.
Fantastic: Formerly conjoined twin Krishna giggles with a carer at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne today
The bandage wrapped around her head can't faze formerly conjoined twin Trishna at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne today
Royal Children's Hospital chief of surgery Leo Donnan said this week that Trishna is now sampling bread and fruit for the first time in her life, as she previously got her nutrition from her sister.
The twins turn 3 next month.
'The exciting thing is they're now starting to play,' Donnan told reporters, saying the girls are now looking at each other and interacting. 'They're both still in fantastic shape.'
Trishna and Krishna had been joined at the top of their heads and shared brain tissue and blood vessels.
A life apart: Formerly conjoined twins Krishna (foreground) and Trishna (background) with guardian Moira Kelly at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne today
Rescued: The conjoined twins pictured at a year old when they were close to death
They were separated last Tuesday and left intensive care on Monday. They are in stable condition.
Donnan said he was amazed at the girls' improvement.
'It just shows you the amazing sort of changes that have happened with the girls in this very short time,' he said.
An aid worker first saw Trishna and Krishna in an orphanage in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, when they were a month old.
The aid worker contacted the Children First Foundation, which brought the girls to Australia for the operation.
Their mother, Lovely Mollick, 23, handed over her girls to an orphanage because she and her husband were unable to care for their special needs.
She told The Associated Press this week that she hoped the girls would grow up in Australia.
'My babies are alive and doing well. It's the best news I've ever got in my life,' the tearful mother said after the operation.
The Children First Foundation has said it will support the twins as they undergo further medical treatment in Australia for at least the next two years.
Homeless man crushed to death in a bin lorry after falling asleep in a waste bin
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:46 PM on 26th November 2009
A homeless man has been crushed to death in a bin lorry, police said today.
The man, 31, climbed into a waste bin to sleep out of the cold and rain, but the bin was later loaded into a waste collection vehicle which automatically compacts waste through its mechanical crusher.
His body was only discovered when the lorry emptied its load at a tipping site in Ardwick, Manchester, at about 11.30am on Wednesday.
A Home Office post-mortem examination concluded he died as a result of asphyxiation as he was crushed amongst the refuse.
The homeless man fell into the back of the bin lorry unnoticed (file picture)
There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death and the details have been passed to the coroner by police.
Det Supt Julian Ross from Greater Manchester Police, said: 'It would appear this man was homeless and climbed into the bin to escape the bad weather and find somewhere warmer and dryer to sleep.
'We don't know if he was suffering from hypothermia as a result of the cold but it would appear he was unable to alert those moving the bin that he was inside.
'As a result they were unaware of the tragic circumstances until they were informed by the police.
'This was a tragic accident and those involved are very upset that this man has died in this way.
'At this time of year when the weather is particularly cold, there will be a temptation for people who are homeless to seek refuge and find somewhere warm to sleep.
'Sadly, as in this case, sleeping in a bin can lead to this sort of tragic accident and someone losing their life.
'I would strongly urge those unfortunate people who find themselves without a bed at night to remember what happened to this man and try and find somewhere safer to sleep.'
Oklahoma Doctor Charged With Fatal Stabbing of Son
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
OKLAHOMA CITY — Prosecutors charged a physician Wednesday with first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of his 9-year-old son in their upscale suburban Oklahoma City home.
Dr. Stephen P. Wolf also was charged with assault and battery with a deadly weapon after he allegedly also stabbed his wife during the Nov. 16 attack at their home in Nichols Hills.
After a neighbor heard screams and called police on Nov. 16, officer Michael Puckett found Wolf on his knees wrestling with something in his kitchen and ordered the doctor to put up his hands, according to an affidavit.
When Wolf got down on his stomach as told, Puckett said he saw the boy with two knives sticking out of his chest and heard Wolf say, "You know he's got the devil in him," the affidavit said.
The boy then started having convulsions and seizures, and Wolf jumped up and tried to grab one of the knives, the affidavit said.
"I then grabbed Mr. Wolf by the neck and shirt and pulled him toward me, causing him to fall onto his left side and a knife falling from his hand on the same side," Puckett wrote. They struggled a bit more before Puckett gained control, the officer said in the affidavit.
Paramedics pronounced Wolf's son, Thomas Wolf, dead at the scene. His wife was treated for cuts on her hands and face at the scene.
The neighbor, Douglas Woodson, told police that Wolf was supposed to be undergoing treatment for anger, alcohol and drug abuse issues, the affidavit said. According to the Oklahoma Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision, Wolf's specialty is internal medicine and he was still licensed to practice.
Neither Wolf's wife nor Woodson immediately returned phone calls seeking comment Wednesday afternoon.
Wolf remained in the Oklahoma County jail without bail. His attorney, Mack Martin, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment. The Oklahoma County District Attorney's office had no further comment on Wednesday.
Two men jailed after beating crocodile with bamboo sticks
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 11:10 AM on 26th November 2009
Two men have been jailed for severely beating a pregnant crocodile at an Islamic shrine in south-western Bangladesh.
Judge Abdus Salam Khan convicted the men of torturing the crocodile and sentenced them to two years in jail with hard labour.
The crocodile, named Pipil, was seriously injured and lost one eye after the men beat her with bamboo sticks at Khan Jahan Ali shrine in April this year, the prosecution said.
Two men in southwestern Bangladesh were jailed for two years for beating a crocodile at the Khan Jahan Ali shrine (file picture)
The shrine is in Bagerhat district, 135 kilometers (85 miles) southwest of the capital, Dhaka.
The men pleaded innocent, Dhaka's Daily Star newspaper reported.
The shrine has about two dozen crocodiles living in a big pond where pilgrims can feed and watch them.
The men, who were sentenced on Tuesday, were among a group of people who collect money from visitors by exhibiting the crocodiles.
The group is known to beat the crocodiles if they do not respond to their calls, the newspaper said.
According to local authorities, five crocodiles have died in the last 10 years because of mistreatment by the group, it said.
Crocodiles are protected under Bangladesh law, and offenders face up to five years in jail for torturing or killing them.
Officials were not immediately available for comment.
Man Stuck Upside-Down in Utah Cave Dies
Thursday, November 26, 2009 
SALT LAKE CITY — A man stuck upside-down in a cave for more than a day died early Thursday, despite the efforts of dozens of rescuers, authorities said.
John Jones, 26, of Stansbury Park died about 12:30 a.m., nearly 28 hours after he became stuck 700 feet into the cave known as Nutty Putty, Utah County Sheriff's Department spokesman Sgt. Spencer Cannon said.
Rescuers were next to Jones for much of the day but he was wedged in a small hole too tightly to pull him out or even reach through to assist him, Cannon told The Associated Press.
"They were right there with him, checking his vital signs," Cannon said. "They were able to get close enough to verify that he was deceased."
The 6-foot-tall, 190-pound spelunker got stuck with his head at an angle below his feet about 9 p.m. MST Tuesday. At times more than 50 rescuers were involved in trying to free him.
The crevice where Jones was trapped was about 150 feet below ground in an L-shaped area of the cave known as "Bob's Push," which is only about 18 inches wide and 10 inches high, Cannon said.
The rescue effort at the cave, about 80 miles south of Salt Lake City, was slow throughout the day Wednesday with crews chipping away with air-powered tools in the narrow tunnel.
At one point late in the afternoon, Jones was freed from the crevice, only to fall back several feet into the tight space when a cord that was supporting him failed, Cannon said.
Rescuers were able to get him food and water during that temporary freedom.
In the hours after he became wedged again, Jones' physical condition deteriorated.
"He was experiencing difficulty maintaining consciousness and breathing. With whatever other factors there were, he did not survive," Cannon said.
Cannon said a medical examiner would determine the exact cause of death later. He said crews had suspended efforts to free his body for the night, but would resume at first light.
Jones, a medical student at the University of Virginia, was part of a group of 11 people exploring the cave passages.
"We were just looking forward to a good time," Mike Jones, the victim's 32-year-old brother, told The Salt Lake Tribune.
The group split up, with several children and some adults staying in a less dangerous area of the cave while others decided to explore further, 23-year-old Josh Jones, another brother, told The Salt Lake Tribune.
"It basically got to a point where we were trying to figure out if the cave went any further, and that's the route John decided to take," 25-year-old Joey Stocking of Logan told the Tribune.
Jones was going headfirst into the crevice when he got stuck.
"He thought he could kind of keep going on his belly down further, but it got to point where he couldn't go any further and he got wedged in," Stocking said.
The group tried to free him.
"I was only able to see his two feet that was hanging there in the crevice," Josh Jones said. "I wasn't able to see more because he was engulfed in the crevice itself."
Nutty Putty cave is actually a hole on the top of hill about seven miles west of State Road 68. The naturally formed thermal cave is about 1,500 feet long. Its multiple, tunnels and passageways lead to room-like openings, a Web site for Utah cave-enthusiasts explains.
According to the official Nutty Putty cave Web site, the area was first discovered in 1960. The cave is privately owned by Utah's State Institutional Trust Land Administration. An access pass is required to explore the cave, with usage restricted to about six groups daily.
The county's last rescue there was in 2004.
Cannon said officials considered closing the tunnel or sealing it off after the last rescue but ultimately decided to erect a gate that requires a key for entry.
"We've had people stuck in this exact same spot. We're working and working to get him undone out of the spot and we don't really have any way of predicting what's gonna happen until — boom, all the sudden they're out," he said
A history of the world in 100 objects: Radio 4 series tells story of mankind in bite-sized chunks
By Liz Thomas
Last updated at 12:25 PM on 26th November 2009
They are the 100 objects that helped shape the course of human history.
Including wonders such as the gold coin of Croesus - regarded as the first form of modern currency - and the 1.4 million year old Olduvai hand axe, one of the earliest human tools, together they tell of our place in earth's history.
Selected from the extensive collections of the British Museum, they will now be presented in a landmark Radio 4 series tracing the history of the world from the origins of human life millions of years ago to the present day.
The Maize God, a Mayan sculpture which shows how religion is linked to farming and fertility, and the Nef Galleon, an intricate mechanical ‘toy’ from 1500AD which demonstrates the importance that ships had for Europeans, are among the items selected for the new Radio 4 series
The 100 programmes, each tackling one man made object and lasting 15 minutes, will be broadcast in chronological order on the station in three tranches across 2010.
They will not only feature iconic exhibits at the Museum such as the statue of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II, but also more recent inventions such as the credit card and African sculpture the Throne of Weapons, which was made in 2001 from decommissioned guns following the end of civil war in Mozambique.
The gold Croesus coin - regarded as the first form of modern currency - originates from modern Turkey 
The Rosetta Stone is one of the British Museum's most prized artefacts, for its significance in advancing the understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphic script
Radio 4 Controller Mark Damazar said: ‘The point of series is to strike beyond any particular point in history. It is the scope of what we are doing that is so exciting.
‘It is the biggest, most ambitious thing the station has ever undertaken, and extends beyond Radio 4 with regional programming, a special children’s series and a huge web project running in conjunction with the series.’
Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum, is the main narrator of the series, A History of the World in 100 Objects.
So far only 99 of the 100 objects have been chosen as the final one will only be selected later next year in order to make sure the list is as up to date as possible - it may not even exist yet.
Prized: The famous Sutton Hoo helmet, an Anglo-Saxon treasure found in the Sutton Hoo burial site in Suffolk, and the and the 1.4million year old Olduvai hand axe, one of the earliest human tools
All the objects have been selected by Mr MacGregor and a team of curators in a three-year trawl of its collections.
It took two years to whittle the selection down to 100 objects from the eight million in the collection.
Creative and political leaders such as Seamus Heaney, Boris Johnson Grayson Perry and Sir David Attenborough have also been asked to contribute to the series.
They will offer their view on the importance of specific objects that they believe have helped shape or change their field.
It is understood London mayor Johnson will talk about a bronze head of Augustus, the Roman emperor who ruled at the time of Christ.
Poet Heaney will read extracts from the poem Beowulf, to accompany a programme on discovery of the famous seventh century helmet from the Anglo Saxon ship burial site at Sutton Hoo.
Cultural significance: The Lewis Chessmen tell the story of how chess conquered the world
Porcelain elephants from 1600AD highlight the time that the first multinational, the Dutch East India Company, controlled the porcelain supply across the world
Mr MacGregor said: ‘It will be a history of human society from the whole world, told through 100 of our objects.
‘This is a series about enlightenment. The British Museum was set up 250 years ago by Parliament to put the whole world on show in the UK.'
He said the advantage of concentrating on “things” is that they unlock the hidden histories of nations and people whose artworks and written accounts have been lost or were never made.
The Chinese Zhou ritual bowl, another of the British museum's prized exhibits, is from 1100BC and contains an inscription which provided historians with an account of a crucial transformation period in Chinese history 
The Throne of Weapons: This 2001 chair made of decommissioned guns encapsulates the post-war history of Mozambique
Mr MacGregor added that objects were important to understanding world history because they could help tell stories in a more vivid way than words and texts could not.
He also pointed out that history was often written by the winners of any particular battle or uprising, so objects could help give a more realistic idea of what had happened.
For example the 7th century Egyptian Taharqo Sphinx has an African face because the Sudanese had invaded at that time and the pharaoh was black.
Lachish Reliefs, from Northern Iraq in 700-692BC, examine the military successes of the Assyrian Empire and the consequences this had for the people they conquered
The Bust of Augustus, which comes from a statue put up on the southern frontier of the Roman Empire in Egypt, is included in the extensive list of man made objects
Mr MacGregor said the historical texts from the time ‘barely acknowledged this’ as the Sudanese had subsequently been driven back out.
The first section of A History Of The World is scheduled to broadcast from January 18. It will air three times a day, firstly at 9.45am, before being repeated at 7.45pm and at 12.30am.
BBC executives said they were expecting to reach a record audience of two million a day.
Damazar insisted Radio 4 was the right medium to broadcast the series, despite the fact it presents obvious problems in terms of seeing the objects.
He said the audience would be able to view each of the pieces online, adding that the web project running in conjunction with the series was the ‘biggest undertaken in the UK’.
Listeners are invited to upload their own important objects, while BBC regional programmes will feature key items from local museums that have shaped local history.
BBC2 will broadcast a special edition of The Culture Show and the World Service will run a series of shows about the global impact of the objects selected.
There will also be a special children’s series, entitled Relic: Guardian Of The Museum which looks in depth at the 13 of the most well known pieces.
Latest viewing figures show Radio 4 is booming as millions of listeners flock to flagship shows such as Today, Woman’s Hour and The Archers.
One in six people is now tuning in to the station – the highest figure since current records began ten years ago.
Damazer has long defended the station's remit of intelligent programming. He has said the middle classes had expanded and were not just 'posh people in the south of England'.
'Over the past 30 years the country has become infinitely more middle class than it used to be,' he explained.
Kangaroo Tries to Drown Man, Dog
Monday, November 23, 2009
An Australian man was almost drowned by a kangaroo after he dived into his farm dam to save his pet dog.
Chris Rickard, 49, of Arthurs Creek, is being assessed by Austin Hospital surgeons after being mauled by the nearly 5-foot roo at 9 a.m. AEDT. He only managed to end the attack when he elbowed the kangaroo in the throat as it tried to hold him under water, The Herald Sun reported.
By then he had already suffered a deep gash across his abdomen as the kangaroo tried to disembowel him with its hind legs, as well as a deep gash across his forehead and further cuts and scratches across his chest.
Speaking from the hospital's emergency department, Mr Rickard said he was walking
his blue heeler dog Rocky at the back of his property about a quarter mile from his home when they woke the kangaroo which had been sleeping in long grass near the dam.
The startled roo jumped into the dam, and Rocky followed. The roo then grabbed the dog with its front paws and held it under water for about 20 seconds until Mr Rickard arrived.
"I thought I might take a hit or two dragging the dog out from under his grip, but I didn't expect him to actually attack me,'' Mr Rickard said.
"I was stuck having to hold onto the dog with both hands because it was half drowned and I couldn't really see anything because the kangaroo just ripped into me.
"It was a shock at the start because it was a kangaroo, about 5 feet high, they don't go around killing people. Then all of a sudden I realised the first hit gave me opened up a wide gash above my eye and blinded me. I was flailing away underwater carrying a dog with a kangaroo ripping into me."
"All I could do was just keep pushing for the bank and he was trying to push me under the water, so at that point I elbowed him in the throat and that made him back off a little bit.
"I don't think I'll ever be able to watch Skippy quite the same as I used to—it might bring back a couple of bad memories."
You think a crick in YOUR neck hurts? Spare a thought for Amali the giraffe whose nape turned hook-shaped
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 11:45 AM on 26th November 2009
This giraffe is suffering what looks like the world's biggest pain in the neck.
Five-year-old Amali from Tulsa Zoo, Arizona, USA, had the unfortunate crick in transit from The Wilds park in Ohio.
It is feared that the hook might never be cured.
Amali the giraffe developed a crick in her neck while being transported from The Wilds park in Ohio to Tulsa Zoo in Arizona
Since undergoing treatment from Tulsa Zoo's resident vet Dr Kay Backues, Amali has been kept in medical quarantine since her arrival on October 18.
Luckily, the 11-foot tall female giraffe is not thought to be in any pain and staff at Tulsa Zoo are hoping the crick corrects itself naturally.
'When Amali the giraffe walked off the trailer into her new home she could walk, eat and manoeuvre normally,' said Dr. Backues.
'Amali was initially treated for muscle fatigue and possible soft tissue trauma.
'We are using medications a human might use if they strained their neck or back, such as non-steroidal ant-inflammatories similar to ibuprofen, muscle relaxers, pain relievers (analgesics) and a vitamin supplement.
The 11 foot tall female giraffe is not thought to be in any pain
'These treatments have appeared to make her more comfortable, but further diagnostics are being planned to determine the extent of the injury.
'She is due to have an X-ray next week after the Thanksgiving holiday.'
A giraffe's neck is designed with strong ligaments and elongated bones that give it the ability to browse higher on trees in the wild than other animals.
However, in Amali's case the unique support system of the head and neck that gives them this advantage is a delicate alignment that is susceptible to injury by muscle fatigue, or ligament and tendon trauma.
Other vets, who specialise in large exotic animals medicine, including from Amali's home zoo in Ohio, have worked with Tulsa staff to help determine the best plan of treatment.
'Our staff are providing the best care possible for Amali,' said Terrie Correll, Tulsa Zoo Director.
Since undergoing treatment Amali has been kept in medical quarantine
'Further diagnostics, such as X-rays, may better determine the course of treatment. However, a giraffe, unlike a human with a similar injury, is not going to 'take it easy' or 'stay off' because of an injury.'
Under constant medical surveillance Amali is adjusting well to her new environment.
'Even with diagnostics such as X-rays, we still must accept that there may be no definitive, physical treatment for her injury,' said Dr. Backues.
'We are taking her treatment one day at a time, and while her current condition is stable, her long term prognosis is still unknown.'
Amali, whose name translates to 'hope' in Swahili, will remain in quarantine and under veterinary care as the Tulsa Zoo develops options for her treatment.
She continues to function and act normally and zoo staff hope after more recovery time, she, too, will join her new herd on exhibit.
Giraffes are inhabitants of the savannahs, grasslands and open woodlands of Africa.
11/21/09
The man with the titanium cranium: Doctors build new metal skull for victim of yob attack
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 5:18 PM on 21st November 2009
A young man left with half a head after he was brutally attacked by thugs has got a new skull - made out of titanium.
Steve Gater, 26, was fitted with a special metal plate to replace the forehead he lost after the savage assault.
His mother Nina Gater said: ‘This is a big step forward. The new plate will make Steve feel a lot better after a terrible year.’
Bionic Man: Steve Gater without a forehead before his operation (left) and after with a new titanium skull
The forklift driver was left with brain damage and a disfigured skull after he was ambushed by two teenagers on his way home from work almost a year ago.
Last Thursday, Mr Gater had a complex seven-hour operation at Queen’s Hospital near his home in Romford, Essex, when surgeons fitted the titanium plate at the front of his head.
Mrs Gater said: ‘He’s a bit puffy at the moment but it’s nice to see him with a new forehead.
‘Now it’s just a matter of building his confidence and making sure he feels more secure.’
She added: ‘He had no protection at all before - his brain was just covered by skin.’
The horrific attack happened as he walked home on January 15.
Two thugs aged 18 and 17 began yelling taunts at him about his cousin.
Mr Cater challenged them and was so punched in the face so hard that he was sent flying and smashed his head on the pavement.
He plunged into a coma for two weeks and as his brain swelled under huge pressure doctors at Queen’s Hospital were forced to remove the front half of his skull.
His devastated mother and distraught family kept a vigil at his bedside as they were warned that he had just a 15 per cent chance of surviving.
Devastated: Nina Gater, with her son after his attack, is angry because the perpetrators will not be prosecuted
He battled through. But now he suffers frequent seizures, finds talking difficult, had his memory shredded and his bubbly, sparkly personality destroyed.
‘He’s just a different boy,’ explained a tearful Mrs Gater, who is now her son’s main carer. ‘His sparkle is totally gone.
‘He used to be so independent but he can’t work any more and he can’t drive.’
Police charged two teenage boys with the shocking attack just two days later.
But Mr Gater will never see his attackers prosecuted after the CPS decided ‘there was insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction’.
Mrs Gater said: ‘We are disappointed with the way things have gone. It’s all gone a bit stale at the moment.
‘But we haven’t left it and as far as I’m concerned the police were at fault from the beginning.’ She added: ‘Steve never laid a finger on anybody, so how can this be fair?
‘I feel everybody should have their day in court where it’s decided by a jury. My son’s got to live with this for the rest of his life.’
Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘Two people were charged in connection with the case.
‘We gave the CPS all the evidence available and after reviewing the case they decided not to proceed with it. We adhere to their decision.’
Corrine Soanders, Borough Crown Prosecutor for the Havering district, said: ‘A decision was made to charge both defendants with unlawful wounding on 17 January 2009.
‘Once the CPS had been supplied with all the necessary evidence relevant to this case, a full review showed there was insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction.’
She added: ‘This is a key test which must be met to bring a prosecution and in light of this, the case against the two defendants was discontinued.’
Titanium is super-strong and was used as a heatproof skin to protect Concorde from red-hot air friction as it roared through the skies at 1350mph.
It is a preferred skull replacement material because it is only half the weight of equally-tough steel.
Man Guilty of Scaring His Grandmother to Death to Spend Life in Prison
Saturday, November 21, 2009
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A man will spend the rest of his life in prison after he was found guilty in what prosecutors said was a case of scaring a 79-year-old North Carolina woman to death.
Multiple media outlets report a federal jury found Larry Whitfield not guilty of murder Friday in the death of Mary Parnell last year. But they did find him guilty of causing her death by kidnapping her, and that carries an automatic life sentence.
Whitfield, 21, was looking for somewhere to hide after a failed bank robbery attempt in Gastonia in September 2008 when he broke into Parnell's home, prosecutors said.
Whitfield never touched the grandmother, ordering her to go sit in a chair in her bedroom. She suffered a heart attack and begged Whitfield to call for help, authorities said.
Prosecutors said Whitfield was on the phone with his nursing student girlfriend when Parnell stopped breathing. She told him to call 911, but he didn't, authorities said.
"He committed this crime with callous indifference. My mother-in-law had a heart attack right in front of this guy, and he didn't even have the decency to call an ambulance. All he cared about was himself, and he can think about that for the rest of his life in jail," David Hains, Parnell's son-in-law, told WCNC-TV in Charlotte.
Whitfield, who had no criminal record, and an accomplice armed themselves with semiautomatic rifles and decided to rob a bank in Gastonia. But bank workers saw them coming and locked their doors. The pair then crashed their getaway car and split up as they tried to run away.
The accomplice, Quanterrious McCoy, also was arrested a short time later. He accepted a plea deal and is awaiting sentencing that could range from five years to life in prison
Body parts cut from Galileo's corpse found after vanishing a century ago
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 3:54 PM on 21st November 2009
An art collector has found a tooth, thumb and finger of the famous renaissance astronomer Galileo that had been missing for more than a century.
The body parts, cut from his corpse when the Vatican finally allowed the controversial Italian scientist a church burial 95 years after his death in 1642, vanished in 1905.
But they appeared at a recent auction as unidentified artefacts contained in a 17th century wooden case. The unnamed collector who bought the relics suspected they might belong to Galileo.
Relic: Galileo, who is considered the father of modern science, and his finger (right) which will be put on display
Experts at Florence’s History of Science museum compared them with another finger and vertebrae also cut from the scientist and confirmed they were indeed Galileo's.
‘All the organic material extracted from the corpse has therefore now been identified and is conserved in responsible hands,’ a spokesman for the museum said.
‘On the basis of considerable historical documentation, there are no doubts about the authenticity of the items.’
The relics will be exhibited from early 2010, when the museum will re-open after current renovation work and will change its name to the Galileo museum.
Galileo, born Galilei Galileo at Pisa in Pisa in 1564, is considered one of the fathers of modern science.
His achievements include developing the telescope and observing that the Earth revolved around the Sun.
British physicist once said: ‘Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science.’
But he became an enemy of the Catholic Church, of which he was a member, by challenging its teachings.
Clerics eventually denounced him to the Roman Inquisition in 1615 over his support of a heliocentric, or Sun-centered, view of the universe.
Although he was cleared of any offence at that time, the Church condemned his belief as ‘false and contrary to Scripture’ and Galileo promised to stop publicising it.
But in 1632, when he defended his views in his most famous work, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, he was again tried by the Inquisition.
It found he was ‘vehemently suspect of heresy’ and Galileo was forced to recant and spend the rest of his life under house arrest.
However, following his death, evidence for a heliocentric universe became so overwhelming that the Vatican’s opposition gradually buckled.
In 1737 they finally allowed his body to be buried in consecrated ground and he now lies in Florence’s Santa Croce church, opposite the tomb of Michelangelo
By now because he was so revered, it was decided that parts of his body should be removed and preserved for posterity.
Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti, a science historian who cut away the parts and wrote about the ceremony, ‘confessed he had found it hard to resist the temptation to take away the skull which had housed such extraordinary genius’, the museum said.
The newly-found relics had passed from one collector to another until they went missing in 1905.
The remaining finger and the vertebrae have been conserved since 1737 in a mummified state in museums in Florence and Padua.
Peruvian Police: Gang Killed to Collect Human Fat for Lotions
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Since the days of the Spanish conquests, the children of the Andes have been terrified by tales of strangers who kill South American Indians on lonely roads, sucking out their fat to make lotions and potions for sale in the West.
Now the figure of the "Pishtaco" has jumped from myth into reality, after Peruvian police revealed the arrests of a gang who have been killing for human fat, allegedly for sale to the European cosmetics industry.
Police in Lima, the capital, said that three suspects had confessed to killing five people, luring their victims into the Peruvian jungle with promises of work before cutting off their heads and limbs to collect fat. But the gang may have been engaged in the gruesome practice for decades, police suspect. At least 60 people, mostly farmers and indigenous Peruvians, have gone missing in the area this year alone.
At least six other suspects remain at large, including the gang’s alleged leader, Hilario Cudeña, 56. One of those arrested, Elmer Segundo Castillejos, said that Cudeña had been murdering for fat for more than 30 years. The lead prosecutor, Jorge Sans Quiroz, said that two Italian citizens were suspected of conspiring to sell the fat "to be commercialised in European laboratories", although no sales have yet been confirmed.
Two of the suspects were arrested in Lima carrying a bottle of liquid human fat, which they told police was worth $15,000 a liter, said Colonel Jorge Mejía, the head of Peru’s anti-kidnapping police. One had claimed that their gang was not the only one in the trade, he said.
Police showed reporters in Lima two bottles of amber fluid and the picture of a rotting head of a 27-year-old male victim. Castillejos, 29, had led officers to the head, dumped in a coca-growing valley in the Huánuco region, after his arrest last month, Mejía said.
Castillejos told police how the gang had removed the victims’ heads, arms, legs and organs before suspending the torsos and warming them, causing fat to drip into tubs.
- Miracle' as Second Formerly Conjoined Twin Wakes Up
Saturday, November 21, 2009 
The weaker of two conjoined twins separated in a landmark surgery in Australia has woken up from a coma — and blown a raspberry at her guardian.
"I'm smiling today and it's the only smile I've had in a week," the twins' guardian Moira Kelly said.
"I'm grinning," she said. "Krishna's woken up, unbelievable. She is neurologically sound, which gives me shivers down my spine."
Kelly said she gave a "big yelp" when Krishna blew her a raspberry, and there was "a bit of a sniffle down the phone" when she shared the news with the team of 16 surgeons who separated the two-year-olds.
The other twin, Trishna, was said to be "100 percent perfect" after waking up on Thursday.
The team of specialists worked for 32 hours on Monday and Tuesday to divide the girls' connected skulls, brains and blood vessels in a procedure that took two years of planning and preparatory operations.
The risky surgery was initially given only a 25 percent chance of complete success.
"We've got challenges ahead of us, the children are in intensive care, they'll be there for a while and they've certainly got rehab to do," Kelly said.
"The girls are alive and they're normal. Miracle is such a wonderful, beautiful word. But it's not big enough."
Trishna and Krishna were rescued from an orphanage in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.
The aid worker who helped take the children to Australia two years ago, Danielle Noble, said seeing them for the first time in their newly-separated state was the "most incredible feeling".
"Two years ago this was just a dream. They look amazing," Noble said.
"I can't describe the emotion of it, of walking in there and seeing two beautiful little girls in two beds."
The twins' impoverished mother said she is overjoyed at the news the twins are doing well, but doesn't want them back.
Lovely Mallick, 22, said she gave Trishna and Krishna up soon after their birth because there was no way she and her husband could care for them.
"I'm overjoyed with the news that my babies are in good condition," she said.
Prosecutors call for life sentences for Foxy Knoxy and ex-boyfriend as Meredith Kercher murder trial draws to a close
By Nick Pisa
Last updated at 6:03 PM on 21st November 2009
Prosecutors in the case of murdered student Meredith Kercher have asked for life sentences for the two people accused of killing her, her family's lawyer said today.
The 21-year-old, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was on a university exchange programme in Perugia, Italy, when she was found dead in her bedroom on November 2, 2007.
She was semi-naked and her throat had been slit.
American Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, are accused of killing the Leeds University student.
Murder suspect: Amanda Knox shoots a coy glance at her lawyer Luciano Ghirga (right)
Kercher family lawyer Francesco Maresca said: 'Yesterday the prosecutors in the case spoke about the argument of the investigation.
'Today they asked for a life sentence for both defendants.'
The next hearing is scheduled for next week and a verdict is expected next month.
In his closing arguments yesterday, prosecutor Giuliano Mignini said American Miss Knox had a growing hatred for Miss Kercher and 'killed her to take revenge' one drug-fuelled evening.
He said Knox, her ex-boyfriend and co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito and a third man convicted last year, Rudy Guede, killed Miss Kercher while intoxicated by 'the fumes of drugs and possibly alcohol'.
They tried to cover up their crime by staging a burglary, he said.
Knox, of Seattle, wanted to get back at Miss Kercher for saying she was unhygienic and promiscuous, Mignini said.
The 22-year-old beamed as she was escorted into the Perugia court this morning
He added: 'Amanda had the chance to retaliate against a girl who was serious and quiet.
'She harboured hatred for Meredith. That was the time it could explode. The time had come to take revenge on that smirky girl.'
He said Knox, Sollecito and Guede, from the Ivory Coast, met at the apartment in Perugia where the two women lived and Miss Kercher was killed on November 1, 2007.
He said Miss Kercher, 21, of Coulsdon, Surrey, and Knox started arguing before the trio brutally attacked the Briton.
Kercher's semi-naked body was found in a pool of blood the next day, her throat slit. Knox and Sollecito deny murder and sexual violence. Guede was sentenced to 30 years in prison last year on the same charges. He is now appealing.
Fellow murder suspect Raffaele Sollecito was also escorted to the court today
Guilty: Drifter Rudy Guede was sentenced to 30 years in jail for the sex murder of British student Meredith Kercher
Mr Mignini, who described Knox, 22, as 'dominant' in her relationship with Sollecito, 25, said: 'Meredith and Amanda began to argue over money. Meredith was upset that Amanda had brought another man (Guede) back to the house.
'They argued about this ugly habit of hers and the three who had arrived were also under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
'Amanda harboured hatred for Meredith and the time had come for her to take revenge - and that's when Meredith's ordeal began.'
He continued his summing up by outlining the violence Meredith suffered before she died.
He said: 'Amanda grabbed her by the hair and hit her head on the floor. Rudy finished what he did (sex) and Sollecito was threatening her with his knife.
'Amanda also had a knife and held it to Meredith's throat and as the crescendo of violence grew inflicted the deepest cut. Meredith did not want to submit herself to the sexual violence.'
As he spoke Knox was clearly distraught. Her lawyer Luciano Ghirga, with whom she had shared the smile as she entered court, held her hand and squeezed it several times, while a female prison guard twice asked her if she was OK. Mr Mignini said the 'break-in' was the key to their defence, adding: 'But it was all simulated.'
He said no blood or DNA evidence from anyone else was found and nothing of value was stolen.
A verdict is expected early next month.
Moon's phases ARE linked with epilepsy after all, say scientists
By Mail On Sunday Reporter
Last updated at 10:04 PM on 21st November 2009
Old idea: The moon has long been associated with seizures
Superstitions about the influence of the Moon on the brain and, in particular, on epilepsy and seizures, have been around for centuries, but according to new research there may be something in them after all.
Researchers discovered that the number of epileptic seizures - which are related to electrical activity in the brain - goes down when the Moon is at its brightest.
They examined the record of seizures in a dedicated epilepsy unit, in which every seizure in each 24-hour period is logged for all patients.
The researchers compared the timing of each seizure with the brightness of the Moon. Their results showed that during the brighter phases of the Moon's cycle there were fewer epileptic seizures in the corresponding 24-hour period.
'These findings suggest that epileptic seizures are less likely to occur on brighter nights,' says Dr Sallie Baxendale of the Institute of Neurology at University College London, who led the study.
Experts believe the effect of the hormone melatonin, which is secreted only at night and in the dark, may be implicated in triggering seizures
North Carolina Girl Raped and Murdered the Day She Was Snatched, Police Say
Friday, November 20, 2009 
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — A 5-year-old North Carolina girl was raped and killed the same day she was taken from her home, according to an arrest warrant released Friday.
Shaniya Davis was sexually assaulted and asphyxiated Nov. 10, the day her mother reported her missing from the trailer park where she was staying, according to the warrant. Authorities embarked on a nearly weeklong search that ended when the girl's body was found dumped off a rural road.
Mario McNeill is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape of a child in the warrant, which was issued after police said they collected hair and fibers, clothes, and a straw from his 1997 Mitsubishi Galant. He was initially charged only with kidnapping.
The girl's mother, Antoinette Davis, is charged with filing a false police report, trafficking her daughter and child abuse involving prostitution. Her family members have said they do not believe the charges.
It is still not clear how McNeill and Davis knew each other.
Earlier in the week, authorities said McNeill admitted taking the girl. Fayetteville Police Chief Tom Bergamine would not say during a news conference late Thursday whether McNeill admitted to the child's death.
A search warrant says McNeill picked the girl up in front of her home and drove her more than 30 miles to a hotel in Sanford, where she was last seen alive. Surveillance video captured McNeill carrying the girl in the building.
"It is our sincere hope that the Davis family may now begin to put this horrific event behind them and begin the healing process," Bergamine said.
A message seeking comment was left at the office of McNeill's lawyer, Allen Rogers.
Tomeka Gray, 20, who is dating McNeill's brother, said the accusations don't jibe with what she knows about him. She said McNeill was a good uncle and father who came to see her daughter in the hospital with an armload of baby items right after she was born earlier this year.
"I've never known him to do anything like that," Gray told The Associated Press. She said when she saw the story on the news her first thought was that she hoped authorities would catch the horrible person who did it.
"And then to find out it was him ... I was crying. I was shocked," she said.
Meanwhile, Shaniya's father, Bradley Lockhart, appeared on Friday's "The Oprah Winfrey Show," where Winfrey asked him if he had anything to say to Davis. He told The Associated Press earlier that he had cared for Shaniya for several years but decided to give Davis a chance to raise her because she seemed to be getting her life together.
"Right now I just think it's best that we let the justice system take its course," Lockhart said on the show. "I try to keep my heart as pure as possible, and I'm sure one day I will be able to sit down and talk to her, try and understand what was going through her mind."
Prehistoric Jaws: Meet the family of crocs that ate dinosaurs 100million years ago
By David Derbyshire
Last updated at 10:06 AM on 20th November 2009
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A family of five terrifying prehistoric crocodiles - including one with teeth like the tusks of a wild boar - have been discovered by fossil hunters.
The predators roamed the swamps, lakes and rivers of Africa 100million years ago hunting small dinosaurs and seeking out fish and grubs.
Unlike their modern cousins, the ancient crocodilians were as agile on land as they were in the water.
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Explorer Paul Sereno enveloped by the jaws of an eight ton SuperCroc. He holds the fossil head of DogCroc who along with four other newly described reptiles lived in the Sahara 100 million years ago
University of Chicago Professor Paul Sereno (left) and McGill University Associate Professor Hans Larsson excavate the fossil skull of a 100-million-year-old croc in Niger
Their remains were uncovered in the Sahara by one of the world's greatest fossil hunters, Dr Paul Sereno of Chicago University, who in 2001 discovered the ' supercroc' - an eight ton, 40ft monster that lived at the time of the dinosaurs.
The latest haul includes new species with an astonishing array of snouts and teeth. The most ferocious is the 'Boar Croc', a 20ft meat eater with an armoured snout for ramming its prey and three sets of daggershaped fangs for slicing up meat.
Similarly long was the 'Pancake Croc', a squat fish eater with a 3ft-long pancakeflat head which rested motionless for hours, its jaws open, waiting for prey.
There were three other snappy little devils, each about three feet long. 
An artist's impression of the RatCroc, a 3-foot-long upright plant and grub-eater
The Boar Croc: At 20ft long, this carnivore had an armoured snout with teeth like a boar's
The 'Rat Croc' was a plant and grub eater whose buckteeth were used to dig for food, while the 'Duck Croc' had a broad, overhanging snout with which it rooted around in shallow water and mudbanks for fish and grubs.
Finally, the 'Dog Croc' ate plants and grubs, had a soft dog-like nose and was probably a good swimmer and fast runner.
Most of the crocodiles were found lying on the surface of a remote, windswept stretch of rock and dunes.
The Pancake Croc: Flat-headed beast would lie open-jawed, waiting for prey 
The Duck Croc: Used its bill-like snout to root out fish and grubs on mudbanks
Palaeontologist Dr Hans Larsson, of McGill University in Montreal, said: 'We were surprised to find so many species from the same time in the same place.
'Each of the crocs apparently had different diets, different behaviours. It appears they had divided up the ecosystem, each species taking advantage of it in its own way.'
The newly discovered creatures are featured in National Geographic magazine and will appear in a documentary When Crocs Ate Dinosaurs later this month on the National Geographic Channel.
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A flesh model of the head of BoarCroc (left) and RatCroc (right) and the actual fossils discovered in the Sahara
A flesh model of the head of PancakeCroc (above) and its fossil lower jaw. It was a fish eater with a 3-foot-long, pancake-flat skull
Man seriously injured in bear attack after climbing into zoo enclosure
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:49 AM on 22nd November 2009
A man was left seriously wounded after climbing into a bear enclosure in a Swiss zoo yesterday.
The 25-year-man climbed onto a wall surrounding the BärenPark (Bear Park) in the city of Bern, Switzerland, before falling 13ft into the enclosure, police said.
He was then attacked by four-year-old bear Finn, who caused severe injuries to the man's head and one of his legs, before a nearby policeman shot the creature - injuring it and forcing it to retreat into a cave.
The injured man is seen collapsed on the floor of the Bear Park enclosure, bloodied with his clothes ripped, after being attacked by four-year-old bear Finn
The other bear in the 6,000 metres squared enclosure, Finn's 10-year-old sister Bjoerk, was not involved in the attack.
Both the man and Finn are currently being treated for their respective injuries - the bear at the park and the man at a nearby hospital.
The Bear Park was opened on October 25th, and provides both Finn and Bjoerk with hill slopes, grasslands, a cave and access to the nearby Aare River.
However, after the death of 28-year-old Pedro, the last remaining bear from the pits, in May, it was decided the new bears should be given somewhere more habitable in which to live.
Finn is photographed wandering off disinterestedly after leaving his prey seriously injured on the floor after the attack
Bern city councillor Barbara Hayoz, whose local nickname is the 'bear mother' thanks to her enthusiasm for the Bear Park project, said shortly after announcing plans for the new enclosure: 'They will be able to live like real bears - in the middle of the city.'
Bern is famous for its love of bears, stemming from the founder of the town Berchtold van Zähringen shooting a bear upon his arrival in Bern in 1160.
The city name translates as 'bear', while the creature also became the town's coat of arms emblem.
Bern also has many traditions revolving around the bear - from presenting cubs born during the winter to the public in a special Easter ceremony to starting their annual Bernese carnival with a 'freeing of the bear' opening, involving a lifelike figure of a bear being released from one of the city gates.
Only one of Bern's bear traditions has changed, the feeding of the animals.
After Finn and Bjoerk were transferred into their new home from Bern's Daehlhoelzli Zoo, officials decided the public would no longer be able to feed the bears due to health and safety issues
11/19/09
Somali woman, 20, stoned to death by Islamic militants after admitting affair with boyfriend
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 10:40 AM on 19th November 2009
A Somali woman of 20 has been stoned to death after admitting she had an affair, an Islamic militant judge said today.
The woman was a divorcee - but even though she was no longer married, her affair was seen as adultery in the eyes of Somalia's extremist interpretation of Sharia law.
Her punishment was therefore to be buried up to her waist in front of a crowd of 200 people and stoned to death.
A woman is pictured being prepared for stoning (file photo). The woman stoned to death in Somalia would have been buried in the same way
Her unmarried boyfriend was given 100 lashes for the affair.
Sheikh Ibrahim Abdirahman, the judge for the group al-Shabab, says the woman was killed yesterday in front of a crowd of some 200 people near the town of Wajid.
Abdirahman says the 20-year-old woman had an affair with a 29-year-old unmarried man and gave birth to a stillborn child.
The militants that control much of southern Somalia and have links to al Qaeda have implemented an extremist reading of Islam's Sharia law.
The stoning death was at least the fourth for adultery in Somalia over the last year.
It was the second time a female has been killed.
Huge Chunk of Ice Crashes Through Roof of Colorado Home
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
BRUSH, Colo. — A basketball-sized chunk of ice crashed through the roof of a family's Colorado home after apparently falling from an airplane passing overhead.
Danelle Hagan and her 9-year-old daughter were at home in Brush on Saturday when they heard the kitchen ceiling come crashing down. They were not injured.
"I hear a huge, what sounded like an explosion. And I look over and my kitchen is basically in shambles," Hagan told KMGH-TV in Denver. "It was very terrifying."
The Federal Aviation Administration was sending investigators to the home to investigate whether the ice came from an airplane. The Hagans put some of the ice in their freezer.
FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said Wednesday the ice chunk appears to be "Rime ice," which can build up on the outside of a plane's fuselage when it flies through cold and wet air.
Fergus says that it doesn't appear the ice was "blue ice," which comes from an airplane's toilet.
After investigators determine whether the ice came from a plane, Fergus said they'll look at which planes are in the area at the time to see if it's possible to tell which craft dropped the ice.
Fergus said that in cases of falling blue ice, FAA investigators would inspect any plane that was in the area to make sure it doesn't have a dangerous pressure leak. He said that ice falls from airplanes are alarming, but extremely rare.
He said the chances of getting hit by ice from a plane is "on the magnitude of a lightning strike."
Hagan's family is staying out of the house until it's repaired because the crash loosened some asbestos. She says people were in the kitchen just before the ice fell, so they're just glad to be OK.
"If we had been in that kitchen, it would have been devastating," Hagan said.
The real rolling stones: Mystery of Death Valley's gliding rocks
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 10:07 AM on 19th November 2009
These extraordinary pictures reveal a bizarre event that is puzzling the science world - rocks that glide across the desert.
Amid the eerie silence and the 50C heat of California's Death Valley these giant boulders appear to move smoothly - and unaided - across the desert.
The rocks, some as heavy as 17 stone, edge along in bizarre, straight-line patterns across the ultra-flat surface of the valley. They can travel more than 350 yards a year.
Er... how did that get there? One of the extraordinary moving rocks leaves a track through Death Valley
Scientists believe the phenomenon is caused by a coming together of specific weather conditions.
Studies suggest a combination of 90mph winds, ice formations at night and thin layers of wet clay on the surface of the desert all help to push them along.
Photographer Mike Byrne, 40, has spent years documenting the stones' mysterious movements.
As his amazing pictures show these real-life rolling stones leave trails across the sand in places almost untouched by man.
He said: 'Some of these rocks are as heavy as a person, it is really is strange to imagine them gliding across the desert like this.
'They must be the original real-life rolling stones, they just keep moving through the sand and I don't believe anyone has really 100 per cent worked it out yet.
Rock on: More of the boulders and the eerie paths they leave across the Valley
'Most of the stones are found on an old lake bed, known as the Racetrack Playa, where the ground is particularly flat.
'It has been documented over the years and it is something very special to witness, although I know climatologists believe the phenomenon could disappear in a few years as the temps continue to rise.
'One of the strongest theories about what the rocks move is that water rising from beneath the surface of the sand is pushed by the wind creating a surface the rocks can move along.'
Death Valley is the lowest point in the U.S., at 282ft below sea level.
It is almost completely flat and holds the record for the second highest temperature ever recorded on earth, a blistering 58C.
In the 1990s a study by a team of scientists lead by Professor John Reid, from Hampshire College, Massachusetts, attempted to explain the rocks' movement.
His study concluded that the rocks may be moved when they become embedded in sheets of ice forming at night on the surface of the sand.
As the sand melts Prof Reid said that the rocks were moved along by the ice and wind, thus forming the patterns.
Papua New Guinea men survive ocean ordeal by eating wood
Five men from Papua New Guinea are recovering in hospital after spending more than two months adrift in the Pacific Ocean surviving on a diet of driftwood and coconut shells.
By Bonnie Malkin in Sydney
Published: 4:20PM GMT 18 Nov 2009
Emergency personnel from Majuro Hospital greet the five surviving Papua New Guinea drifters Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Eight members of an extended family, most of them in their late teens, were left at the mercy of the seas and the elements after their 22-foot boat ran out of fuel on a trip to a neighbouring island. After finally being rescued near Nauru by a US fishing vessel two of them died from severe malnutrition before the captain could reach medical aid. Survivors said a 15-year-old boy had drowned after jumping overboard to rescue clothing that had blown away.
One of the five survivors, Nick Sales, 29, who was being treated in hospital in Majuro in the Marshall Islands, said the men had collected rainwater to supplement their drastic rations during their ordeal.
"When we ran out of food we began to collect driftwood and coconuts that we found floating in the ocean," he said.
"We would dry the wood in the sun and eat it. If we had coconuts, we would break them open, drink the juice and eat the meat inside.
"Then we would dry the coconut husk and eat that too," he said, adding they also occasionally were able to catch crabs.
Throughout the ordeal the devout Catholics prayed constantly to find comfort and maintain their sanity, he said.
"We lost the youngest when he jumped into the water to recover his shirt," said Mr Sales.
"It was windy and the current was strong and it wasn't long before he was too far to swim back to the boat," he said, adding the men on the boat were too weak to help.
Four of the emaciated survivors were carried off the fishing vessel Ocean Encounter on stretchers when it arrived in Majuro
Man Executed for Abducting, Murdering Texas Woman
Thursday, November 19, 2009
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A convicted killer who volunteered for execution but in recent weeks changed his mind has been put to death in Texas.
Thirty-year-old Danielle Simpson received lethal injection Wednesday evening for the abduction-murder of 84-year-old Geraldine Davidson. The former school teacher was abducted nearly 10 years ago during a burglary of her home in Palestine, about 100 miles southeast of Dallas.
While strapped to the death chamber gurney, Simpson said he loved his family and would miss them. Then, he said, "I'm ready, ready."
A federal court earlier this year had said Simpson was competent to decide to drop his appeals. Then Simpson reversed himself and allowed lawyers to try to save him.
Simpson was the 22nd Texas prisoner executed this year
Schoolgirl, 13, 'gang-raped by boys who filmed ordeal on mobile phone'
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:39 AM on 19th November 2009
Alleged attack: Three teenagers are on trial for the rape of a 13-year-old girl
A 13-year-old schoolgirl was gang-raped at knifepoint by three teenage boys who filmed the attack on a mobile phone, a jury heard today.
The girl, who had walked out of school after being bullied, was led to the eighth floor of a block of flats for the humiliating ordeal which was filmed by her 14 and 15-year-old attackers, it is claimed.
The alleged attack on an estate in Peckham, southeast London, on February 24 this year, was interrupted by teachers who came to the scene after a friend raised the alarm at school, Inner London Crown Court heard.
The four-minute video was apparently extracted from a phone belonging to one of three youths arrested.
The footage, played to the jury, shows one teenager pushing on the victim's chest as he rapes her, while his friend forces her to perform a sex act.
Jurors watched as the boy filming the incident reaches into frame to make an 'ok' sign with his fingers.
Two of the boys, who were sitting in the well of the court with their parents, bowed or covered their faces as the explicit video was played.
Tom Wilkins, prosecuting, told the jury: 'The Crown's case is that together in a group these defendants raped a girl who was at the time was 13, and they recorded it on a mobile telephone.
'Events started in the morning, shortly before nine o'clock.
'She had decided to leave school with a friend of hers.
'There had been some name calling of her and as she was leaving she saw these three defendants.
'They asked her where she was going and she replied: 'Home'.
'She never made it home.
'Instead she was taken to a block of flats.'
As she was led away she turned to her friend who saw her mouth the words: 'Don't leave me.' The friend waited outside the tower as she disappeared.
Before going in, one of the boys, now aged 16, asked her for oral sex and she refused, said the barrister.
He persisted, allegedly asking her to get into the lifts with him.
Mr Wilkins added: 'As she started to walk away, he said "You don't know what's in my pocket". A clear threat. Scared, she got into the lift with all three boys.'
A second boy, now 15, allegedly pulled out a flick knife which a third boy, now 16, took from him and played around with in front of her, it is claimed.
While the girl was subjected to the degrading assault on the eighth floor, her friend went to get help at school, jurors heard.
Shortly afterwards, it is claimed, the third boy spotted a teacher approaching the block and could be heard to say: 'Oh s**t, what are we going to do?'
Mr Wilkins said: 'There is a general panic and they hurriedly leave the block.' They took the lift back outside and fled on a bus, the court heard.
The teacher found the alleged victim on the estate and she was taken for medical help.
The prosecutor said an intimate examination revealed she had been subjected to sexual activity and was bleeding.
The boys were arrested within a day. Two made no comment in interview and one admitted having sex with her, but claimed it was with her consent.
The two 16-year-olds, of Kennington and Brockley respectively, and the 15-year-old, of Peckham, all southeast London, each deny three counts of rape either by doing the act or aiding and abetting.
The trial continues.
Man who threw dog off bridge and posted video online is brought to justice by horrified internet users
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 11:05 AM on 19th November 2009
A young man who threw a dog off a bridge has been hunted down by outraged animal lovers on the internet.
He had posted mobile phone video footage on a website of himself dropping the dog on to a road below.
The man, believed to be Svajunas Beniukas, stands on the bridge clutching the dog, apparently bragging about how he will prove that dogs can fly
Then, horrifyingly, he seems to raise the dog over the railing - and let go
The man, believed to be Lithuanian Svajunas Beniukas, was filmed by friend.
The footage starts with the 22-year-old carrying the dog - whose name is Pipiras, which means 'Pepper' - to the side of a bridge.
He speaks to the camera and makes a joke about filming proof that 'dogs can fly'.
Horror: The dog lies crumpled on the ground beneath the bridge. On the video, it can be heard crying in pain
Following the internet campaign, Beniukas is understood to have turned himself in
While the trusting animal sits calmly in his arms, he scans the traffic to make sure no cars are coming.
Then, when the coast is clear, the dog is calmly dropped over the side of the bridge.
The footage also captures a second man who filmed the incident on his mobile phone.
Miraculously, the animal survives and - to the viewers' horror - can be heard crying in distress over the roar of the traffic.
The video is so shocking that most websites have barred its full content.
The dog was rescued and is receiving treatment for multiple fractures and internal injuries. It is expected to survive.
But the cruel clip quickly circulated in Lithuanian where the footage was shot causing mounting outrage.
It was then passed on to other countries and began to gather pace as more and more users around the world expressed their fury.
There then began an angry search among horrified animal lovers for the culprit.
ecovery: Astonishingly, the dog is expected to survive. It is pictured here receiving treatment for its injuries
The Lithuanian man is expected to be charged with animal cruelty
Working with the authorities, they soon realised that the dog was dropped from a bridge in the Vilkija district in Kaunas, the second largest city in Lithuania.
Local police then worked with users of a local website to identify the man as Beniukas, who - on learning of the hunt online - turned himself in to police.
Baltic Times reporter Rokas Trecevsjis said Beniukas was already on police radar - he was a suspect in a robbery that had been committed earlier.
The dog had allegedly killed some of his mother's chickens at her home in the village of Seredzius.
It is believed Beniukas stole the dog and took it to the bridge to exact his revenge.
Beniukas, who lives in Kaunas, has been charged with animal cruelty.
If convicted, he faces up to a year in jail.
Police later issued a statement thanking users of the website 15.min.it, in particular, for helping them to identify the culprit.
Florida Family of 3 Blindfolded, Held Captive for 3 Days
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Home where Florida family was held captive.
A family of three was bound, blindfolded and held captive for three days before the mother was able to jump from a second story window and escape, MyFoxOrlando.com reported.
Four people knocked on family's door in Winter Garden, Fla., Sunday morning, burst into the home and used duct tape to tie up a father, mother and 5-year-old before blindfolding them and taking the trio to a house in Apopka, Fla., according to the Web site.
The next day, they were brought back to their home and the mother, Marcela Borges, was forced to drive one of the suspects to a bank — where she was ordered to withdraw $23,600 from the family's account, according to MyFoxOrlando.com.
On Tuesday, Borges removed her blindfold and pull down the mask of one of the young female suspects.
She was then able to loosen her bonds and escape through a window, but was shot in the back in the process.
WDBO-AM in Orlando reported that the bullet went through her and then struck her left wrist, shattering it.
"I heard some gunshots... looked up to where I heard the gunshots and saw a guy with a handgun shooting at this lady," a construction worker in the vicinity told MyFoxOrlando.com.
The witness said two or three shots were fired before the gunman got into a black SUV, where a getaway driver was waiting. The pair sped off, according to the worker.
"After that, I saw a couple more guys come from behind the house and jump the fence and run," he told MyFoxOrlando.com.
Police nabbed Victor Manuel Sanchez, 20, and Miguel Diaz-Santiz, 25, shortly after they ran from the house. A third suspect, Alexander Diaz-Hernandez, 19, was caught Wednesday afternoon.
Police are still looking for a fourth, female suspect, who according to an arrest affidavit demanded that Borges be killed after pulling off her blindfold.
Mich. Man Charged With Murdering His Son
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. — A relative says a 37-year-old Detroit man irate after hearing his 15-year-old son had sexual contact with a 3-year-old made the teen strip naked at gunpoint, marched him outside and fatally shot him.
Wayne County prosecutors on Wednesday charged Jamar Pinkney Sr. with first-degree murder in the shooting death of his son, Jamar Pinkney Jr.
The boy's mother, Lazette Cherry, told the Detroit Free Press that he told her he had sexual contact with a 3-year-old girl and that she phoned his father.
She says his father came to the house Monday in nearby Highlands Park, argued with the boy, made him strip naked and shot him to death in a nearby vacant lot as he begged for his life.
A judge has ordered Pinkney Sr. held without bond.
Pictured: The shocking moment a guide dog is savaged by a pit bull... before its cowardly owner flees
Last updated at 12:45 PM on 19th November 2009
This is the shocking moment a guide dog was savagely attacked by a pit bull in a railway station subway.
The pit bull can clearly be seen with its jaws clamped firmly around the black Labrador's neck.
The pit bull has the guide dog by the neck as its owner aims a kick at the vicious dog in an effort to prise his pet away
The pit bull owner finally manages to end the attack and puts his dog on a lead as the guide dog limps away
As it tears at the flesh of the guide dog, the pit bull's owner appears to land a kick on its side in an effort to end the horror attack.
The owner of the pit bull fled and is being hunted by police
The Labrador belonged to a blind 57-year-old woman, who was forced to let go of the dog's reins when the attack started.
The incident was caught on CCTV and police hope the images will help trace the owner.
Instead of helping comfort the shaken blind woman, the cowardly pit bull owner abandoned her and fled from Cricklewood Station in London.
Pc Gerry Griffin said the ordeal, which left the owner deeply upset, lasted three minutes.
He said: 'This dog was not muzzled and was dangerously out of control. The woman was extremely distressed and feared for her own safety.
'What made this awful incident even more harrowing was the fact that the man made no effort to assist her or to check that she was all right once the attack was over.
'We have carried out a number of local inquiries and ask that anyone who recognises the man gets in contact with us.
'The owner would do well to hand himself in as his animal poses a clear danger to other dogs and to the public.'
The blind woman's dog, which cost thousands of pounds in charity donations to train, was left with a neck wound.
Police said they were trying to trace the man and his dog, which was brown with white paws and a white tip to its tail.
The man is white, aged in his 20s and had a short beard and short red or brown hair.
Anyone with information about the attack on October 4 is asked to call police on 0800 405040.
Maryland Woman Leaves $40G Worth of Coins at Church for Safekeeping
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
HAGERSTOWN, Md. — A woman quietly left $40,000 worth of rare U.S. coins near a Catholic shrine for safekeeping so the Virgin Mary could watch over her life savings while she was out of town, and apparently it worked: The money was returned to her when she got back a week later.
Operators of the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes near Emmitsburg thought they had been blessed with a big donation when a groundskeeper found the two plastic freezer bags filled with gold and silver while raking leaves.
But Shrine Director William Tronolone said the woman approached him after a noon Mass Sunday, six days after the discovery, to ask whether anyone had found some coins she had hidden beneath fallen leaves at the site on the campus of Mount St. Mary's University.
"I said, 'Why did you leave it there?' And she said, 'Well, I had to go away and I was afraid to leave it and I wanted the Blessed Mother to watch over it for me — and evidently she did because you found it,"' Tronolone said.
By then, university officials had had the coins appraised, notified police and placed the money in a safe while awaiting word from investigators.
Tronolone refused to identify the woman. He said she had been out of town about a week.
After the school's security director returned the coins Monday, he accompanied the woman to her bank and persuaded her to put them in her safe deposit box, Tronolone said.
The shrine, about 50 miles northwest of Baltimore, features a replica of the grotto in Lourdes, France, where Catholics believe Mary, the mother of Jesus, appeared to a French schoolgirl named Bernadette several times, beginning in 1858. The Emmitsburg replica draws more than 200,000 visitors annually, Tronolone said.
Grotto visitors often leave anonymous donations, including a $3,000 cash gift two weeks ago.
"Up here at the grotto, you get a lot of people that are very, very faithful," Tronolone said, "and they do things you and I would never even attempt to do."
Terror of carjack mother: Weeping victim tells court how attacker frothed at the mouth as he threatened to run her over
By Beth Hale
Last updated at 2:49 AM on 19th November 2009
Wheelchair-bound Caroline Johnson outside Reading Crown Court with her partner Mark
A mother wept yesterday as she described the moment a laughing carjacker threatened to kill her before running her over with her own car.
Caroline Johnson, 46, has been left wheelchair-bound after she was dragged 65ft along the road and left for dead, a court has heard.
She had left the engine of her car running as she scraped ice from the windscreen, preparing to drive her son to school.
But she found herself confronted by a man and a woman, who leapt into her car, laughed as she told them to get out and then ploughed into her while she stood with her hands on the bonnet.
Mother-of-four Mrs Johnson was overcome with emotion as she told the court how Kevin Richardson 'frothed at the mouth' and stared with his face pressed to the glass, shouting 'Ha, Ha, Ha, move out the way or I'll run you over'.
She said he repeatedly screamed 'just move out of the way or I'm going to f****** kill you', before ploughing straight into her.
Reading Crown Court heard how the veterinary receptionist was dragged more than 65ft along the road near her home, in Langley, Berkshire, as Richardson and his alleged accomplice Karen Napper drove off.
Sitting in the wheelchair which serves as a visible reminder of the injuries she suffered, Mrs Johnson said she was trying to warm her Citroen Picasso up, because it was icy on the morning of December 2 last year.
Watched from the public gallery by her husband Mark Collins and father Maurice Johnson, she said she had noticed two people walking in the distance - but 'didn't think anything of it'.
As she continued to scrape ice from the windscreen someone approached and 'knocked (her) out of the way'.
She said she fell to the ground, but got back up 'in shock' to see Richardson, 34, in the driver's seat.
'The engine was still running and I went to the front to try and stop him stealing the car,' she said. 'I put my hands on the bonnet trying to think what I was going to do next. He started shouting, saying "if you don't move out of the way I'm going to kill you".'
Richardson repeated the threat three times, laughing as he did so.
Looking straight at the jury, the mother told how she had given Richardson a 'chance'.
'I said to him "don't steal the car, don't be silly" - thinking, "give him a chance to just get out of the car and walk away". But he didn't.'
A Citroen Picasso, similar to the one owned by Caroline Johnson. Kevin Richardson and Karen Napper are accused of mowing Ms Johnson down in her own car as she scraped ice from the window screen
Her voice trembling, she said she heard 'giggling' or 'mumbling' from Napper in the back seat.
'My eyes were fixed on his image in the car, his eyes glaring at me, his lips pressed against the window, frothing at the mouth.
'All I could hear were his words and all I could think was: "If he runs me over what will he do to my son"?'
It was then that she heard the 'power of the car revving' and suddenly felt a 'thud'.
'I could feel my body floating in the air and on the floor, and thinking "he's really run me over, he's really hurt me",' she said.
The court was told Mrs Johnson was trapped beneath the car and run over by at least one wheel as she was dragged along the road.
A button, a sock, fragments of clothing and an ice scraper were later found scattered along the residential street, along with Mrs Johnson's blood. Charles Ward-Jackson, prosecuting, listed her injuries.
He said she had suffered a cardiac arrest, a fractured pelvis, a fractured thigh bone and fractures to both ankles and broken ribs.
She also needed treatment for fractures to both shoulders, skin grafts, and a blood transfusion. She was in hospital for two months.
'You remain wheelchair-bound for the foreseeable future?' asked the barrister. 'Yes,' she replied.
Mr Ward- Jackson told the jury Richardson and Napper, both of Slough, in Berkshire, had formed a 'spur of the moment' plan to steal the car and laughed at Mrs Johnson as she told them to get out.
He told the jury a witness had seen them driving away from the scene, 'veering across the carriageway'.
The car was seen driving away at speed, at one stage nearly colliding with another vehicle. It was later found dumped. Richardson was arrested on December 9.
He initially claimed not to remember where he had been on the morning of the carjacking.
Nearly five months later, on May 1, police arrested Napper, who also denied any knowledge of the crime.
Richardson has already pleaded guilty to one count of grievous bodily harm, one count of aggravated vehicle-taking and one count of dangerous driving.
He denies another charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
Napper, 37, denies one count of grievous bodily harm with intent, one count of grievous bodily harm and one count of aggravated vehicle-taking.
The trial continues.
Cannibals nabbed selling corpse to kebab house
From correspondents in Russia
Reuters
November 17, 2009 09:34am
Russian police have arrested three homeless people suspected of eating a 25-year-old man they had butchered and selling other bits of the corpse to a local kebab house.
Suspicions were raised when dismembered parts of a human body were found near a bus stop in the outskirts of the Russian city of Perm, 1,150 km (720 miles) east of Moscow.
Three homeless men with previous criminal records have been arrested on suspicion of setting upon a foe with knives and a hammer before chopping up his corpse to eat, local investigators said in a statement on their www.susk.perm.ru Web site.
"After carrying out the crime, the corpse was divided up: part was eaten and part was also sold to a kiosk selling kebabs and pies," the Prosecutor-General's main investigative unit for the Perm region said on Friday.
It was not immediately clear from the statement if any of the corpse had been sold to customers.
Arkansas Police Use Taser on 10-Year-Old Girl
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
OZARK, Ark. — A police officer in a small Arkansas town used a stun gun on an unruly 10-year-old girl after he said her mother gave him permission to do so. Now the town's mayor is calling for an investigation into whether the Taser use was appropriate.
According to a report by Officer Dustin Bradshaw, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, police were called to the Ozark home Nov. 11 because of a domestic disturbance. When he arrived, the girl was curled up on the floor, screaming, the report said.
Bradshaw's report said the girl screamed, kicked and resisted any time her mother tried to get her in the shower before bed.
"Her mother told me to tase her if I needed to," Bradshaw wrote.
The child was "violently kicking and verbally combative" when Bradshaw tried to take her into custody, and she kicked him in the groin. So he delivered "a very brief drive stun to her back," the report said.
The names of the girl and her mother were redacted in the report.
Ozark Mayor Vernon McDaniel said Wednesday that the girl wasn't injured and is now at the Western Arkansas Youth Shelter in Cecil.
But McDaniel said he wants Arkansas State Police — and if they decline, the FBI — to investigate the incident. The state police declined his request Tuesday.
"People here feel like that he made a mistake in using a Taser, and maybe he did, but we will not know until we get an impartial investigation," McDaniel said.
Police Chief Jim Noggle said Tasers are a safe way to subdue someone who's a danger to themself or others. No disciplinary action was taken against Bradshaw, he said.
"We didn't use the Taser to punish the child — just to bring the child under control so she wouldn't hurt herself or somebody else," Noggle said.
If the officer tried to forcefully put the girl in handcuffs, he could have accidentally broken her arm or leg, Noggle said.
He said a touch of the stun gun — "less than a second" — stopped the girl from being unruly, and she was handcuffed, he said.
"She got up immediately and they put her in the patrol car," McDaniel said.
Noggle said the girl will face disorderly conduct charges as a juvenile in the incident.
The girl's father, Anthony Medlock, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that his daughter has emotional problems, but that she didn't have a weapon and shouldn't have been Tasered.
"My daughter does not deserve to be tased and be treated like an animal," said Medlock, who is divorced from the girl's mother and does not have custody.
Steve Tuttle, a spokesman for Taser, said it's up to individual law enforcement agencies to decide when Taser use is appropriate.
In some cases, a Taser "presents the safer response to resistance compared with the alternatives such as fists, kicks, baton strikes, bean bag guns, chemical agents, or canine response," Tuttle said in a statement.
The police chief, who has been Tasered twice himself during training sessions, said his department has never had to Taser a child or elderly person before, but that in some instances, that could be necessary to ensure safety.
"We don't want to do things like this," Noggle said. "This is something we have to do. We're required to maintain order and keep the peace."
First picture of conjoined orphan twins separated after 'miracle' 29-hour operation
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 10:17 AM on 19th November 2009
An orphaned pair of conjoined Bangladeshi twins are recovering well following a groundbreaking operation this week to separate them.
Pictured today lying in separate beds, the girls' guardian, charity worker Moira Kelly, stretched her arms wide to hold each of their hands.
'I always prayed this day would come,' she said.
Ecstatic: Guardian Moira Kelly stands between formerly conjoined twins Trishna (l) and Krishna (r) after a 29-hour operation in Melbourne, Australia, to separate them
'They are in two cots and I was standing in the middle of them, which is something I've never done before - it's amazing.'
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- Conjoined orphan twin girls successfully separated after 29-hour operation
Just hours after the operation, Trishna was conscious and talking, and today was almost ready to leave intensive care. Her sister Krishna, who was put into a medically-induced coma, is expected to wake up later today.
Doctors said they were ecstatic at the girls' progress and admitted they were still 'coming down' after the elation they felt at the end of the 29-hour surgery.
Fantastic recovery: Trishna (l) has already woken up and was strong enough to cuddle Miss Kelly. Krishna (r) is still in a medically-induced coma, but is due to wake up later today
Neurosurgeon Wirginia Maixner said: 'I'm looking at one bed and then I'm looking at another and thinking "amazing".
'To have struggled for so long, to have worked so hard for what was not just that day, what was a whole two years of work, to be able to say: "I think we've done it..."'
'Long-term, after seeing the scans I think they will be fine. It's all looking really good.
Marathon: The 29-hour surgery took 11 hours longer than expected and involved a team of 16 surgeons, as well as anaesthetists and nurses working around the clock in rotation
Rescued: The conjoined twins pictured at a year old when they were close to death
'Trishna we allowed to wake up overnight and she looks brilliant. She's talking, she's being Trishna, she's behaving the way she always has done,' she said, adding that Krishna's recovery was likely to be a little more 'stormy'.
'We will begin to wake her up later today but it will be a slow wake-up. Krishna still has to adjust to her new way of being and how long it will take her to do that is hard to estimate.
'Certainly there's a period of readjustment and that's something as a medical team we are very much aware of. We will certainly provide support for the girls as we ease them into this new life that we've created.'
The twins, who celebrate their third birthdays next month, were joined at the head and were moved to Australia in 2007 from an orphanage in Dhaka, Bangladesh, by Miss Kelly, a charity worker, and the Children First Foundation.
They were said to be close to death when they first arrived in the country and had been given a 25 per cent chance that one of the sisters would die, and a 50 per cent chance of the girls suffering brain damage.
HOW THE TWINS WERE SEPARATED:
The twins underwent a series of operations from 2007 to separate shared blood vessels and brain tissue; surgeons then split the shared skin leaving flaps to protect their skulls
The bone connecting the girls was removed a month before the final operation. A synthetic lining and plastic skulls are then put in place. These will be replaced in future as the girls grow
Excess skin that can grow hair is placed over the twins' new skulls and sealed watertight
11/15/09
Terrified jogger mauled by pig dogs
By Rebekah Cavanagh
Northern Territory News
November 15, 2009 09:56am
A WOMAN is "terrified" to leave her house after she was mauled by a neighbour's vicious pig dogs in the driveway of her home.
Joy Wood,55, was rushed to hospital with a chunk the size of a fist ripped from her calf, the Sunday Territorian reports.
She has had to undergo painful skin graft surgery and has been bedridden since.
Ms Wood was returning from a 5km run when the two large white bull mastiff-cross dogs snuck up behind her and latched on to her leg. She said they were snarling and tried to drag her to the ground.
"I did not even see them coming but that's what pig dogs are trained to do, sneak up on things and take them down," she said.
"The first I knew they were there was when I felt the pain of the bite and the snarling afterwards."
"One of them took a mouthful of flesh from my leg. "I managed to stay on my feet but I was a quivering mess.
"I couldn't do much to fight them off so I just yelled so loudly it scared them and they took off back to their yard."
Ms Wood said the dogs were a danger and she has demanded they be destroyed. She said they had previously attacked two of her dogs and killed two of her chooks.
But yesterday, 11 days after the attack, the hounds were still running loose on their owner's property - with the gate wide open.
Iran hangs two for rape, murder of 8yo
From correspondents in Tehran
Agence France-Presse
November 15, 2009 07:15pm
IRAN has hanged two men convicted of rape and murder in the western city of Hamedan, the Kayhan newspaper reported today.
The report identified the murderers as M.M., aged 25, and 20-year-old H.A., and said they were hanged on Thursday.
They were convicted of raping and killing an eight-year-old girl named Zeynab after kidnapping her a year ago. They then put her body in a sack and left it under a bridge in an isolated area.
No additional information was given.
The latest hanging brings to at least 250 the number of people executed in Iran so far this year, according to an AFP count based on news reports.
In 2008, Iran hanged 246 people, the highest number of executions carried out by any country bar China.
Tehran says the death penalty is a necessary tool for maintaining public security and is applied only after exhaustive judicial proceedings.
Murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery are all punishable by death in the Islamic republic.
Wife of Cop Who Killed Himself Over Taser Death Sues NYPD
Saturday, November 14, 2009
NEW YORK — Michael Pigott was an experienced NYPD lieutenant with an elite team trained to deal with the most hostile scenarios. He was calm under pressure. A good leader.
Last fall, Pigott responded to a call of a naked man teetering on a building ledge and jabbing at officers below with a long fluorescent light bulb. Among New York police work, not an extraordinary case. Pigott made a split decision to order an officer to fire a stun gun, but the order backfired, leading to the man's death — and Pigott's eventual suicide.
"I was trying to protect my guys that day! ... I can't bear to lose my family and go to jail," he wrote in capital letters in a suicide note to his three children and wife, who is now suing the city and police department because she believes the NYPD threw her husband to the wolves as it sought a scapegoat in the case.
Though suicide is relatively rare among police officers, experts say it's important for officers, especially those in charge like Pigott, to feel they have the support of their superiors and their community. Yet that's hard to come by, especially after an event like the Tasered man's death that puts the entire department under a spotlight and takes on a life of its own through viral videos.
Susan Pigott says in her lawsuit that NYPD disciplinary action after the incident caused "extreme emotional anguish, humiliation, depression, fear and shame." The suit was filed to clear her husband's name, she said. It seeks no specific monetary claim.
The city Law Department, which is handling the case, issued a short statement. "While the loss of lives was clearly tragic, we are unable to comment any further due to the pending litigation," said Mark Palomino, chief of the special litigation unit.
Pigott, who died on his 46th birthday, was an emergency services officer for six years and a member of the department for more than 20. The team deals with hostage situations, suicidal suspects, building collapses and hazardous materials threats. It's a place for cool heads who can deal with the unpredictable.
They are the best of the best at the nation's largest police department.
"He had saved people who were attempting suicide on bridges; he had gone to sites where people were going to fall and he rescued them," said the family's attorney, Rodney Lapidus. "He was a cop's cop."
But that day he made the wrong call, and Iman Morales died.
Morales had a history of emotional problems, and witnesses and neighbors said he had grown increasingly agitated and threatened to kill himself, prompting his mother to call 911. When police arrived, Morales fled out the window of his third-floor apartment.
Pigott ordered Officer Nicholas Marchesona to fire the Taser. The 5,000-volt shock immobilized the 35-year-old Morales, who then toppled from his perch. He plunged 10 feet to the ground and died. Officers had radioed for an inflatable bag as the incident unfolded, but it had not yet arrived when Morales fell.
The confrontation was caught on amateur video, and the media pressure was immediate and intense. Tabloids posted the video on their Web sites, and it was played over and over on local news as an angry Morales family and community demanded disciplinary action. Reporters surrounded Pigott's home. He apologized to the family, saying he was "truly sorry."
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said quickly afterward that it appeared Pigott had violated department rules with his order. He was stripped of his gun and badge and demoted to a job with the department's motor vehicle fleet.
The Brooklyn prosecutor's office and the police department investigated, routine when a death occurs involving officers, but the case still plagued Pigott. He never spoke to an attorney.
"He was thinking he was going to be prosecuted and the city wasn't going to be backing us at all," Susan Pigott said.
It's difficult for civilians to understand the pressures of police work, and the effect of intense scrutiny, especially after a traumatic event, according to psychologists who counsel officers.
"If you're a cop and you make a mistake, you don't have the next day. The decision is made in a millisecond: to pull the trigger, to give an order to fire or not to fire, not to go into a dark alley," said Dr. Daniel Goldfarb, who has been counseling officers in Long Island's Suffolk County for decades. "Your decisions are far more rapid than the public makes."
And the repercussions can be much more isolating and tragic.
"Among their worst fears is being put up on trial for doing their job as best they could," said Dr. Daniel Rudofossi, a former NYPD officer who counseled officers and is now an administrative clinician with the Drug Enforcement Administration. "Though it's not usual to act out that quickly."
Pigott was ordered to undergo counseling, but it's not clear whether he attended any sessions. There's been great improvement in the NYPD and in other departments with peer support and counseling to try to break the stigma of the stoic officer. But it's still difficult to get officers to talk, Rudofossi said.
Depression, stress and trauma are common, but suicide is not. The suicide rate for NYPD officers is lower than that of average New Yorkers, according to a 2002 study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Susan Pigott said her husband didn't bring his work home with him. But that week he seemed pretty depressed.
"'My life is on the line, my job is on the line. What's going to happen to me?' were just a few of the things that he expressed," Susan Pigott said.
He grew increasingly distraught. Eight days after the stun gun confrontation, on the day Morales was to be buried, Pigott killed himself with a single shot to the head from a 9 mm Glock handgun at his unit's headquarters.
"I love you all I'm sorry for the mess!!" he wrote to his family, signing the letter with careful, flowery script, "Michael Pigott."
Baby RB's mother: When they took his tube out I was cuddling him. The last thing I said to him was that I loved him
By Jo Macfarlane, Mail on Sunday Medical Correspondent
Last updated at 12:51 PM on 15th November 2009
the devastated parents of Baby RB have said goodbye to their tiny son after his life-support system was switched off on Friday.
In a quiet side room of a major children’s hospital, they tearfully held their 13-month-old child in their arms as his breathing tube was removed at 1pm.
Little RB, who has been chronically disabled since birth, died shortly afterwards. The child’s devoted parents, Kate and Alex, sat with him for hours, overcome with grief at the loss of their only son. (Kate and Alex are not the couple’s real names.)
Emotional turmoil: Baby RB's mother sits alone, struggling to come to terms with the death of her son
That morning, they had dressed him in his green Ted Baker babygrow and carried him gently from his hospital bed to a sofa. After he slipped away, under heavy sedation, they held his hands and remained by his side all day, telling him they loved him and would always be there for him.
This heartbreaking scene, unimaginable to most parents, was the very private end to a very public right-to-life battle.
During the past two weeks in the Royal Courts of Justice, the same parents had fought over whether the child should have his life support withdrawn.
Alex spent six emotional days arguing that his son, who had a rare disorder that left him incapable of moving or breathing, should have his life prolonged with a simple operation to ventilate him through his windpipe. He said it could lead to him being cared for at home.
Speaking out: Kate said she wanted to pay tribute to her son
But Kate, though heartbroken, supported the hospital’s application to end her son’s short life because of his ‘intolerable suffering’.
Finally, after being faced with overwhelming medical evidence, Alex said he no longer opposed the hospital’s bid.
Both parents wept as Mr Justice McFarlane expressed his ‘profound respect and admiration’ for the couple, who have maintained daily 12-hour vigils at their son’s bedside since he was born in October last year.
On Friday, they sat at his side for the final time as doctors administered a large dose of sedative to ensure he did not suffer before switching off his ventilator.
Last week, Kate, a shop manager, spoke to The Mail on Sunday in her first interview since the case began.
An order from the court prevents her, her son and the baby’s father being identified. She has asked that the anonymity order remains in place to allow her and her family some time to grieve in private and to protect her son’s case from being turned into a ‘spectacle’.
But she has chosen to speak to pay tribute to her little boy.
Kate said: ‘Alex and I sat on a sofa and just cuddled him. I wanted to make sure he had lots of cuddles so he was OK.
‘When they took his tube out, I was cuddling him. It was so amazing to see him without it – it’s the longest we had seen his face properly. It made him look so peaceful, he was so beautiful.
‘I kept on kissing him. The last thing I said to him was that I loved him and would always be there for him.
‘Both of us were in bits, but it was such a relief. I know he’s in a better place, running around and eating chocolate. That’s how I like to think of him. We stayed with him all day. It was so hard to walk away, knowing it was the last time I’d see him, but I thought, he’ll want a rest now. He was at peace.
'It was such a relief. He's in a better place'
‘I woke up this morning thinking I’d go to the hospital. Then I realised he was gone. It will take me a long time to realise that. It’s all I’ve known for so long.
‘I’m in a daze – I’m in denial. I can’t think about the funeral yet as I’m taking each hour as it comes. But I won’t remember him as this boy in a hospital bed. I’ll always think of him as my little baby, my little Bully Beef.’
Kate, a petite blonde who is in her early 20s but looks younger, has been left frail by the events of the last year. She has fought for her son’s life and ultimately fought to let it go, believing it was the right thing to do.
She has no regrets and defends her decision to allow her child to die, a decision many mothers have found difficult to understand.
Anguish: An artist's impression of Kate and Alex in tears in court
‘He was not the same as any other baby. He was a seriously poorly little boy with no quality of life.
‘No one could tell me to be stronger or to fight more because I’ve done all that for him. I’m his mum. No one has lived my life for the past year, no one else has watched their baby having these problems and had to think, is today the day he dies?
‘When his lips went blue, when he turned a mottled colour when he was sitting on my lap having a cuddle, I thought he was going to die.
‘I’ve seen nurses resuscitate him, I’ve seen him poked and prodded. He has belonged to the medical profession and he has belonged to the courts.
‘It felt like people in the end were just treating him like a guinea pig. I wouldn’t treat an animal the way he was treated, so it was really hard to sit there and watch him suffer every day. It was absolutely horrible.
‘Anyone who judges me doesn’t know how hard it was. We could have withdrawn care at four weeks old but we didn’t – we fought for him. I’ve loved every second, every minute I’ve had with my son and in my eyes he’s still my perfect little boy.’
'All these doctors ran in and took him away'
Kate was born in London, and lived in Dagenham, Essex, until she was 14 with her mother, a care worker for the elderly.
Tragically, this is not the first time she has experienced the death of a baby. When she was 13, her brother died of pneumonia at only five weeks old. He was found dead in his cot.
‘My mum woke up and found out he wasn’t breathing. It was a big shock. Mum found it really hard but she’s really strong and brave and she picked up the pieces.’
The family moved to Somerset to join Kate’s grandparents. Kate left school at 16 and spent a year training to be a hairdresser.
She spent eight months working in a bar in Gran Canaria when she was 20 but decided to return home when she realised how much she missed her close-knit family.
One night in April 2007, while working as a shop manager, she was out with friends in a pub and met Alex, whom she remembered from classes at school. He was a transport worker.
She says she liked his T-shirt and their relationship became serious very quickly. They moved in together just two months later.
‘It was quite intense. Everything was a big bubble and I was his first serious relationship. I thought that was quite sweet, really.’
Just two months later, Kate became pregnant with their first child. ‘It wasn’t planned. We hadn’t talked about children – we were still having fun.’
Despite the shock, and the age of their relationship, the couple were happy to keep the baby. But when Kate went for her 12-week scan in November 2007, doctors found the baby did not have a heartbeat.
'When he was cheeky, his eyes widened'
‘It was really upsetting – devastating. I had to go to hospital and have an operation. They asked me if I wanted to have some tests to find out why the baby died. But I said no. I thought it was a normal miscarriage.
‘I wish now I’d had the tests done because I wonder if the baby had the same thing as RB but didn’t survive.
‘Alex was really upset but trying to stay strong for me. I was a mess. I tried to block it out. I still had this perfect relationship. But I did grieve. There were moments I got very upset.’
The tragedy made the couple stronger and they decided to try for another child. After a romantic trip to Edinburgh for New Year’s Eve, Kate discovered she was pregnant again.
This time, the first scan showed no problems and the couple were told the baby was developing well.
The 20-week scan again showed no abnormalities and they were told they were expecting a boy.
‘We were so excited that everything was fine. We saved and saved to give our baby the best. His wardrobe was bigger than mine.’
The couple moved from Alex’s one-bedroom flat into a two-bedroom rented house with a garden. They created a nursery upstairs and filled it with toys and clothes.
Kate’s pregnancy continued to be normal and when she felt him kick for the first time, both parents were thrilled. She jokes that she thought he would grow up to be a boxer.
She gave birth on Friday, October 10, last year at 5.39pm. Kate says she knew something was wrong immediately.
‘The midwife put him straight on to me. I looked at him and he didn’t look right. I was screaming at Mum, saying, “Mum, why doesn’t he look right, why isn’t he crying?”
'I wanted all his suffering to stop'
‘He looked mottled. I thought the first thing a baby does is scream its head off. Eventually, the midwife took him and buzzed the emergency button.
‘He made a little singing noise, which was wonderful to hear. Then all these doctors ran in and took him away.’
An hour later, doctors took Kate and Alex to see their baby in intensive care. He was wired up to a ventilator and was being given a blood transfusion. Initially, the doctors told the couple their child was ‘in shock’.
‘He was in a plastic incubator. We couldn’t really see him properly. I just burst into tears. He had loads of wires, tubes, everything in him. The consultant said he was just in shock after coming out into the real world.
‘But I think I knew when he came out that he wasn’t weak or in shock, that there was more going on.’
Kate and Alex’s baby was unable to breathe or swallow for himself and had only very limited movement. His eyes also remained closed for days and he did not respond to attention.
While doctors carried out tests, Kate was unable to hold her son. The couple were allowed only to change his nappy and to hold his finger through the holes in the side of his incubator.
When he was four days old, his eyes fluttered open for the first time.
‘It was really beautiful to see. They were blue, like mine. I’d like to think he was looking at me.’
Kate stayed by his bedside from 8am until 8pm, sleeping in hospital accommodation. Alex put his work on hold.
Doctors carried out an MRI scan on RB’s brain and a muscle biopsy, where tissue was taken from his leg.
The MRI was normal – which was a ‘huge relief’ – but doctors suspected he had Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), which affects the nerve cells and prevents signals from the brain being passed to the muscles. Many with the severe form of the condition do not live past their first birthdays.
‘The doctors told us when he was four weeks old that withdrawing all care was the best thing for him.
'It was a machine that was keeping him alive'
‘We weren’t expecting bad news. The weeks had been a total blur, the days went by so quick and I don’t think I knew what was going on. Nothing had sunk in. I was absolutely devastated and so was Alex.
‘They said, “We’ll put RB to sleep. We’ll take his tube out and we’ll wheel him into a room so you can sit with him”.’
Kate told the doctors they wanted to wait until the results of the muscle biopsy, which would indicate SMA.
‘We wanted something on paper to say he had this condition. He looked well and really healthy. His eyes were wide open now and he was developing a little personality.
‘He looked like a normal baby, apart from not being able to move well. I would say he reacted to us being around. We would talk to him, show him his teddies, read him stories. But I wasn’t thinking that he wasn’t sticking his tongue out, or wasn’t showing facial expressions. I just wanted my baby, and to me he was adorable.’
The tests came back negative, but Kate says the doctors still believed it might be SMA.
She asked them to contact specialists at Great Ormond Street for a second opinion.
In the meantime, they celebrated their son’s first Christmas on his hospital ward.
‘It was bittersweet but we wanted to make the day as special as possible. We dressed him in a little Santa Claus outfit and it was a really beautiful day because he was there with us.
‘We had Christmas dinner in the hospital and gave him teddies and books, including the Peppa Pig book I liked reading him.’
RB was seen at Great Ormond Street in mid-January. He was given further muscle biopsies and a series of genetic tests.
Finally, doctors said he may have Congenital Myasthenic Syndrome (CMS), a rare genetic condition which affects the way signals travel between the brain and the muscles, causing paralysis and death.
Affecting one in every 500,000 births, the severity of the condition varies, depending on where the fault lies in the complex series of signals between the nerves and the muscles.
'Alex was crying in court, he was so devastated'
In the most severe cases, such as RB’s, patients are unable to breathe on their own – although their brains are unaffected, which means they are effectively ‘locked in’ and cannot move or show signs of distress or pain.
The doctors said his situation would become increasingly unbearable as he got older.
While most parents would be traumatised by such a diagnosis, Kate says for the first time they felt hopeful.
‘The doctors said there was a drug trial we could try and if it worked it would help him move his hands and head. We thought, this is great – it’s the first time we’ve had any hope at all. I went to bed that night and it was the first time I’d had a decent night’s sleep since our son was born.’
The trial, of a drug called prostigmin, was not a success. RB became very ill. He began sweating and his heart rate soared and, after three weeks, the trial stopped.
‘It was a horrible time. It’s not nice watching your baby lying there suffering like that. Our hope faded, too.’
The couple continued to spend 12 hours a day by his side, settling into a routine. In the morning, they would give him a bed bath, dress him and take him out of his cot for a cuddle.
For the rest of the day they read and chatted to him, trying to keep him entertained. Sometimes, Kate would sit him in front of a mirror and cut his thick, dark hair.
Kate admits it was ‘hard work’. They never saw him smile or attempt to make a sound, and although he was then teething he was not developing in any other way.
Every hour or so he had to be taken off the ventilator to be ‘suctioned’ to get rid of his saliva, a process which Kate believes was very uncomfortable for him.
But she says on good days, he did show some response.
‘Some days, I could walk into his room and knew he was going to have a really good day.
‘His eyes widened when he saw me. His way of smiling was by his eyes. You knew when he was being cheeky because his eyes widened and that was really good and nice to see.’
But the bad days were awful and could go on for weeks.
‘It was like talking to someone who won’t acknowledge you. His eyes wouldn’t open.
‘It was really hard because we never heard him cry. We couldn’t tell when there was something wrong with him. If he appeared upset we changed his nappy, we changed his position because he couldn’t move, and we asked the doctors to give him ibuprofen in case he was in pain.
‘When he was stressed, he would start to sweat, he was a grey colour, his heart rate would be high and he’d look awful.’
One day, the couple went in to find his eyes rolling back in his head and his lips blue. Alarms were going off on his monitors.
‘We thought he was going to die. We were crying our eyes out, thinking the doctors would tell us he was gone. But they did the best they could and everything was fine.’
Despite the setbacks, the couple were given fresh hope after another meeting with Great Ormond Street doctors at the end of January this year.
They were told there were two other drugs that might help their little boy, both of which had worked on other CMS sufferers. But there was a risk. The drugs had not been tested on babies and there was a chance he could die.
But if they worked, it would be ‘like a wake-up call’. The doctors said he could start opening his eyes wider and be more alert.
‘They didn’t say RB could have a normal life but said it could be an improvement. We said yes.’
He was transferred to a children’s hospital for the trials on February 23. The hospital would later apply to withdraw RB’s care and it cannot be named for legal reasons.
The couple discussed with doctors what they would do if neither drug worked. Finally, they both felt, the time had perhaps come to let go.
‘Alex and I agreed that after the drugs trials, after giving RB the benefit of the doubt, we would have tried everything. Then we would withdraw care.
‘We couldn’t sign anything official at that point, but it was what we agreed. Neither of us could bear seeing him suffer any more.’
But both drugs – ephedrine and 34-DAP – were trialled without success. After two days on ephedrine, RB’s heart rate shot up and his temperature rose to 42C. Normally, CMS patients being given the drugs show an immediate improvement.
Kate was devastated and prepared to let go. In July, they met the specialists again.
‘They thought we were going to agree to withdraw care. For me, enough was enough. I couldn’t put him through it any more. I wanted all his suffering to stop.’
But to Kate’s surprise, Alex changed his mind and asked that their son be given a tracheotomy, an operation to create a breathing hole in his windpipe.
This could, he said, allow him to be cared for at home although still on a ventilator.
‘The doctor said it was not in his best interests. He said he didn’t have any quality of life and a tracheotomy would not justify prolonging his life.
‘Then he asked me how I felt about it. Confused by Alex’s reaction, I said I also wanted to try it.
‘The doctor said that the hospital would have to take us to court. It was as brutal as that.
‘He said he didn’t want to see RB as one of those children with a tracheotomy tube just lying there when all of their movements just stop.
“He’ll just be looking at the ceiling,” he said. I was stunned.’
Kate says she initially agreed with Alex because her ‘head was all over the place’. But quickly she realised she had made a mistake. Her reaction had been driven by a fear of finally letting her son go.
The couple began to argue.
‘After being by his bed all day, we’d go back to our hospital accommodation and I’d say, “I don’t think the tracheotomy is in his best interests. The best thing is for him to rest in peace.”
‘We had put him through the trials, he had been to Great Ormond Street. He’d had two muscle biopsies, two lumbar punctures, he’d been prodded and poked and he hadn’t reacted to these tests.
‘He had his toe pricked every week to have blood taken. It sounded like a staple gun. It was horrible to watch. I held his hand but I was shaking. He didn’t do anything. He didn’t flinch or cry.
‘A few doors down, there were other kids having the same thing done and you could hear them screaming. I just couldn’t do it to him any more.’
Kate believes Alex lost perspective. While he had tirelessly sat by RB’s side, she had occasionally gone back to her mother’s house for the weekend to get some normality.
Every time she returned to hospital, she says their son appeared even more vulnerable and disabled.
‘If you’re with someone every day you don’t see that.
‘Alex had no time away – none at all. Every time I went back, I got really upset because RB was looking worse. But it was just that I’d been away.’
The couple employed different solicitors and, perhaps amazingly, did not initially discuss splitting up, despite being at cross purposes. Kate says she wanted their son to think he had ‘the perfect mum and dad’.
But as his limited movements reduced, Kate found it harder to accept that he had any reason to go on living. She began to feel Alex was living ‘in a dream world’.
‘I said to Alex, “How can you put him through this?” But he said our son wanted his life, that he wanted to go out in the park and see the ducks and birds. I thought, this is absolutely crazy.
‘But I understood that everyone’s different. I was fighting my corner for RB and Alex was fighting his.
‘We were both very stressed. We were bickering about little things, we were under each other’s feet. We were with each other 24/7 for a whole 11 months and it was getting harder and harder.
‘We did it all very privately. With the nurses, we were this perfect couple. But we got back home and let off steam and were constantly arguing.
‘It was a tube, a machine that was keeping our baby alive. Alex didn’t get to grips with that and I did. The minute he was born, I knew I didn’t want him living in a bed for the rest of his life.’
Eventually, they agreed their relationship was over. Alex moved out of the hospital accommodation into a friend’s flat. Kate says it was ‘a relief’.
‘It was tearful but it meant we could get on with what we believed in without upsetting each other. We could put on the act in front of our baby and then go our separate ways at night.’
The court case was originally scheduled for September. But it was adjourned after doctors suggested they try RB on prostigmin again. Sadly, again it failed, leaving Kate devastated.
They celebrated RB’s first birthday, on October 10, in hospital shortly before the case went before the courts. Kate says it was ‘absolutely beautiful’ and the couple put aside their difficulties to focus on making it special for their son.
They printed him a birthday T-shirt and gave him an Igglepiggle toy, from the television programme In The Night Garden, a show he had never seen but Kate imagines he would have liked.
They took family photos, knowing the birthday could be both RB’s first and last.
The court case, which began on November 2, was hard. The couple did not speak or make eye contact throughout. Kate says some of the evidence presented by Alex’s side was frustrating.
Neurologist Professor Fenella Kirkham said a genetic diagnosis for RB’s condition – and potential treatments – could be available in the future.
‘I thought, “I see him on a day-to-day basis and I see he is suffering and going through pain. I prefer to let him slip away, rather than keep him alive and let him suffer just to find a diagnosis. I don’t want to keep him alive for my sake.”’
Kate also rejected video evidence Alex put forward, which he claimed showed their son making ‘purposeful movements’ including hitting a drum and waving at his mother.
‘In the video footage, I said, “Wave to Mummy”. He was fully supported in his pram and his wrist went up and flopped down. As much as I’d like to say he was waving at me, I know deep down that he wasn’t.
‘All he could do was move his wrist. If I put something in his hand and he moved it, he’d hit a drum if there was one there. It was instinctive, that’s all.’
The weight of the medical evidence appeared to be that RB’s quality of life was so low that it was not in his best interests to save him.
If Mr Justice McFarlane had found in favour of the hospital, it would have been the first time a British court had, against the will of a parent, determined that life support could be withdrawn from a child who is not suffering brain damage. But he did not have to make that ruling.
On Tuesday, the seventh day of the court hearing and the day both parents were due to give evidence, Alex dramatically changed his mind and decided not to contest the hospital application to withdraw RB’s care.
Kate found out through her barrister.
‘I would have liked it if he had spoken to me face-to-face but I was in so much shock all day it was just a relief.
‘He had finally realised how poorly our son was. When I saw Alex crying in court, I could tell he was so devastated and upset. I just wanted to go up to him and give him a cuddle. But I didn’t because I was trying to stay strong.
‘After we left and we were back at the hospital, we spoke for the first time. I was cuddling RB.
‘He said being away from RB over the week in court – the longest he’d ever been apart from him – and then coming back had made him see how seriously ill and poorly he really was.
‘The reality had hit home. It had taken him 13 months to realise it, but better now than when he’s got a tracheotomy and isn’t moving. I told Alex I really respected and loved him for what he was doing for our son and for me.
‘We stayed up all night talking and he assured me he was 100 per cent sure of what he was doing. It felt nice that we had that connection, that bond again and we weren’t arguing.
‘His decision was a relief, yes. But I’ve always known I was doing the right thing. I’m RB’s mum and I knew him better than anyone else, including Alex. I carried RB for nine months – I still had all those motherly instincts.’
They decided to turn off his life support on Friday. Family came to say their goodbyes on Thursday but, at the end, it was just Kate and Alex with their child.
Kate still has no idea what the funeral arrangements will be.
‘There’s no special spot for him yet. I hadn’t thought beyond the court case.
‘When I came back from London on Tuesday and saw him, I just burst into tears. It was hard seeing him and knowing what was going to happen. But I’ve got no regrets.’
Going back to her house, with the nursery, will be hard and she is not looking forward to Christmas, which she admits she is trying to ‘block out’.
She also doesn’t think she will have more children, in case she carries the CMS gene and has to go through the same thing again. At the moment, she doesn’t even know if she wants to have a test.
Her plans extend to putting photos of her son around her house and refusing to forget him.
‘I’m just grateful for every second I’ve had with my boy and that’s what counts. If he can rest in peace, that lets me rest.’
N.C. Police Charge Mother in Missing Girl Case
Sunday, November 15, 2009
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — The location and fate of a 5-year-old girl reported missing by her mother was unknown even after authorities charged the mother with human trafficking and other offenses.
Antoinette Nicole Davis, the mother of Shaniya Davis, faces a child abuse charge involving prostitution as well as filing a false police report, according to a Saturday news release from the Fayetteville Police Department.
The release did not say whether the charges were related to her daughter's disappearance, but The Fayetteville Observer reported that arrest records indicated they were.
According to arrest documents cited by the newspaper, Davis "knowingly provide(d) Shaniya Davis with the intent that she be held in sexual servitude" and she "permit(ted) an act of prostitution."
Telephone messages and an e-mail left for police were not returned.
Shaniya's mother reported the girl missing Tuesday morning from a mobile home community in Fayetteville, and authorities began searching nearby wooded areas. The following day a man described as Davis' girlfriend was arrested in the kidnapping but later released.
Police then said a hotel worked spotted a child matching Shaniya's description at a Sanford hotel about 40 miles from Fayetteville on Tuesday. Authorities reviewed surveillance video and, after speaking with family members, confirmed the child's identity.
Surveillance footage showed Mario Andrette McNeill carrying Shaniya into a hotel room, and he was arrested and charged with kidnapping Friday.
Authorities have said McNeill admitted to taking the girl, though his attorney says he will plead not guilty to the charge. They have not said if McNeill and Davis knew each other.
An official at the Cumberland County Detention Center said Davis was still being booked and it was unclear whether she had an attorney. Her first court appearance would likely be Monday.
Shaniya's father, Bradley Lockhart, told The Associated Press he raised his daughter for several years but last month decided to let her stay with her mother. He said Davis struggled financially over the years, but she recently obtained a job and her own place, so Lockhart decided to give her a chance to raise their daughter.
"I should've never let her go over there," he said Saturday night.
Lockhart said police have not told him whether they are any closer to finding his daughter.
"I just want her to come back safe my friend," he said. "I love her very much and I hope she is OK."
He described his relationship with Davis as a "one-night stand" and said he and Davis never argued about him raising Shaniya.
"Shaniya is a precious young lady and she is special," Lockhart said.
Lockhart said he did not know McNeill.
Fury as immigrant baby killer is paid £4,500 'bribe' to quit Britain
By Brendan Carlin
Last updated at 11:04 AM on 15th November 2009
Brutal: Agnes Wong swung the baby by his ankles and smashed his head
An immigrant convicted of the horrific killing of a 17-month-old baby has been given £4,500 by the Government as a 'bribe' to leave the country.
Malaysian Agnes Wong, 29, was jailed for five years in 2008 for the brutal manslaughter of a toddler she was supposed to be child-minding.
She was let out of prison in July this year, and two weeks ago was put on a plane at Heathrow and sent to Malaysia with a 'voucher' worth £4,500 to spend when she got there.
Wong was jailed after a court heard how she had swung the boy, Hugo Wang, by his ankles and smashed his head. He died of brain injuries.
Wong's payment has sparked disbelief and outrage, coming just days after the Prime Minister said he understood the public's mounting concerns over immigration.
Tory immigration spokesman Damian Green said: 'Only last week, Gordon Brown said he "gets it" on immigration but this is proof he doesn't get it. For an immigrant who killed a child to get taxpayers' money to help with her future life is nothing short of appalling.'
Mr Green demanded to know why Wong had not been automatically deported without a penny of public money.
'Even while Labour repeatedly boasted about introducing automatic deportation for people like this, it now appears they have been using public money to help people get round that very system,' he said.
The horrific story of Hugo's last hours caused national revulsion when Wong's sadistic behaviour was exposed in court.
The unregistered childminder, who came to the UK in 2003, was paid £120 a week to look after Hugo in her home in Salford, Greater Manchester, while the boy's parents worked 16 to 20 hours a day to make ends meet.
She was accused of waging a 'regime of terror' against him, torturing him with a hairdryer and hitting him so hard with a ruler that it snapped.
Hugo died in January 2007, a day after he was taken, unconscious, to hospital where he underwent emergency surgery.
He had been struck with such force that his brain had shifted in his skull and caused internal bleeding. Doctors also found bite and burn marks on his body.
Wong, who denied murder, was found guilty of manslaughter but was sentenced in May 2008 to just five years in prison.
The Mail on Sunday has now learned that Wong served only the minimum jail term of two-and-half years, including her time in custody before and during the trial.
Making ends meet: The Chinese restaurant where Hugo Wang's parents worked
Just two weeks ago, she was deported to Malaysia under a controversial 'Facilitated Returns Scheme' under which foreign prisoners are paid up to £5,000 if they agree to leave the UK as early as possible without fighting their deportation using human-rights laws or by claiming asylum.
So far, around 1,000 have left the UK and been given the money.
It is not known for certain whether Wong - who used the anglicised name Agnes, although her Malaysian name is Siew Teng - entered Britain legally or illegally. However, any immigrant who commits a serious crime can forfeit their right to remain in Britain and can be deported.
David Wood, the UK Border Agency's director of criminality and detention, defended the scheme, saying: 'We don't want foreign criminals in the UK. Every day that we can get these individuals out of the country early removes the risk they present to UK citizens and saves our taxpayers more than £100 a night in detention costs as well as administrative and court costs.'
As Wong boarded a plane at Heathrow on November 2 bound for Kuala Lumpur, immigration officials handed her a letter confirming that she was entitled to a 'reintegration fund' payout of up to £4,500.
The letter informed her that the money, provided by UK taxpayers but administered by an international migration organisation, could be 'invested' in training for a new job, housing, education, medical treatment or to help set up a small business.
The letter - seen by The Mail on Sunday - also advised Wong, who was kept in an immigration detention centre between her release from jail in July and her deportation earlier this month, how to claim the money.
Hugo's parents, who were immigrants from China, both worked at the China City restaurant in Southport, where Liverpool football star Steven Gerrard is a regular.
Final insult: The letter offering Agnes Wong £4,500, under her Malaysian name
Friends have now spoken of how Hugo's father, Jian Lin Situ, never got over the death of his son and how he had taken the baby's ashes back to China.
They also voiced their anger that the boy's killer would get thousands of pounds of public money to build a new life. One said: 'It is an absolute disgrace that she has got this money. That sort of money will go a long way in Malaysia.'
The friend recalled how Hugo's father had been distraught to learn that some of his son's body parts were initially retained by the coroner in case Wong appealed against her conviction.
'When Hugo died it was big in all the newspapers in China. We followed the proceedings and were all horrified by what happened to that poor boy,' said the friend.
'Jian and Hugo's mother Zhen split up soon after. I think they both blamed each other for their son's death.
'I think Zhen went back to China. Jian never got over Hugo's death. He was absolutely devastated. He took Hugo's ashes back to China, to the Canton district, the family's ancestral home. After that, Jian moved on to a restaurant in Liverpool. From there he went to another restaurant in Blackburn and we lost touch.'
The friend added that Mr Situ would be 'horrified' to learn that Wong had already been returned home, especially as he protested that she should originally have been given a 15-year jail sentence.
'Jian thought five years was too lenient. This is just an insult to Hugo's memory. What are they playing at, letting her out so early? They should have thrown away the key.'
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of the Migrationwatch think-tank, said: 'It is absolutely wrong in principle that criminals who thoroughly deserve to be deported should be paid for going. This should not happen at all.'
A Home Office official confirmed there were two other voluntary schemes offering illegal immigrants incentives to return: one for individuals in the asylum system paying up to £4,000; and one for immigrants who have no right to be here but have not claimed asylum, paying out a maximum of £1,000
11/14/09
Blinded Prison Guard: Don't House Terror Suspects in NYC
Saturday, November 14, 2009
By Joseph Abrams
The high-security prison in New York City where 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is expected to be sent to await his trial has a supermax wing to keep even the most notorious criminals quiet — but it isn't perfect. Just ask Louis Pepe.
Ten months before Al Qaeda in 2001 struck a deathblow in the heart lower Manhattan, one of the terrorist group's founding members plunged a sharpened comb through Pepe's left eye and into his brain, blinding the 42-year-old prison guard and causing severe brain injuries that plague him to this day.
Pepe told FoxNews.com he worries that sending Mohammed and four of his alleged fellow 9/11 conspirators to New York could compromise the safety of the guards at the MCC prison. Keeping the prisoners in one location, he said, was especially dangerous.
"Could you imagine over there what they're gonna do, God forbid?" asked Pepe, now 52, who lost feeling in the right side of his body and most of his ability to speak. "After all these years, you'd think they should know."
On Nov. 1, 2000, Pepe was ambushed in the cell of Mamdouh Mahmud Salim — an alleged top aide to Usama bin Laden. Salim's cellmate, another Al Qaeda suspect, joined in the attack, which prosecutors say was an attempt to steal Pepe's keys to the cell block to free other prisoners and take hostages.
The two had been granted permission by a federal judge to purchase hot sauce, says Pepe's sister, which they then stored in a honey jar and used to create a blinding mace. Teaming up against Pepe, they beat and blinded him, covering the floor in his spattered blood. They then tried to rape him as he waited an entire hour for fellow guards to come to his aid, his sister said.
"They wanted to discredit the badge and what he stood for," Eileen Trotta told FoxNews.com. "After they plunged him in the eye with that makeshift knife, they did the sign of the cross on his chest."
Trotta said it would be like "deja vu" to see more Al Qaeda detainees shipped into New York for trial, where their court hearings will be just blocks from Ground Zero
"There's no reason why everything has to be in New York, especially after 9/11 and what happened to Louis," she said. "It doesn't make sense — why bring them into the hotbed of the city?"
The Obama administration announced Friday morning it was ending the military commissions that were trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-defendants at Guantanamo Bay, and would transfer them into civilian courts — and out of the military prison complex that has kept them confined for the better part of a decade.
The federal Bureau of Prisons, which administers the MCC complex in New York, said the jail has long housed "some of the most dangerous offenders" in the nation — and housed them safely. Accused terrorists linked to Al Qaeda plots are currently being held in cells on "10 South," the prison's notorious 10th floor, where the convicted leaders of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center were held during their trial.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he supported the Obama administration's decision to bring the suspects to New York to face justice near the World Trade Center site where so many New Yorkers were murdered.
"I have great confidence that the NYPD, with federal authorities, will handle security expertly," Bloomberg said. "The NYPD is the best police department in the world and it has experience dealing with high-profile terrorism suspects and any logistical issues that may come up during the trials."
The Bureau of Prisons said the attack on Pepe was nearly unique and that the prison's highly trained staff are prepared for any class of criminal.
"That was an extraordinarily brutal attack and I don't believe they've experienced anything like that since then," said Traci Billingsley, a spokeswoman for the bureau.
Billingsley said she could not discuss whether security measures have changed since Pepe was nearly killed in 2000, nor could she discuss whether any new steps would be taken if more Al Qaeda suspects are sent to the MCC.
But those reassurances were little consolation for Pepe and his sister, who said the government was quick to forget the terrible lesson of his attack.
"We're such a lax country — we don't learn from our mistakes," Trotta told FoxNews.com. "We have to protect our own, and at this point we're not doing it.
"After almost 10 years I'm still seeing my brother struggling very hard to have some kind of semblance of life."
Woman accused of faking breast cancer for implants
Authorities say a Texas woman lied about having breast cancer and spent $10,000 raised at a benefit to have her breasts enlarged. McLennan County sheriff's investigator James Pack says in court records that 24-year-old Trista Joy Lathern shaved her head to look like a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy.
Pack says Lathern wanted breast implants to try to save her seven-month marriage.
The Waco Tribune-Herald reports that Lathern is charged with theft by deception. Sheriff's officials and Lathern's attorney didn't immediately return phone calls from The Associated Press.
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Police: Drunk man survives being run over by train
AP -
Police said a highly intoxicated man who survived when multiple freight train cars rolled over him is "the luckiest guy alive." Police Major Kevin Lemke said Canadian National Railway employees reported they ran over someone lying between the tracks and did an emergency stop about 10:30 p.m. Thursday.
Officers found a 42-year-old local man in some bushes 20 feet away from the tracks. The man indicated he was walking when he saw the train and jumped out of the way.
But Lemke said he tends to believe the employees over an intoxicated man. The man had no serious injuries and received a trespassing citation.
Canadian National spokesman Patrick Waldron said such an incident usually results in serious or fatal injury.
N.C. Man Admits to Kidnapping 5-Year-Old Girl, Police Say
Friday, November 13, 2009
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — A North Carolina man has admitted to kidnapping a 5-year-old girl, authorities said Friday, but investigators still have not found the child more than three days after she disappeared from a mobile home park.
Mario Andrette McNeill, 29, admitted to taking Shaniya Davis, said Fayetteville Police Department spokeswoman Theresa Chance. He was charged with kidnapping while authorities dropped charges against another man, Clarence Coe, who was initially arrested in the case.
"We're hoping we find her alive," Chance said at a news conference
. "We found Mr. McNeill, and Miss Davis was not with him."
Surveillance footage had showed McNeill carrying Shaniya into a hotel room on Tuesday morning, when she was reported missing from a mobile home park. A hotel worker called police to report seeing a child matching Shaniya's description, but by the time police got there, McNeill had left.
McNeill faces a first court appearance Friday afternoon.
Investigators had used police dogs but could not pick up the child's scent during a search of the neighborhood. They found a blanket that may have belonged to Shaniya in a garbage can outside a neighbor's home.
Shaniya's father, Bradley Lockhart, made a tearful appeal Thursday for his daughter's safe return.
"Shaniya, if you're listening to daddy, I miss you so much, honey," he said. "I'm waiting for you. I'm not going to give up. You don't give up either, honey."
Ugandan Official: People Who Die After Drinking Local Gin Should be Caned
Saturday, November 14, 2009
KAMPALA, Uganda — A Ugandan government official says the bodies of those who die because of drinking a local illicit gin should be caned six times before burial as an example to the living.
Edwin Komakech spoke Saturday at a security meeting in the Amuru district about 217 miles north of Uganda's capital.
Some who make the local gin, called waragi, have begun distilling it with poisonous methanol. Last week, police said they would launch an investigation into the making of the illicit waragi.
Over 50 people have died in the last two months in Uganda from drinking the poisonous gin.
In Uganda, the bodies of those who commit suicide are also caned as a form of dishonor and to warn against such behavior for the living.
Slaughterman executed mother with bolt gun in front of her daughters after she snubbed him on Facebook
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:02 AM on 14th November 2009
A stalker was jailed for life yesterday for murdering a mother with a bolt gun used to slaughter livestock.
Fitness instructor Mary Griffiths, 38, had been due to meet police earlier that evening but her appointment to discuss the harassment had been put off until the following morning.
The divorced mother of three was asleep when slaughterman John McFarlane smashed through the back door of her home with an axe.
Mary Griffiths was shot by slaughterman John McFarlane with a bolt gun in front of her children after she called him 'delusional' on Facebook
He turned off the power at the fuse box before rushing to Mrs Griffiths's bedroom and attacking her as one of her daughters slept beside her.
The Old Bailey heard he punched her repeatedly, tried to strangle her and shot her in the shoulder with the bolt gun as she screamed for help.
McFarlane, 40, who blamed Mrs Griffiths for 'ripping out his heart' after she rejected his advances, dragged her downstairs while her daughters Jessica, 13, and Hannah, ten, tried to fight him off.
A neighbour saw him continue his attack in the street, where he pinned her to the ground and shot her twice in the chest just before 3am on May 6.
Maxwell McDonald, who witnessed the murder from his window, described the shooting as being 'clinical, deliberate, like an execution'.
McFarlane also hit Jessica around the head with the weapon, which he used at work to stun cattle.
Neighbours tried in vain to revive Mrs Griffiths, but she was later declared dead in hospital.
The court was told McFarlane fled to a friend's home around a mile away in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. 
Lethal: A bolt gun like the one used by McFarlane
He sent texts to friends, saying he had taught Dublin-born Mrs Griffiths a lesson for ' ripping out his heart and stamping on it'.
Police later found him bleeding heavily after he slit his wrists in the garden of the house.
McFarlane admitted murder and was jailed for life with a recommendation that he serve at least 20 years before being considered for parole.
Mr Justice Bean told him he had deliberately armed himself with the stun gun after deciding to kill Mrs Griffiths.
He said he would have ordered a minimum 30 years
had it not been for McFarlane's early guilty plea and evidence he was suffering from a mental disorder at the time.
In a text message sent to a colleague before the killing, McFarlane wrote: 'Yes JB (McFarlane) is off on a revenge mission to teach people a lesson who stamp on your heart.
'I will spare the mother, not the beautiful girls. They like me will die. Hasta la vista baby.'
He followed it with another saying: 'This is what rejection does, it ***** you up. All I needed was a cuddle and to be loved.'
His choice of weapon echoes that of the psychopath killer in the Coen Brothers' 2007 film No Country for Old Men.
The court heard Mrs Griffiths met McFarlane at martial arts classes. They became parttime instructors, teaching in Bury St Edmunds and nearby Newmarket.
Mrs Griffiths, who divorced her husband in 2007, regarded McFarlane as a friend.
But when she started a new relationship, he began telephoning and texting her constantly, prompting her to ask him to 'back off'.
McFarlane then began ignoring her at the gym and around that time she had a tyre on her car slashed, although she did not know who was responsible.
When Mrs Griffiths's relationship failed, they became friendly again.
On hearing Mrs Griffiths had broken up with her boyfriend on April 23, McFarlane left his wife.
He moved to a friend's home, but then stayed two nights at Mrs Griffiths's home, sleeping on the sofa.
Mr Harvey said he had upset Mrs Griffiths during his stay by going into her bedroom, but she made it clear his advances were not welcome.
McFarlane later posted a message on Facebook, falsely claiming he had been having an affair with her.
Hours before the attack, she called police to report harassment, and an appointment was made but postponed until the next day.
Fertility doctor 'substitutes his own sperm'
A US fertility doctor has been accused of using his own sperm to impregnate a patient who then gave birth to twin girls.
Published: 10:28PM GMT 13 Nov 2009
Dr Ben Ramaley, of Greenwich, Connecticut
Dr Ben Ramaley, of Greenwich, Connecticut, allegedly used his own sperm instead of the woman's husband's during an artificial insemination procedure.
The claim was originally made in a 2005 lawsuit that was later settled, is now being investigated by the Connecticut attorney general. Dr Ramaley has denied the allegations.
In 2002, the unidentified couple went to Dr Ramaley for help conceiving, according to court records.
After several attempts at artificial insemination, the woman became pregnant.
But the couple - a white woman and a black man - grew suspicious after the wife gave birth to fair-skinned twins.
"After their birth, [the couple] were surprised at the very fair complexion of the twins, because [the husband] is African-American and [the wife] is Caucasian," court records said. "In March 2004, DNA testing performed at the suggestion of the twins' paediatrician showed that [the wife] was the mother but that [the husband] was not the biological father."
The couple sued Dr Ramaley in 2005, claiming that he inserted his own sperm when performing artificial insemination on the wife. The suit was quickly settled out of court with a gag order imposed.
However, the case has resurfaced after the Connecticut Public Health Department heard of the case, and investigated Dr Ramaley. Lindy Urso, a lawyer investigating the case, said the Health Department should have demanded that the doctor take a DNA test at the time to see whether he was the biological father of the little girls.
"This thing was kept quiet. Whitewashed," she told the New York Post.
But Bill Gerrish, a spokesman for the department, claimed the mother had refused to cooperate with the investigation at the time.
Dr Ramaley did not contest the claim that sperm belonging to someone other than the husband had been accidentally used, and he agreed in 2008 to pay a $10,000 fine and stop performing artificial insemination procedures.
Is UFO pic just a load of hot air?
THIS snap was taken to show a hot air balloon crash-landing on a village - but captured a UFO as well.
Amazed Darryl Hatton realised he had accidentally photographed a circle of five spooky lights when he took a closer look.
He had only meant to get a mobile phone shot of the moment the off-course balloon came down and disrupted power to 500 homes in Abbey Village, Lancs.
Darryl, 47, said: "It's surreal. I wouldn't have believed my eyes if I'd seen it."
Ohio to Try New Execution Method
Friday, November 13, 2009
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio waded into uncharted territory Friday when it announced plans to switch from the usual three-drug cocktail used to execute inmates to a one-drug method that death penalty opponents praised as a step forward — albeit one that has apparently never been tried on prisoners.
The switch came two months after an Ohio inmate walked away from a botched execution attempt, and it is almost certain to get tied up in appeals and draw the close attention of other states that have long used the three-drug method.
"I chose to do it because I'm getting sued either way," Terry Collins, Ohio prisons director, said Friday.
Under the three-drug method, the first drug knocks out an inmate, the second paralyzes him and the third stops his heart — a process that death penalty opponents argue is excruciatingly painful if the first drug doesn't work.
The single-drug technique amounts to an overdose of anesthesia, Collins said.
Death penalty opponents hailed Collins' decision as making executions more humane but expressed reservations about using such an untested method. The same drug is commonly used to euthanize pets, to sedate surgery patients and in some parts of Europe has been used in assisted suicides.
"This is a significant step forward," said Ty Alper, associate director of the Death Penalty Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, law school. "Paralyzing inmates before executing them — so we can't tell whether they are suffering — is a barbaric practice, and Ohio should be commended for stopping it."
Richard Dieter, director of the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, noted the new practice would essentially be an experiment performed on inmates.
"They're human subjects and they're not willingly part of this," Dieter said. "This is experimenting with the unknown, and that always raises concerns."
Ohio's decision, filed in papers Friday in U.S. District Court, said it would switch from a three-drug cocktail to a single injection of thiopental sodium into a vein. A separate two-drug muscle injection will be available as a backup.
Prison officials say that, although the techniques are new for executions, all three drugs are widely used in medical settings and their effects well understood.
With the change, Ohio also said it was ready to resume executions, on hold in the state since the unsuccessful attempt Sept. 15 to put to death Romell Broom, who raped and killed a 14-year-old girl in 1984.
Gov. Ted Strickland stopped the execution after two hours when executioners failed to find a suitable vein. Broom complained in an affidavit after the execution attempt that his executioners painfully hit muscle and bone during as many as 18 attempts to reach a vein.
The state said the new procedure will be in place by Nov. 30 in time to execute another inmate, Kenneth Biros, on Dec. 8. A federal judge had temporarily halted his execution because of the botched Broom execution but left open the possibility of the procedure taking place.
Temporary moratoriums are also in place in California and Maryland, where courts are reviewing proposed changes to injection procedures, though none involving a switch to a single drug.
Other states are unlikely to make a similar switch soon, said Doug Berman, an Ohio State University law professor and death penalty expert.
Several states have joined Ohio in facing constitutional challenges to their three-drug execution procedures, but Ohio is the first to drop that approach in favor of one dose.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injection last year, but Ohio's new system is substantially different from the three-drug process the court examined. In its ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts briefly addressed the prospect of using a single sedative in a dose large enough to cause death.
The one-drug method, Roberts said, "has problems of its own, and has never been tried by a single state."
That means Ohio could be opening itself to new litigation, said Deborah Denno, a law professor at Fordham University in New York and lethal injection expert.
"The inmates who are going to be executed could challenge the constitutionality of what's being raised in Ohio," Denno said Friday.
Collins said state officials consulted with an array of experts, including pharmacologists, pharmacists, coroners and anesthesiologist Mark Dershwitz, a University of Massachusetts professor and physician who advises state prison systems across the country.
The state said in a court filing last month it was having a hard time finding medical personnel willing to consult about injection because of professional and ethical rules.
The rules — which generally prohibit doctors, nurses and others from involvement in capital punishment — were deterring such personnel from speaking publicly or privately about alternatives to the state's lethal injection process.
Ohio has put 32 people to death since 1999, when executions resumed in the state
Spain's amazing bull leapers: They fly through the air with the greatest of ease... and avoid a pair of very sharp horns
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:26 PM on 14th November 2009
Flying through the air these amazing bull leapers compete in the ultimate game of chance.
Displaying flips, leaps and jumps these modern day Spanish 'Recortadores' continue a bull leaping tradition that goes back to the legendary King Minos from Crete's Minoan civilisation around 1500 BC.
Each year, bull fighting teams from all over Spain descend upon the Plaza de Toros stadium in Valencia to battle in this daring competition.
Modern-day Spanish 'Recortadores' continue a bull leaping tradition that goes back to the legendary King Minos from Crete's Minoan civilisation
Chilean photographer Mery Alin Nuñez captured this magnificent extravaganza during a trip to Valencia.
'It was an unbelievable display,' revealed the 25-year-old.
'As a spectator I was nervous not knowing what was going to happen and fearing the performers would be caught by a horn.
'The Rectadores call the bull, face them and then at just the right moment, jump over the animal as it charges towards them.
'The jumpers carry out all kind of different tricks and look really braves and courageous.
'Then suddenly, the tables are turned and the jumpers have to run for their lives to evade the angry bulls.
'There is a tense and expectant atmosphere in the air which makes this so exciting.'
Photographer Mery Nunez travelled to the Plaza de Toros bull fighting stadium in Madrid, Spain and witnessed these amazing acrobats displaying flips, leaps and jumps
Like the bull jumpers themselves, photographer Mery had to rely on reflexes and instinct to get these incredible images. 'To take pictures like this, especially action shots, you have to visualise the scene in your mind,' she said
Established in ancient bronze age Crete during the Minoan era, bull leaping is practised throughout Europe from France to Portugal.
With as many as three bulls in the ring at any one time, each 'Recortadores' team - made up of between 5 and 7 members - go head-to-head in a dangerous and skilful performance which can last up to four hours.
Like the bull jumpers themselves, photographer Mery had to rely on reflexes and instinct to get these incredible images.
'To take pictures like this, especially action shots, you have to visualise the scene in your mind,' she said.
'There is a moment when your instinct tells you it's the right second to press the button.
'I watched the whole competition with the camera up to my eye, following the action all the time.
'What I like about these images is that they show the skill and strength of man and beast in one moment.'
The jumpers carry out all kind of different tricks and look really braves and courageous. Then suddenly, the tables are turned and the jumpers have to run for their lives to evade the angry bulls